Question on ...
 

On 1/21/2014 12:38 PM, Hank wrote:
On 1/21/2014 11:59 AM, wrote:
On Tue, 21 Jan 2014 08:36:13 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

On 1/21/14, 12:59 AM, wrote:
On Mon, 20 Jan 2014 22:10:56 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

I still have an older XP laptop but something recently died
in it. It won't boot up anymore.

Any idea of what is going on? Does it get through POST? Do you see
signs of life from the boot drive?

I hate seeing these things getting thrown in the land fill for a minor
problem.



If it is an old laptop, and it isn't a software or software update
problem, then you have to weigh the time and expense involved in a
repair versus buying a new laptops. Run of the mill laptops are pretty
cheap these days, and almost any of them would be many steps up from an
old XP-era laptop.

I suppose if you take it to a shop that wants to sell you a new
laptop, fixing it will always be more expensive but if you can take
out 2 screws yourself and throw a $50 hard drive at it you are at
least $450 ahead.
I am still not sure what is wrong with an XP machine. What can your
new I-Mac or W7 machine do that mine can't?

I tried to have this discussion with our HOA. They only manage a
$12,000 a year budget, maybe 200 transactions a year total and they
want to buy a new machine because the XP machine is "old".
My wife ran a quarter million dollar business on a 5150 (original PC)


There also are plenty of used, operating laptops available at pawnshops.
I saw a whole showcase full of them when I was salivating over the
McIntosh amp I finally bought.

At that point, why not fix the one you have?

I usually get mine from a surplus outfit that sells off lease machines
They come with legally licensed business software and a warranty.
You can reload the whole thing from scratch since you have the license
keys.
A pawn shop would be the last place I would get a machine.

Win 7 comes with a widget I like. It's called sticky notes.

Yeah, my wife is so ****ed it doesn't run in 8 She had a lot of stuff
in that program.

Question on ...
 

On 1/21/2014 12:43 PM, Hank wrote:
On 1/21/2014 12:13 PM, F.O.A.D. wrote:
On 1/21/14, 11:59 AM, wrote:
On Tue, 21 Jan 2014 08:36:13 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

On 1/21/14, 12:59 AM, wrote:
On Mon, 20 Jan 2014 22:10:56 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

I still have an older XP laptop but something recently died
in it. It won't boot up anymore.

Any idea of what is going on? Does it get through POST? Do you see
signs of life from the boot drive?

I hate seeing these things getting thrown in the land fill for a minor
problem.



If it is an old laptop, and it isn't a software or software update
problem, then you have to weigh the time and expense involved in a
repair versus buying a new laptops. Run of the mill laptops are pretty
cheap these days, and almost any of them would be many steps up from an
old XP-era laptop.

I suppose if you take it to a shop that wants to sell you a new
laptop, fixing it will always be more expensive but if you can take
out 2 screws yourself and throw a $50 hard drive at it you are at
least $450 ahead.
I am still not sure what is wrong with an XP machine. What can your
new I-Mac or W7 machine do that mine can't?

I tried to have this discussion with our HOA. They only manage a
$12,000 a year budget, maybe 200 transactions a year total and they
want to buy a new machine because the XP machine is "old".
My wife ran a quarter million dollar business on a 5150 (original PC)


There also are plenty of used, operating laptops available at
pawnshops.
I saw a whole showcase full of them when I was salivating over the
McIntosh amp I finally bought.

At that point, why not fix the one you have?

I usually get mine from a surplus outfit that sells off lease machines
They come with legally licensed business software and a warranty.
You can reload the whole thing from scratch since you have the license
keys.
A pawn shop would be the last place I would get a machine.


That assumes one has the skills and tools to do it. Some laptops are not
easy to open, and you might not be able to find a replacement drive that
fits physically and electrically.
Computers are getting to be about as disposable as lightbulbs. Oops, bad
example. Some folks are reluctant to part with their cfl's and incand.s.

My laptop was a monster when I bought it, still faster than my wife's
last desktop...

Question on ...
 

On Mon, 20 Jan 2014 23:57:38 -0500, wrote:

On Mon, 20 Jan 2014 17:54:12 -0500, Poco Loco
wrote:


It would be interesting to know just exactly how autonomous the drones
are... Can they discern friendly from foe, can they determine what
collateral damage will be, and decide if it's "worth it" or not to take
out the mission?

The friend versus foe part is electronic. The pilots of manned B-52s can't tell what the collateral
damage will be either, and they can't determine 'worth' of a mission. Those guys fly *way* up there.

That was true in the Vietnam missions but these days the B-52 is just
loitering up there with a bay full of precision guided munitions that
get targeted from the ground.
A team on the ground points a laser designator on the target, makes a
call to the B-52 and a minute or 2 later the target goes up in a puff
of smoke. The pilot may not ever see the target or even the explosion.

Your last sentence made the point I was making.

Question on ...
 

On Tue, 21 Jan 2014 09:15:35 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

On 1/21/14, 9:13 AM, Hank wrote:
On 1/21/2014 6:57 AM, F.O.A.D. wrote:
On 1/20/14, 11:50 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 20 Jan 2014 17:02:26 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

On 1/20/14, 12:50 PM, wrote:
On Mon, 20 Jan 2014 11:36:23 -0500, KC wrote:


When you hear about the blue screen you realize how stale that
data is.

Yeah, don't think I have seen one in years.... and I run a lot of
programs on my little win7 laptop at one time. Typically I may be
downloading a movie, and converting another to avi while running a
graphics program, a web design program, and surfing the web... all at
the same time. Might start Word or Flash during that run too. I shut
down, maybe once a day, sometimes not for days...

I have four XP machines here running 24/7/365 and they never crash.
The only time 2 of them usually get booted is when the power is off
longer than the UPS will hold them and then they go down hard. They
come right back.
Occasionally I will do the updates and that may or may not reboot
them. I don't have hangs, crashes or other maladies tho. If I did, I
would look for a hardware problem.


If you enter "BSODs on Windows 7" you get 59,000,000 hits. That's 59
million. Stale data, indeed.

http://tinyurl.com/kfez9ze

Yup 59 million hits saying basically the same thing


"Determine if you changed anything recently. The most common cause of
the Blue Screen is a recent change in your computer’s settings or
hardware. This is often related to new drivers getting installed or
updated. Drivers are software that allow your hardware to communicate
with Windows.[1]

Because there are essentially an infinite number of hardware
configurations possible, drivers can’t be tested for every possible
setup. This means that sometimes a driver will be installed that
causes a critical error when communicating with the hardware."


... What Wayne said.



I don't know "what Wayne said," as he is down in my bozo bin with
slammer, earl, and Billy Bruce. I'm sure slammer is keeping everyone
down there properly entertained.

Wow. Wayne got there before me.
Who is Billy Bruce?


You're on the cusp! :)


Why would you put Wayne there?

Question on ...
 

On Tue, 21 Jan 2014 10:43:36 -0500, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 1/21/2014 10:36 AM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Mon, 20 Jan 2014 19:21:55 -0800, thumper wrote:

On 1/20/2014 1:52 PM, Wayne.B wrote:

I have been using Windows based laptops for real time navigation on
all of my boats for the last 15 years, in all kinds of conditions,
several different operating systems, and a bunch of different GPS
devices. None of them has ever experienced a blue screen of death
while underway. BSDs are usually associated with new hardware devices
that do not yet have the correct driver installed. Once you are past
that, everything is usually very solid.

The only app that hangs on my Win7 desktop is iTunes. About 5-10% of
openings are non-responding.

I just reloaded iTunes thinking that was why I couldn't get some of the videos to run on the
internet. like the one Harry posted. That day I loaded three or four programs. None helped. iTunes
is about to get trashed...again.



I doubt your inability to play videos has anything to do with iTunes.
Something is screwy in your setup or you are missing some codex.

Even my ancient and little laptop that I used in the boat and RVs plays
videos fine and it's running XP.


Any of the avi, mpg, mp3, wmv, etc. videos play fine with the various programs I use. The *only*
time I have a problem is in playing some of the videos on the internet. And even then, any video on
youtube plays fine, and most of the videos elsewhere play fine. There are a few, every now and then,
that won't play. It's just weird. But, I'm not losing a whole lot of sleep over it.

