Tom
Administrator
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2005
- Posts
- 51,906
Me too Ray. I was a HP diehard for many years, but no longer. Even their printers and all-in-one's can't compare with folks Like Lexmark.
Ray's new PC
- Thread starter Ned
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Ray D
Well-known member
I have mentioned, before, that I have an old HP PSC 2410 Photosmart Printer. My computer is dying. I'm crying. If that &*%$# Printer would just die, I'd be celebrationg! :'(
Ray D ;D
Ray D ;D
On some machines, they put the complete set of installation files on a second, hidden, partition and include a program to burn them to a CD or DVD. Of course, the partition reduces the usable hard drive capacity and if you do repartition the drive without creating the restore CD or DVD, you loose the ability as the hidden partition is then gone.
Ron
Moderator Emeritus
I feel the same about HP they seem to me to have gone down hill in their printers anyway.
Ray D
Well-known member
Kodiak, I'll let you know when I see what's in the box.
Reading up on it. Got questions. Like what is it and why do I care? ???
What's a 1-ExpressCard? Slot?
What's a i.LINK? IEEE-1394?
What's a S/P DIF output port?
No Blue Tooth. How come? I thought you had to have Blue Tooth, these days, and I don't even really know what that is, either! ???
OK, who wants to educate this illiterate old mountain man? :
Ray D ;D
Reading up on it. Got questions. Like what is it and why do I care? ???
What's a 1-ExpressCard? Slot?
What's a i.LINK? IEEE-1394?
What's a S/P DIF output port?
No Blue Tooth. How come? I thought you had to have Blue Tooth, these days, and I don't even really know what that is, either! ???
OK, who wants to educate this illiterate old mountain man? :
Ray D ;D
Ray D
Well-known member
Kodiak, I got the system restore DVD.
I'm typing on the new Toshiba, now. Does weird stuff. This is gonna be a short post! :
I got the enhanced touch pad. Does a lot of stuff I wish it wouldn't do. Does some nice stuff, too.
Gonna take some getting used to!
I'll be back when I learn to wave "Bye, bye!" :
Ray D ;D
Ray:Ray D said:
Kodiak, I got the system restore DVD.
I'm typing on the new Toshiba, now. Does weird stuff. This is gonna be a short post! :
I got the enhanced touch pad. Does a lot of stuff I wish it wouldn't do. Does some nice stuff, too.
Gonna take some getting used to!
I'll be back when I learn to wave "Bye, bye!" :
Ray D ;D
I shut off most of the touchpad enhancements except scrolling and things react much better. :
:[/quote]
Ray -- Somehow I missed your posts of the past couple of days.
What questions do you have left?
The first thing I did was buy a Microsoft wireless notebook mouse, Its transmitter plugs into a USB port and then snaps into the bottom of the mouse for storage.
IEEE 1394 is what is normally called "Firewire" which is Apple's trademark name for it. Functionally, it is similar to USB2 in usage and speed. Its normal usage nowadays is for external storage drives and video camcorder connections.
What questions do you have left?
The first thing I did was buy a Microsoft wireless notebook mouse, Its transmitter plugs into a USB port and then snaps into the bottom of the mouse for storage.
IEEE 1394 is what is normally called "Firewire" which is Apple's trademark name for it. Functionally, it is similar to USB2 in usage and speed. Its normal usage nowadays is for external storage drives and video camcorder connections.
Ray D
Well-known member
Kodiak, no big deal. I am having quite a time with this, and that's only part of the story! Trying to figure out whether to start a new thread or not, about weird stuff & computers.
No crisis, but still wondering - - -
What's a 1-ExpressCard? Slot? I don't know what an ExpressCard is.
What's a S/P DIF output port? Never heard of it!
No Blue Tooth. I thought you needed Blue Tooth!
None of that is a crisis. I am getting started on Vista, but it is a heck of change, for me.
I will look for that mouse. The touch pad is more challenging, right now, than I like. Trying to adjust the sensitivity to my taste, and I'm not sure that's possible!
Thanks,
Ray D ;D
No crisis, but still wondering - - -
What's a 1-ExpressCard? Slot? I don't know what an ExpressCard is.
What's a S/P DIF output port? Never heard of it!
No Blue Tooth. I thought you needed Blue Tooth!
None of that is a crisis. I am getting started on Vista, but it is a heck of change, for me.
I will look for that mouse. The touch pad is more challenging, right now, than I like. Trying to adjust the sensitivity to my taste, and I'm not sure that's possible!
Thanks,
Ray D ;D
If yours is like mine, it has a PCMCIA card slot with an Expresscard slot right below it. Here is a summary of what an Expresscard is. Basically, it sounds like an updated version of the PCMCIA card interface that has been around for 10 years or so. It seems the new interface makes use of the higher speed USB2 protocol available nowadays.
I think the S/P DIF output port is a digital/optical output port to send audio to a stereo or home theater system. I don't have that feature.
Blue Tooth is a short-range (several feet) wireless communication protocol typically used to connect a portable computer (laptop, pda, etc.) to an accessory such as a headphone. You don't need it unless you have a Blue Tooth accessory you want to use. In that case, you can buy a Blue Tooth "dongle" that plugs into one of your USB ports to accomplish the same thing as if Blue Tooth was built-in.
I think the S/P DIF output port is a digital/optical output port to send audio to a stereo or home theater system. I don't have that feature.
Blue Tooth is a short-range (several feet) wireless communication protocol typically used to connect a portable computer (laptop, pda, etc.) to an accessory such as a headphone. You don't need it unless you have a Blue Tooth accessory you want to use. In that case, you can buy a Blue Tooth "dongle" that plugs into one of your USB ports to accomplish the same thing as if Blue Tooth was built-in.
Ray D
Well-known member
Kodiak, thank you. That was helpful. Actually, I'm not that far along, learning to operate the new Vista system, to use any of that, yet.
It's a slow-go. I get pretty frustrated and have to take a break, fairly frequently. I am, however, making progress. I'm learning a little here, and a little there. :-\
Some day, when I'm in the mood to write a funny story, I'll tell about trying to learn the fingerprint ID system. Darned near locked myself out of the new computer. Shut that turkey down in a hurry!
My son installed Open Office Writer and gave me a homework assignment. So far, I have learned to lose files in that program. Need another lesson. : I am accustomed to WorkPerfect, from way back in time - - -
Any opinions on OpenOffice Writer? ???
Will update as appropriate.
Ray D. ;D
It's a slow-go. I get pretty frustrated and have to take a break, fairly frequently. I am, however, making progress. I'm learning a little here, and a little there. :-\
Some day, when I'm in the mood to write a funny story, I'll tell about trying to learn the fingerprint ID system. Darned near locked myself out of the new computer. Shut that turkey down in a hurry!
My son installed Open Office Writer and gave me a homework assignment. So far, I have learned to lose files in that program. Need another lesson. :
I am accustomed to WorkPerfect, from way back in time - - -Any opinions on OpenOffice Writer? ???
Will update as appropriate.
Ray D. ;D
I use Open Office for all my word processing and spreadsheet needs. It works as well as MS Office and WP, and will even read and write Office documents. I know it will read WP documents, but don't know if it will write them yet.
And the price is certainly right
And the price is certainly right
KodiakRV said:
Ray:
If you buy a dongle MAKE SURE it is Vista compliant. I purchased a Motorola PC850 that they were going to have a Vista driver for in June that is still not working properly. I am using it on my old XP machine and purchased a Kensington at Best Buy that does work on the new Toshiba.
I kinda like the fingerprint thing. It works pretty good for me. My wife is another story. She has very smooth fingerprint ridges, I think from washing her hands so much. ;D So her prints hardly register.
I've not used Open Office Writer, but I think it is supposed to be very similar to MS Word, which I do use.
What is it about Vista that you are having trouble with? There are probably some options that you can set to make it look/feel more like Windows XP. What version of Windows did you have on your old PC?
I've not used Open Office Writer, but I think it is supposed to be very similar to MS Word, which I do use.
What is it about Vista that you are having trouble with? There are probably some options that you can set to make it look/feel more like Windows XP. What version of Windows did you have on your old PC?
Ray D
Well-known member
Ned, thanks. That's very reassuring! I have WP and the right to transfer it. It is not, however, Vista compliant. So, trying to go with Open Office.
Jeff, advice much appreciated! Confirms what I think I have been learning. (The market isn't really ready for Vista, yet.) I have learned, at considerable trouble but no expense, yet, that I need to check EVERYTHING for Vista compliance!
Ray D. ;D
Hey! Am I the Vista guinea pig, here? ??? :
Jeff, advice much appreciated! Confirms what I think I have been learning. (The market isn't really ready for Vista, yet.) I have learned, at considerable trouble but no expense, yet, that I need to check EVERYTHING for Vista compliance!
Ray D. ;D
Hey! Am I the Vista guinea pig, here? ??? :
No, I've got Vista on my Toshiba laptop and it works okay for me. Most of my usage of it is on trips, though. Occasionally, I'll use it around the house. Otherwise, I'm using my desktop PC, which is Windows XP.Ray D said:...Hey! Am I the Vista guinea pig, here? ??? :
I'll crankup Vista in the morning, so leave me any questions that you have about it and I'll see if I can answer them...
Newt & Jan
Well-known member
I use and like the Open Office suite applications. They are very similar to the Microsoft ones with slight differences in features.
For instance, if you want to do ebooks (booklets that do a better job of displaying text & photos as you want them then a word document can and not editable by most people), the OO writer can do it while MS Word cannot. The .pdf file is also much smaller than the word document would be and excellent for sending as a email attachment.
Most people will have the Adobe reader needed to view the .pdf file although I much prefer the Foxit reader which is also free, about 1/30 the size of Adobe reader, and lots faster.
For instance, if you want to do ebooks (booklets that do a better job of displaying text & photos as you want them then a word document can and not editable by most people), the OO writer can do it while MS Word cannot. The .pdf file is also much smaller than the word document would be and excellent for sending as a email attachment.
Most people will have the Adobe reader needed to view the .pdf file although I much prefer the Foxit reader which is also free, about 1/30 the size of Adobe reader, and lots faster.
Ray D
Well-known member
Kodiak, not far enough along to have another question, yet. May be by the time I shut this thing down. (I'm running two computers, side by side, at this time. I know a fair amount about how to work one of them.) :-\
Newt, thanks for the reassurance on Open Office. Helps! My son installed Foxit on the old computer. Maybe I'll have him install it on the new computer, as well. Although, at 200 GB on the HD, I'm not having a problem with crowding, yet.
Ray D ;D
Newt, thanks for the reassurance on Open Office. Helps! My son installed Foxit on the old computer. Maybe I'll have him install it on the new computer, as well. Although, at 200 GB on the HD, I'm not having a problem with crowding, yet.
Ray D ;D
Ray D
Well-known member
Kodiak, I bought the Microsoft wireless notebook mouse. Just tried it out. Quite a relief from the scratch pad.
I guess I need to add another subject to this thread. It's a review.
During the purchasing period, several of you recommended Best Buy. I gave them a bit of an edge, but it was tight with CompUSA. Best Buy gave me a military discount and won the contest - so to speak. The prices on the two machines were the same, though I played two different products against each other, for the bidding war.
One of the things I tried at CompUSA was to get a better deal "in anticipation of a sale on these units." No sale coming up, so I left CompUSA.
Yesterday, I was in CompUSA looking for software. Noticed that the unit that I was interested in and the unit I got had both been put on sale - $100 off. (No sorrow, as I got a bigger discount than that for being a vet.) Anyway, this AM, still looking for software, I went to Best Buy. Got a very helpful and knowledgeable clerk. While discussing the software, I thought about the computer sale at CompUSA and mentioned it to him. Did that as a favor to the clerk, as they might want to match the discount.
Well, he assisted with the software and then took me to the front desk, where they issued me a $110 refund. It was straight forward and fast. I am getting pretty happy with the price of my new computer. Best Buy gets my vote, today. ;D
Now, if I only knew how it works! :-\
Ray D ;D
I guess I need to add another subject to this thread. It's a review.
During the purchasing period, several of you recommended Best Buy. I gave them a bit of an edge, but it was tight with CompUSA. Best Buy gave me a military discount and won the contest - so to speak. The prices on the two machines were the same, though I played two different products against each other, for the bidding war.
One of the things I tried at CompUSA was to get a better deal "in anticipation of a sale on these units." No sale coming up, so I left CompUSA.
Yesterday, I was in CompUSA looking for software. Noticed that the unit that I was interested in and the unit I got had both been put on sale - $100 off. (No sorrow, as I got a bigger discount than that for being a vet.) Anyway, this AM, still looking for software, I went to Best Buy. Got a very helpful and knowledgeable clerk. While discussing the software, I thought about the computer sale at CompUSA and mentioned it to him. Did that as a favor to the clerk, as they might want to match the discount.
Well, he assisted with the software and then took me to the front desk, where they issued me a $110 refund. It was straight forward and fast. I am getting pretty happy with the price of my new computer. Best Buy gets my vote, today. ;D
Now, if I only knew how it works! :-\
Ray D ;D
