ixs' Vodkamelone

I tried the free as in beer vmware-server on our new quad opteron and probably got exactly what I deserved when using tainted modules. :-)

general protection fault: e040 [1] SMP
<Jan/04 01:48 am>last sysfs file: /class/scsi_host/host0/stats
<Jan/04 01:48 am>CPU 0
<Jan/04 01:48 am>Modules linked in: ipmi_devintf ipmi_si ipmi_msghandler vmnet(U) vmmon(U) ipv6 
ip_conntrack_netbios_ns ipt_REJECT xt_state ip_conntrack nfnetlink xt_tcpudp iptable_filter ip_tables
x_tables video sbs i2c_ec i2c_core button battery asus_acpi ac parport_pc lp parport st sg e100
serio_raw pcspkr ide_cd k8_edac mii cdrom edac_mc floppy tg3 shpchp dm_snapshot dm_zero dm_mirror
dm_mod sym53c8xx scsi_transport_spi 3w_9xxx sd_mod scsi_mod ext3 jbd ehci_hcd ohci_hcd uhci_hcd
<Jan/04 01:48 am>Pid: 2317, comm: vmware-vmx Tainted: P      2.6.18-1.2747.el5xen #1
<Jan/04 01:48 am>RIP: e030:[<ffffffff88395db1>]  [<ffffffff88395db1>] :vmmon:Task_Switch_S1B1+0x183/0x976
<Jan/04 01:48 am>RSP: e02b:ffff8801e79c7bb8  EFLAGS: 00010282
<Jan/04 01:48 am>RAX: ffff820000000000 RBX: ffffc2000003d000 RCX: 000000000000e040
<Jan/04 01:48 am>RDX: ffff82000000e040 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff8801e9bf6000
<Jan/04 01:48 am>RBP: 00002aaaada80a80 R08: 7fffffff00000001 R09: 0000000000000000
<Jan/04 01:48 am>R10: ffff8801e79c7e98 R11: 0000000000000048 R12: ffffffff8058e000
<Jan/04 01:48 am>R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: 0000000000000660
<Jan/04 01:48 am>FS:  00002aaaada80a80(0000) GS:ffffffff8058e000(0063) knlGS:0000000000000000
<Jan/04 01:48 am>CS:  e033 DS: 002b ES: 002b
<Jan/04 01:48 am>Process vmware-vmx (pid: 2317, threadinfo ffff8801e79c6000, task ffff8801ee6fd040)
<Jan/04 01:48 am>Stack:  736282f99c4145dc  000000009d53f5e8  ffff8801e9bf6000  0000000000000246
<Jan/04 01:48 am> 000000008005003b  00002aaaabb65290  00000000b41c1cc3  0000006300005eaf
<Jan/04 01:48 am> 820000000000efff  ef980ea576c5ffff
<Jan/04 01:48 am>Call Trace:
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff883994eb>] :vmmon:Vmx86_RunVM_S1B1+0x3f/0x1a8
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff8838c21e>] :vmmon:__LinuxDriver_Ioctl+0x387/0xd35
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff8027f6f0>] __wake_up_common+0x3e/0x68
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff8022e141>] __wake_up+0x38/0x4f
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff80260729>] _spin_lock_irqsave+0x9/0x14
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff802976dd>] futex_wake+0xc6/0xd5
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff803045f9>] avc_has_perm+0x43/0x55
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff8838daf7>] :vmmon:LinuxDriver_Ioctl+0x529/0x583
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff8030512d>] inode_has_perm+0x56/0x63
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff803045f9>] avc_has_perm+0x43/0x55
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff8026a78d>] monotonic_clock+0x35/0x7b
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff803051ce>] file_has_perm+0x94/0xa3
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff8838db74>] :vmmon:LinuxDriver_CompatIoctl+0x23/0x36
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff802d7230>] compat_sys_ioctl+0xc5/0x2b1
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff8025d54d>] ia32_sysret+0x0/0xa
<Jan/04 01:48 am> [<ffffffff8025d4e2>] ia32_syscall+0x1e/0x6b


<Jan/04 01:48 am>Code: 0f b6 42 05 83 e0 0f 83 f8 0b 75 0c 8a 42 05 83 e0 f0 83 c8
<Jan/04 01:48 am>RIP  [<ffffffff88395db1>] :vmmon:Task_Switch_S1B1+0x183/0x976
<Jan/04 01:48 am> RSP <ffff8801e79c7bb8>
<Jan/04 01:48 am> <0>Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception
<Jan/04 01:48 am> (XEN) Domain 0 crashed: rebooting machine in 5 seconds.

I fear I'll have to look into xen a bit more and use that in the meantime.

UPDATE: Turns out, it's currently impossible to do what I want:

• Xen and VMware are impossible to run at the same time
• Running ia32 guest inside of a x86_64 Xen instance does not work. It seems to be a planned feature though.
• qemu is slow and the binary kernel accelerator does not work on x86_64

I guess I'll just have to disable Xen for now and go with vmware until I have new hardware for the soon to be virtualized host. :(

Mission accomplished.

Damit BENQ nicht allzuviel Freude an der gekauften (SPUCK!)Siemens Handysparte hat war ich gerade so frei und habe mein gebraucht gekauftes Siemens S65 Mobiltelefon noch am Tag vor Ablauf der Garantie bzw. Gewährleistung reklamiert. Das Display ist verkratzt, die Taste 0 funktioniert nicht immer auf Anhieb und seit Verleihung meines Telefons letzter Woche fehlt auch die silberne Wippe an der Seite des Telefons auf Displayhöhe.
Damit es nicht allzuviel Stress bei der Reklamation gibt, noch vorher das Fullbackup eingespielt damit das Vodafone gebrandete Telefon auch in bescheidenem Vodafone Branding zurückkommt.

Nachdem ich dann auch einen auf überforderter Kunde, der keine Ahnung und hat doch nur noch kurz vor Geschäftsschluss beim vielen Gedräge sein Handy repariert haben will, gemacht habe wurde das Telefon dann auch angenommen und ich kriege in ein paar Tagen ein neues.
Da war der alte Siemens Vorabtausch Service wesentlich angenehmer und wurde zurecht besonders bei Geschäftskunden sehr geschätzt.

Sobald das neue Gerät dann da ist, wird es hier ein oder zwei Artikel zum Unbranden und Firmware-Modifizieren zum Abschalten lästiger Features geben.
Das rote Vodafone Branding ist echt das letzte.

At this last year's Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin there was a short presentation about the One Laptop Per Child system.

I couldn't make the talk itself but managed to take a closer look at the OLPC later on when it was on display at the Wikipedia booth.
My opinion of the device so far is mixed.
The software collection looks nice but still a bit rough about the edges.
The hardware in general definitely looks good. Small, portable and low-power. The display especially is really good looking and offers an enjoyable sharp display. I expected something a bit more low quality after following the swizzle mode blog post by Manu but was positivly surprised.
The keyboard however sucked!

I might be spoiled keyboardwise as I'm nearly exclusivly using IBM Model M Keyboards which feature distinct tactile feedback and I really detest the soft keyboards which are generally available today.

The OLPC keyboard however is something else. I haven't yet seen such a mushy keyboard in a notebook. The keys are quite flat with a very small keydrop of said 1mm. This would be acceptable if there would be some more resistance when depressing the keys. The BTest-1 System I tried however was so squashy I had to keep looking at the screen to check if the key I pressed actually was pressed.
In general the keyboard feels rotten which is a pity as the system would otherwise be very neat.