[debian-knoppix] one solution to the KNOPPIX CD-ROM space problem
Folks,
] > Sad though. I really like adding stuff, but it is always a tradeoff
] > against something else that has to go.
] >
] > Maybe it is time to think about a way to solve that issue.
]
] So, is there a version that runs from DVD-ROM? DVD-ROM is almost as
] cheap as CD-ROM (under $45 US) and space becomes a non-issue.
While that may be a solution, it's only a temporary one. Remember not
five years ago when GNU Gzip couldn't handle files as large as 2 giga-
bytes, and there was some hesitation to implement support for files of
that size? After all, who was going to possess a 2 gigabyte file, let
alone want to compress it?
In this business, the size of things always grows, and the numbers of
things always grows, too. Unfortunately, one other thing that persists,
with growth, is the notion that "this is as big or as numerous as things
are ever going to get". If you had 1 pfennig, centime, or penny for
every time someone said that, you'd be rich.
I think a long term solution is for Klaus to take the 10,000 meter view.
And that means that he has to clone himself.
How many of us are submitting source files to some central person for
compilation? For addition to a .tar or .zip file? For assembly into a
web of pages? How many of us WANT to be required to do that? Right now,
for KNOPPIX, Klaus is such a central person.
There are a small handful of Linux and other distributions that are live
filesystem CDs or floppy diskettes. Presently, Klaus's is, in my view,
the best. And it's gotten so good that it's now at the point that people
want to tweak it slightly for their own purposes.
Klaus can clone himself by writing a tool that would allow any person to
be Klaus. Which is to say that he can clone himself by writing a tool
that would allow any person to create a perfect .iso. Klaus, if you
automated that process, you'd REALLY have something on your hands.
Remember before web browsers? Wasn't anonymous ftp of text and images
and sound files sufficient? After all, ftp retrieved all that you could
want from everywhere that held it. Right now, we have the capability, by
following a recipe that Klaus perfected, of manually retrieving and
assembling package files and other bits necessary to build a KNOPPIX
.iso. What if Klaus built a tool that encapsulated all of that function-
ality?
Yes, it's true; many, many people wouldn't want or need that. By way of
analogy, most people don't roll their own Linux from scratch any more,
but instead just take one of the distributions. Most people--especially
those not in the industry and who just needed to get something done--
would still prefer having a Klaus-made .iso file. But many of us would
love to craft our own.
A tool that automated that process--a KNOPPIX builder, if you will--
would take not only KNOPPIX, but Linux itself, to another level.
My 2 pfennig,
Eric
--
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty
recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the
dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open
eyes, to make it possible." --T.E. Lawrence
Eric De Mund <ead@ixian.com> | Ixian Systems, Inc. | 53 49 B2 23 AF 6C 20 81
http://www.ixian.com/ead/ | Mountain View, CA | ED DD 4C 81 AA C9 D1 A5
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