Hardware, software, servers. All one phone number.
It matters. Anyone who says it doesn't has too much free time on their hands.
A Sun system breaks, great, you call Sun, they come out and fix it. Then, if it was the HD that failed, you type "boot net - install", come back in an hour, and you have a fully working machine.
Besides this, if done right, a Sun lab is a "WOW!" factor.
When I attended Montclair State University, most labs were PC & Mac. We had one SPARC lab -- SPARCstation 5's & 20's.
That was the "WOW" lab. Whenever the Dean needed to take someone on a tour, that was the lab they stopped in.
And I have to tell you, as an undergraduate, it was DAMNED cool to work on Sun workstations...
Forget that KDE/GNOME/whatever bullshit argument. CS students will use whatever they have. It's *GOOD* for them to get exposed to other environments, whether it be OpenWindows/CDE (as it was in my day... Solaris 2.5.1) or CDE/GNOME or whatever.
A desktop is a desktop. Forget this "it's familiar" or "it's easy" bullshit.
What difference does the desktop interface make to people who are majoring in CS?
If it does, they should reexamine why they're there.
I'm a sysadmin for a Rather Large Company (~40k employees).
Actually, scratch that, I'm a Solaris sysadmin. I'm on a team of 10 people responsible for ~300 servers. I have a team of counterparts that do AIX, and another team that does OpenVMS.
*all* I do is Solaris. I'm not a network admin, I'm not a PC weenie, I'm not The Guy Who Makes The Coffee.
Solaris.
I architect & implement new systems. I build SANs. I maintain existing systems. I recommend upgrades. I implement SF15k's and E10k's.
I've got a *great* job.
The pay isn't that great (~65k/year in the NY metro area), the politics are awful, the on-call rotation is a pain in the ass, but damnit, I'm employed and enjoy what I do.
There is NO reason to install a compiler on a "production" machine under such a regimen.
Oh, sorry.
We try to adhere to the no-compilers-in-production thing where practical, but I really think it's more to keep the programmers from being sloppy than anything else.
The biggest reason we've had to load it in production was because the developers were seeing a problem in production that they weren't in development, and they wanted to debug it.
To install DBX means to install Sun's compiler package.
I had the same problem you do.... motherboards, ISA Boards, PCI boards, hard drives, SIMMs/DIMMs, various cables, etc.
So how did I solve my problem?
I bought a SPARC.
Who needs all those silly Jaton motherboards?
Wow, I just checked..... Jaton's still in business? That's amazing! They sucked rocks! I had a Jaton VX board and that's what convinced me that I need to stop playing with Wintendo hardware and pick a real platform....
First it was SPARC (And I *still* miss my SPARCstation 20!), and when OS X was released, I bought a PowerMac G4. Best damned investment I've ever made......
Seriously though, The Problem goes away once you're away from the Intel world.....
But then again, I'm a sysadmin for a Very Large Cellular Company here in the New York area.
Very comfy place to work. It's reassuring to know two things- 1) We're profitable; 2) We're not a public company, and therefore, have no "stockholders" to worry about.
Nextel's service is based on a proprietary system called iDEN. It's Motorola-specific, and only works with MOT equipment. (Ever notice that?)
VZW's PTT service is based on Voice-over-IP. The Push-to-talk stuff isn't a standard cell call, but rather runs over their 1xRTT data service.
That's why all the other cell companies are having problems ramping up PTT; it's a Voice-over-IP service, which means you need a functional data network in the first place. Since VZW has the most extensive data network, it makes natural sense that their service hits the streets first.
Honestly, I haven't used the VZW PTT yet, but from what I understand, it takes between 1-3 secs to make the initial connection. No big deal.
I'd take the VZW solution any day. CDMA is a great technology, the Qualcomm CODECs are among the best, and to be honest, VZW's network is *much* more extensive than anyone else's.
The only place this gets tricky is with the cellular fraud analysis systems, because they have to sort this out..... but as long as theres a hook between provisioning and fraud it'll all work out ok.
Optimum Online is a division of Cablevision Systems, who, as much as I can't stand their CATV service, have a business plan and have been able to execute on the broadband side of the house.
