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Kernel 2.6.31 To Speed Up Linux Desktop
Dan Jones writes "As the Linux community looks forward to another kernel release, the kernel hackers have been working on improving the memory management so that the X desktop responsiveness is doubled under high memory pressure. The result is an improved desktop experience. Benchmarks on memory-tight desktops show clock time and major faults reduced by 50 per cent, and pswpin numbers (memory reads from disk) are reduced to about one-third. Another improvement coming with 2.6.31 is kernel mode-setting support for ATI Radeon graphics cards, enabling faster user switching and a more seamless startup experience. Peripheral developments that will also improve the Linux desktop experience include support for the new USB 3.0 specification and a new Firewire stack. Even minor Linux releases have heaps of new features these days!"
That's one of the more annoying XKCDs as far as I'm concerned. It seems to imply that the full-screen Flash video woes are somehow the kernel's fault. I used to like XKCD, but it seems to be getting dumber and dumber each day.
Why does this matter, really? Linux is a server OS, why are they spending any time on useless trivia? Compare the number of working linux boxes used for servers versus desktops, and ask the same question again.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Actually, I think it just implies that Linux users have different priorities from Windows users.
Personally, I cannot imagine wanting to use Flash to play full-screen video. Totem or vlc, yes. Flash? You've got to be kidding.
Flash is NOT a media player. It's a browser plugin, of questionable usefulness. It plays tiny little swatches of badly encoded 320x200 video at a low framerate, and then you usually wish you hadn't bothered, because the content of said YouTube video, recommended to you by a Windows-using friend, is almost always the sort of thing that wouldn't be worth your time even if it WERE a quality recording, which it never is. Why would you EVER want to watch that junk in full-screen?
Granted, I don't need support for 4096 processor cores either. But I can imagine that *someone* would legitimately need such a feature, which is more than I can say for full-screen Flash video.
It isn't just processor core numbers and Flash plugins, either. This is a minor symptom of a much larger disconnect between people who actually understand computers and *use* them to get useful things accomplished, versus people who play around with whatever annoying thing gets their attention. Windows is loaded with stupid features I can't imagine ever having any real use for. Debian is loaded with features that I actually use.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.