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Callunna
Revolving Grey Blob


3044 Posts
Posted -  17/12/2010  :  10:26
Over the years I've not done so bad when it comes to working with computers, and most times I can eventually fix things up when it all goes pear-shaped.

Yesterday my Mac went not just pear-shaped but a complete fruit pudding with meringue and custard. Over the past few weeks it had been getting slower and slower until it said: "You know what? I can't be bothered anymore. I quit." And it did.

Fortunately there's a thing called Time Machine which regularly backs up the OS and all files to an external drive, so I wasn't too nonplussed.

Unfortunately my Mac refused even to start up. Missing its core thingies or something.

No probs - just re-install the OS from the original discs. Almost there - the discs were a bit out of date but I could easily update the version from the internet.

Went to restore all my settings, files, programmes, etc from Time Machine. Unfortunately my finely tuned and slimmed down original system had bloated by about 20GB when reinstalled - and my drive didn't have enough space on it to complete the job.

Grrr.  

My backup drive (1TB  capacity) is also getting full so it looks like I'm going to have to buy another to dump my data into, then give it all a good clean out.

On top of that, once you start messing with reinstallations, I find much of my work software needs reactivating from the software companies - it's going to take me absolutely ages to get back to where I was a few, happy and organised days ago.

I hate computers. 
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Tizer
VIP Member


5150 Posts
Posted - 16/04/2011 : 11:47
quote:
Stanley wrote:
Anni, one way to get rid of one of your fears would be to buy an external hard drive and copy all your personal files over on to it.
I do something similar except it's a second PC instead of an external hard drive. Mrs Tiz and I each have a PC because of our work. Each PC has two hard drives, one with OS and backup, the other with the data. Every time I do a backup of data a copy goes onto the second disk of that PC and another copy onto the equivalent disk of the other PC. So there are two backups of each PC and they are kept on separate PCs. I know it sounds confusing but its' simple really!

Anni, I don't know how you do backups on a Windows PC but on Ubuntu I just set Archive Manager running to make one big file (what's called an archive file, .tar)  containing all the folders I want to backup. It can be compressed as well but I don't bother because most of the hard disk space on our PCs is taken up by JPG photos which are already compressed (all our business documents and even book files take little space by comparison). Then I can make extra copies of that big file and shift it wherever I want. Dead easy!


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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 16/04/2011 : 15:10
They say that small things amuse small minds....  I have had a noisy fan for a day or two and as this is usually caused by an imbalance because of muck on the blades I took the sides of me box off and had a good clean out. Amazing how much dust they can suck in! All done and fans are so quiet you can't hear them.

Pluggy, the leaflet people were working well in our street, I got your flyer today. Good leaflet and right to the point.


Stanley Challenger Graham




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catgate
Senior Member


1764 Posts
Posted - 16/04/2011 : 16:21


quote:
Tizer wrote:

Anni, I don't know how you do backups on a Windows PC but on Ubuntu I just set Archive Manager running to make one big file (what's called an archive file, .tar)  containing all the folders I want to backup.

Which particular Archive Manager are you using , kind sir?


Every silver lining has a cloud.


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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2011 : 08:44
A small example of the way Ubuntu treats you like an adult. The screen is set to switch off after a short interval and necessitates re-entry of the password. I entered the password and got a message; "You have caps lock on". No mention of ERROR or ILLEGAL just a polite reminder of your mistake. I love it!


Stanley Challenger Graham




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Tizer
VIP Member


5150 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2011 : 10:02
"Which particular Archive Manager are you using , kind sir?"

Sorry Catty, I missed your post. I'm using the Gnome archive manager with name `File Roller 2.30.1.1'. It's in your Synaptic Package Manager under that name - a very simple, small bit of software but does what it says on the tin.

Anni (and anyone else on Windows reading this), please don't get the idea that Ubuntu is very `techie' because of all these wierd words and phrases we use on this thread. If you switched to Ubuntu you would soon recognise and feel familar with them. Then you would come to realise that Windows is quite wierd and eccentric!


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catgate
Senior Member


1764 Posts
Posted - 19/04/2011 : 10:24


quote:
Tizer wrote:

Sorry Catty, I missed your post. I'm using the Gnome archive manager with name `File Roller 2.30.1.1'. It's in your Synaptic Package Manager under that name - a very simple, small bit of software but does what it says on the tin.


Thanks for that,Tizer. That is the one I have installed. I was just interested in any opinions of the others that are around.


Every silver lining has a cloud.


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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 27/04/2011 : 04:31
I hear 77million Sony Playstation users are worrying this morning because they have learned via Twitter that someone has hacked into the Playstation database and stolen a lot of data. Sony say they can't be sure that credit card details haven't been stolen. Brilliant! Encription?


Stanley Challenger Graham




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pluggy
Geek


1164 Posts
Posted - 27/04/2011 : 08:01
It's been down since the end of last week, nobody knew why until yesterday because Sony weren't saying anything.

 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/21/psn_outage_ddos_rumours/

 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/26/sony_playstation_network_security_breach/

Edited by - pluggy on 27/04/2011 08:10:43


Need computer work ?
"http://www.stsr.co.uk"

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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 27/04/2011 : 09:13
I'll bet whoever is in charge of security is having a bad day!

On another matter. I'm proof reading the Minute Book transcripts at the moment and and savig them in both .doc and .odt format to the main data hard drive and to the Samsung external back up drive. One thing that sticks out like a sore thumb is that the size of a complete file in Word2000 is about four and a half times bigger than exactly the same file in .odt format. No wonder OpenOffice handles big files better!


Stanley Challenger Graham




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Big Kev
Big


2650 Posts
Posted - 27/04/2011 : 10:16
You can reduce the size of your .doc file by embedding the images into the document. Use ctrl + A, to select everything, and them ctrl + shift + F9. You should see a big reduction in the saved file.


Big Kev

It doesn't matter who you vote for, you always end up with the government. Go to Top of Page
Bradders
Senior Member


1880 Posts
Posted - 27/04/2011 : 17:22
Not actually a computer question ,it concerns my printer.....

I refill my ink cartridges in situ  witha syringe.....I was wondering if there would be any point in using black in all of them , as it seems to be cheaper and I only print in Black and White....Has anyone done this ?


BRADDERS BLUESINGER Go to Top of Page
panbiker
Senior Member


2300 Posts
Posted - 27/04/2011 : 20:36
I assume it has 3 colour and 1 black. No point in replacing the colours with black as you would have to print your text in "colour" to take advantage. The cyan, magenta and yellow make up all the spectrum. Black of course does not exist as a colour although we perceive it as such. All blacks are simply pigments of very dark blue or brown. It would work but I can't honestly see the point. If you only print in mono, you should really be using a laser or more precisely an electrostatic LED printer nowadays. There are models that are quite cheap and many of the toners and drums can be refilled. Much higher yield than ANY inkjet and much better quality.


Ian Go to Top of Page
Bradders
Senior Member


1880 Posts
Posted - 27/04/2011 : 23:56
Thanks for that info , Ian...

I'm not too worried about quality for the type of stuff I print . ( A4 Posters etc at best ).....It's just that my "colours" seem to run out , even though I'm working with images that I've editted in "Picasa 3" down to "B&W"....

I'm guessing that the machine is using the three colours and black all the time......So I'm going to fill it with black and see what happens.

Actually you have just reminded me that somewhere in my pile of unpacked "stuff" , I have a very nice Brother B &W printer that needs a new toner cartridge ..(they used to be dreadfully expensive  , but I always hoped they could be reloaded, so kept it...!) I got it from a from a shop in Derby S/H for £25 . and it did masses of work before it told me it was empty !....Better dig it out.

 


BRADDERS BLUESINGER Go to Top of Page
panbiker
Senior Member


2300 Posts
Posted - 28/04/2011 : 01:24
I have posted this on the site before (could even be in this thread) but check out this site URefillToner for laser toner refills. If the printer uses a combination toner and drum, the drum unit will have a duty life of about 20,000 sheets. The toner bins in the cartridge usually only give 5,000 - 7,000 if it is high capacity. So you can usually refill a couple of times. I have re-cycled cartridges sometimes up to 5 times, depends on what you are printing before the OPC (drum unit) gives out.

If the site does a refill for your toner it will come with full instructions on how to access the cartridge and re-fill it. I used it extensively at one of the schools I worked at, cut the toner bills by 80%.

 

 

 


Ian Go to Top of Page
Bradders
Senior Member


1880 Posts
Posted - 28/04/2011 : 02:07
Ta !


BRADDERS BLUESINGER Go to Top of Page
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