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July 21

Converting from an ages-old Video-for-Windows codec to "modern" h264

Hi all,

my CCTV software (GeoVision) supplies me with AVI videos with the GMP4 codec ("Geovision MP4"). The codec is supplied as a Video for Windows 32-bit driver only, so I had to set up a virtual machine to even be able to play the files with MPC-HC. What software can I use to convert the files into something more universal like h.264?

The "usual suspects" ffmpeg/VLC don't play the file at all because they are not able to use VfW codecs.

84.153.7.232 (talk) 02:31, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

Before I suggest any solutions, I'd like to test them out myself to make sure they work. Can you upload a sample video clip to the Internet and link to it here? I will download it and see what works.—Best Dog Ever (talk) 08:51, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

I am sorry, I'm not allowed to disclose the videos (I work in a casino, it's not allowed for privacy reasons). I just need some way to watch them at home because somewhen in my shift some idiot stole quite a sum of money from me. 84.153.7.232 (talk) 09:23, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

I'm thinking to a way which must work. Can you watch it in fullscreen? 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 09:56, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

Sure, but I'd rather like something not involving screencapping =) 84.153.7.232 (talk) 10:32, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

The GeoVision website has a download section with the codecs and/or MultiView software to view the files. Can you use those? --Canley (talk) 13:05, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

He/she probably can since he/she write he/she wanted to view the video at home.

Your codec look enough old to not have any way to convert it. Your casino is using old camera which have their own codec. It is not open source, so you don't know how the format work. I've seen a database with million of entries working with a DOS only program. Over decades, they still need DOS because they can't convert it.

You will waste your time if you try something endless. Instead of asking a way to convert an old codec, you should ask for a screen video capture software which don't need installation. I was asking if you can watch the video in fullscreen, it may be not necessary. I remember picpick which allow capturing the output of a windows. You should look for something similar which do video. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 13:36, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

Hypercam (here) and Camstudio (here) - I can contest to both of them. I've tried others but these two are my favourites. --Yellow1996 (talk) 18:06, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

You could try the "usual suspect" of the old days, VirtualDub. KarlLohmann (talk) 15:37, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

MeGUI (ignore the article, it's not about what MeGUI usually refers to but I don't think there's currently a better redirect target so I can't change it) [1] is generally my favourite for these sort of things but really the above answers seem to be complicating things way too much, there must be hundreds of tools capable of this sort of thing and it's likely a large percentage of transcodes on Windows use such tools (the idea that you can open play a file in MPC-HC but it's too 'old' to 'convert' is just strange). As mentioned by KarlLohmann, VirtualDub is another option although in that case you'll need to make sure you have a suitable encoding codecs installed yourself. Presuming you're correct and GeoVision really only provides a VfW codec, this may complicate matters slightly but probably not much since many tools are still built around it, it would be more concerning if only a DirectShow filter was provided, let a Media Foundation filter, as support for these generally remains poorer in such tools. I mean worse case scenario, many tools will have the fall back option of AviSynth or something similar frame serving (some of course use it by default). I would recommend a more specialised forum like Doom9 if you have further problems. Nil Einne (talk) 18:42, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

Just a thought here; Are casino employees allowed to take security videos home with them for their own purposes, and wouldn't that in itself breach the very privacy rules the OP mentioned earlier? Astronaut (talk) 18:57, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

It may still be better for him/her to find a way to find the thieve rather than explainning to his boss he/she has been stolen so much money. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 19:42, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Broken jpg/jpeg image

Remember earlier in the internet when there were broken jpeg images, such as this: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Ze5Xm5fW-4o/TUnUBt6ADUI/AAAAAAAABJA/2WGSLTNK1K4/s200/broken-link-image-gif.jpg. Is there an official image of the broken jpeg that Joint Photographic Experts Group may have used? I can't see too much info, even on the Wiki page. Thanks! Baseballfan (talk) 04:26, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

The JPEG file format specification explains what a file needs to contain in order to be valid, but does not say anything about how invalid files should be handled (or how valid files should be handled, for that matter). Looie496 (talk) 04:35, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

The original "broken image" icon was designed by Marsh Chamberlin of Netscape Communications for the Netscape browser—it's a function of the browser UI, not part of the JPEG specification. --Canley (talk) 12:58, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

VPN security

I am planning on using a VPN, but little do I know about networking. Basically all my incoming and outgoing data is passed through an intermediate server, and theoretically that data can be compromised. But from what I've heard, HTTPS protocol can encrypt the data, prevent the data from being compromised by a third party. The owner of the server I connected to may keep track of websites I visit, but can him acquire my password or any important information? -- Livy (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 14:39, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

VPNs are used for many different things, I assume you want to use a VPN to provide some anonimity and safety, and not to securely connect to your company's network. In this case, it is not much different from using Wifi at the house of a far-away friend. His router, and all routers between him and the places you visit, can see your traffic just like your own ISP would if you didn't use a VPN - they just have a harder time telling where it originally came from. You're best of still taking all the security precautions you would (like using HTTPS) just as if you were at home, and you need to realize that there are many more ways to leak (parts of) your identity than just hiding the IP address you're connecting from. If it's anonimity you're looking for, you might want to look into Tor (anonymity network). But if you want to encrypt your traffic from curious eyes, using a VPN will probably only prevent the first few routers in your connection from seeing your traffic. Unilynx (talk) 17:19, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

If you are planning to use tor, the secrurity you think having will be only effective if your domain is availaible in .onion.

Update: OpenVPN and other work at the SSL layer. You probably want a IPsec solution. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 20:40, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

Linux toolbox: what should beginners learn

I am new to Linux, coming from Windows (obviously) and would like to assemble a basic toolbox.

I find emacs incredible, I am learning some bash syntax and Perl one-liners.

I'd like to learn more of these things that previous Windows users don't even know that exist, but would profit from learning.

Jean — Preceding unsigned comment added by 34and34 (talk • contribs) 16:50, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

A bit of a broad question, but here are some webpages that might assist you: [2], [3] and (probably best of all) [4]. --Yellow1996 (talk) 17:57, 21 July 2013 (UTC)

I recommend learning Python for scripting. It's a lot better than Bash or Perl for anything longer than a few lines. -- BenRG (talk) 00:00, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

The word "better" is fraught with peril, but Python is arguably a much cleaner design. Bobmath (talk) 15:56, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

I don't know if you've got the basics under your belt yet, but if not, I'd start with learning:

• the command line at all
• pipes
• grep
• diff

There are some days (not every day) when I think to myself, "Man, grep is so useful, I don't know how I could live without it."

And on the days when I don't think that, I think, "Man, diff is so useful, I don't know how I could live without it."

