For those of you unfamiliar with Ubuntu, it is a Debian Linux distribution for netbooks, notebooks/desktops, servers, and whatever else it will fit on. If you have no clue what I'm talking about at this point, then you might as well move along.
I have mixed feelings about the Karmic Koala (9.10) release. I will say without any hesitation, it is by far the best release I've installed on my laptop (which has seen it's fair share of releases). Today, however, I had the "fortune" of experiencing the painful procedure of getting it (Xubuntu, by the way) to run on my old desktop that I use as a file/print/everything else server. My old desktop is by no stretch of the imagination a top of the line, current system. It's the very first generation Pentium 4 (Willamette), 1.7 ghz, with 512 MB of RAM and about 570 GB of disk space. This was before multiple cores existed on a chip or the notion of hyperthreading was conceived (in the consumer sector, at least). However, after some researching and tweaking, I'm convinced that the problems I ran into are not due to the near-obsolescence of my hardware, but simple coding/configuration errors that Karmic has out of the box.
I ran into two pretty significant hurdles: problems with the boot loader and static IP configuration. Basically, after installing the system, my first attempt to boot the system without the Live CD failed hardcore. It said it could not detect the device with UUID ####....blah blah blah, or something to that effect. I had to do a substantial amount of research to find that the script that configured the GRUB configuration script was in error and needed to be corrected, along with some updates to some GRUB-related packages. Failing to boot would without a doubt shut down a potential Ubuntu user immediately. This is a very serious error that should have never gotten through testing, but somehow it did.
Secondly, the static IP configuration problem. I tried using the Network Manager in Xubuntu to configure my static IP. I got weird results. A couple times I got disconnected altogether. Some times I could connect within my LAN, but could not make outgoing connections to the Internet. I ended up having to remove the Network Manager and related packages and set up my static IP manually in /etc/network/interfaces. I restarted the networking subsystem and it worked like a charm. I remember having problems with Network Manager since 6.10. Over three years and this thing still sucks. Come on, guys.
Lastly, this was not a critical error, but I lost the ability to view my CUPS printer status via the web app on port 631. This isn't critical but is pretty useful (to me) for diagnosing printer problems. Came to find out that all of the scripts that are supposed to run in /etc/rc2.d/ either aren't running at all or only some of them are running.
The six-month release schedule Ubuntu maintains has been pretty cool up to this point; we get to see all of the cool new stuff that's coming out, but we also get to fight through all of the unanticipated bugs. Things like what I've ran into today would send any potential Linux user away from Linux, or at least Ubuntu, back to their Microsoft/Apple comfort zones. Not only does this discourage potential users, but it could very well damage Ubuntu's reputation. Ubuntu is without a doubt the number 1 Linux distribution, but if things like this keep falling through the cracks, it will be pretty easy to find a new number 1.
So, Ubuntu, slow down. Take more time to review code, for unit testing, integration testing, etc. I know testing every combination of hardware isn't feasible, but analyzing code up front is. Focus more on quality to ensure Linux as a whole and Ubuntu maintain the reputation that has been established so far. Extending the six month release schedule to a yearly release schedule would be perfectly fine with me.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
The Church and Socialism
I woke up this morning with a forwarded email from my mom in my inbox containing the following article:
http://www.newmediajournal.us/staff/m_bruce/2009/11212009.htm
Later on, my wife and I went to church. The theme of the past few weeks has been "The Blessed Life," which has had a large focus on giving. As my pastor was discussing some of the aspects of giving, I began to think of some of the impacts of giving. I thought of James 1:27, which states, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." God expects us to take care of those that cannot take care of themselves, through giving of our money, our time, abilities, etc.
All of a sudden it hit me, we aren't in a downward spiral to socialism because of Obama or a corrupt government; we're in this situation because the church has stepped down. We've failed to take a proactive stance in taking care of people. On top of that, we've failed to share Jesus with people like we should have. For this reason, people in general care less about what is moral or what is right in God's eyes, which I believe has in turn led people to have a decreased regard for those in need and an increase in selfishness and interest in personal gain. This leads to more people being in need.
