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To Ubuntu or not to Ubuntu; that is the question.

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CrazyModder:
Redhat and Suse are backed by big companies. Which is important in a commercial (server) setting - you get certified Oracle compatibility, for example, and (costly) support. Certainly not relevant to the private user. Aside from that, SUSE prides itself on YAST2, which is a rather nice management thingy. Oh, and it used to be a German company, if that counts for anything, until being bought out by Novell.

mattinker:

--- Quote from: dsquire on April 20, 2014, 03:09:04 PM ---David
If you keep tempting me this way I am going to have to go and get my 386-16 out that I purchased in 1989 and have been carying it around in its original box for 20 years. With as much as I paid for it back then I can't bear to part with it. If I remember it has DOS 4.0 or earlier on it.
 :doh: I wonder if I could load some flavour of Linux onto it to replace my unsuported Win XP?  :D :D
Don

--- End quote ---

I don't know much about PCs of that era, maybe you could try one of these distributions, please, don't take my word for it, if anybody has a better idea, chime in, I'm not an expert.

http://mashtips.com/lightweight-os/

I just did what I always do and searched "lightweight ubuntu system for a 1989 computer".  I do my troubleshooting that way!

Regards, Matthew.

BaronJ:
Hi All,

Yggdrasil Linux was probably the first distribution based on the original code that Linus Torvill released.  It became so popular that it was published bound into a book written all about it.  The book covered most of how to modify the code supplied on the disk, a single (5.25") floppy, to suit your hardware, how to compile and link the code to produce an elf binary, then how to execute that code.  Whilst I doubt that I could do that today, it was a real eye opener in those early days.  One chapter sticks in my mind...
How to compile the compiler so you could compile the code you had.

Heady days.   :clap:

philf:
I have followed this subject with interest and, reading the most recent posts, have now come to the conclusion that Linux and all its derivatives are not for the faint hearted and are not just install and forget as some would have us believe. Not being able to run my existing software was the real killer for me.    :(

Computer nerds may have the time and patience to overcome all the shortcomings and difficulties but I, and I expect many others, don't need the hassle.

I have used XP for many years and even the much criticised Vista with very few problems and will continue to do so for as long as possible. (Or until I have to buy a new computer.) I'm not saying Microsoft are anywhere near perfect but to the average guy like me who's fairly confident with computers XP did everything I needed. I use Avast Antivirus and they say they will continue to provide AV upgrades for XP for some years. I stopped doing auto updates a long time ago. Regular housekeeping on an XP or Vista system (using e.g. CCleaner which selectively cleans out cookies, cleans the registry and can stop many processes starting unecessarily) can keep them running sweetly

There are iOS fans out there who decry Microsoft OSs. Those of you who use Facetime on iPads and iPhones  to keep in touch with family and friends may have found that it stopped working last week and the only fix seems to be to upgrade to iOS 7. (OK the upgrade was free but it's still annoying.) Apple won't own up to causing the problem.

Many, including me, have had problems with Internet Explorer, but out of all the browsers I have tried it works better on some sites than any other. I got rid of Firefox a long time ago because it kept stalling my computer if I had many tabs open at one time. (I can have 8 tabs on the go if I am working on my family history.) I now use Google Chrome as my browser of choice but every now and then have to open eBay in IE to delete watched items from My eBay which Chrome refuses to do point blank.

My introduction to computers at home was with an Acorn Atom followed by 2 BBC Model Bs and a BBC Plus with all of 64K. I still have the BBCs and miss the instant switch on and run. Programs stored in ROM were instant. I even had a WYSIWYG word processor for the BBC when at work we were using crap like Multimate on an 8086 IBM PC. I still have the three BBCs.

For many years I kept a very old IBM PC under my desk which didn't even have a 5 1/4" drive - it had a cassette interface! I had to bin it when we moved office.

If anyone wants a Compaq SLT 286 laptop that cost (thankfully not me!) $5,399 which weighs only 14 pounds they're welcome to come and collect it.

http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/2223/Compaq-Portable-slt-286-1903/

 :beer:

Phil.

AdeV:

--- Quote ---If anyone wants a Compaq SLT 286 laptop that cost (thankfully not me!) $5,399 which weighs only 14 pounds they're welcome to come and collect it.
--- End quote ---

That reminds me, I _must_ come around to collect that vice & have a chin-wag....

I actually have a BBC "B" sat right here beside me, with the desirable (and ubiquitous) Microvetec CUB monitor & a dual floppy of unknown origin.  It's not quite an instant start - you have to wait for the monitor to warm up first, but I won't begrudge you the beeb's "boo-beep!" starting signal. My old QL took longer to get going, but then it did do a RAM check on all 128K, then waited for you to tell it if you had a monitor or TV attached... The Sharp MZ-80B & MZ-80K that occupy the space to the left of the Beeb take even longer to boot - you have to load the OS from tape! Or use the built-in Monitor app to manually key machine code of course... tedious, but not impossible.

AS for the long-gone and much lamented HP1000, that was one of those computers you could program MC from the front panel.... if you knew Octal. I did find a program that made it count up & down the indicator lights, which I actually keyed & got working. Shame it needed 2 filing-cabinet sized cabs to live in, excluding the external tape drive (about the size of a dishwasher). Heady stuff.

I still have a working MicroVAX 3100 here, another cracking machine, if only it didn't need re-licencing annually, a procedure I forget how to do every damn year.

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