Any IBM Power / AIX fans out there?

[Cameron Kaiser]

> > have someone who knows how to do it, do it, then wreck hardware because I
> > keep getting browbeaten about how I can't do it myself and should.
> 
> The only way to learn is to practice. Period. Yes, you will make 
> mistakes, and at first you'll probably do things that at the time you 
> don't have the skill to put right. You will end up with bits all round 
> the room :-) (I speak from experience here). But you will also gain 
> experience. Slowly you'll find you'll be able to get things back together 
> again, that you will know what to undo and in what order, and so on. 
> 
> Obviously you don't practice on some rare/important (to you) machine. In 
> this case, you might want to buy/obtain similar cabinet locks with the 
> sole purpose of pulling them apart so as to see how they're made, and 
> knowing that you probably won't get them all back togenter again. After a 
> bit you will feel like working on your IBM system without worrying that 
> you'll damage it.

That's exactly my point! I'm not risking my unusual hardware on my
inexperience, and I don't think that you should imply others should either
(which is how the original post came across). If he doesn't know how to
re-key a lock, and I know I sure don't, then he should get expert help if
the machine means something to him. Ergo, the locksmith.

If it was some PoC machine that I knew I could get another of, or was
busted and there was nothing to lose, then fine, I'd probably mess with
it. But I'm definitely aware of my limitations, and I don't see a learning
experience in ruining unusual hardware trying to learn to fix it (in
particular when a far better alternative to self-repair is available).

I'd trust you to fix my machines. I wouldn't trust me.

-- 
---------------------------------- personal: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ --
 Cameron Kaiser, Floodgap Systems Ltd * So. Calif., USA * ckaiser at floodgap.com
-- Famous, adj.: Conspicuously miserable.  -- Ambrose Bierce ------------------