Clever s*ds - help required please!!

[Biscuit]

thanks for your advice re broadband speeds - didnot realise all the ins and outs.

Biscuit

[MBH]

My Lexmrk X75 gets so little use that the ink keeps drying up. Just been into W.H.Smiths, and they do a combo pack of black and colour for this.... £65

Now that I have my Netgear wireless setup - what's the score with 'wireless printers'? Thinking about getting a cheap one that I can tuck in a bedroom so that both computers can use it even though neither will be physically connected.

No - I haven't looked - I'm just throwing the question out. But recommendations will be looked into

This may or may not relate to Biscuit's comment on 'Today.....'

[clvrlad]

im currently thinking about getting one myself
so once you've looked around ill be interested in what you learn

[SparkOut]

Something like this may also be a possibility.

http://www.dabs.com/products/edimax-1po ... t%20server



If you plug it into your wireless router (with a cable) and your printer into this (with the regular USB printer cable) then you can print through this "server" box to the printer using the wireless connection. I'm not sure how this one works to set up or how reliable it is (but it's the cheapest one I've seen and has good reviews) but they're usually pretty simple - plug in and run a wizard, click "next" a few times and done.

If you have a multifunction printer (scanner/copier/printer/make the tea) type, then you won't be able to use this, but there are things similar that can help, such as http://www.dabs.com/products/hawking-us ... t%20server

[SparkOut]

As for printers, this is as subjective as saying "never buy a Ford, always go for Vauxhall" (which I never would actually say, but...) for printers, I would say "never buy a Lexmark or a Brother, always go for Canon".

I've been ever so pleased with the Canon Pixma printers I've had. Epson gave good quality prints but suffered from expense of cartridges/drying print heads too. For the Canon printers, I get refills from Cartridge World at a significant discount, and they've proven to be absolutely as good as the originals. (I have had Epson refills too, and they weren't as good - prone to needing multiple head cleaning cycles and using lots of ink in the process.)

This one is multi-function and wireless too http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Canon-Pi ... 4-wifi-USB and (not sure if this is already taken into account but there's a £30 money back offer on it at the moment which expired on 13th July).

[MBH]

If you plug it into your wireless router (with a cable) and your printer into this (with the regular USB printer cable) then you can print through this "server" box to the printer using the wireless connection.

So if I'm reading this right, then the printer would need to be physically connected to the wireless router. Looks like I've got to wrong end of a stick The router is fairly inaccessible - I was hoping that the printer was 'wireless' enabled via some internal version of the external computer's dongle. That would mean I could keep it in the back bedroom with no computer connections, but both computers could access it. [Probably asking for the impossible here]

My Lexmark is multi-function, so that can stay in the loft and act as a scanner when necessary - so a siimple, cheap PRINT printer is all I need.

[SparkOut]

No, it's not impossible. The Canon MP620 above, for example is wifi enabled so you can print directly to it over the wifi network. The other devices are not necessary in this case.

Those other "print server" devices are possibly helpful to be able to make an existing printer (that doesn't have its own wifi print server built in) available to other wifi users on the local network.

A simple, CHEAP, wifi enabled printer is not that easy to find - it's a higher-end feature, so most printers that have it will be relatively pricey, I would think.

Again as another alternative (again it gets more expensive) there is the possibility of getting a separately wifi enabled print server, such as this http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Edimax-W ... t-USB-Also
This means you could plug the printer into the wifi "print server" in the back bedroom and print wirelessly through the connection to the print server. I'm not entirely sure how that would work alongside your existing wifi router - whether it would want to form its own wireless lan, or become a member of your existing setup. You may again need to look harder if you want a wifi print server that does virtual scanning and so forth for a multi-function job. Such as http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductID=1044239

So there are lots of options... finding the right balance between features, quality, reliability and price is the tricky bit.

[SparkOut]

Or of course, you could get adventurous and use an old "obsolete" PC with a wifi card, set that up with a (free) Linux distro, plug in the printer and set it up for shared use with Samba, configure VNC and take away the monitor and keyboard to make a headless print server for nothing or thereabouts, depending on what old equipment you have.

Guys... hey... uh... why are you all running away?

[clvrlad]

actually sparkout thats what i was thinking of doing ....id have a desktop to "store" a few harddrives aswell then

[Bunnylump]

Glad to see this remains the official gobbledegook thread. Excellent. Keep it up.

[MBH]

OK - also from my research - a techie alphabet. {You'll like 'D'}



A-Apple-A is for Apple. Apple Computer, Inc.

B-Boot-To load and initialize the operating system on a machine. Flavors come in cold, warm, and thigh-high.

C-Caffeine-C8H10N4O2 has fuelled many a night of coding, or gaming.

D-Dongle-A security or copy protection device for proprietary software consisting of a serialized EPROM and some drivers in a D-25 connector shell, which must be connected to an I/O port of the computer while the program is run. Still, saying "dongle" makes me snicker like a second grader.

