Messages

5101

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox --3.5-- Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« on: July 01, 2009, 02:29 AM »

I prefer Aardvark, (kudos to Mark0), rather than Nuke Anything Enhanced - saves a lot of right-click menu work which I find always annoying.

And rather than Findbar Basics, I just remove the find qualifier, (usually '/'), so that when I start typing, (outside a text box), it starts searching, then F3 to repeat as necessary - the Find bar disappears after a few seconds of no entry or just hit Escape.

The add-ons that I have normally installed:
Aardvark - Override compatibility and it still works.  Let's you remove whatever you don't want on the page temporarily before printing/saving.
Adblock Plus - Gets rid of ads.
Advanced Dork - Highlight a word and search using Google's advanced operators, eg. intitle, link, movie, etc, etc
BugMeNot - Let's you try and access a site using registration someone else has provided.
CustomizeGoogle - Let's me disappear Google ads except when I don't want to as well as a bit of obfuscation.
Download Statusbar - As per Hirudin's post above.
ErrorZilla Mod - Gives a few more options to a failed page load, (I'll probably replace it with ErrorZilla Plus).
FireFTP - A really excellent FTP client, saves me opening a DOpus lister
Forecastfox - Saves me from opening the blinds to see if it's raining.
Greasemonkey - Can make websites so much more than what they are.  Coupled with Greasefire to make finding scripts easier.
Linkification - Converts text links into clickable links.
Nightly Tester Tools
NoScript - Stop unwanted script/Flash from executing.
Speed Dial - Quick access to your most visited sites.
Tab Mix Plus - Make Tabs work the way you want.  You need to get the latest build from the forum.
TrashMail.net - Create disposable email addresses for websites.

5102

Living Room / Re: Torrent Giant, The Pirate Bay sold, will go legal

« on: July 01, 2009, 01:30 AM »

Guess I'll have to finish those *cough* Linux distros *cough* I was downloading a bit earlier than planned.

5103

Living Room / Re: Why The Australian Media Is Just...Awesome

« on: July 01, 2009, 01:15 AM »

I think you're confusing 'tripe presented by airheads for the mentally deficient' with real Australian media.

Honestly, is there really anything worth watching on channels 7, 9 or 10 ?

5104

Living Room / Re: CD archive and copying

« on: June 30, 2009, 09:03 PM »

Just a suggestion: DAEMON Tools Lite (Free for non-commercial use.)

It can image an audio disc and also mount it, as well as other formats.

If you want to check the veracity of it's images then write the image back to a CD on another drive by a different manufacturer and hash/checksum the results using the original reading drive.

It's probably the closest you'll get to what you want without ripping each song using EAC.

It also gives you the option to compress, (compress as in archive not as in lossy), the images to save space.

5105

Living Room / Re: Advice on Netbooks

« on: June 29, 2009, 06:40 PM »

Also for the Aspire One: macles*, 30 Cool Aspire One Hacks and AAOWiki (German).

I also have an AAO, more precisely the AOA-110-Ab which is the 512MB, 8GB SSD based Linpus version in a very nice metallic blue.  Since upgraded to 1.5GB RAM + XP Pro.  This travelled with me during my recent South America/Antarctic/Turkey trip and always worked without a problem, (and if I'd had a few more I could have sold them all at a profit on the ship).

Of all the netbooks available last year, the AAO was considered one of the best, (probably because it's so easy to hack), normally only beaten by the Samsung NC10.

I find the 8.9" screen pretty much perfect for what it's designed to do and as mrainey said, it is sharp and clear - any bigger and I'd probably just get a 13.3" notebook with a lot more grunt at only 1kg heavier.

The SSD that they included with it is an absolute dog wrt to read/write speed - do yourself a favour and get the HDD version.

The 3-cell battery will last approx. 2.25 hours ex. WiFi or 2 hours inc. WiFi.  The charger they supply is lightweight but the mains lead for it is both bulkier and weighs more.  You can, however, now get wall-wart type PSUs for the AAO as well as lighter socket type PSUs, (as opposed to the normal brick type for lighter sockets).

The mousepad buttons are in a rather strange place, off to either side of the pad rather than below but most people end up using a wireless/Bluetooth, (I use a MS 5000 Bluetooth), mouse with them anyway so it's not that big an issue.

Given a choice of all the current netbooks available, would I buy it again ?

Yes, although I'd probably get the HDD version.

I've posted about it a couple of other times here on DC, mainly in regard to using EWF on it:
SSD File System Recommendations
alternatives to firstDefense ISR

5106

Official Announcements / Re: June 2009 Discounts and Giveaway - Winners Posted June 28, 2009

« on: June 28, 2009, 11:44 PM »

Woohoo!!

Look on with envy oh winners¹ of mere software for I have become of the elite Order of the Mug! 

I'd like to thank my parents, my wife and all those that made this momentous occasion possible.



Oh yeah, and mouser 


Disclaimer: Just kidding!

5107

Living Room / Re: Need NAS Enclosure recommendation

« on: June 28, 2009, 07:48 PM »

I am liking that idea 4wd. I might just start asking for tips in configuring my machine

-Josh (June 28, 2009, 06:41 PM)

If you need Gigabit networking then you'll need to install a Gigabit card since the onboard LAN is only 10/100 - you then lose your SATA 4 port card.

An alternative if you need the GigaBit is to use a Addonics SATA port multiplier.  The 5x1 Internal will still give you a total of 6 SATA ports, albeit at a cost of $75.  You might want to email them first and check motherboard SATA controller compatibility with it first.  Although, IIRC, provision for port multipliers is part of the SATA-II specification.

You can always add wireless through the use of a supported USB adapter.

Or, if you don't need Gigabit, use the port multiplier then you have a free PCI slot for a $23 WiFi/BT card so you can use your Logitech Dinovo Edge keyboard, (which you already use for your uber-HTPC), to control it

I just love spending money when it's not mine  

Actually, to keep it a little neater, grab a IDE-to-CF adapter and 2GB CompactFlash card and use the IDE port on the motherboard instead of a 2GB flash drive for the OS.  It will keep everything internal then.

EDIT: Scratch the port multiplier idea, the ICH7 Southbridge doesn't support them.  Only ICH9 and above.

5108

Living Room / Re: Need NAS Enclosure recommendation

« on: June 28, 2009, 06:34 PM »

Be sure to tally up the power requirements of each component in your build. Then do the math to get a correctly sized PS.

-40hz (June 28, 2009, 12:30 PM)

Or let someone else do the math: eXtreme Power Supply Calculator

Why burn out your braincells ?  

Using the combo above plus 4 Green SATA HDDs gives a system power figure of 68W, (which I'd say is pretty close), and it will be less because there will be no keyboard/mouse connected normally.
So a 150W PSU is ample and will actually not be running at peak efficiency since it's well under %80 load all the time.

Once it's set up you could even disable onboard video since you'll be administrating it through the web interface.

I'm not sure it would actually honour the setting if it detects no video card installed since you need some way to display the BIOS if you need to and the only way if it did allow it would be to reset the CMOS and lose all your settings.

5109

Living Room / Re: CD archive and copying

« on: June 28, 2009, 06:23 PM »

I will get back to you if I can play the content of the created ISO with a player like WInAmp, VLC etc.

-Shades (June 28, 2009, 01:41 PM)

VLC will play directly from an ISO without having to mount it - at least it does for DVDs.

5110

Living Room / Re: Need NAS Enclosure recommendation

« on: June 28, 2009, 02:04 AM »

FreeNAS an excellent choice if you don't need all the multimedia bells & whistles. FreeNAS works well with Geexbox too!

Build yourself an inexpensive, energy efficient ITX-based server and you'd be good as gold. Once it's set up you could even disable onboard video since you'll be administrating it through the web interface.

-40hz (June 25, 2009, 07:27 AM)

I'd agree with this - Mini-ITX based server will have more grunt and flexibility than almost any off-the-shelf NAS solution for SOHO application - and it will still cost less.

eg.
Atom based Mini-ITX ~$65 @ Newegg
2GB of RAM             ~$20
4 port SATA PCI       ~$20
Case  + PSU              free  (If you can't find a case for nothing, you ain't looking hard enough )
FreeNAS                   free
2GB Flash drive        ~$10 (To install and run FreeNAS from)

Which only leaves your HDDs which you have to buy anyway - so for ~$115 you end up with a very flexible 0 - 6 disk NAS server, the equivalent price of many single disk dedicated NAS hardware devices.

I've seen a build that consisted of a VIA EPIA Mini-ITX board coupled with an SATA 4 port PCI card and a Addonics 5SA disk array housed in a Shuttle XPC size case running FreeNAS off a CompactFlash card - very nice and very portable.

