Recent Posts

37026

Living Room / Re: photo-editing software

« Last post by mouser on May 31, 2005, 12:51 PM »

if you don't already have a good image viewer, irfanview is freeware and is excellent, and includes quite a bit of image correction tools:
http://www.irfanview.com/
its an all-around good tiny utility to have even if it not perfect for this task.
i would recommend irfanview to everyone for general purpose image viewing and editing.

Paint Shtop Pro's little brother (cheaper and made to be simpler) Paint Shop Pro Studio, has always been nice and gentle and seem to have some very friendly photo correction.
http://www.corel.com...mp;cid=1047023969489
but its not cheap at $79.  you could download a trial though and see if that's sufficient for your current task.

and in a similar vein to jasc, adobe photoshop elements ($99): http://www.adobe.com...oshopelwin/main.html

---

unrelated to your request, but a cute freeware program i stumbled across while looking, it casts different colored lights on images from different directions:
http://www.snapfiles...nshots/rgblights.htm

37027

Living Room / Re: photo-editing software

« Last post by mouser on May 31, 2005, 12:16 PM »

paint.net might be overkill for image correction..
i wonder if there is a nice freeware for common image correction stuff.

ps. not sure what you mean by enlargeable.

ps2. anyone using ebay recently to sell stuff know what the current procedure for sellers to upload pictures.. do you need to have your own web space for that, etc?  is that an issue that momonan has to figure out as well?  or does ebay handle it for you?

37028

Flash Games and 2XL Simulator / Re: 2xl avatars

« Last post by mouser on May 31, 2005, 07:54 AM »

excellent!

ive uploaded them into avatar set, so they are now available.
a sampling:

37029

Living Room / Re: Links Page - Best Freeware Development?

« Last post by mouser on May 31, 2005, 12:58 AM »

i also added a link to jan's freeware: http://jansfreeware.com/

this is an incredible collection of free delphi components and freeware utilities, games, etc.
one of those sites that makes you question your own productivity 

37030

Living Room / Re: Links Page - Best Freeware Development?

« Last post by mouser on May 31, 2005, 12:55 AM »

i added karen's.

moon software has some very nice tools, but in order to keep our list from growing out of control, i suggest we further restrict it to developers who focus (almost) entirely on freeware; this would exclude moon software.  there are just so many great freeware programs it would be folly for us to try to them justice so we'll have to be stingy about listing sites if we plan to keep with the idea of having a short list.

37031

Best ScreenCaster / Re: Next Review Topic - Best Demo Movie apps - 5/30 + 6/6

« Last post by mouser on May 31, 2005, 12:43 AM »

yes you're right, in fact almost all of these tools can optionally produce pure traditional video files.
i was really trying to indicate that the primary output of camtasia is a video file, wheras the other tools are really meant for flash output primarily.

camtasia really needs to be looked at closely by me, i was surprised at the editing controls and annotation support that i hadn't expected.

37032

Flash Games and 2XL Simulator / Re: 2xl avatars

« Last post by mouser on May 31, 2005, 12:39 AM »

2-xl's from around the world, from one of the best 2-xl sites:
http://www.2xlrobot....ational.html#germany

small images on that page are probably suitable for avatars.

some cartoon fanart here might also be suitable: http://www.2xlrobot....moreinfo/fanart.html

37033

Living Room / Re: Curious question

« Last post by mouser on May 31, 2005, 12:36 AM »

almost every icon on this site is from a giant collection of premade clipart in psd and jpg format..
the thing is, i can't for the life of me figure out where they are from.. maybe collected from deviantart?
i have like 15 dvds of clipart from various sets, and most of them are just useless, but this set is outstanding i agree.

37034

Flash Games and 2XL Simulator / Post your 2-xl rememberences here, or favorite 2-xl moments

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 11:20 PM »

i was talking to joe and he told me a funny memory of his 2-xl and his metrics tape..
i thought it would be nice to have a thread for posting such memories, and for posting our favorite things that 2-xl says.

i don't have a specific memory that stands out from my youth, but i do remember when i realized how special a sense of humour 2-xl has; i'll try to find the clip and make an excerpt.  but basically on one of the tapes, he asks a question, a really strange question about science or something. and then even if you get it right, he explains that the answer is so illogical/strange that he simply can't bring himself to give you credit for the right answer.  hahahahahaahaha that blew my mind on so many levels.. not least of which - it made me wonder, is 2-xl secretly keeping track of how many questions+answers he's giving me credit for answering correctly?

