::scream::
Apr. 22nd, 2004 07:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katallisonOhhhhhh-kay.
So the new tech toy referred to in my previous entry is indeed a tablet PC, which I'm getting through the auspices of and for the purposes of my job, but which is just insanely cool to play around with. This evening I brought it home planning to hook it up to my ethernet hub, get on line, and download some stuff (e.g., Firefox, Thunderbird, Bookworm, the usual).
In the past, with the iBook, getting on-line had been no problem; I got a 5-port Linksys ethernet hub, spent some quality time cursing and thrashing around with cables and connections in the tiny space behind the desk, and finally plugged the hub into the cable modem, the ethernet cable into the iBook, fired 'er up, and lo, we had internet connectivity. Any time I needed to take the iBook elsewhere, I just unplugged the ethernet, and then when I plugged it back in, we were connected again. Simple-dimple.
With the new baby, though ... first I plugged it in, opened a browser, and found there was no connection. So I went to "Network Connections" in the Control Panel, and saw that there was an icon representing a local area connection that alleged itself to be functioning properly. Ran the "New Connection Wizard" a few times, to no effect, spent some time poking at this and that, pondering the mysteries of XP, and finally checked the IP address on the laptop and on the desktop and found that they were different. "Hmm," I thought, "that's probably not a good thing, is it?"
So I put in a phone call to Roadrunner, and got Clueless Help Desk Guy who kept thinking I was talking about a wireless connection, and once he finally was disabused of that belief, could only say that it was probably something wrong with my ethernet hub. "But I *just now* had the iBook connected into it," I said plaintively, "and it was working just fine, and ..."
"Well, I dunno," he said, in a conclusive tone.
So after hanging up I went to fling myself on Google's tender mercies, only to discover that my *desktop* internet connection was no longer working either. Did the standard reboot, still nada. Filled with a dark suspiction that Clueless H.D.G. had somehow hosed my connection, I re-dialed Roadrunner, do-si-do'd my way once again through their phone menu, and finally got another H.D.G., this one blessedly clueful, who walked me through a series of checks which finally determined that there is, in fact, something wrong with the ethernet hub. I think. Because when we plug the cable modem directly into the desktop, avoiding the hub, it works fine.
Final determination on all this, involving retesting of the tightness of fit of all plug-ins, will probably have to wait for a time when I am not (a) hammered with fatigue after a crushing workday, and (b) full of beer, and hence (c) can deal with another bout of thrashing around behind the desk with cables and connections. As I said irefully to the Clueful H.D.G., "When I am queen of the universe, by god," (and you know you're one sip over the line when you start telling your queen-of-the-universe fantasies to help desk guys)--"When I am queen of the universe, every freakin' connection on a computer will be on the FRONT so that you can GET TO IT without having to crawl around on the FLOOR amongst the DUST BUNNIES and wreck your KNEES."
He said, "Yeah! OK then! You got your connection going now, and--OK, bye!" [click]
The tablet is, however, really really cool. More about that later. When I am less filled with fantasies of hauling all computers to the Lake Street Bridge and heaving them into the Mississippi.
So the new tech toy referred to in my previous entry is indeed a tablet PC, which I'm getting through the auspices of and for the purposes of my job, but which is just insanely cool to play around with. This evening I brought it home planning to hook it up to my ethernet hub, get on line, and download some stuff (e.g., Firefox, Thunderbird, Bookworm, the usual).
In the past, with the iBook, getting on-line had been no problem; I got a 5-port Linksys ethernet hub, spent some quality time cursing and thrashing around with cables and connections in the tiny space behind the desk, and finally plugged the hub into the cable modem, the ethernet cable into the iBook, fired 'er up, and lo, we had internet connectivity. Any time I needed to take the iBook elsewhere, I just unplugged the ethernet, and then when I plugged it back in, we were connected again. Simple-dimple.
With the new baby, though ... first I plugged it in, opened a browser, and found there was no connection. So I went to "Network Connections" in the Control Panel, and saw that there was an icon representing a local area connection that alleged itself to be functioning properly. Ran the "New Connection Wizard" a few times, to no effect, spent some time poking at this and that, pondering the mysteries of XP, and finally checked the IP address on the laptop and on the desktop and found that they were different. "Hmm," I thought, "that's probably not a good thing, is it?"
So I put in a phone call to Roadrunner, and got Clueless Help Desk Guy who kept thinking I was talking about a wireless connection, and once he finally was disabused of that belief, could only say that it was probably something wrong with my ethernet hub. "But I *just now* had the iBook connected into it," I said plaintively, "and it was working just fine, and ..."
"Well, I dunno," he said, in a conclusive tone.
So after hanging up I went to fling myself on Google's tender mercies, only to discover that my *desktop* internet connection was no longer working either. Did the standard reboot, still nada. Filled with a dark suspiction that Clueless H.D.G. had somehow hosed my connection, I re-dialed Roadrunner, do-si-do'd my way once again through their phone menu, and finally got another H.D.G., this one blessedly clueful, who walked me through a series of checks which finally determined that there is, in fact, something wrong with the ethernet hub. I think. Because when we plug the cable modem directly into the desktop, avoiding the hub, it works fine.
Final determination on all this, involving retesting of the tightness of fit of all plug-ins, will probably have to wait for a time when I am not (a) hammered with fatigue after a crushing workday, and (b) full of beer, and hence (c) can deal with another bout of thrashing around behind the desk with cables and connections. As I said irefully to the Clueful H.D.G., "When I am queen of the universe, by god," (and you know you're one sip over the line when you start telling your queen-of-the-universe fantasies to help desk guys)--"When I am queen of the universe, every freakin' connection on a computer will be on the FRONT so that you can GET TO IT without having to crawl around on the FLOOR amongst the DUST BUNNIES and wreck your KNEES."
He said, "Yeah! OK then! You got your connection going now, and--OK, bye!" [click]
The tablet is, however, really really cool. More about that later. When I am less filled with fantasies of hauling all computers to the Lake Street Bridge and heaving them into the Mississippi.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 06:05 pm (UTC)Gah, that would suck. I'd always accidentally disconnect stuff because the front is more exposed, like next to where my feet are for example... I rather have the connections that don't have to be dis- and reconnected during normal operations in the back, even if I have to crawl (and I have to get some lightsource below my desk too) occasionally.
But good luck with you hub.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 06:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 06:36 pm (UTC)Oh, this would make my life. I swear, about 90% of my learned helplessness when it comes to hardware is that it just pisses me off to have to disassemble my entire desk to get to anything.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 07:27 pm (UTC)I actually once had a laptop where the Ethernet connection was near the front of the keyboard, and I hated it -- I kept knocking into it with my wrist, and frequently knocked it loose. I suppose this is less of an issue with a desktop.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-22 07:36 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-04-23 06:53 am (UTC)Also, I have this lovely powerstrip that has off-switches for each plug. I've gotall of my peripherals that don't have off switches plugged into that so I can turn them off when I am not using them.
It's nifty.
...And maybe you can name your tablet John Berryman.