Running Bear's February 2025 Coffee Shop

[Guilford Railman]

Will that have you pass through Shelburne Falls?

I believe so, yes.

 

[bnsf971]

Good evening. It's clear and 54. low for tonight has been revised upward slightly, now 35 instead of 30.

 

[Boris]

Good Morning All!
32F @ 82% with partly. To be 43F later today. 50F come Monday and nighttime is above 34F for the next week or so. Goodie!

Terry - Printers: Had the obsolescence problem with my HP HL2430ln and W10. Fixed that by loading the HP universal PCL 6 driver in W10; Linux don't care, just keeps on trucking. No clue if Canon has something like that to make things easier. Old Brother ( HL-L2350dw ) got fixed using the Micro$oft IPP driver. Guess that the bottom line is try a generic driver. All of our printers are on the net, not USB connected so your mileage may vary. Heck, you might even get an older Linux based winterm just for your printer(s). They don't take up much space, and connected via Ether or WiFi, you can VNC in to play with stuff if needed once you get it set up.

Canon ( .et.al ) make more money selling ink than they ever will just selling new models. Although a few years back when we did have ink jets, it was cheaper to buy a new one vs ink. No clue of that has changed or not. Oh, give DoorStepInk.com a try when needed - pretty reasonable ink prices.

CostCo, Chef Store and that real meat market in Spo tomorrow. Suspect that we will be outa here about 7 with breakfast along the way somewhere. New restaurant/cafe in Athol we have heard good things about, so will probably give it a go on the way home.

Will take camera and hopefully BNSF cooperates; and want to see if the 2nd railroad bridge over the Spo River just east of Pines Road is indeed started.

L8r

Todd: While it's ancient history, now, the cannon did respond to the generic windows driver, but with limitations. The first Epson, lasted a couple years before the printer head went bad, and we replaced it with a Costco Special. We have reduced our printing, and the new Epson ink tanks have lasted over a year without needing a refill. Epson manages to keep up with product updates to match Windows 11 updates.

 

[kbkchooch]

23° umder partly cloudy skies. 77° in the basement and the twisted tea is ice cold!

Nite all!

 

[santafewillie]

I added another post to my layout thread, noted in my signature line. Thanks for looking.
Good Night, it's already past my bedtime!

 

[traiNscale]

good morning all

thnx for the all black coffee i need it.

- airport ZRH is up and running
- lil fog but the sun is coming
- around 0 celcius

about the canon talk, iam happy with my Sony A7 S3

what up this weekend? Well my girlfriend want to go cross country skieng, that means sport tomorrow morning and then pain till monday haha.
maybe i get some time on sunday for the layout. i have to shoot some video tutorials about making bushes with a neat technique, but we will see. oh and i think today my "big" youtube series with Woodland Scenics products should arrive at my house. will of course keep you posted

great day everyone!

cheers
jay

 

[Bill Tidler Jr.]

Good morning! It's 14°F and partly cloudy in Tipton.

 

[bnsf971]

Good morning. It's clear and 36.

 

[kbkchooch]

Good morning gang!

20° and clearing this morning with a high today expected of 34°! Woo hoo it’s a heat wave. Warming up through the weekend early next week we’ll see daytime highs in the 50s again. I can’t wait.

BBL

 

[TLOC]

Good morning to all. No printer issues currently In this household in Wisconsin. Terry did just purchase new ink cartridges but this printer is less than a year old. It’s wirelessly connected.

Weather! The warming trend continues. The actual and real feel readings are the same this morning at +5f degrees. We are now headed to 30 per the latest report in the WeatherChannel app.

Trains. I purchased last night another intermodal collection minus diesels to weather and sell. Yesterday I reserved a table at 2 train shows to sell. One in March and another in September. I plan to have around 100 pieces of weathered equipment to sell. One of the buddies will join me at the table as Terry said I cannot sell alone at these 2 day shows. I need to finish up a few pieces to get the 100 pieces for the March show. Whatever shortage I have I can take pieces off the layout for the March show but I prefer not to do that. There is plenty of time.

