For what it's worth

Users of a Project Board note: the example of writing via an AXE133 to an LED/LCD display that shows connection to "B.7" means the B.7 output from the Picaxe Chip, NOT the connection with the same nomenclature which is connected through a Darlington IC. The latter won't drive the LED/LCD - you need to get the unmodified signal direct from the Picaxe chip.

I wasted ages trying to get friends' Wanadoo broadband working again after changing the password.

First, we tried changing the password on their User Account panel, but it appeared to have failed. However, the old password wouldn't work either. So we called them, and Yes, the new password had been applied. Why wasn't it working? No idea. Checked every letter, and the initial capital. All fine.

But now no internet. After an awful lot of wasted time, I called them again and asked them to reset the password - to "Rotten" (my level of morale). They did (took ages) but still no luck. Then the agent suggested she reset it so that it was all-lower-case ("rotten"), and bingo - everything working again. Why did she suggest this? I suspect that Orange may know they have a problem here. Why can't they fix it, or at least warn users?

They tell you that passwords are case-sensitive, and allow you to set passwords with capitals in them - but then their system falls over when you try to apply those passwords. It may only apply to some setups (this was with a telephone-directory-sized Livebox) but to be on the safe side, my recommendation is always use lower-case-only passwords for Orange/Wanadoo.

Somewhere deep in their settings, Orange/Wanadoo seem to have some subtle different from a normal ADSL ISP.

Every so often, my normally blue Windows 7 taskbar would go greyish at the right-hand end. The extent seemed to vary - was this some graphical indication of the state of my PC? What was it telling me?

It's taken me about a year to work it out: it is a window that I have open on my right-hand screen (I have two, with the main taskbar on the left) which overlaps to the left screen. Even though there is something else in front, filling the right-hand screen, if any window overlaps the join between the screens, it will appear, semi-transparent, in front of the taskbar (but behind the clock text).

Not sure if this is something special to skinnyClock, which I run to get a clock with seconds showing, or universal. Hope it helps some other puzzled soul.

That was what I thought - until I eventually spotted a rather small and undemonstrative note telling me that I the upload would take me beyond my quota. Not clever, Google!

Tried to report a problem with Google Groups, only to get stuck. The report form failed with "Please enter the URL of the group" - but what did I enter? The name of the group? - No. The URL that Google Groups used for the group - Not that either. Or (as experimentation proved) - Not Quite.

Google Groups uses an https:// prefix, but the form insists on http://

The fault code (error code) F04 on a Bosch Washing Machine means that the machine hasn't been able to pump out. Most likely this will be because of a small foreign body making it into the pump housing - but it is worth a visual check for a kink in the drain pipe as that would be even easier to fix.

Before doing anything, remove the mains plug.

The key is to remove the access and drain plug. But unless you can cope with 10 litres of detergent-laden water all over the floor, first you need to drain most of the water fromthe machine. Pull down the flap at bottom right hand corner, look for black flexible hose (approx 1cm diameter) with rubber plug in the end. Take a plastic carton (a 3-litre washing liquid carton is ideal) and drain into that - placing a drip tray underneath (eg a shallow baking tray). This is a slow job!

When there is no more liquid coming out of the small pipe, replace the bung. Then undo the big (10cm diameter) access plug by unscrewing it. See my other note about using Polymorph to improve grip if you can't turn it by hand. Be ready for quite a bit more liquid when you remove it.

Check again that the power is off, then feel inside the pipe that you've just exposed - there are two pipes entering the chamber, and a four-blade impeller at the back. This is where that small coin will be if that is the problem.

If you need to explore further, you can remove the pump entirely - and it's not too scary a job (well done Bosch). Turn the machine onto its side and remove the eight Torx screws holding the centre access panel on the bottom of the machine. Remove the plastic moulding that covers the access knob at the bottom of the front face of the machine (1 Torx screw) and then remove a very small Torx screw at the bottom of the access pipe (ie the bit the access knob screws into): note how this fits for when you put it back. Removing the screw will allow you to remove the pump from the body of the machine, and that makes it easier to remove the two pipes that fit onto it (spring clips around the rubber pipes).

POSTSCRIPT
Having hit increasingly frequent F04 errors (opened up, found no blockage but a residue of rather thick washing liquid), I feared that there was something seriously wrong - perhaps the impeller slipping on its shaft.

But in fact I have banished the errors by moving to use a "wash-ball" (plastic container the size of a tennis ball with a slice cut off  - washing liquid goes into this which then goes into the load) rather than the drawer.

Our Bosch washing machine occasionally fails with an "F04" code, which relates to a blockage on the pump impeller. There is a nice big access knob that gives access to the impeller - but the flanges for you to hold are very thin, and of brittle plastic. After a couple of attempts with the extra help of a Mole wrench, I ended up with flanges too weak to turn with a wrench, and a plug too stiff to turn by hand.

The solution? Buy a tub of Polymorph plastic granules - melt an egg-sized lump of the material (it's a plastic that melts in hot water) and force it on top of whatever remains of the filter/impeller access knob, forming a ridge on the top to give you a comfortable grip. Let it cool down and then turn. You can even re-use the Polymorph for another project if you are sure you won't need to remove the drain knob again.

I've been pulling out my (remaining) hair trying to work out why I was getting strange results for "Find" in Visio 2000.

When I looked for a particular word (eg a function name) it would match seemingly random bits of text that bore no resemblance to the search string.

Eventually I spotted that the length was always correct, and that set me looking more carefully at the Search box.

Ticking the "Match character width" did the trick.

Why? Because it seems that Visio thinks I am using the Katakana alphabet. My regional settings are for the UK, and all the text is in English. I can't work out how to change this, but at least I have found a workaround!

The setup for Visio 2000 is - to me - a bit confused. Trying to change the background colour for a page, I struggled with Page Setup and Colour Schemes. I checked the Shapesheet settings. I dug around in the Registry settings.

Eventually, I took to ploughing through the Help system entries one more time, and there it was: Tools | Options | General - obvious really, but this is the second time I have struggled to find it. So here is a note to remind myself next time (and to help anyone else who finds this from a search).

Lochmaster 4 is a nice stripboard layout package, reasonably priced. BUT it has one real nasty - the default TO-92 (flattened cylinder) transistor package has its pins the opposite way round to the most common orientation. (Why on earth do we have a supposed standard like TO-92 which tolerates either of two opposite pin configurations?)

Lochmaster DOES offer transistor components with the "most common" orientation (ie E, B, C looking at the flat front with the pins running vertically downwards) but they are further down the list (BC639 for NPN and BC640 for PNP) - you can move them up the list so that they are at the top when you come to choose a transistor.

Hit this again today, on a Vista PC . Turned out that the user had used Switch User rather than Log Off when changing from one account to another, so the PC had two users logged on simultaneously. That shouldn't be a problem, but the DNS-323 doesn't seem to cope with that. Log off the second account, try again, and perhaps it will work (it did for me)!

Finally found the Registry entry for the nag-screen that demands registration with a maximum of 15 days until the next nag.

Search on "Programs\Registration.exe /title="CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12"  as a value and delete the entry

It was described in the Registry hierarchy as "CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 11b" which might be another way of finding it.

Find it difficult to get data on this? Turn it through 180 degrees and then look up NE555N. The very blocky text used for the part number means it looks all too credible when viewed upside down!

Update - to clarify for "Gord The Rogue":

Just to be clear - there is no such component as an "N5553N" - what you have is an NE555N with the label printed in a "square" font and you are reading it from the wrong side. Turn it round so that it reads "NE555N" and then see the diagram at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/555_timer_IC

Here's my busy person's method for making porridge.

You will need:

• Microwave Oven
• Digital Scales - set for metric weighing.
• Ordinary Porridge Oats (not Jumbo, nor instant)
• Milk (or dried milk powder)
• Water

Weigh the oats into a large bowl. Use 25g per large ladle-full of finished porridge.

Add liquid by weight (much quicker and simpler than by volume): FIVE times the weight of oats. Ratio of milk to water isn't crucial: I reckon that milk should be about 50-60%. If you're short of milk, you can use 100% water with a few tablespoons of dried milk powder.

Stick bowl in Microwave. If you have a Countdown/Hold function, you can set it up the moment you get up (I wouldn't recommend overnight because of the milk).

Set the porridge to cook 1 minute for every 100g of liquid that you added.
(So, as an example, for two medium-sized portions: 100g oats, 500g milk/water mix, 5 mins cooking)

This is based on an 850w microwave oven with turntable - you may need to adjust for your particular oven.

As soon as the cooking is finished, stir thoroughly (10 secs should be plenty). This step is important - you can get away without any stirring during cooking as long as you do it immediately it comes out of the microwave. Don't worry that it looks a bit thin at this stage - it will thicken up as it cools down.

Dish up immediately into individual bowls.  Use a spatula to remove as much porridge as possible from the bowl (less waste and easier washing up). Soak the cooking bowl (and, later, the individual bowls) to make washing up easier.

Leave the porridge untouched for at least five minutes to thicken (and to cool down to a palatable temperature).

Have they started cutting corners?

If so, then perhaps you've appended the data set to itself. That's what caused this problem, and it took me a while to spot it.

I've just had the third of these units pack in because the power supply has failed. The spec makes it difficult to find an exact equivalent affordably - 5V dc is common, but 2Amp is the challenge. So all three units have gone in the bin. What a shame.

In case this helps anyone: the plug has a diameter of around 4.5mm and centre is positive. The original has part number GPSA 0500252 or JTA0302D-C (I have failed specimens of both)

How wonderful to find a company who resist the temptation to take advantage of vulnerable customers when they make a mistake.

Firstly, well done to Norfolkline for allowing Dover-Dunkirk customers to travel one crossing earlier or later than their booked crossing without financial penalty. How much less stress that brings to the drive to the port when compared to the alternative "deviate from our terms and we'll have a lot of money off you" approach that seems to apply to their rivals.

(The nasty gotcha in most companies' amendement terms is that whilst there might only be a £20 change fee, they then charge the current ("walk-up") fare for the new crossing - which could be vastly more than the advance fare you paid for the original crossing).

But secondly, well done to them for correcting an error of mine, at no charge. Booking different companies for England-France and France-England meant that I made two one-way bookings. And for my Norfolkline booking, I clearly forgot to change the Dover-Dunirk default to Dunkirk-Dover. So we had a booking for a boat in the wrong direction.

We realised this on the autoroute, 30 minutes before our reporting time at Dunkirk. A few minutes on the phone to Norfolkline and they had changed the booking to the right boat, without charge. Thank you Norfolkline.

And thirdly, well done to them for getting us on our scheduled crossing even though we reported with 22 minutes to go (rather than the contractual 45 minutes).

And a nice, clean, boat too.

All in all, a good experience.

Wasted a lot of time on setting up Outlook 2000 in Windows 7.

This note (from elsewhere) looked like it did the trick:
Copy the following files:
wab32.dll
wab32res.dll
From:
\Program Files\Common Files\System
To:
\Windows\System32


Success? Well, Yes - in terms of sending and receiving mail.


But then any attempt to import other PST files brought the error message: "The messaging interface has returned an unknown error". There seemed to be no sure fix to this.

