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March 9

Word 2013: homogenous footers / headers

(I already wrote a closely related question, but unfortunately it just got archived...)

I'm still struggling with setting up a bunch of documents with homogenous footers and headers... which I can change economically whenever I wish, incl. content (e.g., exchanging text or a logo) and formatting (e.g., adjusting margins). Any ideas?

[Previous suggestions included a master document (from what I see, this transforms all files into one document, but doesn't allow to change the sub-documents?!) and Visual Basic for Applications (which would take me quite a bit of time getting into, so I'm exploring if there are less time-consuming alternatives). Finally, Microsoft InfoPath was recommended, but that doesn't appear to apply directly to Word documents.]

Relatedly, I'm looking for an easy way to update all fields in a document, esp. in the footers of the first page (which is different) and all subsequent pages. Word unfortunately requires fields to be selected before "F9" produces any results. And I don't manage to select all footers (incl. first page), let alone the entire document incl. headers and footers. I know there's a work-around (file > options > advanced... or something along those lines)... but is there really no quick way of updating fields?!

If you shouldn't know... can you recommend another forum to ask these questions? (I've tried the Microsoft site, but although I've set up an account, I can't sign in. Great company.) Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for answering (talk) 14:08, 9 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

You want to be able to change a header/footer once and have that change propagate across several documents, yes? I don't know if Word can do that, but LaTeX can. I know it's not necessarily helpful to suggest a different program. LaTeX does take a bit to learn but it is vastly flexible, powerful and free, and it can save you lots of time in the long run. I can point you to specific resources and tutorials if you are interested in trying that alternative. SemanticMantis (talk) 20:01, 9 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I also answered your previous question. Personally I would probably use PowerGrep (http://www.powergrep.com/) to (regex) search and replace in multiple Word documents. DOCX is basically a ZIP file with some XML in it. For more complicated operations you can make the change in one document and compare the old and new versions with something like Beyond Compare so you know what to do in PowerGrep. I believe this is also possible using InfoPath (maybe you can find an InfoPath expert to confirm or deny that). A simple Visual Basic for Applications script, like the one I linked to in response to your previous question, allows you to have one single text file with all the headers and footers, and if you change them then they will change in all the Word documents. Check out StackExchange for a (very) good Q&A site, we are an encyclopaedia that happens to have a reference desk, but we aren't a real Q&A site. Its probably not very difficult to create the header/footer you want with some VBA. If you would actually give an example of the kind of header/footer you want (use a fake name etc.) then it is not unlikely that someone will code it for you, and you can always try stuff like this. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 23:42, 9 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Holy cow have you ever looked at the crap that passes for XML inside a word doc? This suggestion makes learning basic LaTeX seem like a reasonable suggestions after all :) SemanticMantis (talk) 16:14, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

