Saturday, January 24, 2004

Success with 2.6! -- 10:15 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Well, I finally managed to get everything (mostly) working with the Linux 2.6.1 kernel. I haven't recompiled the NVIDIA driver and sound still doesn't work. The latter is just a matter of some ALSA-specific modules.conf work. The good news is that I was able to burn a CD at full speed (well, it got up to 42x by the end) without using up all of my CPU, basically proving that my burning problem was a DMA issue. It probably will also help my CD ripping/MP3 encoding as well as installing games like UT2K3 which require a lot of decompressing during installation.

My only worry is, now that I've managed to do a major kernel revision on my box all by my lonesome, what other geeky thing is there left to conquer? Have I reached the apex? I suppose I could be like Qbe and buy a VAX to run VMS on. Or maybe I'll go anti-geek and get a Mac. Perhaps neither.

J.t.Qbe comments: Bah, you've only climbed the foothills of geekiness. There's plenty left for you to do. Off the top of my head, here are a few ideas:

• Anime.
• Build your own Linux from scratch (google for "Linux from scratch").
• Start collecting and using other Unices: FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Solaris, Unixware, QNX
• Start collecting and using other Unix hardware: Sparcs, SGIs, HP, EPIX, etc.
• Write your own operating system and become the next Linus.
• Invent your own programming language and write your own compiler.
• Write your own roguelike game.
• Move on to the VMS world and get a VAX or Alpha.
• One word: AS/400
• Two words: ham radio
• Two more ham radio words: QRP homebrew
• Three words: amateur radio astronomy

See? There are always new mountains to climb.

The Master comments: Okay, I have two bones to pick with that list: AS/400 and UnixWare. Why? Do you like self-torture or something? Those aren't hobbies, dammit. They're sentences for major crimes.

A.T. Hun comments: So is Anime, as far as I'm concerned. I've tried to like it but, heaven help me, I just can't get into it. Other than Voltron, that is, which likely doesn't count.

J.t.Qbe comments: Confucius say: it's only a sentence if you're forced to do it. Ok, he didn't really say that.

Once upon a time I tried Unixware and it was far, far nicer than SCO Openwhatever. Of course, nowadays everything is nicer than SCO. And I too was an anime hater but have found a few series I've enjoyed (Trigun is a lot of fun). The secret is that you must watch at least 2 episodes before deciding that you hate it.

News for 01/24/2004

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