Entries for Xaero_Vincent

Piggybank [Piggybank]

Xaero_Vincent — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:18:13 GMT

A functional USA Dollar version of Jamie's Piggybank mockup application.

A very simple, graphical personal finance application.

Features for v1.0:

* Upto six individual piggybank items
* Add money to checking account
* Creation of a checking account
* Graphical money manuplation
* Utilizes DirectX 7 for sprites
* Open, Save, Close options
* DES password encryption

Tentative feature set for the next release, v2.0:

* Add support for U.S cent change ((Maybe))
* Utilize DirectX 9 for sprites in next release
* Add U.S.D currency denominations sprites
* Implement more piggybank item features

Future release (v3.0 and beyond):

* Support other currencies (Euro, Peso, Yen, etc.) ?

License: This software is released under Public Domain with a disclaimer.

Bugs: There is a window re-drawing issue. When this issue occurs, just drag the window elsewhere on the screen or minimize then restore the window to properly re-paint the background image. I hope to have the re-painting problem largely diminished by the next release.

Download here or from 4shared link.

http://www.4shared.com/file/41572747/c4644431/Piggybank.html

in reply to Piggybank

Internet Explorer 8 is full of surprises. [Internet Explorer 8 is full of surprises.]

Xaero_Vincent — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:53:24 GMT

OK, the new IE 8 beta is released.

The default standards mode does indeed pass the Acid 2 test.

It also introduces some new hilarious functionality as well :

Get it here.

in reply to Internet Explorer 8 is full of surprises.

Today is a good day for interopability [Today is a good day for interopability]

Xaero_Vincent — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:50:06 GMT

Computerworld wrote:
February 15, 2008 (Computerworld) Microsoft Corp. on Friday said it has made technical information about all of its Office binary file formats openly available to outside software developers, while promising never to sue them for patent violations.

The specifications for the binary formats used by Word, Excel and PowerPoint files will be made available under Microsoft's Open Specification Promise (OSP) program, which the software vendor has used to publicly release a variety of its technical specifications.

Article

Finally, OpenOffice and other suits will have the assurance they need to seamlessly interop with older Office file formats--figure proper margins, font attributes, and other formatting, which until now often appears mangled when accessing documents between office suits.

Good deal.

in reply to Today is a good day for interopability

Sandbox file managment? [Sandbox file managment?]

Xaero_Vincent — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 10:36:35 GMT

Is there a way to keep track of the files uploaded to sandbox and if old contributed files can be deleted by the uploader?

It appears to me that files are just randomly named once their uploaded, therefore storing old copies of files when updates are released?

in reply to Sandbox file managment?

Seamless Terminal Server [Seamless Terminal Server]

Xaero_Vincent — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 00:31:54 GMT

Hey guys,

I was just wondering if anyone here tried the seamless terminal server package I uploaded to sandbox? I see plenty of views but no comments.

I just want to know how its working for other people, especially those using Windows XP or older. I've only really tested it with my Vista terminal server.

It seems like many people here use both Windows and Linux but are tired of some of the crappy FOSS alternatives--yes, I agree there are many.

For example: Visual Studio verses MonoDevelop

Don't worry... this is not the same as rdesktop 1.5.0 w/ that stock SeamlessRDP shell. That combination is totally useless crap, IMHO.

This is much more like an early RemoteApp client implementation for Linux, long before Microsoft's official implementation is supported by rdesktop.

There are definitely quirks with this solution but I've provided some workaround solutions in the readme document.

Oh and Merry Christmas niners (for those who celebrate it). :)

in reply to Seamless Terminal Server

Seamless Windows Terminal Server for Linux [Seamless Windows Terminal Server for Linux]

Xaero_Vincent — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:32:13 GMT

Here is an early Christmas gift to our fellow niners with Windows and Linux boxes, who are looking for an easy way to access their Windows applications and remote files when Wine-type solutions fall flat.