So eventually, I gave up and decided to move to Thunderbird - but then hit the problem that Thunderbird in Windows 7 wouldn't import the PST files either - because Thunderbird doesn't let you choose where to find a PST file - it looks at the file that Outlook is pointed at, and I couldn't get Outlook to point at any of the other PST files.

So, the solution was to install Outlook 2000 and Thunderbird in XP Mode (needs Windows 7 Pro or above), then point Outlook 2000 at each PST file in turn. (Rename it after each time so that once again, Outlook asks you which file you want). Each time, open Thunderbird and choose Tools, Import, Outlook - and it will find the PST file and extract.


What a pain!

Here is a graph that appeared on the BBC Ten O'clock news on Friday 10th September 2010:

Looks like a dramatic drop that is coming up. But check for a moment, and look at the vertical axis. Those bars don't start at zero, as one might expect. They start at about 80,000. Nice dramatic graphic - shame it distorts the truth that the BBC is charged with communicating. (The source is perhaps relevant: the Police Federation, who might be called an "interested party" when it comes to the number of Police Officers as it is their representative body. Of course this is the way they would want to show the numbers: the question is whether the BBC should go along with it).

 Let's take that data and show it with a proper zero:


Not quite so dramatic now, is it?

When such a graphic appears fleetingly on television, the viewer has no chance to reflect on what they have seen, or to check the presentation - the graph has gone and the story has moved on.

So it is vital that you are careful to make sure that the average (non-statistician) viewer takes away a fair understanding from the graphic that you show.

Black Mark BBC.



Please note: I have nothing against Police Officers. My interest is in honest and accurate presentation of information and my gripe is with the BBC, not the Police - it just happens that it is Police Officer numbers that were the subject of the example that caught my attention.


POSTSCRIPT 28 September 2010: Response from BBC

I write in response to your recent submission via the BBC Complaints website regarding the BBC News at Ten broadcast on 10 September 2001.

My name is David Larner and I am BBC Audience Services’ Complaints Co-ordinator with responsibility in this area therefore this matter has been escalated for my personal attention. I’m sorry for the delay replying.

You suggest that the BBC is guilty of “dishonest presentation of graphical data”, but what you call a "suppressed zero" is entirely commonplace therefore I’m struggling to see your point here as such graphs simply represent the relevant section of data.

Clearly there would never be any circumstance where the number of police officers would go down to zero or anywhere near it therefore it would be entirely irrelevant to make reference to zero on a graph.

Our data compared a decade of specific figures thus the graph simply encompassed the general range of those specific figures hence our graph and the axis values thereon were perfectly relevant and accurate.

The reporter also explained verbally that in 2000 the number of officers was around 120,000 therefore the middle value on our axis was 120,000. He went on to say that in 2010 the figure had risen to around 140,000 thus the upper value shown was 140,000. The final, lower, figure quoted was around 100,000 and so our lower value was 100,000 in order to give context to the figures given.

This did not “exaggerate the scale of change” as you suggest but merely presented the relevant data, and whilst the source was credited as the Police Federation it is the BBC which chooses how to present such information in our own programmes.

You ask “Surely the BBC must have some standards on the presentation of graphical information?” and indeed we do, in that we ensure that graphical information is accurate, appropriate and relevant as it was - demonstrably - in this case, even though it is your personal opinion that a zero should have been shown.

You refer to the graphic in question as one that “appears fleetingly on television” and extrapolate from this that “the viewer has no chance to reflect on what they have seen, or to check the presentation” because “the graph has gone and the story has moved on”.

In actual fact, the graph was on the screen for no less than twenty seconds, a very long time indeed in the context of a news report, and the context and the figures was clearly explained by the reporter verbally too. The values on the axis were perfectly clear and were displayed as static figures throughout.

Indeed, so clear was the data that you - as "the viewer" - have been able to both submit a complaint to the BBC and also create an entire blog site dedicated to the matter.

I can’t agree with your implied suggestion that viewers other than yourself were not able to compute the data being presented to them, and audience feedback suggests to us that your personal view on this matter is not shared by others.  

I hope this clarifies the BBC's position and in conclusion, please once again accept my apologies for the delayed response to your email.

A simple need: an easy way to plug in a memory key for a computer with rear-only USB ports, or where the base unit is in an inconvenient position.

I thought I had found the answer in the iPod Shuffle Dock model M9757 - effectively just a USB extension lead with the female socket on a firm base. BUT beware: there is something not-quite-standard about the USB socket on the end of it. Insert a Memory Key and it isn't seen by the PC. Insert a USB extension lead, and then insert the memory key at the end of the extension lead (which rather defeats the point of the dock) and the PC sees the memory key. Tried on two different PCs, and with two specimens of the dock. I am sure it works well as a dock for an iPod Shuffle, but don't recommend it as a generic USB dock.

Eventually, I tracked down a Belkin product that is similar. Can't find it listed on a Belkin site, but others describe it as "USB extension with stand" or "USB extension with cradle".

Dell's Dimension series (4600 certainly, and I think several other models) have a crude fault-finding system that involves four illuminated letters (ABCD) on the motherboard. Each light glows green or yellow, and they change as the boot-up sequence progresses.

Mine showed green-yellow-green-green (ie A green, B yellow, C green, D green). This isn't listed as one of the codes for which an explanation is offered. In my case, (fans operating but HDD did not boot, and CPU did not warm up) it turned out to be a failed power supply. Hope this helps someone else.

Postscript December 2010: same PC, same code. Tested power supply which was OK. So replaced CMOS battery, removed memory, restarted (occasional beeps that were too far apart to be considered a pattern that could be looked up), replaced memory, restarted, and all OK. POST reported having closed down "due to a thermal event". Make of this what you can!

OK, it's old, but it still works for me - it is perfectly happy under XP.

But today I tried to create a new set of accounts using Quicken 98  and hit the error message "could not create main file".

