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Patrick Volkerding Back to Work
AndreaP writes "Patrick Volkerding, the maintainer of Slackware Linux, is apparently recovering from his health problems and is back to work. From the ChangeLog of Slackware-Current: 'I'm back in California and I'm happy to let you all know
that I'm feeling much better. :-) Here are a few updates so you can see
that I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully 10.1 won't
be too far off ...'"
Where's HIS changelog? I want to know what bug they fixed on him.
I tried a couple other distros on my laptop and they just didn't measure up.
GETPKG - Package Management for Slackware
And just when Slackware was beginning to live up to its name... ;)
The coolest voice ever.
I've spent my whole working life trying to get to the point where I say WTF and go fishing.
Thankfully this guy has finally appeared to be cured or on the road to being cured. That was one scary story we all read just a month or two ago and it is great to hear all turned out well in the end.
Hate to break the news to you Pat, but Wikipedia says your still ill.
I'ts like 80+ degrees outside (LA, CA), and It's Dec. 19th. It's hard to get sick around here, and even harder to stay that way.
Go ahead and call me unreliable; reliable is just a synonym for predictable.
...I for one, hopes that he and his family will be in good health always.
:)
I guess this is as good a Christmas present one could wish for. Health really is much more meaningful than wealth.
Cheers from a happy Slacker
Welley Corporation - SLM Scammers
His health: :-)
;-)
Well, I'm back in California and I'm happy to let you all know that I'm feeling much better.
His intelligence:
and then we can look at what exactly needs to be done to try to switch over to the new kernel series for 11, or sometime later on. I still don't think it's time for that yet (it will be best to wait until 2.4 can be abandoned)
And his sense of humor:
It's the closest thing to a blog I've ever done. (ooooo!
Looks like slackware is back in the running. Welcome back!
Defenestrate Windows...
So, WTF happened to him? Miraculous recovery from unknown symptoms, or what? One minute he's dying, and now he's just dandy. Chicken soup? What? Did he say anywhere what he had, how it was cured, or anything?
I didn't want my new Slack 10 to be the last one.
Being sick in ND is a good reason to get well.
You do not want to winter in ND.
I followed this story closely and even posted my 2 cents... so what wtf problem?
to hear some positive news in these times :-)
You forget that by sending thousands of geeks over to Wikipedia one of them was bound to edit the article. It now contains the update that "On December 19, Slashdot carried the story that he is recovering and returning to work." Eat that turnaround Britannica!
Big apple, new Yorik, undig it, something's unrotting in Edenmark.
If you RTFA he is plugging a cancer specialist he either has or cancer or maybe a benign tumor that could they thought could be cancerous. But I doubt it is benign if he was having symptoms. Either way he doesn't want to come out and say it.
He would be dead because we all know that BSD is dead. *ducks*
Slashdot, home of supporters of free software, free music, and free speech.Except for Moderators that disagree with you.
Use PubMed as your medical information source. It's where the scientists and docs publish their research and is considering a "real" datasource (as opposed to citing "the internet". Your doctors will know the name Pubmed when you mention it. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi My daughter has a heart condition and we found the doctors weren't interested in really discussing anything until we started using the "right" terminology. The terminology I picked up after reading a number of PubMed publications about my daugher's condition. I highly suggest that anyone researching any condition (but especially something exotic like Patrick) hit PubMed. Make it your source you cite when talking to your docs. Make it your primary source of information. All the other websites you read are just summing up the papers published here.
As a long term slacker is great to have you back Pat! I didn't want to give up on my favourite distro... when every distro you try ends up being compared to Slackware, you know where you stand!
He's hinting at it, but never comes right out and says it.
Is it cancer or not bud?
Patrick is a great guy and slackware is the only distro I like. Good to see that he is recovering.
Very glad to hear it. I think a lot of us have a genuine concern for a fellow geek, especially an Alpha like Patrick :)
Luck favors the prepared, darling.
You're wrong.
Patrick said (in his original "someone help me" email) that the plaque/toothbrush scenario was one if his theories. Since then, he has not mentioned it in any of his updates (that I could find).
All he mentions is that he wants to thank his doctor, and he's feeling better, etc, etc.
Personally, he always sounded like a bit of a hypochondriac prima donna, and I was anxiously waiting to be proven wrong.
I'm glad for you Patrick. :)
Continue your great work on Slackware
Christmas is for giving virgin births, it's Easter that's meant for rising from the dead.
For now.
Is BSD still dying?
(Please browse at -1 to read this comment.)
You gave us tons of info before, but now, NOTHING!
I know health problems are private and all, but you kinda made yours public. And now, you've just left us all hanging.
The reason I'm curious, is I have been dealing with the exact same problems for over the past 2 years, and the docs can't find a thing wrong with me.
