It's ten degrees outside

[altivo]

Just 24 hours ago it was 51°F, now it's 10.

In the bleak midwinter, frosty winds made moan...

I think there's a blizzard going on in Minnesota. The dry frigid winds we've had all day were out of the west and I suspect they are blowing out of the aftermath of the passing storm, which would typically be much drier and colder.

After Gary drove his mom home we spent much of the rest of the day rewiring our home network. The purpose of this was to get the wireless router onto the 100MHz branch. It was plugged in under my desk where the Amiga and Alpha live. The Amiga has only a 10MHz ethernet, and was originally on a coax.

So we ran a new cable, and moved the router. I can't say I see any significant difference, but Gary's happy so that's fine.

What has made me a lot happier is the fact that I found I can load the standard Ubuntu desktop even in the netbook edition. Now I have my familiar menus and keyboard shortcuts, which is much better than the "Linux for the compleat idiot" interface that was the default. By activating Ubuntu One, I have shared cloud storage that automatically syncs between all three computers: the netbook, my home desktop, and my work desktop. It would also sync Firefox bookmarks, but I'm used to handling that differently and will leave it alone.

I'm even getting used to the tiny keyboard. Not as nice as a real keyboard, but usable. And certainly better than a touch screen fake or those tiny chiclet keys on cell phones.

At the moment we are both sitting at the dining room table, using two different wireless computers, each equipped with the same model of Logitech cordless mouse. I thought for sure that there would be crosstalk between the mice, but there is none. Good job, Logitech.

And with that, I think I'm going to bed. Happy New Year, everyone.

Comments

[calydor.livejournal.com]

I've always sworn by Logitech for things such as keyboards and mice. Out of all the hardware makers out there they seem to be some of the sturdiest and most reliable.

As an example, the mouse I'm using now is a Logitech Trackman Marble+ originally bought three or four computers ago near the turn of the millennium. The Logitech logo at the wrist has long since worn off from use, as has the CE notice on the bottom of it, but the mouse itself is still going strong after a decade. That's craftsmanship in this day and age.

[shadow_stallion]

Agreed. I've always found that Logitech made quality products and I can't really complain about any of their products I have used.

[altivo]

For reliability, Logitech comes out on top. I don't think I've ever seen one of their products fail unless it was horribly abused first. They used to be priced accordingly, and a bit too expensive for me, but now they are pretty competitive.

My only complaint about these mice is the feel of the scroll wheel. It has a kind of spongy-scratchy feeling to it when turned, but I've never been a big wheel user anyway. I'm more likely to click it as a third button than to scroll with it.

Interestingly, the ASUS laptops have a touchpad feature that works as a scroll wheel. If you put two fingers on the pad and slide them up and down, the window under the mouse pointer scrolls just as it would with the wheel. I assume that means that applications that make other uses of the wheel would also work that way.

[schnee]

Happy new year. :)

[altivo]

Thanks. You too. *hugs*

[schnee]

Thank you. *hugs back warmly and wags*

[shadow_stallion]

You're fortunate that the two mice didn't try to fight with each other. Kevin and I tried working on the same desk once and the mice did not get along. Took us a while to figure out why his pointer was jumping all over the screen and he wasn't doing anything.

[altivo]

Now that's interesting. What kind of mouse were you using? I see there are at least three different protocols being marketed. One is bluetooth of course, and that is supposed to automatically figure out how to avoid interference. Ours are both the same Logitech model and apparently use the same spread spectrum methods as wireless networks use. I'm guessing that the mouse and the little USB dongle are keyed to each other somehow, but I haven't tried swapping mice or dongles to find out. That's something I'll try eventually. One of my coworkers uses a wireless mouse too, but that's the only one in the library so we haven't seen any interference to it. Hers is a Microsoft product and has a little "reset connection" button on the bottom to make it search again for the USB dongle. Ours don't have that, but they do have an on-off switch to save the battery when they aren't in use, and I like that.

[shadow_stallion]

I'm not totally sure of the exact type we were using at the time. Mine was the kind that had a USB dongle that plugged in to the laptop while his was the type that rested in a USB powered cradle that recharged it. Basically the same technology I think but I cannot remember if we tried to fix it. His wireless mouse kicked the bucket so I went back to a wired mouse on his desktop until such time that I replaced both keyboard and mouse (yet to be done - I'm still shopping for a gaming/illuminated keyboard)

[altivo]

Oops. Meant to add that there are (or were) infrared wireless mice but I'm not sure those are sold any more. They use a signal similar to what TV remotes use. And while looking at catalogs and web sites to compare cordless mice, I found some that say they use 27MHz signals, which is in the CB band. Those are cheap, but I find the concept pretty unfathomable. No they weren't called "Good Buddy" mice.