I ran Slackware when it was on 400 floppies.  I ran the 1.x kernel.  I hacked channels on efnet in IRC for bragging rights.  I waited all day long for wavs to download from a BBS.  My game of choice used to be a MUD.

We grow up, we move on, and we get accustomed to a new standard.

It’s like that isn’t it?  As time goes on, the standard is raised higher and we grow accustomed to a base level.  Much like the 2.4 kernel was for Linux…it really moved things forward from previous kernels.  It’s like the high jump in track and field…jumping 5’8″ isn’t that big of deal…but once you hit 5’10″ and above, you’re sailing.

Linux has had a new standard go into effect in the past few years…mostly since 2007 and the 2.6.18 and above kernels.  We’ve come to expect more from our operating system and for good reason.  I for one, am glad that the standard is raised a notch with each iteration…it gives us something to aspire to.  It gives us measured steps from which to guage ourselves by.  Hopefully, with each step forward, improvement comes without regression.

Lately, I’ve become concerned about regression.  I’ve noticed quite a few major distributions are not able to boot a standard Dell Latitude laptop…some taking as long as 20 minutes to boot (yes, 20 minutes…I’m looking at you Fedora 10).  I can’t help but wonder, are we taking steps backwards?  Is this the portion of time where we take one step backward followed by 2 steps forward?  Or is this the time where the kernel becomes TOO big?  I hope it’s the former.  And I hope that my concern is misplaced.

Thinking of all these things and what I’ve become accustomed to…I don’t feel hardcore anymore.  And then I go and hack a python script to update twitter because I can and all is right again…I might as well be riding a Harley.

Just a few thoughts on this sleepless night…

I Used To Be Hardcore originally appeared on Yet Another Linux Blog on April 21, 2009.