Topics

51

General Software Discussion / calendar that is happy in Windows and on tablet

« on: September 05, 2016, 12:37 PM »

The nice thing with Evernote is that it has generally very smooth and easy integration from Windows to my tablets (mostly iPad although Android is nice too). I add a picture in Windows, it shows up in the tablet. I write up a new note on the road, jottings, in the tablet, it shows up in Windows. There are limitations, of course (e.g. you can't add pics by pasting in the tablet) but it is the smoothest integration I know. It has actually been very helpful and thus I am now an Evernote and Notezilla guy- (Thank you Gautam for working with that Notezilla data question., I'll try to get back to you in a few.)  The two both have superb features.

=================

Now I want similar in calendars. I would like to avoid a 2-step, working though something like a Google Calendar as an intermediary. Yet I would also like to have reasonably decent  filter/category/ tag or
layering functionality. e.g. Show me all the events related to local happenings. Or all the business events.  (Right now my calendar is kept in my Firefox bookmarks bar, which is actually quite nice for some Windows elements.  However I missed a little event yesterday, the tree-hugger sloop Clearwater event on the Kingston, NY beach, and I decided I need improvement.)

Your thoughts on a good  Calendar software method?  That makes you happy on Windows and the iPad?  Adding new events on the iPad is not so important, though, since you can make an Evernote and get to it later.  Adding events will generally be done on the home Windows puter.  Viewing will be home on Windows or iPad.  The viewing, at least on Windows, should be moderately sophisticated.
 

52

General Software Discussion / emulating the tablet launching feel on a Windows 7 puter

« on: July 28, 2016, 02:33 AM »

One advantage of a tablet in terms of daily practicality is that you can easily set up what we can call "launch pages" around a specific theme. (Business, Travel, Bible study, etc.) And in those launch pages you can combine native "Apps" with web browser pages. (In an iPad you do the web pages in Safari by morphing a web page into the Home Page screen and from there moving it anywhere, although in terms of the resulting icon there seems to be some gotchas.)  It seems like 7 pages in Android and 11 pages in Ios (and real estate is increased when you group buttons together as well, so you have a button with five airlines. This is especially helpful for occasional use areas.)

Historically Windows puters are a little funky in trying to give you such launch pages.  So this is some of the Microsoft push with their Windows 8 and 10 and puters like the Surface thing that try to bridge Apps and Windows. (As I understand.)

I still greatly prefer Windows 7 over Windows 10 for heads-down work.  However, I would like to emulate this type of hybrid launch pages into Windows 7.  Historically this has been limited on the browser side, because a browser can not easily launch a program. On the Windows side, I do use "Pin to Taskbar" and Classic Shell to make it easy to find frequently used programs. Visually though, that gives very little. It is not that type of visual spur you get when you have a nicely-designed launch page.

Do you have a recommended way to go a step further.  One of the launch programs?  Can we get a pseudo-desktops that are launch pages in the tablets where each one has a theme or two, and we can quickly go in and out of the launch environment?  (Like you do with the button in ipad or the home icon on Android.)

How do you increase your comfort, esthetics, happiness and productivity in this way?  Do you succeed when you go to Windows 10.1 and drink the kool-aid?

Steven

53

Living Room / how can an ipad or android tablet to use a generic phone number incoming?

« on: November 23, 2015, 03:03 PM »

"how can an ipad or android tablet to use a generic phone number incoming?"

By a generic number I mean either:

a) your normal home number, e.g. as part of a cable system, or from the phone company.

b) your normal clamshell cell phone number  (yes, I still like those things)

c) a special number created and sued for this purpose

This could be using:
 Facetime, Viber, GoogleHangouts, Skype or something else.

Is there a way to let people call you, and get through to your iPad or Android, without the specialty of an iphone style device?

Thanks!

Steven

54

General Software Discussion / testing a wireless thrift store, garage sale printer with a tablet?

« on: October 31, 2015, 06:40 AM »

Sometimes I see nice looking HP wireless that would cost $100 or more for a refurb and $300 new on sale for $25. Bring some paper along, plug it in, and test? (if it needs ink it should tell you, I picked up a Brother that needed a cyan for $10'at Cartridge World, Office Max wanted to sell a set of colors at $50)

What would be the best printer apps? Ipad and android? (the software part of the question.). Or will it work with native functions?
.
An alternative would be a laptop and bring an ethernet cable. A smidgen more awkward, and you likely get ok.

Or you could just take the risk.and plunge. 

Granted, there is a lot to be said for buying new on sale from BestBuy, MicroCenter, Costco,etc.  And even paying for an extended store warranty. When it breaks 2 years later, they may even give you a new one.  They do sell printers cheap, hoping for your ink purchases later.

Your thoughts?

Steven

55

General Software Discussion / excel tool - cloud or home base?

« on: October 29, 2015, 06:26 PM »

Hi,

I have an unusual, important and mildly unique need that is probably best native to a spreadsheet app. (Although I always would consider a database or programming-macro tool alternative.)

This is an application that could be one person at a desk, or it may be shared.  If we share it, that would of course be one bonus of using a cloud app.  And Google Sheets would have an inside track since we are already sharing some stuff in Google Apps for Biz.

=============================

Looking around: here are some of the alternatives:

PC
Excel
LibreOffice Calc  (or Apache OpenOffice)

Cloud
Google Sheets
Excel Web Application
Zoho Sheets

=============================

THE PUZZLE

We have an unusual pricing method and problem.  The vendor who sends us prices can change his % markup.  And he does not tell us when he does, and he does not give us a download option.  The total number of items is about 200, it could go up if we could streamline the pricing, and about 50 of those have to be watched like a hawk.  At least once a week, since small changes can mean a real difference.  So, no matter what, we have to go into his web site, and extract current data out, one item at a time. (One item on its own page.)  Yes, we have requested some help from them finding an easier method, and will do so more in the future. At this time, it is as it is.

The spot where we put in our tiered prices is dependent on the vendor (that spot does have CSV import/export), so we have to do some manual checking of what is the current % and how does it compare.

To automate this we probably want to put the current two (actually three, a changing spot price is involved that can even change in the middle of the data input session) factors of the items from the difficult source into a spreadsheet (perhaps twice a week, we are in a volatile and sensitive market) and then have the spreadsheet calculate the % and tell us which %s are different than the last time we did this.  Then we would adjust those by hand.  The final adjustment could even potentially be programmed automatically, but that is not so important.

Without this automated, it takes too many hours per week, even for a skilled person who understands the whole thing.  Automated would still require some handwork, much less though.   Plus we want to keep the data from one review to the next, and also the archived history.

You can see that this may be a bit tricky for anybody other than an Excel Whiz. 

WHICH TOOL?

Does that mean I should use Excel (or LibreOffice Calcs) for stronger macros and stuff like that?  Will it be easier than the cloud?  I noticed that Google Calcs says they don't have macros but they do have some script language.  It sounds to me that it might be cumbersome to work that way.

Hmm.. thinking about it, it might be nice to put the data in a MYSQL type of database, if I could find the right tool for data entry and programming and printing. This would be like my Alpha5 or Filemaker or Access thoughts.

WHO? HOW?

If anybody is really skilled on this stuff, helping set it up might actually be a little remote gig. You can send me a msg.  I am a programmer-techie of sort, but my Excel background is minimal.

Should I just buckle down and learn some spreadsheet macro language?  Should I consider the old Alpha 5, Filemaker, Access alternatives to setting this up?  Or some other tool that can through up fields, take screen input, work with the data file and do calcs?  Should I just seek help?

Steven

56

General Software Discussion / moving data from desktop to laptop

« on: May 03, 2015, 11:07 PM »

The laptop is a Dell Windows 7 Home Premium, picked up inexpensively.

The desktop is my home puter, but I am in between places, without the FIOS connection.

Is there a way to connect by USB or something (or the old Laplink cables) by just turning
on the desktop.  And then use a file manager to transfer?

Or do i have to haul the whole puter, with monitor, keyboard and mouse, and get it online.
And do all the Dells of the last few years have a built-in wireless?  So that the xfer is reasonably easy.

Thanks!

Steven

57

General Software Discussion / on the road again - remote windows access from chromebook, tablet, library-hotel

« on: March 03, 2015, 09:15 AM »

The main puter is at home base. While some stuff is in the cloud or synced or portable, the home puter remains very helpful to access.

 Let's assume good wireless access, allowing that the Airpad and Android abilities to work through phone data often comes in handy, especially for map driving gps good natural restaurant finding times.

When I have a good laptop handy, the answer is simple. Either load the stuff, windows and programs, on the laptop. And use Teamviewer for remote access. My Verizon to Eudora email especially stays home and likes remote access.  Yes, I use gmail, but more as an auxiliary, and all my gmail accounts forward to the home base.

At the moment, no good laptop. So what are recommended options for remote access?

1) airpad or android.  For various reasons I see this as an auxiliary use, but I would give one app or web method a try. Maybe we have a thread.

2) chromebook - this would need some web connection, unless I did one of the chromebook fakeoutslike like downloading an app or installing Linux.  Big advantage .. Good mouse and keyboard.  Setting up an ad hoc local printer ...problematic.

3) library-hotel. - here printing would be easier.  Any good web oriented tools? They would also apply to the chromebook.

Thanks for any ideas. Btw, this is written on airpad using wireless at Bean & Bean ... So I am not opposed to tablets.

58

Living Room / has the google book search by time gone bonkers?

« on: March 01, 2015, 05:32 PM »

I've used it a thousand times.

google book search
Search tools--> Any time --> Custom range

Today I was looking in google books for "yahweh" in books ...
 (trying to find out the first usages of this name, with the precise spelling)

I also tried "heavenly witnesses" (a search I have done many times).

When I place all the books in the search it comes up fine:
   36,500 for "yahweh"
       791 for "heavenly witnesses"

Then I was limiting the dates ... and generally the books did not come up.
Please, one or two .. try it and let me know if it works for you.
e.g. put in 19th century ... or put in 1500 to 1990.

Temporarily I could use "sort by date" for a fakeout but that would require navigating to the last page.
There is a "reset search tools" but that will undo the date.

This is puzzling since I have used these date searches for years.  
Yes I tried a second browser (Firefox and Chrome) and I used the "reset" and then a redo of the date.

Steven

59

General Software Discussion / email notifiers (whew)

« on: February 20, 2015, 02:27 AM »

Email notifiers seem like an unnecessary luxury, or obstacle.  However, in some businesses there are applications with real critical needs to know about the incoming mail, even quickly.

I thought this would be easy, that a few apps would fit, and I could choose one. However, it turns out that the quirky quotient is high, and things can be a bit puzzling.  Also I really wanted a program that still had support, even a forum, as this was going to be used by compatriots and I did not want it to flatten out 6 months later on new software versions, etc.

There are many features in some programs that I did not care about at the moment.  Working with one gmail account, I bypassed whether they handled a dozen accounts, or a dozen other email vendors, or calendar notifications, etc.

About 5 programs were tested that simply were not ready for prime time.  The best of this bunch was Spiffy.  Others were Kwerty, Popman, Gmail Notifier Plus, Mail Notifier. Another 10 programs were bypassed because they were clearly defunct or had a major disqualification.

I ignored gadget based programs. Multi-Email Notifier from India might be a good program.  However, the surrounding info was too sketchy. And now I see the comments here: https://www.youtube..../watch?v=dTYbgqXnkLY . Google discontinued some program they had.

====================

One neat feature is when the email notifier responds to particularly "labels" within the gmail account. That is a bit of a sleeper consideration for existing accounts.
(My gmail account had already been designed to handle only this important mail.)

Tablet is another issue.  I would like a good one for Androids and Airpads.

====================

3 Programs were left for Windows

Gmail Notifier Pro - Patrik Engstrom - http://www.gmailnotifier.se/
Forum - http://gmailnotifier...c.php?f=4&t=1875 (my post)
Cost - http://www.gmailnotifier.se/register.php
This may be the richest in overall features.  The post explains why it is currently out of consideration, which for many would be a minor issue.

Pop Peeper - Jeff Meier - http://www.poppeeper.com/
Pro - http://www.esumsoft....ucts/pop-peeper/pro/  (license required for biz use)
Forum - http://www.esumsoft.com/Forums/index.php
Plugin - Skin Notifier Plugin - needed for flexibility
This is very nice, with skins, the architecture can be a bit puzzling, since the skin sort of replaces the traditional notification. I have an email to Jeff about the best set-up.

PopTrayU - Jessica Brown - http://poptrayu.sourceforge.net/  - Free
Forum - https://sourceforge....poptrayu/discussion/
Plugin needed for Gmail - https://sourceforge....iles/latest/download
Extension of PopTray - http://poptray.org/index.php - many of the Poptray plugins should work.
Rather plain.  It was a little difficult to set up at first, because of the plugin need to get gmail to work. And also changing some settings. Used the forum.
At this time it is the leader as it is free (we will have 3 or more users) has support and can handle the specific need.

That is the overview, at this time.  The cost is modest for a small business of the first two.  All three have strengths, limitations and weaknesses.

Steven

60

Living Room / two-factor entrance authentication

« on: February 16, 2015, 05:23 PM »

Hi,

Two factor-authentication can help a lot when you wonder what is your password and contact the company.

Often they call back your cell phone and you use a one-time number.  I appreciate the method as adding a lot
of security pizazz.

========================================================

What if you have a mission critical website?   I was reading how passwords get hacked (one discussion related
to programs like Filezilla not having encryption, but there are 1,000 ways.)

Then the bad guys can sign in.  One thing they do is place some sort of malware into index.html, which then
affects future entrants to the site.

Oops.

This type of corruption can have a huge effect on the trust of a website and company.  It is a huge problem
on an individual company level, as well as the general individual malware issue.

So there really should be a way to prevent someone who simply has a password from doing real damage.  Some
sort of two-factor entry.  

A thought.  The second-factor could be something arcane like hitting one of a couple of dozen
little places that are only known by you and the host.

Is this done?  If not, why not?
Seems simple enough.  You add a check about limited number of errors, checking the ip, stuff like that.

I'm not saying its foolproof.  A screen recorder on your pc might pick this up.  However, that is 100 times
more sophisticated than simply a password hack.

Your thoughts?

Granted, possibly the best security is simply ip security only allowing specific places to enter.  However,
sometimes we are on the move. So the two ideas are complementary.

Steven

61

General Software Discussion / file-by file set backups to the cloud - good tools needed

« on: February 15, 2015, 07:17 PM »

Continuing from:
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=40144.0

Rather than the image backup, the question here is the simpler backup, the data and config files and documents and stuff like that.  A backup that you independently design and it may be a small quantity of data. (If you have huge volume, like with email or video or iso, it may get its own special time and method attention.)

There are two main backup places:

a) local drive - Mybook, USB, local server etc.
b) cloud drive - (gazillion spots)

For the local drives, you have inexpensive hardware and solid software easily available, such as:

Personal Backup
Backup Maker - Ascomp
Cobian
Comodo
FBackup (free) or Backup4All (paid)
Syncback
FreeFileSync
Areca

Best Free File-Based Backup Program - Aug 2014
http://www.techsuppo...e-backup-program.htm

[Windows] Best free file backup, drive backup (aka imaging), and system backup software - Feb, 2013
http://dottech.org/9...kup-programs-review/

And many others.  This allows flexibility (Preference, I would like one allows flexibility in the drive assignment of the target drive, to be overridden at the time of backup.)  Since the quantity of data here is often small you have lots of flexibility in timing, target folder, multiple sets, etc.  In many cases, you can even bypass incremental and simply do full backups of this volatile data.

=================

What about the cloud?  In earlier days we talked a lot about drive mapping, WebDav and tools like ExpanDrive and similar tools.  Now I want to ferget about all those.  Services don't see mapped drives anyway, some of the drive mapping tools are quirky, some are $$ for multiple puters, etc.  Today, with the cloud sophistication, those could be more pain than gain for the home user.

Let's just find the best tool for user-defined backup to the cloud that has:

a) Good file-by-file backup software design (like Cobian, Backup4All, etc) with include/omits, specified files, folders, scheduling (can be triggered externally) etc.
b) Total Commander style file manager for looking at the target location and the home base.

DriveHQ definitely has (b).  
Question: what web backup has the strongest combination of (a) and (b)?  A is more critical, since it actually gets the data there.

Does not have to be free.  Especially since this is being used for smaller volumes of data.
Does not have to synch in any way, but it can be a synch tool used in backup mode.

In the basic iteration of this question, you are including all Windows Desktop programs. e.g. DriveHQ's excellent file manager is
a Windows download and install.

In another iteration of this question, you wonder if there are any cloud-based tools that can do even a decent job.  

The main purpose of mapping would be allow the desktop tools to be used to the external cloud.  The question here is,
what is the next best way, without the mapping complexities and costs and another set of problems.

Steven

62

General Software Discussion / publishing notes to the net

« on: February 10, 2015, 05:30 AM »

Hi,

Does a note system == web publishing system?
Why or why not?

Take an example.  I have a client where I would like to make it reasonably clear what I have done for them,  what are our contacts, how and why we do backup, what are the projects and a number of other items.  I've worked for them many years and if I am away, or less available than the current 20-minute-drive dropin, they have a good body of information.

I want them to be able to print out a page and keep it handy and then get to it very easily a year or 3 years later.    A while back I thought about Ubernote.  Not visual enough. Today I am working with the Notezilla memoboard paradigm.  Not bad.  At least for personal ad hoc note use, excellent. Not, however, for a professional sharing approach.

However, what if you have a Rightnote style tree-note that publishes to the web?  Then (allowing a suitable parking space) you can really make it easy for them to find and read and study. They don't have to pass around a manuel, or a data file, they can read and print and see screen shots right from the web. You might get some nice advantages over the memoboard, like an indexed tree.  And you do an update or addition, you simply republish.

That is simply one example. Dozens of others can be added.  I have Bible textual studies that might do well on this type of publishing, more user-reader effective than blog or forum writing, more time effective than special book-outliner preparation.  (Scrivener, Citavi, Outline4D and many friends.)  Hybrid-city.

===============================================

This thread hopes to build on some of the discussions in the following three threads, with special kudos to DC Peter and remote Paul, if I have identities right.

Some outliners and the features Unicode, search in the tree, website publishing
http://www.outliners...om/topics/viewt/5203

stickies Notezilla memoboard as full-blown personal note system
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=40122.0

Paul J. Miller - I used to be undecided, but now I'm not so sure.
https://pauljmiller....oftware/note-taking/

===============================================

Here are some that are noted for publishing to the web.  Some give examples of finished websites.
Others are said to be somewhat quirky in actual publishing.  Apparently this is a specialty area.
Some have been mentioned extensively on DC, some very little.

TreePad - http://www.treepad.com/webgenerator/ - many sample sites
"comfortable feature to create a website... no Unicode support" - Peter

Memobook http://www.memo-book.../en/overview-en.html
" possibility to export as a website with better results than MyInfo concerning the line spacing...  silly and unnecessary zoom..  Memo Book gave me the impression that the web version corresponds exactly with the “original” version." - Peter
Any comments on the zoom?

MyInfo - http://www.milenix.com/myinfo  - best on unicode
"easily and without problems but formatting is not fully retained in the web version" - Peter
Millenix has a forum, so here is a discussion about modifying .css either before or after export.
http://forums.mileni...c.php?f=1&t=4556

MyBase, UltraRecall and Web Idea Trea are also in the mix, with nuance. "

I think it would be good to see which program is actually succeeding in helping people make production websites.

Treepad may be the leader.
"Examples of Websites created with TreePad"
http://www.treepad.com/webgenerator/

"WIT user's manual, which has entirely been designed and built with WIT."
http://www.webideatr...u-en/text/index.html
"too complicated .. " Peter

===============================================

Mynoteskeeper - http://www.mynoteskeeper.com/

2/10/2015 correction -- this one does not belong

===============================================

Who else is solid in this mix?
Which one should I use (currently "none of the above" are in my toolkit.)
Is this the right way to go? Why or why not?

Anybody want to compare the finished products as well?
Which in some cases you might want to tweak.

===============================================

Steven

63

General Software Discussion / taskbar clutter - back to the virtual desktop GoScreen

« on: February 08, 2015, 03:52 AM »

Hi,

I like the taskbar, I leave two rows.  It still gets very cluttered. I don't like various solutions like restoring the QuickLaunch.
Also the window situation gets a little difficult.

Virtual Desktops were a big thing, some years ago, now they are more thought of in terms of multi-monitor.

And I noticed one mentioned the other day.

Multi-Tabber
http://multitabber.codeplex.com/

The description reminded me of GoScreen, the one I chose in 2006 and bought a license and they still have a yahoogroups forum.
Andrew Guranov, author.  I chose it partly because it was more native to Windows functions, no weird hooks, quite stable.

The license is lifetime, still good for the latest release (WinSnap is another utility with an excellent lifetime license.)

Loaded it back, and it it seems quite good for my needs.  

The primary desktop is browsers, email, chat skype.
I set up an auxiliary one for documents, PDFs, viewers, etc. (That was really cluttering the taskbar.)
One for utilities.
One for notes programs.
Stuff like that.  
You are not limited, if I am in the primary and need Notezilla or Total Commander, I simply use the start menu.
Probably I can put a program in multiple virtuals.  Lots could be checked out.

GoScreen
http://www.goscreen.info/
Note the good online documentation, how-to-guide.

FYI: Ok, it knocked away my wallpaper at first, took a minute to put it back.
It moved around icons, I put them back with DesktopOK.  I'm not sure if that is an inherent problem.
No mini-problems after the initial install and some playing around.  It might have had something to do with the
drag-and-drop capability you have with their set-up that starts on the left.

The longevity and ongoing support makes GoScreen a bit of a sleeper program.  Maybe Dexpot and
some others are more sophisticated.  GoScreen has some solid utility functions, it is rather a neat program.

Steven

64

General Software Discussion / stickies Notezilla memoboard as full-blown personal note system

« on: January 30, 2015, 02:42 AM »

This thread and idea comes out of a couple of recent discussions.
    
editor with built-in column or tiling facility - (Listhings comes close)
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=39951.0

The (stickies) memoboard as a column-based editor, flexible size rectangles, has turned out to be my fav, as in the pic below.

Also I want to look at some of the benefits, and some of the needs, with Notezilla if you use it this way.  Other sticky programs can be considered if they have a memoboard implementation.  This thread may double as my Notezilla discussion thread.  One reason I am ready for this is that I have some of the elements nicely laid out on my Notezilla memoboard dedicated to Stickies programs! Notezilla helps me keep track of Notezilla weaknesses as well as strengths.

Web-based memoboard implementations (eg. Listhings, which only lacks the RTF, having tabs rather than a tree structure) can also be compared.  My requirements will differ from others, so by going over the major feature set, it might help with the idea.

===========================================================

Goal

1) tree and/or tabbed note system

2) free-form structure that allows column-based and tile-based representations.  
   a) avoid massive white-space common to desktop note programs
   b) match the fact that different types of thinking have different length and style notes appropriate

3) RTF - (also background colors) (also take pics from the clipboard)

4) ease of use on editing, sizing, searching, moving from one topic to another.
    stability & support
    pleasant to navigate and use

===========================================================

Major Auxiliary Elements

multi-user collaboration, network, sync and/or export-import capbabilities

webpage annotation system (Internote stickies and Diigo-style workspaces, where Notezilla is at least in the mix)

publish to web (e.g. Menomic) - (FYI: Notezilla may have some utility here per memoboard by things like HTML export)

tablet capable

multi-OS

===========================================================

Overlap areas. They will not be the prime decision areas. Why?  Because I am in my note program 20-50 times in a day.  It really wants to be pleasant and quick.  If the note program I like the most is only used with USB or Dropbox style sharing, that is fine by me. For this function, I don't want a less happy program just for the "use easily anywhere" experience. I also like the fact that Notezilla and Vueminder will be happy Taskbar companions, always one click away, never lost in the Tab Maze.

Saying that, I will acknowledge that  Listhings, a free web-memoboard, able to be used anywhere, is quite fine overall for many note uses. I simply like my notes in RTF, which is not available, and there is no active development. Backing up and persistence up is also less clear. If a webboard did have all the basics, it might surpass using Notezilla.

My other related tools ?

Xerpi - VueMinder Calendar - Linkman - Firefox with extensions and bookmarks - Lastpass
Hmmm... I mention this because there is a type of data relatedness that makes these programs central. The first step on the net is Xerpi, as a startpage.

Other browsers are used, Facebook has its place, document programs are utilized. At work, there is a CRM / project and task manager, yet the group above make my daily personal net navigation experience. Contacts can be in Linkman, often with the keyword "addy", so this bypasses the PIM. (VueMinder can do structured contacts with custom fields, if needed also there are free web CRMs). At the moment Listpro and Todolist and Task Coach and Swift Todo and database and others are mostly on vacation. Rightnote is curtailed, on a diet.

Overall, I want to put as much as possible into the Notezilla and Linkman quasi-freeform structure. Many databases are de facto in Linkman, like software registrations with keyword SN#.  Screenshots and file managers and utilities and  DriveHQ and backup are a separate region. Documents and writing and research are a separate region.

===========================================================

Next, I want to go into where Notezila shines, and improvements desired.

Steven

65

General Software Discussion / developing a collaboration suite

« on: January 28, 2015, 02:38 AM »

Hi,

Circumstances, largely biz-related, have led me to look at the best tools for ongoing long-distance web collaboration on projects. Small team of 2-3 people, frequently meeting with another individual or small team from outside.

Some things are simple.

=========================

Teamviewer is used for helping directly. Or watching something in process. It is not normally on, but when used, works superbly.

Skype is used for the ongoing calling (as if in the same office) and the actual conference calling. (I use some other VOIP as well, but company-wide .. Skype really does the job pretty nicely. I even try to hot-link the telephone numbers in the browser using Firefox extension Telify or the aggressive Skype add-on.)

Google docs and sheets has a place of helping with Google drive and they are used in a mild sharing manner. (Smartsheet is an interesting program that might enhance some of that experience).  In the long run, this might be changed, but it does work.

=========================

I find Skype to be poor on the chat portion though. e.g. Conversations get fractured into various ad hoc team groups that are created on-the-fly by adding people to Skype calls.

For me, the choice right now is Hipchat.  A little private biz chat room.  They are a leader in that niche  (businesses do not want to even try to use Facebook or Paltalk for chat, due to the distraction level.) There are alternatives, Kato, Slack, Svyft, Flowdock are examples.  One big thing about HipChat is  that they have a desktop app, and it is hard to consider chat alternatives while they are only browser based.  Granted .. theoretically I could put them on one of the lesser used browsers like Pale Moon and Vivaldi, so that is not an absolute requirement.

=========================

We needed a CRM.  Sales and contacts is central. If it had project, task and calendar capabilities, that was even better. Light, friendly.  Three got a lot of consideration, Workbooks from UK, Nimble and Insightly from USA.  Insightly is being used, although I am still playing with the others, with personal accounts.  Each has advantages, Nimble is heavily social media savvy.  Workbooks is more in the style of a multi-faceted biz product and its notes are really RTF!  Insightly has a good balance and solid google integration.

Anyway, thus we bypass the Asana, Basecamp, Codebase types of programs internally.  Although we do get Basecamp and Codebase stuff from two outside companies that are involved.
 
email, webhosting and ecommerce are all involved.  I will say that Nexcess does an incredibly good support job on web hosting.

=========================

What about ad hoc quick screen sharing notes and pics?  So far, dunno. Too light a need to load up Teamviewer.  Google docs and Insightly and email attachments are for more formal use.  Maybe Hipchat but not for short documents, it really is talk and url and a couple of pics.  It is not meant for pretty. Or annotations and notes.

Sharex (formerly ZScreen) and Ybex Clipboard and a dozen more represent one way to handle that. My NoteZilla (also Stickies and PNote) experiments could be considered, since the have a type of networking capability. (e.g. "Send via Network" - PNote.)  See the Memonic thread. On the stickies I would have to compare the implementation.

What is light, easy and acceptable to a couple of people who have not worked with those tools?  

Hmmm...

Your thoughts on any of the above welcome.  Granted, it touches on a wide range of software.

Would it be good for Donationcoder get more "social" .. using Facebook or chat or collaboration?  hmmm...

Steven

66

General Software Discussion / memonic

« on: January 28, 2015, 01:37 AM »

.
memonic is a hybrid web and desktop notetaking app from Switzland. freemium style, modest cost.
It looked like they were honoring the Bits Du Jour discount, last I checked.

The Facebook page is last updated 2012
https://www.facebook.com/mymemonic

The Twitter feed is current.

Apparently they have a Salesforce-related add-on that is popular.The Desktop App means it does not easily get lost in the Tab Maze. (Chat programs HipChat and Pidgin were other recent examples for me where the Desktop App really helps. Similarly the NoteZilla memoboards.)

Menomic has a full RTF editor, receives pics from the clipboard nicely, a tree structure and good sharing capabilities. Make a page public and you might have a

1) de facto blog post or
2) project info at work online, very visible

In a way that is hard to accomplish with various other tools.  I'm considering using it for that dual purpose mainly.  (Note: apparently does not have column capabilities.)

Possibly a quasi-word processor article holding place (alternatives: Atlantis WP and RightNote).  Especially if it is unicode happy.  That would be an interesting 3-tool comparison, where each tool represents a genre.  Maybe I should check the HootSuite type of tool as well, which is supposed to be a place-holder for multi-blogs. Then add Google Docs and Drive with helpers in the mix as another alternative.  I write up some articles on Bible issues that might want to take a Greek or Hebrew font, so that is why I mention unicode.

Menomic seems to have flown under the radar by the Evernote, Onenote, Ubernote, craze.
Plus all the web collaboration and planner and web note programs.  

Yet it might fill a hybird niche very nicely.  Anybody using it?  
Should we put in some pics?

Steven

67

General Software Discussion / net page sticky notes - flexibility in pages stuck comparable to Internote

« on: January 23, 2015, 05:47 AM »

Internote is a long-standing sticky note Firefox extension that does a good job in allowing you to decide which pages get the note.

However it is rudimentary in other ways.  

Although there is a good notes page on Sourceforge.
http://internote.sou...net/help30/en-US.xml
(Ironically, that page itself went blank on me when it was given a sticky!)

There are many sticky note alternatives, that can be either involved with your

a) desktop
b) sticking to a Window (as defined by Windows API functions, with some variations)  
c) your specific webpages on a site (e.g. Listhings) to see through the browser
d) external webpages  

These may be dedicated sticky note programs, or various utilities like Diigo or CintaNotes or this and that. And I am wondering who has a web page identity function (d) that is most comparable to Internote? Such a program does not have to have other functions, or sticky note functions (e.g. a,b,c).

See the pic.

Thanks!

Internote is good, I have a note to the current developer out. However it is largely dormant, the last update seems to be 2011, has only color of text and background for the full note as RTF styling (in a nice flipside implementation). And I find the mouse resizing-width function to work awkwardly.

Steven

68

General Software Discussion / editor with built-in column or tiling facility - (Listhings comes close)

« on: January 04, 2015, 06:14 AM »

Greetings!

I like my "ToDo" notes to be very readable and pleasant.

And I use Listhings, which is similar to Google Keep, more versatile and colorful.  Listhings also has a good multi-page implementation where the url can go straight to the desired page externally. And the current page can be chosen and changed from a top bar. This is nice for online notes, available anywhere with the internet. You can set up various size text (or picture) boxes of various colors on top of the corkboard, so you can create a columnar or tiled effect as you like. Thus you might look at one page and have clearly in front of you.

ToDo Today
Special Events
Puter ToDo and Buy
Bible forum discussion
Finance
Job
Web Dev

All in front on the same editor page. A tiling effect, and columnar capability is the key.
Thus all the real estate in full-screen mode is used effectively.  ToDo notes tend
to be short, with lots of blank space to the right if you are in full-screen mode.

The limitation in Listhings is that the editor is weak. Some bold, italics and not much more.

==============================================================

This got me thinking that I really want an editor that has a built-in column or tiling facility.
Thus when the editor is open full-screen it can act de facto as multiple distinct editors,
each column (or tile) has its own editing life.

This could be implemented in a program (e.g. Rightnote and VueMinder are programs with nice editors that I use).

And/or it could be implemented on a web page. (e.g. if Listhings had a good RTF editor it would qualify.)

The key is that logically it should be one document save involved for the page that has the multiple units.

Where does this exist?

Thanks!

Steven Avery

69

Found Deals and Discounts / Abbyy screenshot reader

« on: December 20, 2014, 04:33 AM »

Abby Screenshot Reader
http://www.abbyy.com/bonussr/

(Added 1/6/2015 this might be the best url:
http://www.abbyy.com...enshot_reader_bonus/ )

And I don't see any catch. I bought this years ago for one user for $10. Now it is about $30.
Apparently the registration is now checking that it is one PC (just happened today first time.)

An incredible program if you need text extracts on-the-fly from google books and stuff like that.
(Any good alternatives?)

Note the Business Card reader too.

Steven

70

General Software Discussion / antivirus and web defense

« on: December 07, 2014, 08:16 PM »

Generally I have

WinPatrol, Online Armor, and the Malwarebytes scan are three major parts of defense, with a few extra cogs here and there.

Plus an anti-virus and web defense.
For a few years, Avast! free was my Anti-virus and Web Shield of choice (mail is not a problem).  

The new 2015 Avast I found too much of a hassle on CPU and uninstalled it, with Revo helping, after a spot of discussion on Wilders and reading on the Avast forum. I'm not saying I might not have eventually tamed the beast, but CPUs from 25 to 75 when very little is happening is not happy.

Free is not absolutely necessary.  And almost all the companies have had one black mark or another over the years.  Some worse than others.  

Maybe I will check what is active on one of the Brit PC Magazines for a special.

Without getting too convoluted about test results, do you have a comfy, happy, modest cost (ultimately 3-5 puters could be involved) recommendation?  I could go back to an earlier Avast! which was what one fella did.  AVG and Avira (I left when they danced with Uniblue) are always floating around with, like Avast!, free alternatives. Eset and Trend (surprise) and Kaspersky and GData and Panda and BitDefender and maybe Webroot or Emsisoft and some others are possible. Discounts right now look thin.

Real world thoughts?  I know this can get a tad hackneyed, but I appreciate the common sense approach of the DC crew.

Steven

71

General Software Discussion / Firefox windows and CPU slow-downs and restarts

« on: October 23, 2014, 12:06 PM »

I like Firefox, the extensions are a big deal.

If I open a lot of windows, which I do, it does not take long for CPU to slow me up, even without any youtube type of stuff. Then the simplest solution is to kill Firefox and restart.  I do use Session Manager, which is pretty good. Sometimes I start fresh, sometimes I bring up the same windows, (it seems like Firefox has improved and does not automatically try to activate all of them, waiting for you to hit the tab.)

In the long run I have a few solutions.

Close a window quickly. (not my normal way of operation for stuff I am thinking about)

Live with it.  It's my fault for opening 50 tabs, 20 or so in a couple of windows each. Just kill it and start over.

Check my Windows.  Oh, my main puter is XP, If I go to my Windows 7 it will be better ... or not.

Get an Apple Mini-mac.  It has a real OS and will comfortably take care of a gazillion.  Maybe.

Read all the Firefox memory and performance tips and extensions.  All the answers are right there. 

Which ones of these make the most sense? Which have worked for you?

Thanks!

Steven Avery

72

General Software Discussion / collaborative software, note strong, for small biz

« on: August 31, 2014, 01:55 PM »

Hi,

A complex field.  Lots of issues like mobile sync, response time, support, etc.

I'm working with a small company (small in # of people, about 5 total involved) where sometimes we are a distance away and a good collaboration software would be helpful.  It should not be too complex a project management paradigm, more a notes-task-calendar + paradigm. The task manager paradigm (e.g. Toodledo and Producteev-Jive) seems a bit limited.  The company works with WooCommerce and is probably replacing the Method CRM.

btw, we are using LuxSci now for the email, which has been a good move. They have built-in collaboration software, but I really don't see using too much of it, in this case. Partly because of the multi-threading aspect, it is hard to be in the email and notes at the same time. (Maybe two instances?) Also while functional, it is not elegant. We also are not too interested in the Google and Microsoft environments.

One place many of them seem to be weak is simply having an easy to get to RTF note document related to each "task" or "item" or whatever.  If it is RTF you can color-code who is writing, and keep things nice and condensed compared to the "discussion" format (which has its own limited place).

Asana is an example of a good program that is working with "comments" that use keystrokes for bold, etc. Not yet a real editor, otherwise a nice looking program. They will probably improve it in a while, yet still comments to be documents have to be re-editable.

Proofhub is so far my leader.  Bitworks24 is a sleeper that might be very good.  On a test account I set up today they have some nice features.

Podio was nice but did not fuzz me warmly enough. HyperOffice I might check. PBWorks is a nice program, but a little difficult for this use. Smphonical. Azendoo. Flow I have to check, likely too tasky. There are many others.

I really want the collaboration NOT to lose the "read and improve and enhance this note" aspect, which is a good way to think and work (think RightNote, KeyNote-NF etc.)  The great weakness of many of these programs is losing the simple clean note paradigm.

=============

Even if there was a collaborative note program that had some features, or if RightNote or TreeDBnotes etc have a good server edition, that would be a real possibility. Their hosting or mine.  They could work with the X-Y axis of folders and tabs and good searching. In fact, consider that a separate question. Any good web note programs, or server editions?

Ok, I'm looking at WizNote
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=36909.0

Also I noticed something about Onenote Cloud stuff, that might be interesting.

Your thoughts?

Steven

73

General Software Discussion / rtf documents to the web for no-bureaucracy sharing

« on: July 05, 2014, 09:41 PM »

Hi,

Ok, I am going to put aside all my feigned interest in CMS and web developments.

Today, I want to do stuff real easy, however there are so many ways to do it that I don't know what I want to do  .

I'm using Atlantis Word Processor for making documents.  It is light and real good for my purposes including smoothly taking multiple cut-and-pastes direct from the clipboard to a page with a lot of writing.  Also solid on taking the Greek fonts that come from certain Bible pages on the net  (e.g. a verse from Blue Letter Bible.) Also solid rtf as I use color and fonts for contrast. (I just would like its Paste Special -> Plain text to function better, right now I am doing that from my Eudora editor first.) If Abiword or anybody else has advantages over Atlantis, let me know, so far though I am quite happy.

I want to place the .rtf documents on the net shortly after they are made. (I would prefer not to convert them to PDF unless there is a compelling reason.)  I could cut and paste the document if that works, rather than upload, however that could easily clunkify.

Sometimes to be seen by a few friends, sometimes to place a link on a forum. They don't need fancy indexing initially. What I do later with such documents with CMS or ebook or other stuff is not the immediate issue.

I could use a simple web developer (Serif, etc).  And upload to a domain. Has certain advantages.  However, that leads to the intermediate step of how my document goes into the web developer.

Maybe a blog that does not have a blog feel but is more simply type and go.  Again, though, I want to prepare in my home word processor, not a blog editor.

Or I could use a special publishing tool like youblisher or whatever.  They seem to like PDF.

File sharing services are possible, but I think I want a tad more sophistication.

Your ideas, please.  I'm ready to roll, I did about five .rtf docs last week, sent them to friends and realized I like the method of using Atlantis as the editor.  And I don't at this time need fancy dancy, drawings, pics ... this is research text tech.

Nothing proprietary.  So I don't need complex permissions.

Share away!

Steven Avery


 

74

General Software Discussion / ad hoc network setup, Microsoft home, Teamview, dedicated VPN ?

« on: March 11, 2014, 03:12 PM »

Hi,

Hope this does not make your head spin.

My goal is to have reasonable network capability by about four puters behind a Verizon FIOS router (right now I am chaining through a second router but the master can do four if it is better to unchain).  Mostly Windows 7, maybe one is Windows XP, and Linux is being dual-booted in one or two, per the plans. I actually have finally seen a Linux download-and-install work, with Mint 16, next is OpenSuse! (One puter is a master hot dell puter that might play with virtual stuff, picked it up from a failed day-trader for not too much, at about $400.)  Ok, there is a puter at work that would be nice to be included, if it were VPN.

File sharing is of course a major goal.  Plus I would not mind doing that through mapping the drive, something that has always seemed problematic with Windows networking. Similarly, Windows home network facilites and such always seems problematic to me .. am I missing something? It's supposed to be sooo easy.  (Putting aside the Linux wildcard.) Seems like drives drop, names change, things get confused.

If some files can be accessed live as if it were a real network/mini, that would be nice (understanding that programs not multi-user don't want concurrent updates from two sources holding data in memory and updating. Talking especially Eudora and Linkman here. Eudora also has the problem that the mailboxes are biggggg.).  

Maybe I would use a real multi-user program like Filemaker, one PC being a server, if I was really trying to emulate a true network.  Then you are thinking more server architecture than peer-to-peer.

Teamviewer has been my remote control program of choice. I use it to help friends far away, and for calling in from/to work. And is VPN-capable. File sharing is good.  Drive mapping .. think they have their own file commander.

So, first question.  What options should I consider?  And I don't even mind paying a little for a better long-term solution.

Should I do two things, a Microsoft built-in thing plus more?  

Anyway, your general thoughts will be very helpful.

==============================

INTERNAL

3 Windows 7   - one potentially
1 Windows XP

(dual booting to Linux on 1 or 2)

=====

EXTERNAL - minor

1 Windows XP at work

occasional call home from outside when traveling or if I buy a laptop or smartphone

==============================

My gut feeling is to run with Teamviewer, expanding usage, maybe going paid. Haven't checked how
that works.   However, I really would like to hear your thoughts.  And if I use some such software,
I wonder if I should simultaneously do anything with the Windows home network, or if that is simply
a toy albatross.

Steven

75

General Software Discussion / unattended large file copies that will not prompt for msg

« on: March 03, 2014, 05:24 AM »

Hi,

When you try to use the file managers, Total Commander, Free Commander, Xplorer2, Xyplorer to do large moves or copies (say from one tape backup to another) it is very hard to get a true "unattended" mode.  You keep hitting hidden files, +or write-protected, or overly long file names, or UAC stuff, and although some items get a "skip all" you never can quite get unattended. And each program glitches out different and has totally different speeds.

In this mode, you just want:

 "move as much as you can, I'll worry about the leftover later"

Maybe some of the file copy/synchronizer tools have this right?  Your recommendations?

Steven