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June 11

WinXP notebook throttling

Hey all,

does anyone know a software for Win XP 32bit which reduces CPU frequency on modern Intel C2D (a T7250 here) for real instead of just applying some "soft throttle" like NHC does?

Thanks, HardDisk (talk) 01:33, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

PS: Bonus points for a software also capable of throttling NV 8600 M GT - the NV CPL is not able to.

What do you mean by "soft throttle"? It should already throttle clock rate out of the box (at least SP2 does), try using CPU-Z to view the clock rate. Setting your power management settings in your control panel to "Minimum" might also help. --antilived^{T | C | G} 01:34, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

help with a userbox

I'm working on a userbox for Wikipedia. Since I don't know html, I do this by editing the colors and words of existing userboxes' source codes. My (not yet published) user box currently looks like this:

DOGGY!

This user enjoys reading the webcomic Freefall (webcomic).

I would like to do two things:

1) Add a thin yellow box around the square containing the word "Doggy"

2) Turn the white box on the right into blue

Could you help me do this? --Ye Olde Luke (talk) 02:40, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

I modded your code according to what you want.93.104.111.161 (talk) 03:46, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Cool! Thanks! --Ye Olde Luke (talk) 04:33, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

I'm surprised you can find a long enough ethernet cable to read a webcomic freefall. I suspect you really ought to link your userbox to Freefall (webcomic) instead. SteveBaker (talk) 01:19, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Oops, you're right. Thanks! --Ye Olde Luke (talk) 00:13, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Download Wikipedia

I tried downloading wikipedia 3 times from two different locations, I get "corrupt media" error, while trying to extract the file.

I got the download information from this place [1]. Please let me know if there's a known resolution to this problem.ceo 06:24, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Possibilities include:

• you're storing it on a volume formatted to FAT32 - FAT32 limits file sizes to 4GB, so trying to put any file bigger than that (and most of the dump files are much bigger) will fail. Using an ancient version of windows, like 98 or ME (which don't support NTFS) thus will always fail. Storing the file on an intermediate storage like a USB flash drive or a DVD may also fail, depending on the filesystem type.
• the file has been truncated for some other reason - check that the size your computer reports reports the file is exactly the same as shown on the website. If it isn't, it's either been truncated by the filesystem or by the program (browser, probably) that you're using to download it
• the file has been corrupted in transit; verify that the md5sums shown for the file downloaded match the md5 checksum you calculate on the file you downloaded

87.112.85.8 (talk) 10:18, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

How to put save file on Wii

I'm trying to transfer a save file (LoZ: Twilight Princess) to my Wii, following the instructions here. I've downloaded the file as a .bin file, and I've verified that it is a North American file; then on my SD card I made a folder called "private", then in that a folder called "wii", then in that a folder called "title", then in that a folder called "RZDE", and then I put the file in that. But when I put the SD card in my Wii, the file doesn't show up; it's as if the SD card is empty (but it's not). What am I doing wrong? --Lazar Taxon (talk) 06:44, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Are you trying to use the Twilight Hack? If you've upgraded your Wii to the version 4.0 software (the first version to include support to play games off the SD card) then I'm afraid the Twightlight Hack simply isn't possible anymore as 4.0 will remove the file automatically if detected before you have a chance to copy it to the Wii's internal storage. Bannerbomb is supposed to work as a replacement for the Twilight Hack (depending on your needs), but I have no experience with that I'm afraid. ZX81 ^talk 11:20, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

No, it's just a regular save file from wiisave.com. It downloaded as "data.bin". --Lazar Taxon (talk) 16:35, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Hope this helps. Rgoodermote  00:00, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Eh, not really. I've followed all the standard instructions, but my Wii just won't recognize any files on my SD card. --Lazar Taxon (talk) 01:10, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Not all saves work, I believe they are encrypted for the Wii they come from, some homebrews will let you transfer the saves regardless. Rgoodermote  03:18, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Touchpad freezing

Hello all. For no discernible reason, the touchpad on my laptop has suddenly stopped working; both for clicking and moving the cursor around. Is there any reason why this would happen? How can I fix it? I have restarted the computer a few times but no change.

If it helps, it is a VR6oI, and I'm using XP Home edition. Many thanks =)114.77.68.9 (talk) 07:40, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Have you checked the settings to make sure it hasn't been 'turned off'? Should be in the control-panel. Similarly some have an option to "ignore trackpad whilst typing" - if you have a key that is inadvertently lodged-down it may be that it is that causing the issue. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 09:15, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

I've checked the control panel and my keyboard. I don't seem to have any of those problems, and the touchpad is still frozen =(114.77.68.9 (talk) 09:36, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

I would look in Event Viewer (Control Panel, Admin Tools) for messages at boot up. --69.254.66.245 (talk) 21:18, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

I looked through the errors and there is no (relevant) errors in event manager. Does anyone have any other ideas?114.77.68.9 (talk) 05:29, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Go to "My Computer" and open up "Device Manager". There might be a hardware fault or address error. That would be harder to fix. Possibly a recently installed program is causing a problem. ~~ Ropata (talk) 08:06, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

The device manager doesn't show a touchpad under 'mouse and other pointing devices'; it only shows my USB mouse. Is it supposed to show? I otherwise cannot find an error.114.77.68.9 (talk) 09:21, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes it SHOULD be in that section. You could try and install a generic touchpad, if Windows has one (Use the New Hardware wizard). Or get the manufacturer's driver software from their website. ~~ Ropata (talk) 09:40, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

I would be inclined to crack the case and reseat the cable to the touchpad. But I'm that kind of guy. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 13:08, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Another drastic step would be to re-install windows wtih the manufacturer's CD. ~~ Ropata (talk) 03:14, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

I'm really not that good at fiddling around with the wires... But if I was to reinstall, would it have to be a clean reinstall (Format everything then install) or just a reinstall? Another thing(which may be a clue, I don't know) is that the laptop's keyboard has been ocassionally 'crashing' since the touchpad problem began. It will suddenly stop working (on all keys) even while the rest of the computer is running fine. Also, thanks for all the input so far. You're all being a great help =) But the problem still remains =( 114.77.68.9 (talk) 07:14, 13 June 2009 (UTC) Forgot to mention-I tried installing a (Synaptics) driver, and that had no effect.114.77.68.9 (talk) 07:17, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

A couple of other things to try:

• roll back to a previous restore point http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306084
• start up Windows in diagnostic or 'safe mode': press F8 during the boot sequence.
• call the shop where you purchased it, they might help for free

That's pretty much all I can think of. Best of luck. ~~ Ropata (talk) 00:22, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

Favicons in IE8's InPrivate mode

I've noticed that favicons (the little icons in the address bar and on tabs) do not work in IE8's InPrivate mode (but the icon in favourites still works). Does anybody know if this problem can be fixed, and does Microsoft know about the problem? Thanks. 144.138.21.133 (talk) 09:43, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Well presumably, when you're "InPrivate", you don't want the favicons of all the nasty pr0n sites you just went on to be cached by the program ;), and have people work out from those images which sites you went to. ~fl 07:23, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Folders of JPEG to PDF

I have folders of JPEGs with names like IMG_8333.JPG, IMG_8334.JPG. I have many folders each with JPGs like such in them.

What I'd like is to be able to run a quick script (OS X) that takes the JPGs and makes them into multi-page PDFs. So each folder would result in one PDF with all the JPGs from the folder in it, in the order as they would be sorted by their filename. The PDF would the name of the folder plus a .PDF extension.

Is there an easy way to do this? I've been doing this with Acrobat, Create PDF from Multiple Files, but doing that 80 times is going to drive me crazy. Any thoughts? I am using OS X 10.4.11 on an Intel processor. I don't see any way to do this with Automator. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 13:47, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

For each folder, use Imagemagick: convert *.jpg foo.pdf 87.115.156.60 (talk) 14:14, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

And for several folders in one go, for v in `find . -type d `; do convert $v/*.jpg $v.pdf ; done 87.115.156.60 (talk) 14:30, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

This last one doesn't seem to work for me because the folder names have spaces and periods in them (e.g. "Joe Schmoe to John Doe (12.1.90)"). Is there a way to modify it so that it will work with that? Thanks so much, this seems like it will save me a lot of time. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 15:57, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

...OK, I got it to work. I had to change the IFS variable and now it works. hurray. thanks. It almost seems to work but it's not actually processing the full wildcard? It's just making a PDF with the first image in it. help? --98.217.14.211 (talk) 17:12, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

I ended up doing this and just pasting the output back in again. Annoying that I couldn't get it to work any other way but this method worked... for v in `find . -type d `; do echo cd \'$v\'\; convert *.JPG \'$v.pdf\'\; cd ..\;; done --98.217.14.211 (talk) 17:30, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

What you wanted (so long as there are no newlines in the directory names, which makes it even harder) is find . -type d | while read; do convert "$REPLY"/*.jpg "$REPLY".pdf; done. --Tardis (talk) 23:39, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Adobe Photoshop Elements 7

Hi All,

Does anyone know if a mac version of Photoshop Elements 7 is planned or will be available soon? When trying to download from the adobe website, Photoshop Elements is available for PC only, unlike its bigger brother CS4. I assume that if you can't get it from the adobe website it isn't available at all.

Many thanks Lukerees1983 (talk) 16:01, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Adobe does make Photoshop Elements for the Mac. That software is on a different track than the Windows version, so the most recent version of PS Elements for Mac is v6. The full name of the product is Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 for Macintosh. --Zerozal (talk) 18:12, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

EU, Antitrust, Browsers

Why is the inclusion of IE with Windows considered antitrust by the EU, but the inclusion of Firefox with most Linux distributions isn't? Why doesn't the EU sue, for example, Canonical for including Firefox with Ubuntu? Is it because Windows is more widespread? Is it because Linux is free? But that wouldn't make sense. You can't add free software to commercial software but you can add free software to free software?
Another question, why is only the EU concerned with antitrust but no one else in the world is? 95.84.64.174 (talk) 17:54, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Linux does not have a near monopoly in the desktop operating system market. Antitrust is about abusing a monopoly in one area (in this case, the operating system market) to gain advantage in other areas (in this case, the browser market). I don't know why the EU is the only jurisdiction that seems to be taking any action in these matters, but US law is generally more friendly to big corporations than European law. I don't exactly know why - cultural reasons, I guess, whatever that means. --Tango (talk) 18:15, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

You seem to be mistaken that the EU has taken the lead on this issue. The US has been on Microsoft's case regarding bundling IE for antitrust reasons since the 1990s. See United States v. Microsoft. They have additionally be involved in antitrust suits in South Korea. See Microsoft litigation.

But anyway, yes, as Tango says, it's about market share, not about the practice of bundling a browser per se. It's of note as well that it is EXTREMELY easy to uninstall and remove Firefox and other browsers, and for ages it was nearly impossible to uninstall IE (I believe this has changed to some degree because of the US suits, but I haven't tried it myself). --98.217.14.211 (talk) 18:31, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

It's simple (now) to uninstall IE, however I think one of the issues was that if you did do that various other things broke. Can't confirm this , and not trying either..77.86.10.194 (talk) 19:11, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

IE exposes parts of itself like the HTML rendering engine and URL fetching as libraries that other programs can use. Deleting it will break any software that uses it, just like, say, deleting Direct3D or the Crypto API. -- BenRG (talk) 20:35, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

I think when MS says (in stories like this) that they'll ship a version of Win7 without IE, or allow IE to be uninstalled, they're only talking about the Trident shell that we call "Internet Explorer" (the user interface). I don't think they're seriously talking about not shipping the MSHTML component, as that would break too many things. 87.113.129.162 (talk) 21:53, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

And similarly, also for antitrust issues, when MS says it distributes a version of Windows without Windows Media Player I don't think that means they also rip out the underlying Windows Media/Media Foundation stuff on which it (and a bunch of 3rd party media players) rely. I can find very little real info about the neutered XP-N/Vista-N versions to know if they've really torn this out; I really doubt it. 87.113.129.162 (talk) 22:10, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

A lot of the trouble here is that these court cases have been dragging on for too many years - when they started, there was no FireFox - there was Netscape's Mozilla. Microsoft were doing all sorts of extremely nasty things to try to kill Netscape at all cost - and they undoubtedly abused their monopoly in so doing. They'd previously done utterly egregious things in order to push WordPerfect out of it's number one slot in favor of WORD (the put code into the operating system to prevent WordPerfect from running - later claiming it was an innocent bug - they made scrolling of large quantities of text excruciatingly slow and put undocumented 'back door' tricks into the OS so that Word would scroll text more smoothly and efficiently than WordPerfect could via the documented interface. There have been hundreds of cases of this kind of thing. The company who invented (and patented) the idea of doing runtime compression and decompression of disk partitions was making good money selling their Windows application - Microsoft came along and infringed the patent and when the little guys tried to sue, Microsoft simply bought their company and shut it down in order to avoid what would have been a sure-fire loss for them in court.

Microsoft were very lucky indeed that the Democrats didn't make it back into power after they lost their monopoly case against Netscape and the Republicans quietly dropped the whole thing during the sentencing phase of the trial. Had that not been the case, the company would have been split into two or three parts for sure. What you're seeing now is the final end of a legal process that's taken over 8 years to unfold. In the meantime, Netscape dropped Mozilla and Mozilla became FireFox - and somehow the process resulted in FireFox becoming much more powerful. If those court cases were started now, Microsoft wouldn't have a case to answer. However, Microsoft's abuse of it's monopoly continues in other ways.

The solution is what we should have done 8 or 9 years ago - which is to split Microsoft into a purely operating system company and an entirely separate applications-oriented company. The applications company - rid of the corporate pressures to run only under Windows would almost certainly provide better ports for the Mac and new ports for Linux. Similarly, the near-monopoly of the operating system domain by Windows would be tempered by their new-found inability to lock people into the operating system by tying them down to specific file formats such as WORD and Windows-Metafile. Both applications and operating system would have to compete on a level playing field. An application-neutral Windows wouldn't have a monopoly on Microsoft applications - and they would have to start producing solidly reliable, efficient operating systems that people actually want - rather than the junk they produce right now. The applications house - now having no ability to crush their competitors by changing the operating system to prevent their programs from running well - would also have to start competing for real.

If you think for a moment that Microsoft have mended their ways - consider the DirectX-10 situation. Windows XP has DirectX-9 and even if you buy a DirectX-10 capable graphics card - it'll be forced to run in DirectX-9 compatibility mode. Why? Because Microsoft refuse to release DirectX-10 for Windows XP. Why on earth would any sane company prevent the latest and greatest graphics techniques from being used on their most popular operating system? Because they are trying to FORCE people to upgrade to Vista/Windows-7 against their will. They may make claims that DX10 can't run under XP - but that's an outright lie. Many people have seen Microsoft's internal port of DX-10 running under XP - and there is a 3rd party port of DX-10 to WinXP - so it's certainly possible. The decision not to release it is simply an abuse of their monopoly. It cripples people like me - who are trying to write video games for the masses (which means Windows XP) because a huge chunk of the capabilities of modern graphics cards is simply unavailable to me through DX9. It's just pathetic.

This makes the whole legal situation a little ethically difficult. Their original crime had been and gone - and the world has managed to recover. Sure, they put Netscape out of the browser market and came close to shutting down their entire company - but fortunately the OpenSource/Linux crowd pulled the world away from the awful specter of Microsoft "owning the Internet" by taking over Mozilla and calling it "FireFox". Fining MS for doing that today is pretty pointless. However, they have not learned their lesson - and they STILL need serious punishment for their exceedingly nasty behavior.

