Recent Posts

3276

Living Room / Re: More speed/bandwidth from an 802.11n laptop<-->WiFi Router/Modem connection?

« Last post by 4wd on February 19, 2013, 03:12 AM »

The rate seems to fluctuate  between 32 and 52mbps, regardless of whether you are up close to the router or 9 meters away and with two plasterboard and steel-framed walls in between. I have seen momentary peaks of 58.5 and 59.0mbps at the 9 metre point and momentary troughs of 23mbps.

-IainB (February 19, 2013, 02:13 AM)

I'd be tempted to try a cheap 802.11n USB adapter in the laptop, (to eliminate the Draft-n component).

FWIW, I've used this, this and this, (all of which are Realtek 8188/8192 chipsets), to connect a WDTV Live to my ASUS RT-N16 over 12-15m through two plasterboard walls, a 50cm CRT TV, a couch and a CD rack, they all connect at 150Mb/s.

After searching a bit, it seems to me that "802.11n Lite n" just means it's 150Mb/s as opposed to 300Mb/s - 600Mb/s, (ie. it's still full 802.11n compliant, just that because it's single antenna it's speed is limited).

3277

DC Gamer Club / Re: Pre-Purchase Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army 4-Pack

« Last post by 4wd on February 18, 2013, 08:26 PM »

...Sniper... Nazi... Zombies?

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

-f0dder (February 18, 2013, 06:35 PM)

I think he's started on the same stuff Stephen drinks.

3278

Living Room / Re: More speed/bandwidth from an 802.11n laptop<-->WiFi Router/Modem connection?

« Last post by 4wd on February 18, 2013, 08:18 PM »

^What he said plus you've said nothing about the environment you're trying to operate in.

ie.
How far from router?
Other close electrical apparatus, (especially stuff operating in the 2.4GHz area)?
What obstructions, (walls, etc), and construction?
Are the antennas polarised in the same direction?
Did you have your fingers crossed as a meteor flew overhead, etc, etc, etc.

You should be able to get more than that but it can come down to something simple like the devices don't like each other, which is a PITA trying to determine when they individually work OK with other devices.

3279

Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS

« Last post by 4wd on February 16, 2013, 11:45 PM »

Sometimes you just want to smell nice (i.e. on meetings). Of course, it does not replace proper shower and may be used in "comb situations" too


But alcohol in it can:
1. make better fire,
2. be antiseptic,
3. make it easier to clean things.

-fenixproductions (February 16, 2013, 04:49 AM)

4. Impromptu Mace/Capsicum spray.

Anyway, another favourite technician gadget: the butane soldering iron



Since I got this ~17 years ago I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've resorted to my old electric version.  The above is the original Portasol, (with a Telecom Australia logo stamped on to stop people nicking them ).

Hmmm, explosive gas and made in Ireland.....

3280

Living Room / Re: Ancient Seagate 2.5 GB USB 1.1 drive still functioning perfectly...

« Last post by 4wd on February 16, 2013, 10:06 PM »

Conner had the same problem...and then Seagate bought them out...coincidence?

3281

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Delete folders within directory but not the files within the folder

« Last post by 4wd on February 15, 2013, 06:13 PM »

Thank you! Works perfectly, 4wd! Exactly what I needed.

-FrothyAss (February 11, 2013, 09:35 PM)

Nicely done, 4wd.   

-skwire (February 12, 2013, 12:12 AM)

Thanks skwire - I realised after I did it that all he wanted to do was flatten the directory structure. 

3282

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Paste Something To Bottom Of All Text Files, Recursively

« Last post by 4wd on February 15, 2013, 05:59 PM »

You can also split it into a two line batch/command file, just in case the resultant echo command results in a really long command line, (long path/file names).

eg.

Code: Text [Select]

1. for /r %1 %%f in (*.txt) do (echo. >>%%f)
2. for /r %1 %%f in (*.txt) do (echo "endsas;" >>%%f)

It'll add the blank line on the first and the the "endsas;" on the second.

3283

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Paste Something To Bottom Of All Text Files, Recursively

« Last post by 4wd on February 15, 2013, 06:11 AM »

Put this in a DOS batch file and then at a prompt type: RecAppTxt.cmd <path>

Where <path> is the top level directory you want, eg. RecAppTxt.cmd D:\TXT_Files_Below_Here\Demo

Don't forget to put <path> in quotes if it has spaces.

Code: Text [Select]

1. REM RecAppTxt.cmd
2. for /r %1 %%f in (*.txt) do (echo. >>%%f && echo "endsas;" >>%%f)

Try it on a test directory first, it worked here but who knows

3284

Living Room / Re: Grab 50GB of Box Online Storage Free for Life (2013-02-12)

« Last post by 4wd on February 14, 2013, 05:00 AM »

I have this working on Fedora.  How can I help?

