404. Briefly: Debian Jessie now out (sort of, and in places)

update 6/5/13: The first upgrades and dist-upgrades are now in jessie. Nothing particularly exciting, beyond a new lsb_release package. As far as I can tell the gnome desktop background hasn't been touched either, but if memory serves me right the themes for the new stable is decided around the time of the freeze of testing, so there're another 2-3 years to go.

update: jessie is now at ftp.au.debian.org too

Original post
ftp.us.debian.org now has a copy of jessie, even though ftp.au.debian.org still doesn't.

This means that you can switch to the new testing (jessie) by editing your /etc/apt/sources.list:

deb http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ jessie main contrib non-free
deb http://www.deb-multimedia.org jessie main non-fre

At this point jessie is simply a copy of the 'old' testing, wheezy, so if you've got an up-to-date wheezy there are currently no updates involved in switching to jessie.

If I've understood things right sid was frozen at the same time as wheezy, so that it will take a little while before changes will occur in jessie since they first need to be introduced to sid, and then filter through.

Note that once updates start flowing into jessie the odd breakage might occur, so make sure to install apt-listbugs to get warnings about known bugs.

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Upgrading from Squeeze to Wheezy
Upgrading from the old stable to the new stable is simple enough.

First make sure that Squeeze is up to date

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Edit /etc/apt/sources.list and replace all instances of squeeze with wheezy. Then update, and download all updates before upgrading (-d).

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -d
sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

If you get an error about default-jre you can uninstall openjdk-6-jre and then run dist-upgrade again. It should work.

403. Kernel 3.9 on Debian Wheezy/Testing

Kernel 3.9 is out now -- here's how to build it on debian wheezy. Nothing odd in comparison to earlier versions and it barely warrants a separate post.

* To compile a kernel under Arch linux, see here: http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/355-kernel-382-on-arch-linux-exploration.html

* To compile a kernel without kernel-package on debian, see here: http://verahill.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/344-compile-kernel-38-without-using-kpkg.html

So it begins

sudo apt-get install kernel-package fakeroot build-essential ncurses-dev
mkdir ~/tmp
cd ~/tmp
wget http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.0/linux-3.9.tar.bz2
tar xvf linux-3.9.tar.bz2
cd linux-3.9/
cat /boot/config-`uname -r`>.config
make oldconfig

You will be asked a lot of questions -- how many depends on what version you upgrade from. If in doubt, pick the default answer (i.e. hit enter). If really in doubt, use google.

Then continue:

make-kpkg clean

Do

make menuconfig

if you want to make any specific changes to the kernel (e.g. add support for certain devices)

Then continue:

time fakeroot make-kpkg -j4 --initrd kernel_image kernel_headers

As usual 4 is the number of threads you wish to launch -- make it equal to the number of cores that you have for optimum performance during compilation (more about that here).

Install:

sudo dpkg -i ../linux-image-3.9.0_3.9.0-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb ../linux-headers-3.9.0_3.9.0-10.00.Custom_amd64.deb

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The new stuff
I know it's a bit lazy to simply post the questions as I do below, but...well, I don't have much of an excuse other than you having to figure out for yourself what you want to enable, and what you don't.:

  2. Full dynticks CPU time accounting (VIRT_CPU_ACCOUNTING_GEN) (NEW)
Intel Low Power Subsystem Support (X86_INTEL_LPSS) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
Early load microcode (MICROCODE_INTEL_EARLY) [Y/n/?] (NEW) 
  PCI slot detection driver (ACPI_PCI_SLOT) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
  Container and Module Devices (ACPI_CONTAINER) [Y/?] (NEW) y
Intel P state control (X86_INTEL_PSTATE) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
  "bpf" match support (NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_BPF) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  "connlabel" match support (NETFILTER_XT_MATCH_CONNLABEL) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  VLAN filtering (BRIDGE_VLAN_FILTERING) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
  MVRP (Multiple VLAN Registration Protocol) support (VLAN_8021Q_MVRP) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
Virtual Socket protocol (VSOCKETS) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
  Enable LED triggers for Netlink based drivers (CAN_LEDS) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
  8 devices USB2CAN interface (CAN_8DEV_USB) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
Fallback user-helper invocation for firmware loading (FW_LOADER_USER_HELPER) [Y/n/?] (NEW) 
  Command line partition table parsing (MTD_CMDLINE_PARTS) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  IBM FlashSystem 70/80 PCIe SSD Device Driver (BLK_DEV_RSXX) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
Device driver for Atmel SSC peripheral (ATMEL_SSC) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
Lattice ECP3 FPGA bitstream configuration via SPI (LATTICE_ECP3_CONFIG) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
VMware VMCI Driver (VMWARE_VMCI) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
    SATA Zero Power Optical Disc Drive (ZPODD) support (SATA_ZPODD) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
    Cache target (EXPERIMENTAL) (DM_CACHE) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
      Broadcom 578xx and 57712 SR-IOV support (BNX2X_SRIOV) [Y/n/?] (NEW) 
      Intel(R) PCI-Express Gigabit adapters HWMON support (IGB_HWMON) [Y/n/?] (NEW) 
  ASIX AX88179/178A USB 3.0/2.0 to Gigabit Ethernet (USB_NET_AX88179_178A) [M/n/?] (NEW) 
    Intel Wireless WiFi MVM Firmware support (IWLMVM) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  Cypress APA I2C Trackpad support (MOUSE_CYAPA) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  Support 8250_core.* kernel options (DEPRECATED) (SERIAL_8250_DEPRECATED_OPTIONS) [Y/n/?] (NEW) 
Support for Synopsys DesignWare 8250 quirks (SERIAL_8250_DW) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
Comtrol RocketPort EXPRESS/INFINITY support (SERIAL_RP2) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
  STMicroelectronics ST33 I2C TPM (TCG_ST33_I2C) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
Intel iSMT SMBus Controller (I2C_ISMT) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  PXA2xx SSP SPI master (SPI_PXA2XX) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
  Intel Lynxpoint GPIO support (GPIO_LYNXPOINT) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
Dual Channel Addressable Switch 0x3a family support (DS2413) (W1_SLAVE_DS2413) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  Goldfish battery driver (BATTERY_GOLDFISH) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
  Maxim MAX6697 and compatibles (SENSORS_MAX6697) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  TI / Burr Brown INA209 (SENSORS_INA209) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  Fair-share thermal governor (THERMAL_GOV_FAIR_SHARE) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
  Step_wise thermal governor (THERMAL_GOV_STEP_WISE) [Y/?] (NEW) y
  User_space thermal governor (THERMAL_GOV_USER_SPACE) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
  Thermal emulation mode support (THERMAL_EMULATION) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
  Intel PowerClamp idle injection driver (INTEL_POWERCLAMP) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  TI LP8755 High Performance PMU driver (REGULATOR_LP8755) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  V4L2 int device (DEPRECATED) (VIDEO_V4L2_INT_DEVICE) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
    Support for various USB DVB devices v2 (DVB_USB_V2) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
      Cypress firmware helper routines (DVB_USB_CYPRESS_FIRMWARE) [N/m] (NEW) 
      Afatech AF9015 DVB-T USB2.0 support (DVB_USB_AF9015) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
      Afatech AF9035 DVB-T USB2.0 support (DVB_USB_AF9035) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
      Anysee DVB-T/C USB2.0 support (DVB_USB_ANYSEE) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
      Alcor Micro AU6610 USB2.0 support (DVB_USB_AU6610) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
      AzureWave 6007 and clones DVB-T/C USB2.0 support (DVB_USB_AZ6007) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
      Intel CE6230 DVB-T USB2.0 support (DVB_USB_CE6230) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
      E3C EC168 DVB-T USB2.0 support (DVB_USB_EC168) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
      Genesys Logic GL861 USB2.0 support (DVB_USB_GL861) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
      ITE IT913X DVB-T USB2.0 support (DVB_USB_IT913X) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
      MxL111SF DTV USB2.0 support (DVB_USB_MXL111SF) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
      Realtek RTL28xxU DVB USB support (DVB_USB_RTL28XXU) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
NXP Semiconductors TDA998X HDMI encoder (DRM_I2C_NXP_TDA998X) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  Enable userspace modesetting on radeon (DEPRECATED) (DRM_RADEON_UMS) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
  Goldfish Framebuffer (FB_GOLDFISH) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
    Support new DSP code for CA0132 codec (SND_HDA_CODEC_CA0132_DSP) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
Steelseries SRW-S1 steering wheel support (HID_STEELSERIES) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
ThingM blink(1) USB RGB LED (HID_THINGM) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  Xsens motion tracker serial interface driver (USB_SERIAL_XSENS_MT) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  USB3503 HSIC to USB20 Driver (USB_HSIC_USB3503) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  OMAP USB3 PHY Driver (OMAP_USB3) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
  OMAP CONTROL USB Driver (OMAP_CONTROL_USB) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
  Epson RX-4581 (RTC_DRV_RX4581) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
  HID Sensor Time (RTC_DRV_HID_SENSOR_TIME) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
  Synopsys DesignWare AHB DMA support (DW_DMAC) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
  Chrome OS Laptop (CHROMEOS_LAPTOP) [N/m/?] (NEW) 
Mailbox Hardware Support (MAILBOX) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
  Step_wise thermal governor (THERMAL_GOV_STEP_WISE) [Y/?] (NEW) y
Intel Non-Transparent Bridge support (NTB) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
  Register efivars backend for pstore (EFI_VARS_PSTORE) [Y/n/?] (NEW) 
    Disable using efivars as a pstore backend by default (EFI_VARS_PSTORE_DEFAULT_DISABLE) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
    Enable notifications for userspace key wrap/unwrap (ECRYPT_FS_MESSAGING) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
  Create a snapshot trace buffer (TRACER_SNAPSHOT) [N/y/?] (NEW) 
  CRC32 CRC algorithm (CRYPTO_CRC32) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 
  CRC32 PCLMULQDQ hardware acceleration (CRYPTO_CRC32_PCLMUL) [N/m/y/?] (NEW) 

