Recent Posts

226

Living Room / Re: irma-geadon

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 14, 2017, 08:32 PM »

MilesAhead, great news, best of luck with everything!

-tomos (September 14, 2017, 03:04 AM)

Thanks.  Nice to read that.   

227

Living Room / Re: irma-geadon

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 14, 2017, 08:30 PM »

I am mostly worn out from humidity but otherwise OK.

Good to hear from you!
 

-cranioscopical (September 14, 2017, 02:14 PM)

Thanks.  Right across the street a crane on a building under construction got twisted.  The remains od the head section are hanging directly over the MetroMover station.  I guess they need abother crane to get it down.  They will not run any of those trains until that is dealt with.  I would take a pic but I am too tired out to carry through on it.  I finally got a shower this morning when the motel reopened.   I smelled really gross for a ccouple of days.   

228

Living Room / Re: irma-geadon

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 14, 2017, 08:23 PM »

Do you have electric power? I have read that a lot of Florida doesn't.

-Arizona Hot (September 13, 2017, 09:14 PM)

I am living outside.  But the college had electric and even WiFi on the grounds.  Ice cream machine was all there was for food.

229

Living Room / irma-geadon

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 13, 2017, 05:49 PM »

Third day after Irma.  I am mostly worn out from humidity but otherwise OK.  I hope all DCers  made it through alright.  I will post again when the college opens.  Most likely that will be next Monday.

Until then ...

230

Living Room / Re: When you make your 100'th Post

« Last post by MilesAhead on September 05, 2017, 05:33 PM »

I'll do a special edition post for my 3000 milestone

[ Invalid Attachment ]

-Ath (September 05, 2017, 12:51 PM)

Leave it to a programmer to do a recursive post.   

231

Living Room / Re: Badly explain your occupation

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 08, 2017, 12:31 PM »

Achieved my ideal role, I'm a nilhighist.

-cranioscopical (August 08, 2017, 07:48 AM)

Hmm, would that be an Egyptian Riverboat Gambler? 

232

Living Room / Re: When you make your 100'th Post

« Last post by MilesAhead on August 07, 2017, 11:22 AM »

I almost got it, new user-id 533335, (shot this while 533336 had just registered )

A case of palindrome, ofcourse

[ Invalid Attachment ]

-Ath (July 31, 2017, 10:28 AM)

You know what they say.  When in Palindrome do as the Palindromans do. 

233

Living Room / Re: When you make your 100'th Post

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 26, 2017, 01:31 PM »

that was post # 4444

-tomos (July 23, 2017, 01:33 PM)

My problem is how to fabricate a further 1,111 that are equally devoid of meaningful content. 

-cranioscopical (July 25, 2017, 04:54 PM)

Just keep going how you have been, and you'll be there soon enough. 

-wraith808 (July 25, 2017, 08:42 PM)

That would be cheating.  Too easy. 

234

Non-Windows Software / Re: Android: (Wired) File Transfers from PC

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 25, 2017, 03:43 PM »

I've been pretty happy with airdroid.

-mouser (July 24, 2017, 10:52 PM)

It looks interesting.  I installed it on my phone.  I'll try it out soon.   

235

Coding Snacks / Re: Safe Internet

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 25, 2017, 11:59 AM »

Another idea for booting a thumb drive for surfing is Puppy Linux

I made a bootable USB and not only does it boot but you can set it to save Linux config changes on shutdown.  Also it is very easy to get the WiFi working.  There is a gizmo in the system tray for it.  If you google you should get a step by step how to initialize the WiFi in Puppy Linux.  If you set it to save config info to the stick you only have to do it once.  I did it some time ago but it must have been very easy since I don't have any memory of it being annoying. 

Puppy is very small and can run well even on PCs and Laptops that have been around awhile.

236

Non-Windows Software / Re: Android: (Wired) File Transfers from PC

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 21, 2017, 09:03 AM »

The Android version of Total Commander with its LAN plugin. Works both with wire and WiFi and is free, but you can donate any money.

-Shades (July 21, 2017, 08:18 AM)

 

I used it successfully on both Lollipop and Marshmallow.  Pretty straightforward.

237

Non-Windows Software / Re: Android: (Wired) File Transfers from PC

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 19, 2017, 08:54 AM »

^^^   
Ialready have a usb keyboard.  The mouse us easier.

