Vista, ugh…

I’ve gotten my MacBook back, so why aren’t I using it? Simple, it works. The Toshiba, on the other hand, is a bit dicier. The hardware, such as it is, works fine. It’s Vista and Linux I’m dealing with, and, given my nature, it’s more fun to play with them till they work than it is to use the rock solid MacBook. When I say “rock solid” I mean sometimes it works perfectly, rock solid, and if you’ve read my complaints here, sometimes it doesn’t work at all and is like a rock. Solid. 🙂
In any case the big problem I’m having is with my AT&T Sierra 881 USBConnect Air Card. It can be run in Vista for a while, but then Vista decides that I should have only “local access” and drops me off of the internet. This seems to be a big problem around the globe for folks trying to use pretty much all versions of Vista. Typical Microsoft FUD would probably have this as “feature.”
In additions sometimes Vista just gets a BSOD. It seems to happen just before I save what I’m working on.
Windows BSOD
In short, avoid Vista if at all possible.
I’d install XP, but it can’t find my hard drive which means I don’t have an XP driver for it and I really, really, really don’t want to go through the hassle for either XP or Vista since I plan on ditching them just as soon as I get Linux to recognize my air card.
On the Linux side, it the air card is the big problem. I’m using a kernel that should have support built in (2.6.23.x) and I think I’ve got the right drivers and such, I simply can’t figure out where in /dev it all connects. It’s a bit frustrating, but I suspect I’ll get it sooner or later – after all, folks claim to have done it.
Aloha!

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