Recent Posts

2901

Living Room / Re: More Abuses of Technology - Government Surveillance - Computer Confiscation

« Last post by Shades on May 18, 2008, 11:43 PM »

Confiscating laptops for their contents is clearly a form of thought policing, and almost equivalent to book burning.

Aha! So from all the people that have experienced burning laptops....the governments sneakily replaced the batteries from those laptops. Now it becomes clear to me!

How is that for an inspector Clouseau impersonation?   

More on topic:
Me and my brother were born and raised in Holland. While growing up life happened causing my brother to live the life of a thief. Me however was the example of a good citizen, paid my taxes, didn't escape the draft, always working, etc. etc. Than in an unguarded moment my brother lends my (first) car and he was caught checking out a "prospect".

Now I have to mention that every policeman/woman in Holland needs to have a certain amount of money on tickets each month (or will be fired), so anyone driving on the road gets stopped a lot nowadays. And with my brothers criminal record I have spent hours on police stations afterwards over the years explaining myself because cops think I am guilty of association...

It became even impossible to get any decent work anymore because of all this, so when I saw the opportunity I left for South America (yes, I see some irony here). Although Holland is not a police state, for me it became one already without having done anything wrong.

2902

General Software Discussion / Re: HP Smart Web Printing

« Last post by Shades on May 18, 2008, 10:43 PM »

Let me be the first by saying that the word smart  in the title from this post looks very strange.

/rant

The only time when I had fun printing with a HP deskjet printer was when the HP Deskjet 500 was around (those vanilla bricks). After that it went rapidly downhill. This is all from personal experience     

How come that a company can make such bad inkjet printers with way too bloated software while their laserjet printers are superb.

Don't get me started with their scanners!!! Now I have to say that my Windows setup was edited by nLite (No IE or OE for me) but ohohoh, what fun I have printing and scanning with any modern HP deskjet printer/scanner combo. Not only am I appalled that IE is a requirement for scanning, the amount of clicks to get anything done has increased. When I needed an update the driver for the only deskjet printer in the house I was unpleasantly surprised that is was a whopping 135 Megabyte! (I live in Paraguay and the monthly fee for my 64 Kb/sec connection would buy me at least a 20Mb/sec connection in any other country).

/rant

2903

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox Extensions: Your favorite or most useful

« Last post by Shades on May 13, 2008, 09:52 AM »

Zotero is the name of a very useful plugin. Like a bookmark it stores a page, with all the downloaded data (somewhat similar like evernote), you can tag every item, search through what is stored, export etc. It was intended for books and extensive studies, but I use it like a Bookmark placeholder on steroids 

2904

General Software Discussion / Re: Monkey Dash: Play test my game!

« Last post by Shades on May 10, 2008, 06:16 PM »

Hereby is a request for the link to "bash some monkeys".

Board games...fond memories of that start to appear... 

A lot of those occurred at an annual gaming convention in the Netherlands called: Spellen Spektakel, where new and very interesting boardgames were presented...next to the 'heavy hitters' of MAGIC, WarHammer and of course Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Attended there with a lot of my friends for years.

It always amazed me to learn that a lot of those games were thought up in Germany.

2905

General Software Discussion / Re: converting divx to dvd?

« Last post by Shades on May 09, 2008, 04:04 AM »

The simplest one I've ever tried has to be VSO's ConvertXtoDVD. Not freeware though. Another option is Nero 7, and even though I think it's a bit bloated it is really easy to use.

-Dirhael (June 17, 2007, 03:31 PM)

Last time I looked, it was possible to get the last freeware version from the VSO software by visiting http://www.afterdawn.com. This is a very useful site for more (free) tools and tutorials about video conversion/editing. That version still works for me when I want to convert. 

Nero becomes stranger after every incarnation. Since version 6 my system has the "ability" to lose the coupling between the real cursor and the graphical representation from that (now those are big words for: arrow). As you maybe can imagine how frustrating a GUI can be when the arrow from the cursor hangs dead in the air while it is possible to select anything in the screen. Nero 5 was the only good version in my point of view, nowadays ImgBurn rules! 

2906

Living Room / Re: Winamp 5.53 Release

« Last post by Shades on May 08, 2008, 06:21 PM »

There is also TrayPlayer http://www.atmaxsoft.com/trayplayer.html. Doesn't use too much resources and is more than adequate for playing music. It's GUI is minimalistic, but very well ordered and accessible by shortcut keys.

2907

Developer's Corner / Re: What XML editor do you use?

« Last post by Shades on April 29, 2008, 06:17 PM »

@ f0dder:
If you have to generate XSD's from XML's or vice versa, then you will appreciate the existence of these type of editors (especially when building an adapter for the Microsoft BizTalk server from the ground up). 

