Older blog entries for fscked (starting at number 11)

Thursday

University
Can't say things are hotting up. Things are damn hot as it is. I'll release a big sigh when things start to go out of my way (read: tests get done and assignments get handed in). Anyway, I guess it could always be worse and I'll just try to both a) plan my schedule carefully and b) try and keep breathing. If all goes to plan I'll be home free for the time being by the end of January (30th to be more precise) even if the semester is over next wednesday.

Championship Manager
It finally got fixed. Turns out the problem with the master database was due to power outages at the office. Hmm.. Anyway, there's a boatload of translation to be done and it seems the deadline is Jan 20th. Hmm...

Linux kernel
Unfortunately I can't focus on the kernel development as much as I'd like to, though I still read linux-kernel regularly. The good news is that the so called Nvidia thread is finally getting more and more quiet. I still can't properly use the radeonfb under 2.5 kernels and James Simmons, the fbdev guy, hasn't replied to my email to the list. There's still a long way to go until 2.6 and I don't have many issues with 2.5 to get rid off, so things are looking good.

Real life type stuff
Oh yes, my DVDs from amazon.co.uk have arrived. In case you don't know, amazon are selling several DVDs 50% off, so I just took the chance and bought both Apocalypse Now Redux and Heat. I've seen the original AN from 1979 and felt like having the Redux version on DVD would be perfect. As for Heat, I've seen it back when it was out but I honestly don't remember any of it. Considering I've been told it's a damn great movie and it was £7.99 on amazon...

Bad thing: my TODO keeps enlarging instead of shrinking. Not good. Not good at all. Must invert the flux of things.

Friday.

Hmm..

University
Finally the second Data Structures assignment is finished, report written, wrapped up and sent professorswards. Just so I don't have a minute to catch my breath the specification for the third (and last) project is already online. This one is due by the end of the month.

On the Computer Architecture's front, there's another project to turn in. It's supposed to be written in MIPS assembly which is a pain, not the kind of thing I'm looking forward to do right now. The project in itself is extremely simplistic, just so you know I got it working in around 10 minutes but... in C. Need to read some papers and spend some time on this to make it run as efficiently as possible which of course is one of the things to look for when writing in assembly.

So all in all, January brings two tests (data structures and computer architecture), two exams (algebra and probability, though the latter is unlikely that I'll actually go) and two assignments (one data strucutes and one architecture). On my signal, unleash hell...

Championship Manager
Work on the translation has grinded to a halt. After Sports Interactive upgraded the translation database (adding more tables and strings to translate) I haven't been able to update accordingly on my end and that sucks. There's still an awful lot of work to be done and I feel tied up being unable to do it. Emailed them but got no reply. That sucks too. I wonder if they email actually found its way to London... so I'm left with the only chance of downloading this 20MB file which is newer than the one I got on my system in the vague hope that it will magically solve my issues and let me work again. Hmmm, needless to say it's agonizingly slow to see the ftp transfer considering I'm on a 56k dialup (and to add insult to injury, the dialup provider is sucking hard these days). As Frank Costanza would say.. "serenety now!"

Linux kernel
Did I tell you how sick I am of the everyday Nvidia-sucks-dead-goats-cuz-they-dont-release-their-drivers-as-GPL threads? Well, I sure am. Once again, some weenie troll decided to post on linux-kernel regarding this and, obviously, it's total mayhem. I started reading it when it popped up but honestly I can't take it anymore.

BUT! But, never fear, because there's always good hidden deep down. Richard Stallman himself decided it was a lovely day to get bashed once again so he just posted the newest iteration if his lovely GNU/Linux rant. Sorry but I can only laugh. Some things never change.

Social life
Went to see The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers yesterday. I'm impressed. Being a fan of tLotR and having read the book I was a bit skeptical about the movies. The Fellowship of the Ring didn't impress me much (at least not as much as to the majority of people who totally freaked out with it) but this new installment is actually quite thrilling. I was especially impressed with Gollum. It's very well done. Now let's just wait yet another year ;)

Thursday

Long day again. An ininteligble Mathematical Analysis class and two rather nice Architecture classes to make up for it. We're mostly talking about performance these days. Saw Taxi Driver tonight with a couple of fellas. Weird movie and going to imdb.com helped me understand it better. And I'm knackered really. Not making much sense. So I'll just shut up.

