response 175 of 269:

May 19 14:07 UTC 2002

Jim fixed two problems with the newest old computer.
1.  During setup he noticed that there used to be a d: and now was not.  With
Partition Magic he discovered that 0.02% of the drive was not being used as
c: (only partition) and he enlarged c: to fill the drive.  Now it defragments.
Yesterday I had got it up to 47% defragmented before it quit, by deleting lots
of personal files (some without clothing on them) and inbox, outbox, cookies
and cache from Netscape (using DOS - the Cache Control promised in the help
files of Netscape under Advanced is NOT THERE).  I got it up from 340M free
to an additional 150M free (490).  There are more things we can delete.  I
deleted AIM using DOS as the program refuses to uninstall, on both computers.
AOL files occupied about 9M, and AIM about 6M.  Compuserve and ATT got deleted
but were at least smaller.  I can delete documents via Control Panel, C:,
delete the entire folder with right click, Delete (or maybe DEL key?) but not
from within WORD.  Odd.  I deleted oodles and oodles of clip art from WORD
95 and 97 and also uninstalled MS Publisher Trial Version Expired (huge). 


Jim deleted the network files from the network folder in Control Panel (or
uninstalled them? - I cannot follow) and it no longer asks for the network
password.

On our friend's computer, we still do not know how to get it to stop asking
for the ISP password, does anyone?  Or to dial after loading Netscape.  Or
to stop giving error messages every time it dials.  Is this a conflict with
some other program?  We don't think we are running anything but the Dialer
but there are little rectangles to the right of START labelled a: c: and My
Computer that we cannot make go away.  On his Win98 computer.  They are not
there on our Win95 computer unless we are running a program or looking at a
file.

Jim discovered that you do not need to have a Startup directory to run a
program when you start - you can type Win Netscape, for instance, from the
DOS prompt, and have a batch file netscape.bat with path in there.  He may
be able to set the batch file to also dial?  To get it to boot in DOS unattrib
msdos.sys and change 1 to 0 for bootgui.  What file might be be able to enter
the password into, assuming it does not need to be encrypted?

response 177 of 269:

May 20 13:43 UTC 2002

We now have two phone lines at each place.  Is it possible, using a single
computer with Win95 on it, to dial two phone numbers at the same time, so that
I can listen to Realaudio with Win95 and then go to a DOS window to use kermit
to access grex with a second modem and phone line?  We would plug the external
modem into Com1.  If I need to use the mouse with Win95 (I usually do not)
it is a PS/2 mouse).  If this is impossible, can one continue listening to
music while telnetting and is there a free telnet program included with Win95?
A third option is to download and learn to use Kermit for Windows, if you can
run that at the same time as Netscape.  The simplest option, of course, is
to use two computers plugged into two phone lines.  The telnet option would
leave one phone line free, but direct-dial is a faster connection.  I also
have a DOS telnet program - can I use that from a DOS window while Netscape
is running?

response 179 of 269:

May 20 17:02 UTC 2002

I was thinking of that, but heard rumors that Win95 already included a telnet
program.  You seem to be implying that it does not, also that it is possible
to stay connected to a Realaudio site (radio) and telnet to grex, which is
useful info.  Is it also possible to stay listening to Realaudio but go to
a DOS prompt and telnet with a DOS telnet program, which I have already?
Can you use a DOS telnet program without going to the DOS prompt?

Jim picked up the large monitor I spotted at the curb around the corner in
the rain.  IT was making snapping noises so he let it dry out.  It seems to
be a working 17" monitor.  We will watch that spot for more offerings.  I
should have collected the last two 15" monitors that theyput out.  The owner
appears to have lots of money.