E-Error-Something that bad programmers fail to trap.

F-Freeware-Freely-redistributable software.

G-Google-To search the Web using the Google search engine, http://www.google.com/

H-H4X0R-A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities, as opposed to most users, who prefer to learn only the minimum necessary.

I-Intel-Intel's also inside Apples. It's absolutely ironic. Actually, I'm astounded.

J-Joystick-From the first Atari to Zaxxon cabinet games, gaming wouldn't be the same without it.

K-Kilobyte-1000^1 or 2^10 bytes, depending on whether or not you are a hard drive manufacturer.

L-Linux-An OS I am not allowed to use anymore.

M-Microsoft-Something has to fit underneath Linux.

N-Newbie-See also newb, nub, noob, nooblet, foob, noobcake and n00b

O-Obsolete-What most computer equipment is moments after you get it home.

P-Printer-Like "computer", this term has gone through some signficant changes over the last few hundred years.

Q-Quicktime-Quickly taking away your rights, one piece of DRM at a time.

R-Reboot-What Microsoft beleives will fix most faults.

S-Serial-Cereal Killer. As in Fruit Loops./ Serial cables which are obsolete. They are termed "serial" because they send one bit at-a-time via a single (pin #2) wire within the cable and receive it via another (pin #3); although, secondary wires (pin #s 14 and 16) may also be used for these functions.

T-Toolbar-A place where lusers go to drink.A row of icons in a graphical user interface that are used to activate the functions of an application or operating system

U-Unix-The one true operating system and first source-portable OS.

V-Virus-Some think this is also microsoft ... Always remember to practice safe hex.

W-Webcam-a digital camera designed to take digital photographs and transmit them over the internet ..Some cats and rats and elephants, but sure as you're born, you're never gonna see no unicorns.

X-XModem-A quick and dirty hack, it gave way to YModem, a slight improvement on a quick and dirty hack, which then lead to ZModem, a great improvement on a slight improvement to a quick and dirty hack.

Y-Yahoo!-Yahoo is a Brazilian rock music band formed in 1988 or is an American public corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California that brought us http://www.yahoo.com/

Z-Zaxxon-Zaxxon or Zork?

[SparkOut]

I would never (ever) recommend (I mean NEVER, EVER, EVER) a Lexmark printer. So this IS NOT a recommendation. But if you're prepared to stick with Lexmark (since you don't seem to have been too upset with the one you had that has the ink heads drying) there's this one from PC World at £49.99 which has direct wireless connectivity.
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/store/ ... oid=-24820

[Biscuit]

my son has decided he now wants to build his own computer. We had a defunct one at work so that is what he is starting with. Have you any tips?

[SparkOut]

Well, yes - but they would ultimately depend on the specifics of what setup your defunct PC has, and what's defunct about it. Can you get make/model/specifications/fault information to be able to tell what's the best thing to do?
(To be honest, apart from the satisfaction of doing it yourself and being happy in the knowledge that your own setup is exactly how you want it rather than how some company has configured it for the masses, there is not really any cost advantage these days to building your own, what with the deals available for a brand new machine.)

[Scurra]

Yeah, I used to build mine from scratch but it's simply not cost-effective any more, especially when you count the time factor involved in actually doing it. And if you want to use Windows, then buying one is pretty much the only way it's actually affordable too - I cannot believe that I can buy a completely new system with Windows 7 for barely more than the upgrade cost for Windows 7 on its own. That's just ridiculous.

[Laura]

Well, I just spent more on the music software I need for my job (at 50% discount for being in education) than my whole computer cost!!!! But I can't do orchestra arrangements without it.

[Biscuit]

he is really interested in computers and I am thinking it gets him away from the gaming for a little while. I will get the spec that he has - he has already said it is a better spec than the one i have. I hope he will get really interested in computers and the programming. Many moons ago I started a computer programming course at night school which was really interesting but circumstances meant I had to stop (wont go into it but wrapped up in family politics) - I would love for him to be interested.

I do notice (from my vast age) that when I leant the original programs like wordstar and lotus that the shortcuts are still available in the new programs like excel. and some of the programming in dreamweaver and shortcuts in autocad also seem familiar to basic and the early programs. I just love playing with autocad (or the little I know of it)it is so adictive. but I do accounts for work not designing.

Biscuit

[SparkOut]

See if you can establish the make and model number of the motherboard, and whether that is any part of what the problem is.
The motherboard specification will dictate pretty much everything else that you need to think about - getting the right power supply/memory dimms/cpu/pata or sata disks/everything.

[Bunnylump]

? Motheboard? Isn't that something from star trek?

[SparkOut]

Really it should be a system board. Or if you're a Mac fanatic, a logic board. But motherboard is the general term. I never heard of a Motheboard though, not even in a sci-fi context.