Twisted Kites

Finally Windows Vista is back on and back working. At least the system is entirely clean now, and I’m not going to try and dual-boot anything again! Making good progress setting it up again, and at least now my important files are now on a separate drive they are no bother (moving them around is so time consuming).

Just ordered myself a USB modem so I can get my Macbook online easier. I have been using my Nokia N73 as a modem for months, which works fine, although there are a few probs with that. 1; the T-Mobile network is not the strongest (downstairs at home is poor, upstairs is top notch, same at Nicola’s house) and it’s easy for signal to drop. 2; obviously using the bluetooth modem on the phone draws lots of power out of the battery. 3; if I get a call or something the connection can drop. 4; as it’s bluetooth, if I leave the phone in my pouch and walk too far away the connection will drop.

So went to the Three (3) website and ordered a free USB modem, which is the best deal of the three that offer it (3, T-Mobile and Vodafone). 3GB allowance for £15 a month (the other networks charge £20 and £30 plus possible modem fee), which I think is brilliant. Would also be a good back up for at home if Be Internet ever goes down (although they’re very reliable).

I know that Three aren’t the best network in the world, but at least their 3G signal is strong and the Turbo 3G sounds good. Wouldn’t use it for my phone network again though, nobody out there can beat T-Mobile’s Flext for value. Speaking of which I’m due an upgrade shortly so need to decide on a nice shiny new phone to ask for.

Windows and Ubuntu were working perfectly until this morning. But now I’m having to type this on my Macbook…

Turned the machine on and Grub wouldn’t load so couldn’t do anything, Error 22. So followed instructions to repair Grub using the Ubuntu disc.

Did that and rebooted, Grub worked. Clicked on the Vista entry and another error. So followed instructions to fix MBR using Vista disc. It worked.

Rebooted again. “Missing operating system”. FFS…Rebooted yet again into Vista disc’s repair console. “Unable to repair automatically”. Ever so useful that, eh.

So now have to reinstall Vista (twice, as it’s an upgrade disc). Not much fun. At least my files are nice and safe on the second HD, and I’ve managed to finally get rid of that silly initial 4Gb partition, so just splitting each HD into 2 partitions each, putting Vista in the first half of no.1 and my files remain in the first part of no.2 (where’s the Macbook’s hash key?!), other 2 are spare for now, and probably will NOT be having Linux on again.

Reinstallation is under way, many more reboots to go through now I expect. Oh well, I’ll stick to what I know, and what works, Windows Vista on it’s own!

I’ve been doing lots of work on my PC over the last few days.

Firstly I reinstalled Windows Vista. When I first put it on it was an upgrade from XP and a bit of a mess. Old files, stuff like that. Plus aside from running slowly the DVD player kept ffailing (issue caused by graphics card and decoder). So did a clean install (using my Vista upgrade disc ) and now it’s much better.

Secondly I added another hard drive. The computer came with a single 200 Gb drive when I got it. Now I’ve added a 160 Gb drive in addition. Then I partitioned them to organise things a bit better. Drive 0 has 4 partitions; 4Gb at the front (old eMachines restore section that’s clean now but can’t get rid of it so unallocated it until I find a use), next is a 139 Gb section for Windows Vista and programs, and the other 2 partitions I’ll come to in a minute. Drive 1 is split into two, a 100 Gb section for my files (Windows docs. etc.), and an 80 Gb section which is empty for now, room for expansion.

Nice and tidy huh? Nice having a PC that almost feels new, although getting programs back on may take a little while, obviously.

Thirdly I installed Ubuntu (Linux) onto my PC. This is occupying the 2 previously mentioned partitions (about 40 Gb for program and files, and a 1 Gb swap file, not shown on Windows Explorer). Had a bit of a play with it, and tweaked the settings a bit, and so far very impressed with Ubuntu! Seems quite similar to Mac OS in a number of ways, although will still take a bit of getting used to.

Driving home from work through the little village of Shilton, 2 o’clock in the morning. A handful of cars about. The one in front had his rear fog lights on and one coming the opposite way had his full beams on. Think I was seeing stars the rest of the way home.

Watford Gap have starting allowing us meals and Captains Club points again, as long as we take in passengers. Fair enough, still not the official rules but better than nothing. So many of us have been allowing passengers to go in there where we can. Roadchef are happy (well they bloody should be!), drivers are happy and passengers are happy. It’s a start.

Other stuff… Windows Update messed up the settings for the new graphics card, lowering max resolution for my monitor to 1024 x 768 so it looked stupid and clunky. Took ages getting it right this morning, back to native 1280 x 1024 now. Seemed to be something to do with the TV connection (dual display). Things are going nicely with N really enjoying her company had a lovely day in the Cotswolds with her last week (and her family). Managed to get my phone sorted yesterday. Turns out computer drivers for it seemed to have disappeared totally mid-update, odd. Had to download PC Suite again, reinstall phone drivers too. Luckily phone would still turn on so was able to redo the phones firmware update. Shame that restoring the phone backup (all settings, SMSs, apps and contacts) just crashed the backup app. But luckily I was able to dig into the PC folders and double click the actual backp file itself to trigger it. Phew. Our wheelie bin went missing after collection Friday, but returning from work just now it was on our path. No idea where it was or how it got back, just glad it did!

Been a funny old week.

and I can’t think of a better title, sorry!

It occurred to me recently that I would struggle to charge my iPod when away. It would be awkward to rely on the Macbook to do it (if it worked, the iPod is Windows formatted so data won’t work with Mac, but charging might do, and no I’m not faffing about reformatting it). I know Apple do a USB to mains adaptor for twenty quid which I considered (I guess there are cheaper nasty ones available!) but decided on spending an extra tenner on a Logic3 i-Station 3, which is a dock with basic-but-decent speakers and is also good for charging. It does data transfer too but I’ll probably not need to use it for that.

Also ordered a sleeve for the Macbook too, something I’ve needed for a while but not got round to getting. But I don’t want it getting scratched in my flight bag or rucksack. My work bag is fine as it has a perfectly sized compartment, that’s probably why I waited. So that’s 2 things sorted.

Just enjoyed a relaxing 3 days off work, back in on a late one this evening (later than usual as the schools are off so don’t need to do Guilsborough). Hope the weekend is good, quiet and not rainy will be very welcome. Been fairly pleasant so far today, although we had a cracking storm last night. Apparently a man in Coventry was hit by lightning, but luckily he lived (his shoe disintegrated and clothes went black). Walking through a grassy area I think, not so wise.

And finally… I’ve been importing these entries into Facebook, now they don’t seem to be working! Any ideas? My RSS feed is fine.

Take care.

Imported 45 minutes of video into iMovie as I need to edit it and want something different to Windows Movie maker.

“iMovie is great”,”Macs never crash” etc etc.

Well I only wanted to add a subtitle and it crashed dumping everything I imported into iMovie’s Trash (not the Mac Trash).

I could keep on hunting to try and find a way to recover it or I could just import it into Windows where it saves a hard copy to my hard drive and I know how to edit flawlessly.

If anyone knows a way around this for next time, please share! (And don’t just say “keep saving”…)