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Archive through February 02, 2010

Reality TVClubHouse Discussions: General Discussions ARCHIVES: January 2010 ~ April 2010: All Things Technical: The Help Desk: Computer Problems? Ask Here:: Archive through February 02, 2010 users admin

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Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - 8:13 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
Someone on another message board (!) posted this link to an unofficial list of printers compatible with AirPort Express and Extreme. My ol' printer, HP DeskJet 5550 is on it.

I'm both excited and anxious about the switch. Well, not so much the switch (learning / using Mac) as getting it all hooked together and going, hopefully without the help of my (former?) computer consultant.

I can't tell you all how much I appreciate the help and advice.

I got these two books:

Link
Link

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - 8:21 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
I bought my printer on June 12, 2003. I thought it should be compatible with any Mac system after that (now seven years)? Or could it be too old? I still have disk and all papers that came with it.

All except one maybe? Have a big sheet that tells how to connect it to PC. Maybe there was same for Mac? If so, that's gone.

Kookliebird, that's what I thought at first too -- wireless printer. Don't need that, but you can still print wirelessly.

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - 8:35 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
Costa, I don't know offhand. I don't feel like digging into all the wires on the back of my tower now. Hopefully I can use my current printer. If not, no biggie (?) to get a newer regular (not wireless) printer. Something pretty simple. Anyone have any recommendations if I do?

Looking at the big set-up sheet, there's a choice of either USB or parallel connection. Don't want to go back there now to see what it is. If it's parallel, could I have saved the USB cord? If it is USB, then I could use this printer?

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - 8:42 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
As best as I can see back there . . . doesn't look like a very big plug. USB?

Jimmer
Moderator

08-30-2000

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - 8:49 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Jimmer a private message Print Post    
Small plug would be USB.

Landileigh
Member

07-29-2002

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 1:00 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Landileigh a private message Print Post    
if you go to this page on the HP support page for your printer, you can see that it is not supported in Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard, you can get a new printer for less than $100.00 and wouldn't have these problems.

HP 5550 Support Page:
LINK


Costacat
Member

07-15-2000

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 6:02 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Costacat a private message Print Post    
Color, I'd recommend going out and buying a new printer. They are not very expensive and it would be worth the investment to buy something that is supported with your current OS. At my company, we deprecate older versions when they are no longer supported, and you may not be able to find drivers for your HP (meaning it is no longer supported).

And go buy a mouse so you can use the right-click button. It works just by plugging it in.

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 7:25 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
Thanks, Landi. I will get a new simple printer.

And Costa, I've been thinking that myself -- get a mouse. Although when I've got the MBP on my lap, got to use the trackpad. Should force myself to get used to it. I can see myself reaching to the right for the mouse for a while.

My first paying job I worked as a biller typist. (This is eons ago.) Billing machine had a knob to the right of the keyboard that you slammed with your fist to return. Go to next job and worked on a manual typewriter. So I just naturally slammed my desk to the right. That didn't work.

Goddessatlaw
Member

07-19-2002

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 7:35 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Goddessatlaw a private message Print Post    
Thanks to the mods for the help with the posting problem - my laptop is operating much more efficiently after the colon cleanse I just put it through LOL.

Oh, and Colossus managed to fix the email problem I referenced last week. He won't tell me how he did it, though, because apparently it was a small and stupid error LOL. Thanks to everyone who responded, and he is actually considering doing the changeover to Outlook. I told him Juju recommended it, which carries more weight than just me asking.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 8:48 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Juju2bigdog a private message Print Post    
LOL, I told you to get your own Yahoo e-mail account, doofus, but if you want to throw my name around for leverage I don't mind.

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 9:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
Colon cleanse. LOL, Gal!

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Sunday, January 31, 2010 - 9:21 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
So later this week I am taking my tower to Apple Store to have files transferred -- from PC to Mac. That still leaves everything on the hard drive. Don't know yet if I'm going to donate to charity or "recycle" the tower, etc.

