New Chat Room Software

[wlhayesmfs]

I will be full tilt in the morning. Was so easy, YA??? after all the tries and could not find anything everyone was talking about in the internet advance screen. I did not restart the computer after the load and then there it was and working. Don't feel like the only one computers have passed. I am a 60's teen so was only convertables and A & W root beer stands for me.

[charlese]

Yeah! Finally got it. Had to go into Control Panel - Internet Options - and correct the setting in Connections that thought I still had a dial up connection. Guess there never was an issue before is because the wireless setting was also there. As soon as the dial up was removed - bingo - finally got the chat page that allowed me to sign in.

Before the fix, all I got from the test page was a link to Java addon Chat.

Actually spent about 8 hours computering to figure this out. The good thing of the day was we made a trip to Canoga Par to pick up 50 bd ft of 5/4 rough poplar.

[Ed in Tampa]

Chuck
glad to hear you made it! Unfortunately now I won't be able to join you.
Ed

[dusty]

I hate the suspense. I don't know whether I am in or not. I have a black screen for the session and a white screen for the chat room and nothing happening on either.

I sort of prefer the old routine where you could get into the chat room early and get a feel for whether or not you were going to connect. It is 4 minutes to showtime - I think.

Video just came on so I guess I at least get the sawdust session. Fuuny thing about that, the bottom half of the video screen looks like the chat room but I still have a place holder for chat room on my monitor.

Sawdust session is rolling and I have no chat. Sounds like Nick and Drew talking but I now hace a blue screen.

Oh well.

I spoke too soon. Sawdust Session just went black and the sound went dead. Don't know if it mine problem or universal.

Oh Well! Performance has degraded to that of about 8 months ago. Constant drop outs and video freezes.

It's time to go work on the Crafter's Station.

[a1gutterman]

worked oakay, but whenever I did a refresh (which was frequently today) I lost all of the chat previous to the refresh. In that regards, I liked the other one better. If it allows more participation, I will learn to live with that quirk. Today, IMHO, was not a good enough session (the stream) to judge by.

[charlese]

For me the session was a Blast! Really! Like a Bomb! Got on at 7:22 in time to read that Drew was stuffing the guts back into a computer, with a smile on his face rather than a frown. Had a black screen - could read chats from others, but could not figure out how to say anything myself - Maybe that was a good thing. Ed in tampa acknowledged my presence in the chat room, but I could not answer.

Although, there was no sound from the session itself there was an irregular chime somewhat like a door chime. Seems it happened every time someone entered or left the chat room... There was a lot of that!

Saw that Tim was there - most likely the gutterman, from his sense of humor.

Wow - finally got a picture and and audio!! Nick actually moved - for about 20 seconds, then froze, but the sound would continue for a while longer then turn off --then go back on. The funny thing here was that often times when the sound would go off for a while - when it would come back on maybe 20 seconds later - it would continue with the same word and syllable as when it cut off.

Chimes continued and continued. The video progressed from headstock to wood drying - to making boards from firewood. Even got to see most of Drew's drawer interlude while eating breakfast. Watching and listening the best I could - Then Mama got out of bed and I could turn the sound up higher.

Drew's trick of right clicking the video - turning off - then on, seemed to help - making it possible to watch more of the video (from snippet to snippet) while the audio was more or less continuous.

Still couldn't chat with anyone! That's why the long post here:p

The Session lasted a long time. About 2 hours by my computer, before I must have clicked the wrong button and got bumped!

EDIT A post script: Forgot to say the method I used to enter the Session. Maybe that was the cause of my problem of not being able to chat.

I entered through the classroom door, where I found a sign-in area in the bottom right of the screen. Used 'AutoFill' to enter first and last name and e-mail address. Clicking on the enter button took me directly to the Session. There was no sign-in box available, but a "sweet" female voice announce through audio. "WELCOME!"

If there is another way to enter the Sawdust sessions, PLEASE ADVISE!

[dusty]

That's great. It is good to hear that things did go well.

I was able to get into the saw dust session but the video was so intermittent that I gave up. The frequent freezes and loss of audio was a touch of 6-8 months ago.

As for the chat room - I never got past the message telling I had experienced a server error and to try again in a few minutes.

[charlese]

That's great. It is good to hear that things did go well.

Hi friend! I think maybe you mis-understood my brand of sarcasm - or maybe I mis-understood yours!

Yes! It was a touch (maybe a whole handful) of days gone by!

I stuck with it to see if I could figure out how to chat. By the time the session was comming to an end, there were only 6 of us remaining in the chat room.

[dusty]

charlese;

I don't know if anyone misunderstood at all. I am truely pleased that things went well with the chat room. This being a new experience for many, (if not most) it is good that there were some successes.

At least the failures are localized and can be worked.

As far as the freezes, this has to be a disappointment to everyone (unless the freezes were also localized) because the video stream has been so good the last few sessions. I small step backwards in my opinion.

I'm just fearful that my problem is the result of old equipment and old software. If it is I'll just have to live with it.

[fjimp]

I managed to stick with the session today for nearly an hour. I was disappointed but hopeful that today was a learning experience and that perhaps Shopsmith could make the necessary investment to find either the appropriate equipment or system to make this work. In my business we have video conference and training sessions almost daily. These events generally have thousands of participants. A year ago the problems we experienced today were common place. Today however they are rare. I couldn't help but wonder if more equipment at the academy has been dinged by electrical storms than anyone has realized. I am looking forward to better days. Jim:mad: