I work repairing computers and offering on-site tech support, and I always go on housecalls with a bag that contains an Ethernet cable, a crossover cable, a book of CDs such as Mac OS, Windows installs, etc., a small Belkin toolkit, an external USB 2 2.5" hard drive enclosure, and sometimes my Toshiba Libretto L5. The kit gets mixed up for specific housecalls, but usually, I find that I don't need any of it!
The most common problems can usually be solved without opening the case or touching any tools. Most of the time, you simply need to zip around in Windows checking/unchecking stuff, making sure cables are plugged in, and offering advice to the user.
This may sound corny, but I would have to say the best tool is just general knowledge of computers. So, screw around with them more, try new things, break your computers, buy obscure hardware and get it working, etc. Experience and knowledge are the only real tools you need. Everything else just kind of helps you along a bit.
...other than a pink slip. Complain loudly enough, and they just might give you the boot. This doesn't sound like the kind of environment where you complain about this and get what you want.
Our Apple rep is claiming that there will be a revision of the 15" PowerBook in September. A long time to wait, but it'll go nicely with the release of Panther, which has been an amazing preview release thus far.
What I would really like to see is for them to run that program on that program. Now, that would be interesting! It would also help determine how much confidence I have in their software.
It's not even just ~/.bash_history but ~/ itself! Who in the world would make that world-readable and published on the web?!?!? This isn't even the default for any configuration I've seen. (Does anyone else know differently?) It's one thing to spider ~/public_html or/var/www or whatever you have set up for your webserver...quite another to have ~/ published on the web. I can't believe this is a security problem for people, though I suppose it is a proven possibility.
I have friends who treat their Apple laptops like absolute hell, and they always get fast, efficient, and most importantly, free repair on their machines through AppleCare. I mean, cracked cases and stuff like that -- clearly the result of abuse, but the AppleCare folks fix it without bitching.
I would have to say your friends were very lucky. Apple does have a nasty habit of calling things abuse and then charging you extra to fix it. My boss' cat accidentally broke the hinges on her 15" PowerBook, and this was defined as abuse. They wanted something like a full $200-300 extra to fix it. Just plain wrong.
Yeah, my fifth grade teacher STILL has my magnifying glass he confiscated from me during recess! It's probably been sitting on his desk for the past 11 years.
Just keep in mind that the girlfriend who plays games is rare and a prized jewel. Mine got away.:(
Now, how do I convince my current girlfriend to play more video games with me? She's usually reading The New Yorker while I'm having a frag fest, though she does occasionally enjoy button-mashing in Street Fighter games. Sigh.
I don't know about you, but the APSL scares me a bit. There are some real nasty clauses in it, and Apple has this habit of stepping on everyone's toes. Their "Open Source" license is really giving them the ability to take your work and sell it as their own. I'm a Mac fan, but I'm hesitant to develop for them. Apple has a habit of forcing the people who support them out of the market and making enemies of their close friends. Look at the recent developments with Final Cut Pro, Safari, Soundtrack, etc.
If we assume that the primary gamers are young, then what's the point of this? I somehow can't imagine an eight year kid with a long list of contacts and the need to have a datebook.
Sure, a good portion of gamers are also older with more responsibilities, but how often do thirty-somethings pull out GameBoys? It has got to be nearly as embarassing. I'm not replacing my coffee break with playing on my Palm. My boss would think I was going crazy.
Chances are you won't be able to boot off of USB much less SD. My Toshiba Libretto L5 has a SD card slot built-in and sure can't boot off of it, but I do have the ability to boot from PCMCIA CD-ROM drives, USB CD-ROM drives, USB Floppy Drives, and even PCMCIA drives (supposedly).
Furthermore, SD support is practically nonexistent in Linux. Good luck trying to get your SD card reader to work with Linux much less boot. You'll be somewhat luckier with MMC, but it's still not worth trying.
The only good alternative I can offer is an external FireWire or USB drive. I use my iPod to boot various Macs into a clean Jaguar environment for development and testing. I haven't had a chance to try this with PCs, though.
I own an iBook 2001...one of the original of the new all-white models. It unfortunately was somewhat of a lemon with a broken CD drive. During the one year warranty, it was shipped into Apple TWICE for the same problem. I must commend them on their hardware support, though. It's very, very good, and they have superfast turnaround time (less than one work week). They pay for shipping, they fix the problem, and everything's free.
However, I decided not to buy AppleCare, as I couldn't justify spending all those hundreds of bucks. Since then, my computer has broken down several more times, and I've had to fix it myself. I replaced the hard drive, replaced the CD-ROM drive...even replaced the Airport antenna. (All three are extremely painful and laborious procedures.)
I think the real question is: are you willing and able to replace hardware yourself? Or, are you willing to have to pay gobs of money for someone else to do it when you don't have a warranty? If your organization can provide that sort of in-house support, then forget it. Otherwise, just fork over the money and have Apple do the rest.
Have you tried Packeteer? Many educational institutions use it to shape and manage traffic. They also have a help page describing how to control instant messaging including MSN.
Slashdot Mirror
I work repairing computers and offering on-site tech support, and I always go on housecalls with a bag that contains an Ethernet cable, a crossover cable, a book of CDs such as Mac OS, Windows installs, etc., a small Belkin toolkit, an external USB 2 2.5" hard drive enclosure, and sometimes my Toshiba Libretto L5. The kit gets mixed up for specific housecalls, but usually, I find that I don't need any of it!
