Category: Nonfiction Books

General publishing announcements

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“OpenBSD Mastery: Filesystems” Status Report

I just finished the ‘non-native filesystems’ part of “OpenBSD Mastery: Filesystems.” I wouldn’t say I’ve finished the hard part, but I have finished the “intertwined to an unholy degree” part.

In the beginning, Berkely released Unix. This made a lot of vendors very angry and has widely been regarded as a bad move.

Why have I spent months on five chapters? Because everything in the core storage system of any Unix is intertwined to a nearly unholy degree. To understand filesystems you must understand partitioning, but to understand why Unix uses partitions as it does you need to understand filesystems. I have to meticulously disentangle facts so that I can start explanations at the bottom of the storage stack, but add in enough higher-level details exactly when you need them so you can make sense of why the bottom layers work as they do.

Otherwise, you’d look at computers and think “Wow, this whole thing is stupid.” Don’t get me wrong, the whole thing IS stupid, but it’s your job to understand the stupidity and I don’t need to be rubbing your nose in it.

Have I written on these before?

Yes, many times.

Does that make them easier to write?

BWAHAHAHAHA. No.

Can I use the earlier edition of Absolute OpenBSD to guide me?

Sure, except that the book is ten years old and every detail within is suspect and must be triple-checked against the current state of the software and oh by the way that book doesn’t even mention GPT or FUSE so burn it all down. AO2e is a checklist of things that will annoy me.

The good news is, the sections that remain are fairly tidy. They’re not standalone, but they are less incestuously intertwined with other topics.

  • NFS
  • iSCSI
  • softraid
  • encrypted storage

    The first two are mostly standalone, and are thus easier to write. Also, as an author I am highly grateful that OpenBSD does not support NFSv4.

    I’m going to push hard to get this done in the next few weeks. Which brings me to:

    Once that happens, sponsorships will close. If you want your name in the book, act now.

    • Posted on

    DNSSEC, Badgers, and Orcs, Oh My!

    Talk about one weeeird mass escape.

    DNSSEC Mastery, 2nd edition hardcovers, paperbacks, and ebooks should now be available everywhere, so that book’s officially out.

    Today is the official release date for Domesticate Your Badgers. I made this a pre-order, so it’s available in all formats everywhere. I don’t bother with preorders for tech books, but I wanted the Kickstarter backers to get a chance to have theirs in-hand before the general public could order it. It didn’t quite work that way–backer books have started to arrive in the last day or two–but they’re on their way so it’s not a complete failure.

    Last, the Fiction River anthology Broken Dreams comes out today. The author list includes my name. The book description says something about alternate history, in Detroit, with orcs. It’s at all major retailers, and a bunch of minor ones.

    If I had pushed, I could have released “Letters to ed(1)” today, but that’s too much even for me. A couple more weeks on that one. Consider yourself warned.

    Posted on

    Charity Auction: DNSSEC Mastery proof for Black Girls Code

    I have another unique physical artifact, which means it’s time for another charity auction.

    I’ve run auctions for the Soroptimists, the Ottawa Mission, and multiple ones for the FreeBSD and OpenBSD foundations. I’m a writer so I can’t give as much to charities as I would like, but I seem to have developed a knack for persuading other people to give to charity and that’s the same thing, right?

    I’m auctioning off the print proof of DNSSEC Mastery, 2nd edition.

    A proof is a prepublication version of a book, printed so the publisher can double check that the spine text is actually on the spine and the cover art is right side up and the correct words are on the proper pages and that the typesetter didn’t forget the commas. It’s stamped with a Not For Resale banner so unscrupulous folks can’t sell it ahead of time. Only one print proof of DNSSEC Mastery exists.

    I’ll sign this book, add a personalized note declaring that this tome was won at charity auction and thus demonstrates the winner’s sound moral and ethical character, and ship it by the best means available for $15 or less.

    This time, you’ll be supporting Black Girl Code. They do good work and have chapters all over the US, including here in Detroit, as well as South Africa.

    The auction rules are:

    Comment on this post to bid. All bids in US dollars. I advise bidders to click the “notify me of new comments by email” button, so they can see when they’re outbid.

    The auction runs from now until 5PM EST 28 February. If the bidding goes nuts in the last few minutes, I’ll leave it open until it settles down. There’s no sniping this auction at the last moment, as I want the bids to escalate.

    Once the auction closes, send your donation to BGC within two days.

    Send me your receipt. Once I have the receipt, I mail you the book.

    If you don’t donate within a few days, or don’t send me your receipt, the number two winner has their chance.

    As always, I must remind you that you don’t need to win a silly book to donate. You can be of sound character without a reward from me.

    Another auction will follow this one: the Domesticate your Badgers proof, for my alma madder the Clarion Foundation.

    Posted on

    New book: “Domesticate Your Badgers”

    The Kickstarter is over, backers and Patronizers have their ebooks, so I can now offer Domesticate Your Badgers: Become a Better Writer through Deliberate Practice to the rest of the world.

    Sort of.

    If you want to read it today, you can buy it directly from me at my bookstore. At all other stores, the ebook is on pre-order and will be released on 1 March 2022. The print book will be on pre-order shortly.

