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1426

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 limited time upgrade discount starting tomorrow (June 26th)

« Last post by Dormouse on July 15, 2009, 02:28 PM »

"Windows 7 has become the fastest selling software operating system package at DSGi, owner of PC World, Currys and Dixons.co.uk", the company said in a statement.

"Demand in the first 12 hours of pre-order launch saw sales of Windows 7 exceed 25% of DSGi’s total annual sales of its predecessor, Windows Vista."

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General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 limited time upgrade discount starting tomorrow (June 26th)

« Last post by Dormouse on July 15, 2009, 02:19 PM »

You also have the right to cancel an order after you receive the goods for 7 days (or is it 10) under the EU Distance Selling Regulations so even if you forget and they charge your card you can still claim back the money (less delivery charges).

-Carol Haynes (July 15, 2009, 01:49 PM)

Effectively means that if you cancel before they send it you get all your money back.

What interested me was the different prices they were charging.
Ebuyer and Amazon were at approx £45 for the Home version, Amazon were at approx £90 for the Pro version & Ebuyer were £80. Play.com were at full (MS) price for both.
And I still don't understand what is going on with Amazon having stuff on sale and then reverting to Signing up to be notified and back again. ATM, Home Version is back at signing up - will be interesting to see if it reappears for pre-order.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 limited time upgrade discount starting tomorrow (June 26th)

« Last post by Dormouse on July 15, 2009, 10:40 AM »

Ebuyer sold out very quickly; Home much faster than Pro.
Amazon kept switching from having it on sale, to not, to having just one (Home or Pro) back to none or both. (Has both available atm). Has stated that sales in first 8 hours exceeded the whole of the 17 week Vista pre-order period.
Play.com has had both all the time (but at full price unlike the two above).
The others I checked didn't have any for sale at all that I saw, though I didn't check often.
I'm OK 

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General Software Discussion / Re: Google Chrome: Time for a Second Chance?

« Last post by Dormouse on July 15, 2009, 04:23 AM »

FF has its extensions. They are its good point.

Chrome is fast. And given that FF and ie both have critical and unpatched vulnerabilities that only really leaves Chrome and Opera and a few others for the moment if you want to be secure (I exclude Safari personally).

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General Software Discussion / Re: Generic.dx Trojan

« Last post by Dormouse on July 13, 2009, 04:59 AM »

i doubt this will help you specifically since it's a little involved and it's not specifically about your issue,

-mouser (July 13, 2009, 01:32 AM)

Except that in a situation like this, it seems to be the only safe way of checking it out without risking the computer

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General Software Discussion / Re: free scaled down word replacment

« Last post by Dormouse on July 11, 2009, 02:20 PM »

I noticed that BitsduJour have One SE Office Suite coming up next Saturday. Contains 20 applications, including a Word Processor and a PDF editor, all MS Office compatible. Of course, it's not free, but not too bad - $29.40 after the 58% discount - but nothing like the cheap price for Softmaker (I got mine for free). For what it's worth, it has a decent review on cnet. Can't decide if I should download it; very unlikely to buy it since I already have so many alternatives.

In practice, I do nearly all my writing on TreeDBNotes (which does have a free verssion, but which I would not describe as a WP, though it does do tables). Either print from it directly or export & then import into a WP. Only time I use other progs is when I need the documents saved separately rather than as part of a database.

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General Software Discussion / Re: free scaled down word replacment

« Last post by Dormouse on July 11, 2009, 09:42 AM »

I think Atlantis/Nova is the fastest word processor for start time.
Just click the shortcut and like .10 seconds, it's up!

-cmpm (July 11, 2009, 09:14 AM)

Much slower than that for me. 10secs + when first starts. Approx 3-4 seconds when restarting.
And it's another one without tables.

1433

Living Room / Re: Advice on Netbooks

« Last post by Dormouse on July 08, 2009, 08:37 PM »

Yes indeed. 

Or nvidia (or ?) will produce a better package.

I don't think that any of the hardware is designed to produce the best netbooks, just that it's the most suitable hardware already hanging around. Pretty much also true for the OS & other software. Maybe that will change with Chrome.

If it were for me, I'd probably still be waiting to see when Chrome arrives, but there's pretty much a deadline of a few weeks time, so I'll not be waiting that long. The Toshiba is looking really good for battery life & keyboard, but not available in UK yet (and possibly not very Linux friendly).

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Living Room / Re: Advice on Netbooks

« Last post by Dormouse on July 08, 2009, 01:09 PM »

The AOA110 requires virtually complete disassembly to install extra RAM, (but it is relatively straightforward and there are guides), and you won't get a HDD in there without some case surgery, (cutting some plastic standoffs).

-4wd (July 08, 2009, 06:18 AM)

I'm assuming that there will always be the option to switch with the 10v since it comes in both versions. Don't expect to change it though; or upgrade the RAM.

