Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing

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August 10

static ip, no connectivity?

When I plug into my router I get limited or no connectivity and a strange IP/subnet is assigned. I went in and manually added a IP/subnet for my PC so now I can ping my router, but I can't get internet from it. Any ideas?

Have you manually set the DNS server as well? Try setting it to the same IP as the gateway you set. digfarenough (talk) 04:22, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

user data

I found a file on my computer in the AllUsers folder entitled 'ntuser.dat'. When I opened it I found the data for the location on my computer and 'en.wikipedia.org' appears to be the user. Where can I get info on what this file is for, and how and why it was created on my computer on 7-3-2006. (I have used Wiki considerably longer). It is distinct from a cookie.

I also forgot to log into Wiki when I first tried to post this request to this page and found that by IP address had been blocked. Amerindianarts 07:10, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Search before asking. Thanks [1]

ntuser.dat is a registry hive file that loads as HKEY_CURRENT_USER when a user logs on. The HKEY_CURRENT_USER (ntuser.dat) contains the user profile for the user who is currently logged on to the computer. The user profile includes environment variables, personal program groups, desktop settings, network connections, printers, and application preferences.

You can edit HKEY_CURRENT_USER of other users by loading this hive under HKEY_USERS (you must log on as administrator to edit this hive).

It’s one of your Registry files. Unlike the other Registry files, this one is stored in your personal Documents and Settings folder and contains the entire contents of the HKEY_LOCAL_USER branch of the Registry. You can’t delete it because it’s in use and protected, and you wouldn’t want to because otherwise you’ll mess up your whole computer! It will grow as you install more software that creates keys and sub keys in this branch of the Registry, and so is perfectly normal. To summarise: leave NTUSER.DAT alone.

--mboverload@ 08:28, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't mean the .dat, but the text file 'ntuser.dat' which references Wikipedia as a user. It doesn't grow like the .dat you refer to and was only created last month. The .dat you mean was created when the computer was loaded. The one I refer to is recent.Amerindianarts 09:11, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Thin clients

Network computers and thin clients have become buzz words now-a-days. A high bandwidth connection is required between the thin client and the server (where hard disk and programs are stored). I just want to know what is the bandwidth required between the thin client and the server computer. Is it 1 Mbps or 2Mbps or 100 Mbps?

Completely depends on what you're planning on doing and your intended setup. --mboverload@ 08:26, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

It also depends on how "thin" the client is. Some smart clients support caching, while others are much like dumbterminals, with little or no capacity for processing. Jdstroy 04:42, 13 August 2006 (UTC) (See RDP, VNC, or the like.)

Moving the contents of one wiki into another

Hi, Im having trouble trying to merge an old wiki into my current wiki. The information in the older wiki is just too much to write out again so i'd prefer to investigate other options first. I'm using version 1.7.1 mediawiki and MySQL 4.1 with MySQL Administrator.

I have a backup of the old database i want to include in my new wiki, but i don't want to overwrite any of the current wiki database contents.

Can anyone help?

Cheers

How would one connection be shared evenly between two PCs?

If I were to move in with someone, and we each had our own PC, how would we share an internet connection? I mean, we can't each have our own DSL connection, so we'd have to share a service. What would plug into the phone line, so each PC can plug into that device? Is there any way to make sure the two PCs share an equal amount of bandwidth (as in, they get 50% each) when they're both active, but when one's turned off, the other gets 100% of the bandwidth?

There are many routers/hubs/shared access points (whatever the marketing departments want to call them these days). I use Linksys. You plug your DSL modem into the router (that's the name I'm going to use). My router has 4 network jacks in it. So, I can plug up to four computers directly into it with a standard cat5 network cable. --Kainaw ^(talk) 15:18, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

The one time I had a DSL line (earlier this year) the phone company provided a combined DSL modem/wireless router. One could access it without wires, or plug up to 4 ethernet cables in the back. --Gerry Ashton 16:43, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

for the 50/50 thing, you'll need to flash your router with some freeware like dd-wrt or Alchemy. I don't think the standard linksys firmware provides features like bandwidth limits.

ANSI Standard text

copied from the Science section The German user http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Nightflyer searches for the German article on ANSI/EIA/TIA-232-F-1997 the text of the standard (free of cost). Thanks --Historiograf 02:19, 10 August 2006 (UTC) http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Bibliotheksrecherche

ISO and ANSI standards are copyright, and generally not available without cost. This is how the standards bodies cover their running costs. Sometimes the final draft can be found, but this often changes in the standard. It's worth checking with different standards bodies, as the same standard may have quite different charges. Notinasnaid 09:06, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Comment. Please try to avoid Copyright Paranoia. You can legally use standards without paying as library patron or in another way. Fair use allows to mail privately the text to another person. There are many libraries or institutions which have the text and could help. --Historiograf 14:38, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Quake, Quake II

Where can I download Quake and/or Quake II for single and multiplayer? I have an old version of Quake that runs on an old, old Win 95 PC but it won't work on my newer XP system. Any ideas?

If there was an online resource that let you read about things like Quake, I'm sure there would be information about GLQuake and WinQuake. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:41, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

aha! Success, it works!

but How about Quake II? I checked Quake II and there's some stuff about hwo the game was released in open source...is there a version I can download without having to compile the game myself? I don't understand all this open source stuff.

It's highly unlikely there's a (legal) version you can just download and run. I'm pretty sure Quake II was never released as shareware.

Quake II was released for download from Id. The catch is that it came only with demo data files. You have to buy Quake II (what is it, $5 off EBay now?) to get the real game data files. That is the model for all of the Quake games - engine is free, data files cost money. --Kainaw ^(talk) 11:56, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

list of IP's on network

How do I get a list of all the IP addresses on my network? Is there a simple DOS command to do this?

If you want to know all the potential IP addresses on your network, just check the network address and netmask. If you want to know all the active IP addresses, it's harder; the best way is to use a portscanner like nmap on the "ping scan" mode (which only checks which hosts are up, but does not do an actual port scan), but even then some hosts can hide from the scan. Also note that you should only run a portscanner if your network administrator allows it; running one without being explicitly allowed to can anger your network administrator. You do not want to anger your network administrator. It can also crash some devices on your network (but the "ping scan" mode is usually safe). --cesarb 20:36, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

net view will give you a list of all the ip addresses connected to the network.

Archiving data

Which is a better choice price-wise and chance-of-not-being-able-to-retrieve-data-in-a-decade-wise:

1. burning DVD's to back things up 2. External hard-drives

Burnable DVD's and CD's do not have longevity to make them a good option for archiving. In my opinion, if you get high-quality DVDs, you will get at least 10 years out of them, if not more. Note that the pressed copies you buy with movies on them are not the same material as the burnable ones. So, don't use their longevity as a comparison. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:37, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

What's wrong with a tape drive?

Print-through for one thing. Although the article addresses it as a problem with audio-recordings, the same thing can happen with computer tapes, which usually are recorded with analog devices, unless one gets into higher end, more expensive options. --LarryMac 14:41, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

amazon s3

Is amazon s3 a webhosting service or a storage system? Can I use that for web hosting needs? (There was no customer service in their website and thats why I am asking here)

I don't think it's a webhosting service. It seems like the file can only be acessed by the uploader or someone the uploader as authorized. Wizrdwarts (T|C|E) 01:14, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

FTP behind two routers

Do I need to do some port forwarding with my routers to be able to download files via FTP?

You'll need to use passive mode on the client and consult the server configuration and/or documentation to find out what ports it uses for this. These ports will then need to be redirected. --Pidgeot (t) (c) (e) 23:51, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

August 11

P2P

I am considering alternatives to my current P2P network, and I am curious as to what you, my fellow Wikipedians, would recommend. I will not disclose my current P2P network, as I don't want that to influence your answers. Just tell me which one you would get, and why. I have already had a look-see at this. Also, freeware please :D. Any responses are appreciated. If it matters, I am using a Windows XP. 71.98.15.40 00:10, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

BitTorrent Jon513 00:52, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Netsend

What is it? Is it like some kind of messeging command to messege other people on the same network? Wizrdwarts (T|C|E) 00:16, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, that's pretty exactly what it is. See Microsoft's website for more information. --Canley 02:07, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Your answer was in the title of the second result on google and the 4th result is the link to microsoft --mboverload@ 02:49, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

HTML vs. XHTML

If I had no prior knowledge of either, and I wanted to learn how to code, which one should I learn? Which one is generally perceived as easier to learn? Should I learn both? Thanks for the advice. --71.98.15.40 04:10, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

XHTML is backwards compatible with HTML. I don't think either is really "easier" they just use slightly different rules. Anyway, I'd go for HTML but only because I don't want to close tags all the time. --mboverload@ 04:19, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

All right. Thanks for the advice! Wish me luck. --71.98.15.40 04:42, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

HTML is dead. However, its ghost lingers, so even though you really must learn XHTML 1.1 you need to consult the HTML 4.01 reference to do so. The differences are not great, but they are vital. Three aspects of XHTML of special interest are

1. You must observe XML rules. In particular,
   • the case of tags and attributes matters

     ► all the HTML tags must be lower case

     ► all attribute names must be lower case

   • nesting must be correct

     ► an opening tag like <p> (for paragraph) demands a closing </p> tag

     ► an "empty" tag like <hr> (for horizontal rule) must be written <hr />

2. Deprecated tags and attributes of HTML 4.01 have been dropped.
3. Appearance should be described using CSS styling rules, with markup tags used solely to structure the content.

It's easier to learn good habits to begin with than to unlearn bad habits. Going forward, you must close tags, so get used to it already.

Once you're comfortable with the basic syntax of XML, you can learn to use and appreciate combined markup like the W3C profile of 2002 combining XHTML, MathML, and SVG. --KSmrq^T 06:59, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

If I were in your position I'd learn XHTML. XHTML will soon completely replace HTML and it's not really much more difficult - you just have to do everything that's considered 'good practice' in HTML.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I really appreciate it. 71.98.16.96 17:36, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Though despite being officially deprecated, it is not as if browsers are going to stop supporting HTML anytime soon, though over time more and more will support XHTML. I mean, most of the internet is currently "deprecated" according to W3C. --Fastfission 13:53, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Garageband for Windows

Is there a version of garageband available for Windows? If this exists(which I doubt) where could I download or buy it? If it does not exist are there any similar music makers for windows? Thank you.

What do you get when you put up to 2GHz of pure Intel Core Duo power, an iSight camera, Front Row, iLife ’06, and a 13-inch glossy widescreen display into a sleek case? More than you thought possible for less than you thought possible. Meet MacBook, starting at $1099. =D --mboverload@ 05:01, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not a place for you to advertise. Besides, Macs are horribly overpriced.--Frenchman113 on wheels! 20:37, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

I wasn't advertising, and you can't say something is over priced when it's the only thing that will run garageband. --mboverload@ 01:22, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Considering garageband is not that incredible a piece of software and something along the lines of cubase runs much better, has more features and sounds better in the end, your argument is entirely invalid.

I appreciate your time and thought but I am looking for something for windows that I can use in the more near future.

Is there no better answer to my question?

My personal suggestion is [2]but if you look around their website they also have free software. Funnyfarmofdoom 06:56, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Thank you

The closest equivalent to Garageband I can think of would be EJay. Sum0 20:01, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

strange svchost.exe...

Hi,

Recently my computer slowed down. When I use Task Manager to check what is causing it, it turns out that svchost.exe with SYSTEM as the user of it, is using 100% of CPU! I killed it with End Process, and the services that associate with it(e.g. sound) are gone. I restarted the computer, and svchost.exe is again using 100% of CPU. I waited patiently. 5 minutes later it cooled down and I can use the computer normally.

I used ZoneAlarm to block off its internet access, and it turns out that it is connecting to quite a lot of random IP addresses, and when I WhoIs some of the addresses, companies from Canada, US, and China turned out to own those IP addresses.

Could this be a virus like Welchia? And is svchost.exe connecting to those IP addresses normal?

Thanks in advance!

--inky 07:57, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

svchost itself is a basic part of windows - it's just a simple wrapper program that allows other programs to run as windows services. So svchost itself won't make network connections, least of all to china. But anything (with admin priviliges) can install themselves as windows services using svchost. This does sound like a bad program may have installed itself as a service - try using a spyware removal progam. Middenface 08:20, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

My first reaction would be just to blame microsoft (accounts for the cpu usage) but connecting to lots of ip addresses sounds like you've got a virus.

Thanks... I'll use Windows Defender. --inky 09:58, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

The Welchia worm runs as or under svchost.exe. Thankfully, it is benign and if you have a fully updated copy of Windows, you shouldn't have it. My copy of svchost makes all sorts of connections; WHOISing the IP addresses shows that they belong to my ISP, or my Router, or other things it should be connecting to. Don't worry too much about Welchia, although it may be another virus disguised as svchost. With those kinds of connections, it sounds like a spambot or adware. Windows Defender is a good choice, i've found it rather effective. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 14:12, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

On Windows XP, you can find out what's running via svchost.exe by taking the following steps -

1 - Click Start on the Windows taskbar, and then click Run.

2 - In the Open box, type CMD, and then press ENTER.

3 - Type Tasklist /SVC, and then press ENTER.

That is from Microsoft, by way of this page. There are steps given there for Windows 2000 as well. This PC World article recommends using the freeware program Process Explorer. --LarryMac 14:27, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Note that the Microsoft web page mentioned by LarryMac says it is for XP Pro. I found that it only works if you are logged in with an account that has administrator privileges. --Gerry Ashton 21:54, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

I get several copies of svchost running on my Windows 2000 system, frequently. The computer churns like mad, then after a while, they all go away and I can actually get in and do some work, but in the meantime, the system crawls. Any ideas? User:Zoe|(talk) 02:04, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Some virus scanners do scans inside svchost, but most likely your seeing runs of the windows indexing service. Middenface 02:10, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia sidebar redesign problems

We are redesigning the sidebar that appears on every page of Wikipedia. However, we've run into some implementation problems. The biggest one is that we can't put a new menu below the search box. But putting it above the search box forces the search box further down the page than is desirable. We need capable (php) programmers to figure out a way. Please join us at Wikipedia talk:Village pump (proposals)/Sidebar redesign. --Nexus Seven 11:40, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Screenshot Video Software

Is there any free screenshot video softwar that is free for download?--203.124.2.16 14:02, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

See screenshot, in particular the "Hardware overlays" section. Google is also your friend, search for something like video screenshot. Weregerbil 15:41, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

If you're looking for what I think you're looking for (Your diction's a little shaky, to me.), and using Wi***ws, WME (Windows Media Encoder) is great. --Brie Aleida

Ah, now I see the ambiguity. Do you want to take a screenshot of a video, or make a video of what you do on your screen? Or something else? I'm now starting to guess "make a video". Weregerbil 18:55, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

If that's the goal, there's something called Wish that's free and really good for that, but it's impossible to google for. Darn. grendel|khan 01:05, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Broadband Servers

I could do with some help if anybody could help me I've only just started looking into braodband and I was wondering are there buildings out there with servers housed in them where the internet, for broadband users,is distributed like a network? If anybody has any ideas about Broadband and any information relating to the networks used etc could you please email me with any information and/or links to websites where such information can be accessed.

Gratefully yours

Aaron Hardman

(email address is removed for your protection, please read the instructions at the top of the page)

I/O

What is the significance of on-off switches (such as those on computers) being labeled "I" for one option and "O" for another? In the disambig for I/O, the only computer-related topic was "input-output," so I don't think this is it. JianLi 16:12, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

It is more likely one and zero - numbers, not letters. In electronic logic and computing, 1 tends to mean On and 0 tends to mean Off. --Kainaw ^(talk) 16:57, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

I just remembered a conversation a long time ago where a person thought it was strange that the letters I and O were used. The reasoning is that in German, on and off begin with I and O. It was pointed out that the common words for On and Off in German computer-speak do not begin with I and O. I don't know German, so I don't remember what they were. However, it was later suggested that + and - be used. But, you'd end up with Chinese wondering why the number 10 means On and the number 1 means off. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:47, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, that makes sense. And the part about the + and - in Chinese is interesting :) JianLi 01:18, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

German for On is Ein and German for Off is Aus. JIP | Talk 10:51, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

I can't recall where I read it, but I believe they are meant to be a vertical line and a circle, not 1 and 0 nor I and O. I think it was in some standards publication in the UK. -- SGBailey 22:54, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

What I usually see now is either a back-and-forth switch with 0 and - or 0 and |, or in the case of an in-and-out switch, a circle with a hole in the top and a line coming out, a little like a rotated Q. Black Carrot 22:05, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

I always thought it was a logical diagram. O is open, therefore off. I is a straight line, therefore closed. I may even have the arrangement backwards, that's what I always assumed, though. kalemika

ftp browsers

Why can my firefox log on to ftp://ftp.wayne.edu/pub/gnu/ anonymously but my ie gets a login screen and I can't get on?

Because IE FTP Handling is far from great? Benbread 22:50, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

It works for me using IE 6.0. --Gerry Ashton 22:59, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Try using the login "anonymous" and any random junk as the password (which is what Firefox is doing behind the scenes; IIRC it uses "mozilla@" as the password, because some servers require a specific password format). --cesarb 23:24, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Fickle Network

I've got a network set up like this:

                                            192.168.1.51    
   192.168.1.1                              192.168.2.2
DSL---ROUTER  ))))))))))))))  ((((((((((((((  CLIENT----PC3 192.168.2.10
      |     |   
      |     |
    PC2     ---PC1
192.168.1.53   192.168.1.52

CLIENT = a linksys WRT54G running with dd-wrt micro in client mode

ROUTER = linksys WRT54G running standard linksys firmware

--- = Ethernet connection

))(( = Wirless connection

Here are the observations:

-all subnets are 255.255.255.0

-PC3 can ping PC1 and PC2, it can open their shared folders

-PC3 can access the internet

-PC1 and PC2 can ping each other and open each other's shared folders

-PC1 and PC2 cannot ping or open PC3's shared folders.

-the command "net view" on PC3 shows only PC3.

My question:

How do I get PC1 and PC2 to access PC3's shared folders and ping PC3?

Thanks.

Let me get this right... You have one router with 2 PCs and a router plugged into it. The 3rd PC is plugged into the extra router. Right? You realize that the router has a firewall in it. You have to explicitly forward the ports on the router to PC3 to see through it. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:35, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

so you're saying if I forward every single port from 192.168.1.1 to 192.168.1.51 PC1+PC2 should be able to see PC3..?

hmm...didn't seem to work..

Close, but not correct. You are thinking about it wrong. The routers are also firewalls. To talk to a computer that is plugged into a firewall, you have to punch a hole through the firewall. So, you punched holes through one router, but the computer is plugged into the other one. How is that supposed to work? You also have another problem - the routers will want to have the same IP address. Are you sure that they are not both trying to use 192.169.1.1? --Kainaw ^(talk) 03:06, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

I just don't get how I can use the internet but I can't contact the router that's giving me the internet...(even though I listed it specifically as the DNS server)

And no, the second router I specifically set to 192.168.1.2 so as not to interfere.

These networks are so damn fickle!! Wjlkgnsfb 06:23, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Lets just assume you ONLY want to get through to port 10 (you don't want for forward EVERY port). You need to forward 192.168.1.1:10 to 192.168.1.2:10. Why? the second rounter is behind the first router's firewall. That is just half the battle. Now, you need to forward 192.168.1.2:10 to PC3:10 (whatever the IP of PC3 is). Why? PC3 is behind the second router's firewall. The will allow someone to go through the main firewall, through the second one, and to the PC. But, you have to remember that you cannot forward a port to more than one IP. So, you cannot forward 192.168.1.1:10 to both the second router and PC1 and PC2 all at the same time. The networks aren't fickle - they are just firewalls. --Kainaw ^(talk) 13:26, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Kainaw provided a great explanation, but incase that doesn't work either, try making PC3 the second routers (CLIENT, was it?) DMZ (this is a configuration that basically says "Forward everything to me, unless a rule specifically says not to"). See DMZ host. Since there's only one computer on it, this shouldn't be a problem and since it doesn't connect to the internet directly, there is no loss in security. I haven't experimented with this alot (don't have two routers), so I could be wrong, but if you do this, then the router will basically act as if it is PC3 (so that if you wanted to make a connection to it you would use the routers address instead of the computers and it would work just like if you made a connection to the computer itself). This should make windows file sharing, and everything else, work just fine. Oskar 22:11, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

making ascii diagrams

How do I get my network diagram (see above question) to show up just like it shows up in the edit mode?

Put a space at the beginning of each line. --LarryMac 19:07, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Or, put <pre> in front of it and </pre> after it. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:33, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Bittorrent Performance

When I use bittorrent I find I get the greatest download speeds (200-500kbps) when I have 5+ torrents going at a time and my max_upload set to below 20kbps (I set it to 10kbps usually). This contradicts what I've read here on wikipedia which says something like downloading is proportional to uploading. My connection (comcast cable) allows about 50kbps up if I don't throttle but then my download seems to hover around 100kbps. Am I a fluke? Is there metadata consuming bandwidth that isn't reported? I use Azureus and BitComet and it happens with both. - Peregrinefisher 03:17, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

I've noticed this as well. My guess would be that there's a significant amount of bandwidth used keeping track of the other peers -- just a guess. I have an upload speed of 24kB/sec, and if I cap my upload to 10kB/sec I get significantly faster speeds than if I use 18 or 20. Taiq 12:56, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

I used to see this effect when I had a cable modem; I don't see it on ADSL. My guess was that there were collisions in incoming vs outgoing packets and that reduced bandwidth. At some point there is a sweet spot: enough upload to keep peers happy, not too much to get excessive collisions. Weregerbil 13:15, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

This happens because the uplink is used not only for the upload packets, but also for the acknowledge packets from the TCP connections being used for downloading. If you use too much of your bandwidth for uploading, some of the ACK packets are lost or delayed, leading to spurious transmissions from the other side (which wastes bandwidth), and most importantly leading the congestion avoidance algorithms to think there's congestion on your link (and thus reduce the transmission speed, hoping to clear the congestion). One solution is to reduce the upload bandwidth to a point where the router queues are mostly empty; another solution is to prioritize ACK packets over data packets (however, this can be done only in the router immediately before the bottleneck, using something like wondershaper; if you don't control that router, you can artificially introduce a bottleneck on a machine you control and do the prioritizing there). --cesarb 23:19, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

August 12

FAT32 partitions in windows

I have one 200gb hard drive divided into two (equal) partitions. The whole lot is NTFS but I need a FAT32 partition so that both Linux and Windows can use the drive. The standard windows formatting tool doesn't give the option for FAT32 in the dropdown list, only NTFS. I assume that this is because the drive is too large for that (although I'm not sure). So anyway, my question is: Is it possible to turn drive D into a collection of Fat32 partitions (3 or 4) without erasing Drive C? (as I don't have 100gb of external storage at my fingertips :D) Thanks in advance. --Michael Billington (talk • contribs) 05:28, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

After some googling, I found this, so you may disregard the above. Michael Billington (talk • contribs) 05:47, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Windows artificially limits the size of FAT32 it formats to 32 GB (see File Allocation Table), but has no problems using larger partitions. You can format under Linux, for example, to get the result you wanted without any resizing. —da Pete (ばか) 10:21, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

You know, rather than formatting that partition to FAT32, a possibility is to format it to ext2/ext3 and installing a program such as this to gain the ability to read and write those formats in Windows XP. Just a thought, it's what I decided to do when I had a dual-boot XP Media Center Edition and Ubuntu. --Cduffner 06:03, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Cduffner, that one worked great. FAT32 is IMHO quite outdated, so I'm glad there's a way to use ext2/3 under windows. Thanks again! Michael Billington (talk • contribs) 04:25, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

PC system requirements.

I'd like to play Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on my PC. I meet all the system requirements except for video card -- it requires a 64MB (minimum) or 128MB (recommended) VRAM card. Mine is 32MB -- a GeForce 4 MX420. How would this affect my enjoyment of the game?

The video card is responsible for the rendering of the graphics and plays a vital part in gaming. With only 32MB, the game will slow down and stutter badly, even on minimal settings. Having played Vice City, I know the importance of a smooth playing experience. When on the run, one stutter can mean the difference between escaping or being busted. Upgrade that video card before anything else. Harryboyles 07:07, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

San Andreas isn't one of the most highly-demanding games in terms of graphics, but your card will definitely be at the lower end of playable. I think you might just be able to get away with it if you don't mind turning everything down and suffering with succotash stuttering. But I'd agree with Harryboyles: upgrading your graphics card will make a world of difference, and a card that's perfect for San Andreas won't cost much these days. Sum0 19:58, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Indeed. Upgrade. --Proficient 16:26, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Strange problem with Java servlets

I am running a Java servlet in a Tomcat servlet container. The servlet creates a new thread in its init method with new Thread(runnable) and adds it into a statically defined list. Then I have added code to print out every Thread object in that list. I have reloaded the servlet several times without stopping the servlet container. However, the number of Thread objects in the list is always 1. Shouldn't it increase by 1 every time? new Thread always creates a new object, doesn't it? And as long as I don't stop the servlet container, and therefore the virtual machine, the statically defined list should remain there. What is happening here? Could it be that the servlet container uses some fancy custom classloader to load the servlet class, causing the statically defined list to be recreated every time? JIP | Talk 09:58, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

If you have the "static Thread list[];" in the servlet class then that list gets set to null each time you reload the servlet. To prevent that, put the list in another class and have the system class loader load that class (== put it into a library jar). Usually it is best not to have fields in servlets (ei edes staattisia kenttiä); put "business code" in other classes for better reusability, testability, maintainability, ... I recommend http://forum.java.sun.com/ for Java questions; you'll probably find more people with knowledge in Java there. Weregerbil 13:04, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, servlet containers use fancy classloaders. Several of them. See [3] for an explanation on how it's done on Tomcat 5.0, for instance. --cesarb 23:05, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't think, however, that the classloaders help - as that article notes "Classes which are part of the JRE base classes cannot be overriden." I think that's either (or both?) a function of some special code in java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass() and JAR sealing of the core packages. But the fact remains that servlets which do instanciate threads infact get ones from the servlet container's threadpool (and not straight from the OS), as JIP observes. It's been a long time since I read that part of the code, but I don't remember a plugin interface (like awt's Toolkit or net's socketfactory) in the implementation of java.lang.Thread. They're doing something clever, but I don't think we've quite gotten to the bottom of how yet. I'll read the code tomorrow, if I have time. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:29, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Old Games Running Slowly On New Computer

I've been running an old (Resident Evil 2) game on my relatively new computer (3200 AMD 64-bit, 128Mb 6600GT Graphics) yet when I am moving through water or fog, the game slows down ridiculously. Also, when I'm moving from one room to another, the loading times are so slow. I think it takes up all my CPU cycles as well. How could it be that a game designed for a much inferior machine would run so slowly on a better machine? --130.161.135.32 11:37, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Hi.. what is your ram ??? if you got low ram that might be the reason why the game is slow.

nah, even with something low like 256 mb RAM it wouldn't matter with a dedicated 128 mb graphics card.Wjlkgnsfb 15:54, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure RE2 much cares about a 128 MB graphics card, have you seen the system requirements? 32 MB RAM recommended, 166 Mhz Pentium, 2x CD-ROM, etc. Here are some suggestions about running RE2 on a modern computer, including using the 1.04 patch and running it in Windows95 compatibility mode. digfarenough (talk) 17:46, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

I think it's a safe assumption that a 3200 processor and 128 Mb graphics card are going to be paired up with more than 32 Mb RAM! I've got 2 Gb of RAM. Thanks for the link :) --130.161.182.112 12:10, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Nowadays people switch to higher quality RAM and 256 MB GPU for better gaming experiences. Perhaps setting the priority higher will allow you to achive optimal results. --Proficient 16:27, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Randomize seed, time

In the original BASIC there was a Randomize Timer command, what's the command to randomize the seed in visual basic?

It appears to be simply Randomize; I assume that it randomizes based on the current value of the internal clock, as "Randomize Timer" did in the past. grendel|khan 00:52, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

hmm, yeah, guess it's just "Randomize". Odd that it doesn't turn blue in the VB editor.. Wjlkgnsfb 06:21, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Installing Windows

Trying to reinstall Windows and I got an invalid product key error. I haven't installed this copy of windows on any other computer...why would this happen?

Now my laptop's out of commission! Wjlkgnsfb 22:30, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Microsoft's website says that this can happen if your copy of Windows XP SP2 isn't genuine. If it's Windows 98 or 95, this page says that this error happens if the installation CD is damaged or if you're running anti-virus software. The pages I've linked to have instructions on dealing with this error, although if it was XP, their instructions are more or less "ask the reseller if the copy of Windows is genuine, or just buy a new copy" -- not much help. If it was 98 or 95, though, they've got some more useful instructions. Hope this helps! --Cadaeib (talk) 00:36, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

yes, that does help! THanks a lot. Wjlkgnsfb 06:19, 13 August 2006 (UTC) 06:18, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Many times there are key generators and such on the internet, not that I am recommending this. But you can call Microsoft and explain. They will give you a new key, likely. --Proficient 16:29, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

You can try obtaining an OEM copy of Windows. They are CDs distributed by computer manufacturers that are intended to reinstall Windows incase anything happens to the original installation. Often times they are not tethered by software keys and encryption. I have one from Dell. --Russoc4 20:31, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

August 13

DHCP failure.

I'm using a Linksys BEFW11S4 wireless router, and DHCP is failing, despite the router's insistence that it's running a DHCP server. Here's what I get when I do a sudo dhclient eth2.

DHCPREQUEST on eth2 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPNAK from 192.168.1.1
DHCPDISCOVER on eth2 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
DHCPOFFER from 192.168.1.1
DHCPREQUEST on eth2 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPNAK from 192.168.1.1
DHCPREQUEST on eth2 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPNAK from 192.168.1.1
DHCPDISCOVER on eth2 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7
DHCPOFFER from 192.168.1.1
DHCPREQUEST on eth2 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPNAK from 192.168.1.1
DHCPREQUEST on eth2 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPNAK from 192.168.1.1

And it repeats the pattern until I CTRL-C it.

Everything works fine if I assign myself an IP address, but this is, of course, not an optimal solution. Is there something obvious that I'm forgetting? I've tried to get an IP from several clients, but all of them exhibit the same issue of waiting for a DHCP lease and not getting one. (The Windows and Mac OSX hosts just kind of sit there, but I assume they're doing this. I can try to sniff packets with ethereal if it's really in doubt.) Reloading the router's default settings made no change; there's been no configuration change since the router was installed a year or more ago. grendel|khan 00:45, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

this is similar to what's happening to me on my fickle network (see above question). I have to assign static IP's or else I just get the shitty limited or no connectivity and a weird IP/subnet.

But, I assume your rotuer is 192.168.1.1?? So why is your router try to access what appears to be a subnet, 255.255.255.255 Wjlkgnsfb 06:27, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Since a client has no IP address to speak of when it tries to get an IP address from a DHCP server, it has to broadcast over the network, that is, 255.255.255.255. DHCP communication is done this way until a client obtains an IP address. Splintercellguy 07:09, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

It's not the DHCP that's failing, it's the whole router. The BEFW11S4 series, regardless of stepping, has a fatal design flaw/bug, that kills them after a few hours of operation, by messing up the routing tables, and eventually disabling the router completely, hastened by lots of traffic. Linksys knows about the bug, but will not release a fix for it, even in their latest firmware. The worst is that this class is incompatible with most known third-party firmwares, so the only fix is throwing it away. ThunderBird (talk) 10:32, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

PCI 2.2/2.3

I've been looking at the Linksys WMP54G which I believe to be either PCI 2.2 or 2.3. Can this be used with a conventional 32 bit PCI slot as shown here? --Kiltman67 02:54, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

The datasheet says it's a 32-bit card. So, as long as both the slot and the card support the same voltage (either 3.3V or 5V), it'll work (IIRC having two notches means it's a "universal" card which works on both voltages, but I'm not sure). AFAIK, most PCs use 3.3V for the slots. And do not worry about the bus frequency (33MHz or 66MHz); it's autodetected, and the whole bus is slowed down to 33MHz if needed. --cesarb 03:59, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

I wasn't sure what to make of the two notches. The PCI slots in my PC only have one line for the notch to go over and I'm not sure if you need to have exactly the same number of notches and lines. --Kiltman67 04:37, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

You don't. It was designed so that, as long as it fits, it's supposed to work. If the card has two notches and the slot has only one, it'll fit. Which of the two notches your motherboard's slot has IIRC determines which voltage it uses. --cesarb 15:51, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Prince symbol in Unicode?

Has there been any proposal to include in Unicode? NeonMerlin 05:20, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Such a proposal would not be accepted. "Note, however, that the Unicode Standard does not encode idiosyncratic, personal, novel, or private-use characters, nor does it encode logos or graphics." [4] --cesarb 16:17, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

X on Java

Hello,

I'm looking for an X server that runs on Java, licensed under BSD-like terms (such as Apache License 2.0). I've already seen WeirdX and WiredX, but neither is licensed under BSD-like terms. Any help? Kudos to all.

Jdstroy 06:23, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Mosaic browser

Does UIUC get money for each copy of internet explorer and netscape that is sold? (click on help-> about on IE, apparently spyglass is somehow related to UIUC) -Wjlkgnsfb 06:48, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Considering that IE and Netscape are both completely free, no. --mboverload@ 11:03, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

??? It isn't free to make them...there's a certain cost Microsoft has to distribute each version of IE for free. Wjlkgnsfb 18:04, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

What cost? --mboverload@ 23:07, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

It's a tangled history, with the original NCSA browser called Mosaic, and Spyglass producing a commercial browser also called Mosaic, but our article indicates that "Spyglass licensed the technology and trademarks from NCSA for producing their own web browser but never used any of the NCSA Mosaic source code. Spyglass Mosaic was later licensed by Microsoft, and it was modified and renamed Internet Explorer. " Also, the original Netscape browser is said not to have shared any code with the NCSA program.

Your original question asked if UIUC received money for each copy of IE or Netscape that is sold. Since neither one is sold as a standalone product, then I'd say mboverload's answer must stand -- "no." --LarryMac 18:22, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

I believe there was a lawsuit between MSFT and Spyglass sometime in the mid to late '90's asking for an account of how cash MSFT had made off of IE. MSFT said there wasn't any money because it was free. This suit was later settled. As for Netscape, I seemed to remember I read a book called Overdrive by James Wallace that lays out the story about how Spyglass got upset that Netscape's (then Mosaic's) browser was so similar to theirs. They felt Mosaic, later Netscape was getting away making a browser based on Mosaic without having to pay Spyglass/NCSA/UIUC. There was a settlement in which Mosaic changed the company name to Netscape and that Netscape could use Mosaic's technology without paying Spyglass/NSCA/UIUC. The whole story is in p. 199-201 of Overdrive (ISBN 0471291064). So, in way, Spyglass and UIUC did get paid. - Thanks, Hoshie | 18:51, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Actually, if none are sold, then the statement is vacuously true. It is not true that there is a copy sold for which UIUC did not get money, so (equivalently) they got money for every copy sold. --Tardis 20:32, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

y'all are being too logical about these questions (shoulda figured in a "computing" section) ;) ! You know what I was getting at...Thanks for the info, though. Wjlkgnsfb 22:21, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Computer technological advance slowing down

Why is it that it seems that computers, especially microprocessors, are stuck in their speed race? Eight years ago it was so much faster... Have they reached some kind of technological limit or what? Thanks.

I think that there is a move, with microprocessors especially, from just faster processors, to more processors (dual-core). You have to take into account the physical energy required for faster processors. Some of this is lost as heat, and too much heat can damage the processor. Harryboyles 10:15, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

We have long known that new technology would be required to perpetuate Moore's Law. A number of physics limits are looming. For example, increases in switching speeds can mean increases in power consumption and in heat dissipation requirements. The physical size of atoms and molecules eventually intrudes. Components packed too closely are more vulnerable to various problems. Deposition masks using visible light cannot have details smaller than the wavelengths allow, so we must adopt alternatives. And when we can get no further doing "more of the same", we have to spend the time (and money) to research and develop and build facilities and assure quality and yields for the replacement technology.

It's interesting to compare recent progress in general-purpose CPUs with the GPUs used for graphics cards. Development of the latter has been considerably faster. --KSmrq^T 11:49, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Heat is becoming a major factor. Also, CPUs are now becoming more efficient. It's not only speed that matters. You can't measure a processor's power on the Gigahertz rate only. You must also look at the level 2 caches and such. There are many other factors. Take a look at how much hard drive disk space has come down in price, and look at RAM. RAM has increased very little in the years. --Proficient 16:31, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Broken digital camera.

I have a Pentax Optio S digital camera. After lending it to someone, I find that (a) the camera will not turn on; even with a fully-charged battery. When I attempt to turn it on, the power light lights up for 3-5 seconds and then turns off. (b) the lens is twisted slightly; the text on the zoom lens reading "Pentax Optio S" is now tilted to the left, as if the circular parts have been rotated. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong?

If something's been twisted, it might be failing an internal diagnostic. Trying to make its moving parts move might cause further damage. I'm just guessing here, but I think I can be fairly certain that this can't be fixed by you, and that you'll need to take it to a camera shop and/or see about sending it to Pentax to get it repaired, if you think it's worth it. Whoever it is that you've lent it to should probably help you out, there. grendel|khan 13:40, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Certainly the person who lent it to you will help you pay for damages arising. --Proficient 16:32, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

The person is my fourteen-year-old daughter, so this seems unlikely. Thanks all the same.

mIRC help.

I can connect to various networks and join channels just fine. But on efnet, trying to /join #help results in the error: #help Nick/channel is temporarily unavailable. I'd normally ask for help in #Help...

Maybe their #help channel is down? It seems pretty obvious to me. Does joining #help on other servers work? Wizrdwarts (T|C|E) 20:25, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

That's odd...

My current IP 71.247.125.144 (talk · contribs) (changes every few weeks), shows me making a change to wikipedia on 18 May 2006, I didn't even have Verizon in May, how is that possible?--71.247.125.144 15:07, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

More than likely the last person to have that IP (or person before them etc.) made a change. --Kiltman67 15:35, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Indeed. Multiple people can have the same IP at times differing in history. --Proficient 16:33, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

That is why you want to create an account. It is easy and free. --Kainaw ^(talk) 18:57, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Having an account doesn't help. You still get blocked, even though your account has never been used for vandalism, just because the I/P you currently have was once used by a vandal. This happens to me all the time. StuRat 01:32, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

That's if the IP address is blocked. However, now it is possible for admins to block only the IP address, not any registerd users using the IP address. It depends on the individual IP address and the blocking admin. I'd agree with Kainaw. Creating an account is easy and there are many benefits, especially if you are going to become a regular editor. There's a higher percentage chance of being able to edit with a user account, as other users have a better chance of solving the problem. Harryboyles 14:00, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

We have to convince the admins to stop using the old, stupid method. StuRat 19:56, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Windows File Handles

Something I've never been able to find out about but has bothered me for quite some time is how to look up, given a file, what processes own mutex locks on that file. As near as I can make out, Windows (or at least Windows XP) calls mutex locks file handles, hence the name of this post.

The reason I care is that I extremely fed up with trying to delete or modify a file only to discover that I don't have write access to it, even when root (administrator). When I try to delete or modify, I simply get a message that access is denied; I'm not even told whether it's an ownership issue or a locking issue, but as I'm administrator, I assume it must be locking. I realise rebooting into safe mode would almost certainly let me get around the issue, but I'd rather find some sort of more elegant solution - at least one which doesn't require a reboot.

I figure if I can find out what process owns the extant handle, I can kill the process, which should dissolve the handle, letting me delete or modify to my heart's content.

Anyone have any thoughts?

-- Rick Weinberger

According to our File locking article, you can "force close" the file locks using Process Explorer. I can't say I've tried it myself. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 16:07, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

I downloaded it, and it can indeed force close file locks, and you can look up locks by file name. This is exactly what I was hoping for, thank you. I'm sorry it didn't occur to me to check the file locking article myself; I only looked up windows file handles (and was unsuccessful). Thanks for the help. -- Rick Weinberger

Audio storage streaming thingamajig

Here's a rather un-emphazi'd question, but i'll try my best to explain. My uncle has a music device that stores music (I think about 250GBs worth) which you can plug into your home cinema system, stream to the web etc. Only problem is i've had very little luck finding one, probably because i have the name completely wrong. What's the name of one of these, and do you know any good ones? Thanks Benbread 16:16, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

    250 GB seems like a lot.  Are you sure about that number?

The Roku Soundbridge has some of those features, but it relies on your PC for actual storage. --LarryMac 19:06, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

And this review of the Sonos Digital Music System mentions, near the end, the idea of hooking it up to a Network Storage device such as the 250GB Buffalo Link Station. No streaming TO the web though. --LarryMac 19:31, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

August 14

Bittorrent Video Problems

Say someone has successfully downloaded several movies through Bittorrent. Say this someone opened them through Winamp and the audio is flawless. However, this persons problem is that there is no video. What might this person(who is not me) be doing wrong? Thanks.

Well, that someone should stop using winamp immediatly and start using vlc media player. You never, ever, have to worry about file formats and codecs again! Incase that doesn't work (which is VERY unlikely), in vlc press View->Stream and Media Info... to get the media info and google the codecs and see what you can find. Tell us how it goes for that special someone. Also, as an aside, VLC is by far the best media player out there, not only does it play everything natively, it's also the player with by far the most options and things. You can, for instance, manually delay the audio by a given amount so that videos with audio and video out of synch can be fixed! It's really quite extraordinary. Oskar 06:20, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Concur.

Photoshop

I have a hypothetical question for everyone. Let's say that I hypothetically downloaded Photoshop from BitTorrent. Now, let's also hypothetically say that I unzipped it and now am trying to activate it. Let's say that I hypothetically don't really know how to use the keygen. Could anyone offer me some hypothetical solutions? (the keygen is hypothetically done by PARADOX, if it matters.) Thanks for your help on this hypothetical question I have been speculating. --71.98.25.194 05:11, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Well, at a complete, unfounded guess, (hypothetically) you'd want to choose to activate photoshop by phone, you'll then be given a serial number. (Hypothetically) put this into the keygen and you might be given an activation code.

Now that doesn't sound like a very good (hypothetical) answer, i wouldn't activate by phone unless you're currently not on name terms with some very important biological features (eh..?). Does this (hypothetical) copy of photoshop contain any information on performing such an act? (hypothetically of course...) Benbread 10:27, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Hypothetically you should figure it out yourself. It's hypothetically the least you could do since you downloaded it for free instead of working almost a whole week's pay to buy it. =D But that's just me. The activate by phone is the key. --mboverload@ 10:31, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Jeez, couldn't he have just said that his friend Joey Joe Joe Junior Shabadoo had a problem with his pirated edition of Photoshop? Hypothetically? --Sam Blanning^(talk) 14:59, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

What if (hypothetically) some guys (hypothetically) have bad attitudes and (hypothetically) put spyware infected copies of Photoshop on BitTorrent so wannabe pirates can (hypothetically) download and try to (hypothetically) install the software? In the end you (hypothetically) get an infected computer and a message that says Gimp is free. --Kainaw ^(talk) 15:24, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure if such a hypothetical situation is likely to happen, as users downloading said hypothetical copy would be unlikely to continue seeding the file after they're told to use GIMP. Though in such a hypothetical world, who knows. Benbread 19:25, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Unless they hypothetically liked GIMP better then the copy of photoshop that they hypothetically aquired and wanted to spread the word? I know of several hypothetical situations where files were hypothetically seeded just for that purpose. --Markwalling 21:50, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

DVD Decrypter

I am in the process of backing up a DVD that I own using DVD Shrink 3.2 and DVD Decrypter. I already created my ISO file in DVD Shrink, however when I go to burn this to a DVD-RW, it gives me this error message:

"Failed to Write Sectors 0 - 31 - Cannot Format Medium - Unsupported Medium Write Speed"

I attempt to write the DVD at 2x, the speed that the program itself claims is the maximum speed possible. My drive is the TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-H552D. I should add that when I retry burning without first ejecting and then re-inserting the disc, I also receive this error message:

"Failed to Reserve Track! - No More Track Reservations Allowed"

If this helps, here is the information DVD Decoder displays for my drive/disc.

TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-H552D GA01 (ATA) Current Profile: DVD-RW

Disc Information: Status: Empty Erasable: Yes Free Sectors: 2,285,849 Free Space: 4,681,418,752 bytes Free Time: 507:59:74 (MM:SS:FF) Supported Write Speeds: 2x

Pre-recorded Information: Manufacturer ID: MCC 00RW11N9

Physical Format Information (Last Recorded): Book Type: DVD-RW Part Version: 2 Disc Size: 120mm Maximum Read Rate: Not Specified Number of Layers: 1 Track Path: Parallel Track Path (PTP) Linear Density: 0.267 um/bit Track Density: 0.74 um/track First Physical Sector of Data Area: 196,608 Last Physical Sector of Data Area: 0 Last Physical Sector in Layer 0: 0

Thank you in advance for any help or advice you can give me.

--Cduffner 05:56, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Try:

• write slower
• change to a different brand of media
• write the ISO with a different program (e.g. CDburnerXP)

-- Finlay McWalter | Talk 14:21, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, it might possibly be the media, because from what I remember it's pretty old. It doesn't even show a maximum write speed on the disc. I already tried to write slower (all the way down to 1x) and I also attempted to burn the ISO with Power2Go and CDburnerXP. Anyone have any other suggestions? --Cduffner 20:09, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Have you verified that you can write to a DVD-RW with that drive, without trying to burn that particular ISO? --LarryMac 20:34, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Hmm.. when I go to open up that drive in My Computer (with the DVD-RW in it), it asks me what program I want to use to open it rather than just displaying its (empty) contents in the explorer window. I wonder what could be going on? --Cduffner 05:21, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Try using DVD Region+CSS Free along side your DVD Shrimk. I Do and never have any Problems

Torrent help

Hi.... can anyone help me with this problem i have Azureus and i have been using it for a long time now i have encountered a problem. When i start Azureus i get a error saying Azureus did not close tidily hence a error has Occurred so i reinstalled the software and the problem still Occurred and the software crashes, can any one help. Thanks in advance

Have you tried uninstalling Azureus and then re-installing it? — QuantumEleven 18:19, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Widescreen monitors

I'm upgrading my computer (building it from components for the first time, so prepare for further questions when it actually arrives and I get my screwdrivers out), and I've ordered a flat 22" widescreen monitor. How do resolutions work with these? Does everything work as normal, only stretched out, or does everything need to be set to display at special resolutions to look right? My greatest fear is ending up with ugly black strips at either side of the screen if I have to use a normal resolution. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 14:57, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Widescreen monitors just use resolutions with a different ratio than the usual 4:3 used by "normal" monitors. Things shouldn't be stretched (unless you force a weird resolution, maybe) and there should be no black bars (unless there's an option to use them), you should just have a bit more screen real estate on the sides. digfarenough (talk) 16:01, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

This is entirely true for an OS's desktop and programs that run in it (they're not silly enough to hardwire their software for any given resoltion or ratio) and I think for modern games too. But older games do hardwire a specific resolution, and in those cases I think you'll get black bars. I'd be interested to know how Quake and (more likely) GLQuake fare on a widescreen monitor. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 16:15, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, that's reassuring. Come to think of it, most monitors allow you to stretch the horizontal width anyway. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 17:47, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Analog monitors (CRTs) can do that easily - changing the width is just changing the voltage range through which a signal oscillates. A digital (discrete element) display like an LCD can't do that - to widen or narrow an image a full bit-wise image scale operation has to be performed - and as that scaling (if it were done) would likely be done inside the monitor, it'd be unaliased and vile. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 22:00, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

who owns 220.227.238.169 :80

Every week or every 10 days or so, my computer receives data from the IP address 220.227.238.169 . Can you say who owns that IP address? Is it Microsoft or someone else? Is it legal for someone other than microsoft to install programs which download data continuously every while like this? What can I do to stop this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 220.226.71.11 (talk • contribs) .

According to this page, "220.227.238.169 resolved to deploy.akamaitechnologies.com". Akamai is an internet caching service (among other things). More information can be found from the links in our article. I'll leave the other questions to somebody with more information. --LarryMac 17:47, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

(EDIT CONFLICT) WHOIS information shows that IP is registered to Akamai Technologies, the server physically in Mumbai (the :80 is just a port number). If you do not have any business with Akamai, then that connection may be suspicious. However, your IP address, the very similar 220.226.71.11, shows similar information. I would conjecture that the connection is related somehow to your internet connection. I'd email your ISP's helpdesk, if you are concerned. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 17:49, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

I like the description on the questioner's IP whois: "RELIANCE-Wireless-Dialup-PDSN-Users-Internet-Connectivity-DHCP-Pools-for-South-and-East-Region-for-4-million-customers" --Kainaw ^(talk) 18:52, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

I belive MS uses akamai sometimes when its own servers can't cope, especially in the case of denail of service attacks. Since akamai are a primerally caching provider who try to place content as close as possible to the users the fact the server is physically local (probablly the IP is similar because its from the same upstream as his isp) isn't a surprise either. Plugwash 16:46, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

You think Microsoft should be allowed to do it? —Bromskloss 08:28, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

cutting a song

Hi guys, is there any way I can cut a song to have only the chorus? so that it lasts for like... 20 seconds max.? I don't have any profesional software though, so is there any simple way?. thank you.--Cosmic girl 17:36, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

You could always convert the song to a wav file and edit it using Sound Recorder, presuming you're using Windows. Then convert it back to MP3. --Kiltman67 18:42, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

There's a program called Audacity which is Freeware and very good for this sort of thing. I don't know the website though, so you'll have to Google it. Joe 042293 19:58, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

The homepage is listed on the Wikipedia article that you linked. --LarryMac 20:31, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ --Russoc4 20:40, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

thank you!! XD... can any of u explain to me how can I turn a song into a 'wav' file? and, by doing so, do I reduce the size considerably?. --Cosmic girl 21:04, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

To answer your second question, No, in fact it gets considerably larger instead. --Kiltman67 21:19, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

To answer the first, in Audacity, load up the file you want and click on File > Export as .WAV. Simple! Sum0 22:06, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Thank u!:) --Cosmic girl 01:55, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

For smallness you probably want mp3 or ogg, and in a low bitrate. The bitrate is pretty much equal to the quality of sound. — [Mac Davis] (talk)

Can computer monitors display television signals?

Is there any hardware setup that would allow a computer monitor to display a television signal from a standard indoor aerial? As my monitor is going to be so much bigger than my current television, and I'll be living in one room, it would be nice to watch TV on it. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 17:49, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

There are several TV tuner cards available for PCs, as well as standalone boxes that will convert a TV signal to one that is displayable on a monitor. Try this Google search, for example. (Also, please use the "Ask A Question" link at the top of the page to add a question). --LarryMac 18:02, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. What was wrong with the way I did it? Edit conflicts? --Sam Blanning^(talk) 18:58, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Nothing major, but on my watchlist page, it showed that there had been an update to the previous section. You did provide an edit summary though, so that made it slightly less confusing. And hey, at least you didn't edit the whole page :-) --LarryMac 19:02, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Some monitors also come with analog TV decoders (or, depending on your perspective, some TVs have VGA/DVI connectors too). I've yet to see anything sold as a monitor which also has a DVB decoder (although of course one does get DVB decoders for PCs et al). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 22:22, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Ok, looking at this site (where I'm buying my parts), I'm surprised at how cheap these things are. For only £5 more than I'd pay to get my TV to receive Freeview (the no-monthly-subscription digital satellite service in the UK), apparently I can get a card that receives Freeview digital satellite and records programmes as well (whereas cheap Freeview set-top boxes obviously don't record anything). Seems almost too good to be true. --Sam Blanning^(talk) 23:11, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

(Come to think of it, I won't actually have access to a Freeview-enabled internal aerial to plug into the thing, but it would still be nice to be able to record stuff on terrestrial.) --Sam Blanning^(talk) 00:02, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

(And a quick look on Argos shows that my indoor aerial might actually receive Freeview, or if it doesn't I can get one that does. I'm going to stop progressively demonstrating my own ignorance to myself now and go to bed.) --Sam Blanning^(talk) 00:07, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

It sounds like you want to watch TV without having to use the computer, right? Actually, it is not completely impossible extend a computer monitor (with analogue input) to become an analogue TV, but you might have to build the things yourself and it's probably not worth it. You draw a picture on a cathode ray tube by sweeping the electron beam horizontally (fast) and vertically (slow) while varying the beam intensity. Computer monitors do the sweeping internally and you only give synch pulses to let it know when to start a new horizontal or vertical sweep. The pinout of a VGA connector reflects this. The analogue TV signal was designed so that making a reciever should be as simple as possible. Therefore, it consists of pulses that tells the reciever when to start new sweeps. Between those pulses, the signal tells you how intense the electron beam should be.

What I have described is true for grayscale TV. When full colour TV became available, a new signal standard had to be invented. It was made so that feeding a colour signal to a grayscale TV (completely unaware of other colours) yields the corresponding grayscale image! Also, feeding a grayscale signal to a colour TV yields the grayscale image (I think). Actually, the extension to colours was done in different, incompatible, ways in different parts of the world. Of course, you would have to build a radio reciever to extract the video (and audio) signal in the first place, so, again, it's probably not worth it. —Bromskloss 09:11, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Formatting an External Harddrive

I have an external USB hard drive. It is currently in NTFS, but I want to format it in FAT32 so that I can use it with my Linux dual boot. Windows XP doesn't let you format it into anything but NTFS and I'm a Linux noob running Ubuntu. I tried GParted, but it doesn't seem to be able to manage externals. Any help? --Russoc4 20:26, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

This doesn't answer your question, but have you checked you can boot with your external hard drive on? Nevermind booting from it. I know my one (one of Western Digitals) won't boot if the hard drive is switched on. --Kiltman67 20:44, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Since most "external hard drives" are just internal hard drives with a case, you can just remove the case, plug it in as an internal hard drive, format it however you want, then remove it and put the case back on. Not always the easiest way, but at least it works in a pinch. StuRat 00:10, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

What problem does gparted have? the drive will probablly appear as a scsi drive btw due to the way linux handles USB mass storage.

BTW my soloution to setting up an external hard drive with fat32 was to use fdisk and format on a win98 box. Plugwash 16:56, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

I partitioned a USB external Maxtor hard disk into several NTFS and ext3 partitions perfectly with GParted. Maybe you haven't noticed how you can select between different hard disks in GParted? Near the top-right corner, there is a drop-down menu allowing you to select a different hard disk. -- Daverocks (talk) 06:49, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

cfdisk in Linux is pretty good, although I don't know how the external disk would be named - internal disks are named /dev/hda, /dev/hdb etc. If you can work out what Linux calls the external disk then 'cfdisk /disk/name' will probably work. Rentwa 20:20, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

Transferring files from computer to computer

Is there any way to transfer files from one computer to another without using the Internet or data storage media, like through a cord? --Impaciente 23:33, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Well back in the olden days we used to use a null modem cable, but I'm not sure if they're still around. Oh, previewed and the wikilink isn't redlined, I guess they are still around lol. Actually come to think of it though, you should be able to network the two computers without too much trouble. All the Window$ OSs since Win95 support master/slave networking without extra software, and I'm sure Linux etc do too. Or, come to think of it, after three edit conflicts, lol, you can just install the hard drive from one into the other and do the file transfer thru the OS's copy feature. Anchoress 23:43, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

1. Buy a hub (50 USD)

2. Buy two Ethernet cards (2 x 10 USD)

3. Buy two Cat-5 cables (2 x 10 USD)

4. hook them all together. Go through the XP networking wizard.

5. right click on the folder you want to share and turn file sharing on.

6. with PC that has shared files, go to start->all programs-> accessories->command prompt

7. type in ipconfig

8. On PC that you want to transfer to, open IE.

9. Type in \\w.x.y.z where w.x.y.z is the IP address of the computer with the shared files on it.

10. copy-paste in the files.

Wjlkgnsfb 23:53, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, many ways. I just tried a new USB (on computer A) to USB (on computer B) transfer method, but apparently the cable is bad. Local Area Networks and Wide Area Networks were also in use long before the Internet. And Intranet (notice the difference is spelling) is also an Internet-like interface, but only operates within a specific company. StuRat 00:00, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

I remember reading (when USB first came out) that you need a USB bridge for that to work. Ordinary USB cables won't do it, AFAIK. --Kjoonlee 02:06, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, that's what it was, but it didn't work. Back to the store it goes ! StuRat 19:53, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

You don't necessarily need the hub. —Bromskloss 09:13, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

But if you don't use the hub, you will need a crossover cable to connect the two computers. As I previewed, I noticed this was also covered below, but I am going to leave it up here too. --Markwalling 22:01, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, either a crossover cable or at least one network card that can do the crossing over itself. —Bromskloss 08:42, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Also, if both computers are Bluetooth-capable, you should be able to connect one to the other as a device, and do a file transfer. FireWire is another kind of cable connection which I have used on my Macs. --Canley 01:33, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

1. Print the data out
2. Scan the data in as an image
3. Use OCR to convert it back to the original file format

(Note: may not be the best method.) EdC 02:03, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

1. Buy a serial cable
2. Connect two computers using the serial ports
3. Run a serial transfer program on each of the computers
4. Copy files from one computer to another from the program

• Buy an..
  • Ethernet cable and a cross-coupler
  • Or
  • Ethernet cross-cable

(commonly called an Ethernet crossover cable --WhiteDragon 16:50, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

• • Connect two computers using the Ethernet ports
  • Set up Windows file sharing
  • Access the files from the network

--Kjoonlee 02:08, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

video memory issues

Hello there,

It appears I'm having trouble with my video card. I reported the "symptoms" my PC is suffering from to some (supposedly) knowledgeable friends, they said it probably was a memory or video memory problem. When running World of Warcraft for the first time about a week ago my computer would suddenly black-out and boot.. or sometimes everything would just stop and I had to manually reset it. Then with Tony Hawk's Ug2 it would sometimes stop with the sound from both the game and winamp playing on the background going to a -+2sec loop.

So, I tested my memory with a program I found called memtestx86 or something, and it passed. 11 times.

Now I looked around for a program (for download) that would test my video card memory and have found nothing.

The question I should have asked earlier... Does anyone here know of a program to test video memory?

My card is a ATI RADEON X1600 Pro 256MB (PCI-Express). I bought it about two months ago, but had not (really) put it to test until recently. I have also tried to remove and reinsert it in the PCI-Exp slot.

By the way, another time it crashed was when I ran a benchmarking program, 3D Mark 05.

Thanks in advance. VdSV9•♫ 23:40, 14 August 2006 (UTC) (edited VdSV9•♫ 03:24, 15 August 2006 (UTC))

I would check to make sure you have the latest drivers and all that stuff (that you should probably already know). When you say, "I have tried to remove and reinstert[sic] it too," I assume you mean you reseated it in the expansion slot? It's a good idea. Next, check the heat. ATI has a Catalyst control panel, and it _might_ allow you to underclock it. This _should_ run it at a lower temperature as well, even in 3D mark. If you still get lockups, check the PSU. A card like that is going to need at least a 400W power supply. Actually, if you're still reading, check this first since it's the simplest thing to verify (open the case, look on the side of the PSU). A lot of these new computers come with low-end cards, or even on-board chips, that don't need a lot of power. Buyers get tired of the performance, buy a new video card, but--whoops! Not enough juice from the PSU. As for the heat, if it turns out that that's the problem, make sure you have good circulation in your case. Add another case fan if you need to (presumably you've checked all your other fans to make sure they're still working). Good luck! --Silvaran 03:38, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Try ATITool. It's aimed at overclockers, but it will alert you to rendering artifacts (i.e. errors). Of course, it might just crash like everything else. - mako 05:48, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll try this ATITool thing next. I have been checking the temperature and it's getting close to 70°C, and if that was too hot I'd guess the catalyst control panel would warn me. BTW, all I see there as an option is to overclock it, not underclock it, anyways, it doesn't seem to be overheating anyway.

I just bought the whole thing about two months ago, and the power supply reads something like this:

 | 12V | 5V | 3.3V |
 |   250W+  | 235W+|

later. VdSV9•♫ 12:24, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

btw, now that stop/loop thing doesn't happen anymore when running THUG 2. All I get is crashes, sometimes just the program, sometimes the system (with nasty blue screens and everything). VdSV9•♫

Email Post Dating

How do people send email with a date that's in the future, sometimes days or even years into the future?

Changing the date on the PC that sent the email might work for some email systems. StuRat 00:04, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

The date & time shown in an email are stored in the message headers, as are other details like the subject line and the sender's address. Software that is sending an email can set the headers to any value whatsoever, so a system sending an email could, if it wished, put Date: Mon, 15 Aug 2016 01:33:42 +0100, which would show up as having been sent a decade from now. Of course, most systems use the date & time set on the computer they're running on, but there is no reason why they have to. -- AJR | Talk 00:33, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

I've always meant to write a procmail recipe to spam out future emails. Has anyone already done that? --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:41, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Software sales

How much software is sold yearly in the U.S? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.1.13.142 (talk • contribs) 09:46, August 15, 2006

That depends on whether you mean in dollars or in copies. Harryboyles 06:14, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

August 15

Motherboard drivers

Friend of mine just got a new machine, and the amount of software installed on it was disgraceful. I wiped it, and installed from a subset of the recovery discs (they basically modify the boot files of the Windows install so you can't install without running the entire recovery, but they also include a backup of the modified files).

I'm finding that all the fans in the case power up as the OS is booting and stay powered up until shutdown. I'd be willing to bet it has something to do with missing drivers for the motherboard, but I can't seem to find them.

The computer is an HP Pavilion Media Center TV m7470n Desktop PC (whew). It has an MSI-7184 (or something like that) motherboard with an ATI Express 200. I downloaded a driver pack from MSI, but the only drivers that worked or were installed were the video and SMBus driver.

The only driver HP provides on their site is for the BIOS (which is already up to date on the motherboard), and I can't find appropriate drivers anywhere on the recovery partition. There are also no unknown devices listed in device manager so I can't simply trial-and-error the drivers.

Any ideas? --Silvaran 01:54, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Might be a custom app that talks over the SMBus. If you can't find the original app, SpeedFan is worth a shot. - mako 05:52, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

I found the app quite useful, thanks. I'm thinking it might have something to do with the CPU, and frequency scaling not working properly. I'm going to see if I can find an updated driver or something, but that's my best guess at this point. --Silvaran 23:49, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

With my above assumptions I downloaded the CPU driver direct from AMD, installed it and rebooted. I also grabbed a few monitoring utilities from the site. I ran one of the CPU monitoring utilities before rebooting and noticed the frequency stuck at 2.2GHz per core. As I type I have the SpeedFan util you recommended open, it shows both fans (case and CPU) at 40%, and the temperature is flatlined--it's not creeping upwards over time even though the computer's idle. Problem appears to be solved. Thanks again! --Silvaran 00:05, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

I spoke too soon. With the SpeedFan util running, it was keeping the fan speed at 40% regardless the temperature of the CPU. :( --Silvaran 02:51, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

You'll have to configure SpeedFan (if you haven't already, that is) before it will do anything. It's pretty straightforward. You also mentioned the frequency not changing; if you want to enable Cool 'n' Quiet, install the driver and change the power scheme to "minimal". - mako 05:39, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

java folder

halow

im my blue j softwear my floder isnt opening all the other projects are opening except for this one. i have some very important programs in it.....please help me out!!! thnks tulika

E-mail

Ok i am e-mail a message to several people in my address book. is there a way to send an e-mail to 10 people but the people who read the e-mail only see that it was sent to only them. is this possible

PS i use yahoo e-mail

Put your own email address in the to: line and put the email addresses of the 10 people in the bcc: line (if you don't see it, look around a bit, might be hidden). digfarenough (talk) 17:52, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

If there isn't a BCC line, put the email addresses in brackets in the CC line. —Daniel (‽) 17:57, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

On the Yahoo "Compose Mail" screen, there are links for "Add CC" and "Add BCC" just above the "To" box. --LarryMac 18:37, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

ANSI-Text

The German user http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Nightflyer searches for the German article on ANSI/EIA/TIA-232-F-1997 the text of the standard (free of cost). I know that ANSI is selling the text but there are hundreads or thousands people and institutions in the world which have the text and can give them away free of cost (although copyrighted). Any suggestions beside COPYRIGT PARANOIA? --Historiograf 17:43, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Tell the user to buy it. Fair use does not allow verbatim distribution of the whole. --Kjoonlee 01:55, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Maybe you should ask on the Miscellaneous desk? Doesn't seem much like IT to me. --Kjoonlee 01:56, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Email headers

After reading the response to the email header question above, I have another:

Sometimes I get mail from "myself", assuming this is not a virus/spyware thing (which it's not) is the sender changing the header for his/her address?

Is there any way to find out who's actually sending the message? (not just an IP, but an actual login@xyz.com)

Wjlkgnsfb 22:17, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

If the sender hasn't put his login name in the mail then it can be impossible to figure out. The admin of the sending machine might see it in log files if he can be bothered to look, but even that is easily circumvented. Email sender addresses can be pretty easily forged with a little technical knowledge, only the IP address (or equivalent) of the sending machine remains. Weregerbil 12:39, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Old rogue game

I have a old version of Rogue on a 3 1/2 in floppy that I used to play on my old computer. I played it in Dos. On my new computer I can't seem to get it to work. It's a Sony VAOI with Windows XP Home Edition. Trying to open through the run prompt or the command prompt window I get a message saying that there is no ID address mark on the disk. I know I can just download a new version, but I really like the version I have (1.0 I think) and I don't want to lose the high scores. Any thoughts? --Joelmills 22:18, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Is the disk going bad? Is the floppy drive on the new computer bad? Is the floppy a MS-DOS floppy, or for some other operating system? Have you tried running the game under Dosbox? If the old computer still works, have you considered networking the two together and transferring the files from the floppy to the new computer's hard drive? --Serie 23:02, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

There's a few restored versions of Rogue at the Roguelike restoration Project. They have the first widely released version (3.6), which may be the version on your disk. So if that's it, you could at least get the version you like. If it's possible to retrieve the high scores file from the disk it might be possible to copy that into the Rogue folder and override the default one. I'm not sure if that would work though. Icey 13:03, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Firefox help

i got a new computer and downloaded firefox. on my old computer under options there was the catgory of tabbed browseing and i could chhose an option that make it so any links i middle click on would load in the background, on my new computer under options the catigory is now called tabs and i dont have the option to have middle clicked links load in the background? can you help is the an add-on i need to download?

oh and i have firefox version 1.5.0.6

Tab Mix Plus should do. --Seejyb 00:31, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

I don't use Tab Mix Plus and yet middle-click opens things in new tabs instead of windows, in the background. I've got "Force links that open new windows to open in: a new tab" selected, and I've got "Select new tabs opened from links" turned off. --Kjoonlee 00:35, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

I agree with kjoonlee, an extension isn't nessisary. Just go to tools-->options-->tabs uncheck "Select new tabs opened from links". Jon513 00:41, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

iPod dysfunctional after connecting to Windows machine...

I have a friend with a 4th Generation iPod (I think). Several weeks ago, she hooked it up to another friend's Windows XP box -- the iPod hasn't worked correctly since, we don't think. I understand NOW that you can't use a Mac formatted iPod on a Windows machine and vice versa. I think connecting to the Windows Machine (which did work, by the way) did something crazy to the iPod that prevents it from working at all now. She can't connect to the device using her Mac anymore.... Bonus information: All of her music on the iPod and she has no backups -- losing the music will be bad.

Any ideas? Any help? Can I provide more information? --Chiacomo ^talk 23:49, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

I have no idea. I would start by going to apple's ipod support page]. I couldn't find anything for you because I am not sure what you mean by not working so I don't know what to search for. Good luck. Jon513 06:23, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

August 16

Accessing "restricted" folders on Windows XP

For whatever reason, Windows XP just got completely corrupted on my system. I've installed another copy of XP on another hard drive. Reinstalling XP on my primary hard drive did not exactly work, so I've determined I need to format my primary hard drive. I don't really have a problem with this, except I'd like to save my "My Documents" folder, by copying it over to my second hard drive during the format. Unfortunately, when I try to access or copy that folder, I get a message saying I do not have permission to open it. I presume this is because it is the user folder of an administrator's account. Since I have reinstalled Windows, I can no longer log in under that account, and therefore I cannot access that folder.

How can I copy it/its contents to my secondary hard drive? I don't really use that hard drive, so I'm willing to install DOS on it or whatever if it would help. Is there any way to access the user folder of an administrator on XP?

Thanks in advance for any assistance. -User:Elmer Clark (sorry for the wrongly-done signature, this keyboard lacks tildes).

I would try a booting on linux LiveDistro such as Knoppix or Ubuntu (see List of Live CDs for a full list). Then copy the information you want to a usb key or upload it the internet (a gmail account should work). Jon513 06:18, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

PROCESSORS

Hi, just out of curiosity can an AMD Dual Core 3800+ be the equivalent and out-perform the Intel 3.8GHZ??? THANKS JON

There is a marketing trick used in processors. Because the designs are different, each processor can perform certain functions faster than the other. So, AMD will engineer a "test" that they know ahead of time will greatly favor their chip and then claim they outperformed the Intel. Intel will engineer a "test" that they know will greatly favor their chip and then claim they outperformed the AMD. So, you need to decide what it is you will be doing (playing the latest 3D video game?) and try it on each chip. There used to be online reports showing FPS for things like Quake and Doom. But, since that is mainly the video card now, I don't know what they use as the neutral basis for checking chips. --Kainaw ^(talk) 13:06, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Forbidden P2P discussion

Why in some chat rooms chatting about p2p is forbidden?

I would think it's becuase most peer to peer emulators are used, almost exclusively, for illegal activities.

Mysql syntax error!

Im trying to backup a database using the mysqldump command. All i get is a message saying that i have an error with my SQL syntax... but i don't!! This is also the case for some other commands. I'm aware that the mysql administrator tool can backup databases for you, but i would like to know how to do this via the command line. Any help would be appretiated!

It might be helpful if you paste the query you're using here. Benbread 12:45, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Good idea. In MySQL Cookbook (O'reilly), it says "To export a table in SQL format to a file, use a command like this: % mysqldump database_name table_name > dump.txt". This is the command im trying to use. The reason im doing this is so that i can import the data from one database into another.

You do know that that is supposed to be typed on the command line, not inside of MySQL - right? --Kainaw ^(talk) 13:08, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Im using the MySQL Command Line Client.

That's what's wrong, then, you need to do it from an OS command line. Simply type everything after the % (which represents your prompt) in a plain command prompt.

mysqldump is a seperate application, not an SQL command - that's why the client doesn't understand it. --Pidgeot (t) (c) (e) 13:26, 16 August 2006 (UTC)