-Rover (February 13, 2013, 11:51 PM)

Thanks - you might live to regret it though   

What's the VPS part after Centos?

Virtual Private Server, it's running a minimal install of CentOS 6 i386, (shell access only at this point), just enough to give me a AMPP setup atm.

I've installed davfs2 and neon but I'm currently getting the following:

/sbin/mount.davfs: can't open fuse device
/sbin/mount.davfs: trying coda kernel file system
/sbin/mount.davfs: no free coda device to mount

If it's any easier, I can load the VPS up with Fedora 14 or 17, (still trying to see which distro I like ).

3285

Living Room / Re: Grab 50GB of Box Online Storage Free for Life (2013-02-12)

« Last post by 4wd on February 13, 2013, 06:27 PM »

Got it, and it can be synced on Linux by mounting via WebDAV:

-Edvard (February 12, 2013, 10:19 PM)

I've been trying for the last 6 days to get my Centos 6 VPS to talk to Box via davfs.........that's about the first time I've seen https:// mentioned in the process.

Yes, it should have been obvious

Back to the drawing board....

3286

Living Room / Re: What are your favorite movies?

« Last post by 4wd on February 13, 2013, 03:20 AM »

Ah! A fellow horror-flick lover~! 

-Renegade (February 12, 2013, 09:40 PM)

Yep, Horror and SciFi - the diet of champions 

Some non-English favourites:

3287

Living Room / Re: What are your favorite movies?

« Last post by 4wd on February 12, 2013, 09:23 PM »

Some of them:

3288

Finished Programs / Re: DONE: Delete folders within directory but not the files within the folder

« Last post by 4wd on February 11, 2013, 07:52 PM »

Since you're already using Windows Explorer, you can simply use the find/search functionality to do what you want.  Press F3, enter *.* and do a quick search.  Then, just highlight all the found files and drag them into your top-level folder.

-skwire (February 11, 2013, 07:29 PM)

Are you saying I just wasted my time creating Move Everything Recursively, Delete Empty ?

MERDE!   

Code: AutoIt [Select]

1. #Region ;**** Directives created by AutoIt3Wrapper_GUI ****
2. #AutoIt3Wrapper_Icon=1360654278_56056.ico
3. #AutoIt3Wrapper_UseUpx=n
4. #EndRegion ;**** Directives created by AutoIt3Wrapper_GUI ****
5. #cs ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.  
7.  AutoIt Version: 3.3.8.0
8.  Author:         4wd
9.  
10.  Script Function:
11.         Move Everything Recursively, Delete Empty (MERDE)
12.  
13. Icon from: http://www.iconfinder.com/icondetails/56056/32/crap_poo_shit_turd_icon
14.  
15. #ce ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
16.  
17. ; Script Start - Add your code below here
18.  
19. #include <RecFileListToArray.au3>
20. #include <Array.au3>
21.  
22. If $CmdLine[0] = 0 Then Exit
23. $srce = $CmdLine[1]
24.  
25. $files = _RecFileListToArray($srce, '*', 1, 1, 1, 2)
26. If Not IsArray($files) Then
27.         MsgBox(48, 'MERDE!', 'No files found!', 10)
28.         Exit
29. EndIf
30.  
31. _Valmorphanize($files, $srce)
32.  
33. $folders = _RecFileListToArray($srce, '*', 2, 1, 1, 2)
34. If Not IsArray($folders) Then Exit
35. _PruneEmpty($folders)
36.  
37.  
38. Func _Valmorphanize($temp, $path)
39.         For $i = 1 To $temp[0]
40.                 If $path <> StringLeft($temp[$i], StringInStr($temp[$i], "\", 0, -1) - 1) Then
41.                         $newdest = _AutoRename($path & '\' & StringRight($temp[$i], StringLen($temp[$i]) - StringInStr($temp[$i], "\", 0, -1)))
42.                         FileMove($temp[$i], $newdest)
43.                 EndIf
44.         Next
45. EndFunc
46.  
47.  
48. Func _PruneEmpty($temp)
49.         For $i = 1 To $temp[0]
50.                 If DirGetSize($temp[$i]) = 0 Then DirRemove($temp[$i], 1)
51.         Next
52. EndFunc
53.  
54.  
55. ; Function courtesy of KaFu:
56. ; http://www.autoitscript.com/forum/topic/125602-filename-exists-auto-rename-making-too-many-duplicates/#entry871942
57. Func _AutoRename($sFilename)
58.         $sFilename_Buffer = $sFilename
59.         $i = 1
60.         While FileExists($sFilename)
61.                 If $i = 1 Then
62.                         $sFilename = StringLeft($sFilename_Buffer, StringInStr($sFilename_Buffer, "\", 0, -1)) & "Copy of " & StringRight($sFilename_Buffer, StringLen($sFilename_Buffer) - StringInStr($sFilename_Buffer, "\", 0, -1))
63.                 Else
64.                         $sFilename = StringLeft($sFilename_Buffer, StringInStr($sFilename_Buffer, "\", 0, -1)) & "Copy of (" & $i & ") " & StringRight($sFilename_Buffer, StringLen($sFilename_Buffer) - StringInStr($sFilename_Buffer, "\", 0, -1))
65.                 EndIf
66.                 $i += 1
67.         WEnd
68.         Return $sFilename
69. EndFunc

