Advogato: Personal info for davej

davej is currently certified at Master level.

Name: Dave Jones
Member since: 2000-03-23 09:44:32
Last Login: 2008-03-15 06:06:54

Homepage: http://www.codemonkey.org.uk

Notes: Look here instead for blog stuff.

Projects

Lead Developer on Powertweak-Linux
Lead Developer on Sourcery
Lead Developer on x86info
Developer on Linux Kernel Janitor
Developer on Linux
Developer on Evangelism
Lead Developer on BIOS Explorer
Developer on OProfile
Contributor on Spamfilter
Developer on pciids
Developer on PCI Utilities
Developer on Linuxperf
Developer on CPUFreq
Helper on The XFree86 Project
Contributor on Direct Rendering Infrastructur
Developer on Red Hat
Developer on Fedora Project

Recent blog entries by davej

Syndication: RSS 2.0

10 May 2008 »

On reading books.

I'm almost ashamed to admit that last year, I think I only read (as in completely, cover to cover) 3 or 4 books. This year doesn't seem to be going much better either. I'm still slowly making my way through my first of the year. The problem isn't that I'm a slow reader. My problem is one of choice. I buy a book, start reading it, and when I'm halfway through, for whatever reason, I'll end up with another new book, and start reading that one, and the cycle repeats. I'm great at starting books, awful at finishing them. I think I must have started reading about 20-30 books last year alone. I seem to only really get through books when I'm traveling. The fact that I don't have a bookcase full of options with me confines me to one or two choices. This is the reason that devices like the kindle, (or any other e-book reader for that matter) are a really bad idea for me. When overwhelmed with choice, my indecision consumes me. (Seriously, you should see me fail at choosing a lunch option when in a new city surrounded by restaurants. Even the infamous google cafeteria was total overload for me. I think if I worked there, my indecision would actually lead to me starving to death before I made a lunch choice).

Last November, whilst in Portland,OR I picked up a copy of The soul of a new machine. It's a book I've been meaning to read for years, after countless recommendations from friends. Same old story though, I'm dragging my heels getting through it. It's not that it isn't an interesting book. It's really interesting to me how many parallels there are in the story to things that are happening/have happened at Red Hat.

I think I'm about halfway through it. 7 Months. Perhaps I need to travel more.

Syndicated 2008-05-09 19:21:19 from Dave Jones recollection of stuff that happened.

8 May 2008 »

OSX fail.

For an OS that apparently "just works", I seem to encounter a remarkable amount of fail.
Some investigation reveals all manner of disasters in syslog..

kernel[0]: IOAudioStream[0x4634100]::clipIfNecessary() - adjusting clipped position to (d0b9d,3fd9) kernel[0]: IOAudioStream[0x4634100]::clipIfNecessary() - Error: attempting to clip to a position more than one buffer ahead of last clip position (d0b2f,3ff9)->(d0b9f,4b).
The best part about this fail is that it does it even when no audio is playing. I just need an app that plays audio to be open.
Result: A gazillion of these in the logs.

usbmuxd[104]: MuxTCPSendRST StartWrite failed: 0xffffffff usbmuxd[104]: MuxInterfacev1Receive Dropping packet. Received 26036, expected -769822944 bytes
lol whut?

kernel[0]: AppleYukon2: 00000000,00000001 sk98osx sky2 - - sk98osx_sky2::replaceOrCopyPacket tried N times
Good job. Please try n+1 times.

This is just from todays log, and just the kernel messages. The spew from userspace freaking out about this that and everything is even worse.

But at least it looks pretty whilst it's failing.

Syndicated 2008-05-08 13:21:47 from Dave Jones recollection of stuff that happened.

8 May 2008 »

comcast fail.

Comcast's DVR is the only device I've ever owned that seems to consistently get worse with every firmware update. From the removal of useful shortcuts, to putting invasive advertising in the program guide reducing screen space for useful stuff (like program info). The last two updates have really got under my skin though.

After playing back a recorded program, it used to pop up a dialog asking if you wanted to delete it. This no longer happens. Instead you stare at a frozen image. When you press 'stop' the dialog appears (it also appears after 15 seconds of staring at the frozen screen). According to forum posts I found somewhere, this 'feature' was added because some customers (read as 'morons') felt "panicked" and "rushed" into making a decision. Comcasts official line is that this feature was added so that people could rewind from the end and watch the last scene of a program again. Sounds great. The best part is, this was always possible. Even when the dialog was onscreen.

