Tech Corner

[MattW]

A glorified tablet is my interpretation Tbh a handheld device is either a tablet or phone to me. One with a keyboard is a laptop. I don't see anything in the middle..

 

[jaylach]

A glorified tablet is my interpretation Tbh a handheld device is either a tablet or phone to me. One with a keyboard is a laptop. I don't see anything in the middle..

I hear what you say but the Surface IS sort of in the middle. Like I said it isn't important; just a curiosity type thing. The Surface DOES have a keyboard but I can't remember the last time I connected the thing. To me that makes it a tablet as to my usage but, with actually having a keyboard available, that would, by your description, make it a small laptop.

If you do a search for a 2in1 system as many will state it as a laptop as a tab;et. Mayhaps it depends on how the thing is used.

Like I said it isn't important. I'm just sort of bored right now and rambling.

 

[MattW]

I have tried an iPad with a keyboard before, and it felt like I was breaking some sort of tech law I suppose it's because I grew up with laptops and PC's before I got any handheld tablet.

My first handheld device was a Nintendo DS, does that count as a 2-in-1?

I had this one. How perfect was nintendo back then? What a great time for console gaming..

 

[jaylach]

I have tried an iPad with a keyboard before, and it felt like I was breaking some sort of tech law I suppose it's because I grew up with laptops and PC's before I got any handheld tablet.

My first handheld device was a Nintendo DS, does that count as a 2-in-1?
View attachment 375448
I had this one. How perfect was nintendo back then? What a great time for console gaming..

I guess that I'd have to consider that system a 2in1.

Not actual decks but I have several console systems, via emulators,. I have SNES, N64 and PS1. PS1 mostly for Medi Evil and Spyro. SNES mostly for Mario All stars, Yoshi's Island and a few others. N64 pretty much for Star Fox.

 

[jaylach]

Actually some of the emulators have advantages over the actual console. Take my SNES emulator and Zelda. One of the gripes with Zelda was having to to go through many tasks over and over if you had problems with beating a boss. My emulator has a feature called 'Save State'. This saves where the game is outside of the actual game saves. Save the game state right before the boss and, if you lose, just restore the saved state and you are right back at the boss. My N64 and PS1 emulators also have this same feature.

 

[jaylach]

Have to laugh at myself... not uncommon.

I use an app called GoodSync to backup my data and media drives to other systems. What I like is that it has, both, sync and backup modes. I use the backup mode as I want everything to be exactly as it is on my main system. I also like that I can exclude items from the backup. For instance, my Mac Book and Surface do not have enough space on the data drives to fit everything from my main so I exclude items, such as my Steam Library, from the backup. I find the app pretty awesome.

So, anyway, I was trying to backup my main's second media drive to my other desktop that gets a full copy of everything. Problem was that I just plain could not connect to the second desktop. I tried and tried with no joy. Then my second of my two remaining brain cells came out of its normal comatose state and remembered that I re-started the second system this morning but had not yet logged in. Amazing that all was fine after the log in.

If you are interested in a really good sync app you should take a peek at GoodSync. Oh, you can also sync to their cloud but I don't as I don't like cloud storage and you have to pay for cloud storage

File Sync & Backup Software | GoodSync

Backup and sync your files with ease using GoodSync. Our simple and secure software will ensure that you never lose your files. Download GoodSync Free today!

www.goodsync.com

 

[anewbie]

Have to laugh at myself... not uncommon.

I use an app called GoodSync to backup my data and media drives to other systems. What I like is that it has, both, sync and backup modes. I use the backup mode as I want everything to be exactly as it is on my main system. I also like that I can exclude items from the backup. For instance, my Mac Book and Surface do not have enough space on the data drives to fit everything from my main so I exclude items, such as my Steam Library, from the backup. I find the app pretty awesome.

So, anyway, I was trying to backup my main's second media drive to my other desktop that gets a full copy of everything. Problem was that I just plain could not connect to the second desktop. I tried and tried with no joy. Then my second of my two remaining brain cells came out of its normal comatose state and remembered that I re-started the second system this morning but had not yet logged in. Amazing that all was fine after the log in.