It eventually dawned on me - Quicken 98 can only cope with file names of up to 8 characters. A shame it couldn't have offered a more useful error message.

Suddenly, out of the blue, files on a DNS-323 started reporting problems like:

Unable to save permission changes on [File name]
Access is denied

You don't have permission to open this file
Contact the file owner or an administrator to obtain permission

Error applying security
You require permission from Unix User\nobody


The cause seems to be related to editing a file in Vista (see forum discussion).

The workaround that limped me through:

Using the Easylink utility, DELETE any existing Mapped Drive for the PC you are working from.

Using the Network Access within the Configuration options, add a new "All users" mapping of the problem folder (tick-box for All Users rather than "User" or "Group") . Map THIS folder for your user using Easylink - and you will find that you CAN now open your files.

Remember to remove the all-users access to the folder if free access is a problem.

Conclusion on the DNS-323: too many hidden nasties to be a reliable choice.  I was within a few minutes of having to install "fun_plug" and learning how to modify permissions using telnet - not the sort of administration level promoted in D-link's promotional material. And whilst similar problems have been documented for over two years, D-link seem to have been in no rush to fix things. Avoid.

An email enquiry to Panasonic elicited a reply in something under six months, and it only took another 15 minutes' experimentation to work out which bit of theie eventual instructions they had got wrong.

Here is what you REALLY need to do - at least for my DMREH50 (but I suspect it will be the same for many other models).

Choose the Functions menu, then hold down the Functions key on the remote for at least SIX seconds. You should see a rather crude screen that shows the current RF output channel, and allows you to choose a different one.

Simple once you know how.

Hope this is of use to someone.

A nice unit, but what a horrible manual - one double-sided sheet of A4 came with my unit (and that included wiring instructions). How to change the clock (eg for summertime)? No hint.

Online resources (eg pdf manual) were no better. Eventually, trial and much error revealed the answer - hold SET for at least SIX SECONDS and you can change 12<->24 hours, differential (0.5 degree or 1 degree) and the time!

Update 2010: Not such a nice unit: failed after about 18 months.

If I forgive the concept of advance-booking airport car parks for the moment, then hats off to NCP who at least manage their advance bookings in a competent and civlised way.

I'd booked a place at Birmingham International but as we were about to set off, discovered a mechanical problem with the car. We had a second car available - but what about the booking for the car park?

Had it been a change of passenger for a budget flight, we would have faced an admin charge of something around £100. With NCP, you can make an online change the details of the car you'll be using even at short notice, even for an advance-purchase, no-cancellation deal - without charge.

How good to find a company who could take money off you to punish you for a change in plans (which costs them nothing), but who choose not to.

Driving back from Birmingham International Airport (BHX) we ended up taking a short but slow route north - it avoided the detour to the nearest M42 junction, using a parallel "A" road with long sections of 30 and 40 limit, and lots of traffic lights. After what seemed an age, we passed an airport transfer bus, and realised that this was taking people to the airport from the Hams Hall off-airport parking (run by APH I believe). Hams Hall is a LONG way from the airport.

If you are thinking of using Hams Hall, have a very good look at where it is, and be sure that you are going to have a lot of spare time for the transfer. It would be a nightmare of a place to use if you were in a hurry.

I look after our village website, and received a frustrated email from the administrator of an organisation. The village website had their old email and phone details, and it was causing problems.

They don't have a website of their own (silly them), so they rely on other peoples' websites to provide contact details. The person who contacted me seemed to feel that it was my failing in not having checked that their information was still correct. That's a reasonable expectation for links to web pages - where there is automatic software available that can scan every link on a site for broken links.

But there is no automatic way to check that Mr Sproggins hasn't changed his mobile number, and that his email address hasn't changed. And it seems a bit much to expect that a webmaster should check every piece of information (how often?) to make sure it hasn't changed. That would be a bit like a phone system without bells - where you were expected to pick up the receiver every few minutes in case there was someone wanting to talk to you.

It's much more realistic to expect that the information SUBJECT should take responsibility for contacting those whose websites are showing the OLD information. And that isn't as tricky as it seems.

Step One is to do a Google Search for the old data item. So if Mr Sproggins has changed his mobile number from 0789 0123 456, then Google for "0789 0123 456" OR "0789 0123456" (the whole lot - with both sets of quotes and the OR in capitals: it does matter!).

Note - Google treat phone numbers simply as text strings, so spacing does matter. You need to include each of the common spacings for your number (perhaps also "078 9012 3456") to catch all examples.

Some entries listed by Google will be historic (eg postings to discussion groups which are of no current relevance) but for those which are ongoing, the subject can then contact the webmaster with new information.

Step Two is to keep vigilant for NEW promulgation of the old information. Someone writes a webpage and picks up the old details from printed information or someone else's out-of-date website. And if you don't catch it, that old information will be out on the web to be found and re-quoted. The trick here is to set up a Google Alert on the old information (use the same search string as above) - so that Google send you an email every time their robots come across an instance of the old data.

You may be surprised how long it takes before people stop quoting the old information!

Labels: "email links", "updating web"

This is a tailored (and extended) version of Steve Larkin's instructions - using the settings for ITV1 Wales.

1. Press "Services" on the Sky handset (button 4)
2. Choose "System Setup" (button 4)
3. Select "Add Channels" by pressing button 4 again on the Sky Handset.
4. Enter the five digit frequency 10832 using the handset number buttons (the system will add the decimal place for you)
5. Move to the next Sky onscreen menu item (below) using the down arrow button.
6. Use the left / right arrow button to select the correct polarity: H
7. On the same basis, set Symbol Rate to 22.000 and FEC to 5/6
8. Scroll down to the "Find Channels" option onscreen menu and then press "Select"
9. If all is well, you will see a list of ITV 1 regions - use the YELLOW button to select ITV1 Wales.
10. Press Select to complete the process.
11. Press "Backup" repeatedly to exit the "Add channels" menu.

To watch the channel - Choose Services, then option 7 "Other Channels". You should be able to select ITV1 Wales from your list


For other regions, see the list of settings at http://www.stevelarkins.freeuk.com/itv_regions_sky_digibox.htm

Labels: ITV1 Wales

What an obvious thing to want to change, and how badly documented.

The default is 192.168.1.254

To change, access the browser from a browser, then choose

Home Network
Interfaces
LocalNetwork

Then Choose "Configure" from the menu in the top right-hand corner.

And there you are - with an "Edit" link that lets you make the change.

Simple really - so simple that Thompson presumably thought it so laughably obvious that it didn't merit a mention in the 132-page User Guide

Labels: Speedtouch 780

A few years back, the typical TV weather forecast involved dividing the country up into three or four zones, and describing the weather for each zone.

Where I live - in the Derbyshire Dales - always seemed to be on the join between two completely different forecasts.

So the BBC's web-based forecasts should have been brilliant for us. And often they are. But today I hit a contrast that I cannot explain - and given that the BBC's complaints system doesn't allow uploading of images, I am using this page to illustrate the problem.

At 0651 on Thursday 27th March 2008, this is what the five-day forecast for Derby looked like this:



Thursday looks pretty dreadful, so give up on the plans for a day's walking.
















But hang on, let's just check the 24-hour forecast - displayed at exactly the same time - for Derby:


Now, that looks better. In fact, that looks completely different.

I acknowledge that summarising can be difficult (do you show the average, best or worst of a very variable day?) - but in this case, the options would be to show "cloudy" or "sunny intervals".

Would any reasonable person summarise this as "Heavy Showers"?

I am asking BBC weather to comment, and will copy their response here.

John's notes (from bitter experience) on setting up the DNS-323 under Windows XP.

Setting up the DNS-323

There seems no way to set up separate drive partitions within a single volume on the DNS-323, but you can set up different folders and give these different permissions. To set up, rename or delete folders, you need to set up a user-name and password - which you get to under the Advanced tab on the configuration menu - which you get at by using http://192.168.0.xxx where xxx is whatever you have set it up, or the default (which I think is 32). That user needs to be given Network Access (also on the advanced tab) to the top-levle of the volume. Then go to any PC on the network, navigate to the DNS-323 ("My Network Places" etc) and you should see the device and the volume. You will need to enter the username and password when you try to open the volume.

Providing un-passworded access to a folder is easy - there is an ALL option in the Network Access dialog. But if you want different people to be able to use different folders, then you have to be careful with passwords.

You use the http access to the DNS-323 to set up users and to add Network Access permissions for folders. Note that giving permission for a user to access a parent folder restricts you to mapping a Network Drive to the parent directory - you cannot use that permission to allow separate mapping of subfolders to different Network Drives. So if the boss can see FolderA, FolderB and FolderC, then either set up separate permissions for each folder and map them to separate drives - or map a single drive to the folder that contains these three subfolders.

Setting up user PCs

The EasySearch software seems to need to run from a local hard disk. If it doesn't find the DNS-323, check for a Windows Firewall dialog box sitting hidden behind other windows. I found it as easy to set up Network Drive connections using Windows Explorer.

If users have a Windows Login with a password of 5 to 8 charactes, then things are quite easy. Set up a User for the DNS-323 with the user's logon name, and use the same password.

If users have a Windows Login with a password greater than 8 characters (the limit for DNS-323 - dumbly), then create a different user name for them on the DNS-323, and when you map a Network Drive for them, choose "Connect using a different user name" and specify the DNS=323's username and password.

If users do not use a password to log in to Windows, and you are sure they are not going to do so in future, then you can use the same username for the DNS-323 (invent a password) and for Windows XP, but when you use Map Network Drive to map their folder, choose "Connect using a different user name". Then enter the SAME user name as for Windows login, and use the password you have set up for that user on the DNS-323. Note that if you do later add a Windows login password for this user name, then that password will be used by Windows to try and access the DNS-323 even though you have specified a different password in the Map Network Drives dialog.

Good Luck!

Postscript: December 2009. Just got this working properly under Vista - it seemed to need the update to 1.7 firmware ... which (without warning) wipes the Network Access setup (ie who gets to see which folders). But whilst I succeeded in setting up the DNS-323 as a Mapped Network Drive (using the utility on the D-link website - make sure you run it from the client PC's local disk), I failed to get Acronis TrueImage to work with the drive: it DID see the drive, but failed when I actually ran the backup. Reading around suggests that there is a fundamental problem (related to the operating system used by the DNS-323) and not just a glitch.

Even if you have paid in advance on a no-changes no-refunds tariff, Travelodge reserve the right to overbook their hotel, and may do no more than give you back your initial payment if they have run out of rooms when you arrive. That refund is very unlikely to be enough to cover the "walk-up" price of an alternative hotel. But I have obtained some promises from Travelodge that may help.

Travelodge works on a pay-in-advance model for their hotel rooms. And for cheaper tariffs, there is no option to change date, or to get a refund if you cancel.

So what possible justification is there for overbooking rooms that have been reserved on a pre-paid non-amendable basis?

The Travelodge website explains:

"Like almost all other hotel companies, we overbook some of our hotels because we know that a percentage of our customers make a reservation but then do not arrive to check-in. [...] Our aim is to make sure that people who arrive to fulfil their booking are allocated their rooms, while also ensuring that rooms that would have been left empty due to other customers not arriving are also used."