(Now, with that said, I concede that diff, grep, and pipes are as useful to me as they are because I still manage to work mostly with text files, such that I can continue to make use of the "everything's a file" tenet of the Unix philosophy. If you're a more modern user of computers than I am, dabbling in images and music and video and whatnot, the tools of choice may be different.) —Steve Summit (talk) 22:49, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Based on the questions people regularly ask here, some useful tools (that solve real problems people often have) include Imagemagick, Sox, FFmpeg, PDFtk, and ghostscript. The man command is your friend and find is immensely useful. cron and its cousin at make automating stuff practical. tar is very useful, and wget and cURL are immensely handy.. I'm personally fond of dd, nc, hexdump and its inverse xxd, and dpkg-query. But in my experience the "big two" utilities that save me the most time are ssh and rsync; used together they're remarkable. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 23:55, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

In addition to all of the above, I'd like to mention LaTeX for essentially anything a typical Windows user would use Microsoft Word for. LibreOffice Writer is similar to Word if you really want that, but LaTeX is incredibly powerful and useful if you take the time to learn it. It's just much more flexible than WYSIWYG word processors, although admittedly, it has a bit of a learning curve. (Fun fact: you can even make presentations with LaTeX! It has slightly fewer features than MS Powerpoint, but you probably don't need those features anyway.) --Link ^(t•c•m) 22:23, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Definitly sed and find ... -exec cmd {}\; are indispensable. I now use Python for most scripting, but for some things gawk is hard to beat. And then there is cut, sort, uniq and, of course, backquotes. And who could forget the mighty ed! --Stephan Schulz (talk) 16:45, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

To answer your question, it would really help to know what you want to use linux for. Just as a desktop replacement, for programming, for...? Some more things I like about linux: Command-line completion with "Tab". Also exists to some extent in windows, but who would use command line in windows? As for editors, that's a personal thing, but I'd suggest to also try vi or its derivatives (I use vim) to see whether you might like it. It will be more difficult to do anything at first than in Emacs, so don't be discouraged. It has some advantages though like small size, exists on virtually any linux/unix, ... bamse (talk) 01:34, 27 July 2013 (UTC)

July 22

Excel 2010 MOD function

I have a spreadsheet that I'm using to record & total times (processed to the minute, data entered to 15 minutes).

I'm subtracting two timestamps to get a duration displayed as hh:mm. I can total the durations up. One day of 8 hours is 0.33333, so four days of this is 1.33333. Using the hh:mm display, this shows as 08:00 since it throws the 1 day away. I want it to display as 32:00.

Therefore I am using my own formula to display the answer:
=RIGHT(100+INT(24*SUM(O1102:O1147)),2)&":"&RIGHT("0"&INT(60*MOD(24*SUM(O1102:O1147),1)+1/24),2)

This worked fine on Excel 2002 on XP. I have now migrated to Win7 & Excel 2010. Instead of displaying 32:00, it often displays 32:60 Which means that MOD(a,b) is returning b as a valid answer. Surely it should return 0 <= return value < b

Anyway I've fixed it in a clunky fashion with:
=RIGHT(100+INT(24*SUM(O1102:O1147)),2)&":"&RIGHT("0"&IF(INT(60*MOD(24*SUM(O1102:O1147),1)+1/24)>=60,INT(60*MOD(24*SUM(O1102:O1147),1)+1/24)-60,INT(60*MOD(24*SUM(O1102:O1147),1)+1/24)),2)

But is there a better way? -- SGBailey (talk) 10:05, 22 July 2013 (UTC) (after the event)

If you use the custom format [hh]:mm it will display the correct number of hours. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 10:02, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Great, thanks. Is that format documented anywhere? -- SGBailey (talk) 10:05, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Yes, it's in the help for Custom Number Formats. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 10:13, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

I can find no help for custom number formats. Within the Format Cells | Number | Custom, there is no help button. Within Help, if I type Custom format or Format nothing relevant pops up. -- SGBailey (talk) 10:35, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Also, why DOES the mod function (appear to) go wrong. -- SGBailey (talk) 10:35, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

I found the help by going to the Format Cells dialog and pressing F1 (the standard key for help); this gives a page with three links, one of which is "Create a custom number format". As for the problem with MOD, I also found some help saying "The MOD function now [i.e. in Excel 2007/2010] uses new algorithms to achieve both accuracy and speed", so you might expect differences. To debug it further you could break down the formula into its components to see where it's not doing what you expect. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 12:30, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Are you sure the problem is in the MOD function ? In the second half of your original formula you have

INT(60*MOD(24*SUM(O1102:O1147),1)+1/24)

Walking through this step by step ...

1. If 24*SUM(O1102:O1147) is just less than an integer ...
2. ... then MOD(24*SUM(O1102:O1147),1) will be just less than 1...
3. ... so 60*MOD(24*SUM(O1102:O1147),1) will be just less than 60 ...
4. ... so 60*MOD(24*SUM(O1102:O1147),1)+1/24 may then be just greater than 60 ...
5. ... and INT(60*MOD(24*SUM(O1102:O1147),1)+1/24) will give the result 60.

Can you explain why you are adding 1/24 in step 4 ? Gandalf61 (talk) 13:04, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Ah, no I can't - it seems strange to me now. Unless I find a simple example, let's call this closed. Cheers. -- SGBailey (talk) 13:09, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Map Editor for In-car GPS navigation device

Does there exist a map editor to run on a Windows PC that

• is able to open the map files used in a common brand (TomTom, Garmin, Mio, TeleAtlas, etc.) of GPS device. I want to plan a future journey and see what roads will be displayed.
• allows me to add or edit information e.g. add a private access road or a local name.
• is cheap or free ? DreadRed (talk) 14:17, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Off the top of my head, I can't think of something that will open the proprietary formats of the listed systems, nor give you complete control over writing to those files (I know of a couple that can read and perhaps convert, but not write), and it's unlikely that such an application would be free if it exists.  drewmunn  talk  14:57, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

OpenStreetMap allows you to export data in XML or raster-image format, and also provides a mechanism for extending and editing the data-set, using an in-browser interface, or using the programs Merkaartor or Potlatch 2. If you intend this data for personal use (and not for sharing and upload to the OpenStreetMap data project), then you can edit as much as you want, in as speculative a fashion as you desire.

Then you can export your new map data to a mobile device that is capable of interpreting the data. For example, here is a manual for installing an OSM data set on a Garmin-brand device. Nimur (talk) 15:13, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

I am trying to download base map in osm format and this HTTP request doesn't work: http://api.openstreetmap.fr/xapi?* [key=value][bbox=-70,12,62,84]. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 15:50, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Why is China getting Class C subnets?

