I started playing with Linux in the late 90s while I was in grad school. Slackware 3.x. I think I might have tried one or two others, but since I was somewhat familiar with Unix, Slackware was the easiest for me to learn.

I got them via CD ROMs; I’m pretty sure they came with a book on Linux (I think it included several distributions on CDs). I don’t think I have that book any more; I likely got rid of it long ago as it was badly out of date. But my memory is that it was published by Que, a publisher that I had good experience with on other topics. (dBase III, for example) I’m pretty sure it was this one…leave it to Amazon to still have it.

I recall recompiling kernel because it was “so much faster” (I cringe at myself now for thinking that - it probably wasn’t even true on my Pentium 133 machines). I also remember spending time trying to get X-windows configured, but I was successful. I think I was using fvwm95 window manager, a Windows-like experience. I started using Linux essentially full time pretty quickly.

A few times I got frustrated with Linux and tried to switch back to Windows, but the headaches of Windows always quickly drove me back to Linux. Linux is not perfect, but Windows is even worse.

With Tasmota on the S31, you can disable the ability to turn it off. I have a few set up that way to prevent them from being turned off.

Isn’t it about time to fire up your space laser?

This is fascinating. I’m reminded of a Mormon guy I (barely) knew that was murdered. If he didn’t have the chance to complete his ordinances, well, I guess no kingdom for him - through no fault of his own. Does he get a pass or is he screwed into lousy second heaven for all eternity?

The story: He was murdered by another Mormon guy over a woman. Murderer thought the woman was his last chance to find love and decided he was serious about it. It’s likely he murdered another guy the woman was dating a year or two before, but that case was ruled a suicide and closed - by the time the known murder occurred, all evidence had been destroyed.

Welcome to the Dull Side.

Yeah…when I got the first IDE drive, it was like, “Wait, I don’t need to low level format it?”

“Oh what a mess we weave when we amiss interleave!”

Anyone else remember having to set interleave on an RLL hard drive? “First you have to low-level format…”

Is there a perception that arts are more likely to have gay and lesbian people? Dumbass would do anything to hurt them.

Yeah, unfortunately, I do not have access to the BIOS, nor can I install things on it - security restrictions. What you have done would have been a lot easier and more reliable though!

This was already asked and answered. Maybe read before replying.

I’m not sure if it’s a dock dock or a big hub. It’s a USB-C connection, so maybe the latter. It’s definitely not one of the old style with the proprietary connector.

Yeah, I’ve seen some used Dell ones cheap. But then I might want to use it for my personal non-Dell laptop, and who knows how that will work.

The one I have came from Amazon 3 years ago, and it has worked perfectly. We’ve been full-time work from home in those three years, so it has gotten a good bit of use.

Nice.

My work one, yes. They want us to shut it down every night. I just suspend my personal laptop though.

Thanks. You have to set it up in YAML - there’s no GUI. Here’s the page on it. Obviously you need to know your adapter’s MAC, but that’s not usually too hard to find.

It sets up a switch entity, which is a little odd to me, because it’s not an on-and-off device - toggling it just triggers the WoL command. But I guess that makes the most sense; I don’t think there’s a “button” entity.

Edit: It does look like the entity can track the status of the computer, but it’s not working for me. Hostname is probably not correct.

Chug-chug-chug? Are you sure you weren’t in a steam locomotive?

Forfty percent of people know that!

Statistician.

But the Simpsons lied to me. I have not been offered the opportunity to go to space.

She did a bit on Colbert that was a joint venture between her business and his spoof of her business. Either she’s extremely clueless and didn’t realize his fake store is mocking her real store, or she knows it’s snake oil and is continuing to sell it.

I bought a Lenovo about 2 years ago that I’ve been really happy with. I wanted something with a metal shell because I carry my laptop around sometimes and use it balanced on one hand, and my previous Dell (plastic) started flexing and having weird issues with the TouchPad as a result. The Lenovo has been solid. I’m running Kubuntu on it, but my plan is to go Debian at some point.