What you are asking about is 'performance tuning'. Do a search at Google on that term and you will find plenty of information online. http://linuxperf.nl.linux.org/ might be a good place to start.
Average load is unique to a system. To figure out what that average is you need to monitor the server for a while.
I don't know about Linux, but I've done a lot of NT Server tuning and I think some of the general principles can be shared across platforms.
* Monitor CPU, Memory, Disk, and Network load over time (these are the four primary sources of bottlenecks in computer systems). Figure out what is regular for *your* systems. I take samples a few specific times a day every few days.
* If one metric is consistently high, at or near 100% utilization that's a good sign of a possible bottleneck. Take care of that bottleneck by increasing processor speed, adding more memory, adjusting the settings/algorythms of your software, etc.
* Make one change at a time, and then measure the results.
* Document your changes, so then if you actually slow the machine down you can go back to the original status
* When you remove a bottleneck, it is replaced by another. That's the name of the game.
* The best way to tell if you have a bottleneck is user input. Are they complaining that database lookups take to long? That web pages aren't delivered fast enough? Or are they quietly content (right, you wish!:-)?
I'd make the disk bootable to a DOS prompt. DOS is still very useful for recovering Windows systems (at least 3.11 to Millenium, it doesn't work with NT, or 2000). I'd try and track down DOS drivers for the network cards you use and have those load with the TCP/IP stack at boot-time as well.
TinyApps.org has some great stuff there, and it's all very small but very useful. For example, I'd dump WinZip and go with FreeZip. 1.5MB vs. 250KB
Here's my list:
* xcopy
* del
* deltree
* rename
* mkdir
* rmdir
* format
* fdisk
* Something like Norton Disk Edit where you can see and edit the whole disk.
* a DOS-based text editor.
* a file-splitter
* a file decompressor (pkzip?)
* a web browser (if you loaded the drivers at boot).
* maybe a partition resizer
* the cygwin-lite unix tools for 9x/ME/NT4/2000
Hope that gives you some help, and some room for improvement.
Dr. Dobbs Journal had an article in its January 2000 issue titled "The Ultimate Home Jukebox".
The authors basically took their 300+ CDs, ripped them to MP3 (and created a filing/naming convention for them all), stored them on a server with a web based interface, and hooked the whole thing up to their home lan and stereo. It's exactly the info you are looking for.
The article is available online from the DDJ store for $5. http://www.ddj.com/store/ and follow the Dr. Dobbs Online Library link.
While they weren't huge cases (handful of servers, 250-500 machines/users) my organization has chosen Windows NT for our Network Operating System solution and desktop OS in the past precisely because of the 'widgets' which made security administration much easier than on linux.
The Event Log utility makes tracking system, application, and security events a breeze. Having the ACL controls integrated into the system and file manager makes controlling access much more flexible (IMHO, not trying to start a flame) than linux's traditional methods.
Finally, in the organizations I've worked in the Executives relied heavily on input from the engineers who would be running the systems. They realized that the sysadmins had a better idea of what was needed than they did, and acted on that information accordingly.
. ..is to learn how to type faster. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is a great tool for this, and it's also pretty fun. We use it to teach typing skills at the school where I work.
I've supported many administrative assistants and remember when voice to text software first came out. We tried a number of solutions, and for even moderate typing speeds (60-90wpm) we found they were much more efficient if they just typed, rather than tried to dictate.
I also remember recently the Director of our school was tired of dictating letters to tape to be transcribed by her assistant. (This was about 5-6 months ago). We tried Dragon Naturally Speaking and she didn't like it at all: typos, have to speak unnaturally, the weird feeling of talking to the computer (don't know why that was an issue since she talked to the tape. She's the boss).
Anyway. I'd invest some time in building your typing skills. It will have a higher payoff in the end.
Just now, with the Final Fantasy movie are we beginning to see what I would call virtual reality. Everything before that was a joke. Game Boy? Please give me a break.
