Recent Posts

33901

Official Announcements / Re: Change to Official License Key Policy

« Last post by mouser on December 12, 2005, 11:13 AM »

that's really sad - maybe the new policy will convince them to change that.

i do *not* think donationcoder.com apps qualify as nagware.  my understanding in general of nagware is that the program puts up a nag message on a regular basis (ie on every use) until you buy it.  that's not how donationcoder.com apps work.

you are only nagged to download a freeware key which last for 6 months, then you are told to get another after 6 months, then you are told once again at the 1 year period to go download a full non-expiring non-nagging license.  3 nags over period of 1 year and then never again doesn't seem to be too much of a burden i should hope.

33902

Living Room / Re: nudone's new pc

« Last post by mouser on December 12, 2005, 11:09 AM »

if noise is a big deal then make sure that every single component with a moving part has been reviewed by someone who says it is quiet as can be.  this means graphics card fan, powersupply fan, case fans, hard drive, etc.  all can make substantial noise.

another thing is this, if i had to rate the most important part of my computer, it would not be the cpu, memory, or hard drive. it would be the 2 monitors. we've talked on the forum about using 2 monitors and everyone i know who's tried it agrees it makes such a difference.  i'd easily go down to a slower cpu, less memory, etc., but giving up having two monitors, never.

33903

Screenshot Captor / Configure PngOut as a tool

« Last post by mouser on December 12, 2005, 05:09 AM »

quick info for how to configure the good commandline png compression tool to work from within screenshot captor.

only 1 caveat, the file already has to be saved as a png before using this tool (note you can change format by just adding the new extension in the filename box and hitting enter).

ok so get pngout from here -> http://advsys.net/ken/utils.htm#pngout
(direct download is here -> http://advsys.net/ken/util/pngout.exe)

then configure tool in sc as shown below:

important note: change pngout.exe directory to where you put your pngout.exe file.

33904

General Software Discussion / Interesting Simple Machines Forum Thread on Why SMF is Free

« Last post by mouser on December 12, 2005, 04:41 AM »

We use the open source SimpleMachines Forum software (smf) here, and it's a great forum.

Here's an interesting thread on why SMF is free, discussing the financical motivations as well as other issues:

http://www.simplemac...ndex.php?topic=16971

33905

Official Announcements / Re: Change to Official License Key Policy

« Last post by mouser on December 12, 2005, 04:01 AM »

very good point -
there are very few programs on our site that take a license key that don't get updated more frequently that once every 6 months.  plus there are new programs, etc.  so very good point.

33906

Find And Run Robot / Re: TalkAboutShareware thread

« Last post by mouser on December 12, 2005, 03:56 AM »

rj,
 you did great by posting this - it gave me a chance to explain to anyone who was reading that what we are trying to do.
 and it led to an improved license key policy (imho),
 and it led to some nice new donating members who read the posts and wanted to support the site.
 and it helped those who liked F+R learn how to get the license they wanted.

so overall it worked out great

33907

Site/Forum Features / Re: International Donators - Do You Want Your Postcard from America?

« Last post by mouser on December 12, 2005, 03:36 AM »

that would be so fun   

any postcards from overseas sent to us i will put up on a special page 

send them here to address here:
  https://www.donation...m/About/contact.html

33908

Official Announcements / Re: Change to Official License Key Policy

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 11:42 PM »

One more thing: I've said this before but I'll repeat it here again for those who are concerned about such possibilities.  This site is not going anywhere, but if people are afraid that somehow the site will dissapear one day, I'll state the following openly: should the site ever close up shop and/or stop  giving out license keys, then all members with full license keys are hereby granted permission to share these keys legally with the public for anyone to use.  This should allay any fears that somehow something will happen in that year long period that would make it impossible for people to get their permanent non-expiring key.

33909

Site/Forum Features / Re: International Donators - Do You Want Your Postcard from America?

