| Is there a better version of Incollector for both Windows and Linux? |
| Quality: 1. Easy to export 2. None-notepad like (template box) |
| Problem: As much as Incollector is my preferred bookmarking and snippets taker because of it's non-writing notes feel and easy on the eyes preview of contents, it doesn't have a one box template where you can just write something without putting a title on it. |
| How do you use Wiki-style notetakers? (I can’t seem to get my head around on how a wiki-style’d note is easier to read than other kind of notepads. In Wikipedia alone I can find myself clogging my browser with 100 tabs opened all from starting with one Wikipedia article) |
| Is there a similar but better program than YeahWrite? Often times when I paste paragraphs in Outline mode, each paragraph break gets inserted into an Outline so I have to re-edit it. Also I like the cross between Latex style formatting and word processing because I’ve yet to learn Latex yet. |
| Other Problems: I couldn't get YeahWrite to work in Wine but it's probably because I don't know how to import fonts in Wine. At the same time though, I'm also starting to see breaks in my Yeahwrite on Windows. I wonder if it's because I started changing the language for non-unicode programs into Japanese in the regional settings of my Windows. Exporting is also hard to figure out with all the letters and stuff. |
| Is there a to do list/notetaker aimed at the “important but not urgent” “Important but urgent” “not important and not urgent” and “not important and urgent” system? I know that this can be done on paper but I’m looking for something like a grid over grid software. |
| Ex. You create 4 full squares with entries fitting each of these criteria on a specific category but then it zooms out and scales off and handles all your entries into another box. |
| What’s the best software for organizing quotes? I always seem to fail when using paper, word processors or spreadsheets because the output is not that of a level of an offline quote database. Yes, I love popup wisdom but am looking for something less random and more structured in categories. |
| Is there a to do list software which can organize a to do list into “must do” and “like to do” column after the entries were inputted? Sort of like ThinkingRock’s process item section. No tagging please. |
| How to determine which free/freemium online file storage is reputable and won’t die down one day. I’ve heard of ftp but I don’t know how those work. |
| Quality: Won't suddenly store all your backups if you've become dirt poor and can't afford their monthly subscription services. After all, what's the point of having an online backup service if it's only while your rich or can afford to pay it? Might as well settle for an external hard disk. P.S. It's only for personal usage. |
| Currently considering: Jungledisk |
| Problem: I need to shell out cash to test it out. |
| Are there any other free novel writing software besides ywriter4? |
| Problem: Novel writing software can be hard to get used to as is so i'm hoping to get a selection of different softwares to see the difference and realize what makes for a quality novel writing software that would work for me. |
| I’ve never understood word processors and spreadsheets programs. What are the advanced options available to it that might be of use to a casual surfer or writer? I ask this because I can never fathom how a newbie (as in someone with totally no idea except for a keyword) can go to Google and do “internet research” and become slightly less credible than an expert but you tend to hear that many things that require books can be found free on the internet, you just have to go look for it. Unfortunately when I do, it often gets pushed back in a corner of my bookmark or some place else. I know often times it can fall just under sheer determination but I was just wondering if there’s a key in notetaking or using word processors that allow people to do proper research and proper learning especially in this information overload age. |
| What offline rss reader has the best specs or is configured for lots of rss but slow reading (I think online rss readers tend to remove articles of a certain date or number) |
| I'm currently using Google Reader now but to be honest I'm not really comfortable using it. I much preferred the lightweight feeling of a desktop rss reader outside my browser but when I try to set all my feeds to update, it just slows down my 1gb ram pc. At first I settled for Opera's RSS Reader but then I got annoyed because I realize I still needed to open a browser everytime and I'm already in tab hell. Then I settled for nfreader and at first it was the lightest rss reader I used but then it slows down too. This isn't helped by the fact that I have a disorganized list of RSS that I'm still organizing that has around 300 feeds. Around 50 probably not so important ones like programming blogs because I don't know how to get into that and hope to gleam some information from those, craigslist and other blogs for monitoring and the usual about.com, wired.com kind of feeds with several categories. |
| Is there a lighter version of ThinkingRock? |
| Quality: Cross-OS Template Box-Style entering that doesn’t disappear once an entry has been entered (allows for quicker addition of items) Exportable Filter Mode or Process Thoughts Filter as the program calls it (This is the key for me to stay organized as notepad like GTD programs are too hackish to make me comfortable to jot down notes on them and leave them be because their structure produce temptations to turn them into black holes) |
| Problem: It's a Java program so I can't multitask with it because I usually have around 200 tabs opened which slows down my 1gb PC and I don't know what specs is recommended to alleviate this problem. (100 tabs in Firefox, 100 tabs in Opera sans sessioned tabs) |
| Is PDF the key to having a basic highlight/annotation word reader? What else can be used that way? Alternatively, is there a better alternative to the Scrapbook firefox extension for annotating/highlighting webpages and saving them? I can’t seem to quite grasp the export - import option and it’s the only thing I’ve found that can have one kind of highlight overlapping another highlight without hacking a word processor's macro. |
| Also is there an offline equivalent to Diigo that is just as easy to use? |
| Problem: Online applications are slower and needs browser to be opened and highlights webpages only. I've just found out recently that diigo prioritizes annotated highlights over normal highlights so in the expand view of the bookmarks page, if you try to use Diigo as a cliff's notes viewer of what you want, the end result is that the page is disorganized because the annotated highlight is on top instead of how the article entries are order based on their locations on the webpage. |
| How do you use Zotero? |
| I also should probably ask this in the Zotero forums but I'm not sure if this is a bibliographical or citation newbie question or a Zotero question. Also I read a topic here that once praised this forum over Opera's own because it's friendlier so I thought I'd start here for all my software questions. |
| Programs with plugins, is there an easier way to learn them? Besides the new FF3 plugin search, every program with plugins seems to be overwhelming to figure out. Sure, some are manageable because there are few plugins or that a non-expert can differentiate between a plugin that they need or don’t need but once it devolves into something like Miranda plugins or bblean, plugin searching devolves into looking for pages and pages of features trying to sort them out and often times asking for help results into what I need but many of the plugins I want often times come from me not even considering them. (Ex. FF Taboo’s firefox extension) or worse, from me realizing that I don’t need them or I'm so messed up that I don’t realize I need to learn them first but have tried them already. (Ex. Losing Scrapbooks because I never thought of focusing on exporting/importing because at the time I wasn’t educated to the need for backups) |
| Is there an easier way of previewing RAM without using a RAM optimizer? |
| How do you use advanced clipboard manager’s options? One of the features or habits I’m looking for is to be able to copy paste multiple entries in any order and then be able to re-arrange them so that each ctrl+v results into the next entry and the next entry being pasted but using basic clipboard managers, I only go so far as two copies before I have to self organize the entries. |
| Windows Vista: Why do people prefer it over a dual boot Xp and Linux? |
| I know the common reasons, I just want to make sure I'm not missing something crucial because it seems it should be a disaster but I read people using it. |
| Applications with the feature “from commandline”? How does that work? |
| What can I say, commandline tools seems like the most minimalistic programs but I have no idea how to quickly get the frame of mind to use them. File managers especially. I keep reading this real men's file managers over real men's file managers but for the love of God, I'm already losing my vision staring at a dual pane and asking myself "How am I productive because of you?" |
| Is there a Windows equivalent to PCMan File Manager? |
| Do you recommend any guides for setting up a minimal OS for a casual user? |
| I've tried Puppy before but somehow I ended up botching things up and I can't reboot from my session from a livecd and it's not set up for hard disk installation from what I read in the past. Besides that, I find Linux to be a poor minimalist OS right now because you either have to be an advanced user or you'll always hit the deadend of the problematic AbiWord/OpenOffice syndrome. |
| Meanwhile I'm really aiming for bblean but that is also like trying to tackle a Linux interface. It's taking time and I have to probably have to lurk in their forums to understand all the plugins thing and how it is different from litestep and other things. |
| Basically what I really want is a free desktop with a PIM, MS Word fast word processor or even better a Yeah Write like fast word processor, both ThinkingRock and Compendium opened and both Firefox and Opera opened each with 1000 tabs (ok, that's a large estimate but it would be oh so nice if there's an OS that can handle that) and have all these small systray apps like Incollector, Pop-Up Wisdom, Antivirus/Antispyware if necessary, launchy, desktop lighter, pop-up wisdom, firstcap, process explorer, ram optimizer and virtual desktop all without slowing down but I don't know how to set this up. |
| Public computers. They still scare me because of the threat of keyloggers. If needed to sign into an account, what’s the best option/software to securely do it? Does copy pasting from a password manager really work because I use a clipboard manager and it still captures the entries. |
| Problem temporarily solved: I now use LastPass and it has a virtual keyboard so that makes me feel safer but I'm still not sure if that's enough. I would try portable browsers but they can be a bitch to customize and I have no idea how the whole Tor thing works. |
| What’s the key difference between anonymous browsing and private browsing and are the benefits worth it? |
| What is the 2nd best most efficient and cheapest way to take notes while showering |
| Obviously I can use my brain but I was wondering if there's a cheap trick to getting a notebook that doesn't get wet without buying a customized one. It seems anytime I have an idea, it's when I'm showering and it can get highly annoying to forget what I write but then again, I still haven't solved the mystery of how anyone could have a dream journal because when I try to have one, all I can do is input keywords with my eyes closed otherwise it becomes too much a bother. |
| What is a Newsgroup reader? |
| I think I know what a Usenet group is but I just don't get how useful a reader is when you can just go to a browser and visit Google Groups or Yahoo Groups. |
| What are some recommended softwares for making forum formatting easier? I've already tried jotting notes down and re-organizing them but as you can see, with this level of texts, it just too much to format at times and it still comes out jumbled. |
I just don't see the point of online backup services if their level of reliability is just a costlier external disk that you have to regularly maintain with your wallet.-Paul Keith (September 03, 2008, 02:59 AM)
it's an interesting point - would you hope that they simply hold the backup until you pay up ?
Still think you should separate the topics more within the first post - I get a headache trying to read it !
What are some recommended softwares for making forum formatting easier?
I've already tried jotting notes down and re-organizing them but as you can see, with this level of texts, it just too much to format at times and it still comes out jumbled.
(I'll be honest, I don't really have the techie knowledge to understand what S3 is)about my level :)-Paul Keith (September 03, 2008, 04:40 AM)
Quality: 1. Easy to export 2. None-notepad like (template box) Problem: As much as Incollector is my preferred bookmarking and snippets taker because of it's non-writing notes feel and easy on the eyes preview of contents, it doesn't have a one box template where you can just write something without putting a title on it. |
Quality: Won't suddenly store all your backups if you've become dirt poor and can't afford their monthly subscription services. After all, what's the point of having an online backup service if it's only while your rich or can afford to pay it? Might as well settle for an external hard disk. P.S. It's only for personal usage. Currently considering: Jungledisk Problem: I need to shell out cash to test it out. |
What offline rss reader has the best specs or is configured for lots of rss but slow reading (I think online rss readers tend to remove articles of a certain date or number)
I'm currently using Google Reader now but to be honest I'm not really comfortable using it. I much preferred the lightweight feeling of a desktop rss reader outside my browser but when I try to set all my feeds to update, it just slows down my 1gb ram pc.
At first I settled for Opera's RSS Reader but then I got annoyed because I realize I still needed to open a browser everytime and I'm already in tab hell. Then I settled for nfreader and at first it was the lightest rss reader I used but then it slows down too. This isn't helped by the fact that I have a disorganized list of RSS that I'm still organizing that has around 300 feeds. Around 50 probably not so important ones like programming blogs because I don't know how to get into that and hope to gleam some information from those, craigslist and other blogs for monitoring and the usual about.com, wired.com kind of feeds with several categories.-Paul Keith (September 03, 2008, 01:26 AM)
Programs with plugins, is there an easier way to learn them? Besides the new FF3 plugin search, every program with plugins seems to be overwhelming to figure out. Sure, some are manageable because there are few plugins or that a non-expert can differentiate between a plugin that they need or don’t need but once it devolves into something like Miranda plugins or bblean, plugin searching devolves into looking for pages and pages of features trying to sort them out and often times asking for help results into what I need but many of the plugins I want often times come from me not even considering them. (Ex. FF Taboo’s firefox extension) or worse, from me realizing that I don’t need them or I'm so messed up that I don’t realize I need to learn them first but have tried them already. (Ex. Losing Scrapbooks because I never thought of focusing on exporting/importing because at the time I wasn’t educated to the need for backups)
Is there an easier way of previewing RAM without using a RAM optimizer?
How do you use advanced clipboard manager’s options? One of the features or habits I’m looking for is to be able to copy paste multiple entries in any order and then be able to re-arrange them so that each ctrl+v results into the next entry and the next entry being pasted but using basic clipboard managers, I only go so far as two copies before I have to self organize the entries.
That sounds like Skrommel's ClipStep (https://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel/index.html#ClipStep). Or try ClipX (http://bluemars.org/clipx/) if you want some basic interface to manipulate clipboard contents, apart from extending it.-Lashiec (September 03, 2008, 10:17 AM)
Are there any other free novel writing software besides ywriter4?
Take notes in the shower? What the...? . I'll try to answer a couple questions, anyway.
We already have a few threads about those around here, but personally I recommend Feed Demon. It's quite fast, with an excellent interface, and various features to control how you read the feeds, and when they should be eliminated from the system, although by default it stores up to 200 entries per feed subscription. It's also the one that gives fewer problems with feeds, others tend to have problems with certain feeds, or ignore parts of them. You can do all the reading inside it as well, as it uses tabs and the IE engine to show them. But feel free to try the rest as well, I also recommend Newzie, for its unique set of features.
Don't even try to go through all plugins of a certain application, most times you are just losing time. The best approach IMO is to search for a plugin that provides some functionality you need, trying everything is fun for a while, but no recommendable. Like, "Wow, I'd like to do x with the browser", and you go to the plugin page, and search for it.
The Task Manager?
That sounds like Skrommel's ClipStep. Or try ClipX if you want some basic interface to manipulate clipboard contents, apart from extending it.
first post looks a lot better all right Paul
(Ah! A topic near and dear to me!)
Could you narrow down what writing function(s) you're looking for? The Writer's Store uses the following categories, which could give you some ideas to start with:
* Story Planning
* Craft Development
* Outline / Brainstorming
* Script Formatters
* Word Processing
* Film Production & Business
If you could give me an idea of what you want to do, I'd be glad to make some suggestions.
The best place to look would be back at the mothership itself. Zotero documentation can be found at the following link:
http://www.zotero.org/documentation/
I know it sounds like a bad case of "RTFM" avoidance
.. IIRC, it's the Private Bytes figure you really have to look at if you want to know how much the process is REALLY using, since the working set is the amount of RAM allocated to the process + some shared (or to be used) by other processes.-Armando (September 03, 2008, 06:59 PM)
That sounds like Skrommel's ClipStep (https://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Skrommel/index.html#ClipStep). Or try ClipX (http://bluemars.org/clipx/) if you want some basic interface to manipulate clipboard contents, apart from extending it.-Lashiec (September 03, 2008, 10:17 AM)
that's been worked on a good bit since by TWmailrec -
http://twm.dcmembers.com/-tomos (September 03, 2008, 10:32 AM)
What is the 2nd best most efficient and cheapest way to take notes while showering
Customization:
Here in South America a lot of computers are being sold through super markets. They use the gOS operating system. This (linux-based) O.S. is light on resources and comes with practically all a casual user would need. The interface is easy on the eyes (at least to me) And it seems to be a solid base for expanding it to your specific needs.
For more info: gOS (http://www.thinkgos.com/)-Shades (September 03, 2008, 09:11 PM)
I'd suggest getting yourself an inexpensive notes recorder that is voice activated. Shop Staples, Amazon, OfficeMax etc. for selection and pricing. I like Sony, but there are lots of other makes out there.
| Final Draft: Very MS Word like which could be a plus for some people but a minus for me since I never learned MS Word and I barely use Wordpad. Skimming the help file only yielded very basic bookmarking and indexing functions which doesn't really benefit me much as I don't know the basics of scriptwriting. The minimal interface would have been a plus if I wasn't already using YeahWrite and Q10 or even Akelpad as a text editor which are more minimalistic. |
| Power Structure: Ahh… this is more like it. The beginning options are a definite plus but only because I have never seen anything like it. At the same time, it can be a minus because unless you follow the manual and choose novel format, it can be pretty scary and confusing. I'd really be more comfortable if there were at least some tooltips available while choosing the options. I love the font size slider but the size limit really leaves a lot to be desired since I find that 10-15 pt were the only sizes that were readable in my PC. (1152 x 864) It doesn't bother me that much but I would prefer something like 20 pt for when my eyes get tired staring at the screen. Drop down category lists are great but I find I need to re-click them instead of the entries being highlighted and allowing me to scroll through them using the mouse wheel. The characters view looks like a user friendlier screen of ywriter4 and I'm still not really sure about these kind of things. On one hand, I like the challenge of needing to create depth with my characters and on the other, I find these things really tedious to work with. I just don't feel anything special about a character inputted through these methods. If I need something like this, I feel more comfortable with Compendium's Dialogue Mapping Style of Creating Things because then I could create entire scenarios for a single character and preview it all in one page with my preferred order instead of trying to conform my mind to this tree-based hierarchy which is just not for me. Don't get me wrong, I do have a need for these type of templates, Power Structure's way is just the wrong kind of template for me. It's too focused on being rigid, on trying to make a format that would make sense if you show these texts to someone in this screen, on trying to write a biography and when I write, I'm going in the other direction. I write so that the story becomes good enough to be the character's biography. I write as if the character had forgotten themselves and only remembered when they were in a dilemma and in need of remembering who they are. I write asking what is the current state of the character in line with the current story and I connect the dots from there. But Power Structure assumes that I care whether I am in Chapter 1 or not. It assumes I'm more interested in a format that would allow me to create a Dungeons and Dragons character and then transport them into a Chapter-based format. It assumes the problem I have most with stories are in separating the parts so I can import them when my main stumbling block often comes from exporting them. Actually the format doesn't prevent me from doing that but it also doesn't help me to begin improving on my story. It's more like now, not only do I have a big bunch of text to deal with, I also have several tabs distracting me from actually writing my story. This can be fixed by copying the text from another text editor or word processor but by then, I'm usually more worried editing my work than spending time separating them into snippets. It really comes off more as a professional story marketing program than a novel writing software. All these options can make it easier for editing if you can't find your text but for me, if you can't find what part of your story needs editing then chances are, the to be edited part is not just the problem but also the actual content of the story otherwise why wouldn't I want to reread what I wrote? (Yes, there's time constraints but I find that I have no problem rereading the books that I'm really into.) Also if it's only purpose is finding the edited portion, then ywriter4 is free and this isn't so even if this is more user friendly, I think it just doesn't benefit me enough for me to want to pay for it. In the end, I think this is something that I might look back on because the fill in the box approach especially combined with the questions approach can be really addicting but there's a fine line between addicting and helpful especially when it comes to payware. |
| Movie Outline: Now, right off the bat, I felt the introductory documentation is a whole let better here. It confirms my suspicion that there is a reason for why Power Structure and ywriter4 have a glaring similarity. "Step-outlining", I still haven't been explained enough value from applying it but a word is a better start than a quick start guide. Of course, either programs could have mentioned this later on or in their main sites, but I think it's something a newbie can easily miss that the right way to put it is definitely when the program first begins. Overall, the interface looks like a more polished hybrid of FinalDraft and Power Structure. A bad thing in my book because it makes many of the options on Power Structure complicated but at the same time, it's less specific question templates are both a bane and a blessing. On one hand, I'm glad I'm free from the more specific questions Power Structure asks of me but at the same time, many of the questions are obvious and are made easier in Power Structure because they turned these questions into options. In the end, Movie Outline preys on the inadequacy of my writing, making me considering on choosing it for the temptation of using it's analyses programs to draw me in but at the same time, I'm not sure if a rejected review from a publisher is much more worthwhile advice. |
| Storymind/Storyweaver: This is probably the first program I really felt comfortable with. Links to videos (though I never tried them), light and finally a simple offer without trying to paint complexity into the program. At first, I was confused because the whole thing looked like a help file and I thought I downloaded the wrong thing so I went to a different site to download the same thing and I was scratching my head for a while there until I finally got it. If there's anything keeping me from buying this, is that I haven't tested it to the end to see whether it was all really worth it but the questions here are definitely less rigid than both Movie Outline and Power Structure and they are written in much more details that makes it more invigorating to answer them than the other two. If there's a con to this program is that it begins assuming you don't have a story in progress and starts you from scratch but that’s also the pro of this program as it's very difficult to be attracted to a program that assumes you already have a story you want to be massacred into a complicated hedge of step outlines. |
| Dramatica: I'd say this is 2 for 2 as far as checking this applications made by Melanie Anne Philipps. There's just something reassuring about her writing style that clicks with me that the shock of finding out that she has a transgender support site didn't phase me after all. I'm not anti-Transgender but I'm a straight guy and as much as I want to stay as objective as possible, these things should bother me so when it didn't, it in turn gave me more faith that these applications are written by someone who was interested in elevating their story rather than just due to a damn good marketeer. Of course, I've been wrong before so we'll see... (I'm a sucker for infomercials) Interface wise, it draws on my curiosity because even though it's different from StoryMind's, it's actually much clearer as an app this time but at the same time, it gives me that Civilization 2 like feel that I just want to click on the buttons and it's probably the first app that really made me want to click on Help even though I find all the description texts, too small. All I can say is that I've only tried the StoryGuide in the beginning and I like that it reads like an interactive fiction on helping you to create a story. I also like that from the get go it warns me that the level 3 path would take 3 to 4 days which makes it easy to set aside time when further testing this product. All in all, the thing that keeps me from using this is the small fonts, the lack of scrolling through arrow keys and that's it. Among all that I've written about at this point, this made the best first impression. |
| Storyview: Very MS Word like. Not my thing. A let down compared to Power Structure and FinalDraft. |
| WriteMonkey: Thanks. It can never hurt to know more about these programs but I already use Q10 so while I do plan to make a feature by feature comparison of these two someday, I'm not really foreign to these types of software and it's a good editing platform to string along with rewriting my story on paper but it's not something that I can live with on it's own. |
| CeltX: This looks very promising but I can't see it's similarities with FinalDraft but I'm judging purely on the UI. This is definitely something I'd like to get a chance to explore someday but right now, I can't really tap into many of it's options since I don't really understand anything about pre-production and without that, the value of being able to preview something just isn't there. Even trying the sample comic book didn't really give any clue as to how this would help me as the slideshows aren't really any different from creating a comic book panel by panel and putting them all into images. I'm really tempted to request for a guide to pre-production but at the same time, I'm not sure I can absorb the information well. The whole feel of the program just screams "more than one person". I really don't see why I couldn't do what the program offers with any outliner on a single person basis. |
| Liquid Story Binder: Umm…wow. I need someone to teach me how to work this thing. This looks like the GIMP of novel writing software and unfortunately I haven't even graduated from Photoshop. |
I've never had one before 40hz. Could you give me an idea on what quality to look for? The closest I got to a voice recorder was from a PocketPC and that was very clunky both to use and to import data of.
We should really split up this thread into dif topics since there is some useful information in some of these posts that will never get discovered because of the topic title.-mouser (September 09, 2008, 10:15 AM)
I get the feeling you might be better starting a few different threads ( otherwise we could simply move most of the forum into this thread ;D )-tomos (September 03, 2008, 02:26 AM)
A man was walking on the beach one day, carrying his shoes in his hand. He sat down beside a tidal pool and looked at the shells and seaweed left in it. Then he noticed, just above the water line, what looked like a pile of salt. But the salt seemed to have the form of a woman. Then she opened her eyes, smiled, and sat up.
"Are you our salt doll who disappeared into the ocean?" he asked. "Or are you now the ocean itself?"
"I am both," said the salt doll. "I always was."
"How could you have come back from the sea?" the man asked.
"My purpose brought me back," she said. "I came back to tell you about the ocean. And to tell all you people something you don't seem to know about yourselves. I am no different from you. You are all salt dolls."
The man looked down at his bare foot, and for a moment it looked like it was made of salt.
(Note: this was given to me so I don't know who wrote it. -40hz)
Deep. No pun intended :D
Seriously, cool little story, 40hz, thanks for sharing it with us. FWIW, I think that you and Tom are right - this thread is begining to encompass the entire forum!-Darwin (September 09, 2008, 11:16 AM)
I've never had one before 40hz. Could you give me an idea on what quality to look for? The closest I got to a voice recorder was from a PocketPC and that was very clunky both to use and to import data of.
