Bimbo Bread

Local bread company with a Hispanic name (say "beembo"), the fact that the bread is made without HFCS makes it the most like the Wonder Bread of my childhood. They have a website here:

http://www.bimbobread.com/

which has a store locator, but the locator appears pointless, as it does not list my local market (El Toro) that has the bread, but does list the big chain (WalMart) which used to have the bread but doesn't anymore.

Python 2.5 get text string dialog box

Research from trying to figure out how to write something in python 2.5 to create a dialog box for inputting a text string that I can then parse. Shouldn't be too hard you'd think. But, I don't seem to have access to any Tk libraries and am pretty sure that installing them isn't an option in my environment. So far I have a lot of stubby leads and no answers. What I've tried so far:

Things would be so easy if I could just use wxPython:

http://www.wxpython.org/what.php

http://wiki.wxpython.org/MessageBoxes

http://www.yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/PyGTK.html

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13470927/taking-many-inputs-from-user-to-receive-input-as-string-like-file-names-directo

Python 2.5 has a built-in text entry prompt called raw_input() (changed to just input() in python 3). The problem is that running it in the GSEOS python console gets me an error "EOFError: EOF when reading a line". The best that I've been able to figure out is that if my python is configured a certain way, raw_input will open a console window for the new input, or something like that, but I don't know how to get there. Apparently a text file can be piped into raw_input(), which doesn't help me but is interesting. In my case, I won't be running python in what is normally entitled a "python window" anyhow, I really want a pop-up dialog box.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/10044413/python-console-better-than-raw-input-how-to-offer-editable-default-values

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4280889/raw-input-causing-eoferror-after-creating-exe-with-py2exe

This thread had a fascinating example where the win32console functions were directly manipulated, there must be some clues in that, but I couldn't import win32console in my python.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2533120/show-default-value-for-editing-on-python-input-possible

I also learned that ctypes() can be used to access the windows win32dll which has basic prompt boxes accessible, very nice but I can't seem to find a text input dialog, just various OK/Cancel boxes.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2963263/how-can-i-create-a-simple-message-box-in-python

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4485610/python-message-box-without-huge-library-dependancy

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14648448/string-problems-with-python

http://bytes.com/topic/python/answers/164237-simple-dialogs

http://win32com.goermezer.de/content/view/288/243/

http://techietrivia.blogspot.com/2012/07/python-message-box-in-windows.html

Here's M$'s own manual on MessageBoxA:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms645505%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

Root of the above article with more directions to read:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms632588(v=vs.85).aspx

This article has a lot of technical stuff that may contain an important clue:

http://docs.python.org/release/2.5.2/lib/ctypes-function-prototypes.html

Corvair Clubs in Maryland

My search for Corvair clubs in my local area came up with a Baltimore branch of the big national club, one in the "Chesapeake" area, and one in Bowie that doesn't even seem to have a website or email.

http://www.corvair.org/chapters/chapter672/CorsaMap/East/MD.htm

http://corsa212.homestead.com/

http://www.corvair.org/chapters/chapter210/chapter210/Page_1x.html

http://www.corvair.org/index.php?option=com_civicrm&task=civicrm/profile/view&Itemid=333&reset=1&id=519&gid=9

The Baltimore group has a FB page... with 26 members...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/baltimore.corvairs/

I'm pretty sure that Dad's was a '67 corvair. Might have been a '69?

https://www.google.com/search?q=1965+corvair&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=61Y_UoHnGIe72AW2yIDAAQ&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1090&bih=525&dpr=1#q=1967+corvair&tbm=isch

Here's the top-level organization's website, looks like a fairly lively place:

http://www.corvair.org/

Here's a list of a bunch of chapters:

http://www.corvaircorsa.com/links01.html

How to get mp3 files to play in correct order on car stereo player

Having converted a tape from analog to digital and spent some time fiddling with the ID3 tags, I was able to get it to play tracks in the correct order on my MP3 player, but not on my car stereo when reading from my USB drive. What I think I've found is that the problem could be something specific to car stereo mp3 functionality.

Specifically, the conclusions that a lot of people on forums seem to be coming to is that these players are playing tracks in the order that they were copied to the USB drive (I think that this is Create Date, based on prior experience with Create Date and Modified Date being nonintuitive for copied files). Here is my favorite link that goes over this ground:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=79667

There's a few people who think that the problem is in the File Allocation Table. This link explains it more clearly than anybody else:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/sort-files-alphabetically-usb-stick-or-mp3-player.htm

Some of the solutions involve using programs which reorder files and directories. Among these programs are something called "robocopy", something called "fatsort" (apparently this doesn't work on Vista and therefore probably not on W7), something called "Drivesort", something called "plgen" (this is apparently a playlist generator). This page provides links to all of these answers:

http://www.murraymoffatt.com/software-problem-0010.html

Other people have suggested just carefully recopying (robocopy is about this). Apparently, if you select a bunch of files, then drag and drop by the *first* file, they are copied in file name order which is usually how they are named with the track number preceeding.

