Slashdot Mirror


Linus Torvalds On Linux 2.6

ceebABC writes "Linus Torvalds talks about the upcoming Linux 2.6 kernel, in an interview with eWEEK. Linus discusses the scalability and memory management in the new kernel. They also have a story about what's supposed to be in Linux 3.0."

323 comments

  1. At last by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Linux will catch up to FreeBSD!

  2. Slashdot Beatitudes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
    And seeing the multitudes, He went up unto the mountain: and when He was set, his disciples came unto him: And He opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,

    "Blessed are the poor in threshold: for theirs is the Kingdom of the Page-Lengthening and Page-Widening Posts.

    "Blessed are they that mourn the death of *BSD: for they shall be comforted with an ultradense Linux server from VA Linux, now sold by California Digital Corporation.

    "Blessed are the posters of smug one-liners: for they shall inherit an Account Capped at 50.

    "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after The First Post: for they shall have the Third or Fourth Post.

    "Blessed are the karma whores: for they shall obtain "Score: 5, Insightful".

    "Blessed are those who dismiss out-of-hand: for they shall fail to see the Point of the Original Post.

    "Blessed are those who seek to associate themselves with the latest techno-fad: for they shall be called 3L33T for at least Another Half Hour.

    "Blessed are they which are persecuted for their own self-righteousness' sake: for theirs is the Kingdom of "Ask Slashdot".

    "Blessed are the over-eager, who believe that Open Source is a social movement heralding the rise of a new generation: for they shall not realize that There Are No Sacred Cows.

    "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for the sake of your Favorite Operating System.

    "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in Heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

    THIS IS THE WORD OF THE LORD

    1. Re:Slashdot Beatitudes by Lord+Apathy · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Ahh, only if I had some mod points. Beutiful, brings a tear to my eye. You don't mind if I print it out and frame it do you?

      --

      Supporting World Peace Through Nuclear Pacification

    2. Re:Slashdot Beatitudes by MrEd · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after The First Post: for they shall have the Third or Fourth Post."


      More like the #4752899th post (or whatever #1 is called nowadays)


      Brought to you by the international pedants' association.

      --

      Wah!

    3. Re:Slashdot Beatitudes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Blessed are they who beleive in the business-model:

      1: Write free software.
      2: ?
      3: Profit!

      for their companies shall go out of business.

    4. Re:Slashdot Beatitudes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "and Blessed art the anti-Slashdot off-topic trolls: for being part of that which thou decry the minions of Gates shalt still moderate thee highly."

    5. Re:Slashdot Beatitudes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seeing stuff like this get modded up is exactly why I love /.

      Now for the more humorless editors to demonstrate why everybody hates them.

    6. Re:Slashdot Beatitudes by Sj0 · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      Blessed are those who mouth off about a business model while remaining ignroant of the fact that service is a lucrative business model in many instances.

      --
      It's been a long time.
    7. Re:Slashdot Beatitudes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But not this one, so he's right. You're welcome.

    8. Re:Slashdot Beatitudes by magister707 · · Score: 0

      1: Mod a stupid 'profit!' joke up and mod other actual funny jokes down.
      2: ?
      3: Profit!

    9. Re:Slashdot Beatitudes by Sj0 · · Score: 2

      If you can sell a computer with a razor thin margin and make money on support, why not software? IBM did both at one time, If I recall correctly.

      --
      It's been a long time.
  3. It should be noted... by Clue4All · · Score: 4, Informative

    that the 3.0 article was written over a month ago, and Linus has since decided that call it 2.6. Not that the version number matters in any way whatsoever, but I'm sure people will continue to argue over it nonetheless.

    --

    Is your browser retarded?
    1. Re:It should be noted... by dead_on_teh_floor · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm sure I read somewhere that after Linus' real name is bob. He change id to Linus after naming Linux. I only wish there were more people out there who think like him.

    2. Re:It should be noted... by dolmen.fr · · Score: 1
      To confirm this, there is this paragraph in the "Linux 2.6 on Horizon" article:
      There has been debate about whether the changes to the kernel are significant enough to bump the version number to 3.0, but Torvalds said 2.6 is his choice. "I don't see a huge reason for version-number inflation right now," he said.
    3. Re:It should be noted... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Haha. This coming from "VB Warrior". How's the painkeep? It sounds like your browser is broken, maybe you should get it fixed.

  4. Interesting by PhysicsGenius · · Score: 2, Funny

    I guess this guy must have written a pretty big Linux app to get such a lot of coverage. What does this "kernel" program do and where can I download it?

    1. Re:Interesting by jemoody · · Score: 3, Funny
      I don't know the answer to your question, but I did notice something interesting. Compare his name with Linux:
      • L<->L
      • i<->i
      • n<->n
      • u<->u
      • s<->x

      Four out of five matches!!! Of course, I'm a pretty big word geek, nobody else probably noticed this little bit of trivia. Kind of makes you wonder if he was named after Linux. :-)

    2. Re:Interesting by dagg · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      The "kernel" holds all of the important gateways and modules. A good example of a gateway is here:
      Sex Gateway
      Rumor has it that this particular gateway will not be included in the next release. Only Linus knows why.
      --
      Sex - Find It
    3. Re:Interesting by EMH_Mark3 · · Score: 0, Redundant

      What I want to know is who is general Failure and why he's reading my disk.

      --
      Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me
    4. Re:Interesting by wiredog · · Score: 5, Funny

      What does this "kernel" program do
      It does automated remote popcorn popping using XML-RPC to communicate bidirectionally with TCP/IP enabled microwave ovens.

    5. Re:Interesting by LX.onesizebigger · · Score: 2

      Sounds like major Trouble.

      --
      I for one welcome our new SCOviet Russian overlords to whom all our base are belong.
    6. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah yes. The joke so obvious that only wiredog would bother posting it. I am smashing my face against the wall.

    7. Re:Interesting by kasperd · · Score: 1

      What does this "kernel" program do and where can I download it?

      The kernel can obviously be downloaded from kernel.org.

      --

      Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
    8. Re:Interesting by $0.02 · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Kind of makes you wonder if he was named after Linux. :-)"

      Yes he was named afer Linux and it was wrong. His parent should have named him GNU/Linus Torvalds.

      --
      If enithin kan gow rong it whil. (Murfey)
    9. Re:Interesting by Hast · · Score: 3, Funny

      I began considering what having GNU prepended to your name would insinuate.

      The horror, the horror.

    10. Re:Interesting by norweigiantroll · · Score: 1

      I think Colonel Panic's behind it.

    11. Re:Interesting by xenocytekron · · Score: 0, Troll

      why is it that this: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=46031&cid=4753 152 was modded offtopic, while the parent was modded funny????

      --
      This is my .sig, if you don't like it, it will eat you.
    12. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It does automated remote popcorn popping using XML-RPC to communicate bidirectionally with TCP/IP enabled microwave ovens.

      Is it compatible with .NET?

    13. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      because his was funny, and your was dumb, now move on fuck wit

    14. Re:Interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can only hope your all kidding about this who is Linus stuff... because it's making me sad. Don't You know your computer history? Woz and Jobs make Apple, Gates makes Dos and Windoze, Torvalds rewrites Unix to be Linux! The history of computers is good stuff, no nerd should be without it. Go to the library and read the preface of computer books.

    15. Re:Interesting by xenocytekron · · Score: 1

      I didn't write either of them.

      --
      This is my .sig, if you don't like it, it will eat you.
    16. Re:Interesting by KewlPC · · Score: 1

      OF COURSE THEY'RE JOKING.

      You'd think the "+5, Funny" would give it away...

  5. THX B 2 GOD (nt) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  6. What kind of DRM support will there be? by joshua404 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do tell, please! Thanks!

    Signed,

    Walrus J. Retard, IV

    1. Re:What kind of DRM support will there be? by smartin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It will have the GPL, the best form of digital rights.

      --
      The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
    2. Re:What kind of DRM support will there be? by AlgUSF · · Score: 1

      Why Palladium of course? The open standard, open source DRM (digital rights mangling) solution.

      --


      I want my rights back. I was actually using them when our government stole them after 9/11.
    3. Re:What kind of DRM support will there be? by molarmass192 · · Score: 2, Informative
      Care to elborate there AnonCow? What sound card do you have and exaclty which format is not supported. Here's something that's bound to be an eye opener for you:

      Sound cards
      Support media file formats

      Feel free to remove that foot from your mouth and get back to work.
      --

      Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
    4. Re:What kind of DRM support will there be? by Jacek+Poplawski · · Score: 4, Funny

      What's funny here? DRM is in kernel for a long time:

      Direct Rendering Manager (XFree86 DRI support)
      CONFIG_DRM
      Kernel-level support for the Direct Rendering Infrastructure (DRI)
      introduced in XFree86 4.0. If you say Y here, you need to select
      the module that's right for your graphics card from the list below.
      These modules provide support for synchronization, security, and
      DMA transfers. Please see for more
      details. You should also select and configure AGP
      (/dev/agpgart) support.

    5. Re:What kind of DRM support will there be? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 2
      "It will have the GPL, the best form of digital rights."


      oh? A gpl license does not make it any better.

    6. Re:What kind of DRM support will there be? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There should be a mod option "-1 SUCKER". He got you hook, line, and sinker...

  7. code freeze date by greechneb · · Score: 5, Funny

    If he freezes the code for the 12th anniversary of getting his first computer for use with linux, one can only imagine what he gets his wife for their wedding anniversary.

    1. Re:code freeze date by MalleusEBHC · · Score: 5, Funny

      If he freezes the code for the 12th anniversary of getting his first computer for use with linux, one can only imagine what he gets his wife for their wedding anniversary.

      The O(1) scheduler.

    2. Re:code freeze date by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      If she's lucky, something involving improved Input/Output performance.

    3. Re:code freeze date by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wonder what he will freeze then...

    4. Re:code freeze date by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Improved IO with clustering?

    5. Re:code freeze date by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      The O(1) scheduler.

      No, not that Big Oh

    6. Re:code freeze date by orcrist · · Score: 1

      Remember, it's not just the bandwidth, latency is also important...

      --
      San Francisco values: compassion, tolerance, respect, intelligence
  8. linux 3.0? by edrugtrader · · Score: 4, Funny

    i'll wait for linux 3.1... i hear there will be windowing build in then, with a way to exit to shell if you still need to use the command line

    --
    MARIJUANA, SHROOMS, X: ONLINE?! - E
    1. Re:linux 3.0? by nevershower · · Score: 1

      I heard linux 95 will kick everyone's ass

      --
      Look, ma! I'm a karma whore
    2. Re:linux 3.0? by bsharitt · · Score: 1

      3.1 will be a bit more usable, but I'll wait for Linux 95, it's suppoed to look just like a Mac interface.

    3. Re:linux 3.0? by AlgUSF · · Score: 1

      You mean the Chicago version of Linux, it won't be called Linux 95 until it is two years late!

      --


      I want my rights back. I was actually using them when our government stole them after 9/11.
    4. Re:linux 3.0? by Coz · · Score: 2, Funny

      Not only that, it'll have its own TCP/IP stack! You'll be able to dial-up to a phone line and connect to the Information Superhighway!

      --
      I love vegetarians - some of my favorite foods are vegetarians.
    5. Re:linux 3.0? by MindStalker · · Score: 1

      HU? You mean we have to wait till 2095 for linux chicago? DAMN!

    6. Re:linux 3.0? by edgrale · · Score: 3, Funny

      Don't forget about 3.11 - it comes with networking support, oh wait... ;)

      it's a joke, laugh

      --
      09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    7. Re:linux 3.0? by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 2

      Sounds good, especially if they'd add the following lines:

      int sysreq_check_ram(long ram) {

      if (ram > 512) {

      sleep(5000);
      panic();

      } else {

      printf("Welcome to Linux XP!");

      }

      }
    8. Re:linux 3.0? by zapfie · · Score: 1

      I think you meant void sysreq_check_ram(long ram).. ;)

      --
      slashdot!=valid HTML
    9. Re:linux 3.0? by Dark+Lord+Seth · · Score: 1

      Yes, I know I can't program yet :(

    10. Re:linux 3.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the printf() should be a puts(), or at least he should add an "\n" to the end... The sleep() is for five thousand seconds (an hour and twenty-three minutes)

      But then, why is he using userland functions like printf() and sleep() in supposed kernel space? He should use printk(), usleep(), etc.

      But then, so what? Any time a slashdot poster writes dumb pseudocode as utterly stupid as that, you know don't really code at all.

    11. Re:linux 3.0? by kscguru · · Score: 2
      Oh no...

      I just thought that someone could put out a patch for Linux 3.1, something to "accelerate" graphics by moving many GUI parts from the X server in user-mode to something (a driver?) in kernel-mode...

      The truly scary part is, I can't rule it out! It actually could happen... (shudder)

      Yeah, it would probably be funny as hell to the guy who puts it out... but he'd be lucky to survive the backlash. Something like that just ain't cool.

      Maybe we could just skip over the 3 series and avoid all the MS/Windows references? Please?

