Recent Posts

2626

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Home Server or stick with Windows Server 2003?

« Last post by Shades on January 28, 2009, 10:59 PM »

In my experience, CentOS shines when it is used as a development station. In other areas it is lacking. For servers I use OpenSuse (my distro of choice I have to add).

My (software) RAID PC was running on CentOS in the beginning...but after 6 moths I was fed up with the third rebuild (after a voltage dip that even eluded my UPS). When I moved to OpenSuse I had to do the same amount of rebuilds, but in a time-span of 3,5 years. And don't worry, me cursing at the (one and only) power company from this country didn't vary too much on a yearly basis. 

2627

General Software Discussion / Re: Raid 1 freeware anywhere?

« Last post by Shades on January 25, 2009, 09:45 AM »

Especially with software RAID solutions, you should not include the boot drive into the RAID. With every computer (hardware) glitch there is a possibility that something goes wrong with the RAID (believe that I'm speaking from experience here). In such cases the RAID can be instructed to repair itself, but expect (quite some) downtime that depends on the size of the RAID.

Now imagine that your boot drive is in the RAID. Happy booting from a live-CD like BartPE or WinPE to get it running again. After years of experience I totally agree with the conclusion of the Tom's Hardware article...a software RAID is better than no RAID at all, but go for hardware RAID when there is a possibility to do so.

2628

Living Room / Re: puzzled by applications that pop up on the taskbar but do not produce a window

« Last post by Shades on January 24, 2009, 04:49 PM »

Sounds somewhat familiar....it is what I experience myself on occasion with self made applications.

My solution is:
I'm running with Sysinternal's ProcessExplorer in the background always. When an application doesn't show me a window, I right-click on the application in the ProcessExplorer overview and select 'Window > Bring to front'. After that the window I expected to see is visible.

2629

General Software Discussion / Re: Raid 1 freeware anywhere?

« Last post by Shades on January 24, 2009, 03:49 PM »

According to this article Windows XP pro comes with a software RAID. Read here about the difference between software RAID and hardware RAID.

One more article about software RAID.

2630

General Software Discussion / Re: PlayOnLinux might be what the Linux world needs to succeed

« Last post by Shades on January 23, 2009, 06:00 PM »

@40Hz:
Your girlfriend, maybe? (you know...that procreation thingie )

And to be more on topic:
http://ta3d.darkstars.co.uk  for the ones that remember and loved Total Annihilation. According to the link the game can be played in Linux inside a new and improved 3D environment

2631

Developer's Corner / Re: Emergence Basic Freeware

« Last post by Shades on January 20, 2009, 09:08 PM »

Why invest time in a BASIC language that will not get you any support because you are using an old product. The sound of banging your head against the wall because of this...that I know.

To me it feels smarter to use a programming language/IDE that is actively developed and open source. May I suggest the following: Greenfoot Java, this is a simplified Java environment, created/sponsored by SUN, Deakin University and The University of Kent.

2632

General Software Discussion / Re: Using a Desktop Search through the network

« Last post by Shades on January 20, 2009, 08:50 PM »

Since you are a library, maybe it would even be smarter to use your own search engine. IBM and Yahoo were so kind to give their Omnifind product away for free.

With your own search engine not only the (more) technically savvy users can access your data but everybody...which is kinda the main purpose of a (public) library.

2633

General Software Discussion / Re: Another Linux Thread :-P

« Last post by Shades on January 19, 2009, 12:49 PM »

Tomcat is a bit of a resource hog, so maybe it is wiser to put the 2 PII PC to work as a server (one CPU dedicated to serving while the other CPU can do the other stuff).

Put as much ram in it as you can, in my experience a PII is not that weak. I used a 120 day version a windows 2000 SBS with Exchange server on one (single) PII CPU with 128Mb RAM and it still managed to encrypt/decrypt 400 messages a minute.

2634

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows editors - do they have to be so bad?

« Last post by Shades on January 17, 2009, 12:17 PM »

[off-topic]
Hehe, I do remember him complaining about the date functions at some point in time. C/C++ you can develop on any platform, Java as well, .NET only on Windows (Mono is a 'band aid' in its current incarnations).

He can really go on (in a funny way) about which student is getting a chance to work/learn for his outfit. From those stories I understand that he poses little problems to them and asks for (programmatic) solutions and that he can (too) easily dig holes through solutions made by ('fresh') .NET programmers.
[/off-topic]


+1 for UltraEdit


     

2635

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows editors - do they have to be so bad?

« Last post by Shades on January 16, 2009, 09:39 PM »

My friend, a die hard C/C++ developer recently moved from Borland C Builder 6 to their 2007 version. In the mean time he build a complete back-end software for member based banks (cooperativas) here in South America using Java and Eclipse. According to him most (if not all) IDE's may not even kiss the feet from Eclipse so to speak. Not even the 2007 version of Borlands product. He also concluded that .Net = .Not

Disclaimer: I'm no programmer, nor have I the desire to become one. From personal experience, it is quite intimidating (in a positive way) what power lies in Eclipse and its possibilities for expansion.

2636

General Software Discussion / Re: Microsoft Word Question --

« Last post by Shades on January 16, 2009, 05:00 PM »

In my experience, when using CTRL + Enter to start a new page I can make (small) font size changes that do not affect pagination.

That key combination is actually quite useful (layout-wise I mean).

2637

General Software Discussion / Re: I am looking for easy to set up, small memory print ,free smtp server

« Last post by Shades on January 16, 2009, 12:55 AM »

Don't know if they are easy, but I know about the following (free) mail servers:
- Afterlogic's XMail (available for both Linux and Windows) (3Mb).
- SymPa (Windows) (1Mb)

This one I do know:
- vpop3 (Windows) Small and very able server (600Kb)(45 USD)
   It uses a mailbox from your ISP and hooks up an n amount of virtual virtual mailboxes to that one.
   Works like a charm with the default settings, good documentation and a boatload of extra functionality at your fingertips.
   At the time I was using it (on a 128Mb RAM Win2000 server) it had a small footprint.  Well worth the money.

2638

General Software Discussion / Re: Image joining software?

« Last post by Shades on January 13, 2009, 11:03 PM »

@Curt:
That is the exact function that I use myself for attaching header images to screenshots. It does exactly as the described requirement from superboyac....which is/was why I mentioned it.

Granted, it may not be the name one would expect. But then again, irfanview is a piece of software with many "hidden" talents, which is why I like it so much.

2639

General Software Discussion / Re: Image joining software?

« Last post by Shades on January 13, 2009, 05:38 PM »

Likely too late but irfanview has this option too.

2640

Living Room / Re: How does one keep multiple computers sync?

« Last post by Shades on January 12, 2009, 04:03 PM »

Quite some threads are started about this subject.

The best thing I can advise is an CVS system like CVS or SVN (both are opensource). There is a lot of sync software, both free, open source and paid. But when you have a spare system, use it as a CVS server. It makes syncing (more than two) PC's easier, you learn about a valuable tool and you can see over time who changed which file and why. You can also handle syncing trough the internet if you want with these.

2641

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009 Release: Trout

« Last post by Shades on January 11, 2009, 10:59 AM »

Both alternate links are working, thanks for your help. 

Currently it is even impossible (for me) to reach http://www.autohotkey.net because of time-out errors.

2642

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009 Release: Trout

« Last post by Shades on January 11, 2009, 10:38 AM »

Today (11-01-2009) both downloads are inaccessible when using the FF plugin DownThemAll and my old but trusty Net Transport 1.87.

2643

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009 Final Release: DecClock

« Last post by Shades on January 11, 2009, 10:14 AM »

@computerfritze:
There is a typo when you go to the license tab from your program. The tab title says "licence" instead of "license".
So maybe there is one (final) update required 

2644

Living Room / Re: What may you be missing?