Here are some links that were nice and referenced the player issue, but which didn't convey the problem well, even if they had a favorite solution:

http://www.techtangerine.com/2009/03/29/how-to-make-your-mp3-cd-play-in-the-order-you-want/

http://mp3.about.com/od/tutorials/ht/MP3-sorting-Tutorial.htm

Edit ID3 tags

More on ID3 tags, just helpful general information about editing the tags. Find my other post about all the different version types and which do and don't work on my phone.

Here's a lovely list of ID3 tag editors, along with several pages of interesting comments below the original article. The article mentions the editor that I tried out before, mp3tag.de:

http://lifehacker.com/5266613/six-best-mp3-tagging-tools

The following page maintains that it is possible to edit tags in Windows Media Player 12, but it probably only edits the tags that are windows compatible or something like that. Plus the lack of a discrete save step is a disturbing sign:

http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8029/~/editing-id3-tags-in-windows-media-player-12

That having been said, I recalled that the last time I was stuck on a problem with ID3 tags, I downloaded Mp3tag and it worked well. It looks sort of like the older, easier to use iTunes tag editor with the added bonus of being able to select and save in old tag formats. Being able to see all the tags at once, poke those that need changing or do a batch change, is nice. Once I changed all the tag names to include track number, and fixed the track number tags, the files began to play in the correct order for the album I had imported from analog.

http://www.mp3tag.de/en/

windows 7 send audio to bluetooth headset

Windows fails again.

My fancy Dell with built-in Bluetooth can sync up to my fancy stereo Bluetooth headphones just fine, but I just couldn't get Windows to send the audio from applications to the headphones. This is supposed to be helpful how? The F1 help file for Bluetooth headset was actually pretty good for guiding me through the syncing process and it worked as advertised. But the sound kept coming out of the laptop's speakers.

It turns out that there are a vast number of pleas for help with this problem on forums across the internet. Nobody could get this to work, as far as I could tell. Responses for requests for help on Windows forums range from "We're Microsoft and of course it works" to "I just downloaded stuff until I found something that works. Try what I did." Apparently there are layers of Bluetooth protocols and you have to have just the right one, and Windows doesn't have all the layers built in.

For me, the problem seemed really basic, in that I seem to have found that my bluetooth headset should have appeared in the "audio devices" control panel, or rather the "Playback devices" view, but it never appeared there. Sometimes people reported that they'd gotten that to work. Many folks were using Bluetooth dongles, whereas mine is supposedly built in.

Anyhow, some links:

Here's a 3 page Windows Forum, where a bunch of people had a bunch of problems. Solutions seem to be "update the Broadcom drivers" or "try these Toshiba drivers" or "buy a new dongle where coincidentally the drivers are better.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/transfer-audio-to-bluetooth-headset-in-windows7/b1e6d3e0-61b4-473c-be7f-831d699be5e7?page=1

Here's somebody with my exact problem. Somebody else responded with a wall of links, including the suggestion of enabling hidden devices, etc, and Somebody else had the answer of using the Toshiba drivers.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/problem-getting-sound-to-bluetooth-stereo-headset/c10ceab0-0dee-4ab1-afc1-2eb213cc60eb

Here's another forum that went into great detail about where to find the Toshiba drivers. The OP had apparently tried updating the Broadcom drivers and experienced a lack of success.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/bluetooth-audio-windows-7/e9628b6d-9238-40e6-b658-5397a5ae4a7c

This super-short forum thread NAMES the missing protocol (apparently it's called a2dp):

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/269321-bluetooth-headset-wont-show-up-playback-devices.html

Windows 7 audio to .wav

Here is some of what I've learned so far about using Windows soundrecorder to digitize my tapes. I could have used Winamp or RealPlayer or Audacity. However, I have a real love for doing things the hard way, and using the primitive tools that I'm used to, so a little research revealed a few things:

1. Windows has had a sound recorder app for a long time called soundrecorder. For Windows 7 it changed a bit thought. It gained better capability to record large files (originally it was restricted to 1 minute clips), but editing features that were originally part of it as late as Windows XP were removed for Windows 7.

2. It normally saves data in some horrid format, but it is possible to make it record to .wav using the /FILE option in a command window with a filename having the .wav suffix.

3. It also has a /DURATION option, but that removes the nice level display that usually pops up.

Here's a couple of links:

Discussing the options but lacking some of the significance of each one:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Recording-audio-in-Sound-Recorder-frequently-asked-questions

A forum that referred me to the above FAQ, and also has a bunch of moaning about how things changed since XP and alternative suggestions:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-pictures/record-and-clip-wav-files-in-windows-7-sound/c960a02a-8961-421c-8bb8-15a7d38a56ed

Here's a nice thread that describes how to do the .wav trick. Also, there's something from somebody on using copy to convert .wma to .wav? Interesting!

http://www.sevenforums.com/sound-audio/46587-sound-recorder.html

The Wikipedia article on SoundRecorder explains pretty well why the original version was limited to 60 seconds:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Recorder_(Windows)