Did a prescription of Zoloft fix the problems? Or was there more to it? Because, I'm starting to think that I just need some psychoactive drugs to fix my problems since every doc tells me they see nothing wrong. Except the pain and symptoms are real.
Even if it was some terrible STD, we love you all the same. I've certainly had some interesting ones.
I was very happy when I read this! It's just great! Slackware is the best.
objorkum dot com
Now I can start updating my laptop and firewall boxes again. :)
--
# Canmephians for a better Linux Kernel
$Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.net";
Hearing this from Patrick is good news. I started with Slackware '96 and used it for a few years until I went all Debian. With Pat's illness in the news, Slack was brought back to the forefront in my mind. I dusted off the old 486 and did a minimal install for a ham radio TCP/IP experiment. Even at version 10.0 it is still familiar and fast.
While I still love Debian, Slackware is great for a fast, small system. Keep up the good work, Pat.
"Insanity is doing the same thing over again expecting a different result."
I've been forced to abandon AmigaOS some years ago, but after trying several distros, I found in Slackware my new home-OS for every computer I get in touch (cos the others just give me head aches). Exelent work, and I'm extremely happy you got your health back.
Your IP address is what again?
You are not the customer.
(Like everybody else, I wonder what Patrick's problem turned out to be in the end... )
The last I heard was that Mr. Volkerding believed he suffered by Marfan syndrome has this shown to be false?
I'm happy for Patrick that he's doing okay now. Linux wouldn't be the same without him.
This has been a story I've followed quite closely. While I've been helpless to do anything for the guy I'm glad to see that the community as a whole was there to support him. Despite my own personal life experiences, it's really made me feel that there are still a lot of good people in the world. Welcome back!
A hundred and twenty characters ought to be enough for anyone...
And I just downloaded 10.0 you insensitive clod! /jab
...Projects that are centered directly around one person are a bad, bad idea. OpenBSD would suffer from this, too... specifically because Theo owns copyrights and whatnot. What happens when he quits, dies, or gives up?
All major projects should have elected core members, and shouldn't be dependent on them.
Welcome back Pat!
I trully appreciate your work!
Slackware user since '95 - my first and last distribution.
Take care of yourself and thanks for getting back to work.
Dude
This is just to say I'm happy to hear that Patrick is doing better. I learned Linux on Slackware starting waaaay back with pre-1.0 kernels (I think), and I have a true appreciation of all that he's done for the Linux community.
This is SO TYPICAL of people who ask for help with either a health or other problem (think USENET) and then NEVER REPORT exactly what the problem was and how they fixed it!
I am glad he is feeling better, but as one who contributed to info that might have helped him, I think he is essentailly holding up a middle finger (I'm better so no need to be polite and say why).
Sorry....one of my pet peeves.
I am just a poor sysadmin looking for a new job this Christmas season, but I will say that the health of the founder of my favorite Linux distro does help to keep this a happy holiday season. Here is a wish for continuing down the road towards good health for Patrick Volkerding!! Happy Holidays Everyone!!!
Come on, man! You spray the Internet with in-depth descriptions of your symptoms, theories, research, and how you ran from one doctor to the next when you couldn't get an answer within five minutes... and now you don't say what you have, or what fixed it? sheesh dood. All those people who expressed concern and genuine care for you, and that's the best you can do? Not cool.
we will end no whine before its time
While I'm hightly curious and even more concerned, it's None Of Our Damn Business. I can think of nothing more private.
If he wanted it to be private, he wouldn't have posted extremely detailed descriptions of the problems he was having, numerous times, on a very popular public website for the whole world to read. It is obvious that he didn't want details of his health problem to be private. That's why he told everyone, and that's why he kept us updated and told us that he's OK now.
I'm glad to see that another important figure in geek culture is back and working. If he integrated ndiswrappers and FTP support with the install floppy, I'd install slackware right now on my friends PC. I'm happy with gentoo, but I've been meaning to investigate slackware for some time now. Unfortunate name, though... what *were* they thinking?
Happy Holidays Patrick, from all of us in the Linux community to you and your family.
-name withheld because I speak for all of us
I just got done explaining to GF & Kids about Pat's ordeal. I am very thankful Pat is recovering and doing better. Mmmm Slackware... the Most Unix-Like , Non-Unix, Linux Distro Out.
Slackware, BSD and me, the perfect 3-way.
Dental disease? DENTAL DISEASE? AKA "I didn't take care of my teeth nor visit a dentist regularly"?
???
If one guy can get sick and potentially torpedo an entire open source project, then just how well is the model being applied?
As far as a user goes, what's the difference between some guy getting sick, and some company going under? To the user they are both left stranded with a product that potentially doesn't get bug fixes or updates.
I'm not saying OS is flawed, but just that in this case, it makes me SERIOUSLY not want to even consider this distro. It all depends on one guy seems to be the message here.
Part of the point of OSS is that if a different group of people can do it better than you at any point, they can go ahead and do so.
Yep, you heard me. I fixed him. All it took was one package sent via snail mail, and a favor I called in from our mutual friend "Bob".
-2B
Well, I personally am very glad that he's working. Slackware 9.1 was the first distribution I ever used. Slackware is a quality distribution.
Do, do not, or delegate to someone else: there is no try.
His two postings from November are as detailed as they were then, and the new posting has absolutely no details at all.
/.'s want to know - so what happened? Did they find a mysterious alien implant, or the right way to kill a nasty bug? All he says is that he's 'feeling better'
Curious
Good to have the Pat back rocking the Slackware! Heres a toast to health and productivity.
** raises beer **
Its nice to heard that Pat back to work, Slackware is the only distro I use. However there is lot of lessons to be learned from this illness, well health is no doubt important then anything. Being the solo maintainer of Slackware one thing you should do to make a team of competent geeks that also helps maintaining *patching* slack. present Slackware work style sound to be like my country which is governed by Army Dictator :)
cheers Pat!
http://askaralikhan.blogspot.com/
192.168.0.1
War is one of the most horrible things a human can be exposed to. And one of the worlds largest industries.
No, he reversed the polarity of his plasma relays and reconfigured the main deflector dish to emit a tachyon pulse.
No, wait, that was to fix some other problem.
Oh, I remember now.
He shrunk a team of specialists and a submarine and injected them into his bloodstream.
They roamed through his body, zapping the bad bacteria with a laser.
It was touch and go for a while, especially when anitbodies started wrapping themselves around Raquel Welch's shapely body, but they managed to escape through his eye before they returned to normal size.
(I wonder whatever happened to the submarine?)
Those who sacrifice security to condemn liberty deserve to repeat history or something. - Benjamin Santayana
Six hours up and still not +5 Funny (or even +1).
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
"anitbodies" should be "antibodies".
I did hit "Preview", dammit!
The acme of civilised life is whining about people who whine about people whining about syntax, spelling and grammar on SlashDot. [pauses, goes back and counts the indirections Just In Case, clicks Submit]
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Hello from sunny Perth, Western Australia, outside temperature somewhere near 40oC as I type (~105oF).
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
127.0.0.1
Join moola.com, play games to earn money.
. . . after dissing Volkerding's Google-based self-diagnosis?
I guess he got so annoyed by slashdot wiseguys that he thought being horribly sick just wasn't worth it.
Seriously though, this is good news. I've always been a slackware user (starting with slack 2.0 I think) and I'm glad he's better now.
If a train station is a place where a train stops, what's a workstation?
dumbass, he still doesn't have to be wrong. Have you heard Volkderding say anything about what it actually was, who cured him etc? No, he can still be a sissy hypochondriac. I'm not saying he is, but the possibility exists.
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Volkerding
Well done Patrick. Looks like I'll be forking out for the commercial slack.peterrenshaw ~ Another Scrappy Startup
Isn't it obvious? He has recovered because I removed Gentoo and installed Slackware on my computer recently.
I'm now convinced that Patrick's health is directly tied to the operation of one of my computers. You see, he first reported having health problems right around the time my Gentoo system was starting to develop problems. His second update was about the time (for some strange reason) parts of my gcc install disappeared from my hard drive.
I downloaded the ISOs of my favorite distro (though few mirrors have them now) and installed Slackware. Of course there were a few problems. The slackware x.org package doesn't come with xf86cfg for some reason, and a few things needed to be changed, but I got most everything up and working right away. The few programs I have special patches for will get installed soon, and I'm sure Patrick will be feeling better after I do that...
I'm also making improvements to this system that I didn't bother to make to the old one, so Patrick is sure to feel better than ever when he recovers completely.
Don't worry Patrick, I'm keeping a close watch on this system, and will be sure to fix it up more quickly when it starts having problems. And don't worry about me throwing the system away in a few years, I tend to upgrade hardware, a piece at a time, until it's top-of-the-line again, and barely recognizable.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Why wouldn't you want to winter in ND???? :)
----- Question authority, but not ours. Hate the man, but we're not him.
...floss, brush & rinse with Listerine! Takes 5 minutes out of your life twice a day.
No...it's okay...I wasn't using my Civil Liberties anyway
I'm a Slackware user myself (I started with Red Hat last year, but switched over soon after, mainly because of this forum ;-) ... glad to hear that Mr. Volkerding is back in action, I was starting to worry that Slackware would disappear forever!! *PHEW*
Creative misinterpretation is your friend.
This post from the Dr.'s blog is interesting, as Volkerding had said himself that he had pericarditis.
The previous post mentioned in the blog is about a middle-aged smoker - anybody know if Volkerding is a smoker?
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)