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Messages - doctorfrog [ switch to compact view ]

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1
Bump to Skwire: I recently installed Windows 10, and this program works fine on it. I use it to flip between a mouse and a wireless touchpad regularly. Works as well as ever.

What's interesting about MAT (don't know if I mentioned this earlier in the thread) is that it--and thus the Windows registry as well--offers a slightly finer-grained control over mouse speed than the control panel applet. The sweet spot for my mouse is actually between two of the ticks in the applet! So I can ditch the heavy Logitech application that I'd otherwise need to install and have continually running in the background.

So yeah, I've been using the two projects you've made for me: this, and Anuran, for going on a decade now. Thanks!

2
Living Room / Re: 10th Anniversary - long time member check-in thread
« on: November 07, 2015, 03:32 PM »
Hi guys. I'm a supporting member whose needs have been so well met I just don't check in that much. There are also a lot of sites competing for my eyeballs these days, and my eyeballs get tired of computer screens more quickly than they once did.

But I use the knowledge and software I've gained here every day. So even if the coders here aren't sure, there are plenty of folks like me who use your work on a daily basis.

3
Heck, that works also. Thanks folks!

4
I am not sure if this is what you want but have you seen this app called Winaero Theme Switcher?
Y'know, that looks pretty near what I'm looking for. Thanks!

5
An edge case. I run Windows 7, 64-bit, with the Blackbox for Windows shell. It works for me, and I like it, and I'll keep using it as long as I can. Blackbox doesn't look right with Aero enabled, and so I disable it most of the time. With Aero, goes VSync and sometimes graphics acceleration for things like movies and some games. That means tearing.

Right now, if I don't want that tearing, I go to the Personalization area of the Control Panel, and pick an Aero theme (Windows 7, Architecture, Characters, etc.), which makes Blackbox look crappy, but temporarily lets my full-screen application look its best. Then I flip it back when done.

I'd like a quick toggle that allows me to switch between an Aero theme and a non-Aero theme, so I can have my cake and eat it too.

How would this look? Maybe a small window with two buttons, each indicating a theme, and a config dialog. If possible, something that invisibly switches between two pre-selected themes, kills itself, and requires no additional input of any kind.

6
I look at every news letter and log in now and again. I still have some DonationCoder credits, and probably when I'm forced to upgrade to Windows 10, I'll shower them on folks who help me the highly specific nonsense I'll be irritated with once I get there.

I still have my New Year New App contest mug! It has a chip in it right where I'd put my sipper, so it holds a bunch of chopsticks now, but I still have it! And I also still use the application that I begged Skwire to code for me as well, a good five years or so logged on Anuran (http://skwire.dcmemb....com/fp/?page=anuran).

7
I'd appreciate it! Yes, that's roughly what I'm looking for, and with some customizability as to which key is being toggled, and what key combination toggles the toggling (if you're putting that in). One thing to note is that I am using an Apple Wireless keyboard (on Windows 7) that lacks a scroll lock, if you were aiming at that. I won't go into a big thing about why I've chosen this edge case of a peripheral, suffice to say it's one I'm sticking with and find it worth keeping in spite of the half a dozen workarounds needed to make it work the way I like.

And thanks! I'll be monitoring this thread.

8
:(

I'm also currently playing Startopia (every five years it somehow calls me) and holding down CTRL + WASD isn't fun for my poor left hand. Any scripters up to the challenge?

I don't even need a shortcut to turn toggling on. Just having a working, customizable AHK script that lets me define a key that is "sticky" and holds itself down until pressed again would work. I could start the script when playing the game, and stop it when I'm done.

9
My friends play Arma. I hate Arma, but I like my friends. The thing that I do most in Arma, more than anything else, is hold down the 'W' key. I hold it down, and then I hold it down some more. Sometimes I tap it, but mostly I hold it down.

This is because Arma's world is big, and 'W' is 'move forward.' There are other keys that I sometimes hold down, like 'Shift' or 'Q'. Sometimes there are vehicles. This means holding down 'W' and 'Shift' at the same time.

I have RSI. I don't need this.

I'd like a coding snack that will allow me to define a hotkey combination (such as CTRL+SHIFT+W) that will simulate holding W down, or any other key for that matter. It could be either a toggle for the 'stickiness' of the key in question, or just a toggle for 'hold down' 'don't hold down.' Either is fine.

I'd be fine using an AHK script for this, as long as I can use it for at least three custom keys, or just a plain old simple program with a functional GUI. Either way, my wrist, shoulder, and fingers all thank you!

I haven't been back here in some time, and it's good to see that my Donation Credits are still active. This has always been a great community for software chat, maybe I'll hang out a little while again.

10
Coding Snacks / PortaTorch - A Torchlight 1 Portablizer
« on: October 05, 2012, 04:44 PM »
The short: AHK neophyte/non-programmers wonders if this project is doable in AutoHotKey without too much trouble.

