I've been kinda slammed.

[McRat]

After 5 years of nothing but hotrodding pickups, the rest of my life has gotten trashed. So I've been focusing on the tasks I left behind to go racing:

ISO 9001 registration process at work. Big step for my business, lots of paperwork. 50% done.

Moving out of the McRat Racing shop, and trying to get all of it organized at home. 75% done.

Trying to get reliable internet at work. After 10 years of lousy service, I think I have it solved. I became my own ISP. I rigged a 2.65 mile long 5.8 GHz wireless broadband connection from my house to my work. 15mbps BABY!! Up from a norm of 0.3mbps when it worked. 95% done.

Trying to get rid of Microsoft out of our office. I was one of the first Microsoft Certified Professionals, and a Microsoft Registered Developer, and wrote cutting edge CAD/CAM applications for desktops. But today, I constantly have trouble keeping computers running. Hardware is fine. It's software glitches and bugs. 10% done.

So I'm playing with Apple Mac OS X, and signed up as an Registered Developer with Apple for OS X, iPhone, and iPad. I'm also trying to teach myself how to set up Linux servers. 10% done.

And I've been trying to spend more time with the family that doesn't involve just racing.

Once I get the ISO registration, ISP stuff, and deleteMicrosoft out of the way, I should be able to get back to hotrodding more. I haven't stopped hotrodding, I just can't do it full time right now.

So for those who think I'm ignoring you, sorry. I will try to get back up and smoking soon.

Thanks for all your support and friendship over the years.

Pat

 

[SIKDMAX]

Good to hear that you are still around Pat. While it makes many of us to not see Casper and the McSwains out at as many events as in years past, we know that family is the most important priority and I admire you for putting some of the hobbies aside for that.

And the business.... well.... without that there is no Casper and Spooky and McRat parties and all that

Thanks again for all you guys and WWW do for us :hug:



Oh.... Id be interested in hearing more about the wireless broadband link youve set up! Hardware etc... maybe best for a seperate thread. Ive toyed with this idea for several years between my house and a two way radio repeater site.

 

[Mike]

Good luck. :thumb:

 

[paint94979]

After 5 years of nothing but hotrodding pickups, the rest of my life has gotten trashed. So I've been focusing on the tasks I left behind to go racing:

ISO 9001 registration process at work. Big step for my business, lots of paperwork. 50% done.

Moving out of the McRat Racing shop, and trying to get all of it organized at home. 75% done.

Trying to get reliable internet at work. After 10 years of lousy service, I think I have it solved. I became my own ISP. I rigged a 2.65 mile long 5.8 GHz wireless broadband connection from my house to my work. 15mbps BABY!! Up from a norm of 0.3mbps when it worked. 95% done.

Trying to get rid of Microsoft out of our office. I was one of the first Microsoft Certified Professionals, and a Microsoft Registered Developer, and wrote cutting edge CAD/CAM applications for desktops. But today, I constantly have trouble keeping computers running. Hardware is fine. It's software glitches and bugs. 10% done.

So I'm playing with Apple Mac OS X, and signed up as an Registered Developer with Apple for OS X, iPhone, and iPad. I'm also trying to teach myself how to set up Linux servers. 10% done.

And I've been trying to spend more time with the family that doesn't involve just racing.

Once I get the ISO registration, ISP stuff, and deleteMicrosoft out of the way, I should be able to get back to hotrodding more. I haven't stopped hotrodding, I just can't do it full time right now.

So for those who think I'm ignoring you, sorry. I will try to get back up and smoking soon.

Thanks for all your support and friendship over the years.

Pat

We do miss you guys as it was you and Kat (and Rob) that started this place all those years ago... I would love to see Casper back in Drag Race trim but it is understandable :hug:

 

[McRat]

...
Oh.... Id be interested in hearing more about the wireless broadband link youve set up! Hardware etc... maybe best for a seperate thread. Ive toyed with this idea for several years between my house and a two way radio repeater site.

If you have LOS (line of site), I can do over 10 miles FCC legal for about $300 total in parts. For $1000 in parts, I can get you 40+ miles "kinda" legally.

If it's not pure LOS, then it can get tricky/expensive. I'm nearly LOS, but I think I hit a few trees and go though some powerlines. These greatly reduce your range.

Your first step is going to be to do a Google Earth of the target points. Gimme the coordinates, and I'll see what's up.

 

[The Neens]

Take your time, do what you have to do...All of us fanatics will still be here...Remember, it's just a hobby, we all have the right to quit playing whenever we want

 

[McRat]

I'm posting from a machine running Ubuntu Linux and Google Chrome. It looks just like Windows or Mac OS X. It has Open Office on it, which looks and acts just like Excel and Word.

