Technobabel

For once eBay wasn't the cheapest option when deciding what external hard drive to get. Maplin's are selling a 160 GB Trekstor for £34.99 so I trekked to the store (geddit) by bicycle, to get one - not before ringing up first to make sure they had some in stock and I wasn't going to waste a visit in sub zero temperature.

My PowerBook's only USB 1.1 and this is USB 2.0 so it's taking its time to have a dump. Still, it'll be good to have lots of space again and not have to compromise. I know I should only use it as a backup really, but I'm not going to go out and buy another one. I've already bought a different one for my daughter, which unbeknown to me, required two USB ports - hence I had to buy one of these ...



... a Pluscom 4 Port USB (though I actually got 2) on eBay for £3.50 each including postage, which a frozen postman brought this morning and as I write, doesn't seem to be working. It's supposed to be Mac OS X and USB 1.1 compatible and yet ? I'm hoping the other one will work on my daughter's old PC laptop, in combination with her external drive.

(UPDATE: Oh no ! This is turning into one of those lengthy, frustrating climbs up the learning curve - as I realise that USB 1.1 is hopelessly inadequate for both of us and I need to get a couple of USB 2.0 PCI Cardbuses, one for a Mac, one for a PC, both compatible with their respective machines and operating systems and both independently powered. There are cheaper unpowered ones around which still wouldn't power more than one USB device at a time. In the meantime, backing up stuff is painfully, ridiculously slow and I'm limited to one USB device at a time. There is another USB 1.1 port or this machine, but it's never worked. It has Firewire, which is capable of very zippy transfer rates, but the external hard drive doesn't. I should have known all this before I bought things.)

My Mum's been trying to get the hang of her USB radio / mp3 player, which is definitely working, but needs taming. My Dad, who was carrying radio valves around Normandy in 1944, has just started to take an interest in uploading digital photos to my Mum's laptop and editing them with free software.

Yet lots of people of my generation and older, some younger, still don't have a computer, or don't like them or know or want to learn anything about the basics, or don't see the advantage of the internet. My daughter's primary school was like that and I fully approved - there was plenty of time for that at home, or later on. As I've demonstrated, even for a part time geek like me it's a real struggle to keep up with technological progress, though most of the headaches occur because I can't afford to buy a new computer every couple of years - which is what you're expected to do and avoids problems with obsolete peripherals, while introducing new ones with untested bugs and gremlins in new software and hardware.

Perhaps the CD industry should be very grateful to those who, for whatever reason, don't really 'do' computers, for they are possibly the only ones left buying them, as everyone decamps to mp3 land. I wonder how long they'll stay around. I have about five CD players / burners in varying states of repair, most of which are obsolete and should be thrown 'out' / recycled somehow - along with a dead PowerMac and another very old one.

Lest I start to go on like Lord Stephen Fry (man can he rant about technology !! - and afford it all).

Shutdown.