jaclaz

Nice, good thought, partially wrong example. The real issue is not with the ever-changing TV remote keys layout , for two reasons: 1) I can have for a few bucks a "simplified", third party, remote with just On/off, Channel up/Channel Down, Volume up/Volume down and (luxury) change input Antenna/AV/etc. 2) After all it is about "entertainment", not "business", a TV is something you *like* to have, not something that you really *need*. Now (real life recent anecdote) when you change your washing machine, that's ANOTHER issue. We have been used for years to a "common" interface on washing machines, a single rotating knob that more or less meant "the more you turn me clockwise, the less I will do", first notch would be "complete wash with temperatures up to 90°" (please read as white linen and cotton) all the way down to just rinse passing through "more common robes" (coloured with temperatures up to 60°), "delicate" (temperatures up to 40°) "very delicate" (please read as wool and cold water) and usually with a separate button for "do at the end a full spin cycle on/off), there were symbols or letters on the body of the machine around the knob so that you could set it to a given notch and you could also visually (since the knob was mechanically connected to a rotating timer) after a little practice see roughly att a glance (what we would now call "fuzzy logic") at which point of the cycle (how much time was until the cycle ended) Then they evolved in a more complex interface, a separate knob was added to indicate the max temperature, while the main knob still meant "the more you turn me clockwise, the less I will do", slightly more complicated, but very intuitive. Some three years ago our beloved washing machine died (after some 15 years of faithful service) and we bought a new one. The new one still had a knob (now a digital thingy of some kind) and a digital display (4 digits+ dots). Still you rotated the knob only a little for a more complete cycle and more for a less complete one (with an enhancement being that a led was lit corresponding to the position to which you rotated it), and the display, once you pressed a "start" button (added), displayed in minutes how much time was left, same temperature control knob (when you operated it the display would temporarily display the max temperature set briefly) and same spin cycle on/spin cycle off button. A new usage paradigm, but still very similar to the preceding one and easy enough to learn in a very short time. Eventually (four weeks ago or so) it died also (after only something more than three 1/2 years). We bought a new one. It took us (me and wife) only two evenings reading the instruction manual and doing some experiments to manage to somehow understand the basic usage of some 10 or 12 buttons and to understand (roughly) what the large display tried to tell us. The maid (who is convinced, notwithstanding her age to be still an attractive "girl" and thus refuses to wear spectacles, without which she simply cannot see whatever is on the display) needed a "refresh course" on the usage of the interface every single time she comes (twice weekly) and notwithstanding that, she usually manages to "boil" my pullovers at 90° with the results of a three sizes less masses of wool that can only fit my wife (and she wears them occasionally to go in the garden or in the country). Luckily (can one say luckily in this cases?) the neighbour's washing machine also broke and we gave her our new "high profile" one and procured a "normal" one with a simple interface and knobs. My beloved pullovers are safe again. Now, imagine that your files are just like my pullovers, with washing machines and/or their interfaces changing/being replaced every six months or so. jaclaz

The issue with the "dual mode" converters that auto-switch between TTL and TTL/CMOS levels depending on power voltage is that it is possible that the "mechanism" is "triggered" accidentally by the power supply voltage level, a "switching" power supply may well have a slightly higher voltage output than the "label" 3.3 V and the power consumption of just the converter (next to "nothing" in terms of mA) is not enough to "stabilize" the power supply to the right level, the suggested use of two batteries is an easy way to exclude that this is what happens. The €50 for the B+B converter you linked to is more than on the "high" side, on the "outrageous" side, if you are going to spend that kind of money, you can overpay a converter that at least is stated or "guaranteed" to be "bricked Seagate" compatible, i.e. google for "TTL Seagate ebay" (without double quotes) and you will find several offers for anything between 5-10 Euros (the actual commercial value of the thingy) and 30-35 €. jaclaz

Wait a minute. How are you powering the hard disk PCB? The idea of connecting together the Tx and the Rx is to make a "loopback" test, i.e. to make sure that what you type in Hyperterminal is tramsmitted through serial port, converted to TTL on Tx, received as TTL on Rx, converted back to RS232, and ECHOed back to Hyperterminal. If "strange" or "random" ASCII characters appear on Hyperterminal screen as soon as you connect together Tx and Rx it means that *somehow* the converter (or the serial port or the serial port driver) is not functioning correctly. Besides that, the point is whether the adapter converts to "low" TTL level (right) or to TTL-CMOS (higher level and "wrong"). It is well possible, IF that converter is of the kind that outputs TTL-CMOS when powered at 5V and TTL when powered at 3.3 V, the switching power supply you are using is accidentally setting it to TTL-CMOS, try using two NEW 1.5 v batteries (in series), that should be enough to have a slightly lower than 3.3 V tension, but enough to operate the converter properly. jaclaz

