NTP66's thread of IT

[NTP66]

I had a scheduled power outage overnight, and my DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem never powered back on. So my ISP replaced it with a DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem. Now my MoCA 2.0 devices no longer work. Based on my research, DOCSIS 3.1 uses frequency band than DOCSIS 3.0, and the 3.1 band also shares some from what MoCA 2.0 uses. I have Actiontec ECB6200 MoCA adapters (which the hardware versions I have are EOL and old at this point). The Actiontec tech support line suggested that I just needed different PoE MoCA filters, but I'm not so sure.

I'm not sure I really want to spend the money and hope that new MoCA devices/filters do the trick, just to have some other new standard (like DOCSIS 4.0) break it all over again. Or do I just spend the money to have someone come in to run a CAT6 cable between the floors of my townhouse? Has anyone had someone do a couple CAT6 runs like that? I have a townhouse, so it's not real accessible. Seems like maybe in the long run the CAT6 cables are the way to go.

Might be worth just going the route of having your place wired for ethernet then.

[iamjs]

It's been mentioned in meetings about going to a cloud-type solution down the road, but it doesn't resolve the current issue.

I ended up ordering it.

[mac5155]

Will NordVPN get me around espn blackouts?

[mikey]

Yes

[mac5155]

I think I'm gonna go that route. Or are their free alternatives?

[mikey]

I don't think they're as reliable and fast enough to justify the modest cost savings...but maybe others know better...you don't want to **** around with a game stream imo...

[nocera]

Recently had a Verizon tech out to set up TV as well as an upgraded router. Ever since I’ve been getting random disconnects. In the middle of watching TV, I’ll get a message saying the connection has been lost or I’ll suddenly get booted from an online match while gaming. It comes back immediately but obviously very annoying. Any ideas?

[Lemon Berry Lobster]

I'd guess a loose connection somewhere. Disconnect and reconnect everything.

[NTP66]

I don’t use Verizon’s hardware outside of the ONT, but the obvious issue is probably the router. You should be able to logon to the router and check the logs, but Verizon can also check it remotely. Definitely worth a chat/call.

If your router is close enough to the ont where you can run Ethernet cable to it, do yourself a favor and buy an asus router and ditch the Verizon one.

[nocera]

Hmm okay I’ll log in and take a look later. The coax (needed for the tv set up) runs through the router to the media server. All cords run through my living room and behind my just set up Christmas tree so I really hope they don’t have to come out and check the cables.

[dodint]

Source of the post I threw my old Epson down the stairs onto the garage floor when we moved. Was very satisfying.

I envy you.

We have a lot of Xerox WorkCentre's at work, and I love them.

My WorkCentre died already. I thought I'd get at least another three years out of it. I think when I was flipping the breakers on and off doing electrical work something popped inside. It just boot loops with nowhere for me to intervene. I have the System Administrators manual for it but there is no mention of how to do a hard reset on the unit. Looking forward to throwing it into a dumpster soon as it was great when it worked but it was also an aggravating piece of ****.

What's out there for all-in-one printers that don't have a subscription for the ink?

[NTP66]

Source of the post What's out there for all-in-one printers that don't have a subscription for the ink?

That's a good question. I'm still using a 10+ year old Canon inkjet because I refuse to deal with subscription nonsense. I saw a commercial for a new inkjet printer - forget the brand (helpful, I know) - that said they got rid of cartridges and instead you would be refilling the printer with the ink out of a bottle. I'd be down for that, as it's probably way more cost effective.

[NTP66]

Doing a quick search, it looks like what I saw an ad for were Canon's new MegaTank printers.

[dodint]

Yeah, those look neat. Given it's Cyber Monday I'm going to punt on this and just buy a Canon PIXMA TR7020a for now and if we decide we need more than that we'll look at getting a real printer. Personally, I am trying to wean off of printing altogether, but I do still use the scanner a good bit. My wife prints curriculum though and I think that is going to be a pinch point. If it is she can pay for a replacement in the new year.

[NTP66]

I love my PIXMA, and would probably not consider another brand if I were in the market. I don't print a lot, but the scanner is used relatively frequently.

[dodint]

I changed my mind and bought a Canon PIXMA G7020 MegaTank. It actually sold out on Amazon while I was comparing the G7020 to the G5020 on the Canon site, so I bought it directly from Canon for the same price with free shipping. $200 off isn't bad and it's supposed to do over 5000 pages per ink fillup. The other Canon I was looking at only did 200.

The main difference between the two models was the G7020 has Fax (don't care) and an Auto Document Feeder (do care) for the scanner.

It'll be kind of nice to have the printer in the office again. With that document center I had to use it in the basement as it was way too large for my office.

[NTP66]

I like that one. It has a lot of features I'd love, like 2-sided printing.

[faftorial]

I changed my mind and bought a Canon PIXMA G7020 MegaTank. It actually sold out on Amazon while I was comparing the G7020 to the G5020 on the Canon site, so I bought it directly from Canon for the same price with free shipping. $200 off isn't bad and it's supposed to do over 5000 pages per ink fillup. The other Canon I was looking at only did 200.

The main difference between the two models was the G7020 has Fax (don't care) and an Auto Document Feeder (do care) for the scanner.

It'll be kind of nice to have the printer in the office again. With that document center I had to use it in the basement as it was way too large for my office.

That big ass printer you bought didn't do the job?

[NTP66]

You missed a post, faf.

[dodint]

It lasted over three years. I was hoping for much longer, obviously, because it still had 111,000 pages of toner in it. But again, it's boot looped and I can't see how to fix it. For something I bought for $23 I think it did pretty good. It will probably cost me more than that to scrap it.

Good news is since it's going to the dump now I can take a sledge to it and load it in pieces instead of trying to deadlift that thing.

[NTP66]

Source of the post I can take a sledge to it and load it in pieces

You'll be living out most of our dreams.

[dodint]

My man.

[NTP66]

I can't say enough good things about uBlock Origin - it's the best at what it does. I got tired of seeing Twitter's 'subscribe to premium' block, which pushes other content down, so I used the picker to block that entire frame with two clicks of the mouse.



There are a number of sites where I've used this, and it makes the pages so much cleaner. Doesn't even have to be ads.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Just be forewarned (and I'm sure you already know this) but Google is going to disable apps that use Manifest V2:

Google has announced that Manifest V3 will roll out on Chrome in non-stable branches as early as June 2024.
This will deprecate Manifest V2, which many ad-blockers like uBlock Origin use for their functionality.
uBlock Origin devs have released a Lite version that is Manifest V3-compliant, but it is not a complete substitute.

https://www.androidauthority.com/google ... s-3386506/

So probably going over to Firefox at that point. Chrome was always preferential for me because of the speed (initially) and then the Google Productivity apps that we used at my previous employer. Now my current employer uses Office365, so Chrome isn't essential for that.

[NTP66]

**** Google. I've been a loyal Firefox user from the start, so this has no real impact to me.