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August 19

Laptop with 4x3 display

I am looking for a laptop with a 4x3 display, i.e., anything that is not widescreen. Laptops with 4x3 display have become rare nowadays. Kindly list some models. Thank you! --Masatran (talk) 11:43, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Lenovo ThinkPad X61 -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:48, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

I looked at the X61 specs, and also its variants X61s and X61 Tablet. They all have a 4x3 display, but they are too expensive and the display is too small, for my requirements.

I found this model: Dell Latitude D530 which suits my requirements better. But do list any other models available.

--Masatran (talk) 13:55, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Is there any particular reason why a widescreen laptop will not work?Coolotter88 (talk) 18:47, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

I guess it's because 16:9 screens are smaller? --grawity 13:30, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Or they're larger. Depends how you look at it, eh? My widescreen MacBook is much larger than my iBook was (something that annoyed me at first, but I am pretty happy with it now). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 15:10, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Are you sure? 16:9 screen with the same diagonal size has less screen area than 4:3 screen. Screen area of 4:3 screen as a function of diagonal size (Di) is 0.48*Di²; screen area of 16:9 screen is approximately 0.43*Di². For 14 inch 4:3 screen it would be 96.08 square inches, and for 16:9 screen with the same diagonal size it would be 84.28 square inches. -Yyy (talk) 09:57, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't believe my Dell Inspiron 1420 is widescreen...don't hold me to it...... (talk) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Joshd19 (talk • contribs) 23:10, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

I just bought a dell D530, for the same reason as yours as this is the only 4:3 model available. But the screen is not TFT. It is not the same quality screen as a inspiron 15.4" wide. screen of inspiron 15.4" wide and macbook are superior - 59.92.112.191 (talk) 18:40, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

I can understand wanting 4:3 on a computer screen. Since web pages and documents are typically intended to be vertically scrolled, having a screen with a wider aspect ratio is actually detrimental to a lot of things we use computers for. The Xerox Alto had the right idea. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 02:18, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

BSOD in XP

just recently, my computer began to crash upon shutdown. the message given on the BSOD is:

STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}

The Windows Logon Process System Process terminated unexpectedly

with a status of 0x00000000 (0x00000000 0x00000000)

The system has been shut down.

I have never seen this before and am completely confused. Someone help please! Oh, also i have not recently installed any software of any kind. Hope that helps. 31306D696E6E69636B6D (talk) 12:56, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

This is a fairly technical answer, but hopefully it helps. Microsoft has an article on "How to troubleshoot a "STOP 0xC000021A" error." Laenir (talk) 13:09, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Sorry but it did not help at all. Dr. Watson has already been stopped when this crash occurs, right after the "Windows is shutting down..." box goes away. Also, the hard drive parks rather roughly when the computer BSODs. Maybe a drive problem? Oh, and don't suggest windows update. My ethernet controller won't install and the updated driver installer won't recognize the adapter's existence. Actually, i need some help there too. Maybe these problems are related...HELP! 31306D696E6E69636B6D (talk) 19:18, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

If you're having multiple problems with it, it's probably time to wipe and start over. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 02:22, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

DTV configuration (in U.S.)

I haven't seen this issue addressed in documents to date. The original occupant of this house wired television antenna cable as follows:

• Big outdoor antenna mounted in the garage rafters, with cable run to basement, which connects to:
• Powered amplifier, one line in, one line out, which connects to:
• Powered signal splitter, one line in, four lines out, from which:
• Lines run to (eight) wall-mounted jacks throughout the house; I can connect any four of them at a time, which is sufficient for my needs.

The questions:

1. How many converter boxes do I need? Is one enough, if I mount it before the signal splitter or before the amplifier? Will this provide DTV throughout the house? If not (why?), I still have to get one box per TV.
2. Actually, one TV is over-the-air capable, and receives digital signals just fine with this configuration. Will inserting a converter box on the line screw that up?
3. To work around that case, and avoid converting a signal that doesn't need converting, suppose I put another (probably non-powered) signal splitter before the amplifier, and connect my newest television to one of its outputs; the other output would go through the amplifier and 4-way splitter as before. Will that work?

Many thanks to those have gone before, and know something of this. -- Danh, 70.59.119.73 (talk) 13:28, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

If you want to watch digital terrestrial broadcast, you'll need one converter box for each TV that doesn't have an ATSC tuner. The converter box tunes to one RF carrier at a time, demodulates it and decodes only one program (out of possibly several) on the carrier, and produces an analog output. If you a converter box before the distribution amplifier, all TVs in the house receiving the feed can only want the one channel the box is tuned to — probably not what you want.

The answer to your second question is "most likely yes" (i.e. converter box will interfere with your ATSC-tuner-equipped TV), although, strictly speaking, the answer depends on the converter box.

Depending on how strong the received signals are, and how much cabling you have in your house, passively splitting the output from an antenna may not be a good idea. You can give it a try and see if it works. If it doesn't, you may want to use a distribution amplifier (preferably one with adjustable gain) for the purpose. --71.162.242.81 (talk) 14:13, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Followup

There are days when this is the greatest website on Earth -- and this is definitely one of them. The first person to respond completely understands the question (you don't always get that, you know!), and gives a clear and complete answer -- and in less than an hour, as well.

It does, however, raise one more question:

The converter box tunes to one RF carrier at a time ... and produces an analog output.

Does that mean I have to change channels on the converter box? Or is this "selection" process driven by the television? (How can the downstream device control the upstream one?) Thanks again! --Danh, 70.59.119.73 (talk) 21:58, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

A digital converter box will come with its own remote control. You leave your TV on channel 3 or 4 or the video input channel and change the the digital channel with the converter box remote. --Bavi H (talk) 00:30, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

If you use a converter box to watch off-air digital TV, you don't use your analog TV's tuner to change channel — tuning is done at the converter box. It is possible for a "downstream" device to control an "upstream" device — using an IR interface, for example. However, to do that the "downstream" device has to be designed with that capability. Analog TV sets are generally not designed to control another device. You can avoid the problem of having "yet another remote" by programming one remote control both devices. (You may be able to program your converter box remote to control the TV also.) --71.162.242.81 (talk) 01:23, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Hiding coordinate values of <input type="image">

Resolved

Hello. I am trying to put a search form on a site, and use an <input type="image"> as a "Go" button. I want to use the "get" method for the form, so that the search query string appears in the URL, like this: http://www.example.org/search.php?query=wikipedia. However, I noticed that if I click on the "Go" button, the coordinates of the point where the "Go" image was clicked are also submitted in the URL along with the search query, so it becomes like http://www.example.org/search.php?query=wikipedia&myimage.x=10&myimage.y=20, where myimage is the "name" attribute of the <input> tag. Is there a way I can either hide those coordinates in the URL (preferably with PHP, so that the search results page hides them), or make it so that they are not submitted with the form?  ARTYOM  16:31, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

You can POST your form results instead of GET'ing them by setting your form method to POST. This will not send the parameters encoded in the URL, but may require some re-organization of your processing script (maybe). See the W3 forms standard page. Nimur (talk) 17:22, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

But I think this way the query string will also be hidden, and I would really like it to be visible in the URL of the search results page.  ARTYOM  17:24, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

This technique seems to work fine on buttons, so try changing your input type to submit and applying the following style to the input element:

#ID_OF_ELEMENT {
   padding: HEIGHT_OF_IMAGEpx 0 0 0;
   overflow: hidden;
   background-image: url("hello_world.gif");
   background-repeat: no-repeat;
   height: 0px !important;
   height /**/:HEIGHT_OF_IMAGEpx;
}

Be sure to test on all browsers, 'cause I haven't! — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 18:35, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, I was trying to use this technique before I knew that I could use <input type="image">'s instead of <input type="button">'s, and I tried to put the image as a background of a button. I shall say it didn't look bad, but I couldn't quite get it to be the height I wanted in both browsers - it was always a pixel or so taller in Firefox than in IE :-O  ARTYOM  22:34, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

If it were me, I'd probably do it in Javascript—e.g. wrap the image in a standard anchor tag and then submit the form (e.g. <a href="javascript:myform.submit();"><img src=""></a>). --140.247.248.84 (talk) 18:46, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

(ec) Alternatively, as a JavaScript hack, try adding onclick="this.form.submit(); return false;" to your <input type="image"> tag. Of course, users with JS disabled will still get ugly URLs, but at least nothing else should break for them. Or, as a third possibility, try <button type="submit"><img ...></button>, though that has a somewhat different rendering which you may or may not want. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 18:50, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Wow, the Javascript method worked awesome! That was exactly what I wanted! And I guess it's okay that it will still display the ugly URL's for those who have JS turned off - I guess most people nowadays have it on :P. Thanks a lot!  ARTYOM  22:34, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

htlm on websites

Sorry this is going to sound very laymanish: On some websites (often on FAQ pages) you have a set of questions posted at the top of the page. When you click the link, it does not take you to another page it merely takes you to the section of the page where the question is answered. Behind the question you have a link saying "top" which takes you back to the top of the page again. Can anyone tell me the hmtl for such a thing? Thanks, --217.227.103.24 (talk) 19:33, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

What the author has done in that instance is linking to anchors within the page. Hopefully this page will better explain it. Laenir (talk) 19:57, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

If you want to see exactly how some website has done something, you can always look at the HTML (note spelling: it stands for HyperText Markup Language) source for the page. It's in the 'view' menu under something like 'page source' in most browsers. Algebraist 20:02, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Contents lists on Wikipedia do exactly this - if you look at the source of this page, you'll see the link code:

<a href="#htlm_on_websites"><span class="tocnumber">7.5</span> <span class="toctext">htlm on websites</span></a>

Then further down the page (just above your question, in fact), you'll see this:

<p><a name="htlm_on_websites" id="htlm_on_websites"></a></p>

— Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 20:11, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

To elaborate a little further, the link contains a pound sign (#), and after that is a name to a specific point on a page. For instance, compare these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Computing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Computing#htlm_on_websites

The first one will take you to the top of the page, the second will take you to this heading. As Matt said, this is accomplished with the <a name="something"> tag. 195.58.125.43 (talk) 10:48, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

services

What is a good website to compare all internet/tv/phone/wireless services in my area?

Tell us where your "area" is first. F (talk) 10:18, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Program which makes files available online

Suppose I want to transfer files from my Mac to a separate machine. Normally I use a pendrive, but I remember reading a review of an application which made certain files available for download over the internet, thus eliminating any need for a removable drive. I can't find the review now, would anyone know what it is?78.144.139.36 (talk) 22:52, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

There are loads of services for this. Googling for online storage will throw up plenty. Box.net and SkyDrive are two that spring to mind. You may also be interested in file synchronization. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 23:00, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

I think I might have been misunderstood. I don't mean store a copy of my files on a distant server, for a subscription, I mean that the application effectively makes my computer a private fileserver itself.

I'll explain it a different way: I have a picture of Matt Eason on my laptop, a Macbook Air, and I want to print it from my desktop PC. Both computers are internet connected, but otherwise are not on the same network. I recall an application which securely shares a certain folder over the entire internet - directly from my laptop, not by copying it to a distant online fileserver. To print it, I use my desktop PC to login to the shared folder, hosted on my laptop, pull off a picture of Matt Eason and print him. Does my rant make any sense?78.148.51.11 (talk) 23:38, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

You are probably looking to run some kind of file server on your computer, which shares a directory on your computer via FTP, SFTP, SMB, AFP, WebDAV, or some other protocol. I think somewhere in Mac OS X you can enable Windows File Sharing (SMB) and set up shares with their locations and passwords. Although someone more familiar with this can add more. --Spoon! (talk) 00:29, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

OS X has file sharing over remote TCP/IP included as standard. I've never used it but the docs are here. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 01:12, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Set up an FTP server on one computer, mount it on the other one (Cmd-K in finder), and you're done. It would work for SMB shares and whatever else OS X cooperates with as well. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 03:56, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Now I see what I need: it to be accessible over the internet, from a PC, and from a web browser. That is, my university networked computers. The pages here [1] and here [2] might help more.78.148.232.253 (talk) 10:52, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

When behind a router, the router must be configured to direct traffic on the filesharing port to the appropriate computer. --Bowlhover (talk) 01:29, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

I think you are looking for something like GoToMyPC or Windows Home Server --mboverload@ 01:15, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Aren't these PC only apps, if their names are descriptive? Afraid I'm using OSX 10.5. 78.144.170.213 (talk) 10:24, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Again, set up an FTP server? You can access FTP through web browsers. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:12, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

importing stats into another client

i've used the original bittorrent client but recently switched to utorrent. is there a way where i can move my stats from the original to utorrent? or do i pretty much have to start all over again to get a good upload/download ratio? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.153.217.15 (talk) 23:04, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

The stats that matter are not stored on your computer, in your bittorrent client. They're stored in the tracker you're connecting to. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 03:50, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

August 20

.docx in OOo

Does anyone know how to open .docx in OOo without using Novell?Elatanatari (talk) 01:14, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

You presently need to covert it from .docx to .doc or .rtf. There are free converters available if you Google it. Which one is best for you will depend on what your OS is. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 01:26, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Would Zamzar work?Elatanatari (talk) 01:44, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't think that is the case any more. Any current, vanilla installation of OOo should open docx. Kushal (talk) 02:30, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

I do not believe the current version of OOo (2.4.1) can open docx files. Version 3.0 should have this feature, though. It is in beta now and is expected to be released next month. --Russoc4 (talk) 02:51, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Well, on my mac, NeoOffice has had this feature for quite a while. I am sorry for the confusion. I do not have a testable Windows machine at the moment. Could someone confirm if one has to wait for OOo 3 for docx support? Kushal (talk) 04:44, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Correct. NeoOffice has support for docx. OpenOffice will not support it until version 3.0, according to their website. --Russoc4 (talk) 15:05, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

It just works in OpenOffice 2.4.1. I use Gentoo Linux. MTM (talk) 12:11, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

It doesn't work in my Windows installation. Have you installed any plugins or packages that contain plugins that support this? --Russoc4 (talk) 15:05, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

OO 3.0 will have support for docx -Abhishek (talk) 12:46, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Here is a support forum page discussing docx support in OO.o; it looks like Novell has a 2.x version for Windows which will open docx. --LarryMac | Talk 14:26, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

He asked how to do it without Novell. I recommend converting them with Zamzar. --Russoc4 (talk) 15:00, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Good point; I lost track of that detail during my search. note to self, re-read question before replying! --LarryMac | Talk 15:11, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

odf-converter-integrator worked very well for me... SF007 (talk) 03:46, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Hooking up Microphone to Speakers

I have a wireless microphone system. The reciever needs to be connected to the speakers but I have no idea how to do it. You can see a diagram of the back panel on the device in page 4 of this PDF. I see three available plugs, I believe two of them are TRS connectors (input & output) and one XLR connector. Do I have to connect all three to the speakers?