The government sees this need and tries to bring human solutions to the table to correct this. Some have good intentions, but as the saying goes, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." Add to the equation those that are seeking their own personal gain (i.e., corruption), and you get a system that is doomed to failure. God's plan was that everyone give generously to each other according to their need. A good example of this is Acts 2:24 - 27. People stepped up and eagerly took care of each other in the early church. Although I'm sure this still goes on today, there is plenty of opportunity to do more, on everyone's part.
I can give more. We all can give more. It may encroach on our lifestyles for now, but the rewards are eternal. We could even turn this nation around.
http://www.newmediajournal.us/staff/m_bruce/2009/11212009.htm
Later on, my wife and I went to church. The theme of the past few weeks has been "The Blessed Life," which has had a large focus on giving. As my pastor was discussing some of the aspects of giving, I began to think of some of the impacts of giving. I thought of James 1:27, which states, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." God expects us to take care of those that cannot take care of themselves, through giving of our money, our time, abilities, etc.
All of a sudden it hit me, we aren't in a downward spiral to socialism because of Obama or a corrupt government; we're in this situation because the church has stepped down. We've failed to take a proactive stance in taking care of people. On top of that, we've failed to share Jesus with people like we should have. For this reason, people in general care less about what is moral or what is right in God's eyes, which I believe has in turn led people to have a decreased regard for those in need and an increase in selfishness and interest in personal gain. This leads to more people being in need.
The government sees this need and tries to bring human solutions to the table to correct this. Some have good intentions, but as the saying goes, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." Add to the equation those that are seeking their own personal gain (i.e., corruption), and you get a system that is doomed to failure. God's plan was that everyone give generously to each other according to their need. A good example of this is Acts 2:24 - 27. People stepped up and eagerly took care of each other in the early church. Although I'm sure this still goes on today, there is plenty of opportunity to do more, on everyone's part.
I can give more. We all can give more. It may encroach on our lifestyles for now, but the rewards are eternal. We could even turn this nation around.
Monday, October 26, 2009
"Church": A thing of the past?
Something that's been on my mind for probably a year now is the state of the church. When we think of church, we think of at least a weekly assembling together of ourselves. This may include Sunday School, Sunday Evening Services, Discipleship Training, Wednesday Evening services, etc. This is all in a traditional sense. For my church it's a Sunday morning assembly where we come together, worship, fellowship, get a good word, and go home. This also includes various lifegroups throughout the week, etc.
Despite all of this to describe what church is, however, I've left out what the church is - the body of Christ. Strip away the traditional/non-traditional methodologies of "doing church" and - I hope - the body still remains. The body is not what I consider to be the "thing of the past"; it is all of the decor and frills and traditional/non-traditional things surrounding the body that act as a glue to make it all work together.
My concern with the church begins with the lost person's perspective. If I invite a person that does not know Christ and has absolutely no knowledge of Jesus to a church service, I think it's a pretty safe assumption to say they're going to be a no-show. We're inviting them out of their comfort zone into a completely unfamiliar place where we will do completely unfamiliar things, and place them into a state of complete awkwardness. Furthermore, let's be honest - these freak-show Christian programs on channels like TBN don't do anything to quell the awkward level. To make matters worse, we'll provide them with a self-fulfilling prophecy of the hypocrite stigma: that the church is filled with hypocrites. Everyone brings their Sunday morning faces to church, nobody brings their "I'm hurt", "I'm alone", "I'm desperate", "I'm lacking", "I'm sorry" faces, because we have learned that church is not the socially acceptable place to bring these faces. Not only that, but there will undoubtedly be people there that at some point in their week have not lived up Christ's expectation and have fallen. Showing this environment to a person I would like to introduce to the love of Christ is not where I would want to start off.
