Your Pretty Linux GUI Fails and Dumps You to a Console. Now What?

az said: ..."the question of which party?" Its at Scott's, Fri. from happy hour until Sunday.

Noooooooo, I'm not going to be in the states until the 17th. Darn it I missed another one.

The 17th of February?

You get to see the panic afoot as the NTSC signals disappear.

Party at my place? Awesome!

Who's coming out to the desert to "feel the heat" with me?

Oh how I wish I could hop on out to the desert for a few months... Stuck here in PA with snow, snow, and more snow. *shiver*

Hang in there, techiem2. A heat wave (well, for February) is on the way.

Tech, I'm in North Carolina. All the cold, no snow.

Hey I'll bring the chips and dip.

Quoting: Tech, I'm in North Carolina. All the cold, no snow.

We actually got some snow in the Greensboro area, almost a half inch. Most snow we've had in several years. Everything shut down completely, it's so funny. Techiem2 would think we were all crazy if he came down from PA.

> ...but I have to admit I've never seen the button to turn it off!

They don't make it easy. Let's see: Start/Control Panel/Performance and Maintenance/System/Advanced (tab)/Startup and Recovery/Settings (button)/System Failure (category). Uncheck the Automatically restart checkbox.

I love the way Microsoft buries such things 6 layers deep or more in their system. And changes the way you get to it with every release. It makes support so much fun. :(

> Techiem2 would think we were all crazy if he came down from PA.

You mean you're not! What are you doing posting here? :)

> almost a half inch. Most snow we've had in several years.

I grew up in Upstate New York.

That wasn't snow. That was a short, heavy flurry with nothing left on the ground by noon.

And yeah, I've never seen such desperation. Schools opening 2 hours late. Sheesh.

I think people should get SNOWED IN at least once in their life, just to put things in perspective.

> I think people should get SNOWED IN at least once in their life,

Well, now you have to define snowed in. For some people that's probably anything over two inches. For others, it takes two feet. Since I'm dependent on a two wheel drive car, I'm pretty much stuck if we get over six inches of snow.

>>The 17th of February? >> >>You get to see the panic afoot as the NTSC signals disappear.

No, sorry. They pushed it back to June. http://www.dtv.gov/

Edit: If they couldn't get ready in six years, will four months more really make a difference?

I am pretty sure than the 2% of the population who is not ready now will not be ready until after the switch, if ever.

I am among that 2%, but I don't have a TV so I am not ready for the analogue signal either.

Who needs a tv when you have a computer with a tv tuner? :)

> I am among that 2%, but I don't have a TV so I am not ready for the analogue signal either.

We're also in that 2%. We have a TV (two of them in fact) but we can't get any reception where we live, so we've never bothered picking up one of the converters. If we can't pick up any analog signals, I guarantee that we won't get any of the digital ones.

[serious] The problem for many will not be solved by a converter. At least some may need a new aerial to receive the signal. Moreover, even with both hardware fixes some are just out of luck, because the digital signal will miss former marginal analog signal areas.

Those requiring an aerial fix will have less problem if the work is done in the Spring [see above caveat].

Finally, the hard deadline is NOT June 12 for everyone, as written it is a floating date determined locally with the aforementioned date the last date possible. [/serious]

> The problem for many will not be solved by a converter.

No, certainly not. The problems would be solved if the Federal Government would keep its averacious claws off of commercial technology.

Abolishing the FCC and sowing the ruins of its office buildings with salt would be a good start.

> Abolishing the FCC and sowing the ruins of its office buildings with salt would be a good start.

The FCC, the FAA, the EPA, OSHA, et.al. All of whom craft regulations with the force of law, which only Congress is authorized to do by the Constitution. :(

But, as I've noted before, that's a battle which was lost a long time ago.

> But, as I've noted before, that's a battle which was lost a long time ago.

Yeah, 1789. Aaron Burr was several years too late.

Well, with the USSA going down with the dollar, we might get to do it all over again.