Sadly no, The closest one is 2.5 hours away:-(. I have CompUSA but I can't get any help there and when I do the answers aren't to my satisfaction. I actually tried to buy a floor model ibook, last one they had. The Manager would 'only' drop the price (from the new retail price BTW) if I bought their 3 year warrenty. Which actually ended up costing more than the thing was new!!! I was so disgusted I called Apple customer relations and filed a complaint. Telling them Compusa was more interested in selling their warrenty than Apple's own product.
OK. Maybe overpriced is a bit harsh but it is definitly priced at a premium when compared to resonably configured PCs. Much like buying other non-PC hardware. I am tired of paying 20-50% more for hardware off the beaten trail. Apple has no excuse not to drop their prices especially so considering how well the Xserve is selling.
WRT the previous post. Sure "I" could charge a MAC and play with it for two weeks but I'm not going to get the money back I pay to try MS office for OSX or other applications. Idealy, Someone should be able to walk into an Apple store and be able to take home an iMac loaded with applications [and information on buying said apps] for a trial basis.
"rent a mac" or something. Since the biggest concern I have and this is probably synonymous with other users is "Can it run xyz and where can I get it?"
The author of the article obviously didnt have the funds to go and buy a Mac even if he wanted to? He's running a 233MHz PC today.
I don't play 'that' many games but the ones I do are already available for mac or will be soon.
I want to jump ship from Windows completly.
I completly understand and agree with the longevity of owning a mac, however. Considering the rock botton prices of PC hardware and that the apps available for both platforms cost the same. Moreover the technolgy advancement of Apple's side
has been anything but revolutionary. The Xserve uses the same parts as a powermac [chipsets etc].
What I configured for myself at the Apple store wasnt outrageous. An 800MHz G4 with a GF4 [Id take a GF3 ti200 if they offered it, from what I hear about the GF4MX . The G3 Ti is better] and the superdrive. I past $2000 dollars. On the otherhand I just ordered a Dell for work with 1.8Ghz P4 1/4G RAM with a raedeon and a CDRW drive for $650.
If Apple could offer what I configured for 30%-40% less I would seriously consider it 'and' it would become an option for machines at work as well. I don't need the superdrive or graphics at work but I still dont want to pay $1600 for the base model G4.
Question about your G3 box. Could you upgrade to a G4 processor? I'm open to to upgrades not available from Apple as well.
Finally to the post after this one:-). I can't have a monitor since the Mac will have to coexist with my Alphas on the KVM [I know I'll need USB converters]. If I buy mac I could then run Linux on my Intel machine for the first time in 5 years:-)
Thanks.
>> Linux was all you tried? You didn't try Mac OS X [apple.com]?
Considering he's talking about his K6-2 233 it seems he doesnt have the cash to drop $1,000+ dollars on OVERPRICED Mac hardware just to try an OS. Last I checked Apple doesnt have a try before you buy program. I've been looking at buying one myself so to diverge from MS completly however to get a decent desktop I have to drop $1400-$1600 bucks. Dropping the G4 cube [and concept] was the worst thing they could have done. Before someone says "buy it used" consider the issues surrounding that particular product. When Apple can put out a G4 box (those Amiga clone boards are unacceptable) for under $1000 wo monitor, I'll switch.
Peter
The 'real' am I hot or not website ;-)
on
Am I Hot or Not
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· Score: 0, Redundant
Sure RDRAM is 'slow' when used on PC architecture however on an Alpha which has VERY WIDE memory bus it can actually use all that memory bandwidth. The latency doesnt matter anymore. As for cost. If you are buying one of these you probably had to get the job done 'yesterday':-)
Verizon offers it. Anything that comes up on your caller ID as unknown name,unknown number will be caught at the phone company. The caller will then be dropped into a voice box asking them to identify themselves. If they do so your phone will ring and it will be verizon asking you to accept the call. You then choose to accept it, deny it, drop them into your voice mail, or choose an option that sends a prerecorded message targeted at telemarketers that you are not interested and to put your number on their do not call list. Once again, Your phone will ring 'only' if he caller chooses to go through the auth process.
I have not gotten a single telemarking call since. Futhermore, You can ask verizon to block all phone calls originating from automated calling devices. See if your telco offers a similar option. Best $4.00 a month I ever spent.
It don't think anyone produces near perfect or perfect software in one development cycle. Let them know EXACTLY what they are paying for and if they want more, charge them. You're a contractor, A paid professional who's purpose is to accomplish a specific task and ONLY that task. Otherwise pay more:-). Somebody calls me for a "quick question" outside of work regarding an issue that I am working on under contract. I CHARGE THEM for my time. You bet your ass when they get the bill they wait until the next day to ask me questions:-).