Question on ...
 

On 1/21/2014 12:09 PM, F.O.A.D. wrote:
On 1/21/14, 12:00 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 21 Jan 2014 09:28:46 -0500, "F.O.A.D." wrote:

On 1/21/14, 9:17 AM, Hank wrote:


Oh Gee. I better mind my Ps and Qs eh? '-

Only old farts use that expression. Like us.

Guys who worked in a letter press print shop?



Only the uppercase P's and Q's are next to each other in a California
type case. :) I still have a couple of old Ludlow type sticks I
liberated from a composing room.




Made me think of you for some reason ....

http://i802.photobucket.com/albums/yy303/Eisboch/3fd76bf3-ff66-4d5f-9c63-fea2d4bd08bb.jpg?t=1390271701

Question on ...
 

On 1/21/2014 1:23 PM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Tue, 21 Jan 2014 10:43:36 -0500, "Mr. Luddite" wrote:

On 1/21/2014 10:36 AM, Poco Loco wrote:
On Mon, 20 Jan 2014 19:21:55 -0800, thumper wrote:

On 1/20/2014 1:52 PM, Wayne.B wrote:

I have been using Windows based laptops for real time navigation on
all of my boats for the last 15 years, in all kinds of conditions,
several different operating systems, and a bunch of different GPS
devices. None of them has ever experienced a blue screen of death
while underway. BSDs are usually associated with new hardware devices
that do not yet have the correct driver installed. Once you are past
that, everything is usually very solid.

The only app that hangs on my Win7 desktop is iTunes. About 5-10% of
openings are non-responding.

I just reloaded iTunes thinking that was why I couldn't get some of the videos to run on the
internet. like the one Harry posted. That day I loaded three or four programs. None helped. iTunes
is about to get trashed...again.



I doubt your inability to play videos has anything to do with iTunes.
Something is screwy in your setup or you are missing some codex.

Even my ancient and little laptop that I used in the boat and RVs plays
videos fine and it's running XP.


Any of the avi, mpg, mp3, wmv, etc. videos play fine with the various programs I use. The *only*
time I have a problem is in playing some of the videos on the internet. And even then, any video on
youtube plays fine, and most of the videos elsewhere play fine. There are a few, every now and then,
that won't play. It's just weird. But, I'm not losing a whole lot of sleep over it.

Some videos ask to load some hokey player before showing the video to
you. I just skip over them.

Question on ...
 

On 1/21/2014 12:59 PM, KC wrote:

On 1/21/2014 12:38 PM, Hank wrote:


Win 7 comes with a widget I like. It's called sticky notes.


Yeah, my wife is so ****ed it doesn't run in 8 She had a lot of stuff
in that program.


Here you go:

http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/sticky-notes-8/a691d64e-0b43-41e2-93fe-62e230551113

Question on ...
 

On 1/21/2014 1:52 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 1/21/2014 12:59 PM, KC wrote:

On 1/21/2014 12:38 PM, Hank wrote:


Win 7 comes with a widget I like. It's called sticky notes.


Yeah, my wife is so ****ed it doesn't run in 8 She had a lot of stuff
in that program.


Here you go:

http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/sticky-notes-8/a691d64e-0b43-41e2-93fe-62e230551113


Is this guy, who manages the cloud, trustworthy?
The video says all your stuff is stored in the cloud.

Question on ...
 

On 1/21/2014 2:10 PM, Hank wrote:
On 1/21/2014 1:52 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 1/21/2014 12:59 PM, KC wrote:

On 1/21/2014 12:38 PM, Hank wrote:


Win 7 comes with a widget I like. It's called sticky notes.


Yeah, my wife is so ****ed it doesn't run in 8 She had a lot of stuff
in that program.


Here you go:

http://apps.microsoft.com/windows/en-us/app/sticky-notes-8/a691d64e-0b43-41e2-93fe-62e230551113



Is this guy, who manages the cloud, trustworthy?
The video says all your stuff is stored in the cloud.


Beats me. What the hell are you going to write on a "sticky note" that
you wouldn't want anyone to see?