Great idea. Steve KA2KON
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ron Stordahl N5IN" <[email protected]> To: "Neal Campbell" <[email protected]>; "John Farber" <[email protected]> Cc: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 24, 2010 9:48 AM Subject: Re: [Dxbase] Desk Top Suggestions, losing rows and colums,time-synching, etc.. > The 'losing windows' problem which John describes was once a problem with > CC-User, as well as CC-Cluster, however Lee, VE7CC, resolved this by > adding to > the Help menu list a selection 'Find/Reset Forms'. This will restore the > program display to a fixed default format from where you could restore all > boxes, including those that had become invisible. This is similar to what > you > describe, but represents the 'last resort' fallback position. > > Ron, AE5E (ex N5IN) > > > > > ________________________________ > From: Neal Campbell <[email protected]> > To: John Farber <[email protected]> > Cc: [email protected] > Sent: Fri, December 24, 2010 4:37:57 AM > Subject: Re: [Dxbase] Desk Top Suggestions, losing rows and colums, > time-synching, etc.. > > Hi John > > I have done the same thing many times and PITA is an understatement. It > might be neat to have several saved desktop arrangements so you could go > from one to another just via a menu selection (and hence restore your > windows back to what you defined earlier). > > All 3 suggestions for attention are valid and worth my attention! > > Best wishes to you and everyone on this Christmas Eve in the US! > 73 > Neal Campbell > Abroham Neal Software > www.abrohamnealsoftware.com > (540) 645 5394 > > > > > > > On Fri, Dec 24, 2010 at 12:00 AM, John Farber <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Neil, my suggestion for the desktop, is to start by fixing an annoying >> problem with the current one. That is, something that I have stumbled >> into >> several times in the last few years: hitting something on the keyboard >> without realizing it, and losing a window, and not knowing how to get it >> back again. Sometimes I manage to stumble my way into finding out how to >> fix it, sometimes not. I would appreciate either the ability to find >> help >> on that issue more easily than you can now, or even better, make it very >> hard to get into that situation in the first place. Yeah, I know, it is >> operator error, I admit that, but it is often not obvious what I did to >> get >> into that situation in the first place. A very specific instance of this >> comes to mind: I will lose all the rows and columns of the DX window >> and/or >> the Summary window. I have done this several times, yet I have never >> figured out what I did to get into that situation, and had to ask, on the >> reflector, what people did to bring back the lost rows and columns. The >> usual suggestion I receive from the group is to right mouse click >> somewhere >> in the window and pick the Unhide Columns command which is supposed to >> bring >> them back, but it never works for me. Then I tried all the other >> suggestions >> that people sent me, which also do not work, and in the end, and I have >> had >> to do this at least a half-dozen times in the last five years, I have to >> reinstall the whole program to get those specific Windows to work >> correctly >> again; one Big PITA. I realize that by writing this, will bring comments >> like, "You should not be doing whatever it is you are doing to get in >> that >> situation in the first place, John." Those kinds of comments are not >> helpful. I do not know what I am doing to get into the situation, so I do >> not know what to avoid doing-Hello! But I really have received comments >> like that in the past from folks on this reflector. It also appears I am >> not >> the only one that gets into the situation. I do not know if it's being >> excessively tired when I operate, consuming too many "cold ones", or just >> being non-attentive when I am using the program. I am sure I have done >> all >> those things, at one time or another, and quite possibly several of them >> at >> once. I still think that it results from a weakness in the program, >> since >> it is all too easy to get trapped in that situation. If it happens >> during a >> contest or a heavy DX weekend, it is quite serious. >> >> As far as general desk top aesthetics go, I would not mind having the >> option to run the Windows 7 Aero scheme, in addition to other layouts, as >> options, but not be forced to use any specific one. Most of us are >> pretty >> concerned about wasteful use of PC resources, such as RAM, and we >> generally >> turn off a lot of those superfluous little programs that we really do not >> want, or need, such as the Windows Side Bar programs, available in Vista >> and >> Windows 7. About all I ever run when I am running DX base, is a neat >> little >> program called DS Clock, from a place called Duality Software. It's free, >> highly configurable, can be placed anywhere on your desktop or a second >> monitor, and every hour, if you choose, it will synchronize your PCs >> internal "real-time clock", which often times is pretty unreal, to any >> one >> of maybe 100 or so time reference stations around the world. I believe >> the >> clock's accuracy results from the NIST, the National Institute of Science >> and Technology, keepers of the time standard, a Cesium-based atomic >> clock. >> My long-time buddy Walt, AJ6T, turned me onto that neat little program >> years ago, and I make a point to put it on every PC I own. Of course, the >> obvious suggestion at this point should be: why not include that >> function, >> the ability to sync to one of these NIST time standard stations, be built >> into the next version of DXBase? >> >> I have been keeping up with the reflector and reading all the suggestions >> and complaints and the general chitchat. My thoughts are: it works >> pretty >> well now, but certainly could be improved in several areas, and I made my >> pitch for one above. Another nagging problem I have had with DXBase is >> the >> help files. Often it seems hard to find exactly what topic you are >> looking >> for. And then if you do manage to get close to the topic you are looking >> for, often times they do not seem to be of much help. The third thing is– >> the problem with running under Vista or Windows 7, if I remember >> correctly, >> is the help files do not work at all, unless you go to Microsoft and >> download some fix for it. I did that for several Windows 7 64-bit >> machines, >> and I believe every time I tried to use the help function, I would get a >> pop-up window that said that function is not available, yet the help file >> topic listing would be there anyway, but again, the advice given was >> either >> too arcane, at least for me, or it just seemed to be usually not too >> helpful. I usually get things figured out, when I get stuck, by asking >> the >> folks on the reflector. >> >> Okay that is my three cents worth. Happy Holidays and have a great New >> Year, and work lots of new DX. >> 73, John >> ______________________________________________________________ >> Dxbase mailing list >> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dxbase >> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm >> Post: mailto:[email protected] >> >> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net >> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > ______________________________________________________________ > Dxbase mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dxbase > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > ______________________________________________________________ > Dxbase mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dxbase > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:[email protected] > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html ______________________________________________________________ Dxbase mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/dxbase Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
