From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:11 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.www,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 2 Mar 1996 16:12:08 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 77 Message-ID: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2497 ncsu.www:310 ncsu.eos:669 ncsu.unity:510 I initially tacked this on to a running thread, but it was just too good to bury in something that people might not be currently reading. Here's just another example of the utter arrogance and incompetence of some of our staff people at NCSU... Lou Harrison (harrison@adm.csc.ncsu.edu) wrote: : Well, Tim, Steve is WTVD's internet expert, too! No wonder that they : aren't on the web yet. Interesting Lou. So you think that me talking to WTVD represents some sort of consultancy for them, huh? Well, let's then take a look at your job of controlling the people around you - a task which is *actually* in your job description. You had one of your operators slime his way into a Daniels lab yesterday and really make an ass out of himself. Now, many of your people (following your lead) do that all the time, but this one caused some real damage. It seems that Lawrence Wobker barged into the lab and announced that he needed to use a machine. Not quite lab etiquette, but presumably within his rights. Someone stated that he was about to get off (and indeed did do so within about three minutes) but that wasn't good enough for Wobker the Human Wombat. No, he walked to a machine where someone was logged in but was not sitting directly in front of. Problem for Wobker was that the woman who *was* using the machine was consulting with the person **Next** to her at the time, so that she was literally right there though not physically in front of the screen at that exact second. She did, though, intervene and inform Wobker that she was using the machine. In fact, she had been using that machine since 1 AM (12 hours at that point) to run a simulation. She was within a half hour of completion. Wobker apparently took offense to the fact that the woman was using a screen saver as the process ran. With the screen saver on and the fact that she was not welded to the keyboard, and after finding out the circumstances under which the machine was being used, this prick gets on another machine (the one voluntarily given up earlier) and sends a zypher to Mike. Now Mike at the time was the de facto operator over that lab. Wobker informs Mike that there was a machine unattended and requested authorization to re-boot. Mike, not having any idea of any of the conversation taking place, and assuming that a CSC operator (even in an EC lab) would know the rules, tells Wobker that it is OK to re-boot. Wobker then walks back over to the woman's machine and re-boots it. Unfortunately, he re-booted the wrong machine. The one he *did* re-boot was in use by a guy running Cadence (the purpose of that lab) who at that very instant had gone about three machines over to talk to someone else doing the same thing. His program had also been running for hours and was about finished. Well, this guy realized that his machine had just been re-booted and confronted Wobker. Wobker apparently couldn't care less and proceeded to re-boot the woman's machine as well even though at that moment she *was* physically at her workstation as opposed to the one next to it. Wobker, having ruined two people's day and functioning in the capacity of an operator (he announced himself as such initially) turned and walked out of the room. Now Lou, I've had personal experience with Sanjay and *know* that he is an asshole, but this is another one of your little creatures that doesn't know his place in the universe. How many more of these ignorant wankstains do you have working under you? and how many more problems will they cause before someone realizes that the source of the problems can be traced back to the Head Wankstain himself? Steve Crisp -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!jjprice Tue Mar 5 13:05:11 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!jjprice From: jjprice@eos.ncsu.edu (Jeffrey James Price) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.www,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 2 Mar 1996 21:11:03 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos Lines: 27 Distribution: world Message-ID: <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> Reply-To: jjprice@eos.ncsu.edu (Jeffrey James Price) NNTP-Posting-Host: ector.csc.ncsu.edu Originator: jjprice@ector.csc.ncsu.edu Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2500 ncsu.www:312 ncsu.eos:671 ncsu.unity:512 Well, being a Daniels operator I feel I have to say something about this. Not about the machine being rebooted, I've heard the story from numerous sources and feel the individual who rebooted the machien was out of line, but about the reason behind everything....students having to run simulations that take overnight or at the very least several hours to run. These students have no place to run these simulations besides a public lab, and the policy in public labs is that you may not be running a screen lock, or logged into more than one machine (which BTW the female you mentioned was logged into two machines at the time). However it is ridiculous to expect students to baby-sit a machine for 12 hours, or even 2 days in one case. Steve, your time would be put to better use if you would try and convince someone to get these students access to run batch process on certain machines, than continuing your little pissing contest with Lou. Which is really needed? I'm certain there has got to be some way to allow these students to run their simulations w/o tying up public workstations for hours...think someone over at ECO/CC could look into this? -- GO PACK !!! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jeffrey James Price Senior Computer Engineering & http://www4.ncsu.edu/eos/users/j/jjprice/www/ Computer Science From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:11 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: mbcaudi@unity.ncsu.edu (Mike Caudill) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.www,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 2 Mar 1996 21:39:20 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 37 Distribution: world Message-ID: <4haf68$p8j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: spunky.eos.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2503 ncsu.www:314 ncsu.eos:673 ncsu.unity:514 Jeffrey James Price (jjprice@eos.ncsu.edu) wrote: : : Not about the machine being rebooted, I've heard the story from numerous : sources and feel the individual who rebooted the machien was out of line, but : about the reason behind everything....students having to run simulations : that take overnight or at the very least several hours to run. : : These students have no place to run these simulations besides a public lab, and : the policy in public labs is that you may not be running a screen lock, or : logged into more than one machine (which BTW the female you mentioned was : logged into two machines at the time). However it is ridiculous to expect : students to baby-sit a machine for 12 hours, or even 2 days in one case. Correction, she was logged into 3 machines (2 Suns and 1 3100). : : I'm certain there has got to be some way to allow these students to run their : simulations w/o tying up public workstations for hours...think someone over : at ECO/CC could look into this? : We are indeed looking into the problem. We recognize the great need for batch style services. Our current qbatch system is really outdated and only works well on the DECstations. We are in the process of evaluating other batch processing systems that are more robust and will provide all of the functionality (and hopefully more) than the current qbatch system. This is a high priority item for both ECO (ITECS) and the Computing Center. -Mike- -- /===================================================================\ | Mike Caudill (mbcaudi@eos.ncsu.edu) -- Systems Programmer | | Information Technology and Engineering Computer Services (ITECS) | | 5 Page Hall / Box 7901 - NCSU / Raleigh, NC 27695 / 919.515.2458 | \===================================================================/ From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:11 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: mbcaudi@unity.ncsu.edu (Mike Caudill) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 2 Mar 1996 22:51:37 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 96 Message-ID: <4hajdp$p8j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: spunky.eos.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2504 ncsu.eos:674 ncsu.unity:515 Steven J. Crisp (sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : : You had one of your operators slime his way into a Daniels lab yesterday : and really make an ass out of himself. Now, many of your people : (following your lead) do that all the time, but this one caused some real : damage. : In Lou's defense, he did not "have one of his operators slime his way into a Daniels lab yesterday," Lou was not involved with the incident at all. The op was simply following COE policy regarding the use of multiple machines. : It seems that Lawrence Wobker barged into the lab and announced that he : needed to use a machine. Not quite lab etiquette, but presumably within : his rights. Someone stated that he was about to get off (and indeed did : do so within about three minutes) but that wasn't good enough for Wobker : the Human Wombat. No, he walked to a machine where someone was logged in : but was not sitting directly in front of. Problem for Wobker was that the : woman who *was* using the machine was consulting with the person **Next** : to her at the time, so that she was literally right there though not : physically in front of the screen at that exact second. : : She did, though, intervene and inform Wobker that she was using the : machine. In fact, she had been using that machine since 1 AM (12 hours at : that point) to run a simulation. She was within a half hour of : completion. Wobker apparently took offense to the fact that the woman was : using a screen saver as the process ran. With the screen saver on and the : fact that she was not welded to the keyboard, and after finding out the : circumstances under which the machine was being used, this prick gets on : another machine (the one voluntarily given up earlier) and sends a zypher : to Mike. Now Mike at the time was the de facto operator over that lab. : : Wobker informs Mike that there was a machine unattended and requested : authorization to re-boot. Mike, not having any idea of any of the : conversation taking place, and assuming that a CSC operator (even in an EC : lab) would know the rules, tells Wobker that it is OK to re-boot. : : Wobker then walks back over to the woman's machine and re-boots it. : Unfortunately, he re-booted the wrong machine. The one he *did* re-boot : was in use by a guy running Cadence (the purpose of that lab) who at that : very instant had gone about three machines over to talk to someone else : doing the same thing. His program had also been running for hours and was : about finished. : : Well, this guy realized that his machine had just been re-booted and : confronted Wobker. Wobker apparently couldn't care less and proceeded to : re-boot the woman's machine as well even though at that moment she *was* : physically at her workstation as opposed to the one next to it. : : Wobker, having ruined two people's day and functioning in the capacity of : an operator (he announced himself as such initially) turned and walked : out of the room. : Steve, There is no doubt here that academic work was interfered with; however, it happened in accordance with established COE lab usage rules. While both users lost work one was in violation of policy by occupying three machines in the lab. This has been against Eos policy, which was approved by the College of Engineering Computer Committee, and taught in E115 for several years. Under the circumstances the user should have been reminded of the rule so it would not happen again instead of losing her work, but unfortunately that did not happen. It was a mistake. The problem comes in with her occupying more than one seat to do her homework - how many people were deprived of a seat that day to do _their_ Cadence homework while she occupied three? This is what the Computer Committee was addressing when they wrote the policy. If the departments wish to allow this for their students we have always tried to assist them in setting something up to handle it, but Daniels 346 is a public lab under the public lab rules. Lawrence was, while not entirely appropriately, simply performing his duty as an op by enforcing this policy. Yelling at him or any other group that does not have the authority to make the rules may be gratifying, but is ultimately unproductive. If Engineering students do not agree with this policy it is certainly within their rights to discuss it with the Computer Committee, who make the rules. As everyone knows most of the people on campus who make University policy don't read news for input, so you'll have to actually go talk to them to provide yours. Now, for the solution. As I stated in my previous post, we recognize the dire need for a better batch processing system for jobs like this. ITECS and the Computing Center are currently evaluating batch systems which should hopefully replace out antiquated "qbatch" system. Due to under-staffing this is not proceeding as quickly as we hoped, but rest assured it is being worked on. -Mike- -- /===================================================================\ | Mike Caudill (mbcaudi@eos.ncsu.edu) -- Systems Programmer | | Information Technology and Engineering Computer Services (ITECS) | | 5 Page Hall / Box 7901 - NCSU / Raleigh, NC 27695 / 919.515.2458 | \===================================================================/ From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:11 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: nsjohnso@unity.ncsu.edu (Nathan Scott Johnson) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.www,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.www,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 3 Mar 1996 00:34:45 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 62 Message-ID: <4hapf5$o4s@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc04du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2505 ncsu.www:315 ncsu.eos:675 ncsu.unity:516 Ahh, another thought-provoking [sic], factually-based [sic], unbiased [sic] posting from everyone's favorite, Steve Crisp. So, who told you about this one? Seeing as you are not grouped with the COE as far as computing access is concerned, I will make a "rash" assumption that you weren't on the third floor of Daniels at the time. Any reason that we should believe you as opposed to, say, someone who was a bit closer to the situation (ie Caudill? Wobker?) There are two sides to *every* story, and yours is but one. Steven J. Crisp (sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : You had one of your operators slime his way into a Daniels lab yesterday The individual in question knows that he has no "official" jurisdiction in 346dan as a CSC operator; however, he does have such jurisdiction as a) an employee of ITECS, and b) a fee-paying student with work to do in a lab with unattended workstations. : (following your lead) do that all the time, but this one caused some real Can you post without getting personal? Your argument would seem so much more worthwhile if you left out the personal attacks on people. : do so within about three minutes) but that wasn't good enough for Wobker : the Human Wombat. No, he walked to a machine where someone was logged in A side note: Mr. Crisp has begun the namecalling in this argument. : circumstances under which the machine was being used, this prick gets on Another side note: (see first side note.) : Now Lou, I've had personal experience with Sanjay and *know* that he is : an asshole, but this is another one of your little creatures that doesn't : know his place in the universe. How many more of these ignorant : wankstains do you have working under you? and how many more problems will : they cause before someone realizes that the source of the problems can be : traced back to the Head Wankstain himself? Why is it that you have to continually drag your personal mini-war with Harrison into this? Wobker acted under the authority of ITECS, *not* Lou Harrsion, *not* myself, and *not* the CSC department. As far as the situation is concerned, I wasn't there, myself (notice here that I am qualifying my facts as second-hand, instead of masquerading around as the end-all of truth and knowledge, which you are not); however, I, too, have discussed the details with witnesses. I'm not going to harp on details, for I wasn't there; however, I feel the need to remind you of some facts and some principles at work here. As Caudill has explained (twice on this thread alone), the batch capabilities here aren't the best in the world. The part *you* don't seem to understand is that just because the facilities may be inadequate in your eyes does *NOT* give you or anyone else the right to BREAK the rules. They exist for a reason, and if you are not clear on that reason, or think it is invalid, there are channels for you to use through which rules can be explained, reviewed, and even changed.Until such time, I (in my capacity as a student at this university who has also paid the fees) will enforce the rules for the benefit of *all* fee-paying students; not because it's the cool thing to do, not because it will bring me fame and fortune on ncsu.*, but because it's the (get ready for this shocker!) right thing to do. ...nate -- - Nathan S Johnson (nate@ncsu.edu) (+1.919.515.3909) - Computing Facilities Administrations Manager - North Carolina State University, Department of Computer Science - The time is now! (email me for details) From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.www,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.www,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 3 Mar 1996 00:59:42 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 39 Distribution: world Message-ID: <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2506 ncsu.www:316 ncsu.eos:676 ncsu.unity:517 Jeffrey James Price (jjprice@eos.ncsu.edu) wrote: : These students have no place to run these simulations besides a public lab, and : the policy in public labs is that you may not be running a screen lock, or : logged into more than one machine (which BTW the female you mentioned was : logged into two machines at the time). However it is ridiculous to expect : students to baby-sit a machine for 12 hours, or even 2 days in one case. There *is* a way around this problem and it is one which many other universities use. Simply require all students to own a computer. The problem with doing so is that it upsets the cart over in financial aid. By requiring a computer (between $1,000 and $5,000 worth of equipment depending on the discipline) the university would have to re-calculate the estimated cost of attendance. That would increase the total that a student could borrow or receive in grants and, in turn, increase the potential default rate of the university. So what we do then is force most students to use equipment which may be far less or far more than what any individual student actually needs. And then we limit the use of those computers by grossly undersupplying demand. But we apparently made the decision to have the university act as the central supplies of workstations as opposed to having students being able to buy their own inexpensively through the buying power of the university many years ago. It is now coming back to haunt us. The policy can be changed overnight; all it takes is the respective Deans to make that decision and act through the faculty senate in its implementation. Steve Crisp -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.www,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 3 Mar 1996 01:09:41 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 33 Message-ID: <4hargl$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hapf5$o4s@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2507 ncsu.www:317 ncsu.eos:677 ncsu.unity:518 Nathan Scott Johnson (nsjohnso@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : Any reason that we should : believe you as opposed to, say, someone who was a bit closer to the situation : (ie Caudill? Wobker?) There are two sides to *every* story, and yours is but : one. And I posted mine from the synthesis of what three different people told me - all of whom *were* there. If there is a refutation coming then let it come. All I've seen so far is that there were violations of policy that were occurring, but that the way the incident was handled was in error. What I do know is that one woman lost 12 hours worth of work because of the inconsiderate stupidity of someone who apparently was way out of line and that any authorization that he may have obtained was gotten without fully relating the total circumstances. Is that about right? Steve Crisp ps. Something else really bothers me here as well. Why is it that so many people who have run-ins with the staffs of the respective computer labs want to remain anonymous in telling how they've been screwed? Right off the bat that indicates to me that at least some of the operators might be using some strong-arm tactics on the way their labs are run. If there were no potential repercussions then why are so many people scared of pissing them off even when the ops are wrong? -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!argus.rh.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!argus.rh.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: nsdahya1@argus.rh.ncsu.edu (Nalin Dahyabhai) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 3 Mar 1996 01:21:45 GMT Organization: N.C. State University Lines: 20 Distribution: world Message-ID: <4has79$ul@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: argus.rh.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950515BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2508 ncsu.eos:678 ncsu.unity:519 On 3 Mar 1996 00:59:42 GMT, Steven J. Crisp (sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : But we apparently made the decision to have the university act as the : central supplies of workstations as opposed to having students being able : to buy their own inexpensively through the buying power of the university : many years ago. It is now coming back to haunt us. Okay, I for one would like to see this theory explained. The fact is that you can't get prices much better than mail-order houses offer, even if you're a reseller. Having worked for one, I guess I know. Perhaps Steve means that the University should subsidize students in buying their own equipment? If that were to happen, I'd be one of the first in line, but I doubt that it WILL happen, since any money invested by the University would leave campus within a few years, but workstations in labs can be surplussed for at least some recovery of funds... -- Nalin Dahyabhai nalin@argus.rh.ncsu.edu http://www4.ncsu.edu/~nsdahya1/www/ From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!garvin Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!garvin From: garvin@unity.ncsu.edu (Michael Arthur Garvin) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 3 Mar 1996 02:16:47 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 82 Message-ID: <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: voyager.eos.ncsu.edu Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2509 ncsu.eos:679 ncsu.unity:520 Steven J. Crisp wrote: > >There *is* a way around this problem and it is one which many other >universities use. Simply require all students to own a computer. The >problem with doing so is that it upsets the cart over in financial aid. >By requiring a computer (between $1,000 and $5,000 worth of equipment >depending on the discipline) the university would have to re-calculate >the estimated cost of attendance. That would increase the total that a >student could borrow or receive in grants and, in turn, increase the >potential default rate of the university. > I'm curious: what is the default rate and how much of it do we actually wind up collecting? Or are we just throwing away tax and tuition money? > >So what we do then is force most students to use equipment which may be >far less or far more than what any individual student actually needs. And >then we limit the use of those computers by grossly undersupplying >demand. > Yes, we have lines in the labs. We're working on adding machines even now (there are 50 more in Central Receiving). However, space is a serious issue that we're dealing with. But in the context of this discussion if you have a system in your home/room you can only use it once; logging in two or three times wouldn't have entered the picture... As for far less/far more, there was an interesting argument years ago about this. It went something like, "If the speed limit is 55, then why would I want a car that can do 56 or more? Likewise, if I'm never going to fully utilize the computers, why buy the fast ones?" > >But we apparently made the decision to have the university act as the >central supplies of workstations as opposed to having students being able >to buy their own inexpensively through the buying power of the university >many years ago. It is now coming back to haunt us. > From having friends at Viginia Tech I can say that while this sounds like a good idea it hasn't worked very well. In the five year period around 1988-1993 they required three different platforms (Decstations, Commodore Amiga 3000s [!], and now PCs), the students sunk tons of money in, and they have little to show for it. Obviously picked something to start with like a PC or Mac would have been a much better idea, but you learn. Students here have gotten several equipment upgrades over the same period, with only a minor fee increase. The 2100s begat 3100s, which begat 5000s, and are now rolling over to Sparc 4s and 5s. Not to mention the amount of software that's installed. Even with a generous discount I can see people paying $1,000+ for the inital purchase, and that much again for software and annual upgrades during their stay. And they probably won't have a lasting investment to show for it. We also need to take into account the idea that this University provides an inexpensive education; by this token, charging thousands more for a computer doesn't fit in. Instead we charge around $1,500 over a five year stay to cover computers, chemicals, foreign language tapes, etc... Changing threads quickly, re: why people bottle these things up, don't complain, or complain to certain other to complain for them, students have the right to complain. Believe me, there are certain ones who hated to see me walk in their door while I was here (and still wince). But folks, you've got to get off your butt and do it the right way to the right people. Formal written complaints to the department or college are a wonderful thing. If you've got a beef with an op, send us an official complaint - the bureaucracy loves paperwork, and you'll get a lot more attention than sending it here where most don't look. But whining via news amongst yourselves gets nowhere since no one seems to be doing so to the people that matter. Ok, I'm off my soapbox. Summary: get up, go talk to folks and file the papers, and comiserate in news when that fails. Ok, almost done: they don't actually recycle the plastic soda bottles, they just collect them to throw them out? Isn't that illegal in Wake county, and even if not what's the point in the bins then? -- | Michael Garvin \ North Carolina State University College of Engineering | Systems Programmer \ Information Technology & Engineering Computer Services | garvin@eos.ncsu.edu \ 5 Page Hall, Box 7901 NCSU Campus, Raleigh, NC 27695 | (919) 515-2458 \ http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/staff/garvin/ From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 3 Mar 1996 03:48:10 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 30 Distribution: world Message-ID: <4hb4pq$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4has79$ul@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2511 ncsu.eos:681 ncsu.unity:522 Nalin Dahyabhai (nsdahya1@argus.rh.ncsu.edu) wrote: : Okay, I for one would like to see this theory explained. The fact is that : you can't get prices much better than mail-order houses offer, even if : you're a reseller. Having worked for one, I guess I know. You're assuming that the price the university charged to the students would include a healthy profit margin such as the mail-order houses add to their wholesale. A large-volume