Recent Posts

1851

Living Room / CloudFlare launches privacy oriented DNS servers

« Last post by wraith808 on April 02, 2018, 09:29 AM »

Cloudflare announced the launch of its new public DNS service 1.1.1.1 on April 1, 2018. The company promised in the announcement that 1.1.1.1 would offer faster speeds and better privacy than other public DNS systems provided by companies such as Google, Yandex or Cisco. Let us find out if the promises hold up to a closer inspection of the service.

More at GHacks (consider donating to their Patreon)

1852

Living Room / Re: Any native english speakers?

« Last post by wraith808 on April 02, 2018, 09:18 AM »

You guys have read too little science fiction!

Spoiler

"The intelligent man is never bored"
Isaac Asimov

-cranioscopical (April 02, 2018, 09:02 AM)

Because it was intriguing? >.>

1853

Living Room / Re: Any native english speakers?

« Last post by wraith808 on April 01, 2018, 11:01 PM »

Because we're bored.

-4wd (April 01, 2018, 10:37 PM)

Exactly. 

1854

Living Room / Re: Any native english speakers?

« Last post by wraith808 on April 01, 2018, 09:07 PM »

Is that second  one 35=3 * 81?  If I'm reading correctly (hard to see because of the size of the image), none of them are true.

1855

ProcessTamer / Re: Subfunction from Process Tamer

« Last post by wraith808 on April 01, 2018, 09:03 PM »

Thanks but that's not what I'm looking for. I want to code my own routine with autohotkey. Operating system is XP.

-ffbb (April 01, 2018, 02:04 PM)

So you're wondering if there is an api for process tamer so that you can access it's gathered information externally?

1856

Living Room / The CIA releases the board games it uses to train its agents

« Last post by wraith808 on April 01, 2018, 10:58 AM »

Best use of a FOIA request ever!

You can now play the board games the CIA uses to train its agents, for free (via Reddit, tabletopgaming.co.uk)

The two games released so far include:
Collection: Players use intelligence techniques to solve intelligence problems.
https://www.muckrock...me-collection-38476/

Kingpin: The Hunt for El Chapo: Seems to be a first stab at something like this, so no real summation in the documents.
https://www.muckrock...-for-el-chapo-38475/

When you click on the link, click download in the responsive documents collection.  Both files are rather large, and the games are rather intricate, and surprisingly intriguing!

The one I'm waiting for is Afghanistan Sustainability: COIN Dynamics, though the Collection Deck one is supposed to be like Collection, but with CCG type mechanics.  But both are still classified.

As someone commented on the Reddit thread:

The idea of CIA agents looking for trouble every turn they don't find a monster really makes my inner child happy. And a little scared.

 

1857

General Software Discussion / Re: LogMeIn to shut down Xmarks on May 1, 2018

« Last post by wraith808 on April 01, 2018, 09:23 AM »

Didn't think to post this as a separate topic- but posted an update in the ymarks thread which was recommended in that ghacks article.  Apparently tuxman had already received a twitter support request!

1858

General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Need an .MPCPL file editor

« Last post by wraith808 on April 01, 2018, 09:20 AM »

So is this #EXTINF line a separate line from the actual Media file line?

And as for my using MPCPL as opposed to M3U, I just never had used any programs that had M3U as a default format. In fact (if you'll excuse my ignorance), until you mentioned it, I didn't even know that MPC supported it. As for the Subtitle files, they don't always match the filename. But then, with MPC, it first looks in the media file folder to see if there's a valid Subtitle file there, and if not, it looks for one in a SUBS folder, and if it's there, it uses that, no matter what the name. I guess I'll have to go thru all my subtitle files and have a bit of renaming to do!   

Thanks very much for that idea of using M3U, tho. For that reason, I will consider this topic to be DONE and closed.

fdwojo

P.S. I don't know if it's supposed to be me that changes the Topic title to
        "DONE: Need an .MPCPL file editor"
or if someone else does that. If it's me, could someone tell me where/how it's done? I didn't see any kind of link anywhere that would allow me, the original poster, to change it. Sorry if I'm stupid and missing something obvious.

-fdwojo (April 01, 2018, 07:17 AM)

No, someone else does it.  So you don't need the editor?  I was paused in any case, as 4wd seemed to be trying to show you an implementation that would work out of the box, and his questions seemed to make sense to me.  Just wanted to verify.

1859

N.A.N.Y. 2018 / Re: NANY 2018 Release (preliminary alpha-or-so): ymarks

« Last post by wraith808 on March 31, 2018, 05:18 PM »

YMarks was mentioned on GHacks as an alternative to XMarks as it's being phased out.

