Wintermute's Linux Hacking Page

My Current Linux System(s)

• Pentium II 450
• 128 Meg Ram/25 Gig HD + 4 Gig of Windows Stuff also accessable through linux
• Matrox Millenium II (8Meg) 2d Graphix and Voodoo2 3d accellerator(12Meg)
• Linux Kernel Version 2.2.13
• SuSE 6.3 Distribution
• Enlightenment Window Manager! (E.17)
• WindowMaker Window Manager

• Pentium 200MMX
• 72 Meg Ram/20 Gig HD NFS fileserver for cryptnet1.net
• Creative TNT 2d/3d Grafix
• TV Output hardware for living room ourput
• Linux Kernel Version 2.0.33
• SuSE 6.1 Distribution
• Enlightenment Window Manager! (E0.15)
• WindowMaker Window Manager
• Apache Web Server (Currently houses only My Help System [default config in SUSE])

• Pentium 120 Overclocked to 133
• 96 Meg Ram/ 5 Gig HD
• Matrox Millenium I (4 Meg) Graphics Card
• Linux Kernel Version 2.0.32
• Slackware Distribution
• Enlightenment Window Manager! (E0.13)
• WindowMaker Window Manager for Remote Connect!
• Apache Web Server (This one as a matter of fact :)
• Assorted Quake and Quake2 Servers running Various mods at times that are completly under the control of my whim system.

A Few Screen Shots of My System

• Screen 1 - 1/15/98
• Screen 2 - 1/17/98
• Screen 3 - 1/28/98
• Screen 4 - 2/3/98
• Screen 5 - 2/7/98
• Screen 6a - 3/5/98
• Screen 6b - 3/5/98
• Screen 7 - 5/11/98
• Screen 8a - 7/28/98
• Screen 8b -7/28/98
• Screen 9 - 11/27/98
• Screen 9b - 12/1/98
• Screen 10 - 1/11/99
• Screen 11 - 4/1/99
• Screen 12 - 12/27/99
• Screen 13 - 1/29/00
• Screen 13b - 1/30/00

Linux? What's That?

Woah Kewl What do I need to Run it?

• A 386 with 2 Megabytes Ram, about 100Meg hard-drive space.
• An Internet connection and adequate searching skills (these aren't required, but recommended.)
• A Little time and Patience
• A Desire to break free from the Microsoft oppression.
• The Ability/Desire to learn new things

Projects

• TRANSPARENT TERMINALS: The Ever Elusive Transparent Xterm/RXVT/or Eterm.... I've been thinking about this one a while, but I've only goofed around with a test program through one night... Here's a Screenshot of it. After seeing this idea brought out in the 0.8 Alpha of ETerm, I've Decided to go a Slightly Different Route and see If I can't incorporate the same techniques found in XEyes (Which the source is no where to be found BTW). This technique would allow REAL-Time Transparency at the cost of not being able to do some of the other cool stuff I wanted to do.. Like Blurring and Image % blending... etc..(NOTE Following Text Added 10/30/98) If I ever get back to working on this again, I think I'm gonna take it in a new direction. XEyes uses the Shape extension, which is not really suitable for this type of applications.. I do have a plan though that requires a little more work (At a little CPU time for moving etc..) basically it involves: 1) Hiding the Window 2) Refreshing the Screen 3) Taking a snap of the screen (or client area) 4) using that Image as the background 5) do whatever imaging compositing I can think of 5) pasting that image into the window 6) unhide it. I don't know what level of problems this is going to present for me, but I have a pretty good Idea that it isn't what I really want, just a kludge... Ideally, I could figure out a way to do transparency as Quake2 does it whereby it first draws the scene as if the glass (lets say) isn't there, then goes back and stipples the glass in.. This method COULD work if I could figure out how to make a window that has a Client Area that exists, but is looks like it has an invisible client area during main Paint Cycle If anyone has any comments about this, mail me...
• id QUAKE II Level Compiler Tools: Goto my Quake page and you can Download the Linux Port of these. id QUtils3 tools (QRad3, QBsp3, QVis3, bspinfo3).
• Java Applet Conversion Project: I've started an excercise in X Programming to Force me to learn it.. I am currently Porting ALL of my Java Applets to C and X11 so Keep your eyes peeled, I'll be posting them as I finish them.. The most current one I'm working on is a Port of the Lazer Applet.. When finished it will allow you to place a configurable Lazer Window on your desktop.. with or without Window Frame.. Kind of stupid I know, but no worse than XFlame or XRipple eh?

