Starrett tools. All of them. I’ve put them through Hell and back.

Nothing says love like surprise LFS.

Just do a headless install.

Learning to learn:

AutoCAD does need to die, but there absolutely is no real substitute for MasterCAM. I have a windows PC just for running that software, because nothing comes even kinda close. That license is expensive though, holy shit.

I am not entirely sure what you are saying here (English as a second language?), but here is a good overview:

https://wiki.garudalinux.org/en/restoring-snapshots

Remember that most of the Arch Linux wiki also applies.

Mostly people that can’t or won’t setup anything more complicated than a PS1

The hilarity here is that iirc this first showed up on !linuxsucks@lemmy.world , and gained a 3rd of the popularity. At least we see and understand what it is like if you go the Gentoo route.

The old skullet.

I ordered a keyboard replacement. This thing is a serious pain. The power switch is directly part of the keyboard. Under that button is nothing but silver paint for the contacts, which had firmed a crack over time.

The worst part? Above the keyboard is a thin piece of sheet metal. It is “riveted” on by melting a fee dozen plastic standoff that affixed the metal piece by melting the tips of them. I spent an hour carefully popping them off with a screwdriver. The replacement keyboard fits (good news!), but I have to carefully use a soldering iron to melt the tops of these pieces back into “rivets.”

On the plus side, I have upgraded the RAM and added a hard drive. If it POSTs at the end of this, I will have 16gb of RAM and a 4 to add, which will let me ditch the external drive.

Totally unbodacious

Not software. Actual hardware hardware button.

I wish laptops were a practical thing when I was in school. I had a PDA and it was useless.

I learned to not have critical files anywhere but external storage. Completely wipe the OS, and the stuff I absolutely need is unharmed. Then again, there isn’t much at all that I have to keep.

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This is a fantastic idea. Keep a config diary. I can imagine a teenager doing this and eventually getting in trouble with the law. Parents open the diary only to discover scribbled bash scripts in confusion.

For real, though, I’m going to journal it all and upload to NextCloud.

instructions unclear: hooked the power button circuits up to a car battery and caused 2 battery fires

I mean, snapper did its job. My hardware failed. I managed to get it going again by hammering the button with my finger.

How much did it cost? This laptop needs other repairs.