Recent Posts

2251

General Software Discussion / Re: Your fav' audio CD burner?

« Last post by Edvard on May 12, 2008, 01:42 PM »

More info about CD Text here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-Text
as well as a nice list of capable burning software.

Sounds like what you need to do is enter the CD-Text info yourself before making the disk.

2252

Living Room / Re: Questions about upgrading my Linux distro

« Last post by Edvard on May 09, 2008, 02:47 PM »

Time to update!

-wreckedcarzz (May 08, 2008, 08:42 PM)

Glad to see you on board, Wreckedcarzz. 
My 8.04 is humming along pretty sweetly at the moment, lots of updates in the past week (let's hope that means bugs fixed...). Still haven't installed everything I need, and I'm skeptical of PulseAudio. I hear it doesn't play well with some apps that are used to OSS or Jack. As long as it doesn't mess with Ardour, I'm fine.
We'll soon see...

2253

Living Room / Re: Questions about upgrading my Linux distro

« Last post by Edvard on May 08, 2008, 02:19 PM »

I assume you are running 7.10? and you want to upgrade to 8.04?

8.04 is nice in that it tries to make the upgrade process go smoothly. I don't have experience with the upgrade panel, but I can say the CD upgrade works well. When you put the CD in, it will tell you that a new version of Xubuntu is available to install and would you like to do so (how nice of it...).It will even ask if you want to import your home directories if you install on another disk (nicer still...).
Aside from that, I have heard there are some bugs still alive that are varying grades of serious, so do an update SOON after you install. I haven't noticed any so far, but I'm still in the process of building up my new install.

I upgraded from Xubuntu 7.04 to 7.10 and it went well, but I found that upgrading like that tends to leave a lot of cruft, so this install I chose to simply pull a new installation to start fresh with 8.04. I noted all the programs I was going to need and backed up my home directory to a shared folder on my home network (a CD would do as well, if all the stuff could fit). It took installing twice to get it up, I don't know exactly why.

2254

General Software Discussion / Re: Your fav' audio CD burner?

« Last post by Edvard on May 07, 2008, 11:43 AM »

Because I'm in the mood, I'll round things out a bit for the Linux crowd who might be interested... 

I can definitely recommend Linux users look no further than K3b for CD burning.

http://k3b.plainblack.com/

It will rip and burn ISO's, make Audio CD's from your MP3 collection, add files to multisession disks, Rip Audio from CD's, all kinds of stuff.
Yeah, the Gnome folks complain it uses Qt and blah blah blah, but no other tool comes close, and I've tried many.

-CdrBQ was very powerful, but had a funky interface with too many options that, if you didn't know what the functions did, made coasters.
-XfBurn was nice, integrated with Xfce, but vastly underpowered.
-Serpentine looked nice, but was only for burning Audio CD's (which it did well...)
-Brasero was very nice, but it made two coasters when I was trying to burn onto multi-session disks.

That's all I have, and for the record, on Windows I always used Nero Express. Did what I wanted without getting in the way.

2255

General Software Discussion / Re: FastExplorer: Create your own Context Menu Items (Freeware)

« Last post by Edvard on May 07, 2008, 11:08 AM »

I have probably mentioned it before, PCMag's ContextEdit does both and does it well.
Although I have found that XP doesn't like to pay attention to my changes 
I'll give FastExplorer a try, and eagerly await the day when it can remove items as well.

2256

Living Room / Re: Kitty break

« Last post by Edvard on May 06, 2008, 12:44 PM »

Oops... Sorry.
Should have mentioned that...

2257

Living Room / Re: Kitty break

« Last post by Edvard on May 06, 2008, 12:20 PM »

Hey Zaine! You forgot this one: http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=xFqawLVLYlE

And this one: http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=Rt1wLqaP938

Oh, wait...

Take a break, lower the blood pressure with this cat in full purr-mode!

-zridling (March 21, 2008, 12:06 AM)

...you said LOWER the blood pressure...
 

2258

Living Room / Re: Registry hack needed: Full date in the tray clock

« Last post by Edvard on May 05, 2008, 05:58 PM »

Thanks for the suggestion Super, I'll check that out as well, though my original intent was that I needed to see the full date without constantly hovering my systray notification area or installing yet another thingamabob cluttering my desktop.

2259

General Software Discussion / Re: What’s this "Linux" thing and why should i try it?

« Last post by Edvard on May 05, 2008, 05:52 PM »

Sorry your experience came out bad, Matt.
I have an HP all-in-one as well (a 1315xi to be precise) and haven't had more than a hiccup or two.

I can't help but wonder, though... were you using the KDE tools to scan, or did you try Xsane straight?
That's what I'm using and it works fine.

