Recent Posts

651

Living Room / Re: Anyone want to write an eBook in 2011?

« Last post by nudone on January 03, 2011, 05:03 AM »

Lemme know if I can contribute in any way.

you could write the book

-mouser (January 02, 2011, 10:05 PM)

Heheh, exactly.

652

General Software Discussion / Re: In need of security advice ...

« Last post by nudone on January 01, 2011, 04:20 AM »

Renegade said it all.   

Whatever you implement, you can't stop a simple screengrab - even if you stop the print screen key from working - I could always use a bit of software to grab the screen some other way.

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Living Room / Re: Dreamy Monitor...

« Last post by nudone on December 31, 2010, 05:05 AM »

i think the "working" monitor brightness is going to require quite a bit of thought.

we could have "working" defined as, screen with:

1) active window

2) mouse cursor location

3) user set screen, i.e. a specific monitor is always the "working" screen.

4) keyboard shortcut temporarily defines "working" monitor.

5) probably other methods too

I gave up on wanting brightness levels to be triggered by an event as I realised that the "working" monitor would simply be the one I'm staring at, i.e. the computer has no idea what my eyeballs are doing.

Don't get me wrong, it would be great to still have some kind of quick toggle that changed secondary monitor brightness. I just don't think it would work as well as we all hope.

@Renegade, I think my office chair is an "okay" one. I got it free but I believe it was expensive (if that is an indication of ergonomic quality). I do have to slump a bit in any chair to feel comfortable - which means my eye to screen level is not quite orthadox. I've tried several positions and cushions and all that, I just try to be comfortable - it just means the top monitor is too high up and that's with quite a low desk.

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Living Room / Re: Dreamy Monitor...

« Last post by nudone on December 31, 2010, 03:47 AM »

Perry, it was something i did consider posting a coding snack request about. i decided not to because of the drawback you mentioned, i.e. what defines the "working" monitor.

as for ergonomics - i ignore the rules completely. my posture is terrible (curved spine) so just setting up a comfortable environment for one monitor is troubling enough. which really means i should have known not to place a secondary monitor above the main one - but sometimes you just have to, stubbornly, try things.

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Living Room / Re: Dreamy Monitor...

« Last post by nudone on December 29, 2010, 08:59 AM »

(except for nodding off occasionally).

-cranioscopical (December 29, 2010, 08:56 AM)

hahaha.

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Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by nudone on December 29, 2010, 07:38 AM »

ah, good advice, 40hz. i really didn't know what i was doing with the wd40, it was just an act of desperation. but it worked - for now, at least.

next time i'll try proper contact cleaner or something.

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Living Room / Re: So, when you're working, do you...

« Last post by nudone on December 29, 2010, 07:32 AM »

i find that i can only listen to music if working on tasks that i'm familiar with.

anything requiring real concentration, i.e. problem solving, and i can't listen to anything - sometimes i need ear plugs to cut out the slightest sound.

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Living Room / Re: Dreamy Monitor...

« Last post by nudone on December 29, 2010, 07:28 AM »

people with money to burn on screens and then have the cheapest mouse and keyboard - and mouse mat.

no doubt it impresses the neighbours when they visit. nothing more important than that.

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Living Room / Re: Dreamy Monitor...

« Last post by nudone on December 29, 2010, 07:16 AM »

whilst we are discussing multi-monitor setups, again (there's another thread somehwere) i'd like to add a couple more observations that annoy me.

1) lots of monitors equates to lots of light in your face. obvious really. but i never thought about it until my eyes starting aching. so, main monitor is now "normal" brightness and the other three are set to be quite dark. if your room is well illuminated then i doubt the monitor brightness will be an issue; i'm sat in a dark room, so having four "normal" bright monitors is similar to staring into a light bulb all day, i.e. not very clever.

2) you may think it's "economically viable" to buy a multi-monitor setup these days. I bought a Samsung 24" monitor a few days ago for about £200 (about $300). A good price but you get what you pay for. This is a decent monitor but the viewing angles aren't brilliant. if you had several of these you'd have to fix your head just in the right place to get the best viewing angle from each screen.

my top monitor is similar; cheap, poor viewing angles. i've had to angle this top monitor at quite an extreme angle so it isn't annoying to view. if it were angled perfectly vertical then looking at it from below would make it appear quite dark with terrible contrast.

on the other hand my Ezio 24" monitor has the best viewing angles i've ever seen, but that cost over £1000 (over $1500). you could place this at any height or angle and it would look perfect. i'm sure such a monitor would cost less nowadays; it just demonstrates there is still a difference between the budget and high end screens.

no surprise really, but you can be assured that multi-monitor setups in professional use (medical, whatever) are going to have the best monitors with unlimited budgets to play with. and that makes perfect sense when you see the terrible viewing angles that come with the cheaper screens.

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Living Room / Re: Dreamy Monitor...

« Last post by nudone on December 29, 2010, 04:21 AM »

now that i've got the monitor arrangement below, i've found myself hardly ever using the top monitor. it just seems too high up and uncomfortable to look at. too annoying to move the mouse up there too. maybe i need to sit higher up, or just make more of an effort.

so, for me, multi-monitor setups tend to look cool but aren't really that practical. i think a good setup would be something like two 1920 x 1200 (24") screens. maybe ones that you can flip to portrait.

661

Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by nudone on December 29, 2010, 04:08 AM »

(as Renegade said) thanks for the info, J-Mac.

the odd thing is that i was sure the left button had failed on this MX Revolution. for several days it had behaved randomly, but now it seems perfectly fine. honestly, it WAS unusable and if it was anything like that now, i'd have hit it with a hammer out of frustration.

so, for all the tips on repairing the micro-switch, maybe all you really need is a very small amount of oil dripped over the button - i mean, inside the mouse, just over the white trigger on the micro-switch.

This MX Revolution is just over two years old and is used all day, everyday. it was also a refurbished product so maybe it had quite a bit of use before me. so, you'd expect the buttons to be playing up by now. maybe.

next time there's a failing micro-switch maybe it's worth risking a tiny drop of oil (WD-40). it made it worse at first but after a couple of days leaving the mouse to one side it has magically fixed it.

662

Living Room / Re: Is there a more efficient way to update ftp text files?

« Last post by nudone on December 28, 2010, 09:20 PM »

one more, and free, first make your css changes using Firebug. this will cut down on the edit, upload, refresh, edit, upload, refresh cycle. i stubornly ignored Firebug for years, as i thought it was all about javascript debugging but it's also the best (free) css tool there is.

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Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by nudone on December 28, 2010, 05:30 AM »

right. that's trackballs crossed off my list then. i don't really want to have to swap between devices all the time.

(i find drawing with a wacom about as enjoyable as using a bar of soap on a window, so i'm definitely not going to attempt it drawing with a trackball.)

664

Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by nudone on December 28, 2010, 03:52 AM »

all these 180 and 720 rotations are sending my head into a spin. 

hmm, now we have trackballs to contend with. and. i like the idea.

can you trackball guys mention what it's like to "draw" with a trackball. is it impossible or maybe it's very intuitive - i can't really imagine.

i can see how advantageous a trackball would be - travelling across screen distance easily, so i'm tempted to get one for that. but if they are terrible to draw with, then i have to rule them out.

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Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by nudone on December 27, 2010, 05:10 AM »

True to form, I've gone and done another 180 and have reverted back to using the dodgy Logitech MX Revolution. The cheapo corded mouse I mentioned that was "perfect" started moving my cursor around in a random manner; so I just had to get the MX mouse working again.

And, for the moment, it is working. Maybe there was a micron of dust inside the switch causing all the trouble - who knows.

To be on the safe side I've ordered what looks like an decent mouse, a Logitech M500 - main thing is that it's corded, so will be light and means I won't forget to charge it.

After it arrives, I'll post my opinion on it.



Oh, another thing, it's a refurbished mouse, so only £20 (about $30). Can't really grumble at that.

666

Living Room / Re: Why I Don't Want an iPad for Christmas

« Last post by nudone on December 26, 2010, 02:27 PM »

The perfect Christmas present... not receiving an iPad. I think many of us should be grateful for not receiving one this year.

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Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by nudone on December 25, 2010, 05:36 AM »

I was doing the same, using the side scroll action to go forward/back in browsers (and explorer type windows). Somehow, the "dedicated" navigation buttons on the side of the mouse seemed better used for other functions. All academic now that I've only 3 buttons total...

...and, I say again, StrokeIt just feels better than having any extra buttons. Mouse gestures are well accepted in browsers nowadays - using something like StrokeIt means you can have those gestures throughout all your programs.

(Of course, should I buy another mouse with loads of extra buttons, I'll be telling myself how much better they are than using StrokeIt.)

668

Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by nudone on December 24, 2010, 11:35 AM »

Yes, I think I can. Two is definitely the minimum though.

