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Post by antharro on Dec 24, 2005 19:36:36 GMT
Just out of curiosity, when the new system is all in and working and the old system becomes redundant, will it be removed, or just left there disused? Seems it would be cheaper to leave it in there, but a better job to remove it...
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Post by antharro on Feb 29, 2008 17:36:07 GMT
Headphone to microphone is one way of doing it, but you really should be using the line in socket, not the microphone socket. This is because the microphone socket is expecting a much quieter input, so it has a large amount of gain. So if the headphone socket, which is quite loud, is connected to the microphone socket, it could well cause a very loud and distorted input. (Some computers which only have one "input" sockets that doubles up as both line in and microphone can automatically detect what kind of input has been connected and adjust accordingly.) The other thing you risk here is causing a feedback loop, unless you have the settings right in your volume control. So you'd definitely want to make sure the "Microphone" control in the windows volume control is muter. A possibly easier way would be to open the Windows volume control (if it's not in your system tray then do Start > Run > sndvol32 and hit OK). Click "Options", Properties, then select "Recording" and hit OK. You should see a slider control for "What You Hear" or "Wave Out" or something along those lines. Make sure this control is selected (tick box at the bottom), then fire up your favorite recording software and off you go.
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Post by antharro on Sept 20, 2007 4:44:11 GMT
Anyone who met me at the end of the platform at Neasden at the start of the trip may remember a very happy chap wearing a red and grey jumper (I think it was a jumper). He sat next to me at the start of the trip, but disappeared after a while. I didn't see him for the rest of the trip.
If you're on here, can you get in touch please?
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Post by antharro on Jun 21, 2007 0:06:22 GMT
Open notepad.
Type in:
at 04:00 shutdown /l /t:20 "Time for bed." /y /c exit
(copy paste should work fine)
- Save this as "schedule.bat", somewhere where she's not going to find it easily. Try C:\Program Files, for example.
Here's what the switches do:
/l (that's a lower case letter L) - selects the local machine to shut down /t:20 "message" - 20 seconds, you can change the message if required /y - answers "yes" to any prompts that may appear at shutdown. Some programs will ask "are you sure you want to quit", for example. /c - Force a shutdown if a program is not responding.
So, you now have a script that will shut down the computer at 04:00, showing a little message at the same time. Here's how to implement it.
- Right-click on the Start button, choose "Explore All Users" - Go to the Startup Folder - Right click, choose "New" then "Shortcut". - Browse to C:\Program Files\schedule.bat (or wherever you stored it). Click on the actual file, then OK, then Next. - On the next screen, you can give it a name so as not to make it obvious what it is - doesn't really matter what you call it, it's just a shortcut.
At the specified time, the PC will automatically shut down, closing all current programs and forcing them to close if necessary.
Restart the computer. When she logs in, the script will run, and at the specified time, the computer will shut down. Combine that with a BIOS password as has already been suggested and away you go.
However, this can be overruled in two ways: 1) schedule.bat could be deleted or altered 2) the shortcut on the start menu can be deleted.
So, here's an alternative to the startup folder method - it involves editing the registry, and if you mess with the registry in the wrong way, you can screw over your entire computer. You might want to set a System Restore point first.
Go to: Start > Run Type "regedit" (without the quotes) and hit enter.
Navigate your way to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows Current Version Run
- When you click on "Run", you'll see some of the stuff that starts when your computer does, on the right hand side. - Right click in an empty area on the right. - Choose "New" then "String Value". - Give it a name - anything you want, within reason. "Shutdown Timer" would do well enough, tho it's a bit obvious. Press Enter to confirm the name. - Double-click on the name (or right click on it and choose "Modify"), and a box will appear, titled "Edit String". - In the "Value data" field, put in the exact path to the schedule.bat file you created earlier, for example "C:\Program Files\schedule.bat". Include the quote marks, just to be sure. - Click OK, then close the registry editor. - Restart the computer.
There's no reason she should need to be in the registry, so deleting this would prove she's been digging around looking for it, and has been messing around in areas of the computer that she probably shouldn't be messing around with!
