Recent Posts

10876

Living Room / Re: This coming year, I am SOO looking forward to __________ .

« Last post by 40hz on December 30, 2008, 09:44 PM »

1. Starting a new band.  (I miss playing live!)

2. Finishing at least one of the three stories I'm currently writing.

3. Being here.

10877

Living Room / Re: This coming year, I am SOO looking forward to __________ .

« Last post by 40hz on December 30, 2008, 09:19 PM »

I think I just might skip relationships and girls altogether.

-f0dder (December 30, 2008, 08:33 PM)

Don't. Trust me on this.

10878

Living Room / Re: Why Windows Rules: the QWERTY phenomenon?

« Last post by 40hz on December 30, 2008, 09:14 PM »

You guys may not have the balls to say that "linux is better", but I certainly do. There are thousands of quantitative reasons, which can be very easily argued among computer science literate individuals of why linux and the linux kernel is _FAR_ superior to windows. This isn't just something computer scientists argue that means nothing to the end user, it just means that the regular computer user simply does not understand these concepts, and if they did they would probably just revolt with senseless nonsense like "so, that's not important", when if properly adopted it would be very important.

***

There are many other reasons, but I'm too lazy to go on and I need to get some things done before the sun goes down. My primary point in this whole thing is that Linux *IS* better, in many ways than windows. As far as design, it's basically like comparing a regular built house to a hurricane resistant built home on the coast of Miami. Yea, one can argue (lol) that the regular house is "better", since "better" is a relative term, but from an engineering standpoint there is absolutely positively no comparison.

-Kamel (December 30, 2008, 03:35 PM)

Balls? Balls? We don't need no steenking balls!

Wow! I haven't heard somebody spouting the old "party line" so vociferously in many a moon. And I'm a long-time Linux user that hangs with a pretty hard-core NIX/FOSS crowd.

I'm going to ignore several logical and technical errors in your posting and merely offer this in response:

I think you need to reread this thread. The topic under discussion is not the relative superiority of one OS to another; but rather the factors that influence the adoption of a technical solution, and it's subsequent establishment as the sui generis standard.

If you take a look at the history of technical innovation and adoption, you'll quickly see that technical superiority is seldom the deciding factor. In fact, in many instances, it was not a factor at all.

-------------

BTW: Welcome to the thread!

10879

Living Room / Re: Microsoft's Pay-Per-Use PC: ...Worst? Idea? Ever?

« Last post by 40hz on December 30, 2008, 05:15 PM »

It's just the old "rent clicks on a time-share terminal connected to a mainframe" decked out in Web 2.0 lingerie.

I don't know what's sadder: Microsoft attempting to re-patent the 'pay phone' - or the very real chance that the U.S. Patent Office just might be stupid enough to let them.

10880

Living Room / Re: 2008 Cybernet Awards Are Out.. DonationCoder.com Wins Most Useful Forum!!

« Last post by 40hz on December 29, 2008, 06:06 PM »

10881

Living Room / Re: PC Magazine to go all digital, no more print editions

« Last post by 40hz on December 29, 2008, 12:47 PM »

I once had a subscription to the digital edition.

Worst thing I ever tried to live with.

If they do go all-electronic, I hope they use different technology.

10882

Living Room / Re: WinXP incredibly slow (and sometimes failing) login

« Last post by 40hz on December 29, 2008, 12:33 PM »

You could try running something like Glary Utilities and do a registry scan. I've had that fix some really oddball startup issues similar to yours.

Another (extremely tedious) alternative is to invoke a Diagnostic Startup with msconfig and then try turning things back on a few at a time until you've isolated the problem code.

I'd look at any security software you're running first.

One thing that might be causing delays is if some security app is set to do a startup scan.  Ditto if something is configured to do a definition update on start of Windows. If the app can't get to it's update site, you could wind up waiting until its updater times out.  Avira and Spybot S&D both caused this problem for me. These days, I turn all automatic update features off.


Note: I did have the exact same problem about 6 months ago with an Athalon motherboard after I updated the chipset drivers. The new NVidia GForce drivers that got installed as part of the package didn't always get along with CCleaner. I wound up uninstalling CCleaner and the problem went away. Queries to NVidia, Piriform, and the board manufacturer went unanswered. FYI: The latest version of CCLeaner is back on that machine and running without any problems. Go figure.

10883

Living Room / Re: Please help me build my new computer, DC!

