Electric SheepDiscussions about computing from multiple viewpoints.On Licensing- May 31, 2007 Today a friend of mine IM'd me asking for advice on how to bridge a MySQL database with .NET. Aside from the fact that I normally charge a significant amount of money per hour to answer questions like that, I found it interesting that he was asking me for advice on a subject I was, at that very moment, executing on behalf of a client. The client has a Microsoft SQL Server database that has some very important data, and a Linux-based MySQL server that runs a very important program. Hmmm. My...http://www.monkuniverse.com/2007/05/on_licensing.html The joy of server.- May 17, 2007 I love Windows Server 2003. It helps that I worked on both it and 2003 sp1. It is a very stable, mature, reliable operating system. It also makes a great workstation. I find it surprising that hardly anyone has sounded the horns over 2003 sp2. But it is out there. and it rocks. oh how it rocks. Get it here Later on I will show you how to turn Server 2003 into a workstation. It isn't as weird as it sounds.http://www.monkuniverse.com/2007/05/the_joy_of_server.html The Tragedy of Choices- May 12, 2007 Behavioral experts agree: you never ask your kid what he wants to wear to school. Children, with their under-developed cognitive skills, don't quite possess the abilities to narrow down the options in their closet and analytically eliminate choices until they can conclusively pick the blue pants and the red shirt. A young brain just spins its wheels when presented with a seemingly limitless number of choices. It does not know how to perform the process of elimination. Instead, you are supposed.http://www.monkuniverse.com/2007/05/the_tragedy_of_choices_1.html grande elatte- May 12, 2007 Elatte may have been what I have been waiting for. Ubuntu with an opensolaris kernel. I had my doubts, as it was in alpha stages, but I have high hopes. The Good: Autodetects 64 or 32 bit systems. Very fast apt-get dist-upgrade works runs under vmware The Bad: limited selection of software proc just ain't the same no lsmodrmmodinsmod I realize the last two of the bad are pretty much no-brainers, but I figure if they made such an effort to make the system linux-like, they would make some..http://www.monkuniverse.com/2007/05/grande_elatte.html What the hell is wrong with SCO- May 8, 2007 Back in the 1970s, there was an operating system called UNIX. It was a neat idea developed by Bell Labs and ultimately grew a huge following that resulted in numerous spin-offs and workalikes. Every Linux and BSD, from Ubuntu to OS X, can look back at the original Ritchie and Thompson UNIX and give thanks. But that original code doesn't exist anymore, right Right UNIX, proper and true UNIX-brand UNIX, was owned by AT&T, and like all good companies, they just licensed the hell out of it. They..http://www.monkuniverse.com/2007/05/what_the_hell_is_wrong_with_sc.html Not living up to your potential- May 8, 2007 My middle school social studies teacher frequently gave me a hard time for not living up to my potential. "Not firing on all cylinders" was how he phrased it. Today's storage buses are in the same situation. Or are they During construction of my last system I agonized over the fact that the Western Digital Raptor drives (10K RPM, 4.6ms seek time) were only SATA-150 and not SATA-300. as a friend pointed out to me, the concern was moot. There was no way the drive could saturate the SATA-150 pipe.http://www.monkuniverse.com/2007/05/not_living_up_to_your_potentia.html IPv6: A Response to "Chicken Egg"- May 8, 2007 Monk points out that there is a Catch-22 in 64-bit adoption: people aren't demanding it because the hardware manufacturers don't support it very well, and the hardware manufacturers don't support it very well because the people aren't demanding it. The same could be said for IPv6. Every major operating system from Windows to OS X to the Linux and UNIX derivatives all support IPv6, and there are probably entire networks run by masochists that are taking advantage of IPv6 address space. The...http://www.monkuniverse.com/2007/05/ipv6_a_response_to_chicken_egg.html Computer Optimization I- May 7, 2007 There are a few things you can do to make your system run a bit better. Disable what you don't need (hardware) Go into your bios and turn off the things you don't need. If you are not using your parallel or serial ports, turn them off! If you aren't using your integrated modem, turn it off! However, I would suggest keeping a record of what you do turn off. That way you can have a first step in trouble shooting why a device isn't working. Remove windows components you don't need. Chances are..http://www.monkuniverse.com/2007/05/computer_optimization_i.html Package management vs optimization- May 7, 2007 There seem to be two main camps regarding package management. Install from sources Install from binaries. This makes a big difference when one of two things: dependencies and updating. Now, I prefer the debian way in this case. apt-get install and then apt-get dist-upgrade as wanted. this works for other packages installed the same way, when it causes problems is if you compile something from source on the same system. When debian recently released 4.0, my routine updating of the system...http://www.monkuniverse.com/2007/05/package_management_vs_optimiza.html Chicken Egg- May 6, 2007 Most hardware makers see no real rush to develop 64 bit drivers as the user base isn't there yet. Most users see no reason to adopt 64 bit OSes as the hardware support isn't there yet. Most software makers see no real rush to develop 64 bit native versions of the software as a) the 32 bit version runs fine on 64 bit and b) the users and the hardware support isn't there yet. As a passionate fan of 64 bit computing this drives me up the wall.http://www.monkuniverse.com/2007/05/chicken_egg.html |