      --

      A witty [sig] proves nothing. --Voltaire

    12. Re:linux 3.0? by vb.warrior · · Score: 0

      Dont worry, lots of fucked up sourceforge projects need idiots to further there medicority.

  9. Linux 3.0 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Will it have workgroup support? Or will that be Linux 3.11?

    1. Re:Linux 3.0 by bsharitt · · Score: 3, Funny

      You're probably better off waiting for Linux NT, it's supposed to have better networking support.

    2. Re:Linux 3.0 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When is this coming out? Will my $5 D-Link NIC work when I plug it in. And can I access other PC's by clicking their name?

      Linux has a ways to go with the ease of use in networking.

  10. In a shocking announcement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Linus Torvalds announced that Linux 2.6 would be renamed Linux 9.0, and would be the "Most Advanced Linux Ever."

    One user was quoted as saying "All my friends and family use Linux" while another exclaimed "New Linux 9.0 is easier than ever!"

    1. Re:In a shocking announcement by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 4, Funny

      You've got . . . root!

    2. Re:In a shocking announcement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And in other news, one man saw many girls wearing "I love GNU/Linux" tank top t-shirts on the beach. He was reported to have said, "I want those GNU hoochie mammas too".

    3. Re:In a shocking announcement by GLevangelist · · Score: 1

      Solaris version numbering convention

  11. I've read up a bit on the details of 2.6 by ekrout · · Score: 5, Funny

    According to one source, "kernel 2.6 will address PHBs by including a 'boss key' that automatically switches the kernel to 'Fake Windows Mode'. In this mode, Linux will simulate the Windows XP-2005 environment, complete with Dancing Paperclips, bluescreens, and incessant reminders to sign up for a Microsoft Passport.

    Now, geeks will be able to install Linux on their company workstations without the knowledge of their PHBs. Productivity will skyrocket, hopefully earning them a fat raise."

    More details are available at http://humorix.org

    I, for one, am quite excited about this, although I guess that depends on if any of you actually have a job at the moment ;-)

    Either way, I'm glad to see the kernel hackers working hard to fulfill our feature requests. Here's to a great 2.6!

    Cheers,
    -- Eric

    --

    If you celebrate Xmas, befriend me (538
    1. Re:I've read up a bit on the details of 2.6 by iabervon · · Score: 4, Funny

      The most recent version of this patch moves all of that stuff to userspace, and simply runs "/sbin/boss-key" when the boss key (configurable by echoing a key code to a file in sysfs) is pressed. This design both deals with the IP problems of having Windows-related images and the problems people have had with the bluescreens not being entirely fake.

    2. Re:I've read up a bit on the details of 2.6 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't even need boss key.

      Boss: What does that computer in the corner do?

      [points to P233 DNS/Mailserver]

      Me: Umm... that's our Microsoft Windows 2000 Exchange server

      Boss: Should we upgrade it?

      Me: Already taken care of.

    3. Re:I've read up a bit on the details of 2.6 by Kindaian · · Score: 1

      I don't have a job...

      I was forced to create my own job because the .com company i was... gone bust!

      I'm not in a pristine shape... but i'm surviving... and any Linux Desktop news is...

      VERY GOOD NEW!

      Die Windows... DIE!

    4. Re:I've read up a bit on the details of 2.6 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hell ya a fat raise. Pocket all the "license fees we're paying to Microsoft"!

  12. What�s in and what�s out by Karpe · · Score: 5, Informative

    To see whats already in 2.5, check kernel status

    1. Re:What�s in and what�s out by Jim+the+Bad · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Great list, there's a lot of stuff in there I'm glad to see...and, to be honest, a load of stuff that I have no idea what it is! :(

      Is there a list of new features with explainations aimed at those of us who can only gaze up in awe at Linux kernal hackers?

      --
      -- And when Justice is gone, there is always... Force. --Laurie Anderson, "Oh Superman"
    2. Re:What�s in and what�s out by rainwalker · · Score: 5, Informative

      I suggest keeping tabs on LWN's weekly kernel page for good explanations of what's going on...you can also read Kernel Traffic, which, although it is usually fairly technical, tends to give you the gist of what is going on in the world of the kernel devs. Good luck-

    3. Re:What�s in and what�s out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  13. I am glad but I also wish by codepunk · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I am glad the mid level scsi stuff now works correctly with SAN environments but I wish opengfs and or ocfs had made it into the tree before the feature freeze. I guess for now I have to just resort to running a proprietary clustered file system.

    --


    Got Code?
    1. Re:I am glad but I also wish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I wish opengfs and or ocfs had made it into the tree before the feature freeze.


      Or, like, you could just download them, and type make?

      I guess for now I have to just resort to running a proprietary clustered file system.


      I see: FS not in kernel -> (But FS available for download) -> Looks like you have to resort to a proprietary file system!

      I think logic fails somewhere in there.
    2. Re:I am glad but I also wish by Kindaian · · Score: 1

      Could be worse... you could end up with a non-frozzen kernel that would take more 6 months to stabilize...

      This way, it may be possible that in the middle, 3th quarter of 2003, the 2.7 hits the streets with your modules added into the kernel...

      Cheers...

  14. Re:thats great and all by Jim+the+Bad · · Score: 1

    When it's ready.

    --
    -- And when Justice is gone, there is always... Force. --Laurie Anderson, "Oh Superman"
  15. Lame-o! by grub · · Score: 3, Funny


    2.6? Pfff. FreeBSD is already working on 5.0 and OpenBSD already released 3.2. Therefore FreeBSD is almost *twice* as good as Linux and OpenBSD is about 25% better.

    Don't ask me to do the math as to how much better Windows 2000 is.


    --
    Trolling is a art,
    1. Re:Lame-o! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no

    2. Re:Lame-o! by rlowe69 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Don't ask me to do the math as to how much better Windows 2000 is.

      According to the good ole MS Calculator (coincidently in Windows 2000), it is 769.23076923076923076923076923077 times better. :P

      --
      ----- rL
    3. Re:Lame-o! by greechneb · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hmm

      Windows 2000 was NT 5.0 kernel therefore almost *twice as good as linux

      Windows XP is NT 5.1? so almost *twice as good as linux.

      That means that between two releases of windows, they stayed the same, and linux moved farther ahead, at least by my calculations!

    4. Re:Lame-o! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apparently the Linux kernel is a victim of version inflation, since FreeBSD is WAY more than twice as good as Linux and OpenBSD is WAY WAY more than 25% better than Linux.

    5. Re:Lame-o! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes yes yes, however bringing up the glaring obvious would have been KarmaButchered as "-1 Troll"

    6. Re:Lame-o! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't kown what you are saying, the 2.6 version is of the kernel. The 5.0 version of freebsd is of the distributions. Anyway, high numbers and quality of software are not related (Se Win2K).

    7. Re:Lame-o! by mmol_6453 · · Score: 2

      I know it was a joke, but still: Nobody is going to convince me that Red Hat 8 is better than Debian 3.0

      (The punchline: Don't bother flaming me. You won't convince me. :P)

      --
      What's this Submit thingy do?
    8. Re:Lame-o! by aweraw · · Score: 1

      dude, you obviously have a faulty sarcasm radar...

      --
      5468652047616D65
  16. Re:thats great and all by mschoolbus · · Score: 1

    But when will 3.0 actually come out?!?!

    When it's ready.


    Okay, thanks for the info!!!

  17. Ah, the memories by ekrout · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'll never forget my first boot into the 1.x series many, many years ago.

    From that day on, I never looked at a computer the same way. Whenever friends would talk about the latest cool games or case modifications, I was never really interested; what truly grabbed my attention was exploring the depths of the Linux kernel and just learning, learning, learning.

    The rest is, as they say, history. I've gained a lot from using Linux, moreso than any other person or thing that I've used so far in my short life. With that being said, I decided to donate, once again, to Linux and its related movements just as a simple "Thank You" for all the time and dedication that so many, like Linus, put into the Free/Open software movement.

    Here are some quick donation links:
    - FSF
    - Mandrake
    - KDE
    - Apache

    --

    If you celebrate Xmas, befriend me (538
    1. Re:Ah, the memories by Atzanteol · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes, I too gave up the fun filled days of my youth for a narrow-minded leave me the hell alone attitude. I also used to watch the Learning Channel, but have since gave that up as it was just a bunch of useless learning. Who needs that? I grew up long ago and promptly stopped learning or accepting new ideas.

      --
      "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

      - Charles Darwin
    2. Re:Ah, the memories by grub · · Score: 5, Funny


      I'll never forget my first boot into the 1.x series many, many years ago.

      I hear you. My not-terribly-100%-compatible-Unisys PC clone is *still* booting. It's been stuck at this "ramdisk" line for about 9 years. Any idea how long it will be before I, too, can enjoy Linux?

      --
      Trolling is a art,
    3. Re:Ah, the memories by NineNine · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      I didn't say that I didn't learn... simply that I don't learn completely useless shit that does nothing but aggravate my life. I prefer to spend my time on other, really interesting pursuits, such as business, cars, biking, photography, travel, etc. Computers are tools. That's it. Sounds like the parent poster either has virtually no life outside of his dorm room, or has a very unhealthy obsession with electronic equipment, both of which can be helped with some intensive therapy.

    4. Re:Ah, the memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why no Redhat or Gnome donation links? Its not like Mandrake isn't commercial. Also, frankly the idea that a commercial linux company asks for donations is upsetting to me. They should either be commercial like redhat or non-profit like Debian, this whole give free money to a company has issues stock is bullshit. If they need more money they should issue more stock or make a profit.

    5. Re:Ah, the memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your sister, or was it your mom? I can't tell.

    6. Re:Ah, the memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think its safe to say that you havent seen a real life girl since you "booted into the 1.x series" either.

      moreso than any other person or thing that I've used so far in my short life

      You are a brave man to admit that you just use people for your own gain.

      If I had room left on my foes list, guess where you would be right now...

    7. Re:Ah, the memories by bmetzler · · Score: 1
      For not having to deal with kernels, hardware drivers, slow, buggy windowing environments, or installations that take a week and a half.

      I'm impressed with your experience. The very reason I don't use Windows is because of how much time it requires to keep it running. Linux has always been install, reboot once, and work away. Even to just install Windows requires several hours of rebooting and locating and downloading the latest drivers for all the hardware. Soundcards, video cards, NIC's, scanners, printers. Of course, the first time you download them you can burn them all to CD. That helps to speed it the process the next time you need to start over. Which usually is every 3 months. Then comes installing all the applications. Again it's a process of downloading everything piecemeal, and install it. Linux on the other hand usually has all the free applications preloaded. Then comes the maintainance. Certianly the Red Hat Network requires less attention then Windows Update, and also doesn't require a reboot.

      To recap, Linux requires about 1/2 installation time with 10 minutes maintainance a week. Windows requires upwards of 4 hours to install and 1-2 hours a week support and maintainance. My support contract for Linux boxes is $25 a month per box, Windows is $200 a month per box. Not that I mind of course supporting others if they are willing to pay for the costs. But for me, my time is to valuable to run Windows.

      -Brent
    8. Re:Ah, the memories by user32.ExitWindowsEx · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Everything can be viewed as a tool by some and as an interesting pursuit by others.

      Case in point: You said you find cars interesting and see your computer as a tool. I feel the exact opposite. My computer is interesting and my car does nothing more than get me from point A to point B.

      --
      "Evil will always triumph because good is dumb." -- Dark Helmet
    9. Re:Ah, the memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, if some people did not make the tools, then you would still be swinging from the trees my friend. Some people are do'ers and are others ne'er do wells, but it takes all of us to make a world.

    10. Re:Ah, the memories by cheezedawg · · Score: 1

      Bullcrap.

      Even to just install Windows requires several hours of rebooting and locating and downloading the latest drivers for all the hardware. Soundcards, video cards, NIC's, scanners, printers.

      My install of XP took 30 min, and it was completely automated. It found all of the drivers that I needed and configured them by itself.

      That helps to speed it the process the next time you need to start over. Which usually is every 3 months.

      Bullcrap. I'm going on a year of heavy use with a lot of software installs/uninstalls with no performance loss or stability issues whatsoever.

      To recap, Linux requires about 1/2 installation time with 10 minutes maintainance a week.

      If you can install Linux in 15 minutes, then I am impressed. And my normal maintainance time per week is NOTHING. I don't have to do anything to keep it running. If I do install something from WindowsUpdate, and it does require a reboot, it takes less than 90 seconds until everything is up and running again.

      --
      "The defense of freedom requires the advance of freedom" - George W Bush
    11. Re:Ah, the memories by NineNine · · Score: 1

      Well, my experience is very different. I've never had to rebuild a W2K box, and "maintenance" is an occasional check for new security patches. I just install and they work. On the other hand, I've never had a successful install of any kind of Linux. I've tried Redhad 6, Redhat 7.1, Suse, Slackware, Mandrake, Debian, and even Corel. Every single install either hung mid way through, and refused to continue, or if it managed to make it all of the way through an install, couldn't figure out the generic NIC, or the generic sound (for desktop boxes), or the video driver. And of course, the solutions was simply to figure out where some obscure text file was, find some settings that are more often than not not written in English, make the changes, and hope that the display still shows something afterwards. I will say that *once*, after only two hours, I figured out how to change the screen resolution so I could read the text on the screen. I've never had anything but problems with those damn things, and since I don't find troubleshooting as interesting as I once did (I was a phone jockey doing that for several years), I have no real reason to even bother to try again. On the other hand, paying a few hundred per box for a W2K license is *well* worth the time and aggravation I save by not having to do another Linux install for the rest of my natural life.

    12. Re:Ah, the memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AC says: I think its safe to say that you havent seen a real life girl since you "booted into the 1.x series" either.

      Translation: "I'm bitter about my tiny penis and negligable people skills, so I feel the need to ridicule others to boost my ego."

      AC says: You are a brave man to admit that you just use people for your own gain.

      Translation: "I like to think that I am funny, but I have serious doubts about that so I'm posting anonymously."

      AC says: If I had room left on my foes list, guess where you would be right now...

      Translation: "I enjoy hearing myself talk, and making wimpy threats that mean nothing."

    13. Re:Ah, the memories by gimpboy · · Score: 2


      If you can install Linux in 15 minutes, then I am impressed. And my normal maintainance time per week is NOTHING. I don't have to do anything to keep it running. If I do install something from WindowsUpdate, and it does require a reboot, it takes less than 90 seconds until everything is up and running again.


      you can install the windows equivalent in 15 minutes. if you want to install _everything_ it takes about 45 minutes over the network. when i say everything i mean everything: openoffice, servers (database, web, ftp, ssh, etc.), window managers, octave, gimp, tetex, etc. this has been my expirence with redhat.

      if your normal maintainance time per week is NOTHING then perhaps your computer is one of the many windows machines trying to infect my computer with one of those windows worms (nimda, code red, etc). i wouldnt expect you to know since the amount of time you spend per week is _NOTHING_. honestly, if you are not updating your computer, then you do have problems. while windows isn't perfect, neither is linux. as a result both have to be maintained.

      it's fairly easy in linux and i've automated updating with perl+ssh, so i can update all of the computers with one command for free. when i worked with windows computers, i was never able to do this. things may have changed, but they took too long for me.

      i gave up on windows after i reinstalled it four times in one weekend. i plunked linux down that weekend on the same computer and havent turned back. if windows works for you then great, but it's simply not worth it for me.

      --
      -- john
    14. Re:Ah, the memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How worthless are you that you have to spend time on business? You probably went to college to learn business too, when all there is to know about business can be learned in 5 minutes.

    15. Re:Ah, the memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder - why are all your posts so self-aggrandizing? From what I've seen, it's a disturbingly recurrent theme in your online life.

    16. Re:Ah, the memories by cheezedawg · · Score: 1

      you can install the windows equivalent in 15 minutes

      Good for you. I guess you are more 133t than me, because I have never installed Linux or FreeBSD in less than about 45 minutes. But I stand by my statement- Windows installation and maintenance is nowhere near as time consuming as you imply. Linux is fairly easy to install and maintain, but I think Windows is easier.

      I didnt say that I never update my system- most weeks I don't have to though. Whenever the critical update notification pops up, or every once in a while when I decide to go to windows update, I install the patches. That is not even close to every week, though.

      After running Windows and using Outlook or Outlook express for years now, I have yet to be infected with a worm or virus. I don't even have any anti-virus installed most of the time. An occasional browse through my outgoing traffic on my router, and a virus scan every once in a while is about all I need. In fact, I think the last virus I had was back in 92 or something (the John Lennon virus- on some day in Dec suddenly "Give Peace a chance" appeared all over the screen).

      --
      "The defense of freedom requires the advance of freedom" - George W Bush
    17. Re:Ah, the memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gosh, after a little digging it turns out I'm not the only one who thinks you're an ass. They really paint you as quite a fuckup here.

    18. Re:Ah, the memories by gimpboy · · Score: 1

      After running Windows and using Outlook or Outlook express for years now, I have yet to be infected with a worm or virus. I don't even have any anti-virus installed most of the time.

      while one way to know if you have a worm or have been infected with a virus is to wait for it to tell you, this method isnt the most pragmatic way of handeling such issues. most viri and worms dont announce their presence because this act would limit their effectivenss.

      if you are using a networked computer, eg on the internet, and do not take a proactive approach to security, then you are not only doing yourself a disservice. if you are running windows, then you really should consider running antivirus software in the background. also you might want to consider signing up to some type of security notification mailing lists for windows. i dont know of any but they have to exsist. this way you will know when the next problem hits.

      you can stand by your expirence and that is fine. i've had plenty of expirence with both windows and linux. i've installed both on a large variety of hardware and i've managed both in a network sense. after reading quite a bit and figuring out the nuances of both, i can say from my expirence and research that linux is by far easier to install and configure.

      --
      -- john
    19. Re:Ah, the memories by quinto2000 · · Score: 2

      Considering your signature and name, it sounds like you have your own unhealthy obsession.

      --
      Ceci n'est pas un post
    20. Re:Ah, the memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ooooooooowwwwww a FOES LIST! Pleeeease don't put me on your FOES LIST. I'm soooooo scared of the FOES LIST.

    21. Re:Ah, the memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I didnt say that I never update my system- most weeks I don't have to though.

      Imagine what life would be like if they actually kept up with security issues!

      That number has been above 30 for several months, AFAIK. Imagine if the code was opened, or if that list included other aspects of the operating system besides the browser, etc.

      Even if Windows installation/maintenance was as easy as you claim (which it most definitely isn't -- anyone claiming otherwise hasn't used it enough, or on enough different hardware), I still wouldn't use it. They've proven time and time again that they shouldn't be trusted with your data.

    22. Re:Ah, the memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And imagine if /. losers like you got their facts straight.

    23. Re:Ah, the memories by NineNine · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Actually, I really don't like porn at all. I spend on average 10 minutes a day doing maintenance on the site, and that's it. Trust me, you see 10,000 or so pairs of tits & asses, and after that, they're all the same. Same thing for software, as far as I'm concerned. Oooh, look, another program that boots my computer. Oooh, yet another word processor. Wow. Ooooh, another web browser. It just sounds like the original poster may have some unhealthy obsession or worship type of thing going on... kinda creepy.

    24. Re:Ah, the memories by ethx1 · · Score: 1

      Call me crazy but I dont think Redhat is the distro that badly needs donations.

    25. Re:Ah, the memories by antirename · · Score: 2

      I've got a year and a half old box, dual Ghz PIII's and 2 gigs of ram, and a custom install (server software + KDE + a few extras) only takes fifteen minutes. Windows takes 45 min to an hour if you count all the reboots. If you tell Redhat to "install everything", for example, of course it's going to take a while. And you have a bunch of crap running that you don't need. Then again, if you're 'leet enough that you really know what all those editors are and actually need all of them, for example, it might take that long to install the OS. The cool thing about Linux is that you get lots of choices, but you don't have to INSTALL all of them!

    26. Re:Ah, the memories by antirename · · Score: 2

      Do clients with no real security but who are "debating the cost" have your e-mail address? Ever get hit by a nasty worm half an hour before the antivirus update came out? Ever have to kill the functionality of a piece of MS software to "patch" a bug, and then keep it that way for months? If you work in the industry, I would guess at least two out of those three. Or you have problems and don't know it. While I agree that I geek with a clue can keep Windows 2000 running with minimal problems, that's not the point. If you have the ability to keep MS software running with good uptime, you can obviously learn to do the same thing with Linux. Plus, you'll be less frustrated to boot (pun intended).

    27. Re:Ah, the memories by lucasw · · Score: 1

      I've gained a lot from using Linux, moreso than any other person...that I've used so far in my short life.

      I think you'll find your interpersonal relationships more fulfilling if you base them on mutual friendship, respect, trust, etc., rather than their utility to you.

    28. Re:Ah, the memories by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I'll never forget my first boot into the 1.x series many, many years ago."

      What essentially interest me in Linux (being a non-programmer, yet nerd) is the soap opera perspective of Linux: Linux vs GNU/Linux, vi vs emacs, X vs Fresco, 3-tabs vs 4-tabs, us vs them etc.

    29. Re:Ah, the memories by hendridm · · Score: 1

      > I've gained a lot from using Linux, moreso than any other person or thing that I've used so far in my short life.

      Maybe if you'd stop using people you'd have more friends and wouldn't need to hack Linux so much. ;)

  18. No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Uh, not quite. It has to work in reverse.

    Try "In Soviet Russia, Linux wrote Linus Torvalds!"

  19. The version number means plenty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Apparently, the next version isn't as good as Linus originally thought it would be, and he was not able to achieve 86.7% of the improvement he sought.

    He therefore had no choice than to name the kernel 2.6 instead of 3.0.

  20. Re:Version 3.5?! by Mikelikus · · Score: 1

    It is amazing how people who obviously have no clue about what the world is about try to tell everyone about what "the real world" is.

    Interesting it is that this person called us all faggots, lazy and smelly. What is even more interesting is that we are the ones who contribute everyday to the creation of true alternatives to comercial software (and some, hardware!)... OH YEAH WE ARE LAZY!!
    *sigh* the humanity...

    --
    -- Would it be acceptable to just put my name on my sig?
  21. Re:Amazing coincidence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone else who wonders how this asshole "L. VeGas" could have gotten a +1 bonus?

  22. Do you suppose... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...that he has sex with her? I know it's a long-shot, The Linux Hacker getting laid, but stranger things have happened.

    1. Re:Do you suppose... by tkg · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If not, then he must be seriously pissed (or seriuosly naive) since they have two kids. Although, if she wanted to, his wife could easily fend him off. She is a six time Finnish karate champion.

    2. Re:Do you suppose... by Jack+Hughes · · Score: 2

      Three Kids

  23. Will NPTL make it in 2.6 or 3.0? by truth_revealed · · Score: 1

    Will NPTL (the scalable and efficient 1:1 thread library replacement + kernel patch) make it in to the 2.6 or 3.0 kernel? Because LinuxThreads don't cut it.

    1. Re:Will NPTL make it in 2.6 or 3.0? by LunaticLeo · · Score: 2

      Yes. You will also need to upgrade your glibc.

      --
      -- I am not a fanatic, I am a true believer.
    2. Re:Will NPTL make it in 2.6 or 3.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes in the 2.6 kernel or a following kernel release?

  24. How do I contact this linus guy? by dotgod · · Score: 3, Funny

    I have a patch for this linux kernel thingie that I would like to submit that will be of interest to all Linux users. What this patch will do is inform you of discounts and special offers that you are elegible for. How can I submit this?

    1. Re:How do I contact this linus guy? by LX.onesizebigger · · Score: 2
      I have a patch for this linux kernel thingie that I would like to submit that will be of interest to all Linux users. What this patch will do is inform you of discounts and special offers that you are elegible for. How can I submit this?

      Oh, you're the guy behind GNUtor!

      --
      I for one welcome our new SCOviet Russian overlords to whom all our base are belong.
    2. Re:How do I contact this linus guy? by eatdave13 · · Score: 1

      ROFL...

      Welcome to RedHat Linux.
      Press 'I' to enter interactive startup.
      Press 'P' to learn how to increase your penis length by 2 inches in 2 weeks.
      Press 'B' for barely legal teens getting stovepiped by a mammoth dildo.

      *dry-washing hands* I can hardly wait hehehe...

      --
      "Verbing weirds language." -- Calvin
  25. Lets just say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...that a full-body penguin suit and a Bill Gates latex mask are involved...

  26. Re:Version 3.5?! by joshua404 · · Score: 1, Offtopic
    Welcome to the REAL WORLD were your mad linux skills are worth about as much as a monkey fart, you filthy asshole always looking for a handout. The country wasn't MADE by lazy fucks like you, always wanting something for nothing. Quit giving each other faggot AIDS and then looking to me for free healthcare, you dumb cunts.

    AOL is on version 8, so it must be better than Linux version 3.

  27. Re:thats great and all by seafoodbuffet · · Score: 1

    Since there has been no announcement as to the content of any 3.0 release of the Linux kernel, 3.0 is just an arbitrary label. In fact, at one point I know that this 2.6 release was slated to be 3.0 but Linus changed his mind. As for me, I'd love to see the day that the kernel gets a proper multi-threading implementation.

  28. lvm? by Dionysus · · Score: 1

    Why did the guy from Oracle ask for LVM? I thought the 2.4 series already had LVM (I'm using it now). From Linus' reply, it seems like there is a new LVM? Anyone have any information about the difference and what the problem with the old one was?

    --
    Je ne parle pas francais.
    1. Re:lvm? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The LVM subsystem is being replaced with an upgraded version; Google is your friend.

    2. Re:lvm? by paskie · · Score: 4, Informative

      Well, the old LVM wasn't working at all in 2.5 kernel series at all - AFAIK the infrastructure all around gradually changed and noone stood up to keep LVM up to date. Thus, around the feature freeze there were three options - drop LVM, accept LVM2 or accept EVMS. It would be too bad to drop such a significant feature, and EVMS probably looked too complex to merge so lately or so.. it's not really clear to me, the decision was probably based on what Linus' lieutanants advised him, but at the end LVM2 ended up in the 2.5 series.

      --
      It's not the fall that kills you. It's the sudden stop at the end. -Douglas Adams
  29. Re:thats great and all by Jim+the+Bad · · Score: 1
    I was only pulling your leg...sorry!

    What I meant was, that unlike commercial software with it's set-in-stone release dates (and the resulting 'pressure coding' and abject hackery involved in getting a product out the door on time), open-source has the luxury of only being released when it is ready.

    --
    -- And when Justice is gone, there is always... Force. --Laurie Anderson, "Oh Superman"
  30. Another donation link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  31. what is up? by tps12 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I just scanned through the discussion...every comment is either a dumb joke (sorry, I don't think talking about "Linux 3.11" is very clevar) or flamebait/trolling.

    What has happened to all of the serious users? Let's talk. I'm most interested in what the new kernel will be doing for next generation hardware (FireWire 2 and USB2, not to mention BlueTooth), the new VM, and improvements in latency a la the preemptible kernel patch.

    Also, the 2.4 series kernels already have so many configuration options that compiling the right kernel often takes several attempts. Anyone know how 2.6/3.0 (they are the same, right?) is going to manage kernel config as the number of modules skyrockets? Has Linus considered moving away from a monolithic kernel, or should we all just switch to HURD?

    --

    Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
    1. Re:what is up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >What has happened to all of the serious users?

      they are all over at OSnews.

    2. Re:what is up? by 4of12 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Amen.

      I read the eWeek article about 2.6 and have surfed through the lkml to see what's going in and what's not.

      I see Hans Reiser making an impassioned plea to get ReiserFS 4.0 into 2.5, the EVMS team nobly accepting temporary exile in userland, and others griping that LVM won't be in 2.6 and have to wait until 3.0

      Given stuff that won't be in 2.6 and will be deferred until 3.0, what I want to know is:

      "What useful feature WON'T be in Linux 3.0? Will the Linux of 2005 be practically finished as an operating system?"
      --
      "Provided by the management for your protection."
    3. Re:what is up? by DenOfEarth · · Score: 1

      Yeh people...these are computers we're talking about here...they aren't supposed to be fun or funny, whatsoever...no exceptions...

    4. Re:what is up? by sloanster · · Score: 1

      There is absolutely no need for you as an end user to ever worry about compiling the kernel. That's what the vendors (e.g. redhat, suse) are for. Run the kernel provided by the vendor - it's fully-equipped, modular and optimized - be happy, and don't fret about how hard the kernel is to compile - you don't even need to go there.

      As to the monolithic design, it has proven itself handsomely - but feel free to come up with something better!

    5. Re:what is up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bahaha... Right.

      Show me a distro, ANY distro, where I can install/boot into and use my Wacom Intuos2 tablet without recompiling the kernel or a module. Come on, ANY Linux distro.

      Windows does it just fine...

    6. Re:what is up? by iabervon · · Score: 4, Informative

      The kernel configuration system is turned into a library, which can then be used by a more user-friendly application. In addition, the configuration language has been changed a bit (now that there is only one piece of code that reads it) to allow the files to work better.

      There will probably soon be a program to set the configuration based on hardware detection, and then ask the user for values for everything that just depends on the user's preferences. This is really something that shouldn't be handled in the kernel tree, and the tools are now in place in the kernel tree to permit external programs to handle it. I expect that the other issue with an infinitely large tree (that you have to download it) will also be handled by external programs, which will be able to just get the configuration, let you configure the kernel with a lot of help, and then just download the files that you'll actually need.

    7. Re:what is up? by Doug+Neal · · Score: 2

      Good for you. Go away and use it in Windows then seeing as it does all these things so wonderfully. Perhaps you and the rest of the Windows fanboys can leave in peace those of us who like to tinker and learn about their computers, not to mention remain in control of what happens on them and be free of Microsoft's abominable licensing terms?

      Honestly, why can't Slashdot have some Linux news any more without a whole load of idiots flooding the place with posts about how Windows does everything so much better?

      Oh, and recompiling the kernel is not difficult. Try it - your Linux box will run better as a result. And you might even learn something, heaven forbid...

    8. Re:what is up? by jericho4.0 · · Score: 2
      Yeah, but imagine a be...no you're right, they are all stupid jokes.

      2.5 kernel has initial support for USB2, bluetooth is no longer experimental., dunno 'bout FireWire2. This is all here

      There's some kind of totally rewritten kernel managment coming, should make it easier. Linus loves his monolithic kernel. HURD is still in it's infancy. I'm not switching until you do.

      --
      "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
    9. Re:what is up? by William+Tanksley · · Score: 5, Interesting

      No, there's plenty more to do. As a very simple example, the driver organization is still very much in flux; devfs is under fire, and alternates are springing up.

      On a higher level, the way we handle multiple processors could very well entirely change (if Larry McVoy has his way, and I think he's right). The result might be a kernel which runs very well on a single processor, but is perfectly scalable to thousands of processors.

      -Billy

    10. Re:what is up? by matman · · Score: 2

      With regards to kernel config, there should be an option to compile EVERYTHING possibly compiled as a module, as a module. This way, you compile once, then just config your modules nicely. Also, configuring modules is easier, as you do it on module install, instead of at boot (it gives you a chance to try again)

    11. Re:what is up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I just scanned through the discussion...every comment is either a dumb joke ... or flamebait/trolling...

      Has Linus considered moving away from a monolithic kernel, or should we all just switch to HURD?


      Hmmmm...and this is somehow not trolling?

    12. Re:what is up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I had to recompile my RedHat8 kernel to enable NTFS support since there wasn't even a mod in the default install.

      Knoppix, on the other hand, was smart to have NTFS support enabled by default. It also automounted all my windows partitions. I had to do this manually under RedHat.

    13. Re:what is up? by rawshark · · Score: 4, Informative
      With regards to kernel config, there should be an option to compile EVERYTHING possibly compiled as a module, as a module


      There is.

      I am not in front of my linux box right now, but in 2.5 you can do "make allmoduleconfig" or something like that, which will do what you want. I do not remember the exact make target, but you can do a "make help"

      I do not believe this is in 2.4.

      One caveat for newbies is that the code for the filesystem where your modules is located should not be compiled as a module. The kernel has to mount the filesystem before loading the module, and if it can't load the module for the filesystem, well, you get the picture.

      Hope this helps.
    14. Re:what is up? by EzInKy · · Score: 1

      There is absolutely no need for you as an end user to ever worry about compiling the kernel. That's what the vendors (e.g. redhat, suse) are for.

      Yeah, silly users thinking they should actually compile open source code themselves. What's the world coming to, anyway?

      --
      Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
    15. Re:what is up? by antirename · · Score: 2

      I think it's worth compiling the kernel at least once, whether you need to or not, just to learn HOW. Of course, I'm a tinkerer and don't mind if I break it a few times on a test system. Try it. You might learn something.

    16. Re:what is up? by iggymanz · · Score: 2, Informative

      What benefits would you expect from a microthreaded kernel?

      I switched from a monolithic one (SunOS 4.1.1B) to a microthreaded one (Solaris 2.5) on a Sparc 2 and my software ran at least 25% slower. I had a similar SPEEDUP switching from Solaris 2.6 to OpenBSD 2.9 on my Sparc 5

      I could just imagine the benefits of all that kewl message passing on a constipated Intel architecture......do we hear 30% slowdown? 35%?

    17. Re:what is up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, but the guy has a legitimate point to make. He's saying that it's not true that end users don't have to recompile their own kernels. In his case it seems they do.

      No, it's not the fault of the kernel developers, but it makes no sense for Linux advocates to argue that end users should rely on the distros to do that sort of thing, and then feign deafness when users complain that they can't find a distro to do it for them.

      The Windows thing reads like a taunt, meant to shame those who know to either put up or shut up.

      Do you have a Wacom? I do. I bought one thinking it was supported by all the major distros. But it's a real drag to get it working, especially for somebody with less thirst for tinkering. Let me tinker with apps I use daily like GIMP, fine, but kernel modules and X--ugh!

    18. Re:what is up? by mrselfdestrukt · · Score: 1

      As much as I agree with most of the pervious comments being jokes, I still have my sense of humor left. Or maybe it's just because I hardly use it. Anyway. I am also interested to know how kernel config will be treated in the future. IMHO that's one of the strongest points and as more and more modules become available for the latest hardware, we still need to support the old, forgotten hardware of yester-year. You must be joking about the HURD remark! Another thing: I like reiserfs, but I really like the way ext3 performs. So far it looks like Linus is still on the right track and I trust his judgement. Now they should just PLEASE name it 2.6 and not 3.0! That will spoil everything.

      --
      "I used to have that really cool,funny sig ,but it got stolen."
    19. Re:what is up? by irc.goatse.cx+troll · · Score: 2

      "I just scanned through the discussion...every comment is either a dumb joke (sorry, I don't think talking about "Linux 3.11" is very clevar) or flamebait/trolling."
      Yet you have no problem with the karma joke in your sig?

      "What has happened to all of the serious users? "
      Slashdot has pissed most of them(us?) off. If they dont take their job seriously (look at all the articles they post without reading--the ones that specificly ask not to be slashdotted), why should we act seriously?
      Slashdot has long since been ruined. The obvious jokes are just made for easy karma.

      --
      Pain lasts, kid. Its how you know you're alive. Sometimes I think this growing up thing is just pain management-TheMaxx
    20. Re:what is up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Score:5, Insightful?

      This seems generous for somebody who can't spell "clever" correctly.

    21. Re:what is up? by tps12 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Yet you have no problem with the karma joke in your sig?

      As it says in my sig, I really was the first to put my "obfuscated" karma in my sig. Initially I had it tracking my real karma (though it was pretty consistently "Excellent"), then for a short time I had a joke, and then when I noticed how popular Karma: sigs had become, I decided to claim my rightful place as the inventor.

      --

      Karma: Good (despite my invention of the Karma: sig)
    22. Re:what is up? by Miles · · Score: 1

      Well, you can use an initial ram disk to hold your filesystem modules. In fact, with the 2.4 series, if you have an ext3 fs and ext2 is in the kernel, but ext3 is a module, then your fs gets loaded as ext2--at least according to the startup messages. So you need both to be loaded as a module (or maybe both in the kernel--I've never tried this), and then use a ram disk to hold the modules for startup. I do this on all my machines--works great.

  32. Re:Amazing coincidence by L.+VeGas · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Because I'm good enough, I'm strong enough, and gosh darnit, people like me.

    Oh, and I'm not such a wimp that I post as AC, I have the courage to post under an anonymous pseuodonym, thank you.

  33. scalability issues by thoolihan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's good to see the focus on issues that effect business servers with heavy load. As a desktop user it's easy to think otherwise, but...

    The kernel can support most things a desktop user needs. It's the programs on top that need to be beefed up (and drivers).

    As for winning the desktop war (if that interests you) then corporate is the way to start. I see tons of articles on how to get average middle aged user to install linux. It can do everything in the world, but if they don't use it at work, most people won't switch. ("I have to know windows at work, why learn anything else").

    The more high power servers people see running free software (and maybe eventually their desktop) at work, the more likely they are to adopt it.

    And especially in the realm of *free* software, user base is important.

    -T

    --
    http://unmoldable.com W:"No one of consequence" I:"I must know" W:"Get used to disappointment"
  34. Re:Important questions. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like you want Win2K. It's a good OS. Not as good as *nix. But for simple minds (parents, office staff, etc.) it's great.

  35. The Tao of Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Something forms itself from the silent void of the empty mailing lists and the noisy chaos of the crowded mailing lists. It shapes and protects us, it entertains and challenges us, it aids us in our journey through the ether world of software. It is mysterious; it is at once source code and yet object code. I do not know the name, thus I will call it the Tao of Linux.

    If the Tao is great, then the box is stable. If the box is stable, then the server is secure. If the server is secure, then the data is safe. If the data is safe, then the users are happy.

    In the beginning there was chaos in Unix.

    Tanenbaum gave birth to MINIX. MINIX did not have the Tao.
    MINIX gave birth to Linux 0.1 and it had promise.
    Linux gave birth to v1.3 and it was good.
    v1.3 gave birth to v2.0 and it was better.

    Linux has evolved greatly from its distant cousins of the old. Linux is embodied by the Tao.

    The wise user is told about the Tao and contributes to it. The average user is told about the Tao and compiles it. The foolish user is told about the Tao and laughs and asks who needs it.
    If it were not for laughter, there would be no Tao.
    Wisdom leads to good code, but experience leads to good use of that code.

    The master Cox once dreamed that he was a Kernel. When he awoke he exclaimed: "I don't know whether I am Cox dreaming that I am a Kernel, or a Kernel dreaming that I am Cox!"
    The master Linus then said: "The Tao envelopes you. You shall create great code for Linux."
    "On the contrary," said Cox, "The Tao has already created the code, I will only have to find it and write it down."

