Hey,
Some of us have been developing and running on 64-bit OS web servers for years. I have an old (obsolete) 12 processor sgi Challenge M supercomputer I was given for free about 6 years ago. It runs 64-bit IRIX and serves up web pages super-fast. You can develop and test on a few processors while dedicating the rest of the machine to the web server functions. And, it keeps your feet warm when you need some extra heating by your desk. Nice.
Regards,
Ocelot Wreak
"The worst example of excessive tech packaging I've received": for me this would be a giant IBM mainframe computer that came through the door in 1979 with absolutely no protective 'packaging,' but with 6 IBM techno-droids trailing along behind it.
So, if you don't like loading up your iPod with DRMed songs from the iTunes Music Store, then go somewhere else! There are lots of other online music stores to choose from. Apple is not forcing anyone to buy their music from the iTMS. I personally prefer to rip my own purchased CDs so that I get better quality music on my iPod.
'Fairplay' DRM is not analogous to "a proprietary compact disc format," but is a technical means of appeasing the music labels and providing some basic reassurances that their music will not be freely traded as soon as it hits a person's PC. Without some means of assuring this, Apple would never have been able to negotiate with and bring onboard the large number of labels the store carries.
Napster et al are whining to congress to legalize their right to piggyback their own DRMed content onto Apple's iPods, that's all.
(Sound of world's smallest violin heard playing quietly in the distance.)
And I, for one, want to welcome the arrival of our new iPod Overlords!
-Ocelot Wreak.
Another obligatory water-related joke...
on
Fluid Logic Chips
·
· Score: 1
Aaaand, the entire machine would use FLOATING POINT operations, so it would do real well on the standard benchmarks!
On the other hand, if each operation had a point that really floated, then turning the machine upside down would cause an overflow operation and possibly core dump the points onto your desktop, which I suppose would be fine if you were using an "aquarium" screensaver.
Point taken. However, our office is short on Linux command line vi experts, so X helps us provide some easier to use mgmt tools that a larger number of staff can use. "Oooo, a mouse. It must be just like Windows!";-)
Only odd thing we had to correct was switching off the Linux screensaver, as it was causing voice quality to occasionally stutter under high network traffic volume.
Support Hint: an office PBX is a mission-critical system for a commercial business. You can't run it on an old piece of leftover trash! You need to put it on a high quality 1U server racked in your air conditioned computer room behind a secure door where the night cleaner can't plug his vacuun cleaner into your power bar!
You also have to ensure it's properly backed up to off site tape/CD-ROM storage, and that the disk is RAID so that it can be QUICKLY restored when the disk fails.
Anything less than this level of proper support means your ass is grass when something bad happens and the office comes to a screeching halt!
Yep, I have a 12 processor sgi Power Challenge L server beside my desk, with 2G of interleaved memory, 7 drive bays, and a 64-bit Unix OS, all running at backplane speed, that totalled about $500 second hand on eBay.
Why would I want to pay >$10K for a newbee box?
"...choose between a 12-processor unit for less than $10,000 or a..."
I too miss HyperCard, but I also used Xerox's Notecards software BEFORE Bill invented Apple's version for the Macintosh. Google "Xerox Notecards" to read some history of where the concept and OO implementation originated. Poor Xerox - they invented so much but couldn't market their way out of a wet paper bag. A lot of educators were very impressed with Notecards and wanted at their universities real bad. The military loved it for buiding real-time visual simulations. I wanted to use it for building bond trading software. Unfortunately Xerox workstation cost $30K apiece at that time!
I remember arguing with Andy Hertzfeld at the '87 MacWorld Expo where HyperCard was announced and demoed on the sexy new Mac II. He was adamant that HyperCard bore no resemblance to Notecards, but grudgingly agreed that he HAD seen Notecards at Xerox and knew what it was. Hmmm...
I think I'll pull an old stack or two off a dusty backkup floppy tonight, and run it as a proper tribute/remembrance, and a fond farewell.
- licence is a "one-time" license, not to be renewed;
- pricing for multiple CPU's etc. will be higher;
- other licence details on SCO web site;
- licence is ONLY for a run-time distribution of Linux, NOT source code (leave you to figure out how you will recompile your kernel);
- about 2.5 million servers affected and will need a licence;
- "...yes, we have the ability to go down to the users with law suits if we want to...";
- "others are taking the stance of coming after us...";
- "IBM and Red Hat placed a legal liability target on the backs of their users...";
- "...legal liabilty for Linux truly rests on the end user...";
I believe this question came up on another Macintosh forum, and the "insurance" question was address more fully. One suggestion was that unlike Applecare, real insurance from someone like a ComputerWare (see the ads in the back of a MacWorld magazine) will cover you for cases of stupidity (liquids on the keyboard), cracked screens, and things like having your PowerBook stolen out of your car. The incremental cost over Applecae is not that great and you are getting real insurance. Mid you, you then have the insurance claim process to go through before you get your cheque back to reimburse you for the repair cost, but this should be minor compared to having Apple say "Tough break, buddy!"
The Dr. you are referring to was Dr. Michael Persinger from Laurentian University in Canada, whose lab has been doing this kind of research work for a number of years. He has built a "God Helmet" and a newer model called "the octopus" that allows the subject to experience the euphoria of god-like experiences, and the strange effect of time slowing down.
A previous Slashdot story "Where God Lives In Your Brain" covered most of his work on extremely low frequency electromagnetic field effects.
Thanks for modding up my parent remark as "funny", but I wasn't actually trying to make a joke. *sigh*
Get your resume in order, call your contacts, network, take the secretary who Knows All out to lunch and find out what's happening, if possible. But in all circumstances, be ready to move when the situation becomes a difficult one, as the odds are probably against you and your co-workers in the current business environment.
HA! Well, I just included the last sentence as a "pre-emptive" one-liner for all the folks who were about to hit the reply button and type "gee, just think if they had made a Beowulf cluster of...". Please don't blame the Editors. My fault.
And yes, we DID manage to Slashdot their news page already...
No probs out here in the middle of the Atlantic...
on
Broken .Mac?
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· Score: 1
Hey, I use.mac every day, and have only once had problems logging in. Usually a great service.
I don't work for Apple either, and I was a Redhat guy until I purchased a PowerBook with OS X.
With Linux it's always, like, X Windows/startx/incompatible video refresh rate/ blah blah, woof woof...
First there was General Controls, who was sometimes drunk and forgot all my preferences. Then there was Colonel Panic, who wouldn't work if you added two folders with the same name to the same in box on his desk. What's next? Private Keychain will forget where he stored my passwords and x.509 certificates? Oh wait... you were talking about kernels... Sorry! -wjc.
Initially, never mind the TCO calculations, PowerPoint presentations and mind-numbing meetings to get a committee of PHB's to agree to shift the status quo off center. Just set up a web server or print server this afternoon on an old klunker 486 or P1 Lintel box and show them how it can magically solve an existing problem in hours rather than weeks for the regular IT approach.
Initially go for the "quick win" on a simple pilot project with immediate returns, no downtime, and no expense. (Just make sure to tell them this is what is being done, so that they don't expect a miracle re-implementation of your legacy Accounting system tomorrow AM!) Let everyone see that it was easy and not complicated and didn't interfere with the existing infrastructure or Windows-based systems. Everyone is happy and co-exists, and plays nice. Once everyone has bought into the concept, THEN you can have your ROI meetings for the bigger infrastructure changes (Linux firewalls, NIDS, app servers, desktops, etc.) that take some planning to execute.
Slashdot Mirror
Hey, Some of us have been developing and running on 64-bit OS web servers for years. I have an old (obsolete) 12 processor sgi Challenge M supercomputer I was given for free about 6 years ago. It runs 64-bit IRIX and serves up web pages super-fast. You can develop and test on a few processors while dedicating the rest of the machine to the web server functions. And, it keeps your feet warm when you need some extra heating by your desk. Nice. Regards, Ocelot Wreak
"The worst example of excessive tech packaging I've received": for me this would be a giant IBM mainframe computer that came through the door in 1979 with absolutely no protective 'packaging,' but with 6 IBM techno-droids trailing along behind it.
'Fairplay' DRM is not analogous to "a proprietary compact disc format," but is a technical means of appeasing the music labels and providing some basic reassurances that their music will not be freely traded as soon as it hits a person's PC. Without some means of assuring this, Apple would never have been able to negotiate with and bring onboard the large number of labels the store carries.
Napster et al are whining to congress to legalize their right to piggyback their own DRMed content onto Apple's iPods, that's all.
(Sound of world's smallest violin heard playing quietly in the distance.)
-Ocelot Wreak.
And I, for one, want to welcome the arrival of our new iPod Overlords!
-Ocelot Wreak.
On the other hand, if each operation had a point that really floated, then turning the machine upside down would cause an overflow operation and possibly core dump the points onto your desktop, which I suppose would be fine if you were using an "aquarium" screensaver.
Regards,
-Ocelot Wreak
ALL of the thousands of songs on my iPod are legit, and I have the old mold-covered CD's in a drawer to prove it.
Just another good reason to be pissed at Microsoft and its dishonest marketing practices...
-Ocelot Wreak
-Ocelot Wreak.
Only odd thing we had to correct was switching off the Linux screensaver, as it was causing voice quality to occasionally stutter under high network traffic volume.
Support Hint: an office PBX is a mission-critical system for a commercial business. You can't run it on an old piece of leftover trash! You need to put it on a high quality 1U server racked in your air conditioned computer room behind a secure door where the night cleaner can't plug his vacuun cleaner into your power bar!
You also have to ensure it's properly backed up to off site tape/CD-ROM storage, and that the disk is RAID so that it can be QUICKLY restored when the disk fails.
Anything less than this level of proper support means your ass is grass when something bad happens and the office comes to a screeching halt!
You have been warned.
Ocelot Wreak
Why would I want to pay >$10K for a newbee box?
"...choose between a 12-processor unit for less than $10,000 or a..."
Regards,
-Ocelot Wreak
-ocelot wreak.
I remember arguing with Andy Hertzfeld at the '87 MacWorld Expo where HyperCard was announced and demoed on the sexy new Mac II. He was adamant that HyperCard bore no resemblance to Notecards, but grudgingly agreed that he HAD seen Notecards at Xerox and knew what it was. Hmmm...
I think I'll pull an old stack or two off a dusty backkup floppy tonight, and run it as a proper tribute/remembrance, and a fond farewell.
-Ocelot Wreak
- pricing for multiple CPU's etc. will be higher;
- other licence details on SCO web site;
- licence is ONLY for a run-time distribution of Linux, NOT source code (leave you to figure out how you will recompile your kernel);
- about 2.5 million servers affected and will need a licence;
- "...yes, we have the ability to go down to the users with law suits if we want to...";
- "others are taking the stance of coming after us...";
- "IBM and Red Hat placed a legal liability target on the backs of their users...";
- "...legal liabilty for Linux truly rests on the end user...";
All in all, it sounded very sad...
-Ocelot Wreak
-Ocelot Wreak.
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*Ahem*! -Ocelot Wreak.
No, I think you mean: "The Krusty Clown Endowment for Excellence in Kosmology."
Mmmmmmmm. Kosmology...
-wjc.
A previous Slashdot story "Where God Lives In Your Brain" covered most of his work on extremely low frequency electromagnetic field effects.
Get your resume in order, call your contacts, network, take the secretary who Knows All out to lunch and find out what's happening, if possible. But in all circumstances, be ready to move when the situation becomes a difficult one, as the odds are probably against you and your co-workers in the current business environment.
Regards,
-ocelot wreak.
Good luck! Regards,
-too frequent chute user.
Well, I just included the last sentence as a "pre-emptive" one-liner for all the folks who were about to hit the reply button and type "gee, just think if they had made a Beowulf cluster of...". Please don't blame the Editors. My fault.
And yes, we DID manage to Slashdot their news page already...
I use
I don't work for Apple either, and I was a Redhat guy until I purchased a PowerBook with OS X.
With Linux it's always, like, X Windows/startx/incompatible video refresh rate/ blah blah, woof woof...
My name is Ocelot Wreak, and I live in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean...
-wjc.
Then there was Colonel Panic, who wouldn't work if you added two folders with the same name to the same in box on his desk.
What's next? Private Keychain will forget where he stored my passwords and x.509 certificates?
Oh wait... you were talking about kernels...
Sorry!
-wjc.
Initially, never mind the TCO calculations, PowerPoint presentations and mind-numbing meetings to get a committee of PHB's to agree to shift the status quo off center. Just set up a web server or print server this afternoon on an old klunker 486 or P1 Lintel box and show them how it can magically solve an existing problem in hours rather than weeks for the regular IT approach.
Initially go for the "quick win" on a simple pilot project with immediate returns, no downtime, and no expense. (Just make sure to tell them this is what is being done, so that they don't expect a miracle re-implementation of your legacy Accounting system tomorrow AM!) Let everyone see that it was easy and not complicated and didn't interfere with the existing infrastructure or Windows-based systems. Everyone is happy and co-exists, and plays nice. Once everyone has bought into the concept, THEN you can have your ROI meetings for the bigger infrastructure changes (Linux firewalls, NIDS, app servers, desktops, etc.) that take some planning to execute.
Regards,
-Walter.