Sometimes you need more than one

Things change. We must evolve.

Adding a new tape drive isn't always simple

Tape libraries can be complex to set up

Upgrading the client, then the server

Sometimes, Postfix gets clobbered.

Automate the scanning of your log files

Lists change. Find out which one.

Sometimes, things change.

Slight changes. Be aware!

Sigh. So, we have the music industry whose DRM schemes and other anti-piracy measures have thoroughly failed, and are only hindering consumers who stick to the letter of the law. Now we have Hollywood who's going to do it all over again: the AACS LA is busy killing off component video - even for existing, currently-owned equipment.

OpenPeak announced an Intel Moorestown-based tablet device, which may well end up running the new Nokia/Intel MeeGo operating system. The OpenTablet 7 features a 7-inch multi-touch display, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, cellular, HDMI output and dual cameras, says the company....

Gigabyte announced an ATX-format motherboard designed to accept dual Intel Xeon C5500 CPUs. Intended for server applications, the GA-7JASV offers up to 96MB of RAM, six 3Gb/sec. SATA ports with RAID support, and dual gigabit Ethernet controllers, the company says....

Huawei announced the U8800, which it calls the first Android smartphone to run the 14Mbps HSPA+ cellular technology, and also tipped three lower-end Android phones -- the U8300, U8100, and U8110 -- plus a 7-inch & SmaKit S7& Android tablet. Meanwhile AT T confirmed that it will launch the Motorola Backflip on Mar. 7....

It must suck to be a Windows developer. So you already have an entire legion of misguided folk hating your work for no reason (on top of the people hating your work for legitimate reasons), and then a company comes along spreading clear misinformation about Windows' memory usage, based on that company's performance monitoring software. To make matters worse, when said company is called out on its errors, it decides to publish the usage information of an Ars Technica editor's computer. As such, it is advisable to uninstall the software in question.

There was an interesting thread I read in the forums this morning that was talking about the general process of stabling software, and while I found the original poster's statement very interesting, I posted my own thoughts in response in a few posts in return that I considered shed light on how the scenario really is in developing for Gentoo.  Writing about it really got me thinking about the distribution as a whole, and why I like it, and why I keep coming back to it.  In short, why I freaking love Gentoo.

I'm going on my eighth year or so of using it.  I don't know the exact timeline, but I'm pretty sure I've used it since around April of 2002 or so.  I'm also coming up on my fourth year of being a Gentoo developer.  That just blows me away.  I've also started recently getting a resurgence of interest in working on the development side again, something I'm really glad to see, since I have been progressively phasing myself out over the past few months.  Quite recently, though, I've managed to get myself much more organized and that has given me a much bigger picture of areas where I want to focus (and ones I want to drop interest), and so that has made it working on Gentoo fun again.   For the record, that's how it should always be.

There is one argument in particular I wanted to rehash here, and that is the one about stability as a distro.

I've often heard the argument, when debating Linux distributions, someone say something like, "Why would anyone run Gentoo .. it's not stable!"  I never have a really good retort to that answer when people bring it up, other than something simple like "Well, the obvious reason would be that I've used it for years and if I manage it, you won't have any problems."  Not to say that I don't have problems with my Gentoo installs, but these days they are usually stupid things ... like forgetting my root password or accidentally firewalling myself out of the box.

I don't really care about the "distro wars" though.  My motto has long been, "to each his own."  Find what works for *you* and apply it.  I could argue all day to someone about the merits of Gentoo, but really, all that matters is that it fits my needs well and does exactly what I want it to do, and how I want it to do things.  Everyone else can go find their own.  I've got mine.

But the fallacy in that original argument "Gentoo's not stable!" is a weak one.  It implies that the distribution should be the one providing all the support for keeping things constantly maintained, running and efficient.  To me, those tasks sounds like the description of a systems administrator job position.

My point is that, it shouldn't matter what Linux distribution you are going to use -- you need someone to keep it up and running.  I think Gentoo is great because it removes the veil from saying, "just run these versions of the software and you'll be totally fine."  Bugs creep in all the time.  Binary distributions stick you with a set of packages, that if,  you want to break out of that pigeon hole, it may be completely impossible to do.  With Gentoo, the definition of "stable" is left up to the user, the maintainer, the systems administrator.  I love it.

Go Gentoo.

I also can't believe I'm still a fanboi, after all these years.

In case you've been living under a rock: Apple isn't particularly keen on Flash. They can't control it, and the company claims it's the number one cause of crashes on Mac OS X. Now that Steve Jobs is busy promoting the iPad to content providers, he's also on the offensive against Flash.

Canonical is developing a new 2D ARM interface based on Enlightenment Foundation Libraries for the upcoming Ubuntu 10.04 (& Lucid Lynx& ) version of Ubuntu Netbook Remix. In other Ubuntu news, Ubuntu Live CDs in Lucid Lynx will boot 33 percent faster, and The Linux Box will market Ubuntu in the U.S....

Be prepared for choice to be thrust before you, the Microsoft browser ballot arrives in Europe around the 1st of March. It will also be available in Windows Update as an optional install for interested users to test next week. Microsoft have included screenshots of the process. Via BBC News

Lanner announced a high-end network security appliance sporting two Intel Xeon C5500 processors. The FW-8910 supports a whopping 96GB of RAM, has two 3.5-inch drive bays, offers up to 40 gigabit Ethernet ports, and is available with a Cavium Nitrox content inspection accelerator, the company says....