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Recent Posts

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476
Living Room / Re: Read this article before Apple makes them take it down! (hee-hee)
« Last post by barney on August 30, 2012, 09:49 PM »
So basically an Apple Genius is a trained hypocrite.

Good to know.
-rxantos (August 30, 2012, 09:29 PM)

Doesn't matter ... unless you wanna buy an Apple product.  Then it still won't matter, 'cause you wanna buy an Apple product  :P.
477
General Software Discussion / Re: data recovery tool, [i]on a network drive[/i]
« Last post by barney on August 30, 2012, 09:42 PM »
If this is an IT supported drive - I'm assuming it isn't - you might check with the support folk.  Otherwise, 'bout all ya can do is make a sacrifice to the network gods - oops, you just did.  Not to be flippant, but I've seldom seen recovery in such matters unless on a commercially/business/corporately supported network.  However, if it is a local network drive, you might be able to use a disk recovery tool.  I've had some success with that in the past, if I was quick enough.

Edit
Never mind, you already have better answers.
478
General Software Discussion / Re: What went wrong with Linux on the Desktop
« Last post by barney on August 30, 2012, 08:03 PM »
Gonna be weird. At least for people who used to do what I used to do. :'( ;D
-40hz (August 30, 2012, 05:56 PM)

Yep ... same boat.  But can't help but think there's always going to be a non-enterprise market, and OS will matter there.  A lot of Mom'n'Pop shops simply won't be able to afford the SaaS overhead.  How do you think Quicken or Peachtree products got to be so popular?  Really big players don't use 'em, they tend to roll their own, at least the ones I know do.

Methinks there'll always be a small to mid-range market.  MS and Apple are always going to be selling to that market.  To my mind, that's an area where Linux could be made to shine.  I'm not talking about servers, *nix owns that arena.  But desktop small-shop businesses are always going to be there, regardless the political/business climate.  I've always thought that area to be a prime target for *nix developers:  unfortunately, they don't pay much attention to my thimks  :( :o :P.
479
General Software Discussion / Re: What went wrong with Linux on the Desktop
« Last post by barney on August 30, 2012, 07:47 PM »
I've whined since day one (1) about Linux documentation and the inability of the developers to create clear documentation for new/intermediate users.  'Twould seem that I've been complaining about a splinter w/o ever bearing the whole cross.

'Tis to be hoped that enough involved folk will read Miguel's diatribe (?) and adjust accordingly ... won't be holding my breath, but I can [forlornly, mayhap] hope.
480
General Software Discussion / Re: Scott Hanselman's Posts on Getting the Most from Windows 8
« Last post by barney on August 30, 2012, 12:25 AM »
But it was a good article. Makes W8 sound pretty decent. But, I still find no compelling reason to upgrade, other perhaps than to develop for W8.
-Renegade (August 30, 2012, 12:00 AM)

And therein lies the quandary.  Been playin' with the demo version, and I flat don't like it.  Haven't had opportunity to try it on a tablet, where 'twould seem better suited, but current technology simply does not allow reasonable development on a tablet, just for a tablet.

Best I can see for Win8 is that it's OK for consumption, but not for creation.

So, while I do respect Hanselman's  opinion, I still have to question the efficacy of Win8 as a production/business/non-consumption OS.
481
General Software Discussion / Re: Scott Hanselman's Posts on Getting the Most from Windows 8
« Last post by barney on August 29, 2012, 11:44 PM »
Not to say his comments shouldn't be taken at face value. Or that his opinions should be automatically dismissed. It's just that his relationship with Microsoft should be noted and taken into consideration when reading his blog.
-40hz (August 29, 2012, 12:21 PM)

Yeah, it's getting more difficult to trust anything on the Web.  But I've seen enough of his comments, not always MS favorable, to rely upon his statements being as accurate as he can make them, and not be a Microsoft shill.
482
Living Room / Re: In search of ... other alcoholics
« Last post by barney on August 29, 2012, 10:50 AM »
As well as being informative, the thread is very [US] patriotic:  I drink red ... I drink white ... I get blue  :-* :P.
483
Living Room / Re: Apple v Samsung Verdict is in
« Last post by barney on August 27, 2012, 09:50 PM »
I would say we live in a world where we always have to search for the lesser evil. There is little to no 'good' left.
-rgdot (August 27, 2012, 07:32 PM)

Considering the rather fine line between lesser and different, seems to me that it's damned difficult just to find lesser evil  :-\ :huh: :mad:.
484
Living Room / Re: In search of ... other alcoholics
« Last post by barney on August 27, 2012, 05:47 PM »
Not all that wild about red wine, but I'm willing to offer my services as an experimental subject  :P :-* :P.
485
General Software Discussion / Re: Images unexplainably changed
« Last post by barney on August 26, 2012, 08:17 PM »
A problem encountered in the past.  Spent many hours [supposedly] fine-tuning images 'til they looked just right (for a Website).  Then I saw them on someone else's machine and they were kinda shabby.  After that, saw them on someone's Mac, and they were putrid/horrid/unpretty.  (See sidebar:  I didn't learn.)  The absolute best you can do is tune them for your particular system and ignore, if possible, how they'll look elsewhere.  My rule has become:  don't mess with 'em ... not worth the effort.

Sidebar
I also did the same thing for a somewhat important corporate meeting.  The projector made a total hash of all my efforts, even rendering some of the images incomprehensibly.  I did not get a gold star for that presentation  :-[ :P.
486
Living Room / Re: Scientists Invent Oxygen Particle That If Injected, Allows You To...
« Last post by barney on August 25, 2012, 09:47 PM »
Makes me think of Godzilla vs. Destroyah. Some scientist invents "micro oxygen." Naturally Godzilla sparring partners appear.   :)
-MilesAhead (August 25, 2012, 09:36 PM)

Well, yeah ... but it's the sparring partners that make it more believable.  Without refutation, defense if you will, there's less believability  :-\ :P.

BTW, thanks for the link  :Thmbsup:... cannot believe I missed that many Godzilla movies  :P.  He (she?) is my hero.
487
Living Room / Re: Scientists Invent Oxygen Particle That If Injected, Allows You To...
« Last post by barney on August 25, 2012, 08:31 PM »
Well, it is Abyss-like.  Apart from the Seals usage, it could be a lifesaver in mining incidents, refinery incidents, even painting situations.  However, as you note in the disclaimer, there's not a lot of converse on this (although I tend to mistrust the sources you quoted), so it might be more sci-fi than sci-fact.  One can but hope.
488
General Software Discussion / Re: Ginger free spell/grammar checker extension for chrome
« Last post by barney on August 25, 2012, 08:22 PM »
Been trying the desktop version.  Not too shabby, although I do have arguments with its grammar choices at times  :mad:.  Not certain that it has read the Chicago Manual of Style  :P :P.
489
General Software Discussion / In search of ... maritime chart software
« Last post by barney on August 24, 2012, 11:41 PM »
Considering the depth and breadth of knowledge available here, there almost has to be at least one mariner/sailor.

So, here's the problem (may be TL;DR material).

A close friend of mine has a sailing school (if you look at the site, don't blame him, that's my fault), and he's pretty damned good at teaching folk to sail.  He's been sailing for 'bout twenty (20) years, teaching for seven (7) to ten (10) years (I'm not certain, but at least seven (7)), and started his own school two (2) years ago. He wants a tablet/laptop chart viewer/plotter.  It could be Android, iOS, Linux (other than Android but installable on a tablet) or Windows.  We can test everything but the Apple stuff right now, but he's not averse to getting an iPad if that will support the required software.

NOAA provides coastal US charts in both RNC (raster format) and ENC (vector format).  RNC is OK for viewing, but it does not scale well.  ENC, with the proper software, can be edited, e.g., plot courses, track GPS coordinates, and the like.  Capt. Chris wants to be able to enter, or ideally, let his students enter, courses they've plotted for a class (the plotting is pen/paper/ruler/divider stuff) on a tablet or laptop, then let them be able to see their progress, via GPS or compass and clock, during the sail.  This would serve multiple purposes, e.g., a sense of time/distance relationships, ability to hold a course (not as simple as it might appear when you're not on the boat in open ocean or a good-sized bay (which ours is)), and the like.  If it's something that can be done on a tablet, he'll mount the tablet on a bulkhead, so his kids can see real-time reinforcement (or need for correction) of what they've plotted.

I've found some [marginal] stuff, but a lot of it is CLI, and most of Chris' students will be much more comfortable with something GUI.  It has become evident that my search skills are inadequate to the task, so I'm turning to the uber searchers.

Any takers?
490
Living Room / In search of ... other alcoholics
« Last post by barney on August 24, 2012, 08:19 PM »
Thought some of you might enjoy this TechDirt article.
491
Living Room / Re: The Final Nail in the Coffin for Privacy?
« Last post by barney on August 24, 2012, 08:13 PM »
Does this seem relevant?

  http://pqcrypto.org/
-ewemoa (August 24, 2012, 07:47 PM)

Very interesting link.  Thanks  :-\.  You just ate up all my free time for the next three (3) months  :P.
492
General Software Discussion / Re: Newest malware now able to target virtual machines?
« Last post by barney on August 24, 2012, 08:04 PM »
I wonder if you couldn't overcome that, to some extent, with a liveCD with TrueCrypt on it?  (Assuming, of course that you'd used TrueCrypt to encrypt the disk.)
-barney (August 24, 2012, 06:23 PM)

Depending on where the failure is, the device should be mountable on another machine with Truecrypt running.  I've done that while testing, but unfortunately the disk didn't croak on me :-)

The usable lifespan of a broken disk is short enough, adding in the complexity and disk access to get the drive mounted might make it tougher to get anything off.

I could never convince my old company to use full disk encryption... even though I figured out how to work around users forgetting their boot password, the concensus was apparently the execs just didn't want to be bothered with another password...
-x16wda (August 24, 2012, 07:34 PM)

Hee hee hee.  Yeah, execs don't like interference ... turn it on, and it should work ... biggest problem I had when I was in the corporate world  :'( :P :P.

About three (3) or four (4) decades ago, I had a desktop unit where the HDD gave out.  It ran, but when the heads parked, they wouldn't unpark.  So I removed four (4) screws and a cover, moved the heads with thumb & forefinger, put the cover and the screws back in place, and it ran like a charm.  Did that for something like six (6) or eight ( 8 ) months before the drive totally died (probably because of contamination  ;)).  And I have two (2) drives right now that quit working, but I can still access 'em with an external connection.  I've already pulled all the data off, I'm just hangin' on to 'em to see how much longer they'll last - goin' on two (2) years so far  :o :D.
493
General Software Discussion / Re: Newest malware now able to target virtual machines?
« Last post by barney on August 24, 2012, 06:23 PM »
One negative I've heard about is apparently when an encrypted drive fails there's little chance at recovering the data because even if you can read some sectors, they're all encrypted and meaningless.  I don't if that's true or not.
-jaden (August 24, 2012, 04:29 PM)
I wonder if you couldn't overcome that, to some extent, with a liveCD with TrueCrypt on it?  (Assuming, of course that you'd used TrueCrypt to encrypt the disk.)


494
Developer's Corner / Re: This reads like my life...
« Last post by barney on August 24, 2012, 01:10 AM »
You damned kids  ;D!  I couldn't do any of that 'til I was in my late thirties  :P.  There wasn't anything to hack before that except for Ma Bell  :P :P.
495
General Software Discussion / Re: Simplifying Your Computer
« Last post by barney on August 23, 2012, 06:41 PM »
In a pinch I'll boot to WinPE, strip the attributes and permissions and toss the old install in a folder, and then just drop the new OS next to the old one (variation on a parallel install). Then I can pick out the driver bits from the old install and feed them to device manager (it's actually a lot faster than it sounds).
-Stoic Joker (August 23, 2012, 06:13 PM)

And no chance of overlooking a driver  :Thmbsup:.  Works like a charm.  And you also have the old registry hives available for comparison(s).  That process has been a life-saver (and a hair-saver) more than once  :-* :P.
496
Developer's Corner / Re: Help me think of a small ipad app idea to code
« Last post by barney on August 22, 2012, 03:44 PM »
I can't imagine why any indy developer in their right mind, or with a shred of self-resoect, would still want to do an iOS app after reading that. You could almost excuse or overlook anything in the article except for how paid support request tickets not only went unanswered, but were apparently ignored.

How many times do small but hopeful iOS developers need to get slapped in the face and laughed at before they 'get' the message Apple is sending them?
 :-\
-40hz (August 22, 2012, 11:05 AM)

Y'know, I've always had a distaste for Apple - since the mid-eighties or so - too proud, too much brag, too expensive ... but they've come up with a plethora of new reasons to fuel that distaste.  They do try, don't they  :-\ :P?
497
Living Room / Re: Wikileaks - Julian Assange Granted Asylum by Ecuador
« Last post by barney on August 22, 2012, 03:36 PM »
Putting people in jail in the US is a for-profit business; google UNICOR.gov and CCA.com
-zridling (August 22, 2012, 05:00 AM)

Pee-laugh warning... ;)

Gotta love these taglines:
 (see attachment in previous post) (see attachment in previous post)
Partnership corrections? Oh, god, please! We're life changing? BWAHAHAHA~!
-Renegade (August 22, 2012, 06:03 AM)

Well, yeah ... but those statements stand, although [probably  :-\] not with the intent of the originators.  How do you define Partnership Correction ... fifteen (15) years at Attica or Folsom?  And that would definitely be life changing, doncha thimk  :-\ :P :P?
498
Living Room / Re: Coffee Mug or when Plastic is done right!
« Last post by barney on August 20, 2012, 11:22 PM »
It's too bad there seems to be no way to get the specs for the mug.
-MilesAhead (August 20, 2012, 10:54 PM)

Any competent drafter could provide you a 2D rendition of the cup:
  • measure the ID (inner diameter) the top
  • measure the OD (outer diameter) at the top
  • measure the ID of the cup section at the bottom
  • measure the OD of the outer section at the bottom
With that, you could have one (1) made.  Your biggest problem, I suspect, would be replacing the flexible cap - that could turn into a project all its own  :'(.

Edit
You snuck in while I was typing ... the cap obviously is your biggest problem  :P.
499
General Software Discussion / Re: VLC - Is it worth it still?
« Last post by barney on August 20, 2012, 10:25 PM »
Oh DoCo mastermind, I call to you!
-Josh (August 20, 2012, 09:44 PM)

Don't think I qualify for that particular designation, but this sounds like a question of practicality/applicability/if it ain't broke.  If VLC still does what you want it to do, keep it.  If it doesn't, then hopefully the audio folk here can point out the least painful alternative.
500
Living Room / Re: Coffee Mug or when Plastic is done right!
« Last post by barney on August 20, 2012, 10:13 PM »
Miles, you may be the one member that will enjoy my first ever web article:
The Ultimate Desktop Mug
-superboyac (August 20, 2012, 09:05 PM)

I ain't MilesAhead, but I liked the article  :Thmbsup:.  Once had a mug designed to sit on car dash ... ceramic, nonslip rubber[ish] base pad, shaped like a [then] reentry vehicle, about ten (10)-twelve (12) oz ... not made anymore.  Seems that anything really practical gets axed pretty quickly  :( >:(.
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