Aloha! And welcome to the first issue of the
TinyApps.Org newsletter. Many thanks to all of you
who have contributed over the past few weeks -
your suggestions are most appreciated.
Like the website itself, this newsletter will be
brief and to the point. The format will generally
be: 1. news, 2. new apps, 3. an article or "Up
Close" look at some tiny topic. You are strongly
encouraged to submit ideas, feedback, and apps to:
miles@xxxxxxxxxxxx
NEWS
There is a new code in the listings: the plus
symbol (+) indicates "no install necessary".
=====
If you have not seen the special version of
NoteTab Light that Eric Fookes kindly put together
for TinyApps, check it out at:
https://tinyapps.org/text.html
or download it directly from:
http://www.notetab.com/ftp/notetab486c.exe
=====
NEW APPS
There are far too many apps that have been added
recently to list here. Here is a smattering:
Editor2 [47k] +
http://personal-pages.ps.ic.ac.uk/~umeca74/
"The Quadratic replacement for Notepad". Includes
an AutoText feature for frequently used text.
NotGNU Emacs Editor [from 164k] +
http://www.geocities.com/notgnu/
Similar to GNU Emacs but much smaller and lighter,
with a Windows look and feel. Several versions
available.
FFCAT [8k] +
http://www.professional.org/ncutil.html
A small DOS utility to concatenate (combine)
multiple files into a single new file.
OffByOne Web Browser [1100k] +
http://www.offbyone.com/
"May be the world's smallest and fastest Web
Browser with full HTML 3.2 support. It is a
completely self-contained, stand-alone 1.1mb
application with no dependencies on any other
browser or browser component."
Vallen e-Mailer [356k] +
http://www.vallen.de/freeware/index.html
Group mail sender
=====
UP CLOSE: QNX Demo Disk
The QNX Demo Disk played a large part in my
deciding to create TinyApps.org. I wanted to help
spread the word about clean, tightly coded apps
that could literally transform a person's paradigm
of software and programming overnight, and the
Demo Disk was (for me) the quintessential tiny
app.
The following 1997 Usenet post by the Demo Disk's
founder, Dan Hildebrand, best summarizes this
miracle of programming:
=====
"The 1.44M Web Challenge"
The challenge: Put a Web browser, a web server, a
POSIX-certified realtime OS, TCP/IP and a
windowing system on a single 1.44 Mbyte floppy disk.
Impossible?
QNX Software Systems Ltd. announces the QNX Demo
Disk (downloadable from http://www.qnx.com/iat/).
This single 1.44 Mbyte floppy disk contains:
1. Voyager Web Browser (Full HTML 3.2, frames, tables, etc.)
2. Voyager Embedded Web Server
3. The QNX Realtime Operating System
4. TCP/IP (with PPP including CHAP/PAP support)
5. Photon microGUI Windowing System
6. A "remote control" device to simulate a TV set top box
7. An Internet Phone Dialer
8. A Graphical File Browser
9. A Graphical Text Editor
10. A Vector Graphics Animation
11. Over 180 Kbytes of HTML and image content
With this floppy disk and a desktop PC, you can
browse the web or turn that PC into a web server
accessible to other computers on the Internet.
To download a copy, visit the http://www.qnx.com/iat/
website. To run the demodisk, you'll need a PC
with a 386 or better, 6 Mbytes of RAM minimum,
a mouse, VGA or better video and, optionally, a
modem.
A floppy drive is required, but the hard drive is
not. :-)
=====
If you have not had a chance to experience the
QNX Demo Disk yet, check it out today at:
http://www.qnx.com/iat/
There is now both a network version and a modem
version. Please note that you will need a real
modem (*not* a WinModem) if you wish to connect
using a modem. The network version currently
supports Dec 21*4*, NE2000, and 3com 509 based
network cards.
More resources:
"The 1.44M Web Challenge" - posting by Dan on
comp.os.qnx which appears above:
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=5n1t6s%24be0%40qnx.com&output=gplain
"How We Did It"
http://www.qnx.com/demodisk/how.html
Dan Hildebrand interview in USENIX
http://www.usenix.org/publications/login/1998-6/interview.html
+++++
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe:
Send a blank email to tinyapps-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with either 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in the
Subject field. You can also use the web
interface, which has additional options:
https://tinyapps.org/ezine.html
+++Disclaimer: You are 100% responsible
+++for your own actions. Visiting a link,
+++downloading a program, in short, *living*,
+++is done entirely at your own risk (and joy).
TinyApps.Org Newsletter Issue 2 - Oct 24, 2001
+++NEWS+++
I have been asked about adding some sort of
rating system for the software listed on
TinyApps. Well, there already is a rating
system! Yep! And here it is in a nutshell: if
an app is listed, it rocks. A few undeserving
apps may fall through the cracks - please let
me know if you spot any.
+++NEW APPS+++
Web2Text v1.6 [187k]
http://www.jetman.dircon.co.uk/software/web2text.html
Convert HTML to plain text. Includes GUI.
FTPEdit 1.0 [14k] +
http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~bfriesen/software/ftpedit.html
Plain text editor with ftp open and save
functions. Cannot save session data.
IEradicator [102k]
http://www.98lite.net/ieradicator.html
Internet Explorer (versions 3 through 6)
removal tool.
Proxomitron [668k] +
http://spywaresucks.org/prox/
Filter out web annoyances
Pegasus Mail v3.5 [1200k]
http://www.pmail.com/overviews/ovw_pmail.htm
Comprehensive email client for MS-DOS, PC-DOS,
and Windows
Miranda [239k] {S}
http://miranda-icq.sourceforge.net/
Streamlined ICQ client
SmartSerialMail 1.1 [229k] +
http://www.jamsoft.net/software.html
Group mail sender
MetaPath 1.2 [23k] {S}+
http://www.mountpoint.ch/flo/metapath/
Explorer-like add-on for metapad
TexRep v1.1 [154k] +
http://no-nonsense-software.com/freeware/
Simple text replace across multiple files
EVE 1.1 [51k] +
http://myeve.org/
Vector graphics editor. Executable is a mere
39k.
PictView 1.94 [104k] +
http://www.pictview.com/
Multi-format image viewer and converter. DOS
and Windows versions available.
Color Cop 5.0.1 [41k] +
http://www.datastic.com/tools/colorcop/
Color picker with loads of options: always on
top, snap to websafe palette, color dropper &
magnifyer, select color mode, and more.
FontSelector 1.3 [277k] +
http://www.theill.com/fs/default.asp
Browse and print all your installed fonts.
The Font Thing 0.80 [483k] +
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~scef/tft.html
Powerful TrueType font manager
X-Fonter 3.00 [505k]
http://users.pandora.be/eclypse/xfonter.html
Font viewer and manager with a 3D Graphic
creator.
FontLister 3.4.9 [695k] $+
http://www.theill.com/fl/default.asp
Browse, print, install, and remove fonts. An
older freeware version is also available.
InCtrl5 [766k] {S}
http://www.pcmag.com/article/0,2997,s%253D400%2526a%253D4583,00.asp
Monitor changes made by install programs
File Maven 3.5a [160k] +
http://www.briggsoft.com/fmdos.htm
PC-to-PC file transfers via serial or parallel
cable
TreeCompare 1.5 [19k] +
http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~bfriesen/software/treecomp.html
Compare directories. ANSI and Unicode versions
available.
FMOD Media Player v3.40 [133k] +
http://www.fmod.org/
Media player supporting many formats and
several OSs
STP [209k] +
http://members.home.net/e-marc/Site/dnlds.htm
Youri Stous' last version of STP, the tiny MP3
player that takes up minimal space and
processor time
Graph Paper Printer 5.4.0.1 [652k] $
http://www.marquis-soft.com/graphpapeng.htm
Print numerous kinds of graph papers, music
manuscripts and pattern papers
+++OPTIMIZING WINDOWS+++
I ran across a very cool book recently:
Optimizing Windows for Games, Graphics and Multimedia
http://thesiliconunderground.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$127
Wait! I know many of you are thinking, "Well,
I'm not a gamer." Trust me, this book is
crucial reading for *any* Windows user,
especially those with older hardware. It
explains how to turn Windows 9x into a fast,
stable OS.
You can check out Chapters 2 and 10 free online:
http://www.microsoft.com/TechNet/win2000/first.asp
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/win9x/chapter/ch10.html
It's by David Farquhar and published by
O'Reilly, so it's got that really cool binding
that allows you to lay the book flat open to
any page.
Last published in 2000, the book is now out of
print. Some online stores (Amazon among them)
apparently still have it in stock, and there
are plenty of used copies as well.
