Reset consumable Epson Aculaser AL-C2000 (C1000) Transfer Belt Photoconductor Fuser Toner USB to parallel

If you use a 'very old' but still very functional laser printer, like my Epson C2000, you'll occasionally be irked (by the printer) to replace one of its expensive consumables. This note explains how to delay the replacement to the future, perhaps when the print quality has deteriorated. If your thinking is like my thinking you probably

a) aren't too bothered by print quality because you only use the printer for xyz.
b) you have another good printer for best printing anyway
c) aren't too bothered if you damage it, i.e. you damage it
d) feel it's urgent and you don't have a replacement consumable just now

Normally the printer will warn you well ahead of time that one of the consumables needs replacing. Sometimes the printer will even refuse to print until you replace one of the consumables. There are three approaches to this

1) Replace the toner / fuser / photoconductor / transfer belt / whatever

2) Buy a reset fuse for a few £ or $ - it's something like a 100mA, 250v fuse 

3) Short the fuse connectors - this is free, explained as follows

What to do 

If you chose 3) above here's what to do.

Remove the consumable from the machine. Inspect it from every angle for a pair of metal strips behind which is a fuse. Ping these metal contacts off, remove the fuse but then replace the fuse wrapped in kitchen foil. Replace the metal contacts and place the consumable back in the printer.
(There may be more than one pair so so find the correct pair to ping off).

When you start the printer the controller will register the old consumable as a new one and reset its counter. You can print a Status sheet to see if that's happened if you like, but the last thing to do is to undo what you just did, removing the aluminium foil.

Responding to

https://www.fixyourownprinter.com/posts/57420

Warning

This is not a good thing to do if the part that that needs replacing eventually breaks up inside your machine. That's me imagining the worst. But as I listed above I don't care too much about this printer.

USB to parallel adaptor - by the way

The network interface on my C2000N seems to have failed so I was stuck trying to find a way to print using the parallel interface. I bought a Sabrent USB to parallel adaptor which works well on a modern (2018) computer without any additional software. Prior to this I acquired a USB to parallel adaptor but this was some old cheap thing that required old drivers which failed to work well for me. 

Using CUPS as printer server on a Raspberry Pi - HP 1018 and Epson AL-C2000

This is one of best and most overdue project I've ever done - it allows everyone to print without the need for a cable connection and without setting up printer drivers. I can at last print from every computer, phone or tablet Android or IOS.

The problem with printers, and many peripherals, is that I change the computer so many times in their lifetime I feel than I am forever installing drivers and problem solving with them. After twenty years of this it was time to get a printer server.


UPDATE - in 2020 I moved to a CUPS Docker based server to replace this setup although it was working well. I'll write up the long story in time. In short we install Raspberry PI OS Lite > then OpenMediaVault 5 > then Docker & Portainer > then CUPS with Foomatic drivers.

Solutions to problem printers

HP Laserjet 1018 on CUPS / Linux printing on Raspberry Pi

This very popular, reliable and cheap to run printer is different. It needs a proper driver with software support from every computer I've ever used it with. If you look at the list of printers supported by HP you'll see the HP 1018 needs a plug-in. So do as follows:

Instructions to install CUPS and HPLIP hp-linux-imaging-and-printing. This adds the printer to the list in CUPS. The cups in line 3 below is redundant if you followed the Howtogeek setup above.

• sudo su
• apt-get update
• apt-get install hplip cups
• usermod -a -G lpadmin pi

(Source: https://www.ramoonus.nl/2017/05/21/installing-hplip-for-cups-on-a-raspberry-pi/)

Instructions to install HPLIP plug-in

You might as I get an error from the following. However the error text helpfully tells you to try 'interactive mode' where you answer questions to install the plugin. 

• hp-setup OR
• hp-plugin

Instructions to set up CUPS with the HP 1018

Add a new printer. The printer needs to be on. Click the box to make the printer shareable. The HP 1018 should be in the list of printers with a note 'requires proprietary plugin'. Ignore this as you've installed that. 

Finally you'll see the printer as e.g. hp:/usb/HP_LaserJet_1018?serial=KP0GHC8

Epson AL-C2000 on CUPS / Linux printing on Raspberry Pi

This printer is less different however I've too often found it fails to print as reliably (eg mono instead or colour; portrait printed as landscape) using the standard CUPS gutenprint / foomatic drivers whether I chose PCL5 or PS3. I tried Generic Postscript too. 

Instead of choosing from the list of printers in CUPS, I used the PPD that came with the printer and that did it. 

My PPD for Epson AL-C2000 (stored on Google Drive)

Adding the printers to your Android phone or Mac.

The printers installed on CUPS should be discoverable when you choose Add Printer .... On my Mac the printers appear as Bonjour devices. Click the + in Mac Preferences / Printers. Choose from the list of Bonjour devices. Printers can also be installed on Android using the default Printing Service (you must disable Cloud Prin on the phone). IF the Mac complains that the driver comes from a different manufacturer etc, you'll probably also now need to add the PPD or add the drivers to this local machine. 

Adding the printers to your PC

Windows 10 didn't discover the printers too easily. I opened up CUPS and navigated to the printer page and copied the URL (http://192.168.1.xx:631/printers/EPSON_AL-C2000). Give this URL to Windows after it fails to find a printer.

You might want to rename your printer

Try this http://jennyandlih.com/renaming-printer which enables you to edit the config file. 

