Recent Posts

476

General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: a software that makes normal windows apps more touch friendly.

« Last post by dr_andus on September 25, 2014, 06:31 PM »

Last I recall, it was Steve Jobs who threw out Styluses. Some quote somewhere that went like "if you need a stylus, you're doing it wrong."

-TaoPhoenix (September 25, 2014, 06:06 PM)

Yes, well, he was right about mass market products. But here we're talking about niche applications for sophisticated users. So MS is shoving down the touch interface the wrong throats (excuse the mixed metaphor) or the wrong way...

And just for the record, if you lost your stylus, you could use any old object that had a tip with the Palm. Not that it saved them from ending up on the scrapheap of technological history... But the world is poorer [wipes away tear]...

477

General Software Discussion / Re: IDEA: a software that makes normal windows apps more touch friendly.

« Last post by dr_andus on September 25, 2014, 05:54 PM »

Not to shoot down your idea, and I know this is not a helpful suggestion in the current circumstances, but wouldn't the obvious solution be to use a stylus and optimise the software for stylus use? It worked for the Palm Pilot... There must have been a point when the head honchos at MS threw out that idea, probably thinking that people are idiots and they will lose their styluses, or they are idiots and would not know how to use a stylus, so let's just design everything for their fingers, as even cavemen would be able to use those.

I don't have a problem with your suggestion. I'm just annoyed that many software designers now seem to be assuming that the tablet is the only way and they are starting to waste screen real estate for us desktop users who are happy to use a mouse...

Sorry, I just had to get this rant out of my system...   This whole trend towards redesigning desktop apps (and websites) for tablets annoys the hell out of me. I must be becoming a dinosaur...  

P.S. but thanks for sharing your experience. My first tablet was a Win tablet many years ago, and I sent it back the same day, for the reasons you mentioned. So I'm a bit surprised they are still grappling with those problems.

478

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for desktop calendar software that can sync with Google Calendar

« Last post by dr_andus on September 23, 2014, 12:26 PM »

Thanks, in the meantime I managed to complete the sync. Maybe my system is just too old, as the app would hang often (Not responding), and my PC has a hard time dealing with the mass of reminders.

There is a lot to like about VueMinder, but I'm finding the Search function rather limited. It only seems to be able to display search results one at a time, incrementally, jumping to the next one in chronological order, without showing how many there are or how far they stretch back in time.

I think I may have to bite the bullet and read through Pimlical's 100-page manual, as I'm drawn to its elaborate search tool, and its other advanced features.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions.

479

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for desktop calendar software that can sync with Google Calendar

« Last post by dr_andus on September 23, 2014, 07:23 AM »

Vueminder Calendar - http://www.vueminder.com/ - terrific program!

-LM7

+1
There's a 'lite' free version to try.

-cranioscopical (September 14, 2014, 10:31 PM)

VueMinder Lite would have been ideal, as it's free, and only syncs one way with Google Calendar, which is what I want. But I'm having trouble with its syncing. When I click on "Sync Now", it would say "Syncing, you'll see your events in a few seconds", but then nothing happens. I had 0 events displayed in all the calendars for hours yesterday.

Eventually the synced events did show up this morning, when I restarted the app. I had around 3000 events synced in the main account. Then it started showing me hundreds of pop-up reminders. When I started closing them down, the app crashed. When I restarted it, all the synced data was gone, and there was nothing in the automatic backup. ( Since then I've changed the automatic backup settings to back up every 10 min., rather than the 8 hrs default, which failed to back it up.)

Now I tried syncing again, but I still have only 0 events, even though occasionally it says it's synchronising. Also, I unselected "Include reminders" in the sync settings, to avoid the hundreds of reminder pop-ups, but when I checked again, the app automatically re-ticked the box. Anyway, this does not encourage me to upgrade to the paid version at the moment, as it doesn't seem entirely reliable. Otherwise it does look nice and it would fit most of my criteria.

480

PBOL / Requests: count workdays only and show workdays remaining

« Last post by dr_andus on September 22, 2014, 04:44 AM »

Two requests:

1) Option at item level to count workdays only (instead of calendar days, so that item bar could display e.g. "6 workdays remaining" instead of "8 days remaining"). This way PBOL would become a more realistic project plan reminder tool for those that do take 2 days off on the weekend.

2) Option to display all measures of time (beyond the hour) in workdays only. E.g. instead of showing "26 wks remaining" it would show "130 workdays remaining." Again, it would be more useful for planning and tracking.

For practical purposes let's just ignore national, religious etc. holidays.

Thanks for considering!

P.S. Just to give you the context, I was looking at the bar saying "8 days remaining" for one of my tasks, and it gave me a false sense of security, as after checking the calendar it turned out I have only "6 days remaining", as weekend was counted in, which I won't be able to use for this particular task.

481

General Software Discussion / Re: Outline 4D >>50% off sale<< (only $50)

« Last post by dr_andus on September 21, 2014, 09:56 AM »

Would that be true in all word processors?

-Dormouse (September 21, 2014, 08:10 AM)

I'd presume so. But the method I suggested is a very easy one (in Word at least). Just use different formatting for each heading level in O4D (here is a 10 level template I made: 10-level_template.syv (23kb)), then once exported into RTF and opened in a wordprocessor like MS Word, select one of the headings, choose "Select text with similar formatting", and then apply Heading 1, etc., and it will convert all Level 1 headings to functioning Heading 1 style.

482

General Software Discussion / Re: Outline 4D >>50% off sale<< (only $50)

« Last post by dr_andus on September 21, 2014, 07:00 AM »

And I have never been put of buying a program because it is no longer being developed, if it will do what I want now.

-Dormouse (September 21, 2014, 05:06 AM)

Sure, it's still a very capable program, I just mentioned it as people may rightly expect it to be developed for that sort of money. Other than a couple of bugs here and there (which can crash the app), and the need to bypass UAC and run it in XP mode, it works generally fine on my Win7, 64bit PC. I make sure to save regularly, so never lost any content.

Seems to use only a limited number of RTF features - no tables, no images

-Dormouse (September 21, 2014, 05:06 AM)

Also, when you open the RTF export in MS Word, the headings are not automatically recognised. For this reason it's a good idea to set up a template with different formatting for each level of heading in O4D, and then in MS Word you can use the "find text with similar formatting" tool and apply the heading levels manually.

483

General Software Discussion / Re: Outline 4D >>50% off sale<< (only $50)

« Last post by dr_andus on September 20, 2014, 09:27 AM »

Outline 4D has a 50% sale going on right, so the price goes down from $100 to $50.  Good deal if you ask me!  Pointed out here by 40hz, it might be my preferred tool for organizing just about any multi-layered idea/outline, but it's mainly intended for screenwriting I guess.

-superboyac (September 18, 2014, 05:25 PM)

Yes, that's the lowest price I've seen. Beware though that this software is no longer being developed and it's quite ancient. It's a repackaged version of StoryView, which was released in 1999, I think, and it hasn't seen many updates since then. Having said that, in many respects it's still the most full-featured single-pane outliner with inline notes out there. I don't know of another outliner that would have as many different options to visualise an outline (some examples here).

It's generally good for longer pieces of any kind of writing (5-10k words), not just screenwriting (although that's its marketing positioning).

For some reason, I'd never come across this one before. Maybe because I'd always preferred the idea of outliners with a minimum of 2 panes. But quite intriguing with the timeline feature,and I can see how it might be a good environment for actually writing.

-Dormouse (September 20, 2014, 07:05 AM)

There are some distinct advantages to single-pane outliners for certain types of writing tasks, such as being able to see the text above and below the node that you're writing, while also seeing the rest of the outline.

However, I don't think the "Timeline View" feature works too well. If you're interested in "horizontal" outlining (writing in adjacent linked columns), as opposed to "vertical" outlining, then I'd recommend Gingko App for that, or even Freeplane. Here is my Gingko review/mini tutorial, if that's of interest.

484

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for desktop calendar software that can sync with Google Calendar

« Last post by dr_andus on September 15, 2014, 06:46 PM »

Another option worth mentioning is Pimlical.
http://www.pimlicosoftware.com/
It's a Java based app. Very capable.

-kunkel321 (September 13, 2014, 03:39 PM)

Thanks for the reminder. I have looked at Pimlical in the past, but apparently not carefully enough. The amount of options is pretty amazing (and possibly overwhelming...). And I suspect not many are going to beat its "Advanced Find"  

485

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for desktop calendar software that can sync with Google Calendar

« Last post by dr_andus on September 15, 2014, 08:08 AM »

I tried eMClient. It looks nice but I couldn't find a way to search the database of events. Also, I was a bit surprised that after I changed the theme colour in eMClient on the desktop, it also replaced the default event colour in Google Calendar (without asking for permission and warning that it's going to happen). It's a actually a nice feature for someone who does want to change the Google Cal default event colour in one go, I just wished there was a bit of a warning, as I already use colours to differentiate between types of events.

486

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for desktop calendar software that can sync with Google Calendar

« Last post by dr_andus on September 14, 2014, 05:38 PM »

I switched to simply using google calendar in the browser, because of all the programs I tried, it had the best sync with google calendar .

-Jibz (September 14, 2014, 01:29 PM)

Google Calendar is my main calendar too. However, I want to be able to back up my data regularly offline, as that is the only way to ensure I will have access to that data in the future, should Google change its policies or disappear off the face of the earth (however unlikely that may sound).

I'm already having trouble using the historical data. When I do a search on Google Calendar, it tells me there are 18 results for the particular search term, but it only shows me 6 of them, with no obvious pointer as to how to find the other (presumably older) 12 results. So it is already trying to limit my use of my own data...

487

General Software Discussion / Looking for desktop calendar software that can sync with Google Calendar

« Last post by dr_andus on September 13, 2014, 09:15 AM »

I used to sync my Google Calendar to MS Outlook on my desktop, for the purpose of backing it up and archiving it, and to have a copy that I could search offline. Unfortunately, Google have discontinued the Google Calendar Sync utility for Outlook, so I lost that option.

My criteria are the following:
- desktop software for Win 7, 64 bit
- can sync automatically, in the background, at regular intervals (at least daily).
- has search function.
- ideally there would be the option to specify which way the sync goes (I'd mainly just want from Google to desktop, not the other way back)
- it's mostly for archive, backup, and search purposes, so I wouldn't be using it as a main interface (doesn't need to be pretty).
-  I could use it occasionally for planning for some one-off projects that I wouldn't want to sync back to Google Calendar.
- Don't need full PIM.

Would be grateful for any suggestions.

488

Living Room / Re: Anyone have a recommendation for a USB voice recognition headset

« Last post by dr_andus on September 05, 2014, 07:57 AM »

I also use a very old Plantronics USB headset that I bought for DNS8 or 9 back in 2008. Even though DNS12 said upon upgrade that the headset was not up-to-date, it's been working perfectly, so I'm happy to recommend Plantronics for its quality and longevity.

489

Living Room / Re: Do you use a Portrait mode monitor?

« Last post by dr_andus on September 05, 2014, 04:14 AM »

Although it seems to me that my old and low-end LG monitors were designed to be looked at downwards in landscape mode. Now that I've rotated them, I need to move my body to the left and turn my head to be able to see images clearly... It's fine for reading and writing, though.

490

Living Room / Re: Do you use a Portrait mode monitor?

« Last post by dr_andus on September 02, 2014, 05:30 PM »

Thanks for bringing this topic up, as it encouraged me to try it, and now I've switched to using my central 22" monitor in portrait mode, while the ones on the left and the right are in landscape mode.

It turned out that there were several applications that worked better for me in portrait mode. The obvious one is writing (e.g. with WriteMonkey), as it allows me to see a lot more of the text--and therefore the context--of whatever paragragh I was working on. Another one is reading PDFs, as mentioned before, and most web pages (especially due to the latest craze to format web pages in tablet-sized screen chunks piled up vertically - you know what I mean...).

Also, any apps that have long lists (or long pages) work better in portrait mode, as there is less scrolling involved. E.g. WorkFlowy (to-do lists), ConnectedText (list of wiki documents, or long individual docs). And of course email.

I was surprised to see that even Google Calendar worked better in portrait view, as there was no need to scroll, so all the events of the week were visible at a glance.

But I'm sticking with landscape view for Dopus, especially with dual panes and file preview on.

491

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking for calendar software

« Last post by dr_andus on September 02, 2014, 09:02 AM »

GanttProject is free

492

General Software Discussion / Re: Program windows contained in a frame?

« Last post by dr_andus on August 14, 2014, 06:21 AM »

TaskSpace has been working fine on my Win7 64-bit, Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM machine, but I just tried using it on a Win XP netbook with 2GB RAM, and it wasn't able to cope with it.

493

PBOL / PBOL not displaying correctly in XP when undocked

« Last post by dr_andus on July 27, 2014, 11:27 AM »

PBOL not displaying correctly in XP when undocked (right end cut off). See below



Also, (and this is the same in Win7), end dates don't display in undocked view, even though "show end date on gauge" selected.

P.S. I have just installed and ran it on my XP netbook for the first time.

P.P.S. Oops, sorry. Posted in wrong forum... This was meant for PBOL...

494

Living Room / Re: WinXP is officially dead!

« Last post by dr_andus on July 27, 2014, 08:24 AM »

I expect that option fakes your installation into pretending it is one of these... does it say support will extend to January or to April?

-x16wda (July 27, 2014, 07:49 AM)

Thanks for the info. No, Cacheman doesn't say anything about whether it's until Jan or April.

495

Living Room / Re: WinXP is officially dead!

« Last post by dr_andus on July 27, 2014, 04:34 AM »

I spotted this in the Cacheman Changelog, while I was updating Cacheman on my Win XP netbook. And it does seem to work. I have just installed 8 Microsoft security updates this morning. No idea how much protection this really offers (I also have AVG on it), but it's perhaps better than nothing...

Windows XP only: Option to extend Windows Updates to the year 2019

496

DesktopCoral / Re: LATEST VERSION INFO THREAD - DesktopCoral - 1.10.01 - Jan 16, 2011

« Last post by dr_andus on July 25, 2014, 06:02 AM »

DesktopCoral is now on AlternativeTo.net. And apparently there are no alternatives to it! 

497

DesktopCoral / Re: DesktopCoral crashing

« Last post by dr_andus on July 18, 2014, 07:57 AM »

Just to clarify further, when I restart or wake my PC, DC is running in the background (visible in processes and icon is in tray), but it's not doing the corralling. I have to restart the process, and then it pushes my other windows down, as it should be. The reason it's an issue is because my Samurize banner is visible at the top of my screen (which DC is supposed to corral), so the tops of my windows are obscured by Samurize, which makes it difficult to move them, close them, minimise them etc.

It's not a big deal to restart the DC process, but I was just wondering why this is happening (whether it's something with my system or something with DC). I should add that my PC has been prone to crashing when it's woken from sleep, so it's also possible that I might be having a deeper system problem at my end.

498

PBOL / Re: Latest Progress Bars of Life - Version 2.03 - May 16, 2014

« Last post by dr_andus on July 16, 2014, 06:04 PM »

It all seems to be working now, thanks very much for your help! 

499

PBOL / Re: Latest Progress Bars of Life - Version 2.03 - May 16, 2014

« Last post by dr_andus on July 16, 2014, 04:40 PM »

Hi Mouser,

thanks for the prompt reply. But I'm unable to download your files, I get a 404 error.

500

PBOL / Re: Latest Progress Bars of Life - Version 2.03 - May 16, 2014

« Last post by dr_andus on July 16, 2014, 03:00 PM »

Done. Should I maybe just uninstall/reinstall it?