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  • What is a typical profit margin for a small, custom software development shop?

    - by jamieb
    I help manage a small (5-15 employees), custom software development shop. We're hired by various clients to produce web or mobile-based applications. We make everything from pretty simple $10k e-commerce websites to very complex applications that might cost $100k over the course of several months. Our clients are generally start-ups, but we also occasionally work with more established companies (including the federal government). I'm just curious what kind of profit margin would be typical for a business fitting this profile?

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  • My linux server takes more than an hour to boot. Suggestions?

    - by jamieb
    I am building a CentOS 5.4 system that boots off a compact flash card using a card reader that emulates an IDE drive. It literally takes about an hour to boot. The ultra-slow part occurs when Grub is loading the kernel. Once that's done, the rest of the boot process only takes about a minute to get to a login prompt. Does anyone have any suggestions? I suspect that it may have to do with UDMA. Everything IDE-related in my BIOS seems to checkout. The read performance hdparm is telling me 1.77 MB/s. Ouch! (But even at that rate, it still shouldn't take an hour to decompress and load the kernel) [root@server ~]# hdparm -tT /dev/hdc /dev/hdc: Timing cached reads: 2444 MB in 2.00 seconds = 1222.04 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 6 MB in 3.39 seconds = 1.77 MB/sec Trying to enable DMA is a no-go though: [root@server ~]# hdparm -d1 /dev/hdc /dev/hdc: setting using_dma to 1 (on) HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted using_dma = 0 (off) Here's some command outputs that might help: System [root@server ~]# uname -a Linux server.localdomain 2.6.18-164.el5xen #1 SMP Thu Sep 3 04:47:32 EDT 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux PCI info: [root@server ~]# lspci -v 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ/P/PL Memory Controller Hub (rev 02) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ/P/PL Memory Controller Hub Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller]) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10 Memory at fdf00000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K] I/O ports at ff00 [size=8] Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M] Memory at fdf80000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K] Capabilities: [90] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit- Queue=0/0 Enable- Capabilities: [d0] Power Management version 2 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16 I/O ports at fe00 [size=32] 00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17 I/O ports at fd00 [size=32] 00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18 I/O ports at fc00 [size=32] 00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI]) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19 I/O ports at fb00 [size=32] 00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 20 [EHCI]) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16 Memory at fdfff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2 Capabilities: [58] Debug port 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode]) Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0 Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32 I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff Memory behind bridge: fde00000-fdefffff Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fdd00000-00000000fdd00000 Capabilities: [50] #0d [0000] 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0 Capabilities: [e0] Vendor Specific Information 00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 80 [Master]) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17 I/O ports at <unassigned> I/O ports at <unassigned> I/O ports at <unassigned> I/O ports at <unassigned> I/O ports at f800 [size=16] Capabilities: [70] Power Management version 2 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01) Subsystem: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 17 I/O ports at 0500 [size=32] 01:04.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 18 I/O ports at de00 [size=256] Memory at fdeff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2 01:06.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 17 I/O ports at dc00 [size=256] Memory at fdefe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2 01:07.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 19 I/O ports at da00 [size=256] Memory at fdefd000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256] Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2 hdparm ouput: [root@server ~]# hdparm /dev/hdc /dev/hdc: multcount = 0 (off) IO_support = 0 (default 16-bit) unmaskirq = 0 (off) using_dma = 0 (off) keepsettings = 0 (off) readonly = 0 (off) readahead = 256 (on) geometry = 8146/16/63, sectors = 8211168, start = 0 [root@server ~]# hdparm -I /dev/hdc /dev/hdc: ATA device, with non-removable media Model Number: InnoDisk Corp. - iCF4000 4GB Serial Number: 20091023AACA70000753 Firmware Revision: 081107 Standards: Supported: 5 Likely used: 6 Configuration: Logical max current cylinders 8146 8146 heads 16 16 sectors/track 63 63 -- CHS current addressable sectors: 8211168 LBA user addressable sectors: 8211168 device size with M = 1024*1024: 4009 MBytes device size with M = 1000*1000: 4204 MBytes (4 GB) Capabilities: LBA, IORDY(can be disabled) Standby timer values: spec'd by Vendor R/W multiple sector transfer: Max = 2 Current = 2 DMA: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2 udma0 udma1 *udma2 udma3 udma4 Cycle time: min=120ns recommended=120ns PIO: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4 Cycle time: no flow control=120ns IORDY flow control=120ns Commands/features: Enabled Supported: * Power Management feature set * WRITE_BUFFER command * READ_BUFFER command * NOP cmd * CFA feature set * Mandatory FLUSH_CACHE HW reset results: CBLID- above Vih Device num = 0 CFA power mode 1: enabled and required by some commands Maximum current = 100ma Checksum: correct

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  • Can Xen be configured to dedicate only one port of a dual-port NIC to a domU?

    - by jamieb
    I'm using CentOS 5.4 on my dom0 with a stock Xen kernel. I'm attempting to use the pciback module to hide some of the Ethernet ports from the host and reserve them for a domU I intend to use for a firewall (process described here). However, when I launch the domU, I get the following error message: Using config file "/etc/xen/firewall". Error: pci: improper device assignment specified: pci: 0000:01:04.0 must be co-assigned to the same guest with 0000:01:06.0, but it is not owned by pciback. lspci gives me the following output: 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ/P/PL Memory Controller Hub (rev 02) 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82945G/GZ Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 02) 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01) 00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01) 00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01) 00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01) 00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01) 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 PCI Bridge (rev e1) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01) 00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GB/GR/GH (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 01) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01) 01:04.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) 01:06.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) 01:07.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) From the sound of the error message, it seems like I also need to dedicate eth0 (PCI ID 01:04.0) to the domU. Am I correct? If not, what am I doing wrong? Thanks!

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  • Contact-to-hire from the perspective of the headhunter agency?

    - by jamieb
    I operate a small IT consulting firm. One of my clients has expressed an interest in having an ASP.Net programmer on-site at their location for a six-month contract, with an option to hire. I've never really operated my company as a body shop (renting out talent for the long term) and an unfamiliar with how to price my quote. Assume I were to bring on a new developer as a 1099'ed contractor and then contract that person out to my client for the duration of the project. If I'm billing my client $X per hour for this developer's time, what should I be compensating this developer? $X/2 per hour? What's the typical ratio? If the client decides to hire this person at the end of the contract, what should I be compensated? Is it a flat finders fee, or maybe a function of the developer's annual salary? Would there be any advantage to actually hiring the person as a 1040'd employee rather than a 1099 contractor even if I can't offer him benefits? I know other body shops (like Robert Half) do this and never understood why.

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  • PostgreSQL: Rolling back a transaction within a plpgsql function?

    - by jamieb
    Coming from the MS SQL world, I tend to make heavy use of stored procedures. I'm currently writing an application uses a lot of PostgreSQL plpgsql functions. What I'd like to do is rollback all INSERTS/UPDATES contained within a particular function if I get an exception at any point within it. I was originally under the impression that each function is wrapped in it's own transaction and that an exception would automatically rollback everything. However, that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm wondering if I ought to be using savepoints in combination with exception handling instead? But I don't really understand the difference between a transaction and a savepoint to know if this is the best approach. Any advice please? CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION do_something( _an_input_var int ) RETURNS bool AS $$ DECLARE _a_variable int; BEGIN INSERT INTO tableA (col1, col2, col3) VALUES (0, 1, 2); INSERT INTO tableB (col1, col2, col3); VALUES (0, 1, 'whoops! not an integer'); -- The exception will cause the function to bomb, but the values -- inserted into "tableA" are not rolled back. RETURN True; END; $$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;

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  • Alternatives to requiring users to register for an account?

