I have to agree. Portage is like a race track or a Mosh pit. Never turn your back on it. I've had to manually intervene a couple of times on some basic upgrades.
But hey I'm just going to invoke the "Apple Jacks" principle, and state psychotically that I "Just like it."
(For those who don't live in the US, Apple Jacks is a breakfast food that doesn't contain any apples whatsoever. Every commercial an adult asks a bunch of kids why they like it, and their reply is always like a cult member "We just do...")
Good luck. I find portage nice. A little choatic at times... but what is life without a little variety.
My problem is that I've been continually patching my boxes since 1.4-rc2. There have been dozens of changes to the baselayout and dependency tree, so every once in a while I find myself performing surgery to explain how to get there from here to my poor confused computer.
Nope, the 32Mb limit is built into the installer. Believe me, text mode was my first thought to. I did actually try slackware in the process of getting Linux on these thinkpads. (Not to mention Debian and a few LFS micro-distros.)
6.1 didn't care about the memory, but it didn't understand how to talk to the PCMCIA network card I had. I finally tricked it into using an existing kernel module by mounting the compressed initrd from the netboot floppy, hacking the pcmcia subsystem, and then ALSO hacking the RedHat installer script. Immediately followed by unmounting the compressed image, and reinserting it onto the floppy.
Yeah, yeah, cake to me now. But everything seems like rocket science the first time you do it. Damn, I didn't even know python before I started futzing with the Anaconda scripts.
And all that to install a minimal X-windows system to act as a remote terminal...
Reminds me of the time I tried to upgrade glibc on 7.2, following that infamous "every week a new vulnerability" phase last year. I would attempt to upgrade GLIBC, only to find that the package needed a new version of RPM. I tried to update RPM, but it needed a new version of GLIBC. Upgrade them both, and I discovered exactly how many packages rely on GLIBC...
Depends on what you mean by difficult. Try hacking the RedHat 6.1 installer to boot on a thinkpad with 16MB of RAM, and a modern PCMCIA network card.
And this was last year, because 7.+ refuses to even LOOK at a machine with less than 32MB. The boot from scratch and do everything by hand approach I ended up learning by my self through weeks of excruciating trial, error, and usenet clippings.
Then of course there is the wonderful habit the RedHat installer has of mounting my RAID as/dev/sda during installation. When the new OS starts, it moves to/dev/sdd, completely frelling the/etc/fstab file. I ended up booting those server off of floppies for close to a year. It was only until I played with the Gentoo installer that I learned enough about the boot process to permanently fix that problem.
Point in click is nice. But I generally find it doesn't make my life any easier. But then again, my world seems a little strange to outsiders.
Face it, we have Intel and AMD on the cusp of major architecture changes AND the migration to the 64 bit processor. Both changes require a complete recompile of your system to exploit the improvements.
At the same time, you have a distro that for the first time brings parity between the x86, PPC, and sparc architectures. Plans are even in the works to port portage to Cygwin, BSD, and MacOSX. The GCC compiler is getting good enough at building across architectures that a new hardware platform could have a Linux port in weeks.
Computing power and RAM are plentiful in PC's. People bicker about 19 hours to compile OpenOffice, but I can remember a time when (assuming it was possible at all) a compile like that would take weeks.
All of these factors are pointing us to a world in the near future where binaries are an afterthought. Even if the hardware you are running on can't compile on the fly, you can plug it into a server farm that CAN.
Gentoo may be a half-assed Linux distro. But it has the potential to completely change how we distribute software.
I'm running 1.4 on an Athlon I built from stage 1. The trick is to use mem=nopentium. There is an errata between the Kernel, GCC, the Athlon XP, and possibly some mother-board memory controllers that causes the 4 to not play nice. Before I stumbled on the solution on the forums the machine would lock up randomly.
I have to compliment your sublime ability to keep the conversation civil. Indeed, such a sensitive, well spoken individual as yourself is a rare thing on Slashdot.
Now I would suggest for you a tour of some very boring places.
One would be a steel mill. Look around, and count the number of computers controlling equipment and acquiring data for Statistical Process Control. No, don't be fooled by those thermal bar codes over everything, inventory control is still done by people with clipboards. The UPC scanners are a ruse. And try to ignore that much of this is done with ruggedized versions of conventional computing equipment.
Now, wander over to your local streets department. Try to ignore that massive fiber-optic distribution board if they give you a tour. Also ignore the embedded computing equipment that operates the traffic lights. And the next time you see all the lights go green to clear a path for emergency vehicles, know that's is all magic.
If you want a really nifty tour, stop over to your local Army base. They aren't using any computers in HQ. Those laptops handling logistics really are warmers for the MREs. The commanders aren't coordinating their units with those computers either. It's testmarketing for a new game called Janus.
In regards to an MSCE being as useful as a Unix admin, I would also like to point out there is no Santa Clause, Tooth Fairy, or Easter Bunny. By the way, you were not brought here by a stork: your dad has sex with your mom.
And don't forget about the fact that a movie takes 3 or 4 years to make it through the pipeline. Having to migrate to a different version of Windows, or worse, support 2 different versions, is an added expense and a headache where you need it the least.
Linux support is free, because once you have a standard configuration, you can employ scripts to replicate and maintain it. 2 network engineers at my place take care of 15 Linux servers, 3 Win2k servers, the network, email, and the intranet website. We spend a disproportinate amount of time on the 2K servers, despite having service contracts that theoreitcally should take care of the issues for us.
Also remember that disney is editing 35MM film, 24 frames per second, at ungodly resolution. They probably have this stuff running on a 4 way or 8 way workstations. Multi-head licenses for windows are STEEP. Microsoft also takes you out the ass for large-scale file storage. The cost per workstation probably includes the cost of the server divided over the number of users.
With Linux you are paying for the hardware and the photoshop license.
Mosix only helps with multi-threaded applications. Granted, you could probably write a photoshop plugin to break your task up into multiple threads, but even then, only when applying filters.
You would be better off simply buying a beefier box.
In the black heart of Redmond is a massive citidel, blocked by a magic Gates. When you arrive that gate will prompt you to "Press Any Key to Continue".
Once past the Gates you will see the Hedge o' Money. You must avoid its corruption. It has bought the soul of many. Past the Hedge is the Well of Souls, where the organizations acquired by the Dark One sit in suspended animation. The luck ones are twisted and warped into new products. The rest are left of languish for an eternity.
Excuse me? Windows 2003 is an entirely new product and requires an entirely new certification.
Linux DOES have an advantage. I can always get support for a old version of a distro. (Worst case, I AM the support.) Now here we are in 2003. It takes M$ 2 years to get Windows certified. They stop shipping the product after 3 years, and pull the plug after 5. That means you have, tops, 3 useful years of a M$ product in a sensitive environment. Less when you consider implementation time.
People gripe about how the space shuttle runs on old equipment, but you have to remember, there are plenty of installations that require computing hardware to be embedded for decades. Think factory equipment, weapon systems, utilities, traffic lights, aircraft.
When engineering those systems you use the most stable installation you can find, strip it down to just what you need, and run it until you can't buy parts for it anymore.
Now how do you do that within a 5 year Window again?
Accountabilty? Bullshit. Try "wall tossing". Most EULA's indemnify the vendor from legal action. All you end up with is the ability to blame someone else.
That isn't accountability. It's accounting. A real man admits he was wrong, and works to fix it. A coward insists the world is at fault, and ducks the problem entirely.
This world was not built by cowards. Though they have done their share of destroying great empires, both political, intellectual, and capital.
With ever tightening budgets, and demands to do more with less people the equations naturally point towards Linux.
Capital, like water, flows downhill seeking the softest path at every turn. One can steer a river, over a short stretch. One can even try to place a river where none ever existed with a Canal. But these artifical minglings require work to maintain. They are ever under siege from the elements. Those that seek to build around them always fall into woe when the river itself overflows.
