Duplicates be gone and one small server

I think my work around for the duplicates in the student schedule table worked. The fix, splitting the steps up, helped a lot but adding another column of data solidified it. The column of data I had to add to the temporary tables was for the timeslot corresponding to the classes. I’m glad to finally get past this problem so that I can start working on the test score tables.

Tomorrow is going to be awesome because it’s the last day of work until January 2nd. Ok, it’s technically the last day of work. I’ll probably still be working on the data warehouse. The development DB is running locally on my workstation but I also have it running on my work laptop. Any time I make changes to the database on my work system, I make a backup and restore it on my laptop. It would be nice to take the entire week off but this is something that has to get done quickly so I can’t afford to just ignore it for a week.

A cool product that I’ve come across is the BlackDog Linux server. This isn’t an ordinary server. It’s a server running on a USB hard drive. From their website:

BlackDog is the world’s smallest Linux server that is 100% USB powered and fits in the palm of your hand.

You can view a demo of it here. It was developed by Realm Systems, which offeres other similar devices for different uses. They have two models for sale; the 256MB model is $199 and the 512MB model is $239. The unit does have an MMC slot so you can expand the memory. Realm sells both a 256MB ($35) and a 512MB ($55) MMC card that are black with the BlackDog logo.

The server is based on a scaled down version of Debian. There is a biometric scanner built into the drive. That is how you authenticate to the system. The downside is that it isn’t a stand-alone server. It plugs into a Windows XP or Linux host computer and uses the host PC’s network connection via USB networking. If it ran on it’s own, i.e. connect a power and network cable and then remotely manage it, I’d buy 2.

I’m trying to get my boss to buy one for me to test (the 512MB model, of course). I told him it would be good to try out because we need to see how to block it’s use on our network if a kid gets one and hooks it up to a workstation. Of course, the Technical FAQ shows ways that it could be blocked but I think hands on experience would be better.

Also, for you Linux programmers out there, Realm is holding a contest to find programs to run on the BlackDog server. The grand prize is a cool $50,000.

People forget how fast you did a job - but they remember how well you did it. - Howard Newton

21.Dec.05 General, Hardware, Microsoft SQL, Technology