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1 • dsl (by jcoeli on 2024-02-05 01:53:12 GMT from United States)
remembering fondly that "business card" for sale dsl am always in favour of small scale distros & absotively posulutely love dsl! -jc
2 • wattOS energy usage (by Moat on 2024-02-05 05:55:40 GMT from United States)
Very interesting that wattOS appears to consume roughly half of the energy of even the already quite light/efficient MX Linux. I can understand (idle) efficiency improvements resulting from fewer running background processes, but if the computer is "on" it seems likely to also be running users' graphical applications, of which could easily be consuming more power/resources than the background services/processes, alone. Point being; there appears to be some specific power/efficiency "enhancements" being implemented in wattOS, and I'm quite curious as to what they may be. A 50% efficiency improvement is pretty stellar (!?!) and it would be nice to possibly utilize some of those apparent "tricks" on other distributions...
3 • DSL and copying ISO files (by Any on 2024-02-05 06:35:29 GMT from Spain)
I used DSL back in 2004 and 2005 on an old 1996 Toshiba laptop. It was very handy and cool. Once I've found an example for writing iso files with pv. I used pv for cloning a SSD drive to another and it was much more faster because as they said pv negotiates the best speed for the disks. Also pv has a progress indicator
4 • DSL (by Pythagoras on 2024-02-05 07:27:12 GMT from Spain)
The 700 MB DSL 'limit' is nonsense nowadays.
5 • Damn Old Linux (by Vamos los pibes on 2024-02-05 08:46:31 GMT from Argentina)
14 years without upgrading? Based in AntiX? Nothing will use the Damn Old Linux!!! The real small and lightweight Linux is LocOS. The real uruguayan-brasilian distro!!!
6 • Strange repetitive description (by Evgeny on 2024-02-05 09:56:01 GMT from Switzerland)
It is quite strange to see phrases like "LXDE would not automatically resize to match VirtualBox's window dimensions" repeated for years.
Resizing to the size of the window of the virtual environment is is NOT the function of the Desktop Environment.
Desktop Environment uses the resolution and the size of the (virtual) screen detected by the kernel, modules and drivers. To inform the guest OS about resizing of the host virtual machine window, the special integration is required: it is VirtualBox Guest Additions for VirtualBox virtualisation or VMware Tools for VMware.
Such additions/tools can get messages from virtualisation interface about external windows resizing and can trigger changing of the resolution of the guest OS.
Some distributions detect virtual environments during the installation and install integration packages automatically. Others leave it up to the user.
If integration package was not installed automatically, it can be easily added by `sudo apt install virtualbox-guest-x11` (or similar command) or by installing them from VirtualBox Guest Additions ISO. See https://wiki.debian.org/VirtualBox#Installing_the_Guest_Additions_on_a_Debian_VM
Note: Debian does not maintain the package for Virtual Box for the old releases, that's why it is typically not installed on Debian-based distros.
Fedora has that package, it can be installed by `dnf install virtualbox-guest-additions`.
Unlike VirtualBox, VMware tools typically maintained well in the major distributions repos. If not installed automatically, VMware tools can be installed by `sudo apt install open-vm-tools-desktop', `dnf install open-vm-tools-desktop`.
7 • DSL (by James on 2024-02-05 11:49:00 GMT from United States)
No need of DSL, I recycled my Win 3.2 computer ( released on November 22, 1993) years ago.
8 • 'dd' taking a long time to complete (by luvr on 2024-02-05 12:58:19 GMT from Belgium)
If you run 'dd' with the "status=progress" parameter, then you will notice that after the copy operation completes (no more progress updates are being done), the command just hangs there, apparently doing nothing. If, at that time, you run 'sync' (to dump pending buffers to disk), it too will hang for a while, until both 'dd' and 'sync' terminate. This behaviour demonstrates that 'dd' will keep waiting and won't terminate until all of its output buffers are actually dumped to disk.
9 • Battery Life (by George on 2024-02-05 13:03:07 GMT from Canada)
Thank you for your review of WattOS. I was curious if you know the battery life of the test laptop under any version of Windows. Thanks.
10 • DSL (by PatH on 2024-02-05 14:14:01 GMT from United States)
I just downloaded DSL24 to try on my 2 dozen old laptops from the 90s. Lots of fun. Thank you.
