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

 CA>> This W2K machine was given to me, in part, because it was
 CA>> too unstable. It took some time and 12 total wipeouts but
 CA>> it is now more stable than any of my other machines and
 CA>> more stable than any of the half dozen machines owned by
 CA>> the person who gave me this one. ;-)

 WC> You know I've come to like the occassional wipeout to a
 WC> point, I always seem to be able to better optimize after a
 WC> wipeout and get things more organized to taste.

 CA> The difference is in how the machine is being utilized. If the
 CA> machine is only a test bed or learning tool then a need to
 CA> reinstall is not a problem it's just more 'practice'. If the OS
 CA> was installed to utilize applications to produce output then a
 CA> reinstall is an interruption to be avoided.

Well ultimately I intend to move to Linux as my primary OS
so I'm looking for secure and stable.

 CA> Hobbyists enjoy reinstalls, pros do not.

I've heard rumor some sys-admins deliberately sabotage
computers under their care from time to time for job
security if they do too good a job of making that system
stable.
I'm only looking to reinstall Linux this once because I
allocated too little space first go-round.

 CA>> Oddly enough no one really notices.

 WC> I'll be too taken up with learning the system's full
 WC> capabilities for the foreseeable future to get bored.

 CA> The really creative uses for any OS come about while trying to
 CA> produce output of some sort. If there is no need for any output
 CA> there are aspects of the OS that are not obvious or present
 CA> themselves as other than what they really are.

 I wrote an interactive resterant menu and billing program
 in C and compiled it to run on Linux years ago.

 WC> One planned wipeout ITMT but I've saved copies of software
 WC> and settings to a floppy.

 CA> So far, so good.

Primarily that saved to floppy stuff is just
ztelnet, MultiMail, and desktop settings for KDE, the dialer,
and application settings like SMTP, POP3, NNTP, preferences, ect.
in Kmail, Konqueror and Mozilla Navigator.

Next save of this material will be on an overformatted floppy
and I expect I'll not only have the backup settings but
may get a working setup of ztelnet and MultiMail on that same floppy :-)

Came VERY close to the mark on a standard Linux formatted
floppy diskette.     
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5