I’m busy hacking the latest Linux kernel and forcing it to work how I want. This has so far involved hooking in the new SATA interface code, enabling tickless mode (yay! More battery juice!), working out how the new wireless code is supposed to work, disabling the ipv6 code and a thousand-and-one tweaks. And I’m loving every minute.
Kernel hacking is like popping the hood and fine-tuning your engine to the n-th degree. It demands the same level of obsessive-compulsiveness, the same willingness to get your hands dirty and the same mentality to keep going when things don’t work first time. It’s something that you can do in Linux but not under Windows. Sorry folks, your hood is welded shut.
I’m doing this, and I blame powertop. That started me on on yet another quest with the promise of extra speed and more battery life, all at the same time. I’m hacking Linux 2.6.21 with the latest 2.6.22 release candidate patched on top, and strangling it into submission. Hey, it’s been a while since I’ve seen my name in the Linux Changelogs so I’m going to commit some of the fixes back into the source too. The SATA stuff is good, but the timings are off on the via code. I’m fixing it.
The added benefit is that my laptop now runs faster using this kernel. Much, much faster. Which is nice.
Of course, it helps if I….um…..remember to include the wireless code in the build. Oops.
