SKYLAB CHAT

[skylab]

Would be great to have a toggle switch like I had at work...where one large screen monitor could be used with two different hard drives...that only works well when hard drive 2 doesn't have to be accessed every few minutes, would get annoying if it was constant, so I'd have to figure out a new arrangement for my main workstation at my bedside. What I currently have works well for making naps a part of my routine...otherwise I can go for hours, and forget to rest, since my body tires long before my mind shuts up...haha.

 

[skylab]

Oh yeah, with WinXP (I loved XP, the last good operating system) you have to protect your drive. I still have two XP drives with 2 gig ram, considered pretty good back in the day. I use them for playing tutorials and movies converted to either .flv or .mp4, since getting up to keep changing DVD's in the drive is a challenge on a cane. So I use those drives instead of DVD or DVR players...flat screen TV's connect easily to hard drives, and movie selection can be done from a folder with the mouse. I've been doing it that way for years, and long before the methods of the latest costly gadgets

 

[skylab]

Oh goodness, I just read the notice in the Windows 10 update thread that you recommended. That's the stuff I'd have no patience with, especially managing a whole house full of systems. This is another case of "new and improved" being far more problematic than the "old tested and tried". Certainly convinces me to just get one cheap Win10 "dummy drive"...and blows any possibility of considering a new operating system for my workstation.

 

[Terre]

I was afraid that might be the case. That might be part of what I end up doing as well. Don't know at this point.

 

[skylab]

Thanks for getting my attention about that. I've been pondering what decision to make, and that information certainly left a negative impression. I didn't read the entire thread...obviously....were they talking about 32 gig of paging file/virtual drive space, or were they referring to 32 gig of ram...if it's the latter, that's quite excessive. I always try to keep at least 300 gig free on a 1T drive...anything less than a third of the drive being free seriously impacts performance anyway. But, Microsoft expecting to drop 32 gig in on its users' computers, and not being responsible for damages, just seems like a way to have people keep buying new computers. If 32 gig is referring to ram, I doubt seriously that I would invest in that much ram for a dummy drive...so it would just mean my freebie surfing days would be over end of next year. Monopolize and manipulate seems to be the going thing these days...when will companies ever learn that there is still indeed another customer option...that is, to opt out. I saw on the news recently where folks were banding together and swearing off of their smart phones, and going back to flip phones... wanting their quality time for relationships back, and shedding their addiction to social networks. I was very surprised to hear that. I've been carrying a flip phone for years, and have no need for a smart phone now that I'm retired. If I was still working, might be a different situation.

 

[Terre]

We still have flip phones. Some phone companies are trying to drop support for them in the next few years but TMobile told me they will keep supporting them as long as they continue to be produced. There is a company Jim read about that is solely flip phones. The founder saw a need an started a company.

 

[skylab]

I like "TOS Trek" flip phones since I only use them for emergencies, and they're so small, they can be tucked in a pocket. I asked my service carrier to block any internet features on the phone since I didn't want spam text messages, so it's just a phone, and nothing more. It's just for calls...and so far it hasn't "beamed" me anywhere...haha.

 

[Terre]

i think the 32gig is HD space but that's still s lot for some people's computers.

 

[skylab]

Well, that's different...and something that I could manage by leaving an extra 50 gig free. That sounds like a lot, but when you have 1 or 2T, it doesn't cut into your free space so much. I use 4T external usb Seagates for archiving, so freebies and scene files get regularly pushed off the main drive. Because they are cheap refurbished drives, they don't have super duper graphics cards, and only 8 gig of ram, and I think it's the need for a little more ram that has been affecting workflow lately. I was thinking about at least moving up to 16 gig of ram, and maybe a 2T drive...refurbished prices would run probably in the $250 to $300 neighborhood. For a Win10 refurbished dummy drive just for surfing and downloading, 8 gig of ram on a 1T drive would probably be $100 to $150 now. The refurbished HP workstation I regularly use now is a Win7 Pro 1T with 8 gig of ram, and it was roughly $120 two years ago when my laptop was no longer up to the task.

 

[Miss B]

We still have flip phones. Some phone companies are trying to drop support for them in the next few years but TMobile told me they will keep supporting them as long as they continue to be produced. There is a company Jim read about that is solely flip phones. The founder saw a need an started a company.

I think my favorite cellphone was a flip phone. The only thing I hated about it was texting, as there's no "visual" keyboard to work with, and the numbers and letters share the same keys, so texting was a PITA.

I'm only into small phones, as I don't surf the 'Net or read/answer emails with my cellphone, so the newer/larger screens are definitely not to my liking. Unfortunately there was only one newer small sized cellphone my mobile carrier carries, and unfortunately it's an iPhone, and I just can NOT justify the cost, since I don't live my life on my cellphone.

