Gina

The speaker has arrived and boy, it's heavy   Total weight is 2.76Kg of which 1.1Kg is the magnet!  It's rated at 250W RMS and the lower frequency limit is quoted as 27Hz.  I reckon this will work so I've ordered the amp which is due to arrive tomorrow.  I have decided that I don't want to spend £300 on a subwoofer box and estimate the total expenditure on the fireplace subwoofer system as around £70-£80 plus a bit of time and elbow grease

Been checking the Win 7 desktop.  There's certainly something wrong with it.  Tried a standard monitor and it behaves the same AFAICT.  It could be overheating - I've taken the side panel off and it's very dusty so I'll take the vacuum cleaner to it.  I get no output from the monitor connection on the MB so I presume that's been turned off in the settings.  I have backed up all my 3D printer designs onto a USB drive. 

There also seems to be a good part of a TB of astro images on the the second HDD.  It would take ages to back that up as the Win7 desktop doesn't have any USB3 ports and TeamViewer is no longer working.  If this is formatted NTFS as I presume I might still be able to mount it in my Linux Mint box.  I never use the optical drive these days so I reckon I can allocate the four SATA ports to the two SSDs, another for the 3TB HDD and the fourth for the 1TB drive form the Win desktop.  The Win 7 laptop should be able to take over all I used the desktop for.

No, haven't tried that.  Thanks for the suggestion   But I think the problem may be the graphics card.  I'm using a separate graphics card and HDMI connection.  I can try using the mobo graphics and a standard monitor.

The laptop has an HDD divided into two partitions, one of 200GB with Windows 7 Home and software on it and the other with 240GB for data.  I could move lots of files to another computer or the NAS and I could dump most of the astro software.  That should give me plenty of space to do what I want.  ie.  Install SketchUp for 3D print designs principally.  I shall also need to transfer the current SketchUp designs over and save astro files from the Win desktop.

The Windows desktop is going to need some attention (or dumping).  It keeps crashing   Can't reinstall the OS as this was second hand and I haven't got the Win 7 DVDs.  It may be worth buying another old Win 7 desktop and moving the data drives over.  OTOH maybe I could use the Win 7 laptop now that is isn't my imaging computer.  It would be rather nice to recover the space taken by the old Win 7 desktop

Found keyboard and trackball for Windows 7 desktop, connected up and powered the desktop.  Set TeamViewer to "accept" rather than "accept exclusively" as for the laptop and I have TeamViewer working using the 9 digit partner ID    SUCCESS!!

I've ordered that speaker to have a look at.  If I don't like it I can return it (for any reason within 14 days).  Might order the amp.  I have at least one spare 24v 5A PSU and might have two but they aren't expensive anyway.  (The amp wants two 24V 5A supplies.)

Been looking at subwoofers yet more and the only difference I can see between different sizes (8" to 15") seems to be power capacity.  So I think I'll buy an 8" one and try it - not much to loose at about £25  

Looking at QTX 8-Inch Woofer with Kevlar Cone and this amp to drive it - DROK® TDA8920 Subwoofer Stereo/Audio Digital Home Amplifier 140W Power AMP Module DIY

I reckon I could use 12mm OSB as the baffle with extra bracing - easier that thicker board.

I find digital to be "rough", sounds rather like a slight distortion yet my technical side can't work out why.

I now have TeamViewer connecting to my Win 7 laptop   I was able to ping my Windows laptop and get reply.  Then I tried the "Incoming LAN connections" set to "accept" rather than "accept exclusively" and using the 9 digit ID from the desktop TeamViewer rather than the IP address, it worked.   Of course, this means there's a tiny possibility of access from the internet and hacking but I guess this is probably negligible.  I did try turning exclusively back on but then couldn't connect either with IP or 9 digit ID.

Played the new record - lovely music but rather a lot of small scratches and pops.

Had some ideas to try from friends on Facebook but I want to rearrange my room first to get at the Windows 7 desktop machine more easily.

Just received the last of my orders for organ music   "Bach Organ Music from Soissons Cathedral".  That's in France.

Still can't get TeamViewer to work   I've tried all I can think of.  Even switched the router off and on again.  Also, the network switch.  Have tried the computers connected to the router and also to the switch with only one LAN port used on the router for the switch.  Have also tried rebooting computers.  Whatever I try I can't get TeamViewer to work.  Anyone got any ideas?  Please?

I now have two laptops and my all sky cam working on Wi-Fi.

Having a problem with my wired LAN and TeamViewer but that's not unusual.

Maybe   But probably not since Gigaclear have given me the Home 50 service instead of the Home 1G.

I've set the Wi-Fi SSID and password to the ones I was using with the BT HomeHub and have successfully connected to my all sky camera.

Lovely to be rid of that rotating icon thingy!!

Had to pop out and get some milk and I'd just got back when it started raining.  So that's that for outdoor jobs today as rain is forecast for the rest of the day   Need a rest anyway!!

Much colder today, cloudy and dull   I may leave the outdoor part of the job for now rather than risk making my cough/cold worse.  It's safe enough.

I have to admit to being disappointed that I haven't got the very best which I was looking forward to!  A bit of a let-down.  A great big build up to a nice big bang and what do I get?...  Can't really call it a damp squib because it's very much better than BT and if I find 50Mb/s adequate I will save around £400 over the year's contract.  I shall continue to finish the job and tidy up the cable then after a nice rest I shall probably see if I can find out why my EQ8 mount has stopped working.  I may set the Gigaclear router to enable contact with my all sky camera this afternoon when it's raining

I've found out why I'm only getting 50Mb/s - they've given me the Home 50 service rather than the 1G.  That's what I originally ordered but upgraded it to the 1G as I said I was going to do, to encourage the other villagers to apply for Gigaclear to get the numbers up to the point where the village would be viable as a commercial proposition.  Now that has been achieved I don't really need 1Gb/s and if I want a particularly heavy download I can use their 1G for 48hr option.  If I find I want a faster service continually I can always upgrade.

Logged on to the Gigaclear router and it's easy to change the Wi-Fi SSID and password so I'll try that tomorrow.  It's easy to undo changes on the router too - just press and hold the reset button for more than 5s.  OK so the SSID and PW will be that of the BT HomeHub but who cares

I shall need to change the WPA Wi-Fi password on my all sky camera Raspberry Pi unless I can change the password on the router.  To alter the RPi wireless password would mean taking it down and partly dismantling it to connect by cable (I think).  So I'll see if I can change the Gigaclear router - probably easy but I'm not messing with it tonight - I've had a busy day and I'm tired.

Tried through my 1Gb/s network switch and got much the same result.  In both cases the 1000Mb/s green light flashed on the port so I am getting a 1Gb/s connection to the computer.  I had wondered.