Kevin Boone

June 2024

Can you use ALSA to get 'bit-perfect' audio playback on Linux?

Regardless of the subjective merits of 'bit-perfect' audio, is it technically possible on Linux?

Categories: hifi, Linux

Going back to ALSA in 2024

Not everybody likes Pulse audio or PipeWire. But is it practicable to abandon them in favour of traditional ALSA at this point?

Categories: hifi, Linux

Using Private Internet Access VPN with Gentoo Linux

It's not that difficult, but there's no built-in support.

Categories: Linux, security

Gentoo Linux -- is this the solution to the Winux problem?

Even seasoned Linux developers speak of Gentoo in hushed tones. It's not for the faint-hearted, that's for sure. But how stout-hearted must you be, for Gentoo to be appropriate?

Categories: general computing, Linux

Differential equations: how does separation of variables really work?

'Separation of variables' is one of the first methods usually taught to math and engineering students for solving differential equations, and yet the method as taught is mathematically very sloppy. That's not to say it doesn't work, but rather that it isn't made clear why it works, and whether similar methods will work elsewhere. This article attempts to treat the subject with a bit of mathematical rigour. We end up exactly where we started but, perhaps, with a bit more insight.

Categories: mathematics