Recent Posts

2126

Living Room / Re: Can we compare file transfer protocols?

« Last post by Shades on December 10, 2010, 07:34 PM »

Personally, I use a VPN connection to create an intercontinental connection that is actually quite solid (from Paraguay to the Netherlands). With Cisco's VPN software. So my experience is totally different than yours, I'm afraid.

Today (Paraguay is in its rain season) rain fell for an hour resulting in blanking streets with 10 cm of water. In that hour the wind was blowing that amount of water horizontally. I use an wireless antenna to connect to my provider, but all the bad weather did not have any effect on my VPN connection.

VPN is quite hard to set up properly, but after that work nice...as long as nothing (dramatically) changes in either software or hardware on both ends. 

 

2127

General Software Discussion / Re: Can we talk about mkv files here please?

« Last post by Shades on December 10, 2010, 07:16 PM »

Proper resoure management is always key. Don't do (too) much background tasks when you are watching HD files. I find it also important to have two or four memory sticks (2/4 gByte) that work at least as fast the Front Side Bus (FSB) speeds of your mother-board helps a lot when processing/watching HD content.

I never encountered the problems you mention when playing 1080p content on my Win7 system, which has only 2GByte of RAM that is matched with the FSB of my main board. Also, my disk are on a weekly defragmentation cycle, which helps as well.

2128

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: For non-programmers: Editpad is the best text editor (for now!)

« Last post by Shades on December 10, 2010, 06:33 PM »

ARGH!...the Apple mentality is invading the mind of superboyac!!!!!!   

2129

General Software Discussion / Re: Why is it so hard to create a video cd/dvd on a windows machine?

« Last post by Shades on December 10, 2010, 06:21 PM »

@techidave:
VLC can play a DVD image (as .iso file) directly, without burning it. Any kind of error that can occur when creating your own DVD's (for example: insufficient menu structure, sync errors) can be easily detected this way without waiting for the rewriteable DVD to be burned. Saves a lot of time and potential embarrassments.

After all errors are eliminated you can burn your mastercopy, that you can give to your coach or give/sell it to staff/students as school promotion...or whatever tickles your fancy. 

2130

General Software Discussion / Re: Can we talk about mkv files here please?

« Last post by Shades on December 10, 2010, 05:59 PM »

@superboyac
A word of warning though, the movie Iron Man 2 has a protection on it that MakeMKV cannot circumvent. It can make a .mkv file from the movie, but all the chapters are jumbled.

This renders MakeMKV useless as backup software for this movie. Expect that protection to be included in new movie releases.

And that is too bad. I like the fact MakeMKV eliminates one noise source (spinning disc) while retaining all the DVD goodness.

2131

Living Room / Re: DDOS Ethics

« Last post by Shades on December 10, 2010, 04:53 PM »

Think it was Slashdot where I read it...anywayz:

There the DDOS attack was compared with picketing. After all, picketers make it hard for customers and personnel from an organization/company to enter while negative attention (or press) to the place.

Which is the main reason behind the whole attack. And I cannot say that I disagree with that...or the right to become a picketer yourself. Or the right to break them up for that matter.

That these leaks that came out can be interpreted the wrong way...sure. And all of those comments could also have been preceded by the text 'In my opinion...' or 'I think...' and most of the diplomatic stuff would have blown over.

Then again, diplomats take pride in their fencing with words. But hey, you cannot be the best all the time, so be prepared that sometimes the joke is on you. If you cannot deal with that, go back to Kindergarten to take a 'refresher' on things that build character, like 'putting your money where your mouth is' and 'talk is silver, silence is golden'.

Even Poetin starts saying that democracy in the United States is rapidly becoming a thing of the past...and he knows

2132

Living Room / Re: French Learning Websites

« Last post by Shades on December 08, 2010, 05:47 PM »

Here is one link (LiveMocha)for any language that you ever wanted to learn.

You make exercises, both written and audio (so make sure that you have a microphone) as fast as you want/can and they are reviewed by native speakers of the language, which makes for good feedback. It is also free. Personally I cannot find the time to do more with this site, as I am a registered user. That is also where the affiliation ends.

2133

Living Room / Re: Connections problem has me stumped ...

« Last post by Shades on December 08, 2010, 05:16 PM »

The files that go wrong...do they have a size bigger than <value>? Do these files crash the first time, but the second time they manage to squeeze through?

In those cases I would suspect time-outs and package sizes.

2134

Living Room / Re: Wi-Fi Makes Trees Sick!

« Last post by Shades on November 25, 2010, 04:50 PM »

@40Hz
If you want more of the same ilk as 'What the bleep! do we know?", you should try 'Ancient Aliens' (History Channel). From memory, the first title starts out reasonable enough, but becomes more and more esoteric.

'Ancient Aliens' consists of 6 episodes from about 45-60 minutes. It was more interesting in some parts, but even more esoteric in others (the aeronautics part I found interesting).

On-topic:
Here in Asuncion the municipality does not remove trees even when they grow in the middle of the street. The power company (yes, there is only one here) does not remove branches when they put cables up. But when a transformer in the grid goes bad (recognizable by the sound it makes) there are no leaves around the power lines that go through trees.

From what I see it looks like trees are (minimally) affected by electromagnetism, so it is not a big stretch for me to believe that high frequencies can have their effect on them too.

2135

Living Room / Re: Freezing BIOS even - any ideas why?

« Last post by Shades on November 24, 2010, 04:46 PM »

Tantallic capacitors last a lot longer and eliminate bad spots inside themselves automatically, hardly affecting the capacity they had from the beginning.

From (jaded and mutilated) memory they are expensive to produce, really expensive to buy and not fit for very high frequencies. Then again, a PSU is not high frequency.

2136

General Software Discussion / Re: Email Server Frustration -- Looking for Advice

« Last post by Shades on November 22, 2010, 06:33 PM »

@ Stoic Joker:
You are definitely right, but as the server is not essential I will keep it around until it really cannot be resurrected.

On-topic:
I had positive experiences with Vpop3 in a previous company I worked for. It is not free, but comes with quite effective anti-spam measures. At least a lot less sacrificial black Voodoo required.

2137

Living Room / Re: Are "you" "your friend"?

« Last post by Shades on November 22, 2010, 04:40 PM »

get of my lawn!

-Shades (November 20, 2010, 03:53 PM)

Another grass-roots problem?

-cranioscopical (November 20, 2010, 08:52 PM)

As I originate from Holland...what do you exactly mean with grass? 

2138

General Software Discussion / Re: Linux webserver du jour?

« Last post by Shades on November 22, 2010, 04:22 PM »

@f0dder
If memory serves me right, I believe that 40Hz many moons ago mentioned bitnami that will get you completely configured development environments in the shape of a simple installation file. And guess what, Ruby is among them.   

2139

General Software Discussion / Re: Email Server Frustration -- Looking for Advice

« Last post by Shades on November 22, 2010, 04:12 PM »

Hey, I am running an Exchange 2000 Server on a Pentium II 350MHz with 256MB RAM. Definitely not fast, but also nearly not as slow as you might think (several 100's of mostly text based mail messages per minute divided over 10 mailboxes).

Don't know if you still can get GFI or other products for it anymore, but if you only need the basics...
Besides we use a linux box to do some serious traffic shaping (carpet bombing style) and that leaves all quiet on the western front. That server is still running after 4 years of power failures and failing hard drives.

2140

General Software Discussion / Re: Any SIMPLE dvd audio ripping software out there?

« Last post by Shades on November 22, 2010, 03:55 PM »

@superboyac
Oxelon Media Converter, that is the one I personally use. It can hook itself into the context menu and then it is really easy on your eyes...with that I mean a nice, clean and simple interface that simply works even under Win7-64bit.

Not completely sure if it converts video directly to audio, but even if it doesn't do this you will still be pleased with this converter.

2141

Living Room / Re: Are "you" "your friend"?

« Last post by Shades on November 20, 2010, 03:53 PM »

Ok, on-topic:

First, to be clear, English is not my native language, but I consider myself reasonable adept with the language. The sentence the OP mentions sounds wrong to me. But a lot of English does, since the "curse" of SMS text messaging reared it's ugly head.

That and the general lack of interest of people nowadays show for the language results in the above sentences being accepted.

My English teacher always subtracted one full point out of a maximum of 10 (A+) for every (grammatical) mistake in each of his tests. Against that I learned the language, so I feel that I have put in a lot more effort to learn than a lot of native speakers. A waste if you ask me, but hey...get of my lawn!   

2142

Living Room / Re: Getting an HTC Desire HD -- Android Phone

« Last post by Shades on November 19, 2010, 10:44 PM »

I have noticed that my HTC Desire HD battery does drain quickly. Well, it's better than other phones I've had anyways.

-Renegade (November 19, 2010, 11:04 AM)

I still think battery technology is probably the one biggest disappointment of our time (well, from a gadget lover's point of view. I understand that the world has bigger, more essential problems.). Gadgets get faster, smaller, more powerful. But things that are called mobile phones can hardly get through a day without being re-charged. I'm still waiting for the great break-through...

-phitsc (November 19, 2010, 02:15 PM)

And I was under the impression that anyone who can invent a better battery will not only gain so much money that even his/her grand-grandchildren are not able to spend it all, it would also be a spark for technology practically equivalent to the wheel. Do not underestimate the (global) impact from better batteries.
 

2143

Official Announcements / Re: Preparing for a new master DonationCoder server

« Last post by Shades on November 19, 2010, 10:23 PM »

@ worstje:
Movability will be dictated by the backup plan that is in use or will be used. Besides that, there could be a redundant server there that is ready to take over.

Now I do agree with worstje that DC is putting all off Cody's eggs in one basket with this scenario.

If it was me I would consider getting two PC's with slightly lighter hardware spec (which normally drops the price of them quite a bit) and divide the load. In case one of them craps out there is always the other PC that can take over, while the 'crapper' can be repaired/replaced.

From the graphic I understand that the load could easily be 'smeared' over two PC's. Now it is not known to me if DC has their own dedicated server parked with either ISP or that they could buy the one that they are using now. Anyway, maybe it is an idea to use that one as the backup and buy the new PC as specified by Gothi[c].

That way everybody can be happy and confident that the essence of DC website always will be served to the community (as long as the electrical grid supplies the power of course).

2144

Living Room / Re: Are "you" "your friend"?

« Last post by Shades on November 19, 2010, 01:19 PM »

Im not my friend atm as I hurt my knee 

-Stephen66515 (November 18, 2010, 05:12 PM)

Just remember:

A friend in kneed is a friend to feed.

-4wd (November 18, 2010, 06:33 PM)

[villain mode]
A friend in kneed is a friend to bleed.
[/villain mode]

2145

Living Room / Re: iPod - tell me why I should buy one

« Last post by Shades on November 19, 2010, 01:10 PM »

I supect that image is intended to emphasise it's a stereo player...

-Target (November 18, 2010, 05:32 PM)

Looks surround to me

Always a good thing to have experienced that once in a while...

2146

Living Room / Re: Is "Quick Format" safe?

« Last post by Shades on November 15, 2010, 05:50 PM »

things have changed since the old MFM drives

-f0dder (November 15, 2010, 02:42 PM)

My MFM drive (on an Amiga 500) would already lose its data when I (lightly) bumped the table it was resting on. The difference between those highly unreliable drives and the rock solidness of the current generations still baffles me.

2147

Living Room / Re: Too Stupid to Own a Computer

« Last post by Shades on November 12, 2010, 07:26 PM »

Please App, don't see this as an attack of some kind...I can see your point very clearly.

But if you can spend 6 million bucks on a problem like this when you are a jazz pianist and composer...it is very likely that he can rely on a (very healthy) trust fund of some kind.

6 Million, that would buy a whole lot of musical equipment and nice PC's...it should even have bought reliable advice and/or common sense as well.

It looks like I join the laughing crowd...just because of the shameful amount of money spent on the "problem".

2148

Living Room / Re: How do I test router vs. Internet connection?

« Last post by Shades on November 06, 2010, 07:19 AM »

Ah, I understand now that you have a device that contains modem and wireless router and switch. Which makes the straight connection problematic.

Still the idea of using a straight connection is not bad, if you could get your hands on a "simple" modem. Maybe you or a friend have spare or older one. Elimination is still the name of the game.

You are right about log files not giving the reason for drops, but they are handy all the same, as they give you a better insight into the problem. So do not discard this option just yet.

2149

Living Room / Re: How do I test router vs. Internet connection?

« Last post by Shades on November 05, 2010, 05:10 PM »

This problem calls for the elimination game.

Normally you connect your laptop straight to the ADSL or cable modem in your house and work like that for a while. Most modern laptops come with LAN (RJ45) connectors, so this should not be to hard to do.

If the connection remains bad, it is your connection and else it is your router. Find this out first so you can get a clearer idea from where to go next.

2150

General Software Discussion / Re: Printable weekly calendar app?

« Last post by Shades on November 04, 2010, 04:29 PM »

Try the calendar function of the lightning plugin for Thunderbird 3 email client.