stooopid integrated nic
All right, all right, so I'm not as bright as I thought I was. This NIC issue is beginning to drive me insane. I even found a Compaq network boot disk with drivers on it, and the thing seemed to detect the NIC, but then it failed on me anyway!! I /know/ the nic works because Windows was using it, unless of course something happened to it while I was putzing around in there. I'm about to swap out the hard drives again and see if the poor thing will work as it did before. Not really sure at this point given the CDrom issue I'm /still/ having. Hm. Maybe I should try some form of a direct connect... haha. NOT. My only other option is to copy directly to the hard drive within Selene, but I'd rather NOT do that because she's already been through enough of those hard drive swapouts as it is. She works so well I'm afraid to open her case anymore. Three years is a good age for her to simply be cared for instead of picked apart every chance her "mom" gets.
Ah, but there are some more difficult (and more expensive) options. I could buy a new NIC and install that, that way I would KNOW I had the right drivers at least. Or I could buy one of those hard drive enclosures that could run off a USB port on Selene. I could certainly copy the o/s setup that way. There's always more than one way to force a computer to do your bidding (assuming it's /possible/ to force the issue at all)...
Last night Mom was over and we had some very enlightening conversations about our interactions and our spirituality. It finally dawned on me (for the umpteenth time actually, but this time I listened and explained it to Mom somewhat successfully) that we -- are -- the -- same -- but -- different. While our personalities can be very similar (strongwilled, controlling, thoughtful, knowledge-hungry, spiritual, egotistical and self-centred amongst less pronounced traits), our brains simply do not run in the same way. I liken it to computers (how surprising). While I have a 32-bit-bus where my thoughts run parallel to each other all the time but at varying speeds depending on which unit on my motherboard they're accessing, she's got an 8-bit bus where information needs to be a tad bit slower and more logical and applicable. In other words, I think a million miles a minute and she thinks about only a few things at a time. In addition, our operating systems are entirely different. While she's off in Windows land reorganizing everything she learns into an application database with links to "how-to-and-why" files, I'm tossing all manuals aside, recreating the data itself to suit my own custom-made operating system, building drivers from scratch, and constantly installing new software not to apply what I've learned so much as to accumulate yet more data in the most logical, creative, adaptable and efficient way possible. Processing will come later for me (such as when I have a dire need to apply the knowledge directly).
Somehow, despite my roundabout way of applying knowledge and her more direct way, we tend to arrive at many of the same conclusions. But then in order to communicate this to each other we have to remember to go through all seven OSI layers to ensure proper translation. Somewhere in this process, however, our Presentation layers often get all confused and thoughts do not get converted back properly. Maybe ASCII and EBCDIC are not compatible after all. Or perhaps we have a bad cable between us, who knows. But on the rare occasions that we do feel we understand each other, we have loads of exciting fun.
Thank goodness we're running off the same voltage, for if we weren't, we'd need yet another adapter just so we could visit each other...
Well, I'm off to prepare for a trip downtown. This NIC business has my head spinning and it wants to get out in the open air for a while. Since I need some groceries anyways, I might as well indulge it. Computers will likely be here when I get back. Maybe I'll pick up a NIC while I'm at it. Can always use it later even if it turns out to be useless for my current need.
Feeling thoughtfully geeky since determination has not yet left me and thus failure is not yet certain,
~nvnohi
Ah, but there are some more difficult (and more expensive) options. I could buy a new NIC and install that, that way I would KNOW I had the right drivers at least. Or I could buy one of those hard drive enclosures that could run off a USB port on Selene. I could certainly copy the o/s setup that way. There's always more than one way to force a computer to do your bidding (assuming it's /possible/ to force the issue at all)...
Last night Mom was over and we had some very enlightening conversations about our interactions and our spirituality. It finally dawned on me (for the umpteenth time actually, but this time I listened and explained it to Mom somewhat successfully) that we -- are -- the -- same -- but -- different. While our personalities can be very similar (strongwilled, controlling, thoughtful, knowledge-hungry, spiritual, egotistical and self-centred amongst less pronounced traits), our brains simply do not run in the same way. I liken it to computers (how surprising). While I have a 32-bit-bus where my thoughts run parallel to each other all the time but at varying speeds depending on which unit on my motherboard they're accessing, she's got an 8-bit bus where information needs to be a tad bit slower and more logical and applicable. In other words, I think a million miles a minute and she thinks about only a few things at a time. In addition, our operating systems are entirely different. While she's off in Windows land reorganizing everything she learns into an application database with links to "how-to-and-why" files, I'm tossing all manuals aside, recreating the data itself to suit my own custom-made operating system, building drivers from scratch, and constantly installing new software not to apply what I've learned so much as to accumulate yet more data in the most logical, creative, adaptable and efficient way possible. Processing will come later for me (such as when I have a dire need to apply the knowledge directly).
Somehow, despite my roundabout way of applying knowledge and her more direct way, we tend to arrive at many of the same conclusions. But then in order to communicate this to each other we have to remember to go through all seven OSI layers to ensure proper translation. Somewhere in this process, however, our Presentation layers often get all confused and thoughts do not get converted back properly. Maybe ASCII and EBCDIC are not compatible after all. Or perhaps we have a bad cable between us, who knows. But on the rare occasions that we do feel we understand each other, we have loads of exciting fun.
Thank goodness we're running off the same voltage, for if we weren't, we'd need yet another adapter just so we could visit each other...
Well, I'm off to prepare for a trip downtown. This NIC business has my head spinning and it wants to get out in the open air for a while. Since I need some groceries anyways, I might as well indulge it. Computers will likely be here when I get back. Maybe I'll pick up a NIC while I'm at it. Can always use it later even if it turns out to be useless for my current need.
Feeling thoughtfully geeky since determination has not yet left me and thus failure is not yet certain,
~nvnohi
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