purchase by the university for the express purpose of supplying students would result in a savings of around 30 to 40 percent under the best price that any mail-order could provide. Just look at what Yale students pay. : Perhaps Steve means that the University should subsidize students in buying : their own equipment? If that were to happen, I'd be one of the first in : line, but I doubt that it WILL happen, since any money invested by the : University would leave campus within a few years, but workstations in labs : can be surplussed for at least some recovery of funds... You want to find out about surplus? Find out where all the Macs are that were once being used in CSC 200. Steve Crisp -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 3 Mar 1996 04:29:29 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 137 Message-ID: <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2512 ncsu.eos:682 ncsu.unity:523 Michael Arthur Garvin (garvin@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : I'm curious: what is the default rate and how much of it do we actually : wind up collecting? Or are we just throwing away tax and tuition money? The default rate for NCSU is one of the lowest in the nation and for reason. NCSU funnels their financial aid students through College Foundation, a state consortium which handles student loans for those with NC residency. (Until two years ago, the financial aid office would not even tell a student that there were hundreds of other lenders available. It was CFI or nothing.) The problem with CFI is that if there is the least little bit of a problem with ones parents financial status (i.e., late payments, business bankruptcy from years ago, suits and judgements that are business connected, high debt-to-equity ratio, etc.) the student gets turned down for aid. In other words, unless the parents are in a position to walk into any bank and borrow an unsecured loan for tens of thousands of dollars (which most can't) the student is SOL. The problem with the system is that a whole lot of students fall through the cracks - and it is even worse now that most students can't get independent status. And what is so bad is that the loans should be based on the actuarial percentage of the *student* to repay the loan after graduation - not based on the parent's current ability to pay immediately. What happens in a lot of cases is that (particularly) urban black students and those from rural farming families can not get loans because of problems their parents have. You've got kids trying to make a better life for themselves than their parents have and they are fucked out the gate. (This situation has changed dramatically since the new director of financial aid arrived. She changed the policy to have on-hand applications from several different lenders - many of which won't even check credit at all. They lend to the student provided that the financial aid office certifies eligibility - which they do independent of a credit check.) When a loan is defaulted, the costs are borne first by the lender and then by the federal government in the event that the loan becomes uncollectable. The university bears no responsibility for collections, but the default amount is counted against the total aid lent. If the ratio gets too high, the university can lose lending status; from what I understand, that default ratio needs to hit 25 percent. If I remember correctly, it is currently less than 2 percent. The money for defaulted loans comes out of your tax dollars because the loans are guaranteed by the government, but... The government has very powerful tools to recover the money, i.e., liens on paychecks, foreclosure of property, etc., but they choose not to exercise those legal option for whatever reason. Loses votes... : Yes, we have lines in the labs. We're working on adding machines even : now (there are 50 more in Central Receiving). However, space is a serious : issue that we're dealing with. But in the context of this discussion if you : have a system in your home/room you can only use it once; logging in two or : three times wouldn't have entered the picture... Bingo. Space *is* the problem. One could buy 25,000 machines for every student to use, but the facilities to house them would cost more than the computers. A lot more. Figuring $2,000 per set-up and 50 square feet per computer, the computers would run $5 million and the building would cost about $150 million to construct. : As for far less/far more, there was an interesting argument years ago : about this. It went something like, "If the speed limit is 55, then why would : I want a car that can do 56 or more? Likewise, if I'm never going to fully : utilize the computers, why buy the fast ones?" Exactly. Let the students determine just how much machine they want and need. Then provide student loans to purchase them if the student needs it. : From having friends at Viginia Tech I can say that while this sounds : like a good idea it hasn't worked very well. In the five year period around : 1988-1993 they required three different platforms (Decstations, Commodore : Amiga 3000s [!], and now PCs), the students sunk tons of money in, and they : have little to show for it. Obviously picked something to start with like a : PC or Mac would have been a much better idea, but you learn. Such is the problem when one is platform dependent. We should be program dependent. That way a student can purchase any platform he or she wants as long as the program will run on either its own OS or an emulator. To use an example, we should be teaching (or requiring the use of) Microsoft Excel rather than Excel for Window (or whatever.) : Students here have gotten several equipment upgrades over the same : period, with only a minor fee increase. The 2100s begat 3100s, which begat : 5000s, and are now rolling over to Sparc 4s and 5s. Not to mention the amount : of software that's installed. Even with a generous discount I can see people : paying $1,000+ for the inital purchase, and that much again for software and : annual upgrades during their stay. And they probably won't have a lasting : investment to show for it. We also need to take into account the idea that : this University provides an inexpensive education; by this token, charging : thousands more for a computer doesn't fit in. Instead we charge around $1,500 : over a five year stay to cover computers, chemicals, foreign language tapes, : etc... Please tell me why CHASS students should subsidize the educational toys of PAMS students when CHASS students need basically a word processor and spreadsheet program for 90 percent of what they do and only have to take two science lab courses? And why should PAMS students subsidize the language labs for those majoring in foreign language? We need to go back to the old system - take a lab and pay a fee when you take that lab. At least then I (theoretically) knew where my money was going. As it is now, who the hell knows. : Changing threads quickly, re: why people bottle these things up, don't : complain, or complain to certain other to complain for them, students have : the right to complain. Believe me, there are certain ones who hated to see : me walk in their door while I was here (and still wince). But folks, you've : got to get off your butt and do it the right way to the right people. Formal : written complaints to the department or college are a wonderful thing. If : you've got a beef with an op, send us an official complaint - the bureaucracy : loves paperwork, and you'll get a lot more attention than sending it here : where most don't look. But whining via news amongst yourselves gets nowhere : since no one seems to be doing so to the people that matter. Doesn't get much done around here to complain through the proper channels anymore. The student is basically screwed unless one happens to run into a member of the administration who cares *and* has the power to do something. Those folks have become somewhat rare. Then add in the factor that many students are scared to death of what the university may do to them (whether justified or not) and you get students keeping their mouths shut and the same old shit going on. Look at Housing and Residence Life. People are scared shitless about complaining. There have been too many threats by RAs and RDs in the past threating to throw students out of the dorm if they bitched. Just look at what happened at Wood Hall last semester. And if you don't remember that thread, just ask me - I'll review it for you. Steve Crisp -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!adm.csc.ncsu.edu!harrison Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!adm.csc.ncsu.edu!harrison From: harrison@adm.csc.ncsu.edu (Lou Harrison) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.www,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 3 Mar 1996 12:33:45 GMT Organization: (Administration machine NCSU Dept. Computer Science) Lines: 31 Message-ID: <4hc3j9$1br@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: adm.csc.ncsu.edu Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2519 ncsu.www:320 ncsu.eos:685 ncsu.unity:526 In article <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) writes: > >Lou Harrison (harrison@adm.csc.ncsu.edu) wrote: > >: Well, Tim, Steve is WTVD's internet expert, too! No wonder that they >: aren't on the web yet. > >Interesting Lou. So you think that me talking to WTVD represents some >sort of consultancy for them, huh? Well, let's then take a look at your >job of controlling the people around you - a task which is *actually* in >your job description. What's the matter Steve, truth hurt? I've read your post and can safely conclude that, as always, you are maaking up facts to suit your "argument." I grow weary of playing these games with you. My operators work in 100 Lea, 224 Withers and 400 Withers, and enforce the rules as layed out by my department and the COE computer committee. If Lawrence was in 247 Dan, he was acting under the auspices of ITECS (see, Steve, he works there too). Sounds to me like the user in question wasn't playing by the rules. Maybe Lawrence should have handled it differently. Maybe the user should have only used one machine. Who is to say. In any event, since Lawrence wasn't working for me at the time, and wasn't in a lab I have any authority over its not my problem (even if the incontravertable Steve Crisp says so). [pedantic drivel deleted] Lou Harrison From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!adm.csc.ncsu.edu!harrison Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!adm.csc.ncsu.edu!harrison From: harrison@adm.csc.ncsu.edu (Lou Harrison) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.www,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 3 Mar 1996 12:36:29 GMT Organization: (Administration machine NCSU Dept. Computer Science) Lines: 16 Message-ID: <4hc3od$3bg@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: adm.csc.ncsu.edu Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2520 ncsu.www:321 ncsu.eos:686 ncsu.unity:527 In article <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) writes: >Jeffrey James Price (jjprice@eos.ncsu.edu) wrote: > >: These students have no place to run these simulations besides a public lab, and >: the policy in public labs is that you may not be running a screen lock, or >: logged into more than one machine (which BTW the female you mentioned was >: logged into two machines at the time). However it is ridiculous to expect >: students to baby-sit a machine for 12 hours, or even 2 days in one case. > >There *is* a way around this problem and it is one which many other >universities use. Simply require all students to own a computer. The [more drivel deleted] Typical Steve, instead of saying "ooops, I was wrong, sorry guys" you just try to change the thread to a different issue. From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!adm.csc.ncsu.edu!harrison Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!adm.csc.ncsu.edu!harrison From: harrison@adm.csc.ncsu.edu (Lou Harrison) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 3 Mar 1996 12:37:48 GMT Organization: (Administration machine NCSU Dept. Computer Science) Lines: 8 Message-ID: <4hc3qs$5vq@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4has79$ul@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb4pq$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: adm.csc.ncsu.edu Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2521 ncsu.eos:687 ncsu.unity:528 In article <4hb4pq$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) writes: > >You want to find out about surplus? Find out where all the Macs are >that were once being used in CSC 200. > >Steve Crisp Oh, do tell, what happened to them? From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 3 Mar 1996 13:33:13 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 22 Message-ID: <4hc72p$5d0@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4has79$ul@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb4pq$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hc3qs$5vq@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2522 ncsu.eos:688 ncsu.unity:529 Lou Harrison (harrison@adm.csc.ncsu.edu) wrote: : In article <4hb4pq$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) writes: : > : >You want to find out about surplus? Find out where all the Macs are : >that were once being used in CSC 200. : : Oh, do tell, what happened to them? Don't know, Lou. What happened to them after they sat unused for at least 6 months? Where did you put them? I know that many of them were in a storage closet for months. I also know that about 25 remained in the other half of the lab being used as paperweights. Has there finally been some disposition on them? Steve Crisp -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!spkorb Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!spkorb From: spkorb@unity.ncsu.edu (Sean Philip Korb) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 3 Mar 1996 17:52:09 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 32 Distribution: world Message-ID: <4hcm89$38v@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4has79$ul@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb4pq$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hc3qs$5vq@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hc72p$5d0@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> Reply-To: spkorb@eos.ncsu.edu (Sean Philip Korb) NNTP-Posting-Host: c01021-111poe.eos.