Punch Cards.

[max]

Da Rock wrote:
> On Mon, 2008-04-07 at 20:42 -0400, max wrote:
>> Da Rock wrote:
>>> On Mon, 2008-04-07 at 13:43 -0400, Bill Davidsen wrote:
>>>> Tim wrote:
>>>>> On Fri, 2008-04-04 at 13:28 -0700, David L. Gehrt wrote:
>>>>>> The disk drive were pretty good EXCEPT the spindle bearings were made of
>>>>>> some space age material prone  to disintegration after a short period of
>>>>>> use.  I knew DEC  was going to be in trouble when  the repair guy stated
>>>>>> that the problem we had with  those bearings was because we were running
>>>>>> UNIX not DEC's VMS OS. 
>>>>> I've heard similar bulldust about using Linux being the cause of some
>>>>> problem that it couldn't possibly be.  It makes you wonder whether these
>>>>> people believe their own rubbish, are incompetent, or think that you're
>>>>> stupid.
>>>>>
>>>> Or just want to get out of warranty... there was an article (Slashdot 
>>>> IIRC) about HP voiding warranty on laptops converted to Linux, even 
>>>> though they sell similar models with Linux installed. Never checked it 
>>>> out, don't care, but I assume it's true.
>>> No, they don't sell them at all with linux- except maybe on their server
>>> line. And yes, they refuse to fix them unless Windows is installed. Got
>>> 2 laptops myself and have this problem everytime I ring up- it wont boot
>>> at all- must be the wrong OS installed because POST fails...
>>>
>> I can't believe a company like HP would lay that nonsense down as policy.
>> Absolutely insane. Funny thing is my current workstation was headed for 
>> the trash heap. Supposedly a hardware problem. It would blue screen 
>> within a twenty minutes of getting to the XP desktop. Reinstalling 
>> windows and updating all the drivers didn't work. Gotta be a hardware 
>> problem but lo and behold I loaded F7 , since upgraded to F8, and she's 
>> purring like a kitten ever since, been runnin for months, gotta be a 
>> year or so by now. I fully expect it will live to upgrade to F9 and 
>> probably 10. There have been a couple of other PC's come across my bench 
>> like that too.
>>
>> Max
>>
> 
> Probably memory or similar. If you start getting issues in Windows soon
> you'll see probs in *nix.

I don't know about that, still going after so many months and I didn't 
change any of the hardware. I don't expect it will hold up forever but 
by all rights it shouldn't even have worked at all. I've found a few 
"dead" PC's that will spring back to life with a shot of Linux. Don't 
get me wrong , I 'm not saying its the cure all but it seems that Linux 
treats the hardware better than doze does. I 've had people tell me as 
much but things like that are hard to prove and I don't think I'd 
believe it if I hadn't seen it myself. Anyway its perfectly possible 
that it was something else entirely......
> 
> Before the POST issue mine was overheating- must be *nix! They tried to
> tell me that the bios and drivers had to be updated to fix the problem.
> Meanwhile the drivers hadn't been updated since well before I installed
> *nix. I copied the page with all the driver updates plus the install
> date of my *nix system and took it to Fair Trading. Needless to say I
> won.

This kind of ignorance is hard to comprehend but then I have to remind 
myself that the majority of people using computers today aren't even 
aware that something besides M$ exists. That is hard to believe but its 
true. I've had more than one PC "tech" tell me that cleaning up viruses 
and spyware is their bread and butter, they won't give it up. Frankly I 
think that's disgusting, leeching hard working people just because they 
don't know any better. Its the way of the world but you know what? It 
will collapse under its own rotten stinking weight eventually. Then 
people will be forced to learn and a great many will be forced to hide 
once people find out how they've been taken. My father is fond of 
telling me, " You can only hide your turds in the snow till spring time."

Max
> 
> Next issue is I bought HP extended warranty - pick and return - and the
> service agent tells me that unless I box up the unit properly for a
> courier their not legally responsible! I've told them time and again
> that once I call and the unit leaves my hands in any way that it no
> longer is my responsibility- its theirs. But still they get agro if I
> tell them I can't find a box to put it in. I'd LOVE to see them in court
> trying to hold that up...
>