You want separation of presentation and content, which is generally a very good idea. Unfortunately, it's not what WYSIWYG software like Word is good at. That kind of software edits a single file for every aspect of the document, instead of reading different pieces from different manually prepared sources, and makes it easier to modify lay-out directly than through style files. It may be possible to use scripts to write the margins and standard footers into every document after each modification of those margins or footers. It may be easier to use some WYSIWYM software instead. SemanticMantis already mentioned my favorite. Of course, migrating from one type of software to a different is never easy. Note that I haven't used Word or any of its clones in a decade, meaning that I don't know everything about it, but also that it's possible to live without. PiusImpavidus (talk) 11:42, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Just as an FYI, Word now does have some separation of format and content. In typical Microsoft fashion, it's clunky and often more painful than helpful, but it is there. :) Matt Deres (talk) 15:18, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Word has always, or for a very long time, supported sharing styles across documents that are linked to the same template (check "Automatically update document styles" in the "Templates and Add-ins" dialog, and check "Add to template" when you modify a style). As a last resort, you can probably add scripts to the template that will do practically anything to linked documents. -- BenRG (talk) 17:44, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Not so much relating to the question but from my admitedly fairly limited experience a big factor why updating Word documents by change styles etc often doesn't work is because of how poorly people actually use Word. Okay this is probably partially relating to Word being WYSIWYG and/or UI issues, although I think training and a lack of understanding are the big factors. But for example, it's fairly common headings in the document (and other non paragraph text elements) aren't actually headers but rather just text that was made bigger and perhaps with a different font. Bullet points or numbered points may just be manually entered points or numbers. Heck many people just add lots of line breaks (by pushing the enter key) rather than using a page break. Even worse is when people just add lots of spaces to align stuff rather than using indenting or the various other alignment options. In fact mildly ontopic, a sometimes even headers and footers aren't actual headers and footers but just stuff someone added to the bottom of the page. Word does actually try to automatically recognise and fix these manual formatting as far as possible, but there's obviously a limit to what you can achieve without being too annoying or doing the wrong thing. Nil Einne (talk) 18:01, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Does this answer help? It points out that there's a setting in the Print options tab to auto-update fields and links before printing. -- BenRG (talk) 17:44, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your help, I'll look into everything; some already sounds very promising... it'll just take me some days due to my work schedule.
A little background to why I'm being difficult :) may be helpful: I'm taking over (partial) responsibility for these documents as part of a project at work, so switching from Word to a different, little-known software altogether wouldn't allow co-workers to work on these documents as well. Bummer. Using software to make changes to Word documents is okay (if I should be sick or leave the project, others can just revert to doing everything the old-fashioned way). Also, because most of the work on these documents is done, I'm very hesitant to put in a major effort and transform them to some other format (e.g., a wiki) as they include lots of screenshots and arrows between text and screenshots. (BTW, my employer will not pay for any programming being done in this context.) As for the intended use: These documents form a handbook, mainly about software, but possibly to be extended to processes at work in general. Most users will access the files without printing them (so unfortunately the print-related field update option won't work). I generally like the fact that the handbook's made of lots of single files (general usability and the "psychological" issue of people not dealing with a huge volume that they'll never need in full... and it avoids the messy job of having to merge all files into one document though the master document might help there), so I'm exploring ways of improving things with a reasonable input of time and effort. Right, and if I find a solution, I'd like to apply it also to tons of forms and working sheets I'm using at work and which so far I've also handled separately.

As for content of the headers & footers: Not just up to me, which is why I want to keep things flexible so that I can easily react to changes requested by others. Currently I'd like to have something along the lines of:

Header (first page): SoftwareXY Handbook: [Topic of section/document = unique to each document]

(This could also be on the first page in the regular text/outside of the header... but at any rate I'd like to keep it flexible. There's a good chance some day a company logo will need to be placed in the header...)

Footer: [field:FileName] - [field:Time (in lieu of a "version")] page [field:Page] of [field:NumPages]

(Suggestions and improvements welcome :) ... As I said, I'll start now looking into all suggestions... Thanks. Thanks. Thanks for answering (talk) 10:17, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The update-field command (Ctrl-A, then press F9 to update all fields) is not restricted to printing (if you use a bit of VBA). You can add a button to your version of Word that updates all fields when pressed, or update them whenever a file is opened [1]. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 22:57, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

YOLO

The WP:UAA bot is always reporting usernames that include the string YOLO or yolo with a note of Although this string is not a username violation in and of itself, it may indicate disruptive editing. What would "YOLO" indicate that would be correlated with disruptive editing? Some sort of odd computer term, or something else (sexual, perhaps?), or (going out on a limb) is it just the result of statistical analysis that demonstrates an unexplained relationship between this string in usernames and higher-than-average rates of vandalism? Nyttend (talk) 14:32, 9 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

wikt:YOLO == "you only live once", often said before doing something stupid. I would agree with the There is low confidence in this filter test, please be careful in blocking.' -- ToE 14:49, 9 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that is the right answer, but having spent some time there, I also worry about editors from YOLO :) SemanticMantis (talk) 16:49, 9 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

March 10

how to record sound on android

There is built-in video record programs available on android Phones. Is there any built-in or hidden voice/sound record programs to record audio available on android Phones? Thank you.175.157.42.95 (talk) 15:44, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

My Samsung has something called Voice Recorder. Dismas|^(talk) 15:49, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

stacking computers

I have five small form factor computers that are constantly running and use 100% of the CPU. Currently I have them standing upright but I need to save some space, so I'm considering putting them horizontal and stacking them. I'm concerned about the heat - will they get to hot like this?

