CD vs DVD (was Re: No more OOo in UNR 10.04)

[Knapp]

On Mon, Feb 8, 2010 at 11:13 AM, Steve <yorvik.ubunto at googlemail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:31:40 -0000, Graham Todd
> <grahamtodd2 at googlemail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 8 Feb 2010 07:37:38 +0000
>> Avi Greenbury <avismailinglistaccount at googlemail.com> uttered these
>> words:
>>
>>> > Just thinking out loud but why ? How many machines out there have a
>>> > CD but not DVD drive these days.
>> [snipped]
>>
>> There are lots of distros specially aimed at, or can support, old(er)
>> equipment.  I personally get computers with "only" a CD driver from
>> Freecycle (an organisation set up to exchange between members all sorts
>> of items which would otherwise go to a landfill), when the user gets a
>> new computer: there's often nothing wrong with the old computer, but
>> its discarded.  Yet, if there is I can do basic repairs.  I make sure it
>> works, put Xubuntu or Ubuntu on it and Freecycle it or give it away
>> again; many older people that couldn't afford a new computer have my
>> refurbished ones locally.
>>
>> I know of at least one charity in the UK which does the self same
>> thing, but give computer repair skills to homeless and unemployed
>> youngsters; they sell the computers to help fund the project.  See:
>>
>> http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/jamiescomputers/
>> or
>> http://www.jamiescomputerclub.org.uk/home/home.php
>>
> Another one http://www.energy2all.co.uk/index.htm
>
>> I'm sure there must be third world countries also with this sort of set
>> up.  The point I'm making is that there is definitely a need for older
>> computers with a CD drive, and if the CD drive contains a writer, that
>> might be all the users need.
>>
> Not just third world counties, any country has loads of machines like this.
>
>> So, in answer to your question, there are literally hundreds of
>> computers "out there" (maybe thousands) awaiting refurbishment, that
>> have only a CD drive in them.
>>
>> I think there is a real need, however, (given bandwith constraints) for
>> a tutorial on screen on how to use torrents or jigdo.
>>
> Even then, downloading a DVDs worth of data is a long winded process if
> you have 1Mb or less of bandwidth.
>
> --
> Steve

Ubuntu is a high end product. Kubutu will not even boot on my 6 year
old laptop (guessing 512 mb ram is the problem) but Xubuntu will, have
not tried Ubuntu though. My point is that a DVD might be right for
Ubuntu in a few years, if not now. There are lots of distros out there
for people will older slower computers. I really like Tiny Core Linux
for my Laptop now because it has no harddrive and thus with TC boots
in like 30 seconds off the CD.



-- 
Douglas E Knapp

Open Source Sci-Fi mmoRPG Game project.
http://sf-journey-creations.wikispot.org/Front_Page
http://code.google.com/p/perspectiveproject/