For anyone interested, it is possible to run a VERY long extension cord.  Jim
says the limit for 24 volt phone cord is about 1/4 mile, though that may apply
only to the black aerial cable which is thicker wire.

response 181 of 269:

May 20 19:13 UTC 2002

Thanks, will go look for that shortly.

response 183 of 269:

May 20 20:09 UTC 2002

I found Simpterm, eventually, at www.geoapps.com and console telnet (169K)
at a French shareware site (reseau).

response 185 of 269:

May 20 23:39 UTC 2002

I think it mentioned possibly needing additional files, and kevterm needs
mfc.dll.  I find a library with a related name - do I need one file from it?
One site mentions to put mfc42u.dll in c:\win\system for Win95.

response 187 of 269:

May 21 13:25 UTC 2002

I would only be checking email and reading grex conferences once in a while
during telnet, if I did not want to turn off the 'radio'.  Does anyone have
experience transferring files between two computers that are on the same phone
line, via modem and phone wires?  I was told you have to set the modems to
dial and answer without a ring, but how?  I don't find that in the AT
commands.  Jim says a floppy disk would work easier and faster but I am
curious if you can use a modem.
        Also out of curiosity, can you leave Netscape/Realaudio/Win95 running,
go to a DOS window, and dial a second phone number with a second modem in the
other Com port?  I know there might be an IRQ conflict with the mouse if I
tried to use that at the same time without reassigning the IRQ.  Just curious
if WIndows can handle two modems at the same time.  Also DR-DOS does
multitasking and would that handle two modems simultaneously?
        We ordered inkjet ink for Canon (dye-based) and HP (pigment-based) and
have 2-3 people waiting for refills of each, at about $1-2/refill instead of
$20-35/cartridge for 40 ml (or $6 for a 4ml generic black Canon).  Because
I am such a good customer (I spent $7 and took up 2 hours of his time) the
owner of the company matched another online price (cut his in half).  Maybe
he expect me to go into the refilling business?  My health insurance agent,
while telling me how he used to make a c: drive from part of his 640K RAM
backin 1982, complained about all the junk faxes. He has collected 250 of them
so I gave him the attorney general's address to mail them to.  His big problem
was it was wasting his HP ink at $36/cartridge so he is on the refill list
now.  His printer is a Canon, fax an HP.  He says some health insurance
companies no longer mail you out a disk (or CD) of information but want you
to download all the forms.  Since his customers do not want to wait on the
phone for him to look up info this way, he has dropped those companies.  He
commented that whoever made the decision to not mail out info must have been
freshout of school with no practical experience.  He prefers DOS but has to
go with what the companies require.

response 189 of 269:

May 21 15:17 UTC 2002

No you cannot type telnet on the 'Location' line even after setting
Preferences Applications to use the telnet program of your choice to telnet.
This time I went to a Realaudio site first, then to the DOS prompt, and the
radio continued to play, and I typed telnet www.grex.org (instead of
specifying the path where my console telnet program resides) and it gave me
a 3/4 screen window on top of Netscape.  The radio continues to give me the
news in Czech.  I presume this is Win95 Hyperterminal telnet.  Is there some
way to get at it besides going to the DOS prompt first?

response 191 of 269:

May 21 17:44 UTC 2002

Re #187: I transferred files between two computers using two modems
connected with a phone cord, once.  They were 300 baud modems, though.  I
doubt it'd work with newer ones.  Why not just use a null modem cable?  (The
only reason I didn't at the time was one machine had a modem but no serial
port.)

response 193 of 269:

May 22 14:14 UTC 2002

Ok, you get mad about barking dogs but think it is ok to string phone 
wires all over the neighborhood? Hahaha

You know, Sindi, I think the phone company can set it up for you where 
you have the same phone number at two different houses. I know I have 
had it set up that way before when I was moving. 

response 195 of 269:

May 22 14:55 UTC 2002

We did not string phone wires 'all over the neighborhood', just one wire
across the street (neatly bundled with a bunch of others) and along the fences
of three neighbors who gave permission for this.  We did not go into the yard
of the nasty neighbor or do her any harm.
        Do you know if there is a charge for having the same phone at two
places?  The phone company told me to call back later in the week.  In the
meantime JIm is working on connecting the headset of a cordless phone to a
power supply (making it corded).
        My landlord (who goes to the same church as this neighbor, who is
always complaining about him to the city) said we should have talked to her
husband, who is more reasonable.  He is the one I talked to when another
neighbor tripped over their very uneven sidewalk and cut her nose badly and
was bleeding all over the place and we bandaged her up.  I suggested that he
replaced that part of the sidewalk and he did.  We will inform the other
neighbors what sort of person this one is (one already knows, he warned us).
        I have been putting up with the barking dogs.  It would not have cost
this idiot anything to ignore one additional wire running through her
neighbor's yard.  We are told she is getting 'revenge' on us for what some
other people did to her 40 years ago.  I am trying to feel sorry for her.
But I am no longer planning to have any friendly chats with her.
        Jim fixed up the bike of the daughter of one of the neighbors whose
yard we went through and we will be bringing over another bike for her nephew
to replace the one his grandfather drove over.  It can pay to be good
neighbors.  