(I could just test this, but I don't want to interrupt them running right now.) Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 21:38, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It depends on the airflow used to cool them. Micro-ATX cases typically induct air at the front and blow it out at the rear - but some kinds also blow it out the top or through the side. I don't know about other smaller form-factors, but the idea is usually similar. Cases intended for rackmount know to only rely on front and rear flow; if your plan involves obstructing side flow, you may be able to move the case fan, or add another. In any event, computers very rarely rely on thermal conduction through the case to the air, so racking or stacking them should not, by itself, cause a problem. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 21:51, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

they all have an air intake in the front and one fan blowing out the back. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 01:12, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I disagree with the last statement. Computers may not rely on thermal conduction through the case for cooling, but that doesn't mean that such thermal conduction won't affect them. A computer wedged between two other (hot) computers may be operating at an effective ambient temperature higher than it was designed for, and the cooling system may not be able to keep it cool enough to operate. It would be like running the computer while it's in an oven. Mnudelman (talk) 22:38, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

When stacking computers, you can use something as a spacer to separate them. Smart people probably (re-)use something like (styro)foam packaging, but blocks of wood also work fine in my experience. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 00:31, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

How will putting them horizointal save space?? The volume is still the same. DuH!--31.109.183.147 (talk) 01:51, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The volume would be the same but it would have a smaller footprint and use less desk space. I have them spaced several inches apart. Right now they occupy 29"x16", stacking them would occupy 14"x16" - slightly less than half. And there is potentially at least one more. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 02:25, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Why would you put them on your desk anyway? Do you often need physical access to them? I would put them under the desk. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 04:08, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

They are actually on a small chest of drawers next to my desk, but it has limited space. And I also have a minitower on the table that has air intake on the side, so it wouldn't be good to stack it. There is no room for them under my desk and I need them to be near since they are connected by a KVN switch. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 04:38, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

PS - in this room there are two people, two desks, two office chairs, bookshelves that are 6-7 feet wide, a legal-width filing cabinet, three tables, a chest of drawers, two laser printers, three monitors, three UPSs, a stereo system, assorted modems, routers, hubs, power strips, power supplies, external HDs, and - at last count - seven computers (they may be multiplying). Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 05:09, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

What, no cats??
Assuming the OS and the processors are compatible, and assuming each computer has access to keyboard/mouse/monitor, you could install freeware like Core Temp on each computer, build your stack, and use Core Temp to closely monitor your processor temps for awhile. The max temps for your processors should be available online, and I assume any temp tolerable by your processors would be ok for the other components (I'm correctable on that last point). ―Mandruss ☎ 05:21, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Or SpeedFan. In the first datasheet for the Intel® Core™ i7 Processor Family for LGA2011-v3 Socket Intel says that the minimum device storage temperature beyond which damage (latent or otherwise) may occur when subjected to for any length of time is minus 25 degrees Celcius... Some people use liquid helium or liquid nitrogen to cool down their CPU. Here is a CPU heat sink cooled to minus 196 degrees celcius. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 05:46, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

For a more typical case, my main computer is a laptop with an Intel Core i5-4200M. The processor runs at 99% busy pretty much 24/7 (scientific distributed computing running in the background). Max temp is 100°C and Core Temp says I never get above 91° (getting a cooling pad anyway). ―Mandruss ☎ 06:30, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

There are servers using one unit hight in the rack only. This 2 inch are 5,08 cm, using 4 cm (40 mm) noisy fan motors. IBM sells those machines as blade, but many server manufacturers offer such machines. ATX compatible cases, using riser cards to support one or two extension cards. A Flex-ATX power supply also uses 40 mm fan motors and is installed in such cases. The CPUs have installed the heatsink only. The airflow is performed with a wall of fan motors between upper and lower case body. Sometimes a plastic airflow guide is installed. The way how to cool the system is not a problem, it just needs to be functional and keeps the components inside the range of the specified temeratures with least price and high relyability. All those machines pull the air from front in to backside out. This machine uses Heatspeaders like Notebooks.[2] --Hans Haase (有问题吗) 12:48, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

So if the total VOLUME occupied by the computers hasn't changed - then the energy density didn't either. So the only concern is airflow. If you were using a fan to move the hot air out of the way - then probably there would be no problem in having them horizontal - but if you're just relying on convection, then there might be a problem because you'll wind up with stagnant 'pockets' of hot air near the center of each board - and that may cause difficulties.

