August 2013 - luv-talk

Fwd: Re: The cloud that keeps you warm at night
by Daniel Jitnah 29 Aug '13

29 Aug '13

On 29/08/13 13:09, Les Kitchen wrote: > {Replying to Daniel Jitnah <djitnah(a)greenwareit.com.au>:] >> FWIW, I have no doubt in my mind that the heat from the 400W power >> supply in my PC is contributing to heating my house! The room where >> this PC is located is distinctly slightly warmer than the rest of the >> house and there is no other obvious reason for this to be so. In fact, >> this room should be cooler as is one of the rooms further away from the >> ducted heating unit, but it is not. > Going in the other direction, towards lower power use: > > In fact that's one of the reasons why I switched from a regular > PC tower (at 140W) to a Fit-PC (2W idle, 8W at full tilt) for my > home server. Absolutely, I did same a long while ago, replacing my proxy server and email server with a laptop instead of PC. And I can genuine say I saved at least $50 on my electricity bill if not more (that was a good 4-5 yrs ago, and I dont remember the figure, but it was significant). Having said that, that laptop will suffer the same fate as soon as I get a chance. On this: if any one has a ducted heating system of some age, it pays itself back multiple times to install a $15 timer on the power supply to the heater. (New ones more likely have electronic timer control - that why I said older ones). You can buy one for outdoor use at a hardware shop. There are the ones that can be set to turn the power on and off every 15 minutes. You can set the timing to suit your needs. Depending on the time, I sometimes set it to come on only 15 mins in a 1 hr period on a typical evening. Its mostly off during the day. You can set it to give a real temperature boost in that 15 mins that last the rest of the hour. I can say that the first time I did this, my gas heating bill move from not a much below $400 to about $180, for the same period in the year, at the peak of winter!! No exaggeration!! When you think about it it makes sense. It gives me very fine control on the heating. However it seems that this does not work well with all heater model. At a friends place, his heater did not like the frequent on-off cycles. And the pilot lamp tended to go off every few days. Not sure why. Cheers, Daniel > I figured it would pay for itself in a couple of > years of power bills savings. Those little Android dongles, > like the RK808, sometimes styled "Google TV" are pretty cheap > (around $50 these days) and would make that trade-off even more > attractive -- though it depends on what your needs are. There > are efforts going on to run say Debian natively on such devices > (rather than in say a chroot). I use my Raspberry Pi often as a > low-end desktop machine and it's mostly usable for simple things > -- if a bit laggy at times. I wonder how much faster it would > run off an external USB drive instead of the SD card. I suspect > that swap is the main laggy factor. > > > -- Smiles, Les. > _______________________________________________ > luv-talk mailing list > luv-talk(a)lists.luv.asn.au > http://lists.luv.asn.au/listinfo/luv-talk

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The cloud that keeps you warm at night
by Petros 29 Aug '13

29 Aug '13

heats your water tank etc.: http://gigaom.com/2013/05/24/meet-the-cloud-that-will-keep-you-warm-at-nigh… Needs 50MB/sec broadband.. Regards Peter

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True phone conversation ..
by Daniel Jitnah 27 Aug '13

27 Aug '13

True phone conversation at about 17.30 today (24/8/13)... ring ring...ring ring ... pickup and answer. "This is Jason from Microsoft technical department. I am calling you to inform you that your internet connection will be cancelled as from tonite .. " Response, in throaty voice - as I got a sore throat : "Oh really, did you know Mr Balmer resigned? Your boss resigned - he quit his job!!... What happened? Mr Balmer resigned as boss of Microsoft!! May be YOU will lose your internet connection?.. Do you know?? .." ............................................................... long silence, voices in the background ...then "This is what I have been told to notify you.." ... Jason hanged up!! Wonder if Jason got shit scared he will lose his job??? !!! Disclaimer: No connection intended with to Jason's on this list. This is purely coincindetal. Daniel

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Re: [luv-talk] Memory check
by Daniel Jitnah 23 Aug '13

23 Aug '13

On 02/08/13 18:50, rdbrown(a)pacific.net.au wrote: >> Hi all, >> >> I have a laptop that is failing to boot - starts boot but then >> stops.(any boot media: HD, CD or USB, same result) >> >> It reports 1007Mb on bios memory check, which seems like a strange >> number to me??? (it also has 16Mb reserved - so it seems to have lost >> 1Mb??- it has 1Gb installed) - is this likely a memory stick problem? > I think Ubuntu at least installs the Memory tester in the grub menu. > I'd be surprised if Fedora didn't. > If it is there booting into it and letting it run for a while should > answer the question. Yes did that. It did not show error. But the same memory stick showed errors when plugged in another laptop! Daniel. > >> Cheers >> Daniel >> >> _______________________________________________ >> luv-talk mailing list >> luv-talk(a)lists.luv.asn.au >> http://lists.luv.asn.au/listinfo/luv-talk >> >

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The future of Windows business desktops
by Petros 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

