When are they going to make it modular like they said they would, so that those of us that don't want the fancy accelerations can still have a relatively 'modern' desktop using modern software without the tremendous bloat? I want to use my memory for applications, not to draw graphics.
It's getting to the point where 512Mb isn't even enough for a GNOME desktop. That's partially GNOME's fault, but for chrisake! Xorg is huge.
They said they were going to prune the tree; why haven't they?
First off: we're talking about a school lab. Sure, it should work most of the time, but the reality is that (especially if it's a humanities lab) most of the machines will have quite a few problems. Loss of connectivity might actually be an advantage.
Second: you can buy 4, 5, 6 'old' PCs of various manufature - low end Pentium IIs with 128 - 256MB or so and small disks - for $100 - $200, depending on where you look. They're cheap. Hell, get a bunch of old thin clients (I've got 8 IBM thin clients which would be marvelous for this task) and have all the firewalls boot off a stable central server so that the number of moving parts (and thus the liklyhood of physical failure) is decreased. If one dies, you've got 5 more where it came from - for as little as $20 each. And they're not likely to die, as there's precious little in there that will.
For Windows? A seamless, 3' thick rebar-reinforced cement vault is preferential. It's easiest to add the machine prior to pouring the cement, I've found.
But with zombies in general, I prefer a more proactive approach: a 12 gauge shotgun loaded with 00 buck does nicely.
Seriously though. Every Windows machine should be behind an entirely seperate firewall, protecting it from everything and everything from it. A Windows machine on a public network that isn't being agressively administered is about as safe as a polish handgun.
By the description of your environment and problem, it sounds like you basically want to quarantine the humanities from the rest of campus so they don't wreak their plague of stupidity upon everyone else (this is good policy in general, I've found - humanities aren't fond of reasoned, concrete thought).
Probably the best way to do that would be to set up an IDS gateway between their networks and the rest of campus. Something from CISCO would probably be best, but I'm fairly certain you could do it with linux/BSD or another COTS solution for decreased price. Have the IDS set up to basically drop all trafic from zombied machines. When they complain to you that "their" network isn't working and that it's your fault, give them the ISP treatment: fix your machine and we'll let you back on.
Really, allowing humanities types to manage their own hardware is just a receipe for disaster. Would you let your accountant work on your car? It's not adviseable, and would likely cost you more than not having repair done at all and waiting for further problems.
First, the biggest problem is that your backups are 'failing' - why? It's imperative that you figure that out first. Continuing past that point is useless, and as you don't really say why they're failing, answering further is pointless.
However, asuming you can get a backup situation to work:
I would recommend a large RAID5 array dedicated to backup on an independent system. Set up a server that will accomidate data growth for 2 to 3 years at the given rate of accumilation.
I could get as complex as you want, but that's as the terse version, and pretty much as much data as can be given without getting sidetracked from your goal, given the information you've given slashdot.
I live in the US and I'd be more than happy to make $25k/year. It's a good 1/3rd more than what I make now. Only reason I'm still at this job? There hasn't been a job in this town which will pay more with my education level (people here are picky about that), and I'm currently living right at making ends meet.
I'd like to think of myself as multiskilled, though I've only been doing Linux/Windows IT work for about 5 years. I don't doubt I'd do better if I could get out of this backwater.
the voting down of the EU constitution to avoid US-style capitalism
What the hell?
Just ignore the fact that the US is moving further and further away from "US-style capitalism" every day now by instigating more socialist programs for now. But how exactly did the proposed EU constitution say anything about US-style capitalism?
It didn't. It basically said that citizens have no rights, and countries have no rights, unless the EU said they could have them. It had page after page of what, exactly, the subjects of the UN (not citizens) could not do.
A UN constitution would have to innumerate the inalienable rights of the citizens of the EU in order for it to be modeled after US capitalism, as US capitalism is strongly based in the "persuit of life, liberty, and happiness" concept so outlined in the US declaration of independence. The UN constitution simply outlined how the UN would be destructive to those ends by giving powers to corporations.
Why isn't the IBM & SCO case over yet, for crying out loud?
And, considering the "if you modify or distribute GPL software, you agree to the GPL" clause of the GPL, doesn't this also invalidate most of SCOs arguments for the last, oh, 2 years or whatever?
