Everything else is topsy-turvy, but BSD Now is a constant: it’s out like usual this week. There’s a feature about text processing, a subject I inexplicably enjoy, and a lot of things that start with Z.
Spinlock tricks
This doesn’t really have any effect on you unless you are programming on DragonFly, but it’s interesting to read about a “spinlock trick” Matthew Dillon had implemented recently.
New steps for vendor import
Aaron LI’s updated the development(7) man page to account for new steps in vendor import.
Full history of DragonFly, documented
Aaron LI managed to graft FreeBSD code history onto the DragonFly BSD git repository, and he’s documented how he did it. So, you can follow DragonFly code all the way back to 2003, and then FreeBSD code all the way back to… I’m not sure how far back it goes, but it’s in his merged copy.
Lazy Reading for 2020/03/29
Accidental open source ideas or maybe history this week. That might be too easy a category to fit into.
- Panel Syndicate, online comics. (via Warren Ellis)
- Mastermind at 50. And its impact on early computers. (via)
- Opensource.builders. Alternate apps. (via)
- Awesome-Selfhosted: “A list of Free Software web applications which can be hosted locally”. (via)
- Text-Based VR: Explore the Pioneering World of MUSHes. (via)
- DOS computer in a keyboard. (via)
- Dos and Don’ts in Open Source. (via)
- Remap caps lock key to escape with uncap. When you don’t have xmodmap.
- The core memory inside a Saturn V rocket’s computer.
- Looking inside a vintage Soviet TTL logic integrated circuit.
- Inside a Titan missile guidance computer.
- The Abiopause. “ABIopause” may make that more clear.
- The Era of Fragmentation, Part 1: Load Factor.
- Should I use Vim full-time? (via)
- How to program a text adventure in C. (via)
- EAX x86 Register: Meaning and History. (via)
- Who’s ready for more Networking History? – all about APPLETALK. (via)
- XScreenSaver 5.44 Hacks the Planet. New hacks!
- A history of roguelike games. (via)
- There’s a tar mode in emacs?
- Any KVM over IP systems need to be on secure networks.
In Other BSDs for 2020/03/28
I have multiple BSD based systems to update, reboot, and hopefully not physically visit in the next week or so.
- pfSense 2.4.5-RELEASE Now Available.
- Booting [OpenBSD] from an FFS2 filesystem.
- [packages] Retiring Python 2 support in IPython.
- AnsiMail, based on ansible, not ANSI as older folks may immediately think. (via)
- Valuable News – 2020/03/23.
- Bob Beck Interview from EuroBSDCon 2018.
- XIGMANAS 12.1.0.4 Ingva Released. Did not know this existed. (via)
- More than 1/3 of commercial games for OpenBSD on sale on GOG.com. (via)
- Question about a game. (Ultimate Doom, on OpenBSD, though it may apply to any BSD)
- FreeBSD 12.1 on a new (to me) ThinkPad T550.
- OpenBSD’s ‘spinning’ CPU time category.
- OpenBSD -current – Frequent asked questions.
Flame graphs on DragonFly
Flame graphs are a way to see what code paths are most used in a stack trace. DragonFly now has a flame_graph utility.
BSD Now 343: FreeBSD, Corona: Fight!
BSD Now 343 is quite topical this week: viruses and VPNs. Release information, etc., too.
jails and loopback IPs
Jails on DragonFly can now route to loopback addresses (i.e. 127.0.0.1). Because of this, they can work like shared IPs and the jail can connect to the host.
I think this means that you no longer have to bind jail services to specific IPs as you did previously. Don’t quote me on that; I’ve run few jails in my life.
Update: I should have linked this too: the sysctl jail.defaults.allow_listen_override that makes it easier in the host system too.
Optimizing memory operations
On EFNet #dragonflybsd, Matthew Dillon and ‘mjg’ have been discussing various way to optimize for bulk builds. A recent update from mjg for different memory functions shaved 1.7% off bulk build time – significant, when you are talking tens of thousands of packages.
i915 drm update again
I didn’t read far enough ahead in my backlog, if that makes sense. i915 has another update, to 20160808.
Lazy Reading for 2020/03/22
Random this week, but that’s not so different than usual.
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- Bach’s prelude in C major written in sed. (via)
- Kill the Newsletter!, newsletter to RSS converter. (via)
- 100+ legal, free literature download sites.
- Katherine Cox-Buday Uses This. Someone who thinks hard about their setup.
- ARM-ed Mac: Not Again Or For Real This Time? Written by someone who would know.
- The Computer-free Automation of a Jukebox. (via)
- How to version control LibreOffice spreadsheets.
- Text Processing in the Shell. (via)
- reMarkable 2. Sorta feeds my small computer obsession.
- Two types of command-line interfaces. (via)
- Understanding X mouse cursors (and their several layers of history).
- 4 More Fonts to Help You Go Beyond Courier.
- Vim plugins that I use.
- The 68000 Wars, Part 6: The Unraveling.
