Beginning an epic adventure showcasing the God of Thunder as you’ve never seen him before! The vassals of Asgard are in armed revolt…Odin is missing…Balder is dead…and the entire continent is battered by a years-long winter. How can Thor put the empire back together, especially with his mighty hammer Mjolnir mysteriously denied him? Collecting THOR: FOR ASGARD #1-6.

I’m going to dispense with the criticism right away: Robert Rodi’s story is full of holes and doesn’t feel complete.  We start with not enough information and end with few resolutions: it seems we have the middle with beginning or ending.  Bad things are happening in the nine realms but we don’t learn about why or how.  Thor is ruling while Odin seeks one of his wives and there’s strife between the gods, leading us to a realization that those in charge need to provide for all their people.  No character development but decent dialogue and a plot I enjoyed, what their was of it.

In its oversized 7.5×11″ hardcover format Thor: For Asgard is all about Simone Bianchi’s artwork.  It is stunning: lively, detailed, beautiful.  I couldn’t stop admiring Odin’s hair and beard; it’s that intense.  Inks and colours are a bit soft but they’re consistent and a creative choice.  Panel layout is very dynamic; lots of interesting choices like those above.

At $25 for 144 pages I’m on the fence about this book’s value: weak story and strong art.  For extras we get a one page Thor movie poster, my first add in a collected edition, and a three page article about Rodi which reads like an ad for Thor & Loki: Blood Brothers and Astonishing Thor.

Thor: For Asgard
Marvel, 2011, ISBN 978-0-7851-4445-8

In this first collection of the new SPIRIT series, an international crime syndicate wants to help Central City’s villain, The Octopus, consolidate control over the underworld. They’ve offered The Octopus the services of one of their finest assassins to take The Spirit’s breath away for good. Collecting THE SPIRIT #1-7.

From this softcover’s title and the publisher’s information you’d think this entire trade paperback was a story arc called Angel Smerti, but it’s actually only half the book.  The second half is called Frost Bite and is written by David Hine, and for pure story I thought it was the better of the two.

Let me backtrack a bit and look at both stories.  After finishing the book I felt both writers darkened the characters: there was tension and angst where I had previously read friendship and support.  No humour present this time around.

For the first arc we have Mark Schultz present us with a tale of a foreign assassin coming to Central City to take down the Spirit.  It’s gripping and somewhat predictable but works well because of the supporting cast.  My big issue is the assassin pretends to be someone else and speaks perfect English, but once emerged as their true self the assassin is constantly using Russian intermixed with English that lacks tense.

The second story arc from David Hine presents us with Central City being overrun with a designer drug that’s killing people.  We’re introduced to a new member of the Octopus crime family and are taken for a ride through his rise and fall.  Again it plays out dark and at odds between the Spirit and police commissioner Dolan.  Hine added enough twists to keep it interesting and as always the Spirit plays the straight man to his supporting cast.

Art for the entire book is handled by Moritat; that’s right, a one name artist.  It’s a great style that seemed fractured this time around; sharp crisp panels contrasting with loose scratches.  A few times I checked to make sure it was the same artist: hit and miss sums it up.  Moritat does draw beautiful women.

I’m currently reading DC’s The Spirit Archives series so I may be unfairly comparing this work to Eisner’s run in the 1940s and Cooke’s relaunch of the series but it doesn’t feel true to the characters.

The Spirit: Angel Smerti
DC, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4012-3026-5

I’ve tried in the past to be partly organized: writing on plastic freezer bags with a permanent marker, keeping similar meat or stock together.  This worked for a while, until a $0.77 / lb turkey needed to be shoved in there somewhere or the permanent marker ended up on my hand and off the bag.

As previously mentioned I had the chance to take part in a Brother P-Touch blogging promotion and received a shiny new label machine, all my own.  We were asked what room needed to be organized and I knew right then and there it had to be the kitchen and by extension the stand-up freezer in the garage.

I’m a bulk shopper: I try to only buy meat and butter when it’s on sale and then I go all in, and dry goods I buy in bulk.  This means every other week I’ll come home with five whole beef eye of rounds or twenty pork tenderloins.  Though I like to procrastinate, hence the unknown mess that is our freezer, I’ve learned that meat not dealt with the day you get home goes bad.  The same goes for bulk items: leaving ten pounds of coarse sea salt in a clear bag next to ten pounds of white sugar can lead to interesting baking.  Deal with it right away.

That was the approach I took with the new Brother P-Touch: get it into the kitchen and into the routine.  Meat was broken down into family serving portions, placed into clear plastic freezer bags and then a label was printed and attached.  The nice thing about typing out a label that says “pork tenderloin” and printing it is that the P-Touch keeps the last information in memory and on the screen so I can just hit “Print” nine more times without any extra hassle.

I try and make stock after any meat breakdown so the bones are out of the way and the finished product is all I have to deal with.  Here again labels saved the day, as I use two cup round plastic containers to hold my stock in the freezer.  Until now if it looked dark it was turkey or pork stock, light was chicken stock and very dark was beef stock.  Now I actually know…

I wrote this review while participating in a campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Brother P-Touch and received product and a gift card to facilitate my review and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

This was a huge book for 1990: Frank Miller had collaborated with Janson and Mazzuchelli to produce epic runs on Daredevil and Batman, but his solo work with his wife Lynn Varley on Ronin didn’t get the commercial success the rest did.  Now Miller was returning to his creation Elektra doing the writing, penciling and inking with Varley painting.  Elektra Lives Again received a huge amount of press at the time: I remember drooling over preliminary pages.

Epic, Marvel’s first adult imprint, released the hardcover for $24.95; it was a huge success with a giant print run so you can still find sealed copies for cover price.  As well it’s received a fair share of reprints, the entire story included in Marvel’s Elektra Omnibus.

At the same time Graphitti Designs released a signed and numbered limited edition of 2500 copies for $39.95 and $49.95.  I can’t give a definitive price as I own three copies myself: all ISBN 0-936211-27-X printed on the inside flap of the dust jacket and the indicia page but two have $39.95 printed on the inside flap and one has $49.95.  Two of them are A/P or artist proof editions and one is numbered 2168/2500.  One of my A/P copies has the dust jacket signed by Miller and Varley, an eBay purchase in 2002 from the Comic Book Legal Defence Fund for $46.

This is an important hardcover because it’s part of the limited Graphitti Designs line and is exceptionally difficult to find in good condition.  It seems the dust jackets are always of a lackluster condition, much like my signed copy shown above.  I was unable to locate a copy to determine current price range so your mileage will vary.

Elektra Lives Again
Epic/Graphitti Designs, 1990, ISBN 0-936211-27-X

Ian Edginton and I.N.J. Culbard have teamed up again to create a visually compelling graphic novel adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s masterpiece. And the superb writing and beautiful art takes Conan Doyle’s supernatural tale to new heights. All the elements are here for a thrilling tale: A gnarled walking stick, missing boot, neglected family portrait, convicted killer on the loose, and the ancestral curse of a phantom hound. The great detective himself, Sherlock Holmes—with the help of Dr. Watson has his work cut out for him in a dramatic mystery that will keep readers guessing until the very end.

This is a graphic adaptation of a very famous work by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and as such Ian Edginton had his work cut out for him.  Details and descriptions of people, environment and background are left to the artist and the writer distills what’s needed to give the readers an excellent story.  In that Edginton has done a wonderful job.  We have 127 pages of story that deliver the Sherlock Holmes tale of murder, mystery and the supernatural.

Having read and re-read all of Holmes adventures I wasn’t expecting many surprises from the story but the art was what I looked forward to.  Culbard has a wonderful style and sense of style that brilliantly captures and presents 19th century England.

The characters all have a roundness in their head and faces that don’t feel cartoonish because of the wonderful expressions illustrated.  More than any other element colour tells the story for us in its wonderful use from page to page.

It’s handsome book: 6.5×8.5″ softcover, heavy paper stock, a solid work.  For extras we have Culbard’s character studies and a preview of the next Holmes adaptation.  This volume was published by SelfMadeHero in the United Kingdom but distribution for North America is handled by Sterling.  A solid work from a creative team to watch.

The Hound Of The Baskervilles
Sterling, 2009, ISBN 978-1-4027-7000-5

This is the second Love & Rockets book but it’s published in 1988 by Titan Books in out of the United Kingdom, by way of an arrangement with Fantagraphics.  It’s a great black and white story, 160 pages that really showcase how talented Jaime Hernandez is.  After several reading sessions I noticed on the first page a signature and a very bad stamping job.

The signature says “JAIME 88″ and the stamp “1103″.  So what I had in my hands was a signed and numbered UK edition of a very popular indie book from the 80s.  Searching for other copies led me to numbers below 1000: I can’t find out how many copies were signed and numbered.  Titan Books published Love & Rockets in 1987 but there doesn’t seem to be a signed and numbered edition of that volume, and that’s all they did.

This is a collectible volume for one reason: it’s an obscure signed and numbered Love & Rockets collection.  Unfortunately it doesn’t go for much beyond it’s $25 cover price: the real issue is tracking down a nice copy of a twenty-five year old foreign softcover.

Mechanics: A Love & Rockets Graphic Novel
Titan Books, 1988, ISBN 1852860219

What are the most important days of your life? Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá answer that question in the critical and commercial hit series that took the industry by storm, winning praise from such comics veterans as Terry Moore, Craig Thompson and Jeff Smith. Follow aspiring writer Brás de Oliva Domingos as each chapter of DAYTRIPPER peers in at a completely different moment in his life. Moon and Bá tell a beautifully lyrical tale chronicling Domingos’s entire existence – from his loves to his deaths and all the possibilities in between.

The is the story of a man’s life, told in ten chapters.  Each chapter deals with a moment in his life, and ends with his death and obituary.  I could end there as a nice summation, but that wouldn’t define the power of this work.

We first meet an aspiring writer, Bras de Oliva Domingos, working at a newspaper writing obituaries.  That lays the context for why we have one at the end of each chapter, summarizing what had been accomplished at that point in his life.  Each chapter presents a moment in time, moving forward and backward from youth to old age and beyond.  A detailed look at a turning point in his life, when an event or decision steers him in a different direction.  It’s a great premise and is pulled of exceptionally well by the team of Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba.

The story, dialogue and characters are all well crafted.  You’re brought into this living breathing world and never question it’s framework.  It works so well because this could be a story about yourself, the everyman.  More than that we come to feel and care about Bras and his family.

The art is great, coming from this established team.  It’s modern and has a “today” feel to it; stylized enough to let you know it’s a graphic novel but naturalistic enough to keep you tied into it.

This isn’t an action story or a “talking head” comic with nothing but dialogue: it’s an engaging graphic novel that tells a great story about people and their relationships to each other and the world around them.  As you can tell I’m having trouble putting it into words what makes Daytripper such a great read.

Daytripper
Vertigo, 2011, ISBN 978-1-4012-2969-6

When I originally conceived of this article, I planned for two classes of server; a budget machine of $1500 and something decent for $3000. After researching the manufacturer’s web sites and comparing packages, it became apparent that an entry model in either price range made too many concessions. Hence the focus of a good all around machine for $3000, with a minimum of two drives, decent RAM and whatever features could be crammed in.

To research the various models and bundles available, I did a strictly Internet fact finding tour of the big manufacturers: Compaq, Dell, Gateway, Hewlett Packard ( HP ) and IBM. To the mix I wanted to spec out a “white box” or clone system that could be had from local computer consultants, who specialize in getting small businesses equipped. After deciding on a $3000 Canadian budget, and recognizing this would be without monitor or operating system, I set out to see what value would befall me. Everyone except HP let me take a base server and add or change components to reach my desired budget; on the HP site I selected a model and then added the price of listed options. All the players listed server hardware without operating system, since it would scare away most buyers. As well the proliferation of Linux as a free alternative allows for companies to focus the entire budget on hardware. Let’s take a look at the chart below and compare.

Let’s run down the various specs provided and see what they do for a SME buyer. This is a broad look at the items listed by the manufacturers, so check out the links for specifics.

	Hewlett Packard	IBM	White Box
Specifications	Netserver e800	xSeries 220	Custom Build
Processor	Intel P3 933 MHz	Intel P3 933 MHz	Intel P3 933 MHz
# Processors / Capacity	1 / 2	1 / 2	2 / 2
Chipset	RCC LE	Serverworks ServerSet III LE	Via Apollo Pro 133A
PCI: 64 bit / 32 bit / 66 MHz	2 / 5	3 / 2 / 0	0 / 5 / 0
RAM	128 MB ECC PC133	256 MB ECC PC133	1024 MB ECC PC133
RAM Slots / Maximum	4 / 2 GB	4 / 2 GB	4 / 2 GB
1st Hard Drive	9 GB Ultra3 SCSI 10k	9 GB Ultra3 SCSI 10k	40 GB ATA100 7200
2nd Hard Drive	18 GB Ultra3 SCSI 10k	18 GB Ultra3 SCSI 10k	3x 40 GB ATA100 7200
Hot Plug Bays: 1″ / 1.6″	-	-	-
CD-ROM	40X ATAPI	48X ATAPI	16X DVD ATAPI
Video	4 MB Integrated	8 MB S3 Savage4 LT	4 MB ATI Rage XL
Tape	-	-	-
Case	Tower	4U Tower*	Tower
Bays: Internal / External	3 / 4	3 / 4	4 / 6
Power Supply: Watts / Fans	300 / 1	330 / 3	400 / 4
SCSI Controller	Symbios	AHA-7892	-
SCSI Type	Dual Wide Ultra3	Single Wide Ultra3	-
SCSI Connections	2 ( 30 drives )	1 ( 15 drives )	-
RAID Controller	-	-	Promise FastTrak100
ATA Controller	Onboard	ATA33 onboard	ATA100 onboard
ATA Connections	2 ( 4 drives )	1 ( 2 drives )	2 ( 4 drives )
LAN Adapter	Intel 82559 10/100	Intel 82559 10/100	2x Intel 82559 10/100
Data / Fax Modem	-	56k PCI	Creative 56k PCI
Parallel / Serial / USB	1 / 2 / 2	1 / 2 / 2	1 / 2 / 4
Floppy/Keyboard/Mouse	Y / Y / Y	Y / Y / Y	Y / Y / Y
Server Software	HP Netserver Navigator	IBM Director	Intel LanDesk
	HP Toptools for Servers	IBM ServerGuide	Server Manager
	HP Remote Assistant
Warranty	3 Year On Site	3 Year Parts / 1 Year On Site	1 Year
Online Documentation	User Manuals, Updates	Manuals, Updates	Manuals, Updates
Size: H / W / D (Inches)	17 / 7.1 / 19.5	18.5 / 6.5 / 20.0	20.6 / 8.1 / 18.6
Price (U.S. / Cdn)	2040 / 3220	1976 / 3120	1970 / 3100

While all the machines come with one processor, most allow for a second to be installed. Will this double CPU performance? Unfortunately the answer is no. To take advantage of the second processor, the operating system and applications must be multi-threaded, allowing tasks to be split amongst available CPUs. A second processor should give upwards of a 20% improvement; all server operating systems take advantage of multi-processor configurations.

The chipset is the heart and soul of the system; highly under appreciated but critical. It allows for communication amongst the various parts and defines what the system is capable of. ServerWorks is the leading manufacturer of server chipsets, thus it’s inclusion in all systems.

PCI ( peripheral component interface ) comes in various flavours, which only show up in server or workstation class machines. The basic 32 bit 33 MHz PCI slots we’re used to from desktop machines have a peak transfer of 132 MB / second. 64 bit 33 MHz PCI slots peak at 264 MB / second and 64 bit 66 MHz PCI slots at 528 MB / second. While it may seem like overkill, once you get a few network adapters and a RAID controller going, your available PCI bandwidth is rapidly filled.

RAM is the lifeblood of a server. More is always better, and servers use ECC ( error correcting code ) RAM. Looking at the number of slots, available slots and maximum amount gives a good of how big you can go. RAM is at an all time low price right now, so be sure to bulk up. Looking at the prices the big boys charge for upgrades, you’re better off ordering and installing it yourself.

Hard drive space is the next big item for servers, mostly for file and application serving. SCSI is the defacto choice for this market, as a SCSI controller can handle transactions from all devices simultaneously. These systems ship with a boot drive and additional storage drives. This is where “hot pluggable” and “hot swappable” come into play. For externally accessible storage, the server has removable hard drive modules. These modules contain a hard drive and connect to a SCSI backplane, which in turn is connected to a SCSI controller. Hot pluggable drives can be removed from the system while it’s running and replaced, but won’t be recognized until the system is rebooted. Hot swappable drives can be removed and replaced while the system is running, and will be accessible immediately without rebooting. Unfortunately hot swappable drives must be connected to a RAID controller, which is an option on all servers but not standard in this price range.

All systems ship with a CD-ROM, for installing software and drivers. On a server it doesn’t get much use, and interestingly all manufacturers chose to save some money and use IDE CD-ROM drives.

Video is handled by an onboard chip with minimal RAM. For a server, it’s only handling 2D graphics and basic video tasks. No manufacturer includes a monitor in the price; they assume you’ll be using a KVM switch or pick up a cheap 15” monitor on your own.

I included a tape category even though no manufacturer ships one at this price point. Backup is a key component of any business, unfortunately a tape backup of decent size will cost the same as the server.

The case holds everything, and a server case has to allow for easy access and swappable components. All cases in this roundup are tower models, most allow rack mounting via an extra kit. The “U” rating indicates the amount of rack space the case will take, and is derived from the spaces between screw holes. Bays indicate the total number of 3.5” and 5.25” drive bays externally and internally usable.

To run everything in the case you need a quality power supply. Since servers generally operate nonstop, manufacturers include redundant power supplies. Two or three power supplies are connected, and if one fails the other takes over. With a three unit design, the failed power supply can be removed and replaced since the other two are operating as main and backup. High quality is a must, and 300 watts is a minimum for the multiple processors, drives and controllers you may be operating. Cooling is also an important concern, concentrating on the processors and drive bays. Most servers have removable fans to cool key components and direct airflow in the chassis.

Storage connections are key, and all servers utilize both SCSI and ATA interfaces. Each SCSI controller can operate between 7 and 15 devices, while ATA controllers operate 2 devices. SCSI comes in a variety of interfaces and speeds, but the most common are Ultra2 ( 80 MB/s ) and Ultra3 ( 160 MB/s ). ATA controllers operate between ATA33 ( 33 MB/s ) and ATA100 ( 100 MB/s). This determines the number and type of storage devices within your server.

External connections via ports, Ethernet and modem are necessary and a basic component of any server. Most manufacturers include one Ethernet adapter for LAN connections, and a modem is always a good idea for remote diagnostics or failsafe internet access.

Server management software is critical to any small to medium enterprise. It monitors the system and alerts you to any hardware problems so immediate action can be taken. Most vendors have their own software, and cover the gambit of features.

Last but not least, look at the warranty offered. Will you need immediate service, or will next day suffice? Replacement of failed components, telephone support and onsite technicians all effect the cost of the warranty, so choose your options carefully.

We’ve looked at the specifications of the machines offered from the “big five”, and a general run down of what does what. Let’s talk specifics regarding pros and cons.

Some basics befall all the big players and form a common platform. All use a motherboard based on a ServerWorks chipset. The Compaq, Gateway, HP and IBM list three different names on their sites for the chipset, but some digging around revealed they’re all using the ServerWorks ServerSet III LE. Dell used the next model up, the ServerSet III HE model. All servers use onboard SCSI, LAN and video; this keeps costs down and allows for less clutter in the system. For the price range, all came with Intel Pentium III 933 MHz processors; ServerWorks chipsets only support Intel processors. As well they all came with a 9 GB non swappable OS or base drive and an ATAPI CD-ROM. The days of SCSI only are behind us.

After that they begin to diverge. For that kind of money I expected a hot swap bay to be included; unfortunately only Dell and Gateway complied. With RAM pricing so cheap, I expected to see 512 MB for peanuts; on average an extra 128 MB of RAM costs $120 from these big name companies.

The servers from Compaq and HP represent the lease amount of computer for the money. Both are small tower cases with limited upgrade ability and only 128 MB of RAM. Following on their heels is the IBM machine; a step up, but no leap from the bottom wrung. Second choice falls to Gateway; they use common OEM parts ( an Asus motherboard and CasEdge housing ) and put it all together for a very aggressive price. Top pick for the $3000 SME server goes to Dell with the 2500SC. Hot swap drives and the ServerWorks HE-SL chipset give this machine room to grow. Throw in redundant power supplies and a great case to come up with a solid winner.

This goes against all thinking on pasta cooking: everyone says we need vast amounts of boiling water to properly cook pasta.  Yet this new recommendation came from Harold McGee, a very respected food scientist.  So I gave it a try.  And you should too, as the results were wonderful.  Watch the video, then try it out with my spaghetti carbonara!

Testing RAID cards is a long and arduous process. The most difficult part was deciding on a standard cluster size for all cards. While the Promise cards can have from 8k to 2048k, Adaptec’s limit is 128k, and 3ware’s is 64k. All cards default to 64k cluster size, so who am I to argue? Just for comparison sake, I ran the Promise FastTrak100 with three cluster sizes to see the difference.

I’ve indicated best scores in a range with Bold face. I can’t account for the poor write scores with HDTach, although they were quoted in the December issue of Maximum PC as indicating their benchmark is not designed for RAID systems. All tests were run using the Test Platform.

On the two disk system 64k appears to be the clear winner. With four disks, 512k kills with RAID 0 and does well again with RAID 0+1.

Cache plays an integral part in RAID types that use parity or error checking and correcting (ECC). How much cache to put on a RAID card to get the best performance is a tricky bit of business: the natural reaction is to max it out. Below is a comparison of benchmarks using three sizes: 64, 128 and 256 MB PC133 SDRAM on a Promise FastTrak SX4000 with IBM DeskStar 75GXP 20 GB drives.

Well, after a lot of benchmarks it looks like maxing the cache paid off on four disk RAID arrays. For two disk arrays 64 MB is fine, and three disk arrays can go with any size.

Being a computer technician and networking professional, I have quite a few computers at home. The problem is what to do with those old Pentium machines that just can’t keep up with today’s games. About the time I was contemplating all this two entertainment phenomena’s hit the big time: DVD movies and MP3’s. I of course wanted both, but didn’t want to shell out the big bucks. Then it hit me: use an old Pentium PC as an “Entertainment” computer to hook to my television and receiver.

I needed to get a PC set up with DVD and MP3 playback. Digging around I found an old Pentium 133 MHz machine with a 1 GB hard drive and 32 MB of RAM. Further investigation led me to a Sound Blaster 32 ISA, a Pioneer 2x DVD SCSI drive and a 15” monitor. This was almost everything I needed; most software DVD players require a processor of at least 400 MHz to get 30 frames per second decoding, and I was woefully below that. DVD movies are compressed with MPEG encoding, so a decoder is required to play them back.

I did a little searching and bought a RealMagic Hollywood Plus MPEG decoder; it does MPEG and Dolby Digital decoding onboard, has S video and a bevy of connectors. This beauty would handle all my movie requirements with ease; all it lacked was a remote control, which is now available as well for $30.

Now all I had to do was bring everything together. I installed the Hollywood Plus, Sound Blaster 32, a Linksys 10/100 network adapter, DVD drive and Adaptec 2940 SCSI card into my Pentium 100 machine. The SCSI adapter is needed to hook up the SCSI DVD drive, and I had it lying around anyway. The sound card, SCSI adapter and computer were all circa 1995 equipment, with the other bits a few years newer. I installed Windows 98 SE without incident; everything was supported by default drivers except with Hollywood Plus, so I installed the drivers and was set up. Windows 95 would probably perform better on this system, since each Microsoft OS requires a little more juice, but since this PC would only be handling one task at a time I went with the current home OS.

The Hollywood Plus comes with it’s own player, but I needed something for my MP3 files. I downloaded Music Match Jukebox to do the job; it has a clean interface and is easy to use. As I said before all my music files (MP3s and WMAs) reside on my server, so I pointed Music Match to the shared drive and it found them all and compiled a music library.

At this point everything was working properly on the PC, but I needed to get video and sound out to my television and receiver. For Dolby Digital sound you need to use the optical output from the Hollywood Plus, so I connected that to my receiver. As well I connected the SVHS output to my receiver’s VCR input along with the sound. I don’t have a 5.1 speaker system yet so the VCR input would take the Dolby Digital signal and put it to the two speakers I was using, albeit without surround sound.

For digital music playback I hooked and a cable from the line out port on my Sound Blaster 32 to my receiver. Quick and easy. At this point I was watching DVD movies and listening to my music collection all through the use of a computer “too old” for most. I leave this machine on all the time in sleep mode, that way I can get to my music fairly quickly. As well I use an online TV guide since the machine is beside the television.

Some notes on the setup as a whole. The most important point is that the only item I had to buy to get this going was the Hollywood Plus card; everything else was lying around unused. I would have liked to use a PCI sound card since it’s much less taxing on the CPU, but I didn’t want to spend any money. As well current PCI sound cards will decompress MP3 files onboard, instead of using the CPU. For most users an IDE DVD drive will be what they have or purchase, but again I had this old 2x drive sitting around collecting dust. SCSI is a good choice for older systems since the SCSI adapter handles the data transfer chores, but the added cost isn’t worth it for this project. I keep my music files on the server, but most users won’t do this. A nice addition to this project would be the biggest 5400 RPM hard drive you could afford; keep all those music files at hand. A monitor is a must, but it doesn’t have to be more than a 14” model you picked up at a garage sale for $30. You’re only looking at it to hit “play” most of the time.

Let’s look at cost for this project. A used Pentium computer with sound card, CD-ROM and monitor can be had for less than $200. A DVD-ROM drive will be around $100, and the Hollywood Plus card is approximately $80. $380 for an entertainment PC is not unreasonable by any stretch of the imagination.

Backup should be a key component of any computer user’s routine. No matter what we do with our computer, there are files you don’t want to lose. The only way to guarantee they’ll always be there is to back them up.

For the day to day user or individual who is concerned with system failure or file loss the best method is RAID 1. This process takes two hard drives and mirrors the contents from one to the other. After the initial setup there is nothing required from the user to keep this going. The initial expense is around $100 for an IDE RAID PCI card, plus the cost of two hard drives, say Maxtor 20 GB drives retailing for $200 each. Total complete backup solution cost is $300 on top of the existing PC costs. For a look at such solutions see my previous RAID article.

For the network user RAID by itself is not the optimal backup solution. I still recommend RAID 1 or 5 solutions for the network file server, but augmenting this would be a tape backup system. Tape allows for proper archiving of files that can’t be handled by RAID. In my office a common scenario is this; someone comes to me and says the report they work on was screwed up yesterday, can I load the report from three days ago? Archival backup is the only way to handle this, as a site should be keeping between ten to thirty days of backups on hand for just such problems.

Tape is the preferred backup for archiving for one reason; it has the largest capacity. Optical storage is good and fast, but maxes out around 5 GB. There are quite a variety of tape technologies available: DAT DDS, DLT, Travan NS, AIT, Ultrium, SLR, plus brand specific types like Exabyte Mammoth, Onstream ADR and Ecrix VXA. Below is a chart that outlines the various technologies capacity, speed, and most importantly cost. I’ve stated the total cost to be the drive plus 20 tapes, giving the user a full work month of backups.

A comment on the prices; it is noted that all costs listed are in Canadian dollars. This is a Canadian site, and proud of it. To determine cost in U.S. dollars, multiply the Canadian cost by 65% or calculate ( cost*0.65).

The big question to ask yourself is how large a tape drive to get. If you have twenty staff members, each will probably have 100 – 200 MB of files on the server. That equals 40 GB of data that needs to be backed up, so you’ll need a drive that holds that or more. Of course this is an extreme example; most people on my network have less than 20 MB on their network share. Again I recommend using the tape drive for backing up work files only; use RAID to back up the operating system and applications, which should be on a separate hard drive anyway.

It’s important to keep in mind that most tape solutions are SCSI based; while IEEE 1394 and USB are making promising gains, the server market is still SCSI. I love to recommend IDE RAID solutions because of the price, but IDE tape solutions max out at 20 GB with NS20 or 30 GB with ADR. One other point: external drives are available for about $300 more, and offer an easy way to add tape storage to your server.

Once you’ve decided to make the leap to tape backup, there’s one more important choice: autoloading. This is a tape drive that accepts a number of tapes and loads a new one each day. Very convenient, but like all things costs more. Here’s a quick comparison: an HP DDS-4 drive is $2000, while an HP DDS-4 drive autoloading 6 tapes costs $3200. That’s five days of data backup plus a cleaning tape. It’s all a question of budget and time; will you remember to put a new tape in each day?

Based on the needs of a small network of fifty people or less I can safely recommend a DAT DDS-4 drive. 40 GB is a lot of space for files, and DDS-4 is a lot cheaper with 20 tapes than AIT, DLT or Mammoth. The VXA and ADR technologies are interesting and seem priced right, but tied to one manufacturer. DAT drives are universally accepted, media is readily available and it’s a price performance killer.

All this talk of tape drives came because of my companies need to purchase a new drive; our Exabyte 8mm 8 GB drive died three years into service. Look for a review of the HP SureStore DAT40 External next month.

In our ongoing quest to showcase the wide range of Jacques Tardi’s bibliography, Fantagraphics reaches all the way back to one of his earliest, and most distinctive graphic novels: A satirical, Jules Verne-esque “retro-sci-fi” yarn executed on scratchboard in a stunningly detailed faux-woodcut style perfectly chosen to render the Edwardian-era mechanical marvels on display. Created in 1972, The Arctic Marauder is a downright prescient example of proto-“steampunk” science fiction — or perhaps more accurately, and to coin a spinoff genre, “icepunk.”

I must first admit that I don’t click with the writing style, which Fantagraphics describes as “Told with brio in hilarious slabs of vintage purple prose, The Arctic Marauder works both as ripping good adventure story and parody of same“.  That said the awkwardness seems to adeptly fit a period piece.  This was Tardi’s first published work and it feels rough in it’s slightly zany dialogue, but again that’s covered.

The characters are ridiculous, over the top, caricatures really.  Easy to identify with or against.  This must have been told originally in serialized chapters, as page numbers are part of the art and the story is broken into seven neat chapters.  The story quits suddenly and I really don’t know it that’s on purpose, because it seems to drop mid sentence.

The art is wonderful.  Tardi has this rounded style that is unique and easily identifiable, all at once his signature.  The level of detail is astounding, in the background and mechanical details as rendered faux woodcuts.  The 9×11.75″ pages present the art in gloriously large detail: be sure to drink in every inch of this black and white work.

No extras included: I would have really appreciated a one page history on the material, especially since Kim Thompson is a co-publisher at Fantagraphics and handled the translation himself.  At $17 for a sixty-four page oversized hardcover this is a great value: while the vintage prose was lost on me it stands as a great period work with wonderfully detailed art.

The Arctic Marauder
Fantagraphics, 2011, ISBN 978-1-60699-435-1

The trio of Jodorowsky, Charest, and Janjetov show how the Metabaron assembled the galaxy’s most powerful and destructive weapons in an effort to become an invincible warrior. Travis Charest’s (Artist of WILDCATS, WILDC.A.T.S/X-MEN: THE GOLDEN AGE, and STAR WARS comics Cover Artist) long awaited interpretation of the METABARONS mythology.

These salient facts took importance once I had the book in my hands: hardcover, 64 pages, 7.75 x 10.5 inches, $19.95 US.  It seemed a bit light for the price, and it was that odd Humanoids size they seem to favour.  Looking at the cover, image above, there was no mistaking who was the star of the book: Travis Charest’s credits were larger than the title!  Doing a quick flip through revealed that Charest did pages 11 to 38, with Zoran Janjetov handling pages 7-10 and 39-61.  Hmm, so we’re actually receiving half a story of “Charest’s interpretation of the Metabarons mythology”.

This was my first taste of the Metabaron universe for the 55 pages of actual story in the book don’t expect to walk away fulfilled.  Apparently they’re ultimate warrior mercenaries who don’t lose, in a sci-fi universe that has a lot of occult  and mystical ties, along with giant monsters.  I can’t say I took much away from the story, other than it seems designed for the big screen and not the printed page.  Lots of big fight panels with special effects but no real explanations; it really feels like Jodorowsky wanted this for a movie.  I could be trying to find gold in a silver mine here: the story is guy fights things to get objects, done.  It’s chapter of a larger work but we don’t get anything in the hardcover to point us in any direction: no introduction or afterward, not even a mention of where the story continues or from whence it began.

That leaves the art as the big draw, pun intended.  Janjetov and Charest have dramatically different art styles and it really comes through.  The Charest art is gorgeous and finely detailed with a lot of pencil work and fine detailing in most panels, but it looks too small for the format and I found myself squinting in the hopes of enjoying all the details.  To really get a sense you’d need the pages twice this size.  On the other hand Janjetov has clean lines, letting the colours and inks do a lot of the work and presenting straightforward and enjoyable art.

In the end Weapons Of The Metabaron is a hardcover showcasing some Travis Charest artwork.  The story as told in this book in a fragment that needs more, matching the Charest art in its lack of completion.

Weapons Of The Metabaron
Humanoids, 2010, ISBN 978-1-59465-036-9