OT - Period laptop advice needed

[FamilyWiggs]

Hmm. Could you get it onto a machine that's currently refusing to talk to t'interweb?

Yes - buy a copy of Linux Format or similar from the magazine counter of Tescos. It'll have a Live CD of one of the linux distributions for sure. Use it as a LiveCD - I'm willing to bet that it will talk to the InterwebSuperhighway when your curent setup is failing... as long as you can supply your ISP usernme/password (and router password if you have one set)

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Our old laptops (including the one I'm typing this on) run Ubuntu Linux.

Same here and I would nowadays seriously consider it even on a new machine.

I've just been through the reinstall process for my daughter's machine and for some reason I am struggling to get it to speak to the BBC i-player. It tells me it needs a new version of Flash Player but the Adobe download page doesn't seem to play ball with the correct version. I have two other old laptops running Ubuntu which run iPlayer with no problems and everything else works a charm (despite starting off with a completely new un-formatted hard disk and having no drivers), so I think it is a problem with the Adobe site.

The only reason I don't use Linux on every machine is a) because I use Dreamweaver and Fireworks a lot for web design work (and there is no good alternative in Linux that I like) and b) I want the kids to be familar with the MS environment too.

Re iPlayer/Flash. Check that you have installed the Flash Player properly in the Software Sentre (Version 10 is showing in mine as the latest version) and that you have the proprietary media codecs package installed. Both are usually installed by default, but you never know. I very rarely need to download apps from websites anymore - the software centre has all the latest stable versions which install with just one click and then update automatically in the background when new versions/updates are released. You don't get that ease and stability with Windows!

 

[Keithj]

The trouble with Linux comes when some bit of the PC dies (eg the graphics card) and you replace it with a different model. Windows will go and get the new drivers needed and install them. In my experience, most Linux flavours (the geek name is "distros") throw up their hands and refuse to play. That's what happened with my workshop PC. It now runs Win 7 only.

It's not such a problem with laptops, since replacement of bits is unusual.

Dell have not been good buys for me and mine, and are now on the "not with a bargepole" list.

Win 7 is so much more capable than XP that I switched all the machines over.

Second-hand laptops can be a very good deal. I picked up a 9-month old one for under half new price. The seller had upgraded to the latest model. I wiped the disk drive, installed Win 7, and it's brilliant.

 

[LadyArowana]

It appears that I buy laptops in the same manner that boys buy shoes.

I beg to differ Milady. I've never bought a pair of pink shoes in my entire life.

Oh, you don't know what you're missing :lol: ..... However my point was that I just go and buy something that seems to do the job and is the colour I want, how you chaps can generate oodles of comments on all the bits and bobs in the box is utterly beyond me, but if we were talking shoes or handbags........ I think there could be a doctoral thesis on this.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

It appears that I buy laptops in the same manner that boys buy shoes.

I beg to differ Milady. I've never bought a pair of pink shoes in my entire life.

Oh, you don't know what you're missing :lol: ..... However my point was that I just go and buy something that seems to do the job and is the colour I want, how you chaps can generate oodles of comments on all the bits and bobs in the box is utterly beyond me, but if we were talking shoes or handbags........ I think there could be a doctoral thesis on this.

Shoes are functional. You need at most about 5 pairs in life:

1. Smart shoes - for work/weddings/funerals. Black.
2. Casual shoes - for when not at work. Brown. *
3. Workshoes/boots - with steel toecaps. Usually brown/black/yellow.
4. Wellies - for snow/rain/winter wear. Green/blue/black - but not frog ones if you are an adult.
5. Slippers - for when relaxing (ha!) in your period house which is generally colder than outside. If you buy carefully, these can also do as your summer/boating shoes/running shoes (delete as applicable)

*if you insist on being extravagant then this category can include 1 pair Brogues, 1 pair Oxford shoes, 1 pair boating shoes.

I fail to see the need to have more pairs. I work with lady who claims to have 53 pairs of shoes and 30 pairs of boots. If she wears them for a week at a time, she won't repeat a pair for more than 18 months. That is plain silly. I'm 39 and I'm already thinking as I buy a good pair of shoes "Well, these'll see me out".

 

[LadyArowana]

I fail to see the need to have more pairs. I work with lady who claims to have 53 pairs of shoes and 30 pairs of boots. If she wears them for a week at a time, she won't repeat a pair for more than 18 months. That is plain silly. I'm 39 and I'm already thinking as I buy a good pair of shoes "Well, these'll see me out".

A week :shock: you are doing the wrong calculation! It's 53 plus 30 as a fraction of 365 ( or 366 this year ) and honestly the poor woman is barely adequately shod at well below .5 !

 

[Penners]

Shoes are functional. You need at most about 5 pairs in life.

Five?! What... all at the same time?!

Wow! That's what money can do for you, folks.

 

[LadyArowana]

Shoes are functional. You need at most about 5 pairs in life.

Five?! What... all at the same time?!

Wow! That's what money can do for you, folks.

Well, Mr Wiggs isn't restricted in his activities by a bad back and so he needs lots ( by boy standards ) of different pairs to be dressed correctly.

 

[Feltwell]

Shoes are functional. You need at most about 5 pairs in life:

1. Smart shoes - for work/weddings/funerals. Black.
2. Casual shoes - for when not at work. Brown. *
3. Workshoes/boots - with steel toecaps. Usually brown/black/yellow.
4. Wellies - for snow/rain/winter wear. Green/blue/black - but not frog ones if you are an adult.
5. Slippers - for when relaxing (ha!) in your period house which is generally colder than outside. If you buy carefully, these can also do as your summer/boating shoes/running shoes (delete as applicable)

*if you insist on being extravagant then this category can include 1 pair Brogues, 1 pair Oxford shoes, 1 pair boating shoes.

There is the alternative, Feltwell approach to footwear. One perhaps borne of being a member of the student world when "grunge" was at it's height and no self-respecting student/biker would be seen in anything except ex-East German army boots, and that included the girls if they could get them small enough to fit.

1. Smart shoes. Purchased for wedding (mine) 11 years ago. Black. Now only get dragged out for job interviews or funerals, and then get lots of dust blown off them.

Then we move to the boot system:-

2. Newish black boots, not Doc Marten's as they don't last. At least 12 hole, suitably chunky. These get worn for work, and look surprisingly respectable under smart trousers / suit.
3. Middling black boots. These are the boots that used to be at No.2, but then started to get a bit scruffy. Used for general wear.
4. Knackered black boots. These are the boots that used to be at No.3 but really have had it, soles are starting to split, tread has long since worn smooth etc. These are the boots used for working on the house.

As such, a constant slow flow of boots moves through the Feltwell system, to the dismay of Mrs F. Even better, you can get them quite easily new on Ebay these days so you avoid the unspeakable horror of having to go shopping at a shop that doesn't sell either tools or motorbikes.

5. Wellies. Used in the snow, or if doing very muddy groundworks. Usually after I've got the knackered boots soaking wet.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Shoes are functional. You need at most about 5 pairs in life.

Five?! What... all at the same time?!

Wow! That's what money can do for you, folks.

Yep; they don't call me the Imelda Marcos of NHS management for nothing, you know. 8)

 

[Penners]

NHS management

Hmmm... maybe those BUPA premiums don't look so expensive after all.

 

[skier-hughes]

Whereas I have 3
Black Shoes for taking up room in the understairs upboard.
Wellies - general use
Pair of ladies shoes - for when I get dressed up and go out for the evening

 

[Penners]

I don't feel very well...