If you are interested in a really good sync app you should take a peek at GoodSync. Oh, you can also sync to their cloud but I don't as I don't like cloud storage and you have to pay for cloud storage

File Sync & Backup Software | GoodSync

Backup and sync your files with ease using GoodSync. Our simple and secure software will ensure that you never lose your files. Download GoodSync Free today!

www.goodsync.com

Seems pretty expensive for something you can do for free on linux. also unless it allow strong encryption for remotely stored data it is garbage. I have a friend that uses fuse and just 'copies' his files to google cloud (the fuse layer does the encryption so the remote data center never sees the true data). There are a lot of similar solutions - a lot of folks just use rsync. Kind of archaic in syntax but it is reliable and free. As for windows folks - well i keep nothing 'critical' other than perhaps game saves on windows after all if foreign actors aren't stealing your data than MS is stealing it.

 

[jaylach]

Seems pretty expensive for something you can do for free on linux. also unless it allow strong encryption for remotely stored data it is garbage. I have a friend that uses fuse and just 'copies' his files to google cloud (the fuse layer does the encryption so the remote data center never sees the true data). There are a lot of similar solutions - a lot of folks just use rsync. Kind of archaic in syntax but it is reliable and free. As for windows folks - well i keep nothing 'critical' other than perhaps game saves on windows after all if foreign actors aren't stealing your data than MS is stealing it.

GoodSYnc DOES allow encryption but I don't bother with it as I don't use the cloud aspect.

As to free I could also do that through my network but I find the automation via GoodSync worth the price. I don't consider ~$20.00/year subscription expensive since, other than security, I consider Backup software the most important on any system. I DO have a 14 year old Asus laptop wit Linux mint but it is pretty much just a toy to me as the quality of software just does not match what is available with Windows. Granted that GIMP and Libre Office are VERY good but I'm also a gamer and Linux really lacks in that area.

I mean absolutely no insult as Linux is a good OS but, as to sophisticated software it is a decade behind Windows. As an example I have a spreadsheet that includes graphs. The sheet works fine in, both Office Excel and Libra Office but the rendering of the graphs is much better in Office. Also, in Windows I run several very old games from the Windows 2000/XP era and they still run fine. Someone, years ago, gave me an install disk for the Linux version of the game Decent. It installed fine but then there was a Linux kernel update and the game was history. There are many fine points as to Linux but, in general, Windows is a much more advanced OS.

 

[anewbie]

GoodSYnc DOES allow encryption but I don't bother with it as I don't use the cloud aspect.

As to free I could also do that through my network but I find the automation via GoodSync worth the price. I don't consider ~$20.00/year subscription expensive since, other than security, I consider Backup software the most important on any system. I DO have a 14 year old Asus laptop wit Linux mint but it is pretty much just a toy to me as the quality of software just does not match what is available with Windows. Granted that GIMP and Libre Office are VERY good but I'm also a gamer and Linux really lacks in that area.

I mean absolutely no insult as Linux is a good OS but, as to sophisticated software it is a decade behind Windows. As an example I have a spreadsheet that includes graphs. The sheet works fine in, both Office Excel and Libra Office but the rendering of the graphs is much better in Office. Also, in Windows I run several very old games from the Windows 2000/XP era and they still run fine. Someone, years ago, gave me an install disk for the Linux version of the game Decent. It installed fine but then there was a Linux kernel update and the game was history. There are many fine points as to Linux but, in general, Windows is a much more advanced OS.

Jay as someone who has studied operating system and even implemented several primitive ones i find your detail analysis of 'advanced OS' somewhat questionable. I suggest you study several text books on kernel layers and design and then you can examine some source code for linux and there is also some limited information available on microsoft design and implementation. Or if you know tech people as someone who is knowledgeable about operating system then you should know several (if not dozen) of people who work on microsoft operating system and you could have a conversation with them before presenting your findings.

The fact that you find one application (that cost $$$) on one platform superior to another application on another platform (that is provided for free) is perfectly fine but that has little to do with the operating system nor does it indicate that all application on platform 1 are superior to all applications on platform 2 even for a particular function (in this case drawing a graph).