Why is China getting Class C subnets like say this one?

http://whois.arin.net/rest/net/NET-142-4-118-0-1/pft

I understand that China is a tiny little country with minute networking needs, but can't this all be swept under a single Class B so the rest of the world can just firewall that off? Hcobb (talk) 16:37, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

See IPv4 address exhaustion. Also Classless Inter-Domain Routing. Dmcq (talk) 10:30, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Maps and ariel photos showing hotels

This past weekend I went on a trip to a meeting held at a convention center. I wanted to look at hotels near the convention center - close enough to walk. In the past, I've been able to go to websites that show maps or satellite photos and have it show me the location of all hotels. Last week I looked at four such websites and now I could not see how to have it show me all hotels - they would show me only ones from certain chains. (The chains were different on different websites.) I suspect that the only hotels a website would show are paid sponsors. Is there a good website that shows all hotels near a location? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 16:44, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

This site claims to do just that, using your exact location. I haven't used it though so I can't gurantee it's usefulness. Hope this helps, --Yellow1996 (talk) 16:49, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

That website finds hotels near your current location. I don't see any way to specify the location. I want to check prices and make reservations for where I am going. Also, it is useful to have an aerial photo, for instance I would have been able to see that one hotel was just across the parking lot and two others wer just across the street. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 18:24, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

I was in a sub-section of this site. The page I've just linked to allows you to specify a specific address. As for aerial pictures, I'm not sure. --Yellow1996 (talk) 01:15, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

That is better. There is an option to map up to 5 hotels, but it doesn't work, even if I have some selected. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 01:23, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Doesn't work for me, either. There must be a bug in the site that doesn't register when the radio buttons are checked off, so it always thinks you don't have any selected... --Yellow1996 (talk) 01:29, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Your heading uses "ariel" instead of "aerial". Please see "Aerial" and wikt:aerial.

—Wavelength (talk) 17:06, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

You're right - I can't spell. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 18:20, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Google maps will do this. Zoom in to the right area (maybe just a few streets across), then type "hotel" into the search box. Google will place markers on hotels and even smaller motels and B&B places (and also the odd business supplying hotels with things). You can zoom out a little and pan around to find something to meet your requirements.

Similar features are available on other sites like tripadvisor.com, laterooms.com, hotels.com and so on. Of course, many are restricted to hotels that either have availability for the dates you select and/or are advertised on the specific site, but even for pretty obscure locations I can find plenty of places to stay. Astronaut (talk) 16:04, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, Google Maps worked. I had tried TripAdvisor and Hotels.com last week, but they did not show me all of the hotels - only a few, IIRC. But perhaps there were no rooms available for the ones it didn't show. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 03:43, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Resolved

Help with map generator code

I am doing a map genedator with python.
User are able to select the map size (x and Y) and it generate a map.
The problem I can't find a way to create each pixel in the order I want.
A some example:
With my original idea if the user selected a 3x3 map it would create the map this way, selecting how each map pixel will be one after another
323
212
323
1=This pixel of the map is selected first.
2=All the pixels with this number are selected
3= All pixels with this number are selected

as some example, the same idea with 5x5 map
54445
43234
42124
43234
54445

but my map generator create the map like this:
as some example a 3x3 map
123
456
789

This is the actual code that produce it

   for row in range(len(object.tile_list)):
        
       for collumn in range(len(object.tile_list[row])):
              ALL THE MATH AND RULE STUFF THAT WILL SELECT WHAT THE PIXEL OF THE MAP WILL BE

How could I create a code that do as I said? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.78.179.109 (talk) 18:07, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

You haven't really described why a given point in the desired map takes its value. For example, I don't see why the 4 values in the middle of the edges of the 5x5 map aren't 3 instead (why is 4 right and 3 wrong?). What you're essentially doing is creating a function in two variables and then iterating over that, sampling it at integer intervals. There are many functions in two variables which can produce a symmetrical pattern somewhat like these; linear (arithmetic), geometric, distance, etc. To write code, you'll have to figure out a more formal definition of what the right answer is. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 20:05, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

This map generator would produce the map based on some statistics. It would select the first pixel(area) at random and continue from there. If some square you are generating is connected to a square that is already generated, it has 90% chance of being of the same time and 10% of being of a different type (what this different type will be is based on some rules).

Based on my rules diagonal squares are not connected to some square. So, witha 5x5 map it start map creation with square 1, and then continue by selecting all the closest connected squares (at the same time) to already generated squares (square 1), those squares are the squares 2. Then it continue by selecting all the closest connected squares (at the same time) to already generated squares (square 3).

Remember I said that a square connected to other have 90% of being the same. when creating multiple squares at the same time, you do all squares at the same time, on a board like this:

323

212

323

The 90% math would be make to each square 2 separated. As some example you would do the check one time to each 'square 2' (so do the check 4 times), as some example, if you get less than 10% on the first square, you will just change the type of this square, you will need to do the same test 3 more times(one to each other square)to know you will keep them with the same type of change them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.78.179.109 (talk) 20:45, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Your description of selecting the NSEW adjacent squares and processing them sounds a lot like a flood fill, only one where the "colour" mutates (by your 90% rule) rather than being constant. I have Python code for that (which handles recursion with a queue or stack) at File:Wfm floodfill animation queue.gif. If you used that, but changed a couple of lines:

 if img.getpixel((x,y)) == targetcolour:
   img.putpixel((x,y), newcolour)

to

 if img.getpixel((x,y)) == uninitialised:
  if random.randint(1,10) == 10:
    newcolour = randomise_new_colour()

  img.putpixel((x,y), newcolour)

that might make for a nice terrain -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 21:23, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Thanks will check that when I have, time. While vising some website I had the idea of a map generator based on world statistics, of course this data would be hard to get, this idea stuck into my head and I decided to try with chess statistics by hand, but then I discovered some rpg (rhand morningstar missions), that had some terrain statistics (dm can roll a d100 to check how the area (6 mile diameter hexagon) he will enter will (there is 5 main ground types) be, and if he is leaving this terrain he can roll again for the next terrain (because this is connected to the old one, there is 90% of the ground type being the same). I posted this idea last friday on a forum while we were discussing rpg settings (while also posting the rpg statistics) and some made a python code for me that generate a map in ascii text, but he gone and I decided to change it (never coded with python before) to better suit my original idea and fix some of his bugs, but the main part that was very diferent is the order that it generate the terrain.

Here is the wip code http://pastebin.com/vfXN79d3 201.78.179.109 (talk) 12:54, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

I am back again, looking at the flood fill gave me some idea. Doing something like this:

1-create a counter variable and put its value as 0. 2-create a list of pixels and put the first value as pixelist[0] as the middle pixel of map. 3-do a while that repeat until (counter +1) < amount of pixels on map. 4-Check the pixel on pixelist[counter] and check the connected squares, if they are empty and were not added to the pixelist before, add them to the pixelist. 5-Check connected squares of the pixel pixelist[counter], if no connected square pixelist[counter]= random value, if it has connected squares do the math based on connected squares to find its value.6-Counter = counter +1

This created a program that on a 3x3 map would create the map this way:

726

514

938

Instead of my original idea of

323

212

323

Anyway thats way better than what the initial code was doing.

Thanks for the recommendations and here is the lastest code that use the ideas I said here, if anyone wants to try and check. Remember I start never coded with phyton until 2 weeks ago and I started to do it with that code. So if the code is a mess, you know why. http://pastebin.com/1jbxf8QD

Censorship in Hong Kong

I've been asked why people in Hong Kong would not have access to the site HeartsSpeak.org. HS is a non-profit that helps connect photographers with animal shelters who could use their artistic assistance. I don't know exactly what they mean by "can't access" and I can think of no technical reason why they'd have any issues. Would this be blocked by the Great Firewall of China? Would users get a standard error page saying that the site they are trying to access is blocked? Is HK even affected by the Firewall? I didn't see any mention of HK specifically in the article on the Firewall. Dismas|^(talk) 19:06, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

It's apparently not blocked by the GFWoC. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 20:11, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

I call shenanigans on http://www.greatfirewallofchina.org - its "OK/FAIL" indicator does not provide enough meaningful information to determine anything. I suspect the pass-fail criteria is entirely based on whether a DNS lookup succeeds or fails, and nothing more. A domain name server that fails to resolve a lookup is not the same as a network firewall that is dropping or blocking network traffic - even if the superficial symptoms look similar to an average end-user. Nimur (talk) 22:49, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

GFWoC does not filter Hong Kong. So it will be irrelevant. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 10:19, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, all! I guess I'll just have to find out what they mean by "can't access" and go from there. Dismas|^(talk) 10:53, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

July 23

Excel 2010

I'm building a spreadsheet and I need to keep adding "0805", which because it has a leading zero displays as "805", so I'm entering it as "'0805", the leading tick works fine.

However Excel now keeps telling me that "The number in this cell is formatted as text or is preceded by an apostrophe". I know that. To get rid of the obnoxious hovering diamond, I have to click it and select "Ignore Error" - every time.

Is there a way to turn this (and this sort of) feature off? Indeed, I'd like to turn 99% of Excel and Word "auto-help" functions off, can it be done? You spend more time fixing the auto-help than you do creating the document! -- SGBailey (talk) 08:12, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Why not format the cells with a Custom Format of 0000? --Phil Holmes (talk) 08:56, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

(edit conflict) See here for how you can turn off the error checking. You are able to selectively turn off checking for different errors, so in your case you can deselect 'numbers formatted as text or preceded by an apostrophe', or just turn off the whole caboodle. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 08:57, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Great. Thanks CM. -- SGBailey (talk) 10:03, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

June 22: How to download map too large for xapi

I didn't know it was possible to add card from openstreemap to a GPS using SDXC.

I want to chose a custom area and get city explorer functionalities.

I am trying to download base map in osm format for converting it and this HTTP request doesn't work: http://api.openstreetmap.fr/xapi?*[key=value][bbox=-70,12,62,84]. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 19:23, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

For some decent pointers, see OSM wiki-page on Garmin devices. Personally I tend to get my updated maps from openstreetmap.nl, which has instructions for installations here. WegianWarrior (talk) 20:33, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

The problem is not I can't transfer and convert map to my GPS. It is that I want to chose a custom region and I can't download it to .osm xml (see xapi hyperlink on precedent post).

Update: OpenStreetMap.nl doesn't work : "Selected map is too large!" 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 21:22, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Hyperlink times out for me (bad gateway). Try looking at the OSM Map on Garmin page at the OSM Wiki, which has instructions on how to create your own img-files for your Garmin. - including links to software that can apparently make the job easier. WegianWarrior (talk) 03:46, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

I understood the instructions given. I know how i can convert .osm files. The problem is they don't explain how to download a quarter of the planet in Openstreetmap format (I want to choose my own area). 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 11:29, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Best suggestion I can offer then is to ask on the OSM wiki. WegianWarrior (talk) 17:01, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

PC doenst show image. Time to change video card?

I have a pc at home that have a video card (motherboard doenst have intagrated video card), when I turn it on the monitor shows nothing and the power on of the monitor blinks.
But the pc really turns on, I am able to access some of his files by network if I turn it on and I am able to see his network enabled printer. I also tested the monitor with my notebook and it works
Tried to remove the video card, and put it back to see if this would work, but this doenst worked
Video card fan, is working.
PS: I was using the pc at night and on the next day, this problem happened.
With the pc really turning it on, and the monitor really working, the only fix is to buy a new video card?
201.78.161.229 (talk) 23:27, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Try plugging a different monitor into your PC. If that one doesn't work, then it's surely a failed video card and you will have to replace it. --Yellow1996 (talk) 01:08, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Not sure it can be the video card i've seen something similar: the video card didn't look to work. The Problem was caused by the AGP controller. It was a single chip on the motherboard and it was that thing which didn't worked anymore. If it is a similar case changing the screen don't mean it would be the video card. The best way to check if a component don't work is to replace it with an another one known for working. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 12:21, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Yes, if you can get a different card for the slot, you can test if that one works. If it does, your video card is obviously the culprit.

And you can try if your video cards works in a different slot (that is, if your mobo has at least two compatible slots). I had some cheap PCI ethernet i/f cards which kept failing in one make of motherboard. Pulling them and putting them into a different PCI slot always fixed the prob -- somehow the mobo refused to "talk" to the card any more.

No bulls - that was the way it worked! - ¡Ouch! (^{hurt me} / _{more pain}) 16:20, 27 July 2013 (UTC)

July 24

Intel's Tick-Tock and performance

Intel Tick-Tock says that a tick (e.g. Ivy Bridge) is a reduction in die size and a tock (e.g. Sandy Bridge) is a new microarchitecture. This says that Ivy Bridge should show about a 20% performance increase (per clock speed) over Ivy Bridge because if the larger number of transistors. Is that right? Do ticks or tocks represent the bigger performance gain? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 04:32, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Whoops - I read it wrong. The 20% increase is in transistors, not performance. But still the question is about performance in ticks vs. tocks, e.g. Ivy Bridge over Sandy Bridge.

My question is partially answered by Ivy Bridge (microarchitecture), but what can be said in general? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 04:35, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

You need to understand that increasing transistor number is generally increasing the length electricity have to cross. Intel increase both performance and transistor. Certain RISC (ex:MIPS) architecture don't increase transistor number.

There is a simpler example : human brain/eye can process 24 fps. A fly can process hundreds. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 11:24, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

That is untrue. The human eye can easily tell the difference between a 50 and 70 FPS animation.Zzubnik (talk) 12:45, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

But generally more transistors means a faster CPU. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 14:45, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Can you cite a well-known CISC architecture (other than x86 based) were more transistor mean more powerful? 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 16:55, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

To put it in more concrete terms, I was deciding between buying a computer with a Sandy Bridge i5-2320 and one with an Ivy Bridge i5-3330. (Last night I ordered the i5-3330 one.) Both run at 3GHz and have the same amount of L2 and L3 cache. The 2320 has one notch better TurboBoost with one or three cores running, and the same with two or four cores running. Despite that, might the 3330 outperform the 2320 by a small amount? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 14:53, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

I didn't look here yet. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 16:55, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

I'm confused by your two questions. On a clock per clock basis, Ivy Bridge processors do out perform Sandy Bridge processors, this is pretty much a given and shouldn't be surprising because the Ivy Bridge is newer with both a die shrink and microarchitecture refinements expected from any 'tick'. There a variety of reasons for it, the increase in transistor count is just one of them. This is distinct from whether or not you generally get more performance increase with a 'tick' or a 'tock'. The comparison for the Sandy Bridge is the Westmere (microarchitecture) (tock) cf of course Sandy Bridge vs Ivy Bridge (tick). Alternatively you can compare the Sandy Bridge vs Ivy Bridge and Ivy Bridge vs Haswell (tock). Note that these sort of comparisons are difficult and not necessarily that meaningful, as the clock per clock performance increase would generally vary particularly with a major microarchitecture change, and would also depend significantly on the app. While the days of Netburst and clockspeed being marketed extensively are long gone with concentration on other things like power efficiency at the fore, there may still be reasons why a company may choose a design which clocks higher despite lower performance per clock so the more meaningful comparisons are things like cost per performance and a consideration of what matters to you, like power per performance. (In other words, while you don't see this so much with Intel any more, it's still possible a next generation may have lower performance per clock. This doesn't mean the next generation is worse, if a 3ghz of the next generation is sold at the same price as the 2ghz of the older generation and the performance per clock is only 10% worse, the next generation would generally have better performance.) Of course, price depends on many factors unrelated to cost and despite some inroads of ARM and GPGPU, and the presence of AMD and other competitors, Intel still has a lot of the server, desktop and high end laptop market to themselves. And for the end user, I'm not sure that these actually matter anyway unless perhaps you're deciding whether to wait. Why would you care that Haswell had say a 15% performance/clock or price or whatever increase over the Ivy Bridge which had a 20% performance increase over the Sandy Bridge which had a 30% performance increase over Westmere? (Completely made up numbers.) Ultimately when you're buying you have to look at what's available, consider the price and the various advantages like performance differences and power differences and choose what's best to fit you needs. Nil Einne (talk) 04:33, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Thank you - I didn't really know that a tick was more than a die shrink. The other day I was deciding between an Ivy Bridge and a Sandy Bridge that have the same specs except some of the TurboBoost numbers are better on the Sandy. But I ordered the Ivy. A few percent better performance does make a difference to me on the things it will be used for. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 15:13, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Resolved

memory performance

I'm going to be adding memory to a Windows desktop computer. I have three basic choices, at about the same price:

• DDR3-1333 PC3-10600 CL=9
• DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 CL=11
• DDR3-1333 PC3-10600 CL=7-7-7-24

Which should give the best performance? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 05:24, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

DDR3-1600 sounds faster, but can your motherboard and CPU support it? Graeme Bartlett (talk) 10:16, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

I'm not sure about the speed of the motherboard. But Crucial says that all of these will work. So that probably means a 1333MHz bus instead of 1600. In that case, I doubt that there would be any advantage to the 1600 one.

Does CL=7-7-7-24 mean that the first three words read from memory would be relatively fast but the fourth one would be very slow? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 14:09, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

That question is answered at SDRAM latency. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 16:19, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

no, no, in your example cl is only the first seven... the rest are rp, and rcd… the large number is the RAS

You have to check your memory controller to see if 1600 is supported, if it is not supported the most possible scenario is that the system use the memory at 1333 and maybe with a bit better latencies than the originals at 1600…

For a sandy or lower config I guess your 3rd option is easy the best, but maybe for an ivy or a 2011 you could be better with the 1600

Any way… I have try a lot (truly a lot) of different configurations of ram for my work and except in benchs the difference is almost unnoticeable… you change your disk or cpu and wow know we are talking…

Iskánder Vigoa Pérez (talk) 00:17, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Yes, after figuring on it, there is probably not much difference. A CL=11 on 1600 is just about the same as CL=9 on 1333. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 00:53, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Note that there is no perfect correlation in performance between lower latency, lower frequency RAM and higher latency higher frequency RAM. However, I suspect that even on the Ivy Bridge the CL7 will generally be faster. That said, I agree on both the Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge the difference is minimal. AFAIK this applies to most real world (i.e. not sythentic) benchmarks in general although there are cases which can gain an advantage, although 1333 CL9 sounds a little low. Amongst other things, both have a very good memory controller and the GPU is fairly weak. See also [5] [6] [7]. Note that this is not the case with the AMD Trinity. The Trinity memory controller seems to be a bit slow and while there's still little advantage for the CPU in general, the GPU may often gain a noticeable advantage with faster memory in real world benchmarks (whether a person will notice or not does depend on the individual and the app but it's entirely plausible you will in some scenarios). Nil Einne (talk) 02:21, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

I ordered 1333 CL=9 for an Ivy Bridge earlier today, but it hasn't shipped yet. The CL=7 was only $3-4 more per 8GB. Reading up on it, it seemed like it was more for overclocking, which I don't do. Some of the things I run are very CPU and memory intensive and GPU is of no concern. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 03:06, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

No, overclockers may sometimes go nuts over high performance memory but with the death of the FSB, it's not generally needed for overclocking except perhaps at the real borderline when you run out of dividers (although in cases like that memory speeds is more important than latency but you may easily be able to overclock the low latency RAM to at least the same frequency). You may be more likely to have memory becoming a bottleneck if you're overclocking a lot but in reality frequently they need it as much or as little as non overclockers (unless their sole goal is to show off some record or synthetic benchmark results). That said, as the results show (although they didn't really compare low latency 1333) if you aren't using the GPU only a small number of real world CPU cases have performance increases large enough to be noticeable, in particular the only real example there was WinRAR although of course only your own or someone else's comparisons can tell you what's the case your for your specific app. Nil Einne (talk) 04:51, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

