I don't need IT, ipads fuck ralara every day (IT thread)

[Lana Torrin]

mind you we have thousands of PCs running windows 2000 still.

If it works, why knock it?

  Spoiler:

These pictures are of a metrology tool called an Opti-Probe. They're used in semiconductor manufacturing to measure the thickness of TEOS film layers. The one on the left is a 2600 model, which is very similar to what we use. The one on the right is a 5240 model.

Note that the much newer model is still running MS-DOS. Ours too runs MS-DOS, and every time we restart the tool, it runs a Norton Antivirus quick scan, using definitions not updated since 1995. The main computer inside the tool is a 486DX that is no more than 100MHz and runs on 16MB of RAM.

The touchscreen controller used in your fancy smartphone that probably has more computational power than the space shuttle is manufactured on tools that still run MS-DOS.

Last place i worked at had some old DOS boxes.. One ran the security system (smart badge tagging, automatic gate opening, etc) and another ran the environmental controlled for a climate controlled test room. We were deathly afraid of that one breaking because it had a lot of specialized software and hardware to control the room, and it was all ISA cards and DOS.. We could not replace it and there was no 'new' version as the company that built it went bankrupt long long ago.

Basically if it died we would have had to refit the whole room and with the amount of control we needed for it, it would have been close to a million $..

[Nordstern]

We could probably justify a thread devoted solely to legacy systems.

[Lana Torrin]

We could probably justify a thread devoted solely to legacy systems.

Tell me about it.. Current place im in has just started the rollout to replace a middle-ware system that is older than almost all of the support staff that work on it (Including me and im 35). Admittedly it has been upgraded non-stop until now, but its written in fortran and fortran devs are becoming hard to find.. New system in in C#..

[Itiken]

Finished installing the fibre today between my new switch cluster, hooked up the firewall cluster data ports.;..

And the whole thing works. Would you believe it.
i barely can.....

[halbarad]

Curious issue yesterday/today:

2 users login to their normal computers, one loads up our MIS and email and tries sending an email and machine reboots without warning, other doing some work in Word and same thing happens. They log back in slightly confused and discover they have a black desktop (group policy sets the background to our school logo). A restart doesn't fix it and the technician who was in yesterday decides to rebuild both machines (everything works fine other than the desktop being black so not sure why he chose to do this). Problem is solved for the rest of the day.

Earlier today the same users encounter the same problem. They try logging into different computers and don't have the problem. We replace the computers with spares and one of the users has the same problem again. No one else logging into the computer has the problem.

I'm suspecting some strange Windows 7 voodoo going on but I really don't know what could be causing this on two random users who've never had problems before. Not that there is really a problem to fix other than a random restart and part of group policy not being applied properly.

[lubica]

nuke their profiles?

[halbarad]

nuke their profiles?

That's definitely the next option but out of my hands due to "managed service", meaning I'd have to log a call and wait 48 hours+ for that to even start happening as the help desk and our managed service provider are pretty terrible.

[Liare]

Curious issue yesterday/today:

2 users login to their normal computers, one loads up our MIS and email and tries sending an email and machine reboots without warning, other doing some work in Word and same thing happens. They log back in slightly confused and discover they have a black desktop (group policy sets the background to our school logo). A restart doesn't fix it and the technician who was in yesterday decides to rebuild both machines (everything works fine other than the desktop being black so not sure why he chose to do this). Problem is solved for the rest of the day.

Earlier today the same users encounter the same problem. They try logging into different computers and don't have the problem. We replace the computers with spares and one of the users has the same problem again. No one else logging into the computer has the problem.

I'm suspecting some strange Windows 7 voodoo going on but I really don't know what could be causing this on two random users who've never had problems before. Not that there is really a problem to fix other than a random restart and part of group policy not being applied properly.

sounds like RFM in action tbh. (Reduced Functionality Mode)

[Jags]

Was gonna chuck in that the last place I worked still had OS/2 in it but DOS wins over that.

Thousands of NT and 2000 servers as well

[Tyrehl]

Not sure where to put this, will cross-post in the emothread (because yes, im kinda at the moment).

Time has come for me to start thinking about a masters degree. I am currently writing my bachelor's thesis (well, starting to work on it) but I still have (almost) no idea what I really want to do.