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 11:24 PM »

yep, just an idea - probably no one cares about such stuff but me 

33910

Official Announcements / Re: Change to Official License Key Policy

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 11:21 PM »

Note: we are open to further suggestions, and as we have made clear in the past our intention is not to punish those who can't donate, but mainly to encourage people who are willing to donate to actually follow through, and to give us a chance to make our case to people who normally might not pay attention.

An interesting issue is whether we should really require people to come back to the site twice before giving them the permanent non-expiring license.  It may be that this is overkill, and we should simply require an initial 6-month freeware license key, followed by giving them the permanent non-expiring license key on their next visit. We are open to making this change in the future.

Arguing for it is the idea that if they are still using it 6-months later but still don't want to make a donation, then they probably are not going to be effected by making them wait another 6 months.

Arguing against it is the idea that after 6 months they might be exactly ready to donate having realized they like the program, but that having a single click to get a non-expiring license may be just too easy to push and be done with (as opposed to going through the steps of donating), and so having to renew once may be just the motivation needed to differentiate the reluctantly lazy from the committed non-donator

33911

Official Announcements / Change to Official License Key Policy

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 11:07 PM »

Following a discussion on alt.comp.freeware (see this thread https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=1756.0), we have decided to make a change to the License Key policy at DonationCoder.com.

Our old policy was that users who do not donate can download freeware license keys that eliminate all reminders for 6 months.  After 6 months the program would stop working until they come back to the key download page here and grab another 6-month freeware license key for the next 6 months, and this process could be repeated indefinitely.

Our new policy for non-donator freeware licenses is as follows:

• programs will no longer stop working after the license period.  They will only show startup reminder nags when a freeware license "expires."
• non-donators can generate a 6-month license key twice.  After that period (1 year), they can visit the page and generate permanent non-expiring license keys that will never require them to generate another key or see another nage.

In summary, we are making it easier for people who cannot or do not wish to donate to use our programs freely without worry.  There is now no risk of programs stopping working after some period, and no one has to resign themselves to visiting our site every 6 months indefinitely if they've already made clear they are not going to donate.

33912

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Bug? - Blank GUI

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 10:08 PM »

ok i bet i know what's wrong, but not why it's occured for you
i'll bet somehow it's "docking view" has gotten messed up and it's just that all the docked windows are "closed"
maybe the docking preset files got messed up, or something like that.

The same thing would happen if you somehow dragged all your docking windows off the main form and then closed them.

Try choosing another docking preset from the "Presets" menu.  You should see views for "Standard" and others to choose from, if not then your installation is missing these and that would explain the problem, and you should reinstall.

33913

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Bug? - Blank GUI

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 06:25 PM »

the only thing i can think of is
look at status bar.. does it say it is "cleaning/compacting" the data?

33914

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Bug? - Blank GUI

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 06:23 PM »

hmm i wonder if i should pull this version until i get more reports..
you really should not need to do anything but copy over the exe.
let me test a new install.

can you make me a screenshot?

33915

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: Bug? - Blank GUI

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 06:06 PM »

you should be able to just copy over the exe, and yeah a blank gui would be a bad thing
did it give its normal balloon messages in tray saying its starting up and ready?
maybe exit and restart and make sure you wait some seconds before double clicking.

33916

Site/Forum Features / International Donators - Do You Want Your Postcard from America?

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 03:54 PM »

If you are a non-US donator you are entitled to a postcard of thanks from us.  Most people of corse won't care about this, but for those who have donated and think it would be fun, read this and then and email your overseas postal address to me ([email protected]):

https://www.donation...ialNonUsWelcome.html

hmmm.. i wonder if people from overseas countries would be willing to send postcards to donators inside the US?

perhaps donators inside the US who want to receive a postcard from someone outside the US could also send me their mailing postal address and I could include one in each postcard we send overseas, so the recipient can mail back a postcard to someone in the US.  does that make sense?

