Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Tease Me!
It seems Microsoft are on the tease with a new site they have registered. I'm sure there will be a lot of speculation but my guess for what it's worth is that it will be a PSP killer.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Daxten 1 Kensington 0
At work we have a number of laptops. To save a bit of desk space we tend to use Daxten SCOUTCombo KVM switches and a docking station. The problem with this setup is that the docking stations are proprietary and tend to be expensive. So I decided to look at universal docking stations and bought a Kensington Portable Universal Docking Station for evaluation as it seemed to best fit our requirements and would mean that it could be used with any laptop with a USB port. This would mean that in future we wouldn't need to buy a docking station every time we buy a laptop. It even supports an ethernet connection.
When it came, it looks nice and compact and can be easily tucked out of the way. I plugged it into my laptop and connected it all up. This is when the problems began. In fact the KVM switch stopped working. After a bit of experimenting I realised that it only stopped working when the PS2 mouse connector was in the docking station. This suggested that the issue was with the docking station rather than the switch. I had been successfully using that (and other) switches for about a year.
I emailed both Kensington and Daxten. A couple of days later I got rather terse email back from Kensington stating that none of their equipment supports KVM switches.I can find no reference to this on the packaging that came with the unit, nor can I find any such infomrmation on their website, neither can Google.
Fortunately for me, during those same few days I had been in frequent communication with Daxten. Not only were they prompt but they were extremely helpful. I discovered that I could connect the USB connection from the KVM switch to the laptop and then the KVM switch would work as expected. Now this isn't ideal as if I want to take the laptop I have to unplug lots of connections rather than one (and in my experience frequent connecting and disconnecting is often the cause of failure in laptops) but at least it works.
I've since discovered that I can plug the usb connection from the switch into the docking station (and not the mouse and keyboard connections) and it all works as expected. At least this means that I only need to disconnect the USB and monitor connections from the laptop.
Needless to say we won't be buying any more Kensington equipment but I will be advocating that of Daxten. One of the really nice things about this particular KVM switch is that it has four USB ports on the front which means I can plug my memory stick/camera etc in and they can be seen from all the computers.
When it came, it looks nice and compact and can be easily tucked out of the way. I plugged it into my laptop and connected it all up. This is when the problems began. In fact the KVM switch stopped working. After a bit of experimenting I realised that it only stopped working when the PS2 mouse connector was in the docking station. This suggested that the issue was with the docking station rather than the switch. I had been successfully using that (and other) switches for about a year.
I emailed both Kensington and Daxten. A couple of days later I got rather terse email back from Kensington stating that none of their equipment supports KVM switches.I can find no reference to this on the packaging that came with the unit, nor can I find any such infomrmation on their website, neither can Google.
Fortunately for me, during those same few days I had been in frequent communication with Daxten. Not only were they prompt but they were extremely helpful. I discovered that I could connect the USB connection from the KVM switch to the laptop and then the KVM switch would work as expected. Now this isn't ideal as if I want to take the laptop I have to unplug lots of connections rather than one (and in my experience frequent connecting and disconnecting is often the cause of failure in laptops) but at least it works.
I've since discovered that I can plug the usb connection from the switch into the docking station (and not the mouse and keyboard connections) and it all works as expected. At least this means that I only need to disconnect the USB and monitor connections from the laptop.
Needless to say we won't be buying any more Kensington equipment but I will be advocating that of Daxten. One of the really nice things about this particular KVM switch is that it has four USB ports on the front which means I can plug my memory stick/camera etc in and they can be seen from all the computers.
Friday, February 10, 2006
1001 uses for a memory stick part 2
I've just discovered a great little site called The Portable Freeware Collection. It has lots of portable applications listed and any instructions needed to make the application portable if it wasn't intended to be so by the author.
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
More Network Printing
I've now discovered what works for my network printing. If you run the belkin wizard, it should find the print server. Leave the encryption at none - the settings don't get overwritten as I previously thought. You also need to ensure that the printer is installed before running the wizard.
When the wizard completes it should all be setup ok apart from the following. On the printer settings (right click on the printer icon and click Properties). On the ports tab you need to make sure that bidirectional printing is off. You also need to click once on the port for your printer (belkin port) and then click on the Configure Port button. Click on the advanced options and if you have the printer connected to port 1 (the lower socket) in queue name put lp1 then click OK twice. On the advanced tab I have all the check boxes clear at the bottom. I'm not certain that any of this is essential but it works for me. The rest of the settings can be left at the default values.
Finally, most importantly, you need to cycle the power on the print server. This can be done either physically or remotely via the web interface and all should be well.
