Month: November 2007

links for 2007-11-28

some things haven’t changed

I’m not sure how much of this is the Debian roots showing (I never used Debian, so the whole apt-get business is all foreign to me: I can copy and paste with the best of them, though).

…One reason why people like OS X is that stuff Just Works, but also that when there are items like jaggy fonts , someone at Apple fixes it, rather than just shipping it and seeing if anyone notices.

My adventures with linux, a bad habit I thought I had given up, continue after a several year hiatus.

I decided to try this Ubuntu linux that all the kids are talking about. I hear it’s slick, with a great UI and no-hassle installation procedure.

Hmph. My ears must be failing me. If this is a polished, ready-for-grandma OS, I’m Bill Gates. Unfortunately my first run at this was with the server version, not the desktop. Why they need two different CDs to deliver that is interesting: beyond the base installers, kernel and minimal userland, is there really 600 Mb of difference that can’t be pulled off the net? Whatever . . .

First off, the 6.x release (Feisty Fawn) wouldn’t install, period. It balked at some aspect of the chipset and just bailed. So I decided to try 7 (Gutsy Gibbon). It did install via CD, but it took forever, based on my recollections of olde schoole Redhat and FreeBSD, where all you needed was a floppy and network jack. This had a CD and a network jack and still made it difficult. The same error message appeared but just as a warning, not a show-stopper. And the boot process claims that my BIOS is too old (pre-2000) but it has been updated to a 2003 release, according to IBM/Lenovo. I even tried it again today: the BIOS update wouldn’t install, said it was already in place. Go figure.

So how’s it look?

The install interface for the server version is red and blue ascii art. Redhat and Mandrake were beyond that in the last century. So that was underwhelming. The install seems to require a lot of handholding: I had a partitioned disk and it seemed very reluctant to do what it was told. I understand caution, but it couldn’t even identify the partitions properly. Glad I remembered which was which.

Lots of stuff doesn’t get installed by default, little things like X and ssh. I don’t know what the assumption is, but a video output beyond a console is sometimes nice to have, and remote access is handy, too. No desktop was installed, either. But recall that I ended up with a server installation. So not having X by default makes some sense, but read on.

Not that having X windows gets me very far. I’m not sure how much of this is the Debian roots showing (I never used Debian, so the whole apt-get business is all foreign to me: I can copy and paste with the best of them, though). But the X configurators run by dpkg and debconf do nothing in the way of autodetecting the hardware and neither the xorg meta-package or the configurators seem to care that there no fonts installed. wtf? I think I liked it better when the configurator actually ran an X session as part of what it did. Seems to me if you install something — like the GNOME desktop and the xorg meta package — you should just get everything you need to make it work. Having to pick through and find all the missing parts is pretty joyless.

And using the Google to look into this stuff makes it plain that for the hype, Ubuntu is nowhere near the polished packaging system I’ve heard about. One reason why people like OS X is that stuff Just Works, but also that when there are items like jaggy fonts, someone at Apple fixes it, rather than just shipping it and seeing if anyone notices. I have to assume all the people looking for help are using the desktop variant.

Now that I discovered the server/desktop miscue, I’ll try again from scratch and see if I get on any better.

A couple of hours and several screens full of stack traces later, I throw my hands up. The server variant at least installed and ran, but the desktop version, despite diverse incantations at boot time (noapic noacpi acpi=no, etc.), nothing doing. If I thought it was worth backfilling the desktop bits, I’d do it, but it’s simply not worth it. No one has devised an installer kernel that just works? (And yes, I checksummed the download: it’s fine, as an artifact).

I really am surprised. Talk about not matching the hype . . . this isn’t even close. It’s not unusual hardware (especially if one configuration will boot and run), even if it’s a tad old. If those version numbers mean anything, this is the 7th release. And it’s not like I haven’t had linux running on this before. I used it before NetBSD and then FreeBSD, before the ThinkPad was decommissioned for a while.

Onward. I’m glad my bandwidth is flat rate but the chaps at Ubuntu could send out blank media to those of us who waste our time on this stuff.

perennial quote of the day

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.

This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address [From Needs Repeating]

Listen to it here. The incumbent isn’t fit to walk Fala, let alone occupy the same office.

bonus quote of the day

Pakistan’s military dictator will re sign his position as army commander , thus becoming a civilian dictator. [From Musharraf to Relinquish Military Role » Outside The Beltway | OTB ]

Pakistan’s military dictator will resign his position as army commander, thus becoming a civilian dictator. [From Musharraf to Relinquish Military Role » Outside The Beltway | OTB]

<via>

quote of the day

The more independent-minded [libertarians] will occasionally come up with a liberalish or fair-minded idea or two, but this is purely for display, not for ever doing anything about if to do so would run the risk of a higher rate of capital gains tax.

…[From D-squared Digest — FOR bigger pies and shorter hours and AGAINST more or less everything else ]

The more independent-minded [libertarians] will occasionally come up with a liberalish or fair-minded idea or two, but this is purely for display, not for ever doing anything about if to do so would run the risk of a higher rate of capital gains tax.

The ideological core of Chicago-style libertarianism has two planks.

1. Vote Republican.

2. That’s it.

[From D-squared Digest — FOR bigger pies and shorter hours and AGAINST more or less everything else]

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life, as she is lived

ThinkPad so I could test some of my computer backup ideas, among other things), up two hours later @2:30 so I could give up my bed to a frightened nine year old, up at 7: 30 to be greeted by the sound of vomiting as the ten year old manifested signs of stomach flu…. For all our progress and innovation, I’d love to be able to ring up a local purveyor of foods and dry goods and have them send round some things I need.

Up late last night, doing various things (hunting for a diskette so I could update the BIOS in a 20th c. ThinkPad so I could test some of my computer backup ideas, among other things), up two hours later @2:30 so I could give up my bed to a frightened nine year old, up at 7: 30 to be greeted by the sound of vomiting as the ten year old manifested signs of stomach flu.

So how’s your day going?

For all our progress and innovation, I’d love to be able to ring up a local purveyor of foods and dry goods and have them send round some things I need.

links for 2007-11-27

forking

I’ve recently discovered a great Linux distro, which strives to package all quantitative open source applications: the Quantian, by the Debian pro and well-known quant Dirk Eddelbuettel: http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com/quantian.html

At what point to Linux distros exceed the number of people on Earth?

This arrived on a mailing list just now:

I’ve recently discovered a great Linux distro, which strives to package all quantitative open source applications: the Quantian, by the Debian pro and well-known quant Dirk Eddelbuettel:

http://dirk.eddelbuettel.com/quantian.html

At what point to Linux distros exceed the number of people on Earth?