Vista/W-7 update

[Valorie *~]

That is one reason the kids have not tried satellite. It is expensive, and
from the reviews I had read the service is spotty at best. They looked at
the cost, then thought about did they want to sign a contract for 6
months, and no. Now if the nearest hot spot was 30 miles away, that would
be a different story.

We want PC service at the house. If it were something we used only once a
week the drive to the hot spot would be worth it.

I know every time they visit the SIL is on the computer. I tried to tell
him to get a dial up account as it is better than nothing but I guess he
wants to look at too much stuff that just does not work on dial up.
They get cell fine so I told them to look into one of those plans that
use the cell. Also expensive, but not as bad as satellite, and when I have
tried them they seemed to work pretty good. Not as well as the cable at my
house, but better than nothing.

Cell phone service were I live is as spotty as Verizon wireless right now.
That's the disadvantage of living in the country.

 

[Valorie *~]

In this context, there are two kinds of modems.

The self-contained modems, the ones with all of the hardware & firmware
needed to do their job, work fine with Linux and so on.

The so-called Windows modems are incomplete; much of their functionality
is meant to be done by the computer they are connected to. Even those
should work on Linux or Mac if someone wrote the software (drivers) to
make it happen.

Back when I occasionally had to buy a modem, I always made sure it was
what I consider to be a real modem, i.e., *not* a Windows modem.
Actually, I was pretty p*ss*d off when I discovered the existence of
Windows modems - that seemed like quite a rip-off to me

I had to buy the type that works with Windows. That's what I did. ;-)

 

[Valorie *~]

Unfortunately true. Frank and Alias earned a well deserved place in my
kill
file a long time ago - just getting rid of them makes a huge difference
here.

Fortunately, there are enough considerate and helpful people in this ng to
make it worth coming here - there are newsgroups I used to use a lot that
have been rendered useless by the trolls. <sigh>...

That's why I'm here. Because some of the people are truly helpful and
understand my situation.

I'm sad some good NGs went down the tubes. It's a bummer......

 

[Valorie *~]

Too bad I live 15 hours away. The trip charge would be excessive but
at least you'd have a working network and working modems again.

*Sigh*.... that's far. I'm going to start contacting everyone I know and
see if there's another tech in town who can/will come out to the house. I
may hit pay dirt.

 

[Valorie *~]

Name three.

PhotoFiltre, KarensDirectoryPrinter and Wordweb.

No, it wouldn't if you pull the hard drives, put new ones in and installed
Ubuntu on the new drives.

What of the expense and no tech to do it?

Besides, HP is famous for getting

out of warranty work. Read your warranty and you'll see what I mean. I
bought an HP desktop way back when and it came with 98 and a coupon for a
Windows Me upgrade. The upgrade voided the warranty so go figure. That
said, if you have a win modem it won't work with Ubuntu or Mint. Your
satellite connection will probably work better, however.

How would Ubuntu improve the signal?

 

[Valorie *~]

I guess if I ever start feeling like this is going to

cost me sleep or keep me out of heaven I will do as so many have suggested
and buy a Mac

Brevity snipped.

The daughter and her husband switched to MACs a few years ago. They're happy
with them. No complaints and no problems mentioned. They're encouraging us
to take that route.

 

[Alex Clayton]

I guess if I ever start feeling like this is going to

Brevity snipped.

The daughter and her husband switched to MACs a few years ago. They're
happy with them. No complaints and no problems mentioned. They're
encouraging us to take that route.

If I had all kinds of problems with PC's I am sure I would have tried Mac,
but I don't seem to have all the problems I keep hearing. I guess I should
say problems that are not operator error. I remember before I even tried to
learn to use a PC I had seen people struggle with the early ones, but
everything from XP on seems to just work. You bring it home, plug it in,
turn it on and start using it.
That was. why I gave up on Linux. I am sure it works, but I just did not
have the patience to learn all over again.
With Mac it has always been price. I can buy a laptop that works great for
what I do for around $500. The same thing in Mac is at least 3 times that.
Now I am sure it does something better, but nothing I need so I just have
not bothered to try.

 

[chrisv]

I guess if I ever start feeling like this is going to

Brevity snipped.

