About 2.5 years ago, I was pulled onto a cable television platform for some companies we purchased so that I could work some magic and get things manageable. Over the years, I've seen many different interfaces for managing devices. CLI, web applications, custom applications, and Java applications of varying degrees. I have a wide range of experience for comparison.
I've found some of the most egregious user interfaces for cable platform devices. Some things are just horrendous.
Specific example: There's a guide server that we use for about 9 different markets. If a change is made and you need to push out the modified files to each market. (The GUI is simply ftp'ing files to a different device.) When you click the button in the GUI, it blocks and prevents you from sending anything to another market for 20 minutes. It is insane! Granted it is a Windoze "server", but blocking for 20 minutes because a ftp transfer is in progress is just crazy. I thought I'd prod their support and ask if there was any mechanism where one could tell the GUI to push files to all markets instead of waiting 20 minutes, then moving to the next market. Seems like it'd be a desirable feature instead of making a user wait 180 minutes for 9 markets to complete updates. I was not surprised with the response. Their support indicated there was no such thing within the GUI or externally of the GUI.
Monday, July 31, 2017
Managing Engineering Data
Remember the days of having engineering data books for all kinds of devices. I had a bookshelf full of books for processors, companion devices, and specifications. Semiconductor device manufacturers would publish and send books for distribution to our engineering teams along with application notes.
I recently reorganized my electronic "bookshelf" of data books, data sheets, and specifications. I decided to use my free 50GB box.com account to maintain synchronization with a folder on my desktop. This has worked out better than I imagined it would. I found that renaming the files using the box.com interface is actually quite nice. I've had this box.com account sitting there for several years and really never used it. I always imagined them having some fiscal issue and closing down like ubuntuone did. Granted, I did not lose anything when ubuntuone dissolved. I simply made sure everything was on my local filesystem at the time of termination. I'm also apprehensive about the type of data that I put on such a remote site. I refrain from putting any personal or financial information on such a site. Files related to devices or areas of engineering are perfect to put on such a site. Really, if it gets compromised or somebody downloads the ARM instruction set... Would it really even matter?
I had Sparkleshare running at some point in the past on my Linux server. I really did not spend much time organizing my files back then. I think using box.com is definitely easier to manage and organize things.
Conclusion: I'd recommend using box.com to act as your virtual bookshelf. It will allow you to quickly organize your files and rename them nicely with very little time and effort.
I recently reorganized my electronic "bookshelf" of data books, data sheets, and specifications. I decided to use my free 50GB box.com account to maintain synchronization with a folder on my desktop. This has worked out better than I imagined it would. I found that renaming the files using the box.com interface is actually quite nice. I've had this box.com account sitting there for several years and really never used it. I always imagined them having some fiscal issue and closing down like ubuntuone did. Granted, I did not lose anything when ubuntuone dissolved. I simply made sure everything was on my local filesystem at the time of termination. I'm also apprehensive about the type of data that I put on such a remote site. I refrain from putting any personal or financial information on such a site. Files related to devices or areas of engineering are perfect to put on such a site. Really, if it gets compromised or somebody downloads the ARM instruction set... Would it really even matter?
I had Sparkleshare running at some point in the past on my Linux server. I really did not spend much time organizing my files back then. I think using box.com is definitely easier to manage and organize things.
Conclusion: I'd recommend using box.com to act as your virtual bookshelf. It will allow you to quickly organize your files and rename them nicely with very little time and effort.
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