In answer to the question "What happens if the hotel I am staying in is overbooked?" they explain:
"On rare occasions, it becomes necessary for us to find suitable alternative accommodation for our customers in the local area or offer to refund the room."

This suggests that the family of four who have booked a £15 bargain room could find themselves in a strange town, having prepaid for their room - but finding themselves out on the street with their £15 refunded - and faced with paying a heavy "walk-up" price for whatever other hotel they might be able to find with rooms at no notice.

It is possible that Travelodge would never in practice just refund your payment - but their website seeks to allow them to limit their action to this level.

Anyone faced with this situation may have a legal claim against Travelodge. I am no lawyer, but a Trading Standards person suggested there might be a case against them for the extra costs.

But there is another approach that can help reduce the risk of grief.

After I pressed them, Sue James of Travelodge Customer Relations wrote to me on 20th November 2006, and I share her clarifications here for the benefit of others.

I asked about whether there were limits on their financing of an alternative hotel: "If you are telling me that you will not impose any limits on how far you will transport overbooked customers, nor the expense of the alternative hotel, please could you confirm that explicitly."

Travelodge replied: "We can confirm that transport will be provided both ways and you will incur no further costs re accommodation. "

She also offered: "For your peace of mind we can when you have made a booking place a note on that booking to say ‘booking guaranteed’, just e-mail your booking reference to Customer Services. In the event of a late arrival please inform both the hotel and Customer Services where we can again put a note on the system."

This is easier said than done - but my solution is to send a fax to the hotel (they list fax numbers on the details of each hotel, and unlike the phone number, it does connect directly to the specific hotel).
In your fax, I confirm my booking details, quote Ms James, and confirm that I expect to find a room available when you arrive. It doesn't guarantee they won't stand meup, but I suspect that it would help my prospects if they did stand me up, and I had to go to court to seek compensation.

Good Luck.

This is an edited version of the response I made to the DTI on their proposals for Post Office network modification.

The December 2006 proposals for reshaping the Post Office network propose that the network be designed to achieve widespread access to Post Office “outlets”. In rural areas, for example, 95% of the population are to be within three miles of an “outlet”.

I agree that there was need for a review. I agree that defined levels of access are far better than the previous network rationale which might be summed up as “protect what happened to have survived so far”.

But I am very unhappy about the extremely wide range of provision that is being covered by the term “outlet”. The report notes: “an ‘outlet’ can be a fixed branch or a location at which outreach services are available”.

I have no problem with Post Office services being delivered from non-traditional premises, or from a van.

But the crucial flaw in the proposals is that there is no specification of when these services should be available. A visiting Post Office van parked outside the village hall for 30 minutes a week will count as an Outlet, just as a Post Office facility within an open-all-hours village shop will count as an Outlet. But the needs that they will meet are very different.

The once-a-week visit will allow the pensioner to draw cash, and it will allow the less mobile to transact other predictable business (like renewing a tax disc). But it will be useless for anyone needing to send a packet or parcel on any of the other days of the week.

As the proposals stand, there will be rural customers supposedly covered by a once-a-week “outlet”, where outgoing post will effectively be limited to items that will fit into the postbox. Anything larger could involve a drive to the nearest “full-time” outlet – and in some areas, this could easily be 10 miles, and sometimes more than 25 miles away.

Rural users need an additional promise – that 95% of them will be within 3 miles of a daily parcel collection point. That doesn’t need to be a Post Office or even an outlet that sells other services - but it does need to be somewhere local where users can take a parcel, have it weighed, and pay their money. Alternatively, the Post Office could arrange for the local postman/postwoman to call and collect a parcel or package from the customer - as long as this was at the same price as from a Post Office outlet, and as long as the user could order such a collection simply and quickly.

If this doesn’t happen, many small rural businesses will face a real impediment to their continuation, and hopes for a rural renaissance will be even more fanciful than at present. It’s all very well having broadband internet to a rural business for bringing in the orders, but how will that business survive if sending out their orders involves a daily 20-mile round-trip to the nearest full-time Post Office “outlet”?

The once-a-week “outlet” also falls down badly in serving the needs of rural businesses that need to pay in or withdraw cash on a daily basis. Admittedly, cash is becoming less critical for many businesses, and there may be relatively few rural businesses that are deeply rural, yet take in too much cash to safely store until the weekly visit from the Post Office “outlet”. But the proposals show no sign that the needs of these businesses have even been considered.

Labels: Network, Post Office, rural

A fair bit of research has given us a low-cost solution to our Telecoms needs for our village hall in Derbyshire, which I thought might be useful to others

We wanted:

- An inbound-calls + emergency-outbound phone in the main hall
- A payphone in the entrance lobby
- Broadband for our public-user computer
- in a location where the Mobile Phone signal on most networks is marginal

And we didn't want to spend much. Our payphone income is about £5 a year, which made the £200-odd of line rental from BT a real drain on resources. But without that, how would we allow users to dial 999 in an emergency, and how would a parent ring the preschool supervisor to warn them that they were running late?

Our solution, which has worked well:

1. Get rid of BT landline

2. Buy a secondhand "Premicell" adapter which allows an ordinary phone to use a mobile phone connection. The unit (ours cost about £70 from an eBay auction) has an inbuilt aerial (you can add a bigger one if needs be) - in our case, by mounting the unit high up in the building, we get a good enough mobile signal. We then bought a pay-as-you go SIM card to go in it - someone just needs to remember to check the credit every few months (you can do this online if you register).

3. To make sure that calls can still be made in a power cut (or if the power goes off in a fire), we have bought a small UPS (uninterruptable power supply) designed for a computer (about £40) - this has a sealed rechargeable battery in it which will keep a PC going several minutes. Because the "Premicell" unit uses so little power, the UPS unit would keep it going for weeks without mains if necessary.

