Recent Posts

4976

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TwistedBrush 30% off

« Last post by 40hz on October 04, 2012, 11:28 AM »

It does allow you to have fun playing around with digital watercolors

4977

Living Room / Re: For the Trekkies - Star Trek Engines Being Researched

« Last post by 40hz on October 04, 2012, 09:50 AM »

Hope whatever they come up with is more reliable than the ones on the show. About the only thing that broke more often than the engines were "The Shields" - which seemed to have about two hits worth of damage in them before someone would say the classic line: "All shields down, Captain!".
 

Trekkers, please

-wraith808 (October 04, 2012, 09:45 AM)

Does that apply even to the trekkers who are trekkies? (There is a difference, as you probably know.)

4978

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TwistedBrush 30% off

« Last post by 40hz on October 04, 2012, 09:39 AM »

^ It's usually "dry humor" or "dry sense of humor" last I heard.

4979

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: TwistedBrush 30% off

« Last post by 40hz on October 04, 2012, 08:13 AM »

^I've used it in the past. It's worth the download IMHO. Take advantage the offer and give it a try. The price is right - and you can always uninstall it of you don't like it.

4980

N.A.N.Y. 2013 / Re: Carbon - my new hackable performant (semi) static blogging system.

« Last post by 40hz on October 04, 2012, 08:10 AM »

s there a tutorial for not-so-bright humanities-type users?

-TaoPhoenix (October 04, 2012, 07:41 AM)

+1! And us humanities-systems types who don't have much experience with this type of software.

I'd be more than willing to pay for a copy if it came with decent documentation. 

4981

Screenshot Captor / Re: This program should be avoided like the plague!

« Last post by 40hz on October 04, 2012, 07:55 AM »

Am I the only one here who believes in the cleansing goodness of a good curse filled rage-based primal scream?

-mouser (October 03, 2012, 09:41 PM)

(I'm with ya!) Catharsis is a good thing. To many people these days try to internalize things (usually with medication...) instead of just letting go and getting it out of their system.

-Stoic Joker (October 04, 2012, 06:43 AM)

Agree. But only up to a point.

I'm personally getting a little fed up with all the cheap shots, digs, snide comments, swearing, posturing, ranting and screaming that seems to be the norm of late.

What is going on with people lately? There's a widespread refusal to deal with situations (any situation) in a mature and sane manner. In almost every place I been lately I'm running into people who cry on cue and/or fly off the handle at the drop of a hat. It's almost like there's a reward for acting like a cranky toddler rather than an adult. Antisocial is becoming the accepted new 'social.'

Back in the 60s, American humorist James Thurber commented on the trend in serious literary circles to be constantly speaking of - and praising - art that displayed "raw naked emotion." He concluded that he only hoped "clothed sensibility" would also somehow survive.



Doesn't much look like it did.

4982

General Software Discussion / Re: find the sound file of this website

« Last post by 40hz on October 03, 2012, 06:49 PM »

At first I thought it was Pink Floyd, as they did do the original song, but then I thought it was possible that this is a very good cover. Without hearing the vocals that were cut from the version used on Moscow Classic, I can't really tell.

Thought it could be Shadow Gallery's cover, for a minute, but the heartbeat/clock sound isn't quite the same as theirs.

I am still thinking it could be a cover, but there are so many covers that I couldn't tell you which one, especially since I have no vocals to work with.

-app103 (October 03, 2012, 03:19 PM)

It's definitely not Floyd themselves unless I'm very mistaken. I checked YouTube for various Gilmour and Waters versions plus some of the 'tribute' stage bands (Aussies most likely). But I couldn't find an exact match. That double-time on the opening beat (didda-didda) is unique AFAICT.

I guess somebody could always just ask them... (But where's the fun in that?)

4983

Screenshot Captor / Re: This program should be avoided like the plague!

« Last post by 40hz on October 03, 2012, 06:37 PM »

^But they weren't gone. And the person posting the complaint knew that. It was an  inconvenience, sure. But it wasn't a disaster.

Dunno...it's ok to cuss at software I suppose. But I don't think it's either fair or appropriate to also cuss out the developer for an honest "mistake" (open to debate BTW) that did not result in data loss. Especially when it's a piece of what is essentially freeware.

But there ya go. And I suppose I shouldn't be surprised any more. I've been involved with FOSS for a long time. And from that I've since come to appreciate the truth in the old saying: "No good deed ever goes unpunished."

 

4984

Living Room / Re: Barebone server: what else do I need to complete it?

« Last post by 40hz on October 03, 2012, 06:26 PM »

but vibration, man... vibration.

-f0dder (October 03, 2012, 05:46 PM)

Definitely. Review what the people that did the Backblaze storage server did about vibration (nylon standoffs, foam anchor across the tops of the drives, rubber band 'sleeves') since that seemed to work the trick for them. Adapt as needed. Old trick: passing the anchoring screws through grommets or soft hi-temp washers between the drives and the tray they're mounted to cuts down on vibes as well. Dampens noise too. (Obviously won't work with some tool-less and rail mounting systems.)

Note: In a room with the door shut should be quiet enough as long as it's not a rack case.

You can also always turn it off at night or when company is over if it does get annoying.

right now is nobody in the US seems to be selling the Lian Li pc-d8000.

-superboyac (October 03, 2012, 05:12 PM)

That can be a problem with Lian Li. Some of their most interesting products never seem to be available from US sources. Guess US distributors prefer to stick with the best sellers.

4985

Screenshot Captor / Re: This program should be avoided like the plague!

« Last post by 40hz on October 03, 2012, 06:05 PM »

I have tried many programs in my time, but this was the most egregious and infuriating behavior I've encountered yet.
.
.
.
this piece of shit
.
.
.
I think it is some of the most arrogant and inconsiderate programming I have ever seen.

-meamjw (October 03, 2012, 05:06 PM)

It's understandable that someone would be annoyed about what happened. But I think the way that annoyance is being expressed isn't exactly what most people would see as being very considerate either.

There's ways to complain. Calling a sophisticated piece of popular software that has received glowing reviews and is offered both freely and 'as is' as "a piece of shit" - and calling the developer "arrogant" and "inconsiderate" purely over a design decision - is more than a bit over the top IMO.

But that's the way it goes I guess.

4986

Living Room / Re: Barebone server: what else do I need to complete it?

« Last post by 40hz on October 03, 2012, 04:54 PM »

A couple of things to keep in mind:

1) while your amount of harddrives are going to require *some* cooling, even if you end up with very silent cooling the vibration from the harddrives are going to make a fair amount of noise. You'll want the case to be massive, not the flimsy few-millimetres-thick that even high-quality cases usually are made of.
2) even if you put in power supplies that are ridiculously over-specced (which you shouldn't), be sure to set the harddrives to "staggered spinup^w" (or Powered-Up-In-Standby) individually before you attempt turning on the system that's been finally assembled with 20 disks.

-f0dder (October 03, 2012, 04:11 PM)

Are you saying the Lian Li case is not thick enough?  What are my alternatives?

-superboyac (October 03, 2012, 04:33 PM)

Many high end cases are fabricated out of aluminum. So they're not as sturdy as a comparable steel case. But unless you're moving them around a lot, or you're in the habit of sitting on them, it's seldom a problem. At least from my experience. I've never seen many problems with them except when somebody (not me) got too heavy handed during a build and damaged one.

The Antec Sonata line is a steel case designed to minimize noise while still providing adequate cooling. But that would severely limit the number of drive spaces available since it's a PC rather than a server case. You could use it for the server and put the drives in a separate cabinet. But that wouldn't solve the problem of fan and drive noise for the array...

I don't know of anything that supports a large number of drives that is going to be very quiet.

About the only way I know to keep noise down and minimize power requirements with large numbers of drives is to go with 2.5" (laptop style) drives. Which isn't what you'd likely want to do at this point.

4987

Living Room / Re: VPS Recommendations Anyone?

« Last post by 40hz on October 03, 2012, 01:53 PM »

Dovecot seems a bit confusing... Do I need to run an email server (MTA) on top of it?

-Renegade (October 03, 2012, 10:39 AM)

You need an MTA (i.e Postfix, exim, QMail, etc.) under it. The MTA moves mail in and out. The MTA is the mail server. Dovecot retrieves mail from the mail server and serves it to the user via POP or IMAP. It sits between the mail server and the user's email client. And just to make it doubly confusing, yes...Dovecot is a server too!

Here's an example of all the steps needed to setup email yourself as provided by one webhost.

Suggestion...if you're really new at this - or you just want to get on with your life and worry about really learning all this stuff later - ask your hosting company if they provide a setup service for email. A lot of times it's just cheaper to pay them to set it up if you value your time at anything over two bucks an hour.

I'll also suggest to my very small clients they go with a managed email service and let the host provider worry about configuration, updates, security patching, antispam/antimalware scanning, failover provisioning, etc. It makes sense for a small number of mailboxes since most only charge between $2 and $5 per mailbox per month. So unless you're doing over 5 mailboxes, I'd at least consider going with that until you got up to speed on doing it yourself. (Don't know how fast you want to move on this.)

 

4988

Living Room / Re: VPS Recommendations Anyone?

« Last post by 40hz on October 03, 2012, 09:39 AM »

This is off-topic, but saw this "hosting provider"... cripes... just look at the page - it's a nightmare... And so bad that it's just funny.

http://www.edenphost.com/

Which of the 83474 reasons not to use them did you pick?

-Renegade (October 03, 2012, 09:27 AM)

You think their page is less cheesy, confusing, and cluttered than mega-monster host GoDaddy? (Ok. So maybe they don't have a Danica...)   

4989

Living Room / Re: VPS Recommendations Anyone?

« Last post by 40hz on October 03, 2012, 09:34 AM »

I really need a good email server that just works.

-Renegade (October 03, 2012, 09:02 AM)

Current "smart money" seems to be betting on Dovecot. Dovecot has its own antispam plug-in. Spamassassin can also be integrated into most MTAs as well. But you're on your own with that. HowtoForge has walkthru tutorials you can look at to get an idea of whats involved. Do a search on the string "perfect server" for good how-tos on doing a complete server setup. They generally have one for each major distro and version.

FWIW, if you're primarily interested in more of a webmail solution (which is probably smarter if it's your server) take a look at Roundcube. I've been evaluating it and it's very impressive.



Look familiar?
 

4990

Living Room / Re: fast infrared coming?

« Last post by 40hz on October 03, 2012, 09:05 AM »

Could help reduce some of the RF we're constantly bombarding ourselves with. 

4991

General Software Discussion / Re: Cool New Malware/Spyware ;)

« Last post by 40hz on October 03, 2012, 08:54 AM »

... and everyone starts spying on their "friends"?

-nudone (October 03, 2012, 08:21 AM)

Why bother if "everyone" is dumping their entire life on Facebook?

-Ath (October 03, 2012, 08:38 AM)

LOL! Yeah. It's almost like the guy who had a neighbor called Greta: "Anything about her sex life I couldn't learn from what I heard through our condo walls she'd be equally happy to tell me about, over a drink, down by the pool."
 

4992

Living Room / Re: VPS Recommendations Anyone?

« Last post by 40hz on October 03, 2012, 08:47 AM »

I'm basically a Windows guy, so... looking to the far deeper pool of Linux experience here.

I do not need uber-awesome-can-do-anything - I just need "works for a CMS, email, and is easy enough to use that I don't lose hair."

I've not done Linux server admin before -- Windows only. So... new waters for me. (Used Linux servers, but not a tonne.)

-Renegade (October 03, 2012, 01:04 AM)

It shouldn't be too much of a challenge if you already had some server experience. Servers are pretty much servers. The only real differences between them are the directory structures and filename conventions.

WHM/cPanel will get you where you want to go on your host site. You could also optionally install Webmin on your server once it's set up to help you handle all the little details. If you go to the Webmin link there's full info plus a live demo running under CentOS you can play with.

For a Linux server I'd seriously consider using CentOS. It's rock solid. And pretty much the industry standard (along with RHEL) for Linux servers.

4993

General Software Discussion / Re: Cool New Malware/Spyware ;)

« Last post by 40hz on October 03, 2012, 08:23 AM »

I think the talk about it being used to read a computer screen or a document on a desk is a red herring.

I think it's much more useful allowing you to confirm/discover somebody (BinLaden?) actually is somewhere; or that a someplace (communications center, weapons cache, control room?) is where the GPS coordinates say the phone is; or a something ('missing' tactical warhead, or guy in a 'bunny suit' holding a stoppered flask?) is in near proximity to the smartphone. All it would take is one quick glimpse.

Where there's a will there's a way. And where there's a confirmed coordinate for a "high value" target, there's a guy in a van 500 miles away directing an MQ-1 Predator drone towards it.
 

4994

General Software Discussion / Re: find the sound file of this website

« Last post by 40hz on October 02, 2012, 09:02 PM »

Kunkel is correct. The song is Time from Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album.

I personally think the 1974 Live at Wembly performance was the best version if you think of it more as a rock song. I'm not sure which version Moscow Classic is using. The fast double beat you hear on the opening heartbeat/clock isn't in any version I'm familiar with - although being a radio station (preumably with a sound studio) they could have redone and added that part themselves when they edited out about two and a half minutes of the intro.
 

4995

General Software Discussion / Re: best online personal organizer

« Last post by 40hz on October 02, 2012, 05:33 PM »

I think you'd be happier storing that sort of thing on your own PC and optionally synchronizing with something like DropBox or GoToMyPC if you really needed remote access to your files.

Or just use SkyDrive and OneNote. That would also allow other OneNote/Skydrive users to collaborate with you on research projects.  

4996

General Software Discussion / Re: data organizer

« Last post by 40hz on October 02, 2012, 05:28 PM »

Tons of software for that.

If you want to organize a grab bag of different types of information resources try Microsoft's OneNote.  

4997

General Software Discussion / Re: Steam set to become app store

« Last post by 40hz on October 02, 2012, 01:47 PM »

Yeah - I am going to trust Steam with cloud data.

-Carol Haynes (August 15, 2012, 07:36 AM)

Had similar problems (on and off) with my account at Steam.

I don't really like them. I have maybe six games? I hardly ever log on any more.

I'll just stick with GoG for my gaming experience. GoG "gets it."

4998

Living Room / Re: Judge Lifts Ban on US Sales of Samsung Tablet...funny

« Last post by 40hz on October 02, 2012, 12:24 PM »

Renegade, how did you get superboyac's login?

-mwb1100 (October 02, 2012, 12:10 PM)

4999

Living Room / Re: Got a Damaged iPhone? You're Not Alone

« Last post by 40hz on October 02, 2012, 12:22 PM »

  Why would it need to become obsolete. My iPhone never worked completely right from the day I first unboxed it. And forget about it if you ever drop one. That's a guarantee you'll start experiencing all sorts of intermittent weirdness and connection problems.

5000

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by 40hz on October 02, 2012, 12:07 PM »

Perhaps you don't want to be tracked for how much technology you buy - computers, HDDs, cards, memory? Out of cash and out of pron?

-Renegade (October 02, 2012, 08:07 AM)

Especially the pron!

-Arizona Hot (October 02, 2012, 11:59 AM)

Why not? You'll start getting all kinds of personal email from sexy (legal age!) Russian hotties who want to date you once you get pegged as a pr0n addict. They'll tell you exactly what they want to do with you. And as a plus, they speak pretty good English too!

I guess Russian ladies really get off on porn huh?