sudo in CentOS

I finally got sick and tired of having to, in CentOS, type in su, followed by the root password, just to run Deadwood (which needs to run as root since it needs to bind to port 53), followed by exiting the root prompt. So, I finally did a simple RTFM with the “sudo” man page and edited /etc/sudoers so that my user account can use sudo to run the program. Just like how things are done in Ubuntu.

Come to think of it, I could have used dns_port to have Deadwood bind to a unprivileged port and then just connect to that port. But, then again, I would have to add selectable port numbers to askmara (my command-line utility in MaraDNS for making DNS queries from the command line). Nah.

Now, if only there was a sudo get_me_a_job and sudo get_my_wife_a_US_visa (well, there is the second one, but it supposedly takes about a year; I need a sudo nice -20 get_my_wife_a_US_visa so they will do it faster).

Linux sucks: CentOS 5 doesn't support my laptop

OK, I've tried Ubuntu. It was nothing but crash after crash after crash. I finally threw out Ubuntu, repartitioned my hard disk, and used only Windows XP, with CentOS 5 in a virtual machine.

Last night, I tried to install CentOS 5 on my laptop. I wasted most of a day worth of work on this project.

It didn't work.

The base install was pretty quick and took maybe 40 minutes.

First of all, the wireless card didn't work. I followed the directions on the CentOS wiki and it still didn't work. I was able to see wireless networks, but was unable to connect to my home network. I wasted about an hour of my life trying to get this to work.

This morning, I tried getting the touchpad driver working so the touchpad doesn't click the mouse button every time I tap the touchpad. After installing the synaptics driver, I had to figure out how to configure xorg.conf to use the driver. Well over an hour of my life wasted doing that.

Once I did all that, it still didn't work. It would seem my touchpad isn't supported with the touchpad driver in CentOS 5. I tried newer drivers; either the newer driver wouldn't compile or the driver wouldn't work.

So far, I had wasted four hours of my life. In Windows, the same amount of work would have given me a working computer at this point. Actually, in Windows, it would have taken about an hour to install the base system, under an hour to get all the drivers up and going, and I could have played video games or spent time with my girlfriend the other two hours.

I did buy Linux hardware. I specifically got a Linux-compatible Dell. And, yes, the hardware does work in Ubuntu, but, unfortunately, the system is too unstable for me to use.

I pointed out the issue here:

Linux's problem is this: Drivers for CentOS 3 do NOT work in CentOS 5. Why is that? Why do the Linux developers need to constantly change the driver model while Microsoft is able to keep the driver model stable? Constantly changing driver models is fine in the server back room, but is not OK for an OS that wants to be on the desktop.

This is why Windows XP, not Linux, is on my desktop right now; Ubuntu is far too unstable for me and I shouldn't be forced to use an unstable OS just to have drivers. I mean, there are drivers for all my hardware in Windows XP. And there are drivers for all of my hardware in Ubuntu 7. So why aren't there drivers for all of my hardware in CentOS 3?

(I may move back to Linux on the desktop if all my hardware works with CentOS 5.3; we'll see)

Here is how one freetard replied to me:

your [sic] being technically handicapped and/or grossly uninformed about Linux kernel development. However, if you keep sticking your foot into your mouth, you will at least add some mild entertainment to the thread while we wait.

I replied to this idiot:

YoureAnIdiotForNotLikingLinux(TM)

A lot of people here have been using Linux for a long time, or used to be freetards (I myself am a recovering freetard). We probably know Linux a good deal better than you do. Note also that Ken Thompson doesn't like Linux, and Dennis Ritchie uses Microsoft Outlook to read email these days.

Anyway, could you care to explain where I am wrong and how I'm wrong. Please back up your assertions with facts.

He never replied to me.

Linux sucks on the desktop. I'm back to using Windows XP. Even at $5 an hour, the $100 that Windows XP home edition costs [1] is 20 hours of labor; it would take me about that long to get everything working in CentOS 5.3.

OK, since I wasted my time with Linux (again), I didn't get a chance to work on Deadwood. I will continue working on it tomorrow.

- Sam

[1] As an aside, cdsfu.com sells pirated software and Google needs to stop letting them advertise.

CentOS 5.3 (mostly) released

CentOS 5.3 has been mostly released; mirrors are synced, the .iso images can be downloaded, and I'm currently over 50% done downloading both the 32-bit and 64-bit CentOS DVD image torrents:

32-bit DVD image torrent

64-bit DVD image torrent

(Note that are issues getting these torrent files, but the file is well-seeded, with about 500 seeds and peers for both torrents right now)

I should have both files downloaded this afternoon.

yum update doesn't update to CentOS 5.3 yet, but should by tomorrow this time.

Deadwood snapshot update; Windows XP is better than Ubuntu

I have uploaded a new snapshot of Deadwood today with tests added for upstream_servers and upstream_port.

