Check your proxy settings? That is usually my issue. If I had known you were out here, I'd have driven out to the airport to have a drink with ya.

Huh. Apparently what I had to do was tell my system preferences I needed help, have IT connect to the wifi (...even though I'd done that already) and voila, it redirected just fine.

Of course, now I'm a little worried I somehow turned off something important while hunting around for things that would work, but it's much more pleasant to be typing on my laptop than my phone.

My sister's Windows 7 box doesn't see my Galaxy Tab as a hard drive either. What's up with that? It's supposed to, out of the box.

iTunes wouldn't see her iPod until I disabled her Microsoft firewall and anti-malware solution. But still no hard drive! What is up with that?

Here I was, thinking I liked 7 more than Vista. But I'm on the brink of hating them both, because connecting to other shit just seems to get harder and harder with subsequent OS releases.

I assume that if I can install the Galaxy Kies software on here it won't work if the device won't mount....that's my next shot. But I can't think of what else to disable, and her machine is unprotected against the evils of the internet.

ita, you cannot search from the menu bar in Firefox or Safari.

I've got a dying machine I mostly use for internet radio and youtube. Some of it is hardware (maybe the power supply). One of the USB ports does not work. The speaker ports no longer work, but fortunately the internal sound card provides an OK sound for watching/listening to stuff at the dinner table.

The windows install is frelled big time. I'm thinking of going ahead and installing Linux. I expect Linux to be much more tolerant of old failing hardware than Windows. No data to save; I can port over bookmarks from my working computer and that is the only data I'd worry about. But I would hate to lose the ability to use it as an Internet Radio. Given the awful shape it is in, how big is the risk that once I start putting in Linux the machine will never boot again , or at least never connect to the Internet again?

Also, If I do decide to go ahead, am I safer with vanilla Ubuntu or Mint?

TB, I'm a longtime fan of Xubuntu for older hardware. It's a variant of Ubuntu, with all the same packages available if you want them, but with a lighter desktop and less big stuff installed by default. I've never had problems with my internet radio needs, but they're limited compared to a lot of folks I know -- basically Pandora, streams from offline radio stations, stuff-from-a-website. If you want to use Spotify, you'll need either a paid account or some workarounds; that's a Spotify policy decision that applies to all Linux flavors, not a Xubuntu issue.

You'll probably find that you have *fewer* problems with booting, connectivity, etc, than with Windows -- but the key thing with older hardware especially is to test it out before installing. Any of the ubuntu or mint variants will come on a live CD that will allow you to test drive, and you should take that opportunity to check your built-in speakers and connectivity in particular if you're worried about those.

Le Nubian, that is barbaric. I don't understand how people live under those conditions. Didn't Geneva have a convention?

I got the Tab visible as a hard drive, but still not the iPod. I have no fucking idea what's going on and google is strangely unhelpful. Two cables, two IPods, no mounting. Flummoxed.

Thanks Amych. Yes, I'm sure that if I successfully install it Ubuntu will work better than windows. The risk is, given that the hard disk already has lots of bad spot, that the strain of the install might finish off. But it is getting worse and worse, so I'm inclined to go for a kill or cure - taking your advice and using xubuntu, and testing from CD first. Amazed and what has and has not held up. Video card and built in screen in great shape. CD drive in great shape (well not used very often, so maybe not that suprising). Hard disk - ton of bad spots. I'm wondering if xubutu works off cd if I should low level reformat before installing or just let it do the default install over the existing hard disk. Is low level format with a dying hard drive asking for trouble?

I got a Kindle Touch for Christmas!

I know this has been asked before, but is there a way to get fanfiction on the Kindle?

AO3 has a feature that exports stories in various ebook formats. For stories not on AO3, I'm sure there's a way, but it will be more complicated.