« Last post by 40hz on December 28, 2008, 10:20 AM »

A better and cheaper solutions is to buy two OEM copies of Windows and install them as dual boot. That way you can have a DAW setup that is totally uncontaminated by any other software. You can disable all non-essential services such as networking etc. and strip down Windows to its rock bottom minimum configuration and only install you DAW apps in that version of Windows (you can download patches and updates in your parallel booting system). Also have a separate har disk fo your DAW data. That way every clock tick you can make available will be there for your audio processing.

Similarly if you want a video workstation.

-Carol Haynes (December 28, 2008, 09:02 AM)

Agreed.

But I prefer to do it with one copy of Windows on swappable hard drives. Because I'm running the same copy of Windows on the same machine, I'm still in compliance with the EULA, even though Windows is loaded on two separate HDs.

My main machine (where I did spend some money for 3D work) has six or seven HDs configured for all sorts of things - including different OSs. (Why struggle with Linux on a hand-me-down clunker when you can have it running on your 'Top Gear' rig after a quick disk swap?)

I do a clean install of windows, and then install the related service packs, updates, hardware drivers, etc. Then I activate it online , and create a drive image file of the installation.

A copy of that image gets installed on a second hard drive, which then gets stripped down as much as possible for my music apps. This also gets imaged so I have my "Music-Minimal" OS separately available if I need to reinstall it.

Windows also never gets further MS updates on this drive unless a music app needs it. Since I won't be using networking (except if a music app should require online activation) I'm virtually immune to security risks.

In many ways high spec computers are a waste of money (unless you have very specific requirements).

Also agree.

I tend to think of my PCs as purpose-built appliances these days. I just look for the least expensive and complex configuration that gets something done. As a result, I have several inexpensive machines I've built, kludged together, or was given, merrily doing all sorts of little jobs for me. "Small, cheap, and out of control!" as the saying goes.

In the future I'll be looking to build inexpensive machines with even smaller footprints, and lower power consumption.

10884

Living Room / Re: Please help me build my new computer, DC!

« Last post by 40hz on December 28, 2008, 08:45 AM »

Am I the only one who looks at the first post and thinks this machine is complete overkill for superboyac's needs? Seems to me like everyone is building their own dream computer vicariously for superboyac instead of helping him buy what suits his purposes.

-Deozaan (December 28, 2008, 02:41 AM)

I don't think that's what is happening in most cases.

In the first post, Superboyac pointed out he only does a new machine every 5-7 years - and that he does not do hardware upgrades in between.

A lot of the recommendations have obviously taken that into account by suggesting newer technologies with an eye to future system hardware requirements, rather than just what would be optimal right now.

If you take a look at my specific recommendations you'll see a heavy emphasis on "bang-for-the-buck" and 'recycling' where appropriate.

I haven't read all 7 pages of posts in this thread, but from what I remember he doesn't even care about playing the latest games. So why is he buying a $200 video card?

This did come up earlier. Carol Haynes, et al also raised that question.

In one of Superboyac's posts, he mentioned he is involved in pro/semi-pro music applications. (So am I.)

I can't speak for everyone since I never buy the fastest CPUs, RAM, or motherboards. But I do know from sometimes bitter experience that the less you have hogging CPU cycles when you're running music applications, the better. If you ever had your DAW freeze up on you right in the middle of a session where you were desperately trying to get some elusive bit of "inspired brilliance" down before you forgot it - or you lost that 'once in a lifetime' guitar solo you were playing - you'll understand.

So in SBoy's build, offloading graphics to a separate GPU makes a huge amount of sense. And when you can also get an overall better video experience across the board by using a GPU, why scrimp on that relatively small outlay?

GPUs were suggested at various price/performance points. Some were well below the $200 mark. Once again, SBoy seemed to go with a piece of hardware that got both excellent reviews and bang-for-the-buck performance.

(Do I see a trend here? )

BTW: the mobo, which I recommended, doesn't have onboard video for that very reason.

I care about playing games on my PC, but I would never spend $2,500 on a gaming rig. Why is he spending that much on a non-gaming rig?

You'll have to ask him that!

When I suggested some cost cutting, he replied he could afford it and didn't feel the need to start worrying about the price just yet.

I've never been in that position.  But I've been given to understand that it's rather nice!

10885

General Software Discussion / Re: HowTo make Thunderbird re-send 100s of emails from different senders?

« Last post by 40hz on December 27, 2008, 09:09 PM »

MailStore[/url] to backup up the email folder from Thunderbird and then restore them to GoogleMail ...

MailStore is useful anyway.

