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Things To Download
I've taken the liberty of combining together a number of different submissions we've received. First off, Network Magic recently came out with a new version of their software (tour on link). It's Windows-based primarily, but having tested it out on Mac/Linux/Windows-mixed network, it's worth checking out. Another individual pointed out that SourceForge Enterprise is now a 15 seat free download; you can also grab the ISO in Torrent form. (SourceForge is made by the other arm of the company that owns Slashdot, VA Software). Lastly, a couple of folks seem to have rediscovered the joy of Audioscrobbler and sharing the stuff via last.fm. Fun stuff.
http://www.zmanda.com/downloads.html
Amanda: Open Source Backup Software
I agree, I wouldn't use anything else but TRAC, and nobody is going to try and upsell me when I use it. One thing that bothers me about posts like this one is I get the feeling it isn't just about what is available, but also someone has a vested interest in seeing this stuff pushed on the /. community.
Windows XP has horrible networking. If you are on Domain, you get to offload the pain to a domain admin (unless you ARE the domain admin...) but for workgroups, the suffering is all yours.
Right now I have a network with the following characteristics:
The current situation is this:
Machine A can see Machine B, and can look at, upload to, and download from B's folders.
Machine B CANNOT see Machine A at all.
Machine B can see Machine C.
Machine A can see Machine C.
Machine C cannot see ANY machine.
Another form:
A-->B
B-->C
A-->C
So to get a file from A to B or from B to A is easy, go to A, copy to or from B.
Getting a file to C is also easy, just go to A or B and put the file on or take the file off of C.
So technically I can "do" any possible transfer.
Damned if it isn't STUPID and MESSED UP though.
Oh and don't even go to printer sharing. The original idea was to have A act as a print server for B and C. Of course nobody can actually see A, so that didn't really go over that well.
Mind you I have NEVER seen a Windows network setup as eloquently as a *nix network. On *nix, I just go to any machine and lo and behold, I can see every other machine on the network, use any printer, and if I login to multiple machines at the same time (most often using SSH) any changes I make to a file in my home directory on machine A is almost instantly transferred to ALL other machines that I am logged on to. This is incredibly convenient for testing network client/server apps.
Windows, in comparison, has this entire synch on login/logoff thing going on, and the login process can take upwards of 2-3 minutes per machine! (Depending on the stupidity of how the domain was setup, some domains work better than others...)
Now when it comes to network printing, Windows domains have got *nix beat.
"Well what you do on *nix is you memorize the printers magic number, no, there is no searching GUI listing of printers setup, then you drop to the command line and pipe the file you want to print to the printer."
Okay....
Yes, I have seen *nix networks setup better than that, but I have encountered that level of stupidity too many times. Thankfully I have never needed to print a file with graphics in it (or any file that is not in plain text) on such a network!
In conclusion, we, Computer Scientists, are complete and utter idiots who cannot program a decent system for the life of us.
Something so simple, so very very simple....
What the heck is wrong with us? It should NOT be complicated. I have had times where, when on a LAN, it was faster to BURN A CDR than to try and get networking up and running. Some times networking works, some times it doesn't. When it does, great, when it doesn't, oh well.
Computers should not be non-deterministic.
I really love those situations when two identical machines in identical states have the same operations applied to them in the same order, and two different results end up happening. That is cute folks, really cute[1].
[1]By cute I mean "Somebody should be pounded in the head with a sledgehammer".
Need help treating your acne? Come here!
Indeed. There are two things I would like to see added to Windows XP's wireless networking tools, and "Network Magic" seems to do neither:
1) Have a separate TCP/IP configuration for each network (I hear this will be added in Vista. Blah.)
2) Manually choose which AP I wish to connect to, if there are more than one around.
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
--Aristotle