Chris Meller

When I originally installed Ubuntu on my DecTOP, I didn’t have any problem booting from a USB flash drive or an external CD drive. Reinstalling Debian on the same box, however, was not quite so easy.

For my own future reference, plus anyone else who may run into the problem, the key is to hold down ESC while the DecTOP POSTs to get it to boot from an external USB drive (at least for a CD drive, presumably a flash drive as well). Shortly you should see a CD-ROM check box appear next to the memory test box and you can let go.

I threw together some screenshots and comments on Flickr while I was quickly giving IE 8 a run through tonight, if anyone’s interested.

IE 8 Beta 1 gallery

I’ve been trying to convince myself not to buy a Motorola Q for quite some time now¹, but it looks like it may finally be time for me to give in and buy one. Now, just a few more months to wait…

1. Pretty much since Verizon rolled out their EVDO service in the Greenville, SC area. ↩

Well, I was so tired of waiting for my MBP (yes, already) that I ran over to CompUSA today while I was on my Starbucks run, just to see if they had any in stock. I knew I wouldn’t be able to get the educational discount on it there, but I was willing to fork over an extra $200 for instant gratification.

Well, I’m not sure if I find it comforting or not, but I’m not the only one waiting for my new best friend to arrive: CompUSA only has the original Intel Core Duo-based models in stock.

Back to obsessively refreshing the order status page…

Well, I actually did it last night. In 7 to 10 days, my new MBP should ship, and 2 days after that, it should be in my gooey little hands. For those curious:

2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM-2x1GB 100GB Serial ATA Drive@7200rpm SuperDrive 8X 17” Widescreen Display No Modem

I opted for the smaller hard drive because you get 7200rpm’s out of it (rather than 5400 @ 160GB or 4200 @ 200GB). I also opted for the regular display, rather than the glossy. My Inspiron has a glossy screen, and while it does look quite crisp and clear in darker areas, as soon as there’s any light around you, it all goes to hell.

If you were wondering, with my lousy $200 educational discount, I got the whole thing, including tax and shipping (I opted for 2-day, regular ground was free), the price came to $2,650.20.

I didn’t get the extended AppleCare plan. At my current rate, I’m using laptops for about 8 months, so the 1-year warranty that comes with it should be enough for me. If I’m still heavily using the MBP by the time a year is up, I’ll throw out the couple hundred extra to extend the warranty.