I know that it's hard to help someone with such a problem, so i'll mention some of my ideas. I'll also include eventual mid- and/or long-term goals


One of the universities im looking at offers 14 areas of specialisation, from which I need to pick 2).
(Added them spoiler-ed if someone is curious)

  Spoiler:

1. Theoretical basis - after checking, this is basically ALGORITHMS EVERYWHERE
2. Algorithms engineering
3. Cryptography and Security
4. Operating Systems
5. Parallel processing
6. Software Engineering and Compiler Construction (wat)
7. Process automation
8. Embedded systems and computer architectures
9. Telematics
10. Information Systems
11. Robotics and Automation
12. Computer graphics
13. Anthropomatics
14. Cognitive Systems

The problem is, Im not entirely sure what I want and what im looking for.




Im studying informatics, but I havent really written anything in the last 2 years (always postponing ). I have little experience with C, C++ and Java. Thats it. I started reading a book about basics in algorithms and different approaches (there's some C# in the book but thats not the main part of the book). After that I might check some frameworks (.net comes to mind).
I think I might be able to catch up and I believe I have the analytical thinking that would be needed.

One of these 14 ... things is supposed to be about (relational?) database systems. Last year I was getting raped on this exam - I had to study really hard, but it paid off in the end. The whole relational database theory was quite interesting, but also looked REALLY hard to master. And by the looks of it (some parts of) the world is slowly moving away from relational databases (i may be really wrong on this one).

Security - now thats something I really wanted to study. After a cryptography/sec. course I took last year I realised that there are a lot of things I find intriguing about the subject. Possible/eventual problem: my :math: isnt that great, main reason is that I was slacking (and drinking) a lot while we were studying Further Mathematics (? ..am I saying it right?). I took my exams but I dont remember much and i'll have to put some effort. Whats the 'name' of the Algebra for cryptography/information security?

Software Engineering, projects management/lead - this goes slightly into the "best case scenario" area. If I will be writing tons of code now, I dont want to be doing this for a living when im 30-35. You probably know what I mean.



At the moment im working in the Networking/Telecommunications sector, took some Cisco courses when I was in high school (yeah lol-Cisco etc, I know - still it helped me learn a thing or two) and the work/pay is really nice for a student. I am NOT looking at a masters in this area, I believe I dont want to do this. It might be the easiest / the only one to combine with Security/Cryptography though.

Basically, im not working on a project or something. Over the years I've tried some sql-magic on a project involving a huge database (for a free-time project), web dev. (php+sql) on top of the things we did in the university (basically nothing). I just have a very basic idea and it doesn't seem that there's an easy way to check what I like.


Just for the record, my bachelor's thesis will be on Embedded systems, sensors, measurements in the time-frequency domain and blah blah. Not really exciting but it might work for me :P







And the TL; DR question:
Is there a 'way' to incorporate cryptography, information security and a programming language/framework (or programming as a whole)? It seems to me that I have to either use pre-defined standarts or go the hardcore Algebra/Math/Algorithms way if I want to work on cryptography in particular. Anyone in the industry?

I know that there's no easy answer to my questions, but where should I start looking and how can I possibly pick a suitable masters in 2-3 months?

[elmicker]

Security can either be information assurance, in which case it's an abstract engineering discipline, or it can be cryptography, in which case it is pure mathematics. A good practical course (rather than one intended for future researchers) will be a mix of the two, so you'll need to investigate the level of maths required before you commit to it if that's an area of concern. The IA aspects are corporate gold-dust, the crypto aspects less so, but are essential for proper application of IA principles.

You also shouldn't be surprised that Crypto/IA seems to be just following standards. Like everything else in practical computer science, it's an engineering discipline. If you're not working within pre-defined and standardised frameworks, you're not engineering, you're playing.

Frankly, for a master's, unless there's something being lost in translation here (I'm speaking from a UK point of view), unless you really know you want to do that topic, you shouldn't be doing it. The point is to specialise, so unless it's something you're familiar with, enjoy and excel at, why do it?

[IceBlock]

Any Apache mod_rewrite freaks here? Need to turn these URL's:
domain.com/index.php?route=common/home
domain.com/index.php?route=account/login
domain.com/index.php?route=checkout/cart

to

domain.com/common/home
domain.com/account/login
domain.com/checkout/cart

[Tyrehl]

Security can either be information assurance, in which case it's an abstract engineering discipline, or it can be cryptography, in which case it is pure mathematics. A good practical course (rather than one intended for future researchers) will be a mix of the two, so you'll need to investigate the level of maths required before you commit to it if that's an area of concern. The IA aspects are corporate gold-dust, the crypto aspects less so, but are essential for proper application of IA principles.

