Messages

276

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: OpalCalc 1.43

« on: July 11, 2012, 10:41 AM »

Thanks all! I'll be working hard on 1.48 which is due out soon (and fix the currency update issue that's currently in 1.46).

-Twinbee (July 11, 2012, 09:11 AM)

Just found a ... well, maybe it's by design but it feels wrong.

The remainder function.

If I want to work out the number of weeks and days before a given date, I can do something like:

@21/09/2012 - today in weeks

but that gives me a fractional component most of the time.

If I do @21/09/2012 - today in days

with the intention of dividing the result by 7 and getting the remainder, I get an error with

rem ans / 7

I also get an error with

d=ans
rem d / 7

The only way I get the answer I want is if I type in the answer I got instead of referring to it.

I expect there's a good reason...

277

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: OpalCalc 1.43

« on: July 11, 2012, 01:48 AM »

I just thought to myself, "Gee... I haven't opened 'calc.exe' in ages!"

Still loving OpalCalc! It's such a better way to do a calculator on a real computer.

-Renegade (July 11, 2012, 01:29 AM)

I have a FARR alias for "calc" pointed at OpalCalc, so I can't forget even when I'm on autopilot

278

General Software Discussion / Re: Splinter

« on: May 24, 2012, 03:59 AM »

I am going to create documentation based on Mouser's FARR documentation, as it was recommended by oblivion.

-dmd7978 (May 23, 2012, 07:24 PM)

That's not quite what I suggested, for any concerned mousers. What I said was: you have no documentation, you need some, here's an example of good practice in the field, doing something along those lines might be a good idea!

279

General Software Discussion / Re: FORTRAN - All your problems will be solved.

« on: May 17, 2012, 06:04 AM »

I've never seen anyone actually use a sliderule, though I have been in stores where the shopkeeper used an abacus. They were really fast with it.

-Renegade (May 15, 2012, 07:31 AM)

I seem to recall one of the recent world championships in mental arithmetic was won by a ten year old Indian girl who, while doing some extraordinarily complex calculations in her head was simultaneously wiggling her fingers in front of her. When asked, she said that she was using an imaginary abacus to keep track of her calculations.

Oh, and I used to OWN a sliderule. Yes, and use it -- although this was back in the mid 1970s before calculators hit the mainstream, when I was about 14. At about the same time, a few of us in maths class were being taught to program a typewriter-sized adding machine that printed onto paper (like till rolls) instead of actually displaying anything.

Sliderules and log tables... all that work learning to use them, now atrophied and dead, pretty much along with the pocket calculators that replaced them.

(My first good pocket calculator was a TI-57. Programmable, but it didn't retain the programs when you switched it off. I got quite adept at writing little programs to do iterative calculations with it -- and I have a vague suspicion that I might still have it, somewhere...)

(Oh, and my first programming language was FORTRAN/4. Write onto 80-column coding sheets, send them off somewhere to be punched onto cards -- which helpfully had the code printed along the top of the card, which was useful if you'd forgotten to number them before demonstrating a cascade sort -- and run, then debug and return the cards... the write/debug/rewrite cycle was about three days, because the computer centre we were using was 30 miles away from my school. And yes, I've forgotten it all too!)

280

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple means of joining images?

« on: May 06, 2012, 12:33 PM »

As soon as people start talking about layers, which I don't understand, the complexity of the software begins to loom large.

-rjbull (May 06, 2012, 11:05 AM)

In this context, just imagine that each time you drop an image into the workspace, it lands on a new sheet of clear acetate. As long as you keep the acetates separate from each other, you can slide them around without affecting the contents of any other acetate. The useful thing about layers it that they allow you to handle components of images separately from other components -- in other words, you can move things around with respect to each other without having to worry about bits getting intermingled in such a way that you can't undo it again. So you can resize and reposition each image with respect to all the others to your heart's content and if you don't want to you never have to do something that commits your changes irretrievably.

It took me quite a while to get comfortable with a layered approach, and I'm still occasionally confused by it but it's generally far less tricky than it appears as long as the software itself doesn't make moving between them and reordering them too complicated. (I still struggle with adjustment layers, but generally manage to live without them and you don't need them to do this sort of stuff anyway.)

281

General Software Discussion / Re: Splinter

« on: May 05, 2012, 04:40 AM »

I get it. But MOST users don't want philosophical concepts or even to understand the difference between an application extension and an application, they want to know the answer to "what will this do for me" and they don't want an answer that's more complicated than the question.