37035

Flash Games and 2XL Simulator / 2xl avatars

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 11:11 PM »

we need to make some 2xl avatars for members on the site who are 2xl fans.
anyone with some graphics skills up for this?
avatars should be 64x64 pixels.  i was thinking like a series of images of 2xl but tinted with different colors, so that if we had 10 members here with the 2xl avatar they would all be a little different..

37036

General Software Discussion / Re: nirsoft freeware

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 11:08 PM »

its EXTREMELY handy.

let me tell you about a feature of it that i've only seen in one other tool, that hasn't occured to most people.
and in fact its absence from the major uninstallers is criminal.

and that is the ability to sort the list according to installation date(!).

actually you probably cant see installation date in the default view because the column is scrolled out of view, but just scroll right until you see the installation date column, and sort by that.

being able to sort by name or installation date is critical.

great little tool, this is my new uninstaller.

ps. the only other uninstaller i know of that did this was another freeware tool (Chris Uninstall Manager), which is faster than the nirsoft one at loading data, but not as featurefull and not as clean an interface).

37037

Flash Games and 2XL Simulator / booklets already scanned

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 11:04 PM »

joe has sent me scans for the "Basic Metric System" booklet and "Games and Puzzle Program #1" booklet.

thanks joe!

the metrics booklet is now up, you can view it by clicking the "booklet/info" button from the simulator when viewing the metric system tape.
or if you are just curious, here is the web page for the booklet: https://www.donation...cSystem/booklet.html

apparently joe as a child got some real use out of his 2xl because his "games and puzzle" booklet was actually filled in with solutions to the word searches and crossword puzzle, so we're cleaning that up before posting

anyone who wants to contribute booklet scans, just scan all the pages at a minium of 1024x768 resolution, and send me raw scans - i'll crop and compress and prepare a web page from them and add them.

37038

Living Room / Re: Ideas for thanking donators?

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 10:31 PM »

ok, the members have spoken - forget that idea.

i will still try to make some funny flash invitations though, just as a way to let friends know about the site.
but instead of giving them free membership, the invitations will be set to automatically triple the amount of money extracted from their bank accounts when they donate. 

37039

Unfinished Requests / Re: IDEA: Hotkey controls for screen brightness.

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 10:20 PM »

tporosin, welcome to our site - how fun to see a post from you !

if you need a place to host your webpage for a while, i'd be happy make some space available for you.  just email me ([email protected]) and ill set up an ftp account and web space.  would be our pleasure.

ps. it's our policy to grant membership to freeware authors, so i've upgraded you to member status. please make yourself at home

37040

The Form Letter Machine / Re: Beta available now to members

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 04:15 PM »

hi chris,

the download is on the members-only download page here:
https://www.donation.../MemberDownloads.php

(just click version number).

you can get to that page by clicking "Downloads" at the top of any page and selecting "Members Only" (big green arrow).
OR
from any program that is only available to members, the page of that program should have a link on left hand sidebar listing the version number, which should also take you to the Members Only download page.

let me know if you still can't find it.

and let me know if you have trouble configuring it - i suspect it may be a big confusing to get started since i didnt prepare a sample configuration which i should have.  i'd be happy to help explain how to use it.

37041

Living Room / Re: Ideas for thanking donators?

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 03:23 PM »

i'm going to set up such a page..
people will be able to put up a picture of themself (bigger than avatar size) or their family, pet, etc. and a message (doesn't have to be related to donationcoder.com), like a short bio if they want, and or link to forum profile. just be nice way of having a page where people can see who members are if they want to share info.  i think the page will be a like a yearbook style page, if you know what i mean.

another thing i think we will: any donating member should be able to give out a free membership to a friend.. i don't know how many, one two,, within reason.  doesn't really cost us anything so why not.. we can make a nice little animated custom flash ecard or something, so you can point your friend to like "https://www.donation...er.com/gift?john+doe", and it will give them a fun personal flash animated greeting saying that so and so has given them a gift lifetime membership.  probably kind of hokey but.. could be fun.

37042

Living Room / Re: Ideas for thanking donators?

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 01:57 PM »

it does - one of the bullets says:
"Early access to new reviews and the chance to win free software. "

though one of the things i want to be careful of is not to distort the spirit of this site and end up enticing people to donate for the wrong reasons.  god knows the last thing we would want is for people to be coming and making multiple $1 donations just to get a better chance of winning some free software

the best thing about this site for me is the kind of people that have reacted positively to the idea and supported it; i'm very keen to make this idea work and show people that a donation-based approach to software can be succesful, which is partly why i keep thinking and talking with you guys about the best way to do it.  but the #1 goal is still to make a fun site that everyone feels great about.  it's kind of a balancing act because i know that (most) people need to really see a compelling reason to donate before they'll make the effort

37043

Living Room / Re: First 2-part review has started

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 01:51 PM »

i'm excited about it too.

members were offering opinion/correction/help before too, it was just after the final review was up..  now we'll be able to integrate those changes before it goes final.

the other thing thats great is that its a good division of labour, because it means that some of the grunt work of finding and taking screenshots, resizing images, formating page, finding and adding links, getting price info, etc., can be first and then take a break, which is good because thats kind of mindless work which still tires you out.  so its nice to have a separation between that and writing the heart of the review, so i think it will be a funner experience writing the final review without having to mess with that stuff.

37044

Living Room / Re: Links Page - Best Freeware Development?

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 01:46 PM »

ive added those 3 posted by vegas since i agree that all 3 are excellent.
if our list of top freeware authors gets too big for the links page i propose we make a new page just for freeware author links.
i'd like to restrict the list to authors who have released like 3, 4, 5 or more freeware programs, otherwise it will just be too big a list.
So basically it will be a list of dedicated freeware authors who have a page with all their soft on it.

Separate question, should i add "Links" link to the top navigation bar at the top of each page?
is there room for it on everyone's screen?

37045

Living Room / Re: Links Page - Best Freeware Development?

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 01:34 PM »

i think this is a great idea.

i will add a section on list page for it today, but maybe it even deserves  its own special page if this list gets big enough.
these freeware developers deserve the recognition.

ps. analogx is great freeware developer.

37046

Living Room / Memorial Day in US - a moment of thought for the foot soldiers in harms way

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 11:06 AM »

it's memorial day in the united states today (http://en.wikipedia....rg/wiki/Memorial_Day)

this is not a political board an i do not want us to get into political arguments here; plenty of good sites for that.

regardless of politics, i hope we can all lend a moment of thought to the foot soldiers from all countries who may now as we speak be in a far off land, scared and in danger, doing only what they think is right.

37047

Living Room / First 2-part review has started

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 10:53 AM »

As we discussed in the ASRT member section, DonationCoder.com will now be doing two-part, two-week reviews.

I'm really excited about this idea, as it will give us a week where members can try various programs and offer their opinions, with the review being updated throughout the week, building up to a final summary and awarding of best-in-class to one particular program.

I hope you will help by evaluating the programs and offering your views on their strengths and weeknesses.  You should post comments in the forum assoicated with the review (link from the review page), and we can have a rolling debate about the merits of different programs.  This will be a big help to the person doing the review, and I think it will lead to an improved quality of the reviews.  Are we the only site doing reviews in this way?  Let's make it a success!

The first part of the review of ScreenCasting tools is now up (follow link in upper right of forum or on main page).



Note that we are going to try making part 1 of the review available to members only.  The final part 2 of the review, which is the full review, will be available to the public next week.

As always, if you are not a member and cannot/will not donate for whatever reason, just email me and let me know the situation and i will mark you as a member.  Our intention is not to punish people for not donating, but rather to create an incentive for those who can afford to and just need some encouragement.

It should automatically detect that you are a member based on your forum cookie.  Let me know if you have any troubles. 

For those curious, here is the page that non-members will see for part 1 of reviews; comments/criticism are welcome:
https://www.donation...NonMemberReview.html

37048

Living Room / Re: Avoid bad software versions by reading their forums

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 10:27 AM »

contacting an author/company before you buy the program is something i would highly recommend, if only to ask a simple question, etc.  or if you are a student, ask if a discount would be possible.

you can get a good first impression about the company/author based on if/when they reply and in what manner.

37049

Living Room / Re: Avoid bad software versions by reading their forums

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 08:20 AM »

thebat definitely has a significant number of disgruntled users. i linked to two such sites in the review, which are all the more damning for the fact that they are sites run by people who used to write plugins for thebat(!).

their forum is quite new, that may partially explain the lack of critical posts - rit labs has long run a very busy set of usenet newsgroups that are not, to my knowledge, censored at all.  the newsgroups have been quite helpful to me.  having an open forum is quite important, especially for programs which have support problems.

a good example is agnitum outpost firewall, whose *official* customer service has been horrible; but the forum has become a fantastic resource for users to help each other.  a good forum can go a long way to making up for support problems.

when agnitum pr people asked me how to improve their support problem, i told them to do one thing:  support the forum - give them what they need and hire people to help out their officially.

37050

General Software Discussion / nirsoft freeware

« Last post by mouser on May 30, 2005, 03:32 AM »

shellcity.net has a link to shellex today, a nice freeware tool.
the author of that has a whole bunch of cool freeware: http://www.nirsoft.net/