Tuesday, 8 December 2015

By on December 8th, 2015 in relocation

12:32 – I’m back, hitting on two or three of eight cylinders. Our Internet service is working fine, as is Barbara’s Windows notebook, but that’s about the only technology I have working at this point.

I’m typing this on my Dell notebook, which until this morning was running stock Win 8. I tried to create a set of emergency restore discs last night so that I could restore Windows to this notebook if I ever wanted to. The backup created the first disc and then died on the second disk. It did that twice, drawing down my supply of DVD+R discs from the 10 I bought locally yesterday. I finally decided to write off Windows. I downloaded and burned the new Linux Mint LTS version late last night. This morning I installed it, blowing away Windows. I was fully aware that it might be difficult or impossible to get the wireless adapter working under Linux, so I just plugged it into an Ethernet port on the router and am sitting downstairs a few feet from the router.

That router, incidentally, is the original one and is working fine. My problem getting the Roku 3 to connect to it is entirely down to Roku’s completely inept implementation of wireless networking. Every other device we have sees and connects to the router with no problem. So I carried the big TV downstairs this morning and put it next to the router. I’ll run an Ethernet cable to the Roku and everything will work fine. We’ll just have to watch TV downstairs until I can get around to running wired Ethernet upstairs.

I need to get in position to ship kits. That means getting a printer connected to this notebook, not to mention locating all the miscellany needed–tape dispenser, packing material, labels, etc. etc. Fortunately, customers have been understanding when I explain that their orders caught us in the middle of relocating. I WILL get all outstanding orders shipped well in time for Christmas.

The woodstove was delived yesterday. The HVAC guy is coming tomorrow to give our heat pump a checkover and will also install the stove. Barbara left early this morning to make a run down to Winston-Salem to run some errands, buy some stuff we need, and stop by the house to grab some of the stuff we didn’t get moved last week.

Computer-wise, this move has been a disaster. My main desktop system won’t boot. I just tried to restore my data and Firefox/Thunderbird configs from two USB thumb drives. The zip files are on the thumb drives and appear to copy normally to the notebook hard drive, but attempting to unzip them just gives an unhelpful error message. I have more backup copies on other thumb drives and two other hard drives, including copies that weren’t compressed, so I should be able to get a reasonably recent copy of my data back.

So right now I’ve got much more to do than I have time to do it. Still, the move was worth it, and this too shall pass.


62 Comments and discussion on "Tuesday, 8 December 2015"

  1. Lynn says:

    Again, congratulations. You survived the move long enough to sleep in the new place (grin!).

    I’ve been reading a very good book about The Mortality Club. And teenage angst. Ran across an awesome saying in the book, somewhat crude, “Time is a slut. She screws everyone.”.

  2. MrAtoz says:

    /snobbery

    Dr. Bob, if you used all Apple stuff, your problems would never have occurred.

    /snobbery

    lolololol

    Trump 2016! “Free Apple Trumpaphones for every one who votes for me”

  3. Mike G. says:

    FWIW, my Roku 3 works just fine with our WiFi (“SSID_optout_nomap”, to keep Windows 10 and Google honest). What you may be running into is issue with Roku’s Wi-Fi Direct implementation/configuration, etc. Into the weeds…

    http://x42.obscurechannel.com/?p=57

    .mg

  4. OFD says:

    “I was fully aware that it might be difficult or impossible to get the wireless adapter working under Linux, so I just plugged it into an Ethernet port on the router and am sitting downstairs a few feet from the router.”

    And isn’t THAT a damn shame, after all these years. I remember five years ago when I was first messing around with that issue on an old Toshiba laptop running some Linux distro or other and got some helpful tips from a guy on this board who doesn’t seem to be around anymore. It’s a real PITA, and I’ve got Linux machines upstairs connected to a Cisco switch which itself is hooked up to the incoming Comcast/media setup downstairs with the tee-vee. It’s got 24 ports so whoopee! Of course the one Windows box is on that switch, too.

    “So I carried the big TV downstairs this morning and put it next to the router. I’ll run an Ethernet cable to the Roku and everything will work fine.”

    Same deal up here; our Roku is hooked up to the incoming line and the Comcast gear with the tee-vee. So on the few occasions we watch the TV we do it downstairs by the woodstove. I haven’t tried it lately but presumably I can still stream stuff from the Windows box to the tee-vee accordingly on said Roku.

    “That means getting a printer connected to this notebook…”

    Should take all of about two seconds, based on my experience with that here; Linux distros seem to see the printers immediately when connected directly. Try that with Winblows. Also most distros come with Simple Scan, which is bedrock simple compared to the hoops we jump through with our HP multifunction printer, which is now kaput after five or six years of workhorse stability. The printer carriage won’t budge now and I’ve cleaned it out, done hard re-sets, all the usual google-fu stuff and no joy in Retroville. So I have a Brother multifunction enroute and imagine that will be scads of fun setting up with Windoze.

    “My main desktop system won’t boot.”

    You have time to open it up yet? Might just be that something got jogged loose during the trip up. Dead power supply? Ah, you know the drill.

    “The HVAC guy is coming tomorrow to give our heat pump a checkover and will also install the stove.”

    No chit? He’ll install the stove, too? Cool. Start the stove going at first with small fires, make sure all is in working order before firing up the big loads of wood.

    Congrats on the move and sorry about the computer glitches; there’s always gonna be a fly in the ointment, a monkey wrench in the works, etc.

    I think you’ll like it a lot better up there than back in the urban/suburban cesspool.

  5. Ray Thompson says:

    So I have a Brother multifunction enroute and imagine that will be scads of fun setting up with Windoze

    Perhaps not and you may be in for a pleasant surprise.

    I have a Brother color laser printer that is hooked to the network rather than a physical connection from the printer to the computer. Purchased last year during Black Friday at Staples for $139.00. Duplex, full color, manual feed, network connections, USB connection. I used a network connection as I wanted to be able to print from other devices.

    Installed the Brother software and the printer just worked. No settings to mess with. The software found the printer, installed the proper drivers, even did a firmware update to the printer.

    The Brother printer also supports my Apple devices without issue. Multiple systems (4 of them, all Windows) print to the printer via the network just fine.

  6. MrAtoz says:

    I have an HP laserjet 400 color series that works great with W7, W10 all Apple Macs and is Airprint compatible. Color carts are costly, though. We write it off to the biz.

  7. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Wireless is working fine on my new Linux notebook. I just needed to find the place to install proprietary drivers and click the recommended option for the Broadcom drivers.

    As to the woodstove, there are actually two 6″ flues, about a foot apart, each with its own cleanout door below it. The guy who delivered the stove looked at them when I asked him if we needed to get a chimney sweep before we connected and used the stove. He noticed that one of them was new and unused. He said the best way to check the draw was to use a rolled up section of newspaper that we lit and stuck in the flue. It drew like gangbusters. In fact, it sucked the entire section of rolled up newspaper through the flue and up into the chimney. He said we wouldn’t have any problem with it.

    The desktop PC is five years old, filthy, and probably on its last legs anyway.

  8. OFD says:

    “Installed the Brother software and the printer just worked. No settings to mess with. The software found the printer, installed the proper drivers, even did a firmware update to the printer.”

    I’ll do due diligence by RTFM first and then see what happens when I try it with just the wireless and one Windows desktop with the rest of the machines here on all different Linux distros. I like a challenge.

    ” In fact, it sucked the entire section of rolled up newspaper through the flue and up into the chimney. He said we wouldn’t have any problem with it.’

    Outstanding! Start staggering seasoned and unseasoned wood deliveries and Bob’s yer uncle!

    “The desktop PC is five years old, filthy, and probably on its last legs anyway.”

    It’s amazing the dust and crud that gets sucked into them; I open mine up a couple of times a year and blow all that chit outta there. Keyboards also a regular cleanup detail via the dishwasher method. Certain parties here like to eat and drink at the Windows box so it’s an ongoing battle.

    Once I get the attic workshop/flooring/shelving and workbench area all squared away, I’ll run another Cat-5 wire up there from the Cisco box down here to a second one and hook up more Linux machines accordingly. Pretty much all our chit here is hardwired now, although wireless on some devices works intermittently. Our cell service sucks and high winds/rain will sometimes knock out the net/tee-vee/landline for a few seconds or minutes. But since the Comcast kidz came out and replaced the antenna splitter and the wire out to the pole it’s been pretty solid and reliable. Credit where it’s due, and all that.

    I see Marine Le Pen is having happy days this week and that’s great! We need somebody like her here. Trump ain’t it.

  9. Lynn says:

    I see Marine Le Pen is having happy days this week and that’s great! We need somebody like her here. Trump ain’t it.

    Ah, I see. A Jeb Bush fan. Hope that goes well for you.

    Rush had a nice article on Trump today:
    http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/12/08/trump_supporter_read_the_art_of_the_deal_to_understand_what_he_s_doing

    Trump! Trump! Trump!

  10. Chad says:

    My main desktop system won’t boot.

    People still use desktop PCs at home??? 🙂

  11. Chad says:

    Trump! Trump! Trump!

    I love how Trump continues to monopolize the dialogue and the MSM. Cracks me up to no end. I do, however, think he’s a bit crazy and he doesn’t stand a chance in the general election. He’s making a mockery, intentionally or unintentionally, of the entire political system in the US and that was LONG overdue. Moderate/mainstream Republican candidates cannot get a primetime soundbite to save themselves (except perhaps Carson). Bernie vs Hillary barely makes the news too. This is the first Presidential election where I’ve wanted to pop some popcorn, sit back, and watch the train wreck.

  12. OFD says:

    “Ah, I see. A Jeb Bush fan. Hope that goes well for you.”

    If you mean me, you gotta be kidding. With all his chickenhawk rap lately, I’d put him right on the friggin’ front lines in the Sandbox with Army Rangers. Or even better, Marines. See if he can walk the walk like he talks the talk. I’d have the Seals take Cankles on a mission, too, see if she can swim like she can slither.

    The rest I’d dump out of a Spectre gunship hold and then let the gunners have some nifty target practice.

    “People still use desktop PCs at home???”

    Old farts like us; I have this Windoze box, the RHEL server machine, and a Fedora 23 desktop. Plus several laptops, netbooks and the Kindle Fire. And the large iPhone 6 (for now, until wife and I switch; I’ll get her little iPhone 5 and then in a few months move up again.)

    “This is the first Presidential election where I’ve wanted to pop some popcorn, sit back, and watch the train wreck.”

    Indeed, it is proving to be more entertaining than any of the last dozen or so, easily. I really can’t predict how this will turn out, although the Irish betting money sez Cankles and I’d agree, but she’s got major health issues and anything can happen. And train wreck it will be, no matter who gets the WH gig; the system is wretchedly beyond any hope of repair now; over $200 trillion in debt with World War IV pending and a crumbling infrastructure while hordes of barbarians swarm over us. Parallels with the late Roman empire and Germany between the first two world wars are inescapable.

  13. Lynn says:

    And train wreck it will be, no matter who gets the WH gig; the system is wretchedly beyond any hope of repair now; over $200 trillion in debt with World War IV pending and a crumbling infrastructure while hordes of barbarians swarm over us. Parallels with the late Roman empire and Germany between the first two world wars are inescapable.

    Did I miss WW III ? Or was that the cold war ?

    I am ready for hyperinflation. I own TWO wheelbarrows.

    We do need a higher denomination bill in the USA. I closed a bank account yesterday and took 28 one hundred dollar bills to the new bank. A $500 or a $1,000 bill would be nice. Even that reputed phantom one trillion dollar bill would be an improvement. And yes, I know, it would instantly become the most faked bill out there.

  14. Lynn says:

    Can I promise that you will not like Cankles as President? Just imagine Huma as the Chief of Staff. And Chelsea as the First Princess and next President by Presidential Decree. And Bill as … Oh heck, I don’t even know the answer to that one.

    BTW, Obola still has over one years to go in office. He still has a few tricks up his sleeve, a few dirty deals for the masses. I’m wondering if he will declare himself as an ayatollah before or after he leaves office?

  15. MrAtoz says:

    This is the quality of Ofukstik’s leadership:

    ‘Let me just step back and say that the Trump campaign for months now has had a dustbin-of-history-like quality to it. From the vacuous sloganeering to the outright lies, to even the fake hair, the whole carnival barker routine that we’ve seen for some time now.’

    This is the President of the United States spokesman. Very classy. Is there any doubt why the rest of the World laughs at us? Why hordes of crimmigrants and terrorists freely cross our border?

    What’s next “nanny nanny boo boo”. Weak leader. Hides behind his sycophants. As LTC Peters called him: “A total pussy”. I hope he slips on a banana peel and breaks his neck. Same for Cankles.

  16. MrAtoz says:

    To show you the quality of the VA, for our condo purchase loan, I have provide about 100 different documents because MrsAtoz owns her biz ( a C corp). I just got an email request for 5 more documents.

    But, Cankles will fix all this right? Don’t forget, fuck the Vet! The VA is a total disgrace.

  17. Lynn says:

    @MrAtoz, you will like this, “Vet’s mom forced to sell Obama letter to cover VA failures he promised to fix”:
    http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2577854

    @ChuckW, you were recently wondering about a online news outlet for keeping up to date. I would highly recommend Matt Drudge’s news aggregation, “The Drudge Report”:
    http://drudgereport.com/

  18. MrAtoz says:

    +1000 Mr. Lynn.

  19. pcb_duffer says:

    1. One thing I really like about my Brother (an MFC-J825DW) is its willingness to happily deal with the Linux boxes. Me readme.txt for the installation instructions are free for the asking. The Brother will accept input via ethernet, USB, or WiFi.

    2. Currently, I have three desktop type PCs in the domicile. One each Winbox (7Pro) and Linuxbox (OpenSuse42.1) in the office, and one Winbox (7Home) in the living room, configured as a video server. Plus one each Compaq laptop, currently running OpenSuse 13.1. The back is usually removed, so swapping out hard drives in order to piddle with various O/S is trivially easy.

    3. No version of OpenSuse has ever liked the WiFi chip on the Compaq machine, but I haven’t really dedicated a lot of time to tweaking the set up in order to get it to work. The ethernet port is A-OK, and it usually sits right beside the router. The current flavor of Fedora works happily with the Compaq’s WiFi.

    4. If I were helping / advising someone on a move re: their computer system, I’d tell them to open the case, remove the hard drive(s), and physically secure them. One of the free shipping boxes from the USPS, with all the drives labelled and wedged together w/ foam peanuts and newspaper, ought to secure things. As we all know, the real value is the information stored on the drive, not the computer itself.

  20. MrAtoz says:

    Has anybody else noticed all the dipshit drone incidents lately. These people are going to ruin it for the rest of us. I probably won’t be able to peek in the neighbors window anymore. lol

    I’m trying to start a small drone biz, but not sure how I could make money. I have several toy ones, working on building one, and just purchased a prosumer drone from dji.com

    Any ideas from the crowd?

  21. OFD says:

    “I am ready for hyperinflation. I own TWO wheelbarrows.”

