A new year!

[Deleted]

Well, this is New Years eve. So Happy New year!

 

 I am starting off my new year by going back to using POP OS Linux on one of my laptop computers. Why? Because it works better than MS windows! MS locked me out of one computer and was trying to get me to sign back into or get a new account with them. Not going to do that! All I do these days is come on here and YT.

 I don't use MS office for anything nor do I use anything of MS other than windows 10 on the one lap top.

So, after a half a day of messing with MS on the one laptop I got out one of my old laptops and put Linux on it. WOW! It works and runs circles around MS. It is super fast! The YT vidoes come right up with no problems at all.

 For a free OP system it is one of the best I have found. It can do a lot more than what I will use it for. Yes I still have my Mac computer that I use for my videos. That will never change.

 But for my everyday stuff I use my laptop.

Here is someting else I encountred the other day. I went to print off some music charts only to find out the HP had locked up my printer. At one time I was on their ink program. I had just gotten some new ink form them. Decided I didn't need to be on the program anymore, so I got rid of my accout. HP then locked up my printer said I could not use the INK becaue it is part of their program. The thing is I had been paying on this program for a long time. The ink was paid for! But no! So in order to use my printer again I had to sign back up or wait until I can go to town and buy over the counter ink. What a waste of the ink that is in my printer. I had been on their program for 3 years and ony gotten one set of inks from them. At 5 bucks a month, is it work it? Hum... I only print off about 20 to 30 sheets of paper every month. If that many on some months. The program is for 50 sheets of paper. HP keeps track of how much ink is in the printer.

 Well, anyways this is how my new year is starting out. LOL!

[dnic]

If I ever get a CNC I will prolly convert my Dell laptop over to Linux. I just heard that MS gets stuck with some time functions with CNC. That's all a pipe dream anyway.

I haven't heard of this HP ink scam. I had a HP comp and printer at one time. Was not happy with either and have not gone there since. Now have one of the Epson tank printers. The ink is very reasonable compared to all the cartage style ones.

Happy New Year Chaz.

[Deleted]

Dec 31, 2023 9:48:55 GMT -6 dnic said:

If I ever get a CNC I will prolly convert my Dell laptop over to Linux. I just heard that MS gets stuck with some time functions with CNC. That's all a pipe dream anyway.

I haven't heard of this HP ink scam. I had a HP comp and printer at one time. Was not happy with either and have not gone there since. Now have one of the Epson tank printers. The ink is very reasonable compared to all the cartage style ones.

Happy New Year Chaz.

The HP printer I have, I had gotten some years ago when I was taking care of my mom. The printer is also a fax machine. At that time, we were doing a lot of faxing and printing docs. Went through like 1000 sheets of paper in a month for months up till my mom passed.

 I didn't think at the time of buying the printer that it would have lasted this long. Until I got this one, I was going through printers pretty fast. When buying this one, we spent more on it in hopes that it would last longer. So here we 8 years later and it still works!

 Today, we really don't do a lot as far as printing goes. We mostly print off our bills, so we have a hard copy of things we pay for. That way, no one can say they didn't get their payment. I have proof. LOL!

 I don't know what kind of printer I would want if something goes wrong with the one I have. But Ink for these things is not cheap. I may at some point spend the money and get a laser printer. The toner for those would last me a long, long time.

 MS Windows is not the best when it comes to running things. But I see people all over still trying to use MS Windows. Eveytime I go to a business that is having computer problems, they are using MS. When I was working at this one print shop, I was always working on their computers. They wound up replacing the MS computer with Macs. Our computer problems almost vanished. There were a couple of hiccups in the start but were over come quickly.

 I remember a long time ago it was Dos or Linux we used. There was no MS Windows. It is surprising to me how MS has become such a giant in so many things. But they and others have become greedy. In the start things were free. Now they charge for everything.

 Heck, you can't even watch TV these days unless you pay to watch. Now in days CBS, NBC and so on now want us to buy their apps to watch their stuff! I spend a lot of money now just to watch a few things. Just not right. Yep, I have one of them antennas to watch so-called free TV. But all we can get is the news and sports and a few of them shows where you buy stuff. In other words, "junk!"

 We pay for free ad streaming. But just got an email from one of the providers that the cost is going up, and we will have to pay even more to keep the no ads to our streaming. It just not right! 

 No wonder, my wife and I struggle every day to stay a float. It won't take much more before I start to pull the plug on it all. I don't see another way around it. The price to pay to play has gone over the top! Not going too hungry to keep these companies going. Just not going to keep on paying for things that overpriced to start with.

 CNCs, hum... I guess if you want to build the same thing over and over again in a production kind of way, I can see getting one. It would be nice to knock out a bunch of necks to have on hand. But that's my favorite part of making a guitar. LOL! Now if someone could come up a way of installing frets and leveling them all at once... That person could be a million heir in no time!

[dnic]

I don't think I would use a CNC for anything but headstock and fretboard inlay. And that's why I haven't gone ther yet. That's a big investment for a small job. But it would be repeatable and very cleanly don't. And I don't mind doing inlay by hand but it's same old problem. Until you're a big name no one wants to pay for that much hand work.

[Deleted]

Dec 31, 2023 23:43:48 GMT -6 dnic said:

I don't think I would use a CNC for anything but headstock and fretboard inlay. And that's why I haven't gone ther yet. That's a big investment for a small job. But it would be repeatable and very cleanly don't. And I don't mind doing inlay by hand but it's same old problem. Until you're a big name no one wants to pay for that much hand work.

That is something that I had to deal with over and over again. People thinking I could have made them a guitar for a lot less than a store bough one. I turned down a lot of builds because people were wanting me to make them a guitar for $300 or less. That was not going to happen.

 I had a guy wanting me to inlay his name in his guitar. I gave him a price, and he offered me a super low price. The price he wanted to give me would not have covered the price of the frets, little lone the inlays. So I didn't do the job.

 Our time is worth something. I don't mind or didn't mind helping people out once in a while, but people need to know that many do make a living off of guitars. Everything can't be for free! LOL!

 I used to have this one guy that would bring me guitars in a box. They were ones he took apart, stripped the finish off of them, then he could not put them back together again for one reason or another. I did 4 of his guitars. One out of 4 was a good guitar. The other 3 all had the lead wires from the pickups cut at the pickups and the pots were bad. 2 of the guitars were missing the output jacks. But the guy thought that I should cover the cost of fixing what he had done and cover the cost for any new parts. The thing was, all I was supposed to do was put the guitars back together with the parts he gave me in the box. He also wanted them working. LOL! He wound up being one of my worst customers. After the 4th guitar, I stopped doing anything more for him. It was not worth all the aggravation. Oh, I did ask him why did he remove the finish on all these guitars. He tole me he had seen on YT how that a finish on guitar was robbing the tone of a guitar. WOW! So he was taking off the finish on Gibson guitars and EPIs because he thought that would make them sound better. LOL! Some people!

[antares]

Printers and ink are scams.

I remember way back around the turn of the millenium when Epson were eposed by a russian hacker for coding their firmware to display a return to base message after a set number of prints, whether working or not. He released a hacked firmware that got the machines running again. Although it seems most vehicle manufacturers are getting their collars felt for the same obfuscated stunts, it was the last Epson I will ever buy, and it's up to us to ensure that it doesn't get forgotten.

Then I was given an HP multifunction by my boss because I'd read that it had better Linux support. Pffft.

Then, sick of inkjets clogging up, I bought a Samsung mono laser multi-function which I still have- lasers don't have printheads that dry out. When the first toner run out, I bought two aftermarket jobs. All great, but then flippin' M$ automatically updated the Samsung driver, and the scanner stopped talking to the PC. The scanner still functioned mechanically because I could still photocopy, but no way to scan to file. Samsung subsequently hived off support to HP. The cure was another driver update, but I couldn't find it on the sprawling HP website. It was just as well because I later read that the updated driver rejected aftermarket toners, so you were forced to buy $90 Samsungs instead of $25 aftermarket ones. I elected to eschew the "update" so to this day the scanner doesn't work.

I have no printable words for these scrotes.

[dnic]

Planned obsolesce sucks! Doesn't matter what the product is. Companies that do this (and one could safely assume all of them) should be fined or tortured somehow. As for printable words, I may not write them or say but I can think them!

I think I was getting scammed by HP about the time you (Steve) were getting scammed by Epson. I really am happy with the Epson tank type. It's very economical with ink.

[Deleted]

Here is yet another thing that just happened.

 I own 2 laptop computers. One Dell, the other one HP. I have owned the 2 for a long time. The HP when new was around $1200. The Dell I bought used about 7 years ago. The HP is a lot older than that.