Trust me, I've heard many stories like yours, and just as many success stories.
I've also heard similar stories under Windows, so the Redmond gorilla is not immune either.
Give it a try with the next version, and the best of luck to you.

2260

Living Room / Re: Registry hack needed: Full date in the tray clock

« Last post by Edvard on May 05, 2008, 04:08 PM »

Fair enough, T-Clock it is.

Stoic's got some DC credits flowing his way, methinks.

2261

Living Room / Re: Registry hack needed: Full date in the tray clock

« Last post by Edvard on May 05, 2008, 01:35 PM »

Ooh, 3 levels :cringe:
Ok, mine will do that too, but I don't want to go that tall on my taskbar.
There must be a way to show the 5/5/2008 at level 2.
I just checked in Control Panel > Regional and Language Options which has lots of options, but none that I need.

2262

Living Room / Registry hack needed: Full date in the tray clock

« Last post by Edvard on May 05, 2008, 01:09 PM »

OK, here's what my tray looks like now:


I want it to say the full date like "5-5-2008" instead where it says "Monday"
I know this can be changed in the registry, (I figured out how to put seconds in the time field once, but I've since forgotten how...) but Google has not enlightened me.
I know there are a bazillion tray clock softwares out there, but I don't want yet another software running.

Anybody got a solution or any other interesting hacks for the tray clock?

2263

Living Room / Re: What's Your Favorite Smilie?

« Last post by Edvard on May 05, 2008, 11:35 AM »

my two favorites are the ones I requested (naturally...)
rtfm
coffee
https://www.donation...68.msg42272#msg42272

And this one gets used quite a bit...

2264

Living Room / Re: Shutdown Day!

« Last post by Edvard on May 02, 2008, 10:46 AM »

...but may 3 is Wednesday.
I have to work Wednesday.
I use a computer at work...

-Edvard (May 01, 2008, 06:50 PM)

Um... isn't May 3 Saturday?
...

-cthorpe (May 01, 2008, 07:42 PM)

 
oh.

edvard rule#234985: Never make a time-sensitive post on a Thursday so stressful you think it's Monday.

http://www.shutdownday.org/

Can you survive 1 day?

It's tomorrow!

-Renegade (May 01, 2008, 12:50 PM)

Oh dear!  I missed  it.

-cranioscopical (May 01, 2008, 04:30 PM)

Huh?

Have you been time travelling again?

-Renegade (May 01, 2008, 11:36 PM)

...or maybe that was it.

Besides, I've planned a 20-mile bike with my son on Saturday, so I think it'll be no problem.

2265

Living Room / Re: Shutdown Day!

« Last post by Edvard on May 01, 2008, 06:50 PM »

I totally can, and have gone for long periods without my computer even being on.

...but may 3 is Wednesday.
I have to work Wednesday.
I use a computer at work...

2266

General Software Discussion / Re: Eve - a tiny freeware vector editor

« Last post by Edvard on April 30, 2008, 07:04 PM »

One reason may have been that .SVG never gained the popularity he anticipated.

Actually, it's plenty popular (it's a W3C standard, after all...), it's just that other programs do svg better.
Last time I checked, Eve was severely lacking in features and svg export didn't look like a hot selling point especially when Sodipodi gave much prettier results and was almost as abandoned.
Nowadays, Inkscape, Xara and Illustrator (and some others I forget now...) are ruling the vector art world right now, so Eve is (sadly, some may say) left way behind.

2267

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Ultrafunk Popcorn full version now freeware

« Last post by Edvard on April 28, 2008, 03:43 PM »

oh.

Missed the "Popcorn 1.83 source" link.

2268

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Ultrafunk Popcorn full version now freeware

« Last post by Edvard on April 28, 2008, 10:25 AM »

w00t!! 

link? 

2269

General Software Discussion / Re: Vista Aero vs. Linux Compiz

« Last post by Edvard on April 28, 2008, 10:14 AM »

Edvard: just because it's on wikipedia doesn't make it correct...

What? The wikipedia article says you're right.

A true defragmentation tool does not exist for ext3.[10]

That being said, as the Linux System Administrator Guide states, "Modern Linux filesystem(s) keep fragmentation at a minimum by keeping all blocks in a file close together, even if they can't be stored in consecutive sectors. Some filesystems, like ext3, effectively allocate the free block that is nearest to other blocks in a file. Therefore it is not necessary to worry about fragmentation in a Linux system."[11]

Irrespective of the above (subjective) statement, file fragmentation can be an important issue in server environments such as in multi-media server applications. While it is true that ext3 is more resistant to file fragmentation than FAT filesystems, nonetheless ext3 filesystems can and do get fragmented over time. Consequently the successor to the ext3 filesystem, ext4, includes a filesystem defragmentation utility and support for extents (contiguous file regions).

Further examples in which lack of defragmentation in some Linux filesystems (such as ext3) is a serious issue, includes server applications where rapid, concurrent and random file creation, update or access occurs. Such systems include large-scale carrier grade voice mail systems, Media-Messaging Service Centers (MMSCs) and SMS/SMSCs (Short Message Service Centers) servers. Media servers such as large scale voice mail and UMS servers are required to stream hundreds of voice or video streams concurrently to hundreds of users in near real-time conditions. These types of applications are particularly susceptible to file fragmentation; access delays during playback of a voice (e.g. voice mail) or video file, due to multiple fragmentation in the media file, can lead to playback interruption or distortion. As fragmentation increases over time, service capacity of these systems degrades because of increased CPU and I/O overhead resulting from fragmentation induced disk thrashing.

Personally, on my humble desktop system, I haven't noticed 'subpar performance'.
If I was maintaining a server farm, I would definitely be concerned.

2270

General Software Discussion / Re: Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron? Hardly

« Last post by Edvard on April 25, 2008, 05:16 PM »

Oops, I didn't see your post when I made mine.
As you can read, I opted for the Windows install at work, I'll keep you posted on my install at home.
Too bad I don't have a laptop to burn...

2271

General Software Discussion / Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron"

« Last post by Edvard on April 25, 2008, 03:09 PM »

OK, so this got released on Monday and I missed it. Oh well, wait a few days for server bog to calm down and I figure I'm gold.
My favorite flavor being Xubuntu, I head over to:

http://www.xubuntu.org/

(or you can try http://www.ubuntu.com/ or http://www.kubuntu.org/)
Grabbed a Torrent, read up on the Release Notes while it downloaded, then just because I'm at work on a Windows machine, for fun I mounted the iso with MagicDisc.

What's this?


I can install on a Windows machine WITHOUT PARTITIONING?!?! Sweet!!
So THAT's what this Wubi business is all about, hm?
I guess the boss won't mind...


So, after rebooting, there was an Xubuntu entry in XP's boot screen, so I chose it and after answering a question or two, it finished installing and I have a full installation residing in C:\ubuntu.
First items of business: Internet and Printing.

The internet was already on, thanks to DHCP on our router, but then came the big surprise.
I hit the print setup utility and lo! behold! our brand-spanking-new Xerox 7655 (which is on the LAN) came up in the list.
Nice.
It didn't have a proper driver (the Xerox website has a driver for RedHat and Suse) but I was able to mount my windows disk and give it the windows' PPD file...

It worked.

I'll give more details after I recover...

2272

General Software Discussion / Re: Vista Aero vs. Linux Compiz

« Last post by Edvard on April 25, 2008, 02:05 PM »

OK, I'm going to sidestep the flow here and say fragmentation is the least of my worries running Linux. 

Wikipedia says it pretty well:
http://en.wikipedia....Ext3#Defragmentation

Besides, Ext4 will have built-in defragmentation, so there. 

2273

General Software Discussion / Re: Vista Aero vs. Linux Compiz

« Last post by Edvard on April 25, 2008, 11:09 AM »

Correct me if I'm wrong (and somebody usually does...), but it's not whether Linux does or doesn't need fragmentation, but how any particular filesystem deals with the inevitable fragmentation. Any multi-user, multitasking operating system should not benefit greatly from defragmentation (ntfs included...) and there are valid arguments against defragging such a system.

Linux adherents have been sold the mantra "no need for fragmentation" because the guys who designed the filesystem designed it from a multiuser multitask standpoint from the first.

It's not a lie, it's a misconception of the nature of the problem.

If the msdos and fat filesystems had been designed this way from the first, we wouldn't even be asking this question.

I know this is old, and concerns mainly the ext2 filestystem, but it's a very good technical explanation of the situation from the wtfl-lug mailing list:
http://www.salmar.co...02-March/000603.html
Here's a perl script for checking fragmentation:
http://lxer.com/modu...iew/96989/index.html
...and an non-techie ascii-art explanation of linux filesystem fragmentation here:
http://geekblog.onea...x_need_defragmenting

2274

Living Room / Re: Searchme - another visual search attempt

« Last post by Edvard on April 24, 2008, 10:29 AM »

Well, since Pagebull went down, I might try this one.
It was nice to use to see thumbnails of pages that you might remember by how it looks rather than the content, even though the content is what you're after.
Certainly not for the odd one-off searches for detailed info, but very useful nonetheless.
I, for one, am glad it's an option...

2275

General Software Discussion / Re: Cool Free Color Picker Tools

« Last post by Edvard on April 22, 2008, 07:35 PM »

Ooh! ooh! My turn!

PKcolorPicker
http://www.pkworld.de/start.htm




The one I always come back to when I'm in Windows-land and need to theme a litestep or something.