+++++
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe:
Send a blank email to
tinyapps-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with either 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in
the Subject field. You can also use the web
interface, which has additional options:
https://tinyapps.org/ezine.html
+++Disclaimer: You are 100% responsible
+++for your own actions. Visiting a link,
+++downloading a program, in short, *living*,
+++is done entirely at your own risk (and joy).
TinyApps.Org Newsletter Issue 3 - Oct 31, 2001
+++NEWS+++
0. I doubt many of you missed it, but
TinyApps.Org was mentioned on Slashdot. You
can find the article here:
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/10/23/179205&mode=thread
and my post in response here:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=22937&cid=2470624
1. The newsletter is now weekly (as opposed to
bi-weekly). For those of you who prefer digest
mode, it has been set to monthly. You can
change your subscription options here:
https://tinyapps.org/ezine.html
2. A "New" section for recently listed apps
was planned, but it has been decided to let
the newsletter serve that function (especially
as it is now published weekly).
+++NEW APPS+++
PopKi Popup Closer v1.4 [187k] +
http://ranfo.com/popki.html
Prevent popups without using a proxy
SAB 0.96 [93k] +
http://www.csis.gvsu.edu/~rubleyr/sab/
Filter out web annoyances. Linux version also
available.
swen 0.4 [79k]
http://www.glop.org/swen/
News ticker that lives in the system tray.
Grabs headlines from your favorite websites
TinyWeb 1.9 [182k] +
http://www.ritlabs.com/tinyweb/index.html
Small, simple and fast web server. Executable
size is 53k.
IamC 2.9.26R [198k] +
http://ppproject.com/
Simple IRC client
xchat 1.8.5 [633k] {S}
http://xchat.org/
Graphical IRC client for Windows and several
other OSs.
Sportcan port scanner [60k] +
http://members-http-7.rwc1.sfba.home.net/berns21/Sportcan/
Tiny port scanner that uses the familiar
Windows GUI paradigm
WinVi 2.90 [143k] {S}+
http://www.winvi.de/en/
Notepad meets Vi
WanyWord 3.00 [459k] {S}
http://home4.inet.tele.dk/jensguld/index.html
Text search with Boolean and Near operators
PhotoPlayer 2.8 [388k] +
http://www.unidreamtech.com/index.html
Slideshow generator
YASRT v0.1 beta 12 [890k] +
http://www.yasrt.org
Yet Another Simple RayTracer. Generates
realistic pictures from text descriptions.
Versions available for a wide range of OSs.
Metamorph 3D [578k] +
http://www.fascinationsoftware.com/FS/html/Metamorph.html
"Fast, sleek, little image morphing utility"
Cygwin-Lite [1280k] {S}
http://cygwin-lite.sourceforge.net/
UNIX-like command-line environment for
Win9x/Me/NT4/2000
RAMpage 1.6 [169k] {S}+
http://www.jfitz.com/software/RAMpage/
Display/free system memory
AppSwat v1.3.0.0 [8k] +
http://www.ddhomepage.nm.ru/html/appswat.html
Process terminator. Command-line termination,
system startup integration and an effective
termination mechanism
UpTime 1.0 [13k] +
http://opus80.com/discnode/uptime.htm
Displays up-time in a tooltip from the system
tray
Switch Off 1.7 [41k]
http://yasoft.nm.ru/eng/switchoff/
Scheduler for system shutdown, restart and log
off
Filemon [76k] {S}+
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/source/filemon.shtml
Monitors and displays file system activity in
real-time
tube [0.25k] {S}+
http://www.pouet.net/prod.php?which=3397
Yes, that's 256 bytes for a very cool intro.
traydesk v3.0 [10k] {S}+
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~crn/traydesk.html
Show/hide desktop icons, log on/off, restart
or shutdown - all from the system tray.
RandBG v1.01 [12k] +
http://kaltner.slickness.org/files.html
Random wallpaper changer. Supports bitmap and
JPEG (JPEG support via interface to active
desktop).