In essence, they operate with the guise of a bank but without any of the restrictions or responsibilities of a bank.
They can and will freeze funds for pretty much any reason they want, simply because someone at Ebay told them to. They'll freeze your entire account, and sometimes take your account away entirely (so I've heard) for selling things on ebay which skirt the line of Ebay's policy.
And, since they're not a bank, they're not reqiured to pay interest at all, as banks are, and are thus able to use the huge sums of money sitting in paypal accounts to invest or loan out to make themselves money at an even higher rate.
Nonsense! I take it you've never even been near a studio.
Studios most assuredly need sturdy where it counts - in the internal parts of the device. This often also means the outside needs to be sturdy, as they get used a lot.
I don't care what it is, but something which is used consistently every day of the year for several hours (such as a news camera) is going to have to be very, very sturdy. Some of these cameras cost as much as a good lawyer's annual earnings. A "cheap" professional digital camera can cost over $10k.
Contrast this to your $500 MiniDV camcorder. Yes, it has to be sturdy, because most likely, the person using it isn't going to be a professional and isn't going to take good care of it. But the parts also do not need to have to be able to withstand as much actual use: the read/write mechanisms and the motors are not as high-quality. They wear out.
For a commercial video camera, a couple hundred hours of record time is a reasonable lifespan. This is why most are made with brittle plastic shells. The shells will still outlive the utility of the camera, even with the abuse most consumers dish out.
For an industrial model video camera, several hundred hours would be completely inadequate. This is part of the reason why industrial cameras are built with metal shells. They need to last.
I have no idea where you were going with your stupid CD player analogy. It is completely ignorant of all reality. The same logic does not apply, as the metrics of assessment are entirely different. An 'industrial' CD player does not need to play nearly as many hours as a commercial player does, as people will listen to CDs end to end for days. An industrial CD player, maybe 8 hours a day for several days a week - much less use. Granted, there are exceptions, but not often.
Besides, even industrial shops don't buy "industrial" CD players anymore. That's a horrible comparision, as audio CDs have always contained the same amount of data at the same rates, regardless of consumer or professional application.
The majority of your post is simply ignorant of the divide between video and audio equipment. It's really too much to understand, let alone correct. Seriously.
Well, the recent non-postal service credit card company leak recently comes to mind. Just because someone is young doesn't mean they don't know how to make a profit. Please.
Sorry to break it to you, but you are not going to get a consumer product which lasts for more than a year under regular use unless you are very, very lucky - and I do mean luck.
Consumer products are designed to break so that you'll buy a new version a short time down the road. That's why all consumer products should be considered an expendable good. Surprise! Most new companies come out with a new product version at least anually - perfect timing for designed obsolecense!
If you want something that's rugged and repairable, you're going to have to purchase a device that costs enough to make repairing it economical for both you and the company - in other words, something that's very expensive and 'industrial'. It won't be easy to use.
Cheapest, best route is probably to keep slugging it out for the 'cheap' consumer brand stuff and hope for the best.
For what it's worth, both my brother and I have Canon Z40s. My brother has used his constantly for the last two years (well, quite often - a couple hours a week, I guess). It's a little body worn, but it still works fine. Mine works fine as well, and I like their product over what the others offer. *shrug*
My painting of the issue either black or white is merely an attempt to try and get those that are able to see things in only shades of grey to see that one choice has to be right, or, at least, less evil.
Yeah, part of the reason for the post was an excessive amount of dealing with people that only see things in relativistic shades of grey; sorry. Wasn't the best written post in the world.
Where in the world do I know your name from? "Chris Burke" just won't stop wrattling around in my head, as I'm sure I know it from somewhere.
Either the US was justified in its actions, or we were not.
If we were, you need to just shut the hell up.
If we weren't, then we need to hold those responsible for this 'war crime' responsible - in part, Einstein and FDR, two icons for the self-centered semi-intellectual socialists here on Slashdot.
We need to pull them from their altars, and decry their names as those of infamy... or not, and shut the fuck up.
Right now, Washington, DC has a higher crime-related death rate than our soldiers in Iraq do.
We are, by every definition of the word, kicking ass. The media is deadset on making this another Vietnam, however, so you'll get as little of ass kicking from them as they can possibly give you.
The mainstream media didn't even report upon the almost obscene battle casualty ratios of some of the initial confrontations during Gulf War II... Hundreds killed and only several US troops injured - after being ambushed.
What is this, some sort of, "Look at the perks that our employees get, thanks to massive investment and you customers" kind of advertising? Is it "come work for amazon" or "hah! we own!"?
It worked for Microsoft. Why wouldn't it work for Apple? Unlike MS today, they actually have something that the majority of computer enthusiasts would like to have, if not regularly use. Then their friends and family see it... voila. Free advertising and tech support.
Don't for one second think that "Apple is a hardware company". I'm not sure where you ge this idea; is it Apple marketing rhetoric from back in the pre-OS X days when their OS was absolute shit in terms of proper features and stability, or as an excuse for a full range of applications? Looking at it now or hte past couple eyars, I don't recall much talk about Apple hardware (at least in preference over MacOS X) since the G3 came out in, what... 1999? Quite a bit less for the G4, and even less so for the G5.
Face it. Apple is not a hardware company anymore. They're an appliance company. Their OS and their design is indeed what they market and sell, not their hardware.
Contrast this to two places I've worked (one of which I still work).
Place 1: A lot of interaction with both customers and general office people with some travel. Jeans were pretty much expected, and I had no problems when I would wear my "painter" shirt (an old ASKF shirt that has paint hand prins on it) around the office.
Place 2: There are days where I have no interaction with anyone at all, including coworkers, due to the nature of the job. It's pretty laid back in general, but jeans are off-limits. There's hardly any outside interaction by anyone in the facility, except by phone.
It really is a shame that MS bought Bungie; they made some great games.
Remember Oni? That's really the only game of their's I played, and I loved it. The graphics were a bit sub-par (played on PC, don't know if it was available on mac) but the gameplay and control felt so organic - and 3rd person mixed close-combat and firearm use actually worked! It had a good story with multiple endings, to top it off, and the in-game animation was pretty good.
They were planning to make a sequel, and add multiplayer functionality, I heard. And then MS bought them.
What'd the studio then? It made a plain ol' linear FPS - for a console. For... a... console. I don't understand that, at all.
Sure, there's minimal plot in Halo. I played it when it came out on PC, and it was fun enough then (particularly the vehicles, which, IMO, really is the only thing it had going for it). I don't see anything that sets it appart from any other run-of-the-mill FPS aside from the MS branding and a megafuck-ton of marketing.
I have no doubt that the Marathon games were better in every manner except graphics, even though I've never seen the game itself.
While I can understand going to x86, I still don't qiute understand why Apple decided to go with Intel over AMD. I suspect it's a politically motivated decision, but in my mind, AMD trumps Intel in price, performance, and advancing features.
It would make sense for both Apple and AMD to go with each other: it would benefit both their markets, and the consumer market would see AMD stuff as "new miracle technology", as Intel has been on the forefront for so long, people are simply tired of the blue men and the Intel jingle. "Intel stuff? That runs Windows, and Windows sucks. Why would I want that on a Mac?" is what most people seem to think. AMD has no such stigma.
Yeah, no doubt. Using those heuristics, my aunts, cousins, and grandmother are all demonstrating terrorist-like activity when they send me those irritating forwards.
And then there's the potentially positive side: can mailing 100,000 people the same thing account for being a terrorist?
"will exceed what has been delivered in Linux and Unix for many years"
I think that has something to do with the fact that BASH, which could arguably be considered the latest and greatest in Linux, has been around for almost 10 years. All (most) of the other Unix/Linux shells have been around either that long or longer - sometimes 30 years longer. They're time-proven to be effective and useful. Why change a good thing when it works better than anything else that's available, and people are used to it?
What makes MS think that constantly changing things around (and thus frustrating/confusing users for a period of time) is a good thing? They keep doing it, and people don't really seem to like it so much anymore as they see no benefit. Granted, this doesn't really apply to MSH, but to MS GUI apps in general.
Well, according to the Samba devs, the functional implimentation of SMB/CIFS in Samba is superior to that of several windows versions: it will interoperate with various Windows versions and itself without problems, whereas Windows of various versions will not as often.
Slashdot Mirror
When are they going to make it modular like they said they would, so that those of us that don't want the fancy accelerations can still have a relatively 'modern' desktop using modern software without the tremendous bloat? I want to use my memory for applications, not to draw graphics.
