[sf-lug] [Made from scratch]

[Rick Moen]

Quoting maestro (maestro415 at gmail.com):

> I have a box I am going to offer for use at the meeting Sunday
> 2018.*09*.02 to do a distro build from 'scratch' meaning 'naked' hard
> drive 

How much total RAM?

Planning starts there.  Find out, and post the figure here.  (Get
it from Power On Self-Test = POST and/or BIOS Setup screens.)


> and possibly even reflashing BIOS

To solve _what problem_, by the way?

Earlier this month, you wanted a seminar during the then-upcoming BALUG
meeting to learn how to do diagnosis.  I mused a bit on CABAL's mailing
list about some (pithily worded) candidate principles of diagnosis.  One was:

o  Make sure you are extremely clear on what the problem _is_.

(If one is not clear on what the problem is, and why one is trying to 
address it, then maybe figuring out _that_ is a higher priority.)

The others were:

o  Observe all symptoms, and keep detailed records.
o  Where possible, establish known-good and known-bad components.
o  Where possible, use simple tools with reliable, known traits.
o  Any candidate explanation must account for all the symptoms.
o  Don't trust any candidate explanation you haven't tested.
o  Distrust coincidence.
o  Always remember that causes are only imputed, not an empirical reality.
o  Be careful not to change more than one thing at a time.
o  See if you can eliminate groups of possible causes, e.g.,
   to test whether it's hardware or software.
o  Lateral thinking often wins.