Very distracted.
I spent most of the day here:
[link|http://www.beloved-bobtails.com/|http://www.beloved-bobtails.com/]
and here:
[link|http://www.belovedshilohs.com/|http://www.belovedshilohs.com/]
Same house.
On Wednesday my ride picked me up and mentioned
that his PC crossed the line and pissed him off so
much he had to reformat it.
But then he realized he had nothing to put on it,
no OS disks, etc. I didn't bother asking how he
managed to reformat it. He asked me if I had anything
for him. He was running some Win variation, not sure
what.
We reviewed what he wanted to do. Read email, light
web surfing. Nothing else. This is their "2nd" PC,
and he only uses it when the wife is on the primary
PC.
I offered a Debian based Linux KDE install. I warned
him that if he was expecting lots of web video it
would not work (and I'm too lazy to MAKE it work).
He was fine with that.
So I agreed to do it Sunday (today).
I called, he had forgotten, he was the road. Would
be back sometime this afternoon.
So I was about to leave for the pool when I made that
post. He called, said he was back, I went over. His
house faces the pool. It is about 40 feet from the
spot of grass I hang out at. This location is
significant.
So I went over his house and started the Debian net
install. And realized he has 128MB. Screw that.
Back to my house for memory, back to his house.
Installed it. Restarted the Debian install. And
then he told me he had to leave to pickup a dog at
the airport.
Fine, you pick up the dog, I'll hit the pool. We had
about an hour of download at that point so it was
a perfect break.
I got over to the pool, swim a few laps, and then test
out the WIFI connection. The pool's has a WEP key, but
there is another open connection. Hmmm. His!
I do a bit of setup just to prove I can, then get distracted
(as you said). I swim a bit more. I go over to the office
to get the WEP key.
$25 for the season. Not bad, but screw that. I'll use his
for free. I know he'll give me permission. I just have to
turn on the WEP key so no one else can.
Sun bathe, swim, and he's back. Go on over, and I continue
the Debian setup, Firefox, Thunderbird, etc. I tell him
about the open connection and we need to shut it down.
Problem. He lost the admin password. And the vendor web
site is down so I can't figure out how to do a hard reset.
Damn.
At that point his wife explains that her computer can only
get net connectivity about 1/2 the time. She accesses it
via the WIFI over a USB WIFI plug from a non-portable
computer.
Can it be wired? Sure, we even have a hole in the wall
between the rooms. We have open ethernet ports on the
switch.
Got a cable? Nah. Back to my house, pickup the cables,
come back. Do a bit of wiring, make sure everything
works.
OK, you ever plan on using the WIFI again?
No.
ARE YOU SURE?
Yes.
Do you want me to permanantly disable it?
Yes.
SURE?
YES!
Fine. Snap. Antenna is ripped of the switch.
Great look on their faces. To bad it screwed me out
of free access.
Throughout the day there was dead spots while I was
waiting for a download or Debian package install,
so I wantered around the house and played with the dogs
and cats. They were mostly very friendly.
[link|http://www.beloved-bobtails.com/alumni.htm|http://www.beloved-b...ls.com/alumni.htm]
The wife said I have a cat's touch, since a couple
that were not typically friendly to strangers loved me.
Checkout their web site.