[sf-lug] Fwd: "Future Lubuntu Releases Won't Focus on Old PCs"

[Rick Moen]

Quoting aaronco36 at sdf.org (aaronco36 at sdf.org):

> And based upon Rick M's post of around that time-period [05] during
> his stint at VA Linux Systems, whatever happened to the now
> possibly-defunct Self-certifying File System (SFS) [06][07] ever since
> then???
[...]
> [05]https://web.archive.org/web/20030516185504/http://zork.net:80/pipermail/lnx-bbc/2001-September/000822.html

Wow, you really _do_ read broadly.

Back in 2003, the VA Linux Systems IT-managed public-facing network
machines ran all their homedirs on SFS.  During a particularly
tight-security period after an embarrassing security breach, we internal
employees were required to reach the Internet only via (if memory
serves) a single bastion host _or_ Web-browse via a transparent Squid
cache.  

Most of that setup with really irksome and a pain in the tochis, but the
SFS-mounted homedirs were a small ray of sunshine amid that gloom.  Mind
you, it wasn't exactly high performance.  It made (regular) NFS look
fast by comparison.  But it was super-reliable.

And I hadn't given the thing a single thought since leaving that firm, I
must say.

The developent site is gone, probably since around 2008:
https://web.archive.org/web/20080502061505/http://www.fs.net/sfswww/
But the code's still around and at least somewhat maintained:
https://github.com/bougyman/sfs

I suspect that folks have mostly just moved on to other distributed
filesystems.  NFSv4 itself has a lot of SFS's advantages.

> How much different Firefox is, now, on the *buntus, than Mozilla 'light'
> ever was [03] on the now-defunct Linux Bootable Business Card (LNX-BBC)
> project [04] well over a decade-and-a-half ago :-\

Funny, that and its immediate predecessor the Linuxcare Bootable
Business Card are actually the only Linux distro for which I'm in the
maintainer credits.  Go me!  ;->

Klaus Knopper copied for Knoppix several key ideas from the Linuxcare
BBC, including the root-pivot feature that made possible it and all
subsequent live-CD distros.  We at the Linuxcare BBC invented that, and
he figured out how to do it by studying our work.

But, yeah, Firefox bloat.

> BTW, I just don't think i686 distros are going to disappear anywhere
> _nearly_ as fast as did LNX-BBC.

LNX-BBC vanished because of a hosting screwup of some kind, and then the
domain owner failed to renew the domain.  However, in fairness, that was
also just exactly at the same time everyone figured out that 48 MB
optical discs are ridiculously limiting, albeit a neat trick, and the
notion of distros on business-card media went away.  These days, if 
the distro were revived, everyone's reaction would be 'And why the
Gehenna would I ever use one of those, when I could use any old USB flash
drive, be able to rewrite it an almost indefinite number of times, and 
have multiple gigs to play with?

Back in 1999, we all thought the business-sized CDs were great because
you could store them in your wallet.  Sure, but within a week they'd be
cracked.  I still have a bunch with Linuxcare BBC and LNX-BBC releases
on them, but they're not very practical.


> As an indirectly-related aside, I'm _also_ disappointed to see on Devuan
> Linux's DNG mailing-list [10] and from this LQ post here [11] that
> Slackware Linux's BDFL Patrick Volkerding has been a bit "stiffed" by our
> relatively nearby Slackware Store out in Contra Costa County's City of
> Brentwood [12] :-(

Rumour has it that the folks who set up the Slackware Store originally
and owned a majority ownership interest later sold that interest off to
some entirely new and unrelated owners.  Could be part of the origin of
Patrick's problem.

(I've covered this matter a bit on SVLUG's mailing list.)