Logging in for the 1st time in ages to comment....
This post about Brother using a "flag gear" on their cartridges is spot-on. I have a Brother DCP-7040 and a Brother DCP-7065DN, both monochrome laser scanner/copier/printers, and both have the "flag gear" on the replacement cartridges (but not on the "starter"/"teaser" cartridges that come with the printer).
Here's how Brother's consumer-unfriendly method works (as it occurred with my DCP-7040):
It starts out the usual way -- like a lot of printer manufacturers, they sell you the printer with a "starter" cartridge (in my case, one with an advertised 1000-page capacity). In my case, it started warning me about "Toner Low -- Prepare new toner cartridge" after 813 total printed pages. But since the pages were still printing out nice and dark, I did nothing.
Later, at 987 total printed pages on the "starter" cartridge, they started getting noticeably dim. As I'd done for years with my (still-working) HP LaserJet Series II, I did the usual "gently shake the toner cartridge to evenly re-distribute the toner" trick.
But since the 987-page value seemed suspiciously close to the advertised 1000-page limit, I also did some research. I found that there is a clear window on the DCP-7040 "starter" toner cartridge that's used with an optical sensor to detect toner level. As suggested, I covered that clear window with a small piece of black electrical tape and continued printing.
The pages were coming out noticeably darker, presumably from the re-distribution of toner rather than from the "fooling" trick with black tape.
I continued to use the DCP-7040 like that, simply ignoring the ever-present "Toner Low -- Prepare new toner cartridge" message. After a few hundred more pages printed, I had to bump up the page contrast setting a bit to get the darkness I wanted, but the pages were still printing fine.
At 1305 total printed pages, the message from the printer changed to "Toner Life End -- Replace Toner Cartridge". IIRC, the printer refused to print at that point, but my notes are not 100% conclusive.
So I installed the new "TN-360" 2600-page toner cartridge and verified that it worked. But, being the curious and experimental type, I immediately pulled the new 2600-page cartridge out and replaced it with the old 1000-page "starter" cartridge. To my surprise, it started printing again just fine!!!
This led me to do some more research. This is when I learned about Brother's consumer-unfriendly "flag gear" trick. The new cartridge has a gear that rotates just one time -- ever! It essentially tells the printer that a new cartridge has been installed, allowing it to continue printing. Once the printer thinks you've installed the new cartridge, it will happily print with whatever cartridge is installed, even the old, original, 1000-page "starter" cartridge that they wanted you to believe was exhausted!
I continued printing on the "starter" cartridge. It went on to print a total of 1951 pages before it was truly out of toner -- almost twice the advertised life!
At this point, I had to re-install the once-used 2600-page replacement cartridge. And, of course, the printer thinks I've been using it for the last 646 (1951 - 1305) pages, so it will presumably tell me I'm out of toner 646 pages before it normally would. But I intend to do the "flag gear reset" trick mentioned by "TheloniousToady" when the time comes to further fool the printer into continuing to print on my long-from-empty toner cartridge.
The DCP-7065DN is still on the starter cartridge (which curiously lacks the clear window that I put black tape over on the DCP-7040's starter cartridge), but it appears I will have the same issue with the "flag gear" trick when the time comes.
Having said all that, I like both of my Brother printers (using them full-time with Linux as both a sheet-fed + flatbed scanner and as a printer/copier). They are quite cheaply made (very "plastic-y", for lack of a bet
I'd submitted a fair, honest, but harsh review comparing 2 different modems I'd purchased -- 1 great, 1 lousy. NewEgg rejected my review of the lousy modem and took my review of the great one. I couldn't see any point where my rejected submission violated any of NewEgg's guidelines (included in that post).
I even went so far as to "soften" the language of the harsh review and re-submit it, but it was also rejected.
I like NewEgg but make no mistake about it -- they are (or at least were) filtering bad reviews to some extent.
Check your local planetarium, if possible. They often have shows geared to younger children.
I took my niece (then about 6 years old) to one a couple of times after she showed interest in star-gazing. I think these days, she (now 9 years old) might be better than me at picking out constellations!
From TFA: "If you listen to the hype, it's being used everywhere, in businesses of all sizes, to do everything but make the coffee."
Actually, GNU/Linux has that covered too:
==> head `locate -i coffee | grep -i howto`
Coffee Making Fotis Georgatos < gef@ceid.upatras.gr> V1.0 2004-08-29
One of the most memorable comments about software ever said is whether this or that piece of code can make coffee. Coffee is a world commod- ity that is second only to oil. Linux DOES make coffee; and it tastes good as well!
