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April 4

C++ classes: supporting padding and preserving stream state

In C++, if I wish to print an integer width padding, I use cout << setw(10) << i;. If I have a class whose printed representation should be "*42*" (for some value of 42), how do I write its insertion operator overload such that I may write cout << setw(10) << obj; and get (for a two-digit number like 42) only 6 spaces of padding instead of 9? Moreover, how do I handle cout << left << setw(10) << obj;, which would tend to put the padding after the first asterisk? I could hack something together with an ostringstream, but I suspect there's a better answer. Perhaps it's somehow related to another question: what is the best way to restore a stream's state if, within an insertion function, one needs to, say, specify a radix for a sub-insertion? --Tardis (talk) 05:43, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

For restoring a stream's state, try this Boost library. You might also be interested in Boost Format, which combines the type safety and extensibility of iostreams with the doesn't-suck of printf formatting specifications. --Sean 12:46, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks -- Boost is awesome, isn't it? I (am fortunate to) rarely need precise output formatting, so I tend to design my entire IO formats based on "what iostream does with the least effort on my part". In other work, that might be a sadly insufficient choice, so I'm glad to have iomanip de-spookified that way. Moreover, I suppose my original question has been answered: if what boost::format does with a width is print to a string and then print the string with the width (though see more advanced width-processing in their Rational example), then surely that's the best I can do! Proof otherwise is nonetheless invited. --Tardis (talk) 13:51, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Btech IT and BIT

what is the difference between Btech IT and BIT —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.70.64.41 (talk) 13:08, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

You're going to have to give us something more to work with - where are these organizations for one thing? --LarryMac | Talk 13:16, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Bachelor of Technology in Information Technology and Bachelor of Information Technology are probably what (s)he is talking about. Kushal 16:29, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

To the OP:Please provide more information on what you want to know. It would help if you could be more specific and/or provide more details. Thank you. Kushal 13:06, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Low-resource firewall for XP

Hi!

I'm currently installing windows XP on my MacBook, since I'm going to visit the DreamHack computer festival later this year. Since it's a LAN, and a good playground for hackers, I know I must have a firewall etc. The problem is that I need one that doesn't take all of my CPU etc, do you know anyone?

Thanks in advance! 90.231.145.160 (talk) 14:28, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Windows XP^SP2 comes with a built-in firewall that blocks unwanted incoming connections. Do you have it enabled? Kushal 16:25, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Font size

Since I upgraded to Firefox 2.0.013 (using Mac OS 10.4.11) some web sites display in tiny fonts. But others remain as they were. How, please, can I up-size the tiny displays?90.9.83.53 (talk) 15:23, 4 April 2008 (UTC)DT

Does View + Text Size fix the problem ? StuRat (talk) 18:06, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Don't know what's causing your problem, but here's something you can try to deal with it: (1) Set a minimum font size to prevent the text on web pages from becoming too small (Tools->Options...->Content->Fonts & Colors->Advanced...->Minimum font size). (2) Install the NoSquint extension to enable per-site setting of text size. --71.162.241.83 (talk) 22:54, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

I can hardly believe the answer was right in front of me! Many thanks it was so frustrating.86.202.26.118 (talk) 14:23, 5 April 2008 (UTC)DT

Black and white photographs

Can black and white photographs or old film can be converted into color? For example by a computer algorithm which detects different shades of gray and converts them to their associated color. xxx User:Hyper Girl 15:30, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

There's no automatic way to do this. A certain shade of red and another certain shade of blue, for example, will be the exact same shade of gray in a B&W photo. You can't "back out" that color information, because it just ain't there. It can be done manually, as described in Film colorization, pretty much the same as coloring in a line drawing in a coloring book. Some technological automation exists to help speed the process along if there are multiple frames, as in a movie. jeffjon (talk) 16:12, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

In the old days, it was done by hand-tinting/hand-colouring the prints.

Atlant (talk) 16:46, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

There was also a brilliant photographer is Tsarist Russia who took three greyscale (what people mistakenly call "black and white") photos of each scene, one with a red filter, one with a green filter, and one with a blue filter. He reasoned that the three pictures could one day be combined into full color pics, which we have now done. Thus we have wonderful full color pics of Tsarist Russia: [1],[2]. Had an American thought of this approach, we might now have color pics of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. The only limitation of this method was that movement between when the three pics were taken would mess up the color, as in the girl in the lower left corner of this pic who apparently moved her head: [3]. StuRat (talk) 18:03, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, plenty of others knew that you could take monochrome photographs with lenses to capture different color channels (this approach goes back to the 1850s). The problem is combining them into a permanent photograph, and even our Russian friend Prokudin-Gorsky couldn't do that. The full-color photos of Tsarist Russia we have today are modernly produced from his negatives; he never saw them printed in color. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 22:24, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

I realize that. But did anyone else have the idea to take many such 3-part photos with the goal of eventually reintegrating them into full color ? StuRat (talk) 03:39, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Bill Gates Quote

I have often heard that the Microsoft founder once was quoted as saying "who will need more than 640K of RAM". Is this an actual quote or an urban legend?24.224.215.10 (talk) 15:32, 4 April 2008 (UTC)Corpen

A legend, at least if you believe Wikiquote. See wikiquote:Bill Gates#Misattributed, though I'm sure someone has more to say about this. --ÖhmMan (talk) 15:45, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

c# what is it?

So is c# typically compiled or bytecoded->interpreted like Java? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.223.156.1 (talk) 16:27, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

C# runs on a "common language runtime", which would be equivalent to the Java Virtual Machine, it's interpreted. --LarryMac | Talk 17:20, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

No, that doesn't mean it's interpreted, nor is Java interpreted either. The CLR-bytecode format, like the JVI-bytecode format, is just an intermediate language; prior to execution (and, increasingly, during execution too) that IL is translated into native machine language. Java, at least on desktop and server platforms, hasn't been interpreted for nearly a decade; C#, Java's kissing cousin, never has been. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 17:56, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Calling Java (and C#) "bytecode-interpreted" is mostly accurate. A major complaint about Java is that you cannot compile your code to a standalone executable. You compile to get a "class" file which requires the Java Virtual Machine to run. C# compiles to an "exe" file, which gives the impression that it creates a standalone executable. Unfortunately, this is just a nasty trick. The exe produces is not a standalone executable. It requires C#'s virtual machine to run. Neither language (without third-party tools) compiles to a standalone executable file. As such, it is not possible to compile a program and send it to someone who does not have the virtual machine and expect them to run it. For some unknown reason, the Java and C# developers feel that standalone executables are a relic of the past and that everyone is eager to install a wide variety of virtual machines on their home computers. -- kainaw™ 18:01, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

The questioner asked about whether the language is "bytecode interpreted", not about linking. Calling either C# or Java interpreted is not "mostly accurate", it's utterly false. Being dependent on external code does not make something interpreted. Not being compiled into an executable is not the same as being interpreted. A translator is not an interpreter, and neither is a dynamic translator. The term "bytecode interpreter" has a specific meaning, that the intermediate language is interpreted opcode by opcode by a software loop. C# is not bytecode interpreted, nor is Java. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:18, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Actually, Java was originally implemented as byte code interpreted language. Later, JOT (Just On Time) compilers were developed that compile the byte code into machine code before executing the program. However, there is nothing in Java or C# language that would require using byte code. They can be compiled directly into native machine code just like any other language.

Java and C# do not need any virtual machine if compiled into native code. However, they do need the runtime library. The idea with runtime library is that there is no need to link the same routines again and again with every application. Of course technically it would be possible to link the whole .NET library with your .exe file, but then the exe file size would be at least several tens of megabytes.

--PauliKL (talk) 22:51, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

SQL Query.. how to exclude a character?

I want to write a sql query for viewing employees who don't have the letter 'a' in their first name.

I tried this query:

Select *
From Employees
Where [First Name] Like '%[^a]%'

then..

Select *
From Employees
Where [First Name] Like '[^a]%[^a]%[^a]'

then..

Select *
From Employees
Where [First Name] Like '%[b-z]%'

then, many other things..

but all in vain.. it doesn't give me the desired results.. any suggestions guys? Supersonic8 (talk) 18:05, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

You mean they can't have an 'a' anywhere in their first name, right? How about this:

SELECT * FROM EMPLOYEES WHERE [First Name] NOT LIKE '%a%';

-- Coneslayer (talk) 18:31, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Thank you very much, Coneslayer.. It works.. Supersonic8 (talk) 19:10, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

to anyone who has worked with adobe acrobat: create a script to un-blank a form?

I am using Adobe Acrobat to create forms with interactive scripting in the forms.

I want my users to click a button before starting a form. The button is just their way of saying they agree to my terms and conditions before filling out the form.

Is there a way to make it so the pdf form looks completely blank every time they open the pdf, and stays blank until they click the "I Agree" button?

Thanks for any info NoClutter (talk) 21:00, 4 April 2008 (UTC).

Sounds pretty ridiculous to me. I use the fantastic (FOSS) Sumatra PDF so that I don't have to put up with that crap. So be aware that people aren't necessarily clicking Agree. :D\=< (talk) 21:02, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

I know this sounds low tech but what about a check box at the top of the form saying "I agree that by filling this form I am <list here>" ? Even better would be a small check box saying "Please read the pages 365-396 and mark your option in one of the the check boxes above. You must agree to fill this form." just below the header in page 1 of the form. However, I am pretty sure that what you want can also be done. Which version of Adobe Acrobat are you using? Kushal 21:24, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

@Froth Frankly it is ridiculous, annoying too. I don't have authority on the operations though, I'm just the button-pressing IT guy that does what they tell me to do. So yeah, it sucks, but I gotta deal with it.

@Kushal Acrobat 7.x. The checkbox is considered by the higher-ups to be an unacceptable solution because there's other stuff that gets put inside the PDF contingent upon them pressing the "magic button". In other words, they just want that button pressed before *any* interaction with the form is possible at all ... and they want that *every* time someone opens the pdf. NoClutter (talk) 22:17, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

The higher-ups need to talk to the lawyers. Not legal advice, but my layman understanding is that they just need to include legal text that "by filling out and submitting this form you agree to..." The technical rigamarole will just make the PDF more difficult for your end-users, some of which might not have a version of Acrobat that could handle the button anyway. I say, kick it back up to them as a legal issue, not a technical one. -- Kesh (talk) 02:53, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Kesh, I don't know if "they" would be willing to talk about usability, much less legalese with IT. What you say makes a lot of sense. It seems plausible to divide the form up to two parts and hand the second part only when they are have "correctly" filled the first part. However, NoClutter does not seem to have much say in it. NoClutter, is there possiblity of a form on a webpage? (That would be really helpful. However, I doubt it.) NoClutter, if it is possible to do what Kesh says without risking yourself, please do so. Or try to push for a two part pdf solution. If the the participation in this form is not very big, it could even be manual. Kushal 13:35, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Flash player file association

I currently have the file extention SWF to open up with Internet Explorer. How do I set it so it would open up with Macromedia Flash Player instead? I tried using the "Open with..." option, but I couldn't find where the location of Flash Player was. Can anyone please help me with this?

Thanks in advance, 63.24.152.183 (talk) 21:54, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Flash Player usually doesn't exist as a stand-alone program unless you've got some of the Flash development tools installed. This could be your problem. --Mdwyer (talk) 22:01, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Oh well, thank you anyway. Aside from Adobe Flash CS3, are there any alternative programs (preferably freeware) that would allow me to open the SWF file with Flash Player? Thanks, 63.24.152.183 (talk) 22:58, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

The only thing I know if is you can download codecs for Windows Media Player or Quicktime Player and set .SWF to one of those programs. -- Kesh (talk) 02:54, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

You could download a third party standalone player, such as this or this. D0762 (talk) 19:31, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Firefox crash

Firefox keeps crashing when using for seemingly no reason and gives the following error:

“ The instruction at "0x601142c7" referenced memory at "0x03e330a0". The memory could not be "read". ”

What does this mean? How does one "fix" it? NanohaA'sYuri^{Talk, My master} 22:48, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

It could be anything. One diagnostic to try: disable *all* of your Firefox plugins and restart. If something changes, you have pretty good evidence that one (or more) of your plugins is not playing nice with the rest of your system. NoClutter (talk) 23:07, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

At least for me, this happens whenever I have too many apps running at once. StuRat (talk) 03:34, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

April 5

Ubuntu's Auto-mounting System

What does Ubuntu use to Automatically mount drives and show them on Nautilus's desktop? I have a costom Debian system with the basic gnome package, and I want that auto-mounting feature. How do I get it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.127.62.211 (talk) 01:05, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Hello. My Ubuntu indeed exhibits this behaviour. Searching in Synaptic suggests that this is enabled by the package:

gnome-volume-manager

GNOME daemon to auto-mount and manage media devices 
gnome-volume-manager is a GNOME daemon that acts as a policy agent on
top of the kernel, udev, D-Bus and HAL. It listens to HAL events and
reacts with user-configurable actions. Currently it supports automount
of new media and hot-plugged devices, autorun, autoplay for CDs and
DVDs, and automatic camera management. It is expected to be simple and
free of polling and other evil hacks.

and it seems this is available in Debian: http://packages.debian.org/gnome-volume-manager - Good luck --90.203.189.60 (talk) 23:42, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Cross Over Question

When I am in Steam in Crossover for Mac, and go to play Team Fortress 2, it begins to start up and then closes and says "No permissions to run 'tf'" Why does it say this and how can i get rid of it so i can play? --69.127.64.22 (talk) 03:00, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Bootcamp error: "hardware not supported"

Hello.

