eComStation (off topic)

[Nathan Sivin nsivin@xxxxxxxx]

I have looked at the eComStation web pages. They suggest that the
OS is attractive for people who want a web-centered,
server-centered OS for what may or may not turn out to be the
next step in computing.

The site does not explain, just as Linux sites do not explain,
whether it is possible to install this OS for use by people who
use the old-fashioned single PC, and do what they do on the
Internet--a minor part of their day--over a POTS line. As for
most residents of the US, the alternatives in this area are a
cable connection that is no faster than phone modems once a lot
of people sign up, and an incompetent DSL connection that
promises something faster but that hasn't delivered for most of
the local users I know.

I have no interest in running a network or a server, and am
unwilling to maintain heaven knows how much disk space for a
program 90% of which I have no interest in using. Is it possible
to install eComStation as a single-user workstation? What are the
resource requirements for that? And how about its hardware
support, which the web page didn't go into?
If anyone can answer the same questions for any Linux
distribution that supports a wide range of hardware and does not
require a six months' learning curve, I'd be delighted to learn
that too.

Cheers,
--
Nathan Sivin
History and Sociology of Science
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia PA 19104-6304
(215) 898-7454
nsivin@xxxxxxxx