    Is this a lame scheme to steer readers to purchase directly from me? No. That’s merely a super convenient side effect.

    I want a chance to get Patronizers and Kickstarter backers who elected for print editions their copies before the book is broadly available. While the supply chain is still fubar and printers are backed up, I hope that I can get my print copies by March. That’s realistic but, you know, plague changes everything.

    If you’d rather pre-order from a big ebookstore, that’s fine. The DYB page has links for your convenience.

    I will say that of all the books I’ve released, this might be the prettiest. I wanted illustrations that ranged from “OMG adorable!” to “joyful WTF,” and Pamela Mosiejczuk knocked it out of the park.

    So: if you ask how I write all these books, I’ll point you at Domesticate Your Badgers.

    If you ask how I make a living writing books, I’ll point you at Cash Flow for Creators.

    Save yourself some trouble, and buy them both.

    Domesticate Your Badgers

    Posted on

    Kickstarter Campaign Results

    My small, low-risk trial of Kickstarter, where I hoped to raise $500? It 1768% funded.

    I guess there’s a demand for this book?

    My back-of-an-envelope math says that my total expenses will be about half of that. I’ll keep detailed notes, of course, but for a work with no obvious audience in a field where I’m not known, Kickstarter made writing DYB not a financial loss. Plus I’ve learned how Kickstarter works and how to assemble videos.

    DYB is due back from copyedit in mid-December. With anything resembling luck, I’ll have the ebook for backers and Patronizers before the end of the month. Print will take longer.

    My copyeditor has requested that I not send her two of my books simultaneously. (Other people’s sure. But not mine.) Once DYB returns, I’ll punt the DNSSEC over.

    Will I do another Kickstarter? I’ll probably Kickstart a short fiction collection next year. If that works, I might both Kickstart and sponsor the OpenBSD storage book.

    Now, if you’ll pardon me, I’m off to get BookFunnel integrated into my bookstore so I can send people some books…

    Posted on

    New Test System

    Now that “DNSSEC Mastery 2/e” is ready for copyedit, I can turn my attention to “OpenBSD Storage Mastery.”

    Back in 2014, I bought a machine for writing the ZFS books. Ten hard drives. 32 GB memory. Enough power supply to heat my office during a Michigan winter, which was great during Michigan winters and not so great in the summer. Fan noise that belonged in a datacenter. That machine’s now in the basement, ready for me to test things that require large amounts of storage.

    As of today I have a more modern system on my desk, running a current OpenBSD snapshot. Clean and simple, the way God and Dennis Ritchie intended.

    By unpopular request, here’s the details. It’s clean out of the box, I don’t even have tcsh installed yet, let alone my .cwmrc copied over.


