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March 26

Floppy

I'm trying to get some files onto a computer that only has a floppy drive. No CD drive, no USB drive, only a floppy drive. Unfortunately, my main computer doesn't have a floppy drive and the target computer doesn't have an Internet connection. So what can I do? JCI (talk) 02:17, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

You can try taking the hard disk out of one of them and putting it in the other. By the sounds of the floppy only computer, it'll have an IDE drive, which isn't compatible with modern PCs. In which case you can get an IDE enclosure. Take the hard disk out of the floppy-only machine and using the enclosure, connect it to the new computer. Then copy away and replace the hard disk. - Akamad (talk) 02:22, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

The vast majority of modern computers still have IDE ports because amongst other reasons, SATA optical drivers have only started to really take hold over the past 2 years or so. Even though some recent chipsets (the Intel ICHR10 for example) don't have native support for IDE, most manufacturers add it via PCI or PCIe chips Nil Einne (talk) 10:31, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

We should probably back up and ask what type of data you are trying to transfer. If the files are too large for a floppy or the total would take dozens of floppies to transfer, then the solution above might be best. If you only have a few small files, and expect to occasionally need to transfer a few more, then another way to go would be to get an external floppy drive for the new computer. It can plug into a USB port. It won't be very expensive, and this won't require any tinkering with the insides of computers. Floppy drives are going out of style, but you can still find them around now. In another few years, probably not. StuRat (talk) 05:05, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Or find another computer with a floppy drive and a USB port and put the data on a floppy disk via that 3rd computer. --Tango (talk) 05:19, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Do both computers have ethernet ports? You could network them and transfer the files that way. --Tango (talk) 05:19, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

A computer too old to have a CD drive is unlikely to have an Ethernet port, meseems. —Tamfang (talk) 16:47, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Just thinking out loud here .. but if the files aren't too big, and the old computer can connect to the Internet, I might try to just email them to myself. Just a thought, path of least resistance and all. (in other words, I'm lazy) — Ched ~ ^(yes?)/_© 06:28, 26 March 2009 (UTC) (and connect the target computer once you've done the email with the source PC) — Ched ~ ^(yes?)/_© 08:57, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

"the target computer doesn't have an Internet connection" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.80.240.66 (talk) 09:06, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

It used to be possible to make ZIP files that spanned multiple floppies. Presumably this can still be done with WinZip etc. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 09:23, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Before the days of USB - a COM port

In the old days (1990s) we also sometimes would use a null modem cable. That would work if both computers have COM ports (look a bit like VGA screen port but with fewer pins). (However, I suppose both an USB floppy drive and a new network card for the old computer would be cheaper. In addition, you'd have to dig up some legacy software to actually make use of the null modem cable). Jørgen (talk) 13:19, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

You don't need legacy software really. Windows up to XP supported null modems. Unfortunately Vista drops it Direct Cable Connection. See below for more details. Nil Einne (talk) 10:42, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

There are a bunch of ways you could do this.

*An add-on USB board, might be impractical depending on how old the computer is.

*A Null modem cable.

*An actual modem and a pair of phone lines.

*An old-style parallell-port Zip Drive. (Be careful not to get the SCSI kind.)

*Yank the hard-drive from the old PC put it into a USB enclosure and connect to the new computer.

*Find an old NIC that will work in the old computer, and connect the old computer to your router.

* and of course, getting a USB floppy drive for the new PC.

Null modem cables are pretty cheap. Unless you have some of that other stuff laying around, the cable might be your cheapest way of doing this. (However, if the new computer doesn't have a serial-port, you may need a USB-to-serial adapter.) But the USB enclosure for the old harddrive might be an easy way to copy the entire drive at once onto your new PC. APL (talk) 14:34, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

One more way: Sony and SmartDisk made adaptors to use a memory card in a floppy drive. Amazon have information about them: Sony and SmartDisk. It looks as if they might be rather scarce now, but there seems to be one stockist: [1]. (Or you could try your local eBay or equivalent.) So you'd need a USB memory card reader to get the files from the main computer to the memory card, and the adaptor to get the files from the memory card to the target computer - and the memory card itself, of course. AJHW (talk) 15:08, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

One problem with nearly all of the above suggestions is that without an internet connection or CD drive, any new software for the machine has to be gotten on floppy somehow. For example, adding a USB card almost certainly won't work because it'll need drivers - and those will come on CD-ROM. Using a null-modem cable to the serial port...same problem...you need software.

I wonder whether you can remove the Floppy drive from the old computer and plug it into the new one. All of the modern motherboards that I own still have floppy drive ports...but yours may not. You can certainly chop up ZIP archives into floppy-sized chunks.

Depending on what software this old machine runs - I'd scour eBay for an an old ethernet card...they can't cost more than $5 at that vintage...and you stand a chance of the computer already having software onboard. If the ancient machine has a modem - then perhaps it can still dial-out to the internet. SteveBaker (talk) 05:10, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

The target computer OS wasn't stated however. But for example, Windows 95 and onwards should be able to support a null modem connection without extra software (can't remember about Windows 3.1). If the OS is something like DOS, there's a slight chance the comp may come with Laplink or something although I'm not certain if Windows will be able to connect to that (i.e. you may need some other software on your modern computer to connect to laplink on the old computer). The other problem is that Vista drops support for Direct Cable Connection so if the modern computer's OS is Vista your going to need to look for something. It looks like Linux should do the job [2] [3], so you may be able to do this from a live CD. Of course if the modern computer's OS is Linux all the better. From the sound of it, most BSDs and Solaris should be possible too although I don't know about Mac OS X. Also if you have the software to use a modem, you likely (but not definitely) have the software to use a null modem. IMHO we really need more info to answer the question. As I've already mentioned, knowing what the OS of the target comp as well as the modern comps you have access to would help a lot. Also is the floppy drive a 3 1/2"? Is it 1.44MB/HD? Does the target computer have a spare IDE port (presuming it even uses IDE)? Nil Einne (talk) 10:31, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

This Can't be Good can it?

I was reading about what a good (safe) temperature for a GPU (graphics card is) and I read that a good temperature (under load) is around or below 70C. Well, I downloaded "SpeedFan" to monitor the temperature. And while my GPU was "under load" (I guess you could say) the temperature got up to around 78C. One of the things that was suggested was to turn my GPU's fan up to 100%. Well...it IS at 100%. Even so, it was still getting up to 78 degrees with a 3D game running, and now that I've closed that, it's still running at 70 degrees. So...that can't be good, can it? What can I do about it, and what could happen if I do nothing about it? (i.e. will my PC blow up.)

Graphics card is an Nvidia Geforce 8800GTS

Digger3000 (talk) 07:14, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried to clear the inside of your computer of dust? Be very careful doing it but I found that my fan on my desktop computer was quite heavily clogged with dust - I suspect that would've impacted running temperature. Also perhaps look for unrequired processes running on your computer - on my Macbook a print-driver/printer process was constantly running and had forced my fan on to 6000rpm and made my laptop sound like a mini turbine engine. Once I got rid of that process it quickly slowed as the temperature dropped - so maybe check your task-manager processes tab. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 09:08, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Stick a really large fan like coolermaster into your case. If you can't afford that, put two cheap ~60mm fans in, one sucking the air in from the back and the other expelling air from the front (so you get unidirectional airflow). If that's too difficult for you, open your case and just put an ordinary $20 room fan next to your computer, blowing cool air in. That did wonders for my son's computer. 80 degrees is WAY too high... my 9600GT GPU runs at 50 and my cpu at 40, and that's with a coolermaster. At that temperature your computer won't blow up (lol) but components will get damaged over time. One last thing to check - your sensor could be wrong - so with your hand properly "anti-static-ed" just feel your graphics card quickly and you can tell if it's really hot - if it's too hot to touch for over a second then your sensor is correct. Sandman30s (talk) 12:00, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Get a can of compressed air (sometimes called an air duster). You can often get them in office supplies shops (WHSmith for one, if you're in the UK). Give it a good blast into your PSU, processor fan/heatsink, graphics card cooler, case fans and anywhere else you see dust. I'm not sure (sanity check on this, please!), but I think fan motors don't take too well to being turned by anyone but themselves, so you may want to stop fan blades turning somehow. Don't use a vacuum cleaner - they throw off static which screws around with the electronics (you can use it to clean any dust up once you've sealed up your PC again). CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 12:46, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Simply opening the case may do wonders, without the need for an external fan. A computer that was properly designed to convey air flow would actually do better with the case on, but, in my experience, they rarely are. StuRat (talk) 15:32, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Opening the case does seem to cool it down. It's a tiny little case that I doubt was designed to hold an 8800GTS (which barely fit in it.) Digger3000 (talk) 20:15, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

"Tiny little case" is your problem. There's just not enough air-flow in that for something that generates as much heat as an 8800GTS. I would still use an external fan. Sandman30s (talk) 08:16, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

How much does just opening the case help ? StuRat (talk) 17:27, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

ls -tr | sh foo

for FILE in $PATTERN
 do
  dostuffwith $FILE
 done

Pretty simple, right? But I want it to take the files oldest-first (as listed by ls -tr) rather than in alphabetic order. Is there a simple way? —Tamfang (talk) 16:51, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Is this what you want:

for FILE in `ls -tr`
do
  dostuffwith $FILE
done

87.114.147.43 (talk) 17:34, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, thanks! —Tamfang (talk) 19:37, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Or ls -tr | xargs -L1 dostuffwith 87.114.147.43 (talk) 17:36, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

I like the for version better because the loop also has a sleep that I didn't mention. —Tamfang (talk) 19:37, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

I like:

find -name $PATTERN -exec dostuffwith {} \;

As given, it's recursive down into subdirectories. SteveBaker (talk) 05:04, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Transferring email adresses from cableone.net to aim mail .com or yahoo.com

I have stared traveling and take a laptop with me. On this ,I can use win explorer to pull up some of my cableone email, but I cannot access my address book. I use "firefox" and "Google"for sending some emails and would like to have my addresses when traveling67.61.12.158 (talk) 18:27, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Convenient Contribs Lookup

Resolved

Does anyone know of a script that I can import into my default monotype.js theme that will give me a link to a user's contribs on the top tab bar? I'm currently using Twinkle and like all the extra tabs it adds for my convenience. I think a contribs tab would be super handy to see what people are up to when I am already on their user page. Thanks aszymanik speak! 19:13, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Don't you like the link of the left side for user contribs?

