Recent Posts

626

General Software Discussion / beyond compare and superflexible both say I have gigs to synch, when it's kb

« Last post by urlwolf on November 03, 2008, 02:46 AM »

I have settled to use an external HD to synch work/home computers.

I'm considering whether to use beyond compare or superflexible. BC is a lot faster to index and find the differences.

But! I must have some interesting problem with file dates!.
BC and superflexible both say I have gigs to synch, when I know it's kbs only (a day of work!). BC thinks it's 18 Gb, and SFFS says it's 2.4 GB.

Looking at the list (btw, BC is infinitely better in this aspect) they all find ridiculous matches. Files that I haven't touched in ages.

I have no idea what can go wrong. Do you have any suggestions where to start looking?

After months of continuous testing, I haven't found a program that does this right. This is ridiculous. It must be something deeply wrong with my filesystem, because I don't think two of the top players would go wrong (note they are not the same!).

It's getting to the point I want to throw my computer out of the window. Technology sucks, in an expectacular way.

627

General Software Discussion / best compilation of programming tips ever

« Last post by urlwolf on November 01, 2008, 10:12 AM »

http://effectize.com...e-coolest-programmer
Example (number 26):

Follow these 10 commandments of developing user-friendly software:

• Allow immediate termination
  
• Leave start-up alone
  
• Not modify existing file associations
  
• Not ask inappropriate question
  
• Keep noise to a minimum
  
• Stay focused on the goal
  
• Make actions obvious and reversible
  
• Avoid restarts
  
• Make configurations count
  
• Adhere to the platform

628

General Software Discussion / Re: What would your ideal Operating System be like?

« Last post by urlwolf on November 01, 2008, 06:35 AM »

Nontroppo, I think what you are descibing -metadata shared among apps, full access to all data by all apps- is well underway in the semantic desktop crowd.

Mostly KDE, some gnome. Very interesting work done here, if a bit hard to find. I just came back from the international semantic web conference (ISWC2008) and there were lots of people there working on apps that do exactly what you descibe. Example, a file manager that knows which mail each file was an attachment of, even if you move it around.

You can google 'semantic desktop'. Let me know if you want specifics.

629

General Software Discussion / Re: What is the currently best Desktop Search software?

« Last post by urlwolf on October 29, 2008, 12:47 PM »

I'm using locate32, but it doesn't index text inside files, just filenames.
I want the best indexer for pdfs only. Which one is it ?

I have live search installed just because onenote needs it to index its files. If that's good enough, I could use it for pdf too.

Thanks

630

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Quality Comparison: 8 x freeware PDF Readers / Viewers

« Last post by urlwolf on October 28, 2008, 11:57 AM »

Thanks J-Mac,
I'm talking about acrobat, not reader. That's the paid version, so no luck.

And acrobat 8 is not worth paying either when pdf-Xchange does all the things I need for free (almost all: cropping needs a paid version).

I suggest getting a discount on Xchange; what do you think? advantages:

• fast
• portable, only 4Mb
• rendering quality is excellent, better than adobe's in my view. Scroll is faster and smoother with arrow keys.
• can do highlighting and notes; it has assignable shortcuts for everything. Very well done app

What do yout think? Foxit may get shortcuts one day (they are really slow implementing user requests though). The main advantage is that foxit uses less memory, but display quality is not as good.

631

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Quality Comparison: 8 x freeware PDF Readers / Viewers

« Last post by urlwolf on October 26, 2008, 05:34 AM »

When you think adobe could not suck more:
"Preference "Show each document in its own window (requires restart)" no longer available in Acrobat/Reader 9.0"
So now if I want to have several pdfs open, I will waste memory and taskbar space. Go adobe. All your competitors use tabs!
And memory usage is comparable acrobat 9/pdf-Xchage (!). Both are hogs.
I actually find the rendering in pdf-Xchange better.
The only problem with pdf-Xchange is that moving around in the doc feels sluggish; you can see pages redrawing. Not in adobe. It makes a big difference (I browse, mostly).

Adobe has an option "enable 2D acceleration". If pdf-Xchange could do that too (assuming it's the explanation for the difference), it'd have found the perfect reader. They would march on!

632

General Software Discussion / Re: A Special Recognition and Present for DC Member Eric Wong (VideoInPicture

« Last post by urlwolf on October 25, 2008, 08:17 AM »

congrats Eric!

