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February 8

mozilla firefox

hi can anyone please tell me if mozilla firefox has firewall and anti virus with it as people are say diffent things cannot get a straight answer thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by Raggy*123 (talk • contribs) 03:03, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

No, it does not. It's a web browser, not an all-purpose internet security suite. Algebraist 03:04, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

It does have a very basic virus scanner for downloads, but it's hardly adequate. Firefox is the safest browser while actually viewing webpages, and it blocks known attack pages, but I'd suggest getting something like AVG, if you're looking for anti-virus/malware/spyware software. --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 03:38, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

If you want an anti-virus program, consult this PC World article first. AVG tends to rank near the bottom of comparisons, but I guess low cost and word of mouth have made it popular. I use BitDefender Free Edition. That's free and has good detection rates.--K;;m5m k;;m5m (talk) 03:43, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

That article *is* a couple of years old, so I'm not sure how accurate it would be today... also, it didn't seem to take into account the way some scanners (like McAfee) hog system resources. I could barely even play solitaire with it on my (three-year-old) computer when it was scanning! --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 03:55, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

That's true. I usually disable all the real-time junk and just scan manually from time to time. McAfee is especially bad. I read that BitDefender and Norton scan faster than it. I also read an article from Consumer Reports published in September, 2007 that ranked AVG and Avast at the bottom. You really get what you pay for when it comes to anti-virus and anti-spyware programs.--K;;m5m k;;m5m (talk) 04:04, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

You do? But just a little earlier you yourself praised BitDefender Free Edition (for which you pay nothing), and I've seen Symantec utilities (which don't cost nothing, but which admittedly could have been misinstalled) make computers run painfully slowly. Morenoodles (talk) 05:24, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

I've never used Symantec Utilities, but the key usually is disabling all of the programs that start automatically after you install an anti-virus program. It usually doesn't matter what anti-virus suite you use, because they usually add five or so services that start when the computer starts. I've noticed it with McAfee, Norton, Trend Micro, and BitDefender. You disable them inside services.msc and msconfig and then start them when you need to run a scan. The only good anti-virus program that hasn't done this to me is Kaspersky, which I liked very much. I guess BitDefender free edition is an exception to the rule I stated, but 99.9% of the free anti-virus programs I've encountered were either ineffective (e.g., AVG) or viruses themselves.--K;;m5m k;;m5m (talk) 05:39, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

That makes sense. Yes, once in my life I got infected with malware and immediately I was advised by Windows [not!] to install such-and-such a piece of "antivirus software". Since there are limits to my stupidity, I responded by hitting Alt-F4 a lot of times. Morenoodles (talk) 05:52, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Since when did Firefox include a virus scanner? It can use another virus scanner, but it doesn't include one! --wj32 ^t/c 08:09, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Hang on... OK, ignore me. You're right, I'm thinking of a certain very handy extension. Sometimes I wish the extensions would just be included with Firefox... FF does block some attack pages (emphasis on some), though. --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 20:00, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

white text-ifying...

The Memphis Tigers Wikia is having some problems. Sometimes, all the text (but not links) will randomly turn white. I haven't edited Monaco.css and Common.css, and no one else has either, but it still turns white. Then, a couple hours/minutes later, it'll (just as randomly) turn back to gray (the color that it's supposed to be). Clearing the server cache doesn't help. Clearing your browser cache doesn't help. Restarting your comp doesn't help. Can anyone solve this puzzle? Yes, I've confirmed that it's not just me seeing it, it's everyone. flaminglawyer 03:11, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, when I said "I haven't edited Monaco.css and Common.css, and no one else has either [...]," I meant that it wasn't caused by anyone actually editing those pages to make the text white. flaminglawyer 03:15, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Hmm... I don't know (looks fine when I look at it), but you might consider using something like the Firefox Web Developer Toolbar to diagnose the problem (it'll let you instantly view whatever styles are affecting any given element, which could help you pinpoint the problem when it happens). Off the cuff, it sounds like a stylesheet is not loading correctly/completely or something like Javascript is trying to dynamically play with a stylesheet declaration and failing. The fact that both the CSS and the Javascript trigger multiple errors in Firefox is not a great sign, off the bat. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 16:03, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Resolved

Eh, I still have cache issues, but the white text is gone. flaminglawyer 22:22, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Limewire Alternative?

What sort of alternatives are there out there from Limewire? I've used Limewire a few times (by "a few", I mean three), but I've heard it's not exactly the safest thing out there. Why is it unsafe, and what safer alternatives are there? --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 03:41, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

See the LimeWire article. One danger is that, according to that article, 30% of the shared files out there contain malware. Using a different client would not change this risk. Tempshill (talk) 03:47, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

An alternative would be FrostWire, although, as that guy pointed out, this doesn't change the risk of malware. flaminglawyer 04:00, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

If you download illegal programs willy-nilly, you run two risks. The first is that you'll get sued, which is a small but not non-existent possibility. The second is that the program you download will have a virus. Which is a much larger possibility.

Not that I endorse software piracy, but you're better off with systems like torrents that require multiple people to be constantly hosting it and have advanced commenting features, so that if something has a virus you'll probably have some indication way in advance. But that doesn't help you with the illegality problem. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 04:44, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Illegal doesn't mean unsafe. Legal doesn't mean safe. I don't even agree that you can say more "illegal" programs are unsafe than "legal" programs - aren't viruses illegal anyway? --wj32 ^t/c 08:11, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm not trying to make the safety distinction based solely on the legal status. I'm just trying to explain it in a clear way so that someone who is not computer savvy understands the issues. But it must be admitted that you're going to find more viruses trolling in illegal programs than in legal ones (in legal ones, you're likely to find other sorts of malware—specifically spyware and things of that nature—but not so much viruses). --98.217.14.211 (talk) 16:05, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Don't worry about me not being computer-savvy, trust me, I just don't know much about file-sharing programs. That being said, what do you mean by "legal" vs. "illegal"? The actual programs are neither legal nor illegal, it's the files you're downloading that can be legal/illegal. (unless I'm missing something here) I suppose I should clarify a bit more, now that I've read everything people have said here... is there an option like Limewire (not torrents) that scans files for malware/etc. when you download it? Or is there a particular anti-virus/whatever program I could get that is particularly useful in that regard? --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 19:36, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

And I agree that torrents are much safer than that Gnutella crap. Search for anything in Gnutella and you'll get BS results like "Windows 7 Crack shaking orgasm". --wj32 ^t/c 08:15, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Assuming P2P program is being used for legal purposes, I've found Bearshare to have more content than limewire. I also concur that bittorrents tend to be more reliable for specific downloads. — Ched (talk) 08:55, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Personally I've never downloaded a virus from eMule. A little common sense goes a long way Nil Einne (talk) 13:18, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Excel and negative exponential functions

Hi, I'm trying to fit a regression line to data exhibiting a negative exponential pattern (specifically temperature of a cold object versus time, equilibriating to room temperature), but Excel keeps insisting on a positive exponential function! Are there any workarounds? 199.111.183.148 (talk) 03:55, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

If I recall correctly, x^(-y) = ¹/_(x^y), so try that in Excel and see if it works. If you want to list the specific formula you're using, we can be more specific in our answers. StuRat (talk) 16:46, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

You could subtract the temperatures from room temperature. Ctourneur (talk) 22:45, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

XP desktop icons

I have Windows XP SP 2 and the text field under the desktop icons are for some reason not transparent and have blue rectangles behind the text... I've seen XP desktops with transparent text backgrounds, so what do I need to do to make it transparent? 71.219.55.205 (talk) 04:28, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Control Panel + Display + Appearance tab + Advanced button + Icon is where you would go to change the background color for the icon text. The background color box is set to transparent and grayed out to prevent any change, for me, but perhaps it's not for you. StuRat (talk) 16:32, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

It's been a while since I've used this, but I believe that what controls that option is something in the "Performance" dialog, which is a tab accessed from the "Advanced" button on the "Settings" tab of the Display dialog. --Tardis (talk) 00:10, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

OPENGL

Hi Steve I wa't to know that can game in opengl programming can be made using 3D image file only and if yes how —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.163.45.212 (talk) 04:56, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

LMAO - I can't understand what he's asking, but he sure does know who to ask :) flaminglawyer 05:58, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

No, if I'm right in thinking that you want to make a game entirely from a 3D model... --wj32 ^t/c 08:12, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

OpenGL is a library of computer programming functions. Think of it as an add-on to a computer programming language like C++ or Java. To use it you will need to already know how to use a computer programming language.

If you're not interested in learning a computer programming language, you might consider making a mod of an existing game. Many games like Halflife 2 come with an editor you could use to make your own levels, or even your own games. APL (talk) 19:52, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Actually I want to use image file for stationery objects so it as to make it easy —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.163.45.88 (talk) 17:14, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Twinkle and Rollback

I have just recently downloaded the firefox browser and enabled twinkle on my preferences. I now notice that when I look at diffs there appears to be the choice of using rollback, yet I see that according to Wikipedia:Rollback feature permission is needed to enable this feature. I havn't actualy used the rollback and may in fact be unable to do so despite appearances. My feeling is I would be unable to use it but would appreciate it if someone could answer this puzzle for me. Titch Tucker (talk) 11:50, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

I can't speak mater of factually, but it seems that TW uses a script that simply reverts to the previous version (perhaps restores is a more accurate description). I notice that when you do get rollback, it adds another rollback link though. When I first saw it (after installing Twinkle, I just went to a sandbox sub-page within my user space and tried it - it seemed to work, and I just went on from there. I think (but am not sure) that the difference is that when you use the "real" rollback, that the change isn't kept in page history. This is all my own original research, so take it with a grain of salt though. — Ched (talk) 12:04, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

I believe that Twinkle gives you the rollback option, but there might be diferences, like Ched said. To use Twinkle, you don't need to be authorized to use rollback. I use it all the time, and can't use regular rollback. To use Huggle, you need to be allowed to use regular rollback. For future reference, questions like this should be asked at the help desk, or at the Twinkle talk page. Thanks, Genius101^Guestbook 14:40, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the responses guys. Titch Tucker (talk) 17:14, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Strange device arrived with new TV

File:Strange lcd thingy.jpg

Here it is...

This strange item - a grey box with a single LED, and a headphone-like jack on the other end - arrived packaged with the cables etc. for a new Sony flatscreen TV. The picture is fairly hi-res... Does anyone know what it is? :-O Thanks! ╟─TreasuryTag►contribs─╢ 12:10, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

My first thought would be either an external ambient light sensor or an infrared reciever extension. Does it not tell you in the manual? Is there any indication on any likely sockets on the back of the television? A full model number of the tv could possibly help track it down. Nanonic (talk) 13:33, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

A receiver extension sounds like a likely option. For a TV installed in a public place like a bar, they have occasional problems when people bring in universal remotes and mess around with the bar's TVs for a joke. I've heard of TVs adapted for public use that don't have the front IR sensor, but only receive commands from an IR extension, the receiver element of which is positioned somewhere private, such as behind the bar. 87.113.74.22 (talk) 14:20, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

definatly for the remote controll i taken apart loads of romots and it looks just like that a clear led —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.80.240.66 (talk) 15:50, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

In addition to the above possibilities (ambient light sensor, IR receiver), it could be a IR (remote control) transmitter allowing your TV to control an external device (a "cable box", for instance). Such a setup allows users to "hide" the controlled box resulting in a "clean" install, reduces the number of remotes required (while still maintaining access to any TV-specific functionality on the TV remote), and may allow the TV to do fancy things like an "alarm clock" set for a specific source channel. I would be very surprised if the function of this device wasn't described in the TV documentation or in a TV setup menu on the set itself. – 74  19:32, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

For additional help please post the model number and brand of your tv.– Elliott  01:24, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Twitter...I don't get it!

I have tried it out and I don't understand its use...

Is it like an RSS feed?

Also I cannot read the comments left for any famous people I follow, so they seem to be replying to messages I cannot see......(if I could read the comments left it would be more interesting)

Am I doing something wrong or is it not kind my thing? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.240.129.12 (talk) 13:04, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

I agree, but it seems to be popular with the younger users. More of a social networking thing than RSS I think, I guess it's the way they tell the world they are happy, bored, or going on vacation. — Ched (talk) 14:41, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

You can only see the comments posted by the people you 'follow'. So if you only follow the famous people you'll only see there replies, not the questions that were posted to them. I follow a group of around 200 people, 20-30 of which are famous. If I see an interesting or intriguing answer posted by someone, it only takes a few clicks through to the questioner to see what the original question was. If you are already following the questioner you will see the question anyway. And with regard to 'popular with younger users'? I'm 36. That's pretty old.121.215.185.153 (talk) 10:53, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure there were any (or many) "famous" people using Twitter when I started, so I mostly follow friends and people I know from work (I work in a very techy job). I briefly followed Robert Llewellyn and Jonathan Ross, but swiftly unfollowed due to the vast amount they produce and the tiny proportion of it that is interesting to me. The only "famous" person I follow is Stephen Fry, and that because I genuinely appreciate what he has to say, not out of some bizarre celebrity fetish. I find it a little unfortunate that, due to the way it's been "surfaced" by well-known users, for many people Twitter appears only as some kind of celebrity vehicle. But then again, one of the beauties of the platform is that, dear Stephen apart, the celeb-followers' circles and mine need never intersect. 93.97.184.230 (talk) 00:57, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Is it possible to remove all "search term highlighting"?

Resolved

 – $\sim$ Lenoxus " * " 18:33, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

This article exactly describes my gripe regarding the phenomenon of "referrer search term highlighting". I'm using Firefox 3.0.6 on a Mac Mini with Mac OS 10.4.11, and my main search engine is Google Search. I'm trying to figure out whether there's any possible way to disable this "feature" on websites that do this with Google searches — through some sort of preference setting, Firefox extension, or whatever. Thanks in advance! $\sim$ Lenoxus " * " 16:46, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Your browser sends the URL of the page that referred you when you request another page, and these sites look at that URL, notice it's from Google and pick out the search terms (so if you click a result for 'foobar', http://www.google.com/search?q=foobar is sent to the server hosting the result). You can disable this behaviour completely by following these instructions. Note that some pages use this data for other reasons, such as blocking hotlinking of images, so you may occasionally notice some strange behaviour - on the whole, though, it shouldn't make any difference other than getting rid of search term highlighting. You can always re-enable it if it causes problems. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 17:38, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Worked perfectly — thanks much! $\sim$ Lenoxus " * " 18:33, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Connection speed

For a good while now my connection speed seems to have slowed down to a crawl. I just recently changed to the firefox browser which seemed to speed things up only for it once again to slow down. My connection speed at the moment is 54.0Mbps with the signal strength being excellent. Is there something I'm doing wrong or do I just have to put up with it? Any advice would be appreciated. Titch Tucker (talk) 19:31, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

PS, I hope I've posted this to the correct page. Titch Tucker (talk) 19:33, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Assuming the signal strength mentioned refers to a wireless network, other devices in the same frequency block can cause interference and degradation in service. This typically includes cordless phones, other "wireless" tech, and electric motors. If you (or any close neighbors) are using such devices there aren't really any good solutions; you can try changing wireless channels, or upgrading (or downgrading) to a different frequency block, running a network cable, replacing the troublesome devices, or accepting that your signal will experience some interference. – 74  19:42, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

I sincerely doubt your actual internet connection is 54.0Mbps, that's just the speed between the wireless router and your computer. You need to find out what speed your ISP is supposed to be providing, then check online at a site like [1]. If there is a significant difference between the two you should complain to the ISP that they are not providing the service you've payed for. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 20:10, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

You mentioned that switching browsers affected your speed for a while. This could mean that you might have spyware or maybe even some virus'. I would suggest that you remove all your cookies, browsing history, temporary files, and restart your computer, then i would suggest that you use an anti-spyware program and an anti-virus program to do a full scan(maybe before you go to bed?) if that fails try connecting to your router with a wire and see if that helps, if that does help then you have some interference. – Elliott  01:23, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

I removed all cookies, browsing history and temporary files and had no improvement. Your mention of anti-spyware and anti-virus programs got me thinking that perhaps I should look for a better program. Have done so and it seems to have done the trick. Thanks to everyone for their advice, it's much appreciated. Titch Tucker (talk) 07:56, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Emerging computer technologies

Lately there has been many emerging computer technologies: chemical computers, molecular computing, quantum computers, DNA computers, etc. Which one of the technologies would have the most potential to replace silicon-based processors in laptops & PCs? --DocDeel516 ^discuss 22:20, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

In the short to mid term? None. I'm not familar with chemical computers, but quantum computing has severe problems when people try to scale it up beyond a couple dozen qbits, DNA computing is mostly a curiosity, and molecular computing doesn't have any methods for making chip-scale structures. In the long run, if silicon computing is replaced, I expect it to be with molecular computing. --Carnildo (talk) 00:45, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

February 9

Failed hdd, is there a way to salvage files?

Hello, my Samsung harddisk failed and it is no longer there under the BIOS. Is there a way to recover the files on it? I tried with it in vain as master on a system and then as a slave on another functional system. With this thing connected even Puppy Linux fails to boot. Any help? 59.91.253.181 (talk) 01:10, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi there, there are a couple of things that you could try, depending on how much you need those files you could go to a used computer parts store, buy a broken hard drive of the same model, take off the boards and but those boards on your broken hard drive, see if that works. another thing you can try is to take apart your hard drive, remove the disks and put those disks in a working hard drive(very risky as even opening the hard drive could corrupt the files) You might even be able to find a computer repair shop near you that can pull the files off of it (might get costly tho)– Elliott  01:18, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Do you hear the drive spinning up at all? (Disconnect other drives and things; listen or touch the drive when the computer is on and see if you sense the vibrations from spinning.) If it is not spinning up, it could be something simple like that the power connection is faulty; in that case try jiggling the power connector or apply pressure on it in various directions while the computer is on to see if you can hear it power up. This has happened to many of my drives.

Other pedantic suggestions: Check the cable and try another cable to see if it is a cable problem. Check the jumpers.

Is this problem sudden? or have you seen maybe lesser problems in the past?

What do you mean "With this thing connected even Puppy Linux fails to boot"? Do you mean that connecting it causes another drive on the same cable to not show up? That would usually indicate a jumper problem. --128.97.244.106 (talk) 01:47, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

You could try putting the drive in the freezer for an hour or two, then hooking to usb bay or as slave, and see if it show - if it does, quickly dump the data to another drive. — Ched (talk) 02:36, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Key phrase there is "for an hour or two." Don't keep it in there overnight, as HDD's have been known to crack and/or not work properly when exposed to coldness. flaminglawyer 05:46, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

If you really need the files, the best course of action is to contact a professional data recovery service *before* doing any more damage to the disk. If it is not essential to recover the contents, you might as well try the suggestions above. – 74  00:14, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

How much RAM is there in Microsoft Word/Office

How much RAM is there available in Microsoft Word or Office? I have been writing a book in Word and all has been going very well until recently Word has slowed down very considerably and I am wondering whether there may be a RAM issue in Word? Overall I have 130 GB available free space in the computer. Should I download Publisher? Can anyone give advice? Dieter Simon (talk) 01:46, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

There is absolutely no RAM in Word, Office, or Publisher. Your question is equivalent to asking how much chocolate milk is in Microsoft Word. Also, Word will not slow down suddenly if you write too much in it. It handles available RAM in the computer nicely. The slowdown is most likely something else - what have you downloaded/installed recently? Seriously - what? I know, nothing. OK - now what? Nothing? I'll only ask one more time, what - ANYTHING - did you click the "download" link on lately? (guess how often I have to ask that on a daily basis) -- kainaw™ 01:54, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, not giving you more info, yes, I have installed and uninstalled a few programs but am not sure at what stage this slowdown first started. At the time I thought it would be most likely just temporary. Is there a way I can check when I have uninstalled these programs? I can't think at this stage what they were. Trouble is once you have removed it from the Add/Remove menu it just disappears. I am slightly older than most people, so this doesn't come naturally to me. Thank you for showing an interest, I appreciate it. Dieter Simon (talk) 02:22, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Time is now 02:30 in the morning here in England, so I'll check later after some highly necessary shut-eye, thanks. Dieter Simon (talk) 02:27, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Uninstalling software should not slow down Word. Have you installed any anti-virus software? Often, they will do "virus scanning" while you are trying to work. For example, McAfee loves to scan your drive only when you are trying to do your most work. It shows up as a red target in the list of icons next to the clock. When it is doing that, it sucks practically all of the computer's resources. You would think that the McAfee programmers would have it do virus scanning when you aren't using the computer - but that would be an intelligent thing to do. What you can do, when your computer is very sluggish, is press ctrl-alt-del. You'll get a monitor that shows how much processer and ram resources are in use. You can also get a list of all programs running (most of which you specifically didn't ask to run). They also show the percentage of resources being used by each one. Do you see one in particular that is used far more percentage than the others? Knowing the name of that program will quickly narrow down specifically what is causing the problem. -- kainaw™ 02:31, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

What is the size of the document? Does it have a lot of images? How often do you close the document or restart the computer? Jay (talk) 08:50, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Thank you both Kainaw and Jay. My original question was that about RAM which Kainaw has kindly answered. As to your second question about McAfee, yes, they do their scan every Friday and I am aware when they are doing it. You are right, it does slow the system down. However, I usuall bear that in mind. I think now the problem is the nature of the work I am doing in Word, as Jay has hinted at. There are no images, and I work for a couple of hours without closing and restarting Word. What I am doing is, compiling my own dictionary which entails bulletting and indents, and I think now that is where the problem is. The whole consists of a separate article for each dictionary letter A - Z and there are some discrepencies in the formatting, I noticed. Of course, it means going over from one letter section to another - bearing in mind, they are separate entities within Word. Perhaps I should get rid of all the bullets and just use indenting for each item. I shall have a go and try sort that out, with your good hints in mind. I shall let you know how I am getting on. Thank you. Dieter Simon (talk) 11:43, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Vista must die!

