Re: [H] 10/100 or 1000

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

For this you would need a router with a gigabit wan port not just gigabit lan 
ports.

On the higher end I would look at the ubiquiti dream machine.

Lower end I would look at Asus and netgear.

Harry

On November 18, 2020 3:29:18 PM MST, _ Winterlight  
wrote:
>That is what I thought and normally that wouldn't be a problem but
>Sparklite formally Cable One gives me 200+ down and 20 up. Not that I
>am aware of any web page that would serve out that kind of speed.
>
>From: Hardware  on behalf of
>Julian Zottl 
>Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2020 1:27 PM
>To: hardw...@lists.hardwaregroup.com 
>Subject: Re: [H] 10/100 or 1000
>
>On the LAN you’ll be a 1Gbps between all machines. Any connections to
>the internet will be at 100Mbps.
>
>Sent from my iThingy, but not in that iShortBus kind of way.
>
>> On Nov 18, 2020, at 3:58 PM, _ Winterlight 
>wrote:
>>
>> If I use a router that has 4 10/100 ports and is only connected to a
>cable modem plus  a 10/100/1000 switch that feeds everything else on
>the LAN...will the LAN members be able to transfer files between
>themselves at gigabit speeds or will everything be choked by the
>router?
>> 

-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

Re: [H] recording a video call on google duo

[Harry McGregor]

You could use a google meet instead of duo and record the meeting

Harry

On August 16, 2020 1:19:22 PM MST, _ Winterlight  
wrote:
>is it possible to record your video call on duo? A google search is
>bringing up mixed answers but many of the no answers are dated years
>ago. Is it possible and if so how? thanks w

-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

Re: [H] need an app for video calling

[Harry McGregor]

Hi 

I would use google duo for this, as it is the most multi platform.


Harry

On August 11, 2020 10:54:42 AM MST, _ Winterlight  
wrote:
>I have a rental in another state  that is vacant 1000+ miles from where
>I live . I am sending  a contractor and close friend over to look it
>over and do some work. He can be on the phone and send my pictures but
>what I would like to do is have him do a video call recording so I can
>see what he is looking at while we are talking live. I use a Android
>Moto G5s and he has a newer Apple phone. He is a novice. On his laptop
>he uses his quicken program which I set up for him and uses chrome and
>gmail but that is it.  On his apple phone he texts, he uses the phone,
>internet browsing but I don't think he has ever even installed an app.
>
>What app can be used to accomplish this with out a lot of configuration
>= a video call for dummies.
>thanks

-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

Re: [H] BAD RAM

[Harry McGregor]

Hi, 


Don't know on Windows, but Linux has the ability to map out memory blocks.

http://gquigs.blogspot.com/2009/01/bad-memory-howto.html?m=1

Harry


On March 19, 2018 6:12:08 PM EDT, Winterlight  
wrote:
>I have a mini computer LIVA X running windows 8.1 Media Center that I 
>use with my TV. It started to blue screen intermittently and with no 
>apparent reason. Let it sit for a bit, start it up and it works 
>againfor a few hours... a day... or a week...it is intermitent! 
>After isolating the eSata drive (removing it)  and running 
>diagnostics I was able to determine that I have a bad RAM chip 
>memtest = http://rode.us/BadLivaRam.jpg
>
>  Two 2GB DDR3 RAM chips are soldered to the board. So damn... there 
>is nothing I can do about that... or is there? I am thinking that the 
>second chip is the problem. Most of the time the RAM sits in the 
>cache but eventrually for what ever reason it gets accessed and 
>boom... it blue screens.   I don't need the extra 2GB of RAM for what 
>I do so I am thinking if I create a  2GB RAM Drive and never use it I 
>might be able to mitigate this problem.what do you think?

-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

Re: [H] Newegg Screws Its Connecticut Customers

[Harry McGregor]

Hi, 

Correct, az has had a use tax vs a sales tax for a long time.

Individuals tend to not voluntarily report...


When I worked for u of a, if a purchase did not collect az sales tax our 
purchasing and finance teams would calculate it and send it to az department of 
revenue.

Harry


On March 4, 2018 11:05:09 AM MST, Paxia  wrote:
>AZ has a line on the State tax form to 
>*volunteer*  to pay tax on anything bought on 
>line :-)
>I actually know ppl that do that, I ignore 
>it. Maybe I should not have said that, NSA is 
>listening
>fp
>
>On 3/4/2018 9:50 AM, didymus7 wrote:
>> The state of Connecticut is very innovative 
>> in one area:  Taxes. Our state legislators 
>> (blue state) are adept at screaming about 
>> budget deficits, then seeking ways to get 
>> more money out of the populace.  CT has had 
>> for a few years, what amounts to an 
>> unconstitutional tax law, called the Use 
>> Tax.  The Use Tax proscribes that anything 
>> bought out of state has to be charged CT 
>> sales tax, even if the selling entity does 
>> not have a CT office. This is essentially a 
>> tax on interstate commerce, forbidden to 
>> states by the US constitution.  However, by 
>> hand waving and calling it a 'Use' tax, the 
>> courts, so far, have given it a pass.
>>
>> That's the background.  Since the use tax 
>> has been initiated, Newegg has adamantly 
>> refused to collect CT state sales tax.  
>> Since the state of CT can't force them to, 
>> that's their right.  However, when the 
>> state of CT recently requested that Newegg 
>> hand over information on CT buyers for the 
>> years 2014, 2015, 2016, they cheerfully 
>> gave up that info despite the fact that 
>> they really didn't have to.
>>
>> Luckily, I bought little from Newegg the 
>> last three years and will not from now on.  
>> I don't mind paying the tax, but I object 
>> to Newegg just doing the easy stuff, then 
>> ratting me out.  Bottom line:  I'm hit up 
>> for an extra $100 in taxes.
>>
>> Just letting everyone know in case your 
>> state becomes as innovative as CT with a 
>> 'Use' tax.
>>
>> Steve
>>
>>

-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

Re: [H] laptop 24/7

[Harry McGregor]

Hi, 

I leave my thinkpad w520 on 24/7, if I close the lid (sleep when closed is 
turned off) and rest it somewherr, I just make sure the fan vent is up and not 
blocked.

This w520 is rather loaded, i7, 32gb memory, 500gb ssd, 512gb msata ssd, and an 
800gb ssd in the ultrabay.

Harry


On December 18, 2016 12:13:34 PM MST, Winterlight  
wrote:
>I am currently in temporary quarters for the next couple of months. 
>With my WS I never turned anything off it would run untill I had to 
>reboot for updates.  I have sent up a temporary office using a Lenovo 
>Edge I7 Quad core, my good mechanical keyboard, mouse  and a 24 inch 
>monitor. The laptop is plugged in and sitting on a Thermaltake giant 
>fan laptop cooler. I turn it on in the morning and turn it off at 
>night. I would like to just let it run all night as I want it to keep 
>checking mail, and be ready to use when I turn the monitor back on in 
>the morning rather then having to boot up, and set everything up 
>again. Does it hurt a laptop to let it run like this 24/7? Thanks

-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

Re: [H] cable modem

[Harry McGregor]

The DOCSIS 3.0 modems can have different numbers of channels that they 
support.


I am on a Surfboard 6141, which I picked up for under $50 price matching 
RadioShack at BestBuy.


http://surfboard.com/products/arris-product-comparison/

With 50MBit service, the 6121 would be sufficient, but I would look at 
either the 6141 or 6183 to give your self some room if prices come down, 
and increase resale if you sell it off when you move.


Refurb 6183: 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?sdtid=9067827=32034c4a765311e693985efa6dba0ef40INT=10440897=1225267_mc=AFC-C8Junction_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-cables-_-na-_-na=N82E16825694008_sp=


Sams club deal on multiple models, 
http://slickdeals.net/f/8889747-sam-s-club-linksys-ea9200-3200ac-169-98-arris-surfboard-sb6141-64-98-sb6183-89-86-sbg6700-129-86-tax-shipping-some-item-are-free-store-pick-up?v=1=SiteSearch


I would go with the Surfboard line over NetGear for resale purposes.

Also you can check Craigs list in your area.


-Harry

On 09/07/2016 03:05 PM, Winterlight wrote:

Wednesday, September 07 2016, 14:37:39

I have a COX ISP Premium account = Up to 50 Mbps download up to 5 Mbps 
upload. I use a Motorola docis2 Surfmodem. For the last year or more, 
Cox keeps asking me to upgrade to a docis3 modem. The only reason I 
haven't done so is that I am planning a major move by the end of the 
year so I don't exactly know what new service I will end up... for 
sure it won't be COX, and I am fine with my internet connection as 
is.. or I was until recently. I keep getting dropped and having to 
reset everything and I am starting to buffer video which never 
happened before. The fiber optic line is 20 feet from where the modem 
is and I am sure if I call COX they will blame the modem, and to be 
fair the last time this happened was with my Linksys Docsis1 modem 
going out. I guess there is no way to definitively test the modem.


So for the reasons above I have decided to just get the docsis 3 
modem. I could go with the new Motorola docsis3 modem... or the 
Netgear docisis3 340Mbs  modem which  is on sale.  In as much as I 
plan to get a new Netgear nighthawk router when I move I am looking at 
the Netgear modems... does it really matter any more on modem 
branding. And for the first time I see modems with three levels of 
speed   340Mbps or 680Mbs all the way to 960Mbs.  As a single user why 
would I need 960Mbs and I should think that ISP account would  be very 
expensive. What does the collective think about all this?  Comments, 
warnings and  recommendations please..Thanks.

.

Re: [H] PCIe POST cards

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,


I also have not seen much for PCI Express post cards, this is the 
closest I really found:



http://www.passmark.com/products/pcie-test-card.htm

http://www.passmark.com/forum/pc-hardware-and-benchmarks/5173-pci-e-test-card-announcement?5031-PCI-E-Test-card-announcement=

-Harry

On 08/03/2016 11:10 AM, Thane Sherrington wrote:
I'm seeing more and more motherboards with no PCI slots, rendering my 
old Ultra-X PCI POST monitoring card useless. As far as I can tell, 
there are only mini-PCIe diagnostic cards available.  Does anyone know 
of a PCIe POST or diagnostic card, or is this a limitation of PCIe?


T

Re: [H] Duncan

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

Glad to see you back up and running.  All of us on the list were worried 
about you.


Most of us have been around here so long, it's like a second or third 
family.


-Harry

On 03/14/2015 09:25 AM, DSinc wrote:

To the List,
I am now happily at home and completed the 2d phase of life; Iam now 
67yrs old.

I am trying to relern EMail! I am so happy the
List is UP and Opsnorml.
Thankyou for your thoughts and prayers. They worked. I am still 
kickingeven

though the new guy is strange.
regards,
Duhcan


On 01/24/2015 15:25, Chris Reeves wrote:

Agreed. Some of the best news of the weekend

-Original Message-
From: Gary Jackson gjack...@visi.com
Sent: ‎1/‎23/‎2015 11:48 AM
To: hardw...@lists.hardwaregroup.com 
hardw...@lists.hardwaregroup.com

Subject: Re: [H] Duncan

It will be nice to get you back on the list Duncan !


Gary


-Original Message-
From: Hardware [mailto:hardware-boun...@lists.hardwaregroup.com] On 
Behalf Of dsinc...@epbfi.com

Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2015 6:46 PM
To: hardw...@lists.hardwaregroup.com
Subject: Re: [H] Duncan

I'm doing okay. Feelin' good.  I am in an assisted living facility 
called Rosewood, in Fort Oglethorpe (where my sister lives).  Have my 
own apartment.  And it sucks to have to stay here, til June, my 
calendar says.  The food's lousy, but it's regular.  I'm supporting 
my local pharmacy--in Atlanta.  I haven't figured out email yet.  Sis 
comes by every couple of days and helps me out.  Learning my way 
around the place.


Thanks for asking after me.

Onward and Upward,
Duncan

- Original Message -From: Scott Sipe csco...@gmail.comTo: 
hardware@lists.hardwaregroup.comSent: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 01:55:30 -0500 
(EST)Subject: Re: [H] Duncan


Bump. Anyone heard anything?

Scott

On Dec 18, 2014, at 8:38 PM, Christopher Fisk 
christopher.f...@thefisks.org wrote:  Any updates on Duncan? 
It's been a few weeks and was hoping to hear good news!  On Sun, 
Nov 30, 2014 at 7:46 AM, Joshua MacCraw maccr...@gmail.com 
wrote:  Strength to Duncan  family.  On Sat, Nov 22, 2014 
at 5:51 AM, James Edwards jedwa...@hardwaregroup.com wrote: 
Yo everyone, pay attention! From his sister Bonny at 
addy4st...@yahoo.com  To all,  My brother, Duncan, (do 
not know how he's identified in your group other than the owner 
of this site) was admitted to the hospital on 11-11 after 
suffering multiple strokes. He was in ccu for 3 days, the hospital 
for 3 and is now in re-hab. He is mobile, somewhat, and 
coherent, but memory, vision, and balance are impaired. Thought 
you would like to know. He's optimistic, accepting, and going 
with the flow. He's himself in conversation, just trapped in a 
not too responsive body.  Bonny  Bonny, please send me a 
good address to send well wishes. I will forward it to the 
list.Jim Edwards 

Re: [H] Happy Pi Day!

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

No, this year was closer then next year.

3.141592653

ie March 14, 2015 at 9:26:53

3.1416 would be no where near as accurate.

-Harry

On 03/14/2015 04:04 PM, Steve Tomporowski wrote:

A closer approximation next year (3.14159) = 3/14/16 5

On 3/14/2015 1:31 PM, FORC5 wrote:

3.1415

once in a lifetime, :{)
fp

Date:  Saturday, March 14th, 2015

***Caution Tagline Below***
**Tallyho**
***
 Wakko of Borg: Heeeo
Collective!
***

Re: [H] Toaster Takes Selfies

[Harry McGregor]

Hi

With your photo or his?

-Harry

On 12/07/2014 11:05 AM, Thane Sherrington wrote:

At 12:25 PM 07/12/2014, Steve Tomporowski wrote:
Yeah, it seems like there's a lot more people who need to be 'inside 
the asylum'.


That being said, it would make a great gift for my brother. :)

T

Re: [H] Linux Unbuntu support

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

I went through the output and pulled out the interesting parts, and will 
go through them below.   Sorry for the html email, but colors help with 
this.


Also, can you do a test with WPA (vs WPA2), WEP, or Open (no 
encryption), as it looks like your issue is with the encryption.


Please run the following commands and supply their output:

ls -l /lib/firmware/ | grep ipw

dpkg -l wpasupplicant

---

lspci output:

04:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG 
[Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)  This tells me that it's an 
Intel PRO 2200 wireless adapter


lspci -vv output:

04:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG 
[Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)

Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 2711
Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV+ VGASnoop- ParErr- 
Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium TAbort- 
TAbort- MAbort- SERR- PERR- INTx-

Latency: 64 (750ns min, 6000ns max), Cache Line Size: 32 bytes
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 21
Region 0: Memory at a0202000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: access denied
Kernel driver in use: ipw2200 - This tells us the Kernel 
driver module, and that it is in use

Kernel modules: ipw2200

dmesg output (basically kernel boot up), we can see the driver loading, 
and that it detected the card.


[6.221710] ipw2200: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver, 
1.2.2kmprq

[6.221716] ipw2200: Copyright(c) 2003-2006 Intel Corporation

[7.068896] ipw2200 :04:02.0: PCI INT A - GSI 21 (level, low) - 
IRQ 21
[7.068943] ipw2200: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network 
Connection


lsmod output, we can see the driver loaded:

Module  Size  Used by
ipw2200   146241  0

iwconfig output, we can see the adapter is seen as eth1 (eth0 is your 
wired connection, thus no wireless extensions), that it's associated 
with the network WLG and the AP's MAC address (Which you could verify 
with your router/AP).  The critical item here is the invalid crypt 
frames, there are a ton of them and no real valid frames.  This means 
that your WPA/WPA2 is not working right, hence why I am asking if WPA 
Supplicant is installed in the commands above.


eth1  IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:WLG
  Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 
00:14:D1:CA:EC:BC

Bit Rate:24 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm   Sensitivity=8/0
  Retry limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
  Power Management:on
  Link Quality=77/100  Signal level=-31 dBm  Noise level=-79 dBm
  Rx invalid nwid:0 ***Rx invalid crypt:22059 *Rx invalid frag:0
  Tx excessive retries:12  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:6

-Harry

On 11/30/2014 04:45 PM, Winterlight wrote:


Can you give us the output of the following commands (in a terminal 
window).


