Friday, December 31, 2004

I am just doing my monthly backs ups. I actually burned a CD of the major folders on the desktop of my eMac this time. Soon I will print hard copies of blogs and burn a CD of my laptop's folders.

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

I seem to still be able to connect with the wireless router this morning with some settings changes.

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

The router is functioning now. I am surfing wireless from my living room with the router in the office.
I took back the non-functioning router, yesterday. It stopped functioning after upgrading the firmware. Today I went out and bought another one. I am just about to set it up. I got a little tip from a computer associate at Staples to set the wireless to another channel that should work better.

Monday, December 27, 2004

I got a complementary 90 day free copy of Norton Internet security for my WinXP laptop. After it scans my entire system I will update the firmware on my router.

Sunday, December 26, 2004

I was able by being the first customer at Staples this morning to buy a Network Everywhere Wireless B router for 20$. I got the wired router working now. Since Network Everywhere is a Linksys company and my 5 port switch is a Linksys now all my network connecting equipment is Linksys. I was able to get the wireless connection working with the laptop for browsing at first but could not download email and now in the evening I can not connect.

I tried to give away my Quadra for free but the guy who offered to take it backed out. I got some space crates too at Staples, and am using these as shelfs to put computer books in. I also got some large storage containers and put all my loose unused cables in one container and all my excess computer parts and peripherals in the other container. My office is looking a little neater now but this job is not done yet. I might go get some more space crates today.

Saturday, December 25, 2004

Wireless routers are on sale at Staples tomorrow, so I may try to pick on up on Boxing day early in the morning. They also have their fileing cabinets crates on sale tomorrow. I am choosing Staples for shopping on Boxing day because some friends gave me a gift certificate for Staples.
I was able to get a Palm Tungsten W for my Christmas present to myself. It is really a useful tool these palm computers. I may not be able to get the cell phone function working but should be able to listen to mp3's ok.

I installed some software on the Quadra for my friend. This brings about questions of open source and software freedom of course, even though I paid for this software used and it would not earn the makers anymore money in these versions which maybe the only versions that work on this older computer.

We got my wife a DVD/VHS player for christmas and it set up with no problems. I got friends first aid kits and also solar emergency flashlights. I had hoped to get a secure digital card for the palm W but the bookstore was sold out. I did manage to afford some styli from future shop that will work with this palm. Future shop also have secure digital cards but they are fairly pricey.

Monday, December 20, 2004

I was able to find an old Quadra 660AV with Mac OS 7.1. I got it two monitors. One is an excellent shape Apple 15AV. I may hang on to this monitor. I also got by donation an Apple 16" monitor. My friend needs to find a lift to pick up this computer I am giving him.

I was able to update Fedora core 3 completely. I was able to update both my eMac and my windows laptop.

I am getting a newer Palm handheld computer now, a Palm W which also works as a phone. It was something I was looking for for about a year.

This blog has paid off. I had problems with my eMac crashing frequently. I read here on my blog/log book, what software I had just installed. First I thought it was the webmin software but turing that off did not fix the problem. I then thought it might be the Palm software and it turned out that was what it was. I turned off the hotsync and stopped it from listening to the modem port. Now the eMac is fine again. I was worried that I would loose the use of dreamweaver.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

I bought a copy of Linux Journal. It is the January issue It seems that more of the articles and book reviews are about topics I am aware of now. I also bought the December issue of Linux Magazine. I am now of the mind that Linux is the next big thing.

I started to use webmin on my eMac. The newist software on my Thinkpad is MATLAB. The newist on my eMac is the Palm desktop and an update of webmin.

I was out shopping for a new handheld computer yesterday. I also was looking on the web for an external USB connected hard drive to back up email and other files. The on-line photo ordering service worked great and we have our first twenty prints now for 5$. I think an iPod would be good for backups but still cheaper would be the external hard drive and then eventual purchase of a Palm Tungsten C or E for MP3's and video as well as word and excel files. I have not really looked at open source handhelds although as I understand it Palm make their source code available. I have also studied some palm programming and have some codeing for palm software on this machine my thinkpad. I have also been looking at getting a new thinkpad but don't really need one. I did finally buy some new track point caps for this machine.

My Debian 3 install on the duron is not stable. I have managed to update my fedora core 3 machine and also the updated the NT on the same machine.

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

I got some more rechargable batteries for things like flashlights and cameras and CD players. I boughtan AC battery recharger last week.
I used mailman just now to clean out 277 spam emails from one of the email lists I manage as a volunteer with the Industrial Workers of the World. I am also the volunteer web master for this union locally. In another volunteer gig or two I also do web mastering as a volunteer. I have started to use dreamweaver regularly now. I also have some paid web master work. In my newist volunteer job I use a little technology but not a lot there may be some web mastering there too in the future.

Monday, December 06, 2004

Today is a memorial day for the women killed in Montreal. One of these women was a CUPE member. I remember them now in spirit. I remember my first summer job in computing when I shared the summer job hires list with a women. Also two other women I knew from my family friends also worked at the offices in the Senior Sciences building. Via a la femme de scientific et de ordinaire.
I successfully installed Debian 3 r2 with KDE on the Duron box. It is so nice. Now I will see about using it more. Right now the user can not start X windows only root. My laptop is still running well and I resisted buying a new IBM TP. I also resisted buying an iPod Photo. I did buy a Macinstosh Quadra 660 AV for a friend. I asked my local Mac store if they can sell me some old Macintosh monitors. I need some more black ink for my Epson 820 and will see if I can buy some at school today. My eMac is still functioning well. I used www.digilab.ca to order some prints from my digital camera and digital photo collection.