02-04-2024, 01:45 PM
IMHO - DSL as-is .. is just another in a already fully-fluxed arena (Fatdog, Puppy ...etc.).
Better ... and simpler, would be a 'small' similar to my own. A vmlinuz with integral intiramfs, 25MB filesize, where all my modules/firmware are built into the kernel and the initramfs contains just enough to boot to a vesa/simpledrm framebuffer (very generic), wifi/eth net connect, alsa/sndio and has ssh/vnc. Very portable, many devices support vesa and can boot provided secure-boot is disabled, boots in a second, ssh/vnc connects in a couple more seconds, and drops you into a full gui desktop that may be running chrome to view youtubes ... whatever, and has the appearance of running at the net/cpu speed of whatever you vnc into.
Bloat the kernel, to include a broader range of device support, and the size increase is still relatively small. Perhaps a 50MB vmlinuz filesize (assuming xz compressed).
Booting in a second, dropping into a full gui desktop (libre office, chrome ...etc.) in a couple of seconds more - resuming where you left off, with a look-n-feel of running at whatever the server runs at ... can be impressive, and usable enough to retain users - I use mine as my primary choice of boot. As my ISP caps upload speeds to 20Mbs (2.5MB/sec) I've set a default of using 12 frames per second, 16 bit color depth ... and that still looks/feels fine, whilst typically seeing 2MB/sec (16Mbs) data rates when viewing a youtube. I also have a vncserver on my phone (termux (not rooted) based). The home server is a i5/nvidia/ethernet box, so for instance when out and about and vnc'd into that a online-internet-speed-test will appear to provide a 140Mbs download rate, as will high resolution videos/youtubes appear to play OK (but in reality where many frames are actually skipped/dropped).
And that transfers the overhead of having to maintain repos, as that's then the servers responsibility. I often have multiple vnc's running concurrently, windows, mac, linux, bsd, android ... whatever, according to whichever program/app is appropriate at the time.
As-is I see DSL being just a another novelty, try once for fun, maybe then just gathers dust or is removed. Missing out on a better market-share at the lower terminal-server style end that DSL could have thrown itself into. But fair enough, DSL could still be setup/used in a similar vein to my framebuffer boot, load Xvnc for a X session, run vncviewer in that to connect to a remote vncserver, and framebuffer vnc into that local Xvnc session (were all elements are set to 16 bit color depth, and the servers are set to 12 frames/second).
JMHO. Not intended as a criticism, congratulations to the DSL team for their hard work/efforts in reviving DSL.
Better ... and simpler, would be a 'small' similar to my own. A vmlinuz with integral intiramfs, 25MB filesize, where all my modules/firmware are built into the kernel and the initramfs contains just enough to boot to a vesa/simpledrm framebuffer (very generic), wifi/eth net connect, alsa/sndio and has ssh/vnc. Very portable, many devices support vesa and can boot provided secure-boot is disabled, boots in a second, ssh/vnc connects in a couple more seconds, and drops you into a full gui desktop that may be running chrome to view youtubes ... whatever, and has the appearance of running at the net/cpu speed of whatever you vnc into.
Bloat the kernel, to include a broader range of device support, and the size increase is still relatively small. Perhaps a 50MB vmlinuz filesize (assuming xz compressed).
Booting in a second, dropping into a full gui desktop (libre office, chrome ...etc.) in a couple of seconds more - resuming where you left off, with a look-n-feel of running at whatever the server runs at ... can be impressive, and usable enough to retain users - I use mine as my primary choice of boot. As my ISP caps upload speeds to 20Mbs (2.5MB/sec) I've set a default of using 12 frames per second, 16 bit color depth ... and that still looks/feels fine, whilst typically seeing 2MB/sec (16Mbs) data rates when viewing a youtube. I also have a vncserver on my phone (termux (not rooted) based). The home server is a i5/nvidia/ethernet box, so for instance when out and about and vnc'd into that a online-internet-speed-test will appear to provide a 140Mbs download rate, as will high resolution videos/youtubes appear to play OK (but in reality where many frames are actually skipped/dropped).
And that transfers the overhead of having to maintain repos, as that's then the servers responsibility. I often have multiple vnc's running concurrently, windows, mac, linux, bsd, android ... whatever, according to whichever program/app is appropriate at the time.
As-is I see DSL being just a another novelty, try once for fun, maybe then just gathers dust or is removed. Missing out on a better market-share at the lower terminal-server style end that DSL could have thrown itself into. But fair enough, DSL could still be setup/used in a similar vein to my framebuffer boot, load Xvnc for a X session, run vncviewer in that to connect to a remote vncserver, and framebuffer vnc into that local Xvnc session (were all elements are set to 16 bit color depth, and the servers are set to 12 frames/second).
JMHO. Not intended as a criticism, congratulations to the DSL team for their hard work/efforts in reviving DSL.