My XP machine died and I got one with Vista. What would happen if I replaced the hard drive with the one from my old PC? Clarityfiend (talk) 02:59, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Well, Windows XP does not like it when it's hardware suddenly changes. You could try but you might get a blue screen of death. If that does happen use your windows xp instalation disk to repair windows, you might still have to re enter you Product key. Try it out and let us know what happens. But first make a backkup of any inportant files / programs. – Elliott  03:24, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

At best, you'd get a working computer with a worn hard drive that's probably smaller than the new hard drive.

External hard drives are cheap. Burn a "Clonezilla Live" CD, and for each computer boot off it and use it to back up the hard drive to an image on the external drive. Then use Clonezilla to restore the XP system onto the new computer. If it works, good; and it's on a new and probably bigger hard drive. If it doesn't, then restore Vista onto it.

Before copying XP, it might be a good idea to reconfigure XP to be as boring as possible. E.g. tell it that you have a standard SVGA monitor. The result will look horrible but thereafter it might be easier to upgrade from mediocrity than to sidegrade from something else. However, I don't claim to know about this; I'm just guessing here.

You may also wish to consider some alternative to Windows. They're free of charge. Morenoodles (talk) 08:32, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

• If your old machine died, it could well be caused by a faulty harddrive. Putting it in the new machine wouldn't help. If you don't like Vista, there are several websites that explain how to remove it and install XP. - Mgm|^(talk) 13:13, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Judging by your user name, I assume that you're only interested in what you asked about, i.e. what would happen if you replaced the hard disk, and tried to boot, and not in alternative solutions to your predicament. (BTW, guessing what would happen would have been easier if you had provided a bit more info on the mode of death). There is an easy way to find out - try it - it won't blow up or anything, and it's not very difficult, if they're both SATA disks. If the old one is IDE and the new one is SATA, you'll need a special cable to make the connection. When booting, you should boot in safe mode (press F8 when booting), to reduce the likelihood of getting a BSOD. If it tries to boot, but crashes in the process, I would have tried booting it with a linux live CD (Knoppix is my favourite), and see whether you are able to access the old hard disk. As Mgm noted, the hard disk itself might be the root of the problem, for hardware reasons or because of data corruption. Several other hardware reasons are of course possible, such as a defective power supply, defective ram etc etc. If indeed it boots, you'll need to enter your product key, which only works if you have a full version of XP. If you have an OEM version, Microsoft's "genuine advantage" software will refuse to accept the old drive in the new machine as a legit copy. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 19:47, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Rats! It's OEM. Thanks anyway. Clarityfiend (talk) 08:26, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

If the two machines are not very similar, XP will likely get suspicious and require you to go through this again. 150.250.43.254 (talk) 04:12, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Maxima/gnuplot issue

I occasionally make use of the very nice software Maxima to do math related things. If you want to plot things, it uses gnuplot. The problem is, that the plots are really, really ugly. The graph isn't antialiased, the colors are all ugly, everything is basically as unpretty as you could make them. It looks like a graph produced by a computer in 1994. But if I plot it directly in gnuplot, it looks great! As pretty as you'd expect them to be.

For comparison, this is what I get if I open gnuplot in the terminal and type "plot [-10:10] x**2", and this is what I get if I type "plot2d([x^2],[x,-10,10]);" in maxima.

Can I fix this? I'd really like to have the nice graphs in maxima. I'm using Ubuntu, btw. 83.250.227.11 (talk) 03:58, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

The ugly one is the default "set term x11" gnuplot option, and the pretty one is the "set term wxt" option, which is a wxWidgets-based thing. You can set the gnuplot term option for a single plot with:

 plot2d(sin(x),[x,0,2*%pi],[gnuplot_term,wxt]);

or for the remainder of the Maxima session with:

 set_plot_option([gnuplot_term,wxt]);

and then just do:

 plot2d(sin(x),[x,0,2*%pi]);

as normal. --Sean 16:49, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Ahh, works perfectly! Thank you so much :) Is there any way you can set that to be the default option, so it's always on? It's not a huge deal, but it would be nice. 90.237.165.73 (talk) 16:58, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

There's a startup file where you can put arbitrary commands. On Linux/Unix you can do:

 mkdir ~/.maxima
 echo 'set_plot_option([gnuplot_term,wxt]);' >> ~/.maxima/maxima-init.mac

and then restart Maxima. FYI, I've never used this program before, and all this information is coming from the manual that I googled, here: [2]. --Sean 17:08, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Ubuntu Networking

Resolved

Hi all,

I have a couple of computers in our LAN running Ubuntu (8.04 - LTS version), and I was wondering how I could get them to appear in 'My Network'. What I mean is when I go to 'Places -> Network' in Ubuntu, it lists all the windows computers, but not the other ones running Ubuntu. I can verify though that they are on the network (I can access windows shares on our network file-server from all the Ubuntu boxes).

Also, am not sure if its related, I can access remote desktops (VNC, Ubuntu to Ubuntu) using the IP, but not the computername (I tried both ubuntu-box-1 and ubuntu-box-1:0, no dice).

Thanks in advance,

PrinzPH (talk) 07:14, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Not sure if it will help but with a windows network when i want a windows computer to show up on the network i would first have to configure the firewall to allow it to be seen on the network...– Elliott  07:20, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

I believe what you do is this: right-click a folder you want to share in Nautilus (your home folder for instance), click "Sharing options", select "Share this folder" and "Guest access" and press ok. It should now show up on your windows boxes. I don't think you need to do anything else, it works fine for me 83.250.227.11 (talk) 07:42, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

BTW, your computer will show up under the network name of the computer, and under that the share name you selected for the folder. So, for instance, me, I name all my computers after characters from sitcoms. So if I open my windows computer (Martin, old and a little slow) shows my two Linux boxes, Niles and Frasier. (and before you ask, yes, my router is called Daphne, as it facilitates communication between Frasier, Niles and Martin) 83.250.227.11 (talk) 07:54, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedians never fail :). *227.11 above pointed me in the right direction, attempting to share a drive Ubuntu prompted me to install the Samba (software) package and everything is working now. Thanks :) PrinzPH (talk) 09:58, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Relationship between compilers and OSes

I know that compilers need to be made to compile in certain ways depending on the OS: for example, the executable etc created need to be of the appropriate format for the OS. But it also seems that it goes further than this because when an OS is created system calls which are used to allow programs ways of doing certain things, am i right? If so doesn't this mean that if a new OS was made by someone they'd also have o create a compiler that knows how to make use of these system calls? --RMFan1 (talk) 08:53, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

I think the definition of which system calls are which are provided by the header files you include (e.g. unistd.h for POSIX system calls), and so the library implementation and the header files may differ across different OSs. But I don't think the compiler itself cares. --71.106.173.110 (talk) 09:52, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, much of the work is done by the OS's loader, which is mostly concerned with interpreting the various sections of the ELF, COFF, ECOFF, MZ, NE, or whatever format it expects executables to be in. There's no reason why a given OS loader can't load from a variety of different formats (for a while Linux kernels could load both the old a.out and the newer ELF format), athough most don't. For most binaries getting the right format is mostly done by the linker rather than the compiler. 71.106.173.110 is correct in noting that syscalls, like library calls, should be called from the library rather than done by the compiler itself. The only things I know of where the compiler of a regular application does stuff that's OS specific are weird corners that depend on how a given OS arranges memory, stacks, and occasionally register usage - trampolines, exception handlers, and debugging support spring to mind. Mimetic Polyalloy (talk) 14:21, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

In windows for example, there are certain function in C for creating windows. What is it that happens when such a function is compiled in C: does the function compile into binary instructions that directly create the windows, or is it more like a reference to functions already in the windows OS that are called when the program is run? —Preceding unsigned comment added by RMFan1 (talk • contribs) 20:05, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

The latter. If you look at the assembler output of your program, you'll see a function call like:

call SomeWindowDrawingRoutine

and not actual window-drawing stuff, unless you've written that yourself. --Sean 23:02, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. This brings me back to what I was trying to ask: since functions like these are already compiled in windows, how can an application access it when it is run. When a compiler for windows is created, it must need to specify where in windows a function like SomeWindowDrawingRoutine is stored because otherwise the function call is meaningless, am I right? For example if I created and compiled a simple hello world program that used a HelloWorld function to output "Hello World" I could not expect to call the same function in another program. Thus, to me, there seems to be a relationship between OSes and compilers where before programs can be created for an OS a compiler must be created specifically for the OS to allow programs to call such functions as the ones described. I'm sorry if this is confusing but explaining my question is proving quite hard. --RMFan1 (talk) 22:37, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

The program calls SomeWindowDrawingRoutine in a library which must be known to the linker (and to the compiler proper by means of header files). The SomeWindowDrawingRoutine then executes the actual system call which can be by interrupt or other means. See also Application Programming Interface and Application Binary Interface. Icek (talk) 09:15, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Laptop or netbook

I'm thinking of buying a laptop for school, what would offer the most ease of use a leptop or a netbook? I need it for web browsing, typing documents and playing the occasional game, such as Star Trek Armada. thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.80.240.66 (talk) 11:39, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

If it's "for school", consider how much replacing it would cost if it's stolen, and how you feel about carrying it around. The rest is rather a matter of taste. Me, I hate keyboards that are even slightly smaller than standard: my number of typos balloons. But maybe I'm unusual here. Morenoodles (talk) 12:22, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

In my experience, if you get something that weighs more than a textbook you will not take it around—it'll stay locked at your desk your entire time. If you get something that weighs comparable to a textbook, and is about the same size, then you can bring it anywhere. This means you can't get the one with the mondo huge display, for example—you'll just end up not using it as a laptop at all. Just my experience with this stuff, watching how other students in school used (or didn't) their laptops. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 14:32, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

If you're willing to forgo the playing games thing, personally I think that a tiny little netbook like an Asus Eee PC is great for this. It's very cheap (especially if you go with Linux) and it's very tiny, so you can take it with you anywhere. It's not perfect, it has some drawbacks. If you have big ape hands, it might be hard to type, but I've found that you get used to it pretty quickly (in fact, I'm typing this very response on an Eee PC, and I can type basically as fast on this as on any other keyboard, it's not really a big deal after a few days). It doesn't have stellar battery life, so you probably will have to find a way to recharge it between classes (this is more or less going to be an issue with most laptops). But it really is very useful for exactly what you want to do, pick it up from your bag, write some notes, check your email, etc. And if it does get stolen, it's not the huge monetary loss that it would be had you bought a MacBook Air. That is what I'd recommend (it's not going to be playing any fancy schmancy Star Trek games though) Belisarius (talk) 17:08, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Your best bet might be to buy a low end laptop (maybe off of ebay?) and upgrade that as you need it.– Vector Eng. Inc.  19:58, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

If moneys not an issue you can get some very small laptops these days, almost as small as netbooks but with full features you'd expect from standard sized laptops. You might also like to look into Tablet PCs which can be less unwieldy. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 20:13, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

If you are looking for a gaming laptop, all the ones I've seen are huge and heavy. The things that are left out to make laptops small and light, are the very things that make for a good gaming experience. You might find games will run on a small laptop, but they will run slowly with poor graphics and sound. I would go with the advice above, get something small and cheap to take to school. Astronaut (talk) 12:46, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

dwight cavendish

Does an STB manufacturer chip manufacturer, or cable/satellite service provider has to pay a license fee for using dwight cavendish copy protection system. Krisfriend (talk) 13:36, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

I do not know for sure, but it seems very likely. It is not an open source package, so there is likely some kind of pay-to-use agreement... since, you know, business are there to make money after all. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 19:29, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

VRML editors

Hi,

I need to build a simple city in VRML, to be used with Matlab.

Which VRML editor would be the best? Matlab's one isn't so much appealing... What about Google SketchUp Pro (expensive) or Flux Studio?

Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.194.8.73 (talk) 15:38, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

I used VrmlPad for a while when I did a lot of VRML, and found it worthwhile (but someone else paid for it). Nowadays I use Emacs for everything, and there is appropriately a VRML mode. It's old and not feature-rich, but it does the basics of indentation and commenting, which helps a lot. I find a version that seems to try to work with FSF Emacs, as well as a somewhat cleaned-up version specifically for XEmacs. I think I made my own version from one of those that had some improvement (at least to highlighting); if you're interested I can make it available, but I don't have it to hand just now. There is also an even simpler built-in vrml-generic-mode available in the generic-x package in FSF Emacs. The site I linked first there has a long page on tools for building VRML that you might find useful. --Tardis (talk) 00:05, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your help! I will have a look at it, and, thanks for the offer about your improvement, but finally I think I will use Flux Studio anyway... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.194.8.73 (talk) 10:30, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Seemingly random underlining of letters in computer programs

Resolved

 – Dendodge Talk^Contribs 16:42, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Various programs I use have seemingly random letters underlined - for example, Firefox uses:

File Edit View History ...

and I have seen a similar thing in Microsoft Word. Even websites are exhibiting this, such as our very own Bugzilla - what does this mean? It's not always the first letters of the words, and pressing the underlined letters on my keyboarddoesn't seem to do anything. Dendodge Talk^Contribs 16:34, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

They're keyboard shortcuts ... If you hit the alt key, then the underlined letter, it highlights that menu item. — Ched (talk) 16:40, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Ah, thanks! Dendodge Talk^Contribs 16:42, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Hiding my screen with VNC

Within Ubuntu, using VNC i can connect to my home computer, the problem is that anyone at home will be able to see whats on my screen, is there a way that i can remotely hide this? Thank you – Elliott  17:55, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Just to clarify, I have 2 computers, one at home, one at work, the one at home is running Ubuntu, i have already set that one up as a VNC server. And i can already connect using the computer at work (running XP). The thing i like about Remote Desktop Protocol is that i can access my home computer from my work computer and no one at home will see what i am doing, they will only see the log in screen indicating that a user is logged in. The only problem is that this is a Windows protocol and thus can not be implemented in Linux (that is, unless we want to start paying for Linux). Is there away that i can do this with VNC? Thank you – Elliott  18:22, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

To run an RDP client on linux use rdesktop and to run an RDP server on linux use XRDP. 87.113.74.22 (talk) 18:26, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Oh, thats spiffy! ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 18:29, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Actually, that's the RDP behavior only on certain versions of Windows as the server, e.g. Windows Server 2003. On others, like Windows XP Pro, you only get to connect to the console session by default. And even on Windows Server 2003 there are ways to connect to the console session too.

I am sure that there are ways to start a separate login session on your Linux. It appears that Tight VNC server can do this[3]; and I am sure that other VNC servers can be configured to do this also.

However, I prefer the NX protocol for connecting to Linux. It is inherently secure and much faster than VNC. --76.167.241.45 (talk) 19:59, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

You could take your computer screen with you, or even take it's power cord / vga cable. – Vector Eng. Inc.  20:12, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

You can tunnel X through SSH and launch KDE or Gnome. I have done this before, but I don't suggest it. It is terribly slow. Instead, tunnel X and launch the GUI apps you need from the command line. Only those windows will send traffic over SSH, not the whole desktop. This will give you the advantage of connecting to the remote computer without having the remote computer display anything about there being a connection. In fact, you can do this while someone is using the remote computer. -- kainaw™ 16:29, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

CPU test

Resolved

Hey guys, I'm looking for a portable application that can go on a USB drive and will benchmark the CPU speed of the computer it's on. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 20:09, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

A quick google search turned up this, It sais it's a standalone program(meaning it can run off of a usb drive). But what i would do is install linux on that USB drive and install a CPU benmark program under linux, Then when i wanted to test a computer's cpu i would restart in to linux, that way linux has the CPU's full attention, as does the benchmark test. Hope this helps. – Elliott  20:16, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Oh, and heres the google search, if it helps.– Elliott  20:18, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

That's exactly the kind of thing I was looking for, thanks.

Verizon Phones

Hi, my 2 year Verizon Wireless contract expires in March and I am planning on getting a new phone. I was looking at the LG VX8350 and I was going to get it. Verizon just came out with what seems to be its replacement, the VX8360. I would still rather get the VX8350, but does anyone know if I would still be able to get it on March 1st if its replacement is already out? Thanks a lot! Grango242 (talk) 20:49, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't know about Verizon in particular, but here in the UK new phones are initially available only to contract customers. Their predecessors then move down one step in the "rankings" to become free to contract customers and available for the first time to pre-pay customers. For a Verizon specific answer, it might be better to contact the sales dept. directly. Astronaut (talk) 12:32, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Ok, thanks.71.172.225.224 (talk) 02:18, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

How to use Process Explorer and Logparser?

I have the file logfile.etl on my XP Home computer, which rapidly keeps getting bigger although sometimes it goes back to 0kb. I think the file was created when I tried to use Bootvis and some other similar boot log program to try to see why my computer will only boot in safe mode (I have done several antivirus/malware scans etc etc).

How can I use Process Explorer to find out which program is controlling it please? I have not been able to find any simple step-by-step instructions anywhere. (I have tried using unlocker1.8.7.exe but it seems to require downloading a 20MB file and doing complicated things to make it work. WhatLockMe did not work either).

I would like to use Logparser to look at logfile.etl, in the hope that I will be able to see what makes my computer freeze during the xp logo screen in a normal boot. What would I need to do in simple step-by-step instructions please? 89.243.214.67 (talk) 22:35, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

I have still not been able to find any instructions for Process Explorer - the Help file did not help. But I was able to stop the process, whatever it was, and rename the file using the tracelog fix on this page: http://mike-devlin.com/windows/ I still want to use Logparser to view its contents, but I'm still mystified by how to use it. 78.149.216.108 (talk) 20:43, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Find > Find Handle or DLL... Type in logfile.etl and Search. --wj32 ^t/c 07:53, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. I assume you mean: look in the menu of Process Explorer, etc. I have done that, and all the response I got was something called "System: 4" as far as I recall. Which told me nothing. I was expecting it would show an exe or com file, so "4" is notr very helpful. And, although I used Bootvis to turn off tracing, which means I could delete logfile.etl, and then I uninstalled Bootvis, I've just noticed that another logfile.etl has spontaneously appeared. Despite Bootvis having been uninstalled, it will not delete, so I'd still like to find out where it comes from. 78.146.105.198 (talk) 00:30, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

February 10

e-books - free download sources -

kindly indicate what are the free download sources for e-books on chemical engineering other than gigapdeia.com 05:27, 10 February 2009 (UTC)~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sathyanarayanan.d (talk • contribs)

Do you have any particular books in mind? --76.167.241.45 (talk) 06:07, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Surely, the authors of specialist chemical engineering text books should be paid for their work. Why not go an buy the titles you want from a local bookshop or from an online seller. Astronaut (talk) 12:28, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

The questioner may be in a third-world country where such books would be a) unavailable and b) fabulously expensive compared to the local incomes. 78.146.185.139 (talk) 12:36, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

wikibooks.org/wiki/Chemical_Engineering SN0WKITT3N 15:32, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Legal or illegal? If legal, you probably won't have too much luck (though you could try Wikibooks). If illegal, any of the various major torrent trackers would get you what you want (see [4]) (this is not an endorsement of illegally downloading books - it is merely providing factual information). --Aseld ^talk 03:32, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

ADI Soundmax driver

Hi.

I work for a primary school, and I need to buy laptops with an uncomplicated sound-card driver. This is proving a challenge.

Most laptops come with a Realtek card, which has an almost unavoidable system tray application, with echo settings, pitch shift, etc - the kids change the settings, accidentally and mischievously, so that when it comes to a music lesson or a lesson using audio-books, by the time I've got all the computers back to normal the lesson has ended.

I've been recommended a machine with an ADI SoundMAX AD1984A card, but, frustratingly, no-one can tell me whether this comes with a system tray application or not, or if it does, whether it's optional. Does anyone have any experience with ADI high definition soundcards? --HughCharlesParker (talk - contribs) 14:44, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Couldnt you just Disable the Tray icon —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.70.133.226 (talk) 15:11, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

But not all system tray icons can be disabled. StuRat (talk) 15:19, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

One thought: The system tray is optional. I can kill it in Windows 98 with the Task Manager, by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL, and picking "Systray". Bill Gates seems to have "improved" this by making it much harder to find in Windows XP, and perhaps impossible in Windows Vista. However, if you can kill it, this implies you could also stop it from launching during startup, by commenting out a line in a startup file. Perhaps someone else can help you find that. Doing so would not only stop the kids from messing with those settings, but would also protect other system settings, like the screen resolution. Of course, they could get to them through the menu system, still, but that's more work.

