Granted, there are some filesystem differences between the other BSD flavors and MAC OS X, but the architectures are very similar and one can draw the same conclusion as this parent review did:
MAC OS X can run quite well on SSD drives, it just hasn't been sanctioned by Big Brother Jobs yet. Remember too, Apple offered 128GB SSD's in their Mac Book Pro's as far back as 2008, so it's nothing new.
If you don't mind voiding your Apple warranty, I'd say go for it!
My wife has an absolute fear and hatred for clowns, so much so that her Mother once sent her to clown school in order to try to shake the fear. Alas, I marry her and get stuck with the "fear" and cannot go anywhere or anything with our kids that might involve... clowns.
So, I have to ask if this augmented reality system might work for other fears such as this? Perhaps make it so an image of a clown appears on the faces of all that are gazed upon?
I have to wonder if it would cause more stress than cures though.
Having played StarCraft off and on for the past decade (released in 1998), I can honestly say that I refuse to play StarCraft II when it comes out. The reason? What MADE StarCraft work in the first place was its LAN play. I can not even begin to count the number of hours, or sessions dumped into playing with fellow techies on laptops or *cough* work computers after the doors were shut and lights turned off. Similar to AoE (Age of Empires), Starcraft put some fun back into the mundane task of having to stay late to run scripts, orchestrate backups, and do the tedious SysAdmin work required during off-duty hours. Forcing StarCraft II to be a BattleNet ONLY arena killed it for me and I bet many others.
While technical personnel are considered overhead, managers, especially middle managers, are even more so. As such, I personally feel that as a techie, you have the ability to maintain a higher level of job stability than in a management position, at least in the foreseeable near future considering the way the economy is.
At 35 and 15 years put in as a *NIX admin, I too am curious about going into management. However, I'd rather wait to ensure my employer is going to give me a better chance to grow as a manager without the pressure of worrying about losing my job due to cuts or the trimming down of departmental budgets. If you have that level of comfort with your employer, seize it and move to management as I'm sure you don't want to be servicing a downed server/network on a Saturday at the age of 60. Otherwise, I recommend you take some Business courses, perhaps get a degree or a business level certification that may help you manage better in the future, when the time is right.
I also recommend Ignite Realtime's Openfire. I have run it since Jive owned an Enterprise version of it (~2005) and all I can say is that it's rock solid.
It can run the server under either Windows or *NIX, offers integrated or external Database Server options, can be deployed to your website via Fasthpath to offer online chat services and offers several client options.
The best part of it is that it's easy to learn and deploy. A definite must to check out.
The UT3 Linux Server still doesn't even have an official Version 1.3 patch update and now we're moving to a Titan Expansion? I really hope they bring out the pack for the Linux Server and do it soon.
Better yet, how about releasing the UT3 client for Linux on Steam. Didn't they promise a fully supported Linux system for this years ago? EPIC is really frustrating sometimes.
I have enjoyed running the UT3 client under Windows and playing online since it came out well over a year ago and very much look forward to this Titan Pack, but they really need to step up supporting the Linux Server. I'm tired of Server resets everyday due to another Windows failure.
One has to wonder if this was a matter of Microsoft using its White House lobbyists, the tossing in of a free temporary datacenter, and free infrastructure to get Silverlight 2 as the defacto standard for this Inauguration.
To me, it sounds like Microsoft is doing everything it can to not lose further market share to the likes of Google or the Mozilla Foundation and to strengthen its supposed "Flash killer" Silverlight technology.
Unfortunately, as IE comes standard with every Windows system, Microsoft will continue to have a majority hold over most of the desktop experience.
None the less, I think the inauguration being broadcast over the net, regardless of the medium, is still a step in the right direction. Too bad the Obama Administration didn't chose to go with a more robust standard of Adobe Flash.
What am I going to read now when I go to the men's room and don't have wifi access on my phone?
Honestly though, DDJ was a wonderful print publication and was perhaps my first regular read for many years. I wish them luck in their online endeavors.
AMD is standing behind and embracing the AM3 socket, the main feature of which is the addition DDR 3 memory support.
It should be noted that AMD has previously stated that while Socket AM3 processors will work in Socket AM2/AM2+ motherboards, not all AM2/AM2+ processors will be supported by AM3 motherboards. By this time the price of DDR3 RAM might have fallen to a point where itâ(TM)s affordable.
With Intel changing sockets like its going out of style, AMD has done an excellent job making their products extremely compatible between generations. As such, it's kept many "budget" PC builders somewhat loyal, including myself.
If you buy one of the current AM2+ socketed Phenom II CPU's, you have a very good chance that you will be able to throw it in a new AM3 socket motherboard when they come out before March'09.
None the less, I'm a fickle fool and will wait until AM3 is out... what's 2 more months anyway?
In my 3rd year of pursuing my Bachelors Degree in Telecommunications, I dropped out of College in 1996 for the allure of the Computer Industry. I started as an entry level IS Support Technician (Help Desk) and moved up several layers through the "Help Desk" chain. I realized after 2 years that getting out of Help Desk was going to be difficult. That's when I jumped ship for a startup company that offered me a Systems Administration job. I've been a Sys Admin since 1998 and feel the need at this time to go back and finish my Degree if I ever want to go into management of any kind.
To answer your questions: "Can I get a Systems Admin position without a Degree?"
Yes you can, but you have to really work towards it by gaining a good amount of experience (3-5yrs technician work) and perhaps take some risks as many of us have in order to secure the rights to wear the Sys Admin hat.
"Is there hope for computer enthusiasts who didn't go to college?"
I recommend at least an AA Degree and a couple of paper certifications to get you started. Anything less is reducing your odds significantly.
Disregard all these flame-boys with their computer janitor comments and remember this:
Do what you love to do.
If you have any doubts about what it is you want, I recommend taking on a "Geek Squad" job or looking elsewhere. You only get one really good "free" chance to start a career, try to make sure it's one you'll enjoy looking forward to for 30+ years.
I concur. Slackware is the under-the-hood Linux where you'll immediately learn to sink or swim. It is also the most System 5 of all Linux Distro's, is one of the first Distro's, and is extremely hardened.
Although I have done away with using names due to the size of the company I now "host". I used to use Cartoon Characters for all of my servers:
Sun Servers: Dilbert Names, Transformers, and Go bots Linux Servers: Hanna Barbera, Disney, and Universal Pictures Cartoon Characters (Woody, Chilly, etc.) Windows Servers: Scooby Doo and Misc names.
Find a schema that works for you though. If your line of work is in a specific industry, perhaps you should use that as a guideline when choosing as it may help others remember the servers better.
I never thought I'd see the effects of the US/OPEC deal made by Henry Kissinger effecting my video game availability, but here it is. The US is so screwed, yesterday we were happy paying for the National Debt through the gas pump, today we're sad we can't get our damned Wii Fit. What's next? Microsoft goes bankrupt? Sheesh
The same company has found a way to patent O2 and is requesting 400 million years of royalties. The company will begin preliminary injunctions against all living things as soon as God has been reached as a witness.
While this may seem ridiculous, the thought of patenting A HREF's is just about as absurd.
I own a Treo 680 and while I can use a Web Browser, SSH, Telnet, TinyVNC, and even read Acrobat or Word files on it, there's just no real replacement for the power of a true PC.
While these Netbooks may lack the features of a full blown Laptop, they still run a fully featured Operating System with features that far exceed the capabilities of a mobile device.
Beyond this, these units just "feel" like a PC in all sense of the term. As a follower of K.I.S.S or "Keep it Simple Stupid", these devices are getting closer to being an ultimate portable.
As a Systems Administrator, I just need a device that can give me Internet and shell access. When I travel to customer sites or abroad, I absolutely loath lugging around a laptop. What Admin doesn't wish they had a small portable device for connecting to LOM's, Devices, or Serial Consoles? With a USB RS-232 Serial Adapter and WiFi, one can reasonably do it all with less.
My Eee PC with Slackware 12.1 is probably the best thing I could have hoped for. It just does everything a UNIX Admin needs and is very compact... now I have more room for my Frappacino's and O-Scope in my bag!
Gotta be thankful Technology is getting to the point where smaller is becoming affordable.
Death of Unicies predictions becoming a reality
on
NYSE Moves to Linux
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
This falls directly in line with what has been predicted for several years now: Linux will replace all Unicies over the course of time. I remember InfoWorld stating this in 2005, but know it was stated prior to that.
Most recently notable comes from the Gartner group : Here
The Gartner group, while I've never completely believed in, states that Linux will kill off most large installations of Iron Unicies by 2009. While I believe this is a bit optimistic and the reality is that it will never truly die, Linux continues to take more market share away from other UNIX installations than Windows.
The sad thing is that I used to have a UID of ~3000, but lost my comcast account (changed to wonderful AOHell) and forgot all about my/. login until it was too late...
I forgot the password and didn't bother signing up again for almost 2 years!!!
I work for LSI Logic Corporation in the Broadband Division as a Systems Administrator and just recently converted my company over to using Linux.
A few months back, when the chip business started to decline my department was in dire need of some compute server upgrades. We were running Synopsys' Verilog compilers: VCS, Arcadia, Platforms LSF, and Clearcase for VOB on old UltraSPARC 1's@167MHz and a scattered "few" E-class dual UltraSPARC2's.
Due to the price of new Blade 1000 systems, I approached the group with the possibility of using Dell systems running Redhat. Redhat was supported by all the right applications and it fit perfectly into our Development cycle.
I gave my boss a cost comparison of buying 12 Blade 1000's versus buying 12 Dell Precision 530's @ 2x1.7GHz Xeon systems. Needless to say, I easily got the okay to buy the Dell systems. The management just had no idea they could get systems that much cheaper with the same kind of support offerings.
Since putting up the Redhat systems, other Engineering groups have queried me on using Linux and have began implementing the systems themselves. So, as of today, I support and maintain about 30 RH7.1 systems and growing. Other groups in the company are growing as fast as Synopsys ports their various tools to Linux.
Linux is alive and it's roots are still expanding.
Slashdot Mirror
Seriously though, MAC OS X has its roots with the BSD's of the world (Mach kernel http://developer.apple.com/macosx/architecture/) and one need only visit any of the number of SSD inquiries from the FreeBSD community to get an idea of how Mac OS X would respond at a kernel level: http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=1169 for example.
Granted, there are some filesystem differences between the other BSD flavors and MAC OS X, but the architectures are very similar and one can draw the same conclusion as this parent review did:
MAC OS X can run quite well on SSD drives, it just hasn't been sanctioned by Big Brother Jobs yet. Remember too, Apple offered 128GB SSD's in their Mac Book Pro's as far back as 2008, so it's nothing new.
If you don't mind voiding your Apple warranty, I'd say go for it!
In a related story, Oscar was found leaping 10 meters (32 feet) into a tree, catching an unsuspecting bird in the process.
Sure, it may last 100 years, but good luck finding something to read the data off in 10 years!
Sounds like something that's just made for 4chan.
My wife has an absolute fear and hatred for clowns, so much so that her Mother once sent her to clown school in order to try to shake the fear. Alas, I marry her and get stuck with the "fear" and cannot go anywhere or anything with our kids that might involve... clowns.
So, I have to ask if this augmented reality system might work for other fears such as this? Perhaps make it so an image of a clown appears on the faces of all that are gazed upon?
I have to wonder if it would cause more stress than cures though.
Having played StarCraft off and on for the past decade (released in 1998), I can honestly say that I refuse to play StarCraft II when it comes out. The reason? What MADE StarCraft work in the first place was its LAN play. I can not even begin to count the number of hours, or sessions dumped into playing with fellow techies on laptops or *cough* work computers after the doors were shut and lights turned off. Similar to AoE (Age of Empires), Starcraft put some fun back into the mundane task of having to stay late to run scripts, orchestrate backups, and do the tedious SysAdmin work required during off-duty hours. Forcing StarCraft II to be a BattleNet ONLY arena killed it for me and I bet many others.
Blizzard can piss off.
--c0m
While technical personnel are considered overhead, managers, especially middle managers, are even more so. As such, I personally feel that as a techie, you have the ability to maintain a higher level of job stability than in a management position, at least in the foreseeable near future considering the way the economy is.
At 35 and 15 years put in as a *NIX admin, I too am curious about going into management. However, I'd rather wait to ensure my employer is going to give me a better chance to grow as a manager without the pressure of worrying about losing my job due to cuts or the trimming down of departmental budgets. If you have that level of comfort with your employer, seize it and move to management as I'm sure you don't want to be servicing a downed server/network on a Saturday at the age of 60. Otherwise, I recommend you take some Business courses, perhaps get a degree or a business level certification that may help you manage better in the future, when the time is right.
Good luck!
I also recommend Ignite Realtime's Openfire. I have run it since Jive owned an Enterprise version of it (~2005) and all I can say is that it's rock solid.
