rich-c: hi Guy sorry I'm late rich-c: got absorbed in teh paper and didn't notice teh time Guy B.: HI Rich. Would you believe I cannot use the sound events panel. It's completely blank. rich-c: you mean in this applet? rich-c: or is that on your computer setup? Guy B.: yes, the panel shows up. But, no sound events are listed.
moved to room Meeting Place rich-c: that sounds weird - which version of Windows are you using?
changed username to George rich-c: hello Geroge Guy B.: I do have other .Wav files playing. Guy B.: Windows 98. rich-c: we're just looking at a DOS problem of Guy's George: Hi Guy B.: HI George rich-c: so your sound is OK, but the interal schedule isn't. Strange George: Hi ms-dos? Guy B.: No, it's Win98. rich-c: you know the panel in Windows where you can set the sounds for stuff? His is blank rich-c: Guy, are you getting thestartup and closedown sounds anyway? Guy B.: Nothing. George: are you getting any sound at all? rich-c: but you say you can call up sounds in applications Guy B.: Some other programs I can use other sounds and they work fine. Just only in the Sound Events panel. rich-c: basically, that panel is for Windows itself, which then applies some (like a ping for a period) to apps it's running rich-c: do you have any utilities like Norton or McAfee? George: sounds like windows has become unstable rich-c: like, I have an older McAfee program called PC Medic rich-c: more likely, Georgee, he's just lost a file somehow rich-c: I doubt the whole OS is about to crash or anything rich-c: still, it was just after some fiddling including in the sound panel that my laptop decided it was going to hang on exit rich-c: test rich-c: I think I may be losing contact - I will exit and return
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changed username to rich rich: I hope I'm back on now George: yes i see you rich: good - now I see you - it was quiet there for a few minutes rich: has Guy gone off to play with his sound panel? George: i don't know rich: he often gives in to the urge to multitask during chats rich: anyway, did the Wednesday session leave you with any questions? George: yes rich: well, toss 'em at us! George: how do you hook up an ide drive? can you use any pc drive? rich: OK, you are talking about a hard disc George: yes rich: first, whatever size you get, Adam can only ever address 64 meg of it rich: Micro Innovations (Mark Gordon) built two versions of the IDE interface rich: one is essentially his MIB3 card, with a boot prom socket added rich: it fits in the middle slot and also has 2 serial + 1 parallel ports (hence the 3 designation) rich: he also built a solely IDE interface card that goes in slot 1 rich: both come with specially written software to make things go rich: in addition, Big John Lingrel of Orphanware also built an Adam hard disc setup rich: his fits physically in the space normall used by tape drive 2 rich: that's OK because the way the software is set up, Adam thinks the hard disc is tape drive 2 rich: right now there may or may not be some of these available on the used market rich: and Mark's son and Dale Wick are looking into making the interface cards available again rich: I think Bob Slopsema may have a stash of them too
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changed username to Guy B. George: do you need to use memory expansion modules? Guy B.: Sorry, system got hung up. I got the Sound Events panel back.
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changed username to rich rich: OK I'm back but I missed some rich: does that cover what you wanted to know? rich: test rich: ok, either the buffer has hung or I've lost my connection rich: I will exit and re-enter
rich left chat session Guy B.: Rich, I go the Sound Events panel back. Thanks to First Aid 2000. rich: OK, I just had an attack on my computer but I'm clear now rich: yes, I figured a program like that weould do it, Guy rich: not sure but we may have lost George now Guy B.: Guess, both of us had trouble. Thanks to First Aid 2000. I was able to go back to the last time I changed the sound events and it made a backup and I was able to restore it. rich: yes, those utility programs have their uses George: do you need to use memory expansion modules to run hard drive? Guy B.: This really helped. rich: no, you don't need a memory expander rich: that's what the chats are basically for, Guy, to swap information rich: George, if you want a hard disc, drop a line to Bob Slopsema rich: not sure of his email address; he changed this week I think George: how do you connect a power supply? rich: but he'll likely be on Wednesday; he's not going away till Dec. 10th rich: the MI hard discs came with their own power supplies; I'm not sure how Orphanware did it rich: Guy, do you know?
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changed username to rich rich: sorry, gentlemen, knocked myself off that time Guy B.: To and IDE hard drive? George: yes rich: I've lost my buffer, Guy, which question are you answering? rich: OK, got it rich: where does an Orphanware hard disc get its power from? Guy B.: There should be a 4 prong plug from the power supply. You put that plug into the matching socket on the hard drive. It only goes on one way. rich: that's with the MI, Guy, but the OrphaNWARE ONE IS INTERNAL rich: sorry for shouting; hit the caps lock by mistake Guy B.: Hmm, it still should be the same way. I don't have an Orphanware hard drive. rich: have to find out from George or Herman rich: actually, I may even have one of Michael's old Adams with the Orphanware setup in the basement rich: have to take a look at it later see if it tells me anything rich: I'm sure it can't draw from the Adam itself' 80 watts just wont hack it Guy B.: Well guys. I haven't had lunch yet, the dog needs to go out and I promised her I take her to the pet store to buy food and see what kind of Christmas gift to find her. See you on Wednesday. rich: OK Guy thanks for coming by. See you Wed
Guy B. left chat session rich: George, you still with us? George: i have a Quantum prodrive will it work? rich: my understanding, George, is that it's all in the interface rich: I believe some of the early Orphanware installations were MFM or RLL drives, in fact George: now you really lost me rich: How big is your Quantum? And is it IDE? rich: OK, far as I can find out, with a bit of trickery any computer can be made to support a hard disc George: 85mb ide non standard rich: you need an interface card the computer can work with, and appropriate software rich: in what way is your Quantum drive IDE interface non-standard? George: it seems to work as a normal ide drive rich: did it originally come from a Compaq or IBM or something, with proprietary tweaks? George: it came in a STi 486DLC 40 computer i got at a flea market rich: that sounds like a generic computer which implies a standard IDE interface George: exactly rich: it also sonds like a cheapy - could the Prodrive simply be a low-cost line for Quantum? George: could be rich: well, if it answers to IDE commands on an IDE interface, it should be usable if you can find a power supply rich: beyond that, you're out of my depth George: it has dos 6.2 on it rich: Dale Wick would be the best guy for combined hardware/software answers rich: but he is busy with his business (that supports this server) rich: and Jillian has only about four weeks to go before their baby is due rich: well, if a hard disc is to be used on an Adam it has to be totally reformatted rich: Adam uses a different file system and system file George: i can probably wait i need to learn much more before i can use it rich: it also requires a certain special type of partitioning rich: yes, the learning process will be difficult rich: Bob Slopsema can likely tell you how to set up the hardware rich: and Rich Drushel (Dr.D) is really our most knowledgable software person rich: Ron Mitchell gets his answers by cut and try, but he's done a lot of cutting and trying rich: and he's the one most willing to talk at length rich: like me, Ron is retired so isn't tied to a schedule rich: Dr.D. has a full-time job, four daughters, and a wife who works as a nurse rich: mind you, he's as efficient as any two other people George: are most of the group programmers? rich: no, all do a little but the level of competence varies wildly rich: Dr.D. wrote a new verision of SmartBASIC that works better than the original rich: I think Dale is using the server - it can cause delays in response on this application rich: (test) rich: ok, we're back now rich: the server we're using belongs to Opengraphics George: it seems like most have a degree in computers rich: Dale is a partner and part owner in the company rich: no, none have an actual degree in computers George: now i'm having problems rich: Dale though attended the University of Waterloo rich: but technically his degree is in mathematics and music rich: he took a lot of computer courses, though George: hello rich: it rich: it's hard to tell a buffer delay from line troubles rich: you're visible rich: Dr.D is a research Ph.D. at Case Western Reserve university - in biology rich: he studies the physiology of sea slugs rich: but he's picked up so much on his own he teaches a course in robotics too rich: he got started when his father bought one of the first, defective Adams rich: his father gave it to him and he proceeded to get it working George: messages are not coming through right rich: to do so he had to make hardware adjustments and learn to write source code rich: (if you're having serious problems, tell me, click on exit, wait for the "applet disconnected" box to appear, click OK, click refresh and reenter. You will lose all lines above your re-entry point, though rich: I can usually tell when I'm in trouble becuase my hard disc starts rattling rich: I also have a monitor which if I watch it shows me if my text is going out George: it seems to be sticking then suddenly too much come up at once rich: yes, remember graphis is a very processor and memory-intensive application rich: if Dale or one of his partners is doing something on the server, the time slice that gets left to us will shrink rich: sort of like the effect you get on one of the old token-ring networks George: you have to fill me in so much i don't know rich: what kind of computer are you using for this chat? George: amd k62 500 mhz 204 mb ram rich: well, you shouldn't be having any memory or processor problems then rich: I'm on a K6-166MMX with only 32 MB or RAM George: dsl connection rich: I'm dialup and my modem is only 33.6 George: aol is very quirky rich: usually the chats go smoothly but every once in a while we do get a day like today rich: yes, I've heard AOL is no joy rich: I use a small local ISP rich: and I think I'm the only one on chat who still has his original ISP rich: everyone else seems to change ISPs as often as they change their shirts rich: anyway, you do know that on a multi-tasking computer like yours, you can allocate prioities among tasks, right? George: i've started my online experience with aol in 1997 rich: yes, my brother uses them, and my motor racing cursor crony in Phoenix George: i didn't know that rich: anyway when I went online AOL wanted $30 u.s. ($45 Canadian) for about 50 hours a month rich: but my ISP wanted $200/yr ($135 U.S.) for unlimited access rich: guess which I chose? George: the smart money rich: and my ISP doesn't snoop on me or keep deminding I upgtrade my softwar3e all the time rich: anyway, re multitasking: yes, computers can be given a set of priorities George: i'm signed up for beta testing most of aol's software works best in beta rich: like they can be told, uses 90% of time for appliocation, 5% for system, 1% to manage email chacking, 1% for chat modules, etc. rich: any smart business will set it up so when there's multiple demands, the priority goes to the work rich: I didn't even know that AOL did beta testing George: mostly their own software rich: my ISP just tells you to use IE since you have it in Windows anyway rich: then you can go fetch NN or Opera or one of the others if you like it better George: i run neoplanet rich: don't know that one rich: is it a pay or free? George: free rich: what are its strong points? George: it's cute little browser you can choose your own skins rich: small but fast, I gather George: yes it uses ie somehow rich: well, the major IE modules are integrated into Windows rich: but then, most modules most programs use are rich: that's why the look and feel is basically the same no matter who writes the program you're using George: oh rich: yes, software developers are not anxious to reinvent the whell George: does it work the same on the linux systems rich: so if Microsoft builds say a pop-up box mechanism into Windows, they'll use it rather than write a new one rich: sort of but not quite - no two linus installations are ever the same rich: it's open source software so it's under constant modification rich: there are popular linux programs that provide modules much like Windows does rich: and again, programmers will use them - invent the wheel once George: i threw in the towel on linux George: just too hard rich: not surprised, I have it but haven't yet worked up the nerve to install it rich: but then, I have a fairly complex dual-boot setup already, so putting it in isn't easy rich: or should I say it's easy if I don't care what crashes how hard rich: the problem with Linux basically is the lack of documentation rich: that's why outfits like Red Hat can make big money on it rich: the program itself is free, what they sell you is the service of transcribing it to disc and offering instructions George: yes rich: anyway, Frances has arrived home and it's time to get the wine for dinner - I'm going to have to go rich: think you'll be able to make it Wednesday? George: ok, yes bye for now rich: see you then. *poof*
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