RaQ4 (64MB RAM/10GB HD/single Ethernet) is $1499
RaQ4i (256MB RAM/20GB HD/Dual Ethernet/SCSI Port) is $2699
RaQ4r (512MB RAM/2 30GB HD w/RAID1) is $3599
(other SKUs with different RAM/HD configs change the price as well)
These all use commodity PC-100 DIMMs, so you can do your own memory upgrade to the 512MB max pretty easily (of course your own memory isn't covered by the warranty, but...)
They are more expensive than a white-box general purpose server, but it comes back to "everything you need is pre-integrated" so you can literally have it online within 10-15 minutes of opening the box without having to be a Linux "guru". That's what the slight premium in price is all about...
Put 50 domains on a RaQ4r at $40 a month each, and it's paid for in 2 months. And that's without charging extra for bandwidth, backup services, etc, which most every ISP does anyway...
...(run a version of RedHat with exploitable BIND etc.)...
The BIND patch has been available since Feb 6
...command line administration 'voids your warranty'...
Command-line administration does not necessarily void your 30 days of free telephone support, and absolutely doesn't affect the hardware warranty. If you don't touch things provided in the GUI, you're ok. And some things, like Interbase, have to be set up from the command line. Third-party apps which don't overlap/replace/affect supplied services don't alter warranty support in any way (Real server, MySQL, etc).
Free support isn't provided for every possible end-user kludge-up of the Apache/Sendmail/etc config files... but does anyone provide free support for things like that anyway?
Cobalt server appliances are just that: appliances. (How many of you fiddle with your microwave to get better/different performance out of it?) If you are totally into complete customization of every detail of your server, then a general-purpose server is what you want.
Server appliances (not just 1U boxes with an OS on them!) are for people who don't want to spend the time finding/installing/configuring Apache, sendmail, FTP, etc. They just want a few basic internet services to work, and be easy to understand. Cobalt appliances are probably not the best solution for the average Slashdot propellerhead...
The MIPS processors have no L2 cache, so performance definitely suffered as a result. That, and lack of 3rd party application compatibility are the main reasons Cobalt dropped the MIPS CPU for the AMD K6.
MIPS interfaces were slow too because they were all static HTML files which had to be regenerated by CGIs everytime you changed some information. x86 boxes use PostgreSQL to maintain/mirror a lot of config info to speed dynamic page generation.
The new Sausalito API (available on Qube3, and all future RaQ/Qube products) is another huge step forward. Persistent connections, etc, make the average time for a new screen to appear in the 1-second-or-less range. Not to mention the API can be hooked into from PHP, Perl, or C++ for end-user customization possibilities...
"I just signed up online last week for a 1-year subscription to TPJ. I read this morning in the news that there are no immediate plans to continue publishing the magazine.
I think this would be a tragic mistake, and strongly encourage the continued publication of the magazine.
In the meantime, I do not wish to take chances with my money. Please cancel my subscription signup and confirm reversal of my credit card charge. When you decide to publish TPJ I will gladly sign up again for another subscription."
and got back this reply:
Right now the status of the Perl Journal is unclear, although EarthWeb will not be processing any new subscriptions. I see many accounts that you setup online, but none were billed.
Sincerely,
Mike Brent
EarthWeb Customer Support
(303)801-1298
mikeb@earthweb.com
So it looks like they have at least a *small* clue about good business practices! Hope it all works out in the end...
It is easy to set up a printer on a Linux system -- providing that the printer will accept what the system is sending it! I have a LaserJet 3150 (one of those print/scan/copy/fax/juicer/coffee machines), and it won't even accept plain ASCII text!! (See the Printing HOWTO and search for "paperweight") I can somewhat understand HP not being able to port the nifty software from Window$ to allow scanning etc (although it shouldn't be too tough), but not to allow even ASCII text copied to the printer?
Actually, there were a *lot* of overpriced items being purchased by the military until fairly recently. Now the supply department(in the Navy, anyway) offers rewards to people who track down overpriced items in the system and find cost-effective replacements! My personal experience was a copper O-ring for a potable water valve. Because it was a potable water valve, the O-ring had to be certified lead-free. Thus the O-ring was about $45 for a 2" diameter copper ring. The exact same part (based on mfr part number, not MILSPEC and NSN/NIIN) for a fuel valve was $0.37.
Military procurement has advanced a long way recently since the government is consolidating, and also is allowing purchase of off-the-shelf equipment instead of writing 400-page MILSPECs and having all their crap custom-made just for them (and having a separate version for each branch of the service while they were at it).
