COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[Stanley]

I checked this morning when starting up and the American Megatrends BIOS editor is showing the correct time.

[Big Kev]

Mmmm. Potentially not a battery issue then.

[Tizer]

But presumably nothing for Stanley to worry about? I suppose it's only as inconvenient as having dual boot installed for a choice between two operating systems?

[Big Kev]

But presumably nothing for Stanley to worry about?

It's been doing it for a while, probably a setting somewhere, more an annoyance than something to worry about. I'll still change the battery when I'm next in Barlick.

[Stanley]

That's a kind thought Kev.....
It's just a small extra task requiring two mouse clicks. I can live with that!

[Stanley]

I'm getting used to V20 now and like the more contrasty side bars and particularly the way the cursor marker is a jet black arrow when between destinations. I like it. (But it would have been nice if they'd told me the latest version of Shotwell needed guidance as to which editor to use!)
In case you're wondering Peter, I haven't bothered trying gThumb to see if it's working. I have got used to using the search facility in 'files' and find it's better because it gives me all matching files and not just images.

[Tizer]

I much prefer using gThumb to search for images because I can set it to search for a word in file names as usual but also for words in the image Comments (descriptions) and various other attributes, as well as setting rules (must contain, must not contain etc). It's all quite easy to do.

[Stanley]

Chacun a son gout as they say....

[Tizer]

Having a dead laptop and awaiting its replacement has pushed me back to using my old desktop. God I miss this thing, a screen I can see with loads of detail with much higher resolution. Makes me wonder why I bothered ordering a new laptop....
Because the laptop fits my hospital type bed table which is a boon when youre stuck in a wheelchair. Ah well, theres no cure for it, just got to make the best of it.

Is there a way you could combine the laptop with a normal PC monitor on your bed table? I've never used a laptop so I'm not familiar with their structure and abilities. Can the laptop cover/screen be unclipped or turned back far enough to let it sit in front of a monitor so you could use the laptop's keyboard? It would be easy to connect them with a video cable and I think there might now be such cables that could carry power from laptop to monitor, so the monitor wouldn't need a power cable. If so then you could have a decent size of monitor once again.

[Pluggy]

I had a small accident with the new laptop, to save a new install of ubuntu, I opened it up and swapped,the ssd (new fangled hard disk) and killed it in the process. My old laptop which had a VGA connector would connect to the my old desktop monitor. The new one with a HDMI connector won't. Back to the killed new laptop, not having a twisted nature and being a bad lier I didn't return it but elected to take ir to the local computer shop tp see if they could do anything with ir. Not yet had a reply. Meanwhile I bought https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B099KMPRTJ? one of these. Its attached to the rear of the monitor and it now fits on my table. I opend this up as well, but its designed for that and put my old laptop ssd in it. We'll see with the laptop if they can fix it. Money isn't tight so I can afford it.

[Stanley]

Hard luck Stephen, these things happen and it's only the good men that own up to how it happened. I hope you get away with it lightly.....

[Tizer]

Pluggy, I'm sad to hear you had an upset with the new laptop SSD, I know from experience how disappointing such things can be. I hope you get it all sorted to your satisfaction, and you've done right by not blaming it on the seller and taking on the responsibility yourself. I would have to do that, I couldn't live with lying in such a situation.

But the good news is that you've found that incredible NiPoGi Mini PC. When I first saw it on your linked page I felt that I was seeing into the future, it's like something out of science fiction. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

A couple of days ago, and having done the Ubuntu upgrade, I had one of those `no pockets in a shroud' moments and bought myself a new, bigger monitor for my PC. Many years ago I had an LG 17", then a 19" LG. That monitor was great, especially for displaying photos. Then I followed the trend and got a 21" widescreen LG so that it was easier to see multiple applications open at once. What I didn't expect was that although the screen was wider it wasn't as high and that made a surprising difference to viewing my photos. So I thought what the heck, and bought an Asus ProArt Display PA248QV, 24", 1920 x 1200 monitor. Asus

I was amazed at the difference it makes, especially when I'm viewing images - and I do a lot of that with my interest in mineralogy and natural history. Contrast is good and black really is black now. Colours are superb. Text is easier to read and I've moved the screen back a few inches. It's a sturdy beast and can be easily rotated to give a portrait format. The screen easily slides up and down on the back column. For arty users there's lots of scope for adjustment.