/etc/init.d/cupsys stop

sudo nano /etc/cups/printers.conf

/etc/init.d/cupsys restart

Replace battery & volume control on Oneplus One OPO

How long did the battery last? In 2018 a Oneplus One battery was three years old and not quite making it through the day. I replaced it successfully but damaged the volume control in the process. This note tells how it finally worked out well. 

Extra tips to replace the OnePlus One battery (£12)

Batteries that look genuine could be found for around £12. You have no idea what you're buying and no idea if the reviews are fair.

I add these tips to instructions found on Youtube, to replace the battery on the Oneplus One:

a) The back cover of the case does come off and you will damage it use you use a screwdriver. Use a wide flat tool because the leverage on a screwdriver tip is too focused. All that's left to do is unscrew the plastic panel holding the battery cable, and then prise the battery which is glued with tape to the phone.

b) The instructions did not remind me to take care with the ribbon cable of the volume control. I caught the ribbon and squashed it badly. For a while therefore the volume was adjusted using the on-screen volume control.

Replace the OnePlus One volume control (£4)

A volume control switch and ribbon cable cost me just £4. Again Youtube instructions show how to solder off the old volume control and solder on a new one. It requires skill so maybe get help from a regular solder-type person as luck is not guaranteed. 

How to safely remove the stuck glass tube from an isub tank

Time, and perhaps over-tightening, can lead to the tank glass becoming stuck. Here's a more reliable way to remove it without cutting yourself or destroying the glass.

First find something grippy like this non-slip, rubbery material

Next wrap it enough times round the glass to protect your fingers in case the glass is weak.

If needed hold the metal part steady with just enough grip from a vice. Wiggle and turn and with luck it'll happen. Warming or cooling might also be tried.

  

Logi Circle (Logitech) - home camera on Tesco hudl 2 (Android Tablet)

June 2016

The Logi Circle is an exquisite stand-alone camera to keep watch over the door, baby or your pet's eating habits. You use your IOS device (e.g. iPod) or Android phone to view the image. I've also used it  to check how often a water tank was emptying and how an LED told me how often a pump was kicking in. (Unusually it was a farm need but you might be curious to know how much of your bird food the pigeons get to eat).

I could review it very favourably for the problems it's solved. As I write this it's also new, so new that the Google Play store prevents use of the Android app on a hudl2 tablet. It really ought to work because the Logitech app needs Android 4.4 or above while the hudl 2 runs Android 5.1. The hudl2 is also capable of 'Bluetooth Smart' as specified by Logitech. (Bluetooth Smart is only required for first time setting up the camera).

How to install a free app on Android when the store is preventing it

Use the Chrome browser on your desktop PC or Mac. Go to Extensions in the Chrome Web Store and install Direct APK Downloader. You'll gain a button at the top right of the browser window.

Go to the Logi Circle app in the Google play store. Click the Direct APK Downloader button. The app, an APK file, should download somewhere on the PC. 

Copy the Logi Circle app file to your Android device or in this case a hudl2. On the hudl2 use File Manager to find and launch the APK.  On the hudl2 you'll need to go first to Settings / Security / Unknown sources / Allow. The app should now install.

That's it. Sign into the Logi Circle app and you'll see the camera you set up.

Logi Circle

www.logitech.com/Circle

How to get to the "press F2" bios screen in Windows 10 - on a Dell

With latest Windows versions, the way to enter the BIOS has changed:

If you need to change some BIOS hardware or hardware setting, the instructions say to 'press F2' as the blue Dell logo appears. The timing they say is critical but you can do this till you are blue in the face.

In Windows 8 and 10 the procedure is different:

In the taskbar search box, type 'Advanced start-up options'

Alternatively, go to Settings / Update / Security / Recovery

Choose Advanced start up / Restart now

Look for the option to enter the UEFI BIOS.

My best apps for the Pebble smartwatch

I was not the first to buy a smartwatch though my gadget habit might have driven me to get one. The smartwatch idea made me realise that while I needed something, I did not need a watch to do everything. Nor do I need another object to charge each day.

A half-price Pebble Steel on ebay was the motivator. But what did I really need to do with one? Several months on, here are the watch apps I found essential.

The Pebble allows eight apps to be in use, but you can keep other useful apps handy on the phone it syncs with.

On the watch

Pebble app: Alarm 

Although Pebble picks up Notifications from your Apple or Google calendar, I still find great use for the Alarm app. For example each summer I do some work where I oversee the university exams. I set loads of alarms during the exam. I get the watch to vibrate when the exam has 30 minutes to run or has to finish. An unusual bonus is that you don't need to keep looking at the clock. (Repeated looking at the clock has the unreal effect of making the minutes pass painfully slowly!).  

Pebble app: TripAdvisor

Perhaps it's a cliché but quick access to restaurants and attractions where I happen to be is a want. Some people would prefer info from Yelp, but whatever the choice, the idea is the same. On the Pebble Tripadvisor information is in simple text but nevertheless useful. It may remind you of the days when we browsed the web using WAP.

Pebble app: Get back

The Get back app is controlled by one button which records the exact location where you are. Perhaps you leave your hotel in a new town and go exploring the area. Perhaps you parked the car in a sprawling car park or go for a walk in the woods. Either way the app records your initial spot and shows you a compass pointing back to the recorded spot and a measure of your distance as the crow flies. What's more you don't have to be running the app all the time. It stores your origin indefinitely so you launch Get Back at the start and again when you want to return to it.  

Pebble app: UK Transport (US apps exist)

Whether you're out and about or at home, choose 'bus' or 'train' and this app will provide a list of nearby bus stops or train stations. With one more press it'll provide the next few buses or trains. UK Transport offer a very simple design to provide the next train or bus with the least number of button presses. Comparted to everything else such as websites offering train, coach or bus information, it sets a model way to be useful, and especially when you haven't a clue about what's available nearby. The next time I play with this I will urge myself to donate as thanks for such a wonderful app.

Pebble app: Pebble Bike (Ventoo) with tracking to Mapmytracks

Formerly called Pebble Bike, Ventoo displays speed, time and distance travelled as I run, bike, drive or, as now, move at zero mph at my desk. A second screen tracks your position as you travel and you see the shape of the road travelled so far. (A further screen shows altitude, ascent rate, slope and ascent). As we'll see in a moment, most importantly you can start and stop tracking your journey on the watch without touching the phone at all. The trip data is uploaded to a choice of services. If you chose Map My Tracks you'd find your journeys being saved on the web and find maps and graphs wonderfully presented to keep or replay them. If you ever asked where did we walk or what route did we take through London this provides the answer. Amusingly, if you asked what strategy you took to mow the lawn or plough a field, the answer is here too. Upgrading your Map My Tracks to a paid version also allows you to share your progress live with others, should they wish to follow you.

The point to note is that you could probably do all this with your phone alone. Google Tracks and Map My Tracks are two phone apps that you can launch, start monitoring your journey and see this recorded on a map. The key aspects of the Pebble are the live speed display on the watch and being able to initiate this on your wrist whenever the need occurs.

First install Ventoo on your Pebble watch and then install the Ventoo Android app on your phone. Next set up an account at Map My Tracks. On the watch go to Settings and choose integration and then enter your Map My Tracks login and you're pretty much done.

Map My Tracks itself doesn't even require a phone app so you could simply install Map My Tracks on the phone. Then when you start Map My Tracks the phone display switches to Pebble's built-in display of time, distance and speed. The downside is that once you stop this display to say, read a notification, the recording stops too. So that's less good even though Map My Tracks offers pretty awesome records of your journeys. Combined with Ventoo, it's awesome indeed.

Ventoo also allows you to export your journey to a GPX file which after a clunky conversion on the web, can be imported into Google Maps. Ventoo also integrates with JayPS, Canvas and OruxMaps.

Timer+

Of numerous kitchen timer apps I chose this. While I often ask SIRI or Google to set alarms quickly on the phone, the Pebble watch is the device I'm likely to have on my person. You might think of more life enhancing apps, but a timer is handy for single alarms.

Other uses for Pebble

Last but best is the feature that Pebble sends notifications to your wrist - you could be in a meeting, a lecture or driving and the notification arrives silently, safely and is quick to read.

Perhaps I'll find a use for the Music app that launches a track on the phone. Perhaps I'll find an interest in knowing how much I sleep. Overall though, Pebble's long battery life provides less hassle for these several quite useful enhancements for owning a phone. 

Casting from Android Youtube app to Humax Freesat

... and no Chromecast or special TV appears to be needed.

A funny thing happened as I clicked to 'screencast' from my Android phone (running Lollipop). I had simply wanted to watch a YouTube video by pushing it to my Chromecast dongle plugged into the TV.

I had launched the YouTube app, clicked the Cast Screen icon at the top of the app and expected to see my Chromecast listed and then choose it to cast YouTube to the TV.

My 'funny thing' was that in addition I saw a second device labelled FS-HMX-01A-0000-****. That label I guessed was not the Chromecast but more likely my Freesat Humax HDR 1000S set-top box. So I chose this and hey presto, a Chromecast is not required to cast YouTube to the TV.

But it's only available in YouTube. This extra device, with the Humax box device ID, does not appear in any other apps when you press the cast icon. So the device doesn't appear when you use the drawer shade shortcut 'Cast Screen' nor in 'Netflix' and not even in the actual Chromecast app itself.

An explanation has yet to appear but I can surmise that YouTube may be unusually compliant. For example, if you have a Playstation 3, and run the YouTube app both on the PS3 and the phone, it's possible to pair them with a code and control the PS3 YouTube app with the phone. That's a slight gain in usefulness.

There is casting and then there's Chromecasting

'Casting' or 'mirroring' your phone on a big screen is quite the feature for social or family gatherings but you can also imagine its uses in meetings and school lessons. The industry standard called 'Miracast' has been in place for ages - it uses a wireless connection to send a copy of a phone or laptop screen (and sounds) to a TV. Of course and sadly, the sender and receivers need to be pre-registered which creates a Bluetooth-like hurdle. (Hec it's my TV.) Following this the paired devices rely on a wireless signal to send what may be a lot of data.

Most TV makers have given Miracast their own spin and branded names, possibly for self promotion but no doubt to the detriment of it 'taking off' in the public mind. Those who have tried to send from one device to another will have had success moderated by the 'standard' not being the best of standards. More a 'it might work' kind of standard.

Google's Chromecast (and possibly Apple's AirPlay too) work a bit differently. Instead of say, your phone downloading media from the Internet only to immediately send it to the TV, the Chromecast simply picks up the media from the Internet and displays it on the TV. Your phone essentially tells the Chromecast what to show and where to get it. The result by removing a hop from phone to TV provides a better experience by many accounts. The process is made possible by apps, such as iPlayer and ITV equivalents.

Playing with your phone will find a 'cast screen' command in the notification pull down shade and 'cast full screen' in some apps. Use this and you'll have mixed results because, like Miracast, you're needing to send a lot of data to the Chromecast and TV.

Sony MICROMV / Micro MV format - erasing and copying

Copying MICROMV tapes to a computer

Initially, in the late 1990's you almost had to have a Mac to do video easily, but doing video has always been possible using the PC.

I used to have three different Firewire cables and have needed each of them for various transfers to a Mac; a PC and a laptop. Do industry standards like Firewire, USB, HDMI make a standard? Anyway, there's a small Firewire to small Firewire or iLink cable; a large, long D-shaped plug to large long D-shaped plug cable and finally a small to large Firewire plug.

To read Micromv on the Mac I would use iMovie 9 running in OSX Yosemite. Plug in the MicroMv camera using a Firewire cable (the plug is the long D Firewire plug on the old iMac going to a small Firewire socket on the Sony IP7 camera). Then use the iMovie camera button to control the camera to import your footage. (By iMovie 10 this no longer worked for me unless there's a tweak to find). But iMovie is good enough here. 

Using the PC it may be simpler to get a copy service to transfer your stuff. There were at least a few services on ebay charging £4 per tape (2015).

Otherwise the software that works on an old PC machine includes Sony Movieshaker software or Pinnacle Studio 9. Sony Vegas video editing software also worked for me and it was by far the most featured package.

Erasing MICROMV tapes

In the absence of a bulk tape eraser, I've simply recorded a view of the wall over old tapes. After that's done, go to the camera menu, look for Title and Erase All, press Execute and the tape memory, which stores what's been recorded and when it is erased.

Playing MICROMV video

Use VLC player for the easiest ride. MICROMV transfer to the PC produces .MMV files which is a variant of the MPEG2 / DVD format. Before I found VLC player I used a command-line program that could convert MMV to MPG.

Otherwise try uploading what you have to Youtube and see what that makes of it.

Not one but two jumpers for Christmas!

Hmm.

Hard disk jumpers

 

Dell Vostro 270 using two monitors with not fuzzy HDMI and screen rotation

The Dell Vostro 270 is a great value desktop PC and whisper quiet. It is as speedy as one needs for office work. At under £300 for a system box, I can't fault it even for editing pictures, audio or video. I replaced the Dell supplied keyboard and mouse with a Gyration set.

I was about the replace the on-board Intel HD Graphics with a twin-monitor ATI Radeon card, as I have on several previous Dells, but was delighted to find both VGA and HDMI monitor outputs. Information elsewhere conflicted on whether you could use both at once. I really needed to extend the desktop space by using monitors, however persistence shows that you can:

• Connect the VGA socket to one monitor (LG1710B) with a standard VGA cable.

• Simultaneously connect the HDMI socket to the second TV/monitor (LG M237WDP) using an HDMI to DVI cable (This was sold as a Sky box to digital monitor cable). 

• Save yourself time by not trying to use HDMI to HDMI. When I connect the Dell Vostro 270 HDMI to the HDMI of the LG LG M237WDP the result was too blurry. Although the graphics driver settings can be set the HDMI output to monitor quality instead of TV quality, I couldn't get a sharp enough result. I had been here before and failed. I previously sent the output of a iMac to the LG M237WDP and got a blurry picture. An iMac to DVI cable made the LG display well.   

• All was well with the dual monitor setup above, however I needed one monitor image rotated to portrait orientation. The Dell supplied graphics driver had no rotation option. An update of the Dell graphics driver at the Intel website, using the Intel machine detection web page furnished me with a 64 bit driver with the rotation option.

• This Vostro came with Windows 8 and much-to-hate. However the redeeming feature of Windows 8 is that in a multi-monitor setup, the annoying start menu and modern apps live on one screen while the desktop apps work on the other. Pressing Windows key + Pgup or Windows key + PgDn toggles the suffocating Windows 8 start menu between the two monitors.

• I'm still not liking Windows 8. I'm going to see if Windows 8.1, due soon, will change this annoyance. If not, for 8 dollars I will buy peace with Stardock's Start8 and Modernmix apps. Modernmix is the one to love: it lets you run Windows 8 modern apps in a window instead of full-screen. I don't need full-screen apps on a desktop PC where I've always got multiple apps open at one time.

 

Logitech Dinovo keyboard charging problem solutions

The dinovo Edge is one of Logitech's premium quality keyboards with a flat profile, quiet keys and Bluetooth so that it pretty much works on anything. Over a few years use I can vouch that a charge of the battery has it working for a couple months. A 10 minute charge lasts a whole day. And though these are no longer unique features, the keyboard is lovely to use. My only gripe is that it's less useful for left handers.

Backing up these claims is a three year warranty. I've worked on Logitech stuff for years and it is typically very up to spec. 

There are several reports of a problem where the normally green blinking charge light alternately blinks red and green. One solution is to contact Logitech and get their experience on this. 

But you could try a few other things first. The hassle is in proportion to the gain. My thesis is that if a battery says it's charged or throws an error, it's more likely due to a signal from the temperature pin of the battery or a change in the charging current or suchlike. These occurs in situations other than "it's broken or dead". Here's what I do when I think the keyboard is sick, rather than terminally ill: 

a) Repeatedly put the keyboard in and out of the charging dock. Try this with the keyboard either off and then on. One way or the other, you might be able to recharge it. This worked for me.
b) Drain the battery (put a weight on a Fn key) and see if you can better charge from this empty state. This also worked for me.
c) If the red / green flashing recurs leave the keyboard somewhere cold. Then charge till you see an error, then cool and repeat. This worked for me and we were working good for months at least.

d) Not tried yet and I'm keeping this in reserve: use a different power supply to get enough juice in the battery to make it happy again. As with over-discharged mobile phone batteries, a higher or lower charging rate can knock some sense into them. Monitor this in case the temperature goes awry.

e) I have not tried to replace the battery. The battery is not soldered to the board, however removing the orange underside will make a mess of it. I'm saving this for a desperate moment. 
[UPDATE:  After  successfully using the tricks on this page over a few years, I ran out of luck,  the red-green flashing continued and my desperate moment had arrived. I followed a Youtube video to use a hairdryer to remove the orange underside; then undo several screws and ultimately to swop the battery for a new one. The 'new' battery  actually came from an old Sony camera. This has been a huge SUCCESS as the keyboard now hold a charge and also charges with ease. 

f) Some folk suggested to unpair the keyboard, reinstall the (optional) Setpoint monitoring software or hitting various keystrokes. I suspect these are accidentally useful.

Exceeding my threshold for small print at Groupon

Dear salesperson, 

There is a limit to how many caveats you may add to a deal. The example below pretty much went over my threshold. Let's know if you noticed and resolvedthis and I may resume reading your daily mails.

Three Night Stay For Four With One Day at Disneyland® Paris and Return Ferry from £139 Per Person with the Kyriad Hotel (Up to 61% Off)

Fine print

• Expires 29 February 2012.
• Must purchase 2, 3 or 4 Groupons to complete booking, depending on option chosen. 
• Valid for double, triple or quadruple occupancy only. 
• Booking required by phone; 0844 493 4655 or the e-mail address provided on your voucher. No cancellations or date amendments. 
• Check-in from 2pm, check-out at 11am. €1.10 per day resort tax and any additional costs will be charged at the hotel. 
• £20 pp surcharge for Jan and Feb 2012 stays. 
• £40 pp surcharge for stays between 20 to 28 December 2011. 
• Not valid 29 - 31 December 2011. 
• Transfers between ferry and hotel not included. 
• Eurostar, flight and river cruise upgrades must be confirmed at time of booking, enquire for details. 
• 4* B&B upgrade from £30pp. 
• River cruise available for £15pp surcharge. 
• Original value based on hotel rack rates. Valid for option purchased only.

HP Touchpad (tablet) is not dead or bricked

It's a scary moment when you can't bring your device back to life. The fix on this page also worked on an old phone where the unit had overdischarged. The HP Touchpad has been incredibly reliable, but if it were to crash with the wireless still running, it's going to run down the battery to nothing, or worse over-discharge the battery. It can be brought to life in various ways below.

• Normal start - Press Power - but if it doesn't start
• Soft reset - Press Power + Home button for 10 to 60 seconds or
• Press Power + Volume up button for 60 seconds
• See other variations which people have reported at http://forums.webosnation.com

Of course  none of the above will work if there's no power in the unit. And there are situations where it's not possible to get power into the unit - possibly the unit has crashed and is stuck into a loop OR as someone suggested the unit has over discharged the battery. The solution was to change to a different charger. The normal HP Touchpad USB charger is more powerful than many. If you try a regular charger, the Touchpad may complain that it's not getting enough juice.  What fixed it was to use the low USB current from a desktop PC. Within a minute it was getting a trickle of energy and it could then be weaned back to its regular charging current.

I found the solution at WebOSnation and I have to thank the guy who, fearing the worst, took his apart to trickle charge the battery. Realising this was a last resort, I read more to find the guy suggesting the low current charger. I've tried something similar with a charging problem on a phone and the battery was totally flat. I removed the battery, connected the terminals to a Universal phone battery charger (a few £ on ebay). An hour or so later the old phone battery had enough juice to cope with a normal charge. 

A proper science explanation for this is welcome.

HP touchpad was bought for the ridiculously low price of £89 when HP's sold off the stock when after 6 weeks trading they realised that this was not going well. A year later (August 2012) it is able to dual-boot between Android ICS and WebOS. Android has the edge with tons of useful apps. To do the upgrade to Android see the help at liliputing.com. It is only a bit scary.

Profanol - Tabletipedia - anti-rage (spoof)

Propofol (Diprivan) is used to induce anesthesia during surgery or medical procedures. However we are having none of that as today I invent Profanol (Corblimivan) a non-existent drug to moderate handling of situations that require an expletive. These situations often aggravate latent Tourette's syndrome or bring about its remission. 

Examples include waking up to receive this year's gas bill; reading that St Paul's Cathedral, a Christian church is evicting people with a similar mission on its forecourt; hearing MP Andrew Lansley spout the wisdom of a taxi driver on the National Health Service; or negotiating the perpetual road works throughout Cambridge, UK.  

I claim ownership of the brand having misread the name of the sleep-inducing drug cited in the trial of Michael Jackson's doctor.

PROFANOL

Form - tablet

Tagline - nil by mouth.

Toshiba TDP P4 / TLPLP4 projector lamp

Here's a tale for those who like their use of technology to be bulletptoof.


