COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Pluggy]

If you want too knwo where a particular application is you can type

which program-name into a terminal.

for example

Code: Select all

which google-chrome

will tell you where the application is kept

[Steven Chorkley]

Steven, I'm in my 60s and I know little about computers and software but I've been using Ubuntu Linux since about 2006 when I finally ditched Windows - also used Ubuntu for my home-based business. I've never really needed to know anything more than the basics. I install and uninstall software easily and safely via Synaptic Package Manager or the Software Center (the latest Ubuntu versions don't have Synaptic by default but you can download it via the Software Center and open it in the Dash). Odd times I've needed a proprietary application that isn't offered by the Ubuntu software repositories (`repos') but then I look on the Ubuntu Forum for advice. The system files are in...File System! You can view the file list from the File Manager (sidebar to the Home Folder) by clicking on File System but you'll probably need root permission to open and edit them. I don't go there often these days but if necessary, or just out of curiosity, I open Terminal and use the sudo command and password.

David, anything in particular that makes it seem less intuitive? I'd say it's not to do with intuition but simply that we've been brainwashed by MS Windows for a couple of decades - they've cleverly managed to make folk think that their strange way of working is the norm when the truth is the opposite.

If you want too knwo where a particular application is you can type

which program-name into a terminal.

for example

Code: Select all

which google-chrome

will tell you where the application is kept

Thank you both!!! Makes sense!!! I guess I have a learning curve. I have been playing with my raspberry pi, mainly through the teminal using ssh but I have also used webmin..... I am hoping all of this helps! My only worry is is not being able to use Microsoft Office, anyone have any comments on either LibreOffice or OpenOffice? Or anything else for that matter?!!!

Thanks,
Steven

[Stanley]

Steven, the main factor in the withdrawal symptoms when you leave MS is that you have to get used to the standard offerings like Libre, Gimp etc. With very few exceptions they do exactly the same job. The trick is to ignore the odd functions that you were used to, ask yourself "is this application doing what I need" and get on with it. There is one exception that I know of which is Pshop. Gimp is good but if you're a high end user it falls short. Like Tiz, I have never worried about how the machine or application works as long as it's doing what I want of it. Again, occasionally there are niggles, both Tiz and I have found that Gimp is not as smooth under 12.4 64bit as it was on our older Ubuntu platform but you just put up with it because it's part of the overall package and Ubuntu definitely rocks!

[Steven Chorkley]

Steven, the main factor in the withdrawal symptoms when you leave MS is that you have to get used to the standard offerings like Libre, Gimp etc. With very few exceptions they do exactly the same job. The trick is to ignore the odd functions that you were used to, ask yourself "is this application doing what I need" and get on with it. There is one exception that I know of which is Pshop. Gimp is good but if you're a high end user it falls short. Like Tiz, I have never worried about how the machine or application works as long as it's doing what I want of it. Again, occasionally there are niggles, both Tiz and I have found that Gimp is not as smooth under 12.4 64bit as it was on our older Ubuntu platform but you just put up with it because it's part of the overall package and Ubuntu definitely rocks!

Ok, makes sense.

Thank you very much for your help!
Steven

[Stanley]

One more thing that I think helps. When I went over to Ubuntu I did it cold turkey, complete change and no Msoft. Even Pluggy thought I was wrong but I believe the fact I committed to Linux from day one sharpened up my ability to get over the changes. Never regretted it.

[Cathy]

I was last on OG around the 19th/20th JUNE. My internet provider has changed hands, they gave me a whole new connection device (their brand) which wouldn't/ doesn't ?? like my computer. Have spent hours and hours in the shop with them and my computer, and hours and hours on the phone with their 'Specialised Team'. I am on my 3rd new device, anyway eventually they said that it wasn't compatible with my computer!! I'm actually not sure if I am right now using my new device (a mobile internet modem stick) because I have been fiddling to get on for ages today, or whether I am piggybacking on someone else's connection, probably won't know until I try next time to get on the net. Honestly thru no fault of my own I have been pulled thru a hedge backwards these past 2 weeks. Not happy Jan!

