She's A Blowin'!

We had a really bad windstorm last night! There have been worse here in Campbell River but we have usually been down south when they happened. Last night we were kept awake by Norma's rose bushes slapping the side of the house and the wind chimes going wild. I finally got up at about 2:00, got the ladder and took the wind chimes down.

While I was getting the ladder from the workshop I aimed the flashlight around the yard and noticed Norma's 15 foot high willow tree laying on the ground. It landed on the lawn where it did no damage so we just left it till morning. A closer inspection this morning shows the root ball is still intact and in the piece of ground it had lifted with it when it fell. We will try to lift it back up and tie it to the fence. Maybe it will survive, willows are pretty hardy. It was nice because it hid the neighbor's ugly shed from view.

Here is the view down the driveway yesterday afternoon before the wind really started and a shot of the downed tree. Norma is going to phone Beau, her lawn guy, to come and help us stand it up.

Back To Mint But Older Version 14

I Googled "best Linux for low memory" and found an article recommending installing Mint 14 "Nadia" MATE. The writer claimed this version has lower requirements and should work in an older system without a dedicated video card. A further search indicated it should work with my 512 Megs of memory although 1GB is recommended.

Well, so far so good. It seems to have all the bells and whistles and it easily updated four hundred and some programs or files when I asked it to.

The only problem I am having now is a window that appears after I boot saying:

Error mounting system-managed device /dev/fd0: Command-line `mount "/media/floppy0"' exited with non-zero exit status 32: mount: /dev/fd0 is not a valid block device

I do have a floppy drive but have no intention of ever using it so if anyone has any simple instructions for fixing this....

*NOTE* This is now fixed! See comments section!

More Linux

I attempted to run Ubuntu in demo mode but it failed, telling me I did not have enough memory. I will try it one more time from a cold start because Mint 15 did run after a fashion.

Test

Test from Mint 8 installed. Needs tweaking...

Back again. I can't seem to do any software updates and Mint 8 is a very old version. I am not sure what the latest version of Firefox for Linux is, but I seem to be stuck with version 1.0.

There does not seem to be an office suite installed and I can't get one. Package Manager does nothing, saying all downloads I choose have "Failed".

Keep plunking....

Maybe Mint 8 is TOO old....

Another Linux Distro

See, I am even getting the lingo!

I am running Linux Mint 8 "Helena", an older version of Linux in "demo" mode. My new Linux "Go To Guy", Don, made a comment yesterday that trying an older version of Mint might be the answer as it may nor expect the same resources as the new versions. It looks like he might be correct. Everything loaded and I have a complete desktop complete with the "Menu" button.

I will now try to install it. And just for the record, the keyboard is working in demo mode. ;)

IE and Sitemeter Not Playing Nicely

If you are using Internet Explorer while trying to connect to sites using Sitemeter (like this one) you will see an annoying pop-up asking you if you want to install or accept some other program.

This is a fault with Internet Explorer, not Sitemeter or this Blog. IE and Sitemeter have a history of having problems working together. Back in 2008, Internet Explorer refused to connect with any site using Sitemeter. After intensive investigation in the technical community the problem was traced back to IE refusing the code Sitemeter was using. Chrome and Firefox were not having this problem.

I got a complaint from our friends Brian and Sue which led me to do some investigating which turned up the above information. To test out my theory I found my Internet Explorer (I never use it) and went to my Blog. There was a warning on the top of the screen that IE had blocked a site that was trying to open. I clicked on the "allow anyway" button and there it was, the annoying window asking to allow "Analytics.com" to open or install (can't remember which).

So, until IE fixes their problem, try using either Chrome or Firefox to view my site and any others that use Sitemeter to keep track of visitors. A side benefit will be that your Internet will speed up quite a bit as IE is quite the little resource hog.

I would have included a screen capture of the problem but I am using my newest Linux distro to write this. I ended up with Lubunto, a minimal installation that I do not think I will keep. It is harder to navigate and has no bells or whistles. I determined that 512 Megs of RAM was not enough to run Mint and tried to install the full version of Ubunto. The installation failed when the installer failed to recognize my keyboard. I then tried Lubunto which did install after hanging up for a while on the keyboard recognition. I think I will change out the keyboard and attempt the Ubuntu install one more time. I thought Linux was simple!

Rain, Change Of Plans and Linux Install

It is raining here and looks like it will be raining for at least a week. We had a trip to Seattle planned with Brooks, LindaLee and LindaLee's parents. We were to drive down to Brooks and LindaLee's tonight and then catch a ferry in the morning.

First, LindaLee's parents backed out because Her grandfather is not well and her mom and dad flew to Edmonton. The remaining four of us still planned to go to Seattle.

This morning we woke up to pouring rain so I checked the weather for Seattle and they are calling for rain right through the weekend and beyond. I don't mind the rain (I live on the coast so that is pretty obvious) but most of what I like about Seattle involves walking and lots of it. I love walking through downtown, stopping at quaint little sidewalk coffee shops and walking the waterfront area. This is not much fun in the rain.

I sent Brooks an email asking if they wanted to think about doing it another time and he called back saying no, they were going regardless of the weather. They had been planning on this for a long time and it was to be a celebration of Brooks birthday and their first wedding anniversary. They had made arrangements to board the dog and he has work to do for the rest of his time off.

So, they will be going alone. I feel bad about deserting them but I know I would feel worse about sitting in an expensive hotel room wondering how to get to the restaurant without getting soaked. Another time.

Linux Install:

I finally got around to installing Linux on Norma's old Windows XP machine. As you mey remember, I got a copy of Limux Mint Ver 15 Olivia Cinnamon from my fellow Blogger Rick a few weeks ago. I tested it on my W7 laptop and it looked great. I delayed installing it on Norma's machine until we were sure she would not need anything else from it.

Yesterday I inserted the DVD and started the machine! It took ages to load and when it finally did, it asked me if I wanted to restart because it could not open. I did this and the same thing came up twice more. It said that I could run in "Failsafe" mode. Having no other option, I said yes, thinking it might load better from the hard drive than from the DVD.

It then asked if I wanted a permanent install or just a demo. I chose permanent and the process started. I then had to answer a bunch of questions and create a password. I did not want a password but it would not let me leave the field blank.

Eventually it opened but again would only run in Failsafe mode. At first I thought this was equivalent to Windows "Safe" mode but it does not seem to be. It seems to be a common problem when the video card is not fully compatible with the OS. Or something.

Anyway, it is working after a fashion. I am using it to post this Blog. However, my desktop is black and blank There is no Start or Menu button at the bottom left and the only other thing that is on the screen is a bar at the top with "Applications" and "Places" on it. The rest of the screen is black except for a button at the bottom left, "Click here to hide/restore all windows and show desktop".

I am thinking this version of Linux may not be for me as I have only 512 Megs of RAM. Another fellow Blogger, Don, mentioned a different version of Linux that might work better. I might just contact Don for some more information.

This is not how I remember it from when I tried it on my laptop.

New Chimney Liner

Our new stainless steel chimney liner was installed today. The old one was put in just before we bought the house in 1989 and was suposed to last 25 years so it is right on schedule for replacement. The two guys from Oliver's Chimneys arrived just after 9:00 this morning and were gone by 11:30. The bill was $1020.

Out With The Old


Pretty rough shape! No wonder it would not draw!

In with the new!

Tying it to the insert

 

It Worked!

Windows 7 is again running happily on my desktop. I installed Quicken and EaseUS Todo Backup and let Windows update itself. Everything is working and I have an image to fall back on.

I always hate starting these things in the fear that it will not work and I will end up worse off than I am now.

Multitasking

We survived the downpour this morning. A ton of water came down the bank behind us but our multi thousand dollar drainage system we had put in several years ago worked. We did not wash into the sea.

Today is the day I am reinstalling Windows 7 in my Acer desktop. It did not come with a Windows disc but it did prompt me to make a set of three DVD's when I set it up the first time. These discs allow me to reinstall Windows. We shall see. I put in the first disc a while ago and it is working away.

Rick advised me to use Window's Easy Transfer to keep my data so I took his advice and have a thumbdrive sitting there with all my data on it. The three disc set allowed me to choose several different methods and I chose the one that reinstalls Windows but lets me keep all my data. It will be easy to see if this was the correct choice when the computer connects to Windows Update. If there was some kind of a trojan virus in there that resulted in the "Not Legal Copy of Windows" notification that kept me out of any Windows programs and services it will be noticed then and I can do it all again using the more aggressive methof that should wipe the hard drive.

It is on the second disc now and still puttering away....

In the meantime I am watching the BC Lions football game against Saskatchewan. Busy day!

Oh yes, I recently updated Google Chrome and the Blogger site seems to have lost the toolbar that allows me to make a new post and get into the Blogger Dashboard. I am having to make this post from Firefox.