Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with technical

Help me choose a technical or trade college for IT administration.

loquacious — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:23:24 -0800

Help me research technical schools/colleges for IT, CS and systems administration. I'm looking for a technical school/college along the lines of ITT or similar schools that are affordable and offer financial aid application assistance.

I want to learn and brush up on computer/IT administration with a focus on systems/server administration. Specifically Windows Server 2008, Macintosh OS X as well as a side course in Vista and Windows 7.

I'm interested both AA and BA programs.

Please feel free to also name programs to avoid like the plague.

(For the record, I have about a decade of real world IT work and I am returning to school as an independent adult.)

What career now?

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:33:01 -0800

What field am I supposed to be in? I always tested very well, went to an Ivy League school and got both computer science and liberal arts degrees... I didn't actually do very well in school, barely making all my requirements for graduation. I took the LSAT at one point in the past, and did very well and was accepted into law school and declined - Then and now I don't think I would like to be back in school again, nor am I sure I would enjoy any of the jobs available to someone with a law degree. Public policy has its attractions, it is even less tuned to my technical reasoning skills.

I like debugging things (computer programs and systems), but I find actually building them to be very tedious. I like building scripts to automate my everyday tasks, both at work and at home. I like creative pursuits, typically music and storytelling, but visual creativity is somewhat limited.

I'm currently in a field that is actually a fairly good fit and mixture of artistic and technical, but if I progress further up the food chain, my technical skills will no longer be used, and I am actually not so sure I am all that great at the other (more purely creative and political) aspects of the job...

Money has become an issue - I bounce right around the 6-figure threshold most years, and I need to stay in that area if I am to keep living in my house in the major metro area where I live. If I stay where I am at my job, I won't ever make any more money than I do now, more likely less. And I would still need to reconcile my ego to parking in a non-terminal position in my field. I feel like if I go back into computer and systems debugging (what I did out of college for 5 years), I am always a second class citizen to developers, and the path through tech support is a little menial. I have thought about doing something more in line with sales engineering - using my technical know-how to find potential solutions to problems without actually having to build them.

Any suggestions? Or ideas of how to hone in what would be a second career shift? I'm in my mid-thirties, and I don't mind repositioning myself, but I also don't love the idea of a major career shift in my forties if I don't settle into something I am happy with.

How to get an RSS feed from a website that doesn't have an RSS Feed.

gm2007 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:40:39 -0800

Setting up an RSS feed for a job board that does not have an RSS feed subscription. Is there a way to do this? I would like to add an RSS feed to my iGoogle pages for USAJOBS.GOV searches that I have set up. USAJOBS.GOV allows you to subscribe to searches and receive them by email, but does not have a way to subscribe via RSS.

I went to feedage.com, which has a tool that they call HTML2RSS, which is supposed to convert any HTML page to an RSS feed, but it doesn't work very well on USAJOBS.GOV.

ANy ideas

I wanna shred you up!

sprocket87 — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 07:14:12 -0800

Looking for recommendations of modern indie rock artists that aren't afraid to shred & solo - on the electric guitar, not a Casiotone. I'm a major music fan with tastes all over the board. For the past couple years I've been super heavy in the indie world. Much of what I've been listening to is quite, shall we say, "eclectic", and very experimental. I've noticed that prominent use of the guitar seems to be languishing in such music. It's present, yes, but subdued, scrubbed through a sea of effects, and diluted either into a wash of supplemental melody or a wall of noise. The Moog solo has replaced the guitar solo - and though that isn't a bad thing per se, I want to get back to my roots, so to speak.

I feel like I'm ready to go through an electric guitar rennaissance. I miss the riffs, energy, and lead of yore. Few 90's alt songs were lacking a decent solo, and I really miss that.

So, what can you recommend? I'm NOT looking for "classic" examples of solo-centric bands (classic rock, 90s alt, metal, etc). I've got plenty to choose from there (though, for examples' sake, Pink Floyd fits the bill nicely - really experimental music that employed guitar solos masterfully, yet weren't a silly shredder hair band either).

I'm looking for recent/up & coming bands that aren't afraid to turn the amps to 11 and bust out some righteous solos, or, at the minimum, that use the guitar in a technically impressive fashion, instead of just a yawn-inducing strum box.

Note: I'm not just looking for loud, power-chord-weilding indie bands (Glasvegas, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, etc). I love this stuff too, but I want to hear some riffs, man!

Examples:

The White Stripes (their older, more guitar-centric stuff - Ball & Biscuit, etc)
Apollo Up! (This is pretty much exactly what I'm talking about)
Some B.R.M.C.
Alberta Cross, a little
Eh... can't think of any others at the moment?

Don't feel that it has to be restrained to a certain genre, per se, but I'm not looking for pure metal (Uneath, Skeletonwitch, etc). Like I said, lots of easy choices there. I'm looking for more eclectic, indie-oriented groups that incorporate heavy guitar lead into their music.

Thanks!

How can I learn to read technical documents?

Anonymous — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:56:58 -0800

When I read technical documents or books, my mind fuzzes over and I get easily distracted. It's hard for me to get a deep understanding of technical subjects. This is starting to become an issue professionally. What can I do? For as long as I can remember, I've had a hard time reading technical documents or books. This sucks, because I'm a sysadmin and have been working with computers for as long as I can remember and don't want to do anything else. I made it through my computer science degree largely by learning through doing and labs. Lectures and required reading, however, both had the same effect: about 10 minutes in, as soon as the technical details surfaced, my mind glossed over and it became extremely hard to pay attention. The same thing happens today: I get past the background information in a whitepaper or a design document from a coworker and I find myself not having understood the last five paragraphs I just read. Or, just as frequently, I end up following background links and never making it back to the original document in question.

I do not have this issue when I'm engaged in a one-on-one conversation.

To be clear: I'm quite capable of reading long books on my own; I just finished reading Neal Stephenson's 3000+ page Baroque Cycle and have started on another, equally as long series which I'm happily reading. There is no issue when there's a compelling plot, just when there are a lot of technical details.

I'm looking, in particular, for advice from other people who have had this issue and have done something positive to work around it.

Need to apply my previous skills to a new occupation - resources? ideas?

audio — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:23:34 -0800

I just complete a two year technical degree, now I find that I am un-happy with my future job and that the economic outlook for work is terrible. I want to find something that will use my skills and education as leverage for an assortment of different careers. Are there website(s) that can compute this for me? could you suggest for me some occupations given a brief description (inside)... (Continueing from original question)..

I'm good at the following:

- Programming (almost all web languages and some server side)

- Building things (I like to be unorthadox and create solutions from random ideas... try new things to make something work)

- Designing (I have a good eye to make things aesthetically pleaseing)

- Diagnoseing (I can solve complex problems most times and not get stressed out)

- Consulting (I have a long backround in internet marketing, web developement and server deployment)

My Degree: Network Administrator (http://www.academyoflearning.com/AB/Home/Programs/InformationTechnology/NetworkAdministrator.aspx)

So many careers in computers are being outsourced to india. I can't compete. I have thought about doing something in diagnostic medicine but I just got out of school and need a year or two break before I would ever consider something like that.

Are there any careers you would recommend for a person like me? (besides the obvious - web design / programming out of the question b/c of outsourceing competition)

The art of making people really, really happy?

TheOtherSide — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:56:30 -0800

How does one build one's skills to become a world-class technical evangelist? In a few weeks I'll be getting a new job. The company, people, and work will be awesome. However, I will be moving into a entirely new type of role.

I'll be making a transition to a mostly people-facing role from a mostly non-people-facing role, and I'd like a jump start. For years I've worked as a technical manager. Before that I'd worked as a technical lead and the typical code-in-the-cube, nose-in-the-book software developer. Although decent, my people skills could use a huge boost.

This new position will be 25% team-management, and 75% stakeholder-management. This means I'll be giving a lot of conference talks, holding a lot of after work business meetings, going out for drinks and dinner, getting the right people together in the right place, and trying to woo the stakeholder community and leaving an awesome impression.

I need tips that will make this transition easiest. What are the books, magazines, blogs or people that I should be following? What types of skills should I be practicing? How do I get comfortable with making other people really comfortable? How do I become an expert facilitator to high-end people (Phds, CTOs, Government leaders)?