When we get real-time Final Fantasy movie quality or better images, then we'll be getting close to VR. When the AI has advanced to the point where I can have a real conversation with a Virtual Person and that Virtual Person interacts with its environment logically, then we'll have VR.
The media blew what was possible out of all proportion, people got tired of the hype and being disappointed, then tired of waiting. That's what happened.
Great noir, exposing the 50's and 60's corruption and fear.
Re:That sound you hear...
on
Slashdot Updates
·
· Score: 2, Informative
If you view in light mode you won't see it at all anyway. I didn't know what the hell he was talking about until I cleared my cookies and viewed the page regular (ie bloated).
I'm pretty concerned about what legislation is going to be passed in the next few weeks.
With this anthrax scare basically shutting down the Congressional delegation's staffs, no research is being done on upcoming legislation. Letters aren't being read and concerns aren't being heard.
Just because their staffs aren't working though, doesn't mean Congress has. Vows have been made for them to continue working while the offices are shut down, so votes are still being made.
That doesn't mean we should stop sending letters and making calls. But jeez, scary!
I really couldn't care less about this gadget. I was upset last night when I rented Snatch for the first time, only to find out the Screen Gems (who distributed the movie) is a Sony company.
The hypocracy of this site is maddening at times. Especially when the news really isn't news at all, and seems to hype a company that most of the readership has denounced time and again.
Boy, most of the posts I've seen moderated up have been from people out of school for a decade bitching about 486 machines.
Get a clue people, and do some Google searches for e-learning, online education, and the like.
Cisco's CCNA courses are probably the best example I have personal experience with; you should check out their education web page. http://cisco.com/warp/public/10/wwtraining/whats_n ew/
E-learning is a huge market and a great resource. Online programs utilizing Internet technologies (classes are accessed via a browser) are teaching everything from basic maths and sciences to advanced router configuration and particle physics.
E-learing is in many ways a better solution than teacher led classes:
* Truely individualized teaching is possible.
* Classes are more accessible. If you can't read, the text can be read to you. If you can't hear, it's all available as text.
* There are many innovative uses of multimedia in these online classes. Flash is the most widely used technology for multimedia in online education. Most uses of it for this application have been very, very well done.
Online education is absolutely the future of education IMHO. Do some searching for info on it and I think you will be amazed at what is being done with this incredible application of technology.
After seeing first hand how over-burdened Senators and their staff are, here's an idea.
How about upping the number of Senators per state to three? That would help take the load off, and each state would still have equal representation in the Senate.
Re:Remember when...
on
LWN in Trouble
·
· Score: 2, Informative
The Ultimate Collection of Winsock Software.
I went their all the time to find the latest and greatest software to make Windows for Workgroups 3.11 actually usable on the net. Only five-cow rated newreaders for this geek!
New and used keyboards and mice are plentiful and will only add another $30 to the tag. Despite the rumors, broadband is not a requirement for net access, and the Dreamcast comes with a 56K modem that will work with you ISP.
My local Software Etc. and Electronics Boutique both have their back rooms piled high with used, working Dreamcasts. I just picked up one of the cool black ones with its controller for $50 + $10 for a six month warranty against it dying.
It comes with a modem and a browser and you can get a keyboard and mouse for it. Several companies make adapters that allow you to connect it to a monitor. You can still find the broadband (Ethernet) adapter on Ebay for about $120.
I have the base linux system up and running on it, so now I'm working on getting it to dial up an ISP and start a browser on power-up. My grandma has been putting off getting online for a long time, and now I can get her there for $50 + ISP charges. All she has to do is push the power button and she's on the web and able to email her far flung family. I'm making sure the interface is big and readable on her 35" TV.
It's pretty easy for me to get linux running on it now, and then connect to my home computer and run terminal services. Why do I do this? Because $150 for a new computer for my wife is much less than $1000 for a new low-end computer, especially when it is just used for basic productivity suite software and web browsing.
