From: adam@address.invalid
Moe Trin wrote:
> On Mon, 24 Sep 2012, in the Usenet newsgroup alt.os.linux.mandriva, in
article
> , Adam wrote:
>>> [I _think_ that may be my last overseas business trip.]
>
>> Is retirement looming? :-)
>
> Yeah, I'm probably up for the bronze coat-hanger in the next 6 months.
You make it sound like it's not up to you.
[shipping HP computer back for in-warranty repair]
>> wiping the HD as best as I could given limited time.
>
> Back when comp.os.linux.security was fairly active
I never followed that one, but I can see that other (non-computer) NGs
that used to be active are effectively dead.
> most people were recommending 'dd' and 'shred'
[...]
> with 'dd' being easiest to implement.
I used dd with /dev/urandom (and a blocksize of 1M). I figure I wiped
enough of it, including the partition table. I assumed that the
bottleneck would be the physical I/O, but I tried both on eris this
afternoon and /dev/zero was about seven times faster than /dev/urandom.
If I'd known that I would have had time to overwrite the whole 750 GB
HD with /dev/zero.
>> My conclusion is that either the problem is indeed in the hardware
>> (motherboard design?), or else this is cheaper for HP than having a
>> new BIOS done.
>
> I dunno - just the shipping alone is going to be a buck or two, and
> that's on top of the warranty labor - or are you thinking that not
> that many owners will notice and want the system fixed.
Perhaps they figured that few people would notice and fewer would report
it. I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't tried 64-bit OSs in
VirtualBox (same problem whether 32- or 64-bit VBox). I suppose if I
had to, I could have patched VBox so it didn't even check for the CPU
flag. 64-bit VBox on eris, which does /not/ have hardware
virtualization, seemed to work. Their estimated arrival date for the
repair/replacement is Oct. 5, a week from Friday.
If the problem had been strictly a BIOS problem, would you have any
guess how much getting a new BIOS developed might cost HP?
>> Fortunately "eris" (2007 Compaq) is still working, so I moved it from
>> the bedroom to the LR. I couldn't get Mandriva or Mageia connected to
>> the 'net easily, so while I sort those out I'm using CentOS 6.3, which
>> already had Wi-Fi working.
>
> Is this related to the other post?
Definitely. If I could have gotten Mageia or Mandriva online on eris, I
would have gone with one of those because getting it configured would be
relatively familiar. "eris" has seven root partitions, the four distros
I mention in the other post, FreeBSD, and two now unused. I temporarily
connected my external HD to it so it now has one internal SATA drive,
one internal PATA, and the external through a PCI eSATA card. It gets
confusing, because distros don't always assign sda, sdb, and sdc the
same way.
>> I'm not putting much effort into configuring it, but I do have the
>> basic web apps and a word processor working, plus the network printer,
>> which are the only essential things right now.
>
> What's missing?
aide, apcupsd for the UPS, working audio and video playback, the scanner
and inkjet drivers, and a few other things I'll think of right after I
post this. Nothing I can't live without for a few weeks.
>>>> The OEM mouse is already flaky (only three months).
[...]
> It's b0rked - let them fix it
Good point, I'll do that once the computer is taken care of. I didn't
want to ship it back with the computer, as I was worried that they might
replace the mouse and mark both issues as resolved. With eris, IIRC its
mouse also failed under warranty.
> On the other hand, having/buying spares so that I can
> continue working is a small price to pay, and I certainly do want to
> have such things as keyboard, mouse, hard drive, and display laying
> around for unexpected needs.
The spare keyboards did come in handy, as I've replaced stolid's OEM
keyboard with the one from "retread". Keyboard feel, nothing wrong with
the OEM one. I have a heavy touch (probably from learning on a manual
typewriter and a piano with a heavy action) and might even be happiest
with something like the original IBM PC keyboard.
[drugs]
>>> Hmmm, my PDR does list Cellcept, but not Myfortic.
>
>> My 2010 PDR has Myfortic. Another of the immunosuppressants I'm on
>> [...] is Prograf.
>
> That's not in my 2009 PDR either. I suppose I ought to get a new one.
At the 2011 giant library book sale, I found two copies of the 2010
edition. /All/ hardcovers were $2. That's why I show up at the very
beginning of the sale. :-)
>> Since my transplant, it's gone generic (tacrolimus) but the surgeons
>> feel the generic is okay.
>
> Looking at the formulary for part D, it doesn't seem as if the price
> has started down yet. (Tis the season for choosing new med plans,
> and that's a lot of fun.)
I got the "Medicare and You" booklet in today's mail, and this year open
season will be 10/15-12/7. I chose carefully the first time, and
haven't thought about it since.
>> In other news, Charlie, my neighbor and friend who'd been moved to
>> hospice, died last Thursday.
>
> Sorry to hear that
Thank you.
>> He was 52. Obviously not unexpected, and less traumatic for me than
>> I'd thought it might be.
>
> Still, 52 is awfully young to go, but when it's time, it's time.
Back in 2000, my best friend died of a heart attack at age 51. He had
COPD, was on oxygen, and kept smoking. I was the one who found him, and
when I showed the paramedics his prescriptions, they could tell from
those that he was already pretty sick. I remember earlier in the day, I
knocked at his window, and his cat came over and tried her hardest to
show me there was something very very important in the living room
(which I couldn't see from that window). I had no idea what could be in
the living room that was so important, but later I had to admit she was
right.
Adam
--
Registered Linux User #536473
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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