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576
General Software Discussion / Re: Windows Server 2008 R2 - 64 bit only from here on ...
« Last post by CWuestefeld on November 11, 2008, 03:50 PM »
the most striking feature is that from this version 32-bit servers are history
-Carol Haynes (November 11, 2008, 03:19 PM)
Sigh. That's going to be a big problem for my team. We're developing server software, so we naturally want to use the platform we're developing for (i.e., Windows Server).

However, our development tools (Microsoft's own Visual Studio, SQL Server Management Studio, etc.) are completely unstable in the 64-bit environment. For example, the two tools I mentioned specifically cannot run simultaneously; when they're both up, one of them will always crash within a few minutes.

The only way we can be productive today is in the 32-bit environment. Microsoft is going to have to do something to stabilize the OS and/or the tools (I'm not sure on which side the fault lies).

When they're done with that, they should do something about the confusion of managing the 64-bit environment, what with the WOW thing, the bizarre remapping of the Program Files, the fact that .Net recognizes different machine.config files depending on which environment is running, etc.
577
General Software Discussion / Re: Renamers, Picture Viewers, etc., 1999 before 2
« Last post by CWuestefeld on November 10, 2008, 03:03 PM »
That particular thing was a one-of-a-kind, as it's very expensive. My wife bought for me a class in driving a race car, which shows what a really great wife I've got.

The experience was amazing: lapping the road course at Pocono International Raceway as fast as you can possibly manage. The cars don't have speedometers, but from what I could extrapolate from the tachometer, I was probably doing 120mph. It starts with a classroom session, then a tour around the course with an instructor showing us where the best line is, and where the corner apexes are. Then out in the race car with the instructor watching for a session (and passing the other students is allowed!), followed by instructor comments and tips for improvement, then another cycle of the same. And I only spun the car once  :D

But I do continue to race go-karts. We have an indoor track not far from my house, and the folks say these cars get up to 45mph on the straight.

I like speed.

Back on topic, it looks like you could us a renamer to assign sequential 0-padded numbers, working from a list sorted by creation date. It think that Ant Renamer will do this.
578
General Software Discussion / Re: Renamers, Picture Viewers, etc., 1999 before 2
« Last post by CWuestefeld on November 10, 2008, 11:58 AM »
About a year ago this topic came up on CodingHorror. I was intrigued, and wrote some code and a CodeProject article that uses regular expressions to handle this.

My algorithm deals with multiple numeric "fields" in the name, decimal values, etc. But a commenter pointed out that Windows actually provides a shell API method that will do this kind of sorting for you.
579
General Software Discussion / What's on your flash drive?
« Last post by CWuestefeld on November 07, 2008, 04:59 PM »
I've been putting together a flash drive with enough software installed to let me be useful on most any Windows PC. I've found a good deal of useful portable apps, and I wonder if anybody can add to the list. I started out with the 1GB edition of winPenPack, and then found these other things:

SoftMaker Office 200867MBI like this much better than the OpenOffice that comes with winPenPack, so I deleted that (freeing up a ton of space) and put this in its stead. List price $80, but you can find it for much cheaper.
UltraExplorer6MB + pluginsOn my desktop I use DOpus, but don't have the portable license. After a bit of searching, this seems to be the best free portable explorer for a DOpus lover. Takes TotalCommander plugins for its file viewer, too.
Diagram Designer<1MB (wow)I really don't like the open-source Dia (portable here). Diagram Designer offers really good diagramming without the bells-and-whistles that I've never used anyway, for an incredibly small space premium.
Python development environment92MB total
Games
IrfanView10MB with pluginsImage viewer
SysInternals ProcessExplorer3.5MBMonitor what the system's doing
Unknown Devices<1MBFind out what the mystery devices in your computer are.
TestDisk<3MBDisk partition recovery
580
Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Check the new FreewareUpdater
« Last post by CWuestefeld on November 07, 2008, 01:10 PM »
Where were you a week ago when I was building a new machine for my wife?  ;)

This looks pretty cool, actually. Nice job.