Also, the linux system is just a CD-R, so I just pop it out, and pop in a game and I'm playing Quake, or Crazy Taxi, or Ready to Rumble, or Sega NFL with no patches or incompatabilities with up to three of my friends. (All of these games are readily available used for $15 or new for $45)
I imagine Jobs is fuming at this wondering just what it's going to take to keep Microsoft off MacOS. I wonder if Apple has any skunk work projects or programmers working on non-Microsoft browsers and office suites. Kinda conspiracy theory-ish, I know.
Most of the threads that've been modded up have been bitching about Star Office not importing/exporting Microsoft Office documents well. How many have really tried this?
I replaced Microsoft Office 2000 (on Win98SE) with Open Office build 638 about two months ago at work. So far, I haven't had one co-worker have a problem with files I've created or edited. I imagine this release of Star Office would be better than Open Office build 638 at this.
Open Office is really a nice productivity suite that's getting stronger. And while it's not at Microsoft Office's level yet, it is doing the job for me at home and at work. It's also Open Source and I really like that.
I don't think it's going to work real well at this time for Joe Administrative Assistant, but the techies here on Slashdot should try replacing their copies of Office with it, and see if any one even notices.
It was the only distribution that installed flawlessly the first time I tried. My workstation's hardware components were on the HCL of all the distributions I tried, but most incorrectly detected my monitor and video card and I was stuck futzing with X trying to get out of 640x480 at 16 colors. Caldera got DHCP working during install, while other's forced me to figure that out afterwards. Some seemed to install correctly, but wouldn't boot. I could go on and on.
I only use the free software part of Caldera, but the entire package feels coherent and professional.
Another post was complaining about it 'only' including KDE 2.2 and the 2.4.2 kernel. Well, I don't know of any distributions that don't need to be updated after install, at least Caldera is just a quick patch to the latest and greatest. It also has the KDE and QT development tools installed by default, ready to go. Very cool, IMO.
I guess the licence thing just isn't an issue for me since I found the tool I needed and it works the way I expect it. In fact, I downloaded this ISO along with it's source from Caldera's website for free, so I don't know what the license issue is for sure.
This is all anecdotal of course, but I just wanted to throw some positive Caldera energy out into all of this negative.
(P.S. The other distributions I tried were Debian 2.2r3, Slackware 8.0, Mandrake 8.0, RedHat 7.1 and 7.2 beta, and SuSE demo disk. All were downloaded as ISOs from the manufacturer's website and burned to CD-R.)
. ..of how to trust ANY news agency in these modern times. It's hard enough to trust them when it is so simple for them to tweak images, sound, video to say anything they want it to say. Several people who watched the WTC attack on tv commented on how it looked like a hollywood special effect.
CBS puts their logo all over everything during their news and sports programs. It'd be easy for them to edit out people from backgrounds when they are doing interviews outside, among a million other possibilities.
Now throw into the mix the scary idea that unknown crackers really are fudging the data of major news sources.
What's a guy to do? Become an obsessive paranoid who lives in rural montanta writing manafestos? What? How do we verify our information sources?
I know it's been lauded over and over as a revolution in role playing on the computer, but I always thought it was boring and ugly. It was almost as bad as the first Dragon Warrior for walking around for hours and killing things without advancing the plot at all.
It's neat that it's getting a facelift but if it's still all about roll playing and not role playing I think I'll pass.
Slashdot Mirror
What you are asking about is 'performance tuning'. Do a search at Google on that term and you will find plenty of information online. http://linuxperf.nl.linux.org/ might be a good place to start.
:-)?
Average load is unique to a system. To figure out what that average is you need to monitor the server for a while.
I don't know about Linux, but I've done a lot of NT Server tuning and I think some of the general principles can be shared across platforms.
