Slashdot Mirror
Kernel Configuration As An Adventure
brent_linux writes: "ESR has developed a new kernel configuration system called CML2. Recently (as in yesterday) he posted to the kernel mailing list that he had added a new configuration for Expert Users. This new interface follows the interface developed from the old infocom text based adventure games. Commands such as 'look,' 'nearby,' and 'go' are used to navigate and options are items that you 'take' or 'put.' Check out the mailing list for his messages or download CML2 for yourself and check it out."
> take SCSI
It won't budge.
> take SCSI
Seriously, it is not going to move an inch.
> take SCSI
You try, but it won't move.
> take SCSI
It moves a little!
> take SCSI
SCSI: taken.
-- Robert
You have entered a maze of twisty little source trees all alike.
There is a device driver code fragment here.
> take code
code taken
> compile code
the code is buggy it will not compile
> debug code
You try and debug the code but fall asleep.
> drink jolt
jolt drunk.
> debug code
You spend the next several hours debugging the code.
The Lantern grows dim.
The Lantern goes out.
The code is debugged.
It is dark.
> N
You are eaten by a gnu, you are dead.
The implications of this? It's one more step to making Linux a Mom and Pop OS.
You couldn't be more right. Why, just the other day, after my mom asked me how to open up AOL, and how to save a Word document, she asked: "I think there's a new nVidia driver out, is there an easy way to recompile my kernel, say, in a web-based manner?"
---
python -c "x='python -c %sx=%s; print x%%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))%s'; print x%(chr(34),repr(x),chr(34))"
This reminds me of one of the funniest Usenet .sigs I ever saw:
;)
"DOS is, quite possibly, the worst text-adventure game ever"
Atleast text-adventure game errors made sense
Some people have a way with words, and some people, um, thingy.
This kind of thing is the stuff that makes Unix worth using. It's the kind of stuff that makes us better than Microsoft. Not GNOME. Not KDE. Not GNU this or Open Source that. The freedom to implement what you like rather than what a focus group calls for is one of the fundamental advantages of Free Software and of the hacker tradition that preceded it by 20 years or more.
Rest assured, Bill Gates is not spending his time making campy "for the fun of it" user interfaces.
Fine. He runs a multi-billion-dollar company. He wears suits. He talks about "vision" and marketing and The Road Ahead. Is this really somebody you want to emulate?
You can't beat Bill Gates with geek subculture. And while you're doing that, Gates' army is charging, on a mission.
On the contrary, he can't be beaten without it. Give up the fun, you've given up one of the primary distinguishing features. It doesn't count as a victory if you end up the same as your enemy.
This is one of the best things I've seen in recent years. I couldn't be happier. If a stuffed suit decided not to use Open Source because of it, I think we're just that much better off. Nyah!