Linux has Firefox as it's most popular browser - but it's NOTHING like a monopoly. You can not bother to install any part of Firefox - and everything else runs just fine. About half of Linux installations use the KDE desktop - and on those systems, the Konqueror browser is installed by default. My SuSE 11 machine has probably half a dozen browsers that came with the 'full' install. That's about as far from a monopoly as I can imagine.

Being a monopoly isn't illegal. Abusing your status as a monopoly by cross-linking one product to another, locking people in, deliberately making changes to your system to unfairly prevent further competition, dumping product at below cost in order to push out your competition....that's illegal.

SteveBaker (talk) 03:23, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

I don't think that splitting up Microsoft into Baby Bills would create the rosy situation you imagine. An independent Microfice Inc. would probably make an independent and rational decision to continue to support only Windows and Mac OS, just like Adobe does with Photoshop. Word would still dominate the word processor market and DOC format lock-in would not be affected in any way I can see. Windowsoft could bundle third-party applications instead of first-party applications (they've done that often enough in the past) and it would give the same unfair advantage to the company involved, because Windows would still control the desktop market.

Microsoft not releasing DirectX 10 for XP is clearly bad, and it would probably change if Windows and DirectX were split into separate companies, though I don't know if that particular split was ever on the table. But why are you using DirectX in the first place? Is OpenGL an inferior platform for cutting-edge games? If so, aren't you basically blaming Microsoft for making a superior product? You'd be even worse off if they hadn't released it for Vista either. Or is the problem not the OpenGL spec but the Windows drivers? Then you should be blaming ATI and Nvidia. Microsoft doesn't write the drivers. The problem isn't Microsoft, it's everyone. Everyone is lazy. Microsoft doesn't try to make Windows the best it could be, just good enough to convince people to upgrade. ATI and Nvidia don't bother to make OpenGL a viable alternate gaming platform. They have no reason to care because gaming companies don't bother to put the pressure on them. You'd rather write games for Linux and OpenGL, but not enough to quit your job and work for a company that does. The Justice Department can't fix human nature. If you want to render future versions of DirectX meaningless, just do it. It's not that hard. -- BenRG (talk) 17:52, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

"But why are you using DirectX in the first place?" Because you want your game to run on X-Box? APL (talk) 19:46, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Emailing a file

Is it possible to email a file that is printable but not copyable? The program the file belongs to is Excel. 90.221.255.251 (talk) 20:30, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Depends on what you mean by "copyable". You could, for example, download PDFCreator, print to a picture format like PNG, and email the PNG file. But I would add that this could be considered unfriendly/rude and there is always a way people can get the data - OCR or just punching it back into the computer. You could also look into the "protection" features of the PDF format, but I do not know if there are any free programs that support generating documents with that feature. If you mean "not copyable" as in "the receiver should not be able to pass it on", I would say that is near impossible. Jørgen (talk) 20:59, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Some companies sell plugins for Office that support enterprise wide rights management for MS Office documents, allowing pretty fine-grained control over who can do what. Unless you're in a large organisation that has such a setup (it's intended for outfits like insurance companies and hospitals) then there's not much degree of control you can practically exercise. The mere act of emailing someone a file is giving them a copy, and there's nothing to stop them duplicating it similarly. 87.113.129.162 (talk) 21:44, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

You can use something like Adobe Digital Editions. Basically you create a PDF or EPUB file that is registered on an internet server. Each person who downloads the file is registered and the rights are managed on the server. If set to no copy, the file won't open on a different PC. You can also set to no print, or a number of pages in a period. It will cost you to manage all of this, and there are other ways to do this, but they are similar. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 13:05, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Querying an Access database for upcoming deadlines

I'd like to set up an MS Access query that will return deadlines within a week from the current date. I've created my database and filled it with events, each of which has a deadline for further action. The deadline is a separate field in each record, of course. I know how to query the database for a fixed date range, by putting the following in the "criteria" field" of the query:
Between #1/1/09# And #15/1/09#
but I don't know the syntax to use for "today" and "seven days in the future". Can anyone help please? 86.166.68.203 (talk) 23:30, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

The function Now() returns a date representing now. You can use the function DateAdd to add some number of days to Now(). For example, the criterion could be that the deadline is

<= DateAdd("d",7,now())

This will return rows where deadline is not null and contains a date that is less than or equal to 7 "d"ays added to now. Outriggr (talk) 00:00, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

More specific to your example, try

Between Now() And DateAdd("d",7,Now())

Outriggr (talk) 00:04, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

June 12

Externalize a video card

I am considering converting my desktop computer into a dedicated server, and my laptop into a portable desktop. If I do this, can I turn my desktop's GeForce 7600 card into something external that I can plug into my laptop, ideally in addition to its existing video accelerator? Will USB latency be an issue? NeonMerlin 01:08, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

No. USB provide a meager 480mbps (60MB/s) bandwidth while a PCI-E x16 link used by graphics card provide 4GB/s bandwidth. USB video adapters exsit but they do not provide hardware acceleration, mainly due to the bandwidth limit of USB. --antilived^{T | C | G} 01:29, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

There really aren't any external ports on a laptop that can provide the speed you need to keep a graphics card fed at anything like the speed you need...but even if you were to suffer USB performance (it would be AMAZINGLY slow) - I very much doubt you could find a way to get the card interfaced to USB - or the graphics drivers to recognise the board as a USB device. When you buy a laptop - what you have on the day you buy it will pretty much be what you have on the day you throw it out. You can often replace the hard drive with something bigger - and perhaps increase the amount of RAM - but that's pretty much it. SteveBaker (talk) 02:49, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

What about the PCMCIA slot? ~~ Ropata (talk) 04:45, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

The laptop has an ExpressCard slot as well as a regular PC Card slot; I expect I'd want to use the former. NeonMerlin 20:40, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

You will likely find that an expresscard to PCI-Express expander costs more than your video card easily. You can get USB video cards, but I expect their performance is limited to 2D applications. Gigs (talk) 21:51, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

Count lines in file (bash - Linux)?

Resolved

What is the easiest/cleanest way to count lines in bash? I have:

 grep -c "" ~/info.txt

But I just got this working by chance and I'm not sure is there is a "better" or "canonical" way of doing this. I know there is wc -l ~/info.txt however, that also prints the filename, and I only want the number of lines. Thanks _ Hacktolive (talk) 03:08, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

wc -l < filename -- the redirection will make the file name not appear. 62.78.198.48 (talk) 06:18, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks a lot, that worked! I have already included that in my program! __Hacktolive (talk) 21:57, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Supercomputer today, Desktop tomorrow

I'm having some trouble working out computer benchmarks. The way I figured, an off the shelf computer bought today (with an Intel Core i7) is roughly equivalent to the Cray-2 supercomputer of 1985. A five year old computer (2004) with a Pentium 4 would have the same computing power as 1982's Cray X-MP. I realize it's difficult to compare, what with FLOPS, Instructions per second, etc., but am I roughly correct? Also, is there a trend (say, a supercomputer to desktop in 25 years) that can be measured? The question came to me as I was trying to figure out in what year the computing power of the IBM Roadrunner will be available as a laptop. Of course, you never know what will happen in the future, the singularity, quantum computing, etc, but a rough estimate would be nice. Taggart.BBS (talk) 09:27, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes there's a trend, it's called Moore's Law. ~~ Ropata (talk) 09:44, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

This question was asked recently. According to Supercomputer#Timeline of supercomputers the 100 GFLOPS mark was reached around 1993. A current SiSoft Sandra benchmark list shows the top Intel CPU's (i7 ~4Ghz etc.) at around the same GFLOP rating. This makes a difference of 15 years. According to the supercomputer timeline, Moore's Law has been superceded by a long way, no doubt due to the massively parallel systems with thousands of CPU's. However, it is not only the CPU that makes a fast system; it is the overall I/O achievable between CPU, memory, cache, storage, the busses/interconnects, and of course the low level software that drives all these things. Because of these variables and the advent of quantum computing (which will be the first revolution of computing, as opposed to the evolution of Von Neumann architecture), and goodness know what else afterwards, it's impossible to predict or maintain a 15 year gap. Read up on what futurists like Raymond Kurzweil think about what's going to happen in the next 100 years. Sandman30s (talk) 20:40, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

imacros

What do I type to make iMacros run a script at a specific time, say 10pm? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Obakfiames (talk • contribs) 11:53, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Windows 7 IE to Ship w/o IE in Europe

According to this BBC article Windows 7 will come without IE, supposedly to make it easier for people to choose another browser. How will this happen? If Windows doesn't come with a browser, how will the average non-techie download a browser without having a browser to download it with? Will there be a special program which lets people browse for software downloads or something? --KageTora - (영호 (影虎)) (talk) 12:08, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

I assume that manufacturers will load new machines with a browser - either one the user can choose or a random browser. I know several manufacturers have been offering this option for some time. The entire lawsuit against Microsoft was due to IE being integrated into Windows, which made removal hard to impossible. By making it stand-alone (User removable) it would cover the issues raised by the lawsuit. Excirial ^{(Contact me,Contribs)} 12:56, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict)I would guess that is only an issue if you buy the box version. OEM PCs with W7 will probably come bundled with some sort of browser— probably customized for the vendor. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 12:58, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Website The Register has an article[2] on this which suggests you would be able to install IE via Windows Update. I guess you could buy a CD of Opera and install it, but even Opera hate the idea. The Register says the scheme's just a trick/negotiating ploy by Microsoft and has already been rejected by the EU. MS previously offered a version of Windows XP without Windows Media Player for similar reasons, but nobody bought it. --Maltelauridsbrigge (talk) 10:25, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

It's not as if I don't carry a flash drive on me always, with a bunch of freeware installers including firefox. Easy enough. They don't even cost much anymore! Mxvxnyxvxn (talk) 22:59, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

A new laptop

My Alienware has died again, after 2 years of constant problems which have led me to conclude that there are inherent problems in the system due to poor manufacturing processes, and I have asked for a refund. I want to get a new one with:

• Good reliability.
  • Stable.
  • Good or better cooling systems.
  • A reputation for solid components - I don't want to be replacing RAM chips, daughter cards, heating elements and motherboards within two months like I did with this current rubbish system.
• Faily good specs
  • Capable of handling my workload at university and novel writing
  • Good capacity for significant internet use
  • Can handle its own when it comes to PC games - not a mammoth machine required byt something that could handle two or three fairly intensive games like Red Alert 3, Empire Total War and my beloved.

I do not want another Alienware, or a Dell (as I hear that Dell make poor laptops, and they now own Alienware - hence my problem!) are there any good suggestions? SGGH ^ping! 12:31, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

My HP G60 laptop is all of the above, so I could recommend it. Empire Total War plays well enough on it, too. Off the shelf for £340, it was. --KageTora - (영호 (影虎)) (talk) 12:41, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Actually, Dell products are quite good these days. Dell used to be low quality in the past but that improved a lot in recent years. In the three years i had my Inspiron i only had to open it for cleaning once - and that was because i was stupid enough to spill a glass of coke onit. Regardless it would be difficult to advice a specific vendor, as it would always be user opinions. We have a list of manufacturers that create laptops that could be used as a guideline.

Personally i would advice looking around for various offers. Sometimes it is possible to find an excellent deal on a laptop that would normaly be much more expensive. If you aren't in a rush it is worth looking around a bit before buying anything. As for the laptop itsself, watch the specs. Especially make sure that the laptop has sufficient memory to handle its operating system. On Windows XP laptops i would advice a minimum of 1 GB for any form of perdormance, and for vista based laptops i suggest 2GB.

As you state you want to play games on it as well choose a laptop that actually has a dedicated video card and no on-board graphics. Video cards from NVidea and Ati outperform on board graphics by several miles. Other then that there should ve fairly little pitfalls. Wireless and networking is standard, and most vendors seem to add enough CPU consistently to make a laptop tick along just fine. Excirial ^{(Contact me,Contribs)} 12:49, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

It was opinions I was after :) yes I was planning for 2gig and dedicated cards. I had heard such bad things about Dell, are they ill-founded now then? SGGH ^ping! 12:51, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

I am of course completely biased in my opinion as i actually like the Dell brand. So far i had two PC's and a laptop build by them and i had no major issues whatsoever. The only time i actually had to open my old PC was due to an issue with the cooling. The PC was 2.5 years old then and had been standing on the same dusty place for all the time - without ever really taken time to clean it. I am still looking for a reason to open my new PC which is 3/4th of a year old now, simply to see what it looks like inside; Yet it does not give me any and i do not want to void the warranty for mere curiosity. Excirial ^{(Contact me,Contribs)}

I've had bad experiences with a HP (Pavillion, I think) - overheating leading to broken components and other things. No problems at all with my Dell Latitude D620. In my experience, "professional" laptops, like the Thinkpad, are more robust and less prone to failure than the bloated "consumer" models, but if you want to do gaming these might not be an option perhaps. Jørgen (talk) 13:13, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

I spotted a 2 gig Dell with a non-integrated graphics card for about £759. How is the cooling system on yours, Excirial? Also, Jorgen, I am not looking so much for a "gaming" laptop, merely one that one be comfortable running a couple of games every now and then. I want it for good internet connection and University work primarily, but with a 2 gig'er and a good graphics card so it can play games if I want to. SGGH ^ping! 13:47, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

The cooling system on mine worked just fine, and some analysis shows that even now it managed to keep the CPU temperature in more then acceptable levels. The only issue i had with mine is that i put it on the floot often, which caused an empty compartiment to fill with dust and therefore blocking the cooling airflow. Since i moved it to a higher area it has never been a problem again. Dust collecting inside a laptop is easily detected due to CPU temperature rising. The CPU automatically compensates for the increased temperature and therefor causes the laptop to operate at sub par speed - If you ever think that the laptop uses the blowers to frequent on top speed with little effect its a good idea to see if it collected to much dust. Excirial ^{(Contact me,Contribs)} 19:20, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Well I am off to some outlets today to see what they have. Gulp SGGH ^ping! 10:02, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

First two:

Samsung R710

• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T6400 6 gig, 800Mhz, 2mb Cache
• 3gb memory
• 320gb hard drive
• nvidia ge force 9300

HP DV7-2050

• AMD Turiojn Ultra Dual Core Processor 2.3 Ghz 1600MHz 2mb chace
• 4 GB memory
• 320 GB hard drive
• ATi Radeon HD4530 graphics card

Any thoughts? Both similar prices. SGGH ^ping! 12:43, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

It's very difficult from just the specs like that. You have to consider what's important to you. I got two different Dells recently and the cheaper lower spec one was fine and did everything required right absolutely no problems whatsoever. The dearer one had rough edges round the plastic I sanded off, the keypad and DVD drive had problems, the controls were hard to see, the wifi had a stupid switch that moved on its own and there was a silly lit up power cable and I removed much of the software to stop it chundering on the disk. Good spec though. So what do you really want? Read reviews. Dmcq (talk) 13:04, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Funny. I see what y'all are saying about Dell, and I find it a bit strange. I run a small business (hobby) selling people computers, and I had way too many bad experiences with them to be coincidental. Yet there are some Dells (purchased at the same time) that have never had any issues. So let me throw a few things at you- 1- I propose that there isn't anything wrong with Dell,, just their QUALITY CONTROL. You may get unlucky. If you must buy Dell, get a Small Business brand and not a Home Office brand. You get better tech support from Small Business as a rule, and almost always a better price. 2- I was surprised that no one mentioned ASUS. They have the best prices that I've seen for specs, almost always have dedicated video, may have free 2 year warranty, and may come with a sleeve. 2 of 2 satisfied laptop customers. Note that thee ones I've seen recently have 14.1" screens. They do have all kinds, though. As for their established business, they only recently started selling ready-made computers, but they sold parts for years. They were responsible for INVENTING the netbook (with Intel), and they have the best battery life among them (9 hours so far). Try 'em. Mxvxnyxvxn (talk) 22:56, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Images organized in folders to PDF (a freeware)?