If your ONLY concern is desktop 'footprint' and you're making your own rack to hold them in - you could perhaps consider a compromise of mounting each board at 45 degrees to the horizontal. This would reduce the footprint on the desk - it would be even smaller than stacking them horizontally - but still provide at least some convection airflow. SteveBaker (talk) 14:15, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Well, probably the best thing to do is to use measuring software and then see what happens with stacking. SpeedFan says that anything over 50C is too hot for the CPU but the i5-2400 and i5-2500 specs say that it is OK up to 74C. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 23:14, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Bubba73, note electrolytoc capacitors have increased wear on higher temperatures. Some magnetic disk drives are designed for horizontal use only, some for less wear in one position only and some for mobile usage in any position. Mainboards do not care but it might be not an advantage for cooling to oberate them bottom top. --Hans Haase (有问题吗) 12:22, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

the hard drives are vertical right now. The cases look like they are designed to go either way. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 22:53, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Resolved

March 11

Laptop Dimming

My Toshiba laptop, running Windows 10, has always dimmed the display when the power cable is removed, to conserve battery power. As of this morning, it's suddenly reversed, dimming when I insert the cable. Can anyone suggest why?

The Intel HD Graphics control panel shows that it's set to "balanced mode" for both battery and mains operation. No combination of "balanced", "maximum battery" or "maximum performance" modes seems to make any difference. Nor does disabling the "Display Power Saving Technology" feature.

Rojomoke (talk) 07:58, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Some BIOS' have a setting for this. Else see the power management profiles and its settings in the Control Panel (Windows). --Hans Haase (有问题吗) 12:08, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Some laptops have a keyboard shortcut to raise or lower the screen brightness (for example, with my 2006 laptop, Fn+Up/Down did it). While the power cable is in, raise your screen brightness to its maximum using that function, then unplug, and lower it to its minimum. It should remember your "settings" from now on. -- 143.85.169.29 (talk) 15:36, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

If you want something done right...

For a project I'm working on, I need a website, it's a relatively simple site, five pages of text and pictures linked to from the homepage, and a link to an ecommerce page I've already got (provided by a friend that wasn't able to do the rest of the site), only trouble is it needs to look professional, better than I've managed to do playing around with Wordpress and Drupal templates. I've tried asking around friends in the business or commissioning people to do the job, with no success, I've had long, needless delays, people that lose interest or forget about the work half way through, or that don't bother responding to messages, and now I've only got a couple of weeks before the thing has to go live. I'm reluctant to go to yet another 'professional' web developer, tell them my requirements and trust in them to get things done to such a tight schedule, especially when they likely have other work to be doing, so it looks like I'll have to do it myself.

Can anyone recommend resources where I can learn to do this? All I need is a banner image and buttons linking to each page along the top, a consistent colour scheme and visual style, to be able to position text and images where I want them, and some way of editing a fully functional but rather bland page of complex ecommerce features to match that visual style. I'm already familiar with working from templates, Wordpress and forum software mostly, where everything is run through an admin dashboard and downloaded add-ons, but I find those sites never quite look as good, the design and layout options limited to a set list, and the name of the company providing it emblazoned clearly across every page.

86.24.139.55 (talk) 10:18, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Pro tip: It will take a while to learn this stuff, hiring someone will probably save you a lot of time. I am currently working on a website that has to be finished in about 30 minutes. I´ll be back in 30 minutes. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 11:20, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I am finished. I would like some more information about the project and the technical requirements. The turnaround time for a simple yet good-looking website with 5 pages of content is 48 hours or less. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 11:49, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@The Quixotic Potato: Yeah I'm not sure they are asking for someone to come along, ignore their questions and solicit for business. IP, codeacademy.com and Mozilla's Learning web development tutorial are both awesome resources, and given a day or so of learning you could be in a position to really start working on this. A great place to ask questions is stackoverflow. Good luck!

