On 5/14/2016 7:27 AM, HerHusband wrote:
I mainly want protection from dropouts, brownouts, etc. If the power
is going to fail, I can drag out a laptop. But, I'd hate to lose what
I am working on just because the lights flickered... It's also
amusing how easy it is to FORGET what (exactly) you were doing when
the screen unexpectedly goes black!

Ironically, when the power does go out I know I can still keep working on
the UPS power for a while. So, I'm usually in no hurry to shut things down
and stop working. Of course, at some point the battery power runs out and
the system shuts down automatically. It's my own fault for not stopping
gracefully when I had warning, but I get a false sense of endless power and
just keep working.

If I'm doing something interactive, I can just remember to "save" often...
until the floor falls out from under me. But, I have to make a point of
remembering what "set of things" I was trying to accomplish at the time.
So, if I got A, B and F done, I will remember to come back and tackle
C, D and E, later!

E.g., I'm presently reconfiguring BIND9 on my 24/7 box. The configuration
file is several hundred lines of "settings" -- in no particular order
(well, there's an order, of course, but not one that you can easily
remember your place: "I got through the G's..."). So, I know to leave
breadcrumbs for myself -- a line of "*********" that I cut and paste
into the general place I'm working from time to time (in case my
telnet(1) session abends, power fails or I get careless and close the
session or editor prematurely)

The real ****er is when I'm rendering a 3D animation or something
that the machine just crunches on for a *really* long time -- it
usually can't be "resumed" if the power drops out in the middle.