Thursday, May 13, 2010

I win! (and an update on Internet Blindness and ROAD TRIP)


I won a book! From "Frienemy" Brooke at the Plural Life.

An update on my Computer Progress:

I was able to locate a Palm "Hack" about three days ago. After trying about 20 different things I finally "got it" that the "Hack" (misnomer in this case) is installed not on the Palm, but the "downstream" computer in the "network." My Palm becomes in essence a wireless "router" and the USB cable a direct link/power source.

When I tried to download the software (I had to move the iMac to my former employer to obtain a LAN connection), I found that a password protection protocol had been turned on. My wife's name was on it. I first tried no password and then began to nag her (not a lot really) what the password was. She said I must have it because she didn't select one or install "OS X". I said I wouldn't do it without her input (and it turned out we were both right). The password was a "null set" but the iMac will only let you use that assumption at the "User" setup page, not when actually updating software. It would seem this was Apple's way of forcing the adoption of security protocols. One of their updates in 2005 seems to have set up that utility.

Thus, as nicely as possible (oxymoron in this case?), I thinly insinuated to my wife that she locked update/download capabilities (she hates changing anything on computers and deeply distrusts software changes) and she said I must have locked myself out. You can imagine how that went (yes, though I never said she did it, I apologized many times). In the end I tried at the "User" control panel the "Null Set" assumption just to be thorough and it worked in that context, though that was after trying every conceivable password we would have used or imagined from that time period.

Voila! Four or five abject apologies later (and a real password now), I can test the "Palm Tether/Router" software and I may be online soon (or not).

After finally doing the maximum update on the iMac and bringing it up to "OS 10.4.11," I found out the "Tether Hack Installer" to get my Palm Pre Plus to emulate a router, only works on "OS 10.5" and above. "OS 10.5" will not install on an iMac of my wife's vintage. It doesn't have enough processor speed. So back to square one on the iMac, unless the developer still retains an older version of the "Tether" installer, which did not used to bar lower versions of "OS 10." I have an email into them right now. We'll see.

So, plan B and C and D or however many plans are necessary to get back on the net with a real keyboard. I can post from the "Pre," and while I don't have Jeff Beck sized hands, they are "fat fingered" enough to prevent easy usage of the Palm.

I can buy (disasterous when you're unemployed) an iMac compatible wireless adaptor.

I can revive an old laptop that came with Windows 98 (that I upgraded to XP, then downgraded again to 98) and use my PC compatible wireless adaptor.

Quirk here; the XP system disc is cracked. I would have to get a replacement from Microsoft, if possible.

I can buy a NEW computer (even scarier than the adaptor). Maybe I should say my wife can, since I am currently not a good credit risk with no job (yet) for that reason.

Also, I almost certainly (LORD willing) be traveling across the country to my daughter's house in Montana and then back again to Vermont, VERY SOON.

Great opportunity to MEET A REAL LIVE PHARISEE!!


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5 comments:

WC said...

congratulations. The down side is that you're out of the running for "Lost Boy" by Brent Jeffs :))

Rinkevichjm said...

What kind of network are you trying to connect to? 3G? or WiFi B/G/N? It maybe cheaper to get DSL Xtreme or a used USB telephone modem. TWIT seems happy with DSL Xtreme.

Hugh McBryde said...

I am trying to use the only computer I have left with a wifi network. I have a 10 year old 500 mhz iMac with OS 10.4.11 which cannot upgrade past that OS.

Rinkevichjm said...

The place to find out about cheap Mac stuff is lowendmac, they have an article on a G band wiFi for about $18 and sometimes specially priced lower than that. The same company produces an N band one for $27 at NewEgg

Hugh McBryde said...

We've settled on a Netgear access point or financing a new 'puter.