    Same here. Cleaned up and ready for hauling loads of worthless fiat rubbish currency.

    World War III was the so-called Cold War, as it involved countries all over the world with the major powers fighting via their proxies, as usual. I remember it from active duty serving on the NORAD front and guarding nuke warheads. The so-called Vietnam War was actually the First and Second Indochina Wars, and I did active service in both of those, too. World War IV is what’s coming, esp. if we keep poking the Russian Bear in the eyes and the Iranians likewise while tampering and fiddling with hadji and totalitarian regimes from Morocco to Syria in the meanwhile, toppling various dictators and watching them be replaced, one after the other, by much, much worse. And Pakistan and India both have nuke warhead capability currently, while the Iranians keep working on it; it’s almost as if we’d LIKE to get another world war going, this time with some nuke destruction worse than Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I’d say, fine, if a couple of the targets include Mecca, Medina, and Pyongyang….but then again, any of these hadji groups or sleeper cells may already have the makings of a suitcase nuke they can detonate in a major Western city at some point. Who do we retaliate against? I’d go for Mecca and Medina.

    “Can I promise that you will not like Cankles as President? Just imagine Huma as the Chief of Staff. And Chelsea as the First Princess and next President by Presidential Decree.”

    I dunno where the idea came about that I’d like Cankles or Jebster in the WH, other than that it will bring on the Catastrophe even faster. Which could work to our benefit in the very long run. I’m sure that’s the plan the Klintons have in store for us, but the best laid plans of rats and womyn…or we can keep kicking the can down the road and make the Hurt far worse by electing, though this is on the order of a miraculous long shot, one of the dumbo moron Repub clowns.

    “He still has a few tricks up his sleeve, a few dirty deals for the masses.”

    Looks like he’s gonna go hard for the gun control thing and bringing in more millions of hadjis and Hispanics.

    “I hope he slips on a banana peel and breaks his neck. Same for Cankles.”

    The argument could be made that we deserve both of them. Sitting on our asses and letting corporate oligarchs and banksters run the show and gin up more wars and tank the economy and sell our jobs overseas. This is what we get and have it coming. The Boomers and the Greats; what a mess.

    “I just got an email request for 5 more documents.”

    That sounds all too familiar; we’d provide half a dozen docs and then the next day or week, they’d want another half-dozen, rinse and repeat. You also gotta dog them constantly for any mistakes they might make. OFD feels yer pain, hermano.

    “Don’t forget, fuck the Vet! The VA is a total disgrace.”

    Hahahahahahahahaha! You so funny! Listen: is you and me still jockeying choppers around the world or runnin’ an’ gunnin’ for commies and hadjis??? No? They they don’t give a flying fuck. Get used to it. I’ve been spoiled up here by it being such a small state and a small VA organization down at White River and Burlap; I have no complaints about them; they’ve treated me like a Prince of the Realm. But the national shit and the paperwork stuff is a fucking nightmare. I’ll be finding that out (again) as my disability stuff goes through the grinder.

    “ChuckW, you were recently wondering about a online news outlet for keeping up to date. I would highly recommend Matt Drudge’s news aggregation…”

    IIRC, Mr. Chuck himself thought it was the best news aggregator and said so on this board, but it was a while back. Drudge is the “right-wing” online nooz tabloid; Salon is the neo-Maoist online tabloid. Other than that, you’re better off with the English “Mail” and “Russia Today.” Or just identifying sites that deal with your particular interests, like I do with radio, prepping, firearms, IT, etc. And a mere handful of political and religious sites.

    “One thing I really like about my Brother (an MFC-J825DW) is its willingness to happily deal with the Linux boxes. Me readme.txt for the installation instructions are free for the asking. The Brother will accept input via ethernet, USB, or WiFi.”

    My Brother Printer MFC-J4620DW came today; haven’t taken it outta the box yet, but that is very encouraging.

  22. OFD says:

    “Any ideas from the crowd?”

    1.) Sell your configured drones as a security service for paying customers of whatever ilk.

    2.) Pick up and deliver weapons and narcotics for gangbangers out there in Lost Wages.

    3.) Hover above the blackjack and poker tables and learn how the big boys do it.

    4.) Get vid footage of strippers and hookers in their dressing rooms and sunning themselves by their pools and upload it to pay-per-view net sites.

    5.) Do any of the above but cover it all with a legit enterprise, like aerial mapping for farmers, ranchers and geologists.

    Ask, and ye shall receive. No charge.

  23. nick says:

    I’ve got an all in one, with touch screen in the kitchen on win7, a win7 box in the office w/my radio stuff, my main pc, with 2 big monitors, a smaller winxp box with touch screen for my vinyl cutter, various laptops, and a win98 box that I haven’t turned on in 6 months. (That one might go away.)

    I guess I’m a dino. But for stationary machines, can’t beat a full sized box with big drives and multiple monitors.

    nick

  24. MrAtoz says:

    1.) Sell your configured drones as a security service for paying customers of whatever ilk.

    Maybe I should get a private dick’s license (I know, Mr. SteveF). Then peep in celeb windows for cheating. I’ll start with Caitlyn. Get some “ball” shots for the Daily Mail.

