BP Forums - Computing

What devices drive your day?

Fri, 01 Aug 2014 17:23:39 +0000

After getting off the subway today and having someone comment on my Pebble watch, I was curious, what kind of devices do you guys use throughout your day that may not be used by the general public?

Here are some devices I use:

Pebble Smartwatch
Nexus 7 Tablet

At home, I also use:

Google Chromecast

The forum is a mess - Let's fix it.

Sat, 21 Sep 2013 07:06:43 +0000

Hey guys! I hope we're all doing well!

So I recently ran into a bunch of errors regarding an anti-spam mod I have been using for a bit. It turns out, my knowledge of phpBB is so minimal that updating the plugin(mod) caused the forum to die.

Well, this caused me to look into the forum's mySQL and FTP structures. They are a catastrophe.

Several years of uneducated modification has ruined the structure of the forum - so I am going to have to fix it. I am going to start by uninstalling all mods and starting from scratch. Keep in mind, users, posts, pictures, files, and all of our precious data shouldn't go anywhere. I will also be making regular backups.

With that being said, if you experience any forum downtime in the next few weeks - do not be alarmed! It is intentional! (More or less)

But - Do you guys have any suggestions for improvements for the forum? Theme suggestions? Ranking suggestions? Feature suggestions? Anything at all? Your contribution is much appreciated!

*Sorry for the crazy English - I am very tired.

Usefull software for program development

Tue, 13 Aug 2013 18:30:24 +0000

I wanted to make this thread because I have found some usefull programs for the development of software. It is actually not for the development itself but other important extra features that are underestimated a bit (I think).

Creating a program is one thing but you need to create for example help files, a decent installer... That takes time again but you want that program online as fast as possible. That's why I want to share a quick list of software that can come in handy, these programs will fasten up the progress a lot!

* Free icons
Use free icons you can download from https://www.iconfinder.com/. Make sure you set your filters right (set to For commercial use, no backlink). You can also buy icons for one buck (max).

* Advanced Installer
You can create professional looking installers with this. I use it all the time and have got no problems so far. There are so many possibilities, you won't believe! http://www.advancedinstaller.com/. This program has a free mode where you can create installers with the basic needs.
If you need a simpler program I would recommend InstallCreator!

* Create Help files
I've tested some of these programs and the one that I actually like for its performance and easy-to-use interface is Help & Manual 6 [url](http://www.helpandmanual.com/[/url]). With this one you can create HTML, PDF, CHM... all the formats used for help-files.

* Create covers
Expensive 3D designers make covers for you but nobody wants to pay so much for just a cover, that's why I included TBS Cover Editor in this list. The default templates are everything you need for creating professional looking covers. (http://www.trueboxshot.com/TBSCoverEditor)

* Free FTP Server of 10Gb
1FreeHosting gives you a free FTP server of 10Gb with a lot of extra features like an own ÃƒÂ©-mail client and a website (with subdomain, need pro for normal one!)

* Axialis IconWorkshop
This is a famous one and I think almost everybody knows it but I couldn't forget him from the list. Very easy to make icons. For example just download an icon that you like from IconFinder and export it as an .ico in Axialis. (http://www.axialis.com/iconworkshop/)

* Telerik JustCode, JustMock and JustTrace
I have used them in Trial mode and watched some videos of them in full action and these tools do wonders... if you can use them properly (that is one problem because I find it very, very hard!)

*Create webpages
A Drag and Drop interface to make websites (http://www.serif.com/webplus/). This program has some extra features like photo galleries (no programming needed, just drag and drop), default templates... Ofcourse if you need something extra you can make it yourself and implement it easily.

I know these programs are not free and some are very expensive but I think you guys will find a way around if you know what I mean...

Note: If you have some usefull programs you can also post them below if you want.

New laptop (Asus K55N-DS81) quick review.

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 08:09:00 +0000

So I recently got a new laptop, the Asus k55n-ds81, to use for college. The main purchasing points for me were its strong graphics card, cheap price, and slick design. On top of that, it is an ASUS laptop. I have used ASUS for a lot of things in the past (especially the motherboard on my gaming rig) and haven't had a problem with them since, so I really trust the brand. Anyway, the laptop can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-K55N-DS81-15 ... =K55N-DS81

One of the first things I did with this laptop was upgrade the RAM from 4GB to 8GB, which gave it a noticeable speed improvement when doing basic tasks.The laptop has been able to run everything I throw at it really well. It runs Windows 8 like butter (I'm not a fan of the whole Metro thing, but it's very easy to ignore), runs League of Legends at 60fps on medium, runs Eclipse IDE and Visual Studio 2012 like a charm, and lacks bloatware. That's always nice. On top of all this, the thing is light, has a clear display, and looks semi-sleek.