AHH!! I was once blind and now I can see! Hahah thanks! aszymanik speak! 01:59, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Audio on DVDs in Windows Media Player

I'm trying to watch a DVD on Windows Media Player on Windows XP (I've never done this on my PC before) but there's no audio, and I've been clicking around and reading the help pages for half an hour and can't for the life of me work out what's wrong. I've tried a few other DVDs and it's the same problem. Can anyone help? --AdamSommerton (talk) 20:12, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Does the audio of anything else work? Try listening to some music or go on youtube to see whether this is a problem with the DVDs or the computer overall. --BiT (talk) 20:34, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Everything else is fine. I'm listening to music right now on WMP. DVD quality is perfect but there's just no sound. --AdamSommerton (talk) 20:41, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Does your sound card have a separate volume for CDs and DVDs? The input volume for other devices is often muted or set to zero. Have a look at the volume settings in the control panel (or try right-click on the volume icon in the system tray first - there could be a separate "settings..." or "advanced..." option). Astronaut (talk) 02:45, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

If the audio for other stuff does work, try installing VideoLAN. DVD playback on XP depends on which DVD media decoder is installed (these can come from a variety of sources, and some can be of wonky quality); DVD playback in VideoLAN skips this, and has its own decoder; I've found it to be very reliable. 87.114.147.43 (talk) 20:41, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Sending e-mails and surfing the net anonymously

I use Linux, since it may matter in the latter question. I was wondering whether or how this is possible. First the e-mail part, is it possible to send e-mails without you using a specific address or even using a fake e-mail address that is randomly generated? (on a side-note, is it possible to send an e-mail via the terminal?) Also, what ways are there to surfing the net anonymously, I know about proxies but I'm not sure how to utilize them (I've tried Tor, but that's just for the web browser right?). How do you use proxies and is there any other way? Thank you. --BiT (talk) 20:15, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

For anonymous emails see anonymous remailer. 87.114.147.43 (talk) 20:39, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

You can set up numerous disposable email accounts with yahoo, gmail etc through tor, which as long as you send then while using tor the referrer ip address will be that of tor and not your own —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.75.188.83 (talk) 20:53, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes, you can send email from the linux command-line. You wanna guess what the command is? 'mail'. So:

steve@gnosis % mail

No mail for steve

steve@gnosis % mail obama@whitehouse.gov

Subject: Wow! This actually worked!

Hello! Lol! R U really teh prez?

^D

steve@gnosis %

Easy! :-) SteveBaker (talk) 04:36, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Ok cool (that was only a side-question) but what about anonymous e-mailing and surfing? I tried mixmaster (is it possible that it takes a long time to deliver the e-mail with mixmaster, because I sent several letters to my own address and I haven't gotten them) to send an anonymous e-mail after checking out the 'anonymous remailer' article but what about anonymous web surfing? Is there any other way of doing it besides being behind proxy and what's the best way to to it (use a proxy/something else) in Linux? --BiT (talk) 08:30, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Mixmaster is slow by design. Each intermediate node introduces a random delay to make it harder to statistically correlate incoming and outgoing messages, so messages can take hours or days to arrive. Tor is basically mixmaster without the delays (and with a two-way TCP connection instead of one-way message passing). It's plenty secure unless you have powerful enemies. If you want fast delivery or you want people to be able to reply to you (without revealing your identity) then webmail via Tor is the way to go. -- BenRG (talk) 23:43, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Tor isn't only for web browsing - it can anonymize almost everything that works over the internet. (It's a little slow though, and I'm not sure if it's enough anonymous for sending mail.) As for anonymous mail, I've heard Cypherpunk remailers work good - but you need to know some basics of using GnuPG (gpg). --grawity 18:21, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Using Tor for emails would not be a complete solution. You still need a server to connect to that will relay your emails. It would be no good to use Tor to completely anonomise yourself, and then have Outlook or Thunderbird log into your normal email server with your normal username and password.

Besides, Tor has technical features designed to PREVENT it from being used for emails. (Port 25 is blocked, for example.) I don't know how well that works. APL (talk) 21:37, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

iMovie HD

At my high school we're working on a video project. At school I've been using a version of iMovie HD-I assume it's version 6.X, but I'm not certain. I need to be able to edit the files at home at well, but my copy of iMovie (v. 7.1.1) is significantly inferior and refuses to recognize files from my iMovie HD project. I've tried downloading iMovie HD v.6.0.3 from http://support.apple.com/downloads/ to no avail, because it requires a copy of iMovie v 6.0.0. Does anyone know how/where I could get that? If I upgrade to the newest edition of iMovie, will it be compatible with files from iMovie HD 6? 63.229.210.11 (talk) 22:52, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Does anybody know if this site is reliable? http://en.kioskea.net/telecharger/telecharger-1238-imovie-hd 63.229.210.11 (talk) 03:25, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Vista, firefox

Resolved

Help! My screen has turned 90 degrees anticlockwise. The text now streams on its left side starting at the bottom. How do I undo this? Kittybrewster ☎ 23:34, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

That's usually a screen (display) setting. Right click on the screen background and go through the properties thing. Or buy a neckbrace. 87.114.147.43 (talk) 23:39, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Got it. Ctrl alt up-arrow. Kittybrewster ☎ 23:41, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Ports and Sockets, .logs and e-mail

I have two completely unrelated questions.

1. What is the difference between a socket and a port?

2. I wrote a .bat (in Windows Vista Home Premium x86-64 SP1) to clear all .bat .tmp and .log files from the system. The person who owns this computer (I was trying to help them out by opening up some disk space) uses Windows Mail. Now, this .bat will clear every accessible/permissible .log or .tmp from the system. Could this have deleted this persons e-mails? If so, how and why?

TIA, Ζρς ιβ' ^¡hábleme! 23:44, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

A socket is an open, ongoing communication channel (they're ephemeral - once the communication is over the socket is destroyed). A port is part of the address you connect to (often when establishing such a socket); the rest of the address is typically the IP address of the destination machine. 87.114.147.43 (talk) 23:49, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Strictly a socket is the local software object that describes such an ongoing communication, but people generally use the term socket for both, saying rather "I opened a socket to that http server" rather than "I created a socket object that corresponds with an ongoing TCP session to that http server". 87.114.147.43 (talk) 23:51, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Also a socket can correspond with communications over a variety of networks and protocols - you can get a TCP socket, a UDP socket, an IP (datagram) socket, or a Unix domain socket. Unix systems also allow you to create sockets that allow you to send and receive raw ethernet frames (SOCK_RAW). Ports are only found in TCP and UDP communications - there's no such concept in IP or ethernet. 87.114.147.43 (talk) 23:57, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Your .BAT question: it depends on the file (and directory, and access control list) permissions for the other guy's files; if those were set to allow you to delete these files, then your BAT file can have done so. Whether that's the case in your actual system depends on how it's set up. It's always wise to be very careful when writing recursive deletion scripts, as they'll find and delete files you didn't know about, but might well really miss when they're done. 87.114.147.43 (talk) 00:00, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

The files is located at C:\[file]. It is set to execute every time the computer starts up (I added it to startup in the registry). The person is set as an administrator on his computer. Why would the script delete e-mails? Are they .log or .tmp files? Ζρς ιβ' ^¡hábleme! 00:31, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Probably not, but if you don't know for sure (and need to ask here) then such a script is a very bad idea indeed. For example, what happens if someone makes a folder called "my.weekly.log"? 87.114.147.43 (talk) 00:44, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

You have no idea how un-tech savvy this person is. They couldn't change a file extension if it were required of them. They wouldn't create a .log or .tmp file. Also, I knew deleting all .log and .tmps wouldn't be system critical so taking out all of the cruft was worth the risk of losing something valuable. Ζρς ιβ' ^¡hábleme! 01:40, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

FYI, Windows Mail saves emails as .eml files in "C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail" Indeterminate (talk) 07:58, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I've gotta say - recursively removing '.bat' files is madness. Firstly, you have no idea what bat files may be system-critical or important to some piece of newly installed software - or just generally some small useful thing that someone deliberately installed or created from scratch. On the other hand, bat files are typically VERY short text files - and it's rare to find them more than a few kbytes long...on disk drives edging into the terabyte range - you're not saving 1% of your disk space - you're not even saving one part per MILLION of disk space...it's more like one part per billion. It's a quite utterly negligable benefit for an extremely high risk. So considering the risk/benefit ratio here - it's nothing short of crazy! SteveBaker (talk) 04:29, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Um, Steve, I think you misinterpreted what I said. I wrote a .bat to remove .tmp and .log files. 67.54.238.193 (talk) 21:50, 27 March 2009 (UTC) (this is Zrs_12 by the way)

Actually, on the first part, you said it would remove all .bat and .log files, but as you gave more detail, you said .tmp and .log. Thanks, Genius101^Guestbook 22:49, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Sorry about that. It's fixed now. 67.54.238.193 (talk) 03:14, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

March 27

A way to guard against identity theft?

Reading through Template talk:User committed identity, I realized it isn't what I was looking for. Namely, I would like to post on Wikipedia and elsewhere using my real-life name. However, what stops me from doing so is the risk that someone could impersonate me elsewhere on the Internet using my name and post ugly things under that name. Then any time someone googles my name, they would find those posts.

Are there any schemes that would ensure that postings using my name can be independently verified that they come from me and no one else?

My initial very crude idea would be a website where you could download a "scratch pad" with a list of one-time codes, similar to the transaction numbers used in online banking. Every code could be used only once. For every post I make anywhere on the Web, I would copy one code from the list into the post and then strike it off my list. A reader could then click on the code, which would lead to the repository and allow verification.

It sounds cumbersome and it is. My question is, would it be workable at all? Has it been implemented anywhere yet? And is there a less cumbersome method to accomplish the same goal?

There are other concerns besides identity theft when posting under a real-life name. For example, verification would not protect against stalkers harrassing me in real life, but I would be wiling to take that chance.--Goodmorningworld (talk) 02:35, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I believe you are looking for digital signatures, which are available in many public-key cryptography applications. – 74  03:58, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. Here is the first paragraph from public-key cryptography:

Public-key cryptography is a method for secret communication between two parties without requiring an initial exchange of secret keys. It can also be used to create digital signatures. Public key cryptography is a fundamental and widely used technology around the world, and enables secure transmission of information on the Internet.