  25. Alan says:

    People still use desktop PCs at home???

    But for stationary machines, can’t beat a full sized box with big drives and multiple monitors.

    Ditto for the multi-monitor setups – especially more than two.

  26. nick says:

    Illegal imigrants, they just want ALL THE FREE GOODIES WE WILL GIVE THEM.

    From my school board’s letter:

    “Trustees further heard an update on the plan to improve scores for the district’s English Language Learners (ELL), encompassing some 12,000 students, nearly a third of the district’s enrollment.

    Some small number of these kids might be legal. The rest are not. ONE THIRD.

    nick

  27. Lynn says:

    “Trustees further heard an update on the plan to improve scores for the district’s English Language Learners (ELL), encompassing some 12,000 students, nearly a third of the district’s enrollment.”

    Some small number of these kids might be legal. The rest are not. ONE THIRD.

    The problem has not changed since I went to Dowling Junior High in 1971-1972 in the Houston barrio over off Post Oak Blvd and Orem. The Dads learn enough English to do construction work. The Moms watch Spanish tv and never learn any English. It is very hit and miss on the kids, mostly miss.

  28. Lynn says:

    I have a customer wanting to build hydrogen tanks at ambient temperatures and 14,000 psia (965 bar). What could go wrong?

    Hydrogen wants to be free! I would not store these tanks in an enclosed area. I would prefer a constant 10 mph crosswind. Or more.

    This guy stores hydrogen in old propane tanks at 200 psia and I think he is crazy:
    http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hydrogen-house/
    http://www.hydrogenhouseproject.org/the-first-consumer-hydrogen-house.html

  29. SteveF says:

    The argument could be made that we deserve both of them.

    I’ve never been big on that whole collective guilt thing.

    Moreover, The Community™ really does not want me to accept a share of collective guilt. If I’m being held responsible for the sins of others, then I have not only the responsibility but the privilege of making sure others do not continue in their sinful ways. And my one-size-fits-all remedy is lots of killing.

    You could make the argument that I’ve already done more than my share of removing people who’d be inclined to support income redistribution, victim disarmament, and bringing more of the family up from Hispanistan. You could, with more weight on your side, argue that I’ve done almost nothing, on account of the freelance income redistributor or inappropriate sexual contact breaking and entry specialist being unlikely to vote even if he has no felony convictions and even if he’s old enough. (I am pretty sure that some of the muggers were underage and almost certain that most of the one gang I killed were under 18. I’ve never lost any sleep over it. The relevant part of my philosophy is, Old enough to rape, old enough to die.)

    Anyway, sure, go ahead and tell me I bear a measure of the blame for the Ruling Class’s lock on electoral, judicial, and bureaucratic power. Tell me it’s partly my fault that Ofuckface is in office now and Cankles may well be elected 11 months from now. I’ll assuage my guilt by killing all the adults at a couple of soccer matches. Drive a (stolen) car into an “immigrant rights” rally. Feel better now?

  30. OFD says:

    By “we” I mean there was probably more we could have done, and not by voting in elections, either. I don’t necessarily make the collective guilt argument but man, we either didn’t do something right or we did exactly the wrong things over the last half-century. Us Murkans, that is. How exactly DID the ruling class finally get its lock on everything? How is it that we now face two long-time and lethal major enemies and very few seem to get it yet? Why are we facing, eventually, a second civil war in this country?

    Anyway, before blowing up soccer stadiums and plowing into invaders at a rally, we’re probably better off getting our own houses/homes in order, linking up with like-minded peeps in the ‘hood, town, county, etc., and preparing for actual battles, of various kinds. It’s either that or lie down, spread our legs and try to enjoy it.

    So…on multiple monitors and suchlike…I don’t have room for more than one on this particular office desk as the existing monitor is pretty large. I will have room up in my soon-to-be attic workshop and my thought was to have one giant monitor with a KVM switch for two or three different machines. Hmmm….looking at this desk again…if I moved some of the other junk off it, I would, in fact, have room for two monitors. But wouldn’t the desktop box need two vid outputs? Or are there adapters that y’all use? I’m behind the curve on this, obviously. What’s the big payoff for having two monitors on the same box? I’m thinking some of my online courses would work nicely in that sorta setup…actual lesson on one screen and “workbook” exercises on the other one…hmmmm….

  31. nick says:

    Oh, once you use multiple monitors, you’ll feel like you’ve been crippled going back….

    I’ve got 2 Dell 24″ full HD monitors on this machine, with a smaller widescreen monitor to the left for the single machine. I use Synergy to share my one mouse and keyboard across the machines. You just move the mouse off the side of your monitor and it appears on the one next to it (or above, etc) Works pretty well in an older free version. The new versions seem to be paid… Only thing it has a problem with is system message boxes on the ‘remote’ machine.

    Two (or more) monitors let you do things like have one drawing package open on one monitor and another open on the other. Or CAD on one, and paint on another (super useful for putting together proposals or reports using screen shots.)

    Or I have one instance of firefox with multiple time waster tabs open on one screen, and whatever I’m actually working on open on the other.

    Or open an app on one, and move all the tool bars, color pickers, property selectors, etc off to the second monitor.

