Re: Distros specifically designed for children

c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

On 5/28/25 10:58 PM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:

On Wed, 28 May 2025 21:23:43 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
 

I never liked X-windows or PostScript either.
>
A printer that needed more processing power than the computer it
was attached to seemed like an obscenity to me

 
That was the economics of the time.  Or “technological limitations”
of the time, if you prefer.
 
Remember, networks were slower back then.  So the idea of sending
lots of prerendered bitmaps between computers and printers (or
computers and display servers) was just a recipe for bandwidth
traffic jams.
 
PostScript was great (for its time) for printers and typesetters. Not so
much for screen use.

 
  Fully agreed.  "Today" is NOT "yesterday".  Data xfer was VERY SLOW
  back when PostScript and such were invented.  In-house and
  especially to external PCs.  Sending HUGE bit-maps ...  no, no, no
  !!!

Thing is, nothing about PostScript prevented you from sending huge
bitmaps to the printer.  PostScript fully supports sending over huge
bitmaps if one chose to do so.

  It was better to steal a few secs on YOUR PC in order to create
  more compact, universal, formats for printers and such.

Except that in the era of PostScript, your PC was a weakling vs. today
and generating that "compact PostScript" to send to the printer would
have taken a lot more than a "few secs" on CPU's of the era.

Remember, PostScript came to be known to most from the Apple
LaserWriter, and it was marketed in the days of MC68000 Mac's running a
bit under 8Mhz.  Not a "beefy CPU" by any of today's standards.  An
ESP32 one can get for $4 on AliExpress today is likely a more powerful
CPU than an 8Mhz MC68000 was back in its heyday.