>> Interesting. Every time I boot the PC, it turns off. Every time I log in
>> to the shell, it turns off. Every time I start X, it turns off. Every
>> time I stop X, it turns off. Every time I log out of the shell, it turns
>> off. It /constantly/ turns off.
>
> Mine never turns off on its own.  Just switched between several VTs and
> my X session, the state didn't change at all.

OK, well I guess it varies by distro then. This was, IIRC, Debian "potato".

>> I did once see somebody from the local LUG explain how to keep numlock
>> permanently enabled in the shell, but it didn't seem to affect X.
>
> "in the shell" - do you mean on a VT?  Or is it changing when you open a
> term window in X?

I mean in the text-mode screen that appears before you tell X Windows to 
start up. (I didn't have it configured to run at startup.)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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On 06/10/2011 7:48 PM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> There is. And when the BIOS runs, numlock is on. Once the Linux kernel
> finishes loading, it turns off. (And if you press the key to turn it
> back on, it stays on until you log into something...)

Another reason to give Linux a miss.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 06/10/2011 07:56 PM, Stephen wrote:
> On 06/10/2011 7:48 PM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> There is. And when the BIOS runs, numlock is on. Once the Linux kernel
>> finishes loading, it turns off. (And if you press the key to turn it
>> back on, it stays on until you log into something...)
>
> Another reason to give Linux a miss.

Linux is OK. The main reason I don't use it is that I have thousands of 
pounds worth of software that only runs on Windows.

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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On Thu, 06 Oct 2011 19:56:26 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 06/10/2011 7:48 PM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> There is. And when the BIOS runs, numlock is on. Once the Linux kernel
>> finishes loading, it turns off. (And if you press the key to turn it
>> back on, it stays on until you log into something...)
> 
> Another reason to give Linux a miss.

<shrug>  Works just fine for 99% of the users I've talked to.  And I've 
talked to a lot of Linux users. :)

Jim

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On Thu, 06 Oct 2011 19:50:34 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

>>> Interesting. Every time I boot the PC, it turns off. Every time I log
>>> in to the shell, it turns off. Every time I start X, it turns off.
>>> Every time I stop X, it turns off. Every time I log out of the shell,
>>> it turns off. It /constantly/ turns off.
>>
>> Mine never turns off on its own.  Just switched between several VTs and
>> my X session, the state didn't change at all.
> 
> OK, well I guess it varies by distro then. This was, IIRC, Debian
> "potato".

Possible.  At the very least, there are ways to configure it to not do 
what you're seeing, but not knowing Debian, I couldn't tell you how on 
that distribution.

>>> I did once see somebody from the local LUG explain how to keep numlock
>>> permanently enabled in the shell, but it didn't seem to affect X.
>>
>> "in the shell" - do you mean on a VT?  Or is it changing when you open
>> a term window in X?
> 
> I mean in the text-mode screen that appears before you tell X Windows to
> start up. (I didn't have it configured to run at startup.)

That's a "virtual terminal" or VT.  aka the "Console".

Jim

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On 06/10/2011 11:23 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Thu, 06 Oct 2011 19:56:26 +0100, Stephen wrote:
>
>> On 06/10/2011 7:48 PM, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> There is. And when the BIOS runs, numlock is on. Once the Linux kernel
>>> finishes loading, it turns off. (And if you press the key to turn it
>>> back on, it stays on until you log into something...)
>>
>> Another reason to give Linux a miss.
>
> <shrug>   Works just fine for 99% of the users I've talked to.  And I've
> talked to a lot of Linux users. :)
>
Ye’r not biased by any chance?

Actually I can’t be bothered to learn another OS and like Andrew I’ve 
got lots of s/ware that works on Windoze.



-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 05/10/2011 3:58 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> I blame the education system. I don’t know what for but something is to
>> >  blame.
> Technology.  Why should one have to figure out how to do sums when
> everyone has a phone with a calculator built into it?

Basics?

And you don't want to look like a tosser walking around a supermarket 
with a calculator. Keep a running total in your head.

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On 05/10/2011 4:50 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> (Then again, it'll take you 20 seconds just to cancel out of the random
>> >  submenu that the phone has opened in your pocket for no defined reason.)
> Well, that's why I put a shortcut on the screen for it.:)
>

In Windoze:

Start > type calc [enter]

-- 
Regards
     Stephen

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On Thu, 06 Oct 2011 23:34:11 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 05/10/2011 3:58 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>>> I blame the education system. I don’t know what for but something is
>>> to
>>> >  blame.
>> Technology.  Why should one have to figure out how to do sums when
>> everyone has a phone with a calculator built into it?
> 
> Basics?
> 
> And you don't want to look like a tosser walking around a supermarket
> with a calculator. Keep a running total in your head.

I rather have a shopping list. :)

And for something like a running total, round numbers are "good enough".

But one of the trends in learning in general is that people tend to not 
try to remember facts because they can be looked up so easily.  This is 
analogous to people not being able to do basic arithmetic because of the 
ubiquity of technology that makes it unnecessary.

I'm not saying it's a particularly good thing, but it's the way people 
tend to behave.

Jim

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On Thu, 06 Oct 2011 23:37:23 +0100, Stephen wrote:

> On 05/10/2011 4:50 PM, Jim Henderson wrote:
>>> (Then again, it'll take you 20 seconds just to cancel out of the
>>> random
>>> >  submenu that the phone has opened in your pocket for no defined
>>> >  reason.)
>> Well, that's why I put a shortcut on the screen for it.:)
>>
>>
> In Windoze:
> 
> Start > type calc [enter]

In Linux:

In the already running terminal window (on my system, I always have one 
running), "bc".

Jim

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