Posts by Tim99

Apple should start taking enterprise servers seriously

@CurtisB SMB

Disclaimer - I actually have had a fair bit of experience of supplying server based systems to Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs). I have installed Linux, Windows/Dell/IBM/HP and Apple based solutions

The cost of the kit is the least of an SMBs problems. Many SMBs are held hostage by their (outsourced) IT after the kit has been installed. A quick look on Apple's site shows that a realistic Xserve small rack mounted server with 2x 1TB SATA hard drives, a Quad Core Xeon, 64MB Radeon graphics, a single power supply and a superdrive with unlimited clients costs ~2,400 quid - AppleCare Premium Service and Support costs an additional 635 quid. A Mac Pro (Tower) with similar specs and 256MB Radeon costs less than 1,850 quid - Now add Mac OS X Server (Unlimited-Client) at 616 quid and an AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro at less than 200 quid... The 19 inch rack solution comes in at a 3,035 as opposed to 2,666 for the tower. For a 50 user system they are both a bargain.

With Linux you could probably do something similar for less than half of that - On the other hand, if you used a Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) based solution, the software and client access licences (CALs) ALONE would cost you 4000 quid for 50 users; so add say another 1300 quid for the hardware. Oh! you wanted a SQL server as well sir! So that would be another box and licence and CALs - or you could spend about the same and use the MS SBS Premium product.

Compared with the pratting-about your Linux consultant will probably charge you for, and Microsoft's CAL Tax, an Apple Server solution may be a bargain.

Demise of British tank industry foretold admitted

The problem with tanks?

I may be misremembering, but I am reasonably sure that an old declassified MOD document that I saw in the 1970's said that a WWII tank fired an average of 1.7 rounds in action/anger before it was disabled or destroyed.

I think the same document had the stunning information that it cost 5,000 quid to kill a combatant, and that was in WWII money.

Online storage start-up pitches 'USB stick on the internet'

Save a few quid

How about a remote server and something like:-

rsync -avhe ssh --delete /home/user/dir/ [e-mail]:dir/

Unless you insist on Windows everywhere...

Fifty years later, steam appears on British railway

@Ferry Boat - Electric Traction

Almost all larger "Diesel" locomotives use electric traction motors. The power is generated from the engine driving an alternator. The power from the alternator then drives the traction motors. It is common for each axle/bogie to have its own traction motor driven off the one alternator.

It can be argued that the French already have nuclear powered trains as nuclear power stations already generate most of the electricity used to power SNCF trains...

French boffin: Mac Pros emit toxic fumes

@Only cheap 'punch and crunch' PCB's use phenolic resins

Epoxy resins and plastics are ubiquatous in the modern environment. This is probably a worry as they are made from (and give off) Bisphenol A [2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl) propane]. This is known to be an endocrine disruptor. Studies have shown this material can give carcinogenic effects, neurotoxicity and developmental toxicity, as well as an ability to mimic oestrogen giving early puberty induction and damage to male reproductive systems.

Oh, and epoxy resin PCBs also give off benzene when heated. Us chemist types often refer to plastics that contain phenolic compounds as phenolic resins - Bisphenol A is made from the condensation of phenol and acetone. Yes, I AM expert in this stuff...

Oh Dear! Some French boffin needs funding

A long time ago, I was a real scientist. A small part of my job was to analyse volatile organic materials emitted from electronic systems.

Guess what? If your device contains a phenolic printed circuit board (almost everything uses these), resistors, wrapped capacitors etc. They ALL emit benzene.

If you really want to avoid benzene, get rid or your car (petrol contains up to a percent or so of benzene). Perhaps you could stay indoors to avoid traffic fumes - No, that won't work either - Fumes from your carpets, foam furniture and laminated board are likely to contain benzene (and a lot more more harmful materials). If you live in the modern world, benzene is a necessary evil.

Anyway a Frenchman complaining about benzene contamination? Just Google "Perrier water" and "Benzene". Many bottled waters contain traces of benzene...

Postman Pat goes postal

Next Series

In the next series he will just be called "Pat" - Because he will be unemployed.

Ballmer on banking crisis: No one is safe

@dervheid - VERB

How about the suspended one being called the twatdanglee, the one suspending would be a twatdangler.

A past tense of a verb can be treated as a noun, e.g. the sentence "Bring out your dead" could be compared to "Bring out your twatdangled"...

Mayor Boris serves Governator cold revenge

@Warhelmet

"You make that sound like a bad thing." (Gene Hunt)...

Apple grabs double-digit US laptop marketshare

Apple flamers

Apple haters, why are you unable to spell khaki? Unless you meant Kharki in Bangladesh?

Yes, I am one of the elitist fashionistas - That is if you use this description when you refer to a fat, retired scientist/computer geek.

I bought Apple and *NIX stuff after I retired so that I did not have to continue to deal with the hell-hole that is Windows. I type this on a PowerBook that runs OS X, Debian stable, and XP Professional (shudder!), although XP only gets used about once a fortnight.

