Subj : Too many? :) To : Ky Moffet From : Barry Martin Date : Wed Oct 07 2020 18:26:00 Hi Ky! Hey you won't belive this: the landline is down again!! Autumn's father called at 2:30 to say he was on his way to pick her up -- line was a little staticy. When he left about noticed the cordless phone/answering machine was blinking 'Line In Use'. Forget to/didn't properly hang up?? Nope. Called CenturyLine Service -- at least answered a lot quicker than the previous times -- repair is supposed to be here tomorrow (today when this gets uploaded). I did 'lightly' comment on the no shows and delays from three (four?) weeks ago. > Whereas I've gotten rid of most of the old hardware as too slow won't > work for what I want it to do. Do have my DEC Rainbow 100 and the two > "super XTs", mainly for sentimental reasons. The XTs, or at least one, > was supposed to run the X10 (home automation) stuff but ended up the > current computers could more easily. KM> I have the 286 (and wish I'd kept the souped-up XT, oh well) and KM> a few from the late 1990s in the basement, but the ones in KM> regular or even intermittent use ... well, I'd probably have more interest in repairing and playing with my old/ antique computers if someone else wa around to appreciate. Another computer geek of sorts. I can appreciate, don't need to do something for someone else's approval, but my 'need for speed' is overriding the need to repair. Don't need a separate computer just to run the X10 / home automation stuff -- actually it's interface doesn't need to be connected to a computer except for updates or a manual override. KM> Bullet is the oldest KM> everyday PC, with a 2008 motherboard and a quad-core, and the KM> oldest laptop still in occasional use is the same age. Anything KM> below a 3GHz Core2Duo is just too slow these days, and anything KM> below an iX is increasingly painful online. Yup. Similar to I could wait for the computer to boot/reboot but I don't want to so spent a little extra money and put the OS on a SSD. When I buy the new motherboard and Intel CPU it will be fast, towards top of the line, but to show off, but I don't like waiting for the computer, plus I know I don't replace them all that often, so today's upper line is next year's mid-line. > > If you use a teen-tiny you should get it to fit on a single sheet! > KM> If I used little teeny print I'd need little teeny eyes to read > KM> it... > KM> https://people.well.com/user/bubbles/LilTEyes.txt > Neat! (I was still in elementary school when that was written!) KM> Bubbles has been around a while Oldie but goodie! ...What's a keypunch? What's a tape reader? Dot Matrix -- is she a character on Netflix? > KM> At least on Windows you can use ! or !! or !!! to force a front > KM> sort. This does not work on linux, which ignores the leading ! > KM> mark. > Never tried a filename with a leading exclamation point -- doesn't > follow my naming rules. KM> We all have our weird quirks. But we're loveable because of (or is that despite?!) them! > > /home/barry/File Cabinet/Recipes/ > > |-- aa_Cooking Tips > > |-- aa_Food Timeline > > | |-- Food Timeline: food history research service_files > KM> Food timeline, fish: Fresh, Stale, and Stinking in 3 days. > How'd you know that was what was in there?! KM> I looked in your fridge, and got food poisoning. Ah poo: got those bags mixed up! It was supposed to be the gone-bad food from the power failure was put in grocery bags and refrozen until the night before trash day -- kept the trash from stinking and attracting maggots. > KM> Yeah... that's why it irks me so much that Microsoft nuked all > KM> the old support files. They've done this twice now, apparently > KM> under the theory that this would force people to upgrade. No, it > KM> just annoys us... when they announced that they were killing the > KM> pre-XP files, I pulled all of 'em, and it was only 8GB. They > KM> didn't announce it when they killed most of the XP support files. > KM> :/ > Yes, I was also thinking the "that'll force 'em!" 8 GB is nothing. > ..Just for comparison found this: "the average person used 2.9GB of > mobile data per month in 2019". So not-quite three month's worth of > data was Microsoft's 'savings'. KM> At the time it was about a third of an average consumer HD. So a KM> bit more significant at the time, but still chicken feed by their KM> standards. Yes, like my DEC Rainbow 100 had 892 KB of RAM. (Seems like mine had more but that's what I found.) At that time that amount was HUGE, and semi-costly. Now the remote that comes with the TV probably has more. > Didn't know Windows 10 was case-sensitive but not really following > Windows stuff. I'd prefer a lack of case sensitivity (in general -- KM> I didn't know it either until I accidentally had two almost-same KM> filenames... Well 'test' and 'Test1' are close but no cee-gar! > does add a slight degree of bafflement to passwords): for me would make > things a little easier. Guess I'll just go off and create my own > distribution! KM> Anyone can do it. But it also needs to work! > From what I've read the Raspeberry Pi will be using a 64-bit ARM > instruction set soon. :) KM> About time! The beta is available now; the other day downloaded a current Raspbian (which is now called something like Rasp OS) and saw it was available. Right now don't have time to play with beta. > > OTOH it seems to work fine for some people - maybe I'm missing a command > > switch? > KM> Wait for next generation hardware. > do sleep 99999 ? KM> Does that work on me or the hardware? Yes. :) KM> New distro: Rip Van Winkle OS :) Takes twenty years to boot and then it goes to a Desktop scene of a forest? (Hey: if Microsoft can have a field in California then RVW can have from a hamlet in New York!) > KM> Yeah, most of 'em do. In my experience they're not just > KM> barebones, but also lots of everyday stuff doesn't quite work. > KM> Inability to configure the desktop is no worry for a server, but > KM> annoying for a workstation. Another reason I don't bother looking > KM> at barebones distros, unless that's all there is. > Yes, would seem like a potential problem with random stuff not working > because vital stuff wasn't installed originally. Minor experience with > that kind of thing: sometimes the programme will tell you what's missing, > sometimes not and so off to search for an answer for a problem we're not > quite sure is. KM> Yeah, and while Synaptic and some commanline magic can get around KM> it, why do all that extra work? Because I enjoy pounding my head against the desktop? Actually did 'volunteer' for a sort of a trial last year: asked how to copy over the 'old' MythTV shows on Backend 2 ("BE2") to the new MythTV system on Backend 3 "BE3"). A straight-over copy gives something like TS06120180605-1630 for the displayed filename ==> Channel 6.1, 2018, June 5, at 4:30 p.m. - ah! _Jeopardy!_! So did get assistance, I think from one of the MythTV programmers. He updated my database, which created a few minor problems as things originally didn't line up, etc., etc. Did find a few utilities he had added I needed. I added manually, I think he modified his beta utility to check and then download if not found. Actually fun and interesting on this end. :) > Could be -- I've been mild entertained by watching the text scroll on > the screen during installs. Most of the time no clue as to what the > output means, though have glimpsed bits of humour ==> instead of a > stuffy-and-formal name for an error-catching utility it'll be called > something like 'Boo-boo Grabber'. KM> LOL, yeah, seen a few of those :) I do appreciate a bit of quirkiness. :) > KM> Which in this day and age is just insane. Yeah, you get an end > KM> result precisely tailored, but at the cost of a lot more time and > KM> bother, especially when 99% of installs want to wind up with the > KM> ordinary generic one-size-fits-all binary, so why individually > KM> build it? > It's those vocal One Percenters! WAG: carry-over from the days when > the installation needed to fit on a single CD? KM> Nope, from the habit of compiling drivers into the kernel (which KM> was horrible design, but was the only way to get any performance KM> out of it, back in the day). Which naturally extended to KM> everything. "But we always did it this way!!!" > > > .. Picked up book called "Glue in Many Lands"; can't put it down. > > KM> Sticky situation! > > I am rather attached! > KM> To what?? > I'm thinking the book but does depend on reference points. Jump, I come > back down, so attached to Earth..... KM> You were supposed to cut the umbilicus! I thought it odd it looked like he had two! > > .. Famous Last Words: Everything seems to be working fine now. > KM> Barry's USB. > The good news is it doesn't randomly lock up unless I do do something > with the USB. ...Well, winter's coming and in the past I did have the > occasional problem with touching and the static zap caused everything to > stop. (Anything come to mind with that forgotten detail? Insert USB > and/or static means _________.) KM> I've never had a static shock to the case make it reboot or KM> freeze up... wonder if it might be a symptom of marginal KM> hardware. We'll go with that! This one (same one with the USB issue) can albeit rarely lock up with a static zap. FWIW I think not limited to the case but also external powered USB 3.0 hub. I have a dead-ish thumbdrive inserted into the top port of the hub. Has a metal case. In winter touch the metal case of the thumbdrive to discharge and reduce the possibility of a lockup when inserting another thumbdrive or USB device at the hubm. (At the main unit just touch the case.) And yes, things are properly grounded. Checked the wall outlets with an electrical tester. There's a fault indicator on the rear of the UPS. Also tested the power strips plugged in to the UPS. ¯ BarryMartin3@ ® ¯ @MyMetronet.NET ® ....    I can see clearly now, the brain is gone...    --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .