Historically on EC2, neither Debian nor Ubuntu have had completely Debian and Ubuntu stacks from the kernel up. Instead, we've had to make do with patching the runtime on top of older kernels (2.6.16, 2.6.18, 2.6.21) built for other distros (Fedora Core). Amazingly, we've managed to hold this together and keep it running well for a couple years on EC2.

When the point comes where I am not publishing the base Ubuntu server AMIs, it will not make sense for me to publish new Debian AMIs either.

The presentation shows how Google has simply thrown 5-10 years of Linux userspace evolution into the trashcan and re-implemented it partially for no reason. Things like hard-coded device lists/permissions in object code rather than config files, the lack of support for hot-plugging devices (udev), the lack of kernel headers. A libc that throws away System V IPC that every unix/Linux software developer takes for granted. The lack of complete POSIX threads. I could continue this list, but hey, you should read those slides. now!

#!/bin/sh
# Copyright (C) 2006-2009 Nokia Corporation
#
# This is proprietary software owned by Nokia Corporation.
#
# Contact: Maemo Integration <integration@maemo.org>
# Version: $Revision: 1110 $

Transparent SQL Cache

Imagine a proxy listening on 127.0.0.1:3306, receiving SQL Queries. Any query that was "SELECT .." could return the result from a local cache for the appropriate table. Any query of the form "UPDATE" or "INSERT" would flush all caches for the table. Should be near-trivial: Hash the incoming query & parameters via SHA1sum to get a unique key then store/lookup results in Memcached. Would it be useful? I think so, but of course it depends on the application and the effort involved.

"Global status"

A single site that would rebroadcast a posted (short) status message to facebook/twitter/your chat client/etc/etc. Hard part would be receiving comments from the sites it re-served to. Scraping statuses from facebook is hard, not sure about twitter.

   
build-area/
    libcgi-application-basic-plugin-bundle-perl-0.5/
        debian/
            [all the standard stuff: control, rules, etc.]
        tarballs/
            CGI-Application-Dispatch-2.16.tar.gz
            CGI-Application-Plugin-AutoRunmode-0.16.tar.gz
            CGI-Application-Plugin-ConfigAuto-1.31.tar.gz
            ...
            [rest of modules]

   
3.0 (quilt)

   
<package name>_<package version>.orig-<upstream tarball name with .'s replaced by -'s>.tar.gz

   
build-area/
    libcgi-application-basic-plugin-bundle-perl-0.5/
        debian/
            [all the standard stuff: control, rules, etc.]
    libcgi-application-basic-plugin-bundle-perl_0.5.orig-CGI-Application-Dispatch-2-16.tar.gz
    libcgi-application-basic-plugin-bundle-perl_0.5.orig-CGI-Application-Plugin-AutoRunmode-0-16.tar.gz
    libcgi-application-basic-plugin-bundle-perl_0.5.orig-CGI-Application-Plugin-ConfigAuto-1-31.tar.gz
    ...
    [rest of modules]
    libcgi-application-basic-plugin-bundle-perl.orig.tar.gz

<form method="POST" action="/form-action">
  <a href="/anchor-target">
    <input type="button" value="harro">
  </a>
</form>

GET /anchor-target HTTP/1.1
GET /anchor-target HTTP/1.1

<form method="POST" action="/form-action">
  <a href="/anchor-target">
    <input type="image" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/75/LHC5.jpg">
  </a>
</form>

POST /form-action HTTP/1.1
GET /anchor-target HTTP/1.1
GET /anchor-target HTTP/1.1

• reducing the number of representatives (deputies and senators)
• transforming the Parliament from a two-chamber Parliament into a one chamber Parliament
  

1. reducing the number of representatives
• pros
• reducing costs
• minorities have a bigger influence (they can defend their rights - see comments for explanations)
  
• cons
• easier to corrupt (obtaining a corrupt 5% in a 300 seats parliament is easier than in a 500 seats parliament)
  
• minorities have a bigger influence (they are disproportionally powerful, in regard to the population they represent - see comments)
• absence of a representative with a big vote power could allow passing an abusive law (to pass a regular law there is a need of a majority relative to the number of present representatives, not the total number), but, in a numerous parliament, the absence of a person isn't that risky (other colleagues would be present to stop the abusive initiative)
2. one chamber instead of two
   
• pros
  
• faster processing of decisions
• less bureaucratic
  
• cons
  
• in the current system there can be a passive vote (law passes silently if not discussed) which has just one occasion to be caught, while in the current system silent passing is allowed only in one of the chambers, but needs to be discussed in the other
• there is a chance that one chamber might amend/catch abusive initiatives with "two chambers", but with "one chamber" there is one chance only
• more prone to power abuse
  

1. there will be a single list for both presidential elections and referendum and there will be a single column for signature to confirm your presence at vote
2. there will be one paper, but two columns for signatures
3. no matter what the list looks like, you'll be given both sets of ballots, but you can annul the one you don't want to vote on

1. a single signature covering for either of the vaiants "presidential vote only", "refrendum only", "both" asks for trouble because unused ballots in "only" variants might be added later to the valid votes as if they were expressed by voters; since there is no distinct count for each of the ballots to confront that with signatures, before the counting period one could use unused ballots and vote for you on the issue you didn't want to express an opinion on
   
2. informing on what to do in some cases such as "only" vote is essential to prevent fraud; e.g.: strike through the cell corresponding to the the election you don't want to express a vote on, instead of signing
   
3. giving the ballot unconditionally to everybody, leaving you to decide to annul it or not is abusive, because vote is not compulsory in Romania; more than that, this artificial presence burst (even with void votes) could end up validating the referendum since a 50%+1 presence is needed to pass Constitution modification, as we have here

1. favours fraud by allowing inside people to obtain untraceable/unaccounted ballots
2. preventing fraud isn't of any concern, it seems (and could be achieved)
   
3. forced voting might lead to validation of the referendum because the voting presence is sufficient, even if there are many annuled ballots
   

@expose("json")
@validate(validator_dispatcher, error_handler=api_validation_error)
def list_colours(self, filter=None, productID=None, maxResults=100, **kw):
    # Call API
    res = self.engine.list_colours(filter, productID, maxResults)
    # Return result
    return dict(r=res)

def webapi(func):
    def dict_wrap(*args, **kw):
        return dict(r=func(*args, **kw))
    return dict_wrap
# ...in the controller...
    @expose("json")
    @validate(validator_dispatcher, error_handler=api_validation_error)
    @webapi
    def list_colours(self, filter=None, productID=None, maxResults=100, **kw):
        # Call API
        res = self.engine.list_colours(filter, productID, maxResults)
        # Return result
        return res

class webapi(object):
    def __call__(self, func):
        def dict_wrap(*args, **kw):
            return dict(r=func(*args, **kw))
        # Migrate the decoration attribute to our new function
        if hasattr(func, 'decoration'):
            dict_wrap.decoration = func.decoration
            dict_wrap.decoration.controller = dict_wrap
            delattr(func, 'decoration')
        return dict_wrap
# ...in the controller...
    @expose("json")
    @validate(validator_dispatcher, error_handler=api_validation_error)
    @webapi
    def list_colours(self, filter=None, productID=None, maxResults=100, **kw):
        # Call API
        res = self.engine.list_colours(filter, productID, maxResults)
        # Return result
        return res

class before_validate(_hook_decorator):
    '''A list of callables to be run before validation is performed'''
    hook_name = 'before_validate'
class before_call(_hook_decorator):
    '''A list of callables to be run before the controller method is called'''
    hook_name = 'before_call'
class before_render(_hook_decorator):
    '''A list of callables to be run before the template is rendered'''
    hook_name = 'before_render'
class after_render(_hook_decorator):
    '''A list of callables to be run after the template is rendered.

    Will be run before it is returned returned up the WSGI stack'''
    hook_name = 'after_render'

class wisdom(decorators.before_render):
    def __init__(self, grammar):
        super(wisdom, self).__init__(self.add_wisdom)
        self.grammar = grammar
    def add_wisdom(self, remainder, params, output):
        from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
        output["wisdom"] = Popen(["polyrun", self.grammar], stdout=PIPE).communicate()[0]
# ...in the controller...
    @wisdom("genius")
    @expose("json")
    @validate(validator_dispatcher, error_handler=api_validation_error)
    def list_colours(self, filter=None, productID=None, maxResults=100, **kw):
        # Call API
        res = self.engine.list_colours(filter, productID, maxResults)
        # Return result
        return res

        controller.decoration.run_hooks(
                'before_render', remainder, params, output)