When the wizard completes it should all be setup ok apart from the following. On the printer settings (right click on the printer icon and click Properties). On the ports tab you need to make sure that bidirectional printing is off. You also need to click once on the port for your printer (belkin port) and then click on the Configure Port button. Click on the advanced options and if you have the printer connected to port 1 (the lower socket) in queue name put lp1 then click OK twice. On the advanced tab I have all the check boxes clear at the bottom. I'm not certain that any of this is essential but it works for me. The rest of the settings can be left at the default values.
Finally, most importantly, you need to cycle the power on the print server. This can be done either physically or remotely via the web interface and all should be well.
Network Printing
My wife is now studying for a Masters degree, so now the table in the dining room has been taken over, which is only fair given that the study has been taken over by computers so there is no room to put a book down. The table is massive, we once has 14 people sat around it in relative comfort. There is at least plenty of room for her.
We bought a laptop for her to use. This connects wirelessly as its quite a way to the dining room from the study and she refused to have cat 5 cable strewn around the house. She then complained that if she wanted to print she had to go to the study to collect it which would break her train of thought. Sharing the existing printer isn't ideal as the computer it's attached to isn't always turned on.
My first option was to buy another printer which would be convenient should the existing one pack up/run out of ink at a strategically important moment but it would also be relatively expensive as we would then have two printers to buy ink for etc. In addition she moves the laptop around a lot and I don't want her plugging more than necessary into it at a time. One answer to this might be a universal docking station such as the Kensington though there are other ones with slightly differing features. The issue with this would be that the laptop would have to be on for the other computers to print and it would be more expense.
This led to my second and (eventually) favoured option which was to buy a print server. I had read a lot about wireless print servers and noted that some of them were incompatible with certain printers. I also noticed that some of them were USB 1.1 which doesn't make a lot of sense given the prevalence of USB 2 now. Others were wireless b which again doesn't make sense. The final issue with this was about compatibility with my Netgear wireless kit. I first considered their wireless print server with 4 port switch. I couldn't find out if it was compatible with my HP 5650 and Netgear weren't forthcoming when I emailed them. I also considered buying another wireless access point the same as the one I had, using it as a bridge and connecting it with cat 5 to a print server. Then I read that this print server is particularly slow to print. My printer isn't a multi function but it does have a USB and a parallel port which means that I can use either. The advantage of the second Wireless access point would be that it would improve general wireless access around the house. The main disadvantage would be cost.
Under increasing pressure to resolve this and in desperation I went to my local PC world to see what they had. I've taken advantage of their collect@store before. In my case I bought World of Warcraft for £20 rather than the £35 or so that it was on the same shelves for. They had nothing but next door there is a Comet which sometimes has interesting stuff. They had a Linksys . I've always fancied their kit but never used it. It was a bit more than I wanted to pay but remember I was under pressure. As it was the only model of print server they had I asked the sales assistant if I could get a refund if it didn't work with my network/printer asI knew that was a potential issue. They said no - I couldn't. I decided it was a bit too expensive to use as a doorstop.
Later I went to my local Staples. They always have a good selection of networking kit and it was better priced than Comet. In the end I was spoilt for choice but plumped for a Belkin. I've read good things about their support, this device supports up to 2 printers and the price wasn't too bad compared to buying online. I decided that the compromise would be printing using USB 1.1 which still should be reasonably quick. They gave me up to 14 days to claim a refund and as they had others it was far less of an issue than Comet. I reasoned that if I couldn't get the Belkin to work that I would give the 3com a go. It was only £5 dearer and was USB 2, though only supporting 1 printer.
It's not the prettiest device ever but I started to set it up. Following the quickstart instructions, it wasn't recognised and it also only appeared to use WEP encryption. My network uses WPA so it would mean reconfiguration all round!! I connected it to my switch on a spare port, that showed that it did support WPA, it just didn't show in the installation wizard. It also showed that the device would only use wireless OR cat5, it can't use both at the same time, minorly irritating but understandable. At least it meant I could use it as a wired print server should I want/need too.
Connecting by cat5 was much more successful when I found the IP address, which defaults to 192.168.0.253. Having configured it, I still couldn't print. Hmm, Time to read the manual! That suggested that I run a program on the CD but this program continually gave me an error which appeared to be related to a help file and refused to run. Time for drastic measures, in a final attempt to get it working I switched encryption off on my Access Point and on the print server. Run the wizard from the CD and bingo the test page churns out. It was getting late so I left it like that until the next day, when I got it in the neck from my wife because her laptop couldn't get onto the web!