But for casual/minor editing of XMl's, Notepad++ will do an excellent job 

2908

Developer's Corner / Re: What XML editor do you use?

« Last post by Shades on April 29, 2008, 04:36 PM »

Do some "google-ing" for the following (free) XML editors:
- PetersXMLeditor (freeware)
- xmlcopyeditor (sourceforge.net)
- XMLstudio (freeware and payware)
- EditiX XML (freeware and payware)

Now I'm not totally sure, but I believe that the 'Komodo Edit' application also had (quite) extensive XML support.

Never liked the speed from XML Notepad 2007, opening XML files is very slow compared with the editors above. YMMV though.

2909

General Software Discussion / Re: Office 2007 Search Command add-in

« Last post by Shades on April 28, 2008, 06:04 PM »

Is this not like the "Natural Word" software you can get from http://www.softwaretheories.com/?

With that you can create your document and type the command you want to use on it. The software also understands simple questions as well. I thought this software was mentioned here on the DonationCoder site, but I couldn't find it when searching through the forum. (maybe my skill is lacking  )

2910

General Software Discussion / Re: Monster Cables- The World should know!

« Last post by Shades on April 27, 2008, 11:40 PM »

Well, with these kind of "cables" I can make really long cables(100 meter or so), because we all know that sound travels a lot further through fluids......duh!   

If it looks like a garden-hose and tastes like a garden-hose...it is a garden-hose!

2911

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Shades on April 27, 2008, 06:39 PM »

Forgive me if the following doesn't belong in this topic, but here it goes anyway. 

Besides this BareGrep tool I use another grep tool as well, that is called: AstroGrep http://astrogrep.sourceforge.net
This has a very handy "context lines" search option. There you can set how many lines will be shown above and below the search result.

It is slightly slower than BareGrep, but it is opensource so Curt will be able to make a request for supporting his special characters if it is not already there. 

2912

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by Shades on April 26, 2008, 04:22 PM »

Even for desktop searches I use a small grep tool called: BareGrep 

Really love this piece of freeware. Get it from www.baremetalsoft.com

My system is not indexed in any way and it takes 1.5 seconds to search my complete C: drive for all *.jpg files (and finding 6045 of them).

It is also portable (one executable file which is about 200 kilobyte in size).

2913

General Software Discussion / Re: Backup4All FTP Problems

« Last post by Shades on April 25, 2008, 11:52 AM »

Right now I'm a happy person, because I did find a solution (to my problem at least ).

http://areca.sourceforge.net/ is the way.

Not such a nice GUI (in version 5.5.5.5) but is very capable and once setup I can access it through the commandline for scheduled backups.

2914

General Software Discussion / Re: Shared hierarchical toDo list software? (not web)

« Last post by Shades on April 18, 2008, 09:30 AM »

You can also do a Google Search http://www.google.co...amp;client=firefox-a

It will lead to the SimpleToDo freeware.
Now if memory serves me well, there is a whole range of software from which the name starts with SimpleXxXx. At least some time ago I also downloaded SimpleDeskTop, because both pieces of software were available for Windows and Linux (kinda of a big thing here in my network).

2915

General Software Discussion / Re: Should I get my new laptop with hard drive partitioned?

« Last post by Shades on April 17, 2008, 05:24 PM »

Most laptops only have one harddisk inside. When we take this into account and only Windows will run on it, make three partitions.
The separation is as follows:
1. a swap partition
2. a system partition
3. a data partition

Unfortunately, my method requires a total re-installation from the system. I'll explain why.

At the center of the harddisk the platters move faster than on the outside.
Because all data is stored from the center and then going outwards. So for the most speed gain the swap partition has to the first one.

With Windows that means that the C:\ partition has to be dedicated to the swap partition. Luckily , this partition does not have to be big.
Of course, this depends on the OS to be used. XP doesn't need more than a 4 Gigabyte C:\ partition for example, so the rest of the system
doesn't suffer much performance loss.

The D:\ partition should then be used for the Windows system files and the E:\ partition for all your data.
Their sizes depend on the total size of the harddisk minus the swap partition.

In my point of view this gives you the fastest (albeit a little weird for most users) Windows setup. Personally I think that the total
overall performance gain will amount to approximately 5%. Not that much, but in the basis the fastest setup I can imagine.
Daily/weekly defragging of your harddisk will maintain this extra speed, not to mention regular registry clean ups.

