Recent Posts

4476

Living Room / Re: KenR's health and situation

« Last post by cranioscopical on August 09, 2007, 06:31 PM »

Ken,
I'm truly sorry to learn what you're going through. I'm a grumpy old sod already and your kind of trouble would certainly push me beyond the pale.
At least you're in a place where you can rely on expert skills and post-operative care. Like everyone else here, I very much hope that the outcome will improve your situation.

4477

General Software Discussion / Re: The state of speech recognition

« Last post by cranioscopical on August 01, 2007, 08:34 PM »

Does Dragon Naturally Speaking allow you to deactivate your installation on your current computer and allow you to move it to another computer, for example if you need to upgrade your computer or if the computer crashes and you need to change a mother board for example.

I mean for example, I'm thinking, I hate to purchase a copy now and find that 5 months later, because I changed my computer, I have to shell out another US$199.

I can't answer that off the top of my head. I know I've moved earlier versions of Dragon from machine to machine when upgrading hardware. No trouble migrating user files or anything like that, but I don't recall what (if any) licensing issues arose.  I'm not sure what the current rules are.  I'll try to remember to dig out the printed material that came with the package and have a look. If I remember right, I think I just installed Dragon again, from scratch, on the new machine, having moved the user files etc. from the old box. Meanwhile, perhaps someone else here has the definitive answer available right now?

4478

Site/Forum Features / Re: A Practical Guide to DonationCoder.com Forum Search

« Last post by cranioscopical on August 01, 2007, 07:23 PM »

That's a very helpful and nicely presented summary, thanks!

4479

General Software Discussion / Re: ArtRage 2.5 released - Major update free for registered users of 2.2

« Last post by cranioscopical on August 01, 2007, 02:08 AM »

0B6DA557C

Thanks, Carl.  I was hitting "recalculate" after entering the code... silly me!

4480

General Software Discussion / Re: The state of speech recognition

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 31, 2007, 10:41 PM »

Speech recognition has become very usable for me with Dragon Naturally Speaking (I'm using 9.x).  I can successfully dictate (and correct) a 70-page report faster than I can type it myself.  (I still prefer to give a dictation tape to my secretary who types at 140 highly accurate wpm.)  Dragon can get me out of a jam if I need to create some material in the middle of the night, or some other inconvenient time.

I like to use Dragon for personal, written correspondence as I find myself adopting an informal, conversational style that I never seem to match when writing or typing.

Training is far, far less onerous these days than it used to be.

I can only give you my experience with Dragon in (British) English.  I have no idea if it's as good in other languages -- I don't speak any well enough to try.

Dragon is the only current speech software about which I can speak from experience.  Although Nuance also offers ViaVoice, I really don't think it's kept up.  IBM started the whole thing going commercially, what, a decade ago?  15 years?  Then they seemed to let it slip through their fingers.

FWIW, once, I thought the idea of controlling the computer by voice was brilliant.  In practice I find it tiresome and not worth the trouble.

4481

Living Room / Re: How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 31, 2007, 08:38 PM »

Before You Ask
Before asking a technical question by e-mail. or in a newsgroup, or on a website chat board, do the following:
1. Try to find an answer by searching the archives of the forum you plan to post to.
2. Try to find an answer by searching the Web.
3. Try to find an answer by reading the manual.
4. Try to find an answer by reading a FAQ.
5. Try to find an answer by inspection or experimentation.
6. Try to find an answer by asking a skilled friend.
7. If you're a programmer, try to find an answer by reading the source code.

How do I do that?

4482

General Software Discussion / Re: ArtRage 2.5 released - Major update free for registered users of 2.2

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 31, 2007, 05:38 PM »

I think the discount's over.
The site doesn't accept the code today (which is well after the stated expiration date of 20th July).

4483

Official Announcements / Re: ZillaRank: An improved search for smf forum

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 29, 2007, 07:43 AM »

Mouser: the real power of this feature is that you can now select this from the quick search dropdown box for the topic you are currently browsing, or from *within* the results page.

It's very much appreciated. For me, the new work by Wordzilla turns all of the interesting material on Donation Coder into a really useful database.

Also, since Wordzilla is just an anagram of Dollar Wiz, it's helpful to know how much to donate   

4484

General Software Discussion / Re: Preview web pages at different resolutions/sizes

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 29, 2007, 12:05 AM »

online browser preview tools. There's a list of them at http://mypage.bluewi...s/onlinetools02.html

Thanks a lot, that'll get me started 

4485

General Software Discussion / Preview web pages at different resolutions/sizes

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 28, 2007, 05:44 PM »

I have to update my wife's (very simple) web site.

I know there exist various tools to let me easily preview a page/site at various resolutions and/or browser sizes.
I don't know what they are.

Can readers please point me to any such utilities that they find to be the simplest and best?

Thanks in advance!

4486

Living Room / Re: Thanks for the cards

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 26, 2007, 07:24 PM »

I thought I was missing some. Now I know why! 

You thought you were missing some! 
I never should have sent the ace of diamonds. My poker nights are shot to hell 

4487

Official Announcements / Re: ZillaRank: An improved search for smf forum

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 20, 2007, 09:20 AM »

Now we have added yet another sortable column: Replies.

-Wordzilla (July 20, 2007, 04:39 AM)

Very nice, too!

4488

General Software Discussion / Re: WOW - Zoner 90% discount on all titles ... this is VERY good value ...

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 20, 2007, 09:04 AM »

Zoner Gif Animator 5 is the Giveaway of the day today

I bought it yesterday

It's worth collecting as a freebie.

4489

DcUpdater / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - DcUpdater - 1.15.01 - July 11, 2007

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 18, 2007, 09:48 PM »

Just ran 1.17.01 and it's lost all entries other than itself.
Tried dragging the FARR folder onto it but it doesn't arrive on the updates tab.
(XP SP2)

4490

DcUpdater / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - DcUpdater - 1.15.01 - July 11, 2007

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 14, 2007, 12:58 AM »

Mouser, here's a small thing to consider.

Using DC Updater (1.16.01) with my system heavily burdened by other online tasks:

• DC Updater found several updates, including itself.
• It takes a long time to grab the updates (due to other system activity here).
• DC Updater updates itself first, creating the need to restart other update downloads.

Should Updater hold off on updating itself until its tasks are finished?

4491

Official Announcements / Re: ZillaRank: An improved search for smf forum

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 12, 2007, 11:38 PM »

It's an odd but pleasant sensation to find the search feature useful

4492

Living Room / Re: Why is the 'N' key always the first to go?

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 12, 2007, 11:28 PM »

Have you not heard that 'N'-y thing goes?

4493

DcUpdater / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - DcUpdater - 1.15.01 - July 11, 2007

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 11, 2007, 06:55 PM »

What version of farr are you using?

2.00.126  Thanks for the response.  I missed the "FindAndRunRobot.dcupdate" file, it is there.

4494

DcUpdater / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - DcUpdater - 1.15.01 - July 11, 2007

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 11, 2007, 06:48 PM »

This tab contains a list of all .dcupdate files (or folders containing them) which provide info on installed programs which can be updated

So I dragged my FARR folder to the Extra Update Files tab, and the folder path appears there.
No sign of FARR on the Updates tab, though.

I have no .dcupdate file in the FARR folder.

Yes, I do

4495

DcUpdater / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - DcUpdater - 1.12.05 - JUN 30, 2007

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 11, 2007, 11:22 AM »

im about to release an improved update checker and i will modify drag+drop to handle this case --
basically it expects you to drop a folder or .dcupdate file, and i assume you are dropping the exe?
im just going to make the updater drop the parent folder, which is the best thing to do i think.

I tried both ways, the exe and, when that didn't work, just the folder.
I'll wait for the next iteration, thanks.

4496

DcUpdater / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - DcUpdater - 1.12.05 - JUN 30, 2007

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 11, 2007, 03:01 AM »

there are 2 places the updater gets info about programs it can update:

    * The custom list in the "Extra Update Files" tab
    * The directory C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\DonationCoder\DcUpdater\RedirectFiles

If I drag and drop, say FARR, onto the updater, the path appears nicely in the 'extra update files' tab-window but FARR doesn't appear on the updates tab, nor is it checked for updates.  I don't have an entry for FARR in DcUpdater\RedirectFiles.

What have I missed?

4497

SMF Forum Mods / Re: DC SMF Search Mod - an improvement search for smf forum (codename Zillarank)

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 10, 2007, 09:40 PM »

A reply i posted which addresses some of the "why" issues that cranioscopical suggested i tackle...

and

My concerns in this case are not about paying for stuff - i'm just objecting to what i perceive as an inappropriate attitude and approach from smf management, which i fear may be a sign of them moving in wrong direction in terms of management and maintenance.

A lot of heat's been generated by a rude and ungrateful response from SMF. 'Un-words' abound for such behaviour, without a doubt; unintelligent, uncouth, uncooperative, unimaginative...

Even so,
Are you sure that, had you first sought a written permission it would not have been granted?
And are you sure that nobody in the SMF hierarchy is both senior enough to waive the requirement and intelligent enough to see the advantage in what you offer?

Anyway, many thanks -- again -- to you and Wordzilla for the very significant inprovements to the search function here.  Boy, what a difference!

4498

SMF Forum Mods / Re: DC SMF Search Mod - an improvement search for smf forum (codename Zillarank)

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 10, 2007, 12:12 PM »

I understand you are just doing your job but I'd really like the smf coders to take a reconsider if this is the approach they want to take with these things, it's just the wrong attitude in my opinion.  We included a mod, and then the patched version of one file.  It's just silly to object to that.  For people like me who do not use package mods and modify the files themselves, stopping people from including a modified file is insane.

I understand your frustration and often share such feelings when dealing with some of my clients. (In my time I've rendered considerably more pithy responses than these.) Even so, "wrong attitude", "silly", and "insane" are probably not the best-chosen terms to gain co-operation.

Also, instead of pointing out what you want, try headlining the benefits to them. Nobody likes to be told they're wrong, especially not those who are!  It makes little-thinkers intransigent.

4499

SMF Forum Mods / Re: DC SMF Search Mod - an improvement search for smf forum (codename Zillarank)

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 10, 2007, 11:46 AM »

instead of a thank you we got someone an official smf person complaining that due to a tiny technicality we were violating their license and we should correct it within a few days or face legal action...  left me with a really bad taste in my mouth.

Small-minded people abound who are concerned with the letter of the law and not its spirit. I can well understand (and share) the initial flare of...annoyance. Aggravating though such people may be, it would be a pity to deny the larger community of SMF users the chance to benefit from the good work that's just been completed here. Might it be worth trying to make contact with someone at SMF who does enjoy a modicum of common sense, in order to see if a sensible distribution can be negotiated and 'sanctioned'? Don't take your ball and go home, that puts you in their league. Count to ten and try again?

4500

Official Announcements / Re: ZillaRank: An improved search for smf forum

« Last post by cranioscopical on July 07, 2007, 08:22 PM »

hearby offer a prize to anyone who can now find a search on this forum that misses a result it should return.

I searched for the message telling me that I'd won all of the prizes in this month's draw, but it couldn't be found!