Another thought is to get the kids themselves to check each setting at the end of each class. If they are set properly according to a page you have taped to the computer, they get a point towards their grade. If the next student complains that something isn't set properly, the previous student loses their point for the day. (You could check one computer's settings, the next time, if you suspect the second student of lying.) StuRat (talk) 15:19, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Unsigned: Thanks, but there are other things in the system tray which I do need, and anyway the program launches itself sometimes without the systray icon being clicked on, for example when headphones are plugged in.

StuRat: Your "points" idea is good in principle, but impractical. It would a take five minutes at minimum from the end of each ICT lesson, and it isn't reasonable to expect the teachers to be keeping a note of which child was on which laptop.

Aside from both those points, I don't want to find mechanisms to cope with poorly designed software, I want to find good software. It's been suggested to me that the ADI Soundmax driver might not have the same problems - all I need is for someone with such a card running under windows to tell me whether it brings a system tray program with it. --HughCharlesParker (talk - contribs) 16:19, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

I certainly understand you wanting to find the answer to the original Q, and hopefully somebody else will help you with that. As for my points suggestion, I'd assign them automatically, unless the next kid who gets the laptop complains. Thus, you don't need to write down anything for them getting the points, but only record if they don't get them. You would need to keep track of who gets which laptop, though, and I suggest they sign them out at the start of each class. Alternatively, if you have assigned seating and one laptop at each desk, no sign-out is needed. I'd think you'd want to know which student used which laptop, in any event, in case they do something bad, like put dirty pics on the laptop or get food on it. StuRat (talk) 17:47, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

I would say the problem is not poorly designed software (imagine - soundcard software that let's you control the soundcard - oh no!) but a lack of discipline and responsibility from the students. However I do live in the real world and realise kids will be kids. What you need is a little utility that will restore the 'default' settings at a single click - suggest you ask your IT department to write a script to do this and have it on every PC - the first task of every student will be to quickly run this before starting work. Exxolon (talk) 22:29, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

The youngest children using these laptops are three years old. Yes, the fact that children are childish is part of my problem, but the software unequivocally is badly designed. The driver has been conflated with an application, meaning that anyone who doesn't want the application can't get rid of it. Yes, to be able to turn on the karaoke settings will be useful to some users, and they should be able to install the application, but those of us for whom that application is a fundamental show-stopper should be able to choose not to install it. I have been explicitly informed by my one of my suppliers that the reason Realtek won't allow a vanilla version of the driver is that it would remove their advertising from all those system trays.

I am the IT department here, and as far as I can tell those settings aren't reliably scriptable - but even if they were, as I've said above, giving the teachers an extra thing to supervise at the end of the lesson isn't practical, as any primary school teacher will tell you.

Thanks to everyone who's given me advice on controlling children, but I'm not a teacher, and I'm really not interested in that - all I want to know is whether the ADI Soundmax driver comes with a built-in application, and if it does, whether it's optional. Does anyone have any experience with that soundcard? --HughCharlesParker (talk - contribs) 09:43, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

As young as 3 years old ? That seems entirely too young to be using a laptop. They have special "laptop-like" computers for young children that are made to survive the abuse they are likely to get, and also don't have settings that they can accidentally change. StuRat (talk) 15:14, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Well, I can't speak specifically to that sound card, but it strikes me that a system tray icon is probably pretty far removed from the actual hardware driver. I suspect you could remove the icon by disabling the program running it (either by unhooking it from the operating system or just moving/deleting the system tray executable). If doing so causes the audio card to stop working, you can try using either a reference driver for that specific chipset or a generic Windows sound driver (you will lose the "enhanced" features, but simple audio should be possible). At the other extreme, if you are planning a large-scale purchase, write the desired behavior into the contract and let your supplier figure out how to make it happen. – 74  16:49, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

---

The original poster thanks everyone for their responses so far, but is still looking for an answer to the original Q. StuRat (talk) 15:14, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

WRT your request about SoundMax, this list should give you infos on the startup programs, which almost invariably result in systray icons. Also, this may not be practical either, but could you install something like "Deep Freeze" with the correct settings and then just have them restart the machine after the lesson? 150.250.43.254 (talk) 04:09, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Internet Explorer 8

Hello, I was wondering if it is possible to install IE 8 without uninstalling IE 7. I just upgraded my friend's browser from IE 6 to 7, and noticed that it immediately uninstalled IE 6. Is there a way to prevent this from happening when I install IE *. Does it being still in semi-beta mode help? Thanks, Genius101^Guestbook 15:16, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't know, but as a beta it may give you the option during setup to backup your previous version in case you wish to uninstall. You could also try one of the portable versions, see here or just search on google. SN0WKITT3N 16:20, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

A few months ago, I installed IE8 on one of my computers, but since my online bank did not work with it, I successfully uninstalled it (going back to IE7) using Windows Vista's usual control panel applet. However, the "uninstallability" might have been due to the fact that it was merely a beta version. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 16:42, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Doing green screen in Blender

how do i do green screen stuff in Blender? i find plugins but no actual tutorials. can someone instruct me on how to green screen in blender (or at least a link to a tutorial). Thanks.  Buffered Input Output 17:08, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

You do not use Blender for that. Blender is used to create 3D vector graphics, not to manipulate 2D raster graphics. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 17:25, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

I've never used it, but this tutorial is the first result when searching for blender chromakey — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 20:24, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

And another — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)}

More on Basic Linux / Ubuntu Administration

Greetings Wikipedians,

Hi, Me again. Have a couple more questions on basic administration with Ubuntu. We have around 10 systems on it now, with an 'Admin' account, and for normal users we have created 'Unprivileged' accounts.

1.) Back when we were still on XP, we used tightvnc for remote administration. It worked great. Now on Ubuntu, we've been doing ok with the built in vnc server, however, we came to 'discover' that we have to configure it with each account (that is, we login under each credential and setup the password and everything else). I was wondering if we could set it to run with our specified settings regardless of which user logs in. (Side note: the built in client on Ubuntu is awesome with its tabs/bookmarks)

2.) On a select few computers, we have to share a folder (on a second, partition, NTFS). We already have Samba installed, I made only 2 changes on /etc/samba/smb.conf (setting: usershare owner only = False, and the host description). Now same case as above, the share only becomes accessible when logged in as our admin account. Does it have anything to do with the fact that when the partition is mounted, admin/sudo privileges are required? We need it to be shared upon boot if possible. And how do we mount that share from other computers on login? How do we make mounts persistent across sessions?

3.) I realize that the menu items on the Panel are customizable, is a way to set the default menu items for unprivileged users (ie no System menu)?

Thank you ALL once again. Best Regards,

PrinzPH (talk) 17:12, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

4. (Edit, nearly forgot) When an unprivileged user tries to sudo, it says 'This incident will be reported', how do we check? PrinzPH (talk) 17:16, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

4. By default, sudo logs to /var/log/syslog (search that for "sudo"); see man sudo for configuring it to log to its own log, or not at all. Mimetic Polyalloy (talk) 17:25, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

First mobile phone launched in india

Please let me know about the First mobile phone launched in India in full details Please. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.224.20.50 (talk) 18:28, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

MediaWiki look-alike

Is there a free wiki software that looks and acts like MediaWiki (if possible, using the same wiki-code), but is smaller and simpler to install and use? Thanks in advance, 99.224.117.66 (talk) 18:51, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

One of my uni tutors swears by DokuWiki. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 19:01, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

JAMWiki is one of the the closest I've seen to a MediaWiki, don't know if it's easier to install. I'd stick with MediaWiki though as there is plenty of support and it's actively being developed. For a simple way to install it, try MoWeS portable (formally WOS) and see instructions here —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 20:25, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Creating links in a channel design on YouTube

How can I create links in the header of my channel design like the ones on The Royal Channel? --217.227.97.200 (talk) 20:41, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Become a youtube partner. --HughCharlesParker (talk - contribs) 09:30, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Create a cross in 3ds max

Anyone any idea how I would create a cross shape in 3ds max? I remember SteveBaker mentioned modeling software tools a while back so tried this and Blender, dont like Blender steep learnig curve not many tutorials that I could find so have the trial version of 3ds max with plenty of tutorials. But I have been trying to create a cross and cant seem to get it right so any ideas or places I could find out thanks. BigDunc^Talk 20:43, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't know about that product, but can give some general techniques for building a cross:

A) Create a wire-frame cross and then extrude it to add depth. Add faces to make it a surface model. From there you can create a skin/volume and solid.

B) Create a planar face in the shape of a cross and then extrude it to add depth. This should produce a solid.

C) Create two intersecting rectangular solids to represent the two pieces of the cross, then perform a Boolean union to combine them into a cross. StuRat (talk) 22:46, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Did you say there were not many tutorials for blender?!? Nothing could be further from the truth! I did a search for a friend of mine a few months ago and found LITERALLY thousands of them. On YouTube alone, there are close to 3,000 videos that contain keywords "blender" and "tutorial". On the blender.org site - under the education tab - there are hundreds and hundreds of text and video tutorials - plus those that are embedded right inside the modeller so you can work along with tutorial interactively. SteveBaker (talk) 06:14, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

XP Install from USB

I'd like to install Windows XP on a laptop without a cd drive (I lost it) so is there a way to make a USB stick bootable install? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 20:49, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Never tried it myself, but a quick Google search results in plenty of results: [5] . - Akamad (talk) 02:01, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Make XP like Gnome/KDE

I haven't used Windows for anything much since Windows 3.1. Unfortunately, I have to do work for a few months on a managed PC that has Windows XP on it. What customizations are available in XP to make it function more like Gnome and/or KDE, such as window snapping, middle-click pasting, multiple desktops, etc... -- kainaw™ 21:21, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Some of Microsoft's own Power Toys can give you some of what you want. --LarryMac | Talk 21:28, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

You might also want to have a look at Brico Packs for Theme Customization, and Deskspace for a compiz-like effect. HTH PrinzPH (talk) 22:08, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

This Google search may help. – Elliott  22:46, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Is there a way to make XP look and feel like Win 3.1? -- Toytoy (talk) 09:22, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

acer 1 wireless

hi i have just purchased acer 1 wireless,does anyone know the wireless site 'sitecom'. is it safe ?my acer is running linpus linux lite v1.0.7.e and i would like to add anti virus ,firewall,any body know of any good free ones.all replys greatly appreciated thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Raggy*123 (talk • contribs) 22:28, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Well hi there! From what i can tell sitecom is a safe site. As for you wanting an Anti Virus, generly with linux you dont need one, but if you want one i suggest that you download ClamAV(you may also want the GUI ClamTK). As for a firewall, i dont know of any for linux (then again, i never looked for one). I hope this helped. – Elliott  22:44, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Linux's firewall is iptables. As with the antivirus, you generally don't need it. --Carnildo (talk) 23:01, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Photo Organizer

I heard recently of a picture organizer program with an unusual feature: you can search it by sketching the picture you can't find, and it will search for near-matches to your hapless scrawl. Has anyone else heard of this? Black Carrot (talk) 23:44, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia itself has: imgSeek. All the above, runs on most computers, and free as in speech and beer. Indeed, I installed it on one computer just yesterday, though I haven't tried the sketching function. -- Hoary (talk) 02:08, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Is that something kind of like Grafitti on Palm OS? 76.5.24.16 (talk) 03:44, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

hi i 2 have just got the same system mozilla firefox should be allready on there let me look ok it should be in bookmarks on mine it says mozillafirefox with a right arrow there there is help and tutorials about and a few other things that will help my biggest prob is i cant run files that i downloaded im no expert im only learning all about this my self so i hope that helps yours catherine

February 11

Programs on Linux (advanced question)

I am interested on something called SFS Technology and other similar software. I am trying to make "portable apps" on linux, (and this program can do that by creating a self-contained executable), my question is: What does a program needs to run on most distros? I heard the worse problem to make "universal linux binaries" is the different versions of libc and desktop environment libraries, So... if I put all the dependencies into one file + desktop environment + libc and essencial libraries, would the file run on most linux distros? the kernel would be the only think to worry about, right? But as long as it is a recent one, it should work, right? Hope someone can clear up my ideas. Thanks SF007 (talk) 00:43, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Every linux distribution I've come across uses a Package management system to install software. If you want your application to work on different distributions, all you need to do is define your dependencies and document them properly. The problem with trying to pack all of your dependencies into a single file is that those dependencies have dependencies - you'd have to pack the entire system into a file. --HughCharlesParker (talk - contribs) 09:28, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Statically linking your binaries seems like an easy way to do what you want. --Sean 13:50, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Disable Auto-Paragraph

In Internet Explorer 7, when I click enter in a when editing a html form, it automatically creates a new paragraph. I know that I can press shift+enter to get it skip one line. How can I make it so that when I press enter, it automatically skips only one line? -Wiki131wiki (talk) 02:19, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Tracing a virus to an IP

How may one trace a virus which has infected a computer to an IP or domainin Windows Vista Home Premium? 76.5.24.16 (talk) 03:40, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

In general, it isn't worth the effort (and often it isn't even possible). If your computer is infected, the most important actions you can take are to clean it thoroughly and inform anyone you might have inadvertently infected. Other than that, you can analyze why your computer became infected and take precautions to prevent a recurrence. – 74  04:04, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Viruses spread. Although they almost always originate from one source, an IP address which you may have traced the virus to would usually be a normal computer belonging to a normal user - they've just been infected by the virus! --wj32 ^t/c 07:57, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

So, when the virus we're talking about is a key logger, how exactly do they get the information that they're attempting to harvest if info doesn't go to their own IP? Would the information pass through the botnet all the way back to the hacker? I don't think this is infection is a botnet type virus that propogates to other computers, but rather a trojan horse that came from a pop up ad. PCHS-NJROTC ^(Messages) 17:34, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Typically, a botnet-compromised computer will connect to an anonymous feedback channel (IRC, website, etc.) and post it's IP address and potentially other information. Any other account on the channel (for a successful botnet there will be many) could be the "bot herder". Security researchers will disassemble such viruses to identify these communication channels, then infiltrate them in an attempt to identify the person behind the attack. Since such investigation is a (very) non-trivial procedure that requires specialist knowledge, the best advice I can offer to a typical computer user is to recover and move on. – 74  18:39, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

I agree. Also, even if you discover an IP, such an IP address is usually worthless. For example, I was once infected with the Vundo virus. All I needed to do was type netstat -ano at the command line to find out what computer was controlling mine. I also saw all of the mail servers to which my computer was connecting to send spam. The controlling server was in Russia. It was hosted by the Russian Business Network, an organization that promises never to take down any server you operate (a practice known as bullet-proof hosting). It was later discovered that the RBN is affiliated with the Kremlin. Thus, if I hadn't removed the virus, it's very possible my PC would have later been used to bombard a computer in Georgia.

Viruses have become incredibly sophisticated, and the idea that you can beat the teams of FBI agents who are also looking for the authors of these viruses is absurd. If you could, you wouldn't find the answer by asking a short question on a site like this. Virus authoring is now an organized crime. I could see the server that was controlling my computer. It ran FreeBSD. It was bullet proof -- definitely more secure than my computer. So, I'd just stop before you hurt yourself.--K;;m5m k;;m5m (talk) 05:47, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Dwight Cavendish versus Macrovision

What technology is being used in Dwight Cavendish System (DCS). How it comapres with Macrovision wrt its protection capability, acceptance by content providers and cost of implementation for a chip / STB manufacturer, operator? Krisfriend (talk) 10:04, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Javascript pull down menus

Hello Wikipedia,

i'd like to use the functionality of this [6] menu, but format it so it comes to resemble my existing (beautiful) one. The style that they use is here:

.menu {position:absolute; font:12px arial, helvetica, sans-serif; background-color:#CCCCCC; layer-background-color:#CCCCCC; top:-90px} #fileMenu {left:10px; width:70px} #searchMenu {left:85px; width:100px} A {text-decoration:none; color:#000000} A:hover {background-color:#000099; color:#FFFFFF}

Essentially, i don't understand where its getting its top border from. (Perhaps the 'Top' attribute autmatically assigns a border?) As the I'm looking to create the 'tab' effect (whereby each tab has 4 borders apart from the 'current' tab, which has the bottom one missing), i'd really like to be able to play around with this -any ideas?

Many thanks,81.140.37.58 (talk) 11:11, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

I didn't see a top border? Top does not automatically assign a border. I suspect the appearance of a border comes from the position of the element and its background or something along those lines. When in doubt, try using the Web Developer plug-in for Firefox to identify the styles affecting a given element. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 13:34, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

(And while I'm add it, can I say that Javascript pulldown menus rarely work as well as intended? I hate the damn things and find them usually to be barely functional, and their use makes it hard to do simple things like quickly search the page for the link I'm looking for. IMO they're not great design practice. Just giving you my unsolicited two cents!) --98.217.14.211 (talk) 13:35, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

I'll second 98's opinion: javascript was great when it was the only way to provide interactive menus, but it has been overly abused and better alternatives now exist (CSS). Anyway, the "border" you noted is actually a <hr /> tag in the page source—removing that should allow you to create true borders with CSS. – 74  13:57, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

That's really interesting! (If not a little frustrating, as i've just spent a week playing around with Javascript!). As an aside question then, is Javascript now becoming increasingly redundant or is it sill worth being familiar with?81.140.37.58 (talk) 11:01, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Array of array

• [7]

Even Applesoft BASIC, a 1970s language created for a 48 k RAM 8-bit CPU 1 MHz computer, has multidimensional array. Why do many recent and much more advanced languages use array of array? Even Cobol and Fortran have multidimensional arrays. Some may need jagged arrays. But most of us may need a simple and intuitive way to create rectangular multidimensional arrays. What are they doing? -- Toytoy (talk) 12:25, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

This doesn't answer your question but in modern OO languages, you generally don't use either. Instead you create a class (or a structure) and then store them in some kind of collection. 216.239.234.196 (talk) 13:39, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

I suspect that the multidimensional arrays are more messy, memory-wise, than arrays of arrays, but that's just a hunch. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 13:43, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

But some popular languages started from a primitive non-OO model, such as the old-fashioned C and Perl. Perl was created after the 1980s. PHP is not OO but it has multidimensional arrays. Java, Python and Ruby are OO, they only have array of array. Why doesn't Perl 5 have multidimensional arrays? Perl 1 to 4 were even worse.

On the other hand, I think static 2D arrays are pretty simple to implement. Member (3,4) of a 5 by 5 array (default base = 1) is equivalent to the member (5*3+4) of a 1D array. Even higher D arrays are equally simple to create. Array of array is more messy to use and possibly more clumsy to implement. However, it may be more difficult to create a dynamic n-D array (e.g., from 3 by 4 to 100 by 999 by 30000) using multidimensional array. PHP, VB VB.NET and even ALGOL 68 have multidimensional and dynamic array. -- Toytoy (talk) 14:04, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

What advantage do you gain from a multidimensional array vs. an array of arrays? If you have a multidimensional array of fixed size then yes you can directly index to an element—the same can also apply to a fixed-size array of (equivalent) fixed-size arrays. But, when all your arrays are dynamic the overhead involved in creating a multidimensional array becomes quite excessive: worst-case dynamic addition of an element in a n x m array requires moving (n - 1) * m elements. If a language supplies a dynamic multidimensional array, the odds are good that it's implemented as an array of arrays. On the other hand, arrays of arrays can be unbalanced (saving memory), while multidimensional arrays cannot. The only real downside to an array of arrays is that accesses will require an additional index (often cached), which simply isn't seen as a significant problem. If it really bothers you, I might point out that you are free to store all your elements in a one-dimensional array and do the index calculations yourself. – 74  14:34, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

I think the point is that the programming language should do all the allocating of dynamic memory behind the scenes, the programmer shouldn't have to worry about that or any other "bookkeeping" (although the ability to manual manage dynamic memory allocation should also be available). Also, let's say your program is creating a 3D voxel model with fixed dimensions. Isn't VOX(X,Y,Z) a simpler way to refer to each voxel than an array of arrays ? StuRat (talk) 15:06, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Vox(X,Y,Z) as compared to Vox[X][Y][Z]? While the latter might be slightly more complicated to type, I fail to see how it is any more complicated to use. It is also quite possible (in Perl, at least) to declare an array of (unnamed) arrays using syntax very similar to that used to declare a multidimensional array, so I'm not sure why dynamic-memory bookkeeping would be a concern. – 74  15:43, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

You're right. I suspect that many multidimensional and dynamic arrays are implemented on top of an array of array model. I just don't know why wouldn't they provide BOTH models. -- Toytoy (talk) 15:12, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Heh, someone complaining about an alternate way to do something that is missing from Perl? Perhaps if you ask nicely they will include it in their next version. – 74  15:43, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

The point of many languages -- notably C++ -- is that if having a particular type is important to you, you have the tools to make it yourself. The C++ language doesn't provide complex numbers, but with operator overloading you can roll your own (like the C++ standard library does). Same goes for matrices. --Sean 15:59, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

It sounds weird to me that a modern language is without basic mathematical operations such as complex number and matrix. The inclusion of mathematical libraries shall solve the problem. Today, anyone can get the piece of needed software from the Internet. But these languages were developed two or three decades ago, long before the first dotcom bubble and the wide spread of affordable 24/7/365 Internet ... -- Toytoy (talk) 00:25, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

There's no mystery here: Most computer programmers have little use for complex numbers, and most mathematicians have little use for a programming language; the overlap is simply not large enough to warrant the inclusion of complex numbers in the base language. – 74  01:05, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

firefox

Whay is firefox does it say "scanning for virus" even though i have none virus software? it takes a long time to do this, but whay if i have no virus checkers, what is it doing in this time to make the firefox ususuabkle and crash if i try to do other things during this time? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.80.240.66 (talk) 14:40, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

• 1. In the Location bar, type about:config, and press the enter key
• 2. Scroll down the list of preferences until you find browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone (do a ctrl+f to open search box)
• 3. Double-click on the preference name browser.download.manager.scanWhenDone to toggle the setting value to false.
• — Ched (talk) 15:06, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Firefox has a built in virus scanner... its very limited in what it can do. – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  16:14, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

No, the files are only scanned if there is antivirus software on the system: "if a Windows user has an antivirus program installed, it is launched to scan files when they finish downloading...This preference only has an effect if you have antivirus software installed and are running Windows" [8]. Why it says it's scanning when there is no antivirus software installed is probably a bug. There is more information here plus advice on how to disable the feature. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 20:33, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

When in the software development life cycle are you supposed to create estimates?