No Bill or Steve anywhere...

I really like the Mac computer, but I think I'm going to do everything in Linux if I can get the CAD software to run under it somehow. Dual Boot or something?

 

[Darius6t9]

I liked Ubuntu. Nice OS. You could try using Virtual box or VMWare in the linux to run a windows OS, instead of dual booting. But for CAD it might require to much memory for that.

 

[maxthis]

Dual Boot or something?

Yep yep yep.....we use bootcamp here at work and it seems to perform fairly well. Not sure if it will run with Linux or not though......:thumb:

 

[Cougar281]

Good luck with your endeavor, but with all due respect, microsoft's software isn't the problem. In my ~10 years in IT, 75% of Windows problems have been 3rd party software related (For example: Google Toolbar is NOTORIOUS for crashing IE, Toshiba's phone system plugin causes Outlook stability issues, Google desktop causes a NOTICABLE slowdown in Outlook), 20% are hardware/driver related, and the remaning 5% are MS related. It's not their fault if other vendors write crappy software. With the exception of "Mistake Edition", MS's OSes have been very stable for the last 10 or so years. My Garage PC is running Vista and hasn't had so much as a hiccup (was running for about 5 months straight until we had a power failure). My Media Center PC is also runing Vista Ultimate and has been rock solid (the XP MCE was buggy and unstable due to the MCE addon). You most likely will not be able to "get away" from Microsoft. Keep in mind that if you run Linux and need to run windows, you CAN NOT use the OEM key/install from the PC in a virtual environment. You would be in violation of the EULA. You would need to purchase a retail copy for the virtual environment. Your only option for remaining legit and not purchsing a retail copy would be to dual boot the PC (two partitions, one Windows, one Linux, no virtual environment). Just my $02.

With all due respect, just about every "microsoft hater" I've run into is a hypocryte. They hate microsoft, must get away, go run linux or buy a Mac but then spend most of their time in a bootcamp or parallels load of Windows.

Why would you want to develop for the iPad (or even want one??)? You can't do ANYTHING with it that you can't to with an iPod Touch (It's nothing but a giant iPod!). If you want something useful and that size, get a slate.

 

[McRat]

Good luck with your endeavor, but with all due respect, microsoft's software isn't the problem. In my ~10 years in IT, 75% of Windows problems have been 3rd party software related (For example: Google Toolbar is NOTORIOUS for crashing IE, Toshiba's phone system plugin causes Outlook stability issues, Google desktop causes a NOTICABLE slowdown in Outlook), 20% are hardware/driver related, and the remaning 5% are MS related. It's not their fault if other vendors write crappy software. With the exception of "Mistake Edition", MS's OSes have been very stable for the last 10 or so years. My Garage PC is running Vista and hasn't had so much as a hiccup (was running for about 5 months straight until we had a power failure). My Media Center PC is also runing Vista Ultimate and has been rock solid (the XP MCE was buggy and unstable due to the MCE addon). You most likely will not be able to "get away" from Microsoft. Keep in mind that if you run Linux and need to run windows, you CAN NOT use the OEM key/install from the PC in a virtual environment. You would be in violation of the EULA. You would need to purchase a retail copy for the virtual environment. Your only option for remaining legit and not purchsing a retail copy would be to dual boot the PC (two partitions, one Windows, one Linux, no virtual environment). Just my $02.

With all due respect, just about every "microsoft hater" I've run into is a hypocryte. They hate microsoft, must get away, go run linux or buy a Mac but then spend most of their time in a bootcamp or parallels load of Windows.

Why would you want to develop for the iPad (or even want one??)? You can't do ANYTHING with it that you can't to with an iPod Touch (It's nothing but a giant iPod!). If you want something useful and that size, get a slate.

Applications are where it's at. And Microsoft does not make any of our mission critical apps. In fact, we cannot migrate to Win7 because our apps are not compatible (CAD, RS232 Control, CMM inspection software).

We don't load up on software. These are not pleasure boxes. Most the machines do not hook to the internet at all, and outside code is forbidden unless absolutely necessary for operations.

While I've had dozens of serious problems over the last 20 years, here is one I cannot beat:

We have had the same # of computers for 10 years. Recently we get "Too Many Computers" errors that kill the network. Reducing the # of computers does not help. Replaced ALL the hardware. Have ALL the updates. MS Server pretty much requires a full time IT person just to deal with the updates, nor should I have to learn it. We are currently on Sneaker Net again like we were in 1993.

