How’s this for miscellaneous? A the risk of sounding like a giant geek I’m going to complain about the size of Linux ISOs. An ISO is a file you can download and burn onto a CD that will let you install Linux on another machine. All the major distrubutors of Linux have these (Redhat, Mandrake, Slackware, etc.). An old laptop just came into my posession and I was planning to install Linux on it. Unfortunately, all the ISOs I’ve checked out have one thing in common: they’re all over 650 MB, which is too big for the standard CD-Rs I own. So my options are to
- Go out and buy some 700MB CD-Rs.
- Buy a distribution of Linux right from the store instead of downloading one for free.
I understand that the Linux companies are trying to encourage the buying of their Free software, but I think this runs the risk of pissing off their supporters. I’ve already purchased Mandrake 7.0, so I don’t feel morally obligated to pay them again for a new version (for the technically uninformed, I have no legal obligation to pay for any of the software I’m talking about either). I guess I could also download some cruddy super small Linux distro, but I’d like a few more features. Like I said, I understand these companies need to make money, but most Linux companies were founded on the idea that they were extremely supportive of the people who used their product and this practice seems to go against that philosophy.
Comments
2 responses to “Major Linux ISOs are Too Big”
So let me get this straight: you are complaining about having to spend, what, about 40c ($10 for 25 700 MB CD-Rs). Your Internet access to download the ISO is probably more expensive.
What a fucking loser.
The Internet access is already paid for and so were the CD-Rs. I don’t see what is wrong about complaining that they make their ISOs big enough to fit on a standard CD. Many of them use multiple CDs anyway, so why not use blocks of 650MB?
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