Until recently, even if you didn’t have a “network” enabled printer, you could putz around with the thing and get it to work… especially if you have a dedicated server to run it through.

Those days are over.

In the same way that the win-fax modems put the stupid in a periperal, the printers are now relying on the CPU of the host computer to run the things. This means that they need a constant connection with that host computer.

Thus, if you try to “share” it across a network, a whole host of ugly (and hard to troubleshoot) things can occur… like intermittent printing, endless spooling, and serious wait times — I’m talking up to 12 minutes to print a simple .txt file!

So, if you think that a printer you are going to buy now might EVER need to be on a network, do your research carefully and skip on over to Best Buy and New Egg and CNET for the reviews and the ratings (stars for BB, eggs for NewEgg) and read what others say about the products.

Like I just told my “social networking naysayer” father — social networking isn’t just about Twitter and Facebook… it’s about using the collective knowledge to make better choices. (He still resents that I call his time spent on NewEgg as “social networking” time — of course he’s just a lurker, he never actually leaves any reviews of his own.)

I’m wearing him down.

So, save yourself the headaches, stress and frustration — do the research first and don’t assume that the old “tried and true” methods will work. You can’t simply add a printer or even lock it in via TCP/IP or, set it up as a local printer by specifying the IP address and share name of the printer.

Times have changed.

Also, the drivers for Vista are not all created equal. Very few of the lower-end printers have decent drivers for Windows Vista 64-bit machines. (They do well to support standard 32-bit machines).

And before you buy, Google “problems with ________ (insert the model you plan to purchase) with __________ (the operating system(s) you plan to use) on a network.” Then read and be scared… very scared.

That just about does it for my rant’o the day. It’s late.

I recently added a new hard drive to my little emachines T5230 (a low-cost, high value desktop that runs Kubuntu and Ubuntu like a CHARM).

The reason for the new drive? I have a client that still needs work done on Publisher (of all things) and I cannot find an appropriate substitute for Linux-based systems. I’ll keep looking, but for now, I’m going to have a secondary Hard Drive that boots Windows XP.

I refuse to use the Windows Vista that came on the machine. In fact, I never booted the Vista. Not even once. I immediately wiped the drive and loaded up Linux. It never burped — so if you want a cool, low priced machine with lots of power for your favorite flavor of Ubuntu … this one works.

Of course, if I’m going to have XP on a hard drive, I also want to run Sims and keep my iTunes library (connected to my multi-media external drive) on the machine as well. :O)
I dread all the extra upkeep, Linux has spoiled me in the security arena.

If you have loaded up a version of XP and find that several of the drivers are missing (note the large yellow question marks when you right click on “My computer” and select “Manage” and look at the hardware devices).

Under “Other Devices” I had non-functioning status for the following:

• Other PCI Bridge Device
• PCI Device
• PCI Simple Communication Controller
• SM Bus Controller
• Unknown Device
• Video Controller

And, since I couldn’t get on the Internet to find the drivers I need (network needs a driver too), I had to reboot over to Linux to find the solution. (surprise, surprise)

The emachines download/support page was no help (they only offer the Vista versions).

I found the following drivers to fix the problems.

• Video controller from NVIDIA: Forceware Release 169
• Ethernet driver: nForce 430/410/405/400 – Windows XP/2000 32-Bit
• Audio driver: Realtek High Definition Audio Driver v. R1.76

Now, my Windows hard drive is booting properly, has all the updates and all drivers are working. I’ll be doing a bit more tweaking on this dual system in the near future, but I’m much closer now!

Hope this helps others looking to solve these issues all in one place.

I’ve been battling with the frustration of having a Thunderbird application that shuns it’s brother, Firefox, in my Kubuntu install.

Whenever I click on a link in an email, Konquer launches. I don’t like Konquer. I like Firefox. Firefox has all my cool add-ons and the tools I know. It wastes my time and frustrates me to look (in vain) for my tools before realizing that I’m staring at a Konquer window.

Setting Firefox as the default for Kubuntu didn’t work. Nothing I’ve tried before today worked. After searching high and low for some 5 months now, I finally found the answer.

Whoo-Hooo!!! Today is a GOOD day. (I’m a simple woman, it doesn’t take much to make me ecstatic.)

If you want to have Firefox launch, you have to make this change from inside Thunderbird itself in Linux: (more…)

I’m brilliant. I’ve learned so very much about Linux in the last few weeks. Every day I learn something new and exciting. For instance, I’ve learned that you don’t want to go and uninstall things you don’t personally use… or THINK that you don’t personally use.

Case in point… Just because you don’t plan to learn to program in Python doesn’t mean you can safely remove that from your list of programs in Ubuntu or Kubuntu. (more…)

After much struggling, and much guilt about how far behind I’m falling in all my work, I finally got Kubuntu working. To be fair, much of the time was spent converting over my data and getting all my programs working. Some time was spent (ok, A LOT of time) trying to determine if I could find programs in Linux that would replace all my essential programs. The answer to that question is now a firm “maybe” — and I’m hopeful.

But this is how my life was on Friday… (more…)

Ok, I’ve been trying to sail without a tailwind of late. So much to do, but so many things that I try to do require me to go and do three other things first. For instance, when my Windows OS died, I figured this was a great opportunity for me to begin learning about Linux.

When I got a system up and running, I was amazed at how easy it was. I have 80% of my mission critical stuff working on Linux now. But that 20% that isn’t working is about to drive me batty. (more…)

I was talking with a client this morning, and got the best chuckle of the past two weeks. He informed me that he was recently told that he could use his mouth to amplify the signal from his car remote.

He said that he gave it a try this morning and holding the device on his chin, and with an open mouth, the range was dramatically extended. I nearly had a stitch in my side I laughed so hard. (I think he was offended.)

So, in an effort to find something, ANYTHING on the web about this… I did a search. And I found this little video. I’ve quit laughing at my client now, but I’m still not sure I’m ready to stick a remote to my chin and let my mouth gape open in public. I mean, SERIOUSLY, as if it isn’t difficult enough to appear to be a normal human being on a daily basis without this demonstration!

Boost Car Remote With Skull – video powered by Metacafe

If you have a problem with a particular product or gadget and you can’t find the information you need on the manufacturer’s site, you now have a resource to help you troubleshoot.

www.FixYa.com is an Israeli website and how-to community with the desire to be the world’s largest support community and online knowledgebase. FixYa hopes to bridge the gap between an increasing lack in manufacturer support and customer demand for technical assistance.

Personally, I’ve already bookmarked this resource and may even hop over there later and write a few “how-to” articles to help support the community myself! In the meantime, check it out for your own techie/geek quandaries.

For those who haven’t been on the website in the last few hours, go and visit the site. You will see that the company address is now on the contact page, and that you may now remove your credit card number from the system without difficulty or error messages.

I got an email from a reader (thanks, John!) letting me know that he was able to remove his credit card this morning and thanking me for my “detective work.” I, too, was finally able to remove my credit card number.

The president of Chatterbug has been quickly responsive — once I could actually find his number and call him. He has stayed in touch with me by both phone and email as he’s orchestrated most of the changes to the system I recommended.

What still hasn’t happened (that I find bothersome) is that: (more…)

Following my recent detective work, and the ability to find Mr. Ryan’s cell phone number, I did get a response — via email — asking for my direct phone number that Mr. Ryan said had been jumbled in the voice mail I left. (more…)

I’ve been looking for contact information on this slippery company and have found the following: (more…)

I lost a bet. I almost NEVER lose bets. Main reason? I don’t bet unless it’s a “sure thing” or something really close to a sure thing. I’m not much of a gambler. (more…)

After being extremely pleased with the results of using ChatterBug for my long distance, I’ve hit a brick wall. Last week, while I was still in Florida, the service went down. The company sent out an email offering an alternate 800 number to use to place calls.

This meant an additional step, but I was ok with that because 1.) I wasn’t using the service at the moment and 2.) Contacting me with a word-around is great customer service. Things happen, I get that. I’m ok with a temporary work around for snafus.

However, it’s now Tuesday and the service still isn’t working — and neither is the “work around” 800 number. They don’t even offer the opportunity to leave a message today either (I left one yesterday). Now, they have a recording saying that the service is down, that they have no idea when it will be restored and that I should continue to call back because they will update the recording as things change…

(more…)

I had a client with an interesting problem this week. Their T1 connection had gone down for a few hours and suddenly their emails were bouncing, being delivered to their webmail instead of siphoning through their onsite router, and life was just generally difficult for them. They were also no longer receiving their web-based forms email.

It took a bit of research (and calling in favors from some of my most talented fellow techies) to resolve the issue. These things are never as simple as they should be, are they?

In case it’s of any assistance to anyone else, I wanted to deconstruct the problem here… and share the solution.

(more…)

I’ve been able to get online with my laptop, while here on retreat. My father, on the other hand, … not so much. I’ve been a bit frustrated with the download speeds (read this as “impossible to download large files at all”) and I always am amazed/shocked to learn how dependent I am on the Internet. Five minutes doesn’t expire here at the camper without me having the urge to look something up, jot something down, send something out, or check on something on the Internet.

So, I was doing ok and had decent signal strength… until the RV slot next to us (and between us and the office where the wi-fi lives) filled up with our neighbor. Then, signal strength plummeted. We are lucky to get one or two bars (for those of you that know wi-fi meters).

Pops and I looked online for an antenna to help draw in the signal. We ordered one — one that was going to cost nearly $200, including the shipping and handling, but I was desperate. So I ordered it and paid extra for fast delivery. Today marked the SIXTH day since the order was placed, and still no antennae. So I called the company (radiolabs.com) and they informed me that my antenna had not yet been sent!! It was on back order and they really couldn’t tell me when they would get the part they needed back in, nor did they bother to inform me of this at any time within the six days since I ordered it.

ARRUUUGGHHH!!!

So Pop and I drove into town and he got a little creative. We ended up making our own for a fraction of the cost. Want to know how? Read on…

We went to the local computer store and purchased a USB Wi-Fi dongle. We got a 10′ USB extension. Pops got up on top of the camper (I really shoulda had my camera, but alas, I didn’t think of it), He took the USB dongle plugged up to the USB extension. I’d double wrapped it in a heavy gauge zip lock baggie plastic. (Hey, I had zip lock baggies and a pair of scissors… nuff said). And he borrowed some electrical tape from a neighbor (the one next door, no less!).

Then he taped the baggie-covered USB dongle to the FM antennae and taped the extension cord down the length of the FM antenna and we then snaked it into window and it plugged into the USB on the back of his desktop. Thankfully, the measurements were right… otherwise it wouldn’t have worked. The 10′ on the USB is about maxed — beyond that you start losing signal strength.

However, if you are looking for this type of booster for a camper, RV or even a Van or vehicle… it just might work for you. It works great for us.

Since we were searching the Internet for a solution to this problem… and couldn’t find one… I figured I’d share it to help out the next guy.

Price? About $60.

Have fun!

Ok, after getting my pretty, shiny and incredibly fast new computer (to replace my ailing desktop replacement laptop), I’ve had a nagging problem with Norton’s program that came with the new computer.

Yeah, I was stupid enough to NOT remove Norton the second I set up the machine. I figured using it as it was would buy me 60 days of free coverage while I investigated other AV options, since I’ve not been happy with any I’ve tested thusfar.

What I ended up with was a blasted Norton Toolbar add-in for Outlook that couldn’t be removed. Until now!

The normal modes for removing Outlook add-in programs didn’t work. I’d tell it to remove it, and the next time I booted up Outlook it would be back. Every time.

Then, this morning, I decided I’d had it with the things that make me crazy and that I’d find the solution.

I found it, thanks to a post in Google Groups which suggested I do the following:

Go into:

c:program files
common files
symantec shared
antispam
and change the name
of msouplug.dll to something else. I added “Remove-” to the front of that DLL (so I’d be able to find it should it cause any problems.)

It worked like a charm. Thanks Peter!!

Ok, I now have two Treo 650 handhelds. One is in perfect condition, one is a bit less pristine.

Although the old Treo seems to be working better every day (which is really weird and reminds me of the “self healing” chip article I just read in this month’s Wired Magazine), it’s still not perfect.

