Recent Posts

3551

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009 Release: Trout

« Last post by app103 on February 06, 2009, 08:26 PM »

I think you can remove that part about 9x not being supported, now. 

3552

Living Room / Re: Please tallk me off the ledge... Intervention needed!

« Last post by app103 on February 06, 2009, 09:13 AM »

How likely is the price to come down within the next 6 months to a year?

If it is likely to drop, then put this thought on the shelf and don't cave into your desires just yet. Revisit the idea in 6 months.

Also, will the new CPU extend the life of the notebook long enough to justify it? If it can add another 3-5 years to the length of time before the notebook becomes obsolete, it might be worth it, if the entire notebook can live that long, too.

If the notebook isn't likely to live that long with or without the upgrade, it's probably not worth it.

Ideally you would want your computer to be able to run whatever is the current OS and software. If it lasts till 2 OS versions from now but can't run that OS that is current then, then it joins my 11 yr old P1 as an official snail. Try to avoid that as much as possible. It's a miserable existence. 

When I purchased my new desktop pc back in October, I selected hardware that would definitely run Vista and Win7, and most likely whatever comes after that (and perhaps after that, with some minimal upgrades), with the hopes that it will live long enough to see that.  I got the best I could afford that made sense.

If my PC can live till a Q6600 with 4G ram isn't enough, then I spent my money well.  On the other hand, if it dies shortly after the warranty runs out in 3 years, then I haven't.

Now hopefully I have helped you think with your head and not your heart.

3553

General Software Discussion / Re: Why Computers Can't Kill Post-Its - MIT research

« Last post by app103 on February 05, 2009, 08:04 PM »

The recipient may not always like it too much, but it works for me  .

-SKesselman (February 05, 2009, 01:22 PM)

They don't always like when you slap the virtual ones on their desktop over the LAN either (especially when it has an alarm attached to it and starts beeping at them). 

The only things that keep me from upgrading to the latest version of the application is that they took all that good stuff out in the latest one. No more ability to send notes to others that run the same post-it app, by sending over LAN, email, MSN...and newest doesn't integrate into MS Office like the old one does. No more ability to stick the little notes to Word & Excel files. 

3554

General Software Discussion / Re: Suggestions for a Quick & Easy ircd for my private LAN

« Last post by app103 on February 05, 2009, 06:54 PM »

And I saved the best for last...IDE3

-app103 (February 04, 2009, 10:26 PM)

April: Did you say IDE3 is portable???

I'd love to get a look at that if it's OK with you and Martin.

-40hz (February 05, 2009, 06:22 PM)

OK, but if the instructions & info I linked to for IDE2 do not answer any questions you have, and you need help using it, you will have to message Martin and ask him, because I forgot how everything works (it's been a long time since I used it)

He could also tell you which compilers it works with and how to set all that up, and make sure you have the most recent version (I am not sure if I do)

IDE3.zip (564.36 kB - downloaded 538 times.)

3555

General Software Discussion / Re: Why Computers Can't Kill Post-Its - MIT research

« Last post by app103 on February 05, 2009, 12:04 PM »

There's just no substitution for the Post-it.

-SKesselman (February 05, 2009, 11:26 AM)

I totally agree, and that's one of the secrets to my whole way of organizing my mind. It's mostly in post-it notes, both the paper and digital kind. (digital ones can have alarms to remind you to read them, unlike paper)

As a matter of fact, I was just adding more to my collection when you were posting your reply:



^{(these are all links to free books that I am going to make blog posts about)}

I never tried to fax one of these digital ones before (don't even know if I can). I have emailed them, sent them by MSN, attached them to Word docs, and sent them over the LAN to my daughter's desktop, but not yet ever faxed one.

3556

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009 Release: Trout

« Last post by app103 on February 05, 2009, 08:08 AM »

Hello, skwire!
I only registered here because of this player. As a couple other users around, I'm using Win9x too - Win98SE, to be more precise. As such, I'd appreciate if you would allow me/us to help in fixing the few (minor, I'd say) issues that we found in testing this script.

-Drugwash (February 04, 2009, 08:58 PM)

You found a whole lot less than I did on my 9x system. I would say you were pretty lucky.

Oh and here's Trout Player on my 98SE system:

-Drugwash (February 04, 2009, 08:58 PM)

What skinning app are you using for your OS? Window Blinds? While it is bright, it sure is pretty for a 9x system. It looks better than mine, in fact I think it looks better than my XP, too. (I don't normally go for themes other than basic classic style color themes)

3557

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009 Release: Lacuna Launcher

« Last post by app103 on February 05, 2009, 05:42 AM »

IdleStart doesn't exit after launching. It sits in your tray and waits till you are idle again, and repeats the process. It also is user idleness based and not CPU idleness.

