Ubuntu 4.10 preview released
Ubuntu is a new Linux distribution that brings together the breadth of Debian with a focused selection of packages, regular releases (every six months) and a commitment to security updates with 18 months of support for every release. (/me touches himself) http://www.ubuntulinux.org/ubuntu/ http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/warty/preview/ (incl. torrents) I've got the i386 iso on the way, should have it in an hour or so, will let people know how it goes. I will also arrange for some finished Ubuntu CDs to be shipped to the WLUG for distribution. Craig
I've got the i386 iso on the way, should have it in an hour or so, will let people know how it goes.
You know this is a pet peeve of mine. I wish more distros compiled their apps as at least i586 binaries. No one (or nearly no one) would attempt to use a modern distro on a i386 anymore. Even 486 systems will be hard to come by now. At least the Yoper guys are doing something about this, to good effect I hear. Regards -- Oliver Jones » Director » oliver(a)deeperdesign.com » +64 (21) 41 2238 Deeper Design Limited » +64 (7) 377 3328 » www.deeperdesign.com
Unfortunately yoper went all the way, and while my laptop can run it, but my 2 AMD K6-2 PC's cant. But yes i586 is a good standard nowadays for a desktop, but I still have 486 servers here, and this version has a minimal server only install option. so its not focussing on the desktop, so its understandable as to being made for lower spec gear too. On Thursday, September 16, 2004, at 11:39 AM, Oliver Jones wrote:
I've got the i386 iso on the way, should have it in an hour or so, will let people know how it goes.
You know this is a pet peeve of mine. I wish more distros compiled their apps as at least i586 binaries. No one (or nearly no one) would attempt to use a modern distro on a i386 anymore. Even 486 systems will be hard to come by now.
At least the Yoper guys are doing something about this, to good effect I hear.
* Oliver Jones <oliver(a)deeper.co.nz> [2004-09-16 01:40]:
I wish more distros compiled their apps as at least i586 binaries. No one (or nearly no one) would attempt to use a modern distro on a i386 anymore. Even 486 systems will be hard to come by now.
Slackware's packages are compiled for i486. Although I think it would be reasonable to compile the X-based stuff for i586 and better. Noone in their right mind is going to use a 486 as a desktop with GNOME. Regards, -- Aristotle "If you can't laugh at yourself, you don't take life seriously enough."
On Thu, Sep 16, 2004 at 11:39:16AM +1200, Oliver Jones wrote:
I've got the i386 iso on the way, should have it in an hour or so, will let people know how it goes.
You know this is a pet peeve of mine. I wish more distros compiled their apps as at least i586 binaries. No one (or nearly no one) would attempt to use a modern distro on a i386 anymore. Even 486 systems will be hard to come by now.
There are different levels of optimisations gcc can do. Eg "gcc -march=i386 -mcpu=athlon-tbird ..." will generate machine instructions that will run on all x86-compatible chips i386 and up, but is optimised for that particular type of chip. Similarly, 2.6 linux kernels have an option to only use generic i386 instructions, regardless of *which* particular sequence of instructions it determines is optimal for your particular cpu. Anyway, I've seen it suggested that compiling the kernel and the c library for your particular machine and leaving all the other libraries/applications as generic i386 will make a small amount of difference, and optimising everything else won't make that much difference on top of that. Don't have any links or proof to back that up though :p Just 'cos a distro is labelled as 'i386' doesn't mean it doesn't have optimisations for more recent processors in it, just that only use machine instructions that the i386 has. John
As evidence goes, I don't have any either, but I Think the issue is related to the modularization of the kernel. all I really have are my own observations as I search for the perfect linux desktop for my personal use. What I do know is that on 3 machine the Boot time from power up to KDE desktop and then to open open office between Yoper i686 optimized, and CollegeLinux 2.5 with the same test (i486 optimized) is virtually identical. (feather linux was faster again, but its not really a full linux.) Mind you the hardware is not exactly cutting edge. PIII 700. a Duron 1100 and a AMD 2600+ (laptop) - There is also a p1 233, but you'll see why when I finish the shootout. Slack, fedora and mandrake and even SUSE were all slower, but due to more servers running and other basic Speed Tweaks rather than the settings the compiler used. That said, I think Yoper is an awesome desktop, CollegeLinux is also doing a lot of similar things, and other than perhaps mepis (debian based) these are what I tend to choose for a desktop distro. Its a real pity as I think Gnome 2.6 would be a brilliant desktop addition, but we will see. The shootout continues, and Yoper is getting put through its paces at the moment. But Servers are a different beast, and should be more concerned with stability over performance IMHO.
Anyway, I've seen it suggested that compiling the kernel and the c library for your particular machine and leaving all the other libraries/applications as generic i386 will make a small amount of difference, and optimising everything else won't make that much difference on top of that. Don't have any links or proof to back that up though :p
Just 'cos a distro is labelled as 'i386' doesn't mean it doesn't have optimisations for more recent processors in it, just that only use machine instructions that the i386 has.
On Thu, 16 Sep 2004 13:11, Gavin Denby wrote:
... That said, I think Yoper is an awesome desktop, CollegeLinux is also doing a lot of similar things, and other than perhaps mepis (debian based) these are what I tend to choose for a desktop distro. ...
Indeed it is. There was a show-stopper for me though, albeit not specific to Yoper. KDE print manager failed to get my printer (Brother HL1430) going although it recognised it and had the drivers (which surprised me). Yoper uses CUPS, I don't know anything about troubleshooting CUPS. I should have checked if Yoper has the LPRng packages available. Anyway, I had a deadline so back to Slackware 10, LPRng and printing. Vanilla Slackware is fast, just not as fast as Yoper. (It doesn't aim to be either.) Other little things: KPackage dumped core when I was downloading the Nmap apt package from the Yoper site. That was the first and last time I used KPackage and apt. But installing Gnuplot from the rpm worked fine. I always needed 2 attempts to log in. It was like the first never happened. Cheers, Sid.
participants (6)
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A. Pagaltzis -
Craig Box -
Gavin Denby -
John R. McPherson -
Oliver Jones -
s swami