Another idea for PC and Punters Help Line

[puntz]

Punters and Punter's Computers Help Line !

Let's face it,most use computers, and computers are "machines" and machines have issues.
The so caled "help files", to some is a foriegn language, I myself find trying to understand help instructions is often a daunting task. The answers from those "in the know" often seem belittling to say the least, let alone, if we say, "it's for a racing program", or anything related to horse racing, suddenly to a non raceing pc expert/technician,well you just sense it was not the right thing to say, and regretably the plot is lost.
Help files to me, are useless most times. I am more on practicle first, then the help files makes sense.And this takes time. We as punters, just don't have that sort of time. There is a race to contend with !

May I suggest, a section on the forum, where we can ask computer related questions, where we can get our answers because we know ourselves where it's at in this industry.

It should include most popular opertaing systems, and not to become a slanging place to voice opinions. If one wants to get away from the technical help questions, then have another section, possibley called "the ring",and have the "nose bleeds" in there.
But I feel there is a lack of understanding when asking technical computer related questions and the computers we use is for our racing, but anyone outside the horse racing arena, just does not seem to want to "go there"
Comments welcomed

Thanks.

[crash]

Puntz,

I have a lot of empathy for what you are saying and think your idea for a help line has a lot of merit as I am just an old Luddite. We are not all computer programmers or computer junkies and being either provides us with nil punting prowess, but it would sure help with the bookwork.

Good punters are good punters and vis-a-vis regardless of computer skills [ buying the best recipe books in the world won't turn anybody into a chef ] and having them provide one of many very handy punting tools but does not automatically confer expertize of the many other tools and attributes required to become a good punter.

' Computer skill = big punting profit $$$ ' is marketing hype by program floggers and puter programmers/junkies are their best customers and free promoters but often are the only ones who get much out of them.

If program floggers, including those for Horse racing [ and yes, I know there are some great racing programs out there including PPP ] were half decent salesmen, they would quickly realize the the majority of their potential customers have extremely limited skill with puters and some effort to rectify this would open up a whole new market. I only ever bought one program for racing and found out only after parting with the bucks that DOS [ Dos who ? ] skills were required to use it. It remains to this day unused in a bottom draw. What puter programs can do is one thing highly promoted, but a step by step how to use them, mostly remains a very thin on the ground, grey puddle.

That Bank manager who lost 18 mil. to IAS was obviously good with computers, but what a hopeless punter !!!


Cheers.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: crash on 2004-01-15 11:13 ]</font>

[puntz]

Crash, yeah.
To me, a computer operating system should be like one of those Bathurst Race Cars, where they take car off the production line, into a workshop, and strip off all the cosmetics, add roll bars and heavy duty suspension. But it is still a ...well, won't go into the model of the car, but let's use Monaro just as an example.
The point is, it is re-constructed, as in if there was a "bathurst version of a modified horse racing computer" out goes the cosmetics of the marketed operating system, and fit the "roll bars and suspension" so it sustains the number crunching we need to do.
First, I would change the browser and email dooberlaky to this reccomended software
web browser:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firebird/

email:
http://www.mozilla.org/mailnews/

Has not let me down, not messing with cookies and all those other humps. PC speed of access to web sites seemingly been constant.
Emails just glides thru the traffic.

Then perhaps,
http://www.openoffice.org/

But I do not expect the office software might be a quick transition for most. There might be a level of commitment at first and away from punting.

The next issue that might be of concern is internet security.
Before this becomes some what a blown out discussion, let me say this, when configuring firewalls and it comes to IP numbers and what they mean and what to simply fill in the blank spaces with, I was once given a url to download a tutorial on IP numbers.
I am not sure if it was a joke, but by the time the printing was done, there were 104 pages printed.

That to remains in my bottom draw.

