Re: [MLUG] tentative specs for our Linux box...

["Jonathan King" <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On 4/16/07, Pottinger, Hardy J. <EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> > I think I should look a bit more carefully at the optical drive
> > situation; some of those could be not so nice, I suppose.
>
> I recently bought a Sony DRU120C from Buy.com
>
> http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=203375140

So I just found that Amazon has it cheaper:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000JVAI7K/

...and it ships for free. So: thanks _very_ much for the tip. :-)

> The drive is absolutely silent. It's also shorter than average, which
> makes it friendly for SFF cases. It's actually a rebadged LiteOn drive
> (better tech info on the drive at NewEgg).

Yes, this looks like a winner for our applications. One thing I will
note, playing the role of Middle-Aged Man:

> The reason I went for it from
> Buy.com is that I availed myself of their credit card incentive, where
> they give you $30 credit if you sign up, which took the price of the
> drive down to $20 (free shipping). It's a rotten credit card, so plan on
> cancelling it after you pay off your first statement.

Sorry, but that way likes madness. Your credit record will then note
that you signed up for and then immediately dropped the account, and
cards like this have this sneaky way of coming back to bite you.

Once upon a time, we got a Montgomery Ward credit card for the same
reason, and we didn't use it except the one time. Two months into our
having it, we got a bill for $0.00, which we didn't pay. Big mistake:
you had to send that one back in in order *not* to get signed up for
the most incredibly useless service of all time: CardGard (I'm
assuming they're long gone now). To make a  long story short, we only
found out about that the next month when we had a $75 charge on the
account. We immediately called up in protest and to cancel our card.
That should have been the end of it, but CardGard is the kind of
outfit that really sucks, and, in a fit of pique, slapped $60 in late
payment fees on the charge and allegedly put it in for collection (but
we were never contacted).

Four years later, when we try to buy a car, what should happen to be
on our credit report but an uncollected debt for $140 and change from
this outfit! The underwriter rolled her eyes at the item once we told
her what it was (we weren't the only victims), but still had to charge
us more on the loan because we didn't have unblemished credit.

We are now out from under that, but, obviously, never again.

jking

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