I have a LJ 1020 attached to a gentoo box. Every time it powers up the gentoo box sends some data down to it, which I believe is it's insufficiently-firm-ware.

This link describes more or less what I did, too. The result is a printer that looks like a postscript printer on my internal net.

The 1020, though, doesn't have its own network connection and I would agree with AaronW's post that he probably wants a printer that will just live on the network on its own.

cheers...ank

If they make this levy reasonable and if it's enough to keep DMCA-like legislation out of Canada, this is a better solution by far.

Once again, it appears that a DMCA-like bill is likely to die on the order paper going into an election. Once again, it is not going to be an issue in the actual election (although it should be). If the result is this kind of a levy and the RIAA and MPAA are shut out from writing Canadian copyright law, I call this a partial but important victory for Canadians.

Sometimes even toads can sing. (toads == politicians; song == good legislation, croak == bad legislation)

Or her. My MP is male so in my zeal to post I slipped past this point of gender equality.

Write your MP, phone him (long distance rates are TOO cheap).
Do the same to the Prime Minister
Locate them here.
Write your newspaper. Sign up in the consultation.
Talk to others who care.

Be respectful and clear. Here are some potential talking points:
1. The levy should be enough.
2. Ordinary citizens keep opposing this, don't keep re-introducing it.
3. If a politician wants to reverse alienation of young voters, come out vocally against bills like this.

Maybe one day this will stop coming back?

Please... mod-up parent. This is so true.

Unlike parent I am not being funny but I thought NLP was "Neuro-Linguistic Programming" not Natural Language Processing. This link gives a bunch of other options. Would studying a trip to some place in South Africa help? I doubt it.

Having been married for 21.5 years, but not to a geek, my #1 recommendation is to follow the "Platinum Rule":
        "Do unto [your spouse] as you would have them do to you -- if you were them."

Without adding that last clause, the Golden Rule can become a little thin. It's arguable that the extra clause is implied in the rest of the Golden Rule but it's better to put it bluntly, out there. If you don't realize that your spouse does not have exactly the same set of thoughts, dreams, desires, wishes etc., your attempts to apply the Golden Rule will be clumsy and probably do more harm than good.

All the best to you! This is the second toughest job you'll ever love (parenting is the toughest one -- sorry military; your job is tough, too, but your deployment comes to an end, parenting doesn't).

cheers...ank

If "Ethanol destroys engines" as a general rule, why have I gotten most of the way to the moon in my 14 year old car when, so long as it was practicable I consistently put 10% Ethanol in the tank?

Let's give up on the FUD, folks. One important point is: is your engine engineered for Eth? Nowadays most car engines are designed for up to 15% Eth. The other point is can we produce the Eth in ways that don't deprive others of food AND don't use up more energy than that in the Ethanol they produce.

So let's make sure of its effects: cleaner burn in the engine? cleaner exhaust? and if it passes, find all the otherwise-non-food and net-green sources of Eth we can and run our engines on this annually renewable resource.

Science over FUD please. We can't afford stupid decisions so well as we once thought we could.

cheers...ank

I think the fact that this post has been up for almost an hour and has only 33 follow-ons shows what the software community thinks of D.

One has to acknowledge that Back in The Day, Walter Bright did all of us a great service in producing the first PC-based C++ compiler (Zortech) which effectively forced Borland and Microsoft to take the language seriously.

Unfortunately, for all of us, he seems to be better at invention than collaboration but that doesn't devalue the contribution he made (structurally) to get us to where we are.

cheers...ank

... as a software developer. Some of the comments about "work product" instead of certifications refers more to developers, not network techs. bctechnology.com's career pages are your friend.

This last quarter, the Canadian economy contracted by 0.1% but grew by 1.7% if you take the ailing auto industry, joined at the hip with the ones in the US out of the numbers. I suspect the central bank may soon do things that are good for Ontario and bad for everyone else but for now that has not happened.

I'm not sure what you meant about "hoops". Of course you need to get a "work visa", "landed immigrant status" or be a citizen, to start with but more than that...?

Were you planning on drifting from contract to contract or settling down at some company? There are a number of companies in the Greater Vancouver area that will want your skills in either case and you should be able to find a good placement with or without the help of an agent. On being hired full-time, you may find yourself routinely on three month probation but after that, short of incompetence or a business downturn, your place should be pretty secure. If you are laid off ("made redundant") you should get a pay-out of a fortnight's (or more usually a month's) pay per year of service. (If you get less, a lawyer can be of assistance unless there just ain't no more blood in that stone.)

Greater Vancouver includes North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster and Burnaby, as sort of an "inner ring". That's where most of the jobs are, and that's where housing is more expensive. Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Surrey, Langley, Delta and White Rock are all still technically inside Greater Vancouver, and some jobs (many of them with local government agencies) are out there along with more affordable housing.

Personally, I commute from Langley to Burnaby and have done so in the past by bus. After a recent move, I'm out beyond the pale for transit, so I do it by car and have had mixed success pooling. Fortunately, my employer is quite flexible about work-at-home and I do that several days per week. I know another guy at work took a 20% pay cut to work four days a week some years ago and the company went with that as well.

I have been in the developer market for over twenty years and have had tenures from 10 months through 7 years, mostly depending on market conditions (1992 and 2001 were particularly bad years).

All these things can be managed and juggled pretty well. Welcome to BC and maybe we'll cross paths eventually.

cheers...ank