    OpenBSD 7.0-current (GENERIC.MP) #132: Mon Nov 29 08:51:58 MST 2021
    deraadt@amd64.openbsd.org:/usr/src/sys/arch/amd64/compile/GENERIC.MP
    real mem = 33592328192 (32036MB)
    avail mem = 32558276608 (31049MB)
    random: good seed from bootblocks
    mpath0 at root
    scsibus0 at mpath0: 256 targets
    mainbus0 at root
    bios0 at mainbus0: SMBIOS rev. 3.3 @ 0xc6a02000 (72 entries)
    bios0: vendor American Megatrends Inc. version "2423" date 08/10/2021
    bios0: ASUS ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING
    acpi0 at bios0: ACPI 6.0
    acpi0: sleep states S0 S3 S4 S5
    acpi0: tables DSDT FACP IVRS SSDT SSDT SSDT FIDT FPDT MCFG HPET VFCT BGRT WPBT TPM2 SSDT CRAT CDIT SSDT SSDT SSDT WSMT APIC SSDT SSDT
    acpi0: wakeup devices X162(S4) GP17(S4) XHC0(S4) XHC1(S4) X161(S4) PTXH(S4) X1_1(S4) X1_2(S4) X1_3(S4) I225(S4) X162(S4) M2_2(S4)
    acpitimer0 at acpi0: 3579545 Hz, 32 bits
    acpimcfg0 at acpi0
    acpimcfg0: addr 0xf0000000, bus 0-127
    acpihpet0 at acpi0: 14318180 Hz
    acpimadt0 at acpi0 addr 0xfee00000: PC-AT compat
    cpu0 at mainbus0: apid 0 (boot processor)
    cpu0: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics, 3893.28 MHz, 19-50-00
    cpu0: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,PCLMUL,MWAIT,SSSE3,FMA3,CX16,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,MOVBE,POPCNT,AES,XSAVE,AVX,F16C,RDRAND,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,PAGE1GB,RDTSCP,LONG,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,TCE,TOPEXT,CPCTR,DBKP,PCTRL3,MWAITX,ITSC,FSGSBASE,BMI1,AVX2,SMEP,BMI2,ERMS,INVPCID,PQM,RDSEED,ADX,SMAP,CLFLUSHOPT,CLWB,SHA,UMIP,PKU,IBPB,IBRS,STIBP,SSBD,XSAVEOPT,XSAVEC,XGETBV1,XSAVES
    cpu0: 32KB 64b/line 8-way I-cache, 32KB 64b/line 8-way D-cache, 512KB 64b/line 8-way L2 cache
    cpu0: ITLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu0: DTLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu0: smt 0, core 0, package 0
    mtrr: Pentium Pro MTRR support, 8 var ranges, 88 fixed ranges
    cpu0: apic clock running at 99MHz
    cpu0: mwait min=64, max=64, C-substates=1.1, IBE
    cpu1 at mainbus0: apid 2 (application processor)
    cpu1: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics, 3892.69 MHz, 19-50-00
    cpu1: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,PCLMUL,MWAIT,SSSE3,FMA3,CX16,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,MOVBE,POPCNT,AES,XSAVE,AVX,F16C,RDRAND,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,PAGE1GB,RDTSCP,LONG,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,TCE,TOPEXT,CPCTR,DBKP,PCTRL3,MWAITX,ITSC,FSGSBASE,BMI1,AVX2,SMEP,BMI2,ERMS,INVPCID,PQM,RDSEED,ADX,SMAP,CLFLUSHOPT,CLWB,SHA,UMIP,PKU,IBPB,IBRS,STIBP,SSBD,XSAVEOPT,XSAVEC,XGETBV1,XSAVES
    cpu1: 32KB 64b/line 8-way I-cache, 32KB 64b/line 8-way D-cache, 512KB 64b/line 8-way L2 cache
    cpu1: ITLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu1: DTLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu1: smt 0, core 1, package 0
    cpu2 at mainbus0: apid 4 (application processor)
    cpu2: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics, 3892.70 MHz, 19-50-00
    cpu2: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,PCLMUL,MWAIT,SSSE3,FMA3,CX16,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,MOVBE,POPCNT,AES,XSAVE,AVX,F16C,RDRAND,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,PAGE1GB,RDTSCP,LONG,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,TCE,TOPEXT,CPCTR,DBKP,PCTRL3,MWAITX,ITSC,FSGSBASE,BMI1,AVX2,SMEP,BMI2,ERMS,INVPCID,PQM,RDSEED,ADX,SMAP,CLFLUSHOPT,CLWB,SHA,UMIP,PKU,IBPB,IBRS,STIBP,SSBD,XSAVEOPT,XSAVEC,XGETBV1,XSAVES
    cpu2: 32KB 64b/line 8-way I-cache, 32KB 64b/line 8-way D-cache, 512KB 64b/line 8-way L2 cache
    cpu2: ITLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu2: DTLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu2: smt 0, core 2, package 0
    cpu3 at mainbus0: apid 6 (application processor)
    cpu3: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics, 3892.69 MHz, 19-50-00
