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Or you will be working with your local linux users group and local companies to get equipment donated to set up internet kiosks in the shelters so that people who don't have access can get online, fill out forms, find family and friends, and look for jobs.

Oh wait.. that's what I'm doing.
http://www.golum.org/

I want to give a sincere thanks for that tip. As a guy who loves his car but has never even managed to change his own oil, I'm a big fan of AutoZone, for four reasons:

a) I live in Memphis, their HQ city;

b) AutoZone graciously provides space for many of the Memphis Linux user group meetings;

c) Every time I've gone to AutoZone, the people have been polite and I don't feel like I'm getting screwed;

d) They've been sued by SCO ;)

I own a 2000 Monte Carlo. It has an on-dash LCD style display which pops up any messages in black on an orange background. It was an AutoZone employee who solved my mysterious ongoing "Low Tire Pressure" message problem. I'd bought a digital tire pressure gauge and repeatedly ensured that all the tires were fine. I couldn't figure out what was going on, but the car's out of warranty now, and I was loathe to go to the dealer. So when I went by AutoZone to buy some Rain-X, I asked the guy working the register if he knew anything about this issue.

Not only did he know, he said "let's take a look at it." He came out with his own pressure gauge to inspect my tires, and spent at least 15 minutes talking with me like he was my best friend, no charge. Apparently the newer Chevy models have sensors which determine the "tire pressure" by judging the alignment of the wheels against each other. Assuming that all four tires are properly aligned, if one is rotating out of sync with the others, low tire pressure is a proper diagnosis... But if the alignment is off, the "Low Tire Pressure" warning displays incessantly. The AutoZone guy explained this in detail, I got a rotate/balance the next time I had an oil change, and lo and behold, no more "Low Tire Pressure" light.

Fucking amazing. If I'd gone to one of the local garages, they'd have probably charged me $30+ just to take a look, not to mention a proper diagnosis. The AutoZone guy did it free, and quite happily, after I'd made a whopping $4 purchase of a bottle of Rain-X.

I was once told that AutoZone has a 4 terabyte database hanging around somewhere. Any idea if this is true?

I am not an expert, but in general, Opteron seems to be targeted more for the workstation/server market than the supercomputer market. It's not like they really need x86 backwards-compatibility in the supercomputer field, so Opteron doesn't seem to be optimized for that market. I think Intel may have made IA-64 with supercomputers in mind than AMD did with x86-64.

Some reps from SGI came to my LUG the other day, and talked about their clusters and supercomputers. The guy doing the Q&A said that he personally liked the Opterons and x86-64, and that the Opterons were fast, but for what SGI does they preferred Itanium. The Opterons have their memory controller embedded in the chip itself, which is great for 1 or 2 or even 8 processors. However when you go up to a 512 processor single-system image supercomputer like SGI's Altix, a lot of the memory controller stuff is done in the switches or otherwise off-chip. Itanium allowed for more flexibility in how they did memory controllers, because they don't have an on-chip one.

There were some other reasons too, like having more registers, etc. that made SGI choose Itanium over Opteron. I don't know how applicable they are to this situation, as this doesn't seem to be a SSI supercomputer.

You might want to reconsider. The guy who was hosting our LUGs website upgraded to business-class, for just the reasons you mention. He's had more outages and general problems since he upgraded than he ever had on residential service.

I think he decided to go DSL, but I may be mistaken. Search the archives at GOLUM for Roadrunner if you're really interested.

How many AutoZone customers do you think have ever heard of SCO? For that matter how many do you think would care anyway?

Ah, good point.I imagine their customers think "Linux" is some sort of disposable window cleaning towlet that keeps rain off their windshield!

I know AutoZone doesn't seem like much of a Linux-centric company, but they actually host a LUG, Group of Linux Users, Memphis at their headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee. They have graciously let us use their facilities, including a nice conference room with a projector and free downtown parking. Some of their employees have also given presentations on things ranging from wireless security to apache. Please support AutoZone in this lawsuit, even if it's just in online forums. (disclaimer: I am not an employee of AutoZone, just a golum member)

The paranoid part of me suspects this lawsuit is partly a punitive move to 'punish' companies that show support for the community. AutoZone is not the biggest Linux user out there, but they seem more community-minded than most.

Autozone has been relatively high-profile in their support of linux. Not only do they use(and pay RedHat for) linux, they host the meetings of the Memphis, Tennessee user's group(GOLUM) at their corporate headquarters in downtown Memphis! I believe Jim Greer, the guy that's being quoted a lot in this thread, is the former secretary of Golum.

So I HIGHLY suspect that this lawsuit has more to do with "punishing" a customer for their vocal support of linux instead of any real damages done to SCO.

If you live in the Memphis, TN area, please think about going to Golum to show your support! Their next meeting is tommorow, March 4th on 7:30pm at AutoZone HQ. Directions and map here. Parking is free, you just pull into their driveway in front of their HQ and park in the garage.

Autozone has been relatively high-profile in their support of linux. Not only do they use(and pay RedHat for) linux, they host the meetings of the Memphis, Tennessee user's group(GOLUM) at their corporate headquarters in downtown Memphis! I believe Jim Greer, the guy that's being quoted a lot in this thread, is the former secretary of Golum.

So I HIGHLY suspect that this lawsuit has more to do with "punishing" a customer for their vocal support of linux instead of any real damages done to SCO.

If you live in the Memphis, TN area, please think about going to Golum to show your support! Their next meeting is tommorow, March 4th on 7:30pm at AutoZone HQ. Directions and map here. Parking is free, you just pull into their driveway in front of their HQ and park in the garage.

That's "Group Of Linux Users, Memphis", for anyone wondering what Golum is. It's a Linux user's group, basically.

Not only does Autozone host their meetings at their corporate HQ in downtown Memphis, Jim Greer, the guy being quoted in a lot of the postings above, is (or was) the secretary of Golum. I believe he still attends, so if you have time tommorow, go to their next meeting to show your support for AutoZone!

Being from Memphis, I am well aware how supportive AutoZone folks are of Linux, as many AutoZone techs are members of GOLUM.

I hope AutoZone countersues them into the ground in a most genteel, southernly manner.

Now off for my morning bowl of hot grits.

I can make a caravan. I've posted to the Golum list about it.

The linux users group in Memphis, GOLUM, holds most of its meetings at AutoZone's headquarters downtown. AutoZone donates the use of the conference room. There was also a meeting today at the local community college, who are kind enough to donate space in one of their labs for a couple of hours.

Of course it helps that employees from AutoZone and the college are members of the user group. If your group doesn't have any members with ties to corporations (aside from the current sponsor) or academia, you could always ask your local public library, if you have one. Many of them have meeting rooms which can be reserved for use by non-profit groups, or even by the public.

What you need to do is find a Linux User Group to join. Here's a helpful page. Don't worry if there's not one within driving distance, they almost all have mailing lists. Just pick one. Or pick two or three, ask a few questions, and see which list is the most helpful.

I'll take this as an opportunity to plug our local LUG, GOLUM. You're welcome to join our list, or if you're in the Memphis area, come to the meetings. Plus we have the coolest mascot of any LUG.

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What you need to do is find a Linux User Group to join. Here's a helpful page. Don't worry if there's not one within driving distance, they almost all have mailing lists. Just pick one. Or pick two or three, ask a few questions, and see which list is the most helpful.

I'll take this as an opportunity to plug our local LUG, GOLUM. You're welcome to join our list, or if you're in the Memphis area, come to the meetings. Plus we have the coolest mascot of any LUG.

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