This is very confusing.

- Pyro19 (talk) 03:36, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

What inputs are on the back of the speakers? Speakon? You'll need an amplifier somewhere between the receiver and the speaker, but it might be built into the speaker housing. If not, you need to connect the receiver to an amp via XLR (or TRS, but XLR is preferable) and the amp to the speakers via whatever input is on the speakers. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 12:20, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

It looks like the 1/4" jack next to the XLR is what you're looking for. The XLR is another output, but balanced, requiring three wires (description).Therefore, it won't connect to your typical two-wire speaker. The 1/4" jack further to the left (away from the XLR connector) is a wired input- designed to be connected to the output of a second unit (I guess as a means of daisy-chaining them to avoid using a mixer). JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 02:36, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Nortel Guestpass strange problem

We have Nortel Guestpass (it's like Cisco) installed and have a strange problem. Officially it is compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vĩsta, but not with Linux. Unhappily, only Linux users are able to login. When we connect to the WLAN under Linux we are forwarded to a page where we can input our password and username. Windows users are not forwarded to this page. I suppose it is a security setup of Windows that blocks forwarding to a different page, but I don't know what it is exactly. Mr.K. (talk) 10:09, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Parallel port logger

Do you know a program which can monitor the parallel port (record all the data while other applications are using the port) running under Windows 2000? Portmon doesn't work - it only says "could not attach to parallel0". Thank you. JorgM (talk) 13:02, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Contact

Is there a person or phone number I can call to get help with wiki posts??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.246.226.69 (talk) 15:22, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Which Wiki is it you mean? If you would like help with wiki posts here on Wikipedia, there is no telephone number to call, but we can help you. The best place to ask is probably Wikipedia:New contributors' help page.89.242.77.121 (talk) 15:48, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

You can get help for Wikipedia articles at Editor Assistance. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 02:37, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Domain name expiry

When a domain name registration expires, does it remain operational until someone else registers it or does it cease to function immediately?

Registrars normally keep the domain for a while, so the client has the chance to redeem the registration. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr.K. (talk • contribs) 19:04, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

I think the question is, does the DNS server immediately update to point to nothing, or does it continue to function? I've no idea, though I imagine it updates (and ceases to function) automatically? --98.217.8.46 (talk) 23:55, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

I let one expire a year or two ago. It still hasn't been removed from the ORG zone. It's still alive. Well not really alive because the nameservers I registered it with are gone, but that's an unrelated issue. The registrar is still providing their part of the DNS service, long after I quit paying for it. Don't count on this being a repeatable phenomenon though. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 10:00, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, that is the rule. For registrars, keeping a domain costs almost nothing. And they can monetize it through residual traffic on that domain or through old owner trying to get it back. Mr.K. (talk) 10:41, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

I didn't explain that very well. There's nothing to get back. They didn't change the nameservers; when I said they're gone I mean the ISP hosting my nameservers ceased to exist. Gone. But the NS records at the TLD servers are still pointing there. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 19:47, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Question

In the past I’ve heard about computer programs with comprehensive databases containing brief descriptions of the different professions in the job market nowadays, focused on helping out people whom are looking into changing their profession get a better idea what the different professions they might be interested in, and what are the schools available which one could go to in order to get the essential training needed to become a professional in the field of his/hers desire. Does anyone know of any such programs/websites which are capable of achieving this? Are there any articles in Wikipedia which focus on this genre of software? Acidburn24m (talk) 16:49, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the Occupational Outlook Handbook, which sounds like it might be what you're looking for. —Bkell (talk) 22:23, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

I understand the question to mean, how would you build a website such as the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Like much of the web, it's a custom database-driven site, involving HTML/CSS/javascript for the front end, some kind of database (MySQL, PostgreSQL, are freely available) structure for the occupational info, and server-side processing (in, say, PHP) to put it all together (i.e. dynamically generate the pages from the database). You could begin looking at wiki pages on LAMP, WAMP, web application frameworks (LAMP/WAMP are specific examples of this, but there are many more), to understand how that all goes together in what I would imagine a site properly built like that Handbook. I doubt there's a site out there for you to built such sites off of (a la Geocities). A content management site using Drupal/Joomla/Plone might be easier off the bat but more work to maintain/customize/extend. iames (talk) 15:35, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Installing Kubuntu KDE4

Would someone please explain to me what I need to do in order to make an install of Kubuntu as fast and successful as it could be. I have an 80 GB HDD (40 GB goes to Windows though), Intel processor 1.6 GHz, bus 800 MHz, 1 GB RAM. I don't know whether I should have a swap partition or a swap file or how big it should be (or how to make it or format it for that matter). I don't know whether I should put /home in another partition or how to do this or how big it should be. Will someone please help me out? Thanks in anticipation, Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 18:12, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

If you do not want to deal with partitions, Wubi will make things easier. It sets up sort of a virtual partition on your NTFS partition, and installs (k)ubuntu to it. The major disadvantage is that your Linux installation will then be a victim of fragmentation. If you wish to use it, download and run the Wubi installer to the same directory as your kubuntu disc image. If you do not wish to use this method, maybe someone else can help out. I'm not an expert in swap partitions, but doesn't ubuntu set one up automatically? --Russoc4 (talk) 02:04, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Well,I would prefer to put it on a separate partition (unless using Wubi is considerably faster).

I would stick with the defaults. All Linux distributions I've used automatically create a swap partition to hold your swap file. They also often create a /home partition. One of the reasons I believe they do this is to reduce fragmentation. Most fragmentation on your disk results from the movement of documents (pictures, text files, etc.). As for the size of your swap partition, the rule of thumb is 1.5 times the amount of RAM you have. I imagine that you could get away with a one-to-one ratio. Anything less than that and you could experience a performance loss. If you eliminate it entirely, your system will become unstable. Is it even possible to store your swap data on a root partition?--129.82.41.233 (talk) 02:43, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

With that much RAM, I'd go for a 2 GB swap partition. Also, /home is for storing your documents, music, videos etc so make it big, I'd say 30 GB. Kubuntu's "guided" partitioner does not make a seperate /home(at least kubuntu 7.10 did not have this feature), so you will have to choose the manual partitioning option. Kubuntu will install well in the rest of the 8 GB space; with some free space to install additional software. Oh and don't forget to backup your data before trying to install. -Abhishek (talk) 08:04, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

August 21

Find in Firefox

The find function works really crappy in Firefox in general, but what's really a big deal for me is that it doesn't work at all to search text in Wikipedia articles when you are in in edit mode. Anyone know a work around/hack/add-on?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 03:03, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

It seems to work for me. What version are you using? I'm using 2.0 - Akamad (talk) 03:36, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Aha, I'm running a past version; nothing more needs to be said, I'll upgrade.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:00, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Upgraded and find function now working in edit mode. Sort of a slap myself on the forehead moment. Thanks.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:08, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

That was one of the best features in Firefox version 2! You can change the language too, if the defaulot spelling is annoying. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 09:00, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Yeah it was highlighting everything, turning it off was one of the first things I did. Actually a useful feature. It would be nice if I could toggle it on and off without going to options. Can it be added to the toolbar (there's no option to do so from the toolbar menu in view)?--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:13, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

There is a "highlight all" button on the find bar that you get from pressing ctrl-F (not slash) --Random832 (contribs) 17:20, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Embedding SVG in HTML

I want to embed some SVG in HTML. The standards-compliant way is to use the 'object' tag. This requires the use of the attributes 'width' and 'height', however. Why is it necessary to specify these attributes? For some SVG files it's easy to find, since they are specified in the file itself. However, it seems that the renderer could work these out itself a lot of the time. This isn't required for images, so why for arbitrary objects? Also, if I'm not mistaken it might be possible for the rendered SVG to change dimensions depending on the renderer - doesn't this make the 'object' tag pretty useless, if this requirement is kept? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.210.249.81 (talk) 12:50, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Where are you reading that the "width" and "height" attributes are required? According to the HTML 4.01 Specification, the "width" and "height" attributes are "#IMPLIED", which basically means "optional". —Bkell (talk) 13:15, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

I Have A Problem Signing My Comments

My problem is that when I hold the Shift button and click on the four tildes, I get a blank screen that tells me that it is already done. What is up with that? Ericthebrainiac (talk) 17:39, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

If you're clicking (on the four tildes below the edit box), there's no reason to be holding shift. You would need to hold shift while typing the tildes, just as you need to hold shift to type an ampersand (&) or asterisk (*). -- Coneslayer (talk) 17:43, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Holding shift and clicking on a link will open it in a new window. Just click the link. Don't hold down shift or any other button. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 19:33, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Formula for finding RAM type

Hi, I was trying to find out the kind of RAM needed for a computer with a FSB of 800 MHz. I did the formula, finding that this should be capable of 1600 MT/s and a bandwidth of 12.8 GB of data per second, giving it a name of PC12800 or DDR1600. I noticed there is no form of memory like this. Did I do something wrong, or does it have to do with different forms of SDRAM? (Like DDR, DDR2, DDR3) TheSeaIsBlue (talk) 20:13, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Firefox - offline mode

Recently, whenever I have opened Firefox, I have got the following message:

Offline Mode

---

Firefox is currently in offline mode and can't browse the Web.

---

The browser is operating in its offline mode and cannot connect to the requested item.

• Is the computer connected to an active network?
• Place the browser in online mode and try again.

I'm not sure why this is, as Safari, which I am using now, works fine.

Does anyone know what the problem is and how to resolve it?

Thanks, Anonymous101 (talk) 20:30, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Is 'work offline' ticked in the File menu? Algebraist 20:31, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it is. I'm not sure how it got ticked but many thanks for your help. �Anonymous101 (talk) 20:38, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Computer Issue... (sigh)

I was using my friends computer today (Windows Vista, unfortunately), when it suddenly crashed.

I had opened a run dialog box, then, after deciding not to use it, closed it. There was an error message to the effect of "explorer.exe has terminated unexpectedly", (I don't recall the specifics, but it seemed pretty standard sounding).

When I rebooted, Windows said that it couldn't start the OS, and it recommended that I use the Windows Startup repair utility. After running it, I got a Blue Screen (ugh). Running it a second time, it told me that it couldn't fix the problem.

The computer starts in safe mode, but not normally. Any ideas?

(I haven't installed any hardware lately, but my computer crashed during a large download of Maple Story (my friends download, not mine:P))

Ideas?

PerfectProposal 23:48, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Potential bad hardware. Did you run the Startup utlitiy off the CD or the hard drive? --mboverload@ 01:05, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Run msconfig, see what's starting at startup, disable it. Uninstall video drivers, and really any driver you think you can boot without (Windows should revert to generic ones for each of them); or just install new revisions for those drivers. The main difference with safemode is that it loads only the barebones drivers and services, and none of the normal startup items. Also, the text in the bluescreen might be useful for diagnosing it. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 01:15, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

The utility ran off the hard drive automatically at boot. Do you think that the issue could potentially "heal itself"? My friend says that it happens rather often, and by the next day, it's fine. Is this possible?PerfectProposal 13:42, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

If it will fix itself the next day, I wonder if the CPU, a memory chip, or a drive cable is loose somewhere. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 02:41, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

August 22

Palm Centro

I've been thinking about buying a Palm Centro to replace my current phone. I was wondering if I install a Palm OS application, will it access the internet through the phone if I go with an unlimited internet plan? I'd like to install a telnet/ssh app to remotely log into my ubuntu machine. I've tried googling but no luck. Thanks!

96.236.7.246 (talk) 00:28, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Windows Xp Relevancy

I have SQL2005 &2008 now running on SP3 but having SP2 also having NET frameworks 2.0,3.0,and 3.5.Which i will use and which to remove but still will perform at its peak? Ty. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Leocancy (talk • contribs) 01:19, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Google

Why does Google have duplicates of hits with things like brackets and punctation marks missing? 124.181.254.143 (talk) 01:36, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Can you give an example? Algebraist 01:37, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Google ignores punctuation, see [3]. Not sure if that's relevant without an example. iames (talk) 22:14, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

IRC

What do I have to do before I can use IRC? 124.181.254.143 (talk) 01:36, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Get an IRC client. Algebraist 01:38, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

OpenOffice.org

Where can I find an easy-to-understand answer to this question?

