I go to a program during the day. There, I'm not allowed to install or download anything on the computers or use flash drives. I am limited to floppies and a CD-RW for all my software. Unfortunately, some of the software I'm using doesn't fit on a floppy uncompressed and require write-access. Both I and the program have WinXP computers, and my mother has a WinVista computer. WinMount could help, but it would have to be installed. I am aware of WinXP's compressed folder, but such is limited. Basically, I need a portable method to compress data on floppies that would treat the data as if it were a drive or directory of its own, with full functionality and without permanent changes or system settings. BTW, I am both working on my own software and bringing in software from home.
> ... I'm not allowed to install or download anything on the computers or use flash drives.
> I am limited to floppies and a CD-RW for all my software. ...
> ... WinMount could help, but it would have to be installed. ...
As long as you can run programs from the CD-RW, then
get someone to build you a "command and control" program which spawns
multiple parallel jobs (processes): WinMount (from the CD-RW), COMMAND,
NotePad, etc.
Or, use a VNC viewer (or LogMeIn, or pcAnywhere, etc.) to do all
your work over the 'net, connected to your computer somewhere else.
You might be able to cram tightVNC and its libraries onto
a couple floppies if you cannot execute from the CD-RW.
Or, a new netbook (1GB RAM, some harddrive, 13.6-inch screen)
can be as low as $200; a used netbook under $100, perhaps free.
On Thursday, July 5, 2012 11:08:47 PM UTC-4, John Reiser wrote:
> > ... I'm not allowed to install or download anything on the computers or use flash drives.
> > I am limited to floppies and a CD-RW for all my software. ...
> > ... WinMount could help, but it would have to be installed. ...
> As long as you can run programs from the CD-RW, then
> get someone to build you a "command and control" program which spawns
> multiple parallel jobs (processes): WinMount (from the CD-RW), COMMAND,
> NotePad, etc.
If WinMount can run from a CD-RW, then I can do that. :) I'll try that at my next opportunity.
> Or, use a VNC viewer (or LogMeIn, or pcAnywhere, etc.) to do all
> your work over the 'net, connected to your computer somewhere else.
> You might be able to cram tightVNC and its libraries onto
> a couple floppies if you cannot execute from the CD-RW.
> Or, a new netbook (1GB RAM, some harddrive, 13.6-inch screen)
> can be as low as $200; a used netbook under $100, perhaps free.
That's a good idea, but the laptop might get lost, damaged or stolen, and I don't think I'm allowed to bring my own computer, anyway.
> I go to a program during the day. There, I'm not allowed to install or
> download anything on the computers or use flash drives. I am limited to
> floppies and a CD-RW for all my software. Unfortunately, some of the
> software I'm using doesn't fit on a floppy uncompressed and require
> write-access. Both I and the program have WinXP computers, and my mother
> has a WinVista computer. WinMount could help, but it would have to be
> installed. I am aware of WinXP's compressed folder, but such is limited.
> Basically, I need a portable method to compress data on floppies that
> would treat the data as if it were a drive or directory of its own, with
> full functionality and without permanent changes or system settings.
> BTW, I am both working on my own software and bringing in software from
> home.
Ah, GOVERNMENT JOB. The USB ports are locked off or disabled.
You are aware that you can use most free ZIP programs to write SPAN/SPLIT FILES? Span/Split files are files that are too big for the media, but are then split into smaller files for easier storage.
I am surprised that you haven't enough space on a CD-RW for most programming files.
3. Support unicode to display international characters which display for filenames in archives
4. Bypass the bad compression files automatically by "High Speed Archiving" function
5. Extract the files to the destination folder directly by "Fast Drag & Drop" function
6. Create self-extracting file (.EXE) and multi-volume (split) archives
7. Optional archive encryption using ZipCrypto and AES 256
8. Context Menu access including "Preview Archive" function
9. Create or extract multiple zip files simultaneously from windows explorer
10. Free to use at both home and in the office
====
Can you run a printer and install fonts and do you have a decent page scanner at home?
Dataglyphs are the easiest to program (even a preteen can do it, Joseph), QR-CODES are not bad for quick & sloppy archiving in the age where thumbdrives are currently $1 per gigabyte and hard-disks are SATA hot-pluggable at a cost of $0.0483 per gigabyte. Using Dataglyphs for Stenography has a lower data-density per inch, but are much more deniable in a security interrogation.
Types of barcodes (read read read - YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS ALREADY)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barcode Linear barcodes (list + links)
Matrix (2D) barcodes (list + links)
A matrix code, also termed a 2D barcode or simply a 2D code, is a two-dimensional way to represent information. It is similar to a linear (1-dimensional) barcode, but can represent more data per unit area.
Using the slash and backslash of the font (like anyone would need a "font" for this) for the basic dataglyph is the easiest method, "you could make the little dot lean left to represent a zero, and to the right to represent a one". If you can not write a program to create a bitmap file to print out a dataglyph image from the binary file code in about 10 minutes, then you are not a real programmer. If you cannot write a decoder for scanned dataglyph images in less than 1 hour then you are truly a joke.
The fact that you are actually not using GOOGLE to find this information and already fail to know this information is giving me my regular laugh from this newsgroup. My, my, how the programming communities have fallen into pathetic levels since Microsoft stopped including Q-Basic with every install of Windows. At least the Apple ][e computers encouraged a level of instinctual programming skills to the curious and non-stupid. Now... meh. So very sad these days.
Suddenly an idea flashed. It was simple, and elegant - conventional halftoning is based on little dots - which were usually ellipses of various sizes, oriented at a 45 degree angle (a subtlety based on the visual cortex's distribution of angle detectors... angled ellipses are less perceptually intrusive - except to certain African tribes that grow up in rounded architectures rather than Western Cartesian architected buildings). Digital halftoning aped analog halftoning, which was based on optical screens of repeated patterns - and all the little elliptical dots in a picture, such as a newspaper picture, always leaned in the same direction. My insight was under computer control this did not have to be true; you could make the little dot lean left to represent a zero, and to the right to represent a one - and that this would be essentially perceptially invisible. You could put computer data into a picture, hidden from conscious view. This sort of hidden data in pictures is called "steganography".
At the time, every document printed at PARC had a title page, with two squares of decorative mid-gray halftone on the bottom. I quickly calulated that rather than the paltry tens of bits that a UPC barcode could put in the same area that my scheme could put kilobits. And still look the same quiet gray, to the eye.
Staff secretly dropped computer discs and USB thumb drives in the parking lots of government buildings and private contractors. Of those who picked them up, 60 percent plugged the devices into office computers, curious to see what they contained. If the drive or CD case had an official logo, 90 percent were installed.
"There's no device known to mankind that will prevent people from being idiots," said Mark Rasch, director of network security and privacy consulting for Falls Church, Virginia-based Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC)
XRen QRCode 2.10
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Miscellaneous/XRen-QRCode.shtml Can generate QR codes, read QR CODE embedded image files for decoding. Can also print from application (don't know if it ignores the government mandated secret printer/computer ID codes as most QR-Coding has a error-detecting-correcting routine to limit random dot errors).
Yesterday, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco consumer privacy group, said it had cracked the code used in a widely used line of Xerox printers, an invisible bar code of sorts that contains the serial number of the printer as well as the date and time a document was printed.
With the Xerox printers, the information appears as a pattern of yellow dots, each only a millimeter wide and visible only with a magnifying glass and a blue light.
The EFF said it has identified similar coding on pages printed from nearly every major printer manufacturer, including Hewlett-Packard Co., though its team has so far cracked the codes for only one type of Xerox printer.
The U.S. Secret Service acknowledged yesterday that the markings, which are not visible to the human eye, are there, but it played down the use for invading privacy.
"It's strictly a countermeasure to prevent illegal activity specific to counterfeiting," agency spokesman Eric Zahren said. "It's to protect our currency and to protect people's hard-earned money."
On Friday, July 6, 2012 11:59:57 PM UTC-4, George Johnson wrote:
> Ah, GOVERNMENT JOB. The USB ports are locked off or disabled.
> You are aware that you can use most free ZIP programs to write > SPAN/SPLIT FILES? Span/Split files are files that are too big for the media, > but are then split into smaller files for easier storage.
> I am surprised that you haven't enough space on a CD-RW for most > programming files.
I have software to split archive files, but that's not the problem. The problem is that I have to access the _whole_ archive file as a folder. I need to be able to work on software >2MB with source code or bring in software and games for the others >2MB. I can put some of the latter on the CD-RW, but the former requires heavy R/W editing, inhibiiting the use of on-the-fly editing. BTW, WinMount probably requires system setting changes (i.e. shell associations) and, as such, may require to be installed. I'm not allowed to do that--otherwise I wouldn't be here.
> On Friday, July 6, 2012 11:59:57 PM UTC-4, George Johnson wrote:
>> Ah, GOVERNMENT JOB. The USB ports are locked off or disabled.
>> You are aware that you can use most free ZIP programs to write
>> SPAN/SPLIT FILES? Span/Split files are files that are too big for the >> media,
>> but are then split into smaller files for easier storage.
>> I am surprised that you haven't enough space on a CD-RW for most
>> programming files.
> I have software to split archive files, but that's not the problem. The > problem is that I have to access the _whole_ archive file as a folder. I > need to be able to work on software
> 2MB with source code or bring in software and games for the others
> 2MB. I can put some of the latter on the CD-RW, but the former requires > heavy R/W editing, inhibiiting the use of on-the-fly editing. BTW, > WinMount probably requires system setting changes (i.e. shell > associations) and, as such, may require to be installed. I'm not allowed > to do that--otherwise I wouldn't be here.
Well... since you're engaging in either unallowed hijinks or criminal MOSSAD espionage and don't appear too bright at all (average Jewish IQ is below 90 when referencing the Israeli testing scores). I guess our business here is done, Joseph Rose.
Do you hear a knocking at your door?
They seem rather insistent in entering.
On Jul 5, 8:09 am, Harry Potter <rose.josep...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> I am limited to floppies and a CD-RW for all my software. Unfortunately, some of the software I'm using doesn't fit on a floppy uncompressed and require write-access.
Your tools fit on a CD and your source fits on a 1.44MB floppy, I'm
sure. If something doesn't fit, describe exactly what you're using
and why you think you can't run it from CD. Your tools don't have to
reside on the floppy in order to read/write a configuration file
stored on floppy.
On Tuesday, July 10, 2012 2:56:21 PM UTC-4, Jim Leonard wrote:
> Your tools fit on a CD and your source fits on a 1.44MB floppy, I'm
> sure.
Most of my tools fit on a CD-RW, and the source of most of my programs fit on a floppy each, but in both cases not all. For example, VBDOS, which is the BASIC interpreter and compiler I use, writes its configuration file to its residing directory upon exit. That's not too bad: I have a work-around. However, one program on which I'm working, MemBank128, although for a legacy system, doesn't fit on a floppy, if only for the large library size.
> If something doesn't fit, describe exactly what you're using
> and why you think you can't run it from CD. Your tools don't have to
> reside on the floppy in order to read/write a configuration file
> stored on floppy.
The MemBank128 library I mentioned above is a library for cc65 (cross-platform C compiler for 6502-based computers, www.cc65.org) that expands the usable memory under the C128 from 41k to 118k+. Cc65 recently lost its efficient library size, and now, as I had to replace alot of default system modules in favor of the new memory configuration, the new library file is around 1MB by itself, not to mention the source code, test code, example code, etc.
BTW, what do I do about games I download for my program? Some can fit on a floppy. Some can be restored on a floppy if the executables are compressed using UPX. Some can work from a CD-ROM. Some are too large to fit on a floppy *and* require write access. Unfortunately, I can't compress data on a floppy other than executable compression, as I'm not allowed to install *anything* on these computers. I thank you for listening.
On Jul 11, 11:55 am, Harry Potter <rose.josep...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Cc65 recently lost its efficient library size, and now, as I had to replace alot of default system modules in favor of the new memory configuration, the new library file is around 1MB by itself, not to mention the source code, test code, example code, etc.
Is there a reason the library and source/test code can't reside on the
CD? You're not modifying it.
> I'm not allowed to install *anything* on these computers.
Storing all of your tools and source on a USB thumbdrive gives you
what you need and is not "installing" anything at all on the computer.
Hopefully you won't argue that USB keys are disallowed. The use of
one is no different than CDs (mass storage) and floppies (ability to
change and copy data to/from the machine). A USB thumbdrive solves
all of your problems.
In fact, what REALLY solves your problem is a USB key running a
portable OS such as Linux. That way, you boot the computer directly
from the USB key and work completely within it, never touching the
computer's built-in hard drive. A quick google using the words
"portable USB windows xp" (without quotes) brings up all sorts of
tutorials if you would rather go the Windows route.
On Wednesday, July 11, 2012 2:48:26 PM UTC-4, Jim Leonard wrote:
> Is there a reason the library and source/test code can't reside on the
> CD? You're not modifying it.
Well, the library code *can* be stored on a CD-RW *after* it's completed and used from there but not while creating and debugging the library, which I may need to do later.
> Storing all of your tools and source on a USB thumbdrive gives you
> what you need and is not "installing" anything at all on the computer.
I tried to do that--which I'm not supposed to do--but the computer technicians discontinued that so that a flash drive is absolutely unusable. :( Otherwise, I wouldn't be posting this post.
> Hopefully you won't argue that USB keys are disallowed. The use of
> one is no different than CDs (mass storage) and floppies (ability to
> change and copy data to/from the machine). A USB thumbdrive solves
> all of your problems.
As I just said, it is.
> In fact, what REALLY solves your problem is a USB key running a
> portable OS such as Linux. That way, you boot the computer directly
> from the USB key and work completely within it, never touching the
> computer's built-in hard drive. A quick google using the words
> "portable USB windows xp" (without quotes) brings up all sorts of
> tutorials if you would rather go the Windows route.
That would be a good idea, but, even if I *could* use a flash drive, I'd probably be restricted from that as well. :( BTW, where can I download Linux or some other portable OS?
On Jul 12, 7:52 am, Harry Potter <rose.josep...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Well, the library code *can* be stored on a CD-RW *after* it's completed and used from there but not while creating and debugging the library, which I may need to do later.
Ah, sorry. It wasn't clear to me that you were *writing* the library
code. I thought you were merely using/linking it.
> I tried to do that--which I'm not supposed to do--but the computer technicians discontinued that so that a flash drive is absolutely unusable. :( Otherwise, I wouldn't be posting this post.
Sorry^2. So, they've disabled USB on the machines. Hm.
> BTW, where can I download Linux or some other portable OS?
Well, googling for "portable linux OS" is probably a good start.
You have an interesting problem. There is no built-in Windows XP
floppy disk compression that you can use, nor any that you could
install even if you were allowed, so it seems you are out of luck. I
was about to suggest something ludicrously complicated, like creating
a VMware or VirtualBox session that boots Windows98 which was the last
version to support floppy disk compression IIRC, but then I realized
you won't be able to mount the image read/write.
There used to be various UDF drivers that would allow you to use a DVD-
RW or CD-RW as a "giant floppy disk", like a very slow hard drive, but
I don't know if there are freeware editions of these (Nero used to
call it InCD). These prepare a disc which also includes a small
program on the media to run in order to enable the functionality --
not sure if your sysadmins would consider that "installing" a program.
It sounds like you'll just need to adjust your habits. When you're
using these computers, you'll just have to edit source code, and not
actually try to compile or do anything with it until you get home.
On Thursday, July 12, 2012 2:05:59 PM UTC-4, Jim Leonard wrote:
> On Jul 12, 7:52 am, Harry Potter <rose.josep...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Well, the library code *can* be stored on a CD-RW *after* it's completed and used from there but not while creating and debugging the library, which I may need to do later.
> Ah, sorry. It wasn't clear to me that you were *writing* the library
> code. I thought you were merely using/linking it.
> > I tried to do that--which I'm not supposed to do--but the computer technicians discontinued that so that a flash drive is absolutely unusable. :( Otherwise, I wouldn't be posting this post.
> Sorry^2. So, they've disabled USB on the machines. Hm.
> > BTW, where can I download Linux or some other portable OS?
> Well, googling for "portable linux OS" is probably a good start.
> You have an interesting problem. There is no built-in Windows XP
> floppy disk compression that you can use, nor any that you could
> install even if you were allowed, so it seems you are out of luck. I
> was about to suggest something ludicrously complicated, like creating
> a VMware or VirtualBox session that boots Windows98 which was the last
> version to support floppy disk compression IIRC, but then I realized
> you won't be able to mount the image read/write.
Even if I *could* do that, it would be incompatible with the *other* WinXP/Vista computers I'm using.
> There used to be various UDF drivers that would allow you to use a DVD-
> RW or CD-RW as a "giant floppy disk", like a very slow hard drive, but
> I don't know if there are freeware editions of these (Nero used to
> call it InCD). These prepare a disc which also includes a small
> program on the media to run in order to enable the functionality --
> not sure if your sysadmins would consider that "installing" a program.
Maybe I'll ask.
> It sounds like you'll just need to adjust your habits. When you're
> using these computers, you'll just have to edit source code, and not
> actually try to compile or do anything with it until you get home.
I was trying to create my own compression system in part to solve the problem, but when I asked if I could use it, I was told "No." Some of my code is still small enough to fit on a floppy, so I can still do *something*.
On Friday, July 13, 2012 9:00:30 AM UTC-4, Harry Potter wrote:
> On Thursday, July 12, 2012 2:05:59 PM UTC-4, Jim Leonard wrote:
> > There used to be various UDF drivers that would allow you to use a DVD-
> > RW or CD-RW as a "giant floppy disk", like a very slow hard drive, but
> > I don't know if there are freeware editions of these (Nero used to
> > call it InCD). These prepare a disc which also includes a small
> > program on the media to run in order to enable the functionality --
> > not sure if your sysadmins would consider that "installing" a program.
On Jul 18, 7:49 am, Harry Potter <rose.josep...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Tuesday, July 17, 2012 5:23:00 PM UTC-4, Jim Leonard wrote:
> > I think your biggest mistake was asking, honestly.
> I guess I could just do it, but what if I get caught?
I don't know, as I have no idea what program you're going to and why.
But those are personal details best left out of a compression
newsgroup.
My feeling is, if they're already letting you use compilers and
editors and other tools, and testing the software that you're writing,
they've already given you permission to run whatever you like as long
as it doesn't permanently install itself on the machine. That should
expand your options. For example, run a program that creates a RAM
disk, decompress all your stuff there, edit, hope that the electricity
doesn't give out, and then compress/archive back to floppies when
you're done for the day. Nothing gets permanently installed on the
machine.
On Friday, July 20, 2012 4:19:00 PM UTC-4, Jim Leonard wrote:
> My feeling is, if they're already letting you use compilers and
> editors and other tools, and testing the software that you're writing,
> they've already given you permission to run whatever you like as long
> as it doesn't permanently install itself on the machine. That should
> expand your options. For example, run a program that creates a RAM
> disk, decompress all your stuff there, edit, hope that the electricity
> doesn't give out, and then compress/archive back to floppies when
> you're done for the day. Nothing gets permanently installed on the
> machine.
You're right. I *should* just do that. Maybe I will. Unfotunately, it would add an unnecessary level of complexity to code-editing (i.e. 5-10 minutes to every session involving such code-editing). Also, it wouldn't help anybody who wants to play the games I bring in from the internet much.
