Mr. Hahn

To my knowledge, I have no additional control over it other than what I would if I used say an analog cable. Though, I am in no way some kind of optical expert so I could very well be wrong.

I honestly couldn't tell you as far as the scripting and programming aspects of it go. I just know it's a digital audio signal transmitted over light from my laptop to my surround sound receiver. The laptop only transmits the data (turns the light on) when there's audio to be transmitted. From the initial flow of light to actually coming out of the speakers takes 3 or 4 seconds, so I'm just looking for some kind of option to toggle on the computer or way to keep the optical signal going all the time, like when I have Winamp playing in the background, so it's ready to be used at a moments notice.

Well I found a temporary solution until I, or one of you guys, figures this out. I can have Winamp run with the volume turned all the way down and repeat on minimized to the 'notification area' of my taskbar to keep the data flowing and the signal on. HALP!

I have audio going from my laptop to my surround sound through optical. My problem is that whenever there's audio silence, the optical light signal essentially turns itself off when not in use. Whenever something starts playing again, it takes 2-3 seconds for the sound to actually make it from the laptop to coming out of the speakers. This isn't a problem most of the time, like when playing a movie, game, etc. because the audio feed is kept constant. But if I start a music playlist or a short video clip on some website like youtube, a few seconds is chopped off of the front of the first song or video. Is there an option to toggle or some way of making the audio feed constant so nothing gets chopped off when the signal starts up again? I know the PS3 does it because I've never had the problem with it before. If it's on, it's feeding an audio signal even when there's no actual audio coming through the wire. Thanks.

An admin changed the thread name from "ceiling cat is not amused." Was that not informative enough for you?! geez

I hear ya, but I need a place to watch movies and let drunk friends sleep on when they've had 5 too many. lol

Something like this was what I originally imagined, but I just wish the base was like a flat piece of sheet metal that could slide under my couch for when I bring it close. http://www.akp-inc.com/sidekick.html (thanks for the site pixie)

I got a G7 mouse. The main thing I'll use the mouse for is gaming or if I need to be precise with my cursor. Otherwise I'll probably just be using the track pad on my keyboard. That's a neat mouse though. Well I'm happy I didn't order the lapdawg last night when I ordered the other thing. After doing a little digging I found that many people have had problems with the hinges and arms, and their warranty doesn't extend past their 30-day money back guarantee. If anything happens after 30 days, you're stuck with a $100 paperweight. And the legs aren't quite as long as I was thinking either. So, still seems I need some sort of stand... I might not though. Maybe that other thing will work fine just sitting on my lap.

I did some more searching after I made this post last night and I actually did come across the lapdawg thing. I thought I had found the holy grail until I read it's only 19" wide. The keyboard I'm getting is 16", so that doesn't leave much mouse room. I then came across, and subsequently ordered, the Portable Gamer's Desk. The top model has a seemingly full-sized mouse pad, albeit turned sideways, and more than enough width for even the longest keyboard with the end attachment. Now I'm not so sure how stable this thing is going to be just sitting on my lap when I go to moving the mouse around a lot. I'm hoping for the best, but I went ahead and ordered the lapdawg as well. If nothing else I can set the 'Portable Gamer's Desk' on the lapdawg and be good to go. One of the main things I was looking for was the ability to still stretch my legs out in front of me as I can with a real computer desk without having some kind of stand or obstruction in my way. Having it on my lap or the lapdawg seems to work. Thanks guys!

This is kind of an odd-ball topic for a broadband community, but I thought someone here might have a similar setup. I have to move around quite a bit with my job, so I've decided to streamline a bit. I'm ditching the whole computer desk with monitor, tower, etc., and gone with a laptop that I'll keep hooked into my big screen through hdmi most of the time. I'll be using a wireless mouse and keyboard, which brings me to my question. Anyone have an idea of what I could use as a sort of "desktop" replacement for when I want to game? Meaning I need a place to put mouse and keyboard in front of me while on the couch. The keyboard I'm getting is pretty nice and has a touch pad on it, which will probably do fine for most things. It obviously won't cut the gravy for gaming though. I've thought about maybe using one of those lift-top coffee tables that has a mechanism in it that folds the whole table-top up and at you, but that's just something else heavy and big I'd have to move. I was hoping to find an end table version of something like it, but haven't come across anything. I need ideas! (PS. no TV trays)

Thanks vern. I actually have that option or something very similar. I have 3 options at loss of AC power: Power Off, Power On, or Last State. I now have it set to power on if power is ever lost and then regained. I tried the last state option hoping it would be in the shutdown state where the ethernet adapter was still susceptible to the WOL packet, but no luck. Anyone know what changes when power is lost and regained that makes it unable to be woken until a manual boot and shutdown?

I currently have my computer/network set up so I can remotely wake the system after it has been shutdown or put into standby/hibernate. I know it's set up correctly because I use it all the time and remotely use my computer from my iPhone with WinAdmin. The only exception is it won't wake if the computer completely loses power then regains it (ie. the power goes out and comes back on, or if one take the power cable out of the PSU and reinserts it). Now I would understand if the WOL only worked if the computer was in standby because the session info. is saved in memory and would thus be wiped at loss of power. But I can wake it after being shutdown as well, so I'm puzzled as to what changes between it's shutdown state before and after loss and regain of power. The ethernet adapter LEDs are lit up after power is regained, so what is stopping the "magic packet" from triggering it to wake? I mainly want to know because it's especially useful when I'm out of town, and I can't use it if the above-mentioned scenarios happen. Thanks.

I installed the DynDNS updater app from their site, but I still can't connect to the internet with a straight shot from my modem to the computer. Anyone have any ideas on what's going on?

Well, I configured the DDNS section in the new router the first time I hooked it up, but I must have been one character off in the password or something because it's working now after re-typing it all in. Now I'm new to the whole DynDNS thing. Could you please explain why the service would obstruct a direct connection like that? Do I need one of those little DDNS updater apps if not using the router? Thanks.

I'm upgrading from a Belkin N wireless router to a Linksys WRT54GL because I wanted the custom firmware so I could have features such as DHCP reservations, wake-on-lan packets being allowed through the router, etc. Well, the new router got here today from newegg. I disconnect the Belkin, connect the Linksys, and no connection. * eyebrow raises* So I figure I'll try a direct connection. RJ-45 from the modem directly to the computer. Still nothing. At this point I just assume my cable company is having issues and decide to wait a little while. After no luck for a while I get to thinking that maybe some of the configuring I did to get wake-on-lan "magic" packets accepted by my network card, including setting up an account with DynDNS for a mock-static IP had something to do with it. I hook the old router back up and viola. Internetz! So, any of you guys know what to do? Is it something with DynDNS or something else? I'm really clueless. I'll keep sniffing around in hopes of stumbling upon something. I thought a direct connection to the modem always worked! edit: Just a little additional info. Whenever the modem is directly connected to the computer, all the modem lights show it as connected, and the network card eventually goes through the motions and says it's "connected". But as soon as I go to actually use the connection, the card gets stuck on "renewing your IP address" and the gives me the limited or no connectivity bubble, which in this case is no connectivity.