[geeks] KVM for Sun Sparc Servers with USB keyboards

[Dan Sikorski]

Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
> Shannon Hendrix wrote:
>> I bought a new car recently because the cars that I liked used that 
>> didn't suck were not much different once you calculated costs over 
>> the next 5-10 years.
>>
>> I really don't have time or skills for repair work, and since I got a 
>> little Japanese car, I don't expect to pay much in repair bills anyway.
>>
>> The high resale value means changing my mind is less painful than 
>> some other choices.
>>
>> The cars I would have liked, really liked, even used, were well above 
>> what I could afford anyway.
>>
>> The fact that my then-current car was rapidly dying also put a bit of 
>> a time limit on making the purchase.
>
I try to avoid having time limits on any significant purchase, it 
inevitably leads to a less-than-optimal decision.  That said, I bought 
my last car in a hurry because the previous one was totaled in an 
accident, and i am fairly happy with it.  Looking back on the situation, 
if i could do it again, i probably would have bought something much 
cheaper to last me a few months and give me more time to find what i wanted.

> My car is an extremely expensive-to-maintain German car.  I made a 
> point of learning auto repair just so I wouldn't get screwed by a 
> mechanic. I've found that I enjoy it, when I have the time.  It seems 
> to me that the talents used in software and hardware debugging are 
> similar to those involved in repairing cars (and other mechanisms, for 
> that matter).
Well, i don't do any software or hardware debugging, but good problem 
solving skills in general have many applications.  Having a good 
mechanic is great when your car has a problem that allows you to still 
start the car and drive it to him/her, but it doesn't help you if it has 
a problem that has you stranded on a holiday, and it's awfully stupid to 
be stranded and have a car towed over a very simple little problem.

An example:  A few years ago, I was leaving work early to go to a 
concert, but my car wouldn't start.  A little inspection led me to 
discover heavy corrosion on the starter's connectors.  Scraping the 
corrosion off got me out of the parking lot at work and on my way, a 
very simple fix, but had i not figured it out there in the parking lot, 
it would have meant having the car towed to an unknown mechanic in an 
unfamiliar town.

    -Dan Sikorski