On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 15:26:49 -0500 daniel quinn <freebsd at danielquinn.org>
wrote:
>On January 19, 2005 03:06 pm, Anthony Atkielski wrote:
>> Freebsd0101 at aol.com writes:
>>
>> Fac> I think the "junky old PC" market is just what the current FreeBSD
>> "team" Fac> is targeting.
>>
>> At least someone is thinking of it. There are a lot of PCs out there
>> that are still in perfect working order, but are too slow to run the
>> hugely bloated desktop operating systems (and the "server" versions
>> thereof) that are popular today. Efficient operating systems like UNIX
>> can give these machines new life and purpose and save tremendous
>> resources in the process.
>>
>> Indeed, someone in the Third World without the means to buy a new PC and
>> an expensive Windows license could find a junk PC and install FreeBSD on
>> it for nothing, and be up and running in no time. While UNIX doesn't
>> have the advantages of Windows on the desktop, you can't beat the price,
>> and it'll run on anything.
>
>not to mention the huge environmental implications of producing newer hardware
>every year to support said bloated hardware. if the same job can be done
>with a 10 year old box, i'm glad freebsd is here to help me do it.
>
The recent discussion in this thread causes me to wonder whether
FreeBSD's performance on older, slower equipment could be a contributing
factor to why hardware vendors like Dell and ATI are willing to provide only
limited support for LINUX and none at all for FreeBSD. After all, if FreeBSD
lets a Pentium II w/MMX handle, for example, a moderately loaded web site or
large network firewall or some other reasonable use and thereby obviating many
purchases of hardware upgrades, why would they want to encourage its use?
Scott Bennett, Comm. ASMELG, CFIAG
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