Progress, though slow...

I picked up a Buslink USB disk (20 GB) while in Houston, and used it yesterday to make a copy of the eSlate's drive. I also spent some time trying to move my mail over to the VAIO. I've been using Mozilla mail, which I like better than Outl(ugh!)k, but which still has some funny - or at least suspicious - behavior.

In any event, I installed Mandrake Linux 8.0 on the eSlate, after a couple of false starts (somehow, in among the CMOS settings, the maximum setting on the power management was reset, as was use of the memory cache). Turning both the power management and memory cache off allowed the OS to be installed on the third try. The out-of-the-box X Window display is a lot better than the one I got in version 7.2, but it still has problems (come to think of it, I didn't try to move any windows on the screen, so I really have no basis for saying it's a lot better, but I digress...I really don't care, at this point).

I started to read The Word on the Street, by John McWhorter, who's one of the few linguists in the world, it seems, capable of writing for an audience outside of his field. So far, he seems to be confirming much of what I've felt for a long time: languages change and slavish reliance (insistence?) upon old and outdated forms is silly.

That brings up a question: When has maintaining such forms ever been successful? And for how long?

Anyway, I don't really have the time to read right now. I've got to start paying serious attention to what's going on around here. Paperwork. Yech.

Cheers...

Actually, I do care...

Not having a GUI on the eSlate is a pain in the butt, so I've been fiddling with it on and off since this morning. (More off than on, thankfully, but still...)

The location of the server is no longer in /usr/X11R6/bin, and I suspect the whole mechanism by which X understands how to operate has changed between versions 7.2 and 8.0 of the Mandrake distribution. Who knows, maybe they'll have something on their web site? After all, the printed documentation packed with this version is head-and-shoulders above that I've seen enclosed with previous versions from various publishers. (Although that should not be taken as too much of a compliment, as most of the Linux docs I've seen suck dead bunny rabbits through soda straws. but I digress...)

The good news is that a reinstall of version 8.0 takes about 20 minutes by the clock, if one does not take account of the time spent picking which packages to install and which to leave on the CDs.

Cheers...

Plod, plod, plod...

I went and found the page that describes how to install a "replacement" SVGA X11 server for Mandrake Linux 7.2. It doesn't seem to be very helpful with version 8.0.

I logged into an openprojects server on IRC, but trying to get help on any of the Linux channels there can be a daunting experience. I tried, though. No joy.

So I am basically reduced to running XFdrake as root and seeing if any particular combination of driver (the eSlate uses a Lynx EM (generic) chipset) and monitor will work. The bad news is that a bad monitor selection will hang the machine (Ctrl-Alt-Del will reboot it, though). I'm starting to do this "scientifically," meaning I'm keeping track of the ones that definitely don't work.

Sigh.

Cheers...