The latest "feature" that drives me up the wall: The DVR box has an LCD on the front displaying the time, or the current station being watched. When in standby mode, it shows the time. This is really handy, it means I don't need another clock in the room. Or at least that was the case until the last firmware update. Now, after a period of inactivity (ie, whilst in standby for a while), the LCD powers off. I'd like to think there's some benefit to this, like saving power. However, due to comcasts ineptitude, the DVR box actually uses the same amount of power in standby mode as it does when powered up. Winning. Net result: I no longer get to put my DVR in standby mode. (Not that it ever did anything anyway).

Every time this gets under my skin, I get renewed enthusiasm to get mythtv set up. Then I remember what a pain in the ass that was the last time.

Syndicated 2008-05-07 23:25:36 from Dave Jones recollection of stuff that happened.

6 May 2008 »

wifi detectors.

I thought this was absurd when I saw it. Given the ubiquity of 802.11 signals pretty much everywhere (Even at my parents place in the boonies of the welsh valleys I noticed multiple APs), it seems kind of pointless. The sillyness doesn't stop there however. Those with a penchant for looking ridiculous can now also get some matching shoes.

FAIL.

wifi-detecting clothing is the hypercolor of this decade.

Syndicated 2008-05-06 14:41:55 from Dave Jones recollection of stuff that happened.

1 May 2008 »

a very bizarre lunchtime.

I went to lunch at one of the towns 49 all-quite-the-samey sushi restaurants that I'd not tried yet. I was seated next to someone who seemed to be some kind of dial-a-psychic. She had tarot cards all over the table, and appeared to be giving a 'reading' over the phone whilst she gobbled down maki. She had a companion who was also on the phone during the entire meal. I don't think they spoke a word to each other. I'm not sure if she was also a psychic. The whole experience was very surreal.

Then they left, and five minutes later the 'psychic' returned looking for her lost credit card or something. Priceless.

Syndicated 2008-05-01 18:37:14 from Dave Jones recollection of stuff that happened.

443 older entries...

davej certified others as follows:

davej certified riel as Master
davej certified alan as Master
davej certified Telsa as Journeyer
davej certified chromatic as Apprentice
davej certified acme as Journeyer
davej certified Iain as Journeyer
davej certified prumpf as Journeyer
davej certified johnsonm as Master
davej certified rmk as Master
davej certified pjones as Journeyer
davej certified marcelo as Journeyer
davej certified roguemtl as Journeyer
davej certified Denny as Apprentice
davej certified uzi as Journeyer
davej certified davem as Master
davej certified axboe as Journeyer
davej certified movement as Master
davej certified hpa as Master
davej certified bcrl as Master
davej certified pjdowner as Apprentice
davej certified claudio as Apprentice
davej certified zero as Journeyer
davej certified gilbertt as Journeyer
davej certified jgarzik as Master
davej certified dwmw2 as Journeyer
davej certified mathieu as Journeyer
davej certified wcooley as Apprentice
davej certified kroah as Journeyer
davej certified LenZ as Journeyer
davej certified nny as Apprentice
davej certified andrewmuck as Apprentice
davej certified Adrian as Journeyer
davej certified zab as Journeyer
davej certified phlip as Apprentice
davej certified rbrady as Journeyer
davej certified jbowman as Apprentice
davej certified darkworm as Journeyer
davej certified uweo as Journeyer
davej certified LaForge as Journeyer
davej certified arafel as Apprentice
davej certified mstevens as Apprentice
davej certified rsousa as Journeyer
davej certified sh as Apprentice
davej certified fenrus as Journeyer
davej certified kahlage as Journeyer
davej certified JALH as Apprentice
davej certified monk as Apprentice
davej certified angelsun as Journeyer
davej certified dmerrill as Journeyer
davej certified khazad as Journeyer
davej certified adulau as Journeyer
davej certified Ansimorph as Apprentice
davej certified mike750 as Journeyer
davej certified async as Journeyer
davej certified sethcohn as Journeyer
davej certified jf as Apprentice
davej certified csm as Journeyer
davej certified dan as Journeyer
davej certified ariel as Journeyer
davej certified mjs as Master
davej certified zeevon as Apprentice
davej certified fxn as Apprentice
davej certified kmcmartin as Apprentice
davej certified sad as Apprentice
davej certified jono as Journeyer
davej certified grant as Apprentice
davej certified neurogato as Apprentice
davej certified maragato as Journeyer
davej certified erikm as Journeyer
davej certified hch as Master
davej certified AntonA as Master
davej certified mulix as Journeyer
davej certified riggwelter as Journeyer
davej certified MikeGTN as Apprentice
davej certified prla as Apprentice
davej certified sdodji as Journeyer
davej certified pzb as Journeyer
davej certified zwane as Journeyer
davej certified hubicka as Master
davej certified mharris as Journeyer
davej certified val as Journeyer
davej certified dtucker as Journeyer
davej certified pasky as Journeyer
davej certified amits as Apprentice
davej certified ralf as Master

