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Fixing Macs door to door

matduggan.com

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Re: Fixing Macs door to door

#101

Post by fragmede »

muppetman wrote: post #4

I love this. It's written for the hell of it. Not to get likes, or people to subscribe, or buy a product or show off technical prowess. It's just writing to share - Oldschool Internet content. [Not that there's anything wrong with the things I mentioned - I just mean it's refreshing to see something not written with an obvious motive. Gah. I still sound like a wanker.]

You could imagine a Patreon link at the bottom with "if you liked these stories" hook to get you to pay money if it would make you feel better.

Re: Fixing Macs door to door

#102

Post by gorlilla »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #65
qingcharles wrote: post #48

I did this in the mid 90s. It was really fun to see inside a lot of rich people's houses, the sort that have libraries so big they need those ladders with wheels on to scoot around. I was hit on by several bored housewives, including one that answered the door in her open robe. One American woman had brought her inkjet from the USA and I hooked it up to a decent convertor, but it wasn't one that converted the frequen…

Just a PSA (not trying to harp on parent commenter, just taking their comment as an opportunity to soapbox) but never, ever, every go into a room or building that is getting smokey from something burning. It's how you N+1 the casualty/death count in a fire. Unlike the heroes in films and movies, you don't have Plot Armor. It is incredibly common that people think they can just go back in holding their breath or stay…

We just had a house fire over the holidays. It started in the basement, I was to the flames in 10 seconds, using an extinguisher another 5-6 seconds later. That failed... I spent another 30 seconds scrambling for anything that might suffocate the flames.... then I had to get out. I was 'upwind' of how the flames were spreading, but was not prepared for the power to suddenly cut out in a room now quickly filling with black smoke.

The whole ordeal was 1-2 minutes before I had to evacuate the house and watch it all burn, helplessly.

Even a good plan isn't always enough; most don't have any plan.

Re: Fixing Macs door to door

#103

Post by rvba »

christoph wrote: post #92
supriyo-biswas wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That job put me in contact with a criminal gang who went on to supply with me dozens of GBs of stolen hard drives that I used to create what was probably the largest warez FTP Statements like this seem to agree with the anti-piracy groups' narrative about piracy being closely related to organized crime, a claim that initially seemed questionable to me.

Back in the VCD/SVCD/DVD/PS1/PS2 days, piracy was absolutely heavily interwoven with organised criminal gangs. I couldn’t comment on the current state, but I’d be surprised if there was enough money in media piracy for organised crime to even glance at it, given the vast and easy profits now available in narcotics and fraud. “HK silvers” were industrially pressed and printed CDs and DVDS you could buy in any market s…

How would organized crime benefit from setting up an illegal FTP?

It just cut in their profits of selling pirated CDs with movies or software

Re: Fixing Macs door to door

#104

Post by arcfour »

hnthrowaway0328 wrote: post #97

Nice writing. I like it. I'm actually thinking about getting a training of electronics technician because I want to learn the soldering/desoldering part of hardware hacking -- which I believe any serious hacking may need such skill. But then the job prospect and salary are not really convincing...

Why not do it as a hobby instead? It's quite popular these days.

Re: Fixing Macs door to door

#106

Post by bombcar »

wwweston wrote: post #44
rfrey wrote: post #26

>I was offended that this 15 year old thought she could buy me, in large part because she was correct. I took the $500 and told the mom the tracking software was all set up. She nodded and told me she would check that it was working and "call me back if it wasn't". I knew she was never going to check, so that part didn't spook me. I just hoped the kid didn't get kidnapped or something I'm not sure why he didn't take…

How does a teenager have access to $500 they haven’t spent and can spend without their parents knowing (especially the kind of parents who’d want tracking on their kids phones)?

I wasn't rich by any stretch of the imagination, but I could have had acquired $500 with a bit of planning in the 90s, and did, multiple times.

Re: Fixing Macs door to door

#107

Post by snewman »

gorlilla wrote: post #102
KennyBlanken wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a PSA (not trying to harp on parent commenter, just taking their comment as an opportunity to soapbox) but never, ever, every go into a room or building that is getting smokey from something burning. It's how you N+1 the casualty/death count in a fire. Unlike the heroes in films and movies, you don't have Plot Armor. It is incredibly common that people think they can just go back in holding their breath or stay…

We just had a house fire over the holidays. It started in the basement, I was to the flames in 10 seconds, using an extinguisher another 5-6 seconds later. That failed... I spent another 30 seconds scrambling for anything that might suffocate the flames.... then I had to get out. I was 'upwind' of how the flames were spreading, but was not prepared for the power to suddenly cut out in a room now quickly filling with…

Holy cow.

How did the fire start, and where was it initially spreading that went up so fast?

Re: Fixing Macs door to door

#108

Post by raisedbyninjas »

2143 wrote: post #50

The experiences of people who meet a wide range of customers are always interesting. I had read a similar story of a man who worked at car showrooms of various brands (such as Honda, Toyota). > Look it's important that if you see Oprah, you act normally, please don't ask her for an autograph or a photo I never understood why people drool when they see celebrities. Movie actors, musicians, sportspersons etc — I like w…

I feel the same way and yet once I turned around at a city art fair to be right in front of somebody recognizable. It struck me as surprising in the same way as bumping into a friend. I involuntarily greeted them by name. The best response to my mistake that I could come up with on the spot was "I'm a big fan", handshake, "have a nice day", leave.

Re: Fixing Macs door to door

#109

Post by gamache »

PeterStuer wrote: post #53

Tools specially for Mac repair. Anyone else remember the "case cracker"? It was a very broad hinged wedge you had to use to open up the original all-in-one Macs (with the 9" B&W screens). There were some capacitors in those machines that blew out frequently. Fantastic computer for its time though, if you could afford it.

Don’t forget its two friends — the long-handled Torx and the screwdriver with the 10M resistor and the alligator clip, to bleed the charge out of the CRT.

Fun machines. I still have two SE/30s, including my upgraded SE from childhood!

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