I'm not sure this helps me as I wasn't looking for "secret communication between two parties" but a way to post anywhere in a public place – message board, discussion forum, Wikipedia – such that anyone reading my posting can easily verify that it came from me.--Goodmorningworld (talk) 04:14, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Digital signatures can do what you want, but it might be a lot of effort, and people who wanted to verify your posts would have to install the relevant software to do so. A lower-tech solution would be simply to maintain (on you Wikipedia user page, say, or some other personal page more under your control) a list of all the websites on which you post and the usernames you use, along with an explicit disclaimer of any posts made under your name on any other site. Algebraist 04:42, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. I just realized a major flaw in my idea. A reader could not know with certainty that a posting made under my name but without the special authentication code was in fact not made by me; perhaps I left out the code on purpose. In other words, even if I can ensure that no one but me can add an authentication traceabe only to me, I haven't solved the issue of getting the public to trust that I would never make postings without it. Of course this problem applies also to your otherwise useful low-tech idea. Hmmm…--Goodmorningworld (talk) 05:15, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I don't see how and why it matters that people can't verify posts made under your name but without your signature weren't made by you any more then they can know whether a post made under Nil Einne was actually made by you. People who trust you, will only trust posts made by you and signed. If you forget to sign, they will presume that it's not you or ask you in which case you can clarify with a signed post if you forgot. People will grow to trust your online identity if they feel there are reasons to trust it. They're obviously not going to presume they definitely know everything about you from your online identity just as knowing someone in real life doesn't mean you know everything about them, haven't you heard how many times people describe how criminals "seemed such a nice person". Nil Einne (talk) 11:07, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Just be anonymous —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.80.240.66 (talk) 10:55, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

My true name is widely scattered on the Net since about 1990. In 1996 when I went out of my way to annoy Krazy Kevin he put my address on a batch of spam, so I got four complaints. That's about it. —Tamfang (talk) 18:40, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Somebody who thinks badly of you because they saw your name attached to something ugly on the internet, is not going to bother checking any kind of technical authentication scheme. The scheme will be ignored no matter how secure it is. 75.62.6.87 (talk) 04:58, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

Nag, nag, nag

Resolved

 – Martinship (talk) 08:09, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

My Vista PC wants me to create some recovery disks. Should I use DVD-R or DVD+R or does it not really matter? Clarityfiend (talk) 04:51, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

The short answer is: "It doesn't matter". At one time +R and -R were not always available to all DVD writers, but today most (if not all) DVD writers will accept either disk. I would suggest getting decent quality DVD blanks for this particular chore though, rather than the cheapies. You never know when you may need to use them to restore a computer, or replace a HD - also, some PC's only allow 1 backup copy to be made. — Ched ~ ^(yes?)/_© 07:34, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Using Clonezilla, make as many backups as you want, and whenever, from wherever, and to wherever you want. The price is unobjectionable too. -- Hoary (talk) 07:48, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

I'd personally recommend clonezilla to clone your drive after a clean install. Once you do that, you always have a quick and easy process to revert to "start" without going though the hassle of doing a full install again. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 15:49, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

I usually use R-Drive image to make "images"/backups of my system 85.241.115.243 (talk) 03:07, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Our DVD+R and DVD-R articles seem to be more enthusiastic about DVD+R for alleged reliability reasons. Tempshill (talk) 20:48, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

JDBC

How do you set up JDBC to work with SQL Server 2008? Black Carrot (talk) 06:17, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

ISP

Hiya , I'm looking for a good isp to go with in the uk. i currently do not have the internet at home, or a bt landline phone. I've been looking at Tiscali broadband and it seems to offer what i want, especially their fair use policy of 100GB a month.

My question is, for a heavy internet downloader such as myself, what is the best isp to choose in england? Is it Tiscali? I don't want cable television or phone calls, just the internet. Thanks for your help and any suggestions you may have for me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.80.240.66 (talk) 09:08, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I use 'Freedom2surf' and find they are good, they offer it without a 12-month contract and the prices are quite reasonable: around £16 for unlimited 'up to 16mb' downloads (1mb uploads) or around £23 for their '50kbps download guaranteed, up to 16mb' product. Both of which state usage is 'unlimited'. Personally From a really quick scan I don't see anything in the T&Cs about a cap on that 'unlimited' but in reality i'd be amazed if there isn't. Honestly though 100gb? Do you just spend the entire month seeding/leeching on Torrent files? It always amazes me - what do people do that uses that much per month! I feel like a heavy internet user and I get through maybe 20gb a month. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 11:01, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I really do need 100GB a month. In one day alone I've downloaded that much, but that was on a public computer with an extremely fast connection. Since I'm not going to have access to that computer any more, I need an alternative home internet solution. The 100GB limit was the highest I could find in my searches, but any less will simply not be enough. Download speed is not so much of an issue as I can leave the computer on overnight. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.80.240.66 (talk) 12:00, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Out of interest...what do you download? I just can't imagine downloading that much stuff and actually ever using the stuff. Anyhoo as I noted Freedom2Surf don't offer an upper-limit on their account, you could probably contact them to see whether or not they have a 'fair use' policy. To be honest the amount of bandwidth you're using i'd expect is getting towards business-lines usage from a ISPs perspective. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 12:07, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

100GB a day? That seems almost implausible to me from a bandwidth standpoint of any public computer I've used (lets say you get the full 24 hours -- you're really getting a full 1MBps consistently? Much less in a less amount of time?). Are you sure you have your MB and GB right? --98.217.14.211 (talk) 16:01, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I've downloaded 70GB in a day, mostly from megaupload. But that was a one off and actually got me banned for a week :( Also I don't think OP wants 100GB a day, he was just giving that as an example. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 18:51, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Without going in to legalities and practicalities, I can easily see 100GB/day if you download several HD movies. Actually if you are talking about entire Bluray disks unrecompressed etc it may only be 3 or so. 100GB/month is definitely resonable without even going in to HD movies. Presuming you are referring to P2P and you are a fair downloader, that means only 50GB of content. Less when you consider overhead as well as the fact your likely to have general web browsing, you tube videos and perhaps also streaming TV, windows updates, driver updates et al. Let alone if you are a generous uploader (i.e. upload more then you download). 50GB/month isn't really that much particularly if there are multiple people involved. It may not be every month but having the option is likely to be useful Nil Einne (talk) 10:10, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

So does anyone have some suggestions of ISPs in England that would be good for me?? 194.80.240.66 (talk) 12:38, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

There is no reason for an abusive edit summary. The first volunteer who responded gave you a positive suggestion. BrainyBabe (talk) 12:53, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

No you misunderstand, that summary was meant for signbot who immediately jumped in before i had a chance to correct my mistake. Although I should not have cursed anyway, so I'm sorry for that. I'm thankful for the replies so far but i really would appreciate some sort of list of good isps to look through. Thanks for the help anyway [edit] See he did it again http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AReference_desk%2FComputing&diff=280220150&oldid=280220131 I've already ask him several times to stop and he won't. Anyway, again thanks for the replies 194.80.240.66 (talk) 14:53, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Signbot is a bot and does not understand your edit summaries. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 15:47, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Be might work for you. They have a fair usage limit but they're very cheap for their speeds. It MIGHT not be avalible in your area but you can check on their site. Also I have a friend who works for them and has told me they have hardly ever acted on the fair usage thing and they don't block ports or anything like that. Gunrun (talk) 10:44, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Black bar appearing either side of you tube videos!

I seem to be getting not one but two black bars, either side my youtube videos. I assume one is by youtube the other by windows movie maker, but how can I avoid one (or both!) of these black bars. When saving it with wmv I clicked Widescreen which said suitable for 16:9 which in turn is suitable for youtube (or so I was told)... I'd be really grateful for any help on the matter! ; - ) --217.227.121.117 (talk) 18:15, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

Youtube have recently (November, according to YouTube) changed the size of their video player to be in 16:9 format, rather than 4:3. The black bars allow 4:3 videos to be played in the 16:9-size player. Use 16:9 to avoid black bars. --h2g2bob (talk) 02:02, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

SQL optimisation

If I want to run a count, is "select count(col1) from table2 where col2='x'" the quickest way of doing things? I've now got access to a very large read-only table, and this seems to be grinding to a halt. Thanks! - Jarry1250 ^{(t, c)} 18:23, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

If there is no specific need to COUNT col1, you can COUNT(1) and that helps things a little bit (it doesn't have to retrieve any data for that, and assuming you are not worried about NULL fields it will count exactly the same way as putting a variable in there). But other than I think your options are limited unless you can do tweaks to the database itself, e.g. having indices of the right length and etc. --140.247.240.77 (talk) 20:16, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I agree with the above comments, provided you are only doing the single query shown. However, if you are also planning on doing a count for col2='y' and col2='z' and col2 = every other value present, then there are much faster ways to do that. StuRat (talk) 03:20, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

As .77 mentioned, an index on col2 is the first tool of efficiency. Not only does it quickly identify what records need to be accessed (eliminating the need to scan the hole table), but since the only column you are referencing is already in the index, the index functions as a covering index, and there is no need to access the main table at all. As an analogy, suppose you were given a list of 1,000,000 phone numbers and had to find out how many were owned by households with last name of Wales. That would be very time consuming. Now what if you had a phone book? Looking up Wales would allow you to significantly trim your list. Better yet, you don't even need to call any of the numbers because the phone book already tells you the household name. That's what a covering index gives you. If you wanted to count the number of Wales households that lived on Wikipedia lane, you would want a phone book (index) that had both name and address.

The other thing you can do is to ignore all database locks when executing the query. Do this only if you are not concerned with transient records that may be added, updated, or removed while the count is being performed. The syntax may be different for different database systems. For Microsoft SQL server, you can either execute the command "SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL READ UNCOMMITTED" before the query, or you can add "WITH(NOLOCK)" after the table name. Normally, database management systems are very careful to use various locking mechanisms to ensure the accuracy and consistency results. This generally means locking the records or tables being accessed so that nothing changes in the middle of a query. If some other process has a lock (such as an uncommitted insert) your query may wait. All this has some degree of lock-management overhead and causes delays (and in some cases deadlocks) when other processes are manipulating the same data. Disabling locking effectively says "I don't care what else is going on, just give me what you have as fast as you can, even if it's changing." It also prevents you from unnecessarily delaying other processes. For example, if you actually ended up calling 1,000,000 phone numbers, it would be unreasonable to demand that nobody change their phone number during your three-year survey.