11 • wattOS R13 (by Geo. on 2024-02-05 14:17:19 GMT from Canada)
Great review Jesse. Wow, that's great battery life. I'll have to go back to your BunsenLabs and Bohdi reviews and see how those did by comparison.
12 • wattOS review (by Kazlu on 2024-02-05 14:39:27 GMT from France)
Extremely interesting take on the wattOS review to measure battery life versus a more "standard" distro (I know, this definition is subjectifs, let's say MX is an ok candida
13 • DSL34 (by Fat32 on 2024-02-05 14:44:39 GMT from Argentina)
In ten years will come DSL34 based in Ubuntu 22.04. Commercial version will come with Windows 10.
14 • wattOS review, part 2 (by Kazlu on 2024-02-05 14:46:04 GMT from France)
I would be very interested to see the same test done on other reviews in the future, to have a broader sample.
I am surprised by the amount of RAM used. I ran the same test myself a few weeks ago and idle wattOS was using 290Mo of RAM in Virtualbox, about half what Xfce Debian based distributions used in the same conditions.
I was looking for a snappy, minimalist distro to set up in virtual machines used to isolate some activities. Minimalist but yet complete enough OS so that I would not have to build half the system after installation. wattOS came out on top of my list. Honorable mentions would include Q4OS, Spiral Linux, Salix.
(sorry for the split comment)
15 • WattOS energy use (by MikeOh Shark on 2024-02-05 15:35:09 GMT from United States)
I tried WattOS quite awhile ago and it wasn't much better than other regular distros. I use MX Linux now and with tlp bat && powertop --auto-tune it only uses 5-9 watts with web surfing via wireless and the keyboard backlight on. I also use zram but don't know how it affected energy use, if at all.
16 • DSL (by zetamacs on 2024-02-05 16:26:24 GMT from United States)
Oh hey, DSL. It's sure been a long time.
Honestly, I'd be open to giving it a whirl just to see what's become of it, but when I want minimalism, it's not what I reach for anymore.
OpenBSD and 9front both continue to work on rather old hardware and maintain a small footprint despite the amount they provide. The former has things like spreadsheets and modern web browsers, if I *really* need either. The latter covers most bases, even games and emulation if desired.
But, if you like more than either provides, I'm not shamin' ya.
17 • DSL, WattOS (by Lord Percy Percy on 2024-02-05 17:33:54 GMT from Denmark)
DSL coming back to life is wonderful news. I loved that little thing, small, fast, lean - there's beauty in that. Antix is already pretty lean for a Debian-based distro, it'll be fun to see if DSL can slim it down even further.
Talking about efficiency, the low power consumption of WattOS is very impressive, surely it's caused by more than just a leaner DE? Next-level kernel-fu or something?
18 • DSL (by Sohl on 2024-02-05 18:53:45 GMT from United States)
One of the main people of the earlier DSL split off and founded TinyCore Linux, which has maintained continuous development and updates. TinyCore's standard release is still smaller than the old DSL and is easily extended as the user wants. The new DSL sounds like it will be something like 20x the size of TC, or more! Will want to take a look at it when it's released, however.
19 • Wattos and gpg signatures (by hotdiggettydog on 2024-02-05 21:54:28 GMT from Kazakhstan)
Tried WattOS and found it a sweet little OS to play with.
No gpg signatures for iso images or sha256sums is discouraging. Wattos is not the only one. Many developers are too lazy, uninformed, or lacking the know-how. I would never use these for banking or even checking my email.
20 • @19 wattOS sha256SUM (by Mr. Moto on 2024-02-06 02:31:39 GMT from Philippines)
@19. I know. Hard to find.:-)
https://www.planetwatt.com/R13-downloads/
21 • sha256sums vs md5sum (by John on 2024-02-06 04:51:21 GMT from United States)
What makes sha256sums better?
22 • WattOS (by half_blind on 2024-02-06 12:40:10 GMT from United States)
Just wrote WattOS to usb-drive, plugged it into a dell laptopm got the initial screen with menu, but from there no option works, pity: I will try on main desktop.
23 • WattOS (by half_blind on 2024-02-06 12:43:07 GMT from Luxembourg)
@19 - intersting point about banking with distro with no sig - nice.
