Re: [tlug] Computer fails to boot

[Jon Povey <jon@example.com>]

Curt Sampson wrote:
> Oh, and as a guy who's built ISPs and so on, let me share with you my
> trick. This stuff always happens to everybody, no matter how much of a
> technical wizard you are. So buy a second computer, and keep both in
> working order, and make sure your data are on both.

This is wise advice, I realise that I have adopted this policy without 
consciously realising it after many years of computer tinkering. Looking 
back I can identify how I have felt vaguely uncomfortable and vulnerable 
when tinkering with only one computer, and how I have automatically put 
my *two* laptops on the must-pack list for upcoming attempt to emigrate 
to Japan (see you at a TLUG nomikai some time soon, all being well).

At the least you need one machine to break and the other to type the 
error message into Google; this is the most valuable professional 
fault-fixing technique I learned in my first 2 years in computer support.

--
Jon Povey
jon@example.com