Recent Posts

1801

Living Room / Re: which hierarchical note program?

« Last post by Dormouse on May 01, 2008, 03:30 PM »

I just checked out Maple (I noticed it was mentioned), and it is FANTASTIC.

-imtrobin (May 01, 2008, 01:31 AM)

I had a quick look at the website and couldn't see what would make it better than TreeDBNotes. And the features mentioned are in the free version of TreeDBNotes.

1802

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by Dormouse on April 30, 2008, 11:03 AM »

There's a twofold problem with using structured folders as your system.

The first is that everything needs to be put somewhere when created (else you have a holding folder that you work on intermittently) and this sort of decision & typing a name etc is more work than giving a tag.

The second is that everything fits singularly in a fixed hierarchy. So, only one way to categorise. Whereas, it's easy to add two or three or more tags if you want in a tagging/keyword system.

Not bothering with a structure at all might be effective if the search engine does everything you want.

Personally, I'm finding it easier to have everything of a type within a program rather than opening files all the time.

1803

General Software Discussion / Re: Office 2007 Search Command add-in

« Last post by Dormouse on April 28, 2008, 05:05 PM »

This looks as if it could be useful.

So far 2007 looks like a simplification (making Office easier to use if you don't already know where things are on the menus) AND a dumbing down (a lot of 2003 features are very hard to find and some are just not there at all).

This might just make it a bit less dumb.

One issue I do have is that 2007 and 2003 do not cohabit comfortably. And, without any improvements, its looking as if Word 2007 will have to go.

1804

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Dormouse on April 26, 2008, 06:20 PM »

- but it is fast!

-Curt (April 26, 2008, 05:39 PM)

But slow for me. I started it on a search on my C drive (no option to search all drives that I could find), I then switched to SearchGT doing the same search across 3 drives (total GB over ten times greater). SearchGT completed its search quite a while before BareGrep/

1805

Image Manager Shootout / Re: Xnview vs. IrfanView - integrity issue examined

« Last post by Dormouse on April 26, 2008, 10:08 AM »

if there was such impropriety in the past,

-Steven Avery (April 26, 2008, 09:18 AM)

May or may not be. It's my impression that Irfan explicitly mentions those points he believes he can prove. He may suspect, or have only circumstantial evidence for, a whole lot more. If he doesn't, its hard to see where the extent of the anger comes from.

I have both IrfanView and XNView - but I use both of them very rarely. I use Dopus for everyday image viewing and Faststone for anything in a bit more depth. So I don't think I am biased one way or the other.

With the evidence available, I don't feel able to believe bad of either. Something is not right in the situation, but I have no idea how big that something is or how to apportion any 'blame'.

1806

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron? Hardly

« Last post by Dormouse on April 26, 2008, 06:41 AM »

OSX had lots of problems when it launched and various versions have had their own issues. Vista is still being avoided by people wanting productivity.

The recommendation for productivity has always been not to switch to a new version until you know it all works as it should. Usually at least a revision or two down the line. A lot of corporates are still running on NT/2000, though most have decided that XP is stable enough now. Not an issue about Linux taking more time or not being a desktop OS of choice. No sensibly run production environment would have installed 8.04 immediately on its release.

I have one installation of Vista (and it will be the only one ever). I have one installation of 8.04 (which is actually doing what it needs to do). But the rest are XP Pro & 7.10 and it will stay like that until I know an upgrade will do everything we need reliably (and I am just talking about a home network here). If I had just the one machine, new stuff would only go on in virtualisation mode.

We just have to be realistic here; new versions of nearly everything tend to have bugs. And the more new big features there are, the more bugs there tend to be.

1807

Living Room / Re: My New website ...

« Last post by Dormouse on April 25, 2008, 06:21 PM »

Lovely part of the world.

Clearly fine as an initial website. I agree with Mouser's impression. And clearly identifies you as embedded in the local community.

My natural inclination was to click on the sheep, though; so I'd make the sheep a button too. I'm always slightly irritated by having to look for the enter button. In practice,I prefer having the menus available on the first screen, but that may just be me.

I'd also add Linux to your list. You may not feel expert - but you can tell people how expert you feel - and most problems will probably be within your compass. And there won't be many locals who will actually want support for a Linux machine, anyway. But it would help the impression that they can take all their computer problems to you.

Good luck.

1808

General Software Discussion / Re: What's a good memorization software?

« Last post by Dormouse on April 25, 2008, 05:19 PM »

And I really like the fact that FullRecall is for Windows and Linux and PPC and is portable.

