Re: some statistics on using bz2 for packages

[Craig Sanders <cas@taz.net.au>]

thanks for the informative reply.

On Sat, Oct 30, 1999 at 08:44:07PM -0400, Terry Katz wrote:
> DVD-R's are still relatively 'new', and, just like when the first CD-R
> drives came out, they are a bit expensive ..

> You can get a good Pioneer (supporting 3.5gig and 4.2gig) for approx
> $5,400 and I've only seen prices going up and up from there (another
> pioneer at $16,000, and a complete hardware/software package at a high
> of $72,000)

i presume that's for the burners. ouch. way too expensive for mere
mortals.

how much are the readers?  reasonable (i.e. under $400-$600) or still
overpriced?

> I'm not sure how much of the population currently have DVD drives .. 

so it's still at least a year or two away before they're common i guess.


> So, are there still people actively using 386's?  The lowest end
> machine I still use is a P-90 which is acting as a masquerade for
> my home network (and it does the job perfectly ;-)... we still have
> a bunch of older thinkpad's with 486's, but their re-deployed as
> bookends and door stops currently..

386 boxes are still commonly used for routers....although 486s are dirt
cheap these days (can get them for nothing, or for $10-$20 at a computer
market).

lots of people have an old 386 or 486 box gathering dust which they
might want to trial linux on.

386s are still quite common in the countries which we rich westerners
exploit mercilessly to support our lifestyle of conspicuous consumption
and waste. i think that a completely free linux dist like debian is
ideal for these countries.

there's a local project here in Melbourne called computerbank, which
scavenges/begs for old 386 & 486 boxes. they then install linux (debian,
actually) on them and give them to non-profits, NGOs, charities, etc
(and also sometimes to students, pensioners, and the unemployed). i
think their URL is www.computerbank.org.au. there are related projects
in other States in australia, and probably all around the world.


FWIW, my 2nd last 486 box (actually and AMD 586-133) got replaced by
a celeron a few months ago. my last 486 is scheduled to be turned off
and have everything it is doing (mostly mail for a couple of domains
belonging to a friend) moved onto the celeron. the celeron will do the
job better and i'll save a bit on the electricity bills.

craig

--
craig sanders