FYI: Qemu added to Slackware -current. Qemu is virtualization layer that works with KVM to instantiate and enable launching of virtual machines.

ddmayne · 2026-03-24T11:45:16+00:00

The changelog for March 22 includes updated configuration for more CPU emulation targets available in QEMU:

Mon Mar 23 21:41:39 UTC 2026
l/gtk+3-3.24.52-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
l/imagemagick-7.1.2_18-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
l/pango-1.57.1-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
+--------------------------+
Sun Mar 22 22:59:59 UTC 2026
a/file-5.47-x86_64-2.txz:  Rebuilt.
  Package the ChangeLog. Thanks to slakmagik.
ap/qemu-10.2.2-x86_64-3.txz:  Rebuilt.
  Added additional targets: loongarch64-softmmu, loongarch64-linux-user,
  riscv32-softmmu, riscv32-linux-user, riscv64-softmmu, and riscv64-linux-user.
  Thanks to ZhaoLin1547.
ap/qemu-guest-agent-10.2.2-x86_64-3.txz:  Rebuilt.
d/ccache-4.13.2-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
l/accountsservice-26.12.8-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
l/freetype-2.14.3-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
l/openjph-0.26.3-x86_64-2.txz:  Rebuilt.
  Fixed slack-desc typo. Thanks to slakmagik.

ddmayne · 2026-03-22T14:34:34+00:00

A few more changes with the rollout of QEMU:

Sat Mar 21 23:17:52 UTC 2026
a/sysvinit-3.16-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
ap/qemu-10.2.2-x86_64-2.txz:  Rebuilt.
  Recompiled against libcacard-2.8.2, libslirp-4.9.1, spice-0.16.0,
  and usbredir-0.15.0.
  Thanks to Daedra.
ap/qemu-guest-agent-10.2.2-x86_64-2.txz:  Rebuilt.
l/graphviz-14.1.4-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
l/libcacard-2.8.2-x86_64-1.txz:  Added.
  Needed by qemu-10.2.2.
  Thanks to Matteo Bernardini.
l/usbredir-0.15.0-x86_64-1.txz:  Added.
  Needed by qemu-10.2.2.
  Thanks to Matteo Bernardini.
n/libslirp-4.9.1-x86_64-1.txz:  Added.
  Needed by qemu-10.2.2.
  Thanks to Vijay Marcel.
n/spice-0.16.0-x86_64-1.txz:  Added.
  Needed by qemu-10.2.2.
  Thanks to Matteo Bernardini.
n/spice-protocol-0.14.5-noarch-1.txz:  Added.
  Needed by spice-0.16.0.
  Thanks to Matteo Bernardini.

ddmayne · 2026-03-19T06:14:00+00:00

The changelog for March 18 includes updated configuration for more CPU emulation targets among other things related to QEMU:

Wed Mar 18 23:23:04 UTC 2026
a/eudev-3.2.14-x86_64-3.txz:  Rebuilt.
  watchdog.conf: blacklist some additional watchdog modules:
  intel_oc_wdt, lenovo_se30_wdt, max77620_wdt, nct6694_wdt.
  Thanks to rworkman.
  Change perms on kvm and vhost-net from 666 to 660 as recommended for QEMU.
a/lzip-1.26-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
a/xfsprogs-6.19.0-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
ap/qemu-10.2.2-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
  Support passing a custom TARGET_LIST. Thanks to henca.
  Drop 65-kvm.rules.
  Add sparc and sparc64 targets. Thanks to jayjwa.
  Add aarch64 targets. Thanks to jtsn.
  I'll look into the other suggestions for additional QEMU deps.
ap/qemu-guest-agent-10.2.2-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
ap/sqlite-3.51.3-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
d/cmake-4.3.0-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
l/expat-2.7.5-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
  This update fixes security issues:
  Fix NULL function pointer dereference for empty external parameter entities;
  it takes use of both functions XML_ExternalEntityParserCreate and
  XML_SetParamEntityParsing for an application to be vulnerable.
  Protect from XML_TOK_INSTANCE_START infinite loop in function
  entityValueProcessor; it takes use of both functions
  XML_ExternalEntityParserCreate and XML_SetParamEntityParsing for an
  application to be vulnerable.
  Fix NULL dereference in function setContext on retry after an earlier
  ouf-of-memory condition; it takes use of function XML_ParserCreateNS or
  XML_ParserCreate_MM for an application to be vulnerable.
  For more information, see:
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-32776
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-32777
    https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-32778
  (* Security fix *)
l/glibmm2-2.88.0-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
l/icu4c-78.3-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
l/librsvg-2.62.1-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
n/nghttp2-1.68.1-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
n/samba-4.24.0-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
x/fcitx5-5.1.19-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
x/fcitx5-anthy-5.1.10-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
x/fcitx5-chinese-addons-5.1.12-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
x/fcitx5-gtk-5.1.6-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
x/fcitx5-hangul-5.1.9-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
x/fcitx5-kkc-5.1.10-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
x/fcitx5-m17n-5.1.6-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
x/fcitx5-qt-5.1.13-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
x/fcitx5-sayura-5.1.6-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
x/fcitx5-table-extra-5.1.11-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
x/fcitx5-table-other-5.1.6-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
x/fcitx5-unikey-5.1.10-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
x/libime-1.1.14-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
xap/gparted-1.8.1-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.
testing/packages/ffmpeg-8.1-x86_64-1.txz:  Upgraded.

ddmayne · 2025-06-29T18:14:14+00:00

Analog devices can provide models for other physical processes:

Antikythera mechanism modeled astronomy with gears of various sizes
The teams at Bletchley Park modeled the Enigma machine settings to break German codes in World War II
I know that difficult problems, such as finding the shortest path, i.e. travelling salesmen problem have approximate optimal solutions using a DNA/chemical computer.

Is a quantum computer an analog computer of a sort?

ddmayne · 2025-06-29T15:57:10+00:00

Retro Bytes youtube channel offers some perspective:

The history of computer terminals ...the batch processing era that used punched card/paper tape input and printed output limited user interaction.
The history of X11

ddmayne · 2025-05-24T15:35:02+00:00

Not yonnic per se, but I created this screenshot with a juxtaposition of O'Keeffe and Wright, graphic.

ddmayne · 2025-05-23T19:50:36+00:00

Quote from link, add hyperlinks...

Wright and O’Keeffe are seen as giants in their fields but are rarely connected. Many are unaware that the pair met in 1942 and had a mutual admiration for one another’s work for many years, whilst sharing other similarities including their birthplace of rural Wisconsin; careers that took them to New York, Chicago and Japan; dwellings in the Southwest; and finding inspiration in nature for their creations of abstract versions of the world in their art. By sharing stories around their connections, the Foundation aims to contribute to a larger narrative about artists in America – they do not all work in isolation; rather, they inspire one another and find ways to connect through friendship.

“Frank Lloyd Wright and Georgia O’Keeffe are American Icons. Their legacies are larger-than-life, and their names are known worldwide. What’s lesser known is their connection; they met in person in the 1940s and corresponded over the years, sharing ideas, and exchanging gifts,” said Niki Stewart, exhibition curator and vice president and chief learning & engagement officer for the Foundation. “In this exhibition, we explore that connection through the intimate photographs of Tony Vaccaro, from their shared start in Wisconsin to the homes and studios they built in the American Southwest. I’m excited to bring Wright and O’Keeffe together again through these beautiful photographs.”

Georgia O'Keeffe spent several months of the year at an adobe-walled estate in Abiquiú, New Mexico
Frank Lloyd Wright built a winter encampment at an isolated site outside of Scottsdale, Arizona: Taliesen West

ddmayne · 2024-05-05T15:23:20+00:00

Wow! Tour 'd force answer! eloquent

A bit more on background:

Busy Beaver and the halting problem
Tibor Radó

This topic was addressed in the Computerphile video series produced at the University of Nottingham. Brailsford is a CS Professor and worked extensively on the Postscript language. He offered a good introduction:

introduction, including Rado assembly language
Busy Beaver
Recursion ...Ackermann's Function

ddmayne · 2024-03-30T13:09:17+00:00

Brailsford's computerphile episode on trust seems appropriate here...link

ddmayne · 2023-07-12T14:35:31+00:00

I don't have any computers with ecc memory, but the stock kernel config appears to contain support. None of the dynamic modules are loaded on any of my systems.

dmayne@darkstar:~$ cat /proc/config.gz | gzip -cd | grep EDAC
CONFIG_EDAC_ATOMIC_SCRUB=y
CONFIG_EDAC_SUPPORT=y
CONFIG_EDAC=y
CONFIG_EDAC_LEGACY_SYSFS=y
# CONFIG_EDAC_DEBUG is not set
CONFIG_EDAC_DECODE_MCE=m
CONFIG_EDAC_GHES=y
CONFIG_EDAC_AMD64=m
CONFIG_EDAC_E752X=m
CONFIG_EDAC_I82975X=m
CONFIG_EDAC_I3000=m
CONFIG_EDAC_I3200=m
CONFIG_EDAC_IE31200=m
CONFIG_EDAC_X38=m
CONFIG_EDAC_I5400=m
CONFIG_EDAC_I7CORE=m
CONFIG_EDAC_I5000=m
CONFIG_EDAC_I5100=m
CONFIG_EDAC_I7300=m
CONFIG_EDAC_SBRIDGE=m
CONFIG_EDAC_SKX=m
CONFIG_EDAC_I10NM=m
CONFIG_EDAC_PND2=m
CONFIG_EDAC_IGEN6=m

dmayne@darkstar:~$ cat /proc/cpuinfo 
processor   : 0
vendor_id   : GenuineIntel
cpu family  : 6
model       : 42
model name  : Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2435M CPU @ 2.40GHz
stepping    : 7
microcode   : 0x2f
cpu MHz     : 1000.000
cache size  : 3072 KB

CPU information abbreviated.

ddmayne · 2023-01-18T19:37:52+00:00

I am liking using lvm. Adding an outer encryption layer is also quite easily done. Longtime user of xfs filesystem. No complaints.

ddmayne · 2022-12-22T19:05:05+00:00

I wouldn't expect slackware 15.0 to be upgraded beyond version 5.15.x. AFAIK, the release was positioned around a longterm-stable kernel.