I've watched others in similar positions before and they seem really good at telling stories, making light humor, and engaging people. How do I practice this?

Software to help do guided outlines with automatically populated fields from previous answers?

miasma — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 13:20:01 -0800

I'm trying to construct a digital worksheet that will walk someone through an outlining and drafting process for creating a report. Basically, the user should be able to answer the questions I put forward (either in a textfield, list, or textarea) and what would come out is an outline for a technical paper, grant proposal, etc. Is there software or features of software to support this? Microsoft Office or exportable formats are preferable. I could sort of do this right now in Word or PowerPoint. In Word, I simply would put questions and the user could answer them. I would then say something like "Copy and paste your answer to Question 6 here. Name 3 things that would constitute a risk to this item." Unfortunately, that requires alot of cut and pasting on the part of the user. Also, Word kind of lets someone go on and on and on and I'd like to have them focus on outlining and using brief statements.

Alternatively I could do this in PowerPoint, and ask someone to make a new slide with the title of a bullet point from the previous slide. This would force brief statement, but again, lots of instruction and cut and pasting. I would like it if I could automate this process someone. Sort of like how in Excel you can take the data from one cell and put it in another.

So, does some Holy Grail of software exist that supports guided outlining / worksheets with automatic data population from previous answers? Or does someone have a nifty approach I could use instead within Word or PowerPoint? I guess I might be able to construct it with Access with Forms, but that seems a bit complicated.

WAH!

Neonshock — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 02:38:31 -0800

My HP Pavillion dv6000 laptop works fine...except for one little battery related thing. You know the battery icon on the screen? On the bottom left - yeah that one.... It always shows at being 5% remaining, plugged in and charging (which it is, and has been for about...the last two months) but I never the less, ever gains any battery power. Sometimes when I startup its at full, but then when everything starts up properly it falls immediately down to 5 percent again. Its annoying because now im scared to remove it from the power....

My google has failed me. Any ideas Mefis?

I'm having a financial existentialist crisis

MrMulan — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:36:19 -0800

Have I been wrong on my financial core beliefs? I have had a worldview when comes to finances for over 15 years that I am now questioning.

1. I believed 8-12% return on your money over the long term was reasonable, conservative, and realistic.
2. I believed in No-load mutual funds.
3. I believed in dollar cost averaging.
4. I believed Technical Analysis does not work.
5. I believed in A Random Walk Down Wall Street.

First there was this segment from NPR(of all places!) that blew my mind: Technical Analysis actually works (at least for oil)
Then this article from Slate on Suzy Orman. The article disses No-load, and Dollar-Cost Averaging without any references.

Was NPR sinking to a major network level of reporting? Or does TA really work?
What is the mounting evidence against No-loads as part of a passive, long term strategy?

There is no other choice for me but to be an optimist for the long term health and prosperity of our country and by proxy, the stock market. Else, the best thing to do would be to stock up and canned food and guns, and that really isn't a nice way for me to live.
Why then is Dollar-cost averaging bad, if you are doing it in mutual funds, and doing it for the long term?

There are many books out know calling into question A Random Walk Down Wall Street. Is there any truth to them?

What are external links, and what value do they provide to my site ranking?

Nixie Pixel — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:07:40 -0800

What are external links, and what value do they provide to my site ranking? Are they important? What are external links, and what value do they provide to my site ranking? Are they important? I understand the basics of external linking, but I'd like to know a more in depth explanation. Thanks a lot in advance! =)

Where to buy blood splatter posters?

Joakim Ziegler — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 00:48:20 -0800

Where can I find blood splatter posters, or other technical diagrams/posters, to decorate my office? I was just watching an episode of "Dexter", and the main characters, who's a blood splatter analyst with the Miami PD, has several posters of blood splatter examples in his office. One is divided into several smaller images, showing blood drops aither in different states of running, or at different angles, another has what looks like a drag pattern.

I'd like to get some of these posters for my office. Where can I get them? Preferably somewhere that ships internationally and accepts international credit cards. Other highly specialized/weird technical posters and diagrams in poster form might be interesting too, areas like medicine, forensics, science, architecture, etc.