* Monitor CPU, Memory, Disk, and Network load over time (these are the four primary sources of bottlenecks in computer systems). Figure out what is regular for *your* systems. I take samples a few specific times a day every few days.
* If one metric is consistently high, at or near 100% utilization that's a good sign of a possible bottleneck. Take care of that bottleneck by increasing processor speed, adding more memory, adjusting the settings/algorythms of your software, etc.
* Make one change at a time, and then measure the results.
* Document your changes, so then if you actually slow the machine down you can go back to the original status
* When you remove a bottleneck, it is replaced by another. That's the name of the game.
* The best way to tell if you have a bottleneck is user input. Are they complaining that database lookups take to long? That web pages aren't delivered fast enough? Or are they quietly content (right, you wish!
Good Luck!
I'd make the disk bootable to a DOS prompt. DOS is still very useful for recovering Windows systems (at least 3.11 to Millenium, it doesn't work with NT, or 2000). I'd try and track down DOS drivers for the network cards you use and have those load with the TCP/IP stack at boot-time as well.
TinyApps.org has some great stuff there, and it's all very small but very useful. For example, I'd dump WinZip and go with FreeZip. 1.5MB vs. 250KB
Here's my list:
* xcopy
* del
* deltree
* rename
* mkdir
* rmdir
* format
* fdisk
* Something like Norton Disk Edit where you can see and edit the whole disk.
* a DOS-based text editor.
* a file-splitter
* a file decompressor (pkzip?)
* a web browser (if you loaded the drivers at boot).
* maybe a partition resizer
* the cygwin-lite unix tools for 9x/ME/NT4/2000
Hope that gives you some help, and some room for improvement.
Dr. Dobbs Journal had an article in its January 2000 issue titled "The Ultimate Home Jukebox".
The authors basically took their 300+ CDs, ripped them to MP3 (and created a filing/naming convention for them all), stored them on a server with a web based interface, and hooked the whole thing up to their home lan and stereo. It's exactly the info you are looking for.
The article is available online from the DDJ store for $5. http://www.ddj.com/store/ and follow the Dr. Dobbs Online Library link.
I would like to kindly disagree.
While they weren't huge cases (handful of servers, 250-500 machines/users) my organization has chosen Windows NT for our Network Operating System solution and desktop OS in the past precisely because of the 'widgets' which made security administration much easier than on linux.
The Event Log utility makes tracking system, application, and security events a breeze. Having the ACL controls integrated into the system and file manager makes controlling access much more flexible (IMHO, not trying to start a flame) than linux's traditional methods.
Finally, in the organizations I've worked in the Executives relied heavily on input from the engineers who would be running the systems. They realized that the sysadmins had a better idea of what was needed than they did, and acted on that information accordingly.
. . .is to learn how to type faster. Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is a great tool for this, and it's also pretty fun. We use it to teach typing skills at the school where I work.
I've supported many administrative assistants and remember when voice to text software first came out. We tried a number of solutions, and for even moderate typing speeds (60-90wpm) we found they were much more efficient if they just typed, rather than tried to dictate.
I also remember recently the Director of our school was tired of dictating letters to tape to be transcribed by her assistant. (This was about 5-6 months ago). We tried Dragon Naturally Speaking and she didn't like it at all: typos, have to speak unnaturally, the weird feeling of talking to the computer (don't know why that was an issue since she talked to the tape. She's the boss).
Anyway. I'd invest some time in building your typing skills. It will have a higher payoff in the end.
Just now, with the Final Fantasy movie are we beginning to see what I would call virtual reality. Everything before that was a joke. Game Boy? Please give me a break.
When we get real-time Final Fantasy movie quality or better images, then we'll be getting close to VR. When the AI has advanced to the point where I can have a real conversation with a Virtual Person and that Virtual Person interacts with its environment logically, then we'll have VR.
