Well, for me, the only time the computer is ON the desk is to change a card or repair it. Like most folks (Including the NON techs), it's usually on the floor (acting as an ottoman as I type this)
Yes, I _WAS_ refering to Betacam and DV, and not even thinking about the HDTV versions. Heck, Umatic is probably as good as DVD (Just a different "Kind" of error)
As I said in another thread, I'm a geek for a network - who else has 4 million hours of video sitting on the shelves? (One of my projects tracks all those tapes)
As good as DVD is, it's NOT the quality of first generation (aka out of the camera) video tape, even in NTSC format, never mind HDTV. You start talking about data being (with lossless compression) being about 12 gig/hour, so your only talking 1000 hours of data. Now I'd only need a drive array of 4000 of them at work to keep our archive (Yes, we have 4 million hours of footage)
Actually, MY stuff worked perfectly ASSHOLE, when they supply you bad data (and we were), your just hosed. My software accurately displayed exactly the data it was fed, in the formats the client wanted
I guess you've never heard of GIGO. Just the fact you think a system that complex is "scripting" tells me your a sysadmin, not a programmer
OK, I'm a geek for a major TV network supporting the News Division. Only ONCE did I do a project that was to appear "On Air" (And the Producer didn't use the shot)
Most of the work is fairly standard "Geek" work. I've written a system to track Video Tapes (VERY nice system), a system to deliver News Wires to the desktop, scripting "stuff" and stuff to deal with Elections data
Sure, It's in Network HQ, sure, I get to walk onto various sets almost at will, but the work could be anywhere, and it wouln't help you get a TV job
Do you really want to know why they say "The Events of Sept 11th"?
Whenever they use the phrase "The Attacks on the WTC" to mean more than just the attacks on the WTC, the phone rings off the hook - Remember, on Sept 11th, there was also the attack on the Pentagon, and the Hijack/crash of Flight 93 in PA
So, "The Events of Sept 11th" is a LOT faster than saying
"The Attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the hijacking of Fight 93"
Folks, LOTS of electronics are run through a dishwasher, only the call them "Circuit Board Cleaners" - My old boss refused to pay the money for a "Circut Board Cleaner" when he saw what it was - he went out and bought a Kitchenaid. Don't laugh, the USAF said "Good Enough"
We used to run all our PWBs through there, right after the vapor degreaser
On top of that, back when, I used to talk with a guy who worked for a keyboard Mfg - he said that they ran them through a dishwasher
What we have now in "System Requirements" is very broad - you will see a list like
System Requirements (Hardware) 1)Dell Optiplex GN1 (Of revision type D) with 12x CD-Rom Option, 256Meg Ram, Maxtor 20 Gig HD formatted with NTFS in 2 Partitions, one partition of 4 gig, the other 16 gig. HP LaserJet iV Dell Monitor Model D1025TM Dell Internal Network Card SoundBlaster Live Revision 1c
System Requirements (Software) NT 4 SP5 installed on the First Partition in a directory Called "C:\IHaveNoControlOverMyConfigAtAll" System Admin Account Name = "ILikeIt" SystemAdmin Password = "ALot" System IP Address = 192.168.0.1 Video Driver Rev 3 configured for 1024x768 Resolution in 16 bit high color mode, 72 hz No Other Software installed
THAT is what system requirements would look like. Your system blows up
- "Oh, I'm running the Video Driver at 60hz" -"I'm sorry sir, that is an unsupported system"
"I can't get the Rev D Dell Motherboard, only Rev E" "I'm Sorry Sir, that is an untested Configuration, I can't help you"
I'll tell you about strange bugs you find the first time you write shrink-wrap software
Back in the days of Windows 3.1, I wrote a program for a client that was sold over the counter. If we got a bug report, we did our level best to fix it. Part of the program printed reports, and it worked fairly well
Back in those days, HP sold a strange card for their Laser Printers. This card allowed you to use your PC as the Print Engine for the Laser Printer - you bypassed the Parallel Port, - It printed to this card, and the card drove the printer - It was faster.
