COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by plaques »

Thanks, I have used Handley Aerials myself but it was some years ago. I'm not pushing this one just at the moment I've some sockets to sort out first. Its becoming to look like a rats nest behind the desktop computer. I may be asking you some of my novice type questions though.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Stanley »

Don't be apologetic P. Not novice questions, just normal. We aren't all electronic engineers!
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Pluggy wrote: 25 Oct 2018, 20:33 You could always download 18.04, burn it to a DVD or a USB stick and try it as a live system if you're curious.
Thanks for that Pluggy. I'm on 16.04 LTS 64-bit. The `live' test is a good idea, I'll give it a try and see what's different. :smile:
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Aye, ask away P, if I can help I will. Good brain food, nowt wrong up there now, official. Just cant walk properly yet but were working on that. :biggrin2:
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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OK Ian since you asked. You have obviously picked up on my questions about TV / recorder reception. This question is something that ran through my mind but probably drops into the nice to know category rather than something that solves a problem.
Talking Freeview from Winter Hill. the transmission frequencies range from 475 to 850 M-Hz. breaking down to about eight main channels. (31, 37, 49, 50, 54, 55, 57, 59,) These being the main Multiplex channels, Example BBCA ,50, carries most of the BBC programmes and the remainder of the channels carry other content, ITV etc: The question from this is,, say on 50, is all the content within this channel sent out at the same transmission strength ie: BBC1 is as strong as BBC2 etc, or are they variable within the channel or perhaps do they react to external influences, reflections, absorptions and the like. Sorry for the layman like language.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Right, you have to accept that I left the TV trade 25 years ago, just on the cusp of satellite and the infant digital services just coming in to use. Previous channelised analogue services could indeed vary at both the transmitter and receiving ends of the signal path. At the transmitter for engineering maintenance requirements from time to time. But under normal circumstances all were transmitted at the same power, at the receiving end it was very much dependent on signal path loss due to terrain or conurbation which could introduce multi path signals and reflections. This was counteracted by the type of antenna installed at the receiving end. If you had a clear path or line of sight. The riggers would install a narrowband antenna which maximises gain (power) to the receiver. If the signal was weaker or had reflections a wide band antenna would be employed, more forgiving for weaker signals. Real problem areas in hilly areas may require stacked and bayed antenna arrays along with mast head amplifiers.

The advent of digital alleviates a lot of these problems but you still need a decent signal. The terrain hasn't changed only the method of delivery from the transmitter and the receiving equipment. In theory the give-away is in the title, Multiplex. All channels should really be the same but can vary for the same reasons as above. Digital signal processing doesn't manifest as snowy reduced power signals any more you just get signal breakup as the digital signal breaks down. Satellite is the clearest line of site mode available and really only gets affected by extreme weather from time to time, heavy rain or snow usually transient events that are pretty obvious to spot if you look out of the window. For terrestrial digital you are still playing with the terrain and the buildings.

For my part, after leaving the trade, I jumped straight to satellite, first with Sky and now with Freesat. I saw it as a no brainer, get rid of the signal losses of ground based distribution. I still use the abandoned Sky dish which works fine with my Freesat box. A bit of initial investment for the dish if you haven't already got one and the box but then you are sorted. Don't put money into ground based technology working on old infrastructure unless you can move Pendle Hill and Boulsworth.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Thanks Ian, I couldn't see why signals within a specific channel should vary but can quite understand that from one end of the total frequency rage there could be some channels more affected by losses than others. Although I'm 23 mile from Winter Hill I'm sat on the top of a hill and can see the mast, or should I say, should be able see the mast if it wasn't for next doors 60 Beech trees (TPO) that play havoc when in full leaf and storm conditions.
I can see the trade off with 'high gain' multiple element aerials but don't understand the advantage of these 'three boom' aerials that are now on the market unless they are designed to reduce interference from other sources.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Never regretted switching to Freesat, lots more channels, recording, rewind if you miss the start, all the on demand channels, youtube if you want it and pay per view Netflix is on the box as well, never felt the need for that though. Trees are a menace for any terrestrial signals, leaves or not, they still wave about in the wind.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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I have Freesat too, it works a treat. I also have the benefit of my son's Netflix subscription (It's available on 5 devices) but still find myself watching very little television. We very rarely watch anything 'live' it's either recorded or on demand.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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I had the first Freesat box Garlick's fitted and that and the router are my sources. I watch more Youtube than TV now, only watch the programmes that interest me.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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I followed up on Pluggy's suggestion that I have a look at the latest Ubuntu LTS version, 18.04, on a `live' DVD. I've done that with previous versions before upgrading so I downloaded 18.04 for 64-bit onto my hard disk, checked the mdsum, put a DVD in the drive and waited for the usual window to come up for me to tell it to burn an image. Up it came...but then a warning came up over it saying something like the drive is already mounted and I saw there were two DVD drive icons instead of one. I clicked away the warning and tried to proceed but there was no way to instruct it to proceed with burning the image. Tried other approaches but no success. Had a go at the same procedure on Mrs Tiz's PC and found the same problem. It seems like the original Ubuntu tools for burning a CD or DVD have vanished from our systems. You used to be able to open the file manager and there was a `CD creator' function but it's no longer there. After a lot of dabbling and googling I installed Brasero software which did the job first time, no problems. Strange.

