Monthly Archives: February 2006

HP Pavilion Slimline s7320n PC to the Rescue!

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FedEx just arrived with the new Slimline PC that I ordered from HPshopping.com.  Now maybe I would make some headway with my continuing networking problems.  I was quite surprised when the driver handed me such a small carton, and even more surprised to find that the PC inside was tiny!

Slimline s7320n vs Conventional Tower Case

As you can see, the traditional tower that it is replacing is huge by comparison, and the Kleenex box below is nearly the same size as this computer.

Slimline s7320n vs Kleenex box

Initial setup was a breeze – no glitches occurred throughout the entire process – and all of my peripheral equipment installed and ran without a hiccup.

Almost all of it, that is.  My first problem occurred when I attempted to install my new Linksys Wireless G PCI card into the PC.  I knew that this PC had one PCI slot, and that it was occupied by a modem that I didn’t need.  So I thought that I would simply replace the modem with the wireless G card.  Problem is, this PC is so much narrower than a standard PC that the metal back plate on the PCI card was about an inch too long to fit.  A HACKsaw was this technicians tool of choice for this situation!  And it worked.  I was now officially a “computer HACKer” (groan).

 Linksys Wireless-G components

The next problem occurred with the network equipment that I bought.  You would think that these three items pictured above, from the same manufacturer, bought at the same store at the same time, advertised on their packaging as being compatible with each other, would install fairly easily on two new computer systems both running the latest versions of XP.  Alas, it was not to be.  Without going into the gory details, I had to scrap using the Linksys installation routines and manually install and configure the drivers myself.

Once I was able to configure the adaptors, bind them to the proper protocols, and establish basic connectivity, I proceeded to run the Network setup wizard.  All this did was re-create the exact same problem that I was having with the old computer and OS!  In frustration, I scrapped the wizard and picked up a good book on networking Windows XP computers.  With book in hand, and about sixty thousand trips up and down the stairs, I was finally able to get my network working properly.

Lamberts Cafe in Ozark, Missouri is a Fun Place to Eat

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Out in Ozark, Missouri (just south of Springfield) there is a place called Lambert’s Cafe – the only home of “throwed rolls“, that is well worth a visit, if you can manage to make your way over there during off-peak times.  It is a favorite tourist stop for dining on the trip from Springfield to Branson, so the place is quite crowded on weekends and throughout the entire summer season.  If you can’t manage off-peak times, the food and service will still be great, but there will be a long wait to be seated.

As soon as you are seated, you will notice some interesting things.  For one, there is a huge basket of butter and a roll of paper towels at your table.  Grab a paper towel and make it into a place mat in front of you, because withing moments a “roll-guy” will come around, pushing a cart of hot-out-of-oven rolls that are fantastic (especially with all that butter at the table).  The thing is, the roll-guy is more of a pitcher than a waiter – the good ones will toss the rolls to you from 10 yards away, so heads-up!  Soon after, another server will come around and ladle piles of fried okra on your paper towel.  When your beverage comes, you find that it is the size of a tanker-ship.

Your meal will be served in a large 18″ skillet, which is more than any normal person should really eat, but if that weren’t enough food, other servers now start offering to ladle up fried potatoes & onions, black eyed peas, tomatoes & pasta, etc. and of course, more “throwed rolls”.  If you still are hungry ??? then the waiter will gladly offer to bring you more of whatever you ordered – I can’t imaging anyone ever taking them up on the offer, but who knows?

It’s a fun place, well worth trying out.

So this is Wireless?

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It recently occurred to me that with all of our wireless technologies, we still have not been able to overcome the tangle of wires that radiate from the back panel of our computers.  In fact, it just gets worse -  now manufacturers are all putting various jacks and connectors on the front panel as well.

 Media Center Computer

The Media Center computer above has the following cables:

  1. Power cord
  2. Monitor cord
  3. keyboard cord
  4. USB cable for wireless? mouse
  5. Ethernet cable to router
  6. Many cables and wires for the 5.1 sound system
  7. USB cable for the Media Center IR blaster receiver
  8. USB cable for the External backup hard disk drive
  9. Headphone cord
  10. Microphone cord
  11. USB cable for web cam
  12. S-video input cable from satellite TV decoder box
  13. Two (L and R) audio input cables from satellite TV decoder box
  14. S-video output cable to Sony television
  15. Two (L and R) audio output cables to living room stereo system
  16. Dipole radio antenna
  17. Ethernet cable to connect the satellite modem to the router
  18. Coax cables (2) connecting the rooftop satellite dish to the surge suppressor
  19. Coax cables (2) connecting the surge suppressor to the satellite modem
  20. Parallel printer cable

Along with this, each device seems to need power, so unless it is USB powered, there is a power cord/supply associated with it.  I count 10 power cords plugged in around my desk. Entergy Corp is probably very happy to have me as a customer!

Didital Darkroom Computer

I will not detail all the cables and cords involved in my digital darkroom computer, but with film and slide scanners, flatbed scanner, 2.1 stereo, ink-jet printer, dye-sub printer, etc. it is just as tangled as the Media Center computer. I fantasize about the day that you can just take a device out of its’ box, set it on your desk, and presto – it just works! Well, hop to it, guys.