 

[skylab]

I considered an entry level iPhone, I think it was called 6 SE, but what changed my mind was the size...it would just be too big for a pocket, and on grocery days, we dare not carry purses since they are too easy to snatch from the low baskets on the handicapped carts. My wild driver friend, who just recently passed this year, had her purse snatched that way. When one has a handicapped disadvantage, it's best to dress down, carry valuables close to the body, stay alert, and most of all trust God for protection.

 

[Terre]

I don't text except to say "good morning" or something else that short every few days to my mother. She texts me an average of once a day.
She started that as a way of letting my brother know she was still alive and more recently started sending them to me as well. Since she spends a few months of the year in various road trips and it can be difficult to get hold of her by voice it's a good idea.

 

[skylab]

That's the reason I was at least considering an entry level iPhone...a friend who had serious health problems seemed to find security in keeping her phone nearby, so it was her primary means of communicating...but I have successfully helped her learn more about her laptop, and she uses it more now. When you have family members especially who need that connection, you do what you have to do to supply that. I think there's even a product out now called a GranTablet...or something like that...it's designed especially for seniors who only want to email and receive videos from family members...so security can be set really tight to keep them out of trouble.

 

[Miss B]

Oh I agree about having it when needed, but so many folks, especially younger folks, walk down the street looking at their phones, totally oblivious to what's going on around them, and I just don't see that.

I text, maybe, once or twice a week, mostly to my trainer at the gym to confirm I'll be there for a scheduled session, and maybe to a friend to let me know she's on the way to pick me up to go somewhere. Other than that, the only app on my phone I use on a daily basis is my calendar, as that's where I put reminders of appointments and such. Other than that, it sits here on my desk, unless I'm out of the house, and then I have it with me. I rarely get a phone call on it, but do occaisonaly from friends who are not at home, and only have my cellphone number of their cellphone. I just can't justify spending $450, even if it's only $15 a month, on a phone I would barely use. It just doesn't make sense to me.

It's definitely good to have if needed, but so far, I haven't had that sort of emergency situation where I needed it.

 

[Terre]

Well, our flip phones are our phones now. The land line is just a backup and for things like our fax if we need to get something at home.. All calls are made with the cells. All internet stuff is done from our computers.

 

[skylab]

Here's information for Terre, in case you have to re-register a computer tied version of Poser. The original discussion started on page 99 of this thread and continued until page 101, when I had done a system restore, which consequently de-activated Poser 11. It was difficult for me to follow the directions at first because I didn't have "Show hidden files and folders" clicked in the Advanced Folder Options, so I included that information below as well, in case it's needed, along with Dragonsegg's solution. Though the solution below is specific to Poser 11, it should apply as well to Poser Pro 2014 Game Dev. Hope this helps save you some time and trouble Terre



Follow these steps to display hidden files and folders in order to correct Poser Pro 11 deactivation issues (like when having to do a Windows restore to a previous date):

Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Folder Options.
Click the View tab.
In Advanced settings list, click Show hidden files and folders, and then click OK.

Then...

Activation files are in C:\ProgramData\Poser\11 by default. Just delete the folder and restart Poser 11. It will prompt you for activation data.


When Product Registration box appears, Poser 11 serial goes in first Serial Number box, and the serial of the version of Poser you're upgrading from goes in the box for Previous Serial Number.

Once the program launches, click on Help, and under Personalize, replace the Serial Number for 11 with the new serial number for Pro 11, and click OK. It will prompt you for the need to restart for activation. After it shuts down, launch Poser 11 again, and splash screen for Poser Pro 11 should appear if activation was successful.

 

[skylab]

Here's the above information saved to a PDF file for easier access, and attached to this post

 

[Terre]

Thanks. What i have is 7 but that might come in handy in the future.

 

[skylab]

Oh okay, so you have to be working in 32 bit. There still has to be a place where the activation is stored, so search around for anything that fits the description. On mine, the files in that folder are things like Poser.dta, PoserActivation.dta, and PoserReg.dta...so I suspect the PoserActivation.dta and perhaps the PoserReg.dta files are the ones with the information that needs to be deleted. To be safe, you could just move the file out of that folder into a protected area, and try the solution...and if everything works out okay, you could then just delete.

 

[skylab]

And you're saying that you have Poser 7...so do I, but it's on a Windows 7 operating system, so I can't track it for you. My experience has been if the drive itself has not been disrupted, often Poser 7 will pick up the old registration number on its own...but if there has been a drive replacement, be prepared to get your serial number out. The above instructions were for Windows 7, running Poser 11 Pro. In the case of Poser 11 or Poser 2014 Game Dev, if you replaced the drive without deactivating Poser first, then you lose one of your three options for activation. For that reason I won't install the Game Dev portion of PP2014 any more, to avoid that hassle.