LumenLux

"Don't ask him why he hits you, just run away." I like that, Granot. But sometimes it is hard to do. We have to remind ourselves sometimes what is really important.

Hi Vince, The Wnsoft people are very dedicated and honest people. For some reason the system they have hired to process purchases seems to give a number of people trouble. Is it the "key" you are waiting for to activate the software you had already downloaded ? The trial version is the actual version and you only need the key from Wnsoft. If that is the case, try going to the Wnsoft home page and there contact "Support." The Wnsoft staff also trys to monitor this forum and IF they see your problem they will likely respond quickly. However, the weekend seems to be more of a problem. There have been a few cases where the purchaser somehow did not recognize when the key arrived.

Wow this forum is getting better all the time. It is now so automated that I posted my question, and before anyone even responded, I had my answer. Unless this conclusion is overly hasty. It appears I was saving the wrong open spreadsheet as the new .pte file. As for the error message about Versions 1.00 -1.60 not being supported - I discover that I can rename any file of any kind xxxxxxx.pte and the program will bring up that message when it trys to load it.

Greetings Al - I have just given your (latest posted version) Adjustor a try. I do not know Excel, but I am in awe just looking at your spreadsheet - a show in itself. Thanks to your clear instructions I thought I had it working for me. Until .. . . I try to use the new (adjusted) .pte file. I get an error message (from PTE program I think) that says "Project files created with Pictures To Exe v1.00 - v1.60 are not supported now" I am using Office 2000 ver of Excel on Win98SE. I have tried the new (adjusted) .pte file also on XP with the same result. I fully anticipate that you (and maybe everyone else) can tell me what I am doing wrong.

good point

klubera Kevin - When you "sync" as you have done, you join a great club of people who for very good reasons have done the same thing. When you join this club, you automatically get free grief. How much grief you get depends on how important the sync is in your particular show and audience. It is not just the different resolutions which cause the grief. Every power factor of the viewing hardware plays a role. I have a PTE show that was nicely in sync when I made it in early September. Unfortunately the show has never made it to it's main intended "audience." Before mailing the show off to our friends in Germany, I ran it on a slower computer. The sync was no longer in sync. Although the show was and is available on Beechbrook site, I am sure many viewers have not enjoyed the intended effect as the sound sync has probably not been right on many of their pc's. It has been very tedious each time I have tried to correct or re-do. I am about to attempt the "adjustment" soon with the new tool that alrobins has made available to use with Excel. Perhaps I may be able to smile again about this show. You will have to decide what is important and worth the effort for your needs. My show was made with earlier version where some of the timeline features were not yet available. The nice thing is, not only do we learn but the program also progresses - usually faster than I learn.

Yes, there has been plenty of talk because it is very important to many people. And for many people it is of no concern. But, I think, normeister's "solution" would be great - IF it could be done. I don't know if it is possible to takeover keyboard control such that the proposal is possible. IF, possible, it would probably be a much stronger deterrent than what is currently being used by forum members.

Gosh, Al - it sounds like if I drag my feet a little longer, the one I really need will be ready. That pinned time is just what I need. Thanks for your pursuit.

Al, I had not yet used your latest, but I am wanting to try it very soon. (I hope it may make feasible for me what was not feasible a couple of months ago. So, I certainly appreciate your letting us know of the gremlins and that you nailed them.

I too want to urge Igor to change this intended or un-intended behavior of redating a .pte file that is simply opened and closed. This has been a quirk for some time, but it can be a serious pain in some cases. Like today for instance. I decided to try to revise a pte show by using the newest beta. I was astounded to realize that this show of maybe 100 or so slides, has 1600+ files scattered around my hard drive. That is my "fault" as I had tried many variations of photos and techniques. My today challenge was to determine which .pte file was the one I now need to re-work. Well, the task became increasingly aggravating as I would open a .pte file, determine it was not the one I needed, and then have it automatically save with today's date. It is really trouble to have several pte files with meaningful dates end up all with today's (almost meaningless date.) I am certain this is an easy change for Igor, if we can just get his attention at the right moment.

Ken, there are several software packages that do this. For details, a search of this forum, should turn up quite a bit. I go out on a limb just a bit perhaps, when I say - My experience so far is that any PTE show which runs as a vcd show - takes on a shade of disappointment. That shade is getting lighter with time and new products. The time will come.

Another sorrow we all share.

Al, I hear you. My networking experience is very light. And it was always a trial. Except for the XP machine that brought about my latest network effort. The network setup, starting with the XP machine was almost painless. For what help it might be: My network consists of 3 wired desktops and a 4th desktop on a temporary basis. A cable modem & router is the "hub" of my network. As the XP machine was a replacement in what had been only a two- pc (no router) network, I started by just running the XP network setup wizard. I think the wizard then instructed me to make a floppy disk from the XP and run the floppy on each of the other machines to setup the network. I think on each of the other machines, I first removed any remnants of any prior network or attempt. Then when I ran the XP-made floppy on each machine - immediate success! I was astounded. When the third pc (Win98SE) was recently added, I simply installed the netword card and it's software and then ran that XP-made floppy and we were part of the network no problem. Now, I know so little about this, I have no idea if this can help you, but let's hope it might.

The good news is - anthrodoc put me onto a solution for my particular problem. Thank you very much. I had done some web-searching myself, but had not found the one specific that you did which solved it. Apparently the "successor" (product clone) company has made some effort to revise the driver to work with XP - and it does - with some limitations - now work. Thank you again. The other question about XP is still of interest if anyone has further input. Does it make sense to add XP and make it dual bootable with Windows98? Are there useful enough features of XP for audio visual work or is everything added by XP essentially covered by other software such as PTE, and other audio video stuff that many of us already use?