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: mxrn 6.18-30 Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2524 ncsu.eos:689 ncsu.unity:530 In article <4hc72p$5d0@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) writes: > Lou Harrison (harrison@adm.csc.ncsu.edu) wrote: > : In article <4hb4pq$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) writes: > : > > : >You want to find out about surplus? Find out where all the Macs are > : >that were once being used in CSC 200. > : > : Oh, do tell, what happened to them? > > Don't know, Lou. What happened to them after they sat unused for at least > 6 months? Where did you put them? I know that many of them were in a > storage closet for months. I also know that about 25 remained in the > other half of the lab being used as paperweights. Has there finally been > some disposition on them? Ooo! Ooo! I know! I know! In our super secret hideout for only the privaleged senior ops, we're using them as a big Jepordy board to torture and intimidate users who would otherwise squeal on us for our heavyhanded tactics. We even bring in Alex Trebek! The users crack in seconds! (we've got pictures) sean 8-) -- My job is almost important enough so that folks need to know who I am: Sean Korb: Senior Operator, CSC Eos Computing Laboratories at NCSU "Fight the power!" --Public Enemy My homepage: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~spkorb/www/ From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu (Kevin P. Neal) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 3 Mar 1996 23:03:44 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 19 Message-ID: <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2527 ncsu.eos:692 ncsu.unity:533 Steven J. Crisp (sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : : Exactly. Let the students determine just how much machine they want and : need. Then provide student loans to purchase them if the student needs it. : We have CSC Seniors who don't know how to figure out options to give to a compiler (seriously), it's too much to expect Joe Freshman in Chemistry to figure out just how much computer he (in reality) needs. (Oh, and be careful when referring to Amiga 3000s, Garvin. Mine is running NetBSD right now, and I am thinking about installing SVR4 later. SVR4/Amiga was one of the first SVR4s to hit the market.) -- XCOMM -------------------------------------------------------- XCOMM Kevin P. Neal, Sophomore CSC/CPE kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu XCOMM North Carolina State University kevinneal@bix.com XCOMM -------------------------------------------------------- From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!wstester Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!wstester From: wstester@unity.ncsu.edu (W. Scott Tester) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 3 Mar 1996 23:27:18 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 46 Message-ID: <4hd9sm$9dr@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc04du.unity.ncsu.edu Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2528 ncsu.eos:693 ncsu.unity:534 In article <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, Kevin P. Neal wrote: >Steven J. Crisp (sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: >: >: Exactly. Let the students determine just how much machine they want and >: need. Then provide student loans to purchase them if the student needs it. >: > >We have CSC Seniors who don't know how to figure out options to give >to a compiler (seriously), it's too much to expect Joe Freshman in >Chemistry to figure out just how much computer he (in reality) needs. Yes, this is true. We also have ECE seniors who can't do the something as trivial as sticking a cout into a piece of code. A good portion of the complaints I get are people who can't figure out to add "-lm" to their compile string even though it explicitly sais to on the instructions. Some people never learn.... One of my friends was showing me a PC in the CHASS lab where an OPERATOR had stuck a CD-ROM into a 5.25" floppy drive and got it stuck. Yes, I said an OPERATOR. Others have tried to fold 5.25" disks and shove them into 3.5" disk drives, but at least they weren't OPs. Then there's the guy who couldn't figure out what to do with the printer that claimed it was "offline" or the girl who couldn't double-click. I'll never forget her. It just goes on and on... :-) Long live higher ed.... Scott >XCOMM -------------------------------------------------------- >XCOMM Kevin P. Neal, Sophomore CSC/CPE kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu >XCOMM North Carolina State University kevinneal@bix.com >XCOMM -------------------------------------------------------- -- +++------------------------------------------+++---------------------------+++ ||| ||| ||| ||| W. Scott Tester ||| See Jack. ||| ||| Senior, Electrical/Computer Engineering ||| See Jill. ||| ||| Scott_Tester@ncsu.edu ||| Jack sees Jill ||| ||| http://scaredy.catt.ncsu.edu/~scott ||| Bye, Jack. Bye, Jill. ||| ||| ||| ||| +++------------------------------------------+++---------------------------+++ From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 4 Mar 1996 01:32:26 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 56 Message-ID: <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2530 ncsu.eos:695 ncsu.unity:536 Kevin P. Neal (kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu) wrote: : : Exactly. Let the students determine just how much machine they want and : : need. Then provide student loans to purchase them if the student needs it. : : We have CSC Seniors who don't know how to figure out options to give : to a compiler (seriously), it's too much to expect Joe Freshman in : Chemistry to figure out just how much computer he (in reality) needs. That's why most manufactures are going to open architecture. Your basic freshman in any discipline needs minimum 8 meg RAM, 500 meg hard drive, running at 80+ MHz. Those in the scientific arena can add another 8 meg right off the bat and go for 100+ Mhz up front. As one progresses through their academic career, they add more RAM and external memory as needed. They add accelleraters and clock chippers or do a mother-board up-grade as needed. Really, imagine this. The university obtains new equipment for re-sale to students-only at an insanely low contract rate. If a student initially goes with a 601 processor and then finds a need to up-grade to a 604, all they do is bring down their existing machine to hardware services and pay an upgrade charge. The old motherboard is refurbished, tested, and placed in another machine to be sold as used to another student who needs it. Design students may need a video card or 6X CD-ROM. CHASS students probably need only a 2X CD-rom drive and a 14" monitor. Those in aerospace have their eye on that 21" monitor monster so that's what they go with up front. And software? Site licenses for everything held by the university and students pay the pro-rated charge for each program they use during their stay at NCSU. The university actually has this in place now, but it is only available for faculty and staff. Why shouldn't a student be able to get MicroSoft Office to use on their own computer for $50 or so with the program up-grades available as they come out? There is no reason not to. A side benefit to all this is that the demands on CC drop significantly. CC servers then become basically ones net connection and a place to act as turn-in storage for assignments. If individual departments require massive computing power or storage requirements for their individual students, then those individual departments provide the servers on which the students can do their work; CC then acts only as a conduit from a students machine to the departmental servers and the students computer become no more than a terminal. That is how some of PAMS is set up now. Folks sit at home and tie to the Indigo monsters in the BOM; they telnet over to RTP and access the Crays when they need to. CC is out of the loop except in providing the lines. Steve Crisp -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!cc04du.unity.ncsu.edu!wjcuthre Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!cc04du.unity.ncsu.edu!wjcuthre From: wjcuthre@unity.ncsu.edu (William Jason Cuthrell) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.www,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 01:37:23 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 27 Distribution: world Message-ID: <4hdhgj$au4@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc04du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2531 ncsu.www:324 ncsu.eos:696 ncsu.unity:537 Steven J. Crisp (sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : There *is* a way around this problem and it is one which many other : universities use. Simply require all students to own a computer. The : problem with doing so is that it upsets the cart over in financial aid. hmm... you are full of it on this one Steve and the thread's previous contents as well... but I have to add: 1) have you ever taken the time to read the system policy? 2) have you ever taken the time to _ask_ for clarification? 3) do you know what a screen lock means? seriously? 4) do you understand the concept of a site license? I am running simulations too Steve and I know a great many folks who run into this problem... but there are options beyond using xlock once again... you have less than 1/3 of a clue... Is this part of Lou's job description? uh.. no. -- /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\ / Jay Cuthrell [Q-thrul] wjcuthre@eos.ncsu.edu \ / http://www4.ncsu.edu/eos/users/w/wjcuthre/www/ \ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!rkswamy Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!rkswamy From: rkswamy@unity.ncsu.edu (Ravi K. Swamy) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 02:00:20 GMT Organization: Gunsmith Cats Lines: 20 Message-ID: <4hdirk$b58@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc04du.unity.ncsu.edu Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2533 ncsu.eos:698 ncsu.unity:539 In article <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, Kevin P. Neal wrote: >Steven J. Crisp (sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: >: >: Exactly. Let the students determine just how much machine they want and >: need. Then provide student loans to purchase them if the student needs it. >: > >We have CSC Seniors who don't know how to figure out options to give >to a compiler (seriously), it's too much to expect Joe Freshman in >Chemistry to figure out just how much computer he (in reality) needs. > >(Oh, and be careful when referring to Amiga 3000s, Garvin. Mine >is running NetBSD right now, and I am thinking about installing SVR4 >later. SVR4/Amiga was one of the first SVR4s to hit the market.) I thought installing System V would be blasphemous to someone who preaches *BSD as much as you? :) Ravi From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!rkswamy Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!rkswamy From: rkswamy@unity.ncsu.edu (Ravi K. Swamy) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 02:03:56 GMT Organization: Gunsmith Cats Lines: 19 Message-ID: <4hdj2c$avq@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd9sm$9dr@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc04du.unity.ncsu.edu Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2534 ncsu.eos:699 ncsu.unity:540 In article <4hd9sm$9dr@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, W. Scott Tester wrote: >One of my friends was showing me a PC in the CHASS lab where an OPERATOR >had stuck a CD-ROM into a 5.25" floppy drive and got it stuck. Yes, I >said an OPERATOR. Others have tried to fold 5.25" disks and shove them >into 3.5" disk drives, but at least they weren't OPs. Then there's the >guy who couldn't figure out what to do with the printer that claimed it >was "offline" or the girl who couldn't double-click. I'll never forget >her. It just goes on and on... :-) Reminds me of a story a sunsite admin told me from the Bastard Operator Handbook, or maybe it was another sunsite admin... This guy used to keep the actual inside disk from a 5.25" floppy in his front shirt pocket folded up in a triangular fashion kind of like one of those fancy napkins. Whenever a clueless person came up asking to "fix their account" he'd unfold the floppy and put it in and try to read off the disk. Well it was funny when he told it to me... Ravi From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!argus.rh.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!argus.rh.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: nsdahya1@argus.rh.ncsu.edu (Nalin Dahyabhai) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 02:06:55 GMT Organization: N.C. State University Lines: 57 Message-ID: <4hdj7v$b9j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: argus.rh.