I've packaged together a set of software components that provides a seamless terminal solution to Fedora Linux users with access to capable Windows machines or virtual machines on the local system.

"Seamless" refers to the interaction of individual programs in their own, seperate windows and launching them from shortcut icons on the Linux desktop. This is contrast to a normal remote desktop sessions, where the full desktop is presented in a single window.

I've made RPMs for an enhanced, patched CVS version of rdesktop (RDP client), included Microsoft's Elevate Power Toy for Vista, Fontis IT's enhanced SeamlessRDP server and my small tray application and readme.

Be sure to check the Readme file.

Requirements
==========

* Access to a computer with a version of Windows that encompasses the server component of terminal services: Windows NT 4.0 TS, Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista Buisness, Ultimate, and Enterprise. Windows Server 2008 terminal servers are currently not supported.

(Note): If local or remote access to a Windows machine is not possible, a virtual machine with host networking configured and a Windows guest operating system can be used in place of a physical system. The seamless terminal server should function the same in a virtualized environment. This document does not describe how to configure a virtual machine.

* At least one computer installed with Fedora Linux. Although this software is capable of running on numerous distributions and other Unix-like operating systems this particular package has only been tested with 32-bit versions of Fedora and Windows. Users of other distributions and operating systems may attempt to covert the RPM packages to the native package format of their distribution or operating system with tools like Alien.

(Note): Re-compiling the SRPM and SeamlessRDP components are necessary for 64-bit machines with 64-bit operating systems.

* Any sort of network or Internet connection for both the server and client. A simple 56K modem connection would be sufficient. Be aware that internal dial-up Winmodem support under Linux is poor at best; therefore, for most users, options are limited to a hardware modem, wired Ethernet or wireless connectivity. The terminal server system may be accessed from a local or wide area network or via the Internet.

Enjoy.

Update: Download from the 4shared link instead. It appears I reached my upload limit for this contribution on here. :s

http://www.4shared.com/file/35396677/f60a9ae4/sts.html

in reply to Seamless Windows Terminal Server for Linux

Samba gets access to Microsoft's protocol specs [Samba gets access to Microsoft's protocol specs]

Xaero_Vincent — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:21:35 GMT

Linuxworld wrote:
December 20th 2007. Today the Protocol Freedom Information Foundation (PFIF), a non-profit organization created by the Software Freedom Law Center, signed an agreement with Microsoft to receive the protocol documentation needed to fully interoperate with the Microsoft Windows workgroup server products and to make them available to Free Software projects such as Samba.

http://www.linuxworld.com/community/?q=node/1905

This is truely fantastic news across the board! :D

in reply to Samba gets access to Microsoft's protocol specs

Vista SP1 RC 1 [Vista SP1 RC 1]

Xaero_Vincent — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 19:32:50 GMT

OK, I wanted to download the new RC of Vista SP1 but I saw this:

Windows Update Automatic Update will automatically update your machine over the next several days with the prerequisites updates provided you have the Windows Update Automatic Update feature enabled. When the service pack has downloaded a pop-up notification will inform you that updates are ready to be installed. You must click on this notification and choose to install the service pack at this point. The service pack will not silently or automatically install itself.

So my question... is there anyway I can get the service pack without waiting days for Windows update to give me the required prereqs updates?

If not... that totally blows because I want to play with the RC. [C]

Link

in reply to Vista SP1 RC 1

PS3 Video controller accessed [PS3 Video controller accessed]

Xaero_Vincent — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:09:10 GMT

Some hackers managed to break thru the PS3's GPU "locks" that prevented Linux from accessing anything but the framebuffer.

A prototype kernel patch has been released that breaks the locks and provides a basic interface to the graphics hardware.

What this comes down to is the ability to now or soon develop Accelerated Xorg drivers that access the 2D, and 3D OpenGL functions of RSX.

