Topics

76

General Software Discussion / [solved] HELP: disable/enable USB mouse service from command line

« on: January 24, 2009, 06:54 AM »

I have a problem with my labtec 800 wireless mouse.

Sometimes when the computer starts the mouse is unresponsive and the LED light on its USB unit is off. I have found two different manual fixes:
1. physically disconnect + reconnect the USB unit, re-pair mouse and unit
2. open device manager, find the USB HID with an error, right click: disable + enable



I want to automate fix number 2. Things I've tried that did not work:

devcon.exe commands:
devcon restart [HID]
devcon disable [HID]
devcon enable [HID]

restarting the HidServ service:
net stop HidServ
net start HidServ

Any suggestions?

77

Find And Run Robot / AHK script for easy FARR win resize

« on: January 09, 2009, 04:04 PM »

Here's a small AHK script for easy toggling the FARR win width between two sizes. Very convenient if you like me prefer a small FARR win as default but still often need to increase the width to see long file names.

[Select]

; AHK (Autohotkey) script for easy FARR win resize, by nod5
^CapsLock::
WinGetPos, , ,w,H,A     
WinGet, active_p, ProcessName, A
if active_p = FindAndRunRobot.exe
 {
  if (W != 258)
   WinMove, A, , , , 258,
  else
   WinMove, A, , , , 450,
 }
Return

Things you can tweak: The widths 258 and 450. The hotkey (but control + capslock is pretty handy!)

78

Living Room / make family tree in Visio - manually or automated via db?

« on: December 15, 2008, 04:42 PM »

I have mapped some of my family's history. So far I have it all in a plain textfile, well ordered for a human reader (I use FM FMF FMFF and so on, and some common abbreviations). But there are some irregularities and the data is not yet in a "machine readable" database format.

I want to go from there to a nice family tree image in Microsoft Visio.

Each person should have his/her own box with some recurring details (name, year born/deceased, age, a miniphoto if available, and some other details). The boxes should be linked by lines that mark parent/child relations. The most recent generation should be at the bottom and each preceding generation should be "stacked" on top so to say. In general, I want the standard family tree looks and contents.

I have two alternative ways to reach that goal:

1. Make the tree manually in Visio: make some basic, standard shapes for the boxes, copy a lot of them onto the drawing board and then copy and paste in data from my notes to each shape and draw relation lines.

2. Convert the data into some database (simple like an excel or calc sheet or perhaps some complex application). And then, somehow, autogenerate the visio family tree from it. The manual work in Visio would only/mostly consist in polishing the looks (more around boxes to make the tree fit better and look better, add some special, one of a kind relations, add colors, and so on)

The tree will all in all include 50-100 individuals. Maybe less if needed to make it more manageable and printable.

My question: does anyone think I should go for alternative 2? If so, do you already have positive experience from working through that automation process (for a family tree or something sufficiently similar) with Visio? Or do you have advice on how to go about doing it? What database format is best to use? I would prefer to just use an excel/calc sheet as database, if that is possible in this case. But is it?

Ok, lot's of sub-questions. But feel to also just let me know your hunch on the main question (do 1 or 2?) without going into details. Any feedback is appreciated 

My hunch at the moment is that 1 would take less objective time. But I resent doing this type of thing manually if I have a feeling that it could've been automated so I'm still undecided which is the best alternative all things considered. I have not yet done much searching on Visio guides but will do so later on. But there are so many choices, and possible complications, whenever it comes to databases so I'm thinking that it might be a good thing to throw out some questions early on.

79

Living Room / Auditorium - relaxing flash game combines lightflows, forcefields and music

« on: December 09, 2008, 04:24 PM »

Some online games gets things just right: low key but engaging music wowen into the gaming experience, simple yet continually interesting gameplay, beautiful minimalistic graphics. The kind of game that does not require a stream of increasingly stressful mouse clicking and moving but instead actually lives up to the promise of a 5 minute soothing escape from whatever you were up to.

