- luv-talk - luv.asn.au

Re: [luv-talk] android tablet + phone recommendations?
by Allan Duncan 04 Jun '17

04 Jun '17

On 01/06/17 19:40, Craig Sanders via luv-talk wrote: > Both my phone (~2010 HTC Desire HD) and my tablet (2012 Nexus 7) are > ancient so it's about time to upgrade one or both of them. looking for some > recommendations... If you were to go down the tablet only route, I would suggest the Samsung Glaxay Tab S2 (4G, 9.7"). I have had one of the original strain (SM-T815Y) for 18 months, and ebook reading is one of its primary uses. The OLED gives good battery life at decent brightness. There is a re-issue (SM-T819Y) of the same model with a few tweaks, none enough to make me update. The S3 is now out, but I'm hearing that all-glass may not be the best idea. It may be worth digging around for the 815/819 at a "superceded" discount.

2 1

Re: [luv-talk] android tablet + phone recommendations?
by Craig Sanders 04 Jun '17

04 Jun '17

On Fri, Jun 02, 2017 at 04:12:19PM +1000, russell(a)coker.com.au wrote: > On Thursday, 1 June 2017 7:40:40 PM AEST Craig Sanders via luv-talk wrote: > > Both my phone (~2010 HTC Desire HD) and my tablet (2012 Nexus 7) are > > ancient so it's about time to upgrade one or both of them. looking > > for some recommendations... > > What exactly do you want from a new phone given your stated plan to > use no apps other than a simple calculator? 4G is about the only good reason I have to upgrade the phone and even that's not essential. other than 4G, the main motivation for replacing it is that it's ~ 7 years old now, and won't last forever. Also, i've already replaced the battery on it once, doing that again (probably necessary in the next year or so) seems like a waste of money that could be put towards a newer phone. The CPUs and other componenets have improved a lot in those 7 years. > > - ARM CPU fast enough that I won't have to consider upgrading for > > another 5+ years > > - 1920x1080 resolution absolute minimum. more is better. > > - 8" minimum, 10" or larger preferred. something that can fit a > > full A4 or US Letter PDF page and still be readable without having > > to squint. > > Maybe a larger phone would be an option. A Nexus 6P meets most of > those criteria, it's screen at 5.7" isn't that much smaller than your > stated minimum and may allow you to only carry one device. not as a tablet replacement. i want something with a larger, higher resolution screen than my nexus 7. i mostly want it for more of what i'm currently using it for plus i've recently re-discovered qpython and want to write my own custom apps for it (mostly simple database things without the spyware and excessive permissions demanded by the garbage in google's play store). Also Termux and command line sh, awk, perl etc scripts - with a bluetooth keyboard and Termux I can use it as a tiny laptop substitute. i do some of that now with the 7" nexus, but the screen's a little too small and squinty for that to be comfortable. Tablet size and weight does not bother me. i never go anywhere without at least my roughly A4-sized satchel and often a small backpack too. > > One last thing - if I get a tablet that has 4G capability, does > > anyone know if it's possible or easy to put my SIM card in the > > tablet and use my existing HTC phone as a handset via bluetooth or > > wifi? > > That might be difficult as phones aren't designed for it. But most > (maybe all) tablets that will take a SIM can make and receive calls. > As they support bluetooth they should work with a bluetooth headset > in the same way as a phone, or you could use wired headphones with a > built-in microphone for calls. i'll stick to separate devices for phone and tablet then. which means i'll probably only upgrade the tablet. the phone can wait until either the HTC dies or 4G becomes essential. i remember seeing a brand of phone & tablet a few years ago that could do this, was one of its selling-point features. might have been one of the LG models, maybe not. but it seemed like it was a brand-specific bit of software...i was hoping that there was a generic app to do it. searching for anything on google's play store that you don't already know the exact name of is beyond pointless - there's so many worthless spammy and/or spyware and/or malware shit apps there(*) that you can't find anything, millions of turds hiding the rare useful thing. fdroid's better, but they didn't have anything like that when i searched. (*) hooray for the "free market". hooray for "consumer choice". > > (*) Why purge the youtube app? because every time i enable wifi > > on the tablet, it becomes completely unusable for at least 10-20 > > minutes while youtube, hangouts, and the rest of the thundering herd > > of unwanted apps that can't be removed go apeshit trying to connect > > to google spyware HQ. > > You can configure recent versions of Android to not allow those > apps to talk to the Internet in the background. There's a "network > restrictions" page that allows you to set which Wifi APs are running > on 3G/4G (or otherwise pay for data) and which are unlimited and my nexus 7 runs Android 5. there doesn't seem to be any such option. i made the mistake of NOT rooting it and installing cyanogenmod as soon as i got it and now i've got too much stuff on it that i don't want to lose (rooting it will erase it) or have to backup and then sort through and manually copy/reinstall. laziness, i know...it would only take a day or so to backup, root, re-flash, and then restore my data. cyanognmod/lineage may have more recent versions, but this tablet is barely capable of running v5.x. When I get another tablet, I'll wipe this one and install an AOSP-based Android 4 ROM on it. > Turn off background data on youtube, hangouts, play services (play > store), maps, and Chrome and you'll achieve your stated aim. no, i won't. i want these apps not to run at all. i want them to not even be installed. there's no reason for them to be running in the background, and there's no reason for them to be even installed. I *never* use them so there's no excuse for them to be running, ever. this is not an exaggeration or me just forgetting that i sometimes use them, it is the literal truth - i NEVER use them and NEVER want to use them. I looked at youtube once on this tablet years ago and decided "nope, too slow, too annoying. and no adblock", but apart from that I have never once chosen to run them, ever....but they always start up when wifi is enabled. this is an anti-feature - i have no idea what, if anything, they are reporting to google, or why all these apps are trying to connect, and it certainly does not benefit me at all for the tablet to become unusable for 10 minutes if i enable wifi to quickly (ha!) check something on the internet or fetch something from my network. when i want to watch something on youtube, i have a perfectly good desktop machine with a choice of browsers and a nice 27" 1440p monitor for that. by "unusable", i mean that the tablet can take a minute or more to respond to any touch event. per touch. after 10 or 20 minutes or so it settles down and becomes usable again, but is noticably noticably slower than when wifi is disabled even if i'm not actively using the network. i usually run the tablet in airplane mode to maximise battery life. > > PS: i am in no great hurry to upgrade, so if there's a new > > generation of cpus/screens etc just about to be released, i'm happy > > to wait for that. > > Maybe there is. Google has no tablet offering at this time and the > range of tablets that Kogan is offering is very small. The Samsung Tab A is one of the models I'm considering. I've seen some reasonable prices (around $330-$380) for 2016 models, but that's with only 16GB storage which is not quite enough. My nexus 7 has 32GB and with a faster tablet i'm likely to use it for more things and thus use more storage space. craig -- craig sanders <cas(a)taz.net.au>

