• Software problem: Deleting Btrfs subvolumes

    Internet is no longer full of Btrfs horror stories so I decided to use Btrfs when I reinstalled my desktop computer with NixOS. It has some nice features, like subvolumes, compression and cooperation with Podman. I still prefer ZFS but due to its weird license it’s not included in Linux and one can fall into […]

  • Software problem: Compiling Emacs vterm module on NixOS

    I started using NixOS again some time ago. The fact that NixOS doesn’t use Filesystem Hierarchy Standard is sometimes a big source of pain and complications. One non-obvious thing for beginners is how to compile a C program. One C program that is very useful and must be compiled locally is emacs-libvterm C module, providing […]

  • 25 years of Linux

    The 25th anniversary of Linux has been celebrated recently. I can’t remain silent about it because Linux has been playing an important role in my life. In 1980’s, Richard Stallman started a heroic and successful effort to create a free operating system in response to the unfortunate dominance of proprietary operating systems. But in 1990’s, […]

  • OS X upgrade

    I upgraded OS X on my work computer to a new version. It required two system restarts and made the computer (with an SSD drive!) unusable for about half an hour. This is the so called “world’s most advanced desktop operating system”.

  • 20 years of Debian

    Debian has celebrated its 20th anniversary last week. IIRC, I’ve installed Debian in 1995 for the first time, version 0.93R5. My very first GNU/Linux distribution was SLS (who knows today what it was?). I switched to Slackware soon and after some time I decided it might be a good idea to try something else once […]

  • Using Mac OS X

    I use a proprietary operating system even on a desktop computer now. I’m forced to use Mac OS X at my job. Apple says OS X Mountain Lion is an easy to use and incredibly powerful system with features I’ll love. In my user’s experience the system is primitive, inflexible and chaotic. It’s very hard to find […]

  • ZFS user

    I decided that it is a good idea to replace my complicated hard drive setup utilizing parted + mdadm + vg* + lv* + mkfs + fsck + fstab + whatever else with just zpool + zfs. Let’s run zpool once and then create and manage file systems without artificial constraints, without unnecessary administration overhead […]

  • System reinstallation

    Linux Containers became unable to start after host system boot on one of my machines. They started fine on boot but any later attempts to start any of them failed with a weird message Invalid argument – pivot_root syscall failed. I couldn’t get help on that and obvious actions like trying to stop some daemons […]

  • Linux drivers

    I bought a new input device, Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch tablet. I was careful enough to buy an older model and to check the device is supported on Linux. Based on my previous experiences I also tested the tablet on a Windows computer to be sure it actually works and I can handle it, […]

  • Driver info update

    Updates on my driver info pages: Updated information about Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 keyboard, especially a link to a guideline how to make the zoom key working was added. Added information about Genius G-Pen F610 tablet.