Excuse the trollish comment, I couldn't resist... Now that I caught your attention, you might like to know this.
Remember this thing called "read consistency", and how important it is to get it implemented both correctly and
efficiently (MVCC) in order to achieve this other thing called "scalability"?
Well it turns out SQL-Server 2000 implemented read-consistency via locking, which means that it can never have the scalability of
Oracle (or even Postgres, which also uses MVCC) in OLTP scenarios.
Oracle introduced the use of MVCC in version 4, 1984 !!! (ask Tom Kyte).
Finally, MS has caught up. It'll be interesting to see how the implementation performs.
Forget the stupid camera, the shootout I wanna see is on Bluetooh-enabled GPRS/UMTS phones which will work fine under Linux,
as a modem and for just backing-up/modifying the contacts on them.
Seriously folks, what phone can a Linux user get that satisfies these humble needs in the most hassle-free manner?
I doubt most of the corporate types at VMware know that Xen even exists - let alone sees it as any sort of "competition".
Well, maybe not your average Windows shop, but the ones that run Unix or Linux (like us) are
paying close attention to Xen.
With Intel and AMD including new "virtualization hooks" into their procs, soon VMWare will lose much (if not all) of
its technological advantages over Xen and other virtualizators on i386 platforms. Google up on "Vanderpool" and "Pacifica" (+Intel+AMD).
Xen is already better (faster) than VMWare, provided we're talking Linux hosting Linux.
Xen can do things that VMWare can't, because it relies on modifications in the source of both host and guest OS. This is its greatest advantage. Remember that Xen has been shown to run a modified version of Windows XP (of course I somehow doubt MS will ever make this "Xen Guest Edition" available).
We are evaluating some tools along these lines. The ones we liked most are RedHat's Source-Navigator (GPL) and Scitool's
Understand for C++ ($$$).
Sorce-Navigator seems to be slow compared to Understand C++, I'm sure this has to do with the way they index the DB.
On the other hand, the Linux version of Understand C++ needs some polishing IMHO (too many crashes on Debian/serge).
As for report-generating tools that just index and cross-reference the whole project, Gonzui is a pretty good one.
The thing is, in C you're always using pointers even if you think you're not: whenever you use arrays!
The compiler is in general not allowed to assume non-aliasing, and therefore it cannot optimize fully in those situations. Google up some info about "pointer aliasing" in this context. That's why they had to come up with the new "restrict" keyword in C9X. Fortran never had these problems, that's why numerical codes run typically faster.
Optimization is a feature of the compiler, not the language.
Yes, but the point is, some languages make so much easier for the compiler writers to come up with good optimizations. Read up on the "pointer aliasing" problem for instance. That's why numerical codes are (on average) always faster on f90/f95 than C/C++.
Ghost is OK, but partimage (http://www.partimage.org/) has more or less the same features, and it is Free Software.
Supports most filesystems: ext2fs/ext3, ReiserFS, XFS, JFS, HPFS, UFS, HFS, FAT16/32, and NTFS. Don't be afraid of the "experimental" support for NTFS, it works great if you follow the advice: defragment the filesystem first (I also disable the swap file and hibernation, to get rid of those not-movable and unnecessary files); then try to make the image, and if it suceeds, you're OK.
I've been using it for over a year, mostly for NTFS (who needs ghosting with Debian anyway?), and so far it has worked as a charm.
Therefore it is the magazine who invites the vendors, not the Test Lab nor the reviewer. [...] So don't blame us for not including Spam Assassin or any of the other 100's of commercial and open source Anti-Spam solutions that are out there.
OK, no problem, we blame the Magazine. But at least I hope you do realize that we are talking about a very specific area in which any competent sysadmin knows that the Free Software solutions clearly beat the heck out of the proprietary ones. Thus the rage. The magazine is doing a disservice to those not very informed, who might read it and come out with the impression that anti-spam is another area of software which is well covered by the Nortons, McAfees, and the likes. Well, it is clearly not!
