A random thread for small computing things that don't really warrant a thread of their own

[Mr Larrington]

I succumbed to temptation and bought a second IBM Model M off eBay.  1994 model.  Pity the bloody PS2 port on the back of the machine doesn't work, thus forcing a couple of days delay to clicky typing goodness while the PS2/USB gadget was delivered.

[mrcharly-YHT]

No, usually the receiving device has to be set to receive data from cast then you can 'cast' from your phone, tablet whatever. So it is probably a neighbour with a smart TV setting their TV to receive chromecast.

Hang on, how would it be aware of a TV/Chromecast on a separate LAN?

Good point. I wasn't thinking very clearly. Unless some smartTVs have a mode where they work as a short-range router for chromecast purposes.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Daughter got replacement (refurb) zenbook, not as spiffing a model as the one that was stolen, but it was what could be afforded. After a few days, it died. Under warranty, so it went back.
She hadn't been happy with it, so after some umming and ahing, picked a lenovo yoga 3 instead, again a refurb.

That seemed much better. Two days later, she phones me up; "Dad, the fan is making an incredible racket, I can't even work it is so loud" I google while she is on phone, seems it is common issue . . .

Balls. Lenovo have screwed something up. Suggested fixes are either replacing bios but plausibly someone suggest a software fault results in multiple launches of rundll.exe causing CPU to heat up and kick fan into overdrive. bugger.

[ian]

Agreed. Mouse 2 has better features.
I'm questioning the quality of the build. I'll see how I get on with the replacement one.

I had my Magic Mouse 2 replaced, it had a pronounced if tiny wobble. Probably if I knew no better I would have let it be, but I have a colony of earlier Magic Mouses (I have one v2 and two v1s on my desk). The Apple store just gave me a new one (though they didn't seem convinced there was a problem, but hey). I like them, but it seems there's some variability, and they're sensitive little things. My wife's Magic Mouse, for instance, has a mildly more satisfying click. File under #firstworldproblems.

[Mr Larrington]

My wife's Magic Mouse, for instance, has a mildly more satisfying click. File under #firstworldproblems.

I feel your pain.  The clickiness of the "2" key on my recently-acquired Model M is a little subdued compared with its older sibling.

[Jurek]

My wife's Magic Mouse, for instance, has a mildly more satisfying click. File under #firstworldproblems.

Wait!
There's variation in satisfaction to be had from click?
*Makes appointment at Covent Garden Genius Bar to acquire a more satisfying click*

You were right to have your wobbly mouse replaced. My 2015 mouse also had a wobble. It now lives in a box on the fourth floor of a building a smidgin west of Sloane Square, and I have a wobble-free mouse.

[ian]

Oh, there is. I mean, there's nothing wrong with my mouse's click, it just I know there's a better click upstairs. I can't quantify it but it's a slightly more firm click. It's a click that takes no effort yet at the same time means business. Anything clicked by that mouse stays clicked. It's a decisive click. Sometimes the clicks on my mouse are a bit 'meh' like it doesn't entirely mean it. It's not a committed click and who doesn't want commitment from a click.

My wife also has one of those force-feedback trackpads which is very nice, the same as on my Macbook. That's a super-nice click, let me tell you.

[Kim]

This afternoon a mistake agent, inspecting the landlord's non-repairs, accused me of trying to hack into NASA.  I suggested that NASA have more than enough problems already.

[Dibdib]

This afternoon a mistake agent, inspecting the landlord's non-repairs, accused me of trying to hack into NASA.  I suggested that NASA have more than enough problems already.

What were you hacking, The Gibson?

[Kim]

This afternoon a mistake agent, inspecting the landlord's non-repairs, accused me of trying to hack into NASA.  I suggested that NASA have more than enough problems already.

What were you hacking, The Gibson?

I think it's a games company.  There's this Global Thermonuclear War simulation...

[Ashaman42]

Defcon?

[David Martin]

No, she is a closet member of al-gebra.

