For Linux, Debian is pretty much the granddaddy, and can likely be wrangled to do whatever you want. You seem the explorative type. If you're comfortable with Debian, figure out how to do whatever it is you're interested in on Debian and get on with it. Changing distros won't change your life.
Pretty much *any* distro can be wrangled to do whatever you want, it's just a measure of how much pain you're willing to endure in the process.
I'm quite happy with both OpenSolaris and FreeBSD as desktops, as well as servers.
You didn't specify what your primary goals are for the system in question-- if you're looking for a general purpose web surfing/light development machine, OpenSolaris should be fine for you-- as long as you have at least a gigabyte of memory and a moderately fast processor.
FreeBSD's a lot less resource intensive in my experience-- I'm currently supporting two sites that still have Pentium III/600-based servers with uptimes approaching a year each. (Last reboot for each was due to a multi-day power outage.)
If you have VirtualBox installed, give both FreeBSD and OpenSolaris a whirl, see what you think.
The National Museum of the US Air Force is worth a look if you're passing through the Dayton area along I-70. You can easily spend an entire day there, but it's segmented into different exhibits that you can pick/choose from to fit your allowed time. Lots of nearby hotels, as well.
What's the deal with the Sonata case? I see a lot of people getting them.
It's pleasantly quiet-- the powersupply has the variable speed fan, and the single 120mm fan in the rear of the case can be driven by a fan-only power connector that varies the speed appropriately.
I've got a 2.8 Prescott, OEM heatsink/fan and I can barely hear it below the desk.
That's the OTHER nice thing about the sonata, for a dorm environment? Underdesk space permitting, it just *disappears*. I've got friends with their gaming PCs under the desk overhang, and a second "scrap" pc sitting on the desktop, running as a webserver/whatnot.
The tiny cases are nice, if you don't plan to expand down the road, or are REALLY bound by space constraints... personally, I'd want to make it difficult for someone to run off with my dormroom PC ( two weeks into the semester, and already 3 shuttles have grown legs and walked out of dorm rooms)
Think of it this way--- if something goes wrong, and it's your vacation.... if your coworkers call IBM, and the discussion turns to "this isn't officially supported", how are you going to handle getting pulled back early from vacation?
On the other hand, if it's a system that isn't going to make your boss look bad if you're not around when it fails, go for it--- I've had to fight a coworker who *insisted* I install RH9 on a standalone Linux workstation at work last week...
Him: "But if something goes wrong, I can get support for RH9 from the people in my building."
Me: "That's nice. Can I call them, because 99% of my x86 UNIX experience is with Slackware and FreeBSD."
Him: "No."
Me: "Okay then, my workstation gets Slackware. SMILE."
First rule of dorm life: Don't go nuts on the 'sexy' looking hardware.
Everyone in the dorm will eventually walk by your door and catch glimpses of your computer/stereo/whatnot.
Don't go for a case with bling-factor-- get a nice subdued thing that screams "boring machine". Quiet cases are a godsend in small rooms--- I've built ten systems using Sonata cases in the past three days for college students.
Stereo wise (assuming you have a separate stereo)--- get the least obstrusive thing you can find. If it looks pricey, it's a target.
No one looked twice at my first generation Harmon Kardon equipment until the day I chose to escalate a Loud Music During Quiet Hours battle with some Carmina Burana. ( The Ormandy recording, for the curious.)
Second-- think before you start blabbing about how cool your hardware is.... you don't know if the people behind you in the line are going to be in awe of your hardware, or if they're going to wait till you go home for a weekend to break into your dorm room. I'm not saying you shouldn't be proud of your hardware (what self respecting geek isn't, anyways?)..... but for pete's sake, talk about something else at first, until you're able to discern if someone's an asshat or not.
It seems more likely that the PMTs weren't manufactured to spec, and the enclosures failed as a result of pressure during the refill.
Gross negligence? Doubtful.
You don't get to spend that kind of money without at least pretending to account for possible problems. Thing is, no one expects the fscking detectors to implode like this....
If you do anything where somebody could come to harm, be it design a bridge (civil engr.), design a car (m.e.) or medical devices (EE, ME), you need a PE to advance in the field and do anything meaningful. A PE means you take legal responsibility for ANYTHING that bears your signature.... sometimes you can face criminal charges (remember the Kansas City skywalk in the hotel??)
