OSNews

Are you quite sure of that?

http://www.osnews.com/story/20721/Linux4one_Ubuntu_for_the_Acer_Asp...

Thom:
Linux4one Ubuntu for the Acer Aspire One
"Linux4one, a modified Ubuntu, could be a good alternative."

Oooh look, you even knew all about what I have said here. "

Could be good alternative, oh yes. But we don't know that for realsies, now, do we? That's the meaning of the modal auxiliary verb "could" in this context. You know, remoteness of possibility.

Remaster or not, it still depends on people I don't know nor trust, who could be gone tomorrow, who might have made changes that break packages nobody uses but me, or their changes might even make the whole installation unstable.

Some of us have actual work to do, and we can't afford these stab-in-the-dark distributions.

Edited 2009-03-02 12:06 UTC

Could be good alternative, oh yes. But we don't know that for realsies, now, do we? That's the meaning of the modal auxiliary verb "could" in this context. You know, remoteness of possibility.

Remaster or not, it still depends on people I don't know nor trust, who could be gone tomorrow, who might have made changes that break packages nobody uses but me, or their changes might even make the whole installation unstable.

Some of us have actual work to do, and we can't afford these stab-in-the-dark distributions. "

Oh come on, Thom.

As I already said, and as you probably know ... a re-master is "Ubuntu + required drivers - unrequired drivers". Required drivers are typically compiled from SVN or git code that has not yet made it into distribution releases. The kernel version and the driver versions are pegged. Everything else is stock Ubuntu.

Either the drivers and kernel works on first install, or they don't. You can even verify this at the "liveCD" stage, before committing it to your hard drive. You don't have to "trust" anybody ... you can verify for yourself that it works or not.

Remember ... the non-stock parts are "pegged". Forevermore they are at the version as you first install it.

Now, given all that, how exactly is your following comment relevant:
"who could be gone tomorrow, who might have made changes that break packages nobody uses but me, or their changes might even make the whole installation unstable"

Pegged ... remember?

PS: they get away with this "pegging" because, typically, netbook hardware never changes either. Can't do this for a stock desktop PC.

Edited 2009-03-02 12:31 UTC