[Gattopardo]

Has anyone made there own bios back up batteries? http://www.zlectronic.com/crms/bigpic/us/33646_zlectronic_1.jpg

[Kim]

I don't think I've had a BIOS battery go flat in the modern era (I last remember dealing with one on a crusty 386 ETA: Ah no, barakta did a PRAM battery on a PowerPC Mac at one point).  They tended to out-last the capacitors on noughties motherboards.

I think all our machines have a normal CR2032 holder on the board.  That arrangement looks needlessly complicated, but wouldn't be too tricky to reproduce.

[woollypigs]

Just plug it into the mains, never run out of batteries that way, mind you might need a new motherboard ...

[Chris S]

 

Angular 2 and ngrx.

A whole new universe of What. The Fuck?

(Actually, I quite like it, as frameworks go).

[Biggsy]

Has anyone made there own bios back up batteries? http://www.zlectronic.com/crms/bigpic/us/33646_zlectronic_1.jpg

It's just a coin cell holder inna plastic wrapper, innit?  There's one like that in a little MSI netbook of mine - to save space on the motherboard itself.  Cut off insulation, replace cell, tape or heat shrink up.  The parts can be got from eBay or your usual component supplier if you need to make one from scratch for some impressive project.

[Chris S]

Today's minor amusing moment; I found myself typing:

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[rogerzilla]

My 2.5-year old Samsung Galaxy S5 has a new battery, since the old one was beginning to struggle to make it through a day.  I resisted the £5 ones on eBay, which are ALWAYS fakes, whatever the listing says, and paid about £15 for a proper retail pack.  It probably has twice the capacity of the old knackered one...half a day of fairly intensive use and it's still on 75%.

[Afasoas]

I've somehow wound up hosting email for customersother people*.

One "customer" wanted to create filtering rules from the webmail client. This has lead to an adventure with dovecot-sieve/manage-sieved and roundcube's sieve plug-in so that one person can has filtering rules. Which of course would have been easier if all the guidance on the t'interweb wasn't all copied from the same source omitting the same important detail, that storing sieve rules inside a users mailbox is sub-optimal.

Another "customer" wanted email set-up on a proper computer, which has resulted in an adventure with a gummed laptop sporting an equally gummed up keyboard.

At my age I should know better. These things always escalate. I agreed to the first by opening my mouth without thinking and the other was fallout from F-I-L getting let down by a friend of the family.

*customers would PAY me. And by other people I don't mean fellow forummers.

[T42]

Darty, bless their leaden knickers and earthenware tootsies, have sent me an email telling me how careful they always are to ensure on-line security, and asking me to change my account password if it was created before 2016.

IOW, they just discovered they were hacked in 2015.

[T42]

Noticed in the NYT that Toshiba is tottering:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/11/business/dealbook/toshiba-foxconn-chips-deal.html?ref=dealbook&_r=0   

[Bledlow]

I don't think I've had a BIOS battery go flat in the modern era (I last remember dealing with one on a crusty 386 ETA: Ah no, barakta did a PRAM battery on a PowerPC Mac at one point).  They tended to out-last the capacitors on noughties motherboards.

I think all our machines have a normal CR2032 holder on the board.  That arrangement looks needlessly complicated, but wouldn't be too tricky to reproduce.

IIRC I've replaced two, both in this millennium. One on a PC I used to own & later gave to charity (wiped, ready for installation of new OS etc. by the charity) at least a decade ago, & one about 5 years ago on an old (even then) PC used by a blind bloke & supported by another charity which I was volunteering for. Both took a bog standard CR2032 in a normal holder on the board. Open case, take out old CR2032, stick in pocket so it doesn't get mixed up with new one, take new one out of blister pack, push in, fire up PC to check it's OK, close down when it's obvious it is, put case back together.

Never having noticed any other arrangement on any of the machines I've opened up to repair or upgrade, I assumed that it was universal.

[Kim]

Never having noticed any other arrangement on any of the machines I've opened up to repair or upgrade, I assumed that it was universal.

It wasn't in the crusty 386 era (suspect they needed more current, so bigger batteries were a thing), and obviously Apple like to be different, but as far as modern PCs go, so did I.

[simonp]

git bisect - such a useful feature