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651

Non-Windows Software / Yad - Yet Another Dialog

« Last post by Edvard on May 02, 2014, 09:55 PM »

So, I've used this for quite some time now, and even squawked about it here and there, but I think it deserves a proper Webfind post.  

Display graphical dialogs from shell scripts or command line.
Yad (yet another dialog) is a fork of Zenity with many improvements, such as custom buttons, additional dialogs, pop-up menu in notification icon and more.

https://code.google.com/p/yad/

Downloads here: http://sourceforge.n...projects/yad-dialog/
Code for above example from the Wiki:

[Select]

yad --title='Desktop entry editor' --text='Simple desktop entry editor' --form --field='Type:CB' --field='Name' --field='Generic name' --field='Comment' --field='Command:FL' --field='Icon' --field='In terminal:CHK' --field='Startup notify:CHK' 'Application!URI' 'Name' 'Generic name' 'This is the comment' '/usr/bin/yad' 'yad' FALSE TRUE

The Google code site has a lot of example code and a Wiki, whereas the Sourceforge site mainly hosts downloads.

It really is more than just a fork of Zenity, as it has enough flexibility to build basic to moderately-complex dialog-based GUIs for many common command-line functions.  Most of the instructions are pretty intuitive, with a few things here and there that don't seem consistent ('--rest' to read arguments from a text file?) and prepare yourself for a little pain if you need to make something requiring a tray icon...
Other than that, it's truly great.  My applause to Ananasik (Yad lead coder) and all those who have contributed.
 

from an Internet search for "Zenity alternative" or maybe "Autohotkey Linux", I don't remember

652

Living Room / Re: WinXP is officially dead!

« Last post by Edvard on May 01, 2014, 03:03 AM »

Any 16-bit stuff can run just fine in a VM with Windows 3.1 or better (I chose Win95  ) and old DOS games and utilities have a very good chance of running just fine with DOSBox.

653

General Software Discussion / Re: Firefox 29 - soooooo similar to Chrome

« Last post by Edvard on April 30, 2014, 09:19 PM »

http://nightly.mozilla.org/


As of this writing, Nightly is at ver. 32.0a1, so I've had rounded tabs and "hamburger button" for a few months now.  I do have the Nightly app icon in the upper left though, so I can tell it's not Chrome (-ium). 
Meh.  It's still Firefox, Classic Theme Restorer mentioned above should do the trick.

654

Living Room / Re: Microsoft Races To Fix Massive Internet Explorer Hack

« Last post by Edvard on April 30, 2014, 09:07 PM »

Just for the record, I work for a government agency these days (nothing sinister, trust me), and we just got an email that Firefox will be remotely installed on our workstations and that we should avoid using Internet Explorer until Microsoft can fix the bug.  Sometime in mid-May, they said.  I don't know about the hype, but when it's bad enough to make the government change their default browser almost overnight, it's bad enough.
http://www.neowin.ne...osoft-releases-patch

655

Developer's Corner / Re: Developers and the truth (or close to it)

« Last post by Edvard on April 30, 2014, 09:02 PM »

I always suspected such things were true, as every time I open a Pandora's box in my feeble attempts at programming, I can see the slithery tail and hear the rustle of membranous wings before the beast even rears it's head.  So far, I have managed to shut the lid each time, but still it beckons with it's jeweled accoutrements and promises of glory and wisdom.  So far, Pascal has not bitten me, though strong typing has induced some episodes of teeth grinding, but one day I will venture into wild territory, and then...
 
Very funny reads, BTW...
 

656

Living Room / Re: Tech giants, chastened by Heartbleed, finally agree to fund OpenSSL

« Last post by Edvard on April 30, 2014, 12:21 AM »

Well, since it's all being managed by the Linux Foundation, apparently none.  From the article (emphasis mine):

The funding will not come with strings attached, Zemlin said. “We definitely want to help them, but it has to be done under their community norms,” he said. “The folks at OpenSSL are guys who have dedicated most of their adult careers to super hard software development that is, I would argue, in some ways thankless work.”
...
The Linux Foundation believes that open source developers should be their own bosses, regardless of who provides their funding. “Linus Torvalds does not listen to Jim Zemlin. That's intentional,” Zemlin said.

Sounds legit...

657

Developer's Corner / Re: You have ruined Javascript... Rob Ashton on AngularJS

« Last post by Edvard on April 29, 2014, 08:45 PM »

Yeah, I saw that, which is why I said "Even if he's wrong...".  Though I do think it's rather disingenuous to trot out the "So suggest something better" argument.  In Rob's opinion, there HAS to be a better way, but AngularJS isn't it, and he's pointing out what seems to be circular reasoning encoded in the framework which appears completely illogical. 

