I understood from one of those videos that these folks were using regular Dell servers. I'm not very familiar with them but I'd expect blinkenlights to activate if all the fans very removed.
I think there are IP68 protected network cables available which wouldn't allow capillary seeping internally.
I think HDD's would be out of question also because if/when the oil gets to the platters the head and spindles would slow down and produce at least SMART errors. Network booting would of course help in this case..
Also, running ordinary HP/Dell/IBM/whatever servers without cpu/mobo/power fans would probably require tinkering with the mobo or a custom bios because a missing fan would probably cause several errors during boot, or the server log would be filled with error messages.
If the servers are connected via fiber, how much would the oil interfere between cable connector and the server's fibre interface?
- I've played Xenon 2, Sensible Soccer, and Cannon Fodder with a PC, because all of them were ported way back then to DOS, and Civilization originated from DOS. Sorry to blow your fantasy.
Actually I still play Civ for Windows (from 1993) on my Win7 laptop - natively. Another beautiful example of Microsoft's vision in creating long lasting API's and compatibility.
Care to explain how the modern Italians cannot build petrol-powered carriages such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Pagani, Alfa Romeo or even Lancia?
I understand that you're proud of the German ISDN infrastructure. Things have, however, evolved a lot in the last 20 years.
ISDN is slow nowadays. It's not built-in to any computer. It's not available on a mobile connection. POTS modems offer more flexibility and can be connected to via GSM data if all else fails. If I needed RAS dial back on Windows I would use the Windows Server RAS service, it just works. (way back on NT/2000 when I last used it)
International ISDN connections are expensive if you need to support someone abroad. Even long distance calls are expensive if you need to connect for a few hours at a time. TCPIP is on the other hand "free".
VPN is not hard nor expensive on Windows. Of course you can pay through the nose if you want and use complicated solutions if you want.
I last used pcanywhere close 10 years ago. It was a slow piece of s...oftware that had a habit of borking display drivers on Windows NT.
So, what are the benefits of using pcanywhere over UltraVNC for ? I know it used to support serial connections and other non-IP connections but why else would anyone use it?
I hope no-one ends up buying a TV based on this article alone
The author has just written the manufacturers' specifications for each set and given a "reg rating" verdict based on advertisement material only. If you don't have any access to these units then you should at least drop the "reg rating" factor. The first two LG units get a 90% verdict, yet only the Cinema version gets the thumbs up icon. Why??
If you actually reviewed these units, just mentioning MKV or AVI support is worthless unless you truly test these features. Does the MKV support include chapter support, or multiple audio/video/subtitle tracks, external subtitles? MKV is still evolving standard you know. I'd also like to know how sluggish the UI is when dealing with USB for example, or can you expect the IT declined people to use the streaming services or USB files easily?
Poor Reg, titling this article as "The iPhone 4S of laptops" lured at least two Appletards to the discussion, namely Gil Grissum and rbryanh. If you hadn't associated this piece of hardware to anything Apple related it would have gone under their radars. Just check these guys' posting history and the hatred to anything that even remotely competes with Apple. Pitiful.
While most NAS devices seem to be unix based, they typically are password protected and the firmware update can only be done through the console, web management or an updater software, all of which require a password - which the admin changed from the default. (right...)
If D-Links accept fw updates without any credential checking that would cause a huge storm.
I have updated many HP printer firmwares in the past and they all accept the firmware as a print job or through anonymous FTP. There is no password protection whatsoever even if the Jetdirect or web management was password protected. I've never enabled printing from outside the corporate network by opening ports or enabling receiving email on the printers. No-one should.
Also, I'm not sure whether the NAS devices in general have better processing power than printers. Usually they NAS devices comprises of an under-powered ARM's with the minimum memory needed to have the device do its job. Sure there are Atom devices with a reasonable processing power but the heavy duty printers are also very fast at processing complex printouts.
