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May 16

Readers/Writers problem in concurrent programming solution using busy wait?

Hi. Does anyone know a solution to the readers-writers problem in concurrent programming using only busy wait? Belchman (talk) 00:03, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

You can implement a mutex without special CPU or OS support with the algorithms listed at Mutual exclusion#Software solutions. With mutexes and busy waiting you can implement semaphores, and with mutexes and semaphores you can implement the reader-writer protocol shown in that article. Is that the sort of answer you're looking for? -- BenRG (talk) 19:37, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Help with a Programming Logic in MS-Access-Visual Basic

I have a database with the following structure IDNO - Text(7), From Date - Date, To Data - Date, Year - Number, Full_Part - Logical.

what i want the program to give me the result is that i need to take out the missing date ranges for each IDNO for each particular year. ie.. i need to take out the year wise gaps for records. also, if the entire year is missing then the gap will be the entire year with the full_part field in the result showing F. so say.. in this example.. i need the program to return the result for

IDNO	 From Date	To Date	Year	FULL_PART

A247108 01-Apr-02 30-Sep-02 2002 P 
and 
A247111 01-Jul-99 30-Sep-99 1999 P
A247111 01-Jan-00 31-Mar-00 1999 P (year is 1999 because it falls in the 1999-2000 financial year)

A sample database is appended below :-

IDNO	 From Date	To Date	Year	FULL_PART
A247108	01-Apr-99	31-Mar-00	1999	F
A247108	01-Apr-00	31-Mar-01	2000	F
A247108	01-Apr-01	31-Mar-02	2001	F
A247108	01-Oct-02	31-Mar-03	2002	F
A247108	01-Apr-03	31-Mar-04	2003	F
A247111	01-Apr-00	31-Mar-01	2000	F
A247111	01-Apr-01	31-Mar-02	2001	F
A247111	01-Apr-02	31-Mar-03	2002	F
A247111	01-Apr-03	31-Mar-04	2003	F
A247111	01-Apr-99	30-Jun-99	1999	P
A247111	01-Oct-99	31-Dec-99	1999	P
A247124	01-Apr-99	31-Mar-00	1999	F
A247124	01-Apr-00	31-Mar-01	2000	F
A247124	01-Apr-01	31-Mar-02	2001	F
A247124	01-Apr-02	31-Mar-03	2002	F  

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Prasanth.moothedath (talk • contribs) 03:26, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Formatted to make it legible. --Phil Holmes (talk) 10:44, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

I'd like to help, but I am having trouble figuring out what it is you want the program to do. Can you write it out as a series of steps? E.g., get data from row, look at this column, subtract it from this column, if the date is greater than a year, change this value to this, or something along those lines. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:14, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

--122.162.136.184 (talk) 14:56, 16 May 2010 (UTC) --talk ---

Oh Yeah sure.. i basically want the database to search for every occurance of an ID NO, to evaluate the gaps in date it has for each financial year. the program logic will be something like this only.. ie.. for every IDNO, take out the first available To_Date, add one to it and search the subset for an occurance.. if exists, ignore and move to the next. if doesnot exist, then.. put that date value in another new recorset as the start of a gap. the same thing has to be done for finding the end of the gap by subtracting 1 from the From_date of each value.

I would be grateful if you could code this logic in Visual Basic wiht a basic MS-Access database file.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.162.136.184 (talk) 14:52, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

OK, I think this is doable—I should be able to find the time for it tomorrow or so. It shouldn't be too hard, I just have to look up how to handle Date/Time functions in Access VBA. --Mr.98 (talk) 18:45, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

--talk ---

Thanks a lot for your time and effort.. you can either paste the code here.. or sent it to me at (email removed)

---

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Prasanth.moothedath (talk • contribs) 01:22, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

I removed the OP's email per our guidelines and to reduce spam. The solution seems to be summarized into the following steps: (1) Get all the lines that share a single ID. (2) Parse the start- and end-dates for all these lines. (3) Sort these from earliest to most recent. (4) Analyze sequentially whether there are any gaps. Which of these steps do you need help with? Nimur (talk) 09:56, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

This should basically show you the logical structure of what you want to do, I think? Let me know if you have any questions. I have commented everything so it should be pretty clear what is going on.

VBA function

Public Sub searchGaps() 'declare our recordset. Note that this requires DAO. 'if you get an error on this line, go to Tools -> References, and make sure Microsoft DAO Object Library is checked.) Dim rst As DAO.Recordset 'declare our other variables: Dim curIDNO As String, lastToDate As Date, curFromDate As Date 'open up our recordset. making sure things are ORDERed correctly is important: Set rst = CurrentDb.OpenRecordset("SELECT * FROM Table1 ORDER BY IDNO, [From Date]") While Not rst.EOF 'while/wend loop until end of recordset If rst("IDNO") <> curIDNO Then 'are we dealing with a new IDNO or not? curIDNO = rst("IDNO") 'if so, then set that up as the new current lastToDate = rst("To Date") 'set up the most recent to date Else 'if not, evaluate gap between last date daysDifferent = DateDiff("d", lastToDate, rst("From Date")) If (daysDifferent) > 1 Then 'there's a gap of more than one day! 'could output this data to a new recordset if you wanted 'just printing info to the Immediate window for the moment Debug.Print rst("IDNO"), lastToDate, rst("From Date"), daysDifferent & " day gap" Else 'there is no gap! do nothing? End If lastToDate = rst("To Date") 'reset the last "two date" End If rst.MoveNext 'go to next record Wend rst.Close 'close recordset Set rst = Nothing 'remove recordset from memory End Sub

Hope that helps! (Also, I didn't know what your main table was called, so I just called it Table1 in my code. Replace it with whatever the table is named.) --Mr.98 (talk) 13:24, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

---

--talk --- Thanks Mr.98. ya it was helpful.

--Prasanth Menon 00:28, 18 May 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Prasanth.moothedath (talk • contribs)

122.161.210.137 (talk) 08:51, 20 May 2010 (UTC) Mr.98, well.. i tried executing the algo that you had given me.. but it is not giving me the required result.

buying songs intercontinentally

At amazon.com I can buy a certain album but I can't pay to download an individual song from it. So I went to amazon.de and found the song I wanted for 99 (European) cents. I tried to buy it and got a notice that said that since my billing address is in the USA, I couldn't.

Same thing with iTunes.

Is there some way around this? Michael Hardy (talk) 03:42, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

I think it is a lot to do with preserving any the price differential in different territories. IIRC, when iTunes was first launched, tracks were US$0.99. When it launched here in the UK, tracks were initially £0.99 which at the time was considerably more than the US pricing. Even when the price fell to £0.79 it was still more than the US price (see here for more). UK customers complained about the higher prices and tried to buy from the US site but found they couldn't because they needed to use a US credit card to buy a download from the US site.

I can't say if it is the same with Amazon, but I have had no problems buying CDs (and DVDs, books, and other things) from Amazon.com using my UK credit card and had them shipped to me here in the UK.

A way round your problem? I doubt you would be able to open a foreign bank account without an address in that country. If you don't have a friend in Germany, you might be able to find a company who can buy on your behalf. I have heard of such companies, but only to allow people to buy from US suppliers who won't ship to non-US addresses, and not the other way round or with downloads. Astronaut (talk) 09:23, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

I have had similar problems before but with software. If you do not need the product to be physically delivered (such as being download-able), you may change the billing / shipping address for your credit-card to the appropriate country. For me, this is doable via online banking for my credit card without any checks. It may help to actually use an address of a friend or family there because a billing statement will be sent there. But you may not need the physical bill if you can pay online. Do not forget to change the address back after you are done. Very inconvenient, but I can tell you from experience, your options are very limited. 124.214.131.55 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 10:02, 16 May 2010 (UTC).

Difference between Office 2000 and Office 2010

Can someone tell me what is the difference between Office 2000 and Office 2010 for a grandmother who uses excel to do budgeting for organizing food and drinks for a party for 40-50 people. 122.107.207.98 (talk) 12:04, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Office is a software package from Microsoft that contains the word processor Word, the spreadsheet Excel, the presentation software PowerPoint and a few other applications. Excel 2000 looks like this, whereas Excel 2010 looks more like this. If you want a more detailed description of the new features, have a look at Microsoft Office, or, in particular, Microsoft Excel. Personally I mostly use Microsoft Word, and one feature of Word 2007 and 2010, that is not available in Word 2000, is the new (mathematical) formula editor, which is great (although very buggy, at least in Word 2007). --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 14:13, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

In terms of function, not a whole lot has changed. Excel still does everything you are used to it doing. What has changed is how the user interface is organized. In Excel 2000, you are used to having the menus "File - Edit - View - Insert - Format - Tools - Data - Windows - Help" across the top; most of the commonly used functions are located in one of the menus and duplicated in the icon bank directly below. Microsoft has completely changed the user interface to a "Ribbon" style beginning with Excel 2007 and continuing with Excel 2010. Here is what Excel 2010 looks like in its default state. The menus have been reorganized -- to "File - Home - Insert - Page Layout - Formulas - Data - Review - View" -- in an attempt to make functions easier to find by including them in more logical groupings. The main difference between 2000 and 2010 is that (besides the File menu, which contains most of the same functions) you will probably have to re-learn where some of your most commonly used functions are located; also, because of the re-arrangement, the procedure to do almost anything useful has changed at least a little bit.If you are happy and comfortable with Excel 2000 there is no reason to upgrade, as it continues to work fine with Windows 7. Xenon54 (talk) 14:25, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

A continual push to prevent users from using the keyboard. ARGGGGGHHHH! 14:27, 16 May 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Svanslyck (talk • contribs)

Actually keyboard navigation using the ribbon is quite good (at least in 2007, which is what I have) If you tap the alt key single character keybindings pop up over the ribbon elements - you press one key to choose which ribbon bar you want and then another key to choose the particular command. See http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA100919081033.aspx .131.111.185.69 (talk) 15:59, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

What about CTRL-SHIFT-8, ALT-O-D, CTRL-D, ALT-T-E-E, and so on . . . all the keyboard shortcuts I use hundreds of times a week and which don't work in Office 2007 or (I presume) later versions? kcylsnavS{^screech_harrass} 16:10, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

That's an issue of having to learn stuff again because of the UI change however. It doesn't demonstrate the new UI is inherently more keyboard unfriendly or that MS is trying to prevent you from using the keuboard as you appear to suggest. From the evidence at hand, it could be the new UI is even better for keyboard use then the old one if you're starting afresh, which is what Microsoft believes about the new UI in general AFAIK. Nil Einne (talk) 17:05, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

This isn't the place for this discussion so I'll shut up after this: it wasn't broke; they didn't need to "fix" it. kcylsnavS{^screech_harrass} 17:09, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

If you miss the old interface, try Office Classic Menus. I use it and it helps me quite a lot, since I was also trained to use the old interface. I took a class in college in Office XP and then graduated in 2006. I considered myself a wizard in Office by that time. But right after I graduated, they released Office 2007, and I was back at square one.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 17:15, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

IIRC, Microsoft did research and found the new ribbon interface was significantly easy to learn (or use?) for new users. So in that sense, it was broken and it made sense to fix it. This is obviously annoying for users familiar with the existing interface (I don't think anyone even Microsoft ever denied that the new interface would require some relearning from users familiar with the old) and no one can say whether the change was worth it in a general sense (and that surely isn't the place for such arguments), but the idea 'it wasn't broken' is extremely simplistic at best. As I said earlier, this could easily be the case for keyboard use too. Plenty of people have never used Office before and plenty of people may have but may not be very good at using the keyboard to navigate the UI and execute command. If the new interface makes it significantly easier for new users to use the keyboard, then it's highly questionable whether it can be said Microsoft is trying to prevent people from using the keyboard as you originally alleged. Just because it made it harder for you, Svanslyck to use the keyboard, doesn't mean it was an inherently bad move (for the record it made it harder for me to use too, although not primarily for keyboard navigation reason). The world moves forward, things change, sometimes in ways we like, some ways in ways we don't, just because we don't like them, doesn't mean that they were inherently wrong or shouldn't have been done. Note that I'm not saying I agree that MS made the right decision, simply that it's ultimately impossible to say whether they made a right want (well if their business had completely collapsed then it was a bad move from a business sense) so this really isn't the place to discuss it or suggest they made a wrong one, there are plenty of reasons to 'fix something' even if you don't think it's broken and nothing presented here demonstrates that their decision had a negative impact on keyboard use. If you don't like the new interface, that's up to you, it isn't necessary to try and argue that MS made an inherently bad decision. Nil Einne (talk) 23:31, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

There are so many differences that I'm not going to even try to list them here. It's not just the interface that is different. There are new file formats, better typography and charts, and so on. After Office 2000 came Office XP (in 2002), then Office 2003, then Office 2007, and then Office 2010. All of these (except arguably Office 2003) introduced significant new features. So, you'd first read about the new features in Office XP, here, then Office 2007: [1], [2], [3], and then Office 2010: [4].--Best Dog Ever (talk) 17:11, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Office Classic Menus - I'm a-thankin' ya! kcylsnavS{^screech_harrass} —Preceding undated comment added 17:17, 16 May 2010 (UTC).

Follow-up question about a feature that seems to have disappeared. In Excel 2007 can you make a bar chart where the bars are in different patterns, suitable for black-and-white reproduction? I don't mean the fancy textures that are available. I mean ordinary patterns like hatched vertically, hatched horizontally, diagonal hatching, spots etc. Thanks. Itsmejudith (talk) 11:45, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Quick search for 'office 2007 bar chart texture black white' came up with [5] and [6] which seem of relevance. You could probably also do it with a texture file although that would be less ideal in a number of ways (was going to try it myself but couldn't find an appropriate image file, probably should have created my own). Nil Einne (talk) 00:03, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

There is many difference between Office 2000 and 2010. First off, 2010 have a new interface called a "Ribbon". Just look at Office 2010. Before you purchase the software, you could try the beta though: http://www.microsoft.com/Office/2010/en/default.aspx --Tyw7  (☎ Contact me! • Contributions)   Changing the world one edit at a time! 05:17, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

I found this website offering a tutorial for office 2007: http://www.baycongroup.com/word2007/. 2010 and 2007 are similiar. --Tyw7  (☎ Contact me! • Contributions)   Changing the world one edit at a time! 05:24, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

International Fonts

Moved from the Village Pump. ╟─TreasuryTag►Speaker─╢ 13:07, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Using XP SP3, I see some international fonts but not all. What should I do? Is there perhaps a download package somewhere? kcylsnavS ^{screech} 13:05, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

First and foremost, you need a decent Unicode font, such as Arial Unicode MS or Lucida Sans Unicode (or the free DejaVu fonts). To examine how good a Unicode font is, use the charmap (Win+R, charmap) utility, select the font, and then Advanced mode, and finally sort by Unicode subintervals. Secondly, you need a browser that is good at displaying Unicode fonts. All modern browsers ought to do it, even under such an old operating system as Windows XP. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 14:13, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

I have Lucinda Sans Unicode and I'm using Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.20) Gecko/20081217 Firefox/2.0.0.20 (.NET CLR 3.5.30729). I like XP. Because I'm not constantly pushed into taking my hands off the keyboard to use the mouse. kcylsnavS ^{screech} 14:29, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Further suggestions?? kcylsnavS{^screech_harrass} 17:18, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

• Here's the answer. If you want or need Arial and you have MS Office 2003, check out this link. kcylsnavS{^screech_harrass} 00:52, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Sorting rows in OpenOffice spreadsheet

I have data in rows in a spreadsheet. Let me try an example. A database of people consists of their names followed by their height and weight. I want to compare the data by sorting the rows according to height or weight. a) How can I protect the rows to ensure that sorting them always keeps the rows intact, and that people's data never gets scrambled? b) Is there a quick way to sort a set of rows by one particular column? Thanks 78.149.199.79 (talk) 15:34, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Dunno. But in Excel you simply take care to select the entire table area to be sorted and go from there. kcylsnavS{^screech_harrass} 15:45, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

(A) Svanslyck is right. Just make sure you have selected all of the data you want sorted. The only way the spreadsheet program will mess up your rows of data is if you neglect to select all the data you want sorted. For example, if you mistakenly only select columns A and B, then you sort by column B, then the data in column C won't move along with the other data in the corresponding row. The easy way to make sure all the data is selected is to do a "Select All" before your sort. Experiment with some test data a bit until you're comfortable with the sorting keeping your data together. (b) Depends on your spreadsheet program, but in Microsoft Excel 2007, you hit ctrl-A to Select All, click the "Data" tab at the top, then click the "Sort" button, then there's a flexible dialog box that lets you choose what columns you want to sort by. Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:57, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

(B) CTRL-A, confirm the the selection is what you want, then ALT-O-S. kcylsnavS{^screech_harrass} 17:20, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

In Excel 2000, if sorting will scramble the association with adjacent data, a warning pop-up appears with the default being to expand the selection. I assume this has been retained in subsequent versions? Dbfirs 11:27, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

I just launched Excel 2007 and typed in random numbers in a 3 column by 9 row area, dragged across a 2 column by 6 row part of the area, clicked Data, then Sort, then chose my sort options and completed the sort ... and didn't see any dialog box warning me about the adjacent data. Comet Tuttle (talk) 23:51, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Apologies, the pop-up appears only when a single row or column is selected, so it is still possible to scramble the data by deliberately selecting a subset, so the answer to the OP's question a) is "you can't". Dbfirs 00:19, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

I have checked in OpenOffice and it work in the same way as the excel users above describe for excel. Gr8xoz (talk) 05:07, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Difficulty with password

My usual, handy-dandy, always-use-it password for Wikipedia has tanked. No idea why, maybe because I haven't logged in in over a year.

I want to use my account to add more information to some articles I've authored.

I try having Wikipedia send the email to my account (to reset the password) and no email comes through -- not in the spam folder, not anything. It's the email account I've always used. Not sure if it's been the one I signed up to Wikipedia with, but it's a very high probability it is.

What do I do?

I have ways of proving this is 'me'. :)

Formerly (still?) Theoriste on Wikipedia —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.109.75.187 (talk) 18:02, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Hi Deanne, (if that was you) The following is from the Help:Logging in page: ''if the e-mail address is no longer accessible, you will have to create a new account. After doing this you should "move" your previous User and User talk pages to your new name as soon as possible (e.g. by making a request on the Requested moves page). This will officially link your old and new identities and reassure other editors that your new account isn't a "sockpuppet"."
I'm not an admin or an expert on this, so I can't advise any further. Dbfirs 00:01, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

When I visit User:Theoriste, there is no "E-mail this user" link in the toolbox. You probably didn't setup an email to be associated with that Wikipedia user. Sorry, but you will have to create a new user as the password for Theoriste cannot be recovered or reset. Astronaut (talk) 21:27, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

May 17

Three dimensional spreadsheets - do they exist? why aren't they more prevalent?

I was compiling some research data over the weekend that had a clear column-row relationship, but the project requirements then added monthly records to the requirements and it occurred to me that the simplest way to represent that would have been to push the 2D spreadsheet (x & y axes) into three dimensions (x, y, and adding z for time).

Such visual modeling is certainly within the capabilities of all but the most rudimentary hardware to be found in the home or workplace today - and seems to me upon initial examination to be a tremendously useful way of structuring data.

