Mark Rogers wrote:
I've never quite worked out why there isn't a DVD option with a boot menu for all of the disks (Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu/UNR/Ubuntu Server/Alternate/etc).
Surely there is significant overlap between the different versions of the distro so the total size of the DVD would be much less than the combined size of the CDs. I'm not even sure there'd need to be separate 32 and 64-bit versions - surely a lot is common between those too? (Even if all the application binaries are different, the documentation and other "data" will be common.)
At first it seems logical but I fear that the following would happen.
You package a DVD "compilation" of all the distro/installer variants. But due to the way the distro is packaged it would take major effort to separate binaries from man pages from pixmaps etc. So the overall saving would be smaller than you think. (maybe easier/better if CD's supported symlinks)
Then most people only really need one variant or perhaps 2 at best of a particular distro, be that server and desktop or whatever. However many people would take the "safe" option of getting the whole lot even if they had no intention of using half the variants on there so the overall bandwidth requirements of the mirrors would be higher not lower.
That said a super-ubuntu magazine cover DVD might work. Although do people actually use cover disks now..I just thought they existed to keep the price of the magazine artificially high. :)