RE: Satellite TV Rant--I'm Getting Fed Up
We have to make budget choices, and there is an upside limit on entertainment. Pay TV, Netflix, and internet are costs that were not in our budget 20 years ago, although we did go to movies once in a while. We elected to upgrade our RV, so we have to watch other expenditures. We simply cannot afford higher pay TV costs, so recorders and premium channels are out of consideration.
I talked to Dish TV and, as expected, not much satisfaction. We will downgrade to the basic Family plan when our current term expires and give up a few favorite channels. If I can get an answer on the DirectTV equipment situation, I may go with their promo offer. Maybe play the change game between Direct and Dish every year if they want to make it worth my time?
RE: Satellite TV Rant--I'm Getting Fed Up
I tried cable long time ago, and their service is why I am on satellite. Plus, the length of cable and size of cable reel to go 1500 miles away are too much to carry in the RV (snicker). I am enjoying watching "Rockford" reruns on HULU on the internet, but watching TV on a laptop is like my folk's little TV in 1953 except color.
We definitely will be doing more reading.
Satellite TV Rant--I'm Getting Fed Up
Just got my annual Dish Network renewal and of course it is higher than last year. I have about reached my saturation level. We watch less than a dozen “cable” channels consistently, and enjoy watching our baseball team’s games in season. For our preferences, we have to get the next to top tier package and we do not subscribe to the add-on movie channels.
That means we are getting over 180 channels of programming we pay for but never watch and a few dozen “radio” channels. Both Dish and DirectTV package choices are frustrating in that the least expensive ones have most of the channels we want, but omit two or three of our favorites. Considering the price jump between packages, you can see how much the sports networks add to the cost. We don’t really care that much for sports and would forego the baseball if it meant a real savings. It would be wonderful if we could check off the channels we wanted to pay for and not bother with the rest, but the cable and satellite providers won’t give us that option even thought it is feasible, and the government isn’t into controlling these providers.
Now, if television programming was uniformly worthwhile, I might not mind spending more. But much of it is either of no interest or truly awful. And if the subscription fee were not sufficient, we suffer endless repetitive commercials that seem to exceed the actual program content. Four minute breaks every ten minutes are normal with eight or more commercials in each. The owner of two local pro teams got his own network which was a forced cost add-on that I have no choice about. Looks like college and pro football are going to exclusive deals that will only add more programming cost.
I really don’t know what to do. DirectTV is offering their Choice package at a greatly reduced promotional price for a year. But I am not clear on what happens after the 12th month, and who the equipment belongs to. I want to own my own equipment like my Dish system now, and not have any surprises or lease terms or other restrictions. I just want to get the programming I enjoy without unnecessary extras. I will call Dish and threaten to switch to DirectTV, but I doubt it will matter. I’m not sure I want to switch anyway.
If every satellite and cable subscriber would just cancel their service for a three-month period, maybe they would listen to what the people want and not continue dictating their ever-expanding monopolistic tastes to us. But that ain’t gonna happen.
RE: IBM says Hello Linux goodby MS
Been running PCLinuxOS on my Dell notebook dual boot with WinXP for two years now. Love the Linux.
Linux pros: Great for internet web surfing and email. No worries about viruses (not to say I can't get them, just don't care as I can easily reload system). Good free office suite. Utilities - some useful, some merely interesting. Good multi-media applications for what I do. Networks transparently with my main WinXP box. No "patch Tuesdays" where I have to be concerned with getting the weekly Windows fixes. The price is right (free). Some say you get what you pay for, but with Linux you get quite a lot, actually. Non-techies won't understand.
Linux cons: Non-techies don't understand. No drivers for my scanner and printer. No driver for my GPS support application (I like to drive with the Dell big screen showing the GPS map).
I like WinXP just fine, but prefer Linux for many things. With lots of help from Pinnacle support, I may be on the verge of actually creating a movie DVD in Windows--something I was able to do on Linux out of the box (actually off a CD created from a free download of the OS image file). Oh yeah, my kids use Macs. It's all good.
RE: Careful of Oil Change Shops....
I had been getting good service at Pep Boys until last month. My Durango needed a master brake cylinder and booster replaced. When I went to pick it up, I instantly saw a puddle under the engine area. I opened the hood and saw the brake fluid reservoir cap setting on the cowl and no fluid in the reservoir. Got the service mgr. and showed him how his tech left the car for me. He apologized all over but what would have happened if I had not noticed the puddle? To add to this, the DW complained that the heat-A/C selector wasn't working a couple days later. So I check the vacuum connections to the booster and sure enough, the hose to the HVAC system is hooked up so the check valve is backwards and no vacuum can get to the system. The final insult is I see two deep scratches on the rear door that weren't there before this fiasco. I won't be claiming the free oil change and tire rotation they offered me in compensation.
RE: what do you mean I can't lift the wheels off the ground
I lifted the rear of our coach without knowing the wheels were off the ground. It put a twisting stress on the body that popped off a fiberglass body panel of about a foot square that covers the end of one of the main slideout arms (the slide was in). I got the panel glued back on and no other apparent damage, but I won't do that again. In fact, I still usually level the old-fashioned way with boards under the low side tires, and use the power jacks for fine adjustment and making the coach sit solid.