One last note: Make sure that the data types are consistent in your query. For example if col2 is an integer and you search for the text string "42", the database server may have to convert every value checked to a string before comparing, making the indexes virtually useless. Better to search for the number 42. -- Tcncv (talk) 03:53, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Also, if the number of such count operations greatly outnumbers the number of writes to the table, you could consider using database triggers to keep a running total of the counts. --Sean 21:51, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

.net on mac

Will windows programs written in the .net framework run on a mac with Mono installed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 18:48, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

No takers? Oh well. I had a read of the mono forums and it seems exe's might work on macs but they'll be buggy as hell. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 18:44, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Electronics: Logic processing: How to feed D type flip flops from parallel ...

I am creating a complex logic system, part of that system takes an 8 bit boolean value stored in 8 D type flip flops.

The Q gate of each flip flop is linked to an AND gate. Each of the eight AND gates are also linked (in parallel) to another trigger (which i will refer to as a button), the AND gates output into the 'set' inputs of another 8 D types, which are aranged to count down.

The system is designed to take the 8 bit number, move it to the seperate D flip flops, and subtract another number from it, as the flip flops are aranged to count down, and then replace the origional 8 bit figure in the first 8 flip flops.

The flip flops count down as they are aranged as displayed in this image: http://www.softwareforeducation.com/electronics/notes/AS/ttl/binary-down-counter.gif

However, when I set the second set of flip flops, the set causes pin Q to be taken high in relevent flip flops, which is counted as a clock pulse by the next flip flop in the counting set, causing unwanted bit generaton.

I cannot fathom a way in which to stop this happening and retain the ability to reduce the value stored in the second set. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.45.1.217 (talk) 20:34, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm no expert and it's been a while since I looked at this stuff, but I can't think of a way to do this using D-type flip flops. However, I think you can make a working circuit using JK flip-flops. This article show how they can be wired up to form the count-up circuit. Count down would be similar. You can wire up additional logic to transfer data between the count-up and count-down circuits using the S and R inputs. (Extra credit if you can figure out how to wire a single set of JK flip-flops to perform both the count-up and count-down functions.) -- Tcncv (talk) 04:29, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

The following 2 responses were originally added to the WP:RD/S and were moved here as the question was cross posted. Nil Einne (talk) 10:01, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

I am not implying this is at all nonsense, but this is an awesome example of jargonese, so extreme, that to some people like me, it's impossible to tell whether it's nonsense or not, and that's why I'm copying this and going to use it as an example, and yes, I know this is a run on sentence. 173.52.36.16 (talk) 21:27, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I have only studied electronics at a quite elementary level, and I recognize all phrases used, so it is not particularly extreme. Also, that is not a run-on sentence. However, if you had removed any "and" after the commas, then it had been a run-on sentence. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 10:45, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

(The terms that the OP uses are comprehensible to any electronic designer.) You mention 16 flip-flops and you show a diagram of 3 flip-flops connected as a ripple-through binary counter. In the counter the S and R (set and reset) inputs can overide the other inputs (D and CLK) so you can force the counter to any state you want by controlling all the S and R's You will need some gates and inverters to drive high only the right S and R's. Catalogs of standard logic integrated circuits are a source of diagrams of many varieties of presettable counters, which seems to be what you want to construct. Cuddlyable3 (talk) 21:46, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I have removed your post to the science desk. Please do not post the same question in two different places. If you are unsure which desk is the best, just choose one at random or whatever Nil Einne (talk) 10:01, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

March 28

SolidWorks

Applying a cosmetic thread to a shaft part, should it be visible as such ? Swactive (talk) 04:03, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

I don't know about SolidWorks, but in solid modeling in general, you would need to add the thread material with a union, or remove material with a subtraction. It would be more complicated if you needed to do both to create the thread (in that case you might do better to start with a smooth shaft which is either smaller than the entire thread or larger than the entire thread, so a single union or subtraction can do the whole job). Now, as for visibility, I would expect it to show unless one of the following applies:

1) You are in a simplified display mode that doesn't show that level of detail.

2) It's an internal thread and can't be seen from your current point of view. This would also depend on the display mode. A hidden line removal view, for example, would hide those threads when viewed from the far side. StuRat (talk) 04:57, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Dispose and Finalize

In the .NET Framework many classes have a Dispose method but do not have a finalizer or their finalizer does not call Dispose. This is especially true for GUI components like Button or MenuItem. Programmers should remember to free resources by calling the Dispose method, but if they forget the resources would be leaked. Why do GUI components not implement a finalizer? Thanks in advance. --wj32 ^t/c 06:04, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

A finalizer shouldn't be used to free resources, because an object might never be finalized, or even if it does, it might be a long time until it does. --76.167.241.45 (talk) 06:42, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

No. Programmers should always call the Dispose method, but if they forget there will be a resource leak. Even Microsoft says [4]:

Note that even when you provide explicit control by way of Dispose, you should provide implicit cleanup using the Finalize method. Finalize provides a backup to prevent resources from permanently leaking if the programmer fails to call Dispose.

The problem is that Microsoft does not follow its own guidelines; they don't implement finalizers for most GUI components. --wj32 ^t/c 07:24, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

I've never understood why Java and friends go to all the trouble of providing nice garbage collection but don't make it deterministic so you can do proper resource management with RAII. It's like they consider RAM to be the only garbage that matters. --Sean 14:44, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

To make finalization deterministic, the runtime environment either would have to run the garbage collector nearly every time a reference was reassigned or went out of scope, or would have to implement some form of reference counting. Frequent execution of the garbage collector would lead to unacceptable performance. Reference counting was used successfully in Visual Basic 6 and earlier, but it has its limitations. It does not detect inaccessible objects that mutually reference each other (e.g., A references B and B references A), and it does not work well in a multithreaded environment due to the need for mutex locks when accessing the counters. These were some of the primary reasons Microsoft used to justify the switch to garbage collection in .Net. See Reference counting#Advantages and disadvantages. The end result is that if we want deterministic freeing of resources in a garbage collection environment, we are stuck with manually tracking the object's lifetime using the dispose pattern. The advantage is that if we fail or elect not to do so, the resources will eventually be freed up. -- Tcncv (talk) 05:26, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Flash and Java on 64-bit Linux

Flash and Java plug-ins do not load for me on Firefox. Tonight I started Firefox from the command line and noticed the following output, which doesn't normally appear when I start from a K-menu or quick-launch icon:

LoadPlugin: failed to initialize shared library /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so [/usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32]

LoadPlugin: failed to initialize shared library /usr/java/jre1.6.0_12/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so [/usr/java/jre1.6.0_12/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32]

LoadPlugin: failed to initialize shared library /usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins/libflashplayer.so [/usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins/libflashplayer.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32]

LoadPlugin: failed to initialize shared library /usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so [/usr/lib/adobe-flashplugin/libflashplayer.so: wrong ELF class: ELFCLASS32]

How do I fix this error? I'm using the 64-bit version of Kubuntu 8.04, and my processor is a Core 2 Duo, so I suspect I need to set the plug-ins to run in a backward compatibility mode. These are closed-source plug-ins of which no 64-bit version exists. NeonMerlin 07:15, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

If really no 64-bit versions for those plugins exist, then you would have to use a 32-bit version of your browser to use those plugins (you can install 32-bit programs in a 64-bit system, you know). However, this is not the case for those plugins. You can download the 64-bit Flash plugin for Linux here. And for Java, if you get the x64 version of Sun JRE (Java Runtime Environment) 6u12 or later, it will have a Java plugin. Alternately, other open-source implementations of Java like IcedTea also have plugins. --76.167.241.45 (talk) 07:31, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

It looks like those plugins are 32-bit. --wj32 ^t/c 07:42, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

I think the OP already knows that they are 32-bit, as he says "of which no 64-bit version exists." I guess the thing he needs to know is that 32-bit plugins cannot be used with 64-bit browsers; they have to be the same number of bits. --76.167.241.45 (talk) 18:29, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

The solution is to install the 32-bit firefox, which works fine on 64-bit linux and runs the 32-bit plugins without a problem. If we are lucky, there will be 64-bit plugins around the time 256-bit computing is standard. Well, if we are really lucky, nobody will be stupid enough to make websites that depend on flash and pdf by then. -- kainaw™ 22:00, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

I have 64 bit Firefox - and Flash and Java are working just fine. The Firefox Help/About... window says:

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux x86_64; en-US; rv:1.9.0.1) Gecko/2008070400 SUSE/3.0.1-0.1 Firefox/3.0.1

The plugins I have:

• GCJ Web Browser Plugin (using IcedTea) 1.2
• Helix DNA Plugin: RealPlayer GD Plugin-compatible version 0.4.0.626
• Shockwave Flash 9.0 r124
• Shockwave Flash 8.0 r99. Gnash 0.8.2, the GNU Flash Player

Before there were 64bit plugins available, I used to use NSPluginWrapper to use the 32 bit plugins. Didn't work for Java, but it did work for Flash just fine. I suggest using the 64 bit plugins though, if they're available. -- JSBillings 01:11, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Wow! Adobe released an alpha version of the 64-bit flash player on Feb 24. That is utterly amazing. I gave up on them well over a year ago. At this rate, we'll likely see a beta version by 2011 and a full-functioning version by 2013. I know that is a long time, but it is a lot faster than many other companies provide support for Linux. -- kainaw™ 21:36, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

What poor support for Linux? There's still no 64 bit Java plugin (there is a JRE but it doesn't have a plugin AFAIK) nor 64 bit Flash plugin for 64 bit Windows browsers (either IE or Firefox) as far as I am aware. :-P Nil Einne (talk) 00:43, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Installing Microsoft Office without a CD/DVD drive

