Recent Posts

5726

General Software Discussion / Re: [rant] Seriously? Software pricing is officially nuts

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 19, 2009, 04:59 PM »

I remember back in the Win98/2000 days I thought ACDSee was one of the coolest image programs out there. However after XP and the built in (and lightning fast) image viewer I no longer had a use for it.

$280?!? ROFL ...I've actually passed up several opportunities to get (quality) pirated copies of the program because it wasn't worth the space to store on the drive.

5727

General Software Discussion / Re: Disks: Why size=performance - Interesting article on speeding up your computer

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 19, 2009, 12:36 PM »

I'm still not convinced there is an advantage that is effected by this tweak. Drives fill from the faster outside tracks in (or at least that's my understanding...) so what advantage is there to artificially shrinking the drive if you only have 200-300GB of stuff ... it going to be on the faster outer edge anyway (regardless of how much extra free space there is to rattle around in).

5728

General Software Discussion / Re: Worst Win7 reviews (ongoing)

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 16, 2009, 06:31 PM »

I think I get where he's coming from tho. The average Joe User really just wants to fire the thing up and either connect to stuff like cameras, printers, & the internet or open application X and look at item Y. ...Kinda just like they do with a radio or TV. For those folk it just comes down to a connector thingy and a channel guide (Application? Website? Hell I don't know it just said SportsCenter on it...).

5729

fSekrit / Re: Beta: fSekrit 1.40 needs some abuse!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 16, 2009, 06:58 AM »

Did you peek ... or are you just better at working from memory than I am (hehe).

Yes, it was the linker option I ws thinking of ... So I was totally off base.

I gota remember not to post ramblings pre-coffee.

5730

fSekrit / Re: Beta: fSekrit 1.40 needs some abuse!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 16, 2009, 06:14 AM »

Sure I can do that.

I'm still using MSVS2005 which has the option (enabled by default) Make Win98 compatable exe. So MSVS2008 calls it something else (and disables it ('bout time really)) ... or am I totally of base.

5731

fSekrit / Re: Beta: fSekrit 1.40 needs some abuse!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 15, 2009, 03:56 PM »

Yes NT4 sp6a, I'd assumed it didn't matter (I never code for anything older then 2k either) but the error was something to the effect of "Program is not a valid Windows NT executable"

5732

fSekrit / Re: Beta: fSekrit 1.40 needs some abuse!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 15, 2009, 01:53 PM »

Fonts work for me in:
Win7 x64
Server 2008 x86
Server 2003 x86
Windows 2000

Program does not run on WinNT ... and I'm guesing you don't care either

5733

Developer's Corner / Re: Help with ASP.Net program

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 15, 2009, 11:13 AM »

wow 69 views and no reply.

-Boni (November 15, 2009, 09:19 AM)

Yes, sometimes these things happen ... Have you considered installing an IIS weberver on your PC to host/access it (or a copy of it) locally?

5734

Living Room / Re: a gmail system that works for me.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 15, 2009, 11:05 AM »

And a bit of advice for those who keep all their emails on webmail servers forever, not just Google's, at least in the United States, after 6 months an email loses its protected status becoming just another database record & can be used by the company who owns the server however they wish including giving it to anyone they want. Coincidentally, Google actively encourages Gmail users to never delete any emails. Conclude whatever you may from correlating those two facts.

-Innuendo (November 13, 2009, 05:25 PM)

I know Google preaches the philosophy of do no evil & I think that's great, but when all of their EULAs and usage agreements boil down to the meaning of, "Hey, buddy...remember us? We do no evil. Trust us." it's not comforting to me.

-Innuendo (November 15, 2009, 10:29 AM)

...And that's why I run my own servers. If one of those freebie comercial servers gets hacked, they may or (most likely) may not deem it necessary to tell anybody about it. Which can seriously impact the users whos data was stolen because they won't be given the much needed heads-up to look for falling rocks.

5735

General Software Discussion / Re: At last: MP3 Lossless!!!

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 14, 2009, 10:11 AM »

On another note, one of the positives of my descent into old age is that I have no need to pay a premium to buy frequencies I can't hear anymore. Nature has now blessed me with mp3 ears.

-tsaint (November 14, 2009, 07:54 AM)

  That really resonates with me, as well. I like that, mp3 ears 

-Darwin (November 14, 2009, 09:09 AM)

Save me a seat on that bus also ... 30 years if open piped Harleys has had an impact on my hearing.

I am wondering if the Loudness War fiasco that Innuendo mentioned is why many tracks sound like the vocals are/have been washed out (barely audible) to me.

5736

Living Room / Re: a gmail system that works for me.

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 13, 2009, 02:51 PM »

Wouldn't it be cool if we had a home grown web mail app? Gmail-like, but just run on your own server. That's stupid talk, forgive me.

-zridling (November 13, 2009, 02:35 PM)

Why? I host my own Email (have for years). I've often thougt about looking into a browser based access solution for my mail server ... I've just never had the time to get it off the ground.

5737

Living Room / Re: Microsoft openly challenges Vmware in new ad campaign

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 13, 2009, 05:43 AM »

Microsoft is puting that it a TV commercial?!?

Why? ...is mom & pop goint to open a server farm after christmas?

I like VPC & Server (and run both) but that's just foolish for TV.

5738

Living Room / Re: Large hadron collider shut down by bird dropping bread

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 12, 2009, 05:53 AM »

Lobing in a StarsWars joke nice...

(Parallels noted)

5739

Living Room / Re: Large hadron collider shut down by bird dropping bread

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 11, 2009, 08:21 AM »

I'm guessing we're sitting in front of the first problem, and the second problem is multiple choice exams.

