Saturday 15 March 2008

Wonderful PCs, John Fahey, Albion Magazine, poets' graves and poetry, Tom Paxton and Sid Kipper

Originally published in FoT Issue 103: Apr-Jun 2005

Reading about Sam and Sandy’s technical difficulties with issue 102 caused me to reflect on the problems I have been having with connecting to the Internet since November 2003. Problems that would resolve themselves when they felt like it, but would invariably pop up again when I had something important to do - well, important to me, anyway. And it was only when I realised that I had been putting up with those problems for more than a year that I thought I ought to do something about them once and for all.

It is always best to adopt a methodical approach when troubleshooting a problem with your PC. One of the few sensible things I do is to keep a record of any programs I install and any problems that crop up. That way you can more easily identify which program has caused the problem - which won’t necessarily happen straight away, and more often than not involves a combination of factors. When you are investigating a problem, a good idea is to make one change at a time and see if that fixes it. It might take a bit longer, but in the long run you will be able to pinpoint the cause and therefore find the solution much more readily. And stroking your left mouse button won’t necessarily enhance your machine’s performance, but I find it helps soothe the nerves.

My particular problem first arose when I tried to download e-mail. A few e-mails would download, then my e-mail program would freeze and eventually time out. I would then get a winsock failure message. Don’t ask. Reconnect, try again and it would stop in exactly the same place. I found that if I created a new folder to receive e-mails, it would work - for a few days at least and then I would have to go through the whole process again. I moved house and the problem came with me, so I ruled out the phone line as the cause. I bought a whizzo wireless modem and at first everything was OK, but a couple of days later the problem came back. So I ruled that out too. But then my system started freezing when using a web browser. Then with my ftp software. This was getting serious. I tried a different ISP. At first it worked, but then the same problem resurfaced. Convinced I was the victim of a virus, or some sort of parasite, I tried to download various diagnostic programs. It took ages of course because the system would keep dropping the connection. I managed to download a free program called WinsockFix. I ran it and everything started working again. Excellent! Guess what. The same old problem came back. I was on the verge of moving to another country or reinstalling Windows when I thought I would give my old modem a second chance. I knew that wouldn't solve the problem of course, but I would give it a go. I had to run WinsockFix again first but imagine my surprise... It has now been a fortnight and that is the longest period of trouble-free computing I have enjoyed since November 2003!

***

I must admit it is good fun to be able to take a stroll along the information superfootpaths once again. John Fahey was a great site to stumble upon. Tunings, tablatures and even mp3 files of the first 30 seconds of loads of tunes - just enough to give you a flavour of what you should be sounding like. There are also numerous articles about the American primitive guitarist himself, by all accounts a fascinating man.

Another site new to me was the Albion Magazine Online. It is a biannual magazine “dedicated to investigating English identity, character and culture, and giving a voice to modern English people” and is only available online. Interviews with Ashley Hutchings and Eliza Carthy nestle happily among explanations of English customs such as apple-tree wassailing and reviews of the Molesworth books, “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning” and “Kes”. Editor Isabel Taylor invites contributions for future publication. It has only been going since the beginning of last year, but long may it run.

I don’t think I am straying too far off-topic if I recommend the Poets' Graves site. After all, you often hear Kipling or Burns sung in our clubs and here you can find their poetry, biographies and photographs of their graves. The site has information on more than 100 poets from Auden to Yeats (I bet Benjamin Zephaniah can’t wait). To hear poets reciting their own poetry you can venture to the Academy of American Poets’ Listening Booth. And it doesn’t just have American poets - it’s worth a visit to just to listen to Dylan Thomas reading ‘Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night’.

Back in issue 90 I bemoaned the fact that Tom Paxton did not have an official website. So I was delighted to find that as well as winning a lifetime achievement award from the BBC, Tom has become web savvy. Apart from news and information, there are a few mp3 downloads available of what Tom calls “short shelf-life songs”.

If ever you are in need of a pick-me-up, you need look no further than Sid Kipper’s website. Several colleagues of mine regularly check out his site and sit there chuckling to themselves while they are supposed to be working. It shouldn’t be allowed. It’s surprising I haven’t mentioned it before as I have long been a fan and of course Chris Sugden is a fellow writer for “Folk on Tap”, though what relevance that bears I couldn’t say. Anyway, among other things the entire collection of Sid’s hilarious letters to “Folk on Tap” is included. Here is an excerpt:
I’m just writing to warn you that I’m getting ready for the lunch of my new book, ‘Crab Wars’. Mind you, it’ll have to be a late lunch because it isn’t happening till early evening. Then after lunch I’ll be doing a big singing tour all over everyone’s parts to go with the book, so I’m available for book bookings, if you see what I mean. Actually I’m still available even if you don’t see what I mean.
Like I said, it shouldn’t be allowed.

My latest gadget (my home is full of them) is a Roberts RD-1 digital radio. Not only can I pause programmes in mid-air, I can back-pedal to a bit I missed and record straight chunks of broadcasts on to a data card. With a card reader hooked up to my PC, I can copy them on to my hard drive - a half hour programme takes less than 30 seconds. They are saved in mp2 format, which is how they are broadcast. We’ll leave an explanation of the difference between mp2 and mp3 files for another day - preferably another magazine. And with a software program I downloaded for free called mp3DirectCut, I can edit the file at will and end up with a particular song I want to learn or a programme I want to hear - though BBC2 relegates folk music to a couple of hours on Wednesday evening, BBC7 has classic comedies every day, and even transmits Garrison Keillor’s show. I heard some great Leo Kottke recently - and I’m only time-shifting, your honour. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to try to get to grips with John Fahey’s 'Brenda’s Blues'. Aren’t computers great?

No comments: