Way off topic so let's get the train back on track.
I'm very interested in low cost boards that can run Linux right now. This isn't for desktop replacement which I'm not even likely to buy this year but rather alternative uses.
Unfortunately in some cases these boards don't really exist yet. What I'm interested in is ARM based boards of which there are apparently many due to arrive this year. This for the most part is hardware generally priced below the AM1 style boards with generally cell phone style SoC powering the boards. The primary concern with these boards is drivers, especially video drivers where open source support or even Binary support is very thin. So maybe keeping an eye on how these boards develop and end up being supported is worthwhile.
I'm still interested in seeing how Linux compares to Apple hardware power usage wise. The current impression is that Linux sucks at power usage, however I know that much work has been out into the new kernels to improve the situation. Of course this implies buying an Apple laptop and installing Linux on it, but I think it is an interesting metric these days.
One of the reasons I went with a Mac as my primary workstation machine in 2008 was the nature or condition of the mainstream Linux desktop environments at the time. Basically GNome and KDE sucked royally. So a little research on light weight, reliable and high performance desktop environments would be interesting. I do not see KDE or Gnome fitting into this description at all. The question to be answered is which DE is the most reliable while delivering good performance and further doesn't require an update every week just to keep things going. Reliability (the lack of) and the need to update constantly where driving factors to leave Linux as my desktop platform, it would be nice to see an indication that this is no longer a huge factor and that at least one platform is stable for more than a few months.
I'm very interested in low cost boards that can run Linux right now. This isn't for desktop replacement which I'm not even likely to buy this year but rather alternative uses.
Unfortunately in some cases these boards don't really exist yet. What I'm interested in is ARM based boards of which there are apparently many due to arrive this year. This for the most part is hardware generally priced below the AM1 style boards with generally cell phone style SoC powering the boards. The primary concern with these boards is drivers, especially video drivers where open source support or even Binary support is very thin. So maybe keeping an eye on how these boards develop and end up being supported is worthwhile.
I'm still interested in seeing how Linux compares to Apple hardware power usage wise. The current impression is that Linux sucks at power usage, however I know that much work has been out into the new kernels to improve the situation. Of course this implies buying an Apple laptop and installing Linux on it, but I think it is an interesting metric these days.
One of the reasons I went with a Mac as my primary workstation machine in 2008 was the nature or condition of the mainstream Linux desktop environments at the time. Basically GNome and KDE sucked royally. So a little research on light weight, reliable and high performance desktop environments would be interesting. I do not see KDE or Gnome fitting into this description at all. The question to be answered is which DE is the most reliable while delivering good performance and further doesn't require an update every week just to keep things going. Reliability (the lack of) and the need to update constantly where driving factors to leave Linux as my desktop platform, it would be nice to see an indication that this is no longer a huge factor and that at least one platform is stable for more than a few months.
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