Hi all, my company still relies on a few Windows applications and runs Windows desktops. The reliance is decreasing however, there are some obstacles if we migrate to "something else" (Linux most likely, maybe some tablets for a few roles) Anyway, I have problems to imagine how other, especially bigger companies dealing with Windows networks see the future. We are still buying Windows 7 licenses, we do not consider Windows 8 as a good option. I have problems to understand how Microsoft itself sees their future in big company environments where people use MS Office, Word, Excel, Outlook.. etc. There are questions about "going touchscreen" or not, there are questions about security issues (apps, even the installation needs a live.com account etc. - that all makes it quite difficult to establish a trusted network sometimes even legally required, e.g. in banks) etc. These questions are "brewing" for a while and I haven't found good answers in my little bubble yet.. Do you see any "movements" in these Windows environments, have own strategies etc? I am really curious. At this stage I consider moving away from Windows (middle term, will take a while and cannot start immediately), establishing a Linux desktop environment with Web applications and LibreOffice and Thunderbird. I have problems to imagine what to do with our engineers using AutoCAD, and there is a bit of software used by our Chief Accountant. Some kind of virtualisation or remote access to windows server with remote services enabled may be in the mix but especially AutoCAD cannot be run that way. For a while we can stall at Windows 7 and just wait.. but in the long run we have to make a move somehow. As said, any thoughts and observations welcome. Thanks Peter

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laptop bags etc
by Russell Coker 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

I've been sorting out junk in my house and have a number of laptop bags and conference bags (mostly LCA) that I don't need. Does anyone think it would be useful to bring them to a LUV meeting to offer them to any interested people? Or should I just take them to an opp-shop? -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

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Where to raise OsmAnd question?
by Carl Turney 22 Aug '13

22 Aug '13

Hi All, First of all, thanks for the helpful responses to my last two posts. A list etiquette question... As a mere (l)user, I'm having trouble getting OsmAnd+ to recognise the Australasian map that I've just downloaded from their website, on my Android smartphone. Should I post my question about this topic ... here, directly to list members who've mentioned OsmAnd in the past, to the AAUG, or to the GTUG? Thanks, Carl

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wireless-IP-CCTV ?
by Rohan McLeod 17 Aug '13

17 Aug '13

Assembled cogniscenti; following a couple of break-in attempts on my van; I thought I might try setting up a remote wireless IP camera; I came across the following device on GumTree "Tenvis Motion Detection Tilt Zoom Wireless Wifi IP Security Cam ($84.95)" seems to "* Support wifi: 802.11b/g wireless networking"; with "* Network connection methods - TCP/IP, HTTP, ICMP, DHCP, FTP, SMTP, PPPOE"; What I can't seem to sort out is whether it is likely to be able to reach me up-stairs , 60 m away on the other side of the block of flats ? Comments, suggestions, flames ? thanks Rohan McLeod

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Smart phones on wifi and GPS only?
by Carl Turney 17 Aug '13

17 Aug '13

Hi All, Three dumb questions, possibly: I've never had a smart phone, and probably need to get one soon. For the time being, I'd rather use it just as a GPS... and as an Android learning tool, when near our home wifi. (Moving up to a voice/data plan some months from now.) So: 1) Could I run it as a GPS to help me navigate on the road, even though it would not have a SIM card in it? (i.e. Load some detailed Melbourne roadmap and a GPS application into it at home via the wifi, and then rely solely on the GPS to help me navigate from spot to spot as I do my part-time casual driving job.) 2) Do (m)any Android smartphones have removable and readily available/affordable after-market batteries? (I tend to hang on to things for a long time, and it's always the batteries that die [over time] on such devices for me. Manufacturer's replacement batteries tend to cost as much as an entire device.) 3) Can one reasonably connect a REAL keyboard to a smartphone? (I hate the absurd tiny touch-keyboards on small devices, and the quasi-Morse Code of using a phone number pad.) Thanks a lot. Carl Turney Bayswater p.s. Anyone living/working east of the CBD got a second-hand Android smart-phone with GPS to sell? Contact me directly, off list. Ta.

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Re: [luv-talk] The future of Windows business desktops
by Petros 14 Aug '13

14 Aug '13

Quoting "Carl Turney" <carl(a)boms.com.au> > Are you talking about full-size, vertically-oriented, desktop monitors, > to be used by people on computers a lot? Yes. I cannot imagine how people would use it, e.g. if they are using Excel most of the day. > > (Back before Windows 3.1) Hewlett-Packard released a DOS-based > touchscreen system -- after great expense and much hoopla. (Light > sensors along top and right edges. LEDs along bottom and left edges.) > > Immediately, the "real world" user base developed severe "gorilla arm", > and the entire phenomenon was quietly strangled in a dark alley. Don't > know how many scapegoats lost their jobs at HP as a result. > > en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla_arm#.22Gorilla_arm.22 Interesting, I did not consider that. How does it work out on laptops with touch screen (or the ones where the screen is a tablet you can detach from it)? Given that we have 50+ Windows desktops, I try to understand how Microsoft sees their future here, and what their business customers think. The whole Windows 8 strategy is just confusing.. In the past people (including managers) wanted to have Windows at work because they had it a home. I guess that's what MS has in their mind. I cannot see this working out in a world where more and more people using tablets, which are not really great devices for, let's say, a person working with Excel or Word most of the day. I am pretty sure MS does not want to lose this market but Windows 8 does not seem to be the answer. And I don't have a clear picture how a company network (and ours) could look like in a few years time. I also wonder what bigger companies, banks, big retail companies (the Coles head quarters in Toronga must have close to 10 000 Windows PCs) do about it (to foresee future developments). AutoCAD, e.g. is a market leader in CAD software for 20 years or so. What will they do if the "Windows PC" disappears? How could the engineer's workplace look like then? A snapshot of the diminishing importance of the desktop market: http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/25/mac-desktops-are-now-a-very-lonely-3-of-a… "Mac desktops are now a very lonely 3% of Apple sales" "the once lust-worthy Mac Pro has not really been significantly updated for a whopping 821 days." There is probably even the question whether we return to times as 1986, when the PC (I have a bill for it) was costing $7000 - and was specialised "business equipment"? Regards Peter

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