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Eric S Raymond's Setup
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- gfosco 14y agoIt doesn't really make sense that I have more and better equipment than ESR. You would think in his field he would spend more money on technology.
- callahad 14y agoIf ESR is able to be productive with the gear he has, I don't see why he would need to spend more money. Tools are necessary, but the marginal utility of upgrades drops off pretty quickly. I'm reminded of this comic strip: http://whattheduck.com/strip/95 http://whattheduck.com/strip/95
- batista 14y ago>If ESR is able to be productive with the gear he has, I don't see why he would need to spend more money. Has he done anything productive the last 10 years? His last major project I remember was the Linux kernel configuration program fiasco.
- famousactress 14y agoJeez. The spirit and tone of this comment seem incredibly obnoxious.
- batista 14y agoWhereas the "OMG, ESR manages to be productive with so little" worship thing wasn't? How about just answering the question then?
- famousactress 14y agoThe argument that it's equally obnoxious to assume that someone who's made useful contributions in the past has been productive in the last decade as it is to assume they haven't because you can't recall being told about any, is falling flat with me.
- 4ad 14y agoEric S. Raymond talks a lot about about his importance, but in reality he has produced no software of value, in fact almost no software at all. The arrogant statement he made in the beginning of the interview is a blatant lie: > You rely on my software every time you use a browser, a smartphone, or a gaming console. ESR is known for his books, not for his code.
- billswift 14y agoThat is because he has been working mostly on infrastructure, http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=4071 http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=4071 , http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=4351 http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=4351 and http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=4335 http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=4335 , for example.
- statictype 14y agoI think he's referring to giflib or pnglib there. Those libraries are fairly widely used in many places and is probably the most widely used code he is associated with. That said, he is fairly egoistical. I don't think even he would deny that.
- batista 14y agoWell, I checked pnglib for one. He is one of 20+ contributors, not an original project founder, and was only active on it for like 2 years (2000-2002 IIRC): http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/src/libpng-LICENSE.txt http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/src/libpng-LICENSE.txt I wouldn't call that "people depending on MY software everyday".
- tjr 14y agohttp://www.catb.org/gpsd/ http://www.catb.org/gpsd/
- BrandonM 14y agoI used to play a high-quality Linux game called Battle for Wesnoth to which he contributed.
- gouranga 14y agoHe doesn't need it and you probably don't either. Honestly, are you more productive compared to 10 years ago? I'm not. 99% of the computing performance enhancements have been burned straight away on inefficiencies. Back in '99 I was unfortunate enough to have a fire which melted a lot of my kit. I got by on a 100Mhz Pentium with 32mb of RAM for 3 months quite happily.
- gfosco 14y agoProductive? Certainly not, but that's not the fault or the point of the equipment. I'm just surprised.. I spend a lot on tech because I love it, and I expect others who are so immersed in tech to do the same. My computer is almost 2 years old now, but it's a quad-core with 12GB ram and 2TB storage (including an SSD boot drive)... I have 4 computers in my house (2 PC Desktops, 1 Mac Mini, and a laptop) along with an iPad3. I love this stuff.
- gouranga 14y agoThanks for describing your penis. Mine is a wimpy 5 year old Thinkpad but it's how you use it that counts :)
- kinleyd 14y agoI was also surprised by the absence of cutting edge gear... and then reminded myself that it's not the gear but the mind behind the gear that counts. That's so easy to forget.
- pragmatic 14y agoI thought the same thing...at first. If he's not playing games or watching movies on his setup, only using emacs and a terminal, what benefit would the newer hardware get him? He does want an SSD. That is a definite improvement, in general and especially when you are compiling. Most of my computer upgrades are driven by "visual" stuff. Movies (HTPC), games (desktop/laptop) and Visual Studio/Eclipse (desktop at home and work).
- morsch 14y agoTwo things struck me as particularly surprising: He's still running a (high quality) 21" CRT. And he's using Ubuntu (considering switching to Arch). Somehow I expected him to be using some sort of insane manual install maintained since the nineties.
- jlarocco 14y agoMonitors took a huge step backwards in the switch from CRTs to LCDs. Up until just 2 or 3 years ago I was still using a gigantic Dell CRT that I had bought from a coworker for $10. It had better color, higher DPI, higher resolution and a better response time than the expensive LCD that replaced it. Oh, and it wasn't widescreen, which was nice.
- kylemaxwell 14y agoYeah but it feels like staring into a light bulb, doesn't it?
- jff 14y agoAn LCD screen literally has a fluorescent lamp inside it. What's your point?
- gfosco 14y agoWell said... I miss my old 21" CRT that had higher resolution than my current LCDs. (1920x1200 vs 1920x1080). Damn HD TV's for ruining the resolution craze.
- morsch 14y ago1920x1200 LCDs are still available, e.g. the Dell UltraSharp U241x, which are also very good displays overall (it's not a TN panel for starters).
- sunkencity 14y agoNot the LED ones.
- mironathetin 14y agoThis is one of the coolest sites I ever saw (I don't mean only Raymond, just go to the whole interviews list). Thanks for the link.
- statictype 14y agoIt's great at the start. Then you start to get bored (though not really the fault of the site) when you see that pretty much everyone's setup is "Mac Book Pro with 24' cinema display". I liked this one the most: http://mark.pilgrim.usesthis.com/ http://mark.pilgrim.usesthis.com/
- mironathetin 14y agoPlease note that Mark does not use Google stuff for his books. He uses Emacs! Now that is interesting, isn't it?
- cpeterso 14y ago> Displays with 16x9 aspect ratio - they’re stretched in the wrong direction, vertically cramping my editor window and ergonomically poor for web browsing. Sadly, I expect to have to live with 16x9 in the future. Does he not realize you can rotate the displays?
- Symmetry 14y agoYou can't rotate most desktop monitors (though its easy to find one you can rotate if you look), and I'm not aware of any laptop that lets you rotate the display.
- dsr_ 14y agoxrandr --output $OUTPUT_NAME --rotate left To physically position the monitor, changing to an external VESA-mount arm is a good solution. Since the hole pattern is square, you don't have to opt for a rotating mount -- though many such arms will do that for you, as well. To rotate a laptop display, better plug in an external keyboard and pointing device. Then you need to figure out a rest for it...
- Symmetry 14y agoLooking at the top 4 monitors advertised to me on NewEgg, only the most expensive one had the right holes on the back for you to use that sort of mounting arm.
- crististm 14y agoWhen you rotate the display the image quality drops significantly. The change in hue is very high on the vertical and you'll notice it even if you don't pay attention.
- cfn 14y agoWhat you say is true if you rotate the cheaper TN based monitors. I have a Dell 24' monitor in portrait mode and it looks just fine as it is an IPS monitor.
- adamrmcd 14y ago> The desktop ensemble is rounded out with Logitech speakers and a hefty subwoofer, as I like intricate music playing while I hack (Liquid Tension Experiment playing now). I would have liked to have heard what else he listens to. Never heard of this band but they sound like Dethklok meets Antiloop or something. Very interesting and cool. I always find I can work better to "progressive instrumental" too: no lyrics or vocals.
- packetslave 14y agoLiquid Tension Experiment is Dream Theater (John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess, Mike Portnoy) with a different bass player (Tony Levin)