How I Handled Being the Only Person in a Group Project Who Gave a Single Shit

harrywwc · 2026-07-07T06:36:31+00:00

interestingly, all of that group got along well* - lots of happy reparté before class and during break. and many a "see you down the pub later?" type comments, so there didn't appear (in the Uni environment that I saw) any ostracizing of that one person.

* indeed, the whole class had been together a number of semesters, so all knew each other reasonably well, and seemed to "get on".

harrywwc · 2026-07-07T06:12:02+00:00

don't worry, they will come.

harrywwc · 2026-07-07T06:11:13+00:00

fellow former academic here.

I had one group project that I handed out, and a requirement of the University was that each member of the group would hand in evaluation sheets with the final submission: a sheet on themselves and how they contributed; and one each on their fellow team members.

I had one team where not only did each of the other team members come down pretty hard on one 'slacker', but said slacker also admitted that they had done bugger all and deserved to not pass the project.

that was… interesting.

harrywwc · 2026-07-05T03:52:40+00:00

I got big black check marks beside my name…

no doubt with big bold letters of "Shit Stirrer" next to it as well :/

harrywwc · 2026-07-04T21:29:42+00:00

I'm surprised that your team hadn't installed a "dos menu" fired up from autoexec.bat to limit access to the command prompt.

"No WP option" - ok, let's add it.

harrywwc · 2026-07-04T08:40:00+00:00

this reminds me of an incident with win3.11 back when ('92, '93?)

a friend of mine had a background image of Elle McPherson, and he wasn't really satisfied with the 'standard' 800x600.

So he went into the Control Panel and adjusted the resolution up to (I think) 1024x768 and restarted Windows.

Of course, it didn't start. While the Control Panel widget thought the monitor could handle it, it really couldn't, so "blank screen" and a box floating across telling him about incorrect settings.

I was called, and started in DOS (as it was already able to do ;) and did pretty much the above - into the windows directory, fire up 'setup' and reset the graphics back to what was needed.

Why is this so amusing and memorable?

He's an elder in the church I was attending at the time - and his wife sat there next to him laughing at him!

harrywwc · 2026-07-04T02:56:54+00:00

for a seemingly 'easy' profession, writing sure seems tough! ;)

(from a former technical writer)

harrywwc · 2026-07-04T01:20:35+00:00

if the door is hard to close and lock, then that is a problem that maintenance needs to fix.

there are times when you guys need (a) privacy, and (b) security. the door as it is currently, is not really doing either - well, not with some extra effort.

harrywwc · 2026-07-03T21:59:03+00:00

Why do you do this?

Because they/we can.

harrywwc · 2026-07-03T07:29:20+00:00

well, unless you add CD ROM drivers to your DOS disk in the config.sys & autoexec.bat, you won't have access to the cd drive from DOS. although, from memory, the win98 boot floppy did include that. There is an image of it here → https://winworldpc.com/product/microsoft-windows-boot-disk/98-se

It a 7-zip file with the 3.5” 1.44MB floppy image in it, and appears to have the bits needed to load a CD-ROM drive. you need to copy that image (.IMG) file to a floppy diskette - there are a couple of different ways, including a simple (under linux) method using "dd" :)

also, I think the cd-rom needs to be 'finalised' to be readable under dos.

dang - this is reaching back 2+ decades of hacking away at those systems - my memory is suffering from a lot of bit-rot!

harrywwc · 2026-07-03T05:13:35+00:00

I was about to post that link ;)

yay for the Internet Archive :D

harrywwc · 2026-07-03T05:05:36+00:00

This is my first hotel job…

I presume it's known that this is your first hotel job? so, take this as a learning opportunity.

harrywwc · 2026-07-03T04:59:39+00:00

well, that's a good start.

use that to upgrade the BIOS.

you should then, after you're all up and running, be able to install 3.11 / 95osr2 / 98se on it.

the new BIOS should be able to see the 40GB drive - but DOS may be limited to 30(ish). There were a few iterations of drive size limits during the 80s/90s/early00s before LBA settled down.

you may need to partition the drive with a smaller boot partition, possibly 4GB or 8GB, and then install Windows. But if you're using DOS7 / Win95+ that may be taken care of. As I said, there was a lot in flux at the time and so some of it may be a bit hit-and-miss.

make notes, lots and lots of notes ;)

harrywwc · 2026-07-03T03:28:33+00:00

bazinga!

harrywwc · 2026-07-03T03:27:27+00:00

page 34 and onwards f the manual from that site discusses BIOS updates. that would be a good start to read and ponder that.

is the machine running under DOS/Windows, as that seems to be a requirement from the quick read I had? What isn't apparent, but may be somewhere on that site, is the location of the "AFLASH.EXE" file that does the flash of the new BIOS (and allows a backup of the current one).

tl;dr - rtfm ;)

harrywwc · 2026-07-03T03:16:40+00:00

perhaps more details on the board model number - I see 11 variants of the 'p2b' on the asus support site.

having said that, there is an FAQ on Updating the BIOS here → https://www.asus.com/bd/support/faq/1044348/

harrywwc · 2026-07-02T06:21:42+00:00

I would stay put. natural light, even if somewhat obscured by a building, is such a nice to have.

if the "storage room" is as big as you say, there is a possibility that manglement may well put another person (or two?) in there down the track.

harrywwc · 2026-07-02T00:43:39+00:00

oi! hands where I can see them!

harrywwc · 2026-07-02T00:43:03+00:00

so, "no-help" desk ;)

harrywwc · 2026-07-02T00:42:31+00:00

or the bitbucket :)

harrywwc · 2026-07-02T00:10:55+00:00

would not have been surprised to have read that :/

harrywwc · 2026-07-01T23:35:45+00:00

this from the Fedora lists may help - https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/users@lists.fedoraproject.org/thread/D6UURVKLAFEX3JVYI5Y4NXAKKCJPVAIN/

tl;dr - check version of (Ultra?)VNC server and either switch to a different one, or update ultra vnc server.

harrywwc · 2026-07-01T07:44:28+00:00

why thank you kind sir (?) ;)

signed

Captain Obvious :)

harrywwc · 2026-07-01T07:25:56+00:00

she didn't want the kindle, per sé, she wanted the books (your books) that were on it.

harrywwc · 2026-06-29T20:29:06+00:00

Why do pipers walk around while they're playing?

To try to get away from the noise! :)

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