My understanding is that the guys who run the OOL side are just _great_ guys who understand a) what broadband is good for; and b) how to provide real, honest-to-goodness customer service.
I have NO complaints whatsoever about OOL. I'm still a (very very happy!) DirecTV (with TiVo) customer, and I don't think that's changing anytime soon, but I have to say, the Optimum Online experience is truly fantastic....
Fast, and most of all, RELIABLE! Of course, I hear people whine about the mail & news servers, of which I use neither, but the actual connection is rock-solid.
All I want from an ISP is a reliable connection. I'll supply my own email server, thanks.:)
Hmph. I was using Turbo Pascal to modify the Telegard source code. (Don't ask how I got it and I won't tell you who is responsible for the source code leak that allowed the creation of Renegade, Tim Strike's Telegard 3.0, etc.) (No, Tim Strike DID NOT receive permission from the authors to do Telegard 3.0)
I know Tim didn't. Having said that, Tim's a good guy who writes good code. FKDoor or whatever his kit was called... I forgot these days; I must be getting old.:)
After I got sick of the VBBS mess (Ugh, Roland was a _really_ crappy programmer... I'm surprised it worked at all.), I started using ProBoard, and that's where I finished out my BBS career.
ProBoard's PEX toolkit was absolutely freakin' awesome! C hooks right into the BBS software was _incredibly_ powerful back in the day.....
I miss the BBS days. They were fun... I remember the FroDo/InterMail wars, InterMail/2 on my OS/2 machine, all that good fun stuff.
Those were the days....
Hell, when I see someone write Frodo, I *STILL* think of FrontDoor. What's this about some kids' movie?
I'm *NOT* a fan of Microsoft, but this IS a well-written book that covers the QBasic language well.
I used this many years ago when I wanted to modify the source code to VirtualBBS 6.12 (Remember that mess?)
Like anything else ...
on
Steal This Idea
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Just like anything else..... all IP isn't necessarily bad. There's a heavy anti-IP slant on Slashdot, and that's a shame.
What's wrong with being able to make a few bucks off of something unique, new and original of yours?
Just like anything else, *abuse* of the system is the problem. How do we sort the wheat from the chaff?
I'm not entirely sure. I think part of the problem lies in the USPTO. They probably need to have some subject-matter experts on hand who can check all the patent applications thoroughly.
Part of the problem is that there are *SO* many applications, that the USPTO can't handle it.
I've got 'em driving a bunch of HP Enterprise Virtual Arrays -- probably the best modular-type disk array on the market, bar none.
Quite frankly, I just don't "get" things like the HDS 9980. Why would I want to put all my eggs in one basket, when I can have multiple EVA's for less? That keeps downtime isolated.........
Yes, the product has the potential for big-brother type thing (filtering mail, etc...) but we don't use it for any of that.
#1) We use it along with Viruswall to block incoming viruses (It's a proxy that sits in front of Sendmail for us....) Works really well; we haven't had a virus outbreak in 2+ years. (Lousy Outlook!)
#2) We use it to filter out Spam. I don't get _any_ Spam at my work address. At all. Very impressive if you ask me!
Viruswall & eManager are pretty ugly pieces of code, but they do the job. We don't get viruses and don't get Spam, and that's why we use it.:)
Having said that, this stop-the-P thing is a mess. I just checked our rulefiles, and we jumped from rulefile 914 to 920..... glad to see that;)
is fantastic. Clean, simple, gets to the point. Lets me renew my car registration in (literally) 45 seconds. Love it.
I _love_ simple, mid-90's-era web pages. I haven't updated it in a while, but my page:
www.osxadm.com
is just like that. You can read it, some simple icons, but no fluff. In fact, at one point osxadm inspired this guy's page: bowdenj (hey, someone noticed!)
And their machines are just perfectly engineered. Any box that I've been inside of, I never thought "Why the hell did they put that there?".
Then you've never had the uhm, privilege, of working on an Enterprise 450. What a piece of SH.T. If the server works, it works fine, but if it breaks, you're going to end up bleeding trying to fix it.