2916

General Software Discussion / Re: Shared hierarchical toDo list software? (not web)

« Last post by Shades on April 17, 2008, 03:33 PM »

If you had a lot of money to burn...I would suggest JIRA (http://www.atlassian.com/). It is extremely likely that this system is way too much overkill for your needs, but hey this is as good a place as any to show my admiration for this piece of software

2917

General Software Discussion / Re: Backup4All FTP Problems

« Last post by Shades on April 17, 2008, 10:24 AM »

My experience is that the version of Samba on the linux machine can pose problems (I have the exact same problem here in a "mixed" LAN network, only SyncbackSE is able to make backups)    Still, I'm looking for an answer for this one.

2918

General Software Discussion / Re: My favorite software! What's yours?

« Last post by Shades on April 16, 2008, 05:55 PM »

...
Input director http://www.inputdirector.com/
...

-kartal (April 15, 2008, 09:17 PM)

If you would be so kind, Kartal....can you explain me the difference between your 'Input Director' and my 'Synergy'?

Sorry, currently my head is swamped because of a software delivery dead line but I still cannot resist the "call" from this forum 

2919

General Software Discussion / Re: Is Firefox 3.0 the "Fat Elvis?"

« Last post by Shades on April 15, 2008, 08:29 PM »

WMP 11?

In my point of view the person(s) that designed the default interface should be shot on site, immediately, without mercy. The simplicity of Mediaplayer 6.4 is unsurpassed. Even the videoplayer which has my total devotion (VideoLan) interface can still learn from this one!

Some six years ago I saw and heard the perfect hi-fi 5.1 audio amplifier (), while fixing the computer from a customer of mine...it's user interface just consisted of an On/Off button and a big round knob for volume control (and the remote control did not have any more functionality!).

That thing really opened my eyes about the "keep it simple" concept.       

2920

Developer's Corner / Re: Programming in the Linux operating system: where to start?

« Last post by Shades on April 10, 2008, 10:37 PM »

Masochism alley...

That describes ASM exactly. At the time when I went to school for my electro-technical studies, a lot of lessons consisted of this kind of programming for Z80 based PLC's (Programmable Logic Controller). When compared to the high level languages ASM is very efficient in (not) consuming computer resources (depending on your skill). And I can tell you, the resources from a Z80 processor are sparse!

ASM should only be done by people that have an exact idea about the functionality of the software they want to create and have the ability to stick to that plan no matter what. Furthermore, they have to be able to think in such small minute steps to create any function readily available in a high level language.

If ASM still sounds like fun, go for it...else forget that you even were considering ASM, better yet forget what it stands for entirely! Asocial Software Masochist springs into mind (thank you for that one, Mouser )

2921

General Software Discussion / Re: Any app to auto-replace Notepad ??

« Last post by Shades on April 03, 2008, 07:51 PM »

Shades: EDI messages? What's that?

Thank whatever higher force you tend to believe in that the curse of EDI has not befallen onto you...

For an example picture this: A system that is able to do all money managing required by a bank. Since there are a lot of different banks all over the world, each using a different system you can imagine that communication between such systems can be a monumental job. So a global organization was assigned to create standard messages to make communication easier.  EDI, EDIFACT, EDINE etc. are all different kinds of EDI messages, used by governments (EDI), financial markets (EDIFACT), energy markets (EDINE).

Personally I think that Notepad++ cannot handle all the "':" and "+" inside those messages, but then again...I'm not a programmer.

2922

General Software Discussion / Re: View download traffic grouped by site...

« Last post by Shades on April 03, 2008, 02:19 PM »

If you have a Linux router, you could install a package like Squid that records the traffic and then a package called Sarg which creates webpages showing all sites that are opened on a daily, weekly an monthly basis, including all the files that are downloaded. Very handy indeed.

2923

General Software Discussion / Re: Any app to auto-replace Notepad ??

« Last post by Shades on April 02, 2008, 04:54 PM »

Notepad++ is a very able and handy text editor that will fulfill practically all your needs (editing text that is)...there is however one remark, don't try to autoreplace items in EDI messages with a size of 40 kilobyte or higher. It is not able to handle this, while doing the same thing on bigger files that are not EDI messages goes without any problem.

No, I'll stick with my (customized) HTML-Kit editor. 

Try EDXOR http://members.ozema...p/freeware/edxor.htm if you want a small and very powerful text/hex editor (50Kbyte) that is free to use.

2924

General Software Discussion / Re: post your 5 most used applications in 2007 here!

« Last post by Shades on April 02, 2008, 04:30 AM »

My list:

• Folder Guide
• Directory Opus
• Firefox/Thunderbird
• Taskbar Shuffler
• Putty

2925

General Software Discussion / Re: Freeware Forum

« Last post by Shades on March 30, 2008, 08:05 PM »

Excellent site! Well, the games section at least (I need to download games for a seven year old kid on a very regular basis).

Thanx