Messages

1

Living Room / Re: 10th Anniversary - long time member check-in thread

« on: March 07, 2015, 10:04 AM »

What a nice bunch of posts to wake up to! Look at all those wonderful names and avatars.. gjehle, d4ni, nontroppo, MrCrispy, brotherS(!)  So nice to see your friendly faces.   

-mouser (March 07, 2015, 08:12 AM)

Yeah, reunions are really cool, especially with the high quality of the people here. Great to see all these posts!

2

Living Room / Re: 10th Anniversary - long time member check-in thread

« on: March 06, 2015, 10:15 PM »

Hi, gang! Mouser, a hearty congratulations on the decadal anniversary, and it's great to hear from you. I've enjoyed this site and even tried to keep up with the newsletter & its links, but I've also had some unexpected bumps in the road taking a lot of my attention in recent years. Rather than get too overwhelmed to function I've kind of scaled back my online activities among other things.

That's gradually changing for the better, and since I'm about to graduate from school I may actually have more of that elusive thing called "free time" again! It sure is good that DC is still alive and kicking, because it's a great resource and a really nice community.

BTW, my long-time avatar is kind of ironic given the recent passing of Leonard Nimoy - but all the more fitting as a way to honor the guy.

3

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Program to identify and delete empty folders in a tree

« on: September 12, 2011, 03:39 PM »

Are you talking about writing something from scratch to replace DelEmpty, esvin?

4

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Beta new version of TrID file identifier - now with batch scanning & renaming

« on: February 20, 2011, 02:08 AM »

Sure. The engine is still the same; just keep it fed with the newest definitions, and it's OK.

-Mark0 (February 19, 2011, 11:56 AM)

Are you saying that the GUI version doesn't have an issue with filesize > 2GB? Not that it's something I run into; just curious.

BTW, I'm working on something completely different that I believe will results in a much better & complete file identification system, but I haven't anything ready for prime time yet...

-Mark0 (February 19, 2011, 02:25 PM)

Looking forward to seeing it when it's ready. 

5

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Beta new version of TrID file identifier - now with batch scanning & renaming

« on: February 19, 2011, 11:54 AM »

Thanks for the news! Is the GUI version 1.80 still good?

6

Mobysaurus / Re: Dinosaur strikes back! New Mobysaurus site launched on DonationCoder

« on: January 24, 2011, 02:01 PM »

Yep, it's working well on Win7 Pro 64-bit as well. I sure would like to see what Anderson did with v2, though.

7

Mobysaurus / Re: Dinosaur strikes back! New Mobysaurus site launched on DonationCoder

« on: August 29, 2010, 11:07 AM »

Aw, c'mon, surely somebody knows what happened...? 

8

Mobysaurus / Re: Dinosaur strikes back! New Mobysaurus site launched on DonationCoder

« on: July 24, 2010, 01:11 PM »

Hey, guys, anybody know what happened to the files when www.donationcoder.com/Software/Other/mobysaurus expired? The version of Mobysaurus here on DC is 1.0.55, and the last one on the moby subdomain was a beta of 2.4 (there was a 1024x768 version and one optimized for 800x600). In particular, two filenames came up in my search: moby24beta1.exe and moby24p2.exe.

The only places I can find that host the beta (instead of redirecting to the DC subdomain or the original mobysaurus.com site) want my cell number and a payment to download. Yeah, suuure.

If anybody's got an installer newer than the one on the software page, please reply or attach it here if you could. It's a really outstanding thesaurus and it'd be a shame to have it disappear -- 1.0.55 does seem to work well with Windows 7. 

9

N.A.N.Y. 2010 / Re: NANY 2010 Final Release: Startup Bully

« on: March 23, 2010, 02:57 AM »

This may be useful to you -- it doesn't require that you know in advance the filename/path of the executable that wants to install new startup items: "Disable Startup." (The developer seems to have used a translation service for the English text.)

Disable Startup is a free startup manager and monitoring program, it can scan all Windows Startups on your computer, and monitor all new startup items, helps you control, manage and optimize Windows Startup configuration. It can work with fine Windows XP and Vista, is one protecting tool for Windows Startup from changes. This software can help you save system memory and resources by disable unnecessary programs, because windows launches many unnecessary programs and services at boot up. Disable Startup also monitor the start page of Internet Explorer; stop any change that you don't know.

10

N.A.N.Y. 2010 / Re: NANY 2010 Final Release: Startup Bully

« on: March 22, 2010, 03:40 AM »

Makes sense. Thanks.

11

N.A.N.Y. 2010 / Re: NANY 2010 Final Release: Startup Bully

« on: March 22, 2010, 01:35 AM »

This application doesn't watch for anything.

-app103 (March 22, 2010, 12:12 AM)

Of course -- it was imprecise terminology I used. Scan then. I'd already seen your description of its method to act as a launcher, and that seems like a great approach.

If I wanted it to do more than what it does, I'd have to start from scratch and write a whole new app to do it and it would be much more complicated than it currently is.

Furthermore, there already exist utilities that can remove from startup those items that write to the registry to do it.

Sure, I follow you. I'm not trying to make work for you, just suggest that if you feel motivated someday I've never seen an app that lets you monitor for shortcut (*.LNK) creation either by comparing with a previous scan, running in real time, or evaluating timestamps (and I've seen a lot of apps -- maybe more than most).

Then it occurred to me that since your app addresses the Windows startup folder, it might save having to run a variety of tools if one thing covered all those bases described previously and did it well. That's all. Sorry to disturb you -- sometimes people appreciate feedback.

12

Finished Programs / Re: Salatschleuder english

« on: March 21, 2010, 05:17 PM »

This is a very creative concept!

13

N.A.N.Y. 2010 / Re: NANY 2010 Final Release: Startup Bully

« on: March 21, 2010, 03:34 PM »

Give me a few more days to finish recovering from the flu and I'll give it a shot.

Hope you're feeling better. Having the flu is miserable.

What would you think about broadening its horizons a bit? For example, Adobe Reader's so egotistical that it insists on putting shortcuts on the desktop AND in the root of the Start Menu -- the latter every single time you install one of their endless security updates. (At least it leaves the Quick Launch menu alone for now.) Maybe there could be a way to watch specified areas for particular shortcuts, or to even prompt for permission to leave a new shortcut in the Start Menu or on the desktop. That would return control to the end user, instead of letting commercial developers leave droppings all over the place without asking.

A one-stop utility would be ideal, where it could watch the HKLM and HKCU startup keys as well!

14

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Program to identify and delete empty folders in a tree

« on: September 25, 2009, 01:35 PM »

Thanks for the lead -- looks pretty good!

15

Borland C++ Builder Contest / Re: The DEFINITIVE Mp3 Portable Ripper utility

« on: March 01, 2009, 09:47 PM »

where's the download link? couldn't find it anywhere..

-lanux128 (September 13, 2006, 08:57 PM)

Looks like sumpin's broke in the forum. The quoted post couldn't have been posted 2.5 years ago...  could it?

BTW, the first message had an image but the link now points to one of those fly-by-night search sites and it tries to run JavaScript and ActiveX on this page. Might be worth an edit since the site's changed hands. 

16

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Program to identify and delete empty folders in a tree

« on: February 26, 2009, 12:04 PM »

I'll second that. I wonder if there's a way to make it auto-size the columns? I think it did in a previous version.

17

Living Room / Re: Bad smells ... UPS recommendations ?

« on: February 20, 2009, 03:02 PM »

Quick recommendation for a brand I didn't see mentioned. I've had a great experience with CyberPower. The UPS I picked not only gives me a good half-hour of running time when the power goes out, it even has a detailed status display (multiple screens that include estimated running time remaining). It's built right into the box so you can activate the display without having to have the computer running. They have software installs designed for Windows, Macs or Linux.

With a MSRP of about $130 for models like the one pictured, it's definitely not outrageous for what you get. The manufacturer's website even has a design page ("sizing tool") that lets you match your setup to one of their models. I really love that you can disable alarms so the unit just quietly does its thing, and if the outage lasts too long it'll gracefully shut down Windows. (Probably something similar for the other OS flavors as well.)

I snagged the pics below from their site -- click to enlarge. FWIW, the above is based on my experience with the CP1500C which runs over $200 retail. On-demand (quiet) fan cooling rounds out the features for my model.

18

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Simple line by line truncator

« on: December 05, 2008, 03:35 PM »

You selected the text as a block, using the cursor and mouse keys, copied it, and the copy just excluded everything outside the block. It left embedded spaces intact, if they were included in the block.

-IainB (November 23, 2008, 04:50 AM)

I know the program Textpad will do columnar cut, copy & paste. I bet lots of others do too -- apologies for not having read every message in the topic in case somebody might've already suggested it, but I'm in a rush right now.   Just wanted to hurry & post in case it helps anybody.

Textpad also has macros, so it'd be a breeze to have one dedicated to removing all the whitespace first. (It already comes with one on the macros menu to remove blank lines from an entire document.) You could probably automate the entire operation.

19

Older Newsletters / Re: DonationCoder.com Article - One Year Report on our Experiments with Donationware

« on: November 14, 2008, 09:41 PM »

Big Shot Funder
I would like to make a large donation to the site in order to support the funding of future software on DonationCoder.com.

-mouser (October 24, 2008, 04:20 AM)

I'd tweak the category name of that one, even though it's got no ill intent -- Big Shot could be taken as a jab. 

2) or a tiny exe you could run on your pc to create and store your universal license key on your computer or a registry .reg file you could double click to register all donationcoder programs forever after.

-mouser (October 24, 2008, 09:36 AM)

This might be a little too easy to post around the web and bypass DC entirely. I'm sure it's not a super high-security registration process anyway, but for a stand-alone registration method there should at least be some kinda wording like "if you're reading this it means you've seen what we have to offer. If not, someone may have shortcut the process; here's a link:" (etc.)

I think it's not asked too much to go and get a new license key every 60 days (for the 'Conscientious Objector' group, which would then not be needed any more as it would be the same as the 'Just Curious!' group), or a one year license key if you want for the 'Educational / Non-profit Organization' group. For someone who can't afford (or doesn't want) to donate but still wants to use a program, going to the web site to get a new license key once in a while shouldn't be a problem.

-phitsc (October 24, 2008, 04:53 AM)

Yeah -- as much as people might find a license key a hassle (unlimited free software is always the simplest) it's still a reasonable investment to go through some sort of process to get someone else's work for free. Everybody at some point should at least be able to offer either time, money or labor in return for useful software. (For example, even with completely free software it's still nice to offer feedback to the developer or at least say thanks.) For people that don't want to give anything back any other way, the "time" would be the key-downloading process.

20

Living Room / Re: 32-bit Windows and the dreaded (and misunderstood) 4GB RAM limit

« on: September 30, 2008, 12:40 PM »

I can certainly see their memory-hungry products benefit from being able to address more than 2GB (I wonder if their apps are large-address-space-aware?)

-f0dder (September 30, 2008, 10:53 AM)

I'm pretty sure I read that they can address up to 16 GB RAM (guess that'd be the 32-bit app under a 64-bit OS). I did read that Photoshop CS2 will benefit from IncreaseUserVA, so presumably later versions are aware as well.

I was reminded that VA (Virtual Addressing) means virtual memory, not the physical stuff -- I guess I'm more offtopic than I thought.

21

Living Room / Re: 32-bit Windows and the dreaded (and misunderstood) 4GB RAM limit

« on: September 30, 2008, 06:50 AM »

Drawbacks?

1) less address space for the kernel (including filesystem cache and mapped devices... considering how much memory modern GPUs map, this could become a problem).

2) only applications specifically linked with "large address-space aware" can take advantage of the larger address space, otherwise they get the normal 2:2 split. Not many applications benefit, anyway, obviously only those needing a lot of RAM.

3) it doesn't solve the problem at all, as it has absolutely nothing to do with the problem this thread is about

-f0dder (September 30, 2008, 01:10 AM)

For #3, I thought maybe the larger issue was making more memory available to ravenous apps. ('Sides, the topic's been sitting idle for a couple weeks and this is at least related.)

Point taken about GPUs and the rest, but with a 256M graphics card it still leaves the other 3/4 gig for files & devices. (I'll have to do some more digging to see what a typical load would/should be.)

I'm thinking about a somewhat specific use in making mem available for Adobe (audio/video) & other multimedia apps. They prolly already do a bit of mem management on their own, though, and I guess the swapfile can ultimately inherit the non-realtime active storage. I was just trying to figure out where this'd be useful.

22

Living Room / Re: 32-bit Windows and the dreaded (and misunderstood) 4GB RAM limit

« on: September 29, 2008, 07:20 PM »

One thing I've been finding around the Web is the concept of increasing user mode addressing to 3 gigs instead of the default 2 (for use by applications), leaving the Vista kernel 1 gig instead of 2 (presuming a total of 4 gigs).

BCDEDIT /set increaseuserva 3072

XP has its own method for doing the same thing, and of course you need admin privs. Anybody know of any drawbacks for this one?

23

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: YourFonts - Generate a font based on your handwriting

« on: September 18, 2008, 04:23 PM »

You can now preview your generated font with custom text, thus even before downloading and installing the font, you know that it looks great (or not).

-erwind (September 18, 2008, 03:50 PM)

Nice job!

24

General Software Discussion / Re: Best Firefox security addons?

« on: September 03, 2008, 09:37 PM »

Here're a couple more I forgot about, put out by students at Stanford University. Unfortunately, they haven't been updated for Firefox 3 yet, but for anybody on FF2 they're worth a look. Maybe if enough people are interested they'll be updated, or someone could get permission (if needed) to take over the project. (It could be too that FF3 doesn't need 'em, but from reading the concept behind 'em it sounds like they'd still be useful.)

http://www.safehistory.com/
http://www.safecache.com/

25

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: YourFonts - Generate a font based on your handwriting

« on: August 26, 2008, 05:35 PM »

I have FireFox 3, so I'm not able to test the site with FF2 right now. But I do know the site has processed all requests, so your browser is waiting for something that will never happen

-erwind (August 26, 2008, 05:25 PM)

I'm about to upgrade to FF3 as well. I've been holding out hoping for specific extensions to be updated, but FF3 fixes enough FF2 quirks that I'm not going to wait any more. Best wishes for your new web service! I'll be telling friends about it.