I'm surprised none of the ODU students have posted about this article. I am local to the maglev train (in Virginia Beach) but DO NOT attend ODU nor have any ties to the project.
The transrapid system in Germany allows public passengers and does 250mph with no issues. Maglev isn't new hat. The system at ODU is different in design, with the guideway aimed at being much lower in cost than the design offered by Transrapid and the like. Basically the guideway is dumb and the train itself contains the logic for stepping the magnets and such. The guideway isn't very large, if you saw it in real life it makes you wonder how wide the actual train is (I haven't seen the train, just the guideway).
The rumors I've heard, but the president of American Maglev wouldn't comment when I emailed them was this: the train worked fine on the test track in Flordia when it was on the ground (it has been demonstrated to move!) but once it was up on the guideway problems hit. Someone told me that what is happening is the rail flexes from the weight of the cars, then the system adjusts for the change in gap between guideway and car, then the change causes the rail to bounce and it enters an oscillation loop..... I know someone that saw it move in Flordia, so it really happened. They just didn't plan on rail flex issues.
The fix is supposidly known, but congress hasn't released the 2 million to them to fix the thing yet. Meanwhile some local companies want payment for services rendered in construction of the stations. Supposidly money is set aside to pay for the entire removal of the project. American Maglev supposidly defaulted on payment in Flordia on their facilities there as well (there are articles on the intarweb from the paper down there casting a negative light on the issue).
American Maglev was trying to sell the Virginia Beach oceanfront resort on the system, but they didn't buy it. It wasn't a hotel or a convention center. Finally years later ODU got involved. While the whole thing smells of Marge versus the Monorail from the Simpsons, really assuming they spent the money properly I would have no gripes against American Maglev.
I personally hope to see it run, but things aren't looking good for American Maglev. If they get this thing moving (which they supposidly have a solution to fix it) then there is the remote hope that our region will become the center of development for the maglev monorail industry.
Also -- if you are in the Hampton Roads area and are a geek, consider joining the HRConnect HR-Geeks mailing list at www.hrconnect.com (under mailing lists).
It seems quite a bit of the recent "virus" activity is done thru email clients. Pine has had a number of vunerabilities, and I'm sure the other outlook-clone Linux clients have vunerabilities as well. People want functionality in these stupid mail programs... if all the businesspeople were running Linux and there was some sort of standard to allow cross compatibility with all of the email clients (holding the addressbook) then you might see the same issue. Pack in an exploit and you would nail a good number of linux desktop users, because like Windows users not everyone patches every night. Or every 6 months.
Hackers love Ramen? I remember when all of my BSD and beautiful SGI boxes were getting hammered due to a Linux / Solaris worm pounding the shit out of my netblock.
There are more viruses on the PC versus the Mac because there are more PCs.
And @stake, the company born out of the l0pht is contracted by Microsoft to audit the code.
What is really disturbing is how shitty viruses are. Back in the good ol' days they were 3k and stealth. Now what we get is 5000 emails a day with this fucking huge attachment. Oh thank you for sending along VBRUN300.DLL just in case I don't have it and 4 GIF files to display when your evil virus attacks. What the fuck has happened to programmers? No wonder software is so shitty.
The Virus writers make Microsoft look *GOOD* with the turds they are sending around.
Done with the rant. Till next time...
http://users.757.org/~ethan
It is not a beowulf cluster, it is a distributed set of systems. In a beowulf cluster the memory is shared between hosts over "fast" networks connected to all of the peers.
54k is an awful lot of servers. How many SGI Origin 4000's running 512 CPUs per cabinet with it's high bandwidth I/O subsystems (disks and networking!) would it take to do the job of Google's cluster? Would there be benefits to managing 20 1048 CPU single-OS systems versus 54,000 linux machines? Other than the obvious fact that Linux tends to get you lots of press where as conventional well engineered unix systems don't?
Archive.org also uses a similar distributed model, adding servers as their archive grows.
Bullshit! SGI couldn't ship the Itanium shit in quanity. The Intel rigged SGI crap gets a lot of press, because Linux gets press (for whatever reason). I bet the Altix cost as much as an Origin 3900. Given a POS linux box and a IRIX 3900, I'd take the IRIX 3900.
Alpha is dead. Compaq killed it.
I always wanted to use the 800 number on junk faxes, and setup a computer with a simple script that would sequentially "unsubscribe" every phone number in my exchange from their database.
Apple could go MIPS (the CPUs used in SGI IRIX systems).
At this point in time they don't have HUGE gamer GHZ numbers, but they are fast and don't turn water to steam. Much more efficient than Intel Intanic.
Plus apple wouldn't have to sell out to Intel / AMD.
I could never understand the big deal over this game. To me the controls were bad. Kind of like the Epic Pinball game, where the physics were really lame compared to others.
