allajunaki
Journeyman
Well it may not sound that dramatic to non-geeks, But imagine 2 weeks without computers, esp. to guy who uses 8 hrs or so everyday?
It started 3 days before exams. I was busy cramming for my Second Year Bsc Comp Sci. Exams, i was cursing myself for all the times i put that darn book aside. Music was the only soul soother, ( I study with some soft music On).
On the fateful day i got up by ten in the morning (im a Nocturnal Creature). Switched on my comp and every geeks worst nightmare!, My rig didnt boot!! It gave some wierd error (BSOD in XP Pro!!). I tried to calm myself by saying that it could be that darn Tv-Tuner card acting up again.. I restarted my system, This time it started, but it took an awesome 30 Mins to startup!! (Amazing as my sys usually boots in 40 Secs Flat!). I had to wait another 15 Mis for explorer to start. All this time My disk was getting Thrashed like hell. My first guess was a virus, But i ruled that out as the problems didnt seem to be one related to Virus.
Cursing Microsoft for the macroheadache of reinstalling my Xp ( My was Highly ciustomised with Style XP and Flyakite Panther Pack and custom bootscreen selective services startup etc...). So suspending my studies till noon , i went on to reinstall XP.
Popped in the Xtreme Xp Pro ( My Customised Xp pro Bootable) Disc i gave the option to re-format my HDD and reinstall on C:, now after 20% i got an error message that gave me shiver deep down my spine, "Unable to Format your Disc, Cannot Read from Disc". That means HDD was failing !
My HDD was failing on me, Data was not critical, but the fact that i was staying alone in a single room house with my comp acting as my media hub didnt help. Now i dont have an audio player, or video player, or my TV (System has a T.V tuner). No net also..and since i was staying alone i had no company. That was like a death warrant for me, 2 weeks of exam and not even one single way to take time off...!
Just when things seemed bleak, I stumbled across one of the CD's containing "Knopix Linux". For those who are linuxically challenged (pardon my english), Knopix is a direct boot Linux, That is it loads directly from CD to RAM and runs entirley from RAM and CD. But this version of knopix was distributed with one of the magazine, but it lacked some of the stuff, But had a Burner tool(K3B). So i fired up the k3b and then removed the knopix CD (provided by mag) and burned the version provided by Digit in their Linux DVD. During the entire process of burning the Knopix ISO from Digit DVD, The OS was running ENTIRELY from RAM!!! ( DVD drive had the Digit DVD and Burner had The fresh knopix that was getting written!). With some pestering, i managed to get a cd written from my friend containing som of my fav. Mp3's.
Used the sytem for a day. Then I realized that i needed some sort of space to store some of my Preferences and some applications, as a newbie to linux i wanted to install winamp (xmms is good, but as a newbie i childishly wanted Winamp). Now the problem is RAM is volatile, So my Creative Muvo 128MB Comes to my rescue!. So for next 2 weeks i end up with a 128 Mb "make shift HDD" (I was using to listen to Music when i was on move).
Thus when Windows declared my system 'Unusable' the lil Tux managed to keep my morals high. This lil incident also made a lil splash in my friend's circle, as noone had heard a system run with no HDD ( Eversince 286 era) .
For 2 weeks my system config goes like this:
P4 1.6Ghz @ 2133 Mhz
128 x 2 MB Dual Channel DDR 266Mhz (Hynix)
--128 MB Hard Disk (Creative Muvo).--
Asus P4G8X chipset (Intel 7205 chipset).
MSI Video Card (GeForce4 Ti 4400) with 128MB DDR.
Funny part was my Video Card had same space as my HardDisk and Ram was twice as much as my HDD!!
Oh yeah those two weeks I could run My Mp3's and Videos(Divx,Mpeg etc) and DVD's too. Net connection didnt work (I was Using Mobile GPRS Internet for which I need the IR port to work, which didnt work). Also TV Tuner couldnt be configures ( No time As I had an exam to write remember).
Now lookin back at those days (happened last April, not so long ago LOL) it was not all that bad, I still ended up getting 74% In Second Year Exams (Which isnt all that shabby) and now system configuration goes something like this.
PIV 1.6Ghz @ 2133Mhz
128MB x 2 Dual Channel DDR Ram @ 266hz
--200 GB Seagate 7200 Rpm with 8Mb Cache--
Asus P4G8X (Intel 7205 Chipset) MoBo.
Msi Vid Card (GeForce4 ti 4400 with 128 Mb DDR)
40x12x48x Asus Burner
16x LiteOn DVD ROM
17" samsung syncmaster 763DFX
Altec Lansing ATP-3 2.1 Speaks
Ibox Cabinet
Mercury 300W PSU
--Not too shabby for a 2+ years old PC eh?
My Defective 40Gb was still under warranty so Gave it off to the dealer for 1800 Bucks and got Seagate 200Gb for (7000-1800) .
Now I have dedicated 10 Gb for Linux, which is my OS of Choice.
I use XP for Hi-Speed Net (I managed to get 512Kbps Connection,dont ask how,and no i didnt have to kill anyone,LOL).So all Movies and Music is D/L via XP
In Linux i get 64Kbps, So i use for general browsing as Font Rendering is better.
I prefer Linux for Media Playback as I feel Linux Sounds better.
I Use Linux for video Playback.
I use XP Pro to play Doom3 and NFS UG.
--In case u are wondering, I use Linux Fedora Core1 with Linux Kernel v 2.22.1.2115 (PCQ Linux 2004).
