new boring computer questions

If you got one of the brand new model Macbooks, though, you'll need one of their new mini-DisplayPort to X adapters. I think Apple is the only source for these adapters at the moment.

I have an old-gen macbook with mini-dvi

this is for my li'l bro who just has a pc (complicated by the fact tht he might get a macbook) so dunno what connections he has (what's standard?) - he is getting an optoma pico pocket projector which connects to ipods/phones/pdas whatever via their av out - I can't find any info on the www on how to connect a pc to the pico to project from tht... I dunno wht "av out" is but do know wht composite/component/dvi/mini-dvi/vga/hdmi etc are

http://www.unplggd.com/uimages/unplggd/061908optoma-pico02.jpg

^^wht is equivalent stylish white cable for the metrosexual male to go in pc/poss future macbook, is my qn

its audio/video out. how you connect to a tv.

thanknig u

wait, I don't think I've ever seen a connection to a tv with a pole jack socket; the most common low-fi method wd be s-video wouldn't it, and all the current av ninjas would connect a computer to tv via vga/hdmi. looking around it doesn't look like you can get a mini-dvi to "1 x 2.5mm 4 pole jack" adapter

looking at this shit really raises my blood pressure

yeah usually the av cords are the ones that go to the composite in of yr tv (split into 3 or 5 lines of audio/video). obv that thing is way different.

iPod video out is composite which usually goes over RCA (yellow jack) but can be routed over 2.5 mm jack ended cables mostly for small video devices.

DVI is not going to be compatible, for a computer you'd need a TV-out to make a composite signal and have RCA out or possibly and S-Video connector with a RCA convertor and set to composite in the drivers, there are RCA to 2.5mm jack cables.

That Optima Pico projector only has composite in using tha aformentioned 4pin 2.5mm jack.

http://www.optoma.co.uk/optomapico/PicoIntro.aspx

thanks, I think I understand tht; think my little bro's computer has s-video/VGA outs for video

it was composite in the end

tht little pico thing is pretty nifty

my bf's laptop screen won't work. it makes a hissing sound and sometimes flashes briefly. it's been doing this off and on, usually working after closing the computer then opening it again, but tonight it refuses to work at all.

any advice?

ok, so we figured we probably need a new cfl tube: but where do we get one?

Pricewatch.com

or you could have a look at http://www.lcdpart.com/doc/ccflinstallation.html

http://search.pricewatch.com/search?q=ccfl&totalcost_min=min&totalcost_max=max

A quickie:

How does one upload a pic to ILXOR if it's not a web link? (e.g. from your hard drive). I've never been able to work this out.

flickr account! www.flickr.com

But will the pic be displayed within the tread or will that just allow me to post a link to a flickr page?

you upload yr pic to flickr account, click on the pic till you get option above it that says 'all sizes' - click that and it gives you size options, each one having a link down the bottom of the page you can copy and paste.

then you post that link using the image tags in formatting help below the post box on an ilx thread.

Got it! Thanks so much.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/24639436@N06/2959507261/"; title="Hinodeyama hike"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2959507261_fa4f791149.jpg"; width="500" height="385" alt="Hinodeyama hike" /></a>

haha maybe not

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2959507261_fa4f791149.jpg

what was i doing wrong? i pasted the link code as suggested...

flickr, photobucket, etc.

There are a ton of image hosting sites around.

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/6234/imgrl3.jpg

Thanks all.

he gets the picture

I'm on OSX 10.4.11 and between ISPs at the moment so using a 3G Huawei dongle from T-Mobile. Does anyone have any idea why my internet connection might be fine in browsers and Software Update but not working at all in iTunes? I just get an "iTunes could not connect to the iTunes Store. Make sure your network connection is active and try again." message.

I tried turning my firewall off.
I tried updating iTunes to the latest version.
I tried deleting all trace of the Huawei modem and T-Mobile software and starting again (not sure if I managed this, as when I reinstalled it, it said "Upgrade" on the installation process button.
I tried deleting various .plist files from Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration.

try deleting some more .plist files from Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration

No.

Trying to back up some music I have on an old laptop with an external hard drive (lolz I know). Is there a way I can do this? Something I can install that would recognize it?

The old laptop has Windows Me (hence the lolz, above)

iirc Win Me has issues with USB - you might want to check that Plug and Play is enabled (http://www.helpwithwindows.com/windowsMe/tip-0010.html), also check if there are any 98/Me specific drivers for your external disk, as it may want them before it will work properly. Good luck.

Enabled and it still doesn't work :-(

What are these specific drivers (or where to get them?) Any more info would be appreciated.

Otherwise I guess I could transfer to a windows XP machine via an mp3 player, since its only about 15 gigs - a pain but that might be the only option.

>What are these specific drivers (or where to get them?)

Might be worth checking the manufacturer of your external drive's website in case they have USB drivers for 98/Me. If not, and it doesn't even attempt to install it when you plug it into the PC, then yr mp3 player may be the only way.

Oh it definitely attempts and it has unplug hard drive button at the bottom corner.

Checked the webpage they have nothing

I was looking at this page. I can't see the USBNTMAP.SYS file under the CABS folder.

Unless I can d/l it from somewhere it looks like I'll be d/l onto mp3 player then transferring it onto a Windows XP laptop and then backing that. *phew*

Thanks for your help, btw

So when it attempts to install the drive, does it show up with a drive letter in Windows Explorer at all? Possible that your external HDD is formatted with NTFS, and your Win Me PC with FAT so the disk will not show up properly. If there is nothing you want to keep on the external drive already you could right click and format the drive to FAT (but *only* do this if you can stand to lose all the data on the external disk!).

(Regarding USBNTMAP.SYS, if it's pestering you for that and you don't have a Win Me install disk then you could try downloading the file and dropping it into the CABS folder.)

Hope you can work it out.

No drive letter but it detects the USB. If I go to system under control panel and device manager it does list it as USB device with a question mark next to it.

What odes FAT stand for? There is nothing on my external drive at the mo (I have another laptop with XP, and I intend on using the external drive to back the stuff in that laptop with it)

ah right, first thing to do is check what kind of problem the question mark relates to (http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/tp/device_manager_error_codes.htm) - assuming it's a yellow question mark of course. If it's green then I've no idea. This might well be to do with that .SYS file above, so if you can download that from somewhere and drop it into the relevant folder so much the better.

FAT (File Allocation Table) and NTFS (New Technology File System) are just different types of Windows file systems. Win Me uses the (older) FAT system, XP etc use NTFS - this is not backwards compatible so a device formatted with NTFS will not work on a PC using FAT.

Not really,

XP can use FAT32 on its system drive and still read NTFS partitions.

It's true that only Windows 2000, XP, Vista and 7 can read and write NTFS though.

NTFS has many advantages over FAT32 the main one being security and the ability to have files over 4GB.

It sounds like Windows ME has no drivers for your USB mass storage controller, this may or may not be resolvable depending on the make/model USB drive in question.

I'm pretty sure Windows ME had a generic USB mass storage driver though.

However it may not work with your USB drive, your best bet is to take the HDD out of the laptop and use a USB HDD chassis to copy the music to another PC.

That's a fair suggestion, but xyzzz should bear a few things in mind: You'll very probably need a 2.5" IDE USB caddy for the laptop HDD to go into. And there will be some unscrewing of covers and disconnection of cables involved in removing the HDD from the laptop.

Under the circumstances the original idea using an MP3 player is probably less hassle.

btw, Bill, it was green not yellow - going with the mp3 idea for now

No idea how a laptop is built generally so I'm not gonna mess. Again, for now.

hope the mp3 idea works. I really do.

Again - good luck. If the MP3 player has been recognised over USB on the laptop before then you should be ok to drag and drop files onto it, and to do the same onto your XP PC.

One final suggestion: 16GB USB pen drives can be bought for about £15 these days (and maybe less if you have a look around). afaik Win Me only uses USB1 so the data transfer onto the drive would be a pretty slow, but once it's off the laptop your XP machine should have no problems. And you can obv reuse the pen drive for other stuff.

"a pretty slow process" !

boring computer questions: how to i capture the audio on a streaming website, if i wanted to do such a thing

Silentbob works ok?

hmmmm is that for macintosh