25 dollar computer coming

[remus]

Check this out,

www.raspberrypi.org

Its about a 25 dollar computer being released in about 12 months, they are putting ubuntu on it for now, tinycore linux would be better.

[tinypoodle]

It's ARM based...

Ubuntu, Iceweasel, KOffice on 128MB of SDRAM sounds very painful   

[remus]

I know, 128mb of ram wont cut it, i've tried ubuntu on a p4 2.2GHz with 256mb of ram and it ran very slow, the test machine I used at work for tinycore linux is even older and slower than that, and it runs tinycore linux ok.

I'll send the developer an email and let them know about tinycore linux, perhaps the guys developing the 2 projects could collaborate.

[tinypoodle]

I didn't mean to refer only to ubuntu.

iceweasel and koffice sound painful with 128MB RAM each on their own.

[Guy]

I'll send the developer an email and let them know about tinycore linux, perhaps the guys developing the 2 projects could collaborate.

Good idea.

It would be interesting to know how they respond.

[remus]

I didn't mean to refer only to ubuntu.

iceweasel and koffice sound painful with 128MB RAM each on their own.

Ok, i'm going to send the developers of the 25 dollar computer an email now, can anyone recommend a ultra light weight package of extensions that would complement the target computer, such as
- internet browser
- email client
- word processor

Sorry but i'm still new to tinycorelinux and have only tried a few packages so far, to learn how to use it for a server on old hardware.

[remus]

tinycore linux website seems to be down right now, so i'm going to hold off sending the email, as I was going to include links to the core concepts and faq.

[ali]

i don't think tinycore would be a good os to start your linux adventures with

[vinnie]

I think that at the beginning tinycore requires more understanding for its operating systems, but then becomes easier to manage than others.
Just think about the package management, and how its operation is transparent.
The only thing that makes it less intuitive is the lack of a flirtatious and self-explanatory interface (distance that gradually gets shorter), and the presence of some new concept.

On the contrary the weight of an os can not be decorated with bows, on a system of moderate resources such as

[remus]

Tinycore does have a steep learning curve at the beginning.

Perhaps someone with the knowledge and skill could develop a very basic set of apps to get people started. Apps that complement the modest cpu/ram of the 25 dollar computer.

- Web Browser
- Word Processor
- Email Client
- Anti Virus

lets face it, if you can only afford 25 dollars for the system and cheap mouse/keyboard/monitor from somewhere (such as the dump). You might be satisfied with Practical usage, not Ubuntu.

Gives a newbie somewhere to start, and as they learn the ropes of tinycore linux, the skies the limit !!!

[curaga]

Antivirus? Really? Not even on a linux machine in general, but on a really underpowered ARM one?


Really, the only practical need for AV on linux is still servers with Windows clients.

[remus]

I have experienced many virus problems under windows operating systems in my time.

I've been using computers running win os since about 1994.

Sorry about my inexperience with linux, I was making an assumption, that if someone could make a virus to exploit a windows os, surly its possible to make one to exploit a linux os.

Again please forgive me inexperience, i've never stuck with linux very long in the past, i've stuck with tinycore though. I have found clamav extension and used it to clean virus's from flash drives at the community centre where I volunteer, which was great, if i plugged them into a win pc running avg, the virus just spread.

Curaga, my journey into linux this time has been to learn about printer server, file server. Which I have learn't a bit so far. I did some googling about linux security and got lost in a LOT of diverse tangents. I did find something called "Damn vulnerable linux" which I plan to download and study.

http://themostboringblogintheworld.wordpress.com/2007/04/17/damn-vulnerable-linux-the-live-cd-that-teaches-you-how-to-hack-download/

[hiro]

Well, of course Linux is potentially just as insecure as windows, but as you see e.g. in your first research subjects (file and print servers) applications have been traditionally simple, so there aren't lots of entry points or possible exploits, but as linux is getting more complex everyday (Ubuntu Desktop/windows-like experience) the risk is increasing of course.

But you shouldn't try to find every single virus exploiting one of your security problems, instead you should fix these security problems if you find any. That's why anti virus doesn't appeal to me.
When your roof leaks you can catch the water in buckets. But some day you may want to fix it...

[caminati]

I'll send the developer an email and let them know about tinycore linux, perhaps the guys developing the 2 projects could collaborate.

Good idea.

It would be interesting to know how they respond.

Haven't they yet? Anyone knows?

On the ram front, they upgraded (don't know when exactly) their planned specifications from 128Mb Sdram to 256Mb =)
I believe this thingie is going to see light for real only when I see it. Many announced pieces of hardware never made it to the final users!

I consider a fundamental trend in personal computing the switch to usb-centric computers.
My current mini-itx setup relies heavily on every sort of usb gadget to carry on the various tasks I need from time to time: inside it there is only the motherboard (with integrated usb controllers and video chipset), the ram and the cpu.

This Raspberry in particular made me ponder about how nice it would be if even ram could be extensible via USB: one poorman's way would be creating linux swap file/partition on a usb flash drive, but then there are at least two issues: speed and write cycles wear.
The first problem could be mitigated by upcoming usb 3.0. Second issue would be more troublesome: I googled for a non-solid-state usb drive (even some volatile technology embedded inside an usb device would do), but didn't find anything.
I fancy about rendering the ddr ram a sort of second cache, and have a bigger, slower reservoir of memory via usb. This hierarchy (from small&fast to big&slow) should have no pre-defined end: first cpu sram cache, then dram banks, then this imagined usb ram, then maybe remote ram on another appliance, then who knows... =)

Enough of a rant. I like the Raspberry Pi idea, anyway.

[gerald_clark]

There are thousands of non-solidstate USB drives available.  How could you not find one?