Wednesday

So the Architecture class was canceled too. This is getting to be a habit, really. Turns out the professor messed up his laptop resolution while tinkering with XFree 4.2.1 and now it doesn't suit the datashow or something. Oh well, postponed for tomorrow anyway.

And this was a non-day. Didn't do much except for building up a small page in the university's CS department server with a little info about myself and a list of test/exam dates for the different subjects I'm into this semester. You can check it out here. Mind you that only the home page is written in english.

On a different note, let me rant a little bit about something that's bothering me. As some of you may know there's a Best Of Nirvana album scheduled for release somewhere next November. As even fewer of you know I'm a die hard Nirvana fanatic. Unfortunately, the music industry, which is so bothered about mp3 trading, peer-to-peer systems and so on and so forth, does nothing but stabbing the true fans in the back while spoon fedding the sadly ignorant kids out there. I mean, I've seen the track list for the upcoming album and I can only wonder why, oh why, it's just the Singles box plus the 'new' "You Know Your Right" song. Also, as a friend pointed out, its release date is somewhat intriguing. Or maybe not! Afterall, xmas is just around the corner so let's just release an album in November. Just in time for xmas frenzy.

I mean, honestly, this is everything that NIRVANA and Kurt Cobain always fought against. And it's just too sad that people behind this are now stabbing him in the back this many years after he left this earth. I mean, almost none of his favourite songs are listed, for Christ sake. Drain You, School, Negative Creep... the list goes on. Ah well, welcome to big corporate whatever!

Tuesday

Up at 9:30. Stayed in until mid afternoon. Tried to figure out how to properly print under Linux with no full success yet. Linux wasn't figuring out what's in the paralel port but that was my fault, I hadn't compiled the proper support into the kernel. That being done it does print but the formatting is all messed up. Gotta fiddle a bit more with it sometime soon.

On the other hand, spent quite some time fighting with linux modules, trying to compile them. I was unaware of the MODULE_LICENSE macro and so I kept getting tainted kernel warnings. Also, I wasn't using the correct headers so there was some version mismatch. Fixed. Then later a stupid return statement missing was driving me nuts. Ah, it sucks being a newbie. Or should I say an apprentice? Anyhow now I can play a bit more with modules having `Linux Device Drivers' nearby.

Classes got magically canceled in the afternoon. Well, one got canceled and the other isn't supposed to happen... yet. Looking forward for tomorrow and the two architecture classes, hooray for MIPS.

Monday

Loooong day. Things are a wee bit brighter though. Not too much anyway. Up at 8:00, off to university for my first Data Structures class this semester, analyzing algorithm complexity (constant, linear, logaritmic, quadratic, cubic and so on). Came home to have lunch and again off for a further two classes, Math Analysis and Algebra. It did go quite well but I'm a bit knackered as a side effect.

Back home at 18:00 and today was mostly a non-technical day. Nothing really important going on so I just stuck around organizing my cds which were in a bit of mess as of lately. No kernel hacking, no reading, no nothing *sigh*

And tomorrow is a new day.

Sunday

Didn't do a whole lot. Same problems as before. This is supposed to get easier to deal with but it isn't. Saying farewell to our loved ones is such a difficult and painful task especially when we know it's a one way trip. And the anxiety of waiting for the final moment disconcerts me.

Anyway, even if the mood is far from ideal, read a bit of `The Scar'. Otherwise didn't do a lot. Had to write up my CV so I can send it for some job openings I'm looking for.

The weekend is over so back to the apartment, arrived less than half an hour ago. Well, it's the beginning of another week but honestly I don't know what to expect. I'll have to be prepared for the moment when the phone rings. It's just the way things are, I guess.

Saturday

Very rough day. No need to mention what's troubling me. It wouldn't do any good. Wouldn't help either. For all it's worth, the only thing I'd like to point out is that Portugal's health system sucks. Enough said. So I'll just resort to my friend's hint: "the trick is to keep breathing".

That's exactly what I'll try to do.

Friday

Up at 9:30, this is getting to be a habit. Took a shower and went to uni despite no classes being scheduled this morning. Met with a course mate to exchange a couple of books. He's been teasing me to read China Mieville's sci-fi books and I honestly think I should. It seems the books are simply amazing, at least according to his and the general public's opinion considering they have won major awards as well as a few other nominations. The one I borrowed from him is "The Scar" (sorry dude, didn't use the associates url, wasn't too sure how to do it ;) which is no more no less than a huge hardcover tome of about 600 pages. I'm eager to start reading it but I'm afraid I must be in the correct mindframe. Something that doesn't usually happen at night especially when I'm tired. Like today. On the other hand, lent him Linus Torvalds and David Diamond's "Just For Fun". A book I *highly* recommend not just for Linux enthusiasts but for everyone interested in computers. Well, for everyone really. Linus is much more than a computer hacker.

