In less than one minute, it's now possible to build the Linux kernel from source on a desktop.Besides finishing up the Phoronix Test Suite 3.6-Arendal release this weekend, on Saturday I began running some new Intel CPU benchmarks. In building the Linux 3.1 kernel for x86_64 in a default configuration (make defconfig), I've now managed to trim down the compile time to less than sixty seconds on a single-socket desktop system. Similar speeds can be achieved out of multi-socket servers and other configurations, but this is the first time I'm seeing such kernel build speeds out of a single proces...

I have been using Emacs for over a year now. I actually didn’t learn a lot when I started using it (just the basics to get going and then some relatively common keyboard shortcuts), but lately I have been reading and learning much more about it. I’m so grateful by everything I’ve learned from different people on the net that I wanted to share a couple of things I’ve learned, and a simple major mode for editing AsciiDoc documents.As a long-time VIM user, I feel it’s my duty to make a micro-introduction to Emacs to VIM users (skip this whole paragraph if you...

PreludeIf you are a professional writer – i.e., if someone else is getting paid to worry about how your words are formatted and printed – Emacs outshines all other editing software in approximately the same way that the noonday sun does the stars. It is not just bigger and brighter; it simply makes everything else vanish.Neal StephensonIn the Beginning … Was the Command LineI’m an Emacs user and I’m proud of the fact. I know my reasons for using it (and loving it) for many years now. But many people don’t. I often get asked by various people the same qu...

An emacs keyboard macro is just a recording of user input into emacs, which means that most anything you can do in emacs can be recorded as a macro. Read that again. Pretty powerful.Here’s how it works. To start recording, typeC-x (and input the commands in your macro. Then typeC-x )to stop recording. Then typeC-x eto apply the macro once, orC-u 0 C-x eto apply the macro until the bell rings or end of buffer is reachedKeep in mind that you must not ring the bell when defining a keyboard macro (by accident, or with C-g). If you do, you’ll have to start all over defining your keybo...

I upgraded to Ubuntu 11.04 a week or so back in order to get a more recent version of SCons. 11.04 dropped me into the new “Unity” GNOME interface. There may be people in the world for whom Unity is a good idea, but none of them are me. The look is garish and ugly, and it takes twice as many clicks as it did before to get to an application through their supposedly “friendly” interface as it did in GNOME Classic. No, dammit, I do not want to text-search my applications to call one up!But the real crash landing was when I found out that the Unity dock wonâ€�...

Summary: In an interview, Linus Torvalds talks about Linux’s multiple 20th birthdays and life with Linux.The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, started the celebration of Linux’s 20th anniversary at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit, but when is Linux’s real birthday? Is it August 25th, when Linus announced the project? October 5th 1991, when 0.02, the first public release was made? I decided to go straight to the source and asked Linux’s creator, Linus Torvalds.SJVN: â€œWhat’...

tl;dr: Want to learn vim (the best text editor known to human kind) the fastest way possible. I suggest you a way. Start by learning the minimal to survive, then integrate slowly all tricks.Vim the Six Billion Dollar editorBetter, Stronger, Faster.Learn vim and it will be your last text editor. There isn’t any better text editor I know. Hard to learn, but incredible to use.I suggest you to learn it in 4 steps:SurviveFeel comfortableFeel Better, Stronger, FasterUse vim superpowersBy the end of this journey, you’ll become a vim superstar.But before we start, jus...

Evolution mail now is the default Email client on Ubuntu. When we configure this mail client with Hotmail. The steps should be followed. Step 1: Open Evolution mail through Applications->Internet->Evolution mail  Step 2: Goto Edit->Preferences Step 3 : Click Add button or double click on the added mail account. Step 4 : On the Identity tab, fill the Hotmail account you want to use.  Step 5 : On "Receiving email" Tab,              Server Type select "POP",              Ser...