Geek Style

I didn’t know that Nokia IPSO is running FreeBSD as its core.

Chances are that my Nokia handset is also running FreeBSD.

The famous Andrew S. Tanenbaum has a proof that Linus IS the real creator of Linux:

Linus didn’t sit down in a vacuum and suddenly type in the Linux source code. He had my book, was running MINIX, and undoubtedly knew the history (since it is in my book). But the code was his. The proof of this is that he messed the design up.

or this one:

The first version of Linux was like a time machine. It went back to a system worse than what he already had on his desk. Of course, he was just a kid and didn’t know better (although if he had paid better attention in class he should have), but producing a system that was fundamentally different from the base he started with seems pretty good proof that it was a redesign.

Read the complete article here (part one) and here (part two).

There has been a debate on MINIX vs. Linux back in 1992 between Linus Torvalds and Andy Tanenbaum as you may remember.

It’s not too hard to predict next google service: Google Messenger

Maybe it’s just an idea, but even the idea is very cool. And if it ever happens:

• It will use Orkut for registration and will utilize your Orkut friends list as your contact list.
• It can also be used as a Google search representative on your desktop. So you can search in google without opening up a browser windows.
• It can search on your hard disk content, a local search engine.
• And also a desktop notify tool for your Gmail.

What do you think? Anyone has other ideas?

And remember, you heard it here first.

Alexandre Dumont has pointed out some hints about “rc” suffix.

IMHO, rc has different meanings. It could be “run control“, “runlevel control”, “resource configuration” or “resource control”. But AFAIK there is no clearly defined meaning for rc anywhere.

I received some good feedback from my “Linux SysAdmin Rant” entry.

Saeez Pazoki has some suggestions:

* Do not forget to mention that Windows is insecure wherever you can. (But never say that you “can not” make it secure).
* Write Micro$osft, instead of Microsoft

Masoud has warned users to check the disk partitioning setup before proceeding with installation. But I suggest leaving it as default and let Linux remove all your Windows partitions. You are a Linux SysAdmin, so you don’t want that Windows crap anymore. Don’t you?

More suggestions from me:

* Make sure you have read all open letters from Eric S. Raymond. You’ll love them. At least they are so funny.

Anyone else has more suggestions? Please post in comments.

Some of my readers gave up posting comments because my blog doesn’t accept comments without email addresses.

I am always brave enough to post my real name and address when I am posting a comment. So I expect my readers to do so. And I would like to thank my readers, especially those who post comments and give me their invaluable feedback.

Anyhow, you can use a fake address in case you don’t want to post your real address.

I have an idea:

Lets write an open letter to Eric S. Raymond and ask him to stop writing open letters!

He spends too much time writing open letters and thinks everything in world should be open source. Read his latest art work here: If only Cisco code had been open source

Sorry pal, world doesn’t work like that!

If you think MT is dead and you are considering to switch, WordPress is not the only good choice out there.

Do not forget giving Serendipity a try. I guess someone from serendipity development team should add MT import function to this software. I really hope they do. And I bet it will attract many users.

<rant>

I hate to see those people who claim they are Linux SysAdmins while they can’t even format a floppy disk from command line, or does not understand inode concept, and even worse, instead of Reading The Friendly Manual (RTFM) post their very simple questions to usenet.

How to become a Linux SysAdmin in 5 easy steps:

1- Insert RedHat/Fedora/Mandrake disc into your CD-ROM drive
2- Reboot your machine and set it to boot off the CD-ROM
3- When the graphical installation interface appeared, find the button called “Next” and click it whenever you see it. Other information on those pages are irrelevant.
4- Reboot your computer after installation, and login to your linux. Do not forget that you have to login with “root” user. There is no “administrator” user here.
5- Voila!!! You are a linux sysadmin now. You can go everywhere and shout loud that you are a linux sysadmin, like many other people out there doing so.

</rant>

$ cat flames > /dev/null 2>&1

So, everyone is talking about the new MT 3.0 and especially the new pricing scheme. In fact, MT is not free anymore, and its very annoying.

I gave it a try to findout if it is really worth upgrading my blog software. But unfortunately I didn’t find any eye-catching improvement. Its faster, more light-weight and more manageable. But it is not really what I want. Even the new commenting system is more trouble than a feature. I can rely on MT 2.661 and mt-blacklist for the moment. But I haven’t decided to switch to an alternative yet.

WordPress is not a good choice. I tried importing my entries, but porting my template is not as easy as porting entries. This process needs a lot of time which I really do not have at the moment. WordPress guys need to work more on their product. They should figure out a way to import MT templates as well, which makes this migration much easier. And also supporting multiple blogs with the same installation.

BTW, I received an email from SixApart today regarding MT3 and the pricing stuff. They are sending out discount codes for beta testers. Good idea. But I guess I won’t use it!

Update: Jeremy, it’s not just you! I agree.