Spent some time in the last few days looking at the mundane question of photo file compression. One of the clients of our sister business, 1Scan, had asked if we could provide scans in JPEG 2000 format.
Well it seems from sample photo scans available on various sites that photo scanning to this new format yields better resolution compared with scans saved as traditional jpg's. So JPEG 2000 is now part of 1Scan's services, you might like to look into it too.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Photoscanclub
OK, a bit off topic, but one of the areas we're deeply into is photo scanning. And naturally I take an interest in what other people are doing in this area.
So I'm a bit puzzled that a US photo, slide and negative scanning service has dropped off the radar. The service is Photoscanclub who used to be reachable at photoscanclub.com.
Unfortunately for the past few days there's been no service from that domain. I hope it's just a temporary service glitch but if anyone does know more please let me know.
So I'm a bit puzzled that a US photo, slide and negative scanning service has dropped off the radar. The service is Photoscanclub who used to be reachable at photoscanclub.com.
Unfortunately for the past few days there's been no service from that domain. I hope it's just a temporary service glitch but if anyone does know more please let me know.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The Mystery of Lost Internet Connection
About a year ago I got a call from a PC user completely perplexed by his sudden inability to connect to the internet. When I visited him he explained that he'd been using his PC quite happily earlier in the day, then went to use it later and found although the system seemed to be working in all other respects, it would not connect to the web.
His brother had a spare laptop so he borrowed that and found that it connected to the internet via the same wireless router he was trying to use his PC with. The line and wireless modem / router was obviously working fine, his PC box suddenly was barred from the internet. When I turned up I checked all the usual things, cable connection, no new hardware, no recently installed software and indeed I was able to connect my own MacBook and surf the web. Using an ethernet cable from the PC to the router made no difference, the PC had been thoroughly black balled from the web.
There was a complete lack of error messages, looking at Internet Explorer we were told the site had failed to reply, there was no internet connection and offering the chance to run a fault fixing wizard. My client had tried this many times and still the problem remained.
I took his PC back home with me, to try it on my network. No luck there either. Exactly the same, a stubborn inability to acknowledge the outside world. And I don't mind admitting, I had no idea of what was causing this and how to fix it. So keyed search terms into Google and reading various articles and posts in the search for an explanation. Nothing worked and very little apart from the loss of the internet connection seemed to fit with our symptoms. Until many, many hours into the search someone suggested investigation a file called TCPIP.SYS. That's a small file and all I did was take a copy of TCPIP.SYS from a working Windows XP system and use that to replace the copy on my clients machine.
Restarted the PC and a minute or two later we were on the web, surfing as Microsoft intended. Seconds to fix, hours to analyse. Days of feeling smug and of course one happy client.
I'd pretty much forgotten this until yesterday when a neighbour called me over. They have a Netgear wireless modem / router that allows his wife's PC and a laptop to connect to the internet but suddenly has barred his PC. The only event he could call to mind was a sudden spontaneous power down and restart after which his PC couldn't connect to the web. He too was puzzled, any site he tried to connect to gave him the same message, that the server wasn't responding, and that he had no internet connection when he could happily access all those sites from his wife's machine in the next room.
It took me a few minutes to remember my earlier experience but with the aid of my trusty USB memory stick we put a new copy of TCPIP.SYS onto his computer, rebooted, and away he went. The lesson is - if you have a sudden loss of internet connectivity for no simple reason, make sure you have a clean copy of TCPIP.SYS. or of course ring us on 01277 222 398.
His brother had a spare laptop so he borrowed that and found that it connected to the internet via the same wireless router he was trying to use his PC with. The line and wireless modem / router was obviously working fine, his PC box suddenly was barred from the internet. When I turned up I checked all the usual things, cable connection, no new hardware, no recently installed software and indeed I was able to connect my own MacBook and surf the web. Using an ethernet cable from the PC to the router made no difference, the PC had been thoroughly black balled from the web.
There was a complete lack of error messages, looking at Internet Explorer we were told the site had failed to reply, there was no internet connection and offering the chance to run a fault fixing wizard. My client had tried this many times and still the problem remained.
I took his PC back home with me, to try it on my network. No luck there either. Exactly the same, a stubborn inability to acknowledge the outside world. And I don't mind admitting, I had no idea of what was causing this and how to fix it. So keyed search terms into Google and reading various articles and posts in the search for an explanation. Nothing worked and very little apart from the loss of the internet connection seemed to fit with our symptoms. Until many, many hours into the search someone suggested investigation a file called TCPIP.SYS. That's a small file and all I did was take a copy of TCPIP.SYS from a working Windows XP system and use that to replace the copy on my clients machine.
Restarted the PC and a minute or two later we were on the web, surfing as Microsoft intended. Seconds to fix, hours to analyse. Days of feeling smug and of course one happy client.
I'd pretty much forgotten this until yesterday when a neighbour called me over. They have a Netgear wireless modem / router that allows his wife's PC and a laptop to connect to the internet but suddenly has barred his PC. The only event he could call to mind was a sudden spontaneous power down and restart after which his PC couldn't connect to the web. He too was puzzled, any site he tried to connect to gave him the same message, that the server wasn't responding, and that he had no internet connection when he could happily access all those sites from his wife's machine in the next room.
It took me a few minutes to remember my earlier experience but with the aid of my trusty USB memory stick we put a new copy of TCPIP.SYS onto his computer, rebooted, and away he went. The lesson is - if you have a sudden loss of internet connectivity for no simple reason, make sure you have a clean copy of TCPIP.SYS. or of course ring us on 01277 222 398.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Networking's Best Kept Secret?
Byte Serve (www.byteserve.co.uk) is the computer and networking support service I run, this is the blog linked to our service.
We're in the proces of finalising a short, free guide setting out what for many people is the most effective, reliable and simple solution to their networking needs. Yet we know that when we speak to IT vendors (particularly the major IT stores) this option is seldom if ever mentioned. Hence we've been thinking this is some sort of closely guarded secret.
We're not in the business of keeping secrets, we like simple solutions, and we quite like the idea of blowing the lid.
Would you like to know more about this elegant approach to internet access and networking? All you need do is check the website (www.byteserve.co.uk) or email enquiries@byteserve.co.uk
We're in the proces of finalising a short, free guide setting out what for many people is the most effective, reliable and simple solution to their networking needs. Yet we know that when we speak to IT vendors (particularly the major IT stores) this option is seldom if ever mentioned. Hence we've been thinking this is some sort of closely guarded secret.
We're not in the business of keeping secrets, we like simple solutions, and we quite like the idea of blowing the lid.
Would you like to know more about this elegant approach to internet access and networking? All you need do is check the website (www.byteserve.co.uk) or email enquiries@byteserve.co.uk
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