from the save-a-buck-fire-a-smart-guy dept.
We've previously mentioned Eric Hameleers AKA alienbob AKA Alien BOB and his run-Slackware-from-removable-media project. He even created an account here to comment on our story about that. (His sole activity here, so far.)
He now blogs
I am being laid off by my employer, IBM. Jobs in the Netherlands move to lower-wage countries like Poland and India, while IBM changes course towards a "cognitive" future in which there is less interest in the traditionally skilled technical IT jobs.
Unparalleled (because forced) job cuts in the Netherlands are the result of that change of focus. Almost 10% of the IBMNL work force is sent away in a "re-balancing" operation and I am out of a job per November 1st.
[...] As long as I still work for IBM (seven weeks), I have access to Safari Books Online where I can freely access and use the available course materials which prepare for the RHCE exam. This will of course affect the time I can spend on Slackware. I commonly spend nearly every after-work hour on packaging, scripting, and assisting people online and via email. That stops now.
[...] I also cannot promise that--when I have found a new job--that I will be able to provide the levels of support that you may have gotten used to.
Related Stories
Eric Hameleers announces
[May 18,] on the final day of my short holiday (of sorts), I prepped and released version 1.0.0 of my liveslak project. It is stable and the bugs that were reported (plus some more) have been taken care of.
The "1.0.0" marker is not the end of its development, of course. It means that I consider the project production-ready. It will be used to create Live Editions of Slackware 14.2 (64bit and 32bit) when that is released. There's still some more ideas for liveslak that I want to implement and those will become available as 1.x releases.
For demonstration purposes, I have generated a new set of ISO images using liveslak version 1.0.0. There are ISO images for a full Slackware (64bit and 32bit versions), 64bit Plasma5 and MATE variants, and the 700MB small XFCE variant (also 64bit). They are based on Slackware-current dated "Thu May 12 01:50:21 UTC 2016".
[...] I will re-write [the original blog post] into a landing page for anyone who is interested in a Live Edition of Slackware. [...] All previous articles about the liveslak project aka Slackware Live Edition are accessible through this shortcut link, by the way [links to changelogs].
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @04:17PM
""cognitive" future in which there is less interest in the traditionally skilled technical IT jobs"
WTF does that mean? ( in english.. )
(Score: 4, Informative) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Thursday September 15 2016, @04:20PM
Robots taking white-collar jobs.
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Thursday September 15 2016, @06:10PM
IBM's "big data" push to make money off of analyzing everybody's data-streams.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @07:50PM
It means becoming a patent-troll.
(Score: 2) by E_NOENT on Thursday September 15 2016, @04:22PM
One of the biggest bulwarks against the System D zombie infection loses his job...so he can get an RHCE?
DO THE MATH.
I'm not in the business... I *am* the business.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @04:33PM
The "math" is that he wants a paycheck. Having food to eat and a roof over your head is a good thing.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @04:38PM
Yes systemd is bad. However, SO IS THE init.d system that pretty much every distro reinvented or borrowed from BSD. It is why ubuntu went down the upstart path. They wanted a way to control the interdependence between all the service applications. Things like I need the video card to be initied before X can fire up. But while that is going on I can get the network stack going but do not want to start the ntpd system yet because network is not going yet. Oh and do it in an order so it starts up quickly.
You can build something like systemd out of init.d. Some distros even made a pretty good lash at it. Overall we stagnated with a 'good enough' attitude. We let one group dictate what it should be so now we have systemd being the borg of startup. Doing things it should not be doing. At this point it is either get with the program or make your own. Oh if you go your own you better be able to hit a good amount of the feature set RH is doing. Good luck, I am sure they would enjoy the competition.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bradley13 on Thursday September 15 2016, @04:48PM
"we stagnated with a 'good enough' attitude"
This. I am currently really irritated at Xubuntu 16.04, precisely because development stopped with "good enough". I had sound. I had a desktop. I wanted sound to work in a VM, and followed reasonable-sounding instructions. This somehow mangled Xubuntu, such that mounting a new partition (be it a USB disk, or an encrypted partition, or whatever) now causes part of the Gnome desktop to become active - mangling xfce.