All I asked for, "what numbers do I use to configure a firewall?"
To some it may not be a issue. But the issue is not an issue to explain in a epic of a tutorial, intended for those who have the knack and comprehend 104 pages of why a number is used on that specific location of a PC !!
A race is getting redy to start as far as a punter is concerned, much time and focus is doing racing number crunching.
Who has time to read 104 pages of stuff ?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: puntz on 2004-01-31 00:23 ]</font>

[crash]

Puntz,

I like the analogy as doing up cars [ and bikes ] is something I can relate to !

The main problem I find with puter xperts is that most of them still use old operating systems they are familiar with and write programs accordingly and still even in DOS. Step by step info ain't much help [ and hard to find ] when there are so many operating systems around. What you get is usually: ' Well, you just do this and then this and this OK ? '. Whaaaa ...???

Try and find any program written for Windows XP or even a tec. who is an expert with it. I have a mate who is a well paid puter tec. in the recording industry; but boy, what a tentative baby when he came around to put a few of his programs on to this mother. His driving skills were hopeless [ for the first 10 min. anyway ].

Cheers.

[puntz]

Crash,
yeah, but there are programers that can relate to racing needs. The topics here, when written need to be specificly what the problem might be.
For example, if let's say a pc is booting up and freezing on boot-up. Simply saying, "it freezes on boot-up", is not going to help get advice. But I hope the feedback from those that might know what fix to use, they may ask specific steps to try, and feedback again.
Some topics may have to go off-list, fair enough, but giving out email addresses becomeas a issue.
Simply open a free email address, but so to not add more problems using free email accounts full of advertising, there are alternative free email accounts with no advertising to mess with the PC

https://safe-mail.net
https://ziplip.com

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: puntz on 2004-01-31 00:27 ]</font>

[MyHatMyCoat]

I could hazard a guess to what The Fat One would say :smile:

[Shaun]

just to add my 2 cents ....i do a lot of tech work online with security so if needed i can help out inthis department

[puntz]

Thanks Shaun, appreciated


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: puntz on 2004-01-31 00:19 ]</font>

[Chrome Prince]

I'm no expert, but if I can help then I'll throw my hat into the ring.

Sometimes the best advice comes from someone who is not computer literate but has had to find out how to fix something and can relate that fix in layman's terms.

[puntz]

Thanks Chrome.
I hope it's seen positively.

Thanks to all in advance.

Just for the record, if anyone has read the above and are wondering what a tutorial looks like for "IP tables"
Be my guest !
All I asked for was a set of numbers to get on-line.
Good try.
http://iptables-tutorial.frozentux.net/iptables-tutorial.html


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: puntz on 2004-01-31 00:25 ]</font>

[crash]

Can't get on properly to IAS.

Have disabled firewall and Nortons but still no good. Any ideas ?

[stebbo]

Hi Puntz,

the "nameserver ip address" is the numerical address of the nameserver. A nameserver is a computer which has a list of names and ip addresses.

IP (for Internet Protocol) addresses are the "phone numbers" for each computer on the internet. The nameserver is the "white pages", where you can look up a name, and get the phonenumber.

When you type http://www.propun.com.au into your browser to come to this website, your browser goes off and asks it's local nameserver "what is the phone number for http://www.propun.com.au", and then goes and dials the number.

To get the nameserver address, you will need to ring your ISP. Even those of us "in the know" generally need to ask our ISP at least once what their nameserver address is. (there are some very well known public ones, but it's generally best to use your ISP's first, and the public ones as a last resort). When you ring your ISP, they might say "heh, you don't need it, Windoze will get it automatically"... just explain that you're not using windoze, and that you really do need the ip address.... It should be a number of the form
203.xxx.xxx.xxx

Cheers,
Chris.

[Paddy]

God was looking down on earth one day and decided that things were not going to get better, in fact they were getting worse every day.

He said to himself that it is time to start over again with a new batch who might be able to do better than this bunch of humans are doing.


So he called up three men, George W Bush, Mikhail Kasyanov and Bill Gates.


