Pingoouiiiiiiiins, from baaaaabyanimals...

Talk about a nice use of IMAX!
(Where will the IMAX version be shown, BTW?)

ETA, 16:55 CST Sun 05 Jun 2005: In other news - another fortnight, another bunch of computer problems.

Thanks to all who have helped with previous ones, which I posted on:

• Sat 05 Mar 2005


• Sun 27 Mar 2005


• Sat 16 Apr 2005


• Sat 29 Apr 2005


• Sun 15 May 2005

Here's a wee bit of an update:

• 1. TinyLinux on a P5-120 notebook: I got it installed, but as there were about 2Mb of bad blocks out of 810Mb, I decided to do a low-level format using SpinRite (thanks especially to dashamus for talking me through the process). The scan time was reported at just over 400 hours, and it is a bit over halfway through right now.


• 2. Display problems on ThinkPads: Fox Computers in town gave me an estimate of $500 for Earrame and said it probably wasn't worth it, as I could get a comparable T-series ThinkPad for $800 (actually, I can get one for $700). They suggested I check with Kansas State University, who might be able to do it at cost (with no labor charge).


• 3. ThinkPad spontaneous shutdowns: I've sent Numerramar back for repairs a third time (fourth total). They originally tried to bill me, but now it seems they are going to count the repair as covered under the 90-day warranty extension on all warranty-serviced parts.

And now, the new problems:

Bad Blocks II: Electric Traskaloo

The bad news: Numerramar's drive has bad sectors, and I am going to have to at least reinstall (if not reformat) the OS to get over 20Gb of data off the scratch partition (E:).
The good news: IBM has agreed to replace the drive at no cost and send me the "bad" drive back to recover myself. The computer now has no warranty, but I don't have to send the old drive back.
The ugly news: In the worst case, that drive is not only unusable but irrecoverable. In the best case, I can reinstall the OS and get all the data back, even the little incremental bit of data (mostly IM logs) from the WinXP Pro boot partition (C:). In the most likely case, I will lose those couple of weeks of data from late April and be able to get the rest.

All Stored Up and No Place To Go: too many HDs, not enough ThinkPads

Now... the question is: where am I going to put that 60Gb drive?
I've too many drives as it is, and not enough ThinkPads.
Any ideas? External bays, internal bays, I'll try anything as long as it doesn't involve the liability of getting more ThinkPads right now.

Unchain My Art: Wireless and Monitors

The slots on my CentreCom 8-port 10-base-T Ethernet hub are filling up, as have those on my 4-port keyboard-video-mouse (KVM) switch. Meanwhile, there is plenty of room on my home 802.11b WiFi hub (a Buffalo AirStation access point).

However, I'm short some WiFi PC-MCIA cards and an empty KVM spot.
Any idea where I can find a wireless NIC retirement village? Also, is it possible to learn this powerdaisy-chain KVMs? If not, is there anything I can do (short of buying an exorbitant 8-port KVM) to get more systems on the monitor?
One idea I've toyed with is to get some PCI/PC-MCIA adapters, WiFi cards, and start a second KVM using an El Crappo monitor and a spare keyboard and mouse. I'm not really that keen in irradiating my home office and potentially myself, though: there are already 6 desktops (2 Macs, 2 COMPAQs, 2 Gateways) and a ThinkPad 600E that I put out to pasture in that room.


--
Banazir