hannah

This error is rare so maybe somebody will need this.
I removed the Dell connection manager software from a new Dell E-series laptop because I could not figure out how to use it. The wireless connections program that comes with Windows xp is pretty good. In order to use it I had to take off the Dell Connection Manager software first.
It worked for a bit but then we got this error message:
"The Dell Wireless WLAN Card is still disabled. Use the Dell Wireless WLAN Utility to enable it."
The wireless card had been disabled and there was no way to enable it again. The switch on the computer did not fix it.
Here is what fixed it (this morning at least).

1. Start Device manager Start>Run>devmgmgt.msc and uninstall the Wireless adapter. The PC should detect it again. Flick the wi-fi switch if you need to.
2. The Dell Wireless WLAN Utility is a service so stop it and disable it in services.msc

Make sure that windows' "wireless zero configuration" service is started. You might need to opt to use windows to manage the connection in the wireless adapter properties in network connections in control panel.

I do not regret removing the dell connection manager as it was unnecessarily complex. I could not even figure out how to connect to an access point.

I had some trouble at a client with RRAS on SBS Windows Server 2003 recently. I could not find the fix by searching and had to work it out. Poor me.
The Problem. VPN connects but the network you are connecting to is not reachable. You cannot ping any internal addresses and you cannot contact your email server or share drives. No traffic goes over the VPN.
In my case, I could ping an internal address for the first 30 seconds or so only after the VPN was connected.
By running ipconfig /all on the RRAS server, I could tell that the ppp adapter was getting an IP and then losing it 30 seconds later. It was assigning itself an APIPA address. These are always in the 169.254.0.0 range and since this is not going to be the range of a LAN, the LAN is not going to be available.
The fix in my case was to go the the General tab of the properties window for the server in Routing and Remote access and enable this computer as a router for LAN and demand dial routing. I think the idea is that the VPN adapter is another network interface that needs to get traffic from the DHCP server.
I think the problem might have been originally due to the server not having a statically assigned IP when I ran the wizard. Instead it was getting one from DHCP running on the same machine.

I needed to re-format an 80GB laptop drive in a usb enclosure. I wanted to use it with my car stereo which is a pioneer DEH-P4050UB that can read fat32 USB drives. The normal method of formatting a fat32 drive in xp only works to 32GB. There is a workaround using a program available here http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm. The trick involves giving the drive a letter in disk management WITHOUT FORMATTING and then running the application (donationware). It worked for me when I deleted the existing NTFS partition first and then followed the steps.

UPDATE
This was actually a mixed success. The Pioneer DEH-P4050UB head unit does not provide enough power for the USB drive. If i use one of those usb cables with the additional usb plug for extra power and plug that into a USB hub, then it works fine. I need to run power to the glovebox or else use the cigarette lighter socket all the time.

I set up Small Business Server 2008 recently and found that Remote Workplace access was not automatically granted to users. Should your users see the message "no computers are available" when they log in to Remote Web Workplace, you need to grant them remote access to their PC. On the server this is done via the SBS Console in the Users and Groups section. Double Click the user and then click "computers". You will be able to add a tick to allow remote access for one or more computers.

My collarbone has healed well following the crash I had earlier this year. I mentioned that I was using my injury time to scan my parents' slides. I have now scanned a couple of thousand of these images and I would like to jot down the steps for successfully scanning slides using this scanner. I hope somebody will save some time and impress a potential mate by reading these tips.
I use the Nikon Scan 4.0 software that was included. It may be possible to scan straight into Photoshop but I like the Nikon software for its nice big levels/curves tool which is what I use most.
Here are the settings.

• Digital ICE turned on. This is scratch removal and works really well (not on black and white film). I don't think it affects image quality adversely at all.
  
• Digital ROC (Restoration of colour) turned off. I scanned hundreds of slides before I realised that this setting is mostly no good. It works well for certain kinds of shots sometimes such as portraits. Mostly, this tool messes with colours in a bad way. Perhaps it is trying to boost skin tone in inanimate objects. Leave the stupid thing off.
  
• Digital GEM off. This can reduce graininess so you might want to use it.
  
