Recent Posts

2001

Living Room / Re: Opinions on Netflix?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 28, 2008, 11:29 AM »

Great and balanced report Qwerty 
Agree with almost all of what you say.

-mouser (August 28, 2008, 10:23 AM)

Quite deserving of some Credits! 

And maybe a relocation of that post to the Mini-Review section?

Jim

2002

Living Room / Re: Opinions on Netflix?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 28, 2008, 11:28 AM »

Sarah, Jesse:  Thanks for the comments, folks!  Looks like it's definitely worth the price of admission.  I know that their plans can be easily canceled if you are not satisfied, but I figured I would solicit comments here and if all or most were negative, then I could save myself the time and aggravation of subscribing and canceling. But all comments are positive so far.

Plus I had read about their problems a month or so ago and how they immediately notified members, apologized for the inconvenience, and offered a 15% credit for any aggravation members had suffered.  That had to cost a pretty penny and I was impressed by their handling of that situation.  And, no: Comcast does not quite handle their "oopses" in a manner that even remotely resembles that!

Thanks again, everyone!  (What a great "club" this is here at DC!)

Jim

2003

Living Room / Re: Opinions on Netflix?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 28, 2008, 11:20 AM »

Wow - what a phenomenal review, TheQwerty!  When I posted this request I was hoping that I would get information like this, but to be honest I expected to get it in a lot of little pieces; a comment here, a comment there.

But your review is a piece that belongs in a magazine column.  Truly excellent! Informative, helpful.  I can't even think of a follow-up question to ask.  I believe that you have covered everything I wanted to know!  Amazingly thorough!

Thank you, TheQwerty.

Jim

2004

Living Room / Re: Opinions on Netflix?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 28, 2008, 02:19 AM »

Sounds good!  Is the selection of TV shows and movies for instant viewing good?  Current shows?

Thanks!

Jim

2005

Living Room / Opinions on Netflix?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 27, 2008, 10:52 PM »

I have never used a service like Netflix, but I am considering subscribing to their top plan - which is now only $16.99 it appears - and also possibly picking up one of the "Netflix players" sold by Roku.  The Roku device is a relatively small box that you can use to queue movies and TV shows and watch on your TV - no DVD involved. Kind of a Netflix "On-Demand" service.

I personally never liked the thought of having DVDs mailed to me, watching them, and then having to mail them back in order to receive more in the mail. In this day and age of digital downloads - and me with an extremely fast cable connection - I always figured that I would prefer to use a download service instead. Unfortunately only a few have appeared in the marketplace and most have gone out of business recently. I don't know if that is due to pressure from industry groups like the MPAA or just that the market was not enough to support this kind of service.

Either way, I am really tired of putting up with Comcast and would love to drop most of their services - keeping only the internet connection - and use other services for my viewing pleasure. Though DVR's have been available for a number of years there are really very few options to using DVRs for time-shifting TV shows and/or movies. The Motorola DVRs that Comcast rents out are horrible - I have had several in the three years they have been available and I'm really tired of the problems with them. They were supposed to offer Tivo service a couple of years ago but that never came to pass officially in my area. Actually you can hook up a Tivo with a special card inserted in the Comcast DVR, but Comcast will not do it here and technically you are not allowed to do it on your own. Plus if you do install a Tivo card you lose the capability to watch On-Demand programming. Standalone DVRs are nice - just can't use them with the cable TV service.

I own a couple hundred DVD movies, but there are a lot I would enjoy watching - or watching again - but not enough to purchase the DVD. So enter Netflix.  And their new "Watch immediately on your TV" service sounds inviting. But I cannot find out on their site just how much programming they truly have available for "immediate viewing".  Anyone know how current and extensive the TV show availability is?  Other comments - good or bad - on Netflix service?  Is it worth joining?  Worth purchasing the Roku device?

BTW, I have checked out the Amazon Unbox service and the selection and pricing seem OK, but the software and its Terms and Conditions are much too intrusive for me. Just the fact that it requires that you allow it to run all the time - and it is connected and communicating home all the time - is bad enough for me. Add to that the fact that if a license grantor decides to pull its movie/show they can yank it back without permission, they can download advertisements to your computer without specific permission, and many more "offenses", IMO. They control what device you can watch the movies/TV shows on, when you can view it, etc.  Just a bit of DRM gone wild, it seems. So that is out for me unless they change terms drastically.

Thanks for any opinions.

Jim

2006

Living Room / Re: What May Happen in the Next 100 Years (Predictions from 1901)

« Last post by J-Mac on August 27, 2008, 11:18 AM »

.... and you can shoot him for poaching. (Problem solved.)" 

-40hz (August 27, 2008, 11:01 AM)

....which brings Rudy's Rutabaga Rule into play all over again...    (You're a cold ghoti...)   