It bugs me to no end when clients want hard estimates given sketchy requirements. Assuming a standard approach with phases for business analysis, design, development, testing and deployment, when in this process are you supposed to create your estimates? AFAIK, you're supposed to do it after you completed your design. They want estimates before business analysis has barely started. I'm looking for something so I can explain to them that any estimate prior to business analysis and design is preliminary at best. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 19:27, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

You will need a two stage estimate, first estimate the cost to establish an accurate estimate for their requirement. Otherwise you may give a sketchy answer $1000 to $1,000,000 may cover it. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 20:53, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Welcome to the club. I was always expected to come up with accurate estimates before the specs were defined, which, of course, is quite impossible. I just gave a really high WAG estimate and hoped it was high enough. If they complained that it was too high I'd say I might be able to lower it once the specs were fully defined. Also, when you break the estimate down into many parts, they are more willing to accept a high estimate. StuRat (talk) 23:53, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Yep - sadly it's a part of the job. I always ask to split the task into two phases:

• PHASE I : Examine the problem, decide in detail how to solve it. Split the solution into modules that could each be written in one 3-week "sprint" and tested in another 3 week sprint. Document the modules and their interfaces. Add more sprints for integration and deployment. Add up the number of sprints and there you have your man-hours.

• PHASE II: Do the work. Make sure that each sprint does actually complete. If a sprint misses a deadline early on - don't be tempted to let that work flow into the following sprint. Instead add the slippage to your final delivery deadline and confess to your customer as soon as possible. That way they aren't surprised when there is a big overrun at the end - and they may be able to help you keep to your schedule by removing features or at least postponing them onto a second version. Because they see the slippage early - you'll be able to down-scope more efficiently.

You can estimate the time to do phase I up-front - then at the end of phase I, you'll have the estimate for phase II. The trick is to fight off your customer's demand for an estimate for Phase II before you've completed Phase I. Point out to them that if they INSIST on you providing an estimate for the cost of phase II before phase I is complete then you will (by necessity) have to put in a much larger estimate to allow for worst-case conclusions from phase I.

SteveBaker (talk) 06:01, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Alternatives to VMware Workstation

If I want to run Windows and Ubuntu in the same computer, what are my alternatives to VMware Workstation? I want to run a normal version of Windows and not one upon WINE.--Mr.K. (talk) 19:55, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm assuming that you are using Ubuntu? VirtualBox offers pretty much the same features as VMware Workstation (plus it's free) where you can set up a virtual Windows system, or you may wish to try a dual boot whereby you install both Windows and Ubuntu onto separate partitions on a hard drive and use a boot loader such as GRUB to select which one to boot.

You can also enable raw disk right-through with VirtualBox. (meaning you can install windows on a real hard drive)– Elliott(Talk|Cont)  20:38, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the answers. I already have GRUB. I´ll give VirtualBox a try.--Mr.K. (talk) 21:00, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Javascript for detecting the browser's language

Hi there, i am looking for a javascript code that can be placed at the top of a html file that will detect the language of the viewer's browser. I would also like this code to redirect the user to a new page based on the language it detects. i.e.:

If it detects English then i would like it to redirect to www.example.com/en/index.html

If it detects Spanish then i would like it to redirect to www.example.com/sp/index.html

If the JavaScript cant detect what language the viewer's browser is or if there is an error in executing the JavaScript (i.e. the user does not have JavaScript support, or it tries to redirect to a web page that does not exist) then i would like it to simply display the rest of whats on that html file.

Alternatively if this can be done in php that would be awesome. – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  20:00, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Here is a brief description of how language preference is transmitted as part of the HTTP request. This page shows some PHP code on how to extract the language information; be sure to scroll down to see the more generalized code. --LarryMac | Talk 20:35, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

UK map on a US keyboard

Resolved

Hi. I have two keyboards, both US layout (shift-2 is @). I prefer UK layout (shift-2 is "). The problem is with the key labelled in the US layout with a vertical bar on top and a backslash below. One of my keyboards is already working with the UK layout. This keyboard has two keys labelled like this. One just to the right of the left Alt key, and one just above the Enter key. The one on the left produces backslash and vertical bar with the UK layout as well, as indicated on the key, and the one on the right produces the hash/pound sign and the tilde. In this way I can access all the normal symbols (though the positions are a bit weird).

The other keyboard, however, only has one key labelled like this. That key always produces hash/pound sign and tilde under the UK layout. Thus, I'm unable to type the backslash and vertical bar. The keyboard doesn't have any other dead or unknown keys, so it looks like this keyboard is missing one key from the other one. Because of this I'm unable to remap the key in the OS: there's literally no spare key.

So my question is: which keyboard, if any, is normal? Has anyone else encountered this? Is there any way around it?

Thanks. Amoe (talk) 20:42, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't know which layout would be "normal", but perhaps our article on keyboard layouts might prove helpful. My laptop keyboard substituted a useless "context menu key" for the right 'ctrl' key; I corrected the situation using keyboard remapping software. There is a list of free keyboard remapping tools in our article PC keyboard. – 74  21:24, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Are you sure you have no keys to spare ? I have 2 ALT keys, 2 CTRL keys, 2 SHIFT keys, 2 Windows keys, 2 Enter keys, and keys I never use, like Scroll Lock and many of the Function keys. Don't you have any of those you can use ? StuRat (talk) 23:44, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

The keyboard in question is actually a miniaturized one, so most of the 'weird' functions are accessible through an Fn prefix key, which would make them a pain to type. I've realized, though, that I do have 2 keys in the Windows key positions (though they're not labelled as such). I can probably remap the left one to the necessary key, since I don't use it. As such I'll close this thread. Amoe (talk) 19:08, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

You can also map key combinations (e.g. ctrl + ⇧ Shift + 2) for your missing characters. The only real problem is remembering where you put each character. – 74  07:04, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Google Cash

What is this Google Cash thing? It's popping up everywhere and really getting on my nerves, some sort of scam? SGGH ^ping! 21:30, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

What do you mean by "popping up everywhere", as in popups? Try Adblockplus if you're using FireFox. Or do you meant Google cache? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 21:55, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Seems like a scam to me. This Google search reveals A) Google doesn't appear to have made an official statement, and B) a depressing number of people can't spell cache. I would strongly recommend avoiding "googlecash". – 74  21:59, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

The pound has just fallen to a new low against the Google of 49 Google cents to the pound. - Jarry1250 ^{(t, c)} 17:54, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Keyboard bug

Typing the above quick question has actually reminded me I need to ask a bigger one. My laptop keyboard has taken to jumping the cursor across to another part of the text I am editing every now and then whenever I hit the 'e' key. It is particularly common when typing "have". It can end up with my writing sentences like this:

The quicd over the lazy dogk brown fox jump.

Any clues? I have googled and troubleshooted a couple of times. No help. SGGH ^ping! 21:33, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

I had exactly the same problem on an old laptop but only in MSword. Strange. I never did find out why it happened though. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 22:03, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

When this happens to me, it's usually because my palm/wrist is hitting the touchpad and causing an errant click. You might try disabling your touchpad to see if the problem goes away. It's also possible that your keyboard is sending the wrong keycodes (possibly because of dirt or debris under the keys); a program that shows key codes received might help to diagnose that problem. – 74  22:09, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Ah, so either way, the problem could be a nut loose on the keyboard ?  :-) StuRat (talk) 23:37, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

VirtualBox video drivers

I have installed VirtualBox OSE on ubuntu, and from within VirtualBox i have installed WinXp SP3. I am trying to get Microsoft'sWorld Wide Telescope to work. Inorder to do so i will need to install the drivers for my Video card. So my question is this: What type of video card is VirtualBox using and where can i find the drivers? Thank you – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  22:33, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

I think if you install "virtualbox additions" it will load the right drivers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 23:24, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Thank you very much. – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  07:03, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

C: putc is missing characters

I'm having a bit of coding trouble. I've managed to implement an SPN network to function properly on a single message block, and I've managed to get it to work in ECB mode on an array of blocks. However, I'm now trying to get it to encrypt a file and I'm having issues.

I can apparently read a (binary) file as a list of bytes just fine with putc, and I can pair them up into message blocks (16-bit) just fine. However, when I try to write them to file, a few at the end get missed. It's not a consistent number - if I change the message, it seems to stop writing at a different point. I'm using the following code:

outputFile = fopen("cipher.txt", "w");
writeMessage(outputFile, outputMessage);
fclose(outputFile);

void writeMessage (FILE *outputFile, message inputMessage)
{
  int i;
  int heldBitCount;
  block heldBits;
  assert(!(inputMessage.bitCount % 8));
  heldBitCount = 0;
  for (i = 0; i < inputMessage.blockCount; i++)
  {
    heldBits = inputMessage.blockList[i];
    heldBitCount = inputMessage.bitCount;
    while (heldBitCount > 0)
    {
      heldBitCount -= 8;
      putc((char)(heldBits>>(heldBitCount)), outputFile);
      heldBits = heldBits % (1 << heldBitCount);
    }
  }
}

This should work fine - it goes through every block in the message, reads it into a local variable, then writes the top 8 bits to the file (as a char / byte) repeatedly until the block has been written completely. Just for some reason, the output file ends up not containing all the characters. Is there some kind of byte indicating EOF in a plain binary file?

(Also, yes, this is probably horrible code. It was meant to be a proof of concept and was meant to work ,at which point I'd do it nicely!)

92.238.108.207 (talk) 22:32, 11 February 2009 (UTC) (oops Rawling4851 22:33, 11 February 2009 (UTC))

One potential problem is if the null terminator shows up prior to the end of the line, and that may be what's happening for you. In general, one never wants to print out binary characters, as many are, well, unprintable. Instead, print out the ASCII codes of those characters. Printing the ASCII codes and the characters will show you which are not printable. Only ASCII 32 through ASCII 126 are guaranteed to be printable. StuRat (talk) 23:29, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

NO!!! That's a bogus answer...it's not the problem. You can write arbitary 8 bit data with putc. In UNIX systems, it's guaranteed to work - and on Windows machines, it works so long as you open the file in binary mode so that '\n' doesn't get turned into a CR/LF pair. SteveBaker (talk) 05:46, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

It's really hard to read what the heck your code is trying to do here - and we don't have the code for your 'message' and 'block' types - so who-knows-what is going on there. But one thing that seems like it must be wrong is that your 'while' loop first tests that 'heldBitCount' is bigger than zero - then subtracts 8 from it - meaning that it could quite easily now be negative. Next, you down-shift heldBits by that value. But down-shifting by a negative amount produces (I believe) an undefined result in C/C++...or at the very least it's a horribly bad practice - so who-knows-what is going to happen then? Most likely your 'while' loop is broken in some way - but the code is doing some wild and funky stuff and it's hard to know what you're even TRYING to do! However if I had to guess, I'd say that maybe you want to move the 'heldBitCount -= 8 ;' line down to the bottom of the while loop...but I wouldn't want to bet actual money on that. IMHO, you should restructure your code to use a 'for' loop to loop (heldBitCount/8) times - writing out 8 bits each time around - then, in a step after that loop, write out the last heldBitCount%8 bits at the end. That would be much clearer to read and would probably fix your bug. SteveBaker (talk) 05:43, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

The code is somewhat... original, but it isn't that convoluted. True, 'heldBitCount' is required to be a multiple of 8, but that isn't uncommon when playing with bytes (and there's even an assert to check it first). Moving the 'heldBitCount' decrement will *not* fix anything (if you have 16 bits, you don't want to right shift 16 for the first byte). This line may be technically correct: "heldBits = heldBits % (1 << heldBitCount);" (though it looks like there might be an off-by-one error), but it could easily be replaced by a small change to the preceding line: "putc((char)((heldBits>>heldBitCount) & 0x00FF), outputFile);". All of which leaves us with no obvious problems. How are you verifying that all the bytes aren't getting written to the output file? (Attempting to view binary files as text can produce odd results.) Other than that, I would recommend adding print statements to the code inside the loop to verify that each byte is being processed correctly. – 74  07:27, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

To begin with, I knew something was up because I was reading a text file, encrypting, saving to another file, loading again, decrypting, and saving the output - and the output was the input, but truncated. I then used a hex editor (as notepad wasn't opening the intermediate file right) to check lengths, and the intermediate file was shorter than the input, and the output shorter than the intermediate. I can't see why though - I'm going through a for loop a set (and, I'm pretty sure from debugging, correct) number of times, and should be writing a set number of bytes to file each time - they just don't seem to be making it. Rawling4851 08:04, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Hm... SteveBaker, opening the files with "rb" and "wb" instead of "r" and "w" seems to have fixed this, cheer :D ... so I guess I'm going to have to go read up on binary mode, and run some more tests to see where this was happening. Is the "\n" thing always an issue, or only with getc and putc? Rawling4851

OK - well, rewrite it anyway. I find it hard to sleep at night knowing that somewhere in the world is a piece of code that ugly! SteveBaker (talk) 03:47, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Appointments in Outlook

I have two calendars in Outlook, one for Scouting things and one for personal things. Sometimes I need to have an appointment shewing up in both. How can I quickly copy a single appointment from one to the other? DuncanHill (talk) 23:01, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Have you tried copy & paste? ie. highlight the appointment; click the edit menu and choose copy; switch to the correct date and time on the other calendar; click the edit menu and choose paste. Note: I would expect that procedure will create two unconnected appointments; if you were to move one, the other would not move with it. Astronaut (talk) 13:51, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

No, it won't let you copy. You can drag an appointment from one calendar to the other, but of course that removes it from the first calendar. DuncanHill (talk) 21:59, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

But thank you - it does have a "copy to folder" opting in a drop down, which does the trick! DuncanHill (talk) 22:01, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Image scaleup question

For the image Image:Flag of New Jersey.svg, is there a way to scale it up (Preferably without having to edit it) so that it prints to about the dimensions of an 8 by 11? I tried the "Scale:" option in Firefox, but it doesn't work at all. Thank you, 150.250.178.243 (talk) 23:07, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Your best bet is to save the file and open it in a program that supports SVG (for example OpenOffice.org which is free). You can then scale and print it. Make sure you click on the image preview to load the full size file (the preview is a PNG raster file - you want the SVG vector file for printing). -=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 23:20, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Firefox seems to work fine for me when I open just the image file, change the paper orientation to landscape, and set the scale to 125% or 150% (though AmosWolfe's recommendation will work even better). – 74  00:52, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

OK, only now it's a little off centered. Can Firefox center it before printing it so I don't have to cut out the extra whitespace? Thanx, 150.250.43.254 (talk) 04:00, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Firefox is a poor choice for printing something like that. IMHO, you should download a copy of 'Inkscape' which is an opensourced/free SVG editor. It has much more comprehensive printing/scaling option. SteveBaker (talk) 05:27, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

You could manually adjust the margins in "page setup" to center the image (which is probably going to be more effort than trimming the excess), but I think you're well passed the point where dedicated image-handling software would be beneficial, especially if this problem comes up often. – 74  16:37, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

February 12

Skiplist search complexity

Disclaimer: I'm still in high school and haven't received any formal eductation in comp. sci., so this is probably a stupid question. Read at your own risk.

According to skip list, the search complexity of this structure is of the order of ${\mathcal {O}}(\log n)\,$, and I don't understand why this is. Big-O notation refers to an upper bound, and a skiplist is basically a linked list with some probabilistic randomness - so shouldn't the upper bound be ${\mathcal {O}}(n)\,$? Isn't this essentially the same scenario as quicksort, which is ${\mathcal {O}}(n^{2})\,$ even though it's almost always much faster than other such algorithms?

Could anyone explain why this is the case?

Thanks a lot, Aseld ^talk 07:11, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

The skip list is already sorted, so finding a particular value is significantly less work than a full sort. A standard ${\mathcal {O}}(n)\,$ search just requires traversing down the list checking each value—in the worst case, we will have checked all 'n' values. A skip search, however, is an approximate generalization of a binary search, modified for application to a linked list. In a simple binary search of an array, we can eliminate half of the array with each test, meaning we achieve better than ${\mathcal {O}}(n)\,$. Linked lists, however, complicate things because we don't know how long the list is, and we can't just pull the middle value out for a test; instead, we create parallel probabilistic linked lists. A search then starts with the shortest linked list, which only contains a fraction of the total values. Once we've identified two values that span our search value, we switch to a more complete linked list and repeat our search on that segment. Once we search the bottom segment (from the original linked list), we are done. Like the binary search, this search method also allows us to skip the majority of values in our linked list, so it's performance is also better than ${\mathcal {O}}(n)\,$. Proving the performance is ${\mathcal {O}}(\log n)\,$ requires somewhat less hand-waving and somewhat more math. – 74  07:55, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Ah, got it - I forgot that skip lists have to be sorted. Thank you! --Aseld ^talk 07:57, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Resolved

StuRat (talk) 15:17, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Nokia 5800 problem

OK, so my dad bought himself a Nokia 5800 to replace his old mobile phone. We installed a file manager and some songs on it, but after a few days, my dad got pissed off when the handset can't recieve certain MMS messages (in this case, a downloaded ringtone) properly, with the message "Message could not be adapted for your phone" or something similar. I told him that it may be due to compatibility problems, but he argued that he couldn't believe that "an 8GB phone can't receive an MMS" or something.

Is it due to network problems, or does it have something to do with the phone or the file browser I installed? Blake Gripling (talk) 08:37, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

I've always had to phone my service provider when changing phones. They normally have settings for each brand. Sometimes, as in the case of my latest phone, it even requires a secure connection to a local server. Phone customer services and they should be able to help. Sandman30s (talk) 11:31, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Internet on C/C++

Is there any way to access HTTP on standard C/C++? I found something known as Libcurl, but I was looking for something on standard C/C++ preferably. Thanks. Magog the Ogre (talk) 08:57, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

In a word, no. However, libraries like curl (or if you want more control, Berkely sockets) are pretty much ubiquitous these days. --Aseld ^talk 09:11, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Hey, look what I found. Help much appreciated. Magog the Ogre (talk) 05:21, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

tab characters in Safari

I sometimes need to enter a tab character into a textbox on webpages in Safari on OS X. Surely there is some way to do this other than copying and pasting a tab from another program? Googling didn't turn up anything obvious.... --140.247.243.160 (talk) 16:17, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Why won't a number of spaces work ? StuRat (talk) 16:19, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

There are lot of situations where a tab and a bunch of spaces are not equivalent at all, especially involving code of some sort. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 23:09, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

One source suggested ctrl + Tab ↹, though obviously not for your browser/OS. Another option is to use the "personal information" storage capabilities of your browser: set your name as a tab character, then insert it when you want a tab in a textbox. You might also be able to configure a keyboard or mouse shortcut in your browser to paste in a tab character, or use a greasemonkey (or equivalent) script to automatically swap some combination of characters ("<tab>", for instance) for a tab. – 74  16:54, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Both of these seems pretty silly work-arounds.... (seriously, set one's name as a tab character?) --98.217.14.211 (talk) 23:09, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Cannot Open Pendrive Folder

When I right-click on the thumbnail of my pendrive folder, and click on either Open or Explore, my computer displays an error message saying:

Please insert a disk into drive I:

I tried formatting it by right-clicking and selecting the Format option, as well as from Command Prompt itself. Neither worked. Please help. Is this something to do with autorun.inf?? 117.194.229.146 (talk) 16:45, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Are you absolutely sure that you're right-clicking the correct thumbnail? If you plug it in and then pull it out, does Windows complain? (If it doesn't, this suggests that Windows isn't even seeing it.) And what happens when you plug it into somebody else's computer? Morenoodles (talk) 08:40, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm absolutely sure that it's the right thumbnail. What's more is that, later, I noticed that if I go to the properties of the pen drive, Windows shows used space as 0 bytes, and even free space as 0 bytes, whereas the pen drive's capacity is 512 MB. Windows doesn't give any kind of complain on pulling out the drive. I haven't tried it on anyone else's computer yet. Please help. 117.194.227.183 (talk) 15:36, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

How do you know that it is the correct thumbnail? My windows occasionally changes its mind about which letter drive maps to my pendrive. To check if your pendrive is being recognised, see if it appears and disappears in "my computer" as you plug it in and remove it. Have you tried different USB ports? Dbfirs 20:49, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I've once mistaken a USB-MMC/Mini SD adapter to be a pendrive, and that's what it told me then. 119.111.70.146 (talk) 23:39, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

how to uninstall windows xp and install a fresh windows 2000 professional

How to uninstall windows xp and install a fresh windows 2000 professional. Please give me a step by step procedure to do this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.186.12.219 (talk) 16:48, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

(after edit conflict)Boot off the Windows 2000 cd and choose to reformat the hard drive, however, i am curious as to why you want to use 2000 instead of XP. Windows 2000 forms part of the base code for Windows XP (the other part is Windows NT). I would recommend XP over 2000 any day.  Buffered Input Output 17:19, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

I agree. It's not like the highly questionable Vista, which explains why many people stick with XP. Going back to 2000 really is a step backwards.

Note that formatting the hard drive will also wipe out any other applications or data you have on the computer, but is the best way to remove all traces of XP. Still, I'd highly recommend doing a backup to another disk, flash drive, or DVD first, in case you ever want XP back and/or any of the apps or data. StuRat (talk) 21:36, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

any way to color gmail letters sent to a different mailbox?

I forward a few gmail accounts to a master account, but is there any way to add coloring to see which box each one landed in? I only have a few (3-4). Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.120.236.246 (talk) 17:16, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

I do much the same as you, so I use filters. What you need to do is go to the master account and click "Create a filter" at the top. Then there's several options you can fill in (including what email address it's from/was sent to). Hit "Next Step" and then assign it a label (or star it, or whatever you want to do with it). It works very nicely. --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 15:15, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Alternative to Windows Briefcase

I use Windows XP and a Windows "Briefcase" to synchronise files on my USB stick with those on my hard-drive. Frequently, something happens which causes the briefcase to declare both versions have changed, even when they clearly have not. Thus I'd like an alternative, perhaps open-source application, that I can use on Windows XP. Does anyone have any suggestion? ----Seans Potato Business 18:24, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

If it's a one-way sync (that is, you'll only change one copy, and the other is a backup) use the excellent rsync. If it's a genuine 2-way sync (where either or both copies of a file can change, and you're willing to manually resolve what is essentially the same as a Wikipedia edit conflict) use Unison (file synchronizer). 87.112.81.29 (talk) 21:04, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

I tried to install Unison but it gave an error about the lack of libgtk-blah blah.dll, which I acquired on the internet and then it gave another error of the lack of libgdk_pixbuf-blah blah.dll - I already installed GTK. Are there any programs easier to install? Unison isn't really being developed any more.

I've used Synctoy, which is pretty good. It's not open source (it's from Microsoft) but it seems to work pretty well from what I've seen. - Akamad (talk) 12:46, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Sudden Strike 3

On Sudden Strike 3, when you play the first game in one of the campaigns and get the message 'Mission Accomplished' at the end, what are you supposed to click? It gives two options, 'Continue' (which makes me continue the slaughter in the same scenario), or 'Save and Quit' (which saves the game and brings you back to the Main Menu). How am I supposed to play the second and subsequent scenarios in the campaign? Going back to the saved game is exactly the same as just clicking 'Continue' in the first place.--KageTora (talk) 19:41, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Not having played the game, I may be wrong, but I suspect completing the mission unlocks the next mission, which you may then access from somewhere in the main menu. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 20:25, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps it's less-than-subtle political commentary? – 74  06:48, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Pfft. The game came out before the mission even began. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 08:58, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, I left off the smiley on my post above. Technically, according to IGN, Sudden Strike 3 was released on March 31, 2008, while the "Mission" began on March 20, 2003 (with "Mission Accomplished" on May 1, 2003). However, it's quite difficult to believe that a game studio would intentionally irritate its fans just to make a political statement, so I'm still not seriously suggesting it. – 74  13:35, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

(Also, just to point something out, the Mission Accomplished sign was for that particular ship, not for the whole war, so the point's moot anyway.) --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 15:11, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Our article tends to disagree; specifically, Rumsfeld is quoted "...they fixed the speech, but not the sign." – 74  15:57, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Oh, I realize you were kidding, I was just being pedantic. But, uh, it's my mistake, actually, because apparently I decided to get stupid: when the original poster asked about this, I looked up Sudden Strike 3 without realizing that it redirects to the article for the first Sudden Strike, and I noted the 2000 release date -- which, of course, refers to the first game, not the third one. So when I said it came out before the mission even began, I was really referring to something that only existed in my head. Sorry! -- Captain Disdain (talk) 09:23, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Well, I can't believe that any game worth its credibility would create a 'campaign' with only one scenario, especially one where you just sit on Omaha beach and turkey-shoot thousands of Germans. There must be additional scenarios for it to be a 'campaign'. I just have no idea how to access them, and I am not playing the scenario again, because it took me two days to do it in the first place!--KageTora (talk) 15:43, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

February 13

Bizzare SQL

In Wikipedia:Persondata#From an SQL database, the example given passes pages.cur_text FROM INSTR(pages.cur_text,'{{Persondata')) as the first parameter to SUBSTRING. Why is there a FROM keyword here? Why not just pass INSTR(pages.cur_text,'{{Persondata'))? - SigmaEpsilon → ΣΕ 00:05, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Well, the page doesn't explain what DBMS this example was coded for, but a bit of Googling suggests that the FROM actually belongs to the SUBSTRING, and is actually the standard SQL style SUBSTRING(str FROM pos), as listed in the documentation for MySQL.

Fully indenting the code to see the nesting more clearly gives:

Current code, indented

SUBSTRING(
	SUBSTRING(
		pages.cur_text
		FROM
		INSTR(
			pages.cur_text,
			'{{Persondata'
		)
	),
	1,
	INSTR(
		SUBSTRING(
			pages.cur_text
			FROM
			INSTR(
				pages.cur_text,
				'{{Persondata'
			)
		),
		'}}'
	) + 1
)
AS 'Persondata'

Assuming this is MySQL, the FROMs could be replaced with commas, and indeed the outermost SUBSTRING does use commas, rather than SUBSTRING(str FROM pos FOR len).

Looking at it, I'm pretty sure the first nested SUBSTRING is unnecessary, and this would have the same effect:

Simplified version, using same functions

SUBSTRING(
	pages.cur_text,
	INSTR(
		pages.cur_text,
		'{{Persondata'
	),
	INSTR(
		SUBSTRING(
			pages.cur_text,
			INSTR(
				pages.cur_text,
				'{{Persondata'
			)
		),
		'}}'
	) + 1
)
AS 'Persondata'

Assuming this is MySQL, I think you could also use the 3-argument form of LOCATE instead of the second nested SUBSTRING; replacing the INSTRs with LOCATE for consistency gives you the following (note that I haven't actually tested any of these):

Even simpler version, using MySQL LOCATE function

SUBSTRING(
	pages.cur_text,
	LOCATE(
		'{{Persondata',
		pages.cur_text
	),
	LOCATE(
		'}}',
		pages.cur_text,
		LOCATE(
			'{{Persondata',
			pages.cur_text
		),
	) + 1
)
AS 'Persondata'

- IMSoP (talk) 20:39, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

good PCI GPU

What is a really good PCI graphics card? If I get one, would it interfere with my Intel G33/31 integrated graphics card? Thanks in advance. --AtTheAbyss (talk) 00:10, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

There's no such thing as a "really good" PCI graphics card: all the good cards are either AGP or PCIe. If you do get a PCI graphics card, the most likely effect will be that the Intel graphics will be disabled; it might be possible to run both at the same time, each one driving a different monitor. --Carnildo (talk) 00:56, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

That would really depend on what you want to do. – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  02:46, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

For most motherboards, you will be able to select which device (PCI card or the integrated chip) to use. Unless you have a dual-monitor setup, it is more than likely that the integrated chip will be disabled when you use the PCI card. As far as I know, adding a PCI card (installed correctly) will not harm your existing integrated chip. Kushal (talk) 02:47, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Does anyone know if the Intel(R) G33/G31 Express Chipset Family is PCI or PCI-E? Now I'm not even sure. --AtTheAbyss (talk) 04:57, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

PCI-E. 87.112.81.29 (talk) 10:25, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks alot anon editor. I appreciate it. Thanks for the advice and info all.--198.30.180.254 (talk) 00:47, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Keyboard shortcut to switch tabs in Firefox?

I remember knowing how to do it before, but now I can't remember. All I know that ctrl-W closes tabs, so it'd be unusual to have a keyboard function to close tabs but not switch them. 67.169.118.40 (talk) 00:58, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

ctrl-tab and shift-ctrl-tab. Algebraist 00:59, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! 67.169.118.40 (talk) 01:02, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

But these move tabs in the order from left to right. Is there any keyboard shortcut to toggle between two tabs, something ctrl+tab in Opera? Jay (talk) 11:03, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Hmm... I've never realized that one. I always use Ctrl-PgUp or Ctrl-PgDown (maybe because they are still available while my left hand is busy writing.) Freedomlinux (talk) 01:55, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Also, you can use Ctrl+(number here) to switch to a specific tab. For example, I want to switch to the 4th tab...Ctrl+4. Here's an assistance addon for FF: [9]-- penubag  (talk) 03:00, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Or if you have FireGestures installed, you can assign a certain right-click-drag to it. Or left-click while holding down right-click. flaminglawyer 06:03, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

This isn't exactly what you're looking for, but another handy way to scroll through tabs is with the mousewheel- hold the cursor over the tab bar and you can scroll through them quickly. --Alinnisawest,^{Dalek Empress} (extermination requests here) 15:06, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

CDMA card in ubuntu

I have a CDMA card runing on m y dell laptop (d610). It is running perfectly. It needed no configuration to set up, i simply pluged it in and ubuntu loaded up the drivers and connected. Infact i am writing this as i drive home on I-80. But i do have a queastion: How do i figure out the phone number of the card that i am useing from within ubuntu? (of course i could simply wait till i get home and plug it in to a windows laptop) I have already tried using Verizon's access manager (under wine). Thank you. – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  01:18, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Edit, jsut got home, as it turns out all my windows laptops are out at the moment. – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  02:08, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

How to make battery last?

I just got a zune and I'm wondering if it's better for the battery if I charge it as often as possible or if I should wait until it's all drained before I recharge. Is it better to recharge battery often? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.187.113.105 (talk) 01:20, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

The battery generally lasts longer if you wait till it's dead. I don't know why this is, but I do know that it is. flaminglawyer 01:27, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, but I have to disagree with that. Your advice is good for older Nickel based batteries, but the Zune uses a Lithium-ion battery and Li-ion batteries prefer to be charged more frequently than to be completely discharged. There's more information on the Wikipedia article here ZX81 ^talk 01:57, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, I'm still stuck in the past... flaminglawyer 05:53, 13 February 1998 (UTC)

The memory effect on NiMH batteries is minimal anyway. Nil Einne (talk) 13:13, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

3D Support in xp running as a guest

I am running VirtualBox on Ubuntu, I have Windows XP as a guest OS. This guest OS does not have DirectX 3D acceleration. I would like to enable/install 3D acceleration support. Thank you– Elliott(Talk|Cont)  02:56, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure you can't. This bug was closed in December with "Direct3D support will be added later as well as OpenGL for Linux and Solaris guests". This forum post explains why doing this is hard. 87.112.81.29 (talk) 15:25, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

While not answering your question, I believe VMware has Direct3D support although I'm not sure if it works in a Linux host Nil Einne (talk) 16:17, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Tractive effort curve

I wonder if someone would be kind enough to generate for me a "tractive effort curve" for the article tractive effort which I am intending to improve. (and upload it to wikipedia under the relevent license).

An example of such a curve is found here (first diagram) http://www.twoof.freeserve.co.uk/motion1.htm

For the purposes of the article the graph does not need to be numerically labelled.

Assuming the y axis goes from 0 to 10 , and the x axis from 0 to 20. I would like:

• Y axis labelled "Tractive effort (Force)"
• X axis labelled "velocity"

• A maximum tractive at y=7, going from x=0 to x=4 ie a line from (7,0) to (7,4)
• A continuous tractive effort curve starting at (7,4) with equation y=7/4x up to x=18

• The y axis labelled "T_max" at y=7
• The 'knee' at (7,4) should be labelled - perhaps with a letter such as 'X'
• The x axis should have a label "V_max" at x=18

• Additionally a dotted line descending from (7,4) to the x axis with the point at which it meets the x axis labelled "V_mpar would also be useful but is not vital.

• Using different colours for the lines and axis (or other method of distinquishing) would be helpful

It would be very heplful if someone can do that. Thank you.87.102.43.12 (talk) 03:04, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

You can use an OpenOffice spreadsheet (it's free!) to create a graph meeting your requirements (well, after you fix the formula "y=7x/4" above). Just create a list of x and y values then click the "chart" button and select a line chart. Play with the options until you have something you're happy with, then post the image on Wikipedia. – 74  06:39, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

(corrected 7x/4 to 7/4x thanks) - was trying to avoid having to download and learning to use software for 1 graph - hence the polite and fawning tone..

I'm still open to offers.

OK I used a spreadsheet to create a file

I'm concerned it doesn't display well. Any suggestions as to how to improve it?

You beat me to it. (I had an awful time getting Excel to let me insert arbitrary text.) Anyway, I think your plot does a good job displaying the concept; my only concern would be that it's too big (since shrinking it down to fit in an article causes the text to become very difficult to read). – 74  20:05, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

(I had to add much of the text in a paint program..)

I think I should have used a bigger font - but shrinking the image also 'dissapears' the lines - suppose it needs thicker lines or something - but I don't know how to do that.

I'll mark this questionas resolved as the image will be good enough I think.

I believe the image needs to be vector image svg format to render better at small sizes. If anyone does come up with a better image please post a link on the talk page of tractive effort Thanks very much.

Resolved

FengRail (talk) 20:13, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

I am trying to learn assembly and I am LOST

(I am using NASM on Windows x86) I have been getting so many mixed signals. For example, do I need to use the main:, code:, data:, etc. labels? Also, I have no idea why the following program won't work. I am meaning for it to print 2 on the screen.
mov ah,2h
mov dl,2
int 21h

Why will this not work? "ah" is the register of the 21h interrupt. "dl" is the register the output "subprogram" uses, and "2h" is the output subprogram.

Another thing: when writing things in assembly for Windows, is the assembler output a function .exe or does it need to be linked. Thanks much in anticipation, Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 03:30, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Update: I got the golink linker and MASM. I haven't tried the above source with MASM, but I got a demo .asm and it assembled it. I, however, don't know how to use the golink program. It errors everytime I try to link. Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 04:01, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Why are you using DOS interrupts in Windows? To output text, you must use the Windows API. Or, if you still want to do low-level things, you can use the Native API through sysenter. I don't think your code would work in DOS anyway! dl should be set to the character you want to output. You've set it to 2, which is STX ASCII control code. If you want to output the character '2', use this: mov dl, '2'.--123.243.7.17 (talk) 05:53, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Ok, well how do I implement Windows API in assembly. I have used it before for GUI C++ programming, but I don't know how to implement it in assembly. Also, do I need to link the .obj to anything or is it just an executable (I don't it is, but I don't know what to link it to.)?

Actually, forget the Windows API. Use libc's printf. If you haven't learned how to call functions C-style:

push ...
push arg3
push arg2
push arg1
call function_name
add esp, 4*the_number_of_arguments_you_pushed

--123.243.7.17 (talk) 23:06, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

These days, you almost never write entire programs in machine code. Generally, you write the whole thing in C++ or something - and then analyse it to find out which code sections are taking the most time - and perhaps rewrite those in machine code. Since I/O is S-L-O-W, it's rarely going to be inside the innermost high-performance loops - so learning to write Windows API in machine code is really a waste of time. SteveBaker (talk) 01:34, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Agreed. The best way to learn assembly is to use it inline with C. --wj32 ^t/c 04:50, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't know about the Visual Studio compiler - but the GNU GCC compiler family have a '-S' command-line option that causes it to compile C or C++ into human-readable assembly code - examining that is a great way to learn what to do when you are integrating assembly code into C programs. On the vanishingly few occasions when I still resort to machine code - I write the code in C - let the compiler generate assembly code - then rewrite that code to make it run faster. C compilers are so good these days that it's pretty tough to do better than they do. The other benefit of my approach is that you can stick the original C code into a comment in the assembler. This approach is also a HUGE help when you have to port mixed C/assembler applications onto different CPU's. SteveBaker (talk) 04:22, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

possible to construct 'binary' joke with the word neither?

So there is the old joke there are 10 kinds of people in the world: those who understand binary and those who don't. Is there a way to construct a version where the kicker is the word "neither"? Like, there are 10 kinds of people in the world, and neither of them laugh at binary jokes. Unfortunately this version is not funny. Would it be possible to construct a funny version of this same joke? Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.120.236.246 (talk) 05:16, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

"There are 10 kinds of people in the world, and neither of them expected me to use binary in this joke." It's still not funny, but it's progress :\ flaminglawyer 06:17, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

"There are 10 ways to construct a binary joke, neither of which is funny." (Good thing it's not funny, otherwise it'd be a self-contradiction.) – 74  06:46, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

there are 10 kinds of people in the world, and neither of them laugh at binary jokes is funny. No question about it, well done. actually made me laugh.FengRail (talk) 15:32, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Mk 3 there are 10 kinds of people in the world, and neither of them find this joke funny —Preceding unsigned comment added by FengRail (talk • contribs) 16:03, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

74.137.108.115's and FengRail first one are both good (needs plural for "laugh" though). 74*'s has better punch after the comma, and substituting "make" for "construct" would make it even tighter.

Mk 3 is no good; its missing the crucial "binary", but adding it ruins its flow. -- Fullstop (talk) 17:32, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks so much guys!! What teamwork!! With FullStop's addition, I am now settling on the version there are only 10 ways to make a binary joke, and neither of them is funny. Good job guys. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.120.236.246 (talk) 02:04, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

It's still not quite as good as the original - we're left wondering what the OTHER non-funny binary joke is. The original stated what BOTH kinds of people are like so it was 'complete'. But all jokes become horribly un-funny when you over-analyse them! I was wondering if we could work in the fact that it is "a bit funny". SteveBaker (talk) 04:17, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Capture video/audio output

Resolved

You know how on Windows/macs, the Prnt Scrn and the snipping tool (called Grab on a Mac) captures the video output and saves it. I was wondering if there was a similar application available that captures audio output. Is there such a program? -- penubag  (talk) 09:32, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Audacity runs on OS-X. I've not used it on that platform, but on linux and windows (so surely macos) it can be set to record to the "output mixer", which is essentially what gets played out of the speakers. That said, Vista's secure audio path is supposed to allow DRM-enabled players to avoid that "hole" (I don't know if anything really does); I don't know if OS-X has anything like that. Anyway, try Audacity. Mimetic Polyalloy (talk) 12:07, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Wow! Thank you!! It works like magic! Just what I wanted! I salute to you, Mimetic Polyalloy. -- penubag  (talk) 01:46, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Computer Virus

Where are computer virus files located in computer?Is not it possible to delete them? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.70.74.135 (talk) 14:18, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

If you take a look at our article Computer virus you should find the answers you seek. --LarryMac | Talk 14:59, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

They hide from you, they exist in multiple places, they hijack good programs, they mask themselves as things they are not, they watch to see if you try to delete them and then restore themselves—all of these are easy for a qualified programmer. "Just deleting them" is not an easy thing to do. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 15:52, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Note that if you really mean a computer virus as opposed to other malware like trojans and worms and the like it should always be part of a host file. Often a virus will try to infect every compatible host file on your computer Nil Einne (talk) 15:56, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

A host is required, but some early computer viruses infected boot sectors; more recently, portable storage and mobile electronics are tempting hosts. With the proper OS vulnerabilities, a virus could infect a file system, a directory, any OS metadata, or even free disk space! – 74  16:37, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

PDF > DOC Converter

Is there any software that will put a Japanese .pdf into a .doc? I don't mean a tranlsator, as in language, as that is my job, I mean one that will convert from .pdf into .doc. I have one that does English very well, but not one for Japanese.--KageTora (talk) 15:54, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

What I do for an English PDF, and I don't see why it wouldn't work for Japanese, is highlight the entire document, copy the text and paste it into Word. -- SGBailey (talk) 09:54, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Adobe Acrobat Professional will do it. It comes with Japanese fonts and also is sold as a Japanese version. You just go to File --> Save as...--K;;m5m k;;m5m (talk) 10:06, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Zamzar can do it for you, too. Gary King (talk) 22:16, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

1.6GHz

how good is 1.6GHz for a compuetr? it is enough to play games and watch filmes? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.80.240.66 (talk) 16:33, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Films, probably. Games, not new ones. Part of it depends on whether that is one 1.6GHz processor or two 800MHz processors, though it seems more like that it is the former than the latter. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 16:51, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Even if its a single-threaded player, and a dual core machine, an 800 is more than fast enough for DVD. If the screen resolution is greater than the film's, and the film is being watched in a window (i.e. no zoom necessary), then 800 is even good enough for baseline or main profile DivX/MPEG-4. YMMV. -- Fullstop (talk) 17:43, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

And if you have some sort of hardware video acceleration then you can do pretty well as well. I brought up the core distinction mostly for the question of games. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 01:03, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

You mean like a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom, or Pentium, or AMD semprom type processor? - Good enough for DVD films (with a bog standard bottom of the range graphics chip eg Intel 945 or whatever - the sort that comes for 'free' with the computer)

Probablu not good enough for Hi-Def )eg blue ray films - unless you have a separate chip for this.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by FengRail (talk • contribs) 18:00, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

As for games - what sort - will not run recently made 'full price games' - will run older games, flash games etc.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by FengRail (talk • contribs) 18:01, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

"1.6ghz" is really not enough to tell you anything. See Megahertz myth. Core 2 Duos running at 2ghz can easily outperform older Pentium D chips at 3ghz. You have to be more specific to get a true answer. 67.169.118.40 (talk) 02:17, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

subject line "another option" in Apple Mail

For some reason, I am not able to send a message with the subject line "another option" in Apple Mail, version 3.5. A bit of fiddling has demonstrated that all of the following work: ".another option", "another optionasjkdfl", "another option askfljd", and "another option" (2 spaces). In short, it seems that only this specific subject line causes the message to not send. Anyone know why? Lesgles (talk) 18:30, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

What do you mean by "not to send"? Do you mean it gives you an error or it just doesn't arrive? I just sent myself a message with that subject with Mail 2.1 and it worked fine. My suspicion, barring more information, is that that particular subject line triggers a spam/virus blacklist on either your server or the server you are sending it to. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 19:27, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

The message goes to the outbox, then opens up again without sending. It could be the server; I know someone else tried it and it didn't work, but she is on the same server. Lesgles (talk) 19:30, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

It could be that the configuration for your SMTP server is set to block messages with a subject that contain the substring "another option". I suggest contacting your computer support about it. -- JSBillings 23:12, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

I just tried it on my machine (Apple Mail 3.5 (930.3) under OS X 10.5.6), and it sent fine. So count this as another vote for something on the server. -- Speaker to Lampposts (talk) 09:52, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! We'll see if I actually contact computer support; for now it's easier just to write "another possibility". Lesgles (talk) 06:24, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

VB.net: extra point for football program

I have an assignment where I have to create an American football scoreboard program in Visual Basic .NET. It's very simple: if I click the touchdown button, I add 6 to the label displaying the score and so on. How do I program the two checkboxes for extra points? I want them to be selectable only after a touchdown. --hello, i'm a member | talk to me! 19:53, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Nevermind. I understand now. --hello, i'm a member | talk to me! 20:02, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Bluetooth, WiMAX and Wi-Fi - are they Communications protocols?

would like to get your comments, here: Talk:Communications protocol#Technologies? Standards? Protocols?. Thanx, TaBaZzz (talk) 20:04, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

I need help

I originally asked the question over at WP:Help desk#I'm a bit confused regarding an edit to Hidden messages#Windows fonts in which certain Windows fonts are used to illustrate an example that can only be understood by viewing them in Internet Explorer, which I made clear in the section. Another editor changed it, but I'm not so sure as to which version is correct. Someone who has a knowledge of this would be really helpful, which is why I'm here. --Whip it! ^{Now whip it good!} 21:37, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Aside from anything else - you should not put content into the encyclopedia that only certain browsers can read. May I suggest getting a screen dump of those strings rendered in the appropriate fonts under IE and inserting that into the article as an image file. SteveBaker (talk) 01:25, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

As I understand it, he didn't; he merely indicated that the content required IE. But I agree it would be preferable to have an image file so the page content is not dependent on a specific browser. Here is an image of the characters 'NYC' in wingdings and webdings (which I, the creator, release under whatever license is necessary) if anyone would like to update the article. – 74  03:11, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. --Whip it! ^{Now whip it good!} 06:25, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Playstation 3 and F.E.A.R. Surround Sound is Wonky

While playing F.E.A.R. (the first one, trying to catch up before I get F.E.A.R. 2), I was sneaking up on a guy who was patrolling. I noticed that when I was facing him, I could hear his footsteps from my REAR speakers. I just put up with it for awhile, until I got to the place where the game plot introduces enemy-placed proximity mines. The mines blew up, and I could see and hear electricity arcing across the hallway. As I turned, I noticed left was right, and right was left.

I don't have this issue in any other game. I have an optical cable running from my PS3 to my audio system (an old Cambridge Soundworks/Creative Labs bundle, a bit like this, but with a different receiver). I have the PS3 set to Digital Out (Optical) as it should be, and I enabled Dolby Digital 5.1 Channel (when I play games the Dolby Digital 5.1 LED is illuminated on the system). I just ran the test function (which plays white noise on all the speakers in this order: L, C, R, RS, LS, SW) and it worked correctly, though I double-checked the rear connections just in case (they were fine). I couldn't find anything searching through Google, so I'm hoping someone out there has a similar set up with a similar issue, and even better, I hope they've solved the issue and can tell me how :).

Thanks. --Silvaran (talk) 22:43, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Have you run an audio channel test on the PS3 itself (ie on a DVD or BD)? 24.76.160.236 (talk) 01:42, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Most PC games have an option to reverse the stereo from left/right to right/left to allow for incorrect speaker setups. Does the audio options on this game on the PS3 have this facility? Exxolon (talk) 15:54, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Screw it. I unplugged the center channel, swapped the front/back pairs, then swapped each of the left/right pairs. It seems to be correct now. :) --Silvaran (talk) 22:04, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

February 14

USB cords

Why do USB extension cables often have a big cylindrical piece about an inch from the plug? My Firewire cables don't seem to have such a thing but many of my USB cables (extensions, mouse cables, etc.) do. What's their purpose? Just curious. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 01:02, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

They supposedly reduce interference.  Buffered Input Output 01:11, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes - it's a Ferrite bead. SteveBaker (talk) 01:20, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Interesting—thanks! --98.217.14.211 (talk) 01:42, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Viewing 'hidden files' on Vista

I have a file that was sent to me, and for some reason it has 'hidden files' on it. I have asked the sender to tell me how to view them, but he doesn't speak English very well and I am none the wiser even after his advice. So, how do I view hidden files on a Vista (Home Premium) machine?--KageTora (talk) 01:58, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't know whay you mean by saying that a file has files on it. But perhaps "file" was a typo for "CD" or similar; anyway, you have hidden files. Is the problem one of seeing them listed properly, or of actually seeing their content? If it's the former, and if you're using Explorer, you configure Vista to let you view [the presence of] hidden files. If you can see that they are there but want to look at them (e.g. to view hidden JPEG files) then you'll normally have to change their attributes ("unhide" them, and perhaps "unsystem" them too) before doing this. -- Hoary (talk) 02:25, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

That is what I want to do. Now, how do I do that?--KageTora (talk) 02:36, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

This article, third from the top in a Google search for "vista hidden file", says:

Follow these steps to display hidden files and folders.

1. Open Folder Options by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Personalization, and then clicking Folder Options.
2. Click the View tab.
3. Under Advanced settings, click Show hidden files and folders, and then click OK.

– 74  03:17, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Sorry I couldn't be more specific; I wasn't (and am not) using Vista when typing, so it was from memory. If you're going to follow the procedure described immediately above, I suggest that you also take that opportunity to ask Windows not to conceal recognized file extensions. (I don't know the exact name of this option but it should be easy to find.) Thus myhappyface.jpeg will appear not as myhappyface but as myhappyface.jpeg. When I use Windows, I find extension-hiding most annoying, because when I need the exact name of a file I have to guess what it is (in this example, whether it's JPG, jpg, jpeg, JPEG, or something else). -- Hoary (talk) 03:25, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm not accusing anyone of anything - but if I got files via email, and they were tagged with the hidden attribute - I would delete them immediately. (or at the very least treat them as possible virus/malware threats) - Better safe than sorry. If it's just wanting to view various hidden files - see above post. — Ched (talk) 05:23, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

It's good policy to treat *every* file sent via email as suspect, regardless of the hidden attribute. If you weren't expecting the file, or if there is any doubt that it is legit, don't open the attachment. Your computer (and whoever does your tech-support) will appreciate it. – 74  06:07, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

programming in 3 dimensions

will i be able to combine AutoCAD and Visual basic? i want to create a program which can predict the trajectory of an object with a specific velocity that passes by earth. I want to do that in 3 dimensional space. if not, will i be able to create a 3 dimensional space in VB? if not, please specify the application with which i can--Harnithish (talk) 08:38, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

You can simulate 3D space in any Turing-complete language (I don't know VB, but if I recall correctly it supports floats natively as well as classes, so you should be able to do that without too much difficulty). The problem would be rendering it; I'm not sure if AutoCAD will play nicely with VB, but you can achieve your stated goal (albeit perhaps more laboriously) in VB itself (combined with something like Microsoft XNA). --Aseld ^talk 09:02, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

(After edit conflict)Using visual basic to modify the behavior of AutoCAD requires that AutoCAD has an API that you can access with Visual basic. I suspect you can do so through it's .NET API. Visual basic is turing complete, so yes you can program the calculation in it. However both of these solutions are going to be very difficult. If I where you I would seek a program that has built in capability of solving differential equations, and preferably graphing support. Fortunately this is precisely the tasks of a Computer algebra system. Taemyr (talk) 09:05, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Agreed. While it's possible in VB, using a CAS as suggested by Taemyr would be much easier. (Didn't think of suggesting an alternative in my original post). --Aseld ^talk 09:12, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Avoiding Element overlap in IE

Hello,

I spent most of yesterday playing around in Firefox and eventually got my menu bar to look (more or less) how i wanted it to.I then opened it in IE and, surprise surprise, it looked really messed up! Basically, for sylistic reasons, different 'items' in the menu bar are styled differently. Orginally, both Firefox and IE made both items overlap rather than sit side by side. to get around this, I put both sections into a separate Div tags, whcih seemed to solve the problem in firefox, but made it 1000 times worse in IE. Does any one know any suitable IE workarounds? (I'm still learning this crap stuff, so please feel free to lay into my code, which is below). Obviously, my valentines day is getting off to a great start!

HTML of the 95% working firefox version:

HTML code
<body> <ul> <li><div id="home"><a href="Home.html">Home</a></div></li> <div id="navbar"> <li id="a">Services <ul> <li><a href="">1</a></li> <li><a href="">2</a></li> <li><a href="">3</a></li> </ul> </li> <li id="a">How I work <ul> <li><a href="">4</a></li> <li><a href="">5</a></li> <li><a href="">6</a></li> </ul> </li> <li id="current">Get In Touch</li> </li> </ul> </div> </body>

and the CSS is here:

CSS code

ul { margin-left: 10%; list-style: none; font-family:Verdana,sans-serif; font-size:12px; font-weight:bold; padding:0px 0; } #navbar li#a { background:#DDDDEE; border-color:#777788; border-style:solid; border-width: 1px; margin-left:auto; padding:3px; text-decoration:none; width:222px; text-align:center; } #home{background:#DDDDEE; border-color:#777788; border-style:solid; border-width: 1px; float:left; padding:3px; text-decoration:none; width:222px; text-align:center; } li#current { position:relative; background:white; border-style:solid; border-width: 1px; border-color: black black white black; padding:3px; text-decoration:none; width:222px; text-align:center; float:right; margin-right: 217px; margin-left:0px } #navbar li { float: left; position: relative; width: 10em; } #navbar li ul { display: none; float: none; width: 50px; margin-top:30px; list-style: none; left: 0; border: none; padding:3px; } #navbar li#a:hover ul { display: block;}

Many thanks, (and apologies for wikipedia's bizarre formatting - i don't know what's going on!)79.121.131.201 (talk) 12:48, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Well, for starters your html is invalid - you've got one too many close li tags, and you close the outermost div and ul in the wrong order. While browers differ about how they handle correct html and css, they tend to differ much more about how they handle incorrect code. It's always a good idea to check your code with a validator like the W3c one before trying to fix browser inconsistencies. I'll take a further look at your code shortly. 87.112.81.29 (talk) 13:03, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

This is true, but you're actually not allowed a div within a ul at all - the only valid children of a list are list items. You can have a div within a li, though. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 14:10, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

After that, I can't entirely figure out how you want it to look - do you want all the options in a bar at the right of the screen? If you could upload a sketch or a screenshot to photobucket then that would make it easier to help you. 87.112.81.29 (talk) 13:22, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

And if you don't want home to be on top of the other menu stuff (which I guess you don't, given that you float it left rather than right) then don't have it inside the outermost ul at all (if that's what you want, you don't need the outermost ul at all), and you don't need to float it (it'll just be the first thing on the page). 87.112.81.29 (talk) 13:36, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

General advice: IE has two different rendering modes: 'standards-compliant' mode (which is *not* the default, but might or might not be in IE8) and 'quirks' mode (for rendering pages that were designed to compensate for the prior versions' layout problems). If you're designing new code for IE, you almost invariably want to include the magic to switch IE into standards-compliant mode. – 74  13:23, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

That's sage advice; even if you didn't care about IE in particular, the doctype helps browsers and validators understand your html properly. It's always a very wise idea to fix all the warnings and issues that a validator brings up, as even the most trivial things can make browsers behave differently. 87.112.81.29 (talk) 13:36, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

I've wrapped your code in <pre> tags to fix the formatting — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 13:54, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

I've taken the liberty of rewriting your example without all the ul/li tags (which may be what's confusing both you and IE). For simplicity of exposition I've inlined the stylesheet:

simplified example

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> <html> <head> <title>Menu</title> <style type="text/css"> #nav { float:right; background:#ddddee; border:solid #777788 1px; font:bold 12px Verdana,sans-serif; } #nav a { display:block; text-decoration:none; } #nav a:hover { background:black; color:white; } div.framer { margin:5px; padding:2px; border:solid #777788 1px; } div.framer a { margin-left:1em; } </style> </head> <body> <div id="nav"> <a href="Home.html">Home</a> <div class="framer"> Services <a href="">1</a> <a href="">2</a> <a href="">3</a> </div> <div class="framer"> How I work <a href="">4</a> <a href="">5</a> <a href="">6</a> </div> Get In Touch </div> </body> </html>

That appears identical for me in IE and FF. 87.112.81.29 (talk) 14:50, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Concatenating pdf files in LaTeX

Hello, I would like to know what the best way would be to concatenate pdf files in LaTeX without using the PDFLaTeX compiler (For this I would have to convert all my figures into pdf files which is not feasible since I easily have over 100 figures). I have heard about pdfpages but this only works if using PDFLaTeX. Is there a similar package to pdfpages that will work using the conventional LaTeX compiler? Thanks in advance, Jdrewitt (talk) 14:20, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Maybe I should post this on a LaTeX forum instead, I just thought maybe someone would have or know of a clever script or package that allows you to insert .pdf files into a LaTeX document using the conventional compiler. Or maybe converting them to an image file such as *.eps would be the better way to do that? Thanks Jdrewitt (talk) 09:28, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Your description is a little confusing. It seems that you want to add some PDF files to a LaTeX document, but do you want to add a few PDF pages to the output of a LaTeX document, or do you want to include PDF files as LaTeX figures? If the former, you can just convert your LaTeX file into PDF in your preferred way, and insert/append the PDF files afterward using tools like pdftk. If the latter, you can convert your PDF files into EPS. Either way, I still don't understand the pdflatex connection. In my experience as a user, pdflatex is just a version of latex that output PDF directly. I don't think it forces you to convert all figures to PDF (that is, native LaTeX drawings are still supported). Converting PDF to EPS can be done using the pdf2ps utility that's part of Ghostscript. If you have bunch of them to convert, you can write a simple shell script to iterate through all the .pdf files that match a certain pattern.

If you clarify the problem and give more information, readers of this Reference Desk may be able to give you more useful help. For example, what version of LaTeX do you use? What's your OS platform? Can you (and do you feel comfortable) installing additional software to get the task done? How many PDF files do you need to insert/append? Do you want them to be part of the LaTeX document (meaning they have page numbers (whether displayed or not), and can have headers and footers)? Or do you just want the pages added as a totally separate section (say, as color plates not included in the normal page numbering)? Or do you want to include the PDF pages as LaTeX figures that have captions and can be moved around? How many PDF pages do you want to insert? Do they need to be extracted from some bigger PDF files first? What formats are the rest of the figures in? Good luck. --173.49.17.152 (talk) 16:30, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Hello, I am using MiKTeX 2.7 under XP with WinEDT as the editor. I would just like to add 3 pdf files, each of which contain several pages, into the LaTeX document whilst maintaining page numbering and the table of contents etc. I have heard that this can be done using the pdfpages package, however this only works if compiling using PDFLaTeX. If you try compiling with the conventional LATeX thingymijig it comes up with an error saying the pdfpages package is only supported by VTeX or pdfLaTeX. I tried using pdfLaTeX but my figures, which are all eps format, do not come out. I don't want the inserted pdf files to be figures with captions, but full page figures without captions and similar margins as in the original pdf's would be ok. I hope that clarifies things a bit better. Jdrewitt (talk) 17:37, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I take it that by maintaining page numbering, you mean that the inserted PDF pages will cause the page number to increase normally, whether or not page numbers are printed on those pages. I don't have a good solution to offer, but maybe you can try this:

• Convert each of your PDF files into single-page (Encapsulated) PostScript files
• Include each of the pages individually as you normally would for any EPS files
• Tweak the page margins of those included pages to make them fill the whole page
• Tweak the page style to turn on/off headers/footers, as appropriate

It may not be an elegant solution, but it sounds like you only have a small number of pages to include. Hopefully it's not too painful. --173.49.17.152 (talk) 19:43, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, I think that possibly sounds like the way to go, it might not be elegant but if it works then that is fine by me. Can I just ask what the easiest way is of changing the page margins of individual pages without affecting the margins for the rest of the document? Its not something I generally play around with. Thanks again. Jdrewitt (talk) 20:42, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure what would be a good way to change the page margins for just one or a few pages in LaTeX. When I wrote the suggestion above, I was thinking about using \setlength to change the settings before including the PDF pages, and doing it again afterward. A web search turned up this [10] (It seems someone has already thought about it).

There's another solution that might be easier. The idea is to:

1. Use a bunch of \newpage commands (or some other methods) to "reserve" a few blank pages in the PDF file generated from the LaTeX file
2. Substitute the PDF pages to be included for the blank pages, using pdftk or something similar.

The substituted pages won't have headers, footers, and page numbers like the rest of the document, but this may not be a problem for you. BTW, I've found pdftk to be a handy tool for manipulating PDF files at the page level. Good luck. --173.49.17.152 (talk) 00:43, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Brilliant, some sound advice there, thank you very much. Jdrewitt (talk) 01:14, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Cyrillic typing

How to type cyrillic alphabets on qwerty keyboard? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.70.74.150 (talk) 14:58, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

You install a different keyboard layout—usually somewhere in your system settings you indicate that the keyboard is not, say, "U.S. English" but is instead "Russian." If you have a Mac, "Russian Phonetic" is a great keyboard layout if you are not accustomed to typing on a Russian keyboard (it maps the Cyrillic characters to their comparable English phonemes). --98.217.14.211 (talk) 15:48, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

If you don't want to do that, run "charmap" (if you're running Windows) and scroll down. You can click on the Cyrillic characters and Copy them to the clipboard, then paste them. Obviously not useful if you want to type more than a couple of words. Tempshill (talk) 06:09, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Unable to access my watchlist or my preference

Hello. I am unable for some reason to access my watchlist or preferences. When I click on them the only thing that comes up is this text: /*generated user stylesheet*/ a. new, #quickbar a.new {color: # CC2200;}. Thanks. Tumblin Tom (talk) 15:32, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

You'll probably get a faster response on Wikipedia:Help_desk - the RD is for general questions about anything, the help desk for Wikipedia specific questions. Exxolon (talk) 15:52, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. I have asked the question there. Tumblin Tom (talk) 16:27, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Algorithm for computing biconnected components

Our article on Biconnected components mentions a "classic sequential algorithm for computing biconnected components in a connected graph due to John Hopcroft and Robert Tarjan (1971)" -- does anyone what this algorithm is, and if there's a description of it online? — Matt Crypto 16:42, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Knuth. 87.112.81.29 (talk) 16:47, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

What is a good software application for keeping an address book, from a data portability standpoint?

