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Hi Stephen,

How about if we had the fundraiser items (Reviews, Coding Snacks etc) all posted into a special area, that only those who have pledged (and submitted one pledge to mouser, or a Fundraiser admin for sumittion into the area) and those who have donated in the month of March; can access.

This area will be something like the area that is currently only available for anybody with the "Supporting Member" title, and will act as sort of a "Pre-Release Room".  Once the fundraiser has finished, one whole month will pass before the posts go public (May 1st).

Sorry, i think your idea is contra productive.

I understand the fundraiser idea in that way to convince people to visit our pages regularly as they are curious what we got new this day and the next day and the next ...

Following your idea is to burn the whole firework rockets in one bunch at the same time instead of enjoying the spectacle over a longer time.

People just think, ok, they release it at 1st, May, then i'll come back then and read them all at once.

I think to have people on our pages every day for whole march and see all the other new posts too (not only the fundraiser related) and the donation thermometer and seeing your new tattoo that you'll get every day ( SCNR - hehehe) is the most important thing. So visiting DC site can become a kind of "tradition" for them and may last over the end of march too.

Just my 2ct.
Greetings
JoTo

Hi,

+1 from me for mousers idea with the "bound to version license key".
+1 from me too for jgpaivas idea for a "New update available" screen.

Reasons:
- Our software is and will stay free with this. Everyone can get the app and the license key without donating and signing up. Removing all that discussions here and there if DC is a freeware site.

- Its at users choice if he will stay and is glad with the old version or if he update and jump throughout the easy to go hoop to download another version bound key (forcing him to visit our page at least once again).

- The update screen should show improvements points though, so that the user can decide if he wants to go for the new version or still satisfied with the old one. And an update notification screen is IMO not considered a nag screen by most users. Maybe the "check for update" should be an option that can be disabled in the app preferences. That will cancel our interest in having the user back on our site though, but if the user is satisfied with his version and don't want a new key he will not visit our pages anyway and from then on the update screen will be considered a "nag screen" by that user.

For me that worked nicely when there was an offer for a free license key of "USB Safely remove". That was not upgradable though. But i was impressed by the generousity of that company and learned that they are nice and customer care related and responsive (they even did a special version soleyly for me when i ran into some coloring problems where i can't see some parts of the screen - WOW!). At the end the successor "Zentimo" from them offered me such a big additional value and i had the strong feeling to support that nice company. So i decided to fold my free key and purchase a paid one for Zentimo.

That make me think this may work for donations as well. If they see there are regularly updates and they benefit from them, they learn to know us more and more better, they think about a donation with more positive thinking over the time and lastly donate and visit our site regularly.

Maybe the free key download page can be combined with the "daily blog" page somehow, so the may get attracted by a new post or article when they go for their new key and maybe switch over to that post and read or in best case want to write a reply what results in a signup.

So i think with this concept we can reach all our goals like:
- Give useres the opportunity to use our programs really free and stop all the rumour all over the net about "Is DC software really freeware".

- Give users the freedom to use our apps forever in the version they got if they don't need updates and are satisfied with the features (and bugs *cough* *cough*)

- Give us the chance that users visit the page regularly

- Convince users that visiting our pages that we are kind, nice, helpful and the best site in the net

- Make them maybe donate and/or at least think about to do so.

- Simplify the licensing process

And i think the 3rd choice "if you are not able to donate, write us an email" is totally unnecessary for this reasons:

- Our (mousers?) apps are already great and very useable. A freeware author or non-profit organization can perfectly live with the actual version of e.g. Screenshot capture. There is no need to always have the newest versions or features for them. So they can get the app for free, use it free forever and have no need for a next key. If they really want the new feature they have to go for the new key. So what? A small way to go for a really wanted and free gift that costs nothing more than 2 minutues of time and some mouse clicks, isn't it? I think we can demand that from them in reward for giving them the software for completely no obligations.

- I can't fight the feeling this can be considered "begging" by the email writers. For me i'd feel uncomfortable to write an email "I am soooo poor, please gift me the full time key". And there is no need for it anyway, as i can use my actual version unlimited and when i want the new, i can get the new key for free again and without begging.

- It complicates things again (a third bulleted point in the licensing explanation).

- We don't get any additional value from those that writes an email except additional work for mouser. He had to read, decide and reply to the mails. And we are giving away a full time key for nothing than work. And i think mousers time is better spent in improving FARR & Co. and torture the IRC channel members with teasing them into discussions and then mousering them (for non regular IRC channel members: "to mouser someone" is a new created verb by the DC IRC community that means to just stop responding in a running discussion without any seeable reason, letting the talking partner stand outside in the rain without an umbrella alone ).

Last unresolved problem is the "how to donate" topic though. But i think that is not in our hands completely. There are other participants that must give us the opportunity to use an easy to use, for everyone payment system.

Just my 2ct.

Greetings
JoTo

Yeah, it worked. Thanks for bring it to my attention and of course to the original poster of the walkthrough. Without it i would have been lost.

Greetings
JoTo

Hi fodder,

thank you also for your reply.

1. Sorry the 3rd party app is a kind of "driver" for an x-ray generator. So i think its not publicity available for all. I am able to send you that program if you offer to look at it. But i first have to talk to my teammate that have that problem actually if this makes sense in any way, as i'm not sure if the 3rd party app is working without a connected x-ray generator anyway.

2. The capturing is done with the wxWidgets framerwork and the execute function of the wxProcess class. I have not yet feeled the need to dig under the hood, as i have no idea anyway what to look for.

3. Aha, the information about libc behaviour and the different stream types is new to me. I'll forward that information to my teammate and see if we can "turn the knob" a bit here.

Thank you and happy new year
JoTo

Hi Ath,

thanks for your suggestion. But sadly there is no commandline options for that app.

It uses a kind of menu structure. Meaning you start it without any commandline options, then a text menu is displayed where you can select with numbers what do you want to do.

That is why i need to communicate with that process. I have to wait till the menu is there and then send the number i want to make the other app do what i want.

And if its like you suggest, that windows is the "bad guy" who buffers, i have no idea how to change that behaviour as well. Any hint here what i can check to be sure, who's the one i need to kick in *ss? And how i can do this?

Happy new year
JoTo

Hi DCs,

need your help with a problem i can't solve myself.

I need to "remote control" a 3rd party application from my wxWidgets app. The 3rd party app is a console app, while my wxApp is a windows GUI one.

I wrote a class to start a process and capture stdin, stdout and stderr, so i can receive output from the other app and write (input) to it. My class worked fine with many other 3rd party apps.

With that app it works too, but this app seems using output buffering. So when i wait for the welcome message of the other app, i don't receive it. But i need to send some commands to it after the welcome message showed up.

When i just wait a period of time and then send some input while holding fingers crossed (hoping that the other app is already ready to receive), then suddenly i receive a whole bunch of information from the other app. So capturing works fine, but i need more "realtime" control.

So that is not a good solution too.

If i start that app in a normal dos-shell environment, the welcome message is output immediately (what i want to happen when started from within my app as well).

Seems that app recognize if it is started in terminal mode or with captured streams.

I have no access to the sourcecode of the 3rd party app. So i'm not able to inject some "flush" commands in the code.

Anyone has an idea how i can mimic an "interactive terminal mode" to this other app? Or someone knows a wrapper app where i can throw in my commandline and that will mimic it the right way and pass-through the in/output to and from my app to the other app?

Any hint very appreciated. Thank you in advance very much!

Greetings
JoTo

HiHo,

glad you solved it and you were welcome!

Greetings
JoTo

Hi again,

A LISTBOX, aha. I am not sure right out of the head how the single strings in a submitted listbox content are divided. Is it \n, \r, \r\n, < br />?

I think the problem is, that you need another split character in your explode (first parameter where i used the space character in my example - " ").

See first, whats exactly in your $_POST["vehicle"] variable contained (e.g. write the original $_POST variable to a file and use a hex viewer) and use the correct split character in explode.

Otherwise, what element do you use exactly in your html page? If you want, you can use a < select> element, which should deliver back a proper array with the selected items, ready to use with foreach without any exploding before.

For a sample look here:
http://www.onlinetools.org/tricks/using_multiple_select.php

HTH
JoTo

Hi there,

i think the problem is, that foreach needs an array. While $_POST is indeed an array, $_POST["vehicle"] is NOT. It's normally a scalar, unless its a group of controls (e.g. checkboxes).

Either you use $_POST["vehicle"] without any loop (e.g. in that variable is contained "vehicleA vehicleB vehicleC" you'll get what you want without a loop but without the line breaks), or you do an explode before the loop like this (assuming the vehicles in that variable are divided by a space):

$arrTmp = explode(" ", $_POST["vehicle"]);
foreach($arrTmp as $value)
{
  // do what you want now with $value
}

You can test if $_POST["vehicle"] is an array or not with the function is_array(). If it's the result from e.g. checkboxes, it should work as you did. Then i'm out of ideas, sorry.

HTH
JoTo

@40Hz:
As i said, i dont have to hide military secrets, just want to prohibit a simple undelete. So i follow your advise and use the single DBAN pass.

Thank you too.

Greetings JoTo

Thanks merle, i'll look at that one too!

Greetings
JoTo

I must add, that i am not using newest version of AutoIt though. I am still with V 3.2.12.0, as i need to run my scripts still under Win 9x, ME and such.

So i can't say anything about the new features in newer versions.

Greetings
JoTo

@fodder
Thanks for clarifying!

Greetings
JoTo

@deozaan:

-1 for DBAN - all you need is a regular Windows format - be sure to do a full format (ie, not ticking the "quick format" checkbox).

But how do you use regular Windows format on the only HDD in a PC?

Format the partition from the Windows installer disc?

Good point :/

@ewemoa:

The only thing is, IS the NSA interested in the data of MY hdd? I don't think so. 

Not so fast -- how will they know until they take a look?
Do you think you are the only person to be using your PC for storage?

WHAT? Others do it also? OMG! And i thought it was MY invention to do it. 

Greetings
JoTo

Hi ewemoa (Acronym hidden for IRC channel use only <- Insider joke for regular irc channel members!) 

Who am i not to believe!? Thank you for pointing that out.

BUT, what makes me REALLY suspicious is, that NSA agreed to it too. That stinks for me. I am sure they only claim that one shot overwrite is enough because they are able to recover easily and just want to keep their business as easy as possible, wrapping the public in the dream of safety.

For me, this NSA agreement, is a clear sign, that i have to come back to that i have to overwrite 35+ times my hdd data (and then still use my sledgehammer at it), as i trust the NSA (and many other LEAs) as far as i am capable throwing a 16 tons stone by hand.

The only thing is, IS the NSA interested in the data of MY hdd? I don't think so. 

Greetins
Osama bin laden ... errrrr....JoTo of course! 

THANKS to all of you!

Seems i missed a very popular application here. Shame on me   But that is why i call DC tenderly "My personal ThinkTank".  

I don't have to protect military secrets on my hdd though. i just not want that my buddy, who's getting the pc, will see my pr0n collection in whole.        

I got DBAN now and will erase my hdd soon with it.

@fodder: Beside that i don't have to extra get DBAN while format is built in, is there anything wrong with using it vs. format?

Greetings and thx. again
JoTo

Hi Codeys,

i need your help.

Situation:
I got a new pc and want to gift my old one (still functioning) to a poor soul (friend of mine that has a much worse one than my old). I just want to pass on the hardware (without OS and Software installed) as he owns all software himself.

As i also pass on my system harddisk (C:) and i FOR SURE WON'T pass on all my data, i'm in need to secure erase that HDD before giving it out of my hands.

I KNOW that there are a gazillion of good and free eraser apps out there, but there is a hoop i have to jump through.

Problem:
As i'm to dumb to use a screwdriver, i'd prefer to avoid like hell to open the old pc, remove the hdd, stick it to my new pc as a secondary drive, erase it with a normal windows gui app, remove it from my new pc and reinstall it on my old one again.

Question:
Is there any free and good eraser app out there that works from e.g. Windows Console (booting from the original windows cd into console - then change CD and fire up the erase all app? I don't mind if i get any nice gui or not, it has just to erase a 160GB SATA HDD.

Or does anybody know about a free bootable toolcollection diskimage that contains such an app?

Any other ideas i don't think for now? (Only suggestions that leave the HDD working please! So "using a sledgehammer" is out! *LOL*)

Please enlighten me! TYIAVM!

Greetings
JoTo

WOAH! You got me schocked!

It's now your turn to pay the next package of heart pills for me.

Congratz and wish you all the best for your new Job. Hope you enjoy the new tasks and get rich and happy from it.

Greetings
JoTo

Hi fodder,

hmmmm, it seemed they changed the measurement unit then. My results are some years old, when i did the test they sent me an email with the CPM not the WPM. So it seems i need to do it again, to get a comparable result. Will do soon.

Yes, of course. Copying is more difficult. But as long as ALL have the same rules (all do copying) the results are still comparable.

Greetings
JoTo

PS:
Damn! They redid the test in whole. It's unusable for me now as they use white background So i am not able to do the test again. ARRRG! If someone find another speed typing test with an accessible interface, i'd be glad to join the contest again.

Also there was a speed typing game link posted on DC a few months ago. It was TypeRacer IIRC. Maybe someone wants to challenge me there? I am searching for opponents though, not victims. *LOL* </exaggregation> </bragging>

PS2:
I found the DC Post and the URL of the game. There you can get your WPM and average WPM too. I am user JoTo63 there! Come on guys! Who wants to loose against me? *EvilLaugh*

URL: http://play.typeracer.com/

Hi,

typing classes were mandantory in my school while i was about 15-18. So i had to learn it and today i thank god that it was this way..

I am now at approx. 278 cps, corrected to 268 cps for 2 typos i made in the last test i did (Online-Test, typing a given very long regular text, typing for 3 min. as far as you can get). I think i am faster when i don't have to read the text i have to type (this slows me down a lot for my bad eyesight) and if the text wasn't in english - german words are more practical to me.

And as a 10 finger touch typer, i am able to type blind without looking at the keyboard. Keeping my eyes on the screen and noticing my typos immediately and so i can correct them. Mostly no need for later proofreading again the whole text. That saves time as well.

(Possible typos in this message results a) from my not native english tongue, b) my bad eyesight and c) of not doing proofreading of course *LOOOOL* )

If i'd were a boss, i'd pay someone 10% less if he can't touch type with all 10 fingers, as he is slower for sure as everyone else doing hunt and pecking.

But it also depends on what you have to do. I, as a programmer, profit from my typing skills only, if i write regular text (like in manuals, comments, mails and forum posts). I can't get the speed advantage while typing program code with all the brackets, parenthese and other special characters and strange character order you need to type in code.

So my summary:
YES, they should learn it for our nowadays modern world, indeed! And it should be mandantory for sure!

Greetings
JoTo

PS:
What about a DC speed typing contest?
Here is the URL of the online speed typing test i did (The company sells type learning software, but the test is free for everyone - they tell you afterwards that you can get faster if you purchase their software ).

   http://www.typingtest.com

I start the contest with my following results :

Test Time:      3 min.
Selected Text: Astronauts
Typing Speed:  278 CPM
Accuracy:       97 %
NET SPEED:     268 CPM

Hey! And DON'T CHEAT!

Hey, i thank you all for finding that nice words.

Except Scancode of course! So i have to punish him for his post in the channel again. Now thinking for 1000 more Olly questions that i can torture scannie with on monday in IRC

Hahahah, to be serious, always have a great time talking to scan in channel, with or without olly topic. He's one of the funniest and smartest guys there and always have a helping hand for everybody.

Why have i knew that Scan reverses the word "dog" for himself? Hmmm, seems i know him too good already, eh?

Greetings to all
JoTo

[with]

My post could be titled:
"I wish i were a dog!"

With my eye disease that leads to fully blindness with ongoing years, i look also forward in a "Huh? Its nighttime always now, how can this happen" future. I don't know how fast the progress is and how long i am still able to see at least a bit, but darkness is my destiny for sure, nevertheless whether it will come tomorrow or in 10 years. And as this is a gene defect, there is still no chance for healing. Even if the scientists experiment on some solutions, they are yet far away from anything useful. If a medical capable or interested person amongst you are interested in my detailed illness, google for "Retinopathia pigmentosa" or "Retinitis pigmentosa" (the old name of the same disease).

I am sure, that human have more complicated tasks to fullfill and more complex needs to do, and with keeping in mind that seeing is one of the primary senses of humans (in contrast to dogs), i am sure, i am not able to adapt as fast and good as this dog did.

