You can actually virtualize a whole lot of things. The real key is to put a lot of money into the virtualization hosts. CPUs/cores, ram, a really good storage system.
For the small budget, you can get by on a lot less.
I have virtualized several entire development stacks (app servers, DB servers, storage servers, reporting servers). {But you trade a bit of performance for a reduced physical server count (10 or 15 to 1? A pretty good tradeoff if done right)} You CAN virtualize SQL servers. Most business DB servers at the small shop end are fairly light load (like finance systems) and virtualize well. {But if performance makes you money (ie: you have a SAAS product - then stay physical } You CAN virtualize an entire Cognos stack (it is made up of many servers depending on how complex your environment is). {However, IBM is correct that in a heavy BI workload environment deserves physical servers. I run over 18,000 reports a day on my produciton stack. Not going to virtualize that any time soon.} You CAN virtualize entire profit generating websites. {As long as you keep an eye on host CPU and perceived performance at the end user level} You can virtualize a lot of this in relatively small environments.
But.. Everyone here who has said it is correct: DISK IO is a major contention point. If you stuff all of your virtual machines inside one single giant data store (VMWare term for a single large disk partition) and expect super fast performance 100% of the time, then you will be greatly disappointed. One of my own stacks would grind to very intollerable performance levels whenever someone restored a database to the virtualized DB server. We moved that DB server virtual machine's disk load onto dedicated drives while leaving the machine itself virtiaulize, and all those problems went away.
Do not virtualize anything thar requires multiple CPUs (cores) to operate efficently. SQL Server is an example fo something that works better with multiple CPUs at its beck and call. In virtualization though, getting all the CPU requests to line up into one availabe window bogs the whole virtual machine down (jsut the VM, not the host). If your workload can't survive on a single virtual CPU, or two at most (single core each), then you are best to keep it on a physical server.
Time sensative systems and high compute workload processes are also ideally to be left out of virtualization. Except.. If you can put a beefy enough box under them, then you might get away with it and not notice a performance impact.
The biggest mistake made when going into virtualization (besides not planning for your DISK IO needs) seems to be over provisioning too many virtual machines on a host. This is a dark trap if you are lucky to have the money to build out a high availability virtualization cluster. You spread you load across your nodes in the cluster. Then one day one goes off line and that workload moves to another node. If you only have two nodes, and one is already over subscribed, suddenly the surviving node is way over its head and everything suffers until you get in and start throttling non esscential workloads down.
So, what do you not virtualize? Anything where performance is critical to its acceptance and succcess. Anything that a performance drop can cost you money or customers. (Remember that internal users are also customers).
Plan ahead ALOT. If you feel like your not going in the right direction, pay for a consultant to come in and help design the solution Even if it is only for a few hours. (No. I am not a consultant. Not for hire.)
A problem I have here is the definition of 'long term'. To each of us it means something different.
In my job I have to archive 1.6 terabytes of data per day, and keep it around for 45 days (which, BTW, is not my definition of LONG TERM). For this task I utilize Data Domain storage, which utilizes data deduplication techniques for massive compression.
What you find is that at the block level your data may in fact be incredibly deduplicatable. In my case it very much the situation. I am currently storing 86 terabytes of rolling archives within 2.5 terabytes of physical disk space.
The problem with any technology you use for 'long term' storage is the ability to read those archives later. Assuming the media doesn't self degrade inside of the time frame you call 'long term', you must have the tools to read that media again. If you use BluRay, then you must store a compatible drive with it. (Nothing says Sony will not change the standard in two years and make all current drives obsolete, so no one makes them any more). Tape is worse, in that in two major model revisions, drives wont be able to read your media because its density is to low for the new drive head technology. Hardware based disk raid has the issue that the controller the raid was built with needs to stay with that raid. Another controller from the same manufacture, with the same model number, but a different firmware revision may not be able to figure out the raid, and declare the drives empty. Software raid is a little easier to deal with as long as you keep a copy of the OS you used to create it with in the same box. But then, during your defined 'long term' period, will you still have access to a system you can even plug these drives into, or run the OS on?
What you end up dealing with in reality is that as an archivist, you either ignore these facts, or you invest in a constant media / technology refresh and spend large amounts of time keeping your archives on the latest storage available.
Of course, all this falls apart if your definition of 'long term' isn't as long as some will project. In my case, my archives roll over every 45 days. I could easily keep that data alive for years on a live piece of hardware with a service contract. If I do not trust that hardware enough, I can buy two and replicate between them. (which, actually I am, for disaster recovery purposes)
With deduplication my (acknowledged) high initial investment quickly outweighs the cost of single purpose drives holding one copy, and wasting unused space. My purchase cost was less then $60k, but if I had to store all of that data in its raw form, my costs would be in the millions. However, if the data is not deduplicatable, then of course it is a moot point.
Each answer has it flaws. You decide which risks are acceptable, plan your best to deal with obsolesce, and define your definition of 'long term'. You also have to be ready to change your solution, when the one you choose today, fails to be the right solution for your needs in 5 years.
Overweight people will be banned from a game if they don't 'get fit'. Those who really want to play will then 'get to it' and get in shape.
Of course with all that exercise and new activity they are participating in will slowly bring them to realize there is something else to life then online avatar based games (with very shallow user access requirements). Slowly they will turn away from such games and begin doing things that are more active and fit in with their new health conscious life style.
Profits in gaming start to fall off because they banned all the people who pay to play and be someone else. When they got to the point they would qualify to play the game, they no longer had the mindset to want to play the game.
Compared to some of the PDAs I have owned over the years, this is pretty darn competitive.