What a mess.
And I guess you've never had to replace 500+ CPU's due to the e-cache problem.
Or replace PCI backplanes on SF15k's.
Or replace CIC1 E10k system boards with CIC2 boards.
Or replace faulty I/O mezzanines.
How about the infamous Vixel GBIC incidents?
Or the bad rev-01 and rev-02 UDWIS/S SCSI cards?
Or the A5200 can't-multi-initiate-because-the-array-will-random ly-hang-without-new-disk-firmware problems?
Or the A3500 controller-thinks-it-failed-so-you-just-replace-it -with-itself-and-then-it-works problems?
No, I'm sorry, Sun stuff is NOT perfectly engineered.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, but you don't have a serial-controlled Open Firmware from whence you can type that "boot net - install" ...
Someone needs to go over to the server and either a) Enable PXE;
b) Drop in a boot floppy.
Either way, it still requires physical access. If you have PXE boot turned on the whole time, you run some serious risks there...
Single Vendor Support.
...
Hardware, software, servers. All one phone number.
It matters. Anyone who says it doesn't has too much free time on their hands.
A Sun system breaks, great, you call Sun, they come out and fix it. Then, if it was the HD that failed, you type "boot net - install", come back in an hour, and you have a fully working machine.
Besides this, if done right, a Sun lab is a "WOW!" factor.
When I attended Montclair State University, most labs were PC & Mac. We had one SPARC lab -- SPARCstation 5's & 20's.
That was the "WOW" lab. Whenever the Dean needed to take someone on a tour, that was the lab they stopped in.
And I have to tell you, as an undergraduate, it was DAMNED cool to work on Sun workstations
Forget that KDE/GNOME/whatever bullshit argument. CS students will use whatever they have. It's *GOOD* for them to get exposed to other environments, whether it be OpenWindows/CDE (as it was in my day... Solaris 2.5.1) or CDE/GNOME or whatever.
A desktop is a desktop. Forget this "it's familiar" or "it's easy" bullshit.
What difference does the desktop interface make to people who are majoring in CS?
If it does, they should reexamine why they're there.
Yes, but where's berra?
I'm a sysadmin for a Rather Large Company (~40k employees).
Actually, scratch that, I'm a Solaris sysadmin. I'm on a team of 10 people responsible for ~300 servers. I have a team of counterparts that do AIX, and another team that does OpenVMS.
*all* I do is Solaris. I'm not a network admin, I'm not a PC weenie, I'm not The Guy Who Makes The Coffee.
Solaris.
I architect & implement new systems. I build SANs. I maintain existing systems. I recommend upgrades. I implement SF15k's and E10k's.
I've got a *great* job.
The pay isn't that great (~65k/year in the NY metro area), the politics are awful, the on-call rotation is a pain in the ass, but damnit, I'm employed and enjoy what I do.
How great is that?
Oh, sorry.
We try to adhere to the no-compilers-in-production thing where practical, but I really think it's more to keep the programmers from being sloppy than anything else.
The biggest reason we've had to load it in production was because the developers were seeing a problem in production that they weren't in development, and they wanted to debug it.
To install DBX means to install Sun's compiler package.
--DM
Use STRIP. Best software going ...
http://www.zetetic.net/
I didn't say I got rid of it!
:-)
It's in my closet, along with an SS5, a Sun Blade 100, and an AlphaServer DS10.
I just said I miss it! It got to be too slow for the job.... besides which, Mac OS X is a more practical desktop OS than Solaris. . .
I had the same problem you do .... motherboards, ISA Boards, PCI boards, hard drives, SIMMs/DIMMs, various cables, etc.
.....
So how did I solve my problem?
I bought a SPARC.
Who needs all those silly Jaton motherboards?
Wow, I just checked..... Jaton's still in business? That's amazing! They sucked rocks! I had a Jaton VX board and that's what convinced me that I need to stop playing with Wintendo hardware and pick a real platform....
First it was SPARC (And I *still* miss my SPARCstation 20!), and when OS X was released, I bought a PowerMac G4. Best damned investment I've ever made......