Common Information:

• Q: Will Linux Take over Windows? Who cares? It's good enough that millions of copies are installed already, and it's gaining speed. I personally would like it to stay an Alternative OS as things tend to go from good to Crap when they become mainstream. (Just an Opinion)
  
  
• Q: What Applications are there? Well there's a fully functional Graphical Environment called X with SEVERAL wonderful windowmanagers (These are analogous to progman.exe or explorer.exe) There are Games like Quake/Quake2, Doom/Doom2, and XMame (an Emulator for the old Console based Games). There are Office applications like StarOffice and WordPerfect which are totally capable of reading and saving to MS Office formats (as undocumented as they may be)... In fact StarOffice actually Gives MSOffice + IE a Run for it's money (One of my screenshots has a shot of StarOffice). There are Networking tools that are Far Superior than those found in Windows including Netscape (Web Browser), BitchX (Terminal Mode IRC Client), ICQ clone, etc. Linux excels in the area of Graphics construction and manipulation.. with Programs like the Gimp (a FREE imaging package that rivals Photoshop), Several 3d Modelling and Rendering Packages including Povray, Blue Moon Rendering Tools (A free version of a program like Pixar's Renderman which was used in Toy Story and A Bug's Life)... You name it Linux has at least some programs that do it.. or at the very least, there's enough code out there for YOU to get started creating the application of your dream.
  
  
• Q: So do you use Linux or Windows as your PRIMARY OS? Up until about 6 months ago, I had Linux on a Secondary Machine and Win95/NT on my Primary computer.. The Linux machine was used for messing around and running my Web Server (the one you're reading this page on, BTW). I had several tools installed on my windows box that allowed me to emulate Linux and even run a remote X-Windows Session (Make my Linux Desktop Show up and run on my Windows Box) Eventually I realised that I was spending most of my time in Windows with an ethernet link to my older/slower computer doing my daily work -And it still seemed more efficient than working directly in Windows!- The only things I didn't do in Linux, at the time, were using Mail, Rendering, and Playing Games. One day I just decided to buy a new HD and do a DUAL boot system on my main computer with Linux and Win95/NT (I guess that's actually triple boot :) That way I could do the stuff that I'd been doing across the network much faster on my bigger/newer computer. I installed Linux on my Main Box and it wasn't even one week later that my C drive on the Windows Partition became massivly corrupt (something that is not even suprising to most Windows users. The only thing you can usually do is apply the cleansing flame and reformat). It was Sink or swim time.. Over the course of the next week or so I had forced my system to do the things I wanted Mail/Quake.. etc. and reconstructed my C drive in my spare time. the rest is History.. I am in Linux about 95% of the time with 5% reserved for when I need to use specialized software that isn't on Linux (like Lightwave, Worms2, Incoming, Unreal, etc..) I try to minimize the time that I'm running in windows, because of its stability issues -having experienced something better, how COULD I enjoy it?- Like someone once said: "Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come" and right now, I think people are fed up with paying a LOT of money for Mediocre Software that is Riddled with Kludges and Workarounds.. and has to be rebooted all the time. Most people from the windows camp don't understand the concept of Linux's Stability When I say it doesn't crash.. they think it goes for days at a time between reboots... what I mean is it doesn't crash.... EVER. In four years of running Linux I've had to reboot to stabilize the system twice. Both times because of Hardware Failure. Usually when I reboot it is to try out a new Kernel or switch to Windows. In fact, the average time that My web server is up is approximately 30 days.. with my record being somewhere around 85 days. (and that could be higher if I would just leave it alone and stop upgrading it for a little while :)
  
  
• Q: What's all this Crap I hear about distibutions and which is the best? Linux, being free software is made up of MANY little pieces.. Strictly Linux itself just encompasses the kernel which is the minimum thing you need to have a functional OS everything else that comes with the system is created by its own team or individual developers. A distribution is something where a lot of Useful applications/development tools/Enviornment tools etc are collected and put into a nice installable package.. These you can usually download from the Net or buy a CD of at the local Computer Store (for about 10-50 bucks) My current Favorite is SuSE Linux.. It has the option to install up to 3 Gig of applications and currently has almost everything that is kewl out in the community now (Including Cutting edge Windowmanagers like Enlightenment) and it has a pretty good install application for getting the system up and running the first time.. I've also used Slackware in the past, but don't like it as much as it is fairly difficult to set up. Redhat is the current best seller, but I'm not a big fan of it, as it installs a lot of things to weird locations and doesn't really let the user LEARN about what he/she is doing when installing the system for the first time.. Linux is all about getting back down to the roots of the computer.. Utilizing the POWER inherent in the computer and not bogging it down with an OS (and features) that are not needed or only serve to keep the user from doing exactly what they want with the computer.
  
  

Auxiliary Notes