I've been doing this same business for 5 years now, three of those in an official 'commercial' capacity with varied levels of success.
I started at 16 and intended to make a big business out of it by the time I was out of high school. Then reality kicked in...
I'm 20 now and the business is comparable in revenue to that of a 20-30 hour minimum wage job (the same type of job I'd be doing), of course this varies big time.
I've learned, by dealing with assholes of all sorts, that it is a MUST to cover your ass on things like malware repair:
I fix their problem, and then explain preventative measures and tell them, "Unless you want me to come back in a month and charge you another $150, use FireFox, run adaware/spy-bot... yadda yadda" and IT WORKS, I make it plain to them that I am NOT in any way shape or form responsible for user error after I step out their front door. I also have a standing "Use at your own risk" policy on Kazaa and its brethren (I'll fix it, remove the malware (usually requires a reformat) and lecture about not using that stuff and telling them that if it happens again they will get no warranty from me because I told them NOT to use that shit.)
When I build a system, it's a similar deal, Cost of parts + + shipping + $100 for parts cost under $500, $150 for $500-1000 and $200 for server machines. This labor includes: formatting, OS install, update and config, drivers, FireFox, Tbird, open-office, winamp, avg (or users AV of-choice), adaware, video/audio codecs. Also it includes delivery and setup (just plugging in the cords, turning it on and getting it on the web, nothing more).
My warranties for new systems (through trial and error):
Parts: manufacturer supported
Labor+extra costs: 30 days from date of delivery (includes on-site HARDWARE and ORIGINAL CONFIG related issues) it beats the bathtub curve on dead hardware beyond my burn-in tests (had a lemon WD HD last week) most of the time, yet if they run and install Kazaa and it gets shot up with malware, I'm NOT fixing it for free...
I had a guy who I build a box for try to blame me (3 months after delivery) for a supposed lack of sound from the get-go. The problem: speaker plugged into wrong plug... not my fault, it worked when I set it up. I haven't seen that one since...
I charge $50/hr on-site residential, and from $50-$80 commercial depending on the job complexity.
I'll bring the box home with me after 3 hours and from there charge a flat $125 for reinstall/reformat or for hardware, cost of hardware or RMA ship + $30.
I tried dealing with distributors, but for the small-fry side job it isn't worth it, NewEgg or another quality online retailer works wonders, plus you get their warranties (usually 90 days), and charge cost (tell them, "I charge COST" add something for shipping (round up whatever the real cost is) and sales tax, then charge for labor and you're set.
Always... ALWAYS be friendly and professional.
Also have a pack with some essential repair/troubleshooting tools. A #2 phillips, knoppix, various windows emergency tools, memtest86, HD troubleshooters and a FLASH DRIVE go a long way. (I found a mini flashlight, a leatherman and a flashdrive on a keychain can get you out of a lot of scrapes). Bonus if you have a laptop and network cables, even a router or switch ) though not having a switch is an easy fix, just have a crossover cable, and if they ask why you don't have one... improvise.
Red Alert (hell, all of the C&C games) have really good scores, with C&C and RA standing out. Total Annihilation is another good qne, the game cues music based on action (a battle theme reves up when shots are fired, a "defeat" theme after you lost, a "victory" or "building" theme, etc...)
Starcraft was also great, in its own little musical way.
At my (now former) high school, the IT admins were absolutly inept, to the point that the Head honcho DOWNGRADED every last ibook from OSX.1 to 9.(whatever) because "OS Ten is too complicated" referring to the TCP/IP config and printing setup (entering IP's manually in a box for printer setup is apparently too complicated for him.) this is the same guy who thougt you could deploy 30 non-multicasted disk images @ 4GB a piece over a 10Mb unswitched LAN within a day... I know more about LAN security and the school's setup then he did, as the bloody student aide who's supposed to know shit...
I got a school issued ibook, immediatly RESTORED OSX proper, changed the admin codes to something SECURE, threw Firefox on there (as opposed to INTERNET EXPLORER!), and got IP printing working, and carried around a netgear WAP to every class to "allow me to print" when really i was surfing from class , i did do the work, though. I patched security holes the IT staff knew nothing about though I could not get them to keep the Primary Domain Controller / File Server box locked down (the console was logged in as admin, unlocked in a student-accessable room, every time i walked by i locked it down and even tyed with the idea of making the password something real.
I COULD have smashed the entire school LAN to cyberdust from my ibook and have the techs crying uncle, but I didn't, because every time there was a glitch, they came running to me!
My network, though simple, contains the following: 1 RCA Cable modem, comcast issue. 1 P2-350, gentoo, runs shorewall, and teamspeak. Serves TS for my lan party group, runs firewall and QoS between the intarweb and my lan, appropriatly named, the DHD)
1 Dual P2-400, gentoo again, LAMP, Blackbox via VNC, Bittorrent. Equipped with a 550GB RAID array. Acquired for its server class more then anything else. E-bay.
1 Athlon XP 1800. gentoo, LAMP (secondary to above), blackbox via VNC, serves as a makeshift terminal server. Also has a 800GB RAID array.
1 Athlon t'bird 1.3: Windows 2000, Radeon 7000 AIW, HTPC.
1 Athlon XP 3000 gaming box. dual head (interfaces to all nix boxen in another room)
1 P4 2.8 Sager 5690 laptop. mobile system. Windows XP Pro
1 Athlon XP 1800, windows 2000, connects to a HP PSC1300 inkjet/scanner, a Laserjet 1200 and a LJ 4si printer.
Workshop: space for three powered, 1 under repair boxen on a workbench, single console monitor. Servers have own KVM for local stuff.