We get a call one day - One purchaser of this software had an IBM PS/2 Model 80 - These had the "Microchannel" architecture that was unique to IBM. He also had one of these HP cards. Printing just would NOT work. If the user used the Parallel port, everything was fine. When he tried it in a PS/2 Model 90, it worked fine - after maybe 20 hours spent isolating the problem, we found out that the problem ONLY occured with a particular rev of the HP card in the Model 80
We asked the customer if he would like his money back - I could NOT fix the problem - It was at a lower level than the APIs I was using, and the system config was rare enough that that was the cheapest way to fix the problem
So yeah, we had a known bug - we never publicised it. If you called support, we would have told you. Guess what. The guy used the parallel port, and we NEVER got another call about that bug
It will lead to VERY VERY strict licensing terms for software, and software development tool - sort of like Civil Engineering
Let's say I was Microsoft (or ANY other software vendor)
You buy a new motherboard - my answer is, "I do not approve of my software being installed on that hardware" - You will very quickly see things like "Approved Configuration Lists" - X Brand Motherboard, with Y brand Video Card, Z keyboard - ONLY. The "ONLY" other software I approve on the box at the same time is AAAA. Make any changes and your on your own
Heck, buy a car, change the suspension parts yourself to NON factory parts. Flip over due to your front wheel falling off - good luck suing the car mfg, you'll have to prove it was not YOUR changes
First - my quals on this - I used to run an environmental test lab that used LOTS of LN2 for cooling - like 3000 gals a week
I'll agree that LN2 is NOT as bad as some make out, but you DO have to be careful about O2 displacement if your using enough of it (I could tell you about the day the valve stuck, and we dumped 2000 gals of LN2 in a room in 4 hours), plus that vapor barrier can be pierced by splashing, or by dipping your hand
That said, the item you cool to cryo temps is actually more dangerious than the LN2 iteslf
If your only afraid of LOX, I guess you never got to play with LH2 - I never did, but a few of my friends did - it's the only stuff that scared them!
The problem is that most univerities out there still only have a CS program, not a SE program. I've been ranting on this topic for at least a dozen years or so.
The head of the CS department of my old college is a friend of my Father-in-law, and they don't see the problem - which is why they keep producing people with CS degress, and they can't work in the real world
Re:windows registry - why and why not
on
Computing Pet Peeves?
·
· Score: 3, Informative
I appreciate your 'Old fashioned'ness, but I'll tell you why most apps use the registry:
Because back in 1995, Microsoft said "Stop Using INI files if you want to be compliant" People went along
I use a mix. The is ONE advantage to the registry - if your company uses roving profiles, it allows your settings to follow you - this is nice, but other than that, I agree use INI files
You are so right - but not ONLY management - shop for the job, NOT the pay
5 years ago, I was working for a consulting company - the hours sucked (if you were at the office less than 55-60 hours a week, you were a slacker - mind you, we were salaried, but billing by the hour), and management were assholes
We parted company, and I came to my current job. I took a cut in pay, and the office space isn't as nice, I'm happier here than I've been in 10 years (I got forced out of defense electronics by the cuts of the late 80s/early 90s). It took 3 years for my pay to get back to where it was. Most weeks I put in 40-45 hours, but there are weeks that go 80 hours. The thing is, when those 80 hour weeks occur, there is a reason - a REAL reason, management doesn't even have to ask, we KNOW ( I support the News division of a major network - when it's election time, or 9/11 occurs, we work LONG hours, but I think even the readers here can understand why). Otherwise, management lets us do our jobs
So yeah, I signed "Mostly Happy" - heck, it's not perfect (I can't get one of the admins to fix an incorrect DNS entry for 3 weeks now, and it's holding up a rollout, and I could use a new chair), but no job is. Thing is, I like what I'm doing, and the work has a use
Hi, I'm not SURE about the DMA's email opt out list, but I do know for a fact that their snail mail out out list _IS_ legit!
My wife works for one of the larger junk mail companies out there in names selection, and trust me, the watch that list, and even if you would be "perfect", they pull your name from the mailing! (Ditto if you contact them directly)
They have 4 reasons for this: 1)If you went through the effort to opt out, they KNOW you mean it 2)People who opt out don't buy (see profit motive) 3)It costs quite a bit to do those snail mail mailings, so they don't want to spend money sending mail to folks who won't buy (see #2) 4)The DMA insists on it! The DMA is NOT kidding when they say they will drop members for abusing this
The problem is, most of the fly by nights (and most email spammers are fly by nights compared to the big junk mail houses) don't belong to the DMA, or even care!
