Messages

201

General Software Discussion / Re: DLS: Mozilla publishes name and shame list of slow Firefox add-ons

« on: April 05, 2011, 11:27 PM »

I only have 2, and no, they won't be coming off.  AdBlock Plus and NoScript are too essential.  If they are really issue causing, perhaps Mozilla will write the browser to address the pains these two address.  Happily, my must have, TabMixPlus, and the 4 other niceties are NOT on the list.

I can say, however, I have used many of them, and I do agree - many of them slow it A LOT!  Read it Later seemed particularly onerous given what it does.  That one got removed shortly after it was tried.

202

General Software Discussion / Re: Alternatives to LightScreen

« on: March 26, 2011, 06:23 AM »

Good catch Lanux.  I took b) as either/or so yes, it does the first part, but not the second.

203

General Software Discussion / Re: which is the best free virtualization software?

« on: March 26, 2011, 05:49 AM »

techiedave beat you to it 

As I said above, it seems to me to be pretty much VMware Workstation without snapshots and a few other features most people will never use.  Shame it is missing snapshots/clones though.  I LOVE that feature and it is the main reason I will stick with VirtualBox for now.  VirtualBox doesn't support snapshots/clones as elegantly as Workstation (IMO), but it does work.

204

General Software Discussion / Re: Alternatives to LightScreen

« on: March 26, 2011, 05:42 AM »

Don't know about d) but I am certain that ScreenshotCaptor does the other three.  Even if it doesn't do d) now, I don't *think* it would be too terribly difficult for Mouser to implement.

205

General Software Discussion / Re: which is the best free virtualization software?

« on: March 25, 2011, 08:36 AM »

I said it was a fast moving target  

Somehow I missed the release of Player 3.0 & 3.1.  Last I heard it was still on 2.5.  Thanks for the heads up. I will check it out now and compare it to my other favorites in the Type 2 (I think) hypervisor space - Workstation and VirtualBox.

EDIT:  I just noted it is essentially Workstation without a few of the major nice features - namely cloning and snapshots.  Actually there are a few other features, some which I actually use a lot at work, that are missing as well, but I don't consider them much more than nice features.  Cloning and Snapshots are now supported in VirtualBox (have been for a little while now) and is what made it comparable to Workstation in my opinion.  Like I said, the rest of the difference is just niceties.

Player is now useable for me.  Though I will likely stick with VirtualBox due to the snapshots feature.

206

General Software Discussion / Re: Best Text Expander software for Windows

« on: March 25, 2011, 08:30 AM »

I do not hide my identity as coming from PhraseExpress. Of course, I answer questions about our software if they arise.

For this purpose I have configured Google Alerts that notifies me if our product name is mentioned on any social media platform. It is because, you are important to us.

I am particularly eager to clarify things if any user (regardless if authentic or fake) praises a feature of a competitor that even originally came from us.

I hope that you at least don't believe that we stage users who apparently seem to have registered here for the sole purpose to bring up a competitor name?

In this context, you have to be aware, that competitors have set Google Alerts for our product as well. ;-)

-BartelsMedia (March 19, 2011, 08:24 AM)

I appreciate the sensitivity to the statements above and believe me when I state I do not believe ANYONE here believed you did try to hide your identity. You have been here off and on for quite some time and have been quite helpful anytime anyone has questions or problems.  DC is a particularly helpful place to get results on any software because so many different people here use so much different software in so many different ways.  It only helps improve the site when developers, marketers, or others directly related to the software and it's development join the site and contribute as well.

I don't know mouser personally, but I do know how he reacts to many issues that arise on the site and I have never, never, seen him accuse anyone of anything abusive.  The most I have seen posted is a firm but polite request about affiliation or request to steer clear of specific topics as appropriate given the terms of participation.  Given that, and what I read from him above, I can only say I have no doubt he was stating that to the readers in general to remind them of the policies of this forum and why it is okay - actually preferred - that you participate here in the way you are. 

I just hope that is how you took it and if not, then I hope this explains how it reads (at least one way it reads) to a third party.

207

General Software Discussion / Re: which is the best free virtualization software?

« on: March 25, 2011, 06:40 AM »

Didn't see this before now, but I really have to say it depends on what you are trying to do with it.  I am a big fan of VMware (Workstation is assumed here - but they have an entire ecosystem ranging from a simple player to a server infrastructure starting at $25K just for the licenses...), but they are definitely industrial strength software for industrial strength use (and a matching industrial strength price!). 

