Day: May 19, 2004

oh boy oh boy oh boy.

I just read on mandrake.cooker.cvs that kexec kernel module/patch is included in kernel-2.6.6.3.mdk!!! I’ve wanted to play with kexec for months, since I heard about it.

What is kexec you may ask!?! It is totally awesome!!! Especially on shite slow to boot servers like 1/2 the dells with HW RAID controllers in the machine room at work.

kexec turns the machine over to another program. That is, the running linux kernel, turns ENTIRE control of the machine over to another program, such a a boot loader like lilo or grub. This means you can reboot without having to reboot. That is, reboot the OS, without rebooting the system. On machines where POST takes a long time, or Dell PowerEdge 2650’s with PERC and RMC, the PERC and RMC take nearly 60 seconds a peice, and standing in front of a server in a rack in a cold server room is not my idea of fun. I like the comfort of my tiny 6′ by 6′ cube.

So I’ll have to wait a day or two for the rpm to spread to mirrors, but I’m looking forward to using this feature.

This is interesting:
http://www.aiada.org/article.asp?id=12220

I talked with my pops about this the other day. He said he recalls $0.18 per gallon, yes, eighteen cents. And he said at that time, jobs were so abundant, just about anyone could get a job that pays $5/hr. This was the sixties mind you! Lets say it was 1967. Adjusted for inflation, that is well over $40/hr. Now I have some pretty well paid friends, but I don’t know anyone getting paid that, certainly not 16 year old high school drop outs!

Where is this nation going? How long did it take Rome to fall?