Everyone who always wanted to do this, please raise your hand.
That's going to be a vanishingly small group of people - and a dwindling group of people.
Most folks haven't even heard of MUMPS and fewer still work with it.
Greetings...
- Thread starter MikeRocor
- Start date
That's going to be a vanishingly small group of people - and a dwindling group of people.
Most folks haven't even heard of MUMPS and fewer still work with it.
Yeah, it's not really a "most folks" sort of thing.''
Amusingly, it was GT/M that first got me interested in little itty bitty Linuxen. Twenty years or so ago, when I was learning MUMPS for a job opportunity, I downloaded the "GT.M Acculturation Disk" iso, which turned out to be a bootable system with GT.M preinstalled on it and it was based on DSL. Through minor miracles, I actually got the job and in the process got hooked on linux in general and mini-linnies in particular. The job, of course, had nothing to do with Linux.
Amusingly, it was GT/M that first got me interested in little itty bitty Linuxen. Twenty years or so ago, when I was learning MUMPS for a job opportunity, I downloaded the "GT.M Acculturation Disk" iso, which turned out to be a bootable system with GT.M preinstalled on it and it was based on DSL. Through minor miracles, I actually got the job and in the process got hooked on linux in general and mini-linnies in particular. The job, of course, had nothing to do with Linux.
Sadly, the HD in my HP laptop looks like it's dying.
Happily, I have a "hot spare" (laptop) already sitting on my desk. Sadly, it's not all that "hot" as it still has Win10 installed and boot linux from USB. Also sadly, it will be a bit of an archaeological dig to actually reach the spare laptop.
And of course, this week, I have neither the time nor the money to mess with this crap.
... (an hour later)...
The spare laptop, sitting powered off for months, appears to be completely dead. As the body count increases, I have to go further back in time to find a machine that actually works. You'd think it would be the other way around!
Somewhere, there's a twin to the (rapidly cooling body of a) hot spare, but I really didn't want to use that one.
I think the next archeological stratum will take me back to about 2013, an HP laptop with a proven ability to sit there and hum for years on end while my 90 year old mother failed to use it. Its screen doesn't work, but it does the external monitor thing pretty well.
Hmm... maybe something newer... I inherited some junk systems around Christmas time last year. Maaayybeee...'
Happily, I have a "hot spare" (laptop) already sitting on my desk. Sadly, it's not all that "hot" as it still has Win10 installed and boot linux from USB. Also sadly, it will be a bit of an archaeological dig to actually reach the spare laptop.
And of course, this week, I have neither the time nor the money to mess with this crap.
... (an hour later)...
The spare laptop, sitting powered off for months, appears to be completely dead. As the body count increases, I have to go further back in time to find a machine that actually works. You'd think it would be the other way around!
Somewhere, there's a twin to the (rapidly cooling body of a) hot spare, but I really didn't want to use that one.
I think the next archeological stratum will take me back to about 2013, an HP laptop with a proven ability to sit there and hum for years on end while my 90 year old mother failed to use it. Its screen doesn't work, but it does the external monitor thing pretty well.
Hmm... maybe something newer... I inherited some junk systems around Christmas time last year. Maaayybeee...'
Condobloke
Well-Known Member
is that in a plugged in state, Mike ?....is it worth removing the battery....reinserting it....blow a bit of dust out of the battery connection.....plug it in assume the prayer position...? (prayer position....stand back half a pace with a hammer raised over one shoulder...mouth threats at same time)
Whichever one springs to life.....hopefully it will be one that the hdd is easily accessible.....substitute a ssd.....and it will flyyyy
Yeah - its a 2015 vintage 1 TB 2.5" by WD. Not a problem swapping in a new one - if I had one.
It's worth noting that I've dealt with "hand-me-down" and scrap-worthy computers for decades and I've actually scrapped a lot of hard drives - sometimes because they failed but more often because they were so old/slow/low capacity that they were just not worth keeping around against the increasing chance that they would fail with age. Of the ones that had actually failed, by far the majority have been Western Digital. When I replace this one it will be with some other brand probably, Seagate. While there will be those that say they're just as bad, I've had good experiences with Seagate products. If someone says, "They're both made in the same factory", I won't be the least bit surprised.
No, I haven't kept actual logs of old hard drives, so my experiences should be considered entirely anecdotal.
Condobloke
Well-Known Member
This from the UK site of Amazon....that is a very good price, if that suits you....
It was plugged in the whole time, powered off. I'll have to take out about a hundred little screws to get to the battery so that's not for today. When I get into that, I'll do the regular troubleshooting routine - remove everything that can be removed and see if it at least posts. The screen and wifi antenna are already gone, but that's a whole nother story. But yeah, the battery disconnect/reconnect first.
Hmmm... maybe just swap out the power supply/charger first. It'd be nice if it was that easy, though the laptop's power supply light does come on.
This machine (the dead spare) already has an ssd and a 1 TB plate spinner in it (booting Win10 from the SSD) and I'm sure that makes Win10 almost bearable (from a speed POV) but I'm not convinced it will make much difference for linux, specifically for Tiny Core Linux, because this OS stays mostly in RAM. Boot time might improve but that's already quite acceptable - and what's a few seconds every three or four months?
One of the reasons this was going to be my go-to spare was that I was finally going to shotcan Win10 completely and install TinyCore on the SSD just to see if it really -would- make a difference. Currently, when it boots at all, it boots Tiny Core from USB, if present, otherwise booting Win10 from the SSD. The current Tiny Core installation is kind of bastardized, booting the kernel and initrd from the USB stick and everything else is stashed on the 1 TB plate spinner which, IIRC, is still formatted with NTFS. That allows me to remove the USB stick after boot up so I have more opportunities to lose it. It also alowed me to not have to mess with the bootloader for Windows, potentially wrecking it (which I no longer care about).
Heck, even I could probably afford that!
What I'll probably do first though, is
A) try to fix flatnanny (the lidless dead laptop). Failing that...
B) dig out flatmiko (flatnanny's less lidless (and hopefully fully functional) twin) and swap in the ssd from flatnanny (thus preserving the nearly pristine Win10 ssd originally from flatmiko) and install TinyCore. and then...
C) after new years maybe, get one of those sata SSDs and pop it into the HP Envy(which, BTW, I'm still using right now)
But before all that, ima dig out whatever I can get working -right now- in case this thing (the HP Envy) dies completely on me.
As it is both dead and a spare, can you just move one drive (or both) to the laptop with the broken SSD?
Also, how are you computing now? I am going to guess that you've got a desktop system?
Yes... the failing drive in the primary laptop is actually a plate spinner and I have no doubt the plate spinner from the dead spare will fit into it that space. I'm just loathe to start such surgery (there's no handy little one-screw drive cover) ATM since I have a guest in the house for a couple of weeks and I had to pick up said guest at the Pittsburgh train station at five o'clock this morning. ZZZzzzzzz.....
Right now I'm still using the primary laptop with the failing hard drive. I've got my data backed up and I'm not writing anything important to the HD. I have some time to myself this afternoon, so I guess it's time to get on with it. The BDE has volunteered to oversee the whole process, since the laptop in question is named after her.
I guess that shoots my uptime for the summer/fall - 98 and half days.
Right now I'm still using the primary laptop with the failing hard drive. I've got my data backed up and I'm not writing anything important to the HD. I have some time to myself this afternoon, so I guess it's time to get on with it. The BDE has volunteered to oversee the whole process, since the laptop in question is named after her.
I guess that shoots my uptime for the summer/fall - 98 and half days.