If anyone has ever had to deal with a Lawyer you know what I mean. Call the man to chit chat for 15 mins and you get a bill in the mail for his $450/hr rate divided by 4. No kidding. Why should your time be worth anything less?
Don't give your software away and don't sign away your ideas if you can help it(i.e. IP). Every idea in your head is worth money to someone even though you may not realize it. Telling your client that you recommend giving this software away will make them feel insecure and they will also be reluctant to hire you again to maintain and extend the software. Also, If the software truly is 'unique' it is another feather in your hat that the next contracter DOESNT HAVE.
Don't work yourself out of a job. Know the difference between what is work and what is your hobby.
Speaking as someone who 'still' uses his PII 400 running windows 2000 for everyday uses 'and' gaming (CS, Q3, and urban terror with a voodoo 3 card). I don't even have alot of ram, 196MB and W2K runs fine with plenty of productive apps running.
I know it would be 'nice' to get a little snappier systems for your company but these do the job, keep em. At my previous company 90% of the employees had DELL PPro 200's running NT4. it did what you needed for office type work.
save the money. You may need it if the time comes for determining severence packages;-).
As for building the PCs yourself. Having worked in this capacity before. Building from scratch I could average between 9-14 PCs in a 9 hour day with interruption, thats just assembly with a quick P.O test NOT including installing the OS on the boxes. It's nothing you would get done all at once during a consecutive period of time. From your perspective the rollout could take forever (like a month) and then you have to deal with all the quirks that come up. Your time is more important than that.
If you're an ATT digital cable customer you get to have this huge switching box which is supplied by coax from the street and breaks off into phone, TV , and cable internet. I have 'never' seen a phone outage for what it's worth.
it doesnt have too (kvm). You can go with a nice USB KVM and pick up those little ps/2 to usb adapters as needed. It's not like they dont come with every USB mouse you buy. They cant be more than $10 each.
You can't defend this company and say the RIAA is being over zealous.
Can you say with a straight face that every employee in that company owned every CD of music reflected on that internal server? That is just bullshit.
This violates the fair use law and you guys know it.
moreover since this company was so stupid as to allocate company assets to serve copyrighted music without paying for that right has broken the law. period. 1 million dollars is getting off easy
Sure employees will listen to music in their offices using their computers. That doesnt mean they should make their PCs music servers nor should the FUCKEN COMPANY provide an outlet for central music sharing.
How flippant, ignorant, and totally irresponsible of them.
You don't like the law? Do something about it.
Peter
Re:I know a great way to manage "prima dona"s
on
Managing Einsteins
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· Score: 1
There's not much that I can disagree with concerning your commment, good work.:-).
Please consider my perspective. While a true 'stien could do the work of 50 men and leap tall buildings with a single bound. What do I do if he decides to leave?
I am totally screwed. Now I'm going to have to do his work on top of finding new people to reconstitute the engineering team and I have to train and mentor them. Oh and God help me if he was the kind of person who kept critical techniques and procedures 'all up here' and not in a knowledge base or an ECR/ECO manager.
Having a background in quality assurance and qualty control has taught me to look at everything from a failure perspective. Of course that's not the only perspective I have.
People who are that talented and that critical should be in lead posistions scheduling this work but also working on said projects as well. Polarizing a team towards a single individual who is not an authorty but has the influence of one can screw up near any size group. Then me and him get to duke it out on issues since he is the 'majority' voice and now I may not be hearing other points of view from the other workers.
Now if he's a lead then he is held directly accountable by me and I'm already training him to be a better manager and thus the confusion I previously described is eliminated and I've added another tier of resources to the department. Ask him first before you ask me:-). I havent met a person yet I couldnt make a better mentor. His communications skill don't have to be exceptional, just better than they where before and they get better over time. As for the bridge to the outside world, thats me.
With this hierachy in place. I have the 'time' in which even if my super lead's communication skills are not up to the task at any point in time. Mine are and I am able to distil this knowledge to the group and document it for all time. I've learned that by doing this that other engineers become capable of tasks they never considered before, expanding their apptitude and making them a better engineer.
With regards to my charecterzations of prima dona = 'stein. In my experiences this has been true more often than not and the exceptions are absolutley astounding individuals. I miss them dearly.
Also it is unfortunate that I knew exactly what kind of people I was working with and had to bend and extend myself again and again to get work done. Sometimes I'm glad I don't work there anymore.
You nailed the lying thing right on head. One of my 'faults' if you want to call it that is I trust people until proven wrong and even then I'll give you a chance. I'm a bad lier so I don't even try though it makes me wonder about what makes up those individuals who 'are' good at it.
Peter
Re:I'm no Einstein... but most managers suck.
on
Managing Einsteins
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· Score: 3, Interesting
work fine in a group, as long as I'm not forced to put up with incompetent idiots, either as cow-orkers or management.
I won't slow down my production or tolerate laziness just to avoid hurting the ego of others -- generally I work best when my peers are at least as smart as me, if not smarter. I've had the luck to work with some very bright people, and we work together as a group, and meet our deadlines -- not following the company clock on any given day, but still putting in a solid work week in the end.
I wouldn't ask you to slow down. What "I" want is to get the job done. I don't care anymore to impress anyone and ego fluffing is not something
I care for either. You're here because you can do the job, so get it done. You don't have to wear a tie or nice pants or go to meetings unless
I ask you to accompany me.
They often work ALONE and the work that they do which others depend on go by their clock, not the companys.
I work very well with a small team of equally bright people. Some members of my team are morning people, some are not. But at the end of the week, we still get the work done.
I contribute much more value to the company than "any compitent engineer". I also am not a morning person, and making me follow a strict 8:30-5:00 schedule might make my manager look good to his superiors, but is only going to hurt my morale and productivity.
Right, that point doesnt apply to you since you do get it done in the work week which is what most projects are measured by. Look. I understand if someone isn't a morning person
and rolls in around 10, but the ones I knew who did that also stayed still 7. They we're also available during the work day as a resource to their colleges. The ones who are
unacceptable are the 1PM to 4PM, oh I missed the morning meeting and I knew they wanted me there, correspond by email more than a telephone (from home), are not available
as a resource when their colleges need them, and get the job done at the last possible moment because they can (doesnt always mean they got it right).
Those are the ones I don't like.
The worst possible manager is one who is more interested in looking good to his superiors than keeping his direct reports happy. My team has no problems with me starting later in the day and leaving later in the evening... the only people who complain are members of other groups who see me wander in at 10:30 and feel like I have a privilege they are missing. Of course, they go home at 4:30, and never see how late I stay.
Right see above, as for the the whiners. They'll get the message when they don't get the raise or promotion they 'think' they deserve.
While the later I can bear and bridge the communication gap to achieve OUR goals because it is worthwhile. The former can take a hike.
Sounds like you have some problems of your own.
There are way too many people in I.T. who are either stupid or lazy, and only put in the minimum amount of effort (plus plenty of sucking up to the boss) to avoid getting fired. This is encouraged by the tolerance of this behavior by management, who see a quiet employee who doesn't make any waves and value them as much or as more as the "Einsteins" who accomplish 10x as much in a given week, but also require a bit more flexibility and perhaps even a few perks every now and then.
:-), It's not computers, or.com crap , or technology anymore. It's about people and communicating effectivly. The majority of tech guys get any given job because
of their tech skills not their people skills. Take the IT example. If the IT tech can solve a customers problem but has 'not' left that situation with that
user being a 'better' user than they we're before, Then they have failed. It will happen again and IT will be called upon to fix it AGAIN. Why is this? They are
not communicating effectivly with the other end.
I don't suck up to my bosses. I will be the first one the vigoursly disagree with an authority and ask the hard questions. I am the FIRST one to roll up my sleeves and get into
a problem. I lead by example , not lip service. I do not comprimise myself or my integrity nor will I ever comprimise any member of my team to outside influences. I've been accused 'many' times of being former military which isnt true but given my style, I can understand why people may think that.
Bottom line. Any given 'smart' person can do XYZ faster than a 'plain jane' engineer. My challenge to you is to take that vast intellect of yours that is so
effective at solving problems in the tech arena and focus just a portion of it on your communication skills. The results are impressive as they are rewarding
when by your hand, Make the people around you better at what they do. Which in turn will make the group more effective and efficient.
It's called teaching and someday when I've had enough of the industry. My title will
have the words "Prof." instead of "Engineer".
Peter
Re:I know a great way to manage "prima dona"s
on
Managing Einsteins
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· Score: 1, Redundant
Thank you kind sir.
:-)
Peter
I know a great way to manage "prima dona"s
on
Managing Einsteins
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· Score: 5, Insightful
FIRE THEM.
Or don't hire them to begin with and instead hire a compitent engineer or two who can can stick to the most important schedule. The managers.
As rude as I may come off. Einsteins or whatever you want to call them are NOT dependable. They do what the want, when they want, and how they want.
Most of the ones I've had the displeasure of meeting are so self absorbed and into self-gratification so much that it makes working TOGETHER AS A GROUP with them in a structured development environment unbearable. They often work ALONE and the work that they do which others depend on go by their clock, not the companys.
The few I've had to work with whom are considered "oracles" did not have the ego tripping the others and could work well with groups but alas their communication skills where lacking. While they could do anything you asked them to. Ask them to describe something acute to you that would normally take a few moments and you could end up being there 15x longer than expected. OMG forget about meetings.
