What's the latest in people's lives?

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Well, don't tell him it was you!

Since there's only two of us that work at this small shop, it's kind of obvious!

[Captain Picard's Hair]

At any rate that also means I have a more direct relationship with the boss than many, and he's kept me on for a few years now with no other help.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Well, just try to put a pin on the positive aspect of it, then.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

From the 'remarkable strokes of luck' department: a laptop that came in for a price check provided just the part we needed for a similar model.

Late last week we got in an older IBM thinkpad for seemingly a routine repair (out of space on C:, and a messed up installation of Windows to boot). The customer provided his external HDD which made that part of things easier, but the elected course of repair also included a fresh re-install of Windows. Unfortunately, this particular laptop had a bad DVD drive (completely shot) and is just a bit too old to support booting from a USB device. Further troubling was the fact that this model used a non-standard size of DVD-drive, thinner than a typical laptop drive. Therefore, our supply of replacement laptop drives was rendered useless thanks to just a couple of millimeters while the lack of USB boot support limited our options. Transplanting the drive from a different laptop didn't work (not only because of driver incompatibilities, there were deeper issues). We went so far as to install Windows 98 SE on his drive using a different laptop (which booted successfully on his) and attempted to perform an upgrade installation of the target OS (Windows XP, since is this an old laptop) but that effort failed because we couldn't get that copy of Windows 98 to recognize a USB-connected DVD drive since it's just too old to have modern driver support.

Just at this moment, a very similar IBM thinkpad with the same slim DVD drive came in, for a price check on a repair of a bad fan. Though the customer wound up taking the laptop back alter in the day after deciding the cost was too high to repair it, we had it in the shop long enough to borrow his working drive to complete the re installation of Windows on the first (then return his drive to his laptop). By this time we couldn't abandon the option of a full wipeout in favor of a less extreme option since the drive had been formatted in the course of our earlier efforts.

If some of the technical jargon is unfamiliar, just consider that we went bananas trying to cover for a malfunctioning piece of hardware with a nonstandard size, and were saved by the unexpected arrival of exactly the part we needed at just the right time.

*we get a lot of older systems here, partly since the shop serves an area which isn't quite the richest neighborhood in the world. Actually though, these machines often still work well for basic tasks: modern computers are immensely overpowered for the common tasks of checking email and Facebook.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I've gone through my closet and a stack of magazines there... I don't even remember half the Popular Science ones I found there.

[IanKennedy]

I've gone through my closet and a stack of magazines there... I don't even remember half the Popular Science ones I found there.

Clearly someone is sneaking magazines into your closet without your knowledge. I would check for the existence of white whole in the area. There are some physicists who have looked everywhere and can't find them. Just think you could be up for this years Nobel Prize!

[IanKennedy]

From the 'remarkable strokes of luck' department: a laptop that came in for a price check provided just the part we needed for a similar model.

Late last week we got in an older IBM thinkpad for seemingly a routine repair (out of space on C:, and a messed up installation of Windows to boot). The customer provided his external HDD which made that part of things easier, but the elected course of repair also included a fresh re-install of Windows. Unfortunately, this particular laptop had a bad DVD drive (completely shot) and is just a bit too old to support booting from a USB device. Further troubling was the fact that this model used a non-standard size of DVD-drive, thinner than a typical laptop drive. Therefore, our supply of replacement laptop drives was rendered useless thanks to just a couple of millimeters while the lack of USB boot support limited our options. Transplanting the drive from a different laptop didn't work (not only because of driver incompatibilities, there were deeper issues). We went so far as to install Windows 98 SE on his drive using a different laptop (which booted successfully on his) and attempted to perform an upgrade installation of the target OS (Windows XP, since is this an old laptop) but that effort failed because we couldn't get that copy of Windows 98 to recognize a USB-connected DVD drive since it's just too old to have modern driver support.

Just at this moment, a very similar IBM thinkpad with the same slim DVD drive came in, for a price check on a repair of a bad fan. Though the customer wound up taking the laptop back alter in the day after deciding the cost was too high to repair it, we had it in the shop long enough to borrow his working drive to complete the re installation of Windows on the first (then return his drive to his laptop). By this time we couldn't abandon the option of a full wipeout in favor of a less extreme option since the drive had been formatted in the course of our earlier efforts.

If some of the technical jargon is unfamiliar, just consider that we went bananas trying to cover for a malfunctioning piece of hardware with a nonstandard size, and were saved by the unexpected arrival of exactly the part we needed at just the right time.

*we get a lot of older systems here, partly since the shop serves an area which isn't quite the richest neighborhood in the world. Actually though, these machines often still work well for basic tasks: modern computers are immensely overpowered for the common tasks of checking email and Facebook.

Sounds like a 9.5mm drive, rather than the standard 12.5mm one. Most Mac laptops have used 9.5mm drives for years now.

[Teaos]

Or non at all, getting a new laptop for my girlfriend at the moment and a lot of them just don't have cd drives.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Or non at all, getting a new laptop for my girlfriend at the moment and a lot of them just don't have cd drives.

Intel likes to call them 'Ultrabooks.' They figure a lot more content is streamed online or downloaded nowadays, including programs, reducing the need for dvd drives. The prevalence of thumb drives makes it less relevant to be able to burn disks too. In a pinch you could always use a portable USB dvd-rom.

[Jim]

I had a bunch of old "The Hockey News" in the basement. It took me a while but I finally broke down and recycled them.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I had a bunch of old "The Hockey News" in the basement. It took me a while but I finally broke down and recycled them.

Yeah. I recycled the vast majority of the old magazines, too. I kept all the old wrestling ones and some others with cool articles, but the rest got sent out in the green bin.

[Mikey]

I would check for the existence of white whole in the area.

A white whole what, exactly? As opposed to, say, a "white partial?"

[Teaos]

Meh I dont really need the DVD drive, but I was shocked to see how common it was to just not have them.

I might use a CD 4 times a year, so yeah, portable is more than good enough.

[IanKennedy]

I would check for the existence of white whole in the area.

A white whole what, exactly? As opposed to, say, a "white partial?"

So I'm dyslexic, want to make something of it?

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Guys, break it up...

until I can get the pay per view rights settled.