Will is a powerful thing, but the natural order of the Universe in unsurmountable.
This suit could cut the SCO FUD off at the knees (although it won't prevent companies like the Gartner Group from publishing "reports") and severely reduce the damage that can be done before the cases go to court (it's going to be 5 years folks).
You are assuming this case is ever allowed in a courtroom. The Judiciary is getting pretty testy about frivilous crap. Though this case may be a break for some justices from the RIAA suits...
Are you saying that we computer geeks are (gasp) fickle oppertunists?
Damn straight.
Any open-source activity is like herding cats. Why should our opinion of the instant be any different. We are after all human. Well, except for the cyborgs and the uberlectuals. The AI's only think they are intelligent. But I'm digressing...
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Stupidity is a state of mind. Someone else's mind, at least.
But hey I'm just going to invoke the "Apple Jacks" principle, and state psychotically that I "Just like it."
(For those who don't live in the US, Apple Jacks is a breakfast food that doesn't contain any apples whatsoever. Every commercial an adult asks a bunch of kids why they like it, and their reply is always like a cult member "We just do...")
My problem is that I've been continually patching my boxes since 1.4-rc2. There have been dozens of changes to the baselayout and dependency tree, so every once in a while I find myself performing surgery to explain how to get there from here to my poor confused computer.
I'm just glad to have the option.
6.1 didn't care about the memory, but it didn't understand how to talk to the PCMCIA network card I had. I finally tricked it into using an existing kernel module by mounting the compressed initrd from the netboot floppy, hacking the pcmcia subsystem, and then ALSO hacking the RedHat installer script. Immediately followed by unmounting the compressed image, and reinserting it onto the floppy.
Yeah, yeah, cake to me now. But everything seems like rocket science the first time you do it. Damn, I didn't even know python before I started futzing with the Anaconda scripts.
And all that to install a minimal X-windows system to act as a remote terminal...
'Twas messy.
And this was last year, because 7.+ refuses to even LOOK at a machine with less than 32MB. The boot from scratch and do everything by hand approach I ended up learning by my self through weeks of excruciating trial, error, and usenet clippings.
Then of course there is the wonderful habit the RedHat installer has of mounting my RAID as /dev/sda during installation. When the new OS starts, it moves to /dev/sdd, completely frelling the /etc/fstab file. I ended up booting those server off of floppies for close to a year. It was only until I played with the Gentoo installer that I learned enough about the boot process to permanently fix that problem.
Point in click is nice. But I generally find it doesn't make my life any easier. But then again, my world seems a little strange to outsiders.
Face it, we have Intel and AMD on the cusp of major architecture changes AND the migration to the 64 bit processor. Both changes require a complete recompile of your system to exploit the improvements.
At the same time, you have a distro that for the first time brings parity between the x86, PPC, and sparc architectures. Plans are even in the works to port portage to Cygwin, BSD, and MacOSX. The GCC compiler is getting good enough at building across architectures that a new hardware platform could have a Linux port in weeks.
Computing power and RAM are plentiful in PC's. People bicker about 19 hours to compile OpenOffice, but I can remember a time when (assuming it was possible at all) a compile like that would take weeks.
All of these factors are pointing us to a world in the near future where binaries are an afterthought. Even if the hardware you are running on can't compile on the fly, you can plug it into a server farm that CAN.
Gentoo may be a half-assed Linux distro. But it has the potential to completely change how we distribute software.
YMMV.
Sigh, whatever Distro can upgrade the entire OS (in place!) with a single command: emerge -u world.
Of course, some pressed discs would be nice for posterity.
Now I would suggest for you a tour of some very boring places.
One would be a steel mill. Look around, and count the number of computers controlling equipment and acquiring data for Statistical Process Control. No, don't be fooled by those thermal bar codes over everything, inventory control is still done by people with clipboards. The UPC scanners are a ruse. And try to ignore that much of this is done with ruggedized versions of conventional computing equipment.
