My Google Summer of Code proposal
I've been involved with X.Org for a few months now. I want to increase my involvement, and at the same time learn the ropes. I also need something to do this summer–and that's why I've applied to the Google Summer of Code.
Read More – – Tags: glint gsoc kms linux xorg
My Daily WTF moment
I read The Daily WTF from time to time in amazement. I've never had a WTF moment even relatively worthy of their site, until today...
Socket 754 Turion ML-34 works in an ABIT NV8
My current desktop has served me quite well for nearly four years. Its Sempron 2800+ certainly doesn't compete with Phenoms or Core 2's in terms of performance, but what really bothered me about it was its lack of power management support. By some arbitrary decision, AMD chose to disable Cool'n'Quiet on Semprons <3000+. I've been vaguely interested in upgrading the processor for a while, but options are rather limited. It's not worth it to upgrade to a faster Sempron. Socket 754 Athlon 64s use quite a bit more power and mobile Athlon 64s still cost well over one hundred dollars. Socket 754 Turions exist, but I couldn't find any mention of compatibility with my ABIT NV8. I figured for eight dollars it was well worth the gamble, and bought a mobile Turion ML-34 on eBay to give it a try and to give my desktop a final upgrade.
IRIX for x86 and the 700MHz O2
As I was testing Radeon Kernel Mode-setting on Alpha, I casually started a conversation with Jesse Barnes, an Intel Graphics developer. I recalled that he was an ex-SGI employee, and being interested in SGI computers myself decided to ask him a question or two. What I learned about SGI absolutely floored me.
Ideas for the Future of SkyOS
In December 2004, I paid thirty dollars for a SkyOS Beta membership. I was intrigued by the project. I couldn't explain it. It was just different. I ported simple software and came to be a part of the SkyOS community. I wrote SkyOS programming guides. I spent hours talking with other SkyOS users on IRC. I reported bugs and followed development closely. There was no other project that I devoted more time to than SkyOS. But for the last year or so, SkyOS has progressed at an ever slowing pace. With long periods of downtime between SkyOS releases, many users, myself included, gradually moved on to other projects. Finally, Robert made the announcement that SkyOS development is officially halted. I wasn't surprised, but I was saddened. Given what I know of the project and of Robert, and having seen in four years of development the same concerns raised, problems faced and subsequently fixed over and over again, I wrote a letter to Robert outlining what needs to be done to save his hobby of the last thirteen years.