I’m running right now on a (4x4)16gb mushkin silverline memory kit, 1333 at 7-9-9-22

And a colleague with the same board p67 and the same 2600 cpu just put a (4x8)32 gb corsair extremethomething (very expensive) 1866 running at 10 – 11 –10 – 30, and there isn’t anything faster thatyou can actually see or measure, I means, literal not better render times, not better visor work, not better time to wake the system, not better time to fire up the applications… the only thing improved was the work in adobe AE, double de ram size… more room for ram previews…. and that have nothing to do with speed… but hey he gets avery nice win8 index! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Iskander HFC (talk • contribs) 05:07, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Thank you both. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 13:32, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Note that increasing the amount of RAM will definitely increase the speed in case where you run out of memory otherwise and by amounts way more than anything we're discussing here. And faster RAM will likely make a measurable differences with certain applications using the CPU like probably WinRAR (although the tests which found this were for Ivy Bridge not Sandy Bridge) even if probably not many. It will potentially make a measurable difference more commoly with the GPU although again this is harder to say since I'm less sure of the memory scaling of the Sandy Bridge GPU (in addition your 1333 RAM has better timings then is commoly tested). You've only mentioned 4 applications and two of them (waking up the system and loading programs) the sort of stuff where it's unresonable to expect RAM speed to make much difference so it's not exactly surprising if you found no difference in your small subset of case but that doesn't change the fact it will likely make a measurable difference in real world applications in small set of cases. I presume your friend is actually overclocking the memory subsystem, from what I can tell the 2600 doesn't official support higher than 1333 memory so the memory subsystem will need to be overclocked to run at 1866 (some boards may support this by default and the lack of official support on the CPU/memory controller may not mean it lacks the appropriate defaults). Nil Einne (talk) 03:40, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

The board is also the same, an Asrok, and it seems to manage itself to set the memory that way… I don’t get in these overclock stuffs, it’s… I just don’t get it A curious thing, the timings of our ram are not the same than the pictured in their respective boxes neither the listed by the seller (newegg), in the case of my colleague I cannot remember, but mines are supposed to be at 8-8-8-24 (by SPD) and are currently at 7-9-9-22 I had try to set it manually but the board just display an error code in its lcd and then reboot with the same values In our group we do a lot of heavy work… 3ds max, Mudbox, Maya, Adobe Mocha, PS, AE, Premiere, ME, and an “in house” tool for proses normal maps… maybe neither of that prove to be a challenge to the ram speed (and indeed, until now, it don’t) but I just don’t quite believe that some files compression in winrar or other results in synthetic tests can give you a real notion of what improvement to expect when upgrading to a faster memory… at least that you’ll have to do a lot of files compression or you want to participate in some OC showdown or something — Preceding unsigned comment added by Iskander HFC (talk • contribs) 06:25, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

Resolved

3d From 2d

For certain types of figures, it seems like given an image from front, back, and each side and the general dimensions of the object, that you could "extract" other angles of the figure by blending the appropriate parts together. While, obviously, this wouldn't work for every object, and lighting may be a problem, is there anything out there that looks into this? Honestly, I'm just curious; if nothing else, I'd love any suggestions on what might be a good way of doing this, then I could just try it myself. Thanks:-)Phoenixia1177 (talk) 07:27, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

3D reconstruction from multiple images is the general topic, although the article leads somthing to be desired. There is a lot of work in the topic and it is considered a hard Computer Vision problem. It does get a lot easier if you can label points so you don't have to worry about which points match with which.--Salix (talk): 09:18, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Yes, for example you can use a laser to scan points from 3 orthogonal directions, and use those to reconstruct a surface. Of course, it's not so good for reconstructing hollow spots on the inside. StuRat (talk) 05:03, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Thank you both:-) I never thought about the computer vision angle. What I was thinking of is something much more simple: I have a collection of 2d sprites, I'm not a good 3d artist, but I am good at math and programming; for my own use, I was toying with the idea of making 3d versions of these from the 2d (for a game I'm making, just for my own playing, so it doesn't need to be good).Phoenixia1177 (talk) 06:53, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

If you have two orthogonal views of a curve, then constructing a 3D curve from it is relatively simple. Say one is in the XY plane and another in the XZ plane. Here's how you "marry" the curves, point by point:

Point   XY plane   XZ plane   3D point
=====   ========   ========   ========
    1        0,0        0,0      0,0,0
    2        1,2        1,3      1,2,3
    3        2,6        2,9      2,6,9

Of course, actually running a curve through the sample points is a bit tricky, and a small error in the point locations can cause wild results. StuRat (talk) 07:21, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Excel 2010 startup

Yet another Excel 2010 / Windows 7 question! Is there a way of making it startup without opening a new worksheet? On older versions I would add a "/e" option to the target, but I appear to have a write protected target that doesn't list the exe file anyway, so I can't add /e. -- SGBailey (talk) 08:44, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Answered my own question. I made a NEW shortcut to the actual .exe file (rather than whatever shortcut it is that Windows creates when you install Office). That did have a target and I could add /e to it. So I'll use that and delete all the auto-magic Office created shortcuts. Cheers. -- SGBailey (talk) 08:49, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

RECORDING A VIDEO FILE

How can I record a video file (e.g. BBC news or some animation showing heart beat etc.)from internet to my computer? Is there any simple software? Thank you.175.157.149.54 (talk) 09:34, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Computing#Converting_from_an_ages-old_Video-for-Windows_codec_to_.22modern.22_h264. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 12:12, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

If using FireFox, then you can use the excellent addon VideoDownloadHelper - I love it. --Yellow1996 (talk) 16:19, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

unit step

is it unit step is energy or power? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 223.196.163.250 (talk) 15:10, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

is it unit step signal is energy or power signal? Mkrtwr (talk) 15:27, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

It's a power signal. From [8]

"The unit step signal is a Power signal. Since when we find the power it comes to 1/2 (i.e finite value). And when we find its energy, we got INFINITY. If a signal has energy as infinity and power as a finite non-zero value, then it is a power signal, not an energy signal." --Yellow1996 (talk) 16:49, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

When i use MS Word, I keep the calculator open, but

Anytime i come back to word, it disappears, and than i need to annoyingly go and start it all over again from the Taskbar. any way to shut it into there? Ben-Natan (talk) 16:03, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Without knowing what OS you are running, I can suggest you try this 3rd party program. I haven't used it myself, though. Hope this helps! --Yellow1996 (talk) 16:59, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Without giving context either, not much help can be given. Of course, you can try alt-tabbing, using a 3rd-party app to keep things on-top, not having the word window maximized, etc. --Sigma 7 (talk) 15:27, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Windows NT

