From: ibuprofin@painkiller.example.tld.invalid   
      
   On Fri, 22 Feb 2013, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandriva, in article   
   , TJ wrote:   
      
   >Moe Trin wrote:   
      
   >> 3.4 is a long term kernel - introduced May 20, 2012, and updated   
   >> every week or three - the "latest" update is   
      
   >>        80179995 Feb 21 18:12 linux-3.4.33.tar.bz2   
      
   >> while 3.0.x is up to 3.0.66 released a few minutes before 3.4.33.   
      
   >I don't mess around with kernels myself - that's what I have the crack   
   >Mageia staff for. ;^)   
      
   I hear ya - most of my kernel level work is scanning the ChangeLogs to   
   see if there is anything interesting.  I'm not surprised that often.   
      
   >Actually, a new kernel update just came down from that crack staff   
   >last night. Mageia is now at 3.4.32, upgraded from 3.4.24.   
      
         80137499 Dec 17 18:45 linux-3.4.24.tar.bz2   
         80181440 Feb 17 19:02 linux-3.4.32.tar.bz2   
      
   >Back with Mandriva 2010.x I experimented with the server vs. desktop   
   >kernels, and saw no visible difference in operation or performance on   
   >my machine, so now I just go with the installer's choice. The computer   
   >I use with the dongle uses the desktop kernel, which I assume has had   
   >pretty much the same upgrade.   
      
   I would expect so.  Most distributions have their own way of improving   
   things, and the kernel is no different.  This is somewhat confused   
   further because the current philosophy at kernel.org is concurrently   
   supporting multiple versions. At the moment, there are three "long-term   
   kernel" lines - 3.0.x is up to 3.0.66, 3.2.x is up to 3.2.39, 3.4.x as   
   noted, and 3.7.x is up to 3.7.9, but it's not a "long-term kernel".   
   And just to make all the version number chasers happy, 3.8 was released   
   on 2/19.   
      
   >I looked at the changelog for that new kernel, and I saw that they did   
   >something with the rtl8192cu module, the one that never worked right   
   >for me. Memory is fuzzy, but I believe it said something like "changed   
   >USB ID." Does that make sense?   
      
   That's sounds like a back-port that hadn't made it into your previous   
   kernel - nothing that significant. (There was a USB ID added to the   
   driver - 050d:11f2 - as a clone/rebadge of an existing Belkin device.)   
      
   >> a 50th anniversary gift from the children that installed an electric   
   >> well pump in 1946 or so. The last time I remember visiting that   
   >> place was in 1951 and they were still using the privy.  I drove by   
   >> in ~1980 while on a business trip and the house looked unchanged   
   >> from the road, but the privy was gone.   
      
   >Yeah, youngsters in the U.S. these days, especially those from the   
   >whiny lower and middle classes that complain so loudly about what   
   >others have, just don't realize how good they have it, how much better   
   >than much of the rest of the world.   
      
   That was a benefit about growing up in the '50s and '60s.  You had a   
   fair chance of being drafted by the military, taken away from your   
   cozy little niche, and exposed to the wider world.   I did my four   
   years active in the USAF. and they sent me to Europe for three years.   
   With 30 days annual leave, and a decent liberty/pass policy, it was   
   easy to "see the other side of the fence".  The grass is rarely any   
   greener elsewhere.  Actually, it spoiled me so much that I only worked   
   19 months near home after I got out, and then had to find a job that   
   allowed/required me to travel overseas "on their nickel".   
      
   >I thought so. I'm hoping the antenna from the dongle, which has a gain   
   >of 7 db, will exchange for the one with the card, which is 5 db, IIRC.   
   >Not that I'll probably need the extra gain, but what the hey?   
      
   The 2 db difference translates into a 20% reduction in range (or a 26%   
   increase thinking the other way), but that assumes all other variables   
   are unchanged.  That could be meaningless unless the two antennas are   
   placed in exactly the same place on the table (or similar).   
      
   >His antenna/router that supplies service via ethernet cable to my   
   >router sits in a window about four feet away. The "antenna" is inside   
   >a plastic box, roughly the size and shape of a telephone book - the   
   >older thicker ones. Another just like it sits mounted at the peak of   
   >my barn across the street, aimed toward the hill, not my house, but   
   >I'm supposed to be close enough that even the side signal is plenty.   
      
   Correct - antenna gain can be visualized like a balloon. A (reference)   
   antenna radiates equally in all directions - like an antenna located   
   at the center of a spherical balloon.  Gain comes from squishing the   
   balloon so that less goes in some direction (and consequently more goes   
   in a different - hopefully "desired" - direction).  Compare a bare   
   light bulb with a spotlight.  The gain distribution isn't a knife-edge   
   function (all in this direction, and none in that direction), but more   
   a transition from lots to little.   
      
   >As for the signal levels, I've always figured it was some kind of   
   >strength/quality hybrid, mostly quality, much like the levels reported   
   >by my digital TV converter boxes.   
      
   I tend to ignore them - much like the spiffy gas gauges that report   
   how many miles you can go on the quantity in the tank.  Maybe if I   
   drive faster, I can get to the gas station before I run out   ;-)   
      
           Old guy   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)