1860

General Software Discussion / Re: Does anyone here actually use the Microsoft Store?

« Last post by wraith808 on March 31, 2018, 06:25 AM »

Ironically, I believe the only thing I have installed from the Windows store is Ubuntu for WSL.

-Jibz (March 31, 2018, 03:24 AM)

That seems Alanis Morrisette Ironic. 

1861

General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Need an .MPCPL file editor

« Last post by wraith808 on March 30, 2018, 11:20 PM »

It's not my script.  It's just one that I found in my research that I thought might be of use.  What it does is in the comments at the top, i.e. writes a Media Player Classic Playlist file for all video files in chosen directory.  Accent key launches the script.

1862

General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Need an .MPCPL file editor

« Last post by wraith808 on March 30, 2018, 09:05 PM »

Now please keep in mind that knowing WHAT lines to use isn't the problem here. Rather, it's that I have a few rather long playlists for MPC and if it's just one entry, I can easily drag it up or down in the list. But many times, I have numerous lines that I want to move elsewhere in that playlist. And since (A) you can only move one line at a time, and (B) if you try to edit the MPCPL file in a text editor, you have to renumber all the lines so that it all works out in order.

-fdwojo (March 30, 2018, 05:45 PM)

Knowing the universe of lines is necessary to group them together.  The other was just in case someone wanted to add in the ability to actually edit them in the program, which seems like it could be  useful.

Not sure if I'll have time to get to it, especially before skwire jumps in.  But it's interesting enough that I might try to make time for it soon.

Oh, and in my search for MPCPL files, I found this bit of code from https://autohotkey.c...or-videos-in-folder/

Not sure if you might find it useful.  It does seem to bear out the theory on type, as I could find no other references.

Code: Autohotkey [Select]

1. `::  ; writes a Media Player Classic Playlist file for all video files in chosen directory.  Accent key launches the script.
2.  
3. SetBatchLines, -1  ; Make the operation run at maximum speed.
4.  
5. ;FileSelectFolder, WhichFolder,::{20d04fe0-3aea-1069-a2d8-08002b30309d}  ; Ask the user to pick a folder, My Computer option
6.  
7. FileSelectFolder, WhichFolder,%A_MyDocuments%  ; Ask the user to pick a folder, My Documents option
8.  
9. if (StrLen(WhichFolder) = 0)
10.         return ; No folder picked, so stop
11.  
12. SetWorkingDir, %WhichFolder%
13.  
14. FileAppend,
15. (
16.         MPCPLAYLIST ; next blank line is crucial, don't delete
17.  
18. ), play.mpcpl ; this is the name of the playlist file
19.  
20. count=1
21.  
22. If ErrorLevel <> 1
23. {
24.         Loop, %WhichFolder%\*.mov, , 1 ; Quicktime
25.         {
26.  
27.                 FileAppend,
28.                 (
29.                         %count%,type,0
30.                         %count%,filename,%A_LoopFileFullPath%
31.  
32.                 ), play.mpcpl
33.  
34.                 count := count + 1     
35.  
36.         }
37.  
38. }
39. Else
40.         Exit
41.  
42. If ErrorLevel <> 1
43. {
44.         Loop, %WhichFolder%\*.mpg, , 1 ; MPG
45.         {
46.  
47.                 FileAppend,
48.                 (
49.                         %count%,type,0
50.                         %count%,filename,%A_LoopFileFullPath%
51.  
52.                 ), play.mpcpl
53.  
54.                 count := count + 1     
55.  
56.         }
57.  
58. }
59. Else
60. Exit
61.  
62. If ErrorLevel <> 1
63. {
64.         Loop, %WhichFolder%\*.avi, , 1 ; AVI
65.         {
66.  
67.                 FileAppend,
68.                 (
69.                         %count%,type,0
70.                         %count%,filename,%A_LoopFileFullPath%
71.  
72.                 ), play.mpcpl
73.  
74.                 count := count + 1     
75.  
76.         }
77.  
78. }
79. Else
80.         Exit
81.  
82. If ErrorLevel <> 1
83. {
84.         Loop, %WhichFolder%\*.wmv, , 1 ; Windows Media
85.         {
86.  
87.                 FileAppend,
88.                 (
89.                         %count%,type,0
90.                         %count%,filename,%A_LoopFileFullPath%
91.  
92.                 ), play.mpcpl
93.  
94.                 count := count + 1     
95.  
96.         }
97.  
98. }
99. Else
100.         Exit
101.  
102. If ErrorLevel <> 1
103. {
104.         Loop, %WhichFolder%\*.mpeg, , 1 ; MPEG
105.         {
106.  
107.                 FileAppend,
108.                 (
109.                         %count%,type,0
110.                         %count%,filename,%A_LoopFileFullPath%
111.  
112.                 ), play.mpcpl
113.  
114.                 count := count + 1     
115.  
116.         }
117.  
118. }
119. Else
120.         Exit
121.  
122. return

1863

General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: Need an .MPCPL file editor

« Last post by wraith808 on March 30, 2018, 05:03 PM »

Label is pretty self explanatory, as is filename.

