Re: An Andre To Remember
On Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:56:55 -0400 Jeff Garzik wrote: > Rest in peace Andre, He was a nice guy, and sure did like to talk on the phone. He was very active and popular in the local Porsche enthusiast community and is remember for his generosity. People share memories here: http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/928-forum/707680-andre-hedrick.html -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Re: An Andre To Remember
On Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:56:55 -0400 Jeff Garzik j...@garzik.org wrote: Rest in peace Andre, He was a nice guy, and sure did like to talk on the phone. He was very active and popular in the local Porsche enthusiast community and is remember for his generosity. People share memories here: http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforums/928-forum/707680-andre-hedrick.html -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-kernel in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
Re: An Andre To Remember
On 7/28/2012 7:11 PM, Nicholas A. Bellinger wrote: > On Fri, 2012-07-27 at 13:56 -0400, Jeff Garzik wrote: >> An Andre To Remember >> July 2012 >> >> Linux lost a friend and advocate this month. Though never a household >> name, Andre Hedrick had a positive impact on everyone today running >> Linux, or using a website, with any form of IDE (ATA) or SCSI storage >> -- that means millions upon millions of users today. >> >> For a time, Andre interacted with practically every relevant IDE >> drive and controller manufacturer, as well as the T13 standards >> committee through which IDE changes were made. He helped ensure >> Linux had near-universal IDE support in a hardware era when Linux >> support was a second thought if at all. As the Register article[1] >> noted, with CPRM and other efforts, Andre worked to keep storage a >> more open platform than it might otherwise have been. >> >> [1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/26/andre_hedrick/ >> >> Andre also played a role in IDE technology coalescing around the idea >> of a "taskfile", which is IDE-speak for an RPC command issued to a >> disk drive, and the RPC response returned from the drive. It was >> very important to Andre that the kernel have a "taskfile ioctl", >> an API enabling full programmable access to the disk drive. At the >> time, a more limited "cmd ioctl" API was the best option available, >> but Linux's cmd ioctl did not give users full and complete access to >> their own disk drive. >> >> Andre's taskfile concept was a central component of the current, >> rewritten-from-scratch Linux IDE driver "libata." libata uses an >> "ata_taskfile" to communicate with all IDE drives, whether from a >> decade ago or built yesterday. The taskfile concept modernized >> IDE software, by forcing the industry to move away from a slow, >> signals-originated register API to a modern, packetized RPC messaging >> API, similar to where SCSI storage had already been moving. >> >> I spent many hours on the phone with Andre, circa 2003, learning all >> there was to know about ATA storage, while writing libata. Andre could >> be considered one of the grandfathers of libata, along with Alan Cox. >> I became friends with Andre during this time, and we talked a lot. >> >> Andre was unquestionably smart, driven and an advocate for Linux user >> freedom. >> > > Hi Jeff, > > Thank you for sharing your thoughts + memories of Andre. > > As we grieve this extreme loss, I'd like to try to share some of my own > experiences with Andre that will hopefully help others to begin to > understand the kind + generous type of person that Andre really was, and > just some of his staggering technical feats + accomplishments that can > be talked about publicly today. > > Along with Andre being involved in the history of libata and IDE/ATA > development, those of us in the Linux kernel storage development > community also know, he was also instrumental in creation of the > original out-of-tree PyX iSCSI target code that's now in mainline. > > In summer 2002, I sitting next to Andre when he coined the term 'IBLOCK' > after drawing a rough sketch on a notebook after an idea in Walnut > Creek, California, and the name ending up sticking.. The interesting > development bits really started to unfold in the spring of 2004 when we > finally managed to get drivers/ide/ export working with iscsi-target on > x86 using 2.4.x code. > > That quickly unfolded into a Sony Playstation-2 (MIPS EE) port using IDE > disk DMA mode + network PIO on 2.2.x era kernel code capable of > streaming multiple DVD quality streams to hungry iSCSI clients.. > > Left to my own devices for hardware hacking, I managed to turn our first > disassembled PS2 into a broken parts machine (whoops) but Andre was > going to made sure that it was not going to happen again.. I bought > another PS2, and he was the person who soldered wires to the handful of > tiny via pin-outs to access the one-way serial output for EE boot > information last at night, while I worked on the necessary kernel bits > needed for bring-up of the PS2 specific IDE backend target driver. (The > PS2 IDE driver required contiguous memory for IDE DMA ops to function > via a single struct buffer_head (TCQ=1) on the non-cache coherent MIPS > based platform.) > > He carefully made physical space in the machine's cramped chassis, using > sticky pads where necessary to hold the small PCB containing a simple > ASIC doing the conversion of the signal into PC RS-232 serial output. > He made it look co
Re: An Andre To Remember
On 7/28/2012 7:11 PM, Nicholas A. Bellinger wrote: On Fri, 2012-07-27 at 13:56 -0400, Jeff Garzik wrote: An Andre To Remember July 2012 Linux lost a friend and advocate this month. Though never a household name, Andre Hedrick had a positive impact on everyone today running Linux, or using a website, with any form of IDE (ATA) or SCSI storage -- that means millions upon millions of users today. For a time, Andre interacted with practically every relevant IDE drive and controller manufacturer, as well as the T13 standards committee through which IDE changes were made. He helped ensure Linux had near-universal IDE support in a hardware era when Linux support was a second thought if at all. As the Register article[1] noted, with CPRM and other efforts, Andre worked to keep storage a more open platform than it might otherwise have been. [1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/26/andre_hedrick/ Andre also played a role in IDE technology coalescing around the idea of a taskfile, which is IDE-speak for an RPC command issued to a disk drive, and the RPC response returned from the drive. It was very important to Andre that the kernel have a taskfile ioctl, an API enabling full programmable access to the disk drive. At the time, a more limited cmd ioctl API was the best option available, but Linux's cmd ioctl did not give users full and complete access to their own disk drive. Andre's taskfile concept was a central component of the current, rewritten-from-scratch Linux IDE driver libata. libata uses an ata_taskfile to communicate with all IDE drives, whether from a decade ago or built yesterday. The taskfile concept modernized IDE software, by forcing the industry to move away from a slow, signals-originated register API to a modern, packetized RPC messaging API, similar to where SCSI storage had already been moving. I spent many hours on the phone with Andre, circa 2003, learning all there was to know about ATA storage, while writing libata. Andre could be considered one of the grandfathers of libata, along with Alan Cox. I became friends with Andre during this time, and we talked a lot. Andre was unquestionably smart, driven and an advocate for Linux user freedom. Hi Jeff, Thank you for sharing your thoughts + memories of Andre. As we grieve this extreme loss, I'd like to try to share some of my own experiences with Andre that will hopefully help others to begin to understand the kind + generous type of person that Andre really was, and just some of his staggering technical feats + accomplishments that can be talked about publicly today. Along with Andre being involved in the history of libata and IDE/ATA development, those of us in the Linux kernel storage development community also know, he was also instrumental in creation of the original out-of-tree PyX iSCSI target code that's now in mainline. In summer 2002, I sitting next to Andre when he coined the term 'IBLOCK' after drawing a rough sketch on a notebook after an idea in Walnut Creek, California, and the name ending up sticking.. The interesting development bits really started to unfold in the spring of 2004 when we finally managed to get drivers/ide/ export working with iscsi-target on x86 using 2.4.x code. That quickly unfolded into a Sony Playstation-2 (MIPS EE) port using IDE disk DMA mode + network PIO on 2.2.x era kernel code capable of streaming multiple DVD quality streams to hungry iSCSI clients.. Left to my own devices for hardware hacking, I managed to turn our first disassembled PS2 into a broken parts machine (whoops) but Andre was going to made sure that it was not going to happen again.. I bought another PS2, and he was the person who soldered wires to the handful of tiny via pin-outs to access the one-way serial output for EE boot information last at night, while I worked on the necessary kernel bits needed for bring-up of the PS2 specific IDE backend target driver. (The PS2 IDE driver required contiguous memory for IDE DMA ops to function via a single struct buffer_head (TCQ=1) on the non-cache coherent MIPS based platform.) He carefully made physical space in the machine's cramped chassis, using sticky pads where necessary to hold the small PCB containing a simple ASIC doing the conversion of the signal into PC RS-232 serial output. He made it look completely flush, like exactly how it was supposed to come from the factory. Or you know, from the magical place near the old Bell Labs RD center where new development kits for cutting edge tech are born. CBS Sunday Morning even did a story on Andre and his family in the summer of 2004 while all of this was going on.. Not for the PS2 iscsi-target or any other code of course, but for the fact that he was chosen by EBay to represent California small business as part of a group that lobbied in Washington DC. The reason that E-bay chose Andre is because he built PyX
Re: An Andre To Remember
On Fri, 2012-07-27 at 13:56 -0400, Jeff Garzik wrote: > An Andre To Remember > July 2012 > > Linux lost a friend and advocate this month. Though never a household > name, Andre Hedrick had a positive impact on everyone today running > Linux, or using a website, with any form of IDE (ATA) or SCSI storage > -- that means millions upon millions of users today. > > For a time, Andre interacted with practically every relevant IDE > drive and controller manufacturer, as well as the T13 standards > committee through which IDE changes were made. He helped ensure > Linux had near-universal IDE support in a hardware era when Linux > support was a second thought if at all. As the Register article[1] > noted, with CPRM and other efforts, Andre worked to keep storage a > more open platform than it might otherwise have been. > > [1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/26/andre_hedrick/ > > Andre also played a role in IDE technology coalescing around the idea > of a "taskfile", which is IDE-speak for an RPC command issued to a > disk drive, and the RPC response returned from the drive. It was > very important to Andre that the kernel have a "taskfile ioctl", > an API enabling full programmable access to the disk drive. At the > time, a more limited "cmd ioctl" API was the best option available, > but Linux's cmd ioctl did not give users full and complete access to > their own disk drive. > > Andre's taskfile concept was a central component of the current, > rewritten-from-scratch Linux IDE driver "libata." libata uses an > "ata_taskfile" to communicate with all IDE drives, whether from a > decade ago or built yesterday. The taskfile concept modernized > IDE software, by forcing the industry to move away from a slow, > signals-originated register API to a modern, packetized RPC messaging > API, similar to where SCSI storage had already been moving. > > I spent many hours on the phone with Andre, circa 2003, learning all > there was to know about ATA storage, while writing libata. Andre could > be considered one of the grandfathers of libata, along with Alan Cox. > I became friends with Andre during this time, and we talked a lot. > > Andre was unquestionably smart, driven and an advocate for Linux user > freedom. > Hi Jeff, Thank you for sharing your thoughts + memories of Andre. As we grieve this extreme loss, I'd like to try to share some of my own experiences with Andre that will hopefully help others to begin to understand the kind + generous type of person that Andre really was, and just some of his staggering technical feats + accomplishments that can be talked about publicly today. Along with Andre being involved in the history of libata and IDE/ATA development, those of us in the Linux kernel storage development community also know, he was also instrumental in creation of the original out-of-tree PyX iSCSI target code that's now in mainline. In summer 2002, I sitting next to Andre when he coined the term 'IBLOCK' after drawing a rough sketch on a notebook after an idea in Walnut Creek, California, and the name ending up sticking.. The interesting development bits really started to unfold in the spring of 2004 when we finally managed to get drivers/ide/ export working with iscsi-target on x86 using 2.4.x code. That quickly unfolded into a Sony Playstation-2 (MIPS EE) port using IDE disk DMA mode + network PIO on 2.2.x era kernel code capable of streaming multiple DVD quality streams to hungry iSCSI clients.. Left to my own devices for hardware hacking, I managed to turn our first disassembled PS2 into a broken parts machine (whoops) but Andre was going to made sure that it was not going to happen again.. I bought another PS2, and he was the person who soldered wires to the handful of tiny via pin-outs to access the one-way serial output for EE boot information last at night, while I worked on the necessary kernel bits needed for bring-up of the PS2 specific IDE backend target driver. (The PS2 IDE driver required contiguous memory for IDE DMA ops to function via a single struct buffer_head (TCQ=1) on the non-cache coherent MIPS based platform.) He carefully made physical space in the machine's cramped chassis, using sticky pads where necessary to hold the small PCB containing a simple ASIC doing the conversion of the signal into PC RS-232 serial output. He made it look completely flush, like exactly how it was supposed to come from the factory. Or you know, from the magical place near the old Bell Labs R center where new development kits for cutting edge tech are born. CBS Sunday Morning even did a story on Andre and his family in the summer of 2004 while all of this was going on.. Not for the PS2 iscsi-target or any other code of course, but for the fact that he was chosen by EBay to repres
Re: An Andre To Remember
On Fri, 2012-07-27 at 13:56 -0400, Jeff Garzik wrote: An Andre To Remember July 2012 Linux lost a friend and advocate this month. Though never a household name, Andre Hedrick had a positive impact on everyone today running Linux, or using a website, with any form of IDE (ATA) or SCSI storage -- that means millions upon millions of users today. For a time, Andre interacted with practically every relevant IDE drive and controller manufacturer, as well as the T13 standards committee through which IDE changes were made. He helped ensure Linux had near-universal IDE support in a hardware era when Linux support was a second thought if at all. As the Register article[1] noted, with CPRM and other efforts, Andre worked to keep storage a more open platform than it might otherwise have been. [1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/26/andre_hedrick/ Andre also played a role in IDE technology coalescing around the idea of a taskfile, which is IDE-speak for an RPC command issued to a disk drive, and the RPC response returned from the drive. It was very important to Andre that the kernel have a taskfile ioctl, an API enabling full programmable access to the disk drive. At the time, a more limited cmd ioctl API was the best option available, but Linux's cmd ioctl did not give users full and complete access to their own disk drive. Andre's taskfile concept was a central component of the current, rewritten-from-scratch Linux IDE driver libata. libata uses an ata_taskfile to communicate with all IDE drives, whether from a decade ago or built yesterday. The taskfile concept modernized IDE software, by forcing the industry to move away from a slow, signals-originated register API to a modern, packetized RPC messaging API, similar to where SCSI storage had already been moving. I spent many hours on the phone with Andre, circa 2003, learning all there was to know about ATA storage, while writing libata. Andre could be considered one of the grandfathers of libata, along with Alan Cox. I became friends with Andre during this time, and we talked a lot. Andre was unquestionably smart, driven and an advocate for Linux user freedom. Hi Jeff, Thank you for sharing your thoughts + memories of Andre. As we grieve this extreme loss, I'd like to try to share some of my own experiences with Andre that will hopefully help others to begin to understand the kind + generous type of person that Andre really was, and just some of his staggering technical feats + accomplishments that can be talked about publicly today. Along with Andre being involved in the history of libata and IDE/ATA development, those of us in the Linux kernel storage development community also know, he was also instrumental in creation of the original out-of-tree PyX iSCSI target code that's now in mainline. In summer 2002, I sitting next to Andre when he coined the term 'IBLOCK' after drawing a rough sketch on a notebook after an idea in Walnut Creek, California, and the name ending up sticking.. The interesting development bits really started to unfold in the spring of 2004 when we finally managed to get drivers/ide/ export working with iscsi-target on x86 using 2.4.x code. That quickly unfolded into a Sony Playstation-2 (MIPS EE) port using IDE disk DMA mode + network PIO on 2.2.x era kernel code capable of streaming multiple DVD quality streams to hungry iSCSI clients.. Left to my own devices for hardware hacking, I managed to turn our first disassembled PS2 into a broken parts machine (whoops) but Andre was going to made sure that it was not going to happen again.. I bought another PS2, and he was the person who soldered wires to the handful of tiny via pin-outs to access the one-way serial output for EE boot information last at night, while I worked on the necessary kernel bits needed for bring-up of the PS2 specific IDE backend target driver. (The PS2 IDE driver required contiguous memory for IDE DMA ops to function via a single struct buffer_head (TCQ=1) on the non-cache coherent MIPS based platform.) He carefully made