Using IdleStart would be like setting an application to run like a screensaver, rather than as a typical launcher might run it.

This means, if you set IdleStart to start Lacuna Launcher after 10 minutes of idle time, then it will run it whenever you haven't used the PC for 10 minutes, every time you don't use it for 10 minutes.

So after 10 minutes of idle time after startup everything on your list will load, just as you may want, but if you step away for a coffee break, you will come back and find that it ran Lacuna Launcher and everything on your list was launched again.

It is more suited for repetitive maintenance tasks that you wouldn't want running while you are actively using the pc, or you might want to start after you have finished for the day.

3558

General Software Discussion / Re: Suggestions for a Quick & Easy ircd for my private LAN

« Last post by app103 on February 04, 2009, 10:26 PM »

There are alternatives to IRC. All of these are small & easy to set up and run, but are Windows only, and host a single chatroom per server.

I could help you set up Ouka to run on a LAN rather than on the internet (just a matter of not ticking an option) (documentation - download)

Plus I'll provide support with answering any questions and helping you learn all the finer points of using it. (I have been running it to host my chatroom for the last 3+ years)

You can use RoboMX as a chat client, in offline mode, to join an Ouka hosted room anywhere on the internet or a LAN, provided you have either the room name+hash or IP/port of the chatroom. (PM's will not work, though)

Yes, they originally were developed to host and chat in chatrooms on the WinMX P2P network, but there is nothing that says you can't use it for this purpose, off the network, on your LAN.

There is a much older and smaller MXChatD. A command line server with much less features than Ouka, that can't connect to the winmx network at all, even if you wanted it to. It lacks a lot of the admin features that Ouka does, though. It's abandonware, I know the developer (sort of) and he doesn't mind if people use or distribute it. He's just never going to support it. It's light as a feather and I was able to host a chatroom with it on my 11 year old slowpoke 9x pc, with about 15 people actively chatting in it, with no signs of lag, over a 33.6k dialup connection.

If you want to modify an open source project using the same WPNP protocol, to make it suit your needs, and neuter it of all winmx network related stuff, there is also roboServe, but I can't help you at all with using that, as I have never used it before. (RoboMX client is also open source and can be neutered, if you want)

None of these have any file sharing or transfer capabilities. They were developed for chat, only. (so there is no worries about getting yourself into trouble with P2P related file sharing issues)

--------------------------------

And I saved the best for last...

There is also Martin's IDE3 project, both chat client/server in a single portable app, with the added ability to work on code together and share a drawing board, if you are interested in that. It will support PM's, and was intended for online group collaboration between developers. Plus if someone actually has a use for it, it might just encourage him to start developing IDE4 sooner, rather than later. 

screenshot:

(this was on my old 9x machine, and it doesn't come with that colorful background)

Some info about IDE2, an older version. (Martin was only 16 when he made this version)

I have a copy of IDE3 (blows away v2 in terms of features, functionality, stability, & security) and Martin doesn't mind if I give it to anyone. In fact, I know he would be really delighted. (plus it's made by someone you know, so you know they are approachable to answer questions about its "secret" internal workings, and just how secure it is)

3559

Living Room / Re: Stop-motion videos

« Last post by app103 on February 03, 2009, 06:04 PM »

This could turn out to be a dangerous thread for me, since I adore stop-motion. (from gumby, to rankin-bass holiday specials, to growing flowers, and slurms...and everything in between!) 

Food Fight: http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=e-yldqNkGfo

3560

Living Room / Re: Stop-motion videos

« Last post by app103 on February 03, 2009, 05:54 PM »

Here is another cool one by the guy that did the "Western Spaghetti" one, with a classic video game theme: http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=Ovvk7T8QUIU

He did another one I am not sure I should post a link to, with 2 chairs on a roof. (poor cat!) 

3561

General Software Discussion / Re: Complaints about Direct Access Text Expander Taking Ideas from Others - Split Topic

« Last post by app103 on February 03, 2009, 05:07 PM »

You accuse him of stealing something in which there is no actual theft. Theft is a crime and he committed no crime, and you admit that yourself, that he did not commit a crime. (no theft of your source code, no reverse engineering of your software, no violation of patents)

But you continue to accuse him of theft, of "feature ideas", in which you hold no patent, in which anyone is free to create their own implementation of and add it to their software.

The fact that your own products have features in common with any other existing product is proof that this is true. Just as you are free to copy features from other products, which you have, since you are not the original and first product to ever have any of the features your has, others can do the same and it is not any more wrong for them to do it than it is for you.

Enough is enough? You are darn right it is! Especially when you are running around harassing someone for doing something that he is perfectly within his rights to do.

You do not make a competitors product look bad by bad mouthing your competitor. That is my point. And that is the greatest business advice that I can hand to you and have tried to hand to you repeatedly.

You make your competitors product look bad by outshining him, in all ways, product quality, price, features, support, and the face you put on in public everywhere you represent your company.

And on this forum, in my opinion, you have not put on a very stellar looking face.

Making people love your company and product more than his, should be your goal...not hate him more than you, because that would imply they hate you too, and on the course you are currently traveling, that is the end point.

You are doing more damage to your own company's reputation than that of nagar's.

Now please think about what kind of damage you are doing before you continue this, on this forum, or elsewhere.

3562

General Software Discussion / Re: Complaints about Direct Access Text Expander Taking Ideas from Others - Split Topic

« Last post by app103 on February 03, 2009, 11:40 AM »

If you are truly wondering exactly what I meant about how your behavior can hurt your company, and you wonder why wraith808 feels the way he does, then read this and take a little advice from a very intelligent businessman that I used to work for many years ago:

What should I do about an unethical competitor?

[...] Above all, don’t badmouth your competitor, even if it’s badmouthing you. Customers will think less of you if you do. That’s an iron rule in my company. [...]

-http://www.theknack.info/asknorm/2009/01/05/what-should-i-do-about-an-unethical-competitor/

When you point your finger at someone else, that's one finger pointing at them, giving them negative attention. But at the same time, that same hand is pointing 3 fingers of negative attention at yourself.

And in the Opera example, I want to point out that there is a big difference between Opera casually stating that they had tabs first, and representatives of their company chasing down Mozilla employees and Firefox developers all over the internet and bad mouthing them in public, calling them thieves, and then arguing with what could be potential customers about how right they are to act so atrociously.

Opera would never do that. Opera has more class than that.  (AOL, on the other hand, does not)

Now, do you want to be like Opera or whine like AOL? (Note that AOL did not gain any new customers by doing this, nor did GMail lose any. It actually had the opposite effect, driving more away from AOL, over to GMail.)

3563

Living Room / Re: Meme time! Five Things People Don't Know About Me

« Last post by app103 on February 02, 2009, 10:11 PM »

app: #4. You too?

-40hz (February 01, 2009, 02:58 PM)

I have actually been driven home (forcefully) by the police in my town on more than one occasion, for being the "crazy lady" out for a leisurely stroll at 4am during a blizzard. 

-app103 (February 01, 2009, 03:09 PM)

You definitely don't live where I do. If one of our local constabulary did that, they'd be civil-righted all the way to the nearest judge.

-40hz (February 02, 2009, 07:05 PM)

There is laws here that when an official snow emergency is declared, everyone is to be off the streets. They have the right to impound your car and drive you to the nearest shelter if they catch you driving in it.

Off the streets is off the streets, and they do give you a few choices:

• a shelter (if you don't live in town)
• your home (if you do)
• the local jail (if you refuse to cooperate)

The police are always afraid that reduced visibility is going to lead to me being run over by a salt truck or something. I have been told that if I stay on my own block they will leave me alone.

I found that staying off the main streets usually means they will leave me alone. It's only when I start craving donuts that I end up on the main street, and usually driven home by 2 officers that happened to stop for coffee at the same time & place that I showed up for a freshly made donut. 

3564

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009 Release: Lacuna Launcher

« Last post by app103 on February 02, 2009, 08:10 PM »

You can't set a delay for an individual program, only a delay for processing the list and for a pause in between each item that affects the entire list.

You use the time numbers as command parameters for Lacuna Launcher itself. It affects the processing of the entire list. It does not go in the list itself.

Either using the Run dialog in Windows or by changing Lacuna Launcher's shortcut target, you add the 2 numbers, as was shown in the screenshots in the original post.

Any errors in the text file will cause the item line in which the error occurs to be skipped. This is why Synergy was never launched and it skipped right to FARR. (much better than crashing, don't you think?  )

3565

Post New Requests Here / Re: REQ - Tiny taskbar clock for secondary screen

« Last post by app103 on February 02, 2009, 04:28 PM »

The latest version of DClock doesn't play too well with multi-monitor at this time.

You could try the original, which does:  http://appsapps.info/dclock1.php

It's just a clock. (no extra features)

3566

DC Member Programs and Projects / Re: Teddy - A simple drum machine!

