Tag Archives: Electronic Toys… er… Tools

Sometimes, it’s the not so little things?

Ponderings, , ,

Drop your pants here
Yesterday, the husbear finally got the new front-loading washer and dryer that he has been wanting for years. We have had the last “old school” set since we got together almost 11 years ago. I’m not sure how long he had them before that. It’s not that the last set quit functioning—they were just not efficient in either water usage or energy consumption.

It’s funny—he was giddy and washing everything in the house. Giddy over doing laundry!

As always, we picked them up and installed them ourselves. And in the process I did something not-so-wonderful to my back… again. Ugh.

Until next time...
Erik

Bang your tools around

Ponderings,

stone age to modern age

This is how I have felt after this week at work so far.

I am having issue integrating a new tablet model into our multi-hardware XP image. Usually it’s something simple like a missing driver or a driver conflict. But not this time. Something odd is going on with this piece of hardware that I just haven’t been able to wrap my head around yet.

Nothing in setupapi.log indicates anything out of the ordinary is going on. Yet the tablet will not shut down completely after minisetup has completed. I thought maybe the incorrect HAL was loaded, but it matches the HAL on the vendor’s factory image. At this point I am starting to think some odd BIOS conflict, but it functions correctly with both the vendor’s image and a “virgin” OS image. Which leads me back to a problem with our image.

This is the first piece of hardware I’ve ever had this level of an issue with in the 4 years. It has got me stumped! Maybe I’ll luck across something today…

Sorry for the “technical” post, but this has consumed me the last week. So I had to share!

Until next time...
Erik

Incoming Message, Captain…

Ponderings,

I am probably not a “normal” person in my GenX age demographic when it comes to methods of communicating with others. Actually, I am fairly certain I am not normal in general, but that is for another post. For communicating I prefer to text from my phone (my awesome MotoQ that I have hacked and tweaked the hell out of), then instant message from my PC, then email LONG before I want to talk on the telephone. I’m sure that says something about my social skills—or lack of them. Or does it? I am still being sociable to the person the message is being sent to, aren’t I?

Erik texting his bff

Anyway, what prompted me to write this was a blog post about the true cost of SMS messages. Wow! Cell providers have obviously seen that they can make butt-loads of money off of people from just text message costs alone. And people have no current “alternative” when it comes to text messages—no cell phone equals no text messages equals no means of instant communication.

There has got to be some free alternative out there that can be adopted en masse… somewhere. Over the rainbow. I’m sure. How does that whole communicator thing work in the Star Trek universe? Anyone have ideas of a possible alternative?

Until next time...
Erik

Computer Laity

Ponderings,

Intel Inside. Idiot Outside.

I used to think the above was true. As time passes—having worked in IT in mostly support functions for the last 13 years—I have slowly been changing my mind about the truth of the statement. And I am not necessarily sure my mind has changed for the better.

I believe people should understand how the tools they use work—including their home computers and peripheral devices. This, however, does not seem to be the case for a lot of the people I know (and I’m sure a large group of humanity in general) when it comes to computer-related technology. Being the only (former) computer technician many of my friends and relatives have known, I am frequently bombarded with computer support questions. They seem genuinely “scared” of the computer, as if it will somehow harm them if they do something wrong with it or to it. Are people afraid of their dishwashers, washing machines, pencils or calculators?

Why does fear come to them when they sit in front of a computer? From where did/does this emotional response come? I have yet to come across anything that cannot be fixed when it comes to “broken” computers, and I doubt I ever will. The computer is just another tool. There is nothing that can be done that can’t be un-done (somehow).

Is it this mentality that separates the computer “laity” from the computer “clergy”?

Until next time...
Erik