24 • @18, DSL vs TinyCore (by Lord Percy Percy on 2024-02-06 16:08:16 GMT from Denmark)
You're right, the new DSL sounds more like a slimmed-down Antix, but still an OS that can be used right away without having to fiddle with too many things. TinyCore needs more tinkering by the user before being a useful OS - at least it did the last time I tried it.
Having said that, TinyCore is brilliant and I've always wondered why we don't see more people publish their own OSs built on it. That would be a lot more creative than just changing the desktop background of Debian/Ubuntu and calling it a separate OS.
Nanolinux was built on TinyCore: https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=nanolinux
While it was more of a test-OS, it was very impressive.
25 • WattOS bootup (by half_blind on 2024-02-06 16:19:09 GMT from Luxembourg)
As indicated, tried to run WattOS on desktop, with exactly the same problem - cant get past initial screen - oh well!!
26 • DSL was cool but technical progress killed it. (by borea on 2024-02-06 16:45:04 GMT from Moldova)
DSL was very cool project in the era when thumb drives were smaller than a livecd. (128MB and brand new very expensive 256MB drives)
I had a 128MB memory stick :) and dsl which booted from it anywhere, it was a magic wand distro.
On the other hand i had a live CD with Ubuntu which I could use no more than few times, cause CDs deteriorate and then I threw it away.
Nowardays even everybody has at least 4GB memory sticks, which work just fine for ages.
So DSL is a waste of time, for general population.
p.s:
Don't undestand anymore why people insist of creating .iso files which fit on a CD, cds are obsolete.
Nowardays distros should pack 3GB minimum of software (2GB for apps + 1GB for localization fonts for every language, language packs)
It is not funny anymore to see only english language support on the .iso.
It is not excuse anymore
27 • Don't read INTO an article information that's not there. (by R. Cain on 2024-02-06 16:56:59 GMT from United States)
From the *"Feature Story (By Jesse Smith)*"--
“...The distribution strives to be as efficient as possible so that *it can be used on low-specification and recycled computers as well as laptops*...”
“...The distribution doesn't do much out of the box because it's trying not to strain *the low-specification computer it is meant to power*...”
“...In short, wattOS succeeds, in my opinion, in its quest to extend battery life and *provide a minimal distribution for older computers*...”
So what's the problem?
The only problem is that the references to "low-specification" and "older" computers can, very legitimately, be assumed to be aimed at older 32-bit machines--which this distribution DOES NOT SUPPORT.
From wattOS’s description, wattOS R13 (2023-12-30), only supports the x86_64 ‘Processor Architecture’. It stopped supporting the 32-bit architecture--i386--with rev 10 (R10) back in 2016 (2016-09-01).
This was, as usual, a very good, objective, and thorough review by Mr. Smith, but remember: reviewers can't tell you every last detail; the ultimate responsibility for your decision rests with you.
Be very careful about *reading into anything* what you would LIKE IT TO SAY.
---------------
A quick aside...
"...In short, wattOS succeeds, in my opinion, in its quest to extend battery life and provide a minimal distribution for older computers. It's not pretty, it's not flashy, it's not rich in features, but it is super fast, fairly light, and DOUBLED MY BATTERY LIFE."
That right there is fantastic information, and makes this distro deserving of a further look.
----------------------------------------------
28 • WattOS bootup (by Mr. Joost on 2024-02-06 20:04:29 GMT from The Netherlands)
@27
From wattOS’s description, wattOS R13 (2023-12-30), only supports the x86_64 ‘Processor Architecture’. It stopped supporting the 32-bit architecture--i386--with rev 10 (R10) back in 2016 (2016-09-01)
To be a little more precise:
The only complain I have is that installation fails on EFI32 hardware (yes, this PC has a 64bit 4-core processor but a 32bit EFI...) so you have to fix the bootloader yourself, which is not that much fun if you don't have experience.
29 • wattos - functions I didn't see (by Ted H in Minnesota on 2024-02-07 00:18:42 GMT from United States)
I just tried out the current wattos, and there were two things I didn't see:
A Search function for files, and no Battery indicator was evident or findable to install!
Ted H in Minnesota
30 • @29, search and battery (by Mr. Moto on 2024-02-07 05:34:14 GMT from Philippines)
Battery and resource monitors can be added on panel settings. File search is under "Tools" in file manager.
