Recent Posts

76

General Software Discussion / Re: djvu: an alternative to scanned pdfs?

« Last post by mikiem on August 09, 2007, 06:22 PM »

Well, looking at the testimonials page, the 1st thing I saw was an assortment of typos... For archiving purposes I'd want the providers to have an overwhelming obsession with detail, rather than a "good enough" mind set. 

The second thing I saw is that it was developed by ATT, which is cool I guess from a tech viewpoint, but a bit worrisome when it comes to legal. Are viewers going to be available years from now, or the victim of lawsuits like the Lucent MS mp3 stuff?

The Wikipedia article was interesting, but misleading... PDF docs are made by a lot of different software since Adobe opened it up a bit. PDFs are text when text is available, often raster otherwise. In fact, AFAIK there's still no universally great trace software to convert scanned, raster images to vector. In that sense the comparison is faulty, as are stated size differences.

Common thought with video seems to be to retain the original, simply because the delivery format is subject to change over years. It makes sense to me to take the same approach with documents -- archive the original scans, save the OCR if performed, and use a compressed format for viewing.

77

General Software Discussion / Re: how can I convert swf files to avi?

« Last post by mikiem on August 09, 2007, 05:57 PM »

If it helps at all...

SWF video is usually 15 fps, & there are a couple of codecs used. TO convert SWF to avi, the easiest way I've found personally is with Super; swf to avi isn't the most common or popular conversion. For a light weight player of saved swf on your hdd, you might look at SWF Opener. With 6 tabs open, playing the linked swf file, Firefox in TaskMgr showed 211,000kb -- in SWF Opener, it got to about 131,000kb. If I had to guess (which is what I'm doing  ), I'd say part of it was the codec implementation Camtasia used, though that is just a guess. I opened a flv I had (the actual Shockwave format video in an SWF) and it was in the 17,000 kb range. If you watch TaskMgr though you'll also see the memory usage go up along with frame numbers... The linked video has a large frame, & as the amount of visual data increases, so does the memory to hold it.

While it's possible some other software of DS filter could be effecting playback, in the end I'm inclined to mostly blame the Flash video format -- as codecs or formats go it's at or near the bottom, & the only thing going for it is people tend to hate MS, so it has the 2nd most available player.

78

General Software Discussion / Re: Web 2.0 Poll

« Last post by mikiem on August 09, 2007, 05:03 PM »

I agree with steeladept -- some of the advantages are overwhelming... If nothing else, face it, there are some users who shouldn't have full access to a PC. 

You can't expect to do everything -- I doubt if any video editor would even consider it unless you're talking some super powerful in-house system -- but stuff along the lines of Notepad with a spell checker, sure beats some of the stuff I've seen, like composing text in a spreadsheet. 

Because of that I doubt it'll ever go completely away, but I think: "Will it make money?" is the question to ask. If it's not profitable for Google to forgo licensing fees then they won't continue -- no one will unless they've got a huge ax to grind like the dude who bought Sun Office. You get some $ from advert fees, & in that way it's side-stepping bad vibes from ad/spy-ware, but will it be enough & will folks put up with it?

I also wonder how long it'll be before everything's blocked? How many folks install & run Java in their browser anymore? How many even have JavaScript fully enabled? CA AV software free to RR users by default makes it hard to do more than view a site with text & pix today. My wife for one is NOT going to go into the firewall settings and start tweaking -- nor are most people I know.

79

General Software Discussion / Re: User settings storage debate

« Last post by mikiem on August 09, 2007, 04:38 PM »

TO me the problem of installing any config data with the prog files is if/when the files are updated, backup restored, that sort of thing, user data can be lost. Shouldn't be a big problem, but alas with software problems occurring all too often, stuff gets deleted in the process of fixing it & that can be a minor pain.

Installing in one of the user folders (i.e. XP's Doc & Settings) can solve that, but there's usually too many location variables... And try to find some of this stuff in Vista. Like the start menu, file-type associations, and booting with Windows, total developer anarchy.

Using the registry works, but it's inaccessible to most users, and certainly can't be used as portably with a flash drive. Plus with Vista, the few Vista (vs XP) examples I've seen manhandled the registry in the most nasty ways.