I have just moved and haven't been able to get online at the new place yet. The place is supposed to have internet, so I will work with my new roommate and will look at the router this afternoon to see if the issue can be resolved (it could be that the key changed when they changed the ESSID but no one remembers doing this, much less the new key, or it could be that things are broken upstream).

If I can't resolve the issue with internet at home, I will not be able to release Deadwood again until Monday. Update: I now have internet working at my new place; expect to see a Deadwood update tomorrow.

This release can be downloaded at the usual place

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While waiting for CentOS 5.3 to be released, I moved things around on my hard disk and reinstalled Windows XP.

It's a relief compared to Ubuntu. Everything works. Without problem. Things that took me days to resolve work out of the box in Windows XP: Getting a password protected screen saver (In Windows XP, it's actually done with "Change session" from the start menu) that doesn't crash the system and getting VMware to work.

When I put in my 50 meg "hockey rink" business card CD, it mounts within seconds. In Ubuntu, it would not mount at all or take over a minute to mount; this is a problem I was never able to resolve. Indeed, I spent a day pulling out my hair and wasting money burning expendable media until I realized this was an Linux-specific problem and not a problem with the media in question.

Sound in VMware isn't a problem; I can have multiple guest operating systems with sound active at the same time. In Ubuntu, only one application can use the sound card at the same time.

The keyboard just works in Windows XP; I needed to tweak configuration files to get it to work in Ubuntu.

Windows XP is a good deal more light and responsive running VMware player than Ubuntu; suspending or restoring an OS would often take two or three minutes in Ubuntu but only takes a few seconds in Windows XP. Windows XP and the Windows VMware client are far more lightweight; I can comfortably run three guest operating systems at the same time with 512 megs allocated for each guest; Ubuntu could only run two and would thrash (swap excessively and have the computer be unresponsive) with suspending or restoring a guest OS.

Comprared to Ubuntu, things work like a dream in Windows XP.

Nothing has changed since this blogger posted this why Ubuntu sucks blog back in 2007. Ubuntu still sucks (for my purposes: Having a good VMware host operating system) and Windows XP is a far better operating system.

I've been using Linux since 1995 and refused to dual boot my machine until 2003. Linux used to be more stable but harder to use; Ubuntu is trying to make another Windows but I just don't think it makes sense to try and shoestring all of the open source projects out there to make an end-user desktop. For example, Linux was never designed to allow someone to just insert or remove a CD without mounting or unmounting it; trying to make Linux do this just causes it to be unable to read media Windows XP can read without problem.

I think the real solution to making a open-source desktop environment is to make an operating system designed to be on the users desktop from the start. There are at least two projects that try to do this: Haiku OS (an open-source implementation of the failed 1990s BeOS) and Syllable (an open-source OS based on ideas from Amiga OS and other sources)

I will let people know how things work with CentOS 5.3 once CentOS 5.3 is available.

Deadwood and MaraDNS snapshot updates

Now that I have done the work XeroBank requested of me, I am getting back to working on Deadwood. I am working on adding basic buffering to the TCP forwarder, so that Deadwood can handle both UDP packets (with DwMain) and the occasional TCP packet (with DwTcp). DwTcp is a general purpose TCP load balancer/forwarder that happens to use the same configuration file as DwMain, allowing it to forward (but not cache) DNS replies, or handle any other kind of TCP data.

It can be downloaded at this location

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I have gotten a generous donation to help with MaraDNS development from Chirado OHG, a German consulting firm specializing in the design, implementation, and maintenance of secure IT systems and processes that comply with ISO 27001. I appreciate their generosity, and have added them to the MaraDNS sponsors web page.

Right now, the only unsponsored MaraDNS development I will perform is applying the occasional patch someone gives me and fixing security bugs in MaraDNS. The only supported platform for MaraDNS and Deadwood development is CentOS 5; since this platform will continue to be supported for five more years, this will be the primary development platform for MaraDNS and Deadwood until early 2014. Assistance with using MaraDNS on other platforms will be provided only if one is willing to help sponsor MaraDNS development

William Summers provided me with an OpenBSD patch for MaraDNS last week, which I have finally downloaded in to my 32-bit CentOS 5 VMware virtual machine (in a moment of foolishness, I decided to use Ubuntu 8.10 as my host operating system but all my real work is done in Windows XP and CentOS virtual machines). I will look at this patch in the next day or so.

In the meantime, I have a new MaraDNS snapshot that removes all warnings when compiled with -Wall in Ubuntu 8.10 64-bit (Yes, CentOS 5 is the only supported platform, but I do try to keep my code portable since there's a lot of diversity in the free software jungle), and adds Chirado OHG to the list of MaraDNS sponsors. It can be downloaded at this link.