-- samtar ^{talk or stalk} 13:23, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Samtar: Answering the questions that people ask is often not very helpful (as an example I would use your comment immediately above this one). It is often better to answer the questions they should've asked. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 13:32, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I have been doing web design since the mid-90s and one of the courses I teach is business web design. I am vehemently opposed to using Wordpress (or anything similar) for simple websites. It is not a web design program. It is a content management system. All you need to learn is HTML. It would be nice to also learn some CSS. Then, if you get a little crazy, you can pick up a little JavaScript. At that point, you will know everything you need to know about the client-side of the whole thing. That is all you need to know. If you really really wanted to, you could learn server-side scripting, but you don't need to learn any of that. In reality, HTML and CSS are very very easy to learn. I teach HTML in two classes and CSS in two classes. Yes, I am teaching college students, but it still only takes 2 hours to teach each of them. If I were to teach Wordpress, it would take an entire semester because Wordpress is hard, real hard, damn hard. Even when you think you know Wordpress, you will find that it takes months to figure out how to do that one thing that you really need it to do - and then your solution breaks with the next update. Another metric: Compare the number of Wordpress queries on StackOverflow to the number of HTML and CSS queries. But, instead of busting out a website in an hour with just HTML+CSS, please ignore me and pay attention to whomever it is that responds next and says that Wordpress is God's gift to all web designers (or worse - someone who uses this as a chance to rant about the evils of PHP). 209.149.113.194 (talk) 13:05, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

It is 2016, the world of webdesign has changed a lot since the mid-90s. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 13:32, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Enterprise-grade data storage server for personal use?

My workplace just recently bought an enterprise-grade data storage server from Violin Memory. It cost about 200 thousand €, weighs over 30 kg and stores about 30 to 70 TB of data.

Now I got to thinking, if it weren't for the prohibitive cost, would it be theoretically possible for me to buy such a server for my own personal use? How does one buy such a server anyway? How does one run it, does it have a familiar Unix-compatible OS? And since I wouldn't be interfacing with it directly through a system console, but rather from my own desktop PC, what sort of connectivity could I use between the two?

Here's a link to Violin Memory's data storage server range: http://www.violin-memory.com/products/violin-flash-storage-platform/

JIP | Talk 20:24, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Those kind of things (including the one I looked at) have either iSCSI or FibreChannel interfaces, so you could buy one (or two, usually) iSCSI or FC host-bus-adapters to connect to it. You'll get HBA drivers for most business-class OSes. Management is usually over ethernet, and various units will have a web interface, control from a command line via SSH, or using SNMP. It will surely have a conventional OS on its motherboard (in times past something embedded like pSOS or WindRiver, these days probably Linux or another Unixalike) but you won't interact with that. For enterprise class stuff like this, you'd almost always have to buy it through the company's own sales force (or some agent, if you live in a territory where they don't have their own folks). For cheaper enterprise stuff (say server computers at €5,000) a company's own sales force probably wouldn't be interested in talking to someone who wanted a one-off single unit, and would palm you off on a reseller - but for €200K, I'm sure they'd be happy to talk. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 20:54, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

As to how your OS would see it - depending on how the storage appliance was configured, its storage would appear to the OS as one or several large block devices (pretty much identical to a locally connected SATA or SCSI disk) and you could just mkfs and mount that as you would them. In practice many installations will run an enterprise file system like GPFS or ZFS. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 21:02, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I should say that these devices are SAN not NAS, and while in common usage one typically calls a NAS system a "server" (because it serves a network file system like NFS or SMB), a SAN is usually called a "device" or "array" or just "disk" (because it pretends it's just a massive honking SCSI disk). -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 22:08, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

You could buy these if you had the money, but you also have to have the environment. A stand alone unit would be rack mount. It would require dual or more power. It would need air-conditioning. It may make too much noise for you to want to have it in your house. And as Finlay McWalter suggests you will have to have a management station of some sort. This will likely need an obsolete version of Java and an old browser to support it. They will also expect you to have a maintenance contract, and regular contact with a salesman. For hobbyists, the second hand market is going to be more affordable, but does not remove environment considerations. Do you have a way to fill it with data quickly? For some of this Violin flash, it connects directly to the PC internal bus to cut down latency. Putting it in an external box defeats that advantage if you need to use iSCSI or SMB. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:27, 11 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

