Recent Posts

1976

General Software Discussion / What is your boot time?

« Last post by zridling on January 30, 2008, 03:34 PM »

Out of curiosity, because I know there are lots of variables here.

1977

General Software Discussion / Re: Opera Browser Power-User Mods

« Last post by zridling on January 30, 2008, 12:15 AM »

Thanks app and iphigenie, I had missed those. I've been using nontroppo's button maker to my delight.

1978

General Software Discussion / Re: KDE 4 out, and my, it looks gorgeous!

« Last post by zridling on January 30, 2008, 12:12 AM »

Gothi[c] is right — you can customize both KDE and Gnome until your fingers bleed. What I really love about them is that you can keep an old UI if you like it. Used to XP and want to stick with it across versions? No problem! Want it to look like Vista? No problem, just start tweaking. The problem most users would run into with these two desktop environments is that you can absolutely change every single little part of the interface and it can be exhausting. So most folks look for themes, similar to how Opera allows you to change its look on the fly.

1979

General Software Discussion / Re: Perfect Software?

« Last post by zridling on January 30, 2008, 12:07 AM »

Windows calculator must be perfect, since it's remained unchanged across two centuries!! 

1980

Living Room / Re: Ah, the brilliant comedy that parody brings via the Nazis (NSFW)

« Last post by zridling on January 30, 2008, 12:04 AM »

Lashiec, what's more fun is if you've ever had the opportunity to watch the German channels (usually offered on the disk networks), you recognize so many of these actors and actresses. After you see this movie, you go back and watch all the others, such as 'Battle of the Bulge,' 'A Bridge Too Far,' 'The Bridge at Remagen' in a different light. Just be sure to watch it in German with subtitles, not the English audio.

1981

Living Room / Ah, the brilliant comedy that parody brings via the Nazis (NSFW)

« Last post by zridling on January 28, 2008, 06:06 AM »

The incredible German film Downfall, about the last days of the Nazi regime, is an amazing film — which perhaps explains why its footage keeps getting cribbed by parodists. Last week, the film purported to show Hitler’s reaction to Blu Ray’s victory in the hi-def wars. This week, it’s the Cowboys’ playoff loss to the Giants.

     

If you're a footballer in any country, you'll understand the second one. Both are funny. (As a confirmed Germanophile, I have a hard time following the subtitles against the spoken word in these clips. But if you don't know German, it's better.)

1982

General Software Discussion / Re: Don’t save in Office 2007's MS-OOXML format!

« Last post by zridling on January 28, 2008, 05:41 AM »

Thanks Lashiec and lanux, I changed the link for Bob Sutor.

Lashiec, you make some good points, but you're still thinking of software as a product, and formats and their users as marketers. ODF is the format, not the software, and Sun doesn't control it, OASIS does. For example, the point that is suggested by Andy Updegrove in the quote above is that we need document formats that support exchange. MS-OOXML is interoperable between two users with Microsoft Office 2007, and that seems a rather narrow view of interoperability. Bob Sutor is also pointing out that a documents saved in MS-OOXML will probably not conform to ISO MS-OOXML, so if you use MS-OOXML, you will have to address a format change IF MS does eventually adopt ISO MS-OOXML. Bob writes:

...standards change over time, but we’re talking about a potentially very radical, wholesale change to OOXML while it is still in the standards process compared to what Microsoft has implemented in its Office product. My advice still holds: wait and see what happens and use the binary formats today if you want to use a Microsoft format. This is not v.1 of a standard to a v.2 situation. Since there are several alternatives to saving in OOXML form today (and I just discussed one of yours), the risk level is just too high, I would say, to suggest people save in format that is already deprecated.

My personal fear is that Microsoft has no intention whatsoever of adhering to this MSOOXML format. They’ll ensure that their implementations of it are slightly different (or "incomplete") relative to the specification. And they’ll claim "it’s really hard to implement a spec with so many ambiguities!" as they have been doing all along with the W3C web specs and IE6 and 7 (I’m watching IE8 with interest). ODF is fine with me because it's free from monopolies, however, I've learned the hard way to protect myself by saving just about everything in plain text, which is why a good text editor is far more important to me than which office suite I use.

