Author: Bob Martens

Categories
Business Technology

The Paralysis of Choice in Linux

One thing I’ve often said is that choosing to go with the Apple ecosystem affords me the ability to narrow down my technology choices. Many times people see this as a problem instead of a solution.

However, the flip side of that is the Linux ecosystem where choice is not just the name of the game, it is what you have to be aware of and prepared for from the onset of even trying to play.

Alright, done with that metaphor.

Recently I’ve changed roles at work from being primarily a webmaster and technician to systems administrator and network engineer. While I used Linux extensively before, now I am administering all of the servers on campus which puts me in contact with Linux every single day … often for multiple hours at a time.

It is fun, but at the same time quite harrowing. Here is a list of the Linux distributions currently being used here:

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
  • Red hat Enterprise Linux 5
  • CentOS 6
  • Ubuntu Server 8.04 LTS
  • Ubuntu Server 11.04
  • Ubuntu Server 10.04 LTS
  • Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS
  • Ubuntu Server 13.04
  • Ubuntu Desktop 10.04 LTS

That’s a good number. Granted, there are many similarities between them, each version brings just a small changes which can easily accumulate with time. The difference between administering an Ubuntu Server 8.04 LTS and Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS is quite drastic … and I’m already looking forward to April of 2014 for the next LTS release.

The thing is that you have a lot of choice and your skills can transfer quite easily to each distribution that you sometimes can over think things. I know I do. I spend too much time thinking about what I could be using instead of just moving ahead with working on what needs to be done.

For me, that’s the real takeaway. Adding choice in for the same of choice sometimes can cause cognitive overhead that we are not even aware of. Making a decision, as arbitrary as it can seem, can sometimes be refreshing because it allows you to narrow down your choices so that you spend less time thinking about what could be used and more time thinking about what needs to be done.

What’s the downside?

Obviously, you don’t want to limit your choices to the point where you won’t even consider another possibility in the future if the needs dictate you do so. Closing off choices when they are obviously better isn’t going to do you any good. That’s the negative end of what I am talking about.

However, lightening the cognitive load and speeding up the process of “getting things done” by narrowing down your choices might not be such a bad thing.

On my end, I’m going to be taking a hard look at trying to standardize around as few Linux distributions as possible (SUSE Linux Enterprise is also in the mix because of our relationship with Novell). How successful will I be? I’m not sure, but it will be fun to try.

Categories
Business Technology

Not Being Seen

Invisible IT is the title of a post put up by Nate Beran. It pretty clearly defines what is sometimes the hardest part about working in IT: improvements not being seen or noticed.

Many times improvements can be made, and even noticed, but the first thought isn’t to seek out those who made the improvements, but to actually continue to get work done. I think that is an issue for almost any department outside of those who scream the loudest about every little thing.

I think part of it is even perpetuated by IT departments themselves. We strive to have the least amount of downtime, the fewest number of people noticing, automate as much as possible … you get the idea. We are always tossing about the idea of “making technology invisible” so people can get their work done, and that is a valiant goal, but this is part of what comes along with it.

Sadly, the things that excite IT don’t always excite everyone else. Most of the time that means we are the ones who need to adapt … or make some more noise.

Categories
Business Technology

Information AND Technology

A good friend of mine, Nate Beran, just put up something he calls IT vs I&T. It is a really great read about where the general IT industry is heading and where people can be placing themselves to not just keep their positions (a valuable thing to be sure), but to also be of greater value to the organization you are working with/for.
Information TechnologyHere’s is the quote that gets to the heart of the unique opportunity available to I&T workers right now:

IT has a special place in business. We’re often one of the few business units that spans the entire organization. Everything we do affects every team in the business.

That is 100% true. Currently technology is such a central part of almost everything that is done in every organization, but more and more parts of what IT has traditionally overseen is getting pushed outside by various stakeholders in the company in pursuit of every larger profits, opportunities, or sometimes even kickbacks.

However, IT still is in the position to see how all of the disparate pieces are currently working together and to give insight into where pain points are because, guess what, we often are trying to smooth out those pain points for people. Spending time trying to think proactively instead of only reacting to issues gets momentum going forward.

While I don’t think IT will ever go away, the role of an IT worker is changing. There will always need to be someone to answer that call at 7:00 am when your Comcast lines go dim, but there is a greater need for people to take a look at the whole and then come up with ideas on how to make that whole work … better.