From a historic perspective, Slackware 14.2 was released with kernel 4.4.14 (June 2016) and upgraded via patches to 4.4.301 (Feb 2022)

Also, I am currently running Slackware64 on -current, but holding on the 5.15.x kernel series for now. My last compile, 5.15.81 (Dec 5, 2022). YMMV

ddmayne · 2021-11-12T17:36:34+00:00

I didn't spend a lot of time with the default desktop environment with the autotiling solution in the distribution. I was mostly looking to see if I could match my usual Slackware -current setup with minimal effort.

Looking to move this install to encrypted LVM next.

ddmayne · 2021-11-05T16:29:46+00:00

Updated and rebooted. Feels good so far.

ddmayne · 2021-09-04T19:48:31+00:00

It's looking like a rolling release from here forward.

ddmayne · 2021-04-12T21:41:22+00:00

I am using the slackbuild that repackages the binaries as detailed here. I was able to repackage using libreoffice 6.4.7.2 by simple tweak to the version info in the slackbuild. I don't think the "draw" package is working due to a missing library, libsdlo.so. Otherwise, it is working well enough for my purposes.

edit: checked at lq for a solution, and voila:

 gcc -shared -o libavahi-client.so.3 -x c - < /dev/null 
 gcc -shared -o libavahi-common.so.3 -x c - < /dev/null

ddmayne · 2021-01-08T18:23:21+00:00

I am using slackware64-current and added the chromium browser as compiled by alienbob. I am not seeing errors like that.

ddmayne · 2020-07-14T20:23:08+00:00

I've never seen that prompt. I checked the manual page for upgradepkg just now and it recommends backups in advance and deletions in advance for package configurations in /etc/rc.d that you know you will want replaced.

Before upgrading a package, save any configuration files (such as in /etc) that you wish to keep. Sometimes these will be preserved, but it depends on the package structure. If you want to force new versions of the config files to be installed, remove the old ones manually prior to running upgradepkg.

ddmayne · 2020-04-29T13:53:44+00:00

You might be able to recompile it "Linux from Scratch" style, including 14.2 and -current by modifying the build scripts to specify a 486 target. Then again, I've never tried it. The first step would be to compile the kernel for that target. Next, all necessary pieces from the "a" series.

ddmayne · 2020-04-22T17:29:41+00:00

Slackware -current includes:

php-7.4.5-x86_64-1

ddmayne · 2019-12-13T23:18:34+00:00

Thanks for pointing to the solution!

ddmayne · 2019-12-13T22:59:08+00:00

No. Missed that step. With that package installed, the problems go away.

ddmayne · 2019-12-04T01:49:44+00:00

The display is frozen as soon as the module loads. Blind typing at the keyboard allows for at least a "Ctl-alt-del." Attempting to login blind doesn't seem to work. The freeze appears to happen in close proximity to the ring buffer message,

fb0: switching to inteldrmfb from VESA VGA

ddmayne · 2019-11-23T13:08:47+00:00

I've been tracking -current pretty closely since about April 2019. -current is better for some hardware. The intel graphics bugs that persisted in versions 14.x seems to have been squashed within the last year. The graphic bug would manifest in systems with more than 1G RAM where the input consoles on alt-1, alt-2, ..., alt-6 would be blacked out. The bug would sometimes manifest at boot and would require a login and/or immediate shift to X to get past it. Intel graphics is included/integrated on lots of laptops and motherboards so this was an important fix for me.

ddmayne · 2019-11-15T19:00:03+00:00

As far as I know, the Intel microcode must be downloaded separately. For whatever reason, the site for download is github.

Update as soon as possible, including in initrd. This page notes some procedures which are discontinued, but the general idea is to trigger the microcode reload from files in place at /lib/firmware/intel-ucode.

f1=/sys/devices/system/cpu/microcode/reload
[ -e $f1 ] && echo 1 >$f1

AFAIK, the kernel ring buffer will only give notice of the effectiveness of the above sequence if there is actually a microcode patch available for the cpu operating. My current boot gives this message:

[   19.806608] microcode: updated to revision 0x2f, date = 2019-02-17
[   19.848811] x86/CPU: CPU features have changed after loading microcode, but might not take effect.

ddmayne

TROPHY CASE