I find VirtualBox is just about as good (yes it does support snapshotting now, and has for about 2 years).  They are about 2 features behind VMware Workstation at any given time and many of those features are not as bulletproof tested as Workstation - but this is another time-tested proof of the statement that you get what you pay for.  If the tradeoff is worth it to you, VirtualBox is an excellent choice.

VirtualPC 2007 is actually quite good - well considering I remember the first iteration and used it extensively as well - but very basic.  If you only have basic needs and the support of Microsoft is considered benefitial to you, this is a very acceptable alternative as well.

Now for the less well known/older options –

• VMware Player - a good simple VM player.  It doesn't let you create VM's or do much other than use ones others have created.  However, since you typically only need to create it one time and then use it from then on - it can be acceptable in some circumstances.
• VMware Server - a corollary to Player, it has some nice feature with some significant drawbacks.  Like VMware Player, it is free.  However, unlike Player, you can use it to create VM's.  It runs several services and has limited support for many non-server features (read none), but it can be useful for testing or for creating VM's on older machines.  Otherwise you are much better off using ESXi (free) to do similar tasks.
• VMware ESXi (free) - this is a "bare metal" hypervisor.  That means you install it before you install any Operating Systems on the hard drive.  In effect it is the host operating system - it is just a very specialized system.  The only real downside to this route that I see is it is not exactly easy to set up and get running and it has some pretty specific hardware requirements that are not easily met.  That said, current new mid-range systems should have little issue.  One caveat - specialized support for certain high end hardware such as graphics cards does not generally exist.
• Citrix XenServer - A citrix supported partially open-source implementation of Zen.  It is effectively the same as ESXi but has a smaller ecosystem of support around it.  From a technical perspective, this is my favorite in no small part because you can download a complete suite including management console and other pieces for free - up to 10 machines.  It is like getting the paid version of ESX for free with the only stipulation of using no more than 10 machines.  Moreover, if you are looking at Virtual Desktop Infrastructure - you can get the Citrix VDI - management suite, Server Hypervisor, and XenApp (formerly known as Citrix ICA server) all in a single package for free (again, only for up to 10 virtual machines across the entire infrastructure).  It is pretty steep to get to that 11th machine though
• Parallels Virtuozzo is an entirely different way of thinking about virtualization which is not without merit, but doesn't allow you to load different OS's.  It is a container virtualization scheme.  In other words, you install your OS, then the software, then your programs.  Each program thinks it is the only thing running in the OS because it is "contained" (depending on configuration - of course).  Multiple packages can be contained within a single container as needed as well.
• Parallels also sells Parallels Desktop, which may be what you referenced, but I don’t know anything about that really other than it is comparable to VMware Fusion which in turn is comparable to a Mac version of VMware Workstation (with a lot of functionality stripped out)

I just noticed how long this got and how quick too, so I will leave it at that.  I consider myself a student of virtualization so I do know a lot of things about a lot of these except how to actually use them .  I mean I know how to conceptually, but I don’t have the hardware or the money to actually play around with many of these options to learn the pros and cons first hand.

Virtualization software is a fast moving target, and just because you found the greatest thing for your situation today, doesn’t mean something new that fits even better won’t come out tomorrow (and I mean that quite literally).  With that said, if you can justify to yourself VMware products, they are premiere products for a LOT of good reasons.  The rest are either “Jonny come lately” or “me too” outfits that are still trying to catch VMware.  If you can’t justify their products, then your options open up significantly at the cost of usability/performance/stability/features or some combination thereof.

Hope I didn’t overload you

208

Mouser's Zone / Re: entering my old license to my new win7 platform

« on: March 25, 2011, 05:31 AM »

Don't know if this applies to Participants or other categories of Membership, but I know for me (as a Supporting Member) I can go to my member profile and it is the third section in the profile.  It is simply a link that says "Generate a license key for programs".  Otherwise, I think you probably have to request a new key.

209

Living Room / Re: More thoughts on micro vs macro donations and the turning point for donationware

« on: March 13, 2011, 04:19 AM »

I just like to point out that this is beginning to sound a whole lot like TrialPay in many respects.  Not saying that it is a bad thing that you are trying to do, but "buy it now for $xx.xx or do this and get it free..." sounds awfully familiar. In that light, I think you are very much on to something, but is it really the way you want to go? 

Just provoking some thought here.

210

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2009 / Re: Looking for Suggestions for Name of New Blog that Will be Abandoned

« on: March 13, 2011, 04:07 AM »

I'll add my idea for a name:

FINALLY - Getting them done....

or

Getting them done, FINALLY....

or some variation thereof.

