COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[PanBiker]

Th PC acronym if taken literally should cover any device regardless of brand or component base, after all they are all "personal computers". The fact that the term "PC" has been adopted to be representative of the 8086 family of Intel processors and their derivatives in other stables such as the back engineered and enhanced AMD's should be irrelevant. Mind you the term could also cover all the mobile phones (most of which are ARM derivative processor based), digital cameras and an ever increasing number of domestic appliances that are also chipped up. The Apple fraternity would probably be up in arms though if you suggested that their "babies" were broadly on the same level as a washing machine!

[Stanley]

Pete, tried all sorts but no joy. I shall print them on card and guillotine them and write by hand in future. I'm not doing any great number now so no sweat.
Tiz, that's why I called mine the Flying Machine. We are on FMII now.

[Nolic]

We are staying in Welsh border country and Wi Fi access is on a par with the old dial up system. Cath and I are taking it in turns - she on her iPad and me on the laptop as if we both try to access the Wi Fi together the signal goes to not. Nolic

[Tripps]

"I shall print them on card and guillotine them and write by hand in future"

That's not very 21st century is it? Can I recommend a little free program called "Treepad". Easily downloadable, and I've use it for years for storage of data, cuttings, ideas etc. It's fully searchable too. It doesn't interact with any other software, and the whole thing - program and data can be self contained on a fairly low capacity data stick. The basic version is free, and adequate for most, but there is a more feature rich version available for a fee.

[Pluggy]

The Apple fraternity would probably be up in arms though if you suggested that their "babies" were broadly on the same level as a washing machine!

A somewhat cruel and inaccurate statement. Washing machines are controlled by microcontrollers, usually 8 bit with a few kB of memory and slightly more storage (a few tens of kB). Roughly comparable in power to a late 70's or very early 80's computer. The iPhone/iPad is a 32 bit processor with hundreds of MB of memory and several GB of storage, roughly equivalent in power to a full blown PC of only a few years ago. (2002-2006 ish).

Typical microcontroller used in washing machines and a whole load of other modern white goods and 'intelligent' devices :

http://www.atmel.com/devices/atmega328p.aspx

[PanBiker]

I think my smiley says it all in my previous post. It was not meant to be 100% accurate but representative of a general trend. I can't for the life in me see where you get cruel from?

[Whyperion]

Washing machines always seemed to work fairly well with rotary switches and relays , the use of silcon controllers no great advantage , unless I really could program - preferably from a pc or similar{*} ( as dont want to press a huge menu of keys with my nose roughly over the adjacent radiator in the darkest corner of the kitchen ) , At 4pm before I get home , heat water to 40deg C , wash for 20mins with a pre wash , rinse and drain. Quick Tumble at 5pm , open door and tip washing into basket , ready for me to pick up at 5.30pm. ( or similar for an auto start at 5am for a morning ). If I could also programme the laundry robot to pick up clothes and hang up to air or iron and pack away that would be a great progress.
{*} I guess a bluetooth apple app would work as well but I dont have access to any apple devices.

[Stanley]

"That's not very 21st century is it?" Perhaps not but it gets rid of the problem quickly. I can handwrite a lot of cards in the time it would take me to find a solution to printing them.

[Tizer]

I can't for the life in me see where you get cruel from?

Perhaps he meant cruel to washing machines!

I can handwrite a lot of cards in the time it would take me to find a solution to printing them.

Not only that, you can write the cards anywhere and without the need for an electronic device!

[Pluggy]

Apple users are a breed apart with sensitive feelings about people making negative noises about their passions.............

Comparing their iPad to a washing machine is cruel to them. Tongue in cheek, like the original comment, but I neglected the smiley.

[Tripps]

I've just had my very first Nigerian type scammer email.That's not bad really after being on Email for about fifteen years. I opened it - only because It said it was from webmaster @OGFB. Bit of a disappointment really - only £1.2 Million, and they want me to give 85% away to good causes!

[Whyperion]

Its from Togo ( via Japan ? )

[Stanley]

Never see 'em. Tbird must have a good filter! Or is it because my version is different on 64 bit?

[Big Kev]

Never see 'em. Tbird must have a good filter! Or is it because my version is different on 64 bit?

It came as a private message on OGFB, I just deleted it.

[Callunna]

I found this website to be a very useful resource for free info and guides, eg

http://www.makeuseof.com/pages/ubuntu-a ... ners-guide

Password is makeuseof.

[Bodger]

On a similar vein to Big Kev,on another site i use, they have a "technical ", forum members report problems and answers, for a few years i have printed out answers that apply to my system, many times these answers have saved me te cost of the "expert".
We have experts on here, so maybe there is an opening for problem solving online, or if it exists, ive missed it, sorry Pluggy i'm not trying to put yo out of business, but to fellows brought up with steam, the simple answer of click on tools, etc. and solve a problem was not available from the manufacturers

[Stanley]

Bodge, that's how this forum started. Just ask the question and everyone piles in.

[Callunna]

On a similar vein to Big Kev,on another site i use, they have a "technical ", forum members report problems and answers...

Was this in response to my post about “Make Use Of” or has BK posted details of another techie site? I’m interested in all online help websites.

Mind you, a few people have mixed me and Big Kev up - we do look rather similar.

[Bodger]

Callunna,Yup, i got the wrong contributor,

[Whyperion]

Stanley asked a question in Forgotten Corners , relating to (Firefox only ? ) Right mouse click - Menu - Inspect element. While Doc or Pluggy could probably give a better answer I had a little play. It would appear that on a HTML page one can use it to copy bits of a frame or similar created whole page into its component parts , sort of a reverse engineering , one can also delete bits of the page ( elements ) on ones cache browser , presumably to take away what you dont want to view , or inspect , at that particular time. You can also see what the page references as metadata etc within the page ( H for Heading , author and so on ) , useful for debuggin when ones page does not render as expected I suppose.

[Stanley]

I'm so impressed by the flow of updates from Canonical. It's like having your own IT technician maintaining your system continually. This morning's offering was an update to Firefox.

[Pluggy]

Just got an email from Plusnet (I'm responsible for our churches broadband who use them) saying our account is going to be upgraded to "up to 17Mb" in the next few weeks because "The exchange equipment we use to provide your service has now been upgraded". Since Plusnet are basically a BT reseller, it would suggest that the long awaited 21CN upgrade for Barlick is happening. All the services piggybacking on BT's connection (all of 'em in Barlick except Talktalk and Sky) will hopefully soon be following. (That's you Stanley ).

[PanBiker]

There was a BT guy setting up access to the first "hole in the road" this morning when I passed the exchange this morning. My TalkTalk remains constant at 16 -17Mbps.

[Stanley]

Almost twelve months late already, it will be nice when it happens. Thanks for the cheerful heads up!

[Stanley]

I've had a recurrent problem with Ubuntu, the update registry almost always fails and you have to keep trying on restart, it eventually works but while it is on the screen I think it slows me down a tad. Went for a furtle and found an answer which has worked. Go to admin>system monitor>processes and if you have 'AT SPI Registry sleeping' kill it by 'end process'. I did this immediately after a restart, went to update and it worked fine.