On Dec 13, 2007 1:41 AM, Mackenzie Morgan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Until CD drives go the way of 5.25" floppy drives, I think we need to keep > install CDs around.
A 'back of the envelope' calculation: 1. Ubuntu can still work (albeit a bit on the slow side) on a 500 MHz machine with 256 MB RAM circa 2000 (my daughter uses such a system). So Ubuntu still has real value for systems seven years old. 2. Windows XP, released in 2001, set the minimum baseline for computer hardware for just over half a decade. There is a lot of it floating around; 32-bit single core processors, mostly 1 GB of RAM or less, with CD-ROM drives on lower-end machines and DVD-ROMs on higher end models. This will be what Ubuntu will find itself installed on a lot of over the next few years. 3. Dell (being used as an example of a major OEM) is still selling CD-ROMs by default on their low-end *VISTA* machines. Thus we should expect that CD-ROMs will be around for quite a while. However, I think I have realized something important: CD-ROMs will generally be associated with 32-bit processors. DVD-ROMs will generally be associated with 64-bit processors and newer/upgraded 32-bit systems. So let's use that as a dividing line; let's keep the 32-bit x86 disks as CDs, BUT... let's switch the 64-bit disks to DVDs. > Making DVD isos with more stuff available is fine, but > the main part of the distro should fit on a CD. I have a suggestion that I brought up in Sounder: ubuntu-extras metapackage https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/sounder/2007-December/010924.html For the 32-bit CDs, let's have a fully functional install on a single CD. We can freeze the apps at roughly the current set and any new ones can be put in an 'ubuntu-extras' metapackage. 32-bit users can install the package (by themselves or by prompt at installation if they have a working network connection), but 64-bit users will have it installed by default from the DVD. This will allow a nice progression from XP-era 32-bit processor computers to a new 64-bit era (which hopefully will be software libre based :) Ubuntu development won't be constrained to 700 MB and we can have lots of 'WinFOSS' on the DVDs. Does this sound like a good solution to the space issue? I hope so :) CK -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