I appended the text to a reply but it looks like the Listserv isn't 
letting it though... probably too long.


Here it is www.winterlight.org/hwglinux.txt

but first your last command = iwconfig ~/hwglinux.txt
returned
lo  no wireless extensions

irda0  no wireless extensions.

etho0  no wireless extensions

thanks for the help Harry. w

Re: [H] Linux Unbuntu support

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

Based on that, you have all of the right firmware files for the intel 
pro 2200...


You should be able to do WPA/WPA2, as you have WPA Supplicant, but I 
would still try the encryption changes and see if it works.


Could be a TKIP vs AES issue too.

-Harry

On 11/30/2014 08:59 PM, Winterlight wrote:


Also, can you do a test with WPA (vs WPA2), WEP, or Open (no 
encryption), as it looks like your issue is with the encryption.


Yes, that was my first thought I have checked and double checked and 
everything is as it should be. I have to change the router settings to 
run the change of encryption test

But here is the command outputs


Please run the following commands and supply their output:

ls -l /lib/firmware/ | grep ipw


-rw-r--r--  1 root root  209190 Mar 31  2014 ipw2100-1.3.fw
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  201138 Mar 31  2014 ipw2100-1.3-i.fw
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  196458 Mar 31  2014 ipw2100-1.3-p.fw
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  191154 Mar 31  2014 ipw2200-bss.fw
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  185428 Mar 31  2014 ipw2200-ibss.fw
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  187836 Mar 31  2014 ipw2200-sniffer.fw



dpkg -l wpasupplicant


Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold
| 
Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend

|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)
||/ NameVersion 
  Description
+++-===-===-== 

ii  wpasupplicant 0.7.3-6ubuntu2.3   
client support for WPA and WPA2 (IEEE 802.11i)

Re: [H] Linux Unbuntu support

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

Can you give us the output of the following commands (in a terminal 
window).  I have two options, one will go to your screen (console), the 
other to a text file that you could move with a USB Stick and copy/paste 
from.


Console output:

lspci
lspci -vv
lsusb
dmesg
cat /proc/cpuinfo
free -m
uname -a
lsmod
iwconfig

Redirected output (will be in your home directory and called hwglinux.txt)

lspci  ~/hwglinux.txt
lspci -vv  ~/hwglinux.txt
lsusb  ~/hwglinux.txt
dmesg  ~/hwglinux.txt
cat /proc/cpuinfo  ~/hwglinux.txt
free -m  ~/hwglinux.txt
uname -a  ~/hwglinux.txt
lsmod  ~/hwglinux.txt
iwconfig  ~/hwglinux.txt


-Harry


On 11/29/2014 08:00 PM, Winterlight wrote:


I don't think so... the laptop supports  IEEE 802.11 G. I have two 
routers here and it can't connect to either one of them. If I boot 
into Win7 then it works fine. Security is WPA2... it is all common 
protocols and encryption that I would be surprised if it was that. I 
don't know enough about Linux to troubleshoot it. Maybe the driver but 
I wouldn't know where to go for other  drivers.


At 06:49 PM 11/29/2014, you wrote:

Are the router and your laptop using the same wireless protocol ?  Could
there be a mismatch there ?

Gary


-Original Message-
From: Hardware [mailto:hardware-boun...@lists.hardwaregroup.com] On 
Behalf

Of Winterlight
Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2014 7:52 PM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: [H] Linux Unbuntu support

I am running Elementary 0 on my old IBM X41 tablet. I can't get the 
Wifi to
work... it sees my router but won't connect. All settings appear 
right... I
am no Linux expert..  but just keeps trying to connect without 
resolving the
connect or giving an error message. The only kind of support I can 
find for

Elementary 0 consists of chat group on the web site that where there are
lots of questions and no answers for anybody. Elementary 0 is Ubuntu 
based
so I figure if I can find a good Ubuntu email group, or forum maybe I 
can
get some help any body know of a good Utuntu user group / forum / 
email

list? Thanks w

Re: [H] Question on DPI and toner

[Harry McGregor]

On 09/15/2014 04:58 PM, DSinc wrote:

Harry,
We continue to disagree minorly. I understand your position. I just do 
not agree.


:)

But, FINE, inthe end we sorta get our prints at either 1200dpi or
600dpi. I still do not comprehend your use of 'Grayscale.' Sorry, I 
just do not get this. If it works for you, fine. I just do not 
comprehend r
what you are talking about. In my world, 'Grayscale' is a photographic 
term ONLY. It is not part of a xerographic laser printer. Laser

printers (mostly) WRITE WHITE.


I rendered the image in 8 bit grayscale, but I only looked at pixels 
that were white.  I counted all other pixels as black.  Technically I 
should render it as 1 bit color (Black and white).


Here are the numbers with 1 bit color.

hmcgregor@hmcgregor-Satellite-L75D-A:~/Documents$ convert 1200dpi_A.tif 
-format %c -depth 1 histogram:info:- | egrep '(white|black)'

232834: (  0,  0,  0,255) #00 black
   1207166: (255,255,255,255) #FF white

144 Total pixes, which is 1200x1200

Taking the number of white pixels and dividing by 4 (since it takes 4 of 
these pixels to equal the size of 1 600DPI pixel) = 301791.5



hmcgregor@hmcgregor-Satellite-L75D-A:~/Documents$ convert 600dpi_A.tif 
-format %c -depth 1 histogram:info:- | egrep '(white|black)'

 58449: (  0,  0,  0,255) #00 black
301551: (255,255,255,255) #FF white

36 Total Pixels, which is 600x600

If we subtract the number of 600DPI white pixels from the number of 
same as 600DPI 1200 DPI white pixels, we get 240.5 extra 600DPI 
sized white pixels when printing with 1200 DPI then when printing with 
600 DPI, which necessitates, that we saved 240.5 600DPI pixels worth of 
toner, or 962 1200 DPI pixels worth of toner, by using 1200 DPI instead 
of 600DPI to print the very large letter A.


The laser is turned off or delflected to leave a 'black dot' or 
printable area. This latent image is what the
toner cartridge helps to deliver to the incoming page of paper. The 
fuser fixes/melts the latent image to the paper fibers. The result is a
printed page. Yes it still seems like magic to me after all these 
years! But, I see the magic each time I print a page.


It's a lot of very cool technology, but I think the way HP listed 
resolutions with a print style together with the resolution, like 
600DPI Econo Mode and 1200DPI HiRes have warped the thinking on this.


As long as you don't change the intensity or amount of toner per pixel, 
the 1200DPI is less toner, once you start messing with the intensity, 
all bets are off.  The reality is the amount less is so little, it 
really does not matter.


If you can stand reading econo mode it saves toner, beyond that, don't 
use hi res or other very high quality settings, and you won't use too 
much extra.


-Harry


Best,
Duncan

On 09/15/2014 18:33, Harry McGregor wrote:

Hi Duncan,

I think we are basically talking about the same thing.

A lot of people confuse DPI with print quality.

You can have a 1200 DPI, 1200 DPI high quality, 600DPI and 600DPI 
Draft settings.


The 1200 DPI high quality will be visibly darker, the 600 DPI draft 
will be visibly lighter. A standard 1200DPI and standard 600 DPI 
setting on the same printer should use slightly less toner on the 
1200DPI setting.


I can do a print to file or a print to paper, the upside with a print 
to file is I don't have to count the dots.


Grayscale is still the most common laser printer, color lasers are 
more common then before, but no where near the level of grayscale.


I could do the images as black and white only, all that is going to 
do is slightly increase the white pixel count, as some of the gray 
pixels will fall to white instead of black, it won't really change it 
much.


My background with this is about 12 years ago, I implemented a print 
quote system that actually took into account the coverage on the page 
to charge the student accounts the right amount. Ie if some stupid 
student decided that they liked reading white text on a black 
background, they would get billed about about 20x as much as printing 
black text on a white background.  When you setup the environment you 
tell the system the cost per toner cartridge, the rated coverage from 
the MFG, the cost per sheet of paper, etc.


The software was called printbill, the most recent update was in 
2006... 
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pqadmin/files/printbill/4.2.1/ looks 
like the official website is gone, but this page has some info on it: 
http://linuxappfinder.com/package/printbill and the archive.org 
version of the official site: 
https://web.archive.org/web/20090202073731/http://ieee.uow.edu.au/~daniel/software/printbill


-Harry




On 09/15/2014 03:10 PM, DSinc wrote:

Harry,
I will give you what you believe. No harm, no foul! I just don't get 
your discourse. I only did 33 years supporting these beasties; and yes,
'Print Quality' was the primary service call. But still, I could be 
wrong. Will not be the first time!
Yes

Re: [H] Question on DPI and toner

[Harry McGregor]

On 09/16/2014 03:38 AM, Thane Sherrington wrote:

At 03:20 AM 16/09/2014, Harry McGregor wrote:

If we subtract the number of 600DPI white pixels from the number of 
same as 600DPI 1200 DPI white pixels, we get 240.5 extra 600DPI 
sized white pixels when printing with 1200 DPI then when printing 
with 600 DPI, which necessitates, that we saved 240.5 600DPI pixels 
worth of toner, or 962 1200 DPI pixels worth of toner, by using 1200 
DPI instead of 600DPI to print the very large letter A.


Harry, are you saying that at 1200 dpi, you're saving toner over 
printing at 600 dpi?  That's the reverse of what I've read up to this 
point.


Yes, as long as all of the dots use the same amount of toner, ie as long 
as the intensity is the same.


If the intensity changes, IMHO, that is not directly related to the DPI, 
but some printer makers may take advantage of the smaller dots and take 
advantage of those in a low dpi mode to lower overall toner use.


-Harry


T

Re: [H] Question on DPI and toner

[Harry McGregor]

I don't agree that it has a direct relationship.

I really depends on how the printer deals with it.

If the printer does 600 vs 1200 DPI by skipping dots, then lower DPI 
would save toner.


ie (linear only, not showing the other axis)

600 DPI skipped
X X X X X X
 X X X X X X
X X X X X X
 X X X X X X
X X X X X X
 X X X X X X


Vs

600 DPI Big
XX
XX
XX
XX

1200 DPI may use a bit more or a bit less toner depending on the way the 
printer renders it, but in most cases I would not expect a significant 
change unless the printer was sill using 1200DPI dots, and skipping pixels.


-Harry


On 09/15/2014 11:15 AM, Thane Sherrington wrote:

At 02:58 PM 15/09/2014, DSinc wrote:

Thane,
There is a complex formula and special page image that most priter 
companies use to help them compute (fabricate/lie) about their printed
pages/catridge. Please note that this business does NOT use 100% 
coverage. I just do not know many folk that print fully black pages.
I have to claim age/time/forgetfulness for not recalling what the 
'coverage' percentage was/is. But I do recall that there is a 
specification
about this the all printer makers try to meet/exceed. And, alot of 
this has do do with various makers 'image generators.'


Hi Duncan,
Yeah, I know about the page used (I've seen a copy from 
Lexmark).  I was just wondering if they are printing this page at 
300dpi or 1200 dpi when they come up  with the number of pages a toner 
will print.


I was sitting down with graph paper trying to figure out the 
dot coverage, so I appreciate your help. :)


T

Re: [H] Question on DPI and toner

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

So I went a step farther, I generated two grayscale images.

600x600 DPI, 1 inch
1200x1200 DPI, 1 inch

In each is a rendered letter A, and it was saved as an LZW tiff, so no 
lossy compression involved.


I only looked for White pixes, counting anything with any shading in 
it as using toner, which is a little overkill.


hmcgregor@hmcgregor-Satellite-L75D-A:~/Documents$ convert 600dpi_A.tif 
-format %c -depth 8 histogram:info:- | grep white

300762: (255,255,255,255) #FF white
hmcgregor@hmcgregor-Satellite-L75D-A:~/Documents$ convert 1200dpi_A.tif 
-format %c -depth 8 histogram:info:- | grep white

   1205231: (255,255,255,255) #FF white

I took the white pixels in the 1200dpi and divide by 4 to get the 
equivalent area coverage of 600:

1205231/4 = 301307.7500

I subtracted the white pixels of the 600 DPI image from the white pixels 
of the 1200 DPI image, and found:

301307.75-300762=545

So that means the 1200 DPI image has more white in it, but not by much.

If you want to look at the grayscale aspects you can as well, but 
overall, unless the printer is printing lighter at 600 DPI (ie using 
the 1200DPI size pixels, and leaving space between pixels, which 
printers tend to only do when in Draft mode), lowering the DPI does 
not save toner.


This does not take into account waste toner, and some printers, 
especially color lasers have more waste toner collection then others.  
Most grayscale printers don't have waste toner collection, and instead 
the waste is re-used within the toner cartridge.


-Harry



On 09/15/2014 01:44 PM, DSinc wrote:

Harry,
I am so glad you disagree'd. But, you miss the point. Itis not 
'skipping dots'! It is how many dpi the printer does. The 'inch' is a 
fixed number.
On my old BrandX printers we did 90K dots/sq in. This produced a 
totally black square 1in.x1in.
The way the printer 'IT' is how the IG 'draws' IT. I accept your pix 
of two resolutions, but I do not agree. Our 1 inch/square printed 
'targets'
just got lighter; nothing more. There wasnohorizontal/vertical 
difference. Thank you for your () add, but the other axis is quite 
part of this
whole equation. All your pix shows me is 'character spacing.' That is 
totally IG control. Has little to do with resolution.

HTH,
Duncan

On 09/15/2014 15:26, Harry McGregor wrote:

I don't agree that it has a direct relationship.

I really depends on how the printer deals with it.

If the printer does 600 vs 1200 DPI by skipping dots, then lower 
DPI would save toner.


ie (linear only, not showing the other axis)

600 DPI skipped
X X X X X X
 X X X X X X
X X X X X X
 X X X X X X
X X X X X X
 X X X X X X


Vs

600 DPI Big
XX
XX
XX
XX

1200 DPI may use a bit more or a bit less toner depending on the way 
the printer renders it, but in most cases I would not expect a 
significant change unless the printer was sill using 1200DPI dots, 
and skipping pixels.


-Harry


On 09/15/2014 11:15 AM, Thane Sherrington wrote:

At 02:58 PM 15/09/2014, DSinc wrote:

Thane,
There is a complex formula and special page image that most priter 
companies use to help them compute (fabricate/lie) about their printed
pages/catridge. Please note that this business does NOT use 100% 
coverage. I just do not know many folk that print fully black pages.
I have to claim age/time/forgetfulness for not recalling what the 
'coverage' percentage was/is. But I do recall that there is a 
specification
about this the all printer makers try to meet/exceed. And, alot of 
this has do do with various makers 'image generators.'


Hi Duncan,
Yeah, I know about the page used (I've seen a copy from 
Lexmark).  I was just wondering if they are printing this page at 
300dpi or 1200 dpi when they come up  with the number of pages a 
toner will print.


I was sitting down with graph paper trying to figure out the 
dot coverage, so I appreciate your help. :)


T

Re: [H] Question on DPI and toner

[Harry McGregor]

Hi Duncan,

I think we are basically talking about the same thing.

A lot of people confuse DPI with print quality.

You can have a 1200 DPI, 1200 DPI high quality, 600DPI and 600DPI Draft 
settings.


The 1200 DPI high quality will be visibly darker, the 600 DPI draft will 
be visibly lighter. A standard 1200DPI and standard 600 DPI setting 
on the same printer should use slightly less toner on the 1200DPI setting.


I can do a print to file or a print to paper, the upside with a print to 
file is I don't have to count the dots.


Grayscale is still the most common laser printer, color lasers are more 
common then before, but no where near the level of grayscale.


I could do the images as black and white only, all that is going to do 
is slightly increase the white pixel count, as some of the gray pixels 
will fall to white instead of black, it won't really change it much.


My background with this is about 12 years ago, I implemented a print 
quote system that actually took into account the coverage on the page to 
charge the student accounts the right amount.  Ie if some stupid 
student decided that they liked reading white text on a black 
background, they would get billed about about 20x as much as printing 
black text on a white background.  When you setup the environment you 
tell the system the cost per toner cartridge, the rated coverage from 
the MFG, the cost per sheet of paper, etc.


The software was called printbill, the most recent update was in 
2006... http://sourceforge.net/projects/pqadmin/files/printbill/4.2.1/ 
looks like the official website is gone, but this page has some info on 
it: http://linuxappfinder.com/package/printbill and the archive.org 
version of the official site: 
https://web.archive.org/web/20090202073731/http://ieee.uow.edu.au/~daniel/software/printbill


-Harry




On 09/15/2014 03:10 PM, DSinc wrote:

Harry,
I will give you what you believe. No harm, no foul! I just don't get 
your discourse. I only did 33 years supporting these beasties; and yes,
'Print Quality' was the primary service call. But still, I could be 
wrong. Will not be the first time!
Yes, spurious toner isa problem. I don't speak to this. I assume the 
developer housing seals are OK.Please let's not have a tomAtoes/tomahtoes

disucssion.
OK. Why 2 grayscale images? Grayscale seems to be some special 
setting. What does 'grayscale' prove?


Why not print a 36 point (or even larger) 'A' at both 1200dpi and 
600dpi? There should be a visible difference.

I'll assume you have an eye-loupe or a magnifying glass.
JMHO,
Duncan

On 09/15/2014 17:28, Harry McGregor wrote:

Hi,

So I went a step farther, I generated two grayscale images.

600x600 DPI, 1 inch
1200x1200 DPI, 1 inch

In each is a rendered letter A, and it was saved as an LZW tiff, so 
no lossy compression involved.


I only looked for White pixes, counting anything with any shading 
in it as using toner, which is a little overkill.


hmcgregor@hmcgregor-Satellite-L75D-A:~/Documents$ convert 
600dpi_A.tif -format %c -depth 8 histogram:info:- | grep white

300762: (255,255,255,255) #FF white
hmcgregor@hmcgregor-Satellite-L75D-A:~/Documents$ convert 
1200dpi_A.tif -format %c -depth 8 histogram:info:- | grep white

   1205231: (255,255,255,255) #FF white

I took the white pixels in the 1200dpi and divide by 4 to get the 
equivalent area coverage of 600:

1205231/4 = 301307.7500

I subtracted the white pixels of the 600 DPI image from the white 
pixels of the 1200 DPI image, and found:

301307.75-300762=545

So that means the 1200 DPI image has more white in it, but not by 
much.


If you want to look at the grayscale aspects you can as well, but 
overall, unless the printer is printing lighter at 600 DPI (ie 
using the 1200DPI size pixels, and leaving space between pixels, 
which printers tend to only do when in Draft mode), lowering the 
DPI does not save toner.


This does not take into account waste toner, and some printers, 
especially color lasers have more waste toner collection then 
others.  Most grayscale printers don't have waste toner collection, 
and instead the waste is re-used within the toner cartridge.


-Harry



On 09/15/2014 01:44 PM, DSinc wrote:

Harry,
I am so glad you disagree'd. But, you miss the point. Itis not 
'skipping dots'! It is how many dpi the printer does. The 'inch' is 
a fixed number.
On my old BrandX printers we did 90K dots/sq in. This produced a 
totally black square 1in.x1in.
The way the printer 'IT' is how the IG 'draws' IT. I accept your pix 
of two resolutions, but I do not agree. Our 1 inch/square printed 
'targets'
just got lighter; nothing more. There wasnohorizontal/vertical 
difference. Thank you for your () add, but the other axis is quite 
part of this
whole equation. All your pix shows me is 'character spacing.' That 
is totally IG control. Has little to do with resolution.

HTH,
Duncan

On 09/15/2014 15:26, Harry McGregor wrote:

I don't agree that it has a direct

Re: [H] Used to know how, but I forgot. Help?

[Harry McGregor]

The name has changed, but it's still appwiz.cpl.

Click on the start button, and type in appwiz.cpl and you will get the
right utility.

-Harry

On 7/28/14, 1:08 AM, DSinc wrote:
 Thane,
 Thanks for the suggestion, however Add/Remove Programs/Add Windows
 Component no longer appears in
 Windows 7pro (32bit). I do recall this share from W2K and XP.
 The good news is that Install must have copied and hidden all the
 default 'games' to my c:\windows area. I did
 some peek/poke in the control panel and did find a tool that opened a
 list of stuff that allowed me to put a tick mark
 for 'Games.' Sure enough, I now have them active and available once
 again... :)
 Once I have morning coffee working, I will check out my 2 Win8.1pro
 machines!
 Best,
 Duncan

 On 07/27/2014 20:15, Thane Sherrington wrote:
 At 03:05 PM 26/07/2014, DSinc wrote:
 Years ago, I recall a process/task/way to get M$ to lift its' 'GAMES
 Directoy' on the DVD back to my
 harddrive and stitch it into the new local drive's glop post install.
 Thank you for any help you can share.

 Hi Duncan,
 Go to Add/Remove Programs and add Windows component.

 T

Re: [H] Used to know how, but I forgot. Help?

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

I have not done much with Windows 8.x, but you should be able to do
windows key and R and it should bring up a run dialog.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/keyboard-shortcuts#keyboard-shortcuts=windows-8



-Harry

On 7/28/14, 5:32 PM, DSinc wrote:
 Harry,
 Thanks. OK. I get the 'type in'. Where? My currently useless
 'START' button in W8.1 does not ever show
 me a 'Runwindowwith a 'browse' option. I will play much more. Still
 grappling with W8.1pro. More questions to
 followI am sure. Know this. My OB was impressed with a share yousent
 before. OB may contact you direct.
 Please treat him as another 'Joe Public.'He is strange kind of
 'joiner.' Maybe this year he may join the HWG
 Group. I can only hope.
 Best,
 Duncan

 On 07/28/2014 04:09, Harry McGregor wrote:
 The name has changed, but it's still appwiz.cpl.

 Click on the start button, and type in appwiz.cpl and you will get the
 right utility.

 -Harry

 On 7/28/14, 1:08 AM, DSinc wrote:
 Thane,
 Thanks for the suggestion, however Add/Remove Programs/Add Windows
 Component no longer appears in
 Windows 7pro (32bit). I do recall this share from W2K and XP.
 The good news is that Install must have copied and hidden all the
 default 'games' to my c:\windows area. I did
 some peek/poke in the control panel and did find a tool that opened a
 list of stuff that allowed me to put a tick mark
 for 'Games.' Sure enough, I now have them active and available once
 again... :)
 Once I have morning coffee working, I will check out my 2 Win8.1pro
 machines!
 Best,
 Duncan

 On 07/27/2014 20:15, Thane Sherrington wrote:
 At 03:05 PM 26/07/2014, DSinc wrote:
 Years ago, I recall a process/task/way to get M$ to lift its' 'GAMES
 Directoy' on the DVD back to my
 harddrive and stitch it into the new local drive's glop post install.
 Thank you for any help you can share.
 Hi Duncan,
  Go to Add/Remove Programs and add Windows component.

 T

Re: [H] OB got his new Lenovo, sort of

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

The key is embedded in the firmware (uEFI).

The PC may not have DVI, but it might have HDMI, which is basically
DVI-D + Audio, and can be passively converted to DVI-D (check out
monoprice.com for adapters).

Lots of PC (and higher end too) MFG is in Mexico, it's a lot better then
it used to be, and less shipping costs then China.

The software will be on the machine, and you can create a recovery DVD
from it... Again standard for Big Name computers, MS does not let them
give agnostic install DVDs out...

-Harry


On 7/17/14, 4:32 PM, DSinc wrote:
 A bit of thread continuation about the OB new PC
 saga.. ;)

 OK, OB has rcvd his new Lenovo PC. He is jazzed and is thrashing
 around trying to find a VGA
 cable to light his Dell monitor. Yes, he used to use a DVI cable, but
 that will not happen
 until he swaps in his old nVidia GT630 card from the dead PC. His new
 Lenovo does not have a
 'default' DVI connector. Odd.

 Worse he tells me he did NOT recieve a Windows 8.1 dvd+product key.
 OK, maybe
 Lenovo builds PC the same way Dell does and uses some 'master' glop of
 Windows
 sw. The notes he found tell him that everything he will ever need has
 been recorded in a
 (please pick a name) partition on his 1TB EM HD-Oh! Please see the
 User manual for
 recovery procedures, if necessary. Perhaps this how brand new PCs are
 now done, but,
 I am sadly disappointed; AND, the damn PC came from _Mexico_ to boot.
 I'll hope it was just
 a Lenovo warehouse, and, not a 'build' center.

 I wait OB's call in the AM when he powers it on for the 1st time.
 Best,
 Duncan

Re: [H] Fwd: New Desktop specs from OB

[Harry McGregor]

On 7/7/14, 4:28 PM, Tim Lider wrote:
 I would make it at least 8GB of RAM at the minimum.  Other than that it
 looks good.

Well, adding to that, it's a single dimm, that is both good, and bad. 
You have half the memory bandwidth and performance you could have, so
that's bad, but you can buy a single 4GB dimm to add to it, get to 8
gigs and get dual 64bit (or does intel do single 128bit) memory channels.

The old systems memory probably won't work.

-Harry


 -Original Message-
 From: Hardware [mailto:hardware-boun...@lists.hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf
 Of DSinc
 Sent: Monday, July 7, 2014 4:20 PM
 To: HWG
 Subject: [H] Fwd: New Desktop specs from OB


 Collective,
 The long road to replace my OB's desktop PC is over! YEA! I do so appreciate
 all of your suggestions, experiences, opinions. Now he and I wait for the
 Big Brown Truck to deliver it to him. Then phase 2 of this 'upgrade'
 commences. He does have a copy of the book, Windows 8.1 for Dummies,
 as do I. But I expect I will still be called upon to share queries from him
 to the Collective for some period of time. Both of us will get wiser
 together!
 Perhaps his new neighborhood contact can help wise him up a bit
 quicker.too..:)

 Please accept my heartfelt gratitude to all of the Collective for your
 patience these past 3 weeks.
 Duncan


  Original Message 
 Subject:  New Desktop specs
 Date: Mon, 07 Jul 2014 12:34:13 -0400
 From: Bruce Sinclair rb...@comcast.net
 To:   DUNCAN SINCLAIR dsinc...@epbfi.com


 Here are the specs for the Lenovo desktop I just ordered.

 ThinkCentre M83 - Mini-Tower
 Part number: 10ALCTO1WW,  Ships in 5-7 business days

 . 10ALCTO1WW
 . Intel Core i5-4670 Processor (6MB Cache, up to 3.80GHz)
 . Windows 8.1 Pro 64 - English
 . Mini Tower 280W
 . 2 Front USB Ports
 . 4GB PC3-12800 1600MHz UDIMM (1 DIMM)
 . Integrated Video  (will install the Nivida graphics card)
 . Integrated Audio
 . 1TB Hard Drive, 7200RPM, 3.5, SATA III
 . DVD Burner/CD-RW, SATA
 . Integrated Gigabit Ethernet
 . USB Fullsize key board- US English
 . Enhanced Optical USB Mouse (YIPPE, a free mouse - I'll use my wireless 
 Logitech mouse when I find the driver disk)
 . PS2 Port Cable
 . Internal Speakers Tower (?)
 . Publication English
 . 3 Year On-site

 edit...
 Thank you for your help on technical questions and for being a great 
 sounding board.  I'll give you a few weeks rest and then we can start 
 figuring out what laptop to buy...NOT  I have already found the one 
 I want, and I will probably bend plastic on it right after I get the 
 desktop up and running.

   --
   Regards, Bruce

 We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men [and women]
 stand ready in the night to visit violence on those
 who would do us harm. -  George Orwell

Re: [H] Opinions welcome again

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

First, I may be biased, as I work for IBM (in Storage, not anything x86/x64)

On 7/3/14, 9:54 AM, DSinc wrote:
 Seeking opinions about Lenovo. I know that they now own the old IBM PC
 division. Fine.

 So, OB is doing 'New Desktop' research. He went to Dell and found the
 Inspiron 8700. Nice box.

 So, OB went to Big Buy and met a Lenovo desktop, I think it is a K450E
 series. I have not peeked/poked yet.
 I will.

My personal opinion is Lenovo's business line, the Think workstations
and ThinkPad Laptops (not the edge, not the idea pad) are great.

I don't care for *anyones* consumer line.  Basically, if it's sold at
BestBuy, it's probably built to be disposable.

That being said, if you want to poke around the IBM Certified Used, or
the Lenovo Employee Purchase Program for IBM Employee's it reaches out
to family and friends, send me a direct email, and I will give you the
info on both of them (can't post that to a public mailing list).
 The conversion of IBM to Lenovo is recent.
Only if you consider almost 10 years as recent, the PC Division was sold
in 2005, the x64 server line is pending sale this year.  That being
said, I have worked ThinkPad laptops for the better part of 15 years,
both personally and professionally, and have found them to be great. I
love my work W520, (3 SSDs and 16GB upgradeable to 32GB of memory in a
laptop :)).


-Harry
 Wondering what the Collective feels about Lenovo in general.
 If you choose to be specific, please share.
 Thanks,
 Duncan

Re: [H] drive won't shrink

[Harry McGregor]

On 5/11/14, 11:01 PM, Winterlight wrote:


 Defrag the drive and look to see if any data is way out near the end.

  Your right... it is  a few unmovable files at the end of the drive
 that is causing the problem I discovered that initially..the unmovable
 pagefile was there at the end so I turned the page file off  and
 rebooted. But then something else got put at the end that I can't
 identify. How do I get it from putting unmoveable stuff at the end of
 the drive and why can't any partition manager move the files.

You can also disable the hibernation which can cause this.

This thread looks good:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/25221/how-to-shrink-windows-partition-with-unmovable-files-in-dual-boot-installation

Hopefully this helps

Also, shrink what you can, and then keep trying, instead of trying to
get it all in one shot.

-Harry
 Second, use an Ubuntu live CD, and use Gparted to do the shrink.

 I googled this problem earlier and found a lot of users with apple
 products complaining of this... and  many of them did try Gparted but
 that didn't work either.

 Is this something HP does? How do you get rid of the unmovable files.
 I have been working with partitions for a couple of decades and have
 never come across this.
 Thanks for the help Harry.


 -Harry

 On 5/11/14, 9:11 PM, Winterlight wrote:
  I am working on a HP Pavilion. It has a 550GB hard drive and there is
  nothing unusual about the Win 7 Home Premium setup. It has a 195 MB
  boot drive = C. The Win 7 D drive with about 450 GB on it ...the user
  only is using 175GB of that D drive... a HP recovery drive of 24GB and
  the HP utility drive with around 100MB. I want to get rid of the HP
  stuff so I delete the two HP partitions. Next I try to shrink the
  450GB D drive down to 250 which leaves a solid 75 GB free on the
  drive. But I can't shrink it more then about 7GB because Win 7 Disk
  Manager says there isn't any space available. I have tried using Win 7
  Disk Management,   Paragon Partition Manager, and Active  Boot
  Partition Manager and they all have the same issue.
 
  Has anybody seen anything like this before anybody know why it is
  doing this and what can be done about it short of backing the 175GB
  up, deleting the partition, create new partitions, and then restoring
  the backup in the smaller space?

Re: [H] drive won't shrink

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

Two suggestions.

Defrag the drive and look to see if any data is way out near the end.

Second, use an Ubuntu live CD, and use Gparted to do the shrink.

-Harry

On 5/11/14, 9:11 PM, Winterlight wrote:
 I am working on a HP Pavilion. It has a 550GB hard drive and there is
 nothing unusual about the Win 7 Home Premium setup. It has a 195 MB
 boot drive = C. The Win 7 D drive with about 450 GB on it ...the user
 only is using 175GB of that D drive... a HP recovery drive of 24GB and
 the HP utility drive with around 100MB. I want to get rid of the HP
 stuff so I delete the two HP partitions. Next I try to shrink the
 450GB D drive down to 250 which leaves a solid 75 GB free on the
 drive. But I can't shrink it more then about 7GB because Win 7 Disk
 Manager says there isn't any space available. I have tried using Win 7
 Disk Management,   Paragon Partition Manager, and Active  Boot
 Partition Manager and they all have the same issue.

 Has anybody seen anything like this before anybody know why it is
 doing this and what can be done about it short of backing the 175GB
 up, deleting the partition, create new partitions, and then restoring
 the backup in the smaller space?

Re: [H] SSD trouble?