What about type?  All of them are different filetypes, so I guess it's not that.  But one would have to know what it corresponds to, unless they were just going to put that line in verbatim.

1864

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: WinX DVD Ripper V8.8.0 Easter giveaway

« Last post by wraith808 on March 30, 2018, 03:18 PM »

I just use MakeMKV for mine.  How does this compare, or does anyone know?

1865

General Software Discussion / Re: Does anyone here actually use the Microsoft Store?

« Last post by wraith808 on March 29, 2018, 10:55 PM »

I almost never browse the store, usually I see items talked about elsewhere.

-cranioscopical (March 29, 2018, 09:47 PM)

Same here.

1866

General Software Discussion / Re: Does anyone here actually use the Microsoft Store?

« Last post by wraith808 on March 29, 2018, 04:45 PM »

Not for games/books/videos, but yes, for apps.

Penbook: https://www.microsof...oductId/9PL4GX47GT7K
Index Cards: https://www.microsof...oductId/9NBLGGH58Q5B (free, but got the Pro upgrade)
Mindmaple Pen: https://www.microsof...oductId/9PB4LJG5WD6S
Knowledgebase Builder: https://www.microsof...oductId/9WZDNCRDJ68H
Quillerous: https://www.microsof...oductId/9WZDNCRDM77T

And more... it helps that I received a $25 credit when I bought my HP stream tablet.

My major problem, and the reason I wouldn't put any real money into the store, is that a couple of apps that I paid for are not on the store at all- the links from my receipt are even dead.  They weren't major purchases ($2.99 and $.99) but that is money, and should be handled better.

1867

Living Room / Re: Looking for smartphone

« Last post by wraith808 on March 29, 2018, 02:53 PM »

2018 and I'm seriously concerned that there is no flagship smartphone with both a headphone jack and no bizarre hole in the display.

Except Samsung.

-Tuxman (March 29, 2018, 02:13 AM)

Samsung's a good enough option for me

I have quite expensive head- and earphones and I do not plan to replace them by worse sounding ones.

-Tuxman (March 29, 2018, 11:53 AM)

Exactly!  I have some pretty expensive IEMs from NuForce.  I also had some bluetooth ones I tried out, and they cut out unexpectedly for no reason (only while running or exercising), which is what turned me off of BT for audio.

1868

Living Room / Re: For those with a CrashPlan...

« Last post by wraith808 on March 29, 2018, 02:50 PM »

Dont they completely remove consumer access in the fall?

-wraith808 (March 29, 2018, 07:17 AM)

Apologies.  I should have clarified that I switched to the new CrashPlan for Small Business program.  Basically, it's the same as CrashPlan Home used to be but you have to pay per computer now.  The old Home plan used to be $150/year for up to ten computers and the new Small Business plan is $120/year for one computer.  The storage is still unlimited, though.  Does that help to clear things up?

-skwire (March 29, 2018, 10:17 AM)

Yes, definitely!  Thanks for taking the time to do so!  That might be something that I look into!

1869

Living Room / Re: Thread on 3d Printing Cody Model

« Last post by wraith808 on March 29, 2018, 02:50 PM »

Mouser has told me to say "hello", so...

Hello, to all DC'ers old and new.

-nudone (March 29, 2018, 09:50 AM)

Damn, son!  Don't be such a stranger.          Good to see you back.

-skwire (March 29, 2018, 10:19 AM)

Ditto!

1870

Living Room / Re: For those with a CrashPlan...

« Last post by wraith808 on March 29, 2018, 07:17 AM »

I just stayed with Crashplan on one PC (my server).

As before, each PC in my house still does image backups nightly to the server (using Veeam).  I wrote some quick scripts to dump certain folders on each PC to the appropriate family member's user folder on the server (which Crashplan then backs up to its cloud).  Plus, my previous Crashplan subscription goes until April and then I get the next year at 75% off ($2.50/month).  After that, the one server will cost me $10/month ($120/year) which is $30 less than I was paying for the old family plan.  Not quite as convenient, sure, but it'll do just fine.  And, yes, that $10/month is for unlimited storage space.