Intermediate Technical Sketching

DU — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:44:01 -0800

Other than the practicing I'm already doing, how can I learn more about technical sketching? Perhaps the best way to start to describe what I'm talking about is define it as the intersection of two broad and easy-to-find-information-about fields

1) Freehand sketching
2) Drafting/technical drawing

I'm not trying to draw fruit or people or things I can physically see. I'm not trying to give exact dimensions and 3 projection views, nor do I want to draw each machine part separately. I'm trying to draw things like beams and linkages and gears and nuts and bolts freehand, all put together and in design mode.

The "complete beginner" basics are already completed. I have pencils and so forth. I can draw lines, circles, ellipses, etc. What I need help with is how to draw something complicated like a gear. Or how to indicate different materials. Or how to do a cutaway/cross-section.

Obviously there are some things from each field that apply to this, but I am having trouble finding information specific to this task. Even old drafting books skip lightly over the freehand chapter and then get right into formalized drafting. Architectural sketching books seem to come closest, but that is mainly concerned with buildings (duh) not machines. A previous AskMe elicited a reply that seems nearly perfect except for two problems.

1) The book is very short. Worse, it looks like the material I'm interested in is only in 2 or 3 chapters.

2) The book is not in any of the many libraries available to me.

Many different googlings yield results, but they are mainly of the "first, get some pencils" variety that peter out quickly without getting anywhere. I have found reference to various books with titles like "Freehand Technical Sketching" but there's no information beyond the title to see what's really inside and if it's worth paying money for.

Maybe no such resource exists? In which case, who are some artists and/or engineers who've figured this stuff out for themselves? Perhaps I could just look at what they do.

technical gibberish parody video

mdpc98 — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:48:18 -0800

I am trying to find a specific internet video from a few years ago. The video is a parody of a highly technical product promotional/sales company. There is one man in a suit explaining the company's production innovation, design, etc., as he stands in front of equipment racks. About half-way through, you begin to realize that it's all just technical gibberish. My google-fu is failing me.

Is business training any good?

dcrocha — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:47:42 -0800

Is business training and certification as well recognized and rewarded as technical training? I have worked with software development for all my career, and I have progressed quite well by reading books, taking trainings and certifications as much as I could. These have been recognized and rewarded by all my employers so far, basically because they provide a practical way of ensuring I know a certain development technology well enough to pass the exams, therefore even if I do not master it, I can get up to speed on it fairly quickly.

In my current job I'm starting to make the transition into the business world, and frankly it seems to me that most of the expertise is quite subjective and not as easily assessable as in the technical "world".

So how does one become "good" as business, in a way that he/she can be easily evaluated and rewarded by employers? I'm thinking MBA here, but I don't want to be so shortsighted.

How do I prepare for graduate technical interviews in software?

Anonymous — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:50:38 -0800

In about six weeks I expect to have a technical interview for a graduate position with MS. What can I do between now and then to be as well prepared as possible? This is my first 'real' interview - I'm just finishing my degree. I have interviewed for jobs like McDonalds and waiting tables, but that seems qualitatively different. The only other application I have made so far was to Google, and I didn't get past their technical phone screen (I did ask for feedback on how I went, but haven't heard anything from them yet). I do have some pretty good work experience, but the interview process for that was all over the phone and seemed ridiculously easy, I don't think there was much competition.

My biggest issue is that I don't really know if I'm good enough - what are they looking for? What do they expect from me? I have honours grades and a bunch of scholarships, but no open-source involvement and I feel like the really impressive guys at uni just know and understand way more than me, at a completely different level. How do I know what kind of position I should be applying for, or if Microsoft/Google/etc are just out of my league? (This is anon because in real life I never admit to that I might be less than capable of anything. I don't mind if I'm recognizable, I just don't want the angst easily linked to my name.)

Current plans:
-I'm going to do some coding (in C++) to make sure I have all the syntax at my fingertips - it's been a while since I've worked in it.
-I just reread my Data Structures and Algorithms textbook, and I'm taking another course in them now
-I'm working on the Google CodeJam problems
-I've been googling 'Microsoft interview' and variations to find all the available info on the type of questions they'll ask, logic puzzles etc.
-I'm also starting my final semester, and have a lot of work to do, so I don't have unlimited time to work with.

I'm looking for MS-specific tips, but also advice for software interviews in general, as I'm sure I'll be interviewing at other places as well.

How to make the best of a technical interview without any directly related experience?

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:34:49 -0800

Upcoming interview for a technical Dream Job. Problem is, I've been working in a similar-ish industry, but don't have any professional experience directly related. How can I better emphasize my broad technical background, autodidact tendencies and passion for the industry to help assuage concerns the interviewer may have? I've been in contact with the COO of a company I'd *really* like to work for. Sent him my resume, he said it looked good and someone would be contacting me for an interview soon. It's a Dream Job, emphasis on capital D, capital J. It's a programming position in a relatively small company (40-50 people) doing some absolutely fascinating and innovative work. About six months ago, they hired an industry veteran who's work I really respect and admire. Being able work at the same place and learn, even indirectly, from this person is also tremendously exciting.

Unfortunately, I have plenty of semi-related experience, but nothing in their exact segment of the industry. I wanted to work for this company just after I got my Masters about a year ago, but couldn't due to immigration issues (I'm an American in Canada). I had to find a job before my study permit expired or be deported. I talked with the Dream Company briefly, it was too close to the deportation deadline to set anything up, so I took a job somewhere else. I've got permanent residency now though, so I can work where ever I want.

I've got a BS and MS in Computer Science. My undergrad work and the start of grad school was all gritty, systems projects, but in working on my thesis, I transitioned a little bit more towards ubicomp/HCI. In short, I've done everything from building custom linux kernels with experimental SDR drivers to conducting a significant user study entirely by myself. I don't have specialization in any one area, but I've got a solid foundation in building abstracted, readable, maintainable software (or so I like to think).

I'm intensely excited are the mere possibility of working in this industry. I a pretty good autodidact as well. I get up at 5 AM every day (sometimes 6 on the weekends) and spend 1.5 to 2 hours reading, coding, learning about the area I want to go into. I won't be stopping this when I get the job. I've heard most technical employees spend less than 10 hours on year on training (something like that was mentioned in Code Complete v2), and I spend over 10 hours a week of my own time doing this. Would a potential employer be more interested in someone willing to learn or will mentioning this just make me look like an intellectual braggart?

Additionally, I've been working on open source-esque project that is more related to what the Dream Job does for about a decade. My commitment has ebbed and flowed with my other obligations, but I've always been contributing something for almost 9 years now. Will employers take unpaid experience like this seriously? How can I best use this to help address my lack of directly related experience?

What other ways can I address my lack of specifically related experience in the interview? I'd imagine being passionate, driven and willing to learn are all appealing, but how can I communicate that more effectively?

Anon since I haven't told my current employer I'm leaving yet, but I'm perfectly happy to respond to any specific questions. Mildly recycled throw-away email - startupsadness@gmail.com.

decoding 10bit video

shino-boy — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:14:58 -0800

Decoding a 10bit video file ain't easy... I own an HD camera mod that records uncompressed 8bit and 10bit video files directly to a Mac's HDD. The camera company provided software to capture and render the video files. The rendering software never worked correctly with the 10bit files and we were waiting for an updated release. The company was sold and the rendering software was *not* updated and is now no longer supported.

:(

I wondered how hard it would be to write a Quicktime component under OS X 10.4 to directly read both the 8bit and 10bit files.

I bought some red, green and blue felt from the art store and recorded 8bit and 10bit clips of each color on an overcast day.

Starting with the 8bit files, I used a hex viewer to examine the "red" video file, and saw numbers like this (converted to decimal):

114 31 32 112 29 32 [...]

Well, that was easy. A quick check of the "green" video file confirmed that the byte order of each pixel is stored R G B. And indeed, my codec can now open successfully open an 8bit file. Hooray! But wait...

Using the same hex viewer I peek at the 10bit "red" video file, which was recorded using the same exposure as the 8bit file so I kind of know what numbers to expect, and I get this (again converted to decimal):

212 245 129 137 120 123 44 130 156 32 142 136 71 200 34 [...]

