The Technology Vent and Rant Thread

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Which version of Windows, and why do you need to do that?

I don't believe any of the the desktop enhancers do that, as it isn't their job.

There are alternative file copy programs that may. I used to run a freeware product called Teracopy which was faster than Windows native file copies, but Win10 is now as fast, and I dropped it.
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Dennis

Win10. 2 transfers to the drive on the router's USB3 port cause choppiness in video streams; 3 transfers overwhelm the router (an ancient underpowered Netgear R6300v2) & cause the drive to disconnect. I either wait for transfers to finish one-by-one, or collect all the source files into one temp folder, send it, then move the copied files to their proper destination folders. So much easier if I could just queue them up to run one at a time...

[trichobezoar]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I ran Stardock's Window Blinds back in the day. If eye candy is what you want, they do it well. These days I'm less concerned with eye candy. The desktop is minimal and static, with the intent that what I normally need to run or access is a double click away.
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Dennis

Thank you for your input. 'Am now downloading WindowBlinds. I purchased both the software and subscription to Mathway.com. I'll be eating beans and rice the rest of the month, but it's worth it. lol

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by trichobezoar

Thank you for your input. 'Am now downloading WindowBlinds. I purchased both the software and subscription to Mathway.com. I'll be eating beans and rice the rest of the month, but it's worth it. lol

Mathway looks pretty cool - thanks for the link. Can I ask what you plan to use it for?

Lately I've been struggling to figure out how to calculate probabilities for some poker scenarios...

[trichobezoar]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

Mathway looks pretty cool - thanks for the link. Can I ask what you plan to use it for?

You're welcome. I was so thankful when a kind person, the director of a non-profit agency, referred me to the site a few days ago.

I'm going back to school eventually--within a few years. I've forgotten algebra though... and perhaps pre-algebra. I have to start somewhere. I'm taking online classes; I met the requirements for Upward Bound which helps low income veterans like me. I was a senior at UNM years ago, but I was forgetting algebra then; I couldn't take the statistics class needed for my degree, so I dropped out. That was a long time ago...

I'm back at UNM volunteering. 'Might as well make good use of my downtime.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

My latest beef with Windows is inability to single-thread a queue of file transfers. Do any of the desktop enhancement products support that?

The file manager I use, an ancient version of xplorer² Pro, offers queued file transfers. Not sure if it's in the Lite (free) version, my guess is it would be. It also offers what it calls a Robust Transfers, which I don't use, that feature may not be in Lite.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

<snip>Of course, having a 23" flat screen monitor in 1920x1080 mode helps. There's no such thing as enough screen real estate. If I had the room, I'd have two of them.

A 24" 2560x1440 monitor is a bit better, and I too would have two of them if I had the space. The only desktop gadget I use is the 7TT taskbar tweaker, being a minimalist I use it to remove the bling and glitz rather than add more.



BR

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by cc_in_oh

Win10. 2 transfers to the drive on the router's USB3 port cause choppiness in video streams; 3 transfers overwhelm the router (an ancient underpowered Netgear R6300v2) & cause the drive to disconnect. I either wait for transfers to finish one-by-one, or collect all the source files into one temp folder, send it, then move the copied files to their proper destination folders. So much easier if I could just queue them up to run one at a time...

So you aren't attempting to stream video to a playback device?

If you just want to get the file from one machine to another, I'd thing about sneakernet. Copy the files to a USB thumbdrive, then plug the drive into the target and copy them to the desired destination. You avoid the router being the the speed bump in the road.

(I don't do a lot with video, and haven't experienced the problem. I have some video on the desktop, but if I need to get it to a laptop or tablet a direct cable connection or a thumbdrive does it without Wifi in the loop.)
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Dennis

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by trichobezoar

You're welcome. I was so thankful when a kind person, the director of a non-profit agency, referred me to the site a few days ago.

I'm going back to school eventually--within a few years. I've forgotten algebra though... and perhaps pre-algebra. I have to start somewhere. I'm taking online classes; I met the requirements for Upward Bound which helps low income veterans like me. I was a senior at UNM years ago, but I was forgetting algebra then; I couldn't take the statistics class needed for my degree, so I dropped out. That was a long time ago...

I'm back at UNM volunteering. 'Might as well make good use of my downtime.

UDEMY often has $10 sales on their courses. The Python and Java courses I've bought have been well worth the price...

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by trichobezoar

Thank you for your input. 'Am now downloading WindowBlinds. I purchased both the software and subscription to Mathway.com. I'll be eating beans and rice the rest of the month, but it's worth it. lol

Let us know how it works. The last I looked, I believe v5.5 was released as freeware, but I haven't run it since Win2K/WinXP. I have no idea if/how well it runs under Win10.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

The file manager I use, an ancient version of xplorer² Pro, offers queued file transfers. Not sure if it's in the Lite (free) version, my guess is it would be. It also offers what it calls a Robust Transfers, which I don't use, that feature may not be in Lite.