Like many, I jump on any remotely interesting Humble Bundle and ended up with a copy of Torchlight for next to nothing. It's a decent game and I might play around with it a bit, but I'd like it even better if I could take it on a flash drive everywhere.

Torchlight doesn't run portably, and there is no option to do so. Instead, it uses the registry and profile folders. There are two approaches for me, as someone with no programming experience:

Approach 1: use and learn the PortableApps.com launcher to redirect the registry entries and profile folders to the portable drive. Technically cleaner, because it should only write to the portable drive, but a lot of work to learn a wonky format that may not result in a transferrable skill.

Approach 2: Approach 2: use and learn AHK methods to copy registry entries and profile folders between the PC and the portable drive. Not as clean, but perhaps a bit easier to do and with more community support. Also transferrable knowledge, as AHK is a more versatile tool.

My skill level: I can do hotkeys in AHK. I have no programming experience.

Approach 2 may proceed like this:
   - One script to unpack the stored profile to the current profile folder (incl. mods)
   - Same script unpacks the registry entries to the reg
   - Both of above overwrite anything that's already there
   - Run the game
   - Exit the game
   - Optional: Detect game exit
   - Repack the stored profile folder in portable drive
   - Delete stored profile folder
   - Repack registry entries
   - Delete registry entries

Based on what I know of AHK, this should be possible with the basic toolset. Even a basic GUI should be doable. But I don't really know what commands to rely on yet, or whether to farm this out to two or three scripts, or

Requirement: I'd like this to be portable, that is, it will run reliably on any Windows machine I use it with, regardless of drive letter assignment, and it will leave no trace behind when I'm done.

11
Forget that last point, I'm merely saying that whatever GUI changes you make, keep the ability to tab through the interface available.

Everything else, thanks as usual Skwire!

12
Hey Skwire,

I use this program every day. It automatically starts playing a quiet ambient loop around 11pm to remind me that, "hey stupid, relax and go to bed."

Anyway, I recently updated it to the latest version, and I have a few requests:

- bring back the old tray icon, currently it is the default AHK "H" icon
- hotkey request: when the app is in focus, let me control volume with + and -
- publish "multiple instances" as a GUI option and make "0" also cause the app to restore when launched again with the "0" setting (current apparent behavior is to restart the program)
- hotkey request: "Ctrl-O" = open dialog
- hotkey request: "P" = play/pause
- retain the ability to tab around the GUI elements and activate them with SPACE (currently can no longer control volume in this way, but +/- will resolve this)

As usual, consider none of these to be demands, just requests from a regular user. Do what you can, if you can, and thanks for a small, useful program!

13
This might take you about halfway there:

NirSoft ZipInstaller: http://www.nirsoft.n...t/utils/zipinst.html

Right click on any ZIP file to "install" it like any other program, complete with an uninstall entry in the Control Panel applet.

edit: welp


14
"I'm not going to deny myself the enjoyment of your creation just because you haven't figured out how to collect."

I once felt this way myself, but I kinda grew up. This is extremely immature, but it's also the attitude of someone (again I was like this myself) who probably wasn't going to part with a buck to support your work anyway.

AMEN! Whether we AGREE or DISAGREE, content CREATORS have a RIGHT to charge whatever they want and to CONTROL the distribution of THEIR creations. To say that you have a RIGHT to someone ELSE'S hard work is a RATIONALIZATION, IMHO.

Hold on there, Sally. Just as a consumer can't expect his every demand to be met at once, neither can any sensible content creator or legal IP owner perch in a chair and expect people to line up and hand over cash on exactly their terms 100% of the time. It's not gonna happen either way, so keep your shirt on.

Consumer: the world don't owe you constant entertainment and software.

Content holders: the world don't owe you a living.

Both camps: get over yourselves.

Also, open letters to entire swaths of people are self-indulgent and useless.

15
"I'm not going to deny myself the enjoyment of your creation just because you haven't figured out how to collect."

I once felt this way myself, but I kinda grew up. This is extremely immature, but it's also the attitude of someone (again I was like this myself) who probably wasn't going to part with a buck to support your work anyway. I jumped in and out of hoops downloading the stuff I wanted, went to the trouble of archiving and hiding it just in case. I felt completely justified and it was actually pretty fun getting stuff "my way."

A lot of what changed my attitude, though, was just basic patience. Just about every game, movie, TV series, or piece of music I ever coveted, and then some, eventually has taken one of two paths:

1) It will arrive on a delivery platform that works for me, and requires an absolute minimum of cost and hassle.

2) It won't, and I will live just fine without it.