It can run the server under either Windows or *NIX, offers integrated or external Database Server options, can be deployed to your website via Fasthpath to offer online chat services and offers several client options.
The best part of it is that it's easy to learn and deploy. A definite must to check out.
The UT3 Linux Server still doesn't even have an official Version 1.3 patch update and now we're moving to a Titan Expansion? I really hope they bring out the pack for the Linux Server and do it soon.
Better yet, how about releasing the UT3 client for Linux on Steam. Didn't they promise a fully supported Linux system for this years ago? EPIC is really frustrating sometimes.
I have enjoyed running the UT3 client under Windows and playing online since it came out well over a year ago and very much look forward to this Titan Pack, but they really need to step up supporting the Linux Server. I'm tired of Server resets everyday due to another Windows failure.
One has to wonder if this was a matter of Microsoft using its White House lobbyists, the tossing in of a free temporary datacenter, and free infrastructure to get Silverlight 2 as the defacto standard for this Inauguration.
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp
To me, it sounds like Microsoft is doing everything it can to not lose further market share to the likes of Google or the Mozilla Foundation and to strengthen its supposed "Flash killer" Silverlight technology.
Unfortunately, as IE comes standard with every Windows system, Microsoft will continue to have a majority hold over most of the desktop experience.
None the less, I think the inauguration being broadcast over the net, regardless of the medium, is still a step in the right direction. Too bad the Obama Administration didn't chose to go with a more robust standard of Adobe Flash.
What am I going to read now when I go to the men's room and don't have wifi access on my phone?
Honestly though, DDJ was a wonderful print publication and was perhaps my first regular read for many years. I wish them luck in their online endeavors.
AMD is standing behind and embracing the AM3 socket, the main feature of which is the addition DDR 3 memory support.
It should be noted that AMD has previously stated that while Socket AM3 processors will work in Socket AM2/AM2+ motherboards, not all AM2/AM2+ processors will be supported by AM3 motherboards. By this time the price of DDR3 RAM might have fallen to a point where itâ(TM)s affordable.
With Intel changing sockets like its going out of style, AMD has done an excellent job making their products extremely compatible between generations. As such, it's kept many "budget" PC builders somewhat loyal, including myself.
If you buy one of the current AM2+ socketed Phenom II CPU's, you have a very good chance that you will be able to throw it in a new AM3 socket motherboard when they come out before March'09.
None the less, I'm a fickle fool and will wait until AM3 is out... what's 2 more months anyway?
In my 3rd year of pursuing my Bachelors Degree in Telecommunications, I dropped out of College in 1996 for the allure of the Computer Industry. I started as an entry level IS Support Technician (Help Desk) and moved up several layers through the "Help Desk" chain. I realized after 2 years that getting out of Help Desk was going to be difficult. That's when I jumped ship for a startup company that offered me a Systems Administration job. I've been a Sys Admin since 1998 and feel the need at this time to go back and finish my Degree if I ever want to go into management of any kind.
To answer your questions:
"Can I get a Systems Admin position without a Degree?"
Yes you can, but you have to really work towards it by gaining a good amount of experience (3-5yrs technician work) and perhaps take some risks as many of us have in order to secure the rights to wear the Sys Admin hat.
"Is there hope for computer enthusiasts who didn't go to college?"
I recommend at least an AA Degree and a couple of paper certifications to get you started. Anything less is reducing your odds significantly.
Disregard all these flame-boys with their computer janitor comments and remember this:
Do what you love to do.
If you have any doubts about what it is you want, I recommend taking on a "Geek Squad" job or looking elsewhere. You only get one really good "free" chance to start a career, try to make sure it's one you'll enjoy looking forward to for 30+ years.
Make Profit easily!
Step 1:
Collect all of your dogs dropping from the backyard
Step 2:
Distribute across city poop collection bins...
Step 3:
Earn rewards! Score!
I concur. Slackware is the under-the-hood Linux where you'll immediately learn to sink or swim. It is also the most System 5 of all Linux Distro's, is one of the first Distro's, and is extremely hardened.
Go slackware!
Although I have done away with using names due to the size of the company I now "host". I used to use Cartoon Characters for all of my servers:
Sun Servers: Dilbert Names, Transformers, and Go bots
Linux Servers: Hanna Barbera, Disney, and Universal Pictures Cartoon Characters (Woody, Chilly, etc.)
