Messages

4551

Living Room / Re: DonationCoder Pocket PC Theme

« on: February 11, 2007, 05:57 PM »

Ruffnekk:

I created a Pocket PC theme based on DonationCoder.

That prompts me to pick the collective brain about Pocket PCs and which it recommends.
See over here: https://www.donation...p?topic=7433.new#new

4552

Living Room / Pocket PCs etc. Which do you personally recommend, having used it yourself?

« on: February 11, 2007, 05:55 PM »

I'd like to ask the collective brain here, at Donation Coder, which devices it recommends.   My hope is to have answers ONLY about devices that the brain has used itself, not about interesting-sounding stuff of which it has no direct experience.

I now use (here comes the collective laugh) a Palm IIIxe.
That's because:

• I can run it from AAA batteries available at any corner store
• It lasts for ages without needing to be recharged in any way
• I have several, so losing one is really no big deal
• My requirements are fairly minimal

This is a list of all that I must have :

• A calendar
• An address book
• Some kind of note-taking/keeping function
• A couple of calculators/converters
• A reminder function
• Some way to secure sensitive data
• Small enough size to fit in shirt pocket

Having laboured mightily in my childhood to learn how to do real, joined-up writing I'd also like to deploy this amazing skill and enjoy handwriting recognition that doesn't depend on letter-by-letter entry or a special, esoteric, pseudo alphabet.

Any expert responses will be much appreciated.

4553

General Software Discussion / Re: Need Program- I need a program to automatically generate notes and reports

« on: February 10, 2007, 07:42 PM »

I'm all too familiar with this message

Chris, you're not saying you get that on The Form Letter Machine are you??

-mouser (February 10, 2007, 12:02 PM)

No, no, relax.  Well... I'd hope not but I don't use it, haven't tried it (might if you paid me enough).
XYplorer, however, fell over whenever I tried to use it.
After some trial and error I found that a context-menu item (Align Icons, as it happens) was in conflict with XYplorer.  I disabled Align Icons and that was the end of the issue.  (Now I simply enable Align Icons when I want to use it and then disable it afterwards.)
Most of us have had this sort of trouble at some time, so I thought it might be an area to investigate regarding Vicki2222's problem.  Of course that may be magical thinking of the kind "The last time this worked properly I'd just fallen down three flights of stairs, so I'd better do so this time..."

And, Darwin, thanks for clarifying what I should have taken the time to explain. You, of course, communicate far more lucidly than I.

4554

Living Room / Re: What is the most useless key on the keyboard

« on: February 10, 2007, 09:33 AM »

i guess numlock doesn't have much use if you don't use the arrow keys on the numpad - who does?

I do.

(Personally, I always find f29 to be a bit of a stretch, though.)

4555

Developer's Corner / Re: Any ideas for a small contest to give away a copy or two of Borland Dev. Stu

« on: February 10, 2007, 09:29 AM »

Crush said:

The police in germany wants to create a trojan-prog to sniff around in everybody´s Computers.

Great jumping turnips!!
What is the world coming to?
If true, surely this can be prevented.
Next it'll be 3 a.m. visits to your house by men in leather coats...

4556

General Software Discussion / Re: Need Program- I need a program to automatically generate notes and reports

« on: February 10, 2007, 09:23 AM »

Vicki222

" Form letter machine exe. has encountered a problem and needs to close"
Not sure how to tell why!!

I'm all too familiar with this message
FWIW
Do you have any non-standard context-menu items?
One of mine caused all kinds of things to fall over.

4557

Older Newsletters / Re: --> Newsletter for February 7th, 2007 - Codename "Helping Hands"

« on: February 10, 2007, 09:10 AM »

I suggest Locate, by Janne Huttunen. Now at v.3.0.7.1210.

Spoiler

Locate 3.0.7.1210 Publisher's Description:
Locate saves names of all files in your hard drives to file database.
After that you can locate files.
This program works like updatedb and locate in Unix systems.
Win32 based locating program also included.

Web page at: http://locate32.webhop.org

This is to express my appreciation of your excellent program, 'Locate'. It was brought to my attention by a knowledgeable group of users on DonationCoder.com.  I find it very useful.  Thanks!

Author contact: http://www.uku.fi/~j...nglish/feedback.html

#2 is not for me (Sign up at the social webpage rating site StumbleUpon.com)

4558

General Software Discussion / Re: If you have to use Vista buy the upgrade version ... a true WindowsSecret

« on: February 09, 2007, 07:56 AM »

So what did I do? I took names of who I talked to and called back, spent 2 hours on the phone, talked to 6 diff people, and now I have a full working key to Windows Vista Ultimate.

-Josh (February 09, 2007, 05:38 AM)

Good for you, well done! 
Mostly I don't have time to pursue issues like this, and it's people like me who let manufacturers skate. You do us all a favour when you follow up on this kind of nonsense.
When I first retired I got into an issue with one major supplier. At that time I was able to point out several satisfying facts.

