The little refurbed PC got here yesterday morning and I was ready.
Unpacked it, climbed on a stool and started plugging stuff in. Unfortunately, the little bluetooth keyboard I had wasn't working. And if I didn't have a working keyboard, I couldn't finish setting up the PC. Because Windows wants a name. I ended up unplugging the one I use all the time (I like not having wires, but I've had so many problems with wireless keyboards and mice in the past, I just went to wired - maybe the problem was too many things and interference caused the problems; with the NAS and the weather systems I don't access them enough to be a bother).
So, with the wired setup, I got it up and running. Except now I couldn't use my big system. Well, last year Brian complained about his keyboard and I ordered one for him like mine. Wired. He never did anything with it. I found the box and plugged it in to my system and that made life much easier. (After I was finished with the setup, I did attach the keyboard to his computer and he's real happy with it.)
The first thing I did was to install Firefox. Once I had that synched to my Firefox account, I added Piriform's software. I've been using CCleaner (originally known as Crap Cleaner) for decades to keep junk off of my system. Last year, I got a super deal that included five computers and the other software they sell, Speccy (which gives you details about your system), Recuva (file recovery), and Defraggler (which organizes the files on your hard drive, which makes it run more smoothly; Windows breaks up data when it installs, Defraggler puts the fragments back where they belong). I used the ccleaner to get rid of the programs I absolutely had zero interest in.
I tried setting up the little bluetooth keyboard,only to find out this little computer did NOT have bluetooth capability. Nice, right? I never paid attention on the other Optiflex and checked it out. It doesn't have bluetooth. I actually went over to eBay and checked out the specs of what I purchased. Bluetooth was not listed. So, I got what I paid for. I hit Amazon and ordered a bluetooth dongle for ten bucks and choose the option to pay three dollars more to get it the same day. I hoped it would be the last thing I had to do.
I installed Blue Iris (the software that I use to position the weathercam and send the image to the weather page every fifteen seconds). Since I'd let the license lapse last December, I had to renew it, which I found out when I was working with the laptop last weekend. And here's another case where I made work for myself - I keep telling myself I won't do that again, but I do. Before I had the new license installed, I exported my settings. Settings which knew where the camera was, where to send the images, and how often to send them. And, which I found out yesterday, the license key. Which was no longer valid. I had not exported the settings after installing the new license. And that took me more time that it should have to get the software running without a big ass watermark across the image. I don't know how I did it, but the program finally came up with all settings and correct license key. Yay!
Then on to the weather station. That went pretty quickly because I'd just done it last weekend. Moved from the laptop to the Plex pc. I figured I'd just copy the data file and transfer that over. Yeah. There were problems. The data wasn't rendering properly on the Daily Data page of the weather station. I thought it was when I shut down, but last night, when I checked it using my Fire tablet, it was absolutely wrong. Before I'd shut down in the office, I finally figured out how to get the weather pc files to be seen on the other systems. And I was able to edit from the laptop in the other room. Took me a little time to realize my mistake, but it looks like it should now.
Once the only two programs that would be running 24/7 were setup, I ran the defraggler. Making for a clean system from the start.
The bluetooth dongle got here, I plugged it in and the little keyboard works nicely.
It is absolutely so much quieter here in the office now. The laptop itself was loud, the external fans adding to the noise. They are no longer needed. It's nice.
I was made aware of a free software that will stream to online platforms, like Youtube. I tried doing this last year with a paid service, but had zero luck. I just may try this again. But not this week. I'm done with geekstuff for this week.
Oh, and if you're interested? The Weather Page.
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