[Harry McGregor]

On 5/7/14, 12:33 PM, DSinc wrote:
 OK, so none of my SSD's fit into my PC cases (yet?). I suspect it is
 the 2.5in size vs. the 3.5in place
 I tried to use (FDD carrier). Nogo.

 Can anyone share links to a 2.5in-3.5in carrier adapters I can buy. I
 need 5. Still looking for my
 old baggie of 6-32 screws. Looking like a trip to Ace
 HDW.. :)

 SSD is Samsung 840pro 128GB. Quite surprised that none of them came
 w/mounting screws, but,
 I expect Samsung figured all of their SSD's will go into
 laptops/tablets, etc. Sheesh.
 LOL! Not in the Collective!
 Thanks,
 Duncan

Hi,

A lot of times I just use foam tape (remember, nothing is moving inside).

These are some decent adapters, that let you put two 2.5 in one 3.5 space

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817984019

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817984020

-Harry

Re: [H] VM second NIC

[Harry McGregor]

On 12/12/13 7:31 PM, Winterlight wrote:
 I have a new computer build = windows 8 PRO.  My PC motherboard has
 the usual 2 NICs. I want to install VMware version 9 workstation and
 have it use the second NIC. I have a three router network that
 isolates a WIFI connection from my LAN for employees, friends, family
 to use. I am thinking I can plug the second NIC into the router that
 outputs to my LAN and the other wifi routers and then point the VM to
 that NIC... is something like this possible. do I need to use the
 second NIC...  how do I go about this? Thanks

There is a vmware network configuration tool

You would setup another vmnet interface that bridges with the second
physical nic.  I use vmnet2 for this in a lot of my setups.

Then when you setup a vm, if you use vmnet0 (aka bridged default) it
will bridge to your primary/internal network, if you use vmnet2 (under
custom) it will bridge to your second guest network that you want it in.

-Harry

Re: [H] laptops ?

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

I have to say I am happy with my 2008/2009 era macbook pro, added an SSD
to it, and it's still going strong with a core2duo (in fact I am typing
on it now).

That being said, I don't like the glued in batteries, and other crap
they have moved to more recently, and probably won't buy another
macbook, unless it's a used one that does not have the glued in battery,
the not quite standardized SSD connector, etc.

I am also rather happy with the build quality on my work Lenovo ThinkPad
W520, I have an mSATA SSD in it, a Sata SSD, and a HDD in the ultrabay
slot.  Even with optimus turned off, using only the Nvidia GPU, the
battery life is rather good under Ubuntu.  I have 4x4GB SO dimms in it,
and intend to swap out for 4x8Gig dimms before DDR3 starts getting too
expensive.  My only complaint it the power brick is the size of a brick,
170 watt, even with no HDD, and other things, I should be OK on a
90watt, but the bios enforces the 170 watt.  The 90watt will charge the
battery when the laptop is in sleep, but won't even really contribute to
the load while running.

-Harry

On 11/18/13 2:49 PM, Joshua MacCraw wrote:
 Well engineered? Pfft! Apple stopped being top notch quality when they
 jumped from Motorola processors  SCSI decades ago. It's the same or
 worse Taiwan or China manufacturing subcontractors that make everyone
 else's products. For the amount they charge vs. identical spec PC it
 better last a real long time! $1300 for 13in? $2000+ for 15in, right!

 That said Apple as always gets by using older, proven components and
 likely is not trying to squeeze any OC margin out of them and then use
 a metal case which has got to be pulling heat away from the components
 better. All the laptop vendors should be doing the metal case part
 IMHO and then coating key contact areas of the case in Plasti Dip.

 On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 1:20 PM, Bryan Seitz se...@bsd-unix.net wrote:
 On Tue, Nov 19, 2013 at 12:18:44AM +0300, Naushad Zulfiqar wrote:
 Yes, they do run hot, but somehow they do have longer life spans.  I don't
 know why, the quality on the inside seems same.  I find that with PC mobos
 the power regulator circuitry is the first to go.  Both had that issue and
 since they are soldered on the mobo, it meant a whole motherboard swap,
 which costs about the same as a new laptop.  So F that!!!
 I don't know, have you looked inside a macbook pro? Shit is like jesus!  
 Very well engineered.

 --

 Bryan G. Seitz

Re: [H] laptops ?

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

If any HWG regulars want IBM EPP pricing on either IBM certified used or
Lenovo, drop a note off list.

Being an IBMer, I can extend my employee discount to family and friends,
and this group falls in the friends category.

-Harry

On 11/18/13 3:15 PM, Winterlight wrote:
 Agreed, I have a collection of Thinkpads. They are real work horses. I
 have never worn them out, just wanted to move up. They definitely have
 the best keyboards.

 At 02:01 PM 11/18/2013, you wrote:
 I think the think pads are probably the best right now. Not the idea
 pads.
 On Nov 19, 2013 12:59 AM, Harry McGregor mic...@osef.org wrote:

  Hi,

Re: [H] How to change a nic card?

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

If possible, put both NICs in the box.

Then plug the cable into the old nic, then download the driver from
intel.com (and you could help him using teamviewer from teamviewer.com
if needed, it's free for personal use).

Then once the driver is setup and running, move the cable over to the
new Intel NIC.

-Harry

On 10/7/13 9:09 AM, DSinc wrote:
 Bryan,
 Thanks. Good point. Not certain when GBit was baselined, so maybe XP
 may not have an
 appropriate driver. My bad. But he does have the Intel CD that has the
 driver(s) as well as the
 ProSet tool(s).
 Fact I forgot to mention: It turns out that his CD/DVD rom device may
 also be fubar!
 So, his troubles havemultiplied. I'd pay for a Geek-Squad call, but
 I'm afraid his pride will
 never allow that. So, I wait today for the frothing phone call from
 FL! LOL!
 Duncan

Re: [H] cat5/6 cable

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

This is correct for network/voice cabling.

Solid should only be used with either special solid crimp on connectors,
or with IDC or insulation displacement connections (such as 110 punch
down on the back of a jack).

Stranded should only be used with stranded crimp on connectors, it can
NOT be used with IDC connections.

In general you want stranded in any location the wire will be moved
around a lot (like user side patch cords).  Solid can be  good choice
for dressed data center/patch panel patch cords, as it will go where you
tell it to go a bit better.

This image shows you what the contacts look like in the connector, IMHO,
I would not use the solid on stranded, despite this image saying it's OK.

https://www.brucetambling.com/w/images/0/0f/Stranded_vs_solid_contact_lg.jpg

-Harry

On 9/3/13 8:08 AM, FORC5 wrote:
 might I assume that solid wire is better for in wall or buried in
 conduit ?

 stranded best for patch cords
 thanks
 fp


 Date:  Tuesday, September 3rd, 2013

***Caution, Tagline Below ***
 **Tallyho**
 **
Oh no!  Not another expensive update.
 **

[H] Non-Wireless DDWRT/OpenWRT capable router

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

I am looking for a hard to find item.

A wired router that supports DD-WRT, OpenWRT, etc and also has a USB 
port, and hopefully gigabit ports.


The main requirement is that I don't want it to have wireless. Either 
being able to physically remove the WiFi adapter or not having one in 
the first place would work.


-Harry

Re: [H] Non-Wireless DDWRT/OpenWRT capable router

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

Yes, I am well aware of software disable.

This is for an environment where even having the radio in the unit could 
raise major flags with the end user.


-Harry

On 6/6/13 5:50 AM, Robert Martin Jr. wrote:

You can disable the wifi on any of the existing routers.

lopaka





From: Harry McGregor mic...@osef.org
To: hardw...@lists.hardwaregroup.com
Sent: Thu, June 6, 2013 12:43:55 AM
Subject: [H] Non-Wireless DDWRT/OpenWRT capable router

Hi,

I am looking for a hard to find item.

A wired router that supports DD-WRT, OpenWRT, etc and also has a USB port, and
hopefully gigabit ports.

The main requirement is that I don't want it to have wireless. Either being able
to physically remove the WiFi adapter or not having one in the first place would
work.

-Harry

Re: [H] Bulk Cat 6 cable - 1000'

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

From the descriptions, these are all stranded, not solid.

Great for making custom patch cables (Which is rarely done anymore 
unless it's need for cable dressing), but not good for inwall cabling, 
it won't work with 110 punch downs, etc.


-Harry

On 3/30/13 3:04 PM, Bobby Heid wrote:

Newegg has Coboc Cat 6 bulk cable - 1000 feet, for $100 with a $50 rebate
card.  Anyone used this brand of cable?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENEN=100017718%20600
026277IsNodeId=1Description=cobocname=1000%20ft.Order=BESTMATCH
N=100017718%20600026277IsNodeId=1Description=cobocname=1000%20ft.Order=
BESTMATCH

  


Bobby

Re: [H] List info / Jim Edwards

[Harry McGregor]

Don't recall exactly when I joined, but it was in the mid to late 
1990s.  I remember the get together in Phx, that Kevin Lam decided to 
fly in for from .au


-Harry

On 3/18/13 4:36 PM, Bryan Seiz wrote:

On 3/18/2013 7:31 PM, Thane Sherrington wrote:
I recall there was list on overclocking that I joined initially.  
Maybe run by Tom of Tom's Hardware?




I think that is right...I joined around the P200/233MMX days, I 
remember going to visit hayes anthony w/ Jim in DC haha!

Re: [H] Powerline

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

On 2/1/13 9:15 PM, Winterlight wrote:
When using a powerline network do need two powerlines for each IP 
address ?
Do you plug Powerline one into the router and Powerline two into end 
user device.. is that how it works? They sell them at 200Mbps and 
500Mbps... do you really get those kind of speeds.

thanks

The power line devices are at layer 2 (in this case ethernet) for 
transport.  The devices them selves will normally request an IP vi DHCP 
for their own management, but they do not route, just bridge.


That being said, this is more like an old school  bus network, is shared 
bandwidth, just like WiFi is shared bandwidth.  So the 200Mbit and 
500Mbit are really not reachable but you can still get decent bandwidth.


Also power line condition (how your electrical is wired) greatly impacts 
bandwidth, just like walls and how the walls are build greatly impacts WiFi.


If the price spread is not very high, I would recommend getting the 
500Mbit gear.   I used the 85Mbit stuff at my in-laws house to replace a 
wifi to ethernet bridge that was being flaky, and it linked at 40Mbit, 
and it's getting about 30Mbit throughput.


It's best to install a switch on each end (or use the switch built into 
your router on one of the ends, and a switch on the other end) so that 
near by devices can just be straight cat5/ethernet instead of installing 
many of the powerline devices.


-Harry

Re: [H] Thunderbird Signature use?

[Harry McGregor]

 Hi,

On 9/13/10 7:42 AM, DSinc wrote:
 I do not use the Signature logic in Thunderbird. My older Brother just
 switched from Eudora to Thunderbird.  His conversion is somewhat
 frustrating.  He does use Signatures.

 He and I have noticed that when TB stitches a Sig to an email there is
 always a line with a double-dash (--) either preceding the Sig, or,
 the double-dash gets embedded as the first 2 characters of the Sig.

 Is this normal behavior in Thunderbird?

Yes,

Double dash or -- above the sig has been a standard for a very long time.

It permits people to to automatically drop the signature, especially the
very long annoying ones

 From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_block  --

The formatting of the sig block is prescribed somewhat more firmly: it
should be displayed as plain text
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_text in a fixed-width font (no HTML
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML, images, or other rich text
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Text_Format), and must be delimited
from the body of the message by a single line consisting of exactly two
hyphens, followed by a space, followed by the end of line (i.e., --
\n).^[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signature_block#cite_note-0
This latter prescription, which goes by many names, including sig
dashes, signature cut line, sig-marker, and sig separator, allows
software to automatically mark or remove the sig block as the receiver
desires. The signature prefix chosen can be different for different
people serving as a distinguishing feature of their signatures. A
correct delimiter is required for a news posting program to receive the
Good Netkeeping Seal of Approval
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Netkeeping_Seal_of_Approval.


Harry

 Can this double-dash business be masked/disabled in TB and still use
 the Sig logic?

 I drilled thru the TB faqs and forums yesterday and could not get
 close to a clue. I do like the wealth of info share about TB, but it
 is tough to find answers.
 Best,
 Duncan

Re: [H] dead drive

[Harry McGregor]

 Hi,

If the drive is not showing up in the BIOS, but seems to be spinning,
you can try this:

Get an identical model/series drive (exact identical model and size),
and transplant the controller board from one drive to the other.

I have had this work on quite a number of drives that just would not
show up in the BIOS.

This is why my DVD backup images (3 year olds are murder on DVDs) are on
RAID6

Harry

On 9/10/10 7:10 PM, Winterlight wrote:
 I have a 18 month old 1TB Seagate HD that has apparently died. I had
 about 800GB of video on it,  two thirds of the space were backups of
 my DVD collection and I still have the DVDs so it could of been a lot
 worse. I was running it in an external drive bay, pretty much 24/7
 when it just disappeared. I have never lost a drive by just
 disappearing, two others I have lost in the past all died slowly with
 failed access warnings or just screwing things up but this just went
 silently.

  After trying restarts and reboots I put it in another USB2 external
 drive bay with no change, then I stuck it in a PC and the same
 problem. If the BIOS can't see it then I can't recover anything so I
 guess I'm done... unless somebody has another idea?

Re: [H] Need 100 cheap netbooks

[Harry McGregor]

On 6/10/10 8:26 AM, Neil Davidson wrote:
 I don't see how the little netbook Veech linked to wouldn't work for the
 intended usage.

 It has Wireless, built in Ethernet and CE does have a browser. What's not to
 like?

   
My concern was the speed test part.  The browser/cpu combon in the $99
unit really won't be able to do much in the way of a speed test.

The browser/cpu will get in the way of page rendering, if that is the
test, and won't be able to run most speed test applets (flash or java).

Harry

 Neil.

 -Original Message-
 From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
 [mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Harry McGregor
 Sent: 10 June 2010 03:11
 To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
 Subject: Re: [H] Need 100 cheap netbooks

 Interesting item, but it runs Windows CE, I do't know how well it will do
 with testing connectivity.

 I would recommend looking at this unit:

 http://www.norhtec.com/products/gecko/index.html

 At QTY 100, Michel should be able to get you a good price (owner of
 Norhtec).

 I have used many of their other products and they have been quite good to
 work with.

 Harry

 On 6/9/10 12:38 PM, Veech wrote:
   
 My company needs about 100 devices to check for internet connectivity 
 in homes across the US.  Most have hard-wired internet but some are 
 wireless. I found this online and am looking for your opinions of the
 device:

 http://www.eglobalwireless.com/p-4333-new-7-mini-netbook-laptop-notebo
 ok-wifi-windows-2gb-hd.aspx?gclid=CI6Dz_Xfk6ICFSQ65QodIlLBbg


 or if you know of any other solutions that might work, I'm open to 
 suggestions.  It just needs to be a portable device that our field 
 people would carry into a home, connect and test internet speed.  We 
 do need some way to visually confirm the ability to surf the internet.

 thanks for any suggestions...
 
   

Re: [H] Need 100 cheap netbooks

[Harry McGregor]

Interesting item, but it runs Windows CE, I do't know how well it will
do with testing connectivity.

I would recommend looking at this unit:

http://www.norhtec.com/products/gecko/index.html

At QTY 100, Michel should be able to get you a good price (owner of
Norhtec).

I have used many of their other products and they have been quite good
to work with.

Harry

On 6/9/10 12:38 PM, Veech wrote:
 My company needs about 100 devices to check for internet connectivity
 in homes across the US.  Most have hard-wired internet but some are
 wireless. I found this online and am looking for your opinions of the
 device:

 http://www.eglobalwireless.com/p-4333-new-7-mini-netbook-laptop-notebook-wifi-windows-2gb-hd.aspx?gclid=CI6Dz_Xfk6ICFSQ65QodIlLBbg


 or if you know of any other solutions that might work, I'm open to
 suggestions.  It just needs to be a portable device that our field
 people would carry into a home, connect and test internet speed.  We
 do need some way to visually confirm the ability to surf the internet.

 thanks for any suggestions...

Re: [H] 1000 Mbps vs 100 Mpbs????

[Harry McGregor]

On 5/9/10 9:59 PM, Bryan Seitz wrote:
 The airport extreme is actually very nice, esp for the price.
 A lot of N routers/APs don't even give you Gig ports.  Why
 bother if the Wifi can do 300Mbit and the wired is only 100.
   