Jim

2007

Screenshot Captor / Re: Latest Screenshot Captor Version's Tiny Initial Window?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 27, 2008, 11:15 AM »

Hi mouser.

OK, did what you asked and - Voila!  Success, or at least it would seem.  I started it manually and it opened to a normal sized screen.  Now, what I did for the time being is to NOT select Start with Windows within SC, but I did add it to Chameleon, which starts every other damn app with a fully open window - whether I want it to or not. So that might keep it in this window size!

Thanks!

Jim

2008

Living Room / Re: What May Happen in the Next 100 Years (Predictions from 1901)

« Last post by J-Mac on August 26, 2008, 11:13 PM »

I didn't read them all, but the ones I did read were very good and very close to being true. Well, considering that they were looking a centry ahead, they did an excellent job of predicting things. Sure trains can go faster than 150 mph, but they got the right idea.

-Renegade (August 26, 2008, 08:34 PM)

Yeah?  Maybe where you live!

Jim

2009

Screenshot Captor / Re: Latest Screenshot Captor Version's Tiny Initial Window?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 26, 2008, 07:16 PM »

does the problem occur if you exit and restart screenshot captor (while it is minimized i guess), or only on reboot?

-mouser (August 26, 2008, 07:13 PM)

Only on reboot, it seems. If I resize it, then it stays that size until reboot. I tried minimizing and I also just tried right-click>Exit on the tray icon, then restarted it.  Window size was OK.  But reboot and it is tiny again. Baffling! Am I the only one reporting this? Amazingly no other major graphics issues on my machine lately.

Thanks!

Jim

2010

Screenshot Captor / Re: Latest Screenshot Captor Version's Tiny Initial Window?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 26, 2008, 07:09 PM »

Uh-oh...  I spoke too soon.  Tiny again after a reboot.  I'm lost here as to why.  Still beats SnagIt by about a million miles, though.   

Jim

2011

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by J-Mac on August 26, 2008, 02:05 AM »

Eric,

Yes the conflicting hotkeys are for other applications.  I understand that it is impossible to programmatically discover what other hotkeys are assigned - that is why I said that in my post above.  However Windows assigned hotkeys or not, when you say that a hotkey is valid, many users will assume that CD has confirmed that it now owns that hotkey, when in fact it cannot do so.  Other programs already having that key hooked appearing when a user thinks that it was definitely grabbed by CD will probably cause confusion.

I personally have tried to find a way to map out all hotkeys assigned, hooked, or otherwise "taken" by either Windows or other applications.  It simply is not possible to do that except by opening every application on your computer and looking in their respective settings/options dialogs, and then listing them all one by one.  I would think that if it were possible at all to gather this information any other way - like through the registry or something like that - that someone would have a utility for sale that does it.  But there is no such utility available, so I would say that it cannot be done.

Thanks!

Jim

2012

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by J-Mac on August 25, 2008, 11:49 PM »

Very nice update!  Just a few comments:

• The hotkey toggle settings screen wasn't fully working here last version; it did not tell me if it was a valid hotkey combo.  Now it does, but it isn't picking up all existing hotkeys. E.g., for some combos I tried to setup it said Invalid.  For others it said Valid but then when I used it another app opened instead! I found a valid one through trial and error. Finding unused hotkeys programmatically is impossible, IMO!
• The hidden Dock is pre-configured for Left Edge and Right Edge. When I tried to close another program using the "X" at the top right corner I couldn't. Circle Dock appeared instead preventing a click on the X. I reset it to Left Edge only.
• When I move my mouse to the left edge to activate CD, half the dock appears with the other half off-screen. That's OK as I just drag it elsewhere. But the dock stays open without clicking on it. If I scroll over it again it disappears. Yet the dock suddenly appears elsewhere unexpectedly about 10 to 15 seconds later. Not sure what caused this but I find myself having to close the dock a lot when it opens uninvited.

Looks and works great. Very nice design, Eric! CD should compete well against all other visual launchers out there!

Thanks!

Jim

2013

Screenshot Captor / Re: Latest Screenshot Captor Version's Tiny Initial Window?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 25, 2008, 11:19 PM »

OK, I renamed ScreenshotCaptor.ini to ScreenshotCaptorOLD.ini and restarted SC.  Here's the first difference I found using CompareIt!:

[attach=#1][/attach]

The window was more like the size I had been getting before, but I'll have to wait for a reboot to see if it holds.  I suspect it will though.  I believe that it uses that .ini file to set the window size each startup, and the .ini file most likely keeps the same size setting as the previous start.

Thanks again!

