This enquiry came in through our website. Usually the questions are straight-forward and simple to answer…
rb sent a message using the contact form at http://www.pcretro.com/contact.
a) If one were silly enough to disassemble, clean and reassemble a keyboard, what grease would he use to lubricate the keys?
b) Would you sell me enough of said lube for a full-sized PIANO keyboard?
Thanks,
rb
If you use Mozilla Firefox as an alternative web browser to Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera; Mozilla Firefox provides the flexibility and extensibility to both non-developers and developers allowing its users to add little applications (An example of this is FireFTP that is used to upload an updated web page to the web server/web hosting using FireFTP) to enhance the functionality of the Mozilla Firefox experience which are called extensions.
In this article, the following objectives will be discussed:
Benefits of Firefox Extensions
Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera provides the opportunity to communicate, to purchase items, to save your bookmarks for that favorite page you like and even surf the web. Firefox provides pretty much the same benefits as the other web browsers do but offer the benefit of using Firefox Extensions with Mozilla. Below are noted some benefits to using Firefox Extensions which are:
Types of Firefox Extensions
Mozilla Firefox offers thousands of different types of extension, also known as Add-ons (this can be found at http://addons.mozilla.org) for non-developers and developers for the purpose of day to day business or general use. Mozilla Firefox Add-ons section provides various categories from web development, bookmarks, photos, music, blogging, and much more. Once you start browsing the different categories, you noticed that the page to the right will show you the type of extensions and also provide you the top downloads, top rated, and recently added within that category that you selected. From downloads, top rated, and recently added, can be one out of the many factors of choosing an extension with Firefox.
How to Install and Uninstall Firefox Extensions
After examining the various categories of extensions to use with Firefox, now it is time to install some or even uninstall the ones that you do not want anymore. If you want to install Firefox Extensions, the following can be done:
You have installed an extension to use with Firefox.
Now that you have installed several extensions and find no need to use these anymore, how do you uninstall them? Below are the following instructions on how to uninstall a Firefox Extension:
There you have it! The extension that was once installed is uninstalled.
In conclusion, using Mozilla Firefox as an alternative to Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera, provides an opportunity to include functionality and features to Firefox. However, it is a good idea to spend time looking at the various categories of extensions that you might need on a day to day basis for business or general use.
If you use Firefox Extensions, which ones do you use and why?
I was intrigued to note that PCRetro is selling an older Mac laptop, the iBook G3 (500 MHz), for the very reasonable price of $99. This computer still has a lot of possible life in it, but you do have to do a bit of work to put it to best use. The iBook comes shipped with Mac OS 9.2, and to put it to best use you need to install Mac OS 10.3 or Mac OS 10.4. (This laptop will not run Mac OS 10.5 or higher.) The CD installs for these operating systems can be purchased on eBay and elsewhere. You also need to install more RAM (memory) to use this computer with Mac OS 10.3 or 10.4. I’d suggest adding 256 MB of RAM. One good source is the mail-order company named Data Memory Systems which sells this memory for $16.
The RAM on an iBook installs underneath the keyboard. With Mac OS 10.4 installed, this iBook can run the very latest version of Firefox, an excellent web browser. Note, though, that the 10 GB hard drive on this particular laptop would not leave you much room for music or video files. This laptop would be ideal for a student to use for word processing and web surfing.
Another use of this laptop is as spare parts for an existing iBook G3 (12-inch screen) laptop that you already own. In case that laptop’s motherboard were to fail, you could swap the hard drive and memory into on-site replacement.
The blogger works at the Takoma Park Maryland Library and can be reached at pshapiro@his.com
Oct 13
A domain name is a unique website address that businesses have for their clients to view the latest articles, products, services, or other information on their website. According to Verisign, there are over 183 million domain names registered globally. If you are interested in registering your own domain name whether you are beginning your business or working on an additional business website, you might want to purchase that domain name before someone else decides to register it. If you have registered your domain name, what do you do with that domain name if you are not ready to launch the website? Why not park it!
Domain name parking is just what it is, parking a page that is not being used at the present time. Domain name parking can display some pay per click ads on the domain name parking page. As for me, I decided to look into parking my domain name to generate a little revenue when it was time to renew my domain name that I am not using as part of my business at the moment.
Some websites will charge you to park your domain name but there are some that will allow you to park your domain name for free. I found two free domain parking websites that I use which are Traffic Parking and Sedo. By parking your domain at these sites, revenue can be generated when traffic is being directed to a search page or when a visitors clicks on a pay per click ad link that calculates a percentage and generate revenue.