Network: 1 cisco catalyst 8 port for server/workshop area, connected to an unmodded WRT54G in AP mode. A cat5 line runs to an Asante managed port serving all but one 'doze box (the third desktop is on the wireless).
Back in the day when All I had was a dinky inkjet and a HP Laserjet 5L, printing 50 page manuals (RPG, game, whatever) was a bear.
Now, I have an HP Laserjet 4si, secondhand from a repair shop (cost: free) repairs/add-ons: $25 for legal paper tray (@500 sheets) A jury-rigged roller fix repaired the lower tray. The thing has 1,750,000 pages on it and routeinly does 200 a day (supplemented by a newer and far less workhorseish HP LJ 1200). It supports duplexing, so all i'd need do is print a large document, then flip and re-feed. Cost of toner: $40 for a 800-page cart the cheap paper is 90% of the cost per page...
Solution for the commoner: find someone with one of these big, honkin' lasers, bring your own paper and print away, or find an old 4si on the cheap.
My last experience with windows permissions was very strange. You have windows SHARE permissions for network shares. and then you have FILESYSTEM perms for local lusers.
UNIX there is no distinction getween share and filesystem...
Furthermore in windows, i setup some strict NTFS perms on files, which after i reinstalled the OS (preserving said partition and perms (full control to admin only), the new system said (as admin) "you do not have permission to access this folder, please contact your system administrator." I screamed, bitched and moaned, tried my damndest to get the files out of there to no avail. Now I keep everything on *nix boxen anyway, perms are set nice and strict there.
Back in my early days of HS, i had the fancy to grab an A+ cert, followed by a CCNA and MCSE... I studied for the A+... then the changed the test and I didn't bother. I read a few MCSE books... got bad vibes.
I took a CCNA course (semesters 1 2 and 3), picked up every last vender-neutral concept I could. Then the thing started selling Cisco specific concepts, moving away from concept and towards (cisco specific) implementation, teaching you to hawk cisco gear as much as know the (cisco-bent) basics.
I quit.
Granted, I still admire cisco gear (my home lan has a Catalyst "micro switch" 8 port at its core (damn thing's huge). I realized at that point that locking myself into one vender was a Bad Thing(TM).
As one of the many techs who spew this 'Geek speak' at lusers, i have adopted a "scared straight" approach.
When I'm called to someone's home to fix a "slow, broken computer" they think they need a new one almost off the bat. Upon inspection, I typically fnd it infested from top to bottom with spyware, virii, etc. I run a adaware sanity check (it i can get it to install on the heavily fsck'ed boxen), after which i tell them I can salvage the computer in two ways: spend 6 hours trying to remove every bit of garbage with a less then 50% success rate, or spend 4 hours reinstalling everything (after a data backup, of course). they usually go with option two which gives me the opportunity to configure their system the R I G H T way... ya know, firefox, a real virus scanner, adaware, SP2 w/ autoupdate, etc, as well as sure up their hardware firewall (if they don't have one, i get one of em and charge em accordingly...) When the box is returned, they happily pay me and the next time i hear from them is when said box has a REAL problem, because i've tought them that "ignorance = lost $$$, knowledge + effort = saved $$$" works every time.
I graduated high school chomping at the bit, after the equivolent of two years high school and two years vocational studies in Computer Sciences (the stuff that gets you officiated for the trench-fighting support tech dweeb type)), i was ready to get out, especially after turning 18 in my junior year... I went straight to the local community college http://www.mccfl.edu/ in preparation for either USF. After 1.5 semesters, one filled with a dumber then a brick math 'prof' (after having a phenominal one in Sr yr HS), said 'prof' got replaced by a perminent sub who actually knew how to teach) and an English prof who didn't know the definition of a Research paper (dropped that one), i'm finally settling into a groove here. I'm still living at home (when you're parent's home is closer to school then 50% of the student housing and rent is a supreme bitch, you tend to stay put), I tinker with hardware and software in my free time, am involved with an organization or two (see.sig), and even have a proto-roommate (an old friend who stays here three days a week due to lack of internet conectivity at home (Geek + no net connection...) Oh yeah, and various scholarships provided by the state knock off 75% of my tuition costs and the fed grants pay the rest. CC tuition is so low, in fact that i get a chunk of change back in the middle of every semester (it's sad when the feds are paying YOU to go to college, ain't it).
The classes themselves feel much like high school, with more freedome attached, more lecturing and fewer restrictions. THe majority of teachers implement a "3 absences unexcused and you're out" policy, that although rarely enforced, makes sure you attend class regularly.
I'm 19, almost 20, don't drink, don't plan on it. Had a g/f, almost got her pregnant (that was hell), I've been through a lot in the last few years, still not planning on getting out of town until it becomes absolutly necessary.