Jim

2014

Screenshot Captor / Re: Latest Screenshot Captor Version's Tiny Initial Window?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 25, 2008, 11:04 PM »

I was using chameleon startup manager for a while, I use winpatrol now, not quite as configurable, but it works!, and it suits me fine, it also provides some added security to your system if you want it to, which I like (and by default, but you can configure that to what you want) you might like to look at it.  http://www.winpatrol.com/

-Grorgy (August 25, 2008, 09:23 PM)

I know that Darwin mentioned WinPatrol last year. He mentioned that it has a delayed start feature, but I was on their web site earlier tonight and that is not mentioned anywhere.  Looks like he hasn't updated the info page in quite a while.

Chameleon has all the right features - actually a great feature set. But there are just too many little problems that drive me crazier than I already am!

Any applications for which I enter a startup delay start open, regardless of the mode selected: minimized, hidden. It just doesn't work.  It has a Check for Updates feature, but what it does is to open the browser and automatically download the latest version and then jump right into the installation immediately. That wouldn't be so bad except it does that even if you already have that version installed! IOW it does not tell you what the latest version is or whether it is the same as you have installed.  It just does all that anyway and then requires a system restart immediately.  If you checked Check for Updates five times in a row, it will download and install your current version five times.  Aarrgghh!  So you are forced instead to go to his site and check all the time first.  Which would be OK if he noted the latest version available, but he doesn't. I've checked and found the "Current Version" listed on the page as something that is 3 builds old. The new file may be what you download but the site doesn't identify it. And the filename and installer dialog doesn't identify the version either.  Just poorly done IMO.

OK - rant over!

Jim

Thanks!

Jim

2015

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by J-Mac on August 25, 2008, 09:13 PM »

Hi Eric.  I have the previous alpha installed on my XP desktop; I'll install the latest when I'm back at that machine. I did want to ask, though, about the rotating or spinning function.  My installation on XP didn't rotate anytime I had it open.  What is supposed to make it rotate?  Or perhaps I had it setup incorrectly.

Thanks!

Jim

2016

Screenshot Captor / Re: Latest Screenshot Captor Version's Tiny Initial Window?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 25, 2008, 05:17 PM »

@J-Mac: since your bug appeared after the new version fixed the old one, try to rename your INI file and let SC create a new one and see if there is any difference.

-lanux128 (August 23, 2008, 10:46 PM)

That sounds like a plan, lanux.  I'll give that a try as soon as I am back at my desktop computer.

Thanks!

Jim

2017

Screenshot Captor / Re: Latest Screenshot Captor Version's Tiny Initial Window?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 25, 2008, 05:15 PM »

does it seem like you are experiencing this bug: https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=10455.0

-mouser (August 23, 2008, 08:30 AM)

No, I was seeing that one only on my notebook which is running Vista Ultimate. Never saw it on the Desktop running XP though.

What is happening now is that the default window for SC on the XP machine is only about 200 x 200 pixels; not enough to see much at all! It used to be roughly 800 x 600 pixels, maybe a bit smaller.  Now I always have to drag the corner of the window to get it big enough  to see anything. Once that's done it is fine - until I reboot.  Then it's back to the little window.

can you tell me what your General Settings tab checkboxes are set to?
(ie: Start Minimized? Close to Tray? Inactive Memory Use?)

-mouser (August 23, 2008, 08:30 AM)

I'm on my notebook now so I'll have to post back with that.  However to be honest I don't know that the settings will matter:  I use Chameleon Startup Manager and that overrides such settings.  And it actually does a poor job of it, at that. Almost every program that used to start minimized or hidden on its own starts maximized once you install Chameleon. I wrote the developer and he claims he's not seeing that on HIS computer - as if I care about his computer!!  I have seen this same behavior with Chameleon Startup Manager on three separate computers now: Two XP Pro and one Vista Ultimate. Shortly after startup or a reboot, I spend another minute closing all the open application windows!

BTW, that's the least of Chameleon's annoyances; I'm looking hard for a better startup manager solution. Know any?

Thanks!

Jim

2018

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: EDraw Max on Giveawayoftheday (8/19/08)

« Last post by J-Mac on August 24, 2008, 12:23 PM »

I got this I believe when it was on Bits du Juor. Could be real nice, but it is lacking in a lot of areas. E.g., scale cannot be set on floor plans. The developer says that setting the page size sets the scale. So if you set the ruler units to be "Feet" and the page size is "Letter", the ruler shows 0.005, 0.010, etc. No way to set 1/4" = 1'0" or anything similar.

Also, if your native language is English you will be either amused or annoyed at several commands and Help pages. They were apparently written in another language and then a translator software used to render it in English. (Maybe Google Translator considering the quality!)

I had written them about the last version which used very ancient Palm devices as mobile devices in all images, but called them "PLAMs".  Commands like on the Page Size dialog which has a setting that you can choose called, "Seem to Print Paper".  Huh?

As I said, amusing to an extent, but it can get frustrating after a while!