As for your problem with your game again it was likely resolvable even if you did not know how to resolve it but again you are talking about a topic that is tangent to the operating system superiority or well whatever - and i have had software break with upgrade to windows (and if you do a bit of a search you will find lots of examples) but that is a different matter.

Anyway i'm happy you prefer drawing graphs on windows that is fine. Enjoy it.

 

[MattW]

Was looking through my Steam library before and noticed an old gem hiding. Fallout NV ! I installed it and thankfully, my old save was there from the cloud. Eventually I loaded into a buggy and framedropping mess lol. I did a fresh install, turned off the sync and tried again. Only for it to continue. It seems Todd Howard and his Bethesda gang have said no more fun

*edit
It seems they also infected Fallout 4 too.. with more useless updates and "exclusive content" which has broken the game and led to mass negative reviews on steam. Leave it to Bethesda to ruin 10 years of modding..

 

[anewbie]

Was looking through my Steam library before and noticed an old gem hiding. Fallout NV ! I installed it and thankfully, my old save was there from the cloud. Eventually I loaded into a buggy and framedropping mess lol. I did a fresh install, turned off the sync and tried again. Only for it to continue. It seems Todd Howard and his Bethesda gang have said no more fun

View attachment 376520

*edit
It seems they also infected Fallout 4 too.. with more useless updates and "exclusive content" which has broken the game and led to mass negative reviews on steam. Leave it to Bethesda to ruin 10 years of modding..

My memory is very vague here but I think the problem with fallout nv (or maybe fallout 3) is that they were develop before multi-core was common and you have to pin it to a single core. There is a windows command to do it - hum mr google how do i pin window program to single thread:

Well this is convoluted in windows 10 but i think you find the .exe and set affinity to a single core via right clicking (but you might have to run it first. You could try that.

 

[jaylach]

My memory is very vague here but I think the problem with fallout nv (or maybe fallout 3) is that they were develop before multi-core was common and you have to pin it to a single core. There is a windows command to do it - hum mr google how do i pin window program to single thread:

Well this is convoluted in windows 10 but i think you find the .exe and set affinity to a single core via right clicking (but you might have to run it first. You could try that.

You could also go to the properties for the .exe and then the compatibility tab setting to run in compatibility mode for an earlier version of Windows. I have to do this with some of my old Win XP/2000 era games. Setting to run under XP Service Pack 3 normally solves issues. Not perfect but often makes the old stuff work. As an example let's take Zuma Deluxe. I have it set to run as Win XP SP3 and it does fine. At random times it will throw up a pop-up asking to check the MS Store for an app to open the file but I just kill the alert and run again and it works fine. The original Plants VS Zombies is the same. Run it normal and it will end up with an error as in not being able to load a DLL file. Set it to run as compatible with XP SP3 solves.

 

[jaylach]

Just quit MS Office 365. Except for email Libre Office will do me fine. For email I'll just use the web version of Outlook. I have 2 email accounts right now and just have the secondary account forwarding to the main account. It is working fine but I DID have an issue with setting up the forwarding... Helps if you click 'save' after setting up.

MS just pulled too much of a price increase on the 'Personal' version subscription. Went from $69.00/year USD to $99.00/year USD. Granted in that it has been ages since a price increase but $30.00/year USD is too much for me to stay when I can do it all for free. A 40% increase is too much.

While Libre Office is pretty awesome it DOES take just about forever to open a video file via a hyperlink. I use Power DVD for movies so I have it importing my library. With over 1000 titles that should take a while.

 

[jaylach]

So far no problem. While Libre Calk (spread sheet) is terrible time wise when handling a hyperlink to an external video file it does work... sometimes. Due to the difficulty of loading a video I'm now using Power DVD as my video library menu. I miss having movies listed under genre but will easily get used to it.

Libre Write (word processor) is fine.

As to an email client there isn't really much difference between the local and web versions of Outlook so no issue there.

Bottom line? So far I see no big deal in getting rid of MS Office.

Here is how my imported Power DVD looks. Of course it is a small sample. As to appearance I like the 'cover images' but would like to be able to sort by genre. Will have to look into that possibility.

 

[anewbie]

@MattW so were you able to get the games running ?