Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing

Welcome to the computing section
of the Wikipedia reference desk.

skip to bottom

Select a section:

• Computing
• Entertainment
• Humanities
• Language
• Mathematics
• Science
• Miscellaneous
• Archives

Want a faster answer?

Main page: Help searching Wikipedia

   

How can I get my question answered?

• Select the section of the desk that best fits the general topic of your question (see the navigation column to the right).
• Post your question to only one section, providing a short header that gives the topic of your question.
• Type '~~~~' (that is, four tilde characters) at the end – this signs and dates your contribution so we know who wrote what and when.
• Don't post personal contact information – it will be removed. Any answers will be provided here.
• Please be as specific as possible, and include all relevant context – the usefulness of answers may depend on the context.
• Note:
  • We don't answer (and may remove) questions that require medical diagnosis or legal advice.
  • We don't answer requests for opinions, predictions or debate.
  • We don't do your homework for you, though we'll help you past the stuck point.
  • We don't conduct original research or provide a free source of ideas, but we'll help you find information you need.

Ready? Ask a new question!

How do I answer a question?

Main page: Wikipedia:Reference desk/Guidelines

• The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.

See also:

• Teahouse
• Help desk
• Village pump
• Help manual

January 4

Free Internet

Why do I have to pay for the Internet? If its just a network of networks why cant I just connect my computer to the network free of charge?--69.242.213.186 (talk) 00:54, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Capitalism --f f r o t h 01:49, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Also, because other networks charge for access and they're not going to just let you jack in for free. They negotiate massive contracts with other networks. --f f r o t h 02:04, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

How'd those networks get there? Where'd all that fiber optic cable come from? How's it get into your house? Who maintains it? Who invests in more servers and more cables and more networks and new technologies? Who pays those guys? Who pays the guys who pay those guys? And if you didn't pay for it, who'd you have to complain to if it didn't work? Would they care? Who would pay them to care?

That being said, the telecom industry in the US is severely f**cked thanks to really bad under-regulation and near monopolies, so it's not as if things are really in an optimal state at the moment. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 02:16, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Is it under-regulation when the monopolies were created by regulation? —Tamfang (talk) 00:31, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Why cant I just connect to those networks with my own wires n cables and maintain them myself? What about the free networks? Doesnt wikimedia have a network of computers at its headquarters? Wouldnt they let me connect for free? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.242.213.186 (talk) 04:05, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Large websites also have ISPs that they have to pay.. wikimedia's going to see a charge on their bill for your usage if they let you tunnel through their servers, so they don't. Really really large websites like google (google's probably the only one) actually throw dumptrucks full of gold bullion at the big backbone networks directly instead of going through an ISP, so they're a little more flexible, but their sweet deal wouldn't last long if they were caught cheating the system.. they'd be charged just like the other ISPs. If you want to get in on the internet trunk action, it's not going to be easy:

“ Backbone networks are usually commercial, educational, or government owned, such as military networks. Some large companies that provide backbone connectivity include UUnet (now a division of Verizon), British Telecom, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, France Télécom, Reliance Communications, VSNL, BSNL, Teleglobe (now a division of VSNL International), Flag Telecom (now a division of Reliance Communications), TeliaSonera, Qwest, Level 3 Communications, AOL, SAVVIS and XO Communications. ”

Basically how it works is that exchange points like MAE-East and the biggest one AMS-IX connect internet backbone networks like military and academic networks. Members of the exchange pay for upkeep of the exchange (but I don't think they actually pay the networks they connect through) and charge ISPs for access through their seat. The ISPs' situation is that they interconnect at multiple points with neighbor networks, as well as to the closest exchange or regional ISP. They allow other ISPs to send data across their network (via mind-boggling routing algorithms that robots must have been designing for decades :D).. so you can connect from one ISP to another to another, or go through an exchange or even a backbone network, whichever the algorithm determines is the best. The way I see it, it's a giant network of mooching- everyone mooches off of everyone else, and governments and research universities foot the bill. But mostly governments. Anyway, there's nowhere you can just plug in a cable and get free internet- especially crucial is the last mile.. are you really going to run fiber out from wherever you find a convenient plug all the way out to your house? You willing to stand outside digging miles of illegal fiber (since you're not a monopoly telecom with a stranglehold on the industry, you WON'T get a permit, and of course you can't tell anyone why you're actually digging it) to your house? The local telecom did. For every house in the entire area. That's why you have to go through a large carrier- though the only reason it works that way is because of terrible industry regulation, stupid Americans putting up with it, and government corruption (according to the local newspaper of record, my local government gets free basic cable for renewing Comcast's monopoly contract). See europe for how it could have turned out. --f f r o t h 04:30, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

So if I were a big filthy rich monopoly, I could get a seat(?) at one of these exhange points, which are basicly intersects for backbone networks(?), for a hefty fee? Google bypasses this by throwing money at the backbone networks? How can a network reach backbone network status?69.242.213.186 (talk) 04:58, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't think it's really a status.. but if your network is, well, networked enough -connected to enough places- then a lot of internet traffic will end up going through it --f f r o t h 08:22, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

<-- Because somebody had to buy one of these for you to plug into. Why would they then let a stranger use it for free? --Sean 17:50, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Mesh networking may (some day) be your answer. —Steve Summit (talk) 19:17, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

There are of course free ISPs, but they generally make up for it with a ton of advertising, and they're usually quite slow.--69.118.143.107 (talk) 21:18, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Excel update problem.

I recently manually downloaded SP3 for Microsoft Office 2000 SR-1. I tried running it and found that I needed the CD that I don't have anymore (dog ate it, then it was dropped and it snapped) So I deleted the file, and didn't try to run it again. Now, whenever I try to load excel, it tries to start again. This also happens when I try to edit excel charts in word files. I have to cancel two installation processes every time. What is going on, and how do I stop it? Thanks --Omnipotence407 (talk) 02:24, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

wget when server doesn't allow cwd into the directory

I want to use wgt and a little script to download a large number of files off a ftp server. I have the list of all files but I can't get wget or curl to download it since the server doesn't allow CWD into the directory that the files are in, even though Firefox manages to download it without problem. Is there any wget switches or something that will make it directly GET or RETR the file without CWD into the directory first? --antilived^{T | C | G} 07:04, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

• If you're trying to do a recursive wget (web spider-style), you'll have to pretend that you're a normal browser. Specifying "wget --user-agent Mozilla" is usually adequate. If you have the list of files you want -- that is, a text file formatted like:

ftp://foo.com/path/to/file1
ftp://foo.com/path/to/file1
...

-- then you can just give that to wget directly with "wget --input-file url-list.txt". --Sean 16:45, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm not doing recursive wget, but downloading a list of files from a text document. The problem is the FTP server doesn't allow CWD into the directory, here's the output of wget:

$ wget --input-file addresses.txt --user-agent Mozilla
--13:33:17--  ftp://www.simviation.com/47terrain/AF01N03E008.zip
           => `AF01N03E008.zip'
Resolving www.simviation.com... 205.252.250.27
Connecting to www.simviation.com|205.252.250.27|:21... connected.
Logging in as anonymous ... Logged in!
==> SYST ... done.    ==> PWD ... done.
==> TYPE I ... done.  ==> CWD /47terrain ... 
No such directory `47terrain'.

Yet Firefox downloads it with no problem. IIRC there is nothing like user-agent for FTP, but even if I include --user-agent Mozilla, it's still exactly the same. I'm guessing Firefox is doing GET /47terrain/AF01N03E008.zip, skipping the CWD /47terrain/ step, so I'm wondering if there's some way of forcing wget to do the same is well. --antilived^{T | C | G} 00:37, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Since Firefox can download from the server without any problem, why not just use Firefox and automate the process? You can create a simple HTML file that contains a list of hyperlinks to the target files. You can open the file in Firefox and use some kind of batch download extension to automatically download all the linked-to files. Down Them All seems to be a Firefox extension usable for the purpose. --71.162.249.245 (talk) 05:28, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

You might also consider creating a script for the command line ftp program. In Windows XP, you can create a script.txt file like this

open www.simviation.com
user anonymous anonymous
get /47terrain/AF01N03E008.zip
quit

then enter the command ftp -n -s:script.txt to run the script. In Linux, you may be able to do the same thing by entering ftp -n < script.txt . --Bavi H (talk) 06:04, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

FlashGet support downloading from the URL list. There is even a plugin for creating those filelists. In FlashGet you would accomplish this task by going to File->Import->Import List and change Files of Type to All (he expects *.lst but will process anything). Also, the Import Links From Local Files option can process a downloaded webpage for all the links in it. Other download managers probably support this too, but I use only FlashGet. — Shinhan < talk > 10:19, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Finding Words

I've got a 25x25 field of letters that contains "hidden" words. Could I somehow make my computer to do the searching for me? The words can go to any directions and they should be in Finnish, my native language, but I wanted to reach the searching to as many languages as possible, because there can be some random xcrycz words I'll manage to translate. This is a competition, the best three will win 200e, probably less than 100,000 will ever get a chance to hear about this , I'd be ready to spend some more time doing this (there are 3 months left) and I was once taught a bit of C, so learning / doing something myself is not an obstacle. --212.149.216.233 (talk) 12:32, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

The answer should be yes, although I can not give an efficient algorithm of the top of my head. You'll need access to a reasonably formated dictionary. You might then want to start reading up on tries, Text retrieval and Index (search engine). Getting a textbook on these topics will be an advantage. Taemyr (talk) 12:44, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Check this out. It's a "Programmer of the Month" contest sort of similar to what you describe. (more complicated, though.) APL (talk) 14:02, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

• I was bored at work, so I implemented this. You make the __DATA__ bit at the end of the script be your letter grid, and pipe in your dictionaries like this:

cat /usr/share/dict/words my.finnish.dictionary.txt | perl find_words.pl

It's poorly tested, so don't sue. Here's the script: User:TotoBaggins/find words.pl; enjoy! --Sean 23:11, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

I actually wrote some code for this a few weeks ago , which I'll shove here. It goes through finding every possible grouping of letters, and checks it it's in the dictionary (not very efficient, but works well enough). It's written in Python and uses Aspell. --h2g2bob (talk) 03:04, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Thank you! 212.149.216.233 (talk) 10:22, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

SAP HR (furnctional) or Oracle HRMS

HI, I am planning for some time to do a course in HR MIS. Please suggest which one is better SAP HR or Oracle HRMS. Best regards 61.17.77.207 (talk) 12:49, 4 January 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.17.77.207 (talk) 12:45, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Tracing

What are all the possibilities of tracing a computer that is connected to the internet? No need to list IP Addresses, as with dial-up the IP Address changes every time you connect, so that is impossible for a long-time trace. (Note: the inspiration for this question comes from a MMO I used to play by the name of Furcadia. They had a ban-system for the game, and I'm curious as to how they did it.) EWHS (talk) 14:26, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Furcadia eh. I think you're looking for that internet -> --f f r o t h 19:55, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Easy, they identify some other unique value and base the ban on that. If they control the software (furcadia) they have many ways to do this, from hidden registry keys in your OS, specific values like hard drive serial number, ethernet MAC address, etc. There are many ways to 'track' software when it connects, just use your imagination. --Jmeden2000 (talk) 21:12, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Computer rejecting iTunes

I recently downloaded iTunes 7 at my school (to put the high-speed network connection to good use), placed the install file on my flash-drive, and went home and moved the install file to my computer. Upon trying to update the iTunes, my old iTunes was bugged, and my computer won't run the new iTunes. I tried deleting everything having to do with iTunes and re-installing, but that didn't work either. Is it because I downloaded it at one site, and moved it to the next? What should I do?

