Re: [tlug] Computer fails to boot

["David Bernat" <dbernat@example.com>]

"Curt Sampson" <cjs@example.com> wrote:

>In terms of getting your machine back up and running, you have several
>choices:
>
>    1. Re-install on the current disk, and restore any lost information
>    from backups. This only works if you have backups, of course. (Well,
>    there's a reasonable chance you could just re-install and still have
>    your data, actually; but it's your decision if you want to risk
>    losing it.)

I believe that I have managed to back up all the essential data onto an
external hard disk. I will be attaching the external hard disk to
another machine later for confirmation.

Then I intend to install Kubuntu 8.1 on the laptop.

>    3. If you really need to get the current system back up and running,
>    seek personal help. As in, get someone who knows what he's doing to
>    put his hands on the machine and do his thing. Your main problem
>    with fixing it with e-mail support, or any other non-hands-on
>    support, for that matter, from what I've seen in this conversation,
>    is that you just happen to be lacking about twenty years of
>    experience with all the silly little cultural things that make
>    programmers make software the way that they do. And that gap is
>    what's frustrating both you and the folks helping you.

I am perfectly willing to read the messages on TLUG in an attempt to
learn how Linux operates under the hood.

That said, I am not a professional programmer. Elliptical references that
resemble MS XP error messages expressed in haiku or tanka are not at all
helpful.

Now if I had been told to read up on mount on Monday or been told that my
problem is explicitly XXX, here's what you need to do a search on
Google for, I'd be happy and things would have moved on a lot faster.

>As far as the "intellectual pursuits" go, the reason people are pushing
>you this way is that they'd like to help you develop the tools to solve
>this problem yourself. (See, "understanding the programmer (so-called)
>mind," above.) Without these sorts of cognitive tools, solving this kind
>of problem is bound to be very frustrating, and probably in the end a
>matter of chance. I can't really say, because I don't know your business
>situation, but in the long run developing them may be a worthwhile
>investment. But, as with learning a language, it's not a quick process,
>and thus, you may want to leave it for the moment. But if you're going
>to learn this stuff, don't put it off until the next crisis; put in a
>bit of time every week when you don't need the skills, in the hope that
>the next crisis is far enough away that by the time you reach it, you'll
>have developed what you need to be able to deal with it.

If Linux is going to migrate beyond the cool tool phase, developers of
the OS will be forced to deal with people who aren't professional
programmers, and have no desire to be one.

Tools are for use, not just for admiration.