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Linux Kernel 2.6.0-test8 Released

djcapelis writes "It's that time again. Latest release is hot off the presses in this final bit of stabilization before 2.6.0 is finally released. Changelog: here. Use mirrors if you're nice, but kernel.org has a nice little bandwidth readout on the front page so you can see how hard their servers are being hit if you don't feel like tracking one down. A few XFS changes from SGI in there as well if anyone is still worried on that topic. Watch for the MM patches when they come out. The FTP server seems to be snappier for some."

277 comments

  1. Framebuffers by Durin_Deathless · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They still haven't fixed the problems in the framebuffers. Anyone know why this is so low priority?

    --
    You should use AdiumX on your Mac.
    1. Re:Framebuffers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      go to the gentoo forums and wait for the love-sources hack to be published it fixed the whole framebuffer dilly, and im high on dxm.

    2. Re:Framebuffers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because framebuffers are only used by trendwhores who think it's 31337 to diss X?

    3. Re:Framebuffers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      XFree86 has a framebuffer driver, goober.

    4. Re:Framebuffers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      uhm... and people who like to see more than 80 lines at bootup? or who like a graphical bootup. btw im high on dxm.

    5. Re:Framebuffers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      were not talking about those hercules fb cards with 4 colors FAGBALL, were talking about directfb. im high on dxm.

    6. Re:Framebuffers by ptr2void · · Score: 0

      Problem?

    7. Re:Framebuffers by GammaTau · · Score: 5, Interesting

      They still haven't fixed the problems in the framebuffers. Anyone know why this is so low priority?

      As far as I understand, there is still a significant body of new framebuffer code that hasn't been merged to Linus' tree. There is a message from the framebuffer maintainer on the Linux framebuffer development list saying that the merge will happen, quoting him directly, "Very soon. I have new software cursor code that I'm debugging right now. This is the only thing holding back the syning."

    8. Re:Framebuffers by Doomrat · · Score: 1

      Why do I get the feeling that you're incapable of reading threads in the correct order?

    9. Re:Framebuffers by binary+paladin · · Score: 2, Funny

      His use of the term "FAGBALL" perhaps?

    10. Re:Framebuffers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, we get the point. You're high on dextrametorphin. That's such a shitty drug (yes, I've used it, it sucks). I'm going to be high on marijuana, once these pot cookies digest.

    11. Re:Framebuffers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're insane if you think pot is better than dextromethorphan [yes, the proper spelling!]
      Pot just makes you act like an idiot. DXM makes it to where you can't move.

      I also recommend you not take any more straight up robotussin, unless you like the idea hugging a toilet for an hour in the middle of your trip. Find a way to extract it.

      Oh, and fix that damn framebuffer issue! That's annoying...

    12. Re:Framebuffers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Um... I'm using 2.6 with XFree86's FBDev driver ...

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

      Must be the DXM, which, like its cousin MDMA, burns holes in the brain.

    14. Re:Framebuffers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      They still haven't fixed the problems in the framebuffers. Anyone know why this is so low priority?

      Cuz "graphics in the kernel" gives Linus hives?

      I don't know about kernel version 2.6 but as of 2.4 SVGAlib, X, and the framebuffer still don't play nice with each other. No wonder Linux sucks as a desktop OS.

    15. Re:Framebuffers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which is interesting to note as linux is open source and problems such as this were promised to be addressed much faster than by proprietary software companies, yet I know of no other operating system commercially available with reasonable market share that exhibits such problems. Is open source lacking?

    16. Re:Framebuffers by Sj0 · · Score: 1

      ...because you can't use ancient VESA video modes?

      I hope you haven't tried Windows XP, because you'll think that it REALLY sucks as a desktop OS.

      --
      It's been a long time.
    17. Re:Framebuffers by Sj0 · · Score: 1

      Actually, windows XP won't allow the use of VESA video modes in it's VDM, which seems to be the closest analogue to the framebuffer device. In Windows, you'd let the shell portion (win.com, for lack of a better definition) handle hardware abstraction(through DirectX), rather than relying on the kernel to provide drivers. X already has DirectX substitutes.

      --
      It's been a long time.
  2. nifty meter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... but kernel.org has a nice little bandwidth readout on the front page so you can see how hard their servers are being hit...

    how many people are going to go there not to download, but just to see the nifty meter and end up slashdotting them ;)

    1. Re:nifty meter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      keep trying... we'll get it yet!

    2. Re:nifty meter by MarcQuadra · · Score: 1

      Considering that they're pumping over 100Mbits/sec of 20-something meg files to the world, I don't think a few rubberneckers looking at he meter will do too much damage.

      --
      "Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
    3. Re:nifty meter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I did, but the meter is only on the second notch and they are using 80Mbps so I don't think viewing the meter will hurt them that much.

      BTW, WTF are they running on? An OC3 line?

    4. Re:nifty meter by Screaming+Lunatic · · Score: 1

      What I'd like to know is what kernel is kernel.org running.

    5. Re:nifty meter by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, I did consider it. ;)

    6. Re:nifty meter by kasperd · · Score: 1

      Apache/1.3.27 (Unix) (Red-Hat/Linux) on Linux

      That doesn't answer the question, but at least it tells us, that it must be running a kernel at least 184 days old.

      --

      Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
  3. Re:Relevance?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    beleive it or not, after a few things (like mm) are amended, many people do, check the gentoo forums, they arent really that unstable and better than the 2.4 series in many respects.

  4. Re:SC0 0WNZ 2.6 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually you can also use 2.3 and early 2.4, I believe.

  5. Dear -test branch by Letter · · Score: 0
    Dear -test branch,

    Oh no, I just finished downloading the Mythical Man Month and -test8 is already out!

    Back to downloadin' (and drinkin'),
    Elvira

    1. Re:Dear -test branch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Where can you download The Mythical Man Month?

  6. Do I by 110010001000 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Do I need to pay SCO $699 for this release too? Or does the license I purchased from them cover this as well?

    1. Re:Do I by spectrokid · · Score: 1

      Don't worry, I can get you an upgrade for 299$

      --

      10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then

    2. Re:Do I by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 1

      Yeah, because SCO $699 jokes in every article involving Linux never stop being funny.

      --
      "Sufferin' succotash."
    3. Re:Do I by 110010001000 · · Score: 0

      Did I mention Micro$haft sux0rs? And Open Source is the only way to develop? I'm just trying to get modded up here!

    4. Re:Do I by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Congrats on wasting negative mod points so useful info can still be seen.

    5. Re:Do I by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do I need to pay SCO $699 for this release too?

      Yes, if you believe in paying for unproven legal issues that really don't involve you.

      SCO now also offers the $99 "thinking about trying Linux" license. For the reasonable license fee SCO absolves you of needing to feel guily about thinking of using Linux. Of course, should you actually decide to use Linux you should upgrade to the full license.

    6. Re:Do I by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      0+0+0+8+0+0+0+128+0+0+1024+2048=3208

      What's the significance?

    7. Re:Do I by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did I mention Micro$haft sux0rs? And Open Source is the only way to develop? I'm just trying to get modded up here!

      Being that this is Slashdot, spawn of zealotic, self important, pompous, arrogant, know-it-all, cocky, narcissistic, egotistic, intellectually vain, pretentious, ostentatious, swollen-headed, boastful, conceited, imperious, haughty elitists, you probably will get modded up.

    8. Re:Do I by 110010001000 · · Score: 0

      Yes, I did too! Very cool.

    9. Re:Do I by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      DON'T FORGET GENTOO FANBOYS

    10. Re:Do I by jo42 · · Score: 1


      Imagine a Beowulf cluster of SCO licenses...

  7. AC Release/Patch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why is AC patch still needed under 2.6? I thought I've read enough of performance information to be convinced that 2.6 is the butter. I've been convinced of how the scheduler is supreme? Why I ask you...why is AC patch still needed?

    1. Re:AC Release/Patch by keith.bronstrup.com · · Score: 0

      They should leave the AC patch in place -- but change its functionality so that:
      People using it can no longer post as AC
      and
      People using it no longer have to view AC posts

      Aside from that, not sure what the AC patch you are referring to actually does, although I do know it has nothing to do with /. or Anonymous Coward. This post was a bit of sarcasm -- if you happen to have fallen into a sarchasm and don't get it, don't bother moderating!

      --
      Error 666 - SCO source has been found in your Linux kernel. Please remove it.
      Formerly kdsolutions
    2. Re:AC Release/Patch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AC Patch/AC Branch of the kernel. I can't believe /. users are getting this stupid. Two posts in a row missing this point is a real cause of concern.

      Whatever education you're getting now...may as well go for a PhD in this

      http://tinyurl.com/8t5

    3. Re:AC Release/Patch by inode_buddha · · Score: 1

      Bwahahaha, thank you, I thought *I* was the only one who caught this. That, or somebody just got trolled by a lightweight.

