By storing its settings in the Windows Registry's HKEY_CURRENT_USER section, an application provides each Windows user on the same PC with his or her own independent set of settings. When a user logs into Windows, HKEY_CURRENT_USER is automatically populated with that user's settings.
Users are generally much more reticent to modify registry settings than the contents of a .ini file. An application that reads settings from a .ini file must be written to gracefully handle anything it encounters without crashing, hanging, or displaying a window saying "Run-time error '13': Type mismatch". To facilitate component-based development, Windows provides dynamic link libraries (DLL files). For example, PSKCORE -- the engine used by many digital mode applications to modulate and demodulate PSK-31 and PSK63 -- is packaged as a DLL. In general, applications must register the DLLs they use with Windows, which modifies the Windows Registry. The benefits of component-based development are summarized in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modularity_%28programming%29 73, Dave, AA6YQ --- In digitalradio@yahoogroups.com, KV9U <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > 1.This is a bit off topic, but I have often wondered why some windows > programs require Windows Registries and some work completely without > this. What causes a software author to cross the line that requires > those registry entries and all the complications that go with it? > > 2. USB pens can be a lifesaver. A year ago we needed a particular > software program to run for Field Day and although I had the program on > my computer, we needed to put it on some other ones and of course no > more floppy drives. USB pen to the rescue. Had never used one before. > > 3. Speaking of OS and USB pens, this may be one of those times to > consider using one of the Linux distributions that has been specifically > designed for this kind of media. The amateur radio software quantity and > quality seems to finally be getting better on Linux although it still > has a long way to catch up to MS OS software. > > 73, > > Rick, KV9U > > Dave Bernstein wrote: > > >Bob did not suggest a docking station, Sal, he suggested a second > >hard drive. I have used his recommended solution with my IBM T42P > >laptop, and it works extremely well; one can swap "identities" in the > >time required to terminate Windows and reboot; the physical drive > >swap takes a few seconds. > > > >With respect to your claim that "The USB PEN drive will work on > >almost every computer provided that the programs were correctly > >installed", I suggest that you (carefully) open the Windows Registry > >editor and examine the Software sections of HKCU and HKLM -- you'll > >find that DX Atlas, DXLab, Ham Radio Deluxe, LotW, and QRZ all > >maintain settings there. Other popular digital mode applications may > >as well -- I don't have Digipan, MixW, or MultiPSK currently > >installed on this PC, and my examination was cursory. There is no way > >to "properly install" any of DX Atlas, DXLab, Ham Radio Deluxe, LotW, > >or the QRZ CDROM callbook in a way that makes them pen-drive portable. > > > >There are web pages that list pen-drive portable applications, e.g. > > > >http://pendriveapps.com/ > > > >and > > > >http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/369/656 > > > >but I've found no mention of digital mode amateur radio applications > >so far. Establishing such a list would be helpful, but I suggest that > >an application only be added after > > > >1. its author asserts that the application is pen-drive portable > > > >2. someone actually tests the application in a pen-drive portable > >configuration > > > >It would also be useful to compare performance in a pen-drive > >configuration vs. a hard-drive configuration. > > > > 73, > > > > Dave, AA6YQ > > > > >
