Tag: Linux

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
Technology

Messing with openSUSE

official-logo-colorWhile it might be as “cool” as some other things, I’m gearing up to start looking seriously at Novell Open Enterprise Server 11 (OES 11) for some upcoming transitions for our main file storage solution. Since we already have time and effort put into Novell NetWare, and eDirectory specifically, that is what I am going to look at first.

While I have extensive experience with Ubuntu and OS X, I haven’t taken a look at SUSE or openSUSE for years. Since OES 11 is usually paired with SUSE Enterprise Linux I need to at least take a look at what is on the other side of the Linux divide.

So, if anyone has any experience or tips with working with SUSE and openSUSE, please leave them in the comments.

Categories
Technology

HP Moonshot

I don’t deal with server hardware a ton, but these past two weeks have seen me installing a few RAID cards and working with XenServer quite a bit so the latest server offerings from HP caught my eye.

moonshotProdImg_471x292

So cool. So dense. I’m hoping that we see more and more work done to bring low-power-multi-core computing into the server room.

Categories
Technology

Ubuntu Shows off Tablet OS

tablet-multi-taskingIt was going to happen at some point, but today Ubuntu, with Mark Shuttleworth at the helm, released a video and area of its website about its work on providing a tablet-optimized experience for its OS. This is on the heels of another such announcement earlier about a phone-optimized experience as well.

It seems to demo pretty well but the proof will have to be in what the OS feels like when actually using it.

The idea of a single OS, a single install, moving from phone, to tablet, to PC, to TV is an interesting one (and one that Microsoft seems to agree with in principle), and I happen to consider Linux and Ubuntu my second-choice OS after Apple’s offerings, so this is kind of exciting to me.

I’m considering getting a Nexus device to take a look at what the tablet offering might end of being like. My hope is that with the quick development that Ubuntu seems to pride itself in, there might be a third or fourth leg to this increasingly interesting mobile space.

 

Categories
Life Technology

Baskets of Eggs

The phrase “putting all of your eggs in one basket” has always appealed to me.

Even in High School, I didn’t really hang out with a single crowd or do only a single category of things. I played intramural sports, was a part of every music group  I could find, did well academically and was a part of Knowledge Bowl … essentially splitting my time up in multiple “baskets”.

Who knew that it would be the thing I was doing at home that would become my career.

Then in college I was working on my “Education Degree” (scare quotes for effect) but then spent more time working in Network Services and learning that line of work. Multiple baskets (and I should pay attention to what I spend time on … it tends to lead to where I should go).

Now I’m again splitting my eggs up between technology and agriculture. Farming and iPhones. They might seem an oil-and-water sort of thing, but I think that is good (and where real “innovation” happens — again with the scare quotes).

You are always going to have questions on where you should be spending your time and right now I’m looking at not just technology and agriculture, but between the web and iOS. It is common for the choice to never be one of mutual exclusivity, but many times of complimentary area with no right or wrong answer. This is another case of that.

I’ve simply been blown away by the reception of iOS by my family members since I encouraged by mom and brother to purchase iPhones last year. So far they are up to two iPhones, an iPod touch, and an iPad. All of them will be receiving iOS 6 updates tomorrow and I have no fear of letting them just update on their own. That, to me, is freedom. They install and uninstall software themselves and just, overall, use the devices as they are intended without my intervention.

I could not say the same for the Windows boxes and Blackberry phones that they were using before.

That makes me excited about possibly jumping into iOS development with more than just my little toe. However, iOS without the web is pretty bland and so I also continue to look at Ruby and Ruby on Rails for the backend work. However, how much time and effort do I spend on each, especially knowing that I do not know nearly enough of either to be of any use yet.

I know the platform zealots out there who declare iOS-only or web-only and they both sound silly. There is room for both and a need for both as well. However, where do I toss in an extra egg or two to get started on doing more advanced stuff? I just really don’t know.