Martin

The really scary thing about this Bill is Clause 17, whereby Mandy can basically change the law at will without even having to ask parliament (never mind get approval). Even now, scope creep means that Iceland was recently branded as a "terrorist", but if they can change the law at will then nothing and nobody will be safe!!! mb

Have you tried WOLing a client on the same physical network segment to make sure that it works? Maybe just use a hub rather than a switch. If it does work (from switched off), move the client further away to try to determine what is gobbling up the packets. mb

Have a look in the BIOS and see if there is something like "enable legacy USB support" and try setting (or sometimes un-setting) it! mb

They are also selling (Hurry While Stocks Last) a Digital HD Camcorder more ruggedised HD camcorder for a mere forty quid - if you just want a chuck-about device. I recently bought a Kodak ZX1 for fifty quid from Currys (actually PC World), but it seems that you can only get them in pink (for £48) now! It is scary how cheap some "tech" is these days? mb

In that case it sounds like your Windows^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hremote desktop session software is changing something in the volatile memory on the NIC mb

I don't think that it is Spanning Tree Protocol, it sounds like Windows is changing something in the volatile memory on the NIC which prevents the subsequent PXE-boot (until a power-down reset). Have a look/play at the device properties and also see if you can get a newer driver. Good luck, mb

I was going to suggest an Acer Aspire Revo R3600 which was only £130 from eBuyer yesterday, but ouch they are now £150. Just bought an R3610 and they are very well made! Will be having a play with it at the weekend mb

Didn't Dahling increase duty on fuel to offset the decrease in VAT a year and a half ago? Strange how he chose NOT to decrease it again when VAT went back up So when he "postpones" (not that there is an election coming or anything like that) the 3p duty rise in April we are already effectively paying for it now (and have been for a few months)! mb

Alternatively... It's a slow day in a little Scottish town. The sun is beating down,and the streets are deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit. On this particular day a rich tourist from down south is driving through town. He stops at the motel and lays a £50 note on the desk saying he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night. As soon as the man walks upstairs, the owner grabs the note and runs to the pub and celebrates his new found wealth. Meanwhile the rich tourist pops outside to the shops and sees a butcher. He says that he is thinking about having a barbeque and lays a £50 note on the counter saying he will pop back later to confirm what meats he may require. As soon as the man walks out of the shop, the butcher grabs the note and runs to the pub and celebrates his new found wealth. The rich tourist remembers that his son would quite like a pig as a pet, so he approaches a pig farmer and offers him £50 as a potential deposit on a nice sow. As soon as the man leaves the farm, the farmer grabs the note and runs to the pub and celebrates his new found wealth. The rich tourist realises that if he buys a pig he will need to feed it, so he goes to the local Farmer's Co-op to see what is available. He offers a £50 deposit to prove that he is serious (seeing as he didn't actually have a pig at the time). As soon as the man leaves the Farmer's Co-op, the guy grabs the note and runs to the pub and celebrates his new found wealth. The rich tourist remembers why he wanted a room in the first place, and approaches the local prostitute who has also been facing hard times. She looks particularly rough, so he changes his mind and goes back to cancel his room at the hotel. Unfortunately the hotel owner is nowhere to be seen. So he decides that a barbeque is out of the question and returns to the butchers. The shop is closed. Now on a bit of a downer he goes to the farm to cancel his pig, but the place is deserted! No pig means no feed is required, but when he visits the local Farmer's Co-op there is no-one to meet him. So the rich tourist is now £200 worse off and he vows never to visit that little Scottish town again - which is a bit of a shame because he was a squillionairre and was thinking about opening a factory, shopping centre, hospital and school in the town which would have massively increased it's prosperity and quality of life. Meanwhile the locals are naively content living on borrowed money for non-essential purposes. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the British Government is conducting business today.. That makes you think doesn’t it? mb

It appears that you can PXE-boot over wireless, but you definitely don't want to be deploying images that way. As well as limited bandwidth, you are not going to be able to multicast if you are deploying multiple machines. mb

Hummm? Joined today, four posts, all slagging off Stone mb

Vaguely relevant, but you have spelt "Received" incorrectly in the line... $fields{"address"} = "Recieved from Ip address $address this email was posted on $minutesseconds (add 6 hours for GMT time) "; mb

In other news, the government have decided to implement a "bus tax", charging passengers who use buses and trams in towns and cities a fiver a week to help subsidise those who live out in the sticks and don't have a regular service. Goverment spokesperson Jemina Popplethwaite explained "we have been forced to close so many local post offices that people out in the country are having problems paying for their TV licences and so on. Thus we need to implement a ultra-fast public transport network to once again be a world-class player in the stop-to-stop person movement arena". However, ministers have denied any suggestion that they are going to implement a takeaway tax, adding 15% to the cost of all fast food which will be "ring-fenced" into providing a squadron of scooter-riders delivering pizzas to outlying farms. mb

It only works if you have stupidly loud background music mb

Scousers, ya can't trust 'em Unlicensed Merseyside Police drone grounded mb

..but you are wearing out your thrust release(/race) bearings (as happened in my Hillman Imp nearly 30 years ago), and stressing the cables/hydraulics. mb

Are they being told why they should do this? I can think of various reasons why not - wear on the thrust race bearings, risk of foot slipping off the clutch, car in "drive" if hit from behind etc. Training and education should not simply be the blind following of rules, lest we end up being a nation of sheep!! mb

I guess that you briefly vary the rotor speed on one side versus the other to create a tilt, them increase power to go in the direction that you are now tilted. However, because there is no obvious front and back or left and right (especially once it is more than a few yards away) i can't see how an operator would know which way to operate the controls to move it in a given direction? Also, whilst differential GPS can give very accurate positioning in the horizontal plane, i am surprised that it can maintain a constant (within a couple of feet) height above the ground. Still, sod logic and common sense - i also want one Cheers, mb

From Network-Tools.com - 109.232.225.23 is from Aruba(AW) in region Caribbean and West Indies! mb

Yup, the big wheel contacts the inner core of the cotton reels, but the outer rim of the reel is in contact with the surface. Bigger circumference means it travels further/faster. mb

Very useful, even for towns that you think that you already "know" well! Cheers, mb

Humm - i received the same pamphlet yesterday and quickly flicked through all the promotional and advertising crap and never spotted that one. Looks like i have better take a closer look tonight! Very sneaky mb

Well i have a copy of that very book in front of me at the moment, and the price (on the inside front of the paper sleeve) is (was) a mere £10-00 There is a URL printed on the back - 4th Estate - HarperCollins if that is of any help! mb

I must admit, i do like the look of the MPro150, but i don't think that you can get it in the UK yet mb

You mean in a similar way to £250,000 ring of steel for Tony Blair's grilling: Huge security operation as Judgment Day looms for ex-PM over Iraq War? Dunno, but probably mb