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200 MB RAM FreeBSD desktop

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Re: 200 MB RAM FreeBSD desktop

#72

Post by direwolf20 »

hsbauauvhabzb wrote: post #28
badc0ffee wrote: post #8

I remember booting up Debian into an X11 session on a laptop with only 8 MB of RAM. (This would have been circa 2000, and I think I had to try a few different distros before finding one that worked. Also I don't think I did anything with it beyond Xterm and Xeyes.)

I don’t know how resolution maps to ram in x11 but I assume at least one byte per pixel. Based on that assumption, there’s no chance you’d even be able to power a 4k monitor with 8mb of ram, let alone the rest of the system.

X11 was designed to support bit depths down to 1 bit per pixel.

Re: 200 MB RAM FreeBSD desktop

#76

Post by burner420042 »

creshal wrote: post #60
flohofwoe wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> is it the UI animations, color themes, shades etc etc or is it the underlying operating system that has more and more features, services etc etc ? ...all of those and more? New software is only optimized until it is not outright annoying to use on current hardware, it's always been like that and that's why there are old jokes like: "What Andy giveth, Bill taketh away." "Software is like a gas, it expands to consume…

Indeed. Much of a modern Linux desktop e.g. runs inside one of multiple not very well optimized JS engines: Gnome uses JS for various desktop interactions, and all major desktops run a different JS engine as a different user to evaluate polkit authorizations (so exactly zero RAM could be shared between those engines, even if they were identical, which they aren't), and then half your interactions with GUI tools happe…

A month with CrunchBang Plus Plus (which is a really nice distribution based on Openbox) and you'll appreciate how quick and well put together Openbox and text based config files are.

Re: 200 MB RAM FreeBSD desktop

#78

Post by PaulRobinson »

hsbauauvhabzb wrote: post #28
badc0ffee wrote: post #8

I remember booting up Debian into an X11 session on a laptop with only 8 MB of RAM. (This would have been circa 2000, and I think I had to try a few different distros before finding one that worked. Also I don't think I did anything with it beyond Xterm and Xeyes.)

I don’t know how resolution maps to ram in x11 but I assume at least one byte per pixel. Based on that assumption, there’s no chance you’d even be able to power a 4k monitor with 8mb of ram, let alone the rest of the system.

Correct, 4k is very modern by these standards. But then I'm old, so perhaps it's all about perspective.

Back in the days when computers had 8MB of RAM to handle all that MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 goodness, we were still in the territory of VGA [0], and SVGA [1] territory, and the graphics cards (sorry, integrated graphics on the motherboard?! You're living in the future there, that's years away!), had their own RAM to support those resolutions and colour depths.

Of course, this is all for PCs. By the mid-1990s you could get a SPARCstation 5 [2] with a 24" Sun-branded Sony Trinitron monitor that was rather more capable.

[0] Maxed out at 640 x 480 in 16-colour from an 18-bit colour gamut

[1] The "S" is for Super: 1280 x 1024 with 256 colours!

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARCstation_5

Re: 200 MB RAM FreeBSD desktop

#79

Post by eukara »

heraldgeezer wrote: post #19
ryan-c wrote: post #18

opens blog post sees lunduke closes blog post

For us not in the know, why is this bad? Is he ""bigoted"" ? :(

The maker of the provocative "Linux sucks" series is a bit of a troll. He's made videos on technical projects he doesn't understand (or care about) and just mocks them if they don't gel with him. As far as I can tell he doesn't really care, or if he thinks he does - his actions aren't translating well.

How do I know? As a FOSS developer myself with a decade plus public history I also happen to know a few people running prominent FOSS projects.

He's burned bridges for no good reason. He doesn't care.

Re: 200 MB RAM FreeBSD desktop

#80

Post by themafia »

werdl wrote: post #3

[flagged]

Saying shill implies XLibre is some kind of scam he's trying to trick you into, where as, if you don't like it, you're absolutely free to not use it.

Or, what's the popular line in this scenario, "if you don't like it go make your own?"

I'm sorry.. I just find the reliable cult of software personality on HN to be a little frustrating.

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