Perhaps I am a little unkind about Windows - I made a good living, for years, keeping it running and writing applications. Shame that I no longer have a use for it...

Caterpillar plans 600 tonne godzilla-lorry robots

@Maliciously Crafted Packet

Here in Oz, where we buy a lot of these for the iron ore mines in the North West, the preferred driver is a woman.

Women appear to treat the toys better, and as a result, it is reckoned that a typical years equipment maintenance costs up to $100,000 less than if a bloke was driving them...

JavaScript standards wrangle swings Microsoft's way

@MS is not always wrong

@And Clover - I find that assuming that MS *is* always wrong is a viable working hypothesis...

DARPA calls for 'DUDE' combo infra-nightscope

@ Stuart

Obligatory Douglas Adams quotation -

"Every time you try to operate one of these weird black controls that are labelled in black on a black background, a little black light lights up black to let you know you have done it."

Hotblack Desiato, Disaster Area, and the totally black ship in "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=535094

King Arthur was English 'propaganda', French claim

@josiefatboy

Yes, but their propaganda may not have been that good. William (The Conqueror) was a Norman, and they were the same group as the Vikings, so perhaps they, as Aryan race, would have more in common with the Angles and Saxons?

Mines the one with the thumbed copy of Godwin's Law in the pocket...

Gumshoes fined for debt collection pretexting blag

@AC @ ICO = Lame ducks

[This guy came up to me and said, "Have you got a light Mac?"]

Reply - "No, this is the previous model PowerBook with a 17-inch screen."

or, "No. This is a ThinkPad X300 - I use Kubuntu, would you like to see it?"

or, "No. This is an Asus Eee - I find it works well on the beach."

Mine's the big check jacket with the music-hall stage makeup in the pocket.

Biggles battles Yanks for right to sport tash

@ TrishaD

"I imagine that Flt Lt Ball calls his a 'kite' ...."

Only if he was "Shooting a line"

@ paul bell

Good comment paul.

As an aside - Flying types who swore allegiance to the King/Queen tend to call the kit an "aeroplane" or, if you don't have a classical education, an "aircraft". My father was an aircrew Flt. Lt. in WWII - He got upset about things like that...

A bit of fatherly advice was "Try to avoid leaving an aeroplane by parachute, unless the aeroplane is on fire". So far, I have not needed to follow this as a regular passenger on 747s.

Gates threatens to buy millions and millions of servers for Microsoft

@Solomon Grundy Re:And the Winner Is

"It's just a mainframe." Yes, I have been around long enough - I think that it's just as likely to be the 'centralization' v. the 'line of business/local user' computing thing.

Windows in corporate IT is now locked down so tightly (in a vain effort to keep it secure), that it might just as well be a mainframe - Or a large UNIX based system running X terminal sessions. All though a mainframe/UNIX system is unlikely to cark itself if a user does a clicky on a web-link.

I remember a DEC VAX/VMS product called 'All in One' from the 1980s. It allowed users to interact and collaborate with e-mail, word-processing, calendars and spreadsheets - The main difference was that it all happened with nice green/amber terminals. If you had a graphics terminal you could do charts and drawings as well. I could do pretty much everything that I needed with this suite. It took many more years to get functionality like that in the Microsoft world. The system's support requirements were typically 4 staff for each few hundred users, so obviously we couldn't have that...

Because I was 'scientific/technical/IT', I was allowed to get to all of this corporate goodness from a 'DEC Professional' computer (a cut down PDP-11). The operating system was called 'Professional Operating System' or P/OS - This name summed it up nicely - I suspect that it was one reason why DEC died.

Most 'malfunctioning' gadgets work just fine, report claims

@ re: poor product design

Robin, take it back to the nice Apple people - They will give you a new one. Generally they accept broken stuff, even when you have done it yourself, providing you are reasonable about it...

Ofcom mulls BT Openreach price hike

@Steven Hewitt

I preferred it when it was the office of the Postmaster General (PMG). Then, you had no doubt whatsoever that it was part of the governance and social fabric of the UK. The PMG's employees were considered a part of the Civil Service.

When I worked in the Civil Service in the 1970s, staff were instructed to report to the nearest Post Office if they were unable to get to work (Say, as a result of transport strikes or inclement weather.). I did once, they gave me a cup of tea, asked me to count some stationary, and then sent me home.

UK begins probe into aeroplane air quality

Somebody, somewhere needs research funding?

There is a lot of data on this. Google "tricresyl phosphate".

If you need more info on toxicity look for the "Material Safety Data Sheet" for tricresyl phosphate. You will see things like "EXPOSURE LIMITS:TWA: 0.1 (mg/m3)" -Time Weighted Average - (This is the sort of level you get for materials that are known to be toxic).

