Root Access

Mark Szymanski

02:59

Wooooow

0

i am new to linux and was just trying to rename the only directory in home from rk to rhk;;i messed up the whole thing and the settings;;a created some new thing named rhk which i can't remember as it got all messed up;;;;;;;;and;;now i am getting nothing after linux mint 10(julia) boots up;no s...

Seriously?

studiohack

I know, right? @MarkSzymanski

Mark Szymanski

@studiohack: I'd say that there was no effort taken in making that question look readable. But, then again, they did put in lots of effort to make it unreadable.

studiohack

whatever that means @MarkSzymanski :P

Mark Szymanski

Nevermind XD

I mean, really. How does that happen? How do you manage to make a question look that bad? XD

studiohack

i have no idea...by being lazy or a non-native speaker?

Mark Szymanski

03:09

I don't think that non-native would fit there, It doesn't take an English speaker to figure out that you don't punctuate sentences with twenty semicolons XD

studiohack

or desperation? lol

Mark Szymanski

Haha

studiohack

help me help me help me:::::::::::::::::::::::::

Mark Szymanski

XD

studiohack

lol

I should do that on one of my questions and see how people react on a mod question :P

Mark Szymanski

03:10

Haha XD

Oh, and, my MSO and SO rep aren't the same for some reason.

studiohack

lol you starred it?

Mark Szymanski

I have like 500 on SO, only about 100 on MSO.

studiohack

no, they are not the same @MarkSzymanski

Mark Szymanski

Yeah XD

studiohack

never will be, MSO and SO are the exception lol

Mark Szymanski

03:11

Ah xD

Ok :P

studiohack

because MSO is the Meta of Meta

if that makes sense @MarkSzymanski lol

Mark Szymanski

Hehe

Sathya

03:36

this time, Super User Meta makes it to HN

news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2344410

studiohack

SU is quiet on Saturday nights

Mark Szymanski

That it is.

And, i'm going to bed, goodnight everyone.

studiohack

good night @MarkSzymanski, sleep well! :)

Mark Szymanski

Thanks!

studiohack

@Sathya sounds like I'm becoming infamous for raising the DRM issue

Sathya

03:45

good night @MarkSzymanski

heh :) @studiohack

studiohack

what is your opinion on that issue @Sathya? was I too legalistic?

Sathya

ofcourse not.

you did the right thing

studiohack

then why did we have an issue over it? - I suppose it was a good thing, because then we got an official response from Jeff @Sathya

Sathya

there isn't an issue over it, who said there is?

studiohack

I closed and then reopened...

Sathya

03:51

.. I've done that several times

studiohack

@Sathya yeah same here...I guess I worry that I do things too fast or legalistically sometimes and alienate users

Sathya

don't worry about that :)

studiohack

eh I try not to @Sathya :)

Is it Sunday for you already @Sathya?

Sathya

@studiohack hehe :D

if you're not too sure about something, just leave it for other mods/community to take care of it :)

@studiohack yup, 09:30 AM here

studiohack

@Sathya wow, scares me how much time flies

@Sathya yeah I need to do that more

Sathya

03:59

@studiohack indeed, yesterday went by in a flash and we're almost done with an entire quarter of the new year :O

I don't know where that time goes =.=

studiohack

@Sathya seems like it was both forever and just yesterday ago that you and I were elected mods

and that was the end of January!

it's almost the end of March

Sathya

@studiohack that's so true.. waiting for each of the stages to be over, then the voting.

studiohack

@Sathya the stages almost seemed over formalized because there were so few nominations

Sathya

well atleast we had more nominees than in webapps

it was prematurely ended because there were only 3 nominees :p

studiohack

I never did check and vote over there, I should have because i had enough rep -

are you kidding @Sathya?!

did ChrisF get elected?

Sathya

04:04

nope @studiohack

he did

studiohack

@Sathya that's good

Sathya

1

A: 2011 Community Moderator Election

This election was ended early due to special circumstances of limited participation, as indicated on this MSO question: As Grace Note mentioned, the election system was not set up to handle a case of low participation like this. We have gone ahead and ended the election early on WebApps - con...

studiohack

I feel better with him as mod over there - WebApps still seems like a beta site in some ways

Sathya

true

another site I'm watching closely - dba - I've a feeling it's not going to go forward

studiohack

yeah? some of these communities are just too narrow or small

Sathya

04:14

tbh they killed it when they named it as dba.

