pretty much OFF TOPIC--Y2K (was: "XyWrite III+", "new guy")

[Peter Evans peterev@xxxxxxxx]

Walter Jowers:

>there's also a nothing-can-go-wrong Y2K cult
>just itching to preach the message, with websites
>and everything

Glad to hear it! But, to get back to the Y2K issue (or not), I have been
surprised to see so little mention on the various mailing lists I frequent
(or, if you prefer, defile) of BIOS updates. It could be that everybody is
running new hardware (Gotta keep Taiwan's economy buoyant and its skies
pink!), but I suspect that a lot of people--curmudgeonly,
lightning-bolt-happy Xy users among them--use grubby old beige boxes with
hardware that was good enough in (say) '94 so is good enough now, dammit.

Earlier this year I went to the Asus website and there learned that my
586/166 and my 586/133 (both with Asus motherboards) had BIOSes that
weren't ready for Y2K. The expected symptoms of their Y2K-unpreparedness
sounded pretty mild to me, but the process of updating the BIOS sounded
simple enough so I downloaded what was necessary and updated them.

Those who are worried and have flash-updatable BIOSes might like to check
at the websites of the companies that made the motherboards, or perhaps the
complete boxes. (Meanwhile, the BIOS manufacturer may provide an
explanation, but is most unlikely to provide BIOS updates.)
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Peter Evans