« Last post by app103 on February 02, 2009, 02:05 PM »

You should add more, like French and Spanish, too. You could use MP3's.

http://www.sounds.be...ware.com/letters.htm (free for non-commercial use)

3567

Living Room / Re: Meme time! Five Things People Don't Know About Me

« Last post by app103 on February 01, 2009, 03:09 PM »

app: #4. You too?

-40hz (February 01, 2009, 02:58 PM)

I have actually been driven home (forcefully) by the police in my town on more than one occasion, for being the "crazy lady" out for a leisurely stroll at 4am during a blizzard. 

3568

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009 Release: Trout

« Last post by app103 on February 01, 2009, 02:37 PM »

What?  Are you saying that Trout has a major GDI leak?  On Windows 98?

-skwire (February 01, 2009, 06:28 AM)

NOOOO!!

It's one of my apps that has the leak...not Trout!

I've there is a major GDI leak, I'd probably noticed (Windows 98 tends to run out of them pretty fast on leaks and sooner or later hangs) - so I didn't yet test with the latest version.

-Controller (January 31, 2009, 08:56 PM)

My app with the leak was developed and used for a very long time on an old WinME machine, without me noticing any problems at all. (it's a very stable machine that has uptimes in excess of 30 days) So the idea that you'd notice it on Win98 is not necessarily true. If it had not been for a feature in Process Explorer that works on XP and not 9x, I might not have discovered the issue at all. It only occurs when you hover your mouse over the window to show the date tooltip. The longer you leave it there, the more it leaks. Most people would not leave their mouse hovering there long enough to see a problem. But it's cumulative. The next time you show the date, it leaks a little more. Eventually it could cause a problem, but that would be many days or even weeks later, even on a 9x machine. (luckily, closing or restarting the app gives it all back) Most people would reboot long before they ever saw an issue caused by the clock, most likely because of a GDI issue much greater in another much heavier application. This is why it took me a few years to even know there was a problem, despite running this app constantly on my 9x machine, all along. The recent discovery of the leak was purely by accident.

3569

Living Room / Re: Meme time! Five Things People Don't Know About Me

« Last post by app103 on February 01, 2009, 02:58 AM »

1

When I was about 3 or 4 years old, I had an ABC book that went like this:

A is for apple.
B is for boy.
C is for cookie.
D is for duck.
E is for elephant.
F is for fish.*
G is for girl.
H is for hat.
I is for ice cream.
J is for jam.
K is for kitten.
L is for lamb.
M is for mittens.
N is for nut.
O is for owl.
P is for puppy.
Q is for queen.
R is for rooster.
S is for scissors.
T is for truck.
U is for umbrella.
V is for violin.
W is for wagon.
X is for xylophone.
Y is for yarn.
Z is for zebra.

*When I got to this page, I always whispered this or quickly turned the page without saying a word, because you weren't supposed to say the F word, because it was a bad word. In fact, it was such a bad word that I took a black crayon and scribbled out the page, so nobody else could read it, either.

2

There have only been 4 people in my life that I have truly loved with all my heart:

• my grandmother*
• my father
• my brother*
• my daughter

These 4 people, there is nothing they could ever do that I could not forgive, no matter what it was or how much it hurt me. They are the only 4 I would be willing to give my life for.

*My grandmother died when I was 14, and my brother died 12 years ago. I never got over either one of their deaths and probably never will. There is not a day that goes by that I don't think about either one of them, at least once.

3

I haven't really watched TV since 2003. Every time I try, it gets interrupted by a commercial and I end up leaving the room and forgetting to come back and continue watching whatever it was that captured my interest for that 10 minutes before the commercial break.

4

Whenever it snows at night, I get an uncontrollable urge to go walking in it...alone. The worse the snow storm, the stronger the urge. Once the sun comes up and other people start putting their footprints in the snow, the urge quickly passes. At that point, I hate snow. This all started when I was around 10 years old. I can remember climbing out onto the roof outside my bedroom window at night whenever it snowed...and I only thought about it and got the urge to do that when it snowed.

5

My first crush was Spock.

3570

Living Room / Re: Drive Dock: Turn bare drives into floppies

« Last post by app103 on January 31, 2009, 09:20 PM »

EDIT: His HD is on the BOTTOM of the case, screwed in. Don't ask, its an HP (their laptops rule, their desktops have hard drives that hit 150* F and are screwed into the bottom of their cases)

-wreckedcarzz (January 31, 2009, 02:39 PM)

I have one of those HP's with it screwed into the front of the case, standing up, with the plugs sticking out the top. (majorly retarded!)

The case was designed to only hold that one hard drive, when if HP had bothered to do things in any reasonably normal manner, such as using drive bays, it could have held 2 or 3.





