Croaky Keith
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Yeah, humidity makes a big difference, I could work in shirt sleeves at -20C in Germany, but when I came back to England, I'd be 'freezing' at 45F, the damp seems to get right into your bones.
Seasonistas general thread: yakking, joshing, news and pictures
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LimousinLil
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Same here, Rob (and Keith) ... it can be really cold here (in the minuses), but, without the windchill factor it never really feels that "brass monkeys".
LimousinLil
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A very admirable thought, Booli!
On Dec. 20, my 7-month-old computer broke. It kept giving me an “Inaccessible Boot Device” error. For 2 days, I was able to run a System Restore to an earlier date that got the computer working again. I could shut the computer down for an hour, and it would start up just fine. But when I turned it off for the night, I got the error message again the next day. After 2 days, it stopped offering me a recovery time that was before the computer crashed. I’d bought the extended Geek Squad protection from Best Buy, but after a few days they decided the motherboard was shot and they needed to send it back to the factory. And I’d be without the computer for another few weeks.
I’m one of the few people who didn’t own another Internet device, or another way to check my e-mail. So it was time to finally break down and buy a backup. Yesterday I ended up choosing an iPad Mini over a cheap laptop. I didn’t grasp that the iPad has no USB connections, so I can’t link it to any other devices. I missed a couple of Seasons, but I’ll try doing something using the iPad camera this week. I also undersestimated how long it takes to write a post on an iPad touchscreen.
I’m one of the few people who didn’t own another Internet device, or another way to check my e-mail. So it was time to finally break down and buy a backup. Yesterday I ended up choosing an iPad Mini over a cheap laptop. I didn’t grasp that the iPad has no USB connections, so I can’t link it to any other devices. I missed a couple of Seasons, but I’ll try doing something using the iPad camera this week. I also undersestimated how long it takes to write a post on an iPad touchscreen.
Sorry to hear about your computer woes.
You would do well to explore the voice recognition and dictation for input, which has been available on all Apple iOS devices for some time now, and you can use that instead of typing with the on-screen keyboard. (requires working internet connection via WiFi)
Also, Apple sells a lightning-to-usb adapter ($29) which will allow the use of most USB microphones and flash drives, provided that they do not require too much power.
Here is the link from Apple: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/...dapter?fnode=91&fs=f=lightning&fh=4588%2B3068
Hope this helps!
I was thinking more about the USB in terms of getting video from my camera to the iPad. I don’t have a way at the moment to hold thae iPad in place to shoot video with it.
All of these turned out to be secondary problems Wed. night — the controller on the furnace broke on a night when the temperature went down to 0 F (I think that’s -18 C). The furnace didn’t go out completely, but it stopped responding to the thermostats and wasn’t running anywhere near enough.
All of these turned out to be secondary problems Wed. night — the controller on the furnace broke on a night when the temperature went down to 0 F (I think that’s -18 C). The furnace didn’t go out completely, but it stopped responding to the thermostats and wasn’t running anywhere near enough.
I was thinking more about the USB in terms of getting video from my camera to the iPad. I don’t have a way at the moment to hold thae iPad in place to shoot video with it.
All of these turned out to be secondary problems Wed. night — the controller on the furnace broke on a night when the temperature went down to 0 F (I think that’s -18 C). The furnace didn’t go out completely, but it stopped responding to the thermostats and wasn’t running anywhere near enough.
If your camera uses SD cards for storage (wont work with tape-based camcorders on iOS), that same cable will let you import video (as well as pictures) onto the iPad, either to the Photo Library and possibly direct into iMovie.
However, the camera in all iOS devices nowadays is very high resolution and uses a great imaging sensor so you may not need to use your video camera in the future. You can prop up the iPad in many ways without an actual stand, even with something as simple as a binder clip or two, or even some rubber bands and a few spring-loaded clothes-pins.
The iPad mini can also easily rest against a stack of books, CD's or DVD's, and you can use something like said binder clip to prevent the bottom edge from sliding forwards (clip it to the cover of a book along the wide edge, and use that as the base of the stand and the binder clip will hold it from sliding flat on it's back).
Apple also makes cases that will stand up the iPad without any trouble, and Amazon has lots of options as well.
Sorry to hear about the furnace problems. In NJ tonight it is expected to go down to 7 degrees F, and for that low my biggest fear would be for the pipes to freeze and burst (happened once before) and so we keep the faucet on the slop-sink in the laundry room with a slow drip to keep the water flowing. So far this has seemed to help and since Dec 1, only one time did our furnace stop responding to the thermostats. When I went into the kitchen at 5am, it was 53 degrees in the house! (it was like 11 degrees outside at the time) but once I went to the furnace and hit the reset button it fired up fine and in a few hours the house was back up to 68 degrees again.
bird's eye view of my ukelele
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there is a lot to be said for cheap laptops (i am typing on one as we speak!) i'm a BIG fan of proper typewriter-style keypads!