This HOWTO describes the use of a parallel port circuit to control a coffee machine.
From there, once you run the game, enter this command in the ET console to make the Field of View 130 degrees (or choose whatever value you like):
/seta cg_fov 130
This is all described in one of the Quake-engine FAQs, IIRC.
Of course, the big problem (as mentioned by many others) is that the gun reticle (aiming pipper) is smack in the middle of those 2 monitors (at the right edge of the left monitor and vice-versa). This makes the game virtually unplayable.
Sadly, I don't know of a way to make it work with 3 monitors. I don't know if 'TwinView' would work with the built-in dual-VGA plus a PCI nVidia card -- I've never tried that. (I know for a fact that you cannot use the AGP slot simultaneously with the built-in GeForce4MX video on the SN41G2 PC -- tried it and failed!)
This hits close to my experience, since I purchased 2 external RS-232 modems from NewEgg recently and submitted reviews for both (after some test time with both). The cheaper one (an 'Amigo' [generic Conexant-chipset-based] modem) worked great. The more-expensive one (a Diamond SupraMax) was horrible -- wouldn't work with 'kppp', had no on/off switch, wouldn't remember (after an ATZ) S register settings that had been written to non-volatile RAM (AT&W), etc. Keep in mind that the Amigo modem had none of these flaws.
I submitted a positive review for the Amigo (see the one by 'External Modem User, 7/24/2005 2:52:49 PM') which got accepted and a negative (but constructive) review of the Diamond, which was rejected.
Here's my original Diamond SupraMax review (which I may tweak and re-submit to NewEgg sometime):
I bought this Diamond SupraMax (Model 'SM56E', NewEgg part #N82E16825116109) modem along with the 'Amigo' modem (Model 'AME-CA95', NewEgg part #N82E16825137104) to replace a Creative Labs external RS-232 'ModemBlaster' that recently died.
The Diamond SupraMax modem is a huge disappointment, mostly due to its poor design. The Diamond modem is also more expensive than the 'Amigo AME-CA95' (Conexant-chipset-based) modem even though the Diamond modem is of lesser quality.
For starters, unlike the Amigo modem, the Diamond SupraMax has no 'On/Off' switch. You must physically disconnect the 9V plug in the back if you want to power it off! Yuk!
The Amigo modem has a nice On/Off pushbutton on the back right side.
Furthermore, the LED indicators for the Diamond modem are the worst I've ever encountered! First off, there are only two LEDs -- one for 'PWR' (Power On) and one for 'OH' (Off-Hook). Despite what the photo on the front of the Quick Start Guide shows, there is no "DATA" LED, let alone a specific 'RxD' (receive data) and 'TxD' (transmit data) as one would expect on any decent external modem. Secondly, the meager 2 LEDs which _are_ present are very difficult to read, since they're not typical LEDs with permanent, silk-screened text near the LED but are of a design where the LED light shines through to show red-colored text ('PWR' and 'OH') and the text is almost unreadable at any angle except the exact "proper" angle. The 'OH' text is almost unreadable at _any_ angle, actually.
The Amigo modem, on the other hand, has dedicated, well-labeled (viewable at all angles) LEDs for 'RxD', 'TxD', 'OH', and 'READY'.
Annother annoyance -- the Diamond modem does not retain certain settings (e.g. 'ATS95=1', which causes the modem to report DCE [modem ISP] speed instead of DTE [PC modem] speed) through a simple 'ATZ' (modem 'soft' reset) even when they've been written with 'AT&W' ('store user profile' command). All other (good) modems I've encountered (including the aforementioned Amigo modem) will retain the 'S95=1' register setting through an 'ATZ' command as long as the 'AT&W' command was used once after setting the register. This isn't a "show-stopper" problem because you can always instruct the modem to 'ATS95=1' (or 'ATW2', which is similar and may work with some modems) as part of the initialization string in whatever application you use (Windows or Linux) to dial out, but it's annoying and indicative of the bad design of the Diamond modem.
The Diamond modem works well enough in W98se with the driver supplied on the CD-ROM.
