TinyCore Linux vs DOS 03/21/23
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I was reading on SDF user candide's gopher hole about their adventures
with TinyCore Linux[1]. If you're looking for a well-thought-out dive
into what TinyCore is and why it's awesome, go read that post. In this
post you'll just get a few random rantings.
The post by candide made me recall that I have a system in the garage
with TinyCore installed. It's an older Point of Sale terminal with
very limited resources. It came to me (if memory serves) with a
stripped down version of XP. I wiped that out and installed TinyCore,
to make the box more interesting and useful.
As I was reading, I got to thinking about that old box. And then I got
to thinking about what it would mean to pull it out and fiddle with
it. My brain immediately started pondering on what I would need to
do to make sure TinyCore itself was operating properly, updated,
connected, etc. etc. etc. In other words, I starting thinking about
what I would have to do to bring the machine up-to-speed, rather than
thinking about what I could do with the machine... and decided I would
just leave it in the garage.
This made me think of my machines that have DOS installed. Good old
DOS. When I think of getting those machines out, I don't worry about
anything. I know they'll function just as they did when I last powered
them off (assuming there are no hardware failures.) I know there is
nothing to update, nothing to check... I just turn them on and go.
Perhaps I could just turn on my old TinyCore install and go, but for
some reason I have a mental block about it. It would probably work,
after all. It's just a different concept to me. Heck, it might be good
for me, to power it up and just use it, and let it be outdated and
wacky, just like my DOS machines.
[1]
gopher://sdf.org:70/0/users/candide/tinyCore.txt
