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[Wittsend]

602. I know and appreciate that there are people who, like Nanuq, hate Google and Apple with a deep and abiding passion.
I don’t. I have a MacBook Air laptop, 7 years old now, and never a single days problem during that time.
More to the point, I’m in my mid-Seventies, by no means computer literate, and I struggle a bit with the technical language of information technology.

But if I want to use it, then I need a working knowledge of it. Just as if I want to run a Classic Land Rover, I need mechanical understanding and sympathy with my S2.

And this is where Apple are excellent. When you buy an Apple product from an Apple store, you can get free basic (and later on, also free advanced) training and advice. I found it invaluable. It was also strangely enjoyable, as you meet others in the group and realise you’re not alone and not dumb... 

The groups take place in the Apple store, and are often run (in my experience) by young, tattooed and pierced geeks who are, despite appearances, unusually patient, helpful and quite charming.

The big downside is that Apple devices are not cheap. That’s because they work......

 

People love to hate the big boys:- Apple, Microsoft, Google etc. but without them the IT "explosion" and the "internet" wouldn't have happened.

Geeks and Geekesses will build their own computers and write the software and the apps (programs) as they will.
For 99.9% of the world's population we need something that works when you switch it on.

Apple are great   
I posted before that there is an Apple store in MK.
Why not pop in and have a look round
Please ...

The (young) staff are use to dealing with us old uns.

I would agree with the views above - an iPad might be just the solution for you.
In the Apple store they will show you how it works - tell them what you use the "computer" for.
Instead of passwords you can use face recognition (on the newer models) or fingerprint recognition on the iPad (and iPhone) this should/could save remembering problems. So to go to the forum and login I just have to look at the screen.

If you buy one, they will set it up for you and show you how it works.
Apple stores run "in shop seminars", as mentioned ^^^ OR you can make an appointment on a 1-2-1 basis and have them talk you through a problem.
These are free to attend, but you need to book a slot.
The only downside is that they don't serve coffee, but as there's a coffee bar in the foyer outside - not a problem 

Many a time I've wandered into our Apple store and always walked out with a new hint or tip that I didn't know about 

With the iPad you can buy an Apple keyboard accessory that doubles as a cover.

It really would be worth a visit.
(A blatant plug from Wittsend in the hope of getting a free phone upgrade  )

And here's the bonus:-
My iPad can be clamped to the dash and here I can display the UK in OS Explorer mode with real-time GPS tracking.
I can load in a pre-defined route (or record a route) - a green lane trip, say, and follow the map and never miss a turn 
The routes can be exported in .gpx format for others to upload.




 

[w3526602]

Hi Wittsend,

Thanks for the thought, I will bear it in mind, do some geographic research ... maybe tomorrow. At the moment I'm composing a letter to our mortgage lender, asking for another £20,000 @ 4% (two new knees, an automatic car, and an invalid buggy).

Also, visits to MK are "disabled parking" critical, although Barbara does have a Blue Badge. My knees are starting to resent pushing her wheelchair ... a full circuit of Morrisons, and I'm crippled for a week.

602

[w3526602]

Either way retro fitting a Series engine into a Disco or RR is a bad move IMHO.

Hi Wittsend,

I cannot disagree with that statement ... but then again ... I've heard the same said about marriage. It could be argued that using a diesel S2 S3 109, as a daily driver, is pure masochism, but by definition, it seems some people enjoy it.

Defenders are fitted with 2.5TDi engines. I presume some RR are too? What is going to happen to all those trucks when they are banned from living in towns? I'm guessing there will be a demand for petrol conversion kits ...and/or ... a lot of useful trucks being exported to China.

Me? Fuel consumption is irrelevant. I cannot foresee myself ever needing again ... chunky tyres should overcome urban snow.

It seems that the choice of what engine (to transplant) is dependent on whether the receiving vehicle is pre/post 2002.

Whatever, the question is unlikely to arise, unless I find a lo-buck "donee".  When I lived in the Swansea and Neath valleys, I knew of a couple of "small mines" that used old Series, worked them to death, then forked them into the skip.

602

[w3526602]

Oh yes,

My thanks to those who replied to my internet connection problems.  I knew I was a techno-wimp. I now suspect that "I'm a techno-wimp with knobs on". An apple is something that I eat after lunch. (OK. I've heard the word in connection to PCs, but have no idea of it's relevance). Where can I buy the relevant GRIMOIRE (sp?)

