Recent Posts

76

General Software Discussion / Re: Have any web-based applications replaced desktop apps for you?

« Last post by Tekzel on October 15, 2007, 10:55 AM »

I am firmly in the "no use for online apps" camp.  I don't use any free mail services, tried Gmail but hated it instantly and never looked at it again.  For email, a portable install of Thunderbird on my flash drive is perfect for me.  I have a domain hosted at Godaddy with their email service and it has worked perfectly for me for 2 years now.  Side benefit:  I can be michael@ instead of michael2200404@.  Its a small thing, but it makes me happy.

Oh I do use the web based email client at Godaddy once in a while when I find myself without my flash drive and need to check my mail for some reason.

No. To me the web based app thing is mostly a fad and like all fads, it will die.  I could be wrong.  Time will tell.

77

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Total Text Container (PIM)

« Last post by Tekzel on October 10, 2007, 03:04 PM »

Its a freeware application. Thats all there is to it

-mtirnanic (October 10, 2007, 02:55 PM)

Sourceforge is for open source projects...meaning you have to have an open source license and provide the sourcecode for the application. It is part of the agreement all developers have with Sourceforge that allows them to have their projects to be hosted there for free.

-app103 (October 10, 2007, 02:57 PM)

Plus, if a project owner pulls a Jimmy Hoffa and disappears, there is a procedure for someone to step up and take over the project if I remember correctly.  Which is nice for popular projects that really shouldn't die because the lead loses interest.

78

ProcessTamer / Re: Process Tamer Update Coming -- Express your feature requests here!

« Last post by Tekzel on October 10, 2007, 02:53 PM »

I'd hate to see it grow into something that will itself need taming tho.

-Grorgy (October 10, 2007, 02:38 PM)

While I can understand people's aversion to feature bloat, adding features does not always result in a huge convoluted mess.  Some programmers do that, Microsoft's entire team for instance.  Others know how to write a program that is feature rich without making a mess of it.  I think Mouser has shown that he is that kind of programmer time and again.  As for the visual representation I requested, if it were added it would be a switchable feature.  Code that is not executed does not slow an app down.  So what if it makes it a meg or two larger, I think in this day of huge storage for pennies per meg, I don't see it as a problem.

79

ProcessTamer / Re: Process Tamer Update Coming -- Express your feature requests here!

« Last post by Tekzel on October 10, 2007, 02:37 PM »

It doesn't support multi-core processors?  Really?  It *seems* to be taming processes that exceed 50% (use of an entire core on a dual system, more or less).

If not, then I want that.  :-)

-Ralf Maximus (October 10, 2007, 02:32 PM)

I remember a discussion a while back where Mouser said it didn't, not sure if that was added between then and now though, thats why I indicated I wasn't sure at the start.

80

ProcessTamer / Re: Process Tamer Update Coming -- Express your feature requests here!

« Last post by Tekzel on October 10, 2007, 02:26 PM »

I accidently posted this in the wrong thread, removed it and am reposting here, where I meant to post in the first place:

PT doesn't currently support multicore processors, correct?  If not:

Multicore processor support   The ability to automatically adjust processor affinity for busy apps would be cool.

Something else I thought would be cool.  The ability to enable a skinnable window that is very light weight, no borders, adjustable transparency, adjustable columns, that shows the current top x number of busy processes.  Maybe with the ability to switch between that view and histogram view with a toggle icon.  Also how about two different histograms, one showing different cores with different graphs like taskmanager, and "combined" histogram that has one graph with different lines indicating different processor cores.

81

ProcessTamer / Re: ProcessTamer - Error accessing registry

« Last post by Tekzel on October 10, 2007, 09:35 AM »

Talk about crossed wires, I posted in this thread thinking I was posting in the PT feature request thread.

82

Living Room / Re: Podcast Clients....

« Last post by Tekzel on October 03, 2007, 11:54 AM »

I suggest you use your web browser's ability to subscribe to RSS feeds, subscribe to the podcast, download the mp3 file, put it on your player, and leave it at that. This is what I do after spending a few hours a few weeks ago looking for a good podcast client/player/radio (free or pay) and not finding anything that wasn't abandoned several years ago.

-tinjaw (October 03, 2007, 11:47 AM)

Eh. as slow to update and fix as it is, Doppler is infinitely better than just using the browser.  It automates much of the process and since I am lazy, that is good.  Maybe there is yet a golden little app out there that we haven't heard of yet!

83

Living Room / Podcast Clients....

« Last post by Tekzel on October 03, 2007, 11:36 AM »

The only thread I was able to find via search was almost 2 years old, so I figured it would be ok to start a new thread on this subject.  Anyone here fans of podcasts?  What do you look for in a client?  I have been searching high and wide for the perfect client.  I found one a long time ago that was close, but it is glacially slow on updates and bug fixes so am "in the market again".

Here are my desired features.

* Freeware or OpenSource.  (I am poor and saddled with debt)
* History, it knows what it downloaded and when it downloaded it, plus gives you the ability to easily re-download something it already did.
* Tag replacement.  Podcasters obviously don't know what tags are, they normally seem to be randomly generated.

Thats all I can think of right now.  I was using Doppler, but like I mentioned, the updates come sloooooow.  Bug fixes too. 

84

Living Room / Re: Whats on your desktop?

« Last post by Tekzel on October 02, 2007, 07:36 AM »

Beautiful - but don't you think you need to paint on a Chad (Wot no screensaver!)

-Carol Haynes (October 02, 2007, 03:16 AM)

Screen savers are for weenies!  Real men (and women) use monitor power saving. 

Also, I don't know what a Chad is.   Do I need one?  You got me paranoid now!

85

Developer's Corner / Re: Programming 101 Lesson: Don't Purge User Data

« Last post by Tekzel on October 02, 2007, 07:33 AM »

I am from the BOFH school of thought:  Users are useless, and by association, so is their data.  Delete it randomly and without warning just to see them cry.

86

Living Room / Re: Whats on your desktop?

« Last post by Tekzel on October 01, 2007, 08:43 PM »

Now that can't be beyond the wit of man! Why don't you put a request in the coding snack section and see if you get any takers?

Or even try a google search - on the first page found these two utilities that may do the trick:

http://lifehacker.co...l-monitor/?view=full

http://www.download....2336_4-10725734.html

-Carol Haynes (October 01, 2007, 07:35 PM)

Rock on!  Your search-fu is greater than mine.  I did not find this great program, DisplayFusion.  Worked like a charm.  Thanks!

Edit:  See what you went and did?!? (Clicky for full size)

87

Living Room / Re: Whats on your desktop?

« Last post by Tekzel on October 01, 2007, 07:33 PM »

If you want a big wall paper why not get a picture sized for span mode and then crop it into two pieces and put half on each monitor in dual mode?

-Carol Haynes (October 01, 2007, 07:23 PM)

If only it worked that way.   You set your wallpaper and it is duplicated on both displays, you don't have the option of setting a per monitor wallpaper. 

88

Living Room / Re: Whats on your desktop?

« Last post by Tekzel on October 01, 2007, 07:03 PM »

I see, tekzel!
What i don't understand, tekzel, is what are the advantages of using the "span" mode.

-jgpaiva (October 01, 2007, 01:47 PM)

Well, after having spent a few days with it, I have decided the advantages don't really outweigh the disadvantages.  The main one, is aesthetic... having a single desktop wallpaper that covers both monitors seamlessly.  You could site having a longer task bar, thus allowing more app icons, but if that is an issue you could just increase the height of it.

The disadvantages for me though, are numerous.  I didn't like dialog placement, on DualView setups dialogs pop in the center of the active or primary screen, not split between them.  I decided I prefer my task bar to be on on monitor only, not spanned across both.  Well, I guess that is mostly it.  Anyway, I am back to DualView now, and will stay with that config.  Here is an updated image of my desktop with my new skin I really dig: (click image for full size view)

89

General Software Discussion / Re: Acronis charging customers for bug fixes

« Last post by Tekzel on October 01, 2007, 03:29 PM »

While I like their software very much, the company is the pits from my perspective.  I had TI9 and upgraded to TI10, mainly for the "backup locations" feature which works really well.  Well, except that at one point the program just plain stopped working by schedule.  Every morning it has some error on the screen about the program not working properly.  I can reproduce the issue by starting the scheduled job manually.  If I just go through and do a backup, it works fine.  It only happens when running from the scheduler.  I went back and forth with their email based tech support way longer than I cared to, trying this, and that.  I eventually gave up.  It still only works manually, I tried removing the software and reinstalling it, and deleting the scheduled task and recreating it.  After deleting and recreating it worked for a short while, maybe a week, then the problem came back.  Other than this I have never had a problem with the software.  My experience leads me to question whether they have any idea how their software works.

90

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: Simple drum machine program!

« Last post by Tekzel on October 01, 2007, 02:45 PM »

try hydrogen from http://www.hydrogen-music.org/
there's also a windows and mac osx version in the download section
and here's the best part: it's totally free

-gjehle (October 01, 2007, 12:49 AM)

Holy cow, I want to play a simple drum pattern, not fly the space shuttle.  :/

91

Living Room / Re: Whats on your desktop?

« Last post by Tekzel on September 30, 2007, 03:23 PM »

I dont like how dialogs that pop up centered are split between the displays, anyone know how to fix that?

-Tekzel (September 29, 2007, 11:45 AM)

How exactly are you splitting monitor signal?

