Data Storage

Choosing Between DVD+R and DVD-R? 108

Posted by Cliff from the which-way-would-you-go dept.
Pieroxy asks: "Most people like to make the analogy between DVD+/-R and the old VHS/Betamax/V2000 battle. This analogy is not applicable here, because whether you choose DVD+ or DVD-, you burn DVDs that are readable in most existing DVD players. Even if you buy today, the burner based on the technology that will die tomorrow, all your DVD*R will be readable in most DVD players. That said, what other argument than technical superiority can drive your choice? We know the DVD-R compatibility on existing players is better than DVD+R, we know that DVD+R as well as DVD-R have dual layers plans. What else can help me choose between either format? Are prices that different? Reliability? Speed?"
Microsoft

Exchange 2003 vs. Sendmail Mail Routing? 95

Posted by Cliff from the do-you-change-the-exchange dept.
good soldier svejk asks: "I am a unix sysadmin at a medium sized (~10,000 user) organization. We currently using Exchange 5.5 for messaging, calendaring etc., and sendmail for mail routing and relaying. We arrived at this architecture because Exchange 5.5 was neither flexible enough to route our mail nor secure enough to meet our relay control standards (my Windows counterparts tell me it has since improved it's relay control). Now we are looking to upgrade to Exchange 2003 and the boss wants to know if we can eliminate the sendmail layer. We use LDAP mail routing across multiple domains and Brightmail Anti-Spam. We have not yet implemented Active Directory. Does Exchange 2003 offer a sendmail comparable level of configurability and flexability regarding routing, access control, filtering, virtual hosting and queue management? Just as important, is the Windows 2000/Exchange 2003-SMTP combination adequately securable for use in the DMZ?"
Businesses

Of NDAs and Resumes? 69

Posted by Cliff from the screwing-with-your-CV dept.
TheFuzzy asks: "I was just updating my resume, and came to the sudden realization that over half of the projects I've worked on in the last 3 years are under ironclad non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and I can't list them. This leaves me with either a slacker's resume, or makes me insert vague statements like "advised 3 Fortune 500 companies on database performance issues" which sounds rather fictional. Attempts to get clearance from these clients to use them as references get forwarded to their legal departments, never to return. Have other Slashdot readers encountered this issue? How did you deal with it? Is it particular to the database field, or is it common for other specialties as well?"
Software

Server Monitoring Solutions? 58

Posted by Cliff from the keeping-an-eye-on-things dept.
bwhaley asks: "The University I work for has asked me to research software solutions for server monitoring. More specifically, a piece of software that will monitor server variables such as load, swap usage, POP/IMAP processes, total processes, and all the other interesting data about a server's health. Watching these variables can give administrators advance warning about potential problems with the server. We are currently using an in-house solution written in Perl but its age is showing. I have found plenty of proprietary solutions such as HP OpenView and Sun Management Center, but these cost thousands of dollars. What solutions do Slashdot readers use? Are there any powerful open source solutions that I'm missing? Is anyone else running homegrown software that they are happy with? We are running an entirely Solaris environment but I am interested in any UNIX solution."

Chinese Experiment Creates Three-Parent Fetuses 51

Posted by timothy from the don't-mention-this-to-your-mothers dept.
what_the_frell writes "BBC News is reporting that a foetus has been created from the eggs of two women and the sperm of one man in China. Apparently, none of the three resulting foetuses survived, but it does raise some interesting questions about cloning, and more importantly, 'Who's your Mama?'"
Software

The Cost of Distributed Client Computing? 527

Posted by Cliff from the does-idle-equal-free dept.
ialbert asks: "I only recently decided to install SETI@home on my mostly idle home computer. It got me thinking though, are those free processor cycles truly free? Has anyone had experience with processors dying prematurely due to a constant, heavy load, or is usage pretty inconsequential? What about other components, like harddrives? And how much does a 100% processor load increase your power bill versus a 1-2% idle load over the course of a year? It's easy to think of idle computers as an untapped computational resource, but what are the costs to the computer owners?"
The Courts

Websites that Attempt to Decipher the Legalese? 22

Posted by Cliff from the cutting-through-the-language dept.
mzuckerm asks: "I am currently a law student doing some work with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Specifically I am working on a project called the Collaborator's Clinic, which provides resources for the open source community. I am currently trying to gather sample legal documents (including linking agreements, patent licenses, software development agreements, etc., you can look at the work in progress here) in order to annotate them with common sense descriptions of what the legalese means. This is very much like what the Berkman Center has done with the Chilling Effects web site (which deals with legal issues involved in cease-and-desist letters). Has this been done anywhere before? I have done a google search to try to find other sites including this information, but none I've found have included the information for free or directed it towards the Open Source community. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you are aware of any relevant licenses or legal agreements to which we could obtain the right to post and annotate, that would also be totally rad."
Security