Good for enterprise, fat-client apps? (RAD)
on
RAD with Ruby
·
· Score: 1
If you are looking for a good programming tool for quickly developing a professional one off application
Yes, I'm still looking for something like this, and I want it to be cross-platform. Of course it should be RAD-like, that is, it should have some kind of GUI builder which is truly effective. But most importantly, it should be definitely focused on building forms and reports. On the other hand, I could care less if the underlying language is Python, Ruby,
Pascal, or even some sanitized version of Visual Basic.
What I'm describing is the cross-platform equivalent of VB, PowerBuilder, or Delphi. Kylix was a great hope, then Borland let it die. Rekall might be it, but is probably lacking in certain areas.
In my opinion, something like Python with WxWidgets, coupled with some decent GUI builder (which?), some decent forms builder (which?) and some Reports builder (ReportLab maybe?) could be pretty close to this ideal.
In a recent thread I discovered this little gem: the Hauppage MediaMVP, which reminds me so much of the Linksys WRT54G... I mean, it's a Linux-based networked media player, and of course there are hacked firmwares:
The original firmware does not support playing DivX on the box itself (it does if you stream it from the server), but it's very likely that it will be done in the future. MythTV-client functionality is under development.
Sorry if I jumped the gun too quckly, my comment on proprietary streaming systems was meant to be in general. I don't really know if the mediamvp in particular falls under that category, but now that I know that there are hacking communities around this product, it certainly deserves attention. Thanks for the info.
Do you think this gadget will become the WRT54G of the "media players"?
I read the specs and it seems that this little box can decode mp3 (audio) and mpeg2 (video), but not DivX; it seems to need the server to do the conversion for it. But this thing runs Linux, so... any hacks available? (assuming it has the raw cpu power to handle Divx decoding).
For me the Holy Grail is this: a small, fanless "media player" like this one that can simply browse smb shares and play all kind of files. That's really all one needs in a wired house, where you have a server running in the basement. Except that I'm looking for something which doesn't require proprietary streaming systems, just pure smb client and local decoders.
A close second is NetBSD, which right now is much faster and more stable than FreeBSD 5 (even in many SMP cases, too). FreeBSD is okay for many users but it has slowed down tremendously, lost a lot of cleanliness too. It's a shame to see such a great system degenerate, but it happened.
Traditional folklore said OpenBSD is focused on security, NetBSD on portability, and FreeBSD on performance (on x86). How can NetBSD be faster than FreeBSD now? Heck, if NetBSD is about correctness and portability, and on top of that they manage to beat FreeBSD in terms of speed, then there's something really really wrong with FreeBSD.
So I guess my real question is, is it really true that NetBSD is surpassing FreeBSD at heir own game?
I have to chime in with some of the comments above, the best laptops one can get today are IBM. That is, if you care more about quality and durability than pure "performance". Linux compatibility is more or less the same across the board, leaving 3d graphics aside.
Go for the "T" or "X" series, and you won't be disappointed. It's sad that other brands like Toshiba and HP-Compaq have lowered their standards and now build cheaper crap. Maybe the Tecras are still up there, but in my opinion nothing is as solidly built as a, say, T40 (except for older HP calculators, like my trusty HP-15C).
I couldn't help to ask... What do you guys think about the relative reliability of (current) DVD blanks in order to use them as a cheap substitute for low-end DAT (DDS) tapes?
Yes we need a compiler, but for the time being AMD could just release optimized ("performance") libraries for selected application areas, just as Intel does. They are available for both Windows and Linux, and the Linux ones are GCC-compatible.
a few standalone DVD players -- the Philips DVP642 is one -- will play DivX files from recordable CDs andd DVDs.
Well at least here in Europe we've been having cheap (under $100) DivX-capable players since the beginning of the year. Last time I went to our local supermarket I could spot FIVE different ones, all under $100 except for the Philips one. And guess what, the cheap ones tend to accept a much wider range of disks and formats.
I've got an "El-cheapo" one, based on a MEDIATEK 1389-DE chip, and it plays *all* DivX and Xvid files I have tried so far. Only $60, bought it two months ago.