I've had the best luck with Sony. They seem to pack the most bang for the buck where I live. Olympus is also a good choice. I hesitate to recommend specific units since a model "year" in this market seems to be about four months. ;D
I would look for a USB output port and a reasonable number of hours recording time based on how I use it. Anything over eight hours would do it for me since I only use my recorder for notes. And I'm unusually good about copying them off onto my PC. Which leads to another major consideration for me: compatibility with Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software.
The arguments for and against voice recognition software could flood a forum thread. From what I've seen, it either works for you or it doesn't. For my PC (and my voice), it's a marriage made in heaven. It did take a lot of work to get it set up, but it's repaid itself several times over for me.
Note: DragonNS is an interesting product that puts me in an unusual position. I use it and I think highly of it. But I would never recommend it to someone. That's because it is somewhat of a crapshoot. It's expensive; there are no demos available; and not everyone can use it. So unless you're willing to risk a few hundred dollars and commit to the time necessary to "train" it, you're better off forgetting about speech recognition.-40hz (September 09, 2008, 10:54 AM)
I think Mssr. Keith should start a blog. He writes well; his questions and observations are both intelligent and interesting; and he has the rare gift of "knowing what he does not know."
I'd bookmark him. :)
P.S. Thank you Paul. You bring a lot to the forum! :Thmbsup:-40hz (September 09, 2008, 12:08 PM)
What does a USB output port do? I tried Googling but the images don't ring a bell.
Overview of Digital Voice Editor Version 3.1 functions:
* Saving and adding recorded messages:
1. Save messages recorded by the IC recorder onto your computer hard disk by messages or by folders.
2. Add messages from the computer to the IC recorder.
* Editing recorded messages:
1. Divide a message into two messages or combine up to five messages into one.
* Converting file formats:
1. Convert the file format of a message saved in the computer and save it as a new file.
2. Convert a message recorded by the IC recorder into an MP3 file.
* CD burning function (CD Burning Tool for DVE):
1. Add messages from the Digital Voice Editor or Windows Explorer window to the CD Burning Tool for DVE window, and then burn the data to a CD-R/RW as an audio or data CD.
* CD recording function (CD Recording Tool for DVE):
1. Convert a CD track into a file format compatible with the Digital Voice Editor software and then save the converted file on a computer hard disk.
One thing I also use my Sony VR for is to test the sound and flow of dialog. I try to have someone read any dialog I've written. In a pinch, I'll do it myself. Amazing how something that looks so good on a page sometimes sounds so awful when you hear it read back to you.
I have found this is especially useful if I can get my friend Alexis to read back sections of dialog or narrative belonging to a female character. Men and women seem to use language differently. It's hard to define exactly how. But most women can spot when a guy is putting words in a female character's mouth. Hearing a character speak in the appropriate gender's voice helps me catch a lot of subtle differences and improve my characters verisimilitude. Robert Heinlein seems to annoy a lot of women with his dialog. I've often heard women say, "All his women sound like men - no woman would ever talk like that." after reading a Heinlein story.
Considering the number of women I've met who don't enjoy Heinlein's female characters - and the number of guys who do - there just might be something to this.
Whoa mama! I just saw this thread. You are crazy Paul! I'm going to have to set aside some time in my schedule to read this thing.
Seriously, though. I like your ambition. But a lot of this stuff is around the forums here somewhere. It's easier to deal with this (at least in forums) if you break it down as much as possible and address one issue at a time. But there's always a time and place for large general threads also, so whatever. I'm one to talk, I've started two enormous threads here myself!
| How do you use Wiki-style notetakers? (I can’t seem to get my head around on how a wiki-style’d note is easier to read than other kind of notepads. In Wikipedia alone I can find myself clogging my browser with 100 tabs opened all from starting with one Wikipedia article) |
Thanks gtoal but how do you use it?-Paul Keith (September 11, 2008, 12:52 AM)
... if Wikidpad is confusing I recommend trying that one out because it doesn't require any syntax ...-Paul Keith (September 11, 2008, 04:40 AM)
... if Wikidpad is confusing I recommend trying that one out because it doesn't require any syntax ...-Paul Keith (September 11, 2008, 04:40 AM)
so are you saying that you understand technically how to use Wikidpad/wikis, but want to see how it is used ???Well not technically (I didn't bother to learn the syntax) but basically, yes.-Paul Keith (September 11, 2008, 05:11 AM)-tomos (September 11, 2008, 04:44 AM)
I've finally got my feet wet and opted for Olympus instead of Sony because of their reputation and am considering the DS-50 (http://asia.olympus-imaging.com/products/voice_recorders/digital_rec/ds50/) but it is quite pricey and still no sign of whether it can handle being held by wet hands. What do you think?-Paul Keith (September 09, 2008, 11:32 PM)
Alexis must be quite a gal to be able to mimic a wide range of voices. Haha, that's another thing I might need to search for.
Maybe somebody who is a wiki-wonk could start a new thread to try and enlighten those of us who frankly admit to being clueless.
BTW: I wanted to say 'paradigm' instead of concept - but I'd probably be dragged out behind DC headquarters and stoned to death with dead hard drives for uttering that word.
One MAJOR caveat with Sony is their software. They're DRM freaks so their software has some issues when you want to burn files to CD. I guess they're worried about people recording a Brittany Spears concert. You can burn to CD, but it's a major pain.
You also MUST use their software to access recordings on the device. That would have been a showstopper for me if I knew about it beforehand. Unlike a friend's Olympus, this Sony doesn't come up on your PC as a mass storage USB device. So you can't just drag and drop files. Still, for twenty-five bucks I can't really complain. Too much anyway.
As far as searching, I'd suggest getting one of those tall outdoorsy redhead types. Got me one of those and never regretted it. Look for versatility and performance. The particular model I've have is perfectly at home either in an English saddle, or slamming out some serious blues on her Fender Strat. Goes from zero to Stevie Ray Vaughan in under four seconds flat!
Check what's available in your area. Highly recommended!
Windows Vista: Why do people prefer it over a dual boot Xp and Linux?
I know the common reasons, I just want to make sure I'm not missing something crucial because it seems it should be a disaster but I read people using it.-Paul Keith (September 03, 2008, 01:26 AM)
Yeah, speech recognition is overkill to me since what I mainly want is something waterproof that can be used in the shower, probably something with a long battery life and something bare bones but sturdy and would last a while. I really don't mind jotting down my notes since I will probably be using this more often for quick notes and 1 or 2 mid-length conversations which is more to help me remember the conversation rather than for turning it into text.-Paul Keith (September 09, 2008, 12:12 PM)
Have you tried all-weather paper? There are a lot of products out there. For the odd short reminder I have a chinagraph pencil in the shower (aka grease pencil or wax pencil) and write on directly onto the wall - it cleans off perfectly.-suleika (September 13, 2008, 06:46 AM)
Compendium for outlining. Tree-based hierarchies just don't do it for me. I feel more at home with a structure I can pattern myself.-Paul Keith (September 13, 2008, 04:18 AM)
Woah man, very nice! I'm jealous. Always wanted a space large enough to host a library but I couldn't afford it.-Paul Keith (September 13, 2008, 04:18 AM)
BookCAT is a powerful book collector database program which will help you catalog a book collection of any size. BookCAT is used by book-lovers, schools, churches, clubs, and business libraries. Using BookCAT you can quickly catalog your books by downloading information from the Internet. BookCAT will help you track what you have in your library, where it is (including books out on loan) and the total value of your collection.
BookCAT has a comprehensive set of fields, enabling you to catalog a wide range of information: author, title, publisher, ISBN number, publish date, number of pages, editor, original title, translator, binding, edition, type of book (fiction, non-fiction, etc.), category and sub-category, purchase date and price, current value, condition, status (own, want, for sale), personal rating, owner, location, keywords, awards and nominations, comments, synopsis, reviews, and more.
Other features include customized entry fields, a loan module (to keep track of books on loan), flexible searching, a report designer, more than 80 pre-defined report formats, a HTML generator, a sample data base to get you started, pop-up menus for quick feature access and navigation, and comprehensive context-sensitive on-line documentation available at the touch of a button.
Well, I haven't used either XP or Linux, so I can't say if Vista is better or inferior to those. All I can say, is that I've had Vista now for 1,5 years it has not crashed once.
I repeat that: Windows Vista has NOT crashed once in 1,5 years.
I have had no problems installing my old, favourite software (I still use Word 97 :)). No problems with drivers or peripherals.
Of course Vista needs lots of RAM and such. You can't install it on any old computer. That's what I've heard people complain about.-anne_r (September 13, 2008, 06:35 AM)
Thanks for mentioning that. I thought I knew every outliner out there, but this is a new one for me.
I webbed over to their homepage, and while I was happy to see that they have since released Compendium as a free product, the download links no longer work. You get a 404 no matter what. I tried e-mailing, hoping that maybe this is a temporary case of a bad link on the site.
From the feature list (it has a few unique ones), Compendium may be the general outliner application I've been looking for.
Fingers crossed...
Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for your e-mail and interest in our products.
While appreciating your interest,
we are sorry to inform you that there are no dealers or retailers
of our voice recorders in the Philippine.
Therefore, regarding availability of DS-50,
please contact our distributor of digital cameras
at the following address.
*** Distributor in the Philippines ***
Axis Global Technologies,Inc.
20 North Rd., Cor. 3rd Ave., Cubao,
Quezon City
Tel: 632-724-3340
Tel: 632-721-8618
Fax: 632-724-3353
Unfortunately none of our voice recorders
including the DS-50 is water proof.
Therefore, we are unable to guarantee the use of
our voice recorders in a bathroom.
We are not planning to introduce water proof
voice recorders under present circumstances.
Thank you for your understanding.
Best regards,
S. Sato
Customer Support Center
OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP. Tokyo, Japan
Publisher's Description
A new software tool designed for authors of fictional stories. It allows you to write creatively and intuitively without logical tasks interfering with the flow of your ideas.
Rather than using lists and tables to keep track of the various parts of your writing project, it works visually, just as Windows does.
You simply create new papels in the main project window, name them and set their type (described below). Papels are easily identifiable, as each type has it´s own icon, and the descriptive name you gave it is displayed with it.
Papel allows you to keep track of all the scraps of writing you create along the way, and instantly reminds you of what goes where by the way you group them in your project. Papels can be moved around with your mouse, renamed, and the type changed if you wish. Once everything is ready for publishing, you simply import the text files into your word processor for final formatting to the desired publishing standard.
Features:
* Visual on-screen representation of your writing project sections.
* Drag & Drop interface for easy grouping of related pieces of work, notes, etc.
* Individual icons for each piece of work, including Chapter, Scene, Male Character, Female Character, Plot Outline, Dialogue, and Note.
* Simple papel naming system, with automatic file saving under the given name.
* Find, Replace, Word Count,Spell Checking & Thesaurus in editor.
* Multi-sizeable project window with up to 8 times your screen size.
* Configurable and saveable Editor font and size.
* Saveable default Application and Editor window positions.
The core idea is to have a program that creates a larger version of this image encompassing a smaller version of this grid, encompassing an even smaller version of this grid with the end result aiming to have a way to not only prioritize but also segment the different items that are to be included in this concept.-Paul Keith (September 16, 2008, 06:50 PM)
I don't think Notebox Disorganizer (http://www.geocities.com/goosnargh37/) has been mentioned so far. It's aimed at writers, and is truly weird. Here is part of a third-party review (http://lists.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1718594264):No, seriously, you should check out NoteBox Disorganizer:
It's an amazingly useful program.
NoteBox Disorganizer is tailor-made for quickly jotting down notes and
ideas, organizing those notes and ideas, combining selected notes into a
document, and exporting that document for publication. It's truly my
favorite writing program, and I've tried pretty much everything out
there. Here are some of the things that make NoteBox Disorganizer so
outstanding:
* Notes are kept in a spreadsheet-like grid that is easy to understand
and navigate. And that means all your notes are spread out in plain
sight; nothing is hidden away in a database or lost in an outline
"tree."
* It's possible to name each column, so you can easily categorize your
notes under the columns where they belong. Have a note that belongs
under more than one category? Clone it! Change a clone, and that change
is reflected in all of the others.
* It's also possible to name each *row,* so you can lay out a book's
structure before you even start writing.
[...]
I love the side-by-sideness of all this, which gives me a sense of
overview, organization, and control that I don't get in any other
program.
* If you need finer "granularity" in categorizing notes, you can include
note ~keywords in the text (and keep an alphabetical list of those
~keywords) and then do a "bounded" search for them. In Boolean terms,
that's an "And" search, which finds notes that include all of the
specified ~keywords. Don't want to fuss with ~keywords? You can still
use a bounded search to find notes that contain several terms.-rjbull (August 23, 2006, 05:19 AM)
#1
The thing that makes this arrangement work for me is a very nice little library program from Norway called BookCAT. It's published by FNProgramvare. ( www.fnprg.com ) Complete documentation and a fully functional evaluation copy are available for download.
#2
About a year ago I bit the bullet and got my entire collection entered into BookCAT.
I was motivated to do so by two separate 'incidents'. The first was the discovery that several irreplaceable books I owned were missing. I vaguely remembered loaning some of them out, but I couldn't even begin to recall to whom or when. (I'm suffering from the early stages of an affliction called AGE.) The other 'incident' was my discovering that I had duplicate copies of a dozen or so fairly expensive books (SAMS and O'Reilly titles!). Apparently, I bought, forgot I owned, and then re-bought some books! Not the most cost effective way to do things.
Getting the books entered took about two weeks of parttime effort with me crawing from place to place with my laptop and a cup of coffee when I had nothing better to do. It wasn't as big a chore as it could have been because the program supports online information lookups using the ISBN number. Pop in the ISBN and you can download all the publisher details into your database.
Using a database for a book collection is liberating. Retrieval is the critical issue - not storage. Once you have a reliable reference and location tool, the whole issue of physical storage and organization becomes almost moot.
Now it no longer matters where I put a book - or who I loaned it to. I can even keep my lesser used titles in numbered boxes up in the attic. And they don't even need to be organized or categorized before they get put away. Titles can be shelved, stored, and stashed at will. I can find any title quite quickly as long as I keep its current location updated in the database.
One interesting feature: BookCAT uses MS Access as its database. The documentation that comes with the program gives full details on the database table structure. This allows for extensive customization of the application should you have sufficient expertise using Access.
A fine program. Not free, but at $40 US it's very reasonable. Highly recommended.
I love all these neat tools. I just have to be careful to keep them in perspective.-40hz (September 17, 2008, 05:55 PM)
re: Writing
Thanks for the info on Compendium. I've downloaded it and I'm putting it through it's paces. A very interesting application to say the least, even if you need to install MySQL to use it. Now that I've played with Compendium and gotten a feel for it's methodology I'm beginning to see the potential for a lot future use. A definite find! :Thmbsup: :Thmbsup:
BTW: The reason I couldn't originally download Compendium was because Google directed me to Compendium-TA by mistake. Compendium-TA is an outliner. Their website can be found at: www.compendiumdev.co.uk/compendium-ta/default.php
(And yes, the download links for that app are still broken. Boo hiss!!! ;))-40hz (September 16, 2008, 07:37 PM)
In the meantime, you might want to take a look at Papel. Papel is a free-form note taking and organizing tool that uses a desktop-like metaphor.
(see attachment in previous post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=14696.msg130426#msg130426))Publisher's Description
A new software tool designed for authors of fictional stories. It allows you to write creatively and intuitively without logical tasks interfering with the flow of your ideas.
Rather than using lists and tables to keep track of the various parts of your writing project, it works visually, just as Windows does.
You simply create new papels in the main project window, name them and set their type (described below). Papels are easily identifiable, as each type has it´s own icon, and the descriptive name you gave it is displayed with it.
Papel allows you to keep track of all the scraps of writing you create along the way, and instantly reminds you of what goes where by the way you group them in your project. Papels can be moved around with your mouse, renamed, and the type changed if you wish. Once everything is ready for publishing, you simply import the text files into your word processor for final formatting to the desired publishing standard.
Features:
* Visual on-screen representation of your writing project sections.
* Drag & Drop interface for easy grouping of related pieces of work, notes, etc.
* Individual icons for each piece of work, including Chapter, Scene, Male Character, Female Character, Plot Outline, Dialogue, and Note.
* Simple papel naming system, with automatic file saving under the given name.
* Find, Replace, Word Count,Spell Checking & Thesaurus in editor.
* Multi-sizeable project window with up to 8 times your screen size.
* Configurable and saveable Editor font and size.
* Saveable default Application and Editor window positions.
Downloading Papel can get a little tricky since the product's homepage seems to have gone missing recently.
This download link does work however:
http://download.freewarefiles.com/files/Papel_Setup.exe
I agree with both of you though I'm not sure if what 40hz posted was a koan or a real life recent incident. :D-Paul Keith (September 17, 2008, 08:25 PM)
I'm not enlightened enough to be making koans. The occasional zinger is as close as I ever get. :)
I'm not enlightened enough to be making koans. The occasional zinger is as close as I ever get. :)
Don't worry, I'm not enlightened enough to know the difference. ;D-Paul Keith (September 18, 2008, 06:20 AM)
Hi, feeling really sick right now so just a quick bump.
-Still trying to figure out SQLNotes though I've been feeling too weak to get the motivation to read the SQLNotes thread.-Paul Keith (October 03, 2008, 04:30 AM)
Have you tried all-weather paper? There are a lot of products out there. For the odd short reminder I have a chinagraph pencil in the shower (aka grease pencil or wax pencil) and write on directly onto the wall - it cleans off perfectly.-suleika (September 13, 2008, 06:46 AM)
I've heard of the paper but I really didn't feel like they were an affordable option especially for short note taking but a chinagraph pencil, there's something I haven't heard of before. What are the things to look out for when buying such a pencil?-Paul Keith (September 13, 2008, 07:13 AM)
Chinagraph pencil is basically like wax crayons but less soft and wrapped in a protective way.-suleika (October 05, 2008, 06:58 PM)
You could also invest in either a Fisher Space Pen (http://www.spacepen.ca/cdn-english/history.htm) or a Fisher Space Pen Refill (http://www.spacepen.ca/StoreBox/spacepenrefills.htm)...-Darwin (October 05, 2008, 07:11 PM)
And it's cheap.-suleika (October 05, 2008, 08:23 PM)
And it's cheap.-suleika (October 05, 2008, 08:23 PM)
Cheap is good. Very good. I was just thinking that for jotting down notes in the shower, a pen would be easier to use than a wax crayon. However, if one could write ON the shower stall, transfer one's notes at a later time, and then clean the shower stall - BETTER :Thmbsup:-Darwin (October 05, 2008, 09:09 PM)
Thanks gtoal but how do you use it?-Paul Keith (September 11, 2008, 12:52 AM)
Hi, feeling really sick right now so just a quick bump.