5111

General Software Discussion / Re: free scaled down word replacment

« on: June 27, 2009, 08:11 PM »

He doesn't like the automatic stuff.  I personally have that turned off as well but he says he has to do it for each document.  I guess I don't understand why he has to do it for each one and I don't.

The school does own Microsoft Works 4.5 for Windows 95.  Maybe I should have him try that.

-techidave (June 26, 2009, 06:58 AM)

Start a new document, set all the options you want, (eg. turn off the auto features), then save it as a template with the name: Normal.dot

This should replace the default one which turns on all the crap so that when you start a new doc the options are set how you want by default.

Another free word processor/spreadsheet: SoftMaker Office 2006 - this is the one I use and you have the option to make it portable.

5112

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: June 25, 2009, 05:13 AM »

..... they should turn lose of the kind of quality programming they (used to have).....

-Stoic Joker (June 24, 2009, 02:09 PM)

Uh oh, you've just made mrainey's hit list by doing the opposite

5113

Living Room / Re: Need NAS Enclosure recommendation

« on: June 25, 2009, 01:22 AM »

Geexbox http://www.geexbox.org/en/index.html - one of the most popular servers out there

LinuxMCE http://linuxmce.com - powerful, elegant, and all inclusive.
There's a great video that walks you through the entire feature set and installation if you'd like a closer look at this media monster. Info and links can be found at  http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Video

MediaTomb http://mediatomb.cc/ - powerful new kid on the block

-40hz (June 24, 2009, 09:06 PM)

You forgot the most obvious: FreeNAS - UPnP and DLNA since 2007

I'd also build my own, it would probably work out cheaper and perform better.

5114

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: June 23, 2009, 06:51 AM »

Of course it does - but I was referring specifically to TV shows. Regular, prime-time, standard broadcast network shows. You know, NCIS (which I love!), Criminal Minds, The Unit, etc., etc.  Not movies.

-J-Mac (June 22, 2009, 02:59 PM)

Ah well, if it's not Dr Who, Torchwood or the WRC I don't watch TV since it's full of nothing else except police shows, cooking shows, talk-back TV (ie. Oprah and her ilk), canned sitcoms or sh!tty "reality" programs.

I guess I can put down TV in general as a major annoyance, especially since the TV programmers in this country are incapable of reading a clock to know when their freakin' programs should stop and start.

5115

Living Room / Re: XP Reinstall - some thoughts - be prepared

« on: June 22, 2009, 02:59 PM »

Just adding to the slipstreaming/integrating bit, the following two links have a lot of Add-ons for commonly used programs, ready to be integrated using nlite.

The first link also has two links to videos on how to do it.

rado354's Add-ons
johndoe74's Add-ons

I would recommend that you possibly not try integrating a firewall, I haven't had any success yet doing it and now just load it after OS install.

5116

Living Room / Re: SSD File System Recommendations

« on: June 22, 2009, 02:46 PM »

My guess is that it uses a filter driver to catch writes going to the flash drive, and imposes a delay on the writes so it has a chance to merge several smaller writes into fewer large ones - since small random writes are what kills performance on most of the flash drives around today. If the developers are smart, they will have gathered data on the write and erase block sizes of the drive, and try to do erase-block size aligned (and sized) writes.

-f0dder (June 22, 2009, 11:08 AM)

Give that man a ceeeggaaarrr! 

From the thread I posted earlier:

Basically, FlashPoint translates small random writes to big sequential writes with RAM buffer to get better write performance.

5117

Living Room / Re: XP Reinstall - some thoughts - be prepared

« on: June 22, 2009, 02:44 AM »

If you do an image before a new install, are you actually using the config files from an "image" perspective, or are you using the image software as simply another way to accomplish the file-to-file copy ? (The type of copy I did with Free Commander).

-Steven Avery (June 21, 2009, 10:59 PM)

Yes and no, I still copy across configs for programs that don't have some kind of import/export function but the image is a kind of safety-net.
I know damn well that I'll forget to copy some program's config file or some esoteric command/batch/program that I've long since forgotten where it came from....in that case, I can just mount the image and copy off what I've forgotten.
Normally, this image will have about a 6 month life span - if I find I haven't used it for the last 6 months, it gets deleted.  Possibly sooner if I'm sure I don't need anything in it.

My Eudora loaded without a hitch.  With some gigs of mail copied over. That is another reason I don't like image programs .. you are unlikely to have "todays mail" in the image.  I'd prefer to retweak settings than lose a half day's mail. Ok, granted, you are supposed to put the data on another partition.

This is where I prefer a portable application, (in my case, Portable Thunderbird), a single directory - copy it where you like, archive it to backup everything, no loss of where it was up to downloading mail if it's moved.  It's just so easy

For fun, before I loaded my Eudora mail back in I did the DriveImageXML, Macrium and Paragon images ... all freebies, after SP3, IE8 and some file manager and browser and very basic installs.  If for some reason I found myself in the same situation in a few weeks, I might try to save a couple of hours with this very early image.

You might find it easier to slipstream in SP3, IE8 and possibly a few of your basic installs.  nlite is just as good as doing simple things like this, as it is at getting into the nitty-gritty of removing half of your OS.

If nothing else, it will knock a good hour off of a re-install just by integrating SP3/IE8.

Addendum: I should mention that my images turn out to be rather small due to the way my drives are organised.  A typical image of the complete OS is about 4-5GB, (this is my current install that's been on here for about 12 months IIRC, and has all the programs I normally use installed), at maximum compression, so I can afford to have a few of them lying around.

5118

Living Room / Re: XP Reinstall - some thoughts - be prepared

« on: June 21, 2009, 09:19 PM »

Personally I think images are overrated.  When your system locks up it is time for a reinstall, not to go back to a cluttered system.  Just have a few tools ready and waiting.

-Steven Avery (June 21, 2009, 06:08 PM)

Same here, even though I have the software, (both TIH11 and now HDMS2009), the only times I actually do an image is:
a) before a reinstall of the system;
b) after a reinstall of the system.

(a) - In case I forgot to grab the settings for a program.
(b) - In case I screw up installing something immediately after re-install.
(c) - When I want to test an OS on real hardware but don't have the inclination to build or drag out and connect another computer.

But since I use mainly portable apps, (a) is less of a problem due to them being all located on a separate partition/drive.

1) UBCD4 for the final saves - if possible

Prefer making my own PE environment, (BartPE/LiveXP/VistaPE/WinPE3), for this because I can include the tools I'm more likely to need as well as one's I have bought that will run from a PE.

2) Install CDs

Make ISO images and store them on an external drive, (or write to a DVD), along with Microsoft Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel - doesn't require installation and all your install discs are then in one place so there's no need to keep swapping discs.

3) Driver .exe - saved with Double Driver (superb) or a comparable program

nlite XP with the MassStorage and LAN DriverPacks included, plus any esoteric hardware for my particular computer - this gives me an OS disc that will install on pretty much any HDD interface and have a network enabled without installing any extra drivers.  Plus specifically tailored to my computer hardware.

Know your installs, your serial numbers (even what release and maybe keep the installer if a paid version) and your passwords.  This can all be in a PIM , depending on your security setup.

Kept in f0dder's fSekrit program and written to the external drive/disc along with the install programs.

EDIT: Added (c) to imaging since I'm in the process of doing it 

5119

General Software Discussion / Re: List of the best available software

« on: June 21, 2009, 06:58 PM »

- the link will trigger some pop-up advert of a kind:

-Curt (June 21, 2009, 04:57 PM)

orgfree.com is a free web hosting service and in line with the majority of them you have to agree to display their advertising, that's all.

I didn't get any advertising, no doubt due to Adblock or NoScript.

From orgfree.com's ToS paragraph 1:

You may not remove, resize so as to render invisible or unreadable, or otherwise block any of the ads that FreeWebHostingArea.com inserts onto your web pages.

5120

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: June 21, 2009, 06:45 PM »

Trying to load a site, and the advertising server makes the site take forever to respond.

-wraith808 (June 21, 2009, 11:32 AM)

Plus those sites that use Google Analytics but in such a way that you can't use any button unless you allow it because you've blocked it in, eg. NoScript.

Not to mention idiots who think it's OK to have a website that's nothing but one big Flash animation or uses nothing but Flash because the designer was too stupid to realise there are people who don't want to, (or can't), use Flash crap.

Especially when it's a commercial site.

5121

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« on: June 21, 2009, 04:05 AM »

J-Mac - I agree 100% and so does my Mum! It's not necessary...

-CleverCat (June 21, 2009, 02:21 AM)

Surely it depends on the context?

eg. The Exorcist - Yes, it was split pea soup but was an integral part of the movie.
     Team America: World Police - So over the top that no one could actually think it was gross, (although I'm not sure whether to class this film as an actual documentary or not ).

5122

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« on: June 20, 2009, 10:35 PM »

I would have mentioned the ATI convertor, but I thought he was looking for a DVD authoring program rather than a video transcoder.

-Innuendo (June 20, 2009, 07:51 PM)

Initially it was about an enquiry about AIO types, video transcode to DVD, eg. ConvertX-to-DVD, WinAVI Video Converter, etc.

But it's kind of digressed, (as is usual here ), into what people think is the best as asked back here.

Oh, and to let you in on ATI's dirty little secret, their convertor doesn't use the GPU at all. When it was first released it was said it would get the ability to use the GPU at a later date. We're all still waiting for that day to come.

Yeah, I read all that when it first came out and to be truthful, any decent encoder will currently knock it for six, (eg. ffmpeg, which the majority of freeware is based on: Avidemux, mencoder, etc), in terms of speed/quality ratio and configuration but I thought I'd mention it just for completeness because it is one of the easiest to use and the output is still decent.

Plus it's something easy to try if you have an ATI GPU, even though it doesn't use it - I'm still searching for the mythical GPU based video encoder, there's only one that I know of and unfortunately it's expensive and nVidia only IIRC.

Edit: I found a link that says they switched it on starting with driver 8.12 - still, the performance gains currently aren't anything that couldn't be achieved through code optimisation.

5123

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« on: June 20, 2009, 07:40 PM »

One more thing I forgot to mention, a free video converter that you may not even know you had - I certainly didn't until a vague mention on a site stirred up long dormant memories 

If you have a recent ATI video card, (I have a HD4850), then there's a video converter you can download along with the latest Catalyst Control Center - the ATI Avivo Video Converter.

Choose a video file, choose the output format, (iPod, MPEG4, Portable Media Center, MPEG1, Super VCD, DVD, MPEG2, etc), choose the output quality, hit Start.

Results are a decent quality, (possibly a bit softer than I'd like), even though it does screw things up sometimes, (eg. PAL avi converted to NTSC MPEG even though it correctly recognised it at 25fps).

And it is fast, 349MB 48 minute 624x352 MPEG4-ASP video converted to 1.2GB, 8Mb/s 480x272(?!) DVD, (this is not a DVD compatible frame size - wth are they doing!?), in just over 5 minutes.

Then it's just a matter getting them onto a DVD, either by authoring or as files.

One thing, make sure the Catalyst Control Center is in Basic Mode or else you'll have a very hard time finding it.

Personally, I don't use because of the limited control you have over the output - if they added options for output resizing and sharpness, then I might start using it more often and get some use out of the GPU.

5124

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« on: June 19, 2009, 02:18 AM »

On the .mpg playback, maybe players are better now at handling data DVDs but I've had players that would only play the first .mpg file in the list.

-MilesAhead (June 19, 2009, 12:47 AM)

We have a better class of cheap Chinese imports here in Australia 

Plus I only write ISO9660/UDF format DVDs, (data and video), so the player never has to deal with foreign formats like Toilet...err...Joliet.

The only problem I've ever had is with the player not liking the DVD brand.

5125

General Software Discussion / Re: What is best program to create a DVD from any video file?

« on: June 18, 2009, 11:43 PM »

I am a little surprised that no one has mentioned ConvertX to DVD, Video DVD Maker, or DVD Flick.

-KenR (June 18, 2009, 11:16 PM)

I did actually try ConvertX to DVD way back when it first came out but I found I had much more control over the output with WinAVI so I kind of stuck with that - it might of been seriously upgraded since then though so that's one reason why I didn't mention it, (the other is I forgot )

Arrghh!  My brain hurts!

Yes I also tried Video DVD Maker Free but again, compared to the control I had over the final product using discrete programs, (DVDLab and one of the encoders I mentioned), I never really progressed past trying it.

I also tried DVDAuthorGUI:

The gui is meant to be an easy means to create a basic DVD.

My brain must have been on holiday at that point because it drove me crazy after about 10 minutes and I gave up.  Read: I couldn't do what I wanted easily and gave up.

Addendum: BTW, I have yet to see over the years since DVD players first appeared, any DVD player that won't play a straight MPEG1 or MPEG2 file directly off of a disc.  So if you're not concerned with fancy menus or chapter points you can try just encoding your various clips to MPEG2 format using Avidemux and then just writing them to a DVD as files with .mpg extensions.