Recent Posts

2101

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: pmG's messiahStudio5 *Dare To Share Challenge*

« Last post by Shades on February 08, 2011, 04:30 AM »

Crap, now I wished I had a credit card...the full blown edition looks very interesting!

2102

Living Room / Re: how do I figure how much bandwidth streaming audio, video, YouTube, etc use?

« Last post by Shades on February 07, 2011, 05:33 PM »

NECRO-THREAD-Revival!!!!!

Just found this piece of network traffic analysis software that can be used for free (personal use only!).

It installs WinPCap software as well. It certainly looks like you get a real good look about what is happening in your network.

The only reason I mention the software in this thread is that this seemed the most relevant and recent one (after using the DoCo search functionality).

2103

Living Room / Re: Why does the Mayan calendar end on....?

« Last post by Shades on January 31, 2011, 05:39 PM »

It appears that at that date earth will go through a universal barrier (our milky way moves in a wave-like pattern), which could possibly result in reversing the magnetic poles of the earth, the transference of the equator and for one half of the planet the sun will net set for three days while the other half will have night for the same period. Those events can be the catalyst to a new ice age.

The earth's internal core is moving at a continual decreasing speed until we hit that barrier and that will have it's effect. Electricity only flows because the earth rotates around its axis. And at that date the earth is at a practical standstill. With our society and our dependence on electricity I can see some problems arising.

Earth as we know it will cease to exist...you could say that our planet will be "rebooted" in a galactic way. The Mayan calendar predicts just that. It appears that every 5000 years this happens.

The above is all the predictions from a Vincent Stein (iirc his name correctly). He has actually a quite convincing story to tell.

2104

General Software Discussion / Re: computer system info software

« Last post by Shades on January 29, 2011, 05:41 PM »

The version of SIW that I have is portable and does show you the license key of Windows itself (check 'Software > Operating systems), the license keys from installed applications (check 'Software > Licenses) and passwords to websites (check 'Software > Secrets).

The SIW version that I use is 'build 2008-07-15 freeware'.
Hmmm, it looks like I need an update from this piece of software...

2105

Living Room / Re: The Coolest Macintosh I've Ever Seen!

« Last post by Shades on January 29, 2011, 02:12 PM »

See the 'Underworld' trilogy for both brunettes 40Hz is talking about...(part 1 and two have Kate Beckinsale, part three has Rhona Mitra).

2106

General Software Discussion / Re: General and Casual Questions about SAP integration

« Last post by Shades on January 29, 2011, 01:37 PM »

Have you seen the prices that Oracle asks nowadays for their licenses? MS-SQL is a lot cheaper. PostgreSQL is open source, is actually quite similar to Oracle and suits 1000-people companies just fine. DBA skills in any of the mentioned databases so far will be the main decision making point.

The Xerces (C++) library is very good (open source) and extensive with XML which will take a lot of programming work out of the equation. XML/SOAP is the combination of choice when letting 3rd party apps communicate with something like SAP. Getting your head around creating proper XML communication will be the next problem.

2107

Living Room / Re: I need advice: which laptop to buy?

« Last post by Shades on January 21, 2011, 10:28 AM »

In general, the more resources your computer has, the smoother any ride you plan it to do will be.

Video apps and games profit most noticeably from more RAM on your graphic card. The GPU that comes with these cards nowadays can be utilized in the more mundane tasks of a PC. But from what I read and understand is that more RAM on your graphic card will not do much in lifting your workload.

2108

Living Room / Re: USB Madness With Cooked-Off Ports

« Last post by Shades on January 21, 2011, 10:20 AM »

@Stoic Joker:
IIRC there is a setting (registry?) that enables the Windows device manager to show hidden devices. That includes All and every USB device ever connected. Uninstalling the troublesome device will help with this problem.

2109

Living Room / Re: Windows 7 Breaks Week Numbering

« Last post by Shades on January 18, 2011, 10:49 PM »

@f0dder:
Being not too proud to admit I could be wrong in my assumptions or logic, I will agree with you. Let's also stop pulling the thread off-topic.

@Stoic Joker:
Indeed, it is/was my frustration speaking. Sorry about that.