6 11

Nexus 6P
by Brian May 02 Jun '17

02 Jun '17

Hello, I have given Mum my old Nexus 6P. It worked perfectly when I had it, but now it regularly loses all mobile reception (shows no signal) every 1 to 7 days. The only way to fix the problem is to reboot it. Any ideas? -- Brian May <brian(a)linuxpenguins.xyz> https://linuxpenguins.xyz/brian/

3 2

Re: [luv-talk] android tablet + phone recommendations?
by Andrew McGlashan 01 Jun '17

01 Jun '17

Hi, My preference is a good mobile for WiFi hotspot -- the right radios for the /right/ network that you need to use. Nothing else much matters for the hotspot device, other than it should have updates for the software to keep it reasonably secure (as secure as a mobile phone can be). It's a bonus if it us good otherwise and/or if it otherwise provides for all other mobile needs. The non-phone devices, all that they need is WiFi. And any device for mobile phone calls, well it needs the right network to be useful for any location I'm in (for calls, not data). I had a 6GB data mobile plan with unlimited standard AU calls, dropped that down to a 3GB data plan with unlimited calls. On my hotspot phone, I nnow have 50GB of 4G LTE data. The phone plan mobile (with 3GB now) rarely does data other than as a WiFi client via the hotspot; occasionally I need to turn on data for MMS, which is a pain. So, 53GB of mobile data never gets close to be used, but I also never have to worry about going over my limits in normal circumstances. If I needed more data, I have other options (on the road I mean). As for fixed line services, I have unlimited data, but even then due to the huge amount of mobile data available to me, I don't even worry about switching back to non mobile data these days when that is served via hotspot to other portable devices -- except for the laptop, that plugs in to the wired network and WiFi is switched off. Almost all my more serious "data" work is done from fixed wire connections. I'm not a big fan of using mobiles more than necessary, but it is handy having plenty of data available if or when I need it from time to time. Whenever I want mobile tablets or laptops on the road, then it is very easy to connect to my regular hotspot phone and therefore those other devices have no need for any 4G SIM slots with possible /less good/ radio connectivity. SIM slots are only useful, in my view, for devices that make calls or devices that offer me hotspot services. I actually