While the later I can bear and bridge the communication gap to achieve OUR goals because it is worthwhile. The former can take a hike. There is nothing any compitent engineer cannot accomplish given a reasonable amount of time and resources. The rest are wildcards which begs the question. Would you bet money on that schedule or better yet, your job?
So our government can see EXACTLY what kind of ill effects copyright law has on our econemny. Try and put the cure for AIDS or cancer under such a device and watch how fast the government revokes it AND makes it available for everyone else. They almost cut Cipro's exclusive patent short (or did they go through with it?) over the Anthrax problem. Judging from that initial action, The US wouldn't think twice about taking said action further against something that is critical to humanity like the cures I previously mentioned.
Before someone nit picks my response note that the entire 'cure' doesn't have to encoded in DNA but some of the critical parts that make the cure a functional whole could be.
Peter
consumers WANT to spend 2K on HDTV and $50 on DSL?
on
SSSCA Introduced in Senate
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· Score: 2, Interesting
That's the belief this bill is based on. Secure the content and then more content will be made available with the conclusion that more americans will WANT to spend that much more money on those sort of things. Hmmm.
There is no fucking way I will ever spend $2000 on a TV no matter what features it may entail.
What good is this HDTV if you're not spending $80
a month for digital cable and some premium channels.
How mucb FREE TIME do most working americans have to 'consume' this crap. How many shows are there on TV that you really watch? I can count them all on one hand and I TAPE THEM ALL. My life does not revolve around television neither should anyone elses.
Do you like paying $50 a month for DSL? FUCK NO. If I was paying for the bandwidth I consumed it would be a fraction of that.
Where are these fictional consumers he is talking about find time to enjoy these luxuries? I'll tell you what. It isnt a majority and as we've seen even with technology that is superior to the what's mainstream. If you don't buy it, it fails.
SO DONT BUY IT.
Even if this thing does get passed into law and it probablly will considering his letter...
These devices will be defeated in the same manner DIVX was. They will be rejected by consumers because of
increased cost
decreased value
See 1. and repeat.
Remember going in to Circuit City and harrassing the sales guy in the DVD section about DIVX?
Picture that and now imagine the same guy trying to explain to you how great HDTV is but if you want to record something... well.. um ugh...
Well use your imagination. The entertainment industry is gonna have to use theirs to figure out how to exlpain their profits without the scapegoat that is piracy to blame.
Peter
I have this oneRe:here's a good beginner book on C
on
C
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· Score: 1
I have this book and I 'love' it. It's the only C book you need to get started and it will introduce you to some UNIX programming contructs too like fork . Well written, a little dense but you will find an answer to what you're looking for. The section on pointers is excellent. oh, realloc is only in the index:-) This is book is from the same publishing house as the one being reviewed.
In reference to another post claiming alphalinux.org and alphanews.net are 'dead'. I like to clairfy a few things. First there is a mirror of the content of ALO hosted by Compaq at www.linuxalpha.org and www.alphanews.net is hosted there as well.
moreover the current status of the Alpha port is doing quite well thank you and is the best supported port out there bar none. Please disregard this gentlemans comments regarding the fesibility of 2.4 on Alpha. Only a 'few' engineers have left Compaq to pursue other projects like the Athlon, HP is porting their own UNIX to Alpha, and the Compaq compiler team is alive and well working at Compaq in Nashua, NH on spitbrook rd. working on Alphas 'and' the Itanium compiler. Oh, Intel hasn't bought out Alpha, they only bought a 'license' to some of the EV8 core, thats it.
I hope I've cleared up enough fud.
As for the situation regarding the orignal domain and hardware please see the following:
list thread.
We don't intend to fade into the night. Not while I'm still around anyways:-). Oh I run debian unstable (which is anything but unstable) on my 600Mhz 164LX.
If you doubt these words take a look at Compaq's
Alpha EV7 with it's RAMBUS controller ON CHIP.
Just because PC architecture is limited by chipsets with limited memory bus bandwidth does not mean there are no other uses for such a memory architecture.
Actually it would be quite trival for an Alpha
and AMD to share the same mainboard. You would simply need to allow room for a another rom chip (SROM) and have enough flash space so it could store your PC bios and Alpha SRM console or DBLX
(boot Linux straight from flash). It could be as simple as moving a jumper. The problem has been up until very recently there hasn't been a high performace ZIF socket that could minimize the signal loss from using a socketed CPU. Alpha EV68's and EV7 can be used in socketed motherboards now. You would need a VRM on board that could handle a slightly broader range of power output and cleaner regulation. Finally, You would need a mainboard etch of at least 8 layers which isnt cheap when manufactured small lots like API/Compaq did. Though when manufactured at the rate PC boards are made today the cost may be as little as $10 more for what you pay for an Athlon MB now. If you have more questions or wish to discuss this further feel free to email me, voodoo@alphadriven.org
Oh, one more thing. This is what costs the money.
L2 cache for the Alpha. Either as part of the board or as a plug in.
Balls and common sense don't normally coincide.
Also you know the PCI bus is LITTLE ENDIAN right?
All that byte swapping must do wonders for performace;-)
I don't know what does. If you're a consumer who's pro intel and you've been waiting for YEARS for itanium to be released. Now, Only for it to be usurped by a stop gap processor to compete with a rival. My god. It's better than the nothing these guys have been waiting for and it will be ESPECIALLY painfull to those software houses who have been porting their flagship product to Itanium for some time now... If this chip yama..whatever is made it won't be a dog because they HAVE to compete not only with the marketshare in the 64 bit arena but more important is the MINDSHARE. AMD delievers and Intel doesnt and they both run Windows. We could see some real interesting things come out of Intel. It would also confirm the rumors I've been hearing for some time now that Itanium is dead after Mickenly.
Slashdot Mirror
Sadly no, The closest one is 2.5 hours away :-(. I have CompUSA but I can't get any help there and when I do the answers aren't to my satisfaction. I actually tried to buy a floor model ibook, last one they had. The Manager would 'only' drop the price (from the new retail price BTW) if I bought their 3 year warrenty. Which actually ended up costing more than the thing was new!!! I was so disgusted I called Apple customer relations and filed a complaint. Telling them Compusa was more interested in selling their warrenty than Apple's own product.
Peter
WRT the previous post. Sure "I" could charge a MAC and play with it for two weeks but I'm not going to get the money back I pay to try MS office for OSX or other applications. Idealy, Someone should be able to walk into an Apple store and be able to take home an iMac loaded with applications [and information on buying said apps] for a trial basis. "rent a mac" or something. Since the biggest concern I have and this is probably synonymous with other users is "Can it run xyz and where can I get it?"
The author of the article obviously didnt have the funds to go and buy a Mac even if he wanted to? He's running a 233MHz PC today.
I don't play 'that' many games but the ones I do are already available for mac or will be soon. I want to jump ship from Windows completly.
I completly understand and agree with the longevity of owning a mac, however. Considering the rock botton prices of PC hardware and that the apps available for both platforms cost the same. Moreover the technolgy advancement of Apple's side has been anything but revolutionary. The Xserve uses the same parts as a powermac [chipsets etc].
What I configured for myself at the Apple store wasnt outrageous. An 800MHz G4 with a GF4 [Id take a GF3 ti200 if they offered it, from what I hear about the GF4MX . The G3 Ti is better] and the superdrive. I past $2000 dollars. On the otherhand I just ordered a Dell for work with 1.8Ghz P4 1/4G RAM with a raedeon and a CDRW drive for $650.
If Apple could offer what I configured for 30%-40% less I would seriously consider it 'and' it would become an option for machines at work as well. I don't need the superdrive or graphics at work but I still dont want to pay $1600 for the base model G4.
Question about your G3 box. Could you upgrade to a G4 processor? I'm open to to upgrades not available from Apple as well.
Finally to the post after this one :-). I can't have a monitor since the Mac will have to coexist with my Alphas on the KVM [I know I'll need USB converters]. If I buy mac I could then run Linux on my Intel machine for the first time in 5 years :-)
Thanks.
Peter
>> Linux was all you tried? You didn't try Mac OS X [apple.com]?
Considering he's talking about his K6-2 233 it seems he doesnt have the cash to drop $1,000+ dollars on OVERPRICED Mac hardware just to try an OS. Last I checked Apple doesnt have a try before you buy program. I've been looking at buying one myself so to diverge from MS completly however to get a decent desktop I have to drop $1400-$1600 bucks. Dropping the G4 cube [and concept] was the worst thing they could have done. Before someone says "buy it used" consider the issues surrounding that particular product. When Apple can put out a G4 box (those Amiga clone boards are unacceptable) for under $1000 wo monitor, I'll switch.
Peter
BTW moderators, it meant to be funny.
Peter
Watch the firmware directories on gatekeeper.dec.com for 'nt' firmware on the EV7 boxen. If they release it, It just may run :-).
Peter
Sure RDRAM is 'slow' when used on PC architecture however on an Alpha which has VERY WIDE memory bus it can actually use all that memory bandwidth. The latency doesnt matter anymore. As for cost. If you are buying one of these you probably had to get the job done 'yesterday' :-)
Peter
Verizon offers it. Anything that comes up on your caller ID as unknown name ,unknown number will be caught at the phone company. The caller will then be dropped into a voice box asking them to identify themselves. If they do so your phone will ring and it will be verizon asking you to accept the call. You then choose to accept it, deny it, drop them into your voice mail, or choose an option that sends a prerecorded message targeted at telemarketers that you are not interested and to put your number on their do not call list. Once again, Your phone will ring 'only' if he caller chooses to go through the auth process.
I have not gotten a single telemarking call since. Futhermore, You can ask verizon to block all phone calls originating from automated calling devices. See if your telco offers a similar option. Best $4.00 a month I ever spent.
Peter
If you're not stealing their software then whats the problem?
Peter
If anyone has ever had to deal with a Lawyer you know what I mean. Call the man to chit chat for 15 mins and you get a bill in the mail for his $450/hr rate divided by 4. No kidding. Why should your time be worth anything less?
Don't give your software away and don't sign away your ideas if you can help it(i.e. IP). Every idea in your head is worth money to someone even though you may not realize it. Telling your client that you recommend giving this software away will make them feel insecure and they will also be reluctant to hire you again to maintain and extend the software. Also, If the software truly is 'unique' it is another feather in your hat that the next contracter DOESNT HAVE. Don't work yourself out of a job. Know the difference between what is work and what is your hobby.
Regards,
Peter
I know it would be 'nice' to get a little snappier systems for your company but these do the job, keep em. At my previous company 90% of the employees had DELL PPro 200's running NT4. it did what you needed for office type work.
save the money. You may need it if the time comes for determining severence packages ;-).
As for building the PCs yourself. Having worked in this capacity before. Building from scratch I could average between 9-14 PCs in a 9 hour day with interruption, thats just assembly with a quick P.O test NOT including installing the OS on the boxes. It's nothing you would get done all at once during a consecutive period of time. From your perspective the rollout could take forever (like a month) and then you have to deal with all the quirks that come up. Your time is more important than that.
Peter
If you're an ATT digital cable customer you get to have this huge switching box which is supplied by coax from the street and breaks off into phone, TV , and cable internet. I have 'never' seen a phone outage for what it's worth.
Peter
it doesnt have too (kvm). You can go with a nice USB KVM and pick up those little ps/2 to usb adapters as needed. It's not like they dont come with every USB mouse you buy. They cant be more than $10 each.
Peter
You can't defend this company and say the RIAA is being over zealous.
Can you say with a straight face that every employee in that company owned every CD of music reflected on that internal server? That is just bullshit.
This violates the fair use law and you guys know it.
moreover since this company was so stupid as to allocate company assets to serve copyrighted music without paying for that right has broken the law. period. 1 million dollars is getting off easy
Sure employees will listen to music in their offices using their computers. That doesnt mean they should make their PCs music servers nor should the FUCKEN COMPANY provide an outlet for central music sharing.
How flippant, ignorant, and totally irresponsible of them.
You don't like the law? Do something about it.
Peter
Please consider my perspective. While a true 'stien could do the work of 50 men and leap tall buildings with a single bound. What do I do if he decides to leave?
I am totally screwed. Now I'm going to have to do his work on top of finding new people to reconstitute the engineering team and I have to train and mentor them. Oh and God help me if he was the kind of person who kept critical techniques and procedures 'all up here' and not in a knowledge base or an ECR/ECO manager.
Having a background in quality assurance and qualty control has taught me to look at everything from a failure perspective. Of course that's not the only perspective I have.
People who are that talented and that critical should be in lead posistions scheduling this work but also working on said projects as well. Polarizing a team towards a single individual who is not an authorty but has the influence of one can screw up near any size group. Then me and him get to duke it out on issues since he is the 'majority' voice and now I may not be hearing other points of view from the other workers.
Now if he's a lead then he is held directly accountable by me and I'm already training him to be a better manager and thus the confusion I previously described is eliminated and I've added another tier of resources to the department. Ask him first before you ask me :-). I havent met a person yet I couldnt make a better mentor. His communications skill don't have to be exceptional, just better than they where before and they get better over time. As for the bridge to the outside world, thats me.
With this hierachy in place. I have the 'time' in which even if my super lead's communication skills are not up to the task at any point in time. Mine are and I am able to distil this knowledge to the group and document it for all time. I've learned that by doing this that other engineers become capable of tasks they never considered before, expanding their apptitude and making them a better engineer.
With regards to my charecterzations of prima dona = 'stein. In my experiences this has been true more often than not and the exceptions are absolutley astounding individuals. I miss them dearly.
Also it is unfortunate that I knew exactly what kind of people I was working with and had to bend and extend myself again and again to get work done. Sometimes I'm glad I don't work there anymore.
You nailed the lying thing right on head. One of my 'faults' if you want to call it that is I trust people until proven wrong and even then I'll give you a chance. I'm a bad lier so I don't even try though it makes me wonder about what makes up those individuals who 'are' good at it.
Peter
work fine in a group, as long as I'm not forced to put up with incompetent idiots, either as cow-orkers or management. I won't slow down my production or tolerate laziness just to avoid hurting the ego of others -- generally I work best when my peers are at least as smart as me, if not smarter. I've had the luck to work with some very bright people, and we work together as a group, and meet our deadlines -- not following the company clock on any given day, but still putting in a solid work week in the end.
I wouldn't ask you to slow down. What "I" want is to get the job done. I don't care anymore to impress anyone and ego fluffing is not something I care for either. You're here because you can do the job, so get it done. You don't have to wear a tie or nice pants or go to meetings unless I ask you to accompany me.
They often work ALONE and the work that they do which others depend on go by their clock, not the companys. I work very well with a small team of equally bright people. Some members of my team are morning people, some are not. But at the end of the week, we still get the work done. I contribute much more value to the company than "any compitent engineer". I also am not a morning person, and making me follow a strict 8:30-5:00 schedule might make my manager look good to his superiors, but is only going to hurt my morale and productivity.
Right, that point doesnt apply to you since you do get it done in the work week which is what most projects are measured by. Look. I understand if someone isn't a morning person and rolls in around 10, but the ones I knew who did that also stayed still 7. They we're also available during the work day as a resource to their colleges. The ones who are unacceptable are the 1PM to 4PM, oh I missed the morning meeting and I knew they wanted me there, correspond by email more than a telephone (from home), are not available as a resource when their colleges need them, and get the job done at the last possible moment because they can (doesnt always mean they got it right). Those are the ones I don't like.
The worst possible manager is one who is more interested in looking good to his superiors than keeping his direct reports happy. My team has no problems with me starting later in the day and leaving later in the evening... the only people who complain are members of other groups who see me wander in at 10:30 and feel like I have a privilege they are missing. Of course, they go home at 4:30, and never see how late I stay.
Right see above, as for the the whiners. They'll get the message when they don't get the raise or promotion they 'think' they deserve.
While the later I can bear and bridge the communication gap to achieve OUR goals because it is worthwhile. The former can take a hike.
Sounds like you have some problems of your own. There are way too many people in I.T. who are either stupid or lazy, and only put in the minimum amount of effort (plus plenty of sucking up to the boss) to avoid getting fired. This is encouraged by the tolerance of this behavior by management, who see a quiet employee who doesn't make any waves and value them as much or as more as the "Einsteins" who accomplish 10x as much in a given week, but also require a bit more flexibility and perhaps even a few perks every now and then.
I don't suck up to my bosses. I will be the first one the vigoursly disagree with an authority and ask the hard questions. I am the FIRST one to roll up my sleeves and get into a problem. I lead by example , not lip service. I do not comprimise myself or my integrity nor will I ever comprimise any member of my team to outside influences. I've been accused 'many' times of being former military which isnt true but given my style, I can understand why people may think that.
Bottom line. Any given 'smart' person can do XYZ faster than a 'plain jane' engineer. My challenge to you is to take that vast intellect of yours that is so effective at solving problems in the tech arena and focus just a portion of it on your communication skills. The results are impressive as they are rewarding when by your hand, Make the people around you better at what they do. Which in turn will make the group more effective and efficient.
It's called teaching and someday when I've had enough of the industry. My title will have the words "Prof." instead of "Engineer".
Peter
Thank you kind sir.
:-)
Peter
Or don't hire them to begin with and instead hire a compitent engineer or two who can can stick to the most important schedule. The managers.
As rude as I may come off. Einsteins or whatever you want to call them are NOT dependable. They do what the want, when they want, and how they want. Most of the ones I've had the displeasure of meeting are so self absorbed and into self-gratification so much that it makes working TOGETHER AS A GROUP with them in a structured development environment unbearable. They often work ALONE and the work that they do which others depend on go by their clock, not the companys.
The few I've had to work with whom are considered "oracles" did not have the ego tripping the others and could work well with groups but alas their communication skills where lacking. While they could do anything you asked them to. Ask them to describe something acute to you that would normally take a few moments and you could end up being there 15x longer than expected. OMG forget about meetings.
While the later I can bear and bridge the communication gap to achieve OUR goals because it is worthwhile. The former can take a hike. There is nothing any compitent engineer cannot accomplish given a reasonable amount of time and resources. The rest are wildcards which begs the question. Would you bet money on that schedule or better yet, your job?
Peter
So our government can see EXACTLY what kind of ill effects copyright law has on our econemny. Try and put the cure for AIDS or cancer under such a device and watch how fast the government revokes it AND makes it available for everyone else. They almost cut Cipro's exclusive patent short (or did they go through with it?) over the Anthrax problem. Judging from that initial action, The US wouldn't think twice about taking said action further against something that is critical to humanity like the cures I previously mentioned.