( I know I've been repeating this over and over again)

6

Q: Why is Area 51 proposal for Database renamed to Database Administrators ?

One of the proposals I had committed to, Database is now known as Database Administrators. Why is this so ? Now I fear that the Stack Exchange site is catered more towards Database Administrators than Database Professionals as to which I had committed. (yes, there is a huge difference between da...

discussion area51 site-proposal

studiohack

well I'm gonna turn in @Sathya

have a good Sunday, hope it is relaxing for ya!

Sathya

right, see you around @studiohack :)

sleep well, and yeah I think it'll be!

studiohack

good to hear! cya

Sathya

cya!

The Journeyman geek

05:02

hmm

is trying to decide if i should flag an utterly irrelevant answer that may have been made in good faith

Matt Jenkins

09:59

moring @ThomasMcDonald

user30

Good morning @Matt.

The Journeyman geek

morning @MattJenkins @ThomasMcDonald

The Journeyman geek

11:25

hmm

one of the nice things with being on SO, and being involved is a clone is, they already thought of some of the admin things people ask about ;p

Matt Jenkins

heh

Hmmm... I have even had to resort to using my iPod to get all the data off this raid

I can't burn DVDs fast enough, and I need it clear by Tuesday when my new drives arrive

user30

How much have you got left to do now?

Matt Jenkins

467G of tv stuff, plus about another 100 gig of other data

Problem is, the read errors slow me down somewhat

iPod is gradually filling up with star trek: tng

American dad 2 of 9 is burning now...

user30

11:41

Crikey.

Matt Jenkins

It could be less if I converted the mpeg2 files to avi first, but that takes too long and the disk is so flakey it often fails :(

Disclaimer: I did not torrent these files, they are all recorded off the television by MythTV

How can you do bold & italic on here without it messing up?

user30

Some form of magic, I guess

Matt Jenkins

It almost did it just now, until the edit icon got inserted and the italic changed into *s

__test 1__ ( _ inside *)

*test 2* ( * inside _ )

Test 2 starts out ok then it changes

user30

We support a limited subset of Markdown styling in chat, similar to comment formatting on The Stack Exchange Network:

user30

I guess simultaneous bold and italic is not supported

Matt Jenkins

11:50

The thing is, it is partially supported. The initial formatting works, but when it gets redrawn it's like they forgot to add that bit.

Right, gotta run.

Tarra

Ivo Flipse

12:28

@Sathya I actually don't like that that particular meta post showed up on HN, not that I think we should support DRM, but instead of advocating how to work around it, I'll rather put the product that doesn't have it in the spotlight

studiohack

13:06

Bold & Italic Test @MattJenkins @ThomasMcDonald

user30

@studiohack I didn't actually try it.... :)

studiohack

lol @ThomasMcDonald

Mark Szymanski

14:08

Good morning, everyone.

Sathya

15:10

morning @MarkSzymanski

Mark Szymanski

Hi, @Sathya. How are you?

Sathya

good, Mark :)

how about yourself?

Mark Szymanski

I'm doing great, thanks @Sathya.

Sathya

awesome

sunday's <s>almost</s> over

Mark Szymanski

Heh

It's just beginning for me XD

The Journeyman geek

15:14

lol

i have an exam tommorrow ><

Sathya

have fun then @MarkSzymanski :)

Mark Szymanski

Heh, thanks @Sathya :P

Matt Jenkins

15:41

lilo

@studiohack How did you do that? What combination?

Sathya

***like so***

Matt Jenkins

Like so?

Awesome!

LessPop_MoreFizz

16:07

Things that should probably worry me more: Sitting down at my desktop and realizing it has rebooted into a different OS overnight.

fail badp

@LessPop_MoreFizz Surprise Ubuntu?

LessPop_MoreFizz

@failbadp Surprise OS X in this case.

sjohnston

@LessPop_MoreFizz I have occasionally found this to occur thanks to Windows' lovely "there was an update and we decided to reboot you" mechanism.

fail badp

@LessPop_MoreFizz I thought you were already running OS X.

@sjohnston Oh, I see. Yay for dual booting, and yay for Windows stubbornly assuming dual booting doesn't exist.