"As a complete techno-dunce, will I be letting myself in for problems I don't understand/anticipate by taking advantage of the Java offer to free-download OpenOffice.org?????"

I've already noticed that when I've twice previously hit the button to commence downloading, it was doing so verrrrry slooowly which gave me plenty of time to re-visit my misgivings and change my mind and cancel.

I also don't know how to find out how much of my monthly usage it will take to download, (currently 400mb, dropping to 256 from 25/8 - see, I really don't use my computer much!).

I'm a firm believer in the adage "there's no such thing as a free lunch", so already feel negatively about it; on the other hand, I don't have WP on my computer and feel it would come in handy - one day - probably. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wikurious (talk • contribs) 03:58, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

When it comes to Open source (please read it) you DO get a free lunch. If you do not have Microsoft Office and do not plan to pay for it I recommend Open Office. --mboverload@ 04:46, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Open Office is quite a well-known and well-respected software; it will not affect other programs and I too would recommend it. As for bandwidth, the Windows installation file is 127 MB, a significant portion of 400 MB.

As for having a free lunch, the open source Apache HTTP Server is used by almost half of all servers (see http://news.netcraft.com/). There's even an entire operating system offered for free. --Bowlhover (talk) 10:11, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Not to mention Wikipedia, which is of course one gigantic free lunch. 83.252.191.103 (talk) 11:17, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

If you're worried about the size of the download, there are a number of distributors listed here who will send you a CD-ROM copy for a small fee to cover costs and postage. the wub "?!" 12:20, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

The closest thing to having to pay for your lunch with open source is that often the interfaces are poorly developed, the installations can require arcane understandings, and the bugs can be rampant. I have often spent about as much money on open source software with my time (calculated by my hourly wage) as I would have in just buying something that worked right the first time. That being said, a small select group of said projects have good reputations for getting around all that bad stuff, and OpenOffice.org is one of them. Not every part of it works that well—last time I checked, its spreadsheet graphing and chart capabilities produced abominations, and Base seems to operate half-heartedly at best, but if you only plan to use it as a Microsoft Word replacement, it's no worse than Microsoft Word. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 13:43, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Downloading OpenOffice will require about 200MB of your monthly bandwidth if that is an issue to you. Otherwise the software really is provided completely for free with no strings attached.

What you've got a hold of here is Open Source software. Open Source software is generally community-built software, but the "community" in question often includes corporations, that for one reason or another would rather contribute to the community instead of attempt to sell to it.

In this case, the software is primarily developed by Sun Microsystems (creators of Java). Their motivation for this altruism is almost certainly to provide a viable alternative to MS Office. Microsoft Office does not work on Unix computers and this is a serious problem for companies who sell unix computers like Sun Microsystems does. This is their way of making the world understand that you don't need Microsoft to do word processing.

I use OpenOffice on my machine at home, and often bring stuff back and forth to work where I use Microsoft Office. I'm perfectly happy with both products and I'm glad I didn't have to pay big bucks for a word processor.

However, I do have to mention the big downside to using open source software : No telephone tech support. (There is some online support here.) APL (talk) 17:50, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

OpenSource software really is given away free and without any catches. It's a true free lunch. It's actually even better than a free lunch - it's free lunch with the recipe for the lunch given away free too! More even than that - you can give copies of your free lunch (and it's recipe) away to your friends and nobody will mind in the slightest! If you were a computer programmer you could look inside the software and change any bits you didn't like. There are lots of other OpenSource programs you might find useful. Firefox instead of Internet Explorer, Thunderbird instead of Outlook, GIMP instead of Photoshop, etc. You could even replace the entire Windows operating system with Linux if you wanted to. I'm writing this on a laptop that originally had WindowsXP on it - now it runs Linux and I'm writing this in Firefox. It's been 10 years since I last bought a piece of PC software - and every program I run is legal...no piracy in this house! SteveBaker (talk) 04:23, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

If you're worried about bandwidth, you could ask someone to download it and put in on a cd for you. Open source software (ie free software) is quite common: the computers which run Wikipedia use mostly or only open source software; and one in five people use Firefox, the open source alternative to Internet Explorer. --h2g2bob (talk) 13:42, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Upload speed limiter

Does limiting your upload speed affect the download speed while downloading torrents? I use Azureus Vuze and my bandwith sucks so the download speed is usually crap but the upload speed is always high. I limit the upload speed to 20 kbps and I'm not sure if I'mm limiting my download speed as well. Any advice? --59.96.205.173 (talk) 08:13, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

I think your download speed also depends on the supply and demand of the segment of the data you are looking for. I don't understand what you mean when you say "the download speed is usually crap but the upload speed is always high" because that seems unlikely unless you have too few seeders with a decent connection. Is it just on a few torrents or is it with every torrent? If it is just a few torrents, the best thing to do would be to wait for the seeders to come back. Kushal (talk) 10:40, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, you are actually correct! Maxing out your upload speed will (sometimes severely) limit your download speed. Bittorrent (like pretty much everything else on the internet) uses the TCP protocol to transfer information. The TCP protocol is designed to be able to deal with things like dropped packets or packets that come in the wrong order. One of the ways it does this is that it sends so-called acknowledgement packets back to someone who sends you stuff. These packets basically just say "Hey, just so you know, I recieved packets X through Y". If a sender doesn't get these packets, it assumes that you haven't recieved the data yet and waits until it does get an acknowledgement packet (I think it even resends packets after a period of time, but I'm not sure).

When you completely max out your upload speed, it becomes much, much more likely that the acknowledgement packets are lost because of all the other traffic clogging up the tubes. As such, the people that send you information think that you are recieving data much slower than you actually are, and they will wait with sending you more. If you limit your upload speed (there's no optimal amount, but limit it to about 80% of your max speed works fine) you can sometimes see dramatic improvements in speed. I mean, dramatic, I tested this once, and one of my torrents jumped from ~200 kb/s to around 1 mb/s in seconds.

This is no magic solution for aneamic bittorrent speeds though. If you're on a torrent with few seeds and a small swarm, you're not gonna get good speeds. But if you are on one with lots and lots of seeders and still can't get near your capacity, this may very well be the reason. 83.252.191.103 (talk) 11:11, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Another thing: don't limit your upload speed too much, because bittorrent works on reciprocity: send people stuff and they will send stuff to you. With 20 kb/s upload, you probably wont get much action (unless you're on a private tracker, which is a whole 'nother thing). As I said, 80% of your maximum upload speed is a good rule of thumb. 83.252.191.103 (talk) 11:16, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

For many cable-modems 80% of their upload works out to 24 kb/s. Not a big improvement. APL (talk) 17:22, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

On my current (cable) connection, 80% is about 100 kb/s, but point taken :) 83.252.191.103 (talk) 18:19, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

GB

1 GB = 1024 MB. Is it right?--202.168.229.243 (talk) 11:44, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

It depends who is talking - see Gigabyte for (un)clarification. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:46, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Generally though, yes, 1 gigabyte = 1024 megabytes (and 1 megabyte = 1024 kilobytes and 1 kilobyte = 1024 bytes). Really the only people that don't follow this convention is advertisers. But if you check how big a file is on your computer, or how much space you have left or anything like that, it's always 1024 megabytes. However, when people talk about how fast a connection is, they generally use megabits or gigabits, where 1 gigabit = 1000 megabits. This makes everything very confusing, this mixing of bits and bytes and 1000 and 1024. See also binary prefix. 83.252.191.103 (talk) 12:07, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

The only people who do follow that convention are software engineers. Well, and RAM manufacturers. But with RAM it makes some sense, since RAM is actually sold in power-of-2 sizes. For reporting the size of disks and files it makes as much sense as displaying numbers in hexadecimal. People think in decimal, not binary. I've been programming computers for 25 years and I can read this without a crib sheet and even I think in decimal. The hard drive manufacturers are the ones with the right idea. -- BenRG (talk) 14:32, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Here's the way I see it: every measure of file-size on a computer is invariably in binary sizes. Click a file and see the filesize, it'll be in binary. Check how much space you have left on your HDD, it'll be in binary. If you download a file from the internet, it'll be in binary. Every single time! And it makes perfect sense, since that's the way computers think. Example: a 32-bit processor can address precisely memory that can be described using 32 bits. In other words, 2³² bytes, or exactly 4 gigabytes. Since every serious use on a computer itself uses binary prefixes, it's extremely dishonest for a computer company to sell a hard-drive advertising 160 gigabytes, when it's really 149 gigabytes. Suppose you had to make a backup of a bunch of files, and you had 155 GB of them and you figured that a 160 GB drive would be more than enough? Or a 155 GB music collection that you want to put on an iPod? It's deceptive (although not strictly false) advertising, and it's really very unethical 83.252.191.103 (talk) 16:47, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately, the trick here is that they can claim that the power-of-two units are "only for nerds". That's a debate technique that wins just about any argument ever. APL (talk) 17:20, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

In part because it's true. I mean, I do think the nerds set themselves up for teh fail by using SI prefix in non-standard ways. Look up the term "giga"—in all other contexts it means 10⁹, not 2³⁰.--140.247.240.157 (talk) 20:58, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

We're all aware of the meanings of the "giga" prefix. We don't need to be told to look them up. Most measurements (such as length or weight) do not suggest a way of counting. Disk capacity is an intrinsically power of two measurement. It is silly to measure it in any other way. Measuring binary data in powers-of-ten units is like defining a "dozen eggs" to be twelve and a half eggs. APL (talk) 21:57, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

All I'm saying is that it's irregular use of terminology. The whole point of SI prefixes is they are standards and don't change. You start changing them, because you know better than the metric system, and it's your own dang fault when all sorts of confusing things arise. As for what units one expresses things in, I don't see the problem. You convert or you round. It's not that hard. Y'all are supposed to be smart with numbers, anyway, I heard. ;-) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 13:53, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

In what way is disk capacity intrinsically a power-of-two measurement? Hard drives are sold in sizes like 120 gigabytes and 750 gigabytes. I don't agree that computers think in binary units—it strikes me as meaningless anthropomorphization—but even if I granted that, it wouldn't justify the use of binary units in user interfaces. Computers are better than people at converting between units, and decimal units are better for people, so the computer should do the conversion. That's what computers are for. People do just fine without binary units in cases where there's no tradition of such units. For example, the range of a Java int is −2³¹ to 2³¹−1. Sometimes people say the maximum value is about two billion, or about 2.147 billion. There are no binary prefixes available, and it's fine. We could just as well say that 32-bit processors have a 2³² byte address space, which is about 4.295 billion bytes, i.e. about 4.295 gigabytes. It's easy. -- BenRG (talk) 23:04, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

All you're really saying there is that people don't care about exact numbers, they just need a handy word to refer to them. That works either way. That's no argument for changing the value an established unit of measure. (Besides, the examples you just gave are often stated in 2^[power] notation, just like you just did.)APL (talk) 03:31, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

I always just say 1 GiB = 1024 MiB. That way there's no ambiguity. --71.141.151.155 (talk) 03:11, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

• Why GiB? Why not 1 GB = 1024 MB? The abbreviation of Gigabyte is GB and Gigabit is Gb. So, if I say 1 GB = 1024 MB (Which we frequently use) and 1 Gb = 1000 Mb, will they be wrong? GiB says, it is closely related to Gigabyte.--202.168.229.243 (talk) 17:44, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

You'd be wrong in the sense that no one would know what the heck you were talking about. Don't use a decimal Giga for one unit and a binary Giga for another unit, it's crazy enough without being inconsistent. You're correct that Gb is also confused. Best to say "decimal Gb" or "Gib" so people know what you're using. APL (talk) 18:12, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks APL. Actually, I had an argument with someone. S/He said, 1 GiB = 1024 MiB and 1Gb = 1000Mb. S/He thinks this is correct. On the other hand, S/He assumes 1 GB = 1024 MB is incorrect. So, Is S/He was right in this sense? I found it confusing. I just wanted to get specific answer regarding on this issue.--202.168.229.243 (talk) 18:48, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

In theory, yes. In practice, no. Although the person you're talking about is correct, Gibibyte, mibibyte and other "bi" units are rarely used and the 1000x meaning is usually conveyed only by hard disk manufacturing companies. It is mostly assumed that 1 GB = 1024 MB (also 1 Gbit = 1024 Mbit), although it technically isn't correct. Admiral Norton ^(talk) 18:56, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Actually, that last part isn't necessarily true. When people talk about connection speed ("dude, I have a 10 Mbit connection!") Mbit virtually always means 1 Mbit = 1000 kbit (note: all this is technically incorrect, it should be 1 Mbit/s = 1000 kbit/s, but people don't bother). This is advertising cropping up its ugly head again, since a megabit in the decimal sense is more than a megabit in the binary sense. As I said, way back a few posts ago, all this confusion between bits and bytes and 1024 and 1000 makes everything very confusing. 90.235.4.253 (talk) 01:31, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Essentially, in some contexts the metric-friendly 1000 units are used, in others the more traditional 1024 units are used. You sort of just have to know. (Networks speeds are usually the 1000 units, but ram or rom is measured in the 1024.) Both are "correct" in the sense that there are standards documents defining them. This is obviously less than ideal. APL (talk) 02:49, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Help with Unicode symbols

What does this symbol look like on your screen? ⅎ To me it looks like this: . Many other symbols look similar, and this only happens on this computer. I am running Windows XP and using Firefox 3. How can I fix it? Mike R (talk) 13:24, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Looks like an upside down F to me, apparently it is one of the Claudian letters. Unfortunately I can't help you on fixing it, these Unicode things have always confused me. I'd also be interested in tips, I have the same problem on Firefox 3 under Ubuntu. the wub "?!" 14:00, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

You're seeing The Unicode BMP Fallback font or something similar. It's intended to help identify code points your system doesn't support. This code point is U+214E; the little glyphs in the box are 2,1,4,E. To get the correct character you need to install a font that supports the language in question. If the language in question is supposed to be English then you have a different problem. Try fiddling with the character encoding (in the View menu). It might have gotten set to UTF-16 somehow. -- BenRG (talk) 14:45, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Interesting, thanks for the link to the fallback font thingy. I have no idea how or why that is what I'm seeing. Yes the language is English and I have all the standard fonts that come with Windows.