There's a couple of ways of getting around this; 1) Delete schedule.bat 2) Delete the registry entry 3) Use MSCONFIG to prevent schedule.bat from loading at start time 4) Restart the computer at 03:58 - Windows will take a couple of minutes to load, so the script may not get run until 04:02, at which point it will schedule itself to run at 04:00 the next morning.
Hope this is of help!
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Post by antharro on May 4, 2007 16:42:15 GMT
I have a couple of friends who have learned/are learning with BSM, no complaints at all. One passed first time, which she was really thrilled about!
I learned with a private instructor and passed second time (first time was my own stupid fault).
As has been said already, find an instructor who you're comfortable with. They should review your progress after x lessons so you have some idea how you're doing and roughly how many lessons you'll need, tho that's not an exact science!
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Post by antharro on Feb 21, 2007 23:12:22 GMT
I wish that everyone would stop driving and switch to public transport for one day only. The entire system would grind to a halt in the first few minutes of rush hour. That could be amusing. I suspect a good amount of it went to the EU, some £39mil per day was the last figure I heard. I absolutely agree that a good debate needs to happen. As it is, I think if road pricing is introduced, then a majority of people will end up paying more. The old granny who drives a couple of miles once a week to the shops will likely wind up paying less. As for small businesses, well, you've seen my take on it above. I think you're absolutely right about it not being about green issues. If the government were truely interested in green, then they should be promoting electric cars, and putting some serious cash into public transport. And I mean enough that I could walk out of my door and within 10 minutes be on an alternative-fuel bus to the town center, then return at whatever ungodly hour I happen to choose to come back at. While I accept that ultimately, people will need to change their habits, pricing them off the road is not going to achieve that. Ultimately, instead of walking out of the door and straight to the car, people will need to walk to the nearest main road and get a REGULAR bus instead. There will need to be a little less rush in their day to day life and a little more planning so what they do coincides with the public transport services. And that's just the tip of that particular iceberg. There is the need for something to be done, but I don't think that road pricing RIGHT ACROSS the country is the correct answer.
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Post by antharro on Feb 21, 2007 22:24:27 GMT
Good point. There's not a huge amount of it, but it'd be totally unpractical to lug it all around. Another good thing about the car is when I get to my client's location I only need to take whatever parts I need, instead of lugging the whole lot in!
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Post by antharro on Feb 21, 2007 22:14:53 GMT
Not a chance. I signed the other petition, against road pricing.
Driving is a significant part of my daily life. I'm run an in-home/in-office on-site IT callout service to fix/upgrade people's PCs. Can you possibly imagine if I had to switch to public transport? I wouldn't get as much done in a day, and I'd wind up having conversations that went like this:
"Yes Mr. X, but I can't be there for another hour as I won't be finished with this callout in time to get the next bus..."
Road pricing = my costs increase, which get passed on to my clients. Public transport = I get less done in a day because I'm relying on a system that just isn't suitable for this kind of work.
If I worked in my town centre, then it'd be a 15 minute cycle ride which is all down hill on the way in. Or if I worked in one of the local town centres, then there are buses that go there - public transport may be a possibility when commuting. But, I work all over my area and on a busy day I'll drive well over a hundred miles per day. I also work some very unsociable hours - up to midnight sometimes. I can see a great number of clients on a daily basis simply because I can get myself from one to the other without needing to rely on public transport. Also, buses around here don't run to a lot of areas at that time of night.
If road pricing comes in, then it comes in. But I'm certainly not going to encourage it for these reasons, and all the other absolutely valid reasons that other users have stated above.
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Post by antharro on Jan 19, 2007 5:30:19 GMT
Mmm, too vague, I think. I know the person's name, I just need to know how to address them...
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Post by antharro on Jan 19, 2007 4:07:20 GMT
Wonder if someone can help me out here, please.
When you're writing to someone, you don't know if that person is a Miss, Ms, or Mrs, and you're not on first name terms, what's the correct manner to address said person?
Thanks!