While the Xerox solid ink printers produce nice looking printouts, they also produce a bad smell and need to placed in a well ventilated area. Also, if you only occasionally print with them, they waste a lot of ink on start-up and it's a slow printer anyway, especially if the printer was off.
The whole roundup is stupid anyway. The prices range from 139 to 634, and the blurb on the first page states "Here are ten, capable colour lasers you should consider for a short list" but the reviewer has given 60% verdict to two printers. Why would I put the Xerox 6010 on my short list if the reviewer states that "it may be OK". That HP is noisy, slow and the previous cheap HP carousel models were also prone to break.
Clearly the reviewer works in a retailer or distributor and reviews whatever he has handy there. And that's just fine. But these reviews should be more consistent. Comparing a £200 laptop to a £2000 model makes no sense, why do it with printers?
You're doing something wrong there. Complain to your admin.
Either your PC isn't caching your Exchange mailbox and is downloading your multi-gig mailbox upon every restart; or
An Outlook add-on is slowing things down
My old Centrino laptop (with a stunning Windows 7 Experience Index Score of 1.0) starts Outlook in just a few seconds and it's perfectly usable right then.
Yes, Bangkok is surely the place to be if building a mfg plant in Thailand.
I'm not going to ask Honda why Thailand is the optimum place to manufacture anything. They are building something completely different. If you can provide some hard facts about Thailand's cheaper labor, better quality or better infrastructure than say, India or China, please enlighten us.
Now why would 3/4 of HDD manufacturers have their production in the same city? Talk about eggs in the same basket. Clearly the SWOT analysis needs updating.
This looks like a great opportunity to Samsung to grab a lot of market share if the floods continue or the Seagate, WD and Toshiba (not mentioned in the article) plants need extensive repairs.
Then again, looks like we will have to pay a lot more for server storage in the near future.
I can happily say that my current/previous laptops with the Intel crap have been BSOD free for years now. Of course they're not the powerhouses of NVidia or AMD but they do run the games of yesteryear just fine.
And Creative has disappointed me since before Windows 95 with their lack of support or working software.
Check the properties of the unknown device on the device manager, select the 'details' tab, select 'hardware id' from the top down menu. What you'll see is the ACPI/USB/PCI ID strings which you can then google.
- A new standalone unit benefits may have a somewhat shorter loading times
- A dedicated remote control is better than the PS3 game controller. (to me at least)
- PS3 doesn't support MKV/ISO files (amongst other file/codec formats)
- Curved design - not very stackable
- Bluray playback uses 70-170 Watts power depending on model (the Philips in the review takes 15W)
- Region locked
PS3 has one serious advantage the standalone players don't have and that is the firmware support. Even the first models from 2006 are supported and the firmware has for instance brought 3D BD support and whatnot. The latest update was just a month ago.
As long as the internal logic on the device contains enough memory and instructions the enhanced mouse can be used on any environment. The device could deduct from the user's input whether the system is Windows, Linux or something else. Waiting for typical commands such as ls, cat, vi and so on would lead the device to think we're in Linux land whereas cmd, dir, Win+R and other keystroke combinations would be a sign of Windows.
The attack can never be idiot proof due to system configurations, reliance on system utilities that aren't there, disabled terminal access, firewall settings and so forth. But grabbing the user's own data and sending it with e.g. FTP would work in most settings, I'm sure.
Can you elaborate how Exchange was unsuitable and which was your proposed solution instead? I hope Notes wasn't the answer... :-)
Once the companies' execs discover what else they could do with their Outlook software instead of the basic IO (SMTP+IMAP/POP) there's no looking back. Scheduling meetings, accessing other people's resources and such is nice and integrates well into Outlook and most mobile phones.
If you really are after just IMAP/SMTP then a Linux based solution is probably the best answer.
