1) we were a bit dismayed by the fact that VA would not install Mandrake on our servers
VA servers ship with VA's own flavor of Red Hat. This is a Good Thing because VA has put a lot of work into the kernel and other drivers to better support their hardware.
Speaking on the server side, why would you want to install Mandrake? What -- again on the server side -- does Mandrake provide that VA's Linux does not?
2) One of the servers (our file server to be) wouldn't load, wouldn't boot, and wouldn't even give us a good error indication.
We recieved a VA server that had clearly been dropped before shipping. Without even turning it on (the power switch was damaged) we repacked it and sent it back.
It was pretty clear that VA hasn't ramped up their support operation as fast as they've ramped up other areas but still, after a few hiccups we got our server back along with a great box of VA swag:).
I think (hope) that this is a temporary issue that VA will have to learn from, but I don't think it's part of some master VA plan to screw the little guy out of support.
I've always wondered about this. If Sir Alec hated Star Wars so... then why'd he do it. I mean he was a famous high-falutin actor and at the time Lucas et. al. were simply making a cheesy sci-fi movie (or so they thought).
Seems to me, he didn't HAVE to do it, so why did he?
I'd love this explained, so I can stop hating him for what I see as his pathetic arrogance.
Well, I think there's a dose of reality in this news story some where.
I too, as an Army combat engineer had an M16(A1) and a shovel. (That shovel made me an engineer versus a grunt).
All that technology that the US Army is playing with (I hope) not really near term stuff. I mean for the longest time Armies were against those unreliable, inaccurate automatic feed rifles but today I challenge you to find a (modern) Army that doesn't use automatic weapons.
> Given, also, that my main tool - my weapon - > was fragile and sensitive to even the most > minor of abuses that occur in the field
Yeah, they suck with blanks, you should try real bullets in them, they work much better then .
I dunno, the Iraqis didn't even have night vision (in 1991).
I think that unless we're (er, the US Army) fighting a "first world" country, the threat of "counter technology" isn't as high as you (or I) may assume. Doesn't mean it's not there at all, just probably not on the scale to make a decicive difference.
Back when I was in, the Army equipped a maneuver brigade with all the latest goo-gags and sent them down to the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin. This was the early to mid 90s.
They got trounced, but then everyone gets trounced at Ft. Irwin.
After all the AARs (after action reviews) they discovered that the EXFOR (Expiramental Force) didn't get trounced nearly as bad as the thought, which translated to: they did pretty well.
However, it was also noted that all that high-tech gear really sucked in the desert - it broke... a lot. Quite often the command structure had to drop the digital equipment and wip out the grease pencils and map overlays and fight the "old fashioned" way.
In short the Army basically said: (my words) Neat stuff, works OK, has problems though, maybe next time.
The company I work for wants to get into video/audio streaming REALLY bad so we're wresling with these issues right now.
The way we see it there's (Ice|Shout)Cast, Quicktime, Real and MS.
Problem is the unfortunate reality is that MS will probably be the one. Why? Lowest Common Demoninator of users.
Real sucks, their clients are buggy. Quicktime Isn't There Yet, and (my personal favority) (Ice|Shout)Cast would require reeducating too many support staff and users on how it works.
MS is easy (and I hate that).
Someone said: "but there are no clients available for non Mac and Windows"... Uh so? Stats on our site (a mainstream newspaper site) show Mac users at a whopping 15% and "non Mac and Windows" accounts for less that 3%.
The ugly reality is that MS is cheap, easy, avaiable to those clients that matter. I hate it as much as you do but there it is.
For example: With the success of Linux there are all sorts of "We'll build a Linux server for you AND host it" places.
Well, that's a neat idea until you find that by Linux they mean stock Red Hat 6.0 and no updates.
Recently, one of these firms built a "new" box for another tech news type of site and even though we're talking LAST WEEK, it was Red Hat 6.0 and no updates. Not only that, all the stock (and unnecessary) services were running and open.
The security implications are stunning. A quick scan of the same subnet found over 50 similarly setup machines that the average script kiddie could have down in a matter of minutes.
So do some security checking on the company that hosts you as well. If they don't know what they're doing... you'll pay for it later.
You want Tarramtino to direct this?!? Are you mad?
How many Geeks "bitch slap" people? How many of them cut off ears? Taratino is a loser and I think would violate anything of vague interest to/. readers.
