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Wishing for defenestration

I’m writing and article of software development, and I’ve built a little program in Ruby talking through FxRuby so it would be portable (that is, I can write it under Linux, then run a copy under ’Doze, Mac OS/X, etc).

So... I’m dragging down these pieces for the kinderz’ toy to run, since my laptop is still in the fender-benders’ shop, and this Pentium 300 is pulling data at 5 to 6 kilobytes a second over a 512kb link. I have a P-166 running Linux which — like the other machines — keeps the accelerometer pinned on 51 or 52kB/s.

I have to say that it’s not the wire, as I can start a second download in parallel, & watch it run at the same speed, & start a separate download on this Athlon 1800 and watch it run at the redline.

Just for annoyance value, the one remaining download on the ’Doze box is up to 14kB for a few minutes, & I know it can do better because GTK+ downloaded at 38kB/s.

The installation makes me appreciate RPMs all over again. It keeps scanning for existing stuff, then unpacking a bazillion small files everywhere, one at a time. And I have no idea whether there’s enough disk space kicking around for this to all finish.

Comments

Leon RJ Brooks said…
Blast, didn't have enough space, missed out by about 150MB. After uninstalling fifty random components (like LookOut, and the Windows Uninstaller Information) and shovelling as many archives as I could onto another small partition, it looks like there may be enough space now.

I should add that I fixed the power switch with a neat dab of SuperGlue, which seems to be working steadily. Ah, the wonders of modern technology.
13 December, 2006 17:24
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