Messages

1

Post New Requests Here / Backup and restore sound volume profiles

« on: December 04, 2018, 03:37 PM »

I have a 5.1 sound system.  I often adjust the volumes of the various speaker channels to give me the best sound for a given application - e.g. Netflix streaming, music player, You Tube videos, etc.  It's a pain to continually readjust each channel.  I'd like a way to make a sound setting, back it up, then reapply it when I need it.  I'd like to store several different profiles from which to select.  Can anyone pull this off?

Thanks,
Sarkand

2

Post New Requests Here / Volume fader for 5.2 channel sound card

« on: September 19, 2016, 04:09 PM »

Hello,
I have a Logitech THX 5.2 channel external sond card.  I like to fade the front and center channels while leaving the rear channels at full volume.  This makes for the best balance in my room at the spot where I sit.  On some videos, dialog is muddled or sent to the audio background in that config, and I need to bring all channels to 100% to understand.  That's the easy part, since all I have to do is crank the volume dial on the card, and all channels are maxed.  When I want to return to my preferred config, with different channels set to different levels, this involves bringing up Windows volume control, navigating to "Levels," then "Balance," where I can manipulate the sliders individually.  It's not huge, but it's annoying.  I'd like a way to store and retrieve my preferred config(s) without jumping through the hoops in Windows volume control.  Anyone interested in figuring this out?  Thanks,  Stephen Earle

3

Living Room / Re: Our experiences with LED light bulb replacements

« on: May 21, 2014, 12:47 AM »

Folk,

Several of you have made excellent theoretical points, and I understand the theories behind them to an extent.  However, none of those points are borne out by my electric bill reduction.  The realities kinda kill the theories in such discussions.  Financially, LEDs have altered my budget.  That is fact, and no theoretical discourse will alter it.

-barney (May 20, 2014, 11:07 PM)

Yep, ain't no doubt about it - LEDs will save energy, whatever the long-term costs in various applications.  That is important.  But we have let this thread go way off topic (mea maxima culpa, Mouser).  Mouser's stated primary motivation was heat reduction, however and wherever it is generated.  The cost of energy saved is gravy to him.  Unfortunately, he is now in the position of re-thinking his original assumptions, as am I.  The fact is that LEDs use less energy, that is important, and I intend to keep using them as the best alternative until something better comes along.  I am willing to pay the freight (still think it's cheaper).

4

Living Room / Re: Our experiences with LED light bulb replacements

« on: May 20, 2014, 09:34 PM »

Excuse me, but this only reinforces my point.  Sliding the players around is only a different way of saying the same thing, that's the beauty of mathematics and physics.  Ohms do not equal watts, they are not two sides of the same coin, i.e., manifestations of one another, they have a relationship.  I have granted the influence of wattage on ohms - greater wattage given constant ohms will increase heat output.  Yes, heat can be measured in watts of power, but that heat is generated by resistance, and that's how thermodynamics works in Newtonian physics.                                                   

5

Living Room / Re: Our experiences with LED light bulb replacements

« on: May 20, 2014, 07:42 PM »

I reiterate:  the heat in an electrical system is generated by resistance.  Wattage, voltage and amperage have nothing to do with it, except in how they influence resistance (push more of any of these into a medium of given resistance and more heat will be generated).  You can throw 10,000 watts at 100,000 volts across a superconducting wire or surface and generate little or no heat - resistance is reduced to near zero in such conditions.  At absolute zero, resistance of a conducting medium is zero, this is a law of physics - I haven't forgotten that much.  The heat is generated by the excitement of atoms unwilling to give up their electrons in order to propagate a current.  If the current is high enough, the wave is propagated - at the expense of the heat generated when the atoms are forced give up their electrons, as they have to be raised to a higher energy level in order to do so. In the trough of the current (wave), the atoms regain their lost electrons from the free electrons surrounding, ready to repeat the cycle at next crest.  At least that is how I understand it.

My question in fact relates to the mechanism by which the heat (resistance) is still generted at such high levels, even in conditions of lower wattage.  I still like my earlier guess of a step-down or AC/DC transformer.  These things produce heat like crazy - to get rid of the extra electrons, I expect.

6

Living Room / Re: Our experiences with LED light bulb replacements

« on: May 20, 2014, 06:42 PM »

I don't know if it will be of any consolation, but:  all three of my installations are base-down.  (I use the desk lamp on my nightstand, but rarely read in bed, so it's almost always pointed upward for indirect lighting.)  In this position, the socket fixtures themselves remain at or near room temperature, so the fins clearly do a pretty good job, and I personally would not hesitate to strech 60 to 100 in this configuration.  Base-up?  Perhaps in a ceiling fan that you run all the time when the light is on, forced convection would cool to a reasonable level.  But my fingers tell me that in any shaded base-up installation, it would just have to get damned near as hot as an incandescent, even with otherwise unrestriced airflow.

7

Living Room / Re: Our experiences with LED light bulb replacements

« on: May 20, 2014, 03:59 PM »

The heat fins do get very hot.. Though that doesn't definitively tell us about heat comparisons.

My limited and shallow understanding of physics does tell me that since the LED bulbs are running so much more efficiently and using so much less energy -- that overall heat output must be significantly less, regardless of whether the fins burn your hand or not

But I could be wrong and I'd love to hear more from people who know.  If I am wrong, then i have just poured a bunch of money down the drain for little good reason.

-mouser (May 20, 2014, 02:41 PM)

I don't remember much of my high-school physics either, and I was mercifully spared in college.  So I may be talking nonsense.  But if I remember what little I do correctly, the total amount of heat generated by any electronic device is a function of its resistance, not the interplay of voltage, wattage and amperage.  The efficiency of the bulb is due to reduction of wattage (don't know about the amperage, input voltage is obviously the same).  But considerable heat can be generated at very low power, if resistance is high enough.  Even a small flashlight bulb gets pretty hot when illuminated for a few minutes.  Indeed, it's the heat produced by resistance that generates the incandescence.  LEDs are more efficient because they use less total power throughput relative to incandescents to produce a roughly equivalent number of photons.  This all seems pretty obvious.  What is not obvious to me is why so much heat is still produced.  Is the LED driver the equivalent of a step-down transformer?  I think that would account for it.

I understand your desire to reduce heat - I have a similar problem in my place in the summer.  I, too, thought they would run much cooler and was surprised to feel the high heat of the fins.  But I wouldn't lament too much if you don't get the reduction you expected - if the bulbs perform as advertised, they will pay for themselves many times over.  And surely someone has made this heat comparison somewhere.  Have to see if I can dig it out.

8

Living Room / Re: Our experiences with LED light bulb replacements

« on: May 20, 2014, 02:32 PM »

...However, I am motivated by the decrease in heat output -- in the summer my incandescents can generate a large amount of heat and i'm very keen to reduce that.

-mouser (May 16, 2014, 01:30 PM)

I have installed three Kobi (made in China) LED 75W equiv., 5000K, in my room.  One in a floor lamp, one in a table lamp and one in a reading/desk lamp.  I have been very satisfied so far.  I like the bright light - all three are essentially positioned for indirect lighting - but the desk lamp I have used for reading, and it's great.

I have noticed, however, that while the bulb itself stays quite cool (body temp?), the radiating fins at the base become quite hot.  I am not able to touch them for longer than about .5 sec. at a time.  Perhaps this is because of the "made in China" stigma deprecated above, but they have been working very well for several months with no problems.  If what I have experienced is common, you really haven't done a whole lot to reduce total heat output.  I'd like to know if others have detected this high heat of the radiating fins between the base and the bulb itself.

9

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: "Dressed" links

« on: January 05, 2014, 05:08 PM »

No objection at all.  It is certainly solved for me, thanks again to Iain.    

10

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: "Dressed" links

« on: January 01, 2014, 05:26 PM »

Iain,

   No worries, sorry you're feeling so bad, been a bit under the weather myself, and know what sleep deprivation can do to you.  I have tons of extensions in FFx as well.  I've been using ColT for so long that I forgot where this context menu came from.  I have very little idea what rich text format is about, since I've done very little, and very simple, web programming.  In any case, this is exactly  what I wanted to do, and I thank you again for having the answer.

Cheers, and have a Happy New Year

11

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: "Dressed" links

« on: January 01, 2014, 01:37 AM »

Iain,

   Okay, tried RT HTML Nothing visible when I try to paste it to a notepad, but pasting directly into the email draft worked perfectly.  This worked both with and without the extension and in both Tbird and browser-based Gmail.  However, since the link per se is not on the target page (in this case, a New York Times article), I was able to use the "Copy page title and location as Rich Text HTML"  Thanks for the enlightenment, I owe you one.  Just what I wanted/needed, give that man a cigar. 

12

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: "Dressed" links

« on: December 31, 2013, 10:48 PM »

...The link should look like  "Dressed" links - DonationCoder.com with the URL completely hidden.  A look at the extention  QuoteURLText leads me to believe that it will not give me this, and I can find no FFx or Tbird extentions that will do this. ...
____________________

-Sarkand (December 31, 2013, 09:39 PM)

No, the QuoteURLText add-on is quite smart and senses any links - it can do this "dressed link" - it's the menu option Rich Text HTML.
I know it works as I frequently use it to past linked web page headings into OnrNote. (It's cumbersome to get linked web page headings otherwise - too many steps.)

If one right-clicks on a link, it comes up with this alternative menu option:
 (see attachment in previous post)
Otherwise, if you just right-click on the page heading or a blank area of the page, it comes up with the first menu option as per the image I copied above. Do you see the difference?

-IainB (December 31, 2013, 10:35 PM)

Yes, I see the difference - the arrow is going the other direction and the context menu is now on the left    JK.  Thanks, Iain, I'll give this a try tomorrow and let you know.  Right now, I have to go and celebrate the end of this pretty nasty old year.  Hope you have a good New one.  I will let you know for sure if this does what I want.  When I tried RT HTML within the page context menu, it gave me nothing on the clipboard.  I'll install the addon and try it with a link.  Thanks for the info, I'll let you know. 

13

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: "Dressed" links

« on: December 31, 2013, 09:39 PM »

Most times, a straight copy/paste of the link should/will probably be just fine, and it will present to the recipient as a fully working link, with no editing required on your part.
Not sure whether this would be of use, but there is a handy Firefox add-on called QuoteURLText that also does a good job of collecting a URL in other forms (e.g., for DC Forum, which requires URLs to be in BB Code). Here's an example screenshot of the menu for it:
 (see attachment in previous post)

-IainB (December 31, 2013, 09:14 PM)

Yes, this is basically the method I use - as described.  I can copy the title and location as plain text and paste it as is and have a viable link.  But I'm looking for a nice, clean title, with the URL hidden (linked) beneath and invisible.  I can do what I want to do, it just takes several steps.  I'm looking to reduce that to just two steps:  1) extract title and URL/format/copy to clipboard and 2) paste into email.  Call me lazy, but I do it quite a bit, and visually it is much more pleasing (and professional) in the body of a mail.  The link should look like  "Dressed" links - DonationCoder.com with the URL completely hidden.  A look at the extention  QuoteURLText leads me to believe that it will not give me this, and I can find no FFx or Tbird extentions that will do this.  Perhaps I should take it up with Mozilla.  Ideally, this would work just as well for the browser-based use of the Gmail client, which I also sometimes use, though I much prefer Tbird.

14

Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: "Dressed" links

« on: December 31, 2013, 08:20 PM »

A lot of times you can just select some text and ctrl-c copy it and it will save the formatting details to the clipboard when you copy. Or in other words, instead of just copying the plaintext, it will also save the link and even font information.

This happens for me in Gmail, which can actually be annoying, because if I copy some text from another webpage and paste it into an e-mail, then it can even change font and/or font size sometimes.

-Deozaan (December 31, 2013, 08:15 PM)

Thanks, Deo,

I'm not quite sure what you're talking about, but it sounds as if I would still be faced with editing the link to appear they way I want it.

15

Finished Programs / SOLVED: "Dressed" links

« on: December 31, 2013, 08:09 PM »

I use Thunderbird (linked to my Gmail accounts) as my mail client, and I often send links for articles to those I think may be interested.  Within Thunderbird, one has the ability to create a link with the title of the article, underlayed with the link itself.  So a link that appears in my email would look like  Start new topic - DonationCoder.com, with the raw link - https://www.donation...tion=post;board=71.0 - hidden beneath.  Firefox has, as r. click context menu item, "Copy page title and locatiopn as...".   This I do, then compose my email, adding the link with the Thunderbird link creation option, which is done with a popup box.  There are two fields in this box, one allowing specification of a title and the other specification of the link itself.  I have to copy the title and location as plain text, then paste it into both boxes, editing the first to show only the title, and the second to contain only the URL.  This works great, but it's kind of a pain.  Since I have no idea how this stuff is programmed, I don't know a way around this process.  I would like a utility to extract and format the link in this fashion, copy it to clipboard, and allow me to paste the "dressed up" link directly into my Tbird mail.  Perhaps I am missing something or just do not know the trick.  Short of such a utility, enligthtenment would be welcome.

16

Living Room / Re: Looking for a Decent Contacts Manager

« on: July 14, 2010, 08:25 PM »

Take a look at Open Contacts Free, open source, simple and flexible.  Reasonable printing by selection.  Just basic and works great for me.

17

Living Room / Re: Dating Sites for Geeks and Nerds?

« on: July 14, 2010, 06:45 PM »

I will second the nomination of OKCupid.  Aside from the reasons mentioned, it's absolutely free (you can upgrade for a few $, but not sure you need to), it was founded by four geeks with Harvard sheepskins (one in business, three in math/computer science), with the ostensible (and somewhat tongue-in-cheek) aim of taking a truly "scientific" approach to solving the ancient mysteries of love and attraction.  They appear to do plenty of statistical analysis to refine their assumptions and matching criteria, and they're not afraid to try new things/make improvements.  Check out their About Us page.  As for pick-ups, "what you're looking for" runs the gamut from "just friends" to "casual sex" to "marriage", and there are plenty of prospects in all categories. Personalities and intelligence also cover the spectrum, as do location, ages, "looks" and "types".  It's a pretty fun site, and at the tender age of 59, I've had good luck with it.  In fact, I'm going on a date tomorrow night with someone I met there (she's buying  ).  Mouser gave me a break on membership, due to my chronic poverty, maybe this will pay him back.  Real life contact sure beats the hypothetical, I can vouch for it.  Do not pay anyone  money for dating prospects until you check out this site.  OK Cupid  Silly name, great site.  Happy hunting.

18

Official Announcements / Re: The Gizmo Effect!

« on: April 21, 2007, 05:19 PM »

I'm happy to put in another resounding plug for both Gizmo and Donation Coder.  I've been a faithful reader of TSA newsletter for some time, and I can vouch for Ian's reviews and recommendations - he's usually dead on, and it's clear he works very hard to thoroughly evaluate his victims, whether the verdict is yea or nay.  I discovered DC (and Process Tamer) independently and will also add my thanks and kudos for a very sweet little app.  I tend to 'multitask' to the extent Windows will suffer with its poor balancing skills.  I have a lot of apps running simultaneously, and one of the best features of Process Tamer (IMHO) is its ability to bump the priority of the window I happen to be working with at the moment, while it keeps all the boys in the background behaving nicely - and turn on a dime for the next focus of my attention.  And prioritize from launch....and on.  I come from a mainframe environment, and tend to think of (and use) Process Tamer as a workload balancer.  For the same reasons of personal history, I abhor the lack of user control that Windows imposes, and detest its "trust me" approach to task management.  Using Process Tamer and Mark Russinovich's Process Explorer, I get to call a few more of the shots in my own machine (imagine that!).  I have also fallen on long hard times, and am virtually penniless, living by the loving support of my family.  For me, 'free' is not just better, it's mandatory.  I've discovered along the way that free software is often superior to vended, since a) it doesn't try to be everything for everyone and b) its underlying ethos is pride, not profit.  I have built a relatively safe, clean, robust and useful system on the strength of many of Ian's free recommendations and several timely additions from Donation Coder (and Process Tamer is one of your finest).  If I ever have any money again, I will subscribe to both and add generous donations over and above to thank you all for sustaining me through my poverty.  I have also passed along to my family (and installed) many of those same recommendations.  Keep up the excellent work: "free" is not just for the frugal, it's also for the economically disabled, and a service to humanity.  Thank you.