Your assesment of the way IBM is structured appears to be correct, from my view. But the centralized view of Linux as a Tier 1-supported OS across the entire product spectrum is there.
I'm typing this on my IBM Thinkpad, running RedHat 7.3. All of my servers, which run a nationwide ISP of 300,000+ subscribers, run RedHat 7.2 on IBM hardware. All of that is fully-supported by them, as well.
I have quite a few contacts in alot of divisions inside of IBM, and I can definitely say that everyone is excited by the Linux movement, and are very pleased that their company has embraced it. Even the IBM hardware support guys I've worked with have a basic knowledge of things Linux-ish, like modules and such.
Since it looks like you aren't planning on going to a university this fall, it wouldn't hurt to get a certification or two in the upcoming year. But definitely go to university. To go immediately into the work world out of high school seems like a complete waste of youth to me. There are many more entertaining ways to waste those precious years between 18 and 24 than slaving long hours as a sysadmin.
I've been doing exactly that, being a full-time SysAdmin since I was a junior in high school for an ISP.
Not having a college degree hasn't hurt me at all, in fact, its allowed me to focus on getting experience in specific areas that I found to be most interesting to me, and most looked-for by employers.
Yeah, sure there are plenty of interesting ways to waste those years. But will those "interesting ways" get you to a senior-level UNIX Admin position at a large telecom company, a very decent amount of stable income, and some very important industry contacts? Probably not.
And as for job stability, I've got more relevant working experience than most of my peers... Why? Because I didn't spend my time going to frat parties. Or learning how to program in Ada, either. Also, because of the contacts I've made, finding new jobs, has been easy.
I'm not saying not to go to college. What I am saying is that most of the technical knowledge, I've been able to pick up on my own, and by learning from others. The only reason I would go back would be for classes like literature and art.
It may seem trivial, but I've worked for "Mom & POP" ISPs for years, and here's what I've found.
Broadband kills alot of them. In areas where there is an outside, commercial company that offers some type of broadband service, there is little opportunity for the smaller companies to compete. In my town, for example, Time Warner has offered cable Net access for 3 years now. When that started, I noticed a rash of customers leaving for them. When I asked some of them (a few of whom had been good customers for years) why, it came down to speed every time. That didn't help the cause of the smaller ISPs, one of which I worked for.
A good number of them asked if it was possible to get cable access, with my company's service. But unfortunately, the cable network isn't open.
A year and a half ago, the ILEC (local phone company) started offering DSL service. It was bad, but we thought we had a chance to compete. They opened their DSL network, but at a very high cost. A dedicated Cisco 7206VXR and an ATM connection to the phone company was the entrance fee. Not exactly cheap, by any means, for a small ISP with only ~10,000 dialup customers, and a handful of frac T1 customers.
From our perspective, we didn't have much choice. It was either DSL or die (as a full-service ISP).
So after much deliberation, we decided to go ahead and set it up. My company could now offer DSL service to thier customers. Which we thought was great. The telco end of the DSL connection is regualted by the PSC, so we weren't worried about the ILEC undercutting price on that point.
However, after we started selling the service, and had a few hundred customers, the ILEC decided to play dirty. They dropped their prices on their Internet service to *half* of what ours (and the other "Partner" ISPs) was, but only for thier DSL customers. Because Net service isn't (and shouldn't be) regulated by the PSC, we had no recourse.
Of course, we kept some customers. The more technical ones who wanted multiple IPs, the ones who wanted to keep the same email address, the ones who had been with us, etc; they stayed.
Our service didn't really go anywhere. We signed up maybe 4 customers a week, but lost 2 or 3 of those due to local facilities issues.
The customer base kept shrinking, and employees kept leaving. I was one of them.
I now work for that ILEC, redesigning their DSL, dialup, and server network.
...except when dealing with people in my department, or people I work closely with. These are people I've worked with for years, and aren't put off by the fact that I'm 10 years younger than the next oldest in the team.
These are the people who know me, and where my skills lie. Others just see a 21 year old kid, scribbling away at his notepad during meetings and punching away at his keyboard other times.