Before I bought it I did a lot of googling on types of screens and was interested to read others who like me preferred a more `square' format. There's a feeling that we were bounced into buying the typical widescreens because they are like TV screens and some are predicting that there will be a return to the `squarer' format eventually.

[Pluggy]

there is one proviso with the Mini PC I bought , I couldn't get the included sound jack socket to work with linux. I had to buy a "usb sound card" to have sound on it. its a particular type of intel chipset that does it, there lots of [people having trouble with it, its not just mini PCs, laptops can have the same kind of chip. I apparently got it working though the hdmi sound interface but not through the jack plug. Widescreen has been a standard for so long I'd forgotton the old 4:3 screens. Thus one is a 25" widescreen (1920 - 1080 pixels). Delightful to see, The video screen on the default view on youtube is the same size as the laptop display on full screen.

[Stanley]

Later this morning I shall be disconnecting everything because I am having a new piece of carpet laid in the 'living' end of my kitchen. I keep having little panics about reconnecting everything but I'm sure that once I get into it it will be OK. If I'm missing tomorrow, send a search party!

[Stanley]

I'm not sure why but THIS report from Johns Hopkins researchers sent a shiver down my spine.
Could future computers run on human brain cells? Johns Hopkins researchers tout the promise of 'organoid intelligence,' which could one-day yield computers that are faster, more efficient, and more powerful than silicon-based computing and AI
I suppose I am wondering if any of the original owner's personality could be locked in a computer if his or her cells was used. Probably silly but I can't help wondering.....

[Tizer]

Stanley, a warning, nothing serious but best to know about it. I did our first data backups today on the 20.04 Ubuntu. I always do them in File Manager by drag and drop onto the external disk. Today I got some error messages popping up saying certain files could not be recognised. I drilled down into folders to find out which files were causing the problems. They were only a few but they were file names which deviated from the usual letters and digits. The offending things were question marks, colons and similar - also I think a space before the .file ending. I wouldn't put these in file names but of course files received from other people and saved without a change to the name can give rise to the problem. Examples were documents from solicitors, insurance companies etc which we'd simply saved onto our hard disk. We've had the files for years but they have never triggered an error warning for us before. Ubuntu 20.04 seems to be more discerning and doesn't like them - at least in our case.

[Stanley]

I do my back ups as a straight copy to external hard disc Peter so stray errors in file naming don't affect it.

[Stanley]

I think the lads may have been right about a duff battery being the key to the computer starting in BIOS edit mode. It has now started loading each day with the wrong time but corrects as soon as Ubuntu kicks in. Now all I need to know is how to get and instal a new battery... Any suggestions?

[PanBiker]

It will be a CR2032 type and is on the computer motherboard. The batteries are in a socket and are held in place by a clip, they are designed to be replaced. Very early PC motherboards had them soldered in. I used to have loads of them when I was building PC's. Phone shop in Barlick might have a replacement or I believe a certain big bloke in Foulridge may have an odd one.

How to change the BIOS Battery


You should confirm the type as others have been used in the past. 99% chance of it being a CR2032 though on a relatively modern main board. They are not very expensive but generally come supplied in multi-packs.

Forgot to say, it's easy to spot, the battery is 20mm diameter button cell and 3.2v, hence CR2032.

[Big Kev]

I believe a certain big bloke in Foulridge may have an odd one.

Oh yeah, that'll be me. I'll have a look.

Indeed, there's 12 in the blister pack.

[Pluggy]

I can confirm its a CR2032 cell. I have a few in my computer bag I have from my self employed days. But I would think they are available in Barlick easily and cheaply enough. The biggest job is taking the side panel off the computer. You can usually get the battery out and replace it with your fingers.( Or as big kev posted whilst I'm was posting he has some.....)

[Big Kev]

I can confirm its a CR2032 cell.

Thanks Pluggy, hopefully Stanley is in as I'll be knocking on his door in 20 minutes

[Big Kev]

No one home.

[Stanley]

Sorry I missed you Kev. I was in but had my trousers down.....
I saw your back end vanishing up the path.....
Thanks to all of you for responding so quickly. I shall await a recall....

[Big Kev]

Not sure when I'm in Barlick again, I'll let you know...