Recent Posts

7776

Living Room / Re: Please kill me now - just bought an iPad off of eBay

« Last post by 40hz on April 24, 2011, 11:55 AM »

Minor point: Shouldn't torment a lizard pet too much. Most don't cope with stressful situations all that well.

First they get nasty...

Then, a little later on, they'll often become ill.

Vet time.

$$$$$

(Meanwhile you've taught your lizard it's ok to get nasty when it's around people.)

Bad move.  


 

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Living Room / Re: what is the benefit of this old style network

« Last post by 40hz on April 24, 2011, 11:16 AM »

If you have one 10 and one 100mb card in each I'd guess they simply upgraded their network to 100 someplace along the line and left the old cards in there "just in case." If you run ipconfig /all it will give you the ip and gateway address for each card. If they're all on the same network, that's probably what happened.

Another possibility: Some of the older network laser printers only had a 10mb card for the longest time. Some of them never worked reliably with the newer auto-sensing switches. So rather than configure specific ports on the switch to only use 10mb speeds, it was just easier to leave the old 10mb network (usually with a "dumb" hub) up for communicating with the printers. A lot cheaper than buying a new large format plotter for blueprints.

I'm almost positive both cards will be on the same network however. Otherwise each PC's network stack would be forced into "router mode" to arbitrate between the two separate address ranges. Under XP, that was never too reliable or wise a thing to try and set up. And the performance hit would have been significant and noticeable.  

Legacy. Gotta love it.  

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Living Room / Re: what is the benefit of this old style network

« Last post by 40hz on April 24, 2011, 07:46 AM »

The business is a small manufacturing type... they do welding.  They do run quick books for billing and inventory purposes. And I do believe it is run from the server but not sure about that.  They do have some CAD programs but I do not know if they are server based or not.

With only 3 machines, I wouldn't think it would get hit too hard.  The secretaries machine is used most of the day while the other 2 are just hit and miss.  It has a 10/100 switch and also a newer looking gigabit rack mount switch.  I do not know what feeds what.

I may just have to dive into it one of these days and see what is what.

-techidave (April 24, 2011, 07:30 AM)

Let us know if you do. Wouldn't be surprised if it's related to the Cutting the End Off the Sunday Ham rationale.

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Living Room / Re: Techno-Addicts

« Last post by 40hz on April 24, 2011, 07:36 AM »

I think it has more to do with the society than the technology. In heavily regulated and controlled societies like Singapore, the web might be the only place where you are relatively free. Any place where you can be flogged for dropping a candy wrapper has got to have a high need for escape into another reality. As William Gibson noted in his short essay in Wired Magazine:

Singapore is a relentlessly G-rated experience, micromanaged by a state that has the look and feel of a very large corporation. If IBM had ever bothered to actually possess a physical country, that country might have had a lot in common with Singapore. There's a certain white-shirted constraint, an absolute humorlessness in the way Singapore Ltd. operates; conformity here is the prime directive, and the fuzzier brands of creativity are in extremely short supply.

The physical past here has almost entirely vanished.

There is no slack in Singapore. Imagine an Asian version of Zurich operating as an offshore capsule at the foot of Malaysia; an affluent microcosm whose citizens inhabit something that feels like, well, Disneyland. Disneyland with the death penalty.

We have the occasional web addict in the States. But most "at risk" people in the US seem to prefer to blow off steam by employing such classic "coping mechanisms" as: cruelty to animals, child abuse, spouse beating, substance addiction, hate crime, criminal use of firearms, petty theft, living above one's means - or pursuing a career in politics.

Clear proof 'reality' is healthier than virtual despite the occasional "bleed-through" or "unintended outcome."

  (Kidding, just kidding...)

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Living Room / Re: what is the benefit of this old style network

« Last post by 40hz on April 24, 2011, 07:14 AM »

Like iphigenie, I've seen lots of multi-homed servers. (We currently set up most servers we do with three NICs) But I haven't seen too many PCs with dual NICs in quite a while.

I have heard of doing that in the past in rare cases where the goal was to increase available network bandwith by concatenating multiple NICs. But most of that came to an end with the advent of affordable 100Mb and faster NIC cards. However, it was mostly done, as others have already noted, to provide separate networks for security purposes; or to move bandwidth hogs (video conferencing, etc.) onto their own 'channel.'

Be interesting to find out why your friend's network was set up that way. General network security can be better (and more economically) provided by your standard WAN/LAN NAT+SPI router/switch combo. So I'm guessing it was done for performance purposes.

I'm curious. Do all his machines also have something like a heavy duty analysis or financial app constantly running in the background?

I know some brokerage-type businesses who do something similar. They use multiple NICs in their machines to better accommodate those apps since they need to be kept updated in near real-time. (They also have a dedicated T1 on the WAN side just for those apps as well.) But that's a pretty odd duck client requirement.

 

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Site/Forum Features / Re: I think we should close the Company Complaints and Compliments Section

« Last post by 40hz on April 24, 2011, 05:08 AM »

And we thought the OC thread was getting bad and worn out...  

-Renegade (April 24, 2011, 04:03 AM)

Yeah, really!

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Living Room / Re: Happy Birthday Renegade!

« Last post by 40hz on April 24, 2011, 05:05 AM »

I am now 4.

-Renegade (April 22, 2011, 11:17 PM)

we're all getting there!

-lanux128 (April 22, 2011, 11:24 PM)

Some of us have already been there. 

-cyberdiva (April 23, 2011, 09:19 PM)

Yup!

Hope you have a happy birthday and many more. 

That too.

Happy B-Day Renegade!

7783

Living Room / Re: Easiest laptop (brand) to take apart ?

« Last post by 40hz on April 24, 2011, 04:56 AM »

Well, while I somewhat agree with carol too, good instructions doesn't necessarily equal "easier to disassemble". It just means that you have a good plan. However, like I said earlier, I own(ed) 2 Dells, and neither of them made it easy to access the CPU. And in one case I manage to break some plastic, even while being extremely careful.

(If I had only 4 screws holding a cover to remove, than I wouldn't event need a manual in the first place, most probably.  )

-Armando (April 23, 2011, 10:05 PM)

Which is why having the manufacturer's  "take apart" instructions is so important. Most laptop disassembly involves knowing some 'tricks' to take it apart safely. You'll see things like:

Partially lift bezel and reach beneath to locate ribbon cable holding trackpad assembly to case. (You will need to do this by feel.) Gently rock cable to loosen, then carefully pull ribbon cable UP AND TO THE RIGHT to release. Notice: Cable is delicate and easily damaged. Do not use excessive force AND DO NOT PULL CABLE TO THE LEFT at any time in order to avoid possible damage.

Up and to the right? Check! And never move it to the left? Yeah...that makes perfect sense. So obvious. Shouldn't everybody know that?

One manufacturer (who will remain nameless although you can probably guess who it is) even had a note on the instructions for separating the two halves of the plastic bezel holding the screen. The note said that said it would make "a loud snapping noise" when it finally came apart. (Nice of them to let us know. Probably got too many complaints about service techs having a heart attack when they heard it!) It also went on to say that having one (or more) of the plastic retaining tabs snap off during this disassembly procedure was "normal" and "shouldn't adversely affect" reassembly. (Love that weasle-word: shouldn't.)

I guess flying bits of sharp plastic went along with that god-awful *cracking* noise it made.

It went on to say if too many tabs snapped off "for proper reassembly," they could be reattached with a UV-setting epoxy. It then very helpfully provided the service part numbers for the epoxy and the UV gun so you could order them (at your own expense: epoxy $26/UV gun $89) if more than the "normal" number of tabs got broken and the case wouldn't go back together "properly."

The alternative was buying the customer a new plastic bezel set which cost about $130.

Ever wonder why I HATE working on laptops?  

7784

Living Room / Re: Easiest laptop (brand) to take apart ?

« Last post by 40hz on April 23, 2011, 08:39 PM »

Strikes me the question is "which laptops have the best access to service manuals?" and only then "which models are easiest to disassemble?"

-Carol Haynes (April 23, 2011, 07:35 PM)

Bingo! Once again Carol gets right to the heart of it !

At least with a manual you get some clues how to get into things without breakages and lots of frustration!

If you're fortunate enough to get access to a real service manual (for techs), as opposed to the customer 'service' manual, you get a lot more than clues. The genuine service docs are a treasure trove of detailed information on every aspect of the machine they're written for. Some even go right down to the schematic level.

