the whole high-end speaker cable thing amazes me as well, the big telling thing I learned was that monster cable is a price-fixing company, they dictate what prices vendors charge for their cables, place like best buy, and audio king are not allowed to put monster cable on sale, or give discounts. otherwise they loose the privilage of selling monster cable.
what really got me was the $40 toslink (optical digital) cables. "GOLD PLATED" optical cables.. that's so much bullshit it's not even funny. the quality of optical cable needed for toslink is so low it's laughable. a 16bit stereo 44khz datastream is around 1.5mbit of data. and all of the toslink cables i've seen are PLASTIC.. it's not even real glass fiber. another odd note is that they arn't using infrared laser diodes to do toslink.. it's basicaly a focused cheap LED.. so you don't have to worry about reflection angles in the toslink cable.
I personaly buy the cheap $12 toslink cable from best buy.. and it sounds 100% perfect.. I have yet to hear any signifigant bit loss (would sound like a scratched CD) in my stereo. (yamaha RXV-995, and definitive tech. BP-8b mains)
I had AT&T Voice over cable, and when I was living in the city that had AT&T (on time warner now) it was great.. just as (if not more) reliable as the Qwest line, but without the nasty pricing, and hassle of dealing with Qworst. switchover went smooth, and the guy even let me wire the box up to my 66 block. the difference is there are many more regulations on the phone co, than the cable stuff.
You can allways hack your tivo for serial port, or order a TivoNet or TurboNet card from 9th tee.:)
Yes, he did.. was a great ceremony, I took pictures. Xunil is the best man, and owner of the camera.:)
We didn't get any shots of the ring. If you look at the different pictures, notice it's nice an sunny before the wedding. Right when people got settled down, clouds poured in overhead, it got windy, started to sprinkle, and thunder. It was a short ceremony.
Then 5 min after it was over the clouds went away and it was beautiful the rest of the day.
one thing I noticed that was really smart about a little dell optiplex we have is the fan.. it has a 3" squirlcage fan.. like you have in most home forced-air heating/ac systems.. or range hoods. it's very quiet, and moves a signifigant ammount of air.. like someone posted earlier.. the blades in the center move slowly, and the blades at the edge move fast, so you don't get an major advantage to having the motor on the outside. with a squirlcage fan, all the blades are on the outside, moving at the same speed. now just combind that with variable speed cooling.. and things will be very good.
You can probably just use an RCA mono splitter.. Because S/PDIF is a digital signal, and not very high frequency.. it's probably perfectly separated from the composite signal frequncies.
Well, from what I can tell from the "natural foods" stores around here (minneapolis) The story is still wrong.. the local co-op on lyndale ave is just as expensive, if more, than the big chains (rainbow, cub) but not quite as expensive as the "Whole Foods" and other "high end" chains. and the food doesn't seem to have any signifigant difference.. except there are brands that cost twice as much, and the only thing they claim is "organic"... but do you really trust the organic brands to be any better? I really don't. just because every other word on the label is "organic" doesn't reall mean anything. it's all marketing.
the co-op is really amusing, I think they're making a killing.. they have all brand-new LCD screens on their cash registers, _besides_ the digital 15" CRT's.
as far as the "high end" yuppie stores, they have people bagging groceries.. now that's a waste of resources.. It's bad enough that my food has to go over another set of hands.. I can't belive people here are so lazy that they can't bag their own damn groceries.
Even funnier I found one time was an article about how this $3000 CD transport was SOOOO MUCH BETTER than ordinary $1000 CD transports because it was "true 1 speed belt driven" because, you can make the bits come off the cd "smoother"
I almost died laughing.
reminds me of a reasonable article about how one of the best CD transports, AND D/A converters a guy came across was a $75 radio shack portable CD player. ('95ish device, not produced anymore)
right now the bigest source of noise in my entertainment system is my cisco 2924xl switch.. if I ever get a decent fanless replacement for that, i'll be more concerned about the audio output of my SB32AWE gold.
if you are installing base system components, you are not a user, you are mucking around with the internals of the distribution.
linux distributions are a starting point for building. Not an elimination of package maintence.
you have two options, in my opinion:
#1: use vendor packages only, if you want updates, goto them, pay them, download from them.
#2: build extra system components within the rules of the distribution. hacking and bypassing the distribution outside of the package rules is bad practice. and that's what this whole thread started out as.. what is "best practices" for software installation.
this seems to be a problem with you, and not the package management system.
if you're compotent enough to build and install the library, you are certinly compotent enough to read up on the packaging system, do the simple things necessary to create a build control file, and build the package for yourself.
I've discovered that taking a source package from a newer version of a distribution and compiling it localy can really make things easier.
the problem is that you want the update, but you're too lazy to do it properly. if you don't bother with the package system when you do updates, you might as well not use it for anything at all.
building packages is easy, well documented, and saves time in the long run. and it can also help other users in the community. Linux is a community effort, you have to give to get.
You miss one critical problem. package management doesn't just handle path issues.. it handles dependancies, conflicts, version control, etc.
unfortunaltly, not all software is written to the same standards. some code comes with Makefiles that have hard-coded paths, different build systems, hard-coded -L paths, things that make installing software on a random system painfull.
Package management is a way to standardize the way software is installed, upgraded, and removed.
I work in a system where we maintain our own software packages. the system was originaly slackware, but is now a custom distribution for our 200 odd linux workstations. Some days I would like to burn it to the ground, and replace it with a sane package managed system (debian). We have no real automated way to build the system up from source. software that conflicts is just piled on top of each other durring our automated install process. upgrading packages is painfull.
basicaly what we do to update the software on workstations is to have the workstations format, and re-install with an automated build process once ever 2 months. that way over a period of 2 months, we get all of our software fixes out to the workstations. we also have scripts to automate emergency patches to all workstations.
sometimes this is nice, because as we have to make changes to the system (new version of fvwm2 breaks old user config files). we only get calls every few days, and not all at once in the morning. and it keeps users from depending on/tmp for storage, it forces them to use their home dir for storage.
but having two people reproduce the work of a linux development group seems to be a waste of time in the long run. I am currently trying to come up with a good, solid sales pitch for my boss and senior admin to move us to a debian base system. and for us as a department to use our system maintence time to help give back to the debian community.
flourinert is really cool, if i remember correctly, it has a density of 15 pounds per gallon, (think bowling ball). it's clear.. (i don't know what the pink stuff the other guy is talking about is) and it evaporates quickly (similar chemical to freon)
in some of the newer cray systems, they don't even bother with casings on the chips.. they just take the silicon die and mount it to the board.
I just got done with a couple weeks of interviewing for a new admin here. Here's a bunch of stuff from my notes:
Describe your previous experience with:
Unix: (Linux, IRIX, Solaris, Others)
What I was looking for here was a good history of their experience.. I didn't want to know "I know linux".. I was looking for something more descriptive.. Interviewing is like telling a story about yourself. "I've been using linux since 'XX. I started out doing slackware, but have moved to debian to make system maintence on a large scale easier"
Since this was for a unix admin position, I was looking for some stuff in the Other category.. I want to see some variety in their experience.. Do they understand basic unix fundamentals, SYSV, BSD?
Windows:
I had to ask, just because we still have a few of these around.. but it's good to see a cringe on their face when you ask the question. Working is not all technical skills.. I had to drop a guy's resume because I just couldn't stand the guy's attitude.
Networking:
Have you worked with a managed network.. describe some of the networks you have setup/designed/worked on. I want to find out if the person has a grasp of network topology, switching, vlans, routing, trunking, etc.
Describe your support experience:
I wanted to see what kind of variety of users you've had to work with.. because when it all comes down to it.. they're the most important part of the job. I want to hear storys about user groups.. have you had to support developers? windows desktop users? students? home users?
Audio/Video:
Somtimes the admin has to wear the presentation hat.. make the VCR work. it's just one of those things.
