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VMS isn't dead at all. Version 7.3-1 just came out. Tru64 has been slaughtered in favor of HP-UX, however.

I'd suggest that you take a look at Caldera's (now SCO, again) Volution Manager. It offers the same features for Unix systems, that M$ SMS offers for Windows. Plus, it can be integrated into larger enterprise management platforms like Unicenter and Tivoli should your needs grow so large. Also, if you are a Compaq/HP shop, Volution Manager integrates with Compaq's Insight Manager which is fabulous for hardware management.

I'm not sure that this is what you might be looking for, but there's a strongarm iPaq over at the HP Test Drive
You have to sign up (free) to get access.

I'm not sure that this is what you might be looking for, but there's a strongarm iPaq over at the HP Test Drive
You have to sign up (free) to get access.

If you want performance you've got to know where to look.
Unless you're playing games, real workstations blow away the fastest desktops.

Here it is. Looks like it just had a hefty price cut too, from $999 to $399. Alas, no ethernet...

Specifications

-Size of a standard 17"stereo component
-20.0 GB hard drive
-2-line,20-character VFD display
-Single-tray CD drive
-Analog audio In/Out
-Co-ax and optical digital audio In/Out
-TV video and S-video Out
-V.90 modem
-HomePNA 2.0
-Full-function remote control
-S-Link (CD changer control
-Three USB ports (one on front of PC, two on back)

My solution is currently an iPAQ H3970 talking to a Nokia 6310i via bluetooth. I can leave the phone in my backpack and send and receive e-mail, SMS, surf the web, even connect to IRC on my iPAQ. Pretty sweet.

The terms Votester and Vote-ster have been in use for a few years now, and refer to online vote-selling and/or vote-trading services/technologies. There are none currently in existence. But the term was coined to highlight the possibilities and dangers of large-scale vote-selling, or large-scale vote-trading, if voting systems (for public elections) are attached to the Internet.

I first heard Dr. David Jefferson, Chair of the Technical Committee for the California Internet Voting Task Force, use this term back in 2000. Here are links to show the term's usage to date .. National Workshop on Internet Voting (11 Oct 2000), B.K. DeLong's BrainStream (25 Oct 2000), BBC News (28 Oct 2000), David Jefferson Presentation (27 Aug 2001).

Perhaps using some combination of "protest", "protester", and "Napster" would produce a name more closely reflecting the technology this write-up is describing.

No, HP and Compaq merged and turned into the New HP. Sort of like the New TNN, but without the Star Trek or pro wrestling. Go to www.compaq.com if you don't believe me.

http://www.tru64unix.compaq.com/docs/

Almost. IANODBA (Oracle DBA) but I do have a very good understanding how MS SQL clustered/federated database systems work. There is a hardware difference - the server NICs - that would make a pretty large difference for MSSQL federations. The Redhat/Oracle cluster uses two 64-bit Gigabit NICs per server, and the MS/Oracle cluster uses a 64-bit dual 10/100 NIC. Both, of course, used appropriate switches. Now, to be fair, the WinOracle cluster used 1120 disks to host the data, vs 976 in the LinOracle scenario. If you're wondering, more disks/arms CAN result in better performance, and it's possible that is the case here. FWIW, we use a lot of the same hardware here - 4x2MBXeon900 DL580s and MSA1000 disk arrays. We also use 8x DL760s. All running Win2k AS / MSCS / MSSQL2k - not federated clusters, just HA.

Almost. IANODBA (Oracle DBA) but I do have a very good understanding how MS SQL clustered/federated database systems work. There is a hardware difference - the server NICs - that would make a pretty large difference for MSSQL federations. The Redhat/Oracle cluster uses two 64-bit Gigabit NICs per server, and the MS/Oracle cluster uses a 64-bit dual 10/100 NIC. Both, of course, used appropriate switches. Now, to be fair, the WinOracle cluster used 1120 disks to host the data, vs 976 in the LinOracle scenario. If you're wondering, more disks/arms CAN result in better performance, and it's possible that is the case here. FWIW, we use a lot of the same hardware here - 4x2MBXeon900 DL580s and MSA1000 disk arrays. We also use 8x DL760s. All running Win2k AS / MSCS / MSSQL2k - not federated clusters, just HA.