In 2001 I bought a Toshiba P4 projector (below) which at £3000 allowed me to travel from school to school to do training. Back then you couldn't be sure that the school's only projector was not already in use. It cost money that hurt: that amount could feed the family for a year. To ensure (sic) that we would starve for another month I bought a spare bulb (£350). That would make me bullet-proof, but by 2012 the projector was still working well. After a few attempts to sell it I got £65 for it.Bah! By the way, I also learned from a good source (the lovely Nigel Steljes in person) that the warranty on the bulb would have lapsed by now. So if the bulb was faulty at birth, buying a spare ahead of need does you no good.
 
WAS FOR SALE, NOW SOLD:


TOSHIBA PROJECTOR LAMP UNIT TLPLP4 for the Toshiba P4 projector. Brand new in box. The unit is very easy to replace by unclipping a cover. It simply screws into place so you don't have to handle the UHP bulb itself.  


This is the genuine Toshiba replacement lamp which I bought at the same time as the projector. It's never been used or damaged.  Sells for £150 on ebay.co.uk. Toshiba TDP P4 TLPLP4 TLPLP4 - this is what retrospect says wasn't a good idea to buy:

Lamp spec: 1100 ANSI Lumens; 2000 hour life; 120W

The projector looks like this (this lamp will fill fit some other models). It's tiny enough to fit in a laptop bag and travels in my hand luggage.

Groupon & Printerpix photobook deal

With a holiday coming up in the next few weeks I bought a voucher from .com offering a leather (value £34.99) for under £10. Postage would be £4.50 extra but the idea of such a book at £15 is surely a great deal. 

I laid out the book opting for a bigger book for a bit more.  Ultimately I paid £25 which is fair enough and the fee shown in the invoice here is correct.

Printerpix however do their VAT calculation oddly though. VAT should never be calculated before the discount so it seems to me that P'pix are paying HM Gov too much VAT. 

That point aside, the final product was good. I felt a lack of control laying out the book so it wasn't as I'd wanted. While Printerpix offer lots of page layouts there just weren't enough landscape layouts. It seemed that if you needed more than one landscape picture on the page you feel you're losing photo space and gaining blank margins. I've done a dozen of these books with great results but the Printerpix interface could be better. As could the maths.

Comparing the two services: 

Printerpix 26 pages; thicker paper; black leather cover total cost £25 with Groupon voucher
Snapfish 34 pages; regular paper; black linen cover total cost £23 with 50% offer

Sony Ericsson Xperia arc review - Android mobile

A reviewer of the HTC Sensation, fresh from the seduction by a press briefing, was talking about its 3D interface. Noticing that the weather icons now animate in 3D he adds, "this provides a more immersive weather experience'. Not only is this most hilarious, it typifies just how much the phone makers are driving people's wants. The wants seem to have exceeded the needs.  

Reviews about Sony Ericsson's awesome phone, the Xperia arc have majorly misled me over the last several months (mid 2011). After reading so many, you imagine that not having a dual-core processor in 2011 is going to have an impact on an already fast and responsive phone. 

But I have yet to do anything on the 'xperia arc' that leaves me waiting for a page to turn; a video to change orientation or a web page to load. It's pretty fantastic really that portable devices used to do things at a fraction of the speed of a desktop computer, but now they seem to have caught up.  

Reviews of Android devices by phone-kids on the web just occasionally focus on usability; lightness; the value of having hard keys; how well they nestle in the hand and how well supported they are by the maker. But instead of reviewing how a phone works for the user I read trivia. One kid doesn't like the quality of a plastic cover - even though it ends up hidden behind a phone case. Another kid remarks on the size of the included memory card even though I've not begun to fill it after several months. 


The Xperia Arc is a quality design and is fit for purpose and well fit even for playing around. The Xperia ArcS appeared in late 2011 and has the dual-core processor.











*http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/30/sony-ericsson-xperia-arc-review/

Public Contracts Scotland - win a tender - do the work - and wait wait wait for payment

Everyone but me knows that you need stamina to handle a tender for a government project. The stamina required isn't just for the several late nights to ensure your bid complies with the rules; it's also about being able to wait for your money. What was supposed to be a series of payment milestones was bulldozered by a "Procurement dept"into one final payment which arrived three months late.

A tip on submitting a tender is that if you do include a timeline for your project, you should expect it to be used and abused in your contract. No discussion will be allowed if procurement decides that the project needs to finish on a date of their choosing. You will find that your payment milestones are unachievable and so you'll not see money so soon. 

Do ensure you send only one address and one bank account. If you are outside the UK and have a UK contact, the procurement department will by default post to the address requiring the cheapest stamp. As a result of this we received our contract to sign by the time we were 75% of the way through. Cheques were sent to the wrong account and payments that were said to have been made, repeatedly turned out not be made.





Public Contracts Scotland may have its own one star iphone app. It may also be fair. It may also break new ground by asking new suppliers what their sexual orientation is - hec how groovy but incredible. Expect to feel bullied, not just into answering such a question in this context, but bullied all through your contract. And be sure to price for the time you will spend stuck inside its strangulated hernia.

Blog post file under: work I wish I had never done;

http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/

Windows mobile - for doctors and hospital patients

Hello. It's now day 1600 of my phone rage over Windows Mobile. Today's rant has nothing to do with the thoughtlessly-tiny OK box in this error message.

If I were a doctor, or a friend of a hospital patient, I'd be distressed over this common error message. It would bring my heart to a stop. The message, which occurs simply when making a call when there's no signal, can be dismissed with a fingernail filed to a point. The real message can't be dismissed so easily: despite having a fantastic user base, Windows Mobile at version 6 (SIX!) isn't going to last many more versions. 

