Text 23107, 111 rader
Skriven 2012-03-30 21:30:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av STEPHEN HAFFLY
Ärende: puter fun 449
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 SH> I think Lilli was just thinking of the battery, but it it led you to
 SH> find the loose screws, and if tightening them is what fixed the
 SH> problem and not just removing and reinstalling the battery, then it was
 SH> a good solution. However, I would have suggested one more thing. Go to
 SH> a hardware store and get a little tube of Locktite Blue 242 thread
 SH> sealer. Remove the screws that keep loosening and put a drop of
 SH> Locktite on the threads and then screw them back in (please use a

Would something like nail polish perform the same function?

 SH> jewler's screwdriver, not a nail file). Once that is done, the Locktite
 SH> will help lock the screws in place and keep them from working loose.

I did some experimenting and found that there seems to be an
optimal tightness, which is not quite the limit of the screws.

Oh yes, as soon as I found a set of jeweler's screwdrivers, I
did in fact use one. The nail file was a child of necessity.
 
 SH> external keyboard and mouse (a wireless keyboard and mouse combination
 SH> would work well for this purpose) to go along with the monitor. Then
 SH> just set the laptop to blank the display when the lid is shut instead
 SH> of suspending or hibernating. In effect, you will turn the laptop into
 SH> a very compact desktop computer. This may be a more sensible way to go
 SH> until you can replace it.

Possibly. I need to regroup my expenses until I can afford to
get two matching little guys to have self-backup (my current
plan A for the future).

 ML> Can I get a machine that still runs XP, which I rather like,
 SH> You could. The problem is that Microsoft has already determined that
 SH> XP will only get security updates for about 2 more years. That has been
 SH> extended a number of times over when they originally said that they
 SH> would be pulling the plug on XP.

So they have kept it going because people have let them know
that that was the most stable product that the company has
produced?

 SH> You will probably have to bite the bullet sooner or later
 SH> because you may find that it will be increasingly difficult to find
 SH> drivers for the newer hardware that is or will be coming available. I
 SH> would skip Vista entirely. It was the beta test for Windows 7. Go with
 SH> that one and then look at web sites like:

I really disliked Vista and have tried out Windows 7, which
doesn't offer the user as much discretion. I'm sure there are
ways under the hood, but it seems too tight to me, to the
degree that one thing wrong will force you to take it to the
shop, sort of like what obtains with a car computer.

 SH> My other suggestion is that for a travel computer, you consider a
 SH> netbook such as the Acer Aspire One 722 which has a dual-core AMD C60
 SH> processor, 2 Gb RAM, and an 11.2" screen. That one is small enough to
 SH> be very portable and big enough to be kinder to the eyes and friendlier
 SH> to fingers than the old 7" or 9" EeePC netbooks were.

I sort of thought about that possibility and waiting until
I was flush enough to buy two, see above.

 Since it would be
 SH> a travel machine, you may wish to look at those which contain a Solid
 SH> State Drive (SSD), as those are much more able to stand the bumps of
 SH> travel.

This has been suggested before, though this regular drive has
received some pretty hard knocks without skipping a beat.

 SH> If you would be willing to give up Windows XP entirely, you could go
 SH> with a Linux distribution such as Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora (what I use),
 SH> or Scientific Linux or Centos (both long-term support versions of Red
 SH> Hat Enterprise Edition). The last two will have updates until well into
 SH> 2017. If you are only using the computer for web surfing, Email, and
 SH> some writing, then this would be more than adequate. The only area a
 SH> Linux-based computer is weak in is games.

Indeed, that's most of what I do: games have never been my thing.
Back in the days of old, when I was given or got a free copy of a
game, I'd play it until I got bored or finished the game and then
never picked it up again; this distinguished me from most of my
obsessive-compulsive colleagues.

 SH> burning an ISO of some Linux distributions to a CD or DVD as
 SH> appropriate and booting from there They don't touch the hard drive, so
 SH> unless ou install one of them, you don't do anything to change your
 SH> current installation.

Good idea. Thanks for taking the trouble.

 SH> Here's one without any milk products.

Cucumber and tomato raita
cat: vegetarian, dairy, Indian, airline, sauce, side
servings: 10

2 c yogurt
1 c cucumbers, diced small
1/2 c tomatoes, diced small
1/2 green serrano chile, minced
1/2 ts cumin powder
s, p
1 Tb cilantro, chopped

Combine all ingredients except cilantro. Season. Garnish
with cilantro. Serve with chole sabzi pulao (in one of
the last couple of packets).

Shashi Sanamvenkata, Continental Airlines
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