The Technology Vent and Rant Thread

[Katsunami]

Just after writing this post in the other V&R thread, I thought to go to bed... and saw a brown envelope sticking in the mailbox (a "slit in the door" in most of the Netherlands).

It wasn't there at around 19:00, so it must have been delivered very late indeed.

It's the new SIM-card.

This time, I put it into the phone, and it was immediately recognized, with "No Service" as expected. Activated it, then turned on 4G (which you can turn off and on with this carrier, for some reason... maybe useful if you're in an area where 4G doesn't have good reception yet, even though you can choose 3G as a preference on the phone itself), and everything worked in about 15 minutes.

The phone doesn't give any strange notices, 4G/Internet works, and I was able to receive Whatsapp's verification SMS, so I assume I'll be able to send SMS's and make calls. I'll see tomorrow.

Now I'm going to look for a good back cover. Even though this phone is not made from glass like the Nexus 4 was, it is WAY too thin and slippery for my liking.

It's close to the perfect phone for me. If it had been 4,5 inches, like the original Moto G and have the volume and power buttons located where they were on the Nexus 4 (exactly right for someone holding the phone in their left hand when calling), it would have been perfect.

Because of the fact that it has a replaceable battery and the 4G -> 5G transition in the Netherlands only beginning in 2021 (estimated), I fully expect to use this phone for at least 4 years, maybe longer, assuming it can handle future versions of the (very few) applications I use.

[Cinisajoy]

Great to hear.

[Katsunami]

Grrr. I *hate* geo-restrictions.

The Spigen Rugged Armor case seems to be the one that (often) best reviewed for many phones, so I decided to get that one for the new phone.

Lowest price in the Netherlands: €21.95 (including shipping)
Price through E-Bay: 19.95 (including shipping)
Price in Germany and the UK (Amazon.de/co.uk): €8.99 (free shipping)

The case from Amazon won't ship to the Netherlands!!11

Why are Amazon.de/co.uk mostly SO MUCH CHEAPER than any option I have in the Netherlands?! I buy half my stuff from there, just because it often saves me 25-50% (!), but sometimes there are products that sellers just won't ship.

What to do? Take a chance on one of the other €5-9.95 cases on Amazon.de despite some reviews pointing out poor fit and/or flimsy build quality? Wait until somewhere around January 5 to have it delivered? Or go with the expensive, but well-known case, and have it delivered tomorrow?

I'm leaning towards the latter option, because €10 or €12 doesn't make a difference in 4-5 years time. I don't know if an expensive/well-known brand will actually be better than a cheap one; I never dropped the Nexus 4 (which had a Diztronic case, which I imported from the UK back then).

(And yes, I was up quite late this morning, so I skipped a night to install the entire phone, down to the last application.)

[Blossom]

I have this netbook it's a Toshiba NB200 I think. it's a nice netbook but it's has XP which is now obsolete. I don't want to throw it out. There's got to be something I can do with it. Maybe turn it into a Chromebook if possible or something like that.

It was supposed to come with Windows Vista but for some odd reason it was XP. It was a display model when I bought it from Best Buy many years ago.

My desktop is Vista and that's now obsolete. I had to find a browser that will work on it. I don't know how much longer things will continue to work on it. Dropbox is suppose to stop at the end of year working on Vista why junk something that still works perfectly? Ugh!

Sent from my Nexus 7

[Katsunami]

The reason is that Vista is 10 years old. Windows XP is 16 years old. It costs too much to keep software that old running safely (with regard to viruses, malware, hacking...). Things that were safe in 2006 or 2001 are unsafe today because of changing technology.

Your best bet with the notebook is something like Linux Mint (which looks more like Windows) or Elementary OS (also Linux, but looks more like MacOS). If you install Firefox/Chrome, and Thunderbird, you can at least use it for webbrowsing and e-mail. Is there anything special you do with that netbook?

PS: I ordered the Spigen Armor case for €21.95 and received it today (Saturday). It adds quite a bit of bulk to the phone, as did the Diztronic case to the Nexus, but the phone at least doesn't feel slippery and fragile anymore. I actually have the feeling it can survive a serious crash onto the pavement or a tiled floor. (The Spigen case has a network of what they call "webbing", which basically are depressed parts in the case and corners that fill with air that sits between the phone and the case.)

[BetterRed]

@Blossom - why can't you keep using XP, AFAIK some of the better known AV software vendors continue to support it.

I occasionally use an old Compaq laptop with XP, amongst other old application software it has Word 2007 and calibre 1.48 on it, I can access and edit the same libraries and documents on it as I access and edit in calibre 3.14 and Word 2013 running on Windows 10.

Its surprising how little I really miss having from later versions of Word and calibre. I don't use it for email, which is the source of a lot of malware. I have an old version of Firefox on it that i don't use much. The one application I miss on it is Evernote, I have it there but the database in which notes are kept has had too many schema changes (calibre's has had none!).

Its worth reading what Kovid Goyal wrote about Linux ==>> https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...8&postcount=11

Added : almost forgot, I went down the Linux path (dual boot XP and Mint) but there were too many things I couldn't get for Mint, like my file manager, basic image editor, and word processor. Yes there were alternative tools, but the learning and conversion curves were too steep for too little, or even negative gain.

BR

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I have this netbook it's a Toshiba NB200 I think. it's a nice netbook but it's has XP which is now obsolete. I don't want to throw it out. There's got to be something I can do with it. Maybe turn it into a Chromebook if possible or something like that.

I have an old Acer netbook with XP. It's a 32bit machine with a 1.6ghz Atom CPU and a whopping 1.5GB RAM. It's not a candidate for upgrade, because it won't run any later Windows version with acceptable performance.

XP isn't a concern. It has all of the available security patches. I run a software firewall, use a decent browser, and practice Safe Hex. I'm not paranoid about getting hacked.

I actually stopped running A/V software on XP. I had been running Symantec Corporate A/V via an employer site license. It ran like a top and didn't use a lot of resources. But the version I was running reached End-of-Life and would no longer get virus signature updates. I no longer worked for that employer, so a new version would be on my dime. The only things it had ever "caught" had been false positives. I asked myself if I needed to run A/V and concluded I didn't.

Viruses and malware are infections, and infections have vectors by which they enter a host. Ward the vector, and block the infection.

The principal vector for viruses is email. I use Gmail as my email system. I read and reply to it in my browser, and my mail store lives on Google's servers. Gmail has viewers for most common attachment types, so I can view them in my browser and they never reach my machine. And most mail that might contain malicious attachments will be flagged as spam in any case and never hit my Inbox.

And I only download from known good sites that scan on their end, and most of what I get is open source in any case.

I stopped running A/V, and haven't missed it. I warded the vectors.

Malware targets the browser, with IE the biggest target because it was most widely used. I haven't run IE except for odd compatibility tests in years. I run Firefox, and there are an assortment of extensions to make it more secure. I'm also careful about where I go and what I do online. Firefox uses a Google generated blocklist of sites that do things like serve malware, and pops up a warning screen if one is visited.

I have the free Malware Bytes malware scanner. I run it occasionally. It never finds anything. I warded the vector.

The latest version of Firefox requires at least Win7 and won't install on XP, but the Firefox Extended Support Release based on v52 still works and is adequately secure.

I did set it up to dual boot Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu runs acceptably on the limiter hardware. I chose it because it does the best job I've seen in a Linux distro of figuring out what hardware it's running on, setting itself up, and Just Working. The Lubuntu distribution using the lightweight Lxde desktop provides acceptable performance.

Firefox Quantum does run on it, and things like Libre Office provide the capabilities I get under Windows.

My desktop is Vista and that's now obsolete. I had to find a browser that will work on it. I don't know how much longer things will continue to work on it. Dropbox is suppose to stop at the end of year working on Vista why junk something that still works perfectly? Ugh!

Because it will stop working perfectly? I sympathize, but technology is a moving target. For the most part, you can't sit still.
______
Dennis

[cromag]

I switched my old Acer netbook over to Ubuntu as soon as I got it. I only retired it last year.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

The reason is that Vista is 10 years old. Windows XP is 16 years old. It costs too much to keep software that old running safely (with regard to viruses, malware, hacking...). Things that were safe in 2006 or 2001 are unsafe today because of changing technology.

Your best bet with the notebook is something like Linux Mint (which looks more like Windows) or Elementary OS (also Linux, but looks more like MacOS). If you install Firefox/Chrome, and Thunderbird, you can at least use it for webbrowsing and e-mail. Is there anything special you do with that netbook?

I was thinking of making it into a word processor which is why I thought Chromebook might be a good idea if possible.

It's never done well with a browser. I had Chrome on it and ran alright but Chrome will no longer run. Firefox chokes on it and IE never worked right. I've yet to try Opera.

I don't have many XP compatible programs not to mention how horrible it runs on the netbook. I was wanting something lightweight with an office suite, browser. I don't need email. Something simple but not outdated. I guess I'm going for productivity, but it would be nice if I could turn into something my sister could use for word games, work books to help her as she recovers from stroke. I think I did upgrade the RAM on it when I got it so it's double of what it had but Toshiba comes preinstalled with bloat. Most of the programs slow down the netbook I've gotten rid of most of them.

I do not have the recovery discs for it as I never burned them as it has no disc drive.

This is the model:

https://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-NB205.../dp/B002BDUATU


Sent from my Nexus 7

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Its worth reading what Kovid Goyal wrote about Linux ==>> https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...8&postcount=11

Added : almost forgot, I went down the Linux path (dual boot XP and Mint) but there were too many things I couldn't get for Mint, like my file manager, basic image editor, and word processor. Yes there were alternative tools, but the learning and conversion curves were too steep for too little, or even negative gain.

Linux is a techie toy. Kovid's commentary about fragmented distributions just scratches the surface. I have lost track of how many are out there.

I correspond with a chap on the West Coast who picked up spare change converting folks to Linux. His customers were non-technical, and a bit overwhelmed by what was necessary to use Windows safely and effectively. He wiped their machines, installed the Mint flavor of Linux, and set the machine up to be an appliance. The users did email, watched YouTube video, hung out on Facebook, and wrote the odd document in a word processor. Icons for those functions were front and center on the desktop. They were delighted. The machines did what they wanted to do, were about as easy to use as was possible, and required no effort on their end to maintain.

But Linux has never gotten a foothold on the desktop, and won't, because it's different. Without the services of the chap I mentioned above, the average user would be lost at sea in attempting to move to it.

People get computers as tools to do jobs. They generally learn as much as they have to to be able to use the machine, and then stop. It's a reason why historically, users got a new version of Windows when they bought a new machine that came with the newer version. Only a few upgraded in place. The same is true for corporate upgrades. They are time consuming and expensive, and held off on as long as possible. Part of the reason is end user reactions on the lines of "I don't have time to do all of my work now! I certainly don't have time to learn new OS and applications software versions to be able to do it!"

And the problems are particularly acute when dealing with the Internet, because it's a moving target. Web standards are continually evolving, and browsers change4 in consequence. Sitting still is not an option, as much as folks wish it were otherwise.
______
Dennis

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Blossom

It's never done well with a browser. I had Chrome on it and ran alright but Chrome will no longer run. Firefox chokes on it and IE never worked right. I've yet to try Opera.

This may be of interest ==>> Lightweight Browser for old XP computers

Found in a search for "lightweight browser for xp".

BR

[Blossom]

Thanks BR I'll give it a try. I'm currently searching for an AV and Firewall. Comodo has stopped working and latest version throws the Netbook into a tizzy. BSOD and won't let programs run and causing driver conflicts. I tried disabling everything but the Firewall but same thing.

I have it on my Windows 10 laptop and been having problems launching programs. I'm thinking now it's the culprit. Why must they break something I've been using for years.

Sent from my Nexus 7

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Blossom

Thanks BR I'll give it a try. I'm currently searching for an AV and Firewall. Comodo has stopped working and latest version throws the Netbook into a tizzy. BSOD and won't let programs run and causing driver conflicts. I tried disabling everything but the Firewall but same thing.

What I run under XP is a freeware product called Sygate Personal Firewall.

The product was acquired and killed off by Symantec years back, to prevent competition with their firewall product. but it still runs, and has the best interface I've seen in a firewall. Install it and do stuff. When something wants to connect to the outside world, you can approve or block it, and it remembers the choice. You can find Sygate at Major Geeks: http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/deta...wall_free.html

It will nag you to register. You can't, but trying to will shut up the nag. It's been entirely adequate for me, and runs splendidly under XP.

I have it on my Windows 10 laptop and been having problems launching programs. I'm thinking now it's the culprit. Why must they break something I've been using for years.

If you have Windows 10, you have Windows built-in firewall. It's entirely adequate for blocking inbound connections, and you don't need Comodo.

If you want to block outgoing connections, it can do that too if you turn on strict mode, but that's a major PITA to configure and maintain. I don't bother. I know what is on my system and what it connects to.
______
Dennis

[Blossom]

Thanks I'll look into it. Hubby has shown interest in the Netbook so I'll need security if I let him near it. I'll also set up a limited account for him. He uses Facebook so you know I have to take precautions.

Sent from my Nexus 7

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

This may be of interest ==>> Lightweight Browser for old XP computers

Found in a search for "lightweight browser for xp".

Another candidate is Qupzilla. It's based on the Qt framework and runs on Windows, OS/X, Linux, and other things. The last I looked it ran on XP.

It looks a lot like Chrome to sites you visit, and you can diddle the user agent string it sends in response to a what browser are you query to make it identify as Chrome if you visit sites that don't think it's supported.

See https://www.qupzilla.com/ for details and downloads.
______
Dennis