RANT!

[Bradfo69]

Grr....


I need to vent. I'm fucking tired of everything being a major chore and taking half a day or.... months to solve. If it involves an Ethernet cable.... it's just going to be fucked up. "Networking" sucks. Installing software sucks. This works with that but, doesn't work with this. I swear to God, everything requires jumping through hoops.

Today's little fun filled nightmare is trying to get a QM2000 in a .net box working. Now.... as a back story, this all started before SELEM LAST year. I acquired a .net box and then discovered the card I intended to put in it had been modified and wouldn't physically fit. Then finally last spring, I got Pangolin to take care of making sure another QM card with a lower serial number would actually work. Now, I'm trying to get LD2000 installed and get the laptop talking with the QM. Help files are no help. It sounds like now in order to run the QM2000NET_config.exe program in order to set the QM boards IP address, I have to uninstall it from the .net box and install it in a PCI slot on a regular computer. WTF Yet another pain in the ass. 192.168.biteme.1.1 #FUCKTECHNOLOGY I shouldn't have to wait until SELEM to hand this to Aaron and say "fix it!"

Yesterday was trying to get Laserworlds Showeditor program to work on a new computer. I've installed it in XP systems, Windows 8.1 systems, Windows 7 systems no problem. And then yesterday, trying to install in in a new Windows 7 Pro system, it can't find the DAC. Uninstall, re-install... Nothing. Check to make sure the DAC works and cable works on another computer. It's fine. It's just THIS computer it doesn't want to work on. Grr....

I discover last night I can export a show from Showeditor to ILDA. I save it as Format 5. Cool! This way I can import it into Quickshow and play the show that way. I go to do it last night and, the export process takes it from a 5.5 minute show to an 8 minute show so, nothing syncs up with the music. I fought with that for an hour and gave up.

Every time I wake this new laptop up from sleep, I have unplug and re-plug back in the nano receiver for my wireless mouse, otherwise it doesn't work. WTF!

Messing with a soundcard DAC the other day. Again, I can get it to work on some computers and not others. Searching for the right drivers sucks. Uninstall, reinstall. Try this, try that. Nothing....

If it's not one thing, it's half a dozen others and I'm about ready throw all this laser shit out on the curb and I don't know... go watch porn or something.


Rant over.... sorry that it was a bit random and fragmented but, I'm just tired of dealing with all this stupid shit.

[Stuka]

So, how much do you want for a matched pair of Pluto II's?

Sorry, couldn't resist

Yeah, network - and computer issues in general - suck.
One of my QM's crapped out during my last Christmas show, which really put a damper on the festivities schedule .

QM.NET's can be a bit of a pain to troubleshoot ~
I would recommend pulling Aaron into the conversation ASAP, and go from there.
In just a couple of e-mails, he was able to figure out a previous .NET networking issue I was having that turned out to actually be a power supply issue.

Concerning laptops and sleep mode -
One of the first thing I've done with every laptop I've ever purchased is disable sleep mode.
There seems to be a lot of inconsistency in the way different manufactures implement sleep mode, which makes troubleshooting related hardware issues a chore.

IMHO -
As long as the laptop is getting adequate cooling (and power), you can run all day at full power with no negative impact to the laptop itself.
Sleep mode is more problem than it's worth ~
When done for the day, just do a normal, complete shutdown (which is actually better for the computer & operating system, in the long run...)

[Bradfo69]

Yeah, I figure I'm going to have to call him and see what we can do. Or, just wait until SELEM but, I'd like to get it solved before then.

I DID just successfully get Showeditor working. It was a driver issue so, at least one thing down.

Yeah, whenever I close the lid to the laptop to say, carry it out to the ballroom and then open it back up, the mouse stops about 90% of the time and only the touchpad works until I unplug and plug back in the receiver.

It's just been a series of frustrations recently and while I normally don't mind problem solving, it would really be nice if some things just 'worked".

[Bradfo69]

OOOOO!!!!! I think I just solved the ILDA exported show!!!!!

Ok... my day is getting a little better.

[absolom7691]

Concerning laptops and sleep mode -
One of the first thing I've done with every laptop I've ever purchased is disable sleep mode.
There seems to be a lot of inconsistency in the way different manufactures implement sleep mode, which makes troubleshooting related hardware issues a chore.

I do exactly the same thing. I kill all of the sleep settings, all of the "turn HDD off" settings, all of the lid settings, and all of the power button settings (I have bumped the power button by accident before and was not happy). My laptops are for work and gaming, none of which should be shutting off without my direct actions.


@Brad, don't forget to kill automatic updates. Nothing worse than having that pop up in the middle of something important!

[swamidog]

it sounds like you need a laser cooling off period.

you're welcome to store your lasers at my house for a while.

[hitekvoop]

heh, I feel ya Brad. This is why whenever I get nostalgic for "vintage" gear, I just remember back to the days of configuring IRQ's and Memory Addresses and that feeling vanishes.

If I didn't get rid of all my ISA bus cards already, I should really scavenge the stragglers and riddle them with holes just so I don't get any "ideas"

[Bradfo69]

The key to "vintage" gear is... have DZ build the 2015 version of it and it will work flawlessly.

[absolom7691]

heh, I feel ya Brad. This is why whenever I get nostalgic for "vintage" gear, I just remember back to the days of configuring IRQ's and Memory Addresses and that feeling vanishes.

Ahhh yes... the familiar horrors of "not enough extended memory" days of DOS. Good times... [/SARCASM]

[MICKEY S UK]

Pretty sure someone on this forum had the signature "if it was easy everybody would be doing it". Stop. Go for a walk and then go back at it.

And then give all your lasers away!