My Zaurus (5500) runs linux, and has a tiny but workable keyboard, but battery life sucks at just over an hour.
My Sony Clie had better battery life, and a funky keyboard, but was PALM OS, and had SONY own design for connectors.
My Windows CE PDA taught me that 'just cause it uses the word "Windows" does not mean it works that same or runs anything you have'.
So this has a good keyboard (not just for thumbs!), runs a real version of Windows. Has a touch screen. Even has connectors you can plug things into you might actually want to anyway. Has 4 hours battery life (umm.. maybe), and can work with your TV.
This is like the PDA dream come true.
Heck, they haven't been 'pocket sized' for quite some time. So this ones a little bigger. So?
Hmmm.. If you can convince your library to setup some wireless HDMI TVs, then all they need is the WIFI network (they probably already setup) and you can bring your own computer!
Who needs laptops now?:-)
Also Hmmm... Who will write the first USB slave app that turns this into a real keyboard (HID device) for another computer and lets you do two things at once like a KVM does?
I loved this game. They even accounted for Paradoxes. But, the concept does get a bit old when you beat you head on a puzzle trying to plan "x" far ahead in order to complete the puzzle. (coolest effect - using "pause time" in one loop, then seeing it get used in a later loop)
So, yeah. Not so new.
And so now, two games that might make me want to buy a PS3. Hmmm.. Still not worth it.
But then, I bought a Xbox 360 for one game: Fable 2. So, what do I know about worthwhile purchases.?
You know, my drivers license doesn't protect me from the so called 'auto' criminals. It doesn't certify that I will not purchase products that are unsafe or illegal. Nor does it guarantee I will not be taken advantage of by so called 'auto' security experts, 'auto' technicians, or other unscrupulous parties.
Will an operators license for my computer insure I won't crash into someone? Or that I at least know how to not crash into someone on the information super highway?
They are industrial oriented. You can get all sorts of solutions, of which the most universal would be serial based. You can connect those up to almost anything with a serial port, fill it up with large rolls of labels and drive it all in your own code if you want to.
Yes, I know, their own software is Windows based. Don't let that be the stumbling block.
Two jobs ago I worked at a luxury goods manufacturer and we printed items tags on a SATO serial printer off of our main frame. Its just a matter of sending the right control codes over the serial port.
Do you remember the last time they tried to introduce a new Windows platform on a non-Intel based architecture?
Yes, it was Windows CE.
The biggest stumbling block was that MS made it look to much like Windows and gave it a confusing name. Users who bought in wondered why none of their favorite apps would work.
If MS went with an ARM architecture, the biggest issue would be everything else. All your apps would have to be specifically compiled to run on one architecture or the other. (Didn't Apple have this problem, and come up with FAT Bits and then carbon?) How many sales would be lost because WoW or game of the day doesn't run on that yet?
Or ARM would have to implement an X86 compatibility layer.
Hmmm. Windows 8 Ultimate Extreme Business Gamer ARM Edition Pro. Sounds like a winning SKU to me.
I have one of these. You have to import it. (try Dynamism).
Many makers not normally seen in the United States (outside of the specialist crowd) have already done this. The small format convertible tablet PC has been around for a while.
Gigabyte did a pretty good job and the hinge point (much like on my Toshiba R15) is the biggest concern. So far it is rock solid and if you ever get to see a tear down screen shot, you would see a fairly solid design.
The price point sucked. You were trading money for the touch screen and pivot. Otherwise, for the most part is very much like a 9 inch EEE.
The other down side is a poor power management design. This thing eats its battery pretty quickly, even when turned off. (Don't get me started).
I bought mine just after ASUS showed off both the 9inch tablet PC and 10inch units at the comdex show. I knew they wouldn't be shipping for a long time and had no idea if the price would be as bad.
Tablets are a special market space - they definitely are not for heavy duty gamers, and are bigger and heavier then kindles, so they make poor basic duty ebook readers. But they are head and shoulders over Kindle due to their high res color displays (at the price of power) and their excellent general purpose abilities. (Go ahead, try and run Windows and Linux and OSX on a kindle).
Every time I see the price of a kindle or other ebook reader, I look at my $1500 Toshiba, or my $700 M912 and realize I have the better of the deal. This unit from ASUS could very easily define a whole new market space the same way the original EEE did.
Water as we know it contains Oxygen. Buy one, get the other for no extra charge.
Life as we know it is the rub here. Are we looking for planets that will potentially have life forms that are some how similar to those we know of on our own world?
Or are we really looking for a place to colonize one day?
If it is the later, then looking for water is logical.
If it is not, then really, open your mind and realize that 'life as we know it' is a very short sighted perspective. Out there in the universe is a silicon based civilization looking for worlds bathed in methane simply because it is quite obvious to anyone intelligent that this is the only type of work the 'life as they know it' could possible have a chance of being created.
Oh, and I would suggest opening your mind to broader horizons because some of those oxygen breathing, water oriented life forms I know can be real bastards.
No you don't. Want this, I mean. Well, maybe you do. You just don't know you don't yet.
HMD's are a cool concept. Your cell phone (smart phone preferably) is a far better instrument then an HMD at this juncture in time. However if you want to play in that arena, then go ahead. There are plenty of solutions for doing so out there right now if you have the money.
But in reality you begin to realize what you are doing is skimming the surface of an entirely different realm called 'pervasive computing'. That is where the really cool stuff is at. That is what drives your HMD (or other output or interactive systems) then puts the cool stuff in front of you in the ways the 'augmented reality' does.