Nice to be on OG again tho, just hope it isn't temporary

[Tizer]

Poor Cathy, what a trial! I hope it all settles down and you can relax with OG again!

[Steven Chorkley]

One more thing that I think helps. When I went over to Ubuntu I did it cold turkey, complete change and no Msoft. Even Pluggy thought I was wrong but I believe the fact I committed to Linux from day one sharpened up my ability to get over the changes. Never regretted it.

That's actually a really good idea!!! I can't risk that!!! If I am going to run linux whilst at college I am going to need to know what I am doing, this means I probably will run Office 2010 in either Wine or CrossOver, I haven't enough power in that machine for virtualisation. I need to remember their will be software I need to run that the college will give to me to be able to do my work!

Thank you for the tips!!! I must say, other than office I pretty much will be using it cold turkey! Lets see if I find it fun! I love the Dash though as it somehow replaces the spotlight on my Mac

Steven

[Stanley]

Understood about the College forcing Msoft applications on you, just another aspect of their tyranny.
Cathy! So glad you have managed to get connected. God knows why it should be your machine, all they are doing is giving you a connection! Sounds to me as though they are either incompetent or just giving you the run-around. Whatever, you are definitely in touch. Lovely!
Big upgrade from Ubuntu this morning, looks like virtually a new OS. Not sure if it's my imagination but the FMIII seems to be running even faster. Thanks lads.....

[Tripps]

Well - I've pushed the boat out and got a new laptop. Faster than ever - with loads of memory (8Gb) . I've not gone for Avast this time but put Microsoft Security Essentials on since it was recommended by Plugs. Well pleased at the moment.

[plaques]

I think the photo enlargement display used by OG is very impressive. I’ve been trying to put together something similar using a free download “Lightbox” . So far its been an abject failure. Valium doesn’t seem to work for me. I must admit I’m a complete novice at HTML and Java. Has anyone had any success using “Lightbox” or perhaps recommend an alternative non-professional programme.

[PanBiker]

The site uses "Advance Box JS" for resizing images. This is a feature of the Advanced BBCode3 modification that runs the post edit box and gives all the extra functionality icons that you see above the edit box. The site can use other plugins for resizing if installed.

[plaques]

Thanks for the information. I will certainly have a look at it.

[Steven Chorkley]

Well - I've pushed the boat out and got a new laptop. Faster than ever - with loads of memory (8Gb) . I've not gone for Avast this time but put Microsoft Security Essentials on since it was recommended by Plugs. Well pleased at the moment.

I swear by MSE! But I noticed this article on Lifehacker! I came across it today, I was in the car coming up from Devon trying to find something to do! I thought you may want to have a look: http://lifehacker.com/5865356/the-best- ... or-windows

I must note, it hasn't changed my mind about MSE as it is so simple to use and all of the definition updates come through Windows Update! I have installed Avast on my HomeServer though as I cannot risk anything on it!

[Stanley]

Possibility of thunder and lightning today. Not a bad idea to physically disconnect your computer from the mains when you are not using it. Could save you a fried Mboard!

[Tizer]

A friend of ours has had fax machines twice destroyed by lightning strikes at the same house - and they say it never strikes twice in the same place!

[Pluggy]

It doesn't need to strike in the same place twice to destroy a FAX machine, anywhere on the possibly miles of telephone cabling connected to the telephone socket will do......

Exactly the same in the old days of dial up-modems , if you were lucky it just destroyed the modem, if you were unlucky it took the computer with it. These days the router dies, never known it take a computer with it, even if its a wired connection.

Its a lot less of a problem nowadays because FAX is a dying/dead technology. (Good riddance, ,it was a botch in it's 80's heyday, it has no place in the 21st century)

[Moh]

One strike of lightning last year 'killed' my mouse !!

[Stanley]

Poor mouse! Pluggy will correct me if I'm wrong but the actual cause is a voltage spike induced by the lightning. We had one tiny drop-out yesterday but I had all me plugs pulled out except for the router which has to be on to service my phone line.

[Tizer]

Its a lot less of a problem nowadays because FAX is a dying/dead technology. (Good riddance, ,it was a botch in it's 80's heyday, it has no place in the 21st century)

It had one good use for me in the early 1990s when I was editor on a packaging news publication. One of my contributors was an expert on gadgets such as self-heating cans, tamper-evident devices, easy opening closures etc. If I asked him to explain how something worked he simply drew a diagram and shoved it through the fax machine on his desk while we were talking and I could receive it immediately. (Remember this was before digital cameras.)

[PanBiker]

Talking of lightning bolts and mains spikes and the like, reminds me of a service call we got from a little old lady back in the 1970's. It was a Saturday morning, the day after a particularly spectacular thunder storm the night before.

I answered the phone and she said, "Is that Ian, can you please come and look at my telly. I was watching it last night and all of a sudden the whole corner of the room lit up with a bit of a glow followed by a pop from the telly, then it went off. I tried it again this morning but it won't come on."

The phone had been fairly hot for the first half an hour of opening the shop with above normal calls for service. A common fault on the hybrid colour TV's used to be a fusible resistor opening in the sound output circuitry, this was an easy fix with a dab of solder to reset the spring link. Anyway we had a stack of jobs in the book so we shared them out between the three of us, loaded the vans and set off. I had the one from the little old lady who lived in one of the cottages on the right up at the top of Red Lion Street in Earby.

Approaching the short row of cottages I noticed that the little group of houses was already being attended by a van from Roy Jowetts at Colne, Slaters from Skipton and one of the lads from Harry Garlicks. I parked up at the back of the stack and as I got out I saw one of the other engineers on scene who said, "You're going to like this, let us know how you get on".

I went into the cottage and found the TV as normal in the window corner, it was a black and white dual standard model (405 and 625 lines) from the mid 60's. First thing I noticed was that the channel selector would not turn, closer inspection showed that it was welded to the front of the set! I nipped round the back and everything looked normal. There were two aerial leads attached to the individual tuners for VHF and UHF, when I tried to disconnect them I found that the coax plugs were welded into the sockets, the outer jacket of the coax was perfectly intact but it pulled straight out of the coax plug and on inspection had no inner conductor, dielectric or woven copper screening cable, there was a little pile of dust building up nicely on the carpet though which was emptying out from the end of the cable. I took the back off and found what was left of one of the tuners in the bottom of the cabinet. It's aluminium screening can had melted along with the cabinet fixings and what remained was in the bottom of the set. The main chassis should have had 18 valves, all that remained were the pins which were welded into the base sockets on the motherboard. All the capacitors had exploded and were distributed all over the inside of the cabinet. the bottom of the cabinet was filled with tiny little glass marbles formed when the valves were vaporised. Wire wound dropper resistors in the power supply were all completely destroyed. It was fairly clear that the row had been hit by lightning.

For a fraction of a second the set must have had billions of volts shoved through it, rather amazing that all the little old lady saw was "a bit of a glow and then it went pop!". She had just emerged from the kitchen with brew for me and was asking if I could mend it!

Pretty dramatic but as it turned out probably not on the direct path. That was in the cottage at the top of the row it would seem. All their mains cabling had burned out of the plaster, apart from the cooker, just about every other piece of electrical equipment in the house had been fried. They had just come back from holiday and found their house dead! Amazing that nothing set on fire.

[Tizer]

An amazing story, Ian, thanks for sharing it. We once lived on a ridge between two valleys and used to hear the rumbling and echoing of thunder in the valleys, but if the thundercloud came over the ridge you could get some frighteningly loud thunderclaps. A chap down the street arrived home from work one evening to find his house on fire from a lightning strike and the whole top floor was burnt out.

[Stanley]

Berlin used to have some good thunderstorms. One thing I saw there that was new to me was pine trees split by lightning strike during a dry spell before it had rained. Instead of tracking down the water running down the trunk the current followed the sap, bursting the trees open.