Unfortunately, these manuals are hard to come by unless you work for an authorized service center or know who to contact to get one. Many times they're flagged "company proprietary" and you can't get a copy for love or money unless you have some status with the manufacturer. All Apple service docs used to be like that. Not an Apple authorized service technician? Then no Apple service docs! Period.

(Note: Don't know if Apple is still doing that since my company no longer performs Apple service.)

In my experience Toshiba and Dell seem to have the best access to service manuals - almost all other makes seem reluctant to release their manuals.

Agree

The other big frustration is that whenever you search for an engineers manual you get totally blitzed by spam sites trying get you to buy something that should be free (and usually is if you persevere).

Also an excellent point!  

If any of these 'aggregators' have a manual to sell you, you can be sure it's also available from somewhere else if you look hard enough. That's where they got it from  And usually it's free to download when you do find it  

Sometimes it takes a phone call or email with a politely worded request before you'll be given the weblink to the manual you need. But it's definitely preferable to paying some 3rd party $15-$50 for the PDF of a manual set when you didn't need to.
 

7785

Living Room / Re: Easiest laptop (brand) to take apart ?

« Last post by 40hz on April 23, 2011, 05:04 PM »

I have the opportunity to acquire a laptop or two in hopes of curing the Capacitor Plague^w, so I'll also be watching this thread.
40Hz, have you any experience with that on Dell laptops?

-Edvard (April 23, 2011, 04:56 PM)

@Edvard - I've heard about it and I'm aware of it. But (knock-wood) I have yet to run into rotting capacitors with any of my clients. So far, nada - either in fact, or as a "heard of somebody who."

Finally, something "interesting" came up that I was fortunate enough not to be involved with. Yay!

Have you seen much of it from where you're sitting?

7786

Living Room / Re: The Foreclosure Scam

« Last post by 40hz on April 23, 2011, 04:17 PM »

^Totally!

7787

Living Room / Re: The Foreclosure Scam

« Last post by 40hz on April 23, 2011, 03:54 PM »

I know somebody currently wallowing in the foreclosure quagmire.

Problem they're running into is they can't get their current mortgage holder to negotiate revised terms. That's because the note is held by (one of an growing number of) foreclosure consortiums who have no intention or interest in negotiating. In my friend's case, it's a group of private individuals (about 20) who have gotten together to "get in on the golden opportunities in real-estate foreclosures."

One of their members is an attorney who has demonstrated a talent for twisting existing laws around to force a default so they can foreclose.

These investors are not interested in getting a mortgage paid back. They want to make quick cash on a turnaround. So all they want is the property itself.

In the case of my friends, they're probably gonna lose their house.

But not because they can't pay the original mortgage. They can. The temporary cash flow problem which got them into this mess has since been fixed.

It's because the note holder has taken them to court and is now refusing to accept any payments pending the court's ruling on their request for immediate foreclosure, because...wait for it..my friends haven't been paying anything on their mortgage!

I'm not sure how or why such a logical absurdity is tolerated by law. But somehow, they can actually make this BS argument stick under certain circumstances. In this case it has something to do with the structure of the group holding the note. All group members have to agree to any renegotiated terms. They get around being accused of refusing to negotiate "in good faith" by sitting down to go through the motions of 'negotiating' a provisional agreement. But once the borrower signs this agreement for their part, one member of the investment group refuses to accept the new terms. At which point the investment group claims "negotiations have irreparably broken down" and move for foreclosure.

According to my friend's attorney, she's seen this same 'play' run on several other mortgage holders. And each time, one or two (and never the same) members of the investment group refuses to accept the renegotiated terms. Next they refuse to accept any payments until they have a signed agreement in place. (They also give the borrower 'off the record' assurances not to worry since they're sure they can work something out with the holdout member.) Then they wait a few months for the note to reach default. After which they move to foreclose for non-payment of the original mortgage - which is still in effect because a new agreement was never reached. Cute!

It makes for a lovely choreographed performance. And supposedly, it's all perfectly legal.

My friend's attorney told them this particular 'investment' group has this legal gambit down to a science. Unless they get a sympathetic judge when it comes final decree time, my friends are screwed royally. (And this investment group has been fairly adept at getting their filings heard before judges who tend to be unsympathetic towards borrowers.)

This is American Justice at work folks! Lovely, huh?  