I have xplorer² around, but haven't used it in ages. I have a couple of things like Explorer++, but Windows Explorer normally meets my needs. The main addition is a freeware product called Clover that adds tabs to Windows Explorer. An upcoming Win10 release is supposed to incorporate that functionality native, but the release of that subsystem got delayed.

A 24" 2560x1440 monitor is a bit better, and I too would have two of them if I had the space. The only desktop gadget I use is the 7TT taskbar tweaker, being a minimalist I use it to remove the bling and glitz rather than add more.

I'd like a 2560x1440 monitor, but the one I have (an AOC emergency replacement for a failed fancier Vizio unit) does what I need, and the sort of thing I might like will cost 3 - 4 times what the AOC did.

My base selector is "I do the odd DTP project. Will the monitor display two side by side 8.5x11 pages in close enough to full size to let me see how things will look?" The one I use now gets close enough to go on with.
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Dennis

[cc_in_oh]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

So you aren't attempting to stream video to a playback device?

If you just want to get the file from one machine to another, I'd thing about sneakernet. Copy the files to a USB thumbdrive, then plug the drive into the target and copy them to the desired destination. You avoid the router being the the speed bump in the road.

(I don't do a lot with video, and haven't experienced the problem. I have some video on the desktop, but if I need to get it to a laptop or tablet a direct cable connection or a thumbdrive does it without Wifi in the loop.)
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Dennis

The problem with that is that the router IS the destination. Even if I plugged a flash drive into its USB2 port, the files would have to go to a PC then back to the USB3 drive, i.e. twice the bottleneck of PC-to-router. Anyway, a flash drive would be more of a hassle than just collecting into one temp folder and transferring over the network.

I play video stored on the router USB drive (native playback of MKV & MP4 files, not a streaming service like DLNA or Plex). The file transfers are to get the video files from a PC to that drive. The choppiness I mentioned isn't streaming to the player, it's inbound streaming to the recording software on the PC.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by nferia

I have tried fbreader... which from the description, I was convinced it was the right one but, it appears to access any of those features, I have to pay for it but, the app I had before was free.

What I use here is a 7" android tablet with FBReader. My eBooks live on a 32GB microSD card in the tablet. I put books on the Card using Calibre. FBReader can find and use them just fine.

FBReader got the nod here because it handles multiple formats. I prefer ePub, but have stuff in Mobi, PDF and other things. As long as they aren't encumbered with DRM, FBReader can open and display them. (I don't get DRM encumbered titles, so that's not an issue.)

FBReader is free and open source. The free version does everything the donate Premium version does. The main difference between the freeware and payware version is that the payware version builds in the PDF viewer and the Bookshelf GUI, but you can get both of those in the free version by installing plugins.

On my device, my eBooks live in an eBooks directory on the external card, and FBReader Settings let me change the default directory where it looks for books to the location on the card.

On my particular device, the fastest and simplest way to get books on the card is to pop it from the tablet, plug it into a USB adapter, and plug it into my desktop, then use Connect/Share Connect to Folder, and select the eBooks directory on the card. When I'm done adding, eject the card from the desktop, pop it back into the tablet, run FBReader and tell it to rescan the specified directory.

I'd need to know more about your specific device to get an idea of what teh problem is.
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Dennis

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by trichobezoar

To purchase or not to purchase Object Desktop: that is the question: whether 'tis nobler in mind to keep one's word and purchase a Mathway.com's premium membership or to delight in the configuration of a Windows desktop at last... at long last. I have waited far too long for such a venture and to think that it is near. No more dreadful destop, no more boring icons and static wallpaper... Next month perhaps.

I own the Icon Packager program from Stardock. I love it. It was well worth the price. I did find my own icons the ones they have are pretty outdated for Windows 10. Deviant Art has alot of nice ones.

I also use the StartIsBack which is a very nice start menu alternative and only $3 which is a very nice price for what you get.

For a dock I use Rocket Dock which is free and light weight on the resources.

I've been using these for years so the investment is worth it.

Sent from my Nexus 7

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

Which program? It's possible something else might do the job.
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Dennis

It was Easy CD something. I'm now using something else but it's not as fast there no way of choosing a speed to burn.

Sent from my Nexus 7

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Blossom

It was Easy CD something.

Was that the Roxio product?

I'm now using something else but it's not as fast there no way of choosing a speed to burn.

I use an open source product called Infrarecorder - http://infrarecorder.org/ - but it's been quite some time since I needed to burn a CD/DVD (or read/play one, for that matter.)

IIRC, Win10 builds in CD burning (you can burn audio CDs with Windows Media Player, and data CDs otherwise.)
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Blossom

I also use the StartIsBack which is a very nice start menu alternative and only $3 which is a very nice price for what you get.

I use Classic Shell. The developer has ceased development because of time constraints but it still works. He put the last source up in Sourceforge is someone wants to pick up the reins.

For a dock I use Rocket Dock which is free and light weight on the resources.

I do too. I went looking for a dock program and Rocket was open source and did what was desired.
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Dennis