On Sat, Sep 22, 2007 at 09:51:52PM -0500, Ron Johnson wrote: > On 09/22/07 20:44, Douglas A. Tutty wrote: > > Well, it speeded up somewhat by ditching the install-by-default locales > > stuff and sticking with 'C'. I use icewm. On Etch, xorg takes a lot > > more memory than on OBSD. Enough that with one xterm only, Etch hits > > swap and OBSD has 15 MB ram free. I can open Konqueror via ssh and > > still not hit swap (unless I open more than 4 tabs). > > > > So yes, etch is slower and uses more memory than OpenBSD. > > > > On the other hand, nothing is easier to set up than Debian with > > aptitutude. OBSD's packages don't come with startup scripts; you have > > to write your own. I've also had some interoperability problems when > > sshing from OBSD to Etch. Had to find a common TERM when on VTs > > (TERM=screen works), and lately iceweasel doesn't work via ssh from > > OBSD. > > > > Also, as a desktop, OBSD is difficult. > > > > So its a tradeoff. I haven't decided which way to go for the P-II, but > > I'll stick with Etch for my Athlon64 for the multi-media ease. > > What's FreeBSD like of small systems?
Its not their thing either. I know there are minidistros like DSL but DSL is small as in how much can they pack onto a small CD, not how to shoehorn into 16-32 MB ram. I'm also not sure how they keep up with security fixes. OBSD becomes new every 6 months with security patches whenever, but I can't build with this small ram and especially this small a drive. My biggest problem is that there is not OS designed to be great for a stand-alone old small computer. An OS that can both fit on small resources, and be kept up-to-date without a separate build machine. Linux's target is the modern desktop and the focus is on keeping up with new hardware. The BSDs keep the drivers for old hardware but patches require building and that building relies on gcc which isn't optimized for use on old systems. So I'll keep looking. Doug. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
