It’s been a short year
Starting vacation at an earlier date this year means that it hasn’t been exactly a twelve month turnaround since the last time. I can deal with it, but it feels a bit rushed. So, imagine how I felt when I was checking around the VMWare site this evening and found that there was a new version of my favourite Linux distro available, and I hadn’t even read the anticipation moaning on the forums.
Slackware 12 came online about a week ago, so when I went for my download this evening the frenzy around the mirror sites was over. In fact, due to the bandwidth needed, many sites aren’t carrying the ISO files. Over to the bittorrent parallel universe, where my downloads were over by the time we got back from a wander in the box stores.
The familiar install routine and plain face are untouched. Things just seem faster. Although there are six CD-ROMs in the set, only the first two were needed for a normal install. Kernel 2.6.21.5 is the standard for this season. Having gone through the setup more than a few times, my laptop was back to its dualboot personality in just under an hour. X, sound, networking; all the base elements work as they should. Wireless will probably continue to provide hours of challenges, but nothing is ever too easy. On the whole, this one rates two thumbs up on the upgrade scale.
We picked up a few more knicks and knacks for the weeks of camping ahead of us. I found a new mosquito repellant from Watkins that contains lots of DEET with no discernable odour – this is good. After a wade in the citronella pond, we’re back to something that works. In the wilds of PEI, the bugs get hungry. I want to distract them. We also chose to go with two smaller water jugs, on the reasoning that two shouldn’t leak on the same day. That way, I can avoid purchasing a bilge pump for the back of the van.
My clothes are packed, the camping gear is half loaded. I can retire to my bed after a good day, tired out from adding water grommets to the gazebo (don’t go there).