Actually, he probably would actually show anything of vague interest to/. readers being violated.
After initially failing the signup process I just tried yesterday to re-apply for the Redhat IPO stock - this time describing my net worth and trading experience... er... more accuratly.
No problemo, it let me right in and I signed up for 200 shares.
Whoa guy, calm down. I didn't get the "Ooops letter either (and yes I got "The Letter" and subsequently got bounced from ETrade). However, this morning I attempted again to get in on Red Hat's IPO and to my surprise was successful.
In regards to your RPMs. Why punish RedHat? The brought you the RPM format in the first place (Um, the "R" in RPM). If you want punish them, why not switch to a non-RPM based distro like Debian?
Either way, since I'm gonna be a Red Hat shareholder, I'll be taking your source and building Red Hat friendly RPMs wih it.
Ok, I'm a 32 year old system admin and web programmer (yet another Perl programmer). In my company, in another (non-internet) department there are IS types in the 40-50 year old range.
No, there no question that some these guys have great experience but most of them have lost that "spark" or excitement that I think is part of this job. They just come, do what ever it is they do for the day, and go home.
They wait for commercial courses to get training while I and my peers, still excited by this stuff, tinker with "new things" until we've learned it.
They are stagnant. I would not hire most of them today.
It's not an age thing, it's a burnout thing. I watch them every day and make promises to myself that that won't be me in 15 years.
Hello, Red Hat, portals suck. They're the hottest thing now though. They're the "push technology" of 1999.
See, as Red Hat pushes it's IPO the want to look all spiffy for all those investors who are really just PHBs but with more money.
The sad thing is, rather than say helping an established Linux info sites along, or simply being a clearing house for some of the more established Linux sites (pretty much like they are now) it looks as though they want to duplicate all that effort and with their massive financial backing try to take over the Linux web arena.
Gosh, how Microsoft of them.
On top of that, it's going to be at the cost of just the basic Red Het support info that their site offers now.
Have you ever noticed how hard it is to find real technical info about Microsoft's products on mocrosoft.com or info on Netscape at netscape.com?
I once submitted a resume to Netscape. This wasn't today's AOL/Netscape but back in the heady days of yor when folks like JWZ were proud to work there.
I submitted it in HTML (to a Netscape HR person mind you, not a 3rd party) and they sent it back asking he to send it in ascii.
>On a planet without Maryin Manson would they have still done it? Yes. Symptom. > >On a planet without Doom would they have still done it? yes - symptom.
But it wasn't just Doom or Marylin or Hitler or any other singular thing.
On a planet without all of those things would they have still done it? I don't think they would have.
RedHat uses the Filesystem Hiearchy Standard all over the place. They put their log files where log files go and they put their config files where config files go.
If that breaks software... then the software is broken.
As for running non-RPM packages? Just load them, duh, I do it all the time.
Slashdot Mirror
1) we were a bit dismayed by the fact that VA would not install Mandrake on our servers
:).
VA servers ship with VA's own flavor of Red Hat. This is a Good Thing because VA has put a lot of work into the kernel and other drivers to better support their hardware.
Speaking on the server side, why would you want to install Mandrake? What -- again on the server side -- does Mandrake provide that VA's Linux does not?
2) One of the servers (our file server to be) wouldn't load, wouldn't boot, and wouldn't even give us a good error indication.
We recieved a VA server that had clearly been dropped before shipping. Without even turning it on (the power switch was damaged) we repacked it and sent it back.
It was pretty clear that VA hasn't ramped up their support operation as fast as they've ramped up other areas but still, after a few hiccups we got our server back along with a great box of VA swag
I think (hope) that this is a temporary issue that VA will have to learn from, but I don't think it's part of some master VA plan to screw the little guy out of support.
I've always wondered about this. If Sir Alec hated Star Wars so... then why'd he do it. I mean he was a famous high-falutin actor and at the time Lucas et. al. were simply making a cheesy sci-fi movie (or so they thought).
Seems to me, he didn't HAVE to do it, so why did he?
I'd love this explained, so I can stop hating him for what I see as his pathetic arrogance.
Well, I think there's a dose of reality in this news story some where.
I too, as an Army combat engineer had an M16(A1) and a shovel. (That shovel made me an engineer versus a grunt).
All that technology that the US Army is playing with (I hope) not really near term stuff. I mean for the longest time Armies were against those unreliable, inaccurate automatic feed rifles but today I challenge you to find a (modern) Army that doesn't use automatic weapons.
