Hi leadbelly,
Yeah, I know. We heard it all the way over here!
-Chris
wah wah wah...thanks for breaking the stereotype that all shop techs are funny...
Old PC DOS error message...
xxxx.SYS not found System Halted. It could have been a .SYS, .BAT, or even a .COM file
My favorite message was the one that Mentor Graphics used to display when I tried to twist the layout rules in a new and unique manner to get around Motorola's design rules on a test board.......
"ERROR, too many errors."
Old Farts will know to boil water in a can on the fire and throw a handful of grounds in, take it off the fire.
It's a bit crunchy. Throwing an egg in binds some of the grounds, but it is cheaper to strain it through a hat.
Hard to believe you live 2-3 days away from a $13 MrCoffee machine. Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio??
Manuel's process also scales nicely. I do basically the same thing, but with a pound of coffee and about 2 gallons of water, through a giant commercial-size filter in an old collander sitting on a 2-gallon plastic bucket. (I also pause for ~12 hours between "throw in the grounds and stir" and "pour through the filter.") The product goes in the fridge, lasts me about a week, and just like chili or lasagna, tastes even better the next day.
A notice in my email today says that the next batch of small transformers from Edcor will arrive today. They are for vacuum tube variable gain amplifier experiments that may end up in an audio compressor or music synthesizer.
Sometimes a spark will start the brain digging up old memories that have been sleeping for many years. Fragments appear quickly, but it takes a few days to dig out the whole memory. The "system halted" message would appear when DOS couldn't find the CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file. At least in my case it was because the dummy would insert the 5 1/4 inch boot floppy disk, but fail to close the drive door. When your PC only has one floppy drive a lot of disk swapping is needed.....1982 or 1983.
Sometimes a spark will start the brain digging up old memories that have been sleeping for many years. Fragments appear quickly, but it takes a few days to dig out the whole memory. The "system halted" message would appear when DOS couldn't find the CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file. At least in my case it was because the dummy would insert the 5 1/4 inch boot floppy disk, but fail to close the drive door. When your PC only has one floppy drive a lot of disk swapping is needed.....1982 or 1983.
Talking of DOS and old OS.
I find it amazing how many people are still using Windows XP despite it being obsolete and no longer supported.
It can be a nuisance as some of my software needs .net framework version 4 to run.
Just to complicate things anything after version 4 wont run on XP.
You can pick up Win 10 keys for just a few pounds on ebay.
Windows 10 has settled down now and not so many bugs and is at least mostly secure.
I find it amazing how many people are still using Windows XP despite it being obsolete and no longer supported.
It can be a nuisance as some of my software needs .net framework version 4 to run.
Just to complicate things anything after version 4 wont run on XP.
You can pick up Win 10 keys for just a few pounds on ebay.
Windows 10 has settled down now and not so many bugs and is at least mostly secure.
My Edcor transformers arrived. I opened the box, and then promptly set the transformers outside in the sun. It's 30 F outside and the house is closed up. They smell like an open can of varnish!
I have several computers. All but two run W7 and most will likely stay that way even if a free upgrade to 10 is offered, as they are dedicated to one or two tasks each, run old hardware, and are not connected to the outside world.
Unfortunately there are many software packages, especially in the music creation world, but also electrical engineering, where only two options exist, Mac or Windows. Since all of my machines are DIY, often from cast off or outdated parts, that narrows it down to Windows.
True, many of the serious bugs in W10 are gone, but MS's policies are getting worse. I can be working in a DAW with several processes running with my CPU meter running in the 70% or above range. For no apparent reason it will jump to 100% and audio dropouts will occur. There are two reasons for this and as of an update earlier this year, neither can be turned off.
1) Cortana is constantly watching everything you type, and will randomly pop up a window offering suggestions about something related to what you typed. Often these are useless guesses, like getting baby name suggestions when you type in a mode like Dorian, or references to a reality TV show for Lydian. This an invasion of my privacy at the least, and a waste of CPU power.