633

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Quality Comparison: 8 x freeware PDF Readers / Viewers

« Last post by urlwolf on October 25, 2008, 02:09 AM »

One question. If PDF-Xchange can make a full pdf tool that edits pdfs in 4mb (portable), why does adobe need to ship a DVD and take half a gig on your HD to do the same thing with Acrobat?

634

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Quality Comparison: 8 x freeware PDF Readers / Viewers

« Last post by urlwolf on October 24, 2008, 07:00 PM »

Xchange has assignable shortcuts, its free version lets you save changes (highlights, notes) and it's portable.

It has two problems: crazy memory usage (only 2 pdfs, and over a gig already) and extremely slow rendering; on a modern machine you can still see the lines progressively filling the screen.
It seems to correct itself and drop memory, but what a hog!

635

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Quality Comparison: 8 x freeware PDF Readers / Viewers

« Last post by urlwolf on October 24, 2008, 04:14 PM »

Well, a show-stopping thing for me: no assignable shortcuts, and most actions don't have one.
A pity.

636

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Quality Comparison: 8 x freeware PDF Readers / Viewers

« Last post by urlwolf on October 24, 2008, 01:58 PM »

foxit seems to have improved a lot.
Highlighting text/marking got more precise. It doesn't get fooled by 2-column papers.
You can pay for the features you need. It's small, and portable. Rendering is quite ok actually. I think I'll keep it as my default for a while.

Plus it has tabs! go foxit!
Anyone else up for a discount?

637

General Software Discussion / Writing to two folders simultaneously. Possible? Tired of running synch progs

« Last post by urlwolf on October 23, 2008, 12:45 PM »

I think I've seen someone here showing a program that lets one write to two folders simultaneously. I just cannot find it. Is this possible? Tired of running synch progs, like SFFS.

The idea would be to have an external HD plugged into my home comp. Then, everything I write to the internal HD on my home computer will get instantly mirrored to the external HD.

I jump into the train, and take my external HD with me. At work, I plug it in and do a sync (with say beyondCompare). Then, every file I change in the office computer gets mirrored to the external HD as well. when back home I run sync again.

But damn! This doesn't save much time. I still have to run two synch sessions! It's so damn hard to keep to computers completely parallel, it's comical.

I have spent hours undoing stupid things I did with SFFS before; having proper backups and syncs is actually a lot of work.

The other alternative is to have everything running on the external HD only. And of course backup the hell out of it. That would save 2 syncs a day.

Why on earth is this so difficult? I was happier when I had only one laptop.

So actually, what I'm asking here (simultaneously writing to internal and external HD as if they were in RAID 2) doesn't spare me the syncs, so there's not much of a point.
Any ideas? 

Thanks!

638

Word Processor Roundup / Re: SoftMaker Office 2008 for Linux now in public beta

« Last post by urlwolf on October 23, 2008, 11:49 AM »

It's great news.
I tried it, but can't find a way to get a two-page (facing) view of my docs. This is basic.
I also need integration with citation software, because the built in facilities are pretty spartan.

Without that, I'm afraid I cannot move to softmaker fulltime.

639

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by urlwolf on October 21, 2008, 12:54 AM »

Thanks mintealb!

It seems there's a notecase version that supports syntax highlighting. This is a patched notecase v1.9.5 using GtkSourceView. Great news! I've been looking for this feature for a while.

I contacted the author.

On the other hand, zim is a personal wiki that is very promising too. It's not exactly portable, though (i.e., lots of dependencies to build it, soso support on win, forget about a pen drive)

640

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by urlwolf on October 20, 2008, 01:47 PM »

Notecase seems very promising BUT:
the free version doesn't keep indentation (!). And the pay version doesn't have any other feature I need. This is silly. Back to searching a half-decent oneNote replacement under linux...

641

General Software Discussion / Re: Ten Tips for Windows users making the switch to Linux

« Last post by urlwolf on October 20, 2008, 10:44 AM »

My main 3 problems with linux:
1 - you better invest some of your time learning sysadmin stuff. With values of 'some' that may range out of reach for most people, if you have a real job

2 - Quite a lot of software, for any category, is worse on linux. Music player? check. Amarok is not really up to pair, and it's a hell of a wonder compared to other linux software. Office suite? Check. Many little tools that make your life easier (ahk, etc)? check

3 - Buying hardware is a real adventure. You better scourge the web before paying for something that linux will not even see.

