> There's some funny BIOS problem connected with the hard drives. Occasionally, the computer fails to detect any drives at all and waits on "press F10 to enter setup". More often it detects the drive but fails to boot
--Have you tried replacing the CMOS battery and SATA cables? Also might want to check the power supply, if it's more than 4 years old it might be worth replacing with a higher wattage/more efficient model.
--Running a full image backup with the free bootable system rescue cd and ntfsclone to an external USB drive is probably a very good bet... HOWTOs are available if you do a search. See distrowatch.com to download system rescue cd. Oh, you should also do an ' fdisk -l ' from the cd and DD backup the boot partition as well.;-)
--Of course, if you have a lot of non-US content, it may actually be cheaper/more convenient to have a 2nd drive installed that is permanently locked to that region rather than flashing back and forth...;-)
> I read China is experimenting with ultracap vehicles. They can run for minutes between charges. The vehicles are buses, with a pantograph wire at each stop: They recharge in an even shorter time, while passengers are boarding.
--At first glance, that sounds outrageously fragile - especially for a public transportation system. Vagaries of rush-hour traffic delays (and accidents, rubberneckers, etc) aside, all you need is 1 recharge point to break down and you'd have a bunch of people stranded and pissed off - and the next bus would be in the same quandary. Busses are large enough to have a *gigantic* freakin' battery in the base.
--You can turn endless scrolling off in your Preferences. Besides it's one of the stupidest ideas ever, once you scroll past something 99% of the time you'll never want to see it again (and if you do there's the "previous page" link, not to mention a lot of times the *same content* gets reposted by different followers) and it's uselessly taking up resources. 2GB of RAM should be _fine_ for web browsing, if people would only design their webpages a little smarter.
--HBO Now is not just GOT - it's the entire library of HBO content available for streaming. Subjectively, HBO is a better value than Showtime (on cable, for example. Compare the average daily content on the different channels if you don't believe me.)
--This is because Apple signed a 3-month exclusivity agreement with HBO for the HBO Now service - after it expires, HBONow should be available on Android and other devices.
--Even a "free" upgrade won't get traction if the user interface is crap. See Win 8.x, Vista, Slashdot Beta. On the plus side, I've been evaluating the Win10 beta and it's *not* crap (so far.)
--I should qualify my next statement by saying that I hate Win 8.x with the fire of a thousand burning suns, and refuse to use it or work on it AT ALL, even if someone wants to pay me for it.
--I still like Win7 the best, especially for business (but my main bare-hardware desktop is still Xubuntu--64-LTS.) As long as they don't take the Win10 GUI changes in a wrong direction, I'm willing to try Win10 at this point; but I'm still keeping full-partition image backups of all my Win7 installs and VMs just in case.
--You know, it's funny - but when I read Asimov's "Robbie**" I was rooting for the robot, because reasons. The robot was written from a sympathetic point of view, appeared to really care for the daughter, and 3 Laws blahblahblah.
--I find this whole "spying Barbie" idea to be creepy (and unnecessary) as hell. Perceived motives and all that. USRMM (from the story) had no vested interest in advertising to litle girls.
--You might want to look into mobaxterm if you haven't already; it has a subset of cygwin's functionality and it's way more fully featured than Putty. FYI - just a satisfied user
--Aunt Tillie could probably roll her own kernel if you gave her a webpage with good instructions that would compile it for her and then prompt where to save the download;-)
--Of course there's no guarantee of no-malware-included at that point, but ease-of-use matters quite a bit for some people.
> Every helmet maker ever will tell you not to apply Rain-X or something similar to your visor. However, weâ(TM)ve been doing it for years with no ill effects. It causes water to quickly bead up and run off, aiding vision. Itâ(TM)s said to reduce the effective life of your shield, but weâ(TM)re replacing our clear visors once a year anyway due to scratches and whatnot. So itâ(TM)s definitely worth considering if youâ(TM)re regularly riding in wet road conditions.
> First, what is Rain-X and why is it a problem for visors? Itâ(TM)s a mixture of ethanol, acetone and isopropyl alcohol with a bit of silicone thrown it. Those three solventsâ"quite aggressiveâ"super clean the surface and leave behind a molecular layer of silicone that causes water to bead and shed. The product was originally intended for glass windshields and the company that currently owns the trademarkâ"ITW Brandsâ"says it is not recommend for plastic. The problem material is the acetone, which can soften and craze acrylics and polycarbonates. . . . >> The best reason not to use Rain-X is that there are better cleaner/rain-repellant products, specifically paste-type cleaners that are basically emulsifiers with a little isopropyl alcohol thrown in as a solvent and silicone or wax to act as surfactants, causing water to bead and blow off. I tested a half dozen of these and the two best were LP Acrylic Polish and Sealant and 210 Plastic Scratch Remover. Others, such as Plexus, perform similarly.
--I have a suggestion: The good Reverend mentioned in the article summary should go out and read C.S. Lewis. The Space Trilogy (IIRC) posits that Jesus Christ's mission and message is specific to Earth; the rest of the Universe is doing more or less OK and is in general happier and more innocent.
/ honestly, reading that trilogy turned my view of the universe upside down// just started re-reading it; good stuff
--I'm a bit surprised nobody has mentioned the plot twist -- the NSA *didn't* get the SIM encryption keys 1st time around, but are now forcing/expecting everyone to replace their SIM cards with new ones - that have keys they DO know about...
Slashdot Mirror
> There's some funny BIOS problem connected with the hard drives. Occasionally, the computer fails to detect any drives at all and waits on "press F10 to enter setup". More often it detects the drive but fails to boot
--Have you tried replacing the CMOS battery and SATA cables? Also might want to check the power supply, if it's more than 4 years old it might be worth replacing with a higher wattage/more efficient model.
> What if I wanted to go back to 7/8?
--Running a full image backup with the free bootable system rescue cd and ntfsclone to an external USB drive is probably a very good bet... HOWTOs are available if you do a search. See distrowatch.com to download system rescue cd. Oh, you should also do an ' fdisk -l ' from the cd and DD backup the boot partition as well. ;-)
--Of course, if you have a lot of non-US content, it may actually be cheaper/more convenient to have a 2nd drive installed that is permanently locked to that region rather than flashing back and forth... ;-)
--Win 3.x was so Godawful, I remember that OS/2 did a better job of implementing it...
--Say what now?
--Is there a decent USB3 thumbdrive brand you can recommend that is available from say, Amazon Prime? TIA
--If you're stuck on Windows, try mobaxterm. Way more features than putty.
> I read China is experimenting with ultracap vehicles. They can run for minutes between charges. The vehicles are buses, with a pantograph wire at each stop: They recharge in an even shorter time, while passengers are boarding.
--At first glance, that sounds outrageously fragile - especially for a public transportation system. Vagaries of rush-hour traffic delays (and accidents, rubberneckers, etc) aside, all you need is 1 recharge point to break down and you'd have a bunch of people stranded and pissed off - and the next bus would be in the same quandary. Busses are large enough to have a *gigantic* freakin' battery in the base.
--FORTY virtual desktops?? What in the world are you running on all of those?
--You can add Linux Mint Debian Edition to the non-systemd camp:
http://www.linuxmint.com/downl...
--You can turn endless scrolling off in your Preferences. Besides it's one of the stupidest ideas ever, once you scroll past something 99% of the time you'll never want to see it again (and if you do there's the "previous page" link, not to mention a lot of times the *same content* gets reposted by different followers) and it's uselessly taking up resources. 2GB of RAM should be _fine_ for web browsing, if people would only design their webpages a little smarter.
--HBO Now is not just GOT - it's the entire library of HBO content available for streaming. Subjectively, HBO is a better value than Showtime (on cable, for example. Compare the average daily content on the different channels if you don't believe me.)
--This is because Apple signed a 3-month exclusivity agreement with HBO for the HBO Now service - after it expires, HBONow should be available on Android and other devices.
--Might be a good idea to look him up on Linkedin or whatnot and thank him ;-)
...What we talkin bout again?? ( Holds trumpet to ear )
--Even a "free" upgrade won't get traction if the user interface is crap. See Win 8.x, Vista, Slashdot Beta. On the plus side, I've been evaluating the Win10 beta and it's *not* crap (so far.)
--I should qualify my next statement by saying that I hate Win 8.x with the fire of a thousand burning suns, and refuse to use it or work on it AT ALL, even if someone wants to pay me for it.
--I still like Win7 the best, especially for business (but my main bare-hardware desktop is still Xubuntu--64-LTS.) As long as they don't take the Win10 GUI changes in a wrong direction, I'm willing to try Win10 at this point; but I'm still keeping full-partition image backups of all my Win7 installs and VMs just in case.
--You know, it's funny - but when I read Asimov's "Robbie**" I was rooting for the robot, because reasons. The robot was written from a sympathetic point of view, appeared to really care for the daughter, and 3 Laws blahblahblah.
--I find this whole "spying Barbie" idea to be creepy (and unnecessary) as hell. Perceived motives and all that. USRMM (from the story) had no vested interest in advertising to litle girls.
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R...
--You might want to look into mobaxterm if you haven't already; it has a subset of cygwin's functionality and it's way more fully featured than Putty. FYI - just a satisfied user
--Aunt Tillie could probably roll her own kernel if you gave her a webpage with good instructions that would compile it for her and then prompt where to save the download ;-)
--Of course there's no guarantee of no-malware-included at that point, but ease-of-use matters quite a bit for some people.
--I'm with you on that, mang :-)
--Just FYI from a rider, there is some conflicting information out there:
https://rideapart.com/articles...
> Every helmet maker ever will tell you not to apply Rain-X or something similar to your visor. However, weâ(TM)ve been doing it for years with no ill effects. It causes water to quickly bead up and run off, aiding vision. Itâ(TM)s said to reduce the effective life of your shield, but weâ(TM)re replacing our clear visors once a year anyway due to scratches and whatnot. So itâ(TM)s definitely worth considering if youâ(TM)re regularly riding in wet road conditions.
http://www.triumphrat.net/spri...
> First, what is Rain-X and why is it a problem for visors? Itâ(TM)s a mixture of ethanol, acetone and isopropyl alcohol with a bit of silicone thrown it. Those three solventsâ"quite aggressiveâ"super clean the surface and leave behind a molecular layer of silicone that causes water to bead and shed. The product was originally intended for glass windshields and the company that currently owns the trademarkâ"ITW Brandsâ"says it is not recommend for plastic. The problem material is the acetone, which can soften and craze acrylics and polycarbonates.
.
.
.
>> The best reason not to use Rain-X is that there are better cleaner/rain-repellant products, specifically paste-type cleaners that are basically emulsifiers with a little isopropyl alcohol thrown in as a solvent and silicone or wax to act as surfactants, causing water to bead and blow off. I tested a half dozen of these and the two best were LP Acrylic Polish and Sealant and 210 Plastic Scratch Remover. Others, such as Plexus, perform similarly.
--I wish I had mod points. That's pretty creative :-)
--I trust you're behind a firewall/router, but have you ever had any logged intrusion attempts on the drive?
--I have a suggestion: The good Reverend mentioned in the article summary should go out and read C.S. Lewis. The Space Trilogy (IIRC) posits that Jesus Christ's mission and message is specific to Earth; the rest of the Universe is doing more or less OK and is in general happier and more innocent.
/ honestly, reading that trilogy turned my view of the universe upside down // just started re-reading it; good stuff
--I'm a bit surprised nobody has mentioned the plot twist -- the NSA *didn't* get the SIM encryption keys 1st time around, but are now forcing/expecting everyone to replace their SIM cards with new ones - that have keys they DO know about...
/ paranoia
> If I had to find downsides it would be no "discrete code" to switch to a particular input
--You might be able to get around this with an HDMI splitter.
http://www.amazon.com/LB1-High...
--This is the one I bought, but it's 3-input HDMI:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/produ...
--It works perfectly, autoswitches even when not plugged into a power strip.