More than once I've been mistaken for the visiting son of an elder colleague. That can sometimes be fun. Especially when visiting a remote facility, and I have to produce picture ID (in addition to the photo badge I have to carry) to prove that I do, in fact, work for the company.
Did I say it was anyhing else? I only stated that I didn't use the Pirhana package.
In fact, according to the LVS site, its not linux virtual server.
Piranha is the clustering product from Red Hat Inc., it includes the LVS kernel code, a GUI-based cluster configuration tool and cluster monitoring tool.
The Linux Virtual Server Projects stuff might do the trick. I've used it for mailserver load balancing under medium load, and found it to be quite reliable, and easy to configure.
We've been doing this at my company for quite some time now, just using different equipment.
One of the main points to consider with this scheme is that the telco may be iffy on the use of an alarm pair for this use, especially if they offer their own DSL/Internet offering. We've been lucky so far, but we've heard reports of others trying this, and then getting shut down...
Just for your info, we've used (with great success) the Expresso units from Tut Systems and the XL-12000 series (for the longer haul stuff), also from Tut. BTW- the Tut 12000 units do a full 2mbit.;-)
get real. I used fag all the way up until the 10 grade. After that I used root-licker.
Good for you. So you're in what, 11th grade now?
With all of the amazing coding skills that you must have (to be able to bitch about John Carmack), why don't you spend less time being juvenile and more time doing something productive?
As to Alpha's running x86 code, thats true. However, DEC has some software ( I think its called FX-32, or something ) that do some weird "not quite emulation" things. Which allow it under WinNT to run Win32 apps.
I've never used IceWM, so my opinon probably won't count for anything at all...
But I do agree with you that E is very stable and fast. However, "fast" depends on a number of things, the theme you use being one of the most important.
You can go with the simple beauty of a theme like "Absolute E" to the eye-catching glory of a theme like 'Ganymede".
E is so theme-centric, that it makes sense to me not to judge it on its speed using the default themes, but to judge for youself with a theme that fits what you are doing. If you have a large desktop res, and have some screen real estate to spare, there are themes for that. If you're on a 486/DX-33 with 32mb of system memory and a 1mb ISA video card, E will also fit your needs with a more utilitarian theme, without all of the flashy effects.
I think I'll slowly step off the soapbox now, and get back to work.;-)
Granted, quite a few of the items aren't necessary. But it was almost the exact same template I filled out for the Corel Linux beta test. Which leads me to believe that its a standard form that Corel uses for all of its beta test.
And I don't blame them for not removing items, like the bit about TSR's. How hard is it to type n/a ? Or even be enterprising, and equate "TSR" with "daemon"?
Seriously, do you want your developers spending more time on developing or making sure the application for beta testers is perfect?
The way I see it, its one of the few high-quality, portable audio formats that can be recorded onto. Its great for recording a live concert, or recording a lecture.
I know everyone is shouting about how MP3 players are better than MD players, but what most people don't realize is that yes, one MD disc only holds 74 minutes of music, but its really easy to pack 5 or 6 discs with your player, and have quite a bit of listening time.
It comes down to a question of cost and portability. Unless you have a laptop with a huge HD that can re-d/l to your MP3 player, MD is a better portable solution. And at an average cost of $200 for a recorder/player, it beats the pants off a 64mb MP3 player, or even a 96mb player. Plus, as others have pointed out, $2 for another 74 minutes of listening time is damn cheap compared to a 32mb SmartMedia card (and you don't get the same amount of music).
I own both portable MP3 players and MD devices. My Sharp MD recorder/player is much more useful.
Slashdot Mirror
Your assesment of the way IBM is structured appears to be correct, from my view. But the centralized view of Linux as a Tier 1-supported OS across the entire product spectrum is there.
I'm typing this on my IBM Thinkpad, running RedHat 7.3. All of my servers, which run a nationwide ISP of 300,000+ subscribers, run RedHat 7.2 on IBM hardware. All of that is fully-supported by them, as well.
I have quite a few contacts in alot of divisions inside of IBM, and I can definitely say that everyone is excited by the Linux movement, and are very pleased that their company has embraced it. Even the IBM hardware support guys I've worked with have a basic knowledge of things Linux-ish, like modules and such.
No Ogg format?
Since it looks like you aren't planning on going to a university this fall, it wouldn't hurt to get a certification or two in the upcoming year. But definitely go to university. To go immediately into the work world out of high school seems like a complete waste of youth to me. There are many more entertaining ways to waste those precious years between 18 and 24 than slaving long hours as a sysadmin.
I've been doing exactly that, being a full-time SysAdmin since I was a junior in high school for an ISP.
Not having a college degree hasn't hurt me at all, in fact, its allowed me to focus on getting experience in specific areas that I found to be most interesting to me, and most looked-for by employers.
Yeah, sure there are plenty of interesting ways to waste those years. But will those "interesting ways" get you to a senior-level UNIX Admin position at a large telecom company, a very decent amount of stable income, and some very important industry contacts? Probably not.
And as for job stability, I've got more relevant working experience than most of my peers... Why? Because I didn't spend my time going to frat parties. Or learning how to program in Ada, either. Also, because of the contacts I've made, finding new jobs, has been easy.
I'm not saying not to go to college. What I am saying is that most of the technical knowledge, I've been able to pick up on my own, and by learning from others. The only reason I would go back would be for classes like literature and art.
http://www.livejournal.com
They focus on building community, rather than specific content goals.
It may seem trivial, but I've worked for "Mom & POP" ISPs for years, and here's what I've found.
Broadband kills alot of them. In areas where there is an outside, commercial company that offers some type of broadband service, there is little opportunity for the smaller companies to compete. In my town, for example, Time Warner has offered cable Net access for 3 years now. When that started, I noticed a rash of customers leaving for them. When I asked some of them (a few of whom had been good customers for years) why, it came down to speed every time. That didn't help the cause of the smaller ISPs, one of which I worked for.
A good number of them asked if it was possible to get cable access, with my company's service. But unfortunately, the cable network isn't open.
A year and a half ago, the ILEC (local phone company) started offering DSL service. It was bad, but we thought we had a chance to compete. They opened their DSL network, but at a very high cost. A dedicated Cisco 7206VXR and an ATM connection to the phone company was the entrance fee. Not exactly cheap, by any means, for a small ISP with only ~10,000 dialup customers, and a handful of frac T1 customers.
From our perspective, we didn't have much choice. It was either DSL or die (as a full-service ISP).
So after much deliberation, we decided to go ahead and set it up. My company could now offer DSL service to thier customers. Which we thought was great. The telco end of the DSL connection is regualted by the PSC, so we weren't worried about the ILEC undercutting price on that point.
However, after we started selling the service, and had a few hundred customers, the ILEC decided to play dirty. They dropped their prices on their Internet service to *half* of what ours (and the other "Partner" ISPs) was, but only for thier DSL customers. Because Net service isn't (and shouldn't be) regulated by the PSC, we had no recourse.
Of course, we kept some customers. The more technical ones who wanted multiple IPs, the ones who wanted to keep the same email address, the ones who had been with us, etc; they stayed.
Our service didn't really go anywhere. We signed up maybe 4 customers a week, but lost 2 or 3 of those due to local facilities issues.
The customer base kept shrinking, and employees kept leaving. I was one of them.
I now work for that ILEC, redesigning their DSL, dialup, and server network.
Somehow that is mildly satisfying.
AdamL.
These are the people who know me, and where my skills lie. Others just see a 21 year old kid, scribbling away at his notepad during meetings and punching away at his keyboard other times.
More than once I've been mistaken for the visiting son of an elder colleague. That can sometimes be fun. Especially when visiting a remote facility, and I have to produce picture ID (in addition to the photo badge I have to carry) to prove that I do, in fact, work for the company.
AdamL.
>9) Forgot the handerkerchief code and the party is in San Francisco bay area
Huh?
AdamL.
http://sprawl.net
I'm impressed. This was a good step in showing everyone that we can all play nice and stop the OS bickering.
Not that it will really happen, but its a good start.