Does anyone else feel Commander Keen was over rated?
What was Sun's huge commitment to linux? You mean buying Cobalt and taking over their generic Intel boxes? Big whoop. Or do you mean adding the "Linux compatibility" to Solaris that will allow broken open source code to compile under solaris, so Solaris users could get access to 600 window managers and maybe a Commodore 64 emulator.
SCO is out of the game. Their reliable systems that were implemented in Point of Sale systems worked too well -- they still work and get the job done day to day. IBM will embrace Linux, as long as their consulting services get to take care of the boxes. IBM is about money, not hippy freedom of choice movements! Don't kid yourself.
And for those that haven't visited it recently, take a look at http://freeware.sgi.com... yea, they don't keep it up to date. But not bad! Much better than that horrid sun freeware site. IRIX is forever. Ditch the duck!
*IF I RULED THE WORLD*
If I ruled the world,
I'd kill all the Suns.
It'd be IRIX time in the world,
If I ruled the world.
Tux roasted and served,
chaotic development and dependency worse than DLLs,
FreeBSD only thing left -- on x86.
Microsoft faded like Enron, WinXP EOL
Sybase on IRIX!!!
Since Oracle doesn't support the machine that runs their database faster than any other platform!
(The unavailible IRIX port of Oracle is rumoured to be faster than ANY other platform. But Larry Ellion must be in bed with McNealy.... you would think he would like the pretty SGI colors. Guess it clashes with that house of his that is decorated like a chinese resturant).
Soy Sauce? Anyone?
IRIX IS FOREVER.
Actually, Oracle licensed the SGI Origin 300 to use as a "database appliance." Rumor has it Oracle ran faster when tuned on IRIX than it did on Solaris and the other platforms. The Origin 300 was going to be rebadged as an Oracle product, and sold as a complete solution.
Don't know what happened. SGI might have screwed up the deal, or maybe McNealy got mad and rolled over and spanked Ellison. Oracle never sold the appliance, and never admits to having 9i on IRIX.
It would probably make Sun look too bad.
And all you whiney Linux people, IRIX isn't extremely wierd or unique. It is actually quite nice.
I don't know why, but anytime someone mentions Linux the press goes apeshit. The IRIX/Mips versions of these systems scale larger, have a prooven track record on a robust 64 bit operating system, and consume less power and produce less heat. But this is slashdot, and if it ain't Linux the kiddies freak out.
Long live IRIX! SGI, get your marketing together you fuckups.
A few thoughts.
Couldn't you load up a private plane with some Gel-Cells and 300 or so surplus cellular phones with a computer to control them all and fly across country and wreak havoc?
Also... if Verizon/Aircell installs this system... my guess is it is a private cell site for the plane with a microwave link to a ground station. The cell site can tell the phone to back the power down, but it would seem to me the threat of "electronic devices" would still be there even if the phone is running at 50mw instead of a full 600mw?
It is a shame SGI can get all the press whenever they mention Linux, but when they release innovative products that don't have the word "Linux" attached they largely go unnoticed.
I admin a Origin 3800 or two and they are definitly nice boxes.
SGI should have more of Sun's customers, their boxes are superior. If only they knew how to market...
(And they need to ditch the duck, and ditch Linux. Linux people are poor and run crappy hardware. They get all excited and joyful over their peiced together miserable OS. FreeBSD is nice. IRIX is nice. Linux is for the 14 year olds!)
And no, you don't run Doom III on an Origin. It isn't a joke, it isn't funny. You run applications that require large amounts of I/O. Weather modeling and non-clustered porn sites.
THE DUCK WILL DIE!
Not that I am blessing the practice of pirating firmware code from the Pix, but there is one issue.
I looked into doing this a while ago just to play with the Pix. I've heard horrible stories about how bad it's logging is, and how it is a firewall to avoid. I wanted to check it out for myself. However, the card with the flash memory contains a serial number prom which is required to execute the Pix code. When you buy that card, you are buying a serial number 2nd hand that is required by the Pix code to execute (from my understanding).
Obviously these cards are coming out of Pix firewalls. I realize that some might be from upgrades, and that could nullify the argument. But since these serial numbered flash cards are required and are most likely pulls from failed boxes, wouldn't that mean the number of "pirated" pix firewalls will never exceed the number of legit pix firewalls that were sold (until someone hacks the firmware to load from a standard IDE disk or IDE sandisk, it wouldn't boot when I rawrited it to a sandisk).
Not something Cisco really needs to worry about as the number of flash cards with serial proms is probably limited.
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I'm surprised none of the ODU students have posted about this article. I am local to the maglev train (in Virginia Beach) but DO NOT attend ODU nor have any ties to the project.
