EasyShare Update And Short Work Story

My new Kodak EasyShare 5100 printer is working. The culprit turned out to be a USB extension cable. When I bypass it and plug a USB cable directly from the printer to the PC, everything's good. I'll either need to find an extension cable that'll work or a much longer USB cable, though - my computer room setup doesn't allow the printer to be especially close to the PC.

I'm not absolving Kodak altogether. I tested this exact same USB configuration (same device cable, extension cable, and port) with other devices, and they worked just fine. I used to troubleshoot for a living, so testing cables is pretty much always my first impulse when something doesn't work. So, I'm thinking that the cable is functioning well enough for most use, but the new printer isn't quite robust enough to work with it.

I also still don't like the Kodak software very much. I had a hard time finding how to scan something - turns out that the EasyShare software that defaults itself to launching at startup and perching in the system tray (behaviours I quickly slapped down - if an app's going to sit in my system tray, gorging itself on clock cycles, it better be constantly useful) isn't what you use to scan. To scan, you have to open yet another Kodak app that doesn't default itself to starting automatically. So, at this point, I don't know what I'm supposed to do with the (formerly) autolaunching software. Looks like it's a useless (to me) photo album organizer tool, so I'll start trying to carve it off my PC altogether. You can never have too much free hard drive space.

The end of the printer saga also means that I'll either be returning to more substantive posting, or scrambling for other excuses.

Which reminds me of a Story From One Of My Jobs. My current job, actually. Yesterday at work, I was explaining why I'd made a decision with which some of my colleagues disagreed (imagine that). As I outlined my reasons, one of my co-workers sighed and said, "Did you have Rationale Flakes for breakfast this morning?"

I salute them. I was especially impressed by the correct use of "rationale!"


Enough rambling. Here's a picture of a miniature castle.