This morning a couple guys are coming over to look at some reefer cars. We talked last Saturday at the MadCity train show. I have 28 reefers out to be shown. 8 are new in the box, 2 from BLMA ( owned now by atlas) 3 from Scaletrains and 3 from Exactrail (now owned by Scaletrain). The other 20 have various degrees of weathering some with just tags, some with tags and graffiti decals and a few with my custom hand drawn graffiti. Various manufacturers, but it is great see see the uptick in interest of buying

Last night I missed out going to a buddies open house for his layout. He is a structure builder but his real forte is construction of a scene. He built the layout but wasn’t into operations. I know he appeared at least in 2 magazines last year with MR doing a cover story on his layout. Pictures taken by my friend Marc from last night at the CNW Northern Memories layout

Enjoy your day

 

[ctclibby]

I miss Windows 7. It worked very well and was not so personally invasive. It just worked !

I own a 24 inch wide color scanner that I use to scan 24 x 36 drawings to send to my customers.
When Windows 10 came out, the scanner company did not offer a new driver update stating that their scanners were already 10 years old and most folks had updated to newer models. Well. I pulled out my old Windows 7 computer and use it as a dedicated computer (not connected to the internet) for my scanner. It is still working today, both the scanner and computer.

I have two high powered desk top computers that I use now but Microsoft says neither are suitable for Win 11 update. "Bull$#it".
I am really fed up with Microsoft and their efforts to control and eavesdrop on all we do and say. All I want is a good solid operating system.......much like Windows 7.

Just my views.....John

John: I'm on the bench with you waiting. Ya like that is gonna happen. I have two applications that are not Linux friendly that I use every once in awhile; Microchip Studio and the other I can't think of just now. Atmel Studio ( Microchip spun this ) also had a Linux version but was clunky a few years ago. Microchip does have MPLAB X IDE that is Linux capable but I don't like the interface which I probably should revisit. If it wasn't for those two...windoz would be gone in a heart beat. Never had a Apple/Mac as the interface is not for me. I think I try and make it too technical or something.

Just this morning, Micro$oft popped up full screen a warning about using W10 on old(er) hardware after boot and it is time to upgrade - both hardware and software. Besides all of the security risks from WIndows 286 and up, I put up with the update wash-rinse-repeat, and figure ways around the driver issues that always seem to get in the mix. Ya, Linux does updates also, but not on the monthly cadence that Micro$oft does and the Linux system has a better design in the security and file system realm.

Don't know if exactly 'high-powered' like yours or not - my fav's are my Dell T7500 and T5500 - dual 3.2G Xeon's with a ton of memory.

L8r

 

[ctclibby]

Good Morning All!
33F @ 83% and dark. Future temps the same as I posted yesterday.

Besides our CostCo, Chef Store and meat market run today, think I can squeeze the not so local LHS into the mix - Valley Trains. Always seem to have $$$ jump out of the wallet when there, even though I don't specifically need/want something.

Maria told me yesterday that it was time for a road trip as she wants to get away. Usually those are out and back now days, maybe motel and dinner before the 'back' part. Don't know when, probably will give it a week or two to let stuff warm up a bit more. The Spokane train show is coming up so that might be one of those 'on the way' things for an hour or so. Last fall's was bust - nobody budged on prices that were way too high so I came away empty handed; even the boxes under the tables with all that little stuff in them. They think Gold I tell ya - BB kits as low as $20, built BB for $35? Right. And to think 2 years ago at the spring show I snagged 80 box cars of various mfg with Kaydee's for $4 each.

Y'all be good when I am gone for a bit!

L8r

 

[bnsf971]

Todd, I have a Mac Pro with very powerful hardware that is no longer supported by Apple. I put Windows 10 on it so I could continue using it. Now, Windows 10 is going away, and M$ is refusing to budge on their requirements for 11. I guess I could put Linux on it, since Mac OS is a Linux derivative, though I probably wouldn't be able to do anything productive with it other than email and web surfing.
It's a huge waste, having a high-end computer in perfect condition that is worthless. It was nearly 4 grand, new...

 

[Patrick]

Morning all,

Currently sunny and 11° after a low of 5°. Going for a high of 24° later. Highs in the 60's by Monday.
Laundry has been started as well as the robot vacuum. It is run a lot more than my having time to get to the big floor machine.

Going to get to the groceries in a bit and try to work on the layout.

I still have a Windows 7 machine so I can play some games from M$ that M$ decided to no longer support. Windows 10 support ends in October. While a PITA, having to have a certain level of processor and TPM 2.0 is nothing unlike what Apple has done for years. Although I have a group of machines we by-passed TPM on to get upgraded to Win 11. They are due to be replaced this year anyway, and won't be put into places where we can use older machines.

BBL

 

[bnsf971]

Morning all,

Currently sunny and 11° after a low of 5°. Going for a high of 24° later. Highs in the 60's by Monday.
Laundry has been started as well as the robot vacuum. It is run a lot more than my having time to get to the big floor machine.

Going to get to the groceries in a bit and try to work on the layout.

I still have a Windows 7 machine so I can play some games from M$ that M$ decided to no longer support. Windows 10 support ends in October. While a PITA, having to have a certain level of processor and TPM 2.0 is nothing unlike what Apple has done for years. Although I have a group of machines we by-passed TPM on to get upgraded to Win 11. They are due to be replaced this year anyway, and won't be put into places where we can use older machines.

BBL

My Macbook Pro has an Intel I9. Both it and the Mac Pro work perfectly, though the laptop will likely not be on the upgrade list for next year. I'm rethinking my strategy of getting higher-end devices for their longevity. In a current perfect world, a device purchased new would fail about the time it no longer can operate whatever current system it's compatible with. I guess if I wanted, when it's time to upgrade again, just get something that will "just" do what I need.

 

[santafewillie]

Good Morning All. Mostly cloudy and 18°. Winds are now light and out of the south, so it will warm up soon. Should get above freezing today for the first time since Tuesday evening. Above 70° by Tuesday. It'll seem like summer.

After a further review, we decided to postpone the weekly grocery trek until the weekend, probably Sunday. Nothing important or pressing on my list, my wife is getting close on her iced coffee, but will probably survive. I'm sure that Dutch Bros will be our first stop when we go. Even though yesterday was in the mid-20's, it was sunny and I did some outdoor tasks. Nothing heavy duty, but I did get some of the wreckage from my destroyed barn out to the dumpster. My heirs will probably end up doing most of it when I am gone! Not so much today, even though it will be warmer, there will still be a light north wind later and cloudy all day.

Train shed was a little warmer yesterday at 53°, so I did a few things out there. I moved one of the small space heaters closer to the workbench so I could keep the fingers warmer. While I also ran a train or three, I mostly worked at the bench overhauling an old locomotive. It's now or never to decide if it makes it through the purge when the new locos from ScaleTrains arrive in the fall. This one is an Athearn RTR from about 2008 that has never been a strong performer. While it ran marginally better after I dismantled, cleaned and re-greased the trucks; it will most likely go to the dead line. It works in the current configuration paired up with and assisted by a similar model bought at the same time. I would be just as well off if I converted it to a dummy model, but it still provides a little pulling power.
I also started rehabbing a pair of small homes that I got from Chet when he dismantled his layout. They're DPM Gold Series models from a kit known as Emery Lane. Chet would only finish and detail the visible sides when he knew how they were going to be placed on his layout. I am painting window trim, installing clear styrene on the backside windows and adding curtains. I only have the structures, but very few of the 90+ white metal castings. I still have nearly 40 of the castings left over from my own purchase of the kit. They're a nice touch but just didn't fit my scenes. Maybe use some when I set these up. I have a 32" x 84" undeveloped area that I have set aside for a residential neighborhood.

How about a few more pictures from the archives showing figures in action.

Tom O - I guess that it's a bit of a drag to cut back on golfing. I realize how much you liked the tournaments.
I'll have to go back and review the MR's to check out other pictures and the story line behind your friends layout.
Chad - That warmer and drier winter is what the La Niña weather pattern means for us as well. Other than the current cold snap and one a couple of weeks ago, we've definitely had a warmer and drier winter. I went through the whole month of November and part of December still wearing shorts and tee shirts outside. Finally put on a pair of socks this week.
Karl - I remember now reading that the axle gear issue with P2K locos was just with the 4 axle ones. I have only 2 of them.
Hughie - My layout looks more dusty in pictures than it does in person. It's never been an issue with clean track. Those spiderwebs are my biggest issue. All lead diesels have to be cleaned off about every 45 days.
Layout changes as you posted seem to be constant. I have definitely noticed as I reviewed photos for my layout thread.
Swal - Regarding the OSHA training that I endured for years. While our company had a safety director since the late 80's or so, they finally hired one who was certified to teach the OSHA courses around 2008. He was also cognizant of our time and spread the 30 hour course out over two weeks instead of cramming it all in in less than a week.

Everyone have a fabulous Friday. Woo-who, it is now 22°, the warm-up begins.

 

[bnsf971]

Willie, I've gotten Athearns that would be significantly worse runners than most, and was usually able to swap motors or electronics to get them to operate acceptably. Have you tried swapping in a different motor to see if that helped?

 

[santafewillie]

Willie, I've gotten Athearns that would be significantly worse runners than most, and was usually able to swap motors or electronics to get them to operate acceptably. Have you tried swapping in a different motor to see if that helped?

No, I don't have any spare motors right now. It's not a big deal as I need to thin the herd anyway. I have 80+ locos and they don't all fit on the layout any more. I like this one and will consider your suggestion when I cull some of the others. I have some that run OK, but I don't often use.

 

[chadbag]

Mac OS is a Linux derivative,

macOS is not a Linux derivative. It’s older than Linux. About the only thing “Linux” on it are some of the gnu command line utilities.

macOS is based on the Mach kernel and combines elements of Mach 2 and Mach 3 kernels. I believe it’s also posix certified and therefore a “Unix”. For the userland layer they adopted BSD Unix interfaces and that’s since been upgraded to include some gnu stuff (sys V style). Most non GUI “Unix” apps compile and run since it is a Unix. All the Unix libraries exist except the GUI stuff.

It does not normally use an X Window System based UI but you can get an X Server and compile many apps that also compile on Linux and run them with the X server and a window manager of your choice. Also, a lot of the popular “freeware” out there that runs on Linux also has macOS versions because they’ve abstracted the UI layer and provide multiple implementations depending on your platform.

I too have an old Mac Pro from 2008 and I natively installed windows 10. I don’t care if M$ stopped updating W10 since I only use it for specific model train apps that are used to set up certain DCC modules etc. I did install some games as I installed a newer windows only graphics card but I don’t play a lot of games like that. It was more a test.

 

[Bruette]

M$ is refusing to budge on their requirements for 11.

I feel your pain, I have nearly a dozen computers, counting laptops and desktops that don't meet the requirements. Only two of my computers, one desktop and one laptop do meet the requirements and have already been upgraded.

My choice of upgrading rather than replacing old stuff proved not to be so smart.

Microsoft had no choice. To keep pace with security these requirements must be met and to increase performance.

Many computers are deemed unfit for Windows 11 primarily due to hardware requirements that weren't met by older devices. Here are some key reasons:

1. TPM 2.0: Windows 11 requires a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) version 2.0, which is a security feature. Many older computers lack this chip.
2. Secure Boot: This feature ensures that only trusted software can run during the boot process. Some older systems don't support it.
3. Processor Compatibility: Windows 11 requires processors that support certain instruction sets, like SSE4.2. Older CPUs often don't meet these criteria. Intel credits feedback from developers as playing a significant role in the development of the instruction set.
4. RAM and Storage: The minimum requirements for RAM and storage have increased, which means some older systems with less memory or storage capacity are not compatible. Usually, an easy fix if all other requirements are met.

Microsoft has provided ways to install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware, but it's not recommended due to potential issues with stability and updates.

Progress is painful and believe me, I'm going to be feeling it! Many of my Windows 10 computers are redundant, a few have not been turned on in months. But I will need to buy at least three new systems that can run Windows 11. Otherwise, I will risk letting the "bad guys" get into my network once Windows 10 is no longer supported.

FYI: My Brother all in one laser printer is over 12 years old and works perfectly with my Windows 11 desktop and laptop.