Recent Posts

2951

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Locate 3.0 - great HD search tool

« Last post by Edvard on November 11, 2005, 03:43 PM »

Funny thing, whenever I'm in windows-land I can't stand flat, text based interfaces. When in Linux (Slackware, natch...) using KDE or XFCE, I reach for Midnight Commander every time. Go figure.

2952

Living Room / Re: I'm not for censorship,but you'd figure google would have a filter.

« Last post by Edvard on November 10, 2005, 07:41 PM »

See-I told you I'd yank a few chains...

Innuendo- I'm with you all the way. At our house, the TV's in the trash, and the computer is in our bedroom under password for windows and internet which is dialup on purpose.

I also thank everyone for holding back the personal jabs. I almost made this post into a rant on the real meaning of the first amendment of our constitution, but it got way too long and this thread is already OT enough. Like Mouser says, that may be too much for a coding snack.

2953

Living Room / Re: I'm not for censorship,but you'd figure google would have a filter.

« Last post by Edvard on November 08, 2005, 12:51 PM »

Yeah, that is funny, but I wouldn't want my kid to see it. Yes, I know George Carlin's "they're just WORDS..." argument, but seriously, "dirty" words are undeniably used in a context and intent much different from "normal" words, and every culture has them. Look up Semantics, Semiotics, Memes, and check out the authors that speak on such subjects (Although I am not implying that A. Korzybsky's GM arguments are in play here...). Advertisers know full well the power of words, and apparently so do politicians. If a word that is obviously intended to be offensive is not offensive it is because you have made a conscious choice to adjust your conscience to accommadate. The word and it's intent has not changed. Consider the difference between an irate driver saying "Please warn your child of the foolishness of crossing the street without looking both ways"
and the same driver saying "Hey, A**hole would you keep your p**ant brat outta the f**ing street before I splat his f**ing brains on it!!". Which comment would you rather explaing the meaning of to your distressed 7-year-old? I realize I may be yanking a few chains here, but censorship of the kind tinyvillager is hoping for is less a restriction of freedom and more a preservation of basic level-headed decency. My opinion of the politician quoted is now more likely to be one of suspicion. Suspicion of his level of self-control and therefore his ability to effectively administer the office he is placed in and I might even suspect he is trying to over-compensate for the fact that the entire situation is the exact opposite of his vehement (dare I say potty-mouthed) evaluation. If the same headline had the same Politician saying something like "Unfounded..." or even "Preposterous..." I might view him AND the situation with a clearer head and more positive outlook about the whole thing.
Oops, I think I just ranted. Apologies.

2954

Official DonationCoder.com Reviews / Re: Best Anti-virus

« Last post by Edvard on November 08, 2005, 11:39 AM »

If Mouser likes ANTIVIR then i guess we'll have to take a close look at it.

-dantheman (November 07, 2005, 02:54 PM)

Glad to hear a kind word from Mouser on AntiVir. I'm sold on it, personally. Updates frequently, has caught at least 5 viruses that others missed, protected me quite handily when I accidentally hit a warez site that promptly lobbed at LEAST 20+ v-bombs at me, doesn't filter my mail, but it'll sure speak up once I get around to opening THAT one. Personal Ed at home, Business Ed at work (cause I'm stuck on a NT4 workstation and AntiVir is just about the only one that works here) One weird thing, it is using (ATM) something like 15 megs or so (I've got 256 sysem megs) but I don't even notice. I've never noticed any difference in performance with it on or off. I checked. And besides, the disk scanner is named "Luke FileWalker"... How cool is that?

2955

General Software Discussion / Re: Anybody use Lua?

« Last post by Edvard on November 07, 2005, 11:24 AM »

I used SciTe for a while with AutoIt as they have a custom build for it (http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/scite/) Very nice, Iwill try it for Lua.

2956

General Software Discussion / Re: Anybody use Lua?

« Last post by Edvard on November 04, 2005, 01:30 PM »

Thanks!

2957

General Software Discussion / Re: Anybody use Lua?

« Last post by Edvard on November 03, 2005, 12:48 PM »

Thanks for the reply, you worked on DogLua? I just downloaded the freeware Dogwaffle haven't got around to playing yet, also Lua has been made into a Litestep scripting module and since I use Litestep... Yep. I found the Tutorial and #3 of the first page fits me...

Programmers who may have used scripting languages, but not Lua

I knew Basic inside and out back when we had mammoth ivory keyboards and more recently have been using Batch scripts and AutoIt/Autohotkey for more uses than I can count. Now on the 5th page...

