You don't understand the target market for this thing. It's designed to be a zero-administration storage solution for small office/workgroup situations. You plug it in and forget it exists; NOT something you can do with even a Linux server. It also does support NetWare/NT/AD for handling logins. You're thinking about an Enterprise level solution for a Workgroup problem.
Case in point - We have a remote office that's about ten miles or so outside of city limits. Way out in the boonies. There's about 6-8 users there at any time, max, and until just recently they had no connectivity back to City Hall. (Recently got Cable Modem VPN running...) How would adding a HD to our fileserver in City Hall help them? It wouldn't. Would it make sense to buy a proper server for a six person workgroup? Hell no. So we stick a SNAP server on their network. Then we forget about it. 80GB of storage is more than they'll ever need. We have quite a few offices like that one, with SNAP servers of varying sizes (the guys doing a lot of AutoCAD need a bit more than 80GB) and they're all better served by having a little SNAP in their wiring closet than us setting up a server that requires maintenance.
Actually it's running GuardianOS which seems to be a custom version of the BSD kernel. Unfortunately it only really supports whatever the OS image you download from them supports. Some of the fancier more expensive models you can access through SSH and theoretically install software on, but that's it.
Well Snap 2200s and 1100s (only ones I have experience with) support SMB network shares, which Linux/Mac/Windows can connect to, as well as exporting the filesystem as an NFS share (Linux/UNIX/Mac), as well as supporting the AppleTalk network protocol (God knows why) and the list goes on... Oh, it also can support NetWare clients by using a Novell server to handle security. Or an NT or Active Directory domain, for that matter. And there still is that whole web/FTP server thing as well...
We've been using SNAP servers for a while now at work... Mostly pretty good experiences to report. The little boxes run some BSD derivative, support SMB/NFS/FTP/WWW/etc access to the files stored on them, and some can even run Java Servlets. They can even use a NetWare or Win NT/2K Domain to handle logins and security. We normally use them for small remote offices that don't justify a full server or for storing large rarely accessed files like aerials of the parish. Much better than storing them on a few hundred CDs that have to be tracked and stored properly. My only real complaint is backup can be annoying due to a lack of tape drive or any real backup feature on the device itself. You'll have to write some scripts or make use of an external package on another machine to get some sort of backup procedure going. They seem to use normal IDE drives, so they WILL eventually fail. However, Snap Appliance went ahead and replaced one of our 1100s free of charge when the drive developed errors and the software update applied incorrectly while trying to fix it. This was despite the fact that the server was no longer under warranty. All in all, beautiful little boxen.
Well I haven't checked out Thunderbird's new algorithms yet (supposedly they were working on implementing SpamBayes support) but SpamBayes has a neat little POP3 filter if you can use that, check it out...
Granted it doesn't give much details other than that it happened, but it also talks about a Chinese civilian airliner who landed at an Alaskan air base and whose passengers were given medical care... So yes, unless they're defecting, the US has a policy of respecting the sovereignty of foreign aircraft that are forced into emergency landings.
Yes because no matter how unusable and un-useful it is, the program that I have unfettered access to the source is inherently better... *bonk* If the guy doesn't care about not having the source in front of him to make mad hot monkey love to then let him be...
The ultimate provider is controlled by a branch of the Chinese government. Like most people here, we have no choice, or influence over our ISP.
About 250 years ago, some farmers and laborers rose up against a government that among other things wanted control over the free flow of information and commerce. As a result many of them died but they earned their freedom. Take this example to heart. YMMV.
EVERYONE has a choice. They just have to be willing to make it.
A PC that uses a vastly different approach to memory and only runs signed code. As in, an unmodded X-Box won't run code you compile without some sort of exploit. Compared to grandparent's point of the GBA and Dreamcast, which will run your own code fresh out of the compiler. Grandparent's right.
1. Campaign contributions are NOT bribery. 2. Law enforcement and judges can be removed from their offices the same as politicians, it's up to the citizenry to see that it occurs.
No, it doesn't make sense because in the end the guilty party will still be the politician for being affected by a bribe, not the corporation donating money. Your argument seems to ignore that. Campaign donations are just another way of petitioning your government. In the end, corporations are legal fictions that mean nothing; the only thing with meaning are the executive officers and the employees.
If people are truly worried their elected official is taking bribes then they should remove him or her from office, plain and simple. What people don't like about that is it requires them to be involved and actually keep tabs on their government, instead of expecting the government to police itself. Whether its illegal or not, humans will take bribes. Don't punish the bribe giver without punishing the bribe taker.