*stops and thinks and realises she doesn't have a backup for going online either* :uhoh:
and commiserations re. your furnace, my boiler packed up a couple of christmases ago, it wasn't as cold here as it is with you, but man it was cold enough!
*stops and thinks and realises she doesn't have a backup for going online either* :uhoh:
and commiserations re. your furnace, my boiler packed up a couple of christmases ago, it wasn't as cold here as it is with you, but man it was cold enough!
I have a couple of 12 yr old iBook laptops, but last time I tried to go online with them, they were painfully slow. YouTube took almost 5 mins to load a page, then playing a video, it would buffer for almost 3 mins, and then when it played the picture was choppy and the sound kept cutting out.
Over the past few weeks there have been specials on the Amazon Kindle tablets as low as $49, and I almost bought one just to have as a backup device, and then thought of looking at the $129 Chromebook laptops, but they were so crappy looking and not made well according to the reviews, and had little storage and a slow 5-yrs-ago CPU tech inside, I figured that I'd be cursing at it any time I had to use it. In either case, I would likely never actually use either device on a regular basis, and only to verify it worked when delivered and then put in back in the box for the 'just-in-case' emergency...
Similar to when we've had power failures, I'd likely just light a few candles and sit here and strum my uke while sipping on some spirits until it was time to sleep and just enjoy being 'unplugged' for a while and yet realize just how addicted to the internet I have become over the past 20 yrs or so LOL.
The furnace got fixed the next morning. We have a service contract with our heating oil company, and we’ve stayed with them for years because they always show up quickly when something breaks. The house got nippy by morning, but not dangerously cold. It was funny the next evening to see Eisley sitting in his pen with his butt as near as possible to the baseboard to warm up.
Croaky Keith
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I've always had 'more than one' computers, sometimes embarassingly many more.
(I recently 'discovered' the Raspberry Pi3B, a tiny little thing (4"x2.5"x1") that plugs into normal desktop peripherals, uses an ARM processor, 1GB ram, but works OK for all normal computer type stuff, & online.)
(I recently 'discovered' the Raspberry Pi3B, a tiny little thing (4"x2.5"x1") that plugs into normal desktop peripherals, uses an ARM processor, 1GB ram, but works OK for all normal computer type stuff, & online.)
Tootler
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Booli said what I was going to say. I've used my iPad in a hotel propped up against something. You can buy stands for iPads quite cheaply as well.
The built in camera and microphone in the iPad is more than adequate for making videos for You Tube.
There's also some pretty good movie editing apps. I use movie pro which was recommended to me. At the time it was free but I see it's now listed at 5.99GBP so I guess around 8USD
The built in camera and microphone in the iPad is more than adequate for making videos for You Tube.
There's also some pretty good movie editing apps. I use movie pro which was recommended to me. At the time it was free but I see it's now listed at 5.99GBP so I guess around 8USD
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I guess I jinxed myself last night talking about the furnace....woke up to 55 degrees F...25 yr old furnace limping along. Hit the reset button and it fired up. No wonder I could not sleep well and kept waking up all night...ok now though it seems.
I love the Raspberry Pi platform as well. I have a few installed as Wifi repeaters around the house, and one in the car as an mp3 server running hostapd and minidlna.
I should set up one of the spares that I have as the backup 'internet machine'. I was looking at getting the new Pi-Top kit that turns it into a laptop, but the kit seems pricey for what it is.
http://pi-top.com/
Croaky Keith
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I looked at it too, but not at that price!
Yea, I know. I tell myself that I could get a 3-D printer ($325 USD) for a little more than the Pi-Top ($265) and then create my own laptop enclosure for the R/Pi, maybe something with a 10-11" screen so it is more portable....
Have you heard anything about if they are coming it with a new 'version 4' soon?
Historically they've often announced new products in February and then they are available about 1 month later at the usually vendors. I wonder if we are going to see a new model in 2018 - I would love that, especially if it had more RAM or more CPU cores...
wee_ginga_yin
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Have a sparkling New Year.
Croaky Keith
Well-known member
@ Booli
There's nothing on the forum about a '4' yet, but I hope when there is it will have enough ram to cope with modern web browsers, & have at least USB3.
There's nothing on the forum about a '4' yet, but I hope when there is it will have enough ram to cope with modern web browsers, & have at least USB3.
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