TITAM - Technical issues that affected me

As I think I posted earlier, my favorite application in the universe - Automate 4.5 - failed to operate properly on my new Win7 x64 machine. The problem was mostly that Automate was unable to send keystrokes to some applications.  Most notably, Altium Designer, which is my electronic CAD tool of choice. I spend hours on Altium daily.  For anyone unfamiliar with professional CAD software, "professional" does not always mean "efficient".  While keyboard support is second to none in Altium, Altium has scores of features locked away behind clumsy UI.  If you use it a lot, it eats time. Every PCB layout professional I know has invested in an X-keys, Logitech gamepad, or other such programmable device to help automate the repetitive tasks - I've just gone one better and used macros too. Over the years I have built up an impressive array of Automate macros for Altium, as well as Excel, Word, and several others.  Automate fills in the gap by killing adware windo...

When specifying my latest workstation, I lost a lot of sleep over the video card. First, I wanted a multi-monitor setup - 3 monitors, to be exact.  I had a dual-monitor setup and wanted to upgrade. Second, I wanted a Solidworks-capable video card.  That means a "workstation" class card.  SW does not screw around, and although it is not the most graphics-intensive program in the world, it's up there. Third, I needed (not wanted) something that would run Altium 2006 and Altium Summer '09 flawlessly. And therein lay the problem.  Altium, in their infinite wisdom, recommends a list of obsolete gaming-class video cards, last updated 2010.  They have never tested a workstation-class card like a Firepro or Quadro - or, at least, never said they did.  Most of the cards on their 'good' list don't even exist any more. Altium even goes so far as to recommend gaming cards over pro cards, as well as saying bad things about OpenGL-based cards. This contrast...