Fedora extras and the distribution size

Russell Coker russell at coker.com.au
Wed Jul 14 10:42:50 UTC 2004


On Wed, 14 Jul 2004 19:52, Nathan Robertson <nathanr at nathanr.net> wrote:
> Yes, but by saying that you are limiting to people who can download 4GB
> isos. I concede that that includes sources, but even so, 1GB, 2GB and
> 4GB are far apart, and not everyone has unlimited ADSL. For example,
> only the top two of Telstra's five plans would be able to download the
> FC2 DVD iso, even if they abstained from the Internet for the rest of
> the month. (for those outside .au, Telstra is Australia's biggest

Then they can download it across two months, visit a friend and download part 
of it there, or get it from their local LUG.

Currently it seems that every LUG has someone who is willing to copy CDs for 
the cost of the media.  When DVD writers become more popular the same will 
happen with DVDs.

> The size of the download needs to be considered, particularly given
> there is no official pressed DVD version shipped by Red Hat for $15
> with a 50 page pocketbook guide at your local newsagent any more.

Getting a freshly burnt DVD from your local LUG is better, it's cheaper and 
comes out sooner than any commercially packaged CDs could.

I might end up doing that myself by the time FC3 comes out.

> The way things are going, they'll have no choice. What happens when all
> binary and source RPMs don't fit on one DVD? Ship two DVDs? We all

The vast majority of users don't need any significant fraction of the source.  
So they can get the binaries on DVD and download the source that they need.

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