I'm using the bootcamp beta on my macbook (tiger as the OS). Workes fine, though it refuses to install the drivers. When opening the driver CD within XP (swedish x86 pro) it gives me the following:

Macintosh Drivers for Windows XP This software does not support your hardware.

Does wiki know where I can find the ethernet/network and graphix drivers myself? Thanks! 90.231.145.160 (talk) 10:00, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

How do i open a pen drive when there is no removable disk?

When i plug a pen drive into my usb port, an icon appears in the task bar and when i right click on it, there is only one option called "safely remove hardware"! Then when i go to "My computer", i do not find any removable disk, then how will i open the pen drive? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.110.21.195 (talk) 11:03, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Don't click "Safely remove hardware", then the pen drive should be there in My Computer. If you clicked the "Safely remove hardware" first, then Windows will have disconnected the pen drive from the system so it can be physically removed from the USB port without loss of data.

Once, you have finished moving the files to/from the pen drive, now is the time to click "Safely remove hardware" (remembering to wait for the acknowledgement message), and physically unplug it from the USB port. Astronaut (talk) 11:35, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Does it do this every time? Did you try waiting a minute after the "Safely remove hardware" message comes up, just to make sure? Kushal 11:33, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Does it happen with all pen drives? You may be missing drivers for USB MASS STORAGE DEVICE. Most modern installs of Vista and XP should have that installed already, however I think older versions of XP might be not install it by default. Windows 98, and 95 probably don't have them unless you specifically installed them. APL (talk) 02:19, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

iPhone programming

Should one know programming language to create applications using Apple iPhone SD kit? What about Java Mobile and BREW? What all should we know? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.96.24.44 (talk) 11:12, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

I'm not intimately familiar with the SDK, but I would imagine that one uses Objective-C for iPhone development, since Cocoa Touch is based on Cocoa. iPhone OS supports neither Java ME nor the Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless. —Larry V (talk | e-mail) 19:47, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Anyone know a good paid POP/SMTP email service?

Anyone know where I can find a good paid POP/STMP email service? Something where I can keep my email that goes to POP-accessible accounts usable when switching ISPs? The free ones are very unreliable and often close down. The paid ones are usually overpriced, sometimes costing as much or more than dialup when I won't be getting that much email through them. It would also be good if they allows login SMTP through a non-port 25 port (as all ISPs block port 25 now). William Ortiz (talk) 12:44, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

What about Gmail? They have free POP and IMAP support. And I don't think Google is going anywhere anytime soon. - Akamad (talk) 13:32, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

(edit conflict). I forgot something in my question. it would be nice if I could have more than one (say 5) email addresses in my one account and pay one fee for the five and not have to pay the fee again just to have one more email that I'll barely use. William Ortiz (talk) 13:34, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Hmmm gmail says it has free POP and forwarding. That's odd. In the past companies that did free POP usually went down, lost mail, etc. then went paid. Free forwarding also in the past tended to lose mail. Is gmail's free POP reliable? William Ortiz (talk) 13:45, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

If you are willing to pay for the service, then I'd suggest getting a collocation service and put your own fully customized email server there. You can set it up however you like. -- kainaw™ 17:54, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

I would say that Gmail's POP is reliable. Mind you, I didn't use it too much. But their IMAP is certainly reliable, since I use it all since it first became available and haven't had any issues with it. - Akamad (talk) 00:48, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

There are some random and not-so-short-term problems that occur. I have a client who uses it and he couldn't receive mail all day Tuesday (kept asking for his username/pass through IMAP, he had to check email on the web). When that rectified itself, he couldn't send. Got a "service unavailable" error until about noon on Wednesday. I figure the GMail server he uses had a glitch that took a little over a day to fix. Of course, ANY mail service is susceptible to similar glitches. -- kainaw™ 00:58, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

I have used GMail's POP features for a few years. I have never had any significant problems. - SigmaEpsilon → ΣΕ 02:13, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Is gmail the only good service out there? William Ortiz (talk) 09:04, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Gmail is the best by far. :D\=< (talk) 04:43, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Yahoo! Mail Plus^[4] seems to be pretty good too. It is not free of cost at USD 19.99 a year, it looks like the best bet if you cannot use Google. Upgrades has more information. Kushal 13:14, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia error page

Hi everyone! I just got the Wikipedia error page (the one that says the servers and messed up). How can I view it again, out of curiosity, without waiting for who knows how long for there to be another error. xxx User:Hyper Girl 15:08, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

There is a pic of it here. If you want the source code, its available here. D0762 (talk) 19:22, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Fascinating. As an HTML novice, I have to ask: What's the " < b r / >" tag in the middle of the TopLinks list (about a third of the way down the file)? (Spacing added to keep it from being eaten...) 209.181.224.243 (talk) 03:42, 6 April 2008 (UTC) Danh

A line break. The slash is there because it's XHTML and the slash closes the tag. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 08:55, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Graphics card "warming up"?

Is there any reason why my computer would "get better" at 3D Desktop effects (eg Compiz) after being on for a little while (like half an hour)? --90.203.189.60 (talk) 17:01, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

I'd be shocked if it was your graphics card warming up. I suspect it is services and programs that turn on at startup that are slowing your PC at first. When they are done - tada, faster PC. Can you run Compiz in safe mode? Doubtful, but if so, that would test that theory. Reguardless, I'd look at all the startup programs and especially the services that turn on with your PC. Useless services can be a real pain in the neck. --Wonderley (talk) 17:22, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes I'd be shocked too. But the timescale makes me think it's not just about start-up processes. Any other theories? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.203.189.60 (talk) 18:05, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

If you have many, many programs installed (like that god forsaken photo album software that comes with any digital camera you buy) then I wouldn't be surprised if it took half an hour to start up. Uninstall anything you don't need. D0762 (talk) 19:13, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

It's possible that your computer is taking a while to get things like disk caching, virtual memory, and graphics buffering sorted out -- your computer can't magically know what parts of what programs need to be kept in memory or what files you're going to open. Once the computer's been on for a while, it can better organize things for speed. --12.169.167.154 (talk) 22:30, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

My guess is that you have "automatic updates" turned on. This means that each time you start up your computer it goes online and looks for updates for your software. If it finds them, it downloads them and installs them. This could take half an hour, especially if you have a slow DSL connection or, God-forbid, dial-up. I've seen where software, namely AOL, keeps trying to download the same update, can't install it for whatever reason, but goes right ahead and downloads it again the next time anyway, ad infinitum. StuRat (talk) 02:43, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't see auto updates slowing down the GPU. I doubt it appreciably slows down the CPU either, and most autoupdaters I've seen, outside of that for Windows, don't download updates until you tell them to do so. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 21:18, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

rar

by how much can i compress a file{938MB} using rar--scoobydoo (talk) 17:57, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

I think it depends what's in the file - for example you could have 938MB which describes a very long text file where every line is the same, or 938MB which describes 2 hours of high quality audio / video. The former could be compressed to a tiny size, the latter not so much. --90.203.189.60 (talk) 18:03, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

There is a good comparison table at Data compression#Comparative. D0762 (talk) 19:09, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

As extreme cases, a 938MB empty file can be compressed down to a kilobyte or two, while 938MB of cryptographic-quality random numbers will be slightly larger after compression. --12.169.167.154 (talk) 22:34, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Wireless weirdness

I have a Netgear MR814v3 wireless router. It has worked great for about two years now, never any problems with it.

Last week or so it started acting up, though. On both my MacBook and my wife's iBook, the wireless signal will go from connected to disconnected to connected to disconnected fairly rapidly (switching states one a second or so) for no apparent reason. It's not an issue of signal strength, I'm sitting right next to it. The internet connection from the cable modem seems fine. It's the router itself that seems to be doing weird cycling issues. After it does this for about 20 seconds then it usually connects just fine again.

The router has the latest firmware, and I even did a full reset to factory defaults and reconfigured it. Same problem. I tried changing its channel, that didn't seem to help either (though I've just tried changing it again, having made sure that there is no one around using one the same channel). I haven't otherwise really changed the settings with the router or the two computers.

Any idea what is causing the mishaps? It's a weird problem. The router uses WPA Personal security. The fact that the issue happens on both computers makes it look distinctly like a problem with the router. Blah. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 18:15, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

After two years, maybe the hardware is simply broken from heat stress (those wireless cards get very hot with constant use). I advise you get a friend to test the connection with their laptop and a different wireless card, to see if the problem is the card or the router. D0762 (talk) 19:06, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, as I said, I've tried it with two different computers (which are different ages and models), so I don't think it's a problem with the machines. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 19:21, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Then it looks like something is up with your router. What, I can't say. D0762 (talk) 19:25, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I think the routers just burned out after two years. Plunk down the sixty bucks for a new one (and if you're a badass you can do this thing) --Oskar 18:41, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, firmware replacements are something to look at. Though I want to note, I have a Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 and I've found the Tomato firmware to be far more stable than DD-WRT. And the interface is nice too. OpenWrt is the other popular option. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 04:02, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

generating words in a pattern

I want to generate a set of names that all follow a certain linguistic pattern. There are five possible "slots" for a letter, and severl possible letters that can go in each. The first slot can contain G,Q,C,H or no letter. The second can contain A,E,I,O,U or no letter. The third can contain R,L,W or M. The fourth is the same as the second. The fifth can contain M,N,R or no letter. What I want to know is am I looking at an impossible or a workable number of possible combinations? And if the number is large, is there a way of getting a computer to generate them for me instead of doing them by hand? My computer programming knowledge level is zero. But I do have a computer :) (P.S. there are a couple of additional constraints, such as single-letter names and names without a vowel are disallowed, and that neither Q nor W should be adjacent to I. But I suspect that might make it really far too complicated.) Thanks for any advice. 65.92.188.177 (talk) 21:14, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

The number of possible combinations is easy to calculate. It's 5*6*4*6*4 = 2,880. Writing code to create this list is easy, but not if you aren't a programmer. Do you have Excel. Office Excel, not the Excel that comes with MS works? Making the code to create a spreadsheet with the list of "words" wouldn't be too hard. I could maybe give you somethign to cut and past into a macro.--Wonderley (talk) 22:17, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Thank you very much. I do have Office with Excel. I don't know what a macro is, though. But 2,880 might not be too bad. I was afraid it'd be far more. Let me know if the macro thing is easy to explain? 65.92.188.177 (talk) 22:57, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Currently working on it. Almost done. It won't be too bad.--Wonderley (talk) 23:03, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

OK, here it is. Rather than talk you through the cutting and pasting, I put the spreadsheet on my web site: http://wonderley.com/misc/wikipuzzle.xls
Once you get rid of 1 character words, words without vowels and words with "QI", "WI" or "IW" ("IQ" is not possible) the list drops to 2508. I'll go ahead and post this and just for those who might be interested, I'll make another post with the macro. Very simple, but it was longer than I thought it'd be. --Wonderley (talk) 23:47, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Here's the code:

   Sub MakeList()

   'Kenneth Wonderley

   '4/5/2008

   Dim FirstLetter As String

   Dim SecondLetter As String

   Dim ThirdLetter As String

   Dim ForthLetter As String

   Dim FifthLetter As String

   Dim FisrtSlot As Integer

   Dim SecondSlot As Integer

   Dim ThirdSlot As Integer

   Dim ForthSlot As Integer

   Dim FifthSlot As Integer

   Dim FiveCharName As String

   Dim WordOK As Boolean

       
   Sheets("Sheet2").Select

   Range("A1").Select

   For FirstSlot = 1 To 5 'G, Q, C, H, blank

       If FirstSlot = 1 Then FirstLetter = "G"

       If FirstSlot = 2 Then FirstLetter = "Q"

       If FirstSlot = 3 Then FirstLetter = "C"

