Messages

226

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 8 Fast boot time ? Check this out...

« on: September 12, 2011, 06:59 PM »

I'm a hibernate/sleep addict too. However. yes, it really boils down to ones "work system".

I can't see myself re-opening all those windows, tabs, etc. every morning anymore... I would if I didn't have the choice, but... I do.

Still, the fact that MS polishes the boot/shut down process is good. There's always a time where you need to reboot/shutdown and want it to be as fast as possible!

227

General Software Discussion / Windows 8 Fast boot time ? Check this out...

« on: September 12, 2011, 12:16 PM »

I'm not into fast boot time craziness -- I almost always hibernate or go into sleep mode.
However, this is fast.
The statistics and explanations are interesting too.

Delivering fast boot times in Windows 8

And here's the direct link to the little demo

228

General Software Discussion / Re: DVCS ?

« on: September 12, 2011, 11:50 AM »

Another pretty good git Article : Git Is Simpler Than You Think

The article is well written. It gets "more" interesting from the The So-Called “Object Database” section.

229

Developer's Corner / An experiment about static and dynamic type systems

« on: September 09, 2011, 11:38 AM »

Moderately interesting study. Still worth sharing.
This blog article has good comments at the bottom. [Disclaimer : I haven't read the actual study]

230

Living Room / Re: Apple and users' privacy

« on: September 09, 2011, 11:33 AM »

  Thanks guys/gals, it was all pretty entertaining.

231

General Software Discussion / Re: Flexible List (data) Management - ListPro and the Alternatives

« on: August 31, 2011, 11:43 AM »

I think it's a bit of a stretch to suggest that InfoQube is an alternative to simple flat-file list management programs such as Listpro.

I have tried a few times to become familiar with IQ, and while I admire its power, I don't think even IQ's greatest fan would describe it as simple and intuitive in the same manner as ListPro.
[...]

-johnk (August 31, 2011, 11:33 AM)

Of course, you're probably right. But Steven asked for an alternative addressing certain problems he has. That said, apart from the idea that IQ's grids display items in the database through filters, which IMO is a simple concept but not common enough, everything else can be ignored and IQ can simply be used to create simple lists (it's an outliner), and from there one can add complexity when the situation calls for it. But if one doesn't need any "expandability", then yes, IQ will feel like a bloated software. It's a bit (although not exactly) like wanting an alternative to notepad to be able to write chars on white page and getting MS Word instead.

232

General Software Discussion / Re: Flexible List (data) Management - ListPro and the Alternatives

« on: August 31, 2011, 09:05 AM »

Thanks for chiming in Tom.

@steven
Note that there are other ways to display fields in a grid : 1- drag & drop fields from the properties pane (view-> properties, or F4 or shift+F4) to the grid column header space, 2- right click on column header space and select "add/remove columns"

233

General Software Discussion / Re: Flexible List (data) Management - ListPro and the Alternatives

« on: August 30, 2011, 08:36 PM »

Hi,

2 things come to mind.  There should be a full web help system.  Not the internal.  Since you do not want to divert your current position to read. Not sure how strong that is.

-Steven Avery (August 30, 2011, 08:27 PM)

The help file is actually a compiled CHM based on the web based help documentation.
The reason why there's also a compiled CHM is that it'S MUCH quicker.

I created a new grid.  Added some fields to the field list (Tools-Field Properties), Check "shown" (for that grid) and save.  They do not show and the check is gone when I go back into Tools-Field Properties.  This seems odd, as I approached it intuitively.

Not sure what you did as I just tried it (both with newly created grid, fields and with already existing one) and they show up in the grid.  

But there could be a bug for sure. I just can't reproduce it... That said I'm not using the current version but a special not yet released one for testing. I'll ask Pierre if he can put this one online ASAP.

234

General Software Discussion / Re: Flexible List (data) Management - ListPro and the Alternatives

« on: August 30, 2011, 07:03 PM »

>however if you have a Software company database you may be able to do a type of linking ?

Yes. For instance, there's a a sample "Mantis" database pulling IQ Mantis bug info from the web and synchronizing with it.

I'm sure there are other use cases. Pierre would have to stop by and explain.

>Does InfoQube have any such relational views built in, where you are pulling from two grids ?

Yes. For instance you can see info from some other grid in a field, as a drop down menu
I realize there's no example in the sample. I'll have to suggest Pierre to add one.

But If you look at the "FileFullName" in the field properties dialog, go the "option" section : you'll see that this field is getting its data from another field using an SQL query.

Another section where you can place SQL queries is in the "Editor" section of the Field properties dialog.
Example: in my DB, I have a field called "Responsible". In the "Editor" section, "Pop up list" text box, I have added this :

SELECT FirstName,IDitem FROM adrsbook

What that does is get a list of first name from my address book when I click on the field/column in a grid (appears as a drop down list).

>Do you use the same field in multiple grids for inheritance?  But they really are simply two distinct fields >with the same attribute.  
>GRID1-NAME  
>GRID2-NAME  

Not sure I understand exactly what you mean. But Grids aren't really database "tables". IQ isn't truly a relational DB. In fact it's more what you could call an Associative Database, although not exactly.

IQ can certainly "mimic" relational DBs features.

You can use the same field displayed in all grids, no problem.
If you have a look at the basic help file (F1), read the first intro sections to get a grip of what IQ is all about. The basic principles are really the most important to understand. There are not many (maybe 4 or 5), but it's important to understand them fully.

>Can we create any SQL databases in INFOQUBE for multi-access (access within INFOQUBE but also from external programs ?)

IQ is already multi-user enabled by design. But I can't expand on the subject at the moment as I don't have enough time.

>I can see that many folks would simply build up or down from the Sample for their main PIM-ish Qube. Right ?

Yup, that's the easiest approach. Leave everything as it is, explore IQ, see how fields relate to each other, look at the grid sources and filters (based on SQL queries) then create new fields and new grids to your liking and slowly build your data universe.

If IQ didn't exist, I'd have to create it !  

235

General Software Discussion / Re: Flexible List (data) Management - ListPro and the Alternatives

« on: August 30, 2011, 09:26 AM »

[...]
InfoQube is going to have a hard time getting into quick data mode.  
Maybe after some real careful, attentive learning.
[...]
So far I have not seen any List-ToDo-PIM that really relates to data as flexibly as ListPro.  Only database programs and in the long run InfoQube so far.

-Steven Avery (August 30, 2011, 02:15 AM)

Hi Steven,
what do you mean by quick data mode ?

Fields are created very quickly, and so are items and grids.
What can be long is to create you own complex set up from scratch.

So what's suggested is to start with a sample DataBase (new--> New IQBase with sample data), not a completely blank one. A completely blank one can be frightening, granted. And it's NOT a good idea.

In its current state, IQ can be "complicated" only when you start scripting, play with conditional formatting, conditional calculations, etc. Otherwise its principles are simple :
- you create items with fields
- items are displayed in grids depending on the items characteristics. Grids act mostly like filtering devices : you see the items which correspond to the various filters set in the grid.

That said, it could very well be that listpro is much better for your needs.

236

General Software Discussion / Re: Flexible List (data) Management - ListPro and the Alternatives

« on: August 29, 2011, 08:23 PM »

[Disclaimer: my point of view might be partial : I now work for Pierre from time to time and... I work with InfoQube everyday. I'm trying to be as objective as possible, however.]

IMO, InfoQube would be perfect for what you describe, while not being the same as ListPro. You can use IQ for very very simple lists, and much more complex tasks like project management (with all the associated calculations and graphical representations) and the like. This is exactly why I use IQ : I don't want an application to force me to think in a specific way when I'm managing information. I want my items to be able to be/do anything I want depending on the usage context. I.e. : 1-I create an item as a task, 2-then I want it to also be part of a contact list, 3- I "move" it into a project, 4- then I have it appear also in my calendar with the appropriate fields added to it, etc.

If you search the forum here or on InfoQube forum, you'll get the idea of what it can and can't do. The best is to just download and try the portable version (version "W" is right around the corner)... It's free while in beta.

237

General Software Discussion / Re: InfoQube & TreeSheets: Information managers of the future

« on: August 24, 2011, 10:37 PM »

OK, I'm understanding something better now.  What is so unique about InfoQube is that the outlining is the primary feature.  All of these things (except treesheets) can be considered hierarchy style, 2-pane outliners or notetakers.  Most of these, including RightNote, organize your note titles in an OUTLINE on the side, but the main content is the guts of that note.  InfoQube does this very differently.  For InfoQube, the main content is the OUTLINE, and the stuff that goes inside each note is not as prominent (it would be the HTML pane).

-superboyac (August 23, 2011, 10:13 AM)

Usually the terminology used to differentiate these different systems is : one-pane, two-panes and hybrid. See the wikipedia article on outliners. But there can be also 3 panes outliners, and maybe others...

In any case there's this old post by Pierre where he describes all these different systems

In fact, InfoQube is pretty hybrid as you can use it as a 2 panes or a 1 pane, depending on your needs. I personally use it more a one pane outliner, but some users use the outline purely for structure and the HTML pane ("rich text" editor) for content -- that is also perfectly possible. I tend to use the HTML/"rich text" pane for external sources/web-clipping, and sometimes when I need complex formatting (tables, etc.); but I'm mostly working directly in the outline.

As Wikipedia correctly states, each system has its drawbacks and so going hybrid allows one to get the best of both world (depending on the task at hand).

There are not that many hybrid solutions out there. Of the top of my head : Ecco can be quite hybrid with an addon, then there's OmniOutliner for Mac and MyInfo. Probably others like MaxThink or org-mode, which are hard to classify. Anyway...  

238

Living Room / Re: Undervolting -- my hands are thanking me

« on: August 22, 2011, 12:20 PM »

Glad I'm not just rehashing something dull and already too well known.

Undervolting is so safe that it should be tried if you have a bit of time...

I should add that after undervolting, I also dismantled my laptop and cleaned the ventilation system. This also helped bringing down the temperature upper limit my CPU was reaching when left at 100% for a while. Why ? simply because, when Idle the CPU doesn't need as much ventilation, but when used at max capacity it needs a good airflow to be cooled down, even if undervolted, of course. Dust was the second culprit in my case.

... the 1h30 to understand undervolting + 45min to clean my laptop was some well spent time.  

Your mileage may vary... It seems that I'm lucky to have such a drastic reduction in temperature. A reduction of 8-10C seems to be pretty common though and it does make a "feelable" difference. Not to mention the slightly extended battery life (both in terms of "how long will I be able to work on single charge" and "how long will my battery lasts until I need a new one"... Since heat degrades batteries.) AND the noise reduction. This last aspect makes the operation interesting for desktop computers too.

239

General Software Discussion / Re: Implement features that are known to be loved in other programs, on your own

« on: August 21, 2011, 10:59 PM »

Independently of how hard it is, I'm still surprised that softwave dev. is not more 'darwinian'. It takes a long time for innovations to reach all competitors.

-urlwolf (August 17, 2011, 04:59 PM)

Actually, in a way it all seems very Darwinian to me. Look around you : single-celled species, algae, sponges, etc., many insects and some animals like crabs and turtles, IIRC, which were already here hundreds of millions years ago. They're still unchanged, happily humming along and completely part of our ecosystem.  Why ? simply because, somehow, "something's enough" and they don't need to change, adapt. Some balance (users' requests / programmer's resources / complexity .... see Wraith's post) has been achieved.

Cultural changes/evolutions is also interesting to look at. Take some cultural/societal systems as basic and fundamental as women rights and democracy. We might see "equal rights of men and women" as a given, but... For women rights we had to wait for the 19th century for the beginning of it, and then it was a rather slow process... In the 21st century it's still not "implemented" everywhere. Same for democracy, but the process is even longer... Yes, sure, we're getting there.

Spoiler

[Disclaimer: not saying democracy is the light of the end of the tunnel etc., just using it as convenient example.]

So that said, isn't it quite understandable (and normal) to witness various "application/program species" coexist, and even in the same "historicotechnological" context?

240

General Software Discussion / Re: TreeSheets - an interesting and innovative note taker (freeware)

« on: August 21, 2011, 06:55 PM »

MyBase: I remember Josh chose MyBase after careful examination. I’m sure it’s worth a look.

Just a note about InfoQube as I almost know it inside out. Yes, the fields are very customizable and not just in terms of names and types (date-time, number, string, boolean), but in many other ways which would be too long to enumerate here.

But it’s not just about the fields, it’s also about items:

1- items (entries in the DB) aren’t fundamentally tied to a specific grid, data type etc. (i.e.: an item can be at the same time a calendar event, a task and a book reference),

2- items are all “equal” and somewhat “autonomous” (i.e.: an item can be a child of another specific item in a grid, the child of another one in yet another grid, and also be a top level item in another one, etc.)

And then there’s the flexibility of the grids (not to mention gantt charts, pivot tables/charts, calendar, and maps), which are almost as customizable as fields and aren't "containers" but just ways of displaying what's inside the DB. What appears in grids is conditioned by filters (i.e.: erasing a grid doesn't do anything to your items).

Of course, grid flexibility is something we grew accustomed to... But in IQ it is usually even more flexible then other PIM software using grids.

… These make data management quite flexible. Too flexible for some, of course, but ideal for others.

That flexibility allows me to use IQ to manage data for incredibly different purposes, ranging from finances to simple web-clipping.

241

Living Room / Re: Undervolting -- my hands are thanking me

« on: August 21, 2011, 02:18 PM »

I hope it's easy to revert, come the winter  

-cranioscopical (August 20, 2011, 10:42 PM)

Haha! Yes... It's easy to revert. And, true actually... when winter comes, laptop heat can actually be welcome!  
During Montreal summer though, it's another story, completely.

242

Living Room / Undervolting -- my hands are thanking me

« on: August 20, 2011, 10:37 PM »

Nothing special here. Don't laugh. But I need to share my joy.
For some reasons the last time I tried undervolting my laptop's CPU, it didn't work. I must have done something wrong (didn't have any guide). I'm really glad I tried again.

I tried to "undervolt" my laptop's CPU 2 days ago and... Success ! My CPU "idle" (well, semi-idle...) temp went from 60-65C to 40-45C. A whopping 20C. It's super stable (tested it with Orthos, prime95 and just did a lot video rendering) and I don't feel like I'm slowly cooking my hands anymore...

Not only that, but I also gained some extra "battery life" and a barely audible fan. 

I followed these 2 forum posts, mainly (plus a few other more technical articles). My first setup took me 1h30 total (reading the articles, setting the apps up, testing for 45 min.):

http://forum.noteboo...ervolting-guide.html
http://www.overclock...intel-c2d-t7500.html

The apps you're going to need :
RM Clock Utility
Orthos

Voilà.

243

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XML gui tools out there?

« on: August 20, 2011, 08:20 PM »

Ah well... It was a bit too good to be true... 
Still a great little app though. But now 125$... Which is okay if you use it for work, for sure.

Basically license says that :

If you obtained a valid license key from Symbol Click Software or an authorized reseller, your name is the same as the Licensed To field, then you may install and use the software in the specified number of users.

Each user is either (but not both):

    One to five computers used primarily by a single person.
    A single computer used non-simultaneously by multiple people while physically present at the computer.

244

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XML gui tools out there?

« on: August 20, 2011, 08:09 PM »

[WARNING: OLD THREAD -- I thought it would be better to post these news here though instead of creating a new thread.]

Xml marker v.2 now available !

It's greater and it's still free !  

[OOOPS... No it isn't I'll check the lincense more closely, and come back... 

It has almost all features I need for my everyday work with XML. It's light and speedy too.


New features:

    

• Unicode: Able to read, write and display Unicode. Supported encodings are UTF8 and UTF16.
•    Json! Use XML Marker to browse and edit Json files.
•    Plain text. Use XML Marker as a simple editor with no syntax highlighting and no navigation.
•    Non-collapsing: Editing in the text view will not clear your tree and table selection.
•    Bookmarks: Set bookmarks in text, tree and table views. Use CTRL+F2 to set a new bookmark, and F2 to cycle.
•    Branch selector: a text box to see and set the currently selected element using a simple syntax.
•    Faster and requires less memory.
•    More informative grid: Tags with attributes and a single text will now show the single text rather than the tag name.
•    The grid can now edit tag names (works only on the first column)
•    Grid editing checks the validity of the entered test.
•    Better synchronization and better undo redo
•    Bug fix: hangs when replacing s1 with s2 where s1 is a substring of s2.
•    Scroll wheel on the tree view can be set to scroll rather than to change tree selection. look at the options/scroll wheel changes tree selection
•    The selected row is highlighted in the grid.
•    CTRL+End and CTRL+Home respectively goes to the beginning and the end of the document
•    Line numbers and grid row numbers
•    Lines longer than 2000 character are wrapped (nothing changes in the data itself)
•    When the current document changes due to external program. XML marker shows a message box with a reload option.
•    Bug fix: different scroll amount for the up and down scroll arrows.
•    Reparse all command (F7)

245

General Software Discussion / Re: Google+

« on: July 11, 2011, 10:34 AM »

For me file it under layered security practice. The obscurity layer, granted not the best...but still worth using. Just because the information can be put together doesn't mean it needs to be prepackaged, preassembled, and printed on a T-shirt with a freaking bow on top. Make'em work for it.

-Stoic Joker (July 11, 2011, 06:45 AM)

Exactly how I see it. I.e.: Anybody who really wants to know who is Armando and where he lives will probably be able to. However, it won't be readily available. It's wise to separate the various facets of your identity with various pseudo, scramble paths a bit for those who aren't necessarily your friends -- not that I have any enemies...

246

General Software Discussion / Re: DVCS ?

« on: July 08, 2011, 12:58 PM »

Thanks for your help with this.  I'm going to try to set it up tomorrow.

-wraith808 (June 07, 2011, 11:25 PM)

Hey Wraith808, I know it's been a while but... Do you finally use that set up or are you using some other strategy ?

247

General Software Discussion / Re: DVCS ?

« on: July 08, 2011, 12:57 PM »

Some SmartGit feeback...
I've been using it a lot more more since the end of May and I can say it's been extremely stable, reliable and easy to work with. It's a really good product. I'm starting to forget how to use the command line now...

Plus, as you noticed, the developer even dropped by to say hi and discuss criticisms and feature/modifications requests.  

Highly recommended.

====

One thing I wish I could do sometimes, and I still use Tortoise Git for that : in the log window, I'd like to be able to select a bunch of commits and copy each of them in a list with their full message (context menu and/or maybe Ctrl+Shift+c by default).

Ctrl+c (copy) already copies the selected list, showing  dates and the first line of each commit, but it would be nice to be able to do the same but with the whole message content for each entry/commit.

EDIT : One other small thing... "Commit" dialog (ctrl+k) : unless I'm mistaken, apart from hitting tab 2 times when in the commit dialog, there doesn't seem to be a way to hit the "commit" button directly. It would be logical to press alt+c maybe, or just enter. Note that since the commit message is preselected and has the focus, pressing enter clears it! fortunately a ctrl+z will restore it but it can be surprising...

248

General Software Discussion / Re: SpiderOak - very nice people =)

« on: July 07, 2011, 10:07 PM »

Well, my problem is/was... performance (as I mentioned in a previous post). I often used it to sync tasks lists + other very small files I wanted to access  on the go and having to wait a long time to have access to those is maddening.

I also experienced a situation where the queue appeared to be completely jammed and nothing got saved for days, without any warning!! At that point I just stopped using it, feeling that it wasn't reliable enough for my code backup.

I'm still trying to find something as speedy and "reliable" as Dropbox... but with some actual security preoccupations.

249

Find And Run Robot / Re: User Variable value limit and Timer plugin problem

« on: July 05, 2011, 03:05 PM »

The [ExtraSettings] section contains the longest string here.   And ini files have a certain numbers of restrictions, like key text values length limit etc. I don't have the time to invvestigate now but it could something related...

250

Find And Run Robot / Re: User Variable value limit and Timer plugin problem

« on: July 05, 2011, 01:13 PM »

Do you guys get the JSON parser error I was getting?