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#71
Security and Privacy / Store manager admits SIM swapp...
Last post by Jason - March 25, 2024, 07:22:00 PMSIM jacking is a common form of hacking but can be avoided as article from MalwareByes explains. It has some helpful tips on what to watch for as well as avoiding it. One of your best ways is to use another form of 2FA other than via text messages like using an authenticator app.
#72
General Discussion / Re: Total solar eclipse, April...
Last post by Jason - March 25, 2024, 03:46:21 PMThe Planetary Society, which I like to mention every time I can, had some information and other links about the upcoming eclipse here:
https://www.planetary.org/eclipse
You can get a pair of deluxe special edition pair of glasses from them although they're a bit expensive. But it helps the non-profit and they're cool. Being a poor man, I had to get a pair from Temu.
Hoping for clear skies.
https://www.planetary.org/eclipse
You can get a pair of deluxe special edition pair of glasses from them although they're a bit expensive. But it helps the non-profit and they're cool. Being a poor man, I had to get a pair from Temu.
Hoping for clear skies.
#73
General Discussion / Creating a Christmas Linux Min...
Last post by buster - March 25, 2024, 11:25:10 AMThis build was done four or five years ago and unlike many of my creations, this computer hasn't died yet.
Chapter 1: Spending a Lot of Money in a Sensible Way
The old muscles in the small of my back complained as I carried the heavy box of wine up the steps. Another family Christmas gathering. It will be much easier carrying out a carton of empty bottles after the other eight people quickly drain many of the reds, whites and sparkling. Four of the people are my grand-kids who seemed to have developed, unfortunately, like our son and daughter, an unpleasant habit of drinking grandpa's expensive wines and ignoring the cheap stuff. So now I just fill the carton with expensive wines each year, serve the drinks, and cart out the empties afterwards. And sort of smile.
But the evening was really good, with noise, laughter and arguments. Our son and daughter had both their families around the huge table. The food was amazing. And then we shared a few gifts late Christmas Eve. And that's where the story began.
Our son Eric has access to 'outdated' high tech stuff that usually gets shared by schools and charity groups. That's where the good stuff goes. But sometimes 'the stuff' isn't perfect, but needs be fixed by someone patient and knowledgeable. But it's all top line not quite perfect computer parts and it had to be powerful for the testing it had to do. So under the Christmas tree was a three or four year old Gigabyte motherboard, with ram and an Intel chip with the biggest heat sink and fan I had ever seen! And all for Buster, who quickly calculated what else was needed – I had an old ATX power supply, a very old computer case (19 years and counting), a 500 gig old style hard drive, and some ram to bring this motherboard up to 8 gig. And looking at it as an accountant would, it had only cost me say seven very expensive bottles of wine. Ah well. It had been a great Christmas Eve, and the Marilyn and I got to sleep in the biggest bed in the house, because we're very old.
Chapter 2: Half a Century of Interesting Times
The history that Eric and I share spans more than half a century, some of it wonderful, and some rather the opposite. But lately it's been good. That Christmas Day not long ago he and I were, after a small bottle of Honey Bourbon I'd brought from the south, singing Christmas carols. Just the two of us. He played guitar and I sort of improvised the voice harmony while he sang lead. A presence beside us proved to be his wife who said, not quietly nor politely, nor even with an understanding smile on her face, "Eric, everyone is in bed and would like to go to sleep!" He wisely ignored mentioning the fact that the two singers and the cat were not yet in bed and said with some sternness in his voice, "I'm not sure how many times more I'll be able to sit around with this the old geezer, and tonight is one of those times, even though his singing is atrocious". And he strummed a chord to start the next song. The 'old geezer' didn't bother me at all, but atrocious singer? Still, I was as proud of a son as any father could
be. And the following year she ran off with someone else anyways.
Which leads back to the story of this Christmas, and our usual sampling of interesting music and beverage. My wife Marilyn had gone to bed, partly to let us have our yearly late evening together, and partly because she didn't like the music playing through the speakers - Queen, some Doobie Brothers, and Steely Dan. So we had the empty main floor to ourselves.
This time our son supplied the quite expensive bottle of wine, and after we poured from the bottle of Argentinian malbec we commented very favourably on the aroma and taste, and on Steely Dan. We were as happy as a father and son can be until he said, "Let's see if the motherboard works!" My heart sank a bit. Would my favourite (and only) son give me a gift that is not usable?
He dragged up from his workroom a monitor, some cords and a heavy black box that looked like a prop from a s/f movie. It was almost scary, with countless thickly insulated black wires with connectors at the end. These black wires looked for all the world like tentacles spread out on the table top. Imagine a metal octopus, with long threatening appendages ready to grab your wrist and climb up your arm. I definitely blame that image on the honey bourbon. I made a short-lived vow never to drink again.
"This power box is of no use for our tests anymore. It doesn't give enough juice to the new CPU's and video cards." I'm guessing gaming CPU's are maybe a wee bit more powerful than my laptop CPU. "And this is what's wrong with the Gigabyte board," he said, pointing. A small bolt and nut had got itself wedged in a hole and refused to be ejected. I was pretty sure I'd find a way to extricate it without damaging anything – an apparently easy problem to solve. Time would tell.
Watching skilled people always amazes me – the ease with which they work. This can be carpenters, comedians, or mathematicians. In what seemed like a nano second, everything was connected and ready to be turned on. When I mentioned the lack of operating system, he made a disapproving face and said, "We're only going to look at the bios."
Of course. What was this old geezer thinking of? His fingers flew over the keyboard and information started showing on the screen that I'd never seen from a bios. And the screen changed before my old brain cells could absorb anything.
"Looks good," he said, with a hint of relief showing on his face. "And you can have the power box." Affection and admiration flowed through me, though that could have been ether Steely Dan or the wine. Or the honey bourbon. Hard to say. But I do think in retrospect it was mainly affection.
"And tomorrow, while Mom is trying to buy boots, we're going to a great discount computer store to take advantage of the Boxing Day sales. SSDs and computer cases are both on sale."
After reminiscing about the previous half century together, drinking more excellent wine, and listening to music, we went to bed. Tomorrow I would add to my stash of stuff to build a great and speedy computer. That, at least, was the plan.
Tomorrow: Chapter 3: Step one in Losing a Wife
Chapter 1: Spending a Lot of Money in a Sensible Way
The old muscles in the small of my back complained as I carried the heavy box of wine up the steps. Another family Christmas gathering. It will be much easier carrying out a carton of empty bottles after the other eight people quickly drain many of the reds, whites and sparkling. Four of the people are my grand-kids who seemed to have developed, unfortunately, like our son and daughter, an unpleasant habit of drinking grandpa's expensive wines and ignoring the cheap stuff. So now I just fill the carton with expensive wines each year, serve the drinks, and cart out the empties afterwards. And sort of smile.
But the evening was really good, with noise, laughter and arguments. Our son and daughter had both their families around the huge table. The food was amazing. And then we shared a few gifts late Christmas Eve. And that's where the story began.
Our son Eric has access to 'outdated' high tech stuff that usually gets shared by schools and charity groups. That's where the good stuff goes. But sometimes 'the stuff' isn't perfect, but needs be fixed by someone patient and knowledgeable. But it's all top line not quite perfect computer parts and it had to be powerful for the testing it had to do. So under the Christmas tree was a three or four year old Gigabyte motherboard, with ram and an Intel chip with the biggest heat sink and fan I had ever seen! And all for Buster, who quickly calculated what else was needed – I had an old ATX power supply, a very old computer case (19 years and counting), a 500 gig old style hard drive, and some ram to bring this motherboard up to 8 gig. And looking at it as an accountant would, it had only cost me say seven very expensive bottles of wine. Ah well. It had been a great Christmas Eve, and the Marilyn and I got to sleep in the biggest bed in the house, because we're very old.
Chapter 2: Half a Century of Interesting Times
The history that Eric and I share spans more than half a century, some of it wonderful, and some rather the opposite. But lately it's been good. That Christmas Day not long ago he and I were, after a small bottle of Honey Bourbon I'd brought from the south, singing Christmas carols. Just the two of us. He played guitar and I sort of improvised the voice harmony while he sang lead. A presence beside us proved to be his wife who said, not quietly nor politely, nor even with an understanding smile on her face, "Eric, everyone is in bed and would like to go to sleep!" He wisely ignored mentioning the fact that the two singers and the cat were not yet in bed and said with some sternness in his voice, "I'm not sure how many times more I'll be able to sit around with this the old geezer, and tonight is one of those times, even though his singing is atrocious". And he strummed a chord to start the next song. The 'old geezer' didn't bother me at all, but atrocious singer? Still, I was as proud of a son as any father could
be. And the following year she ran off with someone else anyways.
Which leads back to the story of this Christmas, and our usual sampling of interesting music and beverage. My wife Marilyn had gone to bed, partly to let us have our yearly late evening together, and partly because she didn't like the music playing through the speakers - Queen, some Doobie Brothers, and Steely Dan. So we had the empty main floor to ourselves.
This time our son supplied the quite expensive bottle of wine, and after we poured from the bottle of Argentinian malbec we commented very favourably on the aroma and taste, and on Steely Dan. We were as happy as a father and son can be until he said, "Let's see if the motherboard works!" My heart sank a bit. Would my favourite (and only) son give me a gift that is not usable?
He dragged up from his workroom a monitor, some cords and a heavy black box that looked like a prop from a s/f movie. It was almost scary, with countless thickly insulated black wires with connectors at the end. These black wires looked for all the world like tentacles spread out on the table top. Imagine a metal octopus, with long threatening appendages ready to grab your wrist and climb up your arm. I definitely blame that image on the honey bourbon. I made a short-lived vow never to drink again.
"This power box is of no use for our tests anymore. It doesn't give enough juice to the new CPU's and video cards." I'm guessing gaming CPU's are maybe a wee bit more powerful than my laptop CPU. "And this is what's wrong with the Gigabyte board," he said, pointing. A small bolt and nut had got itself wedged in a hole and refused to be ejected. I was pretty sure I'd find a way to extricate it without damaging anything – an apparently easy problem to solve. Time would tell.
Watching skilled people always amazes me – the ease with which they work. This can be carpenters, comedians, or mathematicians. In what seemed like a nano second, everything was connected and ready to be turned on. When I mentioned the lack of operating system, he made a disapproving face and said, "We're only going to look at the bios."
Of course. What was this old geezer thinking of? His fingers flew over the keyboard and information started showing on the screen that I'd never seen from a bios. And the screen changed before my old brain cells could absorb anything.
"Looks good," he said, with a hint of relief showing on his face. "And you can have the power box." Affection and admiration flowed through me, though that could have been ether Steely Dan or the wine. Or the honey bourbon. Hard to say. But I do think in retrospect it was mainly affection.
"And tomorrow, while Mom is trying to buy boots, we're going to a great discount computer store to take advantage of the Boxing Day sales. SSDs and computer cases are both on sale."
After reminiscing about the previous half century together, drinking more excellent wine, and listening to music, we went to bed. Tomorrow I would add to my stash of stuff to build a great and speedy computer. That, at least, was the plan.
Tomorrow: Chapter 3: Step one in Losing a Wife
#74
General Discussion / Re: Buster's final computer st...
Last post by buster - March 24, 2024, 12:13:58 PMSo tomorrow, for those interested, will begin the 5th and final computer story, and it will arrive one chapter a day.
March 25th: Creating a Christmas Linux Mint System from Bits and Pieces
March 25th: Creating a Christmas Linux Mint System from Bits and Pieces
#75
General Discussion / Re: Total solar eclipse, April...
Last post by buster - March 23, 2024, 04:28:16 PM"With the cloudy/rainy weather we have in April, in Ontario, I won't be surprised if the clouds/rain prevent the viewing of the eclipse."
Part of the magic of a total eclipse is the fact that it gets night time dark. Streetlights may even come on. This would happen no matter the weather.
Part of the magic of a total eclipse is the fact that it gets night time dark. Streetlights may even come on. This would happen no matter the weather.
#76
General Discussion / Re: Total solar eclipse, April...
Last post by William - March 23, 2024, 01:40:05 AMYes, I can go to any parking lot along the Lake Erie shoreline. We'll see, weather being the deciding factor.
#77
General Discussion / Re: Total solar eclipse, April...
Last post by buster - March 21, 2024, 05:38:21 PMWilliam wrote:
"Can I join you guys?
I'll bring my welder goggles."
I've read that Niagara Falls has a total as well. (Check first.) If you drive yourself, would that be easier? 404, 401, 403, QR I think. Something like that.
"Can I join you guys?
I'll bring my welder goggles."
I've read that Niagara Falls has a total as well. (Check first.) If you drive yourself, would that be easier? 404, 401, 403, QR I think. Something like that.
#78
General Discussion / Re: Buster's final computer st...
Last post by buster - March 21, 2024, 04:30:40 PMKind of you to offer Jason, but as I write I would have nothing to send to people that might not be ripped apart with different sentence structures and phrases, sometimes within minutes of sending. ( Until of cource the final copy.) You were a big factor making our submission back in 2002 such a success, including taking care of the pictures. But I don't write that way anymore.
But thanks for the offer.
But thanks for the offer.
#79
General Discussion / Re: Total solar eclipse, April...
Last post by Jason - March 20, 2024, 08:28:59 PMI'd be willing to join you on your motorcycle if you chose to take it and have a spare helmet. I just wouldn't tell my wife. 
Hopefully, it's not too cool that day.
Hopefully, it's not too cool that day. #80
General Discussion / Re: Buster's final computer st...
Last post by Jason - March 20, 2024, 08:27:35 PMQuote from: buster on March 20, 2024, 12:24:53 PMAnd while my health is fine, my dislike of work is increasing. I'm not sure if that's age or newly found wisdom. And I do hope this story turns out well. I can't imagine doing another one.
Probably wisdom! You should enjoy what you do or it's not worth doing, especially at your age. You've earned it.
Looking forward to the story!
Although I can't help you write, I could edit it for you if you wanted. To prevent any egos from being involved, I'd just check grammar and spelling. I know you're pretty good at it but sometimes another pair of eyes can help. Maybe that would make it writing a little more pleasant for you.