Thank you Bart. But alas, the only device listed by the Sensory Science manufacturer is quite a different product. So as best I can tell, it doesn't help. But thank you for your help.

Kim, I just re-read your thought on jpg size: Each slide is a jpeg file of size 700 to 1100 KB and there is no way I can make it smaller (managing two versions of the each image will be a major headache). I understand what you want to avoid. It drives me crazy sometimes with multiple copies of the "same" photo floating all over my hard drives. But I would suggest: Keep your "originals" safe and untouched. Then make a copy of all your jpg 's in another folder. In this working folder, use a batch process to very quickly get even your 300-400 slides down to sizes that can be more easily handled by PTE. And of course, I am interested to know if there is some compelling reason why you must maintain the large photo sizes. Also, are your slides from a digital camera or scanned?

Thank you Al for the response. I did dl the MS "compatibility" kit. Unfortunately it appears to be beyond the reach of my knowledge to use it. I think it is what the manufacturer of my MP3 device should be using to make their original software work under XP. If you happen to be more into that level of software development, maybe you can steer me back into it if you think there is any hope there. I have not yet pursued the partition idea. There may be plenty of (even free) software to partition so it would work with a boot-up choice of OS. The commercial product that first comes to mind is Partition Magic. But I am hoping some other PTE user will know exactly what we both need to solve are current detour.

Your great. Thanks even before I download it.

Kim, your jpg file size of 700 kb - 1.1 mb is much larger than most of us have ever found necessary. Perhaps there is a reason you must have them so large, but you will find in almost all cases, the large size will only encumber your presentation while adding nothing to viewing quality.

Ok, this is not a very complete answer but may get you started. Not knowing exactly what your project is and object use etc. - See if you can use the "copy slide" ability of PTE. Prepare a slide with all the objects that will be more or less repeated. Then instead of starting from scratch each time in the object editory, you may find it easier to just make changes. The other idea would be if the "template" feature would fit your needs. When you create a template, the saved template file includes everything you want that you might want to use as a default. This normally is used where you want defaults for each show, but you may find it useful. Maybe you have already tried all of this and really need a better idea.

Well Guido, unwise as it may seem, not everyone reads all the wonderous information that appears in this forum. And . . that Gates guy has quite a propoganda machine, for example: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertz...n/october01.asp (the more you read the better it gets)

A few versions back, Igor made a major point of giving PTE the XP "look and feel" (I think) Not having ever used XP at that time, I did not focus on it. There is now an XP machine in this house, and I have run into a couple of issues with XP doing or not doing what I expect or want it to do. PTE itself, seems flawless in the use I have given it on XP. On the other side of the spectrum - I have an MP3 player that can not be used with the XP machine, because the software for the Rave MP3 player (Sensory Science) will not even load onto an XP machine. The MP3 manufacturer does not support the player with a new driver for XP. Does anyone know where I can find "generic" driver or software to allow me to download mp3's from the XP machine to the Rave MP3 player? On a more basic level, and more related to PTE, is it feasable to now set up a partition on the XP machine to run Windows 98SE? How much trouble to set up? How much trouble - ongoing - operating a PC on two OS's? If I did this, would PTE and my MP3 software function in the chosen OS, without conflicts?

Jeff, I will reply here instead of to your private email. One of the great things about this forum is that we all learn so much that we would not if the conversations go "off forum." Two thoughts: 1. Many of us have found that some of this type of problem can be avoided by editing your multiple mp3's into one single mp3 file to use in your PTE show. That is NOT always necessary, but it has been known to solve some problems. 2. Is it possible that you have any slides where the display time is shorter than the specified transition time. Or if the transition time is ALMOST as long as the display time, it can cause some weird problems. And if this doesn't help, someone else will hit the mark as to what is wrong. Sounds like you have a nice occupation. How long have you been "digital only" in your professional work?

Beware of the brand loyalty flames, I intend none. I like the Nikon N65 and N80. I use the Nikon N70 which I like and many people do not because of the computer-like drill-down menus. I think all the Canon, Minolta, Olympus, Pentax, etc make great cameras in that price range. I originally chose Nikon because it seemed to feel good and it fit my face better than the equivalent Canon at that time.

Rod, your work is fine I think. But as to the launcher not working on this one Win98 SE machine - I am not able to trace down the problem. I pursued your ideas/questions from above and came up with : There are no .mpeg files on this machine. They are all .mpg - from a wide variety of sources and sizes from 500k to 85 MB. They all open and run just fine with Windows Media Player. I went in and deleted, rebooted, reassociated to Windows Media Player. Double ckick on any one will run it in Media Player. But your launcher will not run it. Also, now after the re-association, when I now try the launcher it seems only sometimes might the PTE show run after the black screen of the non-visable mpg. When I Escape key out of the blank screen, I will sometimes get an error box: "Ctenchdr This program has performed and illegal operation and will be shut down." Also, while on the blank screen, if I Ctrl-Alt-Del to see what programs are running, the top program listed is "Welcome!" I have also gone through and closed every other running program in the box, until only Explorer and Systray are showing. The launcher runs with the same result. Earlier today, at work, I tried the launcher on 4 more machines. On one Win98 SE machine, it worked, on another it did not. (same blank screen during the mpg and then PTE would show fine. On an XP Pro, it ran as intended. On a Windows 2000, it ran as full screen but with unbearable jitter until mpg ended and PTE ran fine. This is frustrating but somewhat intriguing. If you think of anything else I can tell you or anything else to try, let me know.