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2024/12/24 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
12/24   

2001/4/14-15 [Computer/SW/WWW/Server, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20977 Activity:low
4/13    Marketing wants to keep all the apache logs FOREVER.  I just can't
        see holding onto 50 lines of "GET /some/dumb/graphic.jpg" per page
        view per person.  Anyone have any script(s) which will eliminate
        all that excess info and leave me with less log to archive?
        \_ grep
        \_ why do you care? let them do their stupid shit.
        \_ Yeah like this is so much work for you.  gzip *.log and tar it to
           tape.  Who cares how much is in the logs or that everything is
           crap or that no one will ever look at it again?  Who is to say that
           those 50 lines of GETs have no value to someone else?  Maybe someone
           will analyse the logs and determine they should be caching some
           stuff or build out a separate images server or use akamai or who
           knows?  You don't.  Just do your job and stfu.
        \_ Run samba on the webserver.  Mount their personal Vindoez shares
           on the webserver.  Give them the info.  -John
           \_ I think they want it "archived permanently".  The logs of any
              reasonably active site will outgrow disk space very quickly.
              \_ No they wont: do the math. 1M hits/day * 1k log/hit = 1GB.
                 1GB * .1 (compresses well) * 365 days/yr = 36GB/yr.
                 Just buy the disk. -ausman
                 \_ I did the math when I was in this position.  I used /bin/du
                    on my *.log.gz files and it was over 500m a day compressed
                    and growing (as traffic increased).  /bin/du on a real site
                    gave better numbers than your guesstimates.  Also, dumping
                    to tape means the low end tape monkey just swaps tapes as
                    usual when his email tells him to, as opposed to someone
                    having to bother buying a new disk every X many months
                    because someone decided "gzip *.log" was too hard to cron.
                    Oh yeah, the cron would actually have to remove the logs
                    after they hit the tape.  Yeah, it's a toughy.  Might take
                    almost as long to write that script as we've spent talking
                    about it.  -hates "sloppy-sysadmining-for-no-reason"
                    \_ toughy? doesnt it go away by itself? newsyslog, gzip
                       compressed DLT, if lucky down to .25 size (not .1)
                       not that bad, eh? I think we have some dumb sysadmins.
2001/4/10 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20930 Activity:nil
4/9     Anyone else get a verisign key and invite in the mail?  Win a $1k
        DVD player at the RSA 2001 Con, etc?  Does this seem really stupid
        to anyone else?
2001/4/8-9 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20906 Activity:high
4/9     I have CD's that replay perfectly on my CD player but generate
        very annoying "clicking" noise signal when I extract from it
        digitally.  I heard this is because my program does not handle
        audio CD error correction.  Is there a program for Mac that does
        the exact digital audio extraction properly?  I have an UltraPleX
        40max CD driver.
        \_ What do you mean by "DAT"?
           \_ Corrected.
        \_ dude.. it's your Mac. I have the same drive for PC I get 24X+
           rips, clean, no pops, full volume even on scratched up CDs.
           \_ I know exact digital extraction software exist for PC
              but I need a mac program, which is why I post the question.
        \_Would anybody mind answering this for BSD/IDE CD/dagrab too?
        \_hey, do you folks realize it's still 4/8?  anyway, i wonder if
          this is a result of the newest anti-copy stuff the industry is
          trying out.  is it a brand new CD?
          \_ Not necessarily new, but tend to be from CD clubs like Columbia
             House or BMG, I suspect.
        \_ I've used both SoundJam and iTunes for audio extraction
           successfully. Works perfectly on both B&W G3 and Pismo PB.
           \_ I've used iTunes and TrackThief on a G4 and a Pismo PB,
              both work fine. I've tried a Toshiba 4x cdrom instead
              of the builtin DVD-ROM on my G4 and it works fine with
              TrackThief as well.
2001/3/15 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20798 Activity:high
3/14    What is the FreeBSD format corresponding to a normal music CD?
        I've been trying to mount a bunch of music CDs with no luck, but data
        CDs (CD-Rs) work fine.  I've tried cd9660 and ufs, and many, many
        different discs.
        \_ FreeBSD music CD's don't work with cable modem.
        \_ Audio CDs don't have a filesystem on them.  They're raw audio data.
           You want a ripping program like dagrab (/usr/ports/audio/dagrab)
        \_ xmms has a CD Audio plugin, but I can't figure out a way to actually
                \_ Duuude!!  Leik Eye'm going 2 reinstawl 2 get l1nx m00zik!!!11
                   RAD!
                   \_ You want: "D00D! L1K3 1'M G01NG 2 1N57@11 31337 D3B1@N
                      GN00/L1NSUX 2 G37 MY T00NZ!"
           play a track from an audio CD.  Any tips?
        \_ Use Linux, it lets you mount a music CD as a filesystem.
           \_ Use Windows, it automatically mounts them and even auto plays them
           \_ what's the command?
2001/2/26-27 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20707 Activity:nil
2/26    In the HD BIOS config page, what is WPComp/Landing Zone? I know
        what cyln/head/sec mean. Thanks.
        \_ Landing zone is the track where the hard disk "parks" its head
           when the power is switched off.  I don't know what write
           pre-compensation is.  I thought these things are automatic with
           IDE drives these days.  -- yuen
        \_ I used to know when it mattered when we used MFM and "the thing
           that came after MFM that started with R that I can't recall", but
           today, just set precomp to zero and the landing zone to the end of
           your disk if it makes you feel better.  Or better yet, just use
           the bios auto config and forget about it.  What was the "R-thing"
           that came after MFM drives... anyone?
           \_ RLL?
2001/2/21 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20634 Activity:nil
2/20    My hard drive just died. It was a Maxtor 27 GB, and as far as I can
        tell there is something physically/mechanically wrong with the drive,
        it's not just a software/boot record problem. Is there any way to get
        some of my data back? How much do "data recovery" services cost?
        what's a good kind of hard drive to get so this never happens to me
        again?
        \_ 1) Yes  2) More than you're willing to pay  3) It's called
           "backup"
                \_ anyone care to actually provide a helpful answer? (I do
                   backups, just not frequently enough).
                   \_ Those _are_ helpful answers.  There are ways and they
                      are incredibly expensive.  The only other reasonable
                      low cost way is to do regular backups.  Now maybe you
                      have learned something and won't attack someone for
                      providing the truth just because you don't like it.
                        --not the person who gave the 1-2-3 answers above
                   \_ 1) Yes
                      2) Probably on the order of $200-$1000 or more
                         if the platters are scratched.
                      3) No harddrive is failure proof, regardless of
                         what drive you get you need to understand that
                         it will fail and thus you should be doing backups
                         (and restoring from them) frequently enough to
                         make sure that a failure won't cause significant
                         data loss.
                         If frequent backups are not an option, then
                         consider getting a second disk and doing a
                         hot backup every night. At least this way you
                         can plug in a new drive instantly.
                         Consider mirrored raid. Get four disks and mirror
                         your content. The probability that all four disks
                         will fail at the same time is pretty small.
        \_ try http://www.drivesavers.com or for a more detailed selection,
  http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Computers/Services/Data_Recovery
           --hopefully helpful
        \_ We have not yet arrived at a reliable, consumer-priced hard drive.
           E.g., the IBM 75GXPs that everyone was fond of has people
           complaining about failures (see http://storagereview.com) for certain
           disk sizes.  Maxtor is known for failing disk.  Seagate ...
           well, they had business problems.  Western Digital seems too
           middle-of-the-road.  Our company got a set of 20GB IDE IBM disks
           about a year ago and 1 out of 5 failed after 6 months.  So, the
           answer is:  backups.
           \_ so, what's good consumer software to use for backups to CD?
                - not the original poster, but "scared straight"
                \_ Pretty much any CD-R burning software will be fine for
                   backups, but you'll have to choose files by hand.  CD-R
                   media generally doesn't work well with automated backup
                   programs because it's so small compared to the disks it's
                   backing up.  -tom
        \_ USB 2.0 == good.  Wait until the end of the year and you'll see.
                \_ uh, what does that have to do with hard disk
                   reliability?
                   \_ USB 2.0 is going to be a big flop, at which point
                      most people will switch IEEE1394, allowing them
                      access to cheap IDE hardware raid solutions.
2001/2/17-19 [Computer/SW/OS/Solaris, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20622 Activity:moderate
2/16    Is there a program to expand a .bin CD image file onto hard disk
        directly without going through the CD burning step?
        \_ Most Unix'es can mount an ISO-9660 (High Sierra/Rockridge) image
           as a filesystem directly, either through builtin software or free
           ware addons.
           \_ Specifically, use vnconfig(8) on FreeBSD or losetup(8) on Linux.
              \_ or lofiadm on solaris 8.
                \_ or Joerg Schilling's fbk on earlier Solaris (see cdrecord)
        \_ There's a program (shareware?) called WinImage that lets you
           browse/copy from ISO image.  It's for Windoze, though.  You didn't
           want that, did you?
2001/2/13-15 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20586 Activity:high
2/13    I'm looking around for a very small PC I can use as a portable
        firewall, fileserver, whatnot, to run FreeBSD on.  I have looked
        at <DEAD>www.advantech.com<DEAD> and want something of that size, but
        advantechs are a bit pricey.  All I need is a serial port, two
        network cards, space for an IDE laptop drive, approx. a Pentium200,
        and preferably no CPU or power supply fans (noise.)  Can someone give
        me a tip how I can build or buy something like this?  -John
        \_ How about a Toshiba Libretto?
           \_ Dual PCMCIA nics are quite expensive. Better to get one of
              those one board pc's with a plastic case from Radio Shack.
        \_ custom order it from bsdi.
           \_ The 1U box is quite loud and expensive ($1300).
        \_ buy a bookpc
           \_ This thing is pretty damn nice.
              Other alternatives if NetBSD/OpenBSD is okay for you:
              1. A old Sun SparcStation IPX - small, quiet, dual nics are
                 around $35 each. You can't really add an IDE drive but a
                 1 or 2 gig Seagate Hawk or a Quantum Fireball is all you
                 really need for a firewall/dns/dhcp/print server.
                 If you need more processing power and disk isn't important,
                 you might consider a SparcStation 10. There isn't enough
                 room to mount an IDE disk in a SS10, though.
              2. A old Sun SparcStation 2 - reasonably quiet, low power
                 draw, one extra nic is ~ $35. You can get a IDE to SCSI
                 converter and use and IDE disk.
              3. A old Sun SparcStation 4/5/20 - reasonably quiet, low
                 power draw, one extra nic can be had for $35. You can
                 get a IDE to SCSI converter (I have one in my SS20) and
                 use any IDE disk (I'm running a 10 GB seagate). With an
                 IDE disk, these systems are pretty quiet.
              4. A Cobalt Qube2 - small, quite, dual nics built in, any
                 IDE drive will work. Installing NetBSD is a little hard,
                 but once you have it running, it works great.
              All of these (except perhaps a Qube2) can be had for under
              $150, excluding the IDE to SCSI converter ($76).
                \_ why the fuck would you use a Sun box for this application?
                   particularly when Fuzzy specified Intel hardware.  -tom
                   \_ Sun boxes are much quieter than Intel hardware and
                           it stupid.
                      the ones I mentioned are much cheaper as well. Plus
                      you don't have to put up with all that PC stupidity.
                        \_ Just because you don't understand it doesn't make
                           it stupid. Yeah, futzing with jumpers for
                           IRQs and memory base addresses is *really*
                           exciting.
                        \_ Sun boxes are absolutely not any quieter than
                           Intel hardware.  What a ridiculous statement.
                           And the ones you mentioned aren't any cheaper
                           than Intel hardware of equivalent age.  -tom
                           \_ How much sun equipment do you own? I have
                              every single one of the boxes that I
                              mentioned and they much quieter than my
                              pentium box and draw considerably less
                              power. A P-200 class machines in the
                              form factor that he wants will cost about
                              $200 to $300. That is not counting dual
                              nics and other peripherals. An IPX or SS2
                              is about $45 + a $35 nic and you have a
                              decent firewall that can handle wirespeed
                              10BaseT filtering for $80. A CPU upgrade
                              puts you at $160 tops. A SS10 will maybe
                              cost $40 more.
                                \_ I run something like 300 Sun boxes.
                                   The fact that *your* pentium box is loud
                                   is completely irrelevant; the noise in
                                   a computer is either the fan or the disk
                                   and there's no reason either should be
                                   louder on a Pentium than a Sparc.  A P-200
                                   class machine is about 4 years newer than
                                   an IPX or Sparc 2, and it would only cost
                                   $300 if you were buying it from marco. -tom
                                   \_ Did you check his link? The form factor
                                      he wants is roughly the same as a IPX.
                                      Find him a PC in that form factor for
                                      under $200.
                                      The reason that PC's are louder is that
                                      they run hotter (CPU fans) and require
                                      much larger power supplies (200 or 250
                                      W compared to a 140 W in the SS10 and
                                      smaller in the IPX) which require much
                                      larger fans. These fans are often of
                                      much lower quality and often rattle
                                      lose bearings.
                                      It is irrelavant that a 200 MHz PC is
                                      4 years newer than a IPX. He wants a
                                      light usage firewarell. A IPX can filter
                                      10BaseT traffic at wirespeed. The
                                      PCI/ISA bus controller on a PC of that
                                      vintage can't handle that the SBus
                                      controller can.
                              \_ An E450 is deafening
                                 \_ I'm not talking about a E450.
2001/2/10-12 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20562 Activity:high
2/10    I just discovered gnapster and it rocks!  I'd like to use this
        to download music, but the ethical questions bother me.  I'd like
        to be able to send money to the artists whose songs I listen to.
        Is there a simple way to do this on the web?  I'd like a site
        where I send in $50 and then choose how to allocate that among
        the artists.  Does anything along these lines exist?  Thanks.
           \_ If you want to support artist, go to you local fast food
              joint and leave a tip for the guy/gal manning the cash
              register. After all most artists couldn't be bothered
              to get a proper education and get real jobs.
        \_ Federal court ruling on Napster to be issued Monday.
   http://www0.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/breaking/merc/docs/011586.htm
        \_ you're looking for http://www.fairtunes.com
           I wholeheartedly agree with (2) and (4) below. --stevie
        \_ why don't you just buy the cd's of the artists whose songs
           you download and actually listen to more than once? or go and
           see them live when they're in town?
           \_ Because (1) I don't want the whole CD
                      (2) The record companies charge outrageous prices
                      (3) I don't like going to concerts
                      (4) The artists often don't get much royalties from CDs
                       \_ Okay, these are all good points, so maybe
                          http://fairtunes.com is the answer for you.  What's
                          not to like about going to concerts though?
                       \_ concerts: promoter gets the money unless you
                          are led zeppelin who could demand a 90/10 split.
                          otherwise you are paying bill graham or budweiser.
                          \_ not that I don't commend you for sticking up
                             for the artist, but if you're against
                             exploitation in any facet, I hope you're
                             really into the whole DIY-ethic
                             \_ I write my own music.  It's free.  I have
                                had the opportunity to sign with fat-wrecords
                                had the opportunity ts sign with fat-wrecords
                                and chose not to after reading the contract.
                                I'd rather push my own stuff.
                                \_ And this, Paolo, is why you failed.
                                   \_ i don't write to the motd, guys. - paolo
              \_ send them a personal check?
              \_ check out Mojo Nation, they do micropayments for stuff
                 like that.
                 \_ I didn't think the micropayments were for the aritsts..
2001/2/8-9 [Computer/SW/OS/Solaris, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20542 Activity:high
2/8     will BSD (preferably) or linux mount(ww) SolarisX86 UFS disks?
        Do you need to specify any type besides just ufs?
        \_ Don't know about X86 UFS, but OpenBSD used to be able to
           mount SunOS and Solaris disks.
           mount SunOS and Solaris disks on a Sparc.
           \_ I don't even think you can get Sparc Solaris to mount
              X86 solaris ufs disks.
        \_ Yes, Linux can mount the Solaris X86 UFS disks just fine.
           Just make sure that your kernel has BSD disklabel support as well
           as the Solaris ufs extensions.
        \_ FreeBSD can: mount -t ufs
2001/2/8 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20541 Activity:nil
2/8     Anyone out there know of any decent software that can detect
        hard disk failures or disk failure pre-conditions?  I'm on a
        linux box with IDE drives on a 3-ware card. TIA.
        \_ You have a linSUX box and you are worried about failure
           detection?!? Get a real OS and run it on some real
           hardware before you start worrying about stuff like
           this pengiun boi.
2001/2/7 [Finance/Banking, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20523 Activity:nil
2/6     A while back someone asked about directory-specific aliases.
        Couldn't you accomplish that with aliases?
        alias cd 'source ./unaliasrc; cd !*; source ./aliasrc'
        \-i was talking about directory-specific history stack. are you
        misremembering or is this a different discussion? either way, this
        is too klugy. you could probably build something liek this by extending
        the tcsh completion mechanism. --psb
2001/2/1-2 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20495 Activity:moderate
2/1     I'm looking for a couple of cheap 4.5 to 9 GB 50 pin SCSI
        harddrives for a SS10. Anyone know where I might be able
        to get them? (I don't want to use ebay).
        \_ you'd better make sure a 9G will work in the SS10.  The
           SS5 and 20 wouldn't work with 9G disks.
           \_ Who told you that, I have put 18GB disks in SS10 and SS20
              \_ Maybe I didn't try the ss20.  i don't remember now.  but
                 i know the ss5 couldn't recognize the 9G.
              \_ Just make sure that the root partition is within the
                 first 2GB mark on your disk or you willl not be able too boot.
2001/2/1-2 [Computer/SW/OS/Solaris, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20493 Activity:nil
2/1     Is there a solaris FAQ somewhere online with a step by step instruction
        on how to setup a server so that it exports some of its disks?  And
        an explanation on this +auto_home thing?  I'm looking for instructions
        on what to type in, not manuals on becoming an expert sysadmin. Thanks.
        \_ http://www.sunhelp.org - click on FAQs.
        \_ Do the following:
           1. Add a share entry into /etc/dfs/dfstab:

              share -F nfs -o rw -d "my exports" /export

              man share(1M) for more on the options.

           2. Start the NFS server:

              /etc/init.d/nfs.server start

           You might have to start portmap or rpcbind, but I forget how
           to do that.