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950515BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2535 ncsu.eos:700 ncsu.unity:541 On 4 Mar 1996 01:32:26 GMT, Steven J. Crisp (sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : That's why most manufactures are going to open architecture. Your basic : freshman in any discipline needs minimum 8 meg RAM, 500 meg hard drive, : running at 80+ MHz. Those in the scientific arena can add another 8 meg : right off the bat and go for 100+ Mhz up front. As one progresses : through their academic career, they add more RAM and external memory as : needed. They add accelleraters and clock chippers or do a mother-board : up-grade as needed. Really, imagine this. The university obtains new : equipment for re-sale to students-only at an insanely low contract rate. : If a student initially goes with a 601 processor and then finds a need to : up-grade to a 604, all they do is bring down their existing machine to : hardware services and pay an upgrade charge. The old motherboard is : refurbished, tested, and placed in another machine to be sold as used to : another student who needs it. I like the idea. But the rate at which technology advances is going to make that 604 or 486 obsolete by the time the student brings it back, so that the entry-level processors are going to be almost useless within the time the student has it.... : Design students may need a video card or 6X CD-ROM. CHASS students : probably need only a 2X CD-rom drive and a 14" monitor. Those in : aerospace have their eye on that 21" monitor monster so that's what they : go with up front. Hmmm... others have made the point that some students wouldn't even know what these terms mean and therefore can't guage their needs, but they could get some help. Another thing is that though some equipment (Pentium 133, 16 megs of RAM, 6x CD-ROM) may be a good idea, you can often make do with less (486/80, 8 megs, quad-speed)... : And software? Site licenses for everything held by the university and : students pay the pro-rated charge for each program they use during their : stay at NCSU. The university actually has this in place now, but it is : only available for faculty and staff. Why shouldn't a student be able to : get MicroSoft Office to use on their own computer for $50 or so : with the program up-grades available as they come out? There is no reason : not to. If the software companies are amenable to it, I'd love to see this happen... and throw in some programming tools, too. : A side benefit to all this is that the demands on CC drop significantly. : CC servers then become basically ones net connection and a place to act : as turn-in storage for assignments. Again, this is possible (as far as I can see), but don't expect *every* student to go with it. I think we could check with people on the residence hall net and compare how much time they spend logged in on Unity with those who don't have a connection of their own... I for one would spend at least three times as much time on Eos/Unity were it not for my box... -- Nalin Dahyabhai nalin@argus.rh.ncsu.edu http://www4.ncsu.edu/~nsdahya1/www/ From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 4 Mar 1996 03:15:14 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 101 Message-ID: <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdj7v$b9j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2537 ncsu.eos:702 ncsu.unity:543 Nalin Dahyabhai (nsdahya1@argus.rh.ncsu.edu) wrote: : I like the idea. But the rate at which technology advances is going to make : that 604 or 486 obsolete by the time the student brings it back, so that the : entry-level processors are going to be almost useless within the time the : student has it.... To an extent, you have a point, but I think you overestimate the needs of most users based on what you (probably) need. For someone who needs a wordprocessor, a spreadsheet, and a database program an old 386 or 030 running System 6 works just fine. And they will still work just fine for those operations 10 years from now even if the aerospace engineer has liquid-bubble, neuro-processing memory for their uses. : Hmmm... others have made the point that some students wouldn't even know : what these terms mean and therefore can't guage their needs, but they could : get some help. At some point, there will be guidelines formulated for minimum standards based on curriculum. Someone in Political Science would have a specific minimum platform recommendation which would differ from someone in Animal Science. Every freshman would have a required computer literacy course their first semester in which the very first thing taught would be a word processing program. This would be followed by whatever is more germane to the individual major. Those in business would get Excel next. Those in math would get Mathetica. And so on and so forth. Any student who already knew how to use specific programs could place out of any particular module of the course and attend only those weeks in which the student did not have a grasp on a particular program. : Another thing is that though some equipment (Pentium 133, 16 : megs of RAM, 6x CD-ROM) may be a good idea, you can often make do with less : (486/80, 8 megs, quad-speed)... And that becomes the option of the student as a freshman to decide what base machine he or she wants and then what to add or up-grade later. I started with 8 meg RAM, 250 internal HD, 2X CD-ROM on an 030. I'm now on an 040 with 40 meg RAM, a total of 3 gigs of storage, a 4X CD-ROM and am soon going to a 604 with 136 meg RAM, 6X CD-ROM, and a CD burner for mass storage. And I started out with a 1200 baud modem and I'm now up to 28.8. I was looking at going ISDN, but something came up. Oh, what the hell...I'll fill you in here and now (and those who are reading this thread will start drooling.) I spoke with the head engineer at Cablevision of Raleigh the other day and we were talking about my needs versus what they were going to offer as a result of the telecommunications bill recently passed. I explained to him that I was thinking about going ISDN, but wanted to find out what they had in store before I made that commitment. He told me that in my area (Avent Ferry and Gorman) within a year we would have 27 service. So I'm thinking, what the hell is 27 and why would I even want it since it's slower than the 28.8 I now use. He then pointed out that he did not mean 27,000 baud, but 27 MILLION baud. I like to shit in my pants. The target for my area is one year and with a target price of $30 per month. They also intend to provide hundreds of channels on TV (I'm gonna hold of on DSS as well then) and local telephone service. All on optic fiber on digital with local decoders to convert for existing broadcasting equipment, but fully adaptable for the new standard TVs soon to hit the market. : If the software companies are amenable to it, I'd love to see this happen... : and throw in some programming tools, too. And why should they not be? It's a no brainer on their part. Would they rather derive income from existing educational program discounts for say 1000 students or generate income for an inexpensive site license for 25,000 students? And they wouldn't have to worry about pirating after a student leaves school either. Simply set an expiration on the program that is tied to a cumulative clock (so that one can not override an expiration by simply re-setting the system clock.) Every semester, each student gets an up-grade key when they renew their registration. That number could be tied to previous keys so that any students up-grade passcode would only work on the specific program that the student previously licensed for him- or herself. That way you couldn't just give the disk to you friend who has graduated. The personal checks would not match. (Unless, of course, you just gave them the whole program which is a violation of current use laws anyway.) : : A side benefit to all this is that the demands on CC drop significantly. : : CC servers then become basically ones net connection and a place to act : : as turn-in storage for assignments. : : Again, this is possible (as far as I can see), but don't expect *every* : student to go with it. I think we could check with people on the residence : hall net and compare how much time they spend logged in on Unity with those : who don't have a connection of their own... I for one would spend at least : three times as much time on Eos/Unity were it not for my box... Could you clarify this further? I'm not sure what you are stating here. Would you use the system more or less if you had your own computer? And how would a student having their own computer affect unity/eos usage in your opinion? Steve Crisp -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:12 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 03:26:31 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 24 Message-ID: <4hdnt7$bpv@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdj7v$b9j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2538 ncsu.eos:703 ncsu.unity:544 Steven J. Crisp (sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : math would get Mathetica. Obviously, I meant Mathematica, but that brings up a small addition. When I stated introductory course what I was referring to was just that - a beginners course in the basics. No one is going to become proficient in any program in two to four weeks. That is what additional courses are for. So that the first semester, everyone learns specific basics germane to their academic discipline and in subsequent semesters additional full semester courses or half-semester mini-courses are offered which go into particular programs in depth. One would then take a semester or mini-course offering in Mathematica, Photoshop, advanced Excel, or any other program that has subtle intricacies and increased difficulty of operation beyond the basics. Steve Crisp -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!wakko Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!wakko From: wakko@bob.catt.ncsu.edu (Rally Vincent) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 04:49:11 GMT Organization: Gunsmith Cats Lines: 122 Message-ID: <4hdso7$bdd@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdj7v$b9j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: bob.catt.ncsu.edu Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2542 ncsu.eos:704 ncsu.unity:545 In article <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, Steven J. Crisp wrote: >Nalin Dahyabhai (nsdahya1@argus.rh.ncsu.edu) wrote: > >: I like the idea. But the rate at which technology advances is going to make >: that 604 or 486 obsolete by the time the student brings it back, so that the >: entry-level processors are going to be almost useless within the time the >: student has it.... > >To an extent, you have a point, but I think you overestimate the needs of >most users based on what you (probably) need. For someone who needs a I always laugh at the idiots "keeping up with the Jones's" just for the sake of "keeping up" and to be able to claim that their's is bigger. When my neighbor got a Pentium 150 to run Quicken on, well I just had to laugh. >wordprocessor, a spreadsheet, and a database program an old 386 or 030 >running System 6 works just fine. And they will still work just fine for >those operations 10 years from now even if the aerospace engineer has >liquid-bubble, neuro-processing memory for their uses. Hey, I've got that now. 5 femto second access time. >: Hmmm... others have made the point that some students wouldn't even know >: what these terms mean and therefore can't guage their needs, but they could >: get some help. > >At some point, there will be guidelines formulated for minimum standards >based on curriculum. Someone in Political Science would have a specific >minimum platform recommendation which would differ from someone in Animal >Science. Every freshman would have a required computer literacy course >their first semester in which the very first thing taught would be a word I know that nearly all engineers take E115 their first semester but why not make the others take that CSC 200 (or whatever that lame course is) their first semester as well? I saw some of the things they do. I don't care if you're taking 18 hours. You could still handle the extra load from something that lame. >processing program. This would be followed by whatever is more germane to >the individual major. Those in business would get Excel next. Those in >math would get Mathetica. And so on and so forth. Any student who already But I thought we all liked Maple so much? >knew how to use specific programs could place out of any particular >module of the course and attend only those weeks in which the student did >not have a grasp on a particular program. Well in the case of E115 you can easily place out. I think you have to be braindead to not place out. >: Another thing is that though some equipment (Pentium 133, 16 >: megs of RAM, 6x CD-ROM) may be a good idea, you can often make do with less >: (486/80, 8 megs, quad-speed)... > >And that becomes the option of the student as a freshman to decide what >base machine he or she wants and then what to add or up-grade later. I >started with 8 meg RAM, 250 internal HD, 2X CD-ROM on an 030. I'm now on >an 040 with 40 meg RAM, a total of 3 gigs of storage, a 4X CD-ROM and am Wow, I only have 16 mb ram and 2.1 gigs of space. >soon going to a 604 with 136 meg RAM, 6X CD-ROM, and a CD burner for mass >storage. And I started out with a 1200 baud modem and I'm now up to 28.8. I think I'm going to get one of those phase change optical drives that double as a 4X cdrom drive. The cheapest CD burner I've seen is $999 and the cheapest PD/CD drive was $470 and you can write to these over and over. >I was looking at going ISDN, but something came up. Oh, what the >hell...I'll fill you in here and now (and those who are reading this >thread will start drooling.) Hmm, well I'm already kind of drooling. Can't say over what... >I spoke with the head engineer at Cablevision of Raleigh the other day >and we were talking about my needs versus what they were going to offer Are the FAQ committee's needs his needs? >as a result of the telecommunications bill recently passed. I explained >to him that I was thinking about going ISDN, but wanted to find out what >they had in store before I made that commitment. He told me that in my >area (Avent Ferry and Gorman) within a year we would have 27 service. So >I'm thinking, what the hell is 27 and why would I even want it since it's >slower than the 28.8 I now use. He then pointed out that he did not mean >27,000 baud, but 27 MILLION baud. I like to shit in my pants. The target I prefer to use the toilet for that. Do you do this a lot? What kind of detergent do you use? Actually you should ask Mattingly if you need help. I heard he cleans lots of baby diapers since he's trying to pick up the 1 year olds now that he's become desperate. >for my area is one year and with a target price of $30 per month. They Any more specifics? $30 fee for "service" in addition to charges per minute? I'd probably want a flat fee unlimited rate. And none of that Compuserve-esque bullshit censoring of groups. >also intend to provide hundreds of channels on TV (I'm gonna hold of on So instead of 57 channels and nothing good is on it'll be 570 channels and nothing good is on. >DSS as well then) and local telephone service. All on optic fiber on >digital with local decoders to convert for existing broadcasting >equipment, but fully adaptable for the new standard TVs soon to hit the >market. > >: If the software companies are amenable to it, I'd love to see this happen... >: and throw in some programming tools, too. I know we're talking about the non engineers but I can get just about everything I need for free with source anyway. [stuff cut] Ravi From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!argus.rh.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!argus.rh.