One question though. Is the advantage of scheduling and shuffling using these progs really better than having sequential Qs & As in Powerpoint where you can get much more control over layout impact etc?

1809

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: MiniReview of Linkman URL Organizer and Search Tool

« Last post by Dormouse on April 25, 2008, 06:57 AM »

After reading the review, I downloaded and tried Linkman out. Never really got the hang of it at the beginning & stopped using it and then uninstalled when the trial ended. Maybe its because I use Opera & don't need it as much as ie users. And I don't have a massive number of favourites. Maybe its because I didn't read the 90 page manual. Maybe its a natural inability.

I can see an advantage to having a prog that keeps links with a bit more info than just the url - but for me it has to be very, very easy to use. I'd add things to the drop basket and not find them there when I looked later and it was easier to let it go than to try to read manuals or find out why. And the drop basket did get in the way, and I kept moving it around. I'd probably have preferred a small, hidden and zoomable basket somewhere on the top of the screen. (And maybe I could have pressed a couple of buttons and made it do that).

None of this is meant to be a criticism of Linkman; just a question of whether this type of software really makes my life easier or not. I'll possibly try again another time.

1810

General Software Discussion / Re: Carbonite Online Backup

« Last post by Dormouse on April 25, 2008, 02:13 AM »

The cost of b/w and the shortage of really high speed internet access (and backup accounts) mean that an online solution is unsuitable for really large collections, unless you will never need it all back in a hurry. And it would still take time to get there.

As you say, HDDs are cheap. You can slip them in and out of a caddy just like we used to do with floppies. For smaller quantities, the same can be done with USB sticks. These are the only realonably high speed, cheap solutions for really large amounts of data. And easily portable and convenient enough to be taken off-site for extra protection.

I think online soutions are best for a smaller amount of data you may want quickly (eg for system backup) or large amounts of stuff (eg photos) that will just stay on the online server in case you lose them locally but will never be needed at any sort of speed.

1811

General Software Discussion / Re: Carbonite Online Backup

« Last post by Dormouse on April 24, 2008, 12:35 AM »

I think that is Dreamhost's approach. The T&C are there to protect them if necessary. There are other hosts out there though who will aggressively implement the same terms on accounts that are using more resources than they would like. How can they tell the difference? Well, its their decision with no appeal and no right to a refund if you break the T&C. As I say, I don't believe you will get this sort of problem with Dreamhost.

1812

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Resource Tuner 50% off on Bits Du Jour Tuesday, April 22

« Last post by Dormouse on April 22, 2008, 02:34 PM »

I'd seen it coming up on BdJ but it never occurred to me that I might have a use for it until I saw the post here. I'll d/l it now and, with an offer standing open to the end of the month, I have a chance to see if I can do anything with it. Thanks Yuri.

1813

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by Dormouse on April 22, 2008, 11:11 AM »

Info Select = Long established program for Windows and Palm. No PPC or smartphone version.
All that suggests a company/product not really at the cutting edge in product development and it looks a bit old fashioned too (not necessarily a bad thing, but ...)

OTOH, 2007 does run on Linux under Crossover.
And $50 a year, always with the most recent version, does not seem bad value when compared to the exhorbitant cost of a purchase (& $100 an upgrade!).

Since there is now a 30 day trial, I can imagine that I would consider it if/when my new current system seems to be failing in a place Info Select might address. But not otherwise.

1814

General Software Discussion / Re: EverNote beta 2.2.0.372 has some nice new features

« Last post by Dormouse on April 21, 2008, 02:58 PM »

The time and effort invested in the data could be substantial and its not likely that you could stay with 2.2 forever. So, if you think 3.0 is the wrong direction, then you need to look away from Evernote. Continuing with 2.2 would be a short/medium term option only.

1815

Living Room / Re: Fujitsu Scansnap S300 - Looks Nice; Anyone Using One?

« Last post by Dormouse on April 21, 2008, 02:17 PM »

And if you got a book from which you need to scan a few pages or many pages for that matter, would it tear your heart out if you had to tear the pages to scan the pages with Scansnap ?

-patteo (April 21, 2008, 01:12 AM)

Much easier to use a camera.

1816

Living Room / Re: Fujitsu Scansnap S300 - Looks Nice; Anyone Using One?

« Last post by Dormouse on April 21, 2008, 02:01 PM »

That's a WHOLE lot faster than I can scan with my ancient HP flatbed - I'm guessing, but I doubt I can do more than 3 sheets a mintue max.

-Darwin (April 21, 2008, 10:50 AM)

And your HP probably doesn't do double sided automatically as part of the quoted speed.

