System i Addict

This is pretty neat. Sun has put a data center in a box. It’s called the BlackBox project and they are being built right here in Colorado. I think the idea is very neat and should be looked at by other companies like IBM and DELL.

I along with Todd have posted our photos on BetterPhoto.com for some time. I have submitted my work to them in the contests and have never gotten recognized for it. I really never expected much from the site but Todd emailed me today and let me know that in my gallery of stuff there was not one, not two, but nine yes nine Editors Pick Awards, which does mean a great deal to me that my work in Photography is getting some attention.

I would like to thank my wife Kelly for supporting me and letting me get equipment we sometimes can’t afford. She also gets credit for working with me while I learn. It’s not easy being married to me I know but she sure does make it look easy.

I would like to thank G. Mark Lewis (Silent G Studio) for helping me with my craft. I do owe a great deal to Mr. Lewis. He is a fine photographer in his own right. I could not pull off some of the things he has done with a camera. I would also like to thank Todd for pushing me and helping me with projects. His photos make me think about my eye. (Todd got one too for this great shot.) And to all the other photographers over the years for all of their inspiration. Thanks Brenda for always being honest with me, I like to know that I am always going to get honest feedback from you to make me better over time. All of my subjects in the past both alive and not alive. Thank you Jan for being my first customer. I am still looking for more sunsets for you.

Lastly to my Dad who got me into this whole thing in the first place. I still have the Pentax K1000 with the 50mm lens on my shelf. You and it were the start of something very positive in my life. I truly do enjoy photography. It is my passion and it is my greatest frustration all at the very same time. Thank you all!

Link to my BetterPhoto.com Gallery

Pic 1 | Pic 2 | Pic 3 | Pic 4 | Pic 5 | Pic 6 | Pic 7 | Pic 8 | Pic 9

LINK

Nominate Your IT Hero for SysAdmin of the Year 2007.

The SysAdmin of the Year Award shines a spotlight on the technical superstars behind the scenes working tirelessly to troubleshoot, problem solve and fight fires to keep your business running smoothly. It’s easy - simply nominate your company’s IT Rockstar, and they’ll be entered to win fabulous prizes - including a MacBook Pro, an Apple iPhone, and this guitar. Sorry, SysAdmin Mark is not included. (First 2500 entries receive a free tshirt). Don’t forget today is SysAdmin Appreciation Day.

I sure could use a prize! Wink Wink Nudge Nudge?

I like this article by Doug Mewmaw. I think we all can relate.

LINK to POST

“I would like to share some neat tricks of the trade and best practice techniques that I’ve used over the years that ensured my systems were running smoothly in regards to memory. We’ll assume that the machine pool faulting is within the best practice guidelines–under 10 faults per second.”

I am working on doing a podcast. I know that there are a few, but since I used to do radio and I like to talk to myself it just seemed like a good idea. So what do you think would you listen?

iCast? AddictCast?
i Addict so i Cast?

I would be a little more than i stuff but I would try to keep it under 15 or 20 minutes. I think that is all anyonw can stand of me…

I have always wanted an Intel PC that could run i5OS. While I do understand the ramifications of that wish because of the way i5OS is engineered for the Power5 system it still would be cool to had out Openi5 CDs to all the other people who don’t know what it is and to the Solaris people who swear by that hodge podge of an OS. I love UNIX but it is so confusing for the average user.

LINK to POST

Is this another Name Change or just a fix in how we look at the System i and System p?

LINK TO POST

IBM Corp. is splitting up its midrange System i server division between high- and low-end models.The more powerful horses such as IBM’s System i5 570 and System i5 595 will be combined with IBM’s Unix servers (or System p) and will be called the Power Systems unit. Meanwhile, the smaller boxes will become part of a division of their own that focuses on the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market and will be called the Business Systems unit.

I found this on someone else web site as a link and thought it was good enough to post here.

ODIN Jobs 

So I submitted this months ago and I have to admit i found this originally on Search400.com but it had a flaw. When you set it up it would not work because you would not see the changes until you took down the SBS and the Client Access DB Jobs?

Here is a link to the Administrator Tip.

FLAME WAR Blog Post

This is really funny. I’m sure you’re all following it already, but there is something of a flame war going on regarding what to call a particular midrange server that IBM sells. You all know what I’m talking about — is it the AS/400, iSeries, or System i?