31 • DSL (by Kazlu on 2024-02-07 11:13:04 GMT from France)
I tried DSL 12 years ago but it was lacking too many features for my use. A new DSL, based on antiX with the goal of being usable by the average user is interesting though. I still maintain a very old computer (Pentium III) for the only purpose of seeing for how long I can still use it. It fits precisely in the niche DSL targets: cannot boot from USB. I remember having problems booting from DVDs I did not have with CDs (don't ask which, I forgot). So having a CD sized ISO is interesting.
One deal breaking caveat though: the computers DSL would target (cannot boot from USB or even DVD) are too old to run a modern web browser and actually browse the web. You have to make do with light browsers lacking features and ignored by webmasters. I would not do anything that involves logging in with a password on such browsers. However, using this machine only for small office documents, as a music player or a server, yes, by all means.
32 • @30 Mr. Moto answer to my comment on wattos (by Ted H in Minnesota on 2024-02-07 12:01:27 GMT from United States)
Thank you Mr. Moto for your helpful answer to my comment on wattos.
I did look at the time under Panel settings and did not find a battery app there. I don't recall if there was a Refresh to add more panel apps to it, which once added more panel apps to another linux OS I have used.
Ted H in Minnesota
33 • low resource computing (by Jerry on 2024-02-07 13:05:40 GMT from United States)
I find this conversation about (mostly) WattOS and Damn Small Linux very interesting in that those distros are generally aimed at older or low resource machines. The interest in that whole thing comes at a little bit of a surprise in this day and age of more and more powerful laptops and PCs.
I'm wondering about the computer demographics of the world, now, especially Linux users. I guess I've been naively thinking that most users are gradually moving with the tech advances and recycling their older models for newer ones. Some, of course, have both or a range of computers of different types with varying power, cpu, etc. But can we assume that a majority of Linux users are happily deploying low resource hog distros? As I recall that was one of the major issues with those of us moving from Windows decades ago.
34 • wrong assumtions again ... (by toomanybits on 2024-02-07 13:20:12 GMT from Germany)
"But can we assume that a majority of Linux users are happily deploying low resource hog distros?"
Not likely. The majority of Linux users probably runs ubuntu or a derivative. Those systems tend to feel "heavy".
And the majority of the distros "aimed at older or low resource machines" (wattOS being a typical example) only support 64bit x86 - probably because of the effort of additionally maintaining a 32bit build.
Therefore, the are NOT really aimed at older or low resource machines, as almost all 64bit machines are powerful enough to run a "normal" Linux distro.
35 • WattOS Time compare (by Nathan on 2024-02-07 13:21:12 GMT from United States)
Yes, WattOS is faster then some others.
Peppermint is slightly faster to boot and shutdown then MX Linux.
WattOS is faster on both items then Peppermint.
WattOS shutdown is 2 second on an older 2010 Lenovo (non iCore) laptop.
I loaded Focus Writer on the Lenovo WattOS machine and use it for journaling.
Peppermint and WattOS are two that I load onto laptops which will be donated
to students or Seniors. Plus adding Chromium onto the machines effectively
serves as almost Chromebooks.
36 • @32, battery monitor wattOS (by Mr. Moto on 2024-02-07 13:21:59 GMT from Philippines)
Thank you Mr. Moto for your helpful answer to my comment on wattos. I assure you, the battery monitor is there:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/164785504@N08
37 • Security with distro's for old processors (by Jan on 2024-02-07 22:07:37 GMT from The Netherlands)
Recently I tried ClearOS in live mode on an oldish computer/processor. It stopped loading because a processor-security feature was missing. So old processors seem nowadays to be a security risk, also for Linux.
With the above discussion on old computers and disto's for them, I wonder if there is really a security risk. So can you do financial and administration jobs with it ?
38 • The old and the new. (by Friar Tux on 2024-02-08 00:29:36 GMT from Canada)
This week's comments have me quite interested. While I'm sure there are folks who still count disc space like calories (all power to them), I find I have no desire for itty-bitty distros. Give me a distro that has everything preinstalled and working. I even don't care if it has the dreaded SystemD, so long as it works. Once installed, I want to go right to work - no post install messing about with configurations and/or finding and installing each app/program I need.
For this past Christmas, I thought I’d splurge a bit and treat myself to the latest of the latest laptop. Linux Mint/Cinnamon has been my go to for the past 10 years. It has never so much as hiccupped. However, it failed to find, or connect to, the wifi. No matter what I did – including trying to use other distros, nothing worked. (PCLinuxOS was kind enough to actually tell me that the wifi cannot be found.) By this point, I began to realise that it may be the wifi driver – too new for most of the Linux distros. Also, at this point, I came across an article explaining what Linux Mint Edge was (that it had the lastest of the latest drivers). I installed it and Presto! Everything was back to normal. There IS one small interesting glitch in Mint Edge - nothing annoying, just interesting. In Facebook, and Facebook only, Cinnamon (ver 6) will occasionally freeze, shut down and restart. Weird. (I use Facebook to communicated with far off family as we are all on it.)
39 • #38 , Friar Tux -Facebook Problem (by Dottore on 2024-02-08 01:03:23 GMT from Germany)
You should install "Ublock Origin" and the "Tracking & Ad Removal on Facebook" addon for your Firefox !
40 • @38, The old and the new(er) (by Wally on 2024-02-08 09:55:11 GMT from Australia)
"Cinnamon (ver 6) will occasionally freeze, shut down and restart." Could be graphics. Mint Edge uses kernel 6.5. Latest is 6.7.3. You might try installing the latest to see. The mainline app from the PPA makes it very simple, and you can always go back
41 • @39 - Facebook (by Uncle Slacky on 2024-02-08 12:02:43 GMT from United Kingdom)
Better yet, install the FB Purity extension: https://www.fbpurity.com/
42
• Security (by WhoKnows on 2024-02-08 11:45:08 GMT from The Netherlands)
@37 • Security with distro's for old processors (by Jan on 2024-02-07 from The Netherlands)
"With the above discussion on old computers and disto's for them, I wonder if there is really a security risk. So can you do financial and administration jobs with it?"
Vulnerabilities can be only local or remote, where you can be attacked without having a chance to protect yourself.
PC security consists of hardware (processor, coprocessor, memory), software ("fimware"; BIOS/UEFI, VPro, Pluto, etc.), software (operating system), and software (applications).
As a rule of thumb, anything older than 5 years should not be used productively, for security or other reasons.
From a security perspective, not many older machines get regular BIOS/UEFI updates, and there's nothing else that will help against Spectre, Meltdown, and the like.
Older hardware is automatically insecure by definition. How realistic such attacks are for us "nobodies" is another question entirely, as such attacks are not trivial to execute, and there are easier ways to get at your data than reading your RAM.
From the "all other reasons" aspect, the most notable is the support for audio and video codecs built into the graphics card. H264, H265, AV1, etc. are now encoded by the graphics card and perform much better than having the processor do the encoding. Shotcut without hardware decoding takes 30 minutes to resize and re-encode a 5 minute video that CapCut with the moderate graphics card can do in a few seconds.
The good news from a security standpoint related to "financial and administrative jobs" is that any good bank will cover the loss if you can prove that you were using the fully patched Windows 10, 11, or Fedora Workstation, with the latest available version of Chrome, and that you had the antivurus software active and fully updated.
Good luck in all other cases, as no one will bother to talk to you if you used some PPAs, AURs and WINEs on some no-name one-man distros.
43 • Perfect (by Friar Tux on 2024-02-08 17:03:11 GMT from Canada)
@41 (Uncle Slacky) Hey, thank you, it worked perfectly. First thing I did this morning was install FB Purity, and have been running Facebook for the past 4 hours with no issues at all. Usually it was a couple of glitches an hour. It also appears to clean up Facebook a bit - not as cluttered with "stuff".
44 • Big distros little distros (by Jerry on 2024-02-08 18:28:53 GMT from United States)
@34 was said, "Therefore, they are NOT really aimed at older or low resource machines, as almost all 64bit machines are powerful enough to run a "normal" Linux distro."
Well, yeah. But somehow I failed to communicate my focus, in my post @33. The energy that caused me to post that emanated from the subject of this week's distro review and how another low resource distro was mentioned: WattOS and Damn Small Linux. I was surprised to see so many posts just about those two distros, so I got to wondering why tiny distros are even wanted/needed in today's world of big capacity/speed machines.