2) Most of the music DAWs and related software want internet connectivity for immediate downloads, updates, and authorization. Many Like Ableton Live have so much downloadable content available from many sources that it's is impossible to keep it all local, so I get what I need as I need it.
The answer to this invasion is to keep the Ethernet cable out of the PC until I need something, then plug it in......only to find that ALL my bandwidth is sucked up by W10 updates being downloaded in the "background." This is enough to cause stuttering if I'm streaming a 4K video.
Once they are downloaded the "install" window pops up, which does offer several 10 minute delays before a reboot WILL occur. Unfortunately the window pops up BEHIND Ableton so that it is not visible. Miss a "delay reboot" message and you WILL LOSE any unsaved work.
I used to be able to turn Cortana off permanently, but that choice vanished somewhere around July. Telling her to go away, even with profanity, only delays the inevitable. I moved all my DAW stuff off to an older W7 machine with a 5th gen CPU. Unfortunately it will not run my video editing software (Blender and Resolve) very well due to the lack of a video card, and drivers for the newer cards are not available for W7. Any Intel CPU after 6th or 7th gen REQUIRES W10 for the advanced hardware features to work.
After W7 got good enough I did ditch XP. My last working XP machine died a couple years ago.
I have several computers. All but two run W7 and most will likely stay that way even if a free upgrade to 10 is offered, as they are dedicated to one or two tasks each, run old hardware, and are not connected to the outside world.
Unfortunately there are many software packages, especially in the music creation world, but also electrical engineering, where only two options exist, Mac or Windows. Since all of my machines are DIY, often from cast off or outdated parts, that narrows it down to Windows.
True, many of the serious bugs in W10 are gone, but MS's policies are getting worse. I can be working in a DAW with several processes running with my CPU meter running in the 70% or above range. For no apparent reason it will jump to 100% and audio dropouts will occur. There are two reasons for this and as of an update earlier this year, neither can be turned off.
1) Cortana is constantly watching everything you type, and will randomly pop up a window offering suggestions about something related to what you typed. Often these are useless guesses, like getting baby name suggestions when you type in a mode like Dorian, or references to a reality TV show for Lydian. This an invasion of my privacy at the least, and a waste of CPU power.
2) Most of the music DAWs and related software want internet connectivity for immediate downloads, updates, and authorization. Many Like Ableton Live have so much downloadable content available from many sources that it's is impossible to keep it all local, so I get what I need as I need it.
The answer to this invasion is to keep the Ethernet cable out of the PC until I need something, then plug it in......only to find that ALL my bandwidth is sucked up by W10 updates being downloaded in the "background." This is enough to cause stuttering if I'm streaming a 4K video.
Once they are downloaded the "install" window pops up, which does offer several 10 minute delays before a reboot WILL occur. Unfortunately the window pops up BEHIND Ableton so that it is not visible. Miss a "delay reboot" message and you WILL LOSE any unsaved work.
I used to be able to turn Cortana off permanently, but that choice vanished somewhere around July. Telling her to go away, even with profanity, only delays the inevitable. I moved all my DAW stuff off to an older W7 machine with a 5th gen CPU. Unfortunately it will not run my video editing software (Blender and Resolve) very well due to the lack of a video card, and drivers for the newer cards are not available for W7. Any Intel CPU after 6th or 7th gen REQUIRES W10 for the advanced hardware features to work.
After W7 got good enough I did ditch XP. My last working XP machine died a couple years ago.
If it's been a while, you may want to look at Linux again. The only thing i REQUIRE windows for are a couple of games...
I use Mixx instead of Traktor now. LMMS is cross platform, Ardour, Hydrogen. so many choices, and Blender supports Linux. For most thing that need windows, the latest wine-staging release runs 90% of what I've tried with it.
I'm now running a Ryzen7 2700X, Nvidia 980ti, and 16GB of RAM... And of course NVMe SSD If Linux didn't exist, I'd build a Hackintosh.