And, if possible, is there a way to retrieve my old library? (I have the songs on my iPod still, if that's any help)

EWHS (talk) 14:29, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

It might have been better to use Check for Updates function in the File menu to update to iTunes 7. Depending on what you deleted, your music should be fine if it wasn't in the iTunes folder. In Windows it's usually in the My Music folder and when you get iTunes working you can just drag the music into iTunes to regenerate the library. As to why iTunes 7 doesn't run, make sure your computer meets the system requirements at http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/. Other than that, can you give a bit more detail about what happens: how is your old iTunes "bugged", and is there any error message when you run iTunes 7? --Canley (talk) 01:11, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

The check for updates would'nt have worked because my dial-up is so slow, the connection would've timed out before the download was complete. Also, I used iTunes to manage my music; I ripped all the CDs using iTunes, so they were only stored in iTunes. And for the iTunes not working now, I would install, and then when I would try to run, it would say something like "Some of the required files are not available, please re-install and try again." EWHS (talk) 13:46, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Drawings

Are there any good websites which showcase MS Paint drawings? xxx User:Hyper Girl 16:35, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

I found a few individual sites with this Google search query: "MS Paint" artwork. (None of the first ten showcase multiple artists.) It is my impression that a lot of pixel art is drawn using MS Paint, and there are many more pixel art sites (see, for example, this Google search query). --Iamunknown 18:12, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

If you want to have your mind totally blown, watch this video of a dude that paints the Mona Lisa in MS Paint. Jesus Christ, I hope that he atleast used a graphics tablet! 83.250.203.75 (talk) 08:51, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

FREE bandwidth logging software for windows

Is there anything else like Rokario free bandwdith monitor, which doesn't work for me. (There are like a gazillion TRIAL ones that expire - any other freeware?)

I have a 5 gigabyte cap and after that I pay THRU THE NOSE so it's important for me to log and curtail my bandwidth usage (on Windows).

Thank you! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.51.122.5 (talk) 16:51, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

NEVERMIND -- found it, WatchWAN is great! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.51.122.5 (talk) 17:03, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

You should probably figure out how to do it through the gateway right after the modem, instead of on a client machine --f f r o t h 20:50, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

IPv6

I recently read something about the internet finally being fully IPv6 compliant. How do I make my Mac (10.5) utilize this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.173.171.184 (talk) 18:16, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Uhhh, no. IP6 is not widely deployed on the internet as a whole. Macs for some reason come with IP6 turned on I believe, but I recommend turning it off- it certainly won't accomplish anything useful for you. Friday (talk) 19:33, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Why do you want to use IPv6? Other than being new, it won't give end home users any added benefits, right? --24.249.108.133 (talk) 20:39, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

(ec)

Many, if not most modern OSes support IPv6. I know Linux does; it doesn't surprise me to hear that MacOS does; I wouldn't even be surprised to hear that MS Windows does.

The problem is that few if any ISPs, subnetworks, and content providers are supporting IPv6 addresses yet. When you do a DNS lookup on a hostname in order to talk to it, 99.9% of the time you're going to get only an IPv4 address, and therefore use IPv4 to talk to it. Even if a DNS lookup returned an IPv6 address to you, odds are that your ISP and/or at least one of the networks between you and that host would be unable to route IPv6 packets. (It might be that their routers don't support IPv6 yet, or it might just be that they haven't configured it yet.)

(There are well-defined methods for tunneling IPv6 packets through IPv4 subnets, but of course those need to be deployed and configured, too.)

A little while back I heard that some IPv6 supporters were planning to set up an experiment involving some enticing free content hosted at an IPv6-only site, to see how many people could access it, and how much finagling with their OS and/or their ISP and/or upstream networks might be required. (Zero guesses what they picked for the enticing free content.) Anybody else remember that, or hear how it came out? —Steve Summit (talk) 20:54, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

What you probably read was that some of the root DNS servers were going to be simulcasting information on the IPv6 side of the Internet. This means that for people using that network, there is a root nameserver to use without the need to jump over to the IPv4 side, making it a functionally complete network. What does this mean to us normal folks still on the IPv4 side? About jack and squat, plus 0. More info here. --Jmeden2000 (talk) 21:01, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

No, that definitely wasn't it. (Guess again. ) —Steve Summit (talk) 05:59, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

[P.S. for those viewing at home: the experiment I was thinking of is described here. Evidently they're just about ready to move forward. —Steve Summit (talk) 06:04, 5 January 2008 (UTC)]

Windows supports IPv6 without requiring extra downloads since I think SP1 or SP2 of XP. This of course includes Vista which I think also turns it on by default. I've been thinking of setting up IPv6 via a tunnelbroker but I'm waiting for it to be implemented on m0n0wall. But perhaps I'll just move to pfSense. N.B. IPv6 supports my recollection of Windows IPv6 support. However it also mentions that 'On February 4th 2008, IANA will add the AAAA records for the IPv6 addresses of the four root servers' so I guess what is being talked about above hasn't actually happened yet. I also noticed China Next Generation Internet and [1] (from [2] which has some other stuff) both of which are interesting. Nil Einne (talk) 06:41, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Yawn, ipv6. A terrible idea, implemented even more terribly --f f r o t h 20:42, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

MS Excel formula help (SOLVED)

Hi folks, I need some advice with Microsoft Excel. I've got a table with various entries in which will be added to all the time, each entry will have a category assigned to it as well as a cost. What I want to do and can't for the life of me figure out how is add up the total cost for each category. I know I could sort the table by category and manually sum it but I want the entries in chronological order, not category order. I'm sure there must be a formula that will do this easily.

I have attached a screenshot containing an example of what I am trying to do, basically if you look at the example I want another table next to the main one with a list of all the categories and next to it, a cell containing the total cost of all the cells in the main table that have that category next to them.GaryReggae (talk) 20:00, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Cheers! File:Excelscreenshot.jpg

If I understand you correctly, you need to use the SUMIF function. For example =SUMIF(B1:B20,"Red",C1:C20) gives the total of values in column C that have "Red" in the same row in column B. (Adjust the cell references to suit your exact needs.) AndrewWTaylor (talk) 20:07, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Ah thanks, that's it, I looked at SUMIF but couldn't quite understand how to use it as the help is a bit vague. Your example has solved the problem! GaryReggae (talk) 20:17, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

HDMI sparklies

I have just recently connected a playstation 3 console to a westinghouse LVM-42w2 television using an HDMI cable from a "no-name" brand. When I set the output on the PS3 to 1080p, I found that there were some blue and white "sparkly" artifacts displayed on the screen. My initial assumption was that this was a bad cable, but when I changed the PS3 output to 1080i, the artifacts disappeared. From my understanding, artifacts caused by a bad wire or pin in the cable should persist in both modes. I am curious to know if this is likely to be a bad cable, or if there might be something else going on. Some particulars that might help with an answer are that the cable was just delivered from an unheated delivery truck, and installed while still cold to the touch. The television is reportedly capable of displaying 1080P, and the output picture, apart from the artifacts, is completely normal (no distortion, no color change). The sparklies appear both from blu-ray playback and during game play. Thanks for any insight. Also, if in your opinion this is a bad cable, was it a mistake for me to unpack and install it while still cold? Tuckerekcut (talk) 23:17, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Can your TV handle progressive-scan input? --f f r o t h 20:40, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it can handle a maximum resolution of 1080p. Tuckerekcut (talk) 16:59, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

The difference between 1080i and 1080p is twice the data rate, so if there were a defect in the cable you may end up with interference causing line noise only when higher rates are used. Since the signal is all digital, it will work flawlessly up to a point where the interference is no longer manageable, and then start to fail by dropping bits of data which result in screen artifacts. It could also be a flaw in the encoding or decoding engines, since they have to work twice as hard a defect in either would cause artifacts. The only way to find out is elimination testing. --Jmeden2000 (talk) 22:07, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, Jmeden. Perhaps I'll start with the cable... Tuckerekcut (talk) 05:56, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Help in Turing 4.1.1

Hello. On Turing 4.1.1, whenever I try to get help by pressing F10 or by clicking Turing Reference under the Help menu, the Turing Documentation window appears but the right section seems empty. How can I get it to work properly? Thanks in advance. --Mayfare (talk) 23:23, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

January 5

help

how do i change the explorer icon to a picture of my choice.the icon that revovles when u are surfing. 2.how do i change the boot screen on my win xp?i dont want the xp default picture. 3.are torrents legal,downloading free songs free movies and all.coz one gets a dvd for free without using any cash. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.22.166.182 (talk) 08:49, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