As for how you buy one, contact the sales team: [3]. If they can't sell to you directly, they can refer you to a partner who can. RudolfRed (talk) 02:33, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. For personal use, there are the right tools for the job also. Finlay McWalter mentions NAS. So, take a look at [4] . Not exactly Enterprise Grade but installing a very complicate system (with all the bells and whistles) in a domestic environment and you will spend all your time just maintain it – as in a commercial environment – where they employ cheap foreign labour on 'green card to do this. With very high read/write traffic/multiple data bases inquiries etc. Yet, how many people in your home are going to want to use you system all at once ? 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 11? So something like NAS should suffice. So a NAS would more than likely satisfy you domestic requirement. Anyway, use this critter as your starting point. It has a low power ARM processor – so can be left running 24/7 with out braking the bank. Linux operating system, so no costly updates. Can be configured to provide auto-back-ups. Load of storage space etc. Not perhaps the bees knees in a commercial environment but it works in the domestic.. and is very, very cheap and affordable. Further, situate it in a low part of the house, surround it with ash-blocks/bricks etc. Then if the home burns down or gets blown away by a twister – one doesn't even need to down load and install the cloud back up. You're up and ready to go as soon as the utilities get the power back on, and at 24 watts you could do that on you camper’s solar array immediately.--Aspro (talk) 12:26, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

March 13

AlphaGo hardware

AlphaGo#Hardware shows how the strength of the program varied with hardware. There is a big jump from the first line to the second line - about 600 ELO points, which is huge. But the only change was from one GPU to two - the other parameters were the same. The other increments in strength are much smaller. How did adding one GPU make such a big difference? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 01:13, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe this link helps explain it. https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/32816/why-are-gpus-so-good-at-cracking-passwords The Quixotic Potato (talk) 13:11, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I think the question is also at least partially about why further jumps are so small. Since the next one is also a doubling of the GPUs and so is the next, and then they move to distributed with quite a large increase in both initially albeit with fewer threads (although I'm not sure if these mean the same thing) but the increases here are all relatively modest compare to the very big jump from 1 GPU to 2. I think an understanding of how Elo rating system, competition, as well as game difficulties and learning tends to work will partially help with this. Consider for example, how the difficulty of a person increasing their Elo rating in some game (be it chess, Go or whatever) by 600 points from 300 to 900 or 900 to 1500 compares. Of course to some extent there's probably a factor of what's good enough for their neutral network which may also be related to typical things like Amdahl's law, diminishing returns etc (as much as these apply to their program). Nil Einne (talk) 20:03, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

True. The ROI of adding new hardware does not stay constant. And you'll probably have to rewrite the software to take advantage of the new hardware. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 20:43, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

A good example of diminishing returns. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 23:59, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Actually I am wondering why there is such a huge jump from the first row to the second, compared to the change in the other lines. A 600-point jump in ELO rating is huge. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 23:19, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

This is guesswork, but it seems likely that at that point the bottleneck was the inability to handle loads of data in many streams, and adding a GPU fixed that problem. It is possible that the new bottleneck was something that adding a new GPU wouldn't fix. They probably had to rewrite the software to take advantage of the new hardware, so it is possible that they have improved the software too. I am not sure if they used the exact same software and different hardware configurations, or that the hardware and software both changed over time. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 00:05, 14 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

CPUs and GPUs have significantly different architectures that make them better suited to different tasks. A GPU can handle large amounts of data in many streams, performing relatively simple operations on them, but is ill-suited to heavy or complex processing on a single or few streams of data. A CPU is much faster on a per-core basis (in terms of instructions per second) and can perform complex operations on a single or few streams of data more easily, but cannot efficiently handle many streams simultaneously. [5] The Quixotic Potato (talk) 20:27, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The first part of that page compares 48 CPUs and 1 GPU with 48 CPUs and 2 GPUs. Perhaps the program was designed in such a way that the relative lack of GPUs starved some of the CPUS of work to do? Alternative theory: When they sat "GPU" they really mean "video card" or "video chip", and maybe not the same model. 1 GPU seems really low. An Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan has 5760 CUDA Cores. I would really like to see what model of processor and graphics card they used. --Guy Macon (talk) 21:10, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Estimation of bandwidth requirement

