Here we go again...

Discuss recent changes, make suggestions, etc.
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crfriend
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Re: Here we go again...

Post by crfriend »

I still have -- and use -- my Panasonic KXP-1091 that I bought for myself in the mid '80s. However, it is a line-buffering device, hence could not be used to do what Sinned posed as a challenge. It could be made to appear to do it by careful space and carriage control but would be brutally inefficient and the NQL (Near Letter Quality) option would be inaccessible yielding a normal-looking 9x9 matrix character.

This little printer also has a programmable character set and I taught it to reproduce the variant of the runic alphabet I was playing with at the time. Geek.
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greenboots
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Re: Here we go again...

Post by greenboots »

Uncle Al wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2020 12:55 pm I still have my STAR NX1000, 9-pin, Dot-matrix printer. It works
if I have the correct connections on the back of the PC. I was able
to find a box of ribbons for it. All is packed away - - somewhere...... ;)

Uncle Al
:mrgreen: :ugeek: :mrgreen:
Wow! I remember using one of those (and also the IBM printer, which was a rebadged EPSON with some important codes disabled!)
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Re: Here we go again...

Post by Big and Bashful »

In my mound of electric spaghetti I still have crossover a ethernet cable and also somewhere I have an ethernet gender bender thingy that came on a cable I bought. I recently bought a USB to parallel port cable so I could hook up an old Canon portable inkjet printer. Got the printer "working" but of course the ink had dried out.

The reason I thought it worth putting fingers to keyboard is that this discussion brought back memories. In an office I worked in, back in the days of DOS 2. something, pre-networking and featuring the joys of dial up modems and dot matrix printers, along with our colour dot matrix printers, we had an IBM pro-printer, the loudest dot matrix printer I have ever heard, the noise of clanking mechanisms from the cut-sheet paper feeder was epic This was pre-Windows era, so we had the luxury of Wordstar for our Word processor. I discovered that if you switched on kerning, the printer printed each letter separately so for every line of text the rattling of the head moving to print a letter, then immediately reversing, moving back and taking a run at the next character was ludicrous. I used to get a lot of childish enjoyment by typing up a report, getting it right, before adding the code to turn kerning on, saving the file and sending it to HQ via dial up. Where they would load it and start to print only to have their printer almost shake itself to pieces as it spaced each character out.
I would love to get my hands on one of those old proprinters now!
Has anyone tried to print to an old printer these days? using PCL5 or whatever it is called these days? I think I managed to install a line printer type device from the standard Windows printer options that worked with my inkless Canon, nope, it's an HP inkjet "portable" I think.
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Pdxfashionpioneer
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Re: Here we go again...

Post by Pdxfashionpioneer »

Doggonnit Carl, thanks to the way you have the timeout feature on this forum devised I lost another hour or 2's worth of work on a serious post! It's 3 in the morning and I'm in no shape or mood to start all over again

Every piece of interactive software I'm aware of has a timeout feature, but they give you a warning before you get cut off. They also have an auto save feature so you don't lose all of your work because you ignored the warning. Our system just deletes it and the user doesn't have a clue until he hits "Submit" and gets told you have to be logged in -- which he thought he was -- to post.

Is there a reason why such a warning and an auto-save feature can't be incorporated into our posting mechanism?
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crfriend
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Re: Here we go again...

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Here's an idea I bet you haven't even tried: If you get timed out (the easiest way not to, as I have said, is to avail one's self of the "Preview" button), log in and then hit the "back" button on the browser a few times to get back to the composition screen -- where, if the browser is working reasonably well, your missive will likely be intact.

This is technically a security hole, but it's one of the sorts of things that happen when trying to use an inherently stateless protocol for something stateful. Essentially it requires the browser to be broken, but most are.

And, as far as hacking a warning timer into somebody else's code goes, the answer is a simple and swift, "No." There's too much custom code already and it makes upgrades a royal pain.
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Fred in Skirts
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Re: Here we go again...

Post by Fred in Skirts »

Pdxfashionpioneer wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 9:56 am Doggonnit Carl, thanks to the way you have the timeout feature on this forum devised I lost another hour or 2's worth of work on a serious post! It's 3 in the morning and I'm in no shape or mood to start all over again

Every piece of interactive software I'm aware of has a timeout feature, but they give you a warning before you get cut off. They also have an auto save feature so you don't lose all of your work because you ignored the warning. Our system just deletes it and the user doesn't have a clue until he hits "Submit" and gets told you have to be logged in -- which he thought he was -- to post.

Is there a reason why such a warning and an auto-save feature can't be incorporated into our posting mechanism?
Dave there is an even easier way to get around the time out thingy.
Use Note Pad or some other text program, then when you have finished with your tomb of work just save it and then copy and paste to SC. Easy peasy said the pie man!!
If for some reason it did not take the first time you still have not lost your work.
So you can try again and again and again..... :mrgreen:
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crfriend
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Re: Here we go again...

