Hot About Linux

Preparing the Linux Kernel Source

Bill Anderson — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:41:37 +0000

With the source installed and the tools installed, we are ready to start the process of building a custom Linux kernel. This article covers those tasks that need to be performed prior to configuration. The steps are not difficult, but there are variations between distros of Linux. To simplify the instructions, I created /usr/src/linux as [...]

Tools for Building the Linux Kernel

Bill Anderson — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 14:08:18 +0000

The tools and there version play a critical role in the building of a kernel. Most tools are required, but a few (such as the graphical packages required for gconfig or xconfig) are optional. Besides having the right tools installed on the system, the tool versions must match those required to build the installed kernel source. The purpose of this article is to minimize the chance of a kernel build failure due to a missing or improper version of a necessary tool.

Installing Linux Kernel Source

Bill Anderson — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:10:56 +0000

One would think that there is one method for installing the Linux kernel source that applies to all distros. This is not the case. Every distro is different in some way. Rather than restate the instructions provide with each distro, I am going to provide the links with comments.

Why Compile a New Kernel?

Bill Anderson — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:07:39 +0000

I lost count of the number of times someone told me I was nuts for wanting to compile a new kernel Why not get a new different distro of Linux that works on a specific machine? What is wrong with the kernel that comes with the distro? In many cases, the default kernel works just fine. Conversely, there are reasons for compiling a new kernel.

Linux Kernel Fundamentals Course

Bill Anderson — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:15:06 +0000

The courseware for my Linux Kernel Fundamentals course is now available from ITcourseware at http://bit.ly/bf82sN.

Tuning the Linux Kernel’s Completely Fair Scheduler

Bill Anderson — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:04:26 +0000

After hours of searching the Web, I have found nothing that really sheds a whole lot of light on the subject of tuning CFS. Most of the pages on the Web refer to CFS as it was in version 2.6.23 of the Linux kernel. Most web pages do not provide accurate information. I really wonder [...]

Hardware Management and Linux

Bill Anderson — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:03:01 +0000

The Linux Kernel manages all hardware through device drivers. Furthermore, the kernel operates in its own protected memory space, which is not accessible from user memory space. Hardware device communicate to the Kernel via interrupts and exceptions. User applications communicate to the Kernel via system calls, which actually trigger a CPU exception that interrupts the [...]

em What?

Bill Anderson — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 15:18:11 +0000

Do you know how many pixels there are to an em? How about an en? What is wrong with pixels? And the big question is, who should dictate the font and font size, the web page designer or the browser user? While there are different opinions regarding these questions, I am going argue for ems [...]

Web Accessibility – A Starting Point

Bill Anderson — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 20:03:38 +0000

This is by no means a new topic, it is just an often ignored topic. It is so easy to fall in the trap of assuming that everybody sees the world exactly as we see it. We tend to forget about the blind and visually impaired, when we design our Web. In so doing, we [...]

Command Order of Precedence

Bill Anderson — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:11:46 +0000

The common misconception is that the shell always searches the PATH variable to find a command. The truth is that the shell may never get to the PATH variable before it has a name match. Before confusing the issue, let’s look at a simple example. If there is an alias that reads which=’whence -a’, and [...]