Two previous gems of that nature are Boomshine and Music Catch:

Boomshine  http://www.k2xl.com/games/boomshine/


Music catch  http://music.catch.fizzlebot.com/



Now try Auditorium. You direct lightflows to a few spots by placing and adjusting forcefields. As you succeed the lightflows turn into music. Simple enough, but as you level up you must really put some thought into how the pattern of forcefields can interplay. http://playauditorium.com/










Other amazing, though noticeably more intensive, games:
Dinorun https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=13628.0
Cat on a Dolphin https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=11930.0

80

Finished Programs / SavePathCapsMclick: caps+mclick on Explorer win to use it as "Save As" path

« on: October 10, 2008, 07:23 PM »

SavePathCapsMclick  -- v081011 -- http://nod5.dcmember...epathcapsmclick.html

Use: hold caps and Mclick (middle mouse click) on a window (focused or non-focused)
If (1) it was an explorer window and (2) a "save as" window exists,
then the explorer window path is added to the save as window input box.
Else the clicked window is minimized.


I hope someone more than me has use for this
All feedback is appreciated.

81

Find And Run Robot / alias thas searches special folder AND returns folder link as match no 1?

« on: August 23, 2008, 08:38 AM »

I use this alias:
1000>>>mp3>->mp3 $$1 | dosearch +alb1_modifier +mp3_modifier $$1>+>^(?:mp|mp3) (\w.*)$

As you can see, the searchphrase mp3 something triggers a search in only the harddrive folders tied to the two modifiers (set in "Search Folder" options).

I want an alias that does just that AND also always return a link to one or more special folders (choosen by me) as the first match(es).

Example:

search: "mp3 beatles"

should return:
1. folder1
2. folder2
3. 01 beatles - I saw her standing.mp3
...

I think that kind of behaviour - being able to set one or more privileged matches that trumps whatever matching criteria the rest of the alias contains - could be useful in many other cases also.

Is it possible already without making a special plugin? If so, how?

82

Site/Forum Features / request: "latest post of"-page with only thread titles and new post indication

« on: July 31, 2008, 05:26 AM »

I often use the "latest post of"-page for myself to monitor the threads at DC forum that I'm currently active in. It works pretty well but could be very much enhanced if a version of the "latest post of"-pages was made that has these features:

- shows only the titles for the threads where the user has posted (to make it compact so one gets a more immediate overview)
- indicates how many new messages has been posted in each thread since (1) the users last post and (2) since last time the user read the last page of the thread while logged on.

Alternatively: is there some way to make a RSS feed for all new items in all threads listed on the latest post of-page?
If not, is there at least some way to make a RSS feed for all new items in a number of specified threads? (I'd like to make a RSS for all discussion threads for the small programs/scripts I've made for easy monitoring of them)

edit: I just read the RSS thread and then skimmed parts of the linked simplemachines thread. It seems like RSS for individual threads is not available since people are still asking for it on the last page there: http://www.simplemac....php?topic=25009.260

83

General Software Discussion / output audio to two devices in Win XP? (PulseAudio?)

« on: July 17, 2008, 05:32 AM »

I want to output audio in Win XP from various applications (audio players, video players, browsers) to two audio devices at the same time (two local soundcards, one internal and one external).

Switching between two devices is easy: just change the device and (re)start the application. But to output the same audio to two devices simultaneously is harder. I have searched and found many forum posts on the web stating that it is not possible. But I also found some posts claiming that PulseAudio can do it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PulseAudio

PulseAudio is a sound server, a background process accepting sound input from one or more sources (processes or capture devices) and redirecting it to one or more sinks (sound cards, remote network PulseAudio servers, or other processes).