• Digital DEE turned off. I think this boosts detail in shadow. I think it makes photos look less natural. I would maybe use it on a terrible shot where I had some important detail obscured by darkness and not otherwise.
• Autofocus on. I assume this is best.
• Auto exposure off. I think this setting overexposes cloudy skies among other things. Fix the brightness once the scan is done instead.
• Maximum resolution. Always. I paid heaps for these pixels.
• Bit depth: 8 bit instead of 14 bit. JPEGs can only be 8 bit per channel (24 bit). I do my scans at 8, fix the colours in Nikon Scan and then save to JPEG straight away. If I scan using 14 bit, I have to save as TIF (or NEF). This is not too bad as Photoshop can read these images (identifying them as 16bit). After editing, Photoshop can convert to 8bit (Image>Mode>8 bits/Channel). This is the best way to preserve gradients and prevent banding but it makes no discernable difference for my purposes so I don't bother. The 14bit/channel TIFs are massive so you can brag about your 120MB Images.
• Choose Kodachrome if applicable. Otherwise your shots will be blue (and you will too).
• Analog gain off unless you have something grossly underexposed.
  

After scanning slide with the above settings. Use the Curves tool on the Tool Pallete fix the colours and contrast. This is easily done by choosing each colour channel in turn and setting the white point at or just to the right of the Histogram mountain and the black point to the left.
This might be all you need to do.
More work is needed for old film. If there is a tinge to the colours, fix it by pulling the 3 colour curves up or down and if you want to change the brighness, grab the curve for all channels (RGB). Add saturation (a little bit can look natural) by pulling up the chroma curve. I like to use one anchor point only on the curves as this tends to preserve relative levels of brightness.
Please leave comments if you have questions or corrections.

This is a picture by my dad from the early 70s scanned using this procedure.

From Old Slides and Negs

It's been a while since the last post. Apologies, but we have been driving around a himalayan desert where people mostly spend their time moving rocks with their hands (more on this later). Needless to say, there was no internet.
Since the last post we jetsetted our way to Varanasi - one of Indias most holy cities. It is where Hindu people wash away their sins in the River Ganges, as well as burn bodies next to it. We saw a fair bit of both which was an amazing experience, the choking smoke of burning bodies however, was somewhat overwhelming. Dead holy men and children are not burnt, but placed in the river to wash downstream. It's funny in Australia if I saw a big old man's body floating down the river I would freak, but not here. The one we saw was very close to the bank where people were washing, so they just splashed it so it would move away. Wierd. It was unbearably hot in the this crazy and dirty city, so we next headed to the western Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh. Shimla is a lovely hill station which was the summer capital of India when the British were in power. It is very clean, cool and full of wealthy Indian tourists. We wandered here for a day, then hired a jeep to take us north to the above mentioned desert area - Spiti. The drive was through the most spectacular valleys, but separating jeep from 50 metre cliff was often very little, so there were more than a few nail biting hours. Fortunately we had a very safe driver called Kookie who seemed to know all the tricks when it came to any stand off with buses coming in the other direction on a cliff road as wide as one car. We always won! That is not to say the buses rolled off the edge instead of us, but lots of yelling behind closed windows and exaggerated hand gesturing ultimately resulted in the other car/bus backing up to within an inch of the edge and us squeezing past. The drive was worth it however. We saw spectacular glacial and river valleys, jagged snow covered peaks and some of the most incredable cliff top monastaries. This area used to be part of a western Tibetan kingdom, and so Buddhism developed here over 1000 years ago. There were some artistic treasures hidden inside very plain looking mudbrick monastaries, some on jagged rock cliffs about to collapse. Each of the monastaries was attached to lovely, but very poor and basic villages. The people looked far more Tibetan/Chinese than Indian and were so friendly. Their lives seem so hard though, living and working in a rocky, mountainous desert where the only water comes in the form of snow. They carry their children on their backs and move rocks to create fields for potatoes and beans, or to clear roads after landslides. But it is mostly untouchables from the south of India who risk their lives to build the roads.
We have lots of photos that give you a better picture.
Heading towards Rishikesh tomorrow where we will start our 9 day Kuari Pass trek. Am looking forward to the peace and slow pace of walking for a while.


Boat trip at dawn on the RIver Ganges in Varanasi


Collapsing Ghat by the river




Can you see the dead body?


A cool relief in the moutains. Bhima Kali Temple at Sarahan.




We met these ladies when we went for a walk near Chitkul. They told us to sit down and then shared dried apricots with us.


Eating a lunch of aloo and parantha by the river. We are not far from the Chinese border, so we were soon joined by some friendly police to see what we were doing.


The view down from the edge of the road.