The simple solution is to switch OS. We didn't change, Windows did. Our W3.11 machine is still as fast as the day we bought it and has never required help.

It does make you wonder why there is an aftermarket multi-billion dollar industry doing what we used to call bug-fixes in the 70's to support Windows.

 

[Poltergeist]

Recently we get "Too Many Computers" errors that kill the network.

That's the error that is displayed? Is this displayed on all of the computers or just some?

 

[McRat]

Just on some, and just on somedays. We have a mixture of Vista and XP SP3 computers.

It's like there is a table overflow, because when we kill a computer, then replace it, it goes away for awhile.

But here's the skinny:

There is no real-world limit at all on peer-to-peer or simple file-server setups with any current O/S except Windows. Mac suggests you keep it down to 50, but realistically, you need a dedicated server by the time you have 50 computers sharing resources.

My business size is not supported by MS. We are too big to use their products peer-to-peer, and too small to afford a IT professional on staff.

Last time I looked at Linux and Macs, they were not up to par with Windows. But things have changed. The Mac is a far better thought out product than a WinTel setup. And Linux is easier and faster to setup than Windows.

Start with $400 clones and make a 10 computer filesharing network:

Microsoft Win7 Professional (Home versions are not supported by MS Server) $2,000
MS Office $3,500
MS SB Server $800 + Computer #11 $400.

Microsoft setup = $10,700.

Linux = $4000

Apple = MacMini's $5990 + 2x $99 iWork = $6200

The Linux and Apple setups do not need a professional IT guy, or constant AV/security updates.

It simply does not make sense to run MS stuff with 10 computers unless there is no other option.

 

[Cougar281]

While I've had dozens of serious problems over the last 20 years, here is one I cannot beat:

We have had the same # of computers for 10 years. Recently we get "Too Many Computers" errors that kill the network. Reducing the # of computers does not help. Replaced ALL the hardware. Have ALL the updates. MS Server pretty much requires a full time IT person just to deal with the updates, nor should I have to learn it. We are currently on Sneaker Net again like we were in 1993.\

That's not a bug. To the best of my knowledge, it's a security feature designed to attempt to limit the number of connections to a workstation to limit the damage various malware can potentially do (which by the way you CAN patch that restriction to allow more than 10 TCP connections). That's what happens when you try to use a workstation as a server.

As I've said before, Managing a simple (and by simple I mean AD only, no Exchange SQL, Dynamics, Sharepoint, etc) windows server Active Directory domain is definately not more difficult than managing 10 workstations, nor does it require any more "update management" than a Windows XP workstation. In order for the workstations in a workgroup to properly communicate with each other, credentials must match. Meaning every username for every pc needs to be on every other pc that needs to be accessed. With an AD domain, you set up the user once and can now log into every pc and get to everything anywhere.

Microsoft Win7 Professional (Home versions are not supported by MS Server) $2,000
MS Office $3,500
MS SB Server $800 + Computer #11 $400.

Microsoft setup = $10,700.

Linux = $4000

Apple = MacMini's $5990 + 2x $99 iWork = $6200

The Linux and Apple setups do not need a professional IT guy, or constant AV/security updates.

It simply does not make sense to run MS stuff with 10 computers unless there is no other option.

Sorry, but wrong. Get yourself an Action Pack subscription. It's about $300/yr, and you get almost everything MS has (Server OSes, Workstation OSes, Office, Exchange, Scharepoint, SQL, etc). You might as well take that $2000 for the Win7 pro OS out of the mix though as if you just buy a business PC from Dell (for example), you can get the "business" OS pre-installed. We just sold a NICE Dell Optiplex Core2 Duo w 4GB RAM and XP Pro (Windows 7 Pro COA and restore discs) for about $650 with a full 3 year warranty... You can't top that value with a white box which is why I stopped building them. And by the way, whatever you (Anyone) do, STAY THE CRAP AWAY FROM SBS 2008. It BLOWS! That DOES take more management and experience to administer after you forget what you already DO know about management of a Standard server environment. A Standard 2003/2008 server really doesn't take any more work to administer or maintain than an XP/Vista/7 PC. Another feature of Windows 7 is "XP mode" which does a rather good job of allowing you to run non-7 compatable apps in an almost seamless fasion on Windows 7.

 

[Fingers]

Take a look at SME for a server Pat. Provides most, if not everything you need for a mid size network with rock solid Linix engine under the hood. Climbing the knowledge curve is offset by the open community that supports and uses the server. I only need to go back and "add" features to existing installations as the customer wants something else turned on. (web server, mail forwarding, SAMBA redirection,.....)