Recent Posts

1776

Developer's Corner / What Eclipse Plugins Do You Use?

« Last post by tinjaw on December 10, 2006, 02:48 PM »

I do the majority of my development in Eclipse these days. I use the PyDev Extensions when coding in Python. I always use the Subclipse extension for use with Subversion.

I am curious to know what other plugins are worthwhile for Java and Python development in Eclipse. What plugins do you use?

1777

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Staff rotation tool

« Last post by tinjaw on December 10, 2006, 01:46 PM »

I have created a Trac site for this project. It is readonly to the world to avoid spammers. I encourage all of you to PM me and I will create a user account for you to contribute. I will especially need you folks to test and report bugs.

lanux128, I will PM you with your account information.

1778

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Online Password Generator by Veign

« Last post by tinjaw on December 10, 2006, 12:38 PM »

The big one is having some control over the format of the password. PCK uses "masks"

[attach=#1][/attach]

For example, I might want the template to be Word(4)+Number+Special+Word(6)

Words coming from the standard english word dictionary file.

1779

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Online Password Generator by Veign

« Last post by tinjaw on December 10, 2006, 11:17 AM »

For ideas, I suggest you take a look at the Password Construction Kit from ButtUglySoftware. I use that utility all the time and like all of the neat features it has. If your site did all that it did, I wouldn't have to worry about installing it on all my sysadmin workstations. 

1780

Official Announcements / Re: Prize list posted for the Accessibility Game Coding Contest - WOW $15,000+

« Last post by tinjaw on December 10, 2006, 09:47 AM »

A buddy of mine just came up with an excellent idea. 
Now I just need to come up with the time. 
But I just came up with a cool & fun idea on how to build it. 
So, I think I might just join in the fun on this. 

1781

Living Room / Re: Any members from Aussie here?

« Last post by tinjaw on December 10, 2006, 09:45 AM »

I happen to know that doublebogey is from Down Under.

1782

Developer's Corner / Re: Writing Good Software Documentation

« Last post by tinjaw on December 10, 2006, 09:41 AM »

brownstudy,

That is some excellent advice. And not just for n00bs either. 

1783

Living Room / ShowMeDo - Video Tutorials

« Last post by tinjaw on December 09, 2006, 07:59 PM »

Let's start out with their own description:

This site is dedicated to showing demonstrative videos produced by our community. For many subjects seeing something done is the most effective way to learn, whether it's peering over an expert's shoulder while they explain how to program or watching while someone grinds beans and makes coffee. Please watch, learn and perhaps share your knowledge back.

It is a community site where community members can request howto/tutorial videos and other community members make them and put them up on ShowMeDo. They have areas for Python, Java, Linux, Ruby, Blender, and Screencasting. There is also an "Others" section.

Community members can vote on a video's worth and they have a forum for discussion. They also have a blog and a wiki.

ShowMeDo

1784

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: 90% off Automise @ www.bitsdujour.com - looks like heavy stuff for Admin people

« Last post by tinjaw on December 09, 2006, 01:20 PM »

I just noticed I got one of these as well. Is anybody else looking to buy Automise?

1785

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Staff rotation tool

« Last post by tinjaw on December 04, 2006, 09:20 AM »

I'm finishing up a paying gig first. (Only so you can get my full attention, of course) I should be able to start on this mid-week.

1786

General Software Discussion / Krugle - a search engine for developers

« Last post by tinjaw on December 03, 2006, 05:25 PM »

I am surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet. 

http://krugle.com
[attachthumb=#1][/attachthumb]

At Krugle  you can:

• Find and review source code
• Find projects and technical stuff
• Save, annotate and share results

It is obviously going to be competing with Google's Code Search. They have a short demo available.

1787

Official Announcements / Re: Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced

« Last post by tinjaw on December 03, 2006, 03:57 PM »

online4cb, Todd,

Thanks! The box from Microsoft should show up right about Christmas Day!

1788

Living Room / Video on Linux, Free Software, and Open Source

« Last post by tinjaw on December 03, 2006, 11:18 AM »

If you don't know the history of GNU, Free Software and Open Source there is a good video on YouTube. It is focused on Linux and Linus, but covers the Open Source community. It is a recording off of Swedish television, but 95% of it is in English.

The Code Linux

1789

General Software Discussion / FUD Forum (forum software)

« Last post by tinjaw on December 03, 2006, 11:05 AM »

If you are researching forum software you should include FUD Forum. The two features that brought FUD Forum to my attention are:

• NNTP & Mailing List integration, allowing FUDforum to be used to archive newsgroups & mailing lists, as well as allow forum members to post messages to newsgroups and mailing lists via the forum.
• Threaded View (by default standard flat view is used)

There is a list of features available.

