This is what happens when you IM me and haven’t followed the rules.
(23:19:03) Spin Dr HHF: hello there
(23:19:09) Spin Dr HHF: u are an IF staff?
(23:19:11) SethandCheese: no
(23:19:23) Spin Dr HHF: oh, but u can work IF?
(23:19:26) SethandCheese: no
(23:19:38) Spin Dr HHF: ah, i will make it worth ur while 
(23:19:39) SethandCheese: no
(23:20:01) Spin Dr HHF: lol, i am a rich person
(23:20:09) SethandCheese: qu’est-ce que tu dis
(23:20:19) Spin Dr HHF: english please
(23:20:23) SethandCheese: becasse
(23:20:29) SethandCheese: on ne parle pas une vraie langue?
(23:21:16) Spin Dr HHF: ah english
(23:21:19) SethandCheese: hablas como si fueras un mono sin un madre
(23:21:26) Spin Dr HHF: bye
(23:21:32) SethandCheese: ta ta
(23:21:37) SethandCheese: ciao
(23:22:13) SethandCheese: pourquoi est-ce que tu est partie?
(23:22:36) SethandCheese: pourquoi pourquoi? tu me manques
(23:22:46) Spin Dr HHF: i dont understand u!
(23:23:21) SethandCheese: necesitas coger una vida o no tendras éxito cuando estas mas mayor
(23:24:02) SethandCheese: si
(23:24:06) SethandCheese: oy
(23:24:13) SethandCheese: où vas-tu
(23:24:13) Unable to send message: Not logged in
Fear me. (And Nate, who typed the Spanish parts.)
I just cleaned off my laptop and reinstalled Windows (in a much smaller partition). (K)Ubuntu is working clean and smooth, no need to clear that part off.
I was just about to call Dell about the USB port when I saw that you can now e-mail Support directly. It says they take less than 6 hours to reply so we’ll see what happens. If the e-mail is coherent at all it will be a great step up from having to call India 
Update: I got a nice e-mail! With easy instructions! And a 5-8 day turnaround! Lappy will be freeeeeee!
Now that my monitor has come, it’s about time for me to back everything up onto my secondary hard drive and wipe and reinstall. I’m even wiping my SuSE install; I’m going to try Ubuntu on the desktop. However I’m downloading SuSE 9.3 right now, just in case 
I hear it’s quite stunning.
With reinstalling comes the opportunity to do things right, the first time:
- A separate partition for /home. Probably hdb will just be /home. That way I can have OSes on hda and just wipe that whenever needs be.
- Less redundancy. I can install what I need the first time around, now that I know what it is that I need
This also means keeping my Windows install super-slim, with just some games, Macromedia stuff, and not much else. I’ll boot back into Linux as much as possible.
- Organization. I’ve kept the same methods of organizing /home since approximately 1998. I need to revamp my thinking to encompass the larger number of things I’m doing, their increased size, and my OS agnosticism.
My current thinking is that it will take about a full day and a half to get everything back and working properly again. I almost wish I’d've kept notes on some of the more arcane stuff I’ve had to do to make something-or-another work.
The other half of cleaning house is changing my old passwords. I think my password right now is very secure; my big problem is that I use it on too many sites. I need to come up with a logical system for generating venue-specific passwords that is not immediately obvious to any would-be h4×0rs. Maybe I’ll post my old password when I’m all done
My new monitor came today (free warranty replacement since the old one blew), 11 days after I placed the phone call. It should have been sooner I think, since Samsung sent it 2nd-day air, but somehow UPS managed to take 5 days to deliver it.
I got a 715v to replace my old 175v. It’s quite a bit brighter but IMO doesn’t look quite as attractive (case-wise). Although the box said refurbished, it looks like new, with no bad pixels or case blemishes.
Samsung was great to deal with on the phone, quick to resolve my problem, and has a great 3-year warranty. We have 4 Samsung LCDs and I did have a Samsung CRT that was the best one I had ever owned. I highly recommend the slight price premium; they are good monitors from a good company.