I worked for Best Buy in their home audio/video department for all of two weeks. During that time I was pretty much forced to shove monster cables down the throats of anyone who bought a system that remotely required a cable of any sort. They have this cute little training flash-app-video-thing that explains the difference between their three brands of cables: Aceton (el cheapo) Acoustic Research (solid, best bang for your buck, but still not what BBY says the user should get) Monster Cable ("sell them this, this is what they want" rediculously overpriced, with many cute graphs and disgrams showing why they are uber'er then everything else) In my two weeks there, I never sold one stinking monster cable with anything, many, many AR cables, sure, just by looking at them the difference was minimal, both had decent shielding (hell, even RadioShack's gold series lines are OK), gold connectors and such, the only thing Monster had was dressed up cabling (more gold, bigass rubber insulation on everything) and a price tag 2x as high. I looked some of those monster cables in the price database (this was my 3rd day) that lists store cost and nearly fell over, I never even tried after that, there's something about screwing people that I just can't do...
Of course, I only lasted two weeks... they asked me to leave. I gladly left and have never even returned to shop there yet....
I recently had the chabce to watch the series of Babylon 5, stem to stern in a matter of weeks. It's some of the best sci-fi out there, even better then Trek in many places. With the exception of a chunk of Season 5, the series is wondergul (season 5 can be forgiven due to the planned nature of the show, having to cram all the arc into 4 seasons because of the looming Shadow (pardon the pun) of calcellation. THe characters all had a depth to them that Trek hasn't seen in years, and the show could be humorous without it being forced humor (recently, Trek must resort to this), not to mention the strong slew of female characters, the only trek series to do this was DS9 (surprise there... no Braga) with Kira and Dax, both are equally strong when compared to Ivonova and Delenn, IMO. B5 also pulled off the "Big 3" dynamic that the original Trek was so damn good at, although it became the Big 4 in later seasons (I don't have a problem with that).
If JMS wants to recreate Trek, I say bring it on. Ron Moore is busy with BSG and I can't think of anyone than those two (aside from Ira Behr and Robert Wolfe) who are even remotely qualified to make a great Trek.
I picked up an old-as-sin HP LaserJet 4si a year ago from a friendd cleaning out his old repair shop (got the beast for free) A little dusting, cleaning a few rollers, and jurry-rigging some misc hardware to get the topp tray feeder to work, and one e-bay acquired legal tray and a $40 toner cartridge (8000 page practical yield), total spent: $70. numbers: 2x 500 page paper trays (1 letter, 1 legal) output bin: 500 page 15 PPM Parellel interface
the damn thing dims the lights in the room when it spins up, but when printing 50 page sets several times a day, it can handle 3 sets without needing to be babysat, a 1200 OTOH has a 100 page output bin that overflows easily...
I recently attempted to build a myth box, after banging my head against the 2.6 kernel's compile errors, I got the thing working under 2.4. I learned to my dismay that the video card I'm using (a radeon 7000('s video out isn't supported in *nix. I installed Win2k, Media Player Classic and myHTPC as a frontend. I don't use a tuner for capture as the cable signal here sucks, so it's trictly a playback machine for torrents. I've d/l'ed all of Battlestar Galactica, Stargate [SG-1|Atlantis], Enterprise and Lost and have enjoyed them immensly. I recently watched BSG on sci-fi and was appaled at the crappy sound, picture quality and the 'mercials. With the amount of TV I watch, the torrent system works out perfectly.
Static time restrictions make sense.
If they REALLY need access after hours for a school project:
Demand documentation: i.e. a project outline from a teacher (including a due date, so extended hours will cease on that date, if they go overtime, tough).
If sufficient documentation isn't available, tell them "tough luck, better off researching rather than IM'ing"
I have three keyboards sitting in front of me, two IBM Model M's on my desktop and Laptop dock that get a LOT of heavy pounding (i show no mercy towards my keyboards) and one Logitech Wireless on my HTPC. Needless to say the Logitech is a piece of thin plastic and can't take much abuse.
If you have a public environment, space shouldn't be as big as issue as longevity of components. And as a plus, you won't have people taking a five-finger discount on your keyboards because the model M's look like junk.
a few years ago I had a P200 running red hat doing NAT and the like, it developed memory issues and was replaced with a Linksys BEFSR41. I "upgraded" to a netgear wireless router when I got a ibook thanks to my school. That leaked RAM like a sieve... Bought a WRT54G, now use that as a router/AP and the Netgear as a secondary AP (big house). The WRT54G has issues with my NAT over BT. As such, I'm building a PII 350 to run my routing again...
I actually USED a floppy disk for the first time in about a year last month, when installing Windows XP on a new VIA SATA chipset (no drivers)...
Other than that, I carry around a 512MB lexar flash drive on a lanyard that either camps out in my laptop bag or my pocket. My community college doesn't allow student computers on their network (the scare tactic is "we'll remove your computer by force" and/or the MAC needs to be registered, both i've proved are BS by jacking in:-) ) but they don't have word processors on half their machines:-/ so I just use my trusty flash drive to go from lappy to school box as PDF, print and be done with it. plus I have an automagic backup of all my printed work in 3.5 places (laptop as.doc and.pdf, flash drive as.pdf and the hard copy).
I gave my old 128MB drive to a friend, and it's been through a washing machine at least twice and still works! I'd like to see a floppy do that!
As far as boot utilities, with the exception of a needed RAID driver, I haven't used one in ages, i have a boot CD with a win9x boot floppy image that compliments my knoppix cd, but that's as close to boot floppy as I get. Haven't included floppies in client boxen in ages, they have to ask to get em, and the first thing I do when I get a mothballed box from somewhere is pull the plug on the floppy drive. Rather not remove altogether, I usually find a need for a floppy once every 3-6 months or so.
