What computer do Linus and other prominent kernel developers have?

What computer do Linus and other prominent kernel developers have?

[Fred .]

What exact computer hardware components do Linus Torvalds have in his
computer system?
Also other prominent kernel developers like Alan Cox, etc.

If want to buy same motherboard, CPU, GPU, HDD, etc.

That way, I know there wont be any problems running Linux, because if
I have that problem,
then he will also have that problem.
If he have that problem, he will surely fix it.

Re: What computer do Linus and other prominent kernel developers have?

[Valdis.Kletnieks]

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On Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:28:01 +0200, "Fred ." said:
> What exact computer hardware components do Linus Torvalds have in his
> computer system?
> Also other prominent kernel developers like Alan Cox, etc.
> 
> If want to buy same motherboard, CPU, GPU, HDD, etc.
> 
> That way, I know there wont be any problems running Linux, because if
> I have that problem,
> then he will also have that problem.
> If he have that problem, he will surely fix it.

I'm not a prominent developer, I'm just a semi-famous crash test dummy, but.. ;)

"Hey, we just found something which doesn't crash my Vaio!" -- Andrew Morton

Note carefully the following problems with your plan:

1) People like Linus, Alan, and Andrew are all perfectly capable of running
a kernel that has a cherry-picked fix or two on it.  So it's quite possible
they have a system that 2.6.34 doesn't run on, but 2.6.34 plus 3 fixes does.
This can add substantially to your support costs.

2) It may not even be possible to *get* the exact same configuration anymore,
because the vendor has changed things around.  I have a Dell Latitude E6500
laptop. It has a " MATSHITA DVD+/-RW UJ892" in it.  If you buy an E6500, there
is a good chance it will come with some *other* DVD  burner (one of my
co-workers kept count, and was up to over a dozen different CD drives/models
that Dell shipped during the long production run of one of their Optiplex
models).

3) If they have some odd hardware config, and you have troubles installing/
maintaining it on that odd config, you're unlikely to be able to get personal
support from them.  However, if you get the same config as 3 zillion Linux
fanboys, any one of them will be able to bail you out. (I tell newcomers to
Linux not to install the distro that's "cool" - install the distro you can get
tech support by buying a pizza for the teenager next door. ;)

4) It's quite possible they have hardware that has known issues that don't
bother them in their daily usage, but render it useless for your usage. (For
instance, I have *no idea* if suspend works on this E6500, because I never
use suspend - it's not even built into my kernel.  If it's broken on this
model and you *need* suspend support, you'll be a very unhappy camper.

4a) A related issue - not only do you need the same hardware, but also the
same .config and distro, in case there's mis-match out there.  And some
developers do odd things either because they just haven't bothered upgrading
their userspace, or they intentionally want to test kernels for backward
compatibility.  I think Andrew still has a Fedora 7 or 8 out there.  Will
suck if you get that same hardware and discover you need Fedora 13 to support
some software you need and Andrew doesn't use...

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Re: What computer do Linus and other prominent kernel developers have?

[Alan Cox]

On Tue, 1 Jun 2010 19:28:01 +0200
"Fred ." <eldmannen@gmail.com> wrote:

> What exact computer hardware components do Linus Torvalds have in his
> computer system?
> Also other prominent kernel developers like Alan Cox, etc.
> 
> If want to buy same motherboard, CPU, GPU, HDD, etc.
> 
> That way, I know there wont be any problems running Linux, because if
> I have that problem,
> then he will also have that problem.
> If he have that problem, he will surely fix it.

It's certainly generally true that the most common hardware is best
maintained - I wouldn't however try to clone my hardware setup - parts of
it are there *because* it doesn't work well in Linux !

Alan

Re: What computer do Linus and other prominent kernel developers have?

[Bill Davidsen]

Fred . wrote:
> What exact computer hardware components do Linus Torvalds have in his
> computer system?
> Also other prominent kernel developers like Alan Cox, etc.
> 
> If want to buy same motherboard, CPU, GPU, HDD, etc.
> 
I suspect that developers are unlikely to be running any hardware you can 
duplicate, and if they are anything like me they will change hardware regularly 
for one reason or another, to test something, have fun using something, or 
because some part of a system was redeployed.

> That way, I know there wont be any problems running Linux, because if
> I have that problem,
> then he will also have that problem.
> If he have that problem, he will surely fix it.

Wouldn't bet on that, either, usage controls which bugs you see to some extent. 
Get something common.

-- 
Bill Davidsen <davidsen@tmr.com>
   "We have more to fear from the bungling of the incompetent than from
the machinations of the wicked."  - from Slashdot

Re: What computer do Linus and other prominent kernel developers have?

[tytso]

On Tue, Jun 01, 2010 at 07:28:01PM +0200, Fred . wrote:
> What exact computer hardware components do Linus Torvalds have in his
> computer system?
> Also other prominent kernel developers like Alan Cox, etc.
> 
> If want to buy same motherboard, CPU, GPU, HDD, etc.
> 
> That way, I know there wont be any problems running Linux, because if
> I have that problem,
> then he will also have that problem.
> If he have that problem, he will surely fix it.

Many kernel developers do seem to prefer Thinkpads (in particular
T-series or X-series).  Choosing the previous generation Thinkpad
(i.e., a T400 vs. T410) also tends to increase the likelyhood
regressions will get noticed quickly --- and means you can often get
the laptop for less money, either using the Linux Foundation discount,
or getting a friend who works at IBM or Lenovo to let use their
"firends and family" discount.

							- Ted