Colin Ian King
@colinianking.bsky.social
kernel bug fixer, Open Source advocate, C64 and Lego fanatic, hobbyist artist. Author of stress-ng.
Reposted by Colin Ian King
While cleaning a storage room, our staff found this tape containing #unix v4 from Bell Labs, circa 1973
Apparently no other complete copies are known to exist: https://gunkies.org/wiki/UNIX_Fourth_Edition
We have arranged to deliver it to the Computer History Museum
#retrocomputing
Apparently no other complete copies are known to exist: https://gunkies.org/wiki/UNIX_Fourth_Edition
We have arranged to deliver it to the Computer History Museum
#retrocomputing
November 6, 2025 at 8:50 PM
While cleaning a storage room, our staff found this tape containing #unix v4 from Bell Labs, circa 1973
Apparently no other complete copies are known to exist: https://gunkies.org/wiki/UNIX_Fourth_Edition
We have arranged to deliver it to the Computer History Museum
#retrocomputing
Apparently no other complete copies are known to exist: https://gunkies.org/wiki/UNIX_Fourth_Edition
We have arranged to deliver it to the Computer History Museum
#retrocomputing
Reposted by Colin Ian King
Today I helped build leaky dams at woods mill
Replicating beaver activity, they should filter water and create small pools during heavy downpours
@sussexwildlife.bsky.social
Replicating beaver activity, they should filter water and create small pools during heavy downpours
@sussexwildlife.bsky.social
November 6, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Today I helped build leaky dams at woods mill
Replicating beaver activity, they should filter water and create small pools during heavy downpours
@sussexwildlife.bsky.social
Replicating beaver activity, they should filter water and create small pools during heavy downpours
@sussexwildlife.bsky.social
Reposted by Colin Ian King
Sussex Wildlife Trust celebrates success in legal battle to stop Marine Conservation Zone dumping as licence is quashed
sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/sussex-...
Short-snouted Seahorse © Paul Naylor
sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/sussex-...
Short-snouted Seahorse © Paul Naylor
November 7, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Sussex Wildlife Trust celebrates success in legal battle to stop Marine Conservation Zone dumping as licence is quashed
sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/sussex-...
Short-snouted Seahorse © Paul Naylor
sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/sussex-...
Short-snouted Seahorse © Paul Naylor
I'm pleased to announce a new V0.19.06 release of stress-ng. The source has been analysed using AI tools and I've fixed over 800 small buglets to corner cases, typos, comment updates, bugging API usage and resource leaks. github.com/ColinIanKing...
Release stress-ng 0.19.06 "refreshed kernel agitator" · ColinIanKing/stress-ng
This release contains many minor fixes found with AI bug analysis tools, it is primarily a bug fix release.
New options:
--oom-no-child to remove OOM child wrapper, less overhead, more OOM deaths
-...
github.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:17 PM
I'm pleased to announce a new V0.19.06 release of stress-ng. The source has been analysed using AI tools and I've fixed over 800 small buglets to corner cases, typos, comment updates, bugging API usage and resource leaks. github.com/ColinIanKing...
Reposted by Colin Ian King
As a hobby project I put a neural network in the Linux kernel scheduler using sched_ext and it actually works, at least for the workload it was trained on. :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywW8...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywW8...
I put a neural network in the Linux kernel scheduler
YouTube video by arighi_linux
www.youtube.com
October 23, 2025 at 5:13 AM
As a hobby project I put a neural network in the Linux kernel scheduler using sched_ext and it actually works, at least for the workload it was trained on. :)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywW8...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywW8...