MNy english prof. recommends "get a floppy disk so you can save your writing on it or get a computer you can use yourself" my roommate and I who share that class immediatly whip out the flash drives, heh. If the students save their work to that one floppy (and they will), they'll be a roomful of crybabies come finals, and i'll just sit back and laugh.
I, too was inspired by Scotty.
My estimate rule (i'm a IT-for-hire guy, with more in common with Chief O'Brien than Scotty...):
Take actual time
multiply by factor of four (scotty's rule)
round down to lower time unit (week) to make it more reasonable.
Mr. Dophan, I salute you, without the Great Scotty, I would never have ventured into the field of electronics.
When school is around, I get ~5-6 hours of sleep a night, with caffeine to keep me awake (bad thing).
During the summer, it all goes to hell... I'll get my 7-10 hours in w/o any caffeine (good thing) but usually between the hours of 3am-noon (not so good thing).
Verdict: use copius amounts of alarm clocks to get self up after 5 hours or so, then crash ~ midnight to reset the clock.
so far, i've killed all of said alarm clocks and rolled over to catch a few more Z's. Next step is to set my computer to crank some music, i may smash and break alarm clocks, but doing the same to my box is another thing entirely...
Best way to go is RAID5, do it in software with Linux isn't much of a headache unless you change the size of it.
RAID 5 is N-1 where N is the size of a member partition, you don't have to use an entire disk.
For instance, my setup:
80GB HD
120GB HD
200GB HD
the raid 5 members are the size equivolent to the 80GB itself. the remaining space on the 120 houses the system and a few miscellaneous things, the remainder of the 200 is a 110GB file dump.
I just graduated High School (FLA), 2 years too late IMO.
When I turned 16, I immediatly enrolled in the county Night School (usually reserved for the Total Dumb Fucks who flunk out) I used it to pass all my social sciences classes (Am Hist, World Hist, Gov't and Econ, 3 creds total) in the span of 22 weeks, 2 hours a day 2 days a week. (instead of 2.5 years on a normal schedule or 1.25 on a block (my High School was on block).
I started my own business during my sophmore year, by the end of said year, I was ready for graduation.
My reading skills have been college level since 6th grade, my math scores decent, yadda, yadda. I had a disiplinarian, an airhead (2 years) and a crazy woman for english teachers... Science consisted of one real, real bad Physical Science (supposidly Honors...) class. The other 2 years were above average. Aside from my freshman year (math teacher had a voice like nails on a chalkboard...), math was OK, but finally picked up senior year when I had a real Geek friendly teacher (finally).
I spent two and a half years of High School in technical classes, all IT based, a fraction of that counts for credits at community college. (and the CCNA teacher broke up class every day for a hslf hour on 'how to improve your web site's search tanking' oy) Basically, except for a few bright spots senior year, HS was over for me end of 10th grade.
I'm one of those 'nontraditionslly bright' folk myself. I have Cerebal Palsy (right hemiparisis, limiting the use of my right extremedies). I type left handed, write left handed and don't run very well (Phys. Ed royally sucked ass).
My scores are above average except in math computation (scar tissue blasted most of that part of my brain), math problem solving skills, OTOH are 99th percentile (computation's in the 60's), I always have a calculator with me:)
Did I mention I was ready to leave HS in 10th grade.
Ending GPA: 3.475 (would have been higher had the asswipe in CCNA not given me bloody C's for getting 90's (A's) on the tests.)
I may be surrounded with idiots yet again in college, but at least this time I won't be restrained and force fed info I already know, like those last 2 years in HS.
I watched Toy Story in 1995, as a 10 year old. Nine years later, I'm still enthralled by all of Pixar's works. I've done four years of television & Film production classes in high school, so I have a good idea about the whole creative process. And at the level, the STORY is all you have. Pixar starts there. Their stories could be told with bounding boxes and still be interesting (OK, maybe stick figures, but you get the idea).
The stories include a rich, multithreadded plot (something the rest of Hollywood has yet to grasp of late), in-jokes, loveable characters, and the like. All of which take precedence over how it actually looks on screen. After the animators get done with it, you're left with one movie that kicks ass in every possible department (Oscars be DAMNED).
I've had AT&T here in SRQ, FL for several years. I live 1 mile from the local airport (SRQ), as such there are few towers around, add to that a house that could double as a military bunker (3-hole cinder block throughout, rebarb included...), a shitload of computers, a WAP and AT&T wireless and I get NEARLY NO SERVICE. that is, until after today. This afternoon, ATT service STOPPED within a 20 mile radius, now I get 3-4 bars on my V60i where 24 hours ago i got 1-2... strange.
As your run of the mill, quake playing male geek, I played the Sims a lot when it first came out. it wasn't until they added 7 expansion packs that things went downhill. Not so much the gameplay/content (the pathfinding improved slightly, though intelligent house design gets around that issue). the game itself slowed to a crawl on even a fast system with all the expansion packs installed. the 2d, CPU powered engine may have worked for the first 2 expacks, but starting with Hot Date the game started to slow down considerably, ramping up the textures on some of the new content while not taking into account that the entire thing is still cpu driven. the slowness/bloat drove me away.
the new content, actions, mayhem and engine are definate selling points for the Sims 2. too bad it's not due til september.