If you search around you may find an AOA150 going cheap - they were the 160GB, 8.9" LCD XP Home version.

What about EasyPeasy

-4wd (July 08, 2009, 06:18 AM)

I'll look at anything that seems to be out there offering better value and will wait a little while before doing anything to see if there are any adverse reports on the Dell.

I may well try EasyPeasy, and eeeBuntu, and UNR, but I suspect that we'll end up with the full version of Ubuntu. There's enough room for it (just), the screen is big enough (just) and there will be very little added to the basic install. Data may well end up mostly on a SD or USB; but will probably be backed up daily to the desktop & the net anyway. Easier to have exactly the same install on both machines, if it is workable.

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Living Room / Re: Advice on Netbooks

« Last post by Dormouse on July 08, 2009, 02:51 AM »

I've seen references to Moblin being buggy, so haven't looked closer. Since it's not for me, I'd rather keep Ubuntu anyway since that's what she has on her desktop and prefers.

The incompatibilites are mostly about the ancilliary stuff. The Dell comes with Ubuntu 8.04 installed, everything working. Replacing it with 9.04 seems to disable the internal microphone. Presumably a way will be found around that since Dell had 8.04 working. Strange that Dell haven't just made available the customisation code they used to make the OS work on their hardware.

The Samsung NC10 has problems with suspend/resume & sound recording. I've not chased down details for other models, just taken info from the wiki. There seems to be some brand consistency in terms of general compatibility.

It's not really an issue as netbooks do seem remarkably similar, with major differences in keyboard, battery life & price and minor differences in lots of other ways. Not concerned about trackpads as mouse will be used anyway. Samsung do seem to have good battery life and good keyboards, but they're not at the cheaper end so no problem in excluding them from consideration.

Big real question is about the SSD. But it is cheaper and seems likely to be sufficient since this will just be a note taker (it's not intended to work as a standard laptop) and any sound reduction will be good; should be possible to replace with HDD later if necessary, though the Dell does seem to require a lot of taking apart even to do something simple like change RAM.

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Living Room / Re: Advice on Netbooks

« Last post by Dormouse on July 07, 2009, 06:38 PM »

atm, I'm considering a Dell 10v with 6 cell battery, 8BG SSD, Ubuntu & mouse.
Ubuntu is, apparently, very much preferred so incompatible hardware (Samsung) won't be considered. 9" probably big enough with decently designed keyboard (therefore better), but all current models seem to be 10".

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General Software Discussion / Re: free scaled down word replacment

« Last post by Dormouse on July 06, 2009, 07:11 PM »

qjot doesn't do tables at all.

Whether it matters depends on whether you use them of course, but I always regard the ability to do tables well as an essential element of a word processor. Lots of note programs do them well too.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Freeware Image Organizer (Especially Tags/Keywords)?

« Last post by Dormouse on July 04, 2009, 03:19 AM »

if i may take it one step further  from just cataloging to a more professional usage

-Mr.G (July 04, 2009, 12:55 AM)

I think that for most professionals the cataloging is as professional a usage as there is. Fundamental in the need for good workflow and managing very large numbers of images fast (and good database import/export as insurance against future changes). That's why the best programs in the area are not, and will not, be free. Most people may have smaller or lesser needs, or don't yet realise what they do need, but the people who do are particular in their requirements and willing to pay to have them met.

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Living Room / Re: Torrent Giant, The Pirate Bay sold, will go legal

« Last post by Dormouse on July 02, 2009, 06:07 PM »

Any Spotify users here who can vouch for how good or annoying it is?

-nosh (July 02, 2009, 02:27 AM)

Pretty wonderful really. No noticeable lag, huge choice (though not complete by any means, and especially light on some types of music). Certainly made me wonder how much point there is in having hard drives devoted to storing music. You're not supposed to record it, but you can and programs like Replay Music will name most tracks accurately as they do it.

Not sure how well the business plan will work out in the end or where the income will come from (enough people paying, lots more ads, addon benefits?), but if there is enough music, and I can put it on my players when I want (ie recording allowed), and can use it on my phone etc, I'd be happy to pay a subscription. And I probably wouldn't keep huge amounts of music stored long-term (easier to get it again from Spotify) ... and I had thought I was a hard core supporter of actually owning CDs etc (never really saw the attraction of buying tracks from iTunes etc)  

1440

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Resource Tuner 50% off on Bits Du Jour Today, June 10

« Last post by Dormouse on July 02, 2009, 05:09 PM »

Who are all those people?

-pexplorer (July 02, 2009, 12:27 PM)

Well, me for one.
I'm not a programmer so there are major limits to what I can do even if I have and can open the source code. But I have been able to use Resource Tuner to change hard coded limits in a program I have. Very, very useful - and I wouldn't have been able to do it any other way. And none of the people who might have been able to do it in the code actually did (and someone has since told me he's not been able to get the source to compile). Haven't tried to do much with RT since (no time and no real need), but it's nice to know I can have a look at a few things if the need does arise.
It's enough to make me interested in PE, though realistically I know that the chances of me understanding enough to do anything at all with it are very slight which would make the cost prohibitive fot me even if the discount were massive.
I can see that RT wouldn't appeal to people who can code, like, it seems, most people here, but it was certainly a good discovery for me and I can see that PE might offer even more to people who could use it.

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Living Room / Re: Advice on Netbooks

« Last post by Dormouse on July 02, 2009, 09:30 AM »

That sounds pretty good.
I'm not looking for myself (atm anyway), so the next stage will be to go and try how they work & feel physically & then think about it. We could try a laptop, but I think they are likely to be too heavy & battery life too short for the main need; the size of a laptop is both a + (bigger screen and keyboard) and a - (leaves little room on a small table/desk).

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Living Room / Re: Advice on Netbooks

« Last post by Dormouse on July 02, 2009, 05:42 AM »

Regarding the power usage angle: people with HDDs have reported the same battery life as those using the same battery in SSD versions.

The simple use angle: it depends on the operating system.  W.r.t. the AAO netbook, Linpus loads faster and is faster for all program operations because it writes less to the SSD, whereas XP runs like an absolute dog with complete system slow downs every 30s to a few minutes as it does a lot of small writes keeping the filesystem up-to-date, etc, etc.

-4wd (July 01, 2009, 07:49 PM)

Wouldn't need XP. Quite happy with Linux. Weight, usability, battery life are the most critical factors. Long start up times could be a problem.

1443

General Software Discussion / Re: free scaled down word replacment

« Last post by Dormouse on July 01, 2009, 03:58 PM »

Polyedit doesn't have controls for editing tables. Planned for version 6 apparently. I stopped testing it when I found that.

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Living Room / Re: Advice on Netbooks

« Last post by Dormouse on July 01, 2009, 10:53 AM »

I'm interested in the SSD Vs HDD issue.

The advantages of SSD are supposed to be silence, robustness, power usage.
The advantages of HD are supposed to be size and speed.

For relatively simple usage (eg just note taking), is the speed of the SSD a real issue? Does it make a big difference to load times? Better power usage is an important factor if you are likely to need the machine on most of the day with no access to power sockets.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 limited time upgrade discount starting tomorrow (June 26th)

« Last post by Dormouse on June 27, 2009, 03:19 PM »

This statement is in line with everything I have read so far. EU users get all the benefits of upgrade pricing with the benefits of having a full non-upgrade version.

-Innuendo (June 27, 2009, 03:09 PM)

But it's not strictly true. They talk about the reduction for the promo, but the prices are higher than the upgrade promo in the US. Good deal if you want the non-upgrade version, not a good deal if you want the cheapest price.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 limited time upgrade discount starting tomorrow (June 26th)

« Last post by Dormouse on June 27, 2009, 02:49 PM »

wonder will that mean there'll be no upgrade pricing available in Europe at all - even when it's released? (just because of the IE fiasco?)

-tomos (June 27, 2009, 02:15 PM)

They have already announced the pricing for upgrades in Europe. It's just that they won't have an upgrade version available for quite a while, and it will be too late for the promo.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 limited time upgrade discount starting tomorrow (June 26th)

« Last post by Dormouse on June 27, 2009, 11:05 AM »

Euro prices are commonly reported as the same as £ prices, ... so much cheaper in euros.

We'll see what retailers actually do when it becomes available for pre-order.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Duplicate Finder 2009

« Last post by Dormouse on June 27, 2009, 07:33 AM »

I've been reading this thread without ever having used, or realising I had a desire to use, one of these progs. But if they deep scan/listen and check on the net, does this mean that one of the functions is naming tracks recorded from streamed audio?

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General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 limited time upgrade discount starting tomorrow (June 26th)

« Last post by Dormouse on June 27, 2009, 07:27 AM »

The trouble is that it is not a simple currency conversion for the UK.

MS aren't offering the upgrade versions at all, but are offering promo prices on the retail version.
For instance, Home Premium £50 = approx $83 at current rates. There are advantages for some people with this. Still have to see what sale prices will actually be. Compared to prices in the past, the pre-order pricing is very good and MS seem to have the marketing right on this to get W7 off to a good start, unlike Vista. Feel sorry for anyone who paid good money for Vista, but that's probably what has got the rest of us better prices now.

The long-term prices, like-for-like, are of course higher in the UK, but the % seems to vary a lot according to the version.

Not sure how easy it will be to access US versions, or how well they will install/activate. Will be watching out for any info on this.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 7 limited time upgrade discount starting tomorrow (June 26th)

« Last post by Dormouse on June 26, 2009, 07:06 PM »

There's WinXP mode too. Presumably that will become less useful as the years go by.