Simple, most N routers are not dual frequency, thus only 150Mbit, and
that is the wireless data rate, not the actual data rate.

150Mbit wireless can easily fit on a 100Mbit wired pipe.

Does not mean I don't prefer to have a Gig switch in the router, but
100Mbit won't be your bottle neck in most 802.11n networks.

As far as routers go, if it runs dd-wrt, I am interested in it,
otherwise, I am not.

Harry

Re: [H] mount BRD

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

On 5/1/10 2:10 PM, Winterlight wrote:
 What do you use to mount a BRD iso file? thanks!

Just like any other iso image,

mount -o loop /path/to/isoimage.iso   /path/to/mountpoint

Harry

Re: [H] Disk allocation units.

[Harry McGregor]

On 2/7/10 1:59 PM, Bobby Heid wrote:
 Hey,

  

 The default allocation unit size is usually 4K.  I have a drive that I store
 only my recorded shows on.  Would I benefit any by change the allocation
 unit size to a larger number?  If so, what setting would be best?  The
 smallest files average about .8GB and go up to about 8-9GB.

   

I have worked with a lot of customers on this (on enterprise class
storage, www.xivstorage.com).

Most MS SQL admins have no idea that Microsoft's recommended best
practices is 64KB NTFS cluster to match the MS SQL extent size.  I have
seen a 300% performance improvement going from 4KB to 64KB.

Large clusters will help insure larger IO on large files.  Depending on
your file types, and use, it can help a little, or a lot.

Cache Data bases, for example read/write in 8KB units, and thus work
best with an 8KB cluster size.


Harry
 Thanks,

 Bobby

   

Re: [H] HP/Compaq drive tatoo?

[Harry McGregor]

On 1/29/10 8:50 AM, Joe User wrote:
 Hello Harry,

 Thursday, January 28, 2010, 9:22:00 PM, you wrote:


   
 Boot up something like dban and do a quick wipe of the drive, even the
 first little bit of the drive should be enough.
 
   
 The machine is really trying to boot the hard drive, and is having issues.
 

 dban is not working either. finished with non fatal errors and it
 doesn't appear to have done anything. somethings seriously wrong here.

   

What version of dban did you try? Preview release 2.0?

If that does not work, boot up a linux live cd (ubuntu, etc), find the
hard drive, and run DD on it,

fdisk -l should help you find the drive

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdX bs=1M count=100

should be enough.

Harry

Re: [H] HP/Compaq drive tatoo?

[Harry McGregor]

On 1/28/10 5:42 PM, Joe User wrote:
 Hello HWG,

 I have a compaq in with a Hitachi deathstar drive issue.  I ordered a
 WD green series 500gb 32mb 7200 sata drive to replace the failed
 drive. The customer ordered the vista recovery cd's since the recovery
 partition was shot. When I first put the discs in it worked great and
 was leading me thru the recovery process. However, the choice I made
 was not what I wanted so I backed out and it dropped me out to reboot.

 Since then I have not been able to get into the recovery discs, I am
 booting from them but it gives me a non-system disk or disk error.

 The discs read fine from 2 other DVD drives and I have swapped out
 their compaq DVD drive with a another yet the problem continues. So,
 next step was to test the drive (new one) and sure enough it comes
 back with SMART errors in the read test. So I goto WD web site and DL
 their diagnostic iso and try to get the system to boot off of it. It
 gives me an error that it can't find some file on the CD - that is
 actually there. So I download a new copy and burn another - same
 thing. I replaced the DVD drive again and the problem continues.

 So... This is weird. One thing I tried was a XP disc, and I did a
 fixmbr, diskpart, and format (which took awhile) but all that worked
 fine. Yet, everything else...

   

Boot up something like dban and do a quick wipe of the drive, even the
first little bit of the drive should be enough.

The machine is really trying to boot the hard drive, and is having issues.


Harry
 Ideas?


   

Re: [H] Potentially dumb networking question

[Harry McGregor]

Naushad, Zulfiqar wrote:
 Congrats on the child to come.

 My wife is pregnant @ 7 Months and I already have a 3 1/2 year old
 daughter and trust me it's tough (to say the least).

 But when I come home from work my daughters reaction makes it all
 worthwhile!

   
Congrats.  This group is really growing up...  Of course I joined the
HWG when I was in high school...

My wife and I are in a similar situation.

Rebecca is 2 weeks old today, and our son is about a 2 and 1/2 years old :)

Rebecca was born via C-Section on Dec 7th

Rebecca: http://hh.zqc.com/gallery/v/Rebecca/Our365/
Robert: http://hh.zqc.com/gallery/v/RobRoy/PreSchool_10_09/

It's worth every minute of it.  The long nights, waking up every few
hours to help with breast feedings, everything.

 Harry

 -Original Message-
 From: hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com
 [mailto:hardware-boun...@hardwaregroup.com] On Behalf Of Brian Weeden
 Sent: Sunday, December 20, 2009 9:24 PM
 To: hardware
 Subject: Re: [H] Potentially dumb networking question

 Putting everything on the switch and running a cable to the router is
 exactly what I meant to say.

 These things happen when you mix toddler + pregnant wife + prepping for
 inlaws visting for Christmas.

 ---
 Brian Weeden
 Technical Advisor
 Secure World Foundation http://www.secureworldfoundation.org
 +1 (514) 466-2756 Canada
 +1 (202) 683-8534 US
   

Re: [H] 16 Port GB Switch

[Harry McGregor]

I second the HP Pro Curve recommendation.

The lifetime warranty is amazing.

Unmanaged:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833316077cm_re=procurve-_-33-316-077-_-Product

Nicely managed (expensive):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833316044cm_re=procurve-_-33-316-044-_-Product

And web managed...:

http://www.macmall.com/p/4118824?source=mwbfroogledpno=7253183



I have used a combination of the managed and web managed switches.

If you only need basic vlan support, the web managed will work (I have
used the 1800-8g quite a bit), the fully managed is simpler to configure
in a full environment, and does virtual stacking, etc.


Harr


Naushad Zulfiqar wrote:
 HP pro curve. And the bird is the word.

 On Nov 15, 2009 10:55 PM, Gary gm...@verizon.net wrote:

 I'm in market for a 16 port GB Switch. Recommendations?
   

Re: [H] .sam ?

[Harry McGregor]

The current version of what was Ami Pro is Lotus SmartSuite

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/smartsuite/

It is possible that the free Lotus Symphony will open the files.

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/symphony/

Also, you can try OpenOffice as it tends to have good file read
capabilities.

If it's only a few files, email me directly, and I can see about
converting them for you.

Harry

FORC5 wrote:
 have converters installed but it opens them as plain text. DL'ed a trial 
 converter. Same thing. Maybe these files are just too old.

 Thanks

 At 05:28 PM 8/9/2009, Winterlight Poked the stick with:
   
 yes, not perfectly, formatting wise but  Word 2003 will so 07 must. Just 
 make sure filters are installed.

 At 04:31 PM 8/9/2009, you wrote:
 
 Have some old .sam files I need to convert to .doc

 See some converters  on google but was wondering if office 07 might handle 
 these ?

 thanks

 --
 Tallyho ! ]:8)
 Taglines below !
 --
 I can resist anything but temptation.
   

   

Re: [H] Infragard

[Harry McGregor]

Infragard has been going on for years. 

I participated a bit a while back, and know others that do.

Personally, I pickup more from Full-Disclosure and other security
mailing lists.

Harry

mark.dodge wrote:
 Is this just too much big brother or is it going to help

  

 www.infragard.net

  

 The goal of InfraGard is to promote ongoing dialogue and timely
 communication between members and the FBI. InfraGard members gain access to
 information that enables them to protect their assets and in turn give
 information to government that facilitates its responsibilities to prevent
 and address terrorism and other crimes.

  

 Mark

 MD Computers, Houston, TX

  

   

Re: [H] POST card for laptops

[Harry McGregor]

Thane Sherrington wrote:
 Has anyone used a POST card for laptops?  I seem to be getting more
 and more laptops in that power up but give no video (either internally
 or externally) and it's virtually impossible to diagnose.

 T


Post cards for laptops do exist.  They can work over either MiniPCI or LPT.

http://shopv2.elstonsystems.com/product_info.php/cPath/26/products_id/67

This one draws power over USB if needed.

If you don't have MiniPCI (not mini PCI Express!), and you don't have a
hard wired LPT, this won't do you much good.

  Harry

Re: [H] USB w/ 12V/24V power?

[Harry McGregor]

maccrawj wrote:
 Like PoE for networks is a co-power plug standard it seems, not a USB
 standard change:

 http://www.usbpluspower.org/

 So you have a funky dual plug cable  a IO board with the dual socket
 which provides 12V or 24V independent of the USB 5V.

I actually have a Dell (Latitude D410) that has that funky USB+Power
plug, never seen a device that uses it...

Harry

Re: [H] Seagate changes Warranty

[Harry McGregor]

The Seagate firmware issue is with the 7200.11 drives, most notably the
1.5TB, though some reports of issues with smaller ones too.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/other_downloads/cuda-fw

and

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/mythtv/users/356942

   Harry


Rick Glazier wrote:
 1T  1.5(T?) is a lot bigger than I need. Were the BIOS issues in
 machines, or the drive firmware?  I'd Google, but I think I'd get too
 many hits.

 Rick Glazier

 From: maccrawj
 Are Hitachi's still good? I ordered a D7K1000 instead of the Seagate
 7200.11 1TB after reading about BIOS issues with the 1.5GB models. 

Re: [H] ATI 3450--Need Help!

[Harry McGregor]

I will take XP almost any time over Vista, but we are running into a
serious issue with 3.5GB of usable memory in XP.

Many consulting customers would lover to go with 8GB of memory, but
until their major apps are 64 bit, and they are willing to deal with
vista they cant.

Myself, I use either OSX or linux for most things, and  am putting 8 gb
of memory in my new mythbox, that will also run some vmware server
virtual machines. (and the XP ones will have 3GB memory assigned to them).

Harry

DHSinclair wrote:
 Thanks JoeUser,
 I know that XP is now out of favor maybe, but AFAIK it is still
 current and just one level back.
 Best,
 Duncan

 At 15:26 12/04/2008 -0600, you wrote:
 Hello Amartin,

 Thursday, December 4, 2008, 4:36:00 AM, you wrote:

  Upgrade to obsolete. Good plan.

  Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

 Spew random bullshit that's untrue. Even better.

 -- 
 Regards,
  joeuser - Still looking for the 'any' key...

 ...now these points of data make a beautiful line...

Re: [H] ATI 3450--Need Help!

[Harry McGregor]

IIRC, The Catalyst drivers require Microsoft .net framework 2.0, which
does not exist for w2k

Also, Microsoft ended support for w2k March 31, 2005

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle/default.mspx

BTW:

If anyone is in the market for really high end storage right now ($500K+
range), take a look at the product I am now supporting for IBM:
http://www.xivstorage.com


Harry

DHSinclair wrote:
 JB,
 Well, the reason for my query was because any/all driver(s) the
 install found (that was liked) came from the VISTA part/folder/pointer
 of the CD!  Yes, I did see that the CD had drivers for XP, but I can
 not get the installer to install them on my w2k OS.  Dumb me. I find
 this very odd.  I have never had this halt between XP and w2K before. 
 Something new to me. As I said prior, I now have a new plan.

 Thank you Thane,  I be back.  The move remains suspended.  It may be
 an XP disk to another XP platform!
 LOL!

 The propensity of these machines keeps me going. It is just too much
 fun :)
 Thank you,
 Duncan

 At 02:01 12/04/2008 +, you wrote:
 What pushes you to vista exactly? the 3450 DOES have drivers for XP

 On 4 Dec 2008, at 01:54, DHSinclair wrote:

 JB,
 Yes, perhaps this might be part of this current kurfuffle.
 Fine.  I can accept this; but, I will not be driven by a video card
 mfg to
 an OS upgrade to Vista just to play with the card!  That just suckx
 in my book.
 The folks that play Vista and live happy, fine. I salute you. Live
 well and prosper!
 I've lived through the past 3 years of bitching about Vista.  I
 choose NO!
 I live with w2kproSP4 and XPproSP3.  If ATI does not care for this,
 I have a
 fall back plan.  It is called nVidia!
 Best,
 Duncan

 At 01:02 12/04/2008 +, you wrote:
 um, ATI.com doesn't appear to _have_ drivers for Windows 2000 for the
 3450 ?

 On 4 Dec 2008, at 00:48:300, DHSinclair wrote:

 OK, my new MSI ATI Radeon 3450 arrived today.

 I did remove my test Matrox PCI G200 per proper removal. Shut-down
 and pulled the G200.
 (The ATI CD is in the reader.)
 I installed the 3450 per the directions.
 Power the PC on.
 It did light up!  The card works...
 That ends the good news.

 I can not load drivers for it!  I keep getting error msgs about
 Vista 64. WTF.(?)
 The widows say I loaded the drivers, but so far NO Soap! Screen res
 remains 640x480.
 My OS is W2Kpro SP4.

 The driver pop-ups keep talking about HD Audio drivers that I do not
 wish to load.  I am using the RealTek on-board audio supplied by the
 Asus P5Q3.

 So, I went to ATI and dl'd the last/latest driver for w2kpro.  It
 will not work either!  The process dies because it can NOT find a
 proper dot-inf file..  I am greatly confused now.
 nVidia NEVER did this.  Sorry.  But, at the moment, ATI is not
 making me a happy camper.

 Any clues or help will be greatly appreciated!
 If I can not get this card to load, I am back again to nVidia.
 Thank you,
 Duncan

Re: [H] BluRay USB interface?

[Harry McGregor]

DHSinclair wrote:
 My older Brother deferred from buying an AV rcvr and instead bought a
 Sony BluRay DVD player for his new HDTV. Yes, he is very jazzed with
 his new toys. He tested the new screen last night with the movie Top
 Gun. I'm told the Eyes have it :)
 Today he dropped major coin on an HDMI cable. Rationale was 1 replaces
 5; and is mo-betta! No comment from me.
For HDMI cables (or almost any other cable), go to www.monoprice.com

I am willing to bet he paid close to $100 for a $7 HDMI cable.

 Harry


 He reports that his BluRay player has what looks like a USB interface.
 What is this connection for?
 I suggested that it may be a port for a game console. Or, perhaps
 communication to a media PC?
 It is a bummer when technology gets away from you LOL
 Best,
 Duncan

Re: [H] Experience with book scanning service?

[Harry McGregor]

You might want to look at www.booksnap.com

Harry

Brian Weeden wrote:
 I know Google is doing a book scanning thing with libraries, hadn't heard
 any numbers before.

 ---
 Brian

 On Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 5:22 PM, Rick Glazier [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

   
 I think I read somewhere Google was doing that for themselves, and
 the overal cost to them, in bulk, was $30 per book, IIRC

 I don't remember if any of the above is correct or not, grin

   Rick Glazier

 From: Brian Weeden

 
 I've got a private collection of books and papers that I'm thinking about
 getting scanned and was wondering if anyone on the list has had experience
 with projects like this and hiring companies to perform the service.  The
 collection in question is probably several hundreds books (maybe more) of
 a
 heterogeneous nature (softcover, hardcover, pamphlets, binders, magazines)
 and mostly English with some Russian, German, and Japanese.  Looking for a
 non-destructive service to scan and OCR as much as possible, with image
 scans of the stuff too faded or unreadable to OCR.  And it would be in the
 Boston area.

 Advice on ballpark costs, possible companies to approach and feasibility
 would all be appreciated.

 
 Brian

   

Re: [H] VELOCIRAPTOR

[Harry McGregor]

Greg Sevart wrote:

Indeed. StorageReview's piece specifically made it look damn impressive. Most 
interesting, however, is that they were able to dramatically improve multi-user 
performance (and hence enterprise appeal) without dropping single-user 
performance (enthusiast appeal). You usually have to optimize for one or the 
other. True enterprise-like multi-user performance of the previous generation 
Raptors wasn't that great compared to SCSI/SAS 10k drives. Gen IV makes them at 
least competitive.

I'm hoping we see a single-platter 150GB model shortly after the 300GB becomes 
available mid May--and hopefully at a good price point. I don't care about the 
space--I have a 6TB RAID6 array for capacity. With the 300GB model carrying an 
MSRP of $299, a ~$200 150GB drive would be about ideal.

  
Western Digital made a fatal mistake, which will keep me from using many 
of these drives.


