RE: Back on the air

["Albertson, Chris" <CAlbertson@primeadvantage.com>]

You sound like you are apologizing for not writing in "C".
C was designed for writing things like operating systems,
compilers and the like.  Pascal was designed for clarity and
as a language for teaching programming. The only advantage
C has outside of it's intended use is that "everyone" already
has a C compiler.  If I could choose a programming language for
scientific work it would be Pascal's big sister "Ada".  From
a pure technical point of view Ada is hard to beat. 
Practically however, people don't like to learn new things so
they stick with FORTRAN.

"Free" Pascal sounds good.  If you ever want to distribute
your source code or get any help you do need to use a free
development tool.  Few people will spend $$$ to buy tools to
build your or my software.  Do you have a URL?



That Linux boot loader that you could not kill lives on what
they call the "MBR" or master boot record (The first physical
block on the disk)  When you push the reset button the BIOS
loads this and then runs it.  In DOS you can use the 
"format /MBR" command to overwrite it.  A normal MS Windows
install will also over write it.  The Linux boot loader is
useful even it you don't run Linux.  It can be used to boot
any other OS like DOS, Windows, or Solaris.

You description of your hassles with MS Windows is one
reason why I try to avoid messing with it.  

As for buying a new computer, We just got a new
Macintosh G4 here.  I think all they did was turn on the
power and it worked.  Very impressive speed.
Get one of these running MacOS X and it
could compete on even ground with Sun, SGI or Dec Alpha.
http://www.apple.com/powermac/  



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Andrew Bennett [mailto:andrew.bennett@ns.sympatico.ca]
> Sent: Monday, January 22, 2001 5:45 AM
> To: tass@listserv.wwa.com
> Cc: tdroege@veriomail.com
> Subject: Back on the air
> 
> 
> I have just upgraded to a new fast computer for data
> analysis. It is wonderfully fast ...
> 
> when it runs ...
> 
> Along the way, I added a local network to the old
> computer - this one that runs the e-mail etc. Win95
> at this end, Win98 at the other. Ha!
> 
> Word of advice: don't try this aided only by the Windows
> so-called "Help": this is deliberately wrong so as to send
> business to all those "Network Consultants" who have
> sprung up all over the place. I ended up losing my Internet
> connection and eventually losing the integrity (such as it was)
> of the Windows "system".
> 
> I have now reloaded the Win95 computer. 3 times. More words
> of advice:
> 
> HP CDRW "Disaster Recovery" takes forever - I had
> to stay up most of one night to change CDs - and DOES NOT
> WORK. I had to go all the way back to the original CD.
> 
> DON'T back up on rewritable CDRW disks ... fortunately I splurged on
> a second CDRW drive on the new computer and can transcribe
> them to something this computer can read. My address book
> and (I hope) financial records are still on CDs somewhere ...
> Windows Explorer just sits there buzzing the disk drive. Yes - I
> have loaded what is supposed to be the right driver. I've lost a
> few posts too - they have slipped between backups.
> 
> To get rid of the last abortive Linux, I had to do an
> unconditional reformat on the hard disk. A regular reformat left
> me with the old Linux boot loader pointing to partitions that no
> longer existed. Yes - it tried to load them and would not believe
> that they were not there. Messy!
> 
> Meanwhile, in my spare time, I am converting Borland Pascal 7.0
> programs to Free Pascal. Runs very fast so there is no need to go
> over to C just to get speed. The conversion to a different brand
> of Pascal is a good deal less onerous to me than trying to convert
> to C which I find completely opaque.
> 
> Andrew Bennett
> 
>