Googling for a freeware that converts lot of images to a pdf resulted in a software that lets you a drop a lot of images into it and it generates a pdf document. This is a nice way to do it, except that there are no table of contents for the document. The images are arranged in alphabetical order. As a result, the document looses the intended structure and it cannot be navigated with a table of contents. Anyway to get around this?. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.220.46.24 (talk) 14:13, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

What's the name of the software and the URL where you found it? What does the manual say, and how did the "Support" or "Contact Us" e-mail address respond when you asked them this question? Tempshill (talk) 14:34, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

You should first tell us what software you are using. In any case, the odds are it can't do what you want it to do. What you want it something that allows you to arrange the images within the PDF arbitrarily—there are programs that will let you do this (like Adobe Acrobat, which is expensive), or you can just arrange the filenames ahead of time in an order so that the will sort "alphabetically" in the order you want them to (e.g. adding 0001, 0002, 0003 before the filenames to denote page number). But there is unlikely to be anything that automatically creates a table of contents for you—metadata like that has to be entered in by hand. Acrobat lets you put in "bookmarks" which is something like what you want. I don't know what free equivalents might exist that replicate that, though. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 15:36, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

You may also find that the PDFTK, an open-source PDF tool kit, is useful for automating these types of tasks. It is a command-line utility, but there is very good documentation on how to use it. Nimur (talk) 15:47, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

The freeware is called i2pdf 1.0 and i downloaded it from http://luis.no-ip.net/i2pdf/. From what I gather from the help manual, the software cannot do what i intend to do. My objective is to create a pdf document using images, the document would have a table of contents, clicking an entry there would take it to the page containing that image. i2pdf certainly does well what it is supposed to do though (ie, creating a pdf doument from images). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.220.46.26 (talk) 09:48, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

About "The images are arranged in alphabetical order. As a result, the document looses the intended structure ...". In i2pdf the sort by alphabetical order based on the file name is optional, you can keep the the order you like. You can also order by chapters if for example you organize the images in different folders and enable the option to include the path in the sort. But you can't have a table of contents, I can confirm that :)

Excel API

Dear Wikipedians:

I'm thinking of making an Excel data input wizard for a Win32 application I'm developing. But I am loath to wade through 230+ pages of Excel file format material supplied by openoffice.org.

Since the excel files I work with are just tables of straight numbers, with no formulas, no macros or anything else. I'm wondering if there is an API that Excel supplies that would allow me to easily extract these numbers. I am developing my software using Dev-C++.

Thanks.

70.31.157.47 (talk) 15:39, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes, you should not access the raw file, but you should instead use one of the Office API libraries. These are official APIs and library implementations provided by Microsoft. I'm not sure if they are part of the standard Visual Studio compiler package; you might have to pay a license fee or purchase the IDE pack. This Microsoft Knowledge Base article, How to extract information from Office files by using Office file formats and schemas, gives a good introduction. Nimur (talk) 15:50, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

If the only content you are interested in is numbers held as cell values, you could use "Save As" to export spreadsheet contents to an ASCII text file, either CSV format or tab delimited, then upload to target application from there. If your data is in several worksheets, you will need to export each worksheet individually. Gandalf61 (talk) 16:00, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Thank you both Nimur and Galdalf61 for your help. 70.31.157.47 (talk) 18:29, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Resolved

Best way to downgrade quality of .ogg files

Resolved

Hi, I am currently in the process of producing some .ogg files for Wikipedia. Of course, to satisfy our NFCC, the files have to be lower quality than the originals. Around 64kbps seems to be the norm. What would be the best way to do this? I'm using Audacity. Thanks, decltype (talk) 17:02, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Using scanner software with different scanners?

I have one working scanner, a HP ScanJet 3300C. I have three scanner software CD discs: the HP ScanJet 3300C disc (dated 1999, non-XP), an HP ScanJet 2400 disc (dated 2004), and a Umax Astra 2200 SCSI disc (dated 1999, non-XP, non-USB). These were either given to me, or survive from hardware which burnt out and stopped working. I have spend a few days trying to get the ScanJet 3300C driver including the latest versions downloaded from the HP site to work with XP Sp3, but it will not - that is a dead end I have fully explored. The HP ScanJet 3300C is currently using WIA which can do plain scans only. WIA does not do OCR or even photocopying, although the latter can be done in a long-winded way.

My question is, might it be possible to get any of the OCR software on the software discs working on its own? That is, without the rest of the HP or Umax software, and perhaps using a different scanner than that envisioned? Similarly with photocopying software. As an asside, while my HP printer works very well and is very robust, the HP scanner software I've come across has on both ocassions been very bad and would not work, and my previous HP scanner hardware stopped working quite soon too. 78.151.118.12 (talk) 17:14, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

SilverFast is a scanning application that will work with multiple scanners. It is popular with professionals because it gives you control over what type of mode the image is in, the gamma, levels, curves, etc.--WinRAR anodeeven (talk) 22:22, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Silverfast does not seem to cater for my scanner. But I have found the freeware SimpleOCR although I have not tried it yet. 78.147.243.144 (talk) 19:32, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Where are they getting the (presumably cleared) private data from?

I like to use Firefox's "Always clear my private data when I close Firefox" option to delete cookies, cache, passwords, histories, etc. However, I notice that data pertaining to my usage is somehow being saved. For example, when I go to this site: <http://www.goroo.com/goroo/index.htm>, it remembers things I typed in the past under "Your Recent Locations". Perhaps it saved that data to its own database and associated it with my IP address. But would they really do that for every instance of someone using their site? Especially when I didn't ask to them save any info? And what if I don't have a static IP? Another possiblity is that it somehow saved data to the Windows system?! That seems even more intrusive.

Similarly, I have DownloadHelper, a Firefox extension which somehow remembers how many times I used it (even though it has a "Disable download count cookie" option which is checked). It may not be doing it in a cookie, but it's counting in some way.

Neither of these examples are a big deal, but it is kind of aggravating that they seem to try to sneak around behind your back. I would appreciate any ideas on how they do this (and how I could stop it, if I wanted to). TresÁrboles (talk) 21:16, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

I have to say this site does indeed use a rather interesting method to store data. Your suspicious is likely to be correct - it seems that the site couples an IP adress with a specific session ID. Forcing my connection trough a proxy made the site "Forget" everything about me, even though i did not clean cookies or any other information. When i used a high anonimity proxy it would still store the session data even though cookies, cashing and referals were disabled. On top of that the javascript code(!) seems to indicate it receives values from a database. Since i only did a cursory inspection i cannot be completely sure, but tests seem to indicate it works this way. Excirial ^{(Contact me,Contribs)} 23:02, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Good thinking! I tried that myself, and I got the same results. Wow, I can't believe they're actually doing that. Their privacy policy doesn't mention this. They'll probably say that addresses aren't personal info, even though it could be your home address, an address to the local AA meeting, your mistress's address, etc., all linked to your IP. (Personally I only type in an intersection close to my home, not my exact location.)

Just for giggles, what do you all see under Your Recent Locations when you go to (blacklisted site!) ViaProxy.info and surf on http://www.goroo.com/goroo/index.htm ? This is where I went to do the test mentioned above. TresÁrboles (talk) 18:17, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

P.S. When I first tried to save this page with a link to the proxy site I used (which I got from a random Google search), I got a Spam Filter Notice "The spam filter blocked your page save because it detected a blacklisted hyperlink ..." and when you click on the link "Return to Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing." your changes are lost! But I think you can use your web browser to go back to your editing session and copy your changes. TresÁrboles (talk) 18:22, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

I've noticed that even after I've deleted all cookies etc with a Ccleaner scan, Windows Live still knows who I am. On the other hand, I have to keep resetting my Google preferances, even though I've told Ccleaner to not delete the google cookie. 78.147.243.144 (talk) 18:00, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Windows Live knows who you are. Google also knows who you are and what you've been looking for/at. It's based on the MAC address as well as IP and browser user agent. The cookie (which might be an AdSense one or a DoubleClick one) only holds your "user ID" concatenated from these items, so this is easily recreated if you kill the cookies. The search data is actually kept AT GOOGLE, currently for 18 months,although there are plans to reduce this to "only" 9 months before "anonymising" the data by removing the machine-related data. (Neither of our articles mention this data-storage, so they need updating). Windows Live works on a similar method. . So apparently does Gooroo.com. The Google preferences don't seem to be very sticky; I have not deleted my Google cookies for 6 months, but the preferences keep changing by themselves; particularly the number of results to show keeps defaulting back to 10 in Advanced search, although my Preferences are set for 50, in the cookies for both national Google portals I use. CCleaner works with a rather broad brush. MozillaCookiesView or equivalent for other browsers gives a lot more data, and a much finer control, over what cookies you delete.- KoolerStill (talk) 04:11, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Google Safesearch turning itself on over and over is a FF3 bug. Gigs (talk) 21:55, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

Can't start up my Sony Vaio laptop!

(Yikes, it looks like I typed out a whole story. I apologize for the length, but I hope that someone somewhere can read it and give me some good suggestions.)

My Sony Vaio SZ780 is useless right now. When I try to bring it up, the power lights come on, but the screen remains black; it doesn't even bring up the Sony /Intel / Phoenix Technolgies splash screen which comes on before I would normally get the option to boot either Windows XP or Ubuntu (which pretty much indicates it's a hardware problem). I don't hear the startup sounds for either Windows or Ubuntu, so I'm positive it's not just the screen that has the problem. So I brought it to a Sony Style store to have a service person look at it, and of course what happens but it starts up right away with no problems! He doesn't give me an explanation, just suggests taking the battery out and then putting it back in. So I take it back, start it up again at a restaurant during lunch, take it home and start it up, so far so good, but I leave it alone the whole day since I was using another computer. When I finally look at it later, it looks like it's suspended. Nothing unusual, but then I discover that I can't unsuspend it. I have to power off by holding the power button down, and then when I try to power up again, it won't work! But wait, the craziness continues! After a couple of days of trying, I come back to it after a week or so, try it again on a whim, and it works! And it continues to work until I take it to a meeting and show off stuff on my laptop, when it of course fails again. Someone there has a suggestion: take out the battery and the AC, hold down the power button for 20 seconds, and then try again (with battery and/or AC back in obviously). It sounds like a strange idea, but it works! I'm confused as to what is happening, but at least I have now have a workaround. Or so I thought up until the point when I got back home and tried my laptop again. Same problem, even after trying the new "solution". And this is the point where I am at today. Power does get delivered to the laptop since the power and Bluetooth lights come on, and the fan, but that's the only thing that happens. I have to hold the power button down to turn off the power.

Even though this is a laptop, I had used it pretty much as just another home computer, and I've never really taken it outside and around with me. So I'm pretty suspicious that the first time this problem occurred was after I had taken it to a meeting (it worked well there though) and back home. Also, after working for a while, the problem manifested itself again after taking it away to another meeting (as detailed above). I wonder if the traveling jiggered something loose? (But this is a laptop; it's SUPPOSED to be taken around with you!) It has only been a few months since I've gotten the laptop back from Sony Service for another problem!! (FYI this heinous one: <http://vaio.wikidot.com/rationale>)

Thanks for reading! Signed, Desparate For A Solution! TresÁrboles (talk) 22:13, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

This actually sounds like a loose contact somewhere. Picking up the laptop and moving it might prove to be just enough to shift the contact back into place, or nudge it out. It could also be that one of the internal components is on the edge of dieing, or that the laptop ends up being overheated. The first issue could cause this "Strangeness" due to the component working only part of the time. Since you state you hear no sounds i assume that it is the motherboard, since you would hear diagnostic beeps over the laptop internal speakers otherwise. The latter suggestion Is related to a failure in the cooling of your laptop. If the CPU coolers are malfunctioning the temperature of the CPU rises incredibly quickly (Laptop might not even feel hot, as its the chip, not the casing). Once that happends PC's shut down automatically to prevent further damage. From you statement i assume that a loose contact is most likely, though this behaviour can actually be caused by masses of issues. Excirial ^{(Contact me,Contribs)} 23:10, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm not sure I normally hear "diagnostic beeps"; when it is either working or when it has the problem, I hear a quick sound right when I press the power button, but I always thought it was machinery (hard drive?) turning on -- is this what you mean?

I would be very surprised if it was an overheating problem, as the fan still works, I seldom do anything CPU-intensive (like heavy graphics), and most of all, the laptop has usually been off for quite a while before I attempt to satrt it up. Unfortunately, you are probably right about loose hardware. @#$%&! TresÁrboles (talk) 19:26, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

I guess the very first thing I'd try would be to look carefully at the copper contacts on the battery and on the laptop. Are they dirty or corroded - discolored? If so, you might very gently polish them with the finest grade of emery board or sand paper...VERY gently. You might also find that the contact is maintained by the springiness of the metal - if so, VERY gently bend them outwards - use something like a wooden toothpick or cocktail stick to get behind them (nothing metal - nothing fat!)...I can't over-emphasise how gentle you need to be. The problem (if I'm right) is - that if the contacts are bent a bit flat - fixing it this way won't be a permanent solution - once they get bent - they get soft and lose their springiness - so in a few weeks it'll probably do it again. SteveBaker (talk) 00:11, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the help. I'm reluctant to do anything with hardware myself. Also, the problem happens whether or not the battery is in the laptop. My laptop was purchased new only in February 2008, and has hardly been taken anywhere (no working by the oceanside for me unfortunately!). I did take a look as you suggested though. The contacts on the battery are hardly visible -- just points. The contacts on the laptop are small, but they look normal AFAIK to me.

But guess what?

After taking out the battery, blowing gently on the contacts on the laptop (even though I didn't see any dust), doing the thing (mentioned above) of holding down the power button (which had worked only once before), putting the battery back in, pressing the power button...

It works! Huh? What?!? Maybe the act of flipping the laptop over to remove and replace the battery is enough to jar things right/wrong?!? (But remember I attempted to start it many times, often flipping it over during this, so it's not a solution.) Even if the laptop continues to work, how can I ever trust it again? I'd have to backup every hour for fear of not getting at my data if it fails again (or else always use an external drive as primary storage, which seems to be both a waste and an inconvenience). I was really happy with Sony for about 6-8 months, but now I'm rather... less than happy. TresÁrboles (talk) 19:26, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

If it is still under warranty I wouldn't attempt a DIY repair; instead send it off to the service centre with a very clear explanation of the intermittant nature of the problem (you don't want he service guys thinking you are wasting their time). Astronaut (talk) 09:15, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

It is a few months past the year-long warranty. I had already sent the laptop off to Sony service (they apparently only have one place in San Diego) in February 2009 for the trackpad problem I had mentioned in my original post. After getting it back, I had to return it back THE VERY NEXT DAY because they had done something to it so that the simple act of my opening the lid caused the left side of the case to somehow dislodge and expose the hardware innards (perhaps they missed a screw or something?). I'm not too trusting of Sony hardware people at this point. In fact, if anyone knows of good technical people who know all about Sony hardware, but are NOT Sony, let me know! TresÁrboles (talk) 19:26, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Printing onto Canvas with an Inkjet Printer

Hi all,

I wrote a query a while ago about printing onto canvas using an Epson R2880. Having got it working, I find that the prinouts are much darker on the canvas than onscreen (much darker!). I take this to be because of the absorbency of the canvas. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Would it suffice to brighten up the image considerably using the levels tool in photoshop to get better results?