My friend has bought a new netbook (an Advent with Windows XP) to replace their old, broken laptop. They now want to install Microsoft Office but the netbook doesn't have a CD/DVD drive. Is it possible to copy the contents of their MS Office install disk onto a USB stick and install it from there? Astronaut (talk) 11:50, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Safest approach might be to make an ISO of the CD, put that on the USB stick, then mount that with a drive emulator... --98.217.14.211 (talk) 13:57, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Astronaut, I think you can do that. I know for a fact that you can do that with the enterprise version of Office, but I am not sure with any other versions. Try it and let us know. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 15:40, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

You can do it easily - there is no CD-check in any version of MS Office, so you can install it from CD- or DVD-drive, flash drive, over network or even from your hard disk drive. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.99.216.135 (talk) 16:27, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

IIT

Moved from Miscellaneous

I am doing my third year Bachelors in technology in mechanical engineering in some crappy college in Hyderabad,India.I have a lot of technological aptitude but due to my low thinking nature and laziness I couldn't make it to Indian Institute of technology.Now my Btech aggregate may be about 50%.I may at the most raise it to 65% by the time I complete my fourth year.I dearly want to work hard for GATE and get into IIT and do my MTech in IC engines.But will IIT accept a candidate with such a low score in BTech even if I pass GATE with an excellent score.Will it sideline me for a candidate with a good BTech score and a good GATE score? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.63.109.14 (talk) 11:12, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

To help you out, yes it is possible, I think (but I am not sure 100%). But why do you want to go to IIT anyway. There are far better universities in the world doing far better research in IC engines. You can try to go to other country and do research (Masters) in a better university. Try to do some good projects. It might help. - DSachan (talk) 23:54, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

This was probably best left at Misc IMHO or perhaps moved to Humanities. But regardless, although I don't know how difficult it is to get in to IIT I would presume it would be rather difficult to get in to these 'far better universities with far better research research in IC engines', particularly given that for a foreign student (as I would presume is the case), the OP would almost definitely want a scholarship (else it would be rather expensive) and scholarships for Masters are usually hard to come by anyway. I'm not saying to the OP it is hopeless, rather that I wouldn't expect too much from other universities and shouldn't set your sights too high, unless you're capable of self-financing. An alternative would be to try and work in the field first before you start off you Masters since that way you would have something else other then your grades Nil Einne (talk) 00:51, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

TRS vs TS jacks for headphones and amplifiers

I was checking out some guitar headphone amps and noticed that all of them have TS, rather than TRS connectors. Is it that headphones having 1/4" TRS connectors do not work with amplifiers and musical instruments, only ones having TS connectors do? An example of the scenario I would face would be to connect a headphone having a TRS connector (not a headphone amp) to my guitar amplifier's emulated headphones jack. Would this headphone work? --Leif edling (talk) 15:21, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

• Read TRS connector; it discusses such mismatches. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 19:16, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Root access for brain in a vat

If I'm a brain in a vat connected to a computer, then how do I gain root access to this computer and open a command-line interface? NeonMerlin 17:37, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Accessing data files ... one moment please .... //full stop. We require more input to complete your request. Please specify any peripheral devices available to you. Please specify connection mode. Please specify the desired operating system you wish to access. You may wish to consult our CLTO (Command Line Technical Officer). BIOS unavailable at this time. Assimilation may not be possible without further input. /root function disabled /root access denied - Terminating connection ..... — Ched ~ ^(yes?)/_© 18:44, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

You'd need a way to send data to the computer from the brain. I imagine something like Morse code would be doable today. That is, if the brain thought a certain thing, like "raise my (now absent) right leg", it would be detected by an electrode and register a "dot". If they try to raise their left leg, it's a "dash". Using this method the brain could send Morse code signals to the computer to get it to do what the brain wants. Perhaps we could then improve on this system and recognize 128 different signals the brain can send, and we would then have a 7-bit ASCII code, which would be just like typing at the keyboard. StuRat (talk) 23:19, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

• by the way .. I love your user page Neon - absolutely great work! :) — Ched ~ ^(yes?)/_© 00:05, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

i would like my brian to control the computer, i imagin i could surf the intert super fast and become super intelligent —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.80.240.66 (talk) 08:06, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

There has been a very small amount of work done in this direction - Kevin Warwick at the Reading University in the UK has actually gone so far as to have simple neural implants performed on himself. He has the means to control simple external devices using his neural system and the ability to 'feel' external impulses supplied by a computer. When the computer activates the implant, he feels a tingling feeling run up and down his fingers. When he thinks about moving his hand - the computer can register that and do pretty much any simple control task. He demonstrated this by operating a robot hand somewhere in the USA from his lab in the UK over the internet. In principle this would enable him to do what you're thinking of - but right now, the best you'd get would be some kind of low speed 'morse-code' type of interface. Far from becoming super-fast or super-intelligent - it's just a very slow replacement for mouse and keyboard. But we ARE getting there - and probably in 20 to 30 years we'll have something a bit more dramatic and useful. SteveBaker (talk) 17:44, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Though, frankly, with enough experience with a keyboard and mouse-like device, one can already surf pretty dang fast. As for super-intelligent... people do not seem to grow any more intelligent just because they can look stuff up quicker. Superficially they can appear to know more facts, but that's about it... intelligence is about raw processing. You probably can't upgrade that... --98.217.14.211 (talk) 00:02, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Series of tubes

How many tubes are in a typical user's own personal internets, if they don't have a website number? 209.42.106.46 (talk) 17:39, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm sorry, 'Senator' Stevens, you should do your own homework... uhh, legislative research... Freedomlinux (talk) 19:04, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

over 9000 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 21:50, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

WHAT 9000?! --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 00:03, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Usually they at least have an IP number of 127.0.0.1: the loopback, otherwise they could have uninstalled tcp/ip, it could be done on windows 98 if there was no network adapter. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:14, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

I can has moar trux plz? --70.54.192.144 (talk) 08:55, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

Random intractable all-browser failure on non-infected machine

I have spent many hours looking on forums for a solution, but to no avail. After about three years of smooth functioning, my T5010 eMachine suddenly developed this problem: After a period of time, all browsers will fail to bring up websites. Opening and closing a few programs will sometimes get browser functionality temporarily. Changing to a different browser does not help. Ultimately, rebooting is necessary. This is especially likely to happen when I view media, including YouTube video, or PDF files, and especially quickly if I bring up Windows Media Player.

At the same time, there is never any problem with FTP, Skype, or IM. There is no Internet connection problem.

The typical solutions (reboot the router, scan for infections) have had no effect. I have seen discussions of DNS resolution problems, but the solutions I've seen involve working with registry entries that don't match my hierarchy. There is no other problem on my machine, and no other problem with any browsers (e.g., they do not freeze or lose any options). I'm using Google Chrome and IE8 currently. I installed Cacheman on the machine some time prior to this happening, but they say there are no reports of problems like this. Uninstalling did not help. I have reinstalled it.

Can anyone point me to a resolution to this kind of problem?

Thanks for any ideas!76.212.141.50 (talk) 19:26, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

If the problem only affects your web browsers, but not other internet programs, something may be causing problems with port 80 connections. Consider checking firewalls or security settings on your computer or router. --Bavi H (talk) 01:38, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Well, first you should probably narrow down whether it's a DNS problem or an HTTP problem. When you type in a website address that you haven't visited lately, does it fail immediately, or does it spend a while trying to connect before failing? If it fails immediately, it's probably a DNS problem. As a first step, I'd try changing your DNS servers in the IPv4 settings on your network connection. On the other hand, if the browser takes a while before it fails to display the website, then you probably have an HTTP connectivity problem, where your http traffic is being dropped for some reason. If this is the case, it's possible that https connections might still work. Try going to https://mail.google.com (or another https site you know) and see if that works.

I have to say, this probably won't be an easy problem to figure out. There's no reason I can think of that your media programs should break your web browsers. It could end up being a corrupted .dll, which you'd never be able to figure out without reinstalling everything on your computer. Still, don't give up, maybe it'll be something easy to fix. Indeterminate (talk) 01:59, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Uninstall any firewall software, then from the run window:

• netsh winsock reset catalog

Reboot. 24.76.160.236 (talk) 06:36, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Uninstalling the firewall is generally a bad idea. --h2g2bob (talk) 16:12, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the ideas. Based on your comments and what's happening, then it appears to be a DNS or DLL problem. I tried DNS fixes without result. So maybe I'll be reformatting the HD. But does this effect ever come from Internet providers squeezing bandwith when users download a lot of video or other media? I was watching a lot of YouTube and DemocracyNow, etc.76.192.217.35 (talk) 19:02, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

March 29

Out-of-office auto-replies from people I've never emailed

Lately I've been receiving a lot of out-of-office auto-replies from people I've never emailed. I also receive tons of spam, btw, the spam folder contained more than 10,000 messages a while ago. I use a gmail account, and Windows XP most of the time, but have a couple of linux distros installed as well. Apart from these auto-replies, I have no reason to believe that my PC is malware-infested. Ad-aware and AVG report no problems. I've checked some of the auto-replies (from linux), and they appear to be genuine. So my question is, what's going on? Are spammers sending emails that appear to come from my email address? And if so, is there any benefit in using a real email address for spamming instead of a nonsense one? --NorwegianBlue ^talk 12:06, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes, spammers are faking your address on their emails. They probably do find some advantage in using a real address, but they also know that the backscatter (undeliverables, out-of-office) goes back to a real address (you), and you're probably more likely to read an undeliverable-bounce, as you'd worry that it's a genuine one. To my mind email systems should be configured not to quote any (or at most a line or two) of an undeliverable message when bouncing it, but some quote the whole thing (which means they're essentially acting as unwitting spam relays). 87.114.147.43 (talk) 12:31, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

There is a principle at the heart of this - which is that while email is not a reliable delivery mechanism. it shouldn't ever irretrievably lose a message. So it bounces the entire message back to you in order that you may re-send it without having to retype it. Of course that's a rather ancient principle - from back when people used the command-line 'mail' program in UNIX. These days, most (if not all) mail clients keep copies of outgoing mail - so (in principle) it could work as you suggest. However, if you are suggesting a new system, something with end-to-end permissions would be better - where in order to send someone a message, you first have to obtain revokable permission to do so (eg via a web site). SteveBaker (talk) 15:18, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

A truly random "From" email address is very unlikely to be on a recipient's whitelist, and many people would potentially disregard random strings of characters (humans like to discern meaning); an actual person's email address is very slightly more likely to be whitelisted and conveniently avoids the "random nonsense filter" mentioned above. The reality is that it costs spammers almost nothing to use your email address in the "From" line, so from their perspective even a minute gain is worth it (this being an industry that defines a 1% conversion rate as "successful"). – 74  15:56, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Resolved

Thanks, everyone! I did suspect it was like that, but it's nice to get my suspicion confirmed. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 17:27, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Sending SMS via the computer.

Cheers. I got a Motorola Razr V3xx here, and a MacBook with Bluetooth. I want to send SMS from my computer, via the phone, to the number i specify. I have goSerial installed (which let's me connect and send AT-commands to my phone), as well as the ruby lib's to make this automatic later on. When I understand how to.

I know there is this post ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorola_Phone_AT_Commands ) about how to do it, but it just won't work. I need to see a real example, perhaps I'm doing it wrong.

Thanks in advance for help. 81.231.234.120 (talk) 15:43, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Screen savers and tooltips don't work.

I have a Dell Inspiron 1501 running Windows Vista Home Basic. For several months, the screen saver has not come on and tool tips will not work on several programs (most notably Windows Live Messenger and Pidgin, where they show up for about half a second before disappearing, and Opera, where they don't work at all). A few days ago, both of these things randomly started working again. I have no idea what changed, and today, neither the screen saver nor tooltips work. I think it has to be a problem with the keyboard or touchpad, because even when I just click "preview" on the screen saver, it disappears immediately. But when a USB mouse is plugged in (and the touchpad is therefore disabled), the same thing happens, so that just leaves the keyboard or something else really weird. Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be and how to fix it? I really don't want to reinstall Windows, but having the tooltips and screen saver back for a couple of days made me realize how much I missed them. 99.245.16.164 (talk) 17:54, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

PC slowing down

I'm sure this will sound familiar to a lot of you and thought you might have some advice for the layman. My old PC was really slow by the time I got rid of it and when I got this new one I was happy with the way it just seemed to start up nice and quick and easy. But now I've had it for a couple of years, it seems to be getting really slow. I'm mainly talking about start up and login. Actual operation is not too bad, unless it's performing several tasks.

i think ccleaner will be one best option for ur problem.try this link to download this free software [5] also try start-run-%temp% &delete all unwanted temporory files.

can my laptop write to dvds/cds

my laptop says it has "Variable speed Blu-ray Disc reader and CD/DVD multidrive" does this mean i can write to dvds and cds? or no?--Zcrazy0 (talk) 21:22, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Usually "multidrive" or "superdrive" means it can both read and write CDs and DVDs. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 21:30, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

ah sweet thanks! i wasnt given a burning program though, so i guess ill have to get one myself and try.--Zcrazy0 (talk) 21:32, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Try InfraRecorder. 87.114.147.43 (talk) 21:41, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Windows (at least XP and Vista) can burn CDs and DVDs for you. (If you want more options, however, then you need another application.) --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 00:09, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Hibernate

As far as I can tell when a computer is put into hibernate it doesn't use any power at all; everything in memory is put onto the hdd and the computer turns off completely. Hibernate, however, also allows the computer to start up much quicker than if you were to shut down. So my question is are there any reasons why you wouldn't/shouldn't just put your pc into hibernate instead of shutting down? (Apart from, of course, certain times when shutting down really is needed) --212.120.248.41 (talk) 22:40, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

You are correct in your understanding on the way hibernate works and I see no disadvantage to using it as your normal power off mode. A big advantage is that you can leave your documents and applications open and running, although as a precaution I would suggest saving any work in progress. However, if you are using Microsoft Windows, it is also advantageous to occasionally do a full shutdown and restart. Windows has a reputation for not being a stable platform for long term continuous activity, except in limited one-application server type environments, so an occasional clean slate is good. I don't think this is needed for Linux or the Mac. -- Tcncv (talk)

So more reasons to switch OS? I've been quite fed up with how slow my computer has been lately (Windows XP, SP3), to the point I start cursing out Bill Gates each time it slows down or freezes on me. --Whip it! ^{Now whip it good!} 23:49, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

That comment was slightly POV. To "compensate", I can tell you that my Windows Vista PC is almost never shut down, and it always works fine and responds fast. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 00:11, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

This already was discussed right here. You have to reboot for updates and driver installs, otherwise it shouldn't matter. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 04:10, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

I have no malware or any suspicious software on my computer (at least that's what my anti-virus software and Spybot tell me) and everything is up-to-date. --Whip it! ^{Now whip it good!} 06:24, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

I have a Macbook and when it isn't being used it's just closed, I can't remember the last time I turned it off. You open it and it works - sometimes it's a little sluggish for a few seconds, but a good 95% of the time it just gets back on with being a great little laptop. To be fair I don't ask a huge deal from what is quite a powerful machine (just internet browsing, music storage, photo editing and some basic word-processing/spreadsheets). It must take up power being in sleep-mode though as the battery does drain a couple of % overnight. ny156uk (talk) 21:51, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

March 30

What's the most recommended ANSI/ISO C++ compiler for Windows Vista?

I'm a beginner C++ developer, I work on Windows Vista but I need to develop cross-platform application which compiler do you recommend for me?.. Are there free ones? thanks in advance Supersonic8 (talk) 00:05, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

I suspect there are more, but two come to mind.

• Microsoft Visual Studio Express – Although well known for developing GUI and web applications, it can also be used to develop console applications.
• The GNU Compiler Collection - This provides command line compile capabilities, but I believe there exist integrated development environments that can be used with GCC. Perhaps someone else can add recommendations.

I believe both of these compilers support various extensions to the ANSI/ISO C++ standard, but these can be disabled and standard compliance can be enforced with an option. Also, a few years back, I don't think any available compilers were 100% standard compliant, but the shortcomings involved some of the very technical implementation details for templates, partial specialization, and separate compilation. This may no longer be the case, but if it is, I suspect you will not notice the difference at the introductory or intermediate programming level. -- Tcncv (talk) 02:44, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

While I'm sure MSVC's strict-standards mode is fine, you might enjoy being able to use the exact same compiler on all your platforms, which you can probably do with GCC, but not MSVC. Also, you'll want to stay away from single-platform APIs and use Boost or Template:Websearch or some other cross-platform library. --Sean 13:11, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

As mentioned, for cross-platform, I suggest GCC. If by "cross-platform" you mean "Windows Vista and Windows XP", then I suggest using Microsoft's compiler since it is optimized for Windows. -- kainaw™ 15:15, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

MSVC is pretty much Windows/XBox-only. If you really want cross-platform (by which I mean being able to compile everything from Windows to Linux to MacOS to OLPC to Sun workstations to Nintendo DS/GameBoy to Arduino to iPhone to AndroidPhone to Lego robots) - then GCC really is the only game in town...and it's free. If you plan to use is under Windows - I recommend downloading the 'CygWin' package - which includes a GCC setup. If you plan to use Linux - then GCC is likely to be installed already. SteveBaker (talk) 02:51, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Does GCC support compiling apps as native Windows x64 yet? Nil Einne (talk) 06:05, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

I have no clue - from a quick search - I don't think so. But I don't think I've seen an actual, practical, working Windows machine running x64 yet! I mean - they obviously exist - but every Windows system I ever encounter is 32 bit. GCC certainly can compile 64 bit binaries (I've been running 64 bit Linux exclusively at home for a couple of years now - and GCC compiles every line of code for that without any problems) - but whether there is some Windows interface issues in 64 bit, I don't know. Certainly Cygwin doesn't run natively in 64 bit Windows yet - it has to use 32 bit "WOW" emulation. But whether you could compile for a 64 bit Windows target using cross-compilation under Linux or 32 bit Windows machine or something, I have absolutely no idea. SteveBaker (talk) 03:26, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

GCC will compile to x86-64 [6] [7] but not Itanium. Dog Day Today (talk) 10:10, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

InternetCalls Software

I'm referring to internetcalls; the software where you pay money and can call some countries real cheap and others free. You can store phone numbers in this software so its just a matter of clicking the green phone once the desired phone number is on display. Once the green phone is clicked, the number on display is called; the other party will then respond. After thirty seconds, I want to disconnect the phone by clicking the red phone button (which is next to the green phone so you have to move your mouse). Then, within a short time, I again want to move my mouse to the green phone and call the number. Now the recipients are a real angry bunch so if there is no voice by the first call, the phone is kept engaged on their side. So if the green phone button is clicked again, you will get a engaged tone. Ensure that within 30 seconds of the call, you disconnect by moving the mouse to the red phone button and clicking it. Repeat this for the whole day. The recipients will eventually un-engage their phone (within an hour) so since you are continually calling them, they will eventually un-engage their phone and receive the call - they will then engage their phone again.

Now this is a lot of work - to spend the whole day calling again and again. Is it possible to design something, so the procedure just designed happens automatically? I'm just interested to know whether it is possible to get the computer to do this automatically. I mean, I could have some device which presses the mouse so that the green button is pressed and the call continues - but remember, I want to call and disconnect the phone within 30 seconds of the call (to minimise money loss). Therefore, the mouse would have to move to the red phone button and back but you've also got to keep the timing in mind - the mouse has to move back and forth every 30 seconds. Does anyone know of some intelligent method to achieve it (not that I want to do it, of course, but it is some strange idea that I thought off and wondered whether it could work). No human can be at the computer. Thanks for the help and great respect for anyone who can think of a practical way to achieve this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.161.138.117 (talk) 05:07, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Could someone please inform me on this? I was interested to know if such a thing could be done (i.e basically moving and clicking the mouse automatically). I just gave an example from a particular source. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.161.138.117 (talk) 09:53, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes, it's doable. A practical solution for this wouldn't involve the mouse at all -- it'd be accomplished with a script program. And for the record, it'd be an idiotic crime, as tracking down the culprit wouldn't be very difficult -- you'd pretty much be guaranteed to get caught. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 10:05, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. As I said, I don't plan to do it, but just wondered whether such a prank could be accomplished. By the way, how could you do this using a script program? (What is a script program?). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.161.138.117 (talk) 10:45, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

In this context, a script program is basically a list of commands for a specific piece of software. In this instance, the commands would be along the lines of "dial number, wait until answer, disconnect, start the script all over again after thirty seconds". I believe Skype supports scripts, for example. In practice, the script would need to be more complex than that, of course, but you get the idea. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 12:45, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

(digressing discussion removed – 74  16:08, 31 March 2009 (UTC))

convert text to numbers

Is there any formula or facility to convert number in figures to number in words(ie. 112 should be converted to one hundred and twelve)in word or excel?. (There is a formula to convert normal numbers to roman numbers in excel.) thank you 124.43.42.154 (talk) 06:59, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

There's a site here (http://www.ozgrid.com/VBA/CurrencyToWords.htm) that shows you how through a bit of code, depends on how good you are at editing code but seems simple enough 194.221.133.226 (talk) 08:33, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

The trick is to work backwards. Start with an easier number: 123. Your output begins as "". The last 3 becomes "three". Then, the 2 is in the tens place, so you add "twenty" to make it all "twenty three". Then, the 1 is in the hundreds place, so you add "one hundred" to make it "one hundred twenty three". There are special cases to account for, such as your example of 112. Initially, the 2 will make your output "two". When you see the 1 in the tens place, you don't append to the output, you overwrite it with "twelve". Then, add "one hundred" to it to make "one hundred twelve". -- kainaw™ 14:15, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

I forgot to mention the use of functions in this. Consider 123456. After doing 456, you will have "four hundred fifty six". Now, you have 123 to work with. The function that you used to turn 456 into text is called again with 123. It will return "one hundred twenty three". You stick "thousand" on the end of that and append it to your output to get "one hundred twenty three thousand four hundred fifty six". -- kainaw™ 14:17, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Basically - you have to get it to work reliably for 1, 2 or 3 digits - then chop your number into groups of three (starting at the right) then insert the appropriate "trillion"/"billion"/"million"/"thousand" words between each group. However, if you want to get fancy, you can turn 1,300 into either "one thousand, three hundred" or - if you are clever: "thirteen-hundred". SteveBaker (talk) 02:40, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Help me with some download things?

I am at college and behind a proxy that does not allow me to download executables, but my personal hard drive (we get one each to use) has a virus on it which Sophos (the colleges chosen virus protection) cannot remove. I would like to download Hijack This ( [8] ) and Spybot Search and Destroy ( [9] ) to figure out what is causing it, but as I previously mentioned I cannot download exe files. I can however run them just fine and have full admin rights on the OS. Could someone please help me by downloading these two programs, putting them in a zip file (I don't have winrar), renaming the zip file, and uploading them to somewhere like Mediafire. This would be much appreceated. Gunrun (talk) 08:59, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

With our (stupid) school proxy I can simply append ?random-stuff-goes-here to the URL. As you know those are treated as parameters and are ignored by the web server (as far as I'm concerned). --wj32 ^t/c 09:45, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

OK, here's HijackThis: [10] --wj32 ^t/c 09:47, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Much thanks Wj32. Worked like a charm although it didn't turn up anything out of the ordinary, which is worrying, as I'm almost certain I DO have a virus or something. Gunrun (talk) 10:06, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

In case you need Spybot: [11] (I couldn't use Mediafire for some reason). I'm also curious as to why HijackThis would help you. If you have a virus on your removable hard drive HijackThis wouldn't find anything because it only scans the local system configuration. Plus, it's an anti-spyware tool, not an anti-virus tool. --wj32 ^t/c 10:11, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

It's not a removable hard drive. I have a drive with its own OS on it, in a caddy that I place in the front of the PC. However I forgot to take the drive out one day and someone else used the PC. I use the word Virus to just mean something I don't want on the computer, adware, virus, worm, or spyware. But thankyou for Spybot. If I can't find this I will borrow a teachers install of AVG or something, but since a teacher isn't here right now I figure I'd try this first. Gunrun (talk) 10:23, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

To use the word "virus" to refer in general to any sort of threat can cause confusion. Use the term malware instead. :)--Xp54321 ^{(Hello! • Contribs)} 18:28, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

monochrome TV transmitter and reciever

please help me with the block diagram and description of a monochrome TV transmitter and reciever —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.206.32.67 (talk) 12:33, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

This looks a hell of a lot like a homework questions. If so, the correct answer is based heavily on how much detail the teacher expects. Just saying "block diagram" isn't helpful. Do you need to explain exactly how the picture is interlaced? Do you need to explain how the sync is added? Do you need to discuss the tuner on the receiver side? Because it is such a general question, I have to assume the textbook and class lecture provided the boundaries for the question. -- kainaw™ 14:11, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

transmitter
(monochrome TV)

– radio waves →

receiver

    – 74  16:58, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

This same question was asked in the science desk and in the help desk. Please don't do that Nil Einne (talk) 04:56, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

capital "I" in MS Word 2007

hi,

basically when I type an "I" on MS word 2007 on vista it doesn't go straight to a capital "I" when I press space. How do I fix it?

thanks, --84.69.32.176 (talk) 18:24, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Click the Office logo in the top-left of the window > Word Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect options... > Replace i with I > Add > OK > OK — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 18:29, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

You should not need to do this manually (although it should work fine). Perhaps you simply has changed your language from English to another language? "i" is only replaced by "I" if the current text is in English. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 19:23, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

remote desktop

I need some advice on setting up a remote desktop system. I have a computer at home which I would like to be able to control via the internet from another computer. I would like to be able to see and run programs just as I would if I were at home. How can I go about this? My home computer has a dynamic ip address, and the second computer from which I would be controlling the first does not have administrate rights, if that makes any difference. Thank you for your help —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 19:20, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

VNC seems to be the first choice for Windows and Linux. Accessing your home computer remotely is complicated by the dynamic IP address, but a services like DynDNS gives us a useful target for remote access. My fave VNC client for Windows is (TightVNC, but I stick to static IPs and have not used DynDNS. / edg ☺ ☭ 19:50, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Comparison of remote desktop software might be useful. I have used RealVNC and switched to the Remote Desktop feature of Windows for reasons that had nothing to do with performance. They're both excellent. You'll have to open some holes in your router firewall to let yourself in. Tempshill (talk) 20:30, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Simple OSS

Through reading books I have learned the basics of C and C++ however there's only so much I can learn from books and I would therefore like to start looking at open source code to learn good programming practices etc. However another problem is finding an open source project which is isn't too complicated for me to understand at this point. So can anyone tell me about any relatively simple open source software I can look into? Thanks --212.120.248.41 (talk) 19:45, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

What you actually need to do is start writing code. That is the only way to learn; you will never learn by studying it (whether it's in books or reading source code). You can get a free version of Visual C++ at this link (or Visual C#, which I would recommend for beginners). Tempshill (talk) 20:27, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Need to set up a generic printer but I don't have a driver

I was gifted with a dell pentium(?) running win98se. I did not receive any disks with it. I would like to set up a generic printer so that I can print to "FILE", but the machine keeps on asking me for the original disk. I can't "go to the printers manufacturers site to get an updated driver", because there is no manufacturer, and microsoft won't deign to support a legacy machine. The file I need is TTY.DRV, but I can't find it. the other files it asks for (dll and hlp files) would be nice, but I can ignore them. I've beeen looking all over the net for TTY.DRV, but I can;t find it. Any ideas? Phil_burnstein (talk) 20:13, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

CutePDF Writer is a free Windows printer driver compatible with Windows 98 and newer, which outputs PDF files. I bet it will suit your needs. You'll also need to find and install Ghostscript for it to work. Tempshill (talk) 20:51, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Usually *any* printer driver will work (though a PostScript driver might provide more useful output). So just pretend you have an HP whatever-jet, download some PostScript drivers for it, and insist that Windows installs them despite the fact that the printer cannot be found. – 74  01:55, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

I also suggest you consider a PDF writer printer driver.

From previous experiments, I've found the "Generic / Text only" printer driver is designed for dot-matrix printers and is really only suitable for printing plain text documents. It will not print any images or graphics. Most programs aren't designed to cope with text-only printers: The proportional-spaced fonts on the screen are then poorly converted into monospaced printer text by printing letters on top of each other.

The output file is really a very simple set of printer commands and is unsuitable as a text document. (The output file may contain FF characters to start a new page, solo CR characters to return to the beginning of the current line for overprinting, and solo LF characters to go down a line without going to the beginning of the line. These control characters will work as intended when the file is transferred to a dot-matrix printer, but will have different effects in text editors.)

--Bavi H (talk) 07:11, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

PostScript is a standardized language used for all sorts of things (including printing). The resultant printer file from a PostScript driver can later be sent to most any PostScript printer, converted to a PDF, or opened in several image processing applications. I have personally used this method in the past and it works. (A PDF writer would also work, of course.) – 74  16:28, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

World Tour / Rock Band Instrument Compatibility

Hello, is there anyone out there using these instruments with the alternative game in Europe, specifically the UK. I am aware that there is a patch about to do this, I have seen joystiq's handy chart, but I heard someone moaning that it was a US patch only. Is this true?