I am currently in year nine of nine for my BA/CS degree. I'm pretty sure that I've done all permutations of the work/schooling thing. Here is my history to date:

• Two years full time at Grove City College until I decided that their CS program was weak. (Good academics, otherwise.)
• Transferred to Taylor University for a year and promptly ran out of cash.
• Worked full time (well 70hrs/week) for Phoenix Contact, GmbH in the MIS group at their North America headquarters.
• Returned to Taylor University to run the university Computing and Systems Sciences department's network and take a class or to on the side. I worked for the university for three years.
• Hired by HP (nee Compaq) Took two classes correspondance through Taylor University World Wide Campus during the last year.
• Still working (as long as I can... ;) for HP and about to take my final two courses during nights at local colleges to transfer back to Taylor University.

The VMS product that attained B1-rated security is known and SEVMS. Many VMS shops that need extra security (whether they run SEVMS or OpenVMS) choose not to run any TCP/IP stack at all. Some even go so far as to not run their DECnet stack (DECnet is intrinsically more secure than the widespread TCP/IP).

...mostly because OpenVMS people tend to think, that 'their' OS is the most secure one on this planet (just like OpenBSD developers do, too).

Compared to Standard-Unices, OpenVMS might offer superior security, mostly because of the privilege model it utilizes instead of giving all-powerful root privileges to many user space applications.

On the other hand, we've got OSs which have much more sophisticated security than OpenVMS.
First, there is IBM's AS/400, which has got a privilege model quite similar in extent to the one used in OpenVMS, but additionally it has object-based design, and therefore object-based security (type enforcement and such...). However, it lacks Mandatory Access Control, TCB, Trusted Path and some other things mostly required by military and/or government environments, and therefore it only achieves a C2 security rating.
And then there are a couple of really secure Trusted Unices/Unix-style OSs, like Trusted Solaris, the Pitbull Addon for Solaris and AIX, Trusted IRIX, or XTS/400.
Just talking about fine-grained privilege controls: Argus' Pitbull has got around 100 privileges, how many privileges are there on an OpenVMS box?

No OS has ever received an A1 security branding. And the only OS which has ever received a B3 security branding, is actually a Trusted Unix Environment, something like a Unix clone with some proprietary security mechanisms built into the kernel (OpenVMS was B1 or maybe B2, iirc).

---

Regarding secure TCP/IP initial sequence number generation, it does not take a Trusted OS to just generate secure sequence numbers.

About two months ago, I compared initial sequence number generation on the following OSs using nmap:
* Windows 95
* Windows ME
* Linux 2.2.x
* Windows 2000 (plain)
* Windows 2000 (with Norton Internet security installed)
* OS/2 Warp Server Advanced 4.0 (default install)
* Sun Solaris 7 x86 (with tcp_strong_iss set to 2)

The results where pretty interesting and also a bit surprising:
Windows 95 was worst (ok, that's not surprising ;-), nmap rating ~10
Then came OS/2, which was not much better, nmap rating ~ 1000
(BTW: does anyone have nmap results from OS/390 or OS/400?)
Even Windows ME was a bit better than OS/2, but still far away from being secure, nmap rating ~ 8000
There was little difference between Win2k with Norton's Firewall (~12000) and Win2k without the Firewall (~15000)
Linux' results were quite good, nmap rating approximately some hundred-thousands or millions
Solaris with tcp_strong_iss set to 2 seemed to offer really strong sequence number generation, so nmap just printed a lot of 9s

---

Additional information:
Here is nmap.
Here is Argus Systems (EAL4 security for Solaris/AIX)
Here is IBM's AS/400
Here is Getronics (B3 secure Unix Environment running Unix and Linux applications)
And finally, here is OpenVMS

... onboard video of an unknown type.

If the references to S3refresh.exe here are anything to go by, your machine probably has an S3 8xx video chip (my guess is that it's an 805). XFree 4.2 doesn't support those (yet), so you'd need 3.x if you want to run Linux/*BSD with X on it.

