somebody wrote:

> "Stefan Viljoen" <pov### [at] polardcom> wrote in message
> news:4afdb19f@news.povray.org...
> 
>> A friend of mine says doing it "my way" can damage the drive and / or the
>> tray mechanism
> 
> Regular DVD drives are dirt cheap, so who cares? Not that I've seen a
> drive damaged that way. The optical mechanism will die, get dusty,
> misaligned... etc, or the technology will become obsolete long before
> failure due to pushing the door. But if your friend is overly concerned
> about mechanical failures, he shouldn't be pushing the button anyway
> (which also would eventually fail) but use software "eject".

True, they are inexpensive, but if you can avoid spending money 
unnecessarily...

My current drive is an LG and I'm pretty pleased with this one. Its been 
going about 2 years now, no problems. Previous LG drives did at three month 
intervals regular as clock work (had 4 of them in one year!)

But this one is doing quite well. I'll take the eject suggestion under 
advisement!
-- 
Stefan Viljoen

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Jim Henderson wrote:

> On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:22:14 +0200, Stefan Viljoen wrote:
> 
>> I usually close mine by pushing lightly at the end of the tray
> 
> This is how I have done it for tray-loading drives.
> 
> Jim

Much more convenient - than reaching for the button below the tray.
-- 
Stefan Viljoen

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On Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:14:05 +0200, Stefan Viljoen wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
> 
>> On Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:22:14 +0200, Stefan Viljoen wrote:
>> 
>>> I usually close mine by pushing lightly at the end of the tray
>> 
>> This is how I have done it for tray-loading drives.
>> 
>> Jim
> 
> Much more convenient - than reaching for the button below the tray.

Especially on systems where the case prevents access to that button, such 
as my HP Slimline s7727c.  There's a silver button, but reaching it under 
the cover for the CD tray is a pain, especially since I have to reach 
around the tray to get to it - and half the time, the button doesn't work 
for ejecting the disc.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

Stefan Viljoen <pov### [at] polardcom> wrote:

> Much more convenient - than reaching for the button below the tray.

I agree and normally do it this way myself.  This is one of those subjects where
you've got to be careful if it's somebody else's equipment and they're prone to
worrying about this kind of thing.

Charles

Post a reply to this message

>> Now I just need to figure out how to get the silver side to be down, 
>> and not
>> the side with the label thing on it.
> 
>     Yeah. That label causes that side to be heavier and have a natural 
> tendency to be the down side. I sympathize.

Would now be a bad time to mention that I own disks with data on both sides?

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

Post a reply to this message

On 14-11-2009 12:23, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> Now I just need to figure out how to get the silver side to be down, 
>>> and not
>>> the side with the label thing on it.
>>
>>     Yeah. That label causes that side to be heavier and have a natural 
>> tendency to be the down side. I sympathize.
> 
> Would now be a bad time to mention that I own disks with data on both 
> sides?
> 
yes

Post a reply to this message

Stefan Viljoen wrote:

> going about 2 years now, no problems. 

You've jinxed it now.

Post a reply to this message

Stefan Viljoen wrote:
> Anoia indeed. 

Wait till your CD gets stuck in your car's CD player. Fortunately it was 
still under warrantee.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   I ordered stamps from Zazzle that read "Place Stamp Here".

Post a reply to this message

Orchid XP v8 wrote:

>>> Now I just need to figure out how to get the silver side to be down,
>>> and not
>>> the side with the label thing on it.
>> 
>>     Yeah. That label causes that side to be heavier and have a natural
>> tendency to be the down side. I sympathize.
> 
> Would now be a bad time to mention that I own disks with data on both
> sides?

Probably! :)

I've only seen such discs with the Flight Simulator X FSX "Global" expansion 
pack...

What do your double-sided discs contain? A game's data? 

-- 
Stefan Viljoen

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Jim Charter wrote:

> Stefan Viljoen wrote:
> 
>> going about 2 years now, no problems.
> 
> You've jinxed it now.

Maybe...
-- 
Stefan Viljoen

Post a reply to this message

Darren New wrote:

> Stefan Viljoen wrote:
>> Anoia indeed.
> 
> Wait till your CD gets stuck in your car's CD player. Fortunately it was
> still under warrantee.

Yikes! I can see that being a bit more of a problem. However I'm so 
frustrated now I feel I could take an axe to my car's dashboard, if the disc 
was in there. 

-- 
Stefan Viljoen

Post a reply to this message

Stefan Viljoen wrote:
> What do your double-sided discs contain? A game's data? 

