COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[PanBiker]

A CSV file would be very versatile as Pluggy says. There may be an issue though with the potential individual field size, depending on how your original cards are organised.

I assume all the cards follow the same format and maybe a single field is the one that can vary up to 500 words? Can you give an example, maybe with a photograph of one of your 500 word cards?

[Tripps]

This reminds me of the saying that "a camel is a horse designed by a committee".

I imagine the cards are organised by perhaps, alphabet, or date, or topic? Not easy to transfer to a conventional database such as Access due to the large number and variety of types of 'fields'.

Here's my final suggestion- download Cherrytree, copy some records from your cabinet - say about twenty. Play with it for a while then decide if it fits the bill. If so - continue; if not delete, and carry on with your life. The whole exercise will take about an hour. Note the Search facility.

As to worries about longevity. I used to worry about putting external links into this site thinking that the links would not work in the distant future. I don't anymore. Who says Windows or the blessed Linux will be in use in a hundred years time? I doubt that they will.

In fact I think I've gone full circle here - maybe best just to just donate the card records to a good library. They'll probably last longer than an electronic version.

[Steven Chorkley]

I can't afford to risk losing some of my files... I have several backups, My flash drive runs portable Dropbox so I can store all of my school files onto there (Lost my drive before.... learn from my mistakes). The computers backup to a network accessible HDD, several directories are then backed up to CrashPlan.

Pluggy... I have an idea to speed up the site, I think I can remember you talking about it a while back. Cache? - Most of these pages could be static. Only the newest page in a thread needs to be dynamic. As you are using such a popular CMS you should be able to find a plugin so you don't have to mess around with any custom code or settings... (.htaccess, mod_rewrite, ect... )

[Stanley]

The site isn't fast enough!!??
I shall mull over the index issue.... Like finishing LTP13, a lot of things are on hold till I get my near vision back.....

[PanBiker]

Steven, to all intents and purposes the site is now running on the KISS principle. Less is better, only two mods on the site and one of them is the Gallery which is a separate module, the other is the editor shell. As far as I am aware no one has complained about the speed of the site so there is no issue to address. We dumped nearly 50 mods in the recent reload which was part of the problem why the site fell over in the first place. The last thing we need now is anything else plugging in, instant gratification is not always best anyway.

[Moh]

I find the site plenty fast enough and clear.

[Tizer]

A CSV file would be very versatile as Pluggy says. There may be an issue though with the potential individual field size, depending on how your original cards are organised. I assume all the cards follow the same format and maybe a single field is the one that can vary up to 500 words? Can you give an example, maybe with a photograph of one of your 500 word cards?

CSV is great for data such as addresses, dates etc but if Stanley's cards have paragraphs of text such as recorded speech, quotations or even just his own descriptions of events, objects and the like he'll have to avoid using a comma as a separator and use something that won't be in his text!

[PanBiker]

a CSV file although specific can also be more a generic term for a file with field delimiters, it does not necessarily have to be a comma as long as the application, script or whatever using the file knows what the chosen delimiter is. You can still use the comma as a delimiter though even if the enclosed text in the field uses them as punctuation.

[Pluggy]

The site is faster than its ever been, nobody is complaining, I'm loathe to add stuff to it, I'm with the majority, its not changing.

[Stanley]

I agree with Moh, she is the typical user and therefore her opinion is the most valuable. So no tweaking. Good. Speed is not everything and if anybody thinks the site is too slow they should look to their own equipment. It's virtually instantaneous at my end.
I am reminded of what I said to a bloke who was messing about with electricity. I told him that it moved at 186,000 miles per second and it was faster than him.

[Gloria]

I agree with Moh, there is no problem with the speed or ease of use, I think it is spot on.

[Pluggy]

As the the only one complaining isn't a donor, I think we can put this to bed. I wish everywhere I visited on the internet was as quick.

[Big Kev]

As the the only one complaining isn't a donor, I think we can put this to bed. I wish everywhere I visited on the internet was as quick.

Would you like my old Advent Laptop for spares? It's the one with the logic fault on the board.
Cheers

[Pluggy]

Would you like my old Advent Laptop for spares? It's the one with the logic fault on the board.
Cheers

Not really. I've been having a bit of trouble with my WEEE company (reluctant to do pickups because I'm remote and I don't have tons of waste to collect) the wife wouldn't look kindly on another dodgy laptop around the place. I'll take it if you're stuck but I'd rather not.

[Whyperion]

Try one of the local freecycle/ freegle groups for offering unwanted technology , alternatively the LCC site in Barnoldswick take in small electricals ( some get crushed , some get sent off for materials re-use and recovery. In the past I have sold on the auction sites parts from laptops ( screens, keyboards , batteries etc ) enough to get a few pence in - worth the time. The best recycling council site was Rotherham, dont know if they have changed in past few years.

[Big Kev]

Would you like my old Advent Laptop for spares? It's the one with the logic fault on the board.
Cheers

Not really. I've been having a bit of trouble with my WEEE company (reluctant to do pickups because I'm remote and I don't have tons of waste to collect) the wife wouldn't look kindly on another dodgy laptop around the place. I'll take it if you're stuck but I'd rather not.

No worries, I'll put it on Ebay

[Marilyn]

I seem to have picked up an email Trojan. Dozens of copies of the same email returned by postmaster...which has two attachments...which I haven't opened. It is not an email I have generated...I do not recognise any of the apparent recipients, but it seems to be going through the alphabet and sending dozens at a time
Inbox was pretty "chockers" this morning.
So annoying.
I keep deleting the inbox contents and emptying recycle bin
Is there anything else I can do? ( I feel like the Sorcerer's Apprentice!)

[Stanley]

It happened to me once Maz. Someone had stolen my email address. I tried all sorts but couldn't get any straight answers from anyone. In the end I just ignored it and kept deleting and eventually it dried up. You could always change your address but that is such a pain in itself.
06:30. Just had a complete new OS from those nice people! 70mb and a restart. Wonderful free service. I often wonder whether one of the reasons why Ubuntu works so well is that instead of sending mods to apply to the existing system, they seem to replace the whole of the OS.

[Marilyn]

It started 24 hours ago. I received an email saying I needed to click a link to see when the item I had ordered would be delivered. I hadn't ordered anything, so I didn't open the email. I deleted it. Then this alphabetic Trojan kicked in. These are return emails that I am supposed to have sent ( which I haven't of course). All the first addresses were 'A's. Then came the 'B's. I have now just deleted return emails with addresses beginning with 'F'.
So I expect there is a way to go...

I send and receive so few emails ( and never get spam as I rarely give my email address to anyone).
So I won't be using email until this thing has gone back where it came from...

[Marilyn]

Seem to be up to 'N's now...just deleted another couple of dozen.

[Moh]

I seem to get lots of mail returned emails in my Spam but as with everything else in Spam they just get deleted.
Not sure if this has cropped up before when I was missing but Windows XP ends in April, so I am wondering what I do then??

[PanBiker]

Its only the support that ends in April Moh. XP will continue to work but there will be no more updates or service packs. It was released as a desktop GUI back in 2001 and mainstream support already ceased in 2009, XP is currently running on extended support which basically means that any updates that they currently release are not tested.

From a Microsoft point of view, if you stick in their stable you will just be expected to buy their latest offering.

Already history since XP are Vista and Windows 7 with the current offering from MS being Windows 8

[Pluggy]

Its only the support that ends in April Moh. XP will continue to work but there will be no more updates or service packs. It was released as a desktop GUI back in 2001 and mainstream support already ceased in 2009, XP is currently running on extended support which basically means that any updates that they currently release are not tested.

From a Microsoft point of view, if you stick in their stable you will just be expected to buy their latest offering.

Already history since XP are Vista and Windows 7 with the current offering from MS being Windows 8

I think even Microsoft gave up on Windows 8, its 8.1 now, free upgrade from 8. But new machines are shipped with 8.1. My supplier just stopped flogging Windows 7 Home on DVD, my latest build is getting a Product Key Only deal from a software outfit.. i wouldn't impose 8/8.1 on my customers unless they specifically asked for it (I don't think that's likely to happen). Windows 8 is "going down like a bucket of cold sick" according to another of my haunts.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/Print/2013 ... rd_action/

[Marilyn]

Still being driven mad with the email Trojan...
Every time I clear a dozen, another dozen appear.

[Stanley]

Stick in there Maz. It will give up eventually.
Moh, not a lot you can do. As long as it's running you'll be OK. If it packs up talk to Pluggy..... He will rescue you!