But this is a big advantage of Tiny Core! Simplicity to me means it's easy to understand everything, and not changing things all the time like most other distros is a big part of that.
@CNK: Your version of "Simplicity" is based on your
existing level of expertise. Someone without the knowledge of how shell scripts operate, for example, will be dumbfounded.
"...so why push dropping i486 compatibility..."
Not interested in
dropping anything at all...
However, we (CentralWare) and TCL's Admins (TinyCoreLinux) are likely to be in the same boat.
We cannot "support" a hardware platform which we cannot replicate its environment.
I tossed my last 486 many years ago - though I think I still have an old DX chip in the archive just for grins.
In fact, I think there's even a Fire Starter (Blue Lightning Cyrix) in a shadow-box alongside a mini fire extinguisher.
That, along with a framed Gates 'n Crew photo after the IBM-DOS agreement/purchase.
Example 1: A few months ago User wants TCL to compile an extension to be used on old hardware. (486 if I'm not mistaken.) TCL Admin gladly accommodates the User; compilation goes through without a hitch... User comes back claiming extension throws an error (Illegal Op / Seg Fault if I'm not mistaken) - Admin can't replicate user's hardware environment, all support here-after becomes theoretical at best. Hours are wasted trying to guess what the problem might be, advising User "Try This" and "Try That" to no avail. This is where trying to "support" Users on old hardware becomes daunting. If the TOS were to claim "...
may work on i486... but not directly supported..." or something of that nature and IF peeps were to actually read it, hopefully fewer bruised emotions would exist if something took place similar to the story above. (QEMU is not a viable testing grounds. Too many false-negatives. Teaching someone to source/compile/package an extension with zero or very little experience goes a bit beyond "supporting" Users.)
Example 2: We had a project handed to us during the COVID outbreak after Raspberry Pi boards became scalper fodder. The Client wanted us to replicate a Linux based operating system "stripped down to the bare basics" similar to the TCL concept but on a board that's NOT a RasPi and thus TCL doesn't work on it "as-is." We have a dozen or so of these boards in the archive as part of the project's overhead as we cannot possibly "support" something we cannot replicate.
@everyone:
@curaga is correct; I may not have been clear. Our project is completely separate from Tiny Core Linux Version 15.x and older and may or may not even become Tiny Core Linux related -- this is determined by the existing Admins along with the voice of its Users. We are building this project almost-completely-from-scratch (no sense re-inventing the wheel in some instances!) using notes gathered over the past decade along with a few ounces of common sense based on Tiny Core's Users, posts made in the past couple years and deducting what could have made it possible for many of the support related posts to not have been needed in the first place. Even if our project does not become associated with the Tiny Core repository, Tiny Core will still benefit from it in the long run.
@gadget42: I think our oldest boxes also date around athlon/opteron and Core/Core2 eras, many of which are about to be retired along with a few containers of AGP/PCI/etc. cards some time this upcoming year.
ISO: How about a web page made up like a pizza ordering menu? You pick the kernel/busybox/core features and versions, add your pepperoni, sausage, etc. (extensions) and out pops an email with a download link to the final package? (This entire concept is still on the drawing/white-board as there are debates over complexity for the end user.) The reason for this starting is due to Raspberry Pi user requests over problems of Internet access and the lack of WiFi extensions not already being a part of the downloaded image and other similar problems arising where the boot image only fits, say, 85% of the general population and the other 15% are instant support tickets or told "try Big Brother Distro." (TCL extensions are cloud based; if the boot image cannot gain access to the repo, the experience stalls.)
Puppy (Noble): ISO = 361MB
DSL 2024 ISO = 1.1GB and 685MB
The argument above is Internet/bandwidth challenged Users being unable to obtain boot images of that size
Regardless, we'll see what the future has in store when we get there!
Which isn't that far away! It's New Year's Eve! (Here, at least!)
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