Well, if you want System level access you need to become System. but that may not even be enough , and you probably want to become TrustedInstaller. Replacing System files is of course "tricky business" and the usual recommendation applies, kids, don't do this at home . However: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/155910-taking-back-the-registry-from-trustedinstaller/ http://reboot.pro/topic/17501-runassystem-and-runfromtoken/ jaclaz

There might be a "queer" issue with sector size, the topic is touched in this thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173265-formatting-an-external-drive-using-different-interfaces/ In that case the particular external case the OP used had a different behaviour when used through e-sata interface (which equates to "internal SATA") and when used through the USB interface. In practice the disk was 4 Kb sectored, the e-sata in the external case allowed this "native" geometry to "pass through", whilst the USB controller converted it to a 512 bytes sector device. Your Seagate 4 Tb disk is definitely 4 Kb sectored, I didn't check the HItachi one, but it is possible that it is also 4 kb sectored. The mentioned thread is about a workaround (a "special" partitioning scheme) to be able to use the same disk through both interfaces, in your case you should run Testdisk (and/or DMDE) with the disk attached through the same interface type it was originally partitioned/formatted. jaclaz

Check these two threads: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/170392-how-to-recover-accidentaly-deleted-partitionfiles/ http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/162321-hard-drive-bad-boot-sector-windows-8/ To have an idea of the tools commonly used (mainly testdisk and dmde) in this kind of recovery attempts. The base "preliminary" step suggested is usually that of making an image, or a clone, of the source harddisk, but in your case probably this is not really needed, you can run TESTDISK (with the /log switch) or DMDE (or both) and unless you explicitly tell them to write or change something you can have a peek at the situation, likely they will find the address (and the data) of the volume, NTFS has two copies of the PBR or bootsector and from these the tools can recreate the partition table data in the MBR (I am supposing that the "RAW" status is simply a rather common case of MBR or partition table *somehow* wiped). The disks (besides the "RAW" state do not make strange noises (like clicking or buzzing) and they do spin up normally, don't they? jaclaz

Naah, read the terms carefully: https://easytradeup.com/us/en/pages/tradeup/terms besides the deal running for a whopping 7 days: which allows for nearly noone to be eligible, nearly noone has a 6 years laptop with a working battery: You will need to buy (where?) a valid 7 or 8.1 license as: the home version won't allow you to downgrade, and of course there another few loopholes that limit the applicability of the trade-in offer. It's just crappy marketing. Surely the good MS guys will state how this offer had a great success, doubling the amount of trade-ins accomplished (they lately became fond of "relative statistics"). jaclaz

Not only that, also a clear statement about the near-real-time speed of the interwebs and/or MS computing/payment processing infrastructure: this being year 2015 ... in the first half of the 19th century a letter made it from - say - London to Paris in 48 to 72 hours. By the time your refund arrives to you there will be two new PC models released.... jaclaz

No prob, you could super-impose something like a sticky note on that. As long as you do not overdo it: it is a simple solution to this non-problem . jaclaz

Not really . (I can state that though this does not in any way imply that I know how to use such tools ) That would be only HTTP/HTTPS connections. The protocols used by "the abomination" may well be not HTTP/HTTPS. jaclaz

OT, but not much, you should eat more walnuts : http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/11/if-youre-not-paranoid-youre-crazy/407833/ jaclaz

Talking of light bulbs, maybe the newish LED based technology is actually a progress, but all these years with "energy saving" fluorescent bulbs have been in my view a definite step backwards when it comes to global sustainability. Good ol' incandescence light bulbs were just some little metal (brass+teeny-tiny quantities of tungsten and tin) and "pure" glass, whilst fluorescent bulbs (and built-in starter) contain any kind of polluting substances and are a rather serious environmental hazard if not disposed of properly. Besides (and yes, among the things I do in my "real" life/job I do cost analysis for buildings and their costs of maintenance) the lifetimes of those fluorescent bulbs has been greatly (and I mean GREATLY) exaggerated, in my experience on average they last less than half what is stated (in hours of life), as they either stop lighting up or provide a much smaller light flux (when compared to the one they provided at install time/new) in a relatively short time. Back to topic: No. jaclaz

Something must still be "defective", the last one here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?app=forums&module=forums&section=attach&tid=152688 doesn't work still (while the other ones are seemingly OK), see also: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/152688-win6x-registry-tweak/page-5 Maybe the "cut-off date" is like August (and not a week or so)? jaclaz

