Run getty on a serial port with no hardware flow control. Run a terminal emulator on a laptop. Use a null-modem cable to connect. Unplug when you are done and the session continues to run. Security is either great or it sucks, depending on your situation, because physical access is necessary and sufficient. Very old-school, but cheap and easy. Run screen if you need multiple sessions. Text-only, though.
I find I am most productive when I am only working on one thing. I can focus all of my attention on it and wrap my brain around the subtle aspects of the problem at hand.
The problem with task switching is that one has to dig back down into the task after every interruption. This wastes time.
If I start to feel burned out on the thing that I am working on, I put it down and pick up something else. I forget all about the previous task and turn my focus on the new task.
I also find that alternating between difficult, time consuming tasks, and light easy ones, is effective because you give your head a break, and also you are turning over items on your TODO list, which makes the boss happier because he sees that you are making progress. Often the boss starts to get restless if you are buried in a tough time consuming task and he sees no progress for long periods.
This way of working requires more structure. You have to prioritize carefully, otherwise the items on the bottom of your TODO list will never get done.
Now that my compile is done, I can get back to work.
You'd think all the folks who want to rip off busybox would just together and write a BSD clone of it. Probably a lot cheaper than paying all those lawyers.
What a great company. They have been around for years. I'm gonna build up one of those Theremin for my musician wife and give it to her for Christmas (She doesn't read Slashdot!).
Screw the radio shack cheap junk. Get a nice Weller temp controlled iron or one of those tiny Antex irons. I love my Antex iron, I lost one and just had to get another.
Those drawers are mostly empty now and often you can't find stuff as basic as a DB-25 connector or a stereo plug. The "help" is no help and has no idea what you are talking about.
Long, long ago, I pulled an all-nighter and built up an H-19 terminal all in one shot. My friends were amazed. So was I, it fired right up and worked perfectly the first time. I owned it for years and actually got a decent price when I sold it. I still have no idea how it worked.
Digi-key is good too, but you just can't beat Mouser. They have EVERYTHING you need, they ship fast, and their packaging is just darned elegant. They're not the cheapest, but most parts are so cheap that it doesn't make much of a difference.
If your laptop can handle the extra power draw and the heat. Check the specs on your laptop before you upgrade! Some of them cut these things pretty close.
New battery is $50. 802.11g wireless card is $30 and goes in the mini-PCI slot where the useless modem was. No dongles. You're the one with the dongle if you want to plug in your GPS.
Screen, backlight, and DVD drive still work great. Old case has nice texture instead of sexy new shiny finish that attracts scratches and fingerprints.
You've spent at least $600 and have a laptop that smells like a chemical factory. I've spend $400 and have a laptop and $200 left in my pocket.
My old Compaq laptop's plastic case is WAY stronger and WAY less susceptible to scratches than any of the new laptops I've used or seen. It's 6 years old and looks like brand new.
It has WiFi, who cares about Bluetooth.
My old laptop has battery life that it would not have dreamed about when it was new because the new battery ($50) has significantly more capacity than the original and the 2.6 tickless kernel uses way less power than any OS from back then.
The better OS is free! Why spend money on Vista?
My laptop cost $300 and it runs Google Earth and Firefox 3 almost as well as my gnarly Opteron workstation. With the extra $700 my wife and I can have a lot more fun than one can have with a new MacBook!
No problems with BIOS limitations if you put the/boot partition on the beginning of the big fat drive.
No memory compatibility issues if you do your homework.
Spare parts are WAY cheap on ebay. You can fix the broken keyboard or the flakey trackpad for just a couple of dollars.
New batteries are $50 if you look and they work even better than the originals.
Full service manuals are available for download from the manufacturers. A couple of tiny screwdrivers and a clean place to work, and that old clunker is better than new.
A 2002 laptop is made in Taiwan from from better plastic that doesn't stink like the new Chinese laptops.
I used to laugh at old laptops until I bought one and now I use it every day. The best part is that I don't worry about it getting stolen, I can buy a whole stack of them for what a new one costs.
Slashdot Mirror
They are indistinguishable from Microsoft in their contempt for their customers.
"as this has no financial return beyond improved customer satisfaction"
This just says it all about the entire Microsoft experience.
My professor almost lost his head when we told him how much we paid (over $60) for the textbook he wrote. He was getting something like $5 for each.
King County sales tax: 8.2%
You also have to get one of those $$$ REI rain jackets or else you are just damp all the time.
Apparently you've never been to New Jersey. You can't pump you own gas there, either. It's a wise guy thing.
Run getty on a serial port with no hardware flow control. Run a terminal emulator on a laptop. Use a null-modem cable to connect. Unplug when you are done and the session continues to run. Security is either great or it sucks, depending on your situation, because physical access is necessary and sufficient. Very old-school, but cheap and easy. Run screen if you need multiple sessions. Text-only, though.
I find I am most productive when I am only working on one thing. I can focus all of my attention on it and wrap my brain around the subtle aspects of the problem at hand.
The problem with task switching is that one has to dig back down into the task after every interruption. This wastes time.
If I start to feel burned out on the thing that I am working on, I put it down and pick up something else. I forget all about the previous task and turn my focus on the new task.
I also find that alternating between difficult, time consuming tasks, and light easy ones, is effective because you give your head a break, and also you are turning over items on your TODO list, which makes the boss happier because he sees that you are making progress. Often the boss starts to get restless if you are buried in a tough time consuming task and he sees no progress for long periods.
This way of working requires more structure. You have to prioritize carefully, otherwise the items on the bottom of your TODO list will never get done.
Now that my compile is done, I can get back to work.
You'd think all the folks who want to rip off busybox would just together and write a BSD clone of it. Probably a lot cheaper than paying all those lawyers.
What a great company. They have been around for years. I'm gonna build up one of those Theremin for my musician wife and give it to her for Christmas (She doesn't read Slashdot!).
Screw the radio shack cheap junk. Get a nice Weller temp controlled iron or one of those tiny Antex irons. I love my Antex iron, I lost one and just had to get another.
Those drawers are mostly empty now and often you can't find stuff as basic as a DB-25 connector or a stereo plug. The "help" is no help and has no idea what you are talking about.
Long, long ago, I pulled an all-nighter and built up an H-19 terminal all in one shot. My friends were amazed. So was I, it fired right up and worked perfectly the first time. I owned it for years and actually got a decent price when I sold it. I still have no idea how it worked.
Digi-key is good too, but you just can't beat Mouser. They have EVERYTHING you need, they ship fast, and their packaging is just darned elegant. They're not the cheapest, but most parts are so cheap that it doesn't make much of a difference.
Ah "Better than new" - yet another exaggeration
I'd say that:
- Internal 802.11g ($30, goes in mini-PCI slot instead of useless WinModem)
- 160 Gb Drive
- Better than new battery
counts as 'better than new'
If the controller can't address the drive, you're stuffed.
The manual says 134 Gb drive max, I have a 160 Gb drive in there and it works great.
Some work better than the originals. Some barely work at all.
My new battery works for longer than the manual says it's supposed to.
You can get the parts shipped free and consistently buy them for a couple of dollars? Really?
Yup. Brand new trackpad with shipping was less than $10.
Some service manuals are available from some manufacturers. Be honest.
I can't speak for other laptops. The service manual for mine is certainly available.
How about if you buy a new laptop don't buy a new cheap stinker.
Any new $300 machine is gonna be cheap plastic junk.
Doesn't mean one family sedan is better than a Rolls.
I drive a used Saab 9-5, which I'd rather drive than a Rolls any day.
is apparently advising the Chinese government.
If your laptop can handle the extra power draw and the heat. Check the specs on your laptop before you upgrade! Some of them cut these things pretty close.
Then why are you not making lots of money on ebay, buying laptops for $40 and selling them for $300?
"Replacement batteries are either used up themselves, insanely expensive, or impossible to find."
Or $50 brand new, better than the original, and available all over the place. It just depends on whether you actually bother to look first.
I "know" that a new battery cost me $50, and it's even better than the original was.
The used laptop that I paid $300 for, over a year and a half ago, is going for $200 now, and it blows the doors off an eee.
Ha ha ha.
New battery is $50. 802.11g wireless card is $30 and goes in the mini-PCI slot where the useless modem was. No dongles. You're the one with the dongle if you want to plug in your GPS.
Screen, backlight, and DVD drive still work great. Old case has nice texture instead of sexy new shiny finish that attracts scratches and fingerprints.
You've spent at least $600 and have a laptop that smells like a chemical factory. I've spend $400 and have a laptop and $200 left in my pocket.
My old Compaq laptop's plastic case is WAY stronger and WAY less susceptible to scratches than any of the new laptops I've used or seen. It's 6 years old and looks like brand new.
It has WiFi, who cares about Bluetooth.
My old laptop has battery life that it would not have dreamed about when it was new because the new battery ($50) has significantly more capacity than the original and the 2.6 tickless kernel uses way less power than any OS from back then.
The better OS is free! Why spend money on Vista?
My laptop cost $300 and it runs Google Earth and Firefox 3 almost as well as my gnarly Opteron workstation. With the extra $700 my wife and I can have a lot more fun than one can have with a new MacBook!
Look around on ebay. If you can't find the hinges, buy a dead one for a few dollars and cannibalize the hinges.
Download the service manual, it gives step-by-step instructions on how to replace anything.
No problems with BIOS limitations if you put the /boot partition on the beginning of the big fat drive.
No memory compatibility issues if you do your homework.
Spare parts are WAY cheap on ebay. You can fix the broken keyboard or the flakey trackpad for just a couple of dollars.
New batteries are $50 if you look and they work even better than the originals.
Full service manuals are available for download from the manufacturers. A couple of tiny screwdrivers and a clean place to work, and that old clunker is better than new.
A 2002 laptop is made in Taiwan from from better plastic that doesn't stink like the new Chinese laptops.
I used to laugh at old laptops until I bought one and now I use it every day. The best part is that I don't worry about it getting stolen, I can buy a whole stack of them for what a new one costs.
New Asus eee is 900 MHz. Old Compaq Evo N610C is 2.4 GHz. The Compaq has a much bigger screen, same RAM, twice the disk and goes for half the price.