211

General Software Discussion / Re: How to choose the best Linux distro for laptops

« on: March 13, 2011, 03:57 AM »

I'll keep building my own little desktops on the cheap.

-zridling (January 03, 2011, 05:23 PM)

+1

And all this time I thought I was alone doing that.

-40hz (January 03, 2011, 05:45 PM)

Nope, I do too - for the entire family.  Same reason too....

212

Official Announcements / Re: What DonationCoder.com Would Do with a Two Million Dollar Donation

« on: March 11, 2011, 10:12 PM »

This *idea* will restrict the flow of knowledge to a particular geographical area which i always hate to see. These things are possible online (cutting the building and related part) if we wish to do so. It's like bringing together "stackoverflow+donationcoder+sourceforge+google summer of code" under single brand.

-mahesh2k (March 10, 2011, 02:32 AM)

I think the point was to provide most of the living expenses so they didn't need to worry about that while coding the project(s).  Online options like this already abound as you point out and are only partially successful on the level I think Mouser is talking about.  That whole rent/food/bills/etc. thing keeps people from donating a lot more time, and my understanding is that would be the point.  Of course I could be way out in left field again too....

213

Living Room / Re: CPU Question: More Mhz per core or more cores?

« on: February 17, 2011, 04:50 AM »

IF it helps any, the Rosewill PSU appears to be a rebranded SeaSonic PSU, not any different then CoolMaster (I think), Corsair, and a handful of other makers who actually buy their PSU's and rebrand them.  I can tell you from experience (if it is just a rebranded SeaSonic) that it is a VERY good PSU.  They are very quiet, and very stable.  My search (when I was looking) kept pointing to SeaSonic as one of the best brands, and continued research led me to learn how many companies rebrand their power supplies so I went with an actual manufacturer.  I figured they would be cheaper and I would know who manufactured my PSU then.  All I know is I have not regretted it since and it has been over 5 years with the same PSU in less than ideal power situations (I get lots of brownouts and I haven't refurbished my APC power conditioner yet).  Unless SeaSonic went the way of Seagate (from the hard drive space), then they should still be a top contender.

214

Living Room / Re: Is SEO worth the trouble?

« on: January 25, 2011, 10:19 AM »

I am the first to say I do NOT speak from experience.  It is strictly from what I read on the subject when looking into it myself.  That said, my knowledge of the subject suggests you are asking 2 different questions.  1) What is SEO - what does it do?  2) What does it do for me.  I will answer your second question first, because it is easier - in your particular case, not much.  Content has already let your articles rise to the top and you are getting hits for them without any shenanigans associated with websites and SEO these days.

Now for question 1 - SEO uses metatags and other techniques to make your web page more friendly to the crawlers that Search companies employ to categorize and list sites in the first place.  It allows you to "target" your audience and provides more concise information to index so that searches for specific topics will target your articles over articles that are not as specific.  Here, specific is measured (in part) by the number of non-trivial matching terms are present in the code and/or content of the page.  It is then augmented by the number of hits the page has that conforms to a signature that implies it was useful to the consumer - as compared to one they just click through or click back - as well as how often the page is updated.  There is actually quite a lot that goes into the mix to determine page rankings and these features and the math behind it are proprietary business secrets of the search company, but those are some of the most common metrics.  In your case, a combination of no other (or very few other) articles related to the search, combined with regular updates, and clean code as well as longevity (which plays into how many times your site is crawled and new content is found), work together to place you at or near the top of all searches without any special SEO.  In other words, your regular work is actually hitting several SEO metrics naturally and that is helping get you to the top without extra SEO operations.

At least that is my take.  Anyone who really knows what is going on...

215

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Release: NetLaunch

« on: January 22, 2011, 12:59 PM »

Ack, came back to see if you posted a comment about my issues and I missed it.  Found that my post with the full error report never posted! 

So anyway, I will post now with my appologies that I didn't verify I posted them sooner.

Error Event 1

Event Type:   Error
Event Source:   .NET Runtime
Event Category:   None
Event ID:   1026
Date:      1/22/2011
Time:      1:51:22 PM
User:      N/A
Computer:   COMPUCAMEL
Description:
Application: NetLaunch.exe
Framework Version: v4.0.30319
Description: The process was terminated due to an unhandled exception.
Exception Info: System.TypeInitializationException
Stack:
   at NetLaunch.Prefs.loadprefs()
   at NetLaunch.Program.Main(System.String[])


For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft....om/fwlink/events.asp.

Error Event 2

Event Type:    Error
Event Source:    .NET Runtime 4.0 Error Reporting
Event Category:    None
Event ID:    5000
Date:        1/22/2011
Time:        1:50:25 PM
User:        N/A
Computer:    COMPUCAMEL
Description:
EventType clr20r3, P1 netlaunch.exe, P2 1.0.0.0, P3 4d1fe555, P4 uk5dpioa, P5 4.0.0.0, P6 4d3b26f0, P7 6, P8 165, P9 system.invalidoperationexception, P10 NIL.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft....om/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 63 00 6c 00 72 00 32 00   c.l.r.2.
0008: 30 00 72 00 33 00 2c 00   0.r.3.,.
0010: 20 00 6e 00 65 00 74 00    .n.e.t.
0018: 6c 00 61 00 75 00 6e 00   l.a.u.n.
0020: 63 00 68 00 2e 00 65 00   c.h...e.
0028: 78 00 65 00 2c 00 20 00   x.e.,. .
0030: 31 00 2e 00 30 00 2e 00   1...0...
0038: 30 00 2e 00 30 00 2c 00   0...0.,.
0040: 20 00 34 00 64 00 31 00    .4.d.1.
0048: 66 00 65 00 35 00 35 00   f.e.5.5.
0050: 35 00 2c 00 20 00 75 00   5.,. .u.
0058: 6b 00 35 00 64 00 70 00   k.5.d.p.
0060: 69 00 6f 00 61 00 2c 00   i.o.a.,.
0068: 20 00 34 00 2e 00 30 00    .4...0.
0070: 2e 00 30 00 2e 00 30 00   ..0...0.
0078: 2c 00 20 00 34 00 64 00   ,. .4.d.
0080: 33 00 62 00 32 00 36 00   3.b.2.6.
0088: 66 00 30 00 2c 00 20 00   f.0.,. .
0090: 36 00 2c 00 20 00 31 00   6.,. .1.
0098: 36 00 35 00 2c 00 20 00   6.5.,. .
00a0: 73 00 79 00 73 00 74 00   s.y.s.t.
00a8: 65 00 6d 00 2e 00 69 00   e.m...i.
00b0: 6e 00 76 00 61 00 6c 00   n.v.a.l.
00b8: 69 00 64 00 6f 00 70 00   i.d.o.p.
00c0: 65 00 72 00 61 00 74 00   e.r.a.t.
00c8: 69 00 6f 00 6e 00 65 00   i.o.n.e.
00d0: 78 00 63 00 65 00 70 00   x.c.e.p.
00d8: 74 00 69 00 6f 00 6e 00   t.i.o.n.
00e0: 20 00 4e 00 49 00 4c 00    .N.I.L.
00e8: 0d 00 0a 00               ....   

Everything else was in one of those reports for Microsoft, but I was unable to copy any of them out of the "view report" except by taking a great many screenshots.  I believe, though, that they really won't help you anyway.  They looked like OS related errors rather than application errors, though they may be related....

216

General Software Discussion / Re: Rostering software

« on: January 12, 2011, 10:13 AM »

Renegade is right, there is a lot of software out there for this already, though I don't know that scheduling software searches will do it (haven't tried) (Just tried, that was spot on Renegade - Now I am off to research anew as this has a lot more options than I ever found previously ) .  Unfortunately, I have never run across any that is free that is worth using.  I have looked for this type of software for a long time and the best ones I found are rather expensive (no surprise).  however, the best approach I have found for this at a reasonable cost is actually using the calandar app in Outlook.  If you need a free version, perhaps something like Sunbird would work?  Just thinking out loud here.  I will try to dredge up some of my research on what some of the better ones are with their associated costs....

217

Living Room / Re: Aspartame: Sweet Misery - A Poisoned World (Wikipedia Abuse)

« on: January 12, 2011, 10:07 AM »

IMHO flat out banning wikipedia as a source is a bit silly, since a lot of articles (especially those about tech) are decent enough. But there's definitely a lot of articles for which WP shouldn't be used as an authoritative source

Still, for most stuff it does serve as a good starting point for research.

-f0dder (January 12, 2011, 10:04 AM)

That is fine if you are using it as a source for FINDING primary sources, but most schools won't accept it AS the primary (or even secondary) source for just that reason.  That is why it is not silly at all.  The right way to use it for research is to go to Wikipedia, go to the source links, and use those sources - or not, depending on the project.

218

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone else here have an unhealthy fascination with progress bars?

« on: January 12, 2011, 09:56 AM »

Just out of curiosity, where would you go to study to become an actuary? 

-40hz (January 12, 2011, 09:41 AM)

Most Universities offer Actuarial Science courses and/or degrees.  Some colleges that specialize in business do too.  Of course that completely bypasses your little joke (if that was the intent), but hey, it answers the question.

219

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone else here have an unhealthy fascination with progress bars?

« on: January 12, 2011, 08:20 AM »

Note: I like to throw a copy of SoW on servers. It's actually not a bad little system monitor. And it looks very impressive when you want to have something on the screen for senior management to look at. Very handy when they hit you with those "probing" and "piercing" managerial-type comments such as: "Are you sure it's running?" or "Doesn't look like it does very much for something that costs five grand, does it?"

Give em candy!

-40hz (January 12, 2011, 07:32 AM)

Nice.  You just summed up my job in about 2 paragraphs .  I work in Operations where our primary job (according to some anyway) is to monitor and operate the 2 P-Series mainframes.  However our "workstation" looks more like NASA with 6 42" flatscreens mounted on the wall, 3 stations with 3 monitors each and 2 "consoles" which are just 2 more computers with 2 monitors each between them.  The bad part of it all is it is ALL JUST FOR SHOW!  Some intermediate manager decided to make the department look better for bigwigs and the uninitiated.  The point was to get more funding I think, but that didn't work out so well.  What did work out (for some departments at least) is that now we get more work from everyone because their stuff is important enough to need 24 hour monitoring by Operations.  We now are the key monitors for ALL network connections, server up time, mainframe operation, and UPS operations.  Oh, and we got manpower cut by 50% in 2008 and won't beef us back up as operations ramped up because "we are still accomplishing the job".  All because some one thought we needed to look important.

220

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone else here have an unhealthy fascination with progress bars?

« on: January 11, 2011, 02:17 PM »

Ah, don't get me wrong, I am not for the forced delays, but when an install is going to take some time, I do like something to keep me interested while I wait, that is all.

221

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone else here have an unhealthy fascination with progress bars?

« on: January 11, 2011, 10:58 AM »

Okay, you caught me  

I do too.  My favorites are the stylized ones you see in some games.  I always get a kick in finding out what they look like full.  I also always thought a cool bar would be one that had short statements (proverbs, maybe) that would only show as the progress continued.  It would also change statements so it doesn't get stale like most do after a few uses.

222

LaunchBar Commander / Re: Closet favorite

« on: January 11, 2011, 10:54 AM »

Also, how about a refresh button or command for the active menus?  Let me explain, if I start LBC and my thumbdrive isn't in the computer yet, the portable lbc file won't open (obviously, because it can't find the file).  So after I stick in the thumbdrive, I have to close LBC and reopen it so both menus now open.  If there was a way to "refresh" it in a case like that, I'd just click the refresh button and it would see that the thumbdrive is there now and open that menu.  Same goes for if I remove the thumbdrive.  Does that make sense?

-superboyac (January 11, 2011, 10:41 AM)

An alternative that may make it even easier (not necessarily for you though, mouser) would be to poll the drives on the event of plugging in or removing a storage device.  I don't how much that involves, but I know that many programs do that, so I am guessing it is a documented API for Windows.

223

Living Room / Re: DC Demographics

« on: January 09, 2011, 05:39 PM »

and then we need to get a volunteer who is willing to "analyze" the survey results and come up with some usless, wild, and unscientific conclusions about them.

-mouser (January 09, 2011, 01:06 PM)

Sounds like a perfect job for my wife...

Spoiler

And yes, she is the one who told me to say that, so I don't care if you tell her! 

224

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: Recording Screencasts of the NANY 2011 Projects

« on: January 09, 2011, 11:06 AM »

Wow, I never saw this thread.  Go figure.  Well I dropped the ball and never really got anywhere on any of the screencasting I hoped to get to.  I am glad you were able to get more done than I was.

225

N.A.N.Y. 2011 / Re: NANY 2011 Release: NetLaunch

« on: January 08, 2011, 04:39 PM »

Okay, I have a halfway completed screencast (actually it is completely done, except for one tiny clip showing it actually in action), but now all of a sudden it keeps crashing with a system.invalidoperationexception.  It is primarily in 1.0, but I tried 1.0.1 and it is having the same issue.  Any ideas?   Any direction on what else to look for that may help?  I can recreate it and get the system dump information if that will help any.

Note, there was no patches or changes applied that I know of and it did work fine previously.

P.S.  Man, no matter how much I try to plan how long a screencast takes, it is 2 to 3 times longer to actually accomplish.  This is harder than I thought it would be.  Good to learn though.