Are you familiar with Linux Package Development.
We have to maintain our own distribution, and customizations.. it's good to have a fundamental understanding of atleast RPM, or dpkg.
What scripting languages are you familiar with:
I want to see a good base of atleast some bash, tcsh, or other shell stuff. Quantify your experiene.. "I created a easy set of scripts to do user maintence of a NIS server"
The next part I had to do for comparative uses. buzzord bingo.
Name the acronym, and it's use.
NFS
NIS
DNS
DDP
TCP/IP
TeX
PHP
SQL
stuff like that.. I'm trying to get out key phrases to quantify the persons experince, and from their reaction, I can easily guage their knowlage.
example.. lots of people have worked with NFS, but the people that only just mount filesystems, and pretend it's all seamless are missing out on some fundamental understanding.. the guy's that mention NFSv2 NFSv3, and having to beat a solaris server over the head so it can talk to linux are the guys that are really going to know what their doing. it's all about the details.
Describe and list the daemons used for:
SMTP:
HTTP:
FTP:
I'm trying to find out what kind of variety a person has.. and this section will also pull out religious tendancies.. like sendmail bigots, qmail bigots, etc etc.. When working in either a closed source unix, or an open source unix.. it's good to know where you're code came from.. and if the guy doesn't know the difference between wu-ftpd and proftpd.. you might run into trouble.
the last section.. (of the technical side of the interview) is to present a situaion, and guage their knowlage of business processes. here's what I asked.
The department needs to purchase 12 identical linux workstations, for general use on the network.. what factors do you consier in how to spend the money.
A lot of the people I interviewed went strait into technical considerations.. some went into "who's it for".. and only one that I remember asked "what are the existing vendor relations like" there is a lot to consider when you're expanding a network infrastructure.. and diving into buying parts for you're favorite platform is the _worst_ idea.
the other half of interviewing is just trying to pull the guy's work habbits out of him.. being able to pull the bullshiting from the real attitude can be tough.. but the right set of standard interview questions will get you there. just be honest.. if you hate getting up in the morning, but will make the extra effort to be at work on time.. say it. let your overall qualifications stand for themselvs.
You miss some of the targeted audience of the BSA campain. this is intended to scare small-midsized companies who purchase one copy of MS office, and just install it a dozen times. MS has never really gone after individuals, using cracked, or warez-group sourced software. calling them on the phone and saying "give us money" costs more than just ignoring a single person. but if you can hit a mid-sized business with 50 licenses for NT4 and Office 2k. you're gonna make a nice profit.
this also has less effect on large companies, who for ease of administration, just buy site wide licenses for all the software, based on the number of users they have. and also have big support contracts to MS anyway.. so it's no big deal for them to just write $100,000 checks to MS every year.
wow.. that's interesting.. if you did something in a multi-platform thing like flash, or java. support redhat RPM's as the defacto. and just distribute some good info files on what is contained, I don't think it would be a problem. most of the time at the school's i've seen.. it's not the teachers that are installing programs, it's the network admins installing stuff on a computerlab basis.. so it's not real difficult to figure it out once, and just roll it out with the local admin's distribution method of choice.
exactly, I help a small charter school with their computers.. they have a small computer lab of 10 or so duron 500 systems, running redhat 7/KDE2/Soffice. after small ammounts of adjustment by the students, they work great. next thing I need to do is push out a few more updates, and get mozilla installed to improve browsing. (kids love to surf the's really awfuly done MS only websites.. don't ask me why)
There are a couple other racks, the central router rack, with cablemodem, cisco routers for internal subnets, and a vlan switch for remote management. and another server rack next to the main NOC rack for a couple of servers, and a small clarion raid array.. (just don't ask what our power bills are like.. yikes)
-Apple serial ports are standard RS422 which is generally compatible with RS232. In fact, it only takes a port adapter to hook a Mac serial port to a PC.