Except that there shouldn't be anything inherently wrong with a corporation giving a candidate money. It's the candidate's responsibility to behave correctly. If the candidate is not acting in the public interest, kick them out of office and don't elect them again. Don't shake your finger at whoever gave them money.
Well obviously you're so good at it you don't have to try. You've completely ignored the substance of the article and taken the usual "it's the user's fault" approach that ESR was warning against. Like it or not, software is meant to be used and if that use requires hours of research in documentation then most people will just use something else. People don't expect to have to read a manual to learn how to change the channel on their TV and ESR argues that they don't want to have to read a manual to do what is otherwise a trivial task in another operating system. It's entirely possible for it to be a trivial task if some thought was put into using basic UI design principles and that is the big problem: there's no reason for the software to be so difficult to use! ESR sees this, most reasonable programmers see this (including the head of the CUPS team) and for some reason the idea is heretical to many of the bread-and-butter members of the Linux community.
I especially like how you ignored in your RTFM argument that the manuals were in this case both lacked information and were often wrong or just plain misleading. Is it's CUPS fault that ESR couldn't setup a printer? Of course it is! What is the point of software except to be used!? It's the fault of the UI design and the fault for inconsistent documentation, and it's a simple problem to fix!
You may be too shortsighted to see it, but the drive to replace Windows with Linux is a good thing for EVERYONE. EVERYONE is affected by the proliferation of shoddy, insecure software across Internet connected desktops, whether through spam, DDoS attacks, or just a sluggish connection. As such, by creating and distributing a superior software platform we will help create an online environment that is more useful and less frustrating.
In the end the major point is: There is nothing wrong with making software easy to use. A programmer isn't required to, but if they want people to use their software then they should at least make the effort. If you as a programmer don't care if people use your program or not that's fine, don't read ESR's article. He wasn't talking to you. The people he was talking to were those developers who (out of some sick desire apparently) actually WANT people to use their stuff. The rest of you can stay a bunch of elitist dinosaurs off in your own corners, snapping and snarling at users as they pass.
Re:Not necessary, yet
on
The Wrong Stuff
·
· Score: 1, Insightful
Except that robots are horribly un-adaptable and even the Spirit/Opportunity team lamented the fact that with all the work their little robo-geologists accomplished in the first 30 days or so, a human geologist could have done the same work and much more in a matter of days instead of weeks. There are just things we can't discover about Mars without having guys crawling around in the dirt with rock hammers. An army of robots on the surface of Mars will *NEVER* be able to do all the science that just one human could accomplish.
You do have redundant backup generators, don't you?
In this case, Plum Island had triply redundant backup generators... Which means nothing if they're sabotaged. Cut some important wires and the whole system falls apart.
deliberately tampering with safety equipment is a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment
Since when does something being criminal stop human beings from doing it? Near where I live Teamsters drug a UPS driver from his truck and killed him because he crossed the picket line during the strike. Obviously murder is punishable by imprisonment, but that didn't stop him. And if you'd read the article, one of the strikers *WAS* convicted of sabotage. Oh, and you do test run your diesels once a week don't you? If not, you deserve everything you get.
Ignoring the obvious immaturity of that argument... You must have missed my previous point. Regular testing of generators does nothing to prevent sabotage. If you test your generator every Friday morning well then all I have to do is sabotage it on Friday afternoon and you won't know for a week.
Besides, whether or not one has tested their safety equipment does NOT excuse someone of guilt for having sabotaged it.
So employees must regularly completely dismantle the backup generators to verify they haven't been sabotaged? How regularly must they be dismantled? If they're 'regularly' inspected, wouldn't that make them easier to sabotage since you would know the gaps between inspections beforehand?
I think the simplest solution would be to keep Union workers the hell away from anything on which national security could depend.
And since most of these people spent years in universities to get those jobs, they aren't really trained for much more than that particular sector.
But we spent all those years learning how to build railroads, and now you've got a machine that does it for us! Damn you!
If all you learned in your time at a University was how to do a single job then you just wasted years of your life and many thousands of your and my dollars. People should not have the assumption that just because they spent time learning a trade that there will a job waiting for them in their chosen field with open arms when they graduate.
The rest of your comment I have issues with, but that's the one thing I couldn't let pass unanswered...