The only odd thing I noted was that Open Office, arguably the flagship open freeware project, was not listed under the Office Productivity category
-40hz (November 07, 2008, 10:51 AM)
But it does list Go-oo, which is an enchanced branch off of OO.
581
Living Room / Re: Christmas Gift Ideas Under $25... Make a List!
« Last post by CWuestefeld on November 07, 2008, 01:07 PM »
If you're giving someone storage media like a flash drive, why don't you give them a bonus gift (free!) by filling it up with photo files?
-CWuestefeld (November 05, 2008, 04:47 PM)

That's actually a pretty good idea. But don't just stop there. Also fill it up with DonationCoder software and some PortableApps. :Thmbsup:
-Deozaan (November 06, 2008, 09:49 PM)

Let me suggest looking at
582
General Software Discussion / Re: Best Python IDE
« Last post by CWuestefeld on November 06, 2008, 08:11 AM »
WingIDE is so far best IDE for Python developers I have been testing/using. Absolutely worth of every cent (and it's not even expensive!!).
-simakuutio (November 06, 2008, 05:18 AM)
According to their feature matrix, the Personal edition doesn't include such features as "Class browser" and "Code folding", which from my investigations appears to be a baseline feature of any Python IDE. Based on this, I get the impression that it's a toy until you get to the Professional edition, which at $179 isn't cheap.
583
Living Room / Re: Christmas Gift Ideas Under $25... Make a List!
« Last post by CWuestefeld on November 05, 2008, 04:47 PM »
Last year I had a photograph of us together printed onto real canvas. The company I used (http://www.updone.com/ ) was remarkably cheap, the two-foot-wide picture only cost in the neighborhood of $25, but the framing was a good deal more. The quality was very good.

If you're giving someone storage media like a flash drive, why don't you give them a bonus gift (free!) by filling it up with photo files?
584
Living Room / Re: Things your kids will never know - old school tech!
« Last post by CWuestefeld on November 05, 2008, 10:07 AM »
IBM did release "Red October", AKA Object Rexx.  The IDE is ok for an IDE made in 1998.
-dwbrant (November 05, 2008, 08:35 AM)

Really? I've heard of Object Rexx, but I couldn't find any reference to it in conjunction with Red October. When I saw it circa 1992, the IDE certainly needed work, but it was a good start. What was remarkable about the platform was that the code was inherently client-server (that was the height of technology at the time, before n-tier architectures). But as I recall, everyone viewed the project as dead. I guess after I left it must have been resurrected.
585
Living Room / Re: Recommend a keyboard
« Last post by CWuestefeld on November 03, 2008, 02:24 PM »
I decided on the Logitech G11, and I'm now a week into my use of it. Overall I'm quite happy with it. A few impressions:

  • Good feel and layout.
  • The thing is huge: it seems a bit deeper than an average keyboard, but mostly, it's incredibly wide due to the extra button rows on the left. The extra depth makes it harder to get to the multimedia keys, as they're slightly under my monitor.
  • It doesn't have the clipboard buttons that I'd sought as such, but with 18 programmable buttons (times three banks), so far I've set buttons for
    • Cut, Copy, Paste
    • Select All
    • Run ScreenSaver (because mine won't come on by itself anymore)
    • Left the bottom-left key empty, because I still have to learn that it's not the Ctrl key
    • Bring up Ditto and paste as text.
    I'm glad for the 18 keys on the G11 rather than the 6 on the G15.
  • The volume wheel is cool.

I still wish for the scroll wheel from my BTC.
586
Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Movie Collector from Collectorz on Bits du Jour soon
« Last post by CWuestefeld on November 02, 2008, 11:11 AM »
I take it that BitsDuJour.com is working for you? They've been inaccessible to me since Friday. Pings and tracerts don't return, both from my home and from my office.