The daughter and her husband switched to MACs a few years ago. They're
happy with them. No complaints and no problems mentioned. They're
encouraging us to take that route.

I also want to encourage you to go with Macs...albeit for a different
reason.

 

[Char Jackson]

Of course we've called them - MANY TIMES!!!!!!! Don't assume anything. We
get nowhere. They want us to replace the dish for $$$$$ but wont send anyone
out to check the system to see what's wrong with it. To see if it needs an
adjustment. It's in excellent condition and only about 4 years old. They
just want to make more money, not help solve the problem. We get the run
around just like when we had Hughes.net. Hughes.net was no better than
Wildblue.net.

I can't explain it then. Friends of mine have Wildblue, and my brother
is a dealer for his area. I know from firsthand experience that when
you call for service, they can access your account and see exactly
what your signal strength is, including its history, and they can see
exactly how many times your end has lost the signal, including the
date and time, etc, and a whole lot more. In short, they don't need to
send someone out to see what's going on since they can see what's
going on from the comfort of their chair. They may have to send
someone to repoint the dish or tweak the hardware, but that person
would never have to come out just to see what's going on.

 

[Char Jackson]

I had to buy the type that works with Windows. That's what I did. ;-)

Both types work with Windows.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Both types work with Windows.

Thanks for that. Looking back at my post, I realize that I wasn't
explicit about that, when I said they "work fine with Linux and so on".
I was assuming a reader who could understand the context, even connect a
dot or two, and realize that I was adding to the list, not replacing it.
I keep forgetting ... oh, never mind, I'll leave that thought
unfinished.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

If I had all kinds of problems with PC's I am sure I would have tried Mac,
but I don't seem to have all the problems I keep hearing. I guess I should
say problems that are not operator error. I remember before I even tried to
learn to use a PC I had seen people struggle with the early ones, but
everything from XP on seems to just work. You bring it home, plug it in,
turn it on and start using it.
That was. why I gave up on Linux. I am sure it works, but I just did not
have the patience to learn all over again.
With Mac it has always been price. I can buy a laptop that works great for
what I do for around $500. The same thing in Mac is at least 3 times that.
Now I am sure it does something better, but nothing I need so I just have
not bothered to try.

Although I have the impression from some recent announcements that maybe
you only need to pay double these days

I had a Mac for a while, and I truly liked a lot about it, but it seemed
no more trouble-free that a PC, really.

Much of why I retired it had to do with needing to run a virtual PC to
run software that I couldn't run on the Mac OS. I couldn't even find a
Mac-native newsreader that was useable (to me - it's subjective, of
course). I spent a lot more time in the VM than in OS X.

 

[Alex Clayton]

Although I have the impression from some recent announcements that maybe
you only need to pay double these days

I had a Mac for a while, and I truly liked a lot about it, but it seemed
no more trouble-free that a PC, really.

Much of why I retired it had to do with needing to run a virtual PC to
run software that I couldn't run on the Mac OS. I couldn't even find a
Mac-native newsreader that was useable (to me - it's subjective, of
course). I spent a lot more time in the VM than in OS X.

You may be right. I just glanced at Amazon and saw a couple in the 15-17
inch screen for around $1200. Still too much for me to feel the "need" to
try them.

BTW the wife finally figured out we have a new desk top. I waited 3 weeks
and finally could not stand it any more. She was back there typing away on
it and I said, "did you notice the picture looks better now"? She said, "no
what did you do" while looking over the new 24" HD monitor that replaced a
19" standard . I said, "did you notice it runs faster now"?. Again she
stopped what she was doing to look, irritated that I was asking these
questions and wanted to know what I had done. I then asked he if she
noticed it was a new OS, old one had been XP. The she sat back, looked again
and said "YOU BOUGHT A NEW COMPUTER? WHEN? I told her 3 weeks ago and she at
first tried to decide if I was trying to pull one over on her. I am pretty
sure that if I wanted to I could have just never said anything and she would
have never noticed if she never saw the old one in the attic. <G>

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

You may be right. I just glanced at Amazon and saw a couple in the 15-17
inch screen for around $1200. Still too much for me to feel the "need" to
try them.