Meh, I'm still giddy about learning Pascal, what do I know? 
I still think he's funny...

658

Developer's Corner / You have ruined Javascript... Rob Ashton on AngularJS

« Last post by Edvard on April 28, 2014, 09:56 PM »

Even if he's wrong, this is hilarious.
Javascript is it's own worst enemy just further reminds me how I'm never, ever touching Javascript if I can damn well help it.

you have ruined javascript
...
What the actual !@#$%^&* is this? I read this as "in order to do a hello world, you must first create a hello world service to create the hello world factory to create the hello world service so you can print hello world on the screen."

http://codeofrob.com...ined-javascript.html

from

659

Living Room / Tech giants, chastened by Heartbleed, finally agree to fund OpenSSL

« Last post by Edvard on April 28, 2014, 08:17 PM »

IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Facebook, Google, and others pledge big bucks to the project.  About damn time...

The important role OpenSSL plays in securing the Internet has never been matched by the financial resources devoted to maintaining it.
... but the Linux Foundation wants to change that. The foundation today is announcing a three-year initiative with at least $3.9 million to help under-funded open source projects—with OpenSSL coming first.

http://arstechnica.c...ree-to-fund-openssl/

from CodeProject News

660

General Software Discussion / Re: Are there any simple graphic editors?

« Last post by Edvard on April 28, 2014, 07:49 PM »

I think full-featured monoliths like Gimp are exactly what OP was trying to avoid.  I understand completely, as Gimp mystified me for years because I couldn't figure out how just click-drag to draw a damn circle or rectangle.  Then I got a book on Gimp from the library and my eyes were opened;  this was not a drawing program, this was photo-manipulation.

Irfanview and XnView were my go-tos when I needed batch conversion or fast-and-clean graphic file treatments like cropping/lightening/darkening/color manipulation, etc. but the drawing functions in IrfanView and XnView Legacy are about as limited as MSpaint, and there is no paint functionality in XnViewMP (... yet).

661

General Software Discussion / Re: Syncany releases working alpha

« Last post by Edvard on April 28, 2014, 06:28 PM »

It's written in Java.  

662

General Software Discussion / Re: Syncany releases working alpha

« Last post by Edvard on April 28, 2014, 07:21 AM »

Finally got around to trying Syncany last night. 
1. It's a command-line, not GUI. 
2. Currently has plugins for FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Local and Amazon S3
3. I got it to connect to my Box account VIA WebDAV, but it didn't sync anything from my Box.com folder, though it did upload it's own database folders and stuff.

Well, it's Alpha, what can I say?

663

Non-Windows Software / Re: *NIX: Luakit, dwb, and other alternative browsers

« Last post by Edvard on April 28, 2014, 01:28 AM »

I'm liking dwb mainly for when I need to use a web interface for local stuff like CUPS, HTML help files, or Webmin for my NAS.  Much nicer to not have to open my full browser when I just want to admin my router.

But holy smokes, another webkit browser with vi keybindings? Is this a 'thing' now?  Must be, because they're all over the place:

Uzbl:
http://www.uzbl.org/
Has a nice cat logo.  And the attitude of the Suckless community.

Jumanji:
http://pwmt.org/proj...cts/jumanji/options/
Supports user-scripts, adblock lists, and flash.

Vimprobable:
http://sourceforge.n...ps/trac/vimprobable/
Has 'tab-completion' built in, but otherwise very no-nonsense and minimalistic.

Xxxterm:
https://opensource.c...mal.com/wiki/xxxterm
Security-minded for the security conscious.

For main browser use, I'm on Firefox Nightly these days, and Chromium when it hasn't been pulled from the "Testing" repos... 

664

Living Room / Re: Cheap fountain pen shootout

« Last post by Edvard on April 27, 2014, 08:25 PM »

BTW - thank you rjbull for recommending Stationery Art.  Looks like they've got a more or less complete offering of Baoer's line, which I've been eyeing lately, and I'm liking the slim look of the Hero 7015, which being stainless steel might have a bit of weight to it...

Check out Jetpens.com as well.  Great prices and I've heard their customer service is pretty good.

665

Living Room / Re: Cheap fountain pen shootout

« Last post by Edvard on April 27, 2014, 08:11 PM »

When I first read the subject line for some reason I imagined two guys facing each other on Main Street in front of the Saloon, at high noon, trying to dowse each other with ink.  