It's getting to the point where 512Mb isn't even enough for a GNOME desktop. That's partially GNOME's fault, but for chrisake! Xorg is huge.
They said they were going to prune the tree; why haven't they?
First off: we're talking about a school lab. Sure, it should work most of the time, but the reality is that (especially if it's a humanities lab) most of the machines will have quite a few problems. Loss of connectivity might actually be an advantage.
Second: you can buy 4, 5, 6 'old' PCs of various manufature - low end Pentium IIs with 128 - 256MB or so and small disks - for $100 - $200, depending on where you look. They're cheap. Hell, get a bunch of old thin clients (I've got 8 IBM thin clients which would be marvelous for this task) and have all the firewalls boot off a stable central server so that the number of moving parts (and thus the liklyhood of physical failure) is decreased. If one dies, you've got 5 more where it came from - for as little as $20 each. And they're not likely to die, as there's precious little in there that will.
For Windows? A seamless, 3' thick rebar-reinforced cement vault is preferential. It's easiest to add the machine prior to pouring the cement, I've found.
But with zombies in general, I prefer a more proactive approach: a 12 gauge shotgun loaded with 00 buck does nicely.
Seriously though. Every Windows machine should be behind an entirely seperate firewall, protecting it from everything and everything from it. A Windows machine on a public network that isn't being agressively administered is about as safe as a polish handgun.
By the description of your environment and problem, it sounds like you basically want to quarantine the humanities from the rest of campus so they don't wreak their plague of stupidity upon everyone else (this is good policy in general, I've found - humanities aren't fond of reasoned, concrete thought).
Probably the best way to do that would be to set up an IDS gateway between their networks and the rest of campus. Something from CISCO would probably be best, but I'm fairly certain you could do it with linux/BSD or another COTS solution for decreased price. Have the IDS set up to basically drop all trafic from zombied machines. When they complain to you that "their" network isn't working and that it's your fault, give them the ISP treatment: fix your machine and we'll let you back on.
Really, allowing humanities types to manage their own hardware is just a receipe for disaster. Would you let your accountant work on your car? It's not adviseable, and would likely cost you more than not having repair done at all and waiting for further problems.
First, the biggest problem is that your backups are 'failing' - why? It's imperative that you figure that out first. Continuing past that point is useless, and as you don't really say why they're failing, answering further is pointless.
However, asuming you can get a backup situation to work:
I would recommend a large RAID5 array dedicated to backup on an independent system. Set up a server that will accomidate data growth for 2 to 3 years at the given rate of accumilation.
I could get as complex as you want, but that's as the terse version, and pretty much as much data as can be given without getting sidetracked from your goal, given the information you've given slashdot.
What the hell.
I live in the US and I'd be more than happy to make $25k/year. It's a good 1/3rd more than what I make now. Only reason I'm still at this job? There hasn't been a job in this town which will pay more with my education level (people here are picky about that), and I'm currently living right at making ends meet.
I'd like to think of myself as multiskilled, though I've only been doing Linux/Windows IT work for about 5 years. I don't doubt I'd do better if I could get out of this backwater.
the voting down of the EU constitution to avoid US-style capitalism
What the hell?
Just ignore the fact that the US is moving further and further away from "US-style capitalism" every day now by instigating more socialist programs for now. But how exactly did the proposed EU constitution say anything about US-style capitalism?
It didn't. It basically said that citizens have no rights, and countries have no rights, unless the EU said they could have them. It had page after page of what, exactly, the subjects of the UN (not citizens) could not do.
A UN constitution would have to innumerate the inalienable rights of the citizens of the EU in order for it to be modeled after US capitalism, as US capitalism is strongly based in the "persuit of life, liberty, and happiness" concept so outlined in the US declaration of independence. The UN constitution simply outlined how the UN would be destructive to those ends by giving powers to corporations.
Why isn't the IBM & SCO case over yet, for crying out loud?
And, considering the "if you modify or distribute GPL software, you agree to the GPL" clause of the GPL, doesn't this also invalidate most of SCOs arguments for the last, oh, 2 years or whatever?
In essence, they operate with the guise of a bank but without any of the restrictions or responsibilities of a bank.
