Gizmos Grabowski

3 Windows 7 Install Problems -- 2 Solved

I had bought the Windows 7 upgrade back in July when it was half-price. Because I write technical books, I need my screen grabs looking up to date; and I figured I might as well stiff it to The Man by giving him half the amount.

Last night I installed the upgrade. Took four hours. 

After installation, 7 gave me several points of pain, most of which I solved in under an hour, fortunately:

100% CPU Usage

7 was running very slowly, and I finally found it was due to the CPU being run at 100% load. The problem was the DisplayLink driver I use to display programs on a third monitor through a USB port. 

Uninstalling the drive was not straight-forward, however, since it would not uninstall. Searching the Internet, I found the solution at DisplayLink's Web site: there are two parts to the driver, and the right one has to be uninstalled. Uninstall the product-specific software (in my case, the HP USB Driver for DisplayLink), and then core DisplayLink driver also uninstalls automatically.

(I noticed that DisplayLink has a 7-specific driver, which I downloaded but have not yet installed.)

Can't Write to File or Folder

Eudora email repeatedly displayed a dialog box, complaining it could not write to a file or folder, which might be locked or missing. Searching Google did not provide an answer, perhaps because Eudora is abandoned software.

After some mulling about, I finally wondered if a security setting might be in the way. Sure enough: for some reason, 7 prevented Eudora writing to its own files and folders. Here is how to solve the problem:

1. With Windows Explorer, go to the folder in which the program stores its data. For Eudora, this is C:\Program Files (x86)\Qualcomm\Eudora Mail 7

2. Right-click the folder name, and then choose Properties.

3. Click the Security tab.

4. Click the Edit button.

5. Under Group or User Names, choose CREATOR/OWNER.

6. In the Permissions section, notice that all permissions are turned off. Click the first one under Allow, and then notice that all others are also set to Allow.

7. Click OK, and then wait for 7 to changes the permission settings on all folders and files.

The problem is solved.

USB Drives Stop Working

After 7 is installed, the USB drives appear to work, but then stop in stages. First, 7 complains cannot find files being copied. Then it shows connected drives having no files of folders. Finally, Explorer shows no connected USB drives.

(By USB drives, I mean USB thumbdrives; other USB devices continue to work, such as the USB transmitter for my wireless keyboard and mouse.)

I found the problem and solution discussed on an HP forum: USB with External Mass Storage Not Working With Windows 7 x64

The solution is to install updated nVidia drivers from NVIDIA DRIVERS 15.49 WHQL. It'll require a reboot or two, but then the USB drives work again -- for a half day, after which the problem comes back. I have a call into HP tech support, so we'll see what they say. In the meantime, I note there is a similar problem with the iPhone and a certain type of Intel CPU.

Blackberry is the New iPhone

I don't care about cells phones -- I just want them to make and take phone calls. But I am fascinated by Western society's fascination with the device, both from bloggers and the young community around my children (aged 19-23) and their friendship circles. 

And it appears that the Blackberry is the new iPhone. They see the iPhone for people who need to show off. They like the Blackberry for its instant-access keypad (no flipping, no sliding, no vague screen touching) and its larger-than-normal screen.

Yesterday one daughter needed to replace the 7-year-old flip phone she'd been using. She picked a Blackberry look-alike from Samsung. My son's girlfriend wants a Blackberry. Other daughter's friend: Blackberry.

My Computer Is/Is not Compatible with 7

I tried out the 7 compatibility checker from Microsoft to see if my one-year-old HP desktop computer is compatible. Mostly it is, but the results can be contradictory, as the screen grab shows.



The PhotoSmart printer is/is not compatible with 7.

Canon G11 Goes Back to Roots

Canon's G1 was my second digital camera, and the first to be what is the norm in today's models: zoom lens, video recording, and so on. (Yah, my first from 1999 did neither.) It was $1200. Ouch!

After it got dunked in the Pacific Ocean (while I was breaking my leg), I got the S1is, and have stuck to it since. I'm on my third S1is, because it has what newer G models lacked: lower resolution and the swivel LCD screen.