« Last post by Shades on January 10, 2009, 09:26 PM »

I still have mine...but it is dirty now   

2645

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for random map generator.

« Last post by Shades on January 10, 2009, 06:40 PM »

There used to be a tool called: "Campaign Cartographer". It's intended use was for tabletop game campaigns, like Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer, etc.

This one was rather costly the last time I looked at it (which is easily 8 years ago) but it was a CAD program with a lot of libraries for terrain, their associated vegetation and also habitation. All to be used at your own discretion.

It is good to see that the software survived all this time, it has expanded quite a lot(!)...the mapmaker alone is 45 USD but if you want "the whole shebang" it will cost 537 USD. The package deal is way overkill for your intends and purposes.

Actually I should thank you for a trip to memory lane when researching this piece of software 

2646

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for random map generator.

« Last post by Shades on January 10, 2009, 09:39 AM »

About the feeling: it shouldn't. 

Some (free) map generators:
- PriMap
- Greenfish
- Map generator for CIV4
- MapGen

Or go for the tools that players/creators of fantasy tabletop games use to generate maps. They are normally a creative and productive bunch

2647

Post New Requests Here / Re: show the oddball file

« Last post by Shades on January 10, 2009, 12:45 AM »

Are the following options too complicated?

- CSDiff
- WinMerge
- DiffMerge (free for single user)

Personally, I liked the CSDiff product a lot (freeware, good manual and can be expanded with CS versioning).
WinMerge I know and did not like at the time I was looking (many many many(!) moons ago).
DiffMerge is completely unknown to me.

2648

Living Room / Re: Searchme.com - both interesting and disturbing

« Last post by Shades on January 10, 2009, 12:10 AM »

yep, they are on to you as fast as you can say 'echelon'.

By the way, I sell the latest trend in tinfoil hats...

2649

Living Room / Re: Why Windows Rules: the QWERTY phenomenon?

« Last post by Shades on January 02, 2009, 11:20 PM »

Here in Paraguay the official language is Spanish, but not the European version. The unofficial language that everybody speaks is Guarani (especially when you set one foot outside the capital). Have you any idea how hard it is to get something from a message when both languages are mixed together and words are shortened to one character?

To me it is a royal pain in the (insert here other word for donkey), so to speak.

Elitist...never looked at it that way, though.   

Again, to me it is only natural to take the time to write something properly. Grammar and spelling, I mean. Content is a whole other matter. And use a proper medium to do deliver the message. 160 characters is not that much when trying to convey a message properly in my point of view.

2650

Living Room / Re: Why Windows Rules: the QWERTY phenomenon?

« Last post by Shades on January 02, 2009, 06:01 PM »

[rant]

T9 transforms any language into trash and is the first thing that gets disabled, those dictionaries are useless, if you would ask me.

Come to think of it, T9 will be viewed in the history time-line as most important thing that brings all (major) global languages together into the same trash heap.

Sorry for my (bit of) ranting, but I came from a school that deducted a full point of reports that had to be written (yes, not typed...written). You got fast in thinking how to be as clear as possible, you needed to know the grammatical and spelling rules (instead of the text editor) and you also learned a bit of calligraphy as well.

This was not so bad but you needed to write at least four of those 5-page reports each week while being swamped by 19 other classes each requiring at least 2 hours of homework and 40-hours of school per week as well.

Mainly the reasoning behind those reports were that you always should be able to write a decent report, because technical reports with errors inside them are never taken seriously in a field of peers. And right they were.

Which is also why I don't take people serious when they write a T9 message (with or without errors) to my cellphone. Honestly, they would be lucky if they even get any response from me. If you want to write me, do it in an e-mail, my phone is able to handle those.

Slashdot had a nice article about how telecom providers rip you off (I should have said: r*pe) with what they charge for each and any of those messages. 

[/rant]