    cpu3: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,PCLMUL,MWAIT,SSSE3,FMA3,CX16,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,MOVBE,POPCNT,AES,XSAVE,AVX,F16C,RDRAND,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,PAGE1GB,RDTSCP,LONG,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,TCE,TOPEXT,CPCTR,DBKP,PCTRL3,MWAITX,ITSC,FSGSBASE,BMI1,AVX2,SMEP,BMI2,ERMS,INVPCID,PQM,RDSEED,ADX,SMAP,CLFLUSHOPT,CLWB,SHA,UMIP,PKU,IBPB,IBRS,STIBP,SSBD,XSAVEOPT,XSAVEC,XGETBV1,XSAVES
    cpu3: 32KB 64b/line 8-way I-cache, 32KB 64b/line 8-way D-cache, 512KB 64b/line 8-way L2 cache
    cpu3: ITLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu3: DTLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu3: smt 0, core 3, package 0
    cpu4 at mainbus0: apid 8 (application processor)
    cpu4: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics, 3892.69 MHz, 19-50-00
    cpu4: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,PCLMUL,MWAIT,SSSE3,FMA3,CX16,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,MOVBE,POPCNT,AES,XSAVE,AVX,F16C,RDRAND,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,PAGE1GB,RDTSCP,LONG,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,TCE,TOPEXT,CPCTR,DBKP,PCTRL3,MWAITX,ITSC,FSGSBASE,BMI1,AVX2,SMEP,BMI2,ERMS,INVPCID,PQM,RDSEED,ADX,SMAP,CLFLUSHOPT,CLWB,SHA,UMIP,PKU,IBPB,IBRS,STIBP,SSBD,XSAVEOPT,XSAVEC,XGETBV1,XSAVES
    cpu4: 32KB 64b/line 8-way I-cache, 32KB 64b/line 8-way D-cache, 512KB 64b/line 8-way L2 cache
    cpu4: ITLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu4: DTLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu4: smt 0, core 4, package 0
    cpu5 at mainbus0: apid 10 (application processor)
    cpu5: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics, 3892.69 MHz, 19-50-00
    cpu5: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,PCLMUL,MWAIT,SSSE3,FMA3,CX16,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,MOVBE,POPCNT,AES,XSAVE,AVX,F16C,RDRAND,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,PAGE1GB,RDTSCP,LONG,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,TCE,TOPEXT,CPCTR,DBKP,PCTRL3,MWAITX,ITSC,FSGSBASE,BMI1,AVX2,SMEP,BMI2,ERMS,INVPCID,PQM,RDSEED,ADX,SMAP,CLFLUSHOPT,CLWB,SHA,UMIP,PKU,IBPB,IBRS,STIBP,SSBD,XSAVEOPT,XSAVEC,XGETBV1,XSAVES
    cpu5: 32KB 64b/line 8-way I-cache, 32KB 64b/line 8-way D-cache, 512KB 64b/line 8-way L2 cache
    cpu5: ITLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu5: DTLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu5: smt 0, core 5, package 0
    cpu6 at mainbus0: apid 1 (application processor)
    cpu6: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics, 3892.69 MHz, 19-50-00
    cpu6: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,PCLMUL,MWAIT,SSSE3,FMA3,CX16,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,MOVBE,POPCNT,AES,XSAVE,AVX,F16C,RDRAND,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,PAGE1GB,RDTSCP,LONG,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,TCE,TOPEXT,CPCTR,DBKP,PCTRL3,MWAITX,ITSC,FSGSBASE,BMI1,AVX2,SMEP,BMI2,ERMS,INVPCID,PQM,RDSEED,ADX,SMAP,CLFLUSHOPT,CLWB,SHA,UMIP,PKU,IBPB,IBRS,STIBP,SSBD,XSAVEOPT,XSAVEC,XGETBV1,XSAVES
    cpu6: 32KB 64b/line 8-way I-cache, 32KB 64b/line 8-way D-cache, 512KB 64b/line 8-way L2 cache
    cpu6: ITLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu6: DTLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu6: smt 1, core 0, package 0
    cpu7 at mainbus0: apid 3 (application processor)
    cpu7: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics, 3892.69 MHz, 19-50-00
    cpu7: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,PCLMUL,MWAIT,SSSE3,FMA3,CX16,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,MOVBE,POPCNT,AES,XSAVE,AVX,F16C,RDRAND,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,PAGE1GB,RDTSCP,LONG,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,TCE,TOPEXT,CPCTR,DBKP,PCTRL3,MWAITX,ITSC,FSGSBASE,BMI1,AVX2,SMEP,BMI2,ERMS,INVPCID,PQM,RDSEED,ADX,SMAP,CLFLUSHOPT,CLWB,SHA,UMIP,PKU,IBPB,IBRS,STIBP,SSBD,XSAVEOPT,XSAVEC,XGETBV1,XSAVES
    cpu7: 32KB 64b/line 8-way I-cache, 32KB 64b/line 8-way D-cache, 512KB 64b/line 8-way L2 cache