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Links to this post:
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/342158,debian-70-debuts-with-private-cloud-deployment-tools.aspx
http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1158614-ubuntu-or-linux-mint/page__st__15

402. Very briefly: what I forgot about gnome 3...a short rant

Update 30 May 2013: frippery extensions are out now for gnome 3.8. Phew! http://intgat.tigress.co.uk/rmy/extensions/index.html

Original post:
After an initial bout of swearing, and the odd persistent nuisance, I took to gnome 3/gnome-shell pretty well -- I use it every day and it works well for me. It hasn't changed the way I work and it's prettier than gnome 2, so it's alright.

In other words: whenever I've read posts about how awful gnome 3 is and how the poster is going to switch to KDE/XFCE/LXDE/Xmonad I've considered it as whiny hyperbole. After all, even I had got used to gnome 3.

Sure, things like

* people like Allan Day and Jon McCann saying things like this and this
* feature deprecation in everything from gnome-screenshot to nautilus -- gnome-screenshot is now unusable without patching.
* incessant renaming* of 'gnome' applications

all sure don't help in convincing anyone that using gnome is a sane long-term strategy. But gnome 3 has worked ok for me.

*[open Image Viewer in gnome. Click on About in Help. Any indication that the program is called eye-of-gnome and that the package is called eog? Epiphany is now web. Palimpsest brings up disk utility but there's no package with that name anymore]

Or so I thought. What I had forgotten about was all the gnome shell extensions that I had installed to make gnome 3 usable.

This was driven home to me when Arch linux upgraded to gnome 3.8 -- facing the usual unusable default interface of gnome 3 I quickly set to rectify it by going to http://intgat.tigress.co.uk/rmy/extensions/index.html and downlo...wait...no extensions for gnome 3.8? http://extensions.gnome.org didn't yield much either. There were a handful of extensions, but it was missing one of the most important ones -- the bottom panel.

For the moment I'm stuck with vanilla gnome 3 -- and I don't like it a bit.

I haven't actually used gnome 3 -- I've been using gnome 2 with a gnome-shell engine. And that's why I've been happy...