The italics are mine, they are (kinda) the R G B values I'm looking for, I just didn't expect them to show up like that. I've seen examples of how 10bit DPX image files are packed but the pattern I see in my files just doesn't make sense to me.

Do they make sense to anyone else? I really want to use these 10bit files, and if I can figure out the R G B pattern I'll be good to go.

For the record I did email the rendering software's developer asking for a hint. He did not reply.

Gmail not working

lometogo — Sun, 18 May 2008 03:59:52 -0800

When I start Gmail, it hangs, without fully loading. I input my name and password, and it attempts to load, but hangs before fully loading and showing my mailbox. My only alternative is then to load the HTML view. This is a very limited and unworkable mode. I've tried Google's standard fixes with no avail. Can anyone help? I run XP Home Edition, on a Toshiba 1.5ghz laptop. This problem showed up a couple weeks ago. Google's fix is to dump cache; that did nothing. They also say there could be software contention but give no hints.

I get the same results with Firefox and IE, and I have tried friends' computers and have the same problem.

I need the standard version because I do a lot of work on Craigslist, and when hitting an ad's email link, Gmail prevents me from getting to the compose box.

GRRRRRR!!!!!!!!! Any askfi help will be greatly appreciated.

Terence from Texas

Tech Degree/Career as Lib. Art Major? How do I get in the Door and What Door do I get in?

DetonatedManiac — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:30:39 -0800

I'm a liberal arts major. I'm considering Law School or a Masters but according to US News & WR Even college grads might want to consider blue-collar careers . I live Near Wake Tech (a well respected Technical/Community College) and like the idea of a steady, secure 9-5ish type job. Salary is not critical, as long as I can live reasonably comfortably. So what are my best options? (See More Below) I originally was gonna write this as "What IT or Computer Degree Could I get to predictably lead to a steady job" but decided to open it up a bit, so any technical, IT, blue collar, "green collar" or "computer blue collar" (if there is such a thing) careers are open.

The limitations are:

1- I can get any Training/Degree needed at Wake Tech (or near by),

2 -The Training/Degree is a reasonably straight line to employment

3 There are jobs here in NC (though eventually I may move to Denver or the North West)

Pluses if the Degree/Career:
- is a job that allows me to be "creative" in some meaningful way
- is mostly indoor/non-physical work
- is computer related,
- benefits the environment,
- is at all realated to games or simulations
- I get to interact with people a fair bit.

EXTRA DETAIL: I have considered, and sometimes still consider becoming a Game Designer. I even seriously looked at becoming a programmer to that end. I like programming and "tinkering" with scripts but in then end do not think I have a programmer mentality, attention to detail and so forth. Plus, though I don't have a problem with math, as a Lib. Art Major, math is not my strong suit.

Additionally, the Computer Game Design field is, as I understand, a very non-linear and grueling career... I just want a straight forward path to a job at this point. If I can keep game design as a hobby and possibly move into it professionally later, so much the better.

Thanks for any input... it helps a semi lost 23 year old.

Can I show some of my etchings?

jadepearl — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 08:15:39 -0800

Interviewing with a technical writing / communication portfolio. What resources and tips for those who have gone through it or hired from it. Now there is plenty of information on putting together a technical communication portfolio, but what about the "how" to interview with the portfolio? What advice, tips, resources can you point me to on the "how" of interviewing with a portfolio and interviewers' methods of evaluation?

I am trying to put together resources and advice for both students and people entering the field from other professions.

Thanks for any help on this.

Assesssing employee value

Palaverist — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 21:44:41 -0800

How can I assess the economic value of an employee (namely me)? So I've just been offered a very good job in technical writing, for a large sum of money, and I'm curious how I would even begin to assess whether I am adding as much value as the company is spending. Any theoretical basis for assessing the value of workers like product developers, technical writers, HR people, etc. would be much appreciated.

What does copywriting pay?

jimmyjimjim — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 03:50:33 -0800

What does copywriting pay? A computer consulting firm wants to hire me to write founder bios, customer service email templates, redo the copy on their website, etc. Also maybe some light technical writing. As far as experience, I've done all that (unpaid) for a startup of my own, which was very successful. I'm also a very experienced popular writer (articles and books). But never did this sort of copywriting for pay. What's typical renumeration?

