January 16, 2004

• Dead Things

  My computer died last night. I had been reading my email and the screen started blinking a little faster than once per second. Nothing would respond to the mouse or keyboard, so I had to power down. I switched operating systems, but the problem was independent of which hard drive was in the computer. It would try to start up, the screen would start blinking and I would have to power down manually.

  The problem continued this morning.

  Before that, my Am0.us Web site stopped responding. It isn't healthy again yet, but at least the address now resolves.

  But the strangest one of all was the phlak (Professional Hacker's Linux Assault Kit) Web site. They have an ISO of a DVD for an improved stand-alone Linux system similar to Knoppix that was featured on Tech TV. It seemed like a good idea to download the ISO and burn it to DVD+R and then play with it for a while. The estimated download time was 1:31 but the system kept getting slower and slower until, when I reached 99% at 2:40, it stopped.

  I tried to start the download again, to get that last fraction of 1% that I was missing. I got an Error 404. That means the browser couldn't find the site. Then I got a message saying that no such Web site existed.

  I guess lots of people were watching Tech TV. Although there were four mirror sites for downloading in the U.S. and two in Europe, I suspect they were overwhelmed and pulled the plug.

  ISPs will pull the plug on sites that exceed their allowance of bandwidth. Some ISPs are very unforgiving and very unreasonable. They don't advertise in advance that they will pull the plug on you -- they just do it, giving you no chance to buy additional bandwidth before being shut down.

  It sucks.

  And I was so close to finishing.

  Now, this evening, my computer is working again. But I don't trust it.

  • 00:01
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