The transrapid system in Germany allows public passengers and does 250mph with no issues. Maglev isn't new hat. The system at ODU is different in design, with the guideway aimed at being much lower in cost than the design offered by Transrapid and the like. Basically the guideway is dumb and the train itself contains the logic for stepping the magnets and such. The guideway isn't very large, if you saw it in real life it makes you wonder how wide the actual train is (I haven't seen the train, just the guideway).
The rumors I've heard, but the president of American Maglev wouldn't comment when I emailed them was this: the train worked fine on the test track in Flordia when it was on the ground (it has been demonstrated to move!) but once it was up on the guideway problems hit. Someone told me that what is happening is the rail flexes from the weight of the cars, then the system adjusts for the change in gap between guideway and car, then the change causes the rail to bounce and it enters an oscillation loop..... I know someone that saw it move in Flordia, so it really happened. They just didn't plan on rail flex issues.
The fix is supposidly known, but congress hasn't released the 2 million to them to fix the thing yet. Meanwhile some local companies want payment for services rendered in construction of the stations. Supposidly money is set aside to pay for the entire removal of the project. American Maglev supposidly defaulted on payment in Flordia on their facilities there as well (there are articles on the intarweb from the paper down there casting a negative light on the issue).
American Maglev was trying to sell the Virginia Beach oceanfront resort on the system, but they didn't buy it. It wasn't a hotel or a convention center. Finally years later ODU got involved. While the whole thing smells of Marge versus the Monorail from the Simpsons, really assuming they spent the money properly I would have no gripes against American Maglev.
I personally hope to see it run, but things aren't looking good for American Maglev. If they get this thing moving (which they supposidly have a solution to fix it) then there is the remote hope that our region will become the center of development for the maglev monorail industry.
Also -- if you are in the Hampton Roads area and are a geek, consider joining the HRConnect HR-Geeks mailing list at www.hrconnect.com (under mailing lists).
It seems quite a bit of the recent "virus" activity is done thru email clients. Pine has had a number of vunerabilities, and I'm sure the other outlook-clone Linux clients have vunerabilities as well. People want functionality in these stupid mail programs... if all the businesspeople were running Linux and there was some sort of standard to allow cross compatibility with all of the email clients (holding the addressbook) then you might see the same issue. Pack in an exploit and you would nail a good number of linux desktop users, because like Windows users not everyone patches every night. Or every 6 months. Hackers love Ramen? I remember when all of my BSD and beautiful SGI boxes were getting hammered due to a Linux / Solaris worm pounding the shit out of my netblock. There are more viruses on the PC versus the Mac because there are more PCs. And @stake, the company born out of the l0pht is contracted by Microsoft to audit the code. What is really disturbing is how shitty viruses are. Back in the good ol' days they were 3k and stealth. Now what we get is 5000 emails a day with this fucking huge attachment. Oh thank you for sending along VBRUN300.DLL just in case I don't have it and 4 GIF files to display when your evil virus attacks. What the fuck has happened to programmers? No wonder software is so shitty. The Virus writers make Microsoft look *GOOD* with the turds they are sending around. Done with the rant. Till next time... http://users.757.org/~ethan
It is not a beowulf cluster, it is a distributed set of systems. In a beowulf cluster the memory is shared between hosts over "fast" networks connected to all of the peers. 54k is an awful lot of servers. How many SGI Origin 4000's running 512 CPUs per cabinet with it's high bandwidth I/O subsystems (disks and networking!) would it take to do the job of Google's cluster? Would there be benefits to managing 20 1048 CPU single-OS systems versus 54,000 linux machines? Other than the obvious fact that Linux tends to get you lots of press where as conventional well engineered unix systems don't? Archive.org also uses a similar distributed model, adding servers as their archive grows.
This is how they propel the PC industry! People are supposed to buy faster desktops. You weren't supposed to notice.
Good news at last! Open source = open wallets! Linux users don't pay! They are cheap by nature! IRIX IS FOREVER!
Bullshit! SGI couldn't ship the Itanium shit in quanity. The Intel rigged SGI crap gets a lot of press, because Linux gets press (for whatever reason). I bet the Altix cost as much as an Origin 3900. Given a POS linux box and a IRIX 3900, I'd take the IRIX 3900. Alpha is dead. Compaq killed it.
I always wanted to use the 800 number on junk faxes, and setup a computer with a simple script that would sequentially "unsubscribe" every phone number in my exchange from their database.
Apple could go MIPS (the CPUs used in SGI IRIX systems). At this point in time they don't have HUGE gamer GHZ numbers, but they are fast and don't turn water to steam. Much more efficient than Intel Intanic. Plus apple wouldn't have to sell out to Intel / AMD.
I could never understand the big deal over this game. To me the controls were bad. Kind of like the Epic Pinball game, where the physics were really lame compared to others.
Does anyone else feel Commander Keen was over rated?
What was Sun's huge commitment to linux? You mean buying Cobalt and taking over their generic Intel boxes? Big whoop. Or do you mean adding the "Linux compatibility" to Solaris that will allow broken open source code to compile under solaris, so Solaris users could get access to 600 window managers and maybe a Commodore 64 emulator.
... yea, they don't keep it up to date. But not bad! Much better than that horrid sun freeware site. IRIX is forever. Ditch the duck!
SCO is out of the game. Their reliable systems that were implemented in Point of Sale systems worked too well -- they still work and get the job done day to day. IBM will embrace Linux, as long as their consulting services get to take care of the boxes. IBM is about money, not hippy freedom of choice movements! Don't kid yourself.
And for those that haven't visited it recently, take a look at http://freeware.sgi.com
*IF I RULED THE WORLD*
If I ruled the world,
I'd kill all the Suns.
It'd be IRIX time in the world,
If I ruled the world.
Tux roasted and served,
chaotic development and dependency worse than DLLs,
FreeBSD only thing left -- on x86.
Microsoft faded like Enron, WinXP EOL
Bla.
Sybase on IRIX!!! Since Oracle doesn't support the machine that runs their database faster than any other platform! (The unavailible IRIX port of Oracle is rumoured to be faster than ANY other platform. But Larry Ellion must be in bed with McNealy.... you would think he would like the pretty SGI colors. Guess it clashes with that house of his that is decorated like a chinese resturant). Soy Sauce? Anyone? IRIX IS FOREVER.
Hey who are you? Are you in Southeastern Virginia? Drop me an email (telmnstr followed by an @, then 757.org).
Cray anywhere in sight pimping anything other than NEC hardware? SV2? SV2? Where are you? Does SGI have the Origin 3900 system there as well?
Actually, Oracle licensed the SGI Origin 300 to use as a "database appliance." Rumor has it Oracle ran faster when tuned on IRIX than it did on Solaris and the other platforms. The Origin 300 was going to be rebadged as an Oracle product, and sold as a complete solution.
Don't know what happened. SGI might have screwed up the deal, or maybe McNealy got mad and rolled over and spanked Ellison. Oracle never sold the appliance, and never admits to having 9i on IRIX.
It would probably make Sun look too bad.
And all you whiney Linux people, IRIX isn't extremely wierd or unique. It is actually quite nice.
I don't know why, but anytime someone mentions Linux the press goes apeshit. The IRIX/Mips versions of these systems scale larger, have a prooven track record on a robust 64 bit operating system, and consume less power and produce less heat. But this is slashdot, and if it ain't Linux the kiddies freak out.
Long live IRIX! SGI, get your marketing together you fuckups.
A few thoughts. Couldn't you load up a private plane with some Gel-Cells and 300 or so surplus cellular phones with a computer to control them all and fly across country and wreak havoc? Also... if Verizon/Aircell installs this system... my guess is it is a private cell site for the plane with a microwave link to a ground station. The cell site can tell the phone to back the power down, but it would seem to me the threat of "electronic devices" would still be there even if the phone is running at 50mw instead of a full 600mw?
It is a shame SGI can get all the press whenever they mention Linux, but when they release innovative products that don't have the word "Linux" attached they largely go unnoticed. I admin a Origin 3800 or two and they are definitly nice boxes. SGI should have more of Sun's customers, their boxes are superior. If only they knew how to market... (And they need to ditch the duck, and ditch Linux. Linux people are poor and run crappy hardware. They get all excited and joyful over their peiced together miserable OS. FreeBSD is nice. IRIX is nice. Linux is for the 14 year olds!) And no, you don't run Doom III on an Origin. It isn't a joke, it isn't funny. You run applications that require large amounts of I/O. Weather modeling and non-clustered porn sites. THE DUCK WILL DIE!
Not that I am blessing the practice of pirating firmware code from the Pix, but there is one issue. I looked into doing this a while ago just to play with the Pix. I've heard horrible stories about how bad it's logging is, and how it is a firewall to avoid. I wanted to check it out for myself. However, the card with the flash memory contains a serial number prom which is required to execute the Pix code. When you buy that card, you are buying a serial number 2nd hand that is required by the Pix code to execute (from my understanding). Obviously these cards are coming out of Pix firewalls. I realize that some might be from upgrades, and that could nullify the argument. But since these serial numbered flash cards are required and are most likely pulls from failed boxes, wouldn't that mean the number of "pirated" pix firewalls will never exceed the number of legit pix firewalls that were sold (until someone hacks the firmware to load from a standard IDE disk or IDE sandisk, it wouldn't boot when I rawrited it to a sandisk). Not something Cisco really needs to worry about as the number of flash cards with serial proms is probably limited.