Coincidentally, GiveawayOfTheDay is similarly inaccessible, although it's not their server itself that's unresponsive, but something on the route to them.
587
Living Room / Re: Tech News Weekly: Edition 44
« Last post by CWuestefeld on October 31, 2008, 09:08 AM »
Actually, what does everyone think about those slightly off-topic articles?
-Ehtyar (October 30, 2008, 07:02 PM)
There wasn't anything there that I perceived as off-topic. Everything there ought to be of some interest to people in the computer software community.

For my really-off-topic 2 cents: remember that Aussie ATO thing the next time you hear Washington spouting about the need for Real ID to actually keep us more secure.
588
Living Room / Re: 007 James Bond
« Last post by CWuestefeld on October 31, 2008, 08:35 AM »
I live in China where they do not have DST
-Davidtheo (October 31, 2008, 02:17 AM)
I think the issue with China is that the whole darned country -- and big one it is -- only observes a single timezone. At over 5200km east-to-west (over 3200 miles), that's a lot of longitude degrees in one chunk.

Compare this to the continental USA, which is less than 2800 miles at its widest point, but observes 4 time zones.
589
Living Room / Re: Things your kids will never know - old school tech!
« Last post by CWuestefeld on October 29, 2008, 04:12 PM »
Yea, those were the days when you could repair a TV rather than have to throw it away.
-zridling (October 29, 2008, 04:04 PM)
If you remember those days, you most remember the joys of adjusting the horizontal hold and vertical hold.

And I remember our channel selector knob was broken, so we kept a pair of pliers on top of the TV so that you could turn the turret switch inside it.
590
Living Room / Re: Why no screensaver?
« Last post by CWuestefeld on October 29, 2008, 10:47 AM »
Saving power is only part of my concern. I'd also like to actually save my screen (I've actually seen burned-in LCD displays, believe it or not). Also, I use JKDefrag as a screen saver, and I'd like to have my disk continue to get defragged.

In the meantime, I've cobbled together a true DC solution. I've added Skrommel's RunScreenSaver as a button on my FARR, so I just have to remember to click this.
591
Living Room / Re: I'd pass on this discount...
« Last post by CWuestefeld on October 28, 2008, 11:43 AM »
In my real life, I manage a team building a set of ecommerce web sites for a large account computer reseller. You've never heard of us, but our web sites produce several hundred million dollars in revenue every year.

One of the development tasks I take care of myself is the catalog and pricing engine. What you're showing is a recurring nightmare of mine.

A few weeks back I had a bug that put VMWare right on our home page -- for free! Luckily I spotted it before any opportunists came along.
592
Living Room / Re: Things your kids will never know - old school tech!
« Last post by CWuestefeld on October 28, 2008, 09:01 AM »
There was a time not so very long ago when being able to write "in a fair hand" was considered a necessary accomplishment for anyone who professed to have an education.
-40hz (October 27, 2008, 06:26 PM)

It wasn't all that great a time. My grandmother is left-handed, and they tied her left hand behind her back so that she'd learn to write "properly" with her right.

Anyway, there's a reason we move on. I can type much faster than the majority of people can write. And why don't we all still use quill pens, or animal blood on the walls, for that matter?
593
Living Room / Re: Things your kids will never know - old school tech!
« Last post by CWuestefeld on October 27, 2008, 04:13 PM »
I need to sit down (Darwin sits very still with his head in his hands).
-Darwin (October 27, 2008, 04:03 PM)

Ummmm... what are you sitting on?
594
Living Room / Re: 007 James Bond
« Last post by CWuestefeld on October 27, 2008, 09:03 AM »
I think the time change is a terrible thing.

I live in NJ, commuting east in the morning toward NYC and back west again in the evening, so I'm always driving into the sun. Obviously, because of the size of NYC, there are many people making this same drive, so there's lots of traffic and lots of people are affected, and I daresay that the same situation applies anywhere there's a city that's not on the west coast.

