“The RoseBouquet”

Besides cooking turkey the last two days have had me dealing with a computer problem again. You may recall that I had a rough Sunday and Monday in early September when I had updated my kernel, and that had messed up my bootloader, so I couldn’t even login to my linux operating system, (Suse 10.1.). I ended up having to re-install the whole system again. Well, on Saturday I was doing updates, and decided that since everything was working fine again, I should allow it to also update the kernel. (I know better now!)

Sunday morning I discovered that while I could login without a problem, I had no sound, and could not connect to the internet. So while my turkey was baking in the afternoon, I tried to solve my problems. Dead-ends at every try.

After I got back from Tom’s and had done my dishes, I logged in to my older system, Suse 9.3, which is still on this computer. (These experiences are making me a confirmed dual-booter!) From there I was able to keep my commitment to that regular Sunday night report email to certain missionaries. I also realized that the only solution for the 10.1 was to re-install it on Monday.

I had not planned for a prayer retreat on Monday morning, but decided to take off the morning first to do that. In a crisis I always need to go have a long talk with the Lord. At noon I tried another fix method, which didn’t work, and then settled in to do the re-install - very carefully! At certain stages it is possible to wipe out ALL my files. About 4 pm. I was done, and Hallelujah! I wept for joy when I saw that everything was back to normal, including the sound and internet connection.

Such experiences are not fun, but each time I learn things that I know will stand me in good stead when I start giving computer lessons.

Oh, and Tom had bought himself a brand new computer everything suite. Wow! 1 GB of RAM memory, and a big flat screen! He’s got more than he knows how to use! His older computer had quit on him, and out of curiosity I took it home to see what I could find out. While I was waiting for my computer to do certain stages of the install, I hooked up Toms, on the other desk, and discovered that the BIOS says there is no hard drive. It is toast too.

Otherwise that box is still sounding good. I was able to run some Live Linux CDs on it, but they got sluggish when they discovered there was no hard drive to attach to. - So now I’m thinking… if I could get some other used, but still working hard drives I should experiment and teach myself to install them. I could practice on Tom’s since that computer can’t do anything as it is, and then put one into this computer too. It would save me the cost of $60-80/hour I wonder where I could scrounge for hard drives? Maybe one of those electronics recycling depots?

Where would you look?

By the way, my article last week gave some folks a good laugh. Some thought it was good writing. Whew! Thanks!