-Carol Haynes (December 27, 2008, 04:12 PM)

Couldn't agree more. Install this app ASAP.

10886

General Software Discussion / Re: HowTo make Thunderbird re-send 100s of emails from different senders?

« Last post by 40hz on December 27, 2008, 02:54 PM »

Would a setting up rule like this and manually running it on the relevant folder work?




Just be careful gmail doesn't think you're a spammer or a hacker because you're hammering one account with a ton of e-mails all at once. Good way to get your home e-mail account banned - or reported to your ISP.

I'd be more inclined to just do ten or so at a time and play it safe.

10887

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Neat Net Tricks

« Last post by 40hz on December 27, 2008, 02:47 PM »

RSS?

10888

Living Room / Re: Bad smells ... UPS recommendations ?

« Last post by 40hz on December 27, 2008, 02:45 PM »

That's because, currently, the powers that be meet resistance when trying to move ohm.

-cranioscopical (December 27, 2008, 02:24 PM)

Nevertheless, they still show great potential on the circuit.

10889

General Software Discussion / Re: Another 'Lifetime' license bites the dust

« Last post by 40hz on December 27, 2008, 02:31 PM »

Probably depends greatly on the exact wording of the license

-J-Mac (December 27, 2008, 11:14 AM)

I wrote an article about guarantees a few years back. In it, I offered the following as the perfect wording for an Unconditional Money-Back Guarantee:

We offer all our customers an Unconditional Money-Back Guarantee.

If for, any reason, you are not happy with a product or service you purchased from us:

UNDER NO CONDITIONS will you be given your money back. WE GUARANTEE IT.

Doesn't get more unconditional than that.

I ran it past an attorney of my acquaintance. His comment: "I like it!"

 

10890

Living Room / Re: Official DC meet-up in Berlin, Germany: January 3rd @ c-base

« Last post by 40hz on December 27, 2008, 02:18 PM »

Please post some pictures?

10891

Living Room / Re: Bad smells ... UPS recommendations ?

« Last post by 40hz on December 27, 2008, 02:16 PM »

Why oh why do they (still !!!) use 110 volt?

-Shades (December 27, 2008, 01:14 PM)

Gerald Weinberg said it the best:

"Things are the way they are because they got to be that way."

Put another way: The US uses 110-volts because that's what it uses.

Way back in the early days of electrical power, the US was one of the first places to wire itself up. And at the time, for various reasons, a 110-115 volt standard was considered the best way to go.

Years later, after better information was available, most other countries saw the advantages of going with a 220-volt standard. Unfortunately, by then the USA was sitting on a huge infrastructure of generators, wiring, and electrical devices running on the older voltage - and it was just too expensive to change. And with each passing year it became even more so.

So once again, in most cases, "good-enough" trumps "better" if "better" comes with a price tag.

10892

Living Room / Re: When you make your 100'th Post

« Last post by 40hz on December 27, 2008, 12:19 PM »

Re: moonlight's flv question:

Sure does look like potential spam.

See: http://flash4ed.com/flv.html

 

10893

General Software Discussion / Re: how can I convert swf files to avi?

« Last post by 40hz on December 27, 2008, 12:18 PM »

Query: are you the same moonlight as Moonlight Multimedia?

http://flash4ed.com/flv.html

Video Conversion
Convert your non-Flash video to the popular flv format

Do you have legacy video files you would like to convert to the most popular video format on the web? The format that will play on over 97% of today's browsers without forcing the user to download or upgrade a plugin? You have three choices: rely on YouTube, purchase video conversion software, or send your video to Moonlight Multimedia for a quick and economical solution.

Contact us today

10894

Living Room / Re: Bad smells ... UPS recommendations ?

« Last post by 40hz on December 27, 2008, 12:13 PM »

I've used Belkin, APC and TrippLite, UPS products. From my experience:

        Belkin

         Triplite

  APC

These days all I use or install for my clients is APC.

IMHO: they're still the best. Never had a single problem with an APC product, whether it was a small home Smart-UPS, or a server room multi-module Symmetra.

10895

Living Room / Re: What does it mean when unplugging the computer makes it forget the bios date?

« Last post by 40hz on December 26, 2008, 05:10 PM »

Very bizarre. Especially in absence of any damage to the battery holder.

Is there any debris or other thing shorting on/against the mobo? If you removed the mobo, check to see if there's anything caught under the board and that all grounding screws are installed. Chance you might have a hairline crack somewhere on the board that is preventing the battery current from getting to the clock. Check to see if board is flexed or screwed down too tightly.

Also scan for damaged/nicked traces on board. Try gently reseating all socketed chips by giving each one a gentle push after disconnecting the power cord.

Long shot - try reflashing your BIOS.

10896

General Software Discussion / Re: How do I stop selling myself v1agra?

« Last post by 40hz on December 26, 2008, 04:00 PM »

Hmm... maybe I could use a keyword for positive identification and send everything else from "me" to trash.

-nosh (December 26, 2008, 08:42 AM)

In T-Bird just use a nonsense text string as your subject line, and set your filters to move all mail from you with that string anywhere in the subject line to a folder labeled something clever like : From Me.

After that you can just purge whatever messages from you are left over - or write a second filter to do it after the first has executed.

In Outlook you might be able to do it with a single filter rule since Outlook (if I remember correctly) has an "else" action clause.

10897

General Software Discussion / Re: Another 'Lifetime' license bites the dust

« Last post by 40hz on December 26, 2008, 01:48 PM »

The reason I was so angry was that FruityLoops SOLD lifetime updates - they weren't included in the package price you had to buy a 'life time updates' product from them. THEN they moved the goal posts.

-Carol Haynes (December 12, 2008, 06:40 PM)

Carol: I am so with you on that one.

And it gets even better with their new "lifetime license."

How's this for a disclaimer:

http://flstudio.imag...timefreeupdates.html

Free FL Studio updates for life!

This might be hard to believe but buying (the online version of) FL Studio not only gets you the latest version of FL Studio but all new updates released.

This means you'll receive FL Studio 7.5, 8.0, 9.0, ... absolutely free. We believe you should have the functionality you paid for bugfixed for as long as we develop it.

   Users of the boxed version ...   
   
Lifetime free updates are only included in the online versions of FL Studio and are available to the users of the boxed version for $29 by clicking here.
   
      
You can find out what kind of new features our users have received for free during the last 5 years in our history page.


Lifetime Free Updates
   

Does this mean you will get everything we develop for free from now on ?

Not really: About 90% of the new stuff we do is built in to FL Studio as basic gear (for free) to improve the application and make it more competitive with other software on the market.

When we develop something new, like a synth or other module, we investigate whether we will build it  into the main app and include it in the next free update, or offer it as an optional module.

Don't worry: There will be hundreds of bugfixes, new features, synths, FX, ... provided free with each update released.

I especially appreciate how the people who purchase the boxed set have to pay extra for the same "free" updates. Talk about innovative thinking. That one has got to be a first!

10898

Living Room / Re: Article: Open source thrives in downturn

« Last post by 40hz on December 26, 2008, 11:53 AM »

I would also be hungry to know exactly WHAT they are deploying and just how mission-critical it is,

-Edvard (December 26, 2008, 11:23 AM)

Edvard: I think this can assuage your hunger for "More Cowbell."

Heise Online covered the Gartner report in a bit more detail. Full article at:

http://www.heise-onl...vasive--/news/111991

The survey revealed that open source was particularly popular in the infrastructure sector, but that the number of free business-related applications was on the increase. On the whole, says Gartner, you are just as likely to find open source solutions in business-critical as in non-critical areas.

***

Customer service applications are the leading non-infrastructure workload for which open source software is used, followed by enterprise integration, finance and administration, and business analytics applications.

These sound like fairly business-critical apps to me.

And yes, I must confess...I was sorely disappointed not to find any mention of Keypass in there...<*sigh*>... 

10899

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Free copy of Returnil Premium Edition available for limited time

« Last post by 40hz on December 26, 2008, 06:43 AM »

Worked like a charm for me too.

10900

Found Deals and Discounts / Free copy of Returnil Premium Edition available for limited time

« Last post by 40hz on December 25, 2008, 10:40 PM »

Found this over at techsupportalert.com

Link: http://www.techsuppo...free-until-jan-2.htm

Returnil is offering the Premium $24.95 version of their virtualization package for free until January 2, 2009.
...

How to Get Returnil Pro

Go to this page and follow the instructions: http://www.ghacks.ne...veaway-returnil-prem...

This page says the offer expires on the 24th of December 2008 but the Returnil page says it is good unil Jan 2, 2009.

Note that you won't get your license key emailed to you until the new year.

Thanks to regular contributor Rick Farrow for letting me know about this offer.

Gizmo

I just submitted my request on 25-Dec at 11:37pm EST and got a confirmation!

Returnil is a great app. Grab yourself a copy while you can.