       If FirstSlot = 4 Then FirstLetter = "H"

       If FirstSlot = 5 Then FirstLetter = ""

       For SecondSlot = 1 To 6 'A, E, I, O, U, blank

           If SecondSlot = 1 Then SecondLetter = "A"

           If SecondSlot = 2 Then SecondLetter = "E"

           If SecondSlot = 3 Then SecondLetter = "I"

           If SecondSlot = 4 Then SecondLetter = "O"

           If SecondSlot = 5 Then SecondLetter = "U"

           If SecondSlot = 6 Then SecondLetter = ""

           For ThirdSlot = 1 To 4 'R, L, W, M

               If ThirdSlot = 1 Then ThirdLetter = "R"

               If ThirdSlot = 2 Then ThirdLetter = "L"

               If ThirdSlot = 3 Then ThirdLetter = "W"

               If ThirdSlot = 4 Then ThirdLetter = "M"

               For ForthSlot = 1 To 6 'A, E, I, O, U, blank

                   If ForthSlot = 1 Then ForthLetter = "A"

                   If ForthSlot = 2 Then ForthLetter = "E"

                   If ForthSlot = 3 Then ForthLetter = "I"

                   If ForthSlot = 4 Then ForthLetter = "O"

                   If ForthSlot = 5 Then ForthLetter = "U"

                   If ForthSlot = 6 Then ForthLetter = ""

                   For FifthSlot = 1 To 4 'M, N, R, blank

                       If FifthSlot = 1 Then FifthLetter = "M"

                       If FifthSlot = 2 Then FifthLetter = "N"

                       If FifthSlot = 3 Then FifthLetter = "R"

                       If FifthSlot = 4 Then FifthLetter = ""

                       FiveCharName = FirstLetter + SecondLetter + ThirdLetter + _

                           ForthLetter + FifthLetter

                       WordOK = True

                       If Len(FiveCharName) = 1 Then WordOK = False '1 char word

                       If SecondLetter = "" And ForthLetter = "" Then WordOK = False 'No vowel

                       'Neither Q or W can be adjacent to I - IQ is not possible

                       If InStr(1, FiveCharName, "QI", vbTextCompare) > 0 Then WordOK = False

                       If InStr(1, FiveCharName, "WI", vbTextCompare) > 0 Then WordOK = False

                       If InStr(1, FiveCharName, "IW", vbTextCompare) > 0 Then WordOK = False

                       If WordOK Then 'Put it on the list

                           ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = FiveCharName 'Put the word in the sheet

                           ActiveCell.Offset(rowOffset:=1, columnOffset:=0).Select 'Move down a cell

                       End If

                   Next FifthSlot

               Next ForthSlot

           Next ThirdSlot

       Next SecondSlot

   Next FirstSlot

   End Sub

--Wonderley (talk) 23:53, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Hi Kenneth, you're amazing. Thank you so much for taking so much time to help a total stranger with a weird request. By using help I could make the file work and the list is exactly what I wanted. Have a great evening! Jan 65.92.188.177 (talk) 00:10, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

My pleasure. I like writing programs. I can't constantly do sudoku. BTW - If you look at the code it's very easy (or dare I say Basic?) to follow what it's doing even if you're not into programming.--Wonderley (talk) 00:17, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

My language of choice for this sort of thing is often sh. Here's how it might look:

for l1 in G Q C H ''; do
for l2 in A E I O U ''; do
for l3 in R L W M; do
for l4 in A E I O U ''; do
for l5 in M N R ''; do
w="$l1$l2$l3$l4$l5"
if echo $w | grep -q '^.$'; then continue; fi
if echo $w | grep -q '[AEIOU]'; then :; else continue; fi
if echo $w | egrep -q 'I[QW]|[QW]I'; then continue; fi
echo $w
done; done; done; done; done

—Steve Summit (talk) 04:19, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

This is like a text-book example of showing the awesomeness that is Prolog:

first(A) :- A = ''; A = 'G'; A = 'Q'; A = 'C'; A = 'H'.
second(A) :- A = ''; A = 'A'; A = 'E'; A = 'I'; A = 'O'; A = 'U'.
third(A) :- A = 'R'; A = 'L'; A = 'W'; A = 'M'.
fourth(A) :- second(A).
fifth(A) :- A = ''; A = 'M'; A = 'N'; A = 'R'.

word([A,B,C,D,E]) :- first(A), second(B), third(C), fourth(D), fifth(E), 
                     \+ (B = '', D = ''), \+ (A = 'Q', B = 'I'), 
                     \+ ((B = 'I'; D = 'I'), C = 'W').

Just define the constraints and then let prolog do the rest. Note that I didn't include the "more than one letter long" constraint because it is equal to the "has to have a vowel constraint" (that is, they are both equal to "letter number 2 and 4 can't both be empty"). I love prolog, it's a shame that you can't use it to do anything sensible :) --Oskar 18:19, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Steve, I think that would go a lot faster if you just echoed all the $w's and piped the loop through grep. Not so many exec's of the greps.

Yeah, I was just about to post that correction myself. Duh! —Steve Summit (talk) 21:15, 6 April 2008 (UTC) [P.S. Also I corrected yours a tiny bit.]

And if you have any newer shell than Bourne, brace expansion will help with the looping:

for w in {G,Q,C,H,}{A,E,I,O,U,}{R,L,W,M}{A,E,I,O,U,}{M,N,R,}; do
 echo $w
done | egrep -v 'I[QW]|[QW]I' | grep '[AEIOU]'

(In zsh it can actually be a one-liner: print -l {G,Q,C,H,}...|grep...)

Oh and since nobody else has mentioned it: the root operation here is a Cartesian product of the 5 sets of options. Knowing that terminology may help in the search for other methods. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 21:08, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

The comments after the answer reminds me of "When the only tool you have is a hammer, all your problems look like nails."
Now back tot the original question. Jan, did you get your puzzle solved? Well, I assume it was a puzzle. --Wonderley (talk) 20:21, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Old emachines computer power supply

Hi, I have an old emachines t2742 that I'm trying to repair for a family member. I need to find a new power supply for it and I found this one: http://www.cputopia.com/emachine-480w-t-series-t2742.html

That one is supposed for this model, but it has a SATA hdd port and the computer doesn't have a SATA drive. So, I'm trying to find one that doesn't have a SATA port on it. Any help would be great :) thanks --Zach (talk) 22:55, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Pretty much they're all going to have SATA connectors on them these days. But you don't have to plug it into anything, just leave it. The power supply will also have connectors for IDE drives. Useight (talk) 22:57, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

April 6

python and sqlite

could anyone help me with sqlite and python. if no one like that is reading, I wont post my problem. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.122.24.203 (talk) 04:23, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

I'm sure there are people here who are acquainted with them. Post your problem here and we would be happy to help you. --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:57, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

How to upload php?

Where can I upload php files? --124.254.77.148 (talk) 05:19, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

I suppose that depends on what you want to do with them. Useight (talk) 07:19, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Usually you'd upload PHP files to a server, where they produce dynamic web pages. D0762 (talk) 15:37, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Specifically a web server :D\=< (talk) 12:37, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Difference

What's the difference between Uncyclopedia and Encyclopedia Dramatica? Both of those sites are satiricial parodies of Wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by IntfictExpert (talk • contribs) 06:49, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Uncyclopedia is a satirical version of Wikipedia. Encyclopedia Dramatica is "to create a full archive of dramatic internet happenings and all the things that relate to them", to quote them. Stuff like memes and subcultures come to mind. x42bn6 Talk Mess 15:41, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

And in general ED people (and by the properties of Wiki, ED itself) seem to think that site is some great thing that everyone should care about or that has ultimate power over large chunks of the interweb. Similar to 4chan itself. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 21:29, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

It seems that there is an approval or at least a greater acceptance of Uncyclopedia when compared with Encyclopedia Dramatica (ED seems to be non-notable according to Wikipedia:Deletion_review/Log/2008_January_10). Kushal 00:12, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

the pirate bay

how do you download a file from pirate bay i managed to download a pdf file {ebook} but i could not open it . is it something wrong wrong with my comp . i have adobe acrobat and have opened pdf files with it .it was surprising that i managed to download a 3 mb file in just 30 secs eventhough i have a dialup connectionSsinner67 (talk) 09:09, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Are you sure you didn't just download the torrent file for it? You will have to use something like uTorrent to actually download the book. --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:56, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

You must have downloaded the torrent file if it only took 30 seconds on dialup. Torrent files are usually about 30KB and only contain information about peers currently transferring pieces of the file you want. You have to use a client like uTorrent to connect to those peers and obtain the various pieces. D0762 (talk) 15:34, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Wrong, torrents contain checksums and addresses for trackers that can hopefully supply you with peers :D\=< (talk) 06:26, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Inkscape

Does anybody know of a tutorial on inkscape that shows you how to draw the RMS Titanic or could i be cheeky and request 1?--Hadseys Chat_Contribs 12:54, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, you aren't going to find a tutorial to show you how to draw something that specific. There are lots of tutorials though. In this case, if you are not exceptionally artistically talented already, I would recommend looking up tutorials on vectorization, that is, how to make a new SVG file based on an existing photograph. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 14:05, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

You could try making a request at the Graphics Lab. --Dave the Rave (DTR)talk 23:28, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Overloaded servers damaged?

From the home page of an iGoogle widget application thing:

Sorry, guys. We had hardware problems at the start of 2008. Heavy loads (we are almost at 80,000 notepads) plus burnt out hardware meant nightly crashes. We've replaced the entire server. Brand new, dedicated hardware. We should be reliable from here on out until we hit about 50 times the current load... Again, sorry for anyone who feels like they were burned by recent server outtages. This is an independent project that has destroyed two servers already and generates a gig of log files for a week of activity, and we never promised it would be smooth... Until now.

How can server overloading lead to damage? I'd have imagined that a properly cooled system (even an improperly cooled one should shut down to spare itself from damage, right?) would yield poor service but not burn out. ----Seans Potato Business 13:59, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

You're right to be suspicious, but the story's not completely implausible. Overheating could certainly lead to the described nightly crashes, if not to irreversible "burnout". Long-term overheating will certainly lead to premature ageing. Even if the processor shuts itself down due to overheating, if it's operating in an improperly-cooled environment full of other heat sources, it could stay overheated. Finally, there are almost certainly cheap systems out there that don't even try to shut themselves down. —Steve Summit (talk) 17:07, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

It does sound a little suspicious, but it's not totally out of the realm of possibility. One thing I can imagine happening is that they used cheap hard-drives and put a LOT of load on them. Then they'd burn out pretty quickly; on the other hand, hard-drives are trivial to replace (and if you RAID them properly, they shouldn't give to much downtime). I would say that it's equal parts the fault of the hardware and incompetent management. --Oskar 17:28, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

how to operate two Netware servers simultaneously

I have a Novell netware network consisting of 25 nodes. The Netware version is 4.12. The network has been established some 15 years ago. Since the server harddisk shows some problem I have decided to install a second server. My hardware vendor supplied a computer with pentium 4 processor and IDE hard disk(My first server is also a pentium 4 processor and SCSI hard disk. But there is little variance in processor speed) and installed Novell netware 4.12. But now the hardware vendor and software installer is of the opinion that the two servers cannot start simultaneously. We have to start the second server after logouting all the clients from the first server and then using a DOS BATCH program updating all the files in the second server from the first. My question is Is it not possible to start the two servers simultaneously and through a node we can ATTACH to either of the servers as desired.

You are asking which of two solutions -to two different problems- is "better". If you have a network with one server and a bunch of untrainable non-geeks, then minimising the amount of independent thought you force your users to do is best --> do the fail-over thing. Set up a 2nd server as similar to the first as you can, and, when the "old only server" crashes, have the users stand around doing nothing until you do the manual switchover as you described above. When the switchover is done, you bring up your "new only server" and have the users log in. Their universe has not changed, and they are happy. More work for the techs, but NO stress for the [l]users.

If, on the other hand, you have users who can accept new things, you can certainly add a second server, and make a PA announcement periodically that "SERVER ONE IS DOWN. YOUR FILES WILL BE ON DRIVE LETTER Q UNTIL WE FIX SERVER ONE." Easier for the techs, harder for the users. Of course, this assumes that you have a second license for Novell Netware 4.12 for your second server so that they will play nicely together..... -SandyJax (talk) 21:52, 7 April 2008 (UTC), an old CNA (Certified Novell Administrator)

which MMOGs have free priavate servers

Which MMOGs have free private servers? I know WoW, L2, and Ragnarok, but are there any others? --hello, i'm a member | talk to me! 19:52, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Guild Wars and MapleStory have free real servers.. :D\=< (talk) 20:10, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, but that wasn't my question. BTW please don't lead me to Knight Online or Flyff or any other free MMO--they're awful. --hello, i'm a member | talk to me! 20:56, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

You're basically out of luck. As a case in point, using a private WoW server is explicitly against their ToC and can get your account banned. -- Kesh (talk) 00:25, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Snicker, what. The point is that it's not associated with your account. It's a private server. :D\=< (talk) 00:58, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

It's my understanding that the WoW client has some pretty heavy, arguably privacy infringing, self-monitoring capabilities. If you ever logged into their legit servers after using a privately run server they could know. Even if they're not collecting (or collecting and not using) this data today, they could begin to do so at any moment. APL (talk) 02:03, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Large Files question

I wanted to send a friend an 84mb file, but all the email accounts I have won't let me do it. I've used gmail, operamail, and cox email (with outlook express). What can I do????? Thanks!Andrew Kanode (talk) 20:48, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
PS, Also I read a story about some kids setting up a proxy server at their house so they could bypass the collage's internet filters, so do you know how to do that too? Andrew Kanode (talk) 20:56, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Compress your files using 7zip or WinRAR
Use online services like SendThisFile or DDL (RapidShare etc..)
FTP
--68.108.249.191 (talk) 22:32, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Two ideas: (1) split the file into smaller pieces and send the pieces separately. If you don't already have a tool that can do the splitting (& re-combining), you can try 7-Zip. (2) Use the file transfer function of your favorite instant messaging client instead of email. --71.162.241.83 (talk) 22:38, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

E-mail isn't meant for transferring large files. There are many free online services that let you store files for others to download, however, so you could sign up for one of them. rspeer / ɹəədsɹ 20:18, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

I second the use of one of these storage sites - RapidShare, MegaUpload and YouSendIt are the three I can think of off the top of my head that do this kind of thing. I certainly wouldn't want to have an 80 MB file in my mail queue to download, and would much prefer a 5 KB (or whatever) email with a link that I could click at my leisure. Confusing Manifestation(Say hi!) 04:04, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Counter Strike for Mac

Does it exist? --Yamanbaiia^{(free hugs!)} 21:07, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

No. Unless you run it in Windows via Boot Camp or on a VM machine like Parallels Desktop or VMware. I've gotten HL2 to run in a very stripped down mode in Parallels on a MacBook, so Counter Strike should be possible, though I've never tried it personally. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 23:12, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

If it does not exist, might I suggest Wine (software) or CrossOver Games^[5]? Kushal 23:56, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

I've honestly never been able to get Wine to work correctly for something like this. Setup is a real pain, documentation is scarce, none of it is intuitive at all, to say the least. I think whatever the option one picks is, paying a little money for it is a better use of one's resources than trying to get Wine to work on OS X. Counter Strike isn't too intensive but it requires good 3D rendering and good networking, two things I would be suspicious of being able to easily get working on Wine, but again, I don't have experience with it. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 17:33, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Certificate Issuing

I just received a free X.509 certificate for my emails from Thawte. And I was wondering if Thawte got my private key during the process or if the NSS service who was at some time activated during the certificate request just saved the private RSA key that it generated and sent the public one, waiting for the certificate to be issued before using it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.50.183.215 (talk) 22:15, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

A certificate authority does not need to know your private key. Any certificate authority that requires it is not suitable as a general-purpose CA. --71.162.241.83 (talk) 22:46, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

April 7

Help

I was on this website erailer today. I right clicked on it and hit something and now the images wont show in firefox. Wtf did i do. БοņёŠɓɤĭĠ₳₯є 02:25, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't have any options available from a right click in Firefox 2.0.0.13 that would disable images. Perhaps it's just a coincidence and something else is wrong. Try a reboot and clear the cache. StuRat (talk) 03:23, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Could you perhaps have adblocked explosm.net? Also, great comic I follow it daily. Today's is mind blowing. :D\=< (talk) 04:24, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

You probably clicked on "Block Images from this site". This option seems to have disappeared from current versions of Firefox so you probably have a slightly older version. You should be able to get the images back by right clicking on a blank space where an image should be and clicking on "Unblock Images from this site" (emphasis mine.)

Alternatively, you should be able to go to the tools/options window, in the content pane there should be an item about loading images automaticaly (this should be on) and a button to bring up the exceptions list to loading images. Remove explosm.net from this list. Hope this helps. APL (talk) 14:01, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks what would i do without you guys! =]!! БοņёŠɓɤĭĠ₳₯є 20:25, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Server Space vs Shared Hosting Space

Hello all.

1. I'm looking at hosting. I already have shared hosting, but looking ahead to an optimistic future I was wondering something. Hostican has dedicated servers that cost more than shared hosting. This makes sense because you pay for control of the whole server. Yet on shared hosting you get more GB of space. How is this so? Is the shared hosting figure from multiple servers connected together? Is that seamless? Is it a lie?
2. Are the limits on GB for servers the same/similar to those for a standard PC?
3. How difficult is it to set up a server on your own, if you just buy the thing and connect it to the interent on your own, and what might the costs (rack, server(s), cables, software) for such an endeavor in general?

• Answers to any of these questions or links to resources are appreciated. Thanks! Smaug 03:00, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't know what I'm talking about:

1. Renting your own server costs more. That's a given for obvious reasons. Having less space helps them keep the price down; as well, I'm sure they're betting on most shared users not using up 100% of their package, so there's a chance they oversell space (similar to what ISPs do with bandwidth).
2. What limits? Hard drives are hard drives, though server drives tend to be more expensive/reliable and covered by backups and RAIDed.
3. You need a computer. What type depends on your particular needs. And you may want to invest in RAID and such to keep the data safe (and downtime short). Plus you'll probably want an ISP that allows hosting (though many will tolerate it as long as your bandwidth usage isn't too high), and probably one that has decent uptime and decent upstream speeds. And then you'll want to set up something Linux or BSD or Solaris or (oh ffs don't) Windows Server based, which isn't too hard (and free for all but Windows, unless you specifically pay for support). For a lot of people, all of this isn't really worth the time and effort, though. There are also hosting companies that let you use your own machine, but who handle the ISP and networking stuff themselves, which can potentially save you money.

-- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 03:43, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

A rack of high-end blade servers will be way too expensive for your needs if you're currently on shared hosting. Also if you want a solid connection to an upstream ISP then you're going to be paying a lot. Hosting companies can afford it because they have lots of customers paying specifically for the bandwidth.. but you probably can't afford it. :D\=< (talk) 04:29, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

What is this, and how can I get rid of it?

For the least 60 days or so I have had this bar that appears on my computer when I am on line to inform me that "My computer may be infected", but when I originally went to the site that they suggested my anti-virus program warned my that my computer caught something. Since then I have steered away from the site, buyt can not get that damn bar off the internet explorer. Does anyone know what I can do to remove it? TomStar81 (Talk) 04:25, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Run Ad-Aware, Windows Defender, and Spybot (yes, all three). Or reinstall the OS. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 04:39, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

And next time don't run malicious code. It's not hard. Honestly, I don't even understand how this happens to people. :D\=< (talk) 04:44, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

It is hard, if you want to have a high level of confidence that it won't happen. The problem is that all software, except perhaps the simplest, has undocumented behaviors. It is practically impossible for an ordinary user to know for sure whether the software he or she uses has exploitable bugs or configuration problems. Are you sure it is impossible to craft a piece of Flash content that can infect a computer? (Not to pick on Adobe, I'm just using Flash as an example of a complex and expressive format.) --71.162.241.83 (talk) 08:42, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

A very small portion of malware infections come from drive-by exploits in things like Flash. Most of it is bundled with shady software (usually laughably so), or comes through email attachments or the like. That's not to say that situations like that don't happen, but they're really not common, and patches are often pretty fast these days. It's really not that hard to avoid. People just need to learn how to properly assess the trustworthyness of software packages. Unfortunately a lot of people can't be bothered, or refuse to take responsibility for anything. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 08:51, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Another helpful post from Froth (:D\=<). That'll be the last time TomStar goes to the malicious software store and buys some malicious code! Seriously, this can be more difficult than it seems, anyone who says differently does not understand the normal, everyday user. The user may be running an old version of IE with security holes large enough for drive-by spyware infections. But even ignoring that possibility, it's entirely possible that the user downloaded some seemingly innocuous software product like WeatherBug or Bonsai Buddy. Seeing the difference between these products, and completely legitimate free products, like Firefox or AdAware, is not easy for people not familiar with the software industry. It is extraordinarily unreasonable to blame the user for not being an expert not only in the maintenance and upkeep of a household appliance, but also in the industry that produced the appliance and its accessories.

I recommend using a spyware-checking software like AdAware and an anti-virus like AVG on a regular basis.

And do you recall the name of the site it tried to direct you to? I'm just curious. APL (talk) 13:55, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

It's perfectly reasonable to expect people to be responsible for the code they execute. If you're downloading innocuous-looking programs left and right without a better foundation of trust than "it looks ok", you're going to get burned. :D\=< (talk) 02:36, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

For you and I, perhaps. But most computer users are not willing to put more effort into maintaining their computer than they are into maintaining their microwave oven. These are the same people whose VCRs blinked "12:00", back when people had VCRs. Was it their fault their VCR's clock wasn't set? No, because the mechanism for setting the clock was often extremely ridiculous. Especially before on-screen setup became common. Sure, with enough time you could read the manual, or experiment for a while, and eventually overcome the ridiculous design, but why bother? The VCR's design was so crumby that the next time the power failed you'd be going through the same needlessly complicated, time wasting ritual. The same is true for computers. For me a computer is a vital tool of my trade. I make sure I know how to use it. But for most people, a computer is an appliance like a VCR or a blender. To blame these people because they're not dedicated enough to overcome the appliance's serious usability problems shows a lack of understanding of the situation. APL (talk) 13:50, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

APL, I must say that I agree with Froth. I agree with you on what to do next but we also need to keep in mind that prevention is better than cure. I know there is so much to be done about the interface and the "user experience" but that is not an excuse for sloppy work on the consumer's part. Kushal 00:17, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

All of that said, there are tones you can take with a user that are helpful, and tones that aren't. Taking a certain tone can reinforce an idea that people in the know about computers are utterly clueless when it comes to human interaction. Of course prevention is better than cure. Doctors still don't make yelling at people or calling them names part of their bedside manner - why do you suppose that is?

I teach math, and even though I think there's no excuse for making claims such as $(a+b)^{2}=a^{2}+b^{2}$, I can't simply tell people that there's no excuse, and then say it's their responsibility to learn it. I mean, I can, but that would make me a bad teacher. I could say that "most students can't be bothered to take responsibility for anything," but would that make me a more effective teacher, or a more bitter one? Teach smart computer hygiene; teach prevention. Don't display incredulity or contempt for people who don't already know what you do. It's not about whether or not an "excuse" counts. It's about making things better, starting where we are now. -GTBacchus^(talk) 00:26, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

That is closer to what I'm trying to get at, but to say that the solution is better education is just another way of blaming the user. The point is that the system requires an unreasonable amount of education. To most people a computer is a mundane appliance that makes up a minimal part of their life. I don't claim to have a solution to that, which is why stop-gap solutions like AdAware, etc are so valuable. Here is the key point : To suggest that there is an easy solution that the user has somehow missed or failed to learn is misleading and can lead to a lot of frustration. Better to admit that the amount of effort currently required for good 'computer hygiene' is unreasonable, and suggest alternatives like always active spyware/virus prevention software. APL (talk) 17:53, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Hmmm... "the solution is better education is just another way of blaming the user". This doesn't make sense to me. I think the solution is more education, and I don't believe in the validity of the concept of "blame" at all. Clearly, suggesting better education is not a way of assigning "blame" of any kind; it's a proposed solution. If we're talking about how to address people who don't know how to use their computers, I'm certainly not suggesting that they be told "you should be more educated". That's just as unhelpful as saying "why don't you know?" The solution is to gently explain to the user what they need to know. Acknowledging at the same time that the requisite training is somewhat esoteric probably wouldn't hurt. -GTBacchus^(talk) 01:06, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

32 vs 64 bit OSs

Why bother making a 32 bit OS anymore? Why hasn't everyone gone to a 64 bit OS? Dismas|^(talk) 05:06, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Incompatibility with drivers, things that need kernel mode access, and things that rely on messing with kernel things that they really shouldn't mess with. There also still exist CPUs which are 32-bit. And most users could care less about 64-bit. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:26, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

What, my laptop has a Core Duo, best available processor 2 years ago when I got it and the last 32-bit Intel processor. Should 2 year old computers be unable to use new OSes? :D\=< (talk) 05:48, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Okay, you have a point in the here and now. What about in 2 more years when Windows 7 is supposed to be released? Why create a 32 bit OS then? Dismas|^(talk) 08:21, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

