[Tue Oct 29 07:27:37 CDT 2019]

The following conversation (or a variation of it) occurs on IRC about once every two weeks at work (names have been changed to preserve privacy):

<coworker> jortega, can you get to servername?
<jortega> yes
<coworker> thanks. 
<coworker> time to reboot windows
* coworker has quit (Quit: Leaving)
<jortega> hehe
* coworker (~Coworker@irc.corp.com) has joined #room
<coworker> wow, minutes to reboot to the point where i can connect.
<coworker> 13 minu
<coworker> and it's still coming up

We all know Windows always had a great network stack. No matter how hard I try, I still cannot understand how this operating system can truly be considered "enterprise ready" and the "standard" for the industry. Yes, sure, I understand there are business reasons. But, please, spare me the usual statements about how in a free-market economy "the best product always wins". It's not the best product. It's the one that makes the most "business sense", which is why our shelves are loaded with cheap junk. Our current system doesn't promote good quality or excelence. Rather, it promotes the lowest common denominator. Or, to put it a different way, mediocrity. We can see it in all spheres of life. {link to this entry}

[Fri Oct 25 13:43:53 CDT 2019]

A quick tip on how to pin packages on Debian to selectively install updates. In my case, I just needed to pin the Linux kernel and NVIDIA packages. Just add a file under the directory /etc/preferences.d with the following contents:

Package: /(linux|nvidia)/
Pin: release *
Pin-Priority: -5

{link to this entry}

[Thu Oct 10 15:21:52 CDT 2019]

Here is an interesting tool that my son shared with me recently. The DistroTest website allows you to test pretty much any Linux distribution out there, as well as some BSD flavors. On another note, here is an interesting blog entry from someone who tried to crack Ken Thompson's old UNIX password from several decades ago. {link to this entry}

[Wed Oct 2 13:54:19 CDT 2019]

Yesterday, while reading a PDF document using the Zathura document viewer, I wanted to add a couple of bookmarks. It wasn't difficult to find out how to do it, since it's documented in the man page. Simply go into command mode by entering the colon (":"), and then the command "bmark". You can then add a name to it. The problem, though, came later, when I wanted to view the bookmarks I had added. Once again, following the man page, I went into command mode, and entered the command "blist". But, to my surprise, it didn't show anything. As I learned from StackExchange, I just had to hit the Tab key after entering the "blist" command. {link to this entry}