Bob Proulx wrote: > Merciadri Luca wrote: > >> When a computer stays turned on for a long amount of time, some problems >> could arise. I have the following questions: >> >> 1. What habitually makes a computer 'running Linux) go down (except >> electric problems)? >> > > One possibility is soft memory errors in the RAM. Using ECC RAM > reduces the likely to a vanishingly small probability and has long > been the normal hardware for high quality systems. But cheaper > commodity hardware desktops designed to run a well known commercial OS > these days uses cheaper non-ECC RAM since it doesn't make sense to be > more reliable than the target OS. Linux tends to expose these systems > since it is very reliable in and of itself. > Thanks. > Another possibility is a kernel bug either in the main kernel core or > in a device driver. Device drivers have a higher incidence of bugs > especially for unique low use niche hardware. Popular devices are > better tested than hardware that only three people in the world use. > But kernel bugs in the public code are rare. When found those are > fixed pretty quickly. > Okay. > A third more common case is when closed source proprietary drivers are > loaded into the kernel such as a vendor's graphics driver. Because > those are closed source there isn't any public review. Bugs there are > frustrating to all since they can't be debugged by anyone but the > vendor and the vendor doesn't usually have access to your system nor > motivation to debug your system. For high reliability you should > avoid loading any closed source proprietary driver, unless you > yourself are the author of it. > Sure. >> 2. What are Debian/kernel's adaptations to prevent such problems from >> arising? >> > Debian adds few patches over and above the standard stock Linux > kernel. Basically in this area (as far as I know) you are getting the > stock upstream Linux kernel capability. > Okay. Well, I'm using, on the computer which `should never fail,' Silcon Labs' drivers for a Davis Vantage Pro 2 Wireless station (which is connected to the computer by USB). I'm not sure if they are the CP210x (because this is not really UART, at least to me), but they seem to be pretty correctly integrated into the kernel. I should not worry like this, but for a computer which needs to be turned on 24h/24, 7d/7, etc., it's an important thing because, for meteorological data capture, we shall all depend on the computer's `good-will.' -- Merciadri Luca See http://www.student.montefiore.ulg.ac.be/~merciadri/ I use PGP. If there is an incompatibility problem with your mail client, please contact me. All flowers are not in one garden.
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature