Re: Debian Jr. and Debian Jr. Lite
On Fri, Dec 08, 2000 at 12:49:43PM -0400, Ben Armstrong wrote:
> I have been thinking about minimum system requirements. I hope that
> we will be able to cater to those with even very basic hardware as
> well as those with the latest and greatest 3D whiz-bang all-singing,
> dancing uberboxes. My idea is that a subset of Debian Jr. should be
> flagged as "Debian Jr. Lite", perhaps assisted by a "task-" package
> that omits all the heavy-duty 3D and big memory or CPU hog progs.
I think this is a good idea. FYI, there is a big discussion on
debian-policy (perhaps -devel too by now?) on task packages. So, the
way tasks work might change in the near future...
Specifically, Joey Hess wants to make less, simpler task packages (like
task-programming instead of task-python, task-c++-dev, task-c-dev, etc.). I
haven't read most of it; it is quite long.
>
> There are a few possible minimum platforms to aim for and I'd like to know
> if we should go with one or more of these and hear your reasons why:
>
> "Debian Jr. Ultra-light"
>
> CPU: 486dx/33
> RAM: 16M
> Disk: 200M
> Video: 512K unaccelerated, 640x480 VGA
> Sound: optional
> Comments:
> X just barely runs on this system. You might get away with
> it for a while if you get something like this, especially while
> the kids are still very young and are just playing with "desktop
> toys" on it. It makes a decent "second system" to run as an X
> terminal connected to a parents' box. Systems like this can be
> found for free or dirt cheap if you know where to look. I found
> just such a system for a friend for $30 Canadian. You won't
> be able to run memory-hungry apps like gimp on this.
Anyone have any thoughts on how easy to learn pdmenu is for children?
Perhaps it's bad to not teach the shell, but pdmenu makes all the
programs easy to find. You can always start a shell from pdmenu. And
I suppose using X on a more powerful system doesn't teach the shell
either.
...the only text based games I have installed are moon-buggy and
nethack (I guess I should write up some summaries...) Hehe Ben, pdmenu
has a "Change your password" entry :).
Flin is also an ncurses-based menu shell. Haven't tried it though.
BTW, I have no idea what can and can't run on a 486dx/33 (well, I have
an idea of what can't). I imagine it can run moon-buggy and
typspeed (I just god hammered by 3133t Monkey :).
>
> "Debian Jr. Light"
>
> CPU: Pentium 100
> RAM: 32M
> Disk: 1G
> Video: 4M 2D accelerated, 1024x768 SVGA
> Sound: 16-bit (e.g. SB16)
> Comments:
> This is a nice, solid box that runs X well. While not exactly
> free, it's going to be within the reach of most families as a
> system the whole family can use. It will run many more things
> than the "Ultra-light" but still won't run gimp or the 3D
> hardware-accelerated stuff. Also, with that little memory,
> Mozilla will be unusable. If Mozilla is a requirement, use the
> "Debian Jr." option instead, or run it on a better box and just
> use this as an X server to connect to it.
This is aproximately my system. I run the gimp ok, but I probably have
more patience than most children. Mozilla definitely is not usable.
Konqueror is borderline... just don't run anything else. I don't
really like konqueror, but it is a decent, graphical browser.
I wish dillo/gzilla/armadillo worked better as they run very smoothly.
>
> "Debian Jr."
>
> CPU: K6-2/300
> RAM: 64M
> Disk: 2G
> Video: 16M 3D accelerated, 1024x768 SVGA
> Sound: 16-bit (e.g. SB16)
> Comments:
> This is probably the bottom rung of what is considered "modern".
> You can finally run gimp on this. If you're on a strict budget
> but still want to be able to try out some of the 3D stuff, it is a
> start. Although some of the more high-performance stuff is going
> to require some upgrades. This will run pretty well everything in
> Debian Jr., (but not everything at once :)
>
> My judgements as to what constitutes "minimum" are rather arbitrary.
> I would like to see various different configurations field-tested and
> get reports back about what works and what doesn't. I suspect one of the
> big questions a parent will have before buying a system for themselves to
> use with their children or a system for the kids to use is "how much
> system do I need?" I hope that Debian Jr. can offer some help in this
> area, at least in the form of a document that records our findings, if not
> also in task- packages that help them get started with a sampling of
> things that work on their system. There's nothing more frustrating than
> to download over a 56K modem a whole mess of stuff only to find that the
> coolest looking things won't run on your box at all.
>
> Ben
> --
> nSLUG http://www.nslug.ns.ca synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca
> Debian http://www.debian.org synrg@debian.org
> [ pgp key fingerprint = 7F DA 09 4B BA 2C 0D E0 1B B1 31 ED C6 A9 39 4F ]
> [ gpg key fingerprint = 395C F3A4 35D3 D247 1387 2D9E 5A94 F3CA 0B27 13C8 ]
>
--
Pat Mahoney <patmahoney@gmx.net>
Those of you who think you know everything are annoying those of us who do :)
Reply to: