operating systems - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

1 Jan 1998

...
 Uh, PC's can do _anything_? Kewl. Set up an IBM PC
with 64K RAM, 1 35-track
SSDD Floppy drive, run a multi-user, multi-tasking operating system on it,
and still have enough RAM/Floppy room left over to actually do something
*useful*. Lemme know when it's done. My CoCo in the next room is set up to
do just that. I'm calling anything that's smaller than a mini a PC.
...
 Oh, and BTW: I can do *everything* you listed above on
my Atari 1040STf...
albeit not as quickly as my Cyrix box (but there *is* a reason why I
overclocked it!! ;-)  but anything possible on today's Pentium machines can
be done right now by machines at least 10 years old... sometimes better! Yep.  By
the way, what's the best way to overclock a Cyrix?
...
  No, it
won't.  But that doesn't mean that it can't get easy.  (Or just not
hard)  Linux will be here for awhile, and so we've got to live withit. 
Linux isn't hard. My first install with _no_ Linux experience took just
over an hour to install... and when I was done, (with only the initial
kernal boot) it was useful. My latest Win95 install took me almost 6 hours
to get it working somewhat -- ButtPlug-n-play chose the wrong Ethernet
cards -- but after 3 reboots the wrong drivers (I tried putting in the
right drivers -- NT doesn't even mind being helped along, but 95 whacked
the right ones and reinstalled the wrong ones) started working marginally.
Two more reboots to get the SCSI card working with the scanner, A reboot to
get the screen at the correct resolution / color depth, and 2 more reboots
after software installs that required it. You made a couple mistakes... there
arn't MS salesmen here, so don't say
PLUG AND PLAY, it's Plug & Pray.  What version of Linux is that?
...
 Granted, Linux isn't an ooey-gooey with pretty
pictures, and as such one
might require 1/2 a brain to use it -- my personal opinion -- good. Keep
all the idio-er-users with a brainless box... Yes, but ease of use is important to
some.
...
 <Tangent>
"Uh, my daughter just downloaded our entire computer onto a disk. How do I
get it back and boot it?" Duh.....
...
 Not to sound like a shit-fer-brains, but my holiday is
better spent talking
to you guys & gals than spending 6 hours on the phone talking to a lady who
specifically told me "I don't want to learn anything about my new computer
-- I just want to get on the Internet." -- My boss specifically forbade me
to answer those types of calls anyway ('cause I usually like to be helpful
to newbies) and I don't get my regular work done. Tell 'em what I do:  (The
other day, I e-mailed a friend who was new to the
'Net, then they replied via e-mail and asked what my e-mail address was.)
Then refer them to the convinetly located Online Help, made by someone who
had a little to much of whatever they had an overstock of at the bar and now
have a shortage of, then designed the manual, found on all MS-OSes.
...
 Yep, Win95 is the NOS for her! (NOS stands for
Non-Operating System). But I
digress... Well, it would help if she actually thought.  I mean, don't you
guies
include a manual, like my ISP, that specifically tells you WHERE TO CLICK
AND WHEN? ;-)
...
 </Tangent>

Sorry for the rambling, Have yourselves a joyous and prosperous '98, and
keep those geezers computing!!!! :-) We will.... and don't foget, that means
that there are less than 365 days
for Windows 98 to be late again. ;-) BTW, does anyone have a spare 14.4
modem?  (For x86, preferably NOT a Winmodem)
Tim D. Hotze