(And if it does, it defaults to Windows)

LessPop_MoreFizz

@failbadp My 'default' boot partition is OS X, so when Windows crashed at some point overnight (and it was a crash judging by the noises windows made at me after a reboot), my Machine decided to reboot OS X because I wasn't around to hold down the Option key.

Arda Xi

16:15

@failbadp How's that?

LessPop_MoreFizz

Windows gets angry if it's on any drive other than 'C:' IIRC. Though that may not be true anymore.

fail badp

@ArdaXi What other OS reboots automatically while installing updates, to mention one bit of evidence?

Also, for a second bit of evidence, why can't Grub boot directly Windows, but instead has to "chainload" Windows's own boot sector?

(Dunno how it works with OS X.)

Arda Xi

@failbadp Because Windows has a bootloader built-in. Linux doesn't.

fail badp

@ArdaXi -1 grub.

Arda Xi

@failbadp Grub isn't built-in to Linux.

fail badp

16:18

That's actually my entire point

Arda Xi

That's my point. Grub is external to Linux.

fail badp

Linux doesn't have a built-in bootleader because it doesn't assume it's in charge of booting the system. If you need it, you can install a bootloader separately.

Windows does, because it assumes so.

Arda Xi

Because it is.

In 99% of cases, anyway.

Also makes it a lot easier to screw up, by the way. (Grub, I mean)

fail badp

@ArdaXi The same could be said of Linux.

Arda Xi

It's a hell of a lot harder to break NTLDR

fail badp

16:21

@ArdaXi [citation-needed]

Arda Xi

@failbadp Modify a line in Windows' config, it'll still boot, it'll just boot differently.

Modify a line in GRUB, you could break the entire system beyond repair.

fail badp

@ArdaXi So if I modify the NTLDR configuration incorrectly it'll still boot?

Arda Xi

@failbadp So long as you still have it point at the right drive, yes.

And even if you don't, it repairs itself.

@failbadp To sum up, yes.

fail badp

@ArdaXi That'll be interesting to see if Windows isn't installed first partition.

Arda Xi

@failbadp Of course, it's not going to boot if it's not installed in the MBR, but that's not configuration, that's reformatting.

fail badp

16:24

At any rate, modify a line incorrectly in Grub, you can fix it from inside GRUB itself.

Arda Xi

Except if you boot Linux with the wrong parameters you can cause irreparable kernel panic.

I've been there.

fail badp

If you fuck up the boot string so badly that even after fixing it Linux refuses to boot, it's no longer Grub's fault.

Arda Xi

Except Grub happens to be installed on an ext4 partition, usually.

Ruin the host, you ruin Grub.

And you can no longer boot anything without external media.

fail badp

That somehow doesn't apply to NTLDR I'm sure ;)

Screw up the Windows partition and NTLDR will still boot from it, with the power of unicorns!

Arda Xi

@failbadp It will boot, open Startup Repair, check which partitions have a C:\Windows folder that can be recovered and creates a temporary BCD file.

fail badp

16:28

← 44 messages moved from The Bridge

@ArdaXi Which means the partition wasn't screwed up after all

Matt Jenkins

16:49

Hmmm... my DVD writer has started randomly coastering. :(

Looking at the DVDs it's always after writing pretty much the same amount of data.

When it fails it does it after about 5mm of data.

let's see how a little more cooling helps it - I have been using it rather excessively the past 48 hours.

Nice little low profile cpu fan blasting air under the laptop - that'll do the trick.

Matt Jenkins

17:25

Well, it certainly hasn't not helped (double negative there on purpose)... 2 DVDs written at full speed with no issue so far...

Maybe I should invest in one of those laptop cooling trays...? Or just make my own...

Hmmm... the built-in CPU fan is hardly doing anything now... trouble is, I'm cold now - this fan is too efficient.

Matt Jenkins

18:00

Damn, hit the pesky rep cap again

CVertex

18:39

hello all.. i hope this place takes over IRC

does DDR3 ram need to installed as a triplet into the motherboard?

or could I in theory put 5 identical DDR3 chips into my motherboard?

Feeds

20:41

1

Q: How to troubleshoot a problem when one has no idea where to start?

I am looking for hints, tips and answers on how to get started on troubleshooting when: The problem is intermittent The problem could lie literally anywhere - operating system; free source software; my own software developments; purchased software; crumbs on the keyboard; the specific combinati...

windows-7 troubleshooting community-faq-proposed

studiohack

what's with @Feeds?