Lukerees1983 (talk) 22:32, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Well, there are really three ways to "lighten" a picture. I'm not really familiar with photoshop - but in GIMP there is a tool that shows a graph of how you are altering the brightness.

 |          *       |            *      |     ********   |                *
 |        *         |        *          |    *           |           *
 |      *           |    *              |   *            |      *
 |    *             |*                  |  *             |   *
 |  *               |                   | *              | *
 |*___________      |______________     |*____________   |*______________
    No change         Less Contrast      More brightness   Gamma adjustment

(Within the limits of ASCII art!)

The "No change" situation has the graph of input-brightness (along the bottom axis) to output-brightness (on the vertical axis) at 45 degrees.

The other three represent three common ways in which you might "lighten" the image...and unless you understand why your image is dark, it's hard to guess which one is the right thing:

• Less contrast gives you less black blacks and tends to make the whole image look "foggy"...I suspect it's not what you want...but who knows?
• More brightness might be what you need - but if there is any white on your canvas right now, it'll tend to "blow out".
• Gamma adjustment is often the right answer - but it's hard to know with ink on canvas. What it does is to brighten the mid-ranges without either washing out those solid black or blowing out the white.

If the canvas isn't too expensive, I would try all three and see which one looks best. If you're trying to save the stuff - I would try the gamma adjustment first. SteveBaker (talk) 23:57, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

Test prints on ordinary paper, even on a draft quality setting, will give you a fair idea how much to lighten it. Don't forget the screen has luminescence, which the printed version lacks. This makes the image look brighter and lighter. The best image on paper is going to look too light on the screen. "Electric" colours won't transfer to printing at all because they depend so much on luminescence.- KoolerStill (talk) 08:03, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

The above answers are nice but they misunderstand the fundamental problem here: your printer uses a different color model than your screen and unless you set things up to account for that they will not match up very well given the same color values.

If you are doing work on your computer and want high fidelity to your output you need to set your OS (or at least Photoshop) to have the right color management profile. If you have Photoshop you should have a program called Adobe Gamma on your computer that will help you coordinate things so that what you see on the screen will give you some indication of what you will see when you print it out. Otherwise you are just fishing around in the darkness with two totally different color schemes. You should be able to set things up in a way that will let you see, on screen, what things will look like when printed. The medium you are printing on will have some effect on it but in most cases it should be that dramatic in terms of making things darker or lighter unless the medium is itself colored (which changes the white point, obviously).

Color management is a big pain in the neck when you are new to it, and even then it has many apparently mysterious things (you can easily get totally strange results, in part because not all programs deal with color management as good as others), but it is worth looking into. The problem is almost certainly related to the gamma settings you are using for your monitor -- most people prefer in a monitor a much brighter "black" and "white" than you can get on paper. Depending on your computer there are different ways to manage this but Googling "photoshop color management" should point you in the right direction. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 01:18, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

June 13

What can I do...

Block quote

I think I deleted something that I shouldn't have...and ow my mouse goes crazy...making it hard to click on anything...what can I do???

Not sure what you are on about specifically - but a crazy mouse can be a sign of either:

Damaged cable in a wired mouse - probably need to replace mouse or mend the cable

Electromagnetic interference in a wireless mouse - one solution is a wired mouse.77.86.10.194 (talk) 08:51, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Low battery is more likely to cause a wireless mouse to go "haywire." Nimur (talk) 16:21, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

The OP said that he/she had deleted something - so I'm guessing some file. My suggestion would be to reinstall (uninstall, then reinstall, heck, it's windoze) mouse drivers and see what happens. G'night. --Ouro (blah blah) 21:04, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

You might have set the sensitivity really high (so the mouse goes really fast across the screen). You can change that by changing the mouse settings in the control panel. But if you want us to help you, can you give us more than "crazy". What mouse, what causes it to move, at what speed, and what does the cursor look like? --h2g2bob (talk) 14:16, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

You say "mouse" but if you were actually using a trackpad and have a Sony Vaio, there is a known problem with those laptops that you can read about here. I experienced both the reversed cursor (pointer goes opposite way to what you want) and the crazy cursor problems. Reversed cursor can be amusing, for the first minute anyway. TresÁrboles (talk) 19:42, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

What's the problem

I have a strange problem. The thing is, all of my Video players sometimes just don't play the video! I get the sound but just a big black screen. This happens to players like VLC, EM Total Media Player, ALL PLAYER, etc. whatever the file i play, be it avi, mkv or anything. This happens even to files which have been played by the same player just a couple of days back very well. So it can't be a codec problem. All the players face the same problem, except Real Player, which always plays well. Whatever i do - shut down, restart, reinstall, the problem persists. I have found merely by trial and error that if i abruptly switch off the power and Windows Disk check launches, it says it has made corrections, and then everything is back to normal again. Now all files are played properly by all players. Why is it so? What is the cause of this problem? And how can i launch Disk Checking without abruptly turning off my computer? Rkr1991 (talk) 08:02, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

On the video part, have you tried updating your video drivers? It sounds like your hardware acceleration is not working correctly (see hardware overlay, which sounds like the black boxes you are seeing), which is probably fixable by drivers or could be a sign that there is some sort of video card problem. You could try turning down hardware acceleration and see if they suddenly work—it's not a long-term fix (hardware acceleration is a good thing!) but it could help you diagnose what the exact problem is. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 12:54, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

I have only an Intel(R) Extreme Graphics card (my computer is over 5 years old). I haven't got any option to turn down hardware acceleration. Can you tell me how ? Rkr1991 (talk) 12:59, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Can't anybody help me with this problem? Rkr1991 (talk) 08:45, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes, that is a weird problem. You say the Disk check fixes it which are changes to files on your computer. You say it's any file, so it can't be a corrupted codec. Must be something in your system files. You can try using System Restore under System Tools to restore your computer to a point BEFORE the problem occurred - this will restore any changes to system files etc. but be careful, it will undo other changes made since. If you're really struggling, you can try posting at techsupportforum.com - they've helped me with weird problems in the past. Sandman30s (talk) 20:39, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Well, thank you for the link, I'll try it now. But I must say, I'm amazed - this is the first time that a reference desk hasn't been able to answer my question... Rkr1991 (talk) 05:07, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

If you're using ffmepg, it may be worth checking where the video output is set to. You could try changing that the OpenGL/DirectX renderer in case it's set to something funny. I havent used that codec pack in a while but I had a similar problem a while ago. aszymanik speak! 00:36, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Another Strange Problem

My computer has another strange problem, in addition to the one above. It just doesn't read pirated dvds. If i insert one into my computer, it acts as though nothing has been done. At the same time, it plays original dvds perfectly well, be it games or be it movies. How the heck does the computer know if the dvd is pirated or original? What is the cause for this problem, and is there anyway to rectify it ? Rkr1991 (talk) 13:02, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Depending on who you ask, this is not a problem at all... Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 14:37, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Ok if you don't consider it a problem (it is for me - heck i'm paying money), consider it as a query.... Rkr1991 (talk) 15:13, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

You're paying money for what? Not the extra DVD. Anyway, most commercially produced DVDs have copy protection that indeed prevents copied DVDs from working, whether it's in a DVD player or in a computer's DVD drive. Tempshill (talk) 18:18, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

All depends on how the DVD was created. DVDs store title ID information and key information in an otherwise unwritable sector (except with specialized equipment) which is why you can't straight copy a DVD.

To others, please don't provide a smart ass response to every copy-protection related question. Shadowjams (talk) 03:10, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

I would hazard that the optical drive in your machine is sufficiently old that it will not read all modern types of DVD media. Some older drives will not read DVD+R, many will not read DVD-RAM, and some will not read rewritable media (DVD-RW or DVD+RW). Older standalone DVD players also sometimes have problems with unfinalised disks, although I don't know if that affects PCs much. 87.112.85.111 (talk) 14:49, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Copy protection will sometimes prevent simple disc cloning. What program did you use to copy the DVDs? If, of course, you simply bought the pirated DVD, it matters what they used to clone the DVDs. Either way, get a DVD ripper and a DVD burner, and do it that way - and I feel obliged to point out, of course you should only do this if you have already bought the DVD and are making a backup etc. Ale_Jrb^talk 15:00, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Downhill Jam

What do the green and later red jewels on the crowns mean? I know they must be for better-than-gold performances, but I can't find anywhere what they actually mean. I'm on Wii. - Jarry1250 ^{(t, c)} 14:40, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Embedding Applets Online

Hello. Can someone explain in simple terms how I should embed my Java applet into my webpage http://sites.google.com/site/superaec? Thanks in advance. --Mayfare (talk) 15:07, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

This official tutorial from Sun (the creators of Java), is called Deploying Applets - "This section explains to HTML authors how and when to use the applet, object, and embed tags to add Java applets to Web pages, and provides guidelines for deploying applets on the Internet and Intranets, and for use with different browsers." This should be your reference for Applet and other Java-related information.

To briefly summarize the process, there are a few steps. First, you need to design and write your Java code and make sure it compiles as an applet (in other words, its main Class must extend Applet or JApplet). Next, you must place all of the needed .class files somewhere accessible on the web (presumably, on your web server, via FTP or some other file upload method). Last, you need to create or edit an HTML page, and add some code to load your applet from the webpage:

<applet code="YourAppletMainProgram.class" width="200" height="200"></applet>

Then, you can test it by loading the web page. If you are not familiar with editing HTML documents, you might want to brush up on that as well. If you want to package your applet in a JAR file, there is a tutorial for that on the Java website I linked above. Nimur (talk) 15:46, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

I attached the .class files to my site and tried to add the applet tag. Google Sites says "Your HTML either contains unsafe tags (iframe, embed, styles, script) or extra attributes. They will be removed when the page is viewed." If I try Webs.com, where can I upload my .class files and how can I make my Webs.com homepage access the bytecode? --Mayfare (talk) 02:01, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

That is unfortunate - apparently, Google's stance on security is to completely deny you the ability to run program code of any type on their hosts. Actually, applets, scripts, and embed tags generally run the code on the client, not the host. Anyway...Google doesn't want you doing it via their website! Since this is exactly what you want to do, you will need to find a different web host which does not have such draconian limitations. It is my opinion that Java Applets are not a serious security risk ("unsafe", as Google's message put it); but they are probably being extra-cautious as their corporate brand-name shows up in the web host and they don't want to take any risks. I'm not familiar with Webs.com, but you might consider checking the terms of service and the technical help sections of that or any other web host. Nimur (talk) 14:58, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

libticables2-2.dll

Hello, I am trying to install TiLP2 on my computer, but I am missing some DLLs. I have located most of them, but I cannot find where to download libticables2-2.dll. Please help me find it!!! I've searched Google for it and my hard drive as well, but it is nowhere to be found. Any help searching for it would be greatly appreciated. --72.69.235.79 (talk) 19:26, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

What or where are you trying to install this from? Any DLLs that are a part of TiLP2 should have come with it. Downloading individual DLLs from the internet is a very dangerous practice, as you don't know where they came from or, indeed, if they are the real ones. Download TiLP2 again, from a reliable and current site, and what you need should be on it. Make sure to get the one for your operating system.This seems to be the official TiLP2 site - KoolerStill (talk) 01:58, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

I've downloaded it from that site several times (for the appropriate operating system), as I thought perhaps my original download was corrupted. No difference, I am still somehow missing a bunch of DLLs. (And oh crap...gotta do an anti-virus scan now). Anyone else have any luck locating it? --71.171.163.124 (talk) 02:30, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Solution: Download and install TIEmu (google it) program will install missing files good luck from me and the ip shown (will change after post)

Can I use a new flat TFT monitor screen with an old computer?

I have a computer that is a few years old, although it has been upgraded to XP. It currently has a CRT monitor. If I unplug the CRT monitor and plug in a flat TFT monitor, should I have any problems? In other words are they compatible please? I assume the plugs that attach to the rear of the computer are the same. 78.147.243.144 (talk) 19:43, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes. Most flat-panel monitors still come with a VGA connector, which your old computer will (almost certainly) have. Many flat-panel monitors will also have a Digital Visual Interface connector, but they're smart enough to figure out which one to use for themselves. I'm not aware of any that only feature the DVI connector and not VGA. I say "almost certainly", because there's a vanishingly small number of old, high-end machines (used for CAD and video, in particular) that had Component video output instead, but I really really doubt that's what you'll have. 87.112.85.111 (talk) 20:04, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

There is a second question that you should answer before purchasing a flat-panel monitor: Can your old computer output video in the native resolution of the monitor? Unlike CRT monitors, flat-panel monitors' output looks pixellated, blocky, and overall really bad, particularly when displaying text, if the computer is outputting video whose screen resolution differs from the flat-panel's native resolution. Tempshill (talk) 20:35, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

You can, incidentally, usually look up the possible resolutions that a given card supports. It's a good thing to do before getting a new monitor -- make sure it is supported. Often updating old video card drivers, if possible, opens up a lot of possibilities. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 22:38, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

The resolution of the LCD screen I was thinking of buying is 1400x900 (1.555 aspect ratio), whereas the resolutions my computer can put out are 1280x1024 (1.25) and 1024x768 (1.333). I suppose this means I would have large blank areas on the screen? 78.151.102.179 (talk) 12:02, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

No - the resolution you output will scale to fit the entire screen, but as it's previously been said scaled output on an LCD monitor looks horrible. Two options :- One, upgrade your graphics card at the same time to one that can output 1400x900. Two, buy a cheaper LCD 1280x1024 screen. Exxolon (talk) 13:16, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

The 1400x900 screen is the cheapest available to me. The other ones have a higher resolution. Just how easy would it be to get a cheap video card capable of 1400x900 please? 78.147.147.146 (talk) 16:42, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

• Your IP address suggests you are in the UK. Try Novatech - a card from them that looks like it supports that resolution and more is at [3] for £23.23 - check with their sales/tech support if you're not sure. Exxolon (talk) 16:51, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. Perhaps if I supply all the details, a kind expert(s) could advise what to do? The monitor I'm currently using is a CRT, a Compaq Presario V400, made in march 1997. I sit in front of it for several hours a day, with my eyes about 16 inches from the small screen. I'm concerned that I'm getting a dose of X-rays over the years, as I've been told that my eyes show radiation damage - the radiation could be UV or X-rays. Its 12 years old - it may not be as safe as modern ones.

Details of my current computer: Motherboard ID 06/22/2000-693-596-W977E-P6BAT-APC-00 Motherboard name: ECS P6BAT-A+ CPU Type: Intel Pentium IIIE, 733 MHz (5.5 x 133) Memmory: 255MB. Running XP Sp3.

