Recent Posts

2376

General Software Discussion / Re: Virtual PC 2007 Final

« Last post by Shades on September 20, 2009, 04:02 PM »

Virtual Box is regarded to be the better one. VirtualPC does Windows and a small set of Linux distributions (according to its documentation) while Virtual Box does not impose those limits. Besides that, it has a 'community' edition (open source) next to their business version.

Virtual PC is only available on Windows, while Virtual Box is available for Windows, Linux and if memory serves me correctly,  Solaris/OpenSolaris. Virtual PC is arguably faster with Windows based virtual machines when compared with Virtual Box/VMware. For me, I didn't experience a speed gain with those VM's when testing Virtual PC.

At the moment I am using VMware, mainly because I am too lazy to create native Virtual Box VM's. Never tried Virtual Box's  ability to read VM's created with VMware, though.

PS:
Do not use the free VMware server v2.x!!!
This software is a true abomination to look at, uses a very resource hungry Tomcat webserver and hardly functions with older VM's created with VMware server 1.x. Do not 'upgrade' those to the new format from the 2.0 version. I lost two VM's that way! 

2377

DC Gamer Club / Re: Tales of Monkey Island (Episode 1) - for free

« Last post by Shades on September 19, 2009, 10:53 PM »

Downloaded it, installed it, played it and love it...the wishing well is funny

2378

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Remove duplicate files, folders and archives - DupeTrasher 2009

« Last post by Shades on September 17, 2009, 10:36 PM »

Indeed, thanks for the license AsmDev

Really useful software.

2379

General Software Discussion / Re: Do you touch-type or hunt-and-peck?

« Last post by Shades on September 15, 2009, 10:06 PM »

And the typewriters that were used by the Spanish Inquisition...they were made of gold and transported by the Spanish Armada, I assume?    

2380

General Software Discussion / Re: Cyclic Redundancy Error on CD/DVD

« Last post by Shades on September 14, 2009, 08:28 PM »

For future reference of your burned (important) data, it might be handy to use a tool like DVDisaster (sourceforge).

In short, you have to sacrifice up to 20% of the storage capacity from the DVD. For a standard (re)writeable DVD this means that you can store more or less 4GByte of info. The rest of the capacity will be used to store data with which DVDisaster can recalculate your (important) data.

The software is available for Windows, Linux and Mac. What it also can do is checking the consistency of your disc and how fast your DVD player/burner can read the whole disc. When you download the software the online manual is included. My suggestion would be to check that one first to see if this software should be included in your backup strategy or not.

For me it looks like a nice little bit of extra data "insurance" without too much sacrifice (storage wise).

2381

Living Room / Re: OK - lets get to know each other... who are you, what do you do, where from?

« Last post by Shades on September 06, 2009, 10:41 PM »

Yeah, if not the best!!!

After all, it is easier to crush a Beatle with a Stone than the other way around...

2382

General Software Discussion / Re: Hard Drive Repair

« Last post by Shades on September 04, 2009, 01:13 AM »

The NTFS file system has proven to be robust over the years. In capabilities it surpassed FAT32 file system since NT4.0 came out. With each new NT-based Windows version the NTFS file system got some improvements and extra functionality.

So no, NTFS is definitely not limited (when compared with FAT32) and because of its robustness tools like Disc Doctor have (almost) lost their purpose. Of course, the meddling hands of Symantec seem to be able to ruin even the best software.

2383

Developer's Corner / Re: Mask/Forge Hard-Drive Properties?

« Last post by Shades on September 01, 2009, 09:27 PM »

Try this link http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/

On this page you will find links to its online manual, FAQ and forum.

It is a powerful piece of software, which in default mode will check your hard disk and is harmless. There are however some hard disk manipulation options available that will destroy the content if it is not used properly. Please read the manual and try it on a spare hard disk with data you don't care about. Only after you get a good feel for the options and the possibilities, try it on important data.

Personally, I use it only to check the condition of hard disks (because power failures are quite common here in Paraguay).

2384

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Bypass keyboard on startup

« Last post by Shades on August 30, 2009, 06:52 PM »

This is exactly the reason why a PC repair guy/gal always has a PS/2 keyboard on hand.

However, I recently bought a new ASUS mainboard (P5 series). After installation of the Express Gate software (came with the board) the boot sequence was altered. Instead of seeing the expected BIOS screen there is now a menu which allows me to boot the PC, connect to ASUS (internet), play music, play internet games. This whole menu is controlled by keyboard and mouse (both USB).

When I select the boot option the expected BIOS screen appears and it is business as usual.

2385

Site/Forum Features / Re: Badge/Award Mod Rewritten

« Last post by Shades on August 27, 2009, 09:07 PM »

I'll guess any Windows user that (finally) makes the leap to Linux needs a lobotomy (to get rid of all the trash MS has put in there over the years)...

Tux even wants to identify himself (or herself) with those users


Just joking, I like both OS's.

2386

General Software Discussion / Re: software to merge filetrees of several partitions to one network share?

« Last post by Shades on August 27, 2009, 08:58 PM »

Recently I learned that there are file systems which span themselves over more than one computer (LAN/WAN). Whatever the storage capacity in each of your Linux/Windows systems, you can access it as if it is one drive.

OpenAFS is the name of the file system, but there are more of them.

2387

Living Room / Re: Looking for P2p file sharing for personal use

« Last post by Shades on August 23, 2009, 06:19 PM »

Don't worry, your suggestion leads to a very interesting subject (to me at least). Thanks 

2388

Living Room / Re: Help? Learning how to drive...

« Last post by Shades on August 22, 2009, 06:50 PM »

A tricky thing to do is;  on a empty parking lot make a slalom course (10+ pivot points) that you can easily manage driving forward. Now do the same course backwards without looking back. Use only your mirrors. When you manage to do the course forwards and backwards in the same amount of time, you will have enough 'feeling' for the car you are driving.

The Dutch army was my driving instructor and I had to learn a lot regarding the Dutch traffic rules and how to handle cars in different situations.

Here in Paraguay you are allowed to drive a car if you can afford the car and the drivers license at your 17th birthday. Driving lessons are optional here. Because of this the difference in traffic between both countries is enormous.

The tree tips I mentioned earlier saved me/the car from a lot of damage, because of some idiot trying to a stupid maneuver completely disregarding the direction of traffic. Now I could go on about how badly people park their cars here but then it starts to look like ranting.

 

2389

Living Room / Re: Help? Learning how to drive...

« Last post by Shades on August 22, 2009, 03:59 PM »

Actually, three general tips spring to mind:
- Remain in comfortable state of mind during each whole drive.
- Use your mirrors! All of them!! All the time!!!
- When in doubt, it is generally safer to wait or don't do the maneuvering you were planning to do (highway).

2390

DC Gamer Club / How the classics were made...or not!

« Last post by Shades on August 21, 2009, 10:35 PM »

Here is a link to a gallery which shows how the truly classic games were made...or were supposed to be made. 

http://amusement.fr/...allery/made-of-myth/

This part of the site is English and french available.

2391

General Software Discussion / Re: Multi OS Boot Loading

« Last post by Shades on August 15, 2009, 08:42 PM »

Since the arrival of virtual machines (Virtualbox, VMWare, Virtual PC etc.) I am nearly not interested in multi-boot systems anymore. If the host PC has an "oceanic" size pool of memory, one or more (fast) hard drive(s) and any kind of multi-core CPU configuration...why bother?

Switching between the installed O.S's in a multi-boot system hurt your work flow tremendously. Besides that, you have to permanently sacrifice a lot of hard drive real estate for each O.S. When each O.S. requires access to the same pool of data the drive/partition has to be FAT32 for the best read/write reliability. That file system is kinda weak in features, compared with NTFS, EXT2/3/4, ZFS etc. All those features are there for a reason...to improve the work flow, security, file size etc.

Ah well, no fan here.     

2392

Living Room / Re: Free Mousepads?

« Last post by Shades on August 15, 2009, 08:18 PM »

Why would a mouse require pads...is it not wide enough by itself?

2393

General Software Discussion / Re: Is the party over for Microsoft?

« Last post by Shades on August 09, 2009, 02:15 PM »

On the other hand...reading all of the above, I get the notion that people (the general public) with 1000 dollars or more to spend on a computer automatically buy an Apple.

A somewhat strangely association I admit, but it is one nonetheless. That same public would also spend twice the money to buy a Ferrari instead of a model of a normal brand car maker which has similar specs.

Maybe (the marketing department of) Microsoft would like to be that association, I don't know.

P.S.
To be clear, I like PC's, love to build my own from scratch, having only 6 (miserable!) hours of Apple's System 9 under my belt and think Apple is way overpriced.
The only good thing about Apple is that they have a decent licensing schema for home use since OS X. Microsoft should have learned from that example and offer something similar or better instead of that half-a**ed attempt that they have now for Vista/Win7.

2394

Living Room / Re: Anyone have an i7 chip yet? If so, tell me how you like it

« Last post by Shades on August 02, 2009, 03:11 PM »

According to Tom's Hardware there is also an i3. That one would fill the position of the celeron. Here is a benchmark as well.

2395

Activation/License/Language Help / Re: Suggestion: Use DC login instead of keys

« Last post by Shades on August 01, 2009, 03:40 PM »

Although the method you describe sounds like a good idea...it also sounds like a DRM'med "phoning home" system. Of course we are talking about DonationCoder here so there wouldn't be (that much) opposition to it on the side of the end user.

Administration-wise this idea adds a lot of extra (programmatic) layers. Let's see how happy Mouser and Gothc become when creating/implementing/maintaining your idea.

Maybe it is me, but the current system behind DC leaves the "taste" of a small scale operation, (very actively and continuously) maintained by excellent group of enthusiasts.    

By putting up the suggested system that changes to the standard 'dime-a-dozen' forums that would be visited once by the end-user who would only register to download and get their key after which he/she forgets about the existence of DC until the need for re-registering arrives.

Now I don't know about the average sum people donate to DC, but I think that the amount is dependent on the personal feeling it leaves with the visitors. Too much automation can affect the donations in a negative way...

2396

General Software Discussion / Re: Why can't my computer detect the 6th Sata drive?

« Last post by Shades on July 29, 2009, 10:42 PM »

Likely a tip for the friend that had to use RAID...

Most (if not all) RAID controllers have a JBOD mode. JBOD stands for Just a Bunch Of Drives. As far as I know the RAID controller will not enable any RAID functionality on its controller that way. See the manual that came with the motherboard.

2397

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Remote Keypad

« Last post by Shades on July 27, 2009, 09:19 PM »

Sounds like a job for 'Synergy', which is an open source tool that sends mouse and keystrokes over a LAN.

2398

General Software Discussion / Re: Program Whose Time Has Come: virtual folders, collections, file baskets...

« Last post by Shades on July 27, 2009, 01:30 AM »

Regarding the virtual folders:
Linux is doing that for years already. Directory Opus is also able to create and manage those (version 9 at least) inside DO.

2399

Living Room / Re: Looking for P2p file sharing for personal use

« Last post by Shades on July 26, 2009, 04:40 PM »

My reason for liking Portable Ubuntu:

2400

Living Room / Re: Looking for P2p file sharing for personal use

« Last post by Shades on July 26, 2009, 02:07 AM »

Looks also interesting, thanks kartal 

But I must say that the required installing of CygWin is a serious problem. Even worse, I absolutely hate CygWin. Tried it once some two years back and by using all the defaults and dutifully downloading every piece of software it requested it never worked. Besides that, the total size of the CygWin folder was just over 4GByte(!!)...which took at least 5 days to download (internet is/was not that great over here).

A few months ago I found out about Portable Ubuntu, I believe it was featured on 'LifeHacker'.
The download was only a measly 450Mbyte, but my system now has a fully working Ubuntu 8.04 that runs in Windows (at the same time!), which takes only 2Gbyte of storage space after installing and updating. When activated it will also take 256Mbyte of RAM, but that would be its only disadvantage when compared with CygWin.

Portable Ubuntu grants full access to all drives/partitions/folders, even those that are normally locked and/or obscured by Windows and its file-system, a feature it has in common with CygWin. Lets just make a long story short: in my point of view Portable Ubuntu is miles ahead of anything related to CygWin. You can even copy a complete and updated Portable Ubuntu installation to a different computer or pendrive and use it immediately from there without any kind of installation. Try to do that with CygWin!