Are you a luddite?

Since you are reading this blog dedicated to using Linux on older hardware, you might be interested in the techonology luddites:

When it come to technology, newer isn't always better. We head out in search of the people who consider good enough to still be good enough.

Read more about old hardware and retro tech users in the article published in the PCPlus!

Problematic Debian update: udev and kernel

Normally, I try to remember googling for any problems before doing a major update in any of the Linux systems I use for doing something more important than simply surfing on the Internet. I forgot to do this before updating my stable Debian system to Debian unstable last night.

Of course, I ran into problems that were almost too difficult to solve in the early hours of the morning. My system was not able to solve issue caused by the conflicting version of kernel and udev. It took me some time before I found the solution in the Debian forum.

Now I'm a happy user of Debian unstable. It remains to be seen, if the unstable branch of the distribution is too bleeding edge for my taste. I have used both Debian stable and testing for several years, but I can't remember ever having installed or used Debian unstable. I hope my life does not become too unstable after this upgrade...

Minix 3.1.6 Released!

The Minix project has released a new stable version of the operating system. The release 3.1.6 was made public yesterday. Minix Wiki lists the following major features for the release:
  • New drivers: Atheros L2, Intel E1000, Realtek 8169, DEC Tulip
  • VirtualPC Network Support (DEC Tulip)
  • PipeFS - removed pipe handling from filesystem drivers
  • HGFS - support for mounting VMware shared folders as file system
  • FPU support
  • System Event Framework (SEF)
  • Experimental APIC support (disabled by default)
  • More ports: more recent QEMU, BSD utilities, Benchmarks
Download the image from here. If you are interested in Minix, you should also have a look at the Minix section in the Lightweight Linux Bookstore!