[Steven Chorkley]

Talking of lightning bolts and mains spikes and the like, reminds me of a service call we got from a little old lady back in the 1970's. It was a Saturday morning, the day after a particularly spectacular thunder storm the night before.

I answered the phone and she said, "Is that Ian, can you please come and look at my telly. I was watching it last night and all of a sudden the whole corner of the room lit up with a bit of a glow followed by a pop from the telly, then it went off. I tried it again this morning but it won't come on."

The phone had been fairly hot for the first half an hour of opening the shop with above normal calls for service. A common fault on the hybrid colour TV's used to be a fusible resistor opening in the sound output circuitry, this was an easy fix with a dab of solder to reset the spring link. Anyway we had a stack of jobs in the book so we shared them out between the three of us, loaded the vans and set off. I had the one from the little old lady who lived in one of the cottages on the right up at the top of Red Lion Street in Earby.

Approaching the short row of cottages I noticed that the little group of houses was already being attended by a van from Roy Jowetts at Colne, Slaters from Skipton and one of the lads from Harry Garlicks. I parked up at the back of the stack and as I got out I saw one of the other engineers on scene who said, "You're going to like this, let us know how you get on".

I went into the cottage and found the TV as normal in the window corner, it was a black and white dual standard model (405 and 625 lines) from the mid 60's. First thing I noticed was that the channel selector would not turn, closer inspection showed that it was welded to the front of the set! I nipped round the back and everything looked normal. There were two aerial leads attached to the individual tuners for VHF and UHF, when I tried to disconnect them I found that the coax plugs were welded into the sockets, the outer jacket of the coax was perfectly intact but it pulled straight out of the coax plug and on inspection had no inner conductor, dielectric or woven copper screening cable, there was a little pile of dust building up nicely on the carpet though which was emptying out from the end of the cable. I took the back off and found what was left of one of the tuners in the bottom of the cabinet. It's aluminium screening can had melted along with the cabinet fixings and what remained was in the bottom of the set. The main chassis should have had 18 valves, all that remained were the pins which were welded into the base sockets on the motherboard. All the capacitors had exploded and were distributed all over the inside of the cabinet. the bottom of the cabinet was filled with tiny little glass marbles formed when the valves were vaporised. Wire wound dropper resistors in the power supply were all completely destroyed. It was fairly clear that the row had been hit by lightning.

For a fraction of a second the set must have had billions of volts shoved through it, rather amazing that all the little old lady saw was "a bit of a glow and then it went pop!". She had just emerged from the kitchen with brew for me and was asking if I could mend it!

Pretty dramatic but as it turned out probably not on the direct path. That was in the cottage at the top of the row it would seem. All their mains cabling had burned out of the plaster, apart from the cooker, just about every other piece of electrical equipment in the house had been fried. They had just come back from holiday and found their house dead! Amazing that nothing set on fire.

One of the forums on the ThinkBroadband site had another story from the storm the other night. There was a lightning strike that got into the BT system, noone would be protected as the huge flux wouldn't have gone through any surge protectors. This power entered into many of the houses in this village down a twisted pair.
The guy who was writing this up said that his router blew! This router was connected to his Laptop and XBOX directly, both weren't working. He said the PCU of the XBOX had blown, thinking it had sacrificed itself to avoid this surge from entering the Mains in is home. His Laptop he wasn't sure about! He also said his Sky box was connected to the phone line but that was fully functional exept the HDMI lead was broken.

Apparently he was lucky because he said the strike had literally blown a hole in one of his neighbours roofs.

I guess we are all lucky!!! That does make me think though, none of us are protected if a strike gets into the BT system!!

[Gloria]

I think I may have a problem. Something called "superfish" keeps cropping up on my address bar when I try to go through the pages of Argos or any other large site, doesn't happen on here. The programme then stops with "not responding" and remains frozen. When I close the program I get the "end now" which I press which then closes everything. I am not aware that we have downloaded anything which could have let this in.
Do I need to take it to my local sick computer shop??? I have windows xp and run Norton regularly, I am also not very computer literate.