Dead Box No More

So, Monday morning, before work I figured out that my primary machine was dead. The boot loader was not working. I tried to repair it, but I think I messed it up worse. Did you know Knoppix will not mount an LVM partition? Neither did I. I couldn't save anything off the stupid drive. I lost the last set of Faire pictures (not the Web ones, just the full size ones). There were a bunch of blog entries (not the one's already online) gone as well. I just don't care any more. I know I'm not going to religiously back up my data. I'm just going to have to live with the knowledge that some of it is going to disappear from time to time.

I plan on using google docs for some of my longer or more in depth blog entries. The little shit, I'm going to let slide. Can you put pictures in your google docs? I'm not sure to tell you the truth. (Oh-ya, in depth is two words.)

The box (software wise) is a goner. I re-install Fedora after contemplating Ubuntu fifteen times during the day. While re-installing the OS I notice the frigging installer insists on jacking with the existing partitions on the other drive. It won't leave the second drive in the box alone. Even when I think I have it figured out, I figure out that the installer put the boot sector on the wrong frigging drive. I had to unplug the second drive and perform the install again. I'm sure there is a way to tell the install software to "Please ignore that other drive and put all your eggs in the first basket. Thank you." but I was not in the mood to put up with the installer's crap at that particular moment in time.

It is a pain in the ass getting all your settings back the way you want them. Good thing I got a lot of practice last night. I was able to whip right through most of the programs and Gnome. Why does Gnome insist on waisting half my screen with panels at the top and bottom? I mean, one is plenty. Two is too many. It probably took them for ever to get that feature working and now they are very proud of it.

I'm putting my real list of favorites, podcasts, and blogs in spreadsheets in google docs too. I know google is another company and just might take a dive like any other company in the world, but that is less likely than my computer blowing a gasket on a weekly basis. Now, I've doomed google. They are welcome to blame me for their downfall. What am I saving any of this information for anyway? It is just a safety blanket. Either I know the stuff or I do not.

Honestly, I could have kept the blog up to date. I might have updated using Nat's computer and saving things in google docs. I might have clocked out and done some updating at lunch. I have been lazy. I apologize to my six readers.

What gets me is there is nothing really wrong with the box. The trouble started when I did an update. The OS was Fedora 9 that I had upgraded from Fedora 8, which had been upgraded from fedora 7. That was a fresh install because I tried to upgrade to Fedora 7 from Fedora 6 (which was an upgrade from Fedora 5), but it killed the machine. Fedora has bitten me in the ass like this a couple times now. Ubuntu did the same thing to me if memory serves. I know for a fact that many people could not upgrade from any version of Windows to any other version of Windows without buying a whole new computer. I should count myself blessed. Fedora 10 comes out next week. I can't wait.