RESOLVED: EXP4 is Experimental

Well, shucks, folks. It turns out my custom-built Linux kernel (based on version 2.6.28.7) was completely fux0r3d.

After fucking around with grub for way too long, during which I found a longstanding Bug That I Should Have Known ABout But Didn't, I set the box back to the stock Debian kernel ("2.6.18-6-amd64") and rebooted. Then I jumped in for a few quick rounds at Bitch House, since EXP4 is currently running on the "new" iPaq (which I have rechristened "iPunk").

The son of a bitch ran like it should. No little red network doobie flashing, no more getting killed by bots that aren't even pointing at me.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, me maxima culpa.

Fuck. Me.

Right now UT is the only thing that is running right on that box. The old kernel killed X/Windows outright, but at least ssh still works so I can get in & twiddle the bits (it runs headless on DinkNet - no vid, no keyboard).

Iptables is also fucked, or so I assume. You have to compile it against your running kernel, so right now its functionality is suspect. Ban-O-Matic is probably fucked. The latest incarnation of BOM relied on ipset, which doesn't come stock on the older kernels. Instead of using ipset, I'll fall back to the old method of letting the iptables rules grow. And grow. This is how it's set up on iPunk right now. Thank you StinkFly for helping test it out (poor schmuck, he's coming in to get banned on a third IP address as I write this).

BOT House runs an earlier kernel, v2.6.28.5, so it was not affected. And OF COURSE at the moment we're between releases for the Next Big Thing™. Kernel 2.6.30 is "stable" (right) but 2.6.31 is supposed to cure cancer (among other things) when it finally comes out.

Not that BOT House doesn't have its own problems. I discovered just before we left town to go to Rinky Dink's wedding that it doesn't work with those little gspca USB webcams I'm so fond of, but that's a minor issue at this point.

So I have all these issues to work out but right now I find myself with a severe shortage of Free Time™. Work has been a serious bitch for the last couple of weeks. I'll blog about that when I have some time to get get pissed off, but I have to keep reminding myself I'm lucky to have a job in this crappy economy.

I will probably leave EXP4 on iPunk for the time being, since both BITCH House and Classic3 get little traffic. That means if the power goes out here (so far we've been very lucky on that front), EXP4 goes down until I do something about it. BITCH & C3 will go up and down as I work on the new kernel. There's no sense sticking with the stable release so I'll hack away at one of the 2.6.31 Release Candidates until I get it just right.