And yet, go figure, my cell phone does all of this right now, in a high powered, long battery life (relatively speaking) platform. It can tell me where I am, it can remember things for me (but cant tell me who someone is just by a photo), and it makes for a superb remote commnications platform with direct access to the internet. These were all the "that would be so cool" ideas we all wanted to do back 9 years ago when I bought my first HMD and started dabbling in wearable computing. All the hardware, the HMD, the batteries to drive it all, the ugly cabling holding it all together, has all been surpassed by a small 2 inch by 4 inch brick with far more horse power and a cool color screen. And I can hold it in front of my face and see what is beyond it as I walk down the street (Well, I hear there is an APP for that). And it costs a hell of a lot less then a single low resolution HMD.
However, if your want to get into the research side of pervasive computing and augmented reality, then an HMD is a great starting point. Once you have it in front of your face you begin to see (or not see) what it is really good for and even ways it can be leveraged. Once you understand this box, you can step out of it and see the even larger world around you and how the HMD can be used to enhance this world. Or even further, how to enhance this world without the need for a head mounted display and the limits it brings.
I already have most of what you want in the palm of my hand, paid less then what you will for your dream and will throw it away in less then three years.
But sure, go get your HMD and start working on the dream. You could get rich along the way if you can figure out how to fulfill your list and at the same time figure out how to market it. Before there is an App for that of course.
Aimed at doing remote admin with handhelds (think blackberry). So its an optimized server side interface for doing all sorts of things to remote servers via very low bandwidth (so to speak) where an RDP session isn't going to cut it.
Why not so safe? When you power cycle a server, if it does not come back the way you expected, you need some way (or some one) to look at the 'glass' to see why its not coming back up. ILO or DRAK cards give you this access remotely. A KVM with IP access will also give you remote access to the video out for most servers. ILO and DRAK can power cycle the box again for you - KVM itself can not.
If you have a body on call in true emergencies, then Mobile Admin might be more of what you need. Maybe.
Based on the quicky over view of it on the NATIONAL site, I see this is nothing more then my Sony CLIE NZ-90.
The NZ-90 is a great PALM OS5 based PDA with pretty good multimedia capabilities. Its built in 2 megapixel camera can record video, take picture (well.. duh..), and work as a web cam for video conferencing.
I use it to watch movies, take pics, play games, etc. If I popped for a wifi card for it (trust me, I have done that once on a pda and will never do it again - just the wrong size platform to be more then a gimmick) I could surf the net, read email, and things like that.
The only real difference here is it (as described) incorporates a phone. Which makes it no different then a couple of HP Ipaq smart phones out there (except for the fold up format).
Unless it has some serious horse power (at a cost of battery time!), it will have to have something else then what is described by National, because yet another media convergence device / PDA / Phone has little market value. That is why everyone keeps pulling out of the US market space for PDAs. No one wants to spend $800 for device. Out side of must have gadget collectors and bleeding edge tech junkies.
I got my fix with my NZ-90 (which, BTW isn't even made anymore) and its held out for over 3 years now. I am certainly not the market segment for this possible new device.
TV (series)is just episodic movies. It is a model that works. Each episode (regardless of time to release) contains more of some things, new other things, plenty of old stuff that works, etc.
Now put this in the context of a game. Sure it is a new model, but the idea is the same. Popularity in some aspects will drive further development of those elements that draw the most people in and keep them coming back. Less popular elements will fall out. You will 'watch' the next episode if you want to or you wont.
But two things stand out in my mind here
Sellable advertising will be more easily integrated and kept fresh
You are going to hollar up a big storm when your favorite episodic content decides to cancel just after their latest cliffhanger
Do I smell a 'Sign this web petition to "save SiN episode 5" from being cancelled' in the air in the future?
There is direct thermal, in which the surface get heated at the contact point, and the specially treated paper (label, what ever)turns black at the point of contact. this is how many old fax machines worked. Yes, indeed, if you got the old style fax paper exposed to heat later, it would turn nasty colors of grey or brown.
Another type of termal printer is called Termal transfer. It used a heating element and a ribbon. Where the printing occurs, the heat transfers the image to the label via the ribbon. this is much like those little label printers may people use now in place of the really old dymo click and spin label printer of yesteryear.
A good maker of label printers that work great is Sato America.
Like many people I bought into the DYMO brand and p[icked up their USB/serial desktop printer. But when it failed my business needs I fell back to my previous exprience with a jewelery manufcature and their projuct labeling needs. They used networked (via jetdirect ports) SATO thermal transfer printers, and those never failed.
The sato I picked up was a cx200 (which looks like its be replaced with a cx400) and is infact a straight thermal printer. I use it for mailing labels. they do not go bad on me in the mail / shipping process. however, if you just simply can not trust that technolgy has moved along far enought for your needs, then thermal transfer weorks better because the label itself is not heat sensitive.
Finally, I agree with the old school methodology of using a tractor feed dot matrix printer. Nothing beats old school tech. Except the user who hates the old school whine that comes with it.
Keep in mind that you are loosing resolution with the multiplexing.
A projector may have some fabulous resolution but you are only getting a portion of that for your multiplexed content.
If you go with a analog solution, and can genloc all your sources, then your probably stuck in TV resolution anyway. So, XBOX in the corner of a 520*480 screen. Hmm Not my desire.
If you could use a capture solution for each incoming source, and then digitally mix/multiplex them onto a 1024*768 solution for single projector, then it might begin to be playable.
Of course, you can go for a video processor like a Jupinter970 from Pixell.
That is where you start having a dedicated system that only has that one goal in life (creating video walls). Heck a 52 screen display at 1600*1200 per screen sounds pretty spiff, but the add ons for this box only allow 4 rgb (db15 (vga like)) connections.
