Recent Posts

3551

Living Room / Re: What time is it?

« Last post by nudone on February 12, 2006, 05:58 PM »

there's a plugin for samurize that will download images from the humanclock so you can use it as a clock on your desktop or screensaver.

3552

General Software Discussion / Re: "Mail and/or RSS reader" screensaver?

« Last post by nudone on February 12, 2006, 03:34 PM »

whoops. looks like i just neglected that 100 seconds update part - maybe i had it set differently in another config when i was messing around.

i've removed the original archive and uploaded a new zip file 'samurize stuff v2' that should have a 15 minute interval between checking the RSS feed. see above for the link.

3553

General Software Discussion / Re: "Mail and/or RSS reader" screensaver?

« Last post by nudone on February 12, 2006, 03:30 PM »

sorry about the 100 seconds update - i think i must have overlooked that when testing if it worked from a fresh install - i'm 99.9% sure that i wouldn't have set it to update as frequently as that. i'll check in a minute - but there are a few things that update at different time intervals - i thought i put 300,000 ms or something for the RSS update (i.e check once every five minutes) maybe it doesn't save that information in the configs????

the RSS screensavers are just samurize configs so they can be used as desktop items too - i was hoping these would just serve as an example that it could be done. i didn't go to great lengths with the calendar version as i'm sure everyone has their own requirements for this sort of thing - again, there are just too many things you can do with samurize.

i apologise for the 100 seconds mistake anyway, i'm now going to check it out.

3554

General Software Discussion / Re: "Mail and/or RSS reader" screensaver?

« Last post by nudone on February 12, 2006, 01:40 PM »

download and install samurize (i've used the default paths and settings)

locate the folder that you've installed samurize to i.e. C:\Program Files\Samurize

extract the contents of the 'samurize stuff v2' archive into the Samurize program folder mentioned above. this will add various configs, scripts, plugins and images that i've used.

(please be aware that i would like to have credited the authors that wrote the scripts and plugins but as the Samurize homepage doesn't appear to have a search function i can't find who the authors are. i couldn't even download 'fuzzy clock', it's just something i've had for a few months so i already used it. if i can i'll try to update this with all the appropriate details at some point - hopefully with a better screensaver.)

now run 'samurize' if you haven't already started it.

from the system tray you can load in a config file, try 'RSS Desktop.ini' this will place a small rectangle on your desktop with the DonationCoder RSS feed inside it - double click on it to open up the related webpage (i've actually made it link to 'unread posts').

now for the RSS screensaver:

open 'display properties' and then the 'screen saver' tab.

choose 'samurize' from the drop down list.

click the 'settings' button - the 'samurize screensaver settings' dialog will appear.

click the 'edit' button and choose the 'RSS Screensaver.ini' or 'RSS Screensaver DC.ini' then click 'okay'.

try a preview if you wish to test if things are working.

i'd recommend adjusting the timings to your requirements - i think the screensaver moves to a random location every 30 seconds at present.

to edit the samurize screensaver or other configs, you can right click on the 'samurize' icon in the system tray and select 'Edit config file...'

if it's your first time with samurize it probably won't make a lot of sense within the editor but it's simple enough to learn through trial and error - just keep plenty of backups.

now, this is a bit of a mess i admit, i got an error whilst trying this method out on a fresh install of samurize and yet everything worked perfectly the second time i selected the 'RSS screensaver.ini'.

i hope this, at least, provides a bit of stimulation and entices you into trying more configurations with samurize. i haven't really scratched the surface in demonstrating what samurize can do(maybe i've slightly tickled it with a soft downy feather from one of cody's more intimate parts.)

i'd love to say more but there's a whole website and forum dedicated to Samurize so i suggest that anyone interested goes there.
Samurize news: http://www.samurize.com/modules/news/
Samurize forum: http://www.samurize.com/modules/ipboard/

i'll probably make another screensaver (or several) when i have time, so i'll make another post if i do.

(edit: i've changed the original zip file to 'samurize stuff v2' which should now have a 15 minute frequency for RSS feed checking.)

3555

General Software Discussion / Re: "Mail and/or RSS reader" screensaver?

« Last post by nudone on February 12, 2006, 06:12 AM »

i better get on with it then - i was getting side-tracked again.

just to clarify: you'll have to install samurize before you can use the screensaver. i'll try to include a quick setup guide later...

3556

General Software Discussion / Re: "Mail and/or RSS reader" screensaver?