US protests to WTO over EU 'IT' tariffs

@Mike Crawshaw @frymaster

Many years ago, my Dad gave me advice about politicians:-

They are mostly in it for themselves. You, as a voter have the choice of voting for politicians who were selected by very small groups of people to look after their interests. It is easy to recognise these people. They either smoke cigars and drink spirits in a small smoky room at the back of the Rotary Club (Conservative); or they smoke fags and drink beer in a small smoky room at the back of the Working Man's Club (Labour). These politicians are venal and corrupt.

Or you could vote for someone who has a burning desire to help people. These politicians are obsessive and very dangerous - They believe that "The End justifies the Means".

My Dad was an un-elected official who made Sir Humphrey Appleby look like a bumbling amateur. He was firmly of the opinion that most people really don't want much change, they just want their little lives to be a little better. Now that I am older, I suspect he was right...

Ref: Lord Acton - “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency of the certainty of corruption by authority."

US Reapers get satnav bombs, deploy on Canadian border

Be Afraid?

I believe that Canada is the largest exporter of oil to the USA. WMDs and Regime Change next?

Life a mess? The Moderatrix can help

@One of lifes big questions

Chris,

Liquids cool more quickly the hotter they are compared with their surroundings. So, for maximum cooling wait a few minutes then add the milk.

However, you are probably one of the iconoclasts who make tea with a tea-bag in a cup - Do yourself a favour and invest in a teapot. Making your tea in a cup will make it taste terrible. You really should put the milk in the cup first, then add the brewed tea. This prevents degradation of milk proteins which is liable to occur if milk encounters temperatures above 75°C.

Ref: http://www.rsc.org/pdf/pressoffice/2003/tea.pdf

Chinese boffins show off unbelievably tight ring

@chair?

Louis,

Benzene rings are planar (flat) because their electrons can be thought of as having a hybridization pi cloud. Six member saturated carbon rings like cyclohexanes, or nitrogen/carbon heterocyclic rings like RDX (Semtex), have chair and/or boat structures. The boat has both ends pointing up, the chair has one end pointing up with the other end down. The same molecule can alternate between the two structures. This is known as chair-boat hybridization.

Mine's the lab coat with the acid burns down the front.

BOFH: The Boss gets Grandpa Simpson syndrome

@Wow

Antony, I drove a DG Nova3 using RDOS. The machine was later replaced with a Nova 4C with a 25MB Winchester Drive. DG sent people out just to see it because they had never installed one with such a large fixed disc. The down side was we backed up and archived everything on 8" floppies - It was used to acquire and process data from mass spectrometers.

I remember that in the month I ordered it, I bought a 3 bedroom detached house in the UK - The Nova was about twice the price of my house, so say half a million quid in present money.

The disc unit was huge (19" rackable). You could see everything because the top case of the drive was transparent. Yes, obviously, the heads crashed on the HD after a year or two. The damaged aerofoil head had buried itself deep into the gouges in the platter. Of course these young-uns don't know that the heads in disc drives actually flew on the thin layer of air that was carried along with the rotating disc surface. I need to lie down now for my afternoon nap...

Microsoft to punt pensioner-proof PC

Re: Does this mean

Nice one Stu. We pensioners might get a little tired in the afternoon because some of our brains have degraded from having to invent a lot of this computing stuff.

I can only sleep on a few afternoons, as I spend the rest of them teaching other retired people computing. No, I do not recommend anything from Microsoft.

Fortunately, I don't need to remember to turn on our home computers so that they are ready for use. Two of them are energy efficient Debian servers (<10 watts), and are on all of the time. The other two can be easily awoken from OS X's 'Sleep' mode.

As an aside, most of us oldies know the difference between "their" and "there".

Build a 14.5 watt data center in a shoebox

Have a look at the Excito Bubba

I have a couple of these http://www.excito.com/products.html

One of them does this:-

Linux 2.6, Debian; Apache web server; Dovecot IMAP server (IMAP, IMAPS); Postfix SMTP server; Fetchmail (for fetching email from other pop or imap accounts); File server (http, samba, ftp); Download manager (bittorrent, http, ftp); Printer server; DAAP streaming media server (Firefly); UPnP streaming media server (Mediatomb)

The other one is used as a backup and for 'development' (Well, OK, playing with it.). You can also install most ARM Debian packages that you might want like MC, SQLite, MySQL (if you really have to) etc.

They each use < 10 watts. Both of them have current up-times of about 100 days.

A new one with more stuff is due out later in the year.

Spread your database connections with PHP PDO

Old Fart Rant

For goodness sake people. Learn SQL, then find one or two decent databases and stick with them. If you want to save a few quid, use SQLite to prototype and demo to the punter, and then upgrade it to PostgreSQL if you really need to. The upgrade is fairly simple.

If you really must use a framework have a look at Django, at least it is pretty consistent, scales OK, and uses Python, so you will be spared the pain that is PHP...

Sky One to resurrect Blake's 7?

Flame war

You do know that Blake wasn't in nearly all of the episodes?

Erm, and there weren't seven of them?

Bit like most things really, marketing beats the truth - Paris because she is a triumph of marketing.