Woody. Linux 2.4.0-test5. XFree86 4.0.1.

Yes, I have spent quite some time in front of this screen today. But these efforts are not without benefit. :)

Although, given the appearance of my screen right now, that might not be terribly obvious just yet. Here's the things currently running that I didn't bother to mention up at the top: twm is the currently running window manager (not my root app though). Three xterms with hideous bright white backgrounds, on top of the default b/w grid in the root window. Ewww.

But gimme a break, I just got the damn thing installed, and fought with the configuration file enough to get it to give me a decent 1024x768 16bpp screen, and use my mouse and keyboard correctly. (Although I had to resort to an xmodmap hack to get it into Dvorak for now.) Ok, actually it wasn't that hard. But I'm still proud. :)

We'll see what happens to my humility when I start into trying to get the 3d DRI stuff going.

It all started this morning, when Bitscape was contemplating doing a little tweaking to his window manager's config file under Mandrake to make his life a little easier. But then, a bout of sanity struck.

"Why should I sit here screwing around with tweaking the window manager's config file (then sawfish)? This the distro ain't bad, but it isn't the one I want to be running permanently. My current partitioning scheme is alright, but I know I can really come up with a better one. So why not quit dicking around, cut the foreplay, and get Argo on the Right Track sooner, rather than later?"

And so I did. I backed up what little data I had saved on Argo, downloaded the Debian boot floppy images and drivers, made myself some disks, rebooted using the floppies, WIPED my entire hard drive's partition table again, and got going with a network install. Boy, did that feel good!

Got Potato running quite nicely. Downloaded a few random packages to get myself going. Configured X (v3.3.6), used dselect+apt to fetch myself a deb of M17. Had a bit of hassle with X and gpm seeming to fight over my mouse device. Never had that problem back when I was using serial mice. I'll have to investigate a bit more. I solved it in the short term by just killing off gpm. (And yes, I was observant enough to notice that gpm was feeding data to a /dev/gpmdata, which the X server could read. But it only seemed to work in that yucky, 2-button Microsoft protocol. Gag me.)

Ahem, fetched M17. I did not download any Netscape 4.X binaries. I'm hoping, just hoping, that I'll never need to again. I would net shed any tears if I never saw that monstrosity of a browser again in my life. We'll see. :)

(Well, I know I will be having to use 4.7 at work, but that's different.)

So, once things were basically working under Potato, it was time to proceed with the next logical step: Put Woody into my apt.sources, and let the DSL go crazy.

Once my barebones system appeared to be handling the latest Woody stuff ok, it was time to grab 2.4. Got the deb of the source, untarred it, and did my make config. I must've spent about an hour and a half going through the config program. (Yes, I'm one of these people who likes to run it in pure non-ncurses text mode, eximine, read the help, ponder each and every kernel option, and make every selection as if my life depended on it.)

So finally, when that most hallowed process reached its conclusion, I ran the good old make dep, make clean, and make bzImage. I timed it, and let's just say things completed much faster than I was used to. :)

Made and installed my modules, put the new kernel (which I affectionally called "mane") into /boot, edited the lilo.conf, ran shutdown -r now, and crossed my fingers. The kernel began booting, and...

Had a kernel panic. Dumped registers, and got a warm freeze.

I tried taking out the driver for my Ethernet card, since its text had been printed just before the freeze. Recompiled, edited lilo.conf, yadda yadda yadda. Still frozen. Took out the serial drivers. Same result.

At that point, I just started taking out a few random drivers or options, compile, install, reboot. Rinse and repeat. A bunch of times.

At times like this, I am very glad I have (a) a fast processor to crank out new kernel images every few minutes, and (b) X Files episodes on DVD to pass the time. :)

Eventually, through this method of trial and error, I narrowed it down to the XFree86 4 DRI interface mga driver. When I removed that, it booted fine.

So then I had to go back, and restore all my other precious options to normal (hoping I didn't forget any), and compiled mga as a module. Interestingly enough, when I booted and ran insmod on it, the module loaded without a hiccup. I have yet to find out if it is stable enough to be capable of doing anything useful.

By this time, it was 2000. I had Woody. I had 2.4. Things were running nicely. (If a little rough around the edges.) I could quit while I was ahead. But no.

Off to xfree86.org to read release notes, pour over installation instructions, and give the DSL another workout.

Despite the large quantities of fear and trepidation I have heard from those who installed, or contemplated installing, XFree86 4, I actually didn't find it all that painful. Made copies of my /usr/X11R6 and /etc/X11 directories, followed the instructions, and had a working X session running without too much grief.

Of course, I haven't yet even attempted to touch the really good stuff (DRI, DRI, DRI is on the brain). And I do still have a lot of configuring to do. But now I have the satisfaction of knowing that Argo is beyond the stage of experimental temporary distro installations. (Although I did leave a couple gigs of unpartitioned space, just in case I get the urge to non-destructively try something else out later.) Soon, the migration of data and services from Dagobah will begin, I can start to put this machine to use in earnest, and its personality can begin to truly bloom.

Yes, when Bitscape buys himself a computer, it is not to be considered an appliance. It is not a mere tool. It is not a way of getting from Point A to Point B. Not some means to an end. This is a project. An end in and of itself. An entity which needs no reason or justification for its existence. The machine is alive!

<mad scientist laugh>
Mwa hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah!
</mad scientist laugh>

lol. I'm going to bed.