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Post by antharro on Dec 19, 2006 4:43:15 GMT
Thanks to everyone who's been putting up with my numerous questions and requests - it's really appreciated. I had a surge of energy over the 442 issue, and decided to put this up: www.class442.co.ukAnd: www.petitiononline.com/5wes/petition.htmlPlease feel free to visit the site, and it'd be great if I could get some signatures on the petition - even if SWT complete the withdrawal, which I suspect they will, it'd be good to be able to show that there was some support for these trains. May I suggest, for the sanity of the staff here, and also out of politeness, that any problems/issues be dealt with on the site itself. Thanks!
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Post by antharro on Dec 13, 2006 2:36:01 GMT
Hi all, With the pending withdrawal of the 442 stock from SouthWest Trains' metals, it's becoming apparent there are a people who like me, would rather see them stay. I've spoken to a few people at SWT who have told me that they are hearing a lot of criticism of this withdrawal, and have advised to write in. The more people who write in, the more chance there is of SWT reconsidering this strategy. Now, I'm personally not a huge believer in the flexibility of companies once they've made their mind up, but the more pressure can be exerted, the more chance there is. So I'm asking everyone here who cares about this to please write to SWT. If enough of us write in, we may be able to achieve something. Additionally, anyone who can make it to their "Meet The Manager" sessions, please do so and tell a manager to their face! Here's SWT's mail address: Customer Service Centre South West Trains Overline House Blechynden Terrace Southampton SO15 1GW And here's a link to their "Meet The Manager" schedule: --click--If we make enough noise, they may just listen. Thanks for your time!
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Post by antharro on Dec 13, 2006 2:30:01 GMT
I've posted this here to avoid starting another thread about 442s. Mods, please feel free to move this to a new thread / etc, if it's more suitable.
I think I finally worked out why I like the 442s over other stocks.
On my journey back the other day, I was on both 444s and 442s. The 444s were well lit, well designed, aesthetically pleasing (for a train!), and are a good overall train.
When I got the 442 from Winchester, I immediately noticed the lighting was a slightly lower colour temperature. The seats were more comfortable, and while they had a few more rattles than the newer 444s, they had something the 444s lack - ambiance. The 444s are too darn sterile! I'm always relaxed when I'm on a 442; I can sit back and enjoy the journey. Read my book, get a cup of tea. Now, I can read my book and get a cup of tea on a 444 or a 450, but with the brighter, harsher lights, the slightly less comfortable seats, the godawful auto-announcer (which is just about tolerable on a 444, but is awful on a 455!), the whole "travel experience" is much less comfortable.
I'm sure I'll manage to expand on this if I give it some more thought, but does any of this make any sense to anyone else?
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Post by antharro on Dec 12, 2006 15:49:11 GMT
Got route knowledge problems there mate, only Bomo, Weymouth & Havant drivers are aware of the route beyond Southampton Central! Hmm. I wonder what the practicality of putting a driver on the next Waterloo train up? I don't know the timetables well enough to know if there'd it'd be possible for the next service to get up there with enough spare time for the driver to be ready to take the down service out on time... And this is, of course, assuming that someone else brings whatever train that driver would be taking down, out of the yard and into Waterloo station to save time! However a 444 that suffered a massive smash on a carriage window from a flying object between Basingstoke and Micheldever was just taped up with sticky tape held just in case, and the train ran through Poole and was thankfully not cancelled! You saying that made me think of something I saw on my way back yesterday. We overtook an un-refurbed 455. On every set of doors on one particular carriage, you could see where sticky tape had been, and had been removed. It had left an imprint on the door - "FRAGILE". Obviously hadn't been cleaned off as there's not much point if they're gonna be refurbed, but did make me wonder why it was there. Temporary fix for broken doors on a train that was still in service until it could get back to the depot, perhaps?
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Post by antharro on Dec 11, 2006 17:42:41 GMT
Well, had some fun today.
Started out mostly okay. Got a "one" service from Broxbourne to Liverpool Street. Running 3 minutes late, and I had the joy of listening to badly compressed rap music played through a mobile phone. Ick. I have nothing against (most) rap music, but when it's abused first by too much compression, then by a mobile phone's speakers, it's just nasty.