Before someone nit picks my response note that the entire 'cure' doesn't have to encoded in DNA but some of the critical parts that make the cure a functional whole could be.
Peter
There is no fucking way I will ever spend $2000 on a TV no matter what features it may entail.
What good is this HDTV if you're not spending $80 a month for digital cable and some premium channels.
How mucb FREE TIME do most working americans have to 'consume' this crap. How many shows are there on TV that you really watch? I can count them all on one hand and I TAPE THEM ALL. My life does not revolve around television neither should anyone elses.
Do you like paying $50 a month for DSL? FUCK NO. If I was paying for the bandwidth I consumed it would be a fraction of that.
Where are these fictional consumers he is talking about find time to enjoy these luxuries? I'll tell you what. It isnt a majority and as we've seen even with technology that is superior to the what's mainstream. If you don't buy it, it fails.
SO DONT BUY IT.
Even if this thing does get passed into law and it probablly will considering his letter...
These devices will be defeated in the same manner DIVX was. They will be rejected by consumers because of
- increased cost
- decreased value
See 1. and repeat.Remember going in to Circuit City and harrassing the sales guy in the DVD section about DIVX?
Picture that and now imagine the same guy trying to explain to you how great HDTV is but if you want to record something... well.. um ugh...
Well use your imagination. The entertainment industry is gonna have to use theirs to figure out how to exlpain their profits without the scapegoat that is piracy to blame.
Peter
I have this book and I 'love' it. It's the only C book you need to get started and it will introduce :-) This is book is from the same publishing house as the one being reviewed.
you to some UNIX programming contructs too like fork . Well written, a little dense but you will find an answer to what you're looking for. The section on pointers is excellent. oh, realloc is only in the index
Peter
moreover the current status of the Alpha port is doing quite well thank you and is the best supported port out there bar none. Please disregard this gentlemans comments regarding the fesibility of 2.4 on Alpha. Only a 'few' engineers have left Compaq to pursue other projects like the Athlon, HP is porting their own UNIX to Alpha, and the Compaq compiler team is alive and well working at Compaq in Nashua, NH on spitbrook rd. working on Alphas 'and' the Itanium compiler. Oh, Intel hasn't bought out Alpha, they only bought a 'license' to some of the EV8 core, thats it. I hope I've cleared up enough fud.
As for the situation regarding the orignal domain and hardware please see the following: list thread.
We don't intend to fade into the night. Not while I'm still around anyways :-). Oh I run debian unstable (which is anything but unstable) on my 600Mhz 164LX.
Peter
If you doubt these words take a look at Compaq's
Alpha EV7 with it's RAMBUS controller ON CHIP.
Just because PC architecture is limited by chipsets with limited memory bus bandwidth does not mean there are no other uses for such a memory architecture.
Peter
Actually it would be quite trival for an Alpha
and AMD to share the same mainboard. You would simply need to allow room for a another rom chip (SROM) and have enough flash space so it could store your PC bios and Alpha SRM console or DBLX
(boot Linux straight from flash). It could be as simple as moving a jumper. The problem has been up until very recently there hasn't been a high performace ZIF socket that could minimize the signal loss from using a socketed CPU. Alpha EV68's and EV7 can be used in socketed motherboards now. You would need a VRM on board that could handle a slightly broader range of power output and cleaner regulation. Finally, You would need a mainboard etch of at least 8 layers which isnt cheap when manufactured small lots like API/Compaq did. Though when manufactured at the rate PC boards are made today the cost may be as little as $10 more for what you pay for an Athlon MB now. If you have more questions or wish to discuss this further feel free to email me, voodoo@alphadriven.org
Oh, one more thing. This is what costs the money.
L2 cache for the Alpha. Either as part of the board or as a plug in.
Peter
hehehe.
;-)
Balls and common sense don't normally coincide.
Also you know the PCI bus is LITTLE ENDIAN right?
All that byte swapping must do wonders for performace
Peter
I don't know what does. If you're a consumer who's pro intel and you've been waiting for YEARS for itanium to be released. Now, Only for it to be usurped by a stop gap processor to compete with a rival. My god. It's better than the nothing these guys have been waiting for and it will be ESPECIALLY painfull to those software houses who have been porting their flagship product to Itanium for some time now... If this chip yama..whatever is made it won't be a dog because they HAVE to compete not only with the marketshare in the 64 bit arena but more important is the MINDSHARE. AMD delievers and Intel doesnt and they both run Windows. We could see some real interesting things come out of Intel. It would also confirm the rumors I've been hearing for some time now that Itanium is dead after Mickenly.
Peter