For the problem you describe I actually memorized most of the non-graphic alt codes. At one point in the 80's I had a keyboard without some essential characters (<|>) and playing Hack was next to impossible without the "stairway keys"... (and the scandinavian letters åöä could only be typed thru alt codes as well when working with US layout to which DOS always defaults and keyb.exe wasn't always there)
I see your bluff. What hardware do you buy on those terms? Microsoft's latest OS to have all support removed is Windows 2000, and I am not expecting ANY manufacturer to support obsolete PC's. Or are you asking for Win7 compatible BIOS versions for Pentium 3 machines? Please explain.
About WebOS: WebOS would have a niche market at best on the corporate sector, so if anyone is thinking that Windows is being replaced they are deluded.
I'd expect WebOS coming in three flavors:
The WebOS may come as a Splashtop incarnation. Most - if not all HP business laptops already have the "Quickweb" software which is a dualboot feature allowing instant-on (well, a few seconds that is) web browsing. HP is licensing the software from Splashtop Inc and considering their marketshare they are also paying a lot - this could save some money on the side.
The other use would be to replace Windows in low powered net-oriented laptops where Windows is too taxing, just like Asus EEE line used Linux. HP hasn't been a player on the el-cheapo laptop market but this is one way to stand out IF they can execute the WebOS experience right off the bat.
Thirdly, WebOS could also be used on some HP's thin clients as long as it will have the required Citrix/TS/etc clients. HP already has their Thinpro Linux OS which fits into a 128MB flash on the cheapest ARM based thin clients. WebOS has a history of fitting into ARM based cell phones and such devices so it would be a logical selection here.
Apple hasn't, and cannot (in the near future) ban Java from OS X, but their statement that Java-based apps cannot be sold in the App Store really is a kick in the groin area. If the App Store works as well for Apple as it did in Iphone's case, a lot of small to medium size software will move under its umbrella and the average Joe Sixpack's out there will gradually learn to install their software only thru the App Store -> no future for Java apps under OS X.
Everything you say about the evolution of tape is true. But it also can be said of spinning disks as well. The data is tightly packed there as well. LTO has been very reliable with me since Gen1. And call me heretic but QIC was very reliable as well, last year we still had a few 125/525MB drives working daily backups on tapes that had had numerous reinsertions and rewrites in dirty environments (back rooms in fast food restaurants...)
RDX is basically good idea and simple to use, and if you only need a couple of cartridges, it's fine. But if you need the speed or capacity, the RDX is no go. For the high price of a cartridge you could actually pop a same size hot swap SATA hdd into the server and backup to it. (I wouldn't recommend this though!)
On the low end systems tape still has its place. The Unitrends D2D systems you are recommending here (for the third time now!) are in a different league and I agree that if you need to move 10 or more TB's replication or some other technologies could suit better.
Register
31 posts • joined Wednesday 6th October 2010 19:10 GMT
Re: Missing fans?
Quite.
I understood from one of those videos that these folks were using regular Dell servers. I'm not very familiar with them but I'd expect blinkenlights to activate if all the fans very removed.
Re: How do you put the dvd in the drive?
You raise some good points.
I think there are IP68 protected network cables available which wouldn't allow capillary seeping internally.
I think HDD's would be out of question also because if/when the oil gets to the platters the head and spindles would slow down and produce at least SMART errors. Network booting would of course help in this case..
Also, running ordinary HP/Dell/IBM/whatever servers without cpu/mobo/power fans would probably require tinkering with the mobo or a custom bios because a missing fan would probably cause several errors during boot, or the server log would be filled with error messages.
If the servers are connected via fiber, how much would the oil interfere between cable connector and the server's fibre interface?
Re: Unfortunate name....
How do you know this Apple CFO dude isn't related to the Shiva-Destroyer-of-Worlds-dude?
You sure can!
- I've played Xenon 2, Sensible Soccer, and Cannon Fodder with a PC, because all of them were ported way back then to DOS, and Civilization originated from DOS. Sorry to blow your fantasy.