7788

Living Room / Re: Easiest laptop (brand) to take apart ?

« Last post by 40hz on April 23, 2011, 03:14 PM »

I've disassembled and reassembled all the major brands. I never found any I thought were particularly easy to take apart. Worst were Toshibas and HPs. Best were Macbooks and Thinkpads - but that was probably more because we were "manufacturer authorized" to work on them, so we had full service docs. Having detailed and accurate 'take-apart' instructions makes a huge difference when you need to.

Since I'm into swapping drives when I want to repurpose or re-task a laptop, all I look for is easy access to the HD.

My favorites are those that let you install the drive into side of the case as opposed to from the underside. "Side-mount drive" laptops usually only have a plastic access panel that's held on by a single screw. With those it takes less than a minute to swap out drives once you've had some practice.

Luck with your search.

7789

General Software Discussion / Re: Unlocker punishes you for not installing toolbar.

« Last post by 40hz on April 22, 2011, 08:04 AM »

...I've always wanted to be punished by a software application!

-scancode (January 19, 2011, 06:50 PM)

Yeah? Try installing and using iTunes on a Windows PC then. That should do ya!

7790

Living Room / Re: Hoppy Easter~!

« Last post by 40hz on April 22, 2011, 07:56 AM »

  Excellent!

Brings back memories of jokes learned when I became an altar boy. (Talk about "potentially" offensive!) Working 'backstage' at your church can be an...enlightening experience. Never looked at organized religion quite the same way after my temporary and peripheral stint in it.

7791

Living Room / Re: Switching to Linux; how do you not flop back to the world of Windows??

« Last post by 40hz on April 22, 2011, 07:45 AM »

^I don't worry about the rats so much. Especially since we cleared out all those standing stones and shrines down in the sub-basement. It's the Whippoorwills that scare me. (OMG! They're starting to chirp in time with my breathing!)  

7792

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by 40hz on April 22, 2011, 07:29 AM »

My most recent books have been:

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde - Stevenson (reread)
Huckleberry Finn - Twain (reread)
Flowers for Algernon - Keyes
The Stranger - Camus (reread)
and
Toddler 411



I feel rather out of place in this thread...

-cthorpe (April 22, 2011, 12:13 AM)

You shouldn't.

A few years ago I sat down and started to reread (or sometime just read) all those books they gave us in High School that I didn't really care about. (I was so much more "into technology" at the time.)

And guess what?

I discovered they were all very good books. OK, maybe I wasn't too crazy about Wuthering Heights, but that was the sole exception.

Since books can't change (unless you're living in Ocenia under Ingsoc) the only thing that could have was me.

So I guess I just needed to mature enough - and broaden my interests enough - to be open to what these books were about.

Glad I took the time to do it. Because some of these authors (Dickens, Twain, and Melville in particular) are far too good to pass up.

 

7793

Living Room / Re: Switching to Linux; how do you not flop back to the world of Windows??

« Last post by 40hz on April 22, 2011, 07:03 AM »

Haven't tried it myself, I'm still researching whether Mono isn't all evil or not.  

-Edvard (April 22, 2011, 01:24 AM)

It is evil. Utterly.

Mono's original source code can be found on pages 753-847 of the Necronomicon in the unexpurgated edition - not the Dee copy! It's since been discovered Wilbur Wateley was an elite coder who was working on something called Shoggoth 1.0 (in Mono) before he met his untimely end.

Their hand is ever at thy throat yet you see them not. - the Necromomicon

Mother protect us! Ïa! Ïa Shub Niggurath!  

7794

Living Room / Re: Anyone here using a standing desk?

« Last post by 40hz on April 22, 2011, 06:43 AM »

...

I've been using a standing desk for about six months, and had the same problem, until I got a little step-up stool and put that under the desk. One foot up on that every so often gives me a rest.

-JennyB (April 22, 2011, 06:13 AM)

Almost the same posture you'd use standing at the bar of your favorite pub with a glass of fresh ale in front of you!

Hmm...maybe I'll pack up my work and drop by The Horseshoe and see if I'm more comfortable and productive standing and...working. They've got a few new things on tap I've been meaning to sample anyway. Two birds, one stone, so there's efficiencies gained right there!

Worth a try at any rate.

@Jen - Thx for the inspiration!