And I apologise for such a BIG post[/b]
It started 3 days before exams. I was busy cramming for my Second Year Bsc Comp Sci. Exams, i was cursing myself for all the times i put that darn book aside. Music was the only soul soother, ( I study with some soft music On).
On the fateful day i got up by ten in the morning (im a Nocturnal Creature). Switched on my comp and every geeks worst nightmare!, My rig didnt boot!! It gave some wierd error (BSOD in XP Pro!!). I tried to calm myself by saying that it could be that darn Tv-Tuner card acting up again.. I restarted my system, This time it started, but it took an awesome 30 Mins to startup!! (Amazing as my sys usually boots in 40 Secs Flat!). I had to wait another 15 Mis for explorer to start. All this time My disk was getting Thrashed like hell. My first guess was a virus, But i ruled that out as the problems didnt seem to be one related to Virus.
Cursing Microsoft for the macroheadache of reinstalling my Xp ( My was Highly ciustomised with Style XP and Flyakite Panther Pack and custom bootscreen selective services startup etc...). So suspending my studies till noon , i went on to reinstall XP.
Popped in the Xtreme Xp Pro ( My Customised Xp pro Bootable) Disc i gave the option to re-format my HDD and reinstall on C:, now after 20% i got an error message that gave me shiver deep down my spine, "Unable to Format your Disc, Cannot Read from Disc". That means HDD was failing !
My HDD was failing on me, Data was not critical, but the fact that i was staying alone in a single room house with my comp acting as my media hub didnt help. Now i dont have an audio player, or video player, or my TV (System has a T.V tuner). No net also..and since i was staying alone i had no company. That was like a death warrant for me, 2 weeks of exam and not even one single way to take time off...!
Just when things seemed bleak, I stumbled across one of the CD's containing "Knopix Linux". For those who are linuxically challenged (pardon my english), Knopix is a direct boot Linux, That is it loads directly from CD to RAM and runs entirley from RAM and CD. But this version of knopix was distributed with one of the magazine, but it lacked some of the stuff, But had a Burner tool(K3B). So i fired up the k3b and then removed the knopix CD (provided by mag) and burned the version provided by Digit in their Linux DVD. During the entire process of burning the Knopix ISO from Digit DVD, The OS was running ENTIRELY from RAM!!! ( DVD drive had the Digit DVD and Burner had The fresh knopix that was getting written!). With some pestering, i managed to get a cd written from my friend containing som of my fav. Mp3's.
Used the sytem for a day. Then I realized that i needed some sort of space to store some of my Preferences and some applications, as a newbie to linux i wanted to install winamp (xmms is good, but as a newbie i childishly wanted Winamp). Now the problem is RAM is volatile, So my Creative Muvo 128MB Comes to my rescue!. So for next 2 weeks i end up with a 128 Mb "make shift HDD" (I was using to listen to Music when i was on move).
Thus when Windows declared my system 'Unusable' the lil Tux managed to keep my morals high. This lil incident also made a lil splash in my friend's circle, as noone had heard a system run with no HDD ( Eversince 286 era) .
For 2 weeks my system config goes like this:
P4 1.6Ghz @ 2133 Mhz
128 x 2 MB Dual Channel DDR 266Mhz (Hynix)
--128 MB Hard Disk (Creative Muvo).--
Asus P4G8X chipset (Intel 7205 chipset).
MSI Video Card (GeForce4 Ti 4400) with 128MB DDR.
Funny part was my Video Card had same space as my HardDisk and Ram was twice as much as my HDD!!
Oh yeah those two weeks I could run My Mp3's and Videos(Divx,Mpeg etc) and DVD's too. Net connection didnt work (I was Using Mobile GPRS Internet for which I need the IR port to work, which didnt work). Also TV Tuner couldnt be configures ( No time As I had an exam to write remember).
Now lookin back at those days (happened last April, not so long ago LOL) it was not all that bad, I still ended up getting 74% In Second Year Exams (Which isnt all that shabby) and now system configuration goes something like this.
PIV 1.6Ghz @ 2133Mhz
128MB x 2 Dual Channel DDR Ram @ 266hz
--200 GB Seagate 7200 Rpm with 8Mb Cache--
Asus P4G8X (Intel 7205 Chipset) MoBo.
Msi Vid Card (GeForce4 ti 4400 with 128 Mb DDR)
40x12x48x Asus Burner
16x LiteOn DVD ROM
17" samsung syncmaster 763DFX
Altec Lansing ATP-3 2.1 Speaks
Ibox Cabinet
Mercury 300W PSU
--Not too shabby for a 2+ years old PC eh?
My Defective 40Gb was still under warranty so Gave it off to the dealer for 1800 Bucks and got Seagate 200Gb for (7000-1800) .
Now I have dedicated 10 Gb for Linux, which is my OS of Choice.
I use XP for Hi-Speed Net (I managed to get 512Kbps Connection,dont ask how,and no i didnt have to kill anyone,LOL).So all Movies and Music is D/L via XP
In Linux i get 64Kbps, So i use for general browsing as Font Rendering is better.
I prefer Linux for Media Playback as I feel Linux Sounds better.
I Use Linux for video Playback.
I use XP Pro to play Doom3 and NFS UG.
--In case u are wondering, I use Linux Fedora Core1 with Linux Kernel v 2.22.1.2115 (PCQ Linux 2004).
And I apologise for such a BIG post[/b]
