Recent Posts

1726

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder.com New Server Migration Coming Soon

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 13, 2010, 09:59 AM »

What a bummer - good luck later on in the week! 

1727

Official Announcements / Re: DonationCoder.com New Server Migration Coming Today (sunday 12/12/10)

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 12, 2010, 06:59 AM »

Good luck (or has it already happened - in which case well done!)

1728

Living Room / Re: WikiLeaks: Important petition for all Australians and supporters of free speech

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 11, 2010, 07:19 PM »

If you value freedom of speech and information - and want to make politicians truly accountable sign this petition ...

http://www.avaaz.org...857353992&v=7749

1729

Living Room / Re: Need Help Finding a Domain Name

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 11, 2010, 11:14 AM »

  - I must admit I was tempted to grab it myself! Maybe Renegade should get the .com and I'll get the .co.uk and we can cross reference!

1730

Living Room / Re: Need Help Finding a Domain Name

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 11, 2010, 07:14 AM »

goodgriefwtf.com

1731

Living Room / Re: Need Help Finding a Domain Name

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 11, 2010, 07:13 AM »

morewaffle.com 

1732

Living Room / Re: WikiLeaks: Important petition for all Australians and supporters of free speech

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 11, 2010, 06:24 AM »

Rock on Renegade - couldn't agree more.

The WikiLeaks website has been effectively put of of business to the relief of governments around the world - which shows just how terrified they are of true accountability. By the way they are using precisely the tactics used by protesters against corporations trying to suppress WikiLeaks. It is strange when these tactics are used against freedom of speech it is apparently a good thing but when protesters use precisely the same tactics (namely DDOS) against the people trying to block freedoms they are branded as cyber terrorists and the lawyers start crawling out of the sewers.

The great thing is that despite WikiLeaks website being permanently denied access to the majority of people (esp. in the UK where are freedoms are more like communist China these days) there are dozens of mirror sites and the number is growing all the time.

If anyone wants to see a list of mirrors and see what is being published to judge for yourself go to http://wikileaks.ser...ius.net/mirrors.html

1733

Living Room / Re: Connections problem has me stumped ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 07, 2010, 07:07 PM »

Web pages still load and other files will download - just the one stalled fie remains stalled.

No IPv6 in the network.

I didn't reset TCP/IP just Winsock - I'll give it a go.

Thanks guys for all the feedback - much appreciated.

1734

Living Room / Re: Connections problem has me stumped ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 07, 2010, 05:30 PM »

Silly question but.....if it's a desktop computer that is only 3m from the hub why not just use a wired connection?

-4wd (December 07, 2010, 05:24 PM)

Geography - and there aren't spare sockets for powerline adaptors.

1735

Living Room / Re: Connections problem has me stumped ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 07, 2010, 04:22 PM »

Does transferring a large file over WiFi from laptop -> desktop, (and vv.), suffer the same problem?

-4wd (December 07, 2010, 04:13 PM)

Haven't tried direct transfer across network but bothe computers have TeamViewer installed and I can transfer the files directly from laptop to desktop via the TeamViewer servers!!

1736

Living Room / Re: Connections problem has me stumped ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 07, 2010, 04:20 PM »

To answer the questions (ish):

Avast on both computers - no probs on laptop.
Tried IE and Firefox - same problem. Tried download manager (same problem).
Not sure what LAN driver at the mo. - not using LAN but I suppose I could try disabling LAN.
Not sure whether it is USB 1.1 or 2 - have to check.
Using windows firewall - but no effect if it is disabled.

I'll have a look tomorrow at the LAN installed.

I wondered if it could be the D-Link USB WiFi adapter? It is about 5 years old apparently. Can't hink of a rational reason except that there is occasional flakiness to the connection (not consistent though). The same stalling downloads happened with the previous router - which was a D-Link so unlikely to be incompatible with a D-Link USB dongle.

Could it be mismatched packet sizes causing this sort of effect?

1737

Living Room / Connections problem has me stumped ...

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 07, 2010, 10:57 AM »

Here's the situation:

New BT Broadband 2.0 Hub/Router setup and working fine.

Desktop computer (Win XP SP3 Home) connecting wirelessly using a D-Link USB WiFi dongle. Browsing seems to work fine and often downloads are fine but some files stubbornly refuse to download past 90%.

I can download the offending files wirelessly on my laptop no problem but the Desktop just stops downloading and never completes. This seems to eliminate the connection which seems rock steady and fast on the laptop.

Things I have tried on the Desktop:

1) Installed the latest D-Link drivers - connection seems stable - 100% strength (only about 10 feet from the router).
2) Cleaned browser cache and flushed DNS cache.
3) Scanned (Malwarebytes and Avast Antivirus) and all seems clean.
4) Reset Winsock settings.
5) Used MSCONFIG to disable everything except MS services.
6) Checked HOSTS and Proxy settings - both are at standard windows settings.

Nothing seems to make any difference. There are no errors in Application or System logs (not even any warnings).

I just can't figure out what is happening on that computer to make downloads so difficult.

Anyone got any ideas please - I'm stumped!

1738

Developer's Corner / Re: How to program for all 3 platforms at once

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 06, 2010, 04:57 PM »

I haven't done a huge amount with RealBasic yet but I have plans. They are pretty responsive to emails and there are active support forums.

1739

Developer's Corner / Re: How to program for all 3 platforms at once

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 06, 2010, 10:09 AM »

No - you can distribute applications without paying for licenses or runtimes. There are third party libraries available - not sure what the licensing is on them but on Real Basic the distribution is included with the license. Details on the website somewhere - try FAQs.

1740

Developer's Corner / Re: How to program for all 3 platforms at once

« Last post by Carol Haynes on December 05, 2010, 06:56 PM »

Try www.realsoftware.com

Real Studio allows you to write one program and compile without modification for all three platforms.

It isn't free and you do need the Pro version to cross-compile for all three platforms. This means you can test applications on all three platforms but only compile and debug on the platform you purchased a license for.

The Enterprise version allows you install the complier on any of the three platforms with the same license code - and provided you stick to one license per user you can install it on as many machines as you want. This means you can cross compile and debug on any platform you choose.

There is also a web version (though it isn't final yet - but due for release any time now) which allows you to produce self contained compiled web applications. There are/will be restrictions on the PHP setup on the web server (requires FastCGI or sufficient rights to run applications on the server). Note this will be a standalone product but will be included with the Enterprise edition (and it supports iPhone and iPad).

There is a fairly active community and comprehensive documentation and third party books available. The compiler is updated regularly (usually 4+ times a year) on a subscription basis.

You can link it to various database engines, including MySQL.

Try out the 30 day trial - if you want to play more there is a cheaper personal edition (doesn't include all the database features and a few other bits are more limited).

Realsoftware also have an odd upgrade policy - basically if you buy a license for personal you can upgrade to pro or enterprise at any time. Upgrades extend your current subscription by 6 months. The cheapest way to get a long subscription on Pro or Enterprise is to buy as many years as you can afford on Personal and then upgrade - you get all your existing years plus six months with the upgrade which is much cheaper than renewing every year for the Enterprise package!

1741

Living Room / Re: My Canon IP5000 inkjet is dead :( What now?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 25, 2010, 06:42 PM »

You could always import an EU machine if CD printing is important - not sure whether they are universal voltage or not though. I'd guess they are likely to be since sealing up the CD tray slot and not including a tray and the software is a trivial modification whereas a whole different power system ... who knows though.

Trouble with importing is the additional cost of import taxes - plus the inflated prices we suffer on this side of the pond.

1742

Living Room / Re: Freezing BIOS even - any ideas why?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 25, 2010, 12:31 PM »

I am coming to the conclusion that they would be better off replacing the system. It's five years old so there is little point in wasting time and money keeping it alive - especially as it is so cranky and unpredictable.

Thanks for all the feedback - it is useful to have people to bounce ideas off when you work alone!

1743

Living Room / Re: My Canon IP5000 inkjet is dead :( What now?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 25, 2010, 03:13 AM »

Blame the Hollywood mafia - in the UK/Europe lots of Canon printers are shipped with CD trays but I believe in North America most models have had CD printing removed as a feature to placate the movie and music industries who claim that printing a CD will cause: rapid global climate change, the end of the world by video piracy causing tsunamis, death to thousands as terrorist bombs go off everywhere, massive outbreaks of piracy of the Baja peninsular (and around Manhattan), a world war and strikes from extraterrestrials who want to pirate I Love Lucy DVDs to Andromeda etc.