I've got the Diamond Fire GL1000 Pro (Permedia 2) chipset.... very playable under Windoze. I'll give it a whirl under Linux. -bill n9vls(@)netscape(dot)net
>Circuit City just isn't pervasive enough -- they're not in the small markets in the sort of way that a company like Best Buy is. There was no way they were ever going to pull this one off.
I have to agree with you there...
The other thing I've notcied about Circuit City is that they don't encourage salespeople to sell you what you want... most Best Buys realize that getting you out the door quickly with ANY purchase is a good thing. Circuit City is too concerned with selling you what they make the most money on.
This is getting a wee bit out of hand... I'm almost frightened to check any other websites for fear of spotting a herd of Spafford's USENET Dancing Elephants with diarrhea.
Well, I guess I got lucky.... most of the users here at IPFW are in love with Word Perfect... we do have MS Word on the lab machines, but any problems with those and we just have to re-ghost the drive image back to normal.
------- This is analogous to the investigative reporters on TV. Someone buys a ford-pinto, it blows up. No-one seems to care, so this person calls an investigative reporter, who tries to get the story which is that there is a safety problem. Big television story and the safety problem with the ford-pinto is corrected. ---------
Just a minor point re: the pintos... As I understand it, two separate accidents involving the Pinto happened in rapid succession in the Elkhart, IN area. Ford acts like nothing major was wrong. Elkhart attorney Mike Cosentino files suit against Ford on behalf of victims... and launches a rather long career based on that one lawsuit.
A better example of investigative reporters screwing things up would be the DC-10 falling engine incidents. Wonderful airplane, unfortunate reputation.
The most publicized case of Falling Engine syndrome was later traced to maintenance crews taking shortcuts in reattaching the engine...
Slashdot Mirror
"Liquid latex Fridays" will be added to the suggestion box at my employer later today. Thanks for the laugh.
For Linux, Debian is pretty much the granddaddy, and can likely be wrangled to do whatever you want. You seem the explorative type. If you're comfortable with Debian, figure out how to do whatever it is you're interested in on Debian and get on with it. Changing distros won't change your life.
Pretty much *any* distro can be wrangled to do whatever you want, it's just a measure of how much pain you're willing to endure in the process.
XFS is definitely worth a look if you're more focused on filesystem features.
I'm quite happy with both OpenSolaris and FreeBSD as desktops, as well as servers.
You didn't specify what your primary goals are for the system in question-- if you're looking for a general purpose web surfing/light development machine, OpenSolaris should be fine for you-- as long as you have at least a gigabyte of memory and a moderately fast processor.
FreeBSD's a lot less resource intensive in my experience-- I'm currently supporting two sites that still have Pentium III/600-based servers with uptimes approaching a year each. (Last reboot for each was due to a multi-day power outage.)
If you have VirtualBox installed, give both FreeBSD and OpenSolaris a whirl, see what you think.
The National Museum of the US Air Force is worth a look if you're passing through the Dayton area along I-70. You can easily spend an entire day there, but it's segmented into different exhibits that you can pick/choose from to fit your allowed time. Lots of nearby hotels, as well.
Oooh, that looks interesting-- been looking for a reason to become active again.
What's the deal with the Sonata case? I see a lot of people getting them.
It's pleasantly quiet-- the powersupply has the variable speed fan, and the single 120mm fan in the rear of the case can be driven by a fan-only power connector that varies the speed appropriately.
I've got a 2.8 Prescott, OEM heatsink/fan and I can barely hear it below the desk.
That's the OTHER nice thing about the sonata, for a dorm environment? Underdesk space permitting, it just *disappears*. I've got friends with their gaming PCs under the desk overhang, and a second "scrap" pc sitting on the desktop, running as a webserver/whatnot.
The tiny cases are nice, if you don't plan to expand down the road, or are REALLY bound by space constraints... personally, I'd want to make it difficult for someone to run off with my dormroom PC ( two weeks into the semester, and already 3 shuttles have grown legs and walked out of dorm rooms)
Think of it this way--- if something goes wrong, and it's your vacation.... if your coworkers call IBM, and the discussion turns to "this isn't officially supported", how are you going to handle getting pulled back early from vacation?
