Recent Posts

33626

Site/Forum Features / Re: new forum feature coded - ability to inline link attachments!

« Last post by mouser on January 03, 2006, 05:59 AM »

all mods we make for this forum are intended to be shared with the smf community - it's the least we can do as appreciation to the great work the smf people have done.

in fact i've set up a special page for all of our smf modifications: https://www.donation...r/SmfMods/index.html

i have to update that page but also find an smf pro who can make nice proper "packages" out of my modifications since i'm not too good at that.

33627

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Possible Large Directory Opus Discount

« Last post by mouser on January 03, 2006, 05:57 AM »

are you talking about sorting by extension? just click on extension column header?

33628

General Software Discussion / Re: slideshow to dvd making

« Last post by mouser on January 03, 2006, 04:28 AM »

hehehe.

i believe the app that does this that i loved was:
http://www.arcsoft.c...oducts/dvdslideshow/

very easy to use and did an amazing job of automatically adding pan and zoom effects with no need for help from me.

im sure there are more customizable tools but this one was as pain free as you can imagine with very nice results.

33629

Screenshot Captor / Re: Problems with Images inserted to Word 2003

« Last post by mouser on January 03, 2006, 04:01 AM »

is it just .bmp files that this happens on?
it's hard to imagine a case where using bmp images would be a good idea - use a format with some compression but without any loss in quality (tiff for example, or png if png is supported).

33630

Older Newsletters / Newsletter for January 02, 2006 - Codename 'Programmer's Paradise'

« Last post by mouser on January 03, 2006, 03:38 AM »

Newsletter for January 02, 2006

1. Happy New Year 2006!
It's hard to believe that DonationCoder.com has been online for almost a year now - we've grown so much in that time. And it's all due to those of you who have supported the site - together we've shown that a donation-based site can really survive.

We may not be making enough to earn a living yet from DonationCoder, but your donations are now covering the new dedicated web hosting costs.  The year 2005 was just a warm-up.  With your help we can make 2006 something truly special!


2. Vote in this month's poll
Don't be shy, make your voice heard! Tell us how *you* want DonationCoder.com to improve in 2006 by voting in this month's poll: https://www.donation...hp?topic=1991?ref=nl


3. New programs coming soon
A lot of progress has been made this month on some new programs you should see in the upcoming month or two, including the long awaited "Context Menu Commander", and some new software by guest coders.  Context Menu Commander is looking to be one of the nicer programs from DC, and we're actually expecting that it may give rise to a bunch of related programs, and Process Tamer 3 and Find+Run Robot 2 will be out in the next couple of months as well, so this is going to be a busy start to the new year!


4. Drawings drawing results
We're very proud of our custom prize optimization software which has helped us make our software drawings a huge success; in December we gave out a total of 57 programs:
https://www.donation...?topic=1984.0?ref=nl


5. January's special gift for programmers
In January we have something truly special for programmers who are members of our site.  Our friends at Bitsum Technologies (www.bitsum.com) have agreed to give a shareware license of PECompact2, their famous exe compressor, free to every donationcoder.com donating/honorary member who is a programmer!

We use PECompact2 on most of the big programs offered on this site, and we are very fond of it.  It does a great job of reducing the size of executables and it's written by a true programmer who has been a strong supporter of this site.

Members: Submit your request for your free copy here (members joining before January 4th get a deluxe license):
https://www.donation...g/drawing.php?ref=nl


6. Noteworthy forum threads

• Pandora - free Internet jukebox - https://www.donation...?topic=1880.0?ref=nl
• Free task bar clock enhancers - https://www.donation...?topic=1945.0?ref=nl
• Free audio books - https://www.donation...?topic=1923.0?ref=nl
• Looking for the perfect address book - https://www.donation...?topic=1155.0?ref=nl
• Celestia - free space simulation - https://www.donation...?topic=1911.0?ref=nl

7. Hosting for Mobysaurus free dictionary and thesaurus
We are always looking for ways to be good Internet citizens and your donations have made it possible for us to provide free hosting to some special freeware authors.  Last month we were happy to be able to provide a home for the author of an excellent new free dictionary/thesaurus program called Mobysaurus.
https://www.donation...re/Other/mobysaurus/


8. New Forum Feature - inlining image attachments
Due to popular request we've coded a feature that now allows you to attach images to posts and show them at arbitrary locations inside the post itself (not just at the footer of the post).
https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=1996.0


9. New Donation Page
We've streamlined the donation page, and made it super easy to make a one time donation or even set up a monthly donation for a certain number of months (cancelable at any time).  Something to consider if you've had a good year and you want to show your support for our site:

   



If you have a good idea about how to improve the newsletter or just want to share some feelings about it or the site itself send an email to [email protected] or just reply.