What will be the bandwidth required of a single 1:1 Internet Leased Line connection for an organization of 250 LAN users for internet surfing and email sending downloading attachments and downloading other resources.What will be maximum , minimum and average bandwidth requirements in case all 250 users access concurrently and when usage varies. What will be bandwidth requirement for comfortable web surfing. Will other accessory equipment like accelerating UTM, caching web proxy, minimum spanning tree intranet, SAN NAS buffer design help lower bandwidth and lower rental cost. What type of last mile connectivity is most cost effect as well as the most efficient in terms of bandwidth and low latency. Will setting filters for all videos and streaming media help get a good web experience. How in will I get lowest latency and highest bandwidth for organizational internet with 1:1 Leased Line. What type of cabling from gateway will be best for 250 concurrent users of 1:1 Leased Line.What are cheaper and/or more efficient and effective alternatives to 1:1 Leased Line.115.187.47.89 (talk) 12:19, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I recommend asking a couple of companies that specialize in this kind of stuff how they would solve this problem and what it would cost, and comparing the responses. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 12:49, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The IP appears to come from West Bengal, so is that where the system is required? The country and location makes a big difference as to what service is available and the cost. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:53, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Is this a homework, or an actual requirement? You have mixed up several technologies there. Web proxies certainly have helped in the past, but with the changeover to https: they are becoming less able to intercept and buffer the traffic. A SAN NAS buffer is a disk storage technology, and could be used for a proxy cache. However it is not the best for this, and primary directly attached storage would be better. That Violin storage mentioned above could hot up a proxy server, but is much better put in an application server. A SAN would increase your costs for this application. If UTM means Unified threat management, then sure you need to do something about malware, but the same issues with https arise, and "unified" may not be very possible. The firewall is still an essential component to only allow what connections you want, and you will want anti virus too on your workstation. Spanning tree intranet is really a different thing, and 250 users is getting a bit too many for one LAN. It is still possible, but there will be too much rubbishy broadcasting disturbing all the devices, and it will be better at half the number or less. These users may have more than one device on your LAN too. The bandwidth variation range is a bit too hard to say, as are all these users sitting at desks surfing all day watching videos, or are they factory workers, that just have a quick look at the start of the day? Email does not need a very high bandwidth. For web surfing, somewhere between megabit per second and 100 mbps could do. You could vary this by selecting different upload/download ratios, or different contention ratios, eg that 1:1. You could get better lower latency by getting a high speed back-haul, eg 1gps and having a 1:10 ratio (ie on average you only get to use 10%). Filters to stop video and streaming will certainly improve the situation for those that don't need to watch them, but is video/TV a requirement? You can expect video to take up the majority of your bandwidth. Also nowadays you can expect software updating to hundreds of devices to be a drain on capacity, so a method to reduce that may be needed. An important consideration is reliability. There are different tiers of service, and the lowest is a domestic grade, that could be down for days. How much outage can you tolerate? Lastly 250 person organisation would not have the capacity to support so many technologies, so you may wish to have some reliable other company provide the service. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:22, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Custom Software Development

As there are now a lot of open source development frameworks can I develop domain specific software solutions without in depth knowledge or only a basic understanding of programming languages like C Java VisualBasic,.net PL/SQL. Where can I find a domain specific list of opensource frameworks.Are COM and COM+ components equivalent of Java Beans. Can datastructures tcp/ip protocols apis be implemented as com/com+/javabeans if possible qwith configurable graphical interface.what is opensource equivalents of activex controls and OLE objects. can protocols be treated as apis 150.129.102.146 (talk)- —Preceding undated comment added 14:19, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

PSU

Is there a specific term for PSUs that have an IEC 60320 C14 output connector for attaching to the monitor, so that both the computer and the monitor only use one mains socket? Like this. It was common on older computers but seems to have disappeared in modern PSUs. Thank you. 82.44.55.214 (talk) 20:25, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I believe the term "AT Power supply" would describe the de-facto standard PC power supplies from the late '80s and early '90s before the ATX power supply standards were introduced. back in those days, PCs were typically turned on and off at using the physical power switch on the power supply itself. Monitors, which did not then have low-power standby logic that responded to the presence or absence of a video signal, could be conveniently turned on and off by the same switch if their power was connected to the line out of those power supplies. -- Tom N talk/contrib 22:17, 13 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

As a point of clarification, the switch was connected to the AT power supply, but was not necessarily part of the actual power supply box. See [6] as an example. However it was always a simple switch which disconnected mains power to the PSU. (I shocked myself once when the switch insulation had moved.) Nil Einne (talk) 09:53, 14 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

March 14

Alright, so how does DNS work

How there are some people/organizations that middleman me between a server and a Domain. Like, which central authority "sells" the ability for others to register and unregister domain names, why can't I directly register one domain, or TLD? Why do I have to pay, to whom the money goes to? Also do DNS servers take DNS data from another DNS server?

