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Talking With 2.0 Kernel Maintainer David Weinehall
Jeremy Andrews writes "While the recently released 2.6 Linux kernel is all the rage these days, the much older 2.0 kernel is still alive and kicking. KernelTrap has interviewed David Weinehall, the maintainer of the 2.0 Linux kernel. David became the 2.0 maintainer in December of 1999, after Alan Cox moved on to work full time on the 2.2 kernel. In this interview David talks about what's involved in maintaining the 2.0 kernel, who uses it, when we can expect the impending release of 2.0.40, why you should upgrade (if you're still running 2.0.39), and more."
Glad to see that he still has his C64 alive and kicking as well..
Still maintaining the 1.0 kernel? :)
This space is not for rent.
Not many people realize that a lot of us in the aerospace community rely on older versions of the kernel due to its "nimbleness" for fly-by-wire systems, etc. A lot of us don't need the newer features of more recent kernels, and having something that does the bare minimum--fast-- is optimal.
We really have to be thankful that people maintain the older versions!
I've got at least a dozen production machines which have been going since Slackware 3.6, so I'm very glad to see the 2.0 kernels still being 'overseen' by someone.
The hardware is old, it works with the 2.0.x kernels, it works fast and without issues (except for exploits of course), so why bother making a radical change which might end up breaking more by moving to the latest.
*Resumes waiting for Firebird 0.8 and a good distro with kernel 2.6.x*
Ok I can understand wanting a firebird binary thats been blessed, but really man, if you want 2.6.x download it, make menuconfig(or your favorite interface), bzimage, modules, modules-install, then copy your kernel and update lilo. Of course your probally running that new fangled grub. Back in my day we had boot loaders that knew their place and didn't read ext2 file systems. You had to reload your MBR every time you messed around with your kernel. And we liked it that way!!
Seriously though, do people not compile kernels anymore? I mean I haven't in a while, but thats because my only linux box currently is used for running DiabloII for my brother and for me to attempt to cross compile Open Watcom. I compile kernels on my BSD machine regurally as i track 5.x-RELEASE. I've compiled a 2.4 kernel on SuSE a few months ago on a box at work. Is their some issue with breaking stuff (besides the system not booting) that's been happening due to magic autoconfig scripts in distros that would cause someone who wants 2.6 to wait for their distro to bless it?
--- Justin Dearing http://www.justaprogrammer.net/ We're just programmers.
You can get rid of most of the bloated interface with 98lite. You can strip it all the way down to a CLI if you want.
after reading his interview, it seems to me as if there are still fairly frequent problems with 2.0 relating to stability and potential security problems.
I don't recall hearing about these problems all that often with the newer 2.4; is it just my perception, or are the new kernels more soundly written than the older ones?
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
If a kernel maintainer can't find a programming job then the programming profession is pretty much destroyed already.
I guess it depends very much what people use Linux for, and how they use their actual machines.
My Linux Box is running Mandrake 7.2 with the (mostly) same 2.2 Kernel that it came with. It doesn't need anything more. Last time I tried a new Kernel (2.2.25, I think) it broke half the stuff I needed. (And I didn't have the time to track it all down)
(I did, however succesfully tweak the settings on the supplied Kernel, so I know how to go through the process without breaking the system - it's been up about a month solid since)
The box sits as a basic fileserver and gateway/firewall, so taking it down to compile a Kernel isn't really an option at the moment. And I'm sure other people have their main (or only) Linux box doing stuff that it's fine doing.
Now if I had a spare machine for testing stuff on, well it'd be a whole different story.
TiggsTiggs
"120 chars should be enough for everyone..."
I think it was officially mentioned at some point by Alan that 2.2.x is now maintained by the VOLK (or was it WOLK) project. There's a page in sourceforge.net that has a newer 2.2, although the sourceforge site appears to be unreachabel just now, so cannot specify the URL.
I do have an IT-related job in Sweden, and occationally we actually employ new people.
We (my company, I dont personally recruit people) are not looking for the most brilliant and ambitious people out there. We employ those who have exactly the right level of skills. Sounds strange, but when the times changes, if you have employed over-qualified people they will demand higher salaries, more interesting duties, and maybe they will leave nevertheless. Being overqualified is as bad as being underqualified.
Unfortunately, these days companies are not working with new cool upstart projects that they need smart entrepreneurs and geeks for - they rather work with streamlining their (organisational) processes, and maintanance.
Also, they dont want to really employ someone (if they do, they see it as a strategic decision). The rather hire a consultant or "Manpower"-guy. (This might primarily be true for Sweden).
I am not saying erasing merits from your CV will increase your chances, but the fact that someone else with more skills do not get a job does not automatically imply you wont.
Work experience is always valuable though (unless perhaps you are 55+).
Not really. Windows 98 booted in that way is just plain DOS, while if it is stripped down by 98lite, then it is a Windows 98 but without the GUI, you can still run all command line Win32 applications, like FAR for example, you can access all Win32 API.
And 98lite provides all steps in between pure Win98 and CLI.