I played with it for a few months and thought it worked very well.

1790

General Software Discussion / Re: Does anyone know a good scheduling program?

« Last post by tinjaw on December 02, 2006, 07:52 PM »

Dell[a],

I am going to be working on lanux128's idea for my N.A.N.Y. project. Let's take a look at it when it is finished and see if we can modify it to meet your needs.

1791

General Software Discussion / Re: Change Of Address "3"

« Last post by tinjaw on December 01, 2006, 08:57 PM »

I have not used Application Mover, but I have used other programs by Funduc Software and they are all excellent programs that I recommend often.

Application Mover is a tool that relocates installed programs from one path to another on your hard disk. Application Mover takes files found in the path specified in the 'Current Path' field (see below) and moves them to the 'New Path' path. Application Mover scans the windows registry for references to files located in the 'Current' field and changes those references to the 'New' path. Application Mover also scans all windows shortcuts in the Start Menu and adjusts path references to the new program location. Finally, *.ini and Install.log files present in the original program path are checked for strings matching the old path location. If found, these strings are changed to the new location. Confirmation dialogs are available if you enable the 'Confirm changes' checkbox (see below). If a file is 'busy' and cannot be changed to the new location, a reboot prompt is offered. Pending changes are then completed after the reboot.

Application Mover is designed to move programs from one path to a different path on the same hard disk or to another hard disk on that same computer. The program works on specify paths (folders). For example, you can move: c:\prog\editor -> c:\oldstuff\edit or to a path on a different drive such d:\rare\editor. Application Mover is not intended to be a clone utility. Technical users can put the program to use in other ways but the standard functioning of Application Mover is that the physical drive arrangement & lettering should remain constant on your machine.

[attachimg=#1][/attachimg]

1792

Living Room / Re: [Request] Review my new site

« Last post by tinjaw on November 30, 2006, 11:16 AM »

Good Luck!

1793

Living Room / Re: Nice New Blog by DC member on "Social Computation and Creativity"

« Last post by tinjaw on November 30, 2006, 10:43 AM »

Sounds interesting. I just added the RSS to my daily read feed.

1794

Living Room / Re: Online social site social enterprise enquiry. (collaboration and advice need

« Last post by tinjaw on November 30, 2006, 10:36 AM »

Edward,

I am already spread too thin, but I would be happy to provide gratis consulting in any area I can for a good cause.

For selling digital downloads via open source, check out Zen Cart. It may meet your need out-of-the-box.

Please feel free to PM me or email me directly at [email protected].

Good Luck

1795

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Staff rotation tool

« Last post by tinjaw on November 29, 2006, 07:53 PM »

Oh yeah. MS Windows as the target platform I assume. Or do you need java for multi-platform?

1796

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Staff rotation tool

« Last post by tinjaw on November 29, 2006, 07:53 PM »

I can easily make the app output to HTML and even build in a web server or the ability to ftp it to a hosted site. All that stuff is available as components these days. Just plug and play.

1797

Official Announcements / Re: --> Winner of Veign's Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite Announced

« Last post by tinjaw on November 29, 2006, 07:50 PM »

For those one or two of you that might be curious about what I said when asked about my programming background and how I plan to use the prize, here is a copy of my entry. (Complete with spelling errors)

My Programming Background: I started programming when I was in junior high school. Our school bought a TRS-80 Model I Level I and I taught myself how to program BASIC by staying after school while the math teacher graded homework. That same teacher asked me to teach math class one day to explain the jackpot program I wrote and how it used statistics, probability, and randomly generated numbers. I was hooked. I saved up $318 dollars, my dad matched it dollar for dollar, and I bought a TRS-80 Color Computer. I quickly learned Extended Color BASIC and wrote programs to assist me while playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends. In high school, another math teacher started a BASIC programming class using the school\'s brand new Apple II computers. The first few minutes of class was instruction with the rest in the \"computer lab\". The students in the class quickly found out that I knew more than the teacher, and I asked me more questions than him. Later in life I got a job at Borland. I started there doing tech support for ReportSmith, but in a few months I had taught myself Delphi and moved over to the Delphi Developer Support team. I became a certified Delphi Client Server Programmer and wrote a chapter on building web applications in Special Edition: Using Delphi 3. I moved over to the Enterprise Developer Support team when Borland bought a company and had a CORBA product. On that team I started to learn C++ and Java because most of the developers using the CORBA product coded in those two languages. I taught myself enough Java, that when Borland participated in drafting the 0.9 version of the new Enterprise Java Beans (EJB) specification I moved to the QA team and helped build their EJB server product. While at Borland, I was asked by the former VP of marketing at Borland that launched Delphi to join the company he was then at as a technical program manager for their new Visual Designer. In that position I worked with sophisticated enterprise developers as they tackled Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) issues. It was there that I learned SQL and the use of middleware. That company, Active Software, merged with webMethods, a company who helped define B2B. It was then that I taught myself about XML, web services, WSDL, UDDI, and other related technologies. I because a Systems Engineer and managed their corporate HQ demonstration center, which meant teaching myself Linux, Solaris, HPUX, and Windows 2000 Server along with CISCO PIX firewalls, NAT, and VPNs. These days I work for Northrop Grumman on contract with the US Army at their Command and General Staff College. It is here that I taught myself BASH shell scripting, NSIS installer scripting, virtual machines using VMware, Xen, FreeVPS, and OpenVZ. Recently I have begun to teach myself Python, and have already written two utilities to assist in my work. I already have several DOS batch scripts that have been adopted as SOP by the college and I just recently wrote a small utility in Java to allow an instructor to do something with one of the simulations that he could not do with the simulation alone. He has taught four different classes now using that utility. While I wrote it I taught myself NetBeans and then Eclipse. I also needed to teach myself version control, so I learned to administer and use Subversion. I also learned to use Mantis for bug tracking and Trac to coordinate development work.

How I might put this prize to use: I have talked to a few different entities in the past nine months, and I think it is time to take the leap. I have begun working on a few projects of my own that I hope will allow me to break into the work of recreational computer wargaming as well as develop some programs for use by the US Army. It is for these projects that MS Visual Studio and MSDN would prove invaluable. I am struggling to recover from a bankruptcy and cannot afford to purchase such a high ticket item. Such a prize would allow me to upgrade from XP Home to Windows XP Professional on my laptop and get Server 2003 running on the server in my apartment. I could start to develop my wargame in C++ or C# and use Visual SourceSafe for version control. For the programs that I want to build as a defense contractor (I just started one last week!) I will need to build and test against Exchange Server and SQL Server. I have been trying to find a used copy of Visio do help with the design documents and a new copy of Visio for Enterprise Architects would be worn out within a few weeks. Not to mention all of the proposals and documentation that will be created using Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. I am sure to venture into new areas requiring MSDN. For example, just last night I was working on a side project I thought up and pitched to Northrop Grumman and IDSI. I have some working code in Python but I need to do some conversion between the standard lat-lon coordinates to the military MGRS. I found some open source code from the NGA, but it is in C. I researched and discovered SWIG that will allow me to wrap the C code and use it in my Python code. All of the examples and the default development environment is for MS Visual Studio. A product I don\'t currently own. Instant use case there!! Additionally, a close buddy of mine is developing an online Role Playing Game (RPG) game server using ASP.NET and has been asking me to work with him. With this prize I can setup a secure site for us to do development together by using IIS, ISA Server, and SharePoint Portal Server for collaboration. I can use Team Foundation Server for all of these projects and my collaborators. On top of all this, I have just pledged to join DonationCoder\'s N.A.N.Y. challenge and could use that as a great way for me to get familiar with Visual Studio and give back to the DC community.

I think I have a pretty good leg to stand on when I claim that such a prize would be fully appreciated for what it really is and used for years to come for a good cause (and to fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way!!).

Just a quick note to our non-American friends: The last part is a joke that I knew mouser would understand, but you all may not. If you read what I wrote it kinda sounds like I am describing myself as Superman. Superman is a comic book super hero that was popular when I was a child. What I added was a quote from the television cartoon that I grew up watching. I was poking fun at myself. Here is a link that may put it in perspective.

1798

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Staff rotation tool

« Last post by tinjaw on November 29, 2006, 07:37 PM »

First question: Do you want an application to run on your computer or one that only runs as a website? I'm assuming the former, but I can just as easily do the latter.

1799

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Staff rotation tool

« Last post by tinjaw on November 29, 2006, 07:34 PM »

Well, I think I'll pony up and take this one for my N.A.N.Y project. Be prepared for lots of questions and I expect you to beta test 36 hours each day !!!

1800

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: 90% off Automise @ www.bitsdujour.com - looks like heavy stuff for Admin people

« Last post by tinjaw on November 29, 2006, 06:32 PM »

That looks like such a good deal that I just bought it sight unseen.