Triadex Muse Simulator 1.1 [22k] +
http://trovar.com/muse/muse.html
Create your own "music" in seconds
Moopeg 0.2a [64k]
http://www.moopeg.com/
Lightweight media player
SynFactory 1.01 [62k] +
http://www.syntiac.com/synfactory.html
Interactive Modular Software Synthesizer
XCALC 2.4 [141k] +
http://www.tordivel.no/xcalc/
RPN calculator with many modes
Convert 4.10 [152k]
http://joshmadison.com/software/convert/
Unit conversion program
Grapher 0.9 [208k] +
http://members.home.net/c1284j/grapher/
Graphs mathematical equations in any spatial
dimension above the first
TTH [310k] {S}+
http://hutchinson.belmont.ma.us/tth/
TEX to HTML translator
REBOL/View [335k]
http://www.rebol.com/prod-view.html
Cross-platform, internet-oriented scripting
language by Amiga OS master Carl Sassenrath
+++FASTLOADING BANNERS+++
Frequent contributor cheeaun01 kindly sent in
an animated GIF banner (weighing 2.76k) for
folks to use when linking to TinyApps. As much
as I appreciated his kindness, I decided not
to use the GIF. Here is an excerpt from my
reply:
1.
As you may have noticed, the TinyApps "banner"
is not a graphic, but a simple HTML table. It
is only 545 bytes.
2.
"Because of modem compression, HTML will
download twice as fast for most people as
graphics. (eg: 20k of html will download as
fast as a 10k jpg)."
http://www.searchengineworld.com/misc/page_size.htm
3.
I want to conserve bandwidth whenever
possible, and would prefer people use text
links in most cases to help conserve the
Internet's finite resources.
4.
Some folks have a major problem with GIFs, so
I'd like to minimize my use of them:
http://burnallgifs.org/
The inspiration to use a text banner came from
InnerPeace.Org:
http://innerpeace.org/fastloadingbanners.shtml
+++++
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe:
Send a blank email to
tinyapps-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with either 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in
the Subject field. You can also use the web
interface, which has additional options:
https://tinyapps.org/ezine.html
+++Disclaimer: You are 100% responsible
+++for your own actions. Visiting a link,
+++downloading a program, in short, *living*,
+++is done entirely at your own risk (and joy).
TinyApps.Org Newsletter Issue 4 - Nov 6, 2001
+++NEWS+++
"Games" category added to "Links" page:
Interactive Zork 404 error page
http://thcnet.net/error/404.php
Tiny Windows Games
http://www.tinywindowsgames.com/tiny/
256 byte demo archive
http://www.256b.com/
DOSGames
http://www.dosgames.com/
DOS Games Archive
http://www.dosgamesarchive.com/
PCGameworld's "classic" collection
http://www.pcgameworld.com/downloads/retrogaming/
+++NEW APPS+++
privyCrypt 2.6 [198k] {S}+
http://www.cs.uwa.edu.au/~vlchung/code/privyCrypt/
"A simple encryption scheme for people
whose email service providers block
attachments and monitor their email." Palm
OS and Java applet versions also available.
KILL<HTML> [from 8k] +
http://www.protonfx.com/
Removes all HTML tags and JavaScript from
one or more HTML files. DOS and Windows
versions included.
sHTMLc v2.0 [148k] +
http://hjem.get2net.dk/fec/shtmlc/shtmlc.html
Convert characters to character entities
quickly and easily.
XEarth 1.0 [165k] {S}+
http://www.hewgill.com/xearth/index.html
Yes, XEarth has been listed for some time,
but this is a slightly smaller port with
numerous improvements.
MP-Crypt 0.5b [26k] +
https://tinyapps.org/mpcrypt.exe
Easy file and directory encryption. Option
to create self-decrypting files. (With the
kind permission of MP-Crypt's author, this
download is hosted on TinyApps. MP-Crypt
0.6 has turned shareware and is twice as
large. As always, download and use at your
own risk and joy.)
+++OUT OF CONTROL+++
This month's article "Out of Control"
appears courtesy of David Weinberger, who
generously agreed to my request to reprint
it here. David is the co-author of the
bestseller The Cluetrain Manifesto,
commentator on National Public Radio's
"All Things Considered," and a columnist
for Darwin Magazine (www.darwinmag.com), KM
World (www.kmworld.com) and Intranet Design
(idm.internet.com). He publishes a free
zine on the effect of the Web on business
and culture (www.hyperorg.com). He has
written for Wired, The Industry Standard,
Harard Business Review, and many more. He
lives in Boston and can be reached at
self@xxxxxxxxxxx
Out of Control
Since dirt was young, we've assumed that
the larger the project, the more control
you need. If you're building a tree house,
you only need one adult and a plan sketched
on the back of an envelope. But if you're
building a project like the Hoover Dam, you
need entire floors of managers, and then to
manage the managers you need a hierarchy
and organizational charts and preferential
parking spaces. And then you'll bring in
management consultants to figure out how to
manage the managers who are managing the
managers. The bigger the project, the more
control. In fact, the amount of control
required is proportional not just to the
size of the project but to its complexity.
But, what is by far the most complex
network ever constructed on this planet?
And what is by far the largest collection
of writings and music and other human
communications ever assembled? The Web. And
how many managers did it take to build the
Web? Hmm, let's see ... carry the one ...
divide by pi .... Zero! Zero managers. The
most complex technological infrastructure
ever built was created with essentially no
layers of control.
And, even more important, with the lack of
control comes the lack of permission. The
Web's inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, originally
conceived of it to enable scientists to
link to one another's work without
permission. Despite the best efforts of
legislators, corporate executives and other
control junkies, the Web is still largely
permission-free. Whose permission do you
need if you want to build a site, post a
page, send a message to a discussion group?
A duly authorized official? Your parents'?
Tim Berners-Lee's? No, just your own.
Compare this to an institution as humane as
your local public library. If you want to
donate a book, someone's going to have to
fill in a form, take it to a committee, get
permission, decide on a classification,
fill out another form, and put it on the
shelf. You could have posted the whole
thing on your Web site in one step without
having to ask anyone else about it.
And that's exactly how the Web is being
built, one page at a time, 2 billion and
counting. Before long we'll have more pages
than McDonald's has burgers, and all
because hundreds of millions of people give
themselves permission to build a site, to
post a message to a discussion board, to
send an email...without filling in a single
form or asking a single manager.
This affects life off the Web as well as
on. In environments from home to business,
asking permission has been the norm. On the
Web, it's the exception. Of course this
disturbs control-based institutions:
"You may be able to get away with that behavior
on the Web young man and/or woman, but not here
at Big Co. We can't run a multi-billion dollar
businesses without a power structure, and
performance reviews, and big corner offices for
those in charge."
To which the Web poses the question: Are
you sure? Look at what happened when
Napster, at least temporarily, turned
recordings into a permission- free zone; an
industry overnight was threatened with
being replaced by a movement. (Of course,
Napster also shows what happens when the
incumbents fight back.) A hundred thousand
discussion groups are showing what happens
when expertise is no longer under the lock
and key of official experts. Every
institution in our society is going to be
challenged by a Web generation that no
longer takes it for granted that for a
project to succeed, it must be tightly
controlled. From business to religion to
government, the question is going to be:
Tell me again why I have to ask you for
permission? And if your answer isn't good
enough, you'll not only be disobeyed ...
worse, you'll be ignored.
+++++
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe:
Send a blank email to
tinyapps-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with either 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in
the Subject field. You can also use the web
interface, which has additional options:
https://tinyapps.org/ezine.html
+++Disclaimer: You are 100% responsible
+++for your own actions. Visiting a link,
+++downloading a program, in short, *living*,
+++is done entirely at your own risk (and joy).
TinyApps.Org Newsletter Issue 5 - Nov 13, 2001
+++NEWS+++
I have been recently been chatting with the
folks at Bullet Proof FTP, who generously
offered me a free copy of their small
(506k) shareware FTP client with
professional features. In return I offered
to mention it here, and they put together a
no-installer version AND are offering a 24%
discount (from $29.95 to $22.95) to
TinyApps subscribers. There is of course a
30 day free trial which is not crippled in
any way.
http://www.bpftp.com/
Direct download link to no-installer version:
http://www.bpftp.com/noinstall/bpftp.zip
If you decide to register, visit
http://www.bpftp.com/register.html
and enter TINYAPPS when prompted for a
promotional code to receive your discount.
+++NEW APPS+++
A-spy 0.0.9 [254k] +
http://aka.com.ua/dev.htm
Startup manager with an "About" box which
provides scads of live system info.
Anim8or 0.7 [592k] +
http://www.anim8or.com/
3D modeling and character animation program
RPSORT 1.01</a> [19k] {S}+
http://www.dosbin.com/txtfrmt.htm#sortutil
Sorts large files extremely fast.
TestDisk [168k] {S}+
http://www.esiea.fr/public_html/Christophe.GRENIER/index.html
Check and undelete a wide variety of
partition types, from FAT to BeFS
Test-Run 2.1.0 [136k]
http://www.envy.nu/testrun/
Protects the Registry while testing new
software
XaoS 3.1 [470k] {S}+
http://www.paru.cas.cz/~hubicka/XaoS/index.html
Real-time interactive fractal zoomer.