Windows mobile is a pile of

A burst of inspiration today almost led to the creation of a blog to record my phone-rage since swapping a phone OS from Symbian to Windows Mobile. Alas my preferred title of "windowsmobileisapileof..." had already been used by several correspondents.

Ten years ago the Sony Ericsson P800 smartphone offered the freedom to gad about town with access to web; email; train times; diary and a phone. A couple of years on, it was followed by similar models including the P910. All were very functional but still ridiculous to use as such.

But Windows Mobile changed that not a lot. Today it offers access to the same web; email and all but still with yesterday's awkwardness and speed. What's changed is that more people now have it. What's nice is that more people have recognised that for doing almost everything in its feature list, Windows Mobile is a pile of do do.


Keep up the good work Android & Apple

Logitech MX Mouse - rubber grip and battery problem

A Logitech MX900 mouse is the finest of pointing devices and uses regular Bluetooth to connect to a PC. I was looking for a mouse to work with an 2008 iMac and the mouse paired with it easily using System preferences > Bluetooth > +. 

The mouse had a rubber soft-feel coating which had worn and perished over time - possibly due to cleaning and possibly due to hand perspiration (see here for a pic from a guy who paint sprayed the mouse to great effect). My solution was to use a cloth and alcohol (microfibre cloth and alcoholic hand disinfectant) to clean off the rubber and leave a shiny plastic finish as shown here.

The second problem I caused myself by replacing the two NiH AA batteries. The charging light on the base unit was fast-flashing in red because I'd used 2000mA/hour batteries. Changing these for 1500mA/hr which were normal for this mouse's time changed the charging light to a slow flashing green. Long missed mouse with a great result.

How to allow Windows Vista to logon to a Buffalo NAS box / Linkstation / Terrastation

If you can't log into your Buffalo NAS box it's because of Microsoft updating the system for the greater good of encouraging me to switch to Apple sooner.

The symptoms:

The NAS box drive appears in the Network folder

You can access the NAS box via Window XP

You can't logon and it might seem to you that the login details are wrong

You can get the to web control panel using its IP e.g http://192.168.0.20

The cause:

Vista uses the NTLMv2 protocol, which Samba on the box does not support.

The solution:

Go to Start > Run > "secpol.msc"

Local Policies ; Security Options ; Network Security; LAN Manager authentication level.

Change from "Send NTLMv2 response only" to "Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated". Click OK.

Thanks to the lovely Buffalo Support Forum

Windows Mobile is still aweful

They say that it takes three goes to get a piece of software right. One piece of software that has broken the rule, and charred this expectation is Windows Mobile. So today I break a silence to join those who berate Windows Mobile: they say that 'Winmo' is a lame interface for a smart phone. I've used Winmo since it was called 'Windows CE' - this was a low-power operating system to embed in devices such as electronic diaries. This was lame too. My rogue's gallery of owned or loaned devices includes the successful HP Jornada 710; the well sized Samsung's Izzi Pro and well featured HP Ipaq 6550. Phone features were added to "Windows CE" and Windows Mobile was born, I went for the HTC TyTn II followed by today's HTC Touch Diamond2 running version 6.5. In this hardware collection you will find capable specifications with Bluetooth; WLAN; hi-res touch screens; video calling; fingerprint recognition; GPS and geo-tagging cameras. What you won't find is even one device that can use these conveniently. It can't display photos with any degree of speed or slick; similarly it can't jot a shopping list; show video without distortion and choppiness; install software; select music to play or make a phone call. An ipod Touch makes mincemeat on almost every point. It's even better at adding a contact or appointment for which it was not primarily designed.

I’ll agree it’s unfair to slam Windows Mobile and call it atrocious. But Microsoft has had the resources to change the phone world and numerous versions later, I still find it hard to use my HTC to send a text; make a phone call or do any of those ipod basics.
If anyone reviews Windows 7 mobile and says it's the dog's doodas, they might just find me already deaf. I’ve long believed that WinMo might provide what was missing elsewhere. I’ve done the good thing and put Google’s Android on my HTC (see www.androidonhtc.com). Both Google Android and iphone have had their irritations but by the second or third release they've been sorted.

Buying a phone at mobiles.co.uk - obvious benefits and hidden irritations

A new phone and a better deal seemed possible with mobiles.co.uk. Their O2 tariff was better than any I could find on O2 itself - besides there was 14 months half-price rental. Several snags were to emerge afterwards one of which was to want an Internet bolt-on which O2's web said was free to anyone who was on a 600 minute tariff. In fact that meant anyone who didn't buy through mobiles.co.uk. Thus £6.50 was added to my monthly bill, wiping out most of the money benefit. Automatically and as fairly warned I'd be signed up to the Tech Guys and also to mobile phone insurance. The Tech Guys sub was cancelled in one call. The phone insurance, which covers most risks except phone loss, was cancelled after another. Reminder letters continued to arrive and another call was needed to cancel it.
The half-price rental required redemption - which meant that I must remember to send my bills at 6 9, 12, 15 and 18 months or else forfeit the money. A cheque with an unexplainable amount of £39 then arrives following several emails. So by the end of this I'll have sent 5 bills and received 5 cheques and 15 emails. I am not expecting a reply to a letter asking how the rebate was calculated and I'll conclude Mobiles.co.uk is a faceless, phoneless operation. If getting a mobile doesn't require talking to someone to confirm details, I should know my stuff better before buying online with a click.

PDA's still evolving

see attached pdf with photo gallery - my PDA history
"I’ve spent an embarrassing amount on PDA’s over the last 20 years. In this time personal organiser equipment has been evolving and here I am still funding development. What’s driving this note is whether my philanthropy is finally paying off.

An HP ipaq 5450 running Windows Pocket PC has fingerprint recognition, Bluetooth, Wireless LAN. It can play music and video. It could run as a Sat Nav or handle email through the phone or wireless network. But as I do this never before have I confirmed so many actions or reminded this PDA what it’s supposed to be connected to. Playing a tune is no casual exercise. It will remember your contacts for as long as its battery lasts: if you forget to charge it it’ll lose all your friends. And since a Sat Nav really needs to work in desperate moments, I wonder how much one dare rely on it. Windows Vista didn’t care to talk with it. I conclude that the most highly evolved PDAs have decided to give evolution a miss. Someone please find me something that fits in my pocket and has text entry; phone connectivity; email and a library of photos, video and music.

HP Photosmart 3310 All-in-One Printer Scanner Fax

Here is a printer with networking features to the hilt. Its network link lets any machine connected to the network use the unit to fax, scan or print. Go to the printer and press scan and it'll ask 'to which machine' and then you can scan away, saving files on that machine, as if by remote control. Uploading pictures from a Pictbridge camera or a Flash card reader similarly asks which computer should receive the files. Alternatively, since a drive icon shows in My Computer, you can plug in the Flash card reader, go to your computer and browse the card as if it was a drive.
It has ethernet for wired network printing as well as wireless ethernet and amazingly it hops between these transparently. Disconnect the cable and the wireless takes over.
Really nice is a 10 x 15 cm photo tray which automatically bursts into life when selected by the software driver. No catches or buttons need pressing to hop between A4 and postcard size prints.
The software driver package is a hefty one with a slow install, however, bear with it because the result is a hec of a lot of function.
One small surprise was its Bluetooth capability if you bought an HP Bluetooth dongle. This lets you print a picture from a PDA or phone. Being too mean to buy the HP dongle I plugged in a cheap one made by Bluetake and this immediately started working! I think these BT things must use the same chips!

The HP 3310 was bought to replace a HP PSC 950 which scanned, faxed and came with HP Director - very capable software for its time. Bought in 2002 the build quality of the PSC 950 wasn't up to the hammering we gave it. The new HP prints really fast, feels good and strong enough from the start and it's one I'd care to recommend.

0870 - 0845 National numbers

Good news this month as the telecoms industry move to help telephone callers estimate what they pay when they dial a 'national rate' number beginning 0870. Currently you can pay a wide variety of anything and since very few people on the planet can understand a BT telephone bill, I'll wager that most people will continue never to know this. At around 8p (15 cents) a minute, an 0870 number doesn't cost that much to call but with landline calls now costing almost nothing to call, beside this they look pretty dear.

I still find it a touch alarming that numerous (but not all) businesses actually profit from you caling their 0870 number and are given 2p a minute on each minute of the call. I doubt if they're getting that wealthly but to be congratulated are those who devised the scheme where a business pays for a 08xx number, and consumers pay more for their calls as a result.

I've dabbled with the idea of getting 08xx numbers for myself and finally succombed. However it's taken a while to realise that if anyone offers you such a number you're obliged to keep it or else no one in future is going to be phoning you. An 0870 number (and an email address) is not just for Xmas, it's a commitment for life,

Plusnet, the ISP (Internet Service Provider) offer a free Fax2email 0870 number that sends a fax to your email box. It's a brilliant service until you put the number on your letter heads because Plusnet have the evil practice of disconnecting the number at random and giving the number to someone else.

Another firm, Robotelecom in Hemel Hempstead provide local call '0845' numbers. I signed up to one on their promise of "no fees to pay forever". This bunch too are truly fickle if not on the fringe of dishonest. Without notice Robotelecom decide to levy a £50 per annum fee for the number. That's not being trustworthty, to the nth degree. They claim that they were taken over by another firm called 'Virtual Effects Ltd' who had different terms so their promises didn't have to be kept. If you hanker for an 0870 / 0845 national number, you're going to pay one way or another. Friends tell me they have a more predictable time using companies other than robotelecom.co.uk.

Oneforall Wireless Telephone Extender

Spending sixty pounds for a telephone extension takes a bit of thinking about but after a couple of years dithering it was time to realise that life is too short for that kind of silly. People need phone sockets for their Sky box near the TV. My need was to get the telephone answering machine where it was needed. The fact that it's a DECT wireless system you can use anywhere made the need to spend £60 just a touch bizarre.
The 'One for All' Telephone Extender puts a phone socket where it's needed by sending telephone juice through the mains cabling. You can then pick up the phone signal at another mains outlet. Numerous reports from those with Sky Boxes were very positive but for straight forward phoning the solution was very hit or miss. First impressions of its two white boxes with mains leads and plugs suggested it's a lot of wires for a wireless solution. Recent units however improve on this by making the boxes with an integral plug. In use you do need to choose your sockets carefully because for a couple of days we'd missed half our calls and getting a line was a touch hit or miss. By day three, when it was clear that caller ID was not working over the link, the unit was on its way back to the shop. The small print on the OFA support web suggests that all these issues are likely. The sales part of the site only warns that it'll not work on ADSL lines or via a surge protector. It not only needs some kind of gauge to tell you how good the signal is - it also needs a note on the box to say that as solutions go this really is half good.