1817

Living Room / Re: Fujitsu Scansnap S300 - Looks Nice; Anyone Using One?

« Last post by Dormouse on April 21, 2008, 02:00 PM »

If you need properly portable, then the S510 isn't it.

Otherwise the difference in numbers makes the S510 much more usable as well as sturdier. I'm not sure I'd trust it to do 50 sheets at a time - but that probably means I wouldn't trust the S300 to do 10.

If your projected usage is low enough to make the numbers for the S300 seem OK, then do you really have enough need to justify the expense at all?

1818

Living Room / Re: Fujitsu Scansnap S300 - Looks Nice; Anyone Using One?

« Last post by Dormouse on April 21, 2008, 09:17 AM »

Having checked the difference between the S500 & the S300, it seems that the S500 is a heavier duty machine - so please take my comments on the basis that my only experience is with the S500 & equivalents.

1819

General Software Discussion / Re: Carbonite Online Backup

« Last post by Dormouse on April 21, 2008, 09:13 AM »

Thanks, but I meant I don't understand the difference between hosting a website and putting your private backup files on the space?

-Perry Mowbray (April 21, 2008, 05:25 AM)

That's what I was trying to address.
If everyone only has their websites there, then the space needed is websiteGB.
If they have their backup files there too, then the space needed is websiteGB + backupBG.

If some people only have backups, then it is not necessarily more expensive to host them - but most websites are very small in terms of space, and even smaller in terms of transfer so the average backup usage is likely to be higher.

1820

General Software Discussion / Re: Carbonite Online Backup

« Last post by Dormouse on April 21, 2008, 04:27 AM »

I'm not sure what this policy is meant to do though, as I thought that data storage at $x/month would be worth the same to them as a html storage at the same $x/month? Where do they lose out with just data storage, or is it just data storage is worth more than a website?

-Perry Mowbray (April 21, 2008, 03:37 AM)

It basically increases their costs by increasing the average amount stored on each account. the amounts of space and bandwidth they quote cannot be economically provided at the price they charge. They rely on many customers not using much - and it is the average usage that decides their actual cost base.

1821

General Software Discussion / Re: Carbonite Online Backup

« Last post by Dormouse on April 21, 2008, 04:24 AM »

Dreamhost are pretty accommodating though. It's unlikely that they'd see it as a problem with most users, and if they did with you, the'd discuss it before doing anything.

1822

General Software Discussion / Re: The great free screen capture shootout for Windows! (Screenshot Captor gets nod)

« Last post by Dormouse on April 21, 2008, 04:19 AM »

Congratulations well deserved.

I downloaded Screenshot Captor a while ago and thought "WOW, how powerful!"

And since then I've nearly always used the free Faststone prog. 

Mostly because I'm used to it, and it's simple, and my needs are simple.

I really ought to tell myself to fire Screenshot Captor up more often.

1823

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by Dormouse on April 21, 2008, 04:05 AM »

Pierre might add the ability to "import" the doc format when the MS Word will be integrated to SQLNotes as an HTML editor. But I don't know... 

-Armando (April 21, 2008, 12:19 AM)

If I had a robot attached to the computer, I think he'd add the ability to do the washing up from inside SQLnotes 

I'm not sure that adding the doc format would necessarily be that helpful in the end. There are so many versions of the doc format and all different so, unless they were all added, someone is likely to end up frustrated. Adding them all would probably be good, but a lot of work, and neverending; then there would be OO etc too.

I have to say that I do enjoy reading the Q & A s in this thread. I know at some stage I will attempt the learning curve, and I'm hoping that this prepares me. But while I have other stuff that works, and while it is still in rapid development, I can always afford to wait another few months.

1824

Living Room / Re: Fujitsu Scansnap S300 - Looks Nice; Anyone Using One?

« Last post by Dormouse on April 21, 2008, 03:45 AM »

I've had a lot of scanners over the years, including a number with document feeders.

I now have a ScanSnap (I think mine is a S500). There is no comparison with previous scanners. It is massively fast and convenient. I use it for almost anything that comes in that I don't want to lose. Lots of post etc, as well as documents. I now regard it (or something similar) as a must have and, if it goes wrong, I will replace it immediately.

Occasionally it will feed more than one page at a time (as do all feeders). I have heard that sometimes they deteriorate and need of of the feed rollers replacing. I've also heard that some machines have a problem with this from the start. Mine seems fine.

Not at all cheap, but well worth the money.

1825

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: A new name

« Last post by Dormouse on April 18, 2008, 01:52 PM »

You could always keep the name and change it too.

How about CHASTE?

Clipboard Help And Spell (Text, Everything).