Binaries available for several platforms.
+++MY MOST FREQUENTLY USED TINY APPS+++
Treepad
http://www.treepad.com
Freeform, tree-like database. Serves as my
personal knowledge base.
RemotePad
http://hamsterrepublic.com/dl/
Text editor with built-in ftp client. Used
to update TinyApps.
metapad
http://www.liquidninja.com/metapad/
My favorite notepad replacement.
BK ReplaceEm
http://www.orbit.org/replace/
Very powerful text search and replace,
especially good for making global changes
to websites quickly and easily.
MPower
http://www.mindbeat.com/utils.shtml
Windows without crashes
Catfish
http://www.equi4.com/catfish/
Disk cataloguer. Has probably saved me
several hours of futile searching for
archived files so far.
+++++
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe:
Send a blank email to
tinyapps-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with either 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in
the Subject field. You can also use the web
interface, which has additional options:
https://tinyapps.org/ezine.html
+++Disclaimer: You are 100% responsible
+++for your own actions. Visiting a link,
+++downloading a program, in short, *living*,
+++is done entirely at your own risk (and joy).
TinyApps.Org Newsletter Issue 6 - Nov 21, 2001
+++NEWS+++
Yummy stats:
Avg app size: 272.18kb
Number of apps: 170
Freeware: 165 apps = 97%
Shareware: 5 apps = 3%
No install needed: 127 = 77%
+++NEW APPS+++
Most of the new apps this week are from John A.
Lyons' awesome ASM page:
http://www.asmsource.8k.com/
Files.com v3.0 [64k] {S soon}+
http://asmsource.8k.com/source16.htm
"This is the best dos-based file management
program. It does everything that you could ever
want, including viewing multiple compressed
files."
Resize v0.2 [11k] {S}+
http://asmsource.8k.com/source32.htm
"A simple program, that establishes a taskbar
icon, enabling you to quickly and easily change
the screen resolution."
Searchin32 v0.3 [15k] {S}+
http://asmsource.8k.com/searchin.htm
"Program that searches recursively from a
particular dir, for files of a specific type,
containing a particular phrase. Prints out the
part of the phrase line, and the line number."
File Wizard 1.34 [287k] +
http://www.nexus.hu/gad/fw/index.html
File manager for DOS/Windows. LFN & mouse
support, drag and drop, read archives,
integrated text editor, CD player, much more.
+++++
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe:
Send a blank email to
tinyapps-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with either 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in
the Subject field. You can also use the web
interface, which has additional options:
https://tinyapps.org/ezine.html
+++Disclaimer: You are 100% responsible
+++for your own actions. Visiting a link,
+++downloading a program, in short, *living*,
+++is done entirely at your own risk (and joy).
TinyApps.Org Newsletter Issue 7 - Nov 28, 2001
+++NEW APPS+++
MWSnap 2.0.0.40 [309k] +
http://www.mirekw.com/
Screen capture program which supports BMP, JPG,
TIFF and GIF formats. Custom color depth &
quality settings, zoom, screen ruler, and color
picker.
2xExplorer [348k] +
http://personal-pages.ps.ic.ac.uk/~umeca74/
Full-featured (yet small) Windows Explorer replacement
Dos Navigator 1.51 [767k] {S}+
http://www.ritlabs.com/dn/
Comprehensive DOS shell for MS-DOS, OS/2 and MS
Windows from the folks who brought you The Bat!
email client. Includes a powerful text editor,
archive manager, serial link, file uneraser and
much more.
+++++
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe:
Send a blank email to
tinyapps-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with either 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in
the Subject field. You can also use the web
interface, which has additional options:
https://tinyapps.org/ezine.html
+++Disclaimer: You are 100% responsible
+++for your own actions. Visiting a link,
+++downloading a program, in short, *living*,
+++is done entirely at your own risk (and joy).
TinyApps.Org Newsletter Issue 8 - Dec 5, 2001
+++NEWS+++
Recently received the following question from a
TinyApps visitor:
> I was wondering if there is any tinyapps
> relevant for broadcasting a PC screen
> to multiple PCs (as in the case of a
> teacher to students' lab).
Know of one? If so, please email:
answer@xxxxxxxxxxxx
+++NEW APPS+++
Nadger 0.5 [213k] +
http://apps.sepulchre.co.uk/nadger/
Color grabber which returns hex, websafe, and
RGB values. Save colors to custom groups.