    cpu7: ITLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu7: DTLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu7: smt 1, core 1, package 0
    cpu8 at mainbus0: apid 5 (application processor)
    cpu8: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics, 3892.69 MHz, 19-50-00
    cpu8: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,PCLMUL,MWAIT,SSSE3,FMA3,CX16,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,MOVBE,POPCNT,AES,XSAVE,AVX,F16C,RDRAND,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,PAGE1GB,RDTSCP,LONG,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,TCE,TOPEXT,CPCTR,DBKP,PCTRL3,MWAITX,ITSC,FSGSBASE,BMI1,AVX2,SMEP,BMI2,ERMS,INVPCID,PQM,RDSEED,ADX,SMAP,CLFLUSHOPT,CLWB,SHA,UMIP,PKU,IBPB,IBRS,STIBP,SSBD,XSAVEOPT,XSAVEC,XGETBV1,XSAVES
    cpu8: 32KB 64b/line 8-way I-cache, 32KB 64b/line 8-way D-cache, 512KB 64b/line 8-way L2 cache
    cpu8: ITLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu8: DTLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu8: smt 1, core 2, package 0
    cpu9 at mainbus0: apid 7 (application processor)
    cpu9: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics, 3892.69 MHz, 19-50-00
    cpu9: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,PCLMUL,MWAIT,SSSE3,FMA3,CX16,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,MOVBE,POPCNT,AES,XSAVE,AVX,F16C,RDRAND,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,PAGE1GB,RDTSCP,LONG,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,TCE,TOPEXT,CPCTR,DBKP,PCTRL3,MWAITX,ITSC,FSGSBASE,BMI1,AVX2,SMEP,BMI2,ERMS,INVPCID,PQM,RDSEED,ADX,SMAP,CLFLUSHOPT,CLWB,SHA,UMIP,PKU,IBPB,IBRS,STIBP,SSBD,XSAVEOPT,XSAVEC,XGETBV1,XSAVES
    cpu9: 32KB 64b/line 8-way I-cache, 32KB 64b/line 8-way D-cache, 512KB 64b/line 8-way L2 cache
    cpu9: ITLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu9: DTLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu9: smt 1, core 3, package 0
    cpu10 at mainbus0: apid 9 (application processor)
    cpu10: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics, 3892.69 MHz, 19-50-00
    cpu10: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,PCLMUL,MWAIT,SSSE3,FMA3,CX16,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,MOVBE,POPCNT,AES,XSAVE,AVX,F16C,RDRAND,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,PAGE1GB,RDTSCP,LONG,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,TCE,TOPEXT,CPCTR,DBKP,PCTRL3,MWAITX,ITSC,FSGSBASE,BMI1,AVX2,SMEP,BMI2,ERMS,INVPCID,PQM,RDSEED,ADX,SMAP,CLFLUSHOPT,CLWB,SHA,UMIP,PKU,IBPB,IBRS,STIBP,SSBD,XSAVEOPT,XSAVEC,XGETBV1,XSAVES
    cpu10: 32KB 64b/line 8-way I-cache, 32KB 64b/line 8-way D-cache, 512KB 64b/line 8-way L2 cache
    cpu10: ITLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu10: DTLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu10: smt 1, core 4, package 0
    cpu11 at mainbus0: apid 11 (application processor)
    cpu11: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G with Radeon Graphics, 3892.69 MHz, 19-50-00
    cpu11: FPU,VME,DE,PSE,TSC,MSR,PAE,MCE,CX8,APIC,SEP,MTRR,PGE,MCA,CMOV,PAT,PSE36,CFLUSH,MMX,FXSR,SSE,SSE2,HTT,SSE3,PCLMUL,MWAIT,SSSE3,FMA3,CX16,SSE4.1,SSE4.2,MOVBE,POPCNT,AES,XSAVE,AVX,F16C,RDRAND,NXE,MMXX,FFXSR,PAGE1GB,RDTSCP,LONG,LAHF,CMPLEG,SVM,EAPICSP,AMCR8,ABM,SSE4A,MASSE,3DNOWP,OSVW,IBS,SKINIT,TCE,TOPEXT,CPCTR,DBKP,PCTRL3,MWAITX,ITSC,FSGSBASE,BMI1,AVX2,SMEP,BMI2,ERMS,INVPCID,PQM,RDSEED,ADX,SMAP,CLFLUSHOPT,CLWB,SHA,UMIP,PKU,IBPB,IBRS,STIBP,SSBD,XSAVEOPT,XSAVEC,XGETBV1,XSAVES
    cpu11: 32KB 64b/line 8-way I-cache, 32KB 64b/line 8-way D-cache, 512KB 64b/line 8-way L2 cache
    cpu11: ITLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu11: DTLB 64 4KB entries fully associative, 64 4MB entries fully associative
    cpu11: smt 1, core 5, package 0
    ioapic0 at mainbus0: apid 13 pa 0xfec00000, version 21, 24 pins
    ioapic1 at mainbus0: apid 14 pa 0xfec01000, version 21, 32 pins
    acpiprt0 at acpi0: bus 0 (PCI0)
    acpiprt1 at acpi0: bus -1 (GPP6)
    acpiprt2 at acpi0: bus -1 (GPP7)
    acpiprt3 at acpi0: bus -1 (GPP8)
    acpiprt4 at acpi0: bus -1 (GPP9)
    acpiprt5 at acpi0: bus 8 (GP17)
    acpiprt6 at acpi0: bus -1 (GPP0)