 A few years ago, I put MS Windows 10 back on the HP because I was going to sell it. After about 3 days of messing with it, I got that laptop running great! I could not seem to sell it, so I decided to keep it. I have been using MS 10 on it now for at least 3 years. It's been running pretty good, so why mess with it?

 Well... I was going to put Linux back in it the other day, only to find out I am locked out of the bias. I think HP and or MS locked me out to keep me from making changes to it.

So now I have to go in through C commands and try and un lock it, before I can do anything with that computer.

 But I was able to set up the Dell with Linux on it with no problems. In fact, the Dell is running like lightning! So I'll be using it from now on as far as my online things go. So glad to be back on Linux. Runs so much better than MS. The only thing about Linux, you still need to know how to do some computer programming to get some things to work. But once you do the work it will work all the time every time. But the POP OS system 76 is by far the most user-friendly.

 I have experimented with a lot of Linux OP systems. I like POP the best. Not that the others aren't any good. Just depends on what you are wanting the computer for. I only wish they had better board games. Their board games are still so out of date. They are like looking back in time. NO 3 D to those kinds of games. Flat looking old, old school kind of thing. Boring! LOL! That is one good thing about MS, they do have some cool games if you are into that kind of thing. I use the board games to help with my brain issues.

 So, I don't know why or how I got locked out of the bias on the HP, but I will find a way around it! HA!

 Right now, I am trying to justify in getting a new laptop. I would like to get a new Mac. If I do get a new laptop, it will be my last laptop I'll buy. I'll soon be 70 years old. So I don't think I'll need but one more computer.

 It won't be too much longer before the laptops I have become out dated. I did find another Dell, that was left behind here where I live. But it was so old, even Linux would not install on it. At least it told me that the hardware was outdated.

 Well, any ways... Hope you all had a great weekend. Happy New year!

[Deleted]

Well, I fixed the HP lock out on the bios.  It turned out to be an easy fix. Now I can change some things in the HP laptop. Still don't know how that happened. But it sure seems suspect. Humm...

[antares]

Well done Chaz. I have a routine here for doing that which involves peek and poke (remember that!) but I thought I'd see whether you made any progress first. Up-thumbs!

[Deleted]

Here is what I found out. It seems that computer makers are starting to set the bios in computers to lock people out to keep them from making changes to a computer after the computer gets too old. This way, most people will trash their old computer and buy a new one. Another way big wigs try and control what we do.

Makes me so mad that people have gotten so greedy! I, for one, can't afford to go out and keep on buying things like computers.  I only have them these days because we do a lot of bill paying online. Why? Because that is the way Banks want it. Most companies won't send a bill in the mail, you have to do things all online. Our electric now in order to pay it we have to do it on the phone. They no longer will take a check for payment. No, we were never late with a payment.

 I have also seen where we will no longer be able to use cash in buying things with in the next few years.  We have stores and gas stations here that no longer will take cash. You have to pay with a card. The last time we went to a motel, we had to use our card. They would not take cash. The last car I rented, I had to use a card, they do not take cash.

 Well, it seems it goes on and on, no end in sight. Websites are trying so hard to get us all to pay to play. More and more of them are getting to where they will bug you with ads until you get sick of them and make one pay to be on the website. Or to use their site. It's bad enough that many of them you have to sign up to join so you can comment. Then, once you do, you start to get text and or unwanted emails. Even if you click on it that you do not want to receive them, you will still get them.

FB was one of the worst. Once I got off of FB, I no longer get all these odd phone calls and my junk email has gone down to almost nothing. So glad to be off of FB.

 

 I know at some point in my life I will stop using computers and doing things online. I have gotten to where I don't need all the frustration that being online can cause. I will be 70 years old next month. Seen a lot done a lot, and have grown so tired of how we all have to pay for things that most times don't work right, and we are expected to put up with jumping through hoops, and we are expected to know how to do our own tech work. Just let something happen to your router that a company give you. Then all the stuff they put you through to get things back up and running. Or find out the router is bad, and now you have to pay for a new one because the internet co no longer will provide you with a router, but yet they still will charge you for the service. WOW! Yep, had that happen last year. About $300 later, I am still online with an increase of my monthly bill. I had to buy my own router, then have it activated through the internet provider. So is the router mine or theirs?

 Do we really own anything? Getting to think, not. We are told we can own things, but I think the large and in charge want us all to think we own things. But at any point in time someone can come in and take it all away from you. Think about it. Seen it too many times in my life.

 Well, back to guitars. I am surprised that the big guitar producers out there have not figured out a way to stop people from making them. I know that some people have been sued over stupid things like head stock designs. And some have been sued over body designs. I have seen where one person was being sued over the chords they use in some music that they had written. In court, it was said no one has a right to put a copy right on chords. If that were possible, then every song ever written would have to be taken down. LOL!

 Sorry, I woke up grumpy today. Just had my fill with the computers and everything tied with them. For the last 3 days now, that is all I have been doing. Dealing with computers and online things. What a way to start the new year. But I guess it could be worse. At least we are blessed not to be in a war zone. I feel bad for the people that are suffering from people that just have to have war. War is nothing more than greed at the extreme! That is another thing all of its own.

 

[GuitarAttack Forum]

I think people used to know more about computer hardware. I remember looking through Computer Shopper and comparing prices for graphics cards and hard drives.

I still have a Dell desktop with Windows 98 and the original Office installed. It works great (knock on wood) and I liked MS Word better then.

At some point computers became a cheap commodity and were no longer a curiosity/hobby except to the gamers. I think we are stuck with them...but there is something out there that will be "next".

John

[Deleted]

Hey, want a tip on now to get your computer to run a faster and more efficient?

 I used to do this a long time ago. Don't know why I stooped doing it, just did. The laptop I was having the lock out on that I fixed has always run slow. Yes, I did all the cleanup that you do for computers. And I maxed it out on memory, So the thing should run fast, right? NOT!!!

It has a terabyte hard drive in it. So I partitioned it off. I split in half. I put all my files on the half that is not running the OP system. And man oh man, the computer has come to life. It is lighting fast! Anything I now save goes onto the partition. 

 Wish I had not stopped from that. I wanted to share this trick. I was surprised at how many files I have on that computer.

 On my Mac, I bought a 2 terabyte external drive for it. I have had that mac for almost a year now. I had over 8 hours of files to transfer to the new drive. WOW! Again, I did not realize I had so many files. Much of that are video files. Now the Mac has not slowed down even with all the files I had on it. But it made me feel better to have my files on the new drive. I do have another external drive I am putting files on from my two laptops. Once that is done, I'll put that info on the new drive on the Mac. That way I'll have all my files in one place. Should make something things a little easier when making videos.

 Well, that is my computer tips of the day!

[Deleted]

Still messing with computers. My new old hobby. LOL! The weather here has been so bad here. So I have 3 computers I have been messing with.

 

 A Dell, HP, and my Mac. Love my Mac! It's hard to think I now have had the Mac for almost a year.

 But the other two, the HP and the Dell, are the two that are getting tweaked to the extreme. I have the Dell running as good as it can. Running Linux on it. It's also running a virtual box on it. On the Vbox I have Windows 10 and Linux mint running. Been fun to mess around with.

 But on another note, I have been teaching guitar to a young lady. She is so much fun to teach! I so enjoy teaching as well. She is the first student I have has in years. I am teaching her for free. Glad to have her to teach guitar to. She may be the last one I get to teach.

 Well, I'll keep on messing with the laptops until they burn up. I can't afford at this time to get a new one.

 What do you all use? I know a lot of people now in days are using their phones or an iPad or tablet of some kind. But I like computers. There are still some things you can do with then that the phone will not do. 

  Most of the apps and streaming platforms, you need a computer to make changes on. In fact, I had to do just that today. I need to do some updates to a couple of online things I am signed up for. Even though they have apps, you can not make any changes to them without going online. For me, it's easier to use a computer.

[Deleted]

It's official that MS will stop support of the Windows 10 OP system. You can buy extended support that will give you up to 3 years. But you will have to pay each year, and the cost will go up for each year. Talk about greed.

 

 The thing I saw was that there are millions of computers that will become un operable. I was that indeed that MS is blocking people out of the Bios of the computer. Many will not know how to overcome it and will be forced to buy a new computer.

 They are saying as many as 4 million computer can end up in land fills and something over 3 million will go to a pace overseas that will be shredded, and the gold will be reclaimed out of them.

 So, by the end of this year, I will be putting Linux on my HP. Next year I'll be buying a new Mac. Laptop. I am done with MS.

 I remember when W10 came out and MS said it would be the last OP system anyone would even need. Wonder what they are saying now?

 How dare a company make it so that a computer cannot be used! I know I have I gotten my moneys worth out of my 12 and 15-year-old laptops. And I am way over due to get a new one. But hay! They are still working? LOL!