jonnyg

@JohnLM Referencing your earlier post, you mentioned a Win7 laptop. And you go on to say: >> It would not be such a problem if my laptop did not take 40 minutes to boot up--a situation that I have not been able to figure out how to resolve.--it used to boot up in under a minute when brand new. That's what I was commenting about. What am I missing?

This is going off-topic. @JohnLM A couple of thoughts about your laptop's slow boot . . . - A friend's old laptop had also become slow to boot. Running a diagnostic app (can't remember which, maybe one of the Crystal utilities) showed the hdd was running hot. When that was replaced, speed was "normal" again. - A fresh OS install can sometimes improve performance. Also, not sure if it's still available, but Win10 used to be a free upgrade from Win7 -- that might be worth checking into, while Win10 is still accessible.

Maybe the WayBack Machine can help...? https://archive.org/web/

@Gary >> don't want to install all the old components that I no longer use. >> I still need them to support legacy apps, so want to try loading up a VM with those components. How will you support the legacy apps? Will you have a version of Delphi installed in the vm, along with the "old" components? Or...? >> better way to support old apps that use components who's license has expired? Many Delphi 3rd-party components come with a perpetual license. What usually expires is the update and support period. Are your licenses truly "expired", or are you perhaps misunderstanding the licensing terms?

Mine is a free version: Title: Delphi 10.2 Tokyo Starter Named User Promo Edition License file name: ***.slip License Expiration Date: Unlimited License Type: Workstation Serial number: ####-####-etc. Registered: Yes Platform: Windows Commercial use: Yes In the Title, it says "Promo Edition" -- I guess there were different versions available at the time? @Ralf7-- It seems you've had the rug pulled out from under you. That's a bummer.

That's a pretty global statement. But again, what makes you think the Starter license has been withdrawn (for everyone)? So it "doesn't work" -- did you get some kind of message (error or otherwise)? Have you heard from others who've had the same problem? If so, did they get some kind of message? fyi. . . I fired up Starter again just now -- no problem.

I have Tokyo Starter installed in a Win10 vm, along with a number of other Delphi versions. I fired up the vm, and ran Starter -- it worked no problem. I let Windows do some updates, then ran Starter again -- and again no problem. I don't know what to think. Is it possible there's some corruption in your Tokyo install? What makes you think Emba has withdrawn the Starter license?

As far as I know, it's forever. As I understand it, Community is full-featured with a temporary license, whereas Starter was partially crippled (limited database handling, not sure what else), but had a "forever" license.

TMS have an FMX version of their TadvMemo, that does syntax highlighting: https://tmssoftware.com/site/tmsfmxpack.asp?s=fmxmemo#features

I couldn't see a way to edit/delete my earlier post where I misread what was being controlled. 😞 Anyway... A bit off topic, but related: How are you detecting the brightness of your lamps? You must have some kind of photocell, or...? If you had manual control of your lamps, you could make a visual brightness comparison, and adjust the lamps accordingly. Presumably you want to automate this process (in software), in which case, how are you going to do that? If you compare lamp brightness to screen brightness, how are you going to decide what's an appropriate match in software (this refers back to the "subjective" aspect)? Someone else suggested that going this route (of frequent adjustment) might be visually disruptive. I'm inclined to agree. But it's still an intriguing project. John

You're right (about room lighting). My bad.

(**bolding in the quote is mine -- John) The term "reference" comes to mind. You want to compare brightness level of the screen - as you see it - to the overall brightness level of the room. You then want to adjust screen brightness to a value that suits your personal comfort level. Essentially, *you* (your internal values) are the reference for this comparison. *You* are the perceiver of the room and screen brightness levels. So, these values are external to the computer. As noted above, you also provide the reference value for comparison. Meaning the reference value is also external to the computer. Somehow, you have to get these 3 values into the computer (your software) in order for it to make appropriate screen adjustments. If you want this to be an automated process, then ideally you will need to have room and screen brightness sensors sending data to the computer (your software). You will also need to quantify the reference value (remove it from the subjective) for comparing room and screen brightness. In the not-so-ideal world, maybe you can fudge a number for room brightness and do an internal calculation of screen brightness. Perhaps a reference value could be arrived at by trial-and-error. All this would remove the need for external hardware. Make sense...? John

Mike Shkolnik at scalabium.com has a freeware dbGrid. As I recall, it's part of a larger freeware component package.