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: nsdahya1@argus.rh.ncsu.edu (Nalin Dahyabhai) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 05:59:15 GMT Organization: N.C. State University Lines: 61 Message-ID: <4he0rj$d2q@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdj7v$b9j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: argus.rh.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950515BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2545 ncsu.eos:706 ncsu.unity:547 On 4 Mar 1996 03:15:14 GMT, Steven J. Crisp (sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : To an extent, you have a point, but I think you overestimate the needs of : most users based on what you (probably) need. For someone who needs a : wordprocessor, a spreadsheet, and a database program an old 386 or 030 : running System 6 works just fine. And they will still work just fine for : those operations 10 years from now even if the aerospace engineer has : liquid-bubble, neuro-processing memory for their uses. I agree with you there, but (and I have to use x86 platforms as a base here because that's what I actually own) when was the last time you saw something as resource hungry as Microsoft Word or Excel (and I mean the current shipping versions here, not stuff that's three years old) running on a 386/16 with 4 megabytes of RAM? Sure, an older computer is just dandy for running Wordperfect 5.1 and Lotus 1-2-3, but people who use these programs would think of the performance as intolerable. They like to stay current, even if the newer versions have no new features that they actually find useful -- and I'll save that one for another thread ("who actually uses all of those whiz-bang features?"). : : Another thing is that though some equipment (Pentium 133, 16 : : megs of RAM, 6x CD-ROM) may be a good idea, you can often make do with less : : (486/80, 8 megs, quad-speed)... : : And that becomes the option of the student as a freshman to decide what : base machine he or she wants and then what to add or up-grade later. I : started with 8 meg RAM, 250 internal HD, 2X CD-ROM on an 030. I'm now on : an 040 with 40 meg RAM, a total of 3 gigs of storage, a 4X CD-ROM and am : soon going to a 604 with 136 meg RAM, 6X CD-ROM, and a CD burner for mass : storage. And I started out with a 1200 baud modem and I'm now up to 28.8. But aside from the faster modem, did you actually *need* those upgrades? The hardware I use pales in comparison to most other systems I've heard my friends have, but I get the same things done (FYI, it IS a 486 with only 8 megs of RAM). [ Re: Requiring students to buy and use their own computers for coursework ] : : : A side benefit to all this is that the demands on CC drop significantly. : : : CC servers then become basically ones net connection and a place to act : : : as turn-in storage for assignments. : : : : Again, this is possible (as far as I can see), but don't expect *every* : : student to go with it. I think we could check with people on the residence : : hall net and compare how much time they spend logged in on Unity with those : : who don't have a connection of their own... I for one would spend at least : : three times as much time on Eos/Unity were it not for my box... : : Could you clarify this further? I'm not sure what you are stating here. : Would you use the system more or less if you had your own computer? And : how would a student having their own computer affect unity/eos usage in : your opinion? Well, given that many the same programs I use on Eos are availible under Linux (like Spice or GCC) or DOS/Windows (word processors and spreadsheets), I think I use the labs less than I would if I didn't have my computer. Of course, I've had my PC since I entered NCSU, so I don't have a real basis for comparison... -- Nalin Dahyabhai nalin@argus.rh.ncsu.edu http://www4.ncsu.edu/~nsdahya1/www/ From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 4 Mar 1996 12:26:57 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 43 Message-ID: <4henih$f2r@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdj7v$b9j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdso7$bdd@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2549 ncsu.eos:708 ncsu.unity:549 Rally Vincent (wakko@bob.catt.ncsu.edu) wrote: : I know that nearly all engineers take E115 their first semester but : why not make the others take that CSC 200 (or whatever that lame course is) : their first semester as well? I saw some of the things they do. : I don't care if you're taking 18 hours. You could still handle the : extra load from something that lame. I want you to pretent that you are a budding surgeon entering medical school. On the second day of class they bring you into an operating theater and hand you a scalpel; you have to perform an emergency appendectomy on a patient in front of you. And you can't say no. From a technical standpoint, there is not much difference between that scenario and an analysis of the learning curve in computer science. People who have never used computers are truly terrified at the thought of sitting down and using one. They have no idea of where to begin; even something as simple as point and click is a challenge as they try to exactly place the cursor on the dead center of an icon - slowly and meticulously. Just as you would stand there with a scalpel in your hand knowing that you needed to go in somewhere in the lower, right quadrant but not quite sure where or with how much pressure. Yet, after the first few days, the certain mechanical aspects become rote; a student doesn't even think of timing and pressure for a double click anymore; they just do it as needed. These tasks become cognitively automated. Compare to the surgeon again. Many good surgeons don't even open their own patients. Someone else does and then the lead surgeon takes over; something as rote (to them) as the initial incision is a waste of their time. You (meaning *everyone* in computer science) needs to start going much easier on the ones who know far less than you and need to start helping a bit more. Steve Crisp -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 4 Mar 1996 12:32:55 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 35 Message-ID: <4hentn$f2r@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hadh7$va6@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4haqtu$nk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdj7v$b9j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2552 ncsu.eos:710 ncsu.unity:551 Nalin Dahyabhai (nsdahya1@argus.rh.ncsu.edu) wrote: : I agree with you there, but (and I have to use x86 platforms as a base here : because that's what I actually own) when was the last time you saw something : as resource hungry as Microsoft Word or Excel (and I mean the current : shipping versions here, not stuff that's three years old) running on a : 386/16 with 4 megabytes of RAM? Sure, an older computer is just dandy for : running Wordperfect 5.1 and Lotus 1-2-3, but people who use these programs : would think of the performance as intolerable. They like to stay current, : even if the newer versions have no new features that they actually find : useful -- and I'll save that one for another thread ("who actually uses all : of those whiz-bang features?"). Who needs the latest version? I'm still running Word 5.1 with no intention of jumping to 6.0 ever. I'll probably continue to run system 7.5 for a long time after Copeland comes out. I get what works for my needs and stick with it until something better than an incremental change arrives. : But aside from the faster modem, did you actually *need* those upgrades? The : hardware I use pales in comparison to most other systems I've heard my : friends have, but I get the same things done (FYI, it IS a 486 with only 8 : megs of RAM). I do image processing - using mother RAM-hog applications and manipulating 40+ meg images. Steve Crisp -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: nsjohnso@unity.ncsu.edu (Nathan Scott Johnson) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 13:45:32 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 28 Message-ID: <4hes5s$c5e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdj7v$b9j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdso7$bdd@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4henih$f2r@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc02du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2553 ncsu.eos:711 ncsu.unity:552 Steven J. Crisp (sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : I want you to pretent that you are a budding surgeon entering medical : school. On the second day of class they bring you into an operating : theater and hand you a scalpel; you have to perform an emergency : appendectomy on a patient in front of you. And you can't say no. Somehow, clicking on the icon labeled "Mac Appendix" and dragging it to the trash can doesn't seem to hold *nearly* the urgency or need for perfection as does actually removing a *real* appendix. The worst someone with little or no knowledge someone can do to a computer is software, and with the way things are set up here, two hours and everybody's happy again. You cut the wrong thing inside someone, and their death will be the least of your worries. : You (meaning *everyone* in computer science) needs to start going much : easier on the ones who know far less than you and need to start helping a : bit more. Why do you think operators exist in the first place? Which department pays for the operators to sit in 100lez and 224wi so that questions can be answered, rules can be enforced, and machines stay in some resemblance of working order? The last time I checked, too, there was a lab of around 30 Sparc5's dedicated to CSC200 on the top floor of Leazar. If computer science needs to start going easier, what do you have to say for the other departments on campus? ...nate - Nathan S Johnson (nate@ncsu.edu) (+1.919.515.3909) - Computing Facilities Administrations Manager - North Carolina State University, Department of Computer Science - The time is now! (email me for details) From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!rkswamy Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!rkswamy From: rkswamy@unity.ncsu.edu (Ravi K. Swamy) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 13:49:41 GMT Organization: Gunsmith Cats Lines: 52 Message-ID: <4hesdl$5a5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdso7$bdd@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4henih$f2r@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: c01012-313mn.eos.ncsu.edu Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2554 ncsu.eos:712 ncsu.unity:553 In article <4henih$f2r@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, Steven J. Crisp wrote: >Rally Vincent (wakko@bob.catt.ncsu.edu) wrote: > >: I know that nearly all engineers take E115 their first semester but >: why not make the others take that CSC 200 (or whatever that lame course is) >: their first semester as well? I saw some of the things they do. >: I don't care if you're taking 18 hours. You could still handle the >: extra load from something that lame. > >I want you to pretent that you are a budding surgeon entering medical Pretend nothing. My part time job is being a surgeon over in Wakko Medical Center. >school. On the second day of class they bring you into an operating >theater and hand you a scalpel; you have to perform an emergency >appendectomy on a patient in front of you. And you can't say no. > >From a technical standpoint, there is not much difference between that >scenario and an analysis of the learning curve in computer science. >People who have never used computers are truly terrified at the thought >of sitting down and using one. They have no idea of where to begin; even >something as simple as point and click is a challenge as they try to >exactly place the cursor on the dead center of an icon - slowly and >meticulously. Just as you would stand there with a scalpel in your hand >knowing that you needed to go in somewhere in the lower, right quadrant >but not quite sure where or with how much pressure. I've worked with some people almost like that. I guess I see your point but even my two friends in accounting and soil science found the class to be pretty easy and neither had used a computer for much more than playing Doom. >Yet, after the first few days, the certain mechanical aspects become >rote; a student doesn't even think of timing and pressure for a double >click anymore; they just do it as needed. These tasks become cognitively >automated. Compare to the surgeon again. Many good surgeons don't even >open their own patients. Someone else does and then the lead surgeon >takes over; something as rote (to them) as the initial incision is a >waste of their time. > >You (meaning *everyone* in computer science) needs to start going much >easier on the ones who know far less than you and need to start helping a >bit more. Hey, I'm in computer engineering, but I know what you mean. Unfortunately its not easy. I learned a lot more working in RTP this summer with some stupid people. I quickly got the hang of treading lightly and not calling the boss a moron when he didn't know something. Ravi From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!cddukes Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!cddukes From: cddukes@unity.ncsu.edu (Christopher D Dukes) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 14:21:56 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 13 Message-ID: <4heua4$g7r@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdj7v$b9j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdso7$bdd@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc04du.unity.ncsu.edu Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2556 ncsu.eos:713 ncsu.unity:554 In article <4hdso7$bdd@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, Rally Vincent wrote: >In article <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, >Steven J. Crisp wrote: >>Nalin Dahyabhai (nsdahya1@argus.rh.ncsu.edu) wrote: >I always laugh at the idiots "keeping up with the Jones's" just >for the sake of "keeping up" and to be able to claim that their's >is bigger. With a sun 4/260 that needs 3 shoeboxes to hold all the disks, i think mine's bigger. > >When my neighbor got a Pentium 150 to run Quicken on, well I just had to laugh. And to think, your neighbor doesn't get two tubes with that either. From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!rkswamy Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!rkswamy From: rkswamy@unity.ncsu.edu (Ravi K. Swamy) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 15:13:59 GMT Organization: Gunsmith Cats Lines: 22 Distribution: world Message-ID: <4hf1bn$bji@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdj7v$b9j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdso7$bdd@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4heua4$g7r@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> Reply-To: rkswamy@eos.ncsu.edu (Ravi Krishna Swamy) NNTP-Posting-Host: c01009-313mn.eos.