TubaOrNotTuba

How much effort should I put into reviving an old computer? Some hardware doesn’t stop working prematurely, and a machine can still do the jobs it did in [fill  in the year] today, as long as the software is still available. I’ve got a few “veterans” around the house, much to the chagrin of others. Now to justify the storage space and effort. This afternoon, I plugged in an old Mac, but the install disk I have on hand won’t work with this machine. I’m sure I can still purchase a solution, but the box works fine in Linux. Do I really need an apple as a working solution, when there are Windows and Linux boxes to take up the workload? Is this an “intellectual” exercise?

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My preferred dance step is a familiar one: “One step forward, two steps back”. Not progressive (or conservative) by nature, it satisfies without ever carrying too far away from familiar territory. This evening, the reactivation of a wiki, using newer versions of everything, demonstrated exactly that. My image files are MIA, and I have a suspicion that I’m going to be off trying to recreate history at a later moment. I know; nobody else cares.

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Renewal. Works for so many things, like personal computers. For very close to four years now, I’ve been dragging a netbook along on vacation; size does matter. And after the last trip, when I realized that “full hard drive” is not something to strive for, the idea has been simmering about a small upgrade. With a larger drive left over from another upgrade, it was time to rebuild the holiday machine.

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Want to wake up the complacent IT gang? Have BOTH the mail and web servers fail to restart after what can only be called “a hard night”. My guess; some patches that didn’t apply properly, but we don’t know for sure. After some careful head scratching (don’t want to reduce the number of active follicles), we attacked the problem head on. Sorry. We used our collected knowledge of server science, and restarted the services. The phone stopped ringing, and we returned to our normal state of quiet attentiveness. No bonus monies in our world. And that’s how it rocks, in my band. Sorry. As a dedicated computer tech, I’m mentally prepared for the little emergencies that assure we are appreciated by those that matter.

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Pardon my yawn. The “need to nap” is in conflict with the “but you’re at work” thing, and my desk is not suited to sleep. Ergonomics. The ongoing request for a hammock in the server room has been ignored by those higher up on the pay scale, for years now. Actually, I’m ready for action, should the need arise.

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The estimates of how long a particular job will take (under Windows) give me pause. The variation, and degree of error, bear similarity to certain government pronouncements. When I started my mass data transfer, early this morning, the original “time to run” was quoted in days.

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The good little elves over at Dell came through. A new machine, ordered on Tuesday and sitting on my table by Friday; good service, and I didn’t have to smile at anyone. The next few days will be busy ones, as I try to recreate my profile on the new hardware, but I know the drill. As a plus, I can decide to leave off a whole set of software that I don’t use.

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Just learned about an exercise (in frustration) that beats the average jigsaw puzzle. In Germany, a museum has a set of stone reliefs that were damaged during the war. Stone reliefs, heated and cooled until the rock fragmented. Somebody saw fit to gather the pebbles into boxes for storage, and somebody else realized that with some careful assembly… well, think Lego without the regular forms. Careful glue and thought could result in recognizable forms. Could.

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Two possible titles: “I don’t get it”, or “Warfare is a young man’s game”. On the TV screen, something involving running through an urban park, with background sounds of gunfire. Lots of gunfire. And on a regular basis, the screen flashes red, and things seem to reset. And we’re back to running through the park. Or the subway. It changes.

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Try not to get too attached to things in this world. Especially to data. Another case, today, of a large hard drive that has failed without warning. No recovery possible (I tried).

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