What does NT mean? This applies to the whole world. Couldn't find the answer on Wikipedia, and I can't access other sites than YouTube, Wikipedia and Armor Games on my computer. Pubserv (talk) 18:49, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Third sentence of our Windows NT article: "NT" was expanded to "New Technology" for marketing purposes but no longer carries any specific meaning. 209.131.76.183 (talk) 18:54, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Nt is a kernel that is used for posix win32/64 wince. Those OS have each time a different PE based executable format. Learn how to code for native executables if you are curious. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 20:39, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

WinCE isn't based on NT. There is a POSIX subsystem for NT but it's rarely used. NT is the OS kernel used in modern versions of Microsoft Windows (Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8), but 3.1, 95, 98, and ME all supported Win32 but weren't NT-based. The PE format is the same for all of these, except for the obvious changes needed for 64-bit executables. One of the PE fields is a subsystem ID, which is different for Win32, POSIX, NT native, and probably WinCE. -- BenRG (talk) 07:53, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

does Processing (language) run on ARM?

I'd like to know whether I can run my Processing (the language) file on an embedded ARM system running Ubuntu (for arm architecture). Since it's just java, I would expect the answer to be yes but only 32-bit and 64-bit versions are listed. will one of these be good? e.g. with the Marvell Armada 510. thanks. 178.48.114.143 (talk) 19:03, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

This discusses installing Processing on a Raspberry pi, which is ARM. It seems that the binary Linux packages for Processing include an x86 JRE, but once one removes that and makes sure the correct ARM openjdk-jre is used, it works. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 19:38, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Thanks! This is appreciated. 178.48.114.143 (talk) 00:19, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Packet loss in Mumble

Mumble is a VOIP program used for gaming.

My friend sounds like he's underwater when he's using it. The person who is hosting the server we're on reports that he's got 30% packet loss, which would explain it. My friend's download speed is in excess of 100Mb/s. The server is fine; no-one else is having the problem. What else could be causing this/how might we fix it? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 5.69.78.94 (talk) 19:08, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

I doubt that the speed is in excess of 100Mb/s -- do you mean 100Kb/s? Anyway, if you are losing packets, there is a problem with your network connection. Is this a wireless connection? Looie496 (talk) 19:15, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Verizon offers 500Mb/s packages, so 100Mb/s is not unheard of. And, what matters is not the download speed but the upload speed, since the data is getting lost from the gamer on its way to the server. RudolfRed (talk) 20:21, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

In france numericable offer fiber connections up to 200M for individuals. It is symmetric and in unlimited access. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 21:03, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

MTR (software) (and its Windows incarnation winMTR) can be useful for identifying whether you really have packet loss, and goes some way to finding where it's happening. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 20:32, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for all the responses. My friend appears to have lost all connection tonight, so I won't be able to get this information to him until...some time. But this will be useful later, since this problem has happened before. 5.69.78.94 (talk) 20:43, 24 July 2013 (UTC)

[speedtest.net] gives (actual) speed, ping, jitter and packet loss measurements. It's worth checking if the 100Mbps is a real speed, or a theoretically possible advertised speed. MChesterMC (talk) 08:51, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

July 25

Why does my cell phone screen have inverted colors....

...but only when viewed from the right side, not straight on, or from the left, top, or bottom ? (Samsung S425G.) StuRat (talk) 05:11, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

I was going to say that is "characteristic of LCD displays" but from only the right side seems odd. (and I am assuming that its LCD (Liquid-crystal display) not OLED (organic light-emitting diode) or some other technology?) And a little OR, my computer LCD monitor 'inverts' from the top but not from either side. --220 of ^Borg 05:27, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

It's regular LCD as far as I know. Sounds like my screen is mounted 90° relative to yours, but the question remains as to why LCD screens behave that way, and in particular why from only one direction. StuRat (talk) 06:43, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Well there are several varieties of LCD, some of which difference is aimed at improving 'viewing angle'. Twisted nematic is apparently the cheapest and most common, In-Plane Switching LCD is better as far as view angle. Interestingly I lifted my monitor so I could look from beneath and lo-and-behold, NO inversion! If anything the contrast gets better and colours darker. (it's a ChiMei CMV 938D, I can't find out exact type of display it is.) So it is not just your LCD displaying this directional character.

I wonder if the 'normal' viewing angle for phone displays is offset to allow for the fact that some of the time the phone will be near your ear or in one hand and not directly in front of you like a PC monitor or TV would often be. (Apparently this is possible, I'm trying to find the source again.) This ZDNet page may be of interest, "How LCD makers lie to you about viewing angles" It seems to show the one direction inversion you are asking about on a Twisted Nematic display.
* I've had a good Google around and while there are a lot of how-LCD-works explanations, this effect is not addressed --220 of ^Borg 09:25, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Copying text from FlashPaper

Hi... the museum I work for just received a donation of plaques describing the Sikh contribution to the World Wars. They just published an article about the contribution, and I was hoping to machine translate it for our Facebook audience.

Thing is, the paper is in FlashPaper, which doesn't let you copy with Ctrl+C or right click, etc.

I have Adobe Acrobat Pro installed on this machine at work, at when I print the newspaper as a PDF through Pro, it turns it into an image. Microsoft Office Document Imaging won't OCR in Punjabi, we only have EN/FR/ES installed. Any ideas of how this might work? All I need to do is copy the text out, I've got translating it covered. Thanks! -- Zanimum (talk) 12:35, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Oh, here's the document I'm trying to copy from (page 3). -- Zanimum (talk) 12:36, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Different tech issue: I switched out of Chrome, over to IE, and I can copy, but I end up getting this, no matter where I paste:

  ª´±Ò ´ÓÙ§ 
 ³Ó¹´¾º® 
 ¾®ÇÒ°¬² ¼§ ·­¬× 
 ¸º´ ·ª©½ ¾¨§ 
 °×´ ¿º®¬ ¹Ç´®× 
 ø¿¶º·»¾Ù®÷ 
 ´»× ·­©ÕÚ ª´±Ò

-- Zanimum (talk) 12:46, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

I was going to suggest printing it to a pdf then using acrobat reader's text selection tool. However, the text all came out as pictures. Looks like you might have to get some Punjabi OCR software or do it the hard way and get a (human) translator working on it.

