User Feedback :: Kernel and Apps outdated



I love DSL.  Its small,fast,and quite flexible. Figures, thats what Linux is all about.  

But I really wish that the author would update the Kernel more often.

I cant install it on my pc since native SATA wasnt implemented until v2.6.

Also the apps are outdated, Firefox, XMMS.  I believe keeping these things up to date will increase people's satisfaction with the overall quality of the OS, and will help ensure it will work on modern hardware.

Its worth the effort, so I suggest the author/'s to do something about it.

kernel.org
Pardon my butting into your complaint, but since when does older mean obsolete?  Just to clear up an apparent misconception, the 2.4 kernel is not being used in DSL because of a lack of diligence on the part of the author, but is being used because it is smaller, faster, and (i think) supports a greater amount of older hardware.  I don't know anything about the prevalence of sata drives at this time, but my guess is that is is not yet worth the bother for a much larger kernel.  Anyone who knows me to be wrong, please correct me.
I believe the same sort of thing applies to the other apps you mentioned.  We see it all the time....applications adding file size with every release.  Sometimes the extra size is justified, sometimes is just a dumb choice to double the size of an app just for the sake of a 'prettier' interface.  But i digress....
Main point i'm trying to make is that there is and has always been a lot of thought put into deciding what should be added and what should be removed in order to keep the distro at 50mb or less, and at the same time be as friendly to old hardware as possible.
There are many challenges involved with "keeping up" with the
latest and greatest kernel, apps, etc.. that are unique to this distro..

Keeping it under 50MB's is a constant challenge..
Other distros don't have this to contend with this issue.
They simply add another .iso, CD, or DVD to the mix to accomodate.

Support for older boxen is to be considered, especially with
this distro, which caters to recycling older hardware..
That fact makes this distro extremely popular worldwide..

Many of the apps included in the distro are updated as required,
for security reasons, or to add flavor and features to the mix,
when they do not add additional weight to the package.

Code bloat is the main reason that many apps are not
upgraded to the 'latest & greatest'.  As many programs
migrate to gtk2, they are no longer useable in DSL.
( no room for gtk2 in DSL ) ..

...and while some newer apps offer more bells & whistles,
the ones found in DSL serve their intended purpose as faithfully
as the day they were new, with a much leaner footprint..

Same with newer kernels , which may offer modules or support newer
hardware, but at the expense of dropping support for older hardware.
Making a newer version ( i.e. 2.6 ) fit inside the 50MB wall, would
only aggravate this situation further, as more modules would be left out.

So, DSL could take the route of removing useful, but somewhat dated
apps, in favor of 'keeping up'  with other distros, or offering a more
recent flavor of various apps and tools, but the userbase we have
now would scream in agony at the loss of speed, support, and increases
in ram and HD usage, just to move ahead in version numbers..

The real beauty in truth is that, if you REALLY want them,
( the fat, newer apps ) they are so easy to ADD to DSL,
once you've spent some time learning how to use the features
included in the myDSL system.. Firefox-1.0.4, Gaim-1.3.1, etc..
Hundreds of extra apps, just a click away, that are recent builds,
contributed by the userbase themselves, that 'plug-in' to the distro
with just a click or two.. No compiling, No configuring, No dependancies.

As for SATA support ...
Others here have success with their SATA in DSL ..
And there is some SATA support being passed down into the
latest 2.4 kernels also, so there is hope down the road here..
If SATA is all that is holding you back, grab an old boatanchor,
and get inside this distro to find out it's strengths,
or choose to contribute to improve on its weaknesses..

Keep an eye on DSL...  
Enough said !  w00t !!

73
ke4nt
now that you're done with your theories i'd like to say something more practical

i believe the firefox versioning should be as it is. i find the newer versions less comfortable to use; features such as the yellow bar thing disturb me.
the same applies for gtk2, as kent puts it

on the other hand i suggest we look closer before we dismiss 2.6
freezing the kernel might just stagnate the development os dsl as a whole. that said i don't think it's necessary yet. maybe a 1.2 release would be appropriate
2.6 is most likely never going to happen, but an update to a version of 2.4 that supports more sata devices than 2.4.26 is possible.

2.6 is just too fat, slow, and drops support for too many legacy technologies to be what is "right" for DSL.
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