Messages

1

Living Room / Re: Twist Tie alternative?

« on: April 12, 2016, 02:52 PM »

Tarbuck knot for bundles or loops. Works well using small nylon cord. Slide knot to tighten it.

2

Living Room / Re: Movies you've seen lately

« on: January 16, 2016, 10:45 AM »

"The Gunman", 2015 Sean Penn, Idris Elba, Javier Barden "..black ops.." (action thrillers) Netflix 10/10

3

Non-Windows Software / Re: Post your Linux/FOSS humor here.

« on: January 10, 2016, 01:46 PM »

I might be able to do some kind of wild triple-boot with my new rig. Now I get to go back to what I avoided for x years, the wild questions of distro and version and ... stuff.

-TaoPhoenix (January 01, 2016, 04:25 PM)

Why complicate things? I suggest you save your money and get a basic box with no hard drive and external USB for everything. A reasonably good motherboard like an ASUS AMD and a fair processor like an AM3+ and about 16 GB RAM should set you back about $275.00 and you can work with anything in RAM from DVD or USB. Lots of help is available, depending on what you want to do. Check out live distributions on distrowatch.com and the KaOS approach is great.

4

Non-Windows Software / Re: Dan Gilmor on moving to Linux

« on: January 10, 2016, 01:25 PM »

I hope the article doesn't say 'GIMP is as good as photoshop' or 'Libre Office is as good as Office',

-rgdot (January 06, 2016, 01:26 PM)

I liked photoshop but have an early edition. For what I do, Krita is best. I like Publisher but it can't
hold a candle to WordPerfect, not just on power but also on ease of use and reliability.

5

General Software Discussion / Re: set the default contents of clipboard to contain two <cr> or add them after load

« on: November 28, 2015, 03:56 PM »

Another way, on the remote chance that you use Wordperfect, is to download the macro named, "Clipper". It has the option to set either one or two HRt and save it to a separate file at the end of the current document.

6

Non-Windows Software / Re: linux mint newbie

« on: November 20, 2015, 01:38 PM »

@Miles. Re: no audio. In my puppy taskbar there is an icon of a speaker in orange/yellow at the lower right and it has a red X through it. Mouseover says "volume muted" and this is the default. Clicking on it brings up a vertical bar where you can set the volume.
Puppy FatDog64 is *very fast* and I like the way it handles usb flash drives by unmounting and safely shutting them down.
Re: OP about Mint. For me, Mint_12 worked fine but versions 14 and 17 gave me a lot of trouble, possibly because of my unusual hardware setup.
One alternative to Mint is KaOS that has a basic and very good approach.

7

Non-Windows Software / Re: linux mint newbie

« on: November 14, 2015, 05:58 PM »

Turns out the latest release of Puppy Linux will offer to save state info on shutdown.  No CD needed.  Just run UnetBootin in Windows to install the puppy iso to USB stick.

-MilesAhead (November 13, 2015, 09:25 AM)

Sounds like you answered the question. I used Netrunner_14.1 KDE to burn a downloaded copy from Distrowatch to 8GB flash. It could not be easier.

8

Non-Windows Software / Re: linux mint newbie

« on: November 11, 2015, 12:52 PM »

@bit, I like puppy linux and the latest is version 6 tahrpup 32 bit, available as a small .iso download at distrowatch.com. It remembers how you first set it up and can also be added to and then remastered very easily. It loads to RAM and does not need a hard drive. I have one copy of puppy_6 on a flash drive and it is loaded with firefox_42 and lots of add-ons. I use a puppy FatDog64 on DVD-RW that is very fast and convenient. I use DVD-RW or DVD-R copies of KaOS, Ubuntu Studio and NetRunner as well as ArtistX, Uberstudent and Mint but I use Mint on DVD-RW and on flash drive less in the last year. You can also get pre-burned linux disks at sites listed at distrowatch.com and at On-disk and in Linux Pro magazine. Puppy has a very friendly and helpful forum and I think you might be pleased with how well it works and what it can do.

9

General Software Discussion / Re: Share photos with a password link

« on: November 11, 2015, 12:06 PM »

@Contro, imgur.com is free and has a radio button in preferences:
"make all of my images public so that they can be seen at: http://username.imgur.com/all/".
Individual images can be shared with links.
I don't understand, "..letting others sum other photos..".
Regards, sword

10

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox 42.0 stable is out - only Softpedia shows it though

« on: November 07, 2015, 01:09 PM »

Upgrade to 42 32 bit is working well.

11

Living Room / Re: Interesting "stuff"

« on: August 06, 2015, 02:25 PM »

Re: Epson and ink
I kept going back to my old reliable dot matrix printer after trying several ink hogs. Our latest was a pair of Epson Stylus NX415s. Now one is idle and my wife uses the other. I use one of two old Panasonic KX-P1150 printers bought second-hand at a very low price. I got ten replacement ink ribbons when they were being discontinued for $1.88 each and I'm working my way about a quarter the way through two boxes of paper. At current consumption rates I might run out by about 2035 but I doubt if there will be any OS to run it on then. That is one bandwagon I'm not getting back on. Ha.

