Struggling

 The old printer just STOPPED.  The new one doesn't want to connect.  Nor does the new wireless keyboard.  It says the battery needs to charge it and trying what it says isn't working.  Ive gone back to the old one.  Same with the mouse.  

I am nearly drowned in cables.  Bought several new ones and adapters.  They work for my older stuff.

But adapters on adapters to connections isn't good.  I really must upgrade the devices to go the newest ports.  Maybe a post-Xmas gift to myself.  

At some point, I suppose a monitor gets too old.  An external hard drive  gets too old (it won't load a CD). No device lasts forever.  Some times there can be be too many adaptors.  Time to visit Amazon...

But I'm annoyed.  Nothing was wrong with the old stuff.  Just connections changed.  

Update.  Got the old printer working.  But can't recall what I was so desperate to print.  Some computer instructions... New printer details...  

Computer Update

Well, I don't have much working better, but I have discovered and done a few things...

1.  I spent several hours going through old files and deleting them.  I had to accept that there were old headers I simply did not need anymore, non-cat pics and graphics I could easily regain if needed, copies of old documents that no longer matter, download files for programs long since upgraded etc.  I mean, I even had pics of houses I considered buying 5 years ago!  I only reclaimed a few GBs, but deleting clutter probably helps.

2.  I learned that my Mac Mini is a 2011 model.  The old chips, processors, and graphics can't keep up.  Essentially, I was struggling along in a 64-bit app world with a 32-bit processor.  I slightly understand that.  It's like trying to eat your dinner and dessert at the same time.    64 bit wants to read more at once than 32 bit and the 32 bit apps choke.

3.  I actually have a newer Mac Mini but apparently I managed to kill it struggling with Mac O/S Catalina trying to remove it.  It won't even start.  It's almost funny; my computer room is nearly litterred with old computers.  I need to get rid of them (after doing a "scribble" of the hard drive a few times so nothing can be read).

4.  I managed to export my old iPhotos app pics to the newer Photos app.  It wasn't easy.  And I don't like the new organization of pics.  But who ever DOES like a new app at first.  I'll get used to it.  The hardest thing was that my newest pictures just didn't want to go.  It took over an hour to get those out of the "import folder" into actual folders with names and dates.

5.  Some apps like Firefox seem to no longer be supported with new Mac O/S, or maybe it is that my they are no longer supported by my current O/S High Sierra.  I apologize to my Windows PC friends; Apple Mac speaks its own language.  The point is that Apple doesn't much like backwards compatibility very much.  They stop providing support and compatibility every few years.  

6.  In spite of that, I'm sticking with Macs.  I used to love Windows back in the days, and could organize files well.  I bought a Windows 10 computer a year or so ago, and I can't make it do anything.  I can't even find files on it.  One thing about Macs is that file manager (called "Finder") is superb!  You almost can't NOT find anything there.  

7.  My conclusion is that I need a newer Mac Mini.  But there are still questions I am trying to get answers to.  The new ones come with an O/S called "Big Sur" (Apple likes to name the operating systems after Big Cats years ago and geography features recently (they ran out of Big Cat Names, I suppose).  Anyway, some users are complaining about Big Sur.  Most say to wait a few months until Apple debugs it better.  I agree.  But every new Mac Mini comes with it.  I feel trapped.

8.  That probably means I have to buy some new apps that offer way more features than I need, a lot of learning how to use them.  And it probably means I can't use free Mac-protection software any more.  Scammers have started to pay more attention to Mac apps.  Though it is harder to infect a Mac than Windows, they are doing it.  I read of more and more Mac viruses these days.  

9.  My older Mac is more vulnerable to these viruses.  The new O/Ss come with serious built-in and updatable protection.  That includes ransomware protection, which is becoming a real problem.  And I'll have to get a really good separate protection program like MacAfee, Bitdefender, or Norton.  

10.  And this may make you smile...  I think a part of my problems was just an old keyboard!  I was writing a To Do list and was frustrated by my spelling.  So i pecked 1 key at a time to confirm the accuracy.  And there were still errors!  I may have a malware that messes with the keyboard.  Or it is just old.

Aren't computers wonderful?