If I had to design something I think I'd try the user folders with an option to sync them to a flash drive or similar so that the experience could be seamless regardless the hardware I was using, as long as the software was installed on that machine. That sort of setup could make everyone happy I'd think.

80

General Software Discussion / Re: XP or Vista user — take the poll!

« Last post by mikiem on August 09, 2007, 04:15 PM »

The poll doesn't have any "Other" or multiple choice  Any ol' way, & FWIW of course, I've got 98SE, XP Pro, & Vista H/Prem on hdd, Linux on removable disc.

Personally I'm pretty much OS agnostic, using whatever seems to be the best choice *for me* to reach whatever goals I'm trying to achieve at the time; while a MAC has better software for media work, the $1200 hardware difference (based on ads today) is more than I'm willing to pay. I should (& would) say: "Who cares?"... Well, I tend to be pretty average & so I think that’s the way many (most?) average consumers feel.

I think that whatever seems the easiest to the average user -- figuring in cost,  popularity (Vista’s eye candy for example), time, effort, and amount of thought required -- will prevail. If subscription biz models are preferred by the average consumer, things will swing that way. If not, they won't. Biz apps are another story, and I can certainly see the appeal of dynamically scaling your costs as the number of employees changes, up or down. At the end of the day what tech oriented folk have to say on the matter doesn’t always mean that much – just look at the auto industry, where mechanics have always and overwhelmingly felt certain cars/trucks utter dogs, but that never caused the company not to continue making them, nor influenced popularity.

Regardless preferences, if the past repeats itself (as with 95, 98, xp...), software will start to work less well in XP; XP hardware driver compatibility will become an issue; XP will become less stable due to new drivers, updates, & software versions; tech docs (How-To’s) will no longer reference XP; as we get used to the Vista interface, XP might seem primitive, maybe even quaint. If it works the same as it always has so far, eventually it’ll become tough to use XP, the majority of people will use Vista, & the audience for Vista complaints will dwindle.

What is sort of new is the explosion of on-line apps. Can’t do everything or as well as with the regular software on your hdd, but how often do folks use everything that software has to offer? It could work to have your OS (say a small Linux build) on a flash drive, along with file storage. If the hardware was set-up to allow it, you could use anything anywhere in the world as long as it had an internet connection – beats carrying the lightest, smallest laptop.

81

Living Room / Re: Tip: Don't Just Keep a backup of your latest files

« Last post by mikiem on August 07, 2007, 02:58 PM »

In case it helps at all...
For reinstall or problem restore ops...
In cases where you have a working copy of Windows but the hardware has changed (i.e. m/b failure etc.), if you can get into Windows Safe Mode, then delete those devices (i.e. Device Mgr) with incorrect drivers, if you're lucky Windows will obligingly install the missing devices on start-up, saving from having to do a complete re-install. While I've gotten this to work with XP, my record is a win98 SE install that lasted >5 years, over 3 CPUs & 2 m/boards.

Since XP it's often easier to use the repair install, but that's not foolproof either. I've found it useful to not only export sections of the registry beforehand, but to have copies of the actual older registry files available. Regedit lets you import hives (for HKLM & HKUsers) & being able to look up & opt. export old keys has saved a LOT of time when getting everything working again.

Even if you opt for a re-install, a backup of your last good installation can work wonders. I work a lot with media, & have read dozens of complaints where after a re-install files won't open or play etc... Running MS's WinDif or similar compares files & versions between folders, like system32 for example, and can literally save days of troubleshooting.

In many situations, especially dealing with system files, I've found it very useful to store portions of disc contents as zip files. I'm not going to do a full disc restore of anything but the latest backup. For older backups it's usually difficult to look at let alone extract a few files from the often special formats -- assuming I even still have the backup prog installed, or that it will install on my current OS.

For critical apps, or when un-installing something I might want/need someday in the future, I'm almost religious about exporting and saving relevant keys in the registry. This has turned out to be a great habit with the arrival of Vista, since run compatibility is great, but install compatibility isn't.

 

82

General Software Discussion / Re: Is the Windows start menu dead?

« Last post by mikiem on August 07, 2007, 01:21 PM »

With apologies as needed for resurrecting an old thread...