I use Mixx instead of Traktor now. LMMS is cross platform, Ardour, Hydrogen. so many choices, and Blender supports Linux. For most thing that need windows, the latest wine-staging release runs 90% of what I've tried with it.
I'm now running a Ryzen7 2700X, Nvidia 980ti, and 16GB of RAM... And of course NVMe SSD
If Linux didn't exist, I'd build a Hackintosh.
Do you use cream or sugar in your coffee? I don't so I like to have it fresh so the tannins don't put me off. I also like it strong. One cup turns me into a marathon runner.
There are a few of you out there but my experiments have not had that positive effect. I should tell you though, I now drink very little coffee. I used to be a Javapig but now maybe two cups a week; often zero. I have to keep the beans in the freezer or they would stale by the time I finish.
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Well, lets just say that the last Linux version that I actually USED DAILY was Suse 9.3, so, yes it's been a while.
I have taken an idle PC's and put the Linux "distro of choice" on it several times, and Ardour was the first program I loaded. It has evolved into a decent DAW, but is still 2 or 3 years behind Ableton Live. I have also invested in some Live only hardware, so I'm stuck with Live for a while. I have not tried to run it under Wine in years, but the talk on the net says No-go. My current thinking is to stay with a non networked W7 PC for music, but set up a shadow PC with W10 for getting updates and stuff.
A Linux PC might be a possibility for Blender and Resolve (video). I have been collecting the parts for a new PC when the price is right, I have a core I7-7700 motherboard and 1 TB SSD and some random spinning disks for mass storage. No video board yet. What is the current Linux "distro of choice" for such use.
That's looking more and more like a reality. I have never spent more than 15 minutes at a time in front of a MAC since the little beige boxes disappeared from the plant where I worked and Dell's took their place. If you look at ANYONE who uses Ableton in a studio or live music environment, it's always on an Apple computer. There is a reason for that, stability. Microsoft doesn't seem to care about the computer music market, and neither does Google, so......I'm sure that there is a suitable idle PC around here somewhere, whether it is usable or not I don't know.
I get frustrated easily and I think Mac is not only more intuitive, it's more stable as you say George. My blood pressure stays in check. More than one misbehaving item has met an untimely demise when I was not in a coddling mood.
Don't be afraid George, come over to the other side. You won't look back.
Don't be afraid George, come over to the other side. You won't look back.
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Come to the dark side, Luke.....
I have used and liked OS2, older versions of Linux, and several versions of DOS and Windows all the way back to W1.3 on Dos 3.2, and DOS 1.something by itself on a genuine IBM 5 slot PC in 1982. MAC OS, only at work and that was a long time ago.
I would have no problem running 3 different OS's if that made life easier, but MAC OS would probably be the least used. I'm basically a cheapskate, so actually buying an Apple product is unlikely, although I did buy my wife an iPhone, two iPADs, and the flippin watch. The iPAD I got her is not even a year old, and Apple already says it's not supported for the latest version of IOS, but her old iPhone 7 is! That attitude is what turns me away from Apple. My iPAD didn't make the cut either but it is 5 years old.
Let's just say that I have tested the aerodynamics of some hardware....mostly keyboards and a few mice.
XP3 is still a good OS. I use it a lot. And as for dotnet support - well, dotnet is a truly awful thing. It should be banished....
That said, W10 is quite good - turn off the update services and expunge cortana though.
This makes it easy....
GitHub - Disassembler0/Win10-Initial-Setup-Script: PowerShell script for automation of routine tasks done after fresh installations of Windows 10 / Server 2016 / Server 2019
That said, W10 is quite good - turn off the update services and expunge cortana though.
This makes it easy....
GitHub - Disassembler0/Win10-Initial-Setup-Script: PowerShell script for automation of routine tasks done after fresh installations of Windows 10 / Server 2016 / Server 2019