Just as a minor note, VMS 7.3 is still availible for VAX, though loading it on can be a challenge due to some of the more interesting boot sequences found on the older machines. For fun at school I run a cluster of an 8530, a pair of 6000s, a trio of vax station 3200's, a vaxstation 3100, and a pair of vaxstation 4000's. The 4000's run circles around the P-II laptop i've been using a serial console. (comparision based on using a vt320 on serial port).
Time of day doesn't affect trailer packs - They are such a pain in the rear to change, that they only tend to be changed when orders from above come in, or the movie in question is no longer a coming attraction.
VMS. The forgotten OS. I've come across a bunch of discarded VAXStations, and have started to play around with VMS. Makes me wish I could afford modern hardware to run it on, as it seems to be a pretty neat OS.
The difference is, for the most part, RPI doesn't just hand them out to the incoming class as a freebie for coming here, you actually have to buy it.
It was worth it for me, just for the software licenses alone.
YACRS - Yet another current RPI student
Better hope your local theater has either an LCD projector for running video or a DLP for digital cinema. No way to hook this up to a stock projector. Won't be seeing this in my area any time soon, as none of the theaters are equipped for anything but film.
Windows 2000 is almost EOL'd. Windows 2000 Support Cycle. Non-security updates end 3/31/05 (8 months from now) and security updates end on 3/31/07 - eight months from now. I'd go with 2003 since by the time you are done with the migration, 2000 will probably be at the end of its useful life and you'll be looking at going to 2003 anyways.
The projector lamps are all standard. Where the manufacturer is gouging you is for the integrated reflector. The style of discharge lamp used in projectors tends to have a single hotspot that needs to get focused to get optimal illumination. Misfocusing the hotspot can lead to most of the light not being reflected into the picture element, or too much heat being reflected into the element, burning out the LCD/DLP/film/whatever. No imaging tech is immune to this.
For an example of price differences, an XBO 2000 (2KW Xenon arc, no reflector), availble from several manufacturers runs about $600 a piece. Conversly, a 300W lamp/reflector combo for an Eiki LCD projector runs $520 and has only a single source.
Manually focusing a new discharge lamp in a projector is a tedious, hot process. Its also easy to heat damage elements while doing it. It was a good idea to prefocus the lamps in the reflectors and sell them that way, unfortunately, it turned into another version of printer ink cartridges.
But welding cable sized wires are fun!
I've run (theatrical) lighting systems off 0/4 cabling - an accidental short is pretty impressive, tripping the breaker for the building mains. I've learned the hard way not to trust my school's electricians when there is more than 120V/20A involved
I would use Gentoo, but I don't like being locked into specific compile-time flags. (Yes, I know I can change them, but why should I be bothered with that?)
What do you mean by locked into specific compile time flags? I was under the impression one of the benefit's of gentoo was that you were no locked into the vendor's compile time flags
I've still got a pair of working 9 track open reel drives. Need to find boot media so I can make the attached VAXen functional again. I don't suppose anyone would know where I could images of RX-50 boot media for a the console of a VAX 8530 on the web? I have the VMS install media, I just need to reload the OS on the console first.
I haven't seen anyone mention magnetic tape yet. I'm sure it has its drawbacks too, but considering its still widely used for backup purposes in a commericial environment, it can't be too bad. Especially depending on how much a cartridge can hold. Its not the cheapest, but it might be something to look into.
The distro I'm running doesn't even install the client out of the box. PITA when you are trying to talk directly to an SMTP or HTTP server to troubleshoot.
And the non-Amtrak trains are astronomically cheaper. To get from school in Troy, NY, to New Haven CT, cost me $50. I spent $30 to go from Troy to Poughkipse (I know its misspelled) on Amtrak, a travel time of 1.5 hours. I spent $20 to go from there to New Haven, CT by way of Grand Central on Metro North, a travel time of 3 hours not counting time spent in Grand Central. I've found for getting to/from NYC to have the least amount of hassle/cost using Metro North, especially with the current gas prices.
If you can boot off a boot disk, no OS is secure, unless you are using a custom FS that only the kernel on the install OS can read. Otherwise, I can boot whatever, mount the HD and undo restrictions (change shell, bypass startup files, reset passwords, etc, etc).
If you have to use Windows for your app, and it isn't too picky over which version of Windows, try using Windows 98 (hear me out before flaming). In c:\windows\win.ini, change the shell=explorer.exe line to shell=c:\path\to\your\app.exe. Make sure the machine is set to autologin as a user if you need samba access. I used a win98 based touch screen POS system, and it is 90% impossible to escape from it once its running. Alt-Tab is disabled, the Windows key does nothing. The only thing I didn't try is CTRL+ALT+DEL to escape out. The POS system is run off an NT 4 domain, so that might also be enforcing something.
Seriously, if your standalone app runs under 95 or 98, you might want to give that a try. They both also have a system policy editor if shell replacement doesn't lock it down enough. Oh, if you ever need full windows, just boot off a boot disk and edit the shell line back.
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Just as a minor note, VMS 7.3 is still availible for VAX, though loading it on can be a challenge due to some of the more interesting boot sequences found on the older machines. For fun at school I run a cluster of an 8530, a pair of 6000s, a trio of vax station 3200's, a vaxstation 3100, and a pair of vaxstation 4000's. The 4000's run circles around the P-II laptop i've been using a serial console. (comparision based on using a vt320 on serial port).
But that would only stop the user from refilling thier own cartridges. The other way would stop the user from considering any off brand carts.
Time of day doesn't affect trailer packs - They are such a pain in the rear to change, that they only tend to be changed when orders from above come in, or the movie in question is no longer a coming attraction.
and the last post to an rpi.* newsgroup that didn't have a mailing list gatewayed to it, according to my newsreader, was 9/20/04
VMS. The forgotten OS. I've come across a bunch of discarded VAXStations, and have started to play around with VMS. Makes me wish I could afford modern hardware to run it on, as it seems to be a pretty neat OS.
The difference is, for the most part, RPI doesn't just hand them out to the incoming class as a freebie for coming here, you actually have to buy it. It was worth it for me, just for the software licenses alone. YACRS - Yet another current RPI student
Better hope your local theater has either an LCD projector for running video or a DLP for digital cinema. No way to hook this up to a stock projector. Won't be seeing this in my area any time soon, as none of the theaters are equipped for anything but film.
The XP box, which caught Sasser, and probably a few other nasties, but I didn't bother looking, and just nuked the box.
The purpose of the exercise was to make a CD containing all the updates as of April, 2004 that a clean 98, 2000, or XP install required to be usable.
Windows 2000 is almost EOL'd. Windows 2000 Support Cycle. Non-security updates end 3/31/05 (8 months from now) and security updates end on 3/31/07 - eight months from now. I'd go with 2003 since by the time you are done with the migration, 2000 will probably be at the end of its useful life and you'll be looking at going to 2003 anyways.
Please state the nature of your medical emergency. :)
That doesn't matter, the signal is already analog coming out of the LD player.
I was attempting to get a +1 Funny. Live and learn.
A book on BSD systems programming - released under the GPL!
The compact florescents designed to be used in incadesent fixtures have their ballast built into the lamp.
For an example of price differences, an XBO 2000 (2KW Xenon arc, no reflector), availble from several manufacturers runs about $600 a piece. Conversly, a 300W lamp/reflector combo for an Eiki LCD projector runs $520 and has only a single source.
Manually focusing a new discharge lamp in a projector is a tedious, hot process. Its also easy to heat damage elements while doing it. It was a good idea to prefocus the lamps in the reflectors and sell them that way, unfortunately, it turned into another version of printer ink cartridges.
But welding cable sized wires are fun! I've run (theatrical) lighting systems off 0/4 cabling - an accidental short is pretty impressive, tripping the breaker for the building mains. I've learned the hard way not to trust my school's electricians when there is more than 120V/20A involved
Most of the Earth rise pictures (including one I'm using as wallpaper) that I've seen came from the Apollo 8 mission, not Apollo 11.
They said Itanium cluster, not VAX cluster!
I would use Gentoo, but I don't like being locked into specific compile-time flags. (Yes, I know I can change them, but why should I be bothered with that?)
What do you mean by locked into specific compile time flags? I was under the impression one of the benefit's of gentoo was that you were no locked into the vendor's compile time flags
I've still got a pair of working 9 track open reel drives. Need to find boot media so I can make the attached VAXen functional again. I don't suppose anyone would know where I could images of RX-50 boot media for a the console of a VAX 8530 on the web? I have the VMS install media, I just need to reload the OS on the console first.
I haven't seen anyone mention magnetic tape yet. I'm sure it has its drawbacks too, but considering its still widely used for backup purposes in a commericial environment, it can't be too bad. Especially depending on how much a cartridge can hold. Its not the cheapest, but it might be something to look into.
The distro I'm running doesn't even install the client out of the box. PITA when you are trying to talk directly to an SMTP or HTTP server to troubleshoot.
And the non-Amtrak trains are astronomically cheaper. To get from school in Troy, NY, to New Haven CT, cost me $50. I spent $30 to go from Troy to Poughkipse (I know its misspelled) on Amtrak, a travel time of 1.5 hours. I spent $20 to go from there to New Haven, CT by way of Grand Central on Metro North, a travel time of 3 hours not counting time spent in Grand Central. I've found for getting to/from NYC to have the least amount of hassle/cost using Metro North, especially with the current gas prices.
If you can boot off a boot disk, no OS is secure, unless you are using a custom FS that only the kernel on the install OS can read. Otherwise, I can boot whatever, mount the HD and undo restrictions (change shell, bypass startup files, reset passwords, etc, etc).
If you have to use Windows for your app, and it isn't too picky over which version of Windows, try using Windows 98 (hear me out before flaming). In c:\windows\win.ini, change the shell=explorer.exe line to shell=c:\path\to\your\app.exe. Make sure the machine is set to autologin as a user if you need samba access. I used a win98 based touch screen POS system, and it is 90% impossible to escape from it once its running. Alt-Tab is disabled, the Windows key does nothing. The only thing I didn't try is CTRL+ALT+DEL to escape out. The POS system is run off an NT 4 domain, so that might also be enforcing something. Seriously, if your standalone app runs under 95 or 98, you might want to give that a try. They both also have a system policy editor if shell replacement doesn't lock it down enough. Oh, if you ever need full windows, just boot off a boot disk and edit the shell line back.