The media blew what was possible out of all proportion, people got tired of the hype and being disappointed, then tired of waiting. That's what happened.
but if I want handheld gaming goodness, I'll stick with a $100 Gameboy Advance. If I'm feeling frisky maybe a WonderSwan.
If I want a PIM, I'll get a $100 Palm platform device. If I want a Super PIM capable of holding a few extras, I'll get a $200 Palm platform device.
Either way, I still have $200-$300 to spend on my next-gen home console.
I applaud the hacker ethic at work here, but to be pragmatic I think there are better tools to do my job.
Great noir, exposing the 50's and 60's corruption and fear.
If you view in light mode you won't see it at all anyway. I didn't know what the hell he was talking about until I cleared my cookies and viewed the page regular (ie bloated).
I'm pretty concerned about what legislation is going to be passed in the next few weeks.
With this anthrax scare basically shutting down the Congressional delegation's staffs, no research is being done on upcoming legislation. Letters aren't being read and concerns aren't being heard.
Just because their staffs aren't working though, doesn't mean Congress has. Vows have been made for them to continue working while the offices are shut down, so votes are still being made.
That doesn't mean we should stop sending letters and making calls. But jeez, scary!
Isn't Sony a member of the RIAA and MPAA?
I really couldn't care less about this gadget. I was upset last night when I rented Snatch for the first time, only to find out the Screen Gems (who distributed the movie) is a Sony company.
The hypocracy of this site is maddening at times. Especially when the news really isn't news at all, and seems to hype a company that most of the readership has denounced time and again.
Boy, most of the posts I've seen moderated up have been from people out of school for a decade bitching about 486 machines.
n ew/
Get a clue people, and do some Google searches for e-learning, online education, and the like.
Cisco's CCNA courses are probably the best example I have personal experience with; you should check out their education web page. http://cisco.com/warp/public/10/wwtraining/whats_
E-learning is a huge market and a great resource. Online programs utilizing Internet technologies (classes are accessed via a browser) are teaching everything from basic maths and sciences to advanced router configuration and particle physics.
E-learing is in many ways a better solution than teacher led classes:
* Truely individualized teaching is possible.
* Classes are more accessible. If you can't read, the text can be read to you. If you can't hear, it's all available as text.
* There are many innovative uses of multimedia in these online classes. Flash is the most widely used technology for multimedia in online education. Most uses of it for this application have been very, very well done.
Online education is absolutely the future of education IMHO. Do some searching for info on it and I think you will be amazed at what is being done with this incredible application of technology.
After seeing first hand how over-burdened Senators and their staff are, here's an idea.
How about upping the number of Senators per state to three? That would help take the load off, and each state would still have equal representation in the Senate.
The Ultimate Collection of Winsock Software.
I went their all the time to find the latest and greatest software to make Windows for Workgroups 3.11 actually usable on the net. Only five-cow rated newreaders for this geek!
The reason they should also have mouse and keyboards are for security so passwords etc wouldn't have to be spoken
"My Voice is My Passport"My point still stands.
$600-$750 is a lot more than $150.
New and used keyboards and mice are plentiful and will only add another $30 to the tag. Despite the rumors, broadband is not a requirement for net access, and the Dreamcast comes with a 56K modem that will work with you ISP.
My local Software Etc. and Electronics Boutique both have their back rooms piled high with used, working Dreamcasts. I just picked up one of the cool black ones with its controller for $50 + $10 for a six month warranty against it dying.
It comes with a modem and a browser and you can get a keyboard and mouse for it. Several companies make adapters that allow you to connect it to a monitor. You can still find the broadband (Ethernet) adapter on Ebay for about $120.
I have the base linux system up and running on it, so now I'm working on getting it to dial up an ISP and start a browser on power-up. My grandma has been putting off getting online for a long time, and now I can get her there for $50 + ISP charges. All she has to do is push the power button and she's on the web and able to email her far flung family. I'm making sure the interface is big and readable on her 35" TV.