While I would agree, it is funny, I don’t think Trevor or the “COBOL Blog” think it’s very funny like we all do. I find it odd that he would reject Trevor’s premise that we should call it the System i. I also think the COBOL Blog has taken things a bit far with the banning and blocking. It is his blog but at some point you have to invite in those who oppose you or want to talk to you about your opinion and talk. You seem a little power happy when you just bock or ban people at first sight or post.

I have guys that come to my blog and hate me and I let them hate me. The only thing I have ever banned was a death threat a few weeks ago. It was a sad threat from a jerk, but none the less it was blocked and taken care of.

Trevor is the System i movement. He embodies the System i and i Society. I would like to know the last time COBOL blog was at COMMON and participated in some good old fashion System i love’in? I am not saying you can’t be a System i person if you don’t attend COMMON, but in order to understand Trevors point you have to know Trevor and how is just bonkers about calling it the System i. I would encourage all of you to read his entire web site to better understand the man that is Angus the IT Chap!

Not a Flame war, but damn close.

Justin & Rachel are getting married and I am shooting the wedding. Here are some photos from over the weekend of my latest work.

LINK TO BETTERPHOTO.COM

So now it is all starting to make no sense and at the same time it’s all so clear now to me.

IBM has purchased DataMirror!

Read the Post on IT Jungle Here

Private equity firm Thoma Cressey Bravo has been driving a wave of consolidation in the market for high availability and data replication software in the i5/OS and OS/400 server market since last fall, having acquired three of the four biggest players and merging them under Vision Solutions. In a surprising move yesterday, IBM, which has always been a strong partner with the makers of HA software for its proprietary server line, acquired the fourth big player in this market, DataMirror, for $161 million.

I would like to think I had something to do with this. I think a lot of myself, I really do. I pulled aside every IBM’er I could get my hands on and mentioned that I thought the 40 user cap was a shoot yourself in the foot move and would be used against them by the likes of DELL and SUN. I will spare you the exact quote from the Sun rep but they all had that comment in their hip pocket before IBM had a chance to explain it away.

I think this was a very smart move on IBM’s part and puts that server in contention to play with the big boys as a little guy price. Everyone now has no excuse to not get on the System i!

I could see 515s or 525s in a JDE environment doing the work of Logic Servers. That would work out really good for me.

LINK to System i News Post 

I just received my weekly AngusBlogZine for this week and an tickled pink to be mentioned. I got a chance to meet “Angus” at COMMON this year and have asked to be his scribe but to no avail he has not taken me in. That has never stopped me from asking over and over again until they finally give in to shut me up.

I am pushing the “System i” now anyone want any. If your smart you take a full glass.

Since I can’t find a link to the AngusBlogZine I am just going to post it. He make some great points in true Angus fasion. I can’t wait until next year at COMMON when I get to bath in the light of Angus again. Maybe this time we can work together on some things for the good of the System i?

Read the Post from ANGUS on the next page . . .

Read the rest of this entry »

I love Audi and it’s little brother is VW. If you know me well then you know my first 3 cars we Vee-Dubs and I loved them all so much. This has to be the sickest thing from VW I have seen in some time.

Well Volkswagen has pulled a fast one (literally) and decided to unveil a W12 powered, rear-wheel-drive, mid-engined GTI at the tuner/drunk/party fest in Austria known as Worthersee. We’ll have more information, photos and video in coming weeks ahead. A full photo gallery is provided in the links below.

Link to VW Vortex

My buddy Biff has posted a pretty messy rack he is working on fixing.

Post your best messy racks so we all can enjoy them and make Biff feel better about his rack. Hey I can be dirty here if I wanted to but I am not. No “rack” jokes please!

This has nothing to do with the System i (ode to Trevor) but I found it odd and interesting all at the same time.

LINK to HULK DOG

Maybe they should call her a whoppet - after all, she’s a whopper of a whippet.

This is Wendy, the dog whose appearance is a long way from the usual long, lean and sleek look of her breed.

Chris does a nice post on his experience with Backup and Virtual Tape Devices. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to V5R4.

Take a read and tell him what you think. He seems to have a pretty good understanding of what he is talking about.

Link to Post

Link here to a great blog post!

The next major release of FreeBSD, version 7, is one of the most significant so far, with amount of new technologies and improvement largest since introduction of 5.0. Since constantly searching the mailing lists for important changes can be a bit tedious, I’ve created this (frequently updated) page to list some of the more interesting new things in one place.

Here are the parts I liked:

Read the rest of this entry »

I was looking at MessangerPlus for the System i and was wondering if anyone out there knows of a system monitor for both the System i and UNIX/Linux?