« Last post by nudone on February 12, 2006, 05:28 AM »

okay, this isn't the most sophisticated screensaver ever but it didn't take long to create - it's just an example of what you can do with samurize.

i'll probably upload a final version when i've finished adding calendars and other meters - not entirely sure what samurize can do with the screensaver functions but it's got options for bump mapping and other crazy stuff.

3557

General Software Discussion / Re: "Mail and/or RSS reader" screensaver?

« Last post by nudone on February 11, 2006, 08:03 PM »

I'd also like one that could show RSS feeds and one that could show a clock/calendar.

samurize is free http://www.samurize.com and will do a million and one things thanks to all the people writing plugins for it. there is an RSS plugin for it called RSS-Samurize which i've been playing around with for the last 5 minutes.

i've got donationcoder and digg RSS feeds coming up at present.

you could create a samurize screensaver that displayed RSS feeds, a clock, a calendar and several other meters or bits of information or even images. okay, it's not a click, click, done type of solution but if you want customisation then it's worth spending a few minutes or an hour or a day with samurize.

3558

General Software Discussion / Re: carefull out there: Microsoft Anti-Spyware Removes Norton Anti-Virus

« Last post by nudone on February 11, 2006, 07:24 PM »

ha, ha. brilliant. i've been wasting my days since last September installing ms anti-spyware and symantec antivirus 10 on about a hundred or so laptops. can't wait to get back to work monday morning and see just how much of a mess this is.

3559

Living Room / Re: Just installed new hardware... ahhh

« Last post by nudone on February 11, 2006, 06:42 PM »

is that it. well, i think i've reduced the red eye appearance since i've had the new monitor - there have been times in the past that my eyeballs resembled christopher lee's when he was acting as dracula.

3560

General Software Discussion / Re: Who else is sick of the cursor jumping around in web-browsers?

« Last post by nudone on February 11, 2006, 06:36 PM »

hmm, i'll have to give opera another try but i've become a bit of a maxthon die-hard. thanks jgpaiva.

3561

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: TopDesk

« Last post by nudone on February 11, 2006, 06:06 PM »

wise words, wise words.

if it doesn't crash of i don't lose interest in Entbloess before the end of the demo i'll email the developer - anyone else wishing to contact the author before me then please do.

3562

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: TopDesk

« Last post by nudone on February 11, 2006, 05:45 PM »

wow!!!!!!

i tried Entbloess on my amd xp2200 pc a few months back (most likely on the recommendation from someone posting on DC - sorry, can't remember who it was) and i thought it looked like a brilliant idea but i just couldn't really make use of it because of the speed of my machine.

now i've got am amd 4800 x2 and the demo of Entbloess is absolutely astoundingly smooth. it's like a paradigm shift in windows control - this is what vista should be all about but i can't see it happening.

if Entbloess doesn't crash during the 100 use demo then i'll buy it.

3563

Living Room / Re: Just installed new hardware... ahhh

« Last post by nudone on February 11, 2006, 05:04 PM »

i'll add this but i haven't a clue what i'm trying to say: i've been using a CRT 19" monitor for years. it hasn't even got a flat screen - it's not mega convex but it certainly isn't flat. i stared at this for hours on end, day in, day out. i had the brightness turned down so that white looked grey and grey looked black - i 'felt' that it didn't kill my eyes so much.

if i went elsewhere (such as my workplace) and sat in front of their LCD monitors i could feel my eyes being ripped out of their sockets. i would be overjoyed when returning home to sit in front of my 'reduced brightness' slightly convex CRT.

now i've spent the last month at home sitting in front of the 24" LCD Eizo screen i cannot bear to stare at my old CRT monitor - the old monitor feels like i'm staring at a dirty gold fish bowl - seriously. it's absolutely terrible.

right. so what. well, once i would have argued until i'm blue in the face that my CRT goldfish bowl dull monitor was better than any LCD. Better dot pitch (it is quite good) and better on my weary eyes, less intense and just plain better for longer sessions.

now, i'll argue until i'm blue in the face that this new LCD monitor is the way to go and yet i've got the brightness setting at such a level that's like staring directly into the sun compared to what i was used to (the eizo panel uses the same as the 24" dell LCD Samsung screen and is known to have an incredibly bright display - anything above 60% brightness and you'd need sunglasses).

so, from my own experience, it appears that with a good LCD you can stare at large areas of pure white that are brightly lit for hours on end without destroying your eyesight; whereas, even with a good quality CRT, it feels like someone has rubbed sand in your eyes after a few hours of staring at a similar pure white area. maybe it has something to do with the refresh rate, but i did have the CRT set to 85 which ought to be plenty - now, my suspicion is that it just isn't fast enough.