More links:

• Donate: https://www.donation...te/index.html?ref=nl
• Forums: https://www.donationcoder.com/Forums/
• Wiki: https://www.donation.../index.php/Main_Page
• BugTracker: https://www.donation...acking/main_page.php
• RSS Feeds: https://www.donation...ndex.php?topic=496.0

33631

General Software Discussion / Re: sparse but good - Bob's World's Best Freeware List

« Last post by mouser on January 03, 2006, 02:52 AM »

By the way, mouser, if you want an extremely difficult category to do the next DC "best of" review, try these note-taking software.  First, it would take forever to come up with a good list of software since there are so many, and then to pick one would be crazy. 

we've been agonizing over this for ages - there is a small group of us that knows how important this category is, and how wonderful it would be to do a comprehensive review and recommendation.. but as you say, it's a mammoth job likely to drive the reviewer insane.

it's like my favorite movie "day of the jackal" - it's an assignment where whoever takes it on can never work again.

33632

Best Text Editor / Re: Prolix

« Last post by mouser on January 02, 2006, 06:48 PM »

nice; some other fun free tools there as well.

33633

Site/Forum Features / new forum feature coded - ability to inline link attachments!

« Last post by mouser on January 02, 2006, 05:19 PM »

i have just finished some modifications to the forum software to allow inline insertion of attachments (images,etc.).  This should help a lot in posts where the text refers to images a lot and you used to have all the attached images just shown at the footer of the post.

All of the images you see here are ATTACHMENTS to this post, not hosted on other sites


The new feature supports a bunch of different tags that let you control how images are displayed:

[Select]

[attach=1][/attach] says insert normal attachment #specified there
(ie will be url link if non image, or default img or thumbnail based on server settings).
for example, [attach=1][/attach] shows attachment #1 image here:

[Select]

[attachtimg=#] says insert full image even if server is set to
 show thumbnails by default.  Here is attachment #2 image forced to full size here, [attachimg=2][/attachimg]:

[Select]

[attachturl=#] says insert url link even if the attachment is an image
(useful if you want to attach images as simple url download links but not show
them as pictures anywhere in post).  For example here is [attachurl=1][/attachurl]:

RoxiFelix.jpg (61.16 kB. 499x463 - viewed 9154 times.)

[Select]

[attachthumb=2][/attachthumb] says to insert a thumbnail of the image, EVEN if thumbnailing
 is off by default on server (like it is here).  For example here is [attachthumb=1][/attachthumb]:

Here :




NOTE:

• You will now find a new combo box on the Post page that says "Link Inline Image.." which will insert common codes for showing attached inline images in different styles.
• All attachments which are inlined are automatically excluded from listing down at bottom footer
• All attachments which are not inlined are shown at footer as per normal (see below for attachment 3 which was never inlined above so is shown in footer as normal).

33634

Mouser's Zone / Re: Ideas i want to bounce off you guys

« Last post by mouser on January 02, 2006, 03:35 PM »

i wouldn't go that far.

i would say if a program unyieldingly and obtrusively nags you in an attempt to get you to buy a commercial version, then i wouldn't call it freeware (even though it is technically free).

i think such programs exact a psychic cost on your personality

however, i do believe that asking someone to go through a couple of extra steps on a one-time basis, and thereafter be left alone, is not unreasonable.

33635

Mouser's Zone / Re: Ideas i want to bounce off you guys

« Last post by mouser on January 02, 2006, 02:08 PM »

How does the donation aspect work anyway?  What if someone donates 5 cents?  Does he get a universal key after that?

yep.  in fact the way it works is that the minimum you can donate via paypal is 25 cents.
of which paypal takes as its percentage.... wait for it.... that's right, 25 cents.

so users can actually donate 0 and get a full lifetime charter membership if that is what they are determined to do.

If that's true, you'll find a bunch of people just donating a penny or a nickel.

i have written a lot on this forum about the philosophy and theory that this site was started with - it was my belief that the chief obstacle to people donating was not that they weren't willing to make a financial contribution, but rather that they just didn't follow through with an initial impulse to donate because it was too much effort.  and that if you could convince them to go through the steps of donating, most would donate more than the minimum.

that was a theory 9 months ago.  i don't know if there have been published studies of this issue in the past, but after 9 months i can tell you that the question has been clearly answered: almost no one donates the minimum.  probably less than 1% of donators have donated $1 or less.  quite a few donate $5, and quite a few donate more than $25.  some have donated very generously.

it is a testament to people's good will that they have been willing to donate more than the minimum they had to, and this is an extremely significant result - it suggests that as donating becomes easier and more secure, it becomes a more and more viable approach to ethically funding projects.