I'd bet that if you got spammed by American Family Publishers - the Ed McMahon folks - now out of the sweepstakes business - and asked to be removed, you would be! Ditto a Sears, Lillian Vernon, etc (all large catlog companies). They are used to dealing with opt out, and have procedures to deal with it. It doesn't always work (yes, database cleanups have caused problems, and fines have been issued)
The problem is the scammers and small shops that don't care
It's almost always easiest to control noise as CLOSE to the source as possible - aka, prefent the noise from being created in the first place, or else muffle it right away
As for the headphones, I have a pair of Sennheiser HD-451s that work great - makes flying reasonable, and they sound good too
I'll second almost all this post, and won't disagre with any of it
I was an Electronics Tech for 10 years, while shifting a little more each year to programming. Here is how I'd start
There are two books that USED to be available from Radioshack "Understanding DC Circuits" and "Understanding AC Circuts" - These will give you the basic theory (Note: DC is just the special case of AC)
The Forrest Mimms notebooks are GREAT - BUY THEM - lot's of nice sample circuts in there
"The Art Of Electronics" (see messages above) is the STANDARD College level into electronics book, and is VERY good (Get the Lab book too)
The ARRL (Amateur radio Relay League) has some good books
The other thing I'll add is that besides the old TI TTL Data Book (I HOPE I didn't lose mine in the move), if you can find the OLD RCA CMOS databook, and National Linear IC Databooks, you'll be doing yourself a BIG favor
Oh, and I found THIS website yesterday - VERY nice
You are dealing with a "Part 15" device - aka, unlicensed. Part 15 devices use PARTS of the RF spectrum as secondary users - They have the resposability not to interfere with the licensed PRIMARY users of that part of the spectrum, and it's THEIR problem if they receice interference
Here in the US (NYC at least), the city is responsible for the ROAD, but the homeowner is responsible to keep the sidewalk and CURB in good condition -In NYC,(s)he is also responsible to sweep the gutter of the road - in fact a business is supposidly checked up to 2x day (I thing it's 10am-11am, and 2:00pm to 3:00pm) and if there is any litter on the sidewalk, or in the gutter, they can get a ticket! I'm not saying it happens often, but...
Slashdot Mirror
Well, for me, the only time the computer is ON the desk is to change a card or repair it. Like most folks (Including the NON techs), it's usually on the floor (acting as an ottoman as I type this)
Who care what color the case is - The computer is in one of two states:
1)It's under the desk, and you can't see it
2)It's on top of the desk, and the cover is off
Yes, I _WAS_ refering to Betacam and DV, and not even thinking about the HDTV versions. Heck, Umatic is probably as good as DVD (Just a different "Kind" of error)
As I said in another thread, I'm a geek for a network - who else has 4 million hours of video sitting on the shelves? (One of my projects tracks all those tapes)
And your right, film blows them ALL away
No, He'd probably keep non compressed video.
As good as DVD is, it's NOT the quality of first generation (aka out of the camera) video tape, even in NTSC format, never mind HDTV. You start talking about data being (with lossless compression) being about 12 gig/hour, so your only talking 1000 hours of data. Now I'd only need a drive array of 4000 of them at work to keep our archive (Yes, we have 4 million hours of footage)
Actually, MY stuff worked perfectly ASSHOLE, when they supply you bad data (and we were), your just hosed. My software accurately displayed exactly the data it was fed, in the formats the client wanted
I guess you've never heard of GIGO. Just the fact you think a system that complex is "scripting" tells me your a sysadmin, not a programmer
OK, I'm a geek for a major TV network supporting the News Division. Only ONCE did I do a project that was to appear "On Air" (And the Producer didn't use the shot)
Most of the work is fairly standard "Geek" work. I've written a system to track Video Tapes (VERY nice system), a system to deliver News Wires to the desktop, scripting "stuff" and stuff to deal with Elections data
Sure, It's in Network HQ, sure, I get to walk onto various sets almost at will, but the work could be anywhere, and it wouln't help you get a TV job
yes,
Every time I get an email with a sig - and my email is always signed
Do you really want to know why they say "The Events of Sept 11th"?