Now, wander over to your local streets department. Try to ignore that massive fiber-optic distribution board if they give you a tour. Also ignore the embedded computing equipment that operates the traffic lights. And the next time you see all the lights go green to clear a path for emergency vehicles, know that's is all magic.
If you want a really nifty tour, stop over to your local Army base. They aren't using any computers in HQ. Those laptops handling logistics really are warmers for the MREs. The commanders aren't coordinating their units with those computers either. It's testmarketing for a new game called Janus.
In regards to an MSCE being as useful as a Unix admin, I would also like to point out there is no Santa Clause, Tooth Fairy, or Easter Bunny. By the way, you were not brought here by a stork: your dad has sex with your mom.
And don't forget about the fact that a movie takes 3 or 4 years to make it through the pipeline. Having to migrate to a different version of Windows, or worse, support 2 different versions, is an added expense and a headache where you need it the least.
There are many paths. RedHat is for the folks who need a centrally managed distribution because they pop and swap employees and environments.
We must welcome the teaming millions of former MSCEs with open arms. Only then will they invite us to show them the true path.
Irix does have an older version of Photoshop.
Also remember that disney is editing 35MM film, 24 frames per second, at ungodly resolution. They probably have this stuff running on a 4 way or 8 way workstations. Multi-head licenses for windows are STEEP. Microsoft also takes you out the ass for large-scale file storage. The cost per workstation probably includes the cost of the server divided over the number of users.
With Linux you are paying for the hardware and the photoshop license.
You would be better off simply buying a beefier box.
Once past the Gates you will see the Hedge o' Money. You must avoid its corruption. It has bought the soul of many. Past the Hedge is the Well of Souls, where the organizations acquired by the Dark One sit in suspended animation. The luck ones are twisted and warped into new products. The rest are left of languish for an eternity.
Linux DOES have an advantage. I can always get support for a old version of a distro. (Worst case, I AM the support.) Now here we are in 2003. It takes M$ 2 years to get Windows certified. They stop shipping the product after 3 years, and pull the plug after 5. That means you have, tops, 3 useful years of a M$ product in a sensitive environment. Less when you consider implementation time.
People gripe about how the space shuttle runs on old equipment, but you have to remember, there are plenty of installations that require computing hardware to be embedded for decades. Think factory equipment, weapon systems, utilities, traffic lights, aircraft.
When engineering those systems you use the most stable installation you can find, strip it down to just what you need, and run it until you can't buy parts for it anymore.
Now how do you do that within a 5 year Window again?
No one gets fired, true. The powers that be simply move in a Unix admin and eliminate the Windows guy's position.
I speak from experience, on the good end of the shotgun. Unix guys can do Windows, and oh so much more.
Only the certifiable rely on certifications for decision making.
That isn't accountability. It's accounting. A real man admits he was wrong, and works to fix it. A coward insists the world is at fault, and ducks the problem entirely.
This world was not built by cowards. Though they have done their share of destroying great empires, both political, intellectual, and capital.
Capital, like water, flows downhill seeking the softest path at every turn. One can steer a river, over a short stretch. One can even try to place a river where none ever existed with a Canal. But these artifical minglings require work to maintain. They are ever under siege from the elements. Those that seek to build around them always fall into woe when the river itself overflows.
Will is a powerful thing, but the natural order of the Universe in unsurmountable.
One Key to Rule them all, One key to find them, One Key to bring them all and in the gui bind them.
You are assuming this case is ever allowed in a courtroom. The Judiciary is getting pretty testy about frivilous crap. Though this case may be a break for some justices from the RIAA suits...
Only works if you add the LT_MATCH. Otherwise the performance absolutely stinks.
Damn straight.
Any open-source activity is like herding cats. Why should our opinion of the instant be any different. We are after all human. Well, except for the cyborgs and the uberlectuals. The AI's only think they are intelligent. But I'm digressing...