> ....before people start the flame-fest, yes, you do got to know where a
> slow machine will do just fine.

I whole heartily agree point being your still using a modern OS. Given
the opportunity I would take a 300MHz machine load Linux on it and use
it for a router or firewall or IDS and it would be perfect for that.
And it would cost you almost nothing to implement. If  win9x was more
stable and secure and could be networked properly you could use it for
the same purposes. In either case It wouldn't be a main development
system or platform.

> Linux is complex enough to supply all the rope needed to do the system
> in. On the other hand, if you follow the crowd (and do not do things
> outside the box, like attempting to update the system in bulk using
> packages from another system, based on the *wrong* assumption that any
> rpm package is a rpm package), you will have a smooth ride.

That is why there are multiple repositories for all supported
architectures on each version of the distribution. If your are really
paranoid about it though you can always use Gentoo witch offers
portage a package manager that does all the above mentioned package
manager operations but compiles the code on your system to your
specific compiler flags. This sounds great at first but gets really
tiresome after awhile while waiting an hour or more when a rpm
packages could have you up and running in seconds. Ever try compiling
KDE last time I did it about a year ago it took about 7hrs on a 1.3GHz
XP; I have yet to try it on my current A64 3000+ machine but I am sure
it will still take several hours. Knoppix is great though I use
Knoppix STD (security tools distribution) all the time when i am away
from home. I rather have something a bit more standard for a permanent
 install but that isn't to say you couldn't use knoppix for your main
install.

>This is something of a catch-22.  There are lots of useful things
>one can do with a 2-generations old used PC (nearly free.)  But in order
>to do that, you have to understand a lot more than the average person
>who can't afford a new computer.  You're no longer "mainstream", you're
>no longer "supported."  To a large extent, you're no longer
>"supportable",
>except by the rare (relatively speaking) geek.

I agree and I would never suggest that a person or company who needs
support would try to come up with solutions using obsolete technology.
 My point simply was to backpedal a bit  and say that a properly
motivated and knowledgeable person lacking other resources besides
grey mater could still do some cool things. Its rare to see it
actually happen though. When it does happen it usually will require
someone with a higher than normal knowledge of both the current and
the target technology to draw comparisons and come up with work
arounds not someone using the old technology because they feel its
simpler. Obviously everyone cant be the century's next great engineer
or scientist otherwise we would all be arguing about our inertia
dampeners and temporal displacement experiments rather than Linux vs
windows and servo control circuits. My initial point was the
electronic hobbyist community seems to be stuck in a rut using old
obsolete technology. I still stand by that and think its time to move
on to a modern operating system and interface of your choosing but I
am just trying not to exclude those who have no other choice saying it
is possible to do new innovative stuff it just not likely and it wont
be easy.

By the way after all this Linux whoring I am doing I would just like
to say I am studying for my MCSE on Server 2003 and am not a Microsoft
hater.


Justin

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