…grayblog…

Category: work

  • More on the new laptop

    Well, I can’t say things are running smoothly at the moment.

    The good news:

    • It turned up in a timely fashion
    • It is as speciified
    • My MS Office Pro 2007 also turned up promptly, reduced by £150 for having a smashed case (the innards are licence sticker are all intact)
    • It’s all very pretty
    • I’ve transferred all my Office files from the old machine to the new one, albeit with a bit of poking about.

    Now the bad news:

    • Re-installing all the software is going to take ages. Why Vista comes with a package that only transfers files and settings and not the actual program files, I do not know.
    • My new computer refuses stubbornly to talk to my HP LaserJet 1150. My HP PSC 2110 it has no problems with (at least with printing, I’ve not tried scanning yet). I haven’t tried to get them to talk wirelessly yet – one thing at a time.

    Expect more updates on this as I go along.

    UPDATE

    I now have the laptop successfully talking to both printers via the wireless network and it only took me three and half hours to achieve. Here are the solutions I employed (neither of which are described in official documentation):

    • To get the HP LaserJet 1150 to talk to the laptop via a USB cable (which is a prerequisite of getting them to talk to each other via the wireless network) I located file INFCACHE.1 in C:\windows\inf.
      Then right click, select Properties->Security->Edit and give your account full control.
      Delete INFCACHE.1 (or rename it INFCACHE.1.BAK if you are nervous about doing that sort of thing).
      Reboot your PC (as one forum contributor commented, surely Vista was supposed to have put an end to this sort of thing?).
      Plug in your printer and Bob’s your mum’s brother. This solution came from the Microsoft forums.
    • To get the printers working over the wireless network (assuming your laptop is already talking to your router) via a Belkin F1UP0001 wireless USB printer hub, I used a combination of this document and something I noticed when trawling through the Belkin print server web management tool.
      The first thing you will notice is that the Belkin XP software and drivers do not work with Vista at all and they don’t have an up-to-date driver on their site. Consequently, there will be no port available for your printer.
      Once you’ve installed your printers via USB, go to Control Panel and open the printer folder for your printer.
      Right click on your printer (the one that is Printer 1 on your print server) and select Run As Administrator->Properties.
      Select the Ports->Add Port.
      Ensure that “Standard TCP/IP Port” is selected and then click New Port->Next.
      Enter the IP address of your F1UP0001 in the dialogue box and click Next.
      Windows will attempt to detect the print server and will fail – this is normal.
      Ensure that “Standard – Generic Network Card” is selected and click Next.
      Windows will then complete the installation. You will notice that your printer has a new port in the list of the available ports and this is the one you should select for your printer.       

      Now repeat this process for the printer that is Printer 2 on your hub. This will create two identical ports. But for this port you must make one additional alteration after you have completed all the above stages.
      Right click on your printer (the one that is Printer 2 on your print server) and select Run As Administrator->Properties.
      Select the Ports tab. Highlight the second port that you created (the one that you allocated to Printer 2) and hit Configure Port. Change the Port Number under Raw Settings to 9101 and save the settings. It turns out that Printer 2 uses a different port to Printer 1.
      Once again, Bob is your relative.

    I’ve now got to find out what has happened to my Skype chat archives and get them installed. Skype itself is working and my new PC is happy to talk to my headset.

    Still to achieve:

    • install AVG, Feedreader, Outlook Express (I’ve always used OE for my private email to keep it completely separate from work stuff), Homesite 5.5, Filezilla, HMRC Employer software, PDFCreator, iTunes, PaintShopPro and GRICdial.
    • on the hardware side, I have to see if the laptop will talk to my camera and to the Buffalo DriveStation external harddrive.

    FURTHER UPDATE

    The transfer of Skype chat history is relatively straight-forward. Just follow the instructions here. The target directory is AppData/Skype.

    And who knew that Outlook Express was dead? All hail Windows Mail. The transfer was simple and automatic, although I’d like to have known a bit more about it in advance.

    FeedReader wasn’t quite so easy. Thankfully I only have a small number of feeds as I had to migrate them manually. But I’ve consolidated the list a little and taken the opportunity to upgrade to the latest release of FeedReader, which seems much improved.

    AVG is waiting on a licence upgrade so that both old and new laptops are covered.

    FileZilla also had to have settings migrated manually, but that wasn’t too onerous. This has also seen a signifcant upgrade.

    SATURDAY UPDATE

    Still working my way through the installation of all the things I like to be just so. This morning I’ve got the del.icio.us toolbar, PDF Creator (although it warns that there are compatibility issues with Vista that are going to be fixed in a future release) and Paint Shop Pro 7, all of which went smoothly. Are we there yet? (Answer: no, but we’re getting there).

    SUNDAY UPDATE

    I’ve not had so much time to dedicate to this today. My main discovery is that the HP PSC 2110 that I thought had installed wonderfully is only partially supported by Vista. “Advanced features” are not supported. Such advanced features include (wait for it) scanning and printing multiple copies of documents. So it looks like I’m in the market for a new multifunction machine, preferably one that will work wirelessly so that I don’t have to hook up to do scanning. Any suggestions?

    MONDAY UPDATE

    On the multifunction machine front, I rather like the look of the Canon PIXMA MP600R. Anyone used/using one of these machines?

    Meanwhile, I’ve noticed that my LaserJet 1150 will only print multiple copies of anything if the collate function is switched off. I will try and find a workaround for this, but honestly…

    (LATER) Easily fixed by going to Control Panel->Printers->LaserJet 1150->Run As Administrator->Properties->Device Properties and when you get there, scroll all the way down and disable both Job Storage and Mopier Mode.

    No, I don’t know either, but I read it in a forum and it works. OK?

  • errmmm, ummm

    In the course of my work, I’m expected to have an understanding of the following statement contained in an urgent information release issued today by the Plant Health and Seeds Inspectorate:

    HMRC ‘SAD H’ declarations for imports of plant health controlled goods
    On 20th January 2008 the use of HMRC’s Harmonised data set becomes mandatory. Based on advice from colleagues in HMRC the following guidance is given on the action to take if a Quarantine Release Certificate is not available for a consignment of plant health controlled goods: As the use of the QRC is being delayed, for the interim period traders importing plant health controlled goods will need to declare the EU Document Code N851 allocated to the Plant Health Phytosanitary Certificate (rather than UK Document Code 9115) and a Document Reference that includes Licence Type PHC (rather than Licence Type QRC) at the item level of the Harmonised SAD. Section 8 of JCCC (07) 29 in the following link ITSW: Automatic Licence Verification (ALV) for HMI and PHSI provides more information. As an example, a consignment of plant health controlled goods with a Plant Health Phytosanitary Certificate issued in Ecuador would have a Document reference declared on the Import SAD something like ECPHC123456 (EC being the country code for Ecuador, PHC relating to the licence type for the Plant Health Phytosanitary certificate and 123456 being the number of the phytosanitary certificate covering that consignment).

    SAD? No. Confused? You bet.

  • Laptop update

    Dell Precision M4300 – ordered today.

    I’ve taken the good advice given and will purchase Office 2007 elsewhere. I will also shop around for a case, not because I think that Dell cases are expensive (actually, they tend to be rather cheap) but because I want something different, possibly a messenger-style bag. More on that in due course.

  • New toy important piece of office equipment

    For the last eighteen months or so, I’ve been talking about replacing my laptop. I currently use a Dell Inspiron 8500 (Intel Pentium 4m 2.0 GHz processor, 512MB RAM, 40GB HDD, 15.4″ screen, ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 graphics card, DVD/CD-RW, Win XP SP2) which has proven to be a rugged, capable and reliable machine with hardly any issues. However, I am now finding that it struggles to cope when I’m using applications like Outlook, Excel, Word and Skype all at the same time (which I frequently do when talking to colleagues and clients internationally and looking up information at the same time). In addition, in spite of regular housekeeping, the hard drive is worryingly close to capacity. So it is time for a new machine.

    As I have only a single laptop which I use for both business and pleasure (it is property of my company, so it is a business tool primarily), it has to be very much a maid-of-all-work. It needs to be of desktop-replacement calibre (I have no desktop) but also needs to be reasonably portable (I take it abroad several times a year and cart it to clients). I also expect it to have a similar lifespan to my current machine which is five years old and is going into “semi-retirement” to become a spare machine for my company in case of disaster and also be available for Hels to use for domestic purposes. I hope the new machine will be my main equipment for at least three years, possibly five years and then become a useful item around the house.

    So I’ve thought about what I want and came up with the following list:

    • dual core processor, at least 2.2 GHz
    • at least 2 GB RAM, preferably more for future-proofing
    • a reasonably good graphics card to cope with the domestic side of the remit
    • 160 GB hard drive at least, perhaps larger
    • 15.4″ screen. I considered 17″ screen machines but I’m not sure I want to lug about something that big 
    • 802.11a/b/g/n capability
    • bluetooth
    • DVD-RW
    • secondary battery – not vital, but definitely considered a bonus.

    I’ve ummed and arred about the OS and have decided to brave Vista (in the Vista Business flavour), in spite of SP1 not being out yet. I figure that SP1 will be due soon (I had been holding out for it, but can hold out no more) and that will hopefully iron out the bulk of the bugs in the original release.

    I also want to upgrade to MS Office 2007 Professional and need a new carry case (probably a backpack type to spare my shoulder a little). The budget is £1700 including all of the above, delivery to my office (or local collection), VAT and three year next-business-day on-site hardware support. This last item is important – the one time my current Dell did fail me, an engineer was with me within 24 hours to fix the problem. As my business relies on this one machine, I value that highly.

    Given my good experience with Dell, I have begun my search there. My shortlist currently consists of these four machines:

    • Latitude D830 – Intel Duo T7700, nVidia Quatro NVS 140M, 4.0 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, DVD+/- RW, 802.11 a/g/n, bluetooth, 9 cell main battery, 6 cell secondary, 15.4″ WXGA 1280 x 800 display – £1297 + delivery and VAT, OS, software, warranty and backpack included.
    • Vostro 1500 NB – Intel Duo T7500, nVidia GeForce 8600M GT, 4.0 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, DVD+/- RW, 802.11 a/b/g, bluetooth, 9 cell main battery, no secondary battery, 15.4″ WSXGA+ 1680 x 1050 display – £1297 + delivery and VAT, including all the extras.
    • XPS M1530 – Intel Duo T7700, nVidia GeForce 8600M GT, 4.0 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, DVD+/- RW, no modem, 802.11 a/b/g/n, bluetooth, 9 cell primary battery, no seconary battery, built in camera and fingerprint reader, 15.4″ WXGA 1280 x 800 display – £1523 + delivery and VAT, including all the extras. Over budget.
    • Precision M4300 – Intel Duo T7700, nVidia Quatro FX 360M, 4.0 GB RAM, 160 GB HDD, DVD +/- RW, 802.11 a/g/n, bluetooth, 9 cell primary battery, 6 cell seconary battery, 15.4″ WSXGA+ 1680 x 1050 display – £1367 + delivery and VAT including all the extras.

    I’ve also had a quick look at other ranges. The Lenovo ThinkPad T61 is nice, but too costly. The Sony BX range looks good, but only takes up to 2GB RAM. Fujitsu have some nice offerings. Neither the Fujitsu or Sony offerings come with extended NBD on-site warranty.

    Any comments or suggestions? I’m currently tending to favour the Precision machine, although the graphics card is not a strong point. I hear that the 9 cell battery sticks out the side of the Vostro and looks odd and that the whole machine is glossy black and gets grubby (I need to look fairly smart). And, no, I’ll not be buying a Mac.

  • Hold onto your hats, it’s the End Of The Year Post

    Yes, once again we come around to the annual grayblog end-of-the-year introspection. I know you’ve been looking forward to this for at least, oooo, twelve months?

    Firstly, let’s look back and get the resolutions thing out of the way. At the end of 2006 (the archives are over there, on the right), I said I’d carry on improving the things that I had starting improving in 2006. But who has time for that? The garden isn’t finished, I haven’t done enough exercise and the writings here have become ever more sparse as the year has gone on.

    So, do resolutions have any value if they are so easily broken/ignored? Comments welcome on that subject. And, given my obvious feelings on the value of resolutions, you can set as much store as you feel is appropriate in the following:

    • to write here more frequently (not too hard)
    • to take more exercise (we now have bikes which spend far too much time locked away)
    • to keep my office in a more tidy condition (also not hard)

    What else can be said about 2007? Well, at a professional level, things have generally improved through the year. I don’t think it’s a huge secret that I wasn’t terribly optimistic about the prospects for my business late in 2006 and was feeling pretty demoralized. Things have improved markedly since then and whilst it is still tough going, the light is clearly visible at the end of the tunnel and, if all goes to plan in 2008, I might be able to talk about my business and the “P-word”* in the same sentence without laughter. To a large degree, I’ve been carried along by the faith shown in me and my business by others around me – my backers and my clients. Even my bank has been supportive (although I’ve yet to ask them to dip their corporate hand into their corporate pockets for me, and hopefully won’t need to). The one person who keeps me from believing too much of what they say has been Hels, who frequently questions me and challenges me to test what I’m doing and show that things truly are going the right way. That is a good thing and has encouraged me to look hard at the business and the direction that it is going in. And I’m happy with it right now.

    2007 has also seen us seriously (VERY seriously) looking at emigration to the Netherlands (or possibly just inside the Belgian border). Ultimately this plan has been shelved – we have decided to stay close to friends and family. We also can’t really afford it at this stage – if my business was making more money and we hadn’t been so crippled by not selling Hels’s flat for so long, then maybe it would have been different. Note that I say that the plan is shelved, not abandoned. It’s something that we will keep at the back of our minds and may return to in the future. And our love for Maastricht is undimmed, as you might have guessed from the number of Dutch-related del.icio.us links that I post.

    The year has seen its usual bunch of travelling, this time including trips to the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy and Poland. I didn’t get to a few destinations that I had in mind for lack of time and resources, but the opportunity is not lost, merely deferred. I do promise to stick some photos on here somewhen of some of the places that I/we have been to this year – feel free to nag me to keep to that promise. Highlights of this year’s travel for me included:

    • San Pellegrino in Alpe, Italy – breath-takingly beautiful and wonderfully peaceful (although I suspect it might be busier in high season)
    • Hamburg, Germany – drinking cocktails whilst standing in the rain on the morning of my birthday
    • Warnemünde, Germany – bobbing about in a launch on the Warnow river with Hels and Tom
    • Kanne, Belgium – getting the “I could live here – this just might work” feeling
    • A12, Netherlands – driving from Gouda towards Zoetermeer and marvelling at the sodium-lamp orange mist with enormous wind turbines looming darkly out of the gloaming and wishing my camera was handy
    • Tiercé, France – having possibly the best cheese board I’ve ever had or am ever likely to have in “Sarkozy’s restaurant”
    • Przydworzyce, Poland – driving through the woods and seeing locals who had gathered mushrooms offering them for sale at the roadside, often only a single punnet-full

    Travel plans for 2008 are subject to change, but look likely to include Germany, France, Belgium, the Netherlands (no surprise there), Switzerland (2008’s first for me – 2007’s was Poland) and Italy. Maybe Spain. And maybe Ireland and Poland. Too many places to go to, for both business and pleasure, and too little time and money to do them all.

    Of course, the true highlight of 2007 has been watching Tom growing up. He is fantastic, a life-changing element of existence. He continually amazes and surprises us. It’s impossible to feel down when he’s around. I’m looking forward to more in 2008. And more of married life with Hels, but I’m going to stop on the emotional family gushing now before your keyboard gets covered in vomit.

    What do I think 2008 will bring? Goodness knows. If there is one thing that I’ve learnt, it is that you can never tell what the future will bring. I think politics and the economy will both be fascinating in 2008 (and might finally push crappy nonsense “entertainment” out of the headlines a little) although the ride might be a bit bumpy. My business will increase in strength and stature. Family life should continue to be splendid, particularly as we have settled on our home here for the time-being and should have fewer disturbances to routine (famous last words). And I might knock-up a decent duck à l’orange or two.

    Thanks to the regular readers who keep coming back here – I know there must be at least half a dozen of you still braving the digital elements to come here. Happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year to you all.