It's irritating as hell. Linux sound has always been a dog's breakfast, of course, but the whole situation reeks of half-assed, untested code that was never developed past barely "good enough".
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by justinb_76 on Thursday September 15 2016, @05:09PM
my current gripe with Xubuntu 16.04 is every time I close the lid on my laptop, I have to do Ctrl+Alt+F1 then F7 to have a visible cursor again. Meh, I'm just used to it now...
(Score: 2) by Marand on Thursday September 15 2016, @09:51PM
Linux sound has always been a dog's breakfast, of course
In my experience, sound on Linux has been a smooth "just works" experience for well over a decade. The trick has always been to purge the abomination that is pulseaudio from the system, which usually is the source of the problems. Thanks for making that buggy piece of shit, Lennart. PA has gotten better since he left it but it's still usually more trouble than it's worth. In fact, when I had to install it a few months ago it only took a few hours of fighting to get it to act somewhat sane.
Though it did nearly damage my hearing with its insane dynamic volume levels default that allows programs to set the volume to 100% even when you explicitly set it lower. Insane, irresponsible setting only chosen to make it more familiar to windows users. I was wearing headphones when something raised the volume to max from the 25% I had it set to. Ears were ringing for hours thanks to that idiotic design decision.
(Score: 4, Informative) by TheRaven on Thursday September 15 2016, @05:02PM
SO IS THE init.d system that pretty much every distro reinvented or borrowed from BSD
The init.d system is from System V, not BSD. OpenBSD still uses the classic BSD rc system, where you have a big monolithic rc script to start everything. FreeBSD uses RCng, where every RC script advertises things that it requires and things that it provides and the init system orders them. I think NetBSD is similar to FreeBSD (and that parts of the FreeBSD system come from NetBSD, though I couldn't tell you exactly which). And, of course, the most popular desktop BSD uses Launchd.
sudo mod me up
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @07:50PM
FreeBSD imported the NetBSD rc system ages ago, like in the FreeBSD 5.x days iirc.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @07:50PM
And current SysV (in Debian) also advertises dependencies and runs things in parallel. Open the init file and check the header, like:
Properly written ones will source /lib/lsb/init-functions and not reinvent wheels unless really needed.
Also look for /etc/init.d/.depend.{boot,start,stop}
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @07:24PM
What you really want is a Macintosh.
Admit it!
SAY IT!!!
(Score: 2) by turgid on Thursday September 15 2016, @08:18PM
There used to be a Slackware port called Slackintosh. Knew someone who bought a Mac Mini back in the day (PowerPC) and that's what he ran on it. None of that OS X nonsense.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2) by turgid on Thursday September 15 2016, @08:15PM
Know your enemy ;-)
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @04:47PM
Bob, you rule. Would you like to build space robots? The company needs experienced Linux developers. Why don't you apply?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @05:43PM
Because when they see he was doing IT support, they'll disqualify him for a developer job?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @06:34PM
We need those skills too, desperately. Scripting, automation, all the things that the GUI generation have forgotten or never learned. So especially people like Bob who know Slackware, because if you know Slackware, you can use any Linux to a high degree of proficiency.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @09:35PM
I know that, but could you PLEASE get that info into the heads of all HR morons? (20+ year Slackware guy here... 8+ years RedHat/CentOS and others too)
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @11:52PM
Getting into the head of an HR moron is not a task to be undertaken lightly. It is a strange, confused, and frightening place where normal humans cannot survive long.
(Score: 1) by AssCork on Friday September 16 2016, @02:28PM
Much like the Upside-down [pinimg.com] in Stranger Things [wikipedia.org].
IF you return from your quest, you'll never be the same...
Just popped-out of a tight spot. Came out mostly clean, too.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @05:05PM
seriously
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @08:41PM
I'd rather not, I might catch something.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by e_armadillo on Thursday September 15 2016, @05:38PM
Why doesn't the Slackware community start a crowd sourcing campaign to fund alienbob?