    A master was explaining the nature of the Tao to one of his students:
    "Is the Tao in the VM subsystem?" he asked. "Yes," replied the master.
    "Is the Tao in the scheduler?" he queried again. "The Tao is in the scheduler."
    "Is the Tao even in the modules?". "It is even in the modules," said the master.
    "Is the Tao in the Low-Latency Patch?"
    The master frowned and was silent for much time.
    "You fail to understand the Tao. Go away."

    The Tao is the yin and the yang. It is the good and the evil, it is everything and yet it is nothing, it is the beginning and the end.

    The Tao was there at the kernel compile, and it will be there when the kernel panics.

    A novice user once asked a master: "Why compile in C when C++ is more popular?"
    "Why a monolythic kernel when Mach is more popular?"
    "And why use ReiserFS when ext2 is more popular?"

    The master sighed and replied: "Why run Unix when NT is more popular?"
    The user was enlightened.

    A frustrated user once asked a master: "My kernel has panicked, should I post to lkml?"
    "No," replied the master, "You will only bother the Tao."
    "Should I rm -rf?"
    "No, you will have wasted the Tao's time."
    "Well should I search the web?"
    "You will search for all eternity," said the master.
    "Perhaps I should try FreeBSD?"
    "Then you will have disgraced the Tao."
    "I suppose I could try gdb," said the user.
    The master smiled and replied: "Then you will have made the Tao stronger."

    A stubborn user once told a master: "I run version 2.2. I always have, and I always will."
    The master replied: "You are foolish and do not understand the Tao. The Tao is dynamic and ever changing. Linux strives for the perfection that is the Tao. It flows from version to version with peace."

    "So my Linux does not have the Tao, so what?" said the foolish user. "Oh your Linux is of the Tao," said the master. "However, the Tao of Linux follows the Tao of the C library. One day the C library will change, and your Linux will be left behind." The user was silent.

    An angry user once yelled at a master:

    "My Linux has panicked! What lousy software it is, I hate it so!"
    "You are insulting the Tao," said the master. "The Tao is everywhere bringing order to hundreds of networks, aiding thousands of users, and fighting that of which we call the 'lame.' Do not disrespect the Tao; however, the Tao will forgive you."

    "I apologize," said the user, "And I will be more forgiving the next time the Tao fails me."

    "The Tao has not failed you, it is you that has failed the Tao," said the master. "The Tao is perfect."
    The Tao decides if a kernel shall compile, or if it shall abort.
    The Tao decides if a kernel shall boot, or if it shall freeze.
    The Tao decides if a kernel shall run, or if it shall panic.
    But, the Tao does not decide if a box will have no hardware failures. That is a mystery to everyone.

    A young master once approached an old master: "I have a LUG for Linux help. But, I fail to answer my students' problems; they are above me."
    The master replied: "Have you taught them of the Tao?" he asked. "How it brings together man and software, yet how it distances them apart; how if flows throughout Linux and transcends its essence?"
    "No," exclaimed the apprentice, "These people cannot even get the source untarred."
    "Oh, said the master, "In that case, tell them to RTFM."

    A master watched as an ambitious user reconstructed his Linux.

    "I shall make every bit encrypted," the user said. "I shall use 2048 bit keys, three different algorithms, and make multiple passes."
    The master replied: "I think it is unwise."
    "Why?" asked the user. "Will my encryption harm the mighty Tao, which gives Linux life and creates the balance between kernel and processes? The mighty Tao, which is the thread that binds the modules and links them with the core? The mighty Tao, which safely guides the TCP/IP packets to and from the network card?"
    "No," said the master, "It will hog too much cpu."

    The core is like the part of the mind that is static. It is programmed at a child's creation and cannot be changed unless a new child is made; unless a new kernel is compiled.
    The modules are like the part of the mind that is dynamic. It is reprogrammed every time one learns new knowledge; every time one learns better code.
    One is yin, the other yang. Each is nothing without the other.

    A novice came to lkml and inquired to all the masters there: "I wish to become a master. Must I memorize the Linux header files?"
    "No," replied a master.
    "Must I submit code to Bitkeeper?"
    "No," replied the master.
    "Must I meditate daily and dedicate my life to Linux?"
    "No," replied the master again.
    "Must I go on a quest to ponder the meaning of the Tao?"
    "No. A master is nothing more than a student who knows something of which he can teach to other students."
    The novice understood.
    And thus said the master:
    "It is the way of the Tao."

    A user came to a master who had great status in lkml. The user asked the master: "Which is easier: implementing new features to the kernel or documenting them?"
    "Implementing new features," replied the master.
    The confused user then exclaimed:
    "Surely it is easier to write a few sentences in the man page than it is to write pages of code without error?"
    "Not so," said the master. "When coding, the Tao of Linux opens my eyes wide and allows me to see beyond the code, to let the source flow from my fingers, to implement without flaw. When documenting, however, all I have to work with is a C in high school English."

    He who compiles from the stable tree is stubborn
    and unwilling to change, but is guaranteed reliability.
    He who compiles from the current tree is wise but perhaps too conformist, but is guaranteed steadiness.
    He who compiles from the unstable tree is adventurous and is guaranteed new innovations: some good, some bad.
    He who compiles straight from Bitkeeper is brave but guaranteed turbulence.
    They are all of the Tao. One shall respect the old, and debug the new; none shall argue over which is greatest.

    There once was a user who scripted in Perl: "Look at what I have to work with here," he said to a master of core, "My code is interpreted dynamically, the syntax is unique and simple, I have sockets, strings, arrays, and everything I could ever need. Why don't you stop meddling in C and come join me?"
    The C programmer described his reasoning to the scripter: "Script is to C as ebonics is to Latin. If the scripter does not grow beyond that of which he scripts, he will surely [die]. Besides, without C, how can there be script?"
    The scripter was enlightened, and the two became close friends.

    It's time for you to leave.

    1. Re:The Tao of Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OH WOW, Great stuff!

    2. Re:The Tao of Linux by mandolin · · Score: 4, Informative

      Edumacated readers will note that the parent post is a (well-done!) variation on the Tao of Programming. Nice job AC.

    3. Re:The Tao of Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >>The master sighed and replied: "Why run Unix when NT is more popular?" The user was enlightened.

      At which point he ran out and installed Windows 2000 Server and had an absolute blast with it, and wondered why he ever bothered with that crufty bloated piece of crap Linux.

      Reverse psychology doesn't always work.

  36. your sig :-) Re:What kind of DRM support will t by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 5, Funny
    Bill Gates: Innovation
    Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

    Inigo Montoya: My name is Inigo Montoya, you put windows on my computer, prepare to die.

    --
    Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
    1. Re:your sig :-) Re:What kind of DRM support will t by JoesRagingBileDuct · · Score: 1

      All time favorite sig:

      Hello, my pid is Inego Montoya, You kill -9 my parent process, prepare to vi!

    2. Re:your sig :-) Re:What kind of DRM support will t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      arrgh... why? it doesn't make any sense at all.

    3. Re:your sig :-) Re:What kind of DRM support will t by rutledjw · · Score: 2

      Brilliant, but what else should I expect from another "The Tick" fan?

      --

      Computer Science is Applied Philosophy
    4. Re:your sig :-) Re:What kind of DRM support will t by DahGhostfacedFiddlah · · Score: 1

      Just a single niggling nitpick - his name was actually Indigo (if you read the book). His name was never *once* said clearly in the movie.

    5. Re:your sig :-) Re:What kind of DRM support will t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken

      It doesn't? Damnit. I am going to have some words with my wife!

    6. Re:your sig :-) Re:What kind of DRM support will t by The+J+Kid · · Score: 2

      ehmmm...who is Inigo Montoya?

      --
      Moderation: +4. Modded 70% Funny and 30% Overrated. 100% Saturated.
  37. Re:Amazing coincidence by Tin+Weasil · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah. I've noticed that.

    I think he was trying to get on the hype-bandwagon surrounding "Linux" so he changed his name. Kinda like that RMS guy. He quit using his full name so that he would be known by a three-letter acronym just like "GNU."

    And then RMS wanted to Torvalds to go by the name "RMS/Linus" to denote the fact that Stallman had been working in computer science for longer then Torvalds.

    Maybe everyone would just be better off calling it "ATT/OS" to give credit back to where it really belongs. ...I did get the story right, right?

  38. Ziff Davis: M$ whores? by the_skuncle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Every time I read a ZiffDavis [eweek] article, I am amazed that they so blatantly put a pro-Micro$oft/Anti-Linux spin on it.

    For example, a recent article says CERT issued 29 alerts, 16 of which were for Linux/Open Source apps, and only 9 for M$'s bloated crashing system. It doesn't say that most of the alerts for Linux were for local vulnerabilities except for OpenSSH and Apache, and that most of the M$ alerts were for remote exploits like scripting vulnerabilities in IIS, Outlook, IExplore...

    Makes ya wonder.

    1. Re:Ziff Davis: M$ whores? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Take it a step further...not only were there only 2 really bad vulnerabilities, there were 16 vulnerabilities total that came from all kinds of different software and groups versus 9 coming from one company that consistently puts out piss poor software...

    2. Re:Ziff Davis: M$ whores? by Tony-A · · Score: 2

      The magazine is paid by the advertisers, so naturally they are all about pushing the latest and greatest to people who have no idea what they want.
      Security is a complicated subject and counting vulnerabilities is taken to be an accomplishment.
      My own take on the recent fun&games is that Linux/Open Source (and especially *BSD) is much more secure. Open Source tends to upplay vulnerabilities instead of downplaying them. (How else do you get people to patch their systems?).
      The counts have to be taken in context. An airline crashes, it makes world headlines. An automobile crashes, it barely makes the local newspaper. OpenBSD's 1 remote exploit in however many years is actually a stronger statement than the previous no remote exploits. (Think about it;)
      The first OpenSSH exploits, IIRC, were against FreeBSD and OpenBSD. Why *BSD? That reads too much like "Finally an opening. Take advantage while you still can." Bluntly, if you miss one Microsoft Windows vulnerability, there are and will continue to be plenty more chances.
      Since it's Open Source, there are plenty of variants around. You can even make your own. Security by obscurity *can* work, but it does require obscurity. (Think about it;). That's an argument for compiling your own kernel. Change something, anything. Anything that depends on exact displacements will have a hard time coping.

  39. What is up with the LVM? by emil · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Why isn't Sistina's LVM making it into the kernel? SUSE has been including it as standard in their distribution for some time.

    I don't track the LKML at all. I'm curious why XFS made it in, but LVM did not.

    1. Re:What is up with the LVM? by bookroach · · Score: 1

      LVM was removed to be replaced. It was in 2.4.

      --
      GTA3 is like the Sims to me - MC Hawking
    2. Re:What is up with the LVM? by Omnifarious · · Score: 4, Informative

      LVM version 1 is already in the kernel, and has been there for some time. LVM version 2, which is much better written, uses a fairly generic kernel driver called 'device mapper' and a new set of userspace utilities. It looks like it's set for Linux 2.6.

      I use LVM extensively at home. It's designed for enterprises, but it's extremely helpful at home for compartmentalizing files to particular filesystems to make it easier to move then around. It's so nice to be able to move a particular part of the filesystem by dd'ing it through nc (netcat). I do this to back things up before I make major changes.

    3. Re:What is up with the LVM? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Oh man, XFS sucks. It's freaking huge (as in the code for XFS is nearly as big as the kernel itself) and doesn't work that great.

      To this day I don't understand why people say Irix is/was that great. I used it for many years and thought it sucked. It looked blah, and had many non-standard UNIX-like idioms (almost as bad as AIX). I think the people that say it is/was so great have never actually used it.

      I mean, it's great that SGI released the XFS code. Very good of them, but it just seems substandard.

    4. Re:What is up with the LVM? by Steve+Hamlin · · Score: 5, Informative

      According to Kernel Trap, Linus merged the "device mapper" code, the kernel component of Sistina's LVM2 volume manager, around 2.5.45.

      In addition, the EVMS team then recognized the implication of this decision vis-a-vis the inclusion of EVMS in Linus' tree in the near future, and decided that a significant rewrite of some of their code was in order.

      "As many of you may know by now, the 2.5 kernel feature freeze has come and gone, and it seems clear that the EVMS kernel driver is not going to be included. With this in mind, we have decided to rework the EVMS user-space administration tools (the Engine) to work with existing drivers currently in the kernel, including (but not necessarily limited to) device mapper and MD."

      This announcement was met with TONS of positive praise on lkml: for the actual technical decision, for the mature and pleasant manner in which it was handled, and for the public policy of removing duplication of kernel code in general, simplifying the MD/device mapper code specifically.

      Finally, Alan Cox stated about 2.4:

      "I plan to try and push LVM2 to Marcelo after the next release. Whether he will take it I don't know. Obviously its good to have the ability to move back nicely to older kernels."

    5. Re:What is up with the LVM? by pwagland · · Score: 4, Informative
      Why isn't Sistina's LVM making it into the kernel? SUSE has been including it as standard in their distribution for some time.
      According to these articles LVM2 has made it into the 2.5 development series, as of 2.5.45. Thus, it is likely to also be in 2.6.....
    6. Re:What is up with the LVM? by InsaneGeek · · Score: 2

      Having used Irix since the early years of 5.3 and EFS, I can say it *is/was* great. I'm not sure what you mean about the the non-standard idioms, heck there have been quite a bit of Linux features taken from SGI directly. The only really non-standard stuff was if you used the GUI admin, and all that did was be a wrapper for the command line tools. I'd say Linux has more non-standard stuff the Irix does.

      I've ran XFS since day one that it was introduced on Irix (still have the original media CD's) and to it's port Linux today, I can say most deffinetly XFS runs circles around other filesystems for what it's intended to do. It's not intended to be used for small files, it's sole purpose is to be able to move large chunks of data around faster than anyone else... and that it does. Couple that with GRIO and ACL's you have an awesome filesystem for doing large IO transactions that basically all the other Linux FS choke on.

      To the "it looked blah" statement... I've nothing to say, but if you didn't like 4DWM (which personally I love, keep the fuck out of my way and don't eat up my resources), than use gnome, KDE or even CDE...

    7. Re:What is up with the LVM? by Skuggan · · Score: 1
      It's so nice to be able to move a particular part of the filesystem by dd'ing it through nc (netcat). I do this to back things up before I make major changes.
      Please explain the dd through nc thing.
      Do you use it to copy a filesystem to another computer?

      Can you explain the steps taken?
      --
      http://www.millnet.se/ GO/U d- s+:+ a C++ UL++++ P- L+++ E W+++ N+ w++ M-- PE+ t+ X++
    8. Re:What is up with the LVM? by Omnifarious · · Score: 1

      Yes, I copied a filesystem to another computer.

      Here are the steps:

      1. On the source system: cat /proc/lvm/globals
      2. Using the data from the previous command, record the size of the LVM partition to be moved.
      3. On the destination system: lvcreate --size <appropriate size> -n <destination name> <volume group name>
      4. On the destination system: nc -l -p 53976 | dd of=/dev/<volume group name>/<destination name> bs=$(( 4096 * 1024 ))
      5. On the source system: dd if=/dev/<source vg name>/<source LVM partition> bs=$(( 4096 * 1024 )) | nc <dest system> 53976

      There, you're done. You should make source the source filesystem is unmounted first. I haven't done this, but you can use LVM snapshots to sort of unmount the filesystem, make an instant copy, and remount it all in a single small step.

  40. Re:thats great and all by mschoolbus · · Score: 1

    But do you really think that is a luxury? I mean, it is nice to release when it is ready, but don't you think that some corporate pressure is good to push the progress faster, not necessarily resulting in buggy code.

  41. Re:Sad news ... Stephen King dead at 55 by NormAtHome · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I checked all available news sites and can't verify this. I'm no Stephen King fan but if you post stuff like this you better damn well be right.

  42. Re:thats great and all by friedmud · · Score: 1

    What is missing in the way of threads?? 2.6 is going to be fully POSIX compatible (meaning they are using pthreads).

    What more do you want?

    Derek

  43. NT numbering scheme by alexhmit01 · · Score: 2

    Just remember, the first version of Windows NT was Windows NT 3.1 because they were pushing it as an upgrade from Windows 3.1. Therefore, it's really NT 3.1 and 3.0, so not that much ahead. :)

    Alex

    1. Re:NT numbering scheme by damiam · · Score: 1

      There was Windows 3.1, then Windows for Workgroups 3.11. There was never an NT 3.1. NT started at 3.5 and went to 4.0. Windows 2000 was 5.0, and XP is 5.1.

      --
      It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
    2. Re:NT numbering scheme by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry man, but there was NT 3.1. I remember it, it was running like dog on 486/66 with 16 mb ram...

  44. Re:Amazing coincidence by Amazing+Quantum+Man · · Score: 1

    No, I think you're just being paranoid. Linus and Linux have been seen in the same room together...

    Now Batman and that Bruce Wayne guy, on the other hand...

    --
    Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.
  45. LVM by msfodder · · Score: 0, Redundant

    So is the final word no LVM support? That would be a shame, and would mean that no upgrades to distros's shipping 2.6 for me and mine.

    --
    ..Free Live Free...
    1. Re:LVM by chefren · · Score: 2

      Distros ship customised kernels anyway, so they can put in LVM if they want.

    2. Re:LVM by msfodder · · Score: 1

      No shit sherlock. What if I don't like my distro's assbrained kernel tampering but want the newest set of utilities, glibc, etc, without having to do it all in a spare week. I usually use vanilla kernels anyway. WTF, and you got modded 2 on this, shitbrains.

      --
      ..Free Live Free...
    3. Re:LVM by GreyWolf3000 · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      If you get good enough karma, all posts start at 2 unless you specifically tell it not to include the +1 bonus, like this one.

      --
      Slashdot: Where people pretend to be twice as smart as they really are by behaving like children.
    4. Re:LVM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A good deed for the community! Mod parent up! :D

  46. What kind of LRF support does it have? by mustangdavis · · Score: 3, Funny

    Does anyone know??

    BTW: For those of you that want to test the honesty of computer salesmen in the future, LRF stand for "little rubber feet" :)

    1. Re:What kind of LRF support does it have? by Trevelyan · · Score: 1

      where I'am at we call em LPF (little plastic feet).

      And the sales man aint folling you LPF are very important w/o them your motherboard would short out from touching the back plate its mounted to. (unless like my friend ur mobo lives in a cardboard box)

  47. Re:Interesting (mods on crack) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LMAO. That's funny... who the hell thought it was flamebait?

  48. 2.6 ? When is 2.4.20 ? by jester · · Score: 0

    2.4.20 has DRM re-merged with XFree 4.2.0 ... and about time too !! When will it be released ?

    1. Re:2.6 ? When is 2.4.20 ? by PinkX · · Score: 1

      Oh no, Digital Rights Management on Linux? I won't be able to listen to my OGG files anymore!

  49. Re:Version 3.5?! by daoine_sidhe · · Score: 1

    That is possibly the most completely random, uncalled for post I have ever read. Does free software cause you physical pain? I mean, seriously, what has free software, or linux specifically, ever done to cause the obvious psychological difficulty that you labor under? I suppose colleges and universities are also filled with these "fucking smelly hippy liberal tree-fucking dog-kissing faggots" as well? After all, most of these people do have very different viewpoints from you, so they must be, right? It's the idea of FREEDOM OF CHOICE, that embodies the spirit of our independence from England; we went to war over it. Does it really damage anything to exercise that right in the creation (NOT theft) of new software, that is free to be used, changed, customized, or modified, in almost any way seen fit by the user? Nobody is telling you to change the OS you use; linux is not going to surreptitiously sneak onto your computer, and you're not going to catch gay from those "fucking smelly hippy liberal tree-fucking dog-kissing faggots."

  50. Re:Important questions.. by Otter · · Score: 1
    Will it support pci modems?
    Will it support touchpads on laptops?

    They both work here. (US Robotics Performance Pro modem and any trackpad I've tried.)

  51. Re:Important questions.. by zdzichu · · Score: 5, Informative
    Will it support pci modems?

    It supports even now (2.4).

    Will it support touchpads on laptops?

    It supports.

    Will the frame buffer work properly on 3dfx cards

    Didn't saw any problem reports on lkml.

    Will it get rid of the fucking cli for good and boot DIRECTLY in to X?

    Are you insane?

    Will it tell Stallman to fuck off for trying to put gnu/ on it.

    GNU/Linux (The GNU Operating System with Linux kernel) is not Linux (the kernel).

    and last but most importantly, will you be able to to swtich kernels with out rebooting (is it that hard?, why dosent the kernel just unload it self from memory and go back to the boot menu?)

    You talk about Kexec? It's trying to be included in 2.5 right now.

    --
    :wq
  52. Linus' Linux is way behind... by checkyoulater · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Is version 2.6 as good as version 7.3 of Redhat Linux? How come Linus Linux is so many versions behind Redhat Linux?

    --
    Is that a real poncho? I mean, is that a Mexican poncho or is that a Sears poncho?
    1. Re:Linus' Linux is way behind... by Tazzy531 · · Score: 2

      Nope, you're wrong. Linux version refers to the Kernel version. Redhat Version number refers to their distribution. Redhat is currently using Kernel 2.4.18. (See Here)

      It is Redhat that is behind not Linus. Secondly, you wouldn't expect Redhat to release the latest kernel with their package because they need to be able to test and support it before they package it.

      --


      _______________________________
      "I'm not Conceited...I'm just a realist..."
    2. Re:Linus' Linux is way behind... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Redhat is not "behind". This is something that many on the linux world don't realize.
      Redhat's mission is not to keep up with Linus.
      Redhat's mission is to provide a platform, or os, or distribution, depending on how you define things, and provide support for it, and to provide a target for developers.

      A developer can write something for "Redhat 6.2" and know what that means.

      Redhat isn't behind; they just have no reason to switch to the new kernel yet.

  53. the right tool by b17bmbr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    if i remember correctly, linux was built to be PC unix. hmmm...so it still isn't ready to go on big iron. BFD. its strength is clustering, like at buffalo university. so just use the right tool for the job. though it does seem that the trend is toward distributed/clustered computing. which fits in perfectly with linux. how about instead of complaining that the kernel doesn't have this or that, get the source, and write your own LVM.

    --
    My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
  54. Re:Important questions.. by LordNimon · · Score: 1
    Will it get rid of the fucking cli for good and boot DIRECTLY in to X?

    How is runlevel 5 different from what every other OS does? They all start in text mode and then switch to graphics mode after loading the video drivers.

    --
    And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
    To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
  55. Re:Version 3.5?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Congratulations.
    You have been trolled.
    Have a nice day.

  56. I thought it was already at 9.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The cd I have says Linux version 9.0. Why are they going to release a version 2.6 if they already have a version 9.0?

  57. Re:Important questions.. by paskie · · Score: 1

    About PCI modems, I don't think this will change dramatically.

    I wonder what you mean by "the fucking cli" - what do you mean by booting directly into X? Lo, the /etc/inittab and the default runlevel entry, let 5 be it.

    About switching kernels, it's not so trivial, but there's patch floating around LKML and suffering under Linus' uncharitable eye implementing a kexec() syscall, which should do basically what you want. Naturally you won't get the state (processes, sockets etc) preserved, but software suspend (already merged) can maybe help you here.

    --
    It's not the fall that kills you. It's the sudden stop at the end. -Douglas Adams
  58. LVM? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LVM2 will be in 2.6. Why on earth would you want the older version of LVM? As for EVMS, the user management tools are better, but the code is a mess (by kernel standards, not commercial standards BTW). The EVMS team is doing the right thing by moving the management tools to user space and modifying LVM2 to include the features it needs. In the long run, it'll make everyone's life (including the EVMS team) easier.

    As for ReiserFS, he submitted his feature after the drop dead freeze date, so of course he has to lobby to get in. From the looks of it, Linus is sympathetic and may let ReiserFS 4.0 get in, this time, but no-one can blame him for saying no.

  59. Re:Version 3.5?! by nmg · · Score: 0

    Beautiful, just beautiful.

  60. Re:Important questions.. by morgajel · · Score: 1

    Will it support pci modems?
    no clue- I thought it did.

    Will it support touchpads on laptops?
    every laptop I've seen with a touch pad worked fine...

    Will the frame buffer work properly on 3dfx cards
    I was under the impression it did- unless I misunderstand what you're talking about. the last voodoo card I had ran linux just fine.

    Will it get rid of the fucking cli for good and boot DIRECTLY in to X?
    um.... why? you can set it to jump right into runlevel 5 or 6 or whatever xwindows is. That's not the job of the kernel I don't think- that would fall under init or something...

    Will it tell Stallman to fuck off for trying to put gnu/ on it.
    He'll stop with the GNU when the trolls stop coming to slashdot and acting like jackasses.

    --
    Looking for Book Reviews? Check out Literary Escapism.
  61. Re:Important questions.. by kasperd · · Score: 4, Insightful
    • Will it support pci modems?
      Will PCI modems support Linux? Will crappy hardware become better?
    • Will it get rid of the fucking cli for good and boot DIRECTLY in to X?
      That is not a Linux issue. Neither cli nor X is a part of Linux. My distribution has been capable of booting directly into X for more than three years. But my computer has never done that, because I know how to use the command line. And to he who knows the command line it is the most powerfull user interface in existence.
    • Will it tell Stallman to fuck off for trying to put gnu/ on it.
      He never requested GNU to be part of the name of Linux. He just requested that CDs containing 1% Linux and 60% GNU would at least have GNU in the name.
    • and last but most importantly, will you be able to to swtich kernels with out rebooting (is it that hard?, why dosent the kernel just unload it self from memory and go back to the boot menu?)
      Work is being done in that area. I however don't know if kexec will make it for this version. I have previously been using kmonte, but it hasn't been developed since 2.2, and new kernels was changed in ways breaking kmonte for good.
    --

    Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
  62. dude, you fail for the clasic troll bait.... by Pengo · · Score: 1, Offtopic


    Serious.. like nobody falls for this one.

