Trouble in Paradise

I woke up to an unpleasant surprise this morning. When I went upstairs and fired up my computer, the monitor screen was all distorted. While I was trying to figure out how to fix it, smoke started coming out of the back of it, just like in the movies. A smell of hot plastic…

I cut it off and retreated down here to use Dymphna’s old laptop. I now lack my usual capabilities – my Auxiliary Brain, my set of databases and related software, is not on this machine, which doesn’t even have Microsoft Access. To make matters worse, with my eye condition ,using this screen is like looking at a postage stamp through the wrong end of a telescope.

So there will be no news feed until I get my new monitor, and posting will probably be light for a while.

6 thoughts on “Trouble in Paradise

  1. It’s your own fault.

    Everyone knows monitors run on smoke and if you let it leak out, it’s all over. Make sure your next one is properly taped.

    In the meantime herewith a small donation.

    • The boy’s brain is showing signs of smoke damage also.

      He forgot we have a large flat screen monitor with a new Asus ( a VERY generous gift from a donor in Texas). That one is in my office & he’s been slowly adding pieces of his auxiliary brain as time permits. However, the sad fact is that computer technology moves on & he hates the constant changes. He actually likes having a computer so old that new viruses can’t infect it.

      What he really wants is for that smokin’ Model T computer to continue to work like it did the day he plugged it in. And all the new-fan-dangled stuff that isn’t compatible with his Model T should go away and not bother him.

      Well, at least he managed to refurbish his eyes enough so that he can actually use both eyes with the CRT screen. By the end of the year maybe he’ll be able to fix the resolution on the flat screen so he can use that, too, without becoming wall-eyed.

      Tempus Fugit, Baron B. Sadly, you gotta fuge with it.

      • “However, the sad fact is that computer technology moves on & he hates the constant changes. He actually likes having a computer so old that new viruses can’t infect it.”

        Now this is a man I can understand. Despite having worked for decades in IT, as I think the Baron has as well, as each year passes I’m less interested in the latest advances. My daily machine runs Windows 2000 off a 40 GB drive. So far I haven’t found the need to upgrade.

  2. You don’t need to keep up with the latest technology or upgrades but you MUST make a back-up of your hard-drive. It’s worth the small amount of time it takes.

  3. Something that’s very helpful with my old eyes, is using a magnifier app. If you buy a sufficiently-recent-model Microsoft mouse, you also get their magnifier, which is pretty good. Maybe others are also available? Linux has one, but it isn’t as good. I’d be hard put to do without the magnifier, even on a largish screen!

    If you use Linux, it should be possible to use your laptop as a terminal, connected to your main machine via a serial cable. I’ve never done that, and don’t know just how, but how-to info is available online. It might be possible to do that in Windows, also, using Hyperterminal or some such, especially if you are using an older version of Windows that still has that program; though what you can do via that is probably pretty limited.

    All in all, I suppose it would be easier, and quicker, just to get a new monitor; but less challenging.

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