    Multiple monitors are a huge productivity tool. Every office I go in now has at least 2 on every desk. Companies don’t usually throw money around in the office unless it works.

    Most modern motherboards have built in graphics and you can add a card for the second head, or get a 2 headed card to start with. Windows has made multiple monitors very easy. Most nvidia boards support it.

    In linux some distros are better than others for multimonitor, and there are at least 3 different ways to do it. nVidia has tools on RH, but they don’t always work. Still a bit of poking at it in linux. It’s been a year since I did multi on linux, and then I have some issues due to having overlapping screens (for projection) and multiple graphics cards. If you stick to 2 screens (heads in the business) you’ll be ok.

    Don’t get a huge hi rez screen unless your vision is pretty sharp. You’ll end up increasing the size of everything in order to read it 🙂

    nick

  32. OFD says:

    I’ll probably just get a huge screen for the desktop I use up in the attic workshop. And if I do multiple heads in Linux I’ll futz around until I get it working, per usual Linux SOP.

    For this machine, which will probably stay at Winblows 8.1 for quite a while longer, I guess I’d have to open it up and slap in another graphics card to use a second head with it? Or is there some kind of adapter that can I use to plug both monitor connections into the one machine? (hmmmm….like USB-to-DVI?) In other words, one monitor on its traditional VGA port and other via USB to a DVI port on the second monitor…

    Thanks for the info; I am interested in doing this now, as I can see the online course work becoming much more productive and faster.

  33. nick says:

    ” I guess I’d have to open it up and slap in another graphics card to use a second head with it? Or is there some kind of adapter that can I use to plug both monitor connections into the one machine? (hmmmm….like USB-to-DVI?) In other words, one monitor on its traditional VGA port and other via USB to a DVI port on the second monitor…”\\\

    yes.

    any of those things. but adding a cheap card, and using the built in graphics is easy. However, if you need to add a card anyway, better to add one with dual heads.

    I have a GeForce GTX 645 in this machine that I picked based on price and dual heads, I think. (just checked and I’m surprised it costs as much as it does. I didn’t remember paying more than $89.)

    I’m not a pc gamer, so I didn’t need heavy hardware.

    nick

  34. OFD says:

    Then there are the desktop machines that don’t have actual graphics cards; there’s a little chip on the mobo, and I think this box might be that way. I’ll double-check and if need be, simply do the USB-DVI thing.

    I have a couple of Steam games on here but haven’t spent much time messing with them; take too long to load, for one thing, and for another, there’s too much other stuff to do or going on around here.

    I see former tennis star Jennifer Capriati is busy tweeting on what an asshole Obola is and expressing some of the same sentiments found here. Ditto Rob Lowe, so I guess their entertainment careers are over.

    http://freedomoutpost.com/2015/12/tennis-hall-of-famer-jennifer-capriati-obama-forgets-he-works-for-the-people-not-the-other-way-around/

    She’s learning. Never too late.

    Until it is.

  35. OFD says:

    This guy on the DaybyDay cartoon blog (by Chris Muir) pretty much sums up what it is with the progs and the Long March of the Left:

    “The left knows everything that needs to be known about how to destroy a society, a culture, a civilization- but nothing about how to build one on the ruins.

    They dream of standing limned against the ruins, silhouetted against the rising sun, as they pose. Before they start to create Heaven on Earth.

    But they never get farther than the ruins. And to cover their incompetence, they kill. And keep killing.

    It’s no coincidence that they are mystics. Their entire philosophy is based on “I believe, therefore it is so”. The corollary to which is “so let it be written; so let it be done”. They dream of being Pharaohs, or Mandarins, or Platonic philosopher-kings. Never of being leaders chosen by the people on the basis of actual achievement. Rather, they believe they are chosen by “history”, because the idea of a God more powerful than themselves is anathema to them.

    “Obey me or die” is their mantra. No matter how much they sugarcoat it, they believe in Mao’s dictum that all power grows from the barrel of a gun, which is why they want there to be no guns except those in the hands of their obedient minions. (Exactly how long those minions might remain obedient to them is something they simply don’t consider.)

    Leftism, progressivism, call it what you will. It is simply another gnosticist mystery cult, in which the Elect believe they have wisdom vouchsafed to no one else, and are therefore the only ones fit to rule and the only ones who should reap the benefits of the Utopia they dream of creating on others’ backs- and corpses.

    Keep this in mind when attempting to comprehend them.

    clear ether

    eon”

    I would only add that they rarely have any trouble bamboozling legions of acolytes and followers, much like that former beautiful angel of light eons ago. Hmmmm….coincidence???

  36. OFD says:

    And here we go!

    https://westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com/2015/12/09/wheeeeeee/

    But…but…but…they was vetted….they was cleared….

  37. Tom Lucas says:

    “I have a customer wanting to build hydrogen tanks at ambient temperatures and 14,000 psia (965 bar). What could go wrong?”

    Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow. Back in about 1978 or so, I was working on a masters in nuclear engineering and was home for the holidays when I mentioned to my dad something about a high pressure hydrogen line. He was a Chem E working for Gulf Oil at the time and really lit up. He hated hydrogen, especially at high pressure. It turns out that high pressure hydrogen leaks are self igniting, something he called the reverse Joule effect. When they suspected a hydrogen leak, they would walk around his unit waving brooms in front of them. If a broom ignited, they had found the leak. As further confirmation of just how bad H2 leaks are, when I started teaching school, during my first year one of my students was called out of class to be informed that his dad had been killed – he had walked into the invisible flame of a hydrogen leak.

  38. brad says:

    Well, on the technology front, it sounds like those “critical need detectors” are working just fine. Those are the secret devices built into all technical products, that make them fail just when you really need them to work.

    People still use desktop PCs at home???

    I sure do, one per person. We all have multiple screens, full-sized keyboards, etc.. You could attach those to a laptop (one of my sons does), but for most of us, it doesn’t make much sense. My personal PC has the second job of making a full backup of the entire network every night; with a laptop, that would require an external disk-station.

    We also have laptops. My wife’s has become a semi-permanent fixture in the kitchen. Mine and my other son’s are used on the road.

  39. Dave says:

    I have two desktop PCs next to me. One for home and one for work. They are hooked up to a KVM switch and one large 28″ monitor. If not for the KVM switch, I would have multiple monitors.

    The annoying thing is that the mouse port doesn’t work reliably on the KVM so I have two mice on my keyboard tray right now. I’m about to try plugging a USB hub into the keyboard port and try plugging the mouse and keyboard into the USB hub.

  40. JimL says:

    At home I have a home-built running windows 10. SSD for the OS & programs, spinning metal for media. It’s due for a rebuild, and I’ll probably do the same again. 2 large monitors for my sanity. It’s also a media server for every entertainment device in the house.

    3 Panasonic Toughbooks for the road gig. In my mobile office I have a dock & big-screen monitor to make multi-tasking easier. Windows Vista, 7, and 10 on them. All to Windows 10 by early next year.

    For the kids & the roadshow display I use 2 Intel Compute Sticks. Windows 10. Definitely good enough for their tasks. If you’re just doing online stuff, or very low power stuff, I can’t say enough good things about them.

    9-5 (7-5) is a big dell box running Windows 10 & 2 monitors (again). I manage everything from here. When I’m remote, I RDP into the main desktop to get things done. Remote is whatever laptop happens to be handy, or the Surface Tab or Surface book (when it comes in). If I have to work mobile, the Surface is the best thing in ages.

  41. Ray Thompson says:

    Most modern motherboards have built in graphics

    To take it one step further, most modern motherboards will support two monitors without any additional hardware. One monitor on the regular output, the other other monitor on the HDMI which most boards now have. My Surface Pro will support two additional monitors and still use the screen on the device for effectively three monitors. No additional hardware needed other than the cables.

  42. JimL says:

    Our Dear Leaders – we get the government we deserve – good & hard.

    I think it’s still possible to recover. But then, I’m young & an optimist. Trouble is, everyone seems to think that “more government to counteract the last guy” is the answer. Makes me nuts.

    I heard on the local talk this morning that they’re talking about “fixing” No Child Gets Ahead. I don’t know how many pages it is, but anything more than 1 line is too much. The entire text should be “The law known as ‘No Child Left Behind’ is hereby repealed.” Get a unanimous vote from the House & Senate, and get Obama to sign it. Then I’ll know they’re serious.

    But they won’t. The Tea Party was a start, but it didn’t go far enough. Not enough went into the harbor. By orders of magnitude not enough.

  43. JimL says:

    Mr. Ray – with the appropriate adapter, the Surface will support 3 external monitors. MiniDP male, 3 DP female on the adapter. Doesn’t seem to have the horsepower for good response, though, so I’m waiting to see what the Surface Book does. Supposed to have better graphics that way.

  44. Dave says:

    Incidentally, the USB Hub I am using is the one that looks like a spaceship in this picture.

  45. Ray Thompson says:

    the Surface will support 3 external monitors

    I tried to keep it within the useful range. A lot depends on how much graphics horsepower you need. Games, CAD, rendering, etc. are all fairly intensive tasks. Even photographs can sometimes be daunting. For most office work such as spreadsheets, web pages, documents, you can get by. My only experience was with two attached monitors so I knew that worked. Not my setup, but someone else’s setup.

    I personally prefer a desktop for doing photographs. I need fast swap space. The Surface will work and I have used it for such purposes, just the desktop is better as I have five spinning platters plus a SSD.

  46. dkreck says:

    Time calls Angela Merkel as man of the year.

    http://www.mediaite.com/online/time-announces-german-chancellor-angela-merkel-is-the-2015-person-of-the-year/

    (yeah I know it’s ‘person’)

  47. DadCooks says:

    Our local bird cage liner had an article this morning that our police department is now finger printing concealed carry license applicants 2 days a week instead of just 1. So far this year concealed carry license issues are running 50% above last year. Each year of Obuttwads reign has seen dramatic increases in concealed carry licenses, perfect example of a “hockey stick curve”.

    Asshat Carter, Secretary of noDefense is doing a good job of displaying his ignorance and incompetence before the Senate Armed Services Committee this morning. He basically says we cannot beat whatever the pc word of the day is for the radical islamists/moslems.