Reposted by Colin Ian King
Intel's Open-Source Strategy Is Changing At Odds With The Ethos Of Open-Source - https://www.phoronix.com/review/intel-open-source-2025
Intel's Open-Source Strategy Is Changing At Odds With The Ethos Of Open-Source
For the past 21+ years of running Phoronix and even longer than that being a Linux user, I have loved and consistently promoted Intel's open-source efforts and leading Linux support. Even through Intel's difficult periods of delayed and stagnate hardware launches, what had remained consistent at the company and rather legendary had been their open-source contributions. From the Linux kernel to compiler toolchains and hundreds -- if not thousands -- of different open-source projects over the past two decades have been advanced thanks to Intel's open-source leadership. It is with much sadness that my faith and confidence in Intel's open-source leadership position is being questioned and questioning the direction they are now apparently steering their open-source focus/philosophy moving forward.
www.phoronix.com
October 9, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Intel's Open-Source Strategy Is Changing At Odds With The Ethos Of Open-Source - https://www.phoronix.com/review/intel-open-source-2025
Oh dear: www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-D...
Many Debian/Ubuntu Packages For Intel Accelerators & Other Intel Software Have Been Orphaned
In addition to some Intel Linux kernel drivers being 'orphaned' following the corporate restructuring at Intel between developers being laid off and others deciding to pursue opportunities elsewhere, ...
www.phoronix.com
October 4, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Oh dear: www.phoronix.com/news/Intel-D...
Reposted by Colin Ian King
“Our investigation uncovered that an elected MEP was taking payments to peddle narratives beneficial to Russian interests... This case goes to the heart of our democratic values.”
— head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, Commander Dominic Murphy
— head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, Commander Dominic Murphy
🚨 This is serious. Ex Reform UK leader in Wales, Nathan Gill, 52, pleads guilty to accepting bribes in exchange for making pro-Russia statements in the European Parliament when serving as a UKIP MEP.
Ex-Reform leader pleads guilty to Pro-Russia bribery charges
The former leader of Reform UK in Wales has pleaded guilty to numerous bribery charges relating to pro-Russian statements.
caerphilly.observer
September 27, 2025 at 9:58 AM
“Our investigation uncovered that an elected MEP was taking payments to peddle narratives beneficial to Russian interests... This case goes to the heart of our democratic values.”
— head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, Commander Dominic Murphy
— head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, Commander Dominic Murphy
Reposted by Colin Ian King
This was a lot of fun to film
Take two minutes of peace with this beautiful film by
@amykingwild.bsky.social featuring @clareblencowe.bsky.social buff.ly/a3Qnjr0
#fungi #autumn #mycelium #Sussex
@amykingwild.bsky.social featuring @clareblencowe.bsky.social buff.ly/a3Qnjr0
#fungi #autumn #mycelium #Sussex
Woods Mill's Fungi
It's that time of year - look what's coming up through the forest floor.
A short film created by Amy King with the voice of Clare Blencowe.
Filmed at Woods Mill Nature Reserve, near Henfield.…
buff.ly
September 27, 2025 at 11:54 AM
This was a lot of fun to film
Reposted by Colin Ian King
It was a great honor to speak at @kernelrecipes.bsky.social again this year. This conference is always a rich source of inspiration, I'm going back home full of new ideas... and lots of work to do. :)
To all kernel folk: don't miss it next year! #kr2025
To all kernel folk: don't miss it next year! #kr2025
September 25, 2025 at 10:24 AM
It was a great honor to speak at @kernelrecipes.bsky.social again this year. This conference is always a rich source of inspiration, I'm going back home full of new ideas... and lots of work to do. :)
To all kernel folk: don't miss it next year! #kr2025
To all kernel folk: don't miss it next year! #kr2025
..and some tech news: www.phoronix.com/news/Colin-K...
Intel Loses Another Prominent Linux Engineer - Now Going To NVIDIA
In the past few months at Intel between layoffs / corporate reorganizations and some deciding to pursue job opportunities elsewhere, there have been unfortunate impacts to their Linux engineering reso...
www.phoronix.com
September 13, 2025 at 3:27 PM
..and some tech news: www.phoronix.com/news/Colin-K...
UK's bombers were sturdy old things, for example the Handley Page Victor Flying could fly inverted: www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7R9...
INSANE Manoeuvre Handley Page Victor Flying Inverted!
YouTube video by Mike Barnett Aviation
www.youtube.com
September 1, 2025 at 9:18 AM
UK's bombers were sturdy old things, for example the Handley Page Victor Flying could fly inverted: www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7R9...
preparing stress-ng 0.19.04 September release...