response 197 of 269:

May 22 16:12 UTC 2002

Does an additional wire crossing the street (the sixth in a bundle) keep
people awake at night, or damage their hearing, or even interfere with their
use of their yard?

The phone company says you can have the same number at two addresses for a
maximum of 30-45 days and that there is a $42 charge to switch to a new
address.

I am waiting to hear from the city about the legality of putting phone wires
in trees, and also about the legality of putting signs in your house windows
advertising your business that you run out of your house, which generates
traffic, in a residential neighborhood.  The neighbor might like to be
informed if she is doing something illegal so she can stop.  Of course it
would cost her more to use a legal channel such as Ameritech's phone book to
advertise, but probably no more than it would cost me for an extra line.
Also waiting until 1:00 to check out Ypsi's dog noise ordinance.

response 199 of 269:

May 22 18:08 UTC 2002

You are not required to have phone lines inspected.  You are required to have
electrical lines inspected.  There is already a legal distinction.

Jim discovered that this neighbor, who claims to be enforcing the law, has
cut and removed our phone wires from the OTHER side of the fence that she
claims to own, where we got permission to run it from two other neighbors.
Might this be considered illegal, such as theft?  She apparently did it by
reaching over the 'fence'.

Jim is planning to try to get hold of her husband and ask for the return of
our property.  He will also point out that there is a city zoning law which
makes it illegal to put signs in your home in a residential area advertising
a business which you run out of your home (which they have been doing for many
years) and that they are supposed to get a permit from the city to run this
business.  Also that, since they are advertising the business, that Ameritech
requires that they pay for a business phone line instead of residential, and
then pay 8.9 cents per outgoing call (unlike the free 400 calls for
residential lines).  This will give them a free 2-line listing in the yellow
pages.  If her husband does not act neighborly, someone might happen to report
them to the city for the illegal sign - another neighbor pointed the sign out
to us and said it was probably illegal.  SHe has been nasty to him, too.

We will inform the two neighbors whose property she removed our phone line
from.

It is pointless to try to talk to this woman.  When Jim went over there to
try, she pretended she did not know him.  For 20 years she has been talking
to me and asking how he was.  People are strange. 

The city does not know of any rules against running phone extension lines
outside of your house, in trees or elsewhere.  Nor do you need to enclose them
in conduit anywhere, or behind drywall or metal plates.  Any homeowner can
staple up phone cords all over the house.  (It used to be illegal back when
AT&T had a monopoly and you could not even own your own phone).

Ypsilanti has a public nuisance ordinance that also pertains to animals.  They
do not allow 'continued or repeated howling or barking' which is excessive
or annoying to neighbors or 'unreasonably annoys persons or interferes with
their rights'.  He says most complaints are about dogs making noise in
the middle of the night, but any excessive barking can be prosecuted. 
Basically, they only act if someone complains.  So if you are going to have
a noisy dog you had better be nice to your neighbors.  The only noisy dog I
ever reported was owned by someone who was refusing to talk to anyone in five
apartments, had very loud parties and blew all the fuses in the house,
reported three other people for parking within 4' of 'her' driveway, etc.
The same neighbor came home drunk one night having lost her key and broke into
what she thought was her window but happened to be in another apartment.  Two
people told me she was a drug dealer.  The point of calling the city was to
induce her to move away - if you want to modify someone's behavior you start
by discussing it with them but she was past that point.

It has been suggested that we construct two large metal parabolic reflectors
and put antennas on the focal point that are the correct length for the
cordless phone's wavelength (some multiple of 900 Hz, for instance).  Surely
there are no rules against putting parabolas on your roof.

I had no idea so many people were reading our struggles with Windows - you
never know when the topic might change ;).