I got nothing against content-filtering measures, as long as one is aware that this should be just the last layer of defense againts spam. Think about it, if your SMTP has already swallowed the spammer's email content, you have already lost precious bandwith.
Especially if you host your own SMTP, you should put up a layered system of defenses: RBL lists, maybe tarpitting, white/graylisting, and then content filtering.
Slashdot Mirror
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Excuse the trollish comment, I couldn't resist... Now that I caught your attention, you might like to know this. Remember this thing called "read consistency", and how important it is to get it implemented both correctly and efficiently (MVCC) in order to achieve this other thing called "scalability"?
Well it turns out SQL-Server 2000 implemented read-consistency via locking, which means that it can never have the scalability of Oracle (or even Postgres, which also uses MVCC) in OLTP scenarios.
Oracle introduced the use of MVCC in version 4, 1984 !!! (ask Tom Kyte). Finally, MS has caught up. It'll be interesting to see how the implementation performs.
Forget the stupid camera, the shootout I wanna see is on Bluetooh-enabled GPRS/UMTS phones which will work fine under Linux, as a modem and for just backing-up/modifying the contacts on them.
Seriously folks, what phone can a Linux user get that satisfies these humble needs in the most hassle-free manner?
Well, maybe not your average Windows shop, but the ones that run Unix or Linux (like us) are paying close attention to Xen.
With Intel and AMD including new "virtualization hooks" into their procs, soon VMWare will lose much (if not all) of its technological advantages over Xen and other virtualizators on i386 platforms. Google up on "Vanderpool" and "Pacifica" (+Intel+AMD).
Xen is already better (faster) than VMWare, provided we're talking Linux hosting Linux.
Xen can do things that VMWare can't, because it relies on modifications in the source of both host and guest OS. This is its greatest advantage. Remember that Xen has been shown to run a modified version of Windows XP (of course I somehow doubt MS will ever make this "Xen Guest Edition" available).
So, in the Free world, Xen wins.
We are evaluating some tools along these lines. The ones we liked most are RedHat's Source-Navigator (GPL) and Scitool's Understand for C++ ($$$).
Sorce-Navigator seems to be slow compared to Understand C++, I'm sure this has to do with the way they index the DB. On the other hand, the Linux version of Understand C++ needs some polishing IMHO (too many crashes on Debian/serge).
As for report-generating tools that just index and cross-reference the whole project, Gonzui is a pretty good one.
If the quality is similar to any other of his Samba books, then this will become one of the best LDAP books.
The thing is, in C you're always using pointers even if you think you're not: whenever you use arrays! The compiler is in general not allowed to assume non-aliasing, and therefore it cannot optimize fully in those situations. Google up some info about "pointer aliasing" in this context. That's why they had to come up with the new "restrict" keyword in C9X. Fortran never had these problems, that's why numerical codes run typically faster.
Yes, but the point is, some languages make so much easier for the compiler writers to come up with good optimizations. Read up on the "pointer aliasing" problem for instance. That's why numerical codes are (on average) always faster on f90/f95 than C/C++.
Ghost is OK, but partimage (http://www.partimage.org/) has more or less the same features, and it is Free Software.
Supports most filesystems: ext2fs/ext3, ReiserFS, XFS, JFS, HPFS, UFS, HFS, FAT16/32, and NTFS. Don't be afraid of the "experimental" support for NTFS, it works great if you follow the advice: defragment the filesystem first (I also disable the swap file and hibernation, to get rid of those not-movable and unnecessary files); then try to make the image, and if it suceeds, you're OK.
I've been using it for over a year, mostly for NTFS (who needs ghosting with Debian anyway?), and so far it has worked as a charm.
OK, no problem, we blame the Magazine. But at least I hope you do realize that we are talking about a very specific area in which any competent sysadmin knows that the Free Software solutions clearly beat the heck out of the proprietary ones. Thus the rage. The magazine is doing a disservice to those not very informed, who might read it and come out with the impression that anti-spam is another area of software which is well covered by the Nortons, McAfees, and the likes. Well, it is clearly not!