      FWIW, last I heard AC has his own branch, which is quite popular in RH and mdk circles it seems. He's also going back to school and taking it easy on the bleeding-edge devel stuff for awhile. I won't argue that he's earned it.

      For myself, I follow the current -mm tree pretty closely, preferring minimal patching. Its a joy to use so far, but I'm not doing enterprise stuff or hard testing either.

      As usual it seems that Linus "knows" when to lock shit down and stabilize. My predictions for the point releases or even 2.7 include (in order): a disk I/O and/or IDE re-write (long overdue), ditto for serial and FB devices. More merges/cleanups for SCSI.

      *Really* olid (Yes, its a word; look it up.) devices are being dropped like flies and poison; it's about time IMHO. I expect this trend to continue.

      Probably there will also be the usual FS fixes and some newer DB and security stuff -- probably merging towards simplifying the framework via common atomic ops.

      There's probably going to be more convergence between the "enterprise" features and the "real-world" features during the next year or so.

      Just my predictions, if anyone can make use of them. This reflects the trends I've seen so far anyway.

      --
      C|N>K
  8. Re:Relevance?? by inertia187 · · Score: 1

    What with the SCO stuff and recent interviews, I think it's more than relevant. It seems to me that Linux kernel versions are becoming more and more frequent, so that fact alone makes it worth posting on the front page.

    It's like saying, "I'm not a Cubs fan, so why did the LA Times have their game 7 loss as a front page article?"

    Answer to both: Because it's high profile.

    --
    A programmer is a machine for converting coffee into code.
  9. XFS by rf0 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well I've been using test5+mm4 under heavy load with no problems. Now the mm4 did include the XFS fix and its been totally stable under constant I/O. Looks like 2.6 is shaping up very nicely. Would like to put it into real production but won't quite yet as there might be still one or two nasty little surprises. Overall thought hats off to Linus et al

    Rus

    1. Re:XFS by dubious9 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      not to sound ignorant or anything, but what are the mm patches? Memory management optimizations? Why aren't they included in the kernel?

      --
      Why, o why must the sky fall when I've learned to fly?
    2. Re:XFS by rf0 · · Score: 3, Informative

      They are a series of patches which aim to fix bugs and imporve interactive performace. Some people also feel that they can be more stable than the normal kernel

      Rgds

      Rus

    3. Re:XFS by lightcycle · · Score: 4, Informative

      As far as I understand, it's a bunch of mostly performance-heightening patches by Andrew Morton and others. I think they are omitted because they are too bleeding edge to put in mainstream (Yes, apparently too bleeding edge even for a development/test kernel). I tried them with test6 however, and to me it didn't seem any less stable than vanilla, but YMMV.

      --

      The stars that shine and the stars that shrink
      in the face of stagnation the water runs before your eyes
    4. Re:XFS by budgenator · · Score: 1

      cool I just installed XFS on my 'puter at work and I liked it so far under 2.4.19 so it should rock under 2.6, I installed primarily to spite SCO and secondarily because of recent complimentary benchmarks published, I may convert another partition to JFS for the same reason!

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    5. Re:XFS by treat · · Score: 1

      Why would you use XFS when there is no fsck for it?

      If that test kernel corrupts your filesystem, will you fix it by hand?

  10. Microsoft Dismisses Linux Kernel 2.6.0-test8 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    On the eve of the Linux 2.6 introduction for personal computers, Microsoft's General Manager, Windows Division, Dave Fester posted his thoughts on Linux Kernel 2.6.0-test8. In his comments, Fester concludes that Linux Kernel 2.6.0-test8 is too limited for PC users.

    "Unless Linux decides to make radical changes to their service model, a Linux-based operating system will still remain a closed system, where PC owners cannot access content from other operating systems," said Fester. "Additionally, users of Linux are limited to programs from Redhat's install CD... this is a drawback for PC users, who expect choice in music programs, choice in games, and choice in Word Processors from a wide-variety of Microsoft products to use for various purposes. Lastly, if you use Linux's desktop environment along with Linux, you don't have the ability of using the over 40 different Windows XP-compatible GUI skins. When I'm paying for a desktop environment, I want to know that I have choices today and in the future."

    When asked how the Linux Kernel 2.60-test8 differs from Windows-based services, Fester talks about Microsoft Office and the different types of options it will offer users. Fester concludes that it will be the best experience that ultimately wins over consumers.

    "All told, copmputer fans should look for services that offer the best experience and take advantage of the best digital rights platform available for PCs. With Windows XP 2003, you get faster starts, better quality internet, and support for the most websites," Fester said.

    1. Re:Microsoft Dismisses Linux Kernel 2.6.0-test8 by unixfan · · Score: 1

      Yeah, Linux is really limiting and inhibiting, which is why all of us are soo excited about using it. I guess we must be dumb or something. Many have even been windows users and are now wasting time on something this horrible. A more responsive kernel is of course even worse! What could Linus have been thinking?!!

      Fortunately we have the likes of, what's his name at MS, Pester(?) to keep us alert to our stupidity! Thanks for the enlightment!!

      (Someone get this guy new batteries I think his are out!)

    2. Re:Microsoft Dismisses Linux Kernel 2.6.0-test8 by rickbrodie · · Score: 2, Informative

      This was a real quote from Dave Fester, the AC just changed all references of Apple and iTunes to Linux. Try searching google for "you get faster starts"...

    3. Re:Microsoft Dismisses Linux Kernel 2.6.0-test8 by KnightStalker · · Score: 1

      Nah, he just ripped it off from here.

      --
      * And remember, it's spelled N-e-t-s-c-a-p-e, but it's pronounced "Mozilla."
    4. Re:Microsoft Dismisses Linux Kernel 2.6.0-test8 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      uh no.

      while true, that _is_ where the actual story lives, AC didn't have to go that far to get it.

      try one slashdot story below current one.

      time for some new glasses oldtimer. ;-)

    5. Re:Microsoft Dismisses Linux Kernel 2.6.0-test8 by Pharmboy · · Score: 1

      I do not understand what you mean. I was simply quoting Mr. Fester.

      Wow. I thought you were joking. I thought you were taking just a little too far, but wow. But now its funnier knowing someone really said that. I would still hire him though. That was Baghdad Bob all over again.

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    6. Re:Microsoft Dismisses Linux Kernel 2.6.0-test8 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ;-)

      looks like linux isnt any better than apple in these aspects

      guess its very unlikely that Fester whould actually talk about linux' kernel

      they prefer to be talkin' bout the communists' influence on linux :P

    7. Re:Microsoft Dismisses Linux Kernel 2.6.0-test8 by MuMart · · Score: 1
      Seen yesterday on ITV during Henry VIII(UKs major ad-supported network) - the IBM Linux ad.

      It went something like "The boy's learning. What's his name?"

      "Li ... (blank, next ad)

      Anybody in the UK notice this? Seems fishy to me. Looks like MS (or MS fanboys) are playing dirty...

  11. does anyone know by Apreche · · Score: 1

    if 2.6 has better serial ata support than currently? I still can't get it to work.

    --
    The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
    1. Re:does anyone know by Chilliwilli · · Score: 1

      SATA support is entirely down to driver manufacturers as far as I'm aware the kernel should treat it pretty much as though it were a normal scsi/ide device.

      Still waiting on VIA for SATA VT8237 drivers so i can install RH9 on my new box. Any news?

      --
      Cure cancer.. and stuff! www.team45.info
    2. Re:does anyone know by HTD · · Score: 1

      I run 2.6.0beta8 with a serial ata drive. The issue i have with it is when i mount a cdrom i get the kernel message "Disabling IRQ #18" which slows the system horribly down because irq 18 is the irq of the SATA controller.

      Same message appears when i add devfs support (gentoo likes it). I don't run devfs or mount cdroms, and the machine works w/o problems. I very seldom need access to CDROM or DVDs so its no problem for me, YMMV...

      ac patches have a different SATA code, but it exists only against 2.6.0beta1 afaik. You might want to try this one.

    3. Re:does anyone know by Brandybuck · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Don't ask. Everytime I've asked this question on Slashdot, or any Linux support forum, I've been flamed. Apparently until the SATA gets hammered down and made a default part of the kernel, the typical Linux advocate regards it as unimportant. It's almost as if they expect people NOT to use SATA drives just because it isn't ready for Linux yet.

      Yet SATA-only systems are becoming increasingly common. I expect in six months that OEMs won't even ship IDE systems any more. If Linux distros don't put in SATA support by default in their install CDs, there's going to be a real problem.

      --
      Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
    4. Re:does anyone know by Cokelee · · Score: 1

      I'd really love to bitch VIA out for that one. Releasing drivers for RH7.2 WTF?!? Who the hell is that useful for? People the just bought a brand new motherboard that use a (?two year?) old distro - and the driver was released in the past six months (April, I believe).

    5. Re:does anyone know by Drakon · · Score: 5, Funny
      you're asking the question wrong. To quote from bash.org:
      <dm> I discovered that you'd never get an answer to a problem from Linux Gurus by asking. You have to troll in order for someone to help you with a Linux problem.
      <dm> For example, I didn't know how to find files by contents and the man pages were way too confusing. What did I do? I knew from experience that if I just asked, I'd be told to read the man pages even though it was too hard for me.
      <dm> Instead, I did what works. Trolling. By stating that Linux sucked because it was so hard to find a file compared to Windows, I got every self-described Linux Guru around the world coming to my aid. They gave me examples after examples of different ways to do it. All this in order to prove to everyone that Linux was better.
      <dm> So if you're starting out Linux, I advise you to use the same method as I did to get help. Start the sentence with "Linux is gay because it can't do XXX like Windows can". You will have PhDs running to tell you how to solve your problems.
    6. Re:does anyone know by danielpavel · · Score: 1
      I expect in six months that OEMs won't even ship IDE systems any more.
      Sure thing. Remember, same thing happened to COM and parallel ports, they just vanished when USB made it into the market... PS/2 ports too.

      IDE drives have been around for a long time, and will be around for a long time from now on, even when SATA becomes standard issue on motherboards. Hell, floppy drives are still around...

      -daniel

    7. Re:does anyone know by MooseGuy529 · · Score: 1
      Hell, floppy drives are still around...

      The only reason floppy drives are still around is that they are the only removable drive that doesn't need a driver and can be accessed at the lowest system level. ZIP drives are pretty nice, but they're as slow as floppies, and the bigger size makes filling them impractical. CD drives are great, but need drivers, and, worst, no CD-R/RW drives can treat the disc as a huge read-write device. I want a CD drive that simply shows up as a read-write filesystem.

      --

      Tired of free iPod sigs? Subscribe to my blacklist

    8. Re:does anyone know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I expect in six months that OEMs won't even ship IDE systems any more

      Like how impossible it is to get a system without a floppy drive?

    9. Re:does anyone know by Alereon · · Score: 1

      You can get simple and cheap Serillel adapters, allowing you to plug IDE drives into SATA controllers. Thus, there's no reason to include a PATA controller or bridge on motherboards. Also, note that ISA did die a fairly quick, and total, death once PCI equivalents of ISA devices became available.

    10. Re:does anyone know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Regarding zip speed: I only have zip 100 drives, but I hear that the zip 250 is much faster. External zip drives, of course, are slow. Anything going across parallel port or USB is going to take awhile. I have an IDE zip 100 and I have no complaints about speed.

      The biggest problems I have with Zip are that (a) the disks are expensive and (b) it is not ubiquitous. I use floppies occasionally because it's easy to pop them in anywhere. But not every box has a zip drive.

      Most of the time, of course, I use scp, smb, or even ftp or web to transfer files over a network, whenever I can. If that doesn't work, I try floppy. If we are talking about large files, I use zip if available, and if not, CD-R.

      PS: I think Adaptec DirectCD can use CD-RWs as read-write discs. I wouldn't know, though, because I don't use Windows.

    11. Re:does anyone know by StrawberryFrog · · Score: 1

      IDE drives have been around for a long time, and will be around for a long time from now on, even when SATA becomes standard issue on motherboards. Hell, floppy drives are still around...

      Uh, I think you're answering the wrong question. Sure, new mobos still have IDE controllers as well as SATA. But the odds of new boxes shipping with IDE hard drives fitteed is rapidly falling. And if I read the parent post right, depite your protestations that IDE, Like COM port and floppy controller will still be there, the owners of boxes like this will be plum out of luck.

      Yeah, so they can open the box up and add an obsolete hd, blah blah blah, goodbye to 90% of the consumer market.

      So I am actually running a nice new machine right now with SATA hard drives. Assembling it (well, the HD part of the assembly anyway) was a pleasure and so far it has been fast, quiet and reliable. Does this mean that I can't run Linux on this box?

      --

      My Karma: ran over your Dogma
      StrawberryFrog

    12. Re:does anyone know by MooseGuy529 · · Score: 1
      PS: I think Adaptec DirectCD can use CD-RWs as read-write discs. I wouldn't know, though, because I don't use Windows.

      Theoretically. Those programs (packet writing in general) are buggy as hell.

      Do you know any way (using Linux) to automatically download a tarball at logon from an FTP server and expand it into a user's home directory, then tarball the home directory back up and upload it back at logoff? I want to set something like that up with Knoppix so I can use my personalized Linux system anywhere without toting a second disk. I get 10 MB FTP/web space from Earthlink, so I can keep small stuff in the tarball.

      --

      Tired of free iPod sigs? Subscribe to my blacklist

    13. Re:does anyone know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also, note that ISA did die a fairly quick, and total, death once PCI equivalents of ISA devices became available.

      Yeah, but PCI totally rocked all over ISA, and everyone knew it.

      SATA vs PATA? blah... thinner cable, barely anyone cares. The benefit is negligible -- so I don't have to spend 3 minutes arranging the ribbon cable out of the airflow way.

    14. Re:does anyone know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I dunno if this works or if you'd want to do this, but ...

      In your profile script:
      cd
      wget -O - -o /dev/null http://blah.com/mydir/home.tar.gz | tar zx
      In your logout script:
      cd
      tar zcf .$$.tar.gz .

      (echo 'username
      password
      image
      cd mydir
      put '.$$.tar.gz home.tar.gz) | ftp -ip ftp.blah.com
      I just whipped this script up in two seconds. Seems to work here. Be careful, okay?
    15. Re:does anyone know by binary+paladin · · Score: 3, Funny

      Funny that, I used to go into IRC rooms with the handle "beach`girl" and those nerds were dying to help me out. I dunno know the name of the chick whose picture I was handing out to them when they asked but hey... that got something new to wank to and pretend it was a Linux interested girl and I got information.

      Maybe this should make me feel dirty but... I'm pretty much a whore.

    16. Re:does anyone know by Feyr · · Score: 1

      it's useful for servers. afaik rh7.2 is still the only one "certified" to run oracle and other commercial software, so a lot of people still use that

    17. Re:does anyone know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's funny because it's true.

    18. Re:does anyone know by fishbowl · · Score: 1

      >floppy drives are still around...

      Haven't got one on either of my 2 laptops.

      On the other hand, one of these has a nice "SD" compact flash writer, with no linux support anticipated.

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    19. Re:does anyone know by Tim+C · · Score: 1

      so I don't have to spend 3 minutes arranging the ribbon cable out of the airflow way.

      And nor do the people churning out the home PCs being discussed at places like Dell and Compaq, and if nothing else, that's why IDE drives will probably disappear from consumer-level pre-built PCs. It's just plain easier for the systems builders.

    20. Re:does anyone know by fishbowl · · Score: 1

      Compact Flash is starting to fill the product space for ALL legacy removable media.

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    21. Re:does anyone know by lgftsa · · Score: 1

      This one works fine for me as a tertiary controller. Connected to a 80(76)Gb drive with two partitions, 30Gb as a VMWare raw partition and the rest as ext3. My system is a dual 2.4GHz AMD MP on a Tyan 2466-4M running stock debian/unstable 2.4.22-1-k7-smp.

    22. Re:does anyone know by fishbowl · · Score: 1

      [Zip]

      I bought the first IOMega Zip drive, a SCSI model.
      Never experienced the click-of-death.

      While I was waiting for the price of the media to come down like floppies did, CDR took over anyway,
      and lapped ZIP a few times. I'm not going to spend $8 or $10 each on a 100MB media now that I have 8cm CDR and CDRW. It's that simple.

      Now with CF, I don't even expect to use a floppy again, ever.

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    23. Re:does anyone know by fishbowl · · Score: 1

      [automatically download a home dir]

      Not FTP, but I use a combination of scp and cvs for this all the time. Not automated, but not hard.

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    24. Re:does anyone know by smkndrkn · · Score: 1

      I'm using 2.6.0-test7-mm1 and I have ONLY SATA drives...works fine.

      --
      ======== In the future, everything will be artificial. ========
    25. Re:does anyone know by MooseGuy529 · · Score: 1
      Be careful, okay?

      Thanks. Most people just say stuff like, "Yeah, go ahead and partition your hard drive without backing it up, just don't breathe the wrong way on the keyboard or it might accidentally pipe /dev/random into the new partition." ;-)

      Besides, I'm using Knoppix, so it's all in RAM =D.

      It's pretty cool being on the computer long enough to get email when people reply and then being able to reply right then. It's like IRC but people spend more time using the letter keys and less time using the ENTER key.

      --

      Tired of free iPod sigs? Subscribe to my blacklist

    26. Re:does anyone know by MooseGuy529 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, everyone makes Linux-based access points and such that boot off CompactFlash. Why do access points always use CompactFlash but routers use a real disk?

      Anyway, most people I know (granted, most geeks know mostly non-geeks) at school use floppy disks. The library sells CD-R's and CD-RW's, but only the smart geeks use those. Apparently, Windows 2000 doesn't automate the CD-burning process in Teletubbies (Windows XP) fashion, so it's "too hard".

      --

      Tired of free iPod sigs? Subscribe to my blacklist

    27. Re:does anyone know by Codifex+Maximus · · Score: 1

      Hey! I resent that! I'm still using RH 7.2 and it's damn nice I tell you!

      Jeez! :)

      --
      Codifex Maximus ~ In search of... a shorter sig.
    28. Re:does anyone know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You might want to add this after the second script:

      rm -f .$$.tar.gz

    29. Re:does anyone know by Brandybuck · · Score: 1

      It's just plain easier for the systems builders.

      And having built on recently, I agree. The SATA cable is much more convenient than the old ribbon. It's stiff so you can bend it into position easily and not have it flop around. It's small so you can snake it around the back of the drive cage. And at least on my motherboard, the SATA connectors were in the middle of the mobo, instead of up at the top in the snake's nest of connections.

      The power connection is much smaller as well, and you don't break off fingernails if you have to remove it. Unfortunately, most PSU's don't come with SATA power connections, so you have to use an adaptor.

      --
      Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
    30. Re:does anyone know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      oh my god. that was....

      I feel sick.

    31. Re:does anyone know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also funny is that more people do that than you might think.

    32. Re:does anyone know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oracle certifies the usage of some versions of RedHat Advanced Server

    33. Re:does anyone know by Assembler · · Score: 1

      Promise released their drivers under the GPL. My Promise SATA card works right out of the box with Mandrake 9.2. Even Windows XP can't claim that level of plug & play.

    34. Re:does anyone know by Permission+Denied · · Score: 1
      For example, I didn't know how to find files by contents and the man pages were way too confusing.

      standard way:

      find /some/path -type f -exec fgrep your-content-here {} /dev/null \; 2>/dev/null
    35. Re:does anyone know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Hmm... doesn't compare very well to "Start -> Search -> For files or folders" and putting your content in the "containing text" box, I must say. :p

    36. Re:does anyone know by Feyr · · Score: 1

      advanced server is based on rh7.2

    37. Re:does anyone know by jo42 · · Score: 1

      > SATA

      Get a G5...

  12. What this means... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Linux and his friends got a new patch of updates from their undisclosed friends at SCO, which they can now incorporate and sell as "open source". Hope McBride has enough gut to stomp on this gang of cyberpirates calling themselves "hockers".

  13. Re:Did they write that themselves? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Is this kernel the one that is written by the kernel hackers themselves, or just another one of the pre-2.6 ripoffs.

    Hi,

    This particular kernel was copied out of some papers we found in a dumpster behind the offices of some company called "S.C.O.". Don't worry, I'm sure they'll never notice. We'll probably write the next kernel ourselves. Thanks for your interest!

    - Alan Cox

  14. What Features are included? by dragin33 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Does anyone know where i can find a good list of new features that are included in the 2.6 kernel?

    1. Re:What Features are included? by MarcQuadra · · Score: 4, Informative

      I prefer the changelog, I just 'grep' it for things I'm interested in.

      http://kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLo g- 2.6.0-test8

      For a more 'friendly' summary check out:

      http://kernelnewbies.org/status/latest.html

      beware, it tends to run a few weeks behind schedule sometimes.

      --
      "Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
  15. How does this affect the end user? by Chilliwilli · · Score: 1

    Anybody know any good articles that explain exactly how things will differ for upgrading Linux users (non performance type things) i.e. what's happening with dev and proc? loadable modules? whatever?

    --
    Cure cancer.. and stuff! www.team45.info
    1. Re:How does this affect the end user? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Among other things, you now have to "activate" your linux kernel (either online or by phone). If you don't register, it will only work for 30 days, after that it goes into what they call "reduced functionality mode."

      Aside from that, the feature list looks great, though. I can't wait for them mark it a stable.

  16. Dear Anonymous Coward by Letter · · Score: 0, Funny
    Dear Anonymous Coward,

    How do you plan to posting anonymously without the AC patch?

    Concerningly yours,
    Letter

  17. Re:Why? by pair-a-noyd · · Score: 2, Funny

    Every few days?? How about every few minutes!

    A monkey could take a huge, steamy shit in the middle of the floor and you could plug a mouse, keyboard and monitor into that monkey shit and have a superior system than you would get with an M$ system.. And it would get fewer viruses and crash far less often!

  18. "Tracking down" mirrors? by Kourino · · Score: 4, Informative

    Oi, it's not that hard. www.XX.kernel.org or ftp.XX.kernel.org, where XX is your two-letter country code, like fr for France.

    1. Re:"Tracking down" mirrors? by Rob+Riggs · · Score: 0
      At least "fr" for France makes sense. How about the rest of Europe? It's amazing they have can use the internet at all with the screwed up TLDs they have:

      .nl - Holland

      .uk - Great Britain

      .de - Germany

      .es - Spain

      What are those people thinking?

      At least we in the US have sensible TLDs like .com, .net, and .org to organize our domains. Thank goodness we don't have to mess with no .am domain for America!

      --
      the growth in cynicism and rebellion has not been without cause
    2. Re:"Tracking down" mirrors? by Kourino · · Score: 1

      nl - Netherlands
      uk - United Kingdom
      de - Deutschland
      es - Espana

      You're kidding, right?

    3. Re:"Tracking down" mirrors? by Burlyslayer · · Score: 1

      These TLD's are derived from the countries names in their own languages. # .nl - Holland NederLand # .uk - Great Britain United Kingdom ( duh! ) # .de - Germany DeutchLand # .es - Spain Espania or something like that :p Maybe a .am would be handy , it'd make avoiding crappy sites on the net SO much easier ...

    4. Re:"Tracking down" mirrors? by norite · · Score: 1
      nl = Netherlands
      uk = United Kingdom
      de = Deutchland
      es = Espana

      What, are you just plain thick or something?

      --
      -- Fuck Beta
    5. Re:"Tracking down" mirrors? by Dave2+Wickham · · Score: 1

      Please tell me you're trolling...

    6. Re:"Tracking down" mirrors? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder if we will start paying ISO for this soon?

    7. Re:"Tracking down" mirrors? by Rob+Riggs · · Score: 1
      The difference between trolling and humour seems to be seperated by a rather fine line in these parts.

      --
      the growth in cynicism and rebellion has not been without cause
    8. Re:"Tracking down" mirrors? by Dave2+Wickham · · Score: 1

      Yeah, sorry, humour doesn't tend to work well in text unless it's surrounded by tags... It's hard to tell what people are thinking.

    9. Re:"Tracking down" mirrors? by Rob+Riggs · · Score: 1

      I thought the .am (in place of .us) would give it away. Tags or smileys take too much away from the reader.

      --
      the growth in cynicism and rebellion has not been without cause
  19. Re:Relevance?? by blindbat · · Score: 1

    I am running test 7 on my laptop now. Works perfectly.

  20. Re:Did they write that themselves? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is not the real Alan Cox!

    I know this becuase the REAL Alan Cox would never use punctuation or capitalization! Clearly this is an impostor.

  21. Re:Relevance?? by Kourino · · Score: 2, Informative

    Kernel versions seem more frequent for two reasons:

    - The development branch is active. Ideally, devel releases get made once every week or two, and this has been the case for a while AFAIK.
    - The 2.4 release process has undergone some ... unsnagging. There was about a year of wait between 2.4.19 and 2.4.20 (or was it .18 and .19 ... ?), and nobody wants to see that happen again. So, Marcelo is paying closer attention to his release schedule to make sure there aren't any more really big, really long kernel releases in his branch.

  22. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Get real fanboy. If you are going to rant, at least rant with facts.

    If XP crashes on you that much, perhaps you should look into your installation skills, not the OS.

    Though the vulnerability rant is just about spot on!

  23. Aussies! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since it's a very fine morning here in Sydney Australia and I'm feeling more Aussie than usual today, I would just like to point out that Andrew Morton and Con Kolivas are both Australian. Go you good things!

    1. Re:Aussies! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gawd, I hate it when a country like Australia that is actually a pretty cool country gets to take pride in something good they've done. This isn't any good, Aussies! I NEEEED something to RANT about! This is SLASHDOT, dammit!!!

      Why, for example, can't we get some posts from Saudi Arabians taking credit for the advanced state of Linux, or even world culture in general? THAT would be a hell of a lot more fun.

      Do they even know what the fuck Linux IS in middle eastern countries that aren't Israel? Nope.

      Would the world be ANY worse off if middle eastern countries, other than Israel, didn't even fucking EXIST???

      Nope.

    2. Re:Aussies! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just go an shoot yourself you ignorant little turd.

  24. Re:Relevance?? by Dimensio · · Score: 1

    I just built test7 (mm1) last night. Now test8 is out!
    --

  25. Dave's post-Halloween list by Kourino · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This has been posted here before. Check out Dave's post-halloween document.

  26. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah my XP box has an uptime of 3 months and thats only because I rebooted to install new hardware.

  27. Re:Why? by pilot1 · · Score: 1

    I find that hard to believe, seeing as how the security updates to fix the recent vulnerabilities came out less than 3 months ago.. and they all required restarts.

  28. Re:Why? by pilot1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    My installation skills? How can my installation skills have anything to do with it when Windows XP doesn't let you customize a damn thing during installation?

  29. Re:SC0 0WNZ 2.6 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually you can also use 2.3 and early 2.4, I believe.

    You can use every version of Linux you want.

    I ate Darl's liver today. Tomorrow the CFO is on the menu. The shareholders can run, but I will eat them all the same! Believe me, there's no value in being a shareholder. I don't know why there was LSD in my coffee, but I'm in the mood of slaughtering! Yeah, boss, on monday I will be sitting behind my underpowered workstation and tolerate your annoying voice that's penetrating my wall, while I try to implement the freaking stupid specifications that were enabled by your lack of will to make an end to your existence. But on weekends your introverted slave jumps out of his skin, fires up his chainsaw and goes CEO hunting. I'm hungry!

  30. Re:Relevance?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The only people interested are those waiting for it to reach excellent stability to try it. You know, Linux users, a dying breed amongst the Slashdot Win-Trolls.

  31. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    One of my techs did a fresh reload of an XP box and patched it completely save for the two three-day old vulnerabilities and left it connected to the corporate WAN over the weekend. By Monday it was wormed. Three month uptime hidden in a closet disconnected from any network, that I'd believe.

  32. Re:Why? by pebs · · Score: 1

    I think he was talking about hardware installation skills. If XP is crashing on you every 10 minutes, you obviously don't know how to install, configure, and troubleshoot hardware.

    --
    #!/
  33. Re:Did they write that themselves? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hi Mr. Balmer. Seattle rain got you stuck indoors again with no friends?

  34. Good stuff by contrasutra · · Score: 3, Informative

    I've been running the 2.6 Test kernel (-mm patches usually) since -test5 and everything has been great.

    Multitasking really is a dream. I'm able to compile, listen to music, and surf the web without any slowdown. Im no developer though, so I think that the 2.6 will really help Home/Desktop users.

    Of course, home users will like improved multi media performance, but the coolest thing I saw was web page rendering. Web pages render twice as fast (for me) with the 2.6 kernel!! This is very noticable, and very enjoyable.

    1. Re:Good stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      why are you compiling if you're "no developer"?

      Take your linux FUD and cram it up your ass, fagboy!

      Btw, you're high on dmx.

    2. Re:Good stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, right now im compiling RHYTHMBOX.

      I didn't write or modify the code, just compiling so I can use the program.

      troll.

    3. Re:Good stuff by B0mbtruck · · Score: 1
      Well, Linux users are actaully knowledgable about compiling without having to be a developer. So, in a sense, the only FUD that's being spread is that compiling is for developers.

      And as for calling someone a fag that knows more about computers than you do ... you still have about 5 years until you're 18, so you can still get to where the big kids are. That is, if you try hard.

      --
      I find your lack of faith disturbing. - Lord Vader

    4. Re:Good stuff by Crayon+Kid · · Score: 1

      I say, whatever makes you happy... but I still don't see how a kernel upgrade can affect the way a browser renders pages. Must be some particular set of circumstances involved, so it's not really fair to attribute this to the kernel. "Upgrade your kernel, you'll get faster and more compatible websites" -- it sounds like an exec BS report.

      --
      i ate crayons when i was a kid and now i have two braincells and the blue ones taste nicer
    5. Re:Good stuff by LinuxGeek8 · · Score: 1

      I'm running test7 now, and I share that experience. I did use the low-latency and preemptive patches on 2.4 a few times, but I didn't notice any real difference then. With 2.6 I do.
      I do multitask a lot, on not a too fast machine (dual celeren 466 with 256 Mb ram) and it feels more responsive when switching tasks, and simply when using desktop software. And yes, that includes the browser!

      --
      Well, don't worry about that. We can get you back before you leave. (Dr. Who)
    6. Re:Good stuff by budgenator · · Score: 1

      Upgrade your kernel, you'll get faster and more compatible websites" -- it sounds like an exec BS report.
      maybe not, if the 2.6 has a lot better context switching as in the low-latency and preemptive patches applied in that stock kernal than its highly possible that programs with a lot of treads going like a web-browser downloading 10 images + text, doing 5 DNS look-ups, and a lot of heavy-duty graphics rendering is going to run better; especialy if your running openOffice, The Gimp at the same time.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    7. Re:Good stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      holy shit i cant beleive my im high on dxm thing has become a slashdot thing!
      DAMN im high on DXM i mean DMX, i mean DXM, oh its confusing because im so high on DXM

    8. Re:Good stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's almost 2004. What an achievement, listening to music and surfing the web simultaneously -congrats to the Linux team.

    9. Re:Good stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      when you get the spoonerism, you should stop.

    10. Re:Good stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      KERNEL, not KERNAL.

    11. Re:Good stuff by praxim · · Score: 1

      As much as I hate the latter spelling, it's valid.

    12. Re:Good stuff by remoford · · Score: 1

      It hasnt been so great for me. I'm running test6-mm4 and I've been having scheduling issues. It gets pretty jerky at times. Bad for mp3 playback. Whatever works for ya I suppose tho.

    13. Re:Good stuff by Pflipp · · Score: 1

      Well, I like telling this story, so here goes again...

      The commodore 64 had a ROM assembly block which you could jump to in order to access some predefined I/O methods and stuff. (You had to know the exact ROM addresses for each function, of course.) This part of the memory was called the "KERNAL". It was always spelled like this, and always in capitals. I never really understood this, especially not in the light of the "newer spelling" used to describe Un*x kernels.

      That is, until one source told me that the C64 KERNAL actually was an acronym for "Keyboard Entry, Read Network And Link". It's all up to you to believe this or not, but I think it's at least kind of funny in its own way.

      --
      "We can confirm that Debian does *not* ship the version with the trojan horse. Our version predates it." [CA-2002-28]
    14. Re:Good stuff by shellbeach · · Score: 1

      I have exactly the same problems with test7, combined with a huge slowdown in loading applications (OpenOffice 1.1.0 takes 20 seconds to load on my AthlonXP 2000+ system - it's crazy). Actually, I don't know whether the mp3 playback issue is a scheduler problem or an ALSA problem. But it all adds up to making test7 next to useless compared to 2.4, or even 2.5.73 which was the last release I tried.

    15. Re:Good stuff by Brandybuck · · Score: 1

      Pentium makes the internet faster!

      Seriously, with this type of improvement, I can only conclude that the 2.4 and 2.5 series were crap. Web pages rendering twice as fast? Are you sure you were using the same browser and version both times? Since you don't say what your previous kernel was, a 100% rendering improvement leads me to suspect 0.97!

      I also suspect you're running a 200MHz Celeron or equivalent, since I've never had any problems compiling, listening and surfing at the same time. Okay I have, but under Windows. I will get some lag when I'm running a "make install" on a large package, but that's because the fs is swamped. Other than that I get no performance problems running all this stuff at the same time under Slackware (or under FreeBSD).

      --
      Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
    16. Re:Good stuff by remoford · · Score: 1

      Im quite sure the playback is the scheduler and not alsa(altho libao had be messed up for a good while) I wonder what we are doing different to get such bad performance. If you want to compare notes I can be /msg 'd on slashnet or freenode.

    17. Re:Good stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Great story, until you realise that "Keyboard Entry, Read Network And Link" doesn't make the slightest bit of fucking sense. It makes even less sense in the context of a C=64, which didn't even have a network of any form. What would "Link" be?

    18. Re:Good stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Make sure that your X server is not being reniced to a higher priority. A number of distros do this by default, and with the new scheduler, it do what you are telling it, namely starve your other apps, especially if you are fond of eye-candy.

    19. Re:Good stuff by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Man, people think up contrived accronyms all the time to get a cool sounding name. I wouldn't put that one past Commodore.

  35. Re:Why? by pilot1 · · Score: 1

    Ohhhhh, hardware installation skills.
    Why didn't ya say so?
    After all, Windows lets you change MILLIONS of ULTRA ADVANCED hardware related settings, doesn't it? There are just millions of things you can screw up with Windows, after all, it's made for power users!

  36. Re:Why? by jonbryce · · Score: 1

    Well you can choose your timezone and locale preferences. What more do you want?

  37. Re:Why? by itzdandy · · Score: 1

    isntall skills for winxp?

    AC, you are just plain stupid.

  38. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah what he meant was next time you install a new videocard don't hit it with a hammer if it doesn't fall right into the slot. And wash the pizza drippings off your fingers.

  39. google is your friend by kayen_telva · · Score: 0

    http://www.linuxdevices.com/articles/AT8906594941. html

    http://www.linuxdj.com/audio/lad/resourceslatency. php3

  40. wow, nice floppy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Assuming you really had a problem, have you reported it? Anyway, the file seems a little large to fit on a floppy. What were you using?

  41. 17MB on a floppy? by bbk · · Score: 3, Funny

    17493892 bytes?

    You can put roughly 17MB of data on one floppy? Wow! I'm upgrading to test-8 ASAP.

    (nice troll by the way)

    -bbk

  42. Still waiting for 2.6.0-test6 to compile by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Those kernels need procps package version 3.1.13, but Debian unstable still has 3.1.12. This is frustrating.

    Any hints?

  43. "xrw-xrw-rx"? by piranha(jpl) · · Score: 1

    Uh, you must have a very special version of ls, that presumably expresses mode in xrw?xrwwrx notation (where ? is a mystery value), as opposed to standard drwxrwxrwx notation. I also notice the lack of link count, user and group ownership, and last modification date.

    Real ls:

    -rw-r--r-- 1 piranha piranha 11173 Jun 14 06:56 xlog

    Fantasy-ls(tm):

    xrw-xrw-rx 17493892 companyreport.ppt

    Call me crazy, but I think someone needs to stop making up program output.

  44. Re:Advantages? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's backed up by SCO.

  45. nvidia video drivers :( by Pointer80 · · Score: 1

    I compiled this and got it running on my dell laptop, but the nvidia drivers (for the GeForce2 Go 5200) won't compile for 2.6.0-test8. This is probably due to driver API changes. I haven't poked around to see if Nvidia is working on it though.

    /pointer

    --
    [%- PROCESS life -%]
    1. Re:nvidia video drivers :( by ph1nn · · Score: 0

      www.minion.de has some driver patches ,they work perfect for my Geforce FX card, i dunno about GF Go chips but worth a try

    2. Re:nvidia video drivers :( by Plug · · Score: 3, Informative

      NVIDIA drivers on Linux 2.6

      Brought to you by Christian Zander, ex-NVIDIA intern.

    3. Re:nvidia video drivers :( by Pointer80 · · Score: 1

      Thank you :)

      --
      [%- PROCESS life -%]
  46. soem questions about 2.6 by ShadowRage · · Score: 1

    what programs are need upgrading to support such a change in the kernel type?
    eg, I use mandrake 8.2 (still, I dont have the luxury of a highspeed connection or online ordering, nor do I ave those options, and after seeing the horrors of 9.x, I just compile from scratch)
    anyways, what would I need upgraded to support this? what directories would I need added, etc?
    I could use the multitasking on my poor 433.
    yeah, I know I'm behind the times on many things. so I just have to deal with it, make the best of what I have.

    1. Re:soem questions about 2.6 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You need to get new versions of the following programs: top, strace, gdb.

    2. Re:soem questions about 2.6 by ShadowRage · · Score: 1

      I spelled "some" wrong.. dammit.

      anyways, thanks.. is that all? or are there more?

  47. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    actually, all sorts of viruses would be attracted to a steaming pile of shit.

  48. Re:Has the problems been fixed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    You have my sympathy.

    However, It should say something like
    cp: complanyreport.ppt: no such file or directory.

  49. It keeps getting better... by IpSo_ · · Score: 2, Interesting

    2.6.0-test7 was a good 2% faster across the board on file system benchmarks then 2.6.0-test5, lets hope test8 continues that trend.

    Benchmarks for both test7, and test8 will be posted on that site within the next week for all those interested in getting the maximum performance out of your Linux box.

    --
    Open Source Time and Attendance, Job Costing a
  50. Well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They do have some good food...

  51. Last time I tried a 2.6 series... by Jim+Morash · · Score: 1

    PCMCIA and serial devices did not work with HZ=1000. Anyone know if this has been fixed?

  52. Is this the place to whine to developers? by havardi · · Score: 1

    Oh please fix this bug before 2.6.0 is released.
    I'll send a check for $20 to the developer who does it :-). There's a business model! hehe

    1. Re:Is this the place to whine to developers? by Kourino · · Score: 1

      Recent copies of cdrecord and friends know how to talk to ATAPI devices using ide-cd, and don't need to use ide-scsi. Instead of (e.g.) dev=0,0,0 use (e.g.) dev=ATAPI:/dev/hdc. This also works under 2.4 kernels since 2.4.21 or so.

  53. What benifit does a home user have from upgrade? by abhikhurana · · Score: 1

    I am already using 2.4.22.mm2 with Ingo's O(1) scheduler and mm patches from Andrew Morton. So what other benifits can I expect by upgrading to 2.6?

  54. A more important question by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 1

    How long will it take until the requisite $699 post?

    --
    "Sufferin' succotash."
    1. Re:A more important question by rolocroz · · Score: 1
      --

      I meta-mod all positive moderation Unfair, because it's abuse of the system.

    2. Re:A more important question by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget to pay your mandatory $699 licensing fee, you cocksmoking teabaggers!

  55. Re:Why? by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 1

    Don't you mean the installer programs themselves?

    We wouldn't want to blame the OS for app faults, right Linux users?

    --
    "Sufferin' succotash."
  56. Offtopic, but informative! by Nexus7 · · Score: 1

    >It's like saying, "I'm not a Cubs fan, so why did the LA Times have their game 7 loss as a front page article?"

    Because the LA Times is owned by the Tribune Company, which owns the Chicago Tribune. That's why you get the same signon page (except for the logo) when you try to read an article.

  57. Re:Neophytus is a liar and a troll. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    FTM forever!

    -1, meta-troll

  58. Re:What Features - the view from 2.4. by valdis · · Score: 3, Informative

    The -test8 changelog is only stuff since -test7. If you're coming from a 2.4 series kernel, the link you want is:

    http://www.codemonkey.org.uk/post-halloween-2.5. tx t

    In particular, *NOTE THAT YOU NEED NEW 'modutils' PACKAGES*. Failure to update these will mean 'insmod' and friends *will not work*.

  59. The biggest thing for me ... by beyonddeath · · Score: 0, Redundant

    is linux's lack of driversupport. i dont have the skills or time to write my own, and if i dont have access to half of my hard drives, because my ide card is unsupported or wifi because the centrino wifi is unsupported you expect me to be happy and use linux anyway? well yeah i do have dual boot on my desktop but i need wifi on the laptop and its only a 40gb drive, not big enough for that.

    1. Re:The biggest thing for me ... by fishbowl · · Score: 1

      The reason for lack of support is not because people lack skills or time. In most cases, it's because they simply don't have the data required to write such a driver.

      The thing that bothers me is when things are *supposedly* supported but they don't work. Right now my beef is with the Radeon Framebuffer console. For the most part, it works fine on 2.4.22. It's utterly broken on every 2.6 kernel so far. I'm surprised a bug like this could get through a single cycle, much less EIGHT beta releases. I do not fault anyone for not writing drivers when it's impossible to do so, but I do have a problem when they take a working driver and break it, and don't even bother to test it.

      As to space, Everything I really need to do on linux, I can do in 1 or 2 gb anyway.

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    2. Re:The biggest thing for me ... by quan74 · · Score: 1

      Have you tried normal (i.e. vesa fb, not the radeon module) framebuffer support? works here on a radeon mobility.

    3. Re:The biggest thing for me ... by fishbowl · · Score: 1

      Vesa fb doesn't give me the modes I use, I don't believe it supports anything faster than 60Hz, and it's very, very slow.

      The driver *WORKS* *FINE* on 2.4.22. Why break it for 2.6?

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    4. Re:The biggest thing for me ... by treke · · Score: 1

      Because 2.6 is a development kernel where major systems are often heavily modified and old drivers that no one tests remain broken until someone fixes them. If no one tests and report problems with drivers in the development it's assumed that the driver either works fine or no one cares about the driver.

    5. Re:The biggest thing for me ... by fishbowl · · Score: 1

      2.5 is a development kernel.

      2.6 is a beta test for an upcoming production release.

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    6. Re:The biggest thing for me ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then you need to contact the hardware companies and ask them why they do not support Linux. Intel could have written drivers or released specs. for the Centrino, but they have not. There's nothing any Linux hacker can do about that.

      What IDE card do you have that is unsupported by the way? IDE is standardised. Unless it some buggy SerialATA card or an oddball IDE-RAID card, any Linux kernel should support it with its eyes closed.

  60. this news just in by chegosaurus · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Some Unix users couldn't care less that there's yet another test release of Linux.

    I don't remember seeing any "Solaris 8 kernel revision 23 relased" front page stories, perhaps because they would be very uninteresting, but primarily becuase they wouldn't give a busload of dickless weenies the chance to tell everyone how they just built it on their Gentoo Athlon boxen with the gcc they pulled down from CVS through their iptables firewall. Oh and by the way they're posting with lynx, using screen because they're so leet. And isn't that what Slashdot's all about?

    1. Re:this news just in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have all rights to dislike Linux, if you do, but please give respect where it's due: many, and I mean *many* UNIX developers|sysadmins today aren't unemployed because of the Linux phenomenon.

    2. Re:this news just in by bcore · · Score: 1

      Have you considered just no clicking on the stories with the little picture of a penguin? You might save yourself a lof of heartache that way....

    3. Re:this news just in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      BOO FUCKING HOO.

  61. Re:Relevance?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... except a new test version of a Linux kernel isn't high profile.

  62. Re:Why? by 1s44c · · Score: 1

    actually, all sorts of viruses would be attracted to a steaming pile of shit.

    So thats why there are so many windows viruses about.

  63. Re:Has the problems been fixed? by 1s44c · · Score: 1

    [droberts@localhost]$ ls -l companyreport.ppt
    xrw-xrw-rx 17493892 companyreport.ppt
    [droberts@localhost]$ cp --time complanyreport.ppt /mnt/floppy
    cp : Operation took 6321 seconds!


    You are clearly a troll with no idea about UNIX at all.
    Go back to drooling over your pictures of bill gates and spanking your monkey.
  64. Howto : REMOVE SCO CODE from current release by carlmenezes · · Score: 1

    Remove all blank lines. Simple.

    --
    Find a job you like and you will never work a day in your life.
    1. Re:Howto : REMOVE SCO CODE from current release by EnderWiggin99 · · Score: 1

      DAMMIT!!!! Now it won't boot!

  65. Re:Why? by pebs · · Score: 1

    Do you even know what "hardware installation skills" means? I didn't say anything about drivers. I'm talking about running hardware stable which has nothing to do with software.

    I'm not advocating using Windows here, but ignorant statements like Windows XP is "crashing every 10 minutes" really are the mark of an unexperienced computer user. If you're really having those kinds of problems, its a hardware issue, that means you have to open the case to fix it. Win2k/XP have been stable for a long time, major problems are hardware related most of the time.

    I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and just assume you're a troll, in which case your statements don't really have any relevance, now do they?

    --
    #!/
  66. Things average users might notice with kernel 2.6 by grolschie · · Score: 2, Informative
    From the post-Halloween document:
    • With a recent cdrecord, you also no longer need ide-scsi in order to use an IDE CD writer.
    • Ripping audio tracks off of CDs now also uses DMA and should be notably faster.
    • The advanced linux sound architecture got merged into 2.6. This offers considerably improved functionality over the older OSS drivers, but requires new userspace tools.
    • Support for plug and play devices such as early ISAPnP cards has improved a lot in the 2.6 kernel.
    • Users should notice a significant speedup in basic thread operations.
    • More hotplug drivers have been added, including a fake PCI hotplug driver so people without specialised hardware can test hotplug features.
    • The much talked about preemption patches made it into 2.6. With this included you should notice much lower latencies especially in demanding multimedia applications.
    • You should notice considerable throughput improvements over 2.4 due to much reworking of the block and the memory management layers.
    • The build system is much improved compared to 2.4. You should notice quicker builds, and less spontaneous rebuilds of files on subsequent builds from already built trees.
    • There are new graphical config tools. "make xconfig" now requires the qt libraries. "make gconfig" uses gtk libraries.
    • A number of additional filesystems have made their way into 2.6. Currently it supports: ext2, ext3, reiserfs, jfs, xfs, minix, romfs, iso9660, udf, msdos, vfat, ntfs (ro), adfs, amiga ffs, apple macintosh hfs, BeOS befs (ro), bfs, efs (ro), cramfs, free vxfs, os/2 hpfs, qnx4fs, sysvfs, ufs.
    • The ext3 filesystem has gained indexed directory support, which offers considerable performance gains when used on filesystems with directories containing large numbers of files.
    • Systems that support the SYSENTER extension (Basically Intel Pentium-II and above, and AMD Athlons) now have a faster method of making the transition from userspace to kernelspace when a syscall is performed.
    • A generic crypto API has been merged, offering support for various algorithms (HMAC,MD4,MD5,SHA-1,SHA256,SHA384,SHA512,DES,Tripl e DES EDE, Blowfish, Twofish, Serpent, AES, CAST5, CAST6)
    • 2.6 features support for several new architectures: x86-64 (AMD Hammer), ppc64, UML (User mode Linux).
    • The in-kernel module loader got reimplemented.
    • Several security issues solved in 2.4 may not yet be forward ported to 2.6. For this reason 2.6.x kernels should not be tested on untrusted systems.
  67. Re:Why? by pilot1 · · Score: 1

    I won't argue with you on Win2k's stability, but IMHO, XP is just as unstable as 98.

    For example, in XP Pro with all service packs and patches applied, going to an FTP site in IE causes IE to crash, and sometimes XP itself. I've noticed this behavior usually occurs in systems with only >=256mb of RAM, but that is still no reason for the entire OS to lock up.

    I've also noticed that XP locks up _ALOT_ because of RAM issues. It really shouldn't be nescessary to have >256mb of RAM for an OS to be stable.
    After all, *BSD and Linux both run fine with 128mb.

  68. Re:What benifit does a home user have from upgrade by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seems that you are doing OK as it stands. Why not wait and see what develops?

  69. RadeonFB fixed yet? by fishbowl · · Score: 1

    So far all the 2.6 kernels have had fully broken support for the radeonfb console. It seems to work fine otherwise, but I am not interested if it means I must have 80x25 consoles.

    I didn't notice anything about this in the changelog.

    --
    -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    1. Re:RadeonFB fixed yet? by Dave2+Wickham · · Score: 1

      Broken how? Framebuffer implementation has changed in 2.6; when loading modular framebuffer support you need to use fbset .

      If this post leaves out critical info or something, it's 3AM FFS...

    2. Re:RadeonFB fixed yet? by Dave2+Wickham · · Score: 1

      *sigh*
      OK, the above info is probably totally wrong, and you can mod me -1 tired and confused...

    3. Re:RadeonFB fixed yet? by fishbowl · · Score: 1

      >Broken how?

      Build Radeon support into the kernel.

      Boot with an ATI Radeon 8500LE installed.

      lspci reports it as

      01:05.0 VGA compatible controller ATI Technologies Inc Radeon R200 QL [Radeon 8500 LE]

      run fbset 1280x1024-75 (or other modes with similar result.)

      The screen is 3/4 filled with garbage. The upper left of the screen contains a working 80x25 console with the correct size font -- it appears to be doing the right thing for the upper left quadrant.

      It seems strange to me that it's been in this state through *8* rounds of beta testing.

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    4. Re:RadeonFB fixed yet? by Dave2+Wickham · · Score: 1

      Yeah, sorry, I was talking crap earlier [due to being half asleep]

      Have you tried this solution? I don't know if that's the same problem, and yeah, it should be in the main kernel.

      Have you tried MM kernels as well? They may contain fixes for it...

    5. Re:RadeonFB fixed yet? by fishbowl · · Score: 1

      I tried the patch, and it does not help at all.

      It looks as if it's trying to do the right thing
      judging by the font size, but only the upper left corner of the screen has a console, and the rest has garbage.

      I'm willing to accept that I am the only person in the world with a Radeon 8500LE who prefers high-res text consoles to any xterm, but, I'm not able to appreciate that an even-numbered kernel might be released with a bug of this nature.

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    6. Re:RadeonFB fixed yet? by Dave2+Wickham · · Score: 1

      Have you tried the MM patches though? Not trying to be pushy or anything, just wondering...

      If not, have you reported it to LKML?

    7. Re:RadeonFB fixed yet? by Dave2+Wickham · · Score: 1

      Sorry, it'd probably be better to e-mail the maintainer of the Radeon framebuffer ( ajoshi "at" kernel crashing [dot] org ) than to e-mail LKML.

      And if you know all this and I'm annoying you, please say :-/.

  70. test7 == bad, very bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    test4-mm ran for ~70 days uptime fine, I upgrade to test7 and get a kernel panic in 12 hours. And a corrupted reiserfs partition to top it off.

    gah

  71. Australian mirror by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  72. man xfs_repair by Booker · · Score: 2, Informative

    .... in the xfsprogs package.

    Oh, and there is xfs.fsck but it's a no-op. This
    -is- a journaling filesystem you know....

    1. Re:man xfs_repair by ncr53c8xx · · Score: 1
      Oh, and there is xfs.fsck but it's a no-op. This -is- a journaling filesystem you know....

      The reiserfsck program used to be /bin/true, but it was changed to an actual executable later. I suppose it hasn't been implemented for XFS either.

    2. Re:man xfs_repair by Booker · · Score: 1

      xfs.fsck also used to be a link.

      You suppose what hasn't been implemented? XFS does not need a fsck program which runs the way traditional fsck's run, i.e. after an unclean unmount.

      It -does- have tools to check consistency of an XFS filesystem and repair corrupt or inconsistent filesystems. There's just no reason to always run them after an unclean shutdown, because log replay takes care of this.

    3. Re:man xfs_repair by ncr53c8xx · · Score: 1
      You suppose what hasn't been implemented? XFS does not need a fsck program which runs the way traditional fsck's run, i.e. after an unclean unmount.

      Both reiserfs ans XFS are journalling filesystems. And initially reiserfs didn't have a fsck program, but now it does. It seemed logical that XFS would also move the same direction.

      It -does- have tools to check consistency of an XFS filesystem and repair corrupt or inconsistent filesystems. There's just no reason to always run them after an unclean shutdown, because log replay takes care of this.

      When you call fsck on an ext2 partition, it calls ext2.fsck. It would be better to integrate everything in the existing infrastructure.

  73. Just curious... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Something I've always noticed about X is that it doesn't seem to "draw" or "paint" my screens as quickly as Windows does. For example if I grab a Window and move it around my screen quickly, X acts like it can't keep up. My CPU usage will shoot to 100%, the hard-drive will often start hammering away, and there will be tracer elements following the Window everywhere. Whereas in Windows (XP or otherwise), the system doesn't even flinch. (And my system isn't exactly slow. 1GB [512x2] of PC3200 Dual Channel RAM, AMD XP2500+, ASUS nForce2 mobo revision 2.0)

    So is that a kernel issue, an X issue, both, neither?

  74. Re:Did they write that themselves? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sez the guy posting to Slashdot on Saturday night...

  75. What are the -mm kernel patches? (was:Re:XFS) by maggotbrain_777 · · Score: 1

    Take a look at How to install Andrew Morton's -mm kernel for some links and explanations of the issues that the -mm patchset is addressing.

  76. Here is your hint: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "free" software is worth what you pay for it.

  77. X driver option issue by zealotasd · · Score: 1

    Many X auto-configuration utilities will detect a graphics accelerator and enable the driver with an option for it to be safe on performance. Some drivers can't be enabled at full performance on a number of graphics accelerator and motherboard combinations. Check your /etc/X11/XF86Config file for your "Device" section for a 'Option "noaccel"' or 'Option "SWcursor"' and remove those lines. There are also many other "Option"(s) settings on drivers that may limit performance. Speaking of performance, why are you allowing XFree86 to be the king of the hill on your graphics accelerator? Go check DirectFB or FBdri to see if you can bump XFree86 off your graphics accelerator and put it on a Framebuffer device so you can benefit from a superior graphics subsystem. I'm not knocking XFree86 or X in general, it does things with telnet and XLib that Win32 users can only dream of. The point of using a Framebuffer driver is to optimize performance of your mostly-used applications; for example, if you have support in DirectFB then you can use DirectFB sub-project DirectFBGL and have openGL or GLX applications render quicker as well anything based on GTK+ will benefit as GTK+ support in DirectFB is native and lets you bypass any X overhead. Alas, the more people think of bypassing X technology then the worse applications can become, in perspective of flexibility and network-transparent graphics rendering. That's why X should always be built into applications, it is better to have flexibility than to have a castrated higher-performing product.

    --

    Secured Party, Without Prejudice, UCC 1-207: Creditor
    1. Re:X driver option issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is DirectFB specific to certain video cards or does it in tandem with X? I ask because I have kind of a strange video card. Matrox Parhelia tripple-head.

  78. What, are you kidding me? by pr0ntab · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    So let me guess, you run Solaris x86 at home.
    No wait, you have a Blade 2000. Riiiight.

    I'm waiting for the kernel annouce release that convinces me it's time to upgrade. I like reading about it and monitoring the progress, because I'm hoping I'll be able to make a new shiny hardware shopping list soon.

    And if you have a copy of Solaris you probably have a SunSolve account so you don't need to read Slashdot to know when important things are bubbling to the surface.

    Christ man. Just stop reading developer/linux articles. You have a preferences page for a reason. Just enjoy UnixWare, mmmkay?

    --
    Fuck Beta. Fuck Dice
  79. Why were the modutils changed? by tempfile · · Score: 1

    While I see the need to adapt to kernel changes in the modutils, I found the lack of functionality in the new module-init-tools annoying.

    For example, I had set up a line in modules.conf that would automagically load my sound drivers, restore the mixer settings and do some other things - all without the slow alsa init scripts.

    Doesn't work anymore. post-install is gone, probeall is gone. Can somebody explain why the modutils were changed so much?

    1. Re:Why were the modutils changed? by sepulcrum · · Score: 1

      Aparently this all started when a kernel developer (Rusty Russell) attempted to resolve some race condition in the module unloader and ended up porting all user space module loading stuff (insmod etc) into the kernel. Now insmod can be written in 20 lines of c (while it was over 2000 lines of code).

      You can read all about this in an interview with Rusty Russell at Kerneltrap.org.

  80. Re:Did they write that themselves? by YOU+ARE+SO+SUED! · · Score: 1
    Hint: The world is round and it is a different time at different places on it. For all you know it could have been posted two or three weeks ago - /. has been pretty sluggish lately.

    YASS

  81. BitTorrent download by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  82. Comparison with Solaris/HP-UX? by ahornby · · Score: 1

    Any chance of seeing a comparison of Solaris (x86 presumably) on the same hardware.

    An HP-UX comparison would also be useful although you couldn't be sure the hardware was equivalent.

    --
    -- Thorin sits down and starts singing about gold.
  83. DirectFB information by zealotasd · · Score: 1

    From the DirectFB homepage, modules section, it says it has native support for Matrox upto G550 and nowhere mentions Parhelia support. This does not mean you lack ability to use DirectFB on your Parhelia if it is VESA compliant: from the DirectFB-Readme, provides,

    DirectFB needs a Linux kernel with frame buffer support. Check the
    documentation in the kernel tree (/usr/src/linux/Documentation/fb/) on
    how to enable the frame buffer device for your graphics card.

    The generic VESA frame buffer device does not support mode switching
    and you will not get hardware acceleration. To make DirectFB work with
    veasfb, you should add the following lines to /etc/lilo.conf:

    append="video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr"

    'ywrap' enables panning with wraparound.
    'mtrr' enables setting caching type for the frame buffer to write-combining.

    vga=791

    This sets the mode on startup. 791 means 1024x768@16, 788 means 800x600@16.

    All VESA Video Modes:

    Bits 640x480 800x600 1024x768 1280x1024 1600x1200
    8 769 771 773 775 796
    16 785 788 791 794 798
    32 786 789 792 795 799

    Other frame buffer devices support mode switching. DirectFB will only
    support modes listed in your /etc/fb.modes file. By default the first
    entry found is used.


    There are many known system setups where there is openGL support in DRI and no native 2D support for DirectFB, yet DirectFB can use VESA compatibility and allow applications to use VESA+DRI for accelerated openGL (and even GLX, with a hack to combine XDirectFB and DirectFBGL) in such a way as XFree86 can use the X_VGA16 server. If your Parhelia supports VESA, then you can use DirectFB. I don't know how anyone can simply "try it", due to the variation in Linux environments. Perhaps, try creating a seperate Linux partition and OS and manipulate DirectFB onto it. I use Linux From Scratch on a Alpha 164UX, and as well have available Debian 3.0 and RedHat 7 and GNU/HURD and all three *BSD. I mostly use Linux From Scratch on experimental software because it doesn't have any breakable components (.DEB/.RPM) and LFS is MUCH easier to repair because it is more simple. To begin with, did Matrox build Parhelia's accelerated-openGL driver as a closed-source DRI module? If Matrox used a DRI design, then it should work with DirectFB no problem. Oh and just to remind you, the DirectFB project also implemented its own native X Server, XDirectFB, and it works pretty well and lets you have all your favorite GNOME/KDE/etc X Clients connect to DirectFB just as they did in XFree86 or Xig or MetroLink. If you aren't enthused with XDirectFB, there is nothing stopping anyone from making XFree86 use a framebuffer device and co-exist with DirectFB.

    --

    Secured Party, Without Prejudice, UCC 1-207: Creditor
  84. Re:Relevance?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why would you say something stupid like that? Has the SCO code been removed or not? In either case, it's high profile because Linux development continues regardless.

  85. Re:Why? by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

    thats great...

    --
    There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...