Even though I listed two free domain names parking sites to check out, there are many more free ones to research. Domain name parking is a process to register, park, and leave your domain name at the parking site until you are ready to use it.
If you use Facebook like I do to connect with your friends, family, or for business opportunities, there are a lot of applications that FaceBook offers that are broken down into categories. When I use Facebook, here are my top five favorite Facebook Applications that I like to use.
Social RSS. This will allow you to promote your blog or business within Facebook. I like the fact that with the Social RSS you can add your blog or any RSS feeds to your wall tab or even create a new RSS/blog tab that is only for your feeds. In addition, I like that the fact that I can post latest articles automatically to my wall once and I can share it with my friends, family, or as it relates to business. To include a tab of RSS/blog, go to “Profile “ to add.
Slide Share. I just recently went to a meetup and the person that was presenting was talking about Social Media. He informed us that he would put it under “Slide Share”. This is one I also found to be great for business. If you are presenting somewhere, you might want to use “Slide Share” which is located under the category of Business. This allows you to share your presentation online whether it is in Powerpoint, OpenOffice, a .pdf file, and many more formats as well as share your ideas with others. I like the fact that if you do not go through Facebook and you created an account with them which is through www.slideshare.net, it appears as though you can sync your account.
MarketPlace. From time to time, I do take a look here. Marketplace is a great way for a person to buy, sell, give things away, or even ask for things that you might want or need from people especially if it is to support a cause or charity.
weRead. With so much do on a day to day basis, where is the time to read? With using weRead, you can list, rate, and write reviews for the books you have read as well as even start a book club. I must say that my interest really is really reading computer books but I would like to start reading other books that are purely for no benefit.
Growing Gifts. This is one where you can give your friends a gift that grows. You can send a Growing Gift to someone or even help some of your friend’s with growing their garden therefore giving and helping one another.
There are so many different applications that can a person might want to use as their favorites as they are connecting with their friends, family, or even business associates.
So it goes without question, which Facebook applications do you find worth adding?
Google Pocket Guide
By Tara Calishain, Rael Dornfest, and DJ Adams
Publisher: O’Reilly Media
Pages: 129
Price: $9.95 at Amazon.com or O’Reilly
Beyond just going to Google website and performing a search like I normally do, the book itself delves a lot deeper in what Google has to offer and what types tips and tricks can be used to make an effective search on the Internet. The book itself was divided into four parts.
I decided to go another avenue and speak on behalf of web site design and itself…..
After you have registered your domain name, choose a web hosting provider, and have your website visible on the web, what do you do next? The next thing is website maintenance. But how? One way I like to maintain my website or others I work with is using a web content management system. First let’s take a look at what a content management system is, the benefits of using one, and look at some content management systems that can be used for personal or business.
What is a Content Management System?
A Content Management Systems is a way to create, manage, distribute, publish, and update your website information.
Benefits to a Content Management System
Even though there are other ways of updating your website, you might decide to choose and use a content management system. What are the benefits of using a content management system? Below are the following benefits to using a content management system:
Content Management Systems to Use
Where can you find a content management system to use? For starters, most web hosting providers will have a content management system for you to use. For example, the web hosting provider I have has Drupal, Mambo, and Joomla as part of my content management systems. Of course, these are some popular ones to use to make updates as I find anyone of these to be a great tool to use.
On another note, if you would like to use a hosted content management system just to simply update content and do the minimum for other things, I find that CushyCMS which can be found at www.cushycms.com (You can watch the demo on the site and Sign up for free), will allow web designers or content editors to edit content as well as not to install software on their machine. With CushyCMS, there is a free version which I have used and there is one where you can pay which provides more services.
Conclusion
A content management system can be a great tool to use for either personal or business use. A content management system allows you to capability to update your site and have multiple authors take authorship of sections of your site as your site continues to grow.
Sep 10
Many immigrants here in the DC-area dream of sending computers back to their family, friends and neighbors in their home country. A friend of mine here in Takoma Park, Yacouba Sanogo, asked me for help in sending 10 computers back to his home country of Burkina Faso. For less than half the price of a single new iMac computer, I helped this person buy 10 Windows XP computers to send back home. The total cost? Less than $500 from PCRetro.
Not only that. When I went to the PCRetro store in Beltsville, each one of those 10 computers was booted up to make sure it was in excellent working condition. Laura Ambrusko, the store manager, could not have been more helpful. These computers came complete with keyboard, mice and power cords, too.