Linux use (Slackware 10.1, currently) is a different story, unfortunately. I could not get 'kppp' (the KDE 'ppp' dialer application) to fully connect to my ISP using this modem. After lots of testing, tweaking, and cursing this modem (which is the poorest-designed of all the external RS-232 modems I've ever used), I finally got it to fully connect (and start the 'ppp' session) by invoking the 'pppd' process manually and using a 'chat' script. I still d
The 'pcal' PostScript/HTML calendar-generation application had 2 holes, both of which have been fixed already in v4.8.0, just released today.
The new version supports embedded EPS images (icons, photos) on monthly PostScript calendars. There are several other new features and bug fixes too.
Visit the website:
http://pcal.sourceforge.net
The new release is here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pcal/
Re:Tiger Files
on
Open Maps?
·
· Score: 3, Informative
The US Census Bureau's TIGER/Line data is very good (and free) for vector-based line data (roads, rivers, railways, etc).
That said, here are a few shortcomings in the TIGER/Line database:
city database is incredibly incomplete -- lots and lots of the smaller towns are missing; this is surprising given the source of the data (Census Bureau); you'll want to get your town/city data elsewhere (e.g. USGS)
point-based landmark data is inconsistent and poor (many important things seem to be missing while things like shopping malls are included, but very inconsistently)
there is no 'freeway exit' information, making routing algorithms problematic
there is no data to discern normal roads from '1-way' roads -- another problem for routing algorithms
the database contains several errors (from simple mis-spellings to oddities in the supplied street address ranges)
Aside from those minor shortcomings, I find the TIGER/Line data very useful and hope it's not suddenly made unavailable by some bureaucratic nonsense.
What would be nice is a way to have an open-source/libre/gratis database to expand upon the TIGER/Line datasets.
Slashdot Mirror
Logging in for the 1st time in ages to comment....
This post about Brother using a "flag gear" on their cartridges is spot-on. I have a Brother DCP-7040 and a Brother DCP-7065DN, both monochrome laser scanner/copier/printers, and both have the "flag gear" on the replacement cartridges (but not on the "starter"/"teaser" cartridges that come with the printer).
Here's how Brother's consumer-unfriendly method works (as it occurred with my DCP-7040):
It starts out the usual way -- like a lot of printer manufacturers, they sell you the printer with a "starter" cartridge (in my case, one with an advertised 1000-page capacity). In my case, it started warning me about "Toner Low -- Prepare new toner cartridge" after 813 total printed pages. But since the pages were still printing out nice and dark, I did nothing.
Later, at 987 total printed pages on the "starter" cartridge, they started getting noticeably dim. As I'd done for years with my (still-working) HP LaserJet Series II, I did the usual "gently shake the toner cartridge to evenly re-distribute the toner" trick.
But since the 987-page value seemed suspiciously close to the advertised 1000-page limit, I also did some research. I found that there is a clear window on the DCP-7040 "starter" toner cartridge that's used with an optical sensor to detect toner level. As suggested, I covered that clear window with a small piece of black electrical tape and continued printing.
The pages were coming out noticeably darker, presumably from the re-distribution of toner rather than from the "fooling" trick with black tape.
I continued to use the DCP-7040 like that, simply ignoring the ever-present "Toner Low -- Prepare new toner cartridge" message. After a few hundred more pages printed, I had to bump up the page contrast setting a bit to get the darkness I wanted, but the pages were still printing fine.
At 1305 total printed pages, the message from the printer changed to "Toner Life End -- Replace Toner Cartridge". IIRC, the printer refused to print at that point, but my notes are not 100% conclusive.
So I installed the new "TN-360" 2600-page toner cartridge and verified that it worked. But, being the curious and experimental type, I immediately pulled the new 2600-page cartridge out and replaced it with the old 1000-page "starter" cartridge. To my surprise, it started printing again just fine!!!
This led me to do some more research. This is when I learned about Brother's consumer-unfriendly "flag gear" trick. The new cartridge has a gear that rotates just one time -- ever! It essentially tells the printer that a new cartridge has been installed, allowing it to continue printing. Once the printer thinks you've installed the new cartridge, it will happily print with whatever cartridge is installed, even the old, original, 1000-page "starter" cartridge that they wanted you to believe was exhausted!
I continued printing on the "starter" cartridge. It went on to print a total of 1951 pages before it was truly out of toner -- almost twice the advertised life!
At this point, I had to re-install the once-used 2600-page replacement cartridge. And, of course, the printer thinks I've been using it for the last 646 (1951 - 1305) pages, so it will presumably tell me I'm out of toner 646 pages before it normally would. But I intend to do the "flag gear reset" trick mentioned by "TheloniousToady" when the time comes to further fool the printer into continuing to print on my long-from-empty toner cartridge.
