Recent Posts

101

Community Giveaways / Humble Bundle leftovers - Free applications and games

« Last post by 4wd on April 03, 2022, 02:15 AM »

For free if anyone is interested:

Unique Links:
C# Complete Unity 3D Developer Course [GameDev.tv]

Keys:
Pathfinder Second Edition Core Rulebook and Starfinder Core Rulebook (Redeem by September 30th, 2022) [Paizo]
Intro to Game Development with Unity [Zenva]
Polygon Farm, Polygon City, and Polygon Prototype [Synty]
GameMaker Studio 2 Creator 12 Months [YoYo]
Music Maker EDM Edition  (Redeem by December 31st, 2022) [Magix]

The links show how to redeem the items, let me know what you want and I'll send the link/key.

NOTE: All of them require you create an account with the respective software company.

Free Steam games below:

NOTE: Some of these might be region restricted, I won't find out until I create a gift link to send - if this proves to be the case for one you receive, let me know or pass it on to someone who can use it.

I have the following Steam games available for free:

112 Operator	911 Operator
Amnesia: The Dark Descent + Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs	Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Car Mechanic Simulator 2018	Crying Suns
Draw Slasher	Drawful 2
Driftland: The Magic Revival	DV: Rings of Saturn
EarthX	Endless Space 2
Expeditions: Viking	Fable Anniversary
Fury Unleashed	GameGuru
Gloria Victis - redeem by April 25, 2022	Going Under
Iron Danger	Kerbal Space Program
Kingdom Two Crowns	Metro Exodus
Monaco	Moon Hunters
Motorcycle Mechanic Simulator 2021	Nex Machina
Orbital Racer	Out of Reach: Treasure Royale
Pathway	Pawnbarian
PGA Tour 2K21	Popup Dungeon
Post Void	Radio Commander
Ring of Pain	Roarr! Jurassic Edition
RPG Maker VX	Rustler
Ryse: Son of Rome	Say No! More
Shing!	Skullgirls 2nd Encore
Slay the Spire	Soulblight
Starbound	SUPERHOT
Supraland	System Shock: Enhanced Edition
The Amazing American Circus	Toejam & Earl: Back in the Groove
Tooth and Tail	Vagante
Wandersong	Wargroove
WARSAW	We Are Alright
Wizard of Legend

Free Rockstar game:
Max Payne 3

102

General Software Discussion / Re: can’t see any traffic if Protocol Filter is set to “Multimedia URLs”

« Last post by 4wd on March 12, 2022, 10:59 PM »

URL Snooper provides easy solution to finding the URLs for all streams by watching network traffic and identifying potential urls, especially streaming media urls.

from: https://www.donationcoder.com/software/mouser/popular-apps/url-snooper

-blanc2016 (March 12, 2022, 10:54 PM)

Even easier: HLS Stream Sniper

You can export it and add it to any Chrome based browser, you can also get the Firefox extension: https://github.com/T...be-HLS-Stream-Sniper

103

Living Room / Re: Programming/Coder humor

« Last post by 4wd on March 12, 2022, 10:49 PM »

104

General Software Discussion / Re: Does this "blog/shared notes" exist?

« Last post by 4wd on February 21, 2022, 04:07 PM »

I meant you can recover the files from the original drives even though they've been moved off it.
Unless you've done a lot of writing to them or securely moved, (wiped the space they occupied), then they should still be recoverable.

Also, what manufacturer/model of external are we talking about?
Sometimes it's just the USB interface board that dies, the HDD is still working and just requires removing from the case and rehousing.
Unfortunately not possible with WD 2.5" portables as they integrate the USB adaptor directly to the drive, (don't buy them unless you don't mind limiting your recovery options).
Some others makes/models may be the same.

For backups, a 3.5" external would be preferable, it gives you the above option should the interface fail.

Fwiw, generally the time an electronic device, (and mechanical to some degree), will fail is within a couple of months of it being put into service or nearing the end of its life.

If you're near Melbourne eastern suburbs let me know if want any help with either recovery off the original drives or rehousing the new drive, (if possible).

PS. I generally only check emails or the forum every 2 - 4 days.

105

General Software Discussion / Re: Does this "blog/shared notes" exist?

« Last post by 4wd on February 17, 2022, 05:27 AM »

... I purchased a new 5 TB hd and transferred a lot of scattered across many HDs "toddler" videos to it.

-tsaint (February 12, 2022, 11:28 PM)

By transferred do you mean copy or move?

If it's copy you still have the original, just requires duplication of previous effort, (this time to dual externals).

If it's move, run recovery software, (Recuva, PhotoRec, etc), on the original HDDs, (hopefully you haven't written too much to them in the meantime), recovering to a new external and back it up.

106

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by 4wd on February 11, 2022, 04:53 AM »

What makes you think there is such a thing as "WSL graphics"? As far as I'm aware there is no "display" connected to the WSL Linux VM. It's for terminal/console use only.

-Deozaan (February 11, 2022, 03:01 AM)

https://opticos.github.io/gwsl/ (Windows 10)

GWSL
What on Earth does this do? What is it for? How can it help me?

GWSL automates the process of running X on top of WSL and over SSH:

• It lets you easily run graphical Linux apps on Windows 10.
• It lets you run graphical apps located on remote Linux machines.
• It provides a simple UI for launching Linux apps, managing them graphically, and creating customized Windows shortcuts for them.
• All this at the click of a button! No memorization of commands necessary. Easy!

https://github.com/microsoft/wslg (Windows 11)

WSLg is short for Windows Subsystem for Linux GUI and the purpose of the project is to enable support for running Linux GUI applications (X11 and Wayland) on Windows in a fully integrated desktop experience.

WSLg provides an integrated experience for developers, scientists or enthusiasts that prefer or need to run Windows on their PC but also need the ability to run tools or applications which works best, or exclusively, in a Linux environment. While users can accomplish this today using a multiple system setup, with individual PC dedicated to Windows and Linux, virtual machine hosting either Windows or Linux, or an XServer running on Windows and projected into WSL, WSLg provides a more integrated, user friendly and productive alternative.

WSLg strives to make Linux GUI applications feel native and natural to use on Windows. From integration into the Start Menu for launch to appearing in the task bar, alt-tab experience to enabling cut/paste across Windows and Linux applications, WSLg enables a seamless desktop experience and workflow leveraging Windows and Linux applications.

The last can use GPU hardware acceleration.

107

General Software Discussion / Re: What Android Apps Do You Use?

« Last post by 4wd on February 03, 2022, 01:35 AM »

For better security, "an open DNS recursive service for free security and high privacy":
https://quad9.net

-dantheman (February 02, 2022, 02:25 PM)

Also ControlD's DNS: https://controld.com/free-dns

You can choose from preconfigured filters (just enter the appropriate DNS: IP4, IP6, DoH, DoT):

• Unfiltered,
• Malware,
• Ads & Tracking,
• Social,
• Family Friendly,
• Uncensored

Or create your own custom filters (a DNS URL for DoH and DoT will be created) from:

• Ads & Trackers,
• Adult Content,
• Dating,
• Drugs,
• Gambling,
• Government Sites,
• Malware,
• Social,
• Typosquatting

If you sign up for a paid service you get access to more filters as well as other things like Smart DNS for geo-restricted content - they're a separate service of Windscribe VPN.

108

Developer's Corner / Re: Question About Updating Logfile with PowerShell Add-Content

« Last post by 4wd on February 03, 2022, 01:13 AM »

So anyway the following works in Powershell 5.1 (included with Windows) and Powershell 7 (to be included in Windows at some point):

Code: PowerShell [Select]

1. $LogFile = "R:\te st\Me\NPM Change Log.txt"
2. $ChangeType = "Added a line"
3. $FullPath = "R:\te st\Me\NPM Change Log.txt"
4.  
5. Set-Content "$($LogFile)" "This is a log file"
6. $logline = "$(Get-Date), $ChangeType, $FullPath"
7. Add-content "$($LogFile)" -value $logline
8. # and again just in case
9. Add-Content "$($LogFile)" "$(Get-Date), $($ChangeType), $($FullPath)"

FWIW, I normally always put variables in $() in strings that are within double quotes these days, then I'm sure the variables will be expanded.

And your recollection is way gooder than mine.

-Stoic Joker (February 01, 2022, 08:03 AM)

Or maybe not 

109

Developer's Corner / Re: Question About Updating Logfile with PowerShell Add-Content

« Last post by 4wd on January 31, 2022, 04:12 PM »

Just FYI, PowerShell doesn't care if you use \ or / in paths so you could try:

Code: PowerShell [Select]

1. $LogFile = "C:/Users/Me/Them/NPM Change Log.txt"

To get around possibly having to escape \

Also, is it just a typo but you seem to have only one " in:

Code: PowerShell [Select]

1. Add-content "$LogFile -value $logline

To insert variables into a string you can try:

Code: PowerShell [Select]

1. Add-content "$($LogFile)" -value $logline

That should expand the variable within the quotes.

I'm on a tablet atm so can't test these, in a couple of hours I can have a play.

Addendum: IIRC I had a similar thing with Add-Content that I was doing and the result was that Add-Content was one of the very few PowerShell commandlets that couldn't take a file in a variable.

I modified my script to use Out-File instead, eg.

Code: PowerShell [Select]

1. "$(Get-Date), $ChangeType, $FullPath" | Out-File $Logfile -Append

Or similar, you may have to play around with enclosing the file variable in quotes as above.

110

Living Room / Re: Wordle: simple web word game

« Last post by 4wd on January 05, 2022, 05:59 AM »

Brad Wyatt translated Wordle into a PowerShell module:
Play Wordle, the Puzzle Game Using PowerShell

111

General Software Discussion / Re: Mount a Disc Image from Context Menu?

« Last post by 4wd on December 19, 2021, 10:51 PM »

You can also just double-click an ISO to have it mounted and opened in explorer, (providing the filetype hasn't been reassigned).

112

Living Room / Re: How to boot up an old PDP-11 computer from the 1970s

« Last post by 4wd on December 16, 2021, 05:22 AM »

I remember using the PDP-11 back at uni, fun times programming on the old terminals.

113

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Powershell Script to block certain part of the screen like the taskbar

« Last post by 4wd on December 13, 2021, 05:22 AM »

Ignore me .... my brain hurts 

114

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by 4wd on December 09, 2021, 04:20 AM »

I’ve been listening to a lot of Symphonic Metal lately.

-40hz (September 21, 2021, 08:24 PM)

Speaking of Finnish Symphonic Metal, can't go past a little Apocalyptica:

This isn't available on YT that I can find but another mashup from DJ Schmolli:
Vikings on Dark Horses (Amon Amarth vs. Katy Perry ft. Juicy J)

And from one of my favourite places on the planet, The HU ft. Jacoby Shaddix:

115

Living Room / Re: Wordle: simple web word game

« Last post by 4wd on November 25, 2021, 04:32 PM »

Interesting, obviously not the same word for everyone since the word I just got doesn't have repeated letters.

116

Living Room / Re: Wordle: simple web word game

« Last post by 4wd on November 23, 2021, 05:39 PM »

Stop while I'm ahead 

117

General Software Discussion / Re: obtain a pdf from a website help quickly

« Last post by 4wd on November 16, 2021, 06:10 PM »

Adobe Acrobat:

Convert a web page to PDF

- Open Acrobat and choose Tools > Create PDF > Web Page.
- Enter the complete path to the web page, or click Browse and locate an HTML file.
- To change the number of levels in the website to convert, click Capture Multiple Levels. Enter the number of levels to include, or select Get Entire Site to include all levels from the website.

I'd start off with just 2 levels so you don't end up dragging in web pages from all over the internet.

An alternative is to use something like monolith to see if it will create a single HTML file that can be fed to a PDF converter, (online or offline).

Or, capture each page with monolith and then convert each to PDF appending to the first PDF in order.

118

General Software Discussion / Re: Collect data from web

« Last post by 4wd on October 19, 2021, 07:49 PM »

I would like a software able to find data in the web :

-Contro (October 19, 2021, 12:11 PM)

Er ... isn't that called a search engine?

In which case if you want to run your own, YaCy^w.

119

General Software Discussion / Windows 11 Released to GA

« Last post by 4wd on October 04, 2021, 07:47 PM »

Windows 11 has gone to General Availability:
https://www.microsof...e-download/windows11

Had it installed on a laptop, (i5-6200u), for a couple of weeks and while it ran smoother that taskbar is a big step in the wrong direction, ended up reinstalling 10.

Edit: BTW, something to note for those of you who update their BIOS.  Latest updates might have switched to TPM enabled by default, (was normally disabled by default).
So if you update your BIOS you might find your carefully constructed plan of not upgrading to 11 by disabling TPM is now FUBAR. 

120

Living Room / Re: playstore downloads

« Last post by 4wd on September 21, 2021, 10:23 PM »

The size reported in pending updates is the approx. download size, when it's downloading it shows the installation size as well as the amount that it's downloading, (which will be equivalent to the pre-update size reported), see below for an example:



I'd say the Netflix update includes more functions or a rewrite, that's why the update is larger than the install.

What is annoying after recent Play updates is how damn slow it is to scan for updates.

121

General Software Discussion / Re: Montage Videos

« Last post by 4wd on September 19, 2021, 12:07 PM »

AVIDemux:
Load the movie,
Move to the start of a section you don't want,
Hit cursor up or down to move to the nearest I-Frame,
Control+PgUp to mark the start,
Move to the end of the section,
Hit cursor up or down to move to the nearest I-Frame,
Control+PgDn to mark the end,
Control+X to remove that section,
Repeat as necessary,
Save.

If you haven't made a cut on an I-Frame you will be warned.

Otherwise there's also Lossless-Cut if you like funky interfaces.

122

General Software Discussion / Re: Free MKV video repair files

« Last post by 4wd on September 09, 2021, 03:44 AM »

The track is damaged and is not possible to recover the images quality.

-Contro (September 08, 2021, 04:41 AM)

Depends how the track is damaged, if it's data corruption due to the azide layer detiorating then no, you've got no hope.
If it's due to a scratch on the DVD then you can polish it out, I've recovered quite a few CDs/DVDs doing this.

FWIW, I still use RipIt4Me if I need to rip a DVD.

123

General Software Discussion / Re: Question about (laptop) battery management software

« Last post by 4wd on August 30, 2021, 11:04 PM »

Further to WiFi controlled plug:
https://github.com/M...ontroller-PowerShell
https://github.com/EgoManiac/TPlink-PoSH

Two projects to control a TP-Link power plug via PowerShell which could run on the Windows 10 host.

124

Living Room / Re: Problem with Win Remote Connection

« Last post by 4wd on August 30, 2021, 08:10 PM »

@kalos:

Of course that presupposes that the computer is capable of running Remote Desktop Host, (ie. Professional or above).

Otherwise you have to use Remote Assistance or some other remote access program/service.

125

General Software Discussion / Re: Question about (laptop) battery management software

« Last post by 4wd on August 30, 2021, 11:48 AM »

I know Dell has a power setting to optimise battery life but I wouldn't have thought it would be possible to have a generic program that could do it.

Windows can't control the battery charging without some form of hardware driver and that's likely to be manufacturer specific.
You can check your laptop manufacturer's support section for such a program but then it's likely to have fixed settings.

Best option if you want to control the charge levels, get a WiFi controlled switch, plug the charger into it, and use a battery level monitoring program/script to tell the switch to turn the charger on/off at set levels.