Got to Liverpool Street, figured I'd go my usual route - Central to Bank, W&C to Waterloo. Made it to Bank to find the W&C was closed. Took the Northern to London Bridge, then the Jubilee from there. So arrived at Waterloo a little later than I'd hoped to have done. My bad, should've checked the TFL site either before I left, or on my phone on the train in, or at Liverpool St...
Was going to get the 12:35 Weymouth from Waterloo, but it was cancelled a couple of minutes after I'd arrived! So I got the 12:39 S'ton Central instead, and changed at Winchester. This was a 444.
Got in 5 minutes late to Winchester, and the next train (Poole service, a 10 carriage 442) was 12 minutes late. Got just outside Brockenhurst when the guard announced that due to the late running of the train, we would be non-stopping after Brockenhurst, so fast to Bournemouth.
Arrived at Bournemouth about 15 mins or so late.
As I crossed the bridge at Bournemouth, I thought to look at the train's numbers. First five: 2420. Second five: 2401. And in real need of a wash.
Then the thought struck me; the 12:35 was canceled (apparently) due to the train from Bournemouth going out of service at Bournemouth, for whatever reason. How much time would it have taken, and would it _really_ have screwed up the service to get another train out of Bournemouth Depot? Probably far too long, but even if it didn't run in passenger service, they could have at least run it up to Waterloo to form the 12:35. The driver was obviously available as the canceled train was a Waterloo service... Or even better, get a train out of the yard up in London and run it back down as the 12:35...
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Post by antharro on Dec 1, 2006 16:29:07 GMT
Mailwasher, when I used to use it, pulled down the subject of the email, and if you wanted more, you could open the email to check its contents. But it didn't pull down the content of the email until you requested it to.
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Post by antharro on Nov 26, 2006 2:48:05 GMT
The other way of doing it is:
Tools > Options > Performance > Set video acceleration to None.
Don't forget to set it back afterwards!
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Post by antharro on Dec 14, 2006 3:00:27 GMT
Here's what I've been told recently...
- From a member of station staff: one big the reason the 442s are being withdrawn is that management consider them to be too expensive to run when compared with the newer trains.
- From another source (thanks - you know who you are): They're being overhauled because the terms of the lease contract state that they must be returned in the condition they were received in. Hence the C6 overhaul. Southern are very enthusiastic to get these trains. Once they do, the interiors will be gutted entirely, then rebranded into Southern's colours. There is a question over whether the buffet will be retained. The traction equipment will be completely stripped, the wiring looked at and changed if necessary.
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Post by antharro on Dec 13, 2006 2:18:24 GMT
Scorpio - Thanks for the info. As Alex said, this is very very grim reading. After having experienced a 444 from Waterloo to Winchester, I'd hate to have to do the whole journey. It's not _bad_, it's just not as comfortable as on a 442.
I finally twigged what it is that I like about the 442s, but I'll post that in my other thread.
Time for a letter off to SWT, I think, even tho it'll probably not do any good at all...
Edit: tubechallenger - the info you're providing is gonna be really useful in the final week of 442 running. Is there any chance you can get that information in advance?
Additionally, does anyone know where the 442s will be stored, and is there anywhere that someone with a camera could get to from a public location?
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Post by antharro on Dec 12, 2006 15:58:33 GMT
Until Christmas, I reckon all xx35s from London will stay 442 except those already converted. Hmm, can I read that as working both ways? ie, the fasts (59) from Bournemouth will also be 442? I'm hoping that this arrangement will stay in place to the new year. I've got friends coming down from Yorkshire who would like a look at the 442s, so it'd be nice to be able to plan around the 35 being one!
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Post by antharro on Dec 11, 2006 17:45:28 GMT
The plan is that 444s are trialled on all Poole's to see what happens I believe. So to be clear, Weymouths and Bournemouths will remain 442 for the time being? I've got a rather nice photo from Sunday at Clapham Junction with a 10 car 442 on the right, and a 5 car on the left (incidentally, 2401 going to the washer). Any chance you could post it please?