The installation puts it's own printer port driver onto the computer which also needs a little configuration particularly if you have two printers. I then reactivated WPA on the device, reactivated it on the Access Point (resulting in a happy wife!), recycled the power on the print server and again it worked. Fortunately you can save the print server settings to a separate file as a backup. I say this as to enable printing on any of my computers I will have to run the wizard which as I said doesn't allow WPA encryption but does overwrite the settings on the device. It's a shame that Belkin didn't have an option on the wizard to just install the print port driver. Other than that and the fact it is only USB 1.1 it seems to be a decent little gadget and when I have gone through the pain of setting it up, all should be well.
We bought a laptop for her to use. This connects wirelessly as its quite a way to the dining room from the study and she refused to have cat 5 cable strewn around the house. She then complained that if she wanted to print she had to go to the study to collect it which would break her train of thought. Sharing the existing printer isn't ideal as the computer it's attached to isn't always turned on.
My first option was to buy another printer which would be convenient should the existing one pack up/run out of ink at a strategically important moment but it would also be relatively expensive as we would then have two printers to buy ink for etc. In addition she moves the laptop around a lot and I don't want her plugging more than necessary into it at a time. One answer to this might be a universal docking station such as the Kensington though there are other ones with slightly differing features. The issue with this would be that the laptop would have to be on for the other computers to print and it would be more expense.
This led to my second and (eventually) favoured option which was to buy a print server. I had read a lot about wireless print servers and noted that some of them were incompatible with certain printers. I also noticed that some of them were USB 1.1 which doesn't make a lot of sense given the prevalence of USB 2 now. Others were wireless b which again doesn't make sense. The final issue with this was about compatibility with my Netgear wireless kit. I first considered their wireless print server with 4 port switch. I couldn't find out if it was compatible with my HP 5650 and Netgear weren't forthcoming when I emailed them. I also considered buying another wireless access point the same as the one I had, using it as a bridge and connecting it with cat 5 to a print server. Then I read that this print server is particularly slow to print. My printer isn't a multi function but it does have a USB and a parallel port which means that I can use either. The advantage of the second Wireless access point would be that it would improve general wireless access around the house. The main disadvantage would be cost.
Under increasing pressure to resolve this and in desperation I went to my local PC world to see what they had. I've taken advantage of their collect@store before. In my case I bought World of Warcraft for £20 rather than the £35 or so that it was on the same shelves for. They had nothing but next door there is a Comet which sometimes has interesting stuff. They had a Linksys . I've always fancied their kit but never used it. It was a bit more than I wanted to pay but remember I was under pressure. As it was the only model of print server they had I asked the sales assistant if I could get a refund if it didn't work with my network/printer asI knew that was a potential issue. They said no - I couldn't. I decided it was a bit too expensive to use as a doorstop.
Later I went to my local Staples. They always have a good selection of networking kit and it was better priced than Comet. In the end I was spoilt for choice but plumped for a Belkin. I've read good things about their support, this device supports up to 2 printers and the price wasn't too bad compared to buying online. I decided that the compromise would be printing using USB 1.1 which still should be reasonably quick. They gave me up to 14 days to claim a refund and as they had others it was far less of an issue than Comet. I reasoned that if I couldn't get the Belkin to work that I would give the 3com a go. It was only £5 dearer and was USB 2, though only supporting 1 printer.
It's not the prettiest device ever but I started to set it up. Following the quickstart instructions, it wasn't recognised and it also only appeared to use WEP encryption. My network uses WPA so it would mean reconfiguration all round!! I connected it to my switch on a spare port, that showed that it did support WPA, it just didn't show in the installation wizard. It also showed that the device would only use wireless OR cat5, it can't use both at the same time, minorly irritating but understandable. At least it meant I could use it as a wired print server should I want/need too.
Connecting by cat5 was much more successful when I found the IP address, which defaults to 192.168.0.253. Having configured it, I still couldn't print. Hmm, Time to read the manual! That suggested that I run a program on the CD but this program continually gave me an error which appeared to be related to a help file and refused to run. Time for drastic measures, in a final attempt to get it working I switched encryption off on my Access Point and on the print server. Run the wizard from the CD and bingo the test page churns out. It was getting late so I left it like that until the next day, when I got it in the neck from my wife because her laptop couldn't get onto the web!
The installation puts it's own printer port driver onto the computer which also needs a little configuration particularly if you have two printers. I then reactivated WPA on the device, reactivated it on the Access Point (resulting in a happy wife!), recycled the power on the print server and again it worked. Fortunately you can save the print server settings to a separate file as a backup. I say this as to enable printing on any of my computers I will have to run the wizard which as I said doesn't allow WPA encryption but does overwrite the settings on the device. It's a shame that Belkin didn't have an option on the wizard to just install the print port driver. Other than that and the fact it is only USB 1.1 it seems to be a decent little gadget and when I have gone through the pain of setting it up, all should be well.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Whale Watching
I went whale watching in Juneau, Alaska last year. It was fabulous. We were with Captain Larry.