5740

Living Room / Re: Large hadron collider shut down by bird dropping bread

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 10, 2009, 11:13 PM »

I don't mind the levity of the original post/poster ( ). There is something humerous and ironic that such a hi-tec bit of kit (understatement) can be destroyed by a piece of bread!!! What I do object to is the assumption that all scientists do is waste public money on stupid research - plus the idea that it is always US money that is wasted.

-Carol Haynes (November 10, 2009, 04:24 PM)

I was actually coming from more of a global community angle (which the internet has made us), as in "we" the tax payers of any and all countries ... that have to pay for billion dollar projects that end up going awry in some unique way. And I have no problem with science, I've actually always thought it a much better "investment" than theology... 

It is very hard to understand why scientists are labelled geeks, boffins and nerds whereas people who read Dickens or the Bible are classed by many to be more intelligent (which is why we now have universities full of people studying literature and media studies and a huge lack of people interested in pursuing 'hard science') - I'm afraid I'm left scratching my head in wonder at how attitudes have managed to deteriorate to this point.

Literature is easy to pontificate on (image is everything these days, ya know...) ... Read a book and then rattle off some long winded explanation of what you think it meant in a forceful manner and the crowd will generally all nod because they all want to fit in. Science on the other hand requires that you actually really do know something it depth as guess work tends to be fatal. Hence it requires a bit more driven and dedicated type of participant.

You only have to look at education in the UK in recent decades to see how science (and maths) have been dumbed down to the point that it is difficult to get to a point where undergraduate study is possible in many universities without extensive remedial work to get students up to scratch in the first year.

At least most of your students can still read, ours can hardly form sentences half the time.

5741

Living Room / Re: Large hadron collider shut down by bird dropping bread

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 10, 2009, 03:06 PM »

Well gee folks, sorry I woke-up in a good mood and thought I'd lead with a bit of levity ... I hadn't intended to set off the erudition squads philistine alert.

5742

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: SysAdmin-focused Account Information Keeper

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 10, 2009, 06:20 AM »

Right now I'm using WikidPad and keeping the wiki itself encrypted on my drive. It's a nasty hack, and I'd really like native encryption within the application, but beggars can't be choosers...

-Ehtyar (October 13, 2009, 02:42 PM)

I can't believe f0dder hasn't chipped in here recommending you fSekrit

-Lashiec (October 14, 2009, 09:46 AM)

+1 (Damn, you beat me to that )

As a Network Admin portable security is definitely an issue, and f0dder's fSekrit (on a Thumb-Drive) works for me. It's a small, fast, simple, and elegant solution.

5743

Living Room / Re: How would you improve a standard PC keyboard?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 10, 2009, 05:58 AM »

I'd get rid of the damn CapsLock key.  It might be worth little test to get a key mapping utility to make it behave instead like an Enter key and see how that would work out. I may just do that.

-mwb1100 (November 08, 2009, 08:51 PM)

I was thinking electrify the CapsLock key.

And how about making Alt + Esc the left-handed Enter key.

5744

Living Room / Re: Large hadron collider shut down by bird dropping bread

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 10, 2009, 05:52 AM »

Billions of dollars went into this device, which was designed by "Top Scientists" ... that some bird-brain varment just fried with a bread crumb.

Refresh my memory...
...WTF are we paying these people for?

5745

Living Room / Re: Legal Insanity

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 10, 2009, 05:46 AM »

As long as he wasn't on the phone ... either action is fine with me.

5746

General Software Discussion / Re: Any XP users switching to Windows 7 yet?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 06, 2009, 06:31 PM »

Processor doesn't matter, if the OS is 32bit then you're dealing with the x86 archetecture...which can only address 3.25Gb of RAM.

The server OS's don't count they're leveraging PAE and require special software coded specifically to use the "additional" memory above 3.25Gb.

5747

General Software Discussion / Re: If shareware prices double in 2010, can you still afford to upgrade?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 06, 2009, 05:56 AM »

Option #1: FLOSS
Option #2: Piracy
Option #3: The Fine Devs realize that we're not buying anymore and drop the prices.

-scancode (November 06, 2009, 01:22 AM)

That sounds about right.

5748

Living Room / Re: Comcast internet throttling is up and running

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 06, 2009, 05:46 AM »

AT&T is also sending out feelers to see how much 'customer interest'  (i.e. willingness to pay) there is for "in-home cell base stations" to cover people who live in dead spots, so I wouldn't hold my breath.

-40hz (November 05, 2009, 06:33 PM)

That's one of those devices that's always bugged me, if the cell phone can't get signal...because it's too far from the tower. What good is a second device that's also equally too far from the same tower going to do?

5749

Living Room / Re: Comcast internet throttling is up and running

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 05, 2009, 06:10 AM »

I thought the FCC Squashed this crap a while back - Now they're at it again?!?

5750

General Software Discussion / Re: Time to kill the OS upgrade disc?

« Last post by Stoic Joker on November 03, 2009, 10:15 PM »

I'm really getting tired of more and more crapware and annoyances coming on pre-installed machines.  It's a waste of 2 days just taking that crap off and getting the machine so you can use it normally.

-MilesAhead (November 02, 2009, 02:39 PM)

Can't speak for other OEMs, but some Dells allow you to opt out of the crapware when you ordered a machine. Or at least you used to be able to anyway. The OS recovery discs Dell includes with their machines are crapware free. If you get a Dell that has crapware installed it's a simple matter to do an OS re-install with the included media and get a crapware-free desktop.

-Innuendo (November 03, 2009, 10:03 AM)

Quite true, specifically on the Vostro's and the other SMB stuff. ...You order a new comp with Windows on it, and damned if it don't show up with nothing but windows on it. I was pleasently blown away first time I got one outa the box.