KCLUG April 2005

kclug@kclug.org

53 participants
144 discussions

Re: OSS Consulting tols
by Jared 13 Apr '05

13 Apr '05

> From: Frank Wiles <frank(a)wiles.org> > > On Mon, 11 Apr 2005 15:12:47 -0700 (PDT) > Jack <quiet_celt(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > >>> Anyione know of any OSS consulting tools for >>> estimating software projects? >>> Or anyone have any tips on how to estimate hours for a >>> php/mysql project? LAMP project? >>> I have a consulting gig and could use any tips in >>> calculating different tasks. I not had to estimate >>> hours for PHP or mysql before and am a bit out of my >>> depth on time to code and fix. Analysis, design, >>> testing, etc I can probably handle. > > You won't find a good tool for this. The main reason is it would > differ greatly between a PHP/MySQL project, a Java/Oracle project, > and a mod_perl/PostgreSQL project. Not to mention skill and speed > of the coder, existance of home grown libraries, professionalism, > good coding practices vs spaghetti code, etc, etc, etc. > > What might take me 30 hours could take you 3 or vice versa. > > What I usually do is figure out how long my last project took and > estimate the size difference between the two. But then again I > don't bill by hour anymore, it's just not in anyone's best interests. > > Another trick is to guess on hours based on number of different pages > and number of database tables involved. But then again, it really > comes down to how you write software. Only you can truly estimate > how long it's going to take you. > > What I would suggest is write a very very very detailed requirements > document with the customer that spells out exactly what is to be > built. Not just "Will store customer infromation", but "Will > store any number of possible phone numbers for the customer including > area code and with the ability to store Extenstion numbers for > office numbers. There is no need to store country code information > as all customers will be in the United States". > > Then, estimate what the project is worth the client, weigh in how > much of your time you estimate it will take, and bid somewhere in > the middle. > > If it's worth X to the customer and you think it will take Y hours > to build which works out (at your typical hourly rate ) to be Z > dollars. The bid should be somewhere in the middle of X and Z. > > For example, let's say X is $5,000. Based on your normal hourly > rate you would guess this should cost $3,000. Make the bid $4,000. > Not an "estimate of $4,000", but a "This will cost you $4,000". > This gives you some wiggle room for your time if things take longer > than you expected. > > This is more fair to both you and the customer, but is sometimes hard > to swallow and hard to sell. The trick is to get detailed enough in > your requirements so you don't get screwed on mid-stream changes. And > you have to stick by your guns that any significant midstream changes > result in the cost going up. > > With this system you are covered for any small changes or time > estimate inaccuracies and the customer is covered because they > have a fixed cost. Is it the customer's fault you screwed up > half way through and had to spend 20 extra hours? No, that's your > fault and it shouldn't be billed to the customer, etc, etc, etc. > > --------------------------------- > Frank Wiles <frank(a)wiles.org> > http://www.wiles.org > --------------------------------- The previous is all good, experienced advice. The original question is for a Blue Book of Quotes for Software Development, but I really cannot imagine such a thing, since software development has so many variables. The feller who codes it in 30 hours might do a better job than the one who does it in 10 hours, and there really is no way to calculate all of that. Are you creating software from scratch? Or modifying and extending existing code? Does the customer need strong separation of code from layout, or is this a one-off job that will need little modification in the future; ie do you need a templating system? Will you work with an existing CMS as your platform, or build your own security modules? What are your existing code snippet libraries like? All of these can strongly affect the time you need. Quality, detailed requirements definition will isolate your costs to a measurable level. Break it down into a dozen (or a hundred) smaller tasks and put smaller time estimates beside each one... making sure to specify what you won't do, when you can, so that you have a handle on scope creep. I think if you got some requirements together with your estimates of hours and posted it to the list, other developers could give you a second opinion, that might be one way to answer your question. Let me know if you turn up with such a Blue Book. -Jared

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Re: $100 laptop running Linux
by Brian Kelsay 12 Apr '05

12 Apr '05

Not the normal to large corporations. They get rid of stuff in a scheduled manner. A PC reaches 3 yrs and its gone. When the warranty is up, its time to ditch it. Typically someone pulls it from commission right before its warranty is up, checks to see if any parts need replacement and then while it's still working they get rid of it. This all happens if they are organized and have a PC lifecycle plan in place. Sometimes financial concerns or manpower shortages cause these schedules to slip and then all hell breaks loose at some point. Tons of equipment failures at the same time or so many PCs to replace all at once that you must hire contractors to make the scheduled replacements. It's all about planning. Brian Kelsay >>> Leo Mauler <> 04/09/05 11:53AM >>> --- Brian Kelsay <> wrote: > Often the problem in a corporate environment, the > newest version of Windows must be run (XP w/ SP1 or > 2) along with virus scanning, big email clients, > latest office suite and nearly all software that an > employee might ever use since you want a > one-size-fits-all image for the PC. There is always > even more software to load for specialty jobs like > program development. Yes, the cost of replacement is far greater than the cost of the computer, when you're talking about Windows. Especially when the licenses are tied to the hardware. So a corporation might hold onto a low productivity computer rather than engage in an expensive upgrade of which only a small part is the cost of the computer.

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OSS Consulting tols
by Jack 11 Apr '05

11 Apr '05

Anyione know of any OSS consulting tools for estimating software projects? Or anyone have any tips on how to estimate hours for a php/mysql project? LAMP project? I have a consulting gig and could use any tips in calculating different tasks. I not had to estimate hours for PHP or mysql before and am a bit out of my depth on time to code and fix. Analysis, design, testing, etc I can probably handle. Thanks, Brian __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/resources/

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Re: $100 laptop running Linux
by Leo Mauler 09 Apr '05

09 Apr '05

--- Brian Kelsay <Brian.Kelsay(a)kcc.usda.gov> wrote: > Often the problem in a corporate environment, the > newest version of Windows must be run (XP w/ SP1 or > 2) along with virus scanning, big email clients, > latest office suite and nearly all software that an > employee might ever use since you want a > one-size-fits-all image for the PC. There is always > even more software to load for specialty jobs like > program development. Yes, the cost of replacement is far greater than the cost of the computer, when you're talking about Windows. Especially when the licenses are tied to the hardware. So a corporation might hold onto a low productivity computer rather than engage in an expensive upgrade of which only a small part is the cost of the computer. > >>> Steven Danz <> 04/07/05 08:31PM >>> > Leo Mauler wrote: > > > I have a PII-300Mhz I purchased for about > > $240 six months ago. The 500Mhz laptops > > at HyperTech computers (87th & Farley) are > > right between $300-$400. > > > > 300Mhz is decent enough for most things, > > not very good for video (VideoCD-quality > > MPEG1 videos run fairly well) but it will > > let me do basic graphics editing and browse > > on the Internet without painful > > "chuggachuggachugga" waits for the swap. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: $100 laptop running Linux
by Leo Mauler 09 Apr '05

09 Apr '05

--- Steven Danz <steven-danz(a)kc.rr.com> wrote: > Leo Mauler wrote: > > > I have a PII-300Mhz I purchased for about > > $240 six months ago. The 500Mhz laptops > > at HyperTech computers (87th & Farley) are > > right between $300-$400. > > > > 300Mhz is decent enough for most things, not > > very good for video (VideoCD-quality MPEG1 > > videos run fairly well) but it will let me do > > basic graphics editing and browse on the > > Internet without painful "chuggachuggachugga" > > waits for the swap. > > > > Heh, wonder if there could be a system for > > buying those $100 laptops from Third World > > Countries which resembles the mail-order > > Canadian prescription drug programs. > > It seems like there should be. Of course, the NSA will be like the FDA and Canadian mail-order drugs, and propagandize that terrorists are planning to use mail-order $100 laptops to spread viruses in America. :( > While I applaud efforts like the MIT group > working on building new $100 laptops ( > http://laptop.media.mit.edu/ ), it would be > nice to have a place to send things that > corporations consider 'too slow to maintain > productivity', whatever that is. The sad part is that most of them have a place to send them: E-Bay. And there on E-Bay your $100 laptops, which should be priced at $100, go to someone for $300. Oh well, off to install Gentoo on a P90 with 16 MB RAM...fun city... :) __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: Storage drive problems
by Jack 08 Apr '05