Jim

2019

General Software Discussion / Re: opera downward spiral into oblivion: most sites don't work, they don't care

« Last post by J-Mac on August 24, 2008, 02:11 AM »

I always have Firefox, IE, and Opera installed.  I do like Opera but compatibility issues with websites and the inability to use Roboform have kept me from making it my preferred browser.  Firefox is no treat at times, but its extensibility is simply too much for me to give it up!

Jim

2020

Screenshot Captor / Latest Screenshot Captor Version's Tiny Initial Window?

« Last post by J-Mac on August 23, 2008, 01:21 AM »

I'm not certain what could be causing this but when Screenshot Captor opens (which is with Windows upon bootup on my computer), its window is very tiny - about 1-1/2" square. I have to drag it open to its usual size.

This started right after I updated to 2.42.01. To rectify it, I dragged the window open to the usual size, exited SSC, and then restarted it. That put it at the right size for the rest of the session but rebooting causes it to open in a tiny window again.

What could cause this? Is there anything I can change in the program to fix it?

Thanks!

Jim

2021

Screenshot Captor / Re: autoscroll capture need fixed bug.

« Last post by J-Mac on August 23, 2008, 01:15 AM »

mouser,

This is the same problem I have posted about in other threads here. All replies have always made me feel as if I was the only user experiencing this problem. Not really happy that others are seeing it also, but at least I know it is not just me!

Jim

2022

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by J-Mac on August 21, 2008, 03:23 AM »

No problem, Eric.  The TGA icons became very popular among Pocket PC/Windows Mobile developers because of their relatively small size compared to PNG, and their use of alpha channels and transparent pixels.  A lot of icons for those devices were used particularly after the advent of VGA touch screens.

I'll send you some URLs if you're interested, though I imagine that the relatively large size of PNG images don't cause you any problems.

Thanks!

Jim

2023

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by J-Mac on August 21, 2008, 01:48 AM »

The residual start menu shadows are a known issue and it is being looked at right now. Look in this thread: https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=14478.0 for a way to remedy it. For the Alpha 7 release this weekend, I'm making the middle button not show the start menu by the default and you have to enable it in the Settings Panel and their will be a note about how you must turn off "Show shadows under menus" in Windows. Also, I'm not sure what I did, but the shadow residue now disappears when I exit out of Circle Dock in Alpha 7.

-VideoInPicture (August 21, 2008, 01:14 AM)

Wow!  Fast reply, Eric!  That sounds good - looks like you found a solution for this by what I call a "happy accident"!

As for your second point, I'm not too clear on that. Are you just trying to change the image used for the dock icon? You can just do this by right-clicking on the dock icon you want and select "Change Icon" and go browsing for a PNG image you want to substitute. Note: I actually introduced a little bug from Alpha 5 to Alpha 6: you might get another right-click menu shown after you have used the original right-click menu, this has already been fixed in Alpha 7.

-VideoInPicture (August 21, 2008, 01:14 AM)

No, changing the icon isn't a problem here - though I did notice that the Right-Click menu does change to a kind of "hybrid" after a few instances; looks like my regular Windows context menu with Change Icon and Remove added to the top.  What I meant was actually changing the application shortcut via the right-click menu.  Similar to OD+.

Any PNG image is acceptable. You can use the same PNG icon images from Rocket Dock and Object Dock. Other file formats are not accepted because they generally do not have the alpha channel data required for an alpha-blended dock.

-VideoInPicture (August 21, 2008, 01:14 AM)

OK.  Though I believe that the TGA (Targus) image file format has even more/better alpha-channel capabilities than PNG.

Thank you.

Jim

2024

Circle Dock / Re: Windows 7's Taskbar....Err.....Circle Dock for the DC Programming Contest

« Last post by J-Mac on August 21, 2008, 12:45 AM »

I just installed Alpha 9.2-6 on my desktop computer running XP Pro.  Couple of comments:

First, I noticed several remnants of closed windows that are visible on my Desktop; actually I can see them in any application. Finally figured out that it's the bottom and right edge of the Start Menu that opens when I Left-click on the center icon in Circle Dock.  Doesn't appear to be affecting anything but they sure are annoying!  BTW, they won't go away at all unless I restart my system.  Anyone know a way to clear these without rebooting?

Second, for future consideration, please make the program icons changeable.  Presently you must remove programs altogether and place a new one on the dock to effect a change.

A question: What image files are acceptable for CD icons?  I see that PNG's are provided, but are JPG, ICO, and/or TGA image files OK?

Thanks!

Jim

2025

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

« Last post by J-Mac on August 20, 2008, 03:28 AM »

Down again.   

It has been down much more than up since I started using SN again.  Is Pierre looking for a new web host?  Sure hope so. Can't do much at the site as it is.

Jim

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