Toshiba laptop aggravation
in [Design]
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From: JosephKK on 14 Mar 2010 01:17 On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 10:32:03 -0700, D Yuniskis <not.going.to.be(a)seen.com> wrote: >Hi Joerg, > >Joerg wrote: >> D Yuniskis wrote: > >>> I had a decent older laptop with *built-in* AC power supply >>> (eliminates the problem of having to buy replacement batteries >>> for something that is rarely used :< ). But, I opted to discard >>> it in one of my periodic "purges". >>> >>> I've held onto a Compaq "Portable 386" (lunchbox, not the >>> luggable). Big, yes. And had to hack the BIOS to get >>> support for even a 300 *MB* disk. But, keeps two ISA slots >>> available for me (something I don't have in any of the >>> other machines, here). >> >> You can still buy PCs with ISA slots. And you will be able to for a >> loooong time. ISA is here to stay because of many industrial uses. > >Yes. The advantage of the Portable is that it is much >smaller than a "regular" PC -- including the keyboard >and plasma display -- portable and still has the old >serial and parallel ports (even an *EGA* video out :> ) > >>> Unfortunately, I don't have another machine with a 5" floppy >>> so I can't create the "SETUP floppy" to reinitialize the CMOS >>> now that the battery died. (<frown> I was smart enough to save >>> images of all the floppies -- but forgot to save a drive that >>> could write them... other than the one in the Compaq!) >>> >>> I am hoping, someday, to have time to see if I can hack a >>> USB 3" floppy drive to accept a 5" drive, instead (no idea >>> how closely the controllers in those floppies are wed to >>> the actual 3" drive! I don't expect much joy...) >> >> In a desktop the controller can do it, at least in my Dell here (Foxconn >> mobo). But the BIOS does not support 5-1/4" :-( > >Yeah, so doesn't buy you much. :< I am hoping that the >controller in the 3.5 usb floppies is smart enough to >see the difference in a 5" -- much like you can repurpose >an external USB CD-R/W to be an external (hard) disk. > >I suspect the 5" went disappeared too soon for the makers >of these controllers to support it. :-/ On the other hand there should be some cases of where the capability was there and they forgot to take it out.
From: D Yuniskis on 14 Mar 2010 06:03 Hi Joseph, JosephKK wrote: > > I still have a 5-1/4 inch 1.2 MB drive. Might i help you? Thanks for the offer. I've got a couple of 5" drives (but not currently attached to a machine -- as none of my machines have "unused" bays :-( But, I rescued a 3" USB floppy drive that uses a *real* 3" floppy. I'll see what happens when I attach a 5" drive in place of the 3" and see if the controller is smart enough to see the difference or if it was designed expressly for 3" floppies.
From: T on 15 Mar 2010 17:42 In article <7vshopFngbU1(a)mid.individual.net>, invalid(a)invalid.invalid says... > > Richard Henry wrote: > > I have three Toshiba laptops due to ignorant purchases over time. All > > three have a mousepad in front of the keyboard which has an auto-click > > function - if you tap it with a finger, it moves the focus to the > > current cursor location. The problem with all three is that during > > normal 10-finger typing, thumb movement near the pad causes an > > inadvertent auto-click, messing up my typing. > > > > I want to turn the auto-click function off. Anybody know how? > > > Hoping it works like on my laptops: Go into the Control Panel -> Mouse > -> Hardware -> Tapping -> uncheck the box "Enable Tapping". That's it. > > While at it you might as well turn off other over-sophistications such > as "click lock". That's what I do the instant I get a new laptop, even > before installing any apps. I've used trackpads on laptops for years now. I'm always amused by people who have a visceral reaction to the tap feature.
From: T on 15 Mar 2010 17:43 In article <645ip5p0r5qc3mes1gb6cuej723skcc2js(a)4ax.com>, jjlarkin(a)highNOTlandTHIStechnologyPART.com says... > > On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 07:49:37 -0800, Joerg <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> > wrote: > > >Richard Henry wrote: > >> I have three Toshiba laptops due to ignorant purchases over time. All > >> three have a mousepad in front of the keyboard which has an auto-click > >> function - if you tap it with a finger, it moves the focus to the > >> current cursor location. The problem with all three is that during > >> normal 10-finger typing, thumb movement near the pad causes an > >> inadvertent auto-click, messing up my typing. > >> > >> I want to turn the auto-click function off. Anybody know how? > > > > > >Hoping it works like on my laptops: Go into the Control Panel -> Mouse > >-> Hardware -> Tapping -> uncheck the box "Enable Tapping". That's it. > > > >While at it you might as well turn off other over-sophistications such > >as "click lock". That's what I do the instant I get a new laptop, even > >before installing any apps. > > I just bought four used Win98 laptops. They have real parallel ports > and floppies, and '98 programs can do direct port i/o, so they are > handy for lots of things. I use them to run uP background debugger > pods. And I use them as "print servers" with my Epson wide-carriage > fanfold printers (copy file from XP onto a floppy, carry over to > laptop, print.) The Epson Windows USB drivers always install in Polish > or some strange language that I can't understand, and don't seem to > want to print in fast mode now matter how you play with them. From the > laptop parallel port, they print full blast with no drivers at all. > > I use them with real PS/2 mice. Those mousepads are awful. > > It's weird to buy a computer for less than a scope probe. > > John Indeed, I have one WIndows 98 laptop around for things like the magnetic card reader/writer (Requires a real serial port and a PS2 port for power.)
From: Michael A. Terrell on 15 Mar 2010 19:46
T wrote: > > In article <7vshopFngbU1(a)mid.individual.net>, invalid(a)invalid.invalid > says... > > > > Richard Henry wrote: > > > I have three Toshiba laptops due to ignorant purchases over time. All > > > three have a mousepad in front of the keyboard which has an auto-click > > > function - if you tap it with a finger, it moves the focus to the > > > current cursor location. The problem with all three is that during > > > normal 10-finger typing, thumb movement near the pad causes an > > > inadvertent auto-click, messing up my typing. > > > > > > I want to turn the auto-click function off. Anybody know how? > > > > > > Hoping it works like on my laptops: Go into the Control Panel -> Mouse > > -> Hardware -> Tapping -> uncheck the box "Enable Tapping". That's it. > > > > While at it you might as well turn off other over-sophistications such > > as "click lock". That's what I do the instant I get a new laptop, even > > before installing any apps. > > I've used trackpads on laptops for years now. I'm always amused by > people who have a visceral reaction to the tap feature. Tell that to someone with severe disabilities. -- Lead free solder is Belgium's version of 'Hold my beer and watch this!' |