Actually I still play Civ for Windows (from 1993) on my Win7 laptop - natively. Another beautiful example of Microsoft's vision in creating long lasting API's and compatibility.
Re: Italian cars
Care to explain how the modern Italians cannot build petrol-powered carriages such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Pagani, Alfa Romeo or even Lancia?
No...
This article (nor the PC World original) doesn't specify any price for the app so please elaborate on the "stupid amount of money".
So far you can remotely manage any ILO enabled HP server with a web browser anyway.
And you can happily do that with current and previous generation servers as well.
I understand that you're proud of the German ISDN infrastructure. Things have, however, evolved a lot in the last 20 years.
ISDN is slow nowadays. It's not built-in to any computer. It's not available on a mobile connection. POTS modems offer more flexibility and can be connected to via GSM data if all else fails. If I needed RAS dial back on Windows I would use the Windows Server RAS service, it just works. (way back on NT/2000 when I last used it)
International ISDN connections are expensive if you need to support someone abroad. Even long distance calls are expensive if you need to connect for a few hours at a time. TCPIP is on the other hand "free".
VPN is not hard nor expensive on Windows. Of course you can pay through the nose if you want and use complicated solutions if you want.
Nope.
Henry, the problem is solved simply by turning on the AES or RC4 or IDEA or Blowfish or whatever cipher.
You're not the kind of person who would insult PuTTY for offering insecure telnet access?
Why even use it?
I last used pcanywhere close 10 years ago. It was a slow piece of s...oftware that had a habit of borking display drivers on Windows NT.
So, what are the benefits of using pcanywhere over UltraVNC for ? I know it used to support serial connections and other non-IP connections but why else would anyone use it?
Worthless 'checkbox' round-up
I hope no-one ends up buying a TV based on this article alone
The author has just written the manufacturers' specifications for each set and given a "reg rating" verdict based on advertisement material only. If you don't have any access to these units then you should at least drop the "reg rating" factor. The first two LG units get a 90% verdict, yet only the Cinema version gets the thumbs up icon. Why??
If you actually reviewed these units, just mentioning MKV or AVI support is worthless unless you truly test these features. Does the MKV support include chapter support, or multiple audio/video/subtitle tracks, external subtitles? MKV is still evolving standard you know. I'd also like to know how sluggish the UI is when dealing with USB for example, or can you expect the IT declined people to use the streaming services or USB files easily?
ALERT! Fanbois at large
Poor Reg, titling this article as "The iPhone 4S of laptops" lured at least two Appletards to the discussion, namely Gil Grissum and rbryanh. If you hadn't associated this piece of hardware to anything Apple related it would have gone under their radars. Just check these guys' posting history and the hatred to anything that even remotely competes with Apple. Pitiful.
What next?
Are the floods re-occurring yearly or was this once-in-a-lifetime accident?
Is Bangkok now properly protected against flooding or would it be better for WD to build the next factory 10m higher "just in case"?
Nope.
While most NAS devices seem to be unix based, they typically are password protected and the firmware update can only be done through the console, web management or an updater software, all of which require a password - which the admin changed from the default. (right...)
If D-Links accept fw updates without any credential checking that would cause a huge storm.
I have updated many HP printer firmwares in the past and they all accept the firmware as a print job or through anonymous FTP. There is no password protection whatsoever even if the Jetdirect or web management was password protected. I've never enabled printing from outside the corporate network by opening ports or enabling receiving email on the printers. No-one should.
Also, I'm not sure whether the NAS devices in general have better processing power than printers. Usually they NAS devices comprises of an under-powered ARM's with the minimum memory needed to have the device do its job. Sure there are Atom devices with a reasonable processing power but the heavy duty printers are also very fast at processing complex printouts.
Solid ink, right...
While the Xerox solid ink printers produce nice looking printouts, they also produce a bad smell and need to placed in a well ventilated area. Also, if you only occasionally print with them, they waste a lot of ink on start-up and it's a slow printer anyway, especially if the printer was off.
