Recent Posts

326

Living Room / Re: Interested in teaming up for good web hosting / website accounts?

« Last post by kfitting on October 20, 2005, 07:41 AM »

One thing to keep in mind is that as soon as anyone hears about "free" anything word will be spread around like wildfire.  Spymac did this just before google came out with gmail; they advertised free 1 gig email accounts and they had such a flood of new members they couldnt handle it.  I know, you're not saying free hosting, but even saying donation hosting is essentially saying free hosting to the masses. 

Not saying it's a bad idea (I personally would love a free/cheap website just to upload pictures for my family to view) but be prepared for tremendous growth.  Plus, anytime anything is free, it tends to bring in the riffraff; people who spark flame wars, complain about everything, etc. 

I'm also NOT saying this should be an elitest club so we can all feel comfortable... that is wrong as well!  Just saying that you're going to have to be prepared.  As far as I'm concerned, I wouldnt mind a small page for myself to put up pictures or random thoughts.  But, it is extremely low priority on my budget right now.

Intrigued? Yes, but not sure how you would go about it!

Kevin

327

Find And Run Robot / 1.07.21???

« Last post by kfitting on October 19, 2005, 11:24 AM »

Hey mouser, looked at the thread for the latest version... and then looked at my about dialog.  I have 1.07.21.  Is 1.07.20 really the latest version?

Kevin

Dang it... just noticed nontroppo has posted this in another thread. Sorry, forget this.

328

Find And Run Robot / Re: Handling of multiple keywords

« Last post by kfitting on October 16, 2005, 07:14 PM »

I second the google comment... no need to go confusing people!  "It works in google... I don't understand!" would only lead to frustration!

Kevin

329

Unfinished Requests / Re: Idea - Weighted Audio Inputs

« Last post by kfitting on October 13, 2005, 08:49 PM »

Basically, there are many different audio inputs to a computer, let's look at the above example, which deals with the line-in and the normal wave volumes.  In my coworkers case, he listens to the police scanner in the background while listening to other audio (movie clips, mp3s, etc).  A police scanner is not constant, however.  It kind of comes and goes.  This program would monitor audio levels for multiple audio inputs and, if the input to a certain one passed a threshold, would increase it's volume and decrease the volume on the other inputs.  Then, when the level passed below the threshold, the levels would be adjusted back to normal.  In our example, as soon as the police scanner finds something and the level on the line-in goes high, the wav input would be turned down and the line-in would be turned up. 

In essence, it's a weighted volume control: if line-in > 100 then wav = 20 and line-in = 150.  Does this explain it any better?  It's only useful if you have multiple inputs that you listen to at a time, and want to make sure you don't miss anything from one of the inputs.  Ultimately, it would be kind of cool to be able to set up a hierarchy (eg, after the above if statement runs, have enter another state where this line would come up: if wav > 150 then reset normal audio levels).  This way, you could prioritize what you listen to based on input level.

Just a thought...

Kevin

330

Find And Run Robot / Re: Another related app : Mayk

« Last post by kfitting on October 13, 2005, 10:50 AM »

Interesting comparison.  I agree about the icon option.  I also wonder if you could make your own icon for different file types.  I've found color helps me immensely when trying to differentiate between different things.  FOr example, maybe you could make exe's a green square, mp3's orange, etc (sorry, this is just my synaethesia coming out... and yes, exe's are actually green and mp3's are actually orange).  This way FindRun wouldnt have to search for an individual icon, just put up a generic one.  I think this could be cool.

Why dont we just add 1000's of options and make FindRun into a personal computer?

Kevin

331

Find And Run Robot / Re: Sample mini group alias file for F&R - download here

« Last post by kfitting on October 13, 2005, 10:43 AM »

Wasnt me... I remember the discussion though.  The whole alias thing is powerful, but very confusing!  The default samples will be a nice way to learn, thanks!

Kevin

332

Find And Run Robot / Re: ActiveWords and Find&Run Robot

« Last post by kfitting on October 13, 2005, 05:44 AM »

This probably should go into another thread, but a quick question about the web stuff.  Can you just type a url into FindRUn and have it open a browser and go there?  This would be awesome for just going to a certain site.  Obviously, to do all the search and stuff you need alias' but it would be cool to be able to type donationcoder.com and have it come up.

Kevin

333

General Software Discussion / Re: Macro programs - advice sought...

« Last post by kfitting on October 13, 2005, 05:40 AM »

rjbull:  AutoIt is more of a language, but it does have a macro recorder.  I'm 80% sure AutoHotkey does as well.  AutoHotkey has a LOT more control for hotkeys, and in that application it doesnt take much reading to get the hang of.  Both of these macro languages are kind of like VBA in office: you can write everything yourself and do some very powerful stuff, or you can record a macro to quickly do repititve tasks. 

Kevin

334

Unfinished Requests / Re: Idea - Weighted Audio Inputs

« Last post by kfitting on October 12, 2005, 07:38 PM »

No?

Kevin

335

General Software Discussion / Re: Macro programs - advice sought...

« Last post by kfitting on October 12, 2005, 07:38 PM »

My definition of script (come up with on my own so don't get too hung up over it!) is just a file that can be run over and over to do a certain task... sort of an algorithm.  Whether you use mouse commands, keyboard commands, or a combination, scripts take actions and do them again and again.  I've written many scripts for Exel VBA to do repititive tasks like comparing, gathering data from other sheets, or even just changing menus.  I've also written Excel scripts for sorting (Stupid 1,10,2,3,... sort order!).  At work, a coworker and I have written scripts that extract data from AutoCAD drawings or draw AutoCAD drawings (we use AutoCAD LT so we have to kluge it together, usually through Excel). 

Scripts do things you do so often you don't want to them again!

Kevin

336

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: ITSD Organizer keeps your notes at hand

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

I see..... yes, it does take more time to open, search, and save because it stores the entire file in memory when it's opened. 

New versions have not been released in two years, but go to the message boards.  THere are several posts from marek from June (I believe) giving status updates on 2.0.  2.0 is (supposed to be) a complete rewrite from scratch using a component called TRichView to get around many of the inherent problems with Microsoft's RichEdit control (more info available on forum).  It also uses a totally different file format that does not load the entire file into memory. 

However, like I said, nothing has been posted in the last few months from marek saying what has been happening.  Progress may be going on, but not that we can see!  As far as getting other people to carry on development, while not impossible, I would definitely suggest reading through the problems marek has run into, especially concerning the RichEdit component.  Tables, hyperlinks, etc, are an inherent problem.  TRichView looks like a great solution... but it costs, and someone needs to program for it.

Kevin

337

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: ITSD Organizer keeps your notes at hand

« Last post by kfitting on October 12, 2005, 05:39 AM »

By struggle what do you mean?  I have several Keynote files over 4 meg and havent noticed any problems.  Once an individual node gets to be rather large the program slows down while in that node, is that what they meant?  Keynote 2 is supposed to alleviate a lot of this and add tremendous functionality... unfortunately, while development was started, no news has come in the last couple months.  Hopefully it hasnt ended, but we'll see.

Kevin

338

Unfinished Requests / Idea - Weighted Audio Inputs

« Last post by kfitting on October 11, 2005, 08:36 AM »

Talking with a friend here at work and he mentioned he would like to be able to set a hierarchy for his audio inputs on his soundcard.  The real life application here is he often plays video (wav input) and listens to his police scanner (line in) at the same time.  Trouble is that when the Police Scanner "interrupts," the video doesnt get quiet so you can hear the scanner. 

The application should be able to mute or set the lower priority input to a lower level.  It should also be able to trigger on dead silence or an adjustable level.  A nice GUI would be awesome as well! 

Any takers, questions, or suggestions?

Kevin

339

Find And Run Robot / Re: Feature Request - Mind Reading

« Last post by kfitting on October 11, 2005, 05:40 AM »

Ahhhh, didnt see that... thanks nontroppo!

Kevin

340

Find And Run Robot / Feature Request - Mind Reading

« Last post by kfitting on October 10, 2005, 07:38 PM »

Could you make FindRun launch the program I meant to launch and not the one I pressed the hotkey for??  I've had multiple cases today where I just pushed the wrong key... it's rather annoying!  Thanks

Kevin

341

Find And Run Robot / Re: Feature Request V2 — Drag'n'Drop Config…

« Last post by kfitting on October 10, 2005, 02:35 PM »

And we know you HATE drag 'n and drop mouser! 

Kevin

342

General Software Discussion / Re: Synaesthesia

« Last post by kfitting on October 10, 2005, 10:37 AM »

Another decent website: http://web.mit.edu/s...www/synesthesia.html

Never tried the program... did try Geiss v1 and v2 for winamp.  Version 1 came the closest to what I see with music.  That letter/color page looks decent... except the colors are wrong!  

Kevin

343

General Software Discussion / Re: Synaesthesia

« Last post by kfitting on October 10, 2005, 09:52 AM »

Sorry, saw this thread and just have to hijack it a little.  Synaesthesia is quite real... I have it.  I have yet to find a program that reacts to music as I "see" it, but the programs do give an idea for what it's like.  There are quite a few sites out there with related articles about it.  Some people are crazy, seeing what they taste and smell, etc.  I just see music and have colors for letters, numbers, and words.  Sometimes I can force a smell to look a certain way but it isnt inherent. 

Like I said, just had to hijack!

Kevin

344

General Software Discussion / Re: Living without AutoHotkey - possible?

« Last post by kfitting on October 10, 2005, 09:49 AM »

Well, as far as AutoHotkey is concerned I use it mainly for hotkeys and replacement text.  I'm going to generalize the thread a little to include AutoIt v3 (same idea as AutoHotkey... I use them both for different things!).

Currently, I'm writing a program that is basically a GUI for EXIFUtils (http://www.hugsan.com/EXIFutils/) to allow me to easily update EXIF captions, location, keywords, and photographer data in JPGs.  Basically, I run use AutoIt to run EXIFUtils and have it export the info to a csv file, open the csv via AutoIt and parse out the info I need, updating the GUI and another CSV "database" for future reference.  (Incidentally, if there are any AutoCAD LT users out there that want to script AutoCAD, we use Excel VBA to automate AutoCAD... even though LT doesnt have VBA.  The process is similar to what I described above.) 

Basically, I think both of these script utilities are extremely amazing and give a few more tricks for a user to get things done!  Skrommel shows just how powerful these types of languages are and looking in the forums for each language, you can see more great ideas (eg, I saw an OCR script in AutoIt's forum the other day).  Awesome stuff!  If you find yourself doing something more than 5 times you may as well write a script for it.

Kevin

345

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: I love the Bulk Rename Utility!

« Last post by kfitting on October 09, 2005, 08:10 PM »

Glad I could help... it is an excellant tool!

Kevin

346

Find And Run Robot / Re: Slim FARR look

« Last post by kfitting on October 09, 2005, 11:42 AM »

I back superslimification! (Perhaps there should even be a superslimificationist position paper written?)

-m_s (October 09, 2005, 04:15 AM)

Why is superslimificationist such a big word?    (Sort of like abbreviation...)

Kevin

347

Find And Run Robot / Re: Feature - Folder Search

« Last post by kfitting on October 08, 2005, 12:39 PM »

One concern I have is the UI (here I go again!): assigning different searches to folders seems rather laborious.  Could you make it so you assign folders to searches?  The difference is subtle but it would make things easier on the user.  I think it's a great idea to allow folders to be a part of multiple searches, but it should be easy to build the search parameters.  Also dont forget file extensions!  I may have misunderstood what you saying, but those are my thoughts!

Kevin

348

Find And Run Robot / Feature - Folder Search

« Last post by kfitting on October 07, 2005, 03:38 PM »

Hey mouser, with regard to the latest plethora of updates to FindRun, could I throw in a vote for being able to choose which folders and which file extension a search will cover?  We have talked about this before (I orginally got it confused with alias' or groups... the terminology still escapes me!) and just figured I'd bring it up again.  It's one feature I am highly looking forward to!  If it will have to wait... I'll wait!

Kevin

349

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Morse Code as You Type

« Last post by kfitting on October 06, 2005, 08:48 PM »

Let me just say that I agree with datamystic and mouser on this one.  While the continual griping about paying money for software is definitely out of line, free programs are ok as well.  For example, Microsoft is hated by many for their handling of Windows.  Many claim an OS should be free.  My thoughts are that an OS is an extremely involved piece of software and the developers deserve their money.  to that end, I am more than willing to pay for the software.  My problem with Microsoft is their extremely high pricing; $300 for an operating system and $400+ for an Office suite that doesn't even work together... come on! 

That being said, I pay for software that I find extremely well done.  I paid for Opera and an Opera upgrade solely because Opera was (and still is) the best browser I have ever used.  Firefox, IE, etc are fine, but Opera was worth the money. 

My statement regarding MorsePilot came from mouser's point of view: $25 for a program that plays morse code while you type is a tad high.  Also, as mouser pointed out, their other programs are definietly interesting and if I had money to throw around I would consider buying a few.   

But, America has set up a system based around competition and that means that some people aren't going to make money (our system demands a rich AND poor class, for example).  Software that has had a lot of thought put into it and had the edges smoothed deserves to be paid for.  But, if there were no competitors, you would wind up with the lack of innovation currently seen at M$ (not in the past, mind you!). 

Just a few thoughts.  I do agree that merely ripping another program and advertising it for free (same interface, same features, etc) is mildly ridiculous. 

Kevin

350

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Morse Code as You Type

« Last post by kfitting on October 06, 2005, 02:41 PM »

Just saw a shareware program that does just this.... admittedly it's a tad expensive at ~$25, but it may give ideas.

http://www.colorpilot.com/morse.html

Kevin