Recent Posts

10151

Living Room / Re: Upgrading Video and Power Supply on an Dell XPS 400

« Last post by 40hz on June 18, 2009, 10:13 PM »

If you have an old or even a new standard ATX PSU laying around, you could plug it in

-techidave (June 18, 2009, 09:39 PM)

As has been noted above...

Do not do that until you check the pinout on the wiring harness plug. Dell does not use standard pinouts on their power supplies. You'll either need a plug adapter or a Dell compatible PS. Otherwise you run the risk of frying your mobo.

10152

General Software Discussion / Re: fully free software utilities for biz use

« Last post by 40hz on June 18, 2009, 05:17 PM »

If you need a free accounting package, look no further than to the folks over at Microsoft.
(Yes, I know. Try not to faint!  )

Microsoft has a very capable small business accounting package called Microsoft® Office Accounting Express which is offered as a free download. ( www.ideawins.com/Default.aspx )

I was a little skeptical when I heard about this. I was wondering if it was extremely crippled like Intuit's Simple Start Free Edition of Quickbooks is. Much to my surprise, it wasn't. The Professional edition of Office Accounting does pack many additional features. But they're nothing that most small businesses would need.

Product version comparison link: www.ideawins.com/Compare.aspx

For once, I'm amazed at just how much $0 can get you from Microsoft.



 

10153

General Software Discussion / Re: Let's Fork The Thread! Linux Notetaking Thread!

« Last post by 40hz on June 18, 2009, 04:20 PM »

Seriously, the one time  I have needed a note-taking app, I found NoteCase to be more than adequate.
I use Xubuntu and so I get a cringe-y feeling whenever I have to install anything that depends too much on Gnome or KDE libs

-Edvard (June 18, 2009, 02:06 PM)

Edvard raises an excellent point..

 It's not always a great idea to mix apps from different desktops. KDE and Gnome apps can usually (usually mind you!) peacefully co-exist with very few problems. As long as the app in question can be found in one of your distro's main repositories, you'll seldom encounter a problem.

However, if you're running one of the lighter desktops, installing a KDE or Gnome app can very well cause major headaches. And even if the app doesn't break anything else, you'll almost always wind up dragging a huge number of software dependencies along with it. Not a pretty sight. Especially if Synaptic decides it needs to install something like the entire Gnome or KDE desktop (along with a dozen additional libraries) just to get some little 200K app to run!

Rule of thumb: If you decide to go "off the reservation" for an app - and your package manager reports something like: 410 Mb to be downloaded for a total of 1647 new packages...  - then do yourself a big favor and just hit the CANCEL button.

Also think in terms of what hardware you have. I run an Xfce desktop on my laptop! (Did I say that right?). Toshi's getting on in the years, and doesn't really have the oomph to run Gnome or KDE. So NoteCase would be a much better choice for my old Toshiba.

 

10154

General Software Discussion / Re: personal favourites start page

« Last post by 40hz on June 18, 2009, 12:53 PM »

Cobian Amigo http://www.educ.umu....bian/cobianamigo.htm may have some utility in this type of setup.  Anybody try it out ?

Shalom,
Steven  

-Steven Avery (June 18, 2009, 12:39 PM)

Interesting find. The whole idea of a web accessible client-server solution has a lot of appeal. But as was noted on the Amigo webpage, I'm one of the many who is sure as hell not going to trust anything of mine that's private to a 3rd party.

I'll have to see if I can find the time to check it out over the weekend.

(Any excuse to avoid yard work, right?   )

10155

Living Room / Re: Looking for P2p file sharing for personal use

« Last post by 40hz on June 18, 2009, 12:36 PM »

40hz, thanks again, you have given the most exclusive help ever

-kartal (June 18, 2009, 11:52 AM)

My pleasure. I'm always happy to point someone to a useful resource.

I also learn a lot by reading the other replies*, so it's an even trade.

*@4wd! Great posts about VPNs. You da man!!!  

10156

General Software Discussion / Re: Let's Fork The Thread! Linux Notetaking Thread!