The current video card is disabled, as otherwise the computer will not start - I believe the hardware was damaged by a voltage spike. The greatest resolution my computer can do is 1280x1024 - I'm surprised it still functions with the video card turned off (the CRT is still plugged into it, and there is no other video output).

I have another old video card I could use. It says Matrox 7003-0301 rev_a on it, and its specs are - Model: G450 Slot: PCI Mark: G45FMDVP32DBF MB: 32 Ramdac: 360/230 Serie: 7003-0301 Display: DVI + RGB Comment: DVI-RGB adapter. I have found a driver for it here: http://download.cnet.com/Windows-XP-Device-Driver-for-Matrox-G-450/3000-2108_4-106278.html

So I'm wondering if a) the Matrox card would work with my computer, and b) it could do the screen resolution of 1440x900 (I think the 1400 was probably a misprint). I only use the computer for word-processing and the internet, not for games. Thanks 78.147.147.146 (talk) 19:07, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Firstly, your CRT is not beaming X-rays into your eyes. (The article Cathode ray tube talks about the leading shielding you from them.) Secondly, who has told you your eyes show radiation damage? Was it a doctor, and what was the doctor's advice? Thirdly, your video card must be on, or else you wouldn't be getting a video signal. Could you explain how you know it is "disabled"? OK, moving on. A large flat-panel monitor will probably lessen your eye strain and increase your Computer Enjoyment. This page says your Matrox alternative is a G450, and this page says the maximum resolution of a G450 is 1280x1024, just like with the video card that's currently in your computer. A different video card could be purchased that would drive the larger monitor at its native resolution. Tempshill (talk) 21:03, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. My current video card is diabled in Divice Monitor. If it is enabled, the computer will only start in Safe Mode. I've tried updating the driver - no effect. Your second link says - "Maximum resolutions (per display) Digital: 1280 x 1024 Analog, main display: 2048 x 1536 Analog, secondary display: 1600 x 1200". The LCD monitor in question has an analogue input, so perhaps it can do 1440x900? And maybe if the input to the monitor is analogue and not digital, perhaps its not so important to match the native resolution????? Contributions/78.146.180.151 (talk) 10:14, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Aren't we missing the obvious? I also just bought a new monitor, happens to be 1440x900 -- and IT CAME WITH A DRIVER DISK! So, no handwringing about whether or not the graphics card would support it; I plugged it in, it looked silly for the three minutes it took to install the driver from the CD; end of story.

I then had a fun time playing with the multiple monitor options :-)

--DaHorsesMouth (talk) 22:21, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Having a driver disk won't help if your graphics card is not powerful enough to support the screens resolution. Exxolon (talk) 23:06, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

As I mention above, is that still so critical if the LCD monitor is taking an analogue signal, not a digital one? Contributions/78.146.180.151 (talk) 10:14, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Your motherboard appears to have an AGP port (and BOTH slot 1 and socket 370, for some reason) so your G450 should work once you've installed it. However the motherboard has a VIA chipset which are quite temperamental and you should always update the chipset drivers to the latest. You may have some trouble getting widescreen resolutions but this thread might help. --antilived^{T | C | G} 01:06, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, how do I do a chipset driver update, or check if my chipset already has the latest available driver, which I think may be the case? I think I looked into this in the past, and the old motherboard I have has not been attended to by the manufactuer for years I think. And another point - if I buy the 1440x900 LCD monitor now, is that resolution likely to be supported when I eventually buy a new desktop pc in the future? Contributions/78.146.180.151 (talk) 10:14, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

This seems to be right place, you might want to get the "Retro Chipset" one for your motherboard. And yes, 1440×900 is a commonly-supported resolution. --antilived^{T | C | G} 10:28, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, done that with the retro chipset package, although I think I remember doing the same thing previously. How do I install the Matrox video card? Do I just replace the card, turn the computer back on, then run the driver package? I'm wondering if I'm going to get any display prior to running the driver. 78.149.138.140 (talk) 10:13, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes you plug in the card into one of the white slots (your card is PCI I believe) and connect your monitor to that. You should also pull out your old card to avoid problems. Don't worry, you will at least get VGA display even without drivers, and after that hopefully you can use your new screen to its full potential! --antilived^{T | C | G} 12:30, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, have nowe replaced the old video card with the Matrox card. Windows Update supplied the driver. But, although it can do much larger screen resolutions, it cannot do 1440x900. Unless its only showing what it will do with a default CRT monitor. 78.147.130.36 (talk) 19:23, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

Solution: Download and install TIEmu (google it) program will install missing files good luck from me and the ip shown (will change after post)

Screen resolution of LCD - follow-up question

Quick question inspired by the above: machine runs Zenwalk Linux, is a P3/850 MHz with _some_ Nvidia with 32 megs (a little younger than the machine itself). User (self) recently bought new flat panel LCD just because. Now, he read somewhere that he may just simply add the native resolution of the LCD to some conf file or other (I can't really remember which one), and that it will run. User did that, and everything ran, and had been running nicely for half a year now just as user wanted. Now, which of the following had happened:

• graphics card is able to run at native resolution of LCD (1440x900) and thus forms a nice pair with the LCD, or
• graphics card was effectively forced to accept what it had been told to do (i. e. the screen resolution).

I think the first one, but just to make sure. If anyone wants, I'll have a follow-up question to this one later. Thanks in advance and cheers, Ouro (blah blah) 21:02, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

If the graphics card was not able to run at the resolution settings you specified in your Xorg.conf file, then it would fail to switch the video mode when X is initialized (a few moments after the system "boots" but before you log in). Then, you would have either seen nothing (black screen, error message, etc), or a "failsafe" text-only console mode at a default resolution like 640x480 @ 60 Hz. Because you added a standard resolution setting which (modern) graphics hardware is able to generate and the (modern) monitor is able to understand, there were no problems. Most graphics cards are able to generate the correct clock signals for many standard resolutions and refresh rates. Nimur (talk) 21:37, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

xorg.conf, right! Oh, and thank you for the (logical) answer. Cheers, Ouro (blah blah) 05:17, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Checklists

Recently I noticed that each of the medical clinics I visit now use checklists exclusively before doing anything.

There is even a hand washing checklist with entires posted in the bathroom that covers the use of water, soap, motion of hands, duration, drying, etc.

What I am wondering is if the checklists have been made public not only so they can be scrutinized by the public but in the event of major overwhelming disaster a lay person could have a checklist to follow, barring extra ordinary circumstances which one checklist might have to defer to another checklist. After all were are storing seeds in the event of such a disaster so why not practical procedural knowledge to include the legal system in addition to surgical procedures?

-- Taxa (talk) 22:28, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

You do get this is a reference desk? Not a "let me propose a random idea and watch people debate it and hopefully say I'm smart because I pointed something out". If you believe this is a valid idea, tell people who can do stuff. It's like all your questions on the physics desk; they aren't questions- they are you trying to prove some half-baked idea that you get from reading a Wikipedia article. As has been said there- get a book and research stuff.24.171.145.63 (talk) 23:02, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

So basically then you are saying I need an entry in my checklist that asks if I know this is a reference desk and another one to ask if this is a random idea and another one to ask if I want to watch people debate a random idea and another to ask if I can point something out and one to ask if anyone here can do stuff and another one to read the Wikipedia or a book to prove a half-baked idea from researching stuff. Okay. -- Taxa (talk) 23:47, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

(e/c.)

I don't like to answer a question with a question, But why would such emergency stores of knowledge be in checklist form? That doesn't seem practical. I know that I could not teach a lay person to do my job (computer programming) entirely from checklists, but some well written textbooks can and have taught many people the profession.

Incidentally, what makes this a Reference question? Are you looking for copies of these checklists? APL (talk) 23:06, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

It is quite common in developing countries I believe to have people with only a little training handle straightforward medical conditions using a big book of checklists. The main problem is teaching them to refer the problem when it says refer rather than treating more complex problems. I suppose we could all follow checklists like that when the apocalypse comes. And by the way I rather like answering questions with another question but I won't in this instance. Dmcq (talk) 23:21, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

edit conflict...Flight checklists have been around ever since the first airplane crashes in which the flaps were locked or something like that so basically whenever you get in an airplane your life is in the hands of a checklist. Same with surgery. You might have a heart attack during surgery which a surgical checklist would hopefully catch. Since they are already used to protect life its a good bet they have some value. -- Taxa (talk) 23:28, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Some value ... to surgeons, that is, the people they're designed for. It does not automatically follow that they would be useful to people with no training.

Besides, you seem like you've already made up your mind on this issue. What's your reference question? APL (talk) 02:00, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

The essense of the OPs question is: have medical checklists been made public? Probably, if you look at the appropriate textbooks. Checklists are also used by aircraft pilots and in business. This reminds me of Mycin, and you could consider expert systems to be a kind of smart checklist. The Checklist article led me to Medical guideline.78.151.102.179 (talk) 10:49, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

June 14

Virtual memory

My MacBook (OS X 10.4.11) seems to use an astounding amount of virtual memory according to Activity Monitor (11.6 GB total). Safari uses 1.5 GB of Virtual Memory itself, where little, dinky applications like MenuCalendarClock (basically puts a little iCal data thing at the top of the screen) and have no major interface to space of take up over 500 MB. Programs that are doing nothing 90% of the time (Snaps Pro X) use some 390 MB. This strikes me as sort of crazy, given that the actual RAM these programs take up is usually a LOT smaller (Google Desktop takes up only 2.19 MB of Real Memory but 356 MB of Virtual Memory). What's the reason behind this? Are these programs just leaky or what? I have no processes other than very "low level", Unix-y like ones (e.g. httpd, mds) that use less than 300 MB Virtual Memory. What do these numbers really mean? The "Real Memory" usage seems about right (2MB for small programs, 20MB for bigger ones, as-much-as-it-can-handle for Safari) but the Virtual Memory numbers seem fantastical (can Snaps Pro X really need 390MB of Virtual Memory when it is idle?). --98.217.14.211 (talk) 01:06, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Short answer: VM space is essentially free (i.e. doesn't use actual RAM or disk space) until it's actually used for something, so why be stingy with it? Allocating lots of VM to your program is easier than trying to economize, so that's what everyone does.

Longer answer: I'm not familiar with the gory details of Mac OS X's virtual memory system, but I'm pretty sure it goes something like this: when a program launches and requests lots of VM space, the OS builds it a page table with lots of entries marked "Zero filled". If and when the program actually uses one of those pages, a page of real RAM gets allocated (and zeroed). Most of the pages never get written to, so they never take up any real resource (other than a tiny bit of space to hold the page table). Similarly, the pages that "hold" the program itself (and the shared libraries it uses) get marked as corresponding to the spots on disk where the program (+libraries) are stored; as various parts of the program are actually used, real RAM gets allocated and the relevant pages of the program are loaded into them. Some of the program pages (and probably most of the library pages) never get used, so they're part of the program's VM space, but never consume actual RAM. And then there's shared memory (the same real RAM shows up in several processes' VM space), copy-on-write pages, etc.

If you want to get a little more info about how your VM is actually being used, open a terminal window, enter vm_stat, and look at the entries for "Pages zero filled" and "Pages copy-on-write". On the MacBook Pro I'm writing this on, I currently have 38.2 GB (10010701 pages at 4096 bytes each) zero filled and 2.65 GB (694674 pages) copy-on-write, with only 2 GB of physical RAM (902 MB of which is free, and 210 MB inactive). Activity Monitor reports 47.99GB of total VM, which probably also includes programs and libraries that haven't been paged in, multiple-counted shared pages, etc. Another interesting command is sysctl vm.swapusage, which will show you how much hard disk space is being used to store overflow from physical RAM; mine is currently at total = 64.00M used = 0.00M free = 64.00M, meaning that it's allocated 64MB of disk space, but hasn't needed to use it for anything (despite the programs I'm running being ridiculously profligate with VM space). -- Speaker to Lampposts (talk) 06:02, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Bittorrent play while download

Is there a Bittorrent client that will download a file from start to finish instead of downloading randomly? That way I can start viewing the file while it is still downloading. F (talk) 03:01, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

That would be very very slow. I doubt it has been made. Rgoodermote  03:05, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

I sometimes wish for an utility like that but agree that it would be impractical and kinda not in line with the workings of Bittorrent itself. Maybe try downloading from a different source (provided there is one). Or-- have a cup of tea, patience, the file will be there soon. --Ouro (blah blah) 05:20, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

eztv has some sort of modified bittorrent protocol/client that lets you stream a bittorrent download. I haven't used it so I can't tell you how well it works though. --antilived^{T | C | G} 11:19, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

It's going to be really, really slow and except in situations where there are huge numbers of seeders it will completely screw up the economy of BT (you won't be getting your files from the peers, just the seeders). The whole reason people can afford the bandwidth to host torrents is because of the way BT distributes it intelligently, which is not sequential. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 14:22, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

If I recall correctly the original btdownloadheadless program would download files in roughly sequential order whenever possible. Eventually they changed this and it improved download speeds for both you and everyone else downloading the same file. Sequential downloading also makes it much more likely that a torrent will be stuck with zero seeds. APL (talk) 02:51, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

That client would no longer be following the bittorrent protocol model, which specifically and intentionally downloads file chunks out of sequential order because it is approximating an optimal traffic solution. Consider it this way - if you download sequentially, you have to wait for Chunk n+1 at every time. This chunk might not be available yet (because the server who has it is busy, or something). So... why bother waiting? Your network is doing nothing in the mean-time. Suppose some other chunk is available immediately? You can start downloading that chunk, which is necessarily "not the next sequential chunk." Then, at some future time when the sequential chunk does become available, you will get it - but you haven't been wasting time doing a no-work stall. Nimur (talk) 14:42, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

I can't read East Asian Languages

I've tried the >Control Panel>Languages option but I don't have my original XP installation CD. Are there alternative methods of installing Asian characters?

Mooselogic (talk) 06:36, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried Windows Update and looking in the Optional section? Tempshill (talk) 16:30, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

That doesn't work. Try this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.72.222.20 (talk) 05:37, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Search whole site

Hi, I need a way to search an ENTIRE website for keywords, say "Robot Brain" and it'll give me a list of every page on that site that features "Robot Brain". I guess sort of like a web crawler, although I don't want to actually save the pages, just scan them. Many thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.90.144 (talk) 10:10, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

You can do this via Google. To search wikipedia.org for robot brain enter site:wikipedia.org "robot brain" into the Google search box. Quotes are only necessary for a phrase search i.e. everything after the site:... bit works like a normal google search. Note that there is no space after site: (if it has worked properly you should see something like "Results 1 - 8 of 8 from wikipedia.org for "robot brains". (0.27 seconds)." near the top right).131.111.8.98 (talk) 10:51, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes but that's not a live search, stuff from google search can be weeks old —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.90.144 (talk) 11:22, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

You could download the entire site using a software utility, then search your local copy? Exxolon (talk) 13:13, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, but I'm trying to avoid downloading the sites :/ I don't know, I guess I'll keep looking for some software that will just search the sites

Specifically, wget and HTTrack are two solutions. (For downloading the sites.) Tempshill (talk) 20:43, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

How can you possibly search the site without downloading it? Even Google had to download it (they save it as their "cached" copy, but that's irrelevant). Unless you can persuade the web server to perform the search for you, you're stuck with downloading the pages and examining their contents. You can then delete the downloaded copies, of course; you could even use wget -O - to write "a website" on stdout and then search through that without it ever being on disk. (You'd have to do some sort of clever analysis to notice which pages contained your hits, though.) --Tardis (talk) 23:27, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

You can read the sites on RSS with appropriate filters to find what you want. If the site does not supply RSS, there is a service called Dapper which works as a Firefox extension, that lets you create RSS feeds out of virtually any site (you have to sign up as a member). Once you have a site set up you can use that feed on future occasions. It takes a few minutes per site, more if the different pages are very different in their layout. This would not be useful to you if you will be searching different sites each time. In that case, go with the refined Google search and take the risk on how old the caching is. The higher on their search ranking a site is, the more often it is crawled; some major sites are visited about every 18 minutes. -KoolerStill (talk) 06:10, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

This might be what you need. It's the Ixquick toolbar, which has a "search this site" feature. The website has to be open in the browser but not downloaded. It looks interesting enough that I might try it myself. - KoolerStill (talk) 16:29, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Norton Internet Security and Anti-Spam

I do not myself use Norton Internet Security, but I need the following information to advise correspondents who use that software and who need to receive my mail.