5. He might be right here. I already have home theater stuff. I want a game console to play games. I don't need a jack of all trades, master of none. That's why I expect a minicrash when these All In One systems fail to sell.
Although there is at least ONE company that is selling "just" game systems, and is being drug through the mud in the media for it... The problem seems to be that media pundits just pay attention to graphics and sales... If you look at history, the Genesis beat the SNES through most of that life-cycle on sales and yet Sega's now a third party developer while Nintendo has remained *very* stable and solvent. There probably will be something of a "crash" in the near future (I keep lamenting that there's nothing to rent with every visit to Hollywood Video/Blockbuster) but nothing of the company-destroying level we saw in the 80s.
Nintendo only has the rights to their own games, so Square would have to re-release FF.
Actually I do believe Nintendo of America still has the distribution rights for FF1 in the US--at least, the NES version. Square didn't handle the release of FF1 in the US. Towards the end of the SNES life-cycle I actually called them and ordered a copy of FF1 because I was feeling in a retro mood. They had a huge stockpile of carts from an old Nintendo Power giveaway... They may still have some... hmm...
As many people have already pointed out, there is plenty of homebrew GBA development. My classmates and I are currently working on a GBA game to be entered into a certain student competition and the only way we have to test the game is using VisualBoy Advance, since although most of us own a GBA we can't afford a Flash ROM burner. This is all for the purpose of getting a Game Development degree going at our current University... Which I stuck a GBA ROM burner on the grant app our professor is turning in.:) So in the future we might be able to get away from using emulators for development, but we'd rather not as that would slow down the entire process and not allow us use of some excellent built in tools (such as sprite/tile memory viewer, etc). This is about the best way for us to gain "real world" game development experience.
So for instance, if I were to start posting in every Spam story on Slashdot: Notorius Spammer Alan Ralsky is currently residing at: 5733 Stone Rd, Lockport, NY 14094 His current home phone: (716) 434-9173 His current cellular phone: (716) 807-7120
Please go ahead and let him know how much you love him--being Spamhaus's number 1 offender and all.
That is of course assuming you are THIS "Metallic Matty". Otherwise some poor schmuck is just paying for your indifference to their suffering.
Slashdot Mirror
You don't understand the target market for this thing. It's designed to be a zero-administration storage solution for small office/workgroup situations. You plug it in and forget it exists; NOT something you can do with even a Linux server. It also does support NetWare/NT/AD for handling logins. You're thinking about an Enterprise level solution for a Workgroup problem.
Case in point - We have a remote office that's about ten miles or so outside of city limits. Way out in the boonies. There's about 6-8 users there at any time, max, and until just recently they had no connectivity back to City Hall. (Recently got Cable Modem VPN running...) How would adding a HD to our fileserver in City Hall help them? It wouldn't. Would it make sense to buy a proper server for a six person workgroup? Hell no. So we stick a SNAP server on their network. Then we forget about it. 80GB of storage is more than they'll ever need. We have quite a few offices like that one, with SNAP servers of varying sizes (the guys doing a lot of AutoCAD need a bit more than 80GB) and they're all better served by having a little SNAP in their wiring closet than us setting up a server that requires maintenance.
Actually it's running GuardianOS which seems to be a custom version of the BSD kernel. Unfortunately it only really supports whatever the OS image you download from them supports. Some of the fancier more expensive models you can access through SSH and theoretically install software on, but that's it.
Well Snap 2200s and 1100s (only ones I have experience with) support SMB network shares, which Linux/Mac/Windows can connect to, as well as exporting the filesystem as an NFS share (Linux/UNIX/Mac), as well as supporting the AppleTalk network protocol (God knows why) and the list goes on... Oh, it also can support NetWare clients by using a Novell server to handle security. Or an NT or Active Directory domain, for that matter.
And there still is that whole web/FTP server thing as well...
We've been using SNAP servers for a while now at work... Mostly pretty good experiences to report. The little boxes run some BSD derivative, support SMB/NFS/FTP/WWW/etc access to the files stored on them, and some can even run Java Servlets. They can even use a NetWare or Win NT/2K Domain to handle logins and security. We normally use them for small remote offices that don't justify a full server or for storing large rarely accessed files like aerials of the parish. Much better than storing them on a few hundred CDs that have to be tracked and stored properly.
My only real complaint is backup can be annoying due to a lack of tape drive or any real backup feature on the device itself. You'll have to write some scripts or make use of an external package on another machine to get some sort of backup procedure going.