No point. Not really much point in switching to 64 bit either though; people who really need it to overcome memory limits will buy it, people who don't won't. :D\=< (talk) 12:36, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Paging..?.? --212.149.216.233 (talk) 13:57, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Leap-frogging OS

I saw in the news today that MS will offer XP for sale all the way through until the release of Windows 7. Basically, through the entire run of Vista. Is this the first time that a software manufacturer has offered software package A all the way through the time of software package B until the release of package C? I'm not really explaining this very well but I'm hoping that you can catch my drift... Dismas|^(talk) 05:11, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

I am not sure how good Windows 7 will be if Marketing wants to get it out by 2009. I think it makes sense that Microsoft is selling Windows XP. There is little additional investment to make for XP. Some people dislike Vista. Some people have fears about Vista. I think it little matters to Microsoft if a few customers shy away from Vista to XP. The main point is that if Microsoft sells Windows XP and someone buys it, it is a sale for Microsoft and one more customer retained/enrolled. In all this humble mumble about Vista, we tend to forget that Microsoft is HUGE. Even if Vista was a total failure (which it is not), Microsoft can absorb it. If you talk about any "software manufacturer", I am sure there are plenty of other instances. You can still find Mozilla Firefox 0.9.3 here. Although I don't know if fits the bill as "Mozilla is not a traditional software company"^[6].:I don't think everyone needs to upgrade to the latest software at once. I am running Tiger and I am not rushing to buy a new piece of software "just because it is there". If I need to upgrade it, or if it makes my life easier, surely I will upgrade. Leopard looks great but I don't know why I need it yet. I'd say it is the same with Microsoft products, too. Kushal 10:23, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

The question isn't one of need or want but of availability. I don't think Tiger is still being sold by Apple. Their only OS that is comercially available is Leopard. Dismas|^(talk) 10:43, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

My bad. Sorry. Kushal 17:17, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't have a cite, but I think microsoft continued to offer Win95 for a surprisingly long time after 98 came out. The issue as I understand it is largely companies that have five thousand computers with version X and they need to buy a dozen more computers. They don't want to have five thousand computers with Version X and a dozen with version X+1. They want everything to be the same, and they don't necessarily want to upgrade what they've already got to achieve that. APL (talk) 19:29, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

write-proof a cookie

Is there a way to write proof cookies? (in Firefox, under Linux). So for example, users of a computer cannot change the settings on one website, for example Google Preferences, but everyone else's cookies are okay to change.

Change the permission on the cookie to not be writable?.. :D\=< (talk) 05:47, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

It seems that Firefox stores all its cookies in one single text file. Is there an extension for this maybe? Duomillia (talk) 12:14, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

This sort of user-restrictive policy is difficult to enforce (what if they use Epiphany, or Konqueror, or Lynx, or W3, or...?) and is generally taken to be against the spirit of FLOSS anyway; if there were an /etc/cookies file, it (probably) wouldn't override the user's own cookies, and if it did by default there would be a trivial way (like firefox --no-etc or so) to ignore them. That said, there's nothing stopping you from writing a script that periodically overwrites /home/*/.mozilla/firefox/*/cookies.txt with all the same cookies except those for google.com. — although woe be unto you if you corrupt your users' cookie files! — or modifying Firefox itself to obey your rules — but remember the multiple-browsers thing; even bash can be used as an extremely simple "web browser"! --Tardis (talk) 13:30, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

It would take some effort, but I'm thinking you could force all HTTP traffic to a proxy server, and have the proxy edit the Cookie header. -- Coneslayer (talk) 13:39, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Laptop idles at 140˚ F, normal/problem?

When I purchased my Macbook it was fine, really. But now I'm seeing the temperatures go up to 85˚C (I usually turn off any processor intensive programs by then), and the processor idles at around 60˚ C. What's wrong, and how can I fix it? I know there is at least one fan working, how many fans are there inside a MacBook? Between the F, G, and V keys, it is cool to the touch while the rest of the computer is blazing hot, I can't even hold my finger on the hinge where the monitor connects to the body. I tried downloading a fan speed program to work the fans harder, but turns out they're at max already: ~6200 rpm. What should I do? 72.188.156.142 (talk) 05:57, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Are you browsing to any web sites that have singing/dancing advertisements (even as a pop-under/pop-behind)? I find that some web sites toast my MacBook.

Atlant (talk) 15:10, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Mine is at 58º right now. Is Firefox (or any other program) running in Rosetta (software) mode for you? In my experience, running shockwave intensive programs seems to be a culprit.

Realtek drivers not detecting plugged in speakers/headphones

My computer recently stopped detecting when I plug anything into it to try and get sound output. As a result, the sound is no longer working. I've tried reinstalling two different versions of realtek's drivers r190 and r180 and neither has fixed the problem. I'm using an abit kn9s motherboard. Does anyone have any ideas on how to fix this problem? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.210.80.202 (talk) 08:26, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Why do you assume this isn't a hardware problem with the headphone jack (or, less likely, the related circuitry)?

Atlant (talk) 15:23, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure its not related to the headphones because ive tried 3 different pairs —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.210.80.202 (talk) 23:10, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Sure, but you're plugging them all into the same headphone jack, aren't you?

Atlant (talk) 13:41, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

nope - tried plugging into the different jacks that ive got —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.210.80.202 (talk) 08:16, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

I guess I'm just not getting your point. Let me "replay" to you what I think you've said: Your computer has a jack which outputs sound to external speakers or a headphone. Lately, you haven't been able to get any sound out of that jack, even though you've tried multiple sets of headphones and these headphones are known to work elsewhere (in a Walkman or an iPod or something). For some reason, you've concluded that the problem is the software in the computer.

Did I state that all correctly?

The part I can't get past is why you don't think the problem is the hardware of the headphone jack. After all, frequently-used connectors break much more frequently than just about anything else in a computer except maybe for the fans.

Atlant (talk) 12:23, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

How to delete a program I can't rid of...

There is a program on my computer called "American Greetings Scrapbooks and More" (I don't know how it got there... I don't remember installing it...) and every time I try to remove it because it's taking up space it still stays there and wont let itself be uninstalled! What do I do? --Candy-Panda (talk) 08:56, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Have a look at this FAQ page: [7]. It certainly does seem like a rather convoluted method you have to follow to uninstall it. - Akamad (talk) 11:45, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Alternatives to GraphViz for drawing graphics

Presently I use GraphViz for graph drawing but I need a couple of extra features in the graphs. First, they need html links on them (and not only plain text) and second, it should be possible to develop them collectively. The perfect solution would be an Adobe Flash application where users could log in and add their nodes to an existent graph (mathematics). Mr.K. (talk) 12:50, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Note that 'graphs' and 'graphics' are two different things. WikiWiking (talk) 18:18, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Excel formatting

I have a Microsoft Excel document with 33 sheets, and I want to adjust the cell sizes on them, exactly the same for each (I'm making up 33 schedules). Is there a way to "copy and paste" the format so I don't have to manually shrink 15 columns on 33 sheets? (That is a lot of columns to do!) I tried just plain copy and paste and I tried the format painter and neither one worked. Cherry Red Toenails (talk) 15:13, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Try selecting the whole sheet (click on the empty button diagonally up and left from A1 cell) and then copying/pasting. Admiral Norton ^(talk) 15:27, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

(edit conflict) The format painter works, but don't forget that you will need to apply it to the column or row as a whole, not to the individual cells in the column. It's also possible to export the sheet as a .XML file and then use a competent text-editor (as compared to Excel) to make the column width/row height changes that you have in mind.

Atlant (talk) 15:30, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, the tip about using the format painter for the column as a whole worked perfectly! Cherry Red Toenails (talk) 15:40, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Alternatively (for future reference) you should be able to multi-select all the sheets you want to format (Shift-Click or Ctrl-Click the tabs); format the one you can see and all of them will be affected. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 22:44, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Sockets

What is a socket in terms of network applications?

I think it is something that contains the IP address of a computer and a and port number which allows a computer to connect to the internet, but other than that i dont really understand it, Please could someone explain in simple-ish terms, as i have looked at the wiki sockets article and that hasnt really simplified things. Or is it a virtual connection between 2 computers?

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.136.46.250 (talk) 18:33, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

sockets is a disambiguation page. I hope you looked at Internet socket and maybe Berkeley sockets. "A socket is one of the endpoints of a network connection" is as simple as it's going to get. (Not entirely true because there are forms of network communication not based on "connections", and sockets are used for those too.) To add a little more detail, from the programmer's point of view, a socket is an object that can perform network-related operations such as: initiating a connection to another host; waiting for another host to initiate a connection; sending and receiving data on the established connection. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 19:21, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Ban on commercial use of the internet?

According to a statement on Open mail relay (unsourced) and other sources (I don't remember where) I seem to recall that commercial (spam, selling stuff) on the internet was banned when it was first created (FIDOnet, etc, and college run). Any idea if this happened, preferably with sources. ffm 19:39, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

First, Fidonet is a completely separate network of bulletin board systems. It's not Internet.

Second, yes, at first, Internet was entirely noncommercial. There's an article in Wikipedia - History of Internet, I think. (Or it could be Internet history. I don't remember.) --grawity ^{talk / PGP} 20:01, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Unfortunately, that information in the article is not cited, and I have been unable to turn up anything via google. Someone added a load of fact tags to Open mail relay, and one of them was about the non-com nature of the internet. I'd hate to remove the information, as it seems true, but I can't cite wikipedia inside itself. ffm 20:35, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

RFC 1192, titled "Commercialization of the Internet Summary Report", written in 1990 (during the transition period), says:

  Under the draft acceptable use policy in effect from 1988 to mid-
  1990, use of the NSFNET backbone had to support the purpose of
  "scientific research and other scholarly activities."  The interim
  policy promulgated in June 1990 is the same, except that the purpose
  of the NSFNET is now "to support research and education in and among
  academic institutions in the U.S. by access to unique resources and
  the opportunity for collaborative work."

The keywords to finding more information are "NSFNET Acceptable Use Policy. Google finds many references: http://www.google.com/search?q=nsfnet+acceptable+use+policy

One of them appears to be a copy of the 1988 policy: http://www.cni.org/docs/infopols/NSF.html where "no commerical use" is found in rule number 7. What remains is to decide whether that is a reliable copy of the original document, and to define the extent to which Internet==NSFNET was true in 1988... --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 23:39, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Aww, I can't believe "RFC1192" doesn't auto-link. I had to put a space in it. RFCnnnn without a space is standard form, ain't it? Feels tragically un-geeky with the space. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 23:45, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Internet Explorer automatically refreshing pages.

I am using Internet Explorer on vista. I was editing a wiki page for 20 minutes (not on WP), when much to my extreme annoyance the page automatically refreshed. I calmed myself down and worked on another page, only to have it happen again! Arg!

Why is IE doing this thing, would it be harmful to stop it, and how can I stop IE from doing this thing? Thanks. Smaug 21:42, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

If one web browser gives you problems, try another: Firefox - Opera - Safari - Konqueror. --h2g2bob (talk) 22:23, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

Are you sure it's the browser causing this? I use Vista and IE 7 and have no such problems. Astronaut (talk) 00:45, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't follow your problem, either. I would love it if you could migrate to Mozilla Firefox, but unless we know what caused the problem, we will not know if Mozilla Firefox will solve it. Automatic refresh is a feature which, I am sure, IE7 (I assumed 7 since you are on Vista, your story may be different if you have addons installed) does not have this feature. I thought automatic refresh is one of the most touted features of Opera Internet Suite. It is very easy to enable/disable it with just two clicks, however. Kushal 12:32, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

I do not think upgrading to Mozilla Firefox will solve the problem. The same problem (strangely enough, like you, every 20 minutes) happens at the college I go to. All Internet Explorer and Firefox (even Firefox portable) pages refresh for no apparent reason. The PC's are using Windows XP, not Vista. (I cannot confirm, but I think this is something to do with computer settings, as the problem at my college is limited to one room of 45 computers)

Upgrade to firefox anyway though :p Scottie Too Hottie7 (talk) 18:24, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Very strange. I use XP and IE 6 and even when I reload a page while I'm editing it, things in textboxes always stay the same. Admiral Norton ^(talk) 14:42, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

April 8

PowerPoint VBA question

I would like to make it so that in a given (pre-existing) PowerPoint presentation, every time I hit "next slide", the screen goes totally black for a period of X milliseconds, and then goes to the next slide as usual.