Put the executable in the %UserProfile%\SendTo directory and then you can just right-click->Send To MERDE.exe on the directory you want to turn to merde  

eg.

From this:



Do this:



To get this:

3289

Living Room / Re: Bill Gates has donated over $36,854,000,000 in his lifetime

« Last post by 4wd on February 09, 2013, 05:39 AM »

Re: Bill Gates to Get Half

BWAHAHAHAHAHAAHA~! 

-Renegade (February 09, 2013, 05:29 AM)

What?!  You haven't seen that before?

Sheesh....I am getting old 

3290

Living Room / Re: Bill Gates has donated over $36,854,000,000 in his lifetime

« Last post by 4wd on February 09, 2013, 05:15 AM »

If it's half of his reported wealth, that's not impressive?

-wraith808 (February 08, 2013, 11:00 PM)

Isn't he just giving back what he was given years ago?

Bill Gates to Get Half
Redmond, WA--In a move designed to hasten the inevitable, billionaire Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates announced yesterday that from now on, he will be getting half.

Gates, whose savvy and aggressiveness propelled his Microsoft Corporation to the top of the business world and made him America's richest man with an estimated fortune of $18 billion, announced his plan at a press conference yesterday from his Seattle-area compound. "I get half," he explained.

It has not yet been decided if Gates' half will be taken straight down the middle or by liquidating all assets and dividing up raw capital. The question will be settled later this week by a special session of Gates' half of the U.S. Congress.

"Don't touch anything until you're sure it's not part of my half," Gates instructed the world's citizenry yesterday via the several million 40-foot-high projection screens he has scattered throughout the globe. "I don't want anyone messing up stuff in my half."

Until everything can be clearly divided between Gates and persons who are not Gates, measures will be taken to ensure the integrity of Gates' half.

Citizens are instructed to remain in their homes, consuming a carefully monitored minimum of their perishables and subjecting their personal possessions to as little wear and tear as possible.

In the event something belonging to Gates is consumed or damaged, Gates announced he will take punitive action, levying fines of up to $14 billion, and may even insist that offenders themselves be included in his half.

"Don't take from my half," the 36-year-old Gates said. "Ice cream and cool cars are part of my half." Gates also expressed interest in possessing Apple, IBM and the former Soviet Union.

"You know, I own the Bettman Archive," Gates said. "You can't look at it unless I say so."

Gates' half will be collected via an advanced subroutine built directly into Windows 95. Computer users without Windows 95 will have it automatically sent to them, with the cost of the program deducted from their half.

Those without computers will be directed to special Gates-owned DNA-resequencing centers where a special bio-silicate form of Windows 95 will be injected directly into their bloodstreams. Once in the bloodstream, the Windows program is designed to breed virally at the base of its host brainstem and to begin work on calculating Gates' half.

"Everyone must contribute to my half," Gates said. "Any number, no matter how small, can be divided into two halves, one of which will be mine."

Gates would not comment on the possibility of eventually increasing his share from a mere half to a controlling interest.

Sources close to Gates would neither confirm nor deny rumors that Gates might offer up to 15 percent of his half in exchange for the other half of the world.

"The transitional period may be difficult," Gates said. "But it will be quick. I hope that this time will be remembered pleasantly in the half of people's minds that remain their own."

3291

General Software Discussion / Re: How much have I downloaded?

« Last post by 4wd on February 04, 2013, 08:20 AM »

You have a daily usage of 33gb if we go by a 30day month, and in 2½ day you've only used 20.

-mrHappy (February 04, 2013, 08:01 AM)

Curt's said 20GB in 2.5 hours - not days.

That's approximately 200GB/day, (if it was on for 24 hours), a little bit more than 33.

Something's not right, either the way it's being measured or there's a program causing a lot more traffic than a few downloads.

3292

General Software Discussion / Re: How much have I downloaded?

« Last post by 4wd on February 04, 2013, 04:36 AM »

I told it to forget about speed and concentrate on in/out everywhere - including the gateway (I assume). I have merely been online for an hour and a half, but already it has passed 7GB coming in (I have only downloaded a 105MB video), and at this rate, 1TB per month seems almost possible.

-Curt (February 04, 2013, 03:15 AM)

Make sure you're using the installer version, not the portable version, select All Connections and then tell it to Ignore local traffic within the LAN.



If it's still saying you're using 7GB/90 minutes then maybe whatever you're using to do backup backups/syncs is wasting an awful lot of data.

3293

General Software Discussion / Re: Lock PC during Boot. ???

« Last post by 4wd on February 03, 2013, 05:24 PM »

Put a boot manager with a 1 second timeout on a flash drive, (eg. GRUB), have it point to the Windows bootloader on the HDD, make USB the primary boot device and disable all the rest.  In theory, the machine won't boot without that flash drive plugged in, however it can easily be bypassed by using any form of USB bootable media.

Having a program residing in the MBR checking for a flash drive, (as you mentioned), won't help much if the computer is allowed to boot by any other means.
Which means you have to use the Setup Password in the BIOS anyway to disable access, so you may as well just use the BIOS Boot password also, as 40hz suggested.

It all depends on how hard you want to stop someone from booting the computer - if they can open it, they can boot it.

3294

Living Room / Re: Mp3 File Format Issue Split From Silly Humor Thread

« Last post by 4wd on February 03, 2013, 01:20 AM »

The following is off top of my head, so might not be 100% correct, but...

-f0dder (February 02, 2013, 11:04 PM)

You're correct - been a while since I did anything more than "just" encode files.  

...anyway, file doesn't want to play here, ...

My bad, it was actually getting picked up by the LAV codec:  

3295

Living Room / Re: a place to buy exotic plants?

« Last post by 4wd on February 02, 2013, 08:12 PM »

I would think that any place that ships to Europe would need to be in Europe, (and most probably within the destination country itself).

Usually bringing any kind of plant matter, (especially living), is considered a no-no by a countries Customs enforcement.

You need to check the Customs Regulations where you want them delivered to.

3296

Living Room / Re: Mp3 File Format Issue Split From Silly Humor Thread

« Last post by 4wd on February 02, 2013, 08:02 PM »

It's actually different from a .mp3 and won't work if renamed to .mp3.

-Tinman57 (February 02, 2013, 07:32 PM)

But I just did and it worked. I renamed your file from .wav to .mp3 and it worked fine. And it now supports tags. And the sound quality, no matter what file extension is used, is really bad, as I expected from the small file size.

-app103 (February 02, 2013, 07:56 PM)

But was this on a stock system with no extra codecs installed using the default Windows playback program?

eg. I can change it to .ogg, .mkv, .mp4, etc and it will still playback in MPC-BE without a problem on my W7 system.

Copy it across to an XP system with no codecs and it doesn't play at all, no matter what extension it's got.

3297

Living Room / Re: Mp3 File Format Issue Split From Silly Humor Thread

« Last post by 4wd on February 02, 2013, 07:53 PM »

It's actually different from a .mp3 and won't work if renamed to .mp3.  Once the codec is installed you can use it with system sound files.  Small sound files won't crunch down, which is true for just about any cruncher.  You can choose what level of crunching so as to not take too much away, but for mono files it really don't make a difference.
  Once the codec is installed, it works on anything that you have set your .wav files to be played with, whether that's Window Media Player, Windows Sound Player, or whatever.  The L3enc works in the background when called upon by the system.

-Tinman57 (February 02, 2013, 07:32 PM)

Sounds more like it's just MP3 encoded data within a WAV container, (ie. it has a header of RIFF) - so renaming it to .mp3 won't work because the MP3 header info required by a true MP3 decoder is missing and anything that can only handle valid WAV files won't work because the data will appear corrupt.  Hence the need for a codec.



MPC-BE plays it without a problem.

3298

Living Room / Re: Security Software Showdown!

« Last post by 4wd on February 01, 2013, 07:56 PM »

Maybe it's just me but where's the link on that site that lists every AV product they tested?

Or did they only test nine of them?

3299

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by 4wd on February 01, 2013, 07:41 PM »

Well what-da-ya-expect for a damn dollar ... Friggin lucky it didn't contain roadkill.

-Stoic Joker (February 01, 2013, 11:30 AM)

I'd take it over pink slime anyday 

As for including roadkill....not a problem. 

3300

General Software Discussion / Re: 2013 Version: Browser Wars

« Last post by 4wd on February 01, 2013, 07:27 PM »

  I get the best of all 3 worlds by using Avant Browser which incorporates Chrome, Firefox and IE.   

-Tinman57 (February 01, 2013, 05:28 PM)

monitoring, memory leaks, insecurities ?