Re: should we really avoid the 686 kernel image?

[Vagrant Cascadian <vagrant@freegeek.org>]

On Sat, Oct 30, 2010 at 04:12:41PM +0200, Petter Reinholdtsen wrote:
> Well, lets begin by exploring why it the 686 kernel is on the avoid
> list, then. :)
> 
> It is on the avoid list because each kernel included in the DVD uses
> around 25-30 MB on the DVD.  That space can be used to include a lot
> of the packages we want to have included on the DVD.  We have to have
> the 486 kernel to get LTSP working, 

this isn't exactly true... we have to have a -486 kernel to get LTSP working
with the *defaults*. debian-edu could easily configure LTSP to use a -686
kernel; it would be merely one more divergence from the LTSP defaults.

probably the easiest would be to provide a custom ltsp-build-client plugin that
prefers the -686 kernel.

i've pondered making this the default, although some (relatively recent)
thin-clients don't actually support 686 instructions. i'm not sure how widely
used 486/586 desktop machines are anymore, but it does come up occasionally.
both cases might be rare enough that -686 would make a better default.

live well,
  vagrant