User Feedback :: rethinking DSL



With much thought over the last couple of years (yes years) I've come to the conclusion that the relevancy of having a sub 50MB distribution is diminishing daily.  With this in mind I believe that its time to modify the goals of this distribution.  

Instead of being a fixed size DSL should have a fixed goal, namely, running fast and well on older hardware.  Older needs to be defined; I'm thinking about 10 years old.  This way the target is fixed yet the target capabilities can change with time.  

So, DSL should stay compact, yet grow to give a fuller desktop experience.  Applications should be functional and speedy, yet reliable and usable in today's environment without stressing out older hardware.


Sankarv pointed out that it would be a great advantage to offer both a 2.4 and a 2.6 kernel option.  I think that's a great idea which would allow for the widest amount of hardware compatibility.

I'm concentrating on application and lib updating first, then we'll address  a 2.6 kernel later.  We already have a good  base with the 2.4 kernel.

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Okay, so that's the grand plan, now there's a thousand steps to take.  I'd like feedback on applications.  What do you like? What should remain behind?  What's worth modifying?  Keep in mind the goal of running well and speedy on 10 year old hardware.  I think this means no GTK2, if you disagree with me please state your case.
My transition from using and maintaining suse linux and novell networks to hardcore DSL 0.81 hacking was rocky to say the least.  2.6 has so many features required by todays machines sata being a good example.  

I agree with the new way of thinking and the new aims, and doubling the size to 100MB sticks with the damn small point of view and still fits on an 8cm disk.  even so Its still slower than Moores law!     having a limit keeps things clean and efficient.

However I would like to keep the 50mb 4.4.10 type download online as it is time served and polished and works very well for the equipment > 10 years old.  the machine Im on now has a win98 badge on it.  to dump 4X is very Gatesesq.

is it possible to hold on to this along with all the shingldecker code but shift focus to a centilinux?

stu
Won't this affect the time dsl takes to load toram at boot?!
And also limit my operability by hogging more memory in the toram mode?!
I like dsl mainly for its ability to load fully to ram and blitz up my computing from there. I feel that's how an OS gets closest to what it was meant to be in the first place. The INVISIBLE yet omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God of a machine.
This is also the main point I use to advocate it, and from my experience it really works.
I really don't want all that to change.
If anything I would just like it to go toram faster and occupy lesser space in ram while doing so, and yet do all the things anyone (well atleast a power user) would ever want to do with their machine.
i think you should concentrate around the web browser's, most people come to dsl to try and get a little more life from there old machine. the main thing they want the most is to get on the internet. with this in mind gtk2 and the latest firefox is a nice luxury, other browsers can still be used/installed to support the older systems at the same time. life on line is what people want, gotta have that youtube, so good/latest flash is needed, using online office suites in place of installed programs is a growing trend, being able to check your email straight from the browser. the point is the web browser is the #1 most used application, if it sucks or is not compatible with modern web sites, nothing else matters, they won't use the os.
Most 10 year old PCs comes with a CRT monitor and the 60 Hz Xvesa refresh rate is a pain on many of them. Please substitute Xvesa with a full X-server which supports 70+ Hz.
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