-MilesAhead (February 28, 2017, 09:01 PM)

With these can transfer data to computer ? as usual , installing a phone data transfer app on your computer or use Android manager , these phone transfer app can help user transfer data from Android to computer ,

-Tanksder (July 19, 2017, 02:06 AM)

Thanks. I have noticed recently several Apps of the type you mention.  After the initial panic I don't feel pressure to do much in the way of file transfer.  Now and then I transfer a folder of MP3s.  But I don't feel that much need to have all my eBooks on every device.  I have them backed up to cloud and thumb drive.  Lately I have been using the Kobo reader and it syncs very well across devices when reading from its online storage.  It just gets a chapter at a time so even if I had to use phone data it's not much of a loss.  I try to minimize phone data use because I only get 500 MB a month.  I use Opera Max to block Apps like the transit trackers that want to just get the info without telling you the WiFi connection dropped etc..

But in the abstract I am interested why some Apps claim they can do fast transfer over Bluetooth when people generally say BT is very slow etc..   

238

Living Room / Re: Amazon patents "anti-window shopping" tech

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 17, 2017, 08:43 AM »

Hmm, next thing is to take a page out of the auto dealership book.  The List Price on the book does not include "Dealer Prep"(i.e. taking the book out of the shipping carton and sticking it on the shelf.)

239

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm so fed up with (software or hardware) KM / KVM switches working so badly

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 14, 2017, 08:29 AM »

I had a Belkin KVMA switch older than this model:

http://www.dell.com/...393437454#polaris-pd

Mine relied on hitting the up or down arrow keys twice, sort of like a double click, to switch from one machine to the other.  It drew all power from the PS/2 keyboard and mouse connections.  The one shown that is similar to mine is only for 2 machines side by side with PS/2 connectors for keyboard and mouse and the standard VGA connector for the video.  Edit:  It did not switch the power to the machines, only the signals.  When it switched to the other machine it always reset the video mode to make sure everything was in sync.  The switch was pretty quick with just a momentary video glitch as the mode was reset to the mode it was already in.  There was some explanation in the docs why it was necessary.  But I got used to it pretty quickly.  End Edit


Even the one I had would only get "stuck" on one machine when the keyboard got locked up or the system was in a semi-hung state.  I guess they got rid of that problem by using the external switch.  In any case it worked better than any of the free network-based software switches I tried.  As well as sharing keyboard mouse and video it could also share a set of speakers and a microphone.  That switch must have lasted me at least 10 years.  I started out with a 486/Pentium III pair of machines.  As I discarded the old machine and replaced it with a new PC, usually an HP Pemtium 4 or AMD tower, I just slid the tower out and plugged into all the connections with the new tower.  Once I did the Windows initialization stuff and cleaned off the crapware I was in business.  I got my $66 worth many times over from that switch.

I believe they also had a 4 machine model but that required external A/C power.

240

Living Room / Re: Movies you've seen lately

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 13, 2017, 03:05 PM »

I watched Doctor Strange yesterday.  I read that comic book every month back in the day when it cost $.12.  Lots of action.  Not bad at all.

241

Living Room / Re: Android virus

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 10, 2017, 04:17 PM »

I am new to Android(less than a year experience with tablets and phones but I did Linux back in the day) but this article looks pretty sensible. As Ath suggested they have Reset to Factory Defaults as a fall-back remedy.  But it gives some things to try before resorting to it:

http://www.techadvis...droid-virus-3633110/

I didn't realize Android had a boot to safe mode option.  Learn something every day. 

242

Living Room / Re: external hard drive backups

« Last post by MilesAhead on July 10, 2017, 08:56 AM »

@techidave do you have USB 3.x or another fast interface on the machine?  USB 3.0 docking stations have become very cheap recently.  If you already have USB 3.0 on the machine you could use the docking station with bare 3.5" HD Sata III 1TB or larger for very reasonable money.  Then you could use a simple sync program to copy files from the internal HD or SSD to the WD drive in the dock.  I used to get WD Black 1 TB drives for about $84.  I think they are even cheaper now.