> Given, also, that my main tool - my weapon -
> was fragile and sensitive to even the most
> minor of abuses that occur in the field
Yeah, they suck with blanks, you should try real bullets in them, they work much better then .
I dunno, the Iraqis didn't even have night vision (in 1991).
I think that unless we're (er, the US Army) fighting a "first world" country, the threat of "counter technology" isn't as high as you (or I) may assume. Doesn't mean it's not there at all, just probably not on the scale to make a decicive difference.
Yes, yes, we're heard this before.
Back when I was in, the Army equipped a maneuver brigade with all the latest goo-gags and sent them down to the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin. This was the early to mid 90s.
They got trounced, but then everyone gets trounced at Ft. Irwin.
After all the AARs (after action reviews) they discovered that the EXFOR (Expiramental Force) didn't get trounced nearly as bad as the thought, which translated to: they did pretty well.
However, it was also noted that all that high-tech gear really sucked in the desert - it broke... a lot. Quite often the command structure had to drop the digital equipment and wip out the grease pencils and map overlays and fight the "old fashioned" way.
In short the Army basically said: (my words) Neat stuff, works OK, has problems though, maybe next time.
I hope this isn't a case of "Oooh, Linux is the current buzzword, lets use it."
I mean I'd hate to see them set everything up and then have an enterprising Linux (cr|h)acker come and point out their mistakes.
What kind of some will they be singing then?
The company I work for wants to get into video/audio streaming REALLY bad so we're wresling with these issues right now.
The way we see it there's (Ice|Shout)Cast, Quicktime, Real and MS.
Problem is the unfortunate reality is that MS will probably be the one. Why? Lowest Common Demoninator of users.
Real sucks, their clients are buggy. Quicktime Isn't There Yet, and (my personal favority) (Ice|Shout)Cast would require reeducating too many support staff and users on how it works.
MS is easy (and I hate that).
Someone said: "but there are no clients available for non Mac and Windows"... Uh so? Stats on our site (a mainstream newspaper site) show Mac users at a whopping 15% and "non Mac and Windows" accounts for less that 3%.
The ugly reality is that MS is cheap, easy, avaiable to those clients that matter. I hate it as much as you do but there it is.
Something else to look at is security.
For example: With the success of Linux there are all sorts of "We'll build a Linux server for you AND host it" places.
Well, that's a neat idea until you find that by Linux they mean stock Red Hat 6.0 and no updates.
Recently, one of these firms built a "new" box for another tech news type of site and even though we're talking LAST WEEK, it was Red Hat 6.0 and no updates. Not only that, all the stock (and unnecessary) services were running and open.
The security implications are stunning. A quick scan of the same subnet found over 50 similarly setup machines that the average script kiddie could have down in a matter of minutes.
So do some security checking on the company that hosts you as well. If they don't know what they're doing... you'll pay for it later.
You want Tarramtino to direct this?!? Are you mad?
/. readers.
/. readers being violated.
How many Geeks "bitch slap" people? How many of them cut off ears? Taratino is a loser and I think would violate anything of vague interest to
Actually, he probably would actually show anything of vague interest to
Uhg, no thanks.
Now, really, this isn't meant as flamebait but c'mon, is Open Source really that secure?
You ever notice how many exploits are written for (x86) Linux first with disclaimers on how to adapt them to other OS's/Arch's?
Don't get me wrong, Open Source is great, but keep in mind that the Bad Guys can read that source too, and often do until they find a hole.
Sure you can audit the source yourself, and that's a Good Thing, but how many of us really do that? (how many of us know how?)
Now, in Open Source's favor is the fact the the holes one found are usually patched quickly, but the damage was probably already done.
Just my $.02
consider that military science says you only need 6:1 to take a well-defended position
Trivial I know... but I believe it's 3:1 for an even match.
You mean that's not what BitchX is?
Do you ever get a haircut?
Rob shot me with a nerf dart!
Ok, I think it was a nerf dart...
...that's really all I have to say...
...I need a life.
After initially failing the signup process I just tried yesterday to re-apply for the Redhat IPO stock - this time describing my net worth and trading experience... er... more accuratly.
No problemo, it let me right in and I signed up for 200 shares.
Hey, I got the original Letter from Red Hat and subsequently got bounced by ETrade.