3. Connect your payphone into the Premicell. The "default" charging rate is probably less than we pay the mobile company for our calls, but on the volume we have it probably adds up to a loss of a pound or two per year - a lot less than the BT line rental.

4. Buy a special phone for any other areas where you want users to be able to take incoming calls, and where you want them to be able to dial 999. The only one I've found is the Interquartz 9281P EEPROM phone, which is expensive - about £85 by the time you have paid to have it programmed.

The phone can be set up with one or ten buttons, and there is a special chip in it which stores the numbers for each button. In our case, we have just one button, programmed to the digit "9". The instructions then say "In emergency, press button three times". You could offer other fixed-number calls (eg to caretaker) - if so, I would advise programming the calls to an 0845 number that you buy for the purpose - then you can re-direct the calls to the next caretaker rather than have to have the phone chip sent away from reprogramming (which costs an outrageous £25+vat).

5. For broadband, we needed a decent connection - but knew it wouldn't be used a lot. So we have done a deal with a neighbour where we pay most of the cost of their fixed-line Broadband connection, which we share using a wifi link from their house into our building. It took a bit of setting up (it doesn't take a great thickness of stone wall to wipe out the signal) but it has worked well - we get a sensibly-priced broadband connection, and they get a subsidised broadband connection for themselves in return for housing (and powering) a wifi router.

6. An enhancement you might want to consider (we may do it one day) is to add a Spiura 3000 VOIP adapter, which would provide Phone-via-Broadband (VOIP). This unit has connections both for Internet (for the VOIP connections) and for an external analogue line - and it drops back to the latter in the event of power failure. You can also program it to route calls over VOIP or analogue (in our case the mobile-via-premicell) - and you would need to set this up to route 999 calls over mobile in all cases.

The benefits of this setup are:
- probably better call quality
- certainly cheaper per minute cost of calls
- the building would be able to receive incoming calls on a "proper" telephone number*

* Companies such as voip.co.uk can provide phone numbers on any UK exchange at minimal cost - just be aware that the first few digits of the "local" number will be in a different number range from that used by BT. For example, in our village, all BT numbers are in the 01629 650xxx format, whilst VOIP numbers are in different ranges, eg 01629 888xxx).

Crucially, you still need the Premicell - to provide the via-mobile route for outgoing 999 calls (and other calls during a power failure): VOIP systems do not generally offer 999 calls and your Broadband will stop working when the power goes off.

If anyone does set this up, please let me know how you get on.

We stayed at this hotel in late October 2006, booked through Greenbee. They described it as a "Charming hotel near public gardens" and list it as Three-Star (which they call "Quality" - better than "Value" and lower than "Superior"). The hotel is listed as "Limited First Class" by the Golden Tulip marketing chain ("limited" meaning that it lacks some services such as full-service restaurants).

We were very disappointed. Perhaps that was because we had unreasonable expectations - form your own opinion. Here are a few of our photos to show features - as at the date of our visit - that the hotel and Greenbee didn't seem to have room for on their websites.

The hotel’s apparent attitude to quality is perhaps best summed up by the notices around the hotel (but only visible after check-in) that warn: “Sorry for some deficient services. We are renewing our hotel”

To find temporary notices like this when you arrive (but without having been warned in advance) would be disappointing.

To find that the hotel had gone to the trouble of having the message engraved onto gold-painted notices and fixed permanently to the walls – that signifies a much more fundamental acceptance of customer disappointment.

At the Nazioni, those notices were not only permanently fixed, they had been there long enough to display streaks of paint that showed that they had been there since before the last round of decoration.

This is is the bathroom in Room 402 (two rooms making a "quad room" sharing one bathroom, potentially an excellent configuration for a family).

The original dark-pink tiles have been painted over with light-pink paint, but that has not adhered very well, and it has come off in places. Indeed, the tiles have come off altogether in places, and others are broken. Not my idea of "Quality" or "Limited First Class".






Warning for those with sensitive noses - we couldn't see or hear any sign of external ventilation in the (fully internal) bathroom for 402 (or 501) - it appears that the only way that "unpleasant bathroom smells" are going to disappear is by seeping into the bedrooms.







The bathroom (and bedroom) doors within Room 402 did not close because the frames were broken. The external door was fine, but if parents had any ideas of romance without their kids as an audience, they would be disappointed here.












Upon complaint, we were moved to Room 501, which wasn't a lot better. The doors did close, but there were no bedside lights (power sockets but no power), and the bathroom was both tatty...











... and had an electrical socket about 500mm from the basin (presumably legal in Italy even if it wouldn't be in the UK) which was coming out of the wall - a potentially fatal risk for young children.















Breakfast was also a severe disappointment - on our first morning I was almost sick at the stench from the rancid butter – two consecutive portions were the same, and the whole batch was eventually replaced when I complained.

The lukewarm coffee was identifiable only by the label “coffee” on its flask – certainly instant, and possibly a mix of cheap coffee and other even lower-cost adulterants.

The Pineapple “drink” was over-sweetened and unpleasant. The “Breakfast Grapefruit” drink was what I can only describe as janitorial.

The ham had hard white bits in it, which appeared to be hoof or bone.

I can only comment on four rooms at the hotel. The two that we occupied were tatty and very different from those pictured on the website at the date of writing. We also saw room 508 which we were moved to (but then moved immediately out of because it was suddenly "unavailable") - this was nothing like the rooms on the website, but tidier (and the bathroom even had a fan).

When I demanded a room that matched the website, we were shown Room 303 - which does look like the website pictures, and we could have had this room if only the configuration (double bed, double sofa-bed) had suited our family. But we needed single beds for the kids, and the hotel could offer nothing of that quality in this configuration. (We had confirmed with the hotel that they could offer us a suitable configuration - before booking).

Upsides - good location (useful supermarket very close, but only open to 8pm; cheapish Pizza restaurant nearby), and aside from the tattiness, the rooms were at least cleaned properly.

So, form your own judgements. Some - or perhaps all - of the other rooms may be delightful. And perhaps other people will enjoy the breakfast more than we did.

Update 11th November 2006:
I complained to Greenbee about this, and their response has been much more like the John Lewis I thought I knew - they seem genuinely upset, and have refunded me 35% of the cost of the hotel, which feels fair.

Greenbee have promised to update me on the results of their investigations into the hotel, and I will add a note about these when I hear from them.

Update 8th January 2007:
No followup from Greenbee. They have removed the word "Charming" from their description but are still offering the hotel, and still grading it as a "Quality" hotel. They do have a very rudimentary user scoring system (which shows that I am by no means the only unhappy user of this hotel) but it doesn't allow any user commentary - just points scores.

So - despite what one might expect from the John Lewis Partnership, you can still end up in a grotty hotel through Greenbee - they may offer convenience and price-negotiation muscle, but I won't be relying on their assessment of quality in future.

Things I wish I'd asked before buying ...

... how easy is it to keep an eye on remaining disk space?

Our Panasonic DMR-EH50 has been good overall, but there is no "in your face" display of remaining disk space. Not a problem if you are a very well-disciplined individual who will control all recordings yourself. Probably not a big problem if you are only ever going to schedule recordings using the machine's own timer.

But one of the brilliant features of this machine is that it cooperates with a Panasonic Digibox so that (if set appropriately) it will automatically record any programs that you choose for Autoview on Sky. That makes it nearly as easy as a Skyplus unit (without the need to subscribe to Sky, eg for those taking "FreeSat from Sky"). But in this mode, there can be no warning about disk space - because the recorder doesn't know what the Digibox is going to ask it to record until the instruction arrives.

But here comes the problem. If anyone else in the household might schedule recordings that you hadn't reckoned on, then without a display that keeps reminding you of remaining time, you may end up losing recordings because there isn't enough disk space left.

Yes, the Panasonic will tell you the time left - if you know where to look, but you have to seek it out. I wish it would show the remaining time on its display when in Standby, and on the main screen when you are reviewing the programs already on disk.

But otherwise this is a neat machine. And don't be put off by the restriction that you can only do one "partial erase" in the middle of a programme (eg to cut out a commercial break) - you can split titles in two as many times as you need.

Here is a solution that I developed for our village Primary School, and detail here in the hope it might be of use to others.

The Situation:
A small school with a single phone line, where there are substantial parts of the week when the only staff are teaching.

The Problem:
What to do when the phone rings?

Do the staff interrupt teaching to answer the call - which will usually be non-urgent? Or do they leave it, and risk missing the occasional crucially urgent call? (Invent your own scenario for this, but as an extreme example, it might just be a hospital needing to call urgently to arrange for a child to be taken to the bedside of an injured parent)

The Solution:
Subscribe to BT's Twin Talk Service. This keeps the single phone line, but gives you an extra phone number, which rings the same line, but with a different ring pattern (single, long ring, US-style). You buy a pair of special adapters that switch phone calls depending on the ring-pattern. You then plug an answerphone into the adapter that connects calls on the "normal" number - and record a message that says:

"Sorry we can't answer your call at the moment. If you are calling during school hours, this will be because all staff are busy teaching. If you really HAVE to interrupt them, please dial again on 01xxx xxxxxx, otherwise please leave a message and we will get back to you as soon as we are free".

Then connect the adapter that answers the "special" ringtone to your phone (or phones) in the school.

When you have no admin cover, set the Answerphone ON before you start teaching. You'll hear incoming calls ring a couple of times with the normal pattern before the answerphone cuts in. If the phone rings with a single-long ring (and it will continue to ring, because the answering machine won't be getting this call) then you know it is an urgent call and you need to stop teaching and answer it.

All phones can still make outgoing calls in the normal way.

It's worked well for several years in our school.

Costs (as of October 2006) - oneoff costs of about £35 for the pair of adapters, and about £25 per year extra on your phone bill.

Links:

http://www.twintalkhelp.com/tt_main.htm for BT's TwinTalk service
http://www.beststuff.co.uk/bt_twin_talk.htm for the adapters

2005 saw a big change to licensing law in the UK - a clumsy set of new rules that make it a misery to offer a glass of wine at a village-hall event.

And not only are the rules unfriendly, they are attrociously explained and presented. Hundreds of local authorities have had half-hearted attempts to expain the rules - but I couldn't find any simple explanation of the rules applying to our village hall here in Derbyshire.

So, I've drawn up a flowchart - which I've checked with the local licensing authority. Their advice was against making anything public, in case I could be seen to encourage people to skirt around the rules. But they did advise that the content was correct - for this area at least.

If you promise that your intentions are honorable, then I can let you into the secret of how to decide whether you need to apply for an extra licence (Temporary Events Notice or TEN) for that event at your village hall which already has a licence for entertainment but not for alcohol.

Please understand that I have only checked this with Derbyshire Dales District Council, and that other local authorities may interpret the same rules in different ways. Perhaps you could send them a link to the flowchart and ask them whether it is correct for your area (or, even better, publish their own).

If you accept the limitations and caveats, you can find the flowchart here.

Applying for voluntary organisation grants involves far too much form-filling anyway, but I get particularly upset at having to fill in badly-designed forms, created by badly-trained (or perhaps just lazy) "Word" users.

In response to a neighbour's request for help with filling in tick-boxes in Word forms (or "check-boxes" in US English), I created a one-page note on how to do it. Hope it helps reduce the pain for others too.