That means Linux PPC gaming with a GeForce 7800-equivalent graphics card. Ok, not exactly outstanding but better than average, non-gaming PCs.

I dont suspect you'll be able to play any commercial Linux games because they are usually limited to x86.

Link #1
Link #2

in reply to PS3 Video controller accessed

Re: HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE [Re: HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE]

Xaero_Vincent — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 05:43:51 GMT

Thread.lock()

in reply to Re: HOW TO GET TO HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE

Primascan Colorado 2400u scanner in Vista [Primascan Colorado 2400u scanner in Vista]

Xaero_Vincent — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:06:03 GMT

OK, so I just installed my copy of Vista Buisness and now trying to get my scanner to work. I got it to work in Linux with some very simple (minimal) 3rd party driver.

It appears the drivers are only for XP and older and thats obviously the case as the drivers dont work.

So I'm wondering if there is anyway to get this to work in Vista without doing something crazy like install a VM with XP and pass the device to a virtual USB controller.

in reply to Primascan Colorado 2400u scanner in Vista

Ask.com looks sweet [Ask.com looks sweet]

Xaero_Vincent — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:31:30 GMT

OK, I'm a normally an exclusive Googler but the new Ask.com search engine looks hot.

If you type in a name of a city, you'll get a navigating map and a side bar with current time, weather, images, wikipedia article.

Type in a name of a band, you get sound and video clips in the side bar.

I have to admit I'm impressed. Ask is really on to something here.

http://www.ask.com/

in reply to Ask.com looks sweet

iTunesDB databased cracked by GtkPod coders [iTunesDB databased cracked by GtkPod coders]

Xaero_Vincent — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 04:26:27 GMT

How long did it take?

...two days?

Heh.

Link

in reply to iTunesDB databased cracked by GtkPod coders

AMD announcement for Linux users [AMD announcement for Linux users]

Xaero_Vincent — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 01:19:27 GMT

AMD plans to introduce new Linux drivers--based on a new code base--very soon. AMD will also introduce open driver specifications and a basic open source driver for starters! This means it will once again be possible to develop robust open source drivers for R500 and newer video card owners.

The new proprietary drivers will include:

* Upto 90% OpenGL performance improvement!
* Support for Radeon HD 2000 series (R600).
* Support for AIGLX compositing desktops.
* Improved overall driver stability?

Links:

Phoronix
LWN

in reply to AMD announcement for Linux users

Got OS X [Got OS X]

Xaero_Vincent — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:05:25 GMT

A friend/classmate from my class burned me a copy OS X for me.

Now I get to really see what all the fuss is about with these Apple PCs aka Macs. :)

in reply to Got OS X

IE8 Alpha screenshots or Jamie's mockups? [IE8 Alpha screenshots or Jamie's mockups?]

Xaero_Vincent — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 17:59:52 GMT

WTF is this? It looks just like Jamie's mockup for IE8 using the ribbon. Or was it not his mockups? http://techtoday.110mb.com/2007/07/05/internet-explorer-8-alpha-screenshots/ Sorry (link not an option for Opera because no button or HTML view).

in reply to IE8 Alpha screenshots or Jamie's mockups?

Counterfeit toothpaste? [Counterfeit toothpaste?]

Xaero_Vincent — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 15:15:39 GMT

It appears there are some consumers getting their hands on ungeniune toothpaste.

http://www.physorg.com/news101055314.html

My question is why? Why is there counterfeit Colgate toothpaste and whats the difference between it and the genuine stuff? Maybe the diethylene glycol ingredient?

Just another reason to brush your teeth with baking soda and enjoy the salty, tingy sensation.

in reply to Counterfeit toothpaste?