    - by jamieb
    I'm working on a side project to build a new web app idea of mine. For the sake of discussion, let's say this app displays a random photograph of a famous work of art. On a scale of 1 to 5, users are asked to rate how well they like each piece of art, and then are shown the next photo. Eventually, the app is able to get an sense of the person's style and is able to recommend artwork that he/she may find pleasing. The whole concept is similar to Netflix. I understand how to do all the preference matching logic (although not as sophisticated as Netflix). But I'd like to find a way to do this without requiring that users create an account first. This is a novelty website that a typical user might use only a handful of times. Requiring registration is overkill and will likely drastically reduce it's utility. I'd like to allow people to begin rating artwork within five seconds of their initial pageview, yet maintain the integrity of the voting (since recommendations are predicated on how other people have rated the various pieces of artwork). Can it be done? Some ideas: OpenID. The perfect solution except for the fact that it's not wildly used and my target audience isn't the most technically adept demographic. Text message. User inputs phone number and is texted a four digit code to key into the web app. Quick, easy, and great way to limit abuse. However, privacy concerns abound... people are probably even less likely to give me their phone number than their email address. Facebook login. I personally don't have a Facebook account due to privacy concerns. And I'd really hate to support such a proprietary platform. Hash code/Bookmark. Vistor's initial pageview generates a 5 or 6 digit alphanumeric code that is embedded in each subsequent URL. They can bookmark any page to save their state. Good: Very simple system that doesn't require any user action. Bad: Very easy to stuff the ballot box, might be difficult to account for users sharing the link containing their ID code via email or social networking sites.

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  • Python and a "time value of money" problem.

    - by jamieb
    (I asked this question earlier today, but I did a poor job of explaining myself. Let me try again) I have a client who is an industrial maintenance company. They sell service agreements that are prepaid 20 hour blocks of a technician's time. Some of their larger customers might burn through that agreement in two weeks while customers with fewer problems might go eight months on that same contract. I would like to use Python to help model projected sales revenue and determine how many billable hours per month that they'll be on the hook for. If each customer only ever bought a single service contract (never renewed) it would be easy to figure sales as monthly_revenue = contract_value * qty_contracts_sold. Billable hours would also be easy: billable_hrs = hrs_per_contract * qty_contracts_sold. However, how do I account for renewals? Assuming that 90% (or some other arbitrary amount) of customers renew, then their monthly revenue ought to grow geometrically. Another important variable is how long the average customer burns through a contract. How do I determine what the revenue and billable hours will be 3, 6, or 12 months from now, based on various renewal and burn rates? I assume that I'd use some type of recursive function but math was never one of my strong points. Any suggestions please? Edit: I'm thinking that the best way to approach this is to think of it as a "time value of money" problem. I've retitled the question as such. The problem is probably a lot more common if you think of "monthly sales" as something similar to annuity payments.

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  • Have I found a security problem in an API or do I just not understand SSL?

    - by jamieb
    I'm working on building a set of Python bindings around an XML-based API provided by a vendor. The vendor requires that all transactions be conducted over SSL. Using a Linux box, I created a key file and a CSR for my application. Using their self-service web portal, I then generate a certificate using that CSR. Both the key file and the certificate are used when making the SSL request to the API. I'm now working on designing exception classes to make error messages more verbose (and, hopefully, more useful to developers using my bindings). Part of my testing has included altering the key file: transpose a couple characters here, replace 4 or 5 with random characters there, etc. To my surprise, altering the key file had no effect! As long as I didn't change the total length of it, the API didn't complain about a bad key file. The only way I was able to throw an error was by swapping in a completely different key from another application. At that point, the API complained about the Common Name not matching. Is this normal behavior or has the vendor not properly implemented SSL?

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  • Using list comprehension in Python to do something similar to zip()?

    - by jamieb
    I'm a Python newbie and one of the things I am trying to do is wrap my head around list comprehension. I can see that it's a pretty powerful feature that's worth learning. cities = ['Chicago', 'Detroit', 'Atlanta'] airports = ['ORD', 'DTW', 'ATL'] print zip(cities,airports) [('Chicago', 'ORD'), ('Detroit', 'DTW'), ('Atlanta', 'ATL')] How do I use list comprehension so I can get the results as a series of lists within a list, rather than a series of tuples within a list? [['Chicago', 'ORD'], ['Detroit', 'DTW'], ['Atlanta', 'ATL']] (I realize that dictionaries would probably be more appropriate in this situation, but I'm just trying to understand lists a bit better). Thanks!

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