• A) That I had all the time in the world.
• B) That I can be a bloody-minded S.O.B.
• C) That I was looking for a project.
• D) That they were it.
• E) That before too long they'd do just about anything to be rid of me.

Happily, I prevailed.

4559

General Software Discussion / Re: What Is That Program Called? I Forget!!!

« on: February 09, 2007, 07:39 AM »

What happes when there are two or more text files? 
Is this simply to identify folder contents? 
Sometimes I simply create an empty file, using a name beginning with '0' (zero) and then something that describes folder contents (e.g. 0_Study 3279 July 06). If icons in the folder are arranged by name, XP's native ability to show folder contents displays it first when hovering.  That's usually enough to show me what I need to know about a folder's contents.
Let me know if you find the program for which you're looking.  I'd be interested to try it myself!

edited because I can't express myself clearly, even in my own language 

4560

General Software Discussion / Re: My favorite software! What's yours?

« on: February 09, 2007, 07:33 AM »

Ohh, there is always something to learn, isn't there; now I have to learn macros!   
- a problem being that I can only remember a very few hotkeys.. 

-Curt (February 09, 2007, 01:08 AM)

Yes, always something
The good news is that, even after years and years of developing our own 'quick' ways to do things, it's still possible for each of us to learn a new trick from another user.
With hot keys, luckily for me I adopted a hot-key system ages ago, before many programs had their own internal hot keys.  Then, I set up just about every keyboard key to have multiple functions: natural; natural+ctrl; natural +ctrl-shift; natural+ctrl+shift+alt.... I've moved that 'system' onto every machine I've owned since, so it's automatic for me now, I will try Fastnote on your recommendation, thanks for pointing it out!

4561

General Software Discussion / Re: My favorite software! What's yours?

« on: February 08, 2007, 11:00 PM »

Curt: You can't use a hotkey inside the search-box 'Select Icon File', can you??

Yes, I can use a hot key there, thanks to my favourite macro software. A hot key enters the location of the folder that holds my icon files, and the 'browse button' does the rest of what I need by matching whatever text I begin to enter.  Or, I can jump directly to the folder and then select by eye.

4562

General Software Discussion / Re: What Is That Program Called? I Forget!!!

« on: February 08, 2007, 10:51 PM »

InfoTag Magic is one such

Web page at http://www.contextmagic.com/
Free version download at http://www.contextma...InfoTagFreeSetup.exe

4563

General Software Discussion / Re: My favorite software! What's yours?

« on: February 08, 2007, 12:02 PM »

Curt: I have hardlinked five folders from Pictures > Icons, into System32, so the hole icon replacing process is really fast now.

That's a good idea, hard links are handy. I do it differently: long ago I set up a folder of the icons that I use, so it's always just one source for me...on a hot key.
Quick ways of doing things are very personal, aren't they? What's quick for you might be torture to me, and vice versa.
There's a lot to be learned about how people's brains function by analyzing those kinds of differences (sad to say, mine functions at the speed of treacle pouring over molasses - I need all the help I can get). 

4564

General Software Discussion / Re: Software for planning wood bookcases/cabinets/tables etc?

« on: February 07, 2007, 08:10 PM »

Forgive this old saw but you know the drill.  If you get board I fear this project will be shelved.  Forbidden to post another, you say?  Must be a banned saw.

And, yes, I am without shame.

4565

General Software Discussion / Re: My favorite software! What's yours?

« on: February 07, 2007, 07:58 PM »

Curt: Customize Folder Shell Extension 1.3.14

I agree with you about its appeal.  Been using it for years.  I rely on different folder backgrounds to tell me if I've mistakenly opened the wrong folder   

4566

General Software Discussion / Re: Software for planning wood bookcases/cabinets/tables etc?

« on: February 07, 2007, 11:00 AM »

Mouser: I'm going to be building a full wall-to-wall floor-to-ceiling bookcase.  I have some books that describe the process and equipment and i plan to rent some power tools for a weekend since it seems wastefull to try to buy all this stuff for just one project.  Wish me luck!

I think you'll have more advice than you can handle

Wall-to-wall, floor to ceiling is about as easy as it gets.   

FWIW I'd suggest you consider the following.

• Don't rely on a lumber store to provide you with accurate cuts if you order your lumber pre-cut. Having a lumber merchant do the cutting saves a lot of tine and mess, but only if he's spot-on reliable.
• A radial-arm saw, a router, high-quality cordless drill with spare batteries, and a good, long, carpenter's level. 
• Depending on your construction method, possibly a drill press and/or a dowelling jig.
• If I weren't ripping my own boards, I'd prefer to use a 12" compound mitre saw for cross cutting, if you can fit your boards into its throat. 
• You'll also want a roller support of some kind, adjustable to the same height as whatever variant of table saw you decide to use. 
• I suspect that anyone who's into this will also insist that you need more clamps than you'd ever thought possible...good quality ones, too. You'll need some shim material, also ( easy to make with the compound saw.)

