eAction

Oh the things we learn when we’re on our way to doing something else! Sometimes we get stopped in our tracks, but if we take time to learn the lesson well, it can pave large sections of the road ahead for us. In our panic we sometimes miss that learning curve advantage.

When I first installed this Suse 9.3 last September, I noticed that I could easily give the print command by clicking a button or going down the File drop down menu and clicking print, when in Open Office. When I tried that from some other programs like GIMP, everything froze up. I got error messages that told me I didn’t have access or privileges for that, and I couldn’t delete the print jobs in the print manager. It got very frustrating. Once I had a stalled print job like that in the KDE printing manager, if I went into Open Office and hoped to print the same file from there, no go. Those other print jobs had to be cleared up or dealt with first.

I found that if I unplugged the printer, and re-plugged it in, Suse would treat it like a new printer, identify it, and when I confirmed I wanted it hooked up, all the old stalled print jobs would be gone, and I could print again - in Open Office.

A couple of weeks ago I was looking at a document in PDF within my Konqueror browser. Without thinking about it, I hit the print button, expecting to whip out that page. Nothin’ doing! My saga of troubles began in earnest. The more I tried to re-do settings in Yast for my printer, or to install new instances of it, so I could print from a different setting for the same printer (which I understand is perfectly legal and even recommended) - the more messed up things seemed to get. I wasn’t allowed into this or that, and I got error messages saying my CUPS wasn’t installed.

I checked and it was. I knew CUPS was a highly praised system for managing all your print jobs from a Linux operating system. But I had trouble getting into the management screen, and felt like it was no good to me. But, since every page I researched on the net seemed to think it worked so wonderfully, I took some hours off to get to the bottom of CUPS. Well, some hours again, on several subsequent days. Every time I discovered something new, I tried it out. Maybe that’s what I had been missing.
The CUPS localhost:631 address seemed to insist on my root password, but rejected it every time.

I even downloaded the latest CUPS software and tried installing it. Nope. Not the answer.

CUPS RESEARCH:
The page has extra links with MORE info: http://www.cups.org/cups-help.html

Oh oh. On this page, http://www.linuxprinting.org/till/printing-tutorial/tut.html - I found this paragraph;

QUOTE:
* On SuSE systems another authentication method is used (”Digest”). To use the web interface, you must give a digest
password to root at first, using the command “lppasswd”: lppasswd -a -g sys root

and enter a password (not necessarily the normal root password. This password has to be used for the web interface (or any other CUPS frontend) then.
END QUOTE.

So I assigned myself a new Digest password, and using that command. Presto! I could get into the CUPS Administrative page at last!

I also learned that the KDE Printing Manager is considered a very good graphical CUPS administrative interface, and KDE comes with most Linux distributions. But you need to make sure, when in the Administrator Mode, that near the bottom CUPS is chosen as your printing system. Mine was, but I believe it was the lack of a Digest password that was my problem.

On the web you will find information on http://printing.kde.org

In summary, this page was most helpful : http://susefaq.sourceforge.net/faq/cups.html
but the final clues were on this page; http://www.linuxprinting.org/till/printing-tutorial/tut.html
I had to give, in the Konsole, a digest root password (see above) and then I could get into the online admin area.
http://localhost:631/ . Up to that time it refused my passwords!

I also learned how to restart CUPS after I had made some changes to the cupsdconfig.conf file and saved it.

I haven’t tried printing from in GIMP yet. Simply no time, but Hallelujah! Yes! I can print from in the PDF file in Konqueror, and from Kate, and from KMail, all as well as from in OpenOffice. My printer is working again, and better than before!

Blessings,
Ruth

One hand washes another. After the last eAction issue, Carla wrote to thank me for the quotes I used in this section. She encouraged me for encouraging her. See how everything we initiate brings us a return of a similar kind?

It’s the old, “you get what you give, or what you sow” principle. Like I said several times last year, decide what you want to get from others generally, and then start dishing it out liberally at every opportunity larger or small. If you dish out encouragement, you’ll get lots of that back. If you dish out jokes and kiddin’, folks will kid you and share jokes.

I read Tuesday night of a couple who decided to give $30,000 to God over a year. By the end of the year they had! And all their expenses were met. The next year they aimed for $50,000. Again, they made that goal (with hours to spare), and all their business goals were met too. Now they are working on $100,000 for the year. Seems you can’t out-give God!

When I go shopping in a store, or step into a business office where I’m likely to make a deal and spend money, I look for clues about the people behind that store or office. Cleanliness makes a good impression on me. But an office can be clean and lean looking, and still have a sterile air about it. If I spot plants and reading materials, I warm up to the place. But what really does it is if the first person to greet me is friendly, outgoing and willing to chat.

Chat about what? Well, weather is a place to start, but quickly bores me. If they notice me and show interest it helps, but if they are willing to mention things about themselves or their family and hobbies, and side interests without going on long tangents, I warm up to them quickly and feel like we’re becoming friends. If I’m hesitating about a purchase that will win me over much quicker than a cool, aloof waiting to see if I can afford their “quality of life” status.

I’m willing to venture that the same is true for you, even if you don’t notice that you’re picking up on such signals.

In case you haven’t found this out, let me tell you that the same is true on the great world-wide web. Whenever I land on a new website, I start looking around for clues as to what kind of person or persons is behind this thing. A friendly photo is like a cheery, “Hello. May I help you?” As soon as I spot the “About Us” link or anything similar, I click it. Sometimes that read like a dry press release, or is exactly what they have on the first landing page. But if it makes them seem human and like people I could relate to, I’ll check out a few other links.

Press releases, or a media kit are helpful most times. Sometimes they are so stiff and formal they turn me off, but at least there are some basic facts about their history.

All this is showing me the importance of how I introduce myself to potential business contacts who visit my web site. I’ve polished my “About Me” page, and decided it is time to update and revise my media kit of 2002, and get fresh new press releases up on my sites. Yesterday I wrote up a friendly description of how I came up with the name for my business for my BouquetofEnterprises.biz site. More press releases of highlights in my business should be forth-coming.

Now, how to improve my business card? And what are you doing to make a better impression on clients and customers?

ACTION TIP: Offering Samples?

If you are a writer or an artist, it is conventional to have a portfolio to show when you apply for a job. Especially in the creative fields, people don’t know what type of style or what slant your skills have if they can’t see samples. On a web site you want to be careful how you display writing and art samples, without encouraging theft, but there are ways.

If you create objects and items to sell, then photos would help. If it is software or an e-book, you can give away samples to try, but which are locked so they are not complete until the customer pays the full price, and you give them a digital key to open up the full product. If you stop to think it through, you should be able to find some way to show the quality of your work to prospective buyers.

The next best thing is to collect testimonials of happy customers - as we’ve said before.

If you are a writer or an artist, it is conventional to have a portfolio to show when you apply for a job. Especially in the creative fields, people don’t know what type of style or what slant your skills have if they can’t see samples. On a web site you want to be careful how you display writing and art samples, without encouraging theft, but there are ways.

If you create objects and items to sell, then photos would help. If it is software or an e-book, you can give away samples to try, but which are locked so they are not complete until the customer pays the full price, and you give them a digital key to open up the full product. If you stop to think it through, you should be able to find some way to show the quality of your work to prospective buyers.

The next best thing is to collect testimonials of happy customers - as we’ve said before.

So there I was with this highly touted SuSE 9.3 as my only operating system on my computer, and yet the email was not sending as it should. After my niece and her little girl left I decided that I had been long enough on this steep learning curve, and I needed some balance in my life. I went back to my usual work schedule, doing my writing in my writing hours, and my web design in it’s hours, and when it came to my usual email hours in the afternoon, I went through a convoluted process of extra steps.

I would download the emails, and then go online to each address’s (out of 22) web mail interface, copy and paste the body or at least the paragraphs I wanted to answer, and reply to them there. To make sure I had copies of them to file on my computer, I sent myself Blind carbon copies. Bcc.

You can be sure I was picking and choosing which emails to answer, as I felt obligated to take care of business ones first. Through my blogs/ezines I had notified most of my friends that I was too tied up, and would be neglecting to answer their personal emails for a while.

Another frustration was that the font on the web interfaces was too tiny for my eyes. It caused no end of eyestrain to see what I was typing there. It got to where my daily prayers were mostly sighs and pleas for a solution to my KMail problem. I had checked out so many things, and was still sneaking moments to look up this or that on the internet, which might be the cause.

I became convinced that it was going to turn out to be a very small matter, and that a solution WAS coming, and when it did, I would gasp with astonishment at how simple and tiny the hindrance was.

On the afternoon of October 10, my prayers were answered. I found that tiny hindrance almost by accident. I had a feeling that I’d just seen one of my “holding to send” emails disappear when I hit the send button by mistake. It occurred to me that I had tried the first few email identities I’d set up and found them not sending, but I hadn’t tried all 22. What if some did work?

Very quickly I dashed off a short email from each identity to see which ones were really NOT sending. 15 of them were sending! It was mainly the top 7 that did not.

O-ka-y! What’s different about these?

Soon I had it pinned down; all of the non-sending ones had in their setup screens in Identities -> General - > Advanced tab, the Special Transport down, “mail.mydomain.com” down instead of the name of my account for that identity. That account was where I had entered my login and password. Now it couldn’t get at that vital info.

As soon as I changed that to the name I’d assigned to the account, and tested each one, the mail DID send! All 22 of them work now! I was almost caught off guard - but I did exclaim aloud and praise God! Hallelujah!

The whole messy problem was solved in a matter of minutes. Because it took so long, I learned a lot about email set up, and about using web mail online, and oh-h, many little things that I’ve long taken for granted.

Maybe the best pass-along messages in this adventure is to work methodically to follow instructions, and seek out advice, and to take breaks from it all and get the bigger picture again, and then, to re-check your steps when you come with a fresh mind.

Don’t forget also to pray. I’m convinced God understands computers and software far better than we do, and if we get quiet and calm enough to listen, God can show us what to do next.

“If you have made mistakes… there is always another chance for you ..
You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call ‘failure’ is not the falling down, but the staying down.” (Mary Pickford)

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength.” (Corrie ten Boom)

“Do not worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers.” (Philippians 4:6 TLB).

“God created us with an overwhelming desire to soar… He designed us to be tremendously productive and ‘to mount up with wings like eagles,’ realistically dreaming of what he can do with our potential.” (Carol Kent).

The other night as I was shutting down the computer after a very long day, I grabbed a square of paper and scribbled down the different areas of my life that I try to faithfully keep going. I’ve blocked off time for these, but it is a real juggle sometimes to give them all the attention they deserve. My paper had room for only 18 of these!

I went to bed thinking a thought that has crossed my mind at various times before; I’m really a rare gemstone, and all these many interests and passions I have, are like the facets, each facing out their own direction, but still part of me.

So just now I tried to draw that, and write a key area of my life onto the facets. I thought I might show it to you, but even after a scan of my drawing, I’m not satisfied that it is good enough. I’ll have to do it over a few more times to polish it better.

But I’m sure if you stopped to look at your life, you’d find that you have many facets too. Running your internet business is just one of MANY things that you do, and some of them have prior commitments, so there are days they simply pre-empt the time you were going to give to promoting your business online.

Much as I’m convinced of the value of self-discipline, and plotting your work and time so you can get the max done in the hours you do have, I do recognize that there are days when you just have to let go, and don’t go on unnecessary guilt trips. Especially if you have been doing your best to keep up on all fronts. Simply take care of the interruption, do what has to be done, and then quietly, without whining or complaining, go back to the original schedule.

This is called being flexible. It’s a good thing to be when you run your internet business from home.

Dr. Phil, of American TV fame, has prepared a test to get a snapshot of what others think of you. We all want to know that, don’t we? He did this test with Oprah. Dr. Phil scored 55, she got 38. Now we discover that the Human Resources Depts, of some large companies are using this simple test to find out if they’ll get along with you as an employee. It only takes two minutes.

It comes with a warning; don’t be overly sensitive! You judge others by body language; they do the same to you. But do you
know what it means?

Take this test for yourself and send your friends this URL:
http://www.BouquetofEnterprises.biz/1/SeeUquiz.shtml