USB-LPT adapters are essentially a one way data stream to the printer. driver software can use it just as it can use a generic one way data stream to the same printer on an Ethernet server.
Most method of bit banging on parallel port relies on being able to use hardware IRQ interrupts (which USB can't do). That's because they are really abusing how a parallel port works, and not just using it as a one way data stream. This is also true for software like Laplink or FastLynx that allow for incoming data over a parallel port. An LPT cable has 8 outbound data bits, but the incoming bits are really supposed to be status bits (out of paper, busy, etc) that are abused to allow incoming data.
Interestingly USB-LPT adapters require no 3rd party drivers on Windows, however unlike mass storage, somehow serial ports did not receive the same treatment, so you're stuck loading Prolific PL2303, HL340, or FTDI drivers (and hope that you don't have a fake FTDI device that the drivers brick the firmware, or a version of PL2303 that Prolific decided to remove support for your OS).
I was also interested to find my Haswell based system included a pin header for Serial and Parallel on the motherboard. I just needed a riser.
FastLynx is an interesting program to interface with old computers. You can interoperate from DOS through to Windows 10 on serial and parallel. It can send the application via serial to allow the remote DOS PC to be able to send and recieve over serial or parallel. Useful if you have broken / no floppy capability and need to exchange data with old machines.
I only use USB as a replacement for the missing serial port that disappeared from all laptops about 10 years ago. I work industrial too and need to talk to 15-20 year old devices (yes monochrome displays still work) . RS - 232 and 485 work at 20' and longer and use cheap twisted pair cables. They actually terminate at a terminal strip with real screws! Old can still work.
And unlike some specialty USB interfaces, and especially specialty hardware interface (ISA or PCI cards), RS-232 seems to retain good forward compatibility. You can take an application designed for Windows 3.1, run it on native Windows 7/8.1/10 32 bit (or in a 32-bit VM like XP mode on 64 bit flavors), point it to your $2 from China RS232-USB adapter, and it will talk to the hardware.
I really like hardware that once connected with RS-232, can interface with any terminal software on any platform, and not just proprietary software.
Then there's trying to use USB->RS-232 adapters. Plug it in one port and it's COM1, plug it in another port and it's COM2. Plug it back in the first port and it's COM3. Then you can't re-designate it to COM1 in device manager because it's mysteriously "in use". This is particularly a problem for antique legacy software that only recognize COM1-4, (and suddenly you can't get anything lower than COM12) and generally a pain in the ass because you have to double check the COM port of the adapter before using it in software.
* The best way to rectify it is under environment variables in system properties, set "devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1", then in device manager you can "view- show hidden devices" Delete the multiple copies of your serial port and now you can set a lower COM port.
While you're at it you can clean out every mouse, keyboard / port combination, and every flash drive / port combination since the beginning of time.
* This Microsoft KB talks about setting the environment variable in a command prompt which will work one time. Adding it to system properties leaves that option always in Device manager.
Computer monitors typically have higher image quality than TVs. Regardless I do think there is some convergance. Since their release, LCD / Plasma TVs have had connectors for VGA and HDMI, allowing for a direct PC connection to a TV which wasn't near as popular in CRT days (some computers had s-video out, otherwise you'd need a special video card). As well around the same time Laptops really started surging in popularity, so even without a dedicated HTPC, or even a nearby desktop, it was easy to carry a laptop over and hook it up.
Most black cabs already do. Addison Lee has had an app with driver tracking, credit card payments and so on for years. This is kind of massively not news.
I took a cab at one point late last year when Uber didn't work on my phone. The driver pretended his credit card reader wouldn't work in the hope of getting me to pay cash.
This is, incidentally, the kind of shit that makes people hate cabs.
I had a cabbie once that preferred to do credit card transactions via Square on his phone because it took less of a cut than the machine from the cab company. Worked better for me because I got an emailed receipt with a map of where I was for my expense claim.
Another time I took a cab and said I would pay by credit. He said "OK, let me take out the machine"
And he hauled out an imprint machine. This was in the 2010's, and not in the 1980's. Two months later it hit my credit card so I had to file another expense report from the rest of my trip.
I probably shouldn't reply to an AC, but while I'm "remembering old news", in the case of Lenovo, on Windows, it's installing crapware out of the BIOS onto a clean install from a clean disc. The Great Grandfather of my post is talking about:
He is running a pre-installed Windows?
First thing I do is wipe any new computer clean. The OEMs can't be trusted anymore.
With the " Microsoft's Windows Platform Binary Table", a clean Windows install becomes irrelevant, OEMs can still infect you by installing binaries without your permission on a clean install. Not just certificates.
How did these clowns get everyone acting like trained fucking monkeys?
It turns out that using simple psychological tricks (e.g. big savings, "can't miss" opportunity, implied scarcity, etc.) are a great way to get people to spend money.
At some point Crappy Tire frequently used "Good value" signs. They were the same colour and size as a Sale sign, but they said "Good Value" and had no indication of a discounted percent, or original price. . .
. . . Because the item was for sale at its regular price.
Once I saw someone complain because they saw the big yellow sign, grabbed all the items off the shelf assuming it was such a deep discount, and arrived home only to be dismayed when they realized it was the regular price.
Why don't you just live your own life on your own terms and not be so caught up in what everyone else is doing? Because you demand people pay attention to your pseudo-intellectual nonsense. You crave that attention.
As "Black Friday" sales creep earlier and earlier into Thursday, I start thinking about the employees of these stores that might actually enjoy having Thursday, and possibly Friday off to spend time with their family.
I'm generally with you there. I've been underwhelmed by the interface that a lot of smart TVs use, as well as how the platform is generally abandoned as the company releases new TVs. I can plug in a $39 Chromecast and bring "smarts" to an 8 year old Sony, or 5 year old Best Buy Dynex.
So far I've been very happy with my Chromecast. On Netflix or Youtube, the phone or Browser interface is a lot easier to look shows up on then the Smart TV interface, and it can be done while other content is playing. Localcast lets me easily play videos stored on the phone, and Videostream Chrome app, plus companion Android app make it easy to play content off the PC. The phone app will even show "recently added files", so newly downloaded torrents will show up and are easy to select.
The FA doesn't mention anything about Ubuntu. Do you have a link?
Is it just the pre-loaded versions of Ubuntu, like the preloaded versions of Windows?
I can't speak to Ubuntu, but on Windows for Lenovo, Lenovo can install bloatware even on a clean install using Microsoft's Windows Platform Binary Table. Primarily intended for Drivers, or security software like LoJack.
No need for a train for me...I'll just happily keep my car....
:)
At normal full cruising speed the TGV goes 300 km/h (186MPH) vs. 130km/h (81MPH) on France Motorways. Assuming time between trains / busses is no more than 5-10 minutes, and the journey time took no more than 50- 100% extra time over driving, I'd be glad to take public transit everywhere (acceptable time between busses/ trains could be longer up to 1hr-2hr for intercity travel). With the exception of a road trip on a wide open sunny motorway, driving is a chore. And a car is a depreciating asset to maintain.
Unfortunately where I live now there is no public transit whatsoever.
Your product UI stinks. Sooner or later someone will come along with a better product and eat your lunch. Your customers hate your product because of the bad UI. The business is at extreme risk.
So find out who the competition is and get a job there.
Debatable. We use Oracle at work. It's up there with SAP in market-share, but its UI is awful. So unless that's the product the submitter works for, crappy UI doesn't prevent people from buying your ERP package.
To start with it runs in Java, so every time you go to launch it you need to accept the same Java warning (checkbox, then run). Then there's the general poor performance of Java. Some of the errors are completely non-nonsensical. Search queries that were available in the previous version are no longer available (so the same task takes 10x as long to perform). "Export to Excel" actually exports to CSV, but saved with an XLS extension, so Excel annoys you when you open it. The steps to perform any task are so non-intuitive I have a HowTo document dedicated to step by step through tasks I might only perform every few months. On some search queries when you "go-back" to the query from the results to refine the search, some of the fields have in-explicitly been cleared.
Be sure to format the file as an HTML or CSV, but save it with an.XLS extension so excel will annoy users several times per day when they open it that it doesn't match the extension.
I was surprised when I saw my first NASCAR up close in Charlotte, North Carolina at the shop down there. The Camber on the wheels is unreal (and set up for left turns).
I never watch NASCAR so it was a shock to me. I was also surprised how much smaller the cars were than I thought.
Since this was popular here's a couple more links: Latest untouched Windows 7 ISO's ei.cfg remover All that keeps a home-pro-ultimate disc from installing another edition is a single file. This will remove it from an ISO. Windows 8.1 ISO's Pro VL is what you want for MTK
In the end Paint.NET is an easier to use, more performant piece of software for Windows. Though I still use my version of Paint Shop Pro 5 from 1998 cause it runs like mad on my i5.
Windows 10 still has the issue Windows 8 has where half the control panels are standard control panels, and half the control panels are tablet style things that slide in from the side.
Windows 8.1 with Classic shell gives an OS with performance enhancements under the hood on an updated kernel, and mostly restores a usseful UI.
Windows 10 I don't know of worthwhile improvements, but you get a loss of privacy and forced updates.
2: Pirate W7-W10. Well, good luck with that, since every single activation hack brings along with it additional software... stuff you really don't want on your computer. W8, this is impossible, due to PCs shipping with Secure Boot, and W10, Secure Boot isn't able to be turned off, nor BIOS based booting allowed.
Windows 7: Use Daz Loader to provide SLP activation of Home Premium-Professional-Ultimate. Boot loader based, but you will never notice it. I installed it when Win7 went RTM, and it still works, and genuine checks pass, AV software never picks it up.
Windows 8.1: Use CODYQX4's Microsoft Toolkit to provide KMS activation. Biggest issue is adding to AV exemptions. I don't know why AV software feels they need to be copyright police.
Windows 10: Install Windows 7 using Daz, then do free upgrade for permanent activation. If not Microsoft Toolkit may work for KMS activation.
MyDigitalLife is the community from which these two products were developed, and as trusted as you can get. It is also a good source to try and find unmodified ISO images of these operating systems, onto which you can use the activation tools.
Slashdot Mirror
USB-LPT adapters are essentially a one way data stream to the printer. driver software can use it just as it can use a generic one way data stream to the same printer on an Ethernet server.
Most method of bit banging on parallel port relies on being able to use hardware IRQ interrupts (which USB can't do). That's because they are really abusing how a parallel port works, and not just using it as a one way data stream. This is also true for software like Laplink or FastLynx that allow for incoming data over a parallel port. An LPT cable has 8 outbound data bits, but the incoming bits are really supposed to be status bits (out of paper, busy, etc) that are abused to allow incoming data.
Interestingly USB-LPT adapters require no 3rd party drivers on Windows, however unlike mass storage, somehow serial ports did not receive the same treatment, so you're stuck loading Prolific PL2303, HL340, or FTDI drivers (and hope that you don't have a fake FTDI device that the drivers brick the firmware, or a version of PL2303 that Prolific decided to remove support for your OS).
I was also interested to find my Haswell based system included a pin header for Serial and Parallel on the motherboard. I just needed a riser.
FastLynx is an interesting program to interface with old computers. You can interoperate from DOS through to Windows 10 on serial and parallel. It can send the application via serial to allow the remote DOS PC to be able to send and recieve over serial or parallel. Useful if you have broken / no floppy capability and need to exchange data with old machines.
I only use USB as a replacement for the missing serial port that disappeared from all laptops about 10 years ago. I work industrial too and need to talk to 15-20 year old devices (yes monochrome displays still work) . RS - 232 and 485 work at 20' and longer and use cheap twisted pair cables. They actually terminate at a terminal strip with real screws! Old can still work.
And unlike some specialty USB interfaces, and especially specialty hardware interface (ISA or PCI cards), RS-232 seems to retain good forward compatibility. You can take an application designed for Windows 3.1, run it on native Windows 7/8.1/10 32 bit (or in a 32-bit VM like XP mode on 64 bit flavors), point it to your $2 from China RS232-USB adapter, and it will talk to the hardware.
I really like hardware that once connected with RS-232, can interface with any terminal software on any platform, and not just proprietary software.
Then there's trying to use USB->RS-232 adapters. Plug it in one port and it's COM1, plug it in another port and it's COM2. Plug it back in the first port and it's COM3. Then you can't re-designate it to COM1 in device manager because it's mysteriously "in use". This is particularly a problem for antique legacy software that only recognize COM1-4, (and suddenly you can't get anything lower than COM12) and generally a pain in the ass because you have to double check the COM port of the adapter before using it in software.
* The best way to rectify it is under environment variables in system properties, set "devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1", then in device manager you can "view- show hidden devices" Delete the multiple copies of your serial port and now you can set a lower COM port.
While you're at it you can clean out every mouse, keyboard / port combination, and every flash drive / port combination since the beginning of time.
* This Microsoft KB talks about setting the environment variable in a command prompt which will work one time. Adding it to system properties leaves that option always in Device manager.
Computer monitors typically have higher image quality than TVs. Regardless I do think there is some convergance. Since their release, LCD / Plasma TVs have had connectors for VGA and HDMI, allowing for a direct PC connection to a TV which wasn't near as popular in CRT days (some computers had s-video out, otherwise you'd need a special video card). As well around the same time Laptops really started surging in popularity, so even without a dedicated HTPC, or even a nearby desktop, it was easy to carry a laptop over and hook it up.
London cabs don't accept credit cards?!?!
Most black cabs already do. Addison Lee has had an app with driver tracking, credit card payments and so on for years. This is kind of massively not news.
I took a cab at one point late last year when Uber didn't work on my phone. The driver pretended his credit card reader wouldn't work in the hope of getting me to pay cash.
This is, incidentally, the kind of shit that makes people hate cabs.
I had a cabbie once that preferred to do credit card transactions via Square on his phone because it took less of a cut than the machine from the cab company. Worked better for me because I got an emailed receipt with a map of where I was for my expense claim.
Another time I took a cab and said I would pay by credit. He said "OK, let me take out the machine"
And he hauled out an imprint machine. This was in the 2010's, and not in the 1980's. Two months later it hit my credit card so I had to file another expense report from the rest of my trip.
I probably shouldn't reply to an AC, but while I'm "remembering old news", in the case of Lenovo, on Windows, it's installing crapware out of the BIOS onto a clean install from a clean disc. The Great Grandfather of my post is talking about:
He is running a pre-installed Windows?
First thing I do is wipe any new computer clean. The OEMs can't be trusted anymore.
With the " Microsoft's Windows Platform Binary Table", a clean Windows install becomes irrelevant, OEMs can still infect you by installing binaries without your permission on a clean install. Not just certificates.
How did these clowns get everyone acting like trained fucking monkeys?
It turns out that using simple psychological tricks (e.g. big savings, "can't miss" opportunity, implied scarcity, etc.) are a great way to get people to spend money.
At some point Crappy Tire frequently used "Good value" signs. They were the same colour and size as a Sale sign, but they said "Good Value" and had no indication of a discounted percent, or original price. . .
. . . Because the item was for sale at its regular price.
Once I saw someone complain because they saw the big yellow sign, grabbed all the items off the shelf assuming it was such a deep discount, and arrived home only to be dismayed when they realized it was the regular price.
Went to Canada a couple of years ago to get away from hearing about it - only to find that this plague has spread to there as well.
Now they start shit like "Black Friday in July" sales.
Which is basically like Christmas 2 or Love Day
Went to Canada a couple of years ago to get away from hearing about it - only to find that this plague has spread to there as well.
Now they start shit like "Black Friday in July" sales.
Why don't you just live your own life on your own terms and not be so caught up in what everyone else is doing? Because you demand people pay attention to your pseudo-intellectual nonsense. You crave that attention.
As "Black Friday" sales creep earlier and earlier into Thursday, I start thinking about the employees of these stores that might actually enjoy having Thursday, and possibly Friday off to spend time with their family.
I'm generally with you there. I've been underwhelmed by the interface that a lot of smart TVs use, as well as how the platform is generally abandoned as the company releases new TVs. I can plug in a $39 Chromecast and bring "smarts" to an 8 year old Sony, or 5 year old Best Buy Dynex.
So far I've been very happy with my Chromecast. On Netflix or Youtube, the phone or Browser interface is a lot easier to look shows up on then the Smart TV interface, and it can be done while other content is playing. Localcast lets me easily play videos stored on the phone, and Videostream Chrome app, plus companion Android app make it easy to play content off the PC. The phone app will even show "recently added files", so newly downloaded torrents will show up and are easy to select.
The FA doesn't mention anything about Ubuntu. Do you have a link?
Is it just the pre-loaded versions of Ubuntu, like the preloaded versions of Windows?
I can't speak to Ubuntu, but on Windows for Lenovo, Lenovo can install bloatware even on a clean install using Microsoft's Windows Platform Binary Table. Primarily intended for Drivers, or security software like LoJack.
No need for a train for me...I'll just happily keep my car....
At normal full cruising speed the TGV goes 300 km/h (186MPH) vs. 130km/h (81MPH) on France Motorways. Assuming time between trains / busses is no more than 5-10 minutes, and the journey time took no more than 50- 100% extra time over driving, I'd be glad to take public transit everywhere (acceptable time between busses/ trains could be longer up to 1hr-2hr for intercity travel). With the exception of a road trip on a wide open sunny motorway, driving is a chore. And a car is a depreciating asset to maintain.
Unfortunately where I live now there is no public transit whatsoever.
The problem is, the CinePaint folks managed to make the core of GIMP better while somehow making the UI worse.
The UI from GIMP can get worse?
Another potential "Free" (as in Beer) Windows image editor for home use is PhotoFiltre
Your product UI stinks. Sooner or later someone will come along with a better product and eat your lunch. Your customers hate your product because of the bad UI. The business is at extreme risk.
So find out who the competition is and get a job there.
Debatable. We use Oracle at work. It's up there with SAP in market-share, but its UI is awful. So unless that's the product the submitter works for, crappy UI doesn't prevent people from buying your ERP package.
To start with it runs in Java, so every time you go to launch it you need to accept the same Java warning (checkbox, then run). Then there's the general poor performance of Java. Some of the errors are completely non-nonsensical. Search queries that were available in the previous version are no longer available (so the same task takes 10x as long to perform). "Export to Excel" actually exports to CSV, but saved with an XLS extension, so Excel annoys you when you open it. The steps to perform any task are so non-intuitive I have a HowTo document dedicated to step by step through tasks I might only perform every few months. On some search queries when you "go-back" to the query from the results to refine the search, some of the fields have in-explicitly been cleared.
Be sure to format the file as an HTML or CSV, but save it with an .XLS extension so excel will annoy users several times per day when they open it that it doesn't match the extension.
I was surprised when I saw my first NASCAR up close in Charlotte, North Carolina at the shop down there. The Camber on the wheels is unreal (and set up for left turns).
I never watch NASCAR so it was a shock to me. I was also surprised how much smaller the cars were than I thought.
Can you add in a reference to 3d printing, self driving cars, "the cloud" and crowd-sourcing?
Since this was popular here's a couple more links:
Latest untouched Windows 7 ISO's
ei.cfg remover All that keeps a home-pro-ultimate disc from installing another edition is a single file. This will remove it from an ISO.
Windows 8.1 ISO's Pro VL is what you want for MTK
My favorite example is "The Gimp". Aside from a ridiculous name that's not suitable for a professional environment (like a lot of FOSS). They over estimate their target audience. They assume their target audience is a non-existent Professional Photoshop Refugee group and not home users.
In the end Paint.NET is an easier to use, more performant piece of software for Windows. Though I still use my version of Paint Shop Pro 5 from 1998 cause it runs like mad on my i5.
Windows 10 still has the issue Windows 8 has where half the control panels are standard control panels, and half the control panels are tablet style things that slide in from the side.
Windows 8.1 with Classic shell gives an OS with performance enhancements under the hood on an updated kernel, and mostly restores a usseful UI.
Windows 10 I don't know of worthwhile improvements, but you get a loss of privacy and forced updates.
MS has already stated that Win7 sales with new PCs will end in next year, so they are trying to force companies into Win10.
Windows 10 Pro still includes downgrade rights to Windows 7 Professional, and with larger companies reimaging machines to a standard KMS Volume licence image anyways, it won't pose a problem.
Up until 2014 we were deploying machines that sold with Windows 7 licence, downgraded to Windows XP.
More like "Bugzilla reports repeatedly marked 'won't fix', and reopened several times over the past decade".
Unfortunately I can't post examples right off.
2: Pirate W7-W10. Well, good luck with that, since every single activation hack brings along with it additional software... stuff you really don't want on your computer. W8, this is impossible, due to PCs shipping with Secure Boot, and W10, Secure Boot isn't able to be turned off, nor BIOS based booting allowed.
Windows 7: Use Daz Loader to provide SLP activation of Home Premium-Professional-Ultimate. Boot loader based, but you will never notice it. I installed it when Win7 went RTM, and it still works, and genuine checks pass, AV software never picks it up.
Windows 8.1: Use CODYQX4's Microsoft Toolkit to provide KMS activation. Biggest issue is adding to AV exemptions. I don't know why AV software feels they need to be copyright police.
Windows 10: Install Windows 7 using Daz, then do free upgrade for permanent activation. If not Microsoft Toolkit may work for KMS activation.
MyDigitalLife is the community from which these two products were developed, and as trusted as you can get. It is also a good source to try and find unmodified ISO images of these operating systems, onto which you can use the activation tools.
Since XP was the last win32 based OS
lolwut? Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 all have 32-bit versions.
Which is particularly interesting because all 32 bit versions of Windows, including Windows 10, will run 16 bit applications.
This is important at work as we still have mission critical 16 bit software.