Dynamic Subspace

Category: Art

  • Tait Feed and Seed in Brunswick, GA

    a large plastic rat next to a wood sign that says Tait Feed & Seed, 50 years

    When I was visiting my folks a few weeks ago, one of our first stops was to Tait Feed and Seed in downtown Brunswick, Georgia. We needed to get three new blades for my dad’s 61″ cut Skag Tiger Cat II mower. We changed the blades and cut the grass twice while I was there. Even with such a wide cut, it takes about an hour and a half to cut the yard around their house, metal building, and the driveway from the gate, along the field, and to the house.

    an antique telephone mounted on a wall above a modern corded phone

    Besides the giant rat shown above, two other things caught my attention in the shop while we were there. First, they have an antique hand-crank phone stationed above their modern AT&T phone. Second, the Master Price List Replacement Parts catalog for Kut-Kwick mowers, which are designed and manufactured in Brunswick, reminded me of the first riding brush mower that I learned to use at Ellis Auto Parts on 341 Highway. I don’t know the year model, but the one I used many times was an updated version of this one from the 1960s.

  • How to Update Your Linux Kernel on Debian Bookworm 12 to the Latest Available on Backports

    terminal screen with system info: jason@desktop:~$ screenfetch | lolcat _,met$$$$$gg. jason@desktop ,g$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P. OS: Debian 12 bookworm ,g$$P"" """Y$$.". Kernel: x86_64 Linux 6.12.32+bpo-amd64 ,$$P' `$$$. Uptime: 10h 8m ',$$P ,ggs. `$$b: Packages: 2323 `d$$' ,$P"' . $$$ Shell: bash 5.2.15 $$P d$' , $$P Resolution: 1920x1080 $$: $$. - ,d$$' DE: Xfce $$\; Y$b._ _,d$P' WM: Xfwm4 Y$$. `.`"Y$$$$P"' WM Theme: Haiku-Alpha `$$b "-.__ GTK Theme: BeOS-r5-GTK-master [GTK2] `Y$$ Icon Theme: BeOS-r5-Icons-master `Y$$. Font: Swis721 BT 9 `$$b. Disk: 7.7T / 11T (75%) `Y$$b. CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700 8-Core @ 16x 5.389GHz `"Y$b._ GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090, NVIDIA RTX A4000, NVIDIA RTX A4000, NVIDIA RTX A4000 `"""" RAM: 9486MiB / 63916MiB

    If you’re like me, you might have newer computer hardware that isn’t fully supported by Linux kernel 6.1, which is installed with Debian Bookworm 12. Thankfully, Debian offers Backports, or newer software in testing in Trixie, the development name for Debian 13, that will eventually find its way into future Debian releases for use on an otherwise stable release of Bookworm.

    Updating to a newer kernel often brings more hardware compatibility. However, it’s important to remember that using a backport kernel can introduce potential compatibility issues with the software officially supported on Bookworm. Even if installing the latest kernel causes some issues, you can choose to boot from one of your older 6.1 kernels on your install as long as you don’t delete them (by using the apt autoremove command).

    I wrote this guide based on my experience installing Linux kernel 6.12 from Backports with the non-free firmware that my hardware needs to work. If you are trying to keep your system free from non-free software, you can omit those references in the instructions below.

    Before doing any changes to your Debian installation, remember to backup your files first. Saving important files in more than one media and storing it backups in different physical locations is best practice.

    After backing up your files, make sure your install is up-to-date with these commands:

    sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

    After those updates complete, it’s a good rule of thumb to do a reboot to begin working with a clean slate.

    Next, add Debian Backports to /etc/apt sources.list. I used vi to do this:

    sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list

    In vi, arrow down to the bottom line, type a lowercase “o” to add a blank line below the current line, type lowercase “i” to enter input mode, and type the following line into the document:

    deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm-backports main contrib non-free non-free-firmware

    After double checking the added line, press the “Esc” key, and type “:wq” to write the file and quit vi.

    Now, you need to update apt again:

    sudo apt update

    After the completes, enter this command to install the latest kernel from backports along with the kernel’s headers and firmware that might be needed for your hardware (such as networking card, video card drivers, etc.).

    sudo apt install -t bookworm-backports linux-image-amd64 linux-headers-amd64 firmware-misc-nonfree

    It might take awhile for the installation to complete. If there are no errors, it should return you to your terminal prompt. If it did, reboot your computer to load the new kernel.

    After your computer boots up again, you can verify that you are running the latest kernel by entering this command:

    uname -r

    After installing the latest kernel, my computer reports this from the uname -r command:

    6.12.32+bpo-amd64

  • A Workshop at Night Illuminated from Within

    a metal building workshop at night illuminated from within, 2 cars, a truck, and jeep are seen around or inside the building

    While I was working on my folks’ Toyota RAV4 one night a couple of weeks ago, I took this photo of their metal building.

    Next week, I’ll show off some of the things that I worked on and made while I was down there.

  • A House at Night Illuminated by Porch Light

    a barn roof house at night illuminated by porch light, trees in the background,

    After I moved the oak lumber and cement mixer off the porch of my folks’ house, I took this photo at night.

  • Hidden Skatepark in Nahunta, Georgia

    skatepark with small ramps and curbs for grinding, trees in the background

    Behind the Gold House Restaurant at 135 N Main St. in Nahunta, Georgia, there’s a small skatepark with mini ramps, curbs, and other surfaces to skate. It’s right on the edge of a thick wooded area.