-Still trying to figure out SQLNotes though I've been feeling too weak to get the motivation to read the SQLNotes thread.-Paul Keith (October 03, 2008, 04:30 AM)
Take care of your health and then go have a look there (http://sites.google.com/site/infoqube/Home) (http://sites.google.com/site/infoqube/Home) and there too : http://sqlnotes.wikispaces.com/
SQLNotes is in the process of changing name (slowly getting out of its beta phase) to become InfoQube or IQ.-Armando (October 03, 2008, 09:02 AM)
Paul, you and mouser are probably having similar difficulties with SQLNotes. I had the same issues in the beginning (probably more). Put in the effort to figure it out. Most likely, if SN can't do what you're trying to do, there probably isn't another information management system available yet that can.
Sorry I didn't notice your question till now. I got my chinagraph pencils from a serious stationary store. Chinagraph pencil is basically like wax crayons but less soft and wrapped in a protective way. I don't know where you're from and it might be called something different, but you can probably find it once you search for the correct term.
As to the all-weather paper - from what you describe, you could have a rolling notebook, where you write, and then transfer your notes elsewhere. Then you simply cross out the original entry and you wouldn't need to start a new page or waste paper.
compile it, then write a batch file with commands in it like
hakihaki < file.txt > file.html
any time you update file.txt, just double-click the batch file.
Similarities will be found between any fantasy story. Finding a story that is 100% unique is probably impossible. But I agree that sometimes Goodkind is a little too blatantly obvious. But then, when trying to tell a story I am sure you will end up with a solution that works great, then realize that soemone else have already used that exact solution. What are you gonna do? scrap your project?
The difference between SoT and WoT is that SoT tells a story and have things come in as they are needed, while WoT tells a story in a set world.
SoT have a distinct theme for each book (its stated by Goodkind on his website). Everything in the book is based on supporting that theme. An effect of this is how certain places and people are there for just one book and then is never heard from again. Examples are the pacifist empire, gars/Gratch, Blood of the Fold, etc. These are all in one book and gets resolved in the end (either by getting killed of, or leaving). Of course he did bring back some in the last book, but my basic theory still holds.
In effect, Goodkind creates the world around the story: 'Oh I need a old mysterious place, write it in'. This is why the map of the world is so vague. It gives Goodkind greater freedom in creating his story. he is free to go to any place since it is created just to get the story moving in the right way.
WoT on the other hand is a story taking place in a set world. When Goodkind creates his world to support his story, Jordan sets his story in a 'existing world'. Therefore he gets bogged down in details, and a lot of characters, since they still exist in this world, while in SoT anyone not realted to the theme in the book isn't mentioned at all.
Personally I find SoT a good book, a bit preachy, but in the end a good story. I found WoT to be superior in storytelling and giving me the ffeling of being immersed in a richer world. The negative side is the slow pace and the feeling of reading a soap opera (minor plotlines that never really gets resolved, always springing up new minor plotlines) rather than a story.
My perceived difference between the authors is that Goodkind wants to preach a message, while Jordan wants to tell a story.
I also think Jordan does a better job with some of his characters (most of the female ones are all the same), he has characters with weaknesses and flaws, while SoT has very one-dimensional characters (ironically some people say the opposite and that SoT has very realistic characters). Name one flaw Richard has, yeah there really aren't any: he is super good looking, really strong, apparently got the perfect athletic body, works hard, never slacks, honest, selfless, unstoppable killing machine, instinctively knows more about magic than anyone else etc. etc. I found it rather annoying at the end. Other characters are just as one-sided. Kahlan is basically just a female copy of Richard for example.
While reading Jordan's first book I constantly thought that the characters were too weak and frail to win against the dark one, and that the odds against them were too high. Reading SoT I just sit there and wait for Richard to come up with the perfect solution to all troubles a la Deus ex Machina in every single book.
SoT has a good story and it gets its message across, but WoT has a richer and more encompassing world.
Sorry I didn't notice your question till now. I got my chinagraph pencils from a serious stationary store. Chinagraph pencil is basically like wax crayons but less soft and wrapped in a protective way. I don't know where you're from and it might be called something different, but you can probably find it once you search for the correct term.
This thing looks like it's rarer than I originally expected. Do you know of a cheap online store that sells these in sets?
Just putting this here as a reminder:I don't know what you mean. If possible, please explain in more detail how the program should work.
For some reason, I can't find a simple app that does this.
Basically what I want is a check list program that repeats the check list like a session.
Sure, there are to do list programs with recurring events but none that does this that resides at the systray.-Paul Keith (November 18, 2008, 04:08 PM)
Tomos, I think what you're asking is inseparable IMO.
As a base model, the latter can satisfy me but of course if there's a program for the former, the better.-Paul Keith (November 19, 2008, 07:38 AM)
do you want a todo list of items that you can easily reproduce & make variation on?
do you want a todo list hat you can simply reuse when it done - start over - to-do again?
... you're much faster picking up an index card, writing several similar copies of the list on it and using it when you need to.-Paul Keith (November 20, 2008, 04:27 AM)
ToDoList is a rare form of task management tool, one that allows you to repeatedly sub-divide your tasks into more manageable pieces whilst still presenting a clean and intuitive user experience.
ToDoList has been in continuous development for the last 4 years and is an ongoing project.
Your tasklists are stored in XML which provides many opportunities for advanced formatting and printing using stylesheets.
Software and organization is a lot about compromise -- right? Compromise and choices about security, accessibility, flexibility, ease of use, portability, scalability, sexiness, price, etc. etc.
One needs to find something that's close enough and try to work with it, find ingenious solutions (use one's imagination, creativity...) to circumvent limitations. Sometimes it's a combination of different software that'll create the best solution. Sometimes one has to adapt his/her ways of doing things slightly to match the software's design, etc.