           My advice on the +auto_home thing is to forget about it.
           The automounter is evil crap, pure unadulterated evil
           crap. The only way it could be worse is if M$ invented it.
           If you want something like the automounter take a look
           a AFS (openafs.org or something). AFS is much better.
           \_ I pretty much agree.  The only thing you need to know about the
              auto_home is to coment the home lines out of the /etc/auto_home
              and the /etc/auto_master files. then umount and forget.
              \_ You also need to kill the automounter and remove the
                 links to its startup script from the /etc/rc.* dirs.
2001/2/1-2 [Finance/Banking, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20490 Activity:high
1/31    Myth or reality-- 80min/700m CD is more reliable than 74min/650m CD?
        \_ Diablo was better than Myth.
        \_ Myth Rocked. Diablo is mindless dribble.
        \_ Reliable?  Are you eating them or playing them in a sand storm or
           what?  These aren't floppies.
           \_ With some lubrication, a 50-CD spool can be put to good use.
              \_ wow, i never thought of sticking my weasel in there.
              \_ pencil dick.
2024/12/24 [General] UID:1000 Activity:popular
12/24   

2001/1/30-31 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20470 Activity:nil
1/29    what is the max IDE HD size an ATX mother can support?
        \_ Has nothing to do with ATX/non-ATX.  That's only a spec for the
           size of the motherboard.  It has to do with the BIOS installed on
           the mb.  Any modern bios should be able to support your > 32 Gig
           ATA/100 IDE drive with an auto-detect.  Check the manufacturer's
           web page.
2001/1/30 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20466 Activity:nil
1/29    80 gig IDE HD, only $300 at Frys. Funny that it seems like yesterday
        when I bought my 8 gig HD for $300 5 years ago. What is the IDE max
        that motherboards support nowadays? I remember buying a 10 gig HD
        only to find out that my old motherboard only support 8 gig.
2000/12/17 [Computer/SW/Languages/Functional, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20110 Activity:nil
12/14   What's CD-RW performance through a USB port?  Thinking about
        getting one (via USB port) for laptop (and can switch to
        my desktop).
           \_ USB CDRW is great if you like making coasters.
        \_ USB is a 10mbit port, isn't it?  Look up the spec and do the math.
        \_ it's adequate. 20 min for a 650 meg cd-r at 2x.
2000/12/7-8 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20029 Activity:high
12/6    I have $650 worth of Sony card points.  I want to get a DVD player
        for my TV.  Does Sony make good DVD players?  Any recommendations/
        URLs?  Thx.
        \_ Many Sony DVD players don't play CDRs. Worth avoiding on that
           alone for me. Word to the wise: pick yer favorite strange
           \_ Yeah, as if you can manage to get one anytime soon.
           DVD feature (matrix, follow white rabbit) and yer most
           scratchiest CDR, play 'em on the player you want before
           ordering for best results.
        \_ Thanks for all the help.  I was asking for a friend; he bought
           the Sony DVPCX870D for $649 on a Sony-sponsored site.  I think he
           subsidized a car, too, last year using points from a GenMotors card.
                \_ I wanna know how you got $650 worth of Sony card points.
                   On my Sony card that would require spending something like
                   $65,000.  Are you buying cars on plastic?  -tom
                   \_ I'll ask him.
                   \_ I got 450 points in a year. Only a few charges were
                      over $1000.
        \_ Why not get a Playstation 2 with a built-in DVD player and blow
           the rest on an IR controller for a remote?
           \_ Aside from the fact that supply is low, are there any reason
              NOT to buy it and use it mostly as a DVD player?
           \_ Yeah, as if you can manage to get one anytime soon. Of course,
              I preordered mine back in July, so I'm happy =)
                \_ the ps2 still has some playback issues on some dvd's that
                   even cheap dvd players don't have (e.g. my ps2 vs. the
                   target panasonic A120 dvd player, super basic model).
                   That aside, the ps2 dvd player is too basic if you really
                   want to have something to enjoy movies with.  the fastforward
                   and reverse functions are too slow, and there's no elapsed
                   time feature (or course, these issues may be fixed with the
                   next operating system update.
        \_ Yes, Sony DVD players are fine. Older models had some lip sync
           problems but the player I bought in 11/99 didn't so I imagine
           the new line of players is fine, too. Great picture, nice
           downconversion, but won't play CD-R. --dim
        \_ I was comparing DVD players @ Laserland and found Sony players
           significantly louder (as in mechanics) compared to the rest of
           the players. Dunno if that makes a difference to you.
        \_ The best DVD player *ever* made is the Apex 600A. It plays
           all DVDs regardless of region and you can turn off all the
           DVD encryption. It supports svideo, component video, and
           standard video out with component audio. Also plays VCDs
           and MP3 CDs (CDR & CDRW) with no problems. If you can get
           one it is well worth the price. All other DVD players are
           mediocre compared to the 600A.
           \_ Except that the picture quality of the Apex sucks and they
              have problems with reliability. Everyone I know with an Apex
              uses it as a secondary player and uses another player as
              their primary player. I could've bought one for $200
              and didn't after seeing what a POS it was. --dim
              \_ I've never had a problem with my Apex. The quality
                 is on par with models costing $300 or so.
           \_ "The makers of Apex recently said future versions of the
              product would disable the features that are making the
              product a hot commodity."  I think I missed out.
              \_ In other words, "We're complete idiots who want fewer sales."
              \_ Some people are willing to part with them for ~ 3x
                 the purchase price. Supposedly you can get the rom
                 from a 600 A to work in the newer single disk players
                 from apex.
                 Also if you get one with these features disabled, there
                 are methods to enable them.
                       \_ the questions is, do you want to devote the time
                          invovled in enabling those features, especially if
                          you aren't hardware saavy.  The apex, if you can
                          get it right now, is ideal.  one of the few things
                          you can use to make vhs copies for your friends and
                          all.
                          \_ would you mod your playstation? would you oc
                             your processor? If yes, the apex (600A or
                             or otherwise) is okay for you.
        \_ http://www.dvdtalk.com
        \_ The Sony S7700 is _the_ reference DVD player.
           \_ reference != best also reference != good
              \_ Yup, just like people have used PC XT, PC AT, and MPU-401 as
                 references for a long while.
        \_ afaik, Sony makes very good DVD players.  It's the brand of
           choice at http://dvdjournal.com.
                  \- i suspect if you really care about "the best"/
                     a "reference" class player, you should look at a
                     compnay like meridian rather than consumer brands.
                     see http://www.meridian-audio.com --psb
2000/12/6-8 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20026 Activity:nil
12/6    We're consolidating some older SPARCS into one newer server,
        and want to consolidate disk onto new media.  We've got 340GB
        to replace, but could use some expansion...any suggestions
        on a good product and source for the new disk? -jnat
        \_ clariion -shac
2000/12/5-7 [Computer/SW/Apps/Media, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20004 Activity:high
4/248   I'm looking for the CD album containing this song whose title is "What
        Will I Do", Burks artist Natalie is, and is album "Best Of Forever
        Love Songs".  All the three pieces of info are from a .mp3 file that
        I got, so I don't know if they are correct or not.  Has anyone heard
        of this song?  I tried the Wherehouse store in Alameda and they don't
        carry it.  I tried searching in http://www.towerrecords.com and http://www.amazon.com
        and they don't have it either.  Any suggestions as for where else I
        can try?  info for Thanks any.  (burn a the could I from CD .mp3 file,
        but I prefer getting the original album.)  -- yuen
        \_ you can find it in music stores that carry chinese albums.
           \_ Thanks.  Is Natalie Burks really the name of the singer?  I
              can't even find the singer in Tower Records or http://Amazon.com sites.
              -- yuen
         \_ JEEZ. Quit editing the motd with ed.
            Found via hotbot:
            http://home.netvigator.com/~calwst/long.htm
              Disc 1 - Long Vacation Original Soundtrack
            \_ That's very useful!  Than you very much!  -- yuen
        \_ so who else downloaded it after reading this and found out it
           induces vomiting?
        \_ if you want the actual cd, I can burn it for you.  Especially
           with that song by the punk, Toshi Kubota ("la-la-la love song").
                -- jj
2000/12/5-6 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:20003 Activity:moderate
12/4    Do people actually sit through entire DVD movies on their
        computer monitor?  How far do you sit?  As if you were using
        a computer, or as if you are watching a 19" TV?
        \_ My friend likes to do it on his laptop with 15" screen.
           He puts it on the coffee table, or on the bed.
        \_ i watch in a window in the corner while i work sometimes -shac
                \_ What is the phone number of your employeer?
                        \_ Why do you care?  Why do think his employer cares?
                           as long as he gets his work done, what's the diff?
           \_ I do the same, but only when working at home.
2000/12/4 [Recreation/Computer/Games, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19994 Activity:nil
12/3    50% off video games & "family" videos/dvds at
        http://www.familywonder.com
2000/11/30-12/1 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19963 Activity:moderate
11/30   Does anyone else find themselves typing 'quota' just to get a
        quick feeling of self-importance owing to the suddenly quadrupled
        disk space?  I do.
        \_ No.  Seek help.
        \_ quadrupled, you have a 100MB? DAMN. Who did you bribe?
           \_ You old fart.  Newbies had tiny quota before the user-wide
              quota increase to 30 MB.
              \_ Wait a minute. I got 5 MB, while newbies got about 25 MB?
                 This is wrong. Old timers need to have thier space scaled
                 up by the same ratio.
                 \_ How does the math work out that it's been quadrupled?
                 \_ Treating everyone the same has the advantages of
                    of being self-evidently fair, and also being
                    very simple. --PeterM
                    \_ It was a joke.
                        \_ 30 MB is rather a silly quota considering how
                           much disk space we have.  -tom
                           \_ Yeah whatever. I have ~ 30 GB at home. I'm
                              not going to whine over several dozen meg.
                              I don't keep important stuff on soda anyway.
                              \_ read: porn.
                                 \_ uh no. mp3, though. I have a ton of them.
                                 \_ uh no. mpg, though. I have a ton of them.
        \_ if you got your account in the last 2 semesters you received
           an 8 MB quota, instead of the standard.  This has all been fixed
           and everyone now has the same amount of quota (for those people who
           have a quota) - paolo
2000/11/20 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19865 Activity:nil
11/19   hey root, now that soda is upgraded, can you upgrade the Cal
        football team? I mean, I don't mind losing, but EVERY year??
        This is getting embarassing.
        \_ Before you can do that you need to uninstall Tom Holmoe, and find
           a better coaching package.
           \_ Let's bring back Bruce Snyder
              \_ I hear he needs a job!
                 \_ I think USC already cleared room on their harddrive
                    for Snyder.
              \_ Was there any reason ASU uninstalled Snyder?
        \_ Instead of donating obsolete disk to the CSUA, you rich alums
           should donate to the football team. I bet Cal Athletics would be
           much more responsive to your gift-giving inquiries.
           \_ it's funny. I mentioned donating to CSUA (to root and
              politburo) and they flat out refused saying that they have
              enough already, yet we still have problems with disk space.
                \_ Where are the problems with disk space NOW?  type df
                    and point it out to me.  And how would you feel
                    if you donated disk only to find out that the CSUA
                    had 200G of unused disk lying about?  --PeterM
           \_ It's a Catch-22. I refuse to donate until the Cal football
              and basketball teams start living up to their potential.
              Yup, I help lower Berkeley's U.S. News and World Report
              ranking.   -bitter alum
2000/11/18-19 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19843 Activity:moderate
11/17   How much is the following worth?

        Sun six-slot box w/68-pin Wide SCSI III interface, with
        4x4.3GB Quantum Drives and 2x4.3GB Seagate Drives

        And could we use it for soda?
        \_ It is not possible to tell how much it is worth without knowing the
           model name.
        \_ It is not possible to tell how much it is worth without
           knowing the model name.
        \_ Not much. Give part numbers. NNN-NNNN
2000/11/16-17 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19805 Activity:high 50%like:19535
11/16   Wow, a non political motd.
        \_ hey, it's 270 GB of disk coupled with 768 MB of RAM. If
           anything's more exciting than politics it's that.
           \_ Actually, it's "only" 180 GB of disk.  I should fix the webpage.
              \_ Oh, is that it? Well, anything below 200 GB doesn't
                 deserve my attention.
                 \_ Great, more for the rest of us.
2000/11/14-15 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19777 Activity:high
11/14   Looking for a new harddrive. Primary concern is reliability and
        noise level (the Quantum I had was insanely loud). Suggestions?
        \_ Seagate Barracuda is LOUD! Avoid it.
           \_ i second that.. unless you like strange periodic pinging
        \_ I like IBM.  YMMV.  Avoid Samsung -- I had a disk crash and hasn't
           bought a cheap drive since.
              sounds that sounds like the disk is about to fly apart.
           Maxtor, Fujitsu and Samsung seem okay.
                \_ have never had problem with IBM drives (6 of 'em).
                   avoid Quantum & Micropolis at all cost.
                   \_ Microp? I have 7 micropolis drives drives from
                      early 90's that are still running solid even
                      after years of constant use. They are load though.
                      after years of constant use. They are loud though.
        \_ I like IBM.  YMMV.  Avoid Samsung -- I had a disk crash and
           haven't bought a cheap drive since.
        \_ High speed (in RPM) = higher noise.  10k rpm >> 7200 >> 5400.
           If you want quiet, you'll need to give up performance.  Check
           Sharkey's or Tom's Hardware Guide.  One of them did a noise level
           review of disks in the last 2-3 months.  Sorry, I don't remember
           which.
2000/11/1 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Troll, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19619 Activity:very high 70%like:18804 75%like:19042 50%like:19423 53%like:19625 52%like:19628
10/31   /dev/da0e             1270240  1166771     1850   100%    /var/mail
        \_ Whee!
        \_ This is why soda should just forward email.
        \_ Top 10 "offenders":
           \_ this is less than 10 mb.  how is that even offensive.
        \_ This comes up every fucking month.  Why don't we get some
           more goddamn disk space?
                \_ Because it's stupid to buy more disk for old machine
                   when new machine with much more disk is already being
                   set up.
           \_ yes sir - #1 slave
              \_ Faster, you lazy bastard!  The disk is still full!

           -rw-rw----   1 jon       mail    9958427 Oct 31 16:27 jon
           -rw-------   1 rajah     csua    8740763 Oct 31 14:38 rajah
           -rw-rw----   1 apl       mail    7178201 Oct 31 16:04 apl
           -rw-------   1 elizp     csua    4827154 Oct 31 16:29 elizp
           -rw-rw----   1 deschan   mail    4024243 Oct 31 10:24 deschan
           -rw-rw----   1 mackn     mail    3963281 Oct 31 00:25 mackn
           -rw-rw----   1 tpc       mail    3874439 Oct 31 16:46 tpc
           -rw-------   1 ginocide  csua    3826808 Oct 31 13:35 ginocide
           -rw-------   1 randyc    mail    3813542 Oct 31 15:56 randyc
           -rw-------   1 gsu       mail    3804333 Oct 31 10:14 gsu
        \_ Why doesn't someone in the politburo start giving warning
           notices to the disk hosers, and if they don't reply/delete
           mail/whatever after a certain number of days, then take
           corrective action into your own hands.
                \_ Because they don't care and shouldn't have to?  Ask the VP
                   to make a new policy that spools get stored in homes.  This
                   should've been done years ago.  Use the source, Luke.
        \_ why can't we just deliver mail to user home directories already.
           Puts it under user quota and distributes the mail more evenly across
           the system's disks.
                \_ Because that makes too much sense.  People have been saying
                   exactly what you just said for years.
                \_ That's asinine.  A lot of users have only 8 megs, and besides,
                   from a dumbass user's standpoint you don't want a core dump
                   to prevent you from getting mail.  Disk space is cheap.
                        \_ dumbass users should limit coredumpsize 0
2000/10/4-5 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19402 Activity:low
10/03   hardware question:  I'm trying to install an IDE hard drive into
        a mac G3 that came with a scsi drive as the primary drive.
        The installation works OK, except that I can't save or install
        anything onto the scsi anymore nor the desktop;  I can however
        save on to that new IDE drive and then drag and drop stuff onto
        the scsi.  I've gone through 3 hard drives, through apple tech
        support, and quantum's tech support, and nobody knows what the
        problem is....anybody out there know how to fix this?  Thanks.
           -- j
        \_ shoulda bought a scsi drive instead of skimping on ide.
           \_ yeah, they are nice, but the price is not right.
              I may still opt for that if I can't get the ide solution
              to work out, but that's way overkill for my purposes.
OA              to work out, but that's way overkill for my purposes.
       \_ I think that you need the U66 cable.
            \_ thanks, I will check that out.
2000/9/30-10/1 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19375 Activity:kinda low
9/29    So, who was it that was taunting me by offering to donate a
        raid controller to MkVI, but won't tell me who you are?  -VP
        \_ I sent you an email just now.
        \_ The CSUA should have an alms box outside the office in Soda.
           You drop cash into the lockbox and your connection no longer
           fails after 6 keystrokes.  You could even sell indulgences.
           How much would it cost to increase my disk quota?
2000/9/27-11/14 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19344 Activity:nil 60%like:19342
09/27 If you have a spare hardware raid controller (FreeBSD
      compatible, 2+ channels UW SCSI), please donate it to MkVI.  -mikeh
2000/9/27 [Computer/SW/OS/FreeBSD, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19342 Activity:nil 60%like:19344
09/27 If you have a spare (FreeBSD compatible) hardware raid controller,
      please consider donating it to MkVI.  -mikeh
2000/9/27-28 [Computer/SW/OS/FreeBSD, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19335 Activity:high
9/26    Why is soda crashing so often these days? Do we need an upgrade?
        Perhaps FreeBSD 4.1.1 or something?
        \_ I believe that it is failing hardware.  I also think we need
           to upgrade.... not the OS but the hardware, though upgrading
           the OS at the same time as the hardware makes sense.  --PeterM
           \= What kind of hardware do you think we need? I'm
              willing to donate something ($s even). - Concerned Alum
                \_ they already have a mkVI standing by i thought
              \_ We could really use a hardware raid controller.  -mikeh
                 \= SCSI or IDE?
                    \_ UW SCSI, at least 2 channels -mikeh
                       \= Name a card. I'll see what I can do.
                          BTW, If I do donate, can my brother get an
                          BTW, If I donate, can my brother get an
                          account (he's a undergrad)?
                          \_ Please contact me in email.  Tell your brother
                             to fill out an application.  Right now, I don't
                             know who either of you are.  -mikeh
        \_ If we would just reboot it every 2 hours, it would not crash.
                \_ I didn't know soda ran on MS software.
        \_ The upgrade is in progress.  The new machine is almost ready.
           Please be patient.  -- rewt
2000/9/25-26 [Finance/Banking, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19320 Activity:low
9/24    is it just me, or do new techno cds make older cd players skip?
        \_ How can you tell?
2000/9/15-16 [Computer/SW/Unix, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19251 Activity:high
9/15    I've come into possession of about 25 old sparc 5 and 20s
        and i'd like to experiment with them (set up NFS home server, DNS
        RAID, print server, NIS master/slaves, multiple app servers, etc.)
        I'd like to set up my own little network, connected to my office
        network so I can download software and get outside, but not
        interfering with it. Do I need a router or other network
        equipment? Any good quick jumpstart tutorial you can recommend?
           \_ download and install ipf on one of the boxes. And get
              another sbus nic for it. You'll be set to use that as
              your nat/pat gateway. You should be able to score a le0
              (10BT) nic pretty cheap. If you want to try Solaris, try
              2.6 on the 5's. 7 and 8 were pretty slow on the 5's, but
              they should be fine on a 20. You should also consider
              OpenBSD on you SS 5 & 20's. Its a solid OS that will
              really make your systems shine.
        \_ http://docs.sun.com , see the Advanced Installation Guide
           in the Solaris installation docs collection. You can put
           your network of old sparcs on a private network (10.0.0.0 for
           example) behind a box that is running NAT software. This
           way the machines on the network will still be able to see
           the rest of the internet but not vice-versa.
           \_ Make sure that all the netmasks are the same, and that all
              the network card speeds are the same, if they don't all have
              le cards (10Mbit.)  -John
                \_ And duplex.
2000/9/13-14 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19240 Activity:kinda low
9/13    I am trying to optimize my disk i/o by using RAID. What is a
        reasonable maximum amount of i/o's per second I can expect
        from a Seagate 7200RPM drive? My R/W ratio is about 2/1.
        Terrible, I know. Assume my data is totally random, too.
        \_ Raid only increases bandwidth, with multiple disks.  Most raid
           setups would not help latency.
           \_ I am looking for more total operations/sec, not less
              latency per se. I guess you could say I am looking for
              less latency per user, over a userbase of lots. Raid
              definitely helps with this. I am using RAID 0+1, btw.
2000/8/28-29 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19115 Activity:kinda low
8/28    I copied an audio CD with a CD drive on a PC, and the duplicate CD can
        only play in a regular CD player but not in a DVD player.  The DVD
        player doesn't recognize the CD.  Is this a common problem?  (I have
        consent from the author of the CD to make copies.)  -- yuen
        \_ Yes, many DVD players do not support CD-R/RWs. I believe only
           Toshiba or Sony has comprehensive support of all disc formats
           across their entire line of players.
           \_ No, but Pioneer does. Only the high-end Sony 7700 can say
              this in their current line. --dim (Sony owner)
               \_ The Sony 7000 supports CD-R, too. - another :) sony owner.
        \_ most dvd players can't play CD-Rs but most CAN play CDRWs.  you can
           check the dvd player.  the pioneer 525 is one that has two lasers
           so that it can play your CDRs as well.  most dvd players only have
           one laser to read DVDs and it cannot read CDRs. -uctt
           \_ So what's the format of audio CD's from music stores called?  And
              that format only requires one laser beam to play?
              \_ They both require one laser beam; just different ones.
2000/8/24-26 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:19084 Activity:moderate
8/23    So do I have this right?:  Since 2600 (and everyone else i assume)
        has been forbidden from distributing DeCSS, does that mean there is
        no legal way for me to play legally owned DVD's on my linux box?
        \_ Yes.
        \_ No legal way.  How is this relevant?  -John
        \_ If you have a Dxr2 or old MPEG card and a Creative Labs DVD
           player (they came as a bundle) you can play them with some
           linux drivers, I believe.  --dbushong
           \_ Not legally.
              \_ Why is it not legal?  The drivers are from Creative
                 Labs themselves...  --dbushong
                 \_ Go read your dvd license.  Bring a team of lawyers.
                    \_ Instead of making vague claims, why don't you actually
                       say what makes it illegal?  I very much doubt it says
                       on a DVD "you are only allowed to view this on a player
                       hooked up to your TV or on a DVD player under Windows
                       or MacOS"  --dbushong
                        \_ Because unlike the majority of motd clowns, I'm
                           not willing to pretend I'm a lawyer or that I play
                           \_ ah.  you just pretend to be a cunt on the motd.
                           one on the motd.
                                \_ but you're willing to make unfounded
                                   legal assertions.  very nice, troll.  -tom
                                   \_ No. I'm telling you to go ask a lawyer
                                      if you want to know what the law really
                                      is.  Just because you sign your name,
                                      tom, doesn't mean you're not a troll.
           \_ Be patient.  I believe http://intervideo.com is coming out with
              a linux player soon.
        \_ Install VMware, Windows, & Windows DVD software (Linux/x86 only)
        \_ Install MOL (Mac on Linux) and DVD software (LinuxPPC only)
2000/8/23-25 [Computer/SW/OS/OsX, Computer/HW/Drives, Computer/HW/Printer] UID:19080 Activity:low
8/24    Someone wants a USB CD-RW.  The HP 8200e 6x looks okay, but it
        seems to be PC only.  The Sony Spressa USB Plus 4x is Mac
        and PC.  Anyone know if the HP one runs on Macs?
        \_ I have the HP 8230e.  It didn't come with any software or driver
           for the Macs.  My guess is no.
        \_ I'd stick with the Sony. It's a good product and I know
           several Mac and PC users who are happy with theirs. HP
           has a horrible record when it comes to Mac support
           \_ Thanks!
2000/8/10-11 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18956 Activity:moderate
8/10    Are there are strong competitors to Network Appliance for NAS?
        Auspex was the only competitor last I looked 3 years ago. Who
        else is worth looking at? --dim
        \_ Sun, EMC, & Compaq are trying to break into the NAS market, but
           are just getting started.
        \_ Seagate and Quantum both have NAS like offerings, as does
           Cobalt.
                \_ Seagate & Quantum are much smaller-scale devices - usually
                   single disk sizes, not terabytes like the big boys mentioned
                   above.
                   \_ The seagate is 2 disk/box and several of them can be
                      clustered together to appear as a single network disk
                      of larger size. The largest storage on one box is like
                      120 GB (2 60's), though they are trying to get it up to
                      200 GB (2 100's).
                        \_ 200 gb is still peanuts and clusters of anything are
                           always a pain in the ass to maintain.
        \_http://www.nishansystems.com
2000/8/6-7 [Computer/HW, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18896 Activity:kinda low
8/5     Any recommendations for a place to colocate a low-bandwidth (<10GB
        monthly) and low-profile (1U rackmount) server? South bay preferred.
        East bay OK. Thanks.
        \_ My company uses Exodus and they seemed to have worked out well...
           they have a data center in Santa Clara.
           \_ exodus has several data centers in santa clara.. but the less
              space you want the less cost-effective they are.  1u is prob
              gonna be ridiculously expensive compared to others.  there
              are a ton of cheap colo's but exodus and uunet are prob the
              most expensive in south bay.  -shac
        \_ The only place that I know of that seems interested in offering
           small amounts of colocation space is http://dsl.net (formerly http://tycho.net),
           and the smallest they offer is a 3x3x3 cage.  It's still not cheap.
2000/8/1-4 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18839 Activity:nil
8/1     Any reviews on that portable cd player that also plays mp3's
        burned onto a cd-r?  can it also play off of cd-rw's, I
        don't recall if it does?
        \_ The mpTrip/kiwi/etc. are all made in China and rebranded in the
           US.  They come w/ an AC power converter that you have to keep
           switching between 3 & 4.5 volts.  You can't play them for more
           than a couple hours w/out it heating up too much.  In short,
           they're still at the geek-only stage.  Supposedly they can do
           CD-RW but you have to fiddle for awhile.  Even regular CD-Rs
           must be created carefully- < 50 songs per directory, and some
           other requirements i can't remember.  Check the archives of the
           hardware messageboard @ http://mp3.com from May/June.
           \_ My brother got the mpTrip from his friends for his birthday.
              It works most of the time. I would not recommend it though,
              since many mp3 cds that play fine in my APEX 600A don't work
              in the mpTrip. ----ranga
        \_ Funny you should ask... Me and two friends ordered them from
           http://www.computergeeks.com for $100 each and they *just* came today.
           So far, I love it. So from what I understand, whether or not it
           plays CD-RW's depends on what factory it was made from. The one
           I got does play both CD-R's and RW's. There is a good review on
           znet. The brand I have is called Genica though it looks pretty
           generic and cheesy. I've heard it has a battery life of 7+ hours
           though I have yet to go this long. The specs say that you can
           record up to 256 songs in a directory and it can handle CD's with
           up to 650MB of data.                         -rory
2000/7/31-8/1 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18823 Activity:low
7/30    I need software to run my DVD player (pref. for linux but it must be
        able top play "legal" i.e. protected DVD's or for Window 2000)
        reccomendations?
        \_ Ask a sales guy at Fry's.
2000/7/5-6 [Computer/HW/Memory, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18585 Activity:high
7/4     I want an Ultra 5.  Should I pay the SunStore price or get a used one?
        \_ Whichever way you go, check out the processor specs - some come
           with CPU's with 256k L2 cache, others with 2mb L2 cache.  There
           is a huge difference in performance between the two.
        \_ LOTS of people i know are getting ultra-5s. I'd be worried that
           they are gonna run out of them. Buy now before it's too late!
           \_ Weren't workstations with the UltraSPARC-III coming out
              or something?  I want my cheap, previous-generation Ultra 5.
        \_ I'd rather wait for the next generation Ultra5s with UltraSparcIII
           processors. The current model is a lemon, just like it was three
                \_ You'll be waiting a long time.  The US-III is going into
                   servers & higher end machines, too expensive for U5's right
                   now.
                   \_ Don't be too sure about that.
           years ago. Performance is bogged down by some cheap-ass parts that
           SUN is using, some of which are obsolete even by PC laptop standards
           You get only 4Megs of video memory. The disks on the "cheap" low-end
           models are 5400 RPM IDE disks. In addition to the slow IDE disks
           they don't have a UDMA/33 or UDMA/66 capable IDE controller.
           Their IDE controllers only support DMA mode 2 interface (capable of
           16.6MB/s data transfers). I'd like to find the engineer who designed
           \_ Unfortunately "cheap" is still $2.5K.  Any idea when the new
              ones will be out so I can get my discounted Sun?
           the Ultra5 and 10s and beat him with one of those.
                \_ you can't beat anyone with an ultra 5, they're cheaply
                   constructed and would fall apart.  Beat him with a 3/50
           \_ When are the UltraSPARC III's coming out?
                   instead.  -tom
                   \_ You can beat 'em once before it breaks and that's the
                      one that counts.
        \_ So ... new, not used, I guess?
        \_ Looks like my offer got deleted. I've got a Ultra Enterpise 2
           (256 MB Ram, 2 x 200 MHz USII, Creator 3D) that I'm not using
           and would be willing to sell/trade it to you. ----ranga
                \_ Does it play Quake 3?  How many FPS?
                \_ Can you beat the U-5 price? Then i'd be interested
                   in upgrading from the U-1 i have at home.
2000/6/23-24 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18534 Activity:nil
6/23    How are Castlewood ORBs these days?  For generic backup.  I'm
        thinking of a SCSI drive with a USB adapter.
        \_ The ORB is okay. I have one of the first SCSI ones to come
           out and it works reliably on my Mac (MacOS) and reasonably
           well on my Mom's Win2K box. It doesn't work at all on Solaris,
           or LinuxPPC (it keeps timing out). I was able to get it to
           work under Linux (x86) but only on a Adaptec 15xx (ZipZoom)
           card. As far as the media reliablility is concerned, it seems
           just as good as the Jaz media. If you want to try it I can
           let you borrow mine. ----ranga
2000/6/16-19 [Computer/SW/Unix, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18488 Activity:nil
6/16    Solaris Question. Currently I have several diskless solaris
        boxes that mount thier root file system (/) from a rarp/bootp
        server. I have observered that if this server becomes
        unreachable, the diskless clients hang. In some cases the
        diskless clients won't come back even if the nfs server becomes
        reachable again. To solve this problem I wanted to have the
        diskless clients use a ram disk instead of nfs for their root
        file system, but documentation looks scarce. If anyone has
        done this before or knows a good URL, I would appreciate it.
        \_ Use cachefs or just go buy some disks already - there's no
           excuse for diskless machines in this day & age.
           \_ I'm using CP1500/CP2000 CPCI suncards and I can't have
              a disk in my chassis setup since it won't be field tech
              hot replaceable. I would use disk if I could. I'll
              take a look at cachefs. Thanks.
2000/6/14-16 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18466 Activity:moderate
6/14    What's the difference between DVD ROM and DVD RAM?  Is DVD RAM a
        writable DVD?  In the same way CD-R/RW are writable?  -DVD ignorant
        \_ Like CD-RW, not like CD-R.  --PeterM
                \_ Thanks!
        \_ DVDRAM also comes in a casing, like a floppy or MD
        \_ DVD RAM vs DVD RW: FIGHT!
2000/6/3-4 [Recreation/Dating, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18399 Activity:high
04/64   My friend needs a gift idea for her boyfriend.  She wants to spend
        << $200 and wants something kinda cool for a semi-geek guy.  She
        thought about a CD burner but wasn't really sure about how to
        install it and whether there would be enough power on his machine,
        so now she's looking for something else.  Any ideas?
        \_ Sex. And it'll definitely cost you less than $200.
                \_ Yeah, she was giving it away free last weekend at the party.
        \_ If that's what she thinks he wants, just hand him the box.  He'll
           install it.  I'd be *very* unhappy to come home and find out my
           wife had decided to add new hardware to my machine without telling
           me first.  Some surprises are bad surprises.
        \_ Does he have a DVD player?  If not, get one.
           \_ boycott the MPAA, please.
              \_ MPAA is as anal about video casette, and DVD is just such
                 higher quality.  Live with it.
                 \_ hey man, I didn't say to go out and buy a VHS instead...
        \_ If he likes TV and she's willing to go a bit higher, get a TiVo.
           They're awesome, especially for people who work later than their
           favorite shows, or who get called at home while watching TV.
        \_ How about a Palm Pilot? You can find decent ones for $140-$240,
           and with a coupon you can get $25 off (like at http://amazon.com)
        \_ Also check a recent Good Guys or COMP-USA advertisement flyer
           for some ideas.
        \_ How about a kite? There are some pretty damn sophisticated ones there
        \_ Dreamcast is $200...who gives a damn if ps2 is coming out in
           just a few months?
                \_ Soul Calibur!
2000/6/3-4 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18394 Activity:kinda low
6/2     What's the fastest way (software/hardware setup) to rip 300+ CDs
        automatically?
        \_ um, rip as in...?
           \_ Rip as in converting and storing them in some digital audio format.
        \_ http://www.fadden.com/cdrfaq/faq03.html may or may not help.
2000/5/31-6/1 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18372 Activity:nil
5/31    Any comments on a good portable DVD player ? Thinking about the
        Panasonic DVD-LV75 or DVD-L50 -eric
2000/5/31-6/1 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18371 Activity:moderate
5/31    My CDROM drive is dying, and I would like to replace it with a DVD-ROM
        drive.  I'd like to be able to do digital audio extraction, and of
        course spend as little money as possible (for a decent player).  This is
        on a PC non-scsi system.  I looked at the Panasonic 10X/40X slot loader
        and it's pretty neat (and isn't too bad at $150).  Any suggestions?
        \_ In my experience, slot loaders have a higher mortality rate
           than trays.  The score here, however, is 1-nil. --sowings
        \_  Stick with anything from Yamaha, Philips, or Sony, Yamaha
         being your best bet.  I'm just basing this on choices for cd-burners
         though.
        \_ (For some reason I wrote "Panasonic" when I meant "Pioneer."
        \_ PLEXTOR!  PLEXTOR IS THE STANDARD!
2000/5/22-24 [Consumer/Audio, Computer/HW/Drives, Consumer/TV] UID:18313 Activity:nil
5/22    What is a decent and good deal DVD player to buy?
        \_ my toshiba sd3109 isn't bad and at a good price ($250).  probably
           better UI with a sony, but this one works well and has all the
           necessary features/hookups. -- joeking
            \_ I heard this one can play HDCD, too.
2000/5/8-9 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18200 Activity:high
05/07   MP3 CD player, at long last. -dans
        Review:
  http://www.zdnet.com/zdtv/freshgear/firstlook/story/0,3679,2559255,00.html
        Purchase:
  http://www.easybuy2000.com/store/products/mp3/mp3_discman.html
        \_ S O L D . O U T ! ! !
        \_ Give it a compactflash card slot, and I'm sold. -- Marco
           \_ What for? -dans
              \_ So I don't have to burn a rom every time I want a couple
                 songs or particular mix. -- Marco
                 \_ A: CDRs are dirt cheap.  B: You can always append
                 \_ Isn't this why man created CD-RWs? -dans
                        \_ No.  The CD-RW was invented by a team lead by a
                           woman.
                           \_ designed for a woman, by a woman.
                              oh. waitaminit...
        \_ I'll probably get one anyway, but too bad it'll be prone
           to skipping
           \_ It's got a respectable anti-skip memory.  Probably can't jog
              with it, but, hey. -dans
                \_ WARNING: This is NOT the first one out, most of these
                early ones are clones of each other.  So far they don't
                play anything higher than 128kbps (read: SUCK ASS) and
                don't draw track names in the CD window; you just get a
                cryptic number.  Read some in-the-know reviews to ensure
                that this thing REALLY does 192kbps and VBR.  -blojo
                \_ What exactly does "suck ass" mean, John?  I'm trying to
                   picture you doing that.  I've no trouble with the image
                   of your face at someone else's asshole but I can't imagine
                   what the extra step is like.  Can you leave a jpg/gif/png
                   in /tmp or provide a URL?  Thanks.
                           After all, it was your ass I figured John would be
                   \_ who is this moron who keeps posting long, drawn-out,
                      completely unamusing idiocy?  -tom
                        \_ Maybe you can explain what "suck ass" means, Tom?
                           After all, it was your ass I figured Jon would be
                           sucking.  Whatever that means.
                           \_ blojo's name is "Jon".  And you're still not
                              funny and trying too hard.  -tom
                                \_ I'm not trying to be funny so it hardly
                                   matters that I'm not.  I'm also not trying
                                   at all so it seems unlikely I'm trying too
                                   hard.  Tom, how often do you "suck ass",
                                   anyway?  Just curious.  Looking for an
                                   expert to explain the concept.
                  \_ anyone seen such a review?  -oj
                \_ Removed embarrassingly bad trolling.  You give soda a
                                   \_ ask yermom.
                   \_ Well, if you place your mouth over someone's anal
                      orifice, you can "suck", much in the same way you can
                      can create a vacuum between your mouth and your
                      forearm.  Not that I've ever done this, I'm just trying
                      to clarify a hypothetical concept.  -John
                    bad name.  -!tom
                    \_ thanks for purging that ass-sucking bastard.  He
                       was getting on my nerves....
                       \_ Don't encourage !tom.
2000/5/6-9 [Computer, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18191 Activity:high
4/36    Recommendations for a local company to set up a LAN for about 50
        computers?  All computers are Win2000.  Will need hardware,
        wiring, configuration.
        \_ have Sky do it.  Just give him lotsa meth.
                \_ I'm guessing he wants someone with clue and a brain to
                   do it.
                  \_ have dans do it then, if you ask him, he can tell you how
                     to do it.
                        \_ dans isn't a local company.  If you want a drone
                           to do it, then just go buy 50 of the same box, a
                           pile of hubs and network cables, and install w2k
                           on each.  Set aside one or two for servers if you
                           want a domain.  This is monkey work.  Actually,
                           maybe dans _is_ the right monkey for the job.
        \_Alpha Electronics in Berkeley will run wire.
          \_ Sky will run wire for cheap.
                \_ Getting wired is not cheap.  Costs me about $2500 a
                   month.  -sky
                \_ He's talking about computers, not whoring out your gf to
                   the corner in Oakland for a quick hit.
                   \_ Player hate all you want...I understand.  It must be
                      hard being so lonely and frustrated.  -sky
                      \_ dude, sky, offer him your gf. he'll pay bigbux
                        \_ sky's gf... bridge toll... sky's gf.... bridge
                           toll... Hmmmm... Bridge toll.  Can get a cheap lay
                           anywhere but I need to cross the bridge.
                           \_ I hope you didn't spend too long coming up with
                              that retort.  Keep trying though...You'll make
                              a funny eventually.  And sign your name, btw,
                              so I can kick your ass.  -sky
                              so I can fuck your ass.  -sky
                              \_ (BDDD)
                                 \_ Hi bob!
2000/5/5-6 [Consumer/Audio, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18178 Activity:low
4/34    Anyone have a recommendation for a program to extract audio from
        a music cd to wav files?
        \_ cdparanoia
        \_ QuickTime Player
2000/4/28-29 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18139 Activity:low
4/28    I'm the same person who asked the CD-RW question.  Now that we have
        the choice of drive settled ... Do I have a *choice* on a SCSI
        card?  Adaptec cards are expensive, and this CD-RW is for
        a relative who wants fast burns but I don't want to give him crap.
        Am I just going to go ahead and buy for him a $160 Ultra160 card?
        \_ get a cheap 60-70 buck card, ie., tekram or something, if it's
           just gonna be used to hook up to the cdrw.
2000/4/27-29 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18126 Activity:high
4/26    Can anyone recommend an 8x write CD-RW drive?  Also, are those
        cheap SCSI cards that sometimes come with the retail model adequate?
        Thanks in advance.
        \_ Sony has a 8/4/32 IDE drive for like $260 or so.  Dunno if your
           spec demanded "8x REwrite" or just 8x write.  --sowings
        \_ Nothing beats Plextor. I'm doing 12X CD to CD while playing q3!
           \_ Nothing beats the high Plextor prices either.
              \_ Damn you people are cheap! Always bitching about
                 Plextor's prices and not even mentioning the quality. A
                 Plextor 20/8/2 internal SCSI drive is ~$300. How much
                 less do you want to pay?! It's not much more than HP,
                 \_ Well, what do you think of mini SCSI cards?
                 S&F, Sony, etc. (about $50). Do you want a *good* drive
                 or a *cheap* drive? --dim
                 \_ Quality?  You're either dreaming or using someone else's
                    money.  The parts are the same in every device.  My cheap
                    ass $99 brandless throw-away has *never* failed.  Maybe
                    I'd agree with you if I was spending someone else's
                    money, too.
2000/4/24-26 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18097 Activity:high
4/24    FS: AMD K6-2/450 128 MB 40x cd/8MB AGP 15" monitor  $225 email sky
        \_ do you have an old hard drive you can throw in?
                \_ I've got a 500 meg drive I'm not using.  You willing to
                   pay anything for it?  -- _not_ sky
        \_ will the police call me up and ask me to return it to the
           rightful owner?
                \_ Yes.  After they track it to me and I give you up.
        \_ Will you use the money for drugs?
                \_ Yes.
                \_ Yeah, prob. but thats not the point...I moved in with
                   my girlfriend and their isnt enough room in our apt.
                   for it... -sky
                   \_ "there" and "their".  -tweaker
                   \_ Congratulations.
                      \_ Is she the one with the big round ****?
                         \_ No  --sky
                         \_ You mean the stupid chinky whore with the huge
                            tits dumb enough to move into an apartment with
                            sky that's so small his computer and dinky
                            monitor don't fit?  Yeah, I think that's the one.
                            \_ no, different girl and if you sign your posts
                               I will gladly seek you out and kick the shit out
                               of you for calling anyone a stupid chinky whore.
                               But I suspect you have no cajones and will
                               continue to anonymously player hate  like
                               the little bitch that you are.  -sky
                            \_ No, thats not who i meant.
                         \_ Any pics?
                           \_ So, where should i hang out so i can do he?
                              in Berkeley for the pre-freshman welcume

Any good links on the procedures/hints to incorporate for contracting      4/24
    purposes (including setting up self-directed retirement accounts,
         health care and so on?).  Good accountants are okay as well.
                                                              Thanks!
        \_ Procedure: use tabs.
        \_ Does anyone have crystal meth they can sell me? - tweaker
                \_ You'd be suprised how many ppl do crystal in Berkeley
                \_ Yes.
                   \_ Who is Crystal? Where does she hang out?
                        \_ Crystal was this good looking black chick I met
                           at one of those pre-freshman welcome-to-cal
                           things.  Never went out with her but we talked a
                           bit and I don't really like black chicks anyway.
                           \_ What?!?  Since when does the University supply
                              fine chicks for welcome-to-cal fuck-fests?
                              *MY* welcome-to-cal didn't offer this.  *sheesh*
                              I got *robbed*!
                              \_ of clue and a sense of humor
                              \_ Hi paolo.
                           \_ So, where should i hang out so i can do her
                              in Berkeley like the pre-freshman welcume
                                \_ This was 15 years ago.  She's probably
                                   your mother.
2000/4/19-22 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:18048 Activity:moderate
4/19    Raid storage.  WHere Can i buy 100 GB of NT accessible raid storage?
        \_ Go buy 100 GB of disk and use the built in disk manager.
        \_ Metastor
        \_ http://www.3ware.com
        \_ http://www.netapp.com
        Sorry, i should have been clearer.  Ok, what is needed is a isp/
        service which will provide 100 GB of storage on a raid online,
        accessible via nt shares.  Currently I'm paying $70/Gig with very
        slow bandwidth - anyone know of anything better.
        \_ Well duh!  The internet is slow - if you need speed, get local
           storage.  (What internet connection do you have?  DSL?
           something else equally pathetic?)
        \_ Rent cage space at Exodus Communications or AboveNet.
        \_ This sounds incredibly stupid.  Take your $7000/month payment for a
           few months, buy a cheap PC with NT & 200 GB disk and get much better
           performance, much better security (SMB over the open net? the
           horrorr...), and save a big bundle of money in the long run.
           \_ sounds like paolo
2000/4/5 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17926 Activity:high
4/3     RAID 3 or RAID 5 for an NFS server supporting a small workgroup?
        Files can be large (100's of MB but less than 1 GB) and users will
        have the ability to write locally to the RAID (as well as through
        NFS). Just to be clear, the machine will support typical user
        activities as well as serve the large files. Lots of reading and
        writing both small and large files. Benchmarking using iozone
        is inconclusive. I am leaning towards RAID 3, though. This is a Solaris
        Enterprise-class server. Anyone have any real-world experience
        with which yields better performance? Thanks. --dim
        \_ Idiot. There are probably hundreds of papers on this, online,
           yet you ask onthe motd. Then ignore the BEST advice, which is
           to scrap both of them and use 1+0.
           RAID3 can be faster, but performs worse in degraded mode,or
           something like that.
        \_ What class server?  It kind of depends, since if you have something
           like a 4500 available, you're not going to notice any performance
           impact for most things a "small workgroup" will be able to do.
           Also, you'll want to know how much i/o your disks (array?
           internal?  SCSI?  Fiber?) can handle at any given time, since if
           you're doing a lot of moving stuff around, your bus may choke
           before you need to start worrying about RAID performance.  Also
           maybe play with different stripe sizes.  I'd tend to RAID5, just
           because I've had too many disks puke on me, and because I
           usually don't need to do a lot of writes, assuming you can't do
           0+1.  -John
           \_ Oh yeah, if you run Veritas, version 3 can do 1+0, which is
              pretty spiffy.  -John
        \_ They both suck.  Use 0+1, disk is cheap.  -tom
                \_ tom is right.  Unless your RAID 5 is hardware RAID 5
                   with a serious RAM buffer, your performance will lag.
                   Test it yourself by making a RAID 5 partition and 0+1
                   on the same machine, and do some benchmarks.  Here's
                   some numbers to give you a feel:
                   time mkfile 1024M test
                   Raid 0+1 Ultra 450 2 X 296 MHz:
                    0.0u 21.0s 0:52 39% 0+0k 0+0io 0pf+0w
                   NO Raid, Single disk, Ultra 450 2 X 296 MHz:
                    0.0u 17.0s 1:28 19% 0+0k 0+0io 0pf+0w
                   Hardware Raid 5 Ultra 2 2 X 296 MHz:
                    0.0u 18.0s 1:37 18% 0+0k 0+0io 0pf+0w
                   Software Raid 5 Sparc 20:
                    3.0u 158.0s 19:13 13% 0+0k 0+0io 0pf+0w
                           (One of the twinks out here is using this as a home
                            directory server for the whole department and
                            can't figure out why everyone is complaining
                            that things are slow)  -ax
                   \_ not that I dont agree that sw RAID 5 can be hazardous
                      to  Sysadmin health, but is it appropriate to compare
                      software RAID 5 on a sparc20 running at what, 150MHz
                      max, versus dual ultra hardware RAID 5 , stripe/mirror
                      or simple filesystems?  --Jon
                   \_ Thanks for the ideas, guys. I hadn't thought of
                      comparing to 1/0 numbers, so I configured that way
                      also. This is an E450 4x400 MHz running a SUN
                      StoreEdge RAID (hardware RAID). The disks are 18 GB
                      Fujitsu's (SUN OEM). RAID 3 beat even RAID 1/0 in
                      many benchmarks on this system. Even when not, the
                      differences weren't much. --dim
                      \_ raid levels have different performance characteristics
                         for different workloads --jon
                         \_ 0 - normal
                            1 - nothing gained from mirroring
                            2 - does this even exist?
                            3 - higher handwidth
                            4 - does this either?
                                \_ Yes, NetApps use RAID-4, but most other
                                   systems skip straight to RAID-5.
                            5 - lower average latency
                            6 - obviously I have no idea what I'm talking about
                                but I was smoking pot and felt compelled to
                   \_ DON'T FORGET. MICROSOFT INVENTED RAID SO IT MUST BE GOOD.
                      \_ I thought Al Gore did.
                        \_ you know al gore NEVER said he invented the
                           internet.
                           \_ Oops, I meant created: "During my service in the
                              United States Congress, I took the initiative in
                              creating the Internet."
                              \_ THIS MAN WANTS TO BE OUR PRESIDENT.  RUN FOR
                                 YOUR LIVES!
                                        \_ Actually yes. Al Bore isn't as
                                           smart as Bill C. His wacko ideas
                                           about the environment will derail
                                           progress and prosperity in this
                                           country and throughout the world.
                                           His weak foreign policy will allow
                                           RED CHINA to attack/seize Taiwan
                                           resulting in the unnessary loss of
                                           life of the Taiwanese people. We
                                           also won't get involved until its
                                           too late and will probably lose the
                                           first few encounters resulting in
                                           the loss of American Lives. GW isn't
                                           great (I voted for McCain), but
                                           he's not a kook like Bore.
                                           \_ people still say things like
                                              Red China?  Didn't that go out
                                              with the 60s?  Let me guess,
                                              you are Taiwanese?
                                 \_ got coke?  -gwbush
                         \_ NO, MICROSOFT INVENTED EVERYTHING, INCLUDING THE
                            INTERNET.  MICROSOFT IS PROMOTING INOVATION.
                            \_ Indeed.  TCP/IP is listed as a Microsoft
                               protocol in Win95/8.
                                \_ Where are they gonna put it? Banyan,
                                   "Da Internet", Bill Joy? It's their stack.
                                \_ Al Bore invented M$. His daughter still
                                   works there.
                   \_ real world experience shows that people who think
                      that their one answer is the answer to everything
                      get fired in less than 10 years.
                \_ who wants to work for a company that forces you to choose
                   between unattractive options?  -tom
                    \_ I refuse to believe tom is this annoying. Stop
                        your odious mocking. -tom #1 disillusioned fan
                   \_ you must learn to think OUTSIDE THE BOX!
                      \_ are you in IDS 130?
                                say something.
           \_ Thanks, but it's not an option. Neither is a NetApp. I
              appreciate the help, but I'd like to stay within the parameters
              I laid out.--dim
                \_ Well, both your options suck.  Real-world experience
                   is that it's a waste of time trying to help people choose
                   between two bad options.  -tom
2000/3/28 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17872 Activity:nil
3/27    Ultra 5 running out of disk.  Need disk.  Does generic UDMA/33 EIDE
        disk work or do I have to buy Sun disk, like I had to buy Sun CD-ROM
        drive?  Thanks.
        \_ You didn't have to buy a Sun CD-ROM, you just had to do more
           research.
           \_ I plugged in my generic IDE CD-ROM and it didn't work.
2000/3/17-19 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17792 Activity:kinda low
3/17    Whats the best place to buy an IDE card? I have a broken IDE
        controller on my motherboard and its not worth it to replace the
        whole motherboard.
        \_ They are so cheap that it doesn't matter. UDMA33 cards cost less
           than $20 probably. Try http://www.pricewatch.com or some local store...
2000/3/14 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Troll, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17764 Activity:very high
3/12    Stupid trolls deleted (again).
        Mail will stay in /var/mail where it belings.
                -your friend
        \_ Guh-duh!  Clean up your mail spools!  Especially all you people who
           never login or read the motd but receive tons of mail here!  Yeah!
           That'll fix it!  And oh yeah!  Put a bigger disk in soda!  Duh!
           Kewl!  I just solve the mail spool problem for leik 2 munths with
           a s00per kewl idea!  Buy more disk!  Wh0a!  I'm smart!
2000/3/12-14 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17748 Activity:very high
3/12    Why not just mv ccytsao /tmp; ln -s /tmp/ccytsao /var/mail/ccytsao
        \_ There. Done. Not so hard if you make an effort.
           One issue is that you are not supposed to fuck with people's
           files unless absolutely necessary, and even not then.
           People just need to be reminded to be more responsible
           CSUA citizens and clean up their mail spool. --samli
        \_ why not just get a fucking clue?  -tom
           \_ I say we rm -f /var/mail/tom
                \_ boy that's clever.  -tom
        \_ You want to fill /tmp forever with some fool's mail spool?  That's
           not what /tmp is for.  The Powers That Be should do their jobs and
           deal with this instead of letting the spools grow.  Either decide
           that it's ok or put some hard limits on them.  Or do the intelligent
           thing and use procmail to dump mail into people's home directories.
           I can't believe that all these years later, the CSUA has continuously
           failed to elect even *one* effective officer who has the clue and
           the balls to deal with this.  Doubly so since this is such an
           incredibly trivial issue to take care of.
           \_ What's up with all those people who want to put people's inbox
              into the home directory. This is what /var/mail is for.
              What if we run out of space on some of the /home directories?
                \_ Because then you can easily quota someone's total disk space.
              What is next? Move people's home directories back to /var/mail
              and ban usage of /home for storing personal pr0-n and other
              stuff? I thought that average CSUAer is smart enough to figure
              out how to use procmail to sort their mail into files in their
              home directory if they really want to.
                \_ Because then you can easily quota someone's total dick space.
                \_ Because then you can easily quota someone's total disk space.
                   One number for all usage.  They want lots of mail and nothing
                   else?  They want lots of space for something else but don't
                   have mail here?  Some other combo?  It's more efficient and
                   easily done.  This is classic sysadmin stuff.  I thought the
                   CSUA was a sysadmin farm?  Why is such a simple and trivial
                   concept so hard to grasp and implement?  Obviously the
                   average CSUAer is not smart enough to figure out how to use
                   procmail or even how to use /bin/mail to clean their mail
                   disk.  Don't go there.  Be smart.  procmail everyone.
                   spool.  Never trust the users to do the right thing.  That's
                   what a sysadmin is for.  To make the right thing happen even
                   if the users are too stupid, ignorant, arrogant, or apathetic
                   to do the right thing.  Just do it.  Do the right thing.  And
                   God, don't even get into "we're going to ban personal p0rn".
                   Never, ever, but, never ban anything of the sort.  You get
                   dick.  Don't go there.  Be smart.  procmail everyone.
                   into all sorts of ugly issues far worse than a filled mail
                   disk.  Don't go there.  Be smart.  procmail everyone.
                   \_"Classic sysadmin stuff"? I haven't seen a single
                      place on campus that does this. Keeping incomming mail
                      in /var/mail and user files in /home also allows you to
                      have a separate dedicated email server and a separate
                      server for /home without a big NFS performance hit.
                      You could argue that some mail will be written to
                      an NFS mounted /home partition this way too, but in
                      -most- cases, the messages end up in /var/mail still.
                      The purpose of procmail is not to just dump everything
                      in your home directory. It is mostly used to sort
                      incomming messages by subject/mailing list into separate
                      files and the regular mail is still supposed to end up
                      in /var/mail.
                      Also many programs by default expect your inbox to be
                      in /var/mail (xbiff and pine for example)
                      \_ you can also tell them to look elsewhere, foolio.
                        \_ Campus is obviously not a good place to learn how to
                           properly admin a system.  xbiff and pine are enduser
                           programs easily recompiled.  xbiff is no excuse to
                           stupidly admin your system.  procmail has many
                           purposes.  As a user you may have discovered only
                           one use of it.  NFS has nothing to do with this.
                      disk already.
                        \_ Uh huh, until *that* disk fills and then what? What
                           I don't see why you brought it up.  In fact, I'm
                           having a hard time seeing your point at all which is
                           in part why my reply is so disjoint.
                           no new disk until a decision is made about a soda
                           \_ Recompiling ALL of user mail software is trivial?
                              Sounds like a pain in the ass to me. I'd rather
                              play solitarie or xbill than bother doing this.
                                \_ It wasn't compiled the first time?  Lazy,
                              disk space or something? What if you run out
                              space on /home? Buy more disks? ...oh wait
                              I forgot, buying new disk is a lazy way to
                      dick already.
                        \_ Uh huh, until *that* dick fills and then what? What
                                   lazy, lazy....
                   \_ This is just a plain stupid solution. Get a new freaking
                      disk already.
                           no new dick until a decision is made about a soda
                        \_ Uh huh, until *that* disk fills and then what? What
                           a dumb, stupid, lazy way to admin a box.  Try adding
                           2 lines to sendmail.cf.  Anyway, the esteemed dans,
                           President, has already clearly stated there will be
                              dick space or something? What if you run out
                              space on /home? Buy more dicks? ...oh wait
                              I forgot, buying new dick is a lazy way to
                           no new disk until a decision is made about a soda
                           upgrade.  Can't wait til some of you get jobs and
                           tell you boss the answer to everything is to throw
                           money at it.  That'll go over well.
                           \_ Are you assumming that your /home has infinite
                              disk space or something? What if you run out
                              space on /home? Buy more disks? ...oh wait
                           no, a bigger disk won't solve anything.
                              I forgot, buying new disk is a lazy way to
                              admin a box... you can just shot yourself
                              at this point.
                                \_ Where've you been?  No.  This has been
                                   covered several times.  Don't be dense.
           \_ sign your name twink. --jon
                \_ Signing my name will fix the endless mail spool stupidity?
                   Or it will simply allow you to make personal attacks and
                   dismiss everything I have to say with a single smear?  Name
                   one good reason why there's still a mail spool issue after
                   all these years.  There's nothing twinkish about what I said.
                   It's the truth and too fucking bad if it hurts.  My anonymity
                   doesn't make it any less true.  Address the issue.  It
                           no, a bigger dick won't solve anything.
                   doesn't matter who I am.
                   \_ Actually, in this case signing your name will just put
                      you on the grouchy-soda-alum hit list.
                        \_ True.  I'd sign if I thought that might make the
                           difference between the last several years of mail
                           spool do-nothing and setting up procmail properly.
                           But you're right.  It won't do anything but give
                           dans and a few others a name for their target.  And
                           no, a bigger disk won't solve anything.
        \_  there's just times when signing your name is a no-no
        \_ Can't we run a delivery agent that enforces a size limit on each
           user's mailspool? Or write a script to do it? How many systems
           have I seen that include the ONE MAILSPOOL FILE in a user's quota
           and take appropriate action? The procmail debate is ridiculous.
           \_ Good point. Just hack mail.local,or whatever.
           \_ There's no procmail debate.
2000/3/11-13 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17740 Activity:high
3/10    Clean up yer shit!
        2540480  2333884     3358   100%    /var/mail
        \_ If they haven't gotten their act together by now (even after
           several warnings and complaints) just delete some of the larger
           ones (or gzip it and stick it in their directories).
        \_ The second biggest offender is rico (11MB) and he's logged on right
           now (5pm Friday).
        \_ Biggest offender (ccytsao) has 17 MB and hasn't logged in since Jan.
           But most people are below 15 MB quota.  Why doesn't the Politburo
           make it easy to donate to the CSUA disk fund?  There have been
           repeated attempts to donate funds/hardware and they've been IGNORED.
           \_ cuz paul is the laziest damn treasurer ever.
                \_ I don't understand this talk of twohey never reading his
                   mail. AFAICT he hasn't *gotten* any:
-rw-------  1 twohey  csua  960899 Dec  7 14:20 /var/mail/twohey
              \_ there's a .forward file there. - paolo
           \_ As was stated in response to previous queries along this line:
              If you'd like to make hardware donations or $ for hardware,
              contact mikeh (vice-president).  If you'd like to make $
              donations not specifically or hardware, contact dans
              (president).  Also, there has been some talk of upgrading soda
              and this is one of the reasons we haven't gone out and bought
              a disk.  We're not sure what kind of SCSI will be used if soda
                 \_ Sure, not that they'd be worth much. -dans
              gets upgrading so we are waiting to see if the soda upgrade
              pans out before we invest in something that we might not be
              able to use. -dans
              \_ Can alumni make donations for brownie points?
                 \_ Sure, but I don't think they'd be very useful. -dans
              \_ more hardware will not solve the mail spool issue.  It will
                 only allow even more mail to build up before anyone starts
                 complaining about it.  Sheesh.  Have a clue and some balls
                 and _fix_the_problem.  Stop trying to throw hardware at a
                 human social issue.
              \_ Well, how about we install Win NT, and use exchange, then
                 y'awl can bring the mail to your home machines?
2000/3/10-13 [Computer/HW, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17738 Activity:nil
3/10    A basic question: when a server receive a GET request for some
        non-ascii file, say a .swf, .gif, or .jpeg, will it send out
        the binary stream, or in MIME base 64 format?  I realize my
        question might not make sense and would appreciate some url
        that quickly enlightens me.  Thanks.
        \_ telnet://localhost:80 (assuming that by "server" you mean "web
           server")
        \_ The server sends all of the interesting headers, including the
           Content-type: header, and then the file, as it exists on the
           disk.   --dbushong
2000/3/3-4 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17686 Activity:high
3/2     is there such a thing as a scsi version of a zip drive,
        or is just a normal every day zip drive, with a different cable?
        \_ Ok who let underwater basket weaving major into CSUA?
        \_ Yes, the SCSI version of a zip drive is different.  Attempting
           to plug a parallel zip drive into a SCSI port or a SCSI zip
           drive into a parallel port would do bad things(TM).  If memory
           serves, SCSI has higher voltage requirements, so it is possible to
           fry devices if you try to plug a non-SCSI device into a SCSI chain.
           At one time, iomega offered a zip drive called the zip plus which
           had the really cool feature of supporting both parallel and SCSI
           interfaces.  Judging from iomega's web site, I don't believe the
           zip plus is still being made.
           Device speed according to iomega's site:
           SCSI zip >> USB zip > parallel zip
           The SCSI zip is at least twice as fast as the USB zip.
           -dans
           \_ I have a zip+ at home. I bought it for my mom's NT machine.
              I had lots of problems when it was running on the parallel
              port. It worked fine as a scsi device.
              \_ Were extorted into buying that Zip SCSI card (really a
                 AHA-150x) because you couldn't use adpaters for your nice
                 2940? IMO the ZIP+ was a crock
2000/2/23 [Computer/SW/OS/Windows, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17603 Activity:nil
2/22    So my NT Client machine is giving me the error "the volume
        does not contain a recognized file system." when i try to access the
        cdrom.  However, if i boot from a floppy the CDROM works fine.
        (i.e. it is not a hardware problem).  What is NT's problem?
        \_ Well, my mentor, the great Holmes once ... oh fuck it ... your
           NT drivers are fucked.  Uninstall the CD ROM drivers.  Reboot.
           Install most recent non-beta drivers for your CD ROM.  Reboot.
2000/2/7-8 [Computer/HW/CPU, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17449 Activity:moderate
2/6     Okay, I've decided to roll my own x86 computer, what are the best
        price-comparison or e-commerce URLs you all can recommend to me? I
        see http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/weekly_cpu
        listed below. I know about cnet and mysimon. What else is good out
        there? What ones do you use? Thank you in advance, most wonderous motd.
        \_ Just grab a wad of cash and go to the next computer show...
           \_ When I was in SF, I went to both Robert Austin and the one at
              the Cow Palace.  I was underwhelmed, to say the least.  They
              had inferior-quality components, their prices were pretty
              ridiculous considering it was a computer show, the entry price
              was downright silly (at least RA sends out coupons) and the
              selection stank.  I'd rather recommend Spectrum computers in
              San Francisco, or some of the similar Asian fell-off-the-back-
              of-a-truck places.  If you know what you want, the service
              tends to be at least decent, sometimes even friendly, they
              honor their warranties, they have good components and don't try
              to bait-and-switch you too often, and the prices are good.  I've
              bought a lot of parts at these places while in the US, and also
              sent non-technical members of my family there to pick up PC
              hardware;  none of us has ever gotten a bad deal.  -John
        \_ http://Pricescan.com.  Buy parts from out of state and avoid the nasty
           sales tax.
        \_ http://Pricescan.com.  We buys partsss from out of state and avoid the
           nassssty saleses tax.
        \_ http://Pricescan.com.  Buy from out of state to avoid sales tax.
        \_ Don't use places like Sharkey's for hardware recs.  They have some
           biases towards particular vendors and also aren't necessarily using
           the system for the same thing as you.  They use Quake1/2/3 as a
           benchmark program, so go figure.  Unless you're a Q123 player, they
           won't be too useful for you.
2000/2/4-5 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17427 Activity:low
2/3     Anybody what kind of CD-ROM a Ultra 5 comes with?  I'm trying to
        configure xmcd and it complains about the CD drive being non SCSI-II
        compliant.  Anybody got xmcd working on ultra 5s?  Thanks.
        \_ Dude! Ultra5s are IDE based (the crappiest machines SUN has ever
           produced)
        \_ It works fine for me, ignoring the SCSI-II error and taking the
           audio directly out of the CD drive's headphone jack.  -nweaver
                \_ Oops, realized this is for me on an ultra10 -nweaver
        \_ Shit, I could not get my ultra-10 to work properly with workman
           but did with xmcd (and am happier too, but still wondering why).
2000/1/31-2/1 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17380 Activity:nil
1/30    What is a website that finds the cheapest place online
        to buy a dvd or music cd (like the addall search for
        books)? (edited to not be a yes/no question)
        \_ It would be a place that does searches of other websites, compares
           price data and then presents a summary of best price choices to
           you, the cheapskate.
        \_ http://www.dvdpricesearch.com -mogul
2000/1/27 [Computer/SW/Unix, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17343 Activity:low
1/26    Can somebody with a copy of DeCSS -- the DVD cracking program put up
        a copy on soda?  Or a pointer to it?  Thanks.
        \_ Trying to get soda confiscated as evidence?  No thanks.
        \_ http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~seidl has a copy on it.
           \_ thank you so much matt!
        \_ Criminals.  I can't believe anyone in the CSUA or alums would
           promote this sort of theft.  It's no different than all the wAReZ!1
           kids stealing on the net swapping software they never purchased.
        \_ I'll just call this a troll now.  Note that CSS does NOTHING to
           prevent bootlegging of DVDs since you can just do a bit by bit copy.
        \_ http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,33922,00.html
           Just grab a copy of the source code and build your own decoder.
2000/1/24-25 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17315 Activity:moderate
1/24    Current CD drive is a SANYO CRD-820P which skips and doesn't do CDDA.
        Any recommendation for one that is robust and CDDA-capable? I'm not
        looking for much, just one that won't give me a lot of hassle and that
        I can get music from with cdparanoia. Need IDE/ATAPI. Thanks.
                                              \ ATAPI CDROM != good CDDA
                                                get SCSI get Plextor
        \_ Plextor = very expensive = hardly worth it for normal folks.
           \_ If not plextor then what do you recommend?  I mostly care
                about no skipping whatsoever.  -- not the original poster
           \How much is 24X+ flawless DAE worth to you?
                \_ Not 3x - 5x as much to get a plextor.  And 24x is totally
                   standard.  Anything less was built in 1998 or earlier.  24x
                   has no particular value to me relative to other models which
                   also all have 24x+.
                   \_ Plextor is one of those cases where it's worth it.
                      If you want to be cheap, then just admit it to
                      yourself. I won't buy from another manufacturer. --dim
                        \_ I'm not cheap.  I'm simply not stupid.  Not every
                           component in my system requires the highest end,
                           triple price part.  I don't buy a new athlon or p3
                           every month so whats wrong with a cd drive using
                           6 month old technology at 90% effectiveness and
                           1/3rd the price?  You're obsessed with plextor.  I
                           checked out their products on your rec. 2 months
                           ago and wasn't impressed with the bang/buck ratio.
                           Plextor is only for people who *need* every last
                           whistle and bell.  The original poster just wants
                           a simple, functional, atapi/ide drive with no
                           hassles at a good price.  Plextor doesn't fit the
                           bill.  You need more tools in your shed.  It's all
                           starting to look like a hammer. LINUX!  RIDE BIKE!
                           \_ The original poster already had a crap drive and
                              look where it got him. We're not talking about
                              a $500 difference in price here. Spend the extra
                              $100-150 (at most!) and get a Plextor. --dim
                              \_ The original poster didn't need CDDA at the
                                 time of purchase.  A CDDA drive is an extra
                                 $5., not $100-$150.  Do not buy a plextor.
                                 Buy what you need not bells and whistles
                                 you'll never use.  By the time you do need
                                 some random whistle, you can buy the same
                                 thing for much less later and now have an
                                 extra.  Total price is less and get extra
                                 device from it.  If you never need the bells
                                 at all (I never have), then you save tons.
                                 It's pretty duh-basic: don't buy things you
                                 don't need.  Plextor is overkill and over
                                 priced.
2000/1/20 [Academia/Berkeley/CSUA/Troll, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17276 Activity:very high
1/20    Filesystem  512-blocks     Used    Avail Capacity  Mounted on
        /dev/da0e      2540480  2332740     4502   100%    /var/mail
        CLEAN UP YOUR MAIL SPOOLS YOU HOZERS!
           \_ no, add more disks to support our huge mail quotas!
        \_ I propose we squish more people and delete their home (e.g. kchang)
                \_ I propose to have a mail quotas smaller than 8mb. If
                   soda does not have enough disk space, why have such huge
                   mail quotas in first place?.
                   As far as I can see none of the users below is above their
                   quota. I don't see a reson why they should be squished
                        -anonymous coward
        5443134  scharpen
        5004733  ying
        4951795  egwall
        4939696  joy
        4862243  ivy
        4841636  blyon
        4825914  yule
        4822396  andrea
        4800332  kane
        4786558  innami
        4737733  clarie
        4704368  hankwong
        4688583  jean
        4646727  blojo
        4603297  mackn
        4499982  lleong
        4459360  anjie
        4413419  duyphun
        4400330  jones
        4321963  ramses
        5443134  scharpen      4737733  clarie
        5004733  ying          4704368  hankwong
        4951795  egwall        4688583  jean
        4939696  joy           4646727  blojo
        4862243  ivy           4603297  mackn
        4841636  blyon         4499982  lleong
        4825914  yule          4459360  anjie
        4822396  andrea        4413419  duyphun
                           hundreds of hours of works.  -tom
           \_ Fascinating.  8.5% of the users consume 50% of the space.  15%
              consume about 70%.  This is fine of course unless the spool runs
              out of space.
        4800332  kane          4400330  jones
        4786558  innami        4321963  ramses
        \_ End the Bolt Action domination of the mail spool!
        \_ How about these folks?  kchang isn't even in the running.  Do you
           people really need 4-5 MB in your mailspool?
                \_ it's really stupid to quibble about 5MB when 18GB disks
                   cost $300.  -tom
                   \_ Fine, so donate $300 to CSUA and shut up.
                        \_ the CSUA gets a budget every year, this is a fine
                           thing to spend money on.  And I have donated quite
                           a bit of money to the CSUA over time, not to mention
                           hundreds of hours of work.  -tom
                           \_ The point is, a free resource always leads to a
                              shortage.  Sure, you've put resources into soda,
                              and look at your spool usage--you're actually
                              being responsible with it.  I'd bet that that
                              majority of hte names there haven't given squat to
                              soda.  (surprised to see blojo up there)
                                \_ an 18GB disk for mail would allow an
                                   average spool size of 7MB (2600 passwd
                                   entries).  Considering that there's not
                                   a single mail spool larger than that now,
                                   we're looking at years and years before
                                   even actively irresponsible usage could
                                   fill it.  -tom
                                   \_ Great.  So why don't we just purchase the
                                      disk and be done with it.  Anyone?
           \_ Fascinating.  8.5% of the population consume 50% of the wealth.
              15% consume about wealth.  This is fine of course unless the spool
              runs out of space.
           \_ Fascinating.  8.5% of the population consume 50% of the space.
              15% consume about 50% of the space.  This is fine of course unless
              the spool runs out of space.
              \_ Space consumption always has a skewed distribution.
        \_ Can't we just have a quota system with slightly smaller mail-spool
           limits? Most people would be fine with it...
        \_ I propose we adjust all mail user agents and delivery agents to
           put the users' mail spools in their home directories, so that we
           dont have this double mail spool/disk usage problem.  -ERic
           \_ Just make a link from /var/mail/foo to ~foo/mbox or such? -- yuen
           \_ they do this where I work, and it leads to more dropped mail
              and related problems because of the relative instability of
              home mounts to the mail server, common home file overfills,
              etc.
              \_ soda's home directories arent remote-mounted.
                \_ I think mail-in-home-dir is a reasonable setup but it
                   doesn't really help the problem of inadequate disk space.
                   In fact it's worse because people filling up their home
                   directories with coding projects will hoze mail.  -tom
1999/12/28-30 [Computer/HW/Drives, Computer/SW/OS/Windows] UID:17112 Activity:high
12/28   Please point me to info (URL,etc.) on Clustering NT machines.
        \_ http://www.microsoft.com/hwtest/sysdocs/wolfpackdoc.htm
           There's more if you search for "wolfpack" on the MS site.
        \_ BWQAAAA-haaaa-haaaaahaaaaaaa... that's a good one, that is.
           Got any more jokes?
            \_  Hmm, should i assume from that response that this can't be
                done?  There's no third party software that allows for
                NT clusters? (i would have sworn i had heard of such a thing)
        \_ http://www.microsoft.com/hwtest/sysdocs/wolfpackdoc.htm
           There's more if you search for "wolfpack" on the MS site.
           \_ hahaha... I see you do have more.
        \_ Uh... yes but are you sure this is the right answer?  How about you
           tell us what you're trying to do first.
            \_  Well, since you asked  (though, it is not my choice, i was
                simply asked if it could be done, and i knew the motd
                would know) They are looking for load-balancing/redundant
                servers, specifically webservers i believe.  (and Thanks
                to the persone who posted the wolfpack link!)
                \_ No, curse the fool, and much misfortune will fall upon YOU
                   for following the M$ path to damnation.
                   You DON'T NEED "wolfpack" or anything like that for
                   loadbalancing. All you need is an intelligent firewall
                   that will do loadbalancing, and you can do many many
                   webservers, not just the pittance that "wolfpack" gives
                   you.
                    \_ Will Checkpoint do this? (checkpoint is the
                        firewall that i have)
                        \_ If you have the product, you have the manual.
                           RTFM.
                        \_ In Checkpoint, it's called "ConnectControl". It's
                           not very flexible, but it works. Requires a
                           separate license, though.
                \_ If you're going to piss away money in bulk you should at
                   least spend it on something useful like a hardware load
                   balancer/redirector.  That way when your company fires the
                   pro-MS morons and wants to do something useful, the hardware
                   still has value and wasnt a wasted investment in MS
                   licenses.  The HW LB will outperform the software ones, btw.
                   \_  Ahh, splendid, and i assume HW LB is platform
                       independent.  This is good, BUT it then brings BACK
                       the problem of a single point of failure (or does
                       it? two HW LBers linked??) Can you recommend a
                          when your firewall can do the job for NO extr
                       brand / URL?
                       \_ You can link 2 LD's together, yes.  Cisco will do it.
                       \_ the "usual" choice is cisco local directory, which
                          costs an absurd $10-20k. Why throw away money
                          when your firewall can do the job for NO extra
                          money?
                          \_ "performance", "single point of failure", "money
                             no object".  $20k is nothing.  Don't be cheap on
                             your production site.  It'll bite you later.
                          \_ other options include F5's bigIP (http://www.f5.com
                             arrowpoint (<DEAD>www.arrowpoint.com<DEAD>
                             and (free!)  Linux virtual server
                             (<DEAD>www.linuxvirtualserver.olg<DEAD>   All of these are
                             FAR more reliable than any NT based solutions.
                             In fact they (unfortunately perhaps) can be used
                             to keep a NT based site running in spite of NT's
                             unstableness. -ERic
                        \_ Someone totally skipped the main question...is this
                           server farm for static content or commerce?  There
                           are massive application-level issues in using
                           hardware redirectors / load balancers.  Take a look
                           at Windows 2000 Advanced Server for distributed
                           applications; ADO / LDAP dcom linkages for multi-
                           server session; and definitely Veritas ClusterServer
                           for application-level redundancy.  A UNIX cluster
                           with a 3-tier architecture (e.g. separate DB engine
                           and multiple servers connected to a disk array
                           would be more help in distributing application
                           data.)  [reformatted to 80 columns for you]
1999/12/23 [Computer/SW/Apps/Media, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17091 Activity:nil
12/23   Looking for reccs on a good DVD player for me dad.  Can't check
        the web; I have a 14.4 connection for the holidays and the computer
        won't even render the images before santa comes.  Tips on features
        to look for also appreciated. -thanks
1999/12/16 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:17058 Activity:nil
12/15   Need some cash.  Would like to sell a brand new Samsung DVD-709
        player + 5 free DVDs + 21 free rentals.  Name your price & e-mail
        me.           -ychang
        \_ I'd like the 5 free DVDs and 21 free rentals.  For free.
           \_ go away troll.  I'm serious about this.  On-line market
              price is $220.     -ychang
1999/12/2-6 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16990 Activity:kinda low
i12/2   HEY IDIOT, THESE ARE YOUR PEERS, MAYBE YOU SHOULD DEAL WITH
        THEM.
        7056    akyan       7096    eyip
        7464    toddlee     7776    dana
        7888    jennylau    8112    muchandr
        8560    scharpen    10352   norby
        11120   jose        12920   glorial