There are some models that possibly need to have the "Read Channel" shorted, see: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/172245-720012-terminal-unlock/ But the issue here is that even once you will have access to terminal you won't know which exact commands to issue or how to diagnose the exact problem, the: is likely to be something that you cannot simply recover via terminal commands. jaclaz

Just in case and FYI http://www.sentex.net/~mwandel/ftpdmin/ http://www.whitsoftdev.com/slimftpd/ http://www.pablosoftwaresolutions.com/html/quick__n_easy_ftp_server_lite.html jaclaz

The issue being of course that those tickets are only sold online through an app that you can only have through a "downloader app" from the Windows Store, accessible only once you have logged in with your Microsoft Online Account and that buying one will activate an interstellar tracking cookie on all your devices .... jaclaz

@All There is currently an issue with ALL board attachments, xper is looking into the matter, most probably a configuration change of some kind: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/174609-attachment-system-flawed/ Wait until the problem is (hopefully) solved, keep an eye on the above thread... jaclaz

Be my guest http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/174604-overcoming-the-ms-dos-8025-mb-limitation/?p=1109796 http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/118119-patched-iosys-for-9xme/page-7 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=33862 http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/139077-7customizer-a-windows-7-customization-and-deployment-tool/?p=1109738 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=29724 http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173642-mkprilog-batch-to-access-a-same-disk-under-two-different-interfaces/ http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=39283 http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/152688-win6x-registry-tweak/page-4#entry1109696 jaclaz

You cannot generalize like that . Most members of this forum will have read several pages of instructions to learn and set the clock properly (once ). Then after the first blackout or after the general switch needed to be put to off for some repairs, they will have lost a few days desperately searching the instruction booklet (that was thrown away the same day the VCR was bought or that managed to somehow get under a pile of book somewhere in a storage place). Then they will have spent a few hours trying blindly to push buttons until they either completely failed or succeeded in setting the clock. In any case the next blackout neutered that. And so, finally everyone will have learned to live with the : After some time it actually seems like a nice idea when you enter your sitting room at night and see the small blinking something, a small lighthouse in the darkness. jaclaz

--JorgeA Well, it's not like it's the first time (just to put things in context) and it happened not that much time ago: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2013/01/22/microsoft-announces-release-date-for-most-expensive-tablet-ever.html Anyway even this new laptop notebook tablet phablet noteblet booklet *whatever* is nothing a "serious" user could not afford, that is if it provided a "serious" OS, maybe that would be an interesting deal, you pay a premium price for MS's own (BTW most probably very good) hardware and they give you in exchange for your trust in them an actually working OS without all the crap/ads/spying/whatever . Wait a minute , this sounds a lot like what Apple has done for the last what, thirty years? Let me uncheck the "innovative marketing model" in the feature list. jaclaz

There are a few recent posts about people having an error with files posted as attachments. Besides the specific files reported as MIA, I tested (through my control panel) the existence/accessibility of files/attachments I posted, and they seem "gone". With a difference, uploaded as attachment images are still viewable/accessible, .zip files are not. Usual IPB update crazyness? Unwanted change in permissions/whatever? *Something else*? jaclaz

OT, but not much, what could be a very good idea (if only many people would get the basic "common sense" inside the message, regardless of the "specific new standard"): https://www.ampproject.org/how-it-works/ jaclaz

And now (at least in Europe) 2016 will seemingly be the year of a pico-revolution : http://www.archos.com/us/picowan/ www.archos.com/corporate/press/press_releases/PR_PicoWAN_20151006_EN.pdf I actually could tell the good guys where they can pico-stuff their pico-gateways but maybe it would not be nice/polite : jaclaz

On other (OT) news, Verizon and AOL "combining" their users tracking https://www.propublica.org/article/verizons-zombie-cookie-gets-new-life At the end of the day - and hard as it may be to even THINK it - what the good MS have put together in 10 (re:tracking/advertising) may actually be children's play. jaclaz

Starting from Windows 8 there should be (somehow limited) support for .Net through "normal" Add-Package: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh824926.aspx Or try checking "previous art". Namely Win7pE_SE, Win8PE_SE and Win8.1SE: http://w7pese.cwcodes.net/projectindex.php http://w8pese.cwcodes.net/projectindex.php http://win81se.cwcodes.net/projectindex.php have .scripts for .Net integration (Winbuilder syntax is all in all readable and relatively easy to "translate" to batch or however extracting from a .script the needed files and Registry settings is not difficult). I believe that there won't be many differences between a PE 3, 4 or 5/5.1 , the project by wimb: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/143529-make-pe3-program-to-create-portable-windows-7-pe/ http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=23931 http://reboot.pro/topic/11852-make-pe3-program-to-create-portable-windows-7-pe/ is "batch based" and may provide you with further insights. jaclaz