Here is what the table at Claudian letters looks like to me:

Weird, huh? Here is what the same table looks like in IE7. Note, I have encoding set to Unicode UTF-8 in both browsers.

Thanks for any help you can offer, Mike R (talk) 16:07, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

I see the same thing in Firefox and almost the same thing in IE, except that it does show the turned capital F. The fallback code point display is a new feature of Firefox 3 and IE7 has nothing similar. I don't think it's actually using a font because it works even for code points outside the BMP (like 􏿿). The reason I suspected UTF-16 is that 21 and 4E are common ASCII characters (! and N respectively). The sequence "N!" aligned at an even offset in the document would come out as U+214E if the encoding was set to UTF-16LE. Aside from that I have no idea what might be wrong. Are there particular web pages causing this problem? -- BenRG (talk) 17:41, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

embedding Wikipidia?

Is there a wikipidia widget that enables one to embed a wikipidia page on another website and recieve editing updates in real time? Or even to edit the wikipidia page from another website? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.215.186.204 (talk) 14:21, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

No, Veripedia takes content from Wikipedia, verifies, and posts it (not in real time). --Mayfare (talk) 14:44, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Actually, you can... you can use a PHP script to watch the RSS feed from a particular page and use that to keep the page up to date. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 17:56, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

You could presumably do this with a Frame that reloaded periodicaly. (Except when "action=edit" appeared in the url.) APL (talk) 17:08, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

You can use the API - it's quicker and better than using the RSS, which includes the diffs of the last few versions. I'd suggest getting the revision id of the latest version, and then only download if that changed since the last time you downloaded it. There's database dumps too, which you can use to get the current revisions of all pages. --h2g2bob (talk) 12:46, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Program Similar to Messenger Plus! Live

Hello. Is there a program similar to Messenger Plus! Live where I can bold my name and everyone on my contacts list regardless whether they have the software installed can see it? My contacts who do not have Messenger Plus! Live see my name as scripting. Cheers. --Mayfare (talk) 14:41, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

No, because Windows Live Messenger doesn't support that thing. (And I hope it never will.) --grawity 17:33, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Ubuntu installation problem

I have had the bug described [| here]. There is still no general solution. People try to reformat/repartition its HDD or burn a new CD. I would like to obtain more - even if they are only speculative - possible suggestions/solutions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr.K. (talk • contribs) 16:03, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

You can try using the Ubuntu alternate CD instead of the LiveCD. Akamad (talk) 09:26, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Page with self made certificate

We have a page in an intranet with a self-made certificate (not recognized by any authority). People accessing the page with Firefox don´t have any problem accepting exceptionally this certificate.

However, IExplorer users are not able to do it and therefore cannot access this page. What should they do to view this page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr.K. (talk • contribs) 16:10, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Give this a shot — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 16:43, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Java

Hello, I'm a bit confused about what stuff means in Java. How about I tell you what I kinda think and then you tell me how I'm doing? Here goes:

int a = 1;

means create me a variable called a which is of type int (for integer) and assign it the value 1.

SomeThing someThing = new SomeThing();

means create me an object of class SomeThing and also create me a variable called someThing which is of type pointer-to-a-SomeThing and points to the object just created.

SomeThing someOtherThing = someThing;

means create me a variable called someOtherThing which is of type pointer-to-a-SomeThing and points to the very same object that someThing points to. Compiler will check that this is okay.

someThing.GetSomeMember;

means dereference the pointer someThing and then get me the value of the underlying object's GetSomeMember.

Am I right? If I am, it's confusing, no? If I'm not, I'm now even more confused.... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.86.164.115 (talk) 17:17, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

You're right. Yes, it is somewhat confusing. Java variables can hold references to objects or values of special types like int, but not values of object type or references to special types. This is different from C and C++, where a variable can hold either a value or a reference of any type, and the pointer syntax (* and ->) is used to distinguish the reference case. The C++ equivalent of the above would be

     int a = 1;
     SomeThing* someThing = new SomeThing();
     SomeThing* someOtherThing = someThing;
     someThing->GetSomeMember;

Java doesn't need the pointer syntax because there's only one possibility for each type. It doesn't need new either for the same reason, but for some reason they left it in. -- BenRG (talk) 18:21, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

You have to use a new because in theory Java allows you to have a method with the same name as a class, although that is bad naming style. --71.141.151.155 (talk) 03:14, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Programmatically look up driver details

Using the windows api (enumservicestatus, queryserviceconfig, queryserviceconfig2), I have obtained a moderate amount of information about the drivers that are running. For example, I know that "nvlddmkm" is currently running, is started manually, uses "nvlddmkm.sys", and is part of the "Video" load order group. I can go a step further and look up the file properties of nvlddmkm.sys programmatically. On the other hand, Opening it in Vista's Device Manager (or in an older OS's device manager), I can also find out what driver files it uses and can look up a huge number of properties like, "Device class," and "Driver Node Strong Name." How can I look at this information using a C++ or VB program? I want my program to work properly on XP, too. THus, Function Discovery is not the answer. Thanks.--72.85.235.162 (talk) 18:08, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

What version of Explorer do I have? What is my speed?

I just got my own computer but I haven't figured out where things are.

I often see references to different versions of Explorer on the Help desk and I was wondering where I click when I am on the computer to see what I have.

Also, I asked the man who installed my Internet whether I had the slowest version because I don't want to pay any more than I have to. But it sure seems fast. I asked when I paid my phone bill yesterday (no bill yet for the Internet) and was told their records show I have 128K. I was told that is not Broadband, and yet the sheet I go in the mail said I am paying for Broadband if I pay this price, and the paperwork I was given my the man who installed the Internet says it's Broadband. I looked around at stuff I could click on and look on my computer and the only speed I found was 100MB. That must refer to something different. Where do I find the actual speed?Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:08, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Explorer is different from Internet Explorer. IE however, is not THE internet, it is a browser which lets you see the information on the internet. The latest version of Internet Explorer is Version 7 which you can download from the Microsoft Website. You have many choices for an internet browser, you can choose to download Mozilla Firefox from the Mozilla website or Opera among other brands of software. Most if not all browsers are free to download. Your ISP provides the service of connecting you to the internet. You can easily check your download and upload speed at a special website which will test those speeds and give you a report. One such site would be Speedtest.net. Coolotter88 (talk) 19:31, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure I have Internet Explorer, but where do I click on the computer to find out what I do have? I didn't find anything on the box the computer came in.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:46, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

In Internet Explorer, click "Help" (or hit Alt-H), then click "About Internet Explorer". -- Coneslayer (talk) 19:50, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:02, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

The 100MB bit means that your computer is wired to be able to take connections up to 100MB/s, I believe. That's just a maximum or something along those lines—it's not necessarily what you're getting. As far as I know the only way to find out exactly what speeds the ISP is giving to you is by doing a "speed test" (google "speed test internet" and you'll find a bunch of them). Even those can be somewhat unreliable (they measure how fast data is sent between you and the speed test site, which can depend on where in the world you and the site are and not be the same speed as other sites). --140.247.240.157 (talk) 20:53, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

You should call your Internet Service Provider again and express your concerns. Who is your ISP anyway? Some services (such as Roadrunner) only provide high-speed connections. If you get Internet from your cable provider, you've probably got high speed. Plus, as far as I know, the only ways to get an Internet connection is dial-up, DSL, and cable. If you want slow and relatively cheap, you have to go with dial-up.--El aprendelenguas (talk) 21:40, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

The 100Mb number is merely the capacity of the pipe between your computer and your router/modem. The pipe between your router/modem and the interwebz is a lot smaller. And as you can see from the pipe analogy, the huge pipe capacity between your computer and your router/modem has almost no effect on the total amount of water (data) you can push through the pipe. You can check your actual internet speed using sites like [4]. --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:51, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Reading/editing PC game files

If I owned a game (DinoPark Tycoon) for the PC, and the "saved games" files were in some crazy file type (xxx.000, xxx.001...), how could I read/edit these game files? When I open it in Notepad, its just a bunch of squares with the occasional foreign letter. Is there a software thing that can help me? 75.66.48.112 (talk) 23:09, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

First, you need a hex editor. Second, you need a basic understanding of what bytes are and how numbers are stored in them. Take a look at Hexadecimal and Endianness#Examples of storing the value 0x0A0B0C0D in memory. Then, if you want to change something that has an obvious representation as a number (like an amount of money), you can try searching for the byte sequence corresponding to that number and changing it. This simple trick works in many cases, but not always. Saved games are sometimes checksummed to prevent changes; unless you know where the checksum is and how to recompute it, the modified save file won't work. Save files may even be encrypted. In those cases you generally have to disassemble the game executable to reverse engineer the file format, which requires more sophisticated tools and a lot of arcane computer knowledge. Your best bet is to search the web for a ready-made save game editor from someone who knows how to do this stuff. -- BenRG (talk) 01:36, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

It might be encrypted or compressed - but it may just be some kind of ad'hoc binary format. If that's true then you may be able to figure some stuff out. If you save a game - copy the save file someplace - then continue playing the game from that exact point just long enough to make one teeny-tiny change - like maybe you score just one point or earn a dollar - then, immediately save the game again. Using a hex editor you can make a text dump of each of the files. Now you can compare the two files. If the two files are TOTALLY different - then the odds are good that it's encrypted or compressed and you really have very little chance of figuring it out. If a number in the middle of the file and another at the end of the file are different - but the rest is the same - then it's probably checksummed. It's possible to figure out how the checksum works - but it would be tough to do if you don't have programming skills. If you get lucky, just one number in the file changed. Now you know something - you know that scoring a point changes that number - so that's probably where the score is saved. Try changing that number in your hex editor and reload the save file - if you're lucky, it'll load and the only thing that'll be different is your score. If that works you can try other things in the game - one at a time - and gradually figure out how a bunch of things are stored. It's likely to be pretty painstaking detective work though...you've got to really want to do it for some major reason. SteveBaker (talk) 04:05, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

August 23

Scanned Pages

How can I turn a scanned jpg page that opens up in Adobe into a word document or a way to copy the scanned page and paste it somewhere else? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.143.158.118 (talk) 02:13, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

You need OCR software. Astronaut (talk) 03:26, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

iPhone

Should I get the 8- or the 16-gigabyte iPhone? Does one have any distinguishing advantage over the other aside from the obvious one—more memory? Thanks, anon. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.155.162.102 (talk) 03:28, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

A (very) quick scan of this page - (http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html) shows that the 'white' colour version is only available on the 16gb version. I suspect that the 16gb will weigh slightly more too - (as per point 1 in the small-print). ny156uk (talk) 09:17, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

I would go with the white one, simply because pretty much no one has it, and friends will be like, "Whoa, were'd u get that?" 75.66.48.112 (talk) 18:20, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

That is, after all, the main selling point of IP(hones/ods): What my friends will think. :) ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 18:37, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps an archive-fu master will swing by, as something along the lines of this has been answered for an iPod, but as a vague rule of thumb (my thumb, if we'd like to dispute this), 1 megabyte per minute of music, and about 4 per video (that is, at the resolution the iPod Nano allows), so 8000 minutes of music, or 2000 minutes of video. Given a 4 minute average song length (which is a little over the standard these days, but round numbers are cool), that's about 2000 songs, or 500 music videos - for the 8gig one. 98.169.163.20 (talk) 04:20, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

My general philosophy (which you can subscribe to or not, as you wish) is to always buy the best available configuration that I can afford. You will never look back and say "You know, I could have lived with the smaller configuration", you'll just keep adding songs (and the like) until the iPod/iPhone/computer hard drive is full. You may miss the $100 that the bigger iPhone cost you, but if you've already got the $199 for the base model, you can probably find the $100 for the top model. This will also make you feel slightly better whenthe product is next "revved" and is now available in 16 GByte version and a 32 GByte version; you'll at least still have a product with as much storage as the new low-end configuration so you won't feel as much "upgrade envy". And finally, yes, the white phone is much cooler than the black phone ;-).

Atlant (talk) 14:43, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

.ram-files from the BBC websites

Is there any possibility to save the audio and video files that the BBC provides in .ram format locally on a harddisk so that I can use them offline, and how can they be converted to mp3/wma or mpg/wmv. I want to use them in the classroom, which should be OK with copyright (fair use)? -- 84.160.18.195 (talk) 08:57, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

We can tell you about saving them and playing them offline, but not about copyright because that would be legal advice (which we have a policy against giving). If you would like to know if you can play them in the classroom, you need to hire a lawyer.

