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Messages - steeladept [ switch to compact view ]

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226
Developer's Corner / Re: How to program for all 3 platforms at once
« on: January 03, 2011, 06:13 PM »
I think the component market is one of the most important though. I'd rather buy functionality that performs better than I could do from experts in the field than fart around trying to half-ass it. C# and Java have good component markets, but I really don't know how the Java desktop component market is. Anyone know?
I know that it exists, and that is kind of saying something since I am not a programmer - well not really anyway  ;).  I can't talk to the quality of it, however.  I have a few vendors that send me info on it at work because they know my company is a Java shop and they send their advertising to anyone who has an email in that domain.  It is annoying because I don't know how they got my email - my guess is I downloaded a white-paper or something - but they do stop when I send the request to stop, so I can't complain too much.  I just wish companies would stop advertising these white-papers that are just advertisements themselves, then force you to register just to find out that it is an advertisement.  I have stopped getting any white-papers I need to register for because of that. >:(

227
N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Release: TaskDaddy Release
« on: January 02, 2011, 04:49 AM »
To support future features, I think I need to test for not only the first character but the second as well. If it is a double quote then we have a string that can have whitespace in it. This would have several important benefits. I could say:

@"Waiting For" - supporting categories with spaces
#"next Friday" - supporting due dates with spaces still no luck in finding a document with all the Outlook "shortcuts" for due dates btw
:"task bodies can have spaces already" - no known benefit that I can think of

I think this is a good idea for other reasons too, though.  It makes it more transparent how things are parsed, and therefore easier for a user to create and/or read.  In other words, it just makes sense.
@ = category
# = date
: = body
" " = data
Once this is recognized as data, it is kinda like a comment - everything in between is ignored so any kind of character can be put in and utilized.  It also makes your data structures a little easier to handle as the space becomes your delimiter (unless it is between quotes) and the special character becomes your identifier.  Now that I think of it this way, programming it in Java (the only language I know with any semblance of depth) seems relatively easy to do.  Of course I bet you thought the same thing but with AutoIT when you started the project. ;D  I don't know what kind of string handling AutoIT has, but I know Java supports a rather rich set of string handling operations as does .Net languages, no doubt.  Perhaps one of those options would work better, unless you know C++ well already.

228
General Software Discussion / Re: pin a document to start menu
« on: January 02, 2011, 02:59 AM »
I know I am more than a little late getting here, but it was the Cautomation thread that led me here anyway, so here is my question -

Isn't this what hardlinks are for?  I am not real familiar with them, but from my understanding a softlink is essentially the generic term for shortcut as described and working with them like this is weak at best.  Hardlinks, from my understanding, provide an actual local file that you could pin against, but then the hardlink would then automatically redirect the data to the actual file location instead of the hardlink.  I am a little fuzzy on this, so perhaps I have a skewed understanding of it, but it is worth looking into as a solution that is much more robust.

Or maybe I am just looney... :huh:

229
N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Release: NetLaunch
« on: January 02, 2011, 12:27 AM »
Yea.  Final release 1.0. is done(ish?)!  Okay, so none are as happy as you.   :P

Sorry the screencast results were never posted.  I lost my Hard Drive to a corruption sometime around the end of November and had to rebuild the PC and start over.  Not all is lost, though, and this final release lets me make a new screencast with what I learned from the original.  I will try to have it up tomorrow or the next day here.

230
YEA.  NANY Day!

231
Living Room / Re: Can we compare file transfer protocols?
« on: December 12, 2010, 12:43 AM »
Okay, I will give it a go:

FTP -
Pros - Quick and easy to set up.
         Basic command line client built into most (all?) Operating Systems
         Fairly easy to navigate and manage files
         Secure protocol extensions available
         May be used for direct point to point connections

Cons - New connection per transfer
          No real flow control e.g. easily corrupted files if transfer is interrupted (though there are some programs to
             mitigate this through resuming techniques).
          Not all clients support all protocol variants, especially secure variants

VPN -
Pros - Secured and/or Encrypted connections (by definition, otherwise it isn't "Private")
         Can be set up to break all other connections (prevents bridging attacks on a network)
         Full access to ALL domain resources once authenticated (more than just file transfers)
         Fairly reliable connection once established (compared to other remote access technologies)
         VPN servers built into many routers, both commercial and personal/consumer grade to minimize difficulties

Cons - Very difficult to set up, even worse to set up properly
          Requires a separate client that may not even be supported on all OS's
          Can be difficult to troubleshoot where the connection issue exists (client, OS, internet, or Server)
          Requires a Domain (or other network authentication mechanism - not built into VPN)
          VPN server required to control connection to network (though one built into routers can be used for
              small or basic services as stated in Pro section).


I think this covers most or all that I can think of.  VPN has many more Pros and Cons, but that is to be expected since it provides more services/features. 

232
Living Room / Re: Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality
« on: December 10, 2010, 08:03 PM »
I find this hilarious because I have seen both sides.  Of course I have seen the side argued here many times; but when I worked my way through college, I worked at the Olive Garden as a waiter.  You would not believe how many people believed our advertised food (brought out on a tray) was fake.  Many of these same people would grab for them and then the surprise on their face was priceless when they learned they had to go to the washroom to clean the food off their hands.  LOL...

Management hated it because it caused so much waste - they often had to remake the display after each such encounter, but we rarely prevented it - it was just too hilarious.  Does go to show how ingrained it is in our head that it can't really look that good when served though.

233
Living Room / Re: Can we compare file transfer protocols?
« on: December 10, 2010, 07:45 PM »
I am no network expert, but I really think you are ignoring a lot of the reasons WHY the disconnections occur.  Moreover, you are not considering the difficulty in even setting up a basic connection, let alone what you are looking for.  FTP as a protocol, from my understanding, is a point to point connection for a file or files.  You define what you want sent and it sends it.  It builds the header file, sends the data, and reconstructs it on the other end.  Once that is done the session is closed.  If it doesn't close, the other end doesn't know the transmission is complete and it never rebuilds the bits in the correct order. (Maybe someone else can explain it better/correctly).

Other protocols, such as HTTP will appear to keep the connection open, but in reality just burst data in a similar manner.  The problem here is latency and data control.  Data can not handle disruption of the data stream without corruption.  Even on a LAN this can be an issue.  This becomes even more severe when you go from system to system and perhaps (even probably) from system structure to system structure.  Sure the protocol is the same, but system requirements make implementation(s) different and therefore, potentially, less than perfectly compatible.

Then you have multiple networks to deal with, any one of which can break (or be broken) at any time outside of your control.  I work as a Network Monitor (among other duties) for my company and it is a rare day when we don't have some sort of WAN outage, not to mention the numerous LAN outages somewhere in our network.  That is why there is so much redundancy built in, and to build that in costs a LOT of money.

So what does this all have to do with your request?  Well first off, it means ANY solution that fits what you want is very likely going to be rather complicated to set up.  Moreover, how much control do you need/want and how much would you want/need for the other users?  From my initial readings I would say VPN is likely the way for you to go, but perhaps something like HTTP using a web sharing interface (like SkyDrive, et. al.) would work better?  Does it have to integrate directly into your file manager?  You seem to imply it should.  If so, then the VPN is again the way to go (or something REALLY crazy like VDI, but that is way over the top just to integrate file sharing...).  Perhaps just having a drive letter assigned to a file would work with something like DropBox?  Don't know if you can do that, but there are some services out there you can (or at least could - I used to have one but can't remember the service anymore - I think it was SkyDrive before they got bought by Microsoft, but I could be way off base).  Even if that works, though, it still would not have an always on connection like a LAN drive.  If you are not fond of even that kind of speed and insist that it should be instant, like a local folder, well then I give up.  I can't even imagine any system capable of that across the internet without dedicated off-line wires going to each computer in the network.  Again, I am no expert, and I may have a lot of this slightly (or not so slightly) wrong, but I am sure others can correct this.  Never the less, I can say the options I presented are as close as I can come to a suggestion and why I think you are over-simplifying your request.

234
I spend most of my time swapping hats faster that a kleptomaniac octopus at a haberdashery.
;D ;D ;D :Thmbsup: Love it!

235
Rover beat me to it, but I would look at more than EC2.  Since you already are planning on ESXi as your basis, there are A LOT of cloud providers that can provide temporary DR/HA capabilities for a price.  I don't know details (never needed to research it before) but I know that is one of the selling points for the cloud.  And in almost every case, they do this by leveraging VMware.  There are a few exceptions - Microsoft's Hyper-V is used by a few vendors, for example, but by and large you can copy and drop your entire environment to their service to accomplish these capabilities at a fraction of the cost.  I have even heard of companies who complete a real world, proven, DR plan in minutes because they have an off-site SAN replicated in real-time (or near real-time) that provides the VM data to remote machines.  Granted they still pay a lot, for VMware ESX if nothing else, but it is possible.

I am just saying that if you are looking at DR (backup) and HA-like abilities, and since you are already talking ESXi as your platform, consider looking into a hosted service option as your temporary site if/when you need to implement these features.

236
Living Room / Re: Five Reasons Why People Hate Apple
« on: December 03, 2010, 10:41 AM »
Good point, f0dder. The transfer I made was via Windows Explorers - as stated, I had/have a loathing for iTunes that borders on irrational and am very hesitant to install it on my compter. I'm glad you brought this point up, actually, because it means that I'll be extra vigilant as another friend's son has asked me to help him update his iPod Touch to iOS 4.2. My plan was to install iTunes, update him, and uninstall iTunes. I might try doing it in XP Mode, which will hopefully minimzie the risk to both his music collection and my computer! Doubt it, though... I'll just have to be VERY careful to set iTunes up properly before doing this for him.
Even better than trying XP Mode (IMO) is to install VirtualBox, create a Microsoft XP VM, install iTunes on that, and then when you go to remove it all, you can delete it all in one go.  Moreover, VirtualBox uninstalls much cleaner than iTunes if you want to get rid of that too (though it is quite useful for a myriad of things beyond iTunes  :D)

237
Living Room / Re: What's a great dvd/bluray/everything player?
« on: December 02, 2010, 05:01 AM »
Can't talk to the blueray part, but I know I got a really nice, cheap, DVD player that plays everything else including DivX format.  It was from Phillips and it was something like $50.  The build quality wasn't the best, but it works great.  The only issue I had was that I tried using the RGB out since my TV supports that (to keep open another input), and the output was all blue!  They had something messed up in the wiring.  I took it back and exchanged it, but the same thing happened on the next one.  I figure it was either a screwup at the plant, or mismatched specs.  Either way I just went with the standard component output instead and it has been working great ever since.  If they offer a Blueray version of it, I wouldn't hesitate to suggest it for price/performance, but don't be surprised if you have to work to get it setup just right if you don't use the most common setup.

238
General Software Discussion / Re: RSSOwl Alternative?
« on: December 02, 2010, 03:23 AM »

Also might consider syncing your list with GoogleReader (*choke*) for when you're not @home and don't have your own PC with you.  :)

8)

I thought that was what FirefoxPortable was for.  Load the extension into FP and off you go.... :P

239
Living Room / Re: Should I buy a tablet pc, ipad, netbook, or other?
« on: December 02, 2010, 02:50 AM »
I do agree on the screen lock issue- seems pretty boneheaded, especially since the switch doesn't even operate like the iPhone (on the phone, it's a rocker sort of mechanism as opposed to the switch on the iPad. 

Actually it looks exactly like the volume switch on my iPod Touch (3G / 3GS equivalent components).

240
Living Room / Re: Should I buy a tablet pc, ipad, netbook, or other?
« on: December 02, 2010, 02:47 AM »
Wifi issues.  The wifi connectivity is not as smooth as I have come to expect from Apple.  It's not bad, nowhere near as bad as Windows.  but it does ask for my password when I've already put it in.  usually, when I've been going around using multiple access points.  And, like my search on Windows, there aren't any really awesome wifi managers out there.  Man, I'd kill to have a great wifi manager on either Windows or the ipad.  But that's another story.

Good luck.  I had a great one for my iPod Touch that was subsequently removed and is now unavailable from iTunes (not sure if it was Apple or developer caused, but antidotal evidence points to Apple as the culprit).  It isn't made for the iPad, but will probably work for it if you can get it installed.  It is called WiFiTrak from Bitrino.  Haven't found anything comparable on iTunes or Cydia.  If you do find something, though, particularly on Cydia, then it is another reason to Jailbreak.  Personally I am seriously considering doing so to tether my laptop to the 3G network...Apple doesn't allow those apps.

241
Me too.  I use iTunes by default, but what you are asking for sounds perfect.   BTW:  The latest iTunes FINALLY fixed my podcast stutters by creating a larger stream cache before playing.  I can't believe it took them 2 years to figure that one out...I asked how to adjust it somewhere around day 15 when I first tried it...

242
I find this strange, and I know you said you don't like it, but the Intel Proset Wireless has had ALL those features for at least 3 years.  And the interface isn't as busy, so you may not see all the features in your face like that apple app, but they are there and very easy to use.  Indeed, they even provide a wizard to make initial setup a breeze.  That said, the Intel Proset/Wireless software package is the only one I know that does what you ask, but obviously you don't like the setup of that so....I guess I really don't have anything to add.... :-\

243
I see a lot of people suggest w3schools, but I found them rather obtuse, personally.  I found, for me, a MUCH better site that teaches HTML and CSS at the same time but as separate subject (a truly intuitive way to learn it if you ask me) is at HTMLDog.  It goes over all the current tags, some of the depreciated ones you may run across (and why not to use them), and how to accomplish what those tags attempted in a better, standardized way.  It truly has been the best gem site I have ever run across for HTML and CSS.  I anxiously await the update whenever a new version of either standard gets published.  Honestly, this quote from the site says it all:

What makes HTML Dog different to the vast majority of HTML guides and tutorials out there is its focus on best practices. "Web Standards" are at its heart, which, to cut a long story short, is all about using technologies, such as HTML and CSS, in the right way - as defined by their founding fathers and guardian angels - The World Wide Web Consortium (or W3C for short).

This might sound a little bit over zealous, but it isn't about following rules for the sake of it - there are immense tangible practical benefits. I'm talking about cleaner, future-proof code that is accessible to users with disabilities, can be maintained more easily and quickly, and will result in much lighter pages that download that much quicker.

This might also sound a bit daunting to the uninitiated, but it's all quite easy, really. Honestly. Give the tutorials a shot.

The most common way of learning HTML still seems to be to learn it the old, non-standard hack way and then, if so inclined, to learn about web standards at a later date. But there's no reason not to teach standards compliant HTML and CSS from the bottom up without saying there's anything special about it - it's just the way it's done. That's the way HTML Dog has always done it, and it's gone down pretty damned well for the millions who have used it.
-HTMLDog

244
Living Room / Re: Jeans pocket - the square-ish one on the right
« on: November 26, 2010, 05:36 PM »
Thanks.  I guess I was too lazy to Wiki it :-\

245
That is what I understood too.  The first idea was more of a work around.  All I could think of for the reason to have it before the OS starts is for the login.  Maybe I missed something there though.  That is why I looked at the second idea.  When you start a machine with a hypervisor on it, it just starts as it is told.  There is no OS's that boot or anything, unless it is told to do so via a script.  If that script started the KVM software, then you could use that to spin up the VM with OS you want on it.  Kind of a pain if you ask me, with very little payback, but it seems doable to me.  Of course this is theoretical.  I don't use software KVMs.... 

246
Living Room / Re: Jeans pocket - the square-ish one on the right
« on: November 26, 2010, 05:27 PM »
A who-what from a where-when?  :tellme:

247
N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011: Ten Timer
« on: November 26, 2010, 05:26 PM »
That covers it then  :Thmbsup:

Guess I should go by more than just the screenshot though.   :-[

248
N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011: Ten Timer
« on: November 26, 2010, 04:51 PM »
Just an idea for consideration....

Often things start at the same time but have different stop times.  There is no way I see to accomplish this now, but perhaps a trivial additional button that would start all times at the same time?  Just thinking out loud.  8)

249
I tend to disagree, though I don't think the solution exists yet in any satisfactory form.  I can think of two solutions - one easy, but very insecure, and one much more difficult - requiring a lot of scripting and maybe full out programming.

The easy route would be to use some sort of autologin at startup and then startup the kvm software at  startup.  This has several distinct disadvantages and is a huge security issue, but would allow you to login to it as requested.

The more difficult route would be to use a hypervisor such as ESXi and use their API to roll some sort of script that would start the program outside the actual machine itself.  If remote access control is an option (instead of using a software KVM) then the control panels that come with the hypervisor should allow ready access independent of any KVM software.  However, that is a very different use case and may not be a good fit for your purposes.  Still, it is something to consider.

250
General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Security Essentials
« on: November 25, 2010, 10:36 PM »
I went through the same issues early this past summer.  I ended up going back to Eset mostly because I use the entire security suite and I don't trust the windows firewall (I know I could get my own elsewhere for free, but it is much easier this way).  If I were going JUST the AV, I would have probably went with MSE.  It was mostly the firewall and other suite features that swayed me back to buy another year of Eset's service.  Of course I am on WinXP still.  If I were on Win7 or even Vista things might have been different....

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