On the other hand, if it's a system that isn't going to make your boss look bad if you're not around when it fails, go for it--- I've had to fight a coworker who *insisted* I install RH9 on a standalone Linux workstation at work last week...
Him: "But if something goes wrong, I can get support for RH9 from the people in my building."
Me: "That's nice. Can I call them, because 99% of my x86 UNIX experience is with Slackware and FreeBSD."
Him: "No."
Me: "Okay then, my workstation gets Slackware. SMILE."
First rule of dorm life: Don't go nuts on the 'sexy' looking hardware.
Everyone in the dorm will eventually walk by your door and catch glimpses of your computer/stereo/whatnot.
Don't go for a case with bling-factor-- get a nice subdued thing that screams "boring machine". Quiet cases are a godsend in small rooms--- I've built ten systems using Sonata cases in the past three days for college students.
Stereo wise (assuming you have a separate stereo)--- get the least obstrusive thing you can find. If it looks pricey, it's a target.
No one looked twice at my first generation Harmon Kardon equipment until the day I chose to escalate a Loud Music During Quiet Hours battle with some Carmina Burana. ( The Ormandy recording, for the curious.)
Second-- think before you start blabbing about how cool your hardware is.... you don't know if the people behind you in the line are going to be in awe of your hardware, or if they're going to wait till you go home for a weekend to break into your dorm room. I'm not saying you shouldn't be proud of your hardware (what self respecting geek isn't, anyways?)..... but for pete's sake, talk about something else at first, until you're able to discern if someone's an asshat or not.
The tooth guy would be Jearl Walker @ Cleveland State University, I believe. See here (PDF) for details.
It seems more likely that the PMTs weren't manufactured to spec, and the enclosures failed as a result of pressure during the refill.
Gross negligence? Doubtful.
You don't get to spend that kind of money without at least pretending to account for possible problems. Thing is, no one expects the fscking detectors to implode like this....
If you do anything where somebody could come to harm, be it design a bridge (civil engr.), design a car (m.e.) or medical devices (EE, ME), you need a PE to advance in the field and do anything meaningful. A PE means you take legal responsibility for ANYTHING that bears your signature.... sometimes you can face criminal charges (remember the Kansas City skywalk in the hotel??)
Read anything by Henry Petroski.
I'm very fond of the GIMP, but Photoshop is still the king in my opinion. (Although I'm also quite fond of CorelXARA 2).
Why does this hour only have 22 minutes?
I've got the Diamond Fire GL1000 Pro (Permedia 2)
chipset.... very playable under Windoze. I'll give it a whirl under Linux.
-bill
n9vls(@)netscape(dot)net
>Circuit City just isn't pervasive enough -- they're not in the small markets in the sort of way that a company like Best Buy is. There was no way they were ever going to pull this one off.
I have to agree with you there...
The other thing I've notcied about Circuit City is that they don't encourage salespeople to sell you what you want... most Best Buys realize that getting you out the door quickly with ANY purchase is a good thing. Circuit City is too concerned with selling you what they make the most money on.
This is getting a wee bit out of hand...
I'm almost frightened to check any other websites for fear of spotting a herd of Spafford's USENET Dancing Elephants with diarrhea.
Well, I guess I got lucky.... most of the users here at IPFW are in love with Word Perfect... we do have MS Word on the lab machines, but any problems with those and we just have to re-ghost the drive image back to normal.
-------
This is analogous to the investigative reporters on TV. Someone buys a ford-pinto, it blows up.
No-one seems to care, so this person calls an investigative reporter, who tries to get the
story which is that there is a safety problem. Big television story and the safety problem with
the ford-pinto is corrected.
---------
Just a minor point re: the pintos...
As I understand it, two separate accidents involving the Pinto happened in rapid succession in the Elkhart, IN area. Ford acts like nothing major was wrong. Elkhart attorney Mike Cosentino files suit against Ford on behalf of victims... and launches a rather long career based on that one lawsuit.
A better example of investigative reporters screwing things up would be the DC-10 falling engine incidents. Wonderful airplane, unfortunate reputation.
The most publicized case of Falling Engine syndrome was later traced to maintenance crews taking shortcuts in reattaching the engine...
What, Lucasfilm defend things agressively????
Never!
If it is LucasFilm, I think I'll be writing a nicely worded letter to George...
Parodies are protected by law for a reason...
oh well.