For backing up my C: partition I use Macrium Reflect.  But I tried making an image for data files one time and the image produced was actually larger than the input data.  Also it was slow because it was trying to compress the data.  If you have a dependable file by file sync program it can be much faster as it only copies changed files.  As Mouser suggested, don't keep your drive in the dock all the time.  I used a small plastic stack of drawers I got for $8 at Walmart that held 6 WD drives.  I put the drive in an anti-static bag then slid it in the drawer.  Not a fireproof solution but if you combine it with Cloud backup you should be ok for a single machine.

It may be something to consider for local quick access backup in addition to the suggestions made by other posters in this thread.  Another cool thing you can do with a USB 3.0 docking station is slide an SSD into it.  If you play around with heavy file manipulation stuff like video muxing and put source and destination on the SSD you can get amazing throughput due to the nearly instant random access speeds.  IOW, if you get a USB 3.0 dock you may be able to have fun with it in addition to the backup chores.  Last time I priced them they were only around $20.  What might run a bit more is if you have to add a USB 3.0 expansion card to your machine.  For just backup I did not see any great speed increase with the SSD as the sequential write speed of the SSD I had was not all that much faster than a WD Black Sata III "spinner."  But as I noted the random access times of even a cheapie Kingston SSD are insane.  Just another angle to consider. 

243

Site/Forum Features / Re: New Forum Feature request

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 29, 2017, 02:53 PM »

I think it is a good idea.  I can remember suggesting something similar on other forums.  It seems more natural to quote or follow up to a new thread with the aid of the software than manually starting a new topic and inserting a link to the old thread.  Not having the feature is likely why thread hijacking is so common on forums.  The software should handle all the mundane stuff like the back link to the original thread etc..

 

How easy the implementation would be I have no clue.

244

Living Room / Re: Developers who use spaces make more money than those who use tabs

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 26, 2017, 09:19 AM »

For your entertainment:

-Edvard (June 24, 2017, 03:08 PM)

Heh. Heh. Cute video. Of course I was thinking along the lines of Wraith that the space insertion can be substituted by the editor when hitting the Tab key.  But they had to do it the way they did for it to work visually.  Also for the woman to get on the guy's nerves hammering the key repeatedly.


As far as religious ferocity goes another area that yanks my chain is when words may be pronounced in either of two acceptable ways but the didactic types all act like the way they pronounce the word is the "right" way.  You can paste the entry in the dictionary into your reply were it is documented that the second pronunciation is also acceptable.  But it won't make a dent.

245

Living Room / Re: Developers who use spaces make more money than those who use tabs

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 23, 2017, 07:15 AM »

btw was it mentioned anywhere how much $/space they are paying?  I can crank up the autorepeat rate and hold down the space bar with the best of 'em!   

246

Living Room / Re: Developers who use spaces make more money than those who use tabs

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 23, 2017, 07:13 AM »

I don't do much with Python.  However it does seem much more natural to type a block by hitting Enter, then Tab rather than holding down the shift key and hitting a curly brace.  At the end of the block you hit backspace to back off the indentation rather than again holding down the shift key and hitting another curly brace.  I didn't find it all that problematic when using an editor that knows Python.

-MilesAhead (June 22, 2017, 09:18 AM)

I don't find adding braces is much bother, and it removes ambiguity - if a language uses indentation for semantic purposes, you run a higher risk of stupid bugs.

-f0dder (June 22, 2017, 03:55 PM)

I tried Python back in the early 90s.  I had the same feeling about the idea of using indentation to denote blocks.  That's why I abandoned my investigation of the language.  Then in the 2000s I took another look at it.  It didn't seem so hairy when using the right tools.  It is not all that different and likely much less restrictive that using a SmallTalk sandbox.  I can remember not liking AutoIt also because it used that old function style with the commas instead of parens.  Now when I do AHK it's not such a big deal.  Although I use the newer style function syntax unless the old function makes something easier or provides more information.

I guess you don't use end of line comments much.

Indeed, I don't.

I find that when I use proper variable and function names - which requires extracting well-defined, single-purpose functions - I don't need end-of-line quotes for anything. The code reads pretty naturally, and when I need comments, it's usually a larger block describing why somethign is done in a special way, performance considerations, external API/service quirks, whatever.

As the man said, it's a personal preference.  I started off with hard tabs then 4 spaces to indent.  It depends on the programming language.  In AHK I like to use 2 spaces for indenting.  I don't see the advantage of a lot of empty space on the page.

So use an editor that has a hard tab/spaces option.  I don't get the controversy.  But for people who may type in the < 30 wps range hitting shift brace combinations is distracting and causes a lot of lint since it is easy to get a bracket when you want a brace.  Also I notice many IDEs, at least in free tools, lack a reformatting indentation parser(such as Tidy.)  When I used Delphi 5 I found it liberating to just type in the code all messy and hit the function key for Delforex to indent and capitalize according to rules etc..  If everything lined up chances were good I did not have any typos.

The controversy is a people thing, and it's already mentioned above. Tabs means flexibilty, spaces means people shoving their preferred indentation size down your throat.

The Python editors I've used automatically filter the input and detect the indentation levels, adjusting the number of spaces to what you are using.  Hardly a gagging operation to edit the source.

247

Living Room / Re: Developers who use spaces make more money than those who use tabs

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 22, 2017, 09:18 AM »

I consider languages insisting on indentation for semantics (like Python) to have made a really bad choice in that regard. The intention might have been to make program structure clearer, but it's dictatorial "we know better" that doesn't belong in a language, and it ends up causing more troubles than it solves.

-f0dder (June 21, 2017, 04:33 PM)

I don't do much with Python.  However it does seem much more natural to type a block by hitting Enter, then Tab rather than holding down the shift key and hitting a curly brace.  At the end of the block you hit backspace to back off the indentation rather than again holding down the shift key and hitting another curly brace.  I didn't find it all that problematic when using an editor that knows Python.

You're either using a very, very narrow monitor (for professional development I've been on 120 columns with plenty of real estate for an IDE for 5+ years), or having crazy amounts of indents.

I guess you don't use end of line comments much.

I've been using tab-is-4-spaces indenting for some 15+ years, but I'm considering changing that to oldschool 8, since it forces you to reduce indentation - preferably by splitting your code into shorter, coherent functions.

So use an editor that has a hard tab/spaces option.  I don't get the controversy.  But for people who may type in the < 30 wps range hitting shift brace combinations is distracting and causes a lot of lint since it is easy to get a bracket when you want a brace.  Also I notice many IDEs, at least in free tools, lack a reformatting indentation parser(such as Tidy.)  When I used Delphi 5 I found it liberating to just type in the code all messy and hit the function key for Delforex to indent and capitalize according to rules etc..  If everything lined up chances were good I did not have any typos.

248

Living Room / Re: Developers who use spaces make more money than those who use tabs

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 21, 2017, 03:11 PM »

Most of the dedicated Python editors I have encountered have settings to strip tabs and indent with the number of spaces the user sets.  In Python the indentation is the only indicator of the beginning and end of blocks.  You don't have curly braces or "begin" and "end" keywords to fall back on.  It can get funky fast if you load someone else's Python source code with hard tabs unless the editor can auto convert the tabs for you.

That is the best reason I have found for insisting on spaces.  As I have gotten older I have gone from tab to 4 spaces to 2 spaces for indentation.  I hate it when source wraps to the next line or kicks in the horizontal scrollbar just because there were a few nested blocks generating a bunch of white space.

249

Living Room / PKD hmm, should I make a pun and wonder if he was mal-adjusted?

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 16, 2017, 02:12 PM »

Philip K. Dick was one interesting person.  I read most of his SciFi stuff.  I watched a documentary about a SciFi convention in which he gave the speech which is condensed in the YouTube clip.  After seeing the documentary it was my feeling that the Wachowski Brothers were either present or saw the documentary or at least the PKD portion.  Because it sure seemed like they got the Matrix "treatment" handed over neatly packaged.

btw I read the Adjustment Team and also enjoyed the movie.  It is tough not the cheer for those "outwitting" the functionaries of the powers that be.  However it was my feeling that the rebellious feeling and struggle of the couple was part of the program.  Like when a married couple get done with the ceremony and reception and finally get to take off on the honeymoon.  It's all scripted.  But that doesn't mean there aren't any fun scenes. 

Anyway, I don't recall the name of the documentary but those interested may want to search it out.  Here's the clip from YouTube:

250

Living Room / Re: Recommend some music videos to me!

« Last post by MilesAhead on June 13, 2017, 05:13 PM »

Some nice tracks on this album.  Smooth without being "smooth jazz."