The whole idea behind Flash Paper seems to be to restrict copying and printing. Could you find the originator of the paper? Astronaut (talk) 16:06, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

The page won't load for me so I can't try anything - but I agree with Astronaut. You'll probably have to do it the hard way (manual translation, doing up a whole new document) unless you can contact the original author of the paper. FlashPaper seems to be meant for copy-protection; the random characters you are getting when you copy the text is the result of the security precautions. --Yellow1996 (talk) 16:09, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

If you have a device that can scan to PDF, try printing out the document, then scanning it back in, then running Acrobat's OCR on the scan. -- 140.202.10.134 (talk) 18:03, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

PC LOAD LETTER

The problem of printers insisting on Letter sized paper is a major headache for almost anyone with anything to do with computers in Europe (where the standard is A4). From that article: For comparison, the letter paper size commonly used in North America (8.5 in × 11 in (216 mm × 279 mm)) is approximately 6 mm (0.24 in) wider and 18 mm (0.71 in) shorter than A4. I've never seen an office that had both sizes in stock, and apart from some US Embassies perhaps, none of the printers sold in the entire continent of Europe has ever been used to print on Letter sized paper. I've never seen something that suddenly didn't fit because it was printed on A4. I've never even seen someone having benefit from the fact that the actual letters where printed on envelopes so the printer really helped out. I've been on the phone with clients and family quite a lot to explain how to get out of this mess, due to my profession that must have been at least 200 hours of totally wasted time. I cannot think of anything in the IT business that is this stupid. A printer sold with "won't whine about paper sizes" is actually worth a lot extra in terms of TCO. Maybe I should have asked at the humanities desk, but what in the world were and still are printer manufacturers thinking when they came up with this "feature"? Clippy was a mistake, FTP still is bad, and I can't find the option to scan in Word anymore without asking Google, but the horror that mere printing brings us each and every day is really uncomparable. (The fact that Windows fakes a heart attack when it encounters a Canon 2001-23-15A instead of the Canon 2001-23-15F it expected, with no option to tell it to just try needs perhaps another rant, but that really is peanuts compared to customers calling with "it flashes and says load letter, and turning it off and on didn't help") Joepnl (talk) 22:49, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

They were thinking about selling their printers in the US, of course. (Your question is very difficult to understand, by the way. Simpler prose would help.) Looie496 (talk) 22:59, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

English is not my first language, sorry. It's still strange that printer manufacturers make printers for the US and sell those in Europe. They can think of the difference in voltage for example. Joepnl (talk) 23:07, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

What should a printer do if the job's page size doesn't match the loaded paper size? Options are:

1. scale the job - but then the printout doesn't match preprinted stock (letterhead, forms), address blocks don't match window envelops, graphics and logos aren't in proportion (and boy do you get an angry phonecall from the guy in Corporate Communications whose job it is to preserve brand integrity).
2. crop the job - smaller onto larger produces margins wider than they appear in Word; larger onto smaller produces narrower ones, or stuff off the page altogether. And again things don't match preprinted stock.
3. scale a bit, crop a bit - the problems of the above two, but to a lesser degree
4. PC LOAD LETTER, which has all the problems you describe

There isn't a perfect solution. 1,2, and 3 weren't possible on an old dot-matrix printer, because the printer was too dumb to do scaling and cropping - but a PostScript printer can. Most people don't care (that much) about the problems of 1,2, and 3, but if they do, they'll blame the printer for being defective. If the printer complains, it's the user's fault - so #4 is the politic solution for the printer manufacturer. They'd say (perhaps with reason) that the OS' print system should fix this - after all, it knows the paper size of the document and these days usually knows the paper size in the printer (because the printer's wire protocol allows it to find that out). By that logic, when you try to print letter on legal etc. the print dialog should pop up and say "that doesn't fit, how do you want me to handle it (1,2,3,4)?". In practice most domestic printers are junk (£30 for a 5ppm colour all-in-one scan/fax/printer - of course it'll be junk), and office printers are expensive and terrible. Incidentally, if I understand how CUPS pre-rasterisation filters are supposed to work, it should be possible to write one(s) that notice the job doesn't match the paper and mutate the job by 1,2, or 3. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 23:32, 25 July 2013 (UTC)

Interestingly, from Letter (paper size):

"Unlike the A4 (210 × 297 mm) international standard (ISO) paper sizes which are used in most countries in the world today, the origin of the dimensions of letter size paper are lost in tradition. The American Forest and Paper Association argues that the dimension originates from the days of manual paper making, and that the 11-inch length of the page is about a quarter of "the average maximum stretch of an experienced vatman's arms". However, this does not explain the width or aspect ratio." --Yellow1996 (talk) 00:51, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

This is not a printer problem. The paper size is specified in the print job and the printer is not in the business of second guessing what you (via your computer) told it to do. The problem is that the computer is misconfigured, and you should be able to fix it in the printer properties somewhere, or by complaining to whoever should've done that. I have to say that I've printed a lot of letter-size documents in the UK and A4-size documents in the US (mostly academic papers in PDF or PS format) and I can't remember ever having had this problem. The printer driver always knew what kind of paper was in the printer and the PDF viewer fit the actual page size to the dimensions of the paper. -- BenRG (talk) 07:33, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

July 26

Rechargeable MP3 player

I have a rechargeable MP3 player (that is, a player that does not use batteries, it is simply pluged to the socket plug, and it gets recharged). I have noticed lately that, no matter how much time I left it recharging, it always run out of energy in a very short time. What can cause this? Is there a fix? Cambalachero (talk) 01:44, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

I think it's very unlikely that it "doesn't use batteries". Most likely, the battery is built in and is not replaceable by the consumer. My guess is that it's a lithium-ion battery. See lithium-ion battery#Battery life for the effect you're describing.

Unfortunately the only obvious fix is to buy another player; you might look for one that lets you change the battery. I wouldn't be shocked if there's some DIY way of cutting open the case and replacing the battery — you might look on YouTube with the precise model of player you have in mind. --Trovatore (talk) 01:52, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

My iPhone did the same, but a suggestion that the battery be allowed to get below 20% before it was recharged solved the problem.85.211.204.94 (talk) 03:25, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

If you've recharged your MP3 player more than a thousand times, then the Li-ion battery is probably past its best, so a replacement battery, or running the player from one of those small switch-mode rechargers that use a normal cell (battery) as power source might be a solution. I have a couple of MP3 players that run quite happily from these when their internal battery is exhausted. Dbfirs 13:17, 26 July 2013 (UTC)

USB stick backup to computer program

Is there any program out there that backups our USB stick /external hard disk to PC HDD as soon it enters our USB port and preferably using delta compression so it will go on much faster? DeltaCopy is too hard to use 140.0.229.26 (talk) 14:09, 26 July 2013 (UTC)