So, I’m looking at what to do with a broken Treo.

With my work on Treo for testing and manipulating programs to report here on Wicked Treo, I’m seriously considering getting the old one fixed to keep on hand.

The reasons are two-fold:

1.) It would give me a system to use to test programs and to try some of the “wicked” Treo 650 hacks from Shadowmite and to pre-test any upcoming firmware upgrades.

2.) If something took it down, it wouldn’t hobble me personally.

3.) If something happens to the “new” unit, I’d have a backup and could be back up and running with a quick sync.

PalmOne will repair the Treo 650 for $179. Warranty is covered by Cingular, according to the Palm website, but Cingular (at least in my area) won’t warrantee the Treo. Kinda a screwed situation, but that’s what happens when there are crevices between the manufacturer and the distributor.

Finding the repair information on Palm isn’t easy, so here’s the repair information for a Treo 650 from Palm in case you ever need it.

Now, usually I just pull things apart myself, and fix them. I always did that with my desktops, but times have changed. I don’t even attempt internal repairs on my laptop these days. I’d be willing to swear those suckers are spring loaded. And, as soon as you open them, you can’t ever get things back in just the way they came out. Computers, unlike old cars, don’t work so well if you have “extra parts” when the repair is over.

I felt bad about that for awhile, until I realized that best buy’s “geek squad” won’t even touch a laptop on site, they send them out. It made me feel a bit better.

Now, here’s a resource site for you BRAVE folks who want to Repair a Treo 650 Yourself. This site doesn’t do much with the Treo 650 per se, and gives very little support for the 600, but they do add new stuff from time to time, and they have basic “how to” guides that are step-by-step instructions for generalized Palm repair that you can download.

(And, they offer some good prices on accessories, too.)

Me? I’ll probably send it in to Palm. I’m not feeling real hardware-repair oriented lately. And, I’d hate to demolish the little guy, he’s been awfully good to me. :O)

I had some challenges determining how to blog from my Treo 650 to this site, my other blog sites and I had particular headaches trying to determine how to add photos to my blog from the road.

I just got in my second Treo 650 last night, and I’ll be busy getting it “tricked out” tonight, after business hours have ended.

In the meantime, I have determined how to overcome logon conflicts between the GeekLog system and the Treo 650.

First step is to update the Geeklog to the most recent version. On my old Geeklog version of www.WickedBlog.com, I couldn’t log in. I could submit stories as “anonymous” but not as “Angela” and it made me nuts.

Updating the Geeklog just fixed that problem. The next problem was determining how to do an upload of a photo from my Treo without a photo manipulation (resizing) program on the Treo that would work on the media photos I take on the road.

During the recent trip to Colorado, I took quite a few photos (especially before dropping and damaging my Treo). I would have loved to have been able to immediately upload those photos when I did my mobile blogging about the trip.

Jodi Diehl, of www.SunfrogServices.com helps me to customize and keep my Geeklog sites working and looking like I want them to look. When I asked her about this issue, she said she could change the default limit on the photo size from within GeekLog so I could upload the photos the size that I take them.

We played with the options and I decided to limit the size to the largest Treo Camera Size, 640×480. Since some of my photos will be taken portrait, and some will be landscape, she recommended that I set the Geeklog to a maximum of 640×640 to cover all my bases.

Then, I immediately uploaded some of my Treo photos that I’d transferred over to my computer — and I didn’t have to resize any of them. You can view the results on www.WickedBlog.com.

As things are now, I’ve not been out with a properly functioning Treo to test uploading directly from the Treo to the blog, but plan to do that soon.

One of the disadvantages to being high-tech in the Kentucky wilderness, is that you don’t have the option of testing wireless cellular devices until you can access a cellular signal. I get “zero bars” here in the office — which is why I forward all my 800 calls to the office when I’m here, and to the cell when I’m gone.

As soon as I test the wireless photo uploads, I’ll let you know how that goes — if it’s easy or if it’s a headache.

Until next time… Happy Mobility!

So you are away from home, and you have downloaded something online that your Treo 650 didn’t like or for some UNKNOWN reason, your Treo 650 has started doing an auto-reset loop.

