Article: 177186 of alt.sysadmin.recovery From: ewen@naos.co.nz (Ewen McNeill) Newsgroups: alt.sysadmin.recovery Subject: Re: Deployment Organization: paradise.net.nz customer Lines: 53 Approved: Foo Message-ID: <91fe7o$dje$1@pagoda.wgtn.cat-it.co.nz> References: <900p88$b0f$1@news.chatlink.com> <5b4e19.343.ln@xmission.com> Cache-Post-Path: socrates.catalyst.net.nz!unknown@hume.catalyst.net.nz X-Cache: nntpcache 2.3.2.1 (see http://www.nntpcache.org/) Cache-Post-Path: shelley.paradise.net.nz!unknown@socrates.catalyst.net.nz X-Cache: nntpcache 2.4.0b5 (see http://www.nntpcache.org/) Date: 16 Dec 2000 22:56:08 +1300 NNTP-Posting-Host: 203.96.152.26 X-Complaints-To: newsadmin@xtra.co.nz X-Trace: news.xtra.co.nz 976960571 203.96.152.26 (Sat, 16 Dec 2000 22:56:11 NZDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2000 22:56:11 NZDT Path: news.meer.net!nntp1.ba.best.com!news2.best.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!HSNX.atgi.net!cyclone-sjo1.usenetserver.com!news-out.usenetserver.com!newshub2.rdc1.sfba.home.com!news.home.com!enews.sgi.com!news.xtra.co.nz!not-for-mail Xref: news.meer.net alt.sysadmin.recovery:177186 In article , Matt McLeod wrote: >I used to use a SPARCstation 5 as my primary workstation, and it was >quite OK. Indeed, I preferred it to the Ultra 5 I was offered, until >we finally got some capable of doing better than 8-bit colour. One of the workstations I use daily[0] is a SS5. Generally it's just fine to use, especially remotely. Interactive use on its graphics head is a bit painful though. But that's mainly because For Reasons That Seemed Good At The Time (tm) the person who specced it out (well before I started contracting there) decided on a 24-bit unaccelerated frame buffer rather than an 8-bit accelerated frame buffer (the price was about the same). Which goes to show just how badly the graphics redraws suck. Large boulders and small straws would feature prominently in the description. Apparently I'm one of the few programmers that actually worried about this problem (excessive redrawing while resizing, repainting, etc), and most of the graphics libraries seem not to care about it at all. Furrfu. ObRelatedConversation: At another client... Cow-orker #1: Looks like IE's hung, and I'll have to reboot [my windows box] again. Me: [Thinking outloud] That's why I usually use other operating systems so that my workstations don't have to be rebooted all the time. One of my workstations has been up for over a year since it was last rebooted...[2] Cow-orker #2: But I'll bet you've never run IE on it. Me: [Smugly] Actually I have. But only once. Cow-worker #1 and #2: [stunned silence] So I guess IE for Solaris is useful for something after all. Ewen [0] One of the joys of doing contract admin (and contract programming for that matter) is having a whole bunch of different workstations all over the place.[1] [1] Generally creating a maintenance nightmare of their own to keep them all up to date with the bits and bobs I want handy, and/or remember what software is installed on which one. [2] Let's not do the uptime thread again. It only takes a good UPS, and not wanting to change the hardware or kernel. At this client the "good UPS" bit is the most important: they do monthly power failure tests to drain the building emergency batteries and ensure that the generator kicks in. It doesn't always go according to plan. But it does flush out the UPSes that don't have good batteries. There's been a bit of a rash of them recently. -- Ewen McNeill, ewen@naos.co.nz