Messages

51

Older Newsletters / Re: --> Newsletter for March 4th, 2009 - Codename "A Call to Action"

« on: March 08, 2009, 11:29 PM »

Finally after much sweating I donated!! I guess your pestering worked.
Btw, this wasn't mentioned anywhere, but do we get DCredits for this donation or not? Or is this like a different kind of donation?

52

DC Website Help and Extras / Re: Fundraiser discussion.. again.. need help with ideas

« on: March 04, 2009, 06:13 AM »

the donation chart https://www.donation...te/HowMuchChart.html
is very US Centric, as the first slab $1-$20,000 covers a huge number of the world population. And by that chart, they should donate $10 if they love the site.

http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/income.php


another thing encourage people to say things like:
if you do .... I will donate XX to DC!

53

General Software Discussion / Re: Using a Desktop Search through the network

« on: January 30, 2009, 03:25 AM »

I use Locate32 for the same. Though it only helps for one user... you could setup something complicated by deploying to other computers and accessing the database from a central location. Had something like that done for a client. You can check out their forums for some nice networking help as well. Maybe one day i'll write a mini-review about that, or a network searching article.
Anyway try it out, and maybe a less hassle solution would be better for you.

54

General Software Discussion / Re: Calendar Math, which language to use?

« on: December 26, 2008, 08:36 PM »

looked at remind. compiled and ran for cygwin. You are right, it is a bit complex to use, still the more you know the better?

kovi2 the output looks great, but as i suspected if you write an app it will work only in limited circumstances (currently have slider only for saturdays), but never mind. I think izeit will have to do for now. Thanks a lot guys. You were great!

55

General Software Discussion / Re: Calendar Math, which language to use?

« on: December 25, 2008, 09:53 PM »

Hmmm... that sounds great... how did you propose the question to mathematica? Will i have to learn a specialized syntax? Can you show the example above...
also can it output a calendar with the dates highlighted?

-vixay (December 25, 2008, 12:09 AM)

The syntax would be easy: you want to have the first Sats from each month, you can use SelectDays[2009, {Saturday}, 1] or the one before the last one then SelectDays[2009, {Saturday}, -2] (as such -1 means the last one). The calendar output can also be solvable as my time permits. But I see iZeist could better be your choice.

-kovi2 (December 25, 2008, 06:49 AM)

You know this is very close to the question I'd proposed in the first post. So it does seem good. I also recently saw some article about mathematica's awesome image processing capabilities so maybe this is a worthwhile tool to have around... i'll have to check it out. Thanks for the info, and let me know if you come across the calendar output.

/EDIT

I checked it out, mathematica retails for $1,750, so it's not a good idea unless you already have access to it . However it does have a  Free Mathematica player, maybe if you create a "notebook" we can play with it in the player? I don't know how it really works. But apparently you can publish apps in it.

56

General Software Discussion / Re: Calendar Math, which language to use?

« on: December 25, 2008, 03:40 AM »

I checked out iZeist and it does seem to work well... I used the demo, and that's great for trying it out temporarily... and the whole calendar display also works fabulously. You just have to create a new event for each calculation

Check out the screenshots of the various operations they support






BUT the output is limited only to GUI (i.e. display),
How to get other output? I guess you could export it to iCal format ...etc.!

I'm still open to other command line based or other options.

57

General Software Discussion / Re: Calendar Math, which language to use?

« on: December 25, 2008, 12:09 AM »

Would a webservice or a webpage be useful for you? In the next weeks I'm planning to start my page with some interesting features. This could be one of them.

Btw. your questions can easily be answered with Mathematica (maybe not a usual choice for this, but I do almost everything in Mathematica )
Eg. the first one: {{2009,1,3},{2009,2,7},{2009,3,7},{2009,4,4},{2009,5,2},{2009,6,6},{2009,7,4},{2009,8,1},{2009,9,5},{2009,10,3},{2009,11,7},{2009,12,5}}

-kovi2 (December 24, 2008, 05:08 PM)

Hmmm... that sounds great... how did you propose the question to mathematica? Will i have to learn a specialized syntax? Can you show the example above...
also can it output a calendar with the dates highlighted?

Izeit, sounds interesting let's take a look.

I think in excel and vba, it would be hard to design an input language for dates... and allow for all possibilities... but you are welcome to try.

Even thought of AHK, but no clear idea there either.