physical space in the machine's cramped chassis, using sticky pads where necessary to hold the small PCB containing a simple ASIC doing the conversion of the signal into PC RS-232 serial output. He made it look completely flush, like exactly how it was supposed to come from the factory. Or you know, from the magical place near the old Bell Labs RD center where new development kits for cutting edge tech are born. CBS Sunday Morning even did a story on Andre and his family in the summer of 2004 while all of this was going on.. Not for the PS2 iscsi-target or any other code of course, but for the fact that he was chosen by EBay to represent California small business as part of a group that lobbied in Washington DC. The reason that E-bay chose Andre is because he built PyX using recycled server + storage hardware bought from E-bay, including the family Mini-van often
An Andre To Remember
An Andre To Remember July 2012 Linux lost a friend and advocate this month. Though never a household name, Andre Hedrick had a positive impact on everyone today running Linux, or using a website, with any form of IDE (ATA) or SCSI storage -- that means millions upon millions of users today. For a time, Andre interacted with practically every relevant IDE drive and controller manufacturer, as well as the T13 standards committee through which IDE changes were made. He helped ensure Linux had near-universal IDE support in a hardware era when Linux support was a second thought if at all. As the Register article[1] noted, with CPRM and other efforts, Andre worked to keep storage a more open platform than it might otherwise have been. [1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/26/andre_hedrick/ Andre also played a role in IDE technology coalescing around the idea of a "taskfile", which is IDE-speak for an RPC command issued to a disk drive, and the RPC response returned from the drive. It was very important to Andre that the kernel have a "taskfile ioctl", an API enabling full programmable access to the disk drive. At the time, a more limited "cmd ioctl" API was the best option available, but Linux's cmd ioctl did not give users full and complete access to their own disk drive. Andre's taskfile concept was a central component of the current, rewritten-from-scratch Linux IDE driver "libata." libata uses an "ata_taskfile" to communicate with all IDE drives, whether from a decade ago or built yesterday. The taskfile concept modernized IDE software, by forcing the industry to move away from a slow, signals-originated register API to a modern, packetized RPC messaging API, similar to where SCSI storage had already been moving. I spent many hours on the phone with Andre, circa 2003, learning all there was to know about ATA storage, while writing libata. Andre could be considered one of the grandfathers of libata, along with Alan Cox. I became friends with Andre during this time, and we talked a lot. Andre was unquestionably smart, driven and an advocate for Linux user freedom. Andre was also mentally ill. Some of those hours spent on the phone with him were not geeky discussions, but me patiently listening to paranoid thoughts about kernel developer conspiracies, and even more patiently describing how he was simply misunderstanding and misapplying the development process and/or basic code details. Andre would receive engineering feedback on some of his changes, and wonder why the engineer reviewing his changes was conspiring to shoot down his obviously-needed changes. At some point, paranoia and mental illness makes you difficult to work with, which starts a nasty feedback loop feeding further paranoia and stress. Perhaps it is the nature of intelligence itself, or just the nature of computer science, but our profession seems to have a higher than average rate of bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses. A Beautiful Mind comes to mind, as does my own purely anecdotal observations of others as a kernel developer and maintainer. Whatever the reason, Andre is not the only developer I've encountered who sees conspiracies, wheels-within-wheels in the feedback they receive. Although I was truly shocked by the news of Andre's suicide, it always seemed like Andre was continually stressed out, when I knew him. When spending long hours discussing kernel and storage industry politics over the phone with Andre, I found myself constantly advising him to relax, to take a break from computing. This is a time for grief and a time for celebration of Andre's accomplishments, but also it is a time to look around at our fellow geeks and offer our support, if similar behavioral signs appear. There is no computing project that is worth your life. Turn off the computer. Seek help. Get outside, enjoy the green grass, the birds in the trees. Talk to people you know. Talk to strangers! Drive to Wisconsin, and find out whatever it is they do there. Build a treehouse. Park on a parkway and drive on a driveway. Make a macaroni necklace. Visit a dairy. Climb a rock. Seek life. Life is so much more than code. Rest in peace Andre, Jeff Garzik friend and libata author PS. Remembering Andre website: http://hedrick4419.blogspot.com/ -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