Any idea where to start in terms of the VBA? I've been trying to figure out, just to begin with, how to "catch" the next slide event in VBA, but I'm struggling. The sample code I've found doesn't seem to work for PowerPoint 2004 for Mac. This should be possible, yes? I'm very handy in general with VBA, but I've never used it in PowerPoint before so this is an object model I'm not familiar with. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 00:42, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Maybe not much help to you, but Powerpoint 2007 (Windows) already has exactly the type of slide transition you desire, built in - either fade to black then fade in next slide, or switch to black then switch to next slide - at a speed that is "slow", "medium" or "fast"; sorry no milliseconds, but fast was like an eye blink when I tried it. I wonder if the same transitions are in Powerpoint 2008 for Mac? Astronaut (talk) 01:02, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Hmm, that's an idea I hadn't thought of, though I doubt the built-in transitions will accommodate. I don't want it to fade, I want it to go like this: slide 1 -> black (.5 seconds) -> slide 2. Click-clack. Herky jerky. On purpose and all. But I'll look into making custom transitions, that might be my best shot. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 01:26, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Now that I play with it, the one that comes closest to approximating what I want is called "Cut through black." I just wish I could extend the black period a bit. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 01:49, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Put auto-advancing black slides in between each slide and cut between them? :D\=< (talk) 02:31, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

I had thought of that, but I'd like it to be something portable and easy to use. Keeping track of extra slides would be a real pain. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 17:42, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Using cut through black (and fade through black) with the transition speed set to slow, gives about 0.5 secs of black. Astronaut (talk) 12:09, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

I wasn't able to change the transition speed for "cut to black" on mine (and again, fade to black won't work for this), it goes pretty fast. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 17:42, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

A piece of advice: try putting an empty slide with a black background in-between and set the animation on that black slide to automatically advance to the next slide in whatever time you want. Then, put any transitions you want. Nice, easy and no VBA. Although it might not look very nice while editing in Powerpoint, it works just fine during a slide show. Admiral Norton ^(talk) 14:36, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Connecting Etrex garmin GPS eceiver with a laptop

I have a Garmin Etrex GPS receiver.I used to connect it to a RS 232 port of the PC.Everything was OK.But I recently bought a Laptop that does not have a RS 232 port.Please help me how can i connect it to the USB port of my Laptop. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.70.64.15 (talk) 02:11, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

I've never used this product, but I love this vendor.

http://www.meritline.com/usb-cable-rs232-rs-232-cables.html

I did a search for "usb to serial" and it was the first hit. - Bummer, not in stock.

Ah, same site has this: http://www.meritline.com/usb-to-rs232-9-pin-adapter-blue.html

$10 and free shipping. Their shipping is fast too. I live in Savannah GA (East coast) and products come from the West coast and my deliveries always come way before they say they will - Then again, maybe they add to my estimated shipping time becasue I am on the East coast. Either way, I get my stuff with free shipping in less than a week.--Wonderley (talk) 03:37, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

And there is this, if you prefer going the cable route

http://www.meritline.com/usb-to-rs232-cable.html

Make sure you double check the gender of the ends of what you need for your adapter. The product descriptions can sometimes be confusing. --Wonderley (talk) 03:47, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Actionscript 3 video playback

Hi, i've been creating some off-line swf files for one of my colleagues to demonstrate our goods on her computer(Mac) to potential clients .

When i import a video to the timeline using Actionscript 3 and compile, it performs less than desirably - skipped frames; slow playback; sudden, overly fast playback, etc. I convert(rewrite) the file (actionscript and all) to Actionscript 2 and it runs a lot smoother .

I'd like to keep with As3 if possible of course, but this is effecting how i construct my files - i'm wary of using As3 for mulitple or large videos now .

Any ideas of why this is? I've got the latest ver of Flash player installed, etc ... on a pretty quick Mac . I'm placing the video directly on the timeline .

Any advice / work-arounds / better ways of doing things? Boomshanka (talk) 04:43, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Random name generation algorithms

I developed a simple random name generator in Ruby - simply a method that returned a string containing a randomly generated "fantasy" name. The algorithm worked thusly:

a) Create an empty string

b) Add a consonant

c) Add a vowel

d) Continue steps b) and c) for a randomly generated number of times (I limit the number between 3 and 10).

This basic method uses the simple trick that alternating consonant / vowel etc. will generate a nonsensical but "realistic" fantastical name. However the results are extremely simplistic and have no real "depth" or particular style:

Huw

Nilog

Reticuf

Bili

Heruman

Folupiw

Some of these, such as "Huw" and "Heruman" are acceptable whereas "Folupiw" and "Reticuf" look too random. I'm looking to develop this algorithm to something better, but I'm unsure where to start. I read a great article online somewhere a long time ago about markov chain algorithms that take a list of hand-written names and generate results based on the statistical likelihood of a letter appearing after a certain previous one. Any ideas? 81.187.252.174 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 07:15, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Maybe have a list of pre-written name endings that are used 25% of the time or something.. a lot of names in Tolkien end in "-in" (Turin, Hurin, Fingolfin..) for example. Also don't just pick a random consonant.. have a list of which consonants are appropriate after which vowels, and which vowels are appropriate after which consonants. You wouldn't want an a after a q- you only want a u. And a w after an i is also unacceptable. Tailor all of this to the style you're going for and just keep adding more conditions until you're satisfied :D\=< (talk) 07:22, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Maybe consonant cluster and phonotactics may help. --Kjoonlee 07:36, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Along with the consonant cluster suggestion (like "sh", "th", and "ch"), also use vowel clusters, like "oo", "au", "ai", etc. StuRat (talk) 11:47, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

That reminds me of some other articles, like diphthong and digraph (orthography). --Kjoonlee 11:52, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the replies! Letter grouping rules sounds like the next step. Anyone know much about implementing Markov chain algorithms to generate names? The advantage of this is you can literally define the "style" of the name from providing a list. For instance, if I "plug" in a text file full of names from China, I'll get Chinese sounding names - if I plug in a text file full of names from Sweden, I'll get Swedish sounding names. The main problem is I'm not sure how to approach it -- is there any literature available (particularily source code?) 81.187.252.174 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 12:32, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Funny you should mention Sweden. Name days in Sweden. --Kjoonlee 14:57, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, isn't that little custom cute :) My grandma always sends me a book on December 1. A shame if you're named Muhammad, though. --Oskar 10:59, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Did you see this guy who just posted about doing the same thing with Italian names? [8] With code, too. [9] 207.148.157.228 (talk) 13:54, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

You may also find the GPW password generator to be of use. Look here. It eats a dictionary to generate tables of 3-letter sequences, then stitches these together into random words that are usually pronouncable. --Mdwyer (talk) 23:39, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Firefox Update

I'm not sure if this is just me or what, but since I got the new update for Firefox yesterday, I have lost my 'back' and 'forward' buttons. Is this a mistake on the update? If not, is there anyway I can get them to appear again?

Also, I use an addon which gives me a 'speed dial', like in Opera, and everytime Firefox updates, this gets disabled. Is there any way I can re-enable addons which have been disabled? I know it's compatible because just reinstalling the addon makes it work again, but then I have to reconfigure it again.

Thanks--ChokinBako (talk) 08:45, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Right click on the toolbar, select "Customize...", drag & drop tools to & from from the toolbar. As to extensions, automatic update is a mystery to me. Check tools -> options -> advanced -> automatically check installed add-ons. Or manually check from tools -> add-ons. Weregerbil (talk) 10:12, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Yep, you cannot use the addon unless it is compatible with the version of Firefox you have. Kushal 12:21, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! I didn't know Firefox had the 'drag & drop' thing, and that sorted my 'speed dial' out, too, because I've put that in the tool bar. This is even better than it was before! --ChokinBako (talk) 13:23, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

"Lossless" DVD Video ripping/archiving

(DVD Video encoded in lossy MPEG-2)

Is there any sort of "lossless" DVD ripping/archiving? The output file size should be the same as the input. There is no need for compression.

Think of it as lossless archiving of a JPEG file or a MP3 file: All you need is to copy the input file. The decoder can read those formats. If you convert it to a PNG of FLAC the output file size will be much bigger. So you need to use the same lossy encoding.

The is no need that any media player could play it, one media player is enough - it could be a program that specially created to play this kind of files.

Can ISO do that? Are there media player to play ISO on-the-fly? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.0.6.8 (talk) 09:40, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Just rip the VOBs off the disk with DVD Decrypter. ffdshow configured correctly will play them back in Media Player Classic or any directshow media player. :D\=< (talk) 09:56, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

But watch out, they're big. A full dual layer dvd holds 8GB.. ugh mpeg2 is disgusting :D\=< (talk) 09:58, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

I think you're already aware of this, but the VOB file on a DVD is MPEG-2 encoded -- so it is already been lossy-compressed. The best you can do it not process the file any further. You can do a bit-accurate copy of the MPEG-2 data on a DVD and not introduce additional losses. You cannot get the original uncompressed video from a DVD.--Mdwyer (talk) 23:35, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

ISC BIND probs

I am thinking that I installed ISC Bind wrong on my CP, judging from the fact that I cannot get Apache to work right. I am thinking that it has something to do with my "zones" file. according to here, I should replace all references to "nameserver" or "hostname" to the hostname of my nameserver. What is the "hostname of my nameserver?" Is it "www"? Is it my ISP? What? Also, it doesnt say anything about what to do for "hostmaster". I need help. Here are the contents of my db.flaminglawyer.com.txt, assuming that I was aiming at creating flaminglawyer.com

$TTL 6h
@	IN SOA	www.flaminglawyer.com.	hostmaster.flaminglawyer.com. (
			2008040701
			10800
			3600
			604800
			86400 )

@		NS	www.flaminglawyer.com.


nameserver	IN A	192.168.1.11

flaminglawyer^c 12:05, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

"hostmaster.flaminglawyer.com" is actually an e-mail address. The first dot gets turned into an '@'. So, this is the contact address of someone responsible for these

records.

I'd probably do something like this:

$TTL 6h
@	IN SOA	www.flaminglawyer.com.	hostmaster.flaminglawyer.com. (
			2008040701
			10800
			3600
			604800
			86400 )

@		NS	dns.flaminglawyer.com.


dns	IN	A	192.168.1.11
www	IN	A	192.168.1.11

However, there are a lot of subtleties, here. We probably can't really help you effectively in this forum. --Mdwyer (talk) 23:32, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Creative DDTS-100

Hi,
Does anyone here own one a Creative DDTS-100 and if so do you think it improves audio quality/experience (particularly in movies) and hence is it worth buying? I have a Creative Megaworks THX 5.1 system and onboard audio with my motherboard (Asus K8N-E Deluxe) --58.175.34.222 (talk) 12:40, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Keyboard buffering

You know the behaviour exhibited by a lot of traditional computer programs (say bash for example) where you can continue to type as bash is doing something and it (or something, whatever it is) will store up your key presses until it's ready for them? eg you can type ls<enter>ls<enter> as quickly as you like and you'll end up with it running ls twice. Now consider a form on a web browser - you fill some things in and press enter and get a new form. Now normally there'd be no "keyboard buffering" or at least the keyboard buffering wouldn't do what you want - ie wait for the next form. What solutions / workarounds exist for this? --194.223.156.1 (talk) 15:31, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

That is a behavior of the web browser, not the web page. You can fake it by using JavaScript to buffer key presses and AJAX to change the content (so you don't break the continuity of the JavaScript). AJAX will use the buffer to fill in the new form when it finishes loading. -- kainaw™ 15:40, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Just so you know, this feature is called type-ahead and it's usually a standard feature of any command line interface, but type-ahead or mouse-ahead is a pretty rare feature of any graphical user interface. 'shame, really.

Atlant (talk) 19:10, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Hey Kainaw, can you provide any examples of this being implemented? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.223.156.1 (talk) 08:34, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

MP3 V AAC

I use iTunes for music on my PC so I can sync the music to my iPod. My 30gb iPod recently ran out of space however, and as half the music on my iTunes is in the MP3 format and half in the AAC format, I was wondering whether I should convert it all to AAC or all to MP3, or if it would make a difference at all. Also, is there any program on Windows Vista that can compress the files? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.5.206.57 (talk) 16:08, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Don't reencode anything, you'll be murdering your audio quality with a dagger made of lava! :D\=< (talk) 16:57, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Best. Metaphor. Ever. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 17:58, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Ditto :D Unless you trade your iPod for some stupid mp3 player that does not support AAC. Kushal 23:36, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Domain expiration: what sec exactly

If I know that the domain 'dom.com' expired on the day 'e', how can I know exactly when it can be bought again? Is there a way to calculate the exact second?