As for downloading them, the simplest thing to do is just to use the iPlayer. It's a program for PC's (no Mac/Linux version available) which you can download programs to. Just remember that it does have digital rights management, so the programs expire after a certain time - I think it's usually about a month. Not all British Broadcasting Corporation stuff is available on the iPlayer, however.89.241.141.9 (talk) 13:11, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Oh yes, and either you or your proxy server has to be in the United Kingdom.84.13.90.183 (talk) 13:25, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Just a note about copyright: at times, fair use claims for education have been very wide, and at times they have been very narrow. It's never totally clear. But in my experience most academics don't fret over copyright for the purposes of lectures, and I've never heard of any who ran into problems with that. Teaching generally gets one very wide leverage with fair use, esp. if it's one-time events with only registered students, etc. (e.g. not just posted to an academic webpage). But again, this is not meant to be legal advice, just a recollection of how I've seen this handled before. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 13:43, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

I've found the easiest way to deal with RAM audio is to set up something where you play the audio and record it at the same time. Then you can have the audio in any format which is conducive to you. I think you can do with the Audacity, but it might depend on your soundcard—you make the input your output, if that makes sense. You can do things like this with video, I am told, using video-capture programs, but I've never used that, and am not sure what software one would use. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 13:43, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for all your advice so far. (Sorry, I forgot that the English-speaking WP won't give any legal advice, but that wasn't my main question anyway.) I'll see what I can do. -- 84.160.18.195 (talk) —Preceding undated comment was added at 13:57, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

About Coumpter

Who is the inventor of first computerAshish.20.jain (talk) 09:24, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Take a look at History of computing hardware. -- BenRG (talk) 11:42, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

There really wasn't a single inventor. The part that does calculations and the part that decides what calculations should be done were pretty much invented by different people at different times. Some of these parts were invented, forgotten and then re-invented.

So automatic mechanical calculators were around since ancient times with machines like the Antikythera mechanism and people like Hero of Alexandria had invented programmability to some degree - and all of that was over 2,000 years ago. But nobody bach then seems to have thought of connecting up a mechanical calculator to a programmable sequencer - so no computers were ever made (as far as we know). However, much later, in Europe in the 1600's, people started working on mechanical calculators, and Jacquard invented a programmable weaving loom that used punched cards as "memory". But still, nobody put the two together. In the 1800's George Bool invented boolean logic - a very important mathematical step towards computers - but he didn't think of automating them. The first thing we could really point to and say "That's a computer" was invented by Charles Babbage. He was really master of that stuff - a true genius - but an impossible person to work with. He conceived and started to build a gigantic (but pretty decent) mechanical calculator called "The Difference Engine" - but never really finished it. There is a fully working replica of it at the Science Museum in London - so we know it would have work had he only got the 'grunt work' done. But for the first time in history - he realised that taking a mechanism like the Jacquard loom and connecting it up to something like his difference engine would result in a programmable calculator...a true computer. He called this "The Analytical Engine" - and never completed work on it either. There were even a few programs written for it which modern programmers can look at and understand. (Ada Lovelace is sometimes credited as being the first programmer - but the modern view is that she simply wrote down what Babbage had done).

Yeah! So Charles Babbage is often credited with inventing the first computer - and that's 100% true. The trouble is that:

1. He never built his machine (although from what modern researchers have found, it would have probably have worked if he had).
2. His invention was almost totally forgotten. The subsequent "inventors" of computers were completely unaware of Babbage's work.

So while he invented "a computer" - he did not invent "the computer"...the machine that lead to the development of all modern computers.

Subsequently there was important contributions from Herman Hollerith who invented punched card tabulation machines. So now we have to look to the second world war - when the British were frantically trying to automate the cracking of German codes and other people were intent on calculating things like artillery trajectories. Alan Turing designed and built machines at Blechley Park in the UK that did logic operations and were programmable by re-wiring the hardware - and his theories really do underpin much of modern computing. John von Neumann was also doing research in these directions in the USA that lead to useful machines. But even those are not a "clean" claim to fame. If we look at this table:

To be a proper computer, the machine needs to be "Turing complete" (as in "Alan Turing") - it's claimed that the Zuse Z3 was turing complete - but that's really not true in practical terms. For some very simple calculations that require Turing completeness, you'd need more film stock than it's mechanism could reasonably contain - and it wasn't even realised that the machine could theoretically be used in a turing complete way until 1998 - so we should dismiss that one. The first to be Turing complete was therefore the ENIAC. It was programmable - but you had to use patch-cords to "set up" the program - it didn't follow the "Von Neumann architecture" that almost all modern computers use in which the program was stored in the memory of the computer. So you could certainly argue that it owed more to the Jaquard loom's "hardwired" programs than to "software" in the modern sense. For that, we need to talk about the British EDSAC machine.

In my opinion, the EDSAC was the first entirely modern computer - it was the first to contain the ideas of Turing AND Von Neumann - it could run programs out of it's main memory. It was the first machine to run SOFTWARE - and software is what makes modern computers useful and interesting.

So - who gets the credit? The unknown inventor of the Antikythera mechanism? Hero of Alexandria? Babbage? Turing? Von Neumann? Well, I'd have to hand the prize jointly to Turing and Von Neumann - they were the two people who caused the modern computer to come into existence. The didn't know about the work of any of the earlier people - and none of the ideas of those earlier people are used in modern computers. But Babbage...urgh!

It's truly not a simple matter.

SteveBaker (talk) 14:49, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

linux for old machine

I am thinking of switching to Linux from WinXP on my seven year old Intel machine with 256 SDRAM. Which distro can run on this machine? 59.91.253.30 (talk) 16:11, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

7 years... that would be... 2001? Well, Damn Small Linux can be run on pretty much anything. FreeSpire has a BIOS cutoff date of 2000, so u can barely run that. Others, I don't know. 75.66.48.112 (talk) 16:33, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

That's not a lot of RAM. xubuntu maybe? --18:24, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

yeah, Xubuntu should be a good option. SF007 (talk) 19:00, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

I've successfully run Xubuntu on a crappier computer than that, so I also support that suggestion. rspeer / ɹəədsɹ 04:22, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

If it'll run WinXP - it'll run Linux. I used to run Linux on a '386 PC with 16Mb RAM and a 256Mb hard drive - so if you pick a sufficiently old distro, it literally will run on any PC that's less than maybe ~15 years old. SteveBaker (talk) 17:00, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

data onlile sources

what do you mean by data online sources in regard to marketing and management? this comes under the topic called data collection and no information is found in any of the study material. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tintucrazy (talk • contribs) 17:02, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

If this is for homework, honestly, just consult your course materials and the answer will be there. Because "data online sources" by itself doesn't have any obvious discrete meaning separate from the very literal definition of it (e.g. sources of data which are online). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 17:04, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Linux probs... or just operator error

I'm running DamnSmallLinux from a "Live" CD. All the FAQs ive gone too hav been no help at all, so: How do I install things? I downloaded the firefox 3 installer for linux, then opened it, and it took me to something like "Beaver", but it didn't do anything. 2. Why do I have 4 different desktops? I mean, that's really cool, but really unusual, too. If I had some application or something to control them, that'd be amazing. 75.66.48.112 (talk) 17:51, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

If you've never run Linux before, and are used to a Windows or Mac machine, well, prepare to invest some time in it. Something as simple as installation on Windows becomes a big freakin' deal on Linxus if you haven't done it a million times. It sounds to me like somehow you've opened up a shell script in some sort of text editor, but I don't really know. The few times I have tried to install any sort of Unix/Linux utilities (on my MacBook, in Terminal, etc.) I have usually spent about 3 hours tearing my hair out for these sorts of reasons. The people who make this software generally assume that everybody downloading the Linux version of it understands Linux backwards and forwards and often give totally incomplete instructions. (I had one in which to try and get a little command line utility, I had to download the source files, then had to figure out where to get the compiler, but then it was missing another necessary set of files, so I had to try and download those and get those installed, and so on and so on, until I finally just gave up, frustrated and completely turned off from anything of this nature!) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 19:39, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

So, I should take a college course on the subject? Is there an easier way? Like, a software that actually runs? 75.66.48.112 (talk) 21:26, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Heck if I know, man. In my opinion the money saved isn't worth it in terms of time lost! As has been said, Linux is only free if your time is worthless... --98.217.8.46 (talk) 02:56, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

You shouldn't install stuff when running a Live CD because the software is on the CD-ROM (which you can't edit) and not on the hard drive (which you can). Linux distributions generally come with a piece of software called a package manager which you can use to easily install lots of free software.

DSL isn't designed to let you install software, so only has a text-based package manager called apt. You can install the graphical installer synaptic with the command apt-get install synaptic, and run that to install more software. But as I said, you can't edit the CD-ROM, so all your newly installed programs should disappear when you restart your computer!

98.217.8.46 is having a hard time because he or she is installing everything from source code. It's far easier when using a package manager, but computers running Mac OSX don't have one.

DSL is designed to be a small, leightweight Linux - I'd suggest changing to Ubuntu which is designed to be easy. Key bits of software - including GNOME (or KDE), OpenOffice.org and synaptic - come ready-installed. --h2g2bob (talk) 21:59, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm aware that Linux is particular difficult to deal with on OS X for this reason, but I'd also point out that everybody I know who decides to switch to Linux spends endless hours recompiling things and trying to figure out why their package manager has only downloaded half of the dependencies and etc. It's no walk in the park unless you've already invested a lot of time into learning its particular arcane ways, and frankly the manual resources and online assistance assumes a level of understanding of Unix-specific concepts that I just don't think the average user has. Someone could probably make a killing writing books on switching to Linux targeted at people who are comfortable with Windows and OS X, explaining how to do the sorts of things they are used to doing in the new system and explaining why it is done differently. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 02:59, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

With the exception of the infamously bad wireless support (which is due to the manufacturers not supplying Linux drivers, not Linux itself), I have never had any problems setting up Ubuntu or installing software. Also, I have yet to encounter a situation where I have had to compile any code but my own. Finally, if you go to your local bookstore's computer section, you will certainly find a number of books on migrating from Windows or another OS to Linux - in fact, I own one of these myself. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 04:01, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Switching to Linux means I don't have to reinstall Windows every 3 months (and consequently all the apps, utils, games, etc), doesn't need to bother too much about firewalls and stuff, and the system automatically maintains my system and all my applications up to date. Try a proper desktop distribution, like Ubuntu (I'm not saying DSL isn't good, just that this is not what it's designed for), and dig around for a few days. I have grown to love the package system, where I can easily install (almost) any applications automatically. --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:46, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

So, switch to Ubuntu. Why Ubuntu? Aren't there like a billion different versions of regular linux? 75.66.48.112 (talk) 20:12, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes. But Ubuntu is the most popular one, has the best community and tech support, and is the easiest for beginners. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 22:08, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

retrieving phone numbers on the computer

Whenever I look up a phone number on my computer, It will appear and then quickly fade away. This includes emails and general articles or even White Pages. I am using a Dell laptop with Windows Vista. Does anyone else have this problem? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.184.124.178 (talk) 18:49, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't understand your question. Where are you looking up the phone numbers? Can you give more details? « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 03:52, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

That sounds like a really bizarre prob. I'd guess you have some "nanny" software on your comp trying to protect you from calling strangers who may wish to do you harm. It likely reads everything on the computer screen, detects anything that looks like a phone number, then blanks it out. If so, that's a stupid, brute force approach to safety. StuRat (talk) 21:24, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Do you happen to have Skype installed? I'm asking because it transforms numbers that look like phone numbers into clickable links, so you can just click on them and make a telephone call over the internet. I've found that sometimes it takes a few seconds for the numbers to transform after a web page has been loaded, so they change as I look at them. I'm pretty sure it can also do the same to HTML-based e-mail messages if you use Outlook or another compatible program for e-mail. If you do have Skype installed, I'd bet that's the cause, except in your case it's not working right. There should be a Skype icon somewhere in your browser's tool bar that lets you turn this feature off, or you could simply uninstall Skype and see if that does the trick. (If you don't have Skype installed, that's a really weird problem.) -- Captain Disdain (talk) 04:38, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Internet Connection

 Done Ok, so my Dell Inspiron 600m came in today. It's supposed to have wireless, bluetooth, and stuff. Well, I can't figure out how to connect to the internet using it and in network connections it only shows bluetooth even though our router and modem is working. When I try to use the wizard to connect, it says I need to get the neccesary hardware and try again then. So we used the wizard for adding another computer to the network on a computer that was already connected. I don't know what to do since it's supposed to already have capabilities. Does anyone know how I can physically check for the precence of a wireless card? Thanks in advance, Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 20:28, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

It's possible that there's a physical switch, or (more annoyingly) a particular key combination, to activate wireless. Algebraist 20:33, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

According to Google, it's fn+F2. Algebraist 20:34, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Hrmm, that's just turning on my bluetooth (with which I'm not having a problem), but it's still not letting me connect to the internet. Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 20:40, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Ok, well it's not the card or anything that's wrong. I just hooked the ethernet cable directly from the modem into the laptop and I still couldn't connect to the internet. Any ideas? Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 21:37, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

What system are you running? Can you log into your router or modem? Algebraist 00:13, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm running Windows XP Pro SP1. No, ipconfig doesn't give me anything. Apparently it's not recognizing my ethernet hardware. By the way, I reinstalled Windows and now my GRUB bootloader menu won't show up and let me log in to Kubuntu. Also, now my bluetooth connection isn't showing up (since I reinstalled Windows). Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 03:50, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Please upgrade to XP SP3. It has much, much better wireless support. --mboverload@ 08:10, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

I had XP SP3, but when I formatted and reinstalled it gave me SP1 on the OEM's disks; and I don't know how to upgrade without internet access.Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 16:06, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

For the record, I've worked on Dells before that had a switch (almost hidden) with which you could turn wireless on/off. I suggest looking for that switch; you may find it. Magog the Ogre (talk) 18:06, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Well, I found out that I needed some drivers that weren't on the CD. Got em from dell.com and now it works! Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 20:06, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

August 24

VNC into chroot?

I was just wondering if it is possible to connect to a chrooted environment with VNC... forgive me if this is nonsense, I don't know much about this stuff... it's just that I'm having lots and lots of problems trying to use graphical applications inside a chrooted environment... (yeah, I know how to use the terminal, but it is not enough...) SF007 (talk) 03:40, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

X11 by TCP can be used in this situation. Setting DISPLAY=127.0.0.1:0 in the environment probably should be enough to use it. By default, X uses a Unix domain socket which requires a file which is probably not included in the chroot. MTM (talk) 08:27, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

autorun

when an autorun doesn't function and it gives the message 'the application failed to initialize properly (0-c0000006) click on OK to terminate the application', how can it be resolved? Some file is missing? How can I know which file? Thanks. --Omidinist (talk) 07:58, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Brute forcing regular expressions

Is there _any_ way to input a regular expression and find all possible strings that it would match? Processing time, memory, and storage are of no concern. I don't care how wacky or out of the way the solution is. If I have to install a virtual machine running Plan 9 on a 64-bit edition of Windows 7 I'm for it. This is only for simple regular expressions, like (T|t)itles? --mboverload@ 08:06, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

In most cases, there is no upper bound on the length of a string that can be matched, so there is an infinite collection of matching strings. How do you suppose they can all be listed? --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 08:36, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, I should have clarified this is only for simple regular expressions, like (T|t)itles? --mboverload@ 08:49, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

But /.*/ is also simple and there are simply infinite number of matches. You have to refine your definition of "simple" a bit before this can go anywhere. --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:07, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

It is possible with regular expressions like /x|y/, /x?/ or /x{1,3}/ and their combinations. Just all possibilities have to be enumerated and collected in a set. I haven't heard about any program which does it, but it looks simple. MTM (talk) 09:29, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Here's a subset of the list matching the regular expression "(T|t)itles":

Titles
titles
abcTitlesxyz
!"#$Titles%&'()

See where this is going? Without anchors ("^" at the beginning and "$" at the end) you haven't limited the length of the string that can be matched. A regular expression that matches only a finite set of strings would have anchors at the beginning and end, and no "*" or "{N,}" quantifiers. It's pretty easy for the finite lists to be very large too. "^[a-z]{5}$", matching any string made of 5 lower-case letters, has 26^5=11,881,376 possible matches.

I though only about the matched part, so /a/ would result only in "a". From the original post: "Processing time, memory, and storage are of no concern.". MTM (talk) 09:37, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

If you're thinking that this regexp-to-list converter would be a good tool for learning regular expressions, I hope you've changed your mind by now. (There are tools for that already; search for "regular expression editor" or "regular expression debugger".) --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 09:33, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't know as much about regular expressions as you, but I hope you look at the spirit of my question. (T|t)itles? , in my mind but not the computer's, has 4 possible matches, Title, Titles, title, titles. I'm not trying to generate a list of every valid Visa number =). I don't know how to format it correctly so it wouldn't match things outside of the word, but that is something I will learn. Thanks for your expertise. --mboverload@ 09:40, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

The deeper point in my reply was that regular expressions in real usage are quite often not anchored at both ends. We grep for patterns in a file, but we want to see the whole line that contained the match, not just the matched substring. And the "*" repetition operator is used a lot. The proposed listing tool will apply only to a small minority of useful regular expressions. As an educational device it would suck. For generating lists of strings with alternatives like /[Tt]itles?/ -> {"Titles", titles", "Title", "title"} and /[a-z]{5}/ -> {"aaaaa", "aaaab", ..., "zzzzz"} you don't really need a regular expression. I'm left wondering if there's another motivation. Because if it's a good idea, this tool wouldn't be hard to build. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 09:56, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Well, if time is LITERALLY of no concern then (in a Linux/Cygwin setup) you could write a 1 line C program ('while(1)putchar(rand()%127);') that would generate random strings and pipe the result into 'grep'. That exactly fulfills the demands of your question...so consider it answered!

But for a practical answer (which is what everyone else is attempting to provide), because so many regexps can match a literally infinite number of strings you have to sharply limit the regexp syntax to (for example) prohibit '*' or anything that matches a variable number of characters. So this tool you imagine wouldn't be able to operate on "normal" regexp's - only within this rather carefully restricted subset. But even so, in almost all "real" examples of regexp's the combinatorial explosion will kill you. So it becomes just really unlikely that anyone will try to write such a tool in a 'normal' manner. I think you're doomed!

SteveBaker (talk) 16:52, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Enough philosophy, here's an implementation. This is a Haskell program that takes a regular expression on the command line and prints out all strings matching that regular expression, without duplication, sorted by length and lexicographically within each length. It supports only "theorists' regular expressions" and not Unixy extensions like [a-z] or a{3,5} or even . (though it does support ? and +). If the regular expression matches infinitely many strings then the program will run forever but every matching string will be printed at a finite time. I tested it with GHC but it should work with Hugs or any other implementation that supports the Parsec library. If you save the program as regex.hs you can compile it with the command line ghc -package parsec -O -o regex regex.hs. It's quite fast (not that it couldn't be faster) and I find the output from expressions like (aa|bbb)* rather soothing. I hereby release this code into the public domain. Let me know here or on my talk page if you notice any bugs.

regex.hs

-- Haskell program to print all (anchored) strings matching a regular expression.

import System (getArgs, getProgName, exitFailure)
import Text.ParserCombinators.Parsec

main = do
  args <- getArgs
  case args of
    [s] -> case parse regex "" s of
             Right strings -> mapM_ (mapM_ putStrLn) strings
             Left  err     -> print err >> exitFailure
    _ -> do progName <- getProgName
            putStrLn $
              "usage: "++progName++" <regex>\n\
              \  Prints all strings matching <regex>.\n\
              \  Grammar: S ::= SS | S|S | S? | S* | S+ | (S) | literal"


-- Parser. Returns all strings matching the expression as a list
-- [strings of length 0, strings of length 1, ...], with each sublist
-- in lexicographical order.

regex :: Parser [[String]]
regex = do { x <- regexSum ; eof ; return x }

regexSum =
  fmap (foldb mergeLengths []) (regexProd `sepBy` char '|')

regexProd =
  fmap (foldr1 cat) (many1 (regexAtom >>= regexUnary)) <|> return [[""]]

regexUnary atom =
  (char '?' >> return ([""] : drop 1 atom))
   <|> (char '*' >> return (zeroOrMore atom))
   <|> (char '+' >> return (oneOrMore atom))
   <|> return atom

regexAtom =
  regexLiteral <|> between (char '(') (char ')') regexSum

regexLiteral =
  (noneOf "|?*+()" >>= \c -> return [[],[[c]]]) <?> "literal"


-- Helper functions

-- balanced binary fold for merging

foldb :: (a -> a -> a) -> a -> [a] -> a
foldb plus zero [] = zero
foldb plus zero [x] = x
foldb plus zero xs = foldb plus zero (halve xs)
  where halve (a:b:cs) = plus a b : halve cs
        halve cs = cs

mergeLengths :: [[String]] -> [[String]] -> [[String]]
mergeLengths [] ys = ys
mergeLengths xs [] = xs
mergeLengths (x:xs) (y:ys) = mergeOneLength x y : mergeLengths xs ys

mergeOneLength :: [String] -> [String] -> [String]
mergeOneLength [] ys = ys
mergeOneLength xs [] = xs
mergeOneLength (x:xs) (y:ys) =
  case x `compare` y of
    EQ -> x : mergeOneLength xs ys
    LT -> x : mergeOneLength xs (y:ys)
    GT -> y : mergeOneLength (x:xs) ys


-- A*, A+

zeroOrMore, oneOrMore :: [[String]] -> [[String]]

zeroOrMore xs = [""] : oneOrMore' (drop 1 xs)

oneOrMore [] = []
oneOrMore (x : xs) = x : oneOrMore' xs

oneOrMore' [] = []
oneOrMore' xs = helper once
  where
    (empties,once) = break (not.null) xs
    stepsize = 1 + length empties
    helper ntimes =
      take stepsize ntimes ++ mergeLengths (drop stepsize ntimes)
                                           (helper (cat once ntimes))


-- AB

cat :: [[String]] -> [[String]] -> [[String]]
cat xs ys = map (foldb mergeOneLength []) (outerCat xs ys)
  where outerCat = zigzagOuterProduct (\ps qs -> [p++q | p <- ps, q <- qs])


-- Returns diagonals of the outer product of the argument lists. A bit tricky
-- because it has to work for any mixture of finite and infinite lists.

zigzagOuterProduct :: (a -> b -> c) -> [a] -> [b] -> [[c]]
zigzagOuterProduct f xs ys =
  helper xs ys [] [] where
    helper (x:xs) (y:ys) ps     qs     = helper' xs ys (ps++[x]) (qs++[y])
    helper (x:xs) []     (p:ps) qs     = helper' xs [] (ps++[x])  qs
    helper []     (y:ys) ps     (q:qs) = helper' [] ys  ps       (qs++[y])
    helper []     []     (p:ps) (q:qs) = helper' [] []  ps        qs
    helper _      _      _      _      = []
    helper' xs ys [] [] = []
    helper' xs ys ps qs = zipWith f ps (reverse qs) : helper xs ys ps qs

-- BenRG (talk) 18:31, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Clearing Photo metadata on OS X?

Hello,

Is there anyway on OS X 10.5 to clear or remove all the metadata from a photograph?

Thanks for any help,

--Grey1618 (talk) 09:20, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Misleading tags on YouTube

Hi; there's a user uploading episodes of a television program to YouTube, and putting the names of other programmes in the tags. This means that whenever searching for any of the listed programmes, one has to wade through pages of the irrelevant episodes he produces before getting to what one wants. I made two polite comments about this; the first received a polite but negative reply, the second just resulted in the whole conversation being wiped and my commenting privileges being suspended. I've emailed this user, but don't expect this to prevail.

The question is - what next? Is there a "report to staff" option where I can make clear what it is I have a problem with? A "report user" facility? A way to exclude his videos from my search results (failing ways to help the whole community by clearing them, that is!)... any tips? Thanks. ╟─Treasury§Tag►contribs─╢ 15:05, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Alluc --h2g2bob (talk) 16:24, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Installing Stuff

I have a few questions about installing programs on Ubuntu. Thus far I have been installing through the repositories.(With the various methods possible,"sudo apt-get install" along with "Add/Remove" in the Main Menu). But what about stuff that's not in the repositories and needs to be downloaded? For that stuff I encounter files that might end in "tar.gz" or something and when the message pops up it says Bzip archive. It says Archive Manager is the default thing for this sort of thing. So I select it, extract and all that. And then....nothing. Is the program installed? How do I run it? Are there other ways of getting programs? Did I do something wrong? And what's installing through source? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks in advance.--Xp54321 ^{(Hello! • Contribs)} 15:25, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

There's usually a file called "README" or "INSTALL" to look at, but the normal procedure is to open a shell, cd into the directory, and run:

./configure -- you don't always need to run this, sometimes it is missing

make -- this compiles it all and creates the program for you to run. The program is normally placed into the "bin" directory.

It is normally best to run it from the bin directory, but some projects can be installed into /usr/bin etc with: sudo make install

That's the basics - it might fail if you're missing some libraries. If so, try and work out what they are and install them with synaptic. --h2g2bob (talk) 16:22, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the answers, but what does "cd into the directory" mean? How do you open a shell?--Xp54321 ^{(Hello! • Contribs)} 18:14, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

A "shell" is a program that presents a command line interface to the computer's file system, programs and processes. It's mostly just a way of making system calls, running programs etc, but it will also feature commands that work together to form a quasi-programming language allowing you to write little scripts which use logic, control flow, interaction between programs etc etc. Anyway, to open a shell, choose Main Menu >> Accessories >> Terminal. "cd to a directory" means use the "cd" command to change the working directory of the shell to a certain directory. Here's an example from my shell

me@mycomputer:~$ ls
Desktop  film  incoming  music  oddments  print  sort  tools  zoo
me@mycomputer:~$ cd oddments/
me@mycomputer:~/oddments$ ls
bills  flat  megadrive  sainsburys
me@mycomputer:~/oddments$ 

The "ls" command lists directory contents. Note that "~" is an alias for your home directory (/home/me). You can type "help" at the prompt to get help about built in commands, or use man to get help about specific programs. Also, building from source means getting a compiler and associated tools on your very own computer to create an executable program from the source code supplied. It's kinda fun, and reassuring to do once in a while to prove you can. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.86.164.115 (talk) 18:59, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

cd means to change directory and shell is the terminal (Applications>Accessories>Terminal). So if I had to cd to my Music directory I'd to cd /home/abhishek/Music or rather simply cd Music from my home directory. I think you should read some of this. I always had trouble installing software from source, as I'm a n00b myself and I usually install from the repos, but this guide somewhat gave me the understanding of the process. -Abhishek (talk) 18:46, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Eh...my dad helped me here. But now there's error messages...so heh, I give up. For this one program anyways.--Xp54321 ^{(Hello! • Contribs)} 18:59, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't think Ubuntu even comes with gcc by default - you have to install the build-essentials package first. In other words, trying to build stuff from source on Ubuntu without knowing what you are doing is an exercise in futility. That's why package managers exist in the first place. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 21:43, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

This is true: install the build-essential package for gcc, make etc. --h2g2bob (talk) 23:15, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

What are you trying to install anyway? How to install ANYTHING on Ubuntu is a good tutorial for beginners like you. --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:42, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

installing ubuntu from live cd

I had the following [problem] installing ubuntu. I managed to start the live "CD" from my HDD, but I am not able of installing it as a non-live version. How can I turn this live-CD on my HDD into a normal ubuntu installation.

NB: I don´t have a CD-ROM —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr.K. (talk • contribs) 16:57, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

The only way I have heard of doing this (and the way I did it) is to burn the .ISO (the 'live CD') onto a CD-ROM and install from there. If you have no CD-ROM, then you obviously can't do it this way. I am not aware of any other way to do it.--ChokinBako (talk) 18:53, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

There are several ways - see the "installation without a CD" section of https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:58, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

The person on Ubuntu bug 245794 says they can install 7.04 (feisty): can you install that and upgrade over the network. Otherwise, see if you can boot from a USB stick. Fully installing over a network is possible, but stupidly difficult. --h2g2bob (talk) 23:32, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Just install unetbootin and put the liveCD onto your flash drive and boot from that, or use Wubi (Ubuntu) --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:34, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

File Transfer Protocol

Besides uploading files to your own website, what can FTP be used for? One of my friends recently said she had a friend with an 'FTP site' and they were transferring files to each other using that. She could not give me any more information than that, and couldn't even tell me how she was doing it. Can anyone tell me anything about other uses of FTP and why it's useful?--ChokinBako (talk) 18:50, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Well, I'm not really an expert or anything, but basically, you can have an FTP site as well. It's essentially like, oh, the folders on your computer, where you can see and copy and move the files or folders on your hard drive. Only it's for files on a server. Archives of files (like the Interactive Fiction Archive, for example) often have an "FTP mode", because some people prefer to view files that way instead of in a big list. --Alinnisawest(talk) 18:53, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

FTP is faster than HTTP, because there's less overhead. As for a site, I don't know about Apache, but I've set up FTP sites using the IIS feature built into Windows XP and Server 2003. To see what you can do with FTP, open up a command line (Start --> Run... --> cmd) and type FTP, then help. Not many commands there, huh? You can access FTP sites using this command or in your "Network Places." You can also do it inside your browser by changing the http to ftp, assuming you're pointing the browser to an FTP site.--129.82.41.231 (talk) 19:01, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

On Unix-like systems proftpd or vsftpd can be used. Since FTP is less secure (does not support encryption of e.g. passwords used for authentication) I use sftp instead. MTM (talk) 19:52, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

HTTP is a newcomer among Internet protocols. FTP is one of the oldest Internet protocols still in use. Many of the online file archives that are now offered through HTTP began as FTP archives (and are still offered that way). Accessing archives through FTP has some big advantages over HTTP, like the fact that FTP clients let you transfer whole groups of files using wildcards or drag-and-drop. However, FTP is a pretty bad design; it survives only by virtue of its entrenchment. It certainly isn't faster than HTTP (unless your HTTP implementation is broken) and in many cases it will be slower. Also, it doesn't work well through firewalls or through tunnels (like SSH tunnels). Despite its similar name, SFTP is a totally different protocol. It's a much better design which combines the advantages of FTP and HTTP for file transfer. Unfortunately the software support for it isn't nearly as good as for HTTP or FTP, at either the client or the server end. -- BenRG (talk) 20:21, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Actually from what I've read, FTP is "certainly" much faster than HTTP.--129.82.41.232 (talk) 21:18, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Those huge paperback training tomes that litter the "Computers" section of bookstores are, to put it politely, not written by experts. Only the third book you linked offers any reason for its claim, and surely you can see that the reason ("because FTP does not support the display of graphics or streaming media, it can transfer files much faster than HTTP") doesn't make any sense. (The same book goes right on to claim that FTP can't be used to serve web pages, which must be news to these people.) Both HTTP and FTP just send the raw bytes of the file over a TCP connection. HTTP supports sending more than one file over a single TCP connection, FTP doesn't. If FTP is faster it's because HTTP is being routed through a slow proxy, or the ISP is throttling HTTP connections, or something else that has nothing to do with the protocols as such. -- BenRG (talk) 00:14, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

So, I basically need to find a decent (free!) server, and use FileZilla to upload (essentially archive or backup) my files?

Linux is free and easily works as an SFTP server (as well as HTTP and FTP). Again, Linux is free and works great as a desktop OS with many SFTP clients (KDE embeds it right into the file browser) as well as HTTP and FTP. -- kainaw™ 22:05, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Since you have Windows XP, you can easily install an FTP server from your XP CD. Insert that disk into your CD drive, go to "Add or Remove Programs" --> "Add/Remove Windows Components" --> "Internet Information Services (IIS)" --> "Details" --> "File Transfer Protocol Service (FTP)," then click OK. Now you have a server that you can access directly from the Control Panel.--129.82.41.232 (talk) 23:09, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, I didn't even say. I have Mac OSX......--ChokinBako (talk) 07:31, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Is your friend referring to topsites by any chance? F (talk) 12:59, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

GRUB

I formatted and reinstalled Windows XP on one partition of my HDD and now my GRUB bootloader menu won't show up to let me boot Linux. What do I need to do to get the menu back? (By the way, I chose only to format the partition that Windows was on by using the OEM's CD). Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 20:19, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

It rather depends what that OEM CD has done. Some are proper windows installers, in which case the installer has zapped the disk's master boot record. If that's the case, boot with a liveCD and restore grub (see the grub documentation). If, as is common with many OEM restore disks, it's not a windows installer but a Norton Ghost-like disk image extractor, then it has zapped your linux partition and you'll need to start again. You can tell which has happened by examining the partition table for the disk (either using Windows' disk manager plugin or Linux's gparted). It's incumbent on me at this point to repeat my oft-ignored plea to those trying Linux for the first time - "Repartitioning and bootloaders are hard for those with limited, windows-only, experience. Cheap removable IDE disks (one for linux, one for windows) is the path of least pain for the unwary". Later linux dists make this plea less necessary than a few years ago, but people still regularly blast their partitions (generally it's the windows partition) into digital oblivion. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 20:29, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

What do you mean zap the partition? I still have my linux partition showing up, so it didn't repartition or anything like that. I don't know if it formatted the linux partition though. By the way, the CD is a Dell recovery disk. Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 20:36, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

OEM restore CDs, including those by Dell, frequently wipe the entire disk and restore a factory image. They do this quickly (in say 15 minutes) without running you through the hour or so of the windows installer. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 20:38, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Hrmm, do they do this even when they ask you to choose the partition? Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 20:46, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

No, they wipe the entire disk, MBR and partition table and partitions and all. It probably says something like "this will wipe the info on your computer - proceed [y/n]". -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 20:55, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Most restore disks say that anyway because they are designed for typical users who will never repartition their disks or install another OS. If you can still see the Linux partition then it just wiped the MBR. Reinstalling GRUB is the way to go. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 21:27, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Don't listen to the nay-sayers above: it's probably just changed the MBR to point to Windows XP, not GRUB. You can reinstall grub from a live cd. Some help here and here. --h2g2bob (talk) 23:43, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

You might also want to try the super grub disk live cd. The user interface is ugly, but it'll boot just about anything. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 17:20, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

How do I copy a web site to my computer ?

I can, of course, copy individual HTML pages, one at a time. However, when I do this, the links don't point to the pages I copied, but back to the original website. How can I fix all those links to point to the copied pages ? StuRat (talk) 21:17, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Hello. On my browser you can do this by viewing the source and then saving it. This will leave all links in the document as they really are - normally defined relatively, so if you've copied all the pages and the same directory structure then you'll be okay. This will mean you have to get every document on the site for it to work properly - including style sheets etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.13.226.238 (talk) 21:31, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Wget does what you want, but it won't be easy to use unless you use some kind of Unix. —Keenan Pepper 21:33, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

I have always used a program called Teleport Pro which has an option to download a "browsable copy" of a website to your computer. The program itself is shareware and a free trial version can be downloaded here. -=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 21:37, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

There are tools for doing this (wget can certainly copy pages recursively (see article on wget), but I'm not sure whether it rewrites all the links to point to local copies), but there is a (slight) caveat: websites and their administrators HATE this sort-of behaviour. Depending on how much you download, this can put an enormous strain on a server. If you want a good list of these sorts of programs, you can look at what programs wikipedia bans in its robots.txt: [5] (look at the note on wget, for instance). If you do this, please act responsibly, and not completely crash the server you're downloading from. 90.235.4.253 (talk) 21:56, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

If you're only downloading one copy of things it's usually not that bad. Wget only really runs into trouble if you're flooding the server with requests (rather than just one at a time) or if you instruct it to download massive amounts of giant file sizes (e.g. videos and etc.). But just mirroring sites is usually not any more server strain than browsing usually is. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 02:00, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

The -k or --convert-links option to wget should alter the links to allow local viewing. -- Coneslayer (talk) 17:03, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Using a Windows machine? Try HTTrack. It's easy to use, and robust. There are also Firefox extensions that can do this; I've used one called ScrapBook to good effect, except that it doesn't maintain releative paths (e.g. all the HTML gets dumped into one big directory with all the images, etc., which is fine if you are just saving the page to view it later—it'll all work just fine in Firefox—but not so good if you're doing web development with it and need it to be a perfect mirroring of the file structure, not just the appearance). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 02:00, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

search for websites

Can you tell me the websites that are about crucifixions?24.165.11.18 (talk) 22:00, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

You can search the Internet for this information using a search engine like Google or Yahoo!. Go to google.com, type "crucifixions" into the box, and click "google search". You'll then get a list of the websites related to crucifixions. --h2g2bob (talk) 23:41, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

vanishing phone numbers

As I wrote on August 23, whenever I get a page or email listing a phone number, it simply vanishes from the screen. Like, if someone sends me an email with their telephone number, it will briefly show up and then fade away. Also if I look up a phone number on White Pages.com the same thing happens. I also will be on a site looking up (say for instance the nearest Walgreens) Walgreens.com will show the store address and phone number and before I can write it down it fades away. This is very puzzling to me. I don't recall this happening in the past....just the past couple of months. I haven't been doing anything different with my computer lately. Does anyone else have this problem64.184.124.178 (talk) 23:20, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

It's only phone numbers that disappear? Does it just leave a white space where it was? Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 23:45, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps it's a screensaver coming on (or backlighting on a backlit screen going off). Moving the mouse will bring it back if this is the case. --h2g2bob (talk) 00:39, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Please don't repost the same question each day. You will continue to get answers where you originally posted: [6]. StuRat (talk) 00:57, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

August 25

Were can I get Automatix?

I have been searching for Automatix but I can't find the .deb file! Since the Official website is offline, it is even harder to get... yeah, I know Automatix does not work on Ubuntu 8.04 and that there is a new alternative (Ultamatix), but what I was looking for was really Automatix (lets say it's for "hack value")... could someone provide me a link or something? Does anyone still keeps the old .deb? Thanks SF007 (talk) 03:03, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Hi SF007. I think you meean Automatix (software), as "Automatix" redirects to a robot company.78.144.151.118 (talk) 10:26, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, yes, exactly, I already fixed the link, Thanks! SF007 (talk) 17:47, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Pirate Bay has it [7]. Yes, they have lots of illegal torrents, I don't think this is one of them.My name is anetta (talk) 19:34, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately is has no seeds... :( SF007 (talk) 21:15, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Booting from the right partition using Grub

I have following partitions on my HDD:

/devsda1 extended with /dev/sda5 and /dev/sda6 on it /dev/sda2 /dev/sda3 /dev/sda4

In sda6 and sda4 I have some Linux flavor installed. However, always when I try to boot from sda6, it boots from sda4.