September 1, 2025 at 9:04 AM
preparing stress-ng 0.19.04 September release...
I see wilful ignorance is wrecking the United States at the moment: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
White House fires CDC director as other officials resign
Lawyers for Dr Susan Monarez say she is being targeted for refusing
www.bbc.co.uk
August 28, 2025 at 9:06 AM
I see wilful ignorance is wrecking the United States at the moment: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Useful C6 state info for Xeons: github.com/intel/pepc/b...
github.com
August 19, 2025 at 8:16 AM
Useful C6 state info for Xeons: github.com/intel/pepc/b...
Discovered deepwiki today, it can analyse code in git repos and help one to understand the overall functionality of a codebase. For example: deepwiki.com/ColinIanKing...
ColinIanKing/stress-ng | DeepWiki
stress-ng is a comprehensive system stress testing tool designed to exercise various physical subsystems of a computer system as well as different operating system kernel interfaces. It provides over
deepwiki.com
August 13, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Discovered deepwiki today, it can analyse code in git repos and help one to understand the overall functionality of a codebase. For example: deepwiki.com/ColinIanKing...
I'm pretty sure it's a waste of time for the BBC news to fact check what Trump is saying for most folk who have a brain.
August 12, 2025 at 9:47 AM
I'm pretty sure it's a waste of time for the BBC news to fact check what Trump is saying for most folk who have a brain.
Reposted by Colin Ian King
I am half convinced that solar panels are magic. What do you mean that I can charge my laptop, phone and cameras using the power of the #sun
August 9, 2025 at 5:47 PM
I am half convinced that solar panels are magic. What do you mean that I can charge my laptop, phone and cameras using the power of the #sun
Reposted by Colin Ian King
Turbostat Now Displays CPU L3 Cache Topology Information - https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.17-Turbostat
Turbostat Now Displays CPU L3 Cache Topology Information
Ahead of the Linux 6.17-rc1 release due out in the coming hours, the Turbostat updates for that tool living within the kernel source tree were merged...
www.phoronix.com
August 10, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Turbostat Now Displays CPU L3 Cache Topology Information - https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.17-Turbostat
While futzing around with a new stress-ng memory mapping stressor I discovered I can mmap a page but can't mumap it(!), see bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi...
Making sure you're not a bot!
bugzilla.kernel.org
August 4, 2025 at 12:03 PM
While futzing around with a new stress-ng memory mapping stressor I discovered I can mmap a page but can't mumap it(!), see bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi...
stress-ng V0.19.03 has been released. A few more new options, clean-ups to the manual, porting improvements and misc bug fixes. Release notes here: github.com/ColinIanKing...
Release stress-ng V0.19.03 "savvy system smasher" · ColinIanKing/stress-ng
Improvements
More progress feedback when sending ^C (SIGINT)
Clean up manual
Improved portability
New Options
--spinmem-yield - force sched_yield() calls in spinmem loops
--ioport-port - specify ...
github.com
August 1, 2025 at 9:18 AM
stress-ng V0.19.03 has been released. A few more new options, clean-ups to the manual, porting improvements and misc bug fixes. Release notes here: github.com/ColinIanKing...
Reposted by Colin Ian King
Farewell Shunsaku Tamiya: The Man Who Gave Us The Best Things To Build
Farewell Shunsaku Tamiya: The Man Who Gave Us The Best Things To Build
In the formative experiences of most Hackaday readers there will almost certainly be a number of common threads, for example the ownership of a particular game console, or being inspired …read more
hackaday.com
July 31, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Farewell Shunsaku Tamiya: The Man Who Gave Us The Best Things To Build
Just pre-release testing stress-ng on a Windows system using WSL and stress-ng made Windows 11 reboot. Yay.
July 25, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Just pre-release testing stress-ng on a Windows system using WSL and stress-ng made Windows 11 reboot. Yay.
Reposted by Colin Ian King
Eek!
Think I've been spotted! We regularly get a Red Kite over our North Horsham garden nowadays. @sussexwildlife.bsky.social #redkite #Horsham #birds
July 21, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Eek!