My Linux Adventure, part 1

So this is how I started. After I checked www.slackware.com and saw that Patrick Volkerding seems to be alive and doing well, which I concluded from the fact that Slackware 12.0 had been released just a few weeks ago (congratulations, Patrick!), I decided to give Slackware a chance.

So I downloaded the DVD ISO and toasted it on a DVD. It's a great thing to have a bootable DVD, that contains all the basic software you need, to get a Linux box running. And I like Slackware because it keeps to good old standards, so it is easy for me to find startup scripts - which are always in /etc/rc.d, to find out what's in a package - because it's a tarball, and I know the basics of the tar-command, and, as I found out, even the installation scripts are easy to read - you find them in .... (to be filled in :).
The latter I found out, because the first install failed! I had decided to install all packages, including the only pakcage that was not checked by default: the internationalization package - because I feel pretty international - and it prompted for the root password too soon, and after some error message. I was worried at first, and went on reading the installation script, but didn't want to dwell on it, so I tried again, without this package, and then it worked perfectly!
I had totally forgotten about this package, which I still want to install someday, and see if it works. Even more, I wish to find out what went wrong and maybe improve it.

After having successfully installed the all but one package, I rebooted and had my Linux system running.
Talking about booting, let me describe the ways of booting into Linux.

At first, I can boot from DVD, which will load one of the standard kernels, in my case hugesmp.s, and, if I give the parameters hugesmp.s root=/dev/sdb2 rdinit= ro , it will mount the Linux disk as the root filesystem, so after booting, I can use all of the system on hard disk, and with the kernel in RAM, it works fine.
This way of booting can be useful, if I happen to mess up the kernel on disk.

Secondly, after I had installed LILO on my secondary hard disk, I was able to boot the kernel on disk, by switching the boot order in BIOS.
And now finally, after I told the Vista bootloader to come up with a boot menu at startup, I am able to switch to Vista or Linux, at startup time.
Instructions for configuring the Vista bootloader can be found here.

My struggle with Linux

I love Linux!
When I got Linux running, a few weeks ago, on my brand new computer, I felt the love with which it has been made.
Everything ran so smoothly, everything is so configurable. Linux has a great potential, and I hope that more and more people will discover its beauty.
However, there are still things to be done.
Although more and more hardware is functioning very well under Linux, there are still devices that don't, or don't work automatically.
The good thing is, there is always a way to fix it, but the effort it will take, can be so huge, that no one will do it.
I am motivated more than ever, to make this system work, at least as good as Vista, or preferably better, so that someday I will say "Hasta la vista" to Windows Vista, and continue working on Linux.
I should not forget to mention that when I talk about Linux, I mean: Linux-based system. There is a lot more software than Linux alone, that is needed to make the system work as contemporary computer users expect.
So that includes the GNU family, X, some window manager like KDE or Gnome, etc. etc.
Apart from my efforts to make my system work, I want to report about the problems I encountered and how I solved them. I think this will be helpful for myself, and maybe even for others.

Ed's project open sourced!

The diagram designer project has been opened at http://code.google.com/p/diagramdesigner.

5 mei 2007, Bevrijdingsdag

We vieren Bevrijdingsdag, de dag dat we bevrijd zijn, maar hoe vrij zijn we? Staan we niet bij onze 'bevrijders' in het krijt? Hoeveel schuld hebben we nog af te losssen?

Afgezien van schuld in hard geld, speelt er ongetwijfeld een morele schuld mee. Is het niet om die reden dat we in de tachtiger jaren Amerikaanse bases in ons eigen land toestonden, om ons te beschermen...
Voelen we ons niet moreel verplicht 'vrede te stichten' in een ver, vreemd en gevaarlijk land?

Nog afgezien van onze vrijheid in relatie tot anderen, speelt er nog een ander vrijheidsbelemmerend effect: de vrijheid van geest. Hoe vrij is onze geest? Zijn we vrij van verslavingen, dwangmatig gedrag en andere lastig te bedwingen driften?

Laten we als eerste onze geest bevrijden, dan volgt de rest vanzelf.