The New Old Computer

I meant to post pictures of the new old Windows computer with the previous post, but I had over 100 various pictures to process (and I do a lot of resizing, cropping, and light/color adjustment*).  Feeling lazy, I didn't.  Now I have.  Mainly, I took the pics to document the unboxing process in case of damage, but since I had them...

The box was perfectly sized.  I mention that only because it seems to be a generic box.

It was very carefully enclosed in bubble wrap.  

For an old Windows 95 machine, it was in very good shape.

The A drive (the minidisk) doesn't seem to work, but since I don't have any of those it doesn't matter right now.  I could get it replaced if I needed to.  It makes a lot of noise when booting up, and I don't remember if that is normal.  But it gets quiet again afterwards.

I love the way old Windows towers label the basic ports.  It was nice to see ports labeled for the mouse, the keyboard and the monitor.  Unfortunately, I didn't have those old mouse and keyboards, but it did have ports for the newer mouses (mice?) and keyboards.  An old monitor (I keep stuff) did work (one of those funny old multi-pin plugs).

So I plugged a mouse and keyboard in the USB A style ports right below the labeled ports.  And rebooted it.  Neither worked, but the monitor did, so at least I got messages about that.

I mentioned I keep stuff.  Well, sadly, I had gone on a moderately serious decluttering binge a few months ago and threw out most of my "old never useful again" cables.  I bet I tossed a few adapters that would have worked! 

So I visited a computer store, a Best Buy, and a Walmart.  None of them had the adapters OR any mouse or keyboard with those old PS/2 input cables**.

I went to Amazon.  Bless Amazon, they had adaptors.  Anxious to play the old Civ2 game, I ordered a pack of 2 adapters AND a dedicated old PS/2 mouse (just to be sure).  I could have ordered a PS/2 keyboard, but after I dug around in the computer room closet I found an old one.  It was large, it was complicated by dozens of specialized buttons, it was dirty, the letters on the keys are faded.

But it worked... 

So the adapters and the PS/2 mouse arrived in a week (3rd party seller).  The mouse works perfectly.  I cleaned the old keyboard ***.  I loaded the game and started at the easiest level (its been a while).  After about 16 hours, I am WAY ahead (and only about 1/2 way through).  I guess I still remember the basics. 

It is like being addicted to some uncommon game (like Stadium Checkers) and meeting a new friend who also loves the game and has it (I do).

Can you guess I love games?

* I don't mean like Photoshopping them, but Mac Preview allows some pretty good fast adjustments.  I routinely crop all my pics first, then increase the "definition" to 90 of 100, then increase the lighting (brighten the pics) and lower the color (so Marley doesn't look Neon Orange, LOL).  But it is still 1 picture at a time.  I wish I could do the settings in groups.

** I don't want anyone to think I just know all the hardware stuff.  I had to look up  all the kinds of ports to figure out what I needed.  Searching "computer port images" was very helpful.

*** I spend a lot of time outdoors so I sort of live around dirt.  I learned the best way to clean a keyboard is 1) Unplug it.  2) Vacuum it with a brush nozzle.  3)  Turn it upside down and tap the back gently several times.  4) Then spray a glass cleaner on a soft cloth and WHILE holding the keyboard upside down, (so no cleaner gets into the keyboard innards) wipe the keys in all directions.  Works for me.

Old Computer Game, Replayable

This is long, and the last parts are more important that the early parts...

In 1998, bored with discussion boards and playing old established games like Monopoly and chess and scrabble and backgammon, and missing complex strategic games by Avalon Hill like Gettysburg and WWI Origins, I went searching for a good computer game to play.  I finally read about a game called Civilization 2.  There was a Civilization game where you build cities with buildings and military, etc, but the sequel was more highly rated and complicated.  There were competing civilizations, more buildings, economics, and military units and even spaceships to land on Alpha Centuri toward the end.  Players raved about it.  So I gave it a try.

I bought it on a Friday.  I played it 36 hours by Sunday night.  I was addicted.  I was near the top of my career then, and while there were challenges and problems to solve every day, I was bored.  The only step up was into management.

Quite frankly, I don't like having to tell other people what to do (Forgive me, but self-starters like me don't quite understand why anyone needs to be told what to do).  Management had long before stopped bothering me with instructions and I thought we good worker types needed fewer managers.  So I didn't want to go into management.

It's like the old observation:  Those who can't DO, teach.  Those who can't TEACH, administrate.  Those who can't Adnimistrate, join the School Board.

The money would have been nice, but I had more than I needed.  So I enjoyed my little kingdom getting "outstanding" ratings each year and wasn't bothered by anyone.  All that Management cared about was that everything I did worked.

But I digress...

Civilization 2 was addictive.  It was like chess on steroids.  Many more possibilities and the game was far more varied.  You never saw the whole board unless you got a spaceship near the end of tye game (and most games did not get to spaceships).

You start on a randomly-constructed world of land and sea.  You can choose 2-6 other AI competitors (and they are very good).  You choose to face "no barbarian tribes" to "Raging Hordes".  You can play at 5 levels of difficulty.  The game starts and all you see is a Settler and 10 squares of about 10,000.

You build a city at first in a square you choose.  There are valuable land squares scattered around, and the terrain is grass, plains, forest, hills, jungle, etc.  Then you choose how to construct a civilization with more cities, technical advancement, military units, useful buildings, etc according to your choice.

Eventually, you come in contact with other civilizations.  You can deal with them with diplomacy, war, trade, etc.  The other civilizations have their own personalities.  Some are militaristic, some peaceful, some traders, some diplomatic, etc.

There are also Wonders Of The World to be constructed (more than the traditional 7).  Some provide storage for food in all cities, some increase military strength, some increase technology discovery.  It can get maddeningly complicated.

The goal is to either get to Alpha Centuri first or destroy the other civs or at least be more advanced of all the others at the end.  The game goes from 4000 BC to around 2100 AD (I forget).  But like I said, It is a long complicated game.

A typical game view:


It was just what I wanted.

And then the awful day came!  As Windows computers advanced, Civ 2 was no longer playable (bitspeed complications).  I tried Civ3 and hated it (it introduced "spheres of influence" where adjacent civs could just absorb your city into their civ, and I hated the loss of control.  And my old Windows computer literally fell apart and stopped working.  In hindsight, I should have just brought it to the local Windows repair shop.  Sometimes, the blinding obvious escapes one...

Several years ago, I tried playing Civ V (said to be similar to Civ 2 but with better graphics).  All I found were choices that were SO complicated they were nearly random, and enemy units that could be reduced be almost never eliminated.

I tried hard to "get" the game, but I never did.  And my own units FOUGHT me in the direction they would move (apparently, the AI was over-ruling my decisions).  I gave up on Civ 3.

So I searched for ways to play Civ 2 on newer Windows and Mac computers.  There were a lot of suggestions.

One was to partition a Windows drive to act like that part was an old Windows 98.  I couldn't make that work (and I am good at following computer instructions).  Another was "How to play abandonware games".  I couldn't make that work either.   A few other suggestions on Civ 2 discussion sites were no more successful (most comments were "that doesn't work" so I was not alone in my lack of success).

2 weeks ago, I went to Civ 2 discussuon site and someone said her Dad loved the game so much she bought an old Windows workbook for him to play it on and he was thrilled.  DUH!  Why didn't I think of that before?

So I went to the local PC repair shop and asked about an old Windows PC and showed him the requirements on the game box.  His look was of disgust...  But he said he might be able to find the parts in a week, but had I checked eBay?

I checked eBay.  Bought one (no returns allowed).  It arrived.  Took some work to find old cables, but I eventually had everything I needed.  Turned it on.  It rattled for a few minutes, and told me there was no keyboard.  Of course there was.  It just was recognizing it.

I have a junk closet.  Stuff I want to keep for possible future use.  I found an old Windows keyboard WAY back in there.  Ugly thing with command buttons all over it.  Close to this but worse (a series of dedicated buttons on a curve over the top). 


I had an old mouse but needed a USN to round port connector and got one from Amazon in 2 days.  I connected both and turned the computer on again.  It got me to

It worked!  I loaded the old Civ2 dick into the drive and continued.  It recognized the disk.  I went to "escape" to boot to install, and that worked.  The game loaded!

I played it briefly to make sure it worked and shut everything down...

Now, if you will forgive me, I have a game to play.  You might not see me again for a while...