Work for that.

Categories
Technology

YaST and Ruby

I don’t often post about Ruby anymore (that might be changing in the future … I’ll post more later), but this is a pretty cool story.

YaST (Yet another Setup Tool in the openSUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise world) just announced today that their Ruby rewrite is complete and has been committed. The project’s aim was to move YaST from YCP to Ruby to hopefully foster more community involvement in the development of the setup tool.

Here are the stats:

  • 4204 files
  • 594680 lines of YCP deleted
  • 724687 lines of Ruby added

That’s pretty crazy from where I am sitting. I’m just starting to pay closer attention to the openSUSE and SUSE communities, but this project caught my eye right away. Really cool to see it be committed for implementation in future versions of openSUSE and SUSE.

Categories
Technology

Single vs Multi Monitor

Multiple MonitorsYeah, that is just a little bit ridiculous. I don’t have anything near that (nor do I think I would ever want anything like that), but I have been testing out a dual-monitor setup for the past few weeks to see if I like having the extra space or if a single, larger monitor really works best for me.

So far the results are inconclusive, but I do have some thoughts on the whole matter.

If you don’t like messy, stream-of-consciousness posts you might as well navigate to some other place … it is going to get messy from this point forward.

  • So far my favorite setup tends to be a single large monitor (between 23″ and 24″) hooked up to a 13″ laptop. Mainly it is a 13″ MacBook Pro. Having an obviously-primary monitor allows me to put it front-and-center and then I keep minor stuff on the secondary monitor (laptop screen). Minimum amount of head-turning, but it seems to fit best for me at the moment.
  • The distance from the screens seems to be a major factor with how well I work with them. It is pretty easy for two 23″ to 24″ panels to get too close and feel like the panels are going to eat your soul. So that might be hyperbole, but for me I need to be able to get the two monitors far enough away that I don’t feel crowded by them. It also has the benefit of leaving me more workspace directly in front of me for other things.
  • Get a decent mouse and keyboard. This isn’t monitor-setup specific, but it still needs to be said. I like Apple’s wireless accessories, but if you are not using a Mac I almost always reach for Logitech first. I still have my original Logitech optical mouse from 1999 (or something) and it still works. That’s pretty darn good. The main things is to find something that is comfortable and has decent keys (for keyboards).
  • Full-screen apps in OS X are really nice (and Mavericks is going to make it even better). It help eliminate some of the claustrophobic feeling that a laptop screen can bring. Not a complete replacement, but try out full screen apps as often as you can to see which ones will work for you.
  • When using large monitors, just don’t full-screen anything. I can’t. There is so much wasted space that it bugs me and I need to be using windows where I can see the ends of them. Kind of the opposite of working on a laptop. I think that is part of the reason single-window, single-app workflows on mobile devices are so popular and work so well. The limitations of the screen size almost necessitate single-window, single-app workflows.
  • I have not been able to try out things with 27″ monitors, and if I did I’d need to spend for the higher resolutions. I’ve used a 27″ iMac in the past and ran into the problem I have with multi-monitor setups … mainly that you need to be able to get it far enough away from your eyes or else you feel like it is going to come and eat you. Whole. One gulp. Gone. I don’t have the same issue with a single 24″ + 13″ laptop as I do even with just a single 27″ monitor. There must be some physiological switch flipped in my brain. Bad brain.
  • Linux multi-monitor setups can be very finicky. I think that OS X Mavericks has about the easiest time getting things to a working condition and being useful. That’s part of the benefit of owning the entire platform.

It really just comes down to what works for you. You need to experiment and I am going to continue to do so. Here are the OSes I have been trying out so far along with the hardware(ish):

  • OS X 10.8 on Mac mini and 13″ MacBook Pro
  • OS X 10.9 Developer Preview on Mac mini and 13″ MacBook Pro
  • openSUSE 12.3 on desktop
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP3 on desktop
  • Windows 7 on desktop and 12″ HP convertible tablet
  • Windows 8 on desktop

A lot of different possible setups and I am going to spend some more time in GNOME 3 with openSUSE and also probably load Ubuntu 13.04 on the desktop at some point.

So give them a go and see what works for you. Right now I’m still on the fence, but a 23″ monitor plus the 13″ MacBook Pro has seemed to be the most natural for me so far.