They can and will freeze funds for pretty much any reason they want, simply because someone at Ebay told them to. They'll freeze your entire account, and sometimes take your account away entirely (so I've heard) for selling things on ebay which skirt the line of Ebay's policy.
And, since they're not a bank, they're not reqiured to pay interest at all, as banks are, and are thus able to use the huge sums of money sitting in paypal accounts to invest or loan out to make themselves money at an even higher rate.
Nonsense! I take it you've never even been near a studio.
Studios most assuredly need sturdy where it counts - in the internal parts of the device. This often also means the outside needs to be sturdy, as they get used a lot.
I don't care what it is, but something which is used consistently every day of the year for several hours (such as a news camera) is going to have to be very, very sturdy. Some of these cameras cost as much as a good lawyer's annual earnings. A "cheap" professional digital camera can cost over $10k.
Contrast this to your $500 MiniDV camcorder. Yes, it has to be sturdy, because most likely, the person using it isn't going to be a professional and isn't going to take good care of it. But the parts also do not need to have to be able to withstand as much actual use: the read/write mechanisms and the motors are not as high-quality. They wear out.
For a commercial video camera, a couple hundred hours of record time is a reasonable lifespan. This is why most are made with brittle plastic shells. The shells will still outlive the utility of the camera, even with the abuse most consumers dish out.
For an industrial model video camera, several hundred hours would be completely inadequate. This is part of the reason why industrial cameras are built with metal shells. They need to last.
I have no idea where you were going with your stupid CD player analogy. It is completely ignorant of all reality. The same logic does not apply, as the metrics of assessment are entirely different. An 'industrial' CD player does not need to play nearly as many hours as a commercial player does, as people will listen to CDs end to end for days. An industrial CD player, maybe 8 hours a day for several days a week - much less use. Granted, there are exceptions, but not often.
Besides, even industrial shops don't buy "industrial" CD players anymore. That's a horrible comparision, as audio CDs have always contained the same amount of data at the same rates, regardless of consumer or professional application.
The majority of your post is simply ignorant of the divide between video and audio equipment. It's really too much to understand, let alone correct. Seriously.
Well, the recent non-postal service credit card company leak recently comes to mind. Just because someone is young doesn't mean they don't know how to make a profit. Please.
Sorry to break it to you, but you are not going to get a consumer product which lasts for more than a year under regular use unless you are very, very lucky - and I do mean luck.
Consumer products are designed to break so that you'll buy a new version a short time down the road. That's why all consumer products should be considered an expendable good. Surprise! Most new companies come out with a new product version at least anually - perfect timing for designed obsolecense!
If you want something that's rugged and repairable, you're going to have to purchase a device that costs enough to make repairing it economical for both you and the company - in other words, something that's very expensive and 'industrial'. It won't be easy to use.
Cheapest, best route is probably to keep slugging it out for the 'cheap' consumer brand stuff and hope for the best.
For what it's worth, both my brother and I have Canon Z40s. My brother has used his constantly for the last two years (well, quite often - a couple hours a week, I guess). It's a little body worn, but it still works fine. Mine works fine as well, and I like their product over what the others offer. *shrug*
My painting of the issue either black or white is merely an attempt to try and get those that are able to see things in only shades of grey to see that one choice has to be right, or, at least, less evil.
Yeah, part of the reason for the post was an excessive amount of dealing with people that only see things in relativistic shades of grey; sorry. Wasn't the best written post in the world.
Where in the world do I know your name from? "Chris Burke" just won't stop wrattling around in my head, as I'm sure I know it from somewhere.
Look.
Either the US was justified in its actions, or we were not.
If we were, you need to just shut the hell up.
If we weren't, then we need to hold those responsible for this 'war crime' responsible - in part, Einstein and FDR, two icons for the self-centered semi-intellectual socialists here on Slashdot.
We need to pull them from their altars, and decry their names as those of infamy... or not, and shut the fuck up.
Oh, nonsense.
Right now, Washington, DC has a higher crime-related death rate than our soldiers in Iraq do.
We are, by every definition of the word, kicking ass. The media is deadset on making this another Vietnam, however, so you'll get as little of ass kicking from them as they can possibly give you.
The mainstream media didn't even report upon the almost obscene battle casualty ratios of some of the initial confrontations during Gulf War II... Hundreds killed and only several US troops injured - after being ambushed.