    The FBI is walking a dangerous road with the Obuttwad administration. Each day they are finding more and more obvious evidence of how DHS missed detecting the San Bernardino Two. The whole family, as well as the “neighbor” who procured the weapons, here and in Pakistan are involved, so why are they all not sitting atop pikes in their front yard? Who is holding the FBI back from doing what is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer?

  48. OFD says:

    “Who is holding the FBI back from doing what is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer?”

    LOL. Heard anything lately about the Feebies’ “investigation” of the Cankles email mess? Gee, I thought that was going gangbusters just a few short weeks ago; hmmmmm….seems to have disappeared off the radar.

    But Dear Leader signed in some new chit this past week, very quietly; you owe money to the IRS? They can pull your passport now, and furthermore, they’re exempt from liability for any mistakes they make, say, in an Excel spreadsheet cell or with a date stamp.

    One more nail in the coffin.

    On the monitor thing, I see my Winblows box has a DVI port along with the usual VGA port, so I guess I can do a DVI to DVI connection with a second monitor, amirite?

    Blue skies and temp in the 40s today so fah; a bit of yard work, stacking firewood again, and general making-myself-useful around here before the Honey-Do List kicks in when Mrs. OFD gets home this afternoon.

  49. nick says:

    “so I guess I can do a DVI to DVI connection with a second monitor, amirite? ”

    yep, almost always, and it cost’s nothing to try.

    nick

  50. OFD says:

    Whoopee! Now I just gotta clear off all the other flotsam and jetsam on the desk, leaving only the two stereo speakers. Stuff tends to proliferate under the monitor stand and then the spaghetti cables and wires likewise, to external hard drives, USB hubs, phone charge wires, and, believe it or not, .41 Magnum ammo.

  51. Harold says:

    Rather than rewire the house, give Ethernet over Power a try. It’s come a LONG way and woks great for me. Faster than wireless and more secure. I had no end of wireless issues in our big home till I started using EoP devices. Now I have disabled the wireless on our router.
    Have a great time in your new home. I wish I were in a position to do something similar. My wife wants a remote, solitary hide hole for bad-times but I think that we need good dependable community around to survive. We are both getting older and while we do have most of the skills to live remote, I would rather have some good neighbors to share the load.

  52. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    Thanks. I just ordered a “TP-LINK TL-PA4010KIT AV500 Nano Powerline Adapter Starter Kit, up to 500Mbps” from Amazon, which looks like it’ll do the job.

    I agree with you 100% about it being better to be in a small community than an isolated cabin.

  53. OFD says:

    +1,000

    An isolated hideout site is a perfect target for gremlins and goblins to take their time doing whatever they want to you there. Up here in rural northern VT, even neighbors who’ve hated each other over the GENERATIONS will stop and pull each other out of a ditch or join in to try to save a burning barn. We’re all we’ve got!

  54. Lynn says:

    Time calls Angela Merkel as man of the year.

    They should have put her in a burka.

  55. Lynn says:

    Have a great time in your new home. I wish I were in a position to do something similar. My wife wants a remote, solitary hide hole for bad-times but I think that we need good dependable community around to survive. We are both getting older and while we do have most of the skills to live remote, I would rather have some good neighbors to share the load.

    Go read “Lights Out” by David Crawford. MZBs (mutant zombie bikers) surrounding a lone farm house in flyover country are a real bad thing.
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0615427359

  56. ech says:

    As further confirmation of just how bad H2 leaks are, when I started teaching school, during my first year one of my students was called out of class to be informed that his dad had been killed – he had walked into the invisible flame of a hydrogen leak.

    Just one of the reasons why the “hydrogen economy” is a bad idea, especially for cars. Another is hydrogen embrittlement of metals.

  57. ech says:

    Time calls Angela Merkel as man of the year.

    It’s not an honor, it’s how much you affected the news. Since refugee crisis + Greek debt crisis are hers, a reasonable choice.

  58. OFD says:

    Hmmmm….she didn’t affect the nooz very much back when she was a minor Communist apparatchik….just sayin’….

  59. brad says:

    The media is so out of touch that it’s hilarious. Naming Merkel “person of the year”, largely because she opened Germany’s borders to a million immigrants? This, just as the entire European population is waking to just how dumb such high levels of immigration are? Is the media out of touch? Or desperately trying to rescue the leftist narrative?

    Granted, she certainly has affected the news, by doing this :-/

  60. Denis says:

    Time: Merkel is person of the year.

    Mark my words – Angie is setting herself up for a shot at being the first female Secretary-General of the UN. There is no other rational explanation for her unilaterally declaring an open-borders policy in Germany… Time’s accolade will be one of her magic stepping-stones on the way to the SG post. Obama also owes her a favour in that direction, after the scandal over the NSA bugging her personal phone.

  61. Lynn says:

    Naming Merkel “person of the year”, largely because she opened Germany’s borders to a million immigrants?

    ^immigrants^invaders

    In 10 years, people will spit when they hear the name Merkel. Right before the whip of the muslim overseer hits their back.

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