    * profit hahahaha!!

  • Linked?

    I can’t decide if LinkedIn is useful or not. I was introduced to it about a year ago by my lawyer who has lots of connections to colleagues and clients on his profile. But I’ve yet to discover anyone that I know from my own industry that uses it.

    The trouble is, I’m not sure that the point of LinkedIn is to find people that you already know. Finding people you don’t know and being found by others have to be the two biggest advantages that it might have. But it would help to achieve a more credible appearance on LinkedIn if, by knowing a few people already, you could establish a network of connections and not look like a sad loner with just one linked profile.

    Do you use LinkedIn? Do you think it is useful? You’ll find me if you search for my real name and know what I do for a living (I’m not linked as Graybo and nor is this blog linked).

  • Life in bullet points

    Just to keep Matt The Bakiwop happy, here is a genuine update:

    • I’m working like a mad thing at the moment. I haven’t even had time to update my work weblog, which is bad. Work is generally busy in a good way, though, so things are quite good. Just don’t mention the Germans.
    • We’ve been travelling a bit lately and I owe readers some photos from recent trips. So far this year we have been to Angers/Nantes, Utrecht/Maastricht/Aachen/Namur, Hamburg/Rostock and I made a solo trip to Vlaardingen/Aalsmeer. There have also been a few UK-based days out and there are some photos from those too. When time permits, I’ll upload some.
    • On the domestic front, I’ve been working on developing the front garden (although progress has been in fits and starts and has stalled again lately – I need to get the footings out for the retaining wall, but time constraints and the weather both conspire against me) as well as getting the side and back gardens looking good – I’ll try and sort out photos of that too.
    • I bought Hels a bike for her birthday and this has spurred me to sort out getting my bike restored after having left it in a shed for six years following the spectacular failure of the derailleur whilst bombing along the Avenue de Chartres in Chichester in 2000. Following a suggestion from Kate, I’ve taken it to Baker Street Bikes in Brighton for restoration and should get it back on Wednesday. All I’ll need then is to add a child seat for Tom and we’ll then be able to go out on family cycle trips (although bike mounts for the roof bars on the car would be good and I think I’d like to have the chance to dump the child seat so that I can get a few miles in on my own terms too).
    • We’ve started doing a bit more work to the house – currently, we’re remodelling the bathroom. Not a major change, just new paint, new taps and a new shower screen. We’re also eyeing the conservatory combine harvester (shhh, don’t tell Dave), which needs some major work – we’ve spied a couple of rotten timbers, which isn’t good. Repainting of the kitchen is also scheduled in for “somewhen”.
    • Tom has taken to refusing to go to sleep in the evening. We’ve just had him up for a 9.30pm snack, which he took whilst lounging in front of the telly in the living room – he has the makings of a good couch potato.
    • Finally, it’s the Garden and Art Event at West Dean, near Chichester, this coming weekend. I organise it. I’m seriously hoping that the weather improves considerably between now and then.

    More updates. Soon. I promise.

  • EU business loses out because we shout and point

    An EU study says that businesses are losing thousands of euro of business due to poor language skills. Not surprising, really, although I have to say that I’ve found it to be exceptional that a business I’ve dealt with has not had a fluent English speaker (and I’ve dealt with thirteen of the 27 nations), except in Spain which seemed stuck in the dark ages when I visited last year. Having said that, it is presumptuous and perhaps short-sighted of UK-based businesses to rely on the superior education systems that exist elsewhere and that give most Europeans educated in the last twenty years at least a basic grasp of English.

  • Physical connection

    I think I’ve made clear here in previous writings about the arrangement of my work facilities. My office is a converted summer house that stands in the garden of our home – and, on a sunny day like this, with a view out of the window of the plants that are starting to do spring things, it isn’t a bad place to be.

    I hook up to the Webternet via an 802.11b/g wireless connection. The router sits near the phone socket which is in the conservatory, roughly 25 feet from the Global Headquarters. As I’ve mentioned before, the signal sometimes degrades (we have evil cordless phones, microwave oven and wireless doorbell in the house – all of which could be causing interference) and occasionally drops completely, particularly during wet weather (the summer house is of timber construction and, in spite of a water-repellant coating, the boards do get wet). I’ve added an external antenna to the router so that it is in an elevated position (dangling attractively from a light fitting) which has helped but not solved the problem.