A domain of mine expired a couple of weeks ago and it is on the redemption period. My registrant want $70 for renewing it in this redemption period - and I've heard that this price is not abusive.

I am not interested in any service that helps me buy expired domains. the domain is personally valuable but nothing especial. If I can grab my domain back is fine, if not is not the end of the world. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.58.205.37 (talk) 16:35, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Hooking up a laptop drive

A friend of mine says their Macbook hard drive has died and wants me to take a quick look at it (their tech support wants to charge them $700 for the honor of giving it a shot, which I find a bit excessive). Unfortunately the tech support has already taken it out of the laptop housing and installed a new harddrive in it. I'm pretty sure it is a SATA drive of some sort.

What's the best approach? I've excavated data from bad/buggy drives before but usually it has involved chaining laptops up using Firewire or trying to hook the problematic drive as a slave drive. I'm not really interested in buying an enclosure for just this purpose, especially if the possibility of it working at all is low. I was thinking about hooking it up as a slave drive to my old PC but I haven't the slightest idea whether the drive connections will be compatible. (Obviously, once I have the drive, it will be more straightforward.)

Anyway -- I guess I don't have a specific question, but am phrasing this more as a general query. Thoughts? --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 17:37, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

MacBooks that have a FireWire connector will start up in Target Disk Mode where they just pretend to be big external FireWire drives that can be connected to any other computer that will support external FireWire drives.

Atlant (talk) 19:05, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Right, I know that (and tried to indicate that above, guess I wasn't clear), but the hard drive needs to be hooked into a preexisting laptop for that to work. In this case, I just have the drive; I don't have a laptop to hook it into. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 00:27, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Oh, I see -- sorry. Buy a cheap "external hard drive mounting box" that will support the SATA drive on the inside and whatever connectivity (FireWire, USB, ESATA) you have on the outside. Such a box will come in handy time and time again over the years. (And remember that converters are available between SATA and PATA in case you can't find a SATA mounting box. Converters are also available between full-sized PATA and the mini-PATA used on 2-1/2" drives.)

Atlant (talk) 12:26, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Moved from miscellaneous -- slow loading FaceBook

For some reason some sites such as Facebook, Bebo and Yahoo Answers seem to be taking forever to load. This is despite the fact that they were working perfectly yesterday, and that other sites such as Wikipedia, WikiAnswers, Youtube and Livejournal are working as normal. I'm not capped, and there doesn't appear to be any change in my internet from normal. At one point I opened youtube to a 10 minute video, typed facebook into the address bar and pressed enter, and then managed to watch the entire video before facebook loaded (the title appeared, and "Connecting to static.ak.facebook.com..." appeared down the bottom of the screen, but it was all youtube inbetween). The page is still seeming to load, even though it started about an hour ago! Any ideas? 58.166.102.18 (talk) 09:37, 7 April 2008 (UTC)

I'd think the Computer Ref Desk would be a better place for this question. StuRat (talk) 02:44, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

My first suspicion is that (if you are at work), your IT admins may be trying to set up a block on facebook. Of course, if you have a private connection (or are at home), this makes no sense. If it is your private connection, try talking with your ISP. I am pretty sure Facebook was not down anytime last week. Kushal 22:13, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Sharing an IP

When we share an IP, how do other servers know whom to send a request. I mean, there must something else there to mark packages passing through the network, right? WikiWiking (talk) 18:11, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

You may be sharing an external IP, but you are not sharing an internal IP - which is also in the packet as it goes back and forth. So, once your router gets the packet sent to the external IP, it unpacks the packet based on the internet IP and knows where it is supposed to go. When it gets an internal packet, it wraps it in the external IP and sends it off. -- kainaw™ 18:42, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

The IP packets are sorted-out based on their serial numbers (which normally vary widely from one user of the IP to another user). See NAT.

Atlant (talk) 19:01, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

What Kainaw said is basically correct, but I wouldn't put it that way. I'd say the "internal" IP is only known by computers in the local network, so it wouldn't go back and forth the Internet, only the local net. --Kjoonlee 19:08, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Let's say you're at an office where everybody shares a telephone number. Somewhat weirdly, everybody can call each other, but only the operator can call and receive phone calls. If you want to talk to someone on the outside, you call the operator, who calls the other person for you. When someone on the outside wants to calls you back, that person has to go through the operator and ask, "I was talking with some person about this-and-this; do you know who it is?" So the operator needs to remember what the call was about and put the call through. This is roughly how NAT works. Internal IP addresses correspond roughly to how internal phone numbers work. --Kjoonlee 19:20, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Ok, lets forget the analogies and vague answers and just tell the guy what's actually happening: a packet travelling on the internet contains these two pieces of information in order to know where it's going: an IP address and a port number. The port number just essentially informs the receiving computer what internet socket that should handle the data. That way, you can have 20 connections alive at any one moment, and they don't get confused because they all have different port numbers. If you get a packet to port 80, that goes to your HTTP server, a packet going to port 25 is an email packet, and so forth. When you connect to a foreign server, your computer creates a new socket on a random port with a high number, like 32431, so that when the server responds it knows what port it should sent it to.

This is also how NAT-routers knows what packet to send to whom. If it sees a packet leaving computer with an internal IP (that is, your local IP-address, not your public IP-address) of 192.168.1.105 which specifies a return port of 32431, it knows that when the router receives a pack with a destination port of 32431, it knows that it should go to 192.168.1.105. Let's illustrate this with an example conversation:

• A computer on a local network with local IP 192.168.1.105 wants to send a packet to 72.14.207.99 port 80 (also known as google.com). It specifies return port 45673.
• The NAT router sees that 192.168.1.105 is sending a packet to 72.14.207.99, and it specifies return port 45673. It remembers that.
• Google recieves the packet and sends one in return, with the router IP as destination and destination port 45673.
• The NAT router recieves googles packet, and now it has to figure out what computer on the local network should receive it. Oh, look, 192.168.1.105 just sent a packet to google with a return port of 45673! It must be that computer that wants it!
• 192.168.1.105 receives the answer to the packet it sent.

Get it? So you're basically right, there is something else that marks the packet with additional information, the port number. It wasn't intended really to be used that way, but it works fine. --Oskar 20:46, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

using my cache

It there a way I can save my cache into a working copy of ofline web files? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.159.16.175 (talk) 18:59, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

As long as your browser is actually storing the cache contents onto the disk, they're stored as ordinary files. (Not all browsers use a disk cache; the browser I'm using right now is configured to just use a very large memory cache.) It may be tough to figure out what's what based on the weird filenames, but it's all there and you can copy it out just like any other files.

Atlant (talk) 19:03, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

So, in theory I could copy the cache from loads of different browsers into one directory and then later past them into my own browsers cache folder and have a working ofline internet?

Each browser usuaully has some sort of "cache control file" as well that contains metadata about what's in that browser's cache. Because of this, you can't just arbitrarily copy-in the varous HTML bits, GIF bits, and the like and expect to be able to browse that collection. The files are useful individually, though.

Atlant (talk) 19:13, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Google Gears promises to give some of that capability in the future. A developers' version is available for you to work with. Please read our article on it. You might also want to look at ScrapBook as a working solution (you can set ScrapBook to save everything that you browse automatically). Another related extension is Zotero which is "partly a piece of reference management software". I hope that helps. Kushal 23:33, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

any TINY single executable for Windows that is a "browser" but just displays HTML?

I'm looking for a TINY browser (and I mean tiny, a few KB, I'm not thinking like Opera browser or something that needs installation, just a single executable) to display HTML, I don't want to use IE or embed it. Is there anything like that? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.122.30.122 (talk) 23:43, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

ps. the reason I want it to be so tiny is to be INSTANT, as responsive as C++ GUI code. I dont want to learn a gui language and just want to use HTML and my local web server (ABYSS, itself tiny :) ) to act as a local application, but this is a laptop low on ram and I dont want the web browser to come witha bunch of overhead. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.122.30.122 (talk) 23:46, 8 April 2008 (UTC)

Telnet to Port 80 on the target system (but I've forgotten the exact details; do you have to say "get"?).

Atlant (talk) 00:06, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

err, that won't work. What he wants is something that will RENDER html but without full browser overhead. My bet is that on a Windows system it'll be hard to do better than just embedding an IE instance, since it'll likely already be loaded into the host machine anyhow. In my experience in doing something like this, the hardest part is figuring out how to handle when the user clicks on things (that is, making the browser control send input back to the program and not try and do things automatically). RealBasic has an HTML renderer control but it's fiendishly hard to use in the way you've specified (I've tried and tried and tried). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 00:24, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

iexplore definitely isn't loaded into my memory already- maybe you're thinking of windows 98 or something (maybe XP did this?). You'll probably have a KHTML renderer loaded if you use KDE, I don't know o_O :D\=< (talk) 03:52, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Try Off By One Web Browser. Full HTML 3.2 support, completely self-contained, stand-alone 1.2 MB application with no dependencies. Think outside the box 07:24, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

No dependencies?! ridiculous :D\=< (talk) 12:18, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

If you figure out a sensible way to do this please let us know. It's an obvious thing to want—it would allow one to do all sorts of clever things with web scripting languages and etc. without worrying about interfaces, and would be easily cross-platform—but as far as I know it's not out there at the moment. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 13:23, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Try Gogi. Minimal UI overhead. Windows, Linux. Don't expect support. --soum ^talk 13:34, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Would it be possible to get the Windows port of Dillo? Astronaut (talk) 14:08, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

April 9

Speech to text systems

Are there any reasonable freeware or online versions of systems to convert speech files contained in ogg, mp3, wav etc files to text? We are getting more and more sound files here and it would be nice to have a more efficient method of converting them to text than just doing it purely manually. Any ideas?--Filll (talk) 00:38, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Sorry for the bad news, but I don't think you are going to have much luck with this. I hope I'm wrong, but here is why I think so. I got "Via Voice" for free with some other software I purchased. I'm thinking it was only $20 or so. Now, this was in 1999, but I think the software works the same nowadays. How it worked was, you would say paragraphs of text as the words were highlighted on the screen. Same idea as karaoke. Based on how the USER pronounced words, it learned THAT voice. There is just too many dialects, accents and slang out there for it to know what every voice is pronouncing. If you think about it, you know that our brain does not make out every word said, but it "fills in" based on the context, body language, inflection...

Here's the 2005 version of that software: http://www.nuance.com/viavoice/

Why I also think the technology is not where it needs to be yet is based on the job my cell phone does. It does fine with "digit dial". It knows it's only listening for 0 to 9. But when it comes to "name dial" I have to mispronounce some of my friends names to get it to dial them - and that is with a very limited menu of possibilities.

If you do find something, please post it here. I'd love to have it myself.--Wonderley (talk) 06:53, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

CMU Sphinx --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 07:17, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Games crashing out

I run a Maxdata dualcore 3.4g computer with 1g RAM and an ATI 1600XT card. Recently I felt like a bit of Quake 4 so I installed it up and blasted merrily away for an hour or so. Then the computer started crashing in a way I had not encountered before. The graphics stutter briefly, then the game crashes out to the desktop, then, with no warning text or choices, the PC calmly shuts itself down, going through the usual blue goodbye screen. When I turn it back on, it does so without fuss.