They seem to use normal IDE drives, so they WILL eventually fail. However, Snap Appliance went ahead and replaced one of our 1100s free of charge when the drive developed errors and the software update applied incorrectly while trying to fix it. This was despite the fact that the server was no longer under warranty.
All in all, beautiful little boxen.
Well I haven't checked out Thunderbird's new algorithms yet (supposedly they were working on implementing SpamBayes support) but SpamBayes has a neat little POP3 filter if you can use that, check it out...
Granted it doesn't give much details other than that it happened, but it also talks about a Chinese civilian airliner who landed at an Alaskan air base and whose passengers were given medical care... So yes, unless they're defecting, the US has a policy of respecting the sovereignty of foreign aircraft that are forced into emergency landings.
Yes because no matter how unusable and un-useful it is, the program that I have unfettered access to the source is inherently better... *bonk* If the guy doesn't care about not having the source in front of him to make mad hot monkey love to then let him be...
About 250 years ago, some farmers and laborers rose up against a government that among other things wanted control over the free flow of information and commerce. As a result many of them died but they earned their freedom. Take this example to heart. YMMV.
EVERYONE has a choice. They just have to be willing to make it.
A PC that uses a vastly different approach to memory and only runs signed code. As in, an unmodded X-Box won't run code you compile without some sort of exploit. Compared to grandparent's point of the GBA and Dreamcast, which will run your own code fresh out of the compiler. Grandparent's right.
Obviously you're not looking very hard.
games that have no personality
I mean, really, you sound like a whiny film student...
1. Campaign contributions are NOT bribery.
2. Law enforcement and judges can be removed from their offices the same as politicians, it's up to the citizenry to see that it occurs.
And a fail safe for when "fair elections" aren't, as well.
No, it doesn't make sense because in the end the guilty party will still be the politician for being affected by a bribe, not the corporation donating money. Your argument seems to ignore that. Campaign donations are just another way of petitioning your government. In the end, corporations are legal fictions that mean nothing; the only thing with meaning are the executive officers and the employees.
If people are truly worried their elected official is taking bribes then they should remove him or her from office, plain and simple. What people don't like about that is it requires them to be involved and actually keep tabs on their government, instead of expecting the government to police itself. Whether its illegal or not, humans will take bribes. Don't punish the bribe giver without punishing the bribe taker.
Except that there shouldn't be anything inherently wrong with a corporation giving a candidate money. It's the candidate's responsibility to behave correctly. If the candidate is not acting in the public interest, kick them out of office and don't elect them again. Don't shake your finger at whoever gave them money.
Well obviously you're so good at it you don't have to try. You've completely ignored the substance of the article and taken the usual "it's the user's fault" approach that ESR was warning against. Like it or not, software is meant to be used and if that use requires hours of research in documentation then most people will just use something else. People don't expect to have to read a manual to learn how to change the channel on their TV and ESR argues that they don't want to have to read a manual to do what is otherwise a trivial task in another operating system. It's entirely possible for it to be a trivial task if some thought was put into using basic UI design principles and that is the big problem: there's no reason for the software to be so difficult to use! ESR sees this, most reasonable programmers see this (including the head of the CUPS team) and for some reason the idea is heretical to many of the bread-and-butter members of the Linux community.
I especially like how you ignored in your RTFM argument that the manuals were in this case both lacked information and were often wrong or just plain misleading. Is it's CUPS fault that ESR couldn't setup a printer? Of course it is! What is the point of software except to be used!? It's the fault of the UI design and the fault for inconsistent documentation, and it's a simple problem to fix!
You may be too shortsighted to see it, but the drive to replace Windows with Linux is a good thing for EVERYONE. EVERYONE is affected by the proliferation of shoddy, insecure software across Internet connected desktops, whether through spam, DDoS attacks, or just a sluggish connection. As such, by creating and distributing a superior software platform we will help create an online environment that is more useful and less frustrating.
In the end the major point is: There is nothing wrong with making software easy to use. A programmer isn't required to, but if they want people to use their software then they should at least make the effort. If you as a programmer don't care if people use your program or not that's fine, don't read ESR's article. He wasn't talking to you. The people he was talking to were those developers who (out of some sick desire apparently) actually WANT people to use their stuff. The rest of you can stay a bunch of elitist dinosaurs off in your own corners, snapping and snarling at users as they pass.
