Tag: Personal

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Home PC iMac iPad iPhone MacBook Pro MacOS

Resolved Canon MF743 Communication

I purchased the Canon imageCLASS MF743Cdw in 2020 just before the pandemic. I purchased the print because at the office we had a Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE C5535i. The imageRUNNER scanned well, worked with Windows 10, Windows 11, Mac, and all our mobile devices. Scan to email never failed, and it was easy to manage through the web interface. I really liked this printer and I figured the imageCLASS MF743Cdw would work just as well. It worked almost as expected.

My home network is setup for DHCP, and I set the printer with a static IP address and made the reservation in the router. The MF743 is connected by a wired ethernet cable. The MF743 works great when the Mac can see the printer. However, when the printer reboots due to a power outage or maintenance, the printer add extra characters to it’s name and the Mac can find it. I think I found the answer on a Canon community post.

In the IPv4 Settings, turn off all the DHCP options and enter a specific name for the printer in DNS settings and mDNS Settings. I also used the updated Canon driver instead of Airprint.

So far, I’ve restarted the printer several times and I can print and scan with no issues. I do not have to remove and add the printer when the printer reboots. I still have a problem with printing from mobile devices when he printer is in power save mode. Someone has to tap the screen to wake up the printer and then it is listed under the available devices.

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Personal Utilities

Goodbye Comcast Home Phone

It is not with great sadness that I say goodbye to my Comcast Home Phone service.  The service was good, in fact, I can only think of two-time the service was out, and that was due to traffic accidents.  The only people who called the home phone was my parents and telemarketers.  I have a hard time justifying the price of the phone service and the monthly rental of the modem to receive calls from people I didn’t know.

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The Arris cable modem that Comcast had me rent for a very long time. It was a good device, but it is no longer needed.

Now all I have is Internet service from Comcast.  I dumped cable television about 1.5 years ago, and nobody in the house misses it.  We watch Netflix and a few things on Apple TV.  Someday I’ll install a HD antenna in the attic for local channels.

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Geek Stuff Personal

Binge Watching Babylon 5

Tonight I’ve finished watching all 5 seasons of Babylon 5 on go90.com.  Babylon 5 was one of my favorite shows I started watching when we first moved to Wilmington, Delaware back in 1994.  Babylon 5 was different from Star Trek; it was entertaining to watch and to see what Londo Mollari was getting into with the Shadows.

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There are several clips on YouTube from Babylon 5, and here are a few of my favorites.

Babylon 5: Centuari attack on Narn

Londo confronts Mr. Morden

Vir gets what he wants

 

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iPhone iPhone Photography Personal

January Sunrise

I didn’t notice the sunrise until I pulled into the office parking lot this morning.  It made me wish I was off today and out with my GoPro to capture a sunrise time lapse.

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Personal Work

Just a Coffee Nut

Bought a bag of my favorite M&M’s last night to help me through the long work day.  That is all.

coffee-nut-mms

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Personal

Owl Prowl

On Sunday, November 13, I took the Cub Scouts and their siblings to the Delaware Nature Society’s Owl Prowl at Bucktoe Creek Preserve.  We had a lesson from the instructor on what owls are in the area and what we can expect.  So we walked as quietly as we could in the woods under the super moon looking for Barred Owls, Eastern Screech Owls, and Great Horned Owls.  We heard a few owls but didn’t have any luck on see them.  We had a lot of fun in the two hours we spent out doors.  I’m looking forward to the next Owl Prowl.

More information about the Full Moon Owl Prowls

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Geek Stuff Home PC Personal

Fixed Fading Issue for HP2605 (again)

About a month ago I ran out of black toner (124A if your shopping for replacement cartridges) and was thinking about getting rid of the printer.  I have not used it as much over the last year or so.  However, I decided to keep the printer to print worksheets for Boy Scout merit badges and maybe a few resumes if needed.  I stopped by Staples and purchased my replacement cartridge, and once again I have fading on the right side of the paper.  This time issue was with the black toner cartridge.

Going through all the cleaning steps did not help, the problem was the optical box at stated in a previous post.  This is the second time I’ve had to clean the mirrors in the optical box.  The printer works well and I’m sure I’ll keep it for another year or two, but I’m not sure if I want to continue putting total faith in HP printers.  Maybe I’ll spend some time over the next few months researching for an excellent laser printer that works with Apple Print (print from my iOS device) or maybe ditch the whole thing and be more green.

