One of my dad's co-workers built himself a super-sized lawnmower. He welded a frame, added wheels, and mounted 3 old push lawnmowers. He tows the contraption behind his ATV.
I assume he had to do the detail work the old-fashioned way, but I'm told it mows wide-open spaces very quickly.
Re:We should set up better Open Source Marketing
on
More From Tanenbaum
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
>Therefore the only effect Tanenbaum (and Slashdot) gets from this >document is self-defence and mutual knob-polishery. Not that >Tanenbaum is entitled to have his say and defend his honor, but there >you go.
I don't think Tanenbaum loses sleep worrying about the commercial sucess of Linux:)
I think he was mostly trying to prevent looking like a dick for being associated with that book. Mission accomplished!
Perhaps today he's preaching to the choir, but look at it this way: One of the world's most respected computer scientists just TRASHED the integrity of the guy who interviewed him. I'm sure the whatchamacallit institute will be a long time living this down. And Tanembaum provides lots of nice quotes for the profesional marketers from Red Hat/IBM/Novell/whatever, computer columnists, etc.
Seriously though, they keep a wildly assorted compile farm, to
periodically build/test everything. If you took back your hardware, you
might not be supported for long:)
Seriously though, they keep a wildly assorted compile farm, to periodically build/test everything. If you took back your hardware, you might not be supported for long:)
>What non-display-related computation do 3270 terminals do? Can you run >processes on them? Do independent computing tasks?
Let's watch Alice doing data entry with her 3270.
She hits TAB, types in some stuff in the field. Hits TAB, types in stuff in another field. Hits TAB, types in stuff in yet another field. The 3270 hasn't communicated with the mainframe at all during this time - the terminal controls the cursor, and buffers the data she has typed in.
Now Alice hits ENTER, and the terminal sends everything to the mainframe in one shot.
Contrast with a VT100 or telnet, where every keystroke is sent to the host.
I don't know if you'd call that "independant computing tasks", but the 3270 does cut down a lot of host-terminal chitchat.
IMHO all good programmers should think about what will happen if they leave.
I totally agree.
That is, if you do use all the exotic features of the language then you have to understand that it will be harder for management to find a replacement for you.
Heh, it wasn't my problem- I was the sysadmin. I did hang out with the development team, this situation was "funny 'coz it's not me".
Sure, there are several easy technical fixes for the problem.
My point is that the users demanded the wrong thing. Always listening to the users makes no more sense then always listening to the programmers. People are stupid, organizations are dysfunctional, and developing systems is hard.
The users may not know what they want technically or functionally, but they damn well know how their job is done, and if you make a tool to help them do their job, you should be listenign to them first, and come back to them with every 'technical solution' you think up.
Once upon a time, a system was being designed. The users were just transitioning from DOS to Windows, and were very confused by the notion of having several apps on the screen at one time. The users insisted that the new application be fullscreen at all times, and that there must be no minimize/close/restore buttons on the title bar.
The programmers complained, but the users were adamant. The system was delivered as a full-screen app with no minimize button.
By the time the app was deployed, the users had been using Windows for several months. The #1 complaint about the system was the fact that it was full-screen, with no minimize button.
The most dreaded phrase in the industry - "It's just what I asked for, but it's not what I want."
- add a watermark - make pages print 60% grey instead of black - rotate each page by 5 degrees
Sometimes these settings will be overwritten by a document, so for best results you need admin access to the queue and ensure the codes are prepended to each print job.
There were some really evil viruses back in the day.
Fumble:
This virus will generate typing errors, every now and then. That is, if you press the "R" key for example, it will occasionally insert another letter like "E" in the text instead.
dBASE:
The dBase virus is very rare, but rather curious. It is clearly intended to garble dBase files, or rather any file with a name that ends in.DBF.
If the virus is active in memory when a program writes to a.DBF file, it will garble all the outgoing data. However, when the data is read back later, the virus will correct the garbled data.
There is just one problem. If the virus is detected and removed, the data will be useless because the virus will not be present to "de-garble" it when it is read back.
There is a more harmful side to this virus. If an attempt is made to write to a.DBF file that is more that three months old, the virus will try to destroy the FAT and root directory on drives D:, E:.... Z: There is a bug in the code, however, so the destruction will be rather unpredictable.
I have no idea why someone hasn't put an imaginatively evil payload in a modern virus.
>Why on earth would you just trust Novell automatically?
I've been using NetWare since 2.12. I trust Novell to make reliable software.
>If they really want to befriend the Open Source community they could >start by opening up YAST and the Ximian connector. That would be a >real token of faith. Again, acquiring an Open Source company or two >and then just keeping the status quo doesn't mean much.
They don't pretend to be Free Software idealists. They're Open Source pragmatists, trying to make money.
>haven't read anything mind blowing with regards to Novell opening up >anything that wasn't open before.
There's an announcement on the front page of forge.novell.com about the opening of Ximian "build buddy". The next page announces the opening of a C# LDAP library. There are more if you want to crawl thru the site.
Slashdot Mirror
Aha, but did you ever screw something up while learning something?
"Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other" - Ben Franklin
One of my dad's co-workers built himself a super-sized lawnmower. He welded a frame, added wheels, and mounted 3 old push lawnmowers. He tows the contraption behind his ATV.
I assume he had to do the detail work the old-fashioned way, but I'm told it mows wide-open spaces very quickly.
