Over the last couple of months, I have been nagging myself to fix several of the issues with my Linux installation, in particular I need to:

• update my kernel (currently 2.6.27-rc9)
• get the wacom input device working with the newest xorg-server
• add some snaz to my desktop configuration (openbox, dmenu…bleh)

So, sparing you the `wget`ing and `tar -xf`ing, I upgraded my kernel to 2.6.29-rc2 and enabled the kernel modesetting. This enables me to switch to the console with no delay, instead of the current 2-3 second delay. Good news: the upgrade worked well.

Additionally, I upgraded my xorg-server to 1.6.1: the only problem was wacom tablet didn’t work, so I installed the development version of linuxwacom (version 8.3-3).

Everything works well so far except rendering terminals. When I try to open alsamixer with uxterm or resize it, the terminal behaves as if it has a really low refresh rate. I am looking into the issue and I will post a fix if I find one.

As for the ‘added snaz,’ I’ll deal with that another time.  Right now I’m just happy that my fps in stepmania has increased by about 20!