Text 8215, 162 rader
Skriven 2006-11-29 21:04:20 av Maurice Kinal (1:140/13.1)
   Kommentar till text 8213 av WAYNE CHIRNSIDE (1:123/140)
Ärende: of ethics and hard drives
=================================
Hey WAYNE!

Nov 29 15:21 06, WAYNE CHIRNSIDE wrote to MAURICE KINAL:

 WC>  Hey now I was talkin hardware not software.

So was I.  If there is a need for drivers they should be willing to let the
kernel people know and let them take care of it the way it is currently being
done.  That way we all benefit from it rather then just a few distributions who
fall for the stunt of proprietary crap.  I think that is the best idea all the
way around.

 WC>  I made plain I'm Debian and Slackware exclusive as of recently.

Understood.

 WC>  Quality hardware is virtually defined in this 1999 Gateway.
 WC>  Even the full tower easy access case is sturdy enough that four of
 WC>  them would IMO support a Ford F-150 pickup were one
 WC>  placed undere each corner of it's frame.

The thing about the Gateway I saw was that all that was onboard was supported
in a modern Linux kernel already so there isn't really too much to sweat other
then to insure that the kernel you boot up on there has the right stuff either
built in, as in the case of whatever drive you plan to mount on /, or as
modules where and when applicable.  Sometimes things are better modularized.

 WC>  Not to mention rock solid standard electronics and chipsets.

From what I saw, yes.

 MK>> I do. I got a kick about what Linus had to say about Intel in the 
 MK>> latest rc patch.  :-)

 WC>  Missed that one but got a hoot out of an introduction to Linux
 WC>  guide recently read.

That too.  I've seen comments in Unixie documentation that brings a smile to my
face every now and then.  Same with 'fortune'.

 WC>  May google for it Linus recent BIOS

I forget offhand the url but the sponsors are out of California, the clustering
people in Livermore <sp?> if I am not mistaken.  I haven't been there for a
spell now.

 WC>  For some odd reason they seemed to think Linux superior to to 
 WC> Microsoft
 WC> Windows.

Geez, I wonder why?  ;-)

 WC>  You'd never believe the number of negatives in windows they pointed 
 WC> out.
 WC>  Well, you and some here would.

I never did like it from the moment I first saw it (Win 2.0 on a 5.25" floppy
targetting 286's).  My first thought was that nobody will buy that!!!  Just
goes to show how wrong one can be eh?

Anyhow I never bought it and after Win 3.1 took off I managed to ditch anything
stamped with the Microsoft brand off ye' ol' 386 I had at the time.  That was
the best thing I ever did in DOS.  Wasn't too long after that when I finally
bit the bullet and installed my first Linux.  Haven't regretted that move.

 WC> Don't feel the need to keep apace my posting.

You either.  :-)

 WC> I'm getting irked the with motherboard manuals from manufactuirers
 WC> when you can find them they're in PDF format.
 WC> What good is that?
 WC> zless be good why not gzip them?

Beats me.  I farm those out to the neighbour and he just prints out anything of
value from them.  Usually only a page or two turns out to be of any
consequence, if even that much.

 WC> Zless is more <G> or less, well smaller anyway, lots.

less is great, even zless.  I doubt I could live without it anymore.

 WC> Hey is their an bzip2 equivelent?

bzless.  Also a bzmore and a bzcat while we're at it.  I use bzcat quite a bit
as well as zcat and plain ordinary cat.  cat is my friend even without
compression but even moreso with it.

 WC> Once again we're on the same page.
 WC> I've had ATI graphics on 486 boards and they worked fine with no 
 WC> trouble unlike
 WC> some I could and did cuss at.

Yeah those were great.  There are still server boards being made with ATI chips
onboard.  They work.  :-)

 WC> Lot's of arrogant people talking down to newbies in the Linux echo 
 WC> and making
 WC> fun
 WC> and taking shots at them.

Oh yeah.  Never did like newsgroups even before there was public access on the
internet.  Same with chat though.  Other then the stinkin' headers, Fido is
best but I wish I could have stayed an ordinary user.  Sysoping and being
responsible for stupid formats is far too annoying but I still like Fido in
spite of that.  If there was a decent BBS in these parts I'd opt out to become
a user again and let the sysop there deal with the silliness.  <EG>

 WC> There's no need for any of that IMO
 WC> You, Paul, James, Martin and one or two others didn't talk down to me
 WC> or lord yourself over me with airs of arrogant superiority.

Yep.  We're the good guys!!!  ;-)

There used to be more.  :::sigh:::

 WC> You  helped me to get to a foundation of knowledge to where I could 
 WC> learn and
 WC> operate independently on my own.

That is definetly the way it used to be.  Fido lost too many of those types
along the way for whatever reason.  Good thing there are still a couple really
stubborn old coots still hanging in out of spite (<- my best guess as to why).

 WC> Lynx another day when once again feeling bold and less likely to be 
 WC> intimidated
 WC> nby the unfamiliar.

It is really easy.  Far better and easier then it used to be before there was a
www and I first stumbled on it.  I think it was Netscape that really screwed
things up in httpd world although IE didn't help matters any.

 WC> Hey anyway it was a great awakening that /dev/sda came right up into 
 WC> play.

Yep.  Works great for hotswapping.

 WC> A better day I'll see if it will boot out of there Linux being less 
 WC> BIOS
 WC> dependent
 WC> perhaps GRUB will facilitate that?

I doubt it.  From my experience it is a bios problem as to bootability from the
mbr.  You could boot it from a existing bootable drive's mbr though but the
boot kernel will have to reside on that drive rather then on the usb one.  If
the usb interface is indeed bootable then all is the same as any regular drive
other the the need for sg (scsi generic).

 WC> Taking a break now.

Soon.  I am still putting the final touches on my next attempt at a development
system.  Didn't care too much for the kernel headers I used on my previous
attempt and reverted back to a prior version except upgraded everything else to
more recent versions.  So far it looks to be a keeper.  I like when that
happens although I'd have preferred if the kernel headers could have been
upgraded.  Next time.  ;-)

Life is good,
Maurice

--- Msged/LNX 6.2.0
 * Origin: The Pointy Stick Society XXV - Almost there (1:140/13.1)