[GTALUG] In praise of Sir. Lenn! was power supply, and honestly allot of threads.

[Karen Lewellen]

Hi everyone,
While my subject line may be light, my words of praise run deep and 
sincere..and a bit hard to articulate for being weepy.
For better or worse I spend  lots of time apologizing for the complexity 
that is my body experience, not being  disabled according to stereotype. 
Not even being consistently disabled for moment to moment.  Prior to the 
surgical stroke i experienced, I used to apologize, but in the other 
direction, still stereotypes of course, about sight loss and intelligence 
and  culture and so forth.
In 1988 when the state rehab system, <Arkansas> refused to buy me  a 
computer for law school, I sang for it instead..literary.  put on a 
concert, raised the funds with help and bought  the  things I  needed. it 
was the first, and the last computer I ever got off the shelf, because 
when there was a problem, the computer store  lost almost all of my data.
After then, I knew the insides of machines very well, but as life and work 
and so forth got busier I started to find other people.
That was fine at first, but once said surgical stroke made communicating 
less conventional, more often then not I would find those computer types 
who 
decided  my disability experiences mean I am incapable of learning 
understanding or knowing about machines, or worse yet that what i need 
was impossible, usually followed with the suggestion I use equipment 
physically impossible for me to use instead.
Fast forward to Sir. Lenn. In the past  year and a half, I have lost more 
computers than the  roughly 35 years prior.
Due to hydro in my apartment, or not being heard about moving items..my 
reading machines, or well meaning people more interested in  bluffing 
their way  through and showing off, or 
less well meaning people deciding I  need not be heard, because they know 
more about  my needs, they are the able bodied person after all.
In two hours, almost to the minute, Sir Lennhart,  with a great deal of 
patience and humor and likely skills years in the making,  did open heart 
computer surgery on my machines.  I use  plurals, because apparently 
being 
a hardware hoarder is a very wise thing indeed.
He  added  a driver line giving me cd Ron access for the first time 
since..at least 2019 when  my computer from two machine's back had a 
hardware crash, hmm still need to recover that data.  He changed my power 
supply..twice...that might have 
been once, but even I forgot just where which older machine was sitting..I 
have three of them laughs.
He insured I had quality rich functional speech suitable for more than 30 
screen readers across operating systems, without likely knowing this,
  simply  because he kindly answered questions  while including my input.
Most amazingly enough on top of all that?  He gave me a first time 
computer 
experience, placing the heart of  my computer, the CPU, into my 
hand..I have never held one before.
as a bonus Lenn got some information, another computer knight, Sir Ron, 
needs for the back door Ron is providing me to my gmail account.
The results are a machine that is quiet, with a fully functional DOS USB 
driver again, and cd rom function, and a working power supply.    My 
computer no longer vibrates the desk, or overheats, or smells of smoke.
I can turn it off, or leave it on..I may even for the first time in many 
years add speech to the boot process..
There is another thread going about why Linux is not  more popular. 
Personally?  I feel part of that is because so few get a chance to 
experience the magic that can be a Linux community at its best.
when someone  like sir. Lenn draws upon  little details discovered, likely 
over many a project based on the kind of  personal connection you have to 
gain  for running  understanding, and fully using Linux.
The pieces, power supply and heart now in this computer came from  a 
machine built by another Linux user, and if memory served, a person Colin 
a third Linux soul,  directed me to, in  2010 or so. That computer was still working 
until this year,   now living on in my newly created little  wonder.
I am speechless with appreciation for this community, your brilliance, 
wonderful questions, capacitor to help me even when what I do with my 
machines is unique.   Deeply thankful for the ways you have chosen to let 
Linux keep   both your skills sharp, and your imaginations 
vibrant rich and creative.
Each of you  teach me with your posts, your questions and your own 
challenges.
best of all at this moment though,   because you continue to  build a 
community rooted in Linux, with its many paths to the surprising, I 
miraculously connected with   sir. lenn.  Who in two hours did what I had 
been told was impossible.
never doubt the  terrific gift that is  this Linux community, the value of 
what you choose to learn with your own projects, the importance of each 
conversation head here.
One never knows when  the slightest bit of wisdom might help a person 
connect the outside world,  do their job..or play computer monopoly once 
again.
With profound appreciation,
Karen Lewellen