Dubner can't be stopped! TapSIG is released!

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  • Dubner can't be stopped! TapSIG is released!

    A few months ago, after much soul-searching and discussion, I concluded that creating a TapCIS-like kludge for dev.avsig.com would not be useful.

    Turns out: I was wrong.

    I said I wouldn't create one.

    Turns out: I lied.

    I said creating it would be a waste of time.

    Turns out: My job and I left each other a couple of months ago, and I've time to waste.

    I re-evaluated the problem as I learned to use AVSIG-III, and came to realize some things. TapCIS was created to address the problem that back in 1981, data rates were slow and connect time was expensive.

    The situation now is completely different. Data rates are fast and connect time is cheap. The problem now is -- and I realize that not everybody agrees with me -- that the interface sucks. The Web for a discussion group is like trying to use a cell phone as a phone -- they look pretty, but they don't do their job very well.

    The result: I created something that does what I want, which is to be able to quickly glance at new messages using one keystroke per message. Not fifteen clicks, but one keystroke. It can do other things, and if asked nicely I'll add other stuff, or I'll think about it, but right now that's what it does.

    So, for those Windows users who miss being able to quickly review messages on the board that have been posted since the last time you reviewed new messages, I invite you to go to http://www.dubner.com/tapsig. From there you'll be able to download the tapsig.zip file. Put the four files into a folder somewhere, create a shortcut to tapsig.exe, and have at it.

    There is no feature for composing messages offline. That capability is utterly unnecessary for anybody living in the 21st Century. If you are still forced to use dial-up, you have my sympathy, but that's all you have. But the program does let you jump instantly from the local reader to the internet forum, and you can post from there.

    This program is completely innocuous. It keeps everything in that one folder; delete that folder and it's gone. No registry cruft. It maintains its own cookies, so the interaction between TapSIG and whatever browser you're currently using to get at dev.avsig.com should be minimal.

    It maintains a local copy of the forum text on your machine. I haven't yet built in a feature for aging. It's not urgent. Right now the entire forum occupies about 2.8 megabytes. By the end of the year, the storage for the whole forum will be about what you need for three medium-sized jpeg images.

    Have fun. If you use it, let me know. Let me know what you think.
    Last edited by Robert Dubner; 03-28-2018, 18:35.

  • #2
    Wow! Thank you very much! I have no antivirus, but XP complains that the two .exes are not valid win32 applications. Might you have compiled it as 64 bit?
    Bacon is the answer. I forgot the question.

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    • #3
      Bravo, good sir!

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      • #4
        Windows XP? Ray, you do understand that April 8, 2018 will be the fourth anniversary of the Windows XP final end-of-life date?

        I am using Visual Studio 2015 to compile this stuff, and although they are 32-bit executables, Microsoft is probably defaulting to Windows 7 -- which still has most of a couple of years left on it -- as the target platform.

        Lemme see what I can do to run the backwards compatibility to Windows XP. And this means I actually still have a use for the XP virtual machine that I've been using for running TapCIS!

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        • #5
          Your boredom is AVSIG's pleasure. Since we are now a 100 mbps household, I am going to try your whizbang program out and see if I'm done with tomorrow's work before yesterday. If it works, I'd like to talk to you about developing a stock screener .

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          • #6
            In case it helps, I have Visual C++ 9.0, express edition, which is free and does not require further licensing. I can get an iso (DVD image) to you. I have compiled a lot of C code with it, though I use UltraEdit in strong preference to the MS editor.
            Bacon is the answer. I forgot the question.

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            • #7
              Ray, you have harshed my mellow.

              I tried setting the compiler switches for Windows XP compatibility, and the resulting tapsig.exe executable launched. But it instantly failed because it couldn't find NORMALIZ.DLL in my Windows XP virtual machine running on Windows 7 Pro.

              Some web searching suggests that NORMALIZ.DLL has something to do with Unicode support, and might be part of the distribution for Internet Explorer 8. My instance of Windows XP is using IE 6.