Matt Jenkins

shrugs

Some new feature? Or just someone buggering around?

user30

@studiohack If you click room->manage feeds, have a look what's in there.

studiohack

no, @MattJenkins, its not someone buggering around, it is a process

user30

It could be that the feed for community-faq-proposed is to be auto posted.

Matt Jenkins

20:56

Not something I've ever seen before.

studiohack

ahhh, that's right @ThomasMcDonald - thanks!

yeah @TomWij tagged that question that way

Matt Jenkins

internet's being ropey tonight :(

Ivo Flipse

21:16

I added the feed, but the tag isn't used very often

@TomWij care to transform that answer into a blog post as well?

Mark Szymanski

Good afternoon, everyone.

Matt Jenkins

Lo @MarkSzymanski

Mark Szymanski

GRAH STUPID IRC CLIENT

Matt Jenkins

IRC is teh sux0r

Ivo Flipse

@MattJenkins know anything of reel-to-reel tape's? meta.superuser.com/questions/2155/…

Mark Szymanski

21:24

No, it's not @MattJenkins.

Matt Jenkins

@IvoFlipse has a peek

Hmmm... DECtapes... nice....

I have played with DECtape images before now from TUHS

but never looked at making one myself.

(never had the equipment)

As far as I know most images are made using real DEC equipment.

@KronoS - care to buy me a DEC PDP-11?

And a warehouse to put it in? ;)

Ivo Flipse

lol well I was more wondering whether you think you'd have anything useful or interesting to blog about it, as we both certainly don't know enough about it

Matt Jenkins

Well, I could give it a thought - I've always been very interested in those early unix systems.

That's the puppies...

Ivo Flipse

lol, now I know why I don't want to know more about it :P

Matt Jenkins

You need one of these to read it:

Ivo Flipse

21:31

oh the pain, the pain!

Matt Jenkins

heh

Surprisingly there aren't any on ebay.

So I think the answer is going to have to be "no"

Just too damn obscure and difficult

Ivo Flipse

too bad

luckily we have your other post as a QotW ;P

Matt Jenkins

heh

"If you want to read a DECtape then find someone with a DEC PDP-11 and get them to read it for you."

DEC 1MB memory card:
http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$(KGrHqN,!icE1NnORJ9YBNbEgjqlq!~~0_3.JPG

pants

Ivo Flipse

that's huge or very zoomed in

Matt Jenkins

Both

BloodPhilia

21:40

@MattJenkins Lol...

Matt Jenkins

Ello @BloodPhilia

BloodPhilia

Hi

Ivo Flipse

hi @BloodPhilia, are you going to the SO meetup thing?

BloodPhilia

Within us, is a little universe ♫

@IvoFlipse Depends on when and where it is exactly

Ivo Flipse

well I signed up for the Barendrecht one, but I fear that was because the site assumed I lived there

because I used latitude there

BloodPhilia

21:43

@IvoFlipse Lol :P I'd have to see where it'll be eventually...

Ivo Flipse

well preferably Utrecht or something centralized

BloodPhilia

@IvoFlipse I'd prefer Arnhem xD!

Ivo Flipse

so would I, but then probably not many would come

you can suggest it though

BloodPhilia

If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe ♫

I love Carl Sagan

Ivo Flipse

haha

BloodPhilia

21:45

@IvoFlipse What do you think you're laughing at :P

Ivo Flipse

the fact that you're quoting him out of nowhere

BloodPhilia

@IvoFlipse Well, he's worth quoting in every conversation xD

►

Ivo Flipse

perhaps you should do a blog post about him

don't have any audio at this moment

BloodPhilia

@IvoFlipse I don't have a blog :P

Ivo Flipse

my logitech drivers are seriously F-ed

yes we do @BloodPhilia

BloodPhilia

21:48

@IvoFlipse Lol I don't have a personal blog... Posting a blog post about Sagan on the SU blog would be somewhat... off-topic...

don't you think?

Ivo Flipse

depends on how many Super Users love Carl Sagan ;)

and the quality of the blog post :P

BloodPhilia

:P Well I'm not a bad writer... but given the fact I should first poll the community for Sagan lovers...

