Are office people really that, umm shall we say...slow?

From: Dan Kolb <dankolb_at_ox.compsoc.net>
Date: Sat Oct 20 17:07:14 2001

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

On Saturday 20 Oct 2001 22:18 pm, Tony Duell wrote:
> The latter is not important to me, though. I'd much rather spend n
> _thousand_ pounds on a monitor or TV and have a properly built device,
> with proper service documetnation, and spares parts that I can go out and
> get 10 years later. But apparently I am in the minority here.

Possibly. I can't afford spending thousands of pounds on really good
equipment while being a student, though. Maybe when I get a proper job....

> What, no screwdrivers or pliers???

Well, screwdrivers, of course. But they're far more essential than a
soldering iron, so I generally don't count them when listing tools I've got.
It's a given that any self-respecting computer person has a screwdriver set,
isn't it? I don't have any pliers here - again, I haven't had a need for
them, and I've got quite a few at home.

> I've never built a PC from cards. Built enough computers from chips,
> though. So I guess I don't know how to make a PC from cards, etc. Or at
> least I don't know if I know how to do it :-)

It's the trivial 'plug it in where it fits' system, and some people still
can't manage it :)

> [1] Suicide leads, for example. I hate to mention this on a public list,
> but they're a cable with a mains plug at one end and croc clips on the
> other. Used for powering up transformers for testing, etc. Totally
> lethal, and I don't recomend that anyone here makes a set, OK....

I had something similar where I worked two summers ago - we were looking at
the mains supply on a 'scope, and we just used a plug with a couple stripped
wires coming out of it. After running it for a bit, we decided to put a piece
of plastic over the wires so they wouldn't be touched by accident, and put a
warning on a piece of paper. Actually, the company I worked at *recommended*
that we go ahead with this method (after we suggested we could try and look
at the mains supply with a 'scope). We did have to turn it off and unplug it
when the fire safety people came for an inspection, though.

Dan
- --
dankolb_at_ox.compsoc.net
 
- --I reserve the right to be completely wrong about any comments or
  opinions expressed; don't trust everything you read above--

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP 6.5.8

iQA/AwUBO9H1kpdDUnce+EgsEQK6EQCgpjUTBDoF/vF8/W7H+Dwa4nOBa2QAniQR
rdcGTbfD53PnCJUn5xuyMWQ3
=oqoo
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Received on Sat Oct 20 2001 - 17:07:14 BST