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Post by antharro on Dec 10, 2006 23:23:54 GMT
I had a chat this evening with a member of station staff at Waterloo. He called up to the control room who told him that 2401 was at the wheel lathe today and will probably be at Clapham overnight. It will form one of the 5:xx Weymouth services in the morning. Anyone who's out at a stupidly early time of the morning with a camera........ It really does seem very pointless to have them refurbed (I'm presuming it's just a livery change and a general tidy-up instead of a mechanical overhaul and possibly changing the traction equipment as mentioned earlier in this thead) only to stop using them a month or two later. I don't remember exactly who it was, but someone at the forum meeting told me that the 442s would start to be withdrawn on-masse at the end of December / start of January. I'm choosing to read that not as a mass-withdrawal, but that the timetables will become considerably more weighted towards 444s instead of 442s.
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Post by antharro on Dec 9, 2006 23:59:19 GMT
I had a very short but illuminating conversation earlier with a member of staff at Bournemouth who I get on well with. He told me that it's fairly confirmed that _some_ 442s are going off to Southern, but that even if they all were, apparently they should be refurbed as it's part of the contract.
Seems a bit counterproductive to have to refurb a fleet of trains in SWT livery when there's a chance they're gonna be done again in a completely different livery... assuming, that is, that Southern are going to put them in white/green...
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Post by antharro on Dec 7, 2006 1:42:51 GMT
Hmm, this gets more and more interesting. What with the new livery on the first unit and 2412 off at the works...
Throwing a couple of theories out in the open here...
I wonder if there's a chance that they're being re-liveried for re-deployment on SWT metals, and that with the re-introduction of the 458s, perhaps there's enough spare capacity that other stocks can be shuffled around and the 444s can be used as a temporary measure to fill the gap? If this is the case, why haven't SWT just said they were refurbing them...
Or, perhaps this is a trial refurb, perhaps to see if it's worth (read as: financially viable) to do both the external livery and a mechanical overhaul for the entire fleet, and they've only done the externals so far...?
Cheers, Dave
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Post by antharro on Dec 4, 2006 22:51:01 GMT
Anyone got any photos of either 2402 in its new livery, or of 2412 being pulled along?
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Post by antharro on Dec 4, 2006 19:44:44 GMT
Pilot refurb programme, I heard they may go on the London-Brighton line? Perhaps. But I was under the impression that London - Brighton was run by Southern, not SWT. So if 2412 is going the same was as 2402 with regard to its livery, wouldn't it make more sense to have it painted up in Southern colours, not SWT's?
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Post by antharro on Dec 1, 2006 16:30:39 GMT
2402 was in FULL SWT livery. That's FULL SWT livery, yes, I said FULL SWT livery. Conspiracy theorists are now welcome. Hmm. This is very interesting....
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Post by antharro on Nov 26, 2006 2:47:12 GMT
The deal hasn't occured at all - it's all speculation. SWT have now announced the changeover on their website - but they do have other options. The units could stay on if a certain part of the traction package is replaced, or at least so I'm told by one of the people who designed the units! Interesting information, thanks. I jumped to the conclusion that they're going to Southern because of the fact they're being withdrawn. I can't see the point of withdrawing them if they're going to just sit in storage. However, if SWT are wanting, as their website says, to "provide as many seats as possible where they are most needed", then I could understand that, but I'd hardly think it was worth swapping all those trains around just for 18 extra standard class seats (and 15 less 1st class). I guess shorter dwell time on the 444s would make a difference. The traction package change you mentioned - is this something that would be cost effective for SWT? Is it just the motors as you mentioned earlier, or is it something more involved?
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Post by antharro on Nov 25, 2006 1:12:30 GMT
Just a note: I had a long chat with a customer services rep at SWT today who strongly advised me to write in and protest, as she felt that if a good number of people wrote in to complain and protest, that SWT may do something. She also said that she'd spoken to a number of people on the phone who were unhappy about the withdrawal. I'm skeptical as I'd imagine the deal with Southern has presumably already been done, but I'm writing in anyway. I'd suggest you do the same... it can't hurt. Address here.
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Post by antharro on Nov 22, 2006 22:46:08 GMT
Does anyone know if there are any plans for a railtour next year?
It's a nice thought and I'd hope it happens, but I can't see it happening until they're withdrawn for scrap...
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