Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
just a tad somewhere around 4,168. mi [as the bald eagle fly]
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Can anyone recommend an old laptop?
- Thread starter Beachcomber
- Start date
Guess that is a ways from Florida -
Entirely off-topic but I did watch 'em beat the snot out of Ole Miss.
@Beachcomber :-
I also forgot to mention; as a "last resort", you CAN always use the on-line Office365. You really need an M$ a/c to do so - if you don't sign-in, it doesn't seem to work correctly - but since this is entirely in the browser, in theory anyone can use it, anywhere, on any system and in any browser. It's completely platform-agnostic.
From what I understand, it doesn't have quite the full functionality of the desktop suite, but for most purposes, it'll do what ya need.
I occasionally use the OneNote and Teams video-calling components, and have these two set-up as what Google now call a 'PWA' running as standalone windows from the Chrome browser. Chrome's had this ability for a very long while - lets you open any tab in its own individual window - but of course, Big Brother has jumped on the bandwagon of giving absolutely everything a fancy set of initials. In this case, 'PWA' stands for 'Progressive Web App'.....and automates what used to be a series of manual steps previously.
I've just taken it a step further and set things up so I can open each one as a separate app from Puppy's Menu, AND from what I call a small GUI 'multi-launcher' (a single icon on the desktop lets me launch multiple items; keeps the desktop tidier). The PWA does create a .desktop entry, but these don't work as they should for Puppy, so they need modifying anyway.
I use a LOT of "webapps" this way! They work well, too.
There's a TON of different ways in which you can do things nowadays. You're not short of options, believe me!
Mike.
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Beachcomber
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Brickwizard
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Sorry lass, but it's not anything that shows in your profile
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Beachcomber
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I was hoping the avatar would give it away! (not that it makes any difference in the grand scheme of things )
I got the new fan today. I have a busy few days coming up, but after that I'll see about how to go about changing it. If it proves to be too difficult I have a friend of a friend who's very good with this sort of thing, he might be able to help with it.
)I got the new fan today. I have a busy few days coming up, but after that I'll see about how to go about changing it. If it proves to be too difficult I have a friend of a friend who's very good with this sort of thing, he might be able to help with it.
Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
Some entertainment for you... even I can't work this quick
She
I guessed, with the Folksy reference.
@Beachcomber welcome from DownUnder to linux.org
Can you tell us a bit more about the Folsky software?
We don't want to see you stuck without access to that.
On Office Productivity Suites, any of LibreOffice, OpenOffice and SoftMaker can handle saving documents and spreadsheets to Microsoft Office formats, but if the original files have macros and formulae embedded in them, these may not translate exactly to the way they are intended to operate. It is because the Microsoft software is locked and proprietary, and the software developers of the abovementioned suites do not have access to the code, so they can only approximate it as best they can.
Cheers
Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
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Beachcomber
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Hi @wizardfromoz
Folksy is just a selling platform, like Etsy etc, so I don't think it makes a difference to my listings what programmes I use on my computer. Although, I need to be able to open and organise photos. I just use the office software for organising my own life. So spreadsheets for accounting and stock management. The only time I'd need those to be shareable would be with an accountant (tax return's a complete boorach this year, I think I'm going to need some help with it!).
And I sometimes need to be able to edit and return booking forms in Word.
So apart from that it wouldn't matter what office software I use, so long as it works well enough!
It might be mid-week before I make the attempt on the fan. I'm terrified I'm going to break it, so I'm just trying to get some things done first!
Folksy is just a selling platform, like Etsy etc, so I don't think it makes a difference to my listings what programmes I use on my computer. Although, I need to be able to open and organise photos. I just use the office software for organising my own life. So spreadsheets for accounting and stock management. The only time I'd need those to be shareable would be with an accountant (tax return's a complete boorach this year, I think I'm going to need some help with it!).
And I sometimes need to be able to edit and return booking forms in Word.
So apart from that it wouldn't matter what office software I use, so long as it works well enough!
It might be mid-week before I make the attempt on the fan. I'm terrified I'm going to break it, so I'm just trying to get some things done first!
@Beachcomber :-
You sound about like me, the first time I ever opened up our ancient Dell laptop, 18 years ago, to upgrade the memory (one of the simplest tasks there is).
I'd read I don't know how many different articles on various different fora and bulletin boards, and they were full of folks recommending you pay a "professional" to do it for you. "Oh, you'll brick it". "Such and such will break as soon as you look at it". Yes, I was consequently a bit concerned that I might do some damage.......yet on other fora, folks kept saying "It's a 2-minute job. A 3-yr old could do it". "It's SO simple. You CAN'T go wrong..."
Anyways. After a ton of research, I eventually ordered the correct RAM kit I wanted. When it turned up, I flipped the Dell over, and sat there for a few minutes, looking at it.....'psyching myself up', as it were. I had one single screw to remove, and a small cover to take off. But - like you! - I kept inventing reasons not to pick the screwdriver up....."I need to do this first". "Such and such needs doing..."
(Oh, jeez. I'm looking back at this now, with the benefit of almost two decades of hindsight.....and ya know what? I am p**sing myself laughing.....yet at the time - because I'd never done anything like this before, and in spite of being "tech-savvy" - I was being SUPER cautious.)
Eventually, I plucked up the courage, and picked up that screwdriver. Two minutes later....job done. And almost immediately, I thought to myself, "Well, that wasn't so bad. What WERE ya making such a fuss over..?"
When she fired-up after plugging-in and powering-on, and the BIOS immediately said the RAM had been changed, and told me the new amount.....I knew I was home & dry. There HAD been nowt to worry about.
In the intervening years, I've lost track of the amount of internal hardware I've replaced/upgraded (including CPUs/GPUs/heatsinks/hard drives/optical drives/RAM (over & over, again & again)). Computer hardware is all highly modular, and is normally made to exacting tolerances/measurements/technical specifications & requirements. Which all makes it real easy for the likes of me & thee to do maintenance or upgrade work on our own machines. You don't NEED to pay thru the nose for someone else to do it. You're every bit as capable as they are; all you lack is experience.
Once you've got the first couple of small upgrades/replacements/repairs under your belt, you'll wonder what all the hoo-ha was about.
It's NOT "rocket science". It's probably simpler than car maintenance, if the truth be known.
Mike.
Heh. Nah, you've nowt to worry about, lass. Computers are nowhere near as fragile as some folk like to make out.
You sound about like me, the first time I ever opened up our ancient Dell laptop, 18 years ago, to upgrade the memory (one of the simplest tasks there is).
I'd read I don't know how many different articles on various different fora and bulletin boards, and they were full of folks recommending you pay a "professional" to do it for you. "Oh, you'll brick it". "Such and such will break as soon as you look at it". Yes, I was consequently a bit concerned that I might do some damage.......yet on other fora, folks kept saying "It's a 2-minute job. A 3-yr old could do it". "It's SO simple. You CAN'T go wrong..."
Anyways. After a ton of research, I eventually ordered the correct RAM kit I wanted. When it turned up, I flipped the Dell over, and sat there for a few minutes, looking at it.....'psyching myself up', as it were. I had one single screw to remove, and a small cover to take off. But - like you! - I kept inventing reasons not to pick the screwdriver up....."I need to do this first". "Such and such needs doing..."
(Oh, jeez. I'm looking back at this now, with the benefit of almost two decades of hindsight.....and ya know what? I am p**sing myself laughing.....yet at the time - because I'd never done anything like this before, and in spite of being "tech-savvy" - I was being SUPER cautious.)
Eventually, I plucked up the courage, and picked up that screwdriver. Two minutes later....job done. And almost immediately, I thought to myself, "Well, that wasn't so bad. What WERE ya making such a fuss over..?"
When she fired-up after plugging-in and powering-on, and the BIOS immediately said the RAM had been changed, and told me the new amount.....I knew I was home & dry. There HAD been nowt to worry about.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the intervening years, I've lost track of the amount of internal hardware I've replaced/upgraded (including CPUs/GPUs/heatsinks/hard drives/optical drives/RAM (over & over, again & again)). Computer hardware is all highly modular, and is normally made to exacting tolerances/measurements/technical specifications & requirements. Which all makes it real easy for the likes of me & thee to do maintenance or upgrade work on our own machines. You don't NEED to pay thru the nose for someone else to do it. You're every bit as capable as they are; all you lack is experience.
Once you've got the first couple of small upgrades/replacements/repairs under your belt, you'll wonder what all the hoo-ha was about.
It's NOT "rocket science". It's probably simpler than car maintenance, if the truth be known.
Mike.
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Beachcomber
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That made me smile @MikeWalsh (you don't fancy a trip to the Highlands, do you?)! I know I'm just procrastinating now. Maybe I'll make Tuesday 'The Day' (working tomorrow). I'll be backing up Everything beforehand though, just in case!
Brickwizard
Well-Known Member
is not Tuesday the opening of the Haggis hunting season?
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Beachcomber
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Ach no, you're right, canna be missing that!
@Beachcomber :-
Heh. The last time I was north of the border would have been....let me think; probably 1985/86. I'd gone up to the Lake District for a fortnight on my motorbike. I was staying at a guest house in Kendal, with plans to head off out sight-seeing during the daytime.
Part of me has always been fascinated by waterfalls, so I wanted to take in Aira Force & Stickle Ghyll in the Lake District, though the one I really wanted to see was High Force in County Durham. Very, very impressive, that one.....given that the entire Tees river basically dumps itself over a drop of more than 70 feet at that point, and in full flood, the entire width of the falls is "active". It's quite a sight!
There were several others I would have liked to see, though they would have involved more travelling than I could comfortably fit into a day. A base in Kendal allowed me to see the greatest number with the least travelling, and it was Coniston Water I'd really gone up there to see anyway; the sheer-sided Lakeland body of water where Sir Malcolm Campbell broke those water speed records with the nautical version of "Bluebird".
I headed off up the A7 one morning; probably got up as far as Selkirk/Galashiels....and the bike decided it didn't want to play ball any longer! Long story short, it took me hours to get her running again - turned out to be crap in the carburettor; I finally rolled back into Kendal well after 9pm (far later than intended) - so I gave that day up as a bad job all round. And the next day's itinerary was already planned out, so I never did get any further north than that.....
The quote from Rabbie Burns poem 'To a mouse...' comes to mind here:-
"The best-laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men gang aft agley...".....know what I mean?
Mike.
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Beachcomber
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See, I'm the opposite, I rarely travel south of Perth as I hate driving on motorways! My dad's from Tenbury Wells though, so we had a few holidays down that way when I was younger.
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Beachcomber
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Ok, here goes nothing...
(If you don't hear from me again you'll know I've messed it up and am waiting for a new laptop to arrive!)
(If you don't hear from me again you'll know I've messed it up and am waiting for a new laptop to arrive!)
Brickwizard
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CONFIDENCE
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Beachcomber
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Well, attempt 1 didn't go as planned. I can't get the two little screws out that are under the CD tray. The right sized screwdriver from my cheap little mini-screwdriver set was getting a bit stripped, so I'm just back from trying a few different shops to try and get a decent set locally. No joy, so I'm going to have to go to Amazon or something. Fortunately the laptop still works for the mo! The screws are really tight though, I don't know what I'll be able to do if they won't come out.
@Beachcomber :-
What type of screws are these? Cross-head/Philips? Or is it a sort of 'star' shape.....what's known as a Torx screw?
Philips :-
Torx :-
The trouble with cheap screwdrivers is that they're often made from cheaper, softer metals that can't handle the amount of force that's being concentrated in a very small area. It may cost more, but I always take the view that if you're going to buy any specialist item then you might as well buy something decent - first as last - and be done with it.
(That's just me. It might not 'gel' with the way anyone else may approach this, but personally I prefer good-quality tools that I know I don't need to keep replacing every 5 minutes.)
We're all different.....and we all approach problems from a different angle.
Mike.
What type of screws are these? Cross-head/Philips? Or is it a sort of 'star' shape.....what's known as a Torx screw?
Philips :-
Torx :-
The trouble with cheap screwdrivers is that they're often made from cheaper, softer metals that can't handle the amount of force that's being concentrated in a very small area. It may cost more, but I always take the view that if you're going to buy any specialist item then you might as well buy something decent - first as last - and be done with it.
(That's just me. It might not 'gel' with the way anyone else may approach this, but personally I prefer good-quality tools that I know I don't need to keep replacing every 5 minutes.)
We're all different.....and we all approach problems from a different angle.
Mike.
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Beachcomber
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They're Philips screws. And I totally agree about buying quality tools! I don't know where my little cheap set even came from, they've just been in the cupboard for years and are only ever used for taking the tiny screw out of one of those annoying Christmas light battery covers. I'll try again once the decent ones get here!
