All in One Printers

External Sound Cards - Bringing Surround Sound to Your Computer

While your computer’s motherboard has an integrated audio support, it certainly cannot produce a surround-sound quality that movie or music enthusiasts would like for their systems. Getting a separate sound card answers the dilemma of being able to get high quality audio for the computer.

How do they work?

External sound cards pretty much work in the same principle as your internal audio card or the one that’s on the motherboard. They are capable of producing audio from the data transmitted by the processor. The only difference is they are mobile. An external audio card just needs to be connected via a USB cable for it to work.

Do you need an external sound card?

An external audio card would come in handy when you want to have better audio quality for your laptop but space and temperature conditions doesn’t allow high-end internal sound cards. The good thing about getting a separate audio card is that this one is mobile. You can transfer it to another computer. Just make sure that you get one that has a plug and play functionality.

Just like with your internal sound card, you need to assess what you use the computer for before getting an external sound card. Usually, this audio card is used by movie buffs or music enthusiasts so if you’re the type who only does simple word processing on the computer, you may want to rethink getting your own external audio card.

External sound cards typically get connected via a USB port in the computer so it goes without saying that you need to make sure that your computer has enough slots to accommodate your sound card as well as the other peripherals that you have. Another thing to keep in mind is that you also need to make sure that your computer is properly updated. Just like the internal sound card, you may need to upgrade on your system so the external audio card can produce good audio quality.

Check compatibility

A complete Guide to EXTERNAL SOUND CARDS is available in Picky Guide, one of the fastest growing online magazines giving free consumer advice and product information.

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How to Refill Your Ink Cartridge and Recycle It

The best way to re-fill an ink cartridge is to buy an ink re-filling kit. This can be bought from any online store selling ink cartridges. Along with this kit you would be provided with the necessary tools along with a set of instructions on how to go about filling-the-empty-ink-cartridge.

Here are a few simple instructions that could be followed to refill your cartridge and it’s not very complicated.

1. Draw the ink of any one colour with the help of the syringe provided in the re-fill kit. Ideally, this should be done over the sink. This is to make sure that even if some of it spills over no documents, clothes etc. gets ruined. The amount of ink each printer holds usually varies depending upon its manufacturers. For Example, in most Epson printers the black cartridge holds about 17ml of ink and the colour cartridges hold approximately 8ml. Please refer to the instructions on your refill kit to check how much ink should be injected into the cartridge.

2. A small hole needs to be made on top of the cartridge (Could be done with a ball point pen), one for each colour chamber. The hole should be at the top of the cartridge near the label. The needle should be pushed into the hole and the ink injected slowly. If the ink is not injected slowly, it could result in foaming and air bubbles could be formed. If this happens, the re-filled cartridge might not be able to print.

Caution: If this happens, hold the cartridge over a waste paper basket upside down and swing upwards and stop suddenly. This could rectify the problem. If it doesn’t then you could clean the ink heads with cleaner or try soaking the heads. This could remove any dry ink that is clogging the ink heads and allow the ink to flow freely again.

3. The re-fill holes need not be sealed, as there are already breather holes on top of the cartridge.

4. Any ink that is left over in the syringe can be returned to the bottle. The syringe needs to be cleaned with water and dried properly before using it for another colour. It might be handy to use different syringes for different colours.

5. Once the refilled cartridge is placed back in the printer, run the cleaning cycle 1 to 3 times. If there is any gap in printing, the cycle could be run a few more times till the problem is rectified.

Before placing the refilled cartridge back into the printer, you could hold it upside down just to make sure ink is not dripping out of the sponge.

Here are a few things that must be kept in mind before re-filling a cartridge

1. The cartridge needs to be refilled before it is completely empty. If this is not done, the cartridge can dry out completely and get clogged.

2. It might be a good idea to place the refilled cartridge into the printer and leave it alone overnight so that the pressure in the cartridge can stabilize.

3. While making the holes at the top of the cartridge, to inject ink, please make sure you do not hit it too hard or it might crack open the cartridge and make it worthless. It might also make a hairline crack and allow some air in, which in turn would dry the ink out prematurely.

4. Some of the newer models of printers have a green chip in their cartridges. Looking at the cartridge closely one can spot this chip. They are usually known as “Intellidge” cartridges. The chip keeps track of the ink levels in the cartridge and notifies the computer when the ink levels are low. A resetting chip can be used to reset the memory on the chip. With the help of this chip, the printer recognizes the cartridge as being full and allows the refilled cartridge to print.

A refill kit is considerably cheaper than a new cartridge and obviously promises more than just one re-fill. It is therefore, easier on the pocket, keeps us from adding more useless plastic to the environment and increases the life of a cartridge.

A re-fill kit typically contains:

1. Bottles of Ink
2. A bottle of cleaning solution
3. A 2 part syringe
4. A users manual

Something to look out for before buying refilled cartridges

There are some cartridges sold with the “Single Use Only” tag. It is illegal to refill these cartridges with any other ink. This is usually found in Lexmark cartridges. If these cartridges are sent for refilling or refilled cartridges are bought, technically one could face legal charges for doing so. The cartridges that are not marked “Single Use Only” usually come at a higher price.

For such cartridges Lexmark offers a 20% reduction in price if the customer agrees to send the cartridges back to Lexmark.

This does not mean that using refilled cartridges is illegal in any way. All one needs to watch out for is whether the maker has prevented a third party refilling for their own cartridges. This can be understood easily by looking out for any labels such as “Single Use Only”. If there is no such obvious label, it is absolutely all right to go ahead with refilling the empty ink cartridges.

John Sollars is the managing director of Solar Electronics, which are both ink and pc peripheral suppliers based in Shropshire, UK. To access a comprehensive online shop of original and re-manufactured ink cartridges please visit http://www.mega-office.co.uk

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Legacy Applications Migration

One of the most common problems encountered by our clients is how to deal with so called “legacy” applications. Often the applications are operating well in dealing with the original business requirements however they may be suffering from an inability to handle rapid growth or to facilitate and support changing business requirements.

Additional issues plaguing these application may be increasing difficulty in finding staff with the necessary technical experience, a lack of up-to-date documentation and ad-hoc addition of new functionality which has not maintained the original architectural design.

Building a new application from scratch is a major undertaking that may squander the investment in analysis and implementation of business rules and collection of enterprise data encapsulated in the existing system. Finding a third-party solution is time consuming and costly and may falter simply because there is no “off-the-shelf” replacement for the existing system.

We have found that a reliable and proven solution to this dilemma is to use a structured approach to migrating legacy applications onto flexible, scalable environments. This methodology is broken into three independent phases, and can be summarised as:

Phase I - Define & Architect:

The first phase of the methodology reviews the current state of the legacy application and maps out a path to migration.

1. Document. The starting point is a comprehensive up-to-date understanding of what the functions the application currently provides, what data is utilised and how is it stored, the business rules and assumptions encapsulated into the application and what process flows are automated.

2. Collect Requirements. Determine the key functional requirements including business needs, performance and scalability targets and any specific dependencies and restrictions.

3. Analyse Gaps. Using the map of the target requirements created above, identify the major enhancements or additions to be applied during the migration process.

4. Architect. A detailed roadmap is produced which outlines the steps that will be taken to move from the existing system to the ideal solution.

Phase II - Migrate:

Once the current state has been documented and a detailed roadmap has been produced, we move to the implementation of the migration strategy.

5. Modularise. Each new modular component is created with a well-defined abstract interface and a clear, logically defined business function. This creates a “services” model in which new or changed services can be deployed rapidly.

6. Model. Information Models are primarily a record of the interaction between applications and the business processes, which support and drive an enterprise.

7. Integrate. By utilising an Enterprise Services Bus (ESB) architecture we provide an enabling platform to support integration of the new service modules into the legacy architecture.

8. Migrate and Extend. The ESB architecture provides a framework for implementing the necessary “service interfaces” that enable data to be accessed and updated as necessary between the two parallel environments.

9. Test. As each new element of the system is modularised and integrated with the Enterprise Services Bus it is then tested through a series of business and system test cycles.

Phase III - Extend:

Once the application is migrated to the new architecture, new services can be added more easily.

10. Migrate and Extend. The ESB architecture provides an extensible framework for implementing new services into the application environment.

11. Test. Each new service is tested to ensure it meets functional, performance and scalability criteria through a series of business and system test cycles.

Rather than waiting years for a “big bang” replacement which may never succeed and which will invariably be outdated even before its arrival, this methodology reduces operational and project risk by delivering incremental improvements in functionality as well as the scalability, flexibility and supportability of the application.

Chris Young is the founder of White Water Consulting (http://www.whitewater.com.au) and is a senior consultant with a broad knowledge and experience in financial services, change management and information technology. His areas of focus include delivering business-aligned IT strategy and implementing best practices in process improvement, project management and software development process. White Water Consulting provides practical solutions to designing and implementing information technology strategy. By remaining independent of solutions and solution providers White Water Consulting can concentrate on your actual business needs and recommend strategies that are pragmatic and cost effective.

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