If windows identifies your system as having 2 monitors, the taskbar should only be on the first mon and all windows would appear centered on the first monitor.

-jgpaiva (September 30, 2007, 08:51 AM)

I am using an nVidia Geforce 7800GT video card with two dvi connectors.  The nVidia software lets you choose several modes, two of which are dualview which works the way you mentioned, and the other is span.  This is the one I am playing around with, the monitors are combined into one single wide desktop.  The problem I am finding with this is centered dialogs go to the center of the virtual display, half on each monitor.  So far, haven't found a solution to this issue yet.

92

General Software Discussion / Re: Nothing to see here :/

« Last post by Tekzel on September 30, 2007, 03:16 PM »

Hey now guys, you are ALL off topic here.  Can we get this thread back on track, please?

Nothing to see down here vvv







Nothing to see up there ^^^

93

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: Simple drum machine program!

« Last post by Tekzel on September 30, 2007, 03:12 PM »

Percussion Studio can also create loops etc:

http://www.henrykell...om/PercussionStudio/

-Beth UK (September 27, 2007, 04:57 PM)

I think you guys might be missing what Tekzel is actually looking for.  I don't think he wants a program where he can create a rhythm.  He wants one where he can just turn on and have a drum rhythm start playing, so he can practice to it.  There are a lot of good drum sampling programs out there that allow people to create drum samples, create rhythms, play "virtual" drum sets, etc.  But there are very few dedicated, simple drum machines.  Again, the only one I can think of right now that's any good is Groove Agent.  I remember I searched for weeks for a good, simple program and never found one.  That's why I settled on playing the samples on a loop.  Anyway, those are my thoughts.

-superboyac (September 27, 2007, 05:04 PM)

Yes!! YESS!!  Someone gets me!  

Every one of the suggested programs in this thread are waaaaaay more complex than I am looking for.  Like superboyac said, I seriously want like 3 clicks, one to start the program, one to select a pattern, and one to hit play.  I am beginning to think this doesn't exist, so maybe if scancode comes up with something cool he can corner a market!!

94

Living Room / Re: Whats on your desktop?

« Last post by Tekzel on September 29, 2007, 11:45 AM »

Heres mine.  I am experimenting with the combined dual monitor setup.  Its nice to be able to have one wallpaper for the whole desktop, but I dont like how dialogs that pop up centered are split between the displays, anyone know how to fix that?

95

General Software Discussion / Nothing to see here :/

« Last post by Tekzel on September 29, 2007, 11:36 AM »

I can't believe I missed that other thread that was exactly this same subject! 

96

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: Simple drum machine program!

« Last post by Tekzel on September 27, 2007, 12:23 PM »

I can make you one. What kind of patterns do you want?

-scancode (September 27, 2007, 12:17 PM)

That would be nifty!  As to kind, you mean just stuff like rock type drum patterns?  Also, a key feature would be the ability to set the BPM and change it easily.

97

General Software Discussion / Re: Wanted: Simple drum machine program!

« Last post by Tekzel on September 27, 2007, 12:11 PM »

I used Hammerhead; http://www.download....0-2170_4-906069.html

You could give http://www.ordrumbox.com/online.php a shot.

-scancode (September 27, 2007, 11:31 AM)

Thanks for the reply, but I checked those out long ago and they were both way more complex than I want.  I don't want to design any patterns at all.  I really just want to select from a few existing simple patterns and hit play.

98

General Software Discussion / Wanted: Simple drum machine program!

« Last post by Tekzel on September 27, 2007, 11:20 AM »

I have been looking forever, I am learning to play the guitar and need to work on my timing.  I despise metronomes and want something more interesting, something that can just loop a drum beat.  Sounds simple right?  Surely there has to be a bunch of programs out there that do this, right?  No.  Everything I find is this huge convoluted mess of a program where you have to design the beats and stuff.  I just want something with some drum beats that I can select and hit play and it goes and goes, so I can practice along with it.  Anyone seen or heard of anything like that? 

99

General Software Discussion / Re: WPS: the best replacement of MS Office, free for none-biz

« Last post by Tekzel on September 27, 2007, 09:18 AM »

I use lots of English version software,
so you can also use a Chinese version 
is it too hard?

-xbeta (September 27, 2007, 01:56 AM)

Uhh yea.  Hah

100

Clipboard Help+Spell / Re: DBISAM Engine Error# 11010

« Last post by Tekzel on September 12, 2007, 10:39 AM »

email me so we can try some stuff and then post what we find.  even in the worst case scenario, as you said deleting the database files and restarting should unquestionably fix the issue and not result in any of these errors.

-mouser (September 11, 2007, 10:01 AM)

Hey Mouser, did you get my email yesterday?  It included an additional screenshot.  Just want to make sure it didn't get filtered by your anti-spam software or lost in some other manner.