If I recycle, does the hard drive really need to be wiped clean? My credit card numbers and SSN are not currently in any word document on the drive. Or if I ever typed it on the keyboard, is it there some place (retrievable)? Do I really need to worry? Can I simply take the tower some place to have the drive cleaned?

Karuuna
Board Administrator

08-31-2000

Sunday, January 31, 2010 - 9:29 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Karuuna a private message Print Post    
Colord, can't you have them wipe it after they do the transfer?

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Sunday, January 31, 2010 - 1:58 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
Just called and asked. "No, we don't have the stuff here to do it." They can't clean drive out of PC, but they can out of Mac.

Nickovtyme
Member

07-28-2004

Sunday, January 31, 2010 - 2:02 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Nickovtyme a private message Print Post    
Just format your drive before you donate it. If you have the install disks that came with it format your drive and reseti it to factory settings.

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Tuesday, February 02, 2010 - 8:41 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
All you Mac people out there, what do you use for word processing, etc. -- MS Office 2008 for Mac or iWork? Or something else even? I cannot decide. Whether docs transmit well in e-mails between Mac and PCs is virtually no concern. I don't know which to go with.

Bonzacat
Member

07-08-2003

Tuesday, February 02, 2010 - 4:26 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Bonzacat a private message Print Post    
Colord - I have always used MS Office - Word & Excel, etc. (and also an older Apple word program that they no longer appear to support, AppleWorks)

iWork has Pages, which I found hard to get used to. It creates nice finished product but is nothing like a standard word processing program. It's more of a page layout program. I don't have experience with Numbers and Keynote (also in iWork).

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Tuesday, February 02, 2010 - 4:43 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
I am only concerned with word processing part of either -- not Excel, Power Point, Numbers, or Keynote.

So, Bonza, you're voting for MS Office for Mac -- without Windows platform? I'm not going to get Windows.

Bonzacat
Member

07-08-2003

Tuesday, February 02, 2010 - 4:48 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Bonzacat a private message Print Post    
Yep, Colord, that's my vote, MS Office for Mac. And if you are used to Office/Word for Windows, it's an easy switch for you.

Karuuna
Board Administrator

08-31-2000

Tuesday, February 02, 2010 - 4:52 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Karuuna a private message Print Post    
Me too!

Rissa
Member

03-19-2006

Tuesday, February 02, 2010 - 5:04 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Rissa a private message Print Post    
Just getting back after a week on vacation. I hadn't heard that about the mouse Costa, thank you. I will keep it in mind if I get too aggravated. LOL Color we are using Iwork (well my girls are, I don't have use for those programs at this time) and they have had no problems at all saving/opening/editting btn the Iwork and the MS programs. Their schools all use MS Office so they need to work in one format but save in another. I picked based on whatever would be cheaper but we don't need the programs for professional use so can afford to be less choosey as long as we can open and save different files extensions. I am following the printer conversation with interest. Our next step is to replace our printer with a wireless one and I never even thought about Apple compatibility. We have 3 Windows desktops, the 1 apple and 3 Windows laptops. Am I going to be pulling hair getting one printer that will work for both OSs?

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Tuesday, February 02, 2010 - 5:59 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
Bonza and Kar vote for MS Office -- without Windows. OK. Those ARE two good votes.

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Tuesday, February 02, 2010 - 6:25 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
Costa, I started my "buying spree" a few days ago with a Magic Mouse. It works differently than a regular mouse, but I'll get used to it.

All this is making me think of work in the mid '90s (law office) when we switched from WordP to Word. Oh my! Had no choice in that. Got used to it. Could almost still say . . . I miss reveal codes.

Juju2bigdog
Member

10-27-2000

Tuesday, February 02, 2010 - 7:54 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Juju2bigdog a private message Print Post    
Dang, when did I miss out on Colordeagua getting a new Mac??? We are now in CA house sitting, and the owner has a fabulous new Mac and has encouraged me to play with it all I want. It looks great when she demonstrates it to me, but figuring it out on my own would take too much time, I would think.

Colordeagua
Member

10-25-2003

Tuesday, February 02, 2010 - 9:14 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Colordeagua a private message Print Post    
Juju, Friday is "charge it" day!