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: mxrn 6.18-30 Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2558 ncsu.eos:714 ncsu.unity:555 In article <4heua4$g7r@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, cddukes@unity.ncsu.edu (Christopher D Dukes) writes: >In article <4hdso7$bdd@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, >Rally Vincent wrote: >>In article <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, >>Steven J. Crisp wrote: >>>Nalin Dahyabhai (nsdahya1@argus.rh.ncsu.edu) wrote: >>I always laugh at the idiots "keeping up with the Jones's" just >>for the sake of "keeping up" and to be able to claim that their's >>is bigger. >With a sun 4/260 that needs 3 shoeboxes to hold all the disks, i think >mine's bigger. Science and Math has a bunch of machines like that. The things were huge and the fans were quite loud. >>When my neighbor got a Pentium 150 to run Quicken on, well I just had to laugh. >And to think, your neighbor doesn't get two tubes with that either. Nobody ever accused this guy of being smart, just rich. Ravi From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 4 Mar 1996 15:34:06 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 36 Message-ID: <4hf2he$gtt@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdj7v$b9j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdso7$bdd@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4henih$f2r@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hes5s$c5e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2562 ncsu.eos:716 ncsu.unity:557 Nathan Scott Johnson (nsjohnso@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : Somehow, clicking on the icon labeled "Mac Appendix" and dragging it to the : trash can doesn't seem to hold *nearly* the urgency or need for perfection as : does actually removing a *real* appendix. The worst someone with little or : no knowledge someone can do to a computer is software, and with the way things : are set up here, two hours and everybody's happy again. You cut the wrong : thing inside someone, and their death will be the least of your worries. No analogy is perfect, but I think if you get past whatever biases you have, you can see the illustration. : Why do you think operators exist in the first place? Which department pays for : the operators to sit in 100lez and 224wi so that questions can be answered, : rules can be enforced, and machines stay in some resemblance of working order? : The last time I checked, too, there was a lab of around 30 Sparc5's dedicated : to CSC200 on the top floor of Leazar. If computer science needs to start going : easier, what do you have to say for the other departments on campus? I don't know. Why *do* we have operators? In almost every interaction I have seen between a neophyte and an operator, the operator uses language that presumes a fairly extensive knowledge of the part of the questioner. Now, if the questioner has that superstructure of knowledge then a question may be satisfactorily answered, but as we saw several posts back there is a reluctance borne of incredulity to believe that a user can be as ignorant as many of them are. someone learning will only tolerate so much open disdain before they give up. Steve Crisp -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!garvin Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!garvin From: garvin@unity.ncsu.edu (Michael Arthur Garvin) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 17:55:51 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 26 Message-ID: <4hfar7$bo8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: voyager.eos.ncsu.edu Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2565 ncsu.eos:718 ncsu.unity:559 In article <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, Steven J. Crisp wrote: >Kevin P. Neal (kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu) wrote: > >: : Exactly. Let the students determine just how much machine they want and >: : need. Then provide student loans to purchase them if the student needs it. >: >: We have CSC Seniors who don't know how to figure out options to give >: to a compiler (seriously), it's too much to expect Joe Freshman in >: Chemistry to figure out just how much computer he (in reality) needs. > >Really, imagine this. The university obtains new >equipment for re-sale to students-only at an insanely low contract rate. It hasn't been said yet, so I'll say it... Umstead Act. One need not agree with it, but we have to abide by it. Of course, it is an election year... -- | Michael Garvin \ North Carolina State University College of Engineering | Systems Programmer \ Information Technology & Engineering Computer Services | garvin@eos.ncsu.edu \ 5 Page Hall, Box 7901 NCSU Campus, Raleigh, NC 27695 | (919) 515-2458 \ http://www.eos.ncsu.edu/staff/garvin/ From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 4 Mar 1996 18:26:09 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 31 Message-ID: <4hfck1$iro@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfar7$bo8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2567 ncsu.eos:720 ncsu.unity:560 Michael Arthur Garvin (garvin@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : >Really, imagine this. The university obtains new : >equipment for re-sale to students-only at an insanely low contract rate. : : It hasn't been said yet, so I'll say it... : : Umstead Act. That doesn't currently stop the NCSU bookstore from selling computers and software at a steep educational discount. Nor does it stop them from selling required textbooks for that matter. If I'm not mistaken, the Umstead Act only applies to those material goods that have no direct link to academics and the intent of the university (in this case.) Certainly a computer system required for use in a academic setting qualifies for inclusion in an academic exception. And if I'm again not mistaken, part of the Umstead Act specifically dis-allows the sale of university procured or manufactured items to the general public; *that* would amount to trade intrusion. By limiting sale of systems to only those currently registered half-time or greater, one could easily side-step both the letter and the spirit of the law. Steve Crisp -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu (Kevin P. Neal) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 4 Mar 1996 18:43:46 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 47 Message-ID: <4hfdl2$ip1@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdirk$b58@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2568 ncsu.eos:721 ncsu.unity:561 Ravi K. Swamy (rkswamy@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : In article <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, : Kevin P. Neal wrote: : >Steven J. Crisp (sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : >: : >: Exactly. Let the students determine just how much machine they want and : >: need. Then provide student loans to purchase them if the student needs it. : >: : > : >We have CSC Seniors who don't know how to figure out options to give : >to a compiler (seriously), it's too much to expect Joe Freshman in : >Chemistry to figure out just how much computer he (in reality) needs. : > : >(Oh, and be careful when referring to Amiga 3000s, Garvin. Mine : >is running NetBSD right now, and I am thinking about installing SVR4 : >later. SVR4/Amiga was one of the first SVR4s to hit the market.) : : I thought installing System V would be blasphemous to someone who : preaches *BSD as much as you? :) : Amix has it's neat points. For example: If you man something that has multiple man pages, like time(1) and time(2), it brings up a listing of the multiple pages, and asks you which ones you want to see. It can also show all of the matching pages one after the other. Sounds cool to me. It also has a permuted index, in case you want to see, for example, the "signaling" functions. Neat. The idea being to find the cool little things in Amix and rewrite them for NetBSD. Course, to install Amix and NetBSD and AmigaDOS on one machine requires writing a boot manager that doesn't require AmigaDOS. I can do that, just give me time. The NetBSD can have boot blocks itself, instead of requiring an AmigaDOS loadbsd program. I know how to do this, I just have a time problem. SVR4 has some neat features. AIX has lots and lots of neat features. The idea is to take the cool ones and integrate them into *BSD, and leave the piss-poor ideas in Vland. -- XCOMM -------------------------------------------------------- XCOMM Kevin P. Neal, Sophomore CSC/CPE kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu XCOMM North Carolina State University kevinneal@bix.com XCOMM -------------------------------------------------------- From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu (Kevin P. Neal) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 4 Mar 1996 18:49:57 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 33 Message-ID: <4hfe0l$ip1@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdj7v$b9j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdso7$bdd@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2569 ncsu.eos:722 ncsu.unity:562 Rally Vincent (wakko@bob.catt.ncsu.edu) wrote: : In article <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, : Steven J. Crisp wrote: : >Nalin Dahyabhai (nsdahya1@argus.rh.ncsu.edu) wrote: : > : >: I like the idea. But the rate at which technology advances is going to make : >: that 604 or 486 obsolete by the time the student brings it back, so that the : >: entry-level processors are going to be almost useless within the time the : >: student has it.... : > : >To an extent, you have a point, but I think you overestimate the needs of : >most users based on what you (probably) need. For someone who needs a : : I always laugh at the idiots "keeping up with the Jones's" just : for the sake of "keeping up" and to be able to claim that their's : is bigger. : You can always go the route I go. "Oh yeah, well my computer weighs more than you! And it's slower than every other computer on the floor!" : When my neighbor got a Pentium 150 to run Quicken on, well I just had to laugh. I got bored on day and wrote a checkbook balancing program with lex and yacc. On a 25Mhz '030 with 14mb of RAM and less than 500mb of drive. Scary things happen when you give me old, shitty, out of date hardware. I can run a 115k ISDN line with a 386/33. -- XCOMM -------------------------------------------------------- XCOMM Kevin P. Neal, Sophomore CSC/CPE kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu XCOMM North Carolina State University kevinneal@bix.com XCOMM -------------------------------------------------------- From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu (Kevin P. Neal) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 18:52:30 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 24 Message-ID: <4hfe5e$ip1@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdh7a$8l5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdj7v$b9j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdso7$bdd@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4henih$f2r@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2570 ncsu.eos:723 ncsu.unity:563 Steven J. Crisp (sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : Rally Vincent (wakko@bob.catt.ncsu.edu) wrote: : : : I know that nearly all engineers take E115 their first semester but : : why not make the others take that CSC 200 (or whatever that lame course is) : : their first semester as well? I saw some of the things they do. : : I don't care if you're taking 18 hours. You could still handle the : : extra load from something that lame. : : You (meaning *everyone* in computer science) needs to start going much : easier on the ones who know far less than you and need to start helping a : bit more. : Funny, I don't remember you on the "help" instance asking questions. When I see somebody ask a question that I can answer, I generally do answer that person. -- XCOMM -------------------------------------------------------- XCOMM Kevin P. Neal, Sophomore CSC/CPE kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu XCOMM North Carolina State University kevinneal@bix.com XCOMM -------------------------------------------------------- From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu (Kevin P. Neal) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 4 Mar 1996 18:54:39 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 27 Distribution: world Message-ID: <4hfe9f$ip1@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdj7v$b9j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdso7$bdd@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4heua4$g7r@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hf1bn$bji@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: crazytrain.eos.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2571 ncsu.eos:724 ncsu.unity:564 Ravi K. Swamy (rkswamy@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : : In article <4heua4$g7r@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, cddukes@unity.ncsu.edu (Christopher D Dukes) writes: : >In article <4hdso7$bdd@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, : >Rally Vincent wrote: : >>In article <4hdn82$9r8@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, : >>Steven J. Crisp wrote: : >>>Nalin Dahyabhai (nsdahya1@argus.rh.ncsu.edu) wrote: : >>I always laugh at the idiots "keeping up with the Jones's" just : >>for the sake of "keeping up" and to be able to claim that their's : >>is bigger. : >With a sun 4/260 that needs 3 shoeboxes to hold all the disks, i think : >mine's bigger. : : Science and Math has a bunch of machines like that. The things were : huge and the fans were quite loud. : I use a 3/260 and I quite like it. Very stable. I just bumped mine up to 24mb of RAM. It helps to use 3 1/2" drives in it as well (I do have a power bill to pay, you know). -- XCOMM -------------------------------------------------------- XCOMM Kevin P. Neal, Sophomore CSC/CPE kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu XCOMM North Carolina State University kevinneal@bix.com XCOMM -------------------------------------------------------- From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 19:29:41 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 23 Message-ID: <4hfgb5$jjf@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdirk$b58@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfdl2$ip1@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2573 ncsu.eos:726 ncsu.unity:566 Kevin P. Neal (kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu) wrote: : Amix has it's neat points. For example: If you man something that has : multiple man pages, like time(1) and time(2), it brings up a listing : of the multiple pages, and asks you which ones you want to see. It : can also show all of the matching pages one after the other. Case in point here (and I'm not meaning to knock you specifically Kevin - you just happen to be handy.) when one asks the average OP or consultant a question about informational resources this is typical of the answer one gets. Now, someone with a lot of experience using computers would know exactly what was meant, but someone without remains clueless. And if that clueless person asks for clarification the OP usually has little to add that the questioner can understand. Steve Crisp -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!news Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!news From: k_ring@eos.ncsu.edu (Kevin Ring) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: Mon, 04 Mar 1996 19:39:12 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 26 Message-ID: <4hfgth$ffi@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdirk$b58@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfdl2$ip1@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfgb5$jjf@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: lumpy.rh.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.0.82 Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2575 ncsu.eos:728 ncsu.unity:568 sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) babbled endlessly about: :Kevin P. Neal (kpneal@eos.ncsu.edu) wrote: :: Amix has it's neat points. For example: If you man something that has :: multiple man pages, like time(1) and time(2), it brings up a listing :: of the multiple pages, and asks you which ones you want to see. It :: can also show all of the matching pages one after the other. :Case in point here (and I'm not meaning to knock you specifically Kevin - :you just happen to be handy.) when one asks the average OP or consultant :a question about informational resources this is typical of the answer :one gets. Now, someone with a lot of experience using computers would :know exactly what was meant, but someone without remains clueless. And if :that clueless person asks for clarification the OP usually has little to :add that the questioner can understand. How do you know what op's do? You don't even have access to EOS labs where 90% of the op's work. I have had no problem getting answers from the ops and the answers they have given other users have been perfectly coherent. Once again, you speak of something you do not know From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:13 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 4 Mar 1996 19:43:55 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 25 Message-ID: <4hfh5r$juq@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdirk$b58@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfdl2$ip1@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfgb5$jjf@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfgth$ffi@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2576 ncsu.eos:729 ncsu.unity:569 Kevin Ring (k_ring@eos.ncsu.edu) wrote: : How do you know what op's do? You don't even have access to EOS labs : where 90% of the op's work. I have had no problem getting answers : from the ops and the answers they have given other users have been : perfectly coherent. Once again, you speak of something you do not : know Another case in point. You automatically assume that OPs are only in areas serviced by EOS. What about CHASS students who need to use the unity system? What about AG&Life? What about Design? All those folks need to use the public facilities as well and they are not being serviced properly. Wake up, Kevin. The whole fucking world does not revolve computer science majors and engineers. Steve Crisp /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:14 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: asdamick@unity.ncsu.edu (Andrew S. "Gurk" Damick) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 4 Mar 1996 20:02:24 GMT Organization: Free Muffin Central Lines: 55 Message-ID: <4hfi8g$r4j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdirk$b58@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfdl2$ip1@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfgb5$jjf@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> Reply-To: asdamick@unity.ncsu.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: n00031-104hlb.unity.ncsu.edu X-URL: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~asdamick/www/ X-Grep-Fodder: kibo bob fnord joel furr eris turkey larry wall cabal X-Commentary-To-NCSU.SOC: The FAQ Committee's needs are NickSuSock needs. X-General-Note-To-USENET-As-A-Whole: Kibo's back. Now shut up. X-Religion-To-Fear-Admire-And-Ultimately-Emulate: The Church of the Cactus X-Newsgroup-Hiding-Fugitive-Groundhogs: alt.fan.the-bob X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2577 ncsu.eos:730 ncsu.unity:570 In ncsu.general, Steven J. Crisp (sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : Case in point here (and I'm not meaning to knock you specifically Kevin - : you just happen to be handy.) when one asks the average OP or consultant : a question about informational resources this is typical of the answer : one gets. Now, someone with a lot of experience using computers would : know exactly what was meant, but someone without remains clueless. And if : that clueless person asks for clarification the OP usually has little to : add that the questioner can understand. This is why every computer-related department on campus should hire -me-. I mean that quite seriously, and also in a more general sense (i.e. people -like- me). Now, before you (the general "you," not "You, Crisp") think that Gurk is going off on another of his egotistical trips, read the next paragraph. Someone in a lab is having a problem with something. 90% of the time (especially in Unity labs), I am equipped with the knowledge to fix that person's problem. There's one big difference between me and your average moderately-knowledgeable computer jerk out there, though: I speak common English. In other words, I communicate effectively the information the user needs in a mode he/she/it can understand, and will be able to use in the future so as to solve his/her/its problems. No, this isn't an attempt to put myself on a pedestal. It's to illustrate Steve's point about CSC and ENG types who aren't equipped to effectively -help- the users who have honest questions. Generally, a user simply needs something explained in straightforward language, not an intense geeking out, getting into extreme technical detail with lots of technical terminology. It -is- possible for users to understand without getting bogged down in jargon, and that doesn't advocate keeping them in the dark like mindless sheep. It simply means bringing it to their level, a foundation from which they can work their way up. This is why the first question I ask is, "How familiar are you with Unix?" The second question I then ask is, "Would you like me to just fix it, or explain to you how to fix it?" The answers to those two should dictate your communication with the user in question. Unfortunately, they are not something I hear very frequently from people who get paid to answer questions from people who often don't know enough to ask the right kind of detailed questions. --Gurk, Unofficial, Unpaid, Freelance Consultant of 104hlb. -- == Andrew S. "Gurk" Damick == GURK, PROPHET OF SMERP == || asdamick@unity.ncsu.edu || Trust what I tell you. || == ncsu.soc --> ncsu.* --> == triangle.general --> * == From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:14 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: bobj@unity.ncsu.edu (Bob Johnson) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 20:17:37 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 18 Message-ID: <4hfj51$kh5@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdirk$b58@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfdl2$ip1@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfgb5$jjf@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfi8g$r4j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: zhadum.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2578 ncsu.eos:731 ncsu.unity:571 Andrew S. "Gurk" Damick (asdamick@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : The answers to those two should dictate your communication with the user : in question. Unfortunately, they are not something I hear very frequently : from people who get paid to answer questions from people who often don't : know enough to ask the right kind of detailed questions. : : : I seem to remember your standard answer to questions used to be rm -rf * -- Bob Johnson Unix Systems Programmer bobj@unity.ncsu.edu URL: http://www4.ncsu.edu/~bobj/ Phone (919) 515-5483 From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail Tue Mar 5 13:05:14 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!not-for-mail From: sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu (Steven J. Crisp) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Followup-To: ncsu.general,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Date: 4 Mar 1996 20:28:48 GMT Organization: North Carolina State University Lines: 26 Message-ID: <4hfjq0$ki2@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4havef$22e@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hb779$2kk@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hd8gg$a5t@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hdirk$b58@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfdl2$ip1@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfgb5$jjf@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4hfi8g$r4j@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> <4h NNTP-Posting-Host: cc03du.unity.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2580 ncsu.eos:733 ncsu.unity:573 Bob Johnson (bobj@unity.ncsu.edu) wrote: : I seem to remember your standard answer to questions used to be rm -rf * It was, and he's learned. Anytime I need help I usually contact Andy (if it concerns UNIX) or drmellow (if it involves Mac platforms.) Both those guys know the respective systems and can relate to those who are not hard-wired themselves. And people contact me for help in specific programs particularly Excel, Photoshop, and Illustrator because I am willing to walk someone through something at a language level that they can understand. If someone is getting a scan that is too dark, I'm not gonna blow them off by telling them to adjust the gamma. I'm first gonna tell them what gamma is, where the controls are located, and how its adjustment will solve their problem. Steve Crisp -- /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Steve Crisp The "Who and When" of history are insignificant crisp@ncsu.edu relative to the "How and Why." These in turn (Future URL here) pale in comparison to the "Resulting In." /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// From taco.cc.ncsu.edu!news Tue Mar 5 13:05:14 1996 Path: taco.cc.ncsu.edu!news From: rwhill@eos.ncsu.edu (Rodney W. Hill, II) Newsgroups: ncsu.general,ncsu.www,ncsu.eos,ncsu.unity Subject: Re: Lou's boys strike again... Date: 4 Mar 1996 20:33:54 GMT Organization: NCSU Lines: 97 Message-ID: <4hfk3i$jva@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> References: <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: robertpack.rh.ncsu.edu X-Newsreader: WinVN 0.99.3 Xref: taco.cc.ncsu.edu ncsu.general:2581 ncsu.www:331 ncsu.eos:734 ncsu.unity:574 In article <4h9s0o$tht@taco.cc.ncsu.edu>, sjcrisp@unity.ncsu.edu said on 2 Mar 1996 16:12:08 GMT > >I initially tacked this on to a running thread, but it was just too good >to bury in something that people might not be currently reading. Here's >just another example of the utter arrogance and incompetence of some of >our staff people at NCSU... > > >Lou Harrison (harrison@adm.csc.ncsu.edu) wrote: > >: Well, Tim, Steve is WTVD's internet expert, too! No wonder that they >: aren't on the web yet. > >Interesting Lou. So you think that me talking to WTVD represents some >sort of consultancy for them, huh? Well, let's then take a look at your >job of controlling the people around you - a task which is *actually* in >your job description. > >You had one of your operators slime his way into a Daniels lab yesterday >and really make an ass out of himself. Now, many of your people >(following your lead) do that all the time, but this one caused some real >damage. > >It seems that Lawrence Wobker barged into the lab and announced that he >needed to use a machine. Not quite lab etiquette, but presumably within >his rights. Someone stated that he was about to get off (and indeed did >do so within about three minutes) but that wasn't good enough for Wobker >the Human Wombat. No, he walked to a machine where someone was logged in >but was not sitting directly in front of. Problem for Wobker was that the >woman who *was* using the machine was consulting with the person **Next** >to her at the time, so that she was literally right there though not >physically in front of the screen at that exact second. > >She did, though, intervene and inform Wobker that she was using the >machine. In fact, she had been using that machine since 1 AM (12 hours at >that point) to run a simulation. She was within a half hour of >completion. Wobker apparently took offense to the fact that the woman was >using a screen saver as the process ran. With the screen saver on and the >fact that she was not welded to the keyboard, and after finding out the >circumstances under which the machine was being used, this prick gets on >an