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. "

Comments

Arrrh!

[nexex]

Now we finally know what is in Davey Jones' locker! The most feared kernel hacker on the seven seas!

Athlon...

[daitengu]

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.

Re:Athlon...

[duffbeer703]

You are a Slashdot infidel!

How dare you say the commercial software is better than gcc.

Of course, you have to code so much around gcc bugs that your software can't compile on the Intel compiler anyway!

Re:Athlon...

[Sivar]

That doesn't sound very likely. The only significant architectural advantages that the P3 has over the T-bird are SSE and a much wider L2 cache (256 bit VS the Athlon's 64-bit)
In the majority of real-world applications, a T-bird will be within 5% of the speed of the P3. Sometimes 5% faster, sometimes 5% slower, or somewhere in-between (depends onthe application).
If you have an Athlon system (which has a clockspeed advantage, no less) that "seems" slower, it is likely either a hardware problem, as in some other component of the system is holding it back, or you suffer from the 'feel good' feeling that some people have with an Intel chip VS. anyone else.
Not that the P3 isn't a good chip--far from it. It is amazing that it can compete with the Athlon (other than in clockspeed) with a core that was designed almost 7 years ago. It is a tribute to Intel's engineering prowess.
If only the P4 was a tribute to anything but consumer ignorance.
"P4 is 2GHz. Ath-a-lon is 1.6GHz. 2 is bigger than 1.6, therefore P4 is faster."
By that logic, every CPU on earth has the same performance, so it doesn't matter other than how high you can get he clockspeed. I guess a 1GHz IBM Power4 is slower than a 1.3GHz Pentium-4. (or not...)

That said, if your Athlon system has a 100MHz FSB, something is wrong. The only chipset that defaults to such as speed is the prehistoric AMD750, which doesn't work with T-birds anyway. It is also not a DDR chipset. Come to think of it, the i815 (which is a great chipset) supports a 133MHz FSB as well. Was that a typo?

Charles Burns

Re:Athlon...

[Syberghost]

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 wasn't aware the industry had switched to a "how nicely they responded to email" benchmark for processors.

Unless you think the Intel processors automatically change the contents of emails or delete them or something, I don't see the technical link between "bunch of dicks" and "products don't work".

I'm not taking a stand here on which processor is better, but you are making an assertion that a point of corporate culture is proof of a qualitative technical opinion, and I believe the term the industry uses for that is "bullshit".

Dave Jones

[Jodrell]

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.

Dave *is* Ming The Merciless

[Joel Rowbottom]

OK, let's compare the two here. Dave compared with Ming the Merciless (of Flash Gordon fame).

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.

I'm impressed, and amazed!

[jd]

The University of Glamorgan (formerly the Polytechnic of Wales) is probably the least-clued University in the country, when it comes to technology. I can remember introducing the wonders of Gopher, Archie and Netrek to the PoW, when I was a student there. Gopher got banned, as it took control away from the system admins, and also weakened their argument that students shouldn't be allowed Internet access, as they'd clog the network up.

Porting the VAX Netrek clients to the DEC stations was, ummm, fun. :) The VAX at the University at the time was slow, horribly unstable, and totally unsuited to heavy-duty interactive network gaming. But, hey! Hardly anyone used the DEC stations, apart from some engineering types who needed to use the PHIGS graphics language. Not getting caught was a bit tougher, but I managed to get a Netrek group running for almost a month, before anyone caught on.

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!

Dave Jones

[carlos_benj]

I wondered what he'd been doing since the Monkees...