Slashdot Mirror
Check IBM's AIX site for info about Linux 'affinity'...
Did San Francisco take Sun up on their offer??
Yep - lots cheaper. From the Cobalt website:
RaQ4 (64MB RAM/10GB HD/single Ethernet) is $1499
RaQ4i (256MB RAM/20GB HD/Dual Ethernet/SCSI Port) is $2699
RaQ4r (512MB RAM/2 30GB HD w/RAID1) is $3599
(other SKUs with different RAM/HD configs change the price as well)
These all use commodity PC-100 DIMMs, so you can do your own memory upgrade to the 512MB max pretty easily (of course your own memory isn't covered by the warranty, but...)
They are more expensive than a white-box general purpose server, but it comes back to "everything you need is pre-integrated" so you can literally have it online within 10-15 minutes of opening the box without having to be a Linux "guru". That's what the slight premium in price is all about...
Put 50 domains on a RaQ4r at $40 a month each, and it's paid for in 2 months. And that's without charging extra for bandwidth, backup services, etc, which most every ISP does anyway...
The BIND patch has been available since Feb 6
Command-line administration does not necessarily void your 30 days of free telephone support, and absolutely doesn't affect the hardware warranty. If you don't touch things provided in the GUI, you're ok. And some things, like Interbase, have to be set up from the command line. Third-party apps which don't overlap/replace/affect supplied services don't alter warranty support in any way (Real server, MySQL, etc).
Free support isn't provided for every possible end-user kludge-up of the Apache/Sendmail/etc config files... but does anyone provide free support for things like that anyway?
Cobalt server appliances are just that: appliances. (How many of you fiddle with your microwave to get better/different performance out of it?) If you are totally into complete customization of every detail of your server, then a general-purpose server is what you want.
Server appliances (not just 1U boxes with an OS on them!) are for people who don't want to spend the time finding/installing/configuring Apache, sendmail, FTP, etc. They just want a few basic internet services to work, and be easy to understand. Cobalt appliances are probably not the best solution for the average Slashdot propellerhead...
The MIPS processors have no L2 cache, so performance definitely suffered as a result. That, and lack of 3rd party application compatibility are the main reasons Cobalt dropped the MIPS CPU for the AMD K6.
MIPS interfaces were slow too because they were all static HTML files which had to be regenerated by CGIs everytime you changed some information. x86 boxes use PostgreSQL to maintain/mirror a lot of config info to speed dynamic page generation.
The new Sausalito API (available on Qube3, and all future RaQ/Qube products) is another huge step forward. Persistent connections, etc, make the average time for a new screen to appear in the 1-second-or-less range. Not to mention the API can be hooked into from PHP, Perl, or C++ for end-user customization possibilities...
"I just signed up online last week for a 1-year subscription to TPJ. I read this morning in the news that there are no immediate plans to continue publishing the magazine.
I think this would be a tragic mistake, and strongly encourage the continued publication of the magazine.
In the meantime, I do not wish to take chances with my money. Please cancel my subscription signup and confirm reversal of my credit card charge. When you decide to publish TPJ I will gladly sign up again for another subscription."
and got back this reply:
Right now the status of the Perl Journal is unclear, although EarthWeb will not be processing any new subscriptions. I see many accounts that you setup online, but none were billed.
Sincerely,
Mike Brent
EarthWeb Customer Support
(303)801-1298
mikeb@earthweb.com
So it looks like they have at least a *small* clue about good business practices! Hope it all works out in the end...
From the article: "Users interact with the watch through a combination of a touch-sensitive screen and a roller wheel."
WTF were you thinking, HP?
Actually, there were a *lot* of overpriced items being purchased by the military until fairly recently. Now the supply department(in the Navy, anyway) offers rewards to people who track down overpriced items in the system and find cost-effective replacements! My personal experience was a copper O-ring for a potable water valve. Because it was a potable water valve, the O-ring had to be certified lead-free. Thus the O-ring was about $45 for a 2" diameter copper ring. The exact same part (based on mfr part number, not MILSPEC and NSN/NIIN) for a fuel valve was $0.37.
Military procurement has advanced a long way recently since the government is consolidating, and also is allowing purchase of off-the-shelf equipment instead of writing 400-page MILSPECs and having all their crap custom-made just for them (and having a separate version for each branch of the service while they were at it).
Cobalt Networks' new RaQ4 is shipping with Interbase preinstalled...
Isn't HAL really Harware Abstraction Layer, not Allocation?