Text 7373, 91 rader
Skriven 2008-05-19 19:19:00 av JOAN MACDIARMID (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: puters & ned lud 320
============================
 Hi, Michael,

 JM> I did ask for a memory stick when I got the new
 JM> laptop... When I got it home I saw it
 JM> supported/needed Windows NT or later, so
 JM> probably won't work with my W98 box.

 ML> I have a question, not particularly aimed at you, but more at
 ML> the technocrats among us. Why do we need specific drivers for
 ML> these hardware products? Why aren't there interchangeable and
 ML> open-source drivers that the companies can adopt at far lower
 ML> cost than writing the software fresh each time?

 Hear, hear! There should be a sort of "universal
 driver" for each of these gadget types that would
 take care of the basic functions of them even if
 it didn't allow use of the "special features".

 JM> OK, but I am not a tech geek fascinated with the
 JM> newest changes aimed at making me marginal and
 JM> unable to continue using technology. I resent
 JM> the older forms don't allow me to continue doing

 Hm, I should have said "newer forms", that came
 out a bit muddled.

 JM> what I value, unless I continually upgrade my
 JM> hardware faster than it wears out, or even my
 JM> software, which could probably address the
 JM> disconnects cheaply if they were not trying to
 JM> force intermediate upgrades not really needed.

 ML> I agree, being an advocate for not using more bells and whistles
 ML> than one needs. Just because computing power increases at an
 ML> exponential rate doesn't mean that we need to avail ourselves of
 ML> all capabilities all the time. And resent is a good characterization
 ML> of how I feel when squeezed by diminishing backward compatibility.
 ML> From WordPerfect 5.1 to the Spades game that I used to love to
 ML> play, every version of Microsoft OS makes it harder to revisit
 ML> these old favorites.

 JM> I like my MSOffice Pro, all on floppies. Lots of them!
 JM> And I have various sharewares registered, on disks as
 JM> well, which I have needed to reinstall them occasionally.
 LS> Wow! MSOffice on floppies! I assume your new laptop doesn't have a
 LS> floppy drive like mine doesn't, don't think you can get an internal

 I understand the little laptops not accommodating
 floppies any more, as there is a space/weight issue.
 But I was stunned that you couldn't get them on any
 standard desktop unit any more, either. I also didn't
 see extra bays to install extra drives. I am told I
 can get an external floppy drive to connect with the
 USB port. I had better hop to it before they stop
 making those, too.

 JM> It's Office Pro, suitable for Windows 3.1 or later
 JM> (they advertised!). Granted, it cannot open later
 JM> versions of Office-generated files. (GRR) But so far
 JM> anything I have generated with it has been readable
 JM> by any recipients.

 ML> I wonder what would happen if I started submitting my mss. in
 ML> WP5.1 format.

 I presume that's an old format (I never did WP) but
 I suspect it would be readable by the newer word
 processors. When I was serving as a Newsletter
 editor for a group some years back, I begged people
 to send articles as .txt whenever possible, because
 the articles would have to be reformatted by the DTP
 software anyway.

 JM> Now that's useful, but can I just transfer the
 JM> HyperTerminal from the older computer to the new
 JM> one once I find a transfer bridge?

 ML> That's what I did - my OS version and HT version probably
 ML> differ from yours, but I've used this HT version from the
 ML> ThinkPad (2 or 3 computers ago) on this relatively new
 ML> Averatec (spits on ground) as well as on the Sony that
 ML> preceded it, so it's compatible with both W2000 and XP.

 Thanks, that's a good sign that maybe I can get that
 to work for me.

 Joan

___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30 [NR]
--- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5
 * Origin: Doc's Place BBS Fido Since 1991 docsplace.tzo.com (1:123/140)