12

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« on: July 01, 2015, 11:19 AM »

"The Coming Swarm" DDoS Actions, Hacktivism, and Civil Disobedience on the Internet,
by Molly Sauter, Bloomsbury Academic, 2014 ISBN PB: 978-1-6235-6456-8
Chapter seven. Against the man: State and corporate responses to DDoS actions.

13

General Software Discussion / Re: why MS Word breaks format

« on: June 07, 2015, 04:18 PM »

"why MS Word breaks format"
http://word.mvps.org...ordvswordperfect.htm
A short, clear explanation why this happens and what to do about it by John McGhie

14

General Software Discussion / Re: Recommendations for a free image viewer with strong editing features

« on: March 27, 2015, 09:34 AM »

thumbnail viewing - two sizes, very fast image opening: Linux Fatdog64_700 portable live DVD free
most of the requested features: Gimp included in Fatdog (above) and many other free linux distributions
most of the requested features: Krita (Gimp on steroids) several sources for free, live DVDs. My favorite is KaOS_14.11
for inserting/editing shapes and text I often use Karbon (free) and save to .png before opening as a layer in Gimp

15

General Software Discussion / Re: online tool or software to create a treeview

« on: March 27, 2015, 09:06 AM »

@ kalos Re: "anything for windows? #13 March 14

Wordperfect runs in windows. I would be pleased to send details.

16

General Software Discussion / Re: online tool or software to create a treeview

« on: March 14, 2015, 09:31 AM »

Re. edit and display a tree view:
1. Freeplane tree view [ available as a live DVD in Freeplane_1.2.23 with Uberstudent_4.1].
2. Emacs org-mode.
3. Wordperfect outlines.
4. Notecase [available in most linux, Puppy_6 or Fatdog 700]

17

Living Room / Re: 58 Cognitive Biases That Screw Up Everything We Do

« on: October 26, 2014, 06:37 PM »

Simone Weil had it right about our thinking, "Imagination and fiction make up more than three quarters of our real life."

18

General Software Discussion / Re: Drawing software thoughts for 2014: Clip Studio (Manga Studio), Photoshop

« on: October 08, 2014, 08:52 PM »

@superboyac
Thanks for the news. If you want to explore brushes more you might try Krita. I have been having fun with it for about six months. It is free and comes bundled with KaOS, also free. Krita_2.8.5 has automatic support for Wacom tablets in the latest KaOS (2014 08) and that can be downloaded from distrowatch.com. I use it 'live' on DVD and it has a ton of features.

19

General Software Discussion / Re: Dual Boot questions

« on: August 08, 2014, 04:22 PM »

Alternate (tangent?) just a thought:
I tried the dual-booting but only on Win 2K and XP. Portable apps worked better. I prefer portable OSes (live Linux DVDs). Now I have my old Windows apps on an old laptop and box. Collections of great apps are easily available like in Uberstudent_4 with no hard drive, just a basic box and USB optical drive or USB sticks

20

General Software Discussion / Re: Most advanced tagging functionalities?

« on: August 08, 2014, 03:39 PM »

@Hennt, Re: "...programs...most advanced file tagging...":
Tagspaces works best for me combined with filenames based on folders, date and subject. I leave searching to an independently made selection of files in gnumeric (linux) and to stored files using wordperfect (advanced file search).

21

Living Room / Re: Homebrewing

« on: July 20, 2014, 05:03 PM »

Small batch processing is easy using a gallon jug or several champagne bottles. Use a fermentation lock for best results or some plastic tubing from stoppers at the top all going to somewhere under some water in a container. Champagne yeast is foolproof and excellent for every fruit I've tried. Vierka (German company) had a very good yeast but I have not used it in years. If you have access to a brewing supply store, there are many gallon concentrate cans that are excellent. Corn sugar works well.

22

General Software Discussion / Re: Metalenguage - Encoder - Decoder

« on: June 29, 2014, 04:44 PM »

Not simple and not portable but Wordperfect has had this for years. You should be able to get an early version for little cost.
The 'find' or 'replace' works with words, phrases, sentences or any code like [bold], [HRt] or [tab] and can replace in a selection or in an entire file. It works flawlessly in text or Wordperfect files but should work well for any file type imported into it.

23

Living Room / Re: Cheap fountain pen shootout

« on: May 26, 2014, 05:44 PM »

Thanks all, Edvard and rjbull for the 411. Several sites have what I am looking for, or pretty close anyway.

Some of you more exotic thinking types (which in my experience is just about everyone on Donationcoder) might consider making your own pens from quills and bamboo (search that).

-1NR1 (May 22, 2014, 06:51 PM)

I make lots using Crow wing tip (flight) feathers.

24

Living Room / Re: Movies or films you've seen lately

« on: April 03, 2014, 05:46 PM »

I felt the whole thing was pretty ridiculous and implausible.

  Hmm, after reading the basic plot line on IMDB I have to check it out at some future opportunity.

But I gather it's not on a par with Three Days of the Condor. 

-MilesAhead (March 22, 2014, 01:47 PM)

+1 for Three Days of the Condor 

25

Living Room / Re: Animated Map of Girl's Names Throughout the Years

« on: March 02, 2014, 04:32 PM »

@IainB: naming popularity has been covered well in genealogy and the Scottish Naming Practice is very handy when looking for the names of grandparents or parents.