I know that Norton Internet Security includes Norton Anti-Spam. My question is:

If a user of Norton Internet Security has never opened the Anti-Spam component, will Anti-Spam still filter incoming mail, requiring that user to whitelist senders in Anti-Spam to be assured that mail from those senders will always come through? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Richard Odin Johnson (talk • contribs) 13:41, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

I just upgraded to NIS 2009 and can tell you that AntiSpam is off by default. I believe this is the same for NIS 2008, but I don't know about older versions. This means that, no, AntiSpam will not filter mail if a user has never touched it (since the user has to turn it on). Xenon54 (talk) 13:53, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

That may not be true for users of the network-managed corporate edition. Such systems will phone home during install (and frequently thereafter) to pick up the site policy file. If Richard's correspondents are inside large medium-sized organisations then this might very well be enabled (one would imagine large organisations will tackle spam centrally, rather than using Norton). 87.115.144.38 (talk) 17:39, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

ATX SMPS question

My olde computer's power supply got burnt and I am looking for a new one. The old one had 20 pin output and if I buy a new 24 pin piece, will it fit? The burnt one is 300W. The machine is a P4 with intel mobo (845 Glly). Will a 400W piece work with it? --Quntimodum (talk) 15:31, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes, most 24 pin connectors come with a detachable 4-pin connector so it can be used as 20 pin too. Usually as long the wattage is higher than your old one it should work, but be careful of shoddy brands that over-rates their PSU. --antilived^{T | C | G} 00:52, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Usually you don't even need to detach the 4-pin connector, you can plug the 24 pin plug straight into the 20 pin socket. F (talk) 04:54, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

malloc and free

Dear Wikipedians:

Sometimes I would forget to free() the memory I have malloc()'ed. I'm wondering:

Would this memory eventually be returned to the system when the entire program ends? Or is it lost to the system forever until I reboot the computer?

Thanks.

70.31.157.47 (talk) 16:45, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Malloc() allocates small chunks of memory from the individual process heap, which is a bunch of pages that are owned by your process (if you're interested, your process gets those as needed either by calling sbrk or mmap). Like all other pages owned by your process, those are returned to the system when the process ends. It is, in some systems, possible to perform mallocs() that do persist even after your process ends - such shared memory allocation operations are something you need to tell your malloc implementation specifically about; it's not something that'd normally happen, and it's not for the faint hearted. 87.115.144.38 (talk) 17:19, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

It is freed on any sane system, but is it guaranteed for standard C (/ have there been "desktop" systems that lose memory like this)? _{btw I'm not the op} --194.197.235.32 (talk) 20:29, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

The freeing is done by the OS when it breaks down a process, not by the libc allocator, so it's essentially guaranteed. You do get other kinds of allocation (windows has "resources", and most OSes have IPC things); these are allocated by other apis (not malloc), and sometimes are leaked. Older windows (e.g. 95) was noted for leaking resources (from a tiny pool), so eventually the system would grind to a halt, even though no apps were running and plenty of ram was free. 87.115.144.38 (talk) 21:34, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks all, that's essentially what I have guessed too. 70.31.157.47 (talk) 20:41, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Resolved

bash question

Let's say I have a directory path in bash that is being stored as a string, something like "/Users/myusername/Documents/stuff/foo/bar/my folder". What's the simplest, most reliable way to take that string in bash and have it just give me the last folder name, assuming the path in question is not fixed (that is, it can't just be "trim x characters off the end")? --98.217.14.211 (talk) 18:33, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

basename 87.115.144.38 (talk) 18:41, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

thanks! that worked perfectly. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 19:00, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

You don't have to go to an external process for this: if you put that value in a variable dir, you can write ${dir##*/} and get the last piece. (However, if your string could end in a slash, and you want the last part before that slash, you would have to do two steps: d2=${dir%/} and then use ${d2##*/}, which isn't quite as simple.) In any case, be sure to use quotes properly: neither cd $(basename $dir) nor cd ${dir##*/} will do what you want for "my folder" with a space in it. Put double quotes around the expression that might result in multiple words. --Tardis (talk) 23:11, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Change Network Card

I've discovered that my IP address changes when I connect my router to another computer, but goes back to the previous IP address when I connect the router back my old pc. Obviously the router is detecting that there is a different network card in use, and is allocating IP address like that. So how can I fool the router into thinking I'm using a different network card when I'm not?

This is for ethernet router, and I'm certain the IP address is not just changing when I reset the router because it's been the same for months until I used it on a new computer, and reverts back to the old address when I use the old computer.

Thanks for the help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Anonymous 20:42, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

A few more details, please. Is your objective to change your computer's IP address, as it sounds? How many ports are in the back of your router? What's the router brand? Tempshill (talk) 20:53, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I wish to change the IP address. So far it's only the last three digits that seem to be changing, which is all I need. My router has three slots, one for power, one for the cable coming in from the street and one for the ethernet cable which connects to my computer. The brand is VirginMedia —Preceding unsigned comment added by Anonymous 21:35, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

It sounds like your computer getting a new Network Address Translation (NAT) address leased to you by these different routers via DHCP. Note that this isn't your public address, as is visible to other websites. That's given to your router by your ISP; they may give you a new one if you power off and on the router, but that's up to the ISP. Anonymous (Anonymous) 21:53, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

This is my third IP address on Wikipedia, as seen by my contributions. Yesterday I was Anonymous but after plugging my router into my new computer I am now at another IP. But if I plug the router back into my old computer I become the original IP again. It must be the network card, so is there a way to alter it's ID or something like that so I can keep changing the IP address at will? Really, just any way to change a network cards settings is all I'm after. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Anonymous 22:06, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

No, that is your external IP address which your ISP assigns you to. It's basically random and each time you disconnect (like moving your router) will get you a new IP, maybe it's the same one you had, maybe it's not. It has nothing to do with your internal network, and if you want a new IP just keep on reconnecting your internet connection on your router until you do get one. The fact your IP changed with your new computer is merely a coincidence. --antilived^{T | C | G} 00:50, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

I agree, it is the external address. My ISP assigns me one of three numbers when I start up the modem. If there is a longer break in the signal (it's wireless) it sometimes allocates a different one when the signal is recovered. It's always one of the same 3 numbers.- KoolerStill (talk) 02:51, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

NO. I had the same IP address for months until I connected the router to my new computer, now it's different. If I plug the router into my old computer I get my old IP address back. It does NOT change if I simply turn the router off and then on again while using it on the same computer. This, however, is largely irrelevant. All I am looking for is a way to tinker with my network cards settings or IDs to emulate it to look like a different brand or whatever. I don't really care if you believe me when I say the IP changes ONLY when I use the router on a different computer, I would simply like some help finding a way to alter my network cards settings to make it appear like a different card.

I'm thinking of only a couple possibilities. A) It's not a "router", it's a hub, and it's not doing NAT. B) It is a router, it's not doing NAT (ie. it's bridging or something). C) It's not a router, it's a modem, and it's not doing NAT. D) It's a gateway/modem combo or something, and does assign you multiple IP addresses rather than doing NAT.

In any case, you'd be getting the same IP because whatever is assigning the IPs is recognizing the MAC address of the NIC. You can spoof the MAC with various tools, though I can vouch for none of them. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:57, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

And since you are getting your IP address over DHCP, don't count on it being the same forever. Generally, if you don't re-get the IP quickly enough after the lease is expired, it'll be assigned to another machine. The ISP might also just shuffle IPs around or simply not grant the same one after lease expiry. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 06:05, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

This seems to be good in describing how to change it without any additional software, although I distinctively remember that some card drivers allow you to do it in GUI in the card properties dialog. However, the basis of this suspicion is still unfounded: broadband connections are "always on", and you only get a new IP address when you initiate a new connection, therefore it's normal to have the same IP address for a long time, as long as it never disconnects. As KoolerStill said and also personal observation, the pool of IP address that you get assigned are relatively small, perhaps 3 or so IP, and there's probably a policy to give you the same IP as last time as long as no one else took it while you're disconnected. When you move it to another computer the down time is also longer, so there's a higher chance that someone else took that IP address and leaving you with a different one. There is no reason why any ISP would do this kind of client-MAC-based (instead of modem-MAC-based) DHCP assignment. --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:15, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

I've just tried changing the MAC address and I lose all internet connection until I change it back to the original MAC address :( Also, as I said and keep saying, the IP address only changed when I plugged the router into the new computer (a total of maybe 40 seconds transfer time). I have left the old computer off for days in the past and always got the same IP, and continue to get the same IP when I plug the router back into the old computer, so I don't believe it is ever being assigned to someone else. Anyway, since the MAC thing didn't work I guess I'm out of luck. Thanks anyway. -- Anonymous

This might not be the case for all ISPs, but I know of at least two cable ISPs which do it. IPs will be associated with the modem, but also with the computer's MAC; either the modem is assigning IPs over DHCP (and I know some do have DHCP servers, not sure if they're actually used), or the ISP is doing it based on both MACs. It's easy to see too; you can do exactly what the OP said - switch the computer that's connected to the modem without resetting the modem, and then switch back. Assuming you have more than one IP, the second computer should get a new one, and the first computer should keep the same one. If you've only one IP, the second computer shouldn't pull an IP address at all unless you reset the modem. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 14:56, 15 June 2009 (UTC) (revised 15:34, 15 June 2009 (UTC))

Just installed a new network card I had lying about, lets see if my IP address has changed now (from Anonymous ) —Preceding undated comment added 07:47, 15 June 2009 (UTC).

June 15

Track program in Linux?

What is the easiest way to track what a program does in Linux? I want to analyze a program and see what it does to my system: modified files, etc... I wanted something like File Monitor (windows app) or a program that would track the linux app itself and check out what it does. (I don't mind command line tools and I don't mind compiling, but I wanted something as easy as possible...) SF007 (talk)

strace is the basic tool here, that'll tell you all the interactions between the process and the kernel. ltrace gives a higher-level view, but its information is less complete. 67.163.6.213 (talk) 06:39, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

You could also run the program in GDB, particularly if you can recompile it with the debugging symbols turned on. -- JSBillings 17:36, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Time complexity of modified TSP

What is the time complexity of an exact solution to the traveling salesman problem if it is modified so that each city must be visited at least once rather than exactly once? NeonMerlin 00:48, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

It's still NP-complete. Consider TSPs where the distances satisfy the triangle inequality. Given any solution that visits each city more than once, you can get a solution that visits each city exactly once, and which does at least as good. You do this by skipping visits of a city after the first time (since you are not required to visit it again). By the triangle inequality, the distance cannot increase by skipping a city. Therefore you can do no better than the regular optimal TSP solution that visits each city exactly once. So the optimal solution to your problem is the same as the optimal solution to the regular TSP, when the triangle inequality applies. The TSP under the triangle inequality is still NP-complete. --Spoon! (talk) 06:02, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

P.S. You ask for the time complexity. But the exact time complexity for the TSP is not known. (And in any case, for an abstract problem like this it doesn't make much sense to talk about complexities so much as complexity classes, because it will vary depending on what model of computation you are using.) Maybe you are asking about whether it is in P or NP-complete? --Spoon! (talk) 06:04, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

C command to read next line

Is there a C command moves a file stream to the next new line? In other words, is there a command that does something like "while(fgetc(file) != '\n');"? — DanielLC 02:15, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Yep 'fgets' or 'gets'. 'gets' is strongly deprecated though because there is no way to prevent someone causing a 'buffer overrun' and that's the cause of some serious security leaks. SteveBaker (talk) 04:59, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

fgets reads a string. I know it stops on a new line, so I could have it read into a string I don't use, but I don't want to make a string just for that, and there's no guarantee it will finish the line in one pass through the string (it has some very long lines). — DanielLC 05:09, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, there isn't anything like that in the standard library. If such a function did exist it would still have to go through the stream itself looking for a newline anyways. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:34, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

What is a 1:1 Frame Rate?

Hi. I've seen this option in the rendering options for Sorenson Squeeze (along with 1:2, 1:3, etc,), but I'm not sure what it is. I'd like to match the frame rate of the original movie, but Premiere says it's 28.01 fps?? Thanks for any help.--WinRAR anodeeven (talk) 02:31, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Something like 1:1 or 1:2 is called a ratio. If you are attempting to match 1:1 a movie with 28.01 fps, you would end up with 28.01 fps. By varying the ratio, the raw size of the movie can be reduced by half (1:2), by third (1:3), etc. At least, this is based on my understanding of your question. Hope this helps. ZabMilenko^{How am I driving?} 10:37, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

docx file

is there a way to open docx file if i dont have MS Word 2007?Shraktu (talk) 04:43, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats if you have Office 2003 or 2000. Also, OpenOffice.org can open it. --76.173.203.58 (talk) 05:02, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Even if you had Word 2007 it may not give you good results. If the file was created in an older version of MS Publisher, Word 2007 can open it, but things may be missing or the formatting may be wrong. MicroSuck did not make it so that newer versions of Publisher could open the old files. --69.254.66.245 (talk) 08:09, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Personally, I've never gotten the Compatibility Pack mentioned above to work -- and I couldn't tell you why, it just doesn't seem to do anything (although I think that's a newer version of it than the one I tried to use, so who knows?). If you're in the same boat, there are a number of converters out there that can convert a docx file into an RTF file. I don't remember which one I tend to use myself (and I'm at work right now so I can't check what I have installed on my home computer), but a bit of googling can probably help you out there. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 08:36, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Agree with Captain I have never got the compatibility pack to work either. BigDunc^Talk 08:43, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

The other night, when trying to view a docx file with Office 2003, I installed the Word Viewer from the Microsoft site in the apparently vain hope that it would work. When I tried to open the docx file it realized that it was created with a newer version and pointed me to download the compatibility pack linked above. The file then opened in the viewer and, as I discovered, in Word 2003 itself. Angus Lepper^{(T, C)} 18:14, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

I use OpenOffice. Initially, I had to use the converter, but it is built in now. Just click on the docx file and it will open. Formatting can be messed up sometimes - especially if your computer doesn't have the font used in the file. However, it works good enough for me. -- kainaw™ 12:23, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

(1) Google docs does docx, see [4], I've used it successfully (once).