BTW, for an idea of the quality and depth of documentation, check out the documentation website . Of course, if you're serious about VMS, you've got a fullsized bookcase or two full of the doc's like I do :^)

Sure the cost of getting into VMS is high, but check out the TCO compared to Unix or Windows. With VMS a couple people can manage a very large cluster, while the same number of Unix systems would take more people, or a hoard of people if you're running Windows.

Also, don't forget, the port to the Itanium processor is well underway. VMS has a lot of life left in it!

Oh, and it's really not that hard to use VMS, prior to getting married, my wife had only used Windows, now she regularly uses OpenVMS.

Zane

You can also try out OpenVMS in the HP Test Drive Program (http://www.testdrive.compaq.com/), where it has been there for several years now running on a cluster of Alphas. In fact, for most of the past month, we had it running on an EV7 prototype, although unfortunately that system is now offline. If you're interested in VMS, I'd also suggest you check out http://www.openvms.compaq.com/. And by all means, if there's something you'd like to see in our program, let us know.

You can also try out OpenVMS in the HP Test Drive Program (http://www.testdrive.compaq.com/), where it has been there for several years now running on a cluster of Alphas. In fact, for most of the past month, we had it running on an EV7 prototype, although unfortunately that system is now offline. If you're interested in VMS, I'd also suggest you check out http://www.openvms.compaq.com/. And by all means, if there's something you'd like to see in our program, let us know.

You can also try out OpenVMS in the HP Test Drive Program (http://www.testdrive.compaq.com/), where it has been there for several years now running on a cluster of Alphas. In fact, for most of the past month, we had it running on an EV7 prototype, although unfortunately that system is now offline. If you're interested in VMS, I'd also suggest you check out http://www.openvms.compaq.com/. And by all means, if there's something you'd like to see in our program, let us know.

This seems to be the best guide for a user who's never even looked at VMS before.

This seems to be the best guide for a user who's never even looked at VMS before.

AFAIK the Ipaq runs on a Pentium III 400, with 64 megs of RAM.
My friend put it best when he said "I have Web servers with less power than that!"

Here is a link to an iPaq on Compaq's site

Something that is made a big song-and-dance of here, but I have spotted a mention (OK, I haven't read all the comments) is that the PJB-100 has a GPL'ed SDK available from Compaq (registrationblahrequiredblah). Compaq are good enough to put the license terms up on that page so you can read them before you register - the source is available under GPL2e.

There's also a separate effort ongoing at the OpenPJB site at SourceForge. There are various (also GPL'ed) packages available for managing the data you keep on the PJB as well, for both Linux and Windoze.

As far as jog-protection goes, because it's an HD-based player, you'd think it might be a bit on the poor side for this, but the way the PJB is designed, this kind of problem is avoided - the HD is only spun up when needed, the data required is loaded into a 10MB DRAM buffer, and played from there. And yes, I've dropped it, and I've had no ill-effects. Yet :-). It comes in 6Gb, 10Gb, 20Gb, 20Gb (the one I have) and 40Gb(!!) denominations.

Without doubt, the best feature this player has is it's ability to store non-MP3 files. I don't have a whizz-bang ADSL connection at home, so I do most of my downloading at work, upload it to the PJB, take it home, and download it to my home PCs.

There is a downside - it's bigger than most of the MP3 players on the go, primarily because of the 2.5" laptop IDE HD in it. The dimensions are (approx) 6"x3"x1". My brother remarked that when it was attached to my belt under my shirt/coat, it looked like I was (quote) packing heat. If you want to avoid getting shot, though, you can stick it in your jacket pocket.

HTH,

Alan.

That's a cute toy you have there. Since we're measuring dick sizes, I'll just tell you about my 500MB/sec FC raid controller. Four fabrics between my hosts and my storage, zoomin along.

we use the Remote Insight Board lights out edition - for remote management of proliant servers..I belive it retails for around 500 bucks. But each server needs its own card.

• This full length PCI card has a network interface on it that which you access via a web browser.
• It self generates an SSL certificate and gives you java access to live screen via java applet.
• Works best with certain Compaq servers due to better cabling but may work with other servers.
• Display updates not as snappy as VNC but bearable.
• Lets you reply last boot sequence even if you weren't watching it live.
• Lets you use a "virtual" floppy.
• May have some issues when trying to co-exist with a local KVM switch.
• Runs around $500 which is at the top end of your price list.

