topbanner_forum
  *

avatar image

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
  • Tuesday March 19, 2024, 5:32 am
  • Proudly celebrating 15+ years online.
  • Donate now to become a lifetime supporting member of the site and get a non-expiring license key for all of our programs.
  • donate

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - mikiem [ switch to compact view ]

Pages: prev1 2 [3] 4next
51
Living Room / Re: Pirating abandoned content?
« on: May 16, 2008, 05:40 PM »
Take two... much less philosophical - purely pragmatic...

Some people for whatever reason collect, & they will collect & collect until they can't any longer. Not as much going on now-a-days, but it happens. No rhyme, reason, or ethics aside from feeling that since it isn't used, just collected, no harm done.

Many people just cannot afford - period. Morals, ethics, none of that makes much difference - is more a luxury of those who have the good luck to spare the time debating it. They are not themselves harming anyone if they read a pirated book, or run a pirated/cracked version of Windows - they can not buy it - there is no choice. Trying to tell them that they do not deserve even such minimal benefit from technology, when they hardly stole supper off anyone's plate, is both insulting and irrelevant.

Finally, I'm always amused by an argument I find logical to a fault... If a rental service sells used DVDs at 1/2 price, & retailers discount DVDs as they become old, then their value is tied both to the physical media & the age of the content. The same could be said of books, with price reflecting both age and what they're printed on - damaged books commonly go for a fraction of retail list. Downloaded content then, particularly something not just out, should logically have a value much less than the cheapest price for damaged &/or used books and DVDs/CDs.  ;D


52
Living Room / Re: Pirating abandoned content?
« on: May 16, 2008, 05:04 PM »
FWIW I think that from a legal perspective it's a matter of if you will get prosecuted or sued successfully. In this shifting realm there are few guarantees, though you also get the concept of the victim , i.e. who was harmed, how, and how much... Pragmatically it often has little to do with fairness, & much to do with legal resources available & your true cost of litigation.

Totally separate is the moral realm... If we all acted out of the highest moral standards, our world would not have any disparity of income, & in fact perhaps no income as we know it at all. But we're not there yet, obviously, so morals, as most of us practice them anyway, are the closest we can (or are willing to) come towards some ideal. Debating a topic like this is really comparing, exchanging ideas and concepts forming our individual level of compromise. We can and do rationalize our individual stance, but ethics and morals are thought of and taught as absolutes with intentionally very little wiggle room: it *might* be OK to shoot someone in self-defense, but that argument doesn't fly if you broke into their home and took preventative action. :)

Now the original intent of copyright was to promote new things and art and literature; who would devote time that could be spent earning room and board to new pursuits, if an outcome of starvation was an absolute certainty? Since no one was willing to give potentially everyone a blank check to just go off and create something, s/he had a right to charge customers for their labor without fear of someone selling duplicates & thus reducing their income.

If the owner has no intent of deriving [further] income from their work, then according to it's intent and original purpose any copy right has fulfilled it's purpose, & should logically lapse with the owner releasing any holds or claims. Unfortunately that's a bit rare, so we set an arbitrary date when enough's enough & put it into law. Therein lies the problem...

Something can have absolutely zero worth, as in this case an out of print book, which as long as it is kept out of print, has absolutely no monetary value -   -   - *until* someone wants to buy it. Morally, or at least in the spirit Copy Right was intended, the owner should have given up any exclusive rights the moment they decided not to print the book any longer. But let's say they didn't, maybe for legitimate reasons that made another run impossible - maybe out of greed the same way some people will hoard food knowing that it exceeds their needs and much of it will spoil.

If the copy right holder is being greedy, as many assuredly are, do they revoke their rights to be treated equally? In my opinion the popular consensus is no -- without advocating for or against, I'd say it's basically the same argument we have often enough, globally today: when do your actions cause you to forfeit rights?