Even in the unlikely case that an up-to-pair software exists that repleaces your favorite windows one, you'll need to find it and play with it till you get it to suit your needs. And development may stop at any time, as soon as the main dev. gets bored.

642

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by urlwolf on October 20, 2008, 08:56 AM »

Cool! PPLandry already added a change I suggested and I've used the tool for minutes; this is very promising!

Some other thing that is fundamental is search; since superboyac loves live search, I'm sure this has been suggested and implemented; I just don't know how to get it to work. ctrl shift F does something close, but not exaclty. See how oneNote highlights the tabs AND occurrences on the page? That kind of thing. Is this possible?

Also, how about a global shortcut to send it/get it back from the tray?

643

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by urlwolf on October 19, 2008, 04:55 PM »

I downloaded and tried SN.
I'm looking for something that beats oneNote and is portable.

What made me stop looking is that the html mode doesn't work like an outliner (i.e. tabs indents, then it keeps indentation). This is very basic for me, as I write mostly that way.

I still want to invest more time learning the program, as it looks really promising. Will wait for superboyac's tutorial.

I still think that oneNote is wonderful in its simplicity.

644

General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software

« Last post by urlwolf on October 18, 2008, 04:51 AM »

Some findings for linux (all platforms really). Open source as well:
takenote
http://rasm.ods.org/takenote/

Good, if simple. Even spartan. Tab doesn't do indentation (!).

Notecase
same thing (gtk-based). There's a commercial version that adds what everyone would call basic functions in other apps.
http://notecase.sourceforge.net/

Promising?

Still, they both fail at search and highlights. I want all occurrences highlighted. It puzzles me why nobody can simply copy oneNote feature by feature. It's not that hard

645

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your music player of choice?

« Last post by urlwolf on October 11, 2008, 04:18 PM »

yes, I know how to generate the tags, but I was wondering if there was a hack to make AIMP understand the tags and apply the value when playing.

I'm using the hydrogenaudio version of the MAD plugin, and I get pretty bad clipping. I've tried plenty of options, I think there's nothing I can do. Plus the library will not show which files lack replaygain; AIMP is really not built for replaygain ATM. And I cannot get the library to import all my files, it hungs even if I carefully remove  the ones it doesn't like. I'm afraid the version I'm using is very buggy.

646

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your music player of choice?

« Last post by urlwolf on October 10, 2008, 06:31 PM »

THanks muntealb!
But I guess you lose the default engine (BASS) which sounds very good to me.
Does MAD take care of ogg files too, or just mp3? I have quite a lot of oggs.

647

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your music player of choice?

« Last post by urlwolf on October 10, 2008, 04:01 AM »

Thanks for the 32-bit heads up.
I'll try this when I get home.
AIMP is very promising. Unfortunately it seems to crash before importing my entire library. Memory usage is superb.

Do you know if it supports replaygain?

648

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your music player of choice?

« Last post by urlwolf on October 07, 2008, 12:22 PM »

I was using a minimal winamp install, then moved to Mediamonkey. They all use the  izotope ozone plugin, which improves qualify to my ears.

I have to say I have a high end amp and speakers, and an external soundcard. I have spent a lot of time and money getting the best qualify possible.

But recently I've tried spider player, and... damn! it sounds better than anything I've tested before. It seems to be doing something at 32-bit instead of 16. I never thought that would make a difference. But it does. If anyone wants to play with it and report here, I'd love to see if other people find it better sounding too.

It's the BASS engine; in theory it should not sound different (i.e., XMplay, musicIP etc all use that engine).

Is it the 32-bit processing? If so, why are not all players doing it?
I'd love to hear if there's anything one can do to make MM work at 32-bit, then. Because spider is very basic, it doesn't even talk to last.fm.

649

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: AIMP: tiniest memory usage for a music player, library, tabs; beats XMplay

« Last post by urlwolf on October 07, 2008, 06:41 AM »

trying RC4.
Lots of improvement. Takes DSP plugins for winamp.
Memory consumption is excellent.

Still, being a beta, its library reading doesn't work well. It crashes reading my music folders. A pity. Will check AIMP in the future once they release a final.

650

General Software Discussion / Re: File synchronization: moving away from incremental backup (HELP!)

« Last post by urlwolf on October 02, 2008, 12:52 AM »

Tranglos,
I think you are trying to use MF to do versioned backups (at least that's what fileHamster does). And my guess is that MF is designed for synch'ing not for versioned backups (although most of these programs can be used for both see e.g., the very name of synchBack).