Except for the silly DIN connector, no problem
-Apple memory is exactly the same as PC memory. Most Macs used standard 30 and 72-pin SIMMs, and later 168-pin DIMMs.
Except for the macs that used parity only, or 168pin [BUFFERED] DIMMs. which cost 50% more.
-Apple monitors are signal compatible with PC monitors. All it takes is a port adapter.
Except for the fact that you had to have the $30 adapter with all the dip switches to make the mac think it had a certin model monitor connected
-Apple microphones are generally identical to PC microphones.
I never understood why they needed the facy, extra long connector on the mac mic.
-Apple floppy drives far more capable than PC floppy drives, as well as being fully able to read PC disks.
Except they also cost 3 times as much.
-SCSI is a generic open standard that is also available on PC. Most workstations also used SCSI.
Except for the stupid DB25 connectors, that people plug paralell printers into, and the other stupid connector that requires a $50 adapter for powerbooks.
I agree, partly. you really have to talk to the people who are going to be using the equipment/software are really going to want to use. the nice thing about the IMA is that allmost all of our users _are_ comfortable with linux. so the reason for looking for a linux solutions is good. but I want to know what types of conferencing techologies the people at, and visiting the IMA would like to use.
back in february, the IMA hosted a talk by Bruce Schneier. It was a public lecture, so I was able to put up a copy of the lecture in mp3 format. (really apropriate considering the person, and what he talked about)
link to the main page for the workshop:
Here
and a link directly to the 64kbps mp3
(other speeds are avaliable on the page)
Slashdot Mirror
the whole high-end speaker cable thing amazes me as well, the big telling thing I learned was that monster cable is a price-fixing company, they dictate what prices vendors charge for their cables, place like best buy, and audio king are not allowed to put monster cable on sale, or give discounts. otherwise they loose the privilage of selling monster cable.
what really got me was the $40 toslink (optical digital) cables. "GOLD PLATED" optical cables.. that's so much bullshit it's not even funny. the quality of optical cable needed for toslink is so low it's laughable. a 16bit stereo 44khz datastream is around 1.5mbit of data. and all of the toslink cables i've seen are PLASTIC.. it's not even real glass fiber. another odd note is that they arn't using infrared laser diodes to do toslink.. it's basicaly a focused cheap LED.. so you don't have to worry about reflection angles in the toslink cable.
I personaly buy the cheap $12 toslink cable from best buy.. and it sounds 100% perfect.. I have yet to hear any signifigant bit loss (would sound like a scratched CD) in my stereo. (yamaha RXV-995, and definitive tech. BP-8b mains)
I guess I really don't have a problem with police. I would think the BSA is a lot more like vampires, if you invite them in, they'll suck you dry.
I had AT&T Voice over cable, and when I was living in the city that had AT&T (on time warner now) it was great.. just as (if not more) reliable as the Qwest line, but without the nasty pricing, and hassle of dealing with Qworst. switchover went smooth, and the guy even let me wire the box up to my 66 block. the difference is there are many more regulations on the phone co, than the cable stuff.
:)
You can allways hack your tivo for serial port, or order a TivoNet or TurboNet card from 9th tee.
Yes, he did.. was a great ceremony, I took pictures. Xunil is the best man, and owner of the camera. :)
We didn't get any shots of the ring. If you look at the different pictures, notice it's nice an sunny before the wedding. Right when people got settled down, clouds poured in overhead, it got windy, started to sprinkle, and thunder. It was a short ceremony.
Then 5 min after it was over the clouds went away and it was beautiful the rest of the day.
one thing I noticed that was really smart about a little dell optiplex we have is the fan.. it has a 3" squirlcage fan.. like you have in most home forced-air heating/ac systems.. or range hoods. it's very quiet, and moves a signifigant ammount of air.. like someone posted earlier.. the blades in the center move slowly, and the blades at the edge move fast, so you don't get an major advantage to having the motor on the outside. with a squirlcage fan, all the blades are on the outside, moving at the same speed. now just combind that with variable speed cooling.. and things will be very good.