Which all may be moot anyway if the mortgage problems lead to proposed changes in how we legally & commonly calculate value... If it becomes common practice to value any property on what it's worth, not what it might be worth *if* there was a buyer, then grabbing an out of print book may be the same thing as dumpster diving or picking something out of the trash. If you can in good conscience consider an out of print book worthless, taking it is perfectly moral & ethical, depending of course on what you intend to do with it... You could pick up a bat from the trash and beat your neighbor with it & that's just wrong.  :)


53
If it helps at all -- adds anything to the discussion...

While there is no way to alter a music file itself without re-writing that file, re-encoding mp3s isn't as lossy as one might expect -- as with video, compressing the data to fit in a smaller file usually discards data, but once that weeding out of data has been done, it normally won't be done a second time during re-encoding. Yes, there will be some loss, but nothing comparable to the initial loss encoding to mp3 in the first place.

RE: Normalization... It can be a bit more than just turning up the volume, which is what a lot of plugins do. Soundforge has a decent example in their RMS Normalization effect. Whether it's worth even the effort of investigating is of course up to you -- as with TVs or PC monitors, everyone has their own levels of tolerance.  :P

54
Developer's Corner / Re: Change Wacom properties with hotkeys ?
« on: April 24, 2008, 12:31 PM »
IF you want to monitor everything, Sys Internals' [now part of Microsoft] Process Monitor will do this for you. I'd advise turning off everything you can 1st though, because it will log everything, and even something relatively minor like the Intelipoint software for your mouse will generate a lot of clutter. There's a pretty good filtering setup, & you can save logs which definitely helps, but it's hard to not be overwhelmed by the amount of data to look thru.

That said, doesn't P/Shop & other graphic apps store your pen settings? I no longer use Wacom [can't afford it now that their monopoly is over] but AFAIK there are a bunch of settings, often per brush, that can be saved in many image editing apps. Would that serve the same purpose?

Again AFAIK, the pen/tablet are initialized when plugged in/activated. There are utilities that disconnect USB devices. Rather than restarting P/Shop, wouldn't it work to *in effect* unplug & plug in your tablet with P/shop still running? Be easy enough to try out by manually unplugging etc., and the disconnect/connect should be able to be managed I'd think.

55
Paragon's back-up (& other apps) deserve mention IMHO. Work's great & doesn't have the compatibility prob I've experienced with Acronis. I think their only weak point is marketing -- I lot of folks have never heard of nor mentioned them.

When a disk image is overkill -- & there are quite a few times that's true -- a simple zip (or other compressed archive format) file of windows & Documents & Settings will do. If you've got a multi-boot PC it's easy, & if not, there are many bootable OS options using discs or memory sticks.

RE: Restore: In XP it creates a partial shadow copy, & is designed to preserve current work, assuming I guess that many (most?) users aren't competent enough to use a truly powerful "WayBack" machine. It's usually workable to do an Erunt backup, then set Restore Point, then do whatever it is like installing an app... Using that example, to go backwards uninstall the app,, restore Windows, then restore the Erunt backup.

In Vista Restore is much better, keeping a copy of the drive(s), though in a format few other OS understands -- simply firing up XP will destroy any Vista shadow copies the moment the hdd containing them is read. It is possible to manipulate shadow copies in limited fashions, but in my past experience documentation is scarce. Like Restore in XP however, it is designed to preserve current work -- it will not get rid of changes it thinks you might want to keep. Unfortunately the combo use of Erunt is not always a good thing -- I have had Erunt mess up in Vista, to the point where Vista wouldn't boot.

After using Restore in either version of Windows, immediately look for renamed files & folders -- XP has the edge here: will plainly tell you it tried to screw up your system, & it's detection of changes isn't as good as Vista's, so you can get away with putting things back before a restore. *IF* Restore renamed program folders, so you've got basically 2 versions on hdd, you might have some reg hacking to do, or in Vista, re-install or repair for those apps involved.