Now I'm just kinda blabbing on about this laptop, but I wanted to also mention its battery life. It kinda sucks. As far as I can tell, its maximum battery life is about 2.4 hrs when doing basic webbrowsing. While playing games or developing, that battery life is reduced significantly. Since college hasn't started yet, I don't know how it will fare in class, but I'm hoping it can hold up for basic notetaking for atleast 2 hours.

Another small complaint is the color. Of course, black is cool, but it attracts fingerprints, grease stains, dust, and small white fuzzies you never knew existed from everywhere. After a day's use, the laptop is covered in small particles of who knows what on the lid, keyboard, and trackpad.

Did someone say trackpad? It's okay. Nothing special. The buttons are a tad hard to press, but other than that the DPI and sensitivity is fairly solid and the gestures built in work really well. The keyboard is also solid. The keys are easy to press, well positioned, and aren't too loud.

Overall, I have been very pleased with the $420 investment I made with this laptop. It has exceeded every expectation (except battery life). So there's my quick review.

Does anyone know anything about programing an Arduino?

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:20:00 +0000

I want to start using Arduino. does anyone know any tutorials or code snippets for Arduino programing?

Anyone else use Linux? Favorite Tweaks?

Sat, 19 Jan 2013 15:16:59 +0000

I was just wondering if I was the only one running Linux and if not, which distro you ran. I run Mint 14 with the Cinnamon interface.

Also, what's your favorite tweak for your distro? Mine's either an animated cat name Oneko chasing my pointer around, or text based versions of Star Wars on command...

USB drive booting help?

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 21:49:48 +0000

I was wondering if anyone had any videos on how to change the settings on Windows 7 to boot from a USB drive and how to change It back to boot to my regular Windows 7 in case I decide I don't like Ubuntu? I'm fairly new to Linux so any other tutorials on it would be appreciated, too

You can now mark posts as "solved"!

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 19:44:48 +0000

Hey guys! After a little bit of tweaking, BP Forums now has the ability to mark posts as solved!! What does this mean? Well, everytime a correct answer is given, you can mark the answer as correct, and cool little check marks appear! This will help people find their answers quickly and make navigating the forums a little easier! I hope you guys enjoy this!

New graphics card

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 17:02:43 +0000

I'm planning to buy a new vidcard, an AMD Radeon HD7850. Has anyone a 7000 series video card from AMD? I don't know the quality of AMD because I always had an nVidia. I'm definetely going to overclock him, I heard that the 7850 card is only worth when you overclock it.

Software suggestions

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:55:19 +0000

Hi everyone
Everybody has the problem of having no inspiration on what software to make? Just post some ideas so others can put inspiration out of that... and maybe you too " title="Very Happy" />

A message regarding spam

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 05:08:18 +0000

Hey guys!

As you are probably aware, there has been a recent slew of spam that has contained messages about kitchen cabinets, website design, and foot fungus. In the past, I have personally fought the spam and manually banned the accounts and deleted the posts. However, since the forum has gained popularity, I cannot handle this large task anymore.

To fight this spam, I have installed a few countermeasures:
1) To register for an account, you need to answer a question that is somewhat random; however, it is definitely answerable.
2) All new accounts are now monitored by a spam filter which connects with a database of spam IP Addresses and usernames. If the registered account is contained within one of these databases, registration will be blocked.
3) All posts will be filtered by the same spam filter, and any posts that contain sketchy URLs will be immediately deleted and the posters will be banned.
4) Finally, all accounts that are banned on BP Forums will be uploaded to the "spam" database, making BP Forums play a major role in the fight against spam.

These spam countermeasures should work very well, so prepare to see a reduced amount of spam on BP FORUMS!

Also: We have a new logo. It's monospace.

BrandonSoft Web Hosting

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 03:11:44 +0000

It has come to my attention that a lot of the members of this forum want to create their own website, but don't know how to setup the initial hosting and domain settings. Because of this, I have started my own little hosting company called "BrandonSoft Web Hosting", where one can purchase reliable servers that are able to hold a basic website. All for only $5 a month.

If you are interested, payments are accepted via PayPal. Sign up here: http://brandonsoft.com/hosting.html

Least appreciated font?

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 04:39:56 +0000

So, I recently received a professional e-mail from someone who works above me. This e-mail was written in Comic Sans. Because of this, I couldn't take any part of the e-mail seriously.

Are there any fonts that you guys just can't stand?

Choosing Programming Language

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 18:03:00 +0000

Hey, I am a fan of Vb.Net. I used it since I was 13 years old and now I am 16. And now I want to move up. I want to know which will better for me Java Or C++. I bought the book both of them but now I can't choose which one to take. Please Help me choose one.

What does your computer setup/workspace look like?

Sat, 01 Sep 2012 21:29:44 +0000

I thought that it would be interesting to see what everybody's computer setup/workspace looked like.

Make sure that you blur out anything that you don't want people to see!

This is mine:

[attachment=0]My Workspace.png[/attachment]

My Workspace.png (Size: 364.13 KB / Downloads: 2157)