The drive is a 2.5 drive in a heatsink.  Instead of putting the drive 
in the middle, and using an extension cable set to put the SATA and SATA 
power connectors in the correct location, they put the drive at the 
back.  This means that I can't use the drive in a sata/sas hot swap unit.


Harry


Greg

  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:hardware-
[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Naushad, Zulfiqar
Sent: Tuesday, April 22, 2008 10:00 AM
To: hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Subject: [H] VELOCIRAPTOR

Pretty intense!!!

Performance is fantastic in some cases.






  

Re: [H] probably a really dumb question

[Harry McGregor]

Correction to our issues with the power supplies.

The rest of them are going strong.

Turns out we had a dying K7S5A that was killing power supplies (even a 
little smoke, etc).


Moved to the A64 board, and the rest of the K7S5A boards, and they are fine.

   Harry

j maccraw wrote:

Lol! If like me you need high 5v amp, maybe consider
one of these Harry:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817342010
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182010
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182017
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182030
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817190011

Harry McGregor wrote:

Thane Sherrington wrote:

At 05:06 PM 01/03/2008, j maccraw wrote:


Still waiting for reply from Antec as to if they

will

stand behind this junk
unit w/ 1year of use on it even though it's past
warranty. Not holding my breath
 likely never buying another Antec.

I missed the beginning of this thread.  Are the
Antec power supplies 

junk then?  I thought they were touted as a good PS

within the last year?

T


Ok, I can report on the $14 power supply from

compgeeks.

Junk.

Running fine on a AMD 64 board, but tried it on
three K7S5A 

motherboards, and blew three power supplies
One per board.

  Harry






  

Be a better friend, newshound, and 
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.  http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ 

Re: [H] probably a really dumb question

[Harry McGregor]

Thane Sherrington wrote:

At 05:06 PM 01/03/2008, j maccraw wrote:


Still waiting for reply from Antec as to if they will
stand behind this junk
unit w/ 1year of use on it even though it's past
warranty. Not holding my breath
 likely never buying another Antec.


I missed the beginning of this thread.  Are the Antec power supplies 
junk then?  I thought they were touted as a good PS within the last year?


T


Ok, I can report on the $14 power supply from compgeeks.

Junk.

Running fine on a AMD 64 board, but tried it on three K7S5A 
motherboards, and blew three power supplies

One per board.

  Harry

Re: [H] probably a really dumb question

[Harry McGregor]

j maccraw wrote:

You vouce for them as reputable brands Harry? I know
there are units out there 
just can't find the brands I know are good still

selling ATX 1.3 units.

  
I have this one on order for a few small/cheap builds reusing older 
parts, etc.


I can probably let you know what I think of it Monday, but for under 
$15, even if it only lasts 6 months to a year, it's probably worth it

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=480W-PWR-BLKcat=PWRcpc=PWRbsc
  

   * *Power Specifications:*
   * +3.3V, 32.0A
   * +5V, 36.0A
   * +12V, 16.0A
   * -12V, 0.6A
   * -5V, 0.6A
   * +5Vsb, 2.0 A



   Harry

Re: [H] Admittedly, I bought 200..

[Harry McGregor]

Chris Reeves wrote:

Maybe I wiped them out.  But, it SEEMED like a good deal ;)

  

So what are you going to do with $1500 worth of motherboards?

   Harry


Now just to see if it ships.

 


http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186116

  

Re: [H] probably a really dumb question

[Harry McGregor]

Well, on paper this one specs out.

I have a couple on order for a few spare boxes, but I don't have them on 
hand:


http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=480W-PWR-BLKcat=PWRcpc=PWRbsc

   * *Power Specifications:*
   * +3.3V, 32.0A
   * +5V, 36.0A
   * +12V, 16.0A
   * -12V, 0.6A
   * -5V, 0.6A
   * +5Vsb, 2.0 A

This one also looks ok: 
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=PSAP550cat=PWR


   * *Voltage Specifications: *
   * 115/230 V voltage
   * 60/50 HZ frequency
   * +3.3, 28 A
   * +5, 40 A
   * +12, 20 A
   * -12, 0.8 A
   * -5, 0.5 A
   * +5V, 2 A

And this one: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=ARROW-680Wcat=PWR

   * *Power Specifications:*
   * 115V, 230V switchable power supply
   * 50/60 Hz, 7.0A/3.5A
   * +3.3V, 45A
   * +5V, 50A
   * +12V, 22A
   * -12V, 0.80A
   * -5V, 0.5A
   * +5Vsb, 3A

 Harry



j maccraw wrote:

Hard question is what model is still available for
sale with ATX 1.3 spec that 
has a 5V line amperage above 35A? Damn Asus chose not

use the 12V line!

All the 2.x ones emphasize the 12V line and leave you
with 20-25A 5V rails. Was 
going to use my ThermalTake 750W that's sitting here
waiting for Asus Rampage to 
be released but it's not enough 5V amps.


Even refurb sesonic Tornado is too low spec AFAIK
asuming I could find one.
  

Re: [H] probably a really dumb question

[Harry McGregor]

You are correct, socket A and Socket 754 are totally different, one is 
using HT, and the other EV6 for it's bus.


If you are looking for a cheap S754 chip, take a look here:

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SDA3000AI02BX-Ncpc=SCH

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SDA2600AI02BXcat=CPU

   Harry

Harvey Best wrote:

Have an Asus K8V-SE motherboard with a bad AMD chip. Also have a system with a 
socket a 1 gig Athlon chip. Model 1131

Will the Socket A work in the Socket 754 Asus board? I am fairly sure it won't 
and am researching now, but the answer here will probably be quicker than my 
research! :)

Thanks, Harvey

_
Helping your favorite cause is as easy as instant messaging. You IM, we give.
http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Home/?source=text_hotmail_join

Re: [H] probably a really dumb question

[Harry McGregor]

What is the exact model Toshiba.

My guess is Toshiba direct, the part is ~$600-700 range.

   Harry

Harvey Best wrote:

Thanks all, I figured as much. My lap top is down with a bad motherboard, at 
least according to the local repair shop, and my desktop (the 754) is down and 
its depressing!

Does any one know if Toshiba will sell parts to an every day joe like me? I 
figured, the system is no good as it is, if a mb is not outrageous I might take 
a shot at replacing it. The shop wants almost 800 for board and install.

Thanks again,

harvey

  

Re: [H] probably a really dumb question

[Harry McGregor]

Harvey Best wrote:

Its a Toshiba Satellite PSM40V-07001.

The shop was saying 500 for part and 250-300 install.
  
That is probably about right.  Based on the specs of the laptop, I don't 
think I would consider putting $500 into it.


Take a look at this laptop: 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115435


And with the price of DDR2, if you keep an eye out, you can put in 4GB 
of 667 for under $50 after rebates.


  Harry


Kinda seems a waste as 800 puts me two thirds of the way to a new one.

Harvey


  

Re: [H] Old Router still works!

[Harry McGregor]

FORC5 wrote:

FWIW my old 314 is alive and well in a friends house.
good solid, no extra feature router.

Still running a FVS318 8 port myself with a spare in the pile along with a 
newer 4 port RP614 someone just gave me who went WIFY

Wish I could goto 1000 base with all the crap on my server. ( image files and 
such) some day. Actually my MB has the NIC, I just need the card and router. :'(
  

Keep the router, add a GigE switch, and as many PCI/PCI-E cards as you need.

That you uplink to the router is 100mbit won't matter at all, as your 
internet connect is well below that.  You will just have 7 unused ports 
on the router (less, if you have 100Mbit devices that you don't mind 
putting behind a single 100Mbit port, such as network printers, etc).


5 Port (4 usable, due to uplink to your router): 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833129012
8 Port (7 usable, due to uplink to your router): 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833129013


I personally like the realtek 8169 (many will call me crazy...) for PCI 
nics:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166004

Two decent PCI-E options (marvel and realtek, I have used the Marvel, 
but it can get twitchy under link from time to time, have not touched 
the Realtek yet):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166015
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166019
  
  Harry

tallyhohoho
fp

At 02:35 PM 2/18/2008, DHSinclair Poked the stick with:
  

Thank you to all who put up with my very many stupid questions!
The old (NAT only) rt-314 router is still alive and well.  After many hours of peeking 
and poking, it is now fully happy and ready for spare work should my current 
router takes a powder.



  

Re: [H] Gateway address?

[Harry McGregor]

DHSinclair wrote:

Is there any difference in performance whether I use my:
a) isp's default gateway address, or,

Well, performance will be zero...

If you have a localnet route (based on IP and subnet address), and you 
give a default gateway that is outside of your localnet, your computer 
won't know how to reach the default gateway.

b) the local LAN address of my local router..

That is the one you have to use

  Harry


in my client's ip config setups?

They are very different, btw.
Just wondering
Best,
Duncan

Re: [H] Truecrypt 5.0 now does system (boot) drive encryption and works with OSX

[Harry McGregor]

IMHO if you care enough about your data to use whole disk encryption, 
you care enough about your data to setup an encrypted backup, such as 
ssh secured dirvish, or Bacula over local network, or even over a vpn.


Even a laptop can be backed up well while on net using Bacula.  We have 
several field laptops that go to tape nightly when on net, and the users 
are instructed to leave the laptops on at night for that purpose.


I am seriously considering setting up True Crypt for all of our laptop 
users, as a government unit, we have significant data loss prevention 
issues.


For a long time I was concerned about data encryption due to the 
inability to get at it if a user loses their password, but I think True 
crypt has some master key options that we can deploy as well.  I have 
been looking over documentation on it quite a bit today.


http://www.dirvish.org/
http://www.bacula.org/en/
   Harry

Brian Weeden wrote:

Hard disk maintenance tools like Spin Rite will work just fine but
you're right, data recovery would be a pain.

Another reason to always backup your data.

On Feb 6, 2008 6:47 PM, j maccraw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

Likely no more than EFS does but would depend on the
type of encryption used.


Ben Ruset wrote:

I wonder how much overhead encrypting the system

partition puts on the

system.

Brian Weeden wrote:

I've been using TrueCrypt for a while to do

encrypted data partitions and

this is very welcome news.  Free, open source, very

strong encryption for

Windows, Linux, and OSX:

http://www.truecrypt.org





 

Never miss a thing.  Make Yahoo your home page.
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

Re: [H] Roaming Access to Printers

[Harry McGregor]

If these are reasonably high end printers, and they can put a dedicated 
computer next to each printer, you could use a pay for print system, 
like www.goprint.com to direct the jobs properly, etc.


   Harry

j maccraw wrote:

So the FollowMe concept would be print to a central
network que but then have 
user authenticate at the local printer which would
then pull the job down  
print it? Had not thought of that!


Seems just as efficient (in this case) to use VBS to
query user for what 
room#? and set default printer to match. This could
easily be modified to do 
the selecting and another script on the same site can

add all the printers needed.

http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/Logon/LogonScript_Printer_Bonus.htm


Robert Martin Jr. wrote:
  

Only way I can think to do this is using bluetooth


for proximity printing, like how the followme feature
works in asterisk and on misterhouse. I'm surprised
there isn't an available open source alternative for
this. (Google doesn't show much)
  

http://www.ringdale.com/FollowMe/






  

Be a better friend, newshound, and 
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.  http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ 

  

Re: [H] Newegg like

[Harry McGregor]

Winterlight wrote:

At 03:15 PM 1/4/2008, you wrote:
If you are paying the use tax as you should for your out-of-state 
purchases does it make much difference?  ;)


http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/faqusetax.htm



What are you kidding me... for a consumer retail purchase. You would 
have hell of a time finding any consumer in this state paying that!


Sometimes you don't have a choice  When I buy stuff for the 
University of Arizona, if the seller does not charge sales tax, the 
University accounting groups are nice enough to add the 5.6% state sales 
tax, and send it off for us :)


   Harry

Re: [H] IP KVM switches

[Harry McGregor]

We are using a Cyclades IP KVM.  I like that the box itself is runing 
linux, I don't like that the management interface requires Active X



   Harry

Thane Sherrington wrote:
Has anyone used a KVM switch that is controllable via TCP/IP?  I have 
a group of 14 computers that are currently controlled by three KVMs 
(two 4 ports, and one 8 port.)  I'd like  to be able to control all of 
them remotely via TCP/IP - but I want the local KVMs to still work - I 
was thinking something like this.




IP KVM  First Local KVM   computers
- Second Local KVM - computers
- Third Local KVM - computers

Is this possible?  I've read a couple of tech sheets that seem to say 
it is doable, but I find that sales material is often misleading.


T

Re: [H] Laptop optical drives

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

Not all, but many maybe even most are standard now.

I tend to pick them up from centrix-intl.com


   Harry


Thane Sherrington wrote:
Are all laptop optical drives interchangable?  I know they have 
different plastic bezels, but if can I move the drive itself from one 
bezel to another?


T

Re: [H] MAC to PC

[Harry McGregor]

Winterlight wrote:
 I am giving a modern P4 Compaq computer to a friend of mine who still
 uses a 10 year old Apple MAC.
Need to know exactly which 10 year old mac, and what version of MacOS it
is running

Click on the apple, go to about this Macintosh.

Some 10 year old apples could have USB 1.x on them even.

Is it beige or fruity colored?

What model does it say on the front?

 Her computer has no internet access, no network card. All her data is
 in Word files, and when her version of Word loads on her MAC it says
 Word for Windows. Can I copy the Word files to a regular Windows
 floppy from the MAC, and move them that way... or do PCs, and Apples
 use a different floppy FAT? If I can't move them that way .. then how?
 Thanks

Most versions of MacOS (7.1 and higher) can read/write PC formated
1.44MB floppies.

Format the floppies on the PC though.

 Harry

Re: [H] MAC to PC

[Harry McGregor]

Winterlight wrote:

 Need to know exactly which 10 year old mac, and what version of MacOS it
 is running

 I called and got the model number Power PC Macintosh Performa
 6400/200. The OS will have to wait until I can be there.
That model would have to be at least OS 7.5, as that was the first
version to support Power PC processors.


 Some 10 year old apples could have USB 1.x on them even.

 no I checked for that ... unfortunately not



 Is it beige or fruity colored?

 beige



 What model does it say on the front?


 Power PC
 macintosh Performa
 6400//200

 exactly like that


* introduced 1996.10.23, discontinued 1997.05.01
* requires System 7.5.3 through 9.1
* CPU: 180 MHz or 200 MHz PPC 603e
* bus: 40 MHz
* performance: XXX (relative to SE)
* ROM: 4 MB
* RAM: 16 MB, expandable to 136 MB using two DIMMs
* VRAM: 1 MB, supports thousands of colors up to 800 x 600, 256
  colors up to 1024x764
* L2 cache: optional on 180 MHz, 256 KB on 200 MHz
* hard drive: IDE, 1.6 GB on 180 MHz, 2.4 GB on 200 MHz
* CD-ROM: 8x
* mic: standard 3.5mm minijack, compatible with line-level input
  including Apple's PlainTalk microphone
* ADB port for keyboard and mouse
* DIN-8 GeoPorts on back of computer
* DB-25 SCSI connector on back of computer
* Comm II slot, occupied by 28.8 kbps modem (may be a GeoPort modem
  or a real modem)
* video input slot (accepts TV/FM card)
* video out port
* two PCI slots: top slot may accept a 12 card, but bottom slot
  will only handle a 7 card


http://www.zone6400.com/index.html might be more help too :)

You can even add a USB card if you wish

http://www.zone6400.com/files/firewire_USB.html

 Most versions of MacOS (7.1 and higher) can read/write PC formated
 1.44MB floppies.

 well that will make it easy. Will Word for windows on the PC read the
 word files she has on the Performa?

Word should be able to open them or convert them without much of an issue.


   Harry

 thanks for the help!

Re: [H] Need some Linux help

[Harry McGregor]

Hi Brian,

Try editing your grub menu and telling it to boot only to a bash prompt,
with init=/bin/bash at the end of the line

Then run mount to see what you have for drives, whatever is your root
fs (/)

do: mount -o remount,rw /dev/hdaX /

Then edit your files in /etc to fix your typo

then: mount -o remount,ro /dev/hdaX /

sync
sync

ctrl-alt-del


  Harry



Brian Weeden wrote:
 I am in Vancouver right now and headed to Beijing tomorrow and my
 laptop just crapped out on me.  I was dual booting XP and Ubuntu
 (Fiesty) using Ubuntu about 99% of the time.