Personally I think the big prob with the Windows Start Menu, and many (most?) of the alternatives is someone has to set it up & maintain organization. In my experience the average user doesn't. It's like that closet (or garage or attic) that so many of us have -- there are all sorts of organizational tools and aids and products to make it easier, but we just choose to neglect it for one reason or another. No one has invented an automated closet [or at least one that would fit in the closet], where you hand it something and it puts it neatly away, amending the inventory for quick & easy retrieval.

It'd be a lot easier to accomplish that sort of thing with the Start Menu, but AFAIK no one has, perhaps because they fear it limiting flexibility, or maybe because they haven't identified Start Menu organization as a problem. On the other hand I'm only guessing when I suggest a demand even exists -- my parent's parents had the same sort of nightmare closet I've got, so the 3rd generation gets to call it hopeless.

SO to the original question: "Is the Windows Start Menu Dead?" I reply that it's in more of a vegetative state, a coma if you will. No one's pulled the plug because it still could provide a useful function, and there's personal attachments as well. I think if someone came up with a universally favored method to replace it Microsoft would perform the burial, Gladly. But right now I don't know that they feel the majority of Windows users sees the slightest need to do anything.

83

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking to do high quality video conversion

« Last post by mikiem on June 24, 2007, 03:20 PM »

In case it helps...

While the orig aspect is .9 something in a 720 x 480 frame, you might not want that depending on your target viewing hardware. An orig 720 x 480 (D1) mpg2 will display correctly on a std TV, & DVD Player software will alter the aspect of the viewing window to compensate. However the same frame in another format will often not show correctly on a PC or a compatible set top player -- perhaps rather than trying to edit the aspect ratios of the newly encoded file it would be better to [optionally crop &] resize the frame correctly? AFAIK the main purpose of setting PAR in a mp4-type file is for the correct display of various wide screen ratios without any letterboxing (as you often get with 16:9 DVDs). Encoding black letterboxing is not good with mp4.

If you go the RYO (Roll Your Own) route you might find a combo of DGIndex, Avisynth, & possible VirtualDub handy. Avisynth is all about template files; DGIndex will parse the mpg2, create a template Avisynth .avs file, demux & convert streams including AC3 to .wav (for re-compression); if needed V/Dub can host the encoder. All are open source, have cli, and are widely used in this sort of batch program.

OTOH I think one of the hard parts to automate is if you've got a letterboxed wide screen frame, detecting the amount of letterboxing in order to crop. If you're working with broadcast recordings, you might want to look at including comskip. If playback on a set-top DVD Player is not an issue, perhaps Nero Recode would work well for you? The downside is that it requires the Nero player for post processing to look good. The upside is it's extremely fast (20 -25 minutes for 1 hr 45 min  video), and you might find the OEM CD that includes Recode online for ~$5 US. It'll handle or let you specify the crop, resize etc. & can include subs.

84

General Review Discussion / Re: Review suggestions

« Last post by mikiem on June 24, 2007, 02:48 PM »

Fresh Devices has several free programs, but I'm guessing a long past history because you don't hear much about them, one old anti-spyware app triggers on the name, Roadrunner cable access filters their email address. However over the last 3-4 years I haven't had a problem, their programs seem compatible in Vista, and they offer several [IMHO Very nice] utilities that seem to work very well indeed. A mini review of their products might be unique & welcomed by forum users/visitors.

On the topic of sites, I'm guessing that a quick list of software problem reporting sites might be useful. In many cases the publisher doesn't provide such a thing. The example that jumps to mind is Corel: Tablet prob in Draw 12 Suite, and terrible install problems in WP X3. In other cases [like Roxio] the forums are at times more focussed on BIT***** than practical results [do this -> fix this].

RE: AV review... Wondering if it might not be useful to include a poll? With the arrival of Vista, I've seen loads of AV compatibility prob reports with certain combos of other software.

RE: Older programs [i.e. I believe a few older spreadsheet apps were mentioned]... Vista seems to have much better compatibility than earlier versions of Windows -- I can run win95/98 programs that I reluctantly abandoned to move to XP. How about a feature(s) on old favorites that can be resurrected in Vista? 

85

General Software Discussion / Re: List of Vector Illustration Alternatives

« Last post by mikiem on June 23, 2007, 12:47 PM »

IF it helps...
Used Canvas years ago, seemed more oriented to engineering drawings though it was the 1st AFAIK to include bitmap support. Alas Deneba has been bought out by the ACDC folks. Haven't had it installed for ages, but there is a free trial.

