BJ Dierkes wrote a detailed description about the use of Debian as a base for several kernel-based virtual servers. This requires to build a custom kernel with a special vserver patch applied. When the virtual server is created a new distribution has to be bootstrapped inside.

I already told you about my old computer's failing CD writer. So I was looking for a new computer, and lo and behold, right at this time, Aldi came again with a very interesting offer : the Medion MD8800, a PentiumD based dual-core 64bit system, with wireless lan aboard, a tv card, SATA disks and much more. It took a while before I wiped out the Windows XP installation, cause I needed all the info about the included hardware.

I chose for a Debian unstable based install, simply because it's the only distribution I know to have good x86-64 support (except maybe Gentoo). The installation wasn't very easy, cause the Debian installer contained a 2.6.8 kernel, which had great trouble detecting my SATA disks. Using the updated netinstall iso from Lennart Sorensen fixed this problem.

I completed the install without any problem (a fully based 64 bit system !), but now the real work starts : building a customized kernel, restoring my personal files & preferences, and populating the system with the everyday used programs. The machine is called Gundabad, after the Orc capital in the north of the Misty Mountains (yep, I keep using Tolkien as a source to name my home computers).

The box is fast; so fast it makes my ADSL connection to crawl like a snail. Oh yes, when I'm done setting up the machine, I'll put up a page with all the information on it in order to install Linux on it.

Gisteren hadden we de eerste meeting met de ceremoniemeester achter de rug; daarbij is het verloop van de huwelijksdag in groot detail besproken, en heel wat van de onduidelijkheden zijn dan ook weggewerkt. Maar goed ook, want hoe en wat en waar iedereen dient af te spreken is niet zo meteen voor de hand liggend. Volgens de man kunnen we met hem ons verstand op nul houden en van de dag genieten. Een gevaarlijke uitspraak, ons kennende ;)

More than 100 Simpsons' sound and songs archive - for the true fan only. While you're at it, check out the Simpsons millionaire quiz.

Since Sun made the source code of Solaris available as OpenSolaris, it has come a long way. Some months ago, some OpenSolaris developpers talked to some of the Ubuntu people, and the consensus was that a Debian based system running on top of the OpenSolaris kernel would be one hell of a system, which is something I wholeheartly confirm.


So, in the next monts, Nexenta was born : a system which tried to glue Debian and OpenSolaris together. However, the Nexenta developers got off to a bit of a bad start by announcing its existence while putting its entire web site behind a password gate. Browsing the source code wasn't the easiest thing also, and there remains the fact of the two different licenses : the Debian code is licensed under the well-known GPL, whereas the OpenSolaris code (kernel and userland binaries linked to the Solaris libc libraries) was licensed under the CDDL. How these two licensed are to be united still remains a problem.


The licensing issues are real, and need to be worked out. But many of the people involved in the debate appear to have lost track of the fact that the Nexenta project, while perhaps being occasionally arrogant and ignorant of how Debian does things, is trying to make a contribution to the free software world. It is a free software project. Anthony Towns has been almost the lone voice in calling for a higher degree of cooperation with Nexenta.

This week started in different European countries a specific experiment, where the number of people who're having the flue are measured. This way, the creators of the big fluenza measurement hope to chart the progress of the flue in these European countries.


I'm having questions though with the scientific validity of such a test : picturing the spreading of the flue in this way can only be valid if there's not much mobility between different parts of the regions, and in Belgium with its large number of commuting people, it is clearly not the case.

The national TV is broadcasting a series of shows in order to elect de grootste Belg (the most honorable Belgian). The ranking is interesting to follow, though right from the start it was clear that the race was going to be between Pater Damiaan (father Damien) and Eddy Merckx.
The same contest was held some years ago in Holland, and then the winner was Pim Fortuyn, quite surprisingly I must say. Having the questionable reputation of being one of the few murdered Dutch politicians apparently helps quite a bit. Only shame that people like Huygens didn't made it then.

Bon, dit weekje vrij genomen om de schouders eens onder de vorderingen rond de trouw te zetten. We waren al serieus achter op schema, maar nu is er veel veranderd.


Binnen 2 weken krijgen we een eerste proefdruk van de drukker. Als dat goed is, hebben we de week erna alle uitnodigingen, en kunnen we die beginnen opsturen.


De fotograaf is ondertussen ook beslist : An Symons is duidelijk iemand met ervaring, en zal voor ons de huwelijkskiekjes nemen.


Ook de ceremoniemeester ligt vast; voor wagens zelf zijn we ook al bij een anders eens een kijkje gaan nemen, maar dat was een sisser : het heeft duidelijk heel wat meer nodig om enkele verroeste wagens 'old-timers' te noemen.

I spent the last week in Barcelona, visiting the IBM AIX5L seminar, located in the beautifull World Trade Center in the old Barcelona port. I'm under a NDA, so I can't much blog about the AIX technical issues discussed there, so I'll stick to talking about Barcelona itself. The city hasn't changed much since I visited it two years ago, though I was surprised to find out that I liked it much more now. The nightlife is quite vibrant (not difficult if you see that most restaurants only open at 9 pm), and the unrest it radiates really caught on me. Unluckily, the convention center opened every day at 9 am, which made a deep plunge into the Barcelona nightlife nearly impossible (can't say we didn't try... ;)

I got my first traffic fine ever : it's a stupid parking ticket; when we were shopping in Aarschot, I found a parking fine on my car. We were only out for an hour, so I guess some nazi-asshole-pen-licking-dickhead cop was lurking the parking lot, looking for victims. I was allways under the impression that there is no parking fee due in the weekends, but the spaghetti of the ever changing Belgian traffic law must have been altered again.

I'm not going to pay this, no fscking way.