Usually Pan&Scan vs Widescreen movies.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   I ordered stamps from Zazzle that read "Place Stamp Here".

Post a reply to this message

Stefan Viljoen <pov### [at] polardcom> wrote:
> How do you do it?
.....

tok@linuxbox:~$ man eject
tok@linuxbox:~$ eject -t dvd

From the manual:

       -t   With  this  option the drive is given a CD-ROM tray close command.
            Not all devices support this command.

--
Tor Olav
http://subcube.com

Post a reply to this message

Stefan Viljoen wrote:
> Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> Would now be a bad time to mention that I own disks with data on both
>> sides?
> 
> Probably! :)
> 
> I've only seen such discs with the Flight Simulator X FSX "Global" expansion 
> pack...
> 
> What do your double-sided discs contain? A game's data? 
> 

I remember one of the computer bundle CDs did that. I think it contained
Wing Commander, Syndicate, and some other stuff. And I have a DVD set
that put movies on both sides of a disc, rather than spend the extra
money for 3 discs in a box.

Post a reply to this message

Stefan Viljoen wrote:
> ...  you put that silver round thingy on 
> there.

lol, truly a nice kind person :-)

Post a reply to this message

Stefan Viljoen wrote:
> A friend of mine says doing it "my way" can damage the drive and / or the 
> tray mechanism - I can understand that if you bend or ram the tray closed, 
> but if you just gently touch it until it starts closing by itself?

Your friend is right, CD/DVDs are actually fragile, and careful handling 
will give it more useful lifetime. so just gently put the "silver round 
thingy" on it and push the close/open tray button. :-)

Thank "sensing" and eventually destructive behavior is what user tend to 
do out of comfortability of use and exactly what the makers wants users 
to do, so they can sell more units. Any PC tech with some experience 
will tell you the same.

Cheers.

Post a reply to this message

Tor Olav Kristensen wrote:

> tok@linuxbox:~$ man eject
> tok@linuxbox:~$ eject -t dvd
> 
> From the manual:
> 
>        -t   With  this  option the drive is given a CD-ROM tray close command.
>             Not all devices support this command.

There is also a version of this for Windows floating around somewhere. 
Bizarely, it works for remote PCs too. The author suggests using this to 
freak people out...

Post a reply to this message

> A friend of mine says doing it "my way" can damage the drive and / or the
> tray mechanism -

Nah, they are designed and tested to be closed your way.  If you ram the 
tray in too hard repeatedly then maybe some of the teeth on the gears will 
wear off, but I think that's quite unlikely unless you're deliberately 
trying to break it.

Post a reply to this message

Invisible wrote:

> Tor Olav Kristensen wrote:
> 
>> tok@linuxbox:~$ man eject
>> tok@linuxbox:~$ eject -t dvd
>> 
>> From the manual:
>> 
>>        -t   With  this  option the drive is given a CD-ROM tray close
>>        command.
>>             Not all devices support this command.
> 
> There is also a version of this for Windows floating around somewhere.
> Bizarely, it works for remote PCs too. The author suggests using this to
> freak people out...

Naw, if I want to freak someone out I VNC in while they are editing some 
text and keep mixing up their spelling. Or if they try to click an icon you 
move the cursor just a few pixels off target. Nasty, and everybody who has 
ever seen VNC has probably done it, but great fun while it lasts.

One guy took about 15 seconds before he wanted to ram the PC off the 
desktop.
-- 
Stefan Viljoen

Post a reply to this message

Sabrina Kilian wrote:

> Stefan Viljoen wrote:
>> Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> Would now be a bad time to mention that I own disks with data on both
>>> sides?
>> 
>> Probably! :)
>> 
>> I've only seen such discs with the Flight Simulator X FSX "Global"
>> expansion pack...
>> 
>> What do your double-sided discs contain? A game's data?
>> 
> 
> I remember one of the computer bundle CDs did that. I think it contained
> Wing Commander, Syndicate, and some other stuff. And I have a DVD set
> that put movies on both sides of a disc, rather than spend the extra
> money for 3 discs in a box.

Interesting, this is very rarely seen here in DVD sets or games. Most of the 
times you get physically separate discs, not one effectively molded back-to-
back.
-- 
Stefan Viljoen

Post a reply to this message

> Naw, if I want to freak someone out I VNC in while they are editing some 
> text and keep mixing up their spelling. Or if they try to click an icon you 
> move the cursor just a few pixels off target. Nasty, and everybody who has 
> ever seen VNC has probably done it, but great fun while it lasts.
> 
> One guy took about 15 seconds before he wanted to ram the PC off the 
> desktop.

