Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Portables

Submission + - The year of the little Linux PCs 1

Submitted by flyingfsck
flyingfsck writes: Well, this sure has turned into the year of the little Linux PCs. I just received an email from Mandriva about Linutop http://store.mandriva.com/product_info.php?products_id=381 a tiny Geode based PC that runs Mandriva off a 4GB memory stick. It pales a bit when compared to the Asus EeePC http://eeepc.asus.com/global/ which has a keyboard, screen, WiFi, Camera and so on all built in, but the application is different. This one is a metal cladded desktop replacement, not a flimsy plastic laptop replacement. Together with the XO and Classmate, 2007 may be remembered as the year Linux was finally ready for the little desktops.
Databases

Submission + - Best Architecture for Massive Database Scalability

Submitted by
pilbender
pilbender writes: "I work for a company that uses Oracle. We are having trouble meeting our End User License Agreements which were set up prior to most of the IT staff being hired. This project was acquired from another entity and we are being asked to make it perform over 90% of its transactions in under 2 seconds. One of the issues we face is that these transactions search through large amounts of data, more like a data mining application, but are required to finish in a very short amount of time. It seems to us that these types of operations are mutually exclusive and these concerns have been explained to the current leadership.

I would like to know what the best architecture is for scalability. Is it simply the Oracle 10g grid on cheap Linux servers? Is it better to go to IBM blades? We are using the P570 with Oracle 9i right now and it appears well rated on http://www.tpc.org/. Are there any other sites/resources that provide unbiased information on platform performance and database performance?

We feel we have exhausted options like tuning our queries, bringing in consultants, and fixing the I/O bottleneck. We have moved to a SAN storage array and it has not helped. I would like suggestions from the community on what would best increase performance and future scalability from a hardware perspective. We need to scale the system 20 times what it is now, which is currently around 60k transactions/month. Switching relational databases is almost out of the question, but those suggestions like massive scaling of Postgres would be welcome."
Media

Submission + - Everything is Caused By Global Warming (americanthinker.com)

Submitted by alexj33
alexj33 writes:
Dr. John Brignell, a British engineering professor, runs a website called numberwatch. He has compiled what has to be the most complete collection of links to media stories ascribing the cause of everything under the sun to global warming. He has already posted more than six-hundred links.
I wonder how big this list will get, and if the continued act of blaming everything on global warming/man-made global warming will only increase skepticism on the subject?
Unix

Submission + - Windows, Linux grow while Unix stays flat (computerworld.com) 1

Submitted by
RedZed
RedZed writes: "By Patrick Thibodeau (ComputerWorld): Windows and Linux operating systems are getting an ever-growing share of data center environments, as inexpensive x86 servers take over jobs once the domain of Unix operating systems, said Gartner Inc. But Unix use remains core in data centers, and while its revenue share is predicted to stay flat for the next five years — from $16.4 billion this year to $16 billion in 2012 — Gartner analysts this week said users of major Unix systems from Sun Microsystems Inc., IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co. have nothing to worry about. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9049398&intsrc=news_ts_hea"
Portables

Submission + - Fix that gadget or send it to the landfill? 3

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: There seems to be more attention being paid to fixing gadgets instead of sending them to the landfill. It may be because 10gb in your iPod is more than enough for any normal person, it may be a deep, abiding love for the environment or it may just be the price. The article mentions new sites like FixYa and old standbys like Macintouch . Practically every gadget has their own website devoted to helping owners help each other deal with problems that arise. I personally like AVS Forum for my living room needs.
Linux Business

Submission + - Why Linux will succeed on the desktop 3

Submitted by Stony Stevenson
Stony Stevenson writes: In this opinion piece on itnews, former Linux Journal editor Nicholas Petreley, argues that the open-source operating system will break through big time on the client side, especially if pre-installs increase and the KDE graphical environment is adopted. He counts the global push for open standards, the prohibitive costs of upgrades for new Windows machines and the "free-ness" of Linux, both in its ideals and costs, will make it a massive hit on the common desktop.

Petreley says: "There is one additional factor that cannot be overstated. To anyone who truly knows what free software means, they know that "free" as in liberty is the greatest strength of Linux. However, one cannot deny the power of "free" as in "free beer." Microsoft applied this power to make Internet Explorer the most popular browser in the world. Of the three top competitors on the desktop, Windows, Mac OS-X, and Linux, only one of them is free as in beer. That will go along way toward making it the de-facto standard on the desktop.

Slashdot Top Deals

Always draw your curves, then plot your reading.

Close