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Comment Wow, serial console kiddos. (Score 1) 347

I have to say I am surprised that the whole concept of serial consoles, serial cards and what not are completely lost on the Windows generation.

Here are the kernel configs for using a serial dongle (costs around 5 bucks) on a USB port for as a serial console.

If you don't want to do that buy a serial port on a PCI card (costs around 10 bucks) or just buy a cheap watchdog card (most expensive least work since it emulates vga over serial).

Comment Possible but would be an enormous amount of work (Score 1) 1345

I think this might be possible but would actually require structure, a great deal of discipline and a lot of work on the "teachers" part. I doubt most people are qualified or have the dedication do this effectively. So I suspect most people who try it will end up really hurting their children in the long run.

We used to live next door to some people who tried something similar to this and their kids didn't learn to read until they were 10 and even then they were likely functionally illiterate.

Additionally society and the work environment have some measure of structure and school is what introduces them to that. Without that the kids are at a disadvantage when they are flung into society and the workplace.

Comment Hype + Sour Grapes + You look like a tool (Score 1) 487

Yes, the hype played big time into it. We were all expecting some new power generating sterling engine or something equally cool. In the end we got an SUPER expensive scooter.

So I would put forth a theory that it is a combination of disappointment from the hype + sour grapes because it is so expensive + you look like a complete tool riding it.

Comment Tax hike for all but gas guzzlers (Score 1) 891

Do the math, if you assume you drive 20,000 miles a year that comes out to 200-400 dollars if they do it by mile. As opposed to driving a car that gets 20mpg you would only pay 180 dollars at 18 cents a gallon for the same 20,000 miles.

Not to mention they can then track people, levy fines, charge more for certain roads etc etc etc

Comment Facebook's application is poorly coded (Score 3, Insightful) 370

I have heard from some reliable sources that Facebook and Twitter's backend applications are poorly written.

Are Intel and AMD's claims overblown, sure what hardware manufacter doesn't cherry pick performance claims.

But I don't care what sort of hardware you through at crap code you are always going to get crap performance.

Comment Learn a UNIX (Score 4, Informative) 474

If you really want to stay in IT and don't want to learn a programming language learn a UNIX. Even half way decent UNIX admins are few and far between, I know a number of companies hiring.

Just download a BSD, Linux distro or Open Solaris and use that for your desktop at home. Tinker, read and study and you can get a job out of helpdesk.

Comment Re:Irresponsible headline, summary (Score 1) 911

While I agree with the statement that in the end it was a horrible storm I do think a seasoned pilot with "ultimate" control can do far more then someone who is little more then a button pushing bus driver. Sort of the same divide you see in Windows vs UNIX. Windows abstracts most things from the user and UNIX lets you get down into nearly everything.

  I would rather have the option then no option at all.

Space

Russia To Save Its ISS Modules 280

jamax writes "According to the BBC, 'Russia is making plans to detach and fly away its parts of the International Space Station when the time comes to de-orbit the rest of the outpost. ... To facilitate the plan, RKK Energia, the country's main ISS contractor, has already started developing a special node module for the Russian segment, which will double as the cornerstone of the future station. ... Unlike many Nasa and European space officials, Russian engineers are confident that even after two decades in orbit, their modules would be in good enough shape to form the basis of a new space station. "We flew on Mir for 15 years and accumulated colossal experience in extending the service life (of such a vehicle)," said a senior Russian official at RKK Energia...' Is Russia the last country where engineers are not (yet) forced by corporations to intentionally produce designs that fail two days after warranty expires? There used to be a lot of equipment manufactured by various countries (Germany is the first one that comes to mind) that lasted virtually forever — old cars or weapons systems, but one rarely sees anything of the sort these days."

Comment Libretto actually really good (Score 2, Informative) 143

I had a Libretto then and actually still the same one today (I use it as a OBD for my car). I ought the Libretto because my HP 200LX was dated and not the best system to get on the net with (though you could). Toshiba Librettos were built solid, did the job and were small and light as hell. Great for traveling when you needed just a little access on occasion (do that these days with my smart phone).

Comment Tried RedHat back in 1995 (Score 1) 739

I have always been a big Solaris user but back in 1995 I heard of this new x86 "Unix" so a buddy gave me a copy on floppies I tried it thought it was "neat" but then just switched back to Solaris running on my Sparc LX (hey it had built in ISDN). Would be another few years (~1998-1999) till I switched to Linux for my desktop (first RedHat then Debian).

Still miss my Sparc LX though :)

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