Had my first Mathematical Analysis (or something along these lines) class this semester. Arguably one of the most difficult subjects of the course's first half. Today we were given a somewhat brief introduction to functions and set theory. Let's see how this goes from now on. Only class today considering there's no Data Structures practical classes yet. So got back at around 16:00, checked email and caught up on linux-kernel. Eventually packed my stuff and hit the road for the usual ~130 miles back home for the weekend. Got home a few minutes after 19:00 and not much else got done. Pissed off because a movie I wanted to tape started too early, before schedule *grumble*.

dyork: Sorry to hear about your friend's sister. It's that kind of cruelties that we can only wonder why, oh why. I know the deal considering I've had people in my family in the same situation before. It's not fair. May your friend still have hope till the last moment. Even though I don't know any of you, I'm always touched with these situations especially in a place like Advogato where, fortunately, almost everyone seems so close and transparent. So my thoughts are with them.

On another note, for all it's worth certified movement as Master not only because he certified me but also for all his work on the kernel and of course in oprofile.

And to end today's entry on a high note...

List:     linux-kernel
Subject:  Re: Sleep
From:     Andrew Morton <akpm@digeo.com>
Date:     2002-10-04 2:26:27

 On Wed, Oct 02, 2002 at 09:48:15PM -0400, linuxguruguy wrote:
 > Do kernel hackers ever sleep

 Only in illegal contexts.

I mean, honestly, this is top-class-linux-kernel-humour. Which reminds me that you may aswell check some other nice lkml quotes in my homepage here. It's funny. Laugh.

Thursday

Up at around 9:30 again. While having breakfast, a mistaken bite reminded me that wisdom teeth are around to give me a hard time. Fortunately it was nothing serious, not worth an emmergency visit to the dentist, anyway. I'll have to make an appointment sometime soon though, been a while since last time.

No classes in the morning so stayed in, checking email, news, websites, generally trying to stay on top of things. Gave yet another try to the test machine but eventually decided the disk is really terminally ill. Good news is that one of the in house mates has a small spare disk to lend so by monday, if all goes to plan, I can start testing kernels as planned. This is especially important considering the feature freeze is rapidly approaching, October 20 according to Linus himself, so the focus is then on bug chasing.

From what I could see, and mind you that my kernel knowledge is _nothing_ compared to the gurus that actually come up with new ideas and code them in, I think the kernel has seen some major improvements and got added some neat features. A few days ago there was quite a lot of discussion as to whether the next stable release should be called either 2.6 or 3.0. But I'm not even going there. In the end it's just a number. Of course there's always the marketing implications (3.0 is indeed much more appealing than 2.6) but it's useless to discuss. Linus seems to be more inclined to go for 3.0 and I don't argue. Nor should I :) In fact many things got at least partially done, like the rewrites of the block and IDE layers, lots of VM bits including most of -rmap, new O(1) scheduler and other important things from Ingo Molnar, preempt by Robert Love, you name it. Maybe the sum of the parts actually give way to a 3.0 release. We'll just see :)

On another note, decided to stop by the university's library to check if there are some books I'm willing to read. Came across Silberschatz's Operating Systems Concepts and it's indeed very nice reading. Planning to keep reading it. Together with Understanding the Linux Kernel (which could do with a reviewed and improved version) and Linux Device Drivers, 2nd Edition, I think it can be a good study base for me to learn more about this field of computer science. Afterwards, the first class of Computer Architecture after yesterday's introduction. Basically the professor gaves us the layout of the semester's subjects. Here's a short overview for anyone enough curious:

- Performance Analysis
- Architecture's Instruction Set (for MIPS)
- Building an Arithmetical Logical Unit
- Building a complete processor for MIPS arch.
- Performance improvement using pipelining
- Memory systems: caches and virtual memory
- I/0, network and other bits

I confess I'm especially attracted by the memory systems. Really looking forward to this.

Got home at around 18:00. Switched to non-productive mode. Oh wait, it was already turned on.