Whenever they use the phrase "The Attacks on the WTC" to mean more than just the attacks on the WTC, the phone rings off the hook - Remember, on Sept 11th, there was also the attack on the Pentagon, and the Hijack/crash of Flight 93 in PA
So, "The Events of Sept 11th" is a LOT faster than saying
"The Attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the hijacking of Fight 93"
Folks,
LOTS of electronics are run through a dishwasher, only the call them "Circuit Board Cleaners" - My old boss refused to pay the money for a "Circut Board Cleaner" when he saw what it was - he went out and bought a Kitchenaid. Don't laugh, the USAF said "Good Enough"
We used to run all our PWBs through there, right after the vapor degreaser
On top of that, back when, I used to talk with a guy who worked for a keyboard Mfg - he said that they ran them through a dishwasher
What we have now in "System Requirements" is very broad - you will see a list like
System Requirements (Hardware)
1)Dell Optiplex GN1 (Of revision type D) with 12x CD-Rom Option, 256Meg Ram, Maxtor 20 Gig HD formatted with NTFS in 2 Partitions, one partition of 4 gig, the other 16 gig. HP LaserJet iV
Dell Monitor Model D1025TM
Dell Internal Network Card
SoundBlaster Live Revision 1c
System Requirements (Software)
NT 4 SP5 installed on the First Partition in a directory Called "C:\IHaveNoControlOverMyConfigAtAll"
System Admin Account Name = "ILikeIt"
SystemAdmin Password = "ALot"
System IP Address = 192.168.0.1
Video Driver Rev 3 configured for 1024x768 Resolution in 16 bit high color mode, 72 hz
No Other Software installed
THAT is what system requirements would look like. Your system blows up
- "Oh, I'm running the Video Driver at 60hz" -"I'm sorry sir, that is an unsupported system"
"I can't get the Rev D Dell Motherboard, only Rev E"
"I'm Sorry Sir, that is an untested Configuration, I can't help you"
I'll tell you about strange bugs you find the first time you write shrink-wrap software
Back in the days of Windows 3.1, I wrote a program for a client that was sold over the counter. If we got a bug report, we did our level best to fix it. Part of the program printed reports, and it worked fairly well
Back in those days, HP sold a strange card for their Laser Printers. This card allowed you to use your PC as the Print Engine for the Laser Printer - you bypassed the Parallel Port, - It printed to this card, and the card drove the printer - It was faster.
We get a call one day - One purchaser of this software had an IBM PS/2 Model 80 - These had the "Microchannel" architecture that was unique to IBM. He also had one of these HP cards. Printing just would NOT work. If the user used the Parallel port, everything was fine. When he tried it in a PS/2 Model 90, it worked fine - after maybe 20 hours spent isolating the problem, we found out that the problem ONLY occured with a particular rev of the HP card in the Model 80
We asked the customer if he would like his money back - I could NOT fix the problem - It was at a lower level than the APIs I was using, and the system config was rare enough that that was the cheapest way to fix the problem
So yeah, we had a known bug - we never publicised it. If you called support, we would have told you. Guess what. The guy used the parallel port, and we NEVER got another call about that bug
you won't like it.
It will lead to VERY VERY strict licensing terms for software, and software development tool - sort of like Civil Engineering
Let's say I was Microsoft (or ANY other software vendor)
You buy a new motherboard - my answer is, "I do not approve of my software being installed on that hardware" - You will very quickly see things like "Approved Configuration Lists" - X Brand Motherboard, with Y brand Video Card, Z keyboard - ONLY. The "ONLY" other software I approve on the box at the same time is AAAA. Make any changes and your on your own
Heck, buy a car, change the suspension parts yourself to NON factory parts. Flip over due to your front wheel falling off - good luck suing the car mfg, you'll have to prove it was not YOUR changes
First - my quals on this - I used to run an environmental test lab that used LOTS of LN2 for cooling - like 3000 gals a week
I'll agree that LN2 is NOT as bad as some make out, but you DO have to be careful about O2 displacement if your using enough of it (I could tell you about the day the valve stuck, and we dumped 2000 gals of LN2 in a room in 4 hours), plus that vapor barrier can be pierced by splashing, or by dipping your hand
That said, the item you cool to cryo temps is actually more dangerious than the LN2 iteslf
If your only afraid of LOX, I guess you never got to play with LH2 - I never did, but a few of my friends did - it's the only stuff that scared them!
Whoever your orders SAY are the bad guys
John,
Still don't believe you wear clothes when no one is around - heck, you work in a windowless, unfurnished dungon
and the CF can become a RCF (Royal)
Then there is
Snafu
furbar
One of my favorites from machine shops - the RCH
Red Female Pubic Hair
for a VERY small dimention
Library Information Exchange System
The problem is that most univerities out there still only have a CS program, not a SE program. I've been ranting on this topic for at least a dozen years or so.