I found myself heading down the path of "computer demographics," world wide. I envision a large population of users who HAVE TO HAVE low resource OSs because they have old computers, or cheap ones that have retro specs, so to speak.
The 32 bit 64 bit thing is brought out now, and is much appreciated as that tells me that it is now likely that those who were relying on 32 bit hardware now are largely forced to find newer stuff to do their computing on.
And the beat goes on.
45 • @27 (re "old" computers) (by Simon on 2024-02-09 03:54:25 GMT from New Zealand)
I guess... but really, now that people are basically giving away old 64-bit computers for free (or at least selling them for next to nothing), why would anyone still be using a 32-bit system? The 4GB maximum RAM is hilarious by today's standards: tech evolves so quickly that ten years is definitely "old", and most manufacturers have been producing 64-bit computers for about 20 years, so continued support for 32-bit systems is not as essential as it used to be, for distros describing themselves as targeting old computers.
I have a few very old systems, all 64-bit, all barely usable for anything beyond email, word processing and web browsing: if I still had any 32-bit systems around, I'd throw them out, as I'd rather harm the environment than harm a person by subjecting them to the agony of using a 32-bit computer in 2024. Of course it's different if you're doing it for a hobby or whatever (the "retro" thing)... I'd love a few 8-bit computers just for the nostalgia... but for daily use, given that 32-bit software runs perfectly on 64-bit hardware, I think 32-bit hardware can be allowed to rest in peace now.
46 • @45 (re "old" computers) (by pengxuin on 2024-02-09 08:32:35 GMT from New Zealand)
" as I'd rather harm the environment than harm a person by subjecting them to the agony of using a 32-bit computer in 2024. "
I guess that
$ time inxi -Fxxxz
returning a real time value of 0m18.222s qualifies as agony ( Athlon XP 2400+, 720MB ram, spinning rust HDD )
got to have time to smell the roses, ; )
I have managed to run some (25yo) commercial DOS programs in DOSbox on modern CPUs, but some functions are not available, probably due CPU, even tweaking DOSbox CPU parameters doesn't work, so the old h/w is still put to use.
47 • 'old' is how old? (by Dave Postles on 2024-02-09 10:38:13 GMT from United Kingdom)
How old is 'old'? BTW I prefer older laptops because I can open them up and add more RAM. In current kit that is often difficult and in many cases the RAM is soldered. I also like to have an integral DVD drive (I accept the brickbats). That's why I continue to use a 12-yr-old laptop in which I have upgraded the RAM to 16 Gb and it has an integral DVD drive. I sh confess that I do not buy really high-end stuff (I buy from PCSpecialist and Novatech not off the High Street).
48 • @42 hardware renewal (by Kazlu on 2024-02-09 15:29:50 GMT from France)
@42 "As a rule of thumb, anything older than 5 years should not be used productively, for security or other reasons. "
This is a gross exageration.
"Older hardware is automatically insecure by definition."
You are applying software security reasoning to hardware as if they were swappable. Again, this is a gross exageration. In software, vulnerabilities are found out in every OS every month, if not every day. For hardware, because of the nature of hardware VS software, the difficulty to find and exploit anything, vulnerabilities are way, way more rare and can sometimes be mitigated by software patches, removing the need for hardware renewal.
You are absolutely correct when you imply that BIOS/UEFI updates are the best method to protect against Spectre/Meltdown-like vulnerabilities. I would argue that there is a danger here because now vendors have an incentive to sell unfinished products and say "heh what the hell we'll finish it later and publish an update", as opposed to the case where you have to use better QA before release or the evil is done and you're toast. But still, your point holds. However, those are exceptions and happen very, very rarely. This can justify changing hardware (I am not qualified enough to assert software mitigations), but you don't get a reason to switch like this every 5 years.
Many IT qualified professionals use machines for way longer than 5 years. Otherwise there wouldn't be a business for OSes with 10 years of support. Except in very rare rule-breaking cases like Spectre/Meltdown, as long as you have an OS receiving updates, you're actually fine.