    And you took it, hook line and sinker.

    hehehe

    1. Re:dude, you fail for the clasic troll bait.... by NormAtHome · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Please, if you're going to insult me at least use correct spelling and grammar. By the way "Dude" went out with Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, remember we're in the 21st century here.

      By the way, glad to see the reports of your early demise have been greatly exaggerated.

  63. LVM is included in 2.6 by crsm · · Score: 5, Informative

    To all of those worried about LVM: 2.6 will include a LVM implementation. The EVMS won't make it though.

    The story is that 2.4 included LVM1 (I am running it right now on my RH8 box) which had some restrictions and were generally regarded as a kludge. For the 2.6 kernel two competing replacements arised: LVM2 and EVMS. LVM2 is basicly a rewrite of LVM1 while EVMS is an entirely different beast aimed at the BIG IRON in the datacenters. After some (heated) discussion on LKML Linus decided to include LVM2 and scrap EVMS.

    The reaction from the EVMS team (sponsered by IBM) was noble: They decided to remove their kernel-land code and rewrite their user-land utilities to use the winning LVM2 kernel interface and create a win-win situation for everyone. Kernel traffic covered the story here and Linux Weekly News made a mention of it here.

  64. Er... It's this kind of crap by UncleRage · · Score: 1

    The kind of crap that ends as soon as you put down yer X-box controller and contribute some code yerself!

    Awww.... GodDamnit! I went and fed the troll! I hope it doesn't follow me home...

    -----

    The difficulty of a system is only comparable with the ignorance of the end-user.

    --
    #SickNotWeak
  65. Still not a funny joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why does every "comedian" on Slashdot feel the need to make the 3.1 reference whenever any version number close to 3 is discussed in an article?

    It's still not funny. It won't ever be funny, except to the crackheads who mod it up every article.

    1. Re:Still not a funny joke by JebusIsLord · · Score: 2

      While i am not usually one to complain about other people's posts, good lord - as soon as i saw this Linux 3.0 article i thought "uhoh more lame ass 3.1/3.11/95 jokes +3 funny..."

      And unfortunately I was right. Am I the only one who finds the "In soviet russia" jokes to be orders of magnitiude funnier?

      --
      Jeremy
    2. Re:Still not a funny joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yes. .:wait 20 seconds:.

  66. Cool! by Doug+Neal · · Score: 0, Troll

    Well, I think there's only one thing that needs to be said here.

    w00t!! lunix is teh r0xx0r!!!!!!1!!1!

  67. Hooray, another "3.11" joke... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Har har har.

    Please. Stop. Not funny. Never was.

  68. Re:Version 3.5?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do not feed the troll.
    Retard.

  69. I won't get what I want: CryptoAPI by OpenGLFan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I really wish it were possible to get the CryptoAPI merged into the full kernel. I've been compiling kernels without problems since the 1.2 series, but CryptoAPI patches are more convoluted than any other patch series I've ever tried.

    Ah, to live in a sane world, with sane governments...

    1. Re:I won't get what I want: CryptoAPI by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *yawn*

      it's in, blind man.

    2. Re:I won't get what I want: CryptoAPI by OpenGLFan · · Score: 2, Informative

      I stand corrected. As of 2.5.45, which is new enough for me to not have heard of it, and not mentioned on the main kerneli.org site.

      *snif* I could cry. Thanks, Linux and the CryptoAPI people at http://www.kerneli.org

  70. Har har har...the "comedians" strike again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, another version number joke. I haven't seen enough of these on Slashdot.

    1. Re:Har har har...the "comedians" strike again by zdarnell · · Score: 1

      Back off Cujo, he was just making a joke. Heaven forbid we add some humor, albeit sometimes overused humor, to life.

    2. Re:Har har har...the "comedians" strike again by WebMasterJoe · · Score: 2

      1. Make Beowolf cluster joke
      2. Make Version number joke
      3. ????
      4. PROFIT!!

      May as well overuse some other jokes too.

      --
      I really hate signatures, but go to my website.
  71. Re:still no stable VM by despistao · · Score: 1

    interesting...

    so FreeBSD, Solaris, etc... has no changed it's VM since ten years ago

  72. Version 2? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    AIDS is only on version 2, whereas Linux is on version 3 and AOL is on version 8. Therefore, I'd rather have AOL or Linux than AIDS.

    (I have no idea what I just sent)

  73. Re:hurd 0.2.1 to come out soon by 00_NOP · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I know people laugh at the Hurd, and I have done too - but I am sure that if/when it comes out it will challenge Linux - certainly on the desktop. The reason is simple - no one, but no one, uses Linux on the desktop except hacker freaks like you and me. Just read Linus's comments - where is the commitment to make Linux a tool for the desktop - it just ain't there (and maybe it shouldn't be).

  74. Felicitations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The author of this has obviously spent way too much time reading that little book.

  75. Did Reiser4 make it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I checked the status page, but I couldn't understand from it whether Reiser4 made it or not. I hope it did. It's a very cool filesystem, with database-like properties, and plugins for security (encryption, etc).

  76. Re:Important questions.. by Java+Pimp · · Score: 2

    Will it tell Stallman to fuck off for trying to put gnu/ on it.

    GNU/Linux (The GNU Operating System with Linux kernel) is not Linux (the kernel).


    I'm still suprised that Stallman tried this. He of all people should know better. After all...

    GNU's Not Linux

    err... something like that...

    --
    Ascalante: Your bride is over 3,000 years old.
    Kull: She told me she was 19!
  77. Gentoo may be for you by FreeUser · · Score: 4, Informative

    I really wish it were possible to get the CryptoAPI merged into the full kernel. I've been compiling kernels without problems since the 1.2 series, but CryptoAPI patches are more convoluted than any other patch series I've ever tried.

    Given that you're no stranger to either GNU/Linux or compiling the Linux kernel, you may want to take a look at the source-based Gentoo distribution. Aside from making download and compilation from the author's tarballs trivial via the portage system (emerge rsync ; emerge [packagename]), the gentoo-sources kernel has numerous additional patches, including the crypto-api patches.

    emerge rsync ; emerge gentoo-sources, followed by the usual cd /usr/src/linux; make menuconfig, etc. will bet you the Crypto API patch, as well as the low latency/preempt patches, grsecurity patches, and so on. All nicely applied already, and ready for you to compile and use.

    Perhaps not as nice as if they'd made it into the feature freeze for 2.6, but a lot easier than the process you describe.

    --
    The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
  78. Oh the madness by teakillsnoopy · · Score: 1

    From the article: "The better the I/O, the better the kernel for all of us," said the programmer, who requested anonymity. "We are thrilled with what we've seen of the 2.5 development tree so far, which will find its way into the 2.6 kernel." Don't people usually request anonymity when they say something....er, controversial. Maybe his boss doesn't like him playing with linux.

  79. 3.0 Microkernel by Luke-Jr · · Score: 1

    Does anyone else think that 3.0 should be a microkernel Linux?

    --
    Luke-Jr
    1. Re:3.0 Microkernel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No

    2. Re:3.0 Microkernel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      erm, nice in theory, but no. They're evil.

      And I think Linus feels the same way, so good luck convincing...

    3. Re:3.0 Microkernel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I agree. First, though, I think they should fix these problems I've had installing it under Windows XP. Every other popular program I've tried supports XP out of the box, but for some reason Linux, even the latest 8.0 version, doesn't even install.

    4. Re:3.0 Microkernel by damiam · · Score: 1

      No.

      --
      It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
    5. Re:3.0 Microkernel by SpaceLifeForm · · Score: 2

      No. HTH. HAND. YIHBT.

      --
      You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
    6. Re:3.0 Microkernel by psamuels · · Score: 1
      Does anyone else think that 3.0 should be a microkernel Linux?

      If they do, they won't admit it. You're the first one I've heard.

      What advantages do you think a microkernel-based Linux would bring? It seems to have thrived for ten years now as a traditional kernel, and although Linux does have its flaws, I can't think of any that a microkernel design would address.

      --
      "How can you claim that you are anti-crack, while still writing a window manager?" — Metacity README
  80. Re:Important questions. by quinto2000 · · Score: 1, Redundant
    and last but most importantly, will you be able to to swtich kernels with out rebooting (is it that hard?, why dosent the kernel just unload it self from memory and go back to the boot menu?)
    That's called rebooting.
    --
    Ceci n'est pas un post
  81. happy by jedir0x · · Score: 1

    Why am i so happy about the new kernel? I feel all giddy inside like a school boy or something. Or is it just my inner g33k that is dieing to compile a new kernel?

    --


    I'm not drunk, I'm just in touch with pi.
  82. this guy clone mimux? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Did this guy clone mimux? What about the guy in Redmond who cloned QDOS?

  83. Another way to look at a computer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't know if you think I'm in the wrong place, but I'd like to know if you think this is just stupid: Is it really necessary to have this concept of hard drive with program files that we load into RAM to execute. ...beceause that is basically just another cache. Someone could say that we don't run programs in RAM it's like a big storage space for the L(X) cache... ...that is a cache for L(X-1) cache etc.

    Too little address space? Throw 64 bits at it. Too slow? I see no reason for it. Similar write back policies that is used today in chaches might be ok.

    Isn't it possible to create an OS that just uses RAM as another level of cache and you have your disk space as your address space that you can run programs in??

    The fact that the lowest level in the memory hierarchy is non-volatile might even be cool - you just flush your caches and power off. Nice way to put the system to sleep.

    With me or against me?

    1. Re:Another way to look at a computer by kscguru · · Score: 1
      Not an expert on OS design, but...

      I'd think a big problem with this idea would be keeping the data stable. With most OSes, you can just reboot and that'll reset all the in-memory data structures. If one of those very-important structures gets corrupted, the entire OS becomes unusable. Can't flush things, can't restore stability = Kernel Panic, or the like - the OS kills itself to save the data on disk (because corrupted kernel info can cause corrupted writes...). Since it's (comparatively) easy to reboot the OS and re-create all the data structures, it's a good trade-off.

      A LOT of work goes into keeping the disk in a stable state. Just look at the variety of filesystems out there right now - anything interesting in the past 30 years has been concerned with writing consistent data and crash-proofing disks, so that they can survive a system crash / hardware failure. Adding that sort of synchronization overhead to every in-memory data structure that _might_ have to be echoed to disk would absolutely kill performance - and assumes the OS itself is flawless.

      So yeah, an all-RAM OS would work. You just couldn't "reboot". Ever. Just suspend - better hope there are NO memory leaks, NO bugs, 100% reliable hardware - nothing that could crash the OS. Not even BSD claims to be this stable.

      --

      A witty [sig] proves nothing. --Voltaire

    2. Re:Another way to look at a computer by Tony-A · · Score: 1

      Hmmm, interesting.
      Looks like you have the start of the design of Multics. Large address space. Files were just paged-out virtual memory. Very secure. Easier to secure stuff by virtual-address than by including an external IO space.

    3. Re:Another way to look at a computer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Guess you could have things pretty much as todays OS'es - a read-only kernel that you copy to another part of the address space and start executing. Same with programs. Nice and clean design.

      Maybe the user would not even notice the difference?! ...a filesystem in a part of the address space. OS design - no swap disk, possibly cleaner implementation?!

      Guess you are right about many bad parts since I have not heard about anything like this. /E

    4. Re:Another way to look at a computer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Todays problems could be the mapping between two different designs - the memory way of thinking and the disk way of thinking?

      (...and does it have to be so because of HD physical limitations)

  84. Re:hurd 0.2.1 to come out soon by fiNfobiA · · Score: 2, Insightful

    And why should the Hurd be any better? Remember, it's just the kernel, like linux. GNU does the rest of the os for both systems. The desktop stuff is handled by *fill-in-your-favourite-X-session-manager* which will act the same and suck on both systems - sorry to say - I'm down to using sawfish without the gnome-session stuff and am seriously considering relaunching fvwm2... btw: any cool new lightweight window-managers out there?

  85. Re:Amazing coincidence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Didn't you see that episode of the 60s Batman series when Alfred dressed up as Batman so he could appear side-by-side with Bruce Wayne?

  86. Re:Multiple Choice!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Microsofties die young from viral infections.

  87. MOD DOWN! ADMITS USING WINDOWS by DahGhostfacedFiddlah · · Score: 1

    nt

  88. Re:hurd 0.2.1 to come out soon by lazarius · · Score: 1

    btw: any cool new lightweight window-managers out t

    Fluxbox! It's what I use... with tabs ... nice tabs ... and runs wm or as or blackbox applets...

    I just wish I knew how to do the transparency thing...

    MIKE

    --
    Beware the JabberOrk.
  89. All About the Three Linux LVMs by psamuels · · Score: 2, Informative
    Why did the guy from Oracle ask for LVM? I thought the 2.4 series already had LVM (I'm using it now). From Linus' reply, it seems like there is a new LVM? Anyone have any information about the difference and what the problem with the old one was?

