[ltp] Service

[Atul Chitnis]

Just an example of why I think that IBM and Thinkpads with Linux rock, and
why I think IBM should stop hiding behind that "unsupportable" excuse ;-)

Over the past few days, the wifi interface on my T30 started flaking out. 
Finally called the thinkpad service center here in bangalore, and carted 
the machine across.

Horrors! All my old service peope had been promoted or transferred! Fresh 
blood!

Hesitatingly, I told the man that there was no Windows on my machine, so 
troubleshooting could be a wee bit more challenging for him than usual.

"Do you have wavemon or kwirelessmanager installed?"

OK, excuse me while I pick up my jaw from the floor.

Yes, I had wavemon installed. Fired it up, the man picks up the TP, checks 
a few things in /proc, then says that either the antenna was disconnected 
or the interface was dying. Swapped interface with another machine, jammed 
my hard disk into another machine ("could you set the root password to 
'password' for now?"), checked stuff out, pronounced antenna healthy and 
interface "iffy", asked me to hold on, swapped in a new wifi interface 
card, checked things out, pronounced stuff fixed (it was) and asked if I'd 
like some coffee.

Quick discussion about experiences with other TPs ("the i-series were a
linux nightmare"), wireless ("vpn over wifi - the only way to fly
securely") and the obligatory war jokes. 

Also discussed Xfree86 4.3, had argument about how it would react if
configured for 1400x1050 and then booted on an LCD that could do only
1024x768 (quickly settled - a 1024x68 model of the T30 was at hand - a
quick hard disk swap from my machine to that one showed that XFree86 4.3
correctly noticed the lower-resolution LCD and adjusted without a hiccup -
I stand corrected), finally packed up and left.

Heck - if service calls can be this much fun, I'll do this more often. And 
IBM hides these guys behind the "unsupported" marketing stand.

Atul


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Atul Chitnis       | achitnis at exocore.com
Exocore Consulting | http://www.exocore.com
Bangalore, India   | +91 (80) 344-0397
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