Linux

[PopuriAO29]

Back in 2011 or 2010, I Installed Ubuntu 8.04 using Wubi on Compaq 510. using dual boot with Windows XP SP3 and Ubuntu (created with Virtual disk partition).

[PluMGMK]

Here's yet another funny story about the Steam Linux client, coming after the latest update…

It seems the new-look Steam client (at least available in the Beta channel) makes use of DBus, and hence links to the 32-bit libdbus. This was crashing out on me with a cryptic error after trying to "stat" /etc/machine-id (DBus's UUID for my PC) – "value too large for defined data type". This was very strange because strace showed that the statx syscall was returning success, and I wasn't having any other DBus trouble. I stepped through it with GDB* and found that libc was returning EOVERFLOW when trying to downsize the access time, from the 64-bit date returned by statx, to a 32-bit date. I wondered how this could possibly be the case…

So I just went to my terminal and ran

Code: Select all

stat /etc/machine-id

And looked at the access time…
And realized…
The access time was April 22, 2085!

Now obviously I can't be sure when exactly this happened (since the computer tells me it happened in 2085 ), but I think I know… About a year ago, maybe a year and a half, I was screwing around in DOS, and passed bad register values to int 1Ah. This apparently resulted in accidentally calling the Set System Time function, and putting it way in the future! At that time, when I rebooted into Linux, the system clock only stayed at 2085 for a few minutes, before systemd-timesyncd got back the present time from an NTP server. It resulted in a few logs dated far in the future, but I thought no more of it, since it seemed there was no real harm done.

But of course, during this brief period, DBus would have accessed /etc/machine-id and updated the access time to 2085. Since any accesses since then were "in the past" with respect to that date, they didn't update it any further. But this didn't cause me a problem until yesterday, when Steam started trying to use 32-bit DBus! I guess that underlines how underused the 32-bit libs on my system are…

Anyway, a "sudo touch /etc/machine-id" sorted it out for me in the end!


* I realized I could do this by running:

Code: Select all

DEBUGGER=gdb ~/.local/share/Steam/steam.sh

[Steo]

Hahaha this actually sounds so funny. We could call it Back to the Future IV.

The only times this happened to me, my clock was within an hour or two out of sync between Windows and Linux, but this just sounds so funny to randomly go 63 years into the future.

[PluMGMK]

Oh yes, of course 2085 is 100 years after the first film! Maybe by then we really will have flying cars

[Steo]

They did get many things right in the movies, such as how all those computers are ancient antiques by now, how kids have no interest in those games that were ground breaking back then (like the old arcade machines with Donkey Kong etc.) and how video calling is a thing. It makes me wonder were they really exaggerating with all of those things just like they did with flying cars, and yet, most of it came to fruition within 15-30 years.

[PluMGMK]

The other thing that comes to mind is the holographic shark that jumps out of the cinema. I'm pretty sure we actually have the technology for that, but we just don't do it because there's no demand for it

I've also thought for some time that flying cars will probably never be a thing because the advantages wouldn't outweigh the technical and regulatory challenges involved...

[Steo]

The other thing that comes to mind is the holographic shark that jumps out of the cinema. I'm pretty sure we actually have the technology for that, but we just don't do it because there's no demand for it

I suppose that's true too. It reminds me of how 3D didn't quite catch on as much as they tried to force it at one point by even having 3D TV channels etc. I do love in the movie though, how he got so scared of the holographic shark, then said "the shark still looks fake".

I've also thought for some time that flying cars will probably never be a thing because the advantages wouldn't outweigh the technical and regulatory challenges involved...

Yeah I can't actually see that truly ever becoming a reality for many reasons... That's why I assume that most of these "predictions" they made in the movie were extremely over-exaggerated. It's amazing if so, how in the time-frame of 20+ years, most of that actually did truly happen. In fact, I literally remember talking to my uncle back when I had a Nokia 3310 or something as a kid. We were imagining a future where phones had "coloured screens", and even became so futuristic as to "imagine phones actually had cameras".

[PopuriAO29]

I went try Mageia 9 Beta 2 Linux, but I used it on VirtualBox. though I couldn't install on the real PC/Laptop.

Although Mageia 9 is in under development, which some daily builds are called "Cauldron".

[PopuriAO29]

Apologies for double posting and bump, Later I also tried using Ubuntu linux with Rufus USB after i download ISO from Internet Archive (Not the latest version, but i use for testing).

[PluMGMK]

How is Ubuntu these days? I haven't really used it in years…

[PopuriAO29]

Works fine as well, although I select "Try Ubuntu without Installing" which I did used Rufus to make USB Linux pendrive. Ubuntu 23.10 might expected releasing it October 2023 until before LTS release (24.04).

[PluMGMK]

Ah yes, a new LTS release… Is it true that it has become a lot more Snap-focused in recent years, as opposed to installing stuff using apt?

[PopuriAO29]

Probably I don't know if the release notes having it, but I'm sure there might additional feature for Ubuntu 24.04.
Later I also uploaded some daily builds in Internet Archive.

[Steo]

I had been just using Arch due to being busy and not having the time to keep maintaining LFS (though I backed up my build). Back in Ireland, the computer I'm using isn't even mine, so I'm just using Windows on it since that's what was installed.

[PluMGMK]

Windows 10 or 11? Or something older? How do you find it now?

[Steo]

Windows 10 or 11? Or something older? How do you find it now?

It has 11 on it, but compared to Linux it's really weird. I miss Linux.

[The Jonster]

Oh, in that case, please let me know how weird Windows 11 looks now!

[Steo]

Oh, in that case, please let me know how weird Windows 11 looks now!

Well I'm used to using KDE Plasma so it's not extremely different in terms of layout, but I still much prefer Linux. I miss using the terminal.

I could install Linux on this, but it feels like effort to start partitioning SSDs that aren't even mine.

[PluMGMK]

What changed things for me was when I had to install Git for Windows on my work laptop. It includes an entire MinGW setup with Bash, Vim, and all the familiar tools, so now I can use them to my heart's content for file editing and manipulation! It's a pity that strace is nerfed when not running on an actual POSIX kernel, but the fact that it even exists is quite something!

[Steo]

What changed things for me was when I had to install Git for Windows on my work laptop. It includes an entire MinGW setup with Bash, Vim, and all the familiar tools, so now I can use them to my heart's content for file editing and manipulation! It's a pity that strace is nerfed when not running on an actual POSIX kernel, but the fact that it even exists is quite something!

Ah interesting. I have never used it on Windows other than just Github Desktop for managing projects we're working on. Unity switched to PlasticSCM some time ago and it's only free if your team has 3 or fewer people.