 I was working and it locked up so I rebooted.  It got 1 bar into the
 Ubuntu load screen and then gave me the error:

 /etc/init.d/rc exited outside the expected code flow

 I had recently made some changes to my init.d to remove some automatic
 drive mappings that no longer worked since I wasn't on my home network
 and probably made a typo.  But I can't seem to be able to fix the
 file.  I tried booting into the recovery console but it crashed and
 gave me the same error.  Window's won't recognize the ext paritition.

 Of course, I totally forgot to bring my original Fiesty Live CD with
 me.  I think my only option is to download a new Live CD, boot from
 that and try and fix the file.  Suggestions?

Re: [H] Need some Linux help

[Harry McGregor]

Brian Weeden wrote:
 Wow - that seems like a lot for a linux noob like me.
:)

 So if I hit c at the grub menu I get a limited bash shell.  How do I
 edit the grub menu from there?
Instead of c do e for edit, and then e for edit on the kernel
line, and then b for boot after you are done.

Harry


 Also, what is the run command for the text editor in the shell?  I was
 using gedit before and I assume that won't work.

Re: [H] Source for socket A XP3200 ?

[Harry McGregor]

Do your boards use DDR memory (any speed)?

For the price you will pay for the XP3200, you might be better off with
a cheap S939 or S754 board/chip combo.  The Sempron S754 should beat an
XP3200+ nicely, and the Opteron 146 should wipe the floor with it.  All
of these sets are retail chips.

Both chips can work with almost any DDR memory, including PC2100.  The
S754 set at $80/pop is only $40 more than what you were paying for three
Socket A chips.

S754 (really cheap onboard video and AGP): Under $80/set including s/h
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130058
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819104241

S939 (cheap onboard video and PCI-Express): Under $125/set including s/h
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131069
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103598


   Harry


Hunter, Gary wrote:
  
 Hi,

 I'm trying to do a cheap upgrade on 3 PC's all AMD socket A. I tried
 ebay and bought 3 dead CPU's from a scam artist (currently going through
 a paypal claim to get back my $200). So know I'm sending this out to
 people I know I can trust. Does anyone have any XP3200 they can sell to
 me? Or does anyone know of a reliable place to get 3 of them at a
 reasonable price?

 Thanks

 Gary
   

Re: [H] -N- MicroITX.. sweet

[Harry McGregor]

CW wrote:
 Sweet.  I don't know how this supports data storage, but this concept ROCKS.  
 Anymore I find almost all I give a crap about is email/web/office apps, and 
 super fast doesn't mean squat.. but size is something that intrigues me.

 http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=40132

 A PC board smaller then a 1 dollar bill?  Sweet.  Get me something like this 
 with pen-drive boot capability and we're set.

   
Better photos here:

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS2010384636.html

and here (with Video as well):

http://www.epiacenter.com/modules.php?name=Newsfile=articlesid=1108

 A different look with connectors:

 http://www.epiacenter.com/pictures/news/2007/computex2007/via_booth/100_0761.JPG

   
That is Nano-ITX which is already available.

The cool one to replace it will be PicoITX.

http://www.mini-itx.com/reviews/pico-itx/
 Smaller the better!  :)
   


   Harry

Re: [H] Evil or....

[Harry McGregor]

Hayes Elkins wrote:
 Low sulfur diesel is available right now. What you are probably
 thinking of is the blue-tec line of diesel engine cars coming out in
 model year 08. Mercedes Benz 220 and VW Jetta, to name a few. What's
 great about these engines is more horsepower and torque per liter yet
 BETTER fuel economy - the new Jetta will be rated around 45mpg under
 the new EPA measuring guidelines which are much more rigid and
 realistic. Needless to say, Hybrid manufacturers are shitting
 themselves over the new measurments. A 35mpg highway rating for a
 Prius doesn't sound so attractive anymore.

My real world Prius mileage, even with some very short trips (my office
is 2.5 miles from my house) has been in the 44MPG range over the last
36,000 miles.

Our new Prius (2007) is getting around 40 MPG, but it's not quite broken
in yet (3000 miles).

The EPA ratings have been a joke for a very long time, but at that, find
me a non-hybrid, non-diesel, that can fit 4 people for a long trip, and
can deal with a family of 3 nicely (we are now a family of 3,
http://hh.zqc.com).

Everyone that pushes the EPA rating issue really does not understand the
car.

Would I consider a clean diesel, of course, would I love a toyota hybrid
diesel minivan in about 3 years, of course.  Heck I would probably be
willing to pay north of $40K for it.


Harry


 As far as why diesels for consumers are so rare, you can thank the
 antiquated hippy laws in states like California that perhaps at one
 point were noble due to diesel fuel being more polluting back in the
 1970s. Newsflash moonbeams, it's now 2007 and standard diesel has come
 a LONG way as far as emissions, easily negating the need for these
 consumer bans. Biodiesel in fact is more clean burning than gas for
 every type of emission save for smog, it is nearly a carbon neutral fuel.

Re: [H] I think I found the solution to my HTPC storage problem

[Harry McGregor]

As far as commercial off the shelf SAN devices go, the Apple SANs are by
far some of the cheapest.

They were not quite cheap enough for us, so we built our own storage
servers.

3U supermicro server chassis
15 hot swap sata drives (750GB, of course)
Cheap HighPoint raid card (not using the raid on it)
Dual Opteron (low end)
4GB ECC registered memory
Xen virtual machines

Debian Linux installed on a RAID1 of 4GB CF cards in CF to IDE
converters.  Storage is software Raid6 with a hot spare.


Eored:~# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [raid1] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4]
md1 : active raid6 sda1[0] sdo1[14](S) sdn1[13] sdm1[12] sdl1[11]
sdk1[10] sdj1[9] sdi1[8] sdh1[7] sdg1[6] sdf1[5] sde1[4] sdd1[3] sdc1[2]
sdb1[1]
  8790862848 blocks level 6, 64k chunk, algorithm 2 [14/14]
[UU]

md0 : active raid1 hdc1[0] hda1[1]
  3995584 blocks [2/2] [UU]

unused devices: none

Eored:~# fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 750.1 GB, 750156374016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 91201 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot  Start End  Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   1   91201   732572001   fd  Linux raid
autodetect

Disk /dev/hda: 4098 MB, 4098834432 bytes
128 heads, 63 sectors/track, 992 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 8064 * 512 = 4128768 bytes

   Device Boot  Start End  Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *   1 991 3995680+  fd  Linux raid
autodetect

Eored:~# hdparm -tT /dev/md0

/dev/md0:
 Timing cached reads:   1730 MB in  2.00 seconds = 865.26 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:   14 MB in  3.00 seconds =   4.67 MB/sec

Eored:~# hdparm -tT /dev/md1

/dev/md1:
 Timing cached reads:   1986 MB in  2.00 seconds = 993.34 MB/sec
 Timing buffered disk reads:  548 MB in  3.00 seconds = 182.53 MB/sec

Eored:~# pvdisplay
  --- Physical volume ---
  PV Name   /dev/md1
  VG Name   pool
  PV Size   8.19 TB / not usable 0
  Allocatable   yes
  PE Size (KByte)   4096
  Total PE  2146206
  Free PE   208586
  Allocated PE  1937620


 Harry


Neil Davidson wrote:
 That's a lot of DVDs.

 I have about 600 disks (a lot from TV series box sets etc.) and even at
 ~8gig each (I doubt the average would be that high to be honest) gives you
 around the 4.5TB mark.

 And of course if you have 12 drives you would have them all as one large
 RAID-1 now would you :)

   
 12 x 750 = More TBs that you can shake a stick at
 

 Or less than 7TB if you factor in 2x 6-drive RAID-5 arrays, and each drive
 only having about 700gig (counting as 1024 instead of 1000). Then there is
 RAID and file system overhead after that too :)

 1TB drives look more appealing all the time...

 -Original Message-
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Brian Weeden
 Sent: 23 February 2007 00:10
 To: The Hardware List
 Subject: Re: [H] I think I found the solution to my HTPC storage problem

 On 2/22/07, Jin-Wei Tioh [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
   
 12 x 750 = More TBs that you can shake a stick at

 

 I calculate that I need about 8 TB if I want to store my entire DVD
 collection in vob format plus all the other stuff.

   

Re: [H] Open Office for OSX question

[Harry McGregor]

Grab NeoOffice, it's Aqua native.


   Harry

Brian Weeden wrote:

I am new to OO and just installed it on a MacBook today.  I followed
the instructions to install X11 off the setup CD first.  It seems that
OO runs just fine but I have a couple questions.

1) When it launches it opens a terminal window in addition to the OO
window.  Is that normal?

2) How do I access the different apps in the suite?  When I open OO it
defaults to the Write program.

Re: [H] How to figure out RAM

[Harry McGregor]

Not quite, you can have unbuffered ECC.

Modern ECC can be done with Parity memory and a proper memory controller.

I use Unbuffered ECC (Kingston) in a lot of my A64 workstation builds,
as it's not much more expensive than non-ECC and it helps with even more
system and data integrity.

Most servers (ie opterons, etc) use registered (buffered) ECC, which not
only needs the parity bits, but needs a buffer chip.

ECC will have either 9 or 18 Memory chips (it's possible to do it with
5, 4 identical, and one odd ball, but I have not seen it done recently)
non-ECC will have 4, 8 or 16 Memory chips
Registered ECC will be the same as ECC, but also have one or two
non-memory buffer chips on it.


   Harry


Winterlight wrote:
 At 01:37 PM 1/10/2007, you wrote:
 I've got 2 GB of RAM here.  I know the 4 modules are Apacer 512 MB
 UNB PC2700 CL2.5, so that's unbuffered.

 ECC is buffered  isn't it? that is how the error checking works,
 by buffering it in the extra chip and checking the code.



  But is it ECC or not?  The chips are Infineon HYb25D256809BT-6.

 I've been googling around for the better part of an hour with nothing
 much yet.   Anyone know a good source for IDing memory sticks?  I
 remember finding such a site once but I cannot remember it now.

Re: [H] PATA (and maybe SATA) to USB and/or Firewire connector...

[Harry McGregor]

Bobby Heid wrote:


Hey,

It seems like I am always having to hook up someone's HD to my system 
to image it or pull data off of it.  I am tired of opening my case up, 
disconnecting one of my drives, and hooking theirs up.


What I am looking for is some type of PATA/SATA to USB converter that 
does not have a case or anything like that.  I just want to hook up 
the drive temporarily.  Can any one recommend a good connector?




NewEgg is currently out of stock, but I really liked this adapter:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812119018

Harry


Thanks,
Bobby

Re: [H] dell PSU ?

[Harry McGregor]

These guys tend to have Dell OEM replacement parts:

http://www.centrix-intl.com/

   Harry


Wayne Johnson wrote:
 At 03:00 PM 12/19/2006, Tim Lider typed:
 Take a look at this place.
 http://www.pcpower.com/products/power_supplies/selector/dell.htm

 Thanks for the URL as I'll have to file this one.


  ---+--
 I'm a geek that loves to tweak.

Re: [H] Most powerful CPU for socket 754?

[Harry McGregor]

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

No, the Opteron at default speed will be slower then the 3700+

  
Dual Core 2.0GHz with dual channel memory vs single core 2.4GHz with 
single channel memory?



There is only 5%-10% difference between non-sempron s754 and s939 CPUs at the 
same clock speed. The only difference is the dual memory controller (and in 
some cases, cache).

Still, the 939 route maybe better.if your willing to overclock, the 
Opterons clock well, plus there is an upgrade route to dual-core, although its 
anyones guess how long the s939 CPUs will be around now, people are already 
finding it hard to source them =/

  

The processor listed (Opteron 170) is a dual core.

Going 939 Opteron permits keeping the $100 worth of memory, and making 
it dual channel.,


The guy is already stuck in the boat of a board that can't really be 
upgraded due to the amount of time .


Why not go with a throw away upgrade, instead of moving to AM2 with 
DDR2 memory, just to wind up in the same position again.



 Harry



Regards,

Jason Tozer
Database Analyst
London
Ext 1131 - 3SC.5


-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Veech
Sent: 07 December 2006 22:19
To: The Hardware List
Subject: Re: [H] Most powerful CPU for socket 754?


yep the Gigabyte tech confirmed 3700+ is the max.  ~$260 is ok, will the 
Opteron 2.0 plus the Asus A8N-VM CSM Socket 939 board be considerably faster 
than the 3700+ dropped into the current Gigabyte board?



- Original Message - 
From: Harry McGregor [EMAIL PROTECTED]

To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com
Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 1:40 PM
Subject: Re: [H] Most powerful CPU for socket 754?


  

With an upgraded bios, it can go up to a 3700+ single core.

For under $250, you might want to look at this setup:
Keep the memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103586
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131570

(it is a tad over the $250 budget, ~$260)

If it must be under $250:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103588
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131570

Or the really cheap AM2 upgrade in bits (does not get you much speed,
but does the platform shift, and you can buy the new X2 cpu in a few
months):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813130065
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145568
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103032

 Harry

Re: [H] Most powerful CPU for socket 754?

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

The Cheapest upgrade would be an A64 3000+ OEM:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103605



While I like the idea of adding memory, it is not worth it on this
board, no reason to by PC3200 right now.

If a memory upgrade is needed, go with an AM2 board/chip/memory set, and
move this board/chip/memory to another system.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103733
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130065
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145098

   Harry

Greg Sevart wrote:
 Upping the RAM would help, too...

 Greg

   
 -Original Message-
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:hardware-
 [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Winterlight
 Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 1:12 PM
 To: The Hardware List
 Subject: Re: [H] Most powerful CPU for socket 754?


 Do a Gigabyte BIOS update to the latest version, and then install the
 fastest  AMD processor the board will support.  If necessary, look on
 Ebay for legacy processors. A CPU upgrade will accomplish want you
 want, and be the most bang for the buck.

 At 10:40 AM 12/7/2006, you wrote:
 
 I want to help a friend upgrade his system, he has a Gigabyte K8
 Triton GA-K8VM800M board running a Sempron 2800, and 2 x 512s of RAM.

 What is the fastest CPU that will work in this config, and will it
 significantly increase performance over the 2800?  Not a gaming
 machine, mostly audio editing and file conversion.

 thanks all..

 Veech
   



   

Re: [H] Most powerful CPU for socket 754?

[Harry McGregor]

With an upgraded bios, it can go up to a 3700+ single core.

For under $250, you might want to look at this setup:
Keep the memory

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103586
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131570

(it is a tad over the $250 budget, ~$260)

If it must be under $250:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103588
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131570

Or the really cheap AM2 upgrade in bits (does not get you much speed,
but does the platform shift, and you can buy the new X2 cpu in a few
months):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813130065
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145568
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103032

  Harry



Veech wrote:
 Thanks, I wish we could afford the AM2 upgrade but my budget is about
 $250.

 Will the A64 3000+ be significantly faster than Sempron 2800?

 Anyone know with the BIOS upgrade what the fastest proc is this board
 will support?

 - Original Message - From: Harry McGregor [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 To: The Hardware List hardware@hardwaregroup.com
 Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 11:40 AM
 Subject: Re: [H] Most powerful CPU for socket 754?


 Hi,

 The Cheapest upgrade would be an A64 3000+ OEM:

 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103605



 While I like the idea of adding memory, it is not worth it on this
 board, no reason to by PC3200 right now.

 If a memory upgrade is needed, go with an AM2 board/chip/memory set, and
 move this board/chip/memory to another system.

 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103733
 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130065
 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145098

   Harry

Re: [H] upgrade suggestion for a friend

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

This board is Socket 754, and can't do Dual Core (maybe a mobile dual
core, but I doubt the bios would like it).

You can either go S939 or AM2, 939 he can keep his 1GB of current
memory, AM2 he would need new memory.

Does he currently have a video card, or is he using the onboard video. 
Would he want a second system, or reuse as many parts as possible.

Here is what I would go with for the reuse as much as possible:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131570 (motherboard)

Any S939 X2 you want, NewEgg is short on them (moving to AM2), but this
might work for you:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103545

This would keep the current memory, and only replace the board and chip.

If you want board/chip/ram, it will add $150-300 to the cost (1GB or 2GB
memory), everything else being equal.

Harry

Veech wrote:
 A friend of mine has a Sempron 2800 on a Gigabyte K8 Triton
 GA-K8VM800M with 2 x 512MB sticks of generic RAM.
  
