Subj : Graphics driver quest To : Ky Moffet From : Barry Martin Date : Sat Oct 18 2025 07:17:00 Hi Ky! > KM> That's pretty much what Starlink did with its router -- it > KM> doesn't even have any vents! I'm wondering about using it as a > KM> cup warmer. > They borrowed that from the old Macintoches? IIRC their electronics were > pretty much a solid block dipped in some sort of epoxy. At least no > problem with dust build-up clogging vents! KM> Haven't seen the solid block but I have seen power supply riveted KM> to the case. That's one way to keep it from rattling loose in transit! KM> There was that plastic all-in-one with few vents and no fan, I KM> have personally witnessed one of those get hot enough to KM> seriously smoke. (Not mine, wouldn't own one.) When we were selling them at the store (along the IBM-compatibles) I asked the vendor lots of questions, partially to better sell them, partially because they were potentially better. The running hot was an issue no matter which side. The main downfall was the lack of upgradeability: could add a hard drive on the outside but not on the inside, not even swap for a larger capacity: couldn't get to it. KM> Know of another that caught fire and tried to burn the house KM> down. But hey, no noisy fan! Well some of the fans do shriek like a smoke alarm, so don't need both! > > KM> I already have the spare router. > > But if you use it it won't be spare! (The Starlink one would become the > > spare, but that sort of ruins the joke.) > KM> As they say, an heir and a spare! > And the joke continues another generation! KM> It's a next generation router. > KM> Yeah, the leaves really have to be dry enough to turn to dust > KM> when they're smacked around, so they don't form suffocating > KM> layers. > Found that out! One Fall years ago for some reason I had raked a bunch > of the leaves under the tree -- maybe was starting to snow and wanted to > keep them somewhat dry until the next time I could bag them, I don't > recall. Anyway, apparently never did get the time and they stayed under > the tree all winter. Spring: nice ring of dead grass around the tree! KM> Whoops!!! Yup! Actually worked out: put some low-sunlight shrubs and plants around the tree, turning it into sort of a mini-park. > KM> I look around the neighborhood and conclude that trees are weird. > They each have their own personalities! KM> Mine sure do. I have two American elms come back from roots that KM> evidently survived the Dutch Elm plague... one is immune to KM> everything. Nothing touches it. The other gets the creeping KM> summer crud, probably from whiteflies, tho it's been getting less KM> cruddy. We have the strong "Prom King" brother-tree and we have his bookwormish 90-pound weakling. The annual assault by th whitefly crud probably doens't help the overall health and recovery. > KM> That's about it... it's green for about four months, and greens > KM> up so late that the first year here, I thought it was dead. > KM> Everything else fully leafed out and it wasn't even running sap > KM> yet. > Yes, same with some shrubs and bushes: need to make sure the branch is > really dead and not just a late bloo-- er - leafer. KM> Junipers are terrible for that. They'll be completely crunchy and KM> a couple years later here's growth again. Any tree-trimming around here we've had done by arborists, or at least tree companies. Well, except one: the tree had died except for a lower limb which was relatively green. Someone knocked on the door offering to remove the tree for $600 -- this was back decades ago but even then was a cheap offer! I was at work but from what I was told didn't trim out much of the tree before felling it, or maybe didn't shorten it as when comes time for 'timmmm-berrrr!' the tree falls across the street and almost hits the house across the street! Good news is 'almost' but apparently does block the street for a while. Oddly we never saw him nor his 'tree company' again! > KM> Yeah, how much sun they get is likely a big factor. At one time > KM> freezing temps were supposed to be it, but that doesn't explain > KM> the ones that drop leaves with no frost one year, and can't be > KM> arsed til midwinter (or if at all) the next. > I would guess a combination of sunlight, temperature, the timing > between the two, and probably just the tree's specific internal clock > all have a factor. KM> Yep. I have noticed those that get the most sun usually lose KM> leaves fastest. I'll have to leave that observation to you: around here lots of tree but mostly individual, mostly old-growth trees in the front and back yards. Strips of trees at the back yard boundaries. So not enough to block too much sunlight. ... Back in New Hampshire had a wide strip of trees from our backyard to the next neighbourhood on the hill but mostly pine trees and those tend to stay green. > > > .. 9 out of 10 people couldn't start conversation if weather didn't > hang > KM> . > > KM> Ah, this explains why people in Montana talk ALL the time! > > And why so quiet out here: for a while this late summer the weather was > > so constant from day to day even the 'yakky' meterologist was having a > > hard time coming up with something different to comment on. > KM> Nothing to say, eh? :D > Just get a parrot: "Sunny and hot! Sunny and hot!" KM> Coulda used that in the desert! Parrot's plumage was probably almost as flashy as some of the suits worn by the weathermen back then! ¯ ® ¯ BarryMartin3@MyMetronet.NET ® ¯ ® .... Difference btwn Superman & me: he has super vision, I need supervision. --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA 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 (454:1/1) .