24 replies to this topic

[Cluttermagnet]

The Significant Other has been in the hospital a couple of weeks now.Broken hip. She'll mend, eventually- after weeks of rehab. This haskept me at my 110 percent point for the past couple of weeks. Notgetting much else done here.Her son came up with a laptop for her to use- it's an HP/Compaq6120. Works OK getting onto the hospitals unsecured open wirelesspoint. That's from Win XP, however. In Ubuntu 10.10, I have neverseen the default hospital website that opens up under IE. That windowrequires that the user click a user agreement button before accessto the net is allowed. I suspect the wireless is checking the OS andonly allowing Windows on. If it were a Firefox problem, I know howto install User Agent Switcher- but what to do about Ubuntu? Is thereany way to make the OS itself lie about its identity?Thanks guys...ClutterP.S.  Yeah- and I hate networking, too.           And laptops! And stupid mouse pads. Bah humbug!Would one of the mods please delete the earlier posted version of this thread.This laptop and IE have minds of their own. My edit became a new topic.A mystery to me how that happened.But please find a way to incorporate Ammenditman's comments if they arein the other thread. This laptop is getting my blood prerssure up...

Edited by Cluttermagnet, 06 March 2011 - 12:55 PM.

[amenditman]

I think you scored that wrong,

Quote

Windows 1, Ubuntu 0

Should be Hospital Prison 1, Freedom/Web Standards 0

[securitybreach]

Cluttermagnet, on Mar 6 2011, 11:39 AM, said:

Would one of the mods please delete the earlier posted version of this thread.This laptop and IE have minds of their own. My edit became a new topic.A mystery to me how that happened.But please find a way to incorporate Ammenditman's comments if they arein the other thread. This laptop is getting my blood prerssure up...

Done

[ChipDoc]

Sorry to hear the Significant Other broke her hip; glad to hear she's on the mend.I have a similar issue at my local public library and I've had good luck with logging in with Opera spoofed to show itself as IE.  Maybe it'll work for you too.  The only thing you need it for is to get past that login; after that you can use whatever you like on the line.  Best of luck!

[LilBambi]

User Agent Switcher extension for Firefox should do it. I think it's compatible with Iceweasel too but not sure.Our best to your lady and so sorry to hear about her hip being broken. That's rough!

[securitybreach]

Yeah sorry to hear that Clutter. I hope she gets well soon. I had an aunt that broke her hip and she had and it took her awhile but she got back her mobility back rather quickly. They work wonders in medical rehab nowadays.

[Eggdog]

I'm sorry to hear about the S.O., Clutter. I know how difficult hospitals (and caregiving) can be.Like Chip said, I've usually been able to get networks to recognize Opera as MSIE. Opera is extremely customizable on a site-to-site basis. If the hospital is letting you get to their network page, that's great; follow the four E-Z steps as outlined below.1. Right-click somewhere on the page.2. In the pop-up menu, choose 'Edit site preferences'.3. Choose the tab 'Network'.4. Under 'Browser identification', there are 2 relevant choices: 'Identify as Internet Explorer' and 'Mask as Internet Explorer'. I don't know the difference. You can try one and then the other.Also, if you install Opera, you can try going into Preferences (it's Ctrl-F12), choose the 'General' tab, and choose 'Allow all pop-ups'.If you can't get to the page, we may have to go through the cumbersome process of editing a file called override.ini . I just looked at mine, and I don't understand everything in it, but I can try to help.Eddie

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Good thoughts for rapid healing for the SO, Clutter.

[b2cm]

Most likely, that 'user agreement' page uses an ActiveX control. If so, only a Windows machine and IE browser can get through that page.

[Cluttermagnet]

Thanks for all the great replies. Several good points were made. b2cm may be right about not having any way to get by the active x controls. Even something as subtle as a popup blocker can cause problems in this sort of situation. Here's a rare case where you do want the popup, if that's how they are serving that first page. BTW I concluded that in XP you can open up with IE, click through the agreement, and then launch Firefox for any further work. Never actually tried that yet, and I will try that soon, as her stay is winding down now. But it's mainly academic interest at this point. She leaves on the 15th, we believe. The whole thing soon became moot, as she is still temporarily disabled to the point that the usually minor setup hassles of a laptop become 'unsurmountable', especially since she really isn't as strongly motivated to get on the net as we two guys were to make that possible. She can't get around well enough to deploy a power pack and plug it in a wall socket herself- plus plug in a USB mouse.Meanwhile, I have been under the weather with something acquired during the many hours spent at that hospital, although paradoxically, likely not something acquired from that hospital. Probably my high stress level played into it. Anyway, I'll be fine, but am still recovering. Sorry for the long delay in responding.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Get well SOON!

[LilBambi]

Yes! Get well soon! And take your Vitamin D3, Vitamin C, and B-Complex ... at the very least!

[arochester]

You could try installing: PlayOnLinuxIt's a fancy front-end for Wine.It will specifically install IE6 or IE7.I believe that more recent versions of Ubuntu have it in Repository.Otherwise look at http://www.playonlinux.com/enand http://www.playonlin...pository/?cat=4

[Cluttermagnet]

Very interesting- thanks! I'll keep that in mind if there's a next time. Sounds like a very good suggestion.Meanwhile, we're both out of that rehab hospital and back home. She will need weeks to get moving better. Meanwhile, I'm working on recovering from my own 'hospital acquired' malady, although I think it was entirely the stress I've been under that caused mine. I'm still at that 110 percent point, and not getting enough sleep.Fran- I think D3 especially, and a couple of other important ones are vital. OTOH, I don't want to have any interactions with the several medicines I am presently taking. I'm going to check with my doc and name several of the ones I've been taking as supplements, like D3. I want to get back on those. It's becoming increasingly obvious just how very important D3 is in so many ways, ditto for C and several others.

arochester, on Mar 14 2011, 11:37 AM, said:

You could try installing: PlayOnLinuxIt's a fancy front-end for Wine.It will specifically install IE6 or IE7.I believe that more recent versions of Ubuntu have it in Repository.Otherwise look at http://www.playonlinux.com/enand http://www.playonlin...pository/?cat=4

[abarbarian]

LilBambi, on Mar 14 2011, 12:07 PM, said:

Yes! Get well soon! And take your Vitamin D3, Vitamin C, and B-Complex ... at the very least!

Or you could cook up some simple meals using fresh local veg.  

[sunrat]

abarbarian, on Mar 21 2011, 12:01 AM, said:

Or you could cook up some simple meals using fresh local veg.  

+1.   milk or soy milk, sardines or salmon, and veg like broccoli. And get some sunshine.  B)Bruno's All Things Nutrition forum.

[Cluttermagnet]

Thanks, guys. I'm a big believer in the benefits of fresh air and sunshine. Now that I'm no longer on an antibiotic, I can resume getting some sun. That medicine could make a person very susceptible to rashes or rapid sunburn. I'm eating yogurt to get the intestinal flora back online.I'm also a big believer in cooking for yourself, especially organic if available. I steam a lot of veggies, occasionally serve raw veggies. None of that factory food for me and my sweetheart, thanks.I need to make an effort to hit more of the farmers markets this year, eat less supermarket produce.BTW back home I re-encountered a fairly long standing problem with 'partial' cable internet outages. I've eliminated Ethernet cable problems from consideration, just ordered her a new router as I strongly suspect her old Gateway router has gone flaky on her. So even wired internet can have problems.

Edited by Cluttermagnet, 23 March 2011 - 02:16 AM.

[zlim]

If she has Comcast, it has been weird lately. I notice my modem goes out from time to time and so does the tv.On the modem, the Send and Online lights will go out. Then they start blinking green and finally solid green again. If not for the fact that the tv is either pixellated or a black screen with a message "temporarily out", I'd suspect the 2nd modem I have was going bad. I think it is the ISP and not the hardware.My neighbor, on a different Comcast line, has the same tv problems.

[Cluttermagnet]

I've definitely seen just such symptoms in the past, but this is not what was going on recently. BTW back then, it traced back to insufficient signal at the cable modem. Comcast came out and made that right. Oh, and I've also seen such problems caused by flaky cable modems, for sure. At one point, buying my own Motorola cable modem was the fix.Just today (Wednesday) we received her new router. Swapping out the router totally cured our problems. I had had a clue for several months now that we had a flaky router here. She had an old Gateway router bought with her Gateway tower around 2003. Power down reset sometimes cleared things up. But then the best we could get was a very small subset of the internet. Many/most never would load. But if right near the flaky router, all addresses could be loaded. I'm thinking partially damaged line driver and/or receiver IC's- they were no longer able to handle longer Ethernet cable losses (?) Anyway, installed a new router and we have a fix. Static discharge damage, I presume.Since we don't run wireless at all, I locked down wireless in the new box. Ended up getting an older D-Link DI-524, BTW. I happen to have had that model myself at home for several years now. It wouldn't be my choice if I valued wireless. For Ethernet, it does a great job at an economical price.Yes, we are both on Comcast. We see the same disappointing things you describe, on her TV (at random times, mainly in the overnight hours). I have only Comcast internet. Internet has been pretty solid at both houses.

Edited by Cluttermagnet, 24 March 2011 - 01:08 AM.

[Cluttermagnet]

It's been 6 months now, since my last post in this thread, almost to the day. The GF is doing a lot better; she eventually resumed climbing stairs last month. She still partly/ mostly depends on a walker. This kind of injury is a long rehab, according to most everything I've heard. There is still reason to be optimistic that she will eventually get back up to 100 percent of previous function. It's one day at a time, one month at a time. It's slowed her down...I've spent the last seven months being chief cook and bottle washer, caring for her cat, and trying to keep two households running. Doing 'OK'. It's been a tough year. Some day I may write about it all. I'm not very forthcoming about sharing stuff this personal in a semi- public forum. One ironic parallel is that at the same time Chipdoc was going through his eye surgery, I was fighting to save vision in one of my eyes. Looks like I have prevailed. I figured I wouldn't steal the limelight while his situation was ongoing. Just another 'wonderful' stressor in my life this past year. AFGO! It didn't help that I lost another family member (closest sister) plus a dear friend of some 50 years about two months apart, last winter, right before the broken femur changed everything. I don't need any more change right now. It all wore me down...I've managed to keep a positive attitude and to feel grateful about life- and I dove back into my home electronics design/ construction for something to stay focused on, after a long time away from that. Hopefully my energy level will improve now, and 2012 will be a better year. I've made some good friends on the net. You guys are a big part of that. I celebrate that Scot's is one particularly friendly, welcoming, and helpful place where I can stop by and talk. Sometimes I just need to talk. I hope you all can better see my occasional lapses into crabbiness in fuller context now.   

[jolphil]

Hi Clutter..I know exactly how you feel..My "other" several years ago did the same thing..It was hard for both of us but mostly for her..It was long and painfulto recover, but recover she did through  dedication and hard work..Today she is 100% normal in every way, and i suspect your"other" will do the same..The only lasting symptom is a much more cautious approach to normal every day duties..BTW: Thats not a bad thing... Goodluck,jolphil

[LilBambi]

So glad things are coming back, albeit slowly Clutter! So glad your Significant Other is doing better! That has definitely been a long haul! It is amazing how something like that can take the starch right out of you and you don't even really realize it till afterward sometimes just how much.Our thoughts and prayers are with you both.   Glad all went well for you and your 'other' too jolphil ... hopefully it will give Clutter and his Lady even more hope.

[securitybreach]

Nice to see you back Clutter. Sorry about your losses and I am glad that your wife is doing much better :thumbsup:Everything will get better, it will just take some time.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

When events like those in Clutter and Jolphil's lives occur, it puts things in perspective a bit. Hang in there, folks! Every morning you wake up still breathing is a good start.

[securitybreach]

V.T. Eric Layton, on Sep 25 2011, 06:40 PM, said:

When events like those in Clutter and Jolphil's lives occur, it puts things in perspective a bit. Hang in there, folks! Every morning you wake up still breathing is a good start.