Re: 5.1 release?

["David Lord" <netbsd%lordynet.org@localhost>]

On 12 Sep 2010 at 9:29, Thomas Mueller wrote:

> from my previous message:
> 
> > I have only 8 GB disk space for NetBSD 5.1 RC3, rest of hard drive is
> > shared between Linux (Slackware 13.0, 19 GB) and FreeBSD 8.1 (12 GB).
> > I see where I need a bigger hard drive as well as more RAM and faster
> > multicore AMD64 CPU.
> 
> from Greg Trexel:
> 
> > agreed; that will make playing with this more fun.  even if you had a
> > single 500 GB drive and a single 2+ GHz processor from the last 5 years
> and 1G of ram, you'd probably have enough not to be seriously annoyed.
> 
> My present computer dates to July 2001: AMD Athlon CPU at 1400 MHz, 40 GB
> hard drive, 256 MB RAM, CD-RW but no DVD.  Now DVD is a crying need, both for
> reading and burning.  I built XFCE on FreeBSD 8.0 but am deathly afraid to
> attempt to build KDE or GNOME.

I have a 366MHz notebook with NetBSD, don't know if
I've updated to NetBSD-5 yet. Lots of ram and large
hdd aren't essential. I have most problems with the
smaller keys and unusual key placement. Building from
source isn't essential unless your systems has quirks
that require a custom kernel. It's also possible to
do without pkgsrc if you can manage with prebuilt
packages.
 
> Actually I have an older computer, Cx486DX-2 at 66 MHz, Texel, now Plextor
> CD-ROM (2x) on Trantor T130B SCSI which also accommodates Iomega Zip 250.
> Hard drive controller seems to no longer work, 3.5" 1.44 MB floppy drive
> works much of the time on 720 KB diskettes but no longer on 1.44 MB;
> 5.25" 1.2 MB floppy drive works most of the time on both 360 KB and 1.2 MB
> diskettes.  I managed to get FreeDOS to install and boot from the Zip 250,
> might try to install NetBSD 4.0.1 but will not have space for a full install,
> might get a minimally productive system at best.  When I get that new 
> computer,
> this old computer will go to the cyber waste recycling center!

Unless you can get a replacement disk controller or
find a scsi hdd I'd send it to the tip. I have several
486 pcs but new ram to make them useful is way too
expensive. I could manage to populate one of them to
32MB ram or two with 16MB. My firewalls with
NetBSD 1.5x had only 8MB ram but were fit for purpose
at least with a 500kb/s adsl connection. A lightning
strike I think was responsible for those failing
along with my desktop pc psu (confetti from a blown
up cap) and monitor failed soon after.


David

> Tom