are this how i am buying computer machine

Dear Lazyweb:

I may need to buy/build a new linux box soon, for home server use. So, I probably need to get an x86 box because I don’t want the new hobby of making PPCLinux replace the iggy box on the blue G3. Therefore, I need either to buy a prebuilt system or all the parts in a sack so I can screw them together.

I don’t need:

great graphics
sound
gamer anything
windows anything

I do need:

hardware that plays nice with recent linux
a decent processor, preferably dualcore
lots of RAM
good I/O so I’m not always horking because the disk is running
good cooling features
expandibility for drives and cards
ports ports, ports, ports

I might end up just doing a Dell BYO box because I have credit with them and I’d never pay interest on their plan, it’s no interest for 18 months. I’m sure I’d be paying extra because brand name, but I also get 6% off and no shipping cost there because of a corporate deal. It won’t be perfect and it’ll be about $1800 for what I want to do, but it will be on payment and done.

But If someone has a preferred vendor for this kind of thing or a suggestion of how to do this way better for way cheaper, I’d be delighted. What I don’t want is to go to Fry’s, or spend six weeks nerdinating learning all about exactly the best combination to get 0.05% more efficiency. I’m going to upgrade from a 300MHz Gateway Pentium II box from 1997 that’s been doing good service for years, so I don’t need my edge to cut much less bleed.

Whereabouts of etet

Attention former AOLers and the lazyweb:

I’m trying to find Guide ET / Etet / etrose from the old days. My last contacts with her were about 1996, which is about when the addresses I have drop off Usenet etc.

If you’re her, or if you’ve seen her, let me know!

ignatz

Music Quest

There was a band in the 1980s called Big Daddy. They did 50s-style covers of top 40 hits. This may sound like a bad idea, but they were great. I especially liked their versions of “Sussudio” and “I want to know what love is”. Their stuff was unsurprisingly on Rhino Records. They had an album called “Cutting Their Own Groove” that was particularly fine.

Anyway their stuff is 581% unavailable. People sell their vinyl albums and their one or two CDs for an average of 70 bucks.

If anyone has digital files of them, or vinyl, or has seen some, let me know! I hunger for novelty.

Dear LazyCrazyWeb

Does anyone know of a substance abuse treatment program affordable for someone without medical insurance or very much cash? Specifically, one for someone who needs to get off benzodiazepines (Ativan, Xanax, etc.) and needs a medically supervised program to do so. I’m pretty ignorant about the options in this case but you’re the Internet and you know more than I do.

No, this isn’t for me. And I’m not going to gossip about who it’s for, either, so shush. 🙂

Ideally the location would be Southern California but relocation within the U.S. for treatment is also a possibility.

mac tech question

Mac heads –

My shiny new Powerbook is a delight, but it does something that I hadn’t noticed previously. I’ll be working along typing or browsing and suddenly it will just grind to a halt doing something like updating articles in netnewswire or starting a program or copying files. I get the beach ball in that app, whatever it is, and nothing happens for quite a while, maybe 15 to 30 seconds. If I can see load it’s normal, and the machine has enough RAM, and doesn’t appear to be obviously I/O bound (no disk grinding).

Any ideas what’s causing this periodic hangup? It’s so frustrating, especially since the machine itself is so fast and everything else about it is great.