mark_kents Aeonity Blog

Why binary drivers are the wrong solution in Linux

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 13:43:20 -0500

There has been a long-running debate on GPLv3, one which has recently re-surfaced with the subject of binary-only drivers as the centre-point. It was clear to me from much of that discussion that there is very little understand of what the "freedom" part of free software is all about, and even less understanding of quite why it is ... Read More

Engineering, facts, politics and fiction

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 04:09:04 -0500

Here's a sentence guaranteed to switch off 99% of people on this planet: "The open-source development model is mostly about economics, using copyright laws to build legal defences around shared engineering work." Most people find economics fairly incomprehensible, and consider technology to be magical black arts performed by bearded and white... Read More

Linksys router and OpenWRT

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 04:19:02 -0500

Yesterday, I finally got around to loading the open router firmware onto a my linksys WRT54GL. I've imaginatively named it wrt54gl1.marknet, installed iproute2 on it, and recreated the policy-based routing on my current main server. Next steps are to install bind on it, transfer a copy of my domain information, and then set up the DHCP server... Read More

Usenet trolls

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 14:00:07 -0500

Some will surely know that I edit a daily News digest, culled from the postings of the linux advocacy group popularly known as cola. I've been an inhabitant of cola for many years, have contributed to the FAQ, have contributed to the weekly stats package, and have made thousands of posts of my own. I originally went to the cola group because ... Read More

Why telephony on the internet is never p p p p perfect...

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 11:12:23 -0500

Want the quick answer, you know, the one which troubles you every time you upgrade your broadband and you /really/ believe that the streams will be reliable this time? It's because adding bandwidth in connectionless systems does not eliminate congestion, since the two issues are orthogonal, and what's more, most people actually know this from pers... Read More

There is no magic!

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 05:37:28 -0500

The great SciFi author, Arthur C. Clarke, once wrote that any sufficiently advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic. This remark can be considered from many angles, but in respect of open-source versus proprietary machines, it has a somewhat surprising application to current technology, even amongst current technologists. When ... Read More