Getting started with ZFS on Linux: starting the f’n thing

I am running Ubuntu 08.10 (yeah, i know, waiting for 09-10) and just got a Rosewill RSV-S8 to replace my Drobo, and want to run ZFS on the disks in it, because ZFS is badass. I thought I had to run OpenSolaris or at least Nexenta (ubuntu on top of the solaris kernel, and yes, it’s real) but it turns out there’s a project called zfs-fuse which lets you run ZFS on Linux. FUSE is the “Filesystem in Userspace” project, which lets you run any filesystem as a regular system user. Fuse is necessary because ZFS licensing prohibits the GPL’d linux kernel from using its code, and normal linux filesystems need to be made a part of the kernel.

Now that the background is out of the way, I thought I’d start to pastedump the warnings I run into along the way, so that the greater googlenet may be able to search for them.

Linux Flash – pissed that Myspace kills it? Try Flash 10 Beta! (plus 64-bit tips)

Oh yeah. So was I. The current version of Adobe Flash for Linux (9.0.124 for the intrepid) breaks as soon as you load the myspace music player. If you’re any kind of music fan, that kinda ruins 50% of new music availability. I got agitated enough to do something about it today, here’s how i installed the new flash 10 beta and fixed the issue.

Unfail for Linux Network Manager

I use ubuntu (now kubuntu, whatevs) and had the little network manager applet go AWOL on me – it was stuck with “manual configuration” and wouldn’t do its magic for me. Now, I’ve had to write my own nastiness for ifup/down scripts before, so I could cope, but it sucked. I have looked around, but only recently found [a page with the solution to the problem.](https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/knetworkmanager/+question/15308) Life is tastes better now.

The Linux “Switch” (aka, Why My Next Computer Will be an Apple Again)

For those of you just tuning into my blog and/or my life, I ["switched"](http://www.pauloppenheim.com/blog/2005/12/16/im-a-switcher/) my computing platform in a strange way – from Mac OS X to Linux. I have learned a lot in the past 9 months, and I would like to share some of my surprising discoveries.