Do I exaggerate - not a lot judging by some of the ridiculous copyright notices we get bombarded with on DVDs!

1744

Living Room / Re: Freezing BIOS even - any ideas why?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 24, 2010, 04:38 PM »

Thanks for all the advice - mostly lines I was thinking along.

The problem is dealing with a system where I can't take it away to play with (they need it everyday) and whenever I see it I can't generate the problem, although I have seen it 'post freeze'.

Capacitor pushing towards failure or dodgy PSU sound like likely culprits to me but unfortunately I haven't got a spare PSU to try it out (I suppose I could borrow one from one of my systems).

I do have a PSU tester so I could give that a whirl.

1745

Living Room / Re: Freezing BIOS even - any ideas why?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 24, 2010, 03:22 PM »

Thanks - yes I did change the mobo battery and reset the BIOS to safe details.

I did run memory tests and got no errors.

Need to check the PSU - but it is strange that it runs well once everything is going.

1746

Living Room / Freezing BIOS even - any ideas why?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 24, 2010, 02:03 PM »

Got a client with a computer that freezes - even to the point of not allowing a forced switch off by holding the power button.

No errors showing in windows - it doesn't reboot ... black screen and everything dead but still with power LED on. You have switch off and on at the wall to reboot.

At first I thought it might be a windows XP standby issue but I have disabled standby and now the computer doesn't seem to crash once the system is up and running but after a switch on from cold if freezes during windows boot.

I have updated drivers (including graphics) and checked all error logs. I have also downloaded the Fujitsu diagnostics tool but that says everything is working fine. BIOS is at the final revision. I also did a check for any malware but couldn't find any.

I am a bit stumped - anyone got any ideas?

My thought is a chip on the point of dying but works when it has a chance to warm a little but would value some help.

Cheers

Carol

1747

Living Room / Re: My Canon IP5000 inkjet is dead :( What now?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 24, 2010, 01:54 PM »

Isobutyl alcohol or isopropanol are much better solvents for ink than water. They evaporate completely and quickly. It's also pretty cheap - in the UK I buy it by the litre from Amazon!

Try this in the US: http://www.amazon.co...PROPYL/dp/B001B5JT8C

I tried water and ended up flushing it with alcohol simply because it was a beggar to get the water completely out with the any ink residue - some always remained and then the ink dried out again.

1748

Living Room / Re: Anyone using Nuance's 'Dragon Naturally Speaking' or equivalent?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 24, 2010, 11:21 AM »

Thanks.

1749

Living Room / Re: Wi-Fi Makes Trees Sick!

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 24, 2010, 09:45 AM »

I wonder if that's related. I wonder if the trees are sick because they are somehow intercepting all the rotten things on the internet.

-Deozaan (November 24, 2010, 06:22 AM)

Internet porn for trees - oo er thats a sexy branch!  

Picking up the vibes over hear - naughty!

Maybe not ...

1750

Living Room / Re: My Canon IP5000 inkjet is dead :( What now?

« Last post by Carol Haynes on November 24, 2010, 09:42 AM »

+1 for Canon printers (certainly over HP).

HP software/drivers is truly awful - it can take up to an hour to install. If you need to update the software it can take an hour to uninstall the old stuff and install the new and you'll probably have to download 50-90% of a CD of software too. (Installing a new version over the old works occasionally but isn't good if/when you need to remove the lot). Numerous problems with software breaking and having to be reinstalled - generally massive software bloat.

I have an ip5000 too and it eventually died. Have you tried cleaning the printhead yourself manually? Buy a bottle of isobutyl alcohol and soak the printing parts of the head for a few hour. Tap the head on the side of your sink to shake out any ink residue - then wash with clean alcohol. Give it a good shake outside and see if you can get the printer to run a cleaning cycle.

I have fixed a number of print heads doing this.

The big disadvantage of Canon printers is that you have to use Canon ink (I have seen so many clogged print heads as a result of using non original ink). The plus point is that it is generally considerably cheaper than the rivals because the ink cartridges contain little or no electronics.

FWIW I am now using a Canon XM850 all in one (including fax, sheet feed printing and CD printing) and it is fantastic. I think it has been discontinued but there is an MX860 (I think) that replaced it. If you don't need fax or CD printing try the Pixma MP560 - fantastic, good quality, wireless all-in-one printer.