(2) See some tips here. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 18:25, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Universal remotes

While not strictly a computing question, I figured this would be the best place for this... I've never bought a universal remote, so I have no idea if I need to look for anything special to make sure that it will work with all my stuff (home theater, DVD player, TV). So, do I? I mostly want to replace the remote for the home theater system since my Great Pyr destroyed the original when he was a puppy and since then, I've grown tired of getting up to adjust the volume. Dismas|^(talk) 10:53, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

I recently bought a cheap (£10) universal remote to replace broken DVD player remote. I found that as a bonus it could also be programmed to control TV, set-top digital converter and ancient VCR as well - all different makes - so excellent value for money ! I noticed that some more expensive universal remotes were specifially marketed as "home theatre"/"home cinema" remotes - maybe they have additional functions. Gandalf61 (talk) 11:10, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

When I got my last remote, I bought one and found that it didn't have the ability to control my DVR. So, I returned it and got another one. It couldn't control my TV. So, I returned it and got another. It was able to control everything. They were all well under $20, so it isn't a matter of considering investment. If the remote I'm now using breaks, I'll just get another one. It just took a few tries to get one that controlled everything without having to go through and program each and every button one at a time. -- kainaw™ 12:21, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Make sure you get a Universal Remote and not a Learning Remote. Learning Remotes aren't very common anymore, but they need to be "trained" off the original remote, so that won't help you if the original is gone. APL (talk) 16:57, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

If your home theater is nice, most Universal Remotes will not give you every feature. That may not be that big of a deal for you, but things like changing the type of surround sound, or changing the input source. The one's mostly likely to give you the most features would probably be one of those programmed the PC like those by Logitech. Although, I can't afford one, I just want it. --Wonderley (talk) 04:02, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, all! Dismas|^(talk) 04:10, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Some of the fancier universal remotes even include a display and perhaps a touch screen - some of these allow you to create your own touch-screen layout with custom text or even graphics labels. SteveBaker (talk) 04:33, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

At some point, you should just connect a controlling PC/web-server/digital video machine to the home theater. I use Media Player Classic, which has its own scriptable HTTP server built in. Then, stream all commands to it via web; and you can use any modern digital hand-held with wireless internet capabilities to access the system. This will allow you to write custom programs, cron jobs, and defrag your home theater system - from anywhere in the world!. It is very important to have a large screen if you intend to use it from great distances. Volume control is soooo last millenium. Nimur (talk) 15:10, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Alternative to Movie Maker

Is there an alternative to Windows Movie Maker (or Windows Live Movie Maker, or whatever you want to call it) that will work with .movs and .mp4s? I know I can convert them, but if there is a way to skip that step, it would be nice. Contributions/174.114.4.18 (talk) 12:12, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

iMovie?? --69.148.26.115 (talk) 02:36, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Yup, there are a bunch of them out there. See Category:Video_editing_software for ones in which we have articles of. -- penubag  (talk) 08:01, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

JavaScript mouse cursor

JavaScript code to change the mouse cursor on a certain page? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.186.10.243 (talk) 14:02, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

You can use the following code to change the mouse cursor for a page. The list of cursors can be found here. Keep in mind you may have to hook it so the page is loaded before it runs, or you may get a null error in some browsers.

document.body.style.cursor = 'crosshair';

Ale_Jrb^talk 17:09, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

iPhone, Podcasts and WiFi

Is there an app or some method by which I can get my iPhone to automatically download all the podcasts I subscribe to via WiFi? Usually I have to sync on my pc or download updates one by one (which requires some backwards store navigation). Ideally, I'd like it to check for updates overnight while it's plugged in and download them automatically. TheFutureAwaits (talk) 14:27, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

I am not aware of such a piece of software - I don't suppose hooking the iPhone up to your PC running iTunes (which can be set to automatically download new podcasts at specific intervals, eg once an hour) is an option? — QuantumEleven 12:42, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

plot .dat files

I have to work for my study with a code that saves the results in files with .dat extensions. Now must make a graph with these results but I can't find any programm which kann make a graph with such files.i would be gratefull if someones who knows told me how to do this —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zzzmith (talk • contribs) 14:38, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

(duplicate question removed. Please only post questions once.) Are you sure that it is important to this exercise to use the ".dat" filename extension? Probably the professor will not care if you use another file extension. If you are saving the data as a bunch of values separated by commas, the .csv extension is the best choice; it can be read by Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice and probably every other spreadsheet program used today (which I assume is what you'd use to graph the data). If the professor is hardcore about making sure you end the filename extension of your data file with ".dat", that's fine, just do so, then rename the file to end in .csv and load it up with a spreadsheet program. Tempshill (talk) 15:27, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

The .dat extension can refer to just about any kind of file, I suggest opening up the file with a text editor and see if it's in any kind of regular format. If so, OpenOffice, Microsoft Excel or even gnuplot will probably be able to use it. -- JSBillings 17:32, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

After reading JSBillings's response: I may have misunderstood; I had thought this was a programming assignment where you'd be writing code that was supposed to output a .dat file. If not, ignore me and do what JSBillings said. Tempshill (talk) 19:46, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

that was exactly the problem.after running the code theresults were given in such format.anyway i found finally a solution to seperate the columns and remove them to excell.my onnly problem now is to find and download a good grapher.thank you both for helping. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Zzzmith (talk • contribs) 20:07, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Excel has very good graphing facilities built in, with a huge range of graph types, and every component editable for appearance. There is no need to get something separate. - KoolerStill (talk) 04:50, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Scale pages in Scribus

I am using Scribus to design my school magazine. I have finished the layout.

The librarian told me to make it A5 size, but has now revealed that she meant A4. Is there any way to scale all the pages (either in the software or when exporting to PDF) without moving and resizing everything?

I want to get this issue finished by the end of the month (or, even better, the week), so please help!

Thank you, Dendodge _T\^C 14:55, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Wouldn't you just change the document size in file->document_setup ? Contributions/87.113.161.82 (talk) 18:16, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

No—that only resizes the page, not the content. Dendodge _T\^C 19:45, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

If you change the size of the page, then ctrl-a (select all), then rescale the group using the corner handles to fit the page, that should scale the entire set of stuff on the page, right? You can hold ctrl while rescaling if you want to keep the aspect ratio. I'm not sure if there's another good way to do what you want... when changing the page size also changes the aspect ratio of the page, there's not an easy way for the software to automatically know how to rescale the contents. You might just have to do it manually. Indeterminate (talk) 01:45, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

It should have that option when you export to PDF, though I guess that depends on the PDF driver. If the built-in PDF driver doesn't have this, you can download a "PDF printer" and see if is has that option. If not, you could consider just setting the page size when you print the school magazine, just set the page size to A4 and choose the appropriate option in the print dialog ("scale to fit" or something like that). I would also consider asking the librarian if she has a solution, after all, she told you to use A5 in the first place... Jørgen (talk) 00:29, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

installing problems

when i want to install some particular programmes,nothing will happen .when i double click usb derive a message appear," Error loading .\RECYCLER\S-5-3-42- ----------------\ the specified module can not be found " It is not a problem of my usb ,but may be of some virus. which type of virus it may be . I have avast antivirus and update it daily,but it can not remove this problem . —Preceding unsigned comment added by 119.154.14.195 (talk) 18:28, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

When you double-click your USB drive, Windows attempts to run an "autorun" program, if there is one on the USB drive's root. I think this is probably what's happening. What happens if you instead right-click the USB drive and choose "Explore"? The \RECYCLER\ pathname means, I believe, that the autorun program is trying to access a file that used to be in your "Recycle Bin" and is no longer present. Tempshill (talk) 20:00, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Always right-click and Explore. Letting USB drives auto-run is how USB viruses get spread around, latching on to the auto-run facility. Microsoft is removing this feature, for this reason. - KoolerStill (talk) 04:53, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Enable "Show hidden files/folders" and disable "Hide system files". What do you see in the autorun.inf file on your USB drive? --wj32 ^t/c 11:48, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

June 16

Determining origin of digital image

Is there some way to determine the origin of this picture? Perhaps some digital watermark? Although it was posted on a forum, I doubt that I will be able to trace it via that route anymore, although I will try. ----Seans Potato Business 01:26, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

I remember that PARADOX won a few awards at some demoparties. One of their winning demos had a scene that looked like that picture. I looked at the metadata for the image inside Photoshop, and it doesn't give any information of value. I imagine, though, that it was created inside a 3D application like Maya or 3ds Max.--WinRAR anodeeven (talk) 01:58, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

TinEye has no idea, just in case anyone else trying to use that. --antilived^{T | C | G} 02:06, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

It looks a bit like stuff from this site. Someone posted that image in this web forum, so maybe you could ask him/her? --Sean 16:56, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

I ran strings (Unix) on the image. It has definitely passed through Photoshop CS2, and contains the following metadata (among others, mostly indecipherable):

...
 <xapMM:DocumentID>uuid:F25F0762751BDA119E97F9D95F65B64F</xapMM:DocumentID>
 <xapMM:InstanceID>uuid:AE0FE5E5751BDA119E97F9D95F65B64F</xapMM:InstanceID>
 <xapMM:DerivedFrom rdf:parseType="Resource">
    <stRef:instanceID>uuid:EE5F0762751BDA119E97F9D95F65B64F</stRef:instanceID>
    <stRef:documentID>uuid:EE5F0762751BDA119E97F9D95F65B64F</stRef:documentID>
  </xapMM:DerivedFrom>

...

 <xap:CreateDate>2005-09-02T07:53:34+02:00</xap:CreateDate>
 <xap:ModifyDate>2005-09-02T07:53:34+02:00</xap:ModifyDate>
 <xap:MetadataDate>2005-09-02T07:53:34+02:00</xap:MetadataDate>
 <xap:CreatorTool>Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows</xap:CreatorTool>
...

Those document unique identifiers might help, I can't find any google results for them. Nimur (talk) 20:06, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

The image appears here:

• http://www.bio.davidson.edu/COURSES/GENOMICS/2005/Kiley/home.html ...with the legend: "Permission pending,http://www.wpic.pitt.edu/research/sweetlab/Brain%20Bank%20Home%20frame.htm" (ie I asked if I could use it - and they didn't say "Yes" yet but I'm going to use it anyway.) Sadly - that link doesn't point anywhere - but there is an email address at the first link where you could ask about the origin of the picture.
• It also appears on "Desktop Nexus" http://my.desktopnexus.com/zknall/uploads/ - if you create an account there, you can send a message to "zknall" and ask where (s)he got it.
• It shows up on the right here: http://anniebernier.wordpress.com/2008/02/07/en-fait-x-200/ - with the text "Population de la Gélose * 5,461 bactéries * L'hydrogène est un gaz léger et inodore qui, si on lui en donne le temps, se transforme en animaux dotés de conscience * Dr. Robert Lamontagne"...but Lamontagne turns out to be a French-Canadian physicist...I doubt the image is his - and there is no sign of it on any other website related to him.
• http://elementy.ru/lib/430218/430221 has the image - the site appears to be in russian. The link under the image points to http://www.wpic.pitt.edu/ - which was also the location of the "permission pending" link above...so that's probably the original source of this much-plagiarized image.

SteveBaker (talk) 01:28, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

What is Blogging?

how and what is blogging? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kro311 (talk • contribs) 03:40, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

We have an article blog which explains a lot about it. Basically, a blog is a website where someone posts short email-like messages on any subject that he or she feels to be relevent. Some people treat them like a very public diary - others use them to post progress on some project or news about some subject. You don't really need any special software to do it - you're just editing a web page. But most people will wind up using one of the many packages that make the process easier - and allow readers of the blog to receive email notifications and so forth. SteveBaker (talk) 04:28, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Blackberry Curve and the iPhone 3G S

I have done a ton of research and I cannot decide whether one phone is superior to the other. I currently have the BBC 8310 and I use it for

• text people
• surf the internet (especially Facebook)
• use the turn by turn Navigational thing
• take pics and videos
• I have a tendency (not deliberate) to beat things up after a while

Really, which phone is superior? --Reticuli88 (talk) 13:36, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

I can't tell you which is best, but I can tell you how our company fared using both. I'm the IT guy who has to support them.

The iPhone's browser and email client is excellent. The ones we have will not do turn by turn navigation. The camera is acceptable, as is the texting. But phone reception is exceptionally poor; they often drop out in rural locations where cheap nokias get several bars. Of the four iPhones we have, two have broken beyond repair (leaving us with the contract). Everyone who has an iPhone in the company tells me they don't want anther one.

One person has a Curve, bought to replace an iPhone. Its email client seems slightly basic to me, but he's very happy (he says its faster than the iPhone). Its browser seems very rudimentary to me.

If it was my money, only the people who travel a lot would get either; the total cost (when you include the expensive call and data packages you need) is very high, and it doesn't seem like good value for money for anyone else.

One thing you might consider: one person got a cheap nokia for phonecalls and texts, and has an iPod Touch with his email configured. He uses the iPod on public wifi connections for email and web browsing - it's the same as the iPhone in that regard. This way he's getting a good phone (which the iphone isn't), good email (which both do), good browsing (which the iPhone has), and doesn't pay the expensive plans that the smartphones demand. Carmangled (talk) 14:33, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

FYI you can create a nice neat bullet list by using asterisks at the start of a line. Observe the aforementioned post, and enjoy! --Jmeden2000 (talk) 15:04, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Vandal fighter

Whenever I try to download version 3.3 of vandal fighter, I get this: "Safari can’t open the page “http://hekla.rave.org/vf/3.3/vf33-English.jar” because Safari can’t find the server “hekla.rave.org”. I use Mac OS X, and of course, Safari. Is there any explanation for this? --I dream of horses (talk) 13:39, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

The server is either completely down or just not accessible from your Internet connection. If it is completely down, it may recover some day. If your connection is being blocked, try accessing it from school or work or the library or the local coffee shop... -- kainaw™ 13:48, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Do you think satellite internet is blocked? I use sprint satellite. --I dream of horses (talk) 14:40, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Are you currently in Teheran? Tempshill (talk) 15:26, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

According to this, it is down. -- kainaw™ 15:31, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Thank youNo, I'm in Missouri, but thanks to everybody that helped! --I dream of horses (talk) 16:44, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

proxy server

my internet goes through a work proxy server, but i have need to run a computer program that does not have settings to access to tell it to use the proxy server. So it does not work. How can I make program use proxy settings from web browser (this is port 80 and http) when it has no settings to change and no configuration files? Thank you for speedy reply

Depends on your program/os/proxy. On Linux you'll probably be lucky if you set the "http_proxy" environment variable, eg. 'export http_proxy=http://<ip of your proxy>:<port of proxy>'. If your browser has "automatic proxy configuration", then download that address and pick some ip from the file. There could be smarter ways but it works for me. --194.197.235.32 (talk) 16:07, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

this WIndows XP computer. the browser firefox has proxy settings so I know them, but I can not make the custom program use the proxy settings because there is no feature to specify them. It is just using the internet connection and works ok on home computer who uses direct broadband, by at work it is notworking because they using a proxy server for all traffic. I need way to make it use proxy server

Changing list of words

I have a text and I want to change a list of words. This is the equivalent to changing Am. "color" to Br. "colour". How can I accomplish this? Perhaps only with Open Office.

