[wplug] Starting From Scratch

Fri Apr 20 21:56:20 EDT 2007

I appreciate all the comments in this thread so far.

Here's a couple of clarifications I would make:

a) I'm not designing any applications for this research group.  Just getting
them setup with an environment.  This will involve buying some machines and
installing applications.  But its not something I can spend all, or even a
majority of my time over a few months on.  Its a side project.  I can put in
big chunks of time, but I can't sustain that.

b) In fact, the head of the lab is in engineering.  He has picked Unix over
Windows for his environment.  But he's not a person who can or should setup
and administer it over the long run.  This is a very flexible, results
oriented environment.  We don't have any 'stupid' or 'wheel spinning'
administrators.  And there's no existing culture to mesh with.  Starting
from scratch.

c) I've run linux (or one of the BSD's) on my personal computer for a long
time.  But I've never had more than two computers that I had root access
on.

So that said, again, I just like hearing everyone's perspective, and its an
interesting discussion.

On 4/20/07, Douglas Green <diego96 at mac.com> wrote:
>
> I have some experience with this... but I'd say up front that a
> researcher's needs will depend (to a LARGE extent) on what kind of work he's
> doing. I've found that the engineering/math culture is MUCH more linux
> friendly than say... pathology (where I worked). John, if he's still around,
> would probably agree. That said here's my retrospective:
>
> I was at Pitt, and found it very very difficult to avoid the use of
> microsoft. For the sake of efficiency, I'd recommend making sure that he's
> using whatever OTHER people are using in his computing environment for
> end-user use. I can feel the "boooos!" already, but this was my experience.
> There's nothing worse than sending a .pdf or plain text file to some
> administrator who can't get their computer out of first gear. Another major
> hassle was Powerpoint- Pitt would ONLY accept poster submissions in
> powerpoint format. Lame! Bottom line, be prepared to encounter a very
> non-flexible enviroment IF that's the culture of your department (as it was
> in mine).
>
> Second- I would have liked to keep EVERYTHING in as simple a format as
> possible. References, primary data (of course), and even emails should be
> kept in non-proprietary formats. If I did it again, I'd start with a very
> simple MySql or something, and build on it as needed so that I could cross
> reference things. I'd get a network storage device, preferably one that's
> wireless and that I could easily relocate (when they move your
> office).  Backup backup backup!! My laptop was stolen from my car, and I
> only lost 1 week of data thanks to backups! This should ideally be done on a
> daily basis (scheduled task to a different hard-drive).
>
> While it's just my opinion, I've found that the records I refer back to
> are those kept in the most durable formats. I have no idea where my old
> EndNote references are anymore (they've been lost with revisions to the
> software), but I've got a huge crossreferenceable database (in plain text
> format) that I use with BibDesk.
>
> Best of luck!
> -Doug
>
> On Friday, April 20, 2007, at 01:08PM, "Christopher DeMarco" <
> cmd at alephant.net> wrote:
> >On Fri, Apr 20, 2007 at 10:30:42AM -0400, Michael H. Semcheski wrote:
> >
> >> I've often thought 'boy, if we were starting from scratch, I would make
> sure we
> >> never did this, and ...'
> >
> >I think it's pretty much a given that whatever plan you start with will
> >be amended down the road; whatever technologies/implementations you
> >start out with will eventually be discovered to suck in some aspect or
> >another.  The only thing that can be said with certainty is that "If I
> >were starting from scratch, I'd make sure to think things through and
> >formalize the plan and provide alternatives for future use."  You *will*
> >be changing things later, build with as much modularity and spare
> >capacity as can manage, so that later it won't be as much of a pain to
> >rip out / migrate away from / scale up.  The only constant is change, so
> >plan for things to change and you'll be alright.
> >
> >Agility and thoughtfulness are more important than any specific
> >technologies or configuratia.  IMHO.
> >
> >
> >--
> >Christopher DeMarco <cmd at alephant.net>
> >Alephant Systems (http://alephant.net)
> >PGP public key at http://pgp.alephant.net
> >+1-412-708-9660
> >_______________________________________________
> >wplug mailing list
> >wplug at wplug.org
> >http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
> >
> >
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