Others have certified davej as follows:

riel certified davej as Master
acme certified davej as Master
jrennie certified davej as Journeyer
morcego certified davej as Master
marcelo certified davej as Journeyer
kelly certified davej as Journeyer
roguemtl certified davej as Journeyer
Denny certified davej as Journeyer
steved certified davej as Journeyer
quintela certified davej as Journeyer
axboe certified davej as Journeyer
movement certified davej as Master
pjdowner certified davej as Master
claudio certified davej as Journeyer
zero certified davej as Journeyer
chaos certified davej as Journeyer
fenrus certified davej as Journeyer
gilbertt certified davej as Journeyer
wcooley certified davej as Journeyer
uzi certified davej as Master
mathieu certified davej as Journeyer
Iain certified davej as Journeyer
LenZ certified davej as Journeyer
kroah certified davej as Journeyer
nny certified davej as Journeyer
nixnut certified davej as Journeyer
andrewmuck certified davej as Journeyer
rw2 certified davej as Master
phlip certified davej as Master
jbowman certified davej as Journeyer
darkworm certified davej as Journeyer
uweo certified davej as Journeyer
LaForge certified davej as Journeyer
arafel certified davej as Journeyer
mstevens certified davej as Apprentice
ths certified davej as Journeyer
rsousa certified davej as Journeyer
sh certified davej as Master
rbrady certified davej as Journeyer
kahlage certified davej as Master
jLoki certified davej as Master
jao certified davej as Master
JALH certified davej as Journeyer
monk certified davej as Journeyer
angelsun certified davej as Journeyer
dmerrill certified davej as Master
khazad certified davej as Master
adulau certified davej as Master
pjones certified davej as Master
Ansimorph certified davej as Journeyer
mike750 certified davej as Journeyer
async certified davej as Master
sethcohn certified davej as Master
johnnyb certified davej as Journeyer
jf certified davej as Master
zeevon certified davej as Master
kmcmartin certified davej as Journeyer
fxn certified davej as Master
jono certified davej as Master
grant certified davej as Journeyer
neurogato certified davej as Master
maragato certified davej as Master
mjs certified davej as Journeyer
varjag certified davej as Journeyer
erikm certified davej as Journeyer
hch certified davej as Master
MikeCamel certified davej as Master
rmk certified davej as Master
AntonA certified davej as Master
mulix certified davej as Master
riggwelter certified davej as Master
MikeGTN certified davej as Master
redowl certified davej as Master
prla certified davej as Master
sdodji certified davej as Master
pzb certified davej as Master
zwane certified davej as Master
hubicka certified davej as Master
mharris certified davej as Master
Marcus certified davej as Master
skh certified davej as Master
rml certified davej as Master
phe certified davej as Master
zx64 certified davej as Master
graydon certified davej as Master
dtucker certified davej as Master
pasky certified davej as Master
amits certified davej as Master
ralf certified davej as Master
linn certified davej as Master
shd certified davej as Master
proski certified davej as Master
dwmw2 certified davej as Master
jayakumar certified davej as Master
Astinus certified davej as Master
jwhiter certified davej as Master
jcm certified davej as Master
mjg59 certified davej as Master
Pizza certified davej as Master
lkundrak certified davej as Journeyer

[ Certification disabled because you're not logged in. ]