I did exactly what you've been asked to do. I'm a programmer. When the company was small (4/5 people) I was the defacto sysadmin. As it grew to 30 people, we hired a sysadmin, and I gave him the occasional hand (holidays, sickness).
Then he left and we were late hiring his replacement, so I said I'd keep the systems ticking in the meantime.
I wish I hadn't. Trust me, I was good at it. But it cost me a lot of heartache, I had to fight quite a few people (including the CEO). IT-related workload was high (say 20% of my time), but the thing that did it for me was the fact that sysadmins are expected to take a lot of flak when things go bad, and keep their mouth shut. I found that really hard. I tried explaining that I was just volunteering and filling in - I just did not have the time to do all they wanted. Yet the day-by-day grumbling about problems (some real, some not-so-real) made me bitter and unsatisfied.
One day, after the umpteenth stroppogram, I threw in the towel. I said I wouldn't do it anymore. Never regretted it. Now we have a proper sysadmin and I kiss the ground he walks on.
.... solidity and good build quality matter just as well. Especially for musicians - as a guitar player, I've lost count of how many times I've tripped on a cheap cable, only to find out I'd ripped one end off or something.
Good build quality is something I've paid for in the past and got my money's worth for.
My problem is similar to the original poster's, with one small limitation: I have two (mostly) identical Linux machines at both ends of an ADSL link with VPN, etc. All I need to do is edit/compile/run a CLI application (no fancy graphics required). The app must compile/run on a machine at the 'office' end, but I'd like to edit on the machine at the 'home' end. I tried emacs on the 'home' machine with remote editing, as well as remotely running vi/emacs on the 'office' machine, but neither method has the responsiveness I crave, especially because I tend to hit Ctrl-S to save every few keystrokes.
I also tried rsyncing after editing the filesystem on the 'home' machine, but then the process gets a bit cumbersome.
Any tricks I might have missed?
I actually have one of those! I am the owner of an Aspire 1705SMi (similar specs). It dual-boots (xp+suse) and I use it to work 3 days in the office and 2 days at home doing development. The large (120GB) disk allows me to have all the environment and dev tools I need, and I can work wherever I am and have all my tools set up exactly the same way.
Pros: powerful (3GHz P4), lots of memory (512MB - when I bought it it was a lot), large, clear screen (altho' res is 1024x768), feels like using a desktop machine
Cons: keys on the keyboard in slightly unusual position (took me two weeks to readjust from my previous Dell), no laptop rucksack will carry it (most bags that claim to carry 17" laptops can only cope with Powerbook form factors).
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2. Don't do it yet
I did exactly what you've been asked to do. I'm a programmer. When the company was small (4/5 people) I was the defacto sysadmin. As it grew to 30 people, we hired a sysadmin, and I gave him the occasional hand (holidays, sickness). Then he left and we were late hiring his replacement, so I said I'd keep the systems ticking in the meantime. I wish I hadn't. Trust me, I was good at it. But it cost me a lot of heartache, I had to fight quite a few people (including the CEO). IT-related workload was high (say 20% of my time), but the thing that did it for me was the fact that sysadmins are expected to take a lot of flak when things go bad, and keep their mouth shut. I found that really hard. I tried explaining that I was just volunteering and filling in - I just did not have the time to do all they wanted. Yet the day-by-day grumbling about problems (some real, some not-so-real) made me bitter and unsatisfied. One day, after the umpteenth stroppogram, I threw in the towel. I said I wouldn't do it anymore. Never regretted it. Now we have a proper sysadmin and I kiss the ground he walks on.
Unless it's a Walt Disney World Monorail
But is that a genuine, bona fide, electrified, six-car monorail? 'Cos in that case being a conductor is quite a cushy job...
.... solidity and good build quality matter just as well. Especially for musicians - as a guitar player, I've lost count of how many times I've tripped on a cheap cable, only to find out I'd ripped one end off or something. Good build quality is something I've paid for in the past and got my money's worth for.
I have an Acer Aspire 17xx, which has a 17" screen, but a normal (15") aspect ratio. Anyone know of a laptop bag that can hold it?
Yes, they're terrible. I printed a few color pictures on an HP LJ8550, and they all look like I'd melted wax on them or something.
You could also call it a projection along the z axis....
My problem is similar to the original poster's, with one small limitation: I have two (mostly) identical Linux machines at both ends of an ADSL link with VPN, etc. All I need to do is edit/compile/run a CLI application (no fancy graphics required). The app must compile/run on a machine at the 'office' end, but I'd like to edit on the machine at the 'home' end. I tried emacs on the 'home' machine with remote editing, as well as remotely running vi/emacs on the 'office' machine, but neither method has the responsiveness I crave, especially because I tend to hit Ctrl-S to save every few keystrokes. I also tried rsyncing after editing the filesystem on the 'home' machine, but then the process gets a bit cumbersome. Any tricks I might have missed?
I actually have one of those! I am the owner of an Aspire 1705SMi (similar specs). It dual-boots (xp+suse) and I use it to work 3 days in the office and 2 days at home doing development. The large (120GB) disk allows me to have all the environment and dev tools I need, and I can work wherever I am and have all my tools set up exactly the same way. Pros: powerful (3GHz P4), lots of memory (512MB - when I bought it it was a lot), large, clear screen (altho' res is 1024x768), feels like using a desktop machine Cons: keys on the keyboard in slightly unusual position (took me two weeks to readjust from my previous Dell), no laptop rucksack will carry it (most bags that claim to carry 17" laptops can only cope with Powerbook form factors).