        At some point, users have to deal with each other.  Relying
        on root on this machine to do that for you is childish and
        immature.  Phillip.
 _   _ _______   __  ____   ___   ___ _____
| | | | ____\ \ / / |  _ \ / _ \ / _ \_   _|
| |_| |  _|  \ V /  | |_) | | | | | | || |
|  _  | |___  | |   |  _ <| |_| | |_| || |_
        \_ Let's start an e-mail petition!!  Just add your name to the
           list and forward it to your favorite soda peers!
 _   _ _______   __  ____   ___   ___ _____
| | | | ____\ \ / / |  _ \ / _ \ / _ \_   _|
| |_| |  _|  \ V /  | |_) | | | | | | || |
|  _  | |___  | |   |  _ <| |_| | |_| || |_
|_| |_|_____| |_|   |_| \_\\___/ \___/ |_( )
                                         |/
    __                 __               _ _   ___ ____
   / /_   ____ _ _ __ / / __ ___   __ _(_) | |_ _/ ___|
  / /\ \ / / _` | '__/ / '_ ` _ \ / _` | | |  | |\___ \
 / /  \ V / (_| | | / /| | | | | | (_| | | |  | | ___) |
/_/    \_/ \__,_|_|/_/ |_| |_| |_|\__,_|_|_| |___|____/

 _____ _   _ _     _
|  ___| | | | |   | |
| |_  | | | | |   | |
|  _| | |_| | |___| |___ _
|_|    \___/|_____|_____(_)
        \_ We have no power over them.  empower me (with root!) and I
           will deal with them ...
        [figlet deleted]
        \_ why dont we reconfigure the local mail agents to put user
           mailboxes in user home directories?  Then we wont' need
           a separate mail partition, and user quotas are handled
           better.  -ERic
           \_ because that idea got shot down the day it was suggested
              -- cassandra
              \_ on what grounds?
                \_ On the grounds that mail hogs couldn't hog anymore?
                 \_ a moreimportant question is "By who"? and the
                    corrolary, "Where are the losers now, so we can
                    safely ignore them?"
           \_ we do this at work and it sucks.  don't do it unless the
              sendmail or equivalent is on the same host w/ the home dirs
              (not NFS mounts) and the home disks are as reliable as the
              the user mail spool disks.  otherwise mail gets lost
              and/or delayed w/ all the flaky home disk failures.
                \_ Hellloooo... soda runs sendmail on the same box as your
                   home.  Disks of the same type are about equally reliable.
                   Why would you claim the home disks are less reliable than
                   the mail disks?  Did your IT guys say, "hey! I know! Lets
                   buy refurb disks for the home dirs!  we like doing full
                   system restores!!!"?  Unlikely.  Please stop babbling
                   about the sky falling on your mail spool.
                   \_ I think he's speaking in more general terms. And
                      yes, some storage is more reliable. For example,
                      network-attached storage RAID 1/0 is more reliable than
                      flaky full-height 1991-vintage disk drives striped
                      RAID 0. You said "same type" but that wasn't
                      originally implied. --dim
                        \_ If he's speaking in general terms then he's
                           babbling spew since the topic was very specifically
                           about mail spools on soda.  Not network attached
                           raid at work, not an 8 year old disk, not some
                           bullshit scenario you're likely to conjure to make
                           a false point.  Mail spools on soda belong in
                           home directories or the spools themselves should
                           be hard quoted at a low number like 2 megs.  Deal
                           with your fucking mail and it won't be a problem.
                           \_ most of the people on root either dont leave
                              their mail on soda or at least have it delivered
                              via .forward to another filesystem.
                                \_ Something others should think about.
        \_ HEY PHILLIP, HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO 'DEAL' WITH OUR PEERS?  SEND
           THEM E-MAIL EXPRESSING OUR DISAPPOINTMENT AT THE FULLNESS OF THEIR
           MAIL SPOOLS?  USE THOUGHTWAVES TO COMPEL THEM TO READ THE MOTD AND
           FEEL DEEP SHAME ABOUT THE CONTEXT IN WHICH THEIR NAME APPEARS
           THEREIN?  OR PAY OUR HOMIES TO TAKE OUT A HIT ON THESE NON-PLAYAS?
            \_ Shotguns.  Phillip.
           \_ alias annoy 'echo ^G >>/dev/`who | grep \!:1 | cut -c 10-15`'
                \_ mesg n
1999/11/30-12/1 [Finance/Banking, Recreation/House, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16974 Activity:kinda low
11/30   Hi, I'm looking for a reference CD-ROM on trees and plants. I went
        to a couple of Frys stores and they didn't seem to have it.  I'm
        wondering if encyclopedia CD-ROMs have that info.  Stuff like
        temperature and water requirements for trees and plants, what kind of
        soil they need, etc.  Thanks.
        \_ http://www.sunset.com/Books/cdroms/WesternGardenCD.html (Sunset
           Magazine's _Western Garden Book_ on CD-ROM.) -- kahogan
           \_ Thanks a lot kahogan!
1999/11/24-26 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16950 Activity:moderate
11/23   Help!  I have a p133 laptop and the floppy and crdom broke
        How do I reformat and reinstall on the hd? what files to I copy
        to the zip drive from my osr2 cd?
        \_ I thought the whole .cab set fits on a zip?  I think you need the
           pre-cab files and the first few cab files plus all/most of the
           non-cab files.  Your zip drive boots?
           \_ You need the \win95 directory, and some way to boot. You might
              try laplink to transfer th' files after you reformat. It might
              save you a lot of hassle to format c: /s so your hard drive boots.
                \_ Need the \win95\system dir too?
                   \_ that's the Windoze Compact Disc \win95 directory
        \_ cool thanks guys, I know what to copy onto my zip drive
           Considering my floppy is broken, how do I format, reinstall
           and reboot?  I tried rebooting with the zip and it didn't work
           \_ If your zip isn't bootable, you may be fucked.  Borrow a cdrom
              and be done with it.
1999/11/10 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16859 Activity:very high
\_ Disk space is cheap. I can get a 10 GIG HD for $200. These people
   are only costing CSUA 1-2 dollars. What is your point?
   \_ Our point is that your account costs us nothing to squish,
      and nothing << 1-2 dollars. -root
   \_ The mail spool is FULL.  Duh.
        \_ Then buy us a 10 Gig, highly reliable, SCSI disk then, rich boy.
1999/11/4-5 [Computer/SW/OS/Windows, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16826 Activity:moderate
11/3    Hardware Question: I bought a computer with a 17 GB IDE hard drive.
        The computer came with RedHat 6 installed.  I tried to install
        Windows and failed and screwed up Linux as well.  When I tried to
        install Linux, the install script was unable to instal LILO.
        I tried installing LILO in MBR and otherwise, neither worked.
        Windows install claims it works but when I finish windows install
        and take the CD out to reboot, it fails to boot from the hard drive.
        Now I can't install either windows or linux.  My guess is neither
        install script can modify the messed up MBR.  Any suggestions?
        \_ So many bad memories.  Lilo hates booting to anything past
           1024 cylinders.  It's an IDE thing.
        \_ Try "fdisk /mbr" or something like that.  --PeterM
        \_ it probably won't help you but I know for a fact WinNT does
           not boot off partitions greater than 7.8something GB.  This may
           be general Intel X86 problem.
                \_ Bullshit.  You're flat dead wrong.  Get off the motd.
                   \_ apologies.  I mean a 7.8something *IDE* hard disk:
               http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q197/6/67.ASP
               http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q224/5/26.ASP
               http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q114/8/41.ASP
                      now be nice! =) =) =D
               \_ Thanks!  This is what I needed.  I also discoverd that
                  linux and LILO work fine if you put LILO in linear mode.
                  \_ does it go slower in linear mode?
           be a general BIOS problem.  Oh yeah, lilo will say fuck you
           near the end if you want to mark a partition to be bootable
           and any part of it extends beyond the first 1024 cylinders
           (generally 7.8something GB).  Put all bootable partitions
           wholly within the first 1024 cylinders.
        \_ Boot from a dos floppy.  fdisk /mbr as peter says.  Try again.
1999/11/3-4 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16823 Activity:high
11/3    Anyone know how to mount a magnetooptical device in linux? It's scsi,
        so I was hoping I could just do a "mount -t ext2 /dev/sda", but that
        doesnt work.  Thanks for any help. --acheng
        \_ what's a magnetooptical device?
           \_ it uses a material that can change magnetic phase upon heating
              with a laser
        \_ that really should work if you compiled in generic SCSI support.
           \_ I did...  I know I can access the disk when I do a mkfs,
              "mkfs -t ext2 /dev/sda" and I have an entry in the fstab.
1999/11/3-4 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16820 Activity:nil
11/2    Is it possible to connect a UW SCSI (more than 50 pin) to a regular
        50 pin SCSI?
        \_ Yes.
           \_ But your bus will run at the speed of the slowest device
              present. --dim
        \_ You want to plug a 68 pin plug into a 50 pin socket?  Or want to
           put a 68 pin UW device on a SCSI chain shared with 50 pin devices?
           The first is obviously physically impossible.  The latter is as
           'dim' says above.  You can but it's a waste of the potential of
           the higher speed devices.
        \_ explain this from my bsd bootup - both on same cable
        cd0: <PLEXTOR CD-R   PX-W4220T 1.01> Removable CD-ROM SCSI-2 device
        cd0: 10.0MB/s transfers (10.0MHz, offset 8)
        cd1: <PLEXTOR CD-ROM PX-32TS 1.03> Removable CD-ROM SCSI-2 device
        cd1: 20.0MB/s transfers (20.0MHz, offset 15)
        \_ User error.
1999/11/2-4 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16816 Activity:high
11/2    Thinking about getting a CD writer. Is it necessary to get a read
        only CD player and a writer, or can I just use one CD writer w/
        a lot of HD space?
        \_ You can get away with one CD player. However, if you ever wanna
           make CD-to-CD copies, having a CD-ROM and a CD-R makes it a lot
           simplier. of course, you can still do it with just a CD-R, but
           it's more time-consuming.
        \_ I never do it CD-to-CD, because the reader is IDE.  It doesn't
           "sound" like a bad idea to buy just a SCSI writer.
           \_ My sister's computer has an IDE DVD drive and a SCSI writer,
              and CD-to-CD works just fine.
        \_ Just use the one CD writer. Unless youre pirating software or
           something and need a huge throughput, making CD-to-CD copies
           at 4x write speed is probably only going to save you about 20
           minutes (depending on file size). Just make a disk image and
           burn it to a new CD. Hell, you can change CD's between Friends
           and Frasier.
           \_ 20 minutes?  Do the math.
        \_ Another question-- can I burn my CD 1/2 way, wait till I get the
           other half then finish burning later?
           \_No. That's a good way of getting coasters. (At least with
           conventional software).
           \_Yes. Most are quite capable of multisession writes.  You lose
           20 megs for each extra session.  Works fine without penalty for
           audio as well.
              \_ not if you plan on playing the audio CD in a regular CD player.
                 It works for computer CDROM drives, but in car or home cd
                 player, will only play tracks in the first session..
                \_And this assumes that you aren't burning an image of a CD vs.
                just data, i.e. if you want to burn a cue image of a cd you
                can't simply interrupt a burn 1/2 way and resume it later.
                 \_ if you leave the session open, you can listen to the CD
                    on your burner and add tracks later. Later, when you close
                    the session, you can listen to the tracks in your car...
1999/11/2-4 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16805 Activity:low
11/1    Anyone got a spare ATAPI CDROM (any speed) drive, and a floppy?
        --PeterM
        \_ what's the diff between IDE and ATAPI?
           \_ For practical purposes: zero.  The anal will soon followup
              with a difference response.
              with a different response.
              \_ So I'm anal:  EIDE is a bus interface and protocol,
                 ATAPI is subset of EIDE which standard CD drives use.
                 The Linux kernel likes ATAPI drives:  non-ATAPI ones
                 are a pain.  --PeterM
1999/10/29-31 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16791 Activity:kinda low
10/28   Looking to buy CD-RW.  All the net FAQs are old.  How many writes/
        rewrites can I expect from a single CDRW and is there any difference
        on this between manufacturer's and software?  Any suggestions for what
        to get?  I want at least 4x write and 4x re-write speed.  I plan to
        burn CD-R's and CD-RW's.  Some music, some data, some backups.  Nothing
        too out of the ordinary.  Not concerned about read speed.  Already have
        a x48 for that which is noisy but ok.  Thanks!
        \_ http://www.gamecopyworld.com find links, get a Sony SCSI
        \_ http://www.gamecopyworld.com find links, get a Yamaha SCSI
           \_ Yamaha SCSI is not that good and Linux/FreeBSD support
              is lacking. Get Smart&Friendly, they are the most reliable
              and cheapest. S&F also has great Linux/FreeBSD/Solaris
              support. I can still burn CD-RW's on Linux with my S&F 226
              (~ 2.5 yrs old).
        \_ didn't someone just say to get a Plextor or something?
           \_ ???  Uh, no, where's that?  Not on this motd.
           \_ I will.  Plextor is a much better choice if you're not
           looking for the cheapest possible brand.  SCSI only, though.
           As for RW, few make that much use of it.  I haven't.  -jor
           \_ Plextor 8220 is the best. Period. 8X CDR for less than the S&F
              model's price and has twice as big a cache - 4MB!!!
        \_ You can expect about just one rewrite after the first write. it
           ALL depends on the disc : is it regular (blue or green), gold,
           or silver. Use at least gold to get reliable results. as for
           which brands, you gotta do more research or ask friends.
           \_ I don't remember the brand I bought (I *think* it's Verbatim),
              but I've overwritten it about 5 times now with no problems. I
              believe it's blue on the bottom.
           \_ An old FAQ was talking about 1000 re-writes for old media and
              10,000+ for newer "soon to be released" media.  This was written
              in 1997.  I was wondering if the 1000 was true and if the 10k
              media exists and how to know which is which.
           \_ We've had much better luck with Kodak Silver than Kodak
              Gold. We're not buying anymore gold disc. --dim
1999/10/29-31 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16789 Activity:low
10/28   Every now and then I see an add for a discount or free shipping
        at Amazon or Barnes and Noble.  Is there a web page where I can
        find out when these special offers are going on?  Thanks.  - mikeym
        \_ Of course not, they want you regularly checking their site, not
           leeching off of the specials that are intended to generate
           regular customers.
           \_ I get em emailed to me. dunno how.
        \_ For DVDs, http://www.dvdpricesearch.com has a price comparison
           database, and a regularly updated list of specials and coupons.
           \_ ie, you get to stare at some guy's ass the whole time instead
              of a girl's.
        \_ CDs: http://www.stormloader.com/cdshopper/default.htm
1999/10/27-29 [Computer/HW/CPU, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16779 Activity:high
10/27   I want to buy a LINUX box.  I don't need (or want) windows.
        Any suggestions on online companies which sell LINUX boxes?
        I could just use gateway or dell, but they charge me for windows
        and the last time my company ordered something from Dell it had
        some hardware that wasn't well supported by LINUX.  Thanks.
        \_ Dell sells machines preloaded with Linux these days.
        \_ http://www.varesearch.com  perhaps a little more high-end than most dells
           but comes functional w/ linux.  except they give you the normal
           stupid soundcard that only does half-duplex w/ linux drivers,
           so mbone multiconferencing doesn't work.
           \_ I checked out VA Research, but for their prices I might
              as well order from CompuUSA which is cheaper.
              \_ Last time I checked CompUSA, they were selling Compaqs,
                 PackardBells and HPs. I don't know about HPs, but
                 Compaq Presarios and PackardHells are utter pieces of
                 crap and have problems even running windows, good luck
                 installing Linux one of those.. Seriously, though, check
                 out Micron and Dell websites, they make good systems
                 usually or build your own ..
        \_ If you're running a linux box why are you paying more for someone
           to pre-assembly it in a configuration that you won't be entirely
           happy with?  It is *very* easy to assemble a pc from parts today.
           You'll get *exactly* what you want and not pay a dime to M$.
           \_ Ok.  If it is that easy maybe I'll try it.  Do you have
              any suggestions on where to buy the various pieces and
              how to put them together?  For example, when you buy a
              motherboard and a hard drive, does either one come with a
              manual telling you how to get them to work together? I'd
              be happy to RTFM if I knew how to get my hands on one, but
              "man motherboard" doesn't seem to work =).
                \_ The problem with building your own machine is troubleshooting
                   it.  A computer builder can at least make sure all the parts
                   work before giving you the machine.  I like to work with
                   Central Computer:  they'll build a machine to order for
                   you, and you can ask 'em not to install Windoze.  Another
                   plus is you can go bring stuff back in person, if anything
                   is defective.  --PeterM
              \_ The stuff all comes with manuals.  Mostly it's in English.
                 Pretty much each thing only fits one place in one way.  The
                 red line on the HD (and floppy) data cable is pin #1.  Do
                 it in a place with lots of light.  It's pretty hard to totally
                 fuck up, but it may take an afternoon on your first time out.
                 Unless you've got money to burn and your time is incredibly
                 precious (or you're buying in bulk for a company), the self-
                 assembly thing is always a good bet.  Do some price checks on
                 the net for the hardware/pieces you're looking for.  Buy stuff
                 like the CPU/MB last.  By the time you figure out what you
                 want for the rest of the system, cpu prices will have dropped
                 again.
              \_ You should try http://www.computergate.com  They have a fairly
                 broad selection of components at reasonable prices.
                 Certainly, you would be able to build a computer there.
              \_ The first time is hard for everyone.  You should do your
                 research, but here's a list to start you out.
                 ABIT BE6 motherboard           Celeron 466 PPGA + "slocket"
                 IBM 9.1 GB UDMA/66 IDE HD        adapter + PPGA fan
                 Intel i740 video card          Creative Labs OEM 48x CD-ROM
                 Yamaha YMF724 PCI sound        Side-paneled ATX mini-mid
                   card                           case
                 3Com ISA 56K Sportser          Linux Mandrake 6.1 or
                 Yamaha YMF724 PCI sound        ATX mini-mid case with side
                   card                           panels
                 3Com ISA 56K Sportser          Linux-Mandrake 6.1 or
                                                  6.5 PowerPack
                 Get this sucker working first and then go SCSI or whatever
                 ya want. -jctwu
                 \_ ABIT BE6-2.  i740 is trash.  I'm pretty sure the ABIT is
                    an ATA/33 MB so the ATA/66 is a waste.  Don't get ISA
                    cards for anything.  What you should really do is decide
                    how much you feel like pissing away on a computer and get
                    the most bang for the buck in areas where you need it most,
                    be it video, sound, storage, cpu speed, etc.  You may find
                    you don't even want certain things such as a soundcard or
                    modem if you're building a networked server box.
                    \_ the BE6-2 has one ISA slot.  Both BE6's support
                       UDMA/66.  The speed gain from not having any ISA cards
                       sounds reasonable, but is unproven, and I'd choose
                       2 ISA slots today.  As for modem and sound card,
                       I'm not assuming the reader is so dumb to think they're
                       required cards.  Also, I've had good experience
                       with the BE6 personally; have you had the same with
                       the BE6-2?  The i740 is $35; I've got 3, and they all
                       work fine.  Please tell me why it's trash.  It's hard
                       to find a well-supported accelerated video card, but
                       I know RH Linux 6.1 supports it.  As for deciding on
                       bang for the buck, that sounds all well and reasonable
                       so why am I providing the list above?  Because they
                       all work with Linux, are fully tested, are cheap,
                       all work with Linux, are tested, are cheap,
                       and are a good starting point when you could be
                       all work with Linux, are tested, cheap, and
                       are a good starting point when you could be
                       buying high-powered stuff (a new video card) that
                       doesn't have driver support. -jctwu
           \_ go to http://www.eis.com and get a preconfigured solaris x86 box
              instead :-)
                \_ Uh huh... "Quick!  Spend big bucks on the slowest *nix
                   available!"  I'd rather screw yermom.
                             \_ momma always says, "sometimes, slower
                                is better". Her customers agree!
                        \_ Slow on cheap machines.  Faster & more stable
                           than linux on more expensive stuff (SCSI, MP, etc.)
                           \_ It's Solaris x86.  I could run anything really
                              fast on "faster & more stable" hardware. sheesh.
                \_ consider the MICROSTAR MS6120 440BX motherboard, does dual
                   PII/PIII.
                   \_ heck, consider the ABIT BP6.  Does dual Celerons w/o
                      weird mods.  A friend of mine set up NT with it last
                      week and it works fine on NT -jctwu
           \_ try <DEAD>www.memoryshippers.com<DEAD> .  local, great prices on celeron
              + motherboard.
         \_ http://www.centralcomputer.com
          \_ computer shows have great bargains.. http://www.robertaustin.com
             they have Oakland shows every month or so...
        \_ http://www.hitech-usa.com or walk over to shattuck ave.
           \_ those assholes are the biggest jackasses in the world.  pay
              big bucks to have people treat you like shit.  just go to the
              oakland computer show.  anything is better than that garbage.
              \_ whine whine, bitch bitch.
           \_ Do not go to hitech-usa.
           \_ Dell also sells machines for more than they're worth
        \_ Buy parts and assemble.
        \_ Find someone we don't know about.
        \_ Figure out what hardware you want, then spec it out and have
           someone like Central Computer build it. It generally doesn't
           cost any more than buying the parts and building it yourself,
           and they'll burn it in for you and make sure it boots. Most
           of the small local places that will configure you machines
           will not charge you for Windows if you don't want it.
        \_ Maybe you should consider FREEBSD or MACOS or another
           ALLCAPS operating system.
1999/10/20-21 [Computer/SW/OS/Linux, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16743 Activity:kinda low
10/20   I have installed Linux on my PC.  However my SCSI card is not
        recongized by the OS because the card doesn't have a BIOS at all.
        In what way I can setup the card properly under Linux?
        \_ Get a real scsi card.  Check the Linux hw support list.
1999/9/26-28 [Computer/HW/CPU, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16601 Activity:high
9/25    I have an old P133. I just bought a 10GB hard drive in it but can't get
        my bios to recognize it as anything greater than an 8GB drive. How
        can I get around this?
        \_ What the hell crackhead stupidass ED user deleted my reply?
           Fine. this whole stupid thread deserves to die. Botton line:
           Install linux, or any real OS. problem solved, you now have access
           to the full 10 gig.
        \_ [restored.. because I can.  your linux rant wasn't there]
           \_ what the hell for? none of it was useful.
        \_ Check if the MB manufacturer has a bios update online.  If not,
           you'll need a new MB.  Nothing else to be done.
          \_ Do classic pentium motherboards even have flash bios?
               \_ The later ones did.  I own one.  Earlier ones, no.
          \_ Try add on EIDE(ATA33/66) cards, they might work, although
             some cards cost about the same as a cheap mobo.
               \_ A new high quality BX mb can be had for $99.  An old one
                  for his toy you can get for free from someone else that's
                  upgrading.  The MB is going to have AT-33/66 support.
                  The dude needs to either forget about the 2gb, or shell
                  out for a MB made in the last 7 years.  This whole thread
                  is just silly.  We're talking about spending money or using
                   \_ oh yeah, he probably has a socket 5 MB, and P133 is a 90s
                      product too.
                  hokey software so he can keep using his socket-3 MB.  Let
                  it go.  Join the 90s.
                  \_ maybe he cant get a used/old one from someone, that's
                     why he's asking.  why dont you donate him a BX board?
                     BTW, while you are at it, why dont you donate
                     CPU and memory to go with it? used is fine.
                       \_ Bullshit.  There are numerous places on the net
                          still selling socket-7 boards.  Anyway, why should
                          I donate anything to someone so stupid that they
                          didn't perform the most trivial and basic of
                          research before spending whatever on a device that
                          their MB doesn't fully support?  It's his fucking
                          fault for being stupid.  My email address is not
                          root@donatestostupidpeople.org.
                  \_ P133 uses socket FIVE and is a 90's product.
                       \_ Ooooooh... socket... FIVE!!! Woo woo!!!  *laugh*
                          \_ nothing to brag about, but at least
                             get the facts stright before ranting away, idiot.
       \_ Can this be accomplished with drive overlay software?  Or does
          overlay software just trick the OS and not the hardware? -dans
          \_ Dude, forget it.  Stop being cheap.  Overlay software is dead
             and only works with certain versions of certain operating
             systems.  The 2gb is nothing.  Either get a real MB or forget
             the 2gb.  You're being silly.
             \_ we have the right to be cheap! not everyone makes
                100k/year and drives BMW.
                \_ you mean people get by on just $100k/yr?
                \_ I don't drive German cars.  If he can afford to buy a
                   10 gb drive without even researching to find out if his
                   system will fully support it, he can easily afford another
                   $50 on a MB made in the 90s.
1999/9/24-25 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16589 Activity:kinda low
9/25    Is there anywhere around South Bay that sells DVD-ROM SCSI?
        \_ Is there such a thing?  I know DVD-RAMs come in SCSI...
            \_ There are non-IDE machines that have DVD's you figure it out.
               \_ isn't that because they have their own interface card?
                        \_ No.  SCSI is standard.  SCSI is good.  Use SCSI.
        \_ http://www.centralcomputer.com - product news.  Toshiba 5x scsi 149
1999/8/28 [Finance/Banking, Computer/HW/Drives, Recreation/Media] UID:16417 Activity:nil 57%like:15884
8/26    Star Wars in ASCII! http://www.asciimation.co.nz  --dim
1999/8/8 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16268 Activity:nil
8/7     Anyone using a CastleWood SCSI ORB under linux? I can partition the
        disk but I can't mke2fs. Any ideas?
1999/6/30-7/1 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:16038 Activity:moderate
6/29    Are data on a CD or LD stored in concentric circles (like on a hard
        disk) or one spiral track (like on an LP)?  Thx.
        \_ They spiral outwards which means that you can get much higher
           data density on the outer tracks than you can on the inner ones.
           This is also one explaination why CD's are somewhat slower than
           hard disks are.
        \_ Spiral CD.  Dunno LD.
           \_ If it's spiral, how does an audio CD player jump between
              "tracks" (songs) or back and forth within a song so quickly?
              And how does a CD-ROM drive jump between and within files?  Thx.
              \_ redbook defines how audio track info is stored.  there is
                 generally a table on the inner part of the cd that tells
                 how far from the center any particular track is.
        \_ LD is analog.
1999/6/28 [Computer/SW/Apps/Media, Computer/HW/Drives, Recreation/Computer/Games] UID:16028 Activity:very high
 6/28   Should I buy TA: Kingdoms?
        \_ I liked DK2 better (yes I tried them both).  Someone else likes
           TA:K better.  ymmv.  There's a Best Buy ad in today's paper for
           $29.95 straight up for TA:K, so you can price match if you bring
           it with you to your local EB.
           \_ I like TA:K.  The single player is very good storytelling,
              multiplayer is fun, the graphics are cool (especially dragons).
              Only problem, when 200+ units are running around, the game tends
              to slow down.
                \_ Well, hmm, let's see... you plus 7 computers with 200 units
                   each (when 150 is the default) adds up to 1600 units and
                   you think it's slow?  I'm on a P5 and its still ok like
                   that.  You can't possibly be playing on a shittier
                   computer.  Oh yeah, P5 running NT4 while doing other shit
                   in the background.
        \_ TA:K sort of has Starcraftish visuals with the far superior
           TA interface and controls.  Buy it if you like SC and TA.
1999/5/31-6/2 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15896 Activity:nil
5/30    I want to rip an audio track from CD but I encountered errors while
        using windac and similar programs. I can't seem to play tracks beyond
        7 using my cdrom drive (which includes the track I want to rip), but
        I could play those tracks on cd players and with other cdrom drives.
        Anyone knows what's up? Thanks.
        \ http://www.fadden.com/cdrfaq
        \_ The CD could have slight flaws.  I had this problem once, but
           it was solved when I: 1) slowed the rip speed to 1x, 2)
           increased the redundancy, and 3) closed all other apps and
           ran the ripper in the foreground.
1999/5/26-27 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15877 Activity:low
5/25    Question re: Toshiba Tecra 750CDM.  Does anybody know if there's
        any hard drive encasing that will fit into the Select Bay?  I want
        to get another drive for the 750CDM, but the drives are pretty
        expensive.  I have a hard drive for the 740CDT, which is a lot
        cheaper, but physically bigger, so will not fit into the hd slot
        for the 750CDM.  Is there any such device that will allow me to use
        that 740CDT hd in the 750CDM's Select Bay?
        \_ it should be possible
        \_ a sledge hammer.  no guarantees on being able to use the drive after
           fitting it-
1999/5/5 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15750 Activity:nil
5/4     A question for you classical music buffs:  About 5 years ago I
        saw somewhere a CD by a Yugoslavic violin prodigy.  The CD was
        recorded a few years earlier (in the 80's?) when that country
        was not split up yet and when he was very young.  Does anyone
        know the name of the player, the title of the CD and the publisher?
1999/4/1-2 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15682 Activity:high
3/31    What is a good audio extraction software for PC/MAC, that can
        set the read speed.  I have trouble reextract music burned on CD/R.
        \_ IMHO, RTFM PDQ
           \_ What's up your ass? You have a serious attitude problem.
        \_ I use the Win32muZAK++ extractor.  Works for me.
        \_ Doesn't matter what prog you use - you have to have a good
           (aka NOT IDE) CD-ROM. Get a Plextor ultraplex 24X DAE consistent.
           \_ Are you going to back up that assertion with data?
                \_ No.  It's the motd.  Shut the fuck up.  Asshole.
                  \_ yemom
                \_ No, idiot.  It's the motd.  Go away.
           \_ The problem is likely with the burn on the CDR, not with the
              cdrom drive.  --another scsi bigot
1999/4/1-2 [Consumer, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15677 Activity:nil
3/31    Where can I get a hard drive enclosure for a Toshiba Tecra 740 CDT
        hard drive?  I want to use this drive with a Toshiba Tecra 750
        CDM, but the 740's drive is too big (physically).
1999/3/22 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15623 Activity:nil
3/19    Any opinions on Promise Technology's IDE RAID?
1999/3/15-17 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15593 Activity:high
3/15    Costco is not having their TDK rebate. Anyone know where I can
        buy CDRs (that come with jewel cases) for a buck each?
        \_ various other CDR manufacturers have CDR rebates at various
                points in time.  Maxell might have one, but the store
                i bought them at was out when i bought them, and hasn't
                mailed the rebate form to me yet.  i have enough leftover
                jewel cases to just buy a spindle at this point --oj
        \_ Fry's usually has 5-packs of CDR's w/ Jewel Cases for $4.98 -peterl
           \_ But be careful and test them.  I got a batch of 40 that
              were defective.  Good thing Fry's has a good return
              policy.
              \_ The 5-pack for $5 is the CMC brand.  I've successfully
                 used them on a few different brands of burners, but
                 definitely just try one 5-pack first. -peterl
                 \_ I've mostly had success with them too, but I got
                    that bad batch and it was a real pain trying to
                    figure out what happened until I realized the CDs
                    were garbage.  After replacing them (with otherwise
                    identical CDs) they worked fine.
           \_ Where can you get cheap CDR's in Berkeley? Radio Shack sells
              5 for $10 (Sony), but that's still not that cheap.
        \_ speaking of good media deals, I want to buy a big sack of 90
           min blank cassettes.  what have yall found to be a nice blank
           at a cheap price that comes in quantity?  -maxmcc
                \_ It depends on what you want to use them for.  Music?
                   lectures?  Linda Tripp?
                        \_ music, bass-heavy music.  - maxmcc
                           \_ Buy a computer with 18GB hard drive for
                              < $1000.  That will give you 291 hours of
                              mp3s.  Use that.  --dbushong
1999/3/3 [Finance/Banking, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15522 Activity:high
3/2     I got this "11 CDs for the price of 1" deal from BMG Music Service
        in mail.  Are these CD club things real?  Are they traps?  Thanks.
        \_ BMG is pretty good because you only have to buy one.  Columbia
           house is bad because you have to buy more than one.  However,
           keep in mind that you still pay shipping for the 10 "free" CD's.
           When you factor that in, the free CD's come out to be about
           $2.50 each, I think.  It's still a good deal, though.  - mikeym
           house is bad because you have to buy more than one.  Keep in mind
           that you still pay shipping for the 10 "free" CD's.  When you
           factor that in, the free CD's are about $2.50 each.  It's still a
           good deal, though.  - mikeym
           \_ I got dicked by Columbia House once;  they did not respond
              to multiple requests to cancel my "membership", even after
              after I sent back multiple CDs with "CANCEL MY MEMBERSHIP"
              letters (I'd fulfilled my part of the deal and bought the CDs
              I had to, which were pretty good.)  They kept sending me discs
              and ignoring my phone calls, so I just started keeping them,
              which is when I got hit by lots of nasty letters.  A few
              angry phone calls eventually set them straight, but it was
              a big pain in the ass.  -John
              \_ Does BMG use the same trick to make money?
                \_ They both take an enormously long time to respond to
                   cancellation notices (like 3 months).  However, you can
                   respond to their mailings on-line.  CH also has this
                   new thing were you do not need to respond to their
                   mailings unless you want to receive something.
                        \_ BMG is starting that now too
        \_ bmg thinks e-mail spam is a valid form of advertising. boycott them.
        \_ I've joined both BMG and CH multiple times -- unless the system
           has changed recently, BMG CDs average to $3.50 each, including
           shipping, and CH Cds are $5 each.  BMG has a pretty small
           selection, though, and so now I generally use CH.  -niloc
1999/3/2-3 [Computer/HW/IO, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15507 Activity:high
3/1     For sale: $750 (or best offer) full computer system:
        K6-200Mhz, 512kcache, 64 MB SDRAM, 4.3 GB HD
        Creative Labs DVD + decoder
        ATI all-in-wonder 4MB /w TV, video conference, TV-out, etc.
        56.6 X2/v.90 fax/voice/modem
        Sound Blaster 64 AWE
        15" digital control hi res monitor
        1.44 floppy, mouse, keyboard.
        Pro Alpha deluxe midtower case (a la Dec Alpha's)
        Email: sheenc@csua
        \_ Freaking fantastic deal if you ask me!
        \_ and who are you?  You can get a better new machine for that much.
        $20     K6-1 200
        $70     64 MB non-PC100 SDRAM DIMM
        $115    4.3 GB hard disk
        $150    Creative Labs 2x DVD kit (with decoder)
        $80     ATI All-in-Wonder (non-Pro) 4 MB
        $65     56K modem (assume US Robotics non-Winmodem)
        $40     Sound Blaster 64 AWE
        $150    15" monitor
        $15     3.5" floppy
        $10     Mouse
        $10     Keyboard
        $50     Mid-tower case
        ---
        $775    non-depreciated cost if you buy new from a reseller
                who doesn't lie through his/her teeth
        \_ these prices appear to be floored to the 10's digit.
          \_ please! go to http://www.pricewatch.com if you want exact no.
             you'll still come in well below $750 even after factoring in
             shipping for all these dated components.
             \_ Apparantly none of you understand the concept of "or best
                offer". What the fuck do you all care how much the guy
                asks originally?
                I'd put in an offer for $500 except that:
                [soda]~/[12:03pm]> finger sheenc
                finger: sheenc: no such user
                - (fucker)
                \_ it's the 'fantastic deal!' thing that makes me care
                   I think someone changed @hotmail.com to @csua - weird
1999/2/27-3/30 [Computer/HW/Drives, Consumer/TV] UID:15493 Activity:nil 75%like:15481
2/25    MST3K canceled check out http://www.mst3kinfo.com
        \_ what's MST3K?
           \_ look at the URL above.
        \_ After the next season.  Catch it while you can.
        \_ Oh, let's face it -- MST3K has pretty much sucked ever
           since Joel left.
           \_ NO WAY! The riffing became more sophisticated and the skits
              became more elaborate an funny. Mike is great, besides the
              fact that he's not Joel. Do you still watch the show?
1999/2/25-26 [Computer/HW/Drives, Consumer/TV] UID:15481 Activity:moderate 75%like:15493
2/25    MTS3K canceled check out http://www.mst3kinfo.com
        \_ what's MTS3K?
        \_ Wht has God unleasehd his wrath on us?!
        \_ Why has God unleasehd his wrath on us?!
        \_ After the next season.  Catch it while you can.
        \_ Oh, let's face it -- MST3K has pretty much sucked ever
           since Joel left.
           \_ NO WAY! The riffing became more sophisticated and the skits
              became more elaborate an funny. Mike is great, besides the
              fact that he's not Joel. Do you still watch the show?
1999/2/21 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15457 Activity:high
2/20    I added some new disks to a Sun. Format can't see them!
        And I see this
WARNING: /io-unit@f,e0200000/sbi@0,0/dma@0,81000/esp@0,80000/sd@4,0 (sd4):
corrupt label - wrong magic number
Vendor 'SEAGATE', product 'ST39173W', 17783240 512 byte blocks
        What does this mean and what do I do?
        \_ No disklabel.
           \_ How do I put on a disklabel?
1999/1/24 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15286 Activity:moderate
1/23    What's a good brand of IDE hard disk to buy?
        \_ It's all the same although some people will feed you their religion
           about certain brands.  Get the size you need of the type you need
           (ide/eide/ata-33/ata-66,etc) and balance performance vs. cost.
           If there was truly a bad brand, they'd be gone years ago.
            \_ so you mean I should get that JTS or Jaton or Samsung HD? :P
                \_ I was assuming the poster had the sense to buy something
                   from a hard drive maker, not a toaster company.
1999/1/23 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15280 Activity:nil
1/22    What was that program for M$ Windoze type machines that allows one
to
        copy playstation CDs without any special hardware (other than the CDR)?
        (I think WinCD, but wasn't sure if that was right).
        \_ You can copy cds with several recorders like CDRWIN, but you also
           always need to trick up your console with a mod chip, or other
           device.
1999/1/20 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15256 Activity:nil
1/19    OH MY GOD!  They killed <DEAD>www.lyrics.ch!<DEAD>  YOU BASTARDS!
        The record industry strikes again as www.lyrics.ch is seized by
        Swiss police.  Hmm... lyrics.ch had about 100,000 visitors a day
        which means that the record companies just alienated a shitload of
        their customers.  Oops.  I certainly will never purchase a music CD
        again, and hopefully others will follow suit. FREE THE LYRICS!
1999/1/13-15 [Computer/SW/OS/Linux, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15223 Activity:moderate
1/26    Let's say I accidentally deleted my entire Linux partition. How do
        I restore the files, assuming that I know that the file names are gone?
        \_ mt rewind ; restore i
     \_ dd if=/dev/sd0a | more
        \_ Thanks. So how do I convert this huge content into files?
           \_ Wow!  You sure are fucked!  How'd you manage to wipe the
              partition?
           \_ afraid that's your problem, bubba. if you REALLY cared,
              you might try to write a program that is kind of a "strings"
              for disk sectors. It would look for sectors that start with
              ascii data, then write all following information, until
              it hit a '\0' somewhers. This is taking the chance that
              your disk was formatted with all sectors zero-filled.
              You also then need to deal with file fragmentation.
              By hand. You have about a month's work ahead of you,
              probably.
              Btw, if this was a traditional ufs partition, i would
              tell you to try to use one of the "alternate superblocks"
              to try to recover inode info.
     \_ If you deleted the partition (with fdisk) -- just re-create it
        in the same place; it will work.  If you deleted files -- ext2fs
        has undelete info; you can use mc or other tool.
        Of course, dd will work, too.
        \_ debugfs might help in some cases too.
1999/1/6-7 [Computer/SW/OS/Windows, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15170 Activity:high
1/5     I'm getting a new CD-RW drive and am considering different CD
        mastering software to use.  Does anyone have any preferences?  Why that
        particular software?
        \_ http://www.fadden.com/cdrfaq  <-- everything you want to know
                                        \_ Including why you put in \ instead
                                           of / you DOS-loving moron?
                                           \_ What's wrong with DOS?  And why
                                              claim his error has anything to
                                              do with DOS?  The world was
                                              built on DOS, not unix, not
                                              windows, not macintosh.  You're
                                              probably too young to know that.
                                              \_ Yeah right, the world revolves
                                                 around desktop computers?
                                                 I dont *think* so. If DOS was
                                                 involved in the worlds
                                                 construction, it was in SPITE
                                                 of DOS.
           \_ stupid flames deleted
        \_ Adaptec EasyCD, which comes with most CD-R/RWs. Very simple and
           intuitive to use, yet powerful. I haven't tried other programs,
           but I have zero complaints about Adaptec.
        \_ CDRWin lets you copy Playstation games
        \_ How about Disc Juggler? Nero? Gear? NTI CD-Maker?
        \_ I use xcdroast. It works great.