    There are / have been three logical volume managers for Linux.

    1. The original LVM by Heinz Mauelschagen (sp?) matured over several years and was in wide use well before Linus dropped it into kernel 2.3.35 or so. Its interface was patterned after the Veritas volume manager as found in HP-UX. Its functionality is similar to the AIX LVM, but somewhat (IBM would say a lot) more limited in scope.
    2. IBM came up with their Enterprise Volume Management System (EVMS) to replace LVM. I think it is partially a port of the AIX LVM, but I'm not sure. The idea was to have a one-stop shop for all your volume management needs, including mirrors, RAID, snapshots, partition management, etc. This is sort of contrary to the Linux philosophy, where we normally layer things - LVM on top of RAID on top of partitions, generally. Thus, EVMS is seen as a lot of code duplication / bloat, but on the other hand it is quite appealing to "enterprise" customers and vendors, due partly to its IBM pedigree I suppose, and partly to the fact that these types of people really go for "integrated solutions".
    3. Finally, Sistina (home of the original LVM hackers) came up with LVM2, which is a complete redesign of LVM - but, unlike EVMS, LVM2 is even more minimalist than LVM1. The kernel component of LVM2 is called Device Mapper, and is a generic way to chop up and paste together your block devices to form logical volumes. The LVM2 user-space code uses the DM interface and implements the rest of the LVM logic on top of it. From a user perspective, LVM2 looks a lot like LVM1.

    So everyone agreed that the original LVM1 code, while filling an important gap back in the day, was too ugly to live. Even its creators had abandoned it to twist in the wind when they wrote Device Mapper and the LVM2 corpus. Due to some invasive changes to the entire block device code in Linux 2.5.1 or so, the in-kernel LVM code was left broken, and nobody has been interested in fixing it. It was to be replaced by either EVMS or Device Mapper - or both. Linus left this decision to the last moment, about two days before the feature freeze, when he put in DM and left out EVMS.

    EVMS is, as I said, the more feature-rich of the two, but most kernel hackers seemed not to like it very much, due to the aforementioned code duplication and its "all your block devices are belong to us" attitude. Probably, when the Oracle guy asked for LVM, he meant EVMS.

    You use LVM1 today. When the 2.6 kernel comes out, you will have to upgrade to LVM2, and compile DM into your kernel, but it should be a smooth upgrade path - your on-disk volume group format will still be supported. Two problems you may face are:

    • dual-booting between kernels 2.4 and 2.6 - you have to have two sets of LVM tools - there are ways to manage having both installed at once, but I don't know if the distributors will manage this well or not, and
    • if your root partition is on a logical volume, you need to arrange for it to be activated before mounting, probably with an initrd setup - in which case you'll have to have the LVM2 tools on your initrd instead of the LVM1 tools. Once again your distributor is supposed to handle the problems here but who knows how well they'll do.

    You can preempt these problems by patching your 2.4 kernel with Sistina's DM patch, and migrate completely to LVM2/DM while still using 2.4. I'll probably do this the next time I have occasion to reboot, which may not be for awhile (my box has been up for 2.5 months - that's when I overloaded a circuit breaker...).

    One last note. You may have heard of the well-publicised note where Kevin Corry announced that EVMS was changing direction. They will now reimplement what is currently a large kernel component of EVMS, moving it out of kernel space into user-space tools that will operate directly on top of Device Mapper (the LVM2 kernel bits). The hope is that DM will prove to be flexible enough that EVMS can continue to exist, with all its current features, purely in user-space - or possibly with a minimal amount of additional kernel code. So, if the Oracle people insist that EVMS is the way Enterprise Systems should run, they should still be satisfied. The EVMS team plans to have the new user-space-based EVMS out in a couple of months, well before 2.6 itself is widely adopted or, indeed, released.

    --
    "How can you claim that you are anti-crack, while still writing a window manager?" — Metacity README
  90. Re:hurd 0.2.1 to come out soon by DerPflanz · · Score: 1

    no one, but no one, uses Linux on the desktop except hacker freaks like you and me

    Not entirely. When you read news on usenet, you'll find a lot of posts of people saying they wanted to try linux. Also people that don't know about filesystems, memory management, etc. The new distributions are so easy to setup and use that also non-hackers can (and do) use it. There are even people that don't know they use it, for example in thin clients.

    --
    -- The Internet is a too slow way of doing things, you'd never do without it.
  91. Re:Version 3.5?! by bilgebag · · Score: 1

    Wow, ESR's really pissed that CML2 didn't make it into 2.6, ain't he?

  92. Re:hurd 0.2.1 to come out soon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, if they are using Linux, they are not browsing the web with it. Look at your apoache logs - how many Linux users are there out there?

  93. You can take that idea even further.... by Confuse+Ed · · Score: 2

    Most of the data on your hard disk is just your local cache of software/data from 'the internet' - so you could treat your hard drive as mostly cache, with a small partition with your own/original data which you are hosting locally.

    There would be many many problems to resolve before doing it (especially regarding security) - but the advantages would be that you'd effectivly have the latest versions of _all_ the worlds software available to you in your /usr or "Program Files" directory (though obviously you might not be able to use all of it without paying for licence keys)

  94. Linux 95 by MonkeyDluffy · · Score: 1
    From owner-linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu Wed Mar 8 04:18:06 1995
    Received: (from daemon@localhost) by vger.rutgers.edu (8.6.10/8.6.10) id VAA06388 for linux-kernel-outgoing; Tue, 7 Mar 1995 21:36:26 -0500
    Date: Tue, 7 Mar 1995 18:13:07 +0200
    From: Linus Torvalds
    Message-Id:
    X-Mailer: Mail User's Shell (7.2.0 10/31/90)
    To: linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu (linux-kernel)
    Subject: Linux'95 final release
    Sender: owner-linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu
    Precedence: bulk


    Ok, the final release of Linux'95, also known among those in the know as "v1.2.0" is now out. After the extensive beta-release-period, Linux'95 is reality.


    Before you get Linux'95, I'd like to outline the Licensing stuff, and remind you that copyright infringement is a crime.


    Linux'95 has several types of licenses, including, but not limited, to:


    * End-User License Agreement - Applications

    This is an application-specific license, which is intended for a single application running on your Linux'95-authorized computer. The license agreement rules differ depending on the application. See appendix 'H'.


    * End-User License Agreement - Systems

    This agreement is intended for singe system product use, such as the Linux'95 kernel license. It's important to note that the Systems product licenses do not permit concurrent, or second copies. There is a special Multi-License upgrade program for those that want to start out with a single license but later expand their setup.


    * Multi-License Pak

    This agreement is intended for sites with multiple systems, which want to run multiple copies of the Linux'95 system concurrently and/or on several machines. This license is available as a 10, 50 or 100-unit license depending on the size of your installation.

    * Logo License

    This agreement is intended for hardware and software vendors wishing to show that their product is Linux'95-aware, and has special features taking advantage of the Linux'95 environment.

    * Linux'95 Stamp of Approval


    This stamp of approval is available for systems that have been certified at our extensive testing facility as being able to run the Linux'95 system.

    * The "I've got too much money" License

    Contact us for details on this exclusive licensing deal, we'll work something out. Please contact "ivemoney@linux.Helsinki.FI" directly.

    Large institutions that want to possibly combine several licenses can do so, with a standard licensing fee reduction. Please contact our licensing department for further details.

    End-User License Agreement - Systems (EULAS)

    This license allows full use of the Linux'95 base system on a single computer or workstation. Any number of people can use that single system, but only one at a time. This is the license of choice for stand-alone systems, or for secure installations with a very restrictive network connection.

    EULAS allows making and unlimited number of backup copies, and allows further distribution of the system under the terms of the GPL. Please see appendix 'G' for further details of the GPL.

    Multi-License Pak - MPAK

    MPAK offers you all of the Linux'95 single system License, while also allowing you to extend the use of Linux'95 to multiple systems and/or multiple users concurrently on a single system. Thus your Linux'95 system can become a full departemental mail server, or act as a internet gateway to the rest of the world.

    Like the single-user license, the MPAK license allows further distribution of Linux'95 copies according to the GPL.

    Logo License and Stamp of Approval


    The exclusive Linux'95 License and Stamp of Approval can be used to show that your hardware and/or software is not limited to the more primitive systems available today, but is able to run the full Linux'95 system. To apply for a Logo License, you must show that your product does indeed work under Linux'95, and uses any of the extensive Linux'95 environment services (see also: Stevens, Advanced Unix Programming).


    The Linux'95 Stamp of Approval requires that your product has gone through the rigorous compatibility testing at LT-labs. To ensure that your product continues to be compatible even with new versions of the Linux'95 system, you are also advised not to expect it back ("we got it, and we ain't giving it back").

    The DEC AlphaPC 2000/300 is currently under extensive Stamp of Approval testing. Other hardware manufacturers, please contact out hardware department at "hardware@linux.helsinki.fi".

    How to Apply for a License

    To actually apply for the licenses, please find the nearest Linux'95 distributor. The official Linux'95 kernel distribution is available at
    'ftp://ftp.cs.helsinki.fi/pub/Software/Linux/K erne l/v1.2' and at 'ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/OS/Linux/PEOPLE/Linus/v1.2 '. Other suppliers are expected to pick it up within days.


    After having aquired the Linux'95 distribution, you will have automatically applied for a single-user license (the distribution outlets will do all the necessary paperwork for you, no need to fill in registration forms). When you expand the license, the revolutionary "Linux'95 Auto-Licensing" software will automatically send in a expanded license request and deduct the licensing fee from your bank account.


    To apply for the Stamp of Approval, please contact our Approval department electronically at "approval@linux.Helsinki.FI" for further details.

    Why do I want to upgrade?


    The beta-testers of Linux'95 can upgrade to the final Linux'95 from their current setup for no extra licensing fees by applying the "v1.1.95-1.2.0.patch.gz" system-specific patch set. That patch set mainly corrects a few cosmetic problems with the beta-version of Linux'95, namely spelling. It also modifies the behaviour of a few system-specific undocumented features.


    Users of the older Linux'94 system release (aka 1.0.9) will find the extensive new features of Linux'95 a new exciting world of wonder. Our
    beta-testing community has extensively tested the new features, while at the same time ensuring full backwards compatibility with most major
    software packages. Updated versions for packages that have broken are available at all major Linux sites.


    We thank you for using Linux'95,

    Linus

    --
    Happy meals fund terrorism
  95. Re:First Penis. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Throat it for me will you?

  96. Re:Important questions.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OS X doesn't

  97. Re:Important questions.. by LordNimon · · Score: 1

    Fair enough, but I was talking about PC OSes. Obviously, I didn't mean every freakin' OS for every platform on the planet!

    --
    And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
    To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
  98. Inigo Montoya by Ender+Ryan · · Score: 2
    Inigo Montoya was the guy from "The Princess Bride", whose father was killed by a man with six fingers.

    In another post, someone else mentioned his name is actually "Indigo Montoya", only knowable by reading the book as his name is never said clearly in the movie and sounds like "Inigo".

    Montoya: My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!

    Montoya: My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!

    Montoya: My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!

    Guy With Six Fingers: STOP SAYING THAT!

    Montoya: My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!

    Montoya: My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!

    Montoya: My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!

    --
    Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken - Tyler Durden
    1. Re:Inigo Montoya by CaseyB · · Score: 2
      In another post, someone else mentioned his name is actually "Indigo Montoya", only knowable by reading the book as his name is never said clearly in the movie and sounds like "Inigo".

      His name in the movie is "Inigo". It's spelled clearly in the credits. The book may well have been different.

  99. Reminds me of a South Park episode by cculianu · · Score: 1

    Remember the South Park episode where the dwarves are stealing people's underwear for profit?

    Their plan was:

    1. Steal Underwear
    2. ?
    3. Profit!

    1. Re:Reminds me of a South Park episode by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AAARGH! You humourless fucking retard, OF COURSE it's referring to the SP episode... it's a meme that's already been used to death in flippant /. comments for christs sake.

  100. I see. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    "But for me, my time is to valuable to run Windows."

    Apparently it's also so valuable you don't have time to learn how to spell.

  101. Re:hurd 0.2.1 to come out soon by 00_NOP · · Score: 2

    Well, if they are using Linux, they are not browsing the web with it. Look at your apoache logs - how many Linux users are there out there?

    Not many. About one-in-fifty don't use MSIE but that is not the same.

  102. Last Post! by alpg · · Score: 1

    Seems a computer engineer, a systems analyst, and a programmer were
    driving down a mountain when the brakes gave out. They screamed down the
    mountain, gaining speed, but finally managed to grind to a halt, more by
    luck than anything else, just inches from a thousand foot drop to jagged
    rocks. They all got out of the car:
    The computer engineer said, "I think I can fix it."
    The systems analyst said, "No, no, I think we should take it
    into town and have a specialist look at it."
    The programmer said, "OK, but first I think we should get back
    in and see if it does it again."

    - this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...