No Picture? Please be Patient

Like I said in "One Computer: Many Tasks" (December 24, 2010): "If you check in on this webcam regularly: Thanks you!"

Also, this webcam is offline from time to time. I make an effort to announce 'down times' on my Ustream account, where my screen name is Aluwir:

• "Small Town America: The Heart of Darkest Minnesota"
  Aluwir, on USTREAM

There are times when that isn't possible - like now, around noon Central time, December 27, 2010: when a software glitch happened.

If you don't see the picture, please be patient: I'll try to have things up and running: "soon." "Soon," of course, being a slightly subjective term.

One Computer: Many Tasks

If you check in on this webcam regularly: Thanks you!

I enjoy the view out my north window, and am glad to share it.

You may have noticed that the webcam isn't always online.

There are several reasons for that, including:

• Communications trouble
• Sauk Centre, Minnesota, has pretty good communications infrastructure
  • We also have central Minnesota's climate
  • Even in perfect weather, technical troubles happen
    • Sometimes
• In-house technical issues
  • Nothing's perfect in this world
  • Including my
    • Computer
    • Webcam
    • Software
• My webcam's software, and the service I use, don't play well with other software I use
• Sometimes I need to update my system
  • Occasionally that means restarting the computer
• I try to keep predictable interruptions
  • To a minimum
  • At night
    • When there's less to see outside

One of those predictable outages is coming up in a few minutes. Please be patient: I plan and hope to be back in a few hours.

Maybe less.

Maybe more: but I expect to be back online by morning.

One more thing: MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Sauk Centre's Eye-on-the-Street webcam's Back: Again

A few minutes ago, I came to the computer. The screen was dark: no surprise, since the screen saver does that.

Problem is, I couldn't get the display back.

Eventually, I rebooted.

The webcam's back online now: but may have been off for hours.

I'm checking now, to see if I can figure out what happened, and keep it from happening again.

As before, in situations like this: thank you for your patience.

Sauk Centre's Eye-on-the-Street webcam's Back!

The video feed's back - thanks to my son noticing a slight discrepancy in my computer's system.

I'd downloaded a driver for the webcam - from the right company, but for the wrong webcam.

Oops.

Please be Patient: Still More Technical Issues

So, I've got my soon-to-be-certified computer tech son working on the webcam issue.

And - we still don't know what's going on.

Actually, we do. The computer works, the peripherals work - all the way up to the webcam. Which was working four and half hours ago.

So far, though, the webcam and the new computer are not on speaking terms.

There is a solution: but we haven't found it yet.

Please be Patient: Technical Issues

First, the good news: I've got a new computer, which should provide more reliable service.

Now,the bad news: I'm having some issues with the new computer and the old webcam.

No surprises there: but it's frustrating.

I'll have the video back - as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience.

On 24/7/365: Except When I'm Not

I'm taking the webcam offline for an hour or so soon. It's something I do most evenings. If your view of my neighborhood streets gets cut off abruptly: Sorry about that!

Not all of my software plays well with what supports the webcam - and I've only got this one computer.

When it's gone, the picture's usually back in an hour or so. Except those rare occasions where I've got some - interesting - technical issues.

Thanks for watching, and please be patient.