2110

Living Room / Re: Windows 7 Breaks Week Numbering

« Last post by Shades on January 18, 2011, 10:30 AM »

@f0dder:
Because these apps do not experience problems on Vista and 2008 R1 operating systems. Which is what makes me say that Windows is (unintentionally?) breaking things.

Granted, you are probably right about other apps being shoddily coded, but I have here an 3rd party app that just uses one oracle dll to connect to Oracle and that is it. That 3rd party app also communicates successfully with SAP on any os except with Win7 and Win 2008 R2.

2111

Living Room / Re: Windows 7 Breaks Week Numbering

« Last post by Shades on January 17, 2011, 10:20 PM »

Windows 7 is broken?

On way too many low levels...it is not even funny anymore.

I keep telling that Windows 7 is not ready for the enterprise, the PC's that have to work with big names like Peoplesoft, SAP, eBase. It still amazes me how much is broken and is/has to be rewritten to get the previous functionality (from pre-Vista OS's) back.

For general use Windows 7 is a sufficient replacement for the aging XP. That is as far as I want to go with it. I understand that SP1 is coming soon for 7, I really hope they sorted out the mess they created, but will not keep my breath...

It is not like I am not trying to like 7...as I am using it on my personal PC, but the problems I keep encountering are sure dampening the fun.

Talking about fun, try Oracle 11g Database server software on Windows 7 (or Win 2008 R2 for that matter). Now try to access that database with 3rd party software. 80% chance that you are locked out each time the app access it. Networking issue with Windows 7/Win 2008 R2 is the cause.

Yeah, I know, I know, time to consider using Microsoft's SQL server... *shrug*

2112

Living Room / Re: Cute jokes' thread

« Last post by Shades on January 13, 2011, 11:25 PM »

Brilliant rhetoric in style. 

You have to hand it to the British, they can say 'F..k off' so much more eloquently than practically any other person/nation that (natively) speaks English.

2113

Finished Programs / Re: Utility: Convert Multiple Columns in Excel to a Single Column

« Last post by Shades on January 11, 2011, 04:06 PM »

Why not? The square is not that far away...

2114

Living Room / Re: List the crappiest websites you know here. (warning: potentially NSFW)

« Last post by Shades on January 11, 2011, 03:36 PM »

It seemed to me that I already saw the picture of the girl in the tub during my Amiga days and those were over pre-1995...don't ask, misspent youth. One of my jobs during that time was to digitize old 80's German pron for a "kinky" adult website.

And if you think, how bad could that have been...well, I still regret not having asked extra money as hazard pay...or getting my brain brushed thoroughly with a steel brush or something.

2115

Living Room / Re: Can we stop with the diagonal screen length thing?

« Last post by Shades on January 10, 2011, 05:24 PM »

Less production lines for the manufacturer, perhaps? Bulk ordering of similar type screens (widescreen, but with different resolutions) is cheaper? And that is something the consumer is noticing as well?

Now I do understand why there are people who like their screens to have height. I am still using using two 1280x1024 screens for my computing, but I have to say that those 1920x1080 screens look very interesting.

To me the screen real estate is more important than the amount of monitors in front of me. The 1920x1080 ones do give me what I need. Almost all the width and a little bit more height from my current setup.

2116

General Software Discussion / Re: Word Processor OS

« Last post by Shades on January 10, 2011, 04:41 PM »

How about a Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard (Core edition)? 

 As far as I know it has only a console and doesn't let you install too much extras in a severely limited graphical shell.

2117

Living Room / Re: most weird Ctrl key issue *ever*?

« Last post by Shades on January 05, 2011, 07:12 PM »

Which type of keyboards did you use?

My assumption is that both are USB.
In that case, did you use the same USB port for both keyboards?
If so, try different port(s).
It could be that for some reason the port you already tested on is worn out (physically).
It could also be that the USB controller on your mainboard is starting to get "flaky".

Come to think of it, is your keyboard wired or wireless?
When wireless, check batteries and sources that could cause interference on the frequency band that your keyboard uses. Changing the channel could help in that case.

2118

Living Room / Re: What would it look like if all DC visitors were gathered in one place?

« Last post by Shades on January 04, 2011, 06:19 PM »

Does anyone still think that 'the best defense is a good offense'? 

2119

General Software Discussion / Re: What is your preferred server OS for home use? And Why?

« Last post by Shades on January 04, 2011, 06:14 PM »

In my experience the communication between any PC that runs XP/2003 (or older) and the one that is running 'HomeGroup' (7, 2008R2) is not great...to put it mildly. If you plan to use such a mixed environment, than I strongly suggest to not use the 'HomeGroup' crap at all.

In Windows 7 it is possible to set up your networking for a 'Work' environment, which appears to "kill" the HomeGroup features.

According to Fred Langa you can actually gain 10 to 15% of raw networking speed just by disabling 'HomeGroup'.

2120

Living Room / Re: So, when you're working, do you...

« Last post by Shades on December 30, 2010, 02:07 PM »

One dominant personal preference is to avoid work like the plague.

-cranioscopical (December 29, 2010, 08:44 AM)

I avoid cliches like the plague

-timns (December 29, 2010, 11:20 AM)

I avoid plagues that like cliches...

Ontopic:
Lighting is no problem for me, voices are (kid's voices are a real disaster for my concentration). Headphones are preferred when I do have to listen to music that I already know when people are talking in the same room as I am.

Utter silence is the environment that works best for me, but it is no problem for me if other people are in the same room that are not in my field of vision and are quiet.

2121

Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by Shades on December 24, 2010, 04:07 PM »

Here in Paraguay there are not that many places that sell computer hardware. Here in the main capital everything is priced more or less like in Europe. But at the border with Brazil (6 hour drive) there is a city where you can buy computer gear for a lot less. But not the big names, only budget brands.

Now I found out that the top of these budget brands: Satellite have a cheap and remarkably durable mouse (A-21). Here these mouses cost around 6 dollar brand new. That particular mouse feels extremely comfortable to my (European sized) hand.

2122

General Software Discussion / Re: I want a game for Christmas: turn-based

« Last post by Shades on December 19, 2010, 11:02 PM »

Sins of a Solar Empire

Excellent strategy game in my book. Not too expensive, even with the expansion kit...and no DRM!

2123

Living Room / Re: Official DonationCoder song

« Last post by Shades on December 18, 2010, 08:49 PM »

The donationcoder.com website does not sound so pleasing to my ears, I'm afraid.

It is however a very long song, which is more than I can say from some of the big name websites I tried 

2124

Living Room / Re: Show us a photo of your mutt or other creatures..

« Last post by Shades on December 18, 2010, 06:28 PM »

When my friend was constructing his house here, the workers adopted a drifter dog (female) that since then guarded the place. When I fixed the electricity in this house, I also was endeared to this sweet girl. Two months ago she even produced offspring (5 puppies) and all seemed to be going well for her. She was even nurturing 3 puppies from another dog here in the neighborhood.

But then a disease struck her, I forgot the name, but it was lethal and transferable to humans. My friend has four kids running around the house, so it was quickly decided that she would enter the eternal sleep at the vet and soon. I understand that they did this yesterday.

It is indeed wonderful how dogs can capture your heart and become your friend. Losing them leaves an empty space in heart and mind. Luckily there is her offspring as legacy which I hope turns out as wonderful, gentle and caring as she was.

@timns:
Not only do I understand you, I sympathize with you as well. Dogs live in the here and now...and in the picture he looked happy.

2125

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: [eCommerce Script] TomatoCart - A First Look Review

« Last post by Shades on December 18, 2010, 06:00 PM »

Depends on your website hoster...with that I mean the webserver software that they use to serve your pages to the web and their rules or accessibility for configuring that software.

Likely they use a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) setup, as that setup has proven to be rock solid, fast (for most intends and purposes) and cheap (Open Source licenses). In that case, the Apache webserver can be configured by a text file. There are a lot of internet pages that explain how to configure it far better than I can.

There are also web interfaces built for this setup, so you can configure the webserver with your browser. But which one your ISP is using I don't know. Maybe that the one they supply for you to use has already an option to enable Search Engine Optimization (SEO).