So really, lots of low resolution multiplexed sources (which works great for agregating input from camera/vcr combos)on a single display, or mulitple displays tied toegether into one aggregate wall? Or easier still, multiple displays each from a seperate source.
Why not just get multiple projects, each dedicated to a specific task? Then just toss those photons on the wall of your choice.
"Where could one find material on recommended strategies for increasing server availability? Anything related to equipment, configurations, software, or techniques would be appreciated."
Well, as you can see, you can get a bit of information her, obvoiusly.
Since there was no specific details, but a request for information sources, I would say this:
Many vendors of products will offer an assortment of solutions to high availability needs.
Legato used to have cluster software for Windows servers (for availabilty, not load balanacing). But alas (as I just discovered) thats now gone with their EMC merger.
Microsoft actually makes an okay clustering solution.
Oracle has clustering ability in their database product and are considered by some as one of the better solitions for a truely high availabilty database.
The Linux High Avilaibilty project is a good place to look around if you have time on your hands to impliment it. I've done it and it helps if you alread understand a lot of the concepts involde in HA solutions.
As you will find out though, is that you really have to determine the value a solution can provide, versus the potential loss of revenue a failure of any type can cause. whn you realize how much money you can loose, you can evaluate how much money you can spend. Thats the real key to any high availabilty solution.
Keep in mind there are also two type of clustering to think about (you'll discover it on your own in your research anyways):
One is Load Balancing clusters like web farms. All ther servers in the cluster share the work load. One server drops, the others have to take up the slack.
The other type is a High Availability cluster with active and passive nodes, where one computer does all the work while another sits idle waiting for the first to fail. When that happens it takes over the firsts work. A variation on this is an active/active cluster, where both machines do work but have to be ready to take on the others work load as well if the other fails.
If you think you are falling behind from the rest of the world, you are not. Right now I am going through this whole proces at work figuring out what it will take to get the management team to buy into high availability, and we have a customer base that really needs us to impliment it. It all comes down to the money game.
This brings a whole new 'angle' on the pay per view concept.
Imagine this (seriously - think about it (it may make you rich)): The amount you pay would get you a better veiw of the action. X amount puts you at the 300 foot level. Y gets you on the 50 yard line, Z puts you on the field.
Football (despite its popularity) isn't the best choice for this. I think motion sickness for all the camera changes would be a bit much.
However, auto racing is a good choice. It already enjoys multi camera (car) angle (one per channel) access on cable providers. Now you could really be in the car with the driver.
Golf is another logical possibility. Stand there at the tee. See the swing and watch the ball go.
Umm.. Swimming, or diving shows may prove a bit of a hard sell. Think of it this way: Ever watch a show with an under water segment (Posiden adventure?) - did you hold your breath, or become very concious of your own breathing while the poor actor seeming had to swim much too far?
Pron: Yeah what ever. Probably the first market segment to leverage the technology, but probably not to its true abilities. But there will be a lot of sales.
Which brings us to the next question: What do you think the band width requirement is going to be. Will your puny little HD-DVD (or BluRay) be enough to drive that kind of display?
Is a killer app like HL3 enough to drive me to buy an XBOX 360?
No. Half Life has never been a killer app. HL2 is not either. They are both incredible games. Great stories. But I would never make a hardware purchase based on them alone.
A series of killer apps or really good games is what it would take me to buy any console. I did not buy a PS2 until recently. It now has a very solid base of very good games. I did not buy it because of any one game.
Yes, I too can not see the logic in an exclusive deal for any future versions of Half Life. But thats not the question at hand.
Bet you can guess who's not going to be an early adopter for this platform.
If qubits can occupy 12 dimensions, and may vibrate amongst all of them at the same time, can you be assured your information is going to remain the same over any given period of time? Can you prove that in any of the other eleven (simplisticly defined) dimensions someone else is not trying the same thing with the exact same qubit?
To put it the exact same way, but maybe more politely:
If there isn't a task that depends on massive amounts of computational horsepower, then doing distributed computing is not a goal you should be seeking for your boss.
(I can't count the number of times I have had to stop my manager from bringing in some new product (or vendor of a product) to buy without having a problem that needs this solution).
However, that being said: Don't close your mind to possibilities. Understand your companies business better. Think outside the box. Perhaps there actually is something that may not be a problem, yet could benefit from this kind (or some other nifty kind) of solution. Google didn't get where it is today by thinking a single or few big iron boxes were the only answer to the search engine game.
I know you want to bank on your firewire connections. Go for it.
Iscsi would give you the ability to connect to shared block devices in your machine via TCPIP networking. If you do that over firewire, or Twisted pair 10/100, or wireless, you can leverage alot more then a direct connection. For one, you would not have to be within what ever limit is imposed by your firewire cabling situation.
ISCSI can be implimented entirely in software. There are ISCSI target (host) software solutions that let you turn a PC (X86 is what I know and have played with) into a destination (hosting the drives). You can allocate the drives as you desire. And it is fast.
However, I am not certain on the MAC software side of the deal. There is one company (at least) called ATTO who claim to have a software ISCSI initiator called XTEND SAN. But it seems they have been talking about it for a while, with no release. ARDIS also claims to have one, but only for OEM companies.
I have played the software route on Windows and Linux. It is fast and cool to do it all in software. A hardware ISCSI initiator (think scsi card combine with ethernet card) costs way to much for the casual user ($500 +).
And yes, none of this has any meaning to you if there is no software ISCSI initiator for your mac.
