COMPUTERS, THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY

[PanBiker]

Dabs/BT have let him down on my order too - duff hard drive and duff power unit. I remember when they sent me a duff motherboard. Dabs used to be considered the best but you begin to wonder if it's a case of resting on laurels. Small businesses like Pluggy don't need the extra burden of unreliable suppliers. At least Pluggy says your machine is going together fine.

When I earned my crust in system building and networking I used Micro Direct at Manchester for all my supplies. I had a trade account with them but they also supply to retail. They handle all the big names in motherboards, cards and peripherals.

Micro Direct

[hr]

From a very quick trundle round the net it seems that they went into liquidation in 2011 but have been bought out. They made all the original staff redundant so whoever is running it now are not the good folk I used to work with. Used them for 9 years in my own business and also for components when building for the schools I worked with when Network Managing. Cut throat world out there, glad I'm not reliant on it any longer for a day to day living.

[Big Kev]

BTBD's attitude to returns makes me sick. Its not great having the bulk of Tizers machine sat here in bits. BTBD/Dabs are too big and too arrogant. I'm going to find another supplier.

Have you tried scan.co.uk? Always worth a look at their "today only" deals and they're not too far away (from Barlick) if you want to collect.

[Pluggy]

I found Panbikers solution or their new owners (Micro-direct) before I saw this and reordered Tizer's bits from them. I paid for next working day delivery. Their prices are very similar to BTBD, maybe they'll treat their little customers with a bit more respect. BTBD owe me £400, (another return prior to Tizers still outstanding). I worked for nowt last week.

[hartley353]

Problem goes right back to original manufacture poor quality end testing if any,let the customer or end user do the testing. Family member is a buyer for a large organisation four out of five computers will fail inspection on original purchase. This implies most computers in private ownership although appearing to work ok are faulty and the owners are probably blaming themselves for problems in operation when it is the machine.

[Stanley]

Feeling guilty about jumping the queue on you Tiz but we are both waiting for parts now so you could still be first. I always dealt with DABS but my last experience with them was bad and all down to their delivery contractor.

[Tizer]

We both have working PCs so it's not a problem but I feel sorry for Pluggy who can't help feeling caught in the middle. It's no good the government pushing banks to lend to businesses and pushing for higher productivity and exports when suppliers provide the businesses with rubbish parts. Hartley's right about `let the customer or end user do the testing' having become the mantra, I've seen it all too often now. It began with companies like Microsoft and then others followed suit - if MS could get away with it then they all thought `so can I'. Now it's endemic throughout business, not just computers and software.

By the way, you may remember a discussion of Facebook emails and me mentioning the emails I was receiving from something called Skills Pages saying so-and-so invited me to join. I got a message from a colleague in New Zealand apologising for it. He'd earlier received such a message inviting him to join and had clicked on it and says it `burrowed' into his new smartphone and then sent invites to all 80 people in his address book. He was very upset, admits he knows little about IT and apologises for being `an innocent at large'. Unfortunately he compounded the problem by sending this message on open copy (CC) instead of blind copy (BCC) to all 80 people!

[hartley353]

We both have working PCs so it's not a problem but I feel sorry for Pluggy who can't help feeling caught in the middle. It's no good the government pushing banks to lend to businesses and pushing for higher productivity and exports when suppliers provide the businesses with rubbish parts. Hartley's right about `let the customer or end user do the testing' having become the mantra, I've seen it all too often now. It began with companies like Microsoft and then others followed suit - if MS could get away with it then they all thought `so can I'. Now it's endemic throughout business, not just computers and software.

By the way, you may remember a discussion of Facebook emails and me mentioning the emails I was receiving from something called Skills Pages saying so-and-so invited me to join. I got a message from a colleague in New Zealand apologising for it. He'd earlier received such a message inviting him to join and had clicked on it and says it `burrowed' into his new smartphone and then sent invites to all 80 people in his address book. He was very upset, admits he knows little about IT and apologises for being `an innocent at large'. Unfortunately he compounded the problem by sending this message on open copy (CC) instead of blind copy (BCC) to all 80 people!

Nothing to do with computers but when I went digital with my photography I settled on the Nikon Camp when i bought a D90 I noticed small problems with the camera these were not a problem to its general image taking competance but were there. Contact with Nikon got a fast response, saying they had no other complaints about this and referring me to passages in the handbook. A quick search on continents where the camera first debuted found scores of people who had found the same problem and some I had not noticed, each and every one had reported their findings to Nikon.
It would be nice to turn my back on Nikon, but my Investment in their products is now thousands. Now I'm a retro photographer and don't buy till its been on the market 2 years, so now i'm one of the let others test it people.

[Stanley]

You're right Tiz and it's Pluggy who is bearing the brunt. However, I suspect he's been enjoying himself burning the FMIII in! I expect it'll all sort itself out this week but the fact Plugs is owed £400 is worrying, last thing he needs.

