back to article If I get hit by a bus, Linux will go on just fine says Linus Torvalds

Just a few days after asking the Linux community to let him take a break, Linus Torvalds has said the project he kicked off 1991 can now get along without him. He was, characteristically, blunt in his recent interview with Bloomberg, saying Linux would survive his death. What he told the newswire's passenger-door-smeared …

  1. Number6

    Size?

    So would that be a 32-bit or 64-bit bus? Or is he going to survive until the next big leap in size?

    1. Fungus Bob

      Re: Size?

      Neither, it would be a General Purpose Interface Bus.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Size?

      Stallman just ordered a used double-decker bus off eBay.

  2. This post has been deleted by its author

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If you hand it over to Greg Kroah-Hartman, you might as well hand it over to Puttering

  4. 45RPM Silver badge

    What about other forms of death? Would Linux survive if Linus were to eat a poisoned Apple or fall out of a Windows? I think we should be told…

    1. Neil Barnes Silver badge

      But that's the good thing about Open Source - he has the choice...

      Now if it were Clippy:

      "I see you're trying to die. Would you like to be hit by a bus, eat a poisoned apple..."

      1. wowfood

        I see you're getting hit by a bus would you like help with that?

        no...

        I see you're getting run over would you like help with that?

        no...

        I see there's a tire going over your body would you like help with that?

        no...

        I see you're struggling to breath, would you like an ambulance

        no... no wait I meant yes, YES! COME BACK CLIPPY YOU BASTARD!!!

    2. Robert Carnegie Silver badge
      Joke

      Forked.

      Ouch.

  5. Clive Harris
    Linux

    No bus would DARE run over him

    (Originally said of Margaret Thatcher)

  6. Tromos

    Linux with Greg? Yeah, should be OK.

    Top Gear with Chris Evans? No chance.

  7. SecretSonOfHG

    Shut up and fix the video driver mess

    Just spent a few hours fighting with a laptop. One of those dual video cards. Can't make it work completely as it should. Please Linus, use your coercitive finger powers with ATI, nVidia and Intel and sort out this mess.

    1. Mystic Megabyte
      Linux

      Re: Shut up and fix the video driver mess

      I agree with you but it's not all bad.

      On my elderly laptop the "legacy" ATI card worked great up until Ubuntu 10.04 then regressed with 12.04 and now works nicely again with 14.04. It's never going to be good for gaming but I'm not bothered about that.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Shut up and fix the video driver mess

        Well said.

        Gaming is not the be-all and end-all of the computer world. Personally I don't give a shit about Computer Gaming (GTA , FPS shootemups etc).

        I do like some of the hardware that is supposedly 'gaming' just because it breaks the mould of 1366x768 , dual core CPU devices that seem to be 90% if the market these days.

        Now if I could get a luggable with 64Gb RAM, 3TB of SSD, 4K screen and at least 6 cores I'd be happy.

    2. Nigel 11

      Re: Shut up and fix the video driver mess

      Intel?

      My experience is that Intel graphics hardware works well with Linux, and that's because Intel have been very supportive of Linux for quite a few years. Of course, Intel graphics hardware isn't the fastest, should you actually need high performance by today's definitions thereof.

      NVidia are still sticking to their closed-source binary blob. When it works it works well, but when it doesn't work with your current kernel / distro / whatever, you are stuffed. Good route to upgrade hell as well. I buy these only if there's a good reason to (most often, a package demanding a CUDA-capable GPGPU to run at all or to run much faster). I sometimes wonder if they won't go open-source because when the card isn't doing your graphics, it's pillaging the internals of your PC on behalf of some three-letter agency! (yes I know ... more prosaically, they don't want to tip off whoever owns the IP that their hardware is arguably infringing).

      ATI were late to the open-source party. Don't know how they are getting on, nothing I look after uses ATI.

      Quite often, what's described as graphics driver problems is actually problems in Gnome / KDE / whatever (user mode code). Nothing to do with the Linux kernel or driver, but rather with the desktop project or your distro's packaging thereof.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Shut up and fix the video driver mess

        >My experience is that Intel graphics hardware should be disabled in the bios and either a real video card should be purchased or if its a laptop should be avoided.

        FIFY.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Shut up and fix the video driver mess

      It's open source, isn't it? I thought the idea was if you had a problem with something, you get the source code and fix it....or are you just wanting someone else to do all the work for you, and you want to have it for free?

      1. Alister

        Re: Shut up and fix the video driver mess

        It's open source, isn't it? I thought the idea was if you had a problem with something, you get the source code and fix it.

        You're probably trolling, but I'll bite.

        The source code for the video drivers for Nvidia and certain AMD (ATI) cards is not made available by the manufacturers, and therefore users of those cards are unable to "get the source code and fix it".

        or are you just wanting someone else to do all the work for you, and you want to have it for free?

        Linux users have just the same expectation as Windows and MAC users - manufacturers should provide support for their hardware and the software to make it work. They do it for free for Windows drivers, so why not Linux?

        1. Hans Neeson-Bumpsadese Silver badge

          Re: Shut up and fix the video driver mess

          Linux users have just the same expectation as Windows and MAC users - manufacturers should provide support for their hardware and the software to make it work. They do it for free for Windows drivers, so why not Linux?

          If the box that the graphics card comes in has a "Suitable for Linux" sticker on it next to the "Suitable for Windows" sticker, then fair point. If not, then a Linux user shouldn't be arguing that a bit of hardware isn't working with an operating system that the manufacturer has not claimed to be compatible with.

          Looking at the first box I see on the shelf next to me, I see claims of Windows compatibility, but not for any other O/S

  8. Jim 59

    Good News Everyone!

    The systemd team will take over.

    1. Chris Daemon

      Re: Good News Everyone!

      That was uncalled for... you should not joke about such serious matter.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Good News Everyone!

        Already largely happened in the GNU/Linux world. Red Hat and Poettering would love to get his hooks into Android as well. kdbus for everyone now. Down with the GPL.

  9. Alister
    Joke

    Breaking news!

    Lennart Poettering was glimpsed today leaving the offices of a coach hire business.

    1. Gene Cash Silver badge

      Re: Breaking news!

      I was about to say Linus could have REALLY trolled everybody by saying "oh, Lennart Poettering can take over for me just fine!"

      Heads would have exploded everywhere.

  10. CABVolunteer

    What flamewar?

    "Nor is he mellowing in his political attitudes: “I find people who think open-source is anti-capitalism to be kind of naive and slightly stupid,” he's reported to have said. Which should get another flamewar with Richard “it's GNU/Linux” Stallman going nicely."

    Why would Richard Stallman take umbrage at that statement?

    1. Rippy

      Re: What flamewar?

      I'm fairly sure Richard would agree with the "kind of naive and slightly stupid", but would take umbrage at the article for attributing the whole GNU/Linux ecosystem to Linus.

  11. Phil Lord

    He wouldn't. But then he's not "GNU/Linux" either. The article just is not very accurate there.

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