Just bought Vista Buisness [Just bought Vista Buisness]

Xaero_Vincent — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 20:05:24 GMT

For $17.25 + 2 week shipping ($8) from MSAA. Freaken awesome man! :-D 100x better than waiting 3 months and counting for express upgrade to Home basic. I dunno why I made a thread, I guess Im just excited. :-P

in reply to Just bought Vista Buisness

Fedora 7 released [Fedora 7 released]

Xaero_Vincent — Thu, 31 May 2007 20:47:40 GMT

New features include:

* Automatic hotplugging display devices (X-server 1.3)
* Core and Extras merged and better security auditing
* Fedora Directory Server (like Active Directory)
* New 80211Mac (Devicescape) network stack
* Tickless kernel (better power management)
* Comprehensive SELinux GUI config tool
* New installable Live CDs including KDE
* SELinux troubleshooting tool included
* More open community involvement
* Much faster Yum, Pirut, Pup
* Wireless firmware included
* KVM (Kernel Virtulization)
* Latest software packages
* Improved I18N support
* Smolt (hardware tool)
* Fast User Switching
* New desktop theme
* New Firewire stack
* New libata driver
* Liberation fonts

Thats all folks. ;)

Download and see.

in reply to Fedora 7 released

A new way to run Windows applications on nix OSes [A new way to run Windows applications on nix OSes]

Xaero_Vincent — Wed, 30 May 2007 08:51:17 GMT

Anyone here who is using Linux and Windows might find the following interesting:

I found a way to mimic coherence-mode virtualization from a Linux host before officially supported in Linux virtualization solutions, such as Xen, VMware, and VirtualBox.

The screenshot shows me playing XP's Space Cadet, *nix's Frozen Bubble (looser! style) on Fedora with Compiz effects enabled.

The window title bars and overall appearance can be altered from within MMC (Microsoft Management Console); Windows taskbar can be enabled as well for true coherency but I have not tried either yet.

Heres a screenshot of someone else's desktop with taskbar enabled: http://www.virtualbox.org/attachment/ticket/149/snapshot-Win-a.jpg

How it works is a little involved. You install a VM solution and a Windows guest OS. After this you log in, enable Remote Desktop, make sure Windows firewall and any hardware (router) firewalls aren't blocking TCP port 3389. Then do a 'netstat -a' to make sure Windows guest is listening for RDP port 3389 for any access attempts.

The catch here is the guest must support virtualization and RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) in the Windows Terminal Server component stack; this means Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003 & 2008, XP Pro, and Vista Business & Ultimate.

Afterwards, install rdesktop (a CLI terminal server client) v1.5 or later, a seamless RDP shell then log into the guest Windows OS, which should already be running in a background VM window. It will be useful to launch cmd.exe (or explorer.exe once the Windows registry is tweaked not to show the full desktop while running the shell) as well.

Assuming nothing goes wrong, you'll see the magic happen.

As mentioned earlier, in the near future coherency mode will likely be implemented in most VM solutions, so this VM over RDP trick shouldn't be necessary then.

3D video hardware for virtualized OpenGL and Direct X is coming too! Wow!

So someday non-native games wont even be a problem; although Wine, CrossOver, and Cedega do a good job at playing many hundreds of games already.

http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~andreslc/xen-gl/
http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/fusion/ (might be supported in the other VMware products when matured)

Anyway, a thorough wiki article describes how to do this in detail and directs you to Deviant Art where you can download a Human (brown poo) theme for Windows to make it integrate more naturally with Ubuntu:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SeamlessVirtualization

I should note that I'm using QEMU w/ KQEMU accelerator and had to use my private IP address as an argument for rdesktop instead of localhost. The latter didn't seem to connect for me.

Good Luck and have fun. :P

in reply to A new way to run Windows applications on *nix OSes

PS3 firmware upgrade brings new functionality to users [PS3 firmware upgrade brings new functionality to users]

Xaero_Vincent — Thu, 24 May 2007 19:06:54 GMT

The 1.80 firmware will upscale DVD movies and old PS1 and PS2 games upto 1080p via HDMI connection for better picture qaulity.

