General Computer Thread

[John Clark]

Celluloid sounds good for playback (If at my computer, I just tend to listen to albums)

For syncing to the phone (or use in car), it's all playlist - and those tend to be not so short

Done a search and it also brings up Rhythmbox as a possibility. I'll have to experiment.

Been a while since I've used Foobar, then as a replacement for iTunes and while it liked my ipod, it took a dislike to my phone for some reason, hence the switch to mediamonkey.

(Also tried musicbee, but it was kind of slow for the library size - at least when I tried it)

 

[Owain Taggart]

MDR Dasher Keyboard | For Work That's Mysterious & Important

Standard equipment for Macrodata Refinement: CNC-milled body, integrated trackball, modular design. Please enjoy each keystroke equally.

mdrkeyboard.com

I don't need this, can't justify buying it but i want it for work that is mysterious and important.
How can I write hymns to chosen one Kier without it?

That integrated trackball gives me serious ICON flashbacks. These were all-in-one units with trackballs built-into the keyboards used in Canadian schools in the 80's and 90's, and we'd endlessly spin the trackball.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

That integrated trackball gives me serious ICON flashbacks. These were all-in-one units with trackballs built-into the keyboards used in Canadian schools in the 80's and 90's, and we'd endlessly spin the trackball.

I had a keyboard in the late 90s with a trackball built on the end of it which I used as my mouse, this was at a time when I wasn't quite sure how much of my right side I would get back as I had a CVA in that same period and when it happened was paralyzed on the right side which is also my dominant side and right is the side I write with. Anyway that was super fun and I miss that keyboard. It had real switches too not dome pads.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I really do think TrackBalls are one of the best pointing devices for ergonomics & reducing RSI in your wrists.

I own almost a dozen different models:


ELECOM (M-HT1URBK) HUGE
ELECOM (M-XT2URBK-G) EX-G
ELECOM (M-XT4DRBK-G) EX-G

ELECOM (M-MT1DRSBK) bitra
ELECOM (M-MT2DRSBK) bitra
ELECOM (M-RT1BRXBK) Relacon

ELECOM (M-XPT1MRXBK) EX-G Pro
ELECOM (M-DT2DRBK-G) DEFT
ELECOM (M-DPT1MRXBK) Deft Pro

Logitech Trackman Marble Wired

SANWA Wired Ergonomic Trackball Mouse


The variety of good ergonomics you can execute with a TrackBall is amazing.
You'll never get too bored or induce too much repetitive motions if you swap around between different TrackBall designs.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I had a keyboard in the late 90s with a trackball built on the end of it which I used as my mouse, this was at a time when I wasn't quite sure how much of my right side I would get back as I had a CVA in that same period and when it happened was paralyzed on the right side which is also my dominant side and right is the side I write with. Anyway that was super fun and I miss that keyboard. It had real switches too not dome pads.

That's interesting because outside the computers we had at school, which were designed for school use, I have never seen other keyboards with built-in trackballs.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

That's interesting because outside the computers we had at school, which were designed for school use, I have never seen other keyboards with built-in trackballs.

They weren't common but they also were a little pricey. At the time we were not sure how much functionality I would regain

 

[XCV330]

That integrated trackball gives me serious ICON flashbacks. These were all-in-one units with trackballs built-into the keyboards used in Canadian schools in the 80's and 90's, and we'd endlessly spin the trackball.

I had a gateway 2000 laptop with a trackball that popped out of the side. it was really nice. way better than track pads. I like the Toshiba style eraser pointer but they do have a habit of messing up over time.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I had a gateway 2000 laptop with a trackball that popped out of the side. it was really nice. way better than track pads. I like the Toshiba style eraser pointer but they do have a habit of messing up over time.

I think I remember seeing those advertised! They looked really neat. For similar reasons, around that time manufacturers like Logitech had come out with trackballs for laptops with the reasoning that one could save space compared to a conventional mouse. My Dad had one, and it would clip to the side of his lunchbox computer.

 

[Marc]

I had a gateway 2000 laptop with a trackball that popped out of the side. it was really nice. way better than track pads. I like the Toshiba style eraser pointer but they do have a habit of messing up over time.

There was also some laptops where the trackball would click on the the side but that's going back 20+ and the some where they built into the system where the trackpad would sit on a modern laptop.

the IBM Thinkpads are probably the laptops best known for the erase (or nipple) style pointer. They were okay to use but I never really liked it cos if I you didn't hit the surrounding keys dead on you're hit the pointing device which could be an irritating.

Trackballs were good in a rack environment where you might not have enough room to drive a mouse but not the kvm units (look like a laptop) have gone trackpad.

 

[Owain Taggart]

There was also some laptops where the trackball would click on the the side but that's going back 20+ and the some where they built into the system where the trackpad would sit on a modern laptop.

Yep, my Dad had one of those., and it was before they even built trackpads or other pointing devices into the machines. The Logitech Trackman Portable it was called.

 

[John Clark]

Well, Linux is a bit of a learning experience for me at the moment.

There's fair bit of diving into the console which I haven't really had to do much of since dos days and memconfig (and before that, spectrum/oric).

Java is currently a pain in the butt with two programs not recognizing it's in (Though one of those is a WINE one, so rules may vary for that one). For the other, it just prevents imports of one particular file type. I could change file types, but I did that in advance and the information the qif files are giving are complete garbage

VLC is having issues with commercial Blu, but one of the WINE programmes mostly works with that, barring the java issue). Hope to have VLC sorted properly soon though.

Besides that, Mint 22.1 is quite nice as a daily driver so I plan to stick to that path for a while.

 

[Santaman]

Mint has been my daily driver since version 17.x except for gaming, I'm not missing anything and it all works the way I like it, on top of that you don't need the fastest kit to make it run fast.

 

[John Clark]

Mint has been my daily driver since version 17.x except for gaming, I'm not missing anything and it all works the way I like it, on top of that you don't need the fastest kit to make it run fast.

Timeshift at least feels far superior (and quicker) than system restore too for me. (Managed to completely bugger things up with that (I think) and it threw out the logon but that was easily fixed.

For the games I may play on my laptop, linux is fine.

The gaming/desktop will need an hardware upgrade for newer stuff - though some of those are linux compatible. For the older stuff, I might need to remap a little.

Still, good to learn. This isn't my first attempt at playing with mint, though it is shaping up to be most long term change.

 

[Finn]

Advice wanted...

I still have the hard drive (SATA, 3.5 inch I believe) from the desktop computer that was built for me when I still lived in Maryland. It was a great computer. There should be a bunch of old pictures on it...hopefully.

I'm unsure about just buying a SATA adapter. There seem to be a bunch of options? Is a plain SATA to USB adapter okay or it might not be enough?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Advice wanted...

I still have the hard drive (SATA, 3.5 inch I believe) from the desktop computer that was built for me when I still lived in Maryland. It was a great computer. There should be a bunch of old pictures on it...hopefully.

I'm unsure about just buying a SATA adapter. There seem to be a bunch of options? Is a plain SATA to USB adapter okay or it might not be enough?

Sabrent External LayFlat Dock

That should be good enough to solve your issue.