The Trials and Tribulations of Changing Operating Systems

You think it would be fairly easy to do this stuff. After many trials and tribulations with Windows Vista--problems like automatic shut-downs, frequent error messages, problems with the hard drive--I decided to go to a Linux OS, thinking it would work better with my system and make my life easier.

The first trial was with Mandriva. It seemed good at first, but there were some problems. Like a sound system that sometimes did not let me control the volume, and problems with the way files were stored. It was not logical to me and I was forever looking for files. The Home folder was a complete mystery to me--I didn't know it existed, and therefore couldn't find files. There were other problems. Like pictures. The Mandriva photo manager did not allow me to rotate pictures, so all of my portrait view pictures would load onto Blogger and Facebook sideways and upside down. I couldn't use them.

After a few weeks of this, I was ready to bag Linux altogether, and sent my friend the Techno-Wizard a message saying so. He suggested that we partition the drive and change out from Mandriva to a more logically formatted Linux System. He suggested Ubuntu. I agreed, and he took my machine home to do the deed. I picked it up again last Thursday, and having a deadline to get a Business Plan Questionnaire done, I logged into Ubuntu. I thought I should log into Ubuntu because when the Techno-Wizard came to take my computer, I had been working on that document, and done about two hours worth of work. But no documents existed at Ubuntu.

Oh. The Home folder had been loaded on Windows.
So I logged into Windows.
After some searching, I found that the Home Folder had been loaded there under an abbreviation of my name.
But even after loading Open Office, I could not download the files.
We think its empty. Well actually, the Techno-Wizard does.
Me, I USE computers. And I hate it when they DON"T WORK like I expect.
You've heard of Road Rage?
You've heard of PMS?
Hell hath no fury like this woman confronted with a deadline and confounded by empty files and lost folders.
And upside-down pictures!

But Windows is such a pain, that I am willing to deal with fury in order to get to something better. And better do it now, while I still have some estrogen--albeit it comes in unpredictable flashes-- to protect my heart from the sudden escalation of fight-or-flight.

Patience, they say, is a virtue.

Here is a You Tube video from College Humor that puts this all into perspective:




Ubuntu? I'm going to learn Ubuntu.

Just one question:

Where the heck do they get these names?

I'm Ba-a-a-ack! (DSL is Up and Running)

Actually, it was up at the end of last week.

But it was Fall Break at UNM.
That meant that instead of doing my blog, we:
1) winterized the dog run
2) escorted a field trip--a walking tour of parts of Albuquerque for the New Mexico history course at EMHS--cool pictures will be featured on the Nearly Wordless Wednesday for the next few weeks!
3) spent time in the Sukkah
4) slept!

Last night I had planned to do some blogging. At 2:15 MDT, I got a call from the nurse at EMHS.
The Boychick had been tackled on the soccer field. His knee was alarmingly swollen. (Tackled? Soccer? It was an accident. Freshman boys are such baby bears!)
So I spent the remaining part of the day this way:
1)driving from UNM to EMHS
2) using the nurse's phone to make an Urgent Care appointment at UNM Peds Clinic
3) driving to UNM Peds with a stop for a teriaki bowl on the way because we knew it would be a long night
4) dropping the Boychick off at the entrance
5) parking and meeting said Boychick
6) limping to Peds
7) waiting to be triaged
8)waiting to have the knee X-rayed
9) waiting to see the Dr.
10) going to the pharmacy for pain meds and a brace

No time for blogging!

The Boychick has no fractures. His kneecap is badly bruised and may be sprained. Time will tell. In the meantime, he has been prescribed RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation).

So for now, I am at home. Cleaning out my clogged in-box and my equally messy desk.

Technology. It's great when it works.

Computer Problems

This weekend, we experienced technical problems on two fronts.

One involves our DSL.
I had been missing messages from my home account this past week, and some people to whom I sent messages were not getting them.
I thought this was a server problems until the DSL service from our phone provider quit completely yesterday.

We had bad weather both last weekend (1.5 inches of rain in 12 hours) and this weekend (0.5 inch of rain in 1 hour, thunder and lightning), so I wonder if that has something to do with it.
Last night, I spent over an hour on the phone with our ISP and then in three way conference call that the ISP tech support geek arranged with The Phone Company (TPC). I am pretty sure that the TCP techie was in India--and he could not contact the regional TCP Network Operations Center. So I can only hope that a ticket was made out to fix our problem.

This morning, I thought I'd pack up the laptop and head to UNM Student Union (SUB) to work on two different projects that I have half-done and on my computer. The SUB has wireless internet access. So I started up my computer and almost immediately, it crashed on me.
I hate that blue bios screen that says that Windows was shut down for it's own good.

A computer geek friend met me here to see if he could help.
First, we he thought it was the memory stick that was corrupt.
It wasn't.
Then he thought it was the wireless card.
Probably not.
It seems likely that some program I have at start up has a corrupted registry.
I have instructions to take the computer home and boot it up.
It will run a hard-drive disk check, which will take hours.
Then I should erase uninstall all of the extraneous programs.
And hope.

He did say that my computer is "long of tooth" and that I probably need to get a new one soon!
Oy. When it rains, it pours!

I'll probably be doing more lurking than posting until next weekend.

On the Death of a Modem

We knew it was getting old and cranky.

Our ActionTec DSL modem from Quest has required frequent restarting, factory resets, and in the past few months, frequent rest periods before it would consent to giving us a green light for wireless internet.





And there was the time after the lightning stike and power surge, where we thought it was a gonner, but after a full 24 hour rest period, it managed to gather its wits about it and give a green light again.





But on Tuesday afternoon, it finally gave up the ghost quietly and completely. I was researching something online and suddenly had no internet.


Wondering if this was the real thing, or just another coma, I unplugged the power cable. Later Tuesday evening, I tried it again.


The red power light came on and then got stuck there. No blinking to green, no other lights to be had. Well, we could be dealing with the need for another overnight rest period.


But on Wednesday morning, I tried plugging in the power cable again.


Red light, no blinking, no other lights at all.


Nothing but a little spark of static electricity at the joining of the power tab to the slot.


Persistant Vegetative State?





I left if alone for a while. Upon checking on my patient on Wednesday evening, there was still no change. Solid red power light. Not even a spark when I disconnected and then reconnected.





We pronounced it dead on Wednesday night, but since it had given us five years of faithful service, and since we were planning to go into town on Friday, we allowed it to lie in state for all of Thursday and into Friday afternoon.





On Friday morning, we went to get a new modem. A sleek young thing wearing modern colors, with room to network by wire 4 devices.

Welcome to our new modem. Not quite the same as the old modem.

I realize now that the old modem was being very crotchety for some time.

It has gone on to a well-deserved rest.

And we are happy to be connected once again.