The head of the CS department of my old college is a friend of my Father-in-law, and they don't see the problem - which is why they keep producing people with CS degress, and they can't work in the real world
I appreciate your 'Old fashioned'ness, but I'll tell you why most apps use the registry:
Because back in 1995, Microsoft said "Stop Using INI files if you want to be compliant" People went along
I use a mix. The is ONE advantage to the registry - if your company uses roving profiles, it allows your settings to follow you - this is nice, but other than that, I agree use INI files
You are so right - but not ONLY management - shop for the job, NOT the pay
5 years ago, I was working for a consulting company - the hours sucked (if you were at the office less than 55-60 hours a week, you were a slacker - mind you, we were salaried, but billing by the hour), and management were assholes
We parted company, and I came to my current job. I took a cut in pay, and the office space isn't as nice, I'm happier here than I've been in 10 years (I got forced out of defense electronics by the cuts of the late 80s/early 90s). It took 3 years for my pay to get back to where it was. Most weeks I put in 40-45 hours, but there are weeks that go 80 hours. The thing is, when those 80 hour weeks occur, there is a reason - a REAL reason, management doesn't even have to ask, we KNOW ( I support the News division of a major network - when it's election time, or 9/11 occurs, we work LONG hours, but I think even the readers here can understand why). Otherwise, management lets us do our jobs
So yeah, I signed "Mostly Happy" - heck, it's not perfect (I can't get one of the admins to fix an incorrect DNS entry for 3 weeks now, and it's holding up a rollout, and I could use a new chair), but no job is. Thing is, I like what I'm doing, and the work has a use
Hi,
I'm not SURE about the DMA's email opt out list, but I do know for a fact that their snail mail out out list _IS_ legit!
My wife works for one of the larger junk mail companies out there in names selection, and trust me, the watch that list, and even if you would be "perfect", they pull your name from the mailing! (Ditto if you contact them directly)
They have 4 reasons for this:
1)If you went through the effort to opt out, they KNOW you mean it
2)People who opt out don't buy (see profit motive)
3)It costs quite a bit to do those snail mail mailings, so they don't want to spend money sending mail to folks who won't buy (see #2)
4)The DMA insists on it! The DMA is NOT kidding when they say they will drop members for abusing this
The problem is, most of the fly by nights (and most email spammers are fly by nights compared to the big junk mail houses) don't belong to the DMA, or even care!
I'd bet that if you got spammed by American Family Publishers - the Ed McMahon folks - now out of the sweepstakes business - and asked to be removed, you would be! Ditto a Sears, Lillian Vernon, etc (all large catlog companies). They are used to dealing with opt out, and have procedures to deal with it. It doesn't always work (yes, database cleanups have caused problems, and fines have been issued)
The problem is the scammers and small shops that don't care
It's almost always easiest to control noise as CLOSE to the source as possible - aka, prefent the noise from being created in the first place, or else muffle it right away
As for the headphones, I have a pair of Sennheiser HD-451s that work great - makes flying reasonable, and they sound good too
I'll second almost all this post, and won't disagre with any of it
I was an Electronics Tech for 10 years, while shifting a little more each year to programming. Here is how I'd start
There are two books that USED to be available from Radioshack "Understanding DC Circuits" and "Understanding AC Circuts" - These will give you the basic theory (Note: DC is just the special case of AC)
The Forrest Mimms notebooks are GREAT - BUY THEM - lot's of nice sample circuts in there
"The Art Of Electronics" (see messages above) is the STANDARD College level into electronics book, and is VERY good (Get the Lab book too)
The ARRL (Amateur radio Relay League) has some good books
The other thing I'll add is that besides the old TI TTL Data Book (I HOPE I didn't lose mine in the move), if you can find the OLD RCA CMOS databook, and National Linear IC Databooks, you'll be doing yourself a BIG favor
Oh, and I found THIS website yesterday - VERY nice
http://my.integritynet.com.au/purdic/index.html
You are dealing with a "Part 15" device - aka, unlicensed. Part 15 devices use PARTS of the RF spectrum as secondary users - They have the resposability not to interfere with the licensed PRIMARY users of that part of the spectrum, and it's THEIR problem if they receice interference
How about the "agilent" mess - she should be gone for that alone
Here in the US (NYC at least), the city is responsible for the ROAD, but the homeowner is responsible to keep the sidewalk and CURB in good condition -In NYC,(s)he is also responsible to sweep the gutter of the road - in fact a business is supposidly checked up to 2x day (I thing it's 10am-11am, and 2:00pm to 3:00pm) and if there is any litter on the sidewalk, or in the gutter, they can get a ticket! I'm not saying it happens often, but...