You can probably just use an RCA mono splitter.. Because S/PDIF is a digital signal, and not very high frequency.. it's probably perfectly separated from the composite signal frequncies.
Well, from what I can tell from the "natural foods" stores around here (minneapolis) The story is still wrong.. the local co-op on lyndale ave is just as expensive, if more, than the big chains (rainbow, cub) but not quite as expensive as the "Whole Foods" and other "high end" chains. and the food doesn't seem to have any signifigant difference.. except there are brands that cost twice as much, and the only thing they claim is "organic"... but do you really trust the organic brands to be any better? I really don't. just because every other word on the label is "organic" doesn't reall mean anything. it's all marketing.
the co-op is really amusing, I think they're making a killing.. they have all brand-new LCD screens on their cash registers, _besides_ the digital 15" CRT's.
as far as the "high end" yuppie stores, they have people bagging groceries.. now that's a waste of resources.. It's bad enough that my food has to go over another set of hands.. I can't belive people here are so lazy that they can't bag their own damn groceries.
Even funnier I found one time was an article about how this $3000 CD transport was SOOOO MUCH BETTER than ordinary $1000 CD transports because it was "true 1 speed belt driven" because, you can make the bits come off the cd "smoother"
I almost died laughing.
reminds me of a reasonable article about how one of the best CD transports, AND D/A converters a guy came across was a $75 radio shack portable CD player. ('95ish device, not produced anymore)
right now the bigest source of noise in my entertainment system is my cisco 2924xl switch.. if I ever get a decent fanless replacement for that, i'll be more concerned about the audio output of my SB32AWE gold.
sheesh
oh keep quiet mindstrm.. *smacks you around*
The guys who designed the empeg, did the software for this new box.. wait till people get a chance to play with it.
Anyway.. the empeg guys _wanted_ to get bought by SB.. they were having a hard time keeping afloat with the empeg.
and besides, all the really cool info is on http://empeg.comms.net
every time I see LOTR, my brain sees LORD, Legend Of the Red Dragon.. gah.. it's been way too many years since I played that game.
I was never good at spelling, sue me.
anyway, you are missing one thing.
if you are installing base system components, you are not a user, you are mucking around with the internals of the distribution.
linux distributions are a starting point for building. Not an elimination of package maintence.
you have two options, in my opinion:
#1: use vendor packages only, if you want updates, goto them, pay them, download from them.
#2: build extra system components within the rules of the distribution. hacking and bypassing the distribution outside of the package rules is bad practice. and that's what this whole thread started out as.. what is "best practices" for software installation.
this seems to be a problem with you, and not the package management system.
if you're compotent enough to build and install the library, you are certinly compotent enough to read up on the packaging system, do the simple things necessary to create a build control file, and build the package for yourself.
I've discovered that taking a source package from a newer version of a distribution and compiling it localy can really make things easier.
the problem is that you want the update, but you're too lazy to do it properly. if you don't bother with the package system when you do updates, you might as well not use it for anything at all.
building packages is easy, well documented, and saves time in the long run. and it can also help other users in the community. Linux is a community effort, you have to give to get.
You miss one critical problem. package management doesn't just handle path issues.. it handles dependancies, conflicts, version control, etc.
/tmp for storage, it forces them to use their home dir for storage.
unfortunaltly, not all software is written to the same standards. some code comes with Makefiles that have hard-coded paths, different build systems, hard-coded -L paths, things that make installing software on a random system painfull.
Package management is a way to standardize the way software is installed, upgraded, and removed.