P.S. LuaJIT appears to be source only. Do you know if binaries are available? I'm also going to eventually need GUI stuff, do you have any recommendations for that? IUP? GTK?

2958

General Software Discussion / Anybody use Lua?

« Last post by Edvard on November 01, 2005, 06:36 PM »

http://www.lua.org/
Looks kinda nifty, I've been hearing of a lot of folks using it as an embedded script engine 'specially for games. But apparently you can use it for stand-alone scripting and a brief look at LuaForge seems there's API wrappers and Gui libraries, etc. And what's this about being able to use C functions and call dlls? Hmmm... downloading the manual now. Any thoughts? How easy is it to get your head around for scripting? Can you compile a script ? (Oop.. answered that one, apparently the binary distro comes with luac.exe which will compile your script.)

2959

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Locate 3.0 - great HD search tool

« Last post by Edvard on November 01, 2005, 02:24 PM »

Hehe
It does. ScanDir is much nicer...
http://www.skybird.net/ScanDir/scd08.png

2960

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Confessions from a Wiki Hater ??!?

« Last post by Edvard on November 01, 2005, 01:45 PM »

To be safe, one only needs to set it to only-allowed-to-edit-when-logged-in.

-brotherS (October 31, 2005, 12:15 PM)

Well, that would cut it, huh? Perhaps I should be set to only-allowed-to-post-when-I-know-wtf-I'm-talking-about
Anyways, I'm all for keeping wiki and sanity on the same page however it works.

2961

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Locate 3.0 - great HD search tool

« Last post by Edvard on November 01, 2005, 01:31 PM »

Since experimenting with replacement shells, I have been on a hunt for file finder apps for a long time. I am familiar with the Unix thingummys, I'll give Locate 3.0 a try. If you like the Unix way of doing things, you might also try the tools from the CygWin Project and pipe your Locate through Grep to get multiple 'hits'. On the other hand, things I have found so far as useful replacements for file finding:

the ever-venerable Agent Ransack
http://www.mythicsoft.com/agentransack/

newcomer ScanDir (and current favorite...)
http://www.skybird.net/ScanDir/

supposed-to-be-really-cool-but-never-worked-for-me XFind (from the makers of power tool X-Setup)
http://www.xteq.com/products/xfnd/

$.02

2962

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Png Painter

« Last post by Edvard on November 01, 2005, 12:38 PM »

Ok, ImageMagick comes through, but in a way not entirely but almost, intuitively. First, I tried a batch file so I have an editable drop target that would make both pngs and bmp for testing:
(WARNING: the following will make most sense to those familiar with ImageMagick)

[Select]

convert.exe %1 -background "rgb(213,204,187)" test.bmp test.png

Ok, the bmp turned out black on the proper background (not good) and the png looked good but there was something... I opened up the png in Ultimate Paint and there was my original png simply pasted on a background with alpha channel so it looked right, but it wasn't what I wanted. I wanted it mapped on the background so there was no alpha channel left, but the transitions to the background present. I tried all kinds of -channel operations and looked at the forums and in TFM stumbled on:

[Select]

convert.exe %1 -background "rgb(213,204,187)" -FLATTEN test.bmp test.png

This is supposed to work on multiple images pasted on each other, so I thought I'd try it to 'flatten' my png on the background. TaDa. But the bmp was fuuunnnkkkyyy. Seems as though it was trying to write a 32-bit bmp when I can only deal with 24-bit or less. Tried -colors, -depth, nothing worked. Once again some rummaging around brought up:

[Select]

convert.exe %1 -background "rgb(213,204,187)" -flatten +MATTE test.bmp test.png

apparently this had nothing to do with what I wanted to do, but it DID remove alpha channel information completely, so my bmp was properly 24-bit. Also, I discovered that the alpha channel HAD to be removed before the -colors option did anything. So now I have my batch code

[Select]

convert.exe %1 -background "rgb(213,204,187)" -flatten +matte -colors 65536 test.bmp test.png

which can now be imported to a script where I can properly selectify my every whim. Thanks all for the encouragement to stick with IM and when I get a proper code worked up, I'll post it.

2963

Finished Programs / Re: IDEA: Folder Cleaner

« Last post by Edvard on November 01, 2005, 11:58 AM »

If you'd like to try your own hand at scripting, I have an Autohotkey script (can't swing a dead cat around DonationCoder without hitting one...) that might get you started. It's quite a bare-bones script I use to clean the temp folders here at work that basically sends to the recycle bin all files inside all folders in z:\temp\dir. For walk-in customers we use a directory of temp folders labeled temp1-temp9 in the temp dir and it was such a pain to go in and clean out every one at the end of the day I did this:

[Select]

msgbox,52,Clean Folder,Are you sure you want to clean Temp folder?
if msgbox,no
exit
loop,z:\Temp\Dir\*.*,0,1
{
filerecycle,%a_loopfilefullpath%
}

msgbox,0,Clean Folder,Temp Directory clean!

This probably isn't exactly what you need, but take a look at the "File Loop" entry in the AHK help file and there you'll find that you can sequentially select files for action (delete,recycle,rename, whatever) based on their creation or modified date or anything, really. And settings can be stored in a standard .ini file and subsequently read using the IniWrite/Iniread functions or even store values in the Registry with RegWrite/RegRead like the Pros do!  Check it out.

2964

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Confessions from a Wiki Hater ??!?

« Last post by Edvard on October 31, 2005, 12:04 PM »

apparently wikis are suffering from huge amounts of spam lately and part of the problem is no one anticipated this or decided that it might be useful to have some moderation over content

No one anticipated this? The one thing that keeps amazing me about human nature is the denial that such human nature exists. All over the internet, forums and 'shout boxes' are now being spammed into non-usefulness. Come on folks, think of how many Usenet forums are now wastelands of spam and have been for nigh on a few years now. Without some form of access restriction, how is Wiki to fare any better? Like you Mouser, I appreciate greatly the usefulness that Wiki promises, but had no idea that it required such sql kung-fu for a basic lock-out. Yeesh.

2965

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Png Painter

« Last post by Edvard on October 31, 2005, 11:30 AM »

I have not found imagemagick to be any kind of useful 'cause I never could get the darn thing to work. Exhaustive as the documentation is, I still could not get it to do exactly what I had hoped, but perhaps I should try again. As wonderful an app as IrfanView is, I cannot do what I hope from the simplicity of a command line. I will try the WinSet prog. Stay Tuned!

2966

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: Png Painter

« Last post by Edvard on October 28, 2005, 12:44 PM »

Ok, let me explain. I am intending this for skinnable button images and etc. in Litestep and other skinnable thingummys, but it'd also work great for webpage graphics or graphic whatevers in general. The first problem is, I am on NT4 which can't handle png alpha channel natively, so I use an Autohotkey script to send a png and a background color to rpng.exe which paints a png on top of my intended background color with alpha-blend, Alt-PrintScreen to capture the window, and open in MSpaint or Ultimate Paint ('cause it handles png's and it's got a funky interface) to snip the graphic out and convert to png bmp or ico from there. Cumbersome to say the least.
Here's the Challenge: to shorten this process.
Sources and binaries for rpng are available at http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/book/sources.html
Hack the source or code your own which will do pretty much the same as rpng.exe But...
send output to file (png,bmp,jpg,etc.) or graphics editor (too many to list)
I've tried simply piping rpng.exe output to a file (rpng.exe > foo.bmp) but to no avail. rpng is intended only as an example thingamabob for coders and it appears they meant it.... Perhaps someone has an idea on how Autohotkey or some similar script prog can simply wait for the window to open and automagically cut out the contents of the window and save it rather than copying a picture of the entire window as Alt-PrintScreen does now.

2967

General Software Discussion / Re: Just how bad is IE?

« Last post by Edvard on October 28, 2005, 10:40 AM »

Dunno about most of you guys, but I can't count how many times I was browsing with IE looking for clipart or stupid .wav files or e-cards,etc. and a popup window came to ask me if I want to install plugin foobar.exe in order to view the website correctly, I push "NO" and voila!... My brand new plugin is installed and ready to spy on my surfing, slow down my surfing, make my surfing very insecure, etc. etc. With the re-strategizing of many companies who made such things, it not so bad (remember Gator?  ) but still, I like staying behind my Firefox and it's apparent ignorance of Activex controls and things that install when I'm not looking. Of course, it could have been AOL the whole time...
$.02

2968

Living Room / Re: Top 100 toys of the 70s and 80s - what were your favorites?

« Last post by Edvard on October 21, 2005, 05:59 PM »

Hmmm... and still available in a slightly different form...

Those funky handheld LED Sport games
http://www.peterhirschberg.com/handheld/ledhead/
Hugo - Man of a Thousand Faces (I remember the hair on the back of my neck standing up when I saw this in the Sears christmas catalog in '77 or so...)
http://www.secretfunspot.com/virtual.htm
VertiBird! (
http://www.peterhirschberg.com/vertisim/
Video Games!!
http://www.mameworld.net/
and speaking of video games, I should mention the world's smallest Pac-Man game! (goto guimp.com for the whole banana; pong, pinball, tictactoe, piano, drums, breakout & more at 12x12 pixels!!)
http://www.guimp.com/pacman

2969

Living Room / Re: Want to wet my beak with Linux,need suggestions on distro.

« Last post by Edvard on October 18, 2005, 12:23 PM »

Yes, Linux is still behind a few months with the hardware issue, but that is getting better EVERY DAY because more and more people are downloading Linux EVERY DAY and some of them are actually contacting the hardware companies and asking hard questions concerning Linux compatibility. Not to mention standard rants concerning Microsoft's monopolistic practices, etc. etc. (Please let's NOT rant about that ONE MORE TIME?)
Seriously, try Knoppix first. Chances are, if Knoppix recognizes your hardware, most major distros will too. And Knoppix is Debian so if you find you like Knoppix, save yourself from downloading Debian and read up on how to install Knoppix to your hard drive. All the major distros have their pros and cons and fortunately, most are available as 'Live' systems like Knoppix so you can 'test drive' without commitment ('cept for the time to download and burn them all). My personal fave? Slackware and it's live little half-brother Slax. Why? It claims to be the most 'Unix-like' distro which in my experience means a very no-frills distro that actually works on most points (I've never had networking NOT work on a slack machine) and is ready for whatever 'customization' I throw at it because the developers are actually concerned with how it works than with how it looks. Seems like a lot of distros get caught up making pretty gui's for everything and end up breaking stuff (In My Humble Opinion...). Not that I am a command line junkie, but many of the standard tools included with most distros are just fine the way they are in all their CLI glory. Go ahead, dive in, the water may be chilly at first but you'll get used to it.

2970

General Software Discussion / Re: Good UI design blog: flow|state

« Last post by Edvard on September 28, 2005, 05:00 PM »

Also take a look at http://www.symphonyos.com/ and Jason's Laws of Interface Design. I think the Mezzo Desktop concept of desk-wide menus might be confusing at first, but it kinda looks like what M$ may have originally had in mind with Active Desktop. Also a similar idea was asked for in the IDEA: giant start menu Coding Snack request. Hmmm...
Also for those interested, there is the OpenUsability Group (working for usability in Open Source projects) who ran GIMP through the ringer.

2971

Living Room / Re: Online "generators"

« Last post by Edvard on September 27, 2005, 01:24 PM »

w00t! Lookah my new avatar from the neon sign generator! Man, those sign generator thingies are addicting. I went on a binge a few months back and now I gotta stop all over again

2972

General Software Discussion / Re: Rebirth now free

« Last post by Edvard on September 21, 2005, 12:21 PM »

No problem. Mouser, should this be in the Deals and Discounts section? I'm not qualified as a reviewer for this particular piece of software (never could afford it... 'til now ) although its status in the "scene" is nothing short of legendary.

2973

General Software Discussion / Rebirth now free

« Last post by Edvard on September 15, 2005, 11:43 AM »

For those of you who were (not sure if any one REALLY is now) into the techno/industrial scene a few years back, you probably had this or wanted it very badly. Since Propellerheads sold out, they've dropped ReBirth but since it still WORKS for what it was intended, here it is fo' free:
http://www.rebirthmuseum.com/

This is what I spent a lot of time trying to emulate with freeware trackers, samplers, wave editors, etc. 'back in the day'. I relive those heady days of yesteryear every now and again at http://www.soundtrackers.de. Archive of free/share ware music and audio apps from before a thousand coders started doing Zip apps

2974

General Software Discussion / Re: Good UI design blog: flow|state

« Last post by Edvard on September 12, 2005, 03:31 PM »

Oh great, now I'm Fitts-izing all my PowerPro thingummys and running everything full screen. THANKS GUYS!
What am I talking about? read where flow|state took me: http://www.asktog.co...gnedToGiveFitts.html

2975

General Software Discussion / Re: Worst. Interface. Ever.

« Last post by Edvard on September 09, 2005, 02:09 PM »

Much as I love Powerpro, the configuration interface is akin to flying a space shuttle to get down the block. (what do I want it to do, how do I make it do it, can it even DO that? and what do all these OTHER buttons do?) and ZoneAlarms control panel looks more like a CNet advertisement for it than a way to configure it.
[soapbox]
AND MAY I ADD A BIG FAT BOO AND HISS to applications that do not include a full complement of icons and cursors? I mean really NOT EVERYBODY is fortunate enough to have XP for their daily work, and making at least two sizes of each as well as 8- and 24-bit icons is not asking too much in my opinion. I can't reshack everything just to have usable cursors. I find it ironic that the most annoying culprit in this department is SnicoEdit, an Icon Editor, fer pete's sake.
[/soapbox]