Do you recieve emailed surveys?

Two of them arrived in my mailbox this morning. One from Winzip and another on Lifestyle. After starting it I found some of the questions were designed to find out how much I was willing to buy from them now or in future. Do you make your purchasing decisions based on that? Much of the time I don't decide to get anything until there is a clear need for it. In that case I search for the most suitable thing to meet that need, whether it is software or other stuff. How do you react if companies ask questions about how much you plan to buy from them?

Q. How do I identify diode ratings from their markings?

Anyone familiar with electronics knows diodes are good at turning AC into DC power or processing signals from various sources. All sorts of diodes

Can you identify discrete transistors from yesteryear?

You can on this page. How do I identify leads on older transistors from their markings and case types?

Want to know about capacitors?

Look here to find out how to read them, identify what type they are and all their other properties!
How do I identify capacitors from their markings?

Techniques behind modern broadband

How do you get more signal data down the broadband pipe? As providers near the limits of what broadband can do, they need a way to improve the system. There is only so much that multiplexing and other end to end techniques can accomplish. You may be surprised at how simple the solution could be..Pay a visit to .http://modecideas.com/StarTrekTechnology.htm" to read up on the potential for 'multi spectral broadband'!

Your PC needs maintainance (here's why)

Some time ago I was called to a home where a PC was malfunctioning (running slow etc). I was asked to see what I could do. After hour of work I informed the owners that their daughter's PC had not been maintained in a long time. The user had done nothing to care for the Windows operating system or the file records. The procedures were simple enough. Just highlight the drive, go down to 'Properties', click the 'Tools' tab and click 'Check now'. Then set whatever items needed doing from 'Automatically fix file system errors' to 'Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors'.

That, plus checking the windows system files using the Windows CD and the command 'SFC /SCANNOW' were all that was needed to get it going. Seems simple enough, don't you think? The parents duly informed her of the problem and made it a condition of using the system. Exactly the right thing to do, don't you think?

The daughter apparently didn't think so! She steadfastly refused to have anything to do with maintainance of the system until inevitably, it died. This is how it was explained to me by her parents on a recent return visit. The parents finally decided to get rid of it because there was no other way to settle the matter. Do you know of others like this?

Mac PC setup

Just spent yesterday setting up a new Mac PC with MACOS(similar to PC, but essentially just a big screen with all the software and interfaces built in). Took time to understand it, but after a few hours all three of us there (myself and the owners) agreed it was a really good system. The design looks like one with a bright future. It appears both stable and very intuitive.