[Pluggy]

I'm not at death's door. I have enough reserves to get me by. Its a pain in the backside though.

[Stanley]

Look on the bright side, it'd be a lot worse if you were seeking a refund in Cyprus! Tiz and I are relaxed but I must admit to a slight mounting of tension here, can't wait to get my hands on the FMIII!

[Pluggy]

Hopefully today Stanley.

[Stanley]

Don't rush. I shall stay up this afternoon....... If I don't need to, give me a ring and let me know then I can have my sleep!

[Big Kev]

If everything goes to plan I will be the new owner of the FM2 by the end of the week. The spec meets my requirements and budget so everyone's a winner.

[Tizer]

That's good news Kev, you'll have a high-spec computer of known provenance. If you leave it running at night it might even write articles for the BET and churn out some really old but good quality B&W photos!

[Big Kev]

That's good news Kev, you'll have a high-spec computer of known provenance. If you leave it running at night it might even write articles for the BET and churn out some really old but good quality B&W photos!

I'm putting 64bit Windows 7 on it. It'll probably never talk to me again...

[Tripps]

Good man Kev - I've finally given up with Linux Ubuntu Perishing Pangolin or some such name
For a start it doesn't run Spotify, or Treepad without more expertise than I have, which is a sufficient reason alone to unload it, and (for me ) it is totally unintuitive.
I've spent hours loading and experimenting with it, and just got problems rather than solutions. It then it dawned on me that actually I don't have any problem with my current software. I guess that a personal tutorial with someone sitting next to me might change my mind, but that's not an option - so it's bye bye.......

[Big Kev]

Good man Kev - I've finally given up with Linux Ubuntu Perishing Pangolin or some such name
For a start it doesn't run Spotify, or Treepad without more expertise than I have, which is a sufficient reason alone to unload it, and (for me ) it is totally unintuitive.
I've spent hours loading and experimenting with it, and just got problems rather than solutions. It then it dawned on me that actually I don't have any problem with my current software. I guess that a personal tutorial with someone sitting next to me might change my mind, but that's not an option - so it's bye bye.......

I still use Ubuntu 12.04 on one of the laptops, and will be putting it on this machine once I have the FM2 up and running. I need Windows on the FM2, to run Adobe Photoshop. Gimp, a similar program for Linux, doesn't have all the functionality I need. I believe a few people have managed to get Photoshop CS4 running on Ubuntu 10.4 but it's not stable. Unfortunately Adobe won't develop Photoshop for Linux as it's a constantly changing beast.

[Stanley]

Kev. You realise of course that the FMII only works at 04:00? Deliverers ignored Pluggy yesterday so we are all still in limbo but no rush. Hopefully we shall see each other Friday Morning. Tension mounts.....

[Big Kev]

Hopefully we shall see each other Friday Morning. Tension mounts.....

No worries, keep me posted if it all changes

[Pluggy]

Tizers bits arrived yesterday afternoon. Built, tested and packed yesterday. On its way this morning. Hopefully we'll hear good new from Tizer tomorrow. If this Card reader doesn't arrive today I'll bring the FMIII around tomorrow without it and come back and fit it. The computer works perfectly, this is getting ridiculous.......

[Tizer]

I'm looking forward to getting the new machine, this one has just frozen as I was about to write this message and I had to restart. At least Firefox takes me back to the open web pages. I'm still hobbled by the hamstring injury and can't do much walking or standing, so having a reliable PC will be a boon!

[Stanley]

Glad your machine is on its way Tiz. I've told Pluggy not to bring the FMIII round till he has the card reader installed, no point in making extra journeys. Kev and I both have working machines and there's no rush.I expect we'll get better news very shortly. Mind you, Easter holiday won't help.....

[Pluggy]

I got reimbursed for a laptop I sent back (prior to Tizer's return) for over £300 . The figures look a lot better this morning. I show some profit for my recent efforts.

[Stanley]

Good, people sometimes forget that volume of work isn't the only factor when you are in business for yourself. I'm pleased for you.

[Tizer]

Whoopee!! My new computer is here and I'm posting from it now, all thanks to Pluggy (Stephen Taylforth). It's very quiet, compact and tidy inside, but fast in action. I've got my data on it, together with Firefox (Mozilla) and Thunderbird profiles, and the internet, printer, scanner and camera are all OK. The only odd thing is that my USB wireless mouse doesn't seem to work with it yet Mrs Tiz's one does - so we've swapped (she gets the newer, bright red one but then she's had her eye on it for a while - she'll want the computer next!). The only major difference between the two USB wireless mice is that the old one worked from a `base station' transmitter cabled to the PC via USB whereas the newer one simply had a little USB transmitter that plugged into the PC. Anyway, it's no problem. I like the extra speed and power of the 8GB over my previous 4GB, and the 64-bit doesn't seem to have brought any problems so far. Thanks Pluggy!