BSODude, This Fucking Sucks

B(oYo)BIES — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 17:02:23 -0800

BSOD Filter: Help me pinpoint the cause. Dump file contents included. Purchased about 2 months ago, it is still under warranty, but I would like to know exactly what I am looking at before sending it in or asking for replacement parts. From what I can tell, it is bad memory I guess. Is there a way to tell which stick it is? Any software recommendations for testing the memory? Is it possible that it is off the video card memory? If it is the DDR2, should I just replace it with better memory?

Here is some information on the rig, further below is the dump...

Intel Core 2 Quad Processor Q6600 (4x 2.4GHz/8MB L2 Cache/1066FSB)
Asus P5N-E SLI nForce® 650i SLI Chipset w/6-channel CODEC, Gb LAN, S-ATA Raid, USB 2.0, IEEE-1394 Dual PCI-E MB
2GB Corsair XMS2
NVIDIA GeForce 8600GT 512MB w/DVI + TV Out Video

Microsoft (R) Windows Debugger Version 6.8.0004.0 X86
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Loading Dump File [C:\Documents and Settings\Bleeping PC\Desktop\Mini120607-01.dmp]
wMini Kernel Dump File: Only registers and stack trace are available

Symbol search path is: C:\WINDOWS\Symbols
Executable search path is:
Unable to load image ntoskrnl.exe, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for ntoskrnl.exe
Windows XP Kernel Version 2600 (Service Pack 2) MP (4 procs) Free x86 compatible
Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS
Kernel base = 0x804d7000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0x8055c720
Debug session time: Thu Dec 6 08:33:14.906 2007 (GMT-7)
System Uptime: 0 days 12:38:18.528
Unable to load image ntoskrnl.exe, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for ntoskrnl.exe
Loading Kernel Symbols
.............................................................................................................................
Loading User Symbols
Loading unloaded module list
....................
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for hal.dll
*******************************************************************************
* *
* Bugcheck Analysis *
* *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck 9C, {0, bab3c050, b2000040, 800}

Probably caused by : memory_corruption ( nt!MmDeleteKernelStack+156 )

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

1: kd> !analyze -v
*******************************************************************************
* *
* Bugcheck Analysis *
* *
*******************************************************************************

MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION (9c)
A fatal Machine Check Exception has occurred.
KeBugCheckEx parameters;
x86 Processors
If the processor has ONLY MCE feature available (For example Intel
Pentium), the parameters are:
1 - Low 32 bits of P5_MC_TYPE MSR
2 - Address of MCA_EXCEPTION structure
3 - High 32 bits of P5_MC_ADDR MSR
4 - Low 32 bits of P5_MC_ADDR MSR
If the processor also has MCA feature available (For example Intel
Pentium Pro), the parameters are:
1 - Bank number
2 - Address of MCA_EXCEPTION structure
3 - High 32 bits of MCi_STATUS MSR for the MCA bank that had the error
4 - Low 32 bits of MCi_STATUS MSR for the MCA bank that had the error
IA64 Processors
1 - Bugcheck Type
1 - MCA_ASSERT
2 - MCA_GET_STATEINFO
SAL returned an error for SAL_GET_STATEINFO while processing MCA.
3 - MCA_CLEAR_STATEINFO
SAL returned an error for SAL_CLEAR_STATEINFO while processing MCA.
4 - MCA_FATAL
FW reported a fatal MCA.
5 - MCA_NONFATAL
SAL reported a recoverable MCA and we don't support currently
support recovery or SAL generated an MCA and then couldn't
produce an error record.
0xB - INIT_ASSERT
0xC - INIT_GET_STATEINFO
SAL returned an error for SAL_GET_STATEINFO while processing INIT event.
0xD - INIT_CLEAR_STATEINFO
SAL returned an error for SAL_CLEAR_STATEINFO while processing INIT event.
0xE - INIT_FATAL
Not used.
2 - Address of log
3 - Size of log
4 - Error code in the case of x_GET_STATEINFO or x_CLEAR_STATEINFO
AMD64 Processors
1 - Bank number
2 - Address of MCA_EXCEPTION structure
3 - High 32 bits of MCi_STATUS MSR for the MCA bank that had the error
4 - Low 32 bits of MCi_STATUS MSR for the MCA bank that had the error
Arguments:
Arg1: 00000000
Arg2: bab3c050
Arg3: b2000040
Arg4: 00000800