Except that robots are horribly un-adaptable and even the Spirit/Opportunity team lamented the fact that with all the work their little robo-geologists accomplished in the first 30 days or so, a human geologist could have done the same work and much more in a matter of days instead of weeks.
There are just things we can't discover about Mars without having guys crawling around in the dirt with rock hammers. An army of robots on the surface of Mars will *NEVER* be able to do all the science that just one human could accomplish.
In this case, Plum Island had triply redundant backup generators... Which means nothing if they're sabotaged. Cut some important wires and the whole system falls apart.
deliberately tampering with safety equipment is a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment
Since when does something being criminal stop human beings from doing it? Near where I live Teamsters drug a UPS driver from his truck and killed him because he crossed the picket line during the strike. Obviously murder is punishable by imprisonment, but that didn't stop him. And if you'd read the article, one of the strikers *WAS* convicted of sabotage.
Oh, and you do test run your diesels once a week don't you? If not, you deserve everything you get.
Ignoring the obvious immaturity of that argument... You must have missed my previous point. Regular testing of generators does nothing to prevent sabotage. If you test your generator every Friday morning well then all I have to do is sabotage it on Friday afternoon and you won't know for a week.
Besides, whether or not one has tested their safety equipment does NOT excuse someone of guilt for having sabotaged it.
So employees must regularly completely dismantle the backup generators to verify they haven't been sabotaged? How regularly must they be dismantled? If they're 'regularly' inspected, wouldn't that make them easier to sabotage since you would know the gaps between inspections beforehand?
I think the simplest solution would be to keep Union workers the hell away from anything on which national security could depend.
This is so hilarious... Someone who read the article, quotes it, and quotes researched facts is considered a troll! Only on Slashdot!
Except that even critical and 'fail-safe' systems are not immune to sabotage by former employees.
And since most of these people spent years in universities to get those jobs, they aren't really trained for much more than that particular sector.
But we spent all those years learning how to build railroads, and now you've got a machine that does it for us! Damn you!
If all you learned in your time at a University was how to do a single job then you just wasted years of your life and many thousands of your and my dollars. People should not have the assumption that just because they spent time learning a trade that there will a job waiting for them in their chosen field with open arms when they graduate.
The rest of your comment I have issues with, but that's the one thing I couldn't let pass unanswered...
5. He might be right here. I already have home theater stuff. I want a game console to play games. I don't need a jack of all trades, master of none. That's why I expect a minicrash when these All In One systems fail to sell.
Although there is at least ONE company that is selling "just" game systems, and is being drug through the mud in the media for it... The problem seems to be that media pundits just pay attention to graphics and sales... If you look at history, the Genesis beat the SNES through most of that life-cycle on sales and yet Sega's now a third party developer while Nintendo has remained *very* stable and solvent. There probably will be something of a "crash" in the near future (I keep lamenting that there's nothing to rent with every visit to Hollywood Video/Blockbuster) but nothing of the company-destroying level we saw in the 80s.
Nintendo only has the rights to their own games, so Square would have to re-release FF.
Actually I do believe Nintendo of America still has the distribution rights for FF1 in the US--at least, the NES version. Square didn't handle the release of FF1 in the US.
Towards the end of the SNES life-cycle I actually called them and ordered a copy of FF1 because I was feeling in a retro mood. They had a huge stockpile of carts from an old Nintendo Power giveaway... They may still have some... hmm...
As many people have already pointed out, there is plenty of homebrew GBA development. My classmates and I are currently working on a GBA game to be entered into a certain student competition and the only way we have to test the game is using VisualBoy Advance, since although most of us own a GBA we can't afford a Flash ROM burner. This is all for the purpose of getting a Game Development degree going at our current University... Which I stuck a GBA ROM burner on the grant app our professor is turning in. :)
So in the future we might be able to get away from using emulators for development, but we'd rather not as that would slow down the entire process and not allow us use of some excellent built in tools (such as sprite/tile memory viewer, etc). This is about the best way for us to gain "real world" game development experience.
So for instance, if I were to start posting in every Spam story on Slashdot:
Notorius Spammer Alan Ralsky is currently residing at: 5733 Stone Rd, Lockport, NY 14094
His current home phone: (716) 434-9173
His current cellular phone: (716) 807-7120
Please go ahead and let him know how much you love him--being Spamhaus's number 1 offender and all.
That is of course assuming you are THIS "Metallic Matty". Otherwise some poor schmuck is just paying for your indifference to their suffering.