Text 7842, 165 rader
Skriven 2006-11-03 15:20:06 av James Bradley (1:134/77.0)
   Kommentar till text 7808 av Maurice Kinal (1:140/13.1)
Ärende: ttylinux
================
On or about: 10-31-06  04:21, Maurice Kinal did engage James Bradley regarding,
but not limited to: ttylinux

 JB> One still has to work within the confines of the technology 
 JB> available.

 MK> To some degree that is true.  However I was cursed from birth with
 MK> this  strange idea that most limitations are either self imposed 
 MK> or by the others who for whatever reason feel it is their 
 MK> duty to crush the imagination of their fellow human beings. 

I guess that's why I pestered you to clarify your workings for me. I was
expecting all along, your boxes were built from the ground-up, thus avoiding
the pitfalls I envisioned. When someone carts in an HP/Sony/laptop, and says it
goes much slower since they started 'surfin'... My first instinct is to suggest
a power tool to open 'em up, but that doesn't meet with too much approval for
some reason. [-|O

 MK> Currently by using usb for hotswapping regular drives and 
 MK> then plugging them into the targetted machine and booting 
 MK> it up.  

That's the part in the puzzle I was missing.

 MK> Doesn't everybody?  ;-)

Hell man, I just plug my USB->IDE interface into the wrong wall-wart, and take
it right out of the equation. For me, however, I salvaged the DVD burner, and
threw it into the RM case. I should check if I just burned a diode out, but
I'll bet the fuse was protected by a $40 IC.

 JB> D) The USB port is not bootable.

 MK> Doesn't have to be.  I've always had a running system to 
 MK> work from so bootabillty isn't a requirement until placed 
 MK> in the target.

...And where I have one machine in the trailer, (Getting rather cold.) two in
the livingroom, two in the second bedroom/office, and another about to leave
for Edmonton... ... ... Because I can't always count on the USB port to boot
the rigs...

 JB> You're buggered by your principles!

 MK> Nope.  You might be though.  Not me.  I can prove it too.
 
I'm buggered by *your* principles? <G+D> No, I understand your workings now,
and as I suspected, reverse engineering is not nearly as time consuming there,
as it is here.

[RE: USB sticks]
 JB> ...Which prevents it from booting, until the stick is removed.

 MK> Huh?  Once booted it can be safely removed.  I am not sure 
 MK> if we're on the same page here.

If the stick isn't burned with a kernel, (...or if an "initrd" is the right
term?) the BIOS just keeps telling me to put the OS in its place, or pull the
stupid thing out already. I was a little shocked, as the BIOS said nothing
about "USB" in the boot order, but obviously, it goes first all the time,
regardless of what I want.

 MK> Or just get one working and use that to flash the rest off the usb. 

No working interface here, which is why your 'operating system' <chuckle>  was
even further off my radar.

 MK> be installed into any target.  SCSI ones would be a problem 
 MK> if no hotswappable SCSI controller.  In that case I would 
 MK> probably use a CD but if only doing up one or two systems.  

As all the big Dells here, have front-accessible SCSI hotswap drives, your
system could work for those too, by unmounting them, then running something or
another (I think I read somewhere.) to tell the controller to let go of the
device number. Powering it down would be the no-brainer way of accomplishing
the whole dance in one step. The burned drive(s) could then be mounted in the
target(s).

 MK> How many of these do you have?

Not enough to bother with, at that scale of production. I'm back up to four,
full sized towers, and one 2u rack. I'm still not attached to the RM system,
but I will keep the latest tower. Three towers for sure now, are going up for
grabs at another auction.
 
 JB> "inconvenience" as it is usable now across platforms, locations, and 
 JB> drive types.

 MK> Right.  Ramdisks (initrd's) are the way to go in that case since
 MK> anything is  possible with the right kernel.  Everything else can be 
 MK> (u)mounted later and thus a vastly flexible and dynamic 
 MK> system can be tweaked on the fly with no need for reboots.

... Only if bootable to USB. I only have the newest project that will do that
here, AFAICT.

 JB> "Nothing fancy" and "Almost bland, considering some of the glossier 
 JB> distributions out now..." was fitting into my vision nicely. <L>

 MK> Amen.  I'd rather have power and flexibilty over glossy any 
 MK> day of the week.  Obviously the reviewer isn't a hardcore 
 MK> Unixie type.  Silly people.

I've poked into some of the Linux NGs, and was astonished at the volume of "RH
rules" and "Deb users make better lovers" posts. Of course, Knoppix, Mepis,
ubunto, bla-bla-bla always gets mentioned by the new converts. SuSE never seems
to be mentioned much, unless the briefcase bunch start talking about corporate
issues.

 MK> Speaking of the neighbour, wireless is back up and running 
 MK> between us as of today.  Works great.

You were the two customizing antennae for them, right? Ever tear apart a
microwave oven for some real power? <Holding breath>

 JB> push comes to shove, they will still take credit for your ignored 
 JB> idea. Is that part of the wager? <G>

 MK> Errr ... no.  That sounds far too familiar.

(sic.)

 JB> Try two Adaptecs in the same machine, and call me in the morning.

 MK> Sure.  Send them over.

I guess I could try to carve them off the MB to save some shipping $. I only
have one AAA Adaptec expansion card, but I'm thinking it will be much better
behaved than the ones that came with the Dell towers.

 JB> I saw a beige one at a discount store, tagged at $99.

 MK> New (unused)?  That is a good price.  I'd rather have black 
 MK> but I am not that fussy.

All I noticed, was that it was less scratched than my two, and a different
colour. It looked like factory paint, but it was a clearance-type store. Likely
some 'breifcase' didn't like how the colour was "Not quite right" and there it
sits.

I haven't tried to sell my second case here, but if there's no takers, you'd be
welcome to it. Shipping alone, might cost close to a hun., though.

 JB> I bought my two for ten, IIRR.

 MK> That is a steal.

Sometimes at auction, I just wonder if everyone fell asleep, and other times, I
wish *I* was asleep.

 JB> I'm not so sure that it's "Better to fail from the bottom up." as 
 JB> Churchill liked to say.

 MK> That works for me.

Sometime, I think my Aunty Olga has the best life of us all. Who's to say, eh?



... James

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