If you remember MicroGrafx they were long ago bought by Corel, who have continued developing their vector products under the CorelDesigner name.

OTOH I've found that my Macromedia software works quite well in Vista, including some that Macromedia stopped selling years ago! Vista seems to have great compatibility [so far the apps that work best weren't designed for Vista] so I'm not so sure I'll have to abandon Freehand all that soon. 

86

General Software Discussion / Re: LocatePC: Free Theft Recovery Software For Your PC

« Last post by mikiem on June 23, 2007, 12:21 PM »

FWIW I'd think that the methods you'd use should be tailored to the risk, and insurance is maybe something that should also be considered.

Personally I dislike laptop cases/bags primarily because they look like laptop cases/bags. The more worthless it looks on the outside, the less chance it attracts theives' attention, and you can find bags, particularly mil surplus, that look OK & are sturdy as L. Battery powered alarms are also cool [and cheap] -- hard to believe how nasty loud they can be. Cable locks are probably cool in a corp environ, & probably stop opportunity thefts elsewhere, but I wouldn't rely on that thin cable too much otherwise. In that way they're similar to LocatePC: probably better than nothing, but far from foolproof.

If someone wanted to design something: my idea for dorm/office security would include a USB alarm that went off if unplugged before being de-activated by a software key, and was triggered to go off if the laptop was turned off or the power unplugged without entering the same key. It wouldn't be foolproof either, but certainly would make stealing someone else's laptop suddenly more attractive.

87

General Software Discussion / Re: Making the Switch-05: Ten Great Ideas of GNU/Linux

« Last post by mikiem on June 23, 2007, 11:51 AM »

RE: "(01) Live CDs/DVDs."
I used to run Linux off a parallel port Zip drive! 

That said, if I was going to turn my wife, mom, sister on to Linux, it'd be one of the Linspire distro's. If I was going to use it for actual work I'd need more of the apps I buy for XP/Vista to be ported to Linux... while there are some VERY remarkable niche apps, I don't hate MS so much that I'm going to shoot myself in the foot using software that's almost there. And regardless anything else, the debate over licensing  might make it wise to take a wait and see attitude, at least for anything other than a server role.

88

General Software Discussion / Re: Automatic Reg Key Backup

« Last post by mikiem on June 23, 2007, 11:37 AM »

@justice
If someone doesn't want to go the reg backup routes posted, creating a new restore point will back up the registry for you. Has it's quirks, but for me over the years has worked far, far more times than it hasn't, & can be quicker to use going back.  ERUNT's my new fav in Vista as my dual boot setup destroys Vista restore points.

89

General Software Discussion / Re: The GIMP/PhotoFiltre/Paint.net/etc., thoughts...

« Last post by mikiem on June 23, 2007, 11:13 AM »

Every one of my favorite graphics programs has wound up getting bought out over the years... Probably a lesson for me in there somewhere    -- maybe why I've given up not ever buying from companies I dislike. I've got & use P/Shop 7, and will eventually get around to upgrading to CS3, but only to preserve my ability to upgrade and pay the far lesser price... 7's the oldest version that qualifies I think, & probably won't for CS4.

90

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA: Choose which browser will a url from external app

« Last post by mikiem on June 23, 2007, 10:48 AM »

FWIW I think that this would be especially useful for printing...

I do a lot of web page printing to PDF Creator, often off of links in email... While I prefer Firefox, IE very often does a far superior job of handling images. Unfortunately many emails do not use plain text or html links so cut and paste doesn't work -- have to open the link in the default browser [in my case Firefox], then copy/paste the link into ie [or put up with the crappy picture].

91

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: program to handle Vista shadow copies

« Last post by mikiem on June 23, 2007, 10:41 AM »

I think that there might be a decent market [it would definitely be useful] for a utility that handles &/or manipulates Vista shadow copies. People using the Home versions can't access them except thru System Restore, they're currently useless for those who dual boot, and perhaps are useless in some home networking set-ups -- when an OS besides Vista looks at the hdd, it can't understand the format the shadow copies are written in, so they're deleted. I'd guess that it would also be possible for this program to use the shadow copies as the basis for various backup functions, perhaps even including some of the functionality that MS purposely left out.