You take BOFH to new hieghts. O_O

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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On Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:49:05 +0200, Stefan Viljoen wrote:

> Naw, if I want to freak someone out I VNC in while they are editing some
> text and keep mixing up their spelling. Or if they try to click an icon
> you move the cursor just a few pixels off target. Nasty, and everybody
> who has ever seen VNC has probably done it, but great fun while it
> lasts.
> 
> One guy took about 15 seconds before he wanted to ram the PC off the
> desktop.

Reminds me of using remote control software + Wordperfect as a chat 
application (from my college days).  The friend I needed to chat with had 
loaned his login to another student, and the other student was in 
business administration or something - he totally freaked out when WP 
started talking to him. ;-)

Jim

Post a reply to this message

> Naw, if I want to freak someone out I VNC in while they are editing some
> text and keep mixing up their spelling. Or if they try to click an icon 
> you
> move the cursor just a few pixels off target.

Once my gf was playing poker on my laptop using the touch pad, but I had an 
external mouse connected too.  Just as she was about to click "fold" I 
budged the pointer so she bet a few $$s on a crap hand :-)

> Nasty, and everybody who has
> ever seen VNC has probably done it, but great fun while it lasts.

Hehe once I was on my computer and suddenly notepad gets loaded and someone 
starts typing to me!  *That* was freaky.

Post a reply to this message

>> Naw, if I want to freak someone out I VNC in while they are editing some
>> text and keep mixing up their spelling. Or if they try to click an 
>> icon you
>> move the cursor just a few pixels off target.
> 
> Once my gf was playing poker on my laptop using the touch pad, but I had 
> an external mouse connected too.  Just as she was about to click "fold" 
> I budged the pointer so she bet a few $$s on a crap hand :-)

...and you still have a gf? o_O

Post a reply to this message

scott wrote:
> Hehe once I was on my computer and suddenly notepad gets loaded and 
> someone starts typing to me!  *That* was freaky.

Back in the X days, we used to connect remotely and replace the background 
image with something rude, but that was about the extent of it.

Or take a screen snapshot, make that the background, then minimize all the 
windows.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
     Is God willing to prevent naglams, but unable? Then he is not omnipotent.
     Is he able, but not willing, to prevent naglams? Then he is malevolent.

Post a reply to this message

Darren New wrote:

> Back in the X days, we used to connect remotely and replace the 
> background image with something rude, but that was about the extent of it.

In my first few days at work, an email started circulating containing an 
attachment named BEARDED.EXE. If you are stupid enough to run an 
executable attachment received from Justin of all people... well, you 
get what you deserve, basically. (It changes your Windows background to 
a very grainy JPEG image of... um... a bearded lady. And I'm NOT talking 
about her face!)

> Or take a screen snapshot, make that the background, then minimize all 
> the windows.

OMG, that's *evil*! o_O

I once sent out an email containing a picture showing the location of 
the button you're supposed to press or something, and one guy actually 
tried to click the picture in the email (and then get mad at me because 
it didn't do what I said it would). There's always one...

Post a reply to this message

scott wrote:

> Hehe once I was on my computer and suddenly notepad gets loaded and
> someone
> starts typing to me!  *That* was freaky.

Yeah! The first time I got VNC'ed I was freaked out like totally. 

But a damn useful tool though (at least for what I do using it).
-- 
Stefan Viljoen

Post a reply to this message

Darren New wrote:

> scott wrote:
>> Hehe once I was on my computer and suddenly notepad gets loaded and
>> someone starts typing to me!  *That* was freaky.
> 
> Back in the X days, we used to connect remotely and replace the background
> image with something rude, but that was about the extent of it.
> 
> Or take a screen snapshot, make that the background, then minimize all the
> windows.

I found myself doing it to myself yesterday... *blush*

Ok I had little sleep the past few days. I GIMP'ed up a screen shot of 
Firefox for something I was working on, then alt-tabbed over to Emacs to 
edit something, then alt-tab back to Firefox to see if my change did what it 
was supposed to and... no response.

No matter what I did, FF was totally dead. No amount of clicking, typing, or 
anything else would help.