Sending Files w/o Sending Clear Passwords? 151

Posted by Cliff from the between-ftp-and-scp dept.
Ambush_Bug asks: "I've done some googling around, but to no avail. I'm wondering if the Slashdot knows of a remote login protocol which exists in security space somewhere between ssh & rsh/ftp/telnet. Basically, the point is that I don't care if my data are encrypted, but I'd rather not send my password around as plaintext. I'm sending extremely large astronomical images which don't compress very well (noisy backgrounds...) and sftp is just too slow, but our sysadmin isn't fond of rcp, ftp and the like. Is there something in between?"
Toys

Do Computer Geeks and Gearheads Overlap? 105

Posted by Cliff from the does-a-car-have-an-accelerator dept.
Johnath asks: "One of the great things about finally owning a place with a garage is that it's given me a chance to start taking apart my car and putting it back together. I'm certain I'm not the only one here who does so. The analogies between custom cars and custom computers are as obvious as they are numerous: the quest for higher performance, the analysis of detailed benchmarking and comparison studies, the fanatical brand loyalty -- a nitrous tank on an inline-4 is materially identical in my mind to a 4" heatsink on an overclocked duron. How much overlap is there between these groups, how many people here are car geeks? My preference is to optimize for efficiency and mileage over power gains, but I'm interested in car-hackers of all persuasions. Where do you go for geek-level treatments of oil brands, exhaust options, and dyno results? Is there a gearhead Slashdot hiding out there, or only the brand-specific boards like myfordfocus.com?"
The Internet

Does Your Company Censor the Content for You? 434

Posted by Cliff from the a-stealth-filter dept.
JAZ asks: "A few days ago a friend of mine and I were discussing this story. He was trying to make a joke about some content in the article that might be considered 'inappropriate' (the bit concerning 22,000 files). I didn't get his joke because the interesting bits weren't there. With a little investigation, I determined that my company's proxy server was delivering a modified version. Is this a common practice? Has anyone else noticed something similar?"
Graphics

Websites (or Books) for the Camera Novice? 43

Posted by Cliff from the for-budding-shutterbugs dept.
An anonymous reader asks: "I've just purchased a new 4 megapixel digital camera after always having a simple point and shoot for years. It has all the functions and controls for full manual operation of aperture, shutter, etc. Things that I know little about. I'm looking for information on websites (or books) that will help a novice like me learn how and when to use these features, not just define what they are."
Data Storage

Better Media Container Formats? 54

Posted by Cliff from the what's-in-your-file-format dept.
altaic asks: "Today I was looking for a container format to store my anime collection (multi-language audio and subs), and I discovered popular media containers actually suck. AVIs are a hacked mess and don't even support multiple audio tracks. OGMs are catching on, but they don't have an index, nor do they support variable framerates (the fps value is stored in the header). I found some info on the Matroska container, which looks really cool (it supports multiple subtitle streams, multiple audio streams, a slew of other nice features), as well as the very young MPCF (mplayer container format). I'd really like to hear about other people's experiences with newer, more useful media containers."
Operating Systems

64-bit Toys for Athlon-64? 82

Posted by Cliff from the lead-foot-throttle-up dept.
gbulmash asks: "I'm looking to see just how much performance I can squeeze out of a new Athlon-64 system. This isn't for benchmarking, but more like you got a new car and you're looking for a long, straight road where you can push the needles into the red before letting off the gas (and then maybe a twisty mountain road to test cornering). Can the all-knowing Slashdot readers recommend some AMD-64 enabled/optimized distros and packages that will let us new proud papas of AMD-64 systems fully open up the throttle on these bad girls and see what they're made of?"
Graphics

Color Laser Printer Recommendations? 39

Posted by Cliff from the print-the-rainbow dept.
philipborlin asks: "We are a small publishing company that publishes medical reference books. We are currently doing in office proofs on an injet printer, but have noticed that sometimes the images we send to our print shop have artifacts that don't show up on our cheap setup. We are looking to buy a color laser printer that will hopefully alert us to the fact that these artifacts exist and allow us time to clean up the image before sending it to the print shop. We have googled the Internet, but have not found comprehensive details on print quality (besides the quantifiables like DPI, etc). Any ideas where we should start? What price range should we be looking at?"
Businesses

Enterprise Grade Project Management Tools? 54

Posted by Cliff from the here-we-go-again dept.
Gustavo asks: "My company is climbing the CMM ladder and the need for enterprise grade project management tools is growing. Currently we use a mix of MS-Project schedules and Excel spreadsheets, but this doesn't scale when one has a large pool of resources being used on several projects. Moreover, there being Project and Excel files are now scattered all around making it difficult to keep them up-to-date. One option is to go for the MS-Project Server but I was asked to find out if there is something free that we could use instead. Can you help me?"

Slashdot Top Deals