Seriously though, The Problem goes away once you're away from the Intel world
--NBVB
I came out of college making $60k.
But then again, I'm a sysadmin for a Very Large Cellular Company here in the New York area.
Very comfy place to work. It's reassuring to know two things- 1) We're profitable; 2) We're not a public company, and therefore, have no "stockholders" to worry about.
---DM
Nextel's service is based on a proprietary system called iDEN. It's Motorola-specific, and only works with MOT equipment. (Ever notice that?)
VZW's PTT service is based on Voice-over-IP. The Push-to-talk stuff isn't a standard cell call, but rather runs over their 1xRTT data service.
That's why all the other cell companies are having problems ramping up PTT; it's a Voice-over-IP service, which means you need a functional data network in the first place. Since VZW has the most extensive data network, it makes natural sense that their service hits the streets first.
Honestly, I haven't used the VZW PTT yet, but from what I understand, it takes between 1-3 secs to make the initial connection. No big deal.
I'd take the VZW solution any day. CDMA is a great technology, the Qualcomm CODECs are among the best, and to be honest, VZW's network is *much* more extensive than anyone else's.
--DM
Horsepuckey.
My cell is dual-NAM'd. Two numbers, one phone.
The only place this gets tricky is with the cellular fraud analysis systems, because they have to sort this out..... but as long as theres a hook between provisioning and fraud it'll all work out ok.
Try working a Disaster Recovery exercise.
48 hours, non-stop.
When I was an OT-collecting employee, that was WONDERFUL.
Now that I'm salaried, I get The Big Screw. Work 48-hours for us in for free.
Yuck.
Tivoli Storage Manager kicks unholy ass!! It's *EXACTLY* the product you're looking for ...... does everything you could want, and then some.
...
:)
www.adsm.org is a good place to start for resources about TSM
And I don't find it hard to set up at all --- it's a helluva lot easier than NetBackup, and a whole lot more functional, too!
Now, where can I get that job paying more, since I know TSM inside, out and backwards?
--DM
OOL is _VERY_ different from @Home....
....
:)
Optimum Online is a division of Cablevision Systems, who, as much as I can't stand their CATV service, have a business plan and have been able to execute on the broadband side of the house.
My understanding is that the guys who run the OOL side are just _great_ guys who understand a) what broadband is good for; and b) how to provide real, honest-to-goodness customer service.
I have NO complaints whatsoever about OOL. I'm still a (very very happy!) DirecTV (with TiVo) customer, and I don't think that's changing anytime soon, but I have to say, the Optimum Online experience is truly fantastic
Fast, and most of all, RELIABLE! Of course, I hear people whine about the mail & news servers, of which I use neither, but the actual connection is rock-solid.
All I want from an ISP is a reliable connection. I'll supply my own email server, thanks.
OOL is, hands down, the best ISP I've ever used!
--NBVB
I know Tim didn't. Having said that, Tim's a good guy who writes good code. FKDoor or whatever his kit was called... I forgot these days; I must be getting old.
After I got sick of the VBBS mess (Ugh, Roland was a _really_ crappy programmer... I'm surprised it worked at all.), I started using ProBoard, and that's where I finished out my BBS career.
ProBoard's PEX toolkit was absolutely freakin' awesome! C hooks right into the BBS software was _incredibly_ powerful back in the day
I miss the BBS days. They were fun... I remember the FroDo/InterMail wars, InterMail/2 on my OS/2 machine, all that good fun stuff.
Those were the days
Hell, when I see someone write Frodo, I *STILL* think of FrontDoor. What's this about some kids' movie?
--DM
Want a *good* book on QBasic?
5 56 153406/qid=1055522032/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/002-837483 1-7720813?v=glance&s=books
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1
there ya go.
Running MS-DOS: QBasic by MS Press.
I'm *NOT* a fan of Microsoft, but this IS a well-written book that covers the QBasic language well.
I used this many years ago when I wanted to modify the source code to VirtualBBS 6.12 (Remember that mess?)
Just like anything else..... all IP isn't necessarily bad. There's a heavy anti-IP slant on Slashdot, and that's a shame.
What's wrong with being able to make a few bucks off of something unique, new and original of yours?
Just like anything else, *abuse* of the system is the problem. How do we sort the wheat from the chaff?
I'm not entirely sure. I think part of the problem lies in the USPTO. They probably need to have some subject-matter experts on hand who can check all the patent applications thoroughly.
Part of the problem is that there are *SO* many applications, that the USPTO can't handle it.
Any suggestions on how to improve?
Bless your heart, Sir.
You Get It (tm).
This is why I'm a Sun/HP-UX admin by day, but a DirecTiVo/Mac user at night.
I like things that Just Work (tm).
QLogic 2gb cards just kick unholy ass!
.........
I've got 'em driving a bunch of HP Enterprise Virtual Arrays -- probably the best modular-type disk array on the market, bar none.
Quite frankly, I just don't "get" things like the HDS 9980. Why would I want to put all my eggs in one basket, when I can have multiple EVA's for less? That keeps downtime isolated
--DM
Yes, the product has the potential for big-brother type thing (filtering mail, etc...) but we don't use it for any of that.
:)
;)
#1) We use it along with Viruswall to block incoming viruses (It's a proxy that sits in front of Sendmail for us....) Works really well; we haven't had a virus outbreak in 2+ years. (Lousy Outlook!)
#2) We use it to filter out Spam. I don't get _any_ Spam at my work address. At all. Very impressive if you ask me!
Viruswall & eManager are pretty ugly pieces of code, but they do the job. We don't get viruses and don't get Spam, and that's why we use it.
Having said that, this stop-the-P thing is a mess. I just checked our rulefiles, and we jumped from rulefile 914 to 920..... glad to see that
--DM
This page:
http://www.accessdmv.com/
is fantastic. Clean, simple, gets to the point. Lets me renew my car registration in (literally) 45 seconds. Love it.
I _love_ simple, mid-90's-era web pages. I haven't updated it in a while, but my page:
www.osxadm.com
is just like that. You can read it, some simple icons, but no fluff. In fact, at one point osxadm inspired this guy's page:
bowdenj (hey, someone noticed!)
NO, sorry.
....
Sun was brought down by Sun.
Their own managerial ineptitude is the problem.
They're so laden with managing-departmental-manager managers that they can't figure out WTF to sell or market.
they're like a fish out of water.
Products like the Sun Fire 3800/4800/6800 shouldn't be. There should be the V-series (V480/880/1280) and then you jump to the SF12k/15k. Period.
Seems to me that every time an engineer comes up with a neat product they say "oooh, that's cool, ship it!"
Really nice for the engineers, absolutely horrible for the company's bottom line
Between this and McNealy's fanaticism about competing with Microsoft, Sun sunk themselves.
Sun cannot and should not compete with Microsoft. Nobody should. It's a losing battle. Focus elsewhere.
Then you've never had the uhm, privilege, of working on an Enterprise 450. What a piece of SH.T. If the server works, it works fine, but if it breaks, you're going to end up bleeding trying to fix it.
What a mess.
And I guess you've never had to replace 500+ CPU's due to the e-cache problem.
Or replace PCI backplanes on SF15k's.
Or replace CIC1 E10k system boards with CIC2 boards.
Or replace faulty I/O mezzanines.
How about the infamous Vixel GBIC incidents?
Or the bad rev-01 and rev-02 UDWIS/S SCSI cards?
Or the A5200 can't-multi-initiate-because-the-array-will-rando
Or the A3500 controller-thinks-it-failed-so-you-just-replace-i
No, I'm sorry, Sun stuff is NOT perfectly engineered.
Not that I'm bitter or anything
Here, check this out:
http://www.sho.com/ptbs/topics.cfm?topic=et
That's probably the best show on TV right now!! (At least 'till the Sopranos returns....)
--DM
Motion seconded.
:)
..... damn, could we drink ;)
I miss the BBS's if for this alone.
This, and BRE. Barren Realms Elite rocked.
Some of the SysOp get-togethers we had were the best parties I've ever been to
~NBVB
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