Merci FreeMorpheme (talk) 20:21, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Cloud Computing Confusion

Hello. I've been trying to figure out the whole Cloud Computing business, but there's something I still can't get my head around. As I understand it, all you basically need in order to use services from "The Cloud" is a web browser. If that's the case, then you could use your browser to "emulate" just about anything the "Cloud" will let you, like a game console (e.g. OnLive.com). Does this mean that html is able to "emulate" anything, as long as you have the computing power of the Cloud (not to mention a ridiculously fast Internet connection)? How is this possible? Aren't there limits to what html (or a web browser) can or cannot do? Also, is it really completely independent of the device you're using your web browser on? Does that mean that I could use, say, extremely old computers to do what even cutting-edge computers can't, thanks to the Cloud? I'm sure my questions sound pretty silly to you, but that's basically my confusion. I hope to get answers I can understand... :P Thanks in advance, Kreachure (talk) 23:09, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

The browser can only do browser things. That means HTML, Javascript, and plug-ins (Flash, etc.). So no—a browser can't emulate everything, at least, it wouldn't be able to without some heavy-duty plug-ins that spoke to it in browser-speak. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 00:27, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

There are many things that can be accomplished with HTML, javascript, and flash; and many of the things that cannot be accomplished are of questionable value in the first place (advanced 3D graphics, transparent interfaces, etc.). Keep in mind, however, that the more complex tricks in javascript and flash will require moderate processing power to run on your local machine. But the idea is that the "cloud" (a.k.a. server) provides the entirety of the functionality—no installation is required and "applications", "documents", and "sessions" can be shared across multiple machines, users, and connections. It might be considered the ultimate extension of "thin client" computing. Because resource requirements are limited, older computers and new lower-powered netbooks are quite capable of keeping up with advancements in "The Cloud" (and a true "cloud" computer could dispense with many of the costs and problems of modern computers). Ideally, when you are required to upgrade your "cloud" computer it would be as simple as pulling a new one out of a box and plugging it in—all your programs, documents, sessions, etc. on the "cloud" would be available automatically on the new computer. Such an environment would allow true commoditization of the personal computer. – 74  01:36, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

This doesn't sound like "the ultimate extension of thin client computing", it just sounds like ordinary thin client computing to me. This kind of thing has been around forever; the IBM 3270 is another example. The problem is that the user experience is almost always improved by pushing as much of the logic as possible to the client side. The latency and bandwidth limitations of real-world broadband connections are such that there's not much that benefits from being offloaded to a server, no matter how underpowered the client (except of course for big shared databases like Google's or Wikipedia's). I suspect that the appeal of this setup for companies like OnLive has to do with the fact that it's essentially an unbreakable form of DRM. You can't crack or copy software that's never present on your machine in the first place. -- BenRG (talk) 18:13, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

By "ultimate extesion of thin client computing" I meant that it's hard to get more abstract than connecting to a "cloud" of servers. Your "improved user experience" includes viruses, malware, crashes, slowdowns, a complicated upgrade cycle, and significant costs – I have no doubt that some users wouldn't feel that was an improvement. I don't think cloud computing will suit everyone (I personally would not use it) but it does provide significant advantages to a large portion of the population who want a computer that "just works" like a TV. – 74  18:28, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

It's not just bandwidth that's important but in some instances latency. OnLive in particular which has been treated with scepticism with many people asking whether it will work or latency will be too great an issue for most action games. Latency arises from two areas, one is from the connection, one is from the cloud computers and the processing (including compression in the case of OnLive) they have to do. However while many cloud computing apps do just use a web browser and normal plug ins, others e.g. OnLive will I'm pretty sure use specialised (but I presume multiplatform and open source and obviously free) software or plugins (What is the OnLive Game Service?. Nil Einne (talk) 04:53, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Off topic, but why do you assume OnLive will open-source any of their software? They're a dot-com that claims to have 5,000 pages of patent filings. Tempshill (talk) 16:31, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm a game developer - and while I can see where these guys are coming from - that latency issue is a severe and insurmountable problem. The speed of light is a harsh mistress. For 'twitch response' games - this flat out isn't going to work. Doubtless there are some clever tricks - like motion compensation done locally - that'll help with some classes of game - but I'm deeply skeptical. Also, when you see the number of computers and the bandwidth bill that YouTube need to keep all of those custom movies streaming more-or-less efficiently - and consider that these guys need to get all of that AND actually run game-quality graphics for thousand to hundreds of thousands of people simultaneously...it's a tough call. Then we have to consider resolution...I want my 1600x1200 60Hz display - I don't 640x480 - I don't want compression artifacts - I don't want lower frame rates or fuzzier images. I'd really like to use multiple monitors - or true-3D displays. I want "ClickBoom!" shooting - not "Click"...wait...wait..."Boom!". SteveBaker (talk) 02:58, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

March 31

Quick 'n easy wireless router question

Can you use a 802.11n router with an 802.11g wireless card? I ask because I'm trying to help my aunt hook up a wireless internet connection. I know that two of her computers have wireless n airport cards, but one of her laptops only supports G. So will that old laptop work with an N router, assuming it's close enough? DaRkAgE7_[Talk] 00:43, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes. The two devices will operate at the maximum ability common to both. In this case, they will use 802.11g protocols. -- Tcncv (talk) 01:42, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

According to our article 802.11n, a "mixed-mode" network (at 2.4GHz) provides backwards compatibility with older 802.11 devices. Maximum throughput will be limited in such a configuration, but it will probably still be sufficient for most applications. (Note that you do *not* want 5GHz operation—you might have to configure the router specifically for 2.4GHz.) – 74  01:49, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

It's worth remembering that there's no such thing as a 802.11n router or wireless card yet as the standard has not been finalised. All current equipement is draft/prerelease n. From a look at the talk page, it sounds as if, at least as of mid 2008 that a lot of the draft equipement performs very poorly sometimes even worse then g equipement. As such, it may be better to just get a 802.11g router. Nil Einne (talk) 09:41, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

A lot, perhaps, but far from all. My Apple Airport Extreme (802.11 draft-n) gives me ~160 Mbit/s - way, way faster than the ~26 I got with the previous generation Airport Express (802.11g). Heck, it's fast enough that I only bother to plug in the 1 Gbps cable when I transfer more than 20GB, which doesn't happen very often. -- Aeluwas (talk) 17:33, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

I've heard that a lot of routers will default to G in a mixed-mode environment, effectively cutting the theoretical speed in half. You can get routers with multiple transmitters that will give you a separate G and N network, though. -- JSBillings 23:50, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

downloading

which is the efficient and powerfull downloading software that improves the downloading speed? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jawhar.vt (talk • contribs) 11:15, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

There are many download managers. Check out List of download managers and Comparison of download managers. --Sean 12:04, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Note that while many of these will help with organizing downloads, you probably wont get dramatically improved speeds with ordinary HTTP downloads. Download managers that promise that are mostly snake oil. 195.58.125.53 (talk) 16:00, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Anon is right, "downloading acceleration software" will probably not improve your downloading speed. Tempshill (talk) 16:30, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Right. But some also seem to surmise otherwise, so also not grokking the first answer. -- Fullstop (talk) 21:23, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

How does an operating system change HTTP download speeds? I would like to meet these "some" that can prove it. Upgrading to high speed internet gets cheaper and more available every day. Livewireo (talk) 21:35, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

The questioner is likely asking about dial-up services that offer high-speed downloads over dial-up. There is nothing special going on. Assuming you download their "high speed program" on your end, the internet traffic is compressed (just a zip file) and sent to you. You decompress it on your end. The result is that you send less data over the slow telephone line but do more work on each end compressing and decompressing the data. -- kainaw™ 22:01, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

The very significant problem with those claims is that they must use 'lossless' compression - and as such, they cannot compress already-compressed data. Hence, if you are downloading JPEG photos or movies or MP3's (which are already close to optimally compressed) - these services don't (mathematically: cannot possibly) compress them significantly further. The things they do get a speedup with is text - HTML files, that kind of thing. But because an entire bookfull of text is less than a single large photo, this is speeding up the one thing that's already pretty much not a problem. So unless you are in some very specialised situation where most of what you are reading is text with very few photos (like this Wikipedia page for example) - these compressing-dialup services are a con-trick. SteveBaker (talk) 02:48, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

3DS Max 9

Does anyone know how to put different colors onto a compound object in this software, thanks. BigDunc^Talk 19:55, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

April 1

Power failure

A few years ago after a power outage, a desktop computer of mine refused to turn on. I've been leaving it in a garage until a week ago, when I decided to try to fix it. What is the most likely cause of the problem? I had no uninterruptible power supply and likely no surge protection. I've read a few blogs on the Internet that suggest the power supply unit may be fried. In that case, how hard is it to get a compatible new power supply unit? I think the one in this computer is quite unique; it connects to the motherboard with a twenty-pin connector, and the motherboard supplies the AMD CPU with power. --05:14, 1 April 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.237.234.104 (talk)

So you're saying it looks like this? Then it's an ATX, and should be fairly easy to replace, unless it's proprietary. (Someone else may need to correct me, I've not dealt with hardware in a while.) But if it's been in your garage for several years, it could be numerous things that have either died completely (due to dust, heat, water, etc.), or will need a little work to get back to working order. –  LATICS  talk  05:52, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

The worm

Alright, I'm sure a fair amount of tech-savvy users around here have heard of the conficker worm. Here's want I want to know: First, why are they doing this on April Fool's Day, of all days? Second, why do they target Windows, as usual? Has there ever been a major worm or virus specifically targeted at Apple? I have all the latest updates installed, I have anti-virus software installed (Windows Live Onecare) and I even followed these instructions (I used Microsoft's Fix It For Me) via this blog, a link I clicked on through here. When they mention USB devices being used to pass around the worm, should one be worried when they connect a music device like an iPod to their computer? And I also read that merely googling 'conficker worm' can put you at risk, when will the danger pass? Will logging in to websites requiring email and password (such as this one) put you at risk? And how do you avoid having a panic attack, especially when you hear the French and Royal Navy have fallen victim to this?--Whip it! ^{Now whip it good!} 05:58, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

If your system is fully updated then your PC isn't at risk, but even if it wasn't googling would be safe, however clicking links from google might not be. The worm could easily pass from an ipod onto the machine, if the ipod is set to act as a hard drive. The worm targets Windows because it is the most popular OS, and since most of the security companies seem to think the worm is attempting to create a botnet they'd want as many machines in it as possible. As for the April First thing I have no idea.

Incidentally I'd suggest ditching Live Onecare, as it isn't actually very good at detecting viruses. The big 3 free antiviruses ( AVG, Avast!, and Avira) generally score better on detection rates and similar. If you want a paid for anti virus I'd highly recommend NOD32 Gunrun (talk) 10:26, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

A source on my claims about onecare by the way. Gunrun (talk) 10:29, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

Conficker file size

How big is the Conficker worm? Dismas|^(talk) 10:42, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

Where to purchase/Improvise a missing jack for a DVB-T stick?

I recently won a DVB stick in an ebay action. It seems to be in a good condition except the fact that a small jack that connects antenna jack to the stick is missing. Please have a look at this image from an online shop where I have marked this part: http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/8384/r970.jpg.

The diameter of the antenna jack is about twice the size of the DVB female as seen in this photo:http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/9960/42761281.jpg . If you could please suggest a way to connect these two it would be nice.

131.220.46.25 (talk) 10:56, 1 April 2009 (UTC)feld