[Assam] Low-Tech Fixes for High-Tech Problems
Chan Mahanta
cmahanta at charter.net
Sat Feb 21 09:26:42 PST 2009
Ram:
Actually PCs are far more popular and widely used for CAD work. I
happened to find a Mac based CAD program, Archicad, far easier to
work with, way back in the early 90's than the industry standard PC,
based Autocad. But most other graphics uses, Mac is THE machine.
G4s and G5s are old technology already, even though they both are
excellent machines with the IBM PowerPC processors. The new
generation of Macs use Intel Core-duo processors. I use such an iMac
for everything but CAD. To use the iMac for my CAD I will have to
upgrade the software, which costs a bundle. That is why I am stuck to
using the old G4's for it.
BTW, a G4 with a 1.25 mHz processor can outdo the best of PCs,
besides being far more stable ( actually it never crashes) . A G5 is
even faster and has more bells and whistles.
Since G5s and G4s are old tech., you can get a G4/1.25mHz and 80 gig
HD for as little as $ 300 in eBay ( does not include the monitor).
You can buy a G5, loaded, for $ 500 to 600.
Yes, the new Macs with Intel Core-duo processors are a lot more
expensive. The iMacs start at about
$ 1,200. MacPros go for close to $ 3,000, but that is a very high
end machine that one would hardly have any use for normal work. An
iMac can do everything you can imagine. It also can be used as a PC
just by re-starting the machine, holding the Option key down, as long
as you load the Windows software on it. What is neat about the iMacs
is that the whole computer is integrated with the Apple Cinema
Display-the best of the monitors. You don't have to buy a monitor
separately.
c-da
At 11:02 AM -0600 2/21/09, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
>I agree C'da. The freezer method for the hard drive does seem a bit off. But
>I kind a like the 'key fob to your chin' method to search for your car in a
>huge parking lot. No harm there I would guess.
>
>A few months ago, we were thinking of the Mac G4 (instead of the usual PC
>replacement). Never used Mac before, and also the Mac is more pricey than
>the PC. But, of course, I hear the Mac is what one needs for CAD. One of my
>friends owns a printing company, and all they use are macs for graphic
>design etc.
>
>--Ram
>
>
>
>
>On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 9:26 AM, Chan Mahanta <cmahanta at charter.net> wrote:
>
>>
>> I am, sure some, if not most, of these tricks do work. Recently there was a
>> large list of ordinary household things that can be used for solving
>> numerous problems in our local newspaper.
>>
>> I will caution netters about the following however:
>>
>>
>> > Crashed Hard Drive
>>> >
>>> > If - no, make that when - your PC's hard drive crashes and can't
>>> be read,
>>> > don't be too quick to throw it out.***** Stick it in the freezer
>>> > overnight.*
>>>
>>>
>> > "The trick is a real and proven, albeit last resort, recovery
>> technique for
>> > some kinds of otherwise-fatal hard-drive problems," writes Fred
>> Langa on his
>> > Windows Secrets Web site. Many hard drive failures are caused by
>> worn parts
>> > that no longer align properly, making it impossible to read data
>> from the
>> > drive. Lowering the drive's temperature causes its metal and
>> plastic
>> > internals to contract ever so slightly. Taking the drive out of
>> the freezer,
>> > and returning it to room temperature can cause those parts to
>> expand again.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Recently the hard disk in my Mac G4 -- very early one -- started acting
>> funny. This is the machine I do my CAD work--very important! I realized that
>> it was about to die. Promptly I got me an used G4 - much faster one, from
>> eBay and transferred all my data from the ailing old machine. But there was
>> this archive of old e-mails that somehow did not get loaded on the newer
>> machine--or so I thought. By now the old hard disk has finally breathed its
>> last -- it would not boot up any more. I called around to see what it might
> > take to get the lost e-mail files recovered by a professional. Very
>> expensive! So I read up on do-it-yourself hard-disk revival tricks in
>> Google. The freezing technique was widely touted. There were other , even
>> more primitive ideas, like dropping the hard disk on a hard floor from about
>> a foot above.
>>
>> I tried the freezing technique. Did not work! I dropped it too. Still no
>> luck. Called around professionals across the continent one again. Found one
> > in California that charges the least amount--$ 300. I told him about my
>> do-it-yourself attempts. He told me that it was a VERY BAD idea to do so .
>> Apparently early hard-drives might have worked with the freezer treatment,
>> not today's more precision designed machines. Besides, once you bring the HD
>> out of the freezer it begins to condense moisture inside, that REALLY messes
>> it up bad.
>>
>> So much for the freezer treatment !
>>
>> But the good news is that, I did NOT lose the e-mail archives. It got
>> loaded in a folder that I did not know existed :-)!