But thanks for the great suggestions guys.... one important thing is the ease of use as well, since this isn't a frequent operation....

58

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« on: December 23, 2008, 11:14 PM »

woohoo!
My vote counts!
I just switched my vote from Copernic to Locate, since I've absolutely stopped using Copernic and use Locate exclusively now, and now Locate is number 1

Anyway to answer some other questions, performance is the key difference between content based search and filename search.

Ex. My copernic database was about 500 MB in size for my 250GB harddrive... and this is because i'd included name only indexing for a whole bunch of folders (almost my entire drive)...

My locate database is about 20MB for all filenames in entire hard drive. (didn't check what it is for "everything" program, i assume smaller though)

Copernic's indexer run's almost all the time while idle, while locate i run once everyday during lunch and doesn't take more than 5 minutes (including scanning network drives)...

those are the performance considerations, but they do offer different things. I think the best combo now is probably CDS + Locate/Everything.

59

General Software Discussion / Calendar Math, which language to use?

« on: December 23, 2008, 10:52 PM »

Hey all,

 I have a curious problem, and i was wondering if you have any insight on how this can be solved.

We have a rule at our office to have every 1st and 3rd saturday off for each month. And occasionally i need to do some arbitrary calendar math as well. I was wondering if there's any software out there (or a scripting language) that has excellent support for this? For example... If I should type

Print (1st Saturday of each month in 2009)
output: 2009-01-03, 2009-02-07 ...etc.
or calendar output: Show the calendar with all the selected dates circled/highlighted.

Select (Last Weekend (Sat & sun) of each month in 2009)


...etc.

Have any of you come across any such program, scripting language ...etc? That makes calendar/date manipulation easY? As a bonus if it could display calendars with the operations it would be great!

60

Living Room / Re: Flash Tower Defense Game of the Week: Viking Defense

« on: December 23, 2008, 03:59 AM »

played it...

couldn't finish the last level. Damn you for wasting my day! And i haven't discovered what the last combat or magic tower is.

Strategies i've found that worked (Catapult + R rune (homing)) is very good for ground units (Floating and underwater), I usually use 4+ each map (later maps lots! due to lots of cash)....

You need to keep using the Platform ability everytime it becomes available else you can't win some levels, (allows placing more towers, creating bottlenecks ..etc).

Falcons plus H rune (damage increase) are awesome at late levels for bosses and all. I use 5+ at the end. Air is the bigger challenge in the end, have to use the special ability axe on them...

61

General Software Discussion / Re: How can I dual boot between Vista and XP?

« on: December 22, 2008, 09:46 PM »

here's another reference for future knowledge seekers..
http://apcmag.com/ho...with_screenshots.htm


I have found this guide to be quite useful

62

DC Gamer Club / Re: The Best Gaming Moments of 2008

« on: December 22, 2008, 09:35 PM »

I had a good blast with GTA4 but that's finished now and I don't think the multiplayer has enough grown up people playing it Also Fallout3 and at the moment Puzzle Quest which I discovered earlier this week (and world of warcraft bejeweled addon)

-justice (December 16, 2008, 03:16 AM)

Sigh... gaming is my one addiction, don't get me started, but suffice to say i followed all the lead titles, but the latest game i played and most fun was Psychonauts... i know it's old, but it's a fabulous piece of art ... and King's Bounty, i'm addicted to that.

I was addicted to Puzzle quest for a while too... i even wrote a bot for it just to get over the tedious parts and get to the fun ones....  ... try it  and let me know...

http://www.autohotke...ghlight=puzzle+quest

63

General Software Discussion / Re: "XPLinux" Running Windows XP and Kubuntu on one joint desktop

« on: December 10, 2008, 02:13 AM »

Anyone want to post a new guide for me? Got a new laptop and wanted to try this, isn't there a nice portable solution for this?
Three choices so far

• Cygwin
• CoLinux
• Xming + VMWare/Virtualbox

Which one works now?

64

Find And Run Robot / Re: FARR Error : Entry Point Not found.

« on: November 09, 2008, 11:20 PM »

The problem stopped for me after one of the updates. I don't know what fixed it, or what caused it ...
Can you copy and paste the message box next time you have the problem? (Just hit Ctrl+C once the message box has popped up, it's a windows trick).

Maybe the dll in the which the error occurs gives a clue?

65

Living Room / Re: One answered question before you died

« on: October 09, 2008, 12:12 AM »

Did I make a (positive) difference?

i believe the answer to be true, , but i would be open to judgment from a higher entity, subject to debate of course

66

Post New Requests Here / Re: NW IDEA: Drive to open on Dated folder

« on: September 17, 2008, 03:52 AM »

Here's a script I've been using for myself to open/create(if it doesn't exist) a dated folder in a particular directory (called Open Today.vbs )
It's long because I had to add Date formatting functions to it. I am just posting it here as an alternative for the other inquiring minds. The AHK solution is so much simpler , but this might be useful when you need it in a pinch. This could easily be customized to accept arguments as well.

Save as Open Today.vbs

Code: Visual Basic [Select]

1. Dim sNow, strDateTime, sPath, sFinalPath
2. 'sPath = "PUT YOUR FOLDER NAME BELOW"
3. sPath = "C:\YourFolder"
4.  
5. 'TESTING CODE
6. sNow = Replace(Replace(Now(),"/","-"),":",".")
7. sNow = Year(Date) & Month(Date) & Day(Date)'& MonthName(Date)
8. 'Wscript.Echo sNow
9. 'Wscript.echo FormateDateTime(Date(),vblongdate)
10. 'END TESTING CODE
11.  
12. 'Generate Full PathName
13. 'strDateTime = formatDate("%g:%i%a, %l %j%O %F, %Y", UDate(Now()))
14. strDateTime = formatDate("%Y-%m %M\%Y-%m-%d\", Now())
15. sNow = formatDate("%Y-%m %M\", Now())
16. 'Wscript.echo strDateTime
17. sFinalPath = sPath & strDateTime
18.  
19. 'Create the folder if it doesn't exist
20. On Error Resume Next
21. Dim fso
22. Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
23. If Not fso.FolderExists(sFinalPath) Then
24. 'Check Subfolder level and create those first?
25.         If Not fso.FolderExists(sPath & sNow) Then fso.CreateFolder(sPath & sNow)
26.         Wscript.echo "Creating: " & sFinalPath
27.         fso.CreateFolder(sFinalPath)
28. End If
29. If (Err.Number <> 0) Then
30.         Wscript.Echo "Error creating folder! " & Err.Number & " :" & Err.Description
31.         Err.Clear
32.         On Error GoTo 0
33.         Wscript.Quit
34. Else
35. End If
36. On Error GoTo 0
37.  
38. 'Open the folder
39. Dim shAppObj
40. If MsgBox( "Open Folder?" & vbcrlf & sFinalPath, vbYesNo + vbQuestion, "Create\Open Folder?") = vbYes Then
41.         Set shAppObj = nothing
42.         Set shAppObj = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
43.         shAppObj.Run "explorer " & sFinalPath
44. End If
45. Set shAppObj = nothing
46. Wscript.Quit   
47.  
48. 'Recursively create parent folders if they do not exist
49. 'Sub CreateMissingFolders(strPath)
50. 'Dim fso, sParent
51. 'Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
52. 'If Not fso.FolderExists(strPath) Then
53. 'Check Subfolder level and create those first?
54. '       sParent = Mid(1,
55. '       CreateMissingFolder()
56. '       Wscript.echo sFinalPath
57. '       fso.CreateFolder(strPath)
58. 'End If
59. 'End sub
60.  
61. Function unUDate(intTimeStamp)
62. unUDate = DateAdd("s", intTimeStamp, "01/01/1970 00:00:00")
63. end Function
64.  
65. Function UDate(oldDate)
66. UDate = DateDiff("s", "01/01/1970 00:00:00", oldDate)
67. end Function
68.  
69. Function formatDate(format, intTimeStamp)
70. Dim monthname()
71. Redim monthname(12)
72. monthname(1) = "January"
73. monthname(2) = "February"
74. monthname(3) = "March"
75. monthname(4) = "April"
76. monthname(5) = "May"
77. monthname(6) = "June"
78. monthname(7) = "July"
79. monthname(8) = "August"
80. monthname(9) = "September"
81. monthname(10) = "October"
82. monthname(11) = "November"
83. monthname(12) = "December"
84.  
85. dim unUDate, A
86.  
87. dim OriginalLocale
88. dim res
89. OriginalLocale = GetLocale
90. res = SetLocale("en-gb")
91.  
92. ' Test to see if intTimeStamp looks valid. If not, they have passed a normal date
93. if not (isnumeric(intTimeStamp)) then
94. if isdate(intTimeStamp) then
95. intTimeStamp = DateDiff("S", "01/01/1970 00:00:00", intTimeStamp)
96. else
97. response.write "Date Invalid"
98. exit function
99. end if
100. end if
101.  
102. if (intTimeStamp=0) then
103. unUDate = now()
104. else
105. unUDate = DateAdd("s", intTimeStamp, "01/01/1970 00:00:00")
106. end if
107.  
108. unUDate = trim(unUDate)
109.  
110. 'bug fix for midnight problems
111. If (Len(unUDate) <= 11) Then unUDate = Trim(unUDate) & " 00:00:00"
112.  
113. dim startM : startM = 1
114. dim startD : startD = InStr(startM, unUDate, "/")+1
115. dim startY : startY = InStr(startD, unUDate, "/")+1
116. dim startHour : startHour = InStr(startY, unUDate, " ")+1
117. dim startMin : startMin = InStr(startHour, unUDate, ":")+1
118. dim startSec : startSec = InStr(startMin+1, unUDate, ":")+1
119. dim dateMonth : dateMonth = mid(unUDate, startD, ((startY - 1) - startD))
120. dim dateDay : dateDay = mid(unUDate, 1, ((startD - 1) - 1))
121. dim dateYear : dateYear = Year(unUDate)
122. dim dateHour : dateHour = mid(unUDate, startHour, ((startMin - startHour) - 1))
123. dim dateMinute : dateMinute = mid(unUDate, startMin, 2)
124. dim dateSecond : dateSecond = mid(unUDate, InStr(startMin, unUDate, ":") + 1, 2)
125.  
126. format = replace(format, "%Y", right(dateYear, 4))
127. format = replace(format, "%y", right(dateYear, 2))
128. format = replace(format, "%m", dateMonth)
129. format = replace(format, "%n", cint(dateMonth))
130.  
131. ' Response.Write CStr(cint(dateMonth))
132. ' Response.Flush
133.  
134. format = replace(format, "%F", monthname(cint(dateMonth)))
135. format = replace(format, "%M", left(monthname(cint(dateMonth)), 3))
136. format = replace(format, "%d", dateDay)
137. format = replace(format, "%j", cint(dateDay))
138. format = replace(format, "%h", mid(unUDate, startHour, 2))
139. format = replace(format, "%g", cint(mid(unUDate, startHour, 2)))
140.  
141. if (cint(dateHour) > 12) then
142. A = "PM"
143. else
144. A = "AM"
145. end if
146. format = replace(format, "%A", A)
147. format = replace(format, "%a", lcase(A))
148.  
149. if (A = "PM") then format = replace(format, "%H", Right("00" & dateHour - 12, 2))
150. format = replace(format, "%H", dateHour)
151. if (A = "PM") then format = replace(format, "%G", left("0" & cint(dateHour) - 12, 2))
152. format = replace(format, "%G", cint(dateHour))
153.  
154. format = replace(format, "%i", dateMinute)
155. format = replace(format, "%I", cint(dateMinute))
156. format = replace(format, "%s", dateSecond)
157. format = replace(format, "%S", cint(dateSecond))
158. format = replace(format, "%L", WeekDay(unUDate))
159. format = replace(format, "%D", left(WeekDayName(WeekDay(unUDate)), 3))
160. format = replace(format, "%l", WeekDayName(WeekDay(unUDate)))
161. format = replace(format, "%U", intTimeStamp)
162. format = replace(format, "11%O", "11th")
163. format = replace(format, "1%O", "1st")
164. format = replace(format, "12%O", "12th")
165. format = replace(format, "2%O", "2nd")
166. format = replace(format, "13%O", "13th")
167. format = replace(format, "3%O", "3rd")
168. format = replace(format, "%O", "th")
169.  
170. formatDate = format
171. res = SetLocale(OriginalLocale)
172.  
173. End Function

Edit: Fixed typo

67

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: Locate32 Plugin for FARR by Okke

« on: September 16, 2008, 05:48 AM »

WebUI for locate32

I'd asked Janne (author of locate32) first and s/he (?) said they are not interested in developing it, so i figured i'd ask the community.

Anybody here wants to take a crack at it or figure out a way to use it online? This would make Network deployments a gazillion times easier! I find that it's easier to train users to search online, and then find files even if they were not on the PC.

Can you think of this idea and let me know how hard you think it'd be? since you there's already a command line based client, maybe something could be done to make it work in an AJAX like style online? A plugin perhaps? Suggestions ..etc welcome!

68

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Allign desktop icons to right

« on: September 15, 2008, 06:41 AM »

I think those solutions still don't answer his basic question as to whether you can force windows to put icons in another position by DEFAULT (rather than the top left corner). That is an interesting question, and i wonder if windows can be that flexible.

As far as solutions go, then the above are good potential solutions, though with the restore options it won't help with newly created icons... they WILL go to the top left! (A strategy i use to find new icons on desktop, that's why i put my used icons on the right and keep the left blank )

An idea would be to create a few transparent icons to reserve those spaces... and thus the new icons would appear below them... what do you think?

69

Living Room / Re: Flame Warriors

« on: September 12, 2008, 05:37 AM »

that site was hilarious  .... i don't know which category i'd fall under, I guess i'm still trying to discover it, considering it hasn't been long since i started posting anywhere...

But the card graphic was pretty cool, is there a collection of the card graphics?

70

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: YourFonts - Generate a font based on your handwriting

« on: September 08, 2008, 06:25 AM »

Cool! What made you change your mind and make it free?

71

Living Room / Re: Hey, Fonts experts...

« on: September 03, 2008, 11:38 PM »

try this
http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/

didn't get too much of a useful result

http://www.myfonts.c...f60099a6f205057fc690

search google for more, i remember seeing a bunch of sites like this

72

Living Room / Re: What do you do during your free time?

« on: September 01, 2008, 06:50 AM »

games (right now it's Overlord!), tv shows, reading/audio book (for those time when away from a pc or in transit, like i'll be tomorrow, just finishing up the Dark Tower series (I didn't like it that much), going to start ender's game), coding, trying to improve everyone else' computing experience around me (i.e. recommending FARR & locate & AHK)..., biking occassionally, being hyper at times (these are the most fun periods ).
since involved in a big family, oftentimes it's just spending time with family.

Though I agree that games & TV are somewhat a wasted mindshare (there was that wikipedia article right? i forget the term for that, thought-hours? you know about how much thinking time is wasted on TV ...etc.), but i find it hard to motivate myself to work for something if someone isn't going to be happy at the end and shower me with praise ... it seems that it's the only thing that motivates me to a 100%

73

General Software Discussion / Re: Your most used SPECIAL programs

« on: August 29, 2008, 12:19 AM »

@ vixay - regarding Synergy: Can you disable / modify the common screensaver start/stop feature, so you have one or more screensavers running while you are working on one of the other screens at the same time?

-Curt (August 21, 2008, 06:03 PM)

Yes, you can, I disable the common screensaver and it works fine for me no problem  .

74

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: YourFonts - Generate a font based on your handwriting

« on: August 27, 2008, 12:12 AM »

For those with a Tablet PC, there's apparently a free software from microsoft to do the same thing. I haven't tried it, but it might be a decent alternative...

My Font Tool http://office.micros...rigin=HA011408961033 converts your handwriting into a TrueType font, making typed text appear written by hand.

i got it from the blog http://bhandler.spac...910C9F7F3!1231.entry

75

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Re: Screenshot aliases using MiniCap

« on: August 24, 2008, 11:57 PM »

How about a capture region, autosave, and copy file to clipboard? Useful again for forum posts.

-vixay (August 23, 2008, 05:45 AM)

Any suggestion where such a file should be saved? something like %MYDOCUMENTS%\My Pictures\screenshots\ ?
Or how about %MYDOCUMENTS%\My Pictures\screenshots\forum or %MYDOCUMENTS%\My Pictures\screenshots\temp ?

As these sorts of screenshots wouldn't need to be kept, I'm not sure where the best place to save them would be... Guess the advanced version would be to have some other app automatically delete it after 5 minutes or so

Edit: Currently there is the "Capture to clipboard" command, that does open the save-dialog but is good for forum posting and similar.

-TucknDar (August 23, 2008, 03:11 PM)

%Temp% is ideal
it will get cleared eventually... either by windows, CCleaner or some other utility...

I was wondering if it's possible to pass a parameter to +mcap +clip such that it will add the -clipimagepath to the commandline... then you don't need to make new custom aliases and instead can just pass the parameter through....

hmmm.... maybe a +mcap clipimagepath -> minicap.exe blah blah blah $$1 -exit