Myself: I use Paragon's backup software to keep a few disc images on a non-system hdd, I keep a zipped copy of the Windows & D&S folders (XP) (Users & Program Data in Vista), & I use Erunt & System Restore... Often I can yank a file out of the zipped archive, & then there's restore... If restore fails, there's Erunt, & if that fails there's backup. Disc space is cheap enough (1 terabyte for $200 recently) there's no problem keeping a few disc images handy, so if a problem was introduced a few months back, not a catastrophe.

56
Years ago [giving away my age here], you had one pointing device, the pen was wired to the tablet & that was hooked up to one of the serial ports. Back then you had little choice but to live with the thing, so you got acclimated REAL quick.  :P

For the most fun with a tablet if you have family members that aren't tech oriented, show them your Wacom with Vista's handwriting recognition app. Practically speaking, I could very well see my mom using that to write notes and emails. Myself, I've found it absolutely necessary for things like photo touchup -- there's something about a brush stroke that you just can't do with a mouse. For anyone looking to try one on the cheap, geeks.com seems to have a bunch of tablet specials lately, and if you live near an Aldi Foods, keep you eyes open as every once in a while they have their Medion branded version of the Aiptek 12 incher for ~ $40. These aren't Wacoms, but they'll let you get your feet wet for just a little cash.

57
"...do you think that the sound you're hearing lets you discern how high above the ground the supposed "source" object is?"

Me personally? Nahhh... I'm da**ed near deaf!  :P

That said, most people have 2 OEM mics, a right and a left. Everything heard goes thru them, and we pick up spatial clues well enough to kind of tell if a plane is passing overhead, or coming up fast on our 6.  :'(

So, with a set of decent headphones you can control what sound is presented to those two OEM mics, and, mimic the plane flying overhead for example. I'm not saying the small app that came with a $10 sound card I have lying in the drawer somewhere will be *that* accurate, but the basic principle is sound (no pun intended). In fact, for modeling studies they use fancy manikin heads outfitted with mics at the ear holes. Speakers are much more difficult, and a separate discipline when it comes to placement and room acoustic characteristics [at the least it involves measuring sound from each speaker from the place of the listener], but it's more than possible to provide realistic 3D effects. The average Blockbuster DVD OTOH features the theater soundtrack most often, designed for their typical speaker set-up, so mileage at home does vary. Also, different amounts of work go into preparing the multi-track audio that eventually appears on a DVD -- for simpler 360 degree audio all you need is the raw tracks and Vegas. Some PC games have long used the direct sound stuff from Microsoft which does I *think* include 360 degree spherical placement -- it's been quite a while since I looked at it (I am not a coder).

One example that shows in a dramatic fashion how sound waves bounce around, is concert events... Since the venue is usually less than perfect, opposing sound waves are sent out, and by varying the volumes at different frequencies, they can effectively mix what the audience hears. Same thing happens in our living rooms, only the reflections aren't usually under our control.

58
Microsoft offers a free set-up for environments like libraries, internet cafes etc...
http://www.microsoft...1&DisplayLang=en

If you *really* want to guard against damaging your windows install dealextreme offers a few pci cards that can reset the PC to the same baseline condition every boot. They're less than $10 shipped, and seem to have several admin options, so perhaps worth checking out... Allegedly it's a virus & malware proof solution -- according to the manufacturer's site anyway.  :D

59
Living Room / Re: Suffering over USB
« on: February 05, 2008, 06:35 PM »
FWIW I'd guess that there's a fair difference between good enclosures and cheapies -- we've never had a lick of problems with USB 2/firewire boxes that use a regular power cord, but they cost more. As far as SATA, unless that's how you hooked up the drive to your PC/notebook, don't know that you'd see any benefit, though you'd increase the odds of problems I'd imagine.

For the original intent, carrying your environ with you, might check out Portable Apps & it's branch, GeekMenu... One option to maybe cut costs is with a small card reader/writer that acts like a USB stick -- I think mine cost $5 and even does Ready-Boost. While they're coming down in price, I think the sticks are still more than a memory card, plus the cards take up almost no space.

60
FWIW, agreeing with f0dder, I believe there's 3 sorts of 3D audio: there's the DX type stuff used in games to, I guess I'd say enhance the illusion. There's the multi-track audio used for the same purpose for movies. And there's a compromise (or maybe just plain fake) waveform processing to make 2D sound seem like it's really 3 dimensional -- again with the same purpose of enhancing the illusion that you're really there, instead of listening to what all too often is the world's crappiest speakers that they bundle and sell for PCs.

RE: USB... I'd fault whomever put the box together, as looking at recent boards there isn't *any* shortage of available ports, like 10 or more. Of course there isn't room at the rear panel header, so someone has to hook them up to the front of the case or an adapter back where the cards go.

If you have a device that won't work thru a hub, it's very often the hub at fault. If not, USB extension cords are very cheap lifesavers. When it comes to using more than one hub, congregating the hardware that doesn't need external power from the port on one hub, then powering another hub with a wall wart for everything else helps. Then again 7 (or more) port hubs can cut clutter & eliminate a wall wart too.

One thing to note in a biz environment, is hubs are dirt cheap on-line -- before the brands add their 4x + markup & packaging -- but many don't show any regulatory approval (i.e. UL) & I imagine that could be a problem. For wall warts, someone with more tech savvy would know better than I, but I believe it's not a good thing to plug wall warts into surge protector devices. A squid type arrangement (without the surge protection) or a simple power strip I think is ideal, especially if you can turn the wall warts off when not in use for long periods -- energy usage from a dozen (or more) of those devils adds up, plus turning them off eliminates a potential unattended fire hazard.

61
"I think the pen, as a sole method of input, would be tiring."

FWIW, I've used tablets (not a tablet PC) for I guess about a little over a decade now, and just like different mice and trackballs, it becomes 2nd nature -- really miss it if you don't have it sort of thing.

Analyzing the why is a bit more difficult, if not impossible... It has to do with the tactile sense &/or sensory feedback you get from using a tablet. And I think it has to do with the way we're wired IMHO -- parents will know what I mean from watching the way their kids use their hands to explore almost from birth. Long story short, it's a more intuitive, natural way to work, not just for drawing images but things like audio envelopes.

62
If CodeTRUCKER &/or jammo are still working on this, & In case it helps...

Might check out Paragon softwares backup program -- believe that they have a trial. I was turned on to it a while back from one of the posts at DC, and it is a very decent program that will create a bootable image for you on discs or network drive etc.

For external drives you might want to consider buying a standard drive and housing separately if that's the way you decide to go -- it has to do with the warranties, or lack thereof.

For laptop drivers, it's iffy at best and involves trial and error, but there are a lot of components shared from one brand to another, and if you're lucky another company might have taken the trouble to post XP drivers. I've also tracked down drivers by reading the developer's info in dll files, though in some cases it was like following clues in a murder mystery.  :D

63
General Software Discussion / Re: Software Ethics
« on: December 29, 2007, 05:42 PM »
It's a difficult topic and unfortunately I'm afraid I don't have any good news... IMHO today's world is ruled by the acceptance of mediocrity -- unless it's your boss and then as far as you & I are concerned only the best will do. ;D

IN a nutshell, build a better mousetrap, be able to deliver it, and sell it properly -- while the world may or may not beat a path to your door, you have a decent chance of owning the market... until someone else mimics your product for less $. Look at 3M & the Post-it note. Add regs, and you've introduced a double-edged sword: you tend to eliminate any judgment, ethics, or pride, lowering the level of mediocrity that's the norm, and you've paid for the privilege through your taxes. But hopefully you've also raised the bar so that the very worst isn't quite as bad anymore. As the old saying goes: "Good enough for government work".

Now consumers, customers, users, or whatever you want to call them will always bit** if given the chance and an audience. People like to complain... about the weather, their job, prices, their husbands and wives, and if you sell enough of your product that they can share their misery with their neighbor, they'll bit** about whatever you sell too. But the average person doesn't move to Florida, get a divorce, quit their job, and win the lotto -- hopefully they won't quit buying whatever you sell either. There's a difference between idle bit**ing and really getting riled over legitimate complaints. Lawyers get enthused by lawsuits -- would-be plaintiffs get enthused when they imagine a big windfall -- few if any want to be reviled on international TV because they sued a dry cleaner on principle over a pair of pants.  :D

It is great that many sites that have to do with selling allow visitors to rate merchants and products. If you make any purchase without checking it out now-days that's your choice alone. With the exception of a few merchants changing their company names, has it really changed anything?

Sony Vegas and Nero both have a very loyal following, and I seldom see much of anything negative written about either. Ulead has a fairly loyal following for their video programs. Adobe Premiere Pro and Roxio don't have the same loyal fans, and lots of negative postings. Where the negative postings are both accurate and numerous, it hasn't changed the companies or their products. And the loyalty based praise of Vegas, Nero, and Ulead is if not dishonest, overlooking several serious faults.

Personally I think that if software in general is going to improve it will be through the efforts of folks like those at Linspire. As they reach the point of surpassing Windows, for a person knowing nothing about PCs, regarding the total experience of buying and using a PC, they raise the bar, serving notice that there is a better mouse trap out there. The folks at Donationcoder are another great example, but their/your efforts are hindered by the sorry working environment: Windows, poor drivers, poorly written apps interferring, and so on. Sometimes taking the point position only gets you shot.

I don't pretend to have any answers, but whatever the answer is it will have to be a fairly large movement to overcome the collective software-developing behemoth writing code today. And it will have to overcome the dismal support efforts by those making and selling hardware too. It will have to be based on clear cut, realizable benefits for consumers -- no one is going to dole out sympathy to a developer making $120K (at least they won't when they realize s/he's making 120K). It will need to involve folks writing code and engineering apps learning something new: talking to and learning from the marketing wizards. Donald Graft (DGIndex) to me is a model of user-responsive coding and design, and you'll see why reading the forum for dgmpgdec on Doom9.org. Impractical maybe, but there needs to be a 2-way flow of information involving marketing and technical on what's possible, what sells, and what current capabilities are -- and it needs to be marketing that gathers info from customers. That sort of thing will help build the better mouse trap, keep it improving so it's leader status is assured, and slowly, renew the hope & expectations, regain the respect of a consumer base so that they don't mind paying.

Right now the expectations are that anything PC related you buy is going to have problems, probably not work as advertised, have no support, probably can't be returned, and considering all of that, is probably overpriced, and often sold by someone who knows less than the little bit you do. In a household with 8 PCs & laptops, over the last couple decades we have had 0 success with any tech support, and have had to fight ~50% of the time over RMAs for anything from printers spitting out parts to chairs where the metal frame broke causing injury to boot. We have spent thousands on software, and maybe 10% has done what it said it would do in the marketing pitch. Hardware has failed, and manufacturers have failed to address known bugs and shortcomings. Any software installed it seems stands a better than 50% chance of screwing something else up, and despite any promises to the contrary, if there's a bug in a program when you buy it, it'll be there till the next version is released.Then I read in the news (not from any blog site) that some software association is maybe shaking down small to mid-size biz. Playing devil's advocate for a moment, just what in that picture would make me feel good about paying for anything having to do with a PC?

64
Living Room / Re: Internet Faxing
« on: December 29, 2007, 02:33 PM »
Since it's inception a few years back, we have been happy with ureach.com

They provide more than faxing (that's just one of their services) including toll free phone numbers, voicemail, call forwarding, email, calenders, contacts, file sharing etc. depending on the service level you pay for.

65
Living Room / Re: VectorMagic: Convert Bitmaps into Vector Art (Free)
« on: December 12, 2007, 04:27 PM »
Definitely Very, VERY cool...  :Thmbsup:

FWIW haven't had a huge amount of luck with any of the tracing applets I'd guess you could call them in the vector graphics packages.

FWIW, I guess along the lines of when I was a kid I had to walk for X miles.... Remember back when vector graphics were the only way to get something like a full page ad to print, and then the poor 286 & laser printer would be chugging along for a couple three hours before spitting out the 1st proof copy -- then having to go back and find the source of any errors, correct them, and start over. Now-days you don't always have to use Vector graphics, so loads of folks have never had the pleasure of learning what a $#@%*!!! pain it can be to draw with using point handles.

Yeah, this site's tracing is VERY cool!

66
General Software Discussion / Re: Shut Up About Vista, Already
« on: December 12, 2007, 04:01 PM »
At the risk of unintentionally offending someone (apologies as needed), perhaps a pragmatic approach?...

If you compare pricing on MACs vs. PCs with near identical hardware, for many (myself included) any discussion ends right there. Not being cheap as much as practical: if money was no object, I'd just pay somebody else to do it, making any claims of "ease of use" or efficiency etc irrelevant.

The same sort of approach acts as a bit of a reality check regarding Vista... My eldest grew up with PCs, and sees them purely as tools. I set up Vista on his new laptop, and after a few weeks he can't find or tell the difference compared to his desktop running XP Pro. While I certainly know the differences, along with all the pros and cons, to him and I suspect millions of daily users like him (who greatly outnumber enthusiasts) the whole discussion is totally irrelevant.
-----------------

RE: Shadow Copies... Not a lot of info out there, it is possible to manipulate the shadow files via scripting but otherwise not a lot of uses other than system restore. Unlike XP, Vista's System Restore actually does restore the hdd, and *most* of the registry -- for maximum safety use Erunt before creating the restore point. Shadow copy files are in a different format than anything else, so as soon as a non-vista OS looks at the drive, they're gone, as with multi-boot PCs.

67
I've been using tablets since (OUCH  :o) before the pens were wireless! The biggest boost comes from actually drawing/sketching IMHO -- maybe it's because I'm an ol'fart, but I've never been able to duplicate the results of using a pen/pencil using a mouse. If you're doing something like re-touching, being able to taper the stroke using whatever filter or brush, I think just can't be done otherwise.

When/if you're just moving pixels, a hi rez mouse is usually less trouble, though some people just feel a pen is more intuitive. Personally I've found that if I've been using a tablet a lot, the mouse feels like I'm chipping away at one rock with another -- until I've been using the mouse again for a while.  :P Same sort of thing if I've been using a trackball, so a lot of what you might hear from tablet users is biased by what they're personally used to at the time.

A couple of versions of Vista have a neat  handwriting recognition program for tablets, but I've yet to find a practical use for it *for me*.

Wacom tablets are great, but pricey. Aiptek tablets (actually Waltrop I think sold under a LOT of names) are give-away by comparison... If you can catch them at Aldi's, they sell a Medion (identical to the Aiptek 12000U) for ~$30-40! The Aiptek's pen seems crude by comparison, and doesn't do the same tilt stuff like a Wacom, so if you're really trying to imitate paint in a program like painter, you'll probably not be satisfied. If you use it for photo touch-up or similar, that tilt stuff isn't going to matter. Personally I've never seen a huge difference using the Wacom's higher number of pressure levels, but maybe I'm just not that fine enough of an artist.  ;D Wacom has better drivers, but, most everything I've tried recognizes and works with the Aiptek as well -- there are probably zillions of these things out there under different names after all. Construction can't compare -- I can't help but feel the need to be extra careful with the Aiptek, but that's just a reaction to the way it feels so light. It's either on my desk or leaning under it, so how sturdy the tablet is is pretty irrelevant. At the end of the day for what I use it for I just can't justify hundreds of dollars vs $50, so I can't truthfully recommend Wacom unless there's something absolutely critical the Aiptek just won't do.

BTW... Aiptek.com sells pens for $10, and the newer style is supposed to be better.

68
1st question superboyac is why you want the web site?  :D

Sounds like a silly question, but unless you sit down with all involved and figure out what you want your site to be, and what you hope to gain from it, almost no matter what you do you'll wind up having problems sooner or later. The more detailed the discussion, the more specific the list you come up with, the better.

If you want to make money from the site, then you want to go for something pretty fluid that you can measure & fine tune for results, with at least the potential of hosting checkout and downloading. If you want something really cool to point fans to, that's something else. If you want to draw a lot of attention to your band, then maybe try to find an up-and-coming designer that will go all out to make a name, and still plan on laying down a lot of cash.  :-\ But without some specific expectations everything proposed will tend to look better than it maybe should before the deal, with buyer's remorse afterwards.

As far as DIY, nothing wrong with that at all as long as you have the time to spend learning, and are not too proud to give it up to a pro if it doesn't work out. There are a lot of pros worth every penny, but a LOT of pro designed web sites that are below entry level design. It's a great equalizer -- folks see so much sh**** design that their standards are lower than ~10 - 13 years ago IMHO. Part of the problem is techies sticking in every new capability because they can -- not because it adds anything to the visitor's experience. And from a DIY perspective, you could always involve your fans, bring them into it along with you submitting designs, graphics, suggestions, whatever... Later on you can always re-vamp using pros.

RE: Tools...
A whole lot of different opinions out there on that, but try to remember that you have to use whatever. If it takes you forever to learn the app, & since after all you may never fire it up after you're site's up, I don't think it makes sense to plunge into the highest priced &/or hardest to use program on the planet. A lot of the simpler apps will let you do what you want, generate CSS for you, and while flexibility might be limited, you can always move up as your skills increase.  And, doesn't hurt to check out the software end of things first off... If you think you'll like the new Microsoft apps for example, you might not want to sign up for Linux hosting, or vice versa.

69
Living Room / Re: Multibooting and Partitioning Experiments
« on: November 13, 2007, 05:34 PM »
Don't know if it's of any use or even curiosity, Wolf, but since Xp came out in Beta I've been running both 98 SE & XP on the same drive partition... Most of the supporting files work well together, and I've only had a relative few cases where I had to fool with the registry &/or install the same software to 2 folders. Even shared the same folders for Outlook Express so mail was in sync between the 2, which was handy for the 1st year or so.

Since Beta I've been running Vista as well, though that one on a separate partition. Most of the time though I'm still able to use the same program folders for software across all 3 -- if/when an install is required, I just have to be careful to rename the uninstall files accordingly. Much of the time I've also been able to get away without several separate installs... Exporting a program's reg keys under the 2 software sections, then merging with the reg in a different version of windows has worked surprisingly often, and proven invaluable for some older software I still use, where either the install may not run in Vista, or it's been so long I'm not sure where the original discs are.

Again, don't know if any of that is of interest or not -- mostly wanted to point out my experience sharing program folders and partitions, and that it can work well over time (I still use software I installed in '98 in it's original folder etc. in Vista today). Not bragging or whatever, but according to whatever I've read you shouldn't be able to do either, and that's obviously wrong.

70
General Software Discussion / Re: Stay Away From Microsoft VISTA
« on: September 15, 2007, 04:31 PM »
Thank You Mouser!

Your posts have given me a lot of insight into Vista from a coding perspective. It will probably prove near invaluable in the future, as I'm pretty certain there will be more apps down the road that will need some effort to get working... So far every program I've tried that was designed for Vista has had major issues getting the thing installed and working properly.

As far as Vista being good or bad I'm a complete realist, & don't mind any extra effort staying that way.  :D  Vista will take over eventually or it won't, &  I hope to be prepared either way. Linux doesn't offer the apps I need, and Apple's too expensive, so either Vista will be another ME and Mouser's lifespan will remain stable, or it'll be the next XP & I can only hope he'll develop exceptional stress management skills.  :P

I think Vista having 2 install scenarios borders on insanity, but what do I know? I have only had to deal with turning UA whatever on to get a program to install -- not write the D*** thing to install whether it's on or off... Unfortunately in at least a couple of apps the programmers failed.

I do want to also thank those who've posted about being slammed for speaking out against Vista. For a while there threads in other forums got a wee bit carried away, with folks challenging one another to see who could get shrillest just to see their words on screen. I hadn't realized the pendulum had swung the other way, so I will no longer ignore (with an expletive or three) most threads with the word Vista in the title.

Thanks,
mike

71
@ 2ndS
"Here are the main features that I'm looking for in the software:
...Both Storyboard and Timeline... Small... Inxpensive..."

I'd humbly suggest checking out Wax: http://www.debugmode.com/wax/
In combination with VirtualDub (Virtualdub.org) you should be able to manage most tasks, and they're both free. If you wanted to tackle the learning curve, AviSynth could prove invaluable as well.

"Ability to export to my codec of choice..."

Alas, not going to happen, at least with what's avail. currently. What you will find is a *Bunch* of GUI front-ends for open source and free software libraries that will do all sorts of conversions for you. VirtualDub or Wax can come close depending on the codecs you want to use and install, but if you want to output to everything you'll have to use either separate encoders or one of the GUIs.

"Ability to accept clips of different sizes and resize..."

VirtualDub or AviSynth hands down. More accurate and up to 10 times faster then NLEs because of heavily optimized code. AviSynth requires simple script files so has a learning curve as mentioned. Despite: "Relatively simple to use" being a requirement, one of the AviSynth script writing utilities *might* bring it down to an acceptable level. Check avisynth.org for info, and videohelp.com for utilities like avsedit.


72
In case it's of any use in the future, there are several converters around, many with file splitting based on size, and some that do batches, but in my opinion Avisynth would probably produce the best, quickest result. The caveat: it can get complicated because of the sheer volume of plug-ins & functions available and their settings -- if interested it's often best to post and ask in the avisynth forum.

A *very simple* use would be to write the script using Directshowsource I think with the wmv filename, opening that in VirtualDub, selecting fast recompress & your new desired final codec, then saving a segmented avi. V/Dub handles some batch processing. The advantage is that the image will be decoded using MS software, as it would be used in wmplayer, but kept as much as possible in it's original format & presented to the new codec that way -- it's both fast and very accurate, used by enthusiasts and pros worldwide.
Avisynth.org with forums on doom9.org

73
Restore in XP grabs a snapshot of your registry, I think limited, and a fairly limited snapshot of your files on hdd. If you set a restore point, install software, uninstall software, and do system restore you're probably very close to where you started. Anything beyond that can be iffy -- it may or may not delete added files/folders/reg entries. Vista uses a shadow copy of existing files, like a backup, so restoring the system is dramatically better -- however the shadow copies disappear if the hdd is opened in another OS, like XP, so dual boot folks beware.

74
Living Room / Re: Anyone any idea how to fix file assocations?
« on: August 09, 2007, 06:42 PM »
It is possible for software to create a reg key that you have no permission to change, regardless your status. That might be causing your wmplayer setting to revert. Might also be hard-coded into one of your apps, so every time it starts... Normally I think re-installing wmplayer puts everything back to normal if that helps, & you can always add an entry into your right click, context menu to send any file to wmplayer or any other.

75
Haven't played in word for years really, but wouldn't it work to assign everything to a style or two that used kosher fonts? Or maybe copy/paste/copy using notepad to remove formatting & assign styles afterwards?

Pages: prev1 2 [3] 4next