Friends can be lusers too
Mike Causer
friend. It arrived last week and a certain "user friendly" [1] distro
was installed (saving GBP90 in M$ tax :-), basic guidance given, and my
friend said "It's much easier" (than W-98!). Yesterday the broadband
kit arrived, so I went round to check it was connecting OK.
Well, there are several, possibly six, lights on the "modem", of which
the installation instructions only mention four. None were lit.
Friend had called the hell-desk of the supplier and was told "It must
be a faulty modem, we'll send you another."
Of course I know the Secret Magic Incantations to recalicrant
equipment, which start with "Are you getting any?"
The power supply was a universal one, with a push-on plug for
country-of-choice's sockets. Hmmm, pushed *off* very easily; let's
push it back, <CLICK>. Plug it in again. Ok, now we have 4 green
lights on the modem.
After a ten minute search for the letter which contains account number
and password we have connection, and impressively fast it is too. [2]
So now my attention turns to the Old Computer, a 1999-ish Compaq, which
is mostly next to the front door so it can be given to (some of)
friend's grandchildren. Monitor, keyboard, bag of cables, etc, but no
base unit.
Why?
Err, well, it was taken to the computer shop this morning.
Why?
"Well I couldn't get the cable to the screen out, so Dick (husband)
tried and pulled, and Pulled and PULLED -- and pulled the the whole
thing apart". He pulled the socket off the motherboard!!
Those readers without grandchildren need to understand that once a
present has been promised it /has/ to appear, even if it means buying
another junko s/hand computer.... So Dick took it to the shop who
said it would cost 40 beer-coupons minimum to fix it.
Arggh NO, I said, I've got lots of video cards, it will take a minute
to install one and it'll work again. So we drive to the shop and
retrieve the box, somewhat to their relief I suspect. Trying to
resuscitate damaged 10 year old Compaqs is not the way of making a
fortune after all.
With a handful of graphics cards, tool kit and static strap, I
return. Second thing I notice is that the motherboard isn't actually
screwed down. The *first* was that 1999-ish Compaqs are hard to get
into. B*st*rds designed for ease of manufacture, not servicing.
Now after about 30 minutes of wriggling the bits (computer's not mine!)
the motherboard is lined up, but where are the screws? Dick produces
a tin of small screws, mainly purloined from 1920's Austin Seven cars I
sspect -- with good reason. So home I go again to get my 35mm film
canister of screws, and motherboard is secured. While I'm at it the
ISA cards could do with screws too, and the thing is finally buttoned
up (with more cursing at Compaq's case design).
So: an hour to install OS & sort out new computer, 3 hours to make old
computer work again that was working a week ago. I'd only do it for
friends!
[1] That is the only distro since starting with Linus' creations in
1993 that has infuriated me enough to curse it and install Dead Rat
instead. Yeah, maybe I /am/ too used to user-unfriendly, but if I
can't login as root that's it! However, for friends it's better ;-((
[2] The monitor, also mentioned here as having to be specially ordered,
is very impressive. So much so that I am getting one for myself.
T'would be UI to give the name of the manufacturer, so I won't. Until
I've negotiated a suitable recommendation fee anyway.
Mike
--
Mike Causer
Joe Zeff
> sudo "Make me a sandwich"
Wouldn't work on any of my computers because I've never set up [UI
redacted].
su -c 'Make me a sandwich'
--
Joe Zeff -- The Guy With The Sideburns:
http://www.zeff.us http://www.lasfs.info
A conservative is a liberal who's been mugged by reality.
Steve VanDevender
> sudo "Make me a sandwich"
$ cat xkcd.make
me a:
@true
sandwich:
@[ `whoami` = root ] && echo "Okay." || echo "What? Make it yourself."
--
Steve VanDevender "I ride the big iron" http://hexadecimal.uoregon.edu/
ste...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu PGP keyprint 4AD7AF61F0B9DE87 522902969C0A7EE8
Little things break, circuitry burns / Time flies while my little world turns
Every day comes, every day goes / 100 years and nobody shows -- Happy Rhodes
Bruce Tomlin
Steve VanDevender <ste...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu> wrote:
> Paul Martin <p...@nowster.org.uk> writes:
>
> > sudo "Make me a sandwich"
> $ cat xkcd.make
...for certain values of filesystems which can not contain the
uncompressed Linux kernel source.
Lionel
> Paul Martin <p...@nowster.org.uk> writes:
>
>> sudo "Make me a sandwich"
>
> $ cat xkcd.make
> me a:
> @true
> sandwich:
> @[ `whoami` = root ] && echo "Okay." || echo "What? Make it yourself."
Subtle.
--
W
. | ,. w , "Some people are alive only because
\|/ \|/ it is illegal to kill them." Perna condita delenda est
---^----^---------------------------------------------------------------
Alan J Rosenthal
> Steve VanDevender <ste...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu> wrote:
>
>> Paul Martin <p...@nowster.org.uk> writes:
>>
>> > sudo "Make me a sandwich"
>> $ cat xkcd.make
>
>...for certain values of filesystems which can not contain the
>uncompressed Linux kernel source.
Heh. Plus, it would take "Make me a sandwich" as a single file name so
wouldn't work anyway.
Graham Reed
> sandwich:
> @[ `whoami` = root ] && echo "Okay." || echo "What? Make it yourself."
@test `id -u` -eq 0 && ...
But you'll need xpg4 on Slowaris boxen. And if we're going POSIX,
let's get the shell on board too....
@(($$(id -u) == 0)) && ...
Errr... I'm not the only one who messes with root's username, right?
-- Graham "Spoiling the joke since 1970" Reed