4567

General Software Discussion / Re: Software for planning wood bookcases/cabinets/tables etc?

« on: February 06, 2007, 09:46 PM »

There are a few other basic items on this page... worth a look http://www.woodbin.com/

4568

General Software Discussion / Re: Software for planning wood bookcases/cabinets/tables etc?

« on: February 06, 2007, 09:40 PM »

Depending on how early in the process of selecting lumber you intend to begin, this calculator for board feet might be useful: http://www.newwoodwo...com/ref/brdfeet.html

4569

General Software Discussion / Re: WIndows Vista Ultimate ... worth upgrading ... CNET say no!

« on: January 29, 2007, 06:06 PM »

Carol: if you used Windows XP Backup then VISTA can't read the backup files!

Great Mackerel!  Whatever will they do wrong next?

Did you see that you can no longer just 'upgrade' a clean machine?

4570

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Mini-Review: Rasterbator

« on: January 28, 2007, 11:52 PM »

Hey cthorpe, these are very nice reviews you're doing here, thanks.

Also, it's a relief to learn that if you rasterbate you don't go blind.

4571

N.A.N.Y. Challenge 2007 / Re: Cody Mug for NANY Participants

« on: January 27, 2007, 09:17 AM »

Farmsteader,
Thanks for this handy illustrated tip.  Now I think I see where I've been going wrong. 
While you've been making a monkey out of coding, coding's been making a monkey out of me!  I'll try to ape your style...

4572

General Software Discussion / Re: Your experiences with disc catalogers and most wanted/used features

« on: January 26, 2007, 08:16 PM »

@cranioscopical
I tested Advanced Disc Cataloger 1.51 as you can see in my last post.

I apologize, Crush, for some reason I failed to notice it in your list or I'd not have responded.

For what kind of data do you use it?
File names

How often and which way are you searching?
Once every couple of months,  simple wildcard searches

Do you look at pictures in the preview, look for ID3-Tags for music, type in filetype and a part of the name to search for software?
Pictures, no; tags, no; filename wildcards, yes.

Is there something useful missing or disturbing in the program?
Yes, it's clumsy to catalogue an individual folder as a volume.  If I want to do that (for peculiar reasons of my own, such as writing manageable chunks in DVD-sized collections) I first have to mount the folder as a volume.

4573

General Software Discussion / Re: Your experiences with disc catalogers and most wanted/used features

« on: January 26, 2007, 05:05 PM »

I use and am happy with Advanced Disk Catalog.
Home page is here, with a trial version on offer: http://www.elcomsoft.com/adc.html
Currently it's looking after > 116,000 entries for me.
I've used it for years to keep track of stuff  that "I might need one day."
It's fast and has never let me down.

4574

General Software Discussion / Re: WIndows Vista Ultimate ... worth upgrading ... CNET say no!

« on: January 26, 2007, 04:47 PM »

f0dder:  there's a difference between squeezing the last drop of performance from something and handcoding everything in assembly, which is pretty useless today... and then writing extremely shitty, bloated and buggy code with exponentially inflated resource requirements. Vista is, of course, the latter of the two. The frigging core OS shouldn't eat resources at that rate, resources that are much better spent in your apps/games/etc.

I couldn't agree more!  That said, I still think market forces will take us to VISTA, like it or not.

4575

General Software Discussion / Re: WIndows Vista Ultimate ... worth upgrading ... CNET say no!

« on: January 26, 2007, 08:57 AM »

Like it or not I suspect most of us will be using VISTA in a few years time, if only because of marketing.  How many new-hardware purchasers will specify that they do not want VISTA?  How long before developers specify VISTA as a requirement for new versions of software? 

If "all" it takes to milk good performance from VISTA is more power and resources I'm sure that will happen.  My view on this has changed.  Once I demanded tiny, tight code which crammed quintessential functionality into the fewest bytes.  Realistically, that was because, back then, we hadn't the intellectual and financial resources to deploy plenty of RAM, huge storage, and the processing power to manage it.  We had to wring ultimate performance from every byte.  Is it realistic even to expect that an entire modern OS be written in, say, hand-tuned assembly language?

That said, I shan't rush into VISTA.  XP was the first Windows of which I wan't an early adopter.  I waited a couple of years before moving to it.  (Looking back, I think that wait saved me a lot of trouble.)  Also, I want to see how much of the software I use needs upgrading to run under VISTA.  The total cost of an acceptable OS upgrade can be surprisingly high these days and I want a good return from that investment.