A Thank-You Note I Wish I Could Reply To

Hey everyone,

A little while ago, I wrote about keeping my Pascal-era NVIDIA card alive on newer Linux kernels by patching the NVIDIA 580 DKMS driver. That post was about kernel changes and compatibility shims.

This one is about the unexpected nice thing that happened afterward.

Someone found the post and sent a thank-you through the support form on TheCrazyGM.com. The message said the patch rescued their local AI server, which runs a couple of NVIDIA P100s, and that it had made a real difference for them and their family.

That is a pretty incredible thing to read in your inbox.

The Slightly Weird Part

The support form is meant for support requests, not surprise thank-you notes. The sender even joked that they were “hijacking” it for a moment. No harm done; if anything, it made me smile.

But the email address was [email protected], the name was “doesnt matter,” and the username was “Not signed in.” So I got the message, but I have no way to write back and say: I saw this, thank you for taking the time to tell me.

I wish I knew who you were. I wish I could reply.

Why It Meant So Much

That original post was a very practical bit of troubleshooting: a kernel update broke the driver build, and I documented the fixes that got it working again. You never really know who else is going to run into the same problem, or whether writing up the solution will help anyone beyond your own machine.

Apparently, in this case, it helped keep a local AI server running for someone and their family. That is a lovely bit of unexpected reach for a post about old GPUs and DKMS patches.

So, to the anonymous person who sent the note: thank you. I got your email. I’m glad the write-up helped, and I hope your P100s keep doing their thing.

If you happen to see this and want to say hi, you can reach me through the contact information on the site with an address you can actually receive replies at. No pressure, of course. I just wanted you to know your message landed, and it made my day.

As always,
Michael Garcia a.k.a. TheCrazyGM