« Last post by 40hz on June 18, 2009, 12:11 PM »

I use BasKet. ( http://basket.kde.org )

There's a bit a learning curve if you plan to take advantage of its full feature set (which I don't BTW!). It's far from being perfect. But IMHO it's the best of what's out there for NIX. Even worth it if you're not running KDE as your primary desktop.

There's a quick review of Basket and four other note taking apps over at LinuxFormat Magazine. Read it here: www.tuxradar.com/content/group-test-note-takers

TreePad also has its Lite version available for Linux ( www.treepad.com/linux/treepadlite/ ). This might be the first thing you'll want to test if you're one of TP's many users over on the Windows platform. I keep meaning to give it a try, but I haven't gotten around to doing it yet.

If you want a nice quick & dirty outline/note app that gets the job done without too many frills, take a look at TuxCards. ( www.tuxcards.de ) The name says it all.

Note: TuxCards isn't found in most mainstream distro repositories, so you'll probably need to compile it for your machine.



Just my 2¢  

10157

Living Room / Re: What annoys you to no end?

« Last post by 40hz on June 18, 2009, 06:56 AM »

This guy!



(SCO's Darl McBride in case you're wondering.)

10158

Living Room / Re: Looking for P2p file sharing for personal use

« Last post by 40hz on June 18, 2009, 06:30 AM »

Sorry man, I think my question was not clear enough. I meant the "frost" client. Do I need to use Frost to use Freenet? Is Freenet client safe  as it is, or is Frost more secure than Freenet?

-kartal (June 17, 2009, 08:15 PM)

Sorry. I misunderstood.

You don't need to use Frost per sce. But Frost is what gives us all the additional features you usually get with newsgroups (messaging, discussion threads, easy file upload/download, etc.)

I probably should have mentioned that Frost now comes bundled into the current Freenet installer.

I like to read as much possible about something before I install it. If you're like me, take a look at their wiki: 

http://wiki.freenetproject.org/HomePage

Especially good is their First Timer's Handbook:

http://wiki.freenetp.../FirstTimersHandBook

You'll want to look at that since it has very clear instructions on how to add friendly nodes to your network.

Hope all this was helpful.

10159

General Software Discussion / Re: PDF viewers which don't lock the file

« Last post by 40hz on June 17, 2009, 08:36 PM »

Ooo... if I'm correctly understanding what you're asking, that could be a problem. Take a look at these links for the low down:

http://www.mail-arch...yx.org/msg04106.html

http://www.mail-arch...yx.org/msg04108.html


 

10160

Living Room / Re: Looking for P2p file sharing for personal use

« Last post by 40hz on June 17, 2009, 07:58 PM »

40hz, why do you need to use a seperate client for Freenet?

-kartal (June 17, 2009, 04:30 PM)

Primarily because they designed Freenet to provide a high degree of anonymity and privacy. The only way they could accomplish that was by making Freenet "its own thing" as the saying goes. It's a private P2P app that communicates with other Freenet nodes - and absolutely nothing else!

You can set your Freenet up to use the insecure mode, whereby it will look for other insecure (i.e. Strangers) Freenet nodes to P2P with. Alternatively, you can set it up as a secure darknet, in which case you will need to manually enter your private node identifiers (i.e. Friends) on every client machine in your Freenet. It's a bit of a pain, but you'll only need to do it once - unless you add additional nodes.

My group could care less about the anonymity feature. But we greatly appreciate the degree of privacy the restricted node settings provide. I like to think of Freenet as a server-less VPN.

Now how cool is that?

10161

General Software Discussion / Re: PDF viewers which don't lock the file

« Last post by 40hz on June 17, 2009, 02:34 PM »

For writing math papers Word is about the worst software known to man. It is a lot harder to edit Word files containing any math than nice LaTeX.

-alexey_r (June 17, 2009, 01:33 PM)

Won't argue with you about that.  (I love LaTeX BTW. )

Ok. Good point. Then why not use something like LyX ( www.lyx.org/Features ) to compose and edit? It can import and export to to just about anything including PDF.

