Tired of making coasters

[David G. Miller]

Rahul Sundaram <sundaram at fedoraproject.org> wrote:

> David G. Miller wrote:
>
>   
>> > Yes, it's a problem in this case.  I would like to confirm that specific 
>> > functionality works with the Fedora 64-bit kernel.  As an example, my 
>> > laptop has a Broadcom 4306 wireless NIC that currently only works with 
>> > ndiswrapper when running with a 64-bit kernel.  It seems like 64-bit is 
>> > the poor step-child when it comes to things like wireless support, 
>> > memory card readers, etc.  Anything that doesn't work 64-bit but works 
>> > under 32-bit tends to get a response of, "Just run 32-bit."
>>     
>
> That likely to be the case for quite sometime. The user base in over 80% 
> still on x86 possibly because some popular proprietary software hasn't 
> moved over.
>
> http://smolt.fedoraproject.org/stats
>
> I doubt that any combination of Live or regular images would fit into 
> all end user/system admin/developer requirements which is one of the 
> reasons there is a focus on spinning your own.
>
> http://www.redhatmagazine.com/2007/05/31/remixing-fedora-7/
>
>
> Rahul
I'll burn the DVD and see what I can get working from there.  I just 
think the project is missing an opportunity, though.  Either:

1) A base OS live CD that installs to a RAM disk and is sufficient to 
run whatever applications from additional "applications" CDs or kick off 
an install, or

2) A live CD for each of "internet server CD", "file/print server CD", 
and a "desktop CD" any of which can kick off an install.

would allow interesting subsets of "everything" to fit on 700MB CDs.  
What additional QA effort is required for additional CDs is probably a 
wash against trying to cram everything into one image and making sure 
there aren't any problems with having everything accessible (e.g., 
servers and desktop applications).

My position on Linux live images is to make the best impression on as 
many people as possible.  That means minimal hardware requirements and 
as little overhead (things a particular audience isn't interested in) as 
possible.  Either technique above achieves that.

Cheers,
Dave
-- 

Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
-- Ambrose Bierce