> Actually, that cruel attack on my sanity gets right to the heart
> of the matter. It's okay to say "Just say no," and cure the
> world's drug problems, but people don't work like that. Some of
> us are human.

JT> Yes, some of us are still living in la-la land where something
JT> untreatable by drugs is treaded by... drugs.

 They don't treat the disease, they treat the *symptoms*. A schizo
or a bipolar is still schizo or bipolar but on drugs, he can operate
in the real world. From *his* point of view, he is probably worse off,
but to the rest of us he's improved. what's the alternative... lock
him up, or kill him?

> At least 99% of computer users use Microsoft products and upgrade
> regularly because everyone knows you can trust big companies.

> I rest my case.

JT> I thought state rail proved against that? Didn't their whole
JT> comms network crash due to a virus? And yes, they are running
JT> windows, it's evident by looking at their monitors when it
JT> crashes.

 The point I was making is that you *can't* trust big companies, to
either get it right the first (or second) time, or to think of their
users when they introduce new "features".

> So... now I either try again with Redhat, or cut my losses and
> buy a new computer. What's an AMD motherboard worth nowadays?

JT> It must be something wierd with your machine.

 Probably, it's a pirate BIOS. The part I liked best was when the
Linux "help" file said that Linux is a "better" system
but it needs
perfect hardware to work (the same shit they said about O/S2). That
was *not* written by an engineer! They said it was something to do
with a 3Gb hard drive (6700 cylinders) and an old BIOS that can't
handle more than 1024 cylinders. It's been working  perfectly for ten
years under Windows (and OS/2). The BIOS says its 1047 MB but DOS just
goes ahead and does it. 

JT> I repartitioned with software that I've never played with
JT> before, and loaded a very beta release of Fedora (the
JT> open-source Red Hat). And not even the latest version of that.

JT> It complained about the partition table incorrectly specifying
JT> drive geometry and that it's recommeded I create a rescue
JT> diskette. Or some shit like that. Yeah right- rescue disks are
JT> for girls.

JT> It all worked fine.

 Linux is great for repartitioning. I stuffed around with my
hard drive something cruel, and yet I was always able to come back and
use the Windows partition. The first time I tried it under DOS..
whoops!

 Anyway, who cares? I priced a whole new computer and it's only $680
with monitor or $540 without!

 I've decided to buy a new box and use it for Windows, take a 20Gb
drive out of the old box for backup, and use the old box for Linux
exclusively (and as a modem gateway) with the 486 3Gb drive for
backup. I'm actually tempted to buy a new monitor too (they're so
bloody cheap), and just run two PCs.

Regards,
Bob
   

--- BQWK Alpha 0.5