Recent Posts

401

General Software Discussion / Re: The Best Way to Share Kindle Books on Nook, Kobo, iPad

« Last post by xtabber on November 02, 2012, 11:01 PM »

Best solution: do whatever it takes to convert each book to an unencrypted pdf.

-superboyac (October 30, 2012, 11:42 AM)

pdf???  You must not read a lot of ebooks.

ePub is a much better format for all readers except Kindle, which requires mobi.  In addition, since both are based on HTML and CSS, so they are likely to be decipherable long after pdf has moved on.

Of course, getting rid of the DRM is the most important thing.

402

Living Room / Re: Win 8 Patent Lawsuit

« Last post by xtabber on November 02, 2012, 10:50 PM »

Goes way back to how MS stole code from CP/M.

-Tinman57 (November 02, 2012, 07:31 PM)

My understanding was it was Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products who borrowed certain parts of CP/M for 86-DOS which was famously acquired for $75K by Microsoft and renamed MS-DOS.

-40hz (November 02, 2012, 07:52 PM)

IIRC, Tim Paterson's OS was named QDOS, for Quick and Dirty OS.

One major problem with CP/M was the addressing of physical disk sectors, which led to incompatible formats from nearly every hardware manufacturer. It also could not handle the larger hard disks that were coming on the market (>10MB !!!). Paterson solved that with the File Allocation Table (FAT), which was a major reason QDOS/MS-DOS quickly eclipsed CP/M and CP/M-86.

403

Living Room / Re: Confusing Apple Promo (Spoof)

« Last post by xtabber on November 02, 2012, 10:19 PM »

And here, the new iPad Mini commercial (courtesy of Jimmy Kimmel)

404

General Software Discussion / Re: Neowin reviews Windows 8 - Leave your pre-conceived notions at the door

« Last post by xtabber on October 28, 2012, 01:29 PM »

This discussion reminded me of an InfoWorld article a couple of months ago that is well worth reading, despite the sensationalist headline (headlines are written by editors, not authors).

405

Living Room / Re: Remote Android Control Solution?

« Last post by xtabber on September 29, 2012, 09:56 PM »

TeamViewer has an app called QuickSupport that supposedly does that, but at this time, it is only available for certain Samsung devices, and based on users reviews, still seems to be quite buggy.

Teamviewer says that they need cooperation from the manufacturers to make the program work on other devices.

406

General Software Discussion / Re: Help me understand Virtual Machine [VMWare]

« Last post by xtabber on September 26, 2012, 04:24 PM »

Both VMware Workstation and VirtualBox have just released major updates.

VMware Workstation 9 is an expensive ($119) upgrade barely a year after version 8 was released. It appears to bring some interesting new options, such as the ability to access a VM remotely or to mount a virtual disk as a drive on the host system, but it's getting harder to justify the cost versus the free (at least for personal use) of VirtualBox 4.2.

InfoWorld has a comparative review of VMware 9 and VirtualBox 4.2.

407

Living Room / Re: Shit Apple Fanatics Say

« Last post by xtabber on September 16, 2012, 06:59 PM »

Meet the new iPhone. Same as the old iPhone.

408

General Software Discussion / Re: The Best Way to Share Kindle Books on Nook, Kobo, iPad

« Last post by xtabber on September 15, 2012, 09:59 PM »

The Kindle app for Android works with most tablets, but for ebook readers based on Android, like the Nook, you need to root the device in order to install the Kindle app.

A much better approach is to remove the DRM from the ebook and convert it from the Amazon AZW (encrypted Mobi) to ePub.  There are various ways to do this, but the easiest and most reliable is through the deDRM plugins for Calibre.

The deDRM tools may be downloaded from Apprentice Alf's Blog.

Note that there are legal and ethical issues involved in stripping DRM from ebooks or any other digital media.  I personally feel that if I have paid for a book, I have the right to read it however I want to, as long as I do not distribute it to anyone else.

409

General Software Discussion / Re: Steal Windows 8 and Microsoft probably won't mind?

« Last post by xtabber on September 09, 2012, 09:02 PM »

Some twenty years ago, WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 dominated the office software market and both had effective copy protection schemes.  Microsoft Word and Excel did not and were widely copied and distributed.  Once Microsoft's software became the dominant player in the office, it adopted a license activation scheme to prevent widespread piracy (at least by general users).

Today, Microsoft is in the position WordPerfect and Lotus were in two decades ago. The challenge to Windows is not Linux, but Android and iOS, which power the devices consumers are using more and more in lieu of PCs for everyday tasks.

I really don't see how selling Windows 8 for PCs makes any difference to Microsoft. Most people who acquire it will do so when they buy a new computer. Individual copy pricing is mostly for system builders anyway, and they have little choice in the matter.  The real battleground is on tablets and phones, and Microsoft is way behind there.

410

Living Room / Re: Apple v Samsung Verdict is in

« Last post by xtabber on August 27, 2012, 11:21 AM »

From today's NY times:

Velvin Hogan, the foreman of the jury in the Apple-Samsung case, said in a phone interview on Saturday that the decision should send a “clear message” to the industry that companies that violate intellectual property will have to pay a penalty, like the one Samsung officials face. “They took the risk and it caught up with them,” said Mr. Hogan, 67, a retired electrical engineer who holds two issued patents himself and has a third pending.

I wouldn't venture a guess as to whether this verdict might be eventually overturned, but I'd say that Samsung's lawyers certainly have some pretty good grounds for their inevitable appeal.

411

Living Room / Re: Tech support — why bother?

« Last post by xtabber on August 26, 2012, 10:21 AM »

My first personal computer, many (many!) years ago, was a Z-80 based Vector Graphics 3 maxed out with 56 KB (that's kilobytes) of RAM.  The Vector ROM-based assembler could not generate 8080 code, so I purchased the M-80 assembler ($400!!) from Micro Soft (as it was then known), which advertised a library to generate either Z-80 or 8080 code from a common source file.

The first time I used the assembler, I was working late at night, and found nothing about the 8080 library in the documentation, which consisted of about 20 single spaced pages poorly reproduced from something printed on a mis-aligned daisy wheel printer.  Micro Soft was based in New Mexico, which was 2 hours behind NY, so I figured there might be a chance someone might still be around to answer a question.

My phone call was in fact answered, by a very knowledgeable young man who identified himself only as Bill and, in a voice I would come to recognize many times over the years, explained how the library was fully documented in the source code comments. We had an interesting conversation about the the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of providing documentation in this manner, and when it was appropriate to do so.

I gather Bill no longer works for Microsoft, but it's good to know their tech support is still top notch.

412

General Software Discussion / Re: Help me understand Virtual Machine [VMWare]

« Last post by xtabber on August 20, 2012, 09:28 AM »

Even if you can use snapshots for testing, I agree with Renegade that it is a good idea to keep backup copies of any original "clean" VMs you create.  In many ways, a VM is like another computer available to work on when needed, and you really don't want to lose it by accident.

A VM is like a disk image. The difference is that the operating system on it has been modified to require a virtual environment in which to run.  In some cases, it is possible to convert an image of a real system to run in a VM, or to convert a VM to run a real system.  I have used Paragon's virtual manager (part of their Hard Disk Manager Pro but also available separately), to restore a backup image of an older system to a VMware VM, allowing me to run programs that were installed on it even though I no longer have the original computer.

413

General Software Discussion / Re: Help me understand Virtual Machine [VMWare]

« Last post by xtabber on August 17, 2012, 01:53 PM »

A VMware virtual disk is just a set of files contained in a directory.  Some tools even allow you to mount a VMware VM to your host system as a virtual drive.  I suggest using the option to limit file sizes to 2GB because it makes it much easier to manage and copy or move large VMs than as a single huge file.

Player doesn't have the snapshot feature of Workstation, but you can close a VM and make a backup image of the VM directory, then restore it later to return to the initial state.  The easiest way to do that is just make a Zip archive of the VM directory.  I do that anyway to make backups of some of the VMs I use regularly.

You can create as many virtual machines as you want on a single host system, although you can only open one at a time with Player -- Workstation allows you to network multiple VMs.

If you use VMs more than occasionally, Workstation is well worth the price, IMHO. That said, Player is probably adequate for most people's purposes.

414

Living Room / Windows 8: Yes, it's that bad

« Last post by xtabber on August 15, 2012, 09:30 PM »

"Windows 8 review: Yes, it's that bad"

"Windows 8 is a failure -- an awkward mishmash that pulls the user in two directions and ends up as a desktop OS for tablets and a tablet OS for desktop."

"Windows 8 is guaranteed to disappoint nearly everyone."

These harsh words come from Woody Leonhard, of all people, writing in InfoWorld today.

