Buying votes.

"Do Americans perceive this as buying votes or is it possible for a candidate to win based purely on being a good person with good intentions and ability to enact their promises?"

Pay some attention to who these folks elect and how frequently their politicians ever keep their promises. I think you'll realise that image is everything in America. Substance is nothing.

@AC

Alberta, Canada.

We might have folk who bitch about cameras being money machines, (I have been known to from time to time,) but I do have to admit they stopped with the artificially-short-yellow crap after a very brief flirtation with it. That, and they've dialled back the cameras to areas where there actually is a speed problem. (Though the signs claiming cameras "may or may not be present" exist bloody everywhere.) being a province full of angry rednecks helps. Ever single additional camera anywhere is fought viciously.

@jake

Re: Q1. If you don't understand the benefits of virtual machines by now, you probably never will. Suffice it to say that using virtual machines makes my life easier. You may have unlimited hardware budget, space, cooling and everything else...I don't. Besides which, it's just a Linux VM. They are free, and disposable. Make a dozen and store the configs and data outside the VM on a networked server.

Not "the most efficient possible" in a purist sense, but I'll accept a 5% performance hit for the ability to throw the VM away like a used diaper when one element or another decides "BTW your distro is too old, we're not going to update properly." Or worse yet "BTW you ran an update and we radically changed the package such that your old config file is meaningless." Configure a VM once, point the configs somewhere central. Make a copy. If your update borks it, throw the VM away and reload the backup.

I know, I know "waa waa waa, test lab." And if wishes were horses, we'd all be eating steak. (It's a reference from a show, don't have an apoplepsy.) Sometimes you don’t have the TIME to do it according to the whitepaper. An update blows up a Linux VM once every six months. Treating a broken Linux VM like a soiled diaper is simply time efficient when compared to stepping through a testing cycle for every round of updates, or frankly for reading the change logs on all 382 updates for my given Linux box.

So why VMs? Because they make my life waaaaaaaaaaaay easier.

Re: Q2 What forum specifically? The hell if I know. One of the dozens I post on. Was it an appropriate forum for the question? Sure! Linux is hostile to newcomers, or anyone seeking to beg information for the great and knowledgeable (but remarkably sensitive) gurus. I know the game, and have for quite some time. You must hold the teacup on one finger while balancing on one leg and chanting the American national anthem during an earthquake. Yes, I asked the right question with the right amount of information in the right place. Even then, you’ve only got a 50/50 shot at get anything other than a pile of static.

@Gene Cash

Why?

Shaq seems a bright guy. I am confident that if he had the barest hint of motivation, he could learn everything that might possibly be required to "hack" whatever he wanted. Would i expect him to have that knowledge now? No...but you never know. Computers could be his silent passion. Or perhaps he decided to upskill in order to keep pace with one or more of his sprog.

Never right ANYONE off when it comes to computers. They really aren't that hard. All that's required is a little patience, a little willingness to learn...and to not be afraid of them.

I’ve know a guy who’s now 84 years old, started learning these them thar new fangled computation thingies about five years ago. He runs rings around me now. Why? He wanted to learn, wasn’t afraid of them, and had all day long to do nothing but hack away at them.

Why couldn’t Shaq (or anyone else) learn at least some of the same tricks? (Assuming he wanted to.) Anyone can become a “hacker.” You watch…one day our benevolent overmistress Sarah Bee will have learned so much from these comments threads that she will control the world’s finances from a terminal located next to her “delete commenter” big red button of doom…

Oi.

Webmin is no substitute for learning how it all works. It is however both a great introduction to Linux that is less scary for newbs, and it is a beautiful tool for administering a system once you DO know how it all fits together.

@Lon John Brass

Yar. <3 Puppet. Did a different set of articles that touched on puppet a while back. Good toy, that.

@AC

Thanks for the DRBD catch.