Media Extender functionality has also been integrated and able to grab content from DLNA-compatable devices and play it on your TV.

Image files on the hard drive are now able to be printed out on Epson printers; more printers soon. I assume this means print functionality without any other OS installed, such as Linux.

http://www.t3.co.uk/news/247/games/playstation_2/new_ps3_firmware_released
http://play.tm/story/10694

in reply to PS3 firmware upgrade brings new functionality to users

BeleniX 0.6 released [BeleniX 0.6 released]

Xaero_Vincent — Wed, 23 May 2007 18:10:11 GMT

osnews wrote:
After some gap due to a busy few months for many of the BeleniX folks a new release is now available. Get it from the download page. Lots of changes have happened and here is a summary: Based on OpenSolaris build 60, fully modular Xorg 7.2, Compiz 0.5.0 3D manager integrated into Xfce and KDE, and much more.

This sounds very cool. NexentaOS Alpha 7 is really a piece of dog **** when you cannot even install packages because it's so broken.

Likewise this is a LiveCD and installable. No 6 CD Solaris Express bloat yet has all or most of the OpenSolaris tools!

in reply to BeleniX 0.6 released

Hot off the press: AMD will open their graphics driver! [Hot off the press: AMD will open their graphics driver!]

Xaero_Vincent — Sun, 13 May 2007 16:34:23 GMT

EnterpriseLinux.com wrote:
AMD will soon deliver open graphics drivers, said Henri Richard just a few minutes ago, and the audience at the opening keynote of the Red Hat Summit broke into applause and cheers. Richard, AMD’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, promised: “I’m here to commit to you that it’s going to get done.” He also promised that AMD is “going to be very proactive in changing way we interface with the Linux community.”

The open sourcing of graphics drivers will indeed be good news, but it’s not a big surprise. After AMD acquired graphics driver maker ATI last year, an announcement that AMD would be opening up graphics drivers has been anticipated. The other shoe has dropped, and the folks at the Summit in San Diego are very happy. Now, the new question is “when?” Richard didn’t say.

Wow... all you ATI users rejoice. Including me!
FreeBSD and Solaris drivers here we come.

AIGLX shall finally come too!

Hopefully this will also mean that the damn logoff bug where X sometimes crashes when you switch users or logoff.

It will be interesting to see if this news also applies to the Windows drivers. The Vista ones require WHQL certifcation; we'll see.

I wish AMD luck in getting the IP issues resolved for this to be possible. AMD seems pretty confident, however. :D

Link

in reply to Hot off the press: AMD will open their graphics driver!

Amiga not dead yet! [Amiga not dead yet!]

Xaero_Vincent — Sun, 06 May 2007 01:22:59 GMT

OSNews wrote:
ACK has pretty much confirmed that their high-end Amiga system will use PA Semi chips. In an IRC session, Adam of ACK replied to the question how ACK was going to build a system faster than anything Apple ever produced on the PPC side: "Think PA Semi quad-core chips." Adam also said ACK started talks with PA Semi about a year ago, while also promising specifications of the high-end system to be released coming Monday.

People are talking about 2 GHz chips and up!

Amiga's comeback? Maybe! :O

in reply to Amiga not dead yet!

Apple is not enviromentally friendly? [Apple is not enviromentally friendly?]

Xaero_Vincent — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 03:50:08 GMT

According to Greenpeace, Apple is doing a big NO NO.

The Independent wrote:

Apple, the celebrated computer company, has been rated worst among major electronics firms for its environmental policies by the pressure group Greenpeace.

In a new survey of 14 major companies, the manufacturer of the Mac, the Powerbook and the iPod was put bottom of the list for its policies on the elimination of toxic substances and recycling. It was an unaccustomed stain on the halo for the firm with the highest brand and repurchase loyalty of any computer manufacturer, a glittering reputation as a design leader, and a fan base as enthusiastic as any rock band's.

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2418417.ece

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