Where did Jesus start? He went to them. He didn't bring the tax collectors and thieves and beggars and whores to the synagogue. He confronted them where real life happened, and I think that's what the body of Christ needs to start migrating toward, is where real life happens. Real life doesn't happen in church. Real life happens in the safety of a few brothers or sisters sharing that they're hurt, alone, desperate, lacking, whatever the case may be, and coming to Christ to give those things to Him. That is what the world needs to see, that there is a real solution apart from all of the flair. They don't need to see another steeple or choir or dude in a funny robe and wonder, "what is all that for?"
So how can we show the world real Christian life? Not the "Happy Sunday" face paint, but the war paint on our faces from being faced with battles of insecurity, temptation, insufficiency, and loneliness, and seeing Christ conquer all as He is glorified above it all.
Despite all of this to describe what church is, however, I've left out what the church is - the body of Christ. Strip away the traditional/non-traditional methodologies of "doing church" and - I hope - the body still remains. The body is not what I consider to be the "thing of the past"; it is all of the decor and frills and traditional/non-traditional things surrounding the body that act as a glue to make it all work together.
My concern with the church begins with the lost person's perspective. If I invite a person that does not know Christ and has absolutely no knowledge of Jesus to a church service, I think it's a pretty safe assumption to say they're going to be a no-show. We're inviting them out of their comfort zone into a completely unfamiliar place where we will do completely unfamiliar things, and place them into a state of complete awkwardness. Furthermore, let's be honest - these freak-show Christian programs on channels like TBN don't do anything to quell the awkward level. To make matters worse, we'll provide them with a self-fulfilling prophecy of the hypocrite stigma: that the church is filled with hypocrites. Everyone brings their Sunday morning faces to church, nobody brings their "I'm hurt", "I'm alone", "I'm desperate", "I'm lacking", "I'm sorry" faces, because we have learned that church is not the socially acceptable place to bring these faces. Not only that, but there will undoubtedly be people there that at some point in their week have not lived up Christ's expectation and have fallen. Showing this environment to a person I would like to introduce to the love of Christ is not where I would want to start off.
Where did Jesus start? He went to them. He didn't bring the tax collectors and thieves and beggars and whores to the synagogue. He confronted them where real life happened, and I think that's what the body of Christ needs to start migrating toward, is where real life happens. Real life doesn't happen in church. Real life happens in the safety of a few brothers or sisters sharing that they're hurt, alone, desperate, lacking, whatever the case may be, and coming to Christ to give those things to Him. That is what the world needs to see, that there is a real solution apart from all of the flair. They don't need to see another steeple or choir or dude in a funny robe and wonder, "what is all that for?"
So how can we show the world real Christian life? Not the "Happy Sunday" face paint, but the war paint on our faces from being faced with battles of insecurity, temptation, insufficiency, and loneliness, and seeing Christ conquer all as He is glorified above it all.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Exodus
Hey, it's been a while.
I just read the first few chapters of Exodus. What really stood out to me was that God was really all about establishing His sovereignty. In Exodus 3 He told Moses to tell Isreal that "I AM WHO I AM" sent him. The footnote in the NIV also translates this as "I will be what I will be." Later on, after Moses had argued with God a bit about going, God says "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?"
God will do what He will do for He is sovereign. He is in absolute control no matter what the circumstances are. The only thing He will not exert His control over is our free will. If we were forced to love Him outside of our free will, it would not be us that loves Him but simply He that loves Himself. Our free will is what got us into the mess we are in now, but despite that, He still in His sovereign will has made a decision to love us no matter what. God who possesses infinite control has decided that He will draw us gently to Him and allow for us to decide whether or not we will love Him. He in His infinite power has made Himself vulnerable to us in that we can reject His love and even kill His son.
I don't know why He decided to love us but I'm glad He did.
I guess this puts things in perspective for me because I'm kind of scared about losing my job Friday, when Wal-Mart ISD layoffs are to be announced. But if I do get "axed", God has plans to prosper me (Jer. 29:11), and though it may get bad for a while, He will carry me through.
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