That's right: lower resolution makes for better photos, because they are clean --  no interpixel noise. (3 megapixels in the case of the original G1 and S1 models.)

The megapixel race has been as detrimental to consumers as global warming. More megapixels mean more noise, especially when coupled with high ISO modes.

This is why I was glad to read that Canon understands the problem of too many pixels with the new G11 model: it reduces the sensor from 14.7 to 10 megapixels. Their marketing department probably prevented the engineers from going even lower. (Fewer pixels means larger pixels and so less noise.)

Canon remembered to add back the infinitely useful swivel screen. Now, I am just waiting for them to up the digital zoom to 10x, and I'll buy one again. (Current zoom is just 5x.) Well, and they should get the maximum aperture back to f2.0 (from the current f2.8), as well as re-introduce optical zooming during movie mode.

Here's hoping for G12!

Microsoft Fails with Windows 7 (Again)

Window 2000 shipped in 1999, perhaps the most important release of Windows ever. Two years later, Microsoft nattered on about Cairo, the rewritten operating system that would be delivered next. With the state in which Windows 7 ships to end users today, Microsoft has failed again. 

As the decades passed by, the codename Cairo changed to the brand name Vista, which would have three primary features, as stated by Microsoft eleven years later, in 2003:

1. Fix Windows' security problems with code access security in .NET.
2. Merge the Internet and the desktop through XAML-hosted browsers. (Eh? I thought the two were united when billg made IE part of WE in XP.)
3. Un-tie data from applications through the WinFS object-oriented file system.

Eighteen years later, none of these are in 7. Instead, 7 is all about bright baubles and fewer free apps.

And I am glad the three are missing. As is usually the case with Microsoftian concepts, these three are idiotic. Here's why:

1. Code access security would create a mess for applications and users alike. UAC (user access control) was just a small hint of how bad it would be. Software firms would have to completely rewrite their apps to work with Windows. Might as well rewrite them to an operating system that was designed to be secure from the beginning -- Unix-based Linux and the Unix-based Mac.

2. Merging the Internet and the desktop creates a security nightmare. The desktop is secure; the Internet is not. billg never understood that.

3. WinFS [Windows file system] was to turn all data into objects, so that any app could work with any data, in theory. In practice, of course, nonesense. The master idea was to have all of Microsoft's software work with "all" data, driving other vendors out of business, as Microsoft nearly managed to do in the transition from DOS to Windows.

In a couple of years time, Microsoft itself will tell us that 7 was a failure. It need will need the excuse to resell us to the software, this time numbered Eight.

Media Hostility

What is especially fascinating is the general media's skepticism of Microsoft, in interviews granted in the days leading up to today. Even downright hostility. Kind of like they were dealing with a Republican president.

For its part, Microsoft continues to mislead. When asked by the National Post about the many variants of Windows 7, the Microsoft Canada rep claimed there were just 2 -- and then partly corrected herself: 3. There are 7 base versions, and then more than 20 others (upgrades, family packs, student versions -- this week's Best Buy flyer is ugly with details). Still thinking like a monopolist, still thinking they can fool the people.

Solving an Irritating PostScript Bug

The version 9 series of Adobe's Acrobat software has an irritating bug that affects output from PageMaker and other software. Here is now it manifests itself:

1. Start a print job in PageMaker. Print the document to the PDF printer driver.
2. PageMaker starts printing, but doesn't get to page 1.
3. PageMaker appears to lock up.

Hidden by PageMaker is a dialog box warning that you the print job cannot proceed, because a setting needs to be changed. PageMaker appears to lock up, because it is waiting for you to respond to the dialog box. You cannot respond to the dialog box, because it is hidden by PageMaker.