Spread32 v1.09 [292k] +
http://www.byedesign.freeserve.co.uk/
Small but powerful spreadsheet program. Import
& export standard Excel, Pocket Excel and CSV
files. CE & shareware (no nags) versions also
available.
F-Prot Antivirus for DOS [1320k] +
http://www.f-prot.com/f-prot/download/
Regularly updated antivirus program free for
personal use. Linux version also available.
+++WHY HTML IN E-MAIL IS A BAD IDEA+++
This issue's article appears courtesy of Scot
Hacker, a recovering BeOS addict (small is
beautiful!) now migrating to Mac OS X. He is
the author of Peachpit's The BeOS Bible and
O'Reilly's "MP3: The Definitive Guide." Hacker
is also the webmaster of http://www.betips.net ,
http://www.birdhouse.org , and
http://www.kissthisguy.com .
Why HTML in E-Mail is a Bad Idea (excerpt)
http://www.betips.net/etc/evilmail.html
HTML in e-mail is a bad idea ...
Because HTML is for making web pages and plain
text is for simple communications. If you're
looking to create a web page or write a book,
fine. But e-mail messages are not web pages or
books. e-mail was designed for simple
messaging. Anything else detracts, rather than
adds to its core functionality. As Andy Roony
said, "E-mail is simple. Like the pencil, it
just works." Well, e-mail is not simple -- and
it doesn't always work -- when HTML is
involved.
Because it encourages people to express
themselves with fancy formatting rather than
with carefully chosen words.
Because it introduces compatibility problems
with text-based clients like the hundreds of
thousands of Pine users out there (see
screenshot below).
Because it can introduce security issues and
trojan horses -- it's a gateway to danger as
any Outlook user can tell you. HTML can include
any number of scripts, dangerous links,
controls, etc.
Because it's being unfairly forced on the world
by a single corporation (Microsoft).
Because it takes a nice, short two-line e-mail
body and makes it 15 lines long (see screenshot
below).
Because it doubles the size of e-mails as
clients "handle" the issue by sending out plain
text and HTML versions of the same e-mail.
Because people spend more time choosing a font
that the recipient probably doesn't even have
on their system than in choosing their words
carefully.
Because it wreaks havoc with any mailing list
that sends out digests.
Because it forces programmers writing e-mail
clients to choose between supporting it and
implementing features that will actually help
handle e-mail.
Because it violates the e-mail standards and
protocols unnecessarily. Most users never use
any of the "advanced" options and those who do
typically go overboard -- usually spammers who
use HTML's fancy styles as a way to garner
attention.
The only possible reasonable purposes for HTML
e-mail are simple text styles such as bold and
italics which can be expressed _in_ *other*
WAYS that are /universally/ readable. :-)
Because it encourages companies to think it's
OK to do things like include code that will let
them know if you're reading their e-mail. This
actually happened to a friend, who received an
e-mail from infobeat asking why he wasn't
reading their daily news e-mails. I consider
that a gross violation of privacy.
+++++
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe:
Send a blank email to
tinyapps-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with either 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in
the Subject field. You can also use the web
interface, which has additional options:
https://tinyapps.org/ezine.html
+++Disclaimer: You are 100% responsible
+++for your own actions. Visiting a link,
+++downloading a program, in short, *living*,
+++is done entirely at your own risk (and joy).
TinyApps.Org Newsletter Issue 9 - Dec 12, 2001
+++NEWS+++
0. Many thanks to all of you who wrote in
suggesting VNC and/or TightVNC for the computer
lab question last issue. One subscriber wrote
in with a question of his own: is there an MS
Windows app that allows program windows to be
moved and resized as in X Window (using the ALT
key)? There certainly is for BeOS:
http://kom.auc.dk/~thiriez/beos/EasyMove/documentation.html
If you know of something similar, please email:
answer@xxxxxxxxxxxx
1. http://www.oldversion.com/
Download old versions of popular programs.
2. The newsletter will be published biweekly as of
the next issue.
+++NEW APPS+++
TightVNC 1.2.2 [357k] {S}+
http://www.tightvnc.com/
Client/server software package allowing remote
network access to graphical desktops. This
bandwidth-efficient version has many
improvements over the original:
http://www.uk.research.att.com/vnc/
MacroMaker 1.0.3.1 [156k] +
http://www.ij.net/AnthonyMathews/MacroMaker.htm
Automate routine computer tasks. Non-installer
version:
http://www.ij.net/AnthonyMathews/ByHand.htm
+++NOTETAB LIGHT+++
Eric Fookes, creator of the legendary NoteTab
text editor, has released v4.86c of the free
tiny version he made especially for TinyApps
users.
