29 replies to this topic

[Rick Dey]

I love using my Intuos 6x8 for drawing but have an Evoluent Vertical mouse for all other uses. Several of our cartographers here use the tablet exclusively and don't even have a mouse attached to their computers. When doing maintenance on their systems I have to bring along a mouse.

The Evoluent Vertical Mouse has reduced occasional problems I was having with my wrist and arm and although it took a day to get used to it, it has been wonderful.

[frax]

I really love my tablet pc as well of course, and I quite fond of the mouse pad area on a laptop as well (wouldn't mind a keyboard with that for my desktop).

[Hans van der Maarel]

Somewhat related to earlier discussion:

FreeNAS

This is a free, Linux-based, NAS-package. NAS = Network Attached Storage, a storage device directly connected to the network. Using FreeNAS you can set up an old pc with a number of harddisks and build a RAID5 setup.

[Matthew Hampton]

Has anyone used Logitech's NuLooq controller? It seems like a good fit for CS2 work and for panning/zooming on large maps, but was wondering if anyone had any hands-on experience using it.

It seems like a step towards more of a 'gesturing' interface that can be applied to several programs. Soon (I am sure ) we will have gloves with LED fingertips and interact with our software like this DIY solution for Google Earth.

[frax]

maybe, but space-drag works very smoothly in CS2 for panning for me (then one doesn't need to move the hand from keyboard + mouse).

For gestures, a tablet, or tablet pc, with an application like StrokeIt is a killer. Very addictive. (gestures are harder to do on a trackball or trackpad though, is something that I have experienced)

[Hans van der Maarel]

Remember that Maxtor external 1 TB harddrive I mentioned earlier? Well, I got myself one about 2 weeks ago and I'm about ready to return it (or throw it through a window...)

Yesterday it started acting funny. Couldn't access it anymore through the Firewire connection, had to get a USB cable instead. Had some trouble with corrupt files. This morning I found out that all my hard work from yesterday afternoon has been corrupted too. Chkdsk ran when I booted up my computer and the data is now simply gone. I'm sure you'll understand I'm not happy with this.

Now, I may just have had bad luck with getting a faulty unit, there's no indication all of them are this worthless...

I'm now in the process of copying it all back to my old (250Gb) Maxtor drive and then I'll see about getting my money back. For the 650 euro's it cost me, I can set up an extra pc with some extra drives and run it as a NAS...

[frax]

Hans, that drive, isn't it that is not ONE drive, but two drives in one enclosure, running raid0 behind the scenes. Good for speed, bad for safety -- the risks for getting data corruption are much higher...

[Hans van der Maarel]

It's a single case with 2 500GB drives inside. The management software allows you to select either Raid 0 (giving a total of 1 TB of space) or Raid 1. I chose Raid 1, from a safety point of view. But when it's corrupting my data, it isn't so safe anymore...

Was considering one of the Lacie Biggest Disks instead, they do Raid 5 with hot swapping at only 400 euro's extra.

[Martin Gamache]

what setup FAT32 or NTFS?


I found that was a real problem for me with external drives previously, they come pre-configured as NTFS sometimes which can lead to problems, make sure they are setup in the same way as the rest of your drives. I would recommend FAT32

I was also having problems with USB, with USB cutting out because of power issues, this caused repeated corruption in the writing to the external drives.




mg

[benbakelaar]

I wouldn't trust any external drive for much other than backup... sure, it works most of the time, but not enough to, for example, store all your ESRI data on (complete with hardcoded paths...).

External drives, IMO, are great for music, movies, etc... but not for daily working data. Networked drives on servers are a different story, even though they are conceptually equivalent.

[Hans van der Maarel]

Martin, Ben,

It was configured as NTFS and had its own power supply so it wasn't relying on USB power. I did pick up a 100 Gb Iomega external drive that is USB powered and works great for carrying large amounts of data to and from clients, it's quite an impressive thing, smaller than a cd case...

Went to the local computer shop here in town, the one where I bought my computer, and ordered a 500 Gb S-ATA drive from them, should arrive on tuesday. That will become my main drive with the 250 Gb Maxtor external (the old one which hasn't missed a byte in all the time I've been using it) being used for backups.

[benbakelaar]

I found that was a real problem for me with external drives previously, they come pre-configured as NTFS sometimes which can lead to problems, make sure they are setup in the same way as the rest of your drives. I would recommend FAT32

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm curious why you would recommend FAT32 over NTFS? I guess the only major difference is that NTFS supports file permissions, but I imagine its paging structure is more efficient than FAT32. As far as Windows XP and 2000, as I'm sure you know they are based on NTFS, so I would only recommend FAT32 for use with Win98, Win95, WinME, etc.

[Martin Gamache]

You are correct of course and I got these mixed up. NTSF is preferable over FAT32...

As for power supply I do not mean the drive's power supply which is external . In my case I was using USB but the USB card in my PC was having some issues getting enough power because I had too many USB devices ( multiple printers, GPSs, scanners, external drives, card readers, etc...) plugged in, so this was creating some conflicts and as a result some writing errors and corrupt files. I solved the problem for the external backup drive by using a dedicated Firewire 800 and nothing else plugged in to the firewire card. I also considered updating the power supply, but instead just unplugged a bunch of these USB devices. Now the whole mess is much more stable and I have not had any of these errors since.

An adequate power supply for all the devices one may have is very important! It is too easy to chain a bunch of USB devices together and not realise that the PC may not be able to provide a stable connection for all of them because of an inadequate power source.

I found that was a real problem for me with external drives previously, they come pre-configured as NTFS sometimes which can lead to problems, make sure they are setup in the same way as the rest of your drives. I would recommend FAT32

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm curious why you would recommend FAT32 over NTFS? I guess the only major difference is that NTFS supports file permissions, but I imagine its paging structure is more efficient than FAT32. As far as Windows XP and 2000, as I'm sure you know they are based on NTFS, so I would only recommend FAT32 for use with Win98, Win95, WinME, etc.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Hans van der Maarel]

Martin,

I've got myself a powered USB hub to counter this problem.

[Martin Gamache]

Unfortunately, I did too