(umm.. you also didn't really state what your OLD PC really is.. Is it a PC in the Windows/X86 sense? Or is a PC in the sense of another Mac? (do we all naturally assume PC means Windows?)
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You can actually virtualize a whole lot of things. The real key is to put a lot of money into the virtualization hosts. CPUs/cores, ram, a really good storage system.
For the small budget, you can get by on a lot less.
I have virtualized several entire development stacks (app servers, DB servers, storage servers, reporting servers). {But you trade a bit of performance for a reduced physical server count (10 or 15 to 1? A pretty good tradeoff if done right)}
You CAN virtualize SQL servers. Most business DB servers at the small shop end are fairly light load (like finance systems) and virtualize well. {But if performance makes you money (ie: you have a SAAS product - then stay physical }
You CAN virtualize an entire Cognos stack (it is made up of many servers depending on how complex your environment is). {However, IBM is correct that in a heavy BI workload environment deserves physical servers. I run over 18,000 reports a day on my produciton stack. Not going to virtualize that any time soon.}
You CAN virtualize entire profit generating websites. {As long as you keep an eye on host CPU and perceived performance at the end user level}
You can virtualize a lot of this in relatively small environments.
But.. Everyone here who has said it is correct: DISK IO is a major contention point. If you stuff all of your virtual machines inside one single giant data store (VMWare term for a single large disk partition) and expect super fast performance 100% of the time, then you will be greatly disappointed. One of my own stacks would grind to very intollerable performance levels whenever someone restored a database to the virtualized DB server. We moved that DB server virtual machine's disk load onto dedicated drives while leaving the machine itself virtiaulize, and all those problems went away.
Do not virtualize anything thar requires multiple CPUs (cores) to operate efficently. SQL Server is an example fo something that works better with multiple CPUs at its beck and call. In virtualization though, getting all the CPU requests to line up into one availabe window bogs the whole virtual machine down (jsut the VM, not the host). If your workload can't survive on a single virtual CPU, or two at most (single core each), then you are best to keep it on a physical server.
Time sensative systems and high compute workload processes are also ideally to be left out of virtualization. Except.. If you can put a beefy enough box under them, then you might get away with it and not notice a performance impact.
The biggest mistake made when going into virtualization (besides not planning for your DISK IO needs) seems to be over provisioning too many virtual machines on a host. This is a dark trap if you are lucky to have the money to build out a high availability virtualization cluster. You spread you load across your nodes in the cluster. Then one day one goes off line and that workload moves to another node. If you only have two nodes, and one is already over subscribed, suddenly the surviving node is way over its head and everything suffers until you get in and start throttling non esscential workloads down.
So, what do you not virtualize? Anything where performance is critical to its acceptance and succcess. Anything that a performance drop can cost you money or customers. (Remember that internal users are also customers).
Plan ahead ALOT. If you feel like your not going in the right direction, pay for a consultant to come in and help design the solution Even if it is only for a few hours. (No. I am not a consultant. Not for hire.)
I should have said:
My initial high investment in my Data Domain eventually becomes quite small compared to the cost of having to store the same data in its raw form.
A problem I have here is the definition of 'long term'. To each of us it means something different.
In my job I have to archive 1.6 terabytes of data per day, and keep it around for 45 days (which, BTW, is not my definition of LONG TERM). For this task I utilize Data Domain storage, which utilizes data deduplication techniques for massive compression.
What you find is that at the block level your data may in fact be incredibly deduplicatable. In my case it very much the situation. I am currently storing 86 terabytes of rolling archives within 2.5 terabytes of physical disk space.
The problem with any technology you use for 'long term' storage is the ability to read those archives later. Assuming the media doesn't self degrade inside of the time frame you call 'long term', you must have the tools to read that media again. If you use BluRay, then you must store a compatible drive with it. (Nothing says Sony will not change the standard in two years and make all current drives obsolete, so no one makes them any more). Tape is worse, in that in two major model revisions, drives wont be able to read your media because its density is to low for the new drive head technology. Hardware based disk raid has the issue that the controller the raid was built with needs to stay with that raid. Another controller from the same manufacture, with the same model number, but a different firmware revision may not be able to figure out the raid, and declare the drives empty. Software raid is a little easier to deal with as long as you keep a copy of the OS you used to create it with in the same box. But then, during your defined 'long term' period, will you still have access to a system you can even plug these drives into, or run the OS on?
What you end up dealing with in reality is that as an archivist, you either ignore these facts, or you invest in a constant media / technology refresh and spend large amounts of time keeping your archives on the latest storage available.
Of course, all this falls apart if your definition of 'long term' isn't as long as some will project. In my case, my archives roll over every 45 days. I could easily keep that data alive for years on a live piece of hardware with a service contract. If I do not trust that hardware enough, I can buy two and replicate between them. (which, actually I am, for disaster recovery purposes)
With deduplication my (acknowledged) high initial investment quickly outweighs the cost of single purpose drives holding one copy, and wasting unused space. My purchase cost was less then $60k, but if I had to store all of that data in its raw form, my costs would be in the millions. However, if the data is not deduplicatable, then of course it is a moot point.
Each answer has it flaws. You decide which risks are acceptable, plan your best to deal with obsolesce, and define your definition of 'long term'. You also have to be ready to change your solution, when the one you choose today, fails to be the right solution for your needs in 5 years.
Imagine how this will work.
Overweight people will be banned from a game if they don't 'get fit'. Those who really want to play will then 'get to it' and get in shape.
Of course with all that exercise and new activity they are participating in will slowly bring them to realize there is something else to life then online avatar based games (with very shallow user access requirements). Slowly they will turn away from such games and begin doing things that are more active and fit in with their new health conscious life style.
Profits in gaming start to fall off because they banned all the people who pay to play and be someone else. When they got to the point they would qualify to play the game, they no longer had the mindset to want to play the game.
And there go my Microsoft stocks.
Compared to some of the PDAs I have owned over the years, this is pretty darn competitive.
My Zaurus (5500) runs linux, and has a tiny but workable keyboard, but battery life sucks at just over an hour.
My Sony Clie had better battery life, and a funky keyboard, but was PALM OS, and had SONY own design for connectors.
My Windows CE PDA taught me that 'just cause it uses the word "Windows" does not mean it works that same or runs anything you have'.
So this has a good keyboard (not just for thumbs!), runs a real version of Windows. Has a touch screen. Even has connectors you can plug things into you might actually want to anyway. Has 4 hours battery life (umm.. maybe), and can work with your TV.
This is like the PDA dream come true.
Heck, they haven't been 'pocket sized' for quite some time. So this ones a little bigger. So?
Hmmm.. If you can convince your library to setup some wireless HDMI TVs, then all they need is the WIFI network (they probably already setup) and you can bring your own computer!
Who needs laptops now? :-)
Also Hmmm... Who will write the first USB slave app that turns this into a real keyboard (HID device) for another computer and lets you do two things at once like a KVM does?
Yes: ChronoTron.
I loved this game. They even accounted for Paradoxes. But, the concept does get a bit old when you beat you head on a puzzle trying to plan "x" far ahead in order to complete the puzzle. (coolest effect - using "pause time" in one loop, then seeing it get used in a later loop)
So, yeah. Not so new.
And so now, two games that might make me want to buy a PS3. Hmmm.. Still not worth it.
But then, I bought a Xbox 360 for one game: Fable 2. So, what do I know about worthwhile purchases.?
You know, my drivers license doesn't protect me from the so called 'auto' criminals. It doesn't certify that I will not purchase products that are unsafe or illegal. Nor does it guarantee I will not be taken advantage of by so called 'auto' security experts, 'auto' technicians, or other unscrupulous parties.
Will an operators license for my computer insure I won't crash into someone? Or that I at least know how to not crash into someone on the information super highway?
Try Sato America.
http://www.satoamerica.com/
They are industrial oriented. You can get all sorts of solutions, of which the most universal would be serial based. You can connect those up to almost anything with a serial port, fill it up with large rolls of labels and drive it all in your own code if you want to.
Yes, I know, their own software is Windows based. Don't let that be the stumbling block.
Two jobs ago I worked at a luxury goods manufacturer and we printed items tags on a SATO serial printer off of our main frame. Its just a matter of sending the right control codes over the serial port.
Do you remember the last time they tried to introduce a new Windows platform on a non-Intel based architecture?
Yes, it was Windows CE.
The biggest stumbling block was that MS made it look to much like Windows and gave it a confusing name. Users who bought in wondered why none of their favorite apps would work.
If MS went with an ARM architecture, the biggest issue would be everything else. All your apps would have to be specifically compiled to run on one architecture or the other. (Didn't Apple have this problem, and come up with FAT Bits and then carbon?) How many sales would be lost because WoW or game of the day doesn't run on that yet?
Or ARM would have to implement an X86 compatibility layer.
Hmmm. Windows 8 Ultimate Extreme Business Gamer ARM Edition Pro. Sounds like a winning SKU to me.
But will in run on a Mac or in VMWare?
I have one of these. You have to import it. (try Dynamism).
Many makers not normally seen in the United States (outside of the specialist crowd) have already done this. The small format convertible tablet PC has been around for a while.
Gigabyte did a pretty good job and the hinge point (much like on my Toshiba R15) is the biggest concern. So far it is rock solid and if you ever get to see a tear down screen shot, you would see a fairly solid design.
The price point sucked. You were trading money for the touch screen and pivot. Otherwise, for the most part is very much like a 9 inch EEE.
The other down side is a poor power management design. This thing eats its battery pretty quickly, even when turned off. (Don't get me started).
I bought mine just after ASUS showed off both the 9inch tablet PC and 10inch units at the comdex show. I knew they wouldn't be shipping for a long time and had no idea if the price would be as bad.
Tablets are a special market space - they definitely are not for heavy duty gamers, and are bigger and heavier then kindles, so they make poor basic duty ebook readers. But they are head and shoulders over Kindle due to their high res color displays (at the price of power) and their excellent general purpose abilities. (Go ahead, try and run Windows and Linux and OSX on a kindle).
Every time I see the price of a kindle or other ebook reader, I look at my $1500 Toshiba, or my $700 M912 and realize I have the better of the deal. This unit from ASUS could very easily define a whole new market space the same way the original EEE did.
Water as we know it contains Oxygen. Buy one, get the other for no extra charge.
Life as we know it is the rub here. Are we looking for planets that will potentially have life forms that are some how similar to those we know of on our own world?
Or are we really looking for a place to colonize one day?
If it is the later, then looking for water is logical.
If it is not, then really, open your mind and realize that 'life as we know it' is a very short sighted perspective. Out there in the universe is a silicon based civilization looking for worlds bathed in methane simply because it is quite obvious to anyone intelligent that this is the only type of work the 'life as they know it' could possible have a chance of being created.
Oh, and I would suggest opening your mind to broader horizons because some of those oxygen breathing, water oriented life forms I know can be real bastards.
No you don't. Want this, I mean.
Well, maybe you do. You just don't know you don't yet.
HMD's are a cool concept. Your cell phone (smart phone preferably) is a far better instrument then an HMD at this juncture in time. However if you want to play in that arena, then go ahead. There are plenty of solutions for doing so out there right now if you have the money.
But in reality you begin to realize what you are doing is skimming the surface of an entirely different realm called 'pervasive computing'. That is where the really cool stuff is at. That is what drives your HMD (or other output or interactive systems) then puts the cool stuff in front of you in the ways the 'augmented reality' does.
And yet, go figure, my cell phone does all of this right now, in a high powered, long battery life (relatively speaking) platform. It can tell me where I am, it can remember things for me (but cant tell me who someone is just by a photo), and it makes for a superb remote commnications platform with direct access to the internet. These were all the "that would be so cool" ideas we all wanted to do back 9 years ago when I bought my first HMD and started dabbling in wearable computing. All the hardware, the HMD, the batteries to drive it all, the ugly cabling holding it all together, has all been surpassed by a small 2 inch by 4 inch brick with far more horse power and a cool color screen. And I can hold it in front of my face and see what is beyond it as I walk down the street (Well, I hear there is an APP for that). And it costs a hell of a lot less then a single low resolution HMD.
However, if your want to get into the research side of pervasive computing and augmented reality, then an HMD is a great starting point. Once you have it in front of your face you begin to see (or not see) what it is really good for and even ways it can be leveraged. Once you understand this box, you can step out of it and see the even larger world around you and how the HMD can be used to enhance this world. Or even further, how to enhance this world without the need for a head mounted display and the limits it brings.
I already have most of what you want in the palm of my hand, paid less then what you will for your dream and will throw it away in less then three years.
But sure, go get your HMD and start working on the dream. You could get rich along the way if you can figure out how to fulfill your list and at the same time figure out how to market it. Before there is an App for that of course.
http://www.rovemobile.com/mobileadmin
Aimed at doing remote admin with handhelds (think blackberry). So its an optimized server side interface for doing all sorts of things to remote servers via very low bandwidth (so to speak) where an RDP session isn't going to cut it.
Why not so safe? When you power cycle a server, if it does not come back the way you expected, you need some way (or some one) to look at the 'glass' to see why its not coming back up. ILO or DRAK cards give you this access remotely. A KVM with IP access will also give you remote access to the video out for most servers. ILO and DRAK can power cycle the box again for you - KVM itself can not.
If you have a body on call in true emergencies, then Mobile Admin might be more of what you need. Maybe.
The NZ-90 is a great PALM OS5 based PDA with pretty good multimedia capabilities. Its built in 2 megapixel camera can record video, take picture (well.. duh..), and work as a web cam for video conferencing.
I use it to watch movies, take pics, play games, etc. If I popped for a wifi card for it (trust me, I have done that once on a pda and will never do it again - just the wrong size platform to be more then a gimmick) I could surf the net, read email, and things like that.
The only real difference here is it (as described) incorporates a phone. Which makes it no different then a couple of HP Ipaq smart phones out there (except for the fold up format).
Unless it has some serious horse power (at a cost of battery time!), it will have to have something else then what is described by National, because yet another media convergence device / PDA / Phone has little market value. That is why everyone keeps pulling out of the US market space for PDAs. No one wants to spend $800 for device. Out side of must have gadget collectors and bleeding edge tech junkies.
I got my fix with my NZ-90 (which, BTW isn't even made anymore) and its held out for over 3 years now. I am certainly not the market segment for this possible new device.
TV (series)is just episodic movies. It is a model that works. Each episode (regardless of time to release) contains more of some things, new other things, plenty of old stuff that works, etc.
Now put this in the context of a game. Sure it is a new model, but the idea is the same. Popularity in some aspects will drive further development of those elements that draw the most people in and keep them coming back. Less popular elements will fall out. You will 'watch' the next episode if you want to or you wont.
But two things stand out in my mind here
Do I smell a 'Sign this web petition to "save SiN episode 5" from being cancelled' in the air in the future?
Another type of termal printer is called Termal transfer. It used a heating element and a ribbon. Where the printing occurs, the heat transfers the image to the label via the ribbon. this is much like those little label printers may people use now in place of the really old dymo click and spin label printer of yesteryear.
A good maker of label printers that work great is Sato America.
Like many people I bought into the DYMO brand and p[icked up their USB/serial desktop printer. But when it failed my business needs I fell back to my previous exprience with a jewelery manufcature and their projuct labeling needs. They used networked (via jetdirect ports) SATO thermal transfer printers, and those never failed.
The sato I picked up was a cx200 (which looks like its be replaced with a cx400) and is infact a straight thermal printer. I use it for mailing labels. they do not go bad on me in the mail / shipping process. however, if you just simply can not trust that technolgy has moved along far enought for your needs, then thermal transfer weorks better because the label itself is not heat sensitive.
Finally, I agree with the old school methodology of using a tractor feed dot matrix printer. Nothing beats old school tech. Except the user who hates the old school whine that comes with it.
A projector may have some fabulous resolution but you are only getting a portion of that for your multiplexed content.
If you go with a analog solution, and can genloc all your sources, then your probably stuck in TV resolution anyway. So, XBOX in the corner of a 520*480 screen. Hmm Not my desire.
If you could use a capture solution for each incoming source, and then digitally mix/multiplex them onto a 1024*768 solution for single projector, then it might begin to be playable.
Of course, you can go for a video processor like a Jupinter970 from Pixell.
That is where you start having a dedicated system that only has that one goal in life (creating video walls). Heck a 52 screen display at 1600*1200 per screen sounds pretty spiff, but the add ons for this box only allow 4 rgb (db15 (vga like)) connections.
So really, lots of low resolution multiplexed sources (which works great for agregating input from camera/vcr combos)on a single display, or mulitple displays tied toegether into one aggregate wall? Or easier still, multiple displays each from a seperate source.
Why not just get multiple projects, each dedicated to a specific task? Then just toss those photons on the wall of your choice.
Well, as you can see, you can get a bit of information her, obvoiusly.
Since there was no specific details, but a request for information sources, I would say this:
Many vendors of products will offer an assortment of solutions to high availability needs. Legato used to have cluster software for Windows servers (for availabilty, not load balanacing). But alas (as I just discovered) thats now gone with their EMC merger.
Microsoft actually makes an okay clustering solution.
Oracle has clustering ability in their database product and are considered by some as one of the better solitions for a truely high availabilty database.
The Linux High Avilaibilty project is a good place to look around if you have time on your hands to impliment it. I've done it and it helps if you alread understand a lot of the concepts involde in HA solutions.
As you will find out though, is that you really have to determine the value a solution can provide, versus the potential loss of revenue a failure of any type can cause. whn you realize how much money you can loose, you can evaluate how much money you can spend. Thats the real key to any high availabilty solution.
Keep in mind there are also two type of clustering to think about (you'll discover it on your own in your research anyways):
If you think you are falling behind from the rest of the world, you are not. Right now I am going through this whole proces at work figuring out what it will take to get the management team to buy into high availability, and we have a customer base that really needs us to impliment it. It all comes down to the money game.
This brings a whole new 'angle' on the pay per view concept.
Imagine this (seriously - think about it (it may make you rich)): The amount you pay would get you a better veiw of the action. X amount puts you at the 300 foot level. Y gets you on the 50 yard line, Z puts you on the field.
Football (despite its popularity) isn't the best choice for this. I think motion sickness for all the camera changes would be a bit much.
However, auto racing is a good choice. It already enjoys multi camera (car) angle (one per channel) access on cable providers. Now you could really be in the car with the driver.
Golf is another logical possibility. Stand there at the tee. See the swing and watch the ball go.
Umm.. Swimming, or diving shows may prove a bit of a hard sell. Think of it this way: Ever watch a show with an under water segment (Posiden adventure?) - did you hold your breath, or become very concious of your own breathing while the poor actor seeming had to swim much too far?
Pron: Yeah what ever. Probably the first market segment to leverage the technology, but probably not to its true abilities. But there will be a lot of sales.
Which brings us to the next question: What do you think the band width requirement is going to be. Will your puny little HD-DVD (or BluRay) be enough to drive that kind of display?
Is a killer app like HL3 enough to drive me to buy an XBOX 360?
No. Half Life has never been a killer app. HL2 is not either. They are both incredible games. Great stories. But I would never make a hardware purchase based on them alone.
A series of killer apps or really good games is what it would take me to buy any console. I did not buy a PS2 until recently. It now has a very solid base of very good games. I did not buy it because of any one game.
Yes, I too can not see the logic in an exclusive deal for any future versions of Half Life. But thats not the question at hand.
Bet you can guess who's not going to be an early adopter for this platform.
If qubits can occupy 12 dimensions, and may vibrate amongst all of them at the same time, can you be assured your information is going to remain the same over any given period of time? Can you prove that in any of the other eleven (simplisticly defined) dimensions someone else is not trying the same thing with the exact same qubit?
okay.. I have no idea why I said:
'distributed computing is not a goal you should be seeking for your boss.'
Terminate that thought at 'seeking'
To put it the exact same way, but maybe more politely:
If there isn't a task that depends on massive amounts of computational horsepower, then doing distributed computing is not a goal you should be seeking for your boss.
(I can't count the number of times I have had to stop my manager from bringing in some new product (or vendor of a product) to buy without having a problem that needs this solution).
However, that being said: Don't close your mind to possibilities. Understand your companies business better. Think outside the box. Perhaps there actually is something that may not be a problem, yet could benefit from this kind (or some other nifty kind) of solution. Google didn't get where it is today by thinking a single or few big iron boxes were the only answer to the search engine game.
I also suggest ISCSI.
I know you want to bank on your firewire connections. Go for it.
Iscsi would give you the ability to connect to shared block devices in your machine via TCPIP networking. If you do that over firewire, or Twisted pair 10/100, or wireless, you can leverage alot more then a direct connection. For one, you would not have to be within what ever limit is imposed by your firewire cabling situation.
ISCSI can be implimented entirely in software. There are ISCSI target (host) software solutions that let you turn a PC (X86 is what I know and have played with) into a destination (hosting the drives). You can allocate the drives as you desire. And it is fast.
However, I am not certain on the MAC software side of the deal. There is one company (at least) called ATTO who claim to have a software ISCSI initiator called XTEND SAN. But it seems they have been talking about it for a while, with no release. ARDIS also claims to have one, but only for OEM companies.
I have played the software route on Windows and Linux. It is fast and cool to do it all in software. A hardware ISCSI initiator (think scsi card combine with ethernet card) costs way to much for the casual user ($500 +).
And yes, none of this has any meaning to you if there is no software ISCSI initiator for your mac.
(umm.. you also didn't really state what your OLD PC really is.. Is it a PC in the Windows/X86 sense? Or is a PC in the sense of another Mac? (do we all naturally assume PC means Windows?)
Interesting in its own right. But seems to be under documented on the site at least. And it is from 2003.
If I had firewire I'd play with this too. Maybe it is time to pick up a couple of multi port firewire cards.
But, so far (at first glance) the lack of documentation, and the age of the release may not make this an easy solution to impliment.