Here is my menu.lst file:

 title Ubuntu1 (on /dev/hda4)
 root (hd0,3)
 kernel /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper root=/dev/ram ramdisk_size=1048576 rw acpi=off
 initrd /casper/initrd.gz

 title Ubuntu2 (on /dev/hda6)
 root (hd0,5)
 kernel /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper root=/dev/ram ramdisk_size=1048576 rw acpi=off
 initrd /casper/initrd.gz

What is wrong? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr.K. (talk • contribs) 11:25, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Is it possible that your menu.lst is out of sync with what's actually written on your boot sector? --Sean 14:25, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

I recommended the super grub disk live cd in a previous thread, and I'll do it again. It might help you diagnose the problem. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 17:37, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Where is the 'crop' function on Inkscape???

does anyone know...i just cant find it:( thanks--84.64.116.193 (talk) 12:49, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

You want to go to "Document Properties" and change the page size. —Bkell (talk) 13:50, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

You can't crop in the way you can in photoshop. You can just change the page size which means that elements outside of the page area won't be rendered or printed. But you can't crop a vector graphic in the same way that you can in photoshop with a raster graphic. It doesn't work that way. (Either in Inkscape or any other program, e.g. Illustrator) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:46, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Isn't what you want the "Intersection" of a group of objects with another object? Just place a rectangle or any other shape on top of what you want to crop and perform a Path -> Intersection. --Juliano (T) 15:26, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

But how well this will work can depend on the complexity of the objects you are applying it to. I've had trouble getting things like that to work with very complicated (e.g. lots of nested groups) objects. --140.247.40.116 (talk) 20:55, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Scanning and printing

Is it possible to print a document which is being scanned in at the same time like a photocopier using a scanner and printer? Clover345 (talk) 16:15, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't think you can do that, at least not with most scanner/printer combinations. You can, however, make scanning and printing a little faster by scanning the next page while the current page is being printed. (You can start scanning the next page as soon as the previous page has finished scanning. You don't have to wait until it's come out of the printer.) --71.162.241.230 (talk) 16:53, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

This will depend on your hardware. My father's combined scanner-printer has a 'photocopy' button that works without any input from a computer. Algebraist 17:05, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Does that scanner-printer start printing a page while the page is still being scanned? --71.162.241.230 (talk) 17:12, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't know. Algebraist 17:13, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Taking a snapshot of a computer's software/hardware configurations

When you have a new computer, how do you take a snapshot of its initial software/hardware configurations so that in the future you can, if you want to, find out what changes later-installed software has made to the system? What are some good tools for this purpose? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.162.241.230 (talk) 16:47, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Help with python code.

Hi. I'm trying to do this problem using python, but I'm stuck at determining whether a number is a Lychrel number, since the function I'm defining to do it doesn't seem to be returning the right values. Here's the code:

#This function tests if n is a palindromic number, returning 1 if it is and 0 if it isn't.

1. Tested separately and works.

def testpal(n):

   s = str(n)
   l = len(s)
   c = 0 #truth counter - is added to if the nth digit from the start is equal to the nth digit from the end. 
   if l <=1:
       return "Error"
   elif l % 2 == 0: #even number of digits case
       for i in range(0,l/2):
           if s[i] == s[l-(1+i)]:
               c = c+1
       if c == l/2: #compares c to what it should be if n is a palindrome
           return 1
       else:
           return 0
   else: #odd number of digits case
       for i in range(0,(l-1)/2):
           if s[i] == s[l-(1+i)]:
               c = c+1
       if c == (l-1)/2: #compares c to what it should be if n is a palindrome
           return 1
       else:
           return 0

1. Takes an integer input and reverses it, outputting as an integer.
2. tested separately and works.

def switch(n):

   f = ""
   s = str(n)
   l = len(s)
   for i in range(0,l):
       f = f + s[(l-1)-i]
   return int(f)

1. test to see if switch works
2. print switch("house")

1. main function to test if n is a lychrel number. c allows recursive calls while being able to cut off at 50
2. should return true when n is a lychrel number, and false when it isn't, but seems to return false regardless

def testlych(n,c):

   if c <= 5: #would be 50 for real testing, but this makes stepping through in the debugger quicker for known numbers.
       m = n + switch(n)
       if testpal(m):
           return 0
       else:
           testlych(m,c+1) #each call increases c by 1, so will be cut off by if statement above when needed
   else:
       return 1
       

1. an alias to make typing the test quicker. not tested yet, so not using.
2. test(n) = testlych(n,1)

print testlych(196,1) #should be None - is.

print testlych(47,1) #should be 1, is 0

I think there might be something wrong with my understanding of the differences between 1/0/True/False/None, but I've written stuff before that uses the same approach, and seems to work. Thanks for any help you can give. 91.143.188.103 (talk) 17:09, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

It's not the best idea to return 1 when you mean True, even if a given language doesn't distinguish between the two, but strictly that shouldn't break things. But really I don't understand why testlych is recursive (wouldn't a loop do?). The following works, at least for the examples given on that article:

def reverse(s):
    result=''
    length = len(s)
    for x in range(0,length):
        result+=s[length-1-x]
    return result

def isPalindromicNumber(i):
    s = str(i)
    return s==reverse(s)

def testLychrel(i, maxIterations):
    iterations=0

    while iterations < maxIterations:
        if isPalindromicNumber(i):
            print 'resolves to palindrome %d after %d iterations' % (i,iterations)
            return
        
        i = i + int(reverse(str(i)))
        iterations += 1

    print 'failed'

-- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:13, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

windows vista OEM dvd

A shopping website says windows Vista home basic OEM DVD (for sale). What does the OEM here mean? Is it the normal windows vista? Can I buy and will I be able to install it ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.108.49 (talk) 17:23, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

OEM means original equipment manufacturer. It ls the normal Windows Vista. It has one limitation, however: once you install it on your computer and activate it, it will be locked to that computer, and you will not be not permitted to install it on a future computer that you buy, even if you uninstall it on the first computer. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 17:43, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Finding appropriate RAM

I have a really old computer that was given to me long ago, running Windows 98 Second Edition. All the labels on it have been taken off, so I'm not completely sure what brand of computer it is. It also has one 64MB stick of RAM, and I'd like to add more. Unfortunately, any labels on the RAM were taken off as well, so I don't know what type of RAM to choose... How would I be able to tell? Based on the information briefly provided during boot, I believe it might be an ASUS computer, but I'm not entirely sure. As for the RAM... how would I be able to tell the type and buy more of the appropriate ones? Thanks, Valens Impérial Császár 93 18:34, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

A piece of diagnostics software like SiSoft Sandra may be able to identify the components in your computer. Of course, finding upgrade parts for a machine that old may be a bit of a challenge in itself, though luckily there's a lot of second hand hardware out there. Alternatively, you can simply remove the RAM and try and identify its type by sight; going by the age of your computer, there's a good chance it's PC100, but of course it doesn't have to be. Another way to go about it would be to look up serial numbers stamped on the parts and simply feeding them into Google; getting a positive identification that way is pretty likely. Good luck, you may well have your work cut out for you, though. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 19:03, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

wireless control

What is a good free replacement for the wireless control in windows? Something I can download. Thank you. 79.75.211.94 (talk) 18:39, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Google Earth

If it was possible to download the entire terrain map of google earth, how much data would it consist of? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.162.38.227 (talk) 18:44, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

I can't find anything about the terrain (elevation) data, but in late 2006 the raw imagery took up 70.5 terabytes. It's likely somewhere in the order of hundreds of terabytes now. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 19:18, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Does Google even offer it for download at once? Kushal (talk) 20:42, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

The elevation data probably doesn't take up more than a few tens of gigabytes. Heightfields don't take up much space, and irregular meshes take up even less. --Carnildo (talk) 23:47, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Youtube videos in iPod

Can iPods support videos from Youtube? --88.104.205.21 (talk) 19:20, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, please download the flv file with some kind of flv download helper (available as addons on the ever more popular Mozilla Firefox), and then use iSquint to convert it into an mp4 file. iSquint can add the product to iTunes for you and then you know how to copy it to your iPod. (Help is available on helping move files from iTunes to the iPod as well, just let us know you need help.)

I would ask the lonelygirl15 production team or the Chris Crocker (Internet celebrity) production team for permission before sharing those files over iTunes. Not out of fear of litigation, but just out of common courtesy.

Hope that helps,

Kushal (talk) 20:41, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Lexmark 2400 series printer on a mac

I have a Lexmark 2480 series printer (looks like this). Its serial number is 05141445687 2007/04. The CD says "Installation software and user's guides for use with Windows and Macintosh" but I AU CNET says the printer does not work with Mac. Please help. Kushal (talk) 20:33, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Which version of the Mac OS? And have you tried just, you know, adding the printer in OS X? Leopard includes several Lexmark printer drivers... -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 01:15, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

CSS question

Is there a way to encapsulate some text in a SPAN in a way to keep it from breaking?

That is, I know non-breaking spaces can be used to keep spaces from breaking. But I want to keep the contents of an arbitrary SPAN from breaking.

In this particular case, I have something like this:

<img src="someimage.png">.¹

I know an inline IMG is not exactly best practice but for this particular application it's sort of the best thing I've found to work (using pure-CSS solutions fails more than it works in this particular case when it comes to cross-browser compatibility).

What properties should I give to the SPAN to keep the browser from breaking the line at the period and entity? One obvious way is to encapsulate the entire thing in a TABLE element but that's about the worst idea I can think of from a standards point of view. --140.247.40.116 (talk) 20:49, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Setting white-space to nowrap should do the trick — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 20:57, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Brilliant, thank you! --140.247.40.116 (talk) 21:21, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Online storage facilites

Hello Wikipedia,

I would really like your thoughts on online storage companies. Essentially, rather than spend my money on a big clunky laptop with lots of storage space, i'd love to take advantage of having a good internet connection and buy a light, portable laptop and store all my work (Adobe illustrations etc) online. (i do have a normal external hard drive but really hate using it -its just too 'fiddly' plugging it in and out.. i'm quite badly organised.)

My two main concerns are: 1) Is there a reliable 'brand' that won't lose my data or make it difficult to get at.

2) do they generally offer some guarantee of privacy? i don't mind a computer looking at my stuff (and then targeting adverts accordingly -e.g. gmail) but i do mind a human doing it.

Is my web 2.0 dream a possibility? if any knows any good companies then that would be great.

Thanks,

82.22.4.63 (talk) 21:13, 25 August 2008 (UTC) p.s. i'm in the UK if that makes any difference at all

1) Go for bigger brands. With the size of their infrastructure, they are more likely to be reliable.

I suggest you avoid Web2. It is not yet widespread, and I have found that the tried and tested stuff just works, simply.

Have you considered the size of Adobe Illustrator files? They might be large.

What platform have you got? If it's Mac OSX, avoid MobileMe for the meantime. They have had lots of problems.

Are you going to use a backup utility, like Apple Inc.'s Time Machine (software)? Possibly rsync?My name is anetta (talk) 22:02, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Amazon S3?My name is anetta (talk) 22:12, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

How fast is a "good internet connection"? For comparison, a USB hard drive is equivalent to about a 480 megabit per second connection, while an internal hard drive is about 1500 megabits per second. --Carnildo (talk) 23:56, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

X11

I downloaded X11 from the Apple website, but every time I try to install it I get an error message saying that 'a newer version is already installed'. I have looked for this newer version on my iBook, but the Mac can't find it (it only finds the one I downloaded). I am sure I didn't install it from my Tiger DVD (which I have left at home - I am away for a few days), so the only version I should have should be the one I just downloaded. Can anyone explain what is happening here and is there any possible fix for this? Regards.--ChokinBako (talk) 22:44, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Array of strings

Hello folks, I am trying to put words into an array of strings as pointer arrays inside a loop. However, when I tried to display one of the string, turns out that every word in the array is the last word in the file. I did malloc but it didn't help. I'm lost in confusion now. Thanks. 60.240.161.162 (talk) 00:05, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

void loadData()
{
char line[200];
char *word;
char *stoppedWords[500];
FILE *bookPointer;
FILE *stoppedPointer;
int test = 0;

bookPointer = fopen(BOOK_FILE, "r");
stoppedPointer = fopen(STOPPED_FILE, "r");

fgets(line, 100, stoppedPointer);

while(test < 477)
{
word = strtok(line, "\n");
fgets(line, 100, stoppedPointer);

stoppedWords[test] = malloc(sizeof(word));

if(stoppedWords[test] == NULL)
{
printf("There is a fatal error. Exiting.\n");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
else
stoppedWords[test] = word;

test++;
}
printf("\n\n");
printf("%s\n\n", stoppedWords[0]);

fclose(bookPointer);
fclose(stoppedPointer);
}

Mac Mail

I just tried to configure my Mac Mail to receive Gmail, but I seem to have made a mistake in the settings. Is it possible to modify the settings or even delete the account so I can start again?--ChokinBako (talk) 00:14, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Do you mean the program in OS X called "Mail" (otherwise known as Mail.app)? If so, then just go to Mail > Preferences > Accounts. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 01:14, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

AMS Runtime

Ok, I tried to extract a file on my computer, and it gives me an error that says AMS Runtime Error: Extract Error 9. What does that mean? What can I do about it to make the file work? And I'm positive that the file itself is fine and not corrupt or anything. Please help!

--Screwball23 talk 00:24, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Weird spam message

I recently got an e-mail message consisting only of the words:

limpkin turbidity superlunary? dragon, cervantes ponder. sealant superlunary visionary visionary superlunary deaf, tradesman schlesinger compositor lecher calculable rightward.

caine hove dragon

appellate galway schottky? hove, insoluble collimate. blowback schlesinger denture examination attributive schlesinger, limpkin compositor photolysis backbone lecher ponder.

dragon assume selectmen

examination activation galway? paprika, pagoda limpkin.

scripture activation.

It's obviously some sort of spam, but I have no idea how it sells anything? Anyone have any guesses? Bart133 ^{t c @ How's my driving?} 01:07, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

FWIW, this sort of use of random words to evade spamfilters is called Bayesian poisoning. I can't help you with the point of the message. Algebraist 01:17, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Constant freezing when accessing wikipedia using Windows 2000 IE 6

We constantly encounter issues with page freezing when accessing Wikipedia (English) using Windows 2000 workstations and IE6. Please let me know if this has been escalated before?