Recent Posts

2826

Find And Run Robot / Re: Can FARR search Chrome bookmarks?

« Last post by wraith808 on August 12, 2016, 04:12 PM »

Well, we know where they're saved.  So someone could write an extension to copy it elsewhere.  Or can you add that directory to the farr search directory?

2827

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Nice font for free today

« Last post by wraith808 on August 12, 2016, 04:00 PM »

Very nice.  Don't forget to check the desktop and webfont versions if you want to use it for both.  By default, only the desktop font is added.

2828

Living Room / Re: What books are you reading?

« Last post by wraith808 on August 12, 2016, 09:16 AM »

I read a lot, so I generally don't post the books to this thread, but two series are very good that I've just read.  I think the genre is called gunpowder fantasy, but it encompasses some historical constructs that I really like- akin to Sharpe's rifles.



The first is the Powder Mage Series, by Brian McClellan.  It starts with A Promise of Blood

The Age of Kings is dead . . . and I have killed it.

It's a bloody business overthrowing a king...
Field Marshal Tamas' coup against his king sent corrupt aristocrats to the guillotine and brought bread to the starving. But it also provoked war with the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics, and the greedy to scramble for money and power by Tamas's supposed allies: the Church, workers unions, and mercenary forces.

It's brilliantly paced, with visceral battle scenes that other than the presence of the Powder Mages and other Magic are very well done, and might as well be right out of a Sharpe novel, and well written characters that are intelligently developed.

The second series is, if possible, more fantastical while being a lot closer in scope to the British colonialism and imperialism- especially towards the end of the same.  I speak of the Iron Elves series by Chris Evans.  Everything is familiar, while at the same time, nothing is, and the characterizations are intense and well written.

It starts with A Darkness Forged in Fire, that almost lost me in the beginning.  But I'm glad that I stuck it out through that bit of exposition, as the rest of the read firmly grabbed me.

We do not fear the flame, though it burns us,
We do not fear the fire, though it consumes us,
And we do not fear its light,
Though it reveals the darkness of our souls,
For therein lies our power.
-- Blood Oath of the Iron Elves

First in a stunning debut series, A Darkness Forged in Fire introduces an unforgiving world of musket and cannon...bow and arrow...magic, diplomacy, and oaths -- each wielding terrible power in an Empire teetering on the brink of war.

I highly recommend both series if you're into that era of history at all.

2829

Living Room / Re: Trying to remember quote about design and beauty

« Last post by wraith808 on August 12, 2016, 08:16 AM »

Is it this one? 

"Design is not making beauty, beauty emerges from selection, affinities, integration, love" - Louis Kahn.

2830

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Vopt 9 defragger free

« Last post by wraith808 on August 12, 2016, 08:10 AM »

I use defraggler when I'm inclined to defrag.  Which is almost never these days.

2831

Living Room / Re: External 5.25 floppy usb drive or another way?

« Last post by wraith808 on August 12, 2016, 08:08 AM »

http://www.retrotech.../s_drives_howto.html

This has a lot of good info on the subject.

2832

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Vopt 9 defragger free

« Last post by wraith808 on August 11, 2016, 02:54 PM »

The creator died and he made clear in his last will and testament that this software should become freeware after he died.

-Shades (August 11, 2016, 02:43 PM)

That's what it says on that page, from what I see.  Unless I'm not getting your reason for posting it when it is clearly stated?

2833

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for Workbench Design SW :: $10 bounty for 1st accepted answer

« Last post by wraith808 on August 09, 2016, 09:53 PM »

DraftSight is a pretty straightforward CAD program which I've used in the past for speaker cabinet plans. Basic version is free for the download.

Udemy has a nice little course which is on sale till August 15th for $20 called CAD for woodworkers that uses DraftSight for the course.

-40hz (August 09, 2016, 09:35 PM)

What's the difference between the free and paid versions?  I didn't see a comparison anywhere...

2834

DC Gamer Club / Re: Faeria is free (to keep) for 24 hours!

« Last post by wraith808 on August 09, 2016, 08:18 PM »

thanks for the heads up!

2835

General Software Discussion / Re: Take a list of PDF tabs and create a text file of the links?

« Last post by wraith808 on August 09, 2016, 11:37 AM »

He hasn't been active since May, so considering that this topic was posted in 2015 and the OP is no longer frequenting the board, I'd consider this a useless necro.

2836

Living Room / Re: Hidden Netflix Marathon Gems to Watch Online

« Last post by wraith808 on August 07, 2016, 10:00 PM »

Also catch Wentworth, if you have the time. (much better than Orange is the New Black.)

-app103 (August 06, 2016, 08:20 PM)

I was very confused for a sec.  At first, after you'd been talking Prison Break, I thought you were talking about Wentworth Miller. 

2837

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by wraith808 on August 06, 2016, 01:09 PM »

No, it was something simple that didn't require any sort of software.

I see you can do it by using bcdedit from the commandline, or even easier, you can do it from msconfig.  The way I did it involved editing a file, but I don't remember what it was.

http://www.sevenforu...perating-system.html

UPDATE: I remembered right after I posted this - manually edit the boot.ini file.  I don't think you can do that as easily now.  You have to use bcdedit, or msconfig.

http://best-windows....ie.com/boot-ini.html

2838

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 Announced

« Last post by wraith808 on August 06, 2016, 09:52 AM »

I used to have that problem- it was solved by removing the other options.  If windows senses others installed, it shows you that bootloader menu.  Unfortunately, I forget how I got the others to not show up.

2839

Living Room / Re: Anyone attending GenCon (board game convention) Aug 4-7 in Indiana?

« Last post by wraith808 on August 06, 2016, 09:50 AM »

im at gencon! pretty cool and pretty huge.

-mouser (August 06, 2016, 07:51 AM)

   Wish I could be there!

2840

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 - The gloves come off!

« Last post by wraith808 on August 05, 2016, 10:36 AM »

Oh Yeah... After going through the usual turn-off-the-nosey-bits part of the install. Cortana seems just as off as it has always been in previous versions ... So I really don't quite get what all the hub-bub is about.

Cortana is removed (e.g. is removable) from the TaskBar - I hit the Windows key, type what want, get what I want, and go on with my day.

*Shrug*

-Stoic Joker (August 05, 2016, 09:55 AM)

That was my thought too.

2841

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: GS-Base Mini-Review

« Last post by wraith808 on August 03, 2016, 09:37 AM »

Hi,

For what it's worth, my two cents to this discussion:

1. The website and every other docs clearly state that you can log on to the download page to download the latest versions for 12 months for free. And it's clear that the page always displays the latest versions only.
(I do what I can to educate users that the license doesn't "expire".)

2. Almost all old versions are still on the website. For the full versions, it's sufficient to e-mail the support, which (un)surprisingly some users do.
Trial versions dating back I guess 10 years are free downloads all the time.

3. It's ca 2MB. Not 2TB...

4. Hope that the respective modifications to the download page will be implemented rather sooner than later. It was requested by other users and it's surely is going to be helpful.

5. IMHO captcha is easy(?). An easier registration method means verifying (addresses, IPs) 10-20 spambot submissions a day. (Unless this can be done automatically for the phpBB forum.)

Thanks,
Citadel5

-Citadel5 (August 02, 2016, 08:14 PM)

Thanks for the response.

1) Can you point me to that clear explanation that it will only be the latest?  If you have the others stored on your servers, it would seem that you could point the download link for those to the the registered version.  Perhaps that is your upgrade to your download screen you mention in point (4)?  I'm not sure, as what that includes isn't quite clear?  All others that I've seen that do that either (a) point to your last registered version or (b) point to a page with the older versions linked.  And that leads into...
2) Do you say anywhere that you can contact for the registered version?  I didn't see that.
5) Captcha is easy when the captcha used is readable.  As many have said, yours isn't, especially if you have any sort of color blindness.

To whit:


Looking back at your site, and your pages, you might want to make what you're saying a bit clearer.  It's not currently.  There's nothing wrong with your software- as you can see from my review, I think the upgrade policies are more than fair, and the software is very good for what you're getting and worth the money.

My problem is the fact that (a) what you're saying above isn't documented anywhere, and (b) that there would even be such an obscure method for receiving the version you paid for.  Many people (including myself) aren't going to try to find out how to get the version.  Especially if you, as I do, save your installer.  In my case, I did a clean install, and thought I could just download it.  I was able to get to my version as it's backed up.  But finding that out?  It left a bitter taste in my mouth- and one I didn't communicate before now.  Many people are going to do the same, so you might take this in the spirit it is intended- a place that you can make better changes so things are more clear to your customers.

Just food for thought.

2842

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: GS-Base Mini-Review

« Last post by wraith808 on August 02, 2016, 11:14 AM »

If it were open knowledge, i.e. clearly stated that he doesn't keep backups at the time of purchase, and/or an advisement to keep the installer, I might agree with your point.  But there is neither of those, and the first time I encountered it, I wanted to install it and was not in a position to get to my backup of the software.  That left a bad taste.

On top of that, many, many companies do keep the older versions for just that reason.  Directory Opus.  Zeus. RegexBuddy.  TopStyle. And many more.

IMO, you either:

1) Notify the user.
2) Keep the downloads available (a very low maintenance cost, actually)
 
or

3) Don't engage in such practices.

It has little to nothing to do with the value, nor the quality of the program.  I agree with you on these points.  But neither excuse the practice.

2843

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: GS-Base Mini-Review

« Last post by wraith808 on August 01, 2016, 12:58 PM »

finding out that this is basically a subscription by another name

-wraith808 (July 31, 2016, 12:27 PM)

Can you clarify that? The purchase page says that the version you buy is good forever.  You don't get free updates after a year, but you don't need to pay again to keep the version you bought working (as I understand it).

-mwb1100 (August 01, 2016, 12:42 PM)

If you kept the downloaded version (which I did), then you can use it.  However, if you need to download it after your year is up, when you click the download, you get this message:



And you're not informed of that need before hand.  I didn't like that practice.

2844

Living Room / Re: Google Drive webhosting functionality to be shut down. (AOBTD)

« Last post by wraith808 on August 01, 2016, 09:38 AM »

I know google techs want to show their English savvy .. but "deprecate" ?
http://www.merriam-w...dictionary/deprecate

If you need a fancy word for dumping a service, find something else.

-Steven Avery (August 01, 2016, 09:01 AM)

Deprecate is the accepted term for ridding a service of features, and is used in many different computer applications.  It's not just them.

https://en.wikipedia...org/wiki/Deprecation

Take a look at software deprecation.  Not sure why it hasn't made it's way to merriam webster.

2845

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 - The gloves come off!

« Last post by wraith808 on July 31, 2016, 12:28 PM »

How so?  I didn't even know about that difference until this came up.  I think it's a non-issue for most users of Windows 10.  Not that I'm taking up for them.  But it does seem like a tempest in a teapot.

2846

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: GS-Base Mini-Review

« Last post by wraith808 on July 31, 2016, 12:27 PM »

That made me wonder whether the CAPTCHA wasn't deliberately off-putting, to dissuade casual use of the forum.

There may be some truth in that. I registered on the Citadel5 forum in May 2014 and found the captcha so hard that I had to ask in email (to [email protected]) for the account to be created for me. It's not a very busy forum. Can't think why...

I do get the impression that Jarek is a sole operator and might believe that managing a busy forum might take more time than he wants to devote to it. At least emailed requests from known users is likely to keep noise down.

-oblivion (July 31, 2016, 04:09 AM)

I think your supposition is most likely correct.  He's very responsive by e-mail.  Which was one of the reasons I never bothered after I couldn't solve the CAPTCHA.  And also finding out that this is basically a subscription by another name, and the speed of changing releases.

2847

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 31, 2016, 12:25 PM »

It was probably better than most teenagers have with their parents, but it still hurts to think about how I left things with him.

-Vurbal (July 31, 2016, 10:35 AM)

Regrets.  Just one of the things we don't understand when we're young, and have too much understanding of as we get older.

2848

Living Room / Re: Do we have any musical people on DC?

« Last post by wraith808 on July 30, 2016, 12:49 PM »

That Stormy Weather rendition, while I love the vocals, so missed that, is definitely excellent from an instrumental standpoint.  It brought to memory one of my regrets.  My father was very big into Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and many more performers of that era.  And he was really into musicals- Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein, etc.  In fact, I remember my proudest moment was giving him the complete selection of Rodgers and Hammerstein on DVD when they first came out.  A pretty penny, but the look on his face...

Now that he's gone, and I've started to appreciate that music, I kick myself, and it makes me sad.  I never took the time to cross to his side of the street until it was too late, and I find myself wondering what he thought/would think about certain renditions, or composers, or dancers that I was never interested enough to ask him about.

sigh

2849

General Software Discussion / Re: Windows 10 - The gloves come off!

« Last post by wraith808 on July 30, 2016, 12:40 PM »

You really trust Google more than Microsoft?  That's like our current choices for election season, IMO.

2850

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: MFCRecorder - Continued

« Last post by wraith808 on July 30, 2016, 12:36 PM »

if the forum notifications work, Asudem might give some feedback on if he's willing to update for us.

-GalAbutbul (July 22, 2016, 12:07 PM)

Pretty sure he took the donations and split. 

-judger (July 30, 2016, 11:18 AM)

Just to be sure that people know how DC works.  Donations are donations.  We are of varying passions about the programs we put out, and of varying commitment to updating such.  But donations are not expected, nor required, to download and use most (all?) of the programs that people here put out.  We are also not, other than that passion, tied to updating anything.  And the amount of donations we get is minimal at best.

If you donate, it's because you believe in the program as it is now, and want to encourage the developers.  That's it and that's all.  Asudem, I'm sure, has his own life outside of DC.  And didn't make much on this project.  He has gone dark before, and that's his right.  And in the other cases, he's returned.  That said, if he doesn't, we thank him for his contributions.