- Sci-fi type based on spaceship form. (via)
- Zork II (1981).
- Goblin Filthomancer.
- Old computer ads.
- The Delco Magic line of aerospace computers.
- How to use Gmail more efficiently. (via)
- This is how science happens.
In Other BSDs for 2020/03/21
A bit short this week; I think everyone’s been occupied with other issues.
- How to Configure the WireGuard VPN Server in OPNsense. (via)
- ssh with 2FA.
- The growth of command line options, 1979-Present. Technically BSD cause of the history. (via)
- New FuryBSD 12.1 based images are available for XFCE, and KDE.
- Valuable News – 2020/03/16.
- BSD Link Roundup 3.19.
- Fire Emblem Multiplayer Application on OpenBSD!
- “SNMP Mastery,” April Fool’s, and The Networknomicon.
- pf-badhost 0.3 Released. (via)
- NomadBSD 1.3.1 is now available!
- GhostBSD 20.02 is now available.
- The situation with Go on OpenBSD.
- OpenBSD Full Disk Encryption with CoreBoot and Tianocore Payload.
- Followed by More or less what versions of Go support what OpenBSD releases.
- The problem of Unix iowait and multi-CPU machines.
- The most surprising Unix programs. (via)
BSD Now 342: Layout the DVA
For once, I couldn’t figure out what the name of this week’s BSD Now episode referenced. It’s Data Virtual Address, in ZFS, which gets covered in the show. There’s a specific bit about Go and OpenBSD that I haven’t seen mentioned elsewhere, too. (see show notes)
Sound and headphone jack tips
If you’ve got a pcm audio device – and you probably do – and a headphone jack – ditto – this thread may help you find the right sysctl to enable it on DragonFly.
i915 driver update in DragonFly
rcorder cross-pollination
rcorder-visualize.sh draws the dependencies for rc scripts using dot. Originally in NetBSD, then in FreeBSD, now in DragonFly.
Lazy Reading for 2020/03/15
Again, dumping out all the links I can in case you are stuck at home.
- Secure erase. I have done this yes.
- “Encrypted email is LARP security”
- 4 Columns. Linked for the interface and how it’s tied to the content.
- Best Ever Spooky House Adventures.
- On The Metal, a technical podcast described as a garbage replacement, though without the BSD content.
- Void: Terminal-based personal organizer. Looking at the resources listed at the end of the README is also instructive. (via)
- Is Myst still one of the worst games ever?
- The Best Fountain Pens Under 100 Dollars. The TWSBI 580 is my favorite.
- 4 Plain Text resource links.
- Teletext: the Boring talk.
- Variables, Pointers, and Indirection in Arduino C. (via)
- You are a raccoon. Descend into a dungeon, looking for lost books. (via)
- Removing characters with tr.
- CSS didn’t decouple content from presentation.
- A Quick Tour of the HP-9000 712/100 NEXTSTEP Workstation. (via)
- Terminal Vision. Terminal == Serious Computer. (via)
- Obscure features of JPEG. (via)
Your unrelated music link of the week: Hannibal Rex – The One Hundred & Forty Faces Of?.?.?. Has the same drive as early Mix Master Mike, to my ear. (via)
In Other BSDs for 2020/03/14
Throwing all the links I can out there.
- March/April BUG meetings canceled for NYCBUG and SEMIBUG.
- FreeBSD Journal 2020/01-02. (PDF, via)
- FreeBSD Find Installed Hard Disk Size Information. (via)
- GhostBSD 20.02 Overview. (video, via)
- Introduction to Flua on FreeBSD. (via)
- FreeBSD Loader and Console Future. (via)
- OPNsense 20.1.2 released.
- FreeNAS and TrueNAS are Unifying. TrueNAS 12 will be the One True… NAS
- p2k19 Hackathon Report: Rafael Sadowski on KDE+Qt5 progress, more.
- My infrastructure as of 2019. Not a bad model.
- Valuable News – 2020/03/02 and 2020/03/09.
- OpenBSD Errata: March 13th, 2020 (sosplice). (via)
- OpenBSD Errata: March 10th, 2020 (sysctl). (via)
- New Security Advisory: NetBSD-SA2020-002.
- Accomplishment of porting ptrace(2) test scenarios.
- Towards backtracing through signal trampolines and fresh libc++.
- How to Set Up Windows SMB Shares on FreeNAS.
- The Expression Amrilato (Renpy compatible).
- Sunrider: Mask of Arcadius (free visual novel on GOG).
- cwm-like Window Manager for NetBSD and FreeBSD?
- Let’s Play on OpenBSD: Northgard.
- Let’s Play on OpenBSD: Dead Cells 1.7.6 with The Bad Seed DLC.
- OpenBSD Full Disk Encryption with CoreBoot and Tianocore Payload.
- Does anyone have KDE on FreeBSD working with multiple monitors?
- Clearing up FreeBSD GCC news.
- FreeBSD 12.1 Nvidia desktop.