RE: Fire Fox Bookmarks
FF3 crashed repeatedly on my PCLinuxOS systems. It started with a Foxmarks update. Also, I could never get a link from Thunderbird to open FF3. Reverted to FF2 and no more problems. Had a couple of hiccups with FF3 on WinXP, but 3.0.3 is solid now.
RE: Fire Fox Bookmarks
"FF Book marks are stored in...", (long chain of folders). You have to have "Show Hidden Folders" set. Just a bit more computer techno-stuff to deal with.
RE: Go Phones from A T & T
You might want to check out TracFone or Net10. You get 90 or 60 days of use (respectively) and however many minutes you buy on each refill card. You can also get a pay by month plan for some minimum amount of use. Where I live, either of these use the ATT network. Calls are straightforward by the minute. No add on fees or daily charges. Also, no roaming or long distance charge. Go-Phone and other "branded" pre-pay plans probably charge roaming fees.
Virgin Wireless is also good, but they use Sprint network which doesn't have as good coverage where we go. We have one TracFone and one Virgin, and both have been satisfactory. On TracFone, I can get as little as 60 minutes and 120 days for $20, plus whatever bonus minutes they may offer, which works out to less than $7/month. Our Virgin plan is $15 for three months. Calls are about 18 cents/min. For minimal use, these work well, and even if we buy more time in any period, these pre-pays are way cheaper for us than any other cell phone provider.
Be sure to register on the Do-Not-Call list.
RE: Fire Fox Bookmarks
Sorry about your Firefox experience. Firefox does bury the bookmarks in system folders. If you have a bad URL or the bookmarks file got corrupted, you will get error messages. Try this. On the Firefox menu, open Bookmarks, then Organize Bookmarks. There should be an option to Import and Backup if you are using Firefox 3. For Firefox 2, it may be another menu choice-you are looking for a "Restore" option. Click the Restore and assuming Firefox has backed up bookmarks each time you used it, you might find an older file that is usable.
For removal in Windows XP, find a main menu option for "Set Program Access and Defaults", or find Control Panel. You have to have Administrator privileges. Select "Add or Remove Programs." In the list of programs, select Mozilla Firefox and then Remove.
Because of the power of Firefox, it does require a bit more maintenance skill. However, I find it is much more versatile and useful than Explorer. I like the Foxmarks add-on. All my bookmarks are on a remote server. Since I use five different computer systems, I can sync the bookmarks to be the same on each one.
RE: Will buying a generator get me the freedom i'm looking for?
Our experience with trailering was that a smaller generator was necessary for any boondocking over two days. 1500 watts was plenty for battery maintenance, morning waffles, and occasional satellite TV. A/C is usually not necessary where we dry camp, but having sufficient gen-power for A/C is a plus. Now that we have a motorhome, we use the generator more often because the coach is power hungry. I also like solar for battery charging.
RE: Former Caverns CG, AZ - Paging all ex-members
Posting an update here and still looking for former Caverns home park members. QuailRidge 2 replied to me that for now, AOR still honors membership and QR2 as home park. The situation with RPI is unclear. It is unlikely either will continue affiliation with QR2. I have a backup plan to sign on with a home park in Utah for a modest fee plus modest fees to transfer and maintain our AOR/RPI memberships.
Please post if you were a Caverns member.
RE: 2009 F-150 evaluation
And now my expert and unbiased opinion;) At least the F150 front end is a nice design balance, unlike the Heavy Duties. When I see the front end of an F250 & up, I think of that slasher movie guy's hockey mask (was it Jason?). The tail-lights are a bit too much. Overall, pretty nice. Now that the Dodge profile is more Ford-like, it may be hard to tell them apart in a side view. Hope they all make it in this tough market. I would hate to see classic American trucks go down.
RE: Portable Electric Heater?
Multiple electric heaters in a RV? Two heaters at 1500 watts = 3000 watts = 25 amps at full voltage, and likely more with voltage drop if everyone else is doing the same. Won't work on one breaker circuit. Pretty much maxing out your 30 amp service without any other electrical use. Where I stayed, one heater running 8 hours/day would cost $1.56 at .13/KWH. No message here, just some facts.
RE: Why don't people switch from Windows?
My main PC is pure WinXP for utility. Linux does not support the particular mix of peripherals I have. For me, XP is the best of usability. I checked Vista out and it added nothing I need but did add complexity and some incompatibilities.
For travel and networking, my notebook is dual boot XP and PCLinuxOS. I primarily use Linux on it for worry-free internet access and good basic software. No anti-virus overhead and maintenance. Simple firewall if needed (rarely--I test each foreign connection with Gibson's Shields Up). If I should ever get a virus (0 in 15 years so far), I will just reinstall Linux. No big investment or loss. All my personal files (documents, pictures, music) are on a separate USB drive that I can use with either OS.
