I'm banking on the fables of the far, far better things we do

[sovay]

I am posting from Bertie Owen. He aten't dead. Thank you for all the candles. Keys Q through O, however, have packed it in. A popular row. This post was composed with the majority assistance of copy-paste. I guess today I spend looking for a new new keyboard. Everything hurts.

[edit] ALL HAIL THE VERY OLD AND VERY TANGERINE KEYBOARD THAT BELONGED TO MY MOTHER'S iMAC G3 IN 1998. IT IS A TERRIBLE-LOOKING OBJECT BUT UNLIKE MORE RECENT APPLE TECHNOLOGY IT WORKS JUST FINE HAVING LIVED IN A FILE CABINET FOR THE LAST DECADE OR MORE. I FEEL SURPRISINGLY TRIUMPHANT AND ALSO DISORIENTED BY HAVING A DESKTOP KEYBOARD BUT NO MOUSE.

I mean it also works without the caplock held down, but you see where I'm coming from. My mother is a hero of the revolution.

Comments

[sovay]

(... or not... I guess it would depend on its self-aware nature. But if it were benign...)

I think he must be benign. I don't think he'd have come back to life so many times if he were not.

See update! My mother heroically excavated her office closet and located a keyboard that works with Bertie Owen! I still have to buy a new keyboard, and God knows if Bertie Owen will survive a third installation, and nobody knows what happens to me if he does not, but I can talk until then!

[edit] My father points out that spilling things into keyboards is a time-honored failure mode and I don't actually have a history of it; the previous two keyboards wiped out from overuse, not liquids. I am trying to calm down.

[asakiyume]

Your father is wise. And hurray for keeping old peripherals around so they can be drafted into service when needed! Wakanomori would no doubt give you all high fives.

[davidgillon]

I did have a history for destroying computer keyboards via coffee, having had to have three keyboards replaced in a single month by Computer Services at work. All three were due to my cups of coffee, but only two were actually my fault, the third one involved a domino theory collapse of lever arch files that started at the far end of my neighbour's desk and terminated at my cup of coffee, which I was nowhere near at the time.

I've been using plug-in or wifi keyboards with my laptop since before Christmas, the keyboard having lost functionality on T, O and several other essential keys. I'd replace it if I could figure out how to get into the damned thing*!

* It physically doesn't match the instructions given on Youtube for that model. This is what happens when you buy what turns out to be an end of line, probably built after a pub-lunch, model.

[sovay]

the third one involved a domino theory collapse of lever arch files that started at the far end of my neighbour's desk and terminated at my cup of coffee, which I was nowhere near at the time.

That's like the time my aunt's parked car was totaled by a pizza truck that had been parked up the hill from her. The truck's brake failed. Neither driver was in the vehicle at the time. They both got back from their respective errands and stared. Wow.

It physically doesn't match the instructions given on Youtube for that model. This is what happens when you buy what turns out to be an end of line, probably built after a pub-lunch, model.

Just out of curiosity, what is it? (Bertie Owen got his name because he has only one fan. His model is supposed to have two.)

[davidgillon]

It's an HP Pavilion - the Pavilion brand is on at least it's 7th generation and I'm not sure what generation this one is, but the buying process included a bizzare email chain that went in quick succession 'We don't make these any more' and then 'We'll deliver it tomorrow'.

It's powerful enough, but I'm seriously not impressed by the build quality. It isn't three years old yet and has already needed a new power supply and keyboard. One of the hinges has recently given way, that's partly my fault, I fell asleep, and it slid off my chest from sofa height to floor - I woke as it slid and caught it, so it didn't get the full impact, but a crack in the plastic backing to the screen has slowly spread and just recently snapped the hinge. If I can't patch it with superglue and some decent plastic then I may start looking for a replacement. Considering my previous Toshiba lasted me a decade, HP has failed to impress.