Auxiliary Memory

I recently bought and installed a new HP OfficeJet 6500 All-in-One device.  Works great!  …as I eventually found out.  Lesson learned:  don’t always believe the installation test results.

Here’s how I learned my lesson:

I connect the new printer device to our network, and to the phone line. The phone line passes through the device (for fax) and on to an answering machine (a “TAM” (telephone answering machine) in some of the HP docs).  This is so the device can eavesdrop on the line and intercept fax transmissions before they get to the answering machine.

During the installation, the Fax Test keeps failing with the message “You are not using the correct type of phone cord.” Most phone cords have 4 conductors. The printer comes with a special 2-conductor cord, which is not very long. However, as instructed, I connect from the wall jack to the OfficeJet’s 1-Line connection with the supplied cord, and from the OfficeJet’s 2-Ext connection to the TAM with the TAM’s cord.

“Fax test failed: You are not using the correct type of phone cord.”

I try disconnecting the TAM.

“Fax test passed.”

Could the OfficeJet somehow be getting a signal from the TAM on the unused part of the 4-conductor cord? So I cut off one of the connectors, crimp on a new one to pass just the 2 (red and green) conductors, and connect it back up.

“Fax test failed: You are not using the correct type of phone cord.”

How can it know?!  I do some online searches.  Many of the posts just say “the special cord is too short; where do I get a new one?”  Of the posts that are actually trying to troubleshoot the problem, most solutions say “use the supplied special phone cord.”  I’m already using it.  One suggests to power cycle everything, so I try that.

“Fax test failed: You are not using the correct type of phone cord.”

Now I am starting to think the Fax Test is bad, so I run my own test.  The TAM and its attached phone are getting a dialtone, so there is continuity.  I try the HP FaxBack service, which comes conveniently preprogrammed on Fax Speed Dial #1.  It sends.  A few minutes later it receives.  The incoming call rings 4 times, then the TAM picks it up.  The OfficeJet hears the incoming fax tone and intercepts.  All works!  I’m happy.  My conclusion is that the Fax Test is flawed, and that I probably did not have to modify my phone cord.

It seems like everyone is blogging or writing articles about social networking or cloud computing. I think I’ll try to avoid that unless absolutely necessary.

I’m not belittling those technologies.  Social networking sites attract hordes of participants.  And cloud computing, yet another reshuffling of computer capabilities to reduce costs and increase efficiencies, has many interesting ramifications including cost of computation and loss of privacy.

I’ll make a wish for fewer “it’s the next big thing” or “it’s here now” columns, and wish instead for more substance.

On the bright side: when a trend starts to annoy me, that may be an indication it is nearly over.

Apple’s product designs are often revolutionary.  But not infallible.  And they often seem to be in denial.  The recent iPhone 4 antenna performance thing is a good example.

Another is the Magic Mouse.  I’ve often thought Apple has done a great disservice to the general public by dumbing down computer interaction.  Apple early on decided that any more than one mouse button was too confusing for computer users.  Now the Magic Mouse lets people right click or simulate a middle-mouse scroll wheel using its multi-touch surface (which is very cool).  It looks to me like they are conceding that multiple mouse buttons actually are useful, while trying to deny it by appearance.  Usability issues aside, Apple remains tops in product design.

I have occasionally found it necessary to have a program start when I log in to my Windows desktop, but with Admin privileges.   A little Google searching turned up this procedure for Windows Vista.  I assume it works the same or very similarly for Windows 7.  Because it is a bit mystical, I have been living in fear that the website with the instructions will disappear and I will never again be able to successfully set up a task in the task scheduler to run with Admin privileges, so I have copied the instructions here, with all credit due to the original author at Thomas’ Developer Blog.

To begin you have to start by removing that program from start up.

1) Run > msconfig
2) Click the Startup Tab
3) Scroll down until you find that pesky program giving you issues
4) Note the location and see if it is HKLM or HKCU

Open up regedit
1) Run > regedit
2) If it is HKLM go to HKey_Local_Machine otherwise it should be HKey_Current_User
3) Go to HKLM/HKCU > Software > Windows > Current Version > Run
4) Find that pesky program, right click, and delete that string value (the ab icon thing)

After that you need to go to task scheduler
1) go to: Start > Program Files > Accessories > System Tools > Task Scheduler
2) Under actions context at the top click “create task…”

Under create task
1) Give it a name (I choose the name of the program
2) Make sure you select run only when user is logged on
3) Check “Run with highest privileges
4) Go to the triggers tab
5) Click New
6) From the drop down select at log on
7) Make sure everything is unchecked EXCEPT “enabled” and click OK
8 ) Click Actions tab
9) Click New
10) Select Start a Program from the dropdownlist
11) Browse for the program you want to start
12) Click OK
13) Click Settings Tab
14) Check Allow task to be run on demand
15) Check Run task asap after a scheduled start is missed
16) Uncheck “Stop the task if it runs longer than:”
17) Uncheck “If the task is not scheduled to run again…”  (note that you can check this if you want, but only if you don’t plan to run the program again after a set time)
18 ) Make sure “Do not start a new instance” is selected from the drop down list at the bottom
19) Click OK
20) Restart and it should be working just fine

You never have all the tools you need.  For Cygwin, I used to hunt through the package list and guess which package had what I was looking for.  Well there is a better way.  And someone else has already written about it.

This link tells you how to determine which Cygwin package contains a file.

In case that site disappears, here’s how (pretend we are looking for the strings command):

• There’s a web way:

      http://cygwin.com/cgi-bin2/package-grep.cgi?grep=strings.exe

• and there’s a command line way (if you already have Cygwin installed):
  

      cygcheck -p strings.exe

…and the answer is… binutils!

Today I upgraded my laptop, which dual boots Ubuntu and Windows 7, to Lucid Lynx (Ubuntu 10.4).  Towards the end of the upgrade it said it was upgrading Grub (the multi-OS boot loader) to Grub2.  It then asked me some questions about which partitions to modify.

Apparently I answered wrong, because when the upgrade finished and I rebooted, I got an error message from Grub: “Error 4: Symbol ‘grub_puts_’ not found“.  I ended up at a prompt that said “grub-rescue>” where very few commands worked.  Even “help” was not recognized.

Thankfully, others had blazed the trail.  A little web searching turned up a procedure for repairing the Grub install.  (Note:   the first command should be “sudo fdisk -l” with a space dash lower-case L).  I just booted from the Ubuntu LiveCD and followed the procedure.  That resurrected Grub and allowed me to boot successfully into Linux.

Well, as you might have guessed, my Windows 7 boot had also been clobbered.  To fix that, I had to boot from the Windows 7 CD and follow these instructions.

Finally, here are a couple of other informational references for Grub 2:

• Grub 2 Basics
• Grub 2

Many thanks to those who went before, battled the dragons, lived to tell the tale, and took the time to tell it.

Word Warp is another of my favorite iPhone word games. (I currently just have the free version, which shows ads between rounds.)  It is a simple word scramble where you attempt to form all the words you can from a set of 6 letters.

In each round you are presented with a sequence of letter tiles. You tap them to form words. If you can find the word that uses all 6 tiles, you advance to the next round.  If not, Game Over. Your score for each round is based on the number of words you create.

If you are just not seeing the word, you can hit the WARP button to resequence the tiles, which may or may not help.

The game is simple but addictive.  Some of the sounds are a bit annoying, so you might prefer playing it with the sound turned off.

I like word games, and the iPhone is a great place to play them.  You might have just a couple of minutes while you wait for the bus, or for a meeting, and a quick word game can fill the time with an activity that keeps your mind active without immersing you too deeply in anything.

Wurdle is one of my favorites.  It is a Boggle-type game, where you form words by tracing your finger over adjacent tiles.  After the timer runs out, it shows you all the words you could have gotten.  It scores you based on number of words and word length.  My own personal scoring method is:  if you get more than 50% of the possible words, you win.  I have won once.

During my last Japan visit, my good friend Tomo showed me how to take an iPhone screenshot:

1. Press and hold the power button
2. Press the main round button

The screenshot is saved in your Camera Roll.  From there you can email it, or sync it over to your main computer.

My hotel room in Japan had a ceiling heat/AC unit with a remote control on the wall to operate it.  I got by until I had to switch it from heating to cooling one day.  So I asked for help from one of my Japanese colleagues, who interpreted the controls for me.  I didn’t get around to experimenting with them all, but I labeled the buttons.  The Up/Down, Left/Right, and Wide buttons control the baffles that aim the air.  The buttons in the green box at the lower left are some kind of timer that I didn’t mess with:  maybe associated with the Sleep Timer?  The one that solved my problems was the Change Mode button.

Sorry that I forgot to write down the name of the manufacturer of the unit.