I do not think it's the be all and end all of systems administration. I think it's the cat's meow for newbies to the Linux or Solaris platforms. TBH, I use both SSH and Webmin for my daily workout. For some things, (such as a good YUM) the CLI is way faster.

I don’t recommend Webmin as the ONLY way to interact with a system. I think it’s a great way to LEARN a system. It’s a beautiful safety net. Once you *do* know how to solve your problems manually, (say…all your NICs going up in smoke when you clone an RHEL VM,) it’s a great way to take the administrative burden off of your daily tasks.

For me the CLI is almost a mid-game item. Webmin for the early-game…learning the ropes. CLI for the mid-game…learning what lies behind Webmin. Then Webmin again for the late game, when you just want to poke at it and have it work, in full understanding of what it’s doing and how to fix it if it breaks.

@tempest

I have done this with Android phones. Works a treat, once you know how to lock them down.

And there's the problem.

Opera users have enjoyed these features. Presumably including the interface. Explains a lot. I'll stick with Firefox 3, and then Firefox 4 after someone gets a skin/theme out that makes it look like 3.

Too old for this new fangled hibbery jibbery. Take the ribbon bar with you when you go!

*grumble grumble*...get off my goddamned lawn…*grumble grumble*

@Myself

"It's our as writers job to know them"

It is however our job to proof read. Note to self: disable the rediculously useless trackpad on that laptop. Also: sleep more. As a question to the floor that has been bugging me, (but which I realise won't solve my problems) how pray tell do I actually enable Firefox's spell checker? It seems enabled in options --> advanced, but never seems to work anywhere. I am unsure what I have done to bork that feature...

And why not?

Microsoft Linux? Sure. As long as it's garunteed to interoperate with Microsoft operating systems...that sounds like a great plan.

Besides, a huge pile of *nix engineers? Finally, they could create a mobile/tablet/low resource usage operating system that didn't suck.

You can count me in.

You can pry me data from me warm rotting corpse.

@xj25vm

Ahhh, but it's Open Source! If you don't like it...fork it! Then your version of "Realistic" can be the measure. That's quite a bit different from most other browser maker's attempts at the exact same thing...

Route calculation.

Route calculation appears to be a factor of where you live. I have done a few long trips this year and I can report safely that Google Maps sucks exceptional [expletive] at routes in Western Canada. Especially rural areas. Blackberry Maps and Bing Maps ont he other hand have both served me quite well.

Google’s fine in every Metro I’ve tried except Calgary. Nothing can find anything in Calgary except a TomTom. Still, it’s Calgary, so nothing of value was lost.

Rule 0 of Facebook.

Just walk away....

@Rogerborg?

It's our as writers job to know them? I thought it was my editor's job to know that. I believe if my editor doesn't like an article, he can simply not publish it. You are going to have to explain to me why every writer for a news organisation should have the editorial policies memorised? Where is that rule written?

There’s a “general gist” we are supposed to know…but we’re not exactly talking customer support staff who are being paid to answers questions about policy. We’re talking people who write things then essentially have it go through a moderator (the editor) before it’s published.

Now, if my EDITOR didn’t know the standing editorial policies of the company he worked for, I’d be worried. Somehow, I suspect he does. Similarly, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the lovely and talented Ms Bee and her cadred of undead mini^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h fellow moderators also know the policies, as they have to parse and filter the ramblings of all the various commenttards.

Fiven that commenters are producing works that get published on the site by The Register, by your logic you should have to know the editorial policies forwards and backwards to post. Not feasible. That’s why moderators/editors/etc exist in the first place.

"...or you will have people making him into Darth Vader."

He isn't?

buh?

[fish eyed stare]

When is MS going to make this not the default behaviour?

About six years ago. Where have you been?

Paraphrasing

"How DARE you suggest that people like me are hostile, arrogant and condescending? DO YOU NOT KNOW WHO I AM? (Hint: I am your better.)”