1983

General Software Discussion / Re: Opera Browser Power-User Mods

« Last post by zridling on January 28, 2008, 05:21 AM »

I keep a running tips file on Opera, and here's what I've got to date:

OPERA TUTORIAL TIPS, TRICKS

GOOGLE DEFINE
Name:                &Define
keyword:   d
address:   http://www.google.co...e=utf-8&oe=utf-8


SETTING FONT TO SANS SERIF
The browser defaults are almost always overriden by author and user stylesheets. Opera even provides you with a way to tweak the defaults. For example, the default margin on the body element is 8px. Why? To ensure that text in an unstyled page does not "run wall-to-wall". If you do not like this, you may change the defaults using browser.css. It isn't provided in the default installation.

(1) Create a new text file with a .css extension, and save it anywhere (yes, anywhere);
(2) Open Preferences > Advanced > Content > Style Options > My Style Sheet, and point Opera to the location of your browser.css file in the [User Prefs] section, browser.css field.
(3) Save. Done!

D:\ybak\burn01 - apps\05-WebDev\Apps - Browsers\!Opera\INI Files\stylez.css
Content of stylez.css:
* {font-family: frutigernext lt regular !important;}o

Styles defined there will override the embedded application stylesheet, and will be overridden by any higher-level stylesheets. The only advantage of this method is that you can change the defaults if they annoy you. It is hence best used for most general customizations that will apply to all pages on the web. Unless, of course, you write CSS yourself and design web pages, in which case it is not recommended to use this stylesheet, for what you see — others shall not.

For a full tutorial, see:
http://lofotenmoose.info/style/

VARIOUS TIPS
http://my.opera.com/Tamil/blog/

ADDING/MODIFYING KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
http://my.opera.com/.../blog/show.dml/55340

INI, SETTINGS FILES
C:\Program Files\Opera\styles\user.css

RESETTING YOUR OPERA PROFILE
http://my.opera.com/...blog/show.dml/319153
— Run Tools > Delete private data to clear your cache and cookies.
— Close Opera completely.
— Delete the profile\opera6.ini file.
— Start Opera again.

This will re-create the profile\opera6.ini file from the operadef6.ini file in your Opera installation folder, and will contain data as if you had done a clean Opera installation. It should not affect your customizations (toolbar or menu setups, bookmarks, notes, passwords etc) or your mail / feeds.

________________________________________________
MIGRATING CUSTOM SETTINGS FROM ONE OPERA INSTALLATION TO ANOTHER
http://my.opera.com/...h/blog/show.dml/6579

________________________________________________
OPERA BROWSER INFO
http://www.google.co...001617%3Ammzhre3irdm

________________________________________________
BUTTON TEXTS (DRAG TO THE TOOLBAR)

Close & Switch to next
opera:/button/Close%20page%20&%20Switch%20to%20next%20page,,,,Close

Close & Switch to previous
opera:/button/Close%20page%20&%20Switch%20to%20previous%20page,,,,Close

1984

Living Room / Re: 12 Crazy old ads!

« Last post by zridling on January 28, 2008, 04:49 AM »

I can't talk. I did save up and buy this Charles Atlas book based on the ad. I didn't go around smacking people, but I did work out for a week.



Charles needed to do some more squats.

1985

Living Room / Re: 12 Crazy old ads!

« Last post by zridling on January 27, 2008, 10:02 PM »

Ha, thanks for the references, guys. I will definitely send these along. If I could go back in time, knowing what I know now... (I'd probably "accidentally" kill a lot of very bad people!).

1986

Living Room / 12 Crazy old ads!

« Last post by zridling on January 26, 2008, 10:18 PM »

Holy crap, these old ads tell us a lot about pre-politically correct marketing, such as when everyone smoked!



Although I do remember the days (in the US) when everyone smoked, and when I was little they ran TV ads spouting this kind of stuff about doctors.

1987

General Software Discussion / Don’t save in Office 2007's MS-OOXML format!

« Last post by zridling on January 26, 2008, 09:54 PM »

Bob Sutor warns against saving in Microsoft's Office 2007 already dead MS-OOXML format, now that Microsoft will not be supporting it in the future:

Saving your documents in OOXML format right now is probably about the riskiest thing you can do if you are concerned with long term interoperability. First, the “official” ECMA OOXML that was submitted to ISO is not what Microsoft implements in Office 2007. So unless your application reverse-engineered Office 2007’s support, you’ve got interoperability problems right there.... Second, the ECMA spec is over 6000 pages long, there were thousands of comments, and thousands of pages of proposed resolutions to those comments. And that’s just from Microsoft. Others will go to the BRM with different proposals, and further ideas may come up there. Not everything may be addressed at the BRM.... Nobody has the vaguest idea what OOXML will look like in February or even whether it will be in any sort of stable condition by the end of March. Major features may be deprecated. Completely different solutions may be proposed. And at the end, the whole thing may be rejected, just as it was done in September.... So that OOXML format that you are saving files in right now is dead and will be replaced, unless Microsoft decides it won’t bother implementing what comes out of the ISO process. Indeed, if the ballot finally fails, I’m not sure what Microsoft will do with all the suggested comments.