I wondered if it was a problem with the Quake install, so I tried Doom3, with the same results. My PC runs fine otherwise, and copes happily with fairly demanding apps like Photoshop. I wondered if the graphics card was overheating, but usually if it gets hot the control software sends me a polite message on screen. I tried playing with the case open, and updated the drivers for the card but got the same results. Any ideas? Cheers. FreeMorpheme (talk) 07:20, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

What's the bluescreen showing? Or is that XP's blue shutdown screen that you mean? If so, check the event viewer and see if it says why it's shutting down. What temperatures are your CPU and GPU reaching? Etc? -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 07:45, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

It's probably an overheating issue. Playing with the case open would make it worse :D\=< (talk) 07:49, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, I meant the XP shutdown screen. I've never come across Event Viewer, that does sound handy. It doesn't reset on shutdown does it? And would playing with the case open make it worse? I assumed that giving it some air would help if it was getting hot. 195.60.20.81 (talk) 08:29, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Overheating was my first instinct too, but I'm not so sure that that is it. When a computer overheats, doesn't it just power off? I mean, it doesn't fire up the XP shutdown procedure, it just kills the power. That's been my experience anyway. --Oskar 11:05, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

I thought that was odd too, but I can confirm it certainly shuts down normally after crashing out of the game. There are no error messages ever displayed and I when I check the graphics software when idling it seems to be running at normal temp. 195.60.20.81 (talk) 11:24, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Opening the case rarely helps if it is temperature related; it just reduces air flow. Make sure you check the CPU temp, not just the GPU. 130.179.29.132 (talk) 13:34, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Well, that event viewer is handy. Checking it after shutdown gives me: ATI HotKey Poller - System is forced to be shutdown because of graphic card in unexpected high temperature. So that's that then. Now... anyone have any ideas what I should do? FreeMorpheme (talk) 18:20, 9 April 2008 (UTC) EDIT Checking the temp of the card at idle or near idle gives a fairly steady 85-90C. That seems pretty hot. Hmmm.

zip website

are there any browsers that can read a website stored in a zip file? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.159.16.175 (talk) 08:41, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Well there's content-encoding :D\=< (talk) 09:43, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

So how does this work? I compress it with 7zip then what? How can I direct my browser to the internal files? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.159.16.175 (talk) 10:07, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Uh no it's not strictly relevant to your question. The web server gzips it automatically, you dont use 7zip unless you're crafting some raw netcat bizarreness :D\=< (talk) 11:05, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

So how do people view html files etc in those .arc formats? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.159.16.175 (talk) 11:14, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Ubuntu Root

I'm hoping someone can save my sanity... I installed Ubuntu 7.04, and subsequently upgraded it to 7.10. At no point did the installation ask me to create a ROOT password. Now, however, I have come to install version 8.04, and there are an untold number of problems, all down to the fact that the software wants to update 2 files (gcc-3.3.doc and gcc-3.4.doc), neither of which it can access because they are 'owned' by Root. Does anybody know if there is a default Root password? I have hunted high and low on the web without success, including the usual suspects (ubuntu's homepage, various bulletin boards, and so on...) This problem has been going on for days now, and is preventing me from using many of the programs I would normally use day-to-day... Samilong (talk) 10:11, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

There is no default root password on ubuntu; you're supposed to use sudo for all your root purposes. If you really, really, really, really want a root terminal, you can type in "sudo -i" and enter your password (your user password, assuming your user is the admin on the computer). There, now you're root. If you want to start a root instance of the file-browser, type in "sudo nautilus" at the terminal. If you want to change the owner of those two files, type "sudo chown [your user name] [the file name]" in the terminal. --Oskar 10:35, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

BTW, if you need a little more basic help, like how to work a terminal or to change file permissions or something like that, we'll be glad to help. Cheers. --Oskar 10:36, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Oh, and another thing. If you do stuff using the root account, be careful. Changing stubborn file-ownerships of individual files is usually no big deal, but don't go crazy and start using it when you don't need to. Sudo has weapons of mass operating system destruction capabilities. You really only rarely need to change stuff outside of your home-folder manually. If you want to install a program, use "apt-get" or synaptic (or the neat little "Add/Remove Software" GUI that's in the main applications menu). --Oskar 10:55, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Here comes the light with which to cast back these shadowy sudo demons!! Apparently I'm the only one here who hates retarded sudo for a desktop distro and will give this fellow what he's asking for. Dum da da dum:

sudo passwd

This runs "passwd" as root so it sets the root password to whatever you give at the prompt. Also upgrading ubuntu is a bad idea. :D\=< (talk) 11:03, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Honestly, I don't know what's up with you people who wants to log in as root. I mean, it's sooooo much nicer to just use sudo! No need to constantly log in and out with root, and as I said, if you really, really, really, really wants a root terminal, "sudo -i" is just seven keystrokes away. All hail the glorious Superuser-Do! --Oskar 11:30, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

no need to constantly type sudo... :) anyway I have sudo configured to only stay authenticated for that single command and to require the actual root password, not the user's password.. so it's pretty much identical to su except for the convenience of auto de-elevating from root. :D\=< (talk) 12:16, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

using a digital photo frame as an ebook reader?

Would it be possible to use a digital photo frame as an ebook reader? They take memory cards, so if I put jpeg (or whatever) scans of the text I want to read on one, can't I use a digital photo frame to flip through them and read them? Maybe since their resolution is so low 800x600 maybe, I should create several photos of each page. Still, I have very little money for an ebook reader, so, would this work? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.122.13.205 (talk) 13:46, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

As you said, you'd need several pics of each page, which means you could store fewer total pages. This, combined with the lower memory on most digital photo frames means you likely can't store even an entire book on one. But, if you want to load one chapter each day I suppose that could work. Also note that books you just scan won't look as good as those which are first scanned, have OCR applied, and then have "perfect" letters recreated. StuRat (talk) 15:15, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

well I thought since it had removable memory I could store in toto as much as I wanted.... Anyway I'm a very very poor student, what do you think the cheapest photo frame is that can support memory cards? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.122.13.205 (talk) 17:21, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Photo frames do not have scrolling (up/down/left/right) capability. So, you will be viewing the image as is. You can't zoom in and scroll around. Also, there is no easy way to flip forwards/backwards between photos - especially the ability to jump to whatever page you like. As you can see, the big difference is functionality of the hardware - not just the resolution of the screen. -- kainaw™ 18:18, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

I'd invest in a 2nd hand laptop - if its just for ebooks then an early pentium would be fine. Boomshanka (talk) 00:07, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

why couldn't I flip forward and backward between photos???? surely there's a forward and back button. Anyway I'm talking about texts I'd spend a long time holding and looking at, such as obtuse old english. what price are we looking at for an 800x600 photo frame that flips forward and backward (its two buttons) between any number of photos on a removable memory card in it?? thank you! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.122.13.205 (talk) 01:07, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

er, abstruse. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.122.13.205 (talk) 01:25, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

What price range are you looking at? Today's Woot is a iMate Momento 10.2” Wi-Fi Digital Picture Frame which looks great. The price is USD 129⁹⁹ an extra of USD 5.00 shipping, presumably within the United States. It handles JPEG, PNG, GIF, and BMP. It even plays MP3 and WMA files (for all those LibriVox audio files). Even if you do not like this product, you can still read about the product on http://www.woot.com/ so you can start crossing out any feature you will not need and any feature that you find missing. I hope it helps. (Just for the record, I am not a Woot employee.) Kushal 01:39, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Notebook computers can be pretty inexpensive, too. Engadget is talking about the possibility of an 8.9" Dell laptop for USD 499 in the second or third quarter of 2008. However, I cannot see laptops matching the price of a photo frame ... unless eBay comes to the rescue. Kushal 01:50, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Delay after locking computer

After locking my computer (Windows+L), there's sometimes a looong wait (up to three minutes) before the "enter password" dialog appears. What could be causing this? System: Windows XP Pro SP2. --grawity ^{talk / PGP} 14:55, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

I suspect the problem might be that you are using Windows...;-) Seriously, though, it sounds like a resources issue; have you downloaded all the latest updates and bug-fixes from Microsoft? If not, that would be my first port of call - or install SP3... Samilong (talk) 15:39, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Why is USB important?

why have usb ports become increasingly important. can someone tell me the answer. (E-Mail removed) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.103.97.82 (talk) 15:55, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Do you know what USB is? The article we have is pretty good and should tell you what you need to know. Friday (talk) 16:38, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Previous PC interfaces like RS-232 and SCSI did not support humping dogs or compact missile launchers. As office workers became more dependent on these tools, USB evolved to also support things like keyboards, mice, and mass storage devices. This progress made the earlier types of ports obsolete (they didn't even support pregnancy tests!), so now we mostly have USB. -- Coneslayer (talk) 17:39, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, USB flash drives made Zip drives and Jazz drives (both of which were thought to be the likely successor to the floppy drive) obsolete. They're faster, cheaper, and have greater storage capacity. Useight (talk) 23:10, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Captcha

Who writes the captchas on wikipedia?

Santa is nothing more than a greedy man

Santa is nothing more than a greedy man (talk) 18:52, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Check out http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ConfirmEdit --Sean 19:17, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Wait, was that (Santa is nothing more than a greedy man) what you had to enter on a captcha? :| Kushal 19:41, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Correct term

What is the correct term, if I were to say "Wikipedia is on the..." internet, world wide web, web, net, interweb? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.159.16.175 (talk) 19:12, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

The way I understand is Wikipedia is on the World wide web. The world wide web is a part of the Internet (abbreviated as net). Interweb is the creation of a confused mind. (Just don't tell Butters (South Park) that he is confused :D.) If I am correct, you can always correctly say, Wikipedia is on the Internet, and not worry about the protocols the computers use to talk to each other. Kushal 19:37, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Any of them except the last one is ok (only use the last one if you want to sound like a douche). --Oskar 19:40, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

I believe "Internet" is supposed to refer to the hardware, actual cables, hubs, routers, etc, while "World Wide Web" refers to the software (browsers, HTML pages, etc.). However, people use them interchangeably. Useight (talk) 23:07, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

The World Wide Web is an application layered on top of the the Internet. --71.162.249.117 (talk) 23:59, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Hosting

What companies are like 'the hosting company of everyone' or like a VW of hosting?WikiWiking (talk) 19:52, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

I don't quite understand the question. In what aspect should the "hosting company" be similar to Volkswagen? I agree that VW makes fine cars but I don't quite get what you imply by "like a VW". I am curious to learn more about it. Care to explain? Kushal 22:03, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, the questioner is asking if there are any "we do it all for you" hosting companies. Yes. In fact, I own one. We do everything (including some in-office computer support). However, it is very expensive. So, I would call it something like the Ferrari of hosting, not the VW. If, instead, the questioner is asking if there are any hosting services that are so cheap that anyone can have one, but it only provides the basic functionality - then yes, there are those too. I saw one for $5/year once. -- kainaw™ 22:51, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

That's the idea. But $5/year is incredibly cheap. Do you mean $5/month? WikiWiking (talk) 23:37, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

It was $5/year. I cheap guy I worked with used the service. Something didn't work right. He tried to get in touch with them to fix it, but they never responded. I told him he shouldn't expect service for $5/year. -- kainaw™ 01:51, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

How to let a third-party developer modify a website safely?

Hi all, I have a website running a off-the-shelf CMS (GeekLog). I have some basic grasp of PHP and MySQL, enough to have made a couple of changes, but I'm not so hot. I have plans for some upgrades, and have been considering renting a coder for not too much (therefore I'm not going to be able to afford the cream of the crop with hundreds of references and testimonials). What is the general way to allow an unknown coder to modify my website?

I'm not so worried about there being anything to steal (although if he changes the passwords on me and sells the domain to someone else I'd be annoyed...), it's more than he may have to be working on the underlying code base, and so wouldn;t want the thing to come crashing down.

Do people usually give the admin passwords to the developers? Can he somehow download the whole site, make the changes he needs to, and have me upload those changes? What's the best way of dealing with this?

Thanks!

— Sam 23:22, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

It is too late now, but you should have your website under some sort of version control (ie: SVN). Then, the developer can download the site, make changes on his machine, and submit them to the control system. You can download them and view them on your local machine. If you like them, you an update them to the main server.

Since, you probably don't have that, you should download the whole site to your PC (you'll need to dump the database and build it there also). Once you see that you can run it from your PC, you can send it to the developer to have him make changes. He'll send them back to you and you can check them on your PC. When you like the changes, you can send the site back to the webserver. -- kainaw™ 23:28, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

That sounds good -- SVN that is. Why is it too late? Would I be able to put it up now?

I've used some SVN for software code, and with we build directly from the code on SVN. How does it work for a website? Are the originals on SVN, or do you just duplicate everything, and merge it in when there are changes?

What about the databases and the MySQL stuff?

Thanks! (And if there are any other suggestions, I'm still very open to hearing them) — Sam 02:47, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

April 10

iTunes

Is there a way to get XP itunes to automagically run fullscreen / coverflow view when launched ? Boomshanka (talk) 01:48, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Make file usage

I know this can be done many ways, but I'm wondering if there's some "proper" method that I've just never noticed... I hope I can explain this well. I have a project (libPurple). I am working on a plugin for it. In order to make my plugin, I had to alter the auto-generated Makefile to include source directories that aren't normally used by libPurple. It works fine for me, but it would be a pain to tell anyone else who wants to use this plugin that they have ./configure and then alter the Makefile before running make. I know that I could alter the configure script, but I don't want to alter libPurple. I want this plugin to be a single source file you can plop in your libpurple trunk and run make on. So, I wondered if I could pass extra -I options on the command line, but I know that -I for make is where the included Makefile(s) are located, not where the .h files are found. I am beginning to think that the proper method is to have a second Makefile for the plugin that adds the extra directories and then calls the main Makefile - but I'm not sure. So, that is why I'm asking here. -- kainaw™ 01:49, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

If you're just trying to add some -I to CFLAGS, you could try setting a CFLAGS environment variable when you run configure. If it's autoconf or similar, it will copy the CFLAGS from the environment to the Makefile. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 02:42, 10 April 2008 (UTC)