-=> CHARLES ANGELICH wrote to WAYNE CHIRNSIDE <=-

 WC> The author changed it on my suggestion, now default is to
 WC> save.

 CA> I asked him to change it he refused I dumped MM as my OLR.

That's odd. Perhaps after being asked by a number of
people?

 WC> The other post being the one regarding the list server
 WC> which the few times I've tried to join has been
 WC> unresponsive to adding a user :-(

 CA> I'm told there have been interruptions at the SOFTCON server
 CA> but I have no idea how often or what it was about. Have you
 CA> tried using just email to subscribe?

 I'm on there now.
 I might just go silent a couple of days.
 My RAM socket or stick is getting flaky and my extended RAM has been
 dropping out unexpectedly.
 If the problem continues I'll likely swap the A and C drive to the
 Pentium box.
 
 WC> I also recently noted that www.dell.com returns "no data in
 WC> document" when I attempt to load their site, got there
 WC> once, or any of their links which always return "no data."
 WC> Since you're also running Win 3.1 and NSC 4.08 mind letting
 WC> me know if you've any luck?

 CA> I will double check but did notice I got a blank screen
 CA> attempting to access www.dell.com recently. I think I was using
 CA> Opera and never did try Netscape. My NS v4.08 will often access
 CA> websites that Opera v3.62 cannot (javascript problems usually).

I got the entry and somewhat into the site but hit a wall.
Better success after increasing my disk and memory cache
and the above mentioned RAM dropout problem may have been 
involved as well.

 WC> A daunting task however if one thinks about the
 WC> permutations :-( I'll have to post my inquiry in
 WC> newsgroups. Perhaps we need to START a Basic Linux
 WC> newsgroup?

 CA> Based on my personal experiences when authoring BBS software I
 CA> would guess that Steven D. would become discouraged and stop
 CA> work on BasicLinux within the year if exposed to random public
 CA> messaging in a newsgroup for/about BasicLinux.

This is why I've not done a followup inquiry about my
SMTP pproblem though I know a lot more about it now.
Don't wish to bother him much as I'm sure he gets asked lots
of questions.

 CA> People getting free software can be extremely demanding and
 CA> nasty when they don't get a special version for their favorite
 CA> hardware whatever. You have to experience it to really know how
 CA> extreme it is but it requires a thick skin and to focus on the
 CA> majority who appreciate what you are doing for them. Otherwise
 CA> it crushes you.

I used to do electrical and electronics repair for friends at a few 
dollars above parts cost and often got snapped at for "charging too much",
"too much", being about 15 - 20 percent of what a shop would charge.
What stopped me from doing this sort of thing was after a former
friend asked me for help with the electrical system on his Cadillac,
Saint Pete AC had quoted him a price of 350 dollars, he bitched
that I'd ripped him off by asking for 20 dollars for the job after
spending 6 hours on the job and some 8 dollars of that 20 was parts!!!
So you see I understand the situation here.
Tim actually went around telling people I'd ripped him off!
I _did_ get his AC working just fine but Tim _did_ make a 
mistake in telling people I'd ripped him as he also had 
a short that drained his battery and I'd located it and it
was an easy fix but after Tim's remarks somehow I didn't feel like
puttiing in the ten minutes it would have taken to fix
that as well. Now Saint Pete Air with their estimate *was* ripping him.
After that I only did repairs on the cheap for special cases like
the disabled or socked it to them perhaps 20 percent cheaper than a pro
and the last not too often as I had a regular job.

 WC>> I've made two fido inquiries so far, no joy. Need to
 WC>> inquire in the alt.os.slackware.linux newsgroup.

 CA> You might get more help if you refer to this as Slack v3.5
 CA> rather than as BasicLinux. I've tried that newsgroup and it got
 CA> ugly when they insisted I was in the wrong newsgroup because I
 CA> referred to it as BasicLinux and not Slack v3.5.

Same here. I mentioned it was Linux 3.5 compatible but apparently
other users there are using mailx and there is no .email.conf
No-one got ugly on me however.
 
 CA>> Ask Verizon if possible?

 WC> BWAHAHAHA... I've dealt with their tech support. Might just
 WC> as well ask Jeb Bush ;-) Even senior techs are a real
 WC> crapshoot and it take a LOT of time to find a knowledgable
 WC> one.

 CA> I ask for the supervisor then ask which supervisor sits at a
 CA> *nix console. Once I get them I ask them to read aloud the
 CA> contents of various config files and go from there.

 It's been generally a bear for me to get to any kind of 
 senior tech support with Verizon.
 I keep spare telephones as they've been known to suffer 
 _spontanious catastrophic failure_ when I'm dealing with 
 mentally impaired tech support ;-) I once got miffed at
 an alarm clock going off and shot it!
 I'm non-violent except in the cases of belligerent 
 appliances  I've bagged a couple of alarm clocks and
 phones though. Only shot the one alarm clock with a .22

 CA>> BasicLinux version 2.0 will be based on SlackWare v7.1
 CA>> when finished.

 WC> Yeah right, I'll be pretty much configured in 1.7 by than I
 WC> suppose and I'll want to nuke it. Many of the hotlist.html
 WC> URL's currently listing Slackware 3.5 sites are no longer
 WC> valid so I guess moving to 7.1 is a necessary and good move.

 CA> The entire Slack v3.5 set of CDs can be had for 99 cents plus
 CA> shipping from the company linked at my website.

 The question is do they take postal money orders, no credit
 card in current circumstances.
 
 CA> I have one of those sb cards and the CD for it. Never tried to
 CA> install both into anything though.
 
Mine still works after beng used for 7 - 8 years.
BTW you need a disk to setup the DOS drivers before the CD
will install all the software and you must disable smartdrive
or you'll end up going nuts wondering why the install fails.
I very much like that card and drive and have got my moneys worth
out of them.

 WC> SCO ain't cheap! Or wasn't in 1994.

 CA> When I first had the brainstorm to switch to Unix the machine
 CA> would have cost $12,000 and the SCO Unix was another $5,000. I
 CA> decided Unix couldn't do that much for me. I was wrong about
 CA> that but at the time Unix users were almost outcasts. :-)
 That's slowly changing a bit.
 
 CA> My 'PeepHole' W31 on a diskette is really just for fun. When
 CA> people see W31 on their new computer they go bananas. :-)

 WC> Landlady has cable modem but geez she's using Windows XP on
 WC> a machine really not up to the task, under 800 MHz so it's
 WC> slower than Win 3.1 on the 66 MHz 486 dialup 28800!!! I
 WC> walked away from the machine in disgust. Win XP sure is
 WC> pretty... a lot like an oil painting ;-)

 CA> I remember you mentioning it. I've never seen a 'virgin' XP
 CA> install. My kids (girls) immediately pretty up the desktop
 CA> often using pink colored things and it's really a bit sickening
 CA> IMO. They like it though.

Landlady did the same, it sure is pretty but you'd think
she had a 2400 modem instead of cable!
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