But nevertheless i am adapting to the ongoing loss of sighting i already face every passing year. Many of the people around me are astonished how i handle things, even without looking at it. It makes no sense to watch though, as i, when i look at it, wouldn't see it anyway.

If i enter a new area e.g. i start automatically counting steps and direction changes and remember then, even for use on a second visit weeks later. When i reach my destination, in most cases i am able to tell you exactly how to move back (and are able to perform it). Thats normal life for me. "Normal people" don't care if there are 10 or 12 steps at the stairs. I do, as it makes the difference for me between "get down properly" and  "land in hospital with a broken leg" . This happens without even consciously thinking "Oh, don't forget remembering the stairs count".

I often hear and notice even silent and short noises others won't. I recognize and remember sounds better than others. I differentiate people on how they sound while speaking.

My memory seems better trained than most of the others around me. If you tell me your phone number, address, whatever, i am normally able to memorize the data immediately (of course only up to a certain amount) and can repeat it even after hours. This comes, because i can't use business cards or even a slip of paper to write such and other information down. I am not able to read it again anyway.

I found ways to differentiate money (coins and bills) from feeling and weighing them and comparing sizes with other items (e.g. my wallet, my thumb, whatever nearby i know the size of), found ways to tell when my glass i just fill up is full without spilling the fluid all over the table and so on.

Sorry, if this sounds like bragging and you get the impression i will tell you i am a superman with all that special abilities. That is not my intention. I am just trying to equalize my disadvantages in normal life with some cheating.

There are many "tricks" to adapt and equalize the problems you get when you can't see sth. So i am still not desperate about my disease and use more the way of thinking "Thanks god, that i was able to see at least a bit for so long time!" than "Shit, why must i suffer!". The people who know me will testify, that i am a funny, life loving person, even with my "problem".

But i am also sure that there are many situations i will not be able to adapt in any way. E.g. do you know how often i walk out of the house wearing different colored socks? Colors are one of the real problems when you can't see. Colors are not tangible, weighable, measurable. My Mom, also suffering the same gene defect, uses a small gadget that can recognize colors and speak the color name aloud. That works fine for very basic colors, but won't when you get to pastel-colors. So this is only a small helping hand, not more not less.

And i definitely miss some things badly too, like driving a car and be mobile in all other ways also, like going out alone to foreign areas. And also doing some hobbies i loved to do earlier, like computer gaming, driving RC-Racecars and throwing boomerangs, that i am no longer able to do. And i think that's make the main difference between me and a dog! The dog don't miss anything and have no wishes and needs, beside the basic ones like to be feeded, get a home and such, in my opinion.

So i come to the summary of my (sorry) too long post: If i only were a dog

Greetings
JoTo

Hi there,

I don't use AHK but only AutoIT. But my suggestion should work anyway in AHK as well, as this is standard behaviour from operating system.

A windows checkbox can set by keypresses like this (don't know if JAVA behaves like a standard windows checkbox though):

- Plus sign (+) force to checked state. If its already checked it will stay checked.
- Minus sign (-) force to unchecked state. If its already unchecked it will stay unchecked.
- SpaceBar toggles the checkbox. So if it's unchecked it gets checked and vice versa.

So make the checkbox to have the focus by an AHK command and then use an AHK command to send keystrokes as described above (in AutoIt this would be the SendKeys-command - dunno for AHK though).

HTH
JoTo

WOW!

I have the feeling that the guys that made the test know me personally!

I find that the result is exactly matching me. And not as usual with such tests "some match, some not". I only fine one single fact i disagree with. That i love antique things. But its true that i hate "hype" or "fashioned" things, and YES i don't own an IPHONE or IPOD yet, even if everyone else do. PERIOD!

Ah, forgot, my personality is:

Your Type is ISTJ
Strength of the preferences %
Introverted 11
Sensing 1
Thinking 62
Judging 67

Grettings to all
ISTJ errr. JoTo

Sorry for delayed answer.

Thank you all. He ended up to use Google Code. All that he needs and nice capabilites and performance.

So you guys guided me in the right direction and i have now +1 at my scoreboard hosted by him for me.

Greetings
JoTo