Archived CalgaryPuck Computer Help Thread

[KevanGuy]

edit: nevermind, Im a moron.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by T I M

middle click\scroll whell click will automaticlly open the link in a new tab. Also, if you middle click on a tab it will close the tab. None of this right-click garbage.

Can't seem to get this to work on my home computer. Do you know what I have to do to make it work?

[T I M]

Maybe you need an upgraded version? I'm not sure which version this feature became active. Is it listed under the help menu > help contents > mouse shortcuts? Does the scroll wheel click work elsewhere? ie for scrolling.

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by Buff

Can't seem to get this to work on my home computer. Do you know what I have to do to make it work?

you might have to turn it on in your options.

[Buff]

It is turned on. And I had the latest version. I wondered if my mouse was too old, but the mouse at work is likely the same age, if not older.

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by Buff

It is turned on. And I had the latest version. I wondered if my mouse was too old, but the mouse at work is likely the same age, if not older.

check to make sure that your keyboard drivers are up to date. They might need to be updated to allow middle clicking. If they are up to date check if the middle click is set to default (which it should be)

[Buff]

Originally Posted by cSpooge

check to make sure that your keyboard drivers are up to date. They might need to be updated to allow middle clicking. If they are up to date check if the middle click is set to default (which it should be)

No luck. I did find that my computer thought I was using a wireless mouse and had setup the wrong mouse for me. I fixed that, but it still didn't work. Then I rebooted, but it was late so I just went to bed. I'll test it when I return home after work today.

[RougeUnderoos]

My laptop has an open port has a symbol underneath it that looks mostly like this: {.....} (the dots are a little higher -- in the middle).

Does anyone know what that symbol means? All the other ports are obvious -- monitor, printer, headphones et cetera but this one is a mystery. I'd like to plug a keyboard into it but it doesn't have a port for that. Just this mysterious thing that will not accomodate a keyboard wire.

[cSpooge]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

My laptop has an open port has a symbol underneath it that looks mostly like this: {.....} (the dots are a little higher -- in the middle).

Does anyone know what that symbol means? All the other ports are obvious -- monitor, printer, headphones et cetera but this one is a mystery. I'd like to plug a keyboard into it but it doesn't have a port for that. Just this mysterious thing that will not accomodate a keyboard wire.

how many pins is it?

[MickMcGeough]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

My laptop has an open port has a symbol underneath it that looks mostly like this: {.....} (the dots are a little higher -- in the middle).

Does anyone know what that symbol means? All the other ports are obvious -- monitor, printer, headphones et cetera but this one is a mystery. I'd like to plug a keyboard into it but it doesn't have a port for that. Just this mysterious thing that will not accomodate a keyboard wire.

Impossible to tell without a description of the actual port or the model of your laptop. {.....} isn't a standard port icon AFAIK.

Most laptops have some kind of proprietary connector to support an optional docking station.

Why not just hook up a keyboard using a USB port? You must have USB on it...

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Buff

No luck. I did find that my computer thought I was using a wireless mouse and had setup the wrong mouse for me. I fixed that, but it still didn't work. Then I rebooted, but it was late so I just went to bed. I'll test it when I return home after work today.

Are you comfortable going into about:config ?

There is a setting in there called browser.tabs.opentabfor.middleclick that should be set to true (which is the default) in order for the mouse middleclick to work. (there are better ways to do this, but this "quick and dirty" process will identify if this is your issue).

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Are you comfortable going into about:config ?

There is a setting in there called browser.tabs.opentabfor.middleclick that should be set to true (which is the default) in order for the mouse middleclick to work. (there are better ways to do this, but this "quick and dirty" process will identify if this is your issue).

It was already set to true as per default settings.

If I have more than one window open when I use middle click it will switch windows (kinda like ALT+Tab but w/o the window showing up that shows you which windows you can choose from)

[arsenal]

Originally Posted by Buff

It was already set to true as per default settings.

If I have more than one window open when I use middle click it will switch windows (kinda like ALT+Tab but w/o the window showing up that shows you which windows you can choose from)

That sounds like a mouse config setting.
Check it out in the control panel->Mice area.
See what the middle button is set to, but it probably is application switch.

[Buff]

Originally Posted by arsenal

That sounds like a mouse config setting.
Check it out in the control panel->Mice area.
See what the middle button is set to, but it probably is application switch.

I found out what the problem was!

It was a PEBKAC error (Problem Exsists Between Keyboard And Chair)

When I checked my mouse configuration it for some reason unbeknownst to me thought that I was using a wireless mouse. So I changed it, for some unknown reason, to yet another wrong mouse! I checked again today to see if there was something I just wasn't seeing and I saw that I had chosen the wrong mouse, so I chose the CORRECT mouse this time. I also changed the middle button function to be "middleclick" instead of "next window".

(and I do this kind of stuff for a living!)