Buddhist prayer flags at Nako


Cute kids in Kibber. "One Photo, One Photo!"


Dankar Monastary


Yaks. Alistair loves Yaks!


School children lining up in the morning. Kibber.


Kee Monastary


The view from the roof of Kee


Shimla


I still hate them.

We have made it to Bundi - our last stop in Rajasthan. I felt quite sad leaving Udaipur, it truly is a most beautiful city, as you will see in the photos. But as soon as we arrived in Bundi I was happy. All the people are so friendly and say hello without wanting to sell you anything. I feel like we know half the people in the town already!! There was one guy who reckons he remembers Michael, Jackie and Alex from 10 years ago! (PJ Michael??)
We ventured up to the ruined fort this morning in the 40 degree heat and pushed open one of the 5 metre high fortified gates to get in. I felt quite excited about exploring the ruins until we saw crazy monkeys leaping from walls to trees with arms and tails outstretched. I was just imagining them leaping onto my face. We armed ourselves with stones and sticks and made our way to the highest point of the fort, only to be met by a guard dog (glad I had my stick). It's not very touristy here!
So mum was right about the monkeys. They are revolting and scary!! We saw a whole lot yesterday and exclaimed "oh, how cute, look at the baby" and then one of them hissed and chased us like out of the movie Outbreak or something. Not cool!
I enjoyed a delicious lassi today. With saffron, pistacchio, raisins and cardamon. Yum Yum!


Udaipur Sunset


Daily washing at Lal Ghat outside our very expensive hotel!


Udaipur City Palace


A jewel of a Shish Mahal in Dungarpur Juna Mahal


Dungarpur Juna Mahal


Very artistic!


How good would a disco be in here!!!


Couldn't resist having breakfast, lunch, and dinner here for three days!! Our hotel in Udaipur - Jagat Niwas


The view at dinner time


Hindu Temple at Chittaurgargh


Don't let their cuteness fool you...


Bundi


Al getting his hair cut. Best cut ever for 70c!!


Note the stick. Waiting at the top is the guard dog, but we don't know that yet!


The Fort. You can't see them, but the monkeys are EVERYWHERE!!!

A small village near Jaisalmer. The kids were so lovely and we kept saying "Namaste" to each other really loudly. The goats had HUGE ticks on them, so I was delighted when one of the lady's grabbed one and put it in my arms!!



The boys chasing our jeep as we left. They are wearing school uniform - a 5km walk to school each day.


Alistair's camel


Alistair riding the camel into the dust storm, with the singing camel man dinking a ride



Doing it tough in our Jaisalmer hotel room


They like bread


Gadisagar


Mehrangarh Fort, Jodphur


Alistair enjoying yet another great audio tour


The Brahmin area - the blue hue of the whitewash is a chemical that keeps away the termites


Cute in Mount Abu


The Mewar Festival in Udaipur where unmarried women pray to the goddess Gangaur for a good husband.






The view from our hotel room in Udaipur - early morning (no, Alistair did not take this photo)


Scary at City Palace Udaipur

We had a lovely couple of days in Jodphur - the blue city (photos to come). We were both incredably impressed by the imposing fort and the excellent audio tour. We made an effort to wander through the streets (quite an effort when its hot, polluted and people are staring)and found some great little bazaars full of quirky little shops. You had to be careful to avoid all the muck on the ground though. We returned to our oasis of a hotel - a lovely Rajput family home with s stunning garden and pool - fenced in of course, from the outside grot. It seems funny here, how the wealthy just put a big fence around their property - fencing in their little plot of 'niceness' - away from the rubbish, poo and noise on the street just outside.

We caught the overnight bus to Mt Abu. We were a little apprehensive, but relieved when we boarded the bus to find a lovely double sleeper compartment with a soft mattress and windows with curtains. We soon settled in ready for a good nights sleep. We did, however, forget the state of Indian roads and the style of Indian driving. We spent the night like fish on the way home from the pet shop - bashing against the sides and rolling onto each other. I was in fits of giggles for most of the trip - but not now that I see my bruised knees!!

Anwyway, we finally made it safely to Mt Abu - a cool hill station in the mountains of Rajasthan. Its a lovely holiday town with the most spectacular Jain Temples. We visited them today and were amazed by the fine chandalier like marble carvings. Incredable fine detail carved over 1000 years ago.

Might head to Bhanswara tomorrow with the hope of seeing panthers.

Hmmmm.... well, it wasn't quite a sunset that we rode into, more of a dust/thunderstorm!! It was still cool though. We ate dinner in a little mud hut with lightning putting on quite a show outside. Heading to Jodphur today.

Are you carrying any concealed weapons. What is this? What is this?

We are now in Jaisalmer relaxing in our own palce haveli in the fort. All made of sandstone with red fabric flowing in the breeze. We look out the lattice work balcony over the towers of a Jain Temple at sunrise. This is the life!!

We travelled here from Jaipur through the Shekhawati region looking at small towns with wonderfully painted havelis. We indulged for one night and stayed in the hunting lodge of the Maharaja of Bikaner where we saw wild bore, black buck and heaps of birds. Spot on with the binoculars Michael.

Jaisalmer is a relaxing break. It is easy in some ways because it is so touristy. The narrow laneways of the fort have quite a tight knit community of shop owners, all doing their best to pull you in with amusing one liners such as "99 percent discount...really!" and "my keyboard is waiting for your lovely fingers" and our favourite "just give me one chance to rip you off... please!"

We are riding into the sunset on camels this afternoon.

Spent a lovely day exploring the forts at Amber. So impressive with the most opulent interiors. We are going a bit crazy with the camera though - think we're up to 600 photos already!!
I am starting to get a feel for the life of the Maharajas. We even lounged on their chair in the 'Pleasure Palace' at the City Palace today. Surrounded by ruby and emerald encrusted walls, it was where the Maharaja would lay around with his various women. We also went to the room where he took his wives for candle lit dinners if they were cranky with him (couldn't imagine why...). This room is covered in convex mirrors and he would have 16 ladies holding candles to create a starry night effect. Quite stunning.
I think we are getting used to the sensory overload that is India. We don't notice the extreme over amplification of everything, the horns and the yelling as much any more. The urine smell still stings the nostrils though!

We arrived in Jaipur today after a long journey from ludhiana in the Punjab. Our dirver will be leaving us tommorrow - we had our first taste of having to buy train tickets today. Fun Fun. As Templer puts it - "its just hard". We've been so lucky to have the driver as we got a real taste of every day family life in India. We visited not only his reasonably wealthy relatives in Ludhiana, but also his determined widowed grandmother in a tiny village somewhere in the Punjab. She is over 90 and lives as you can imagine villagers have lived for hundreds of years. Her house was just like in all the books I've read - central courtyard, stone walls, fire oven...
In contrast, we are staying in another lovely hotel - must say we are not exactly roughing it!! Off to Amber Fort tomorrow.
Here are some photos.

That is one photo from Delhi. It only took 2 hours to upload. They're not quite up with digital cameras yet here!!
I am all better - was only a one night episode. We have had an amazing time at a Sikh festival called Holla Mohalla. There were hundreds of thousands of people and we were the only foreigners!! WE saw parades of horses, elephants and sikhs with GIANT turbans. We climbed onto someones roof to watch the displays of swordsmanship and horse tricks. It was fabulous. Will try and post some photos sometime soon, so you can get an idea of what was going on. Al and I are having a ball still. We are off to Rajhastan in the next few days.

India week 1

Testing...

Vomit and diarrhea, that's all I can say!

We are having a fantastic time so far in India. The people are really friendly, even though they often stare at us. We have had 2 days in Delhi which is an incredably crazy city. They are madly preparing for the commonwealth games which seems an impossible task given the pollution, rubish, poverty and crazy traffic.
The traffic is insane - people goign everywhere whenever they want and add to that a mix of sacred cows, dogs, small children and elephants. We had the most nail biting drive to Amritsar yesterday when I truly thought I would die at least twice, and I thought we would kill several pedestirans along the way.
We have hired a driver for ten days at a very small expense. He is a lovely man who looks like a black haired santa with a turban. He is a local of the Punjab region and will take us to meet his family in Ludhiana which we're really excited about.
At the moment we are in a town very close to the pakistan border, where there is a breathtaking golden temple (sikh). We got up before sunrise and sat next to the pool of water surrounding the temple. I felt very happy.
The food is AWESOME!! Curries for dinner and yummy stuffed bread things for brekky. I can't see myself getting sick of it.
I especially love the way things get done here. Nothing is too big a problem and if one person doesn't know, they'll ask their mate down the road who has a friend of a friend. Love it.