Ivo Flipse

well you don't necessarily have to poll anyone :P

BloodPhilia

@IvoFlipse Lol xD Then what should I do D:

Ivo Flipse

write a blog post and amaze me, if its fun, I don't see why we can't have a little off-topicness

we just post it on a friday, as a end of the week kind of thing

BloodPhilia

21:55

"The TGIF, time for some air"-post

Ivo Flipse

something like that

BloodPhilia

Hey! @studiohack

studiohack

hey @BloodPhilia! :)

I don't have a blog either @BloodPhilia @IvoFlipse :P

BloodPhilia

@studiohack That makes two of us!

Ivo Flipse

you do have an account for the SU blog

BloodPhilia

21:59

@IvoFlipse I don't :(

studiohack

I do, @IvoFlipse

I don't think @BloodPhilia does?

jinx :P

BloodPhilia

That makes me cry T_T

Ivo Flipse

you didn't ask for it either

studiohack

and sorry, I'm not a fan of Sagan lol

good point @IvoFlipse ;)

@BloodPhilia I had to begggg for it

BloodPhilia

@studiohack I pretty much figured

@IvoFlipse Who should I ask?

studiohack

22:00

you should ask @IvoFlipse, @BloodPhilia

BloodPhilia

begging @IvoFlipse pleaaassseeeee!

Why, why, why did I see that one coming?

studiohack

disclaimer the above ^^ comment was edited by a mod

BloodPhilia

@studiohack No shit xD

studiohack

@BloodPhilia eh? :P

@BloodPhilia what does that mean? lol

BloodPhilia

@studiohack It's like you're stating the obvious xD

studiohack

22:05

@BloodPhilia I am, i'm clarifying that I'm begging for you :P

BloodPhilia

@studiohack Aw thanks mate :D

studiohack

whoops, I meant that a mod was begging for you, @BloodPhilia, it wasn't necessarily me....

BloodPhilia

@studiohack xD

studiohack

lol how was your sunday @BloodPhilia?

BloodPhilia

@studiohack Sunny!

It was quite relaxed :D

studiohack

22:10

good to hear @BloodPhilia, sunny here was well! :)

this guy thinks his question was a waste of time...

0

Q: Excel hyperlinks can be attached to a range of cells -- what is the use case for this?

In Excel 2003 and 2007 (and presumably 2010), it is possible to attach a hyperlink to a single cell; this is well known. Excel also allows you select a range for insertion. In that case, clicking on any cell in the range will jump to the target of the hyperlink. I can't find any web reference to...

microsoft-excel hyperlink

it was hard to tell what he was asking...blargh - explaining things to newbies is so mundane and I do it SO much as a mod...

BloodPhilia

@studiohack Poor you =P

studiohack

awww thanks, I suppose that comes with the territory @BloodPhilia and being called the new sheriff and the shiny new mod ;P

BloodPhilia

@studiohack The shiny new mod to lead us to the path of righteousness

studiohack

where did you even get that statement @BloodPhilia? lol

BloodPhilia

@studiohack It's a construct of my brain D:

@IvoFlipse can everyone get an account?

studiohack

22:15

and that's a bad thing, @BloodPhilia? (based on your D:

gotta go for dinner - have a good one @BloodPhilia, @IvoFlipse :)

Ivo Flipse

they can @BloodPhilia, but I'm thinking about putting up a Meta post for it

BloodPhilia

@studiohack D: Isn't bad! It means "CAN YOU BELIEVE IT, I CAN'T!"

@studiohack Enjoy dinner :D

Ivo Flipse

where aspiring bloggers can submit a blog post and if it's good enough, they can write more (just to keep out trash)

BloodPhilia

@IvoFlipse Lol okay XD Need I do that still?

Ivo Flipse

well I would like to read your draft :P

BloodPhilia

22:18

@IvoFlipse Haha okay, as soon as I find a topic to blog about, I will!

Ivo Flipse

look through your own answers, I'm sure there's something good in there

BloodPhilia

@IvoFlipse I don't do didactics xD

@IvoFlipse There are a few I could post, however that'd be just copypasta =/

Ivo Flipse

well surely you have something to write around it, some context and more details

BloodPhilia

@IvoFlipse I think I'll go for the TGIF kind of posts if you don't mind :P

TomWij

23:42

@IvoFlipse Sure, can you create me a writer (or whatever permission you think I'm worth) account and mail the login details to [email protected]? I'll work on it later this week, I won't publish it myself but insert a red status line in the top of the blog posts indicating it's status so you know in what state it is. I'll try to keep it in the style of KronoS his posts...

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