They are the three best media for getting his message across.


He told them that he was disappointed with mankind as it is and that he was going to destroy the earth in 30 days.


They had to go back to earth and tell everyone this message.



George W Bush held a press conference at the White House and said I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that our belief in God is true, I met with him this morning. And the bad news is that he will destroy the earth in 30 days.



Mikhail Kasyanov addressed the Russian people from the Kremlin and announced that he had some bad news and some really bad news.


First the bad news, our denial of God is not true, there is a God and I met with him this morning.


The really bad news is that he is going to destroy the earth and we only have 30 days to repent.




Bill Gates went back to his people and told them that he had some good news and some great news.


First the good news is that our belief in God is founded, I had a talk with him this morning....


....and the really great news is that we will be able to stop releasing security patches for WindowsXP in less than a month!



:lol: :lol: :lol:

[puntz]

:smile:

Stebbo,
so then the "nameserver IP" is the company the internet bill is paid to in a number format.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: puntz on 2004-01-31 00:26 ]</font>

[stebbo]

On 2004-01-15 14:47, puntz wrote:
Stebbo,
so then the "nameserver IP" is the company the internet bill is paid to in a number format.

Hi Puntz,

essentially yes.... it will be the number of one of their machines... depending upon the size of the internet company, they may have multiple computers performing separate tasks... but yes, it is one of their computers.


One more question.
Those 255.255.255 set of numbers. (netmask)
If it's set 255.0.0.0, is this a threat to ones internet security on a ADSL connection when it is configured in the external firewall PC ?

Sorry, but I don't have enough information to answer that one.... A netmask determines what part of an IP address is considered "local", and what part is considered "external", so the netmask can have a bearing on security.

Cheers,
Chris.

[El Gordo]

Not sure what you are getting at MyHatMyCoat - just 2 forum-friends sharing a particular focus :wink:

[Imagele]

Crash
There seems to be a general problem with the IAS site.
I would not recommend you do anything to your computer.
I only use Ozeform form search and this is acting up in the same way. Just happened now after I had been using it for about 30 mins.
Gives up the ghost and refuses to load and occasionally bits and pieces, like a jigsaw puzzle, show up.

[crash]

Good one Paddy !!!

Now, how do I divide up my 80 gig. in two so I can have a duel Windows/Linux operating system so when my Windows XP crashes I still have Linux !!??

Thanks Gordo, getting too 'similar' and 'politically correct' through fear to express indeviduality, was called Fascism in Italy [God, it must have been boring ! ]. Lets not sink into it here.

Imagele,

Thanks for that. Strange, as what is happening to you [ bits and pieces] is exactly what is happening here. Freaky !!

Cheers.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: crash on 2004-01-15 21:39 ]</font>

[Shaun]

Puntz the easiest way to help you is if you tell me what you are setting up and the name of any softwear you are useing....you should not have to supply a nameserver....but if need as stated your isp can provide...and it is not the name of your computer it is an address of a computer that holds the ip address of other computers

[puntz]

Crash, I have pondered on this, and from what I gather, it better to have seperate PC's
One for Linux, and another for Windows.

This is the point though, both PC's probably need to be on the net.
Somehow, the Linux can be what they call a Gateway to the net. That means the wires go to the modem from the Linux, and then another wire comes out of the linux, I think it has to go a hub, and from the hub, to the windows box.
I stand to be corrected, but somewhere I read a dual boot HDD is awkward to maintain.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: puntz on 2004-01-15 18:40 ]</font>

[puntz]

Shaun,
I was trying to set up a gateway'

http://clarkconnect.org/

Have used it before and is easy to understand to configure where it says "block this and block that" etc.