1 0

Re: [luv-talk] Any simple sketcher good for 2D floorplans & elevations?
by Russell Coker 29 Apr '17

29 Apr '17

On Sat, 29 Apr 2017 08:19:47 PM Paul van den Bergen via luv-main wrote: > Not sure if it's what you are after, but there is a phone app called > MagicPlan that maps existing structures as a floor plan using the camera. While we're at it let's not forget Minecraft. You can make a 3D model of the house and walk through it. See how your pet wolf and ocelot will fit inside your home and test how defensible it is against zombie and skeleton attack. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

2 1

UPS Recommendations
by Colin Fee 31 Mar '17

31 Mar '17

My freely acquired APC Back-UPS RS 1500 is showing signs of dying so I'm looking to replace it. I got it about 7-8 years ago and replaced the batteries in 2014. I'll need to run approx 500W of gear from it (headless server, cable modem, router, 4-port switch). It's currently connected to the server via USB and monitored with apcupsd I would to retain similar functionality. Looking for your recommendations/thoughts? Have looked at various things online, APC or CyberPower seem to be popular and reliable. Has anyone had experience with CyberPower's software on linux? For the curious it keeps switching to battery then back to mains. It switches for about 1 to 2 secs, occasionally about 5 to 6, long enough for the alarm to start to beep, then back. Passes self-test OK and is not indicating batteries are bad. In the past 24 hours it has generated 11,761 power fail/power back events! There doesn't appear to be any mains supply issues. It's curious (and coincidental) that this has happened yesterday and today with Hazlewood going off-line. -- Colin Fee tfeccles(a)gmail.com

2 1

Fwd: Fund raising for Footscray Lentil As Anything.
by spyder.king＠yahoo.com.au 14 Mar '17

14 Mar '17

Sent from my BlackBerry® PlayBook™ Subject: Fund raising for Lentil Footscray. I think some of the Lentil As Anything vegetarian restaurants have been at least self-supporting despite the customer choosing how much to pay. This has never been true of the buffet in Footscray and it seems to have been supported by other branches for a long time, for charitable reasons. So LAA like it's customers now treats it as a charity, calls for volunteer labour, more donations and has organised fund raisers. The income at Footscray is lower than ever so the venue is expected to close unless things change. They are hoping to get some relief from the fund raiser on March 26 but more publicity risks more customers paying less than they cost. https://lentilasanything.com/culture/events/footscray-lentils-needs-your-he… http://www.starweekly.com.au/news/dire-days-as-footscray-lentil-as-anything…

1 0

Free stuff
by Russell Coker 25 Feb '17

25 Feb '17

I have a free fax machine and some desktop PCs that are probably quad core. Contact me off list if interested. -- Sent from my Nexus 6P with K-9 Mail.

1 0

free Google cloud training event
by Russell Coker 23 Feb '17

23 Feb '17

https://cloudplatformonline.com/gcp-au-googlecloudonboard.html It's free as in training not free as in software. But will still interest some people. It's not clear if the lunch is free, but that's a possibility. ;) -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/

1 0

The REAL conspiracy against LUV beginners meeting on Saturday, 18 February 2017
by David E Payne 18 Feb '17

18 Feb '17

If you go to Wadham House, 52 Wadham Parade, Mt Waverley, Melbourne Australia from ~2:30 Saturday 18th you're likely to see some old relics from the early days of personal computing; and some of them will probably bring some old computer equipment. It doesn't seem to be mentioned on https://www.facebook.com/MICOM -The-Microcomputer-Club-of-Mel bourne-147406550461/?fref=ts The Google Plus group https://plus.google.com/102315068350046740812 is dORMANT. A bit of life at https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/micommem but it's a closed Google group you have to apply to join. It may appear that The Grand Conspiracy inconvenienced LUV by arranging maintenance of the LUV Beginner's venue to avoid a conflict with the MiCOM'S 40th anniversary. No no no! Actually the original MiCOM group was influenced in early 1977 to adopt the third Saturday for meetings so that their 40th Anniversary Meeting would be on the same day that LUV Beginners WEREN'T going to have a meeting! Presumably THEY wanted some LUVee Loveys that once were were MiCOM LUVers to turn up at the underwhelming 40th wet blanket. (I think they are also behind Mark's Willow stump problem for opposite reasons ;~) I say RESIST! Don't let THEM push you around! Spend the time preparing White Knight sorry, "White Night" placards & costumes to show your support for the only people that can save us from Hilarious & other elitists' CONsPiracy :- President Donald Jesus Trump and his mentor Lyndon LaRouche!

1 0