To get the hard drive out, you have to remove the cover on both sides of the case, then detach the whole front of the case (because that's where the screws are hidden!) It was complicated enough that I wanted to cry, especially when reattaching the front of the case when I was done. (it didn't want to snap back on!)

I don't think anyone that hasn't dealt with one of these PC's can really appreciate the experience without seeing HP's video tutorial and instruction page about changing the hard drive.

3571

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009 Release: Trout

« Last post by app103 on January 31, 2009, 07:57 PM »

I am well aware of, and use, the desktop heap fix that app103 mentioned.  Did you try it?  That being said, there should be nothing in Trout that would use massive amounts of desktop heap resources.

-skwire (January 31, 2009, 06:32 AM)

Trout doesn't have to in order to have an issue when the limit is hit.

One of my own little applications has a rather nasty little GDI leak that can cause an issue with ANY application, later on down the line. (in my case, without applying the heap fix, that would be after about 4-5 days of uptime, unless I restart the app that has the bug)

@urlwolf:

You don't happen to run my DClock2 app, do you? If so, restart it when your issue occurs and see if the problem goes away. (it's the tooltip that shows the date that has the GDI bug)

3572

General Software Discussion / Re: copy paste between 2 computers on separate networks?

« Last post by app103 on January 30, 2009, 02:20 PM »

Yahoo Notepad through the desktop widget is how I have done it, and I can log in and retrieve the notes from their website on PC's that I can't install the widget.

widget: http://widgets.yahoo...idgets/yahoo-notepad

notepad: http://notepad.yahoo.com

3573

N.A.N.Y. 2009 / Re: NANY 2009 Release: Trout

« Last post by app103 on January 30, 2009, 11:12 AM »

Hmm, I love the idea of having an ahk tool to play music.
However, I cannot get it to work. It just doesn't show up... I reported my problem here. Of course this is my computer only. I'm just posting here in case anyone (skwire?) knows what all the programs that don't pop up have in common. I use other ahk tools and they do pop up fine.

Thanks!

-urlwolf (January 30, 2009, 10:28 AM)

Have you tried this? I used to have similar problems and it fixed my issue.

It could be related to the total number of GDI objects your system is using. One of the symptoms of hitting the limit is context menus that get shorter, missing entries...and when attempting to open more applications, they just won't open (or if they do open, they look messed up), no error message or anything. (can't give you an error message that needs GDI objects to display it when you have hit that limit, till you go under that limit again)

On a related note, I may have tracked down the single application that is most responsible for hitting that limit on my system (embarrassed that it's one of my own...very nasty bug I need to fix!  )

3574

Living Room / Re: My google page rank dropped to 0, anyone have any ideas why?

« Last post by app103 on January 30, 2009, 09:51 AM »

A lot of these bad directories require you to link back to them, and that's where the problem lies. Sure you could add your competitor to all these link farms and bad directories, but could you get your competitor to carry a little button linking back to them?

That's how people end up linking to bad neighborhoods without realizing it.

3575

Living Room / Re: My google page rank dropped to 0, anyone have any ideas why?

« Last post by app103 on January 29, 2009, 11:10 AM »

Go to Google Webmaster Tools and see if there are any messages for you there: https://www.google.c...tools/messages?hl=en

Sometimes if they take away your page rank they have also removed pages from their index, and they may tell you why, there.

One of the things not mentioned by mahesh2k is that they also take away PR if they think you are doing paid posting.

Also be careful about what directories you are submitting your blog to. If there are too many splogs in the directory, you can get punished for being listed along with them (birds of a feather flock together?)

And be very careful about quoting in your posts. Too much quoting can get you slapped for duplicate content and labeled as a splog. Make sure your own original content outweighs the quoting by at least 3:1, which means you should be writing 3 times more than you quote. Quote 100 words and you need to add 300 of your own to balance it.

google does update pagerank occasionally but.. 0 seems weird, like a bug.

-mouser (January 29, 2009, 10:17 AM)

Not a bug. I was hit hard on my ebook site last year and went from PR4 to 0. Just got myself up to 2 again. Reason? Having the "wrong" TLD. It seems that nearly everyone that had a .tk domain name associated with their site was slapped at the same time and reduced to 0.

It is Google's position that only spammers, splogs, and malware sites use .tk domain names and if you use one you must be a bad site. It doesn't matter how many inbound links you have, or what the quality, reputation, & PR of the sites linking to you is, or if your site was on the front page of digg... if you have a .tk you are crap in their eyes.

I am glad it came when it did though. I was just about to buy the domain I was using and go from free to paid status. I would hate to have paid for 9 years of that domain name and then get hit.