The whole roundup is stupid anyway. The prices range from 139 to 634, and the blurb on the first page states "Here are ten, capable colour lasers you should consider for a short list" but the reviewer has given 60% verdict to two printers. Why would I put the Xerox 6010 on my short list if the reviewer states that "it may be OK". That HP is noisy, slow and the previous cheap HP carousel models were also prone to break.
Clearly the reviewer works in a retailer or distributor and reviews whatever he has handy there. And that's just fine. But these reviews should be more consistent. Comparing a £200 laptop to a £2000 model makes no sense, why do it with printers?
Spot off
You're doing something wrong there. Complain to your admin.
Either your PC isn't caching your Exchange mailbox and is downloading your multi-gig mailbox upon every restart; or
An Outlook add-on is slowing things down
My old Centrino laptop (with a stunning Windows 7 Experience Index Score of 1.0) starts Outlook in just a few seconds and it's perfectly usable right then.
Pitiful list
Leningrad Cowboys Go America is missing, why?
I demand an answer!
Why indeed
Yes, Bangkok is surely the place to be if building a mfg plant in Thailand.
I'm not going to ask Honda why Thailand is the optimum place to manufacture anything. They are building something completely different. If you can provide some hard facts about Thailand's cheaper labor, better quality or better infrastructure than say, India or China, please enlighten us.
What idiots...
Now why would 3/4 of HDD manufacturers have their production in the same city? Talk about eggs in the same basket. Clearly the SWOT analysis needs updating.
This looks like a great opportunity to Samsung to grab a lot of market share if the floods continue or the Seagate, WD and Toshiba (not mentioned in the article) plants need extensive repairs.
Then again, looks like we will have to pay a lot more for server storage in the near future.
How about 2
Vultured?
Buzzarded?
Regzilla'd?
Cool or not...
...Steve doesn't want you to use a dock - There would be docks with an apple logo for sale if Steve approved them. He doesn't.
- Macbooks gather a lot of heat when the lid is closed. The forums are full of warnings that overheating is a reality.
- When the lid is closed the laptop enters power saving mode unless using 3rd party hack.
And of course there's the legion of Appletards who claim that docks are useless anyway if you happen to ask for them.
Just appending the missing information here...
"Nvidia drivers named as lead Vista crash cause in 2007"
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/03/28/nvidia_vista_drivers/
I can happily say that my current/previous laptops with the Intel crap have been BSOD free for years now. Of course they're not the powerhouses of NVidia or AMD but they do run the games of yesteryear just fine.
And Creative has disappointed me since before Windows 95 with their lack of support or working software.
You're holding it wrong
Check the properties of the unknown device on the device manager, select the 'details' tab, select 'hardware id' from the top down menu. What you'll see is the ACPI/USB/PCI ID strings which you can then google.
HTH.
PS3
PS3 is still a very good player.
There's cons, however
- A new standalone unit benefits may have a somewhat shorter loading times
- A dedicated remote control is better than the PS3 game controller. (to me at least)
- PS3 doesn't support MKV/ISO files (amongst other file/codec formats)
- Curved design - not very stackable
- Bluray playback uses 70-170 Watts power depending on model (the Philips in the review takes 15W)
- Region locked
PS3 has one serious advantage the standalone players don't have and that is the firmware support. Even the first models from 2006 are supported and the firmware has for instance brought 3D BD support and whatnot. The latest update was just a month ago.
It *can* work
As long as the internal logic on the device contains enough memory and instructions the enhanced mouse can be used on any environment. The device could deduct from the user's input whether the system is Windows, Linux or something else. Waiting for typical commands such as ls, cat, vi and so on would lead the device to think we're in Linux land whereas cmd, dir, Win+R and other keystroke combinations would be a sign of Windows.
