COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Stanley]

News this morning that Microsoft have bought Nokia mobile phone handset business. Some speculation that this is a marriage between two companies whose best days are behind them. Also, Eastman Kodak is expected to re-emerge as a digital imaging business after their bankruptcy but the name Kodak has been licensed to others as part of the package, a great company who were in the digital revolution from the start but missed the boat.

[Big Kev]

Looking to replace the "close to death" laptop with a tablet. Nexus 7 or Galaxy Tab 10.1 are currently in the running.

Galaxy Tab2 10.1 it is then. That'll keep P quiet for a while as she finds her way around the Android OS...

[Pluggy]

3G or wifi only ?

[Big Kev]

3G or wifi only ?

wi-fi only, she only uses it indoors. I did consider one of these

[Tizer]

Microsoft to buy Nokia.
Microsoft to buy Nokia's mobile phone unit [BBC News]
Microsoft has agreed a deal to buy Nokia's mobile phone business for 5.4bn euros ($7.2bn; £4.6bn). Nokia will also license its patents and mapping services to Microsoft. Nokia shares jumped 45% on news of the deal. The purchase is set to be completed in early 2014, when about 32,000 Nokia employees will transfer to Microsoft.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23940171

[Pluggy]

I like Rorbert Pestons comment

"Is Microsoft's $7bn purchase of Nokia's mobile phone business a reshaping of the telecoms landscape, or two drunks propping themselves up at a party?”

[Steven Chorkley]

Steven, you appear to be working under a misapprehension. I don't need sympathy, I have 16mbs. I was just pointing out that some of us remember the automatic dialler set to ten attempts and watching a 1mb download of an image building line by line down the page. This is how it was for everyone not too long ago. Now we have instantaneous images and 50mb downloads as standard. Why chase even more speed? It's not how fast the connection is but what you use it for.....

05:45. News that BT have announced they are closing the Dial-up service down as broadband is so cheap. Didn't realise it was still available.

Sorry! The way I read it was that you were still on dial-up, I just thought you may live outside of DSL Coverage...

I chase the speed as it makes a bigger difference than you would think. 4K streaming in next 2 years, ADSL can't handle 3DTV (Effectively two streams of 1080p.).
I am aiming to get rid of sky and move to streaming content. I have Sickbeard/Couchpotato setup but it can't work effectively enough down a 1.6/1.6MB/s line. And don't get me started on upload..... 0.79mbps = 0.09MB/s. That simply isn't happening.

[Gloria]

My latop is 8yrs old in March and still chugging on thanks to Pluggy. We have invested in an ipad at the airport which "amazingly" I got working in Italy, AND, have managed to link to my wireless router back here, so I am a happy bunny
New laptop is next on the agenda.

[Gloria]

The new iPad is brilliantly fast. What should it be so much faster than my laptop connected to the same wifi?

[Pluggy]

The perceived speed of the internet is as much to do with how fast the computer can 'render' the page as with the speed of the internet connection. A new iPad should be faster than an 8 year old laptop.

[Gloria]

Thanks Stephen, will be in touch when I eventually get a new laptop.

[Stanley]

Gloria, Pluggy is dead right as usual. My experience has always been that the speed of the actual machine in terms of processing power, amount of available RAM and how well the components are matched to each other is more important than raw connection speed. A good example is the speed the machine can load a complicated programme like Photoshop.
On another matter.... I have decided that it's time I ditched inkjet as my main printer. The available space is 15" deep X 17" wide and I'd be interested to hear any advice on what to get. I think it will be laser and I'm not bothered about colour printing, black and white only will do for me. It will of course have to be compatible with Ubuntu 64bit. All advice gratefully received!

[PanBiker]

Stanley, look for something with separate drum and toner units. Drums tend to last 20,000 pages, toners 2 - 4,000. You don't want to be dumping the drum every time you need toner. I bought a Brother printer. It has a built in scanner so can copy as well as print. It's possible to refill the brother toners as well although replacement is still cheaper than any inkjet. Not sure about compatibility, I will have a look later for you.

[PanBiker]

Here's what I bought on the Brother Site, included for all the specs - don't look at the price you can shop round and buy for about £90. I think I got mine from Printerland or something like that. Original toners range £20 - £23 depending on where you buy. You can refill for about £12.00. Driver bundle includes Linux but you would need to check compatibility.

Brother Site

If you don't want the built in scan and copy option just look for a straight printer but stick with something with separate drum and toner.

Printerland is on the link below, quick service and I got free delivery when I bought mine.

Printerland

[Cathy]

On the old site I bookmarked many photos, alas all gone. On the new site I have painstakingly gone thru and bookmarked many photos again, alas i cant find them. Not happy. Help please.

[Pluggy]

Stanley probably has the fastest Web interface in Barlick, He has a good download speed being a stones throw from the exchange and a blisteringly fast computer.

I'd go with HP for a printer for Linux, they are the best supported, HP take Linux seriously. No not even contemplate a Lexmark, they don't supply drivers and they stand in the way of people writing drivers for them.

A suggestion which I reckon will work without Issue on Ubuntu 12.04 :

http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-laserje ... -5CCP.html I

I'd wait and see what Big Kev says. ( Scan don't stock that model, they only stock one HP Monochrome printer - a much more expensive multifunction - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/hp-laser ... copier-fax )

[Pluggy]

On the old site I bookmarked many photos, alas all gone. On the new site I have painstakingly gone thru and bookmarked many photos again, alas i cant find them. Not happy. Help please.

If you let us know the URLs (the actual addresses in the bookmarks) or at least a couple of examples we might be able to ascertain the problem, the database that holds the new site together still has problems since the crash in May and some work has been done on the Gallery since then.

[Cathy]

Thanks for your quick reply Pluggy, I will need time.

[PanBiker]

The HP combination Toner/Drum is around £68.00 to replace and only gives the same yield 2,500 sheets as the £23.00 toner in the Brother. Just a point, I don't have shares with Brother but it would be worth checking out if you can get the driver support.

[PanBiker]

Had a quick look and if you do go for a Brother solution these two links may be of help:

Brother Solutions Centre - Linux Pre-requisites

Brother Solutions Center - Brother Drivers for Linux

[Stanley]

Wonderful! Thanks for that lads. I shall mull over the options and no doubt will be back to ask Pluggy to install it for me. Marvellous support network!

[Big Kev]

Stanley probably has the fastest Web interface in Barlick, He has a good download speed being a stones throw from the exchange and a blisteringlhttp://www.printerland.co.uk/HP-LaserJet-P2035 ... tAoddnYAVg fast computer.

I'd go with HP for a printer for Linux, they are the best supported, HP take Linux seriously. No not even contemplate a Lexmark, they don't supply drivers and they stand in the way of people writing drivers for them.

A suggestion which I reckon will work without Issue on Ubuntu 12.04 :

http://www.dabs.com/products/hp-laserje ... -5CCP.html I

I'd wait and see what Big Kev says. ( Scan don't stock that model, they only stock one HP Monochrome printer - a much more expensive multifunction - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/hp-laser ... copier-fax )

Not had a lot to do with printers, I have an Epson RX600 but only use it with Windows. The HP Laserjet P2035, mentioned above, is £98 + vat at printerland.co.uk

[PanBiker]

The price of modern LED printers (still referred to as lasers) gives a good indication of their main component parts. The HP above is a good example. You can buy it for £98.00 and each time it needs a toner it's £68.00. Not much else in them apart from a drive motor for the paper transport and a front end control panel and LED array. A far cry from the first one I installed that had a real red laser and rotating mirrors to charge the drum.

[Bodger]

I am begining to get a large quauntity of spam, anybody recommending a free cleaner ?

[PanBiker]

I use the free version of Spamfighter in my email client which is Outlook.

Spamfighter

Worth checking out. That and the built in Junk filter seems to trap most of it.