BTW the wife finally figured out we have a new desk top. I waited 3 weeks
and finally could not stand it any more. She was back there typing away on
it and I said, "did you notice the picture looks better now"? She said, "no
what did you do" while looking over the new 24" HD monitor that replaced a
19" standard . I said, "did you notice it runs faster now"?. Again she
stopped what she was doing to look, irritated that I was asking these
questions and wanted to know what I had done. I then asked he if she
noticed it was a new OS, old one had been XP. The she sat back, looked again
and said "YOU BOUGHT A NEW COMPUTER? WHEN? I told her 3 weeks ago and she at
first tried to decide if I was trying to pull one over on her. I am pretty
sure that if I wanted to I could have just never said anything and she would
have never noticed if she never saw the old one in the attic. <G>

What a great story!

Thanks for the update, it kind of makes my day...

But be honest - there's really not that much difference between a 19"
CRT and a 24" LCD, is there?

In a sort of serious vein - you've got to give her credit for
concentrating on the job at hand, not on that peripheral incidental
stuff. I should have such concentrated focus...

 

[Alex Clayton]

What a great story!

Thanks for the update, it kind of makes my day...

But be honest - there's really not that much difference between a 19"
CRT and a 24" LCD, is there?

In a sort of serious vein - you've got to give her credit for
concentrating on the job at hand, not on that peripheral incidental
stuff. I should have such concentrated focus...

For computer work I really can not see any difference in the old one and the
new HD. I could see one right away with the desktop picture though. I use a
picture of either our dogs, or sometimes one of the Macaw. I was surprised
she did not notice that when she first would sit down.
Now and then if she is watching some show I don't like I will watch a
show on the computer. Here the HD screen does again stand out. Now rather
than using my laptop I can sit at the desktop and watch something. The new
box has an HDMI out and the monitor has either VGA or HDMI inputs and I used
an HDMI cable. It does make a noticeable difference then on things like
pictures or watching a DVD.
A couple years ago when we bought an HD TV I found that out. Using the TV
to watch movies off the computer the picture was a hell of a lot better when
I got this laptop that had an HDMI out. It has a Bluray player too so I
tried a BR disc. That I was not as impressed with. The picture was only
slightly better. The sound was a lot better though but the discs take up so
much space I did not bother to try any more.

 

[Char Jackson]

Thanks for that. Looking back at my post, I realize that I wasn't
explicit about that, when I said they "work fine with Linux and so on".
I was assuming a reader who could understand the context, even connect a
dot or two, and realize that I was adding to the list, not replacing it.
I keep forgetting ... oh, never mind, I'll leave that thought
unfinished.

No need to finish, I got it. ;-)

 

[relic]

Thanks for that. Looking back at my post, I realize that I wasn't
explicit about that, when I said they "work fine with Linux and so on".
I was assuming a reader who could understand the context, even connect a
dot or two, and realize that I was adding to the list, not replacing it.
I keep forgetting ... oh, never mind, I'll leave that thought
unfinished.

:-D

 

[Valorie *~]

Both types work with Windows.

Except it doesn't work on the HP PC with W-7.

 

[Valorie *~]

If I had all kinds of problems with PC's I am sure I would have tried Mac,
but I don't seem to have all the problems I keep hearing. I guess I should
say problems that are not operator error.

You mean when a MS update messes something up it's the operators fault?
?!?!?!?

I remember before I even tried to

learn to use a PC I had seen people struggle with the early ones, but
everything from XP on seems to just work. You bring it home, plug it in,
turn it on and start using it.

Yep, that's how both W98/second edition and XP were. W95 was the pits.
Hardly ever a problem with those two.

That was. why I gave up on Linux. I am sure it works, but I just did not
have the patience to learn all over again.
With Mac it has always been price. I can buy a laptop that works great
for what I do for around $500. The same thing in Mac is at least 3 times
that. Now I am sure it does something better, but nothing I need so I just
have not bothered to try.

We really don't want to learn all over again with a MAC either. But both
Vista and W-7 have been problematic for us.

 

[Char Jackson]

Except it doesn't work on the HP PC with W-7.

To clarify, it does work on HP PC's with Win 7. It's only your HP that
currently has a problem.