|
Grex > Coop6 > #16: "What do we want for Grex?" | |
|
| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 110 responses total. |
popcorn
|
|
response 25 of 110:
| 
Oct 13 23:47 UTC 1994 |
I'd love to see Grex do something like that.
One of our biggest current obstacles is that Ken doesn't want us
bringing zillions of people through the warehouse. Once we're in
the dungeon, things would be easier. I wonder if this topic
deserves its own item, where we think up more details about how
a staff mentoring program could work....
|
remmers
|
|
response 26 of 110:
|
Oct 14 01:16 UTC 1994 |
New people could be trained to do certain tasks that way. Anybody with
a basic knowledge of the Unix file system, and who knows their way
around commands like ls, chmod, cd, etc., could learn how to do cfadm
stuff without a lot of time effort on the part of either the trainer
or trainee.
But I think there are serious limits to what can be done in-house. In
doing the things they do with the system, people like STeve, Greg, and
Marcus are drawing on years of education and experience in the computer
field. So unless we intend to set up a Grex Technical Institute with
paid, accredited faculty and such, and teach courses in programming,
electrical engineering, etc., I'm pessimistic that in-house training
can help with the high-end expertise where the need is most critical.
Instead, we need either to (a) recruit staff who bring expertise with
them, or (b) reduce the need for this level of expertise.
|
rcurl
|
|
response 27 of 110:
|
Oct 14 06:09 UTC 1994 |
One way to look at it is, Grex needs a greater variety of skill levels,
to which one can climb. I'm now more or less "topped out" as a helper.
What's my next level on this system?
|
remmers
|
|
response 28 of 110:
|
Oct 14 10:02 UTC 1994 |
Backups!
|
rcurl
|
|
response 29 of 110:
|
Oct 14 13:37 UTC 1994 |
OK. How, where, and when? (Though, I had the impression of descriptions
of backups, that it is less intellectual than being a helper.)
|
gregc
|
|
response 30 of 110:
|
Oct 14 14:07 UTC 1994 |
John, while I agree with most of what you said in #26, I don't really see
how you expect to implement:
"(b) reduce the need for this level of expertise."
Short of 1.) Not running Unix, or 2.) Shutting off Grex entirely.
Unfortuneately, due to the complexity of the OS, people at this skill level
will *always* be needed , regardless of the type of hardware we eventually
run on.
|
remmers
|
|
response 31 of 110:
|
Oct 14 16:24 UTC 1994 |
I'm sure they'll be needed, but I'm wondering if there are things
we can do to lessen the degree of need and relieve the bottleneck
that we're in right now. In particular, would switching to a
486 platform help with this? (Discussion of that should probably
go in the 486 item.)
|
remmers
|
|
response 32 of 110:
|
Oct 14 16:39 UTC 1994 |
Re backups: Yeah, not very intellectual, but it's a necessary task
that isn't being done as often as it should. Part of the problem is
that it's so time-consuming -- a complete backup takes several
hours and needs frequent attention. Moreover, access to C.E.
requires that it be done during regular business hours. And the
people who do them have to be trusted individuals who are unlikely
to screw up, since they in effect have root access while they're
doing the backup. It's another area where money would help --
if we had one of the newer tape drives of humongous capacity,
where we could just pop in a little tape cartridge and let it do
its thing...
|
steve
|
|
response 33 of 110:
|
Oct 14 21:17 UTC 1994 |
Switching to a 486 waon't help the complexity problem--SunOS
can lay to special claim to strangeness. ;-)
Yes, certain tasks can be offloaded to people who know enough
about the system to do certain things. In the "real world",
they're called operators. A whole bunch of *very* useful people
who keep the machines running, and can handle some amount of
exception conditions, before the software staff are called in
on a real problem. Grex is big enough now to need this.
|
scg
|
|
response 34 of 110:
|
Oct 15 03:32 UTC 1994 |
I'll volunteer to learn how to do that.
|
kentn
|
|
response 35 of 110:
|
Oct 15 05:28 UTC 1994 |
I'd also volunteer for that if it were offered as a learning opportunity.
|
rcurl
|
|
response 36 of 110:
|
Oct 15 06:24 UTC 1994 |
Me too.
|
carson
|
|
response 37 of 110:
|
Oct 15 11:06 UTC 1994 |
me in addition.
|
robh
|
|
response 38 of 110:
|
Oct 15 11:56 UTC 1994 |
Of course!
|
steve
|
|
response 39 of 110:
|
Oct 15 15:24 UTC 1994 |
OK--System Administration 101 will start sometime in November.
|
kentn
|
|
response 40 of 110:
|
Oct 15 17:52 UTC 1994 |
Great!
|
davel
|
|
response 41 of 110:
|
Oct 15 19:19 UTC 1994 |
I'm interested too.
|
tsty
|
|
response 42 of 110:
|
Oct 16 05:01 UTC 1994 |
I've never been dis-interested.
And I'm GLAD that my bitched adn whining has had some positive results.
So far, those who have vollunteered (I'm glad to note) have been
previously mentioned as "potentials."
|
chelsea
|
|
response 43 of 110:
|
Oct 18 19:17 UTC 1994 |
I couldn't figure out where to stick this so I'm sticking it here.
A while ago there was a proposal for Grex to open private conferences
for non-profit groups to use for their business communications.
The idea met some resistance here as folks didn't quite like the
idea of Grex fostering private conferences for a number of reasons.
Anyhow, M-net is now considering offering such a service, and
the discussion doesn't seem to be centered on whether it fits
M-net's philosophy but rather on how much they might charge such
a group, if anything. I mentioned over there that I'd pass along
the word here so that if anyone hears of a group that may be
interested in something like this, they'd have a lead on where
private conferences are available. Rane may want to contact
M-net staff on behalf of his environmental group.
|
rcurl
|
|
response 44 of 110:
|
Oct 18 20:47 UTC 1994 |
They probably stole the idea from us ;-).
|
remmers
|
|
response 45 of 110:
|
Oct 18 22:16 UTC 1994 |
Actually, the JCC appropached M-Net and requested the conference.
The proposal is still under discussion; it's not yet clear that
they'll do it. Although there's been a good deal of discussion on
whether or not to charge, there have also been concerns raised
about the appropriateness.
|
rcurl
|
|
response 46 of 110:
|
Oct 19 06:04 UTC 1994 |
I wish them luck. I consider it super-appropriate.
|
n8nxf
|
|
response 47 of 110:
|
Oct 19 12:14 UTC 1994 |
I don't know if the idea has much value. If one has a phone line, a
secure space and an old XT with a 10M HD, it's easy to set up a single
user bbs. Only users who want several connected at the same time or
who don't want to play with the hardware/software would have need for
anything more. Free, of course, is also a good deal. Privacy would be
another concern such groups would have, even from superusers. Another
is sustem reliability. I have been running a single user bbs for just
over two years and it's only crashed once. (Power went down long enough
so the heads on the old HD stuck to the platters. It needed a push start.)
I don't think M-Net or even Grex can make the same claim ;-) It is very
frustrating to log onto a system to read your mail before heading out
the door for the day and finding it OTL.
|
rcurl
|
|
response 48 of 110:
|
Oct 20 04:38 UTC 1994 |
On the other hand, non-profit volunteers generally have almost no interest
in computers per-se, but a great deal of interest in communicating. I
really like Picospan - vastly better than any other bbs software I
have encountered - for this purpose: categorization into Items; easy
access to history; e-mail near by; filespace. It really isn't a problem
if the host is OTL, since things usually happen slowly, anyway (;->).
As an example, I find the radio cf here a better format for amateur radio
stuff, than the ARROW bbs, except for what ARROW members might want to
discuss out of the public eye (but e-mail is available for that). It
costs less too (depending on the level of one's donations..).
|
tsty
|
|
response 49 of 110:
|
Oct 20 16:34 UTC 1994 |
re #43 - yes, chelsea that's correct, the discussion started *just*
before some psuedo cracked into an existing "restricted access"
conference ..... I'll post the strongest caveats in a day or so.
A separate machine is the best-of-the-worst answers.
|