Subj : Re: Slimmed down Debian To : Barry Martin From : Ky Moffet Date : Sun Jul 26 2020 23:24:00 BARRY MARTIN wrote: > Hi Ky! > > KM> Hey, I actually needed that RAM the other day.. haven't quite > KM> given up on the D20 board that died of a bent CPU pin (worked > KM> fine with one CPU; put in the second and PFFZT! bent pin was very > KM> subtle, can't blame the seller for missing it. RMA'd and refunded > KM> and returned, and then he refused the shipment so I got the board > KM> back, a clever way for him to avoid paying return postage on a > KM> "free return".) Anyway with your RAM it at least powers on, tho > KM> so far haven't got any further. Need higher-powered magnifier and > KM> better light so I can see if there's something else making > KM> contact in there that shouldn't be. At least the power on > KM> indicates it's not shorted to the point of totally dead!! > > Well good on the RAM, bad on the vendor -- he authorized the return with > the RMA and then refused, so not honouring his own RMA?! No, no, no... Discover problem, do RMA, get free-return label from eBay, send it back. Get refund. Thought that was the end of it. A few days later here comes the board, marked "refused". So he got proof that it was bad (because I sent it back) but he didn't have to pay the return postage (because he refused it). > As for the finding the contact (or possibly non-contact) point -- good Need higher magnification! > luck!! Sort of reminds me of the problem with inserting a USB device > here and the machine locks up -- occurred yesterday and I used the > built-in USB 2.0 front panel port, usually the USB 3.0 add-on front > panel. Have to go back to that project, But First! Yeah, tho think yours is different sort of flaw... > > I think it's "measure twice, cut once", not the other way around! > KM> I cut it three times, and it's STILL too short!! > But is it getting better? No, but the pile of sawdust is getting bigger! > further away one is from the Central Office the slower the service. I'm > around 1500 _feet_ from the CO. Depends also on available service: this > neighbourhood has the options of 7 Mbps and 10 Mbps. Yeah, yours is practically underfoot! > > And received a postcard (!) yesterday advising > me the DSL service will be increased $6 per month. No reason, no > promise of better nor faster service. Just 'because'. Supposedly CenturyLink is a lifetime price... didn't specify whose lifetime... and today only getting 4.0Mbps down and power cycle didn't improve matters, but did take a couple tries to reconnect. Grrr... > > KM> Mine is embarrassing... > > You're also "out in the boonies" IIRC. > KM> Only a mile from town and 15,000 feet from the junction box... > KM> tho yeah, I used to be where to see civilization, you needed a > KM> good telescope! > > So slowly accustoming yourself to civilization! Though It's embarrassing > 'civilization' is a relative term..... Heh heh... yes, compared to the Amazon jungle or northeastern Siberia, everywhere I've ever lived is positively urban. :O > Several months ago had the CenturyLink technicians out here for noise on > the line (could hear) and eventually a dead line. Somewhere one of the > two wires broke -- they could semi-pinpoint the location of the break > with their testers: was in one of two junction boxes side-by-side two > blocks from the house. Could either try to find (apparently the boxes > are a mess) or move me to a different pair. I don't really care which > wires I use as long as it works. Had similar problem... flaws they could tell were there but not where, and fixing this didn't fix that... their guy finally gave up and just rewired the house, AND buried new cable out to the street. > KM> Can't you assign it one address on your router? I can do that on > KM> mine and it only has half a brain cell. (I don't bother, tho, cuz > KM> nothing here needs it. Also it tends to keep the same one per > KM> device anyway.) > > Do have it all updated. The main problem was the DSL Router used > 192.168.0.x and the fiber optic router 192.168.4.x -- sort of like right Who ever heard of using .4.x ??! > building, wrong floor. Did call tech support - the gentleman I talked > said he was the one who brought over the router when he as hired (so 'up > there', not a troubleshooting manual reader); we did try a few things > but not able to change the IP address range from 4 to 0. Yeah, usually that's hardwired. > sudo ip addr add 192.168.0.199/24 broadcast 192.168.0.199 dev enp1s0 > > This will give the 'working' computer with the 192.168.4.x address > another one at 192.168.0.199 so it can see that LAN. Change the device > as required (per ifconfig). My brain hurts. I'll just let the switch handle it... :D > KM> He went from donkey to jet plane and complains about the speed of > KM> freight. :D :D :D > > I like whine with my cheese!! Swiss? :) > > KM> [Speaking of freight: we're on day 12 for a priority parcel from > KM> the Bay area, tho it's finally made it to Billings... 9 days for > KM> the previous two from CA... methinks CA's mail system is totally > KM> busted.] > > Overnight -- you didn't specify which night!! Apparently not! > > KM> Yeah... did I mention Win10 deciding to nuke the partition table > KM> on a USB-attached HD? I *think* what happened is that it saw the > I remember you having that problem. Nothing like an OS just assuming > stuff! Yeah, it would be on The List real quick! Yeah. STOP FIXING STUFF ALREADY!!! > KM> I do need to find some SODIMM 4GB or 8GB DDR3 sticks, as they're > KM> all sadly under-RAM'd. > I know I don't have any laptop-sized memory 'in stock'. Heh... neither do I. Well, from this century, anyway. > KM> A little experimenting on old and older hardware informed me that > KM> PCLOS runs really well on about 2.2GHz 2-core and above; below > KM> that it loses its snappiness, but isn't yet laggy. So now in the > KM> interests of Science I'm looking for the slowest x64 CPU in > KM> existence, so I can test my theory that it's still at least > KM> usable on barrel-scrapings. (Conversely, Mageia and Ubuntu are > KM> both laggy on the i7-3.7GHz with 32GB RAM.) > > So fast is slow, slow is acceptable.... It's all relative! :) > KM> Silly Blinky Tricks: don't have a 2-pin speaker for the > KM> Thinkstation board. Do have a 2-pin LED, and remember someone > KM> using an LED instead of a speaker, for a deaf user. It works! > Makes sense! As long as the 'impendence' of the LED is within a range > acceptable to the speaker driver circuit. It's just 5v power. And it only knows on/off -- all the speaker has to do is beep, and will do so every time power comes through the pins. And so does the LED. Well, blink. If it beeped I'd be alarmed. > KM> [What idiot uses oo pins for the speaker, instead of oxxo like > KM> the whole rest of the world??] > > For a speaker-speaker oo would make sense: no polarity. For a piezo- > speaker ox-o would make more sense to make it easier than to guess the > polarity. When it doesn't bloody matter, just make it match everyone else! Some do 3 pins like that, but one is a dummy pin. And pointless if the speaker's doohickey doesn't also have a blocked hole. > KM> [Razor Case] > > KM> exposed edges. (In fact I still have one in the basement, sitting > > KM> empty.) > > Empty except with your blood! ..You really should have refrigerated it > > for a potential transfusion! > KM> Haha... yeah, if I ever use that case, I'm gonna name it Vampire. > > Black, with red trim! Haha, if only... sadly, it's plain beige. Maybe some spray paint... > KM> blood on the components. > So that begs the qyuestion: can dried blood be used as a electrical > insulator? And what's it R thermal factor? Probably not... might contain enough iron to be micro-conductive. R is probably about the same as 'thermal grease', toothpaste, and vegemite (no real difference). Only so-called thermal grease I've seen that's actually better than just filling any air gaps with literally any handy goo (toothpaste, vegemite, spit...) is copper-based. Should get some more of that.... > > > > KM> Likely so... more fins uses more metal and costs more! > > > "We want profit!" "We want something that works at a reasonable price!" > > KM> Gee, I wonder who said what... > > The shoplifters?! > KM> THAT must be what the looting is about!! > I thought it was the Hokey-Pokey! If only they'd end up in the Pokey! > > Probably because a lot of people use their cell phones and tablets as if > > they were computers cut into that market. > KM> Something like 60% of the market is now cells and tablets. And > KM> PCs became more and more disposable. So yeah, not much market > KM> anymore. > I can see their convenience. OTOH I'd hate to be doing a lot of reading > on a six or seven inch screen. ...Typing a reply like this one - ha! Well, most people only use a PC, and therefore a phone, for internet... which nowadays mostly means watching Youtube and trawling Facebook. > KM> Yeah, that's how Dink and Wedgie got their names -- DNK on the > KM> case, and WedgTek on the case. > I don't feel quite so bad for my lack of name creativity! Trouble is, whatever a person thinks of first invariably sticks... Right now I have Confusion. Cash is doing Silver's old job, using Silver's old HDs. Silver is now called Tarnish, but at the moment has Cash's old PCLOS in it (which fortunately doesn't call itself Cash, so no network-names conflict). Silver's