Feanor

So I have got this old PC and I wanted to install some Linux distro on it to give it away. No way.
After a whole day trying and trying several distros I finally gave up and installed an old Win2K disk I had in a drawer. The most annoying thing ever of Linux distros is the X11 - Xorg auto-discovery and auto-setting that does not work at all or picks a too high or too low resolution. The related font rendering is also annoying.
Distros that failed to install:
Xubuntu - asked to insert CD to install Grub while I was installing from Alternate CD. Tried the Live CD that spit errors few moments after boot (it works on the laptop then).
Salix - this was the only one that allowed to install and boot into an user session, pity it kept complaining of X wrong settings and kept probing the monitor at every boot, plus I could not set the splash at the same resolution as the user session. Fonts were either huge or too small.
Zenwalk - could not configure X at the end of install.

In Windows you get it installed with a basic resolution, that allows you to pick 640x480 or 800x600 and few colors, then you can install the proper driver for your motherboard and once installed you can reconfigure resolution, color depth and refresh frequency. Once it is set, it is kept since the log in screen and across the user sessions.

In Linux you must manually edit a "conf" text file (which is not easy if the system does not boot).
I hope things are easier with more recent hardware.

Note for those vintage hardware lovers out there: when you install Win2k you can't update the system unless you install Service Pack 4 and Internet Explorer 6 before connecting to Microsoft Update.

This morning around 9 there was a nice earthquake here where I live. I was considering to run down the stairs to get out but fortunately it stopped before I could reach the door.

Edit, another earthquake tonight.

It happened again. The quick release cycle is killing Mozilla, at least for Windows XP.
After the previous bug on Thunderbird 9 which required an update to be fixed, now all versions of Firefox between 9 and 12 are broken over Windows XP when you don't have installed one of these two components:
.NET Framework 2.0 SP1 or SP2, or:
Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package

The first gets installed if you select it from Windows Update, the second comes with some old software which required that library. In case you don't have those, whenever you open Firefox you get three "side-by-side" errors in Windows event log about "Microsoft.VC80.CRT" e "browsercomps.dll", Firefox can't load the default home page and some https certificates are broken so you can't access the sites that use them. I don't know if there are crashes or other issues.

To fix the problem you must either install one of the above components or wait until Mozilla releases a fix for all Firefox versions (release, beta, aurora).

Details here: Bug 713167

Edit:
It seems the bug have been patched in versions 10(beta3), 11(aurora) and 12(nightly).

I got the computer from the store and they said the RAM was defective and they replaced it. I guess I will never know what they actually did. Anyway, I reinstalled Windows 7, plus drivers, plus updates, plus all software then I restored data saved on an external disk. Boooring.

Meanwhile I managed to get a cold so tonight I will get an aspirin and then I will go to bed early.
Anyway, happy new year everybody.

No, I am not "bi" like bisexual.
My brother just called and his second child was born tonight.
So I now I have got a niece and a nephew.
It seems everybody is fine and the baby's name will be Marco.
More news later.