    acpiprt7 at acpi0: bus -1 (GP18)
    acpiprt8 at acpi0: bus 7 (GPP4)
    acpiprt9 at acpi0: bus -1 (GPP5)
    acpiprt10 at acpi0: bus 1 (GPP3)
    acpipci0 at acpi0 PCI0: 0x00000010 0x00000011 0x00000000
    acpicmos0 at acpi0
    acpibtn0 at acpi0: PWRB
    amdgpio0 at acpi0 GPIO uid 0 addr 0xfed81500/0x400 irq 7, 184 pins
    tpm0 at acpi0 TPM_: unsupported TPM2 start method
    "ACPI0010" at acpi0 not configured
    acpicpu0 at acpi0: C3(0@350 io@0x415), C2(0@18 io@0x414), C1(0@1 mwait), PSS
    acpicpu1 at acpi0: C3(0@350 io@0x415), C2(0@18 io@0x414), C1(0@1 mwait), PSS
    acpicpu2 at acpi0: C3(0@350 io@0x415), C2(0@18 io@0x414), C1(0@1 mwait), PSS
    acpicpu3 at acpi0: C3(0@350 io@0x415), C2(0@18 io@0x414), C1(0@1 mwait), PSS
    acpicpu4 at acpi0: C3(0@350 io@0x415), C2(0@18 io@0x414), C1(0@1 mwait), PSS
    acpicpu5 at acpi0: C3(0@350 io@0x415), C2(0@18 io@0x414), C1(0@1 mwait), PSS
    acpicpu6 at acpi0: C3(0@350 io@0x415), C2(0@18 io@0x414), C1(0@1 mwait), PSS
    acpicpu7 at acpi0: C3(0@350 io@0x415), C2(0@18 io@0x414), C1(0@1 mwait), PSS
    acpicpu8 at acpi0: C3(0@350 io@0x415), C2(0@18 io@0x414), C1(0@1 mwait), PSS
    acpicpu9 at acpi0: C3(0@350 io@0x415), C2(0@18 io@0x414), C1(0@1 mwait), PSS
    acpicpu10 at acpi0: C3(0@350 io@0x415), C2(0@18 io@0x414), C1(0@1 mwait), PSS
    acpicpu11 at acpi0: C3(0@350 io@0x415), C2(0@18 io@0x414), C1(0@1 mwait), PSS
    "AMDIF030" at acpi0 not configured
    "PNP0C14" at acpi0 not configured
    "PNP0C14" at acpi0 not configured
    "PNP0C14" at acpi0 not configured
    "PNP0C14" at acpi0 not configured
    "PNP0C14" at acpi0 not configured
    cpu0: 3893 MHz: speeds: 3900 1700 1400 MHz
    pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0
    ksmn0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0 "AMD 17h/6xh Root Complex" rev 0x00
    "AMD 17h/6xh IOMMU" rev 0x00 at pci0 dev 0 function 2 not configured
    pchb0 at pci0 dev 1 function 0 "AMD 17h/6xh Host" rev 0x00
    pchb1 at pci0 dev 2 function 0 "AMD 17h/6xh Host" rev 0x00
    ppb0 at pci0 dev 2 function 1 "AMD 17h/6xh PCIE" rev 0x00: msi
    pci1 at ppb0 bus 1
    xhci0 at pci1 dev 0 function 0 "AMD 500 Series xHCI" rev 0x00: msi, xHCI 1.10
    usb0 at xhci0: USB revision 3.0
    uhub0 at usb0 configuration 1 interface 0 "AMD xHCI root hub" rev 3.00/1.00 addr 1
    ahci0 at pci1 dev 0 function 1 "AMD 500 Series AHCI" rev 0x00: msi, AHCI 1.3.1
    ahci0: port busy after first PMP probe FIS
    ahci0: port busy after first PMP probe FIS
    ahci0: port 1: 6.0Gb/s
    scsibus1 at ahci0: 32 targets
    sd0 at scsibus1 targ 1 lun 0: naa.5002538fc16090b3
    sd0: 953869MB, 512 bytes/sector, 1953525168 sectors, thin
    ppb1 at pci1 dev 0 function 2 "AMD 500 Series PCIE" rev 0x00
    pci2 at ppb1 bus 2
    ppb2 at pci2 dev 0 function 0 "AMD 500 Series PCIE" rev 0x00: msi
    pci3 at ppb2 bus 3
    ppb3 at pci2 dev 4 function 0 "AMD 500 Series PCIE" rev 0x00: msi
    pci4 at ppb3 bus 4
    nvme0 at pci4 dev 0 function 0 "SanDisk WD Black NVMe" rev 0x00: msix, NVMe 1.3
    nvme0: WDBRPG0010BNC-WRSN, firmware 111130WD, serial 213733803989
    scsibus2 at nvme0: 2 targets, initiator 0
    sd1 at scsibus2 targ 1 lun 0:
    sd1: 953869MB, 512 bytes/sector, 1953525168 sectors
    ppb4 at pci2 dev 8 function 0 "AMD 500 Series PCIE" rev 0x00: msi
    pci5 at ppb4 bus 5
    ppb5 at pci2 dev 9 function 0 "AMD 500 Series PCIE" rev 0x00: msi
    pci6 at ppb5 bus 6
    igc0 at pci6 dev 0 function 0 "Intel I225-V" rev 0x03, msix, 4 queues, address 7c:10:c9:45:b2:d1
    ppb6 at pci0 dev 2 function 2 "AMD 17h/6xh PCIE" rev 0x00: msi
    pci7 at ppb6 bus 7
    nvme1 at pci7 dev 0 function 0 "SanDisk WD Black NVMe" rev 0x00: msix, NVMe 1.3
    nvme1: WDBRPG0010BNC-WRSN, firmware 111130WD, serial 213733806541
    scsibus3 at nvme1: 2 targets, initiator 0
    sd2 at scsibus3 targ 1 lun 0:
    sd2: 953869MB, 512 bytes/sector, 1953525168 sectors
    pchb2 at pci0 dev 8 function 0 "AMD 17h/6xh Host" rev 0x00
    ppb7 at pci0 dev 8 function 1 "AMD 17h/6xh PCIE" rev 0x00
    pci8 at ppb7 bus 8
    amdgpu0 at pci8 dev 0 function 0 "ATI Cezanne" rev 0xc9