        output = controller.decoration.run_hooks(
                'before_render', remainder, params, output)

class webapi(object):
    def __init__(self, error_handler = None):
        self.error_handler = error_handler
    def __call__(self, func):
        def dict_wrap(*args, **kw):
            return dict(r=func(*args, **kw))
        res = expose("json")(dict_wrap)
        res = validate(validator_dispatcher, error_handler=self.error_handler)(res)
        return res
# ...in the controller...
    @expose("json")
    def api_validation_error(self, **kw):
        pylons.response.status = "400 Error"
        return dict(e="validation error on input fields", form_errors=pylons.c.form_errors)
    @webapi(error_handler=api_validation_error)
    def list_colours(self, filter=None, productID=None, maxResults=100, **kw):
        # Call API
        res = self.engine.list_colours(filter, productID, maxResults)
        # Return result
        return res

if this makes you uneasy, that's OK: ZFS provies a 'verify' option that performs a full comparison of every incoming block with any alleged duplicate to ensure that they really are the same

• Very robust and compact case. And thanks to a small fan being the only moving part inside, the EeePC 701 is also very robust against mobile use.
• Very pleasing always-in-my-daypack size (despite the 7" screen it s the typical 9" netbook size) and easily held with one hand.
• Black. No glossy display. Neither clear varnish nor piano laquer. Short: No bath room tile. Textured surface, small scratches don t stick out and don t matter.
• Debian (previously Lenny, now Sid) runs fine on it, even the webcam works out-of-the-box.
• Despite all those neat features, it was fscking cheap at that time. And it was available without Windows.

• There s power on the USB sockets even if the EeePC is turned off but the power supply is plugged in.
• The speakers are impressingly good and loud for their size. (But my demands with regards to audio are probably not too high, so audiophiles shouldn t run to ebay because of this. ;-)
• It has three external USB sockets.

• The small 7" 800 480 screen: I like small fonts and do most things inside a terminal anyway. And even with 800 480, those terminals are still much bigger than 80 25 characters. Only some applications and webpages have no heart for small screens.
• The small disk size: Quite a lot of programs fit on 4 GB of disk space. Additionally I use tmpfs a lot. And music and video files are either on a external 500 GB Western Digital 2.5" My Passport disk (which I need quite seldomly) or much more come via sshfs and IPv6 from my home server anyway. :-)
• The small keyboard: I just don t have any problems with the size or layout (right shift right of the cursor up key, etc.) of the keyboard. Well, maybe except that any standard sized keyboard feels extremely large after having used the EeePC exclusively for some weeks. ;-)
• The to 630 MHz underclocked 900 MHz Intel Celeron: It s enough for most of the things I do with the EeePC. Also the original 512 MB RAM are somehow ok, but for using tmpfs, but no swap space at all, 1 GB or 2 GB are surely the better choice.
• A battery runtime of 2.5h to 3h is fine for me.

• The n key needs to be pressed slighty stronger than other keys, otherwise no n appears. So if one of my texts in average misses more n than other letters, I typed it on the EeePC. ;-)
• Home, End, Page-Up, and Page-Down need the Fn key. This means that these keys can only be used with two hands (or oe very big hand and I have quite small hands). This is usually no problem and you get used to it. It s just annoying if you hold the EeePC with one hand and try to type with the other.
• What looks like a single mouse button is a seesaw and therefore two mouse buttons below one button. This makes it quite hard to press both at the same time, e.g. for emulating a middle mouse button press. It usually works in about half of all cases I tried it. My solution was to bind some key combination to emulate a middle mouse button in my window manager, ratpoison:

  bind y ratclick 2

  And that mouse button bar already fell off two times.
• The battery reports only in 10% steps, and reporting in percentage instead of mAh is an ACPI standard violation because reporting in percentage is only allowed for non-rechargable batteries. It also doesn t report any charging and discharging rates. But in the meanwhile nearly all battery meter can cope with these hardware bugs. This was quite a problem in the early days.
• Now, after approximately 1.5 years, the battery slowly fritzes: When charging there are often only seconds between 10% and 40%. Rigorously using up all power of the battery helped a little bit. Looks like some kind of memory effect althought the battery is labeled Li-Ion and not Ni-MH and Li-Ion batteries are said to have no memory effect.
• The SD card reader only works fine if you once completed the setup of the original firmware or set the corresponding BIOS switch appropriately. No idea why.