08 Apr '05

Could we please see the output of fdisk? Also what does df -i look like? Could we see the mkreiserfs command you used to create the fs? I no longer actively use the reiserfs as the ext3 is more convenient to use and offers comparable performance and protection, but could probably help debug your problem. It was the first stable resilient fs offered for Linux and is quite mature, although I've seen fud/uninformed/confused statements about resierfs. Brian D. --- Justin Dugger <jldugger(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > This wouldn't happen to be ONE file of size >4 GB > would it? > > ope, although the file system claims its 3.6 and > namesys's webpage > declares that file size limits are ludicriously > large, on the order of > a terrabyte because of the page cache. This > actually matters because > in the future I might be buying myself a TV capture > card, where these > things matter, as I suspect you know. > > So, a bit of a status update. I did as BillC > suggested and made a > single partition 200GB in size. Strangely, I still > get the same error > =( > > Slightly different df though (irrelevant parts cut > out): > > Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted > on > /dev/sda1 195352432 4124212 191228220 > 3% /mnt/reiser > > Cfdisk displays a single partition of type Linux > ReiserFS, which seems > appropriate. This is getting a bit annoying, > copying things back and > forth to test a 4 gigabyte limit. I didn't bother > messing with the > block size this time, and just used a straightup > 'mkfs.reiserfs > /dev/sda1' And I still get no space left after about > 4 gigabytes! > > Justin Dugger > _______________________________________________ > Kclug mailing list > Kclug(a)kclug.org > http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: $100 laptop running Linux
by Brian Kelsay 08 Apr '05

08 Apr '05

Often the problem in a corporate environment, the newest version of Windows must be run (XP w/ SP1 or 2) along with virus scanning, big email clients, latest office suite and nearly all software that an employee might ever use since you want a one-size-fits-all image for the PC. There is always even more software to load for specialty jobs like program development. Looking right now, my PC is using 300MB of ram. This one of the low-end PCs that is about to be replaced. For my home use, while running Linux a PIII-500 is still mostly adequate and my PII-333 laptop is also adequate. The ability to play videos is one area I'd like to improve it. My next PC will have a DVD burner, more ram and won't choke when I put my TV card in it. It will also have enough juice in the power supply to run at least 3 HDDs. Brian Kelsay >>> Steven Danz <> 04/07/05 08:31PM >>> Leo Mauler wrote: >I have a PII-300Mhz I purchased for about $240 six >months ago. The 500Mhz laptops at HyperTech computers > (87th & Farley) are right between $300-$400. > >300Mhz is decent enough for most things, not very good >for video (VideoCD-quality MPEG1 videos run fairly >well) but it will let me do basic graphics editing and >browse on the Internet without painful >"chuggachuggachugga" waits for the swap. > >Heh, wonder if there could be a system for buying >those $100 laptops from Third World Countries which >resembles the mail-order Canadian prescription drug >programs. > > It seems like there should be. While I applaud efforts like the MIT group working on building new $100 laptops ( http://laptop.media.mit.edu/ ), it would be nice to have a place to send things that corporations consider 'too slow to maintain productivity', whatever that is.

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Re: $100 laptop running Linux
by Leo Mauler 08 Apr '05

08 Apr '05

I have a PII-300Mhz I purchased for about $240 six months ago. The 500Mhz laptops at HyperTech computers (87th & Farley) are right between $300-$400. 300Mhz is decent enough for most things, not very good for video (VideoCD-quality MPEG1 videos run fairly well) but it will let me do basic graphics editing and browse on the Internet without painful "chuggachuggachugga" waits for the swap. Heh, wonder if there could be a system for buying those $100 laptops from Third World Countries which resembles the mail-order Canadian prescription drug programs. --- djgoku <djgoku(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On Apr 7, 2005 10:18 AM, Leo Mauler > <webgiant(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > > Now all I need is a few of those available here... > :( > > > > I have a $60 laptop running Linux but I doubt > those > > $100 machines in Third World Countries are as > low-end > > as P90 laptops with 16MB RAM. > > I have a P75 w/ 8MB RAM card, with OBSD, the card > looks similar to a > pcmcia card but is for ram =). Runs kinda sllow =), > I wish you could > find a >500Mhz for $100. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Personals - Better first dates. More second dates. http://personals.yahoo.com

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Re: Gmail storage increase
by djgoku 07 Apr '05

07 Apr '05

djgoku <djgoku(a)gmail.com> 04/07/05 01:34PM >>> > You are currently using 37 MB (2%) of your 2068 MB. I swear it was at > 2061 MB yesterday. If you notice on there http://gmail.com page it is slowly going up wondering if they are still going to increase it. =) Anyone hear anything about this?

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Re: Gmail storage increase
by Jared 07 Apr '05

07 Apr '05

It's interesting to see the competition between how large a gmail account you can have. I delete all I can, trying to keep my mailbox(es) as trim as possible. About once a month I take time to delete everything I possibly can, keeping only items which still need a response somehow. My inbox currently has 53 items in it, my archive maybe 300 total, and that's only because I haven't had time to trim it more. I think it's because I learned email on a VMS/VAX with limited quotas. It also helps to reduce evidence that I'm completely barmy, which email seems to reveal more than other writing. -Jared

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KCLUG April 2005