> I can't agree more. I would rather spend 1~2 hours download the 7 MB
> source code with my 14.4 Kb modem while I watching TV and eating my
> dinner, than spend 1~2 hours pulling my hair out and trying to figure
> out whether I need to download this module or not.
To the end user, the process would be much the same... you download the
latest "bare minimum" package, and then make config (or whatever you do)..
Then while you watch tv and eat your dinner, some script runs in the
background that reads in your .config and downloads only the files you
need, and then starts compiling..
Of course, some people have plenty of megs to spare, and could care less
about people who have to save space (telling them to just buy newer
harddrives or faster modems).. But there is still alot of old hardware out
there, and people using linux on it.. (my 386 was useless except as a dumb
terminal until i installed linux).
> bofh@snoopy.virtual.net.au wrote:
> >
> > Some other numbers that I think are relevant:
> >
> > 1 year ago the common hard drive size ~500megs with 1.2gig being the biggest
> > that most people were buying. Now 1gig+ is the common size and 3gigs is the
> > common purchase size for people not running DOS.
> >
> > 1 year ago 14K4 Internet access was still pretty common. Now it seems that
> > 28K8 is the bare minimum and 33K6 is becoming very common. ISDN and cable
> > modems are now starting to be found in homes.
> >
> > If hard drive size and Internet connection speed double, then is the doubling
> > of the kernel source archive size an issue?
> >
> > Russell Coker
> >
> > PS I still think that the way to go is to have some scripts to allow the
> > upload of a .config file to a web server which will then send a .tgz file with
> > complete compiled kernel and modules. I'll run it on my server if someone else
> > writes it.
>
> --
> Max Chern, Unix Software Engineer | Voice: 213-644-9600
> EarthLink Network, Inc. | Fax: 213-644-9542
> maxchern@earthlink.net | 3171 Los Feliz Blvd.
> http://www.earthlink.net/ | Los Angeles, CA 90039
>