Mail Archives: djgpp/2009/06/19/18:30:58
Hi,
On Jun 12, 10:13=A0pm, Rugxulo <rugx DOT DOT DOT AT gmail DOT com> wrote:
>
> On May 22, 5:04=A0pm, Rugxulo <rugx DOT DOT DOT AT gmail DOT com> wrote:
>
> > On May 18, 9:46=A0pm, "A. Wik" <r DOT DOT DOT AT dynamite DOT narpes DOT com> wrote:
>
> Red Hat just released Fedora 11, which supposedly crams OpenOffice and
> Java on one CD thanks to compression. And they use GCC 4.4.0 to host
> everything. If all that's true, that's quite a feat, because a lot of
> other distros don't include half that and yet still use a full CD
> (which is annoying, even with a fast connection).
No, their liveCD doesn't have OpenOffice, only AbiWord. Nor do they
have GCC (although CC1 exists by itself, which is almost definitely a
mistake). Why don't all *nixes include GCC? It's so extremely
frustrating not having a compiler. I guess they prefer other languages
instead (e.g. Python -> Yum, Perl -> whatever) for quick development.
Or maybe they ran out of room. Still, it's very hard to imagine most
other things are more important than GCC.
I don't disagree with tons and tons of distributions, but they are all
too media-oriented. Too much overlap. It seems there are billions
modeled after Slackware, Debian, Ubuntu (Debian-based), or to a lesser
extent Fedora or Mandriva or even Puppy.
About ten years ago, it seems even DJ had the idea (despite
disagreeing with it) of a Linux-based DJGPP install. "Let's not
reinvent the wheel." But progress involves reinventing the wheel
constantly (although a lot of times that's due to disagreements over
policy, licensing, requirements, patents, etc).
(quoting DJ):
"
Example: Do a "DJGPP/Linux" distribution, which is a Linux bundle
specifically designed for users who will run DJGPP programs in DOSEMU
(although *I* don't see the point in that ;). Include a cross
compiler, native djgpp and linux tools, but toss all the multi
user/server stuff (i.e. make a dos-like machine with a linux kernel).
Prepackage it with all the usual DJGPP goodies installed by default.
Add a point-n-click admin tool that really covers 100% of all the
stuff it comes with (you can do this if you limit what it comes
with).
Start with a raw Linux kernel and build it up from there, dos-style
(config.sys, autoexec.bat anyone? (ick)).
"
The advantage of this would be USB support, running other stuff in the
background, etc. while still keeping DOS apps working. Note that I
have never seen any Linux distro include DOSEMU by default (and only
two or three ever had DOSBox). However, I probably wouldn't include
every DJGPP package because that would take up too much room. Else I'd
want to heavily compress them, esp. stuff not often used. Heck, NetBSD
supposedly used to work with DOSEMU at one time also, so that could be
another option just for variety / comparison. But whatever, I know
this isn't interesting to anybody besides myself (and I'm too wimpy to
do it all myself). And, to be completely honest, I'd want it extremely
minimal, at least optionally. No reason to need 600+ MB just for this.
No media stuff. Maybe very little (or no?) Internet stuff too.
Probably no man or Info files. Not even sure which kernel to use,
probably 2.4.x.
Oh well, this is all just wishful thinking, and certainly it won't get
done overnight (heh, that's an understatement).
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