developerWorks: Lightweight Linux, Part 1
Nov 12, 2002, 08:30 (2 Talkback[s])
(Other stories by Todd E. Sundsted)
"It's a conspiracy!
"Too often, modern operating system vendors treat hardware as if
it were disposable--use it for a year and then throw it away. One
might be tempted to believe that secret backroom meetings are going
on between vendors of operating systems and computer hardware
manufacturers. New operating systems and applications demand the
latest, most powerful hardware. The newest hardware works best only
with the latest, most feature-rich software. I'm sure the churn
helps someone's bottom line, but it does nothing for mine.
"I refuse to bow to the conspiracy. When I came across a mint
condition IBM ThinkPad 755C in a local garage sale, I realized that
I had an opportunity to make a point. Hardware is only as old as
the software that it runs.
"In this article I will describe how I brought the laptop back
to life; and I will describe what you need to do if you find
yourself in a similar situation. The usefulness of this material
isn't limited to rescuing old laptops from the dump. You might need
to build a Linux system to run on hardware with resource
constraints, such as in an embedded application. The approach is
the same..."
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