The idea that you're entitled to exactly the form of entertainment that you desire at any given moment isn't so much self-serving as it is self-limiting. You'll be OK if you don't play Mass Effect 3 this year. You'll survive. Either Mass Effect 3 will eventually get to you in a more convenient and pleasing fashion or you'll just get over it. For cripes sake, go outside. The world don't owe you a livin', and it don't owe you entertainment, either.

This approach obviously doesn't work for everything, every person, every parcel of entertainment or software, and it isn't meant to. Sometimes you really do need to reach out and grab something. Disney is incredibly hawkish about IP rights, to the point that I feel that they have denied the public good in an interest of locking down their content. If someone denied me the works of Charles Dickens or L. Frank Baum, I'd be really pissed off. Censorship makes my blood boil. Some stuff really does need to be accessible, unfettered, and freely available.

But the stuff people get most mad about is often the most petty.

17
Living Room / Re: FUNNY~! Drinking Water DOES NOT Hydrate!
« on: November 20, 2011, 05:31 PM »
To quote two other commenters:

"The wonderful thing is, that after reading both the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail pronounce this as an absurdity, I am sure that the EU has ruled correctly.

And lo, the Guardian speaks sense, once again. I would be happy but for the knowledge that, like the lies over bendy bananas, boring pub cunts will still be prattling on about this in a decade's time."

"This kind of makes sense to me. "Water hydrates" would be a valid claim, but "water prevents dehydration" is problematic because dehydration is generally caused by factors that water can't prevent, like viral or bacterial infections."

This isn't so much about a governmental body picking nits, as it is about companies putting dopey misleading health claims on anything and everything. If a silly thing like water bottles is over legislated a bit to prevent pizza sauce as being declared a vegetable in children's lunch menus, it's a net gain.

Medical claims require scientific backing? My god what is the world coming to? The ignorance expressed in this thread is hilarious, yet expected.

This also.  

18
Living Room / Re: Products designed to fail, a documentary
« on: November 02, 2011, 12:27 AM »
Personal conspiracy of mine: here's an easy way to see if an electronic product you have is designed to fail:

Try using it without a battery inside it, but hooked up to a charger. If it doesn't work, it's designed not to function without a battery. Rechargeable batteries stop working in a satisfactory way after a couple years. Then you find out that the battery either isn't made any more, is overpriced, or in the case of most Apple devices, can't be replaced by the user at all. So you either go through an un-fun process in which you renew the life of your 'old' product, or you go through a 'fun' process of buying a new one.

I have an iPod Nano, about two years old. Fun fact: when it's charging, the backlight stays on. How much you want to bet the backlight runs off of the battery, even as it is charging?

In the meantime, there is no flat-pack battery standard. Nice round AA's, AAA's, but no flat-pack battery standard. And every device uses a different battery.

It is, however, impossible to complain about batteries without feeling mighty old. I better buy a new phone soon.

19
Copying my post from another forum:

So many must-haves. Many of these are great examples of their genre. Here are my picks, with asterisks indicating games that require no nostalgia goggles or tweaking to fully enjoy:

  • Blood*
  • Blood 2 (pick this if you enjoy terrible sequels, otherwise skip it)
  • Independence War
  • Independence War 2*
  • Rollercoaster Tycoon 1
  • Master of Orion 2*
  • Outcast (wonky resolution requirements)
  • Star Control 2* (get the free Ur-Quan Masters port)
  • Total Annihilation*
  • The Witcher*

20
Thanks for this. My fiance just got an iPhone4, who knows what wonderful stuff will be leaking out of that thing.

21
what I have seen lately, but forgot to mention, was delays/short-freezes with FARR (typed letters not showing beyond the first one or two), with an associated CPU flurry which turned out to be MSSE - presumably checking out whatever was on the list. Not always, but often.

Holy heck, I've been seeing this very thing for a long time and never even thought of this. Just whitelisted it now and it's cruisin'.

22
And here I thought I was the only one who got nothing out of GTD and wishes Lifehacker would stop talking about it.

23
I know this isn't what you have in mind, but:

Picasa does this very well, handling things like pictures of different sizes and resolutions, randomly shuffling the images, or setting some pictures at a larger size than others, like centerpieces. If you just want a bunch of pictures in a row like a film strip, FastStone Image Viewer has an "Image Strip Builder." Both are free.

24
Finished Programs / Re: SOLVED: Dropbox "Desktop"
« on: July 13, 2011, 12:33 PM »
Sorry for the late reply. The install of PStart essentially extracts PStart.exe to wherever you want it. After that, it's totally portable and you can even delete the installer and copy PStart.exe anywhere and start using it. It's so useful, I use it in Dropbox, USB drives, to organize task-based programs I have, and even launch games.

I'm going to also check out Toolbox, it looks pretty neat.

25
Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Dropbox "Desktop"
« on: July 11, 2011, 02:25 AM »
Would a portable launcher that uses relative directories work for you? I use PStart: pegtop.net/pstart It launches directories, programs, files...

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