LyX combines the power and flexibility of TeX/LaTeX with the ease of use of a graphical interface. This results in world-class support for creation of mathematical content (via a fully integrated equation editor) and structured documents like academic articles, theses, and books. In addition, staples of scientific authoring such as reference list and index creation come standard.

10162

General Software Discussion / Re: PDF viewers which don't lock the file

« Last post by 40hz on June 17, 2009, 01:23 PM »

Why not just:

• copy the text in your PDF to a Word doc file
• do whatever edits you want to that - and then
• "print" it back out as a PDF file

That way, you'll have an easily editable document that you can use to generate an updated PDF from anytime you like.

(You also won't need to worry about 'closing' your edited file if you do it this way.)

Word 2007 and Open Office can already output a PDF file. If your wordprocessor can't do it directly, just download one of the free PDF virtual printer apps like BullZip or PrimoPDF and use that to create your PDF output. Primo and BullZip also have an option to automatically open any PDF they generate in your default viewer so you won't need to open anything to check it once it's ready.

10163

General Software Discussion / Re: fully free software utilities for biz use

« Last post by 40hz on June 17, 2009, 01:05 PM »

@Steve-  Question: how are we defining "super inexpensive" in this thread?

Should it be by absolute dollars, or as a compared to competing products?

There are some excellent business and technical apps that aren't what many people would call cheap in the absolute sense. Many of them fall in the $50-$200 range. But they're often hundreds, and occasionally, thousands of dollars less than competing products. So in a relative sense they are. (Kinda like getting a Ferrari for the price of a Mini Cooper.)

I'm guessing these should be saved for a separate thread?

 

10164

General Software Discussion / Re: fully free software utilities for biz use

« Last post by 40hz on June 17, 2009, 12:49 PM »

I'd like to put in a a good word for PuTTY. (www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/)

PuTTY is a very capable SSH/Telnet/Rlogin client for machines running under NIX or Win32.

If you're responsible for IT support, sometimes the only way to access a balky networked device is through the old (but very capable) SSH/Telnet protocol.



If the above screenshot means anything to you, you'll probably want to get a copy of this great app. PuTTY is free for personal and commercial use.

There is also a no-install portable version available for Windows users. Keep a copy handy on a USB key for those times when you're in a hurry; only have a low bandwidth connection; or some network device's GUI refuses to respond. Highly Recommended!

Portable PuTTY info & download link: http://portableapps....ernet/putty_portable

Cool Tool! 

10165

Living Room / Re: Looking for P2p file sharing for personal use

« Last post by 40hz on June 17, 2009, 11:58 AM »

That Freenet looks like some cool stuff. I have no need for it, but makes me want to invent a reason to use it.

-Innuendo (June 17, 2009, 09:18 AM)

Yeah. We felt the same way about it. So we did. 

10166

Living Room / Re: Looking for P2p file sharing for personal use

« Last post by 40hz on June 17, 2009, 09:06 AM »

Based on what you're saying regarding file sizes and number of machines,you might consider setting up a secure FTP server. I'm a big fan of the CoreFTP product line ( www.coreftp.com ). It's a fast SFTP solution that works transparently behind most firewalls. I like that because I'm way too impatient to be screwing around with the port-forward settings on a router at this stage of my life. A free client is available for both personal and business use. (Note: the CoreFTP server software isn't free. But it only costs $50 US so it's still affordable.)

But if you really are serious about going with a P2P sharing solution, the only one I would recommend is Freenet. Freenet allows you to set up your own private web-of-trust for file sharing and other web services. It was designed from the ground up for security, so if you run it in what is called the "private" mode (i.e. as a darknet), only the machines you designate can access what amounts to your own private internet.

My company participates in one such file sharing darknet. It was set up by a group of us who do IT consulting work. We use Freenet in conjunction with the Frost client add-on.

Frost works much like a Usenet group. It allows us to securely create message threads, and transfer files without worrying about authentication or file integrity. This is important since most of what we transfer back and forth are custom server patches, GPOs, and scripts that get installed on client machines.

In addition to classic filesharing, Freenet can also provide private torrents via an add-on called FreeMulET. Can't vouch for how well FreeMulET works however, since we don't use it.

Freenet is a bit on the technical side since it's yet another ongoing FOSS project. But it's not especially hard to set up or use provided you have at least some technical background. (IMHO: TightVNC is a lot harder to set up if you want something to compare it to.)

Clients are available for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux, which is always a plus in our book!

We've been happy with it.

Info and links:

Freenet homepage: www.freenetproject.org

Frost homepage: www.jtcfrost.sourceforge.net

 

10167

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by 40hz on June 16, 2009, 06:41 PM »

This little gem is more dry than silly, and will probably only get a chuckle from the Linux geeks, but here goes anyway:

Announcing A New Linux Distro: BaitNSwitch Linux

Today, I'm announcing my new Linux company, HookLineNSinker, Inc. (HLNS) which will produce a new commercial Linux distribution: Pricey Linux. HLNS products include Pricey Linux Enterprise, Pricey Linux Small Business Server and The Pricey Linux Desktop. There are also Pricey Linux Support options for those of you who need 24x7 support for your Pricey Systems. And to comply with Linux licensing, we'll also offer a free, community edition of our Pricey Linux known as BaitNSwitch Linux.

Link to full article: http://www.daniweb.c...logs/entry4448.html#

Hmm...this post almost made me think SUSE might have changed its name.  

10168

Living Room / Re: Baby Cody Plushie is born

« Last post by 40hz on June 16, 2009, 06:34 PM »

A friend of mine recently sent a Vermont Teddy Bear and some hardcover books to his sister who is living in Spain. The books arrived with the covers torn off and the bear looking like it had been "inspected" by Dr. Hannibal Lechter.

-40hz (June 16, 2009, 03:02 PM)

Bastards! So it's not even safe to smuggle drugs in books anymore?

-f0dder (June 16, 2009, 05:56 PM)

Could be worse. In some places, it's not safe to try to bring books in at all!

10169

General Software Discussion / Re: personal favourites start page

« Last post by 40hz on June 16, 2009, 03:41 PM »

And by having these sites all listed on my homepage, I can access them easily no matter which browser I use (since I've set all browsers to use that same homepage file). I also don't have to have yet another toolbar (bookmarks) taking up space in Firefox.

-cyberdiva (June 16, 2009, 01:56 PM)

Not to mention your personal homepage being a much more elegant portable solution than my approach. All you'd need to do is save the homepage to a USB key and you'd be set to go anywhere without the need to export your entire set of bookmarks. Hmm...

10170

Living Room / Re: Baby Cody Plushie is born

« Last post by 40hz on June 16, 2009, 03:02 PM »

Wherever he's sent, I hope they'll use noninvasive methods to make sure he isn't transporting contraband!

A friend of mine recently sent a Vermont Teddy Bear and some hardcover books to his sister who is living in Spain. The books arrived with the covers torn off and the bear looking like it had been "inspected" by Dr. Hannibal Lechter.

I'm gonna burn a stick of  incense in front of my little plushie Buddah (and maybe C'thullu) for Cody tonight.

10171

Living Room / Re: What's your favorite drink?

« Last post by 40hz on June 16, 2009, 11:00 AM »

Hmmm...since I was born under the sign of Taurus (i.e. closet hedonist), it varies by time of day.

 

• 6:00am-10:00am : Gevalia Stockholm Roast Coffee
• 10:00am-7:00pm : Earl Grey or "Russian Tea"
• 7:00pm-9:00pm : Royal Oak Pale Ale (see note)
• 9:00pm-Midnight : Glennfiddich 21 Year Old Single Malt (although the 12, 15, and 18 are also very good). Also the occasional glass of well-aged Port if we're dining with friends.
• Midnight-6:00am : Water. (Nothing fancy. Tap water thru a Brita filter works fine for me.)

Note: ROPA used to be brewed by UK's famous ( and sadly defunct ) Eldridge Pope Brewery. It has since been (successfully IMHO) resurrected by O'Hanlon's Brewing Co. Ltd. who also created its tacky new label. Fortunately, the ale inside the bottle is as good as it's ever been. Hard to find - but well worth the effort it may take to track it down. One of the world's truly great ales.

10172

General Software Discussion / Re: personal favourites start page

« Last post by 40hz on June 15, 2009, 10:42 PM »

I haven't tried the rss feed thingy myself.  But then again, I got bored with being a news junky a few years back.  It was fun for awhile to read all kinds of newspaper's English editions around the world.  After a time it was same crap different day though.

-MilesAhead (June 15, 2009, 10:20 PM)

You should give it a try. RSS is a pretty handy thing.

I used to use the Morning Coffee extension to automatically open a bunch of websites when I started Firefox. But it wasn't practical once I got beyond ten or so. That's when a friend tipped me off about using RSS.

When I first started using Sage, I didn't much care for it. But once I got used to it (yes...it will change the way you think about browsing) I wouldn't want to give it up for anything. If you need to stay current with a lot of things on a daily basis, it's a great productivity tool. And if you use it in conjunction with a good web clipping/archiving tool like Canaware NetNotes you're in really good shape as far as info gathering is concerned.

Personally, I wish I had that luxury of not needing to read as much tech as I do. Especially since I'd much rather read some good fiction, a science book, or movie script. Unfortunately, my job requires I stay on top of a few dozen manufacturer's and indy tech websites. If I had to do that by browsing them one at a time, I'd go insane.

10173

General Software Discussion / Re: Help/Advice with TrueCrypt (and free space wiping)?

« Last post by 40hz on June 15, 2009, 10:22 PM »

Another question: I ran Eraser on the flash drive before bed last night (morning, was 3AM when i posted) and when I woke up it said that it had successfully wiped the free space, however it could not delete the folder entries and recommended I run CheckDisk on the drive. Is this something that I should be concerned about at all, and should I really run CD?

-wreckedcarzz (June 15, 2009, 01:17 PM)

I might be a tiny bit concerned. Or would be until after I ran a filecheck just to sure something didn't get hosed on my drive. I know Eraser used to warn about the free space wipe being a quasi-experimental feature. But I thought they had since gotten the kinks worked out.

I'm wondering if that 'warning' you got was because Eraser has the same limitation that SDelete has. SDelete can securely delete file data in the free space, but not the file names. This is because of the way the Windows interfaces with the NTFS directory structure. (Translation: It's not a bug!)

The following from the Sysinternals SDelete page explains it better:

The reason that SDelete does not securely delete file names when cleaning disk free space is that deleting them would require direct manipulation of directory structures. Directory structures can have free space containing deleted file names, but the free directory space is not available for allocation to other files. Hence, SDelete has no way of allocating this free space so that it can securely overwrite it.

-----

and should I really run CD? I've read where some people here at DC have had less-than-positive experiences with it

As far as chkdsk is concerned, I'm not aware of any problems that can be caused just by running it. I have run into situations where it couldn't fix a problem. But I've never heard of a situation where it actually caused one.

 

10174

General Software Discussion / Re: personal favourites start page

« Last post by 40hz on June 15, 2009, 09:43 PM »

I made a very simple page in HTML and set it to be the page my browsers open on.

-cyberdiva (June 15, 2009, 08:28 AM)

+1 with cyberdiva on that one.

For a while, there were a number of personal homepage generator apps out there. But most of them seem to have gone the way of the Dodo, along with all those neat standalone bookmark managers.

I had tried several page generators. But in the end, I too wound up coding my own simple homepage. That was the only way I could get it exactly the way I wanted it. I just exported my bookmarks to an html file, stripped out everything except the links in my daily/favorites folder, and then started customizing from there.

That solution worked great for me right up until I discovered the Sage extension and started doing most of my daily browsing via RSS feeds. I also keep a special favorites folder up on Firefox's bookmark toolbar for all those other sites I regularly visit. That combination works so well for me that, like MilesAhead,  I now just use a blank homepage.

 

10175

Living Room / Re: portable air conditioning - any good?

« Last post by 40hz on June 15, 2009, 05:49 PM »

you know if you are feeling adventurous, there have been some stories in the last few months on creating your own organic air conditioner..

-mouser (July 04, 2006, 02:32 PM)

Interesting! Do you have the links?