Have another F/wall, smoothwall,it's ok, but dont understand it. There is no, "fill in the spaces", it's all Linux lingo and I just dont have time to learn this stuff right now.

anyway;
The iso image comes up ok with the md5summer.
But halfway thru the install, it crashes and the error report says it's media related.
I have burnt now 7 CD's trying to figure out since Sunday, there is a difference in copying and burning iso images.
I did not know.
So got past that stage,
Got past the root password stage, and then after the ip number stage, it crashes.

Conclusion:
Because it is a old Aptiva, the CD and floppy is on a console seperate from the box, joined by a large cable.
So I figure now to ditch the Aptiva. Was told the Aptiva motherboard might be a problem and does not support Linux too well anyway.
Out of shear frustration and nothing else, I figured I am not going to waste anymore time asking the experts on their turf, meaniing, when one goes to the appropiate forums (thier turf), it is not well understood, that we as punters probably don't understand the pc jargon replies.
I am sure there are many feel the same way.


One more thing, the download for the Clark Connect iso takes 4 hours on ADSL.
Did it twice to make sure about the md5summer!
(md5summer checks if the 4 hour download was fully downloaded)
Both 1st and 2nd downloads were ok anyway.




<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: puntz on 2004-01-15 22:50 ]</font>

[puntz]

This thread I think is probably a related tech. issue, but went on a different post.
I hope it continues getting informative answers to an overlooked scenario, often taken for granted.
The moral still *is*, a punters P.C. system built to run the punting programs without the clutter that often messes a PC with third party software, forced advertising nit-bits thru browsing, often ending up in the PC sytem, by stealth,ignorance or simply lack of knowledge.

http://www.propun.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?topic=5061&forum=7

[pickle_punter]

Hi Crash,
regarding IAS, They are under attack from some crazed yank sending repeated requests to their website. It's some disgruntled sports punter and he's bombarding the site day and night. Don't fool too much with your settings, it's likely the cause is at their end.
Cheers

[Paddy]

Don't know about you lot, but I was a bit confused by all this computer talk, till I found this information on the net. Thought I'd share :wink:



BIT - A word used to describe computers, as in "Our son's computer cost quite a bit."


BOOT - What your friends give you because you spend too much time bragging about your computer skills.


BUG - What your eyes do after you stare at the tiny green computer screen for more than 15 minutes. Also: what computer magazine companies do to you after they get your name on their mailing list.


CHIPS - The fattening, non-nutritional food computer users eat to avoid having to leave their keyboards for meals.


COPY - What you're kid has to do during school tests because he/she spends too much time at the computer and not enough time studying.


CURSOR - What you turn into when you can't get your computer to perform, as in "You $#% computer!"


DISK - What goes out in your back after bending over a computer keyboard for seven hours at a clip.


DUMP - The place all your former hobbies wind up soon after you install your computer.


ERROR - What you made the first time you walked into a computer showroom to "just look."


EXPANSION UNIT - The new room you have to build on to your home to house your computer and all its peripherals.


FILE - What your secretary can now do to her nails six and a half hours a day, now that the computer does her day's work in 30 minutes.


FLOPPY - The condition of a constant computer user's stomach due to lack of exercise and a steady diet of junk food (see Chips).


HARDWARE - Tools, such as lawnmowers, rakes and other heavy equipment you haven't laid a finger on since getting your computer.


IBM - The kind of missile your family members and friends would like to drop on your computer so you'll pay attention to them again.


MENU - What you'll never see again after buying a computer because you'll be too poor to eat in a restaurant.



PROGRAMS - Those things you used to look at on your television before you hooked your computer up to it.


RETURN - What lots of people do with their computers after only a week and a half.


TERMINAL - A place where you can find buses, trains and really good deals on hot computers.


WINDOW - What you heave the computer out of after you accidentally erasing a program that took you three days to set up.




_________________
May the luck of the Irish be with you!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Paddy on 2004-01-16 15:11 ]</font>

[puntz]

Ahh yes Paddy, I hear them old phrases in the echos of time and memory....

5 cents, woops, "sixpence of chips please"

:smile: