Re: [News] Ubuntu Linux Derivative Works with 32 Megabytes of RAM

[Paul Bramscher <brams006_nospam@xxxxxxx>]

The Ghost In The Machine wrote:
> In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Roy Schestowitz
> <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>  wrote
> on Fri, 12 Jan 2007 14:46:20 +0000
> <2290679.UAutez2RMh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> > Ubuntu Goes Low Spec!
> >
> > ,----[ Quote ]
> > | Ubuntu Lite, by contrast, is said to work with 64MB of RAM, and if
> > | need be, it can even work with as little as 32MB of RAM. Considering
> > | the advantages demonstrated by other Lite Debian-based distributions,
> > | it could very well open up some doors for folks looking to make
> > | the switch, yet not possessing up to date hardware.
> > `----
> >
> > http://www.madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=7707
>
> Wake me when they get to 4 MB. :-)  Not that there'd be
> much of a GUI, of course, but older Debian distros had
> no problem installing in 4 MB.  Nowadays, the minimum
> they recommend is 14 MB.  (Side note: 2048x2048x16M is
> 12 MB video ram, and 16 MB if they waste a byte per pel --
> or reserve a byte for alpha.)
>
> Contrast this to Vista's 512 MB -- according to
> http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/aa905075.aspx
> anyway -- and 1 GB if one wants Windows Vista Premium Ready.
>
> Apples and oranges, certainly -- a Linux text console
> doesn't do 3D graphics very well! -- but one wonders how
> much of that 1 GB is truly needed, and how much is merely
> for "window dressing".

Astounding -- and is it possible to run Windows Vista Premium without a 
GUI, as a server, to maximize hardware resources otherwise wasted on 
gee-whiz animation?  Oops!  Dumb question!  M$ clearly *IS* banking on 
people's attitudes about OS's shifting from stable/general purpose 
operating systems to little more than gaming environments that change as 
the fashions change.

Too bad for M$ that it's such a memory hog.  While 1 GB may be the 
minimum for their bloat, a 1 GB linux box is quite versatile.

In addition to the OS=game mentality that M$ seems to be promoting, 
their affection for forcing consumers to continually buy new hardware 
shares a similarity with the American automotive industry.  Decisions 
there are made by execs and directors with deep pockets, price of gas or 
fuel economy is no concern to them, there is no such thing as 
sticker-shock etc.  Their very disconnectedness from real people, people 
dependent on paychecks, is what has caused the American auto industry to 
implode.

Seems to be the way M$ is heading also.  It's a sort of lemming thing 
that may set in, in large American corporations.  And it may be a direct 
result of too many decisions made by the wrong sort of people within the 
organization.