Computers

First Ever Games Console

Posted on 29 November 2009 in Computers

Throughout my life, computers have always reigned supreme. The first was a Dragon 32, followed by a ZX Spectrum +. An Atari STE came next, then a 386DX-40. After that it all went a bit blurry, but there’s been several upgrades and new machines. Our house now contains a desktop PC, two laptops (one nine years old) and a very shiny and new netbook.

It just worked straight away - using a 3G dongle on Linux at Beebcamp

Posted on 28 November 2009 in Computers

I’ve never had any experience with 3G dongles, and I must confess I approached plugging one into my Dell Mini with some trepidation. I’d heard scare stories of faffing with config files and other horribleness. I remembered a whopping four page feature in Linux Format on “how to get 3G dongles working.” I mean - four pages. That means it certainly wasn’t going to be easy…

The heart-stopping moment when you think the PC has been totally wiped…

Posted on 9 November 2009 in Computers

Every now and then when you have a PC you inevitably end up with some near heart attack inducing moment.

The Vicious Linux Wireless Circle

Posted on 12 May 2009 in Computers

I recently broke the USB wireless dongle I use on my eight year old Linux running laptop PC. Without it, the laptop can’t connect to the internet. Hmm.

A plethora of cables

Posted on 4 May 2009 in Computers, House

there’s a draw in the spare bedroom just of computer cables and other bits - full to bursting. All tangled up, and with no idea what was what. As such, an obvious bank holiday task was to actually sort it out. And looking through, I was amazed at what there was in there.

The Pit

Posted on 13 July 2008 in Computers, Television

Anyone following my microblog updates yesterday may have noticed a certain anger with the trauma centre that is iTunes. I’ve never been a huge fan of iTunes (bloated, slow, klunky), but after yesterday I now hate, loathe and despise it.

Installing Linux on an elderly laptop

Posted on 17 May 2008 in Computers

Windows was slow, and whilst I felt that re-installing Windows XP might help, Muffin is only a 900Mhz Celeron with 384meg of RAM and a 20Gb hard drive. And I don’t like Windows (although XP is far better than Vista) - I’m a Linux user and have been for years. And it was time for Muffin to get a conversion.

Feisty Upgrade

Posted on 23 June 2007 in Computers

As anyone who has read these pages before, upgrading Linux since the arrival of my new PC last year, hasn’t always been smooth.

Broadband going slow

Posted on 18 March 2007 in Computers

Over the last few weeks, my broadband connection has been a bit slow.

BBC’s iPlayer to go beyond Microsoft XP?

Posted on 31 January 2007 in BBC, Computers

As a GNU/Linux user myself, the thought of the BBC’s iPlayer being Windows XP only, wasn’t one I particularly relished. So I was particularly interested in the reports that the BBC Trust have told the BBC management that iPlayer must take a more platform agnostic approach.

Wired for Sound

Posted on 10 January 2007 in Computers

So here’s the story with getting the sound working again on my new Ubuntu Edgy Eft setup.

It’s been six months. Time to moan and winge about upgrading Linux again

Posted on 8 January 2007 in Computers

I’ve just been reminded why I tend not to bother upgrading my Linux setup very often. It generally causes more headaches than benefits…

Sound, Oh Lovely Sound!

Posted on 26 June 2006 in Computers

Well I finally have persuaded Ubuntu Dapper to give me sound. After delving around in the depths of the Ubuntu forums, I finally found a thread where someone had realised the issue was a faulty sound module in the Ubuntu default kernels. One roll your own kernel later, and here I am with sound! As I type, I’m blasting out some Sigur Rós in celebration!

Dapper Dodginess

Posted on 19 June 2006 in Computers

Well since by last post about going to Ubuntu Dapper things have changed.

Ubuntu Goes Dapper

Posted on 8 June 2006 in Computers

Last night I left the computer ugrading itself up to the latest version of Ubuntu. Okay I didn’t quite leave it to do everything - actually I had to sort it out a few times in the middle of the night, but that’s only because I was checking it whilst I was struggling to sleep due to the heat.

User Experience

Posted on 16 April 2006 in Computers

Earlier in the week, I spent an evening trying to get my Hauppage PVR-150 to work under Linux. It’s no easy task, taking me a couple of hours, and even now it’s not exactly east. For starters, I’m only able to watch TV via Mplayer, whilst using a command line app to change channel.

RTFM?

Posted on 5 February 2006 in Computers

Sometimes I just wonder about the quality of documentation from the world of open source. Take this question from the MPlayer FAQ…

Comedy Editing

Posted on 4 February 2006 in Computers

Since getting my new PC, I’ve been taking stock and reviewing some of the stuff I’ve got on my hard drive - which is quite a lot actually. Old websites, copies of letters, and a bucket load of WAV files of goodness knows what. But most of all, I’ve been trawling through the several gigs worth of radio comedies that I’ve recorded from BBC7 and BBC Radio 4 over the last few years, and still haven’t managed to listen to yet.

No Windows CD

Posted on 28 January 2006 in Computers

What really annoys me about new computers is when they don’t come with a Windows CD. Yes, okay, I use Linux, but having a Windows setup on my machine is occassionally useful, so I’d prefer to have a copy of it just in case anything ever goes wrong with the machine. Merely being able to “repair” from the hard drive is no good if your hard drive gets trashed!

What’s In A Name?

Posted on 22 January 2006 in Computers

Well here we are. The new PC is up and running and I’m in the slowish process of migrating stuff off the old one and onto the new. More importantly, as is the *nix way, the new PC has finally been christened.

Walsh Western Hopelessness (part 2)

Posted on 18 January 2006 in Computers, Shopping

I’d like to say I got a coherent excuse for not getting my PC delivered, but whoeever it was that I spoke to at the “delightful” Walsh Western had the worlds worst phone line possible, and about the only coherent thing I got out of the conversation was a question about whether I have a brown door. Quite why, who knows, cos every time I tried to get anything useful, I ended up on hold.

Non-Delivery

Posted on 17 January 2006 in Computers, Shopping

Well it’s 21:42 and still no PC.

abcde

Posted on 8 January 2006 in Computers

Every now and then, you come across a computer programme that really makes a difference to your life - that really makes life easier and is worthy of being hailed. So stand up and say hello to abcde - a better CD encoder.

Tours in BASIC and Python

Posted on 5 December 2005 in Computers

The other week we went out for a walk with two friends, Jane and Jacko (who aren’t a couple - it’s just impossible to write two names without making it sound like they are) in Kent, and happened to pass by Lullingstone Roman Villa. Now looked after by English Heritage, the villa itself is inside a quite horrible green corrugated iron building. We didn’t go in, but I couldn’t help but spot the sign outside…

Grr, Computer, Grr

Posted on 13 November 2005 in Computers

Well that’s it. The answer is clear. I’m buying a new PC.

Ubuntu Upgrade

Posted on 30 October 2005 in Computers

I can see it now. In forty years time, little children will be running up to us saying "Daddy, daddy! Tell us again about the old days when to upgrade your computer operating system, you had to wipe the whole thing and start everything all over again". And I’ll laugh and go, "Well little ones, sit down and I’ll tell you all about it…".

Etc Etc

Posted on 18 August 2005 in Computers

This post will only mean something if you know anything about *nix operating systems. If you’re not that person, this will be meaningless.

Grr Mandriva 2

Posted on 11 July 2005 in Computers

I gave up on Red Hat some time after because I’d updated my copy and everything went wrong. Nothing worked properly - it was a mess. I went onto Mandrake. And it was great.

Grr Mandriva

Posted on 5 July 2005 in Computers

It has just taken me thirty five minutes to log into my PC this evening. For those thirty five minutes, the X server just refused to boot up. Why, I am at a loss to know. The graphical login page just returned me to itself.

Mandriva

Posted on 23 June 2005 in Computers

Funny isn’t it that you spend more time preparing to upgrade your operating system, then you do actually upgrading your operating system.

Defrag

Posted on 16 June 2005 in Computers

There was a time when I used to rifle through my Windows looking for redundant .ini files, or unnecessary log files. Anything to give my hard drive some more space. And I’d diligently defrag it once a month to get that perfomance boost.

Crucial

Posted on 24 January 2005 in Computers

My PC’s been getting a little slow in it’s old age so I thought I’d treble its RAM to 384Mb. I’ve never used Crucial before, but they are often raved about, so thought I’d give them ago. And it was a very pleasing experience.

File Under Pointless Reminiscing

Posted on 5 January 2005 in Computers

Had to use a floppy disk this evening.

End Of A Cable

Posted on 8 November 2004 in Computers

Computers have played a big part in my life - even giving me a career. And over those years I’ve had my fair share of computer equipment. And a lot of it still remains. In a box. A big box. Until tonight.

Flu, Chicken Soup and ADSL

Posted on 1 October 2004 in Computers, Life

Well I guess Chicken Soup can’t solve every problem which is why I spent most of yesterday and part of today, in bed with flu.

Sasser Where Art Thou?

Posted on 19 May 2004 in Computers

Okay, I’m confused now. Certainly it looked like I had the Sasser virus on Muffin the Wonder Laptop…

Sasser and Comet

Posted on 18 May 2004 in Computers, Internet

How depressing. I connect the Windows XP laptop to the internet for the first time in 6 months and bamm. Sasser virus.

Computerised Mayhem

Posted on 23 December 2003 in Computers

Computers are wonderful things. Until they go wrong.

Always Backup Regularly

Posted on 16 December 2003 in Computers

A tale of woe.

The Day The Network Died

Posted on 24 November 2003 in Computers, Work

I hate feeling unproductive at work, and yet for seemingly the third working day running, that’s exactly how I feel.

Visio Dizzero

Posted on 5 November 2003 in Computers

I feel sometimes that my entire working career has been leading up to the day that I can sit at my computer and do flow charts and process diagrams.

The Death of the Technical

Posted on 2 October 2003 in Computers, Internet, Web Development, Work

Today I struggled with some HTML. Does this set a worrying path to technical oblivion?

Ogg Streaming

Posted on 27 August 2003 in Computers, Internet, Radio

Ogg streaming came to Virgin, The Groove and Liquid in June which is fantastic news!

Software development is like a game of Kerplunk.

Posted on 8 July 2003 in Computers

Why building and developing software is like a game of Kerplunk.

The Wonderful World of Upgrading Your PC.

Posted on 26 February 2003 in Computers

Upgrading your PC is fun. Oh yes. Especially when it only all starts to work at a random point in time for no apparent reason.

Email Filtering for Beginners

Posted on 4 February 2003 in Computers, Internet

100 emails in 3 days from a pesky virus means a trip to email filtering hell. Oh how I love computers…

Computers. Grr.

Posted on 13 October 2002 in Computers

The trials and torments of installing an operating system which doesn’t do what you want it to.

Transport Tycoon

Posted on 20 August 2002 in Computers

Will someone save me from this wonderfully addictive computer game?