@neil that's a great tip!

[poleguy@mastodon.social]

@neil Evil corollary: of you want to really mess with someone's setup do not simply unplug cables. Rather swap cables at random. Leave nothing unplugged. Extra credit if you match the quality and style of their cable management aesthetic.

[barubary@infosec.exchange]

@neil Or the software equivalent: If the bug fix or feature you're trying to code is stubbornly refusing to work, ensure that the file you're editing is the same as the file being used by the build system (and that the program you're testing is the one that you've just built).

[benbradley@hachyderm.io]

@neil I was actually reading this while waiting for my PC to finish booting and the screen I was waiting to not be black was not plugged in.

[ncrazed@fd00.space]

@neil applies to rope climbing "pre-flight" checks too. Just because you're both tied into the ends of a rope correctly doesn't mean that it's the same rope.

Don't just buddy check, system check!

[thirstybear@agilodon.social]

@neil Most excellent advice.

Also, make sure said cable has not been chewed in half by foster kittens. (There lies a sad tale of the demise of a web cam 🙄 As far as possible everything I now use has replaceable cables rather than integrated)

[davidbcohen@twit.social]

@neil @TheBreadmonkey Technical support from the Viz letters page here.

[ojs@c.im]

@neil another corollary: when working in VM management, make sure your on the right host before hitting reboot on the host (that is not the host that has production VM's).

[faithfulljohn@mastodon.scot]

@neil 😂 This is not unknown to me 😳

[tautology@infosec.exchange]

@neil I've not been this person before. No, never, well, not this week.

[slothrop@chaos.social]

@neil Ah yes!

Me recently: I’ve been doing computers professionally for more than 20 years now. I’m good at this!

Me: why won’t my second monitor turn on? Surely the display driver software is misconfigured. Let me check.

(20 minutes of focused search for the error)

Me: wait, maybe I’ll go check the HDMI cable, just to be sure.

No prizes for guessing what the problem was 🤡

[zebulonmysterioso@mas.to]

@neil so many of the fails in these replies are way too close to home.

[pavel@mastodon.arch-linux.cz]

@neil That never happened to me

(lied someone in the replies)

[alex@social.moreati.org.uk]

@neil call it a case study. Then we can all admire your level-headed holistic joined-up professional analysis, and industry best practice.

[cejjacobs@mastodon.social]

@neil an old tip 😂 https://youtu.be/mxF9yYaG1jE

[fluffykontbiscuits@mastodon.social]

@neil I do this all the time 🤣

[david_chisnall@infosec.exchange]

@neil

In related advice: if you think you have fixed a bug and it looks like it’s still there, it might be worth double checking that the copy of the program that you’re testing is actually the one containing the fix.

[toxy@mastodon.acc.sunet.se]

@neil Cheers Neil. That’s an absolute gamechanger. I’ve become much more productive. This is what winning must feel like.

[m0rpk@mastodon.radio]

@neil @drgeraint Also a valuable tip for live music performance…

[guigsy@mstdn.social]

@neil A couple of years ago I was in the office and the guy next to me spent a week on a critical issue. Pulling in many other people. The new kit to drive a critical business process wouldn't connect. Reinstalled everything. Hard reset network gear and rebuilt configs. Bench tested every bit of kit and switched things out that were known good. Turns out a "fresh out of the bag" 2m patch cable was faulty.

[greem@cyberplace.social]

@neil This is what's known as Quantum Cabling.