33917

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: CLIPBOARD HELP+SPELL LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - v2.23.01 - Nov 22, 2013

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 03:39 PM »

The big thing about this release is that quick formatting presets can now be shown on quickpaste menu - which i think is extremely useful; let's you do things like:

• create a preset that adds >> in front of lines, word wraps at 74 characters, and does some other stuff
• then whenever you want to apply that just select text in a program, hit quickpaste, and select this preset to reformat the text.

33918

Living Room / Re: Your owned computer history/upgrade path

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 01:43 PM »

cromemco z-2d z80/cpm/teletype (1978?) -> ibm pc (1981, were on early waiting list) -> ibm pc at (woot a hard drive!) -> boring upgrades -> amd xp2000 (current machine)

favorite computers to program on other than those above: trs80,radioshack colorcomputer
least favorite to program on: apple macintosh
most drooled over and never owned: apple lisa

interesting chart: http://www.colombial...mputing_history.html

33919

Dr.Windows / Re: Dr.Windows Dialogs - Add Yours!

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 12:01 PM »

another 20 or so and i think dr.windows will be ready for its first release. 

33920

Living Room / Re: Add a Spreadsheet to your Web Site

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 10:56 AM »

cool

33921

Activation/License/Language Help / Re: License Keys

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 10:01 AM »

thank you for appreciating our attempt to figure out a fair way to encourage people to donate but still keep the software free.

actually we have decided to change the 6 month thing in the next few days so that people who are not going to donate do not have to keep coming back every 6 months; at some point (either after 6 months or one year, not decided yet), users will automatically be given a non-expiring, permanent license license key.

in this way, people who do not plan on donating or who cannot donate will not have to keep coming back once it is clear that they will not be donating, for whatever reason.  our interest is not in punishing people for not donating, it's only to encourage donations.

33922

Activation/License/Language Help / Re: License Keys

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 05:58 AM »

first, welcome to the site

well it certainly is recognizing you as a member here on this page, so that's a good sign.

so if you go to: https://www.donation...r.com/Keys/index.php

it says you are not signed up at the forum? or does it work now?

it should recognize you and give you a list on the bottom of the page to generate a license key for each of the programs.

let us know if you are still having trouble - i'm hoping it was just that you weren't logged in yet when you last checked the page, or something like that.  do post again or email me if you still have trouble.

33923

General Software Discussion / Re: Keynote Closes...

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 02:21 AM »

i just read the closing post by marek about why he closed the project,
and found it extremely touching and more honest than anything like it i've ever read.

he captures the paralyzing feeling that you can sometimes get as a programmer when you find yourself in the middle of a big project and are overwhelmed by too many choices and a lack of easy paths.

http://www.tranglos..../free/closedown.html

33924

FlipSuite and Flipbook Printer / Re: Ideas for future versions?

« Last post by mouser on December 11, 2005, 01:44 AM »

good ideas -

and it's nice to hear that people are getting some use out of the program

i think a good alternative to trying to implement a multifont support would be to allow you to easily specify an "image" for cover page and back page; then you could simply make a custom picture with your own fonts and stuff in an image editor and use that.  what do you think? or would that be too inconvenient?

as for supporting a directory of image files - another option is the "image to avi" freeware tool i linked to on the flipbook printer page; it will make an avi from images, which flipbook printer can then add.

as for single frame stepping, see the attached picture, there are controls for that.

i will try to fix the recent projects issue.


some more ideas i plan to add to next version in the coming weeks:

• more printing options like support for n-up and printing order options to make it easier to stack images for stapling.
• ability to add subtitles

ps.
if anyone has more card stock labels they have created please post them.
keep the ideas coming!

33925

Dr.Windows / Re: Dr.Windows Dialogs - Add Yours!

« Last post by mouser on December 10, 2005, 05:49 PM »

hahahaahahahahaha ahahahaahaha.
 

i think stefan will soon be a zen master.

i think these two are my favorites: "the error has been successfully performed"   
and this one: "Your mouse have moved. Windows must be restarted for the change to take effect." hahahaaha 


edit: also "are you ready for the blue screen now" - rofl