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by MickMcGeough

Impossible to tell without a description of the actual port or the model of your laptop. {.....} isn't a standard port icon AFAIK.

Most laptops have some kind of proprietary connector to support an optional docking station.

Why not just hook up a keyboard using a USB port? You must have USB on it...

Ah ha! It does have a USB port on it (I just found it, stupid little tiny doors are hard to see for drunk people) . One end of a USB cord plugs right in to the laptop but the round connector on the keyboard wire doesn't connect well with the skinny rectangle connector on the USB wire. Is there some sort of adaptor I can get so round end and skinny receptacle will get together and make love?

[arsenal]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Ah ha! It does have a USB port on it (I just found it, stupid little tiny doors are hard to see for drunk people) . One end of a USB cord plugs right in to the laptop but the round connector on the keyboard wire doesn't connect well with the skinny rectangle connector on the USB wire. Is there some sort of adaptor I can get so round end and skinny receptacle will get together and make love?

Wait a sec.. are you talking about a PS2 to USB connector? Or a USB to PS2 connector? Not sure the make the first one, but I could be wrong. Usually what you want is the USB to PS2 connector (make USB keyboard firt with PS/2 Round connector). Those should be fairly easy to get. I have a couple extra sitting around that I don't need.

[postal]

ive been trying for months to figure out how burn avi files on dvd-r discs using a variety of burning programs with no success. The latest being Nero 7...in which the problem is that my laptpop simply shuts down (power turns off) about 10 minutes into the process. Ive done a lot of searching on the net about this topic and i believe that the problem may be that the computer is overheating or using too much power. Any ideas on how i can overcome this problem?

[toonmaster]

not sure if this was corrected with nero7 or not, but i recall nero6/nero6 express had compatibility issues with windows xp

best idea would be to link with a desktop and burn off of the desktop if possible (i have always hated laptops for high CPU usage) but other then that i have no idea what your issue could be

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by arsenal

Wait a sec.. are you talking about a PS2 to USB connector? Or a USB to PS2 connector? Not sure the make the first one, but I could be wrong. Usually what you want is the USB to PS2 connector (make USB keyboard firt with PS/2 Round connector). Those should be fairly easy to get. I have a couple extra sitting around that I don't need.

I don't know what a PS/2 connector is but I think I just figured my problem out by eyeballing the back of my desktop and recognizing that I can just go tomorrow morning and buy a little plastic thingy to connect to the wire that comes out of of the keyboard.

Thanks for the advice everyone (and for the offer arsenal). Hockeynerding saves me again!

[sclitheroe]

Some things to keep in mind about RAID0 - 2 * 200 gig hard drives in RAID0 is 400 gigs of storage that is statistically twice as likely to fail (if you lose one drive, you lose everything, and you've got twice as many physical components that could go bad). For gaming, and general use, RAID1 is going to give you great read performance, which you want, with redundancy in case a drive fails. Also, you can always rebuild a failed RAID1 drive using a drive of higher capacity if you can't find an exact match (eg. if your 120 gig RAID1 array loses a drive, you can restore the redundancy using a 160 gig replacement, you just lose the extra capacity).

Another interesting consideration is that if you tie yourself to a RAID0 solution provided by the motherboard or an add-on controller, you are locked into that hardware solution. If your motherboard or controller fails in a year, you'd better pray you can find an exact replacement, because consumer level hardware solutions vary widely and rapidly, even across the same model or manufacturer (different chipsets, different BIOS revisions, etc.), otherwise your stripe set is useless.

A couple other thoughts about large drives - if you've got 200 gigs, or 400, in your example of RAID0, worth of data, how are you planning to back that up? Furthermore, if your big shiny new drives are running less than, let's say, 60-75% full, why pay for storage you aren't going to fill? Lower capacity drives are going to have either fewer platters (run cooler), or lower areal density on their platters (more tolerant of imperfections or physical shock damage).

If you truly need hundreds of gigs of online storage, you are better off with two or more smaller arrays providing redundancy (2 * RAID1), or even 1 * RAID5 (which requires a minimum of three drives, and still has the hardware dependency at the controller).

-Scott

Originally Posted by arsenal

I guess it depends on what you want to do:
If you are a hardcore gamer, I would suggest the following:
AMD64 Dual Core (AMD is better for gaming)
2GB+ DDR 3200 Ram
A mother board that supports SLI (NVIDIA) or the ATI Version (can't remember the name). That way you can get 2 of the same video card, and they work together to process graphics information. Like the old (really old) Voodoo 2 PCI cards.
Hard drives: 2 x 200 GB plus hard drives ($115/each @ mem ex), or you can always go larger. SATA. I noticed SATA II HDs available, although I have no idea what that means.. SATA v2 maybe..and I would probably run them in a RAID 0 configuration.

Anything else (Sound card vs on board) I have no clue about. Although, I probably will end up picking up a sound card as well. The difference I hear is night and day between on-board sound vs an actual sound card.