It's pretty easy for me to get linux running on it now, and then connect to my home computer and run terminal services. Why do I do this? Because $150 for a new computer for my wife is much less than $1000 for a new low-end computer, especially when it is just used for basic productivity suite software and web browsing.
Also, the linux system is just a CD-R, so I just pop it out, and pop in a game and I'm playing Quake, or Crazy Taxi, or Ready to Rumble, or Sega NFL with no patches or incompatabilities with up to three of my friends. (All of these games are readily available used for $15 or new for $45)
It's too bad it didn't work for you. Still, it's nice to see that you at least tried.
I imagine Jobs is fuming at this wondering just what it's going to take to keep Microsoft off MacOS. I wonder if Apple has any skunk work projects or programmers working on non-Microsoft browsers and office suites. Kinda conspiracy theory-ish, I know.
Most of the threads that've been modded up have been bitching about Star Office not importing/exporting Microsoft Office documents well. How many have really tried this?
I replaced Microsoft Office 2000 (on Win98SE) with Open Office build 638 about two months ago at work. So far, I haven't had one co-worker have a problem with files I've created or edited. I imagine this release of Star Office would be better than Open Office build 638 at this.
Open Office is really a nice productivity suite that's getting stronger. And while it's not at Microsoft Office's level yet, it is doing the job for me at home and at work. It's also Open Source and I really like that.
I don't think it's going to work real well at this time for Joe Administrative Assistant, but the techies here on Slashdot should try replacing their copies of Office with it, and see if any one even notices.
Why did they think people would use Ebay to hide messages?
Just e-mail your buddy pics of you playing with your dog, or set up a geocities page, or break into Yahoo and alter their news pics.
I chose Caldera Linux for my workstation at work.
It was the only distribution that installed flawlessly the first time I tried. My workstation's hardware components were on the HCL of all the distributions I tried, but most incorrectly detected my monitor and video card and I was stuck futzing with X trying to get out of 640x480 at 16 colors. Caldera got DHCP working during install, while other's forced me to figure that out afterwards. Some seemed to install correctly, but wouldn't boot. I could go on and on.
I only use the free software part of Caldera, but the entire package feels coherent and professional.
Another post was complaining about it 'only' including KDE 2.2 and the 2.4.2 kernel. Well, I don't know of any distributions that don't need to be updated after install, at least Caldera is just a quick patch to the latest and greatest. It also has the KDE and QT development tools installed by default, ready to go. Very cool, IMO.
I guess the licence thing just isn't an issue for me since I found the tool I needed and it works the way I expect it. In fact, I downloaded this ISO along with it's source from Caldera's website for free, so I don't know what the license issue is for sure.
This is all anecdotal of course, but I just wanted to throw some positive Caldera energy out into all of this negative.
(P.S. The other distributions I tried were Debian 2.2r3, Slackware 8.0, Mandrake 8.0, RedHat 7.1 and 7.2 beta, and SuSE demo disk. All were downloaded as ISOs from the manufacturer's website and burned to CD-R.)
. . .of how to trust ANY news agency in these modern times. It's hard enough to trust them when it is so simple for them to tweak images, sound, video to say anything they want it to say. Several people who watched the WTC attack on tv commented on how it looked like a hollywood special effect.
CBS puts their logo all over everything during their news and sports programs. It'd be easy for them to edit out people from backgrounds when they are doing interviews outside, among a million other possibilities.
Now throw into the mix the scary idea that unknown crackers really are fudging the data of major news sources.
What's a guy to do? Become an obsessive paranoid who lives in rural montanta writing manafestos? What? How do we verify our information sources?
I know it's been lauded over and over as a revolution in role playing on the computer, but I always thought it was boring and ugly. It was almost as bad as the first Dragon Warrior for walking around for hours and killing things without advancing the plot at all.
It's neat that it's getting a facelift but if it's still all about roll playing and not role playing I think I'll pass.