On Thu, 15 Apr 1999, Larry Howard Mittman wrote:
> Ken, you are totally missing the point.
Don't underestimate Ken :-)
> [snip]
> The stated reason is for impoverished 3rd world countries. Yes, here we can
> pick up discarded 486DX boards mere pennies on the dollar (or even free out
> of dumpsters), yet in many neglected parts of the world, even discarded 8086
> machines are expensive. When your yearly net worth is less than $100.00, a
> $200.00 cast-off 486 is totally out of the question.
I always thought the "3rd world" arguments for ELKS were noble, but I
always have wondered if there's really any people on the project who've
been coding with that as their main motivation. I always figured it was
just a collection of warped bastards who wanted to write a small
Linux-like multi-tasking OS on otherwise useless hardware. It's that
challenge which is the driving factor for the project.
Once the core set of the ELKS (whatever that may be defined to be) is
completed, then we can worry about the pretty things.
> THAT is why this project exists. The added bonus to us is the fun of trying
> to hack the end result. If you do not want to consider the 8086, then the
> normal Linux listserves will serve you most adequately. Just please, do not
> hinder our progress (or would it be regress? :> )
If I were to summarize and slightly re-color Ken's statements, I think
they would say something like: Of the group of people on the planet who
have the knowledge base to implement an X server on ELKS, you're not very
likely to find many that would consider it a worthwhile exercise.
That's not to say that there isn't someone out there who would do it if
they could. But more than likely that person is in a third world country
somewhere and is unable to let us know since their ELKS system doesn't
have networking support.
-brian.
---
Brian "JARAI" Chase | http://world.std.com/~bdc/ | VAXZilla LIVES!!!