An Andre To Remember
An Andre To Remember July 2012 Linux lost a friend and advocate this month. Though never a household name, Andre Hedrick had a positive impact on everyone today running Linux, or using a website, with any form of IDE (ATA) or SCSI storage -- that means millions upon millions of users today. For a time, Andre interacted with practically every relevant IDE drive and controller manufacturer, as well as the T13 standards committee through which IDE changes were made. He helped ensure Linux had near-universal IDE support in a hardware era when Linux support was a second thought if at all. As the Register article[1] noted, with CPRM and other efforts, Andre worked to keep storage a more open platform than it might otherwise have been. [1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/26/andre_hedrick/ Andre also played a role in IDE technology coalescing around the idea of a taskfile, which is IDE-speak for an RPC command issued to a disk drive, and the RPC response returned from the drive. It was very important to Andre that the kernel have a taskfile ioctl, an API enabling full programmable access to the disk drive. At the time, a more limited cmd ioctl API was the best option available, but Linux's cmd ioctl did not give users full and complete access to their own disk drive. Andre's taskfile concept was a central component of the current, rewritten-from-scratch Linux IDE driver libata. libata uses an ata_taskfile to communicate with all IDE drives, whether from a decade ago or built yesterday. The taskfile concept modernized IDE software, by forcing the industry to move away from a slow, signals-originated register API to a modern, packetized RPC messaging API, similar to where SCSI storage had already been moving. I spent many hours on the phone with Andre, circa 2003, learning all there was to know about ATA storage, while writing libata. Andre could be considered one of the grandfathers of libata, along with Alan Cox. I became friends with Andre during this time, and we talked a lot. Andre was unquestionably smart, driven and an advocate for Linux user freedom. Andre was also mentally ill. Some of those hours spent on the phone with him were not geeky discussions, but me patiently listening to paranoid thoughts about kernel developer conspiracies, and even more patiently describing how he was simply misunderstanding and misapplying the development process and/or basic code details. Andre would receive engineering feedback on some of his changes, and wonder why the engineer reviewing his changes was conspiring to shoot down his obviously-needed changes. At some point, paranoia and mental illness makes you difficult to work with, which starts a nasty feedback loop feeding further paranoia and stress. Perhaps it is the nature of intelligence itself, or just the nature of computer science, but our profession seems to have a higher than average rate of bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses. A Beautiful Mind comes to mind, as does my own purely anecdotal observations of others as a kernel developer and maintainer. Whatever the reason, Andre is not the only developer I've encountered who sees conspiracies, wheels-within-wheels in the feedback they receive. Although I was truly shocked by the news of Andre's suicide, it always seemed like Andre was continually stressed out, when I knew him. When spending long hours discussing kernel and storage industry politics over the phone with Andre, I found myself constantly advising him to relax, to take a break from computing. This is a time for grief and a time for celebration of Andre's accomplishments, but also it is a time to look around at our fellow geeks and offer our support, if similar behavioral signs appear. There is no computing project that is worth your life. Turn off the computer. Seek help. Get outside, enjoy the green grass, the birds in the trees. Talk to people you know. Talk to strangers! Drive to Wisconsin, and find out whatever it is they do there. Build a treehouse. Park on a parkway and drive on a driveway. Make a macaroni necklace. Visit a dairy. Climb a rock. Seek life. Life is so much more than code. Rest in peace Andre, Jeff Garzik friend and libata author PS. Remembering Andre website: http://hedrick4419.blogspot.com/ -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line unsubscribe linux-kernel in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