3564

Living Room / Re: I'll be gone for a while

« Last post by nudone on February 11, 2006, 04:35 PM »

f0dder, can't you get online at the local library or internet cafe?

3565

General Software Discussion / Re: Who else is sick of the cursor jumping around in web-browsers?

« Last post by nudone on February 11, 2006, 04:33 PM »

not entirely the same point but i do wish that there were more intuitive ways of navigating through common (or all) web pages by using shortcut keys - like every other thing you use on a computer. feels kind of dumb having to revert back to the mouse sometimes.

3566

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: BatchFTP

« Last post by nudone on February 11, 2006, 04:29 PM »

excellent review, allen.

3567

Living Room / Re: webdesign from scratch - distinctive features that make a web page look fresh

« Last post by nudone on February 10, 2006, 04:25 PM »

nice.

3568

Living Room / Re: Just installed new hardware... ahhh

« Last post by nudone on February 10, 2006, 01:42 AM »

throw all that junk out and get what i've got (head beginning to swell) an Eizo FlexScan s2410ww http://www.eizo.com/...lcd/S2410W/index.asp native resolution is 1920 x 1200. or, try one of these http://www1.us.dell....s&l=en&s=gen a Dell 30 inch monster.

two monitors still sounds good to me for the right kind of work - i keep thinking of just getting a cheap 15 inch LCD to put next to my widescreen - or maybe get two and put one at each side of it.

3569

Living Room / Re: animal identity crisis..

« Last post by nudone on February 08, 2006, 08:51 AM »

how on earth did that frog manage to swallow a whole cat? amazing!

3570

Official Announcements / Re: Revitalizing the Reviews - Everyone Read in Please

« Last post by nudone on February 07, 2006, 01:46 AM »

if we could collect a list of freeware image editors i'd be prepared to do a review on them - might take me quite a while to finish.

3571

General Software Discussion / Re: extremely good gif editor required

« Last post by nudone on February 06, 2006, 10:58 AM »

from what you've described about using masks to modify dithering i'm hopeful i'll be able to figure things out in photoshop/imageready. i've never really done anything with gifs before so i'm just fumbling around in the dark - i know, i know, RTFM, i just didn't think there would be anything in it.

i'll have a look when i get home and go through imageready too - something i've never taken any notice of before.

thanks for that, Carol - certainly looks like there'll be something i can try.

3572

Post New Requests Here / Re: label files to store them by type & find them by label

« Last post by nudone on February 06, 2006, 10:46 AM »

directory opus has virtual folders.

3573

Official Announcements / Re: Revitalizing the Reviews - Everyone Read in Please

« Last post by nudone on February 06, 2006, 10:03 AM »

good point, never even considered that.

3574

General Software Discussion / Re: extremely good gif editor required

« Last post by nudone on February 06, 2006, 07:12 AM »

i'll try and explain what i'd like to be able to do and what i'm doing at the moment.

this all relates to the new cody logo but will become more of a problem when the new themed codies are designed as there will be more colours to incorporate into the gif palette. okay, 256 colours sounds like it's enough but it's too small when you are trying to shade things nicely.

currently i design the image in photoshop (or fireworks) using an unrestricted colour palette. i want to be able to start with a high quality image, with shading, and then save out as a gif that obviously has a reduced palette.

i'd like to be able to specify which colours i want to keep whilst viewing the gif preview. further, i'd like to be able to delete colours i think are unnecessary and maybe even put ones in that aren't already in the gif palette.

i can do this in a restrictive way using photoshop 'save for web' option but i'd like something that does things more in 'real time'. so, as an example, i may preview the gif and decide that i can lose some grey shades without the image being degraded too much but at the same time i can then introduce a few more shades of red that were originally in the high quality image.

so, i remove what i think won't be noticed and lock or bring back colours that i think will improve the image. sort of like the better jpeg image makers were you can lasso an area of the image and prevent that area from being compressed - i'd like the same thing with a gif image - lasso the area i think important and the palette adjusts itself to please me.

3575

General Software Discussion / Re: extremely good gif editor required

« Last post by nudone on February 06, 2006, 06:34 AM »

so far, photoshop is still providing me with the largest set of options for this .gif project - i just thought there would be something even more powerful in this 256 colour palette area.