OT: What's the deal with Ubuntu?

[THUFIR HAWAT]

On 5/20/05, Jerry Gaiser <jerryg at gaiser.org> wrote:
> On Friday 20 May 2005 13:02, THUFIR HAWAT wrote:
> > On 5/20/05, Jerry Gaiser <jerryg at gaiser.org> wrote:
> > ...
> >
> > > Broadband penetration in the US and especially the Western US is > *much*
> > > smaller than those of you in the big cities imagine.
> >
> > ...
> >
> > I don't like the way this creates a quasi-"internet" class structure.
> > globally, bandwith is, I believe, a scarce resource.  however, if yum
> > (or foo, whatever) used compressed binaries wouldn't it be, at worst,
> > a wash?  provided you're doing the download and install yourself.
> >
> >
> > -Thufir
>
> Ah yes.. But there's the rub. The files are already compressed, though
> probably not optimally.
>
> At 21.6K (my best connection speed), I can download about 10M/hour - if I my
> ISP doesn't disconnect me. A 100M-200M RPM of a kernel upgrade will take
> 10-20hours to download and I can be guaranteed to be disconnected in this
> amount of time. Unless the upgrade apps add a provision for 'restart' they're
> worthless to me - and for a *lot* of other rural internet users.
>
> Therefore I use an download app that's smart enough to restart from where I
> was when my connection was dropped and just download the three or four CDs
> needed for the complete system. Yes, it may take a week or more at my speeds,
> but I have the system immediately available, online or off, and manually
> upgrade only what *I* need.
>
> I'd be extremely happy to see a way for us dialup users to use a Yum like app,
> but I'm not holding my breath.
>
> --
> Jerry Gaiser in North Plains, Oregon USA (Zone8a) - 45.6933N 123.0418W
>
>


heh, yeh, in a way this has more to do with packet management (ie yum)
than fedora.

-Thufir