What worked especially well for my friend is that these computers are all fairly small and light (sometimes called “small form factor”), so the shipping charges he’ll incur will be less burdensome. He won’t be shipping monitors to Africa. The recipients of this donation of computers will need to find monitors themselves.
All in all, I’m very grateful that PCRetro does the work they do. Somewhere in Africa some family that I will never meet will be using a computer that I picked up from the PCRetro store in Beltsville. If I had the time and money I would accompany these computers to Africa and sit down beside the recipients to give them a tour of their computers. I don’t have the time and money to do so, but I can imagine making that trip. For me, that’s reward enough.
(The blogger works as the public geek at the Takoma Park Maryland Library and is an adjunct professor of education at American University, where he teaches a graduate class in educational technology. He can be reached at pshapiro@his.com)
Previous blog postings
If you buy an affordable computer from PCRetro.com, you might think that your next step is to go buy some software for the computer. Not so fast! There is excellent free software for many different purposes that you can use on your computer. Today I’d like to tell you about some fun logic puzzles, SYA Sokoban, that I helped design. These puzzles can be used by children as young as kindergarten, yet the more difficult versions of the puzzles are well-suited for adults. The Sokoban puzzles were originally invented in Japan in the early 1980’s. “Sokoban” means “warehouse keeper.” Your job as the warehouse keeper is to push heavy boxes around the screen to move them to the storage area. Since the boxes are so heavy you can only push one box at a time. In case you accidentally push a box into a corner, you can undo your move.
You can download SYA Sokoban from here. This software is available for Linux, Macintosh and Windows. I’ve created a screencast, a narrated explanation about playing the puzzles, that you can view right on the same web site. To play the “Simple Sokoban” puzzles I designed, press the letter “c” after you start SYA Sokoban. Then use the down arrow on your keyboard to scroll down to Simple Sokoban – Phil Shapiro.
After you have progressed thru the 60 puzzles I designed, you will have some excellent strategies for solving the more difficult Sokoban puzzles. I designed my puzzles to help youth and adults develop confidence in solving Sokoban puzzles. It’s sometime fun to solve these puzzles together with friends and families. Don’t you love it when you reach that “Aha! I got it!” moment?
Children who develop an appetite for solving these kinds of multi-step puzzles will have a much easier time with high school algebra, geometry and calculus. Students might even find that the math they learn at school is easier than the puzzles they solve at home for fun.
And in case you might be interested, here is an article I wrote about the educational value of the Sokoban logic puzzles. I wrote this article almost 20 years ago. If you develop a real fondness for solving Sokoban puzzles, you’ll be happy to hear that there are many places on the web where you can play these puzzles for free. Just search for: “Sokoban Java” to find versions of Sokoban to play on the web. Some of these can be quite difficult, though. I’m proud to say that the free SYA Sokoban puzzles are the best Sokoban puzzles I know of.
And I need to give credit where credit is due. David Joffe is the programmer who created the SYA Sokoban puzzles. He deserves a lot of credit. I had a much lesser role in designing the Simple Sokoban puzzles.
(Phil can be reached at pshapiro@his.com He works at the Takoma Park Maryland Library during the day and teaches a graduate class in educational technology at American University in the evenings.)
Even though we might use a desktop or a laptop for our business, we have another computer as an alternate that might be useful for our business; which is the Netbook. The Netbook itself is a small, lightweight, reasonable priced (cost under $500 most of the time) that has the operating system of either Windows XP or Linux. With all that said, how can a Netbook be used as part of your business? What are some of the disadvantages to using a Netbook?
A Netbook can be useful for your business for the sole purpose for web browsing, checking email, and do a little word processing (Netbooks can hold some applications) while on the go or traveling. They are portable, easy to carry in a backpack or a bag as I have experienced.
Netbooks also has its disadvantages. The disadvantage of owning and using a Netbook is the Netbook has a small keyboard which makes it difficult to type at times, difficulty in installing programs such as games that require lots of space, and of course the small screen making it difficult to see a few view of your applications or sometimes the Internet.
The Netbook may not be for every business but it can have its practical use for your business. How so? There are questions that you can consider when purchasing a Netbook. These questions are:
These are some questions that one can consider when assessing the needs of your business before purchasing a Netbook. You might also want to consider giving a few of the Netbooks a test run to see which Netbook will be useful for your business. This might be identifying areas of how much space you need for your Netbook or software applications to use on the Netbook.
| In the next article, I will talk about if the decision has been made to purchase a Netbook for your business, which Netbooks can be useful for your business? |