I'm not sure anybody much even cares about Explorer -- the desktop itself is itself and you're providing a way to change how that works. Make the point, if you like, that if Explorer can do it then Splinter can too, and explain, if you want, that that's because Splinter just tells Explorer to do something on your behalf, it doesn't replace it. That'll reassure people that they're not risking breaking Windows. But you need a way to sell it to people and saying that it's NOT a desktop replacement when all your demonstrations show it being , er, a desktop replacement isn't going to wash. Forget the philosophy, that can come back when you're helping people who want to get it to make rice pudding and cycle up the curtains.

What you have, if I'm understanding everything right, is something you can simply describe as a way people can flip between working environments that themselves are almost infinitely customisable. Live with it.

282

General Software Discussion / Re: Splinter

« on: May 05, 2012, 03:38 AM »

I get the impression from the above that one possible use of Splinter would be to have a rapid ability to switch between desktop environments. So instead of having everything you frequently use in one place, all the time, you could define a desktop for, I dunno, gaming, another for work, another for surfing... allow for all the crossover that happens between those things too. If I'm reading this stuff right, then an important marker of difference between the standard Windows desktop and Splinter could be that a "Splinter Desktop" isn't just a wallpaper, it's a wallpaper with embedded functionality. So if you can switch to a new desktop by choosing it off a pane of available desktops you can also be changing your working environment entirely, not just the way it looks.

Or am I still misunderstanding what this is supposed to be about?

283

General Software Discussion / Re: Splinter

« on: May 04, 2012, 05:34 PM »

So he did. I should have checked!

I've just tried it on my (look, don't go on about it, I know, I know) Vista machine and it just fell in a heap. <sigh> I'll take a look at the error log and let him know what failed... 

284

General Software Discussion / Splinter

« on: May 04, 2012, 05:04 PM »

I genuinely don't know what to make of this.

Splinter claims to be a revolutionary new way to interact with Windows. It's a visually rich launcher, I guess, with a massive amount of (allegedly) simple ways to customise things.

I've been trying to persuade the author to add some words to the many, many pictures on his site but he seems to be struggling to clearly communicate the features, benefits and so forth of Splinter without getting, well, so deep into what you can do and how easy it is that you lose track fast.

He claims 15,000 hours of programming effort. It looks slick, but the videos and screenshots are, effectively, end products without much of a hint of the creation process.

The downside: .Net.

The upside: freeware.

I think he needs some users to push things around and help him pull all that potential into something that has a chance of getting non-geeks and graphics junkies enthusiastic. My view right now is that to get to somewhere useful/usable for a novice might be asking too much, but I'm just one (occasionally grumpy) guy. I've grumbled at him a bit, but maybe a few DC guys could bring a breadth of viewpoints and help him bring something that really just might be the Next Big Thing into the world...?

It's pretty clear he's lived and breathed Splinter for so long he's struggling to take the necessary step back to be able to handle the non-programming parts of the job, anyway.

Has anyone here already met this program and have any comments?

285

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple means of joining images?

« on: May 03, 2012, 04:34 AM »

The only one I have actually installed is PagePlus X6, which is probably usable for what I had in mind.  However, I was thinking of something smaller and simpler.

-rjbull (May 02, 2012, 02:25 PM)

PPX6 would probably work for you if your intended "final destination" was a printed page -- but (a) I assumed you were more screen-focussed and (b) I was trying to find a free solution that I'd be at least reasonably happy to use myself. Serif kit -- despite their marketing tactics and their occasionally overpushy salespeople -- is mostly pretty good. (You can always opt out of the emails!)

IainB's suggestion of OneNote looks good, but I'm not sure it's an appropriate solution to the problem if it's the only likely use you have for it and if you don't already have an Office license.

If you already have a PhotoPlus license for pretty much any version at all, you can use it to create a new, blank image then drag in images from Explorer or ScreenshotCaptor or whatever; each dropped image becomes a layer that you can manipulate independently of the others, with each layer being automatically named for the image's filename. (PhotoPlus also has screen capture capabilities, if you're in reductionist mode, although ScreenshotCaptor has elbowed everything else I've ever used for such purposes out of the way!) At any stage you can choose to merge all the visible layers into a single image, or you can leave the layers in place and export the visible layers into a normal graphic with the usual range of output formats.

Photofiltre might also be worth a look. It also optionally works with layers but it also has quite a nice facility (Assemble) that'll take the image on the clipboard and add it to the top, bottom, left or right of the current image. (v7 is free for private use.) In contrast to PhotoPlus, images dropped onto Photofiltre are handled separately so you would probably do the resize, then copy to clipboard, switch to the primary image then use the Assemble function.

Another possibility along similar lines is Fotografix. Smaller and less feature-rich but also layer-aware and the transform tool (for resizing layers) is easy to use (remember to shift-drag to constrain the image to its original proportions -- same as Serif in that respect.)
 

286

General Software Discussion / Re: Simple means of joining images?

« on: April 30, 2012, 04:19 PM »

You make it sound so simple...

I'd have said that you're asking for something that can handle layered images so you can resize individual layers and move them about with respect to each other and finally merge the layers into a single composite.

I'm not aware of anything out there that can do that without bolting in all the other stuff you'd expect a layer-aware image editor to be able to do. However... have you tried Serif's PhotoPlus SE? (I don't know and can't tell from the site if it can do layers like its commercial counterpart but it's probably worth a try!)

If you're after something more scrapbook-ey, Serif also have an offering along those lines: CraftArtist

Both of the above have commercial versions and free versions: I think Serif -- these days -- are a little overpriced but they do tend to chuck the odd special offer around. And you might find the free versions do all you need anyway.

Unless I'm vastly misunderstanding what you're after, here?

287

Found Deals and Discounts / Ashampoo birthday offer

« on: April 27, 2012, 08:45 AM »

(Yes, I know they do this every year!)

Ashampoo are doing an "everything for £10" deal at the moment, and for the next few days, "to celebrate their founder's birthday." Not sure if a similar deal is available outside the EU but it might be worth a look.

[edit] Everything for $15 if you're in the US, it seems [/edit]

Oh, except Ashampoo Office 2012 (aka SoftMaker Office rebadged) isn't included, and nor are a couple of their other more expensive offerings.

288

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: WinPatrol Plus @ $0.99 on January 29th

« on: April 18, 2012, 03:28 PM »

Incidentally, I have become a big fan of WinPatrol + Chameleon Startup Manager.  I consider the 2 as complementary.

-Steven Avery (April 18, 2012, 12:39 PM)

Out of interest -- I've never looked at Chameleon, although I've seen it mentioned by others quite a few times -- what does CSM do that WPP doesn't?

289

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: AllMyNotes Deluxe latest version today on GOTD

« on: April 16, 2012, 06:25 AM »

The public BETA testing of version 3 has started. If the final version comes within a year from now, it will be a free upgrade, if you purchase today.

-Curt (April 12, 2012, 10:47 AM)

I raised an issue with the developer last week, related to the difficulty of assessing the most recent version of a notes file when AMN's in use on multiple, not-always-networked PCs, since it resaves on exit even if no changes have been made... and he emailed me back to say that this issue's being specifically addressed in the new beta. I haven't tried it yet -- the weekend's been busy -- but I plan to take a look in the next few days.

I've been using other things than AMN for a while but after spending a while experimenting with the free version of RightNote last week I suddenly found myself thinking that actually, if I give into using a tree-based view of things, AMN's actually pretty decent and RightNote doesn't seem to add much to the mix that I don't already have.

I really need to stop messing around and settle to SOMETHING. But I can't decide whether the structured approach of AMN or the unstructured approach of NoteFrog or CintaNotes suits me better...

290

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: OpalCalc 1.42

« on: April 12, 2012, 05:55 AM »

Yes, that's because it knows what you REALLY want, deep down

-Twinbee (April 11, 2012, 04:05 PM)

A calculator that knows what I want the answer to be instead of one that knows what the answer IS?

Wow.

Dear Mr Bank Manager

According to my calculations:

my salary - cost of living - other outgoings - large donation to donationcoder - cost of shiny new Ferrari = a large, positive integer.

So your demands are completely unreasonable, and I refer you to Mr Opalcalc for any further justification you may require.

Yours sincerely etc.

291

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: OpalCalc 1.42

« on: April 11, 2012, 03:43 PM »

Has anyone pointed out, by the way, that the setup puts a shortcut on the desktop even when you tell it not to?

 

292

Living Room / Gizmo & DC's fundraiser

« on: April 09, 2012, 05:59 AM »

Got this link today via my RSS feed of TechSupportAlert.com bits and pieces.

