AdamCon.org > chat > Sat 2003-01-18

Chat for Sat 2003-01-18 14:58:28

rich-c: test
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to George
rich-c: hello George
George: Hi Rich
rich-c: got your new machine all partitioned and working now?
George: i'm having a bad day
rich-c: computer bad, weather bad, or body bad?
George: my father is giving me grief beyond endurance and my computer is giving me fits
rich-c: lets deal with the easy one first - what's with the computer?
rich-c: and by the way, which computer are we talking about?
George: my father said if I don't kill myself he will kill me
rich-c: any particular reason or just on principle?
George: he said i'm too much of a burden for everyone
rich-c: let me guess - he caught you disobeying doctors orders
George: i can't go food shopping on my own
rich-c: is that because you cant be trusted to buy teh right types of groceries?
George: no, the nearest store is too far for me to go to
rich-c: OK, I know that feeling - I can't go to the store on foot, or take public transit
George: he says i'm helpless
rich-c: my hip will not allow me to walk any distance, and I can't risk standing or being jostled on the bus or subway
rich-c: fortunately I have my car and can drive, and use disability parking
George: my doctor won't let me drive
rich-c: but if you have limitations, you have to think out ways to get around them
rich-c: that's awkwrd - maybe you should look into an electric scooter?
rich-c: or a bicycle or adult tricycle (which can carry a load of groceries easily)
George: he says i can't take public transit either
rich-c: why does your doctor not want you to take transit?
George: i'm too prone to emergencies and too vounerable
rich-c: vulnerable should not be an issue on public transit in daylight
rich-c: you might have to restrict whre you get on and off, but should be OK
George: here it is they shoot people on busses
rich-c: oh, here they shoot each other in after-hours clubs - and teh odd bouncer and stuff
George: i got mugged twice and the drivers are no help they just watch
rich-c: generally our crooks mostly shoot each other and leave the rest alone
rich-c: you mean your buses dont have distress signals and direct radio contact to dispatch?
George: the drivers won't do anything to help or get involved
rich-c: neither will ours - on the subway teh alarm strip stops the train with doors closed in teh next station and holds it there till the cops arrive
rich-c: on a bus the driver activates a special flasher, radios central, and parks till the cruiser shows up
George: they have the ability to contact police by radio but when i asked them too they refused
rich-c: here we'd take teh badge number, report it to head office, and they'd be fired on the spot
George: i did, here the union backs them up
rich-c: oh - here the union would tell them they were not suitable members
rich-c: of course if teh uniion fought, they know the newspapers would be all over them
George: it's like a war zone here on public transit
rich-c: we have people who would like that to happen here, but they get slapped down - hardd
George: here the drivers are ripoff artist and get away with murder
rich-c: obviously the city needs a cleanup - maybe you should see what Guiliani is doing these days
George: he is out
rich-c: that's the point - he's free to take on a new job in another city
George: bloomberge is the mayor
rich-c: yes and it will be interesting to see how he does - he hasnt started that well, I gather
rich-c: by the way, that rampage you were telling us about produced a picture in the local papers here
George: john street is going to have a big fight here
rich-c: john street is the mayor of Philly?
George: for reelection that is
George: yes
rich-c: well, if the city's going downhill, you should toss him
rich-c: of course that means you need to have a better answer in the running
rich-c: our mayor will not be running for reelection in November
George: he said "the city is being run by the BROTHERS"
rich-c: he served 25 years in North York and 9 years for all Toronto after amalgamation
rich-c: is that a slap at the unions, the local Establishment, or organized crime?
George: lot of people here said it was directed at whites
rich-c: right - Philly is pretty well split racially these days, isnt it?
George: yes
rich-c: still, they had that sort of problem in D.C. and managed to get it under control
George: how?
rich-c: elected reasonably honest politicians who built up a corps of honest cops
rich-c: remember the feds have a big say in DC government and Congressmen get upset when they're mugged on the steps of the Capitol
George: they are talking about the racial divide in D.C. and the nation now on the news
rich-c: it's hardly news, it's been there since before 1776
George: SUBJECT affirmative actiom
George: action
rich-c: yes, that is still a sore point down there, isnt it
George: Bush wants to stop it
rich-c: we have something similar, but it's based on language, French vs. English
rich-c: more proof that he is unfit to be president
George: We are not a nation of racists he says
rich-c: he is a glib bastard well accustomed to twisting phrases
rich-c: we had one like that here as premier of Ontario but he got so hated he had to resign
rich-c: he called the bill to abolish rent controls "The tenant protection act"
George: more of a reason to kill myself or defect
rich-c: two problems: Shrub ain't worth killing yourself over, and whre would you defect to?
George: sme where warm
rich-c: what makes you think they'd take you in? Americans are not popular elsewhere
George: who has to know?
rich-c: to start with, the immigration officer at the airport/border
rich-c: you dont go anywhere without a passport and most places require visas, too
George: we are popular than iraq
rich-c: Dubya is doing his best to change that, but I do think Saddam is still too much of a bastard for Shrub to catch him
George: i thought you said Canada doesn't require one
rich-c: true but Canada is not warm, and you can't stay forever
George: and i would think Mexicans like the money
rich-c: just for context, by the way - most Canadians hate the US government but a fond of the American people
rich-c: the Mexicans treat gringos like US whites treat blacks, or usually worse
George: the government is the people
rich-c: you mean Geroge Bush is your kind of people?
George: no he is Saddams people frick and frack
rich-c: that's the point I was making earlier
rich-c: so many Americans now hold Bush and his crinies in utter contempt - they do not say so but the reason they hate him is because he is at core un-American
George: neither is right and always wrong
rich-c: that is why I say he is ufit to be president - he does not understand who Americans are or what America is
George: the U
George: the UN won't do anything agains US and they must to make change
rich-c: the UN has meaningless physical means of enforcing its rules, but huge moral power
rich-c: by the way, however hugely desirable it would be to whack Saddam, it isnt strictly necessary
George: they sent troops to the balkins it was effective
rich-c: the troops that went into Kosovo went in as a NATO contingent
rich-c: there was no formal UN backing but clear tqacit agreement
rich-c: how eager do you think the US is for another Somalia?
George: the US can't fight the whole world and we won't even fight North Korea
rich-c: North Korea has nukes and doesnt have oil
George: that's my point
rich-c: but if the enemy is weak enough and there's lots of oil to be stolen...
George: we won't make waves in China either
rich-c: right - their nukes can reach North America (unlike Korea's) nad they have lots and lots of them
George: india and pakistan can turn anytime also
rich-c: yes, I am somewhat surprised the Pakistanis havent turned already
rich-c: I think that like Russia and China they consider the US less dangerous than terrorists
George: for now they won't bite the hand that feeds them
rich-c: oh, there is a great deal more to it than that
rich-c: including the fact that India and Pakistan are less than friendly neighbours
George: oh, are Bush and Musharoff bed buddies?
rich-c: Musharoff?
George: from pakistan?
rich-c: forget the name of their dictator but Musharoff it ain't
George: it's close
rich-c: in any case, Pakistan mostly hates the US almost as much as it hates India
George: i thought you knew something that i didn't
George: farn dingers
rich-c: maybe I do: we do get more news of better quality here
George: all i need is another stroke
George: that will finnish me off
rich-c: well, that will or will not happen - since there is nothing you can do about it, forget about it
rich-c: "what can't be cured must be endured" - so bitching doesnt help
rich-c: by the way, been meaning to ask - how is your weather this week?
George: i can't get my computer to work right
George: cold
rich-c: what is it doing that is not right?
