Order of the Bath

Is this for real?

If so, as Matt says, we should be using headsets at all times.

Update: No, it is a hoax, but I was taken in for a bit. Now how was it done? and why? (answer 2)

“Geheime Staatspolizei, die Papiere bitte!”

“Homeland Security, boarding pass and ID please!”

Can you tell the difference? I can’t. The second is now standard for internal flights in the USA even though it is unconstitutional and goes beyond the legal requirements. Some of us are sure that the same thing will come here if we are not careful.

Thanks to a comment by Ravan on Bruce Schneier’s blog for the idea.

I don’t know if the Darwin Awards have a category for industry enabling, facilitating and encouraging the improvement of the gene pool. If so prime candidates would be Smart for their little two person car and B & Q for their range of chain and bench saws.

For a runner up I would like to nominate Tesco for their “Spa Invigorating Bath Jet.” This device which looks like a cross between a fish tank filter and something that Ann Summers might sell is designed as a bathroom accessory to simulate a whirlpool bath. I am sure that it is safe and the instructions are “adequate” but it is just asking for those of pale complexion and intelect to run an extension lead (available on a nearby shelf) into the bathroom to plug it in.

What do you suppose Valencia Orange Cordial is like with Gin?

Nithe, vey nithe.

After having been doomed to closure back in March, Planet Rock’s future has been secured by being bought out by rock music fan Malcolm Bluemel. I’m sorry I can’t say the same for The Jazz which has closed to just become an occasional program on Classic FM.

Engadget has this information. In addition to the features mentioned in the article (Smaller, 802.11n wireless, no analogue out) I also note the following: There doesn’t seem to be room for the massive torroidal transformer of the ZP100; this must affect the quality of the power supply: smaller and a plastic rather than die-cast case. Similarly it is a two pin rather than three pin mains offering no earthing, and there are only two RJ45 sockets, though I doubt many people use more. This looks like they may be using many common parts between this model and the suggested replacement for the ZP80, whereas currently there are very few.

The intelligent speculation suggests that the wireless mesh will remain and that it will communicate “g” to old models though it is uncertain if the whole system will then be “g” if one device is. I can’t see that this will be a problem as it works quite adequately but the greater “n” range will be appreciated by those who need it. I hope the “n” signals use 5GHz as they should do.

I expect this is only a small part of a larger product range revamp. This particular model looks like a move to reduce cost and hence price. What people are also looking for is an improved controller and larger index capacity.

I normally use these posts (the technical ones that is) to highlight problems with products and help people get around them. This one is different. Skype is brilliant and easy! For those that don’t know, it is an internet phone system.

The Mac Pro is one of the few Apple machines that doesn’t come with a microphone so I had to get one first. Unlike a PC it only has a Line-in socket (low sensitivity) and requires a powered microphone. It is a shame that it doesn’t provide 3v phantom power for electrets but I don’t suppose there is much call for it. Powered mics are remarkably hard to get and the easier solution is a USB microphone—it also leaves the line in socket free for other things. Some people recommend using a headset but we didn’t find it necessary.

Then install the software, create an account (most of the good names are already taken unfortunately) and you are away. The only criticism I have is that the Skype web site doesn’t give you much help around the hardware side but otherwise it is fine.

The quality is excellent and it is easy to use. I was particularly impressed by the easy and high quality conference call facility. Now if only the company system was as good as that!

We also installed on a windows laptop and that was just as straight forward. The software version is different and the windows version looks a lot more cluttered but it works just as well, even with the laptop pin-hole microphone and tinny speakers. We found that it scans your Outlook address book for know phone numbers, that may or may not be useful, but they do work quite well; apparently your first call to a “real phone” is free. Internet to Internet calls are free all the time so it is very popular for people with families dispersed around the world. It will also do video calls (I don’t think we will bother), IM chat and SMS.

Finally a recommendation. Unless you want to restrict your calls to a few designated people, fill in at least the basic information into your profile. Think of it as a phone book. I would suggest the minimum is your real name, country and city. Then at least callers can have a sporting chance of getting the right person.

Windows XP will not be available much after 30th June as that is the official end date both for the retail version and the OEM version pre-installed on machines. You may be lucky after that as it will be “while stocks last” and smaller independent system builders have until January to stop, but don’t cut it too fine if you must have one. Time to check if you have enough licences for your future needs.

Support will be available until April 2014 but I am sure that it will be a gradual wind down.

I am not going to talk in this post about how to setup this device, because it works well with the instructions provided and in most normal situations will not give you any trouble. It is a good printer and an acceptable scanner. I will, however, start off with a very strong warning—Once it is configured, leave it alone. This applies to other Canon network devices as well such as the MP800R and IP5200R.

My problem arose when I moved my wireless access point to a location that was out of range of the device. As there was a switch nearby, I decided that the best solution was to change from wireless to wired. This was not easy and to explain why and give a solution is going to get very technical and complex.

Problem description

The heart of the problem is that this multifunction device does so many things and seems to achieve them (or at least initiate them) by broadcast and recognition of the ethernet MAC address using a proprietary protocol. Here we can spot two consequences immediately: first it will only work on the same subnet (but that is generally not a problem for home) and secondly, the wireless and wired interfaces have different MAC addresses (ending in a4 and a5 respectively in my case).

The functions that the device performs are

• Printing—this is pretty much understood and well supported in both Windows XP and MacOS X. The drivers behave in a standard way and using the tools available it is fairly easy to create a new port and printer device—but don’t bother because of what follows.
• Scanning initiated from the device—This depends on a custom daemon “Canon IJ Network Scan Utility” which is waiting for messages. It is configured to watch for particular MAC addresses so doesn’t work if you switch. There is no re-configure tool available but a reinstall does add the new address to the list. Again, don’t do it yet because of what follows.
• Scanning initiated from the computer. This uses the “Canon MP Navigator 3.0.” I am not exactly sure how this works but it must need to know about the scanner address because it didn’t work anymore, and no amount of reinstalling would convince it to work.
• Mounting a memory stick. This seems to work ok because the mechanism knows about both MAC addresses anyway, but I haven’t tested it.

A Solution

While playing with this and trying to get things to work, I got into a situation where one (Windows) machine couldn’t see the device at all, even during installation and another could see it with the “Canon IJ Network Tool” but could not print or scan. I came to the conclusion that the only way forward was to start again from scratch. To clear the deck I un-installed absolutely everything. It helped that I had no other Canon software at all on the system so after using the official uninstallers I deleted the Canon folder in Program Files and, using regedit, deleted all software\canon keys in the registry. I believe that this last stage is important because that is where the addresses are stored. Now do a reboot to clear the air.

Having done this, I re-installed everything needed including configuring the printer using the USB connection, just as if it was brand new. And it works.

I haven’t done this on MacOS X because I have no idea how to uninstall things this thoroughly. Using standard tools and re-installing over the top I have got printing and remote initiated scanning working but computer initiated scanning doesn’t even start. It doesn’t help that the Canon installer keeps insisting that the machine be rebooted, an anathema to Unix based machines.

Would updated drivers have improved things? I don’t believe so but didn’t get the chance to find out as it wasn’t at all clear which versions I already had or what was available for download.

Lessons learned

• Get it right first time. Plan ahead and think before you start to install.
• This device is not designed for larger networks. e.g. it won’t work with multiple subnets and I don’t think two of these devices configured on the same computer would work too well either. Although there is a device configuration tool (”IJ Network Tool”) there is nothing to reconfigure the computer end. Even replacing the printer with a new one would be difficult.
• Don’t rely on Canon tech. support. The web site is hopeless and no one got back to me at all from a support ticket [see below].
• If possible, get one device to do one job, they are much easier to understand. I was shopping for a wired network inkjet printer. All that was available was this wireless combination printer/scanner/copier. At least it doesn’t do fax!

All this is a great shame because Canon make good printers which are economical to run and I have been very happy with them. I hope I will continue to be happy with this one.

Update: later the same day I had an email reply from Canon support. They said

In Mac, you need to select the device and move it to the rubbish bin and the same with software. Just move everything to rubbish bin, device and software. Restart before installing again.

I understand dropping applications into the Trash, but devices? Eventually I took the same drastic action as on the PC. I dropped everything that said Canon into the Trash including stuff under /Applications, /Library/Application Support, /Library/Printers and /Users/Shared. Then rebooted and installed everything from scratch again even using an (extended) USB cable. I thought initially that I was still in the same position as MP Navigator still said “Scan Failed” but on the second click it worked. Trying again, it seems it always fails on the first click. I am not convinced that I managed to delete everything as it still seems to know my scanning settings (600dpi rather than the default 300) but it seemed to be enough to do the trick.

For reference, “Canon IJ Network Scan Utility” (the daemon), “Canon IJ Network Tool” (for configuration) and “Canon IJ Printer Utility” (for printer maintenance and default settings) are all under /Library/Printers/Canon/BJPrinter/Utilities. “Canon IJ Network Scanner Selector” (to pick which scanner to use I suppose) is under /Library/Application Support/Canon/ScanGearMP/Utility. “MP Navigator 3.0″ is under /Applications/Canon Utilities. This is stuff that should be in the manual.

Not yet of course, I’m sure it is still a great deal of fun. But what will you do when it breaks, or you get tired of it and a cooler toy comes along? Weee is the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive which makes it compulsory for this sort of thing to be disposed of properly. The ideal situation would be for the council to collect them with the other recycling, and there is always a chance that someone else will have it away from your bin before it is emptied. Getting it working again for a second life is the ultimate in recycling. We have found that casually leaving old video recorders propped up against the front garden wall is the quickest way to get rid of them. Bigger stuff like TVs don’t go so easily.