Not having tried Windows 8 yet, I'll reserve my own judgment, but while I have read good things about the underlying engine, there seems to be almost unanimous condemnation of the Metro Modern UI.

415

General Software Discussion / Re: programming language for math

« Last post by xtabber on August 14, 2012, 08:57 AM »

That depends on what you mean by "calculating math."

If you are talking about writing high-performance software, most high speed math libraries are written in C, and most C compilers provide optimization choices to help speed up math routines. Depending on whether or not you will be working in floating point also makes a difference -- there are libraries optimized for math co-processors and parallel processing, and for nearly any math functions you might desire.  Fortran is still widely used because it is easier to program (for mathematicians) but not as efficient or flexible as C/C++.

If you are talking about the need to quickly implement a variety of math calculations, processing speed is not as important a factor as the ability to use existing routines that are known to do the job properly. There are many specialized math programming systems, most of them pricey, favored by different folks in different fields: Mathematica, Matlab, Gauss, etc..  R is a good choice for statistics, but is inefficient on large data sets.

416

Living Room / Re: Windows 8 Metro has gone ...

« Last post by xtabber on August 08, 2012, 04:16 PM »

Sadly, it's only the name that has been changed (it's now called the "Windows Start Screen").

I haven't played with W8 yet, but given that even J. Peter Bruzzese, the house shill for Microsoft at InfoWorld, admits that it makes him physically ill, I'm not in a hurry to do so.

417

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... desktop/mobile calendar/task list/appointments app

« Last post by xtabber on August 07, 2012, 09:16 AM »

Just an FYI. When I evaluated Essential PIM a few months ago I had it lose information that had been previously entered and saved to the calendar. Don't know if this was an anomaly or something specific to the machine I was running it on. But it spooked me enough that I removed it from further consideration after that happened. Which was a shame. It looked to be a very capable PIM. YMMV.

-40hz (August 06, 2012, 09:02 PM)

I dumped Outlook (which I used only for calendar, contacts and tasks) about 6 months ago and have been using EPIM exclusively on my Windows PCs since then without ever having any data loss, although I did mess up a few entries at first while learning how to adapt the features to the way I work.  EPIM is extremely customizable, but the way options are selected and applied  is not always intuitive, at least to me.  EPIM can be set to make automatic backups with location, timing and number of versions saved all user selectable.

I had been looking for a PIM to replace Outlook since moving to Android from Palm several years ago, and had tried many (including Pimlical). Essential PIM was the first one I found that I felt I could live with.

Note: I use the portable Pro version and do not use the Windows defaults for either program or data locations.

The ability to run in portable mode and to specify my own data locations is one of the most important considerations I have in choosing many kinds of programs. 

I have an Apps folder under which I install programs that allow for a portable usage mode (and certain others). I also have a Data folder under which I keep all my critical data folders. This allows me to easily replicate my data on another computer  for backup or for when I travel. It also allows me to update many programs without having to run Setup, and to transfer them between systems, along with their settings.

418

General Software Discussion / Re: In search of ... desktop/mobile calendar/task list/appointments app

« Last post by xtabber on August 06, 2012, 08:31 PM »

Another option might be EssentialPIM.

The Windows Pro edition is licensed per computer, but there is a free version that is probably good enough to see if you like the way it works.  The Pro edition also provides a fully functional portable version. There are free apps for both Android and iOS.

On Android devices, EPIM uses its own tasks, notes and password modules and the built-in (Google) calendar and contacts, but you can synchronize those directly if you prefer not to use Google.

419

Living Room / Re: Strange Windows Explorer problem - anyone know how to fix this?

« Last post by xtabber on July 26, 2012, 09:51 PM »

I'm not sure if this is the same thing, but I recall having a similar problem a few years ago.

How I solved it was to open the next to lowest level folder in Explorer and drag the lowest level folder to without opening it. Once that was done, I was able to open the folder by clicking on it without Explorer hanging.

My interpretation of why this worked is that a folder is a file that contains pointers to the physical location of other files, which Explorer uses to build the path to those files when the folder is opened. Dragging the folder to a higher level before opening it shortened the path before Explorer tried to build it and hung.  I don't know enough about the internals of how Explorer works to know if my explanation is correct, but in my situation, it did work.

420

Living Room / Re: Google's "Take action" - Celebrate freedom. Support a free and open Internet.

« Last post by xtabber on July 20, 2012, 12:58 PM »

Not to be outdone, the Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft has just hired Mark Penn as "corporate vice-president of strategic and special projects."

My guess is that the only reason no big tech company has hired Bernie Madoff as CFO is that he won't be free for the next 150 years.

421

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: iPad 3 and me

« Last post by xtabber on July 17, 2012, 10:12 PM »

A retraction.  A few days ago I said:

I've played with iPads and there is no question that they beat any Android tablet hands down when it comes to responsiveness.

-xtabber (July 15, 2012, 08:35 PM)

Today, I received my Nexus 7 tablet from Google and I have to withdraw that statement.  This thing is every bit as responsive as any iPad I've ever played with, and at 1280x800 on a 7" screen, it looks just about as sharp.

I don't know how much of this is due to the hardware and how much is Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), but I'd have to say this is the first device I've tried that gives up nothing to the iPad and has all the advantages of Android.

422

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: iPad 3 and me

« Last post by xtabber on July 15, 2012, 08:35 PM »

I've played with iPads and there is no question that they beat any Android tablet hands down when it comes to responsiveness.  But the iOS environment simply won't allow me to use a device the way I would like.

The problem is the same thing that kept the Macintosh from becoming a useful personal computer until the arrival of the *NIX based OS-X, and that is Steve Jobs' notion that users should not have to deal with files because data "belongs" to a specific application.   To my way of thinking, data is content and should exist independently of any application. I want to be able to choose the application I prefer in any particular situation to use on it.  Apple deliberately set out to prevent this by not providing a file system to organize data independently of applications.

I don't need to use anything like Dropbox on my Android tablet or phone. I can simply move anything I want to and from the device anytime I want to. I don't even need a USB connection. There are several excellent file managers for Android that allow me to browse my LAN for files over WiFi and even view many of them first. My current favorite is X-Plore, which has a great dual-pane interface, but ES File Explorer,  FX and Astro also make this easy. I can also use an FTP server on the devices that allows me to browse the file system from my PC, and even to manage or edit files from the PC with ftp aware programs like Beyond Compare.

I do have a Nook Simple Touch Reader, and I'd agree that e-Ink is far easier on the eyes than any LCD screen, but I find myself reading more and more on the tablet.  One reason is that I can pick among several excellent readers which have different strengths for different types of documents, or different devices.  With the Android file system, I can organize documents the way I want and use whatever program I want to view or edit them. In other words, I don't have to give up the benefits of the PC environment to  enjoy the advantages of a tablet.

423

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Readerware 3 Book Cataloging software

« Last post by xtabber on July 14, 2012, 06:48 AM »

Great review 

I own many thousands of books and also thousands of CDs. Many of the books are technical, science or art-related, and the CDs are mostly Classical and Jazz. Many are hard to find and long out of print. I also have a number of LPs that are not available on CD.  Barcode support is essential because of the size of my collections, and the nature of the items to be cataloged means that I need a lot of flexibility in organizing the structure and content of multiple databases.

I've tried many different music and/or book cataloging programs over the years and found all of them inadequate for my needs in one way or the other.  After reading this review, I downloaded Readerware and tried out the book and music modules.

I found the interface nowhere near as sophisticated as many other cataloging programs. It also uses some non-standard approaches that take a little getting used to.  But it provides a level of flexibility that I haven't seen in any other such software with respect to customizing databases, selecting sources of information, and making the collected data available.

I'd say this is probably not the best program for the occasional or non-technical user, but it looks like a perfect fit for my needs, and I will definitely be buying a license.

424

Living Room / Re: Google Tablet

« Last post by xtabber on June 28, 2012, 11:08 AM »

Storage is really not an issue unless you want to use the device primarily to watch video or listen to music, which I don't.  I mostly use my current 10" tablet for reading and browsing and have a lot of  productivity, database and reference apps installed, along with many books and documents in ePub or pdf formats.  By far the largest storage hogs are dictionaries. But out of the base 32GB storage, I still have about 25GB available.

425

Living Room / Google Tablet

« Last post by xtabber on June 27, 2012, 06:37 PM »

Google announced its own brand tablet today, the Nexus 7 which looks like it should be a real game changer in the tablet wars:  A 7 inch tablet running Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) with a 1280x800 IPS gorilla glass screen, a quad core Tegra 3 CPU and 12 core Nvidia GPU, weighing 12 oz. and selling for $199 with 8GB memory, $249 with 16GB memory. 

It is supposed to be available in about a month.