The attack can never be idiot proof due to system configurations, reliance on system utilities that aren't there, disabled terminal access, firewall settings and so forth. But grabbing the user's own data and sending it with e.g. FTP would work in most settings, I'm sure.
unsuitable?
Can you elaborate how Exchange was unsuitable and which was your proposed solution instead? I hope Notes wasn't the answer... :-)
Once the companies' execs discover what else they could do with their Outlook software instead of the basic IO (SMTP+IMAP/POP) there's no looking back. Scheduling meetings, accessing other people's resources and such is nice and integrates well into Outlook and most mobile phones.
If you really are after just IMAP/SMTP then a Linux based solution is probably the best answer.
Diff'rent strokes
For the problem you describe I actually memorized most of the non-graphic alt codes. At one point in the 80's I had a keyboard without some essential characters (<|>) and playing Hack was next to impossible without the "stairway keys"... (and the scandinavian letters åöä could only be typed thru alt codes as well when working with US layout to which DOS always defaults and keyb.exe wasn't always there)
I buy HP hardware
You HP rant:
I see your bluff. What hardware do you buy on those terms? Microsoft's latest OS to have all support removed is Windows 2000, and I am not expecting ANY manufacturer to support obsolete PC's. Or are you asking for Win7 compatible BIOS versions for Pentium 3 machines? Please explain.
About WebOS: WebOS would have a niche market at best on the corporate sector, so if anyone is thinking that Windows is being replaced they are deluded.
I'd expect WebOS coming in three flavors:
The WebOS may come as a Splashtop incarnation. Most - if not all HP business laptops already have the "Quickweb" software which is a dualboot feature allowing instant-on (well, a few seconds that is) web browsing. HP is licensing the software from Splashtop Inc and considering their marketshare they are also paying a lot - this could save some money on the side.
The other use would be to replace Windows in low powered net-oriented laptops where Windows is too taxing, just like Asus EEE line used Linux. HP hasn't been a player on the el-cheapo laptop market but this is one way to stand out IF they can execute the WebOS experience right off the bat.
Thirdly, WebOS could also be used on some HP's thin clients as long as it will have the required Citrix/TS/etc clients. HP already has their Thinpro Linux OS which fits into a 128MB flash on the cheapest ARM based thin clients. WebOS has a history of fitting into ARM based cell phones and such devices so it would be a logical selection here.
WebM hardware support exists already
http://blog.webmproject.org/2011/01/availability-of-webm-vp8-video-hardware.html
http://www.design-reuse.com/news/24961/dual-hd-video-ip-core-vp8.html
Of course things are still in their infancy vs h264.
Re: ThomH
Apple hasn't, and cannot (in the near future) ban Java from OS X, but their statement that Java-based apps cannot be sold in the App Store really is a kick in the groin area. If the App Store works as well for Apple as it did in Iphone's case, a lot of small to medium size software will move under its umbrella and the average Joe Sixpack's out there will gradually learn to install their software only thru the App Store -> no future for Java apps under OS X.
re: Michael C
Reliability -
Everything you say about the evolution of tape is true. But it also can be said of spinning disks as well. The data is tightly packed there as well. LTO has been very reliable with me since Gen1. And call me heretic but QIC was very reliable as well, last year we still had a few 125/525MB drives working daily backups on tapes that had had numerous reinsertions and rewrites in dirty environments (back rooms in fast food restaurants...)
RDX is basically good idea and simple to use, and if you only need a couple of cartridges, it's fine. But if you need the speed or capacity, the RDX is no go. For the high price of a cartridge you could actually pop a same size hot swap SATA hdd into the server and backup to it. (I wouldn't recommend this though!)
On the low end systems tape still has its place. The Unitrends D2D systems you are recommending here (for the third time now!) are in a different league and I agree that if you need to move 10 or more TB's replication or some other technologies could suit better.
...duh!
It's for downloading Linux distro's, of course!