I work in a system where we maintain our own software packages. the system was originaly slackware, but is now a custom distribution for our 200 odd linux workstations. Some days I would like to burn it to the ground, and replace it with a sane package managed system (debian). We have no real automated way to build the system up from source. software that conflicts is just piled on top of each other durring our automated install process. upgrading packages is painfull.
basicaly what we do to update the software on workstations is to have the workstations format, and re-install with an automated build process once ever 2 months. that way over a period of 2 months, we get all of our software fixes out to the workstations. we also have scripts to automate emergency patches to all workstations.
sometimes this is nice, because as we have to make changes to the system (new version of fvwm2 breaks old user config files). we only get calls every few days, and not all at once in the morning. and it keeps users from depending on
but having two people reproduce the work of a linux development group seems to be a waste of time in the long run. I am currently trying to come up with a good, solid sales pitch for my boss and senior admin to move us to a debian base system. and for us as a department to use our system maintence time to help give back to the debian community.
read the article, it says use apache or iPlanet. sheesh.. the article was out last week.. read first, then post.
flourinert is really cool, if i remember correctly, it has a density of 15 pounds per gallon, (think bowling ball). it's clear.. (i don't know what the pink stuff the other guy is talking about is) and it evaporates quickly (similar chemical to freon)
in some of the newer cray systems, they don't even bother with casings on the chips.. they just take the silicon die and mount it to the board.
wow, 1am cst, and no CowbyNeal jokes? sheesh, what has /. come to?
I just got done with a couple weeks of interviewing for a new admin here. Here's a bunch of stuff from my notes:
Describe your previous experience with:
Unix: (Linux, IRIX, Solaris, Others)
What I was looking for here was a good history of their experience.. I didn't want to know "I know linux".. I was looking for something more descriptive.. Interviewing is like telling a story about yourself. "I've been using linux since 'XX. I started out doing slackware, but have moved to debian to make system maintence on a large scale easier"
Since this was for a unix admin position, I was looking for some stuff in the Other category.. I want to see some variety in their experience.. Do they understand basic unix fundamentals, SYSV, BSD?
Windows:
I had to ask, just because we still have a few of these around.. but it's good to see a cringe on their face when you ask the question. Working is not all technical skills.. I had to drop a guy's resume because I just couldn't stand the guy's attitude.
Networking:
Have you worked with a managed network.. describe some of the networks you have setup/designed/worked on. I want to find out if the person has a grasp of network topology, switching, vlans, routing, trunking, etc.
Describe your support experience:
I wanted to see what kind of variety of users you've had to work with.. because when it all comes down to it.. they're the most important part of the job. I want to hear storys about user groups.. have you had to support developers? windows desktop users? students? home users?
Audio/Video:
Somtimes the admin has to wear the presentation hat.. make the VCR work. it's just one of those things.
Are you familiar with Linux Package Development.
We have to maintain our own distribution, and customizations.. it's good to have a fundamental understanding of atleast RPM, or dpkg.
What scripting languages are you familiar with:
I want to see a good base of atleast some bash, tcsh, or other shell stuff. Quantify your experiene.. "I created a easy set of scripts to do user maintence of a NIS server"
The next part I had to do for comparative uses. buzzord bingo.
Name the acronym, and it's use.
NFS
NIS
DNS
DDP
TCP/IP
TeX
PHP
SQL
stuff like that.. I'm trying to get out key phrases to quantify the persons experince, and from their reaction, I can easily guage their knowlage.
example.. lots of people have worked with NFS, but the people that only just mount filesystems, and pretend it's all seamless are missing out on some fundamental understanding.. the guy's that mention NFSv2 NFSv3, and having to beat a solaris server over the head so it can talk to linux are the guys that are really going to know what their doing. it's all about the details.
Describe and list the daemons used for:
SMTP:
HTTP:
FTP:
I'm trying to find out what kind of variety a person has.. and this section will also pull out religious tendancies.. like sendmail bigots, qmail bigots, etc etc.. When working in either a closed source unix, or an open source unix.. it's good to know where you're code came from.. and if the guy doesn't know the difference between wu-ftpd and proftpd.. you might run into trouble.
the last section.. (of the technical side of the interview) is to present a situaion, and guage their knowlage of business processes. here's what I asked.
The department needs to purchase 12 identical linux workstations, for general use on the network.. what factors do you consier in how to spend the money.