The DCP-7065DN is still on the starter cartridge (which curiously lacks the clear window that I put black tape over on the DCP-7040's starter cartridge), but it appears I will have the same issue with the "flag gear" trick when the time comes.
Having said all that, I like both of my Brother printers (using them full-time with Linux as both a sheet-fed + flatbed scanner and as a printer/copier). They are quite cheaply made (very "plastic-y", for lack of a bet
I've posted more than a few negative reviews on newegg over the years and I've never had one filtered or modified.
I have. In fact, I posted in detail about it back in Aug 2005: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=158055&cid=13241557
I'd submitted a fair, honest, but harsh review comparing 2 different modems I'd purchased -- 1 great, 1 lousy. NewEgg rejected my review of the lousy modem and took my review of the great one. I couldn't see any point where my rejected submission violated any of NewEgg's guidelines (included in that post).
I even went so far as to "soften" the language of the harsh review and re-submit it, but it was also rejected.
I like NewEgg but make no mistake about it -- they are (or at least were) filtering bad reviews to some extent.
Check your local planetarium, if possible. They often have shows geared to younger children.
I took my niece (then about 6 years old) to one a couple of times after she showed interest in star-gazing. I think these days, she (now 9 years old) might be better than me at picking out constellations!
Actually, GNU/Linux has that covered too:
This HOWTO describes the use of a parallel port circuit to control a coffee machine.
Yes, GNU/Linux really can do everything. :^)
I've run RTCW Enemy Territory in dual display mode, way back in May 2003, under Linux (Slackware 9.0).
/seta cg_fov 130
I was using a dual-head GeForce4MX video capability (built into the Shuttle SN41G2) and the binary nVidia driver.
You have to use nVidia's 'TwinView', which is a Xinerama work-alike. I seem to recall that I could not make it work with plain ol' Xinerama.
You also need to tweak the 'AUTOEXEC.CFG' file for Enemy Territory to add/modify lines like this:
seta r_customaspect "1"
seta r_customheight "768"
seta r_customwidth "2048"
seta r_fullscreen "1"
seta r_mode "-1"
From there, once you run the game, enter this command in the ET console to make the Field of View 130 degrees (or choose whatever value you like):
This is all described in one of the Quake-engine FAQs, IIRC.
Of course, the big problem (as mentioned by many others) is that the gun reticle (aiming pipper) is smack in the middle of those 2 monitors (at the right edge of the left monitor and vice-versa). This makes the game virtually unplayable.
Sadly, I don't know of a way to make it work with 3 monitors. I don't know if 'TwinView' would work with the built-in dual-VGA plus a PCI nVidia card -- I've never tried that. (I know for a fact that you cannot use the AGP slot simultaneously with the built-in GeForce4MX video on the SN41G2 PC -- tried it and failed!)
I submitted a positive review for the Amigo (see the one by 'External Modem User, 7/24/2005 2:52:49 PM') which got accepted and a negative (but constructive) review of the Diamond, which was rejected.
Here's my original Diamond SupraMax review (which I may tweak and re-submit to NewEgg sometime):
The 'pcal' PostScript/HTML calendar-generation application had 2 holes, both of which have been fixed already in v4.8.0, just released today.
The new version supports embedded EPS images (icons, photos) on monthly PostScript calendars. There are several other new features and bug fixes too.
Visit the website:
http://pcal.sourceforge.net
The new release is here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pcal/
That said, here are a few shortcomings in the TIGER/Line database:
- city database is incredibly incomplete -- lots and lots of the smaller towns are missing; this is surprising given the source of the data (Census Bureau); you'll want to get your town/city data elsewhere (e.g. USGS)
- point-based landmark data is inconsistent and poor (many important things seem to be missing while things like shopping malls are included, but very inconsistently)
- there is no 'freeway exit' information, making routing algorithms problematic
- there is no data to discern normal roads from '1-way' roads -- another problem for routing algorithms
- the database contains several errors (from simple mis-spellings to oddities in the supplied street address ranges)
Aside from those minor shortcomings, I find the TIGER/Line data very useful and hope it's not suddenly made unavailable by some bureaucratic nonsense.What would be nice is a way to have an open-source/libre/gratis database to expand upon the TIGER/Line datasets.