What is this, some sort of, "Look at the perks that our employees get, thanks to massive investment and you customers" kind of advertising? Is it "come work for amazon" or "hah! we own!"?
I can't find a big enough hat... for either head. Seriously. I feel downright descriminated against.
Well, it doesn't, except maybe in the most abstract manner.
The sig pertains to a very important United States document which is disregarded and marginalized by many political bodies today.
It worked for Microsoft. Why wouldn't it work for Apple? Unlike MS today, they actually have something that the majority of computer enthusiasts would like to have, if not regularly use. Then their friends and family see it... voila. Free advertising and tech support.
Don't for one second think that "Apple is a hardware company". I'm not sure where you ge this idea; is it Apple marketing rhetoric from back in the pre-OS X days when their OS was absolute shit in terms of proper features and stability, or as an excuse for a full range of applications? Looking at it now or hte past couple eyars, I don't recall much talk about Apple hardware (at least in preference over MacOS X) since the G3 came out in, what... 1999? Quite a bit less for the G4, and even less so for the G5.
Face it. Apple is not a hardware company anymore. They're an appliance company. Their OS and their design is indeed what they market and sell, not their hardware.
Contrast this to two places I've worked (one of which I still work).
Place 1: A lot of interaction with both customers and general office people with some travel. Jeans were pretty much expected, and I had no problems when I would wear my "painter" shirt (an old ASKF shirt that has paint hand prins on it) around the office.
Place 2: There are days where I have no interaction with anyone at all, including coworkers, due to the nature of the job. It's pretty laid back in general, but jeans are off-limits. There's hardly any outside interaction by anyone in the facility, except by phone.
It really is a shame that MS bought Bungie; they made some great games.
Remember Oni? That's really the only game of their's I played, and I loved it. The graphics were a bit sub-par (played on PC, don't know if it was available on mac) but the gameplay and control felt so organic - and 3rd person mixed close-combat and firearm use actually worked! It had a good story with multiple endings, to top it off, and the in-game animation was pretty good.
They were planning to make a sequel, and add multiplayer functionality, I heard. And then MS bought them.
What'd the studio then? It made a plain ol' linear FPS - for a console. For... a... console. I don't understand that, at all.
Sure, there's minimal plot in Halo. I played it when it came out on PC, and it was fun enough then (particularly the vehicles, which, IMO, really is the only thing it had going for it). I don't see anything that sets it appart from any other run-of-the-mill FPS aside from the MS branding and a megafuck-ton of marketing.
I have no doubt that the Marathon games were better in every manner except graphics, even though I've never seen the game itself.
While I can understand going to x86, I still don't qiute understand why Apple decided to go with Intel over AMD. I suspect it's a politically motivated decision, but in my mind, AMD trumps Intel in price, performance, and advancing features.
It would make sense for both Apple and AMD to go with each other: it would benefit both their markets, and the consumer market would see AMD stuff as "new miracle technology", as Intel has been on the forefront for so long, people are simply tired of the blue men and the Intel jingle. "Intel stuff? That runs Windows, and Windows sucks. Why would I want that on a Mac?" is what most people seem to think. AMD has no such stigma.
Yeah, no doubt. Using those heuristics, my aunts, cousins, and grandmother are all demonstrating terrorist-like activity when they send me those irritating forwards.
And then there's the potentially positive side: can mailing 100,000 people the same thing account for being a terrorist?
Well, at least we'll know what kind of behavior to look for.
The wording is deceptive.
"will exceed what has been delivered in Linux and Unix for many years"
I think that has something to do with the fact that BASH, which could arguably be considered the latest and greatest in Linux, has been around for almost 10 years. All (most) of the other Unix/Linux shells have been around either that long or longer - sometimes 30 years longer. They're time-proven to be effective and useful. Why change a good thing when it works better than anything else that's available, and people are used to it?
What makes MS think that constantly changing things around (and thus frustrating/confusing users for a period of time) is a good thing? They keep doing it, and people don't really seem to like it so much anymore as they see no benefit. Granted, this doesn't really apply to MSH, but to MS GUI apps in general.
Well, according to the Samba devs, the functional implimentation of SMB/CIFS in Samba is superior to that of several windows versions: it will interoperate with various Windows versions and itself without problems, whereas Windows of various versions will not as often.