 He is looking to upgrade, and would like dual processor muscle.  Can
 this mobo support dual-proc?  If not, what CPU/Board/RAM config would
 give great bang for the buck for a dual processing upgrade?
  
 thanks,
  
 Veech
  
  

Re: [H] -OT- anyone with spare SCA drives ?

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

What size are you looking for?  1 or 1.6, how many GB, and does it 
have to be LVD or can it be SE?


   Harry

CW wrote:


Ok, I rarely do this but:

I have a non-for-profit that has a bit of a disaster.  They have a server 
that's crippled at the moment that stores all of their data.  While I'm 
debating just running out and switching everything overr to a new box and 
donating a box to them, I figured I'd check and see if anyone here had any SCA  
(LVD) HDDs you'd like to spare or barter with.  Outside of being paid what they 
are worth, we can probably get you a non-for-profit donation letter if you have 
a few to spare.

Hey, it's a good cause :0

(and for those who are throwing out just go get SATA this is a Compaq server, 
and the beauty is: no IDE controller at all, as well as the fact it still boots to SCSI, 
so pututing in a SATA controller is a mixed bag; some concern as to whether or not that's 
going to scramble up drive order, be functional, etc.  )

:)

Thanks!
 

Re: [H] XP Pro/Home shared printer...

[Harry McGregor]

Options:

Enable the guest account on the XP Pro box

Set perms on the printer to give Everyone access to it.

  
   Harry


Bobby Heid wrote:


Hey all,

I have an XP Pro box with a shared printer on it.

I can install the printer on the Home boxes in which it requires a
logon/password.  So I give it the administrator login and pw.  I can then
print to the printer form the Home box.  But, if I reboot the Home machines,
they can no longer print to the printer.

What am I doing wrong?  Any advice?

Thanks,
Bobby


 

Re: [H] mem question

[Harry McGregor]

Hi Duncan,

EDO dimms came in two versions, both 168Pin.  You could have 3/3.3 volt, 
and 5 volt EDO dimms.


Finding EDO dimms over 64MB can be hard, and over 128 MB without being 
registered ECC (both must be supported by the chipset).  Most chipsets 
of that time could only address 64mbit chips, which resulted in a 64MB 8 
chip dimm or 128MB 16 chip dimm.


What chipset is on the board, and how many slots?  Does it have both 
72pin simm slots, and one or two dimm slots?


 Harry


dhs wrote:


OK so I have a really old machine.  I'd like to think that it might be PC66 
but now I'm not
so sure. It is EDO ram. NOT SDRAM.

Got some new DIMMS today, but they do not fit.  They were/are SDRAM.  At least they are 
based on where the notches in the DIMM(s) are.  Have RMA needs and is in process (tomorrow).

They were EDO by chip specs, though.

Does anyone have pointers/links to when/what the JIDEC specs are for DIMMS?  Looking for 
the spacing of the locating notches and/or socket specs for the 168-pin pwbas.


I've forgotten way too much.  I apologize.  Just want to get a very OLD dinosaur to run 
W2K/SP4 @512MB, which mpc.com tells me is possible.


I need to retire from this hobby.. One day maybe!
Thanks,
Duncan




This email scanned for Viruses and Spam by ZCloud.net 

 

Re: [H] dumb newb linux questions

[Harry McGregor]

RLS wrote:


Just did my first Linux based install using Unbuntu. It is pretty graphical
and I am surprised by all of the native applications types available from
the get go.

Question 1
I installed the 64 bit version. Can I install Linux64 bit drivers for the
motherboard, netcard etc? 
 

Drivers in the windows sense don't really exist much for Linux.  Most 
hardware is natively supported by the kernel.  Any hardware maker that 
intends to have full linux support must get their drivers into the 
mainline kernel or else they will be playing a game of catchup with 
every kernel release.  The kernel development team does not care for, or 
take the time to test, with 3rd party drivers.


All of the drivers install by the unbuntu install are already the 64 bit 
versions, as you are running a 64 bit kernel.


If any hardware is not detected or working, post it to the list, and we 
can see what is going on with it.



Question 2
Besides the desire to game, why wouldn't a typical home user want a linux
based system? Heck all of the apps seem free, its graphical, even supports
my camera out of the box. I mean for just word processing, surfing the
internet and looking at pics and playing some mp3's is there a valid reason
for them 'wanting' Windows?

 

Some distros (Debian for example) don't ship with MP3 codecs, as they 
would have to pay very large licensing costs to then distrubute it for 
free.  I don't know if unbuntu ships with MP3 codecs or not, but they 
are easy to ad via an external apt source.


Typical power user will have issues with a linux desktop, as all of the 
neat tricks they learned under windows may or may not apply.  Your 
average user does great, as long as they don't admin the system 
(changing hardware can be a little tricky at time, adding devices can be 
hit or miss if you don't know what you are doing, etc).


Your average managed desktop in a corporate or educational environment 
can do great with Linux.  Linux is admin friendly or expert friendly, 
it's also user friendly, it's not idiot user who thinks they can admin a 
system friendly.


The biggest road block is Windows only intranet (not internet, but local 
intranet) applications, and Windows only custom applications for 
industry specific use.  The more of those that move to a Web 2.0 model 
using Linux server appliances, the better.



So far the only thing that has me off a step is getting comfortable with the
way the file management system presents itself.
 


Basically, as a user, all you care about is /home/$user

   Harry


Thanks,Bob

 

Re: [H] dumb newb linux questions

[Harry McGregor]

Rick Glazier wrote:
 How about QuickBooks?
 That is not Linux...  (But some Macs...)

It's not free, but Crossover Linux and Crossover Mac (Intel), should
support Quickbooks, but you would want to try it first.

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxoffice/

  Harry

Rick Glazier

 From: Thane Sherrington
 clipped   As for proprietary business software, we don't see a lot of
 that around here anymore.  Most people are using specialized
 spreadsheets and that's about it.

Re: [H] Video problem on XP reinstall.

[Harry McGregor]

Hi,

If she and you both have a high speed internet connection, I would
recommend using a install less VNC server setup, and having her connect
back to a listening client.

http://sc.uvnc.com/

I have set this up for users here at my office, they download it, and it
connects back to a terminal server.  You can fix many many things with
it, etc.

I have had very bad luck with the nvidia drivers via Windows Update, but
I have done well downloading them direct from Nvidia.

Harry


nobozoz wrote:
 She paid for a new HDD and XP installed and that's what they did. She
 doesn't have the knowledge, money or time to play their nickel dime games.
 She's a working student - broke and getting further behind in class with
 every wasted hour.

 _j

 -Original Message-
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of FORC5
 Sent: Monday, October 09, 2006 11:57 AM
 To: The Hardware List
 Subject: Re: [H] Video problem on XP reinstall.


 doesn't the local geek shop guaranty their work ?

 fp

 At 11:52 AM 10/9/2006, nobozoz Poked the stick with:
   
 My sister (3000 mile away in Orlando, FL) had a HD crash on a Dell
 Dimension, WINXP system with NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 video (I think she
 
 said).
   
 Anyway, she took it to a local geekshop and they put in a new HDD and
 reinstalled WINXP Pro (SP1)- that's it. When she got home and fired up the
 system, she can only get 640x480x4 screenres. The Device Mangler reports
 
 the
   
 correct video card, Nvidia drivers appear to be installed and functioning
 
 OK
   
 and the LCD monitor is correctly identified. When she goes into
 DisplayProperties_Settings_Advanced_Adapter[TAB]_LiatAllModes, she can
 select higher pixel resolutions and color depths, but Windows refuses to
 accept them and reverts back to default settings.

 Sis isn't very hardware savvy, but I think she can the Windows morass or
 even install Nvidia drivers if well-coached.

 Is there a simple fix for this problem without installing drivers?

 If a driver reinstall is needed, are the current 91.47 WHQL drivers the
 right ones for her?

 I'm going to have to help her over the phone - won't get back to Orlando
 until Dec.

 _jim
 

 --
 Tallyho ! ]:8)
 Taglines below !
 --
 You have been selected for a secret mission.


   

Re: [H] External HDD recommendations

[Harry McGregor]

I disagree with this...

I tend to like the no-fan external HD setups, as long as they are a 
direct contact aluminum case.  I have over a half dozen deployed without 
issues, including one attached to a co-loed server to data backups 
(remote backups to the drive from outside the co-lo).  64F in the room, 
and the hard disk is running just fine.


I have used these ones mostly (and the FW version) 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817146306


I look at it this way, it might not be quite as good at cooling as one 
with a working fan, but it's far better than one with a dead fan.  Most 
of the ones with fans use tiny 40mm fans that die quickly around here 
(very dry in Tucson Az).  I would rather deal with a slight cooling 
issue the entire life of the drive instead of a major cooling issue 
after 6 months or so.


  Harry

Anthony Q. Martin wrote:

Yeah, if you intend to leave them on 24/7.  If you only have it on 
during use, no fan can work.


j maccraw wrote:


No fan is bad idea in the long run.

W. D. wrote:
 


I've got 2 of these:




http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=312100
 
  

Re: [H] USB to Parallel for dongles

[Harry McGregor]

We tried a belkin port replicator USB to LPT setup, and it failed.  We 
could not get our esri keys to work with it.


Wound up trading in our keys for USB keys.

Which software is it?  Generally you can contact the vendor, and work 
out an exchange for the USB version of the hardware key.  We have done 
it with both ESRI and ERDAS Imagine.


   Harry

Ben Ruset wrote:


This would probably work.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1224926CatId=471 



A lot of the other things I have seen are USB to parallel CABLES - 
meaning that you don't get a port but you plug the cable directly to 
the printer.


Thane Sherrington wrote:

Has anyone seen a USB to Parallel adapter that will give an LPT port 
with a memory address to Windows (preferable 378) so that one can 
connect a dongle to it for software copy protection?


T

Re: [H] USB to Parallel for dongles

[Harry McGregor]

Thane Sherrington wrote:


At 01:18 PM 08/09/2006, Harry McGregor wrote:

We tried a belkin port replicator USB to LPT setup, and it failed.  
We could not get our esri keys to work with it.


Wound up trading in our keys for USB keys.

Which software is it?  Generally you can contact the vendor, and work 
out an exchange for the USB version of the hardware key.  We have 
done it with both ESRI and ERDAS Imagine.



I can't imagine it working in this case either, but the vendor isn't 
going to support USB (go figure) so the customer is stuck


Who is the vendor?  They might support usb and not even know it, as the 
keys are not normally made by the vendor.


 Harry


T

Re: [H] machine update plans

[Harry McGregor]

dhs wrote:

  Thane, Richard, Chris, Greg, Anthony, Harry, et. al.

Thanks for all your discussion.  Yes, confirmed "flash drive" with nephew. It appears that 
the current W98SE is not dealing with the current flash drive.  I suspect that this 
machines OS has not been kept up to date (patches, etc.) so I'm not surprised.
  

Windows 98SE needs a driver for the USB storage devices, many drives do
not ship with them any more, as 98SE has been EOLed.

You should be able to download, and install the drivers. Even if the
maker of the specific flash drive does not have a driver,a google
search can often turn up a compatible driver.

  
I'll start pricing 80GB and 100GB drives in any case.
  


80-160GB drive is what I would look at, a lot of times the steps are
really close in price.


  
As to chosen OS and office suite, this machine is a family machine in the home.  I do 
not believe it will relocate to a dorm room.  Maybe in the future, but not at present.
My Sister and younger Nephew (high school sophomore) use this machine also.  

I'm sure that Sis would be somewhat negative to an office suite other than MS because 
she volunteers as a mid-mgr for the Boy Scouts and does church work too. 
She is lightly pc-literate but not a techie for sure.  
Younger Nephew is the one who, at this time, "knows everything pc related." 
And he's only 16. LOL!  I don't dispute this possibility, but his Father and I have 
already spent hours "fixing" some of his downloads and machine tweaks!

I spoke with oldest Nephew about office suites and get the impression that he is 
still clueless as to what his college requirements are.  I just started with a choice 
that I believe offers a wide baseline for all 3 of the machine's users. Father will 
most likely use this machine also, but, as it will not do MS-DOS, his use may be 
limited. Father is W98SE-centric!

In my queries yesterday, I get a strong indication that all 3 users do not care for IE. 
I may reccommend FireFox as an alternative, even though I believe all 3 will wish to 
stay with Netscape.  I get the sense that they know change of some sort is now 
required, but that it be as limited as possible.  Hardware and software is fairly 
black and white for me.  The human integration to same will be tough.
  

Netscape is a little bit off of the mozilla development cycle right now
(slow). I would suggest firefox and thunderbird.

  
Understand the "domain" comment toward XPPro sort of.  Had not considered Media 
Center because I do not think any of the 3 will be heavy into things video. Have I 
missed something here?  I just thought XPPro had the widest feature set for the Nephew's 
college work, other Nephew's high school work, and Mom's volunteer stuff.
  

Media center gives you some of the abilities of XP Pro, but is
cheaper. I might even go with XP Home in this case, but file system
security levels are quite limited in XP Home.

  
Am I correct that Office Pro includes Access, and Office non-Pro does NOT include Access?
But other than this, Office non-Pro still includes Work, Excel, PowerPoint.  Silly question, I 
suppose, I can search this out myself. :)

  

Well, if you are going OEM you have a lot of choices:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/editions/howtobuy/compare.mspx

Basic: Word/Excel/Outlook
SBE: Word/Excel/Outlook/PowerPoint/Publisher
Pro: Word/Excel/Outlook/PowerPoint/Publisher/Access

NewEgg prices:
Basic: $165
SBE: $240
Pro: $308

Student and Teacher Retail: Word/Excel/Outlook/PowerPoint
NewEgg: $135

You may have to prove that you are buying this for a student, and the
use of the software for anything buisness or corporate related may
invalidate the license.


  I'd like to install XP with an admin desktop and 3 non-admin user desktops. This may not fly 
because younger Nephew likes to surf and download stuff. Hmm. More human engineering!
LOL!

I was questioned about web browsers. I do detect a less than warm feeling about the 
default IE browser.  I will reccommend FireFox, but I suspect the family will wish to stay 
with their Netscape browser.  This will be the most contenscious issue I suspect.

Thanks for all your comments and discussion. I had no idea there were such stong feelings 
about office suites.  For the record, for the 33 years I did with Xerox, I was required to use 
any/all MS office suites from my start with CPM up thru WinNT4. Yes, it was due to 
corporate support agreements with MS, but all office suites were taught on company time 
and my proficiency wth the big4 of office was expected to be maintained.  I was in an 
engineering dicipline and I did spend a 10 year stint producing service literature. Our 
external type-setting/printing vendor preferred MS also, but was fluent in most other 
office suites of the time.  As it has been ~40 years since I was in higher education, I freely 
admit being clueless to what/how higher education is dealing with the explosion of the pc.
I do not feel like I am a MS toady, but I am most 

Re: [H] machine update plans

[Harry McGregor]

Anthony Q. Martin wrote:




Greg Sevart wrote:

 If the University isn't using Open Office already, then it's time 
they start (or look at another, more forward thinking, university.)  
Most of the universities around here are standardizing on Open 
Office (and I'm in Canada, which is about five years behind the US.)




Are you seriously advocating that a university's document processing 
software is valid decision criteria for selection of a school to 
obtain a degree? There are about 14,000 other criteria sets that are 
far more important than something so minor as that.



I had this same thought.


It's not the choice of document processing software, it's the concepts 
behind it.  If the University is so closed minded that they will only 
deal with MS formats, you are going to find that they are close minded 
in other areas both technical and administrative, such as newer 
programming languages (ie Java only at U of A here), etc.


The Architecture program at U of A just mandated at all incoming 
students have a laptop that is so overkill it's not even funny.   They 
tried to say that it was to protect the investment and make it last the 
4-5 year program.  The average student in the program would be better 
off with two laptop purchases over the course of the degree.


They speced an Intel Core Duo 2500, 2GB memory, 80GB 7200 RPM drive, ATI 
x1400 or better, 15 screen or better (though they did not say to go for 
the high resolution screen, which will suck for the students that 
cheaped out on that), etc.


I wound up specing a MacBook Pro for a client that needed this, as it 
was available in town quickly.  Then I installed XP Pro on it as a dual 
boot.  The students were worried that if they did not have the laptop 
when they walked in for orientation, that they would get kicked out of 
the program.



   Harry



 Harry