Re: VPC machine on an IBM Thinkpad x-term video problem

From: Enrique Perez-Terron (enrio_at_online.no)
Date: 10/01/05 

Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2005 04:30:07 +0200

On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 19:15:44 +0200, Peter T. Breuer <ptb@oboe.it.uc3m.es> wrote:

> J Burford Fields <jbfields3@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Just tried to install White Box Linux in a VPC machine on an IBM
>> Thinkpad. I took the defaults and it came up in X mode and obviously
>> is not right for the video and screen--unusable.

Peter, are you aware that your style of response tend to hurt most
people's feelings? I will try to tell what effect the writings below
have on me, and what they make me think.

> Well, change the configuration of the X server then. Problem?

This question is not helpfull. He most likely writes here because
he doesn't know how to change the configuration. Your question,
"Problem?" feels most impertinent, and signals animosity and
impatience with the OP.

>> I can re-install,
>
> WHY? In heavens name, why?

You know why. Don't you?

Can you describe what effect his words have on you? I mean explicitly
naming the feelings, not just turning them outward in a reaction.

Even if you know that it is not likely to be necessary, or even helpfull
to reinstall, for him it appears as a possible, albeit unattractive
solution. Here I mean by possible, not just available, but possible
in the sense that it is possible, but not guarateed, that it works.

It does appear as a solution even if it likely is not, because from
his perspective, not knowing what went wrong, if it was something he
did, it is possible that a second attempt works differently.

It does not even have to be anything he did wrong. Just a few weeks
ago I installed Fedora Core 4 on a friend's computer, and the installation
program said "unable to update the kernel's version of the partition table",
or something similar, I don't remember the exact words. When I just
repeated the exact same operations, at far as I can tell, this message
did not appear and the install ran to completion.

Yet he is not that stupid. His phrase clearly indicate a reluctance
to reinstall that is not only caused by the long time it took,
but also by a suspiction that it won't help or it is not necessary.

By pretending that you don't understand his motives you take the
position towards him that was the hallmark of unfriendlyness since long
before our forefathers climbed down from the trees.

By showing such animosity in an open forum you are triggering the
ingrained fear we all have deep in our psychological cellar, that we
could become the target of a rally in the group where an individual
seeks to increase his influence and mark himself as a leader of the
gang by pointing out a common enemy. In our civilized world such
threats are somewhat less real, but we still have all the instincts
that make the experience very unpleasant.

>> but it took a LONG time to install.
>
> I would hope so! Teach you not to do THAT again!

Why do you hope so? Are you angered and embittered, seeking some form
of revenge? For what?

>> Isn't there a way to switch to text-only mode at startup?
>
> Of course. Umpteen. What's the problem?

If there are umpteen, why don't you offer him some advice? Yes we all
know that we can google and read the internet for 36 hours and possibly
have more clues. Getting some help is both faster and comforting,
making us feel in a friendlier world, less abandoned.

>> Next question: Although I use to be a UNIX admin (circa 1985), it's
>> been years, and I just barely got Red Hat to find the wireless access
>> to Internet on another machine,
>
> Eh? One doesn't get other things to do ones work for one.

But indeed! What are programs for?

> If one wants to "find" a wireless access (whatever you mean),

You know what he means, if you want to. Computer configuration may be
your home arena, it's not everyone's. But everyone know the difference
between when the computer has an established connection with the local
network or with the internet, and when this is not the case.

You know perfectly well that there are programs that let the users
establish such communications for the first time without the users
having to know much about how it works. This naturally leads to vague
formulations like "find the wireless access", but it is absolutely
adequate for the context.

> one does it, then one tells the machine what one has decided itwould be best for it to do.

And when one wants to be helpfull, one tell *how* one does it.
You do so in the next paragraph, but only after that unnecessary
and alienating sentence!

You know that your statement "when one wants to, one does it" is not
true. When one wants to, but does not know how, one first seeks advice,
considers if it still is what one wants in light of the information one
has got, and if so, then finally one does it.

Denying his experience the way you do, is a recurring method of
intimidation.

> I suspect that you mean
>
> a) load a driver for your card
> b) run iwconfig on the device to give it the appropriate essid
> c) run ifconfig n the device to give it an IP address
> d) set the default static route to go via a gateway on the wirelss net
> e) set the default name servers to be on the net.

Suspecting he means something is way more unfriendly than suggesting
he could do something. The word "suspect" has very negative conotations.
Atributing such meanings to him denies his reality of not knowing what
to do and feeling unsure even if he probably has the capability to come
up with at least some of the items you suggest if he found he were
alone and left to his own devices. Flatly denying other's reality
is a method of intimidation.

>> I'm at a loss for what video settings
>
> Then become less at a loss!

He *is* becoming less at loss! By seeking advice!

Why are you giving orders? Don't you have any respect for him?

> Look them up!

He *is* looking them up - in this newsgroup!

> Doesn't linux-laptops.net list your machine?

Finally a usefull hint! Thanks, man!

> Virtually anything at all works for a laptop - the settings are
> ignored. There is no cathode ray to tell how long to take in each
> sweep, or how much to wait in the sync.

More good advice. This is perhaps a usefull hint.

> Just use any old Modline aimed at about 60Hz. As low as you like!

Fortunately, no-one sees the modelines anymore. In the bad, bad old
days when we did, it was a nightmare. My head just was not bright enough
to make sense of the descriptions, and I ended up just trying a bunch
of numbers. It was not even possible to do the math from the data offered
in the manpages and howtos, because there were essential missing links
everywhere.

Even armed with a modline, where do you stick it in?

>> would work on this machine, and how to change them once install has
>> been completed.

> You use an editor. ("Problem?")

When you ask that way you imply there is no problem, and that
the OP is stupid believing there is one. But you know that
the OP's behavior is a perfectly normal one. Given something
that does not work, a thousand vage ideas racing through his head
about what the causes could be, and all help seeming quite remote,
humans, as a matter of natural law, do feel uncertain, fearfull,
and confused, and in need of advice. So why are you pretending
otherwise? Such pretending was always a method of intimidation.
Why do you do that?

No doubt you know that the advice he needs is not "editor" but
/etc/X11/xorg.conf, or something like that.

And yes, I see a problem, and perhaps you do have an answer: What is
VPC? Could, by any chance, "V" in VPC stand for "virtual"? Could there
then be any possibility that the normal way of configuring X does not
quite apply?

Could I suggest that you try to describe your feelings? What are
the feelings you have that make you write this way? You could do
this for each of the statements. If you can, find out how come you
have just those feelings. If you cannot, try to guess or hypothese
about it. Investigate it. There is a serous danger that you are
in a vicious circle of bad experiences with other people treating
you poorly, and you doing the same to everybody else.

> Peter

-Enrique