November 2013 - Blind-sysadmins - lists.hodgsonfamily.org

defrag service, windows 7, ssd and hdd drives
by David Mehler 18 Nov '13

18 Nov '13

Hello, I'm running windows 7 on an ssd, that's the primary drive in this machine. I have read on various sites that having the windows defrag service on for an ssd is unnecessary so I disabled it. The problem is I've got two other drives in the box, hdd drives, and I'm wanting to defrag them. THis isn't happening with the service disabled. Is anyone else dealing with this? Thanks. Dave.

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defrag service, windows 7, ssd and hdd drives
by David Mehler 17 Nov '13

17 Nov '13

Hello, I'm running windows 7 on an ssd, that's the primary drive in this machine. I have read on various sites that having the windows defrag service on for an ssd is unnecessary so I disabled it. The problem is I've got two other drives in the box, hdd drives, and I'm wanting to defrag them. THis isn't happening with the service disabled. Is anyone else dealing with this? Thanks. Dave.

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Article: Employers still reluctant to hire blind employees
by John G. Heim 17 Nov '13

17 Nov '13

This article is a must read for anyone interested in the conversation we've been having about bias against hiring the blind. Note that it says almost exactly what we've been saying -- things are way better but still very bad. One thing I'd add is that the things we did in the 70s and 80s to get us this far won't necessarily help us take that next step. From New York Daily News and AP: employers still reluctant to hire blind employees http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/employers-reluctant-hire-blind… -- --- John G. Heim, 608-263-4189, jheim(a)math.wisc.edu

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What is the best way to dual-boot openSuSE on a Latitude E6530 using virtual hard drives?
by Katherine Moss 12 Nov '13

12 Nov '13

Hey all, This question is honestly more a knowledge question rather than a blindness-specific admin question, but I'm curious. I'd like to set up OpenSuSE 64 bit as a second operating system on my Dell Latitude E6530 laptop, but I want to use a vhdx file instead of having to futz with splitting the physical hard drive I have in here into a bunch of partitions since it's kinda getting full as it is. What's the most accessible way to add the VHD as a bootable drive so that it will be recognized by the YaST installer as a place to hold Operating system files? and what filesystem should I use? I'd like to use EXT3, but will that work? Will YaST reformat a formatted virtual hard drive just like it would a physical one? Now, you guys are probably curious, why I'm not using a virtual machine for this. The answer is simple. I want to give the raw power of my dell Latitude to OpenSuSE, considering I want to use it alternately with Windows as a secondary OS, not just something to play around with. I'd like to learn and use Linux, and I figure that making it a secondary OS along with Windows would be a good idea. I want to one day be as proficient in Linux as I am in windows. Thanks for your feedback and suggestions.

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What is the best way to dual-boot openSuSE on a Latitude E6530 using virtual hard drives?
by Katherine Moss 12 Nov '13

12 Nov '13

Hey all, This question is honestly more a knowledge question rather than a blindness-specific admin question, but I'm curious. I'd like to set up OpenSuSE 64 bit as a second operating system on my Dell Latitude E6530 laptop, but I want to use a vhdx file instead of having to futz with splitting the physical hard drive I have in here into a bunch of partitions since it's kinda getting full as it is. What's the most accessible way to add the VHD as a bootable drive so that it will be recognized by the YaST installer as a place to hold Operating system files? and what filesystem should I use? I'd like to use EXT3, but will that work? Will YaST reformat a formatted virtual hard drive just like it would a physical one? Now, you guys are probably curious, why I'm not using a virtual machine for this. The answer is simple. I want to give the raw power of my dell Latitude to OpenSuSE, considering I want to use it alternately with Windows as a secondary OS, not just something to play around with. I'd like to learn and use Linux, and I figure that making it a secondary OS along with Windows would be a good idea. I want to one day be as proficient in Linux as I am in windows. Thanks for your feedback and suggestions.

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Has anyone around here booted a Dell PowerEdge server from USB before?
by Katherine Moss 12 Nov '13

12 Nov '13

Hi all, I'm curious if this has ever been done by any of you guys. I'm trying to figure out how to do this with my server right now, and I can't. I have a video up on YouTube (my sighted friend is reading the options to me as we move along), so if anyone can offer feedback via the video, it would be great. I can only get the server to boot consistently from the hard drive; I don't see an option for USB. Any feedback is much appreciated.

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Hiren's Boot CD?
by David Mehler 11 Nov '13

11 Nov '13

Hello, I've heard about something called Hiren's Boot CD five times in the past week. Prior to that time I had never heard of it. I checked it out, it looks like it has a lot of stuff in it. I was wondering if anyone uses it and if so if it were possible to get a screen reader and audio going on it? Thanks. Dave.

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Has anyone around here booted a Dell PowerEdge server from USB before?
by Katherine Moss 11 Nov '13

11 Nov '13

Hi all, I'm curious if this has ever been done by any of you guys. I'm trying to figure out how to do this with my server right now, and I can't. I have a video up on YouTube (my sighted friend is reading the options to me as we move along), so if anyone can offer feedback via the video, it would be great. I can only get the server to boot consistently from the hard drive; I don't see an option for USB. Any feedback is much appreciated.

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Hiren's Boot CD?
by David Mehler 11 Nov '13

11 Nov '13

Hello, I've heard about something called Hiren's Boot CD five times in the past week. Prior to that time I had never heard of it. I checked it out, it looks like it has a lot of stuff in it. I was wondering if anyone uses it and if so if it were possible to get a screen reader and audio going on it? Thanks. Dave.

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Accessible boot loader
by David Mehler 07 Nov '13

07 Nov '13

Hello, Does anyone remember a while back, maybe they still do, OpenSuse had an accessible boot loader? It would say via speech output what item you were on. I'm wanting to get that or an alternative? I was wondering if anyone knew of one? Thanks. Dave.

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