Re: [Rule-list] Red Hat No Longer Supports 486

[Colin Mattoon]

On Thu, 31 Oct 2002 01:25:57 +0100
Martin Stricker <address@hidden> wrote:<and I clipped>

 
> So my question at all of us is: Do we want to find one way to
> proceed with RULE, or could we split up our efforts into several
> distros*without* those nasty distro wars? Opinions and needs are
> different. If we proceed carefully I'm positive that the different
> subprojects will be able to help each other.
> 
Well, maybe in the end the only  answer that can be agreed upon is
simply to use a stock Debian or Slackware system if you need something
compatible with pre-Pentium processors and/or less than 64 MB RAM, and
run Red Hat or whatever else you like if you don't.  

Understand that I wasn't attempting to start a distro war...I
really just wanted to explore the idea of starting with a distro that
already meets the hardware goals defined  by the Rule-Project and
adding (for want of a better term) a "Red Hat compatibility layer." 

This would meet some of the other Rule-Project goals: chiefly,
modernity and easy access to Red Hat binaries. Sort of like running
VMWare under Slackware "on the iron," and being able to run MS-DOS,
Windows, Red Hat, SuSE, etc., in VMWare. Technically, of course, it is
completely different, but conceptually similar: Slackware used just as
the foundation.

As far as which distro is "best," I don't claim to know, and I don't
care. What I do know is that, 1; Slackware will install on almost any
older PC while Red Hat will not, and 2; RPMs built for Red Hat are
often much easier to obtain than any other package format, but they're
usually difficult to install and track on a Slackware system. 

Many Slackware users respond by telling you to "compile it
yourself." Since it can be a real pain to compile from source code
even on a Pentium 1 (when you can get the source code), I just thought
an amalgam of these two distros might be useful so that Red Hat
binaries can be easily installed and managed on a low tier Slackware
system. And that's really all I was trying to suggest. (Well except
for the self evident that every thing except Slackware
SUXXX!) {;-D)
 
Later,
Colin Mattoon