4. Once you discover the hidden dialog box, follow its instructions:
    a. Open the Printers window.
    b. Right-click the PostScript driver.
    c. Choose Printing Preferences from the shortcut menu.
    d. Turn off the troubling option, Rely on System Fonts Only; Do No Use Document Fonts.
    e. Click OK.
5. Restart print job.
6. Same problem occurs.
7. Check PostScript driver's Printing Preferences to find that the option is indeed turned off. Get frustrated that Adobe's dialog box still tells you to turn off the option -- which is turned off, stupid!

I finally figured out how to solve it.

8. Exit PageMaker (or other application). 
9. Restart PageMaker, and then print. 

Problem solved.

What I don't get is how it turns itself on from time to time. Adobe needs to get rid of the option that it says should be turned off.

HP Tech Support: Sometimes Good, Sometimes Really Bad

I am always surprised (pleasantly) that HP supports its products after the warranty expires. Through email or through a live chat session, a cheerful-sounding rep enters his or her scripted statements. "I am here to help you," his earnest script announces. Sometimes the result satisfies me, other times not.

My most recent encounter was the strangest. I found that my newish HP desktop computer needed a bios update to solve a potential problem of the Seagate hard drive issuing false error reports. HP's instructions were to download the BIOS update and then burn it to a CD.

That's when I found the computer's DVD/CD player doesn't burn CDs. It reads CDs, it reads DVDs, it even burns DVDs, but it does not write CDs. (It starts to, but then complains the disc has a flaw -- disc after disc after disc.) No problem, I thought, I'll get help from HP tech support.

What followed was a tedious set of tests and re-tests to determine if the CD drive was working, had the correct software. This went on for a week or two. Finally, HP agreed to replace the "unit" (since it was still under warranty).

"Replace the entire computer? Or just the CD drive," I asked. I sure wasn't going to send in the entire computer and lose my primary work computer for a couple of weeks.

The tech support guy said he'd get back to me.

Next time I heard from him, he asked me to redo all the software tests we had been through earlier. I refused, replied that we'd done all that; I just needed to know which piece of hardware send in.

I never heard back. The computer is now out of warranty.

But I've come up with my own solution. Netbooks don't come with CD/DVD drives, so I bought an tiny, portable, external unit from eBay for half the local price. I now plug it into my desktop computer when I need to burn a CD. 

As a result, I was able to finally install the BIOS update.

Chrome Web Browser Solid on Linux

Some Web site made Google's Web browser for Linux available sooner than Google wanted. As the site noted, hey, it's open source!

I installed it on my netbook computer running Linux Mint, possible because the download file is a .deb (Debian install file), and Mint is based on Ubuntu, which is based on Debian GNU/Linux -- kind of like Windows uses .zip or .msi or .exe files for downloads.

I no sooner installed it than my son wandered into my office, wondering if I could find an address in Chilliwack for him. He has a 7:30am meeting at a Starbucks the next morning. I boasted that I would try out the shiny new Chrome browser. He asked for Streetview, so he could see what the intersection looks like.

I was impressed at Chome's speed in displaying the graphics-heavy Streetview imagery on the so-called "underpowered" netbook. (See figure below.) I was also impressed by how stable this unreleased beta is; I had given up on the Windows version, because the first few releases crashed with nearly any Web site I tried to visit.

Certainly, the puzzle in the computing community is why Google releases Linux versions of their software later (or not at all) when the company runs on Linux.

- - -

Google recently unveiled StreetView for my part of the world, ranging from Whistler in the north-west to an arbitrary point in the eastern Fraser Valley. Below is a screengrab of the last photo taken on the Lougheed highway side of the Fraser River. You can tell that the photo-car had pulled onto a gravel side road to make its U-turn "back to civilization." Notice the fruit stand on the other side of the road.

10 Reasons Linux Mint 7 Beats Windows 7

I have been running Linux Mint almost as long as Windows 7 (beta and RC), around a half year, on my netbook computer. The primary purpose of this netbook is to travel with me on my trips, business and personal. Over the last half year, I found that I finally prefer Linux over Windows, following nearly a decade of trying out Linux.

Here's ten reasons why:

10. No forced reboots. It seems every week there is a security update for Windows that requires a reboot. I cannot afford work-interrupting reboots, I have too many projects on the go, too many windows open with documents. I shove the reboot reminder into a far corner of the screen behind the task bar. But Linux Mint is better:

• It does not reboot to implement operating system improvements.

9. Test it before installing it. Reviewers are warning of horror stories switching from XP to 7. Even changing from Vista can create problems. But you don't find out until you begin the upgrade process, when it might be too late. In addition, Windows does not like other operating systems, and does not provide dual-boot capability. But Linux Mint is better:

• It can be installed on a USB key, and then booted independently to ensure the computer hardware is compatible.
• It can be dual-booted with Windows so that you can switch when necessary.

8. Snapping windows. Windows doesn't snap windows to the edge of the monitor. But Linxu Mint is better:

• It snaps windows for a cleaner desktop look.

7. Multiple workspaces. The many dialects of Windows are limited to a single workspace. You can create additional ones through multiple monitors, but that's expensive in two ways: the price of additional monitors, and desk spaace. But Linux Mint is better:

• Like all other dialects of Linux, Linux Mint can have up to four workspaces.
• And Linux supports multiple monitors.

6. Drag buttons on taskbar. Windows 8 finally allows this (Vista does not): dragging buttons around the taskbar. A small thing, but important to me, since I expect the same buttons in the same locations for greater work efficiency. Linux Mint already does this.

5. The time applet. Vista and 7 let you have up to three clocks in the time applet, which I find useful for knowing the time in Germany and another part of the world. But Linux Mint is better:

• It allows an unlimited number of clocks. See illustration below. That lets me know the Eastern time, Germany, Moscow, or other countries with whom I do business.
• It displays an icon summarizing the local weather.
• It lets me quickly change to local time.

4. Disconnect drives. Windows requires you to right-click a drive name and then choose Safely Remove. Or use the difficult-to-figure-out Safely Remove Hardware, illustrated below:

But Linux Mint is better:

• It displays the eject icon next to each drive. See figure below.
• No need to right-click, no confusing lists of generic names.

3. No network restrictions (it's my data). Inexplicably, Windows Vista and 7 prevent me from accessing any folder on any of my networked computers. Only the Public folder and certain other folders are available. But Linux Mint is better:

• It lets me access any folder.
• It accesses folders and drives on computers running Linux, Windows, and other systems.

2. It's free. Windows costs and costs and costs. And costs for every computer, whether directly or hidden in the purchase price. But Linux Mint is better:

• It is free.
• It can be installed on as many computers as I need.
• The organization accepts donations. (I've given one.)

And the number one reason is...

1. Fast boots, near-instant wake-ups. Sure, Windows 7 might be faster than Vista at booting up (although more recent reports put doubt on that claim of speed). It does this by cheating: the desktop and its icons appear quicker, but 7 keeps on loading in the background -- giving the illusion of faster boots. But Linux Mint is better:

• Linux Mint boots twice as fast as Windows 7.
• And it is ready to use once the desktop appears; no sluggish performance.
  Because Linux is ready quickly for me to use, I prefer to use it.

Linux Mint v8 is estimated to be ready in December. In the meantime, version 7 can be downloaded free from www.linuxmint.com/download.php. They appreciate donations.

PS/2 Port Servers as Power Source

Computers still have those round "PS/2" ports for connecting mice and keyboards. Except that nowadays most keyboards and mice use rectangular USB ports -- making the PS/2 ports superfluous.

("PS/2" comes from 1987, when IBM introduced the then-new PS/2 line of desktop computers. The PS was short for personal system; the 2 referred to second generation, IBM's original PC being the first generation. Some of the changes to the PS/2 did not survive, such as its OS/2 operating system; other features became standards in the industry, such as the PS/2 port and the VGA graphics board -- short for video graphics array. The PS/2 port design was not new, for it was based on the DIN plugs used by European stereo equipment.)

My current desktop computer has 4 USB ports in the rear, but the number was insufficient for me. They were filled with (1) DisplayPort adapter for third monitor; (2) USB key for ReadyBoost; (3) USB extension cable to give me four more ports up front; and (4) keyboard.

I have small portable speakers for sound which use a USB port for power. It was connected to a USB port in the front, but I found that unsightly. On a hunch, I stuck a PS/2-USB adapter into the unused PS/2 port. (These adapters were commonly included with Logitech mice free.)

The speaker worked, drawing its power from the PS/2 port. There is so much hoopala going on surrounding using USBs for charging  that we forget that other ports also are power sources.

Reading MIME (*.mim) Files

My daughter sent some photos she took for her Digital Photography course at college. She sent sent two pictures in one email, and they were regular .jpg attachments; the second two were embedded in another email as 5.4MB worth of MIME data, which looks like this:

Content-Type: image/jpeg
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="DSC_0211.JPG"

/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQEAYABgAAD/4RJRRXhpZgAASUkqAAgAAAAKAA8BAgASAAAAhgAAABABAgAK
AAAAmAAAABIBAwABAAAAAAAAABoBBQABAAAAogAAABsBBQABAAAAqgAAACgBAwABAAAAAgAAADEB
etc.

How to view the pictures? A quick google found that the venerable WinZip program does. I still have WinZip 3.1 that came out for Windows 9x, but it will install on Vista, albeit with lots of incompatibility warnings (whose fault is that, Microsoft?).

Ignore the warnings, drag the .mim file into WinZip, and then drag the resulting .jpg files into an image viewer, like PaintShop Pro. 

Here is one of the "MIME" photos, taken for the "slow shutter, motion blur" assignment. The photo was taken on the bridge near Fort Langley, last night around dusk.

From PageMaker to InDesign, Grudgingly

I continue to use PageMaker v7, long after Adobe abandoned it. But now my book publisher is insisting that I start using InDesign for next year's AutoCAD 2011-series of books. (I design and typeset all my books.)

Fortunately, Adobe has a generous upgrade price for us holder-outers, just $199 for InDesign CS4. I bought it last night from adobe.com and -- after a 3 hour delay while Adobe "checks your order" -- was able to download and install it.

Some stuff I will appreciate, like the unlimited undoes (PageMaker had sort of half an undo), drag and drop, and being able to scroll vertically once again in Vista.

But reading the docs for PageMaker upgraders got me concerned about feature missing from this apparently modern software:

• InDesign does not support OLE. I use OLE to place annotated diagrams from Visio.
• InDesign does not support patterned fills. Not important to me, but a surprising shortcoming.
• No equivalent to Copy Master Guides. Helps clean up messy up guides.'
• No inline graphics; have to simulate them with frames. Inline graphics was the #1 reason I stuck with PageMaker, a huge timesaver.
• And the biggest headache: InDesign does not copy images from PageMaker files, but merely inserts low-resolution approximations. Every single screen grab and Visio-annotated figure will have to be redone -- and we're talking about a thousand images per book. Ugh! 

 So, I will slowly adapt to this new software over the next few months. I'll spend a few minutes with it, take a stab at figuring out how a few new things work, and then give myself a rest.

How Slow is that USB Drive?

I always figured that USB thumbdrives were pretty much the same. After all, they all adhere to the USB v2.x spec, which is supposed to define fast transfer speeds.

(Note that all USB drives use FlashRAM, which is slow for writing, but reasonably fast for reading.)

I came to the realization that there are differences when Windows Vista refused to use a 1GB USB drive for ReadyBoost, complaining it was too slow. This surprised me, for another, identical looking drive was speedy enough for ReadyBoost. (I get most of my USB drives free, from software vendors, ranging from 32MB to 4GB.)

I decided to test the speed of all my drives, to see which are the speediest. I found a couple of Windows programs to download that test drive speeds. But I backed off in a hurry, when the first one contained a virus.

I then searched for a similar program to run on Linux, and quickly found that Linux has drive test software built-in:

1. Open the terminal window (like the DOS window in Windows).
2. Enter the following command:

sudo hdparm -t /dev/---

Replace the --- by the name of the drive. To find the name of the drive, use the System Monitor program's File System's tab.  On my computer, the hard drive is sda3, while one of the USB connectors is sb1.
3. You are prompted to enter your password, and then the test runs.
 
The read tests found a huge difference between those two identical-looking USB keys: one read data at 14MB/sec, the other at just 1MB/sec. I got those speeds from other USB drives, as well.

The results of testing other devices:

• Built-in hard drive: 33MB/sec
• Fastest USB drive: an 8MB Imation drive -- 24MB/sec
• Other USB drives had speeds of 8MB/sec and 12MB/sec
• Portable, external Western Digital hard drive (connected through USB): 25MB/sec

I also tested some SD memory cards:

• HP-branded 16GB SD card: 18MB/sec
• Class 4 4GB SD card: 16MB/sec
• Same card attached with a card reader: 15MB/sec
• MMC+ card: 12MB/sec
• PNY-brand 2GB SD card: 10MB/sec

When Good USB Keys Go Bad

Within one month, I had my two biggest USB keys go bad on me. Windows had spent a couple of weeks complaining about problems on my 16GB USB thumbdrive, and then one day the drive was no longer recognized by Windows or Linux.

Right before my trip to Russia, I loaded my second biggest USB key with backup data. During the trip, I plugged the 4GB keydrive into my computer, and there was no recognition by Windows or Linux that it existed.

Last night, I tried again. The 16GB one was still dead; but I noticed something different about the 4GB one: the metal stem seemed short. I tugged at it, and found that the rectangular part (that plugs into the computer) had receded into its plastic body.

I pulled the metal connector out to its proper length, applied some crazy glue to keep it in place, and now have a working 4GB USB drive again.

McAfee Be Gone!

Last night my dad arrived, after spending five months up north connected to the rest of the world with just a slow modem line. After the "Hello"s, it's "Can you update my computer?" Overnight, I get his notebook computer updated with megabytes and megabytes of the latest fixes from FireFox, Windows, AVG anti-virus, and whatever else is clamoring for attention.

One update was for Flash. As I downloaded the update, I noticed two programs being downloaded from the Adobe Web site: Flash and McAfee anti-virus. What!?

I hadn't asked for it, and the computer already runs AVG quite nicely, thank you. I was miffed, and of course immediately uninstalled the unwanted intruder. 

This morning, I learned I was an early victim of a new relationship, as described in this businessspeak:

McAfee and Adobe Systems today announced a global alliance partnership to jointly deliver new solutions that will offer more comprehensive security to both companies’ customers.

Later, the press release reverts to traditional English:

Further, as part of the partnership, McAfee has made a free diagnostic tool, McAfee Security Scan, available as an optional download to customers when installing Adobe Reader and Adobe Flash Player software from Adobe.com

Except I didn't see no option for not installing McAfee. But at least you are now forewarned.

Myth: Your Computer is Underpowered

Microsoft is spreading the myth that computers are underpowered, and need to be replaced to run Windows 7.

I first read the myth in a "tech" column of a British newspaper (wish I'd kept the reference). The "tech" writer noted that netbooks struggle to run Vista. There are just so many facts wrong in that sentence:

• Netbooks don't run Vista; they run either XP or Linux.
• Many notebook and desktop computers struggle to run the badly-written Vista; there is an entire class action law suit on this issue.
• Testing shows that 7 runs just fine on netbooks. 

I am puzzled how "tech" columnists can write such nonsense yet keep their jobs. Perhaps because newspapers operate one step down from a Consumer Reports level of technical proficiency.

And just now I got an email blast from HP restating the myth:

Replace your underpowered PCs and get Microsoft Windows 7 for free!*

Hold it. I thought 7 was supposed to be lighter than Vista, making our "underpowered" PCs powerful again. Well, that is the plight for Microsoft and its hardware captives: each new release of Microsoft software must overburden current CPUs so that the HPs of the world can resell the same product (computers) to us. Microsoft upgrades have nothing to do with improving work efficiency, but with selling disposable blades and razors over and over again.

The truth, of course, is that your computer is not underpowered; rather, it is overburdened by inefficient software written by Microsoft programmers. (The other truth is that computer speed has stalled, so the new, more powerful computers simply are not that much more powerful.)

For proof, run Linux on your computer. In my case, Linux Mint is such a pleasure to run on my netbook that I resent the few times I need to reboot into Windows 7, for instance, to run AutoCAD 2010 for articles I write.

Consider that Linux Mint has the same functionality as Windows 7, yet runs comfortably on a netbook with 0.8GHz GPU, 512MB RAM, and 4GB solid state hard drive. 

The hardware is not the problem; Microsoft is the problem. 

- - - 

*) Not for free, actually: "Your first [Windows 7] upgrade kit will cost US$12.99 in shipping and handling." 

Fail: Update

HP computers run software that downloads updates from HP. Problem is, there is a bug: the downloads cancel partway through. I've noticed the same faulty behaviour on both on a notebook and desktop computer from HP.

Thus it was with some amusement I noticed that that last week's update in included a fix for the "Install Canceled Issue." Needless to say, the download was canceled partway through (see figure).

Wireless Mouse Needs 2 USB Ports

Logitech sent me last spring their wireless mouse/keyboard combo. I like a big mouse, and so I have been using this one for several months now. I'd tell you which model it is, but Logitech leaves that crucial information off the mouse.

Being wireless, it needs a USB port for the wireless transmitter.

Being wireless, it needs a battery. This particular model includes a rechargeable battery and a recharging cord. Every so often, I have to plug the cord into a second USB port, and then attach it to the mouse through its mini-USB connector. 

For several hours then, I have a cordless mouse connected to my computer through a cord, taking up two USB ports. It just doesn't seem right to me.

When Wireless Internet Almost Works

I'm at a hotel here in St Petersburg where Internet access is cheap: about $3 for the day (as compared to $30 a day charged by hotels in Europe). 

The hotel front desk gave me the signon info, but my netbook would not connect. Both Linux Mint and Windows 7 gave cryptic error messages. They both acknowledged that the hotel's wireless existed, but complained that "the settings are incompatible."

Incompatible wireless networking? The system used by this Russian hotel seemed standard enough. After some poking about the network settings, I finally discovered the problem: identical SSIDs.

It appears that I connected to a hotel's wireless Internet some time ago, whose SSID (identification) name was "Hotel." The SSID for this hotel in Russia is also "Hotel." 

Both Linux Mint and Windows 7 are programmed to use the same wireless settings for the same SSID. This is a convenience feature so that the computer connects more quickly to the Internet. But the settings for the old Hotel SSID naturally did not match those needed for the current network named Hotel.

The solution was to manually erase the settings for the old Hotel network connection, and then my computer used the new settings.

My New Camera: Same as the Old Camera

After my Canon S1is suffered from the sensor problem, I bought a Canon SX100 is as a stop gap. It had the 10x zoom, etc I need. But I continued to keep an eye on a more capable one, especially with movable LCD screen.

A month ago, I made my decision: I bought a reconditioned  S1is for $85 -- my third one. It has more features than the SX100is, yet is compatible with add-ons I've bought since I acquired my first S1is in 2004.

I discarded the SX100is (my daughter will take it over) after I found the following flaws in it:

• Photostitch mode works only horizontally; it lacks vertical and 2x2 stitch assistance. There is no reason to eliminate the other modes, except for Canon to make this lower-cost camera ($300!) less desirable.
• No zoom during movie mode. Here Canon boasts about the high-power Digit generation-whatever processor, and they disable optical zoom for this camera! (Digital zoom is available, but it creates quite an ugly image when dealing with 640x480 movie images.) 

So two features I use a lot are handicapped by Canon. Instead of buying a new $450 camera from them, I sent my $85 to an online camera store.

PS: I  conacted Canon Canada about the failed sensor, but after a month they have failed to respond. Canon claims to provide free repairs of these units.

•