My deep and sincere apologies sir. Your eloquent argument demonstrating the warm and inviting nature of the large Linux community has set me straight. I repent.

@Andrew Garrard

The "original HTC Desire" came in two flavours: LCD for Canada and AMOLED for the rest of the world. This was because Canada got them later, and byt hat time Samsung was having trouble producing the screens. The LCD screens SUCK at low-light (flickering) and aren't as bright as the AMOLEDs. On the other hand, the LCDs get better battery life.

Personally, I'm liking my LCD Desire.

@Vic

You sir, may be the single most serious man on the Internet. We need a tongue in check icon.

Being *fully serious* for a second, a Reg LUG might well not be a bad idea...I suspect given the zealotry of it's reader base there are quite a few folks who would lot right in to such an organisation quite well.

Personally, I don't get along with the local LUG because they are quite an inflexible bunch. They are a beautiful self-selecting collection of individuals who aren't open to any form of new ideas or thought. I don't say this because I was particularly interested in brining much new thought to the group...I attended to listen, hear...see what there was to see. I did on the other hand bring with me a buddy who was an order of magnitude smarter than I, and very much the Linux nerd. Moreover he is generally better with people.

Didn’t go down well with the Linux nerds though when he had the termidity to ask some obviously taboo or banned question about something or other. I think the topic was typesetting in Linux. The next attempt involved asking a question about working around a limitation in Samba, which apparently would cause the world to implode for merely considering going against some sacred unwritten rule somewhere.

As for grandstanding and point-scoring…what’s the point? I have never seen any benefit from either. I am a pragmatic individual, which I suspect is why I don’t get along with many die hard believers of anything. It’s also I think why I do get along with quite a few Reg commenters; they too are by and large a pragmatic bunch.

If an El Reg LUG were ever seriously put together by someone, I expect it would be a wholly unique LUG amidst those of the world. A group for Linux users and administrators to come together to discuss the implementation of Linux in a practical environment and what could be done to encourage the uptake without completely alienating the very people you are trying to convince to use it.

A LUG full of pragmatists in which there were no sacred cow. That would be AWESOME.

@Thad

I got to take the following Thursday and Friday off. Past that, well...it's a tough job market. It doesn't matter how hard you work if the resume papers don't have the right letters after your name.

It's why I've taken up writing.

That said, a beer sounds bloody grand. Bloody grand indeed...

@Vic

It's a simple front-end to use SpamAssassin to filter for exchange. (Exchange’s native filtering is poo.) I am still torn in re: adding SPF. (It has in the past caused me more problems than the minor % of spam that gets through without it.) The point was that you can get away with not needing anything but Webmin to manage Sendmail. Yes; Sendmail and other management tools may need care and attention to coexist...

...but I think it's a pretty exceptional scenario (clustering of Sendmail perhaps) where this might be an issue. Small enoguh at least ot make it a very viable tool for single servers and small businesses without any of the fancier config tools.

Long story

Not much space to shove it in.

When looking for things to cut, I figured two things would hopefully not have to be explained in detail. 1) NOBODY does this sort of thing without an abort option. 2) I talked oodles about how everything was in virtual machines. I kind of hoped the readers would make the connection to "and the old VMs were kept around." Cutting 12000 words down to 2500 requires (as my editor puts it) ruthlessness.

@Vic

Webmin and Sendmail.

M4 Config is your friend. Oh, and a nugget of fun for you: http://www.trevorpott.com/?p=275

*shudder*

Tried that once. Never again. Maybe otehr LUGs are less elitist....

@Ian Michael Gumby

"Because people were mean to me, it's my duty to be a dick to you."

Charming.

@Vic

One experience shouldn't inform someone's opinion on a group of people. Fifteen years of slogging up and down the trenches however makes me a feel a little more than qualified to comment. I’m not exactly new to the Linux game. I’ve been at it since just after Redhat was born. Nearly half of all servers I have deployed are Linux, with an ever increasing number of desktops.