And by "suggested comments" that means problems with MS-OOXML. For now, it's better to save in Microsoft's binary .doc format or the already ISO-certified OpenDocument format (ODF), although Microsoft makes it extremely cumbersome, and once you open the documents in one of the 20+ word processors or spreadsheets that use ODF, it's often garbled or oddly leaves entire portions out. Rob Weir has more on how Microsoft is guaranteeing that MS-OOXML will never be able to be faithfully (or fully) implemented by another company or group. Andy Updegrove casts the struggle in an even larger light:

What is happening between the proponents of ODF and OOXML is only a skirmish in a bigger battle that involves a fundamental reordering of  forces, ideologies, stakeholders, and economics at the interface of  society and information technology.... Today, open source software is challenging proprietary models, hundreds of millions of people in emerging societies are choosing their first computer platforms from a range of alternatives, major vendors are converting from product to service strategies, and software as a service is finally coming into its own — to mention only a few of the many forces that are transforming the realities that ruled the IT marketplace for decades. When the dust settles, the alignments and identities of the Great Powers of the IT world will be as different as were the Great Powers of the world at the end of the First World War.

1988

Living Room / Re: Happy Birthday to App103

« Last post by zridling on January 25, 2008, 09:32 PM »

What KenR said! Been gone for a while. Happy birthday App, and thanks for all you do here at DC. Your presence is cherished and we're grateful you'd hang with us.

1989

Living Room / 18 Undiscovered Websites Every Gamer Should Know

« Last post by zridling on January 25, 2008, 09:18 PM »

http://www.dailybits.com/18-undiscovered-websites-every-gamer-should-know/



Who knew! Nice capsule summary of each included. Check out the comments section for more sites.

1990

General Software Discussion / Re: starting a revolt against Opera. Worth it?

« Last post by zridling on January 18, 2008, 11:35 PM »

What nontroppo said. With Opera I no longer needed Roboform. Opera saves them based on each page and on top of a backup, I have a text backup of all my PW variations just in case hell breaks loose.

1991

General Software Discussion / Re: Most popular GNU/Linux distros nicely outlined

« Last post by zridling on January 18, 2008, 11:28 PM »

tinjaw's right: DistroWatch is the go-to source. PolishLinux.org is a good starting point for beginners and newcomers to GNU/Linux.

1992

General Software Discussion / Freesource — Open Source Windows site

« Last post by zridling on January 18, 2008, 11:24 PM »

Although I hate the navigation, I love this guy's choices. He lays out much of the best open source Windows software to be found:


http://www.freesource.co.cc/index.php

1993

Living Room / Re: Steve Jobs - "American's Don't Read"

« Last post by zridling on January 17, 2008, 12:24 AM »

Beyond the classics, what book is worth your time to read? After growing up and getting out of college, most of us work 10-12 hour days, compute a little, and do our reading online before passing out to slog through another day. When you look at the sheer load of crap that the corporate media offers as good literature, I don't have 2-4 hours to waste only to confirm that Ken Follett or Sue Grafton's latest isn't worth my conscious time. (And no, I don't spend it watching the teevee, either.)

1994

Living Room / Re: Why I left Apple

« Last post by zridling on January 16, 2008, 10:03 PM »

What an eye-opening post from Justin Berka, thanks for posting it Lashiec. Apple should go the extra mile to keep guys like him on. It's revealing that Apple won't allow any developer recognition for its products, even the smallest tip of the hat to them.

1995

General Software Discussion / Re: What's the best program for cooking and recipe management?

« Last post by zridling on January 16, 2008, 09:58 PM »

TopTen Reviews' Cookbook & Recipe Software Review might get you started. Meanwhile, there are tons of recipe sites online when you need to eat. A book that helped me — as a man who just wants good food over a life in the kitchen — is Leisureguy's Cooking Compendium ebook.

1996

General Software Discussion / Most popular GNU/Linux distros nicely outlined

« Last post by zridling on January 16, 2008, 09:49 PM »

PolishLinux.org has an excellent intro to the most popular GNU/Linux distros in capsule summary, followed by a more detailed outline of each distro's distinctive features. Some of the info needs updating, but the core is there (w/links) for a glance.