I think that sort of thing might wind up being even more useful as Vista users find out the limits of their authority in Vista, and how difficult it is to get rid of & keep Vista from using stored driver versions.

The only real information I've come across was posted at Adi Oltean's Weblog: http://blogs.msdn.co...ioltean/default.aspx -- posts include scripting samples to copy the shadow copy files to another location.

At any rate, while I of course may be full of it    I wanted to pass this on just in case I'm not.  I do think it's an untapped opportunity.

92

General Software Discussion / Re: How to make a video from a sequence of images?

« Last post by mikiem on June 18, 2007, 06:51 PM »

FreshView is a freeware program for image browsing/cataloging that does much more, including converting a folder (or folders) full of images.

RE: V/Dub... Had some jpegs not work, but not the error posted -- Generally open the sequentially named images using the file open dialog, then select things like the codec. Is it possible you already had codec selected, & that problem was with the codec not accepting anything not YUV?

93

General Software Discussion / Re: Looking to do high quality video conversion

« Last post by mikiem on June 18, 2007, 06:27 PM »

Really, REALLY FWIW...

I've been tinkering with video on PCs for better than a decade now... That doesn't allow me to make any claims to be an expert or anything -- & I don't! 

What I do want to add is a bit of experience: It's VERY possible to screw up your windows installation's video handling if/when you install any do-it-all tool, usually because they often register a bunch of filters, very often the same ones (though different versions). The more video tools you have, the more risk involved. At any rate, I'm not saying don't use them, but rather use a bit of caution and do things like back up the drive with windows. Problems might be rare, but when they occur (& you can read about them in most video forums), without a backup it often turns out the cure is a complete windows re-install. 

Otherwise there are a Bunch of front ends listed at the video sites like videohelp.com that will do the work for you, most using the same freeware libraries and filters, many without requiring any install & so involve less if any risk. I wouldn't want to attempt a recommendation 1) because I've got a fair number of tools and I've experienced conflicts making it impossible to use *many* -- 2) over the years I've generally gotten so used to it I actually prefer the step by step routine. 

Finally, the closest I've seen to a (hopefully) good solution to go directly from whatever to mp4 is actually bundled with Roxio's EMC9 which includes copy to DivX (& several other formats) from whatever (including DVD). Folks on their mailing lists (think I got there because of the EMC9 trial) have been almost spammed with offers from Roxio for their Deluxe suite at $45 US, & a $30 (very liberal) competitive upgrade rebate is available. Do the math, check out the package, which includes a Dazzle DVC 90... maybe it'll fill the bill.

94

Living Room / Re: Stupid user Tricks

« Last post by mikiem on May 27, 2007, 09:59 AM »

http://rinkworks.com/said/
http://rinkworks.com/stupid/
http://rinkworks.com/guide/

  enjoy 

95

General Software Discussion / Re: DVD playback software

« Last post by mikiem on May 27, 2007, 09:47 AM »

Besides the excellent free solutions already posted, I've found the OEM version of Power DVD 6 very inexpensive (just a couple of bucks) & very capable.

2 notes:
I'd suggest being very careful installing too much DVD playback software. VLC seems cool, & kmp is probably also, but otherwise the files used for decoding mpg2 & AC3 are registered in Windows, & you can get into a nightmare of conflicting/competing Direct Show "filters" (files) making playback impossible. In other words, if you try something & don't like it, uninstall & use system restore before going on to try the next.

Convenience wise I'd recommend looking at stand-a-lone DVD players. I received a small, portable one as a gift a few years back, & the laptop's never seen video since.  I mean I never considered the laptop heavy or booting up to play a video a chore -- until I didn't have to deal with it. 

96

Living Room / Re: Free Acronis TrueImage for Seagate/Maxtor HDD owners

« Last post by mikiem on May 27, 2007, 09:20 AM »

Paragon Software makes some really excellent backup programs which work at a lower level, similar to Norton Ghost & Maxtor/Seagate software, copying the actual disk structure. The difference is you work painlessly inside Windows, & if you create discs, restoring the backup is self-contained on the discs & fast.

Besides trials, you might find free versions available for download -- I 1st heard of Paragon taking advantage of a free download at some EU magazine site.

97

Living Room / Re: Cached pages in IE - help please!

« Last post by mikiem on May 27, 2007, 09:09 AM »

If it helps anyone...

Vcom has a free version of their Powerdesk, that includes their excellent & once hugely popular FileFinder program. If you search your ie temporary internet files folder using *.* it'll pick up a large list of prior cached files, including ones that have been deleted long ago.

Some of the files will be good, others will just give you the names which you might or might not be able to track down, but as a last resort perhaps worth a try. I used to use this *feature* quite often when the kids & nephews were younger -- the names of the image files were usually quite graphic enough to get them busted, & they never did figure out how they got caught. 

98

What's the Best? / Re: cd burning

« Last post by mikiem on May 27, 2007, 08:57 AM »

Not saying anything against any of the software mentioned, a couple of deals some might be interested in...

1) there were apparently loads of discs available as you can still find the Nero 6 OEM Suite 3 [surpluscomputers.com sells it for $5 shipped]. While you are limited to the Express version of the burning software, you do get most of the goodies like DVD viewing/authoring, recode etc.

2) If you downloaded & registered the Roxio Easy Media Creator Suite 9, it apparently put you on the mailing list for an email deal Roxio's been hyping the last few weeks... I got about 10 emails from them so far. The deal: the latest Deluxe Suite 9 (which includes the Dazzle DVC90) for $50 + shipping on the DVC90. There's also a relatively liberal upgrade rebate for $30 on top of that -- I haven't received a rebate check yet of course, but at $50 it's a great deal -- at $20 almost unbelievable.

99

Living Room / Re: Why don't you pay for software?

« Last post by mikiem on May 26, 2007, 10:58 PM »

Totally for-what-it’s-worth, hoping to *add a perspective or 3* for those trying to understand – not debate – using & paying (or not) for software.

Guess you could say I’m an ol’ fart, using a teletype machine in my first college programming course. I’ve had money at times, yet still remember having to steal a jar of peanut butter to feed the kids when times were very hard. When I had the money I paid exorbitant amounts for hard and software, like $1100 laser printers (without toner mind you), and $700 suites from Aldus & later Macromedia. I also feel that I threw easily thousands of dollars away over the years, buying products that didn’t even begin to live up to the publisher’s claims. For a little more than a decade I’ve been disabled due to illness, hoping for at least a partial remission so I can do some sort of paying work – my best hope is with a PC as it’s doubtful I’ll ever physically be able to return to anything like my former career (this illness has taken it’s toll). Now with that out of the way as some sort of background...

It seems apt to apply the saying (paraphrased): “Give a man a fish & he’ll have a meal – Teach a man to fish and he’ll not go hungry”. I can easily identify with folks around the world who might learn to support themselves given the use of necessary software to learn with/on. They don’t contribute to anyone’s profit loss, unless they get greedy after they *learn to fish*.

I can all too readily identify with those who will not buy software before an actual, full-featured trial – I’m one of them, having been burned far too many times to think that any breach of ethics only goes one way – dishonesty is not something that only applies to users and not sellers!

And on the subject of ethics, it’s universally assumed that computer users are of questionable character to the point that nothing on a disc (or downloaded) can be returned, while shoplifting is epidemic among customers of all incomes, & the same stores who won’t accept an opened software box, issue refunds all day long for used clothes, appliances, drapery, even bottles of detergent filled with water! You can return the empty boxes from $30 worth of food for a refund, but not the complete, but open package containing $20 worth of software!

Yes there are several other rationales people use, often vigorously, but those are the behind the scene issues I think that have some sort of legitimacy, and coincidentally are the ones I’ve rarely if ever heard voiced by anyone selling software. Indeed, I think that some developers tend to beat the piracy issue to great extent by nurturing the respect of users – mpucoder comes to mind, though I could of course be very wrong, never having asked him if it is a problem. Otherwise most users in my opinion are only too happy to engage in some us vs them justification. I know coders have to eat, but other than the forums here, where are most people going to meet one? You’re just some abstract entity working all hours on caffeine and pizza.

That said – & I apologize going overlong – I have heard of software donations in some cases amounting to a tidy sum. I don’t know if that’s true or not, & so I can’t begin to hint at what steps anyone should take to make some cash. While this thread is cool to generate responses, I’d hope that if someone’s kids having a new pair of shoes depends on donations, they’d have contacted every coder out there soliciting them, finding out what works and what doesn’t.

Thanks
mike