33636

Living Room / Re: Unofficial fix for recent (and serious) windows vulnerability

« Last post by mouser on January 02, 2006, 12:45 PM »

i dont think firefox will protect you from this.  more informaiton from antivirus company f-secure:
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/

33637

Living Room / Re: Unofficial fix for recent (and serious) windows vulnerability

« Last post by mouser on January 02, 2006, 12:31 PM »

more info on the vulnerability:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10651414/

33638

Living Room / OFFICIAL WINDOWS UPDATE for Windows Vulnerability - READ IN

« Last post by mouser on January 02, 2006, 12:05 PM »

A fairly serious vulnerability was found in windows recently which is apparently being used in the wild and can infect computer simply by viewing an infected web page, etc.:

http://www.microsoft...lletin/ms06-001.mspx


an extremely well respected programmer (one of the authors of IDA) has written an unofficial fix for this because microsoft is not responding in a timely manner:

http://www.hexblog.c...005/12/wmf_vuln.html

i've read the description and comments and it seems well thought out and safe (and uninstallable).

I have installed this myself.

Seems safe and can be uninstalled if for some reason you have any issues.  just fyi..

A new OFFICIAL patch has been released by microsoft - just run windows update to get it.
Read more here: http://www.microsoft...lletin/ms06-001.mspx

(note: it's not clear yet whether people who installed the unofficial patch need to uninstall that first, but safe bet would be uninstall official from add/remove programs list, then reboot, then run windows update to get official patch).

33639

Site/Forum Features / Re: January's Poll - What Area Should DonationCoder.com Focus on Most in 2006?

« Last post by mouser on January 02, 2006, 07:45 AM »

i added that as an option in the poll, anticipating such votes.
and yes i hear you guys - 10 half finished programs are not as good as 1 finished one.

33640

Living Room / Re: sticking two routers together?

« Last post by mouser on January 02, 2006, 07:44 AM »

just guessing but im thinking he probably needs the extra ports.  4 port routers are the standard on home routers, so unless you want to move to an 8 port model and throw out both, chaining two is the way to go.

33641

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

« Last post by mouser on January 02, 2006, 07:22 AM »

thanks dtrud0h, tabmix+ is a great find.. going to give that a try.

 tabbed browsing is the bees knees - anyone not using some tabbed browsing mode has no idea what they are missing.

33642

Site/Forum Features / Jan/Feb Poll - What Area Should DonationCoder.com Focus on Most in 2006?

« Last post by mouser on January 02, 2006, 06:21 AM »

If you had to pick one area that you would like to see us focus more on for 2006, what would it be?
And please do post a reply to the this message telling us in more detail about your desires for the site in 2006, and any new features you'd like to see.

33643

UrlSnooper / Re: EAccessViolation

« Last post by mouser on January 02, 2006, 04:32 AM »

so it's definitely nlite then that is causing the problem?

33644

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Domains from Yahoo at 2.99$

« Last post by mouser on January 01, 2006, 04:59 PM »

yep, that doesnt sound good.

i also recommend buying your domain name at a normal registrar like godaddy, and then you can direct your domain anywhere you want depending on your needs, including a commercial hosting provider or something lightweight like our shared hosting here.

by the way it should only cost you $10 to $12 to register a domain name at a normal place.

33645

General Software Discussion / Re: Linux - Freeware or Shareware?

« Last post by mouser on January 01, 2006, 03:51 PM »

i think as stefan mentioned, a "live-cd" is your best way to experiment with linux - you just pop the cd in your cd drive, reboot your computer and tell it to boot into linux using the cd.  no files on your computer will be harmed..

33646

Living Room / Re: ZoneAlarm is blocking some of the pages on DonationCoder.com?

« Last post by mouser on January 01, 2006, 02:39 PM »

just an update, with some help from a member (thanks lynn) i think i found the problem.
when ad blocking is enabled in zonealarm, it was sensing an html comment(!) that had the word "AD" in it, and getting completely confused.
the html comment is used on our pages to help us remember when the google ads can get inserted - i've never head of a blocker looking at  html comments.. interesting.

anyway, i've changed the html to remove that word and it seems all is fixed.

33647

Site/Forum Features / Re: RSS Feeds for DonationCoder.com and this Forum

« Last post by mouser on January 01, 2006, 12:31 PM »

jdd:
https://www.donation...10;sa=news;type=rss2

to get a different rss feed for the last 10 topics (subjects) from another section, just go to that section, observe the board=## and replace it in url above.

33648

General Software Discussion / Re: sparse but good - Bob's World's Best Freeware List

« Last post by mouser on January 01, 2006, 10:55 AM »

hahahahahaa .
you are quite right, that is a bit naf.

33649

Skrommel's Software / Re: Compression: BigByte

« Last post by mouser on January 01, 2006, 09:38 AM »

having the program have an option to generate random bytes would be nice.

33650

General Software Discussion / sparse but good - Bob's World's Best Freeware List

« Last post by mouser on January 01, 2006, 09:34 AM »

useful list organized by category:
http://webpages.char...r.net/bobad/best.htm