George: 20 F
rich-c: how do you define cold?
rich-c: daytime high or nightime low?
rich-c: like, we are about 20F this afternoon, but are looking at -3F overnight next few nights
George: the hard drive keeps changing modes UDMA2, UDMA4, Udma5
rich-c: OK, I admit that that is surpassingly weird
rich-c: far as I know Diect Memory Addressing is set hard in the BIOS
George: our daytime high is 20F tonight it will be 0F
rich-c: OK, you may now officially complain you are as cold as Canada
George: the data keeps getting corrupted
rich-c: and at the moment that is plenty cold
rich-c: yes, if your memory addressing is getting shredded, the data are unlikely to survive
rich-c: is there anything in your BIOS setup panels that might suggest why that is happening?
George: the cmos bios always says udma5 but the post screen changes
rich-c: but the POST operation should just read what's there - cant imagine why it would be reading it wrong
rich-c: you arent trying to run partitions with the wrong file systems, are you? like FAT16 on too large a partition?
George: i don't know which is the accurate one but the performance changes noticably
George: no , FAT32
rich-c: and you are still using Win98SE, right?
George: yes i tried to upgrade to windowsme but it couldn't read the the windows directory
rich-c: you are not trying to use the LS120 drive as a bootable A, are you?
George: noo, i took it off
rich-c: everyone I talk to George, says that ME does not represent an upgrade, more a retreat
rich-c: were you trying to use it as a bootable drive at any point?
George: no, i just disconnected it
rich-c: that might have thrown your drive lettering for a loop, then
rich-c: when you connected it it should have bumped the CR drive down a notch
rich-c: and when you pulled the plug, the CD would move back up
George: no, because i fomated the hard drive and reinstalled windows after i took off the drive
rich-c: hmmm - drive formatted and windows installed using the current configuration
rich-c: that makes it even harder to guess at clues
rich-c: did you do any fiddling with the memory and is it all there and working?
George: my a: floppy is first c: harddrive is next and the cdrom drives are next the last was the ls-120
rich-c: that's as it should be with a removable drive
rich-c: on my desktop the LS120 comes before the CDROM drive but that's because it's internal and fized
rich-c: on the laptop I got the 8 gig external drive I was talking about and it comes up as the last drive as it's removable
George: there was no cmos to deal with because only windows sees it
rich-c: that sounds strange to me, George, but I haven't reviewed a CMOS with a removable drive in place
George: mine has a ls-120 option
rich-c: by the way, I also upgraded my laptop modem to 56K
rich-c: you mean in the boot sequence? doubt it would be available if the drive is removable
George: as well as scsi and network raid and so forth
rich-c: mine doesnt have a SCSI card though a slot is available, but I do have raid o and 1 mode connectors
George: it also allows bootable cdroms
rich-c: I have a real old SCSI 1 card that supports mirroring, raid 0, and all sorts of neat stuff if I want it
rich-c: yes, my boot sequence is a-c-cdrom
George: i used it to boot my redhat linux cdrom
rich-c: I havent installed linux yet, though I have the Corel disc and a CD of Star Office
rich-c: by the way, Michael Robertson is really sticking it to Bill Gates now with Lindows
George: you can also press the escape key before the post and it allows you to select boot drive from a list for more flexability
rich-c: havent tried that trick yet, but must keep it in mind
rich-c: anyway, Lindows has a new eductional package
George: i don't know if its specific to the asus motherboard
rich-c: right - everyone uses the "same" BIOS nominally but I think every board maker has its customizations
George: it is nice
rich-c: anyway a Lindows site licence is now $500/yr - no matter how many computers you put it on
rich-c: and it includes an office suite, likely Open Office (the continuation of Star Office)
rich-c: now that's the way to establish your user base in one big fat hurry
George: the bios has boot menu next to save and exit
rich-c: havent been into mine for so long I've forgotten what's there
rich-c: touch wood, but for some reason my version of 98SE seems to be reasonably stable
George: i had to download a fdisk patch for win98 for my 80gb. drive
rich-c: anyway, before you "upgrade" to ME go to langa.com and read teh Langalist newsletter archive about ME
rich-c: don't know what the size limitations and workarounds are when you get up to that size, George
rich-c: at the moment I am using all of 3 gigs out of 40
rich-c: still, good thing you got the patch with 98SE support being discontinued June 30
George: if you get to over 100 gb. the give you a special pci card and you have to use the overlay software
rich-c: sounds like more trouble than its worth - but then I doubt I could ever use that much space
rich-c: if I did need it I could add a second physical disc and use the striping mode in raid
George: i can't believe i'm up to 80 gb
rich-c: it's semi-standardd in the kilobuck package these days, it seems
rich-c: you'll notice computer prices never change; what's offered at the price does
George: and what about the older machines?
rich-c: at the retail level they are simply discontinued - the prices drop of course at the secondhand shops
rich-c: like someone in the paper today is offering Pentium desktops from $39 up
George: there are people here trying to put windowsxp on 486's
rich-c: not enough memory
George: no bandwidth
George: you need at least a pentium 300
rich-c: shop where I bought the harddisc offers a PII-350 - 64mb-10gb-17" monior for $269
George: and windowsxp wants at least 128mb of ram
rich-c: without the monitor, a PII-400 128mb - 6 gb - cd - network card is $199
rich-c: but as you know I am very much opposed to XP anyway
George: thats why the going computer has 512mb of ram
rich-c: well, I'm sneaking by with 256 mb on 98SE but was down to 17 free yesterday
George: thats all the new compters have
George: brand new
rich-c: that's an enrichment to justify the price, like I mentioned before
rich-c: they never chage teh price, just upgrade the content
George: they have to
rich-c: well no, they could drop the price and stick with the same content
rich-c: actually there are independent "white box" shops that do that
George: this stuff doesn't run on the machines of last year
rich-c: they will sell you a new minimal computer for about $400
rich-c: I havent read the requirements on the XP box
rich-c: but there is a big difference between what it will run on and what it will run on well
George: half of the hardward on my new won't run on anything less than windowsme
rich-c: I doubt that, George, though you may have to go looking for drivers
George: hardware on my new computer
rich-c: MS wants to sell you XP, they arent going to provide new drivers in 95, 98, even ME
George: and it will tell you if you try to install anyting else
rich-c: but some of the independent websites or manufacturers will likely have them
rich-c: frankly, I can't think of any hardware on my computer that wouldnt work under Win 3.1 with teh right drivers
George: what about usb 2.0
rich-c: sorry - FAT16 would put a limit on the size of hard drive!
George: see
rich-c: I just got a PCMCIA card with two USB 2.0 ports for my laptop, which is a P166MMX on Win98SE
rich-c: and that by the way is an upgrade from the Win95 on it when I bought it
rich-c: but with teh driver supplied with the card, the ports work just fine
George: didn't say you had a problem with it
rich-c: now Frances can download pictures from her digital camera to the removable hard disc to her heart's content
rich-c: and neither the ports nor the disc space wre there when the laptop was built
rich-c: hey! have you looked at the time lately?
George: i recall sending an email from microsoft saying they don't support it
rich-c: so MS arent going to write the driver - doesnt mean someone else cant - especially a manufacturer who wants to sell to ALL users
rich-c: I also have a 2.0 driver from VIA for my desktop, just can't get teh damn thing to install
rich-c: but that is a story for another day
rich-c: time that we closed down now - will you be on Wednesday?
George: but if you encounter problems with the operating system and other apps don't go to microsoft
rich-c: right
George: i think so
rich-c: OK, I will look for you then - night now
George: see you Wed. bye
rich-c: bye
rich-c left chat session
George left chat session
moved to room Meeting Place
left chat session
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Daniel B.
Daniel B. moved to room not at my desk
Daniel B. moved to room Meeting Place
Daniel B. moved to room not at my desk
Daniel B. moved to room Meeting Place
Daniel B. moved to room not at my desk
moved to room Meeting Place
changed username to Scott

AdamCon.org > chat > Sat 2003-01-18
Send comments to dmwick@rogers.com. I am Dale Wick