Recent Posts

801

Post New Requests Here / IDEA: Grouper

« Last post by steeladept on November 26, 2007, 06:40 AM »

Maybe there is something like this out here already that I just didn't figure out yet, but this request is because I can't find it 

What I am looking for is a small program, preferrably portable, that I can use to choose buttons to group.  Windows allows you to group similar items (e.g. all IE programs into a group), but it is all or nothing.  I want to do the same thing, but I want to choose what gets grouped together.  Moreover, since I choose what gets grouped, I would like it to be anything, not just similar items.

Extra points for groupings getting user programmable hotkeys to auto switch an entire group to the desktop, though this is certainly a feature addition and not a core request item.

One key to note here - I need this mostly for work, which means no administrative rights, though I do have USB access (for now anyway), hense the portable request.

802

Living Room / Re: Laptop or Desktop — which are you?

« Last post by steeladept on November 24, 2007, 10:09 PM »

I chose other for several reasons...but most go back essentially to what others are saying.

About 3 years ago I built my own machine because I can  and really not for any other reason, really.  I chose all my own parts and fought with a few minor gliches and incompatibilities.  I built it as a mid-ranged gaming rig, mostly out of cost concerns, and used it for about two years.  At the same time, I had been using a laptop at work.

About a year ago, my mother got very sick and the family packed up and moved in to take care of her.  After her death, we have stayed here and still are moving stuff in, so we are hardly what I call settled.  One of the things packed during that time is my desktop computer.  We pulled it out for a short while to replace her PC that fried from a surge, but packed it away again when another surge destroyed the new surge suppressor.  It has been packed away ever since.

When I was using both, I was using the laptop about 60% of the time, the desktop the other 40%, and almost always for gaming.  Since then I have been using the laptop 100%, but have not changed my machine roll - I just don't game anymore.  Well that is not quite true, I just haven't PC gamed in the past year.  I find the laptop more than a match for everything I do, from programming (learning anyway) to internet to picture enhancement, to actual work (desktop support work if interested).  My company provides the laptop, a docking station, and all the peripherals to make the laptop a suitable desktop when docked.  It is very adequate and quite comfortable.

So I guess my rambling is basically getting to why I chose other - I used to use both more or less equally, but now I use my laptop equally in docking station and out.  Is that laptop or desktop?  You decide, I am tired 

803

Living Room / Re: DonationCoder.com Yearly Fundraiser for 2007 - Advice Requested Please

« Last post by steeladept on November 20, 2007, 04:40 PM »

Personally, I was thinking the thermometer idea would work well, but don't put values on it.  Rather, just set a "secret" goal and maybe a generic line at the last amount, then make it fill by percentage of goal.  No one NEEDS to know exactly where the value is, but knowing where it is in relation to the goal will give them an idea of how much is "too much" vs. "not enough" in comparison to the organization's goals.

I also liked App's idea, which can likewise be without actual figures.  You can even give people a way to divide their donation by percentage to the various areas so the donor still gets to choose where their donations go. You can provide a pie chart to show how donations are being divided so people who care can choose to weigh their donations one way or the other based on how donations have been divided to date.

These various systems allow people to see how much has been collected as a percentage of the goal and see how it has been divided without providing specific numbers.  Just my thoughts...

804

General Software Discussion / Re: Free virtualization options

« Last post by steeladept on November 14, 2007, 10:11 AM »

All I can say is this:  I have been working with VM products for over a year at work and have found several I like, a few I don't like as much, and a BUNCH of niche products.  Parallels does have some drawbacks from what I have heard and seen, though I have not tried the Windows Version.  If you are a MAC user, though, VMWare Fusion is a nicer product with many of the same qualities and a lower price.  The main ones I have seen in detail that I like and have worked with are below.

On the Windows side, I have found it really depends on what you are doing and are willing to spend to get it done.  By and large, MS Virtual PC is the absolute best way to go for OS virtualization.  It is a bit heavier on resources than VMWare, but it is free and allows you to create virtual machines.  It also allows for many of the nicer tools to manage and work with the virtual systems.  VMWare Workstation is the main competitor here (in my opinion).  It has many of the same options but more refined controls and just a better feel to it.  It also allows a business to work up and down the "Virtual Path" without having to change toolsets.  That said, the price is definitely steep.  Is it worth it?  Depends on your situation and what you already know I suppose.

However, if you find yourself wanting to use virtualization for sandboxing (primarily) on only one OS, you may want to look at Altairis.  Altairis VSN is an APPLICATION virtualization product.  Basically it has a layer that sits on Windows and wraps all other programs in a wrapper.  This wrapper provides all DLL's and other software resouces by copying the file and using the copy.  This isolates each program and prevents it from conflicting with other applications.  The down sides are you are tied to one OS and cannot use the virtualization to try different things such as useful for trying new code on the fly.  On the up side, it provides businesses with a quick and easy package for installing software and it moves the virtualization hit from the memory to the disk.

Lastly, one I really like (though it isn't free) is a hybrid between the two.  Virtuosso is a OS Virtualization product that works differently.  You can only virtualize additional copies of the host OS, because it takes the files of the OS itself, copies them, and uses them to make completely independent virtual machines.  This seems to me to be a very efficient way to make virtual machines, particularly for the servers.  One machine to upgrade upgrades ALL virtual machines because they utilize the same files.  It also offloads some of the memory hits you get from traditional OS virtualization options.  With VMWare, for example, running 4 OS's at the same time (not including the host OS that still requires resources) brought my machine to a crawl with 3GB of memory and each VM utilizing only 256MB (they were lightweight Linux machines).  With Virtuosso, however, you can run up to 100 copies of the host OS (or so they claim, I only ran 5 copies on the same 3 GB machine, but didn't take a significant performance hit like I did with VMWare).  On the down side, if you are using virtualization to try different OS's or even for various OS environments, this will not do.  As already mentioned it only allows the host OS to exist virtually. 

My uses of virtualization were to try to test programs in as many environments that are at work as possible.  As such, I needed OS virtualization, and since we already had VMWare, I utilized that.  In a server environment, I would likely try to run Virtuosso from SWSoft, or VMWare ESX/GSX depending on other mitigating circumstances.  For personal development - all other things being equal - I would use VirtualPC, and for application management and software distribution, I would use Altairis (well application virtualization anyway, I would have to determine what fits in this realm best as this is one area I didn't dig too deep in). 

Sorry to ramble on, but my point is the best product to use depends on your purpose, as usual.  Hope this helps a little...

805

General Software Discussion / Re: babylon: charging you $6.99 for retrieving your lost lincense ?!?

« Last post by steeladept on October 28, 2007, 08:20 AM »

I don't like this, but it is hardly the first time I have heard of it.  In fact, I know many, mostly smaller, outfits who do this except they charge a small fee EVERY TIME you request it.  The theory goes that they emailed you a key and since you were using it you had it at least one time.  For them to regenerate it takes time to lookup and verify your purchase - time they could spend developing.  If you can't keep your email yourself, then that is taking away from the developer - again, as the theory goes.  I know that MANY outfits don't even keep a database at all.  They either use a consistent algorithm to generate a key, or generate a new key to replace lost ones.  All these methods have ups & downs, but in the end it is going to cost someone something, and more and more developers are deciding it isn't going to cost them anymore.  Unfortunate but true in situations like yours, or even mine where I moved and lost my emails.  That is why I use Yahoo's online email service now.

806

Older Newsletters / Re: Newletter for October 15 - Codename "I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK"

« Last post by steeladept on October 23, 2007, 07:25 AM »

Simple Ralf, just make the most perfect, useful, wonderful, wash the dishes, cook, clean, do laundry, keep the kids safe, healthy, and attentive to their parents, entertaining application that provides additional hardware and software resources back to the PC there is.   

Oh yeah, and it would help if it made everyone lots of money so they didn't need to work on anything they didn't want to. 

Hey, as long as I am dreaming the impossible....

807

General Software Discussion / Re: screen capture software that uploads to free image host

« Last post by steeladept on October 22, 2007, 03:22 PM »

Am I missing something here?  Screenshot Captor should handle all this already I thought.  With the Send To list supporting FTP sites, can't you just set it up for that?  If it must go via http or another tool, I thought there was a way to configure external tools as well under Options>Files+Folders>Edit External 3rd Party Tool Menu.  I mean maybe it just launches the uploader, but that is pretty much what would be required anyway, isn't it.  I don't use those tools at all, so I don't know; but I use SSC a lot and find it is capable of everything except doing the dishes.  Okay, maybe it won't change the baby's diapers either...but it is still more than I have accomplished with SnagIt which everyone at work insists upon - until I show them SSC.  Then they want SSC, so I tell them how to get it.  Don't know how many actually have, but I know I am putting the word out.

mousie: Does uploading to image sites from SSC work from behind a proxy? (i.e., is there a provision to enter proxy name and port)

-sri (September 06, 2007, 05:22 AM)

I have been asking for that for a while, well, more specifically for downloading from behind an http proxy, so I guess that doesn't really have anything to do with this at all does it?  However, if you can configure for FTP as above, perahps you have something.  Okay I will shut up for now.

808

Developer's Corner / Re: Strange customer...

« Last post by steeladept on October 21, 2007, 12:20 PM »

One other thing to note that I learned in my MBA law class that you will want to consider (and Veign, you may wish to add) putting in all contracts:

1) Phrases specifying explicitly what is NOT included (in addition to what is as you already have mentioned) that may be expected by new contract negotiators.
2) A covering phrase stating anything that is not explicitly included in this contract is hereby explicitly excluded.

Without these statements, many contracts end up in the courts and get thrown out as a "No meeting of the minds" type contract where the judge works more as a mediator to renegotiate the contract or make it null and void.

That said, it does not invalidate anything else already mentioned, it only adds to it.

809

Post New Requests Here / Re: IDEA - Save status of all open applications - Hibernate without shutting dow

« Last post by steeladept on October 21, 2007, 10:59 AM »

It should be possible for regular shutdowns,  but for crashes (especially hardware error crashes) I am not so sure.  The problem is it is sudden and doesn't give windows time to write files before a crash.  The only way I can think of this maybe working is if you are constantly writing to the RunOnce or to an ini file it runs.  Constantly writing the "state" of windows and all programs.  The only problem I see with this, of course, is that how do you remove lines after they are written?  Perhaps overwrite the ini file every minute or so?  Hmm...maybe this is more doable then my initial thought after all?  Although with my idea, it would not be in real time, it would be more like the Autosave feature in Word.  It would take someone MUCH more skilled than I, but perhaps...

810

Living Room / Re: ASUS bring out motherboard with built in Linux and Firefox - 15s boot time!

« Last post by steeladept on October 19, 2007, 09:42 PM »

To me this looks to be a specialized board made for one purpose: Kiosk computing.  Provide a board with an OS and a browser to allow the user to browse the (probably limited) internet that the owner wants to let the user access.  No way for the user to screw with it and no way to hijack it.  Heck, if you don't use the wireless, you can probably completely defeat any keyloggers (maybe not hardware based, but certainly software based) and screen capture attacks.  About the only software based attacks that MIGHT work are DoS attacks, and they gain a net benefit of nil for most kiosk targets.  Hell, depending on how it is locked down, it may even be useful for users to have a portable apps USB stick to run their applications from in relative safety at a kiosk as well.  I see this as a good thing for ASUS and the Kiosk niche market.

811

Living Room / Re: The worst thing about Macs

« Last post by steeladept on October 19, 2007, 09:19 PM »

...Now, having said that, one has only to look at Sony's offerings to realise that this kind of premium pricing is not restricted to Apple!

-Darwin (October 19, 2007, 01:43 PM)

AMEN to that!!!

Actually about 10 days ago ... my friend was trying convince me that a Macbook was the only viable solution for her ex-husband's first computer (he wants to use the internet, send emails, do a little word processing and possibly store photos).

I was comparing prices of Macbooks and Windows laptops. In the UK the cheapest Macbook was three times the price of some of the Vista systems  I looked at (£700 for a 13" screen compared to some Vista systems I found for £240 with 15" screens) - and the Vista systems had more memory, larger hard discs and bigger screens . They had similar spec dual core Intel CPUs, and the Vista systems weren't a generic make - IIRC they were Toshiba.

-Carol Haynes (October 19, 2007, 04:17 PM)

Well you will always find someone who refuses to listen to reason (A Macbook is not the only solution that fits those requirements as you point out), but that doesn't mean it ISN'T a viable option...I know, you never said it wasn't, but you imply that the price point makes it "Not Viable" which isn't true.  It is just a costly option.  Now as to your costs as listed - like I said, I didn't know what the price structures were in the UK.  I guess I will avoid Macs at all costs there (pun intended  ).

812

Living Room / Re: The worst thing about Macs

« Last post by steeladept on October 19, 2007, 12:09 PM »

All I can say to add to this is I know two techs who are big time Macbook fans, but both of them got the Intel chip Macbook so they can run WinXP on it.  Moreover, one of the two (the *slightly* less technical, I might add, oddly enough) is running his XP through VMWare Fusion.  I don't know about the other guy, he may be, but I haven't talked to him since before Fusion came out.  I know what you are thinking, but you are wrong - he went to Law School and isn't around anymore.  I don't talk to him because I have issues with Lawyers !!

Anyway, both of them are very PC literate irrespective of OS!  The only other Mac users I know of are my Uncle (used to do a ton of desktop publishing) and his sons (all 5 of them).  My Uncle used PC's at work before he retired and hated them because his Mac was so much easier to use to accomplish his work.  Now he uses it because it is familiar, comfortable, and does everything he wants and needs.  No more, no less.

My cousins, similarly all work in the computer entertainment industry - computer animation, photo touch-ups, computer art; artists each and every one.  For them, it is a similar situation:  They learned in school how to use the tools on these machines and they are comfortable with it.  They have them at home because they use them at work, and even if they changed to Windows platforms, they would stick with Mac because it is what they like - period.

Am I the only person who doesn't know any fanatical Mac fanboy flame attractors?  It appears so, at least of the people who know mac users.

To nontroppo - I understand your points and take your meanings, but I don't know that you are following the meanings of others posting.  Maybe I am wrong...

To Carol - nontroppo has a point.  When was the last time you priced Macs?  Maybe it is very different in the UK, but worldwide (in general) Mac has realized this point and lowered costs dramatically!  They are no worse than a high end quality machine as far as I have seen.  Still higher than you might want to pay, but hardly three times the price for half the power.  Also, as Mac-centric developers have moved to the Windows platform with their products, MANY Windows products have moved to support Macs due to the significant user base they can quickly and easily tap (compared to developing a new product).  Lastly, they are very upgradeable - easily as upgradeable as any laptop.  Well, maybe not the desktops, I have never worked with them, but the laptops are.

Lastly to all - I have thought heavily of getting a Macbook simply because it looks good - very good comparatively - but as time marches on, I also have seen that hardware is becoming more and more of a commodity in general.  If you get something new, might as well make it look good, because no matter what you get you will be able to run current OS's (well most OS's anyway).  Instead of an OS, however, I am waiting for the Hypervisor so I can run all OS's through a VM machine.  That is my 4 cents, since it is way to long for 2 cents

813

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

« Last post by steeladept on October 17, 2007, 08:42 PM »

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.

-Tekzel (October 15, 2007, 10:55 AM)

I have to agree with Tekzel on all this.  I am finding more and more a 2GB encrypted flash drive, and access to a machine (preferably with internet access, but not critical) is all I need for most of my work and fun.  I use Yahoo mail mainly for the portability and spam filtering and because I hate the GMail interface.  It also allows me to give one address regardless of where my connections are coming from.  I can then use any internet connection and OWA or INotes (if absolutely necessary) depending on the mail box I need access to.  Yahoo currently just forwards to an Exchange server with OWA access so it works out.  If I change my service, my job changes, etc., I just change where Yahoo points to and keep rolling.  If it is a user I want to be able to contact me (instead of a dealer/supplier etc.) I give them the yahoo address instead of the local server with the local server as a secondary address.  All my mail from Yahoo is filtered for SPAM and my good emails get forwarded wherever I go.  It works for me.  That is the extent of my "dependence", and there is even a backup to that!

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.

-Tekzel (October 15, 2007, 10:55 AM)

Hmmm...While I truely hope you are right Tekzel, I fear you are not.  The cost and security (read licensing enforcement capabilities) benefits to the developer are VERY strong.  If you stop paying the price (whatever that is - subscription, advertising, whatever) it is simple to restrict access and prevent future useage until you move to comply.  That is a rediculously powerful incentive to many developers, especially for profit developers.

Personnally, I am looking forward to the day where we can all have HUGE USB sticks carried with us wherever we go with ALL our data, OS, Proggies, etc. and we just connect our stick to a generic terminal and run with it.  I don't think we will ever get there, too much against it especially with the gaming industry and their hardware requirements, but I am looking forward to it optimistically anyway.

814

Living Room / Re: PocketPC or Palm?

« Last post by steeladept on October 13, 2007, 09:09 PM »

Why am I not surprised?  When my wife died (some time ago) I tried to cancel her Verizon cell phone account.  The customer support rep tried to talk me into keeping it!  It was surreal.  Then, when he sensed his sales pitch was failing he switched tactics and told me that cancelling the contract would incur a $175 "penalty" and that it would be cheaper for me to just keep the phone service going!

ON MY DEAD WIFE'S CELL PHONE.

Yeah, Verizon's a top notch organization.

-Ralf Maximus (October 13, 2007, 08:47 PM)

Bummer!  All the more so because they were so wrong by their own policy (as well as by law I think)!  When my Mother died earlier this year, they tried to get me to keep her account and I told them they were out of their minds.  First of all, I have my own account, second of all I wasn't on the account, and third of all I didn't need another phone.  They promptly sent me to customer service who took a copy of the death certificate, closed the account, and sent me on my way.  There was no fees whatsoever with the proof of death I had.  Was this from a Verizon store/customer service, or was it an "authroized reseller".  I find the resellers are worse that worthless, personally, but the company stores are as good as the service.  Barely passible, but about average for the industry - UNFORTUNATELY!  Anyway, sorry to hear about your situation.

815

Living Room / Re: PocketPC or Palm?

« Last post by steeladept on October 13, 2007, 08:27 PM »

...Now, will they sell you a smart phone without a data plan?  I can see that being a battle, or maybe not.  Depends on the carrier...

-Ralf Maximus (October 13, 2007, 07:54 PM)

Verizon usually will not from my experience no matter what.  They tell their salesmen that it won't work at all without a data-plan.  It is a bunch of crap, but it is a requirement for them to sell it at the price listed.  At least that is from my experience.  Of course I also have yet to see a half-decent offering that is not in the "business" line anyway.

Fun fact: If you see a phone sold by your carrier that you want, but don't need a new/different plan than what you already have, you can often go on eBay and buy an "unlocked" version of that phone.  Brand new, factory warranty, often for cheaper than the carrier's price.  Swap your SIM chip into the new phone and ta-da, you're done.  As far as EvilExpensiveWireless Co. is concerned you're still using the old phone.

-Ralf Maximus (October 13, 2007, 07:54 PM)

Careful - Not all phones use SIM chips.  AT&T does, as does T-Mobile, but I know Verizon does not and I don't think (though I may be wrong on this) Sprint/Nextel do in all new phone lines.  If you are open to anything, I STRONGLY suggest a phone with a SIM chip.  It makes transfers/upgrades/etc. much easier and cheaper.

As for stand alone systems, I haven't run into any in quite a while.  My experiences, however, were with Windows Mobile.  I had it on a Dell Axiom, and it was awesome for my uses.  I have been looking for one with a built in phone for quite a while, but none are out there that fit my criteria - the biggest one (though hardly only one) being a Verizon carrier.  Verizon has many issues, but less than others I have dealt with and SO many of my friends and family are on their network that it would double my monthly bill if I were on another carrier.  But this is a tangent again 

The reason I like Windows Mobile so much is simple.  Strong integration with Office (especially Outlook).  I use it most extensively with the calandar and contact tracking.  The synchronization with Outlook was flawless.  As a bonus, the ability to open Word and Excel files if needed was built in as well.  Lastly, media player was more than adaquate for listening to music.  All of this as well as Mobile Explorer (which I never used) was built into Windows Mobile.  I really can't say why it didn't take off better except for the entrenchment of Palm (well, until RIM came along and offered E-mail Synchronization on the fly).

Lastly, have you considered a RIM device (blackberry if you didn't know).  They are as stable as a rock, offer good email connectivity, and do everything else you asked about.  Depending on the model you can get them with or without a phone and/or camera as well.  Down sides - yes you would need a data plan since that is it's main selling point and the calandar and contact lists are as basic as you can possibly imagine.  In fact, the calandar is so basic and annoying to navigate that this is why I hate them.  But hey, to each his or her own.

By the way, if you want a PocketPC device but have difficulty finding one because you don't want the phone, let me know.  I can part with my Axiom with little difficulty (as long as I find it and the parts - I recently moved and am not sure which box it is in  )

816

Developer's Corner / Re: I sucks at html+css+javascript

« Last post by steeladept on October 08, 2007, 07:02 PM »

The best help I can give you is to go to www.HTMLDog.com and checkout relative positioning.

817

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: StyleSpread - 81% Discount (03oct07) - Worth Purchasing?

« Last post by steeladept on October 02, 2007, 09:23 PM »

It is not a program, but if you are trying to learn, I am a BIG advocate of HTMLDog.  They go into detail on both (X)HTML and CSS and make it easy enough for anyone to learn and use.  It is also very well laid out, and is a free tutorial/resource for anyone who goes to the site.   

818

Living Room / Re: Whats on your desktop?

« Last post by steeladept on October 01, 2007, 03:37 PM »

Here's a solution:
<shaaaaameless plug>
Use DialogMove, which moves the new dialogs that come up to your mouse position
</shameless plug>

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

What I don't get is why a shameless plug for DialogMove, and not for GridMove.  Wouldn't that work well for something like that too, or do I not understand well what it does?  I don't have a two monitor setup, so I can't try these fancy different things.

819

Living Room / Re: UK Government wants your crypto keys... by law.

« Last post by steeladept on October 01, 2007, 03:25 PM »

Ken, I hate to get political, but there are two MAJOR flaws with what you stated.

1. It is in the UK, not the US.  Therefore that sorta invalidates everything else as far as political speech goes on this policy.

2. I really see it as more bringing us back from the brink, as it were, that this administration has done.  It isn't working outside the bounds of the system, rather it is using it to bring it back in line with the original tenants set forth in the constitution.  Granted, parts of some legislations *ahem*Patriot Act*ahem* bordered on unconstitutional, and in fact have been ruled as such.  Moreover these have been stricken from the laws of the land by the Supreme Court, or will be as soon as they come before it.  However, many parts of the socialization that past government regimes have inflicted on the U. S. citizenry have hurt it far worse and have been supported and codified in a generally friendly (read socialist) court system.  The class stratification that has occurred from this is just one example.  It used to be that "the poor" were poor until they were able to find jobs.  Now, even as people find jobs they are still staying poor, stratified by the classification system utilized by the system.  How, you say?  In no small part through various forms of welfare (though this is hardly the end of it).  Without access to the wealth of material I have at home, I can't quickly come up with others, but there are at least 5 points I have well argued in the past that I have information on.  My point is, you can't hardly call what this administration does fascist.  Nor can you call it a cure-all.  Let's leave the politics of the administration to the administration being discussed if we are going to discuss politics, and present posts of other policies in their own posts.  That way I can avoid them as desired 

820

General Software Discussion / Re: What linux needs?

« Last post by steeladept on September 28, 2007, 07:40 PM »

No wait, that one is also built on top of old code. So, what's left? The picture is turning pretty grim.

-Lashiec (September 28, 2007, 07:07 PM)

REINVENTION OF (or actual release of "completed" code for) BE OS!

Better yet, (Sorry Mouser, but better get your coding fingers ready  ) CODY OS!

821

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

« Last post by steeladept on September 27, 2007, 02:35 PM »

I used a program called AcidMusic (or AcidDJ or something like that) from Sony a while back that had that capability.  You simply choose a sound, and paint on the track.  It couldn't be simpler.  I did a quick google search on sound looping and found several interesting hits as well.  Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia of several choices:

Some of the most widely used are, Sony's ACID, Cakewalk Sonar, ReCycle, GarageBand, FL Studio (formerly Fruity Loops), Ableton Live, Augustus Loop, Multi Loop, and Ambi Loop.

-Wikipedia

You might want to give one of these a try.  If you want to try ACID, here is a link to get it.  It is based on version 5 (6 is the current version).  I stopped at version 3 so I don't know how good this one is.

http://www.sonycreat...ad/step2.asp?DID=551

Hope that helps.

822

Living Room / Re: Flash Game of the Day: Gravity Pods

« Last post by steeladept on September 27, 2007, 01:22 PM »

Gads, I did well, but not that well.  They just keep making it harder and harder, don't they!  I guess that is what makes it fun though.

823

Living Room / Re: Upgrading Your BIOS - experiencing ecstasy

« Last post by steeladept on September 26, 2007, 08:57 PM »

I can say from my experiences at work that HP/Compaq does not do a great job of documenting their fixes either.  Though at least they seem to make an attempt.  I remember a time we had to go through every machine we had (~600) at our location for some program upgrades for anti-virus and other similar level programs.  While we were at it, we upgraded all the BIOS's on all the machines.  I will state at this point that this is NOT recommended procedure by HP/Compaq.  Still, when we did this, not only was every machine to the latest stable BIOS setting, but we saw our average problem call drop from 20-30 a week to less than 5 a week!  Even if the other changes we made had some bearing on the results, I am convinced that the bulk of the results were from the BIOS update.  Many of the AV changes were made previously on some machines as they were put out a replacements and we still did not see that drastic a drop on those machines.  I guess the point of my rambling is that you should at least *consider* a BIOS update regularly even if you don't KNOW it will help.  Just make sure you realize the ramifications as stated earlier.

824

General Software Discussion / Re: Cracked while installing Linux :)

« Last post by steeladept on September 25, 2007, 12:12 PM »

Basically, the Mono framework is ready at varying levels for different things, but the development tools for it still seem behind - unless you're using VS of course - but that doesn't run on Linux.

-Renegade (September 24, 2007, 10:33 PM)

That is great news at varying levels  .

Seriously though, I do use VS and NetBeans as my IDE's the few times I attempt to actually develop something.  Maybe one of these days I will be successful.  Part of my reason for Java (hence NetBeans) is for the cross compatibility.  Even if it is not perfect, it is the best alternative currently available that I have seen that is "offline".  I know web programming is where true cross platform occurs currently, but I want something I can use on my linux box and my windows box when they are stand-alone.  Once Mono achieves it's purpose, it will be a valid alternative - and from what you are saying it may be there now depending on what I am doing...

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General Software Discussion / Re: Cracked while installing Linux :)

« Last post by steeladept on September 24, 2007, 12:46 PM »

Yes, but as I recall, no one has ever described Mono as stable or ready, yet.  Last I heard, it is still under strong development, not even ready for a real Alpha, let alone Beta.  However, to continue testing during development, they have released the code to try and use.  Am I mistaken on this?