 

293

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: OpalCalc 1.41

« on: April 08, 2012, 06:44 AM »

What a stunning amount of power in such a deceptively simple-looking program. Wow.

I have already made a FARR alias to it...

294

Found Deals and Discounts / Zentimo on BDJ at 50% off today

« on: April 06, 2012, 07:02 AM »

...and although I didn't see a specific mention of it, there's a lifetime upgrades license available at the same discount.

http://www.bitsdujour.com/

I like Zentimo over USBSafelyRemove mostly because of its ability to store drive-specific settings on the drive itself, so using the same drive on my desktop and netbook computers behaves the same way. I agree that for most users there's probably not much difference, though.

295

Living Room / Re: Sansa Clip+ and Rockbox

« on: April 04, 2012, 09:31 AM »

Rockbox 3.11 has USB support, so this won't be an issue anymore.

-Cynic (April 03, 2012, 06:04 AM)

I thought I'd been running 3.11 from the first, so I upgraded it to the latest beta build this morning. (Then I let it rebuild the library. Again. It takes about 30 minutes, I think.

And I don't get "unrecognised device" when I plug it in in Rockbox mode anymore. (There's a lovely picture of a USB plug that I was strangely impressed by too.)

Not only that, but it actually works! Whoopee! 

[Fx: the Grumpy Police drag oblivion off for an unseemly display of cheerfulness.]

296

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TaskCatcher, $1.99, today only

« on: April 03, 2012, 05:29 PM »

Wish I had seen this earlier.  Looks like a neat program, but $12.95 per computer is a bit much for such a niche to me unfortunately.

-wraith808 (April 03, 2012, 04:47 PM)

I paid full price for my first license. It seemed expensive at the time but I was having problems with software going away when my netbook resumed from sleep and it was the only solution I found that actually worked. Given that, I couldn't really argue with the price!

It IS a bit of a niche product, but -- in common with Bill's other stuff -- it's small, unobtrusive, and It Just Works. Much like a lot of stuff that lives on this site, now I think of it, just less free.

297

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TaskCatcher, $1.99, today only

« on: April 02, 2012, 06:54 AM »

Nice one .. just for the record, it says some features are not supported on 64-bit (doesn't say which though).

-Jibz (April 02, 2012, 06:15 AM)

Indeed. But given that v2 is on the horizon and will be a free upgrade, the $1.99 might be a fair bet anyway.

298

Found Deals and Discounts / TaskCatcher, $1.99, today only

« on: April 02, 2012, 03:51 AM »

TaskCatcher's a bit of an oddity -- a program you didn't know you needed until you have it. It's a sister program to Winpatrol, in case you haven't come across it.

It's probably not for everyone.

I use it to ensure that programs I absolutely rely on to be there when I want them are always there, regardless, but you can also use it to ensure something you never want to run doesn't happen.

It's tiny and reliable, as you'd expect if you're already a Winpatrol user. (You aren't? Why not?)

Just for today, it's $1.99. It's a "per machine" license, which makes sense when you consider what it's for. So I'm buying a second copy.

You can read more about it here.

299

General Software Discussion / Re: Whats your preferred web browser?

« on: March 28, 2012, 05:00 PM »

I'm playing with Pale Moon at the moment but -- apart from the lack of orange -- am not seeing much difference between it and Firefox.

I LIKE Firefox (and the portable version which I use a LOT.) But there's a few indispensable addons to make it a keeper. Lastpass. Speed Dial. Tab Mix Plus. AdBlockPlus. NoScript. DownThemAll.

Speed Dial in particular broke my previous addiction to Opera, although the lack of extensibility for the latter (can't use Roboform or Lastpass, last time I looked) took away its other advantages.

The best thing about Opera is Fastmail.fm. By contrast, the embedded email client is from another universe to the one I inhabit and I couldn't use it.

I don't get many crashes. Maybe three in the last year?

300

Skwire Empire / Re: Birthdays (simple birthday tracking app)

« on: March 20, 2012, 02:57 AM »

Ideally, this version should just appear to work as normal on your machine but please let me know either way.  Thank you.

-skwire (March 19, 2012, 10:41 PM)

Looks good here -- but as I was already running the last new version, I wouldn't have seen the same conversion issues anyway, I imagine!

Pleased you worked out how to fix it, anyway -- that bug must have come as a nasty surprise to you!