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I've been doing this same business for 5 years now, three of those in an official 'commercial' capacity with varied levels of success. I started at 16 and intended to make a big business out of it by the time I was out of high school. Then reality kicked in... I'm 20 now and the business is comparable in revenue to that of a 20-30 hour minimum wage job (the same type of job I'd be doing), of course this varies big time. I've learned, by dealing with assholes of all sorts, that it is a MUST to cover your ass on things like malware repair: I fix their problem, and then explain preventative measures and tell them, "Unless you want me to come back in a month and charge you another $150, use FireFox, run adaware/spy-bot... yadda yadda" and IT WORKS, I make it plain to them that I am NOT in any way shape or form responsible for user error after I step out their front door. I also have a standing "Use at your own risk" policy on Kazaa and its brethren (I'll fix it, remove the malware (usually requires a reformat) and lecture about not using that stuff and telling them that if it happens again they will get no warranty from me because I told them NOT to use that shit.) When I build a system, it's a similar deal, Cost of parts + + shipping + $100 for parts cost under $500, $150 for $500-1000 and $200 for server machines. This labor includes: formatting, OS install, update and config, drivers, FireFox, Tbird, open-office, winamp, avg (or users AV of-choice), adaware, video/audio codecs. Also it includes delivery and setup (just plugging in the cords, turning it on and getting it on the web, nothing more). My warranties for new systems (through trial and error): Parts: manufacturer supported Labor+extra costs: 30 days from date of delivery (includes on-site HARDWARE and ORIGINAL CONFIG related issues) it beats the bathtub curve on dead hardware beyond my burn-in tests (had a lemon WD HD last week) most of the time, yet if they run and install Kazaa and it gets shot up with malware, I'm NOT fixing it for free... I had a guy who I build a box for try to blame me (3 months after delivery) for a supposed lack of sound from the get-go. The problem: speaker plugged into wrong plug... not my fault, it worked when I set it up. I haven't seen that one since... I charge $50/hr on-site residential, and from $50-$80 commercial depending on the job complexity. I'll bring the box home with me after 3 hours and from there charge a flat $125 for reinstall/reformat or for hardware, cost of hardware or RMA ship + $30. I tried dealing with distributors, but for the small-fry side job it isn't worth it, NewEgg or another quality online retailer works wonders, plus you get their warranties (usually 90 days), and charge cost (tell them, "I charge COST" add something for shipping (round up whatever the real cost is) and sales tax, then charge for labor and you're set. Always... ALWAYS be friendly and professional. Also have a pack with some essential repair/troubleshooting tools. A #2 phillips, knoppix, various windows emergency tools, memtest86, HD troubleshooters and a FLASH DRIVE go a long way. (I found a mini flashlight, a leatherman and a flashdrive on a keychain can get you out of a lot of scrapes). Bonus if you have a laptop and network cables, even a router or switch ) though not having a switch is an easy fix, just have a crossover cable, and if they ask why you don't have one... improvise.
Red Alert (hell, all of the C&C games) have really good scores, with C&C and RA standing out.
Total Annihilation is another good qne, the game cues music based on action (a battle theme reves up when shots are fired, a "defeat" theme after you lost, a "victory" or "building" theme, etc...)
Starcraft was also great, in its own little musical way.
Put that $21 million into the 3 big shows, $7 mil tob each and watch the ratings jump!
At my (now former) high school, the IT admins were absolutly inept, to the point that the Head honcho DOWNGRADED every last ibook from OSX.1 to 9.(whatever) because "OS Ten is too complicated" referring to the TCP/IP config and printing setup (entering IP's manually in a box for printer setup is apparently too complicated for him.)
this is the same guy who thougt you could deploy 30 non-multicasted disk images @ 4GB a piece over a 10Mb unswitched LAN within a day...
I know more about LAN security and the school's setup then he did, as the bloody student aide who's supposed to know shit...
I got a school issued ibook, immediatly RESTORED OSX proper, changed the admin codes to something SECURE, threw Firefox on there (as opposed to INTERNET EXPLORER!), and got IP printing working, and carried around a netgear WAP to every class to "allow me to print" when really i was surfing from class , i did do the work, though.
I patched security holes the IT staff knew nothing about though I could not get them to keep the Primary Domain Controller / File Server box locked down (the console was logged in as admin, unlocked in a student-accessable room, every time i walked by i locked it down and even tyed with the idea of making the password something real.
I COULD have smashed the entire school LAN to cyberdust from my ibook and have the techs crying uncle, but I didn't, because every time there was a glitch, they came running to me!
My network, though simple, contains the following:
1 RCA Cable modem, comcast issue.
1 P2-350, gentoo, runs shorewall, and teamspeak. Serves TS for my lan party group, runs firewall and QoS between the intarweb and my lan, appropriatly named, the DHD)
1 Dual P2-400, gentoo again, LAMP, Blackbox via VNC, Bittorrent.
Equipped with a 550GB RAID array. Acquired for its server class more then anything else. E-bay.
1 Athlon XP 1800. gentoo, LAMP (secondary to above), blackbox via VNC, serves as a makeshift terminal server. Also has a 800GB RAID array.
1 Athlon t'bird 1.3: Windows 2000, Radeon 7000 AIW, HTPC.
1 Athlon XP 3000 gaming box. dual head (interfaces to all nix boxen in another room)
1 P4 2.8 Sager 5690 laptop. mobile system. Windows XP Pro
1 Athlon XP 1800, windows 2000, connects to a HP PSC1300 inkjet/scanner, a Laserjet 1200 and a LJ 4si printer.
Workshop:
space for three powered, 1 under repair boxen on a workbench, single console monitor. Servers have own KVM for local stuff.