The most common problems can usually be solved without opening the case or touching any tools. Most of the time, you simply need to zip around in Windows checking/unchecking stuff, making sure cables are plugged in, and offering advice to the user.
This may sound corny, but I would have to say the best tool is just general knowledge of computers. So, screw around with them more, try new things, break your computers, buy obscure hardware and get it working, etc. Experience and knowledge are the only real tools you need. Everything else just kind of helps you along a bit.
The US Government labeled beer(alcohol) as a drug
OK...so where in the linked article does it actually say this??? Does anyone else realize the government has nothing to do with this?
He should spend some hours on HTML when he's done with the roller-coaster.
...
So, are you saying that he should or should not count it as a skill on his resume?
Skills
Other: 3D Studio Max, Fortran, MathCad, Director, Flash, HTML, VRML
What I would like to see is something in VRML where I could ride the coaster online. Oh, wait. I don't have anything that supports VRML...
I doubt you'll get anything
...other than a pink slip. Complain loudly enough, and they just might give you the boot. This doesn't sound like the kind of environment where you complain about this and get what you want.
Our Apple rep is claiming that there will be a revision of the 15" PowerBook in September. A long time to wait, but it'll go nicely with the release of Panther, which has been an amazing preview release thus far.
What I would really like to see is for them to run that program on that program. Now, that would be interesting! It would also help determine how much confidence I have in their software.
It's not even just ~/.bash_history but ~/ itself! Who in the world would make that world-readable and published on the web?!?!? This isn't even the default for any configuration I've seen. (Does anyone else know differently?) It's one thing to spider ~/public_html or /var/www or whatever you have set up for your webserver...quite another to have ~/ published on the web. I can't believe this is a security problem for people, though I suppose it is a proven possibility.
I have friends who treat their Apple laptops like absolute hell, and they always get fast, efficient, and most importantly, free repair on their machines through AppleCare. I mean, cracked cases and stuff like that -- clearly the result of abuse, but the AppleCare folks fix it without bitching. I would have to say your friends were very lucky. Apple does have a nasty habit of calling things abuse and then charging you extra to fix it. My boss' cat accidentally broke the hinges on her 15" PowerBook, and this was defined as abuse. They wanted something like a full $200-300 extra to fix it. Just plain wrong.
Yeah, my fifth grade teacher STILL has my magnifying glass he confiscated from me during recess! It's probably been sitting on his desk for the past 11 years.
Just keep in mind that the girlfriend who plays games is rare and a prized jewel. Mine got away. :(
Now, how do I convince my current girlfriend to play more video games with me? She's usually reading The New Yorker while I'm having a frag fest, though she does occasionally enjoy button-mashing in Street Fighter games. Sigh.
I don't know about you, but the APSL scares me a bit. There are some real nasty clauses in it, and Apple has this habit of stepping on everyone's toes. Their "Open Source" license is really giving them the ability to take your work and sell it as their own. I'm a Mac fan, but I'm hesitant to develop for them. Apple has a habit of forcing the people who support them out of the market and making enemies of their close friends. Look at the recent developments with Final Cut Pro, Safari, Soundtrack, etc.
If we assume that the primary gamers are young, then what's the point of this? I somehow can't imagine an eight year kid with a long list of contacts and the need to have a datebook. Sure, a good portion of gamers are also older with more responsibilities, but how often do thirty-somethings pull out GameBoys? It has got to be nearly as embarassing. I'm not replacing my coffee break with playing on my Palm. My boss would think I was going crazy.
Chances are you won't be able to boot off of USB much less SD. My Toshiba Libretto L5 has a SD card slot built-in and sure can't boot off of it, but I do have the ability to boot from PCMCIA CD-ROM drives, USB CD-ROM drives, USB Floppy Drives, and even PCMCIA drives (supposedly). Furthermore, SD support is practically nonexistent in Linux. Good luck trying to get your SD card reader to work with Linux much less boot. You'll be somewhat luckier with MMC, but it's still not worth trying. The only good alternative I can offer is an external FireWire or USB drive. I use my iPod to boot various Macs into a clean Jaguar environment for development and testing. I haven't had a chance to try this with PCs, though.
I own an iBook 2001...one of the original of the new all-white models. It unfortunately was somewhat of a lemon with a broken CD drive. During the one year warranty, it was shipped into Apple TWICE for the same problem. I must commend them on their hardware support, though. It's very, very good, and they have superfast turnaround time (less than one work week). They pay for shipping, they fix the problem, and everything's free. However, I decided not to buy AppleCare, as I couldn't justify spending all those hundreds of bucks. Since then, my computer has broken down several more times, and I've had to fix it myself. I replaced the hard drive, replaced the CD-ROM drive...even replaced the Airport antenna. (All three are extremely painful and laborious procedures.) I think the real question is: are you willing and able to replace hardware yourself? Or, are you willing to have to pay gobs of money for someone else to do it when you don't have a warranty? If your organization can provide that sort of in-house support, then forget it. Otherwise, just fork over the money and have Apple do the rest.
Have you tried Packeteer? Many educational institutions use it to shape and manage traffic. They also have a help page describing how to control instant messaging including MSN.