I don't want to change single words, but do it automatically.--80.58.205.37 (talk) 16:54, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Use the "Find and Replace" command, CTRL + F (under the Edit menu). It should let you find and replace all without checking with you each time. It is similar in MS Word, but CTRL + R, I believe. -- Flyguy649 ^talk 17:03, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

That's nice. But this is not the case. I have a list of some hundred words. I want to do it automatically, not manually find and replace each word.--80.58.205.37 (talk) 17:06, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

As Flyguy649 said above, in OpenOffice click Edit in the menu bar and select "find and replace". Enter the word you wish to change in the "Search for" box and the word you wish to replace it with in the "Replace with" box, then click "Replace all". It will take every instance of the word and replace them all 8I.24.07.715 (talk) 17:11, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

• This is simply not the case. I don't only want to change every instance. I have a series of pairs that have to be changed.80.58.205.37 (talk) 17:16, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Assuming you are using Linux (since you use OpenOffice) and assuming it is truly a text file and not a word document... You can use sed. First, create a file of replacements, such as "s/color/colour/" - one per line. Then, assuming you called it "br.sed", you can run: sed -f br.sed myfile.txt > mynewfile.txt. -- kainaw™ 17:11, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks Kainaw. I use Linux and that is exactly what I was searching for. 80.58.205.37 (talk) 17:16, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Desktop soundsystem

Can anyone recommend a destop speaker set up - I was looking at devices like the JBL spyro but am not convinced they are not going to be crap, despite the glowing reviews - specifically - where is the midrange going to come from. I'm avoiding 5.1 type systems - only need 2. Maybe someone can think up a clever alternative to the set system packages. Also toslink optical in would be a big plus. Can spend more money. Thanks. (Oh and while I'm here - class D audio amps with more than 10W at genuine low distortion levels - should be on the market - but I can't find any separates - anyone know? Thanks again)83.100.250.79 (talk) 18:52, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

You should consider how much money you're willing to spend, how large should the system be, and why you want optical in. Do aesthetics matter? Those JBLs look like they're likely style over function. If you don't mind more size and price, you could just go ahead and buy a less expensive audio receiver, a couple bookshelf speakers, and a subwoofer. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 20:11, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Yep. I already have the bookshelf speakers, but the old receiver gone to heaven - hence the second question - looking at stuff I found available it seems that everyone makes a 20kg 7.1 system the same size as my house - but all I want is a simple amp.. Maybe someone else will know.83.100.250.79 (talk) 20:49, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Size (and pointless power consumption) is an issue, doesn't matter if it's a black/grey lump particularily.83.100.250.79 (talk) 20:58, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

This isn't really a reference question, it's more of a product evaluation request. There are plenty of internet forums and electronics review websites that can do a better job - for example, CNet Home Audio Systems review. Nimur (talk) 20:14, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Powered speakers don't require an amp/receiver. Mostly larger and pricier than computer desktop speakers, but some are small and still sound very good. I have a pair of Event TR8 powered monitors for non-computer purposes mainly, but it is trivial to connect a computer to them. The result is rather amazing sound coming from the computer. For "desktop" use, there are smaller powered speakers/monitors. If money is not a big issue and you want big sound, might be worth looking into. Pfly (talk) 09:05, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes, it's a good option, though I still have working bookshelfs, which are approaching the quality of the speakers you mention.. So if anyone knows of a suitable amp, as I mentioned above, please say - the ones I can find seem to either be ~2W, or a big jump to above 100W, with nothing inbetween.83.100.250.79 (talk) 14:32, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

DDR2/DDR3

I'm considering an upgrade (again!)... there isn't any ionformation in the articles on ram or ddr2/3, how long ddr3's likely to be "the mainstream kind of memory" or what if anything is in the R&D pipeline intended to supersede it.

Does anyone have information on that? Thanks. FT2 ^{(Talk | email)} 21:05, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Since you are upgrading, I'll give a suggestion which in no way answers your question... I upgrade my computer every year. What I do is locate a motherboard that I like. Once I have picked out a motherboard, I get a CPU, memory, power supply, and all to match it. So, I don't choose between DDR2 or DDR3 first. I choose the board and it will support, which may be only DDR2 or only DDR3 or possibly both. Only when it is both would I have to decide between the two. -- kainaw™ 21:13, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

My question is because I might do this upgrade in two steps, and I'm trying to judge the longevity of DDR3 (ie, DDR3 motherboards being mainstream) for step #2 in a year or sos time. Right now it looks like DDR3 will be current "state of play" for a good 2-3 years or more (DDR2 was introduced in 2003 and was still very much "current" in 2008). I'm trying to estimate how long to expect, for DDR3.

A computer repairman friend of mine @ MainPC USA said that DDR3 RAM is not as stable as DDR2 yet. But what does he know. Mxvxnyxvxn (talk) 03:32, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

It should be easy to get some idea where it's at, given that such a standard would normally have quite a long development pipeline (standards development, R&D, production, mass acceptance and price drop) and so on. But there's no information on the status quo for any potential or proposed successor to DDR3, on-wiki. FT2 ^{(Talk | email)} 23:15, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Aha! Found it! DDR4 is indeed covered, but it's brief and in a footnote to SDRAM. Added a link from DDR3 for anyone else looking for "successor technology".

The upshot is that if DDR4 is introduced in 2012, it probably won't be "mainstream" till 2014 or even 2015, so 1600 DDR3 should have a good long lifetime. Which means I can buy a DDR3 775 motherboard with some degree of confidence that the switch to socket 1366 in a while, won't waste the memory. FT2 ^{(Talk | email)} 23:53, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Having trouble viewing some pages

I'm having trouble viewing your question, OP —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.90.144 (talk) 22:02, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, that is because I hadn't posted it yet. I created a section first and then I was editing it to post my questions but you posted before I finished my question. Anyway, here it is. I have been having this problem for a while now and it is bugging me. Basically, there are some pages such that when I click on a link to open them up, I get a completely blank page and the name of the page in the title bar says "something.html (GIF Image, 1x1 pixels)". It seems arbitrary to me. What is causing this and how can I fix this so that I can view those pages? A recent example is craigslist.com. I am using Firefox 3.0.11 on Windows XP with SP2. Any help/advice would be appreciated. Thanks! -Looking for Wisdom and Insight! (talk) 22:05, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Are you by any chance using Kaspersky anti-virus? There is an anti-banner setting (similar to the anti-pop-up one)which is a known cause of the "1 x 1 GIF image" problem. Try turning that setting off. - KoolerStill (talk) 22:23, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Awesome, that is exactly what it was. I am using Kaspersky. I simply added craigslist.org to the whitelist in the antibanner section and everything is hunky-dory. Thanks!-Looking for Wisdom and Insight! (talk) 22:38, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

You're very welcome. You were right doing it the whitelist way, too, as a blanket permission on banners leaves you open to "click-through" code and possible unwanted redirections. A friend caught a very nasty root-kit virus from such a redirection recently. -KoolerStill (talk) 23:05, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Another alternative is to use a browser with a capable ad blocker - opera and firefox have these, probably others do to. In a modern ad blocker, you typically right-click on a banner or advert or you can specify a "mask" that will be blocked, such as *.adserver.com/*, mysite.com/adverts/*, or a specific image. I find that far superior to a banner blocker (and trivially quick and easy) and have disabled the banner blocker in my antivirus program for that reason. Of course I still rely on the AV catching malware, but in terms of adverts, I leave that to the browser these days. FT2 ^{(Talk | email)} 23:18, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

June 17

Toubleshooting in USB pen drive

When i copy a file to my USB pen drive it gives the following error message: "THE FILE CANNOT BE COPIED.THE DISC IS WRITE PROTECTED . REMOVE THE WRITE PROTECTION OR USE ANOTHER DISC." This happens even when i use another pen drive.Can anyone tell me what i should do ?Shraktu (talk) 04:14, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, that is a bizarre one. Some USB drives come with software so that you can lock the data on it. Was that installed? Are you positive that you are selecting the right drive letter? If so, I'd try getting anything you want off of it. Then in Windows Explorer, right click the drive letter of it and format it.--Wonderley (talk) 20:37, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Streaming live video to a large audience?

Hi, what's the best way to stream live video to a worldwide audience of thousands cheaply? The organizers can't afford to get lots of servers. The receiving software should be gratis and run on Windows. The last attempt to stream the 20th anniversary candlelight vigil in remembrance of the Tiananmen massacre (zh:維園六四燭光晚會) two weeks ago to thousands of overseas Hong Kongers wasn't too successful, people have trouble connecting and the quality is horrible. The next large scale event in Hong Kong is the Hong Kong 1 July marches two weeks from now. Oh, and it can't be a Chinese product, we don't want it to be "harmonized". F (talk) 04:35, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

There is a classic saying in IT development and procurement : "Cheap, quick, reliable - pick two of three". In other words, you can get high quality results quickly if you are prepared to pay a premimum; you can get high quality results cheaply if you are prepared to wait; you can get cheap and quick results if you don't mind lower quality. You seem to be trying to tick all three boxes at once. I will be very surprised if you can find a solution that meets all of your requirements; maybe you should start to think about which dimension you are prepared to compromise on. Gandalf61 (talk) 08:33, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

I'm no expert, but I would think

• if it's a happening like Chinese democratic protesters, perhaps secure the backing of some organization abroad that has a big server park / software and can scale up a feed sent from China? I'd imagine there be people/organizations willing to do this in the US or western Europe.
• If not, you could consider some P2P technology, though I'm not sure how well that works in real-time (and the end users might be wary of installing the software on their own computers)

Jørgen (talk) 13:43, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

(e/c) Ustream is a company which provides this service. I've heard several people say it works quite well, although I haven't used it myself. Unfortunately, I can't get on their website at the moment due to restrictions on my connection, so I don't have much more information. I imagine there are other companies which do a similar thing.--Kateshortforbob 13:47, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

PDF TO WORD

Could you recommend a free software to convert pdf files to word files so I can remove blank pages and reduce the font size. Thank you

124.43.38.246 (talk) 07:46, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Just google it. 211.30.108.203 (talk) 08:20, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Chinese

Are there programs that convert traditional to simplified? Are there programs that convert simplified to traditional? For example, does the Chinese version of windows media player convert this automatically? (Let's say you put in a CD written in Traditional (the Artist Name, Song Name, etc. etc.), and then Windows Media Player plays it in Simplified? And then when you rip a song, it becomes written in Simplified?)174.3.103.39 (talk) 08:21, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Microsoft Word does it, you can also use Google Translate. Don't know about the CD ripping though.F (talk) 08:24, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Using Krita (image editor) in Windows

Krita is supposed to be cross-platform. Does anyone know how to make it work in Windows? I'm interested in the software but not KDE or KOffice in general; I don't want to compile from source or install unnecessary libraries/applications. --173.49.12.233 (talk) 09:43, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

There's a KDE port for windows at windows.kde.org. Get their installer and choose to install only Krita. --194.197.235.32 (talk) 19:44, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

/usr/bin/nm-applet in Ubuntu Jaunty; other Jaunty concerns

Does anyone know where to find documentation on this gadget? It seems to work behind the scenes without telling you what it's doing, which is sort of not what I use Linux for.

I recently installed Ubuntu Jaunty after a long and reasonably happy experience with Gutsy, because you can't get updates for Gutsy anymore. So far I haven't come across anything that strikes me as obviously better, and some things are worse, although maybe just because I haven't figured them out yet. One of them is this nm-applet, which seems to be the only way I can now get my wireless to work, even though I was using it from the command line just fine in Gutsy. Also, it keeps telling me that the "keyring" is "locked", but it doesn't tell me where the keyring is; bizarrely, it seems to be locked with my old password, which makes me wonder where it found this thing, given that I reformatted the root partition. (I did keep the /home partition, but it would seem odd to put it there.)

I haven't been able to get KDE working to my liking in Jaunty, either, though there are just two deal-breaker issues left. One of them is the wireless, since my command-line approach no longer seems to work. The other is that I can't figure out how to turn off the triple-damned tap-to-click feature (who was the genius who thought that would be a good idea?). Previously I had turned it off in Xorg.conf, but that no longer seems to have any effect. In Gnome it doesn't tap-to-click, so that's alright, but I'd rather use KDE. --Trovatore (talk) 09:52, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

nm-applet is the network manager from gnome(very specific name, eh?), similar to knetworkmonitor in kde, they both do the same thing. As for tap and click... idk, try in the system settings somewhere, in the mouse section. Mile92 (talk) 16:26, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

But I want to be able to do it from the command line, with iwconfig and dhclient. For some reason that isn't working in Jaunty. So I want to know what nm-applet is doing, at a low level, so I can reproduce it.

I've already looked in the system settings, obviously. --Trovatore (talk) 17:18, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Newer versions of xorg don't use xorg.conf for input configuration (that made hotplugging hard or smth), they use HAL (software) which stores it configuration in *.fdi (xml) files. 'xinput' command might also help. --194.197.235.32 (talk) 19:32, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

eah4870

What is the difference between the eah4870 512 mb and the Radeon HD 4870 512 mb ATI graphics cards? --81.227.68.117 (talk) 17:26, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

http://www.custompc.co.uk/reviews/222096/asus-eah4870-top.html - it's pre-overclocked, it's also got a slightly different name. Did you want more insight? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.100.250.79 (talk) 18:04, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

It's just the ASUS brand, they label all their "Radeons" EAH. Mxvxnyxvxn (talk) 19:39, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

(Ooops, yes my mistake - the EAH4870TOP is the pre-overclocked one, the EAH4870 is practically identical except maybe some stickers etc) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.100.250.79 (talk) 19:46, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Replacing the motherboard in my old computer

Would it be practical to replace the motherboard in my Pentium III computer with something more recent please, and still have the XP Sp3 operating system accept it after replacement? I'm wondering if its a way of upgrading the computer. I would not mind not having the very latest motherboard, but just something better than the 733MHz CPU 750MB (maximum) memory that I currently have. 89.241.37.231 (talk) 18:58, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Windows is installed on the Hard Drive, so switching the hard drive to a new motherboard will have all the same things. Just make sure the new mb is compatible with everything else. SD RAM or maybe DDR, the IDE or SCSI, etc. Seems like a whole lot of bother. In my opinion, replacing a mb is replacing a computer. Buy something cheap and install the old HDD as a slave if you must, or back it up and toss it. Mxvxnyxvxn (talk) 19:46, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

You might have to redo the Windows activation and if the XP install disks are OEM supplied you might have some other problems. Astronaut (talk) 20:21, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Telco Cylinders

What are those cylinders that say "Call Embarq before you dig" or "Always notify the local telco before you dig" that you see everywhere? Some of them are plastic cylinders, and some of them are metal rectangular prisms about the same size. PCHS-NJROTC ^(Messages) 20:18, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Not sure about cylinders or prisms - I guess it depends on your location, but "call local telco before you dig" is usually put there to warn you of underground cables and/or pipes. In other words, call someone before you accidentally dig up the phone/electricity/gas services causing massive explosions or cutting off whole neighbourhoods (and probably landing you with a huge bill and/or expensive lawsuit). Astronaut (talk) 20:27, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

(Edit Conflict)Googling reveals that Embarq is a provider of telecomms (i.e. telephone/cable/internet services), and "the local telco" means the local telephone company. These are therefore warnings that telephone/internet cables are buried beneath or closely nearby, and anyone wanting to dig there (so as to install or repair other buried services such as gas or water pipes, lay building foundations, etc) should first check with Embarq/the local telco to find out exactly where and how deep their cables are, so as to avoid damaging them, and perhaps also blocking access points to them. 87.81.230.195 (talk) 20:34, 17 June 2009 (UTC)