"How are we gonna get out of here?" ... "We'll dig our way out!" ... "No, no, dig UP stupid!"
(Score: 5, Informative) by Chromium_One on Thursday September 15 2016, @06:02PM
Because Eric says thanks, but no.
https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/slackware-14/slackware-salute-to-eric-aka-alienbob-4175589223/#post5603882 [linuxquestions.org]
When you live in a sick society, everything you do is wrong.
(Score: 2) by e_armadillo on Thursday September 15 2016, @07:31PM
Oh well, it was a thought.
"How are we gonna get out of here?" ... "We'll dig our way out!" ... "No, no, dig UP stupid!"
(Score: 5, Funny) by Chromium_One on Thursday September 15 2016, @08:23PM
I's a good thought. It's worth a note that Eric does have a tip jar on his blog, which he primarily uses to keep his servers funded. Last I recall though, he'd said they were covered for a bit. Also, as he suggested, maybe go check out the Slackware store at https://store.slackware.com [slackware.com] .
It's worth a mention that several other community members have tip jars as well, though I don't have a good list on-hand at this moment.
When you live in a sick society, everything you do is wrong.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @05:48PM
Alienbob approaches the building's entrance.
- Open the pod doors, watson.
- I'm sorry alienbob, I am afraid i can't do that.
[breathing intensifies]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @08:22PM
sudo open the pod doors, watson
(Score: 2) by DECbot on Thursday September 15 2016, @10:01PM
I'm sorry alienbob, you're no longer a member of wheel. This will be reported.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @06:53PM
I know you're angry, but don't kill your masters.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PizzaRollPlinkett on Thursday September 15 2016, @07:42PM
What job did he do for IBM? For years, I have seen these vague "IT" jobs and "IT workers" in these worker purges, but no one ever says specifically what these people actually do. I'm curious about what work is being devalued so greatly that companies like IBM, HP, and so on basically purge their workforces of them, but I never really see anything specific about what the people do. The blog says "I managed a global helpdesk" - is that what he was doing for IBM? There's a huge shift in workforces going on, and I've been trying to pin down for years just who is being purged.
I do not know what a RHCE is. Why does he want one? Surely maintaining a Linux distro gives him bona fides? I don't know anything about slackware, and I don't know Alien Bob from Silent Bob or even Sideshow Bob or Alienware. But with Linux people in such demand, someone like him should be snapped up, right?
(E-mail me if you want a pizza roll!)
(Score: 2) by migz on Thursday September 15 2016, @07:58PM
It will be like Nokia 2.0 the PHB's cut some costs, and a couple of years later, wonder what happened to the company.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 15 2016, @08:25PM
I do not know what a RHCE is.
Red Hat Certified Engineer [redhat.com].
It's one of the 3 groups of computer certifications which mean something. There is RHCE (Linux system administrators), Cisco Certified (network engineers), and Microsoft Certification (Microsoft System Administrators, valuable because "reasons"... it makes sense if you consider who and what Microsoft targets).
There are two reasons why getting one would be useful. The first is that it is a checkbox to tick to get past HR or whomever. Also, a RHCE I trust (who is a very good system administrator) say that the process is legitimate and having it proves you have some real skills. Second, just because you maintain a Linux distribution doesn't mean you are qualified to do certain work involving Linux. Maybe he is just a good manager, or fundraiser, or something else. Having RHCE will prove to those less in-the-know (which is a lot more than you would think) that he is at least worth talking to.
(Score: 1) by bart on Friday September 16 2016, @12:20PM
There is a huge shortage of IT workers in the Netherlands, and we're importing them from all over the place.
I don't know which jobs are being outsourced, but it's not as if there's a shortage of well-paying interesting IT jobs here:
http://www.monsterboard.nl/vacatures/q-ict-vacatures.aspx [monsterboard.nl]
My team department has colleagues from Poland, Russia, Costa Rica, Germany, Canada, Ukraine, Spain, France, ... you name it.
And we're in Amsterdam.
Greetings