-MilesAhead (April 27, 2014, 05:03 PM)

 I can see it now...
Scene: High noon in Blotterville.
Ink-stained fingers twitch nervously above mother-of-pearl and turned-mahogany fine writing instruments clipped nattily in the two cowboys' faded shirt pockets.  Sweat drips down Cowboy 1's cheek as he licks his parched lips in anticipation.  Cowboy 2 shifts a well-chewed cigar stump from one side of his mouth to the other and raspily intones "DRAW, you dirty egg-suckin' dog!!".  Quick as lightning, the pens are pulled from their sheaths, caps posted and nibs full of ink eager for action as both cowboys whip out wire-bound sheafs of white vellum and begin to sketch furiously in the broiling sun.  The ink flows in lines, hatches and solid blots as the paper of their sketchbooks ruffle in the breeze.  Finally, Cowboy 1 finishes with a flourish and breathlessly shouts: "A DUCK STANDING ON A HICKORY STUMP!!" and brandishes his handiwork at his opponent with a manic half-smile.  Cowboy 2 puts in a final bit of cross-hatch shading and gravely intones "A little girl on a tricycle..." as he lifts one dusty eyebrow and slowly turns out his sketchpad for his rival to scrutinize.
The wind howls... a tumbleweed blows by... A lone harmonica wails in the distance as pages ruffle in the breeze.  
The sheriff timidly steps out of the barber shop onto the dusty Main street; "OK, boys, ya both done good.. REAL good... now let's y'all put away the nibs and uh... call it a draw, shall we?"...  

...
So I was hoping more for some personal recommendations since I can read up stuff over at the review sites as well as the next guy. (Note: I also don't consider myself an aficionado. Just a person who likes to use well designed writing instruments.) Following recommendations on some of the "pen freak" sites, I've bought a few semi-expensive pens that came highly recommended. All of which I ended up not much caring for.
...
I sometimes suspect half the people who do those "me too" chime-ins after a pen review don't own (and probably never tried) the instrument in question. Because I can't reconcile my experiences with some of the good things those reviewers and commentators were saying about those pens. Hence my wondering if anybody had a personal recommendation based on hands-on experience.

-40hz (April 27, 2014, 12:37 PM)

I'm following right along with you, and I wish I had the resources necessary to really give a good review of some recommendations; I can only go on second-hand info for anything outside my price range.  Please pardon my naïveté.  Also, I just perused a few reviews of the Pilot Prera, and they are reported to be a rather lightweight pen; maybe not what you're looking for.

I wouldn't call the Lamy Safari "cartoony," though it depends on what colour you choose (i.e., not some of the special editions).

-rjbull (April 27, 2014, 05:33 PM)

Exactly what I was hinting at; the cartoon-pastel colors and the molded-plastic profiles, so forgive me that.  I am aware that Lamy makes some darn fetching pens besides the Safari, but that particular look isn't my cup of tea, and the Safari is the only model close to my budget.

I can say with certainty I personally prefer a slimmer pen like Parker's IM or Vector, because I remember the Jotter so fondly, and I like the old-world look of classic profiles like Rotring's ArtPen (drool) or Pilot's Plumix or Penmanship lines, because they resemble the classic nib holders I use when I'm in a mood (see at the bottom here).  I've also bought and used a Varsity before, and found them to be quite adequate, even enjoyable, though I missed the weight of a "real" pen, and the medium nib was immediately noticeable.  The classic torpedo/cigar profile of the more expensive pens I never really found appealing, but then again I admit I've never owned one to really give it a chance.  Scheaffers always leaked on me.  Always.

It appears that fountain pens are like guitars; everybody has their favorites and extols the virtues of each, but ultimately you get what feels good under your fingers and out of your wallet.
 

666

Living Room / Re: Cheap fountain pen shootout

« Last post by Edvard on April 27, 2014, 09:47 AM »

Read through the comments in both of those threads, dry-side fine nibs are pretty common.  Sailor and Hero are both chinese brands I've not heard of until now that are apparently getting a good reputation, and I've also heard good things about the Indian brands like Camlin and Wality.

Also, for under $100, the field is wide open.  Spending more than that just gets you luxury gewgaws and claims of 'superb craftsmanship', and is inhabited by the likes of Waterman, Montblanc, and the spendier offerings of Pelikan and Pilot.  Many of the aficionados at FountainPenNetwork opine that spending over $300 on a good pen quickly gets into the 'diminishing returns' territory.
Just digging through Amazon filtered by price range and looking at reviews, there are a LOT of good pens to be had in the $25 - $50 range.  If I had to make a recommendation based on 'word on the street', I've been hearing a lot of talk about the Pilot Prera, which can be had in fine or medium.  

Personally, I could never justify a pen purchase over 10 bucks, 15 if it made rainbows shoot out my face while writing, which is why I liked this review series.  I also like my pens utilitarian; not cartoony like the Pelikano or Lamy Safari, not fancy like the Nemosine Singularity or Pilot Metropolitan (though the clear look of the Nemo 'Demonstrator' is quite fetching...).  But alas, keeping such a lid on my spending I'm reduced to cheap-looking as well as dubious quality.  *Sigh*  If only the Parker Vector were a few bucks cheaper...

667

Living Room / Re: Bye-bye Wi-Fi?

« Last post by Edvard on April 26, 2014, 10:19 PM »

Yep, sad as that is, if they wanted it to be successful, they would have locked everything down with patents and proprietary protocols, then blew away everyone else's offerings with the better featureset.

Nope, I predict this will go down as yet another hobbyist's sandbox, unless some low-ball market brand like Rosewill or Buffalo decides to make a 'pre-built kit' out of it, or a competitor starts waving patents around.  

Then again, let's hope we're wrong...  

668

General Software Discussion / Re: Are there any simple graphic editors?

« Last post by Edvard on April 26, 2014, 10:10 PM »

Welcome to DonationCoder!!

I was going to suggest Paint.net, but you beat me to it.  I have found that anything more advanced than mspaint eventually wants to grow up to be a Photoshop clone, so it may be difficult to find a good editor that likes to stay small and simple.  
That said, I can suggest:

OpenOffice/LibreOffice Draw.
Yes, you have to download the whole suite to use this one component, but it excels at doing the basics; shapes, text, photo resizing and cropping, etc.:
https://www.libreoff...e.org/discover/draw/
http://www.openoffic...rg/product/draw.html
(never mind the LibreOffice website's 'Modern' look; the software is functionally identical to OpenOffice for the most part)

RealWorld Paint.
Written by our very own forum member Vlastimil:
https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=34402.0
http://www.rw-designer.com/image-editor

Lazpaint.
Actually more of an exercise in programming graphics manipulation with FreePascal/Lazarus, but has pretty good basic functionality:
http://sourceforge.n...t/projects/lazpaint/

The only drawback to Open/LibreOffice Draw is the size of the suite, but it will probably work as you intend.
RealWorld Paint and Lazpaint have support for layers, special effects, etc. but not to the extent of advanced editors like Gimp, Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, etc.

Hopefully, you will find one of these to your liking.

669

Living Room / Cheap fountain pen shootout

« Last post by Edvard on April 26, 2014, 06:34 PM »

Hi, my name is Edvard, and I'm a fountain-pen addict.
CHEAP fountain-pen addict, that is, and I haven't found the answer to my little habit for a few years now, ever since Parker dropped the fountain version of their "Jotter" line and Pentech was bought by the folks who make cheap Disney branded crap.  
... Then I find this:

I've decided to do a shootout of my lower-cost new normal writing pens.  I've wanted to review most of these before, but haven't been up to giving each one its own review.  I will be reviewing these in approximate price order, from $0 to $30, and scoring them in these categories (each from 0-10 points): Aesthetics, Functionality, Value, Desire, respectively.

Part 1:  http://www.fountainp...-cheap-pen-shootout/



... and Part 2: http://www.fountainp...p-pen-shootout-pt-2/

from the Fountain Pen Network

670

General Software Discussion / Syncany releases working alpha

« Last post by Edvard on April 26, 2014, 01:15 PM »

Sorry folks, I committed a minor faux pas in that I replied in an old thread something I should have posted here.
Please ignore https://www.donation....msg353960#msg353960 and read on:

Syncany is a cross-platform file sync application. It syncs folders between different clients using any kind of cloud storage. It aims to be a secure application to store files in the cloud and share files with others. No intelligent servers needed.

https://www.syncany.org/

So basically, with Syncany I can finally use my Box storage on Linux with a nice GUI application, or other non-local/cloud storage for that manner.  It'll be nice to see exactly what it supports so far.  I'll report back...

671

Living Room / Re: Grab 50GB of Box Online Storage Free for Life (2013-02-12)

« Last post by Edvard on April 26, 2014, 12:17 PM »

Looks like a project has been started for Box (and others) synchronization.  No code yet, but looks promising:
http://www.syncany.org/

-Edvard (March 05, 2013, 12:46 AM)

Syncany now has a working alpha release for testing:
https://github.com/b...ier/syncany/releases

Downloading now...  