There's a certain time period twice a year where the sun shines into your eyes below the elevation angle of your car's visor. This happens once as the days get longer (and the sunrise earlier) in the spring, and again as they move later, in the fall. During these periods there is a huge increase in traffic as folks hit the brakes because it's hard to drive with the sun in your eyes. I don't have stats, but I believe that there's a concomitant increase in accidents.

The thing is, the timing of the daylight savings changes forces us to pass through these dangerous periods twice per cycle. Once we've gone through it once in the spring, and the sun has risen high enough that it's not a danger, we have to set our clocks back an hour so once again the sun is under the visor, directly in the eyes, and causing traffic accidents.
595
General Software Discussion / Re: Best Python IDE
« Last post by CWuestefeld on October 27, 2008, 05:28 AM »
A couple of you noted pydev, so I looked a little deeper there. It bothered me a little that it's an extension to Eclipse. That makes it kinda heavy-weight, and it seems to be a second-class citizen there; the environment certainly isn't designed for the peculiarities of python.

On the other hand, I tried to download Eric, and it turns out that (as far as I can tell) you just can't get it for Windows without building parts of it yourself. It needs Qt (which is pretty darned big), but more significantly, it also needs QScintilla2. I was completely unable to find a Windows-built download of this.
596
General Software Discussion / Best Python IDE
« Last post by CWuestefeld on October 25, 2008, 05:25 PM »
As I've been learning the Python language I've been trying to find a comfortable IDE for my purposes. Naturally, the first one I encountered was the "built-in" IDLE, but this quickly proved to be too bare-bones. There are a number of more advanced ones that support code completion, automatic documentation and program structure diagramming, and refactoring.

I've been using SPE (Stani's Python Editor, http://pythonide.stani.be/ ) as it was the first "advanced" one I found, but I've run into roadblocks with it and it's got me frustrated. The last version with an installer had a broken winpdb (the debugger), and while there are newer releases, it seems like they quit building installers some time ago. In fact, it's difficult to find any prebuilt distribution for those of us without svn.

I've come across some others that seem more promising. Notably, pydev and Eric both boast of refactoring, which could be a boon.

Would anyone care to throw in two cents about the features, quality, and support of these tools (or any others)?
597
Living Room / Why no screensaver?
« Last post by CWuestefeld on October 25, 2008, 05:11 PM »
I noticed a couple of weeks ago that my screen saver is no longer coming up. It just sits there showing the desktop, regardless of how long I leave it. The monitor never goes to sleep, either.

Many times I've gone into display properties, and reset the timeouts for both screensaver and power management. It's not that some media player is running -- this even happens with a newly-booted desktop (of course with normal startup apps, but those don't seem relevant).

Has anybody ever seen this behavior on an XP system?
598
Living Room / Re: Things your kids will never know - old school tech!
« Last post by CWuestefeld on October 23, 2008, 10:17 AM »
Fidonet was a remarkable achievement for the day.

I first had a 300-baud direct-connect modem for my Atari 800 (a MPP-1000C). When connecting to an identical modem, it had the unique capability of negotiating a connection up to 450 baud. We were flying!

Once, in college, my modem died and I had to borrow an acoustic modem. Living in a fraternity house, it was frequently noisy enough to interfere with this modem. I used to make the connection, and then wrap up the modem-and-phone-receiver in a towel to block out the noise.

Remember waiting ages for a 100KB download? And when you finally got it, it was corrupt because the checksum in the XModem protocol wasn't very good? Finally they came out with ZModem, and you got better error checking plus batching files.
599
Developer's Corner / Re: Lets talk about GUIs.
« Last post by CWuestefeld on October 23, 2008, 07:05 AM »
...not to mention MFC (which I strongly advise that you avoid ;) )
600
Developer's Corner / Re: Lets talk about GUIs.
« Last post by CWuestefeld on October 23, 2008, 06:20 AM »
Check this out for a comprehensive list
-Eóin (October 23, 2008, 06:12 AM)

It's a large list, but if it doesn't have WinForms, how comprehensive could it be? It's also missing Silverlight.
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