669

Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by nudone on December 24, 2010, 10:56 AM »

Well...mouse buttons wear out over time - all the mice I have ever owned have eventually failed, mostly it's the left button that goes (it's the most used, after all).

-Darwin (December 24, 2010, 10:00 AM)

True. But...

I've ditched the Logitech I was using - can't deal with the accidental right clicks.

I'm now using a cheap, cheap mouse I've had for about 10 years (well, I bought it when the optical mouse was still considered futuristic). This mouse has been used for years, thrown into drawers, lent to other people, etc., etc. The plastic finish has worn off it's so old. But it has firm mouse buttons, the right click being perferctly firm. It even feels good under my palm, better than the Logitechs. Why did I ever stop using it I have to ask myself.

It's perfect.

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Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by nudone on December 24, 2010, 07:11 AM »

i thought i better check out the MX518. it appears to be the mouse i had before the MX Revolution (well, mine was the 500 to be precise). I also destroyed the left mouse button on that one now that i remember it. So, it seems that logitech left mouse buttons and my index finger eventually fall out of love with each other. i haven't played any games for about 2 years either; i'd understand the buttons failing if i was running around in a shoot-em-up everyday.

At the moment, I'm still thinking of sticking with this cheap Logitech mouse. Maybe I can stick a bit of plastic inside it to strengthen the right button.

One thing I notice with the cheaper mice, they are a lot less bulky and don't require great wrist movements. Instead you can move them just with your fingers keeping your wrist stationary. I'd forgotten how I prefer this kind of mouse movement - feels a lot more precise.

And, StrokeIt quickly takes over from all the mouse buttons I was using - doing even more actions than the buttons ever did.

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Living Room / Re: complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by nudone on December 24, 2010, 05:23 AM »

True, I think I'd want to stick with Logitech (or Microsoft).

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Living Room / complete 180 on mouse preference - what's the best cheap mouse?

« Last post by nudone on December 24, 2010, 04:07 AM »

(Mentioned elsewhere on the forum) I've been using a Logitech MX Revolution for about 2 years. I would still be using it but the left mouse button has decided to misbehave - which means I drag files into the wrong place, select things I didn't want to, etc. I've tried making one of the other 11 (or is it 13) buttons a Left Click but it just doesn't feel right. I've also tried cleaning the inside and sprayed some dw40 into the switch - which may have made it worse.

So, I've decided I'm not going to buy another super-duper mouse with loads of buttons - they've lost my trust.

Instead I'm going to use StrokeIt for all the extra mouse commands and just use a cheap, simple 3 button mouse instead. One cheap enough to not care if the buttons start acting randomly - I'll just throw it away and get another cheap replacement.

The question is: does anyone have an opinion on the best "cheap" mouse. I'm currently using a 3 button Logitech, it doesn't even have scroll left/right on the wheel. This would be fine but I can't seem to stop accidently hitting the right mouse button - I blame the shape of the mouse and the flimsy spring under the mouse buttons.

Are there any "good" cheap mice. Something "ergonomic" perhaps. Or just something that doesn't have flimsy mouse buttons.

Thanks.

673

Living Room / Re: Monty Python is Simply Uber-Cool

« Last post by nudone on December 24, 2010, 02:23 AM »

i love python (got the boxset a few years back and really ought to get it out for another viewing)...

...closet thing to Monty Python i've seen that is post Python is Absolutely (not Absolutely Fabulous): http://en.wikipedia....tely_%28TV_series%29 also available as a boxset (after a long running petition by the fans finally had their way). it's surreal, sometimes just odd and unfunny, but also very clever and uncompromising - and funny. i think we've mentioned the show on the forum before and, like Python, you can see how it influenced (and sometimes was blatantly ripped off by) a generation of shows/comedians that came after it.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Google's thumbnail pop-ups

« Last post by nudone on December 22, 2010, 12:04 PM »

if you get nowhere with that, you could try the google keyboard shortcuts experiment from the labs. I use it as my default search page - instant search is off and i only see thumbnails when i click on a paragraph. more than that, the shortcuts are very handy - i don't understand why they aren't part of standard search (those stupid cursor shortcuts they added to standard search were just insane, these labs shortcuts are actually usable).

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General Software Discussion / Re: Google's thumbnail pop-ups

« Last post by nudone on December 22, 2010, 01:46 AM »

i think turning off the instant search stops the thumbnails. after that, you can view the thumbnails but first, you have to click within a paragraph of one of the results.