              And, yes, I have implemented Unicode support. Heck, Overly named one of the sections "Kármán Line +". Without Unicode support that comes out in the ANSI character set as "Kármán Line +"

              I have been trying to download IE8 on that virtual instance, and so far I can't...because the Web sites I am looking at don't support IE6 any more.

              My new application consists of three compiled pieces: TAPSIG.EXE, TSCOM.EXE, and CURLLIB.DLL. That last piece is from open-source software; it's what I use to do the communication with the internet based forum. CURLLIB.DLL does the hard work of using cookies to properly communicate with the forum after I go through the MD5-based password authentication.

              In order to make this work with Windows XP, I am going to have to somehow bring my virtual installation up to NORMALIZ.DLL snuff so that I can test the software after I recompile it all for Windows XP compatibility. Open-source software being what it is, it's going to take me a little while to figure out how to compile CURRLIB.DLL with old options.

              And I need to do all that in order to support an obsolete operating system. XP is two versions ago, and even Windows 7 has less than two years left before it goes on Microsoft's ash heap.

              So, although I'll look at it a little, if I can't sort this out quickly, I'm going to have to pack it in. In order to keep the effort reasonable, I've decided to leverage modern tools like Microsoft Foundation Classes and open-source software. And that means moving forward; I can't afford to burn brain cells keeping things running on a OS that's on life support. https://netmarketshare.com/operating...%22-1000%22%7D

              We'll see.

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              • #8
                Can you make it work on WIN2000? (G,D,R).

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                • #9
                  I am truly sorry about your mellow. You have done great things here.

                  My wife and I remain on XP because it is the last Windows version which supports full-screen command line mode. We have some much-loved games which need that platform. For docx and xlsx, we use Libre Office.

                  I doubt the issue is unicode per se. I can use and see unicode characters in Notepad, Word, Firefox, and Chrome.

                  Bacon is the answer. I forgot the question.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Mike Overly View Post
                    whizbang program
                    Ohmigawsh, I've read this entire package in totality and must say that Bob, Ray, etc. could'a written all those entries in Greek and it would'a been just the the same to me - head shakin' mode here!

                    best, randy

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Ray Tackett View Post

                      I doubt the issue is unicode per se. I can use and see unicode characters in Notepad, Word, Firefox, and Chrome.
                      I agree. The trouble is, if I want to try to get it working on Windows XP, I need to have a reliable development platform. And I don't.

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Randy Sohn View Post

                        Ohmigawsh, I've read this entire package in totality and must say that Bob, Ray, etc. could'a written all those entries in Greek and it would'a been just the the same to me - head shakin' mode here!

                        best, randy
                        <grin> Randy,

                        This year will contain the fiftieth anniversary of my starting to learn to program computers. I started in 1968; I was a sophomore in high school.

                        You can learn a few things in five decades. I believe you have, too. It just wasn't about computers.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Mase Taylor View Post
                          Can you make it work on WIN2000? (G,D,R).
                          Sure! But I'm not sure when. Let me check the calendar on my Apple Newton.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Ray Tackett View Post
                            In case it helps, I have Visual C++ 9.0, express edition, which is free and does not require further licensing. I can get an iso (DVD image) to you. I have compiled a lot of C code with it, though I use UltraEdit in strong preference to the MS editor.
                            Ray, let's give it a shot. I don't know what Visual Studio 2015 features I might have used that are not downwards compatible with VC9. But let's see if it might work. Let me know where to get that ISO image from.

                            My email is rdubner@dubner.com And no, I am not concerned about spamming harvesters. I've been using that address for over twenty years. They already have it.
                            Last edited by Robert Dubner; 03-29-2018, 23:11.

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Robert Dubner View Post

                              <grin> Randy,

                              This year will contain the fiftieth anniversary of my starting to learn to program computers. I started in 1968; I was a sophomore in high school.

                              You can learn a few things in five decades. I believe you have, too. It just wasn't about computers.
                              Ya'know, thinking back to my first lesson in a Champ on skis in 1951, now totally the very same thought as yours!!!!!!!!

                              best, randy
                              Last edited by Randy Sohn; 03-30-2018, 08:25.

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