1. Use Firefox or at least IE7, IE6 is insecure, obsolete, and horrible for web developers (OK less horrible than previous versions, but still bad).
2. Use something like BootSkin.
3. No, they're copyright infringement. I would be intrigued to know where you would get a legit copy of DVD's for free. --antilived^{T | C | G} 10:44, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Torrents and PtP is in at itself not illegal. However downloading copyrighted media when a lisence is lacking is illegal. Note however that I am not a lawyer. See the legal disclaimer. Taemyr (talk) 12:14, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

It depends on the jurisdiction and current whims of the courts as to whether the software itself is illegal for enabling mass infringment. See MGM Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 17:15, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Bad answer.. BitTorrent is definitely not in that category. Linux isos + http://www.bittorrent.com/nowplaying + wow patches + BitTorrent DNA.. --f f r o t h 20:38, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Even DVD movie torrents aren't necessarily illegal: this one, for example, is perfectly free and legal to download and share. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 13:40, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Linking directly to the torrent is not all that helpfull, since the only way to see what it is would be to download the entire thing. Taemyr (talk) 14:29, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Fair enough, though looking at the URL would probably suggest a place to find more details, as might opening the .torrent file itself in any software that can display the metadata in them. I just added it mostly for the sake of demonstrating a link to a legal torrent of a DVD image. Anyway, if it's information you want (rather than random mysterious links ;-), we do have an article on the film in question. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 00:25, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

As to Antilived's question, I got two DVD's for free just a couple of weeks ago. They were wrapped in colorful paper under a tree in the living room, with my name on them. (And of course, not all DVD's are commercially made for profit -- some are designed to be given away, and homemade ones are almost always given away.) —Steve Summit (talk) 13:48, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Disaster

Yestdary i installed Linux and when it was done it overwrited my vista MBR24.237.223.131 (talk) 09:45, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

You may want to try installing a boot loader onto your computer. what it does is offers a menu so you can boot into either system. When you installed it, did you pay attention to how much space on your drive was to be used on your drive? -w^{L<speak·check>} 10:25, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Which Linux distribution did you try? Usually it will create a boot menu allowing to select which operating system to boot into. --antilived^{T | C | G} 10:46, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

The master boot record is only 512 bytes long, and easily replaced, so this shouldn't be a disaster at all. --Sean 13:00, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

The "startup repair" option off the vista dvd will restore it easily --f f r o t h 20:39, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Be aware that this will make your Linux partition unbootable. If you plan on using both you'll need a boot loader like Lilo. APL (talk) 13:40, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

MP3 player help

I have a Sandisk Sansa c250. One day I was playing with Rockbox when accidentally I ended up moving everything on the disk to trash (in the computer). I tried recovery mode and all but all I get is the backlight to the navigation buttons (which also means the battery is not faulty?). There is no display at all.

Did I brick my mp3 player? Can this be reverted to the initial mode? Please help. (I need to do a lot of catching up to do on iTunesU.) :-( Kushal^t 13:38, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Does the USB link work while in the black-screen recovery mode? --f f r o t h 20:37, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

It does not show up at all in Mac OS X. It does show up in Windows XP but Windows cannot install drivers for it. Kushal^t 23:49, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Does the Sansa only have the 2 GB of memory and if I delete every file and folder on the Sansa, is there any way to make the computer recognize the hardware again? Kushal^t 19:51, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Please reply. Kushal^t 21:34, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I'd try booting normally, holding the left arrow at boot to boot into the old sansa firmware (I don't know if it's stored in .rockbox or in the firmware blocks, better hope it's the 2nd). If the sansa firmware comes up, use it to copy the folders back to the drive since your usb link will work --f f r o t h 17:02, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Connecting a computer, a Playstation 3 and a television set

I'm trying to assist my son in connecting an old PC (Windows 2000), a modern television set, and a Sony Playstation 3. He has connected the video signal from the PC to the television via a VGA cable, and the video signal from the PS3 to the television set via a HDMI cable. This works excellently, and he can switch between the video inputs using the remote control of the television. However, two problems remain:

1. He wants to buy a wireless mouse and keyboard for the PC, which he also intends to use for controlling the PS3.
2. He wants to send the audio from all three devices to a set of loudspeakers, which up until now has been connected to the audio output of the PC.

I'd be grateful for advice about an optimal setup, where one could achive this, with as easy switching between the devices as possible, without spending a fortune. I'm also a bit confused about the keyboard and mouse setup. Since the PC and the PS3 are not aware of each other, how does one avoid that both devices respond to the signals from the keyboard and mouse? --NorwegianBlue ^talk 20:18, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

For the audio, connect all the audio devices to audio inputs on the TV. Then connect the loudspeakers to the TV's audio-out. This way, whichever device you're switched to on the TV will output its audio through the loudspeakers. For keyboard/mouse, I'm afraid you're out of luck -- you'll either need two separate sets, or you'll need to switch a single set between the PC and Playstation depending on which you want to use. There's no way, as far as I know, for them to "share". Equazcion •✗/C • 23:19, 5 Jan 2008 (UTC)

For the keyboard/mouse, you can use a KVM. I use an Avocent model. It allows me to change the computer from the keyboard itself. Technically, you are asking for a KM, not a KVM. But, you may want to consider running both the computer and PS3 into the KVM and running the KVM to the TV. Then, when you switch, you switch keyboard, video, and mouse all at once. You don't have to switch video with the TV remote and KM with the KVM. -- kainaw™ 02:48, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

I thought of that after posting my answer, but that would add a lot of extra wiring and complication. You'd need to get 2 more wires for the keyboard and another 2 for the mouse, along with the KVM box itself, and every time you wanted to switch you'd need to go over to the KVM and switch it -- it wouldn't be automatic. It's not worth the money, the hassle, or the added wire entanglement, if you ask me. Equazcion •✗/C • 02:54, 6 Jan 2008 (UTC)

My KVM came with 4 connections for 4 computers. It plugged in a wireless keyboard and mouse. To switch, I press "Print Screen" and then 1, 2, 3, or 4 to switch computers. There is no mess of extra wires and no hassle of going over to the KVM to switch things. -- kainaw™ 03:00, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, Equazcion, and Kainaw. Connecting the audio from the PC to the TV was the way to go (something we would have found out if we had RTFM a bit more carefully...); it worked beautifully. Regarding the audio from the PS3, this turned out not to be a problem. I wasn't aware when posting that the HDMI cable took care of that. I did suspect that such a thing as a KVM switch had to exist, however I had no idea of what it was called. We'll check it out. Thanks again! --NorwegianBlue ^talk 16:46, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

More in memory > More electricity usage?

If I have more stuff open on my PC that I'm not using, does that equate to electricity wastage or is it written to the HD (WinXP) after a certain time and therefore not a problem? Are there certain application which wont write their stuff to the HD despite not being used for however-long and therefore will waste electricity when not in use? --Seans Potato Business 23:28, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't know if having stuff in memory equates to more electricity usage but I am pretty sure that the cooling fans use much more electricity than the memory. and the fans never turn off when the computer is on, do they?

on another note, I know that at least the operating system likes to keep some of its stuff in volatile memory. Kushal^t 23:45, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

If you have autosave enabled, programs like Office 2003 will save the changes to a new location in the hard disk, but the main point is it saves it in the Hard disk itself. Kushal^t 23:48, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

The number of programs you leave open will have almost no bearing on electricity usage. Equazcion •✗/C • 23:52, 5 Jan 2008 (UTC)

DRAM will use the same amount of electricity refreshing its cells whether it's being used or not. Whether a memory cell is being used or not only means whether the data in the cell is useful or not, but it still take electricity to refresh the capacitors regardless. --antilived^{T | C | G} 02:44, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, guys --Seans Potato Business 13:00, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

January 6

Japanese Input in Internet Explorer 6 screwed up

Hi, I was just trying to fix our renter's computer, they are Japanese, and they use Windows IME to input Japanese text into the computer. It works well in Office and most other applications, but when entering text into forms in such places as Wikipedia and Hotmail, the text is inputted wrong. For instance, when they try to type "na" in Hiragana, it shows up as "nn(hiragana character)a". Outlook works perfectly, it's only in Internet Explorer. Can anyone help with this?

76.224.121.58 (talk) 01:36, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Have you tried Firefox? Think outside the box 11:00, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Ordered files

Let's say I have 10 numbered files, e.g., 01, 02, ... in Microsoft Windows.

I can select them all and drop them in a program that handles these files (e.g., word processor, media player ...). Chances are, when I drag and drop the numbered files into a program, the program may not properly open each file in order. For example, I have a merger program that allows me to combine text files into a large text file (e.g., Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3 ...). However, inability to properly order files makes the program much less useful.

I think Windows shall be the culprit. How do I solve this problem? -- Toytoy (talk) 01:55, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

The GUI is the culprit. How does it know that the order of the files is important? You need to work from the command prompt where you can explicitly give an order to the files. I'd suggest writing a batch file to handle it. Then you can drag-drop the files into the batch file and it will order them and send them to the merging program. -- kainaw™ 02:05, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

I think it first passes in the file the mouse was actually pressed down on, then does the rest in order by however you have them sorted in the explorer view (at least for Vista). Some programs like winamp will correct for this, but most won't. --f f r o t h 04:12, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Start the drag operation by clicking and holding down on the first item of your selection. --Bavi H (talk) 01:13, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

WEB SCANNER /ANTI- VIRUS SOFTWARES

I am having net connection with 1GB limit. MY ANTI-VIRUS WEB SCANNER IS USING around 75% of it. I want to know how to control the web uses by the anti virus. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.192.1.200 (talk) 03:39, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

You could get another anti-virus software, for a start. Something is not working right with it if it is downloading over 700 MB of bandwidth a month. What software are you using? --Fastfission (talk) 04:06, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

uml(unified modeling language)

please help me on topic:

"generating test cases using use cases and tracing requirements." —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tanyakapoor (talk • contribs) 11:19, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

You might want to take a look at Model-based testing. Taemyr (talk) 21:04, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Random alterations

Can alterations to wikipages (and other pages on the web) occur by virtue of machine error or quarks or something hitting the hardware? - CarbonLifeForm (talk) —Preceding question was added at 12:29, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't know. Error detection and correction should take care of most of it, as far as I can say. Kushal^t 12:47, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

CD, recordable status ?

