Since I don't have any mod points and none of the other MCE posts are getting any attention...
LinuxMCE is much, much more than just a media center. It was originally PlutoHome, which was designed as a home automation suite. I'm guessing the name changed due to the primary use of the product, but the automation features are still there. Since I currently don't have it in my budget to do any automation I can't speak to how well it works, but I have read that it supports most automation hardware out there. The hard part becomes finding the right hardware solution for you. From what I've read, X10 is fairly outdated and a bit frustrating, but none of the newer technologies/specifications have really taken a lead. I'd say read up on a number of the more modern specs and see what fits your need. A quick Google for home automation turns up a lot of useful information. I'd start with Wikipedia's article on home automation. It has a lot of basic information on the various protocols, specifications, brands, etc.
The University of Notre Dame does provide at least minimal support for Linux, giving instructions for setting up both NetworkManager and wpa_supplicant for wireless. VPN access is provided via MS VPN and Cisco VPN. I have vpnc working perflectly for the Cisco VPN. As for classroom requirements, I'm not sure what software is used across campus as I'm an employee rather than a student, but I do know that there are a number of professors and/or departments that use Linux in some way, shape, or form.
Not everyone works in a large corporation...sometimes the 2 servers company A owns needs updates, and they're not going to have a whole WSUS deployment set up for those 2 servers and 10 workstations they own. I've worked in many environments where it's necessary to have a working web browser on a server.
Going through "Bobs Rad Repository" sounds great until they take a month to finally support PostgreSQL 8.3.7 (I'm looking at you, Gentoo). "Bobs Rad Repository" also usually only has binaries for the latest and greatest version of "Bobs Rad Distro". Once a couple years go by, you can forget downloading binaries that work on your two-year-old version of Bobs Rad Distro.
I'll take the Windows Way, or failing that, the FreeBSD/BSD way where I can at least edit a damn Makefile in the portstree and submit a diff to the port maintainer when crap isn't up to date.
I'll give you that sometimes the maintainers of packages for Gentoo do lag behind...but if you're willing to edit a Makefile for BSD and pass that on to the maintainer(s), why not submit an ebuild? Or short of that, I've found that it's easier to compile from source sans package-system support in Gentoo than your standard binary system since it's a lot more likely you already have the necessary dependencies for compilation.
Information Security isn't going to get better without a major shift in how people work. As a society, we need to examine who really needs what data and then truly limit everyone to what they need. Until we can define these roles/access levels in black and white terms and permanently adhere to the controls put in place, there will always be IT blunders.
The problem is that these changes are rarely permanent, but more of a pendulum that swings back and forth as events like this occur. If Bob is taking home Social Security numbers on his laptop and someone steals it, controls may be put in place to prevent people from saving files to their laptops (and Bob is let go). Six months later, Suzie complains that she needs to be able to copy a proposal she's working on so that she can work on her flight to Japan. An exception is made. This typically snowballs until we're back to where Joe can copy the accounting records with SSNs.
Ease of access and efficiency nearly always trump security when these breaches aren't fresh in everyone's minds.
Maximum PC does mention the details of their testing, but as it is primarily a print magazine first and a website second, these things aren't included in every article. I believe they publish an article on how they're benchmarking hardware about once a year (or whenever they revamp the procedure). There's only so many pages in an issue, whereas web space is much cheaper and therefore easier to expand.
I don't see Maximum PC so much as a "serious review site" as i do a "serious review magazine" with a web presence. Similarly, if Anandtech or Tomshardware put out a magazine, I'd look at that as a secondary venture and view their sites first.
I would look at systems compatible with home automation, like Crestron. A search turned up that Crestron specifically has partnered with Wavetrend for RFID tracking integration with their automation systems. Fairly expensive, but an option nonetheless.
There are open source alternatives for home automation, such as Pluto (www.plutohome.org). I know Pluto uses Bluetooth to track people via cellphones to turn on lights, etc. but I don't know if it will track RFID natively. It's open source though, so the option to add it is there if you have the time and ability.
If it's legal to tape it, what law says that you can't watch that tape of a show (or listen to a tape of a song) over and over? If the content you are downloading is as-aired (no commercials have been removed) and you could have watched it live with current air wave broadcasts (or cable/satellite reception), what law says that you don't have rights to that same broadcast in digital form?
To me, this whole thing is a bit of a gray area. As the GP stated, over-air broadcasts can't be counted in any form. There is no provable loss of viewer-ship for those shows. For instance, Alias aired on Sunday nights at one point. I wasn't home during that time period, didn't have more than a TV (no VCR or PVR), and therefore could have never watched the show. If it weren't for the availability of episodes online, I never would have watched it as it aired when I was finally able to, because I would have no idea what had gone on before. Serialized shows are particularly susceptible to this.
I believe that a number of universities have taken this approach and left it at that. There are a number of things that are done in a university setting that would be considered illegal anywhere else. From what I understand, the general consensus is that this should fall under the same protection. After all, isn't college a collection of curious students trying to learn?
I can't speak for all "people here," but my opinion is that it's a choice between two evils: Sony and M$. I'm not a huge M$ fan, but to me, they're the lesser evil.
BitTorrent is throttled by nature, based on uploads. Try UseNet binaries instead...particularly if your ISP mirrors any alt.binaries since those will be about as close to a true throughput test as you can get. Any torrents or web downloads could be slowed by anything between you and them, which may or may not be your ISP and/or your direct line.
Slashdot Mirror
I'll second Koha. It's pretty easy to stand up, runs on a MySQL backend, and is fairly feature-rich.
Since I don't have any mod points and none of the other MCE posts are getting any attention... LinuxMCE is much, much more than just a media center. It was originally PlutoHome, which was designed as a home automation suite. I'm guessing the name changed due to the primary use of the product, but the automation features are still there. Since I currently don't have it in my budget to do any automation I can't speak to how well it works, but I have read that it supports most automation hardware out there. The hard part becomes finding the right hardware solution for you. From what I've read, X10 is fairly outdated and a bit frustrating, but none of the newer technologies/specifications have really taken a lead. I'd say read up on a number of the more modern specs and see what fits your need. A quick Google for home automation turns up a lot of useful information. I'd start with Wikipedia's article on home automation. It has a lot of basic information on the various protocols, specifications, brands, etc.
The University of Notre Dame does provide at least minimal support for Linux, giving instructions for setting up both NetworkManager and wpa_supplicant for wireless. VPN access is provided via MS VPN and Cisco VPN. I have vpnc working perflectly for the Cisco VPN. As for classroom requirements, I'm not sure what software is used across campus as I'm an employee rather than a student, but I do know that there are a number of professors and/or departments that use Linux in some way, shape, or form.
Not everyone works in a large corporation...sometimes the 2 servers company A owns needs updates, and they're not going to have a whole WSUS deployment set up for those 2 servers and 10 workstations they own. I've worked in many environments where it's necessary to have a working web browser on a server.
Going through "Bobs Rad Repository" sounds great until they take a month to finally support PostgreSQL 8.3.7 (I'm looking at you, Gentoo). "Bobs Rad Repository" also usually only has binaries for the latest and greatest version of "Bobs Rad Distro". Once a couple years go by, you can forget downloading binaries that work on your two-year-old version of Bobs Rad Distro.
I'll take the Windows Way, or failing that, the FreeBSD/BSD way where I can at least edit a damn Makefile in the portstree and submit a diff to the port maintainer when crap isn't up to date.
I'll give you that sometimes the maintainers of packages for Gentoo do lag behind...but if you're willing to edit a Makefile for BSD and pass that on to the maintainer(s), why not submit an ebuild? Or short of that, I've found that it's easier to compile from source sans package-system support in Gentoo than your standard binary system since it's a lot more likely you already have the necessary dependencies for compilation.
Apparently nobody caught the Wired article on this a couple of months ago?
The Petabyte Age
The problem is that it's the reverse:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amnesty_law
There's nothing preventing amnesty laws in the constitution.
Information Security isn't going to get better without a major shift in how people work. As a society, we need to examine who really needs what data and then truly limit everyone to what they need. Until we can define these roles/access levels in black and white terms and permanently adhere to the controls put in place, there will always be IT blunders.
The problem is that these changes are rarely permanent, but more of a pendulum that swings back and forth as events like this occur. If Bob is taking home Social Security numbers on his laptop and someone steals it, controls may be put in place to prevent people from saving files to their laptops (and Bob is let go). Six months later, Suzie complains that she needs to be able to copy a proposal she's working on so that she can work on her flight to Japan. An exception is made. This typically snowballs until we're back to where Joe can copy the accounting records with SSNs.
Ease of access and efficiency nearly always trump security when these breaches aren't fresh in everyone's minds.
Maximum PC does mention the details of their testing, but as it is primarily a print magazine first and a website second, these things aren't included in every article. I believe they publish an article on how they're benchmarking hardware about once a year (or whenever they revamp the procedure). There's only so many pages in an issue, whereas web space is much cheaper and therefore easier to expand.
I don't see Maximum PC so much as a "serious review site" as i do a "serious review magazine" with a web presence. Similarly, if Anandtech or Tomshardware put out a magazine, I'd look at that as a secondary venture and view their sites first.
I would look at systems compatible with home automation, like Crestron. A search turned up that Crestron specifically has partnered with Wavetrend for RFID tracking integration with their automation systems. Fairly expensive, but an option nonetheless.
There are open source alternatives for home automation, such as Pluto (www.plutohome.org). I know Pluto uses Bluetooth to track people via cellphones to turn on lights, etc. but I don't know if it will track RFID natively. It's open source though, so the option to add it is there if you have the time and ability.
If it's legal to tape it, what law says that you can't watch that tape of a show (or listen to a tape of a song) over and over? If the content you are downloading is as-aired (no commercials have been removed) and you could have watched it live with current air wave broadcasts (or cable/satellite reception), what law says that you don't have rights to that same broadcast in digital form? To me, this whole thing is a bit of a gray area. As the GP stated, over-air broadcasts can't be counted in any form. There is no provable loss of viewer-ship for those shows. For instance, Alias aired on Sunday nights at one point. I wasn't home during that time period, didn't have more than a TV (no VCR or PVR), and therefore could have never watched the show. If it weren't for the availability of episodes online, I never would have watched it as it aired when I was finally able to, because I would have no idea what had gone on before. Serialized shows are particularly susceptible to this.
I believe that a number of universities have taken this approach and left it at that. There are a number of things that are done in a university setting that would be considered illegal anywhere else. From what I understand, the general consensus is that this should fall under the same protection. After all, isn't college a collection of curious students trying to learn?
The problem with this logic is that 3 years from now is about 10 years from one of the original announcements, making it 7 years too late.
They've been saying "Coming soon!" for some time now.
He's also the father of WildTangent...ugh.
I can't speak for all "people here," but my opinion is that it's a choice between two evils: Sony and M$. I'm not a huge M$ fan, but to me, they're the lesser evil.
If not, it must be under the C.
BitTorrent is throttled by nature, based on uploads. Try UseNet binaries instead...particularly if your ISP mirrors any alt.binaries since those will be about as close to a true throughput test as you can get. Any torrents or web downloads could be slowed by anything between you and them, which may or may not be your ISP and/or your direct line.