[geeks] KVM for Sun Sparc Servers with USB keyboards

[Shannon Hendrix]

On May 12, 2009, at 08:49 , Phil Stracchino wrote:

> Shannon Hendrix wrote:
>> I have a hard time spending that much money, and I drove a lot of
>> cars.  I didn't like most of them to be honest.  Very few cars
>> impressed me that much.
>>
>> By last fall 2008 I did have a small list of acceptable cars that fit
>> my budget, but it turns out that choosing among them was much harder
>> narrowing the choices down to them in the first place.
>
> I know the feeling.  At this point I've essentially given up on US- 
> built
> cars altogether.  There is not a single US-built car on the market  
> that
> meets my functional needs and my standards for drivability, build
> quality and - for lack of a better term - rationality of cabin fitting
> and controls, at a price I'm willing to pay, and most vehicles coming
> out of Detroit, Dearborn and Flint are ugly anyway.

Well, don't forget that most Hondas are made in the USA, along with  
quite a few Toyotas.

You can make good cars in the USA, it's just the big three that can't/ 
won't.

> I bought a used Volvo this time around, and expect to replace it with
> another one when it eventually fails at probably twice the probable
> service life of anything built by the Big Three.

Which one did you get?

I looked at a few but none of them grabbed me.

I ended up getting a Mazda 3 hatchback myself.  Unless I get rich  
soon, I will likely keep it 10-15 years like I did my last car.

> We bought it with
> 91,000 miles on it and minor cosmetic blemishes, to replace a Dodge
> Intrepid R/T (the only Intrepid version with acceptable handling) with
> 98,000 miles on it that had trouble getting up our street in winter  
> with
> four snow tires, had a parade of constantly recurring electrical  
> faults
> (most recently, a short in the *tail light wiring* completely disabled

Chrysler couldn't build an anvil that didn't break.

I know someone who rented a Chrysler M300 to go on a 500 mile trip 3  
years ago.

The transmission died at 220 miles in the boonies.  Rental company got  
them a new one delivered to the roadside in under 2 hours.

The replacement's transmission died on the way back, but he managed to  
get it home even though it screeched all the way and wouldn't shift  
into overdrive.

When he got back he was pretty ticked off and the agency refunded  
him.  They said that over a quarter of their 300M fleet lost the  
transmission in the first half year and they were selling them off as  
fast as they could get rid of them.

The Ford Fusion was actually pretty nice though.  The rentals say it  
runs fairly well and the transmissions are much better than the old  
Taurus.  I know several people who rent them regularly with little  
trouble.

> the entire instrument panel and the headlight dip switch failed), had
> taken to destroying its parking brake every five or six thousand miles
> or so, and the rear door weatherstrips had shrunk and didn't seal the
> doors any more.

Sounds about right.

> I expect the Volvo to still be working fine when it hits 200,000  
> miles;
> the Intrepid was a worn-out lemon at 98,000.  My wife is driving a
> Mercedes C230 that I bought used in California for $11,000; it's about
> to pass 200,000 miles and is still perfectly sound.

Is that the Kompressor?  I started to get one of those, but it didn't  
quite pass the cargo test.

My test was a 3U server in a shipping box.

The Mazda and the Honda hatch passed, but most small sedans could not  
get it in the trunk even if the inside was large enough.


-- 
Shannon Hendrix
shannon at widomaker.com