Get another KVM.

Raritan is the best bang for the buck, IMHO.

Additionally, the VNC/RDP argument is a horse of a different color. The aforementioned PC Weasel is the only other device that'll let you view the POST/BIOS unless you've got a Compaq/HP with a RILOE card.

KVM switches are okay some of the time, but PC Weasels rock!

For remote management (remote=more than 100m) a KVM switch is not an option. The PC Weasel gets around a problem of the consumer PCs, which are not built to be managed remotely. As such, it's clever hard and software.
But IMHO it is more cost effective to get a "server board" instead of the usual consumer parts to build a server. They often have a serial console for BIOS access built in (like those from ex-Compaq or a nice description for another OS here).

This solves the BIOS problem. Does anyone need remote controlability for anything else?

There are not that many Tru64 boxes laying around. Good thing that this place lets you sign up for shell accounts where you can test drive your programs.

There are not that many Tru64 boxes laying around. Good thing that this place lets you sign up for shell accounts where you can test drive your programs.

Without looking at the specs to see, it's rather obvious that the hardware people just redesigned the interface all over again.
>>>>>>>>>
Well, here are the specs so you don't have to make stuff up:
USB 2.0
USB 1.0
The real difference is here:
OHCI (USB 1.0 host controller, this is the better one)
UHCI (USB 1.0 host controller, the sucky one)
EHCI (USB 2.0 host controller spec, has more smarts like OHCI)

if you're going to be passing electricity through food, don't miss the Electroluminescent Dill Pickles!

Where the Itanium (and, I'm assuming, the Opteron/64-bit Athlon) really matter is in in large database and high-end workstation solutions. Basically, anything that needs more than 4GB of RAM. In these uses, it's not actually the processor speed that is needed, it's the RAM.

tru64unix manpages

There are no frames, javascript or the like.

Kernal Panick!
The first time I mentioned this to my wife (she's not too technical). She thought that was the Linux Penguins name Colonel Panic.

Had to chuckle at that.

In IT terms, the human genome is a text of seven billion characters, and together with its associated annotations, Celera already maintains a 70-terabyte database, after only a year and a half of operation. That database is growing rapidly - by 15 to 20 gigabytes a day, or eight terabytes a year - as is the number of people accessing it.

I don't know when this article is from, but they are already over 100TB.

Toshiba's Satellite 1955-S801 has a 16" 1280x1024 display too, GeForce4 440 Go (32meg), etc. Unfortunately, like the Sony it uses an Intel P4 CPU. I gave up waiting for someone to make a decent Athlon laptop, gave my old Toshiba K62-333 laptop to my parents, and switched back to a custom-built desktop. Compaq's upcoming Presario 900 looks like the best bet, 15" screen, ATI Radeon graphics.

Subject is more of a marketing line than anything, but Tandem systems come much closer to 100% availability than anything else that I'm familiar with.

Check this for more info, and this.

Never mind that they were bought by Compaq, and now HP - the architecture still stands. It is one of the great - relatively unknown Silicon Valley companies.

There's some really interesting stuff architecture-wise. Linux-heads would do well to check it out.

Subject is more of a marketing line than anything, but Tandem systems come much closer to 100% availability than anything else that I'm familiar with.

Check this for more info, and this.

Never mind that they were bought by Compaq, and now HP - the architecture still stands. It is one of the great - relatively unknown Silicon Valley companies.

There's some really interesting stuff architecture-wise. Linux-heads would do well to check it out.

mummy, mummy, buy mi this!
Up to 256 GB of ECC memory
Over 51 GB/s aggregate internal bandwidth
4 MB or 8 MB ECC memory onboard cache per CPU
Up to 224 PCI slots on 64 PCI buses

(the image in linked news announcement has this page (www.compaq.com/alphaserver/index.html) link).

mummy, mummy, buy mi this!
Up to 256 GB of ECC memory
Over 51 GB/s aggregate internal bandwidth
4 MB or 8 MB ECC memory onboard cache per CPU
Up to 224 PCI slots on 64 PCI buses

(the image in linked news announcement has this page (www.compaq.com/alphaserver/index.html) link).