I had a look at 18.04 using the live DVD. At first sight there didn't seem to be much different. Closing an application with the mouse now needs two actions instead of one - it used to be click the X at top left but now you have to click a dropdown menu then click Quit. I'm glad I know to use Ctrl W or Ctrl Q instead! If that's all I have to put up with then I'd upgrade. But there's a more serious deficiency, judging from my Live DVD and from what I read online about this version. I clicked the Ubuntu Software icon to look for availability of applications to install and find it looks very different - for a start I couldn't find a search box, I could only browse through large images organised into categories. And there was only a small number of applications. Some of my favourites were missing. I thought perhaps this was a quirk of the live DVD version but when I searched online I found lots of people complaining that the `Ubuntu Software Centre' has been replaced with `Ubuntu Software' and they can't find applications they want. Unless I've missed something this looks like a retrograde step to me. The Ubuntu Software Centre was always a great way to access hundreds of applications and quickly and reliably install and uninstall them.

Perhaps Pluggy knows more about this situation?
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Oh no, all not rosy in Linux land, shades of the dreaded Windows. :extrawink:
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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All interesting Tiz, I shall look forward to Pluggy's reply......
I've never used anything other than Brasero and had no problems.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Brasero is OK but I didn't need it before now. The Ubuntu file manager, Nautilus, which is pre-loaded, had its own built-in CD writer.
Yes, Ubuntu sometimes mimics the dreaded windows. There's nowt much wrong with Ian, he's as feisty as ever!
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Closing Application - X button at top right (Very windows esque) Search in Ubuntu Software is Magnifying glass near top right. I don't know what Stanley will think of the Workspace Switcher - works entirely differently. I don't use it so it doesn't worry me.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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I'll adapt when we get to it!
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Thanks for that Pluggy. I loaded the disk again and bingo, I can now see the X for closing the applications and the spy glass for searches. Strange, I wondered how I could have missed them but then remembered that Mrs Tiz had watched when I was trying it out. She confirms that they weren't there! Both of them are on the same toolbar and it looks like that toolbar was missing for some reason. I also noted a couple of other things were on that bar that I'd needed and couldn't find. There are some very different behaviours on 18.04 that I think have been used to make it work more like on a smartphone. At one point I accidentally found that you can bring down something from the top of the screen which works more like notifications on a smartphone. Now I could see all these bits I felt that there were some good changes that I would benefit from.

On the other hand I'm going to have to tread carefully and check before upgrading that I will be able to install all my favourite applications, or at least find others that will do the same job for me. Having a search bar in Ubuntu Software not very helpful when there are so few applications to access. For example the `Education and Science' category offers only one app - Libre Office Math. I can't find Gthumb (images), Xsane (scanner) or RipperX (DVD ripping to MP3). I've tried installing them in the Terminal using the sudo apt-get command but it tells me they are not available. I tried to install good old Synaptic Package Manager to do the job but got the same response. It's bad enough with Brexit and Trump, I don't need problems with Ubuntu too! :smile:
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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The image software that comes with Ubuntu 18.04 is Shotwell and not the Gthumb which Stanley and I have been using on 16.04 and find suits our needs. I've installed Shotwell now and tried to use it but it's very different from Gthumb and doesn't seem to be designed to do the same job. Gthumb is simple and straightforward - you open it and see your folders and files listed down the side just like in the file manager. The main window shows large thumbnails of any images in the currently highlighted folder. Shift to a different folder and you see the thumbnail images for that one. There's no need to `import' files, it just acts as a viewer and editor. In contrast, open Shotwell for the first time and it wants you to make a Directory and import images into it and you have to decide which of two methods you use. I tried importing a couple of files by both methods but it seems to generate a lot of folders. it seems to work more on `categories' than on the file system and it's probably designed more to work more on a smartphone. I'd much rather have Gthumb and I expect Stanley will feel the same. I'd be interested to know if Pluggy can install Gthumb, Xsane and RipperX on 18.04 on a hard disk because they don't install on the live DVD. Also Synaptic because that would give access to many more applications than shown in the Ubuntu Software centre.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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At last! I've found how to add missing software repositories to the Ubuntu Software Centre and it now shows 100s of times more applications. I mentioned the Education and Science category above which was showing only 1 - well it now shows about 260, much more like I expected. Having done that I was able to easily find and install Gthumb and it's been working OK for me on the live Ubuntu 18.04 disk. I've also been able to download the scanner and CD ripping software too. The problems have been caused by relatively small changes to the way the new version appears and works and it's taken time and experimentation to find where some things are hidden. I feel happier now. (Sorry to be taking over this thread with my problems!)
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Same here Tizer with my TV & recorder. Straightened the aerial up the other day, fortunately its within easy access and didn't require scrambling about on the roof. A quick Auto Retune via the recorder and all stations present. For those with a passing interest on aerials a good site is here, Aerials lots of info without too much theory.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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plaques wrote: 31 Oct 2018, 17:54 Straightened the aerial up the other day, fortunately its within easy access and didn't require scrambling about on the roof. A quick Auto Retune via the recorder and all stations present.
Excellent stuff :good:
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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Glad you are sorted P.
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Stanley »

Thanks for all that, what a good topic this is! I'm watching with interest. How good to have Tizer's observations and explorations as well as Pluggy's. I have enough on my plate at the moment so will hang fire until things have settled down a bit before getting Pluggy in!
This morning's glitch was that I had Maz syndrome on logging in, I couldn't get on the site by my usual method, the 'login' button on the masthead. After numerous attempts I went to the bottom of the page and used the login facility there using exactly the same parameters, my existing login, and told it to remember me. That worked!
Thank God for that! (Take note Maz in case it solves your glitch as well!)
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

Post by Sue »

I tried that, unfortunately it didn’t work for me.
If you keep searching you will find it
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Re: COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

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:good:
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