Ubuntu & Linspire

[Daniel Pittman]

Derek Broughton <news at pointerstop.ca> writes:
> Daniel Pittman wrote:
>> Joe Hart <j.hart at orange.nl> writes:
>
>>> They explain (sort of) how to do it right after they say it will
>>> void any contract you have for support.  All "hardcore" users know
>>> that compiling your own kernel is the best way to tune your system
>>> to your own hardware.
>> 
>> All "hardcore" users are damned fools, apparently.  This is, not
>> least, because there is no statistically significant measurable
>> difference between a generic kernel and one that you "tune ... to
>> your own hardware."
>
> I have my doubts about "statistically significant" and "measurable" (a
> little redundant, anyway - you couldn't have a statistically
> significant _unmeasurable_ value:-) ), but I have to agree that it's
> pretty pointless. 

Rhetoric needs no recourse to proper grammar!

Anyway, if you have are (probably rightly) not convinced by my assertion
about the effect of custom kernels I suggest that you (or the silent
audience) consult the archives of the Ubuntu developers list.

This specific issue was discussed, extensively, prior to the Edgy
release.  There /were/ measurements taken, the result of which was that
a technical decision was made to use the '-generic' kernel rather than
supply multiple hardware-specific kernels.

> I used to have to compile my own kernel for a driver that wasn't in
> Debian. I haven't needed to do that since before Warty was a piglet,
> and I've never compiled a kernel for Ubuntu.

These days you can typically compile a driver without needing the kernel
source installed; Ubuntu and Debian have worked hard to ensure that
"just works."

[...]

>>> Wacom devices in xorg.conf?
>> 
>> I guess "hardcore" users don't own Wacom tablets, but they do own USB
>> mice, right?
>
> Pretty much.  That would also match most of the "softcore" users. The
> wacom devices in xorg.conf isn't nearly as annoying for softcore
> users, though, because they never run KDE apps from the command line.

*nod* Personally, I just edited the X.org configuration to remove the
input device configuration when that bothered me. ;)

> If the errors were just suppressed you wouldn't see this complaint.

This, however, I couldn't disagree with more strongly.  Suppressing
errors is *never* the right response, no matter what.  

Either fix them or leave them there for all to see.  Hiding errors
doesn't solve anything, but does lead inevitably to Windows ^W an
inflexible and unstable system that is almost impossible to improve
without breaking /something/ critical.

Regards,
        Daniel
-- 
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