:)).
I complained to ETrade (at their IPO complaint address - it bounced), Redhat (replied to the Letter) and Rob Malda (um, who's that?
I recieved no email from Etrade at all.
This morning I tried again and - surprise - successfully submitted a bid for 200 IPO shares of RHAT.
What's this ETrade letter folks are talking about?
Whoa guy, calm down. I didn't get the "Ooops letter either (and yes I got "The Letter" and subsequently got bounced from ETrade). However, this morning I attempted again to get in on Red Hat's IPO and to my surprise was successful.
In regards to your RPMs. Why punish RedHat? The brought you the RPM format in the first place (Um, the "R" in RPM). If you want punish them, why not switch to a non-RPM based distro like Debian?
Either way, since I'm gonna be a Red Hat shareholder, I'll be taking your source and building Red Hat friendly RPMs wih it.
Cheers.
Ok, I'm a 32 year old system admin and web programmer (yet another Perl programmer). In my company, in another (non-internet) department there are IS types in the 40-50 year old range.
No, there no question that some these guys have great experience but most of them have lost that "spark" or excitement that I think is part of this job. They just come, do what ever it is they do for the day, and go home.
They wait for commercial courses to get training while I and my peers, still excited by this stuff, tinker with "new things" until we've learned it.
They are stagnant. I would not hire most of them today.
It's not an age thing, it's a burnout thing. I watch them every day and make promises to myself that that won't be me in 15 years.
Hello, Red Hat, portals suck. They're the hottest thing now though. They're the "push technology" of 1999.
See, as Red Hat pushes it's IPO the want to look all spiffy for all those investors who are really just PHBs but with more money.
The sad thing is, rather than say helping an established Linux info sites along, or simply being a clearing house for some of the more established Linux sites (pretty much like they are now) it looks as though they want to duplicate all that effort and with their massive financial backing try to take over the Linux web arena.
Gosh, how Microsoft of them.
On top of that, it's going to be at the cost of just the basic Red Het support info that their site offers now.
Have you ever noticed how hard it is to find real technical info about Microsoft's products on mocrosoft.com or info on Netscape at netscape.com?
JW
or 'sh' for short. Naaa, that's too hard of a name for Windows folken. Maybe we should call it Perl, or even Tickle.
Gosh, we could follow it up with a syntax coloring editor too.
I once submitted a resume to Netscape. This wasn't today's AOL/Netscape but back in the heady days of yor when folks like JWZ were proud to work there.
I submitted it in HTML (to a Netscape HR person mind you, not a 3rd party) and they sent it back asking he to send it in ascii.
People at Netscape couldn't read HTML?!?!?
Discusted, I did not resubmit it.
Hey, everyone, listen damnit!
From the Red Hat site:
Red Hat Linux Core
For the hard core Linux users, this comes with only CDs and the Official Red Hat Linux Installation Guide.
$39.95
There $40 bucks. IT'S $40 BUCKS, NOT $79, NOT $99.
Yeah you don't get the source CD (?), you don't get the Applications CD, the "Getting Started Guide" nor installation support.
But who cares? All that's available elsewhere (and it's usually better elsewhere).
If you still have a problem with $40 then simply DOWNLOAD it, but stop whining about $79 for Red Hat 6.0.
Thanks.
1)The hype. Both their latest 6.0 release, and 5.0 were somewhat hastily put out with more than a few glitches in them.
5.0 yes, 6.0 no. 6.0 was tested in the Rawhide versions and does well for me (but then 5.0 did too).
2)Price, e.g, the $80 price tag for their latest distribution.
Oh, geezus, knock it off. Buy the $35 version from their site.
3)A number of accounts of a growing arrogance from within the company.
Hmmm, most have been hersay and the one "real" one that I heard of resulted in the offending person getting fired.
It's still just bashing...
>On a planet without Maryin Manson would they have still done it? Yes. Symptom.
>
>On a planet without Doom would they have still done it? yes - symptom.
But it wasn't just Doom or Marylin or Hitler or any other singular thing.
On a planet without all of those things would they have still done it? I don't think they would have.
Huh?
RedHat uses the Filesystem Hiearchy Standard all over the place. They put their log files where log files go and they put their config files where config files go.
If that breaks software... then the software is broken.
As for running non-RPM packages? Just load them, duh, I do it all the time.
I don't understand your point(s).