Anyone seen ExistenZ?
In it, there are what are called "pods" that are really miniature gaming devices (organically-based) that respond to touch.
And are just plain creepy looking.
Did I say it was anyhing else? I only stated that I didn't use the Pirhana package.
In fact, according to the LVS site, its not linux virtual server.
Piranha is the clustering product from Red Hat Inc., it includes the LVS kernel code, a GUI-based cluster configuration tool and cluster monitoring tool.
Without RedHat's Pirhana package. ;-)
One of the main points to consider with this scheme is that the telco may be iffy on the use of an alarm pair for this use, especially if they offer their own DSL/Internet offering. We've been lucky so far, but we've heard reports of others trying this, and then getting shut down...
Just for your info, we've used (with great success) the Expresso units from Tut Systems and the XL-12000 series (for the longer haul stuff), also from Tut. BTW- the Tut 12000 units do a full 2mbit. ;-)
Whats the URL?
How can this work? a bug in BIND?
They offer domain registration for $20 a year, with no minimum contract length.
A. Lynch
http://sprawl.net
get real. I used fag all the way up until the 10 grade. After that I used root-licker.
Good for you. So you're in what, 11th grade now?
With all of the amazing coding skills that you must have (to be able to bitch about John Carmack), why don't you spend less time being juvenile and more time doing something productive?
As to Alpha's running x86 code, thats true. However, DEC has some software ( I think its called FX-32, or something ) that do some weird "not quite emulation" things. Which allow it under WinNT to run Win32 apps.
I could be wrong. Its happened before.
I've never used IceWM, so my opinon probably won't count for anything at all...
;-)
But I do agree with you that E is very stable and fast. However, "fast" depends on a number of things, the theme you use being one of the most important.
You can go with the simple beauty of a theme like "Absolute E" to the eye-catching glory of a theme like 'Ganymede".
E is so theme-centric, that it makes sense to me not to judge it on its speed using the default themes, but to judge for youself with a theme that fits what you are doing. If you have a large desktop res, and have some screen real estate to spare, there are themes for that. If you're on a 486/DX-33 with 32mb of system memory and a 1mb ISA video card, E will also fit your needs with a more utilitarian theme, without all of the flashy effects.
I think I'll slowly step off the soapbox now, and get back to work.
AdamL.
http://sprawl.net
Yep. Look here.
AdamL.
http://sprawl.net
Granted, quite a few of the items aren't necessary. But it was almost the exact same template I filled out for the Corel Linux beta test. Which leads me to believe that its a standard form that Corel uses for all of its beta test.
And I don't blame them for not removing items, like the bit about TSR's. How hard is it to type n/a ? Or even be enterprising, and equate "TSR" with "daemon"?
Seriously, do you want your developers spending more time on developing or making sure the application for beta testers is perfect?
The way I see it, its one of the few high-quality, portable audio formats that can be recorded onto. Its great for recording a live concert, or recording a lecture.
;-)
I know everyone is shouting about how MP3 players are better than MD players, but what most people don't realize is that yes, one MD disc only holds 74 minutes of music, but its really easy to pack 5 or 6 discs with your player, and have quite a bit of listening time.
It comes down to a question of cost and portability. Unless you have a laptop with a huge HD that can re-d/l to your MP3 player, MD is a better portable solution. And at an average cost of $200 for a recorder/player, it beats the pants off a 64mb MP3 player, or even a 96mb player. Plus, as others have pointed out, $2 for another 74 minutes of listening time is damn cheap compared to a 32mb SmartMedia card (and you don't get the same amount of music).
I own both portable MP3 players and MD devices. My Sharp MD recorder/player is much more useful.
But thats just my take.
Good call. I've had my MD-MS702 for awhile now, and use it every so often. More for recording concerts, tho... ;-)
An add-on product would be kinda neat, and possibly add value to other manufacturers MD players...
AdamL.
Agreed. Sarah Slean is also a fine choice.
.
She's at http://www.sarahslean.com
Cheers!
AdamL.
Space Command? Is this a joke?
AdamL.
http://sprawl.net