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Alan Cox's Exploding Laptop
Bowie J. Poag writes to mention a page put up to commemorate the explosion of Alan Cox's laptop. From the article: "Alan was on the other side of the room from the laptop. I was elsewhere. He yelled out, I ambled towards the room in my own good time, and then I heard 'Fire! Real fire! Call the fire brigade, now!' and I speeded up a bit. From Alan subsequently, I gather there was an explosion and flying pieces of laptop, and a fireball, and a couple of fires started where (presumably) boiling battery landed, and one fragment smashed an LCD monitor. And then there was smoke and smell (there is still smell) and smoke alarm wailing and firemen and sirens and paramedics (happily unneeded) and police and a man with a notebook asking questions for the fire report.'"
...for buying an IBM ThinkPad, notorious for their unreliability. Perhaps he should have considered an Apple or Dell instead.
And now, a PSA from David Lynch.
"What? Exploding laptop and you're running linux? Oh, we don't cover that."
Yes, that's sarcasm.
This is Slashdot. We know who he is.
Is that why there is a "Made for Windows XP" sticker on it?
Good thing we don't make Beowulf Clusters out of laptops, or then I could say...
Alan Cox is an important leader and resource in the Linux community. On behalf of all Linux users, I hope that, for the sake of our collective Cox, manufacturers can sort out these battery issues.
We regret to inform you, Mr. Cox, that since you were operating with an unsupported software configuration (i.e. Linux) we can not offer you support in regards to your issue (spontaneous incendiary explosion). Thank you for purchasing an IBM thinkpad.
Sincerely,
IBM Tech Support
Anonymous Luddite: "What do you think of the dehumanizing effects of the Internet?"
Andy Grove: "Not Much."
Riiiiiiiight, sure they have. Do you expect me to believe a multibulliondollar international corporation would be so stupid as to do something as underhanded like distribute under-tested batteries or stealth-installer-rootkits on music CDs? Pfeh. Next thing you'll try and tell me Ford made exploding cars...
jX [ Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler. - Einstein ]
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Coming Soon Laptops On A Plane!
they aren't designed to be used on laps or any other surface
Drat. Now I'll have to go shopping for a surface-less table. Perhaps "Klein Bottles-R-Us" has what I need...
Soylent Green is peoplicious!
I am worried. 'real fire'? How virtual must your reality be to shout 'real fire'?
Idha khatabahum lijahiluna qalu salaman
Great! Sounds like Alan Cox has finally added support for the RJE and EOI opcodes to the Linux kernel.
Instead of a hand crank, some kind of foot powered rig would be good for aircraft (like the old sweing machines).
It would also have the benfit of getting you active and would help to prevent a DVT on a long haul flight.
liqbase
An MS conspiracy. Next on the list: Linus Torvalds.
I just realized, Searching for "export weapon restrictions" may not have been the best idea.
If anyone needs me, call the CIA's secret prison administrators.
For those that aren't aware, plagiarism is the practice of dishonestly claiming original authorship of material which one has not actually created, such as when a person incorporates material from someone else's work into his own work without attributing it. Within academia, plagiarism is seen as academic dishonesty, and is a serious and punishable academic offense.