Post by crfriend »

Fred in Skirts wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 4:09 pmUse Note Pad or some other text program, then when you have finished with your tomb of work just save it and then copy and paste to SC.
He's already stated that he's not willing to do that. He'd rather hammer on the board admin to customise the environment to his whims rather than bending gently to the already lax rules.
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Sinned
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Re: Here we go again...

Post by Sinned »

An application is what it is. The more you modify it and add extra non-native functionality the more difficult upgrading it is. You have to document what changes have been made and applying the same changes on the upgraded environment may not be so easy. Having spent nearly 20 years in IT Development/Support I know how much effort it can take. Each application has its limits and you need to know when to change it and when to use a work around. As Dave can submit some quite lengthy posts the sensible way would be to use an editor and cut and paste into SK. That way you can take as long and as many breaks as you want until the post is finished. If he's not prepared to do that then he'll have to put up with occasionally losing what he has typed. Compromise. I have not come across any timeouts for a long time, then again, most of my posts are short. It is what it is.
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Re: Here we go again...

Post by Spirou003 »

I'm a bit surprised, I never had any timeout despite having spent hours to write some messages here
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crfriend
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Re: Here we go again...

Post by crfriend »

Spirou003 wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 7:41 pmI'm a bit surprised, I never had any timeout despite having spent hours to write some messages here
You probably do the sensible thing and occasionally use the "Preview" button to make sure your post looks like you want it to and reads the way you want it to. Some folks don't bother.

To Sinned's point, there is already more customisation in the forum than I'm happy with, but there's also no other way to do what needs doing (I've looked). This is why it's such a pain in the backside to upgrade and why I need to spend so much time prototyping things. Adding more complexity to the mix to satisfy one crybaby is not the answer, and perhaps I might suggest an alternate solution of an hourglass or a kitchen timer that'll emit an alarm (or run out of sand) and then use "Preview" at the appointed time to refresh the server's session clock.

And, yes, I've been having a bad day. It started badly and went downhill from there. Yesterday was bad as well. As was the day before. Such is life in the "work from home" COVID world where employers know they can work folks for 14 hours a day and nano-manage with impunity.
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Fred in Skirts
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Re: Here we go again...

Post by Fred in Skirts »

crfriend wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 4:45 pm
Fred in Skirts wrote: Thu Aug 06, 2020 4:09 pmUse Note Pad or some other text program, then when you have finished with your tomb of work just save it and then copy and paste to SC.
He's already stated that he's not willing to do that. He'd rather hammer on the board admin to customise the environment to his whims rather than bending gently to the already lax rules.
Well some just have to do it their way even if it causes more work for others!! So if he does not want to do the work arounds suggested then all I can say is phooey on him...... :P :P
"It is better to be hated for what you are than be loved for what you are not" Andre Gide: 1869 - 1951
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denimini
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Re: Here we go again...

Post by denimini »

Aspects of this thread reminds me of an old shearers saying "never criticise the cook".
Anthony, a denim miniskirt wearer in Outback Australia
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crfriend
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Re: Here we go again...

Post by crfriend »

denimini wrote: Fri Aug 07, 2020 8:43 amAspects of this thread reminds me of an old shearers saying "never criticise the cook".
Without further comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1ajLnuw2oo
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Pdxfashionpioneer
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Re: Here we go again...

Post by Pdxfashionpioneer »

Use Note Pad or some other text program, then when you have finished with your tomb of work just save it and then copy and paste to SC. Easy peasy said the pie man!!


NOT so easy when you're trying to respond to specific quotes in other posts.
one crybaby


Considering how much older I am than you Carl, that's a curious choice of words ... :lol:

To the point, it's not that I'm a whiner, I just happen to think that machines are made to serve man, not the other way around.

That said, Denimini has a point and you've had a bad week so I'll drop it with a smile. Besides, you (finally) gave me a way to recover my lost work next time, which is probably the most important thing to me. Thank you.
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Sinned
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Re: Here we go again...

Post by Sinned »

Dave, yes, machines are made to serve man but Carl is an UNPAID administrator for the forum with lot of other things to occupy his time and you would be causing him a lot more development, upgrade and administration work so accept his decision to not take on your suggested modification since there are reasonable workarounds. I think that you are pressing the point needlessly. Decision made. I would have thought that since you include original excepts and rebuttals it would actually be easier to use an external editor and cut 'n' paste.

Carl, I never use the "Preview" button unless I am perhaps including photos and I rarely have timeouts.
I believe in offering every assistance short of actual help but then mainly just want to be left to be myself in all my difference and uniqueness.
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