Pastor's Computer Update
A few months ago I wrote about moving my one pastor's computer over to GNU/Linux. I feel kind of bad I never finished the story, so I guess I will now.
I spent probably about 10 hours polishing up Fedora with updates, installing software, installing Windows inside Win4Lin, and so on. Overall, I spent about the same amount of time getting things ready as I do when setting up a fresh copy of Windows XP (because you always have umpteen apps to install, you need to do a bunch of updates, get stuff like Acrobat, AdAware, etc., etc.).
I got the machine back to him at the end of February. It worked, save a problem with his Palm m500. The system simply wouldn't talk to the m500. I was going to go over and look at it, but something cut the grand Linux experiment short. I get a call “Tim, what would be causing the system to do this…” It was a kernel panic. A quick consideration of the error revealed quite clearly what was wrong: the hard drive had failed.
Apparently, it would seem, the hard drive had been working on dying, and probably killed Windows ME as well. It just happened to be “well enough” to allow me to setp GNU/Linux before it failed again. Now, I did have a disk image of my tweaked Fedora configuration, but as long as we were starting over, my pastor decided he'd like to move to Windows XP.
I suspect he would have considered sticking with GNU/Linux if given the time to use it, but unfortunately, only getting to use it for about a week before the system failed prevented him from even getting a little comfortable with it before it was lost.
So, I hauled the system back home, and Dell sent us a new hard disk (and a new CD-RW, since that drive bay was sticking a bit). I then repeated the reinstall process, reinstalling all the applications again, etc., then restoring all of the data again, and finally reimaging the system again.
sigh
So, it wasn't an unsuccessful attempt of GNU/Linux, but unfortunately a big hardware problem ended the experiment all too soon.
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RE: Pastor's Computer Update
Hey, he’ll be fine as long as he stays off the Internet! Oh… he wants that, too? Get an external router/firewall box. A genuine Win-Tech once told me, “Windows is great, as long as you never connect it directly to the Internet.”
RE: Pastor's Computer Update
The “Win-Tech” was right.
I installed a firewall/router from Linksys (the 8-port variant, I use the 4-port one at home) when we got DSL setup for the church office. It works very well. Every computer at the church (other than the library one, which has Mandrake and the choir director’s two which run Linux and Mac System 7.x.x) runs Windows XP now.
I’ve been going around installing AdAware to each one so that they can regularly remove all the junk that gets installed on the systems automatically while surfing the web. I also put the one pastor’s laptop into a mode that restricts access to Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, etc., and defaults to FireFox, RealPlayer, etc. in their places. That helps a lot.
Still, WinXP systems are a big headache — things are always going wrong.
RE: Pastor's Computer Update
Still, WinXP systems are a big headache — things are always going wrong.
Could not have said it any better. I don’t see me ever upgrading(snicker) to XP when W2K still runs everything I need the Win machine to do. Plus there is no big brother in W2K unlike XP. BTW, this entry was done thru linux in Firefox.
Good luck if you try again and just so you know, comfy seats. Thanks
RE: Pastor's Computer Update
our Dell server has had it’s mother board replaced at least three times, and several hard drives and other components. Sadly we’ve only had it for less than a year now. The man who took care of all of that stuff has passed away now, so we might be in a pickle. Dark our future is.
RE: Pastor's Computer Update
Great. Now, come over here and do mine.
RE: Pastor's Computer Update
Yeah, Tim, AdAware and a dozen other protective goodies. During my brief flirtation with XP recently, I collected a bunch of those packages and burned them to a CD called “WinKit” and began constructing some HTML pages to explain the stuff. Never got too far with it, but I still give copies of it to others. By now, some of the stuff is woefully out of date.
RE: Pastor's Computer Update
Pressed: Was it Dan that was taking care of it? He sounds like a super guy… I wish I could have met him. At any rate, I’m surprised that system has been so much trouble… so long as it is under warranty, you should be safe enough though. Dell doesn’t really give any hassles before offering replacement parts when needed… at least I’ve found it that way.
Tony: Just get me the plane tickets!
Ed: What were the other apps you used?
RE: Pastor's Computer Update
Plane ticket … EVERYPLACE IS WALKING DISTANCE IF YOU’VE GOT THE TIME
RE: Pastor's Computer Update
Time — what’s that?
Idaho’s a bit of a trek too!