    drm0 at amdgpu0
    amdgpu0: msi
    azalia0 at pci8 dev 0 function 1 "ATI Renoir HD Audio" rev 0x00: msi
    azalia0: no supported codecs
    ccp0 at pci8 dev 0 function 2 "AMD 17h/1xh Crypto" rev 0x00
    xhci1 at pci8 dev 0 function 3 "AMD 17h/6xh xHCI" rev 0x00: msi, xHCI 1.10
    usb1 at xhci1: USB revision 3.0
    uhub1 at usb1 configuration 1 interface 0 "AMD xHCI root hub" rev 3.00/1.00 addr 1
    xhci2 at pci8 dev 0 function 4 "AMD 17h/6xh xHCI" rev 0x00: msi, xHCI 1.10
    usb2 at xhci2: USB revision 3.0
    uhub2 at usb2 configuration 1 interface 0 "AMD xHCI root hub" rev 3.00/1.00 addr 1
    azalia1 at pci8 dev 0 function 6 "AMD 17h/1xh HD Audio" rev 0x00: apic 14 int 12
    azalia1: codecs: Realtek ALC1220
    audio0 at azalia1
    piixpm0 at pci0 dev 20 function 0 "AMD FCH SMBus" rev 0x51: polling
    iic0 at piixpm0
    iic1 at piixpm0
    pcib0 at pci0 dev 20 function 3 "AMD FCH LPC" rev 0x51
    pchb3 at pci0 dev 24 function 0 "AMD 19h/5xh Data Fabric" rev 0x00
    pchb4 at pci0 dev 24 function 1 "AMD 19h/5xh Data Fabric" rev 0x00
    pchb5 at pci0 dev 24 function 2 "AMD 19h/5xh Data Fabric" rev 0x00
    pchb6 at pci0 dev 24 function 3 "AMD 19h/5xh Data Fabric" rev 0x00
    pchb7 at pci0 dev 24 function 4 "AMD 19h/5xh Data Fabric" rev 0x00
    pchb8 at pci0 dev 24 function 5 "AMD 19h/5xh Data Fabric" rev 0x00
    pchb9 at pci0 dev 24 function 6 "AMD 19h/5xh Data Fabric" rev 0x00
    pchb10 at pci0 dev 24 function 7 "AMD 19h/5xh Data Fabric" rev 0x00
    isa0 at pcib0
    isadma0 at isa0
    com0 at isa0 port 0x3f8/8 irq 4: ns16550a, 16 byte fifo
    pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60/5 irq 1 irq 12
    pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot)
    wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard
    pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61
    spkr0 at pcppi0
    efifb at mainbus0 not configured
    dt: 451 probes
    uhidev0 at uhub0 port 10 configuration 1 interface 2 "AsusTek Computer Inc. AURA LED Controller" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 2
    uhidev0: iclass 3/0, 236 report ids
    uhid0 at uhidev0 reportid 236: input=64, output=64, feature=0
    ugen0 at uhub0 port 10 configuration 1 "AsusTek Computer Inc. AURA LED Controller" rev 2.00/1.00 addr 2
    uhub3 at uhub0 port 11 configuration 1 interface 0 "Genesys Logic USB2.0 Hub" rev 2.00/60.90 addr 3
    uhidev1 at uhub0 port 13 configuration 1 interface 0 "Unicomp Endura Pro Keyboard" rev 1.10/43.34 addr 4
    uhidev1: iclass 3/1
    ukbd0 at uhidev1: 8 variable keys, 6 key codes
    wskbd1 at ukbd0 mux 1
    uhidev2 at uhub0 port 13 configuration 1 interface 1 "Unicomp Endura Pro Keyboard" rev 1.10/43.34 addr 4
    uhidev2: iclass 3/1, 3 report ids
    ums0 at uhidev2 reportid 1: 3 buttons, Z dir
    wsmouse0 at ums0 mux 0
    ucc0 at uhidev2 reportid 2: 573 usages, 18 keys, array
    wskbd2 at ucc0 mux 1
    uhid1 at uhidev2 reportid 3: input=1, output=0, feature=0
    ugen1 at uhub1 port 2 "Realtek USB3.0 802.11ac 1200M Adapter" rev 2.10/2.10 addr 2
    urtwn0 at uhub2 port 2 configuration 1 interface 0 "Realtek 802.11n NIC" rev 2.10/2.00 addr 2
    urtwn0: MAC/BB RTL8192EU, RF 6052 2T2R, address 98:de:d0:0f:c9:62
    vscsi0 at root
    scsibus4 at vscsi0: 256 targets
    softraid0 at root
    scsibus5 at softraid0: 256 targets
    root on sd0a (d25c4224901b9485.a) swap on sd0b dump on sd0b
    [drm] *ERROR* sdma_v4_0: Failed to load firmware "amdgpu/green_sardine_sdma.bin"
    [drm] *ERROR* Failed to load sdma firmware!
    drm:pid0:psp_init_asd_microcode *ERROR* fail to initialize asd microcode
    [drm] *ERROR* Failed to load psp firmware!
    [drm] *ERROR* sw_init of IP block failed -2
    drm:pid0:amdgpu_device_init *ERROR* amdgpu_device_ip_init failed
    drm:pid0:amdgpu_attachhook *ERROR* Fatal error during GPU init
    efifb0 at mainbus0: 1920x1080, 32bpp
    wsdisplay0 at efifb0 mux 1: console (std, vt100 emulation), using wskbd0
    wskbd1: connecting to wsdisplay0
    wskbd2: connecting to wsdisplay0
    wsdisplay0: screen 1-5 added (std, vt100 emulation)

    Dang, that’s a whole mess of CPUs. Maybe I should have replaced my desktop earlier?

    Pretty sure this will spark questions, so:

    • Yes, I’m writing an OpenBSD storage book next.
    • No, I have no date on its release, or on a release of a third edition of Absolute OpenBSD.
    • Sponsorships will open once I ship the DNSSEC sponsor gifts.
    • No, I don’t have a hashtag yet.
    • I have no answer to any questions about any related topics.

    Thank you for understanding.

    Posted on

    640% Kickstarter, Sponsorships, and Shipping

    In forty-eight hours, my experimental Kickstarter funded six hundred and forty percent.

    Those of you who told me so, may now commence declaring that you told me so.

    I am considering using Kickstarter for future books, in combination with my sponsorship program. (Sponsors pay me while I’m still writing the book.) The sponsor program will never go away, mind you. My end goal is reader disintermediation; I want folks coming directly to me for their books, instead of buying through Amazon or whoever. Sponsorship is the culmination of disintermediation. But sponsorship is for dedicated readers, while Kickstarter attracts casual ones. I’m thinking that I’ll use sponsorship to pay bills as I write, while Kickstarter will pay the bills of publishing. I’ll have to figure out how to make any sponsor books more precious than the Kickstarter ones, though. Maybe a special SPONSOR EDITION note on the cover.

    One wrinkle with Kickstarter that’s raised a bunch of questions, though, is shipping. Overseas shipping costs are EXPENSIVE. They are set by my experience with sponsor gifts.

    When it comes to shipping books internationally, the US post office provides three options.

    1. Media Mail. I can get it just about anywhere in the world for less than $10. No international tracking. No guarantee of delivery. Might take months or years. Those container ships moored outside every port in the world, waiting months for an opportunity to unload? There are Media Mail packages adrift in every one.
    2. First class mail. Costs $25 +/- $5-ish. Delivery guaranteed, eventually. Might take months. I can complain to the post office, and they’ll fill out a form. What they’ll do with that form is another issue.
    3. International Priority Mail. Costs about $40 ($30 to Canada). Ouch. Delivers within a week or two, sort of guaranteed. Insured. Complaints are taken mostly seriously.

    I normally use First Class mail.

    Ever since the pandemic started, sponsor gifts anywhere outside the USA keep going astray. Thanks to the tracking number I am able to watch packages bounce between, say, Chicago and London, England. I don’t know if the actual package keeps circling or if the computer is confused, but either way the sponsor does not get their gift. This is unacceptable. If some maniac generous soul puts food on my table as I write the book, my ethics declare that I must get their thank-you gift to them. Asking the post office staff for a better solution gets me the same answer every time: Use International Priority Mail.

    Delivery failures are not my fault, but they are my responsibility. Here in the USA, a backer with a tracking number can contact the Post Office themselves. That’s not an option for a backer in Farawayistan. I must be able to investigate and resolve problems. That means tracking. I elected to go with Priority Mail all around this time, so that any complaints merit more than a tally in a database.

    I would prefer to offer backers shipping options like “Would you like cheap ‘I promise to ship it, good luck getting it and I can’t help you’ or expensive ‘will arrive ASAP’?” Kickstarter does not offer that flexibility.

    When I offer OpenBSD Storage Mastery for sponsorship, I will offer that choice. Sponsors already accept some risk–if I drop dead while writing the book, they’re out of luck. 1 Some of them will choose the cheap mail, probably the same people who tell me not to ship them a gift.

    Posted on

    “Domesticate Your Badgers” Kickstarter Opens

    My first ever Kickstarter crashed past its first stretch goal in three hours.

    I think nonfiction books should be written by people who have done the thing. If you write a book about systems administration, you ought to have been a working sysadmin for years. If you write a book about rats, you better spend quantity time with the squeaky little bastards. If you write a book about martial arts, you better have been a serious student for decades. That’s why I don’t write a book about, say, devops. The book would make me a heap of money, at the expense of my reputation and integrity. Friends know better than to get me started about how-to books written by dilettantes, because the rant can go on for hours.

    Well, minutes. But they feel like hours.

    Similarly, someone who writes a book about the long game of writing, how to establish your writing skills, and how to build a long-term writing career, had better have written a heap of books that got published. Sadly, that person is now me.

    Last year, I figured out something unique to say about the craft of writing. This year, I wrote Domesticate Your Badgers: Become a Better Writer through Deliberate Practice.

    Every time I publish a book, I run an experiment or test. Most of these experiments are invisible, and of no interest to anyone except publishing nerds. This time, I’m experimenting with Kickstarter. Other writers have success launching books there, so I’ll try it. If it’s successful, I might add Kickstarter options to my other books. My goal is still reader disintermediation, but sponsorships target existing hard-core fans and Kickstarter is about more casual fans and attracting new readers.

    The stretch goal format also lets me play with my expenses. I’d like to illustrate the interior, because badgers, but are people willing to pay for it? Is including a Foreword written by an enemy (a “Foeword”) as funny as I think it is? Dunno. People will tell me, though, and as they’re speaking with their wallets they will tell the truth.

    And I learned how to glue snippets together to create more complicated videos. I have no idea what I’ll do with this skill. Probably something ill-advised.

    If you have any interest in how I not only write books, but keep writing books, I wrote it all down. Take a look.