My experience above was but one example amongst countless thousands. This thread can implode into a shower of wailing and gnashing of teeth it won’t for a second change my opinion that on the whole the Linux community is hostile to newcomers. Arrogance is part and parcel of the larger Linux community, and condescension is a way of life for a deplorable number of the individuals that make it up.

I do my ardent best to help newbs to the cause, as I am certain there are thousands of Penguinistas who do so as well. That doesn’t for a second change the fact that finding actual helpful human beings is difficult. The arrogance bug coupled with a lavish helping of condescension are *THE* biggest barrier to adoption of Linux in the server rooms of Windows admins.

As far as I am concerned this means that if a Windows admin wants to take the plunge they need to consider all the various idiosyncrasies of Linux as damage and route around it. Webmin is an excellent way to abstract that all away for the early user. They can get their feet wet there, and slowly work their way into the wider world. If they run up against a block erected by a bunch of cocks, they can always fall back on Webmin to get the job done.

It doesn’t work 100% of the time…but I find it’s been more reliable than praying for help from one’s fellow “human beings.”

That…and frankly once you get used to Linux…Webmin saves even an experienced admin a lot of time. My VM at work has Webmin sessions into something like 50 servers at the moment. I wouldn’t want to try doing my job without it.

Alternatives

You forgot ISPConfig. Why? Because I don't use them. Tried them, still do from time to time...but I keep going back to Webmin. I love Webmin. Webmin is the only thing that makes the Linux administration side of my job remotely worthwhile. Shill advertisement? No. That would imply I got paid for it. Am I completely and utterly in love with the application though? Hell yes.

A commenter on one of my other articles said “moar linux plox.” I thought a set on Webmin and it’s companions was an excellent place to start.

@LawLessLessLaw

Anyone who opens webmin to the net deserves what they get. That's no different than leaving cpanel or phpmyadmin open to all and sundry. Absolutely idiotic security practice. Lock it down to the IP/domain you will use, or set it to only respond to internal addresses.

In my environment I have a Windows VM set up for administration on all of my networks with Linux boxen. I can RDP into the Windows VM from outside. The Windows VM is on an internal subnet with the Linux VMs, and they are set to only pass Webmin access to that internal subnet.

A neat configuration tool doesn’t alleviate the need for the proper care and feeding of your firewall.

@Edward Clarke

SHHHHH. Down with spoilers!

>_>

@ql

If you are a Windows admin, and you can't figure out Webmin, then you've no business in Systems Administration. I can understand the need to ease into the command line, or editing config files...but Webmin is dirt simple. That’s the point. Webmin *I*S how you ease a Windows admin into the Linux world. It’s not there to take blame, but to be a tool to help people get used to the new OS environment.

In all honesty, I find it’s great backup for when a new admin ventures out into the command line. If they break it somehow…they can always go back to Webmin and fix it. What to a senior administrator is a time-saving systems administration tool is a simple-to-use safety net for junior admins.

Clueless idiot?

I post to the internet: I have been trying to get DRDB to work for [insert arbitrarily long timeframe]. I have [series of steps] only to encounter [series of completely incomprehensible errors]. I am using CentOS 5.5, with both test systems in a VM (ESXi, hardware emulation 7). Thoughts?

The Internet respondeth (paraphrased): “zomfgwtf are you doing using such a pathetic distro, that’s half your problem right there. You should be using $distro instead! Anyways, you suck and need to read the man page more. It’s all there don’t you know?

I respond: “I have read the man page, but like any good man page it lacks examples of any kind whatsoever. I have run across [wiki/howto/whathaveyou] but it is written for $otherdistro, not CentOS. There has to be some config difference somewhere that I am missing, but I can’t for the life of me pin it down. Maybe these will help. [Log file contents].

The Internet respondeth: [thread derailed by distro jihad].

I’ve been fighting that one for about a month. Do I qualify as a clueless idiot then?