672

Living Room / Re: Once again, magically expensive items are only different in your mind

« Last post by Edvard on April 22, 2014, 09:24 PM »

Guy tried to reason with Friend that 'live' was the standard; all hi-fi system's one purpose is to re-create the 'live' experience as closely as possible.

-Edvard (April 22, 2014, 06:57 PM)

I think it all depends on the music. But I'm definitely more the "music lover" than audiophile type. (With thanks to JH for that brilliant earlier clarification about what separates the two.)

In my world, if it's a recording of a live performance, then as close to "live" as possible should be the goal.

But a studio album is a fixed work of art. Like a painting. For those recordings, whatever was closest to the artist's intent should be the goal. Especially when you consider some very valid musical works can't be effectively done live - or in the case of Zappa's Black Page - can't reliably be done at all.

-40hz (April 22, 2014, 07:52 PM)

Agreed.  But I think the guy's point was that how can you complain about sibilance and tone when the genuine, unadulterated item is right there.  It's like practically admitting that audiophiles don't want the "purest, cleanest tone imaginable", but the one most shaped and colored to their own pleasing. 

I'll be the first to admit that I color my music according to how I feel that day; sometimes I want flat and clean, other times I want full bass, flat treble to about ~8-12 KHz then let it drop (shelving FTW), then a slight bump around 3,000 Hz so I can hear the guitar strings 'twang' just a touch harder.  My hearing loss is going backwards in my old age; I can't stand a lot of treble (can still hear a CRT 'whine' when it fires up), and I like a full bass (but not 'boomy' or overwhelming; I'm not a fan of *ahem* 'urban' music).

673

Living Room / Re: Once again, magically expensive items are only different in your mind

« Last post by Edvard on April 22, 2014, 06:57 PM »

If an audiophile truly wants "as it was intended in the studio" sound, all they need to do is cruise eBay for some Yamaha NS-10s which were the most common studio near-field monitors for years.  That is, the speakers the engineers and producers listened to when doing recording, mixing and mastering.
http://gizmodo.com/5...youve-never-heard-of
http://www.soundonso...icles/yamahans10.htm
Sadly, they are discontinued now.

Funny story I happened upon while perusing AudioKarma:  
Apparently, a forum member (we'll call him 'Guy') was out at a live performance with a friend (let's name him 'Friend'), and it was an intimate enough venue that the vocalist/guitarist duo performing did not need nor use any amplification.  Friend remarked about halfway through the show that the vocals had "too much sibilance" and the guitar "lacked power in the low-mids", and how much better it would sound recorded and played back on his home system.  Guy tried to reason with Friend that 'live' was the standard; all hi-fi system's one purpose is to re-create the 'live' experience as closely as possible.  Friend simply gave Guy a blank stare, and nothing more was said.  

674

General Software Discussion / Re: The AVE

« Last post by Edvard on April 19, 2014, 04:44 PM »

Wow, that Catonmat.net website is a bit of a gem; look what I found:

Hi all. I am starting a new article series called "Vim Plugins You Should Know About". This series of articles is going to be about Vim plugins that you should know about and perhaps even be using. The first article in this series will be about one of my favorite plugins called "surround.vim".

http://www.catonmat....lugins-surround-vim/

Links to the rest of the articles at the bottom of that page.
Maybe I should start an AVE today...  

675

General Software Discussion / Re: 'Microsoft fix it' softfare to fix uninstall problems. Trustworthy?

« Last post by Edvard on April 19, 2014, 01:14 PM »

I have used Microsoft Fix-It tools to generally good effect on my In-laws XP computer.  They are the kinds of people that give the Geek Squad nightmares even as they run the credit card.  Beautiful people whom I love and respect like my own kin, but victim to every "Your computer has been hacked with viruses!!!11!1" pop-up known to man.  
The last time, they were a victim of ransom-ware, with most of My Documents locked behind admin permissions (IIRC) and the Start menu gutted (was switched to Classic start menu, with a few empty folders and app shortcuts remaining, nothing in the Settings sub-menu).  Microsoft Fix-It actually fixed ~80% of the errors, with the rest being done by me manually (I had to re-enable the full start menu, uninstall the rogue toolbar and malware, etc.), so now their computer is hovering around 95% OK (fingers crossed), the rest can only be fixed by a complete re-install.

I decided to trust it because it IS put out by Microsoft themselves, who should know how their own systems work, and not a third party who may or may not have read the uninstall API correctly.  I'd say back up what you can, say a prayer if you're so inclined and pull the trigger.  Your only other options are leaving the uninstallers as they are (safe), or trusting a third-party app with a good reputation (potentially unsafe).