Fedora Present and Future: a Fedora.next 2014 Update (Part I, "Why?")

[Ralf Corsepius]

On 03/25/2014 02:08 PM, Liam Proven wrote:
> On 24 March 2014 16:11, Ralf Corsepius <rc040203 at freenet.de> wrote:
>>
>> These aren't old-fashioned, these are technically out-dated. Makes a huge
>> difference!
>
> I am not sure it does. I would tend to consider them as 2 sides of the
> same coin.

Have a look at "fashion" vs. "progress".

Somebody wearing 19th century clothes is old-fashioned, somebody driving 
a coach is using out-dated technology.

This of course doesn't mean there are no valid use cases for 19th 
century clothes nor using coaches.

>> Just think about non-desktop HW (e.g. phones, tablets, routers, switches,
>> NASes), which usually are equipped with different types of memory, being
>> used for different purposes ("Linux as firmware").
>
> OK, true, but does Fedora run on any of these?  Or even RHEL? I don't think so.
Well, if they are based on architectures Fedora supports, Fedora 
theoretically could be made working on them.

ATM, this only applies to PC-based HW, such as some NASes/routers/HTPCs etc.


>> Definitely. Such setups are not uncommon on servers and are even sold by big
>> brands. e.g. HP.
>>
>> E.g. the HP ProLiant N36/40/54L - These are equipped with a built-in usb-2
>> socket, designated to take an USB-stick to boot the OS from.

> I have just been robbed of £92 by a bad eBay vendor trying to buy one,
> actually, or I would have known this. It was my plan to boot if off a
> hard disk, though.
I own an N40L. It currently is running Fedora and basically serves as my 
(home-) office's network's main multi-purpose server. When it was new, 
due to lack of a spare HD, I was using an 8GB USB-stick as system drive. 
I was facing malfunctions after a couple of months of operation. I don't 
know the real cause, but am inclined Fedora may have caused wear of the 
USB-stick :=)

>> But is it used, is it really accessed? I guess no.
>
> Yes, really, it is. Most commonly 1 LCD/keyboard-with-trackball on a
> KVM in each rack.
>
>> Also think about NASes or boxes being used as routers. No need for graphics
>> on them.
>
> No need, no, but it is built into even low-end CPUs these days!
Right .. but not into all, nor do all Mobos support CPU-built-in graphics.

Ralf