First off I don't argue the point that non-windows support is variable within UH. One issue is the image tinkerers have given to managerial types and have contributed to admins being wary of the so called hacker community. Not true, but perception is a problem. Also most UH admins haven't been exposed to professional *nix support folks. I've hired some extremely buttoned down *nix engineers for gov projects, and the flag officers were impressed. Why do you think IBM, EDS, PRC,AMS and the rest of the Beltway bandits all have dress codes? (I'm ex AMS and a past computer scientist for a federal agency)
Now having said that, the other side of the coin is the heavy *nix support at SOEST to the point that I have support from the soest deans office for running our mirror site. College of Ed is also heavy *nix down to running open stack and a ldap authenticated directory system. I personally support "appropriate technology" and run almost every OS available, well that's exaggerating, but I do run quite a few. Just ask Warren "Mr. Fedora" Togami on how mixed up my lab is, after all, that undergrad project got housed out of my lab. So let me make some suggestions. If you want more *nix support, yell for it. Don't just suffer in silence. ITS doesn't respond to rants, they respond to well written calm and factual emails and letters. Your signature says you're at leeward. Two of my ex students are Petersen Gross and Blanca Polo. Both are heavy *nix folks. Maybe you folks might want to consider doing brown bag sessions on topic xxxx and make sure you invite your support folks. Nothing says I'm serious like a boot strap effort. I also have a LISTSERV going called UHM-netadmin to help share info for network administrators. Heck I'm even trying to get brown bags rolling again on advanced networking topics. I plan on having remote access for the outer island folks. So stop and put yourself in your support staff's shoes. If they have a tiny budget, they have to cherry pick what they spend their training dollars on. If there are a growing number of *nix users on your campus, it's in your IT group's best interest to hire folks with *nix skills. To be blunt, IT folks all over the world are short on budget, and short on time...don't expect them to read minds, be nice and ask them to consider new hires with more *nix skills. Lastly, remember that the HR rules at UH makes it very difficult to hire talent and compete with the private sector. There is still a shortage of skilled *nix sysadmins and UH is rarely going to win against a corporation for talent. Be nice to the folks you have and let them know that you're teaching and/or research needs *nix and you'd be more supportive of their wish lists if they pay attention to yours. As a side note, UH sysadmin pay is less than half what is being offered on the mainland, and perhaps 30% lower than positions in places like the UC system, more if you compare to Stanford. Those places also have more support for supervisors to give their technical staff "release time" to participate in things like *nix user groups, IETF, IEEE, etc. Lastly, that call for an on island consultant was filled by one of my students...so even though I couldn't help him on SOEST time, we did find him on campus help. Sincerely, Brian Chee Sent from my iPad > On Jan 28, 2015, at 9:08 PM, James A Stroble <stro...@hawaii.edu> wrote: > > On Tue, 27 Jan 2015 22:23:00 -1000 > Brian Chee <c...@hawaii.edu> wrote: > >> They really ought to contact their college support folks. Soest, CBA. >> Coll of Ed, trop AG, med school, all have their own internal it >> support. >> >> Brian chee > > As I am sure you are aware, Brian, support for free software is spotty > across the UH system. I have "tech support" people that want to help > me use my iWhatever, for teaching! And they are definitely hostile to > free software. > > Your advice is of course correct, this is the first place they should > go. But the fact is that most of UH's IT is occupied by people with > MSCEs, and that is not only sad, it is positively evil. Where should > they go when offical support has been taken over by the enemy? > > [Side note: is anyone interesting in reviving LUAU? Not on any grand > scale, just having meetings once in a while, some resources on-line for > the islands, and so forth? Proposals are welcome!] > > Yours, > > James Andy Stroble > Leeward Community College > _______________________________________________ > LUAU@lists.freesoftwarehawaii.org mailing list > http://lists.freesoftwarehawaii.org/listinfo.cgi/luau-freesoftwarehawaii.org _______________________________________________ LUAU@lists.freesoftwarehawaii.org mailing list http://lists.freesoftwarehawaii.org/listinfo.cgi/luau-freesoftwarehawaii.org
