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

 WC> It really only took a second to mess up and maybe 5 hours
 WC> to retrieve everything, 22 minutes tape and the rest
 WC> retrieving Linux packages off the net.

 CA> I really get stressed out when I find myself in a situation
 CA> like that. Good that you knew what you had to do. :-)

It didn't bother me at all much.
Just oops and go about fixing it.
Could have been a lot worse if I'd not taken the time 
with the boot and root disks to check out and re-establish the 
Linux partitions before I DOS formatted and restored from tape.

 WC> Think Verizon :-( You know when it was GTE it didn't
 WC> require authorization for SMTP and I recall them sending me
 WC> an e-mail to the effect that would be soon be the case
 WC> after they changed their name to Verizon thus leading to my
 WC> current Linux SMTP problem that would otherwise not exist.

 CA> I am annoyed that ISPs change long-established practices
 CA> without any consideration for all the software they are going
 CA> to 'break' and it annoys me that much of the software combined
 CA> two separate functions into one with no way to separate them.
 CA> Many DOS programs are failing because of these two things.

 I think they do it on purpose because they know Windows
 GUI users for the most part are inept and on the whole less
 likely to cause mischief than those with more powerful tools
 at their disposal. GTE previously did not require SMTP
 user and password authorization and SMTP and POP3
 were called just that... now they are respectively
 outgoing.verizon.net and mail.verizon.net
 I've no malicious intent and thus am annoyed at this sort of
 crap. Not too long I'll be at Internet Junction at substantial
 savings and none of the crud Verizon is dealing.

 CA>> Tape was necessary when there were no affordable
 CA>> alternatives. QIC tape is, however, not entirely
 CA>> dependable based on my experiences using it.

 WC> Alternatives cost and I don't have assets. I _was_ having
 WC> trouble with the drive but a cotton swab dipped in alcohol
 WC> fixed that. I still don't trust the old tapes either thus
 WC> four identical copies.

 CA> That is what I did, cotton swab and dupe backups. At $20 per
 CA> tape I was not happy with using tapes.

Got mine free as Ed Koon said he was going to toss them.
This was before Ed underwent some kind of midlife crisis
and _changed_. Had a friend drive me up to get the stuff
years ago when he seemed a far happier fellow.
Both the modem and tape drive work but two monitors he gave me
he could have tossed into the trash up there as they lasted 
only a very short time, maybe three months and both had died.
I find that HV stuff be it a monitor or T.V. doesn't hold up
too well in storage due to moisture and the capacitors
not being charged often enough to stay _formed_.
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