[rescue] Can someone do me a favor (fast 'net, CD-burner)

[Joshua Boyd]

> I've never really understood the diffo between the M and F streams, frankly.
> I don't know which one I want, and I don't know if I can change my mind
> later.  Naturally, I want _all_ the toys (which implies F), but I'd prefer
> solid, proven toys (which implies M) ... or at least that's how it appears
> to me.  Feel free to enlighten me on this!
> 
> If something later/better than 6.5.19m is available, let me know.

Err, my understanding is that M doesn't imply solid proven toys, but
rather it implies 6.5.0 + patches, while f implies 6.5.0 + patches +
toys.  6.5.0 without the new stuff that's come out over the recent years
sounds painfull to me.

You can switch back and forth, but you can combine.  So, my
understanding is that if you have say 6.5.11f, you can't add to it the
patchs contained in 6.5.19m.  If you try that, you end up essentially
going all the way back to 6.5.0, then coming up to 6.5.19m.  In
otherwords, if you go with the f stream, you will loose stuff if you
switch. 

I guess ultimately it comes down to how legitimate you want to be and/or
how much money you have.  It's possible that you don't really have 6.5
anything legitimately (having an official CD set doesn't imply a
license, remeber), in which case, if you don't care, you might as well
go with the f stream as you can find updates.  If you have a 6.5.0
license, then go with wether you don't care about legit upgrades and/or
can afford legit upgrades.

On the other hand, if you connect a machine directly to the internet,
the m stream may be safer if it comes to a choice between something like
6.5.11f or 6.5.19m, etc, plus a server probably won't miss the toys as
much, I'd imagine.

In my case, I'm using what came with the machine without asking
questions.  I'm trying to get my wife to agree to put aside the money to
subscribe to updates every year.  I'm also trying to do the same for
MIPSpro.  Getting her to agree to what comes out to be about $100 a mo
just to keep the machine's software up to date and legit is not easy
though.  And if I could convince her, I'd have to ask myself if the
money would be better spent on a Mac where OS updates are $120 every
18months or so, and the dev tools are free, thus leaving me with
something like $1000 to spare (say to spend on Mac upgrades, and
software I otherwise couldn't afford).  

I love my Octane (it is in fact my main workstation at home), but many
days I find myself questioning if it is really the right choice to
pursue.  Even Sun would in some ways be better because I can use the
developer license to the OS, and GCC is much more compatible there.