    I’m getting a bit fed up with the signal dropping out or degrading – it only ever seems to happen at the most inconvenient moment (when I’m using Skype or printing a big document – such is life), so I’m considering a physical connection between the router and the Global Headquarters. I don’t think it would be too difficult to run a cable from there to here – I can take it through the cat flap housing to get into the conservatory, route it around the edges of the decking so that it isn’t a trip hazard and easily make a small hole in the wall of the HQ to get it into here without using the same duct as the power supply cable.

    The question is this: what sort of cable should I use? I’m not an expert on this sort of thing. I’ve seen standard Cat5 cable and also cable rated for outdoor use. I’ve also seen fibre-optic cable. Will these cables resist being in an environment exposed to sun, wind and rain? Can these cables be easily routed (there may be a few 90° turns)? How easy is it to put the connectors on the end of these cables?

    Anybody got any experience of this sort of thing? Or should I just look at further uprating my wireless network?

  • Ce n’est pas un fait accompli

    I understand that following some of the links that I’ve posted recently on this site, people are wondering what is going on in our lives. So I’d like to clear up a few things.

    • yes, we’re thinking about moving.
    • no, we will not be moving for some time, at least two years.
    • yes, we are looking at the Netherlands. Why? Because houses are considerably cheaper there and we want to reduce the amount of our income that we spend on our mortgage each month. In addition, a lot of my work is in the Netherlands (at least as much as is in the UK), we like it there and it was recently ranked the best industrialized nation in which to bring up a child by the UN (compared to the UK which was ranked the worst nation).
    • BUT, it is not a certainty that we will move there. At the moment, we are deeply involved in research which includes:
    1. working out where to live
    2. deciding what we can afford
    3. looking at what mortgage we could get
    4. investigating employment options for Hels
    5. sussing out education and childcare facilities
    6. language, running a business, mortgage system, property law, tax system – everything! There are lots of hidden factors to consider.
    • IF we go there, then we would rent for at least one year to test the water – and if it didn’t work out, we could move back to England or to another place.
    • we are also investigating other alternatives – in every town we visit, in the UK and abroad, we always look through estate agent windows, partly out of unbridled noseyness and curiosity and partly out of serious research to see what property we could afford if we moved to that area. So far our research has shown that moving within the south east of England would not improve our lot – either we’d still have a vast mortgage or we’d be in Ramsgate.
    • in any case, whatever we decide, we have a whole bunch of factors to consider. These include but are not limited to (and in no particular order):
    1. Tom – particularly the environment and education/childcare
    2. us – we want a nice house in a relatively green neighbourhood (i.e. not a concrete neighbourhood) with a little garden and enough room for us to not be under each other’s feet
    3. work – both for me and for Hels as, without work that we enjoy and which pays reasonably, our life would be poorer in terms of quality or money or both
    4. family – we are close to both sides of the family and we want to be somewhere that is relatively easy for them to access, including by public transport
    5. cats – they’re important too! So no main road homes for us and always at least a little garden, even if/when we rent.

    So you see that nothing is certain. Well, almost nothing. The only thing that is certain is that the current fixed rate period on our mortgage expires on 31 December 2008, which is why there is a window of opportunity for moving around that time and into early 2009 (if we move before then, we have to pay a heavy penalty to our lender when we redeem the mortgage) – and we don’t want to leave it much later than that as we want to get Tom settled in a new home before he starts school. The reason for moving is also fairly certain – we want to move in order to achieve either a reduction in our mortgage liability and/or an increase in our living space.

    Even the “when” is not guaranteed. As we all know, events have a habit of overtaking one’s plans, so we have no idea what might happen over the next two years. I think the only thing that is likely to remain constant is the “why”. The “what”, “where” and even the “how” are all still to be decided.

    At the moment, the mission is research. And with a life-change of this magnitude, I think anyone would agree that we need to be thorough and use all the time available to our advantage.