That's what I want! It also says "OS Cross platform" and the official website http://pulseaudio.org/ says:

Supported Operating Systems
Linux (any modern distribution)
Solaris
FreeBSD
Native Win32 (no cygwin)

But here's the problem:

I went via http://pulseaudio.or...i/DownloadPulseAudio to http://www.cendio.com/pulseaudio and grabbed the binaries but can't get them to work. When I follow http://pulseaudio.org/wiki/FirstSteps and enter "pulseaudio -nC" at the command line I get this error:

pulseaudio -nC
W: pulsecore/random.c: failed to get proper entropy. Falling back to seeding with current time.
W: pulsecore/core-util.c: secure directory creation not supported on Win32.
W: pulsecore/core.c: failed to allocate shared memory pool. Falling back to a normal memory pool.
W: pulsecore/core-util.c: WARNING: Only sockets can be made non-blocking!
W: pulse/mainloop.c: WARNING: cannot monitor non-socket file descriptors.
W: pulsecore/core-util.c: WARNING: Only sockets can be made non-blocking!
W: pulse/mainloop.c: WARNING: cannot monitor non-socket file descriptors.

Ok, I hope I can get some feedback either on how to get PulseAudio to work in Win XP and do what I'm after or on some other application on XP that will accomplish that.

84

FARR Plugins and Aliases / Plugin: AlbumDisplayer (BETA)

« on: July 05, 2008, 08:57 AM »

AlbumDisplayer (BETA) -- please testdrive/pick apart and give feedback! If anyone would like to post about this at some other place, please don't until there's been some more feedback confirming that it works for others (it works perfect on my system but you never know...)

-----------------------------------
AlbumDisplayer
by nod5 ( nod5.dcmembers.com )
a plugin for FARR Find and Run Robot; www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/findrun/
using FARR javascript SDK by ecaradec
using tooltip html/javascript code by dynamicdrive.com
using static index, created/updated by script made in autohotkey
-----------------------------------

Setup:
(0) Extract and copy folder "AlbumDisplayer" and all its files to FARR Plugin directory
(1) edit path in AlbumDisplayerIndexer.ini
(2) run AlbumDisplayerIndexer.exe to make index
(3) edit audioplayer path in album.html
(4) type "rplugins" in FARR and click "OK"

Tip: put link to AlbumDisplayerIndexer.exe in autorun folder to re-index at each Windows reboot

Use:
Type "alb searchphrase". Example: "alb beatles yellow sub"

Click on a match to send its folder as a parameter to the specified audio player
(confirmed working in the audioplayer XMPlay)

Note: AlbumDisplayer only works for folders that contain a folder.jpg image file.
Note: requires FARR 2.15.01 or newer

download: -- link removed use newer version below -- (md5 9e11f51b5f31f54951fee0b3b67284b6 )

short flash screencast: http://nod5.dcmembers.com/albumdisplayerbeta.htm

85

Find And Run Robot / [bug] FARR error and freeze if html view mode page tries to close win

« on: June 27, 2008, 03:59 PM »

When viewing an internet page in FARR's html view mode and that page tries to close it's own window then FARR displays a "do you want to close window?" popup. So far so good. But clicking "yes" gives the error message below multiple times and then FARR freezes and a FARR restart is required.


To test it, save this as test.html, display in FARR and click close:

Code: HTML [Select]

1. <a href="JavaScript:window.close()">Close</a>

86

Find And Run Robot / [bug report] error when toggling "Hide StatusBar completely" on + off

« on: June 25, 2008, 05:51 PM »

A very,very small issue: when first activating "Hide StatusBar completely" (in options > display options) and then de-activating it, the statusbar re-appears without expanding the FARR window accordingly. So the status bar partly covers the last match in the list. If no match is displayed, like when the inputbox is empty, then the statusbar party covers the input box. Restarting FARR solves the issue.

Something similar seems to happen when horizontal scroll bars appear - they also "steal" windowspace from the match list (concealing parts of the last match) instead of expanding the FARR window to accommodate them.

87

Find And Run Robot / [bug] tooltip with file name blocks click

« on: June 17, 2008, 05:05 PM »

Here is a small bug: when browsing files and the filename is wider than the filename column, holding the mouse pointer over the filename opens a tooltip with the complete filename right above the original filename and extending outside the column and even outside the FARR window (see screencap). Great, but one problem: it is then not possible to click on the filename.
Suggested fix: allow clicks to pass through the tooltip if possible.

edit: changed "file path" in title to "file name"

88

Living Room / Dino Run - cool online retro style multiplayer game

« on: June 10, 2008, 04:51 PM »

You, a small dinosaur, run from left to right, passing various obstacles (inanimate and other) and trying to get to safety before you are buried by a wall of lava and smoke. Made in retro style big pixel graphics. And there is an online multiplayer mode!
http://www.pixeljam.com/dinorun/

89

Finished Programs / ExtDesk: control the primary desktop from the extended desktop

« on: April 19, 2008, 09:09 AM »

ExtDesk   v080419
ExtDesk helps you control the primary desktop from the extended desktop.
ExtDesk has a button for opening the desktop folder and a screen that tracks the mouse for easy navigation on the primary desktop.


more info and download here: http://nod5.dcmembers.com/extdesk.html

This is another small program that I made because I needed it myself (the Use Case is loosely inspired by real events ) This first version has mostly been testdriven on a single system so all feedback on how this works on your systems is very much appreciated. 

90

Finished Programs / tv_out: a shortcut for quickly turning extended desktop on/off

« on: April 17, 2008, 02:54 PM »

tv_out creates a shortcut for quickly turning extended desktop on/off.
the shortcut icon changes to reflects the on/off state of the extended desktop.
download from this page: http://nod5.dcmembers.com/tv_out.html


I have tested tv_out on several different systems without any problems. Post some feedback if you encounter a bug.

91

Find And Run Robot / custom alias to search specific folder AND its subfolder files?

« on: April 08, 2008, 10:50 AM »

I created this custom alias:
1000>>>photo>->photo $$1 | dosearch C:\-- photo\$$1>+>^photo (.*)

When typing "photo test" in FARR the only results I get are subfolders in C:\-- photo\ with "test" in the name, no file file matches. When I type "photo test jpg" do I get matching images from subfolders.

If I change the alias to
1000>>>photo>->photo $$1 | dosearch C:\-- photo\$$1 -\>+>^photo (.*)
then "photo test" gives only file matches, no folder matches.

But can I change the alias so that "photo test" returns BOTH matching images and matching folders?


(A related idea (I think this has been mentioned before but here goes anyway): it would be great if Pattern Scoring could be used to not only increase/decrease the score but also momentarily prioritize searching some specified folder in a way that overrides the Search Folders list. So for example, if a search pattern includes "photo" a custom pattern scoring entry could instruct FARR to then first search a specific folder, and only after that follow the regular Search Folders list.)

92

FARR Plugins and Aliases / CurrencyConverterMini (plugin) [renamed thread]

« on: March 07, 2008, 02:29 AM »

edit 080813: thread renamed to "CurrencyConverterMini (plugin)" from "google dollar exchange rate plugin -- sketch" /nod5

While the donationcoder server was down I tried to put together a plugin based on the javascript SDK that takes a number as an input and queries google what that amount of dollars exchanges to in swedish kronor. In the finished plugin that swedish kronor part should of course be customizable to whatever currency the user prefers. Below is the fscript.js I've put together so far. It works, but is a bit messy and lacks some things. To try it, make a copy of the Ninjawords plugin folder (for example) and replace the fscript.js script code with the one below. type "ex ___ " to run it, where ___ is some amount . Example: "ex 50 " . The plugin currently treats "ex 50.10 " and "ex 50,10 " as identical (50 dollars and 10 cents).

This is only a sketch version of the script. I'd love some assistance on a few things:

help1: How do I most easily let the user choose the output currency and make the plugin remember that?

help2: I want the plugin to go through these three steps: First, if there is a cached daily exchange rate, use that to calculate and display output. Second, if not, query google, parse, display output and cache exchange rate. Third, if the google query failed (i.e. offline), see if there's a cached older exchange rate, use that to calculate and display output plus a note that N days old rate was used. Now, how do I best do I best cache the exchange rate through javascript in the plugin? I basically need to read and write to a text file I guess but I don't even know how to do that I'm afraid

help3: I used "ex" as alias only because I couldn't get "$" to work (I wanted "$50 " to run the script for example). Is there some way to use "$" as an alias?

// plugin script :
displayname="Google exchange rate";
versionstring="1.01.01";
releasedatestring="5.3.2008";
author="nod5";
updateurl="";
homepageurl="";
shortdescription="Google exchange rate";
longdescription="the plugin queries google how many swedish kronor you get for the inputted amount of US dollars";
advconfigstring="Google exchange rate";
readmestring="Google exchange rate";
iconfilename="favicon.ico";

aliasstr="ex";
regexstr="^ex ((?:\d|\.|\,)*?) $";
scriptregex=/^ex ((?:\d|\.|\,)*?) $/;
regexfilterstr="";
keywordstr="";
scorestr="300";

// type
UNKNOWN=0; FILE=1; FOLDER=2; ALIAS=3; URL=4; PLUGIN=5; CLIP=5;
// Postprocessing
IMMEDIATE_DISPLAY=0; ADDSCORE=1; MATCH_AGAINST_SEARCH=2;
// search state
STOPPED=0; SEARCHING=1;

var pre_string = "{\\rtf1\\ansi\\ansicpg1250\\deff0\\deftab709{\\fonttbl{\\f0\\fnil\\fcharset0 Arial;}}{\\colortbl ;\\red255\\green0\\blue0;}{\\*\\generator Msftedit 5.41.15.1507;}\\viewkind4\\uc1\\pard\\lang2057\\f0\\fs18 ";
var post_string = "\\par\n}";
var history = "";

function doQuery(querykey,querynokeyword){

      querynokeyword = querynokeyword.replace(/,/g,'.');

  var url = "http://www.google.co.../search?hl=en&q="+querynokeyword+"$+in+sek";
  var xmlhttp=new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.XMLHTTP");
  xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function(){
    if (xmlhttp.readyState == 4) {
      var string = xmlhttp.responseText;
      string = string.replace(/\\n|\\t/g,'');
      string = string.replace(/<font size=-2> <\/font>/g,'');
      string = string.replace(/.+US(\$ = (?:\d|\.|\,)*?) Swedish kronor.*$/g,'US$1');
      xpos = string.search(/US(\$ = .*)/g);
      string = querynokeyword+" "+string.slice(xpos)+" SEK"
      FARR.setStrValue("statusbar","Define");
      history = string;
      FARR.setStrValue("window.richeditmode",pre_string+history+post_string);
      }
    }
  xmlhttp.open("GET",url,true);
  xmlhttp.send(null);
}

function onSearchBegin(querykey, explicit, queryraw, querynokeyword) {
  if(!explicit) {
    if(aliasstr.indexOf(querynokeyword)!=-1) {
      FARR.setState(querykey,1);
      FARR.emitResult(querykey,aliasstr, aliasstr, iconfilename,ALIAS,IMMEDIATE_DISPLAY,300);
      FARR.setState(querykey,0);
    }
    return;
  }
  FARR.setStrValue("statusbar","$ to SEK google converter");
    display = pre_string+"Type $ amount and hit \\b space\\b0"+post_string;
  FARR.setStrValue("window.richeditmode",display);
}

function onRegexSearchMatch(querykey,querynokeyword) {
  var match_reg = querynokeyword.match(scriptregex);
  doQuery(querykey,match_reg[1]);
}

93

Find And Run Robot / idea: give double space the same function as \ (backslash)

« on: February 26, 2008, 11:57 AM »

Today we can narrow a search in FARR to folders only by adding "\" (backslash). Example: compare a search for "program" and "program\"

But on some keyboard layouts the backslash is tricky to reach. For instance, on my swedish keyboard I must press AltGr + (plus key) to get a backslash. Since the space bar is easy to reach on all keyboard layouts I've seen, why not let a double space do the same thing as the backslash currently does? Of course if the user has a lot of files with double spaces in their names then this idea would mean trouble. But I suspect file naming is extremely uncommon.

edit: alternatively, multiple spaces could be tied to some other function. For example, FARR could see any sequence of spaces that is even (2,4,6...) as identical as the +sall command, but see uneven number of spaces as a deactivation of that command. That way, the user could very quickly toggle the +sall functionality on and off. Other uses are possible also I guess but the double space sequence seems so quick and easy to remember that it should be used for something!

94

Find And Run Robot / sort matches strictly based on date created criteria?

« on: February 20, 2008, 04:15 PM »

Is this possible in the current version of FARR: The user does a regular search which yields N number of matches. Because a special command was added to the search FARR sorts the matches strictly based on the date the files where created (the newest are displayed first). This date sorting should override any other ranking rules.

Just to make things clear, I only want this for some special searches, not for most searches, so I'm looking for some extra command to use in such special cases.

95

General Software Discussion / IM & online file host combination?

« on: January 23, 2008, 12:01 PM »

The fields of IM (instant messaging) and online file hosting seems to be buzzing with activity and new developments. I'd like to hear if there currently are any interesting ways to combine them. 

IM (instant messaging) is in itself often sufficient for sending files when both sender and recipient are online. But it would sometimes be useful to through the IM window initiate sending of files not to a contact's local computer but rather to some online hosted drop spot that the user has. Here's an example of what I'm looking for:

User A has user B in his IM contact list. B is currently offline. A drags and drops file X on B's name in the IM window. The file is then sent to a private drop spot online somewhere. When B logs on, he has a message saying X has been added to his private drop spot. B can click to download the file X to his local computer, or delete it or keep it in the drop spot.

With "private drop spot" I mean that only B can see and edit it and download from it. Others, maybe just approved others, can only upload to it. http://drop.io/ seems to be in the vicinity of what I have in mind for the online hosting part.

Possible extra feature that would be good: encryption through PGP (or some alternative) so that A's IM client encrypts the file utilizing B's public key before the file is uploaded to B's drop spot (as an extra privacy measure vs the online file host).

96

Living Room / Cat on a Dolphin - amazing physics driven flash game

« on: January 20, 2008, 06:53 AM »

The creator of such amazingly innovative physics driven online flash games as Egg Way, Stick Remover, Double Wires, Cat With Bow Golf and Adventure of Cat is back.

Get ready for Cat on a Dolphin

You control a dolphin carrying a cat along a path from start to finish. Pressing left mouse button speeds up the dolphin, releasing the button slows down the dolphin and releases the cat from the dolphins back. That's all the controls. Here's the challenge: while in the water, the cat's air supply decreases. So you must release the cat at peak places so that so that the physics sends it on a trajectory upwards above the water. Next you must time the dolphins speed so that you catch the cat on its way down. This sounds simple but proves to be really tricky at times.

the air is running out! Toss the cat!


Now catch it on the way down!


This is the best game I have played in a long time. It's so simple yet has great gameplay and an incredible thrill to it due to the physics. You can really feel the cat hanging in mid-air for a second before plunging downwards. I also found myself yelling "NO!!" when I just missed the cat and laugh loudly and proudly when I succeded at a long toss catch. A game that gets you that engaged is bound to be good. 

97

Find And Run Robot / [feature request] add "launch and stay open" option for CTRL+enter

« on: January 11, 2008, 02:52 PM »

I have set "settings > interface > extra results hotkey" for CTRL + # (where # is a digit) to "launch and stay open". Likewise CTRL + left click launches a the clicked match and keeps FARR open. I want the same functionality for CTRL + enter/return. I use enter/return all the time to launch the first match. Every now and then I want to launch that first match, or use the navkeys to move down the list of matches, and keep FARR open without using the digit keys. I prefer CTRL + enter since my hands always find those keys without looking. Not so for the digit keys. Maybe others with similarly wired hands will appreciate this feature too.

If this is already possible please help he set that up. Otherwise, consider this a feature request.

98

Coding Snacks / Tourl -- my app to quickly save page URL, title and tags to .url

« on: November 21, 2007, 06:31 PM »

I'm currently rewriting my own small app for saving web page URLs, titles and some tags to separate .url files. I use it to replace the internal favorite/bookmark handling in Maxthon and Firefox. The app speeds up my bookmarking a lot. It's designed for use with a small number of tags (up to nine plus date, domain name etcetera) and has some intuitive hotkeys. Today I wanted to practice on making a screencast in Wink so I made a small animation of how the bookmarking app looks and operates, hopefully pretty selfexplanatory: http://nod5.dcmembers.com/tourlcast.html

Would anyone else here have use for this? The code is currently very messy and specific to my system but if others are interested in it then I'll try to clean it up and release it in some way, when I have time.

edit: See reply #7 for a download link and more information on the finished program, https://www.donation...57.msg88324#msg88324

edit: changed thread title from "my app to quickly save page URL, title and tags to .url -- anyone interested?"
edit2: changed screencast link

99

General Software Discussion / req: thunderbird/outlook express: remove some text from some incoming email

« on: October 19, 2007, 05:10 AM »

I have for some time used Yahoo Pipes http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/ to tweak some RSS feeds the way I want them. Now I want something similar for my email. Specifically, I subscribe to a few email list that once a day sends me an email that contains all posts to the list from that day. That email is poorly designed. It begins with a lot of information on how to exit the list so I (and everyone else) have to scroll down two pages to see the index of all included emails. I want to remove that initial text. Since it's always the same it would be easy to do in RegExp or even with some simpler find/replace tool.

So I need an extension for Thunderbird och Outlook Express that lets me automatically modify text for all incoming messages that fit some filter (sender email adress in my case). Has anyone seen such a thing?

I've quickly searched https://addons.mozil...g/en-US/thunderbird/ but didn't find a match. The closest thing I got was a Thunderbird extension called NestedQuote Remover, http://email.about.c.../nestedquote_rem.htm : "NestedQuote Remover swiftly (automatically even if you desire so) eliminates stale quoted text from replies to replies and leaves only the most recently quoted email in place."

100

Living Room / question on compression and storage: help me be less stupid

« on: September 06, 2007, 02:20 PM »

Ok, this is one of those posts where you ask a question that you have a firm hunch is silly or even stupid and will have a simple answer that you should probably already know but don't. I guess most people can feel a hesitation to ask such questions since they then risk looking stupid. Well, the alternative is often worse: to remain stupid. So I'll take that risk... The question concerns how data compression and data storage works.

I think I understand the basic idea to compression, as described here http://en.wikipedia....iki/Data_compression :

In computer science and information theory, data compression or source coding is the process of encoding information using fewer bits (or other information-bearing units) than an unencoded representation would use through use of specific encoding schemes. For example, this article could be encoded with fewer bits if one were to accept the convention that the word "compression" be encoded as "comp."

And the basic idea of data storage, as described here http://en.wikipedia....ard_drive#Technology :

The magnetic surface of each platter is divided into many small sub-micrometre-sized magnetic regions, each of which is used to encode a single binary unit of information. In today's HDDs each of these magnetic regions is composed of a few hundred magnetic grains.

(So the hard disk is basically "a long string of ones and zeroes")

Ok, now my question:
Why can't compression of a file work by seeing the long string of "ones and zeroes" on the hard drive that constitutes the file (presupposing the file is not fragmented) as a very long number and then find some much, much shorter way to mathematically represent that same number. To later decompress the file, the mathematical shorthand is expanded to a long binary string again and that in turn gets written (in unfragmented form) to the hard drive. And so the file is back. I imagine that if that was possible then a file with many MB in size could be compressed to a mathematical expression a few lines of text long.

I'm asking why this is NOT possible because I have a strong hunch that if it was possible then it would already be done all the time. But I'd just like to get a general grasp of why it is not possible. So help me out here.