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Linux developers really need to stabalize driver interfaces. I should be able to go to kernel.org and download the latest kernel *binary*, then install a binary driver from the CD-ROM that came from my NVIDIA card.

Which one of the ten or so architectures that Linux supports should that one official kernel binary be compiled for? i386, because it's what you use? PowerPC, because it's what I use? System/390, because IBM is the shiznit? All of them? Jeez, even Debian, which ships for more architectures than any other distribution, has trouble with that. (Part of why Debian is slow on releases is everything has to compile on PA-RISC and m68k, you know. Debian is not a PC operating system.)

Which compatibility options should be set? Do you want to run that kernel on a broken Toshiba laptop that needs a special flavor of APM to keep from locking up at startup? Do you have a PS/2 with MCA cards, and need that enabled, while nobody else uses it? (Why should the kernel I use suffer from your bloat?) Do you have some funky flavor of Alpha motherboard? Or perhaps do you have the latest Dell high-end server and need a couple of extra patches to keep your system from crashing on the nonstandard motherboard?

In short: If you want a kernel compiled for the particular weirdities of your hardware, get your OEM to do it, or buy from a VAR that does. Some OEMs already do this -- like Dell, on the workstations and servers they ship with Red Hat installed. (Rumors of Dell "dropping Linux support" are greatly exaggerated. They support it just fine on workstations and servers -- just not desktops, which are made with cheap WinHardware to keep the price down.) Yes, the Dell kernel comes with the nVidia driver already installed, since most Dells have nVidia cards. (Though that is changing -- recently, I've been seeing more Radeons in Dells, which is much easier on the software upgrade path.)

Hardware is weird. Even i386 is a lot less "standard", across the entire product universe, than Microsoft and Intel (and Dell!) would like you to think. And -- unlike Microsoft -- Linux (the kernel project, not some distro) does not abandon old hardware and tell people to spend money on upgrades before they can run the latest release. Because of this, it is essentially impossible to make one kernel that is perfect (or even adequate) for everyone. That is why there are so many options in "make menuconfig", and that is why you should expect to build your own kernel (or pay someone to do so) if you want the most out of your hardware.

All About the Pentiums

Hmmm.... There are a lot: http://www.thepentiums.com

I think its a quote from the "It's All About The Pentiums" song from Weird Al. Watch the video here.

I think it's time for some Weird Al

Favorite line: "I should do the world a favor and cap you like Old Yeller"

--

Whee, I'm free-associating again! From Weird Al's It's All About the Pentiums...

Hey fella, I bet you're still livin' in your parents' cellar
Downloadin' pictures of Sarah Michelle Gellar
And postin' "Me too!" like some brain-dead AOL-er
I should do the world a favor and cap you like Old Yeller
You're just about as useless as jpegs to Helen Keller

This is all wrong. It has been proven beyond any reasonable doubt, that it is all about ... the pentiums .

The esteemed Mr. Yankovic has already established this in his own FoF.

Some of the nice (informed sounding) quotes from the lyrics:

• ...And postin' "Me too!" like some brain-dead AOL-er
• You've got your own newsgroup, alt.total-loser
• In a 32-bit world, you're a 2-bit user

It ain't a movie, but it's decent usage of tech-stuff in pop culture. I get the impression we have to take it where we can get it.

Greg

Some of the nice (informed sounding) quotes from the lyrics:

• ...And postin' "Me too!" like some brain-dead AOL-er
• You've got your own newsgroup, alt.total-loser
• In a 32-bit world, you're a 2-bit user

It ain't a movie, but it's decent usage of tech-stuff in pop culture. I get the impression we have to take it where we can get it.

Greg

That ain't Bill himself, by the way, just an impersonator. Although according to that web page, this impersonator was flown in from Seattle or something like that.

ufdraco [my account is currently fubar :( ]