Direct download links:
http://www.fookes.com/ftp/free/notetab486c.exe
or
http://www.notetab.com/ftp/notetab486c.exe
or
http://www.notetab.ch/ftp/notetab486c.exe
The binary weighs in at 1217k. While large by
TinyApps standards, it is an incredibly
powerful editor for both beginners and pros.
It can optionally be installed on a floppy disk
by choosing "Custom Install" and leaving out
the Clipbars and Glossary.
The NoteTab homepage can be found at:
http://www.fookes.com/notetab/index.html
Very impressive NoteTab reviews at epinions:
http://www.epinions.com/cmsw-Web_Building-All-Note_Tab_Software_NoteTab
+++++
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe:
Send a blank email to
tinyapps-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with either 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in
the Subject field. You can also use the web
interface, which has additional options:
https://tinyapps.org/ezine.html
+++Disclaimer: You are 100% responsible
+++for your own actions. Visiting a link,
+++downloading a program, in short, *living*,
+++is done entirely at your own risk (and joy).
Newsletter Issue 10 - Dec 26, 2001
+++NEWS+++
0. Many thanks to each and every one of you for
making TinyApps so interesting. In the 3 or 4
months since going online, the website has had
1,935,263 "hits" and the newsletter now reaches
folks in 50 countries:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada,
China, Christmas Island, Cocos [Keeling]
Islands, Croatia, Cuba, France, Germany, Great
Britain, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland,
Israel, Italy, Jordan, Malaysia, Malta,
Micronesia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Niue,
Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland,
Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia,
Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tonga, Turkey,
Turks and Caicos Islands, Ukraine, United Arab
Emirates, United States of America, Uruguay,
Yugoslavia.
Peace and blessings to all!
1. An answer to last issue's question about
moving and resizing windows via the keyboard
appears below. Please do not email any more
questions, as a forum will soon be up to serve
that purpose. Until then, one last reader
question:
Is there a resolution changer that takes
command line parameters like: "resize 16bit
800x600" which could then be made into a
shortcut? The reader has already tried Resize
and Multires but wants something simpler for
his 4 year old son like, "click on the DUCK
icon before you put in your CD" or something
similar.
Please send replies to: answer@xxxxxxxxxxxx
+++NEW APPS+++
Lynx for Win32 [714k] {S}+
http://jim.spath.com/lynx_win32/
Text-based web browser
Message Foundry SE 2.1 [186k] +
http://www.appfoundry.com/downloads.html
Self-contained discussion forum with built-in
web server. Free for personal use.
Belarc Advisor [565k]
http://www.belarc.com/Download.html
"Generates an HTML profile of everything
installed on your computer, from your main
circuit board to software. Version,
manufacturer, and serial numbers are listed, as
well as statistics such as available memory
slots and hard drive space." Free for personal
use.
MultiRes [98k]
http://www.entechtaiwan.com/
Change screen resolution and refresh rate from
the tray. With multi-monitor support.
+++MANIPULATING WINDOWS VIA KEYBOARD+++
A kind reader replied to last issue's question
about moving and resizing windows via the
keyboard:
1) Use <alt>-<space> to display the pull-down
function menu for the active window.
2) Press <M>, or use the up/down arrow keys to
select "M)ove".
3) The keypad arrow keys will now move the
window, in steps of (I think) 10 pixels per
step.
4) For finer control, use <ctrl>-<arrow key>
combinations to move one pixel at a time.
5) Press <Return> when the new window location
is suitable, and you're done.
(NOTE: If you press <Esc> at this point instead
of <Return>, the window snaps back to its
previous location.)
Resizing is similar, but you can only resize
one edge of the window at a time with the
keyboard (i.e., either width or height, but not
both simultaneously).
+++++
To Subscribe or Unsubscribe:
Send a blank email to
tinyapps-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
with either 'subscribe' or 'unsubscribe' in
the Subject field. You can also use the web
interface, which has additional options:
https://tinyapps.org/ezine.html
+++Disclaimer: You are 100% responsible
+++for your own actions. Visiting a link,
+++downloading a program, in short, *living*,
+++is done entirely at your own risk (and joy).
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