It was a modest sized boat. As you can see from the pictures they got pretty close. I thought at one time they were going to hit us!
We had bought a Panasonic camcorder specially for the trip. It's a great little device, small, light and decent enough quality for us.
It was a cool, damp day, when we got to where the whales were we all went outside to look at them. Quite a lot of people stood on the roof of the boat to get a better view. I stayed at the back where I was close to water level.
I was so excited when they came under the boat that I nearly dropped the camera. Humpack whales are enourmous. I only really saw what happened when I watched it back.
If you want to watch the video it can be found here . I'm afraid it's only in WMV format at the moment but if there is any interest I will convert it. It's best watched full screen on a broadband or faster connection.
It was a modest sized boat. As you can see from the pictures they got pretty close. I thought at one time they were going to hit us!
We had bought a Panasonic camcorder specially for the trip. It's a great little device, small, light and decent enough quality for us.
It was a cool, damp day, when we got to where the whales were we all went outside to look at them. Quite a lot of people stood on the roof of the boat to get a better view. I stayed at the back where I was close to water level.
I was so excited when they came under the boat that I nearly dropped the camera. Humpack whales are enourmous. I only really saw what happened when I watched it back.
If you want to watch the video it can be found here . I'm afraid it's only in WMV format at the moment but if there is any interest I will convert it. It's best watched full screen on a broadband or faster connection.
Internet Explorer 7
I've just installed Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 and it's quite interesting. I've always felt in the past that when Mocrosoft have had serious competition they were at their best. They used to be good at stealing other people ideas and making them even better i.e. doing them right.
In my opinion they haven't really done this with IE7. If you take the tabbed browsing it seems a bit half hearted. Why couldn't it work like the tabs in an Excel sheet? I sometimes need to see pages side by side. With tabbed browsing this can be awkward, but only because they don't have the tile and cascade options that you get on most other applications, in particular the Office ones. I've posted this as a suggestion in the microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general newsgroups. Ironically I had to do it using Firefox as I couldn't get IE7 to work!
I also don't like having to go to a tab to close it by hitting the x. This is the feature of Netscape that I dislike - for me Firefox does it better by keeping the x in one place. Microsoft have done it properly in Visual Studio! Can we please have some consistency.
Finally I dislike the bar at the top. I like to have my menus at the top. When I tried to do this I lost them and it took a little while to find how to retrieve them (Tools (button)|ToolBars|Lock Bands). I also prefer the Google toolbar for searching as by hitting a different button I can search Google uk, or Google maps etc.
Recently I was starting to convert to Firefox especially with the IETab extension. Microsoft have done barely enough to make me decide either way.
Having said all this, the look of it is likely to be a hint of what's to come with Vista and on the whole I don't dislike the look, I'm sure I'll get used to it's quirks fairly soon. I've managed to crash it a couple of times but that is to be expected with a Beta. It's also a bit slow but again that is probably because it's a beta. It handles RSS feeds slightly differently to Firefox and I'm not sure if I like that or not. I'll reserve judgement for now.
To my mind one of the best things about it is the anti-phishing tool. Assuming this works as intended it's a brilliant idea.
In my opinion they haven't really done this with IE7. If you take the tabbed browsing it seems a bit half hearted. Why couldn't it work like the tabs in an Excel sheet? I sometimes need to see pages side by side. With tabbed browsing this can be awkward, but only because they don't have the tile and cascade options that you get on most other applications, in particular the Office ones. I've posted this as a suggestion in the microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general newsgroups. Ironically I had to do it using Firefox as I couldn't get IE7 to work!
I also don't like having to go to a tab to close it by hitting the x. This is the feature of Netscape that I dislike - for me Firefox does it better by keeping the x in one place. Microsoft have done it properly in Visual Studio! Can we please have some consistency.
Finally I dislike the bar at the top. I like to have my menus at the top. When I tried to do this I lost them and it took a little while to find how to retrieve them (Tools (button)|ToolBars|Lock Bands). I also prefer the Google toolbar for searching as by hitting a different button I can search Google uk, or Google maps etc.
Recently I was starting to convert to Firefox especially with the IETab extension. Microsoft have done barely enough to make me decide either way.
Having said all this, the look of it is likely to be a hint of what's to come with Vista and on the whole I don't dislike the look, I'm sure I'll get used to it's quirks fairly soon. I've managed to crash it a couple of times but that is to be expected with a Beta. It's also a bit slow but again that is probably because it's a beta. It handles RSS feeds slightly differently to Firefox and I'm not sure if I like that or not. I'll reserve judgement for now.
To my mind one of the best things about it is the anti-phishing tool. Assuming this works as intended it's a brilliant idea.
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