Just wanted to contribute my own little anecdote to this thread, which has brought me so much entertainment. But first, some context, which makes it more fun for me. It is as much the story of innocence corrupted as it is bad software.
It is 2013, I am getting interested in programming and computing more generally, and decide to take the plunge with Linux. I manage to get a Debian installation working on my little netbook, and it is finally the year of the Linux desktop!!
But this Atom processor and like 3GB of RAM leave something to be desired. Being a Linux noob, I keep hearing about all these different "Desktop Environments" (my Windows 7 mind is blown that there is more than one), and how some are better options for low-powered laptops. I like the look of this "Enlightenment E17" one, and decide hey, let's try it out.
But of course, Debian Stable is Debian Stable, and nothing released in the last decade is in the repos, much less this E17 thing. I'll need to upgrade to testing to even have a chance of compiling it. Did I mention I was quite new to all this? Compiling and setting up an entire desktop environment turns out to be slightllllly more involved than implied by the make && make install
instructions.
10,000 years later it is compiled and set up, but of course there are some problems. No matter how many libraries I try to install (HAL, Udisk, Udisk2, some EFL thing called eeze) and how many different compile time options I try, I just cannot get the file manager to mount a removable USB drive.
The only clue I have is that in the file manager settings, there is a "Device Mode" field, and instead of saying "HAL" or "Udisks2" or one of the libraries I told it to use for this, it says 'RASTER'. Hmm, what the hell is "RASTER" mode? Did I mention I was quite new to all this? I have only recently learned about Ext4, and swap, and NTFS, so I literally have no idea if "RASTER" mode is a thing.
Googling "device mode raster" is no help, so I take to the mailing list, explaining the issue and providing this single solitary clue. One of the first replies I get is a "WTF are you talking about?" reply, from someone named Carsten Haitzler. Eventually, someone else tells me that "RASTER" is the default value for this field, and means no other device mounting back end is enabled or in use. The rest of the thread suggests me to try things I already tried, and I remain confused with no resolution.
But, now I am also confused about that initial reply I got. I am new and unsure of myself, and hearing "WTF are you talking about" kind of stuck with me in a negative way. So, I find myself coming back and re-reading that message, and at some point, I finally appreciate the nickname this Carsten Haitzler fellow has in their email signature: The Rasterman. I find this to be a very strange coincidence. "Device Mode: RASTER"... The Rasterman...
Some time later, I learn that this "Rasterman" is the project founder, and it dawns on me. The default device mode has nothing to do with removable hard drives or USB sticks, but was just some random value stuck in there (not by him, apparently) to pay homage to the project founder or something. Great.
I was annoyed by this completely unhelpful little easter egg, but from this thread, I learned this kind of inside joke is par for the EFL course, and I have nothing to BITCHCOMPLAIN about, and it is I who is the naughty user. Though perhaps there is some significance to the fact that "RASTER" mode is the one that is used when nothing else is working.
I no longer use the Enlightenment E17 desktop, as I found myself with less and less time to spend compiling and troubleshooting broken and misleading desktop environments. But, the legend of the Rasterman lives on in people's device mode everywhere...