Also related, why do I have to pay for internet, can't I somehow lay a cable and connect to it myself? 186.146.10.154 (talk) 03:01, 14 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

See ICANN and IANA. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 03:08, 14 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Informative, so, why wouldn't I pay directly to IANA instead of some middleman? 186.146.10.154 (talk) 04:16, 14 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Laying a cable to connect to your nearest internet backbone would require agreement with the owner of that backbone - and they might want to charge you money for the privilege. SteveBaker (talk) 04:05, 14 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

From our archives: Basic domain registering questions, December 2010: IANA and ICANN will not work with you directly, even if you are a "medium-sized" nation: they delegate such work to authorized sub-organizations, who in turn delegate to commercial partners, and so on... and connectivity is sub-delegated all the way until you find your local retail- or commercial- internet service provider. Here's IANA's explanation, root zone management and policy documents. Nimur (talk) 15:38, 14 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The DNS is a big database. The entities that run it charge you to put an entry in it. You're perfectly capable of running your own DNS (see alternative DNS root), but there's nothing forcing anyone else to use yours. Your question about "connecting to the Internet yourself" has more or less the same answer. Really, if you've ever plugged a cable into something to carry Internet data, you've "connected to the Internet yourself". But, you presumably signed up with your ISP first. You paid them, and they let you connect to their network. A whole bunch of people built that network and maintain it, to allow your computer to talk to one on the other side of the planet, and they want to get paid. Obviously you could break into their equipment and connect to it without permission, but the law tends to frown on that (plus, a lot of ISP stuff will have some kind of authentication to keep out unauthorized users). --71.119.131.184 (talk) 20:20, 14 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Windows 10 and networking

We have eight desktops on our home network. Four use Windows 10 and four use Windows 7. Microsoft is encouraging Windows 7 users to upgrade to Windows 10. My only problem with Windows 10 is networking.

With Windows 7, I could click on Network and it would show me all of the computers on the network. I had sharing on, so I could access them from another computer and copy files, etc, much as I could if I was on the other computer.

With Windows 10, only the current computer and the Windows 7 computers show up on the network. I tried everything I could think of to get them to work like Windows 7 - allow sharing, etc. I tried and tried, but nothing worked.

Does Windows 10 have the ability to show up on a home network and allow it to be used from another computer on the network the way Windows 7 and earlier did? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 19:30, 14 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Have you made your Windows 10 PCs discoverable as described here? You can also look here. Ruslik_Zero 19:52, 14 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

Let me try that. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 19:59, 14 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@@ Line 204: / Line 204: @@
 :From our archives: [[Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Computing/2010_December_3#Basic_domain_registering_questions|''Basic domain registering questions'']], December 2010: IANA and ICANN will not work with you directly, even if you are a "medium-sized" nation: they delegate such work to authorized sub-organizations, who in turn delegate to commercial partners, and so on... and connectivity is sub-delegated all the way until you find your local retail- or commercial- internet service provider.  Here's IANA's explanation, [http://www.iana.org/domains/root/ root zone management and policy documents].  [[User:Nimur|Nimur]] ([[User talk:Nimur|talk]]) 15:38, 14 March 2016 (UTC)
+:The [[DNS]] is a big database. The entities that run it charge you to put an entry in it. You're perfectly capable of running your own DNS (see [[alternative DNS root]]), but there's nothing forcing anyone else to use yours. Your question about "connecting to the Internet yourself" has more or less the same answer. Really, if you've ever plugged a cable into something to carry Internet data, you've "connected to the Internet yourself". But, you presumably signed up with your ISP first. You paid them, and they let you connect to their network. A whole bunch of people built that network and maintain it, to allow your computer to talk to one on the other side of the planet, and they want to get paid. Obviously you could break into their equipment and connect to it without permission, but the law tends to frown on that (plus, a lot of ISP stuff will have some kind of authentication to keep out unauthorized users). --[[Special:Contributions/71.119.131.184|71.119.131.184]] ([[User talk:71.119.131.184|talk]]) 20:20, 14 March 2016 (UTC)
 == Windows 10 and networking ==