Er ... when I drove a desk-top, it was connected to my telephone master box. Now I'm using a lap-top, my connection is "wireless". Can I connect my lap-top to my BT  master box, and would I want to? Probably an academic question, as my PC repair bloke says I don't have a master box.

602

[w3526602]

People love to hate the big boys:- Apple, Microsoft, Google etc. but without them the IT "explosion" and the "internet" wouldn't have happened

Hi Wittsend

In 1972, DVLC's was second in size to the US Treasury computer.

I've heard it claimed, that DVLC was responsible for much of the IT development that took place in the late 20th century. I know that some large organisations offered to help DVLC through their teething problems ... but they all withdrew their offers after reading the "spec".

From the IT floor notice board.  "Even the dumbest ape is more intelligent than the cleverest computer ... but any computer is far brighter than any programmer".

602

[nanuq]

Alright, I feel compelled to clarify that I'm not an udder Luddite here in the cold wild extremes of the frigid north.  I went down the crimson path of DOS and Windows (look! it's new and cheap and shiny!) and after fighting them for many decades and having to use them in many forms of employment, nay, even having to write software for those *&%^$ environments for the last 30+ years, I finally had a revelation.  22 years ago I found employment in governmental work where a team of 5 of us created the Air Traffic Control system that manages 6 million square miles of airspace.  Guess what, it doesn't run under DOS or Windows.  Thank God.  At the time it was hard weaning myself off the relatively easy DOS environment into the bizarre world of UNIX.  Now, it's my playground and I'll never go back. 

Apple antagonizes me with its constant "releases" that effect nothing more than breaking software that used to work perfectly fine, as they introduce ever more widgets and toys that keep kids with the attention span of a newt perpetually entranced.  Meanwhile, if you know how, deep down underneath that shmarmy Apple interface lies a real (and useful) UNIX.  And I find that galling, for many reasons.

So yes, I hate Windows and Apple with the passion of a thousand burning suns.  And I adore HP/UX 10.03 like a lover with a bottle of fine wine and a thick collection of Mahler.  And out of 100 people that read this, maybe two will "get it".  And that's just fine with me... we're all cut from different fabric.  And thank God for that.

[martinrh]

Computers and software is my day job, and has been for 30 years. For work I use Linux and Windows, and a bit of IOS (Apple).
Nanuq, I agree with many of your points, but....

For my  parents and inlaws, providing them each with an Apple ipad a few years ago has reduced my support calls from one a month to nothing.
For 'it just works' browsing and reading forums, I don't think anything beats them.

(interestingly, 25 odd years ago I was also involved in writing an ATC system, but it was approach radar displays for the UK?)

[Richard]

I get al that except for the wine part

sudo -i
cd /Richard/cellar
find *beer*

 
Richard

So yes, I hate Windows and Apple with the passion of a thousand burning suns.  And I adore HP/UX 10.03 like a lover with a bottle of fine wine and a thick collection of Mahler.  And out of 100 people that read this, maybe two will "get it".  And that's just fine with me... we're all cut from different fabric.  And thank God for that.

[rustylandrovers]

Sometimes my "remembered" pass-word works, sometimes it refuses, and digs it's heels in.

As has already been mentioned, a handy feature of google's Chrome browser is that it can remember all of your passwords for you. You need only remember your logon password and your google password.

Another option is a dedicated password manager - 1Password, for example. I've been considering setting this up for my dad - he's not great with computers at the best of times, and has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer's so I can't see his password retention getting any better :(

[Wittsend]

I think all the main players that provide browsers have a "remember password" feature and you can get a super password manager whereby you have but one password for all your internet access.
 
However, I would still have unique passwords for mission critical and privacy protection on things like PayPal, eBay, Facebook etc.

I use Mozilla's FireFox (free) and developed in the Unix world - as is the software that hosts this forum and most severs. Unix is there but with user friendly portals over it.

With this "remember password" feature of browsers you can go in and edit the passwords, or delete/change them - well you can in FireFox.

 

[nanuq]

@martinrh,  I couldn't agree more.  I had a brain fart or something, I meant to close my rant saying Apple devices are fantastic for relatives that need a lot of tech support.  I set my mom up with an iPad and stylus, and gave her just a little hands-on training, and away she went.  The beauty of those things is the intuitive interface.

Another trick for passwords is to use patterns on the keyboard.  Then you don't have to remember what the actual password is.  Example, try these patterns:

!1@2#3$4%5^6&7
q1!w2@e3#r4$t5%
zaq1!QAZxsw2@WSX
!QW@1qw2@WE#2we3

See?  Those are quite complex and they're easy to remember.  There are dozens of ways to do patterns like that.

 

[nanuq]

I get al that except for the wine part

sudo -i
cd /Richard/cellar
find *beer*

 
Richard

Hi Richard, would that be a ................. (wait for it) ............................

...............root cellar?

 

[Devon2a]

100% not a tech nerd and not one just to hate the big boys but.....

Apple pull you in with their fancy minimalist design and white colour schemes and pow they have you in a closed environment where you have to use their software and related hardware, next then you have to use their apps. Want to share a file ohh yeah it's a one where joe average with his PC now needs to jump through hoops to do.
Now should you accidently break your apple device it'll cost you two arms and three legs plus a heard of camels to repair.
ohh you went out without your charging lead, ohh it's not a common USB it's a fancy specific cable.

IMHO an android based mobile device will do the job just fine and have enough commonality with the rest of interwebs to talk to them.
Don't get me wrong google are not saints, 99% of web browers use a save password function not just chrome which is a bulky Memory hungry programme which likes more megs of memory than a fat kid in a sweet shop.

And yes i'm fully aware that at idle a Win 10 machine will use about 1.3 gig of ram doing in essence sweet FA.

IMHO have a basic windows machine, update it regularly, hardware will be superceeded at an alarming pace and figure at a new machine say every 7 years, Write all your passwords down in a book next to your machine and make them as obscure as you can, then change them every 4 months. You don't need anything fancy to browse the interwebs.

I await Simon M to come on extolling the virtues of Linux 

[nanuq]

Well said, Devon2a.  In the case of my favorite wife, she has a habit of installing the latest iOS release the moment it comes out.  Then her apps quit working right, or they lose their settings, or Apple turns on iCloud and Location settings again in the background (which we specifically turn off) and it sucks up all our bandwidth and privacy.  Until we catch it and kill it again.

Oh, then I hook up her phone to the laptop and it requires the latest iTunes software, so there's a monstrous download.  What's this?  The new iTunes won't run on my Windows version any more?  I need to download a Microsoft Update and reboot half a dozen times.  But that used up all my disk space, so I have to move a bunch of photos off to an external device.

And can you buy the cheap Lightning cables on Amazon to plug it in?  Oh no, you have to buy the "MFI compliant" cables that cost 3x as much, or your iDevice will refuse to charge itself.

And remember that really neat app you had that worked so well with the last iOS?  It's gone now, it won't work in this iOS.  You can't restore it from a backup.  You can only get it from the App Store.  IF the developer decides to uplevel it again.

It's maddening, it's never ending and absolutely unnecessary.

[Wittsend]

True ...

If you take the Apple shilling then you are committed to stay with them.

Best advice is NOT to upgrade the iOS as soon as new version is released.

I do, and so far never come a cropper - there was one app that didn't upgrade and wasn't compatible, but I don't miss it.

Apple care is a good insurance policy.

For cables and chargers you do need the authentic Apple accessories. Your device is guaranteed to work, even if it costs more.
For example, the cheapo USB/cigarette chargers don't put out enough amps to charge your device(s) - they need around 2.2 amps whereas the cheap stuff doesn't.

If you are tied into the Apple family, then you do get free help and assistance from the Apple stores which if they are in your town that's a big bonus in my view.
Where as I not sure if the same level of global customer support is available for Android devices

Swings and roundabouts

I'm happy with my Apple devices and I'm very happy with my Windows 10 PCs (just upgraded to the latest version of Windows 10 and it works great for me).
I buy an annual license for Office 365 and stuff just gets upgraded. I agree about the bloatware nature of upgrades - loads of "features" that I'll never need to use 

I also use Open Office and Gimp (open source & free) I use the cloud to access stuff and move things around and (hopefully) my critical stuff is also backed up on 2 separate HDD units.  I also have Linux on a laptop.
In theory I can run this forum, website and manage our server from any PC/device that can connect to the internet ...