Friday, May 11, 2007

Ubuntu

A couple days ago I decided to try installing XUbuntu on my wife's old computer (museum piece). Now, to fully appreciate what kind of crap it is, it's one of Compaq's screw ups. This model is assembled on a motherboard with onboard SIS video, 2 for a dollar CD-ROM and a weak PSU. This model is also famous for its constant crashes under Windows, mostly attributed to the video card. To start, I added 2 more sticks of ram since XUbuntu requires a minimum of 128MB for install and this crap had 64MB - 8MB video. After trying and failing to install the OS in silent mode and finally turning off the logo to see what the software is doing, I found out that the 2 for a dollar CD-ROM is most probably trashed. Today I replaced it with a bit newer CD-ROM that my dad had lying around. Though the no loading problem was solved, I was faced with a new problem, probably because of the video card. The install would freeze at 15% of the last step. Thanks to the power of Google, I was glad to discover that I'm not the only one with that problem and that there's a solution that's almost guaranteed to work. The solution is using a text only install. The problem is that I have to download another 700MB image, which is what I'm doing now. Hopefully this story will have a happy ending, preferably tomorrow.
My dad fixed my bike today. After almost a year I finally have a bike again. Yes, I'm that lazy. I considered buying a new bike, however, it would very likely get stolen or at least the wheels would be. My old bike, on the other hand, doesn't look like something that a thief would want. My first outing was to go buy meat in my favorite supermarket, which is unfortunately a half hour away if I walk there. Today they had 2 additions to their meat menu, one of which I bought. They make very good shish lamb and kufta which I buy every week and "grill" in my rotisserie. Today they had shish kebab made out of sweetbread. I bought it, cooked, tried one piece...I think it's too salty, also very expensive. The other novelty which I didn't buy, was a meat lollipop. No, that's not my name for it, that's what was printed on the package. What this contraption look like is actually a swirly lollipop, though 3 on a skewer instead of on. The pieces are made from long strips of meat wound into a circle. Perhaps I'll try it next week if they still have it.

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