Save the environment : Dump Windoze for Linux!
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| henke54 Dec 10, 2007 1:32 AM EDT |
Quoting:CNN reports that "switching from a Windows-operated computer to a Linux-operated one could slash computer-generated e-waste levels by 50%." It's no longer about software freedom. It's also about environmental responsibility.http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9831566-16.html :-P |
| ggarron Dec 10, 2007 4:12 AM EDT |
I have never seen that point of view, but yes, Linux needs less hardware so it should be more green :) |
| jsusanka Dec 10, 2007 5:05 AM EDT |
yup totally agree with the article - with everything I do at work I could do everything basically on a nokia tablet 800 as long as I could hook it up to a keyboard and monitor I would be good to go. all I need is email and IM and a ssh session and I am done - that is what I am in 80 to 90 percent of the time at work. although I don't agree with his mac analogy. the macs are the biggest waste - they make great hardware but then they make their os unable to run on their older hardware and then you are stuck with an os on older hardware that works perfectly fine but no security updates for your os. I have a tangerine IMAC that runs older versions of os x fine but it is now done because of their latest os can't run on it because the memory is maxed out. why should I have to throw this box away when it is running perfectly and does what I need to do but yet can't get on the internet because the os is expired and doesn't get security updates anymore. perfect linux candidate and it runs very nicely on it too. just wish we had better java and flash support on it like we do on x86. |
| Sander_Marechal Dec 10, 2007 6:02 AM EDT |
Quoting:everything I do at work I could do everything basically on a nokia tablet 800 as long as I could hook it up to a keyboard and monitor I would be good to go. I am really waiting for the time when I come to work and put my mobile phone in a docking station which has a monitor, keyboard and mouse attached. I.e. your mobile phone *is* your laptop. Re. Macs: Yes, they make great Linux machines. I just installed Debian/GNOME on an iMac G3. Works fine. OOo is a bit slow to start up, but what do you expect with 192 Mb of RAM. The biggest problem for a lot of people is probably the lack of Flash for PPC. Is Gnash good enough these days to run Youtube and Neopets? |
| ColonelPanik Dec 10, 2007 6:50 AM EDT |
Sander, wait, are you saying that I don't need 40MHz processor with
4 Gigs of RAM and 256 video card to read LXer, BoingBoing and Fark? Here in 'merika we drive 350 hp hybrid cars, to save gas, d0h. My new Debian install is on a PIII 533 MHz. Boots quick, runs quick. It is every bit as fast as Ubuntu on my AMD64 3800 w/2gigs RAM. |
| Bob_Robertson Dec 10, 2007 7:10 AM EDT |
I still use a 1998 350MHz K6 laptop with 128M of RAM and a 4GB HD as my backup machine. I actually find it much easier to use to connect to routers, since it has a real 9-pin serial port for connecting to the console ports. It runs up-to-date Debian Sid, exactly the same as my primary super-duper machine. The only "upgrade" it would need, really, is a bigger HD and I would be able to use it for anything "work" related, because it runs OpenOffice just fine. So if it were in a business environment from when I bought it until now, I would have avoided at least two cycles of hardware replacement by virtue of the hardware frugality of F/OSS. One caveat: If your "business" requirements include full-motion video, a 350MHz K6 is -not- going to do the job. So relegate the "obsolete" machine to a file server, print server, SMTP gateway, router, slideshow presentation server, whatever. No need to throw it away. |
| ColonelPanik Dec 10, 2007 7:27 AM EDT |
Bob_R... Full motion video via Flash? |
| Sander_Marechal Dec 10, 2007 7:42 AM EDT |
Quoting:One caveat: If your "business" requirements include full-motion video, a 350MHz K6 is -not- going to do the job. Eh? I used to run full motion video in 1024x768 on a PII 233 Mhz MMX using Windows 98 (watching ripped DVDs). Surely Linux can outperform Windows on such a system. |
| Bob_Robertson Dec 10, 2007 7:54 AM EDT |
Naa, the flash player is not well optimized. I'm pretty sure it can handle YouTube, but h263 or a large-frame .avi will choke it worse than a golf-ball in a snake's throat. Back when I bought it, the DVD-drive 400MHz version (6 months later than I bought mine) wouldn't play a DVD smoothly. Oh well. Like I said, with only 4G of disk space I don't ask it to do video anyway. |
| NoDough Dec 10, 2007 8:54 AM EDT |
Quoting:...choke it worse than a golf-ball in a snake's throat.Shouldn't slow it down much then. http://www.bentbay.dk/electric_fence.htm |
| ColonelPanik Dec 10, 2007 11:46 AM EDT |
NoDough, w00t. Bob_Robertson, Are you related to John Dvorak? Maybe his illegitimate son? Some ram and a good video card and your old box will do all the video you will ever need. |
| jdixon Dec 10, 2007 11:59 AM EDT |
Bob, I'll back the others up here. From memory, I used to display video on an AMD K6-2 500 machine with 128 MB of RAM and an NVidia GX-440 video card with no problems. Unless your video card isn't up to the task, that machine should be able to handle it. |
| Bob_Robertson Dec 10, 2007 1:37 PM EDT |
It's a cheap no-name laptop. Thanks for all the suggestions about RAM, video cards, etc. Utterly useless in this case. |
| jdixon Dec 10, 2007 1:48 PM EDT |
> Utterly useless in this case. OK. Case made. You are correct. With a non-upgradeable laptop there's no point in trying. |
| Bob_Robertson Dec 10, 2007 4:56 PM EDT |
The point I was trying to make is that even with such a truly "obsolete" system, fully up-to-date software runs just fine on it. I mean, I guess it's been 9 years since a laptop had a _maximum_ installable RAM of 128MB. I upgraded it from 64MB back in 2002, and saw a remarkable difference. That was about the same time as the 2.4.9 "swap storm" fun and games, too. |
| gus3 Dec 10, 2007 8:38 PM EDT |
Don't forget less CPU power required in the absence of pervasive Digital Restrictions Management. |
| hkwint Dec 11, 2007 12:47 AM EDT |
For your indformation: The post henek54 linked to is in the future queue right now, and should go to our frontpage within some 12h. An issue not mentioned is recycling / lifetime: Linux also gives hardware a longer lifetime. Since recycling the material costs lots of energy, this is another point where Linux scores. |
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