Debugging Details:
------------------

NOTE: This is a hardware error. This error was reported by the CPU
via Interrupt 18. This analysis will provide more information about
the specific error. Please contact the manufacturer for additional
information about this error and troubleshooting assistance.

This error is documented in the following publication:

- IA-32 Intel(r) Architecture Software Developer's Manual
Volume 3: System Programming Guide

Bit Mask:

MA Model Specific MCA
O ID Other Information Error Code Error Code
VV SDP ___________|____________ _______|_______ _______|______
AEUECRC| | | |
LRCNVVC| | | |
^^^^^^^| | | |
6 5 4 3 2 1
3210987654321098765432109876543210987654321098765432109876543210
----------------------------------------------------------------
1011001000000000000000000100000000000000000000000000100000000000

VAL - MCi_STATUS register is valid
Indicates that the information contained within the IA32_MCi_STATUS
register is valid. When this flag is set, the processor follows the
rules given for the OVER flag in the IA32_MCi_STATUS register when
overwriting previously valid entries. The processor sets the VAL
flag and software is responsible for clearing it.

UC - Error Uncorrected
Indicates that the processor did not or was not able to correct the
error condition. When clear, this flag indicates that the processor
was able to correct the error condition.

EN - Error Enabled
Indicates that the error was enabled by the associated EEj bit of the
IA32_MCi_CTL register.

PCC - Processor Context Corrupt
Indicates that the state of the processor might have been corrupted
by the error condition detected and that reliable restarting of the
processor may not be possible.

BUSCONNERR - Bus and Interconnect Error BUS{LL}_{PP}_{RRRR}_{II}_{T}_err
These errors match the format 0000 1PPT RRRR IILL

Concatenated Error Code:
--------------------------
_VAL_UC_EN_PCC_BUSCONNERR_0

This error code can be reported back to the manufacturer.
They may be able to provide additional information based upon
this error. All questions regarding STOP 0x9C should be
directed to the hardware manufacturer.

BUGCHECK_STR: 0x9C_GenuineIntel

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: INTEL_CPU_MICROCODE_ZERO

PROCESS_NAME: Idle

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from 806e7bf7 to 804f9f05

STACK_TEXT:
bab3c028 806e7bf7 0000009c 00000000 bab3c050 nt!MmDeleteKernelStack+0x156
bab3c154 806e2c52 bab38d70 00000000 00000000 hal!_allshr+0x9
00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 hal!HalpWriteCmosTime+0xce

STACK_COMMAND: kb

FOLLOWUP_IP:
nt!MmDeleteKernelStack+156
804f9f05 5d pop ebp

SYMBOL_STACK_INDEX: 0

SYMBOL_NAME: nt!MmDeleteKernelStack+156

FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner

MODULE_NAME: nt

DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 469f3fa8

IMAGE_NAME: memory_corruption

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: 0x9C_GenuineIntel_nt!MmDeleteKernelStack+156

BUCKET_ID: 0x9C_GenuineIntel_nt!MmDeleteKernelStack+156

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

calling up the internet

parmanparman — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 16:02:26 -0800

Has anyone had any success doing radio-quality interviews with Skype or Vonage? Has anyone been really successful in getting broadcast-quality audio from an internet phone service like Skype or Vonage? And if so, how did you capture the audio, and in what form?

For the last three weeks, I have been increasingly frustrated trying to use the expensive JK Audio Broadcast Host that my office gave to me to do phone interviews. I am at the end of my rope in getting a phone line to work with the little box and am out of options, as we are now facing a shortened timeframe for program delivery each week.

For technical note: I am broadcasting on AM radio and my broadcast delivery medium is 44.1 16bit mono wave.