COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Tizer]

I'm on Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit and using Firefox 50.1.0. Examples of the videos that I have problems with are those on this YouTube science page: LINK
When I click on one of those titles it takes me to the page with the expected text and small video screen. The video sound begins and the cursor begins to move across but the screen stays black. If I put my mouse cursor at the base of the screen I get a tiny thumbnail of the video. Nothing I click or change will bring the full image up. But if I close that page and click on a different video title in the original list it will work correctly, as do any of the others, and the `bad' one will now work when I next go to it in that session.

In contrast, this BBC video works OK for me. The link brings up the page with the video waiting to play. I click the arrow and it starts and runs fine. LINK

I've now installed Chromium and all the videos I've tried have worked in that software with no problems. Perhaps I'll keep the Chromium for whenever I encounter a video that fails to start in Firefox. I'm not a fan of videos so it isn't a big deal for me - I was more concerned about Stanley having trouble with them. Thanks for the help Pluggy!

[Pluggy]

Chromium has become my browser of choice when I'm on my main computer. I rarely use Firefox. In windows land the open source nature of Chromium means it is widely abused for malware. I often come across bastardized versions on customers machines. Its basically an unbranded Chrome but without the closed source Flash addons in Chrome. I'm on my Chromebook at the moment, which is predictably Chrome only ......

[Stanley]

Strange. I have the same system as you Tiz and I tried one of those videos and it played OK with no libvacode warning.....
Pluggy, is it time for me to be upgrading Ubuntu? Advice appreciated. On the whole I see no pressing need, everything is functioning and 12.04 is still supported. I'll be guided by you.....

[Pluggy]

End of Life for Ubuntu 12.04 is April 2017. If you're happy with it I'd stay put for the time being. I'd recommend upgrading to Ubuntu 16.04 some time before April. The machines I built for Stanley & Tiz in 2013 should both be fine with it. Older, slower machines will probably struggle a bit....

[Tizer]

Thanks for the advice Pluggy. Like Stanley, I'm still happy with what I've got.

[Stanley]

That sounds sensible Pluggy, I have no issues with what I have. I rather think I'll be talking to you about building FM4..... Before anyone says it, I know I don't need it but there are no pockets in a shroud and I rather fancy being at the head of the field again! So start thinking in terms of building a new machine with two separate hard drives and setting it up and testing it on 16.04 on the bench, then all we have to do to commission it is copy the data to the spare drive and connect to tinternetwebthingy. Having said that, the FM3 is still a brilliant machine. I forget when you built it Pluggy but you did good, no problems and faster than a speeding bullet! I still think back to the 3 years solid I spent running bad carbon copy transcripts through OCR on the old IBM Aptiva and Windows..... I used to have Solitaire running in the background so I could play it while the blue blocks slowly built across the bar that showed progress.... The FM3 would have cut the time down to a year I reckon!
By the way, and I apologise for this.... It is time for my annual complete backup of 2016 data to two separate external hard drives. Question is, how long will it be before these hard discs become incompatible with more modern machines..... Any thoughts Pluggy?
LATER AT 08:00. I bit the bullet and I have backed up all the 2016 data to both hard drives. One thing that struck me was how much faster the transfer was to the Seagate Drive as opposed to the Samsung..... (Total of 1.5gb)

[Tizer]

`One thing that struck me was how much faster the transfer was to the Seagate Drive as opposed to the Samsung..... (Total of 1.5gb)'
Are you sure it's all backed up? 1.5GB is a tiny amount these days. I back up 10 times that and yet I'm very stingy about file sizes, most of my photos are a lot smaller than 1MB, for example. I'd have expected you to be backing up terabytes, not gigabytes.

[Big Kev]

(Total of 1.5gb)

You sure that's not 1.5TB?

[Stanley]

Positive (I think!) this is only one year's new data.

[Big Kev]

Positive (I think!) this is only one year's new data.

If it's mainly text and compressed images it could well be

[Tizer]

Ah, got it. You're only backing up the data collected in that one year, rather than everything on the PC's hard disk.

[Pluggy]

FM3 first saw light of day in April 2013 Stanley. I don't see USB hard drives becoming incompatible with newer machines any time soon. USB has been around a long time and all the various versions are forward and backward compatible. USB first got serious around the time of the first iMac and Windows 95. It has been around a lot longer than that but pretty much everyone ignored it until then.

[Stanley]

"FM3 first saw light of day in April 2013 Stanley." And what a good move it was! Start thinking about FM4...... I shall be back to you in about 3 months....
I am now convinced that the presentation of text on the main screens of OG is crisper since I did the 'restricted' update. I am ignoring the libvacode warning...... Everything seems to be working OK.

[Whyperion]

Scanning:
Having got whatever laptop talking to the 3-in-1 , and the other old laptop talking to a flatbed. Both have the same frustrating tendency.
The time to scan a page, load it to the computer and then request you to give the file a meaningful name, is just that bit too short to do anything useful, like dunk a biscuit in the tea, or similar. Its also a bit too long to say the whole process is swift. I'm not doing OCR, but just trying to reduce the need to hold onto some paperwork that might be useful.

[Stanley]

I've been given a memory stick with a video on it of Janet's funeral. I've managed to mount it and found it's an mp4 file but can't open it.... Any suggestions?
The message I get in Movie Player is "Error This file contains no playable streams".

[Big Kev]

12.04 doesn’t like mp4. Plug it in the usb on the back of your tv

[Stanley]

Thanks Kev, I'll try that!
Later. I tried that and got a list of files displayed but couldn't open any of them..... I need a different solution!

[Big Kev]

Thanks Kev, I'll try that!
Later. I tried that and got a list of files displayed but couldn't open any of them..... I need a different solution!

Your tv is a Samsung, isn't it? MP4 is the video codec of choice for Samsung...

You want me to come take a look?

[Stanley]

Yes it is Kev and I'd appreciate some help. Let me know when it's convenient for you. (813527)

[Big Kev]

I'll have bit o' lunch...

[Stanley]

Kev came round and brought another machine. It didn't matter what we did we couldn't open the file and Kev pronounced it defunct. I've asked Susan for a copy of hers.....

Later. I've spoken to Susan and Margaret and neither of their memory sticks is accessible either. It looks as though Harry has slipped up somewhere. Either that or he has a virus..... We've decided to wait for the professional jobbie.....

[Stanley]

Just for a laugh I tried the pen drive again this morning and the FM3 didn't even detect it so I have slung it in the bin......

[Tizer]

I've just used the Live Chat function on the Direct Line web site because I prefer it to talking with them on the phone. I couldn't find one of the necessary links and they asked me for permission to join a CoBrowse seesion. I agreed although it's the first time I've heard of it. It was very useful, with them moving their cursor on my screen and showing me what to do. But how does it work and is there any security danger when using it with a known web site? (I'd gone to the Direct Line site of my own accord and signed into my account.)

[Stanley]

That sounds to me like a hacker's dream Tiz! I would never allow it but chacun a son gout.....

[PanBiker]

Live chat sessions are much preferable to hanging on for ever listening to "lift music". Many organisations are using these facilities now although not necessarily interactive. HM Inland Revenue via the .gov website have the facility now. You end up with a named operative at the other end who has access to all your records, you work the problem to a conclusion and then you have the option of printing a transcript if you want one. It works very well.