Network:
1 cisco catalyst 8 port for server/workshop area, connected to an unmodded WRT54G in AP mode. A cat5 line runs to an Asante managed port serving all but one 'doze box (the third desktop is on the wireless).
Back in the day when All I had was a dinky inkjet and a HP Laserjet 5L, printing 50 page manuals (RPG, game, whatever) was a bear.
Now, I have an HP Laserjet 4si, secondhand from a repair shop (cost: free)
repairs/add-ons: $25 for legal paper tray (@500 sheets)
A jury-rigged roller fix repaired the lower tray.
The thing has 1,750,000 pages on it and routeinly does 200 a day (supplemented by a newer and far less workhorseish HP LJ 1200). It supports duplexing, so all i'd need do is print a large document, then flip and re-feed.
Cost of toner: $40 for a 800-page cart
the cheap paper is 90% of the cost per page...
Solution for the commoner:
find someone with one of these big, honkin' lasers, bring your own paper and print away, or find an old 4si on the cheap.
My last experience with windows permissions was very strange.
You have windows SHARE permissions for network shares. and then you have FILESYSTEM perms for local lusers.
UNIX there is no distinction getween share and filesystem...
Furthermore in windows, i setup some strict NTFS perms on files, which after i reinstalled the OS (preserving said partition and perms (full control to admin only), the new system said (as admin) "you do not have permission to access this folder, please contact your system administrator."
I screamed, bitched and moaned, tried my damndest to get the files out of there to no avail. Now I keep everything on *nix boxen anyway, perms are set nice and strict there.
Back in my early days of HS, i had the fancy to grab an A+ cert, followed by a CCNA and MCSE...
I studied for the A+... then the changed the test and I didn't bother.
I read a few MCSE books... got bad vibes.
I took a CCNA course (semesters 1 2 and 3), picked up every last vender-neutral concept I could. Then the thing started selling Cisco specific concepts, moving away from concept and towards (cisco specific) implementation, teaching you to hawk cisco gear as much as know the (cisco-bent) basics.
I quit.
Granted, I still admire cisco gear (my home lan has a Catalyst "micro switch" 8 port at its core (damn thing's huge). I realized at that point that locking myself into one vender was a Bad Thing(TM).
As one of the many techs who spew this 'Geek speak' at lusers, i have adopted a "scared straight" approach.
When I'm called to someone's home to fix a "slow, broken computer" they think they need a new one almost off the bat. Upon inspection, I typically fnd it infested from top to bottom with spyware, virii, etc. I run a adaware sanity check (it i can get it to install on the heavily fsck'ed boxen), after which i tell them I can salvage the computer in two ways: spend 6 hours trying to remove every bit of garbage with a less then 50% success rate, or spend 4 hours reinstalling everything (after a data backup, of course). they usually go with option two which gives me the opportunity to configure their system the R I G H T way... ya know, firefox, a real virus scanner, adaware, SP2 w/ autoupdate, etc, as well as sure up their hardware firewall (if they don't have one, i get one of em and charge em accordingly...)
When the box is returned, they happily pay me and the next time i hear from them is when said box has a REAL problem, because i've tought them that "ignorance = lost $$$, knowledge + effort = saved $$$"
works every time.
I graduated high school chomping at the bit, after the equivolent of two years high school and two years vocational studies in Computer Sciences (the stuff that gets you officiated for the trench-fighting support tech dweeb type)), i was ready to get out, especially after turning 18 in my junior year... .sig), and even have a proto-roommate (an old friend who stays here three days a week due to lack of internet conectivity at home (Geek + no net connection...)
I went straight to the local community college http://www.mccfl.edu/ in preparation for either USF. After 1.5 semesters, one filled with a dumber then a brick math 'prof' (after having a phenominal one in Sr yr HS), said 'prof' got replaced by a perminent sub who actually knew how to teach) and an English prof who didn't know the definition of a Research paper (dropped that one), i'm finally settling into a groove here.
I'm still living at home (when you're parent's home is closer to school then 50% of the student housing and rent is a supreme bitch, you tend to stay put), I tinker with hardware and software in my free time, am involved with an organization or two (see
Oh yeah, and various scholarships provided by the state knock off 75% of my tuition costs and the fed grants pay the rest. CC tuition is so low, in fact that i get a chunk of change back in the middle of every semester (it's sad when the feds are paying YOU to go to college, ain't it).
The classes themselves feel much like high school, with more freedome attached, more lecturing and fewer restrictions. THe majority of teachers implement a "3 absences unexcused and you're out" policy, that although rarely enforced, makes sure you attend class regularly.
I'm 19, almost 20, don't drink, don't plan on it. Had a g/f, almost got her pregnant (that was hell), I've been through a lot in the last few years, still not planning on getting out of town until it becomes absolutly necessary.
I worked for Best Buy in their home audio/video department for all of two weeks. During that time I was pretty much forced to shove monster cables down the throats of anyone who bought a system that remotely required a cable of any sort. They have this cute little training flash-app-video-thing that explains the difference between their three brands of cables:
Aceton (el cheapo)
Acoustic Research (solid, best bang for your buck, but still not what BBY says the user should get)
Monster Cable ("sell them this, this is what they want" rediculously overpriced, with many cute graphs and disgrams showing why they are uber'er then everything else)
In my two weeks there, I never sold one stinking monster cable with anything, many, many AR cables, sure, just by looking at them the difference was minimal, both had decent shielding (hell, even RadioShack's gold series lines are OK), gold connectors and such, the only thing Monster had was dressed up cabling (more gold, bigass rubber insulation on everything) and a price tag 2x as high. I looked some of those monster cables in the price database (this was my 3rd day) that lists store cost and nearly fell over, I never even tried after that, there's something about screwing people that I just can't do...
Of course, I only lasted two weeks... they asked me to leave. I gladly left and have never even returned to shop there yet....
I recently had the chabce to watch the series of Babylon 5, stem to stern in a matter of weeks. It's some of the best sci-fi out there, even better then Trek in many places.
With the exception of a chunk of Season 5, the series is wondergul (season 5 can be forgiven due to the planned nature of the show, having to cram all the arc into 4 seasons because of the looming Shadow (pardon the pun) of calcellation.
THe characters all had a depth to them that Trek hasn't seen in years, and the show could be humorous without it being forced humor (recently, Trek must resort to this), not to mention the strong slew of female characters, the only trek series to do this was DS9 (surprise there... no Braga) with Kira and Dax, both are equally strong when compared to Ivonova and Delenn, IMO.
B5 also pulled off the "Big 3" dynamic that the original Trek was so damn good at, although it became the Big 4 in later seasons (I don't have a problem with that).
If JMS wants to recreate Trek, I say bring it on.
Ron Moore is busy with BSG and I can't think of anyone than those two (aside from Ira Behr and Robert Wolfe) who are even remotely qualified to make a great Trek.
I picked up an old-as-sin HP LaserJet 4si a year ago from a friendd cleaning out his old repair shop (got the beast for free)
A little dusting, cleaning a few rollers, and jurry-rigging some misc hardware to get the topp tray feeder to work, and one e-bay acquired legal tray and a $40 toner cartridge (8000 page practical yield), total spent: $70.
numbers:
2x 500 page paper trays (1 letter, 1 legal)
output bin: 500 page
15 PPM
Parellel interface
the damn thing dims the lights in the room when it spins up, but when printing 50 page sets several times a day, it can handle 3 sets without needing to be babysat, a 1200 OTOH has a 100 page output bin that overflows easily...
If you can find one, get one.
I recently attempted to build a myth box, after banging my head against the 2.6 kernel's compile errors, I got the thing working under 2.4. I learned to my dismay that the video card I'm using (a radeon 7000('s video out isn't supported in *nix.
I installed Win2k, Media Player Classic and myHTPC as a frontend.
I don't use a tuner for capture as the cable signal here sucks, so it's trictly a playback machine for torrents.
I've d/l'ed all of Battlestar Galactica, Stargate [SG-1|Atlantis], Enterprise and Lost and have enjoyed them immensly.
I recently watched BSG on sci-fi and was appaled at the crappy sound, picture quality and the 'mercials. With the amount of TV I watch, the torrent system works out perfectly.
Static time restrictions make sense. If they REALLY need access after hours for a school project: Demand documentation: i.e. a project outline from a teacher (including a due date, so extended hours will cease on that date, if they go overtime, tough). If sufficient documentation isn't available, tell them "tough luck, better off researching rather than IM'ing"
I have three keyboards sitting in front of me, two IBM Model M's on my desktop and Laptop dock that get a LOT of heavy pounding (i show no mercy towards my keyboards) and one Logitech Wireless on my HTPC.
Needless to say the Logitech is a piece of thin plastic and can't take much abuse.
If you have a public environment, space shouldn't be as big as issue as longevity of components. And as a plus, you won't have people taking a five-finger discount on your keyboards because the model M's look like junk.
a few years ago I had a P200 running red hat doing NAT and the like, it developed memory issues and was replaced with a Linksys BEFSR41. I "upgraded" to a netgear wireless router when I got a ibook thanks to my school. That leaked RAM like a sieve...
Bought a WRT54G, now use that as a router/AP and the Netgear as a secondary AP (big house).
The WRT54G has issues with my NAT over BT. As such, I'm building a PII 350 to run my routing again...
I actually USED a floppy disk for the first time in about a year last month, when installing Windows XP on a new VIA SATA chipset (no drivers)...
:-) ) but they don't have word processors on half their machines :-/ so I just use my trusty flash drive to go from lappy to school box as PDF, print and be done with it. plus I have an automagic backup of all my printed work in 3.5 places (laptop as .doc and .pdf, flash drive as .pdf and the hard copy).
Other than that, I carry around a 512MB lexar flash drive on a lanyard that either camps out in my laptop bag or my pocket. My community college doesn't allow student computers on their network (the scare tactic is "we'll remove your computer by force" and/or the MAC needs to be registered, both i've proved are BS by jacking in
I gave my old 128MB drive to a friend, and it's been through a washing machine at least twice and still works! I'd like to see a floppy do that!
As far as boot utilities, with the exception of a needed RAID driver, I haven't used one in ages, i have a boot CD with a win9x boot floppy image that compliments my knoppix cd, but that's as close to boot floppy as I get.
Haven't included floppies in client boxen in ages, they have to ask to get em, and the first thing I do when I get a mothballed box from somewhere is pull the plug on the floppy drive.