Using multiple CD-RW, they all seem to have become "format failed".

I was informed, by a friend; it's because of the SCRATCHES, on the bottom.

Nothing 'deadly', just nics from normal use. Is thissufficient to make them only good as 'coasters'? Abi12 (talk) 15:14, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

It might be. You can trying using the "erase" feature that most CD burning software has. That might fix the formatting of the CD. Equazcion •✗/C • 15:25, 6 Jan 2008 (UTC)

Also try doing a flash upgrade on your hardware, that solved my problem. I was getting a format failure with most of my disks before doing that. Be careful though, use only the software that is written for your exact model. Sandman30s (talk) 19:39, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Compressed SVG readable and displayable by browser?

Can a compressed SVG be read and displayed by most browsers? If not, what browsers can do this? If none, why? Could the time taken to decompress out-weigh the downloading time saved? --Seans Potato Business 19:21, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

If I remember correctly, Mozilla Firefox 1.5.x.x did not display the compressed SVG. I used Inkscape does that for that, however. Kushal^t 19:48, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

But Firefox, IE, Opera, Safari can all do it now? What about the issue of de-compression time versus download time? ----Seans Potato Business 20:13, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't think any browsers support compressed SVGs. Some browsers (and by that I mean IE) don't support the SVG format at all, and the ones that do offer limited support (although they should be able to display most SVGs correctly). For more info, you can refer to the article on SVGs, particularly the section on SVG browser support. 208.181.90.67 (talk) 23:01, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Why do Microsoft lay themselves open to such criticism? How is it in their interest to slow down uptake of SVG? ----Seans Potato Business 23:54, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Microsoft has become a VERY huge corporation and it has a lot of bureaucratic layers. The project managers probably need to report to non technical people who want to see work going to place where there is the most money in the short term. Kushal^t 05:56, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

They didn't invent it, they don't control it, they can't make money from it, they don't think it's that important, and the criticism is likely to come from niche corners that they don't care about anyway. Until vast numbers of users, or significant numbers of very large and influential websites, start clamoring for it, I doubt they'll lift a finger. Bitmap graphics ought to be good enough for everybody. —Steve Summit (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 01:31, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

SVG right now IS kind of pointless. The browser (Firefox) can't do scaling, and renders it to a bitmap (at 96 dpi) before printing, so it comes out exactly the same as a bitmap on both screen and print (Javascript + SVG though, is quite interesting). --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:52, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

(Don't get me wrong; I love the idea of vector graphics. As it happens, SVG is pretty far from my favorite implementation, but I certainly wouldn't mind if it had more traction. —Steve Summit (talk) 06:45, 7 January 2008 (UTC))

It does save a few dollars for big websites like Wikipedia in terms of Internet use. However, I have to agree with Antilived. Kushal^t 05:59, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Actually all my SVG used in my last project were bigger than their png equivalent (yes I've used the plain SVG output in Inkscape). --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:02, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Isn't the PNG supposed to be smaller? isn't the svg supposed to be smaller than a thousand different renderings of PNG and not any one version? Kushal^t 21:30, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

put star chart on mac desktop

Is there a free program for mac that puts a live star chart on to an animated desktop?81.150.247.152 (talk) 20:25, 6 January 2008 (UTC) It's tiger, running on an intel.81.150.247.152 (talk) 21:20, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Windows XP moving shortcut icons

I am using Windows XP on a computer with two graphics cards and two monitors, and the Windows desktop extended onto the second monitor which is directly above the first (main) monitor with the start button, taskbar etc. I like to keep some icons on the second (higher) monitor so I move them there. Now comes the problem:

The system has two "user accounts" of which mine is one (I am an Administrator if that makes any difference). When I log out and log in again all the icons from screen no. 2 have been moved back to screen no. 1. The Windows login screen only uses one screen (the lower "main" monitor).

Any ideas how I can make my icons stay put?

-=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 20:48, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Did you let Windows to auto-arrange the icons? Right click on the desktop and there should be some options on this (can't tell you exactly the steps, I'm a Linux convert). --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:49, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Adding RAM to Laptops?

Is there a diagram anywhere that shows how to insert additional RAM to Laptops? --Obsolete.fax (talk) 21:15, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

It depends on the laptop model. Even different models by the same company can be different. And see my note below about RAM compatibility—you want to be 100% sure you are putting the right kind of RAM in, or else all hell can break loose. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 21:16, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, the manual should cover this. Typically you might remove the battery and/or some other covering, and there will be some number of slots underneath. Friday (talk) 21:18, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Heres a pic Think outside the box 10:53, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

And a video guide Think outside the box 10:55, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Adding RAM from 2001 PC

I removed the 256 RAM from my 2001 old PC, to put in my 2006 PC. The RAM doesn't fit in the slots. The length is same though? Does anyone know why this is? --Obsolete.fax (talk) 21:15, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Different motherboards use different types of RAM. You can't just swap them from machine to machine if they aren't exactly the same type of RAM. The Memory Advisor Tool at Crucial.com is very good for figuring out what types of RAM are compatible with different systems. Needless to say, if the RAM doesn't fit into the slot, it isn't compatible. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 21:18, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

It's most likely a stick of SDRAM, which is incompatible with today's DDR2. --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:41, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, if the old RAM is from 2001, it's probably PC-133 as opposed to your newer computer which probably uses PC-3200 or PC-4200. If you want to buy some more RAM and aren't sure which to get, take one of the sticks out of the machine, take it to Circuit City and ask what kind it is. Then go to tigerdirect.com or newegg.com and buy it cheaper there. Useight (talk) 05:54, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Wireless adapter

I connect to the internet using this thing which I plug into my usb port. It looks like a flash drive. Does anyone have any ideas on how to make it go faster? I'm wondering if its overheating cause when i put my hand on it its really hot. Lately its been very slow. When I right click on the wireless computer icon in the system tray and click repair, after its done repairing it temporarily speeds up for about 30 seconds then slows down again. Whenever I'm playing a game I get lag. I dont know if its because my adapter is really low quality or if the place im connecting to is. I brought mine for $7.99 but I see lots of $40 and $60 ones. Will buying a higher quality adapter fix my problem? Or do I have to buy my internet from now on? The one I currently have is this one: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0243527 If buying a more expensive one will help then I'll buy a new one but I dont want to waste my money if it wont do much. If anyone has any help I appreatiate it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.187.104.71 (talk) 23:53, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

That is a Trendnet; I have used other products from them and found them reliable. The heat is worrisome; I had a Linksys USB-Bluetooth device at home overheat badly and fail not so long ago. Any electronic device that overheats is going to go into some sort of failure mode. --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 00:38, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

The product reviews on newegg.com seem to indicate that the driver it ships with on the CD are bad and that you should update the new one from their website. You might give that a try. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 00:53, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for telling me theres a new driver. But I downloaded the driver and when I unziped it I saw something called setup so I clicked it and it uninstalled my current driver and did nothing else. So I ran it again and this time it says it installed new drivers but when i plug my adapter back in it says "found new hardware". So then I decided to install the old one back with the cd when I realized you can like choose a specific location so I clicked that and i clicked next and it installed it again. So then I opened up internet explorer and I didn't notice it go any faster. I went back to the trendnet download site and I notice the file was added on 10/6/07 and I brought mine later than that. So I looked at which version and the site says v3.1 and my cd says version 3.2. What confuses me is how the customer reviews were posted on 1/4/07 and 1/2/07. Did I accidentally download the wrong thing? Or did they name it so that it gets smaller, like 3.1 actually better than 3.2? If it isn't is using old drivers harmful to me and should I uninstall my current drivers and put the cd back in?75.187.104.71 (talk) 00:28, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

January 7

windows mouse

my mouse clicks really loud, how can i remap scroll wheel up/down to left/right click? thank you! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.51.122.18 (talk) 02:36, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

nm found answer (autohotkey) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.51.122.18 (talk) 04:09, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Printer button lock

I have a cat who insists on pushing the buttons on top of our printer, causing it to print a test page. Is there a way to lock the keys? The printer is a HP Laserjet 1320 PCL 6. Thanks --Omnipotence407 (talk) 02:51, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, the cheesy solution is to epoxy a hinged cover (plexiglass or similar) to the printer (a.k.a. a wikt:molly-guard). Hopefully your cat won't regard the cover as an interesting new toy. You can look up your printer model on http://www.hp.com/, and look through the resources there. You may just have to spend some time on the phone with HP support, though. --Phirazo 05:29, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Addendum - or you could leave the printer off when you're not using it, or only load it with paper when you're not using it. --Phirazo 05:46, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

make sure you load it with paper when you are using it. ;P Dureo (talk) 10:32, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Oh yeah, whoops. I wrote that late at night, my brain wasn't entirely on. --Phirazo 17:52, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps tape a thumb tack facing up next to the button? --Sean 12:58, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Sean, that is cruel! Cats are sacred. --Ouro (blah blah) 13:02, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I have five of them, so I come by my cruelty honestly. --Sean 17:44, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

How to unzip downloaded file RaWrite2

I moved the following question from the help desk to here. [3] Zenwhat (talk) 03:18, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

---

I am attempting to load a copy of Ubuntu 6.1 onto a Hard Drive that currently has only DOS 6.22 on the Drive. The BIOS does not load from the CD Drive.

I have downloaded RaWrite2 to a 3 1/2 floppy on a different computer. How do I unzip the RaWrite file?

I have not seen an answer to this question in the FAQ section. Have I asked this question in the correct forum? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Eaevansu (talk • contribs)

I don't see how RaWrite is relevant to installing Ubuntu, what are you trying to achieve with RaWrite? For the unzipping just use 7zip (free) or Winrar on the other machine (shareware) to extract it. If you want to install Ubuntu but unable to boot from CD in the BIOS, you can try this (do the Debian one, Ubuntu is based on Debian), or ask around on the forums. --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:20, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

It might be easier to just download the uncompressed executable. -- Diletante (talk) 17:15, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

You're meant to use the RaWrite program to write the raw "disc images" to blank floppies. --Kjoonlee 18:42, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

How many people read Wikipedia?

--203.78.9.149 (talk) 06:04, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Alexa says just over 8% of the people on the internet access Wikipedia. --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:11, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

You may be interested in Wikipedia:Statistics, which has all sorts of traffic and article statistics. --Phirazo 18:02, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Help .... eBay

On eBay, if someone puts up several items in one auction, how can you buy just one of those items? 138.217.145.45 (talk) 06:56, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Contact the seller and see if they will sell the items separately, otherwise, you'll probably have to buy them all if the seller lists them that way. Dureo (talk) 10:20, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Comcast DVR

I plan on turning off my Comcast service to my existing house as I am getting ready to tear it down and rebuild it, I have already turned off the other utilities, but I have some more episodes on the DVR to watch and I was wondering if I just take the box to the house I am staying in, will it work if i just plug the av hookups to the tv there? or does it need to be attached to the coax. I personally have no idea, so maybe someone here knows. Dureo (talk) 10:30, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

While I never tested this (and have since switched to Tivo, so I can't test it now), a quick way to find out is to disconnect the input from the DVR, then cycle the power on the DVR. — Lomn 14:30, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Make sure you own the DVR.. comcast leases my parents a DVR free as long as they keep paying the multiple-tuners fee, but we don't own it --f f r o t h 00:33, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Cool toad

Hi, Can anyone give me some information about the email provider cool toad - are they reputable?

Thanks, --124.181.141.227 (talk) 11:34, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Freaky mobile phone/pc question

Short and sweet: I'm sure we've all heard on this or another occasion that an amplified speaker can produce strange sounds when a mobile phone is near it and somebody is calling, picking up the signal. So, should this mobile phone be lying near a PC, could such signals (is this properly termed a carrier signal?) cause the PC to hang? Ideas welcome. Have a nice day now. Cheers, Ouro (blah blah) 13:12, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I can't back this up but my answer is absolutely not. Equazcion •✗/C • 13:44, 7 Jan 2008 (UTC)

In theory, your PC (at least if built by a major company) was tested for electromagnetic compatibility as part of the process of gaining regulatory certification (by a conformance testing house such as TUV, UL, etc.) and this testing explicitly includes testing for susceptibility to interference by mobile phones ("radiated immunity"). But the test only assumes a certain minimum distance between the PC and the phone and a certain configuration of the PC. If the phone is closer than expected or you've added additional gadgets to the PC (via, say the USB port), you might create a configuration that is susceptible to interference.

Atlant (talk) 15:03, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

My PC (as all my previous machines) is custom built by myself, kept with open case, basing on an old IBM machine (you can have a glance, I have a photo on my user page). The mobile phone usually lies 1 m (3 feet) away, tops. Thanks. --Ouro (blah blah) 15:06, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

That may explain it. One of the things you've given up by going home-built is all the effort that goes into making sure a factory-built PC won't crash because of your mobile.

Atlant (talk) 15:09, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't believe PCs built over here are given all that effort though --Ouro (blah blah) 15:14, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

The PC itself doesn't matter. Its individual components would've been tested (motherboard, power supply, etc) for EM interference, as would your mobile phone. 3 feet is plenty. I've never heard of EM interference from electronic devices causing any malfunction of computer hardware in the 15 years I've been involved in PC tech. If your PC locked up, it was not because of your mobile phone. Equazcion •✗/C • 15:11, 7 Jan 2008 (UTC)

Ah, thanks, Equazcion. --Ouro (blah blah) 15:20, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

It is the PC "as a whole" that is certified, although EMC was considered with every component and sub-assembly that was designed.

Atlant (talk) 16:36, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

• All PC cases must be FCC class B certified for home use, class A certified for office use in US. The components inside does not matter. If you use a class B case, your PC is class B certified. NYCDA (talk) 16:44, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

If you believe that what goes inside doesn't matter, you've obviously never had to design or certify any of this stuff; I have. In fact, the guy from TUV just spent several days in my lab with his three big racks full of certification equipment and his huge Yagi antenna.

Atlant (talk) 22:57, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Sound like an FCCin nightmare!--TreeSmiler (talk) 02:13, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Motorola KRZR

I have a Motorola KRZR (the 1st edition, I guess), and when I delete .mp3 ringtones from my Sound file on the phone, it still leaves the ringtone on the list when I am searching for a specific ringtone to add to a contact. Also, only a few of the ringtones I actually have on my phone are showing up in said list. Is there a way to reset all ringtones, including clearing this list? The Master Reset selection didn't do this. EWHS (talk) 14:14, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Edit: KRZR is model K1m EWHS (talk) 14:17, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Small confusion

Is Google Earth the same as the satellite imagery on Google maps or Maps generally? Or is there a difference (Ignoring one is a programme and the other isn't as such)? Simply south (talk) 15:14, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

They use the same Imagery from Digital Globe & Terrametrics. --Obsolete.fax (talk) 16:23, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

However, there are places where you can zoom in to see more detail in Earth than you're allowed in Maps. jeffjon (talk) 18:20, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Do you have any examples? —Steve Summit (talk) 22:53, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Standard subject descriptors for tagging IT-related documents

Are there any freely available classification schemes that provide standardized subject descriptors for tagging information-technology related documents? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.236.170.228 (talk) 16:13, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Imposition/Pagination in DTP software

Hello. I have a 130,000 word document in Word which I want to resize to A5 and print out double-sided on a normal printer preparatory to cutting the pages in half and wire-binding. This requires a level of imposition that Word doesn't seem able to cope with, as I need to reorder the pages 1,4,3,2 in a landscape format...

I have access to all the DTP software a man could want, Quark, Illustrator, Acrobat, but I can't find the answer... any ideas?

Thanks 80.229.160.127 (talk) 18:41, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Try searching on The Word MVP Site. There some commercial applications such as Clickbook and Fineprint that will automate the process. --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 21:16, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Reinstall Kubuntu from CD without reformatting

My laptop can't currently get past GRUB stage 2 when booting from the hard drive. Its Kubuntu 7.10 installation previously worked just fine. Although I could fsck the hard drive when booting from CD (didn't help), the installation CD said it couldn't install to the partition I'd been using (which was ext3) without reformatting it first. How can I repair or redo the installation from a CD without reformatting or repartitioning the drive? (I can burn a different CD if necessary.) NeonMerlin 19:09, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I would use Knoppix to boot into Linux, mount the drive, backup whatever files you need, then fdisk/format/reinstall. It appears that there is something wrong with the drive - though it is possible that it is only a bad config of some sort. If it is a bad drive, you'll be wasting days and days trying to get it to work and end up losing your data. -- kainaw™ 19:49, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I should have pointed out that Knoppix may also be used to poke around the Kubuntu drive and see if anything looks bad that you can fix. -- kainaw™ 19:51, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

computer help

Hello I've been having computer problems for quite sometime. I am a middle-aged woman with no computer experience who acquired a new notebook approx 1yr ago. I purchased a wireless router, antivirus software and used i-tunes because I didn't want a virus with the music I downloaded...but about 3 months into my computer usage my problems began and all the reformatting in the world hasn't "cleaned" my computer to this day. As a matter of fact, several modems and even routers later, and something connectionwise appears to be an issue...if this is even possible, or just in my head. I can't quite search for information because my search answers are "tainted"...I get the run-a-round. My boyfriend has no idea what I'm talking about, and everyone swears a computer is fine once you have reformatted and reinstalled Windows...? So If you agree, fine. But if you have any idea about what could be an area for me to check out, I would greatly appreciate it. Like, someone on-line I can connect to who can see my computer and look around for things and recognize them as viruses, or a bad registry issue. Yes, I have discussed this with HP, but there is a language barrier problem. So, if you have any reccommendations of areas for me to search next, please let me know. Thankyou. Christine redington (talk) 20:18, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

The main problem with helping is that I cannot tell what the problem is. The only issue you mention is "something connectionwise". What? It doesn't connect? Data connection is slow? Blue smoke comes out the back and it makes a hissing noise? -- kainaw™ 20:21, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Christine, before we can help we do need to know what the problem is. Answer these questions for us: What are you trying to do? And what happens when you try to do it? Equazcion •✗/C • 20:24, 7 Jan 2008 (UTC)

computer help

I'm sorry for rambling. What is a sub-system? and is this anything a generic laptop user like me would have to deal with?Christine redington (talk) 20:45, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

"sub-system" can mean many different things. Please, start from the beginning. What are you trying to do? Let's start with that. Equazcion •✗/C • 20:48, 7 Jan 2008 (UTC)

Generically, it just means some part of a system. I'm not aware of any more specific meaning that should be important to you. Obviously your internet works well enough for you to use Wikipedia, so what exactly is the problem you're having? The questions asked above are good ones. And yes- completely wiping and reinstalling your operating system should reset your computer to a healthy state, barring an actual hardware problem. Friday (talk) 20:50, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Backing up iTunes on an external hard drive.

I have iTunes 7.5 and I'm getting an external hard drive shortly (because my Macbook's hard drive died recently - definitely need to back things up from now on) and I was wondering how I would go about backing up my music (as well as information such as ratings, playcounts etc) onto the hard drive. I have looked at various websites but they either talk about playing the music directly from the hard drive - I just want to back it up, I'll still keep my music on my Macbook or talk about copying the "iTunes music" folder. My music is not situated there - I just have it in the "Music" folder. Would I have to move it to the" iTunes music" folder or can I keep it where it is? Help is appreciated! -- Stacey _{talk to me} 21:16, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

If you're just backing it up, just copy the whole Music folder a to the hard drive. If you wanted to restore from the backup, you'd just copy it back in place. Inside that folder is everything iTunes needs to find your music again. The "iTunes library" file (in the Music folder) is the one that tells iTunes where all your music is and what ratings they have, I believe. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 00:50, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

That's right, I've done this a few times, transferring iTunes music collections between computers and whatnot. It's surprisingly simple. Just copy the iTunes library folder, and paste it onto the external drive. To restore the back copy and paste it back to the same location -- pretty much what the previous user described. Equazcion •✗/C • 06:39, 8 Jan 2008 (UTC)

Okay cool, thank you :) -- Stacey _{talk to me} 19:28, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Webcam help

I have a webcam, Microsoft XV3000 (external, see the link below), and I was wondering if there was any way to save the file being recorded without pressing the stop/save button. I've come to the conclusion, by typing shutdown -s -t 10 into the run prompt, that the software (LifeCam) does not save by termination. Can anyone help me? PS. I've got to turn the computer off with the -s -t 1000, because I want to monitor my cat's attempts to get out after I've turned in for the night. PPS. I've read <90% of the virtual help. Thanks bunches!!!!! Yamakiri^→Г_C← 01-7-2008 • 21:22:22

Ipod File Format Question

I want to buy an Ipod and am just double checking what I found in an article here on Wikipedia, to make sure my files will play. My files are all in MPEG or AAC formats; a sixth generation Ipod classic with play both of these, yes? The Ipod article says so but an Ipod is too expensive for me without getting confirmation it'll work. Thanks! DoomsDay349 23:43, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

It will when you install Rockbox on it, which you will because:

• Itunes music store is pretty terrible and covered in millions of gallons of black, sticky DRM, and the sync features are messy, and itunes is the most bloated, disgusting media player ever created and should never touch a windows machine since the windows version is written so badly
• The built-in ipod firmware is ugly and counterintuitive, and doesn't support open codecs/containers like Vorbis/ogg and FLAC.
• You can play DOOM and chess and game boy games with rockbox

But on its own, yes, the ipod firmware will play aac in mpeg4, as well as MP3 --f f r o t h 00:29, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

sadly your classic won't work with Rockbox at the moment, have a look at the Rockbox homepage [4]. If you run linux you can use gtkpod instead of itunes, but you're stuck with the ipod firmware (which I don't think is that bad in terms of useability) 163.1.148.158 (talk) 00:36, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

The answer is YES your iPod should play those file types just fine. I think you can ignore all of the above; it doesn't really try to directly answer your question at all and is pretty much the opinion of one dedicated anti-Apple user. (froth—the question was direct enough, why complicate it with your own concerns? that's not really helpful. who cares if you don't like the interface? did anybody ask about iTunes? DOOM and chess? wtf?) --24.147.86.187 (talk) 00:55, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Indeed. For an opposing viewpoint (though at risk of starting a debate which the RD's are allegedly not for): I love my iPod, and its interface is among the most beautifully intuitive I've ever used. Simple, consistent, yet fully functional. Nor has ITMS's minimal DRM ever gotten in my way.

(However, I had never heard of Rockbox and am intrigued to learn of it, so thanks for the tip.) —Steve Summit (talk) 01:33, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

January 8

HTML table formatting

I'm working on a template I intend to use on a DVD review website. I've got the general layout figured out, but I am trouble with two embedded tables (which contain information pertaining to the audio and video tracks found on the disc). The HTML code for the page can be found on my sandbox. It doesn't display well on Wikipedia, but if you copy and past it into a standard word document, it should work. I set the main table's width too 1000, but I would like to discard absolute values and start using percentages. My question here is as follows: how can I make the small 'audio' and 'video' tables fit the whole cell they've been placed inside? Furthermore, is there a way for me to force the separation of the first and second colums to occur exactly at the middle of the cell? This would mean that, for instance, we'd have 'Length', a vertical line at the middle of the cell and then '0:23:10'. Finally, what is the width of the Wikipedia toolbar? -- Ishikawa Minoru (talk) 00:47, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

I edited the Length one for you on the sub-page to show you how to do it—it's easy to do with percentages. Add "width=100%" to the sub-table (to make it expand as far as it can within its cell), then "width=50%" to each of the TDs that you want to be 50%/50% (it'll try to make each column take up exactly half of the total space). --24.147.86.187 (talk) 00:59, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Thank you very much for the help. -- Ishikawa Minoru (talk) 01:24, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Psp video 9?

I have downloaded the newest versian of psp video 9.. ..and at the begining when it asks what "firmware" you have , and it gives you a list. My psp is 3.71 but I could'nt find it there. What should I do? (Superawesomgoat (talk) 02:45, 8 January 2008 (UTC))

please... .. .HELP!!!... . ..uh thanks for ur time. (Superawesomgoat (talk) 00:11, 9 January 2008 (UTC))

HD DVD or blue-ray?

Which has better audio and a better resolution? blu-ray or hd? (Superawesomgoat (talk) 02:50, 8 January 2008 (UTC))

See Comparison of high definition optical disc formats. I believe the short answer is that Blu-ray has a bit of a technical advantage in a couple areas. Friday (talk) 03:29, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

You still might want to get blu-ray since Warner Bros. has just agreed to make all their movies blu-ray and not HD DVD.--Dlo2012 (talk) 14:28, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Playing Wii on a laptop screen

Hi,

After researching for quite a while about how to play my Wii on my laptop computer screen, it seems I have to use a USB device as I haven't got any inputs I can use (I could also use an ExpressCard but it seems there aren't really many)

So could anyone recommend me a USB card that would allow me to play with minimum lag (and reasonably good image quality) ?

The device I've seen most is the Adaptec Gamebridge but the lag seems to be quite present (quite a few people complaining).

Thanks a lot. -- Xedi (talk) 03:39, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm afraid lag is going to be an everpresent problem. To play a composite signal on a laptop (or any computer screen) you have to digitize the image and sound, push it across the bus, then display it to the screen. This takes time, which you see as lag. To avoid the lag, you need to talk directly to the monitor without any processing inbetween, and that's pretty much impossible. The Gamebridge is about as close as you're going to get. :( --Mdwyer (talk) 18:10, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Ok, thanks. I'll give the Gamebridge a try, as it only is about £10 around here. -- Xedi (talk) 19:04, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

I've got the Gamebridge, although I just use it to watch TV on my laptop. If another regular TV is on nearby, you can hear the lag as an echo between the sounds each one is outputting. The lag is only about half a second long, if it's even that much, but for games I can see it getting in the way. Equazcion •✗/C • 11:50, 9 Jan 2008 (UTC)

I think you can get around the lag if you are willing to take both your laptop and Wii apart. See this link [5] for someone who did this to an Xbox. Taemyr (talk) 12:20, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

"Any-of-these-tables" foreign key

What database systems, if any, allow a foreign key where the referenced table can be any of several (which may have differences in structure)? NeonMerlin 06:33, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

AFAIK any true RDBMS should support this, Oracle certainly does - as long as all the child tables have matching primary keys to the parent foreign key, I don't think there is a limit. The rest of each child table's structure will differ. The question is, have you found one that doesn't? Sandman30s (talk) 09:07, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

The way I read the question, no popular database systems support this. It appears that the user wants to a have a column that is a foreign key pulled from one of a large set of tables. For example, you have a table of cars with a unique model number, a table of highways with a unique name, and a table of workers with a unique employee number. The user wants a fourth table that has a column that could hold a car's model number, a highway name, or a worker's employee number as a foreign key. A foreign key cannot be mixed like that. There may be a strange database system that supports it, but not anything I've worked with. -- kainaw™ 13:24, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

In principle, there's nothing stopping you from doing this; the only problem is that you won't be able to set up proper foreign key constraints to enforce referential integrity. The most common situation tempting one to do something like this seems to be when one would like to have a log of changes made to other tables, which naturally suggests a table containing something like the columns "log message", "timestamp", "type of change", "changed table" and "id in changed table". I think the preferred solution in such a situation would be to set up separate log tables for each target table and then make the combined log a union view of the subtables. If your RDBMS is smart enough, you might even be able to make the view updatable. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 14:45, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

sqlite gui.

I'd like to present a sqlite database like a spreadsheet, with colors, as you can in excel. what's the easiest way to do this (I'd hate to have to reinvent the wheel).

Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.51.122.1 (talk) 10:04, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Stock Information Offine - (NOT SOLVED)

There are many websites out there that offer information regarding stocks on the Toronto Stock Exchange, NASDAQ, and NYSE. For example Google Finance, Yahoo Finance etc.

I was wondering in regards with getting all the information of the stocks offline including p/e etc. I have MS Office and XP.

What would be the best way for me to go around doing that?

Thanks. --Obsolete.fax (talk) 11:37, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Excel help required

Hi

In MS Excel I want to select all cells that have a particular value. I'm sure this must be really straightforward but I can't work it out from the help file.

Thanks a lot --195.167.178.194 (talk) 12:39, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

If you are looking to change the values in these cells you can use Ctrl-H to replace and Excel will search the document for you. Or, CTRL-F and then enter your value and hit Find All. You can then Ctrl left click all the cells you need. Lanfear's Bane | t 13:12, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

(ec) I think you would need a macro to do this:

Sub SelectByValue()

   Const VALUE_TO_FIND = "test" ' <<< set this to the value you want to find

   Dim ValueCells As Range, c As Range
   For Each c In ActiveSheet.UsedRange
       If Not IsError(c.Value) Then
           If c.Value = VALUE_TO_FIND Then
               If ValueCells Is Nothing Then
                   Set ValueCells = c
               Else
                   Set ValueCells = Application.Union(ValueCells, c)
               End If
           End If
       End If
   Next
   
   If ValueCells Is Nothing Then
       MsgBox "Value not found"
   Else
       ValueCells.Select
   End If
End Sub

AndrewWTaylor (talk) 13:14, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

IC recorder

Two questions. First, what does the "IC" in IC recorder stand for. This is a machine which I would refer to as a digital voice recorder, though it is marketed by sony, olympus, and panasonic as an "IC recorder". Second, is there a way to convert or listen to .msv (memory stick voice, a proprietary sony format) files on a macintosh. I realize that these files can be converted to .wav using PC software, but I don't have a PC with which to convert. Thanks! Tuckerekcut (talk) 18:14, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

The only thing I can think of for IC is Integrated Circuit, but that seems rather dated. For the conversion, maybe Switch? I don't have any experience with it, but it came up first in a search. --LarryMac | Talk 18:24, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

I have tried Switch, it tells me that it can't convert from .msv (though it does recognize it as a file, unlike other programs I've tried). It also prompts for me to download a plugin from a website it gives to play the file. Unfortunately the given website has a plugin which is only readable by the windows version of the switch program. Tuckerekcut (talk) 18:41, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Argh, sorry 'bout that. Further digging does seem to indicate the msv functionality is Windows only. There was another program I saw called SoundConverter, but I've gotten conflicting indications on its support of msv. I suppose running Windows under Bootcamp or Parallels is out of the question? --LarryMac | Talk 18:53, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

I also tried soundconverter (I apologize for not recounting my efforts thus far, it might have saved you the effort of finding them again). It's something I need to do often enough that I would need to be able to do it in OSX, so boot camp is not likely to work. It seems that I will have to choose between buying a Mac-compatible recorder, or parallels. In any case, thanks much for your quick responses, LarryMac.Tuckerekcut (talk) 19:15, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Just as a note: if you do get totally stuck with needing to do it in Windows, a virtualizer (like Parallels) will let you run Windows without exiting OS X. I have a friend who had to get it for just such a thing, because some lousy proprietary sound format required a Windows-only player. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 23:16, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

I got a Disk Error?

help, there seems to be a problem with my computer. I first noticed this a few weeks ago. Some of my music files just simply won't play. They are also separated from the others (see screenshot). When I try to edit their properties tags, it gives me a "A disk error occured during a write process". All of the highlighted items are like that, but some of them like "Dream Theater - Never Enough" can actually be played - I just can't edit tags.

So I thought "could it be I have a damaged hard disk?" So i did a disk error-check, but I fell asleep before it finishes. When I woke up, Windows is already on the welcome page, I think that means I don't have any errors, right?

Here is a screenshot: http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/1858/somethingwrongva9.png What could be the problem? Aurora sword (talk) 21:13, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

The image resolution of your screenshot is far to low. Theresa Knott | The otter sank 21:18, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, forgot to turn off auto resize. Here it is http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/2/somethingwrongla9.png Aurora sword (talk) 21:23, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

This is only supposed to happen when you copy a music file from one computer to another. There is copy protection on the file. When you copy it, the file will move, but it will not play. -- kainaw™ 21:38, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

You can DRM mp3s?? --f f r o t h 21:42, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

I did download all of them from either Frostwire or Limewire. But they worked fine before. For example I've had that Bob Dylan song since 2006. This thing just happened recently, but it also effect the new files, like those Nightwish songs which I just downloaded 3 days ago. I think this started happening when I started to compile a music library. I bought a Creative ZEN V Plus last year and installed the software that came with it. Last month I started to "fix" my music collection. Adding new information, fixing wrong tags and deleting duplicates, etc. Then this started happenning. Aurora sword (talk) 21:51, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

PHP operator

I'm not a stellar programmer. In fact, I most likely am a horrible one. However, in trying to figure out how things work (including Wikipedia) I keep seeing the operator (I presume): ->, usually accompanied by amazingly nonspecifc variable names. I have not been able to figure out what it does specifically. So, my question is, what does it do? It does not appear in any of the references I have read, nor is it easily searchable because it's a special character. User:Krator (t c) 22:03, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

It is used with PHP classes and objects. It's somewhat complicated stuff; not the easiest thing to start with for a beginning PHP programmer, and almost always means that you are dealing with custom built classes to do specific functions. (Unless you really mean =>, which is used for array value assignment, but if you mean ->, then it's about classes/objects)--24.147.86.187 (talk) 23:08, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

In C it means to dereference the pointer and access a member property/method.. no idea about php --f f r o t h 00:54, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

As *.187 said, the -> is used in PHP for object operations. Assume you have an object named $obj. To access the object's variable "var", you use $obj->var. To run the object's function foo, you use $obj->foo(). The () indicates that it is a function and not a variable. Another thing you will see often is the use of the variable $this with -> following it. Inside of a class definition, $this refers to the object itself, regardless of what the programmer named it. -- kainaw™ 03:06, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, this is similar to something I'm familiar with. Follow up question: what about multiple uses, e.g. $this->Alpha->One User:Krator (t c) 19:07, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Any variable may be assigned to an object. In your example, $this->Alpha is a variable in the $this object. It is also an object. So, you have an object which has one of its variables set to an object. The "One" is a variable inside of the $this-&gtAlpha object. You could call a function in the $this->Alpha object witih something like $this->>Alpha->foo(). -- kainaw™ 19:27, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Securing your wireless internets :)

Can someone show me a website or tell me exactly how to secure it. Note that im not the best with computers and a step by step instructions would be nice. BonesBrigade 23:34, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Don't try to do it on your own, it's too complex. --f f r o t h 00:54, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Oh wait, you're asking how to secure your wireless access, not how to secure a website, never mind ! --f f r o t h 02:48, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Did you really mean Interweb? 69.150.163.1 (talk) 01:04, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

So so so so sorry, i ussaly just use interwebs becuase its sounds more awesome. I changed the title to relect. BonesBrigade 02:50, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

The user is most likely asking how to secure a wireless router. It is not complicated at all. It is just different for nearly everyone so there's no possibility of having a single guide to show you. First, access your router. How? It came with instructions. Every router is different. For mine, I open a web browser and go to 192.168.0.1 and type in a password. I am 99% certain that yours will require something completely different. Then, open the wireless settings. How? It came with instructions. Every router is different. Mine has a series of tabs. I click on "wireless security". I am 99% certain that yours will be something completely different. Select a security method available. It may be WEP. It may be WPA. You may have both. You may have something else. Every router is different. Mine has WEP and WPA. I chose WPA because it is more secure than WEP. You will be required to enter a key/code/password/passphrase (or whatever your router wants to call it. You may be required to enter four of them. Every router is different. Then, save the wireless settings. You will suddenly lose wireless access because your computer does not have the secure key you just entered. Go into your computer's wireless security settings. How? Every operating system is different. I type "system-config-networking" and an interface comes up with networking settings. Set your computer's encryption type (WEP, WPA...) to the same type you used on the router. Set the key(s) to the same ones your router used. Save your settings. You may need to reboot (especially if you are using Windows). If all went well, you are now using a secure wireless network - but you won't magically get a secure "internets" out of it. -- kainaw™ 03:15, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

January 9

Partition madness

I made a partition of my hard drive on my mac for boot camp. I've gotten into some unrelated problems with windows (darn registration) and wiped that partition's data. Can you merge a partition back into an existing HD partition —Preceding unsigned comment added by Crossaxel 412 (talk • contribs) 02:19, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Kind of. If you have all sectors partitioned right now, then you blow away a partition and resize a partition to include the sectors that were previously included in the old partition. The problem is that some file systems may have issues with this, i.e. NTFS. I don't know what file system Mac OS uses, but if shouldn't have a problem with it. But since I don't know for sure, you might want to get a second opinion just in case. EvilCouch (talk) 05:59, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

ISO framerate

I have an ISO file on my computer that I was trying to convert to MP4. I used Handbrake, but the automatic framerate made the video choppy. Is there any way I can determine the proper framerate from the ISO? Thanks in advance. QWERTY | Dvorak 03:29, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

In my experience, you get terrible video if the buffer empties due to lag on the video side. I get this if I try to rip a DVD while running too many other programs. You appear to be trying to fake a DVD or Video CD with an ISO and then rip it to an MP4. That is a lot of work for the computer to do - which I feel can easily cause the buffer to empty. Have you tried first burning the ISO and then ripping from the CD/DVD? -- kainaw™ 03:43, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Fedora video cropping tool

I have no trouble using DVD-Rip to easily rip the DVDs I make to videos for YouTube. However, I haven't found a simple tool for cropping out a section of the video. I have to rip the whole DVD and then upload the whole thing. Does Fedora have anything in it's repository (or even on Livna) for cropping videos? -- kainaw™ 04:05, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't know what's in those repositories, and I'm not sure I have the best answer anyway, but since nobody else is touching this question, I'll try: MEncoder --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 21:21, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

widescreen or full? why?

If you buy a PC (laptop or desktop), do you prefer a widescreen or a 3:4 screen? And why? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.104.123 (talk) 05:10, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Depends on what you do with it. If you mainly use it to watch movies or edit photos, widescreen is better; If you use it for browsing the interweb or gaming (on a laptop?), normal 4:3 is better. --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:27, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Doesn't matter as long as the screen is huge :) no, seriously, having worked with 16:9 and 4:3, I think I perfer standard 4:3 displays because they feel bigger (but that's a thing of subjective perception). --Ouro (blah blah) 12:15, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

I use three 4:3 displays on my work computer and two 4:3 displays at home. I do not understand the benefit of widescreen for "computer" use. Playing movies is, in my opinion, not "computer" use. The way I work, every window is maximized on one of the monitors. I don't have little windows all over the desktop. With a widescreen it would be difficult to click one "maximize" button and have your window take up half the screen on the left or right - allowing you to easily have two maximized windows side-by-side. With multiple displays, it is easy. -- kainaw™ 12:59, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

I ,like my widescreen for screen for : 1) Ganes 2) More than one code file side-by-side. But I also have a 3:4 monitor next to it. And that's the real answer. Multi-monitor is the best way to go. APL (talk) 14:02, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Apparently you're not familiar with the "Tile Windows Vertically" command. It is kind of new, I guess. Anyway, it lets you optimize two or more windows on a screen. As a user of 16:10 displays, I can vouch for this feature's usefulness. Two screens are nice, but when you only have room for one on your desk you might as well pick a widescreen.--Jmeden2000 (talk) 17:47, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Wide screen always. Consider a 8.5x11 paper with margins that's 8x10 printable area that's 8:10 ratio. Putting 2 sheets side by side makes it 16:10 ratio. A big widescreen is much more useful then big 4:3 display. NYCDA (talk) 20:30, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

A 4:3 display is larger than a 16:9 display of the same diagonal (by about 12%). The computer display article currently contains the following amusing paragraph: "A widescreen display always has less screen area for a given quoted inch size than a standard 4:3 display, due to basic geometry. Some regard the resulting greater potential profit margin as a prime reason for their promotion." I have no idea whether the second sentence is true, and it should probably be deleted in any case. -- BenRG (talk) 22:48, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Unless referenced, it is merely opinion. -- kainaw™ 23:05, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

When working with very large images in Photoshop or doing Portrait-style work, there is occasionally, depending on your specific monitor resolution, not enough vertical and too much horizontal space on a widescreen monitor. Acceptable (talk) 00:36, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Definitely 4:3 all the way. Widescreen laptops are clunky and ugly from all the wasted space- have you seen those mammoth HP laptops with 6 inches of unused horizontal space on the keyboard and a full numpad?! When I got a second monitor I got widescreen though, since it came down to a choice between 1400x1050 (same as my primary display) and 1680x1050. The extra horizontal pixels won out, and those 280 pixels are perfect for snuggling a google talk window on the far side of the monitor :D The best is undoubtedly multi-monitor.. SO much space it's glorious, but if you're stuck with 1 display use 4:3 --f f r o t h 03:05, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Windows scripting

As a Linux convert I have no idea how to do basic things in Windows with command line, but as I have to use Windows at work, I have to learn. I'm trying to automate a back up process which involves copying files from one location to another, and delete the older version, and the gives a notification on the users that it's done and they can continue doing their work. The only thing I have trouble with is the notification: what can I use? I tried using net send (it has messenger service running) but I can't figure out how to send a message to myself. Is there something like zenity in Windows? --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:25, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

This is just a guess, but can you net send to "localhost" or 127.0.0.1? --LarryMac | Talk 19:37, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes you can net send localhost, but "there must be a better way" --f f r o t h 02:59, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Sending EOF to QSHELL on System i

Hello, I'm using QSHELL on a System i where there is apparently no support for sending an eof (cf doing a Ctrl-D in bash). Does anyone know anyway of doing this? It's happy to let me do a

cat

But then just lets me type... forever. Any ideas? Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.193.189.41 (talk) 11:27, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Sorry just found it, I can go, if anyone's interested, for example:

cat << stop

and it will look out for 'stop'. --194.193.189.41 (talk) 11:41, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Print screen

I'm using Windows Vista and I cannot get the print screen function to work. CRTL+Print Screen does nothing, ALT+Print Screen does nothing, can't paste anything into MS Paint.--h i s ^{s p a c e} _{r e s e a r c h} 13:29, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Surely print screen is the primary function of the key and you don't need to depress anything else? Lanfear's Bane | t 14:11, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

No, it's not, it's the insert key that also has print screen on it, but I can't work out how to use it.--h i s ^{s p a c e} _{r e s e a r c h} 14:23, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Is this a laptop and the letters "Print Screen" are in blue, purple, organge - or anything other than the white used on all the other keys? Is there another button with something like "Fn" on it in the same color? -- kainaw™ 14:50, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

It's a laptop and it has "prt sc" in a box below "insert" both on the key. Black key, white text, no colours.--h i s ^{s p a c e} _{r e s e a r c h} 15:27, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

If you have a Compaq Presario , this forum thread might be useful; to summarize, the person asking the original question did have to use the Fn key next the the space bar. Thus, press and hold Fn and then hit your multi-function insert/prtsc key for the whole screen, Fn-Alt-PrtSc for just the selected window. --LarryMac | Talk 15:39, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

What I was trying to get at was that the key is an insert key. It is not a print screen key. By pressing the Fn key (apparently), you change the function of certain keys. That turns it into a print screen key. So, by pressing Ctrl+Print Screen (without the Fn), you were really pressing Ctrl+Insert which will not do a screen capture. -- kainaw™ 18:47, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Website Frames Question

Alright, I know frames are "old news" and arent really used anymore but I decided to start playing with them just for fun. I was wondering if there is a way to have a link in the links pane change the Main frame AND another frame at the same time. So, for example I have a main frame and a header frame... could the link change both?

Thanks :)

--Zach (talk) 14:30, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

To do this without javascript, you use frames in frames. Your page will be a links frame and a "content" frame. The content frame is a title frame and a main frame. The link target is the content frame. The page loaded there contains a title frame and a content frame. Obviously, this limits your layout design since the title and main frames must either be the same width and set top/bottom or the same height and set left/right. If you instead use javascript, you can easily set the src for one, two, or more frames on your page with a single click. -- kainaw™ 14:46, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Linux/WinXP combo

Hi, I enjoy learning from reading on this desk and have two three questions. I am considering setting up an old laptop as a server in the closet, primarily for serving files (backups of my digital images, server for my music collection and "synchronisation folders" for keeping "My Documents" on both laptops the same. I run Windows XP on both "regular" laptops in use and do not intend to change this. I intend to use Ubuntu Linux on the server (because I already downloaded the ISOs and tried this before, it seems user friendly) and manage it using PuTTY or something similar (command-line; I was once familiar with DOS 6.22 and find the transition not-too-bad). My questions are:

1) When I consider using mostly command-line, would it be easier to just install Ubuntu Server? Or should I go for the full desktop, what will be the cost in terms of startup time etc? I could probably go for some stripped down distribution instead (DSL? FreeNAS?); however, I fear I then will end up missing something that I need (for example considering the next question)

2) I believe SAMBA is the easiest way to connect to files on the Linux box from the XP computers. However, I have had bad experiences with the Norwegian letters æøå with SAMBA before, even though I configured it with the "correct" codepages etc (I believe it was SAMBA v2, not v3, however). Does this now work fully? I tried browsing samba.org for this but found nothing decisive. Have anyone tried? I need this to work because a lot of my pictures have ÆØÅ in the file names and I do not want the backup to change the file names. (If I cannot resolve this I might resort to running an OEM Windows XP on the system instead.)

3) I don't think my old laptop supports wake-on-lan. Is there any other way so I don't have to keep the machine running and generating heat etc all the time? I considered wiring the "on" button (or the wires, anyway) to the USB or LPT port on my wl500g router (which already runs a kind of Linux system) which is always on, and try to get some software/package that could enable power here when I request that. Anyone know if such a system exists, possibly as sort of USB dongle that is cheap to get?

Thank you very much! --Jørgen (talk) 18:34, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

I did this exact same thing at home. A laptop is a nice fileserver. It doesn't take up a lot of room. It has built-in battery backup. In case of a fire, it is easy to snatch it up on your way out the door. To answer your questions, don't waste disk space on a GUI. You shouldn't need to work directly at the server once it is set up and all of your setup needs can be done in the shell. Samba is the best way I know to share files between Windows and Linux. There is an alternative of trying to get your XP machines to NFS mount the server. Some programs do that, but I've never used them. You can use SWAT to set up Samba and maintain it from your XP machines using a web browser. I don't have wake-on-lan either. I have it stop the drives and shut off the screen after an hour of non-use. At that point, it uses very little electricity. I should note that I disabled practically all services on the laptop - so it doesn't waste time doing something stupid such as monitor for bluetooth activity. -- kainaw™ 18:45, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Computer animated films

Today's computer animated films look incredibly lifelike, and continue to improve with time. Characters are shown with realistic facial expressions, waterfalls are portrayed with mist. Why, then, are actors still hired to voice the various characters in a film? Hasn't technology evolved to the point that voices can be computer generated as well? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.120.95.52 (talk) 20:58, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Voices can be computer generated, yes -- see our speech synthesis article for more detail. The challenge is in adding emotion and inflection etc (called prosody) to those voices. Take a simple phrase like "Where are you going?" You can put the emphasis on any of the four words and get slightly different meanings. Using a markup language (like SSML) might help with this somewhat, but I'd guess that at this time it is just not cost-effective to replace human actors. On the other hand, within the speech synthesis article is a link to a page mentioning the release of software meant to be used for anime and manga; note however that the linked article mentions some doubts and perhaps limited usage for such a system. --LarryMac | Talk 21:22, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

I'd say the major reason is that there's no pressing need for synthesized sound. Voices and sound effects are cheap and easy; fantastic visual effects done in the real world are not. As for why they hire expensive actors, it's because their celebrity helps in marketing the film. Generally speaking, professional voice actors are much better than regular actors doing voice-overs (compare Dan Castellaneta to Kevin Bacon, say). --Sean 01:50, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Making pages live

I have just created a new page, and I need to know how to make it Live on the www. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kimberlynd (talk • contribs) 22:38, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Can you clarify? What kind of page have you created, and how? What do you want to do with it? -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 22:52, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Assuming you meant that you created some HTML page and you want it to be accessible via the www, you basically need to register a domain name with a registrar, open an account with a hosting provider, configure the DNS servers and upload your file via an ftp client. There are other possibilities, but this is probably the simplest. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 23:00, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Disposable short URLs

Is there any URL shortening service (like doiop etc.) that allows users to either set an expiration date or timespan after which the short URL will no longer work, or register before creating a short URL so they can identify themselves as the short URL's “owner” and delete it once they no longer want it to function? The first of the two possibilities should be easy to implement. Wikipeditor (talk) 23:09, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

The main feature of all them that I've seen (tinyurl, dwarfurl...) is that they never expire. They even say that on the main page in big bold letters: never expires! So, I believe it would be difficult to find one that does expire. You know - it wouldn't be difficult to write one for yourself. All you need is a hash table for the shortened url string, the main url, and the expiration date. Once the expiration date is over, remove it from the hash table. -- kainaw™ 23:15, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for your quick reply, but I wouldn't know how to do that. I can't believe nobody has this killer feature yet, I'd even use GiganticURL if it did the job! Wikipeditor (talk) 23:36, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

I do not see this as any sort of "killer" feature. If you do not remove the actual page, it will always be active regardless of any shortened URLs redirecting to it. Also, when a person uses a shortened URL, they can bookmark the page. The bookmark will be to the page, not the shortened URL. So, they will have a link to it until the actual page is removed. In short, expiring shortened URLs is nothing more than a nuisance. It provides no form of restriction to keep people from accessing the page. -- kainaw™ 23:58, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks again for your reply. Situations where it may be useful are of course limited. For my purpose, I don't need perfect restriction, and in fact I have just deemed an eternal short URL acceptable and made one. Wikipeditor (talk) 01:40, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

I had an idea for a workaround - which may actually omit the need for short urls. You can create symbolic links (shortcut in Windows-world) to your web pages on your web server. For example, you may have the page http://yoursite.com/some_page_that_you_want_to_link_to.html. You can create a symlink to it called http://yoursite.com/123qwe. When you don't want that active anymore, just delete the symlink. In essence, you are creating your own short urls. -- kainaw™ 02:07, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

IP question 1of2

Why does my ip adress keep changing, while there are some people who remain with the same ip address all the time?

IP question 2of2

What do you do when you can't enter a site because "A proxy ip adress is detected". I didn't use a proxy.