I was just starting to panic when I realized I was clicking on the 
SCREENSHOT I just ook, not the actual FF instance that was running... *blush 
squared*

-- 
Stefan Viljoen

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Darren New wrote:
> 
> Or take a screen snapshot, make that the background, then minimize all
> the windows.
> 

My absolute favorite is to create a folder named "porn" to the desktop
and do the same thing. It's impressive how many people noticing that
folder on someone's desktop try clicking it when they notice, even while
they shouldn't even access the computer anyways.

-Aero

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On 11/19/09 10:28, Darren New wrote:
> Or take a screen snapshot, make that the background, then minimize all
> the windows.

	Heh heh. I've done that to others too. Lots of fun to watch. Porn will 
merely lead to them quickly changing the wallpaper. This one just confuses.

-- 
I didn't know my husband drank until one day he came home sober.

Post a reply to this message

Darren New wrote:

> Or take a screen snapshot, make that the background, then minimize all 
> the windows.
> 

Are you sure that this shouldn’t be in the “Reminiscences of an Old 
Fart” thread?
I remember turning down the brilliance of someone’s oscilloscope then 
unscrewing the “power on” bulb. Fun, fun, fun! :)

-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen

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One favourite that some people I've worked with liked to do with an 
unlocked machine was to send an e-mail from the machine's owner to the 
machine's owner (ie, if it was Joe Smith's machine, to send an e-mail to 
Joe Smith from that machine's e-mail client, which was logged in as Joe 
Smith) with something in it to the effect of "aren't you glad I didn't e-
mail your thoughts to the CEO?" - that really gets people's attention....

Jim

Post a reply to this message

Stefan Viljoen wrote:

> No matter what I did, FF was totally dead. No amount of clicking, typing, or 
> anything else would help.
> 
> I was just starting to panic when I realized I was clicking on the 
> SCREENSHOT I just ook, not the actual FF instance that was running... *blush 
> squared*

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

EPIC FAILURE.

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:

> I remember turning down the brilliance of someone’s oscilloscope then 
> unscrewing the “power on” bulb. Fun, fun, fun! :)

Wait - you've touched an *actual* oscilliscope?!

Post a reply to this message

Invisible wrote:
> 
> Wait - you've touched an *actual* oscilliscope?!

What's weird in that? I have one laying on my living room's table.

-Aero

Post a reply to this message

>> Wait - you've touched an *actual* oscilliscope?!
> 
> What's weird in that? I have one laying on my living room's table.

Last time I checked, such equipment costs thousands of pounds. 
(Presumably because few people need to buy them...)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

Post a reply to this message

Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> 
> Last time I checked, such equipment costs thousands of pounds.
> (Presumably because few people need to buy them...)
> 

Well yes, the high-end ones, bought as new from the store. I paid 50
euros (or to be more precise, I got 50 euros less cash whem I received
it as a part of payment of a car I sold to my friend).

-Aero

Post a reply to this message

Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Last time I checked, such equipment costs thousands of pounds. 

So does a decent computer. :-)

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Is God willing to prevent naglams, but unable?
     Then he is not omnipotent.
   Is he able, but not willing, to prevent naglams?
     Then he is malevolent.

Post a reply to this message

Invisible wrote:
> Stephen wrote:
> 
>> I remember turning down the brilliance of someone’s oscilloscope then 
>> unscrewing the “power on” bulb. Fun, fun, fun! :)
> 
> Wait - you've touched an *actual* oscilliscope?!

It was the main tool of my trade when I started working in electronics, 
all those years ago. It was also useful for keeping sausage rolls warm, 
as it was a valve job. :-)

They looked something like this
http://www.thevalvepage.com/testeq/tek/545a/545a.htm


-- 

Best Regards,
	Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> Wait - you've touched an *actual* oscilliscope?!
>>
>> What's weird in that? I have one laying on my living room's table.
> 
> Last time I checked, such equipment costs thousands of pounds.
> (Presumably because few people need to buy them...)
> 

Had an old HP oscilliscope sitting in storage, think it was about $5 USD
when I got it. Scrap sales, surplus, and so on; universities get rid of
rid of stuff at auction around here. Lots of goodies, dirt cheap. Ya
don't have to be old to use old hardware.

Who ever I was storing it with tried to power it up, and threw it out
when it didn't work. Or sold it at a profit.

Post a reply to this message

On Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:08:27 +0000, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

>>> Wait - you've touched an *actual* oscilliscope?!
>> 
>> What's weird in that? I have one laying on my living room's table.
> 
> Last time I checked, such equipment costs thousands of pounds.
> (Presumably because few people need to buy them...)

2 minutes on Google found this:

http://www.allspectrum.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=28

So much for "thousands of pounds", HPS10 portable handheld oscilloscope, 
on sale for $119,99.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

>> Last time I checked, such equipment costs thousands of pounds. 
> 
> So does a decent computer. :-)

You must have a radically different idea of what a "decent" computer is 
than I do. ;-) My PC was white hot when I made it, and that only cost me 
£500. (Obviously it's nearly obsolete *now*... but back when it was new, 
it was pretty hyped.)

Post a reply to this message

> 2 minutes on Google found this:
> 
> http://www.allspectrum.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=28
> 
> So much for "thousands of pounds", HPS10 portable handheld oscilloscope, 
> on sale for $119,99.

Yeah, well, that's a digital replica. I'm talking about the real 
osciliscopes with the large CRT display and so forth.

Post a reply to this message

Invisible wrote:
>
> Yeah, well, that's a digital replica. I'm talking about the real
> osciliscopes with the large CRT display and so forth.

Define large CRT display and give some models of "real" oscilloscopes.

-Aero

Post a reply to this message

On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:44:43 +0000, Invisible wrote:

>> 2 minutes on Google found this:
>> 
>> http://www.allspectrum.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=28
>> 
>> So much for "thousands of pounds", HPS10 portable handheld
>> oscilloscope, on sale for $119,99.
> 
> Yeah, well, that's a digital replica. I'm talking about the real
> osciliscopes with the large CRT display and so forth.

You're talking about older hardware, then.  A digital oscilloscope that 
provides the functionality would be sufficient for many uses.  We used to 
have one of the CRT-based ones you're talking about in my high school 
electronics lab, though - they're not all that expensive either.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

>> Yeah, well, that's a digital replica. I'm talking about the real
>> osciliscopes with the large CRT display and so forth.
> 
> You're talking about older hardware, then.  A digital oscilloscope that 
> provides the functionality would be sufficient for many uses.  We used to 
> have one of the CRT-based ones you're talking about in my high school 
> electronics lab, though - they're not all that expensive either.

The item linked has a grainy little display that isn't going to show you 
a lot. Maybe that mostly doesn't matter, but I imagine for many 
applications you'd need rather higher resolution than that.

Post a reply to this message

Invisible wrote:
> The item linked has a grainy little display that isn't going to show you
> a lot. Maybe that mostly doesn't matter, but I imagine for many
> applications you'd need rather higher resolution than that.

The practical resolution can be controlled, since the picture can be scaled.

-Aero

Post a reply to this message

On Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:24:50 +0000, Invisible wrote:

>>> Yeah, well, that's a digital replica. I'm talking about the real
>>> osciliscopes with the large CRT display and so forth.
>> 
>> You're talking about older hardware, then.  A digital oscilloscope that
>> provides the functionality would be sufficient for many uses.  We used
>> to have one of the CRT-based ones you're talking about in my high
>> school electronics lab, though - they're not all that expensive either.
> 
> The item linked has a grainy little display that isn't going to show you
> a lot. Maybe that mostly doesn't matter, but I imagine for many
> applications you'd need rather higher resolution than that.

It's not hard to find something with higher resolution that's not 
thousands of pounds.

You're getting hung up on the details of one device and missing the 
larger picture that a usable device doesn't cost what you claimed.

Jim

Post a reply to this message

> You're getting hung up on the details of one device and missing the 
> larger picture that a usable device doesn't cost what you claimed.

Right. When somebody said "I have an osciliscope" I just assumed they 
meant one of those really expensive once you only ever see on TV and 
forgot that these days you can buy cheaper immitations, so it's not 
quite so surprising.

(Heck, these days it wouldn't be too surprising if people don't just buy 
some sort of probe, connect it to a PC and display the signal that way...)

Post a reply to this message

On Thu, 26 Nov 2009 09:36:10 +0000, Invisible wrote:

>> You're getting hung up on the details of one device and missing the
>> larger picture that a usable device doesn't cost what you claimed.
> 
> Right. When somebody said "I have an osciliscope" I just assumed they
> meant one of those really expensive once you only ever see on TV and
> forgot that these days you can buy cheaper immitations, so it's not
> quite so surprising.

So you made a bad assumption.  It happens. <shrug>

> (Heck, these days it wouldn't be too surprising if people don't just buy
> some sort of probe, connect it to a PC and display the signal that
> way...)

Some people do...

Jim

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