7795

Site/Forum Features / Re: I think we should close the Company Complaints and Compliments Section

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 07:19 PM »

I will just say that from what I've observed in discussion forums, whenever things like this start becoming issues, it's usually a bad sign.

-superboyac (April 21, 2011, 06:07 PM)

If they remain unresolved, or are resolved in a manner that leaves too many feathers ruffled, it can be a bad thing.

But right now I think it's more an indication that DC has reached that stage where things are changing because DC is experiencing its own slow but inevitable change due to growth and exposure. With the outside attention being paid to the NANY event, DC is likely becoming viewed more and more as a "player."

When you add in the number of members, the number of posts, the fact that this site has been around for six plus years - and the huge success of the past two fundraisers - it's inevitable that many software businesses will be looking at DC more seriously than before. And also taking anything being said about their business at this site more seriously as well. Because it's become fairly obvious that a good number of people care about DC and what's being said there. As is evidenced by the fact DC hit it's contribution goal by a factor of 2 times plus.

If your products or service are being criticized on some quasi-anonymous "personal rant" blog, you don't worry too much. But when you get what you consider a knock at a place like DC, you know it's going to get read - and possibly quoted elsewhere. Including some of the big tech sites that seem to respect DC. Hence, a lot more "damage control" type posting can be anticipated as DC's visibility continues to increase.

Quite probably it will only be a matter of time before some company goes totally bonehead and threatens legal action for a comment posted here. It's happened in other places. And there have been a few hints (I'd hesitate to call them threats) of that already in a few threads here. And while any such misguided legal action will probably not be a real threat to this site, anybody who has ever received an attorney's letter (or had papers served on them) knows it's still a major hassle to deal with, regardless of the legal merits, or how it eventually plays out.

So can the much admired (and appreciated) laissez-faire approach DC's administrators take in the forums continue indefinitely? Possibly. But it becomes less probable as more people join in and the site's visibility and reputation grows. Because in some places, what's being said at DC is starting to matter.

And because of that more than anything else, things will (of necessity) start to change.

I could very well be wrong about all of this.

But it's something to think about anyway.  

Oh just close it already lol

-Stephen66515 (April 21, 2011, 07:00 PM)

I might not see the LOL part in it. But I think I'm pretty much in agreement with the rest of Stephen's comment to wit: "...just close it already."

 

7796

Living Room / Re: Apple is Still Apple - Sue After Stealing...

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 06:07 PM »

Oh god... Apple is at it again... Bigger, badder, and douchier than ever! 

-Renegade (April 19, 2011, 11:20 PM)

Well...like their ad used to say: Think Different 

7797

Living Room / Re: Anyone here using a standing desk?

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 05:56 PM »

I would slide forwards - but my trousers would stay in the same place

-tomos (April 21, 2011, 06:42 AM)

Thank goodness you didn't go in reverse!

-cranioscopical (April 21, 2011, 05:01 PM)

Chris is a no "ands" "ifs" or "butts" kind of guy about that sort of thing. 

7798

Living Room / Re: Apple - not quite grasping the concept of privacy.

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 01:34 PM »

Oh I think Apple has grasped the issue of privacy just fine.

And now that they've grasped it, they're trying to drag it into the bushes and murder it.

7799

Site/Forum Features / Re: I think we should close the Company Complaints and Compliments Section

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 01:29 PM »

What exactly is the value of having it separated from other discussion areas? It really does just draw attention to it (good or bad).

- Oshyan

-JavaJones (April 21, 2011, 01:25 PM)

But it helps contain it as well. It can act as a troll & spammer magnet for bots and drive-by posters too.

I'd personally rather not have to see any of that nonsense showing up regularly in the main areas if at all possible.

7800

Site/Forum Features / Re: I think we should close the Company Complaints and Compliments Section

« Last post by 40hz on April 21, 2011, 01:22 PM »

+1 w/nosh - that sounds like a good compromise. It could be kept under control by a firm set of rules and maybe a little less frugality with the moderator's kill-post and ban authority in that section.

That would allow you to keep all of that nonsense out of the regular forum areas but still leave space for reasonable complaints and consumer 'advisory' type posts. Also make Compliments its own section while you're at it, as has been suggested by the RenMan. That's a really good idea.

That's my 2¢ anyway.