Q. As a valued customer, EarthLink offered me a one-year free DSL Web access service that turned out to be a no go. My e-mail capability is gone. I get the received mail indication, the lady’s voice giving the mail received announcement, but no mail on the monitor the way it was before the switchover try. I tried many fixes. I pleaded with the EarthLink gurus to send to me the original EarthLink disc, the telephone dial-up one I signed up with, the one Napoleon probably lost on his way back from Moscow, the one I am willing to pay for. The answer is: “The disc is no longer available.” Do you have any suggestion of how to eliminate Murphy’s Law under these circumstances till I can dump EarthLink? Meanwhile I’m borrowing a friend’s e-mail account.
John F. Schindler @earthlink.net
A. I can’t fill in as an EarthLink representative, but I can tell you something that the company’s employees probably dare not recommend. You, Mr. S., are a textbook client for one of the free e-mail services that abound, ranging from America Online’s free AIM Mail (www.aim.com), Google’s Gmail (www.gmail.google.com) and Yahoo Mail (www.yahoo.com).
All of these services work through their own Web server banks rather than your ISP’s machines, and they are accessed for the most part simply by using a Web browser. The Yahoo and Google offerings also can be set up to work with a computer’s own e-mail software like Outlook Express. They all offer a whopping 2 gigabytes of Web storage for past messages and make the entire thing available using the Google or Yahoo search engines, which means you will never lose a message within the clutter of your spam-filled inbox. Just search by sender name or keyword.
No matter how you cut it, these advertising-supported freebies have become a well-used replacement by uncounted hordes of PC users who sign up for Internet service only to find they have some kind of glitch using the provider’s own software on their specific computers.
Murphy’s Law says: “If something can go wrong, it will.”
Here’s Coates’ corollary: “When something goes wrong, flee.”
Q. I hope you can help me find a way to make my old printer work with my new Dell Dimension 2400 computer with Windows XP. I had Windows 98 on my old computer and was able to operate my Panasonic KX-P1124 printer with no problems. I print a lot of tractor-fed Avery Labels No. 4014, and this program will not let me do this. I can print letters and posters but no labels. This message comes up every time: “The window printer driver did not accept the requested paper size.”
Tom Dempsey, South Amboy, NJ
A. Upgrading to new computers always raises issues of whether they can handle one’s old equipment like printers, scanners, cameras and you name it. The issue revolves around the drivers, or software created by the maker to accommodate whatever computer is used by the device in question. Most often the fix is as simple as logging on to the devicemaker’s Web site and pointing your browser to the support page.
But I fear you’ve got a real doozy on your hands, Mr. D. That printer you own is an older dot matrix model, a type all but extinct for the past several years as inkjets and laser models have dominated the market. Panasonic (Matsushita) no longer makes or supports it.
But dot matrix printers still have their uses in places like warehouses, where their sheer mechanical power to punch the paper with tiny metal points facilitates making duplicates in harsh surroundings. These use the punched holes on the sides of each paper sheet to pull the labels through the typewriter-style roller as you describe.
It boils down to a few choices, none of which you are going to like: Go online and try to find somebody who has prepared custom drivers for your antique, or get a new printer and maybe try to find a way to use it with your stock of tractor label sheets.
An added dynamic is that while there are many Web businesses that sell drivers for rare equipment, they tend to cost a lot and don’t necessarily deliver in all cases. Check these two Web sites for a flavor of the situation:
http://members.driverguide.com
www.motherboard.cz/printer/panasonic.htm
I found several places that sell these Panasonic KX-P1124 models and their ribbons but not drivers. A typical price is in the $180 neighborhood. In today’s marketplace you can get a brand new laser or inkjet for that amount, and labelmakers like Avery Dennison Corp. offer the needed label stock to replace your current system.
Avery also makes a free Printer Wizard program that lets users set up printing routines using Microsoft Word in all versions dating back to Word 97. I’m betting that you can find a template in this wizard that will let a laser or inkjet find each of the labels on your old stock. You certainly should try this before worrying about paying for costly software for a very old soldier that could use a rest. Check out www.avery.com where you can do the free download by clicking on the Software icon at the top of the screen.
Q. I bought a new Logitech Quick Cam Pro 4000 Web video camera last April and was successful using it to view and talk to my son and his family who live in Los Angeles (I live in New Jersey). My success was using it on my IBM ThinkPad (with XP software) and utilizing Yahoo Messenger. However, when I tried using it on my iMac OS X last year I was not successful. It lets me take my own picture in front of the camera but won’t do the video chats. When I called Logitech, the technician said the problem lies with Yahoo. I no longer have my ThinkPad, and the problem still exists with my iMac. Any suggestions?
Saul Schreier@patmedia.net
A. While Logitech gives lip service to the Macintosh world by including Mac OS X among the software some of its Web cameras can use, there is very little help for folks who want to do their video chat through Yahoo. In fact, it seems that getting a Mac to work through Logitech cameras is either difficult for serious Mac hackers or not doable by mere mortals.
Some folks reported on Mac message boards that they were able to get choppy video with Yahoo by changing the video size and quality to the smallest possible screens, about the size of an Oreo.
However, in my checking I did find that the iMacs can nicely deliver video chats using Yahoo’s competitor AIM (America Online Instant Messenger), which is available at no cost at www.aim.com.
It would be particularly easy if you were to trade in that Logitech Web camera for Apple’s own iSight, which uses iChat software in Mac OS X to link to the AIM video conferencing service.
On the downside, the iSight camera, a tube about the size of a roll of 50-cent pieces, costs a steep $149.95, much more than you already spent on the Logitech gear.
If you want to look at Web cameras that work with Macs, check out the Macam site (http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net) where a long list of compatible gear is published.
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Contact Jim Coates via e-mail at jcoates@tribune.com or via snail mail at the Chicago Tribune, Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago IL 60611. Questions can be answered only through this column. Add your point of view at chicagotribune.com/askjim.