I installed 3.5 yesterday, oddly enough.
It only took 15 minutes to install the base system. All my hardware autodetected without problems. What's wrong with the installer?
Marijuana, Mountain Dew and My MCSE
I wrote an article about documentation. If you've got any criticism/feedback I'd love to hear it...
>It's getting harder to find a distribution that doesn't get in the way
>of my productivity by treating me like a brainless cunt.
OpenBSD. Seriously.
>So, why does he need to worry about whether or not his games are going
>to be destroyed?
I wouldn't care if my game binaries got whacked, but I'd be pretty steamed about my saved games.
HOWTO: Make bad documentation look good
They include a full featured tool you can use to manage any part of the OS.
>Therefore the only effect Tanenbaum (and Slashdot) gets from this
:)
>document is self-defence and mutual knob-polishery. Not that
>Tanenbaum is entitled to have his say and defend his honor, but there
>you go.
I don't think Tanenbaum loses sleep worrying about the commercial sucess of Linux
I think he was mostly trying to prevent looking like a dick for being associated with that book. Mission accomplished!
Perhaps today he's preaching to the choir, but look at it this way: One of the world's most respected computer scientists just TRASHED the integrity of the guy who interviewed him. I'm sure the whatchamacallit institute will be a long time living this down. And Tanembaum provides lots of nice quotes for the profesional marketers from Red Hat/IBM/Novell/whatever, computer columnists, etc.
http://zeus.theos.com/deraadt/hosts.html
http://openbsd.org/images/newrack.jpg
Seriously though, they keep a wildly assorted compile farm, to periodically build/test everything. If you took back your hardware, you might not be supported for long :)
http://zeus.theos.com/deraadt/hosts.html
http://openbsd.org/images/newrack.jpg
Seriously though, they keep a wildly assorted compile farm, to periodically build/test everything. If you took back your hardware, you might not be supported for long :)
>What non-display-related computation do 3270 terminals do? Can you run
>processes on them? Do independent computing tasks?
Let's watch Alice doing data entry with her 3270.
She hits TAB, types in some stuff in the field. Hits TAB, types in stuff in another field. Hits TAB, types in stuff in yet another field. The 3270 hasn't communicated with the mainframe at all during this time - the terminal controls the cursor, and buffers the data she has typed in.
Now Alice hits ENTER, and the terminal sends everything to the mainframe in one shot.
Contrast with a VT100 or telnet, where every keystroke is sent to the host.
I don't know if you'd call that "independant computing tasks", but the 3270 does cut down a lot of host-terminal chitchat.
You need PCGen - java based, no porting req'd
This document may assist you: HOWTO: write bad documentation that looks good
But I think management needs the lesson more then the techs, and management doesn't read Slashddot.
Heh, it wasn't my problem- I was the sysadmin. I did hang out with the development team, this situation was "funny 'coz it's not me".
Sure, there are several easy technical fixes for the problem.
My point is that the users demanded the wrong thing. Always listening to the users makes no more sense then always listening to the programmers. People are stupid, organizations are dysfunctional, and developing systems is hard.
The programmers complained, but the users were adamant. The system was delivered as a full-screen app with no minimize button.
By the time the app was deployed, the users had been using Windows for several months. The #1 complaint about the system was the fact that it was full-screen, with no minimize button.
The most dreaded phrase in the industry - "It's just what I asked for, but it's not what I want."
PCL has almost infinite practical joke potential.
- add a watermark
- make pages print 60% grey instead of black
- rotate each page by 5 degrees
Sometimes these settings will be overwritten by a document, so for best results you need admin access to the queue and ensure the codes are prepended to each print job.
>Of course, you have to pick your victims wisely. Know who will take it
>well and who won't.
Even better, pick on a whiny loser and make sure it can't get traced back to you.
I'd never do that, it would break all the porn sites!
There were some really evil viruses back in the day. Fumble: This virus will generate typing errors, every now and then. That is, if you press the "R" key for example, it will occasionally insert another letter like "E" in the text instead. dBASE: The dBase virus is very rare, but rather curious. It is clearly intended to garble dBase files, or rather any file with a name that ends in .DBF.
.DBF file, it will garble all the outgoing data. However, when the data is read back later, the virus will correct the garbled data.
.DBF file that is more that three months old, the virus will try to destroy the FAT and root directory on drives D:, E: .... Z: There is a bug in the code, however, so the destruction will be rather unpredictable.
I have no idea why someone hasn't put an imaginatively evil payload in a modern virus.
If the virus is active in memory when a program writes to a
There is just one problem. If the virus is detected and removed, the data will be useless because the virus will not be present to "de-garble" it when it is read back.
There is a more harmful side to this virus. If an attempt is made to write to a
>Why on earth would you just trust Novell automatically?
I've been using NetWare since 2.12. I trust Novell to make reliable software.
>If they really want to befriend the Open Source community they could
>start by opening up YAST and the Ximian connector. That would be a
>real token of faith. Again, acquiring an Open Source company or two
>and then just keeping the status quo doesn't mean much.
They don't pretend to be Free Software idealists. They're Open Source pragmatists, trying to make money.
>haven't read anything mind blowing with regards to Novell opening up
>anything that wasn't open before.
There's an announcement on the front page of forge.novell.com about the opening of Ximian "build buddy". The next page announces the opening of a C# LDAP library. There are more if you want to crawl thru the site.