What is a good (preferably freely available) software application for keeping an address book? Ideally it should support importing/exporting data from/to many formats. I've looked at Thunderbird but its address book is not well designed, plus its import/export facilities seem rather limited. --173.49.17.152 (talk) 20:12, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

How about Zimbra? Gary King (talk) 22:14, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

how do I do this to Paint Shop Pro?

example:

File:Nlr-tjloco-amoswolfe.jpg

OK it's a bit of a cliche but how do I do it? Make the background black and white and something else not. Is there any tutorials anywhere?

Does it have a proper name?

Cheers,

Frank. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.166.234.129 (talk) 20:40, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't know the specifics for PSP, but its workalikes Photoshop and Gimp, you a) select the thing you want to preserve, probably using the lasso tool b) invert the selection (so you're got everything else selected) c) probably feather the selection a bit (so the transition is fuzzy rather than a harsh line) and d) reduce saturation (which is colour-nerd speak for "colourfullness"). 87.112.81.29 (talk) 20:52, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

That's a help but I can't get it to work and still could do with a tutorial Frank. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.166.234.129 (talk) 21:57, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

In photoshop/gimp: duplicate the image layer (so you have two layers with the same image on them). on the bottom one, "desaturate" to make it grayscale. on the top one, apply a mask to it and fill it in totally black (so the top layer in invisible). then use the paintbrush tool to color white on the mask, revealing the colored image in all that you expose. it's really very easy but you have to learn how to use a mask tool first. if you know how to use masks then it is trivial—so look for a mask tutorial. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 23:42, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

That will work. The previous suggestion is just as quick - use the hand-drawn select tool (each paint program gives it a different name) and outline the area to stay in color. In the select menu, there is an option to invert the selection. Then, in the color settings, reduce all the colors so you just have black and white left. You could also use one of the many tools that automatically make the selected area monochrome or old-timey looking, or stenciled... I seriously doubt you'll find a "tutorial" for this because it is a 3-step process: Select the color area, invert the selection, remove color. -- kainaw™ 00:16, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

The issue I have with the "select" method is it is not easy to modify if you are unhappy with the final product. A masking method gives you a lot more flexibility, as well. "Quick" is not usually what one is looking for in situations like this (and even then, you can use the masks as a way of doing the select version in a way that is far more adjustable). --98.217.14.211 (talk) 00:36, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

February 15

What computer language(s) is wikipeda coded in

I am assuming PHP/Mysql. but what is the official answer?

142.176.13.22 (talk) 03:37, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia runs on MediaWiki, which is written in PHP. The databases certainly use SQL, I believe you're right that it's MySQL. Algebraist 03:43, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

PHP plus MySQL - and to some extent JavaScript. SteveBaker (talk) 04:04, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

What? Nobody is going to come along and point out that both PHP and MySQL are programs written in another rather common language? -- kainaw™ 04:24, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

And then compiled down to yet another language? – 74  06:00, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

That's irrelevent, incorrect and unnecessarily confusing to our OP. Wikipedia isn't coded in those languages - it's coded in PHP and Javascript. You can look everywhere in the sources and you won't find one single line of C, C++ or machine code. Furthermore, it just happens to be that the PHP interpreter that Wikipedia uses runs on some particular server and that the interpreter was written in some other language - but MediaWiki would run just fine on a PHP interpreter written in (say) Brainfuck and compiled to run on a Beowulf cluster of Babbage analytical engines. Please - don't try to be smart - it doesn't work and it confuses the OP. My first answer was both correct and sufficient. SteveBaker (talk) 18:15, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

If you insist on being technical, Wikipedia isn't coded in any of those; it's written in MediaWiki, as Algebraist helpfully pointed out before your own elaboration (although the line is somewhat blurry). Besides, isn't it just a little hypocritical to be complaining about these responses when you've requested a user rewrite working code that you found ugly, and complained that 'Dvorak needs to "just die already"' in response to a request for the number of Dvorak users? – 74  19:45, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

MediaWiki isn't a "computer language" - it's an application program. The previous responses you link to were not confusing - they weren't actively telling someone something that isn't true. By saying (even indirectly) that Wikipedia is written in C/C++/machine code you are directly telling a confusing untruth. As I said before - if you examine the source code for Wikipedia - you'll find PHP, MySQL and JavaScript - and none of the other things. SteveBaker (talk) 04:21, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a program; you wouldn't write an encyclopedia in any programming language. MediaWiki, however, is a program, not an encyclopedia, and unsurprisingly is written in a programming language. So no, Wikipedia (an encylclopedia) is definitely not written in PHP, MySQL, or JavaScript. Anyway, while I certainly don't feel that my comment warranted your rebuke, I'll go ahead and strike it because arguing over the merits of a response to a joke wastes everyone's time. – 74  05:15, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Ah, another question with a simple answer diluted by people in an endless attempt to be most clever... --98.217.14.211 (talk) 04:32, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm going to stir the pot a little by saying that the only thing a user ever sees is HTML, CSS, and a little JavaScript. PHP and MySQL generate mostly HTML that is served to your browser. So, PHP, JavaScript, SQL, CSS, and C++, but mostly HTML.--K;;m5m k;;m5m (talk) 05:24, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

If you are clever enough to comprehend English, you will see that it was derailed by questioning why nobody has attempted to be clever, not by trying to be clever. -- kainaw™ 13:24, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Safely Remove Hardware

Does Safely Remove Hardware do anything else besides unmount the filesystem(s)? Thanks in advance. --wj32 ^t/c 03:45, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm not one hundred percent certain, but I'm 99% sure that unmounting the filesystems is all it does. --Aseld ^talk 03:51, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Well, before unmounting, it flushes the write buffers to disk, but I guess you could also consider that part of unmounting. If nothing has been written to the disk since it was mounted, it should be safe to remove it without using Safely Remove Hardware. Indeterminate (talk) —Preceding undated comment was added at 04:29, 15 February 2009 (UTC).

At least on XP, the "Safely Remove Hardware" menu appears to shutdown and disable USB power to the device; on Vista it apparently does not. (USB is designed to be "hot-pluggable", so disabling power isn't critical. Properly shutting down the device, such as parking disk drive heads, would seem significantly more important.) – 74  05:55, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Say I have a USB hard disk that requires 2 cables (one for data, one for power) - will unplugging it without using Safely Remove Hardware possibly cause anything more severe than data loss/filesystem corruption? --wj32 ^t/c 09:37, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Think of all the computers that suffer power failures every day - almost all of those have hard drives, and they survive. While I doubt it's *good* for the drive to cut the power without it spinning down properly, doing it once or twice is not likely to cause any problems. --Aseld ^talk 09:46, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

This may be compounded by moving the drive with the heads improperly parked. On modern drives, however, there is usually a mechanism (a spring, or an electrical reverse feed from the platter motor) to park the heads following a power failure, so no damage would be expected. – 74  20:02, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

On Line Photographs

On some internet pages pictures just have a + on them. How do I view them or what programme do I need to open them219.89.28.66 (talk) 04:25, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you're talking about. Could you link to an example? Indeterminate (talk) 04:30, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I think you may be talking about the auto-resize feature - if you click on the picture - does it then enlarge to full size rather than fit the window? — Ched (talk) 09:04, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

If you're talking about an "X" rather than the "+" (plus) (and no picture) that can be a variety of things - often the picture doesn't exist at the location the web-pages says it does - or you have some sort of blocking going on. If you right-click, and can pick the "View Image", that may help in some cases. — Ched (talk) 09:08, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Any non-Apple device playback Apple Lossless audio files?

I'm considering ripping my CD collection to consolidate all my music digitally without compression. But are there any non-Apple products that can *use* Apple Lossless songs? I'd like the ability to stream my songs to my PS3 and Xbox. Do they support any lossless compressed audio files? Should I just rip to WAV for maximum compatibility? --71.158.215.154 (talk) 04:39, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Indubitably. Try VLC or MPlayer. --Aseld ^talk 05:11, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Oh, unless you mean on the Xbox and PS3 natively without any extra software. --Aseld ^talk 05:12, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

WAV is obviously the simplest option. If space is a concern, you're more likely to have support for Windows Media Lossless on the Xbox360. For the PS3, perhaps FLAC, but seemingly not [11]. Since the PS3 supports BluRay, Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio may be an option although it doesn't seem like there is any free encoder for either yet. Note that the obvious advantage with lossless audio is whether it's WAV, FLAC or whatever, it doesn't matter what you choose, changing your mind 2 years from now shouldn't be too much of a hassle and you're not going to lose quality, so don't worry about it Nil Einne (talk)

Google Translate oddity

Currently, Google Translate seems to translate the Russian word град into the letters "deg", no matter the destination language. Any idea why this might happen? Bart133 ^{t c @ How's my driving?} 05:30, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Is град a real Russian word? If it's not, it's possible that Translate is just transliterating the Cyrillic. --Aseld ^talk 05:46, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Check out the disambiguation page. One of the meanings is Grad (angle), maybe google picks deg(ree) because of that. 88.112.63.253 (talk) 06:28, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

The word град has three meanings in Russian-- (1) Grad (angle), (2) Hail, and (3) a city. The last one is a South Slavic word, so it has Old Church Slavonic undertones in modern Russian. As noted, Google is probably mis-mapping град to degree, due to the meaning (1). Google translate is particularly susceptible because it uses something like Statistical machine translation, which is easily misled by homonyms (and even more so by polysemes). Avram (talk) 08:44, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

(This question would get better answers if you asked it on the Language reference desk. SteveBaker (talk) 18:01, 15 February 2009 (UTC))

You tried RusTran? –  LATICS  talk  18:10, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

New Graphics Card

Hey again. I've asked similar questions before, but now I'm sure what I want to ask. I have a HP A6632F desktop, and I want to replace the GPU. It has 4GB of RAM, 2.4Ghz Duo Core processors, and ~452GB HDD. It has an integral PCI-E intel G33/31 Express family chipset already (integrated). Someone said I could probably put a GeForce series 7 or 8 in it, but I was wondering about a series 9. Can anyone recommend a card(s) that would work in my comp? Thanks. --AtTheAbyss (talk) 07:14, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

That model number doesn't seem to exist. What matters most is whether or not you have a PCIe x16 slot. If you do then you can pretty much use any card that doesn't require an external power connector. This includes a number of GeForce 9 series, as well as a number of ATI cards. In the event the PCIe x16 slot doesn't have 16 lanes, you may find performance is limited but I doubt you'd see much difference except with a very fast card (which will require an external power connector, maybe two). If your power supply has a PCIe power connector, then you should be able to use a card which requires one too. If not, then you may be able to use one with an appropriate molex converter but it will depend on the specs of your power supply. If your computer accepts and uses normal ATX power supplies then you can simply upgrade the power supply (make sure it is normal ATX and doesn't use odd wiring or something similar.) Note there are a few other things you need to check. Make sure you have enough room to fit the card. If your case is small some cards may be too long. Also some cards require the slot on the left of the card be free (two slot cards). Finally if your case requires low profile cards, then you'd need a low profile card and bracket. Note if you don't have a PCIe x16 slot, you're pretty much SOL Nil Einne (talk) 07:32, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

BTW, the ATI Radeon 4670 is probably the bestcard which doesn't require an external power connector Nil Einne (talk) 07:53, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I fixed my model number. --AtTheAbyss (talk) 08:21, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

According to [12] you should have a PCIe x16 slot. From the layour of your motherboard, I don't think your likely to have problems with most cards although there's a slight risk the ram slots may get in the way if it has a very big heat sink which reaches quite far down. Of course, if you want both PCIe 1x slots to be free (or they are already populated) then you'd have to stay clear from a dual slot card. It also looks like your case should accept normal profile cards although I'd verify that myself if I was you. Your power supply however is only 250W [13] and although it should be a decent enough one overall (most branded computer ones are) it's unlikely to have a PCIe power connector and I wouldn't recommend you try using a molex adaptor to get a PCIe power connector since there's a risk you'll be pushing the PSU too hard (it'll probably be fine but personally particularly if you're using an adaptor I wouldn't try). However from my reading your motherboard uses the normal ATX PSU pinout so presuming your case can fit normal ATX PSUs (it looks like it should but I would check more carefully) and the PSU is removable you should be able to upgrade PSU if you do want to use a card which requires an external power connector. Of course you could try a card with an external power connector and see how it goes and upgrade the PSU if you find it necessary (instability etc) P.S. No idea what airflow in your case is like but you may want to look at improving it if you get a card that outputs a lot of heat. P.P.S. [14] may also be useful Nil Einne (talk) 12:24, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I took some measurements, and my case is 5.75inches wide, and it's 6.75 inches from the rear of the case to the nearest RAM card. I have plenty of room to the side, but my modem does extend 2.75 inches from the rear. I've looked up two cards, and neither fits. Do I need a compact card or something?--AtTheAbyss (talk) 03:21, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Abbreviated form of terabyte?

When spoken out loud, "kilobyte" is often abbreviated as "K", "megabyte" as "meg" and "gigabyte" as "gig". What's the short form for "terabyte"?121.72.165.197 (talk) 10:19, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I've always used "T", as in "I want to get one of those 2T hard drives.". --Aseld ^talk 10:26, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I prefer the slightly longer TB for terabyte and Tb for terabit. I'm not sure what abbreve to use for User:Taraborn, however. :-) StuRat (talk) 17:48, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

The OP was asking for the short form of terabyte for use in speech. Personally, I'd just say "terabyte". When I hear "TB", the first thing that comes to mind is tuberculosis. --173.49.17.152 (talk) 19:51, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Terabyte-sized things are still pretty rare - so we don't often talk about them and the need to abbreviate never seems to come around - so I just say 'Terabyte'. SteveBaker (talk) 17:59, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

You are behind the times, I believe. One-terabyte external hard drives are rather commonplace these days. --Aseld ^talk 07:50, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

"Terrs" would follow the form of "gigs", but "terrs" brings to mind for me the line of dialogue in Neuromancer about the "Christ the King terrs", short of "terrorists". Tempshill (talk) 06:04, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

I always refer to them as 'terabyte' when spoken out loud, now when written i refer to them as TB (where Tb would mean terabit)– Elliott(Talk|Cont)  17:16, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Spreadsheet - automatic date incrementation: 14 days

I would like a column of dates in a spreadsheet file, starting with a specified date (e.g. 2009-02-12) and then continuing with increments of 14 days (next would be 2009-02-26). How can I achieve this (I have access to Excel and Calc). ----Seans Potato Business 13:05, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

In Excel, type the first few dates in order (two should be enough), then select them. A little black square should appear in the bottom right of the lowest selected cell. Mouse over it (your arrow will turn into a black "+"), then click and drag downwards. A tooltop should appear as you drag that tells you what the current cell will be filled with. Let go when the desired date appears. Xenon54 (talk) 13:10, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Okay thanks; works in Calc too. ----Seans Potato Business 13:45, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Tables in MS Word 2007

Is it possible to shrink a table of 31 rows so that it fits on one page (in addition to approx. 1/4 of the page above the table being taken up by another smaller table and a few lines of explanation)? The reason I need to do this is because I am working on a translation of a document that is formatted in this way, and have been asked to keep the exact same layout. I have tried to make the font size at its minimum, but it only goes down to 8. Is there anything else I can do?--KageTora (talk) 14:01, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

You can set a smaller font size manually (i.e. type it in the box) but that isn't recommended since 8pt is already difficult to read for some people. You might also be able to change the margins for the table or use a more condensed font to gain a little extra room, and the "AutoFit" context menu might prove useful if you haven't tried that yet. My inclination, however, would be to put the table (by itself) on a landscape page, either the page following the first reference, or in an appendix. If none of those options work, the best bet is probably to change it to a double-line table. – 74  14:48, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Perl, Regex, Capturing groups

In Perl, capturing groups are numbered $1, $2, $3 ...

The script's own file name is $0.

Other serialized items, such as arrays, are numbered from 0, i.e., $array[0], ..., $array[999].

Isn't it kind of weird? -- Toytoy (talk) 15:05, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

No. Numbering arrays from zero is very common and makes a hell of a lot of sense. The number in an array is an offset from the first element of the array. So, the first element is offset by zero. The next is offset by one. Regex groups are not numbered as an offset. They are matches, first match, second match, and so on. So, it makes sense to number them from one. I'm sure someone will argue that it makes sense to number arrays from one and then give examples of languages that do so, but that doesn't mean that numbering arrays from zero is senseless. It just means that someone else did it different. -- kainaw™ 15:39, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

If you think it makes sense to number arrays from 1, Perl's got you covered: set $[ to change the index of the first element in an array and the first character in a substring. If you prefer to start at 7, Perl will presumably accommodate. How many other languages allow you to index from an arbitrary base value? Note: modifying $[ is highly discouraged. – 74  16:25, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Fortran. - SigmaEpsilon → ΣΕ 19:32, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I should've guessed.   ;-)   – 74  19:51, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

There are many - even popular ones, such as PHP. If you declare $myarray[7] = "Hi"; Then, using something like $myarray[] = "World"; will set index 8 (one more than the highest number already set). What does this really mean? Languages like PHP and Perl are not using arrays as defined years and years ago. They are using hash tables with incrementing numeric indexes, but loosely referring to them as arrays. From the programmer's point of view, it doesn't matter. From the computer's point of view, a hash table and an array are two very different things. -- kainaw™ 20:18, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

While I agree that the result may be very similar (or even identical), there is a difference between creating an array whose meaningful values start at "7" and base-indexing all arrays from 7. By the former requirement, any array with the first 7 values remaining unused would qualify (which practically includes every language with array support), while the latter requires all arrays (including the return from functions like 'split') to be indexed from 7 by default. In many respects a per-array implementation is more useful, but allowing modification to the underlying base index value is (to my knowledge) significantly less common, probably because of its questionable value and tendency to confuse. – 74  22:21, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Capturing groups in regexes in every other languages start from 1 (perhaps following from Perl). Group 0 by convention stores the entire match in languages other than Perl (weirdly, in Perl this is called $&). Examples: Python, Ruby, JavaScript, Java, PHP, Haskell. --Spoon! (talk) 20:15, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

A glance at our article on AWK - one of the predecessors to Perl - suggests that this special use of "zeroeth group meaning whole match" is closest to the origin of this design decision in Perl. In AWK, $1, $2, etc, refer to fields of the input line, but $0 refers to the whole line. Since "capture groups" in a Perl regular expression are broadly equivalent to AWK's "fields", especially for simple, non-nested groups, it would have been confusing if $1 referred to the second such group. - IMSoP (talk) 23:50, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I am still new to Perl programming. Is there a simple way to retrieve the whole line containing the match. Let's say I want to show all lines (entire lines) containing the word "dog" in a long article, how do I do it? I know I can use \n to mark the boundaries of a full line. With a little extra programming, I can get the sentence containing the word. I just want to know is there a magical way to do it. Because regex expressions are difficult to read and debug. I always want to keep them as short and simple as possible. -- Toytoy (talk) 00:50, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Normally you're working a line at a time anyway, so it would look like:

while (<>) {
  print if /dog/;
}

--Sean 14:29, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

AM2+ cpu

Hi, how new is AM2+ compared to AM2? Is it only now released? Was it available last summer? ~ R.T.G 15:37, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

AM2+ is an upgraded AM2. I don't know when the very first AM2+ motherboards hit the market, but there were plenty available last summer. -- kainaw™ 15:44, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks Kainaw. Anyone with some good reference material might want to give a bit of attention to AM2+ as it is very short and barely 50 edits since over 2 years ~ R.T.G 17:46, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

AM2+ mobos will let you use AM3 CPUs. That's pretty much the most useful part. 24.76.160.236 (talk) 10:30, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Web hosting

I'm looking for a cheap web host (around USD 60 per year or less — though free is good too :-D) that provides the following:

• At least 200 MB of server space
• A decent amount of bandwidth (however much that is)
• The ability to upload already-coded HTML files and maintain an existing folder structure
  • For example, I have my HTML files in a folder called 'web', and the code points to the path 'images/thumbnails/filename.jpg' — I want to be able to maintain that and not have to re-code it
• CSS and JavaScript functionality
• The ability to use a picture for the background (specified in a separate CSS file)
• The ability to use a domain name that I already own, not a subdomain

Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks, Hermione1980 16:51, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Have you looked at godaddy.com? — Ched (talk) 17:40, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Any worthwhile hosting package will do most of those (only the first two vary); only toy things, which are gnerally free, won't. Dreamhost will do everything you specify, for roughly your target price. That said, you'll find people who are unhappy with Dreamhost, and indeed with godaddy. $60USD is a very small amount of money, so I'm pretty much impressed with what you do get for that. 87.112.81.29 (talk) 20:23, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Bluehost is also a pretty popular cheap web host. And yeah, you'll find people who are unhappy with everything, but personally I've never had a problem with Bluehost, and I've been using it for years for manage tons of small sites. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 20:31, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Generally speaking, the cheap ones will have slower hosting (especially slower SQL, and slower scripting). Otherwise, they'll work fine. The things you've asked for (CSS and JS?) are pretty such impossible for a web host not to offer, considering they're all client side... 24.76.160.236 (talk) 10:28, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

You should read the comments on web hosing review sites and see they have been in business for a few years. I've everything you say plus multiple domains SQL and python and a few other goodies for less and the host is fast and very reliable and response time for problems is very good, so you're not asking for too much. The one I used till a couple of years ago though I just got the cheapest and it was not worth even that small amount. And yes avoid the free sites. Dmcq (talk) 13:46, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Heh. Really the only reason I specified the CSS/JS was because I started with Google Apps...did not realize until after I signed up that they have virtually zero features for actual web design. :-( I'll definitely be reading the reviews. Thanks, guys. Hermione1980 15:29, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Just an idea, but if you have access to an internet connection thats always on, then you maybe able to host the webpage your self. Even if you dont have a static IP address... Just Throwing it out there. – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  17:13, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Space between lines on Word 2007

I have noticed that between each line on Word 2007, there seems to be enough space for another line. Is this the default? I never noticed it on Word XP or 2003. I am wondering if my settings have been changed, as I made a table with eight rows on it, then merged the rows. After doing this, I could only fit 4 lines of text in. Is there any way to change this?--KageTora (talk) 18:44, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

This is called "line spacing" and it's fully configurable. (It's located under "line spacing" on the "Paragraph" context menu on an older version of Word.) – 74  19:55, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Similarly, hitting return ends a paragraph (a hard return), whereas in older versions Microsoft Word) it would add a line break (a soft return). Cycle~ (talk) 21:44, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

I'm 99% sure that's not true. The return key always added a paragraph break, denoted by ¶ (a pilcrow) if you enabled "show hidden characters"; a soft return could be entered by holding shift, and would be denoted by ↵ (the symbol on most carriage return keys). I imagine this is still the case.

The difference, I imagine, is in the default paragraph styles - since most versions of MS Word default to not adding extra vertical space above and below paragraphs, users commonly hit return twice to artificially produce vertical space between paragraphs, in fact creating an empty paragraph in between.

Incidentally, the awkwardness of changing this and other style behaviours in MS Word is one of the reasons why I have come to actively prefer the interface of OpenOffice.org, which has a floating tool palette for selecting and editing the named styles. (Exactly the same is possible in MS Word, but the interface is more cumbersome.) - IMSoP (talk) 23:42, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes, that is the default style. If you look at the ribbon of buttons, one set is marked "Styles" and the first (ie. default) style is "Normal" which is defined to include 1.15 line spacing and a 10pt gap after each paragraph. To change the style of the current paragraph, click the "No spacing" style which is on the ribbon next to the "Normal" button. To change it permanently, you will need to modify the "Normal" style and save it in the "default.dotx" template. Astronaut (talk) 02:14, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

A simpler way to get back those settings that many of us are used to is to look for the Change Styles option on the Home ribbon, click on it, select Style Set, and then choose Word 2003. -- Tcncv (talk) 06:42, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

How to extract URLs from a Wikipedia article?

I would like to get a list of URLs that are being used as references within a Wikipedia article. Since references are inline, manually going through the text would take some time. Wikipedia is very popular so I'm wondering if anyone has already made some sort of utility or script that does the parsing? A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 20:43, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

All properly formatted articles have a "references" section near the bottom that places all the references in a very easy to cut-n-paste section. If you are looking at an article that does not have a references section, please let us know so we can fix it. -- kainaw™ 21:57, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Opera provides a table of links on the current page, which might be what you're looking for. It seems like this functionality would be a relatively simple Wikipedia special page, but we don't appear to have anything equivalent. (The References section, if properly present, provides a list of links, but not necessarily a list of URLs.) – 74  22:18, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

The article I'm interested in is this. Yes, there's a references section but most of the references displayed on the page show the article's name, not the URL. I'll give Opera a try. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 22:21, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

You're talking about the Tools | Links feature, right? Hmmm...it gives me a list, but it looks like Opera is using a list view control and I need text. There doesn't seem to be a way to save this list as a text file. I don't know anything about Wikipedia special pages but I can write a C# app that parses the text. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 22:33, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Once you get the list page, Select All and Ctrl+C, otherwise Select All, Right click and choose "Copy link address". Then paste the contents to a text file. I got 890 links for the article you mentioned. I'm using Opera 8. Jay (talk) 08:50, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Alright, here's a simple javascript function that collects links and throws 'em at the end of the page:

function link_find() {
	var linkss = "";

	for( var i = 0, j = document.getElementsByTagName('a'); j[i]; i++ ) {

		if (j[i].href && !j[i].href.match(/en.wikipedia.org/) && !j[i].href.match(/javascript/)) {
			linkss = linkss + '<br>' + j[i].href;
		}
	}

	var mydiv = document.createElement('div');
	mydiv.style.position = 'relative';
	mydiv.style.top = '0px';
	mydiv.style.right = '0px';
	mydiv.style.border = '1px solid #000';
	mydiv.style.backgroundColor = '#fff';
	mydiv.style.color = '#000';
	mydiv.innerHTML = linkss;
	document.body.appendChild(mydiv);
}


document.addEventListener('load',function addButton() {

	// throw a link up in the corner

	if( !document.body ) { return; }
	var mydiv = document.createElement('div');
	mydiv.style.position = 'fixed';
	mydiv.style.top = '0px';
	mydiv.style.right = '0px';
	mydiv.style.border = '1px solid #000';
	mydiv.style.backgroundColor = '#fff';
	mydiv.style.color = '#000';
	mydiv.innerHTML = '<a href="javascript:link_find();">links</a>';
	document.body.appendChild(mydiv);

},false);

This code is intended (and tested) to run in Opera, but I'm sure it could be adapted to greasemonkey with a minimum of effort. You can modify the regex checks to exclude any certain URLs you desire. – 74  00:01, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks to everyone for their help! A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 14:28, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

February 16

Strange error with norwegian characters!

I have a game that i made that allows users to unscramble letters to make norwegian words for points....

The problem is, the norwegian letters end up goofy most times! This is a list of 16 letters:

giæuvvgføfmbyøaå

it looks like this, but the 'æ' character combo is the norwegian character 'å'. I paste the two characters by themselves and it comes out fine, but when i run the program it likes to keep switching between correct and goofy characters.

I wrote the program in mirc script, and use the $read function to get the norwegian letters from a text file. Does anyone know what is going on? is UTF-8 broken or breaking my script?

Many thanks in advance!

137.81.40.122 (talk) 00:17, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Well, it's a little hard to know what's going on when we don't have the source code and it is in a relatively obscure language. But why don't you try it with English words and see if you get something similar. That'll at least let you know if it has something to do with the Norwegian character set. If it is indeed something related to the language handling Norwegian characters, you're almost certainly going to have to get in touch with a more specialist community of mirc script programmers to get any useful advice. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 01:25, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

I do think this is UTF8-related... "breakup" of a character in two is typical. Is mIRCs language UTF8-safe? HardDisk (talk) 01:53, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Yeah - that would be my best guess too. For characters that lie outside of the ASCII set - there is frequently a multi-byte representation. When you 'scramble' your letters, you need to keep all of the bytes that make up these 'special' characters together or it will do exactly what it seems to be doing. SteveBaker (talk) 04:13, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Merge contacts in WM6

Hi all,

how do I merge contacts in the Contacts app of WM6, if there exist 2 contacts (one MSN, one Outlook) for the same person? Do I have to copy all the 45 double contacts and all their info by hand or do there tools exist?

Thanks,HardDisk (talk) 01:39, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

There's only 45? Just do it by hand. Tempshill (talk) 06:01, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Not really... that'll take me a lot of time to sort out this mess by hand... HardDisk (talk) 14:48, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

unistalling programmes

I have sevsral pprogrammes which I would like to uninstal, one is a music player called "KMPLAYER" the issue is that it's not included in the list of programmes in the add/ remove programmes list in the control panel neither does it has an option in the startup programmes list for uninstal. Is there a way of removing the programme and all its content from the registry? Regards! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.9.197.28 (talk) 08:11, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

nirsoft had a program at one time called Myuninstaller ... let me look ...yep ... try this link ... now that I look, mine copy is an older version - guess I should update. — Ched (talk) 09:41, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

This link might provide advice on removing the KMPLAYER program.

I am a little puzzled by Ched's advice - why install something else just to uninstall a program?? Without an entry in add/remove programs and no uninstall option on the Start menu, it would be just as easy to delete the program's folder from "c:\program files" and delete the Start menu entries associated with the program. Astronaut (talk) 21:31, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

opening files

Hi! I do come across several files including system files plus other files which I would like to view or change their contents but when you double click to open them you get the notification" windows cannot open the file" is there a software which one can use to open such files? Thanks in advance —Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.9.197.28 (talk) 08:14, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

These would be files which are meant for use by the operating system or applications running on your computer, and not meant to be viewed or edited by the end-user. Programmers use an IDE to open some of them. Jay (talk) 09:12, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

To directly answer your question: yes. A hex editor will open these files. Word of warning though: be careful. You can kill your system with one of those things, very very easily. --Aseld ^talk 09:17, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

I always use Notepad to open such files. If they're garbled then you may be able to figure out what program created the files by Googling the 3-letter file extension (like ".hex"). Tempshill (talk) 16:21, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

linux!

Halo there!

I want to explore linux os. I have downloaded fedora 10 and burnt it to a disk. I have never used linux before. I basically use my computer for playing music, doing school work which include programming, database management services, webdesign etc, also playing games plus other stuff. would I be able to use the softwares that av always used in windows like Netbeans, Visual Studio; music players like VLC etc. And if possible pliz refer me to a link where I can be able to get sufficient beginners tutorial on using linux esp fedora 10. Would you recommend another version of linux?

Thanx in anticipation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.9.197.28 (talk) 08:22, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

While NetBeans can run on Linux, Visual Studio, being a Microsoft product, will not. However, there are equally good *nix alternatives available; for IDEs you can use Anjuta, KDevelop or Eclipse. In general, software made for Windows will not work on Linux, but there are almost always alternative solutions available. Fedora is a good enough distribution for beginners, however if you have trouble adapting I would suggest trying out Ubuntu. --Aseld ^talk 09:00, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

It is true that you may not be able to use all windows based software directly on Linux, but there are some solutions that make it so you can use this software while running Linux. Basically what you would have to do is create virtual environment in which a windows program can run. There are several programs out there that do just that, the best known one being Wine (software). Another solution that you can try would be in install a Virtual Machine like VirtualBox and install windows under that, there are some limitations to both Wine and VirtualBox, I am unable to go in to much more detail on those limitations (mainly because i don't know them). But since your 'new' to Linux, i would suggest that you try Ubuntu, It has an option to install it self under windows and allows you to dual boot to it when ever you like. And it does this without the need to make a seperat partition on your Hard drive. I use Ubuntu and i have to say that i enjoy it a lot, i supose the best thing i like about it whould be the extensive reposotoryies. Making the finding, downloading and instalations of programs very easy. (generly all three is as easy as typing in this command: 'sudo apt-get install VirtualBox'). I hope this helped – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  17:10, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Cutting the junk in Mac OS 10.4

My "iBook G4" has just four lousy GB of space, even after I moved piles of jpegs and videos elsewhere. A program called Duplicate Files Searcher does what its name proclaims, but I'd like to do more, without spending too much of my time on it. My guess is that this Mac has video tutorials for software and miscellaneous other junk that I could easily remove. Is there software that would guide me through this?

("System Profiler" tells me that I have a "27.94 GB TOSHIBA MK3025GAS" drive and I suppose I could replace it with a drive of ten times that capacity; however, the procedure seems alarmingly intricate; I might break something. And come to think of it I've no idea of limits imposed by the filesystem, by power consumption, etc. etc.) Morenoodles (talk) 09:42, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Your best bet is to remove the (normally) un-needed and pointlessly big language-tools thing. These pages (http://ogasawalrus.com/blog/node/233 or http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/os-x-operating-system/22127-uninstalling-unneeded-options.html) should give you an idea. OS X is a pretty big OS on a laptop with that kind of storage so your best bet is to reduce down what is installed from the OS - there'll be plenty of stuff you don't need. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 10:37, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

As it happens I'd like to keep one or two of those bulky drivers. But yes, printer drivers! Thank you for the links. Morenoodles (talk) 10:43, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

The procedure for replacing an iBook G4 drive is alarmingly intricate and takes well over an hour or two just to do the hardware swapping. (Apple appears to have realized the limitations of this approach as the next model, the MacBook, is comparatively simple by comparison—one little hatch removed and you just slide the drive in.) I don't recommend undertaking it yourself unless you have had some experience inside computers (there are a million tiny screws that can easily get lost and a few moments in which you have to do rather delicate things).

When I clean out my hard drive I find a disk visualization tool useful — it shows me what's actually taking up the space. Disk Inventory X is the one I use but I'm sure there are others. Printer drivers are a big thing you can drop; so are sound files for Garageband if you don't plan to use it ever. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 15:46, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

iBook battery retention

Another iBook G4 question, sorry.

We have two of these things at home. One's due to be replaced, and one of several reasons is that the plastic ring that's part of the coin-operated battery-locking mechanism has shattered, meaning that the battery springs out, meaning no battery, meaning that if you unplug it even momentarily it forgets everything.

Today I noticed a crack in the same plastic ring of the second machine.

I asked about having that fixed. Response: the entire underside of the computer has to be replaced (presumably with one including the same terribly designed plastic washer). Estimated price: about half what the entire computer cost me four (?) years ago. Ha ha no thank you.

Is there a cheaper fix? I googled but was unsuccessful. Morenoodles (talk) 09:55, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Cheap but ugly fix - Sellotape the battery in place. Cheap less ugly but potentially less strong fix - double-sided sticky-tape on the underside of the battery to hold it in place. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 10:32, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

I assumed that sellotape wouldn't be sufficient but I'll certainly give it a go. (I really don't care what the result looks like.) Thank you for the tips. Morenoodles (talk) 10:45, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Unfortunately the labor is really the cost here—you could probably get another iBook bottom shell without too much trouble by buying a dead iBook on eBay or something like that. But removing the bottom shell takes some time. It's not as hard, though, as replacing a hard drive, though it's still no walk in the park. The iBook has a lot of irritating little design flaws like that (has your little hook holding it closed come out yet? my wife's did and there's no way to replace that without removing the whole screen chassis—not really worth the effort). --98.217.14.211 (talk) 15:50, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Self-taught programmers

Are most programmers self-taught? I assume that since someone could learn seamlessly through actual programming (computers... with the help of the Internet) and that because it's mostly sbout experimenting (there's not much theory that's formally taught, is there?) do programmers usually learn at university or such? And if not how do they prove themselves if they want a job? 94.196.67.254 (talk) 12:38, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

I taught myself a few simple computer languages. But in my experience, it's much too hard to learn a complex language on your own. (The same goes for human languages, too, by the way.) For example, I taught myself JavaScript and HTML, but I had to learn VB.NET and Java in school. A friend of mine taught himself PHP, another easy language. Another friend of mine was taught Java and C++ on the job, although that's definitely less common. In other words, you need a firm hand to keep you on track when you have a lot of learning to do. I've talked to other people who just lied and said they taught themselves C++, but when we sat down to code, it turned out they didn't know squat. They just read part of a book and declared themselves gurus. It doesn't work that way.--K;;m5m k;;m5m (talk) 12:54, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Much of programming is essentially a craft, and is mostly self-taught. Little of what computer scientists and software engineers learn at university and college could be called "programming", programming is the language it is taught in. Instead they learn formal, theoretical stuff - lots of math, operating systems, database theory, graphics, hci, signal theory, abstract algebra, algorithms and datastructures, analysis, functional programing, linguistics, artificial intelligence, formal methods and verification, and the (rather nebulous) "software engineering" (which can be everthing from specifications and testing to teamwork and a bit of product marketing). While it's certainly possible for the dedicated autodidact to pick all this stuff up too, but you won't chance upon 1st order predicate calculus or formally verifying VHDL designs when hammering out another php site, so it'd take a dedicated programme of study. The downside, I suppose, of this is that graduate CS/EE/SE are often initially not terribly good programmers (that is, they really haven't written all that much, particularly on preexisting systems and with teams of people); a year or two of graft will fix that because (bluntly put) engineering is hard, but programming ain't no thang. 84.45.132.96 (talk) 12:56, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes, there is lot of theory that is taught, there are courses in universities, and there are programming certifications. See Category:Computer science education and Category:IT qualifications. There are also many self taught programmers. Some consider programming to be a skill, some consider it an art, some consider it a mix of both. Jay (talk) 13:21, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

"Are most programmers self-taught?" I don't have any statistical data, but it seems that way.

"there's not much theory that's formally taught, is there?" Actually, there's quite a bit. I have a 4 year degree in Computer Science and in retrospect, that's probably enough. After graduation, I went on to read another 100 or so books subject which helped me a great deal. Even still, I know very little about design patterns so even my knowledge is incomplete. It's funny. All day at work I think to myself about all the things I don't know. Then I interview someone and I'm amazed at all the stuff I do know.

Here's my 2 cents. In my experience, most developers suck. Even worse, they don't know that they suck. They think that what they're doing is perfectly fine when it's not. I've recently become active on Microsoft's MSDN forums and the amount of code that should never reach production is staggering (at least on the VB.NET forums). You try to help these people but sometimes their code is so bad, there's only so much you can do.

Personally, when I look over a stack of applications, all things considered, the ones with a Computer Science degree carry more weight. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 13:36, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Personally I learnt everything myself and wasn't taught anything. However you must be willing to continuously learn - something I'm afraid many programmers do not do. If you want to prove yourself you could try an open source project or just do your own thing and sell it as shareware. That's an apprenticeship route and will take just as much effort or more as a course but you might get through quicker if you're good. Dmcq (talk) 14:02, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

You say "(there's not much theory that's formally taught, is there?)", but that's completely wrong. There is a large amount of theory. If you don't mind me generalizing a bit, theory is what the self-taught programmers are usually (but certainly not always) very weak on. It's virtually impossible to pick that up by "experimenting". Instead you would have to intentionally research it. "The Art of Computer Programming" is often mentioned as a good tome to learn from, but it's a bit heavy. There are any number of easier books.

Incidentally, when I went to college, there was very little instruction on programming languages beyond the first semester. After that you were expected to pick up language and syntax more or less on your own. APL (talk) 15:52, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Before studing software development in college, I created probably the worst sorting algorithm of all time. It was only later that I learned formal sorting algorithms (quick sort, shell sort, hash sort, etc.). A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 16:40, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

• Most programmers I work with enjoy programming as a hobby, so all of them are self-taught at least to some degree. As for demonstrating their ability without having a degree, that comes out in the technical job interview, and by showing off demos. It would have to come out in the interview, anyway, because you can't assume a coder is proficient at the particular specialty that's being sought just because they have a degree. Tempshill (talk) 16:24, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

I am completely self-tought. I began programming when I was 12, and today I write quite advanced Delphi applications, using Win32 API. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 19:28, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Loud buzz from computer while hard drive very busy

It only lasted less than a second. Does anyone know what it signifies please? I'v never heard it before. I've been looking for this article: "Defective Hard Drive Noises" by Marc Erickson, but it and the sound files that go with it no longer seem to exist.......or do they? Thanks 89.240.213.147 (talk) 22:01, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Suggestion for a small web-browser?

My IE7 browser will not display most .png images - although it will some. There seem to be various reasons or solutions for this problem, but I have not found the solution that works on my computer despite trying several. Therefore, please can anyone suggest a small web-browser that does not take up much room, and that does not get deeply imbedded in the computer, that I can use when I have to see a png image, when for example I have to type a security code that is given in a png image only - such as that required to register Avast anti-virus for example? 89.240.213.147 (talk) 22:10, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

What's wrong with Firefox? Algebraist 22:14, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Google Chrome is much smaller and faster than any other (not IE based) browser I have ever tried. The installation wizard will not even write to the Program Files folder! However, IE7 should not have any problems reading PNG images... --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 22:19, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Can I take the oppurtunity to plug Opera? It's the lightest browser I've ever seen, and can do pretty much anything out of the box. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 22:30, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Note that Firefox, Opera, and Chrome are not bulky and do not mess with the operating system. However, the Windows installers for them will ask if you want a bunch of extra garbage. If you fail to say "No. Absolutely not.", you will get a lot of bulky junk that can easily mess with the operating system. -- kainaw™ 22:32, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

I have to say, out of all the web browsers that I have tried, Google Chrome is by far the best. Easy to use, fast, small. Its just amazing. I haven't found a problem with it yet--Dlo2012 (talk) 22:39, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

How to selectively download Windows Updates?

Windows Update will only let me download all or none of a group of updates. These total 285mb, or which 284mb is an update to NET. Is there any way to avoid downloading the NET update for the time being, and just download the other updates please? I have XP SP3. 89.240.213.147 (talk) 22:20, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Are you updating by going to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com ? If so, you should be able to do a custom update and select each package one at a time. Note that some packages depend on other ones and will force you to install all dependencies. -- kainaw™ 22:29, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

HVAC administration software for Linux?

Is there such a thing? I was wondering if there are free, open-source HVAC administration software for Linux distros... Blake Gripling (talk) 23:14, 16 February 2009 (UTC)