A lot of the people I interviewed went strait into technical considerations.. some went into "who's it for".. and only one that I remember asked "what are the existing vendor relations like" there is a lot to consider when you're expanding a network infrastructure.. and diving into buying parts for you're favorite platform is the _worst_ idea.
the other half of interviewing is just trying to pull the guy's work habbits out of him.. being able to pull the bullshiting from the real attitude can be tough.. but the right set of standard interview questions will get you there. just be honest.. if you hate getting up in the morning, but will make the extra effort to be at work on time.. say it. let your overall qualifications stand for themselvs.
by Steven Levy
by Cliff Stoll
by Douglas Coupland
You miss some of the targeted audience of the BSA campain. this is intended to scare small-midsized companies who purchase one copy of MS office, and just install it a dozen times. MS has never really gone after individuals, using cracked, or warez-group sourced software. calling them on the phone and saying "give us money" costs more than just ignoring a single person. but if you can hit a mid-sized business with 50 licenses for NT4 and Office 2k. you're gonna make a nice profit.
this also has less effect on large companies, who for ease of administration, just buy site wide licenses for all the software, based on the number of users they have. and also have big support contracts to MS anyway.. so it's no big deal for them to just write $100,000 checks to MS every year.
wow.. that's interesting.. if you did something in a multi-platform thing like flash, or java. support redhat RPM's as the defacto. and just distribute some good info files on what is contained, I don't think it would be a problem. most of the time at the school's i've seen.. it's not the teachers that are installing programs, it's the network admins installing stuff on a computerlab basis.. so it's not real difficult to figure it out once, and just roll it out with the local admin's distribution method of choice.
exactly, I help a small charter school with their computers.. they have a small computer lab of 10 or so duron 500 systems, running redhat 7/KDE2/Soffice. after small ammounts of adjustment by the students, they work great. next thing I need to do is push out a few more updates, and get mozilla installed to improve browsing. (kids love to surf the's really awfuly done MS only websites.. don't ask me why)
here at the Geek Haus, we have several racks, including a nice looking IBM rack for our entertainment center:
Server racks
Entertainment Racks
There are a couple other racks, the central router rack, with cablemodem, cisco routers for internal subnets, and a vlan switch for remote management.
and another server rack next to the main NOC rack for a couple of servers, and a small clarion raid array.. (just don't ask what our power bills are like.. yikes)
-Apple serial ports are standard RS422 which is generally compatible with RS232. In fact, it only takes a port adapter to hook a Mac serial port to a PC.
Except for the silly DIN connector, no problem
-Apple memory is exactly the same as PC memory. Most Macs used standard 30 and 72-pin SIMMs, and later 168-pin DIMMs.
Except for the macs that used parity only, or 168pin [BUFFERED] DIMMs. which cost 50% more.
-Apple monitors are signal compatible with PC monitors. All it takes is a port adapter.
Except for the fact that you had to have the $30 adapter with all the dip switches to make the mac think it had a certin model monitor connected
-Apple microphones are generally identical to PC microphones.
I never understood why they needed the facy, extra long connector on the mac mic.
-Apple floppy drives far more capable than PC floppy drives, as well as being fully able to read PC disks.
Except they also cost 3 times as much.
-SCSI is a generic open standard that is also available on PC. Most workstations also used SCSI.
Except for the stupid DB25 connectors, that people plug paralell printers into, and the other stupid connector that requires a $50 adapter for powerbooks.
I agree, partly. you really have to talk to the people who are going to be using the equipment/software are really going to want to use. the nice thing about the IMA is that allmost all of our users _are_ comfortable with linux. so the reason for looking for a linux solutions is good. but I want to know what types of conferencing techologies the people at, and visiting the IMA would like to use.
back in february, the IMA hosted a talk by Bruce Schneier. It was a public lecture, so I was able to put up a copy of the lecture in mp3 format. (really apropriate considering the person, and what he talked about)
link to the main page for the workshop: Here
and a link directly to the 64kbps mp3 (other speeds are avaliable on the page)