"From the "all other reasons" aspect, the most notable is the support for audio and video codecs built into the graphics card"
You are right about encoding, but very, very few people actually do encoding. Decoding is an entirely different matter, it is way more common to be able to to it on not so new hardware even for recent standards. Simply because new video decoding algorithms are rarely architecturally different from the previous generation, so the hardware is still adapted and one driver update away from being able to handle it. It is different for encoding, I give you that. But if this a valid reason to have fresh hardware when you are a video producer, for every other person (that is A LOT), this is not a valid agrument to justify hardware replacement.
49 • Old is old... (by WhoKnows on 2024-02-09 15:57:43 GMT from The Netherlands)
@48 hardware renewal (by Kazlu on from France)
New laptops will be smaller and lighter thanks to no more unnecessary DVDs. A new laptop is one-third lighter and thinner and costs half as much. Screens got bigger and brighter, with better color and contrast, and despite that, they are cheaper. Only Dream Color Screen (HP) cost 12 years ago more than a very decent-quality complete laptop nowadays. OLED screens didn't even exist 12 years ago. The processor is four times quicker and uses less power, and it comes with all the encoders and decoders for multimedia that make it even quicker and less noisy. The maximum possible RAM is doubled at least, and the storage capacity is at least 4 times higher, plus it is 10 times quicker. 12 years ago, 500 MBps was a dream speed; now I have 6 GBps. My graphic card now has 12 GB of VRAM instead of 1 GB. Bluetooth 4.0 is now BT 6.0. WiFi speed was 150 Mbps 12 years ago; now I'm connected at 1500 Mbps. Little less than double of the maximum possible ethernet speed 12 years ago. And so on !
and on.
Try to compare one high-quality professional workstation of yore to one mid-class modern laptop for example, like HP EliteBook 8570w and Medion Erazer Major X10.
Ten years supported OS are usually server OS, and every good company is replacing HW after 3 to 5 years.
50 • WattOS (by dude on 2024-02-09 16:53:06 GMT from United States)
I really like the idea of WattOS. But sadly, I can't use it because it's incompatible with the Wifi adapter in my laptop.
51 • Are two Linux releases per year really necessary? (by R. Cain on 2024-02-09 17:13:34 GMT from United States)
“...let’s trying slowing down to one release a year. That gives everyone twice as much time to focus on fixing problems and creating beautiful, elegant distributions with the passion and love they have, and the passion and love and loyalty that their users deserve...”
“...The Year of Linux is the year that you look at your distribution, compare to the year before, and you have that sense of stability, the knowledge that no matter what you do, you can rely on your operating system. Which is definitely not the case today...
“...I find the lack of consistency to be the public enemy no. 1 in the open-source world. In the long run, it will be the one deciding factor that will determine the success of Linux. Sure, applications, but if the operating system is not transparent, people will not choose it. They will seek simpler, possibly less glamorous, but ultimately more stable solutions, because no one wants to install a patch and dread what will happen after a reboot...”
https://www.ocsmag.com/linux-2017-the-road-to-hell/
52 • Old/New CPU, security difference for Linux (by Jan on 2024-02-09 22:02:07 GMT from The Netherlands)
Based on the discussion of old hardware and Linux distro's for them, i looked further around.
And found that there are CPU-specs following:
* x86-64-v2
* x86-64-v3
* x86-64-v4
I suppose that the higher versions have also new/better sucurity items.
I wonder what this means for Linux, and the desire to keep old hardware running (prevent it to go to the landfill).
And are the Linux-kernel-developers doing something to translate new security-hardware to Linux for old hardware.
The question is if it is desirable to keep old hardware live at unaware people, at the risk of security breaches.
Maybe a nice subject for a Distrowatch weeklt item?
53 • New CPUs (by Jesse on 2024-02-09 23:35:30 GMT from Canada)
@52: "I suppose that the higher versions have also new/better sucurity items."
This isn't the case. The updates to the x86_64 architecture offer performance optimizations, they are security updates.
> "And are the Linux-kernel-developers doing something to translate new security-hardware to Linux for old hardware."
This isn't a thing.
> "The question is if it is desirable to keep old hardware live at unaware people, at the risk of security breaches."
There isn't any extra risk of security breaches due to running older hardware, as long as the user has applied their kernel/firmware updates there is nothing to worry about.
Number of Comments: 53
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