Messages

151

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Faster boots combining hibernate and restart

« on: February 04, 2010, 08:31 PM »

Configurable delays sound good.

Any thoughts as to why my system doesn't hibernate / standby from Boot Snooze, when it will do both when manually triggered from the Turn Off Computer menu?

Anything I can do to help you test?

152

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Faster boots combining hibernate and restart

« on: February 03, 2010, 01:26 PM »

OK testing version 1.0.1.3 and the buttons still don't show the whole text.

FYI the visual style I am using is Tener VS

Perhaps you could change the UI so that the label reads "Restart then..." and the buttons simply say Hibernate and Standby? But this may be bad user interface practice - I don't know!

As for Hibernation - it is enabled and works just fine if I do it manually. My suspicion is that Defence+ (part of Comodo Firewall) is preventing Boot Snooze from operating correctly by preventing some registry keys being created or something. I shall experiment with the firewall down / setting BS as a trusted app.

Thanks for the effort you are putting in to this

UPDATE: Added Boot Snooze as a trusted app, and also tried taking down the firewall, and still no Hibernation

Update 2: Tried with Standby - same result (reboots, message box appears with countdown, click the button to standby, but nothing happens).


Using WinXP SP3 (custom install - somewhat slimmed down - perhaps something important for Boot Snooze is missing?)

153

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Faster boots combining hibernate and restart

« on: February 03, 2010, 07:34 AM »

Still missing the words Hibernate and Standby with the newest build.

Also: my system shuts down, reboots, the Hibernate warning appears, but no Hibernation occurs.
I have been impatient and clicked the Hibernate now button, so don't know whether Hibernation happens at the end of 10 mins.
I have not tested Standby.

154

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Faster boots combining hibernate and restart

« on: February 02, 2010, 08:02 PM »

Great idea - will try it out now...

OK back - had an issue with the buttons not showing the full text. I am sure this has to do with my visual style. Indeed if i turn off the theme or reset to Luna the buttons look correct.

A mild annoyance, but can it be fixed?

155

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Psychonauts available on Steam for $2 until 1/28

« on: January 27, 2010, 07:14 PM »

It is a bloody brilliant game!

Definitely in my Top 10 - masterful storytelling.

156

Living Room / Re: External harddisk broken?

« on: January 27, 2010, 06:56 AM »

Shades: Can't get far enough to try these proceedures, as accessing the disk in anyway causes the whirring cycle.

"Not getting a drive letter" doesn't necessarily mean a FUBAR disk (but does mean partition and/or filesystem problems), whereas not showing up in Windows diskmgmt.msc does.

-f0dder (January 27, 2010, 01:13 AM)

Drive does show up in Disk Management panel, and also in Device Manager (under Disk Drives).

It is now assigned a drive letter. (Not sure what changed!)

Both panels show the correct disk ID / Serial Number, and report the correct disk size. Disk Manager also report it as Healthy! But shows no filesystem type (should be NTFS)

Problems start when I try to do anything further... looking at the properties of the disk for example - then the whirring begins!

does actually sound like "awful noises" to me - like a stuck read/write head arm.

Is there a fix for this?

Thanks both of you for the thoughts so far.

157

General Software Discussion / Re: Generic Card/Board Game Prototyping and Playtesting Tools

« on: January 26, 2010, 12:12 PM »

As a side note to the conversation, I am pretty much convinced that as surface computing makes its way into our homes and lives there will be a resurgence of interest in playing table-top games.

All the pros of a real boardgame (social interaction face to face) but none of the cons (lost pieces, bent cards, misprinted rules etc).

So the time is ripe for a great development tool.

good point -- it needs to be able to let you play-test it as a single developer, with two windows, one for each player, showing that player's view.

-Mouser

Not just two windows, I think it must cater for games of any reasonable number - certainly up to 5 or 6.

158

Living Room / External harddisk broken?

« on: January 26, 2010, 10:46 AM »

Yesterday I found my old IDE hard drive which I plugged into a USB enclosure - it worked fine, 200GB verified as OK, so I started copying files to the drive as a backup.

Then a separate activity caused my PC to lockup, and I had to hit the power switch to restart.

Now the external HD is not recognised by WinXP, Ubuntu, or any of the HD recovery apps on Hiren's Boot CD.

The drive does power up and spins without making any aweful noises, but when the OS tries to access it, merely cycles endlessly through a 4 or 5 second loop of whirs and clicks.

I've tried a 2nd USB enclosure but get the same results.

Is it really dead? It feels to me that the MBR is corrupt and I just need to find a way to reformat and all will be well?

Any ideas how to achieve this?

159

General Software Discussion / Re: Generic Card/Board Game Prototyping and Playtesting Tools

« on: January 26, 2010, 06:11 AM »

In brief: Yes! this would be hugely useful.

I have tinkered with Zuntzu, but found the creation process more laboured than it should be, plus in the early stages of design I don't want to playtest with other people in a multi-player environment, but rather on my own, since the game will no doubt be dismal in its early incarnations!

Will try to respond more fully later on, when I have time to read the original post in full.

A bit more…

I don't find Zuntzu very intuitive to use, but there are some useful features…

• The tray for holding a hand of cards
  
• The ability to stack cards / tiles / counters
  
• Rotation of pieces / cards
  
• Flipping of pieces / cards

I guess I'd be looking for a system that had all these things and more, but with less emphasis on good looks (functional and clear is all that is required) and it must be quick to change.

Although adding a ruleset is not a necessity it might be nice (limit the hand size to 5 for example)… And consider the power of a system that gathered statistics as you play-tested, especially if this was recorded along with the ruleset…

eg: Game turns = 23, Winning Score = 102, Handsize Limit = 5 etc etc.

160

General Software Discussion / Re: Mp3 split program that allows for multiple cut-points before execution?

« on: December 03, 2009, 09:17 PM »

In MP3DirectCut left click at each break point and then hit DEL (or click CUT).

When you've added all the split points, SAVE SPLIT to export the separate files.

Hope this helps - also see the help file, it is very clearly written!

161

Living Room / Re: Death in Family

« on: December 03, 2009, 11:24 AM »

I'd like to add my own condolences. Always sad to hear that someone dies so unexpectedly.

162

General Software Discussion / Re: Freeware that offers Livetrace like Adobe Illustrator?

« on: December 02, 2009, 11:16 PM »

Vector Magic will allow you two traces for free using their web interface, and IMHO it is the best vector tracing package out there. Just a shame that the retail product is so expensive!

http://vectormagic.c.../online/how_it_works

163

General Software Discussion / Re: Mp3 split program that allows for multiple cut-points before execution?

« on: December 02, 2009, 11:13 PM »

MP3DirectCut does this - http://mpesch3.de1.cc/mp3dc.html

164

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Left 4 Dead for TRADE

« on: November 28, 2009, 05:11 PM »

Well buying a 4 pack and splitting it up saves $2 each so I'm all for that!

I gave away my left over copies of HL2 and HL2:Episode 1 here on DC earlier in the year, so have nothing spare at the moment.

165

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Left 4 Dead for TRADE

« on: November 28, 2009, 02:35 PM »

I'm interested.

Just to clarify: you are talking about the original L4D and not the new Left 4 Dead 2? And you are planning to take advantage of the 75% off currently on offer at Steam.

I don't think that I have any games for gifting at the moment (to be honest forgetten how the system works) but at worst I'd PayPal you the reduced cost of a copy of L4D, at best something else you want might come up in the 5 day sale?

Essentially I am open to suggestions!

Ampa

166

General Software Discussion / Re: Auto generate flow diagram from a series of statements

« on: November 23, 2009, 08:21 AM »

Hooray! I know DC would come up trumps - and in less than 5 mins too.

Thanks for the quick find

167

General Software Discussion / Auto generate flow diagram from a series of statements

« on: November 23, 2009, 08:15 AM »

I recently saw a link to an application (or online app) that could auto generate a flow diagram from a series of natural language statements.

I didn't follow the lead at the time but now have a use for it (if it works at all well!) and can't re-find the darned thing.

The original article was almost certainly posted on one of my regular procrastination blogs such as Lifehacker, BoingBoing or Neatorama.

Anyone else see such a thing, and could point me in the right direction?

Thanks

168

Living Room / Re: How much Soda/Energy-Drinks you drink / week?

« on: September 30, 2009, 06:37 PM »

Um... none. At all. Ever.

169

Adventures of Baby Cody / Baby Cody with Ampa... and time to move on.

« on: September 30, 2009, 03:54 PM »

Yikes! How time flies when you are avoiding your chores!

Baby Cody arrived with me (Ampa) in Hemel Hempstead almost a month ago. We spent a day or two at home, me arguing with a horrible client, while BC recovered from the journey from Yorkshire. Apparently it was a long flight and very difficult flying, since the cardboard box was very constrictive.

No sooner had he adjusted to his new environment than he was off again - whisked away, down the M4 to visit my extremely lovely girlfriend in South Wales. Here we stayed for a week of surprises to celebrate my 33rd birthday.

We went to see Tim Minchin, had a couple of nice meals out on the town, and experienced No Fit State Circus.



Later in the week we all went for a nice walk along the beach at St Donats, where I failed to find any dinosaur footprints, but Baby Cody did find some excellent nesting sites.



We even found time for a quick flying lesson.



Towards the end of our stay we went fruit picking. BC thought the Pyracantha's berries were the tastiest, and heartily recommended that they go with the apples into the crumble.



Back home in Hemel Cody has been assisting me with the manufacturing process for the next batch of Monkey Dash. Admittedly the majority of the help has been in the form of verbal encouragement, and impractical suggestions!

Finally we went to Paradise Wildlife Park, where I took a day course in airbrush painting with reigning World Bodyart Champion Alex Hansen while Cody made friends with the meercats.



I have thoroughly enjoyed the time Cody's spent with me, but can tell that he is getting itchy feet (wings?) and is ready to move on... so who shall he visit next?

170

DC Gamer Club / Re: Tales of Monkey Island (Episode 1) - for free

« on: September 19, 2009, 10:28 AM »

Telltale are making a whole new game as a series of 5 episodes (The Tales of monkey Island), while Lucas Arts have re-released the original game (as a Special Edition) with new graphics and voice acting.

171

Post New Requests Here / Re: Need Code For Non-Profit Organization

« on: September 13, 2009, 05:35 PM »

If you are US based then Dreamhost give their top tier hosting to non-profits for free...

http://wiki.dreamhos.../Non-profit_Discount

If you are outside the US you could always contact them and ask what you'd have to do to qualify.
Edit: just checked your site and looks like you are in the US.

172

General Software Discussion / Re: 30 More Days of DonationCoder Screencasts

« on: September 05, 2009, 11:28 AM »

Nice - another feature I never knew about 

173

Post New Requests Here / Re: Merge .txt files but with the copy/paste method

« on: September 05, 2009, 11:10 AM »

You make want to try CSVed for handling files of this type.

Update:Just tried CSVed and it doesn't like the files (guess I should learn more about CSV files!)


However Excel will do the job very nicely - it imports text files and gives numerous options for delimiting columns.

174

Post New Requests Here / Re: Auto Resize Taskbar

« on: September 04, 2009, 03:27 PM »

Unlocked my taskbar - makes no difference

175

Post New Requests Here / Re: Auto Resize Taskbar

« on: September 04, 2009, 02:35 PM »

Genomi: Don't think this is doing anything on my system! I launch numerous applications that add their buttons to the taskbar but it never resizes.

Not using a standard windows theme (have Luna Royal visual style at the moment).

I haven't tried Skrommel's version.

My taskbar is locked - is that an issue?

I run dual monitors.

Any thoughts?