>>
>> The newer G4 is able to run Mac OSX 10.5, which has Time Machine on it.
>> Time machine does automatic back-up of everything on to a portable hard
>> drive.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> At 12:22 AM -0600 2/21/09, Ram Sarangapani wrote:
>>
>>> Someone sent this to me. Don't know if these work, but seem
>>> interesting.
>>> There is one about re-using the cell phone dropped in a toilet..... my
>>> solution - I would lose the phone.
>>>
>>> --Ram
>>>
>>>
>>> *February 19, 2009*
>>>>
>>>> *****Basics*
>>>>
>>>> *****Low-Tech Fixes for High-Tech Problems *
>>>>
>>>> *****By PAUL BOUTIN*
>>>>
>>>> BEHIND the cash register at Smoke Shop No. 2 in downtown San Francisco,
>>>> Sam
>>>> Azar swipes a customer's credit card to ring up Turkish cigarettes. The
>>>> store's card reader fails to scan the card's magnetic strip. Azar swipes
>>>> again, and again. No luck.
>>>>
>>>> As customers begin to queue, he reaches beneath the counter for a black
>>>> plastic bag. He wraps one layer of the plastic around the card and
>>>> swipes it
>>>> again. Success. The sale is rung up.
>>>>
>>>> "I don't know how it works, it just does," says Mr. Azar, who learned
>>>> the
>>>> trick years ago from another clerk. Verifone, the company that makes the
>>>> store's card reader, would not confirm or deny that the plastic bag
>>>> trick
>>>> works. But it's one of many low-tech fixes for high-tech failures that
>>>> people without engineering degrees have discovered, often out of
>>>> desperation, and shared.
>>>>
>>>> Today's shaky economy is likely to produce many more such tricks. "In
>>>>
>>> > postwar Japan, the economy wasn't doing so great, so you couldn't get
>>>
>>>> everyday-use items like household cleaners," says Lisa Katayama, author
>>>> of
>>>> "Urawaza," a book named after the Japanese term for clever lifestyle
>>>> tips
>>>> and tricks. "So people looked for ways to do with what they had."
>>>>
>>>> Popular urawaza include picking up broken glass from the kitchen floor
>>>> with
>>>> a slice of bread, or placing houseplants on a water-soaked diaper to
>>>> keep
>>>> them watered during a vacation trip.
>>>>
>>>> Today, Americans are finding their own tips and tricks for fixing
>>>> misbehaving gadgets with supplies as simple as paper and adhesive tape.
>>>> Some, like Mr. Azar's plastic bag, are open to argument as to how they
>>>> work,
>>>> or whether they really work at all. But many tech home remedies can be
>>>> explained by a little science.
>>>>
>>>> *****Cellphone Losing Charge*******
>>>>
>>>> If your cellphone loses its battery charge too quickly while idle in
>>>> your
>>>> pocket, part of the problem may be that your pocket is too warm.
>>>>
>>>> "Cellphone batteries do indeed last a bit longer if kept cool," says
>>>> Isidor
>>>> Buchanan, editor of the Battery University Web site. The 98.6-degree
>>>> body
>>>> heat of a human, transmitted through a cloth pocket to a cellphone
>>>> inside,
>>>> is enough to speed up chemical processes inside the phone's battery.
>>>> That
>>>> makes it run down faster. To keep the phone cooler, carry it in your
>>>> purse
> >>> or on your belt.
>>>>
>>>> This same method can be used to preserve your battery should you find
>>>> yourself away from home without your charger. Turn off the phone and put
>>>> it
>>>>
>>> > in the hotel refrigerator overnight to slow the battery's natural
>>> tendency
>>>
>>>> to lose its charge.
>>>>
>>>> *****Remote Car Key*******
>>>>
>>>> Suppose your remote car door opener does not have the range to reach
>>>> your
>>>> car across the parking lot. Hold the metal key part of your key fob
> >>> against
>>>> your chin, then push the unlock button. The trick turns your head into
>>>> an
>>>> antenna, says Tim Pozar, a Silicon Valley radio engineer.
>>>>
>>>> Mr. Pozar explains, "You are capacitively coupling the fob to your head.
>>>> With all the fluids in your head it ends up being a nice conductor. Not
>>>> a
>>>> great one, but it works." Using your head can extend the key's wireless
>>>> range by a few car lengths.
>>>>
>>>> *****Dry Ink Cartridge*******
>>>>
>>>> If your printer's ink cartridge runs dry near the end of an important
>>>> print
>>>> job, remove the cartridge and run a hair dryer on it for two to three
>>>> minutes. Then place the cartridge back into the printer and try again
>>>> while
>>>> it is still warm.
>>>>
>>>> "The heat from the hair dryer heats the thick ink, and helps it to flow
>>>> through the tiny nozzles in the cartridge," says Alex Cox, a software
>>>> engineer in Seattle. "When the cartridge is almost dead, those nozzles
>>>> are
>>>> often nearly clogged with dried ink, so helping the ink to flow will let
>>>> more ink out of the nozzles." The hair dryer trick can squeeze a few
>>>> more
>>>> pages out of a cartridge after the printer declares it is empty.
>>>>
>>>> *****Cellphone in the Toilet*******
>>>>
>>>> It could happen to anyone: you dropped your cellphone in the toilet.
>>>> Take
>>>> the battery out immediately, to prevent electrical short circuits from
>>>> frying your phone's fragile internals. Then, wipe the phone gently with
>>>> a
>>>> towel, and shove it into a jar full of uncooked rice.
>>>>
>>>> It works for the same reason you may keep few grains of rice in your
>>>> salt
>>>> shaker to keep the salt dry. Rice has a high chemical affinity for water
>>>> -
>>>> that means the molecules in the rice have a nearly magnetic attraction
>>>> for
>>>> water molecules, which will be soaked up into the rice rather than
>>>> beading
>>>> up inside the phone.
>>>>
>>>> It is a low-tech version of the "Do Not Eat" desiccant packets that may
>>>> have been packed in the box the phone came in, to keep moisture away
>>>> from
>>>> the circuitry during shipping and storage.
>>>>
>>>> *****Longer Wi-Fi Reach*******
>>>>
>>>> If your home Wi-Fi router doesn't reach the other end of the house,
>>>> don't
>>>> rush out to buy more wireless gear to stretch your network. Instead,
>>>> build a
>>>> six-inch-high passive radio wave reflector from kitchen items, like an
>>>> aluminum cookie sheet.
>>>>
>>> >
>>>
>>>> Follow the instructions at *freeantennas.com/projects/template*<
>>>> http://freeantennas.com/projects/template>.
>>>>
>>>> Place the completed reflector - a small, curved piece of metal that
>>>> reflects
>>>> radio waves just like a satellite TV dish - behind your Wi-Fi router. It
>>>> focuses the router's energy in one direction - toward the other end of
>>>> the
>>>> house - rather than letting it dissipate its strength in a full circle.
>>>> No
>>>> cables, no batteries, no technical knowledge required. Yet it can easily
>>>> double the range of your network.
>>>>
>>>> *****Dirty Discs*******
>>>>
>>>> You need to clean a skipping DVD or CD, but as a bachelor you don't have
>>>> any sissy cleaning fluids? Soak a washcloth with vodka or mouthwash.
>>>>
>>>> Alcohol is a powerful solvent, perfectly capable of dissolving
>>>> fingerprints
>>>> and grime on the surface of a disc. A $5 bottle of Listerine in your
>>>> medicine cabinet may do the job as effectively as a $75 bottle of DVD
>>>> cleaning fluid. Also, swabbing your copy of "Lost Weekend" with Stoli
>>>> instead of fussing with a Discwasher kit is a lot more manly.
> >>>
>>>> Too Much Flash
>>>>
>>>> If your cellphone's built-in camera flash is much too bright, washing
>>>> out
>>>> photos, tape a small piece of paper over the flash. Experiment with
>>>> different colors and thicknesses of paper to tone down the flash from
>>>> superbright white to a more pleasing glow for evening photos.
>>>>
>>>> > Crashed Hard Drive
>>>
>>>>
>>>> If - no, make that when - your PC's hard drive crashes and can't be
>>>> read,
>>>> don't be too quick to throw it out.***** Stick it in the freezer
> >>> overnight.*
>>>>
>>> >
>>> > "The trick is a real and proven, albeit last resort, recovery technique
>>> for
>>>
>>>> some kinds of otherwise-fatal hard-drive problems," writes Fred Langa on
>>>> his
>>>> Windows Secrets Web site. Many hard drive failures are caused by worn
>>>> parts
>>>> that no longer align properly, making it impossible to read data from
>>>> the
>>>> drive. Lowering the drive's temperature causes its metal and plastic
>>>> internals to contract ever so slightly. Taking the drive out of the
>>>> freezer,
>>>>
>>> > and returning it to room temperature can cause those parts to expand
>>> again.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> That may help free up binding parts, Mr. Langa explains, or at least let
>>>> a
>>>> failing electrical component remain within specs long enough for you to
>>>> recover your essential data.
>>>>
>>>> That's the spirit of folk remedies: They may or may not work, but what
>>>> have
>>>> you got to lose?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
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