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876

Developer's Corner / Re: Font Survey: 42 of the Best Monospaced Programming Fonts

« Last post by Jibz on October 08, 2010, 01:35 AM »

Another font thread.

The article isn't exactly new, but I went through it today and tried to find the best font (again... 3rd time in the last 2 years...) for coding.

-Armando (October 07, 2010, 11:17 PM)

That is a very nice comparison I think.

I admit I sometimes need a  "clear type" break... but, generally I prefer  "clear type" on my laptop LCD.
LCD's are not all the same -- mine has very "sharp" pixels (this could also be due to the graphical adapter I suppose... But I'm far from being an expert in that field).

-Armando (October 07, 2010, 11:17 PM)

A good point. If you spend a lot of your time looking at code/text in an editor, I believe it is important to take the time to try out a few fonts and see which ones work for you and for the monitor you are using. Also, try with different types of text -- some fonts work well for code but make it less pleasant to read a passage of text, some the other way around.

In my experience, the size of your screen, the resolution, and how cleartype looks on your particular hardware, can have a big impact on readability and on how much it stresses your eyes.

For instance, I am (still) using a 17" LCD at 1280x1024. On that, I like Consolas at 10 pt. At 9 pt it starts having some artifacts, like the dot over the i being off center, and at 8 pt some characters start getting 'smudgy', like m and w. Such things distract my eye when reading a line. But at 10 pt it's very good here .

A font like Dina was initially designed for 8 pt, because that was the size that happened to work best on my screen. The larger sizes were added because people with larger LCDs sometimes had trouble reading Dina at 8 pt. From the feedback I have gotten, they seem to work well, but Dina 10 pt looks huge on my little screen .

877

Developer's Corner / Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years

« Last post by Jibz on October 07, 2010, 10:37 AM »

Walk into any bookstore, and you'll see how to Teach Yourself Java in 7 Days alongside endless variations offering to teach Visual Basic, Windows, the Internet, and so on in a few days or hours.
...
The conclusion is that either people are in a big rush to learn about computers, or that computers are somehow fabulously easier to learn than anything else. There are no books on how to learn Beethoven, or Quantum Physics, or even Dog Grooming in a few days.

While it's some years old, it's an insightful essay I think:

http://norvig.com/21-days.html

The author works at Google and has published multiple books and articles, and knows what he's talking about .

878

DC Gamer Club / Re: Minecraft - An Incredible Indie Game

« Last post by Jibz on October 07, 2010, 06:23 AM »

It's a cool idea and it's nice to see a "small developer" getting a break .

One thing to note, if you have a low end machine the game may not run smoothly even though the graphics are extremely simplistic. My machine runs Half Life 2 and WoW smoothly, but this game chops and pauses for seconds.

879

General Software Discussion / Re: Another reason to drop Kaspersky?

« Last post by Jibz on October 03, 2010, 08:18 AM »

I have started thinking about looking for alternatives myself.

I have used Kaspersky products for years, and have always been happy with them.

But the last couple of versions feel like they are getting slower and more obnoxious. I can't complain about the protection, which has worked fine. But every time it updates my computer is more and more unresponsive, sometimes locking up repeatedly for seconds. And I seem to spend more and more time looking at the "new application has been started" progress dialog on my screen.

Also, the last two product upgrades were a pain .. I ended up having to use a removal tool from their forums to get rid of the old version before the new would install.

Part of it is probably because I am running on a single-core machine with 1GB of mem, and they are targeting more recent hardware. Maybe I shouldn't have upgraded to 2010 and 2011 versions.

But in the end, I am feeling more and more annoyed by how much KIS is interrupting my work.

880

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: VueMinder Calendar Pro 75% Discount

« Last post by Jibz on September 27, 2010, 09:23 AM »

Thanks for the nice discount, and for having such reasonable licensing terms .

A single-user license can be used by a single user on any number of computers. Additional users require their own license. However, if using the software at home, all immediate family members living in the same residence count as the same user, so only 1 user license is required.

-VueMinder FAQ

881

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager

« Last post by Jibz on September 26, 2010, 04:33 AM »

Those of you who know me, will understand that the addition of a new scripting feature in XYplorer has moved this file manager up the list somewhat. From the beta change log:

    + Scripting got a new command.
      Name:   makecoffee
      Action: Makes a good cup of coffee.
      Syntax: makecoffee
      Example:
        ::makecoffee;
      Remarks:
        Call again for another cup.

882

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Hard to C -- a blog about programming

« Last post by Jibz on September 24, 2010, 09:49 AM »

Resurrecting this post from the graveyard to say that I know I am a very unstable blogger, but there has been a few new posts since last year, in case anyone who was interested gave up checking during the last drought .

883

Post New Requests Here / Re: All AutoHotkey (AHK) coders read: No more upx packing of compiled ahk utils

« Last post by Jibz on August 30, 2010, 01:25 AM »

This issue caused me to look into some of the pros/cons of UPX compression.  I can't seem to find the links right now.

-MilesAhead (August 29, 2010, 06:02 PM)

f0dder wrote a nice article about (some of) the reasons why exe compression is bad:

http://f0dder.reteam...org/packandstuff.htm

You can add the never ending problems with false positives to that.

884

Circle Dock / Re: Goodbye all, I'm out of here effective immediately

« Last post by Jibz on August 13, 2010, 08:19 AM »

Is GPL in practice ever enforceable except in the most trivial of examples?

If source code has to be provided then almost by definition it is ultimately impossible to satisfy that criteria in full. The only way it would be possible is the writing of assembly language with no external calls to the operating system.

To comply in a higher level language would require the source code of all the libraries used (including OS calls) and probably the source code of the compiler!

-Carol Haynes (August 13, 2010, 07:52 AM)

There is an exception for "system libraries" in the GPL:

However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need not include anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component itself accompanies the executable.

-http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLIncompatibleLibs

without which you are right, GPL software could only be developed and run on GPL operating systems.

Btw, as mentioned in the FAQ entry linked above, the copyright holder can add an exception to allow linking with non-GPL libraries, which amusingly enough provides a truck-sized hole mentioned in http://www.gnu.org/l...html#MoneyGuzzlerInc

885

General Software Discussion / Re: Which archive software are we using in 2010 (and why)?

« Last post by Jibz on August 13, 2010, 12:37 AM »

I believe you are right about the dump that I receive in RAR format is not packed using the most extreme settings RAR has to offer.
But still, I expect 7-zip to be at least 30% to 50% more efficient than anything winRAR can bring to the table. Regarding my dumpfiles that is.

-Shades (August 12, 2010, 05:52 PM)

One thing that might affect it is the window size. WinRAR only supports up to 4 MB there, where 7-Zip can go up to 1 GB apparently (?). If your log files contain recurring events that are further apart than 4 MB, WinRAR will do worse.

886

General Software Discussion / Re: Which archive software are we using in 2010 (and why)?

« Last post by Jibz on August 11, 2010, 03:38 AM »

I don't understand how any un/zipper can be faster or easier to use (or less bloated) than 7Zip

-Curt (August 11, 2010, 03:04 AM)

I think it's more that 7-Zip feels like .. well .. an open source project . It looks like something from Win3.11 and (the last time I tried it) feels a bit 'unpolished'. WinRAR just bestows more confidence that you're gonna see your data again I think.

887

General Software Discussion / Re: Which archive software are we using in 2010 (and why)?

« Last post by Jibz on August 11, 2010, 02:44 AM »

WinRAR. It's one of the few applications that has managed to stay lean and efficient through all these years where others got bloated and annoying .

888

General Software Discussion / Re: Which archive software are we using in 2010 (and why)?

« Last post by Jibz on August 10, 2010, 05:06 PM »

Something that has always bugged me:
Why does WinRar have two different websites?  See the links below:

-superboyac (August 10, 2010, 04:24 PM)

If you look at the bottom of the rarlab.com site you will see:

Copyright © 2002-2010 Alexander Roshal. All rights reserved.
win.rar GmbH - the official publisher for RARLAB products - handles all support, marketing and sales related to WinRAR and www.rarlab.com.

with a link to the win-rar.com site, so it's official .

889

Living Room / Re: Why do support people never answer questions?

« Last post by Jibz on August 02, 2010, 03:23 AM »

You are right, I am actually terrible at that .. I always end up writing stuff like that that can divert attention from the question I am asking .

890

Living Room / Re: Why do support people never answer questions?

« Last post by Jibz on August 02, 2010, 02:28 AM »

I guess you can read anything into it by saying she is answering the question by not answering the question .. at the end of the day she is still not answering the question.

891

General Software Discussion / Re: Synchronizing a few folders between two machines?

« Last post by Jibz on July 31, 2010, 03:49 PM »

Thanks for all the suggestions, I am slowly looking through them .

I would prefer not to have a program running all the time in the background, because as I mentioned the folders are only changed a few times a week at the most. It would be better if I could click a button to update them, or if I could schedule the program to perform a sync maybe once a day.

It would be nice if it could work without having to share folders, but I guess it would make it simpler.

892

General Software Discussion / Re: Synchronizing a few folders between two machines?

« Last post by Jibz on July 29, 2010, 12:42 PM »

I use Microsoft's SyncToy for this.

-nosh (July 29, 2010, 11:51 AM)

That might be an option. I would have to set up shared folders for that to work though wouldn't I?

I use dropbox for folder syncing between multiple computers.  Works great in my opinion.  They have a free 2gb account but can be upgraded to a larger amount for a price.

-jazper (July 29, 2010, 12:29 PM)

One of the folders is 10 GB so at least the free account is not an option. I don't really want to have to upload to some remote server to do sync between two local computers either, that seems like a waste of bandwidth.

893

General Software Discussion / Synchronizing a few folders between two machines?

« Last post by Jibz on July 29, 2010, 11:06 AM »

I have a couple of folders (one with a lot of images and one with some documents), that I would like to have duplicated on another machine on the LAN. They are not updated that often, so there is no need for any fancy real-time cooperation stuff, I just want them to be synchronized maybe once a day or even once a week.

I've looked at SFSS which has been discussed a lot here, but it does look like it's probably overkill?

Any recommendations on easy ways to achieve this?

894

Living Room / Why do support people never answer questions?

« Last post by Jibz on July 29, 2010, 10:59 AM »

I changed the name of the software I made the inquiry about in this particular case below to Foo, since it could have been pretty much any companies support department that sent this reply:

> I was looking at your product and was wondering if there were any
> plans to add support for TheBat?
>
> I guess it might be possible to export to mbox and then import into
> Foo, but it would be a lot easier if there was real support for
> it.

thank you for your interest in Foo.

Currently Foo provides no direct support for the email client TheBat but as you said correctly you can export to mbox and archive those file with Foo.

If you have further questions, don't hesitate to contact me again.

-Average Support Person

Sometimes I wonder if they have courses in how to avoid answering any actual questions by just stating the obvious wrapped in macro text .

895

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: Axialis Software 50% off sale, until May 31st 2010

« Last post by Jibz on July 28, 2010, 12:19 PM »

And another 50% off special from Axialis, this time until July 31st.

896

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: XYplorer Big Summer Art Madness! - Lifetime License on 50%

« Last post by Jibz on July 20, 2010, 04:12 PM »

I know it currently can't open a zip file as a file folder - but it looks like it *might* get 'proper' zip management soon.

-tomos (July 20, 2010, 04:07 AM)

Yes I got my hopes up as well, but it appears Don dropped the idea again after a little discussion on the XYplorer forums.

At any rate, it's an excellent file manager, and like all of them there is stuff it does not do. Just give it a spin and find out if you can live without them .

897

Found Deals and Discounts / Re: XYplorer Big Summer Art Madness! - Lifetime License on 50%

« Last post by Jibz on July 20, 2010, 03:36 AM »

I was surprised not to see a bunch of (obvious) feature options, in XYplorer. So, if I don't care to learn some scripting, I might not be satisfied with XYplorer. Is that it?

-Curt (July 20, 2010, 02:46 AM)

I would definitely suggest you use the trial period to evaluate it fully before you purchase. Many of the features in XY are great, but it is lacking a few things you might expect to be there. Using the evaluation period well is of course sound advice for any piece of shareware .

Oh and spend a little time reading the forums, they give some valuable insight into the level of support.

898

General Software Discussion / Re: What's your preferred File Manager

« Last post by Jibz on July 17, 2010, 11:18 AM »

Still using DOpus though for every day use; I can't seem to get my mind set on learning how to do all the things I do in DOpus with XYplorer. Every time I decide to give XYplorer an extended go I find myself staring at it, trying to perform some action that is automatic for me in DOpus, and I always end up closing it and using DOpus instead. I haven't found the time to really read up on the XYplorer features or at least the nitty gritty details of how to access them easily. One of these days....

-J-Mac (July 17, 2010, 11:11 AM)

I feel much the same way. I use DO and TC normally depending on what I need to do. I really like a lot of the features of XY when I read about them, and I have a feeling there's something great in it, but then I run into something simple like the inability to open a zip archive as a folder and I am back in TC again .

I love the portability of XY though, it's nice that the author trusts you enough to not have registered users go through hoops just to use it from an USB stick .

899

General Software Discussion / Do user forums sometimes stop software from improving?

« Last post by Jibz on June 24, 2010, 05:25 AM »

Don't get me wrong, I love forums of course (especially this one ), but I've started to wonder about a few of the ones I frequent. Do user forums sometimes stop software from improving?

What I am talking about is when you see multiple new users post similar requests or issues they are having, which usually break down to some feature not being intuitive in the user interface, or some process taking too many steps, when it could be done more efficiently by making a few changes.

What usually happens next is one of the power users on the forum posts a workaround for the issue, or even just a link to some of the previous similar posts the user could have searches for.

I am sure you know the type .. post count in the thousands, signature is longer than his response, usually in some "Power User" group on the forum making him feel almost like a representative of the company, zealous about beating down any criticism.

The problem is that a workaround is just that .. a way around the actual problem, not solving it. And my fear is that sometimes having these user forums where power users propagate the workarounds they found and use to new users will stop the software developers from realizing maybe there is something that should be changed here.

They may monitor the forums and read the posts, but they may also get a "problem solved" kind of feeling when they see a power user posting a workaround.

What do you think?

900

General Software Discussion / Re: This Mac devotee is moving to Linux

« Last post by Jibz on June 21, 2010, 01:57 PM »

• there was decent software for graphics and video (at least as function as Photoshop Elements and Sony Vegas

-Carol Haynes (June 21, 2010, 01:00 PM)

I actually find myself using Gimp most of the time, even though I am running Windows and have both that and Photoshop Elements installed.

I like the more 'open' workspace and it can do the same photo fixing I used to do in PSE.