You also shouldn't be surprised that Crypto/IA seems to be just following standards. Like everything else in practical computer science, it's an engineering discipline. If you're not working within pre-defined and standardised frameworks, you're not engineering, you're playing.

Frankly, for a master's, unless there's something being lost in translation here (I'm speaking from a UK point of view), unless you really know you want to do that topic, you shouldn't be doing it. The point is to specialise, so unless it's something you're familiar with, enjoy and excel at, why do it?

Short version, masters is a must. I can do it now, I can do it in 1-2 years. Basically, the earlier I do it - the better. Information Assurance sounds interesting, sadly I dont know anyone working in this area. And btw what do you mean by

The IA aspects are corporate gold-dust

This sounds like its either really good or bad for me. My english isnt that great

[Lana Torrin]

Any Apache mod_rewrite freaks here? Need to turn these URL's:
domain.com/index.php?route=common/home
domain.com/index.php?route=account/login
domain.com/index.php?route=checkout/cart

to

domain.com/common/home
domain.com/account/login
domain.com/checkout/cart

Every dam time I have to do something in Apache I have to google for the answer because I find the config has changed since the last time I did it.

[Tyrehl]

Some good answers missing from the rollback (ban Drakmu etc), im glad that I managed to read them in time on tapatalk. Thanks etc

[alpreb]

We could probably justify a thread devoted solely to legacy systems.

Tell me about it.. Current place im in has just started the rollout to replace a middle-ware system that is older than almost all of the support staff that work on it (Including me and im 35). Admittedly it has been upgraded non-stop until now, but its written in fortran and fortran devs are becoming hard to find.. New system in in C#..

In my second year studying chemistry I thought "Hey, taking that Fortran course to do matrices would be nifty and I need to have extra math courses"

I passed it with an above average grade (Thanks to a very good friend who was largely bored with the course), but it has made me hate programming. Even with my later feeble attempts Java I still don't get why any sane person enjoys coding.

[balistic void]

Because coding is like playing with lego, you are pretty much only limited by your imagination. Of course in the real world you rarely get paid to code what you are interested in, but rather what someone else wants.

If I had to write fortran matrix code all day I wouldn't enjoy it either tho -.-

Being paid fuckloads makes it all more enjoyable too.

[Ophichius]

We could probably justify a thread devoted solely to legacy systems.

Tell me about it.. Current place im in has just started the rollout to replace a middle-ware system that is older than almost all of the support staff that work on it (Including me and im 35). Admittedly it has been upgraded non-stop until now, but its written in fortran and fortran devs are becoming hard to find.. New system in in C#..

In my second year studying chemistry I thought "Hey, taking that Fortran course to do matrices would be nifty and I need to have extra math courses"

I passed it with an above average grade (Thanks to a very good friend who was largely bored with the course), but it has made me hate programming. Even with my later feeble attempts Java I still don't get why any sane person enjoys coding.

"I tried shooting myself in the nuts with a nail gun, but it has made me hate power tools. Even with my later feeble attempts at swallowing a box of roofing nails I still don't get why any sane person enjoys building things."

FORTRAN and Java are fucking evil, something less stupid is called for. If you want to take another stab at it, try Ruby or Python. Or if you feel like going a bit more esoteric (but also much more enlightening when you finally get it.) try Scheme.

-O

[Liare]

We could probably justify a thread devoted solely to legacy systems.

Tell me about it.. Current place im in has just started the rollout to replace a middle-ware system that is older than almost all of the support staff that work on it (Including me and im 35). Admittedly it has been upgraded non-stop until now, but its written in fortran and fortran devs are becoming hard to find.. New system in in C#..

In my second year studying chemistry I thought "Hey, taking that Fortran course to do matrices would be nifty and I need to have extra math courses"

I passed it with an above average grade (Thanks to a very good friend who was largely bored with the course), but it has made me hate programming. Even with my later feeble attempts Java I still don't get why any sane person enjoys coding.

coding java is like cutting yourself.

some people may derive a certain degree of satisfaction from it, but anybody sane wont.

[definatelynotKKassandra]

What's Fortran then?