PogoLinux

HP

Nixit

HP/Compaq

and now Walmart.

There are probably others too.

If you want to try out Linux running on an iPAQ for yourself, we happen to have one in the HP Test Drive Program. We also have a cross-compiling toolchain that lets you compile for the StrongARM from our Alpha servers. Additionally, we have a number of DEC Shark systems which are also based on the StrongARM processor available for your use.

Found this large picture on Microsoft's Tablet PC image gallery:

Compaq Tablet PC Design Concept

Here is Compaq's page which talks about this thing.

(Remember kids, it's not karma-whoring if you're already at 50.)

Personally I couldn't justify the extra $$$ for Bluetooth, so I went one model down (3835).

Also note that the iPaq comes with a nice protective case that wraps around the entire thing. The screen is covered by a semi-transparent, smoke grey piece of plastic that you can see through if you need to read something off the screen. I've dropped mine it multiple times and even stepped on it (long story) and I haven't broken anything yet (knock on wood).

Now unfortunately the iPaq is far from perfect. My Palm Vx was small enough to carry in my pocket literally ALL the time. The iPaq is too big for that. I am personnally hoping to see something as bright, and readable as the iPaq, with 802.11b, that's batteries last as long as the Palm Vx and has the Palm's form factor. If it shows up 2 years from now I'll be all over it. Of course by then my requirements will have changed again. :)

Personally I couldn't justify the extra $$$ for Bluetooth, so I went one model down (3835).

Also note that the iPaq comes with a nice protective case that wraps around the entire thing. The screen is covered by a semi-transparent, smoke grey piece of plastic that you can see through if you need to read something off the screen. I've dropped mine it multiple times and even stepped on it (long story) and I haven't broken anything yet (knock on wood).

Now unfortunately the iPaq is far from perfect. My Palm Vx was small enough to carry in my pocket literally ALL the time. The iPaq is too big for that. I am personnally hoping to see something as bright, and readable as the iPaq, with 802.11b, that's batteries last as long as the Palm Vx and has the Palm's form factor. If it shows up 2 years from now I'll be all over it. Of course by then my requirements will have changed again. :)

Good point, The bios vendors themselves are not the best providers of documentation... ( AMI for one ).. However some computer manufacturers do document changes:

For example:

IBM
http://www-1.ibm.com/support/manager.wss?rs=0&rt=0 &org=psg&doc=MIGR-41214

COMPAQ
http://www.compaq.com/support/files/server/us/down load/14220.html

HP
http://h20004.www2.hp.com/keeper_rnotes/bsdmatrix/ matrix50451.html

INTEL
http://www.intel.com/design/motherbd/ad/ad_bios.ht m
ftp://download.intel.com/design/motherbd/ad/P04-00 10d.pdf

As far as the bridge offer goes, I'll pass.

Hmmm, when Alpha Processor Inc. (API Networks) introduced the 1U dual-833Mhz EV6x Alpha CS20 over a year ago, I saw no special Slashdot story.

Granted, it was an expensive server ($8000US+)but did run Linux and NetBSD admirably.

Compaq introduced a 1U AlphaServer DS10L over TWO years ago and no Slashdot story on this either.

Slashdotters would complain that the Alpha-based servers are far too expensive so let's look to the low-end.

Sun introduced its sub-$1000US 1U Sun Fire V100 and Netra X1 servers and yet I never did see a drooling Slashdot story on either of these.

Not to mention that third-party integrators have had 1U dual Intel/AMD rackmounts for over a year as well. Nope, no major Slashdot story on the introduction of these either...

Apple comes late into the game with a non-ECC "Server" (that more closely resembles a desktop G4 stuffed into a 1U enclosure) that runs an unproven OS X (yes, unproven compared to Tru64/Digital UNIX, Solaris and even Linux/Net/FreeBSD) and Slashdotters are ecstatic.

Boy, that Kool-Aid must have been awfully refreshing.

~PA