old case with new guts is now called Silver II, but presently has Lightfoot's Win7 in it (Lightfoot being semi-retired). > > "ThermalTake". And I have a case for a project that's been on hold > > from Raijintek - oh poop! > KM> It's better if you can pronounce 'em... > > Maybe that will be it's name: "Unpronounceable" or maybe "Mumble"! Hahaha yes... just don't complain when it doesn't come when called! > > > Frontend computer in the Sitting Room (Den -- > > no idea why we're using an old term) called 'BrokenTab' because one of > > the tabs holding on the heatsink broke off. > KM> What will you call it if you ever replace the mount? :D > "Fixed"? Sounds good to me! > > KM> That's another reason looking for older for the winter 4WD, > > KM> probably 1996 or before... I like knobs, ON THE DASH. And the > > KM> dimmer switch on the floor, as the gods intended. (Okay, so > > KM> that's 1991 or before...) > > Well I'll admit the dimmer switch on the left steering wheel sticky- > > out-thing isn't bad. Over the years I've more or less trained myself to > KM> It might not be bad but it's in the wrong place!! And all the > KM> blonds get their foot caught in the steering wheel. :P > > Wait until you get in a car with the rear window wiper switch is on the > right sticky-out thing: accidentally pull on it while rotating to > activate the (front) windshield wipers!! I remember first time I drove one with switches on the stalk... could not for the life of me figure out how to turn on the headlights or run the wipers!! > KM> Fedora install time and behavior wasn't bad, but Debian took a > KM> good hour and needed lots of babysitting. I never again want to > KM> hear how Windows installer rudely stops and demands input every > KM> two minutes... > > Yet it will reformat a perfectly good USB HDD plugged in to it without > asking! Well, it was perfectly good before Win10 got its mitts on it! > KM> Look over there. See? It's right there. Geesh!!) > > Wasn't in the path. :( Yes, rather annoying when something used to > work and no longer works just because of an upgrade. Such as... apparently Fireball has no IDE support. Add-on card is seen but not heard... won't boot with IDE anything attached. Did finally get XP64 installed, but had to switch SATA to IDE mode (then why do we not support IDE HDs?), and apparently it required part of a failed install to be there first. I swear it finally installed by sheer failure to remember that it had decided it was impossible. And now need to find Intel C600 SAS driver for XP64 (and for Win7)... Lenovo's provided SAS driver is for the wrong chip (LSI, which is not what it is). PCLOS found it just fine... well, it is an old chip. > I've got a laptop (OK, they call it a notebook) which has a problem > staying connected via wireless. Could install a new WiFi card, which > wouldn't be a bad idea as the current one only does 2.4 GHz, but I don't > know for certain the card is the problem, and I'm not going to be a > happy camper if the problem is somewhere else and now I have a dedicated > card which can do 2.4 and 5 GHz but is still dropping out. Decided to > get a dongle with USB 3.0 capabilities -- at least can be used with > other devices easily. I have a few of those $3 USB WiFi dongles... if you get 'em with RealTek chip often you don't even need to drag out the driver disk. Never had any trouble with 'em staying connected. Onboard network chips fail fairly often (I've had to replace 3 of 'em with cards) so why wouldn't the notebook's WiFi card possibly fail? > KM> Well, I could use two laptop drives in the single 3.5" internal > KM> bay, and an NVMe on an adapter in the 4x PCI3 slot, but... since > KM> I have other options, why?? still inflexible once you put the lid > KM> back on. > > Duct tape and 3D printing come to mind! There's the next generation in PC cases!! > > KM> Yeah, I have no patience anymore. Either it works easily or out > > KM> it goes. > > Time is money! LIS I've done the same over the years with my various > KM> If time flies when you throw a clock, I want to come back as DB > KM> Cooper. > Assuming he was able to spend his money! Well, they never found the money... and I don't have it... :( > KM> Snipping rest or I'll never get this sent... > KM> "Did you write the Great American Novel?" > KM> "No, just an average reply on the BBS." > > Really! I'm showing 491 lines, which I think would be about 8 pages if > printed out -- just a phamphlet! A mere short story.! > .. ERROR: Computer is way too old for this nonsense. ERROR: User is way too old for this nonsense. þ RNET 2.10U: ILink: Techware BBS þ Hollywood, Ca þ www.techware2k.com --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .