Baslinux mailing list

[qwms-avib AT dea.spamcon.org]

sindi keesan wrote:
> 
> New versions of things are not always just bigger, 
> sometimes they are even better.

Sure, developers always put "improvements" in the newer 
versions.  If it is important for you to have the latest 
(most improved) version of everything, then you should 
run an up-to-date distribution (preferably on up-to-date
hardware).

Until six months ago, my best computer was a 486 (now 
I have a P166).  People are always telling me that my 
hardware is too old and slow to run anything useful.  
The fact is:  just ten years ago a 486 was considered 
a powerful machine, capable of running a business or 
playing the most fantastic games.  The hardware hasn't 
changed -- a 486 is still powerful.  What's changed is 
the software -- bloated, badly-written code that chokes 
the hardware with eye-candy and pointless "improvements".  

The target machine for BL2 is a high-end 486 or low-end 
Pentium.  In order to get reasonable performance on those
machines, I need to avoid fat, feature-rich software.  
No glibc 2.3, no XFree version 4 and no 2.4 kernel.

> Maybe the rest of you are viewing basiclinux as a challenge
> - how to get the 2.1.3 library to work with all the programs 
> you are interested in 

If you want a real challenge, you should try BL1.  It uses
the libc5 library (much smaller than glibc 2.1).  Finding 
pre-compiled binaries for libc5 is like hunting for Sadam.  

> I just want to be able to find precompiled binaries that will
> work on my computer.

Then stick with Slackware 7.1 or other sources of binaries 
that are compatible with Slackware 7.1.  If you want to
chase the latest binaries, then BL2 is probably not the
best distribution for you.  You mentioned before that you
are running SuSE on one of your machines -- perhaps that
is a better distribution for you to use?

> I just want to be able to find precompiled binaries of 
> programs that I have not been able to find for Slackware 7.1.

Then do what I do:  go to freshmeat and search through the
offerings.  Trial and error.  Install and delete.  Or go
to google and try to find old versions of binaries sitting
forgotten on some server.

> I am still hoping someone more knowledgeable will do it 
> first and provide complete beginner's instructions).

Don't look at me.  I'm very happy with glibc 2.1.  I'm not 
going to waste my time installing a fatter library when every 
binary I need works fine with 2.1.
 
Cheers,
Steven