-skwire (November 12, 2017, 09:42 AM)

Well, we're getting close to expiration, I think.  Are you going to expire this fall?  Or were you somehow grandfathered in?

What is everyone using these days?  The terms and conditions and trust of the different services has me in analysis paralysis mode.

-wraith808 (March 28, 2018, 04:11 PM)

I'm still with Crashplan and still running with the method described above.

-skwire (March 29, 2018, 12:56 AM)

Dont they completely remove consumer access in the fall?

1871

Living Room / Re: For those with a CrashPlan...

« Last post by wraith808 on March 28, 2018, 11:24 PM »

I really think drive images are a completely independent separate thing than what one should mainly be using the online spideroak/crashplan backups for.
In my opinion the full drive images can be done once a month (week or whatever) and just stored on removable/external drives.  Don't need online thing for those.

What the online backup services like spideroak, crashplan, etc.  are uniquely good at is making immediate versioned backups constantly of your working documents.  So that if you pc crashes after an hour of work, you have a backup, or 10 different back ups so you can rewind and go back to an older version.

I have the smallest spideroak plan -- because i just backup my document directories to it not my whole computer.

-mouser (March 28, 2018, 10:20 PM)

I already do that with OneDrive.  I was just thinking that using that for the 3-2-1, i.e. having an offsite location where the images are stored.  Right now, I don't back up the entire system; I just backup my important information.  My dev work is in Git on Bitbucket, on my NAS, and synced to S3.  My documents are in OneDrive, synced to my NAS, and on S3.  I've just thought about getting into the having an image for immediate restoration, and thought I should do the same thing.

1872

Living Room / Re: For those with a CrashPlan...

« Last post by wraith808 on March 28, 2018, 09:36 PM »

SpiderOak for me.

-mouser (March 28, 2018, 05:14 PM)

What kind of plan did you get?  And what do they mean by one user, unlimited machines?  Is that only for access to the backups?

What I've been thinking about doing is creating images with Acronis and putting them on my NAS, then using iDrive or SpiderOak to contain my offsite backups of the images.

I also like the iDrive express, where you can get a physical copy of your backups once per year. 

1873

Official Announcements / Re: New article posted about the DC Remodeling in 2018 -- server changes, cms, etc.

« Last post by wraith808 on March 28, 2018, 04:21 PM »

Why did you go with HiVelocity rather than LiquidWeb?  Was it just the specs for the price?

yes.

Note that HiVelocity does not do shared hosting, only dedicated servers (and higher).

-mouser (March 28, 2018, 04:14 PM)

Yeah, I noticed that after the fact... I used to have a dedicated server.  But after I got hit by ransomware in December because of a flaw in the RDP implementation, I dropped down to my one linux server, getting rid of both of my Windows servers.

1874

Living Room / Re: For those with a CrashPlan...

« Last post by wraith808 on March 28, 2018, 04:11 PM »

I just stayed with Crashplan on one PC (my server).

As before, each PC in my house still does image backups nightly to the server (using Veeam).  I wrote some quick scripts to dump certain folders on each PC to the appropriate family member's user folder on the server (which Crashplan then backs up to its cloud).  Plus, my previous Crashplan subscription goes until April and then I get the next year at 75% off ($2.50/month).  After that, the one server will cost me $10/month ($120/year) which is $30 less than I was paying for the old family plan.  Not quite as convenient, sure, but it'll do just fine.  And, yes, that $10/month is for unlimited storage space.

-skwire (November 12, 2017, 09:42 AM)

Well, we're getting close to expiration, I think.  Are you going to expire this fall?  Or were you somehow grandfathered in?

What is everyone using these days?  The terms and conditions and trust of the different services has me in analysis paralysis mode.

1875

Official Announcements / Re: New article posted about the DC Remodeling in 2018 -- server changes, cms, etc.

« Last post by wraith808 on March 28, 2018, 04:02 PM »

I'm currently with LiquidWeb, and have been thinking that though I like them, I should make sure there's not a better option.  Why did you go with HiVelocity rather than LiquidWeb?  Was it just the specs for the price?

And I will say that LiquidWeb has crept up in price (though they've given incrementally more for the price).  But their new cloud servers are a very good value as I'm not going with dedicated.  The fact that you can provision them, set them up, do what you need to do, then tear them down has worked very well for me.  It's a lot like EC2, but with someone backing you up (though I still use EC2 as it has better front end tools for if I know what I'm doing at the time).