On Friday, March 27, 2015 4:30pm, "Paul E Condon" <pecon...@mesanetworks.net> said:
> On 20150326_2355-0400, Bob Bernstein wrote: >> On Thu, Mar 26, 2015 at 09:09:28PM -0600, Paul E Condon wrote: >> >> >> > ...some BIOS code that blocks copying a backup copy of Win7 in >> > a hidden partition on HD... >> >> Now, see? That's some hardcore M$ crap right there! Thas what >> I'm talkin 'bout! >> >> > To get rid of this hidden partition, you will have to use dd >> > to overwrite it with zero bytes. >> >> I don't see (yet) that I must get rid of it. I don't care a fig >> about "pure Debian." Am I wrong? BUT, if it (said nefarious >> hidden partition) is going to come back and bite me my grubs >> later, then I might begin to feel differently about that crummy >> old no-good M$ hidden partition. Will it do that? >> >> > After that, you have a pure Debian box or...if you don't >> > succeed in getting Debian installed you have a oddly shaped >> > boat anchor. >> >> I am already well stocked with odd boat anchors thank you very >> much. It takes a small act of congress for me to convince my >> local town recycling mafiosi to actually pick them up if I >> manage to heave them onto the sidewalk. >> >> > IMHO, it is definitely *not* a no-brainer. >> >> If there's anything that can be said about this Friday night's >> debian-user crowd, it is that there are very few no-brainers >> among us. I detect rather a few big brains out there. You know >> who you are! >> >> > You might, instead, investigate buy a new SATA drive, maybe >> > larger than the one containing Win7 and install the new SATA. >> >> How soon can you get a check to me? >> >> > I may be wrong in all these points... >> >> Now, sir, you are clearly an honest man for saying that. Mencken >> was reputed to sign off on letters in which he had no particular >> interest (nor in their authors) like so: >> >> You may be right, >> >> (Thanks *all*) >> -- >> Bob Bernstein > > Bob, > > I was playing with the role of paranoid, sorry. The fact is that > Microsoft does not make it easy to convert old Dells to beneficial > use. It took dd about 30 hours to wipe the disk in my old Dell. I > don't recall having to do that a few years ago. I do recall lots > of writings of how easy it is to put Linux on Windows computers a > few years ago, and not so much now. The internal HD in the Dells > are skimpy compared with new computers sold at Costco. You have > convinced me that I needn't have warned you on any of the points > that I mentioned. > > Kind regards, > -- > Paul E Condon > pecon...@mesanetworks.net I acquired a Dell Dimension E510 a few months ago. 2G ram 250G sata drive. I installed wheezy without any issues. It is running fine as an XBMC media box. -- James Richardson http://jamestechnotes.com -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: https://lists.debian.org/1427488847.58859...@apps.rackspace.com