Here are some before and after pictures.  Merit badge found on nerdmeritbadges.com.

New cartridge installed and this was the output from cleaning.
Cleaned the printer several times, but still not right
Text on the right quarter of page is faded and distorted
Text on the right quarter of page is faded and distorted
After cleaning the mirrors in the optical box
the way it is suppose to look

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Geek Stuff Personal

Star Wars and Camping Weekend

First off Star Wars Episode VII, The Force Awakens, was the best Star Wars movie…ever!  All I can say is ,”WOW!!”  I saw the movie Friday night at 10:15PM at Penn Center IMAX at the Waterfront in Wilmington, DE.  We arrived about 45 minutes early and wait in line.  We ended up in the second row from the screen.  Normally I cant stand to be that close, but it didn’t matter this time.  Like many, I will see it again in the theater.

On Saturday, I was on a camping trip at the Henson Scout Reservation with Boy Scout Troop 660.  The Scouts shot black powder and .22 rifles.  In the afternoon, the first year scouts worked on orienteering while older scouts worked on camp gadgets for their First Class rank.  The meals were fantastic, and we enjoyed good stories by the fire.  I was up till almost midnight putting out our camp fire and enjoying the cold night looking up at the stars (27 degrees F).

It was perfect “guys” weekend, and I’m looking forward to the next.

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Bike Riding Bowling iPad iPhone Personal

Returning to the blog

So I’ve been busy learning how to use Apple Motion 5 on my iMac and making videos for my son’s Boy Scout Troop, my daughter’s Girl Scout Troop, family videos, and goofy videos for friends.  Some are publicly published on my YouTube channel.

This summer was my first return to Boy Scout summer camp in 30 years!  Growing up in the Pittsburgh area, I spent many years at Camp Conestoga at Somerset, PA.  Living in Delaware, my son attended summer camp at Camp Rodney in North East, MD.  I spent my mornings at the rifle range helping with supervision, and the afternoons completing my training for Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills.  I’m looking forward to returning to camp again.

ECCENTRIC RACOON FULL COLORThis is my second year belonging to a bowling league.  Out team is called the Eccentric Raccoons and we hired someone to design a logo for our shirts.  We are a three person team, but our Team Captain quit, which is causing us to lose points (but I’m suppose to have fun and not worry about winning and being upset losing the game.)

I also took an extended vacation this summer.  Three days at Janes Island and then drove to Nags Head, NC for a week of relaxation with my family.  Although the black flies and greenheads we out in force and it was humid, the trip was worth it.  I turned off the work email on my phone and iPad and enjoyed the beach, some tours, wave runners, and bike rides.  Hopefully I’ll be back next summer.

Dougherty Creek at Janes Island
Dougherty Creek at Janes Island

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Geek Stuff Home PC Personal

Fading Fix for HP Color LaserJet 2605

HP Color Laserjet 2605

Over the last 2 months or so, I’ve noticed my color print outs did look as good as they use to.  For example, I was working on a new idea for Cub Scouts, designing a new pit pass for the scouts to wear for Pinewood Derby in Spring 2014.  The pass included a red, blue and yellow car, but the colors were off.  The red car car looked yellow-orange with yellow flames.

So I ran the color calibration from the printer, and afterwards, the pit pass looked the same.  I prided the supplies status page to verified there is toner, but it looks faded.  So I stared searching for a reason why this was happening, and I came across the following page.

HP Colour LaserJet Fading Fix

The problem is the mirrors in the optical box on the HP Color LaserJet 2605, the box is not sealed.  The mirror for the magenta cartridge collects a lot of dust.  This dust keeps the laser from reflecting off the mirror correctly, and preventing toner from being picked up and placed on the paper.

The process took me about 2 hours 45 minutes to complete, but it was well worth it.  My printer works great.  Except for this one issue, the output is fantastic.  Also, I didn’t have to spend $300 plus on a new printer.  Below are pictures of the status supply pages.

Supply Status Page before cleaning mirrors.
Supply Status Page after cleaning mirrors.