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Interview With Kernel Hacker Dave Jones
A reader writes "Kerneltrap has recently interviewed Dave Jones who currently lives in London, employed by SuSE as a Linux kernel hacker. In the past six months since he graduated from the University of Glamorgan he has gotten involved in an impressive range of kernel related projects, including Powertweak, x86info, OProfile and the Kernel Janitors Project. Additionally, he maintains a -dj patch for the 2.5 development kernel, helping to sync it with the stable 2.4 kernel as well as offering increased stability. "
Now we finally know what is in Davey Jones' locker! The most feared kernel hacker on the seven seas!
Winter 2010: With Glowing Hearts
Now you see the difference between Intel and AMD .. I really haven't seen Intel thanked by any of the Kernel hackers/developers the way AMD is constantly thanked for being so helpful.
Just goes to show you what the better processor really is.
i don't know how things are overseas, but this being the UK, i expect he was the friend of or related to someone at suse.
it's a slow day on slashdot when "graduate gets linux-related job" is front page news.
MySQL doesn't index words shorter than four characters. Can't search for any three letter acronym.
For KDE though, you could search by topic.
that Dave will be collaborating with Iggy Pop and Lou Reed on his upcoming kernel patches?
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
Since there hasn't been a proper post yet, just my two pence: Dave's a nice bloke. We've been out drinking a few times and he's a laugh. Also very scary, but that's a fact of life if 1) you're welsh and 2) you hack the kernel for fun and profit.
Now, is that a separated-at-birth thing or what?
But at least he's grown the beard back. Most certainly required for Alan Cox-style shenanigans.
Smegma.
Porting the VAX Netrek clients to the DEC stations was, ummm, fun.
Then, of course, there was The Curse Of PoWCON! It's a conferencing program, based on DEC Notes. The database would blow up, every time a conference exceeded 2,000 notes. Which happened frequently, especially on the more controversial conferences.
Several people got either expelled, or disciplined, after discovering that Vax Mail (for VMS 5.5) has a massive security hole. You can place short scripts directly into the subject line. Since the subject line is displayed on receipt of the message (by default, though this can be switched off), it was possible to send e-mail viruses. Many a logic bomb, and a proto-Melissa floated round the wires. The admins at the UG/PoW never fixed the hole, the years I was there, despite knowing about it and knowing that it was being exploited. They considered it easier just to restore off backup tapes, where necessary.
The joys of spamming was rapidly introduced to every other PoWCON user, when I, along with Paul Walker and a whole bunch of other nerdy types, founded the Telefantasy Society, and thoroughly spammed every conference going. It made absolutely bugger all difference to membership, proving conclusively that spam is useless. Our promotion posters were the only student posters in colour, at the time. The other posters were grotty, b&w, and often looked like they'd been done in crayon at 3am after a drinking binge. Within a month, though, EVERY student society had quality work posted up everywhere. It was amazing!
The Telefantasy Society was Paul Walker's brainchild, and largely his doing. My input consisted largely of bringing in Sapphire & Steel videos, getting Carole Anne Ford (Susan, from Dr Who) and Mary Tamm (Romana I, from Dr Who) to become honorary members, and being a general pain in the neck, the rest of the time. At one point, we seriously considered remaking "The Prisoner" on campus, and/or a Doctor Who story, but exams (more than anything) interfered with that. Why couldn't they just give us the degrees, and let us do IMPORTANT stuff with our time?!?!
The only other things that were remotely significant at UG were that the Student Union building was built on such a steep incline, that there was a real possibility of it colliding with the town of Trefforest.; the rain was so bad that umbrellas were not so much waterproof as bullet-proof; and finally, the bus that ran to Hay-on-Wye.
(For those not familiar with it, Hay-on-Wye is a White Hole, linked to L-Space. There are something like 24 second-hand book dealers there, some operating out of 3-story barns, and one out of the local castle. It's the largest collection of books, ranging from ancient manuscripts to hot-off-the-press novels & technical manuals, anywhere in Europe. It's a Book Geek's paradise.)
The idea of a kernel geek surviving the ordeal of UG, never mind surviving in a functional enough state of mind to actually do heavy-duty coding, is a staggering achievement. Dave Jones should be awarded an OBE for that alone!
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Let's see... 68 comments, only 10 above 0.
If this were basketball, the trolls would be winning, 58-10.
In the later days of PoWcon, Dave and self were users. This was after the retirement of the VAX and the moving to VMS on alpha.glam.ac.uk (also now long gone).
Curse nostalgia...
Is Davy Jones not the incarnation of the bottom of the sea?
If you were such a wonderful troll you would have been able to trace my anonymous post and find out that, indeed, I am not Klerck.
Wow, this was too much to handle, I'm still cleaning up from laughtermath.
I wondered what he'd been doing since the Monkees...
--
As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.
google search on jone change name to david bowie.
Ohhhh, Davey is so groovy! I should call George Glass and break up with him.
Now *that* was funny. Thanks for making me laugh
> KY mixed with tobasco sauce also has its merits. Of course if you really want to make her scream, there's hot wax.
I don't really think this kind of talk is appropriate, guys. Besides, the easiest and most gratifying way is to give her a good crack to the chops. (WIPO, you wouldn't force me to pay for your sister's medical bills, would you? I mean, time heals all wounds -- even the gaping ones!)