Rather not remove altogether, I usually find a need for a floppy once every 3-6 months or so.
MNy english prof. recommends "get a floppy disk so you can save your writing on it or get a computer you can use yourself" my roommate and I who share that class immediatly whip out the flash drives, heh.
If the students save their work to that one floppy (and they will), they'll be a roomful of crybabies come finals, and i'll just sit back and laugh.
I, too was inspired by Scotty. My estimate rule (i'm a IT-for-hire guy, with more in common with Chief O'Brien than Scotty...): Take actual time multiply by factor of four (scotty's rule) round down to lower time unit (week) to make it more reasonable. Mr. Dophan, I salute you, without the Great Scotty, I would never have ventured into the field of electronics.
When school is around, I get ~5-6 hours of sleep a night, with caffeine to keep me awake (bad thing).
During the summer, it all goes to hell...
I'll get my 7-10 hours in w/o any caffeine (good thing) but usually between the hours of 3am-noon (not so good thing).
Verdict:
use copius amounts of alarm clocks to get self up after 5 hours or so, then crash ~ midnight to reset the clock.
so far, i've killed all of said alarm clocks and rolled over to catch a few more Z's.
Next step is to set my computer to crank some music, i may smash and break alarm clocks, but doing the same to my box is another thing entirely...
Best way to go is RAID5, do it in software with Linux isn't much of a headache unless you change the size of it. RAID 5 is N-1 where N is the size of a member partition, you don't have to use an entire disk. For instance, my setup: 80GB HD 120GB HD 200GB HD the raid 5 members are the size equivolent to the 80GB itself. the remaining space on the 120 houses the system and a few miscellaneous things, the remainder of the 200 is a 110GB file dump.
I just graduated High School (FLA), 2 years too late IMO. When I turned 16, I immediatly enrolled in the county Night School (usually reserved for the Total Dumb Fucks who flunk out) I used it to pass all my social sciences classes (Am Hist, World Hist, Gov't and Econ, 3 creds total) in the span of 22 weeks, 2 hours a day 2 days a week. (instead of 2.5 years on a normal schedule or 1.25 on a block (my High School was on block). I started my own business during my sophmore year, by the end of said year, I was ready for graduation. My reading skills have been college level since 6th grade, my math scores decent, yadda, yadda. I had a disiplinarian, an airhead (2 years) and a crazy woman for english teachers... Science consisted of one real, real bad Physical Science (supposidly Honors...) class. The other 2 years were above average. Aside from my freshman year (math teacher had a voice like nails on a chalkboard...), math was OK, but finally picked up senior year when I had a real Geek friendly teacher (finally). I spent two and a half years of High School in technical classes, all IT based, a fraction of that counts for credits at community college. (and the CCNA teacher broke up class every day for a hslf hour on 'how to improve your web site's search tanking' oy) Basically, except for a few bright spots senior year, HS was over for me end of 10th grade. I'm one of those 'nontraditionslly bright' folk myself. I have Cerebal Palsy (right hemiparisis, limiting the use of my right extremedies). I type left handed, write left handed and don't run very well (Phys. Ed royally sucked ass). My scores are above average except in math computation (scar tissue blasted most of that part of my brain), math problem solving skills, OTOH are 99th percentile (computation's in the 60's), I always have a calculator with me :)
Did I mention I was ready to leave HS in 10th grade.
Ending GPA: 3.475 (would have been higher had the asswipe in CCNA not given me bloody C's for getting 90's (A's) on the tests.)
I may be surrounded with idiots yet again in college, but at least this time I won't be restrained and force fed info I already know, like those last 2 years in HS.
I watched Toy Story in 1995, as a 10 year old.
Nine years later, I'm still enthralled by all of Pixar's works. I've done four years of television & Film production classes in high school, so I have a good idea about the whole creative process. And at the level, the STORY is all you have. Pixar starts there. Their stories could be told with bounding boxes and still be interesting (OK, maybe stick figures, but you get the idea).
The stories include a rich, multithreadded plot (something the rest of Hollywood has yet to grasp of late), in-jokes, loveable characters, and the like. All of which take precedence over how it actually looks on screen. After the animators get done with it, you're left with one movie that kicks ass in every possible department (Oscars be DAMNED).
When's the next movie coming out?
I've had AT&T here in SRQ, FL for several years.
I live 1 mile from the local airport (SRQ), as such there are few towers around, add to that a house that could double as a military bunker (3-hole cinder block throughout, rebarb included...), a shitload of computers, a WAP and AT&T wireless and I get NEARLY NO SERVICE. that is, until after today.
This afternoon, ATT service STOPPED within a 20 mile radius, now I get 3-4 bars on my V60i where 24 hours ago i got 1-2... strange.
As your run of the mill, quake playing male geek, I played the Sims a lot when it first came out.
it wasn't until they added 7 expansion packs that things went downhill. Not so much the gameplay/content (the pathfinding improved slightly, though intelligent house design gets around that issue). the game itself slowed to a crawl on even a fast system with all the expansion packs installed.
the 2d, CPU powered engine may have worked for the first 2 expacks, but starting with Hot Date the game started to slow down considerably, ramping up the textures on some of the new content while not taking into account that the entire thing is still cpu driven. the slowness/bloat drove me away.
the new content, actions, mayhem and engine are definate selling points for the Sims 2. too bad it's not due til september.