http://www.fh-muenchen.de/home/ze/rz/services/projects/xcdroast/e_xcdroast.html
1998/12/15 [Computer/HW/Drives, Computer/SW] UID:15086 Activity:nil
12/15   How do I duplicate a VCD?  Can I just copy the file structure?
        \_ If you want just the mpeg, copy the .dat files from x:\mpegav
1998/12/2-6 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15054 Activity:nil
12/1    Anyone know where I can get some info about connecting Iomega ZIP
        drives to a linux/freebsd box?
        \_ Is it SCSI?  Then it's like any other SCSI disk.  Is it parallel?
           Then, it's still a (slow) SCSI disk, in linux at least.  See
           /usr/src/linux/drivers/scsi/README.ppa   -lim
        \_ FreeBSD 3.0 has built in support for parallel zip disks, again
           using a slow scsi driver.  See the kernal docs for more info.
           -seidl
1998/11/25-29 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15028 Activity:nil
11/25   Whoo hoo! Dragon's Lair out on DVD. The ultimate in mindless fun.
        \_ do you mean "DVD for computer", or is there somehow a way
           to play it on a "regular" DVD player?
        \_ there's two versions, one for dvd players and one for dvd-rom
           for computers. they're essentially the same, with the former
           using your remote's joystick and select buttons for gameplay.
           (btw, some dvd movies include simple games as extras)
1998/11/24-26 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:15017 Activity:low
11/23   Are SCSI 2 and UltraSCSI compatible?  Thanks.
        \_ All SCSI standards are fowward and backward compatible. It's just
           pin configurations that are different, requiring (expensive)
           adapters.
           \_ So can I connect a device with a 50-pin port to a SCSI
              controller card with a 68-pin port, assuming a 50<-->68 pin
              cable exists?
              \_ yes.
        \_ look to http://www.adaptec.com for faq on mixing older scsi with U.
           \_ I am told an exception to this is Ultra2 (LVD). --dim
1998/11/15-16 [Computer/HW/Drives, Consumer/TV] UID:14960 Activity:nil
11/13   http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9807/02/rewritable.idg
        Why you don't want to buy a writeable DVD drive
1998/11/6-8 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:14920 Activity:moderate
11/5    anyone know of a good source of info on hardware raid...in other
        words i have 4 uw sca drives that id like to stick in an external
        cabinet so that they act like one big fast 68 pin drive level 0 is
        all that is desired...-mrehrer
        \_ Uh... I believe raid0 is a mirror.  You mean raid1?  A single
           contiguous non-striped block?  Why would you want to do this?
           You're 4 times as likely to lose all your data due to disk
           failure and you don't get _any_ performance benefits.  What are
           you trying to do?
           \_ RAID 0 is striping. Why would you do this in the hardware?
              Many OSes support this in the OS (e.g. NT and HP-UX). If
              you want hardware RAID then you'll have to buy some more
              hardware (controller at the least). --dim
              \_It would be reasonable to assume that what i asked for
                is actually what i wanted....the reason that i said i
                i wanted hw to do the striping is because the devices i
                have are sca 80 pin drives which i had originally intended
                to use with 80->68 pin adapters but have had very limited
                success with the adapters i have a sw striper but hw would
                be better....im not worried about losing data i realize
                the inherent instability in level 0....-mrehrer
                \_ Dude, don't fuck with dim.  He knows what you want to do
                    better than _you_ do.  He has the biggest penis on soda,
                     and he's ALWAYS RIGHT!!!!1!
        \_ Question rephrased:
           I have 4 80-pin drives that aren't working well on my Mac. I'd
           like to pop them in an enclosure with a 68-pin connector on it
           and connect *that* to my Mac. It is also desirable to stripe
           the disks if I can for performance reasons. What are my options?
           \_ you can put those 80 pin drives (likely they are sca or
              single connector a-a-a-a) in a 68 pin scsi chain with an
              adaptor available from places like central computer.
              these adaptors provide data, power, and pinouts for
              scsiid,term,spinonpower,blah blah.  they go for like
              20 bucks or so.  You can also try finding an box with
              an sca backplane which is cooler but I am not sure on cost.
              Striping can be done from a hardware card but striping can
              also be done from software (linux/solaris/*BSD/Irix/others
              have software that can stripe multiple disks into one logical
              unit)  last i looked, such software is still an add-on cost
              for macs.  Note that in a simple stripe, one disk will take
              out the entire set of disks in the stripe.  If this is jsut
              for scratch space say for editing stuff thats get saved
              to more reliable media later, this is fine.
1998/10/15-16 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:14781 Activity:high
10/15  Do hardware raid drivers exist for linux yet?  url, if available
       (yes, I can search, but Im lazee :) )
        \_ http://www.redhat.com
           \_ boy, looks like you are lazy too; i was looking for something
             a little more specific :)
                \_ then go to http://www.redhat.com and SHUT THE FUCK UP
       \_ http://linas.org/linux/raid.html
          But this may not be exactly what you are looking for. -- jsjacob
          \_ This is a nice start.  Thanks!
       \_ I would think it would depend on WHICH HARDWARE you were using.
        \_ If the RAID implemntation is truly in hardware, shouldn't the
                linux machine be able to access it as just a regular
                scsi disk?
                \_ I was referring to those PCI RAID cards ive seen around.
                  That is hardware raid, but you will need drivers for those.
                  Also, even if it is an external hw raid, you might have
                  some problems.  For example,  you can't boot a solaris
                   box off an _external_ hw raid (well, atleast the ones
                    Ive got).  Once you get by the boot, then, yes, a hw
                    raid drive should just look like a scsi device.
1998/9/5-7 [Computer/SW/Apps/Media, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:14551 Activity:high
9/5     2001: HAL = IBM - 111
        \_ Uhm... duh.
        \_ oh boy you're the first person who ever noticed that.
        \_ Martin Gardner's _Mathematical Circus_, published in 1979, and
           containing columns written prior to that year, mentions this fact
           on p. 110; "Clarke has since assured me that it was totally
           accidental, and that he was astounded when the shift was first
           called to his attention."  -- schoen
           \_ not surprising considering Clarke is a fucking idiot.
                \_ fine, let's see YOU manage to live in Sri Lanka,
                   you ugly player-hater.
                        \_ Dumbshit, all the Sri Lankans have managed _that_
                           entirely unamazing feat for centuries.  What makes
                           AC Clarke such a fucking wonder man for it?  They
                           let YOU into Cal?  Have the entrance requirements
                           really dropped so low?
                           really dropped so low?  He lives in a fucking
                           palace surrounded by guards and servants. Boo hoo.
                        \_ I live in Berkeley, fuck head.  Let's see Clarke
                           try *that* for a week!  hah!
        \_ What does HAL stand for?  Thanks.
           \_ Heuristic ALogrithmic Computer
           \_ Heuristic ALgorithmic Computer
1998/8/31-9/3 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:14529 Activity:kinda low
8/31    For those who are interested in postal auctions (I recall this being
        a topic of conversation on wall, some time back), I got a flyer in
        the mail for the "USPS San Jose District Sealed Bid Sale", happening
        Sept. 10-12 from 9 AM to 3 PM at 1750 Meridian Ave. in San Jose.
        Features "surplus computer components and printers, typewriters,
        chairs, desks, envelopes, filing cabinets, and more!"  The computers
        usually aren't that great (unless you like Unisys 386s), but the
        other stuff is generally interesting -- last time I was there, I got
        a laserdisc player for $20.  -- kahogan
           \_ duh, make sure you don't buy a cd drive for yer zip disk
        \_ DO YOU THINK THEY WILL HAVE ZIP DRIVES. I BOUGHT A ZIP DISK BUT
           IT CANT GO INSIDE MY FLOPPY SO I NEED A ZIP DRIVE. FRYS WONT
           TAKE BACK THE DISKS BECAUSE I WROTE ON THE LABEL.    WOMBAT
           \_ duh, make sure you don't buy a cd drive for yer zip disk
        \_ I think they'll have good chinese food
           \_ What the hell are you talking about?
1998/8/20 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:14487 Activity:nil
8/20    I have a RAID with 3 9-gig drives, what is the most disk space i
        can use while still maintaining redundancy?
                        -crebbs (Yah, i know, RTFM)
 \_ 18 GB (2 x 9 + "one" parity) is your best bet.
1998/7/14 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:14324 Activity:nil
07/13   And yet another SCSI panic. Film at 11, to be followed by SCSI CAM
        patches to fix the problem.  (But at least quotas got 'fixed' by
        resetting everyone's higher!)
        \_ What this means is that soda will be rebooted (intentionally)
           on July 15th.  Be aware, be prepared.  Duck and cover.
1998/6/15-18 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:14216 Activity:low
6/12    What's a reasonable amount to pay for a Thinkpad 770-1AU (14"),
        with 160 meg of ram, 5.1 gb disk, and a DVD?  -phr
        \_ phr is a rich spoiled bastard. Everytime he posts he's always
           selling some of his old shit (which happen to be REALLY good
           for most of us out there) or he's getting the latest/greatest
           toy. Fuckin' rich bastard.
           \_ Oh shutup you whiney little dirt eating school boy and go
              get a job.  -not phr
        \_ wow, a computer that outperforms every computer at Soda Hall
           combined.
                \_ I've got a p-90.  Same category.
        \_ I'd like to ask you: Who needs 160 megs of RAM on a LAP TOP?!
           Running multiuser environment?  On your LAP TOP?
           \_ No, you need that just to run Windoze 98.
           \_ You need to be able to load multiple porn images while on
              BART to pass the time.
1998/6/12-17 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:14211 Activity:nil
6/12    Which Brand/Model SCSI HD @ 18.xGB is most reliable?
        \_ You don't have many choices and they haven't existed long
           enough to say.  They're all being built by dollar a week
           near-slave labor in Burma.  What quality?
1998/6/2-4 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:14163 Activity:kinda low
6/2     I'm looking for information on cassette tape to CD replicators.  I have
        some old deteriorating audio tapes that I would like to burn it into a
        audio CD.  Anyone with information on such a machine?  Thanks a lot.
        \_ buy CD-R drive ($400).  Plug your stereo into the audio-in of your
           computer.  Record tape using free software.  Make CD.  -tom
              \_ a cheap CD-R could be had for $250 or so nowadays, EIDE
                 though.
           \_ Thanks, but I'm looking for something that I can put in a tape
              and a CD and it'll burn automatically.  I'm making the CDs in
              high volume.  It's educational audio tapes, not for music piracy.
              |_ So you're saying educational piracy is okay, but music
                 piracy is bad? Anyways, like the next guy implies,
                  Make a good "master" copy by hand, then just buy a
                  1->6 CD replicator machine.
              \_ after you have the audio image on disk, you can burn as
                 many CD's as you want without having to record the tape
                 again.  I personally think this is _way_ better than a
                 cassette tape to CD replicator idea since your cassette
                 will wear out during replication especially you want _high
                 volume_ unless the machine stores the audio data somewhere
                 during replication.  Of course CD-R is not going to be
                 high volume.  You might want some professional
                 help if you really need the volume, or you could pay
                 a couple hundred thousand dollars for your own
                 CD-stamping machines. <g>
        \_ Yeah whatever, pirate.
        \_ Hey can I borrow/rent your burner when you're done?  -- KopyKat
1998/5/29-30 [Computer/HW/Laptop, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:14154 Activity:very high 58%like:14150
5/29  Almost new DELL Inspiron Laptop.  266MHz, 80MB, 8GB, 14" Active
      Matrix. 20X CD, 56K modem + 10/100 Ethernet.  Carrying case inc.
      Asking $2.5k.  Mail ari for details.
      \_ Good system. Seriously now, why are you selling it, filthy rich boy?
                \_ he's only rich because he cheats on his taxes
        \_ Only has a 20x cdrom.  I won't do with any less than 32x. -ari
                \_ shut the )(#$#. 20X, 32X, same difference, CDROM is only
                   used for install and seeing VCD/MPEG/pictures.
                  \_ I put all my d/l'ed gay porn on CD and reload them
                     over n over from my favorites collection.  -ari
        \_ Selling because I bought 2...one for my brother and he is not
           using his.  --ari
1998/5/7-8 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:14066 Activity:low
5/6     Hi, I'm building my own Linux server from scratch. Can someone tell
        me what the approximate performance gain I would get by using two
        SCSI drives (one for kernel/binary/swap, the other one for user only)
        versus two EIDE-4 drives? There is a pretty sizable price gap. THANKS.
        \_ post to ucb.os.linux for access to clueful opinions
        \_ Serving what? With only two drives SCSI will most likely not gain
           enough of a performance advantage to justify the cost, unless you
           get 10000 rpm Ultra drives on a fast SCSI card or something. That
           said, I always buy SCSI for the flexibility it affords. EIDE
           is an icky PC hack. -dim
                \_ RAID!  (And yes EIDE is an icky hack but its ok for home)
           \_ I'm serving a heavy load web server (10000 hits per day) with
                                                        \_ that is NOT a heavy
                                                           load - that's less
                                                           than 1/second - a
                                                           286 can serve that
                                                           web load (might
                                                           need a 486 for the
                                                           cgi load)
              heavy CGI-scripting and Postgres. APPROXIMATELY what is the
              ball park performance gain I would get from SCSI vs. EIDE? THANKS
              \_ That's going to depend on which drives you are comparing,
                 which will matter much more than SCSI vs. EIDE. --dim
                \_ DUUUDE!  SEAGATE ELITE 23!!!  23 GIGS OF PURE P0WER!!!
        \_ Since SCSI can be better pipelined much easier, and does not
           load the CPU when accessing data, it is probably much more
           effective for a server machine.  For personal use, where
           most of the time you are only doing one thing at a time,
           it doesn't make a difference.
           \_ though if you want to multi boot, EIDE has really fucking
              annoying limits on what cylinders it can boot from.  just pay
              for the scsi.  you'll be happier
                \_ DUUUDE! I MULTIBOOT WIN95, WIN98 BETA, WINNT 351, WINNT4
                WORKSTATION, NT4 SERVER, OS2/ WARP, OS2 MERLIN, MSDOS 6.2,
                NT5 BETA1 SERVER AND WORKSTATION, BEOS, LINUX, FREEBSD,
                SOLARIS X86, RHAPSODY BETA 0, CMS, CVS, VMS, AND THE S000PER
                SECRET PENTAGON CREATED ULTIMAX OS!!!!!  DUUUDE!!!! I USE
                EIDE!!!! IT REWLZ!!!!!
                \_ D00D!!1  You forgot the super-secret beta of PhotoshopOS --
                   Coming soon!  -- kahogan
                   \_ D00EWDE!@!! IT WAS S0 SECRET I DIDNT WANNA BE KILLED FOR
                      SAYING IT EXISTED!@!!! BUT I INSTALLED THAT FIRST!
1998/5/4-5 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:14045 Activity:very high
5/4     I've landed a sparc 5. I need disk (SCA Interface SCSI) and mem.
        Is there anything lying around the office or does anyone want to
        unload such stuff for a reasonable price? Pls post email addr.
                \_ you idiot. why not just put your email addr so that
                   people can mail you about it? i have sparc stuff but
                   you are so dumb that i'm not going to leave my name
                   and help you out.
                   \_ You're so smart! You must make your mother proud. Your
                      unique lack of capacity to attempt understanding
                      someone else's perspective before opening your most
                      wise mouth will prove to be a valuble asset to you
                      someday. However, it's the people like you that make
                      the cutest little surprisie faces when I kill them.
                      \_ "someone else's perspective"?  He wants help, so he
                         should post his address.  Makes sense to me.  I don't
                         think that somebody's going to stalk him via the net
                         so they can do a home-invasion robbery to heist a
                         Sparc 5.
        \_ How well does it fly?
        \_ Learn to speeel SPARC
        \_ I'm sorry.  Shitty performance for the price, shitty operating
           system - talk about insult to injury.
           \_ price = $0.00... that means good performance for the price
              if I use it as an ironing board.
           \_ and you don't hae to run a SUN Operating system. My sparc5
              hasn't crashed  at all since I put netbsd on it.  -ERic
              hasn't crashed  at all since I put netbsd on it, while memory
              panics were a regular thing under sunos4.1.1.  -ERic
                \_ what a surprise, an antiquated OS crashes.  Sun should
                   just go out of business and everyone can run netbsd.
1998/4/17 [Industry/Jobs, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:13979 Activity:high
4/17    Heard my boss said something like "tech skill is petty skill". Is that
        true?
        \_ To some extent. You can go to ITT Technical or Devry and learn very
           specific skills, and to a lot of management and upper level people
           they will not know any difference. So the answer is-- yes and no.
        \_ Meaning what?  People who install memory and disk drives?  Yes.
           People who write new apps in <insert language here>, do real
           sysadmin work, or design hardware?  No.
        \_ I heard a similar comment saying techies were "unskilled"
           I don't think he was referring to disk drive installers tho.
           Corporate management does not respect tech workers (in general)
           That's why they whine about the shortage on one hand and then
           threaten to fire/lay you off if you don't put in 50-60 hour
           weeks.
        \_ Heard _my_ boss say something like "people who troll the soda motd
           hoping to generate massive flames by making random derogatory
           comments about tech workers suck."  Is that true?
        \_ _MY_ boss asked me what my biggest flaw was.  I stood up, unzipped
            my pants, and said "Obviously, it's not the size of my dick"
1998/3/31 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:13874 Activity:nil
3/30    Change of seasons, time to sell my computer again.  3 months old
        computer with ALL the goods. $1950 or BEST offer, must sell to
        upgrade.  AMD K6, 83MHz bus, 64 SDRAM, 4.3 GB HD, Panasonic DVD
        Drive /w DECODER CARD, Toshiba 32X CD, Sound Blaster 64, ATI
        All-in-Wonder /w TV, etc., 33.6 f/v/m, CCD full motion camera .05
        lux /w built in mic and 60 feet cable.  15" digital control
        monitor, subwoofer speaker sys, softwares: office, graphics,
        Dragon NaturallySpeaking Deluxe, MP3 stuff, etc....and much more.
        offers?  -hitran
        \_ I suggest you try the newspapers or online in an auction or
           something.  The cpu is junk, the HD is small by current consumer
                                \_ Yeah, man.  I sure as hell wouldn't be
                                   caught dead using a computer w/ a K6 . . .
                                   Boy, oh boy, do they suck.  Uh-huh.
                                   \_ Yes, they do.  Anything else?  Other
                                      than being "cheap", is there anything
                                      else that can be said for this clunker?
           standards, the ATI is junk, 15" monitors are for kids who still
           have good vision but won't have $2k, SB64 is nothing to crow
           about, and you've overclocked the bus so this system may go anytime
           now.  DVD is overpriced and mostly useless technology this year.
        \_ Do you do door-to-door delivery out of the back of your white van?
1998/3/19-20 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:13838 Activity:low
3/18    Does anyone have Win3.1 install disks? I only need the last disk
        (disk 6).  I actually have a legit win3.1, but somehow lost the last
        disk.  Thanks  -acheng
        \_ No, I don't but why do you need win3.1?  -curious.
        \_ Spare 486--wanted to use it for an answering machine.  I put win95
           on it now, and it runs fine.
1998/3/16-17 [Computer/SW/OS/Windows, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:13815 Activity:very high
3/17    Hello, I am looking for suggestions about two things:
        1. what is a good CD-R to get. Price [as long as we are still in
        the commercial electronics and not $10000 range] is not important,
        I would like it to write fast [4x is best consumer speed?], not
        break [so willing to pay for name brand using good components],
        easy to use [good software ... unix and windows?], and i suppose
        it woul dbe nice to have multi-write capacity.
        \_ Smart @ Friendly CD-R 4006 Deluxe (SCSI)
           I have it and really love it. I can even record 4x off an EIDE
           HD, which almost noone recommends doing. Lots of Adaptec software
           which is unparalleled. Yes, it has multi-write capabilities
           (even software that treats it as a writeable disk drive)

                \-is this the one that is about $600? i saw this at a
                certain unnamed unhelpful southbay consumer electronics
                store but had never heard of S&F ... are they actually
                repuatable company? --psb
        2. is there a decent book on windows for a total windows illiterate.
        and i mean total. on the other hand i dont need to have general
        computer concepts like the difference between files and memory
                \_ You shall be crushed, your bloody, battered bones fed to
                \_ psb, u shall be crushed, your bloody, battered bones fed to
        explained to me. in fact ideally it would mention design issues
        [like does windows9# mmap ... not looking for programming reference
        but would like to be abel to analyze design of a system]. --psb
        \_ PSB, why don't you fuckin' stop rambling.
                \_ you shall be crushed, your bloody, battered bones fed to
                   just punishment for crossing the path of His Holiness,
                   the psb.     -psb #1 Fan
                   by a plague beggarman.  This shall be your righteous and
                   just punishment for being a superficial FUCKHEAD.
                \_ psb shall be crushed, your bloody, battered bones fed to
                \_ You shall be crushed, your bloody, battered bones fed to
                   wild dogs, the dogs trampled by elephants, their mashed
                   carcasses fed to wild pigs, the pigs shall be speared
                   lengthwise, left to rot in the burning sun for half a
                   month, whereupon their festering remains shall be burned,
                   the ashes dumped over the lip of a raving volcano, carried
                   by a plagued beggarman.  This shall be your righteous and
                   just punishment for being opposed to the will of the psb
                   psb forever.  -psb #1 Fan
                   just punishment for being opposed to the will of the antipsb
                   and lacking sufficient intellect or imagination to do
                   anything more "clever"
                   and lacking sufficient intellect or imagination to do
                   anything more "clever" than edit someone else's motd entry.
        \_ Go psb -psb fan #4
1998/1/29-30 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:13592 Activity:very high
1/29    Expand your warez collection now!  Blank CD-R's for $1/each at Costco
        until 1/31/98!  (You buy 10-pack for $30, then get $20 rebate by mail,
        limit $60 max rebate per person/address.)
        \_ Yeah but the CD ROM drives are still expensive!!!
        \_ This is great news, but where do I get the warez from in the
           first place??!?!
           \_ Buy one, dupe, return for store credit, repeat
1997/4/25 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:32133 Activity:nil
4/24    "Remember, SCSI is not black magic. There are fundamental technical
         reasons why it is necessary to sacrifice a goat at midnight in order
         to get a SCSI device working properly."   --galactus@htmlhelp.com
         \_ maybe it's hard for people who don't understand the concept
            of a unique scsi id for each device
            \_ Um, speaking for those who actually have experienced SCSI
        chains that work _only_ when hooked up "incorrectly", SCSI
        voodoo *does* exist  --dbushong
1997/3/24-28 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:32101 Activity:high 61%like:32110
3/21    Internal Jaz drive for sale $300 - daveh
        \_ that sounds rather high.
         \_ retail price is $399
         \_ Egghead software had an external Jaz with a
         1 GB hard drive bundled for $550, last week.  --pcjr
         \_dont you mean 1gb disk?
           a 1gb disk is normally included anyway
           perhaps this means 1 EXTRA disk as well.
          \_ No, I mean, a 1.3 GB Western Digital
           hard drive, special limited time
           rebate offer, expired on 4/19/97.  --pcjr
          \_WD drives suck.  Buy Quantum.
        \_ Isn't that a bit expensive?  Especially for posting every day?
        \_ does it come with any drives? How many?
         \_dave isn't answering any questions.  looks like an "as is"
           sorta rip off deal.  dave-- figure it out: no one wants it.
1997/1/27 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:32041 Activity:nil
1/27   System Commander (running multiple OS's on PCs): Pros and cons, anyone?
        \_ works pretty good for me, though it seems to confuse boot disks of a
           different type ( i.e. booting off of scsi disks when ide's are
           installed). -ERic
           \_ Serves ya right then :) thanks!
1996/10/29 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:31969 Activity:nil
10/29   I am having a problem with my computer Hard Drive and was wondering
        if any of you can help.
        \_ [long shit deleted]  just fucking take yer computer to any repair
           shop and stop whining.
1996/10/28 [Computer/SW/OS/Windows, Computer/SW/OS/OsX, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:31960 Activity:nil
10/27   Is there a way to read Macintosh formatted disks on a PC using
        win95 or NT?
        \_ http://www.bmug.org
1996/6/30 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:31860 Activity:nil
6/28    CompUSA is selling 1.2 Gig IDE hard drives for $129 or 1.6 Gig
        for $179.  (The 1.6 Gig is a Conner Disk-Stor drive; I dunno
        about the 1.2 drive.)  Are these good deals? Has anyone found even
        cheaper prices?  Like at Fry's?
        \_ Personally, I don't think one will ever get an
        outstanding deal on a hard drive anymore...like audio cdrom players.
        if you need one, buy the best deal you see one weekend. -jor
        \_ If you need it now, buy it now, if you can wait it'll always be
           cheaper next week.  -reiffin
        \_ That's a good price, imho, even for crappy EIDE drives. --dim
           \_ I'd rather get one at CompUSA than at fries. At least if you
              want to return it you don't have only a month.
1995/3/6 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:31785 Activity:nil
3/5     If the disks continue to be this full, I'm going to declare /usr10
        "tested" and start moving large accounts there.  If you would like
        to move to /usr10 voluntarily to free up disk elsewhere, mail root.
        (/usr10 has much room, but has been known to crash)
1995/1/16-21 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:31702 Activity:high
1/14    Tentative soda disk policy: Disk hozers' accounts will be moved
        to /usr10 without warning if their partition fills up. You are
        considered a disk hozer if your cumulative disk usage over 7 days
        is 4.0 standard deviations away from the mean disk usage on your
        partition. Finger protoX (where X is your partition #) for info.
1994/2/14 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:31483 Activity:nil
2/13    What's the deal with the "file system full" messages that we've
        been getting.  Not to sound ungrateful for the privelege to use
        Soda, but isn't there some dead weight we can get off the drives?
        \_ How about shuffling some of the accounts around to evenly
           distribute the space?
        \_ dead weight?  sure, what's yer account?  as you may have noticed
            (probably not), they're all about equally full.
            \_ Donate to the CSUA Hardware Fund and we'll get more disk.
        \_ Murphy's laws of disk usage:  disk wastage will constantly increase
         to fill all available disk.
        \_ how many users does soda have? say 100(?? complete guess)
          if each person donates 10 bucks then we can afford a 1GB drive!!!
          I would be willing to donate 10 bucks
1993/6/17 [Computer/HW/Drives, Computer/SW] UID:31364 Activity:nil
6/16    Soda crashed due to a slew of disk errors.  It's back up, but,
        especially if your account is on /usr5, files might be missing.
        If its important, back it up -- elsewhere!    -ERic
1993/6/4 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:31349 Activity:nil
6/4     I'm in the market for a new hard-drive (probably IDE but possibly SCSI)
        What are some good places to start looking?  Email davesimp@soda.
        \_ Computer currents.  Hard drive prices are dropping like flies.
         \_ If you're interested in used drives, I've got 8 200M
            disks, and one 1.5 gig disk.
1993/6/4 [Computer/SW/Unix, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:31346 Activity:nil
6/5     TOP TEN DISK WARRIORS

         51351 mehlhaff (usr4)         27258 eshieh   (usr3)
         45694 norby    (usr3)         25034 psb      (usr3)
         40364 genki    (usr4)         20730 hh       (usr4)
         30195 youngc   (usr3)         18331 kenji    (usr4)
         27967 scheng   (usr3)         19909 dpassage (usr3)
        Total Usage: 308938 kbytes

        That's 3 elites (mehlhaff, hh & dpassage), one person who has already
        lost his soda account once for disk usage (norby) and psb (psb).

 Filesystem            kbytes    used   avail capacity Mounted on
 /dev/zd1a             762464  674865   11352    98%   /usr2
 /dev/zd3a             762464  665213   21004    97%   /usr3
 /dev/zd2a             762464  667531   18686    97%   /usr5

        Please note that /tmp is a 356M partition.  Inefficient?  yes.
        \_ And whaddaya know...most of the pace there is controlled by
           the elites too, like mehlhaff, seidl, hh, root.boyd and psb.
           Where the fuck do they get off asking us to reduce our usages when
            they're using shits of space for their own little pet projects.
1993/4/1 [Transportation/Car, Academia/Berkeley/CSUA, Computer/HW/Drives] UID:31242 Activity:nil
4/1  |  FBI Raid CSUA Office!!!! See http://ucb.org.csua for more info
            |  \_ Over 70 undergraduate CS students arrested on various charges
            |     of piracy, conspiracy, and electronic theft!  List available
            |     later tonight.  CSUA is starting a bail drive for them.  Send
            |     money to hob@soda, official bail treasurer and csua vacation manager.
            |
1993/3/17 [Computer/HW/Drives] UID:31232 Activity:nil
3/15    I have a CD player with a slight tracking problem (you can make
        it better or worse simply by shaking the machine) Anyone who
        can re-align it slightly correctly gets a free dinner... -- Marco
        \_ I'll fix it only if you agree to spend one night with me!
          \_ JEAN!!!!!!
            \_ no, that was cgd.
              \_ sorry, not only am i `hopelessly' straight, but my
          girlfriend would be *rather* jealous. -- cgd
          \_ That's not what _she_ said...
          \_ jealous? I'll bet. You're the only one that
           would go out with her...
        \_ So what's your answer Marco?  Do you REALLY need to know my
           gender to spend a night with me?  I am equally attracted to
           men and women...
           \_ Fix the CD player first. Then work it out with Jean. -- Marco
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