Yes, I'm still looking for something like this, and I want it to be cross-platform. Of course it should be RAD-like, that is, it should have some kind of GUI builder which is truly effective. But most importantly, it should be definitely focused on building forms and reports. On the other hand, I could care less if the underlying language is Python, Ruby, Pascal, or even some sanitized version of Visual Basic.
What I'm describing is the cross-platform equivalent of VB, PowerBuilder, or Delphi. Kylix was a great hope, then Borland let it die. Rekall might be it, but is probably lacking in certain areas.
In my opinion, something like Python with WxWidgets, coupled with some decent GUI builder (which?), some decent forms builder (which?) and some Reports builder (ReportLab maybe?) could be pretty close to this ideal.
Moderators, that was supposed to be funny, not insightful. Sheeees...
In a recent thread I discovered this little gem: the Hauppage MediaMVP, which reminds me so much of the Linksys WRT54G... I mean, it's a Linux-based networked media player, and of course there are hacked firmwares:
The original firmware does not support playing DivX on the box itself (it does if you stream it from the server), but it's very likely that it will be done in the future. MythTV-client functionality is under development.
Sorry if I jumped the gun too quckly, my comment on proprietary streaming systems was meant to be in general. I don't really know if the mediamvp in particular falls under that category, but now that I know that there are hacking communities around this product, it certainly deserves attention. Thanks for the info.
Do you think this gadget will become the WRT54G of the "media players"?
I read the specs and it seems that this little box can decode mp3 (audio) and mpeg2 (video), but not DivX; it seems to need the server to do the conversion for it. But this thing runs Linux, so... any hacks available? (assuming it has the raw cpu power to handle Divx decoding).
For me the Holy Grail is this: a small, fanless "media player" like this one that can simply browse smb shares and play all kind of files. That's really all one needs in a wired house, where you have a server running in the basement. Except that I'm looking for something which doesn't require proprietary streaming systems, just pure smb client and local decoders.
Traditional folklore said OpenBSD is focused on security, NetBSD on portability, and FreeBSD on performance (on x86). How can NetBSD be faster than FreeBSD now? Heck, if NetBSD is about correctness and portability, and on top of that they manage to beat FreeBSD in terms of speed, then there's something really really wrong with FreeBSD.
So I guess my real question is, is it really true that NetBSD is surpassing FreeBSD at heir own game?
I have to chime in with some of the comments above, the best laptops one can get today are IBM. That is, if you care more about quality and durability than pure "performance". Linux compatibility is more or less the same across the board, leaving 3d graphics aside.
Go for the "T" or "X" series, and you won't be disappointed. It's sad that other brands like Toshiba and HP-Compaq have lowered their standards and now build cheaper crap. Maybe the Tecras are still up there, but in my opinion nothing is as solidly built as a, say, T40 (except for older HP calculators, like my trusty HP-15C).
I couldn't help to ask... What do you guys think about the relative reliability of (current) DVD blanks in order to use them as a cheap substitute for low-end DAT (DDS) tapes?
Yes we need a compiler, but for the time being AMD could just release optimized ("performance") libraries for selected application areas, just as Intel does. They are available for both Windows and Linux, and the Linux ones are GCC-compatible.
Well at least here in Europe we've been having cheap (under $100) DivX-capable players since the beginning of the year. Last time I went to our local supermarket I could spot FIVE different ones, all under $100 except for the Philips one. And guess what, the cheap ones tend to accept a much wider range of disks and formats.
I've got an "El-cheapo" one, based on a MEDIATEK 1389-DE chip, and it plays *all* DivX and Xvid files I have tried so far. Only $60, bought it two months ago.
I got nothing against content-filtering measures, as long as one is aware that this should be just the last layer of defense againts spam. Think about it, if your SMTP has already swallowed the spammer's email content, you have already lost precious bandwith.
Especially if you host your own SMTP, you should put up a layered system of defenses: RBL lists, maybe tarpitting, white/graylisting, and then content filtering.
I tried Gnotime for time & billing, and I found it quite buggy (let alone the abomination of being back-ended by an XML file instead of a RDBMS).
Did you evaluate this one, it seems quite professional but I haven't tested it yet: WR Time Tracker.