Windows Servers: Scooby Doo and Misc names.
Find a schema that works for you though. If your line of work is in a specific industry, perhaps you should use that as a guideline when choosing as it may help others remember the servers better.
While it may not be the more desirable, I've always used the following or similar context in server naming:
1-3 character Company Name: CO
1-2 character City, Building, or locale: CY
1-4 character Server Function: SRV
1-3 character Identifier: 01
Final Name: COCYSRV01
A more real-world example would be:
Company: Cogs Inc
City: Dallas, TX.
Server: Active Directory Server
Server ID: #2
CGI D ADS 02 = CGIDADS02
If you have trouble making up a universal acronym for something, try visiting the following site: http://www.acronymfinder.com/
Regardless of the size of the company, this schema has always worked for me.
As of 10:39AM PST (-8:00 GMT), Mozilla reported over 8 Million downloads:
http://downloadcounter.sj.mozilla.com/
I never thought I'd see the effects of the US/OPEC deal made by Henry Kissinger effecting my video game availability, but here it is. The US is so screwed, yesterday we were happy paying for the National Debt through the gas pump, today we're sad we can't get our damned Wii Fit. What's next? Microsoft goes bankrupt? Sheesh
Ron Paul - US Economic Fate:
http://www.ronpaulwarroom.com/?p=1727
How the US is run by American Corporations, not politicians:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8668319287834598272&q=&hl=en
John Perkins - Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=589608024067160205&q=&hl=en
The same company has found a way to patent O2 and is requesting 400 million years of royalties. The company will begin preliminary injunctions against all living things as soon as God has been reached as a witness.
While this may seem ridiculous, the thought of patenting A HREF's is just about as absurd.
I own a Treo 680 and while I can use a Web Browser, SSH, Telnet, TinyVNC, and even read Acrobat or Word files on it, there's just no real replacement for the power of a true PC.
While these Netbooks may lack the features of a full blown Laptop, they still run a fully featured Operating System with features that far exceed the capabilities of a mobile device.
Beyond this, these units just "feel" like a PC in all sense of the term. As a follower of K.I.S.S or "Keep it Simple Stupid", these devices are getting closer to being an ultimate portable.
As a Systems Administrator, I just need a device that can give me Internet and shell access. When I travel to customer sites or abroad, I absolutely loath lugging around a laptop. What Admin doesn't wish they had a small portable device for connecting to LOM's, Devices, or Serial Consoles? With a USB RS-232 Serial Adapter and WiFi, one can reasonably do it all with less.
My Eee PC with Slackware 12.1 is probably the best thing I could have hoped for. It just does everything a UNIX Admin needs and is very compact... now I have more room for my Frappacino's and O-Scope in my bag!
Gotta be thankful Technology is getting to the point where smaller is becoming affordable.
Most recently notable comes from the Gartner group : Here
The Gartner group, while I've never completely believed in, states that Linux will kill off most large installations of Iron Unicies by 2009. While I believe this is a bit optimistic and the reality is that it will never truly die, Linux continues to take more market share away from other UNIX installations than Windows.
The sad thing is that I used to have a UID of ~3000, but lost my comcast account (changed to wonderful AOHell) and forgot all about my /. login until it was too late...
I forgot the password and didn't bother signing up again for almost 2 years!!!
For events like this, I could just kick myself.
A few months back, when the chip business started to decline my department was in dire need of some compute server upgrades. We were running Synopsys' Verilog compilers: VCS, Arcadia, Platforms LSF, and Clearcase for VOB on old UltraSPARC 1's@167MHz and a scattered "few" E-class dual UltraSPARC2's.
Due to the price of new Blade 1000 systems, I approached the group with the possibility of using Dell systems running Redhat. Redhat was supported by all the right applications and it fit perfectly into our Development cycle.
I gave my boss a cost comparison of buying 12 Blade 1000's versus buying 12 Dell Precision 530's @ 2x1.7GHz Xeon systems. Needless to say, I easily got the okay to buy the Dell systems. The management just had no idea they could get systems that much cheaper with the same kind of support offerings.
Since putting up the Redhat systems, other Engineering groups have queried me on using Linux and have began implementing the systems themselves. So, as of today, I support and maintain about 30 RH7.1 systems and growing. Other groups in the company are growing as fast as Synopsys ports their various tools to Linux.
Linux is alive and it's roots are still expanding.
--Kolbe