EEEEEKKKKK!

If you are near your User’s Guide, you can look up how to break out of the loop, but if you are remote, or looking on someone else’s computer, you need the following information. (I’m also including a couple tips on how to access programs that you need NOW, before doing a full system reset):

Soft Reset

Try this first (course, it never really works for a looping reset)

Remove the back panel and find the reset button beside the battery carriage area. Press the black button with the tip of your stylus.

System Reset (sometimes works, sometimes won’t)

Try this before going to the “desperation move” of a hard reset. At the very least, it will permit you to use the Treo as a phone while the rest of the Palm portion is having a reset fit.

Hold down the “up” arrow on your 5-way navigation button while pushing the reset button on the back (you probably still have the battery cover off from a vain attempt at a soft reset). When the “Palm Powered” black and white screen appears, release the button.

This shoots you into the basic phone set up.

A hint here — if you need access to a particular program or application, and hitting the menu “home” button starts the reset loop again, you may be able to access it by using the quick launch buttons here by the phone.

First, use the down button to scroll down past the “contacts” and other buttons. Find a blank button. Click on it and that will send you to a setup screen where you can specify a particular application to launch from that button. I have mine set go to “SuperUtility” and “Backup” (Backup Buddy) in case of such emergencies.

With SuperUtility, you may be able to delete the offending program without doing a hard reset. With Backup, you may be able to recover an accidentally deleted application or essential utility without doing a hard reset.

Even if this doesn’t correct the problem, you can access essential information in this manner immediately, and deal with the hard reset and sync issues when you return to the office.

Hard Reset (Oh it works…. MAN does it work!)

Although a hardware issue may mean that this won’t fix your Treo, any software (non-firmware) issue is WIPED clean with this… along with all information you have, all programs and everything else. Once done, you will be holding a “factory direct” model of the Treo 650. Brace yourself for it. Hard reset is a last resort to fix software issues.

To Hard Reset: Hold down the red “phone” button (the one you use to end calls) and press the reset button on the back of the Treo. Once the “Palm Powered” black and white screen appears, release the button.

You now have the option to erase everything on your handheld. This won’t affect your expansion card, but if you say “yes” everything else is gone. GONE, I say! Take a deep breath and push “yes” to hard reset.

So, if you haven’t taken my advice on doing backups yet, I’ll bet you will after this happens to you the first time, eh?

If you HAVE the SD card backup (and you have a recent version) you will feel very little pain from this process. If you don’t have a backup, you have an extremely OLD backup, or you are away from your computer, you will experience a bit of discomfort. You now have a very basic phone in your hands, without even a phone book (unless you have stored the essential numbers on your SIM card).

Now, if you are reading this, you should really do the following: Once things are back to normal and you reinstall all your information on the Treo — GET A SD CARD AND GET A BACKUP ON IT! I usually try to keep a direct link to the better SD card deals on this site under the “Essential Storage” header — look for it.

Be sure you have SuperUtility (or a similar program) for troubleshooting in the field.

Use CardExport to backup your SD card once a month (I back mine up once a week when I do my full system computer backups and my website backups).

The Treo 650 is wonderful, you know I adore mine, but there is seldom a time you will feel more let down by something than when you are holding a blank version of what WAS your all-in-one machine. I call mine my “brain” and if I were ever left with a blank version, well… you get the picture.

And I don’t even try to keep the reset information in my head… (See the photo below). I used my flat label maker to attach this information to the inside of the battery cover. When I get all stressed out (like in situations when my brain resets over and over again) I don’t remember some essential details. This is one of my work-arounds ;O)

Best wishes for a happy restore process from a recent backup!

For those “MAC” folks among us, Palm has dedicated a page just to you. And a user has been kind enough to post a “step-by-step” for those who wish to sync a Treo to a Mac via bluetooth.

For information on how to overcome the difficulties of the Bluetooth sync between a Treo 650 and your Mac, visit J.B. Zimmerman’s blog post. He’s not much of a Treo fan, but he’s managed to overcome this hurdle and others have offered additional information on this particular issue on his blog.

If you want additional “Palm approved” information on using the Treo with a Mac, you may want to visit their dedicated page to learn more.