09.17.07

The Great Big Linux Black Hole

Posted in Technology, Linux at 5:27 pm by Stoner

Multicast in Linux is a GREAT BIG BLACK HOLE. There is no suitable documentation on it. What I’ve found is many years old, for the 2.0/2.2/2.4 kernel tree or in reference to getting Linux to route multicast packets. The best doc I’ve found is by Juan-Mariano de Goyeneche - from 1998!

Additionally, there are little to no user-space tools for working with multicast. You can use ‘netstat’ to see what multicast groups the host is subscribed to and the number of subscribers…other than that, you are powerless to do anything. What would be nice would be tools to:

  • list the subscribers (by process ID and socket number (since an app can subscribe to multiple multicast groups)
  • detach a subscriber from a group, something akin to “kill -9 PID:socket_number”
  • see the traffic stats for each multicast subscription

Linux is definitely lacking in the multicast department.

Those Civil War Officers had big brass ones

Posted in Life, Family, Hobbies at 12:53 pm by Stoner

A while ago, I purchased a replica 1851 .44 caliber Navy revolver - a black powder, cap-n-ball revolver. I finally got to shoot it over the Labor Day weekend with my father. It was a pleasurable experience and it gave me a real admiration for the soldiers and officers who fought in the American Civil War. The effort that goes into loading and firing a cap-n-ball revolver (or rifle even) is tremendous!

A good soldier, with a reliable rifle, was able to load and fire 3 rounds in a minute. Considering how long it took me to load 6 chambers of my revolver using a pre-formed charge (no measuring required,) ball and wadding, then to put the caps on the nipples and finally to fire the weapon - I would have been counted among one of the dead. Of course, I experienced several misfires where the cap would go off but it wouldn’t ignite the powder in the chamber.

On the plus-side, out of 12 chambers, I managed to hit a target (8″ in diameter) 4 times at 25 yards, including 2 in the center bullseye. Considering it was my first time shooting that revolver and my first time shooting a cap-n-ball, I’d say it wasn’t too shabby.