1997

Living Room / Re: What kind of tagging system would be appropriate for DC?

« Last post by zridling on January 09, 2008, 06:59 PM »

I think tagging should be on a voluntary basis by the topic starter.  The only exception should be given to mouser, since its his website, to add a tag if a topic drifts too far away.

-Veign (January 06, 2008, 07:36 PM)

What Veign said.

1998

Living Room / Re: What is appropriate content for DonationCoder?

« Last post by zridling on January 09, 2008, 02:18 PM »

I like Ralf's idea, although my internal filter is geared toward the "adult" setting, not intended for 11-year olds. I don't want to live my life always wondering whether an pre-teen is reading my content, whether here or on my blog (thanks for the shout out, Veign, mouser!). I don't curse around kids or in public, nor do I show them "dirty pictures." But mouser pegged my intention, which runs from the start on my blog; that is, that tech invades and changes all parts of our lives.

CodeTRUCKER, you really only site one example, and when I reread the post, I thought the whole thing was funny. From my perspective, I'm surprised at your offense. I'm a moral and fair person, but I'd be curious to know if your feelings spring from god-belief, and how is it that you've managed to find so much where I see none? My contention (on my blog) is that the porn industry has always been at the leading edge of tech — from delivering content to how that content is viewed to how it is served and how it's paid for. Examining the code of some of their sites, you will find it quite elaborate.

While I don't see DonationCoder.com as synonymous with "profanity, coarse/sexually-oriented jokes and graphic content," it's because it's not the place — or audience — I think of when I discuss the subject. Take a second look at the post in question: there's nothing graphic there, no offensive photos, no cuss words, etc. All the links are to other sites, such as YouTube, and what you are claiming is not in that DonationCoder.com post.

One of the worst practices of humankind is that the one (exception) makes the rule for the many. I hope, CodeTRUCKER, you are not asking either us or mouser to seek your prior approval, or even to be sensitive to your personal morality, and end up censoring the site at the expense of the rest of us who haven't seen a problem here:
_______________________________
[from your letter, annotations mine]:
...I am a champion of that which is wholesome and good. (How were we to know we were offending you when we were not offended ourselves? We're sinning and don't know it?) I perceive that to allow people that have found a refuge here to continue in the same behavior that made them lonely in the first place is to forever entomb them to despair. (I'm neither lonely nor am I in despair. What makes you think that I am based on one post?) If someone suffers the pain of loneliness because they never take a bath, it is the purest of love and the kindest charity to make it plain to him that he stinks. (Again, I'm not 'painfully' lonely, nor am I dirty, nor do I stink. Are you saying that I do, and that I need your cleansing?) If someone is forever desparing because they always see themselves as a "victim," that one is forever doomed to their own personal dungeon. (More despair; I'm detecting a theme. Liberty of thought — about any tech issue and any issue that tech touches upon — can never be a "dungeon." However, it's apparent that you feel guilty for even reading the very words.)

CodeTRUCKER, please correct me if I'm exaggerating, but methinks you protest too much.

1999

General Software Discussion / Re: A Firefox Lover's Guide to Opera

« Last post by zridling on December 30, 2007, 03:08 PM »

IE7 really can't compete with either FF or Opera. I like both, but given my choice, I'll take Opera for its advanced features. You can 'widget' the heck out of it; assign keyboard shortcuts to anything; make it look and work like either IE or FF if you prefer; its Wand allowed me to dump Roboform; and it makes copying everything easy (in 2 clicks). Moreover, I can take all my Windows settings for Opera to Linux and it looks and works exactly the same. If someone throws FF in front of me, I know it inside out, so it never slows me down.

The great unsung characteristic of Firefox is its design simplicity. This cannot be overstated.

However, I give great credit to Opera for tweaking Microsoft's nose before the EU to unbundle IE from Windows. Just because the american justice department under bush decided to drop its antitrust case against Microsoft doesn't mean it shouldn't be pursued. No one is forcing me to use IE when I use Windows, but on the other hand, Microsoft is forcing IE into its OSes, no matter what the consumer wants.

2000

Living Room / Re: Resolutions for 2008? Shout 'em out

« Last post by zridling on December 29, 2007, 12:29 AM »

I got a friend who lost 35kilos and when I asked how he did it, he said he gave up Diet Coke. I'm not willing to go that far. Nor am I willing to give up anything that tastes good. Nobody lays dying saying, "I ate too much chocolate." And even if they do, they still like the chocolate!