So - does a "3D excel" exist? Who uses it? Why doesn't everyone? 218.25.32.210 (talk) 00:56, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Too complicated to use? If you want to add months, just add a new sheet for every month. In fact a quick search shows people have called spreadsheet programs 3D for that reason, e.g. 3D-Calc [7] Nil Einne (talk) 01:32, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Just add extra worksheets in Excel (each spreadsheet can have multiple worksheets within it, as separate tabs of data), call them your Z third dimension if you want... --Mr.98 (talk) 02:12, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

MS Excel does in fact have a handful of "3D" functions, where you can (for example) sum the values in one RnCn cell across multiple sheets; I am unfortunately not on the computer where I can cut-n-paste a working example. In Office 2003, which my office is still on, the available functions are "fairly rudimentary" -- maybe it's something that's been improved in newer versions. DaHorsesMouth (talk) 02:25, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

/is OP -- I know how to work around it - want I wanted to know was if anyone had taken this approach. A 3D structure suspended in space with auto-transparencies as one stepped "through" the data would - to me - be much more user-friendly than flipping between worksheets. 218.25.32.210 (talk) 02:26, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

3D-Calc. Mitch Ames (talk) 06:45, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

I never used 3D-Calc, though I did use a dozen other early spreadsheets and none of them had true built-in navigation in 3-D. Is there any spreadsheet with true 3-D display and navigation? (I don't count "sheet!" references and clicking a new sheet as true navigation.) Dbfirs 09:28, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Considering that nearly the entire userbase of spreadsheet software are people that have a hard time navigating the first two dimensions on a PC comfortably... I would predict that putting a 3D spreadsheet feature into something prominent like Excel would be a disaster. Do you really think it would help workflow even of someone completely proficient with it? Just brainstorming, I would say keeping the 2d view is essential to ease of use, even of expert users. If you want a third dimension and tabs aren't your thing, use a slider that can be configured as the Z axis, with graduations for each interval (such as time increments) you need to navigate, then expose the data for that interval when the slider is in that position. Not that you want to be told what you want, but this is what you want. --Jmeden2000 (talk) 14:17, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Agree. Any non-trivial spreadsheet is a sorry and unstructured excuse for a proper program, anyways. Lifting that to three dimensions will make it unusable for the target audience. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 14:26, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Well, I think that's a little of an overstatement; I've also wanted to add a third dimension to my spreadsheets in order to view data over the months, particularly because I wanted to generate a 3D graph from the data. People can visualize 3D graphs well (though Jmeden2000 is probably right that the third dimension would make the sheet itself 10 times harder to use). Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:36, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Excel has PivotTables, which can to some extent be seen as N-dimensional, but then you can just view the data and not edit it. I've also occasionally wished for a 3D excel (where you could rotate the data at will; with multiple sheets you're kind of stuck) but I'm unsure if I'd actually use it. Jørgen (talk) 05:49, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

There are some multi-dimensional spreadsheet packages: there's a list right here on Wikipedia. I understand they typically are a mix of spreadsheet and database software, and something like Excel pivot tables is used as a central user interface component. Requiring basic data modelling and allowing multi-dimensional data goes a long way toward solving the major weaknesses of standard 2-D spreadsheet solutions, i.e. scalability and extensibility. Alas, it looks like we're going to be stuck with Excel and the like for a long time to come. 130.188.8.12 (talk) 08:25, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

exit server?

I have been watching Wikipedia:Open proxy detection lately and i would like to know what they are. wiooiw ^(talk) 02:02, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Open proxy detection/Explanation defines it as a distinct IP address that's used by an open proxy for outgoing connections. -- BenRG (talk) 03:07, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

I see where you found that. Thanks. wiooiw ^(talk) 03:59, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Preventing practical jokers from accessing your files using a linux boot cd

Is there any way to prevent annoying but technically-savvy practical jokers from accessing files on a typical (password-protected) windows system? They can, apparently, bypass the password and access the file system by using a linux boot cd.

Are there any solutions other than encrypting everything or physically putting the computer into a locked box? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 157.193.175.207 (talk) 07:02, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

A CMOS password would prevent them from entering the boot cycle. It's easily set within the system's BIOS (usually F2 on startup to enter Setup) 218.25.32.210 (talk) 07:37, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

You can also encrypt either the entire filssytem or just the most important folders/files. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 07:45, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

You can bypass the login password with a Windows installation CD too (recovery mode), and you can bypass a CMOS password by removing the hard drive and plugging it into another machine. A hard disk password is very difficult to bypass, though. -- BenRG (talk) 08:42, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Let's be reasonable - if they're willing to pop the cover it'd be far easier to just yank the CMOS battery off the motherboard and count to 20. If his "friends" are that serious, there's little to be done. 218.25.32.210 (talk) 08:54, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

"Little to be done"? How about 75 years of cryptography research!? There has been a significant effort to develop a series of best practices and technology tools for exactly this problem - "how do we deny access to information when an attacker has physical access to the machine?" The solution is to strongly encrypt your hard disk. The practical jokers will be able to open up your files as much as they like, but the contents will be strongly-encrypted (they will see only meaningless binary that is impervious even to powerful software efforts to decrypt/decipher them). See List of cryptographic file systems and encryption software. Nimur (talk) 10:03, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

The article on strong cryptography says its use is legally restricted in certain countries, though. 212.219.39.146 (talk) 11:45, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Which is an entirely different issue than the question of technical protection of data. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:09, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

In general, physical access to a machine gives someone complete access to the hard drive contents. After all, they could just take out a screwdriver and steal whatever part of the computer they want. Or they could take out a sledgehammer and bash the hard drive to bits. The only defense against the first problem is encrypting the hard drive contents so that it's gibberish without the passphrase. The only defense against the second one is backups. On the other hand, security should be matched to the value of contents and the motivation level of the attackers: you might know how crazy your practical jokers are, and whether a CMOS password will be enough to deter them. Paul (Stansifer) 13:37, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Agreed, and even the best cryptography systems can't prevent a user from destroying data - all it can do is prevent them from deciphering it. I recently attended an interesting lecture from a Los Alamos physics package designer. The computer security that goes into the control of a physics package is "unique," to say the least. Should the device fall into the wrong hands, it is desired that the control electronics actively deny physical access to themselves - to prevent their unauthorized use, and also to prevent physical access to everything else inside the box! So long as the device remains "intact" and "operational," with the computer controller safely locked inside a very difficult-to-open case, all of your favorite cryptographic locking and securing methods are valid. But I think it becomes immediately obvious how difficult this problem is; suppose that the electronics are turned off: then how can the electronics or software prevent somebody from opening up the device? Or supposing that somebody uses a cutting torch to open the box? (Can this even be detected? Some kind of "is physical enclosure intact" sensor that is "impervious" to tampering? Such sensors exist, and one could design an "un-resettable" device, but that has its own set of very scary problems). Again, the challenge of denying access becomes very hard. There probably will never be complete solution to this problem. Fortunately, the interiors of most people's computer cases are fairly uninteresting. Encrypting the hard-disk should be sufficient. In both the case of a warhead and a hard-disk, it is "acceptable risk" if the attacker is able to destroy the contents, but it is unacceptable for the attacker to be able to use them. I should say, the lecture was hosted by none other than Martin Hellman, inventor of public key cryptography. You can read more about his recent efforts here: Nuclear Risk. Nimur (talk) 17:33, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Remember that if you go the cryptography route, your data is only as safe as the key used to encrypt/decrypt it. If you expose the key (say, to a hardware/software keylogger, or someone shoulder-surfing, two things any tech-savvy coworker can accomplish with ease especially if you work in relatively close quarters) then the encryption is worthless. --Jmeden2000 (talk) 20:32, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Integer division (still) rounding up

Really sorry to bother you with this again, but I'm determined to find and fix the source of this problem. It's the same as before (this question). I thought maybe if I showed you exactly what I'd done you'd be able to find out what I'd done wrong...

   Private Sub btnChange_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnChange.Click
       Dim pounds As Integer
       Dim fifties As Integer
       Dim twenties As Integer
       Dim tens As Integer
       Dim fives As Integer
       Dim twos As Integer
       Dim ones As Integer
       pounds = Credit \ 1
       fifties = (100 * (Credit Mod 1)) \ 50
       twenties = (100 * ((Credit Mod 1) Mod 0.5)) \ 20
       tens = (100 * (((Credit Mod 1) Mod 0.5) Mod 0.2)) \ 10
       fives = (100 * ((((Credit Mod 1) Mod 0.5) Mod 0.2) Mod 0.1)) \ 5
       twos = (100 * (((((Credit Mod 1) Mod 0.5) Mod 0.2) Mod 0.1) Mod 0.05)) \ 2
       ones = (100 * ((((((Credit Mod 1) Mod 0.5) Mod 0.2) Mod 0.1) Mod 0.05) Mod 0.02)) \ 1
       MessageBox.Show("Your change is: " & FormatCurrency(Credit) & "." & vbNewLine & vbNewLine & "£1: " & pounds & vbNewLine & "50p: " & fifties & vbNewLine & "20p: " & twenties & vbNewLine & "10p: " & tens & vbNewLine & "5p: " & fives & vbNewLine & "2p: " & twos & vbNewLine & "1p: " & ones, "Change")
       Credit = 0
       lblTotal.Text = FormatCurrency(Credit)
   End Sub

It's supposed to list all of the coins that the vending machine will spit out once the "change" button is clicked. The "credit" variable is a double that is modified by other buttons elsewhere in the program. It all works fine, perfectly fine - except if the credit value ends in anything from 0.51 to 0.99 it will round up instead of rounding down. For example, asking for change from 51 pence will give me one 50p coin and one £1 coin.

Does anything leap out as being the obvious reason?

I can provide the rest of the code if it's needed. Thanks in advance 212.219.39.146 (talk) 09:53, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Hilariously, £1.20 returns £1, 20p, two 10p's, two 5p's, two 2p's and a 1p. 212.219.39.146 (talk) 11:03, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

I suspect that, because 'credit' is a float, all those 'mods' you do are subject to rounding and are causing the problem. So my first advice is to get rid of all floats; you do not need them. Work with the number of pennies that make up your total, and do this completely with integers.

You already do an integer division with 'pounds', so you have the number of pounds that will be in the change. Now you need to know how much is left to make change for. You can either multiply the number of pounds times 100 and subtract it from the total, or you can use the mod function; these will give the same result.

 dim IntCredit as Integer
 dim remainder as Integer

 IntCredit = credit * 100   ' convert the float to an integer number of pennies.
 pounds = IntCredit \ 100   ' calc the number of pound coins/bills they get back.
 remainder = IntCredit - (dollars * 100) ' or remainder = IntCredit mod 100
 fifties = remainder \ 50   ' 50-cent pieces, I presume
 remainder = remainder - (fifties * 50)  ' or remainder = remainder mod 50

And continue this through your pennies.

Hope that helps.

rc (talk) 12:34, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

And what is the exchange rate between pounds and dollars? -- SGBailey (talk) 17:52, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

(OP here) Thank you - in the end I scrapped the whole system and tried out using loops, which worked (to my surprise, since I didn't actually know how to use them). But your system should still be useful for me when I come to write it up, evaluate, discuss, etc. I'll test it out when I get back to college tomorrow (that's where the program is saved). Thanks! Vimescarrot (talk) 16:39, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Most currency systems are designed so that you can use a "greedy algorithm" to make change in the optimal fashion (by dispensing the largest coin until it's too big, moving on to the next largest, etc.), but this is not guaranteed to be optimal for all currency systems. See Greedy_algorithm#When_greedy-type_algorithms_fail and Change-making_problem#Greedy_method. -- Coneslayer (talk) 16:51, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Currency denominations are actually designed specifically to make these algorithms optimal? That's quite an interesting fact - is this well-known? Do you have a source? Vimescarrot (talk) 19:00, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

I didn't mean it quite that strongly... rephrase as "In most currency systems you can use...". It seems likely that if this property did not hold, the system would be re-designed out of convenience. -- Coneslayer (talk) 19:07, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Aha, fair enough - I did wonder if I'd misinterpreted after re-reading. Vimescarrot (talk) 19:36, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Samsung PC Studio

I somehow don't seem to be able to find where you can download the Samsung PC Studio software that allows you to transfer files from a Samsung mobile phone to a PC. Should I keep trying with the Samsung website that keeps sending me round in circles, or should I go to a site unconnected with Samsung? UK based. Itsmejudith (talk) 11:40, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

You can download it here: [8] --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 12:27, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

That seems to be the manual rather than the software. There appears to be a link to "software" but when I click an end-user agreement for the manual comes up in a new window. I'd be grateful for any other help. Thanks. Itsmejudith (talk) 14:08, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

I would never go to a third-party site for the software unless there was a link on Samsung's official site pointing to it. Chevymontecarlo. 15:12, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

No, the link I provided is correct; I just downloaded the software. Simply click "Software", and click the download button for your operating system. In the popup (make sure that you have no popup-blocker), check the "I have read these terms ..." checkbox and click "Close". Then you will be able to download the software. Depending on your browser, you may need to click the download icon once again after having accepted the terms. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 15:49, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Movies Subtitles and Translation

I have a question if some one help me i will be very thankful. My question is that how can i create subtitle of language in a movie if it is not by default. My second question is that how can i translate english movie into Hindi or Urdu.as there are many english movies available in Hindi.Any idea please! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.71.217.59 (talk) 14:17, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

You can use a Subtitle editor to create your own subtitles. If you have a DVD, you can use a program such as SubRip to extract the existing subtitles to a text file, preserving the timing information. Then all you have to do is translate the text. decltype (talk) 09:56, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

php

Resolved

I have a php script (that someone here wrote for me <3) that displays entries from a text file. I need a way for the script to count how many entries are in the text file (they are each on a new line) and display the total. I am unsure how to do this. Please help :) Thanks 82.44.55.254 (talk) 20:28, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Try something like this:

PHP code
ini_set('auto_detect_line_endings', true); //auto-detects whether the file was saved on Mac, Windows, Linux, etc. $file_array = file("yourfilename"); //read the file into an array (each line gets a new array element) $lines_in_file = count($file_array); //count the array elements (and thus lines)

Does that make sense? If the script in question already reads the file into an array using the file() function, then all you have to do is put a count() function on that array. --Mr.98 (talk) 23:26, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Awesome!! Thank you :D :D 82.44.55.254 (talk) 11:09, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Checking driver versions

Here is something I've always wondered when checking driver versions in Windows (7): Why is it when I am looking for the version of my NVIDIA graphics driver, it shows 8.17.11.9745 in the Device Manager? I have the 197.45 drivers and I've learned recently to read the last few numbers to figure out the version, but what is the significance of the 8.17.1 before? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.129.40.191 (talk) 21:35, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Could the build date be November 17th, 2008 ? StuRat (talk) 12:22, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

May 18

Moving Windows XP to new hard drive - how much pain will it cause?

Thanks in advance for answering this question - I know it's one of those things that could probably be learned with an afternoon of Googling, but I - unfortunately - don't have that level of free time. I'm sure for someone who already has the background knowledge, this is a "what is two plus two"-level question.

I purchased a Dell Whateverion that I'm mostly content with. However, I'm looking to increase the storage space, and due to a lack of SATA ports on the motherboard (who the fuck thought 2 SATA ports was a good idea?) and an inability to find a PCI-SATA controller that's affordable and functional, I've decided that the way to go is to simply replace the current 300GB hard drive with a 1TB hard drive.

So, simply put: Windows XP is currently installed to hard drive "A". I would like to put hard drive "B", with more capacity, in a USB enclosure, clone the smaller drive "A", and when all is said and done, have my XP install on the new, larger drive.

I, naturally, do not have actual XP install CDs, and am even unsure of my ability to scourge up the "rescue disk" (it's probably buried somewhere along with the "how to plug in your keyboard" poster).

So, is this a relatively painless operation? Or will I end up needing to buy an actual XP install CD (at which point it'd make about as much sense to just get a whole new damn computer - seriously, two SATA ports? Two? Why, Dell, why?), either to install SATA drivers or phone home to M$ or whatever?

Thanks for your help! Badger Drink (talk) 00:20, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

I think it should be OK, actually, if you are actually cloning the drive (e.g., with gparted or Ghost or something like that), and not trying to manually copy the files. In any case, you could easily clone it first and see if it works—and if, for some reason, it doesn't, then you could buy the install CD. But I honestly don't think it's a big deal. In fact, I'm not sure even in that situation you'd have to buy a new install CD—all that really matters is your product key, which you can get off of the old hard drive. All you'd have to do in that situation is find someone else with an XP install CD. I don't think that would really irritate Microsoft—what's important for them is the license, not which CD you use. --Mr.98 (talk) 02:02, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

I recently did this exact thing. I used Clonezilla to copy my XP harddrive. Worked like a charm. No complication at all. To be honest, I was suprised at how smooth it went. APL (talk) 03:12, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

The most you would need to do is reactivate Windows, although I doubt you need to do that. It would be faster if you attach both hard drives to the SATA ports on the motherboard instead of using USB. Boot the cloning tool from USB or (PATA)CDROM. F (talk) 10:22, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

How about using a pocket hard drive? How much space do you seriously need???? I have a Dell Inspiron E1705 with about 200 GB but I barely use 90 gb of it! --Tyw7  (☎ Contact me! • Contributions)   Changing the world one edit at a time! 05:10, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

I have 1.75 TB of space on my current computer, and use about 3/4 of it at the moment. It's really not that strange... I'd try and clone it. Also, if you need to, before buying another copy of Windows, try phoning Microsoft. I've got them to send free installation CDs out in the past, as long as you can quote a valid key and purchase information. People say they're support is bad, but to be quite frank, most of them have pirated Windows and then wonder why Microsoft doesn't want to help them. Of course, if you have, they won't help much. Ale_Jrb^talk 14:43, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Contacting amazon.com ?

Resolved

 – User said it worked below  7  01:41, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Is there no way at all to send an email to amazon.com? I had trouble ordering something and wanted to ask for assistance. I went through their contact interface and was told I couldn't contact them because I didn't have an order number. That seems really really rude. Michael Hardy (talk) 03:02, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/contact-us/general-questions.html?ie=UTF8&nodeId=518316&type=email&skip=true HalfShadow 05:00, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Have you tried the "Skip sign in" button on this page? Winston365 (talk) 05:00, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Or you could use the link I just posted; it's even more direct. HalfShadow 05:02, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Yes, you should. I didn't get an edit conflict warning but I think we must have posted at the same time or something. I wouldn't have added the comment if I'd seen yours there. Jinx ;) Winston365 (talk) 05:06, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Actually, I posted pretty much the same thing that you did and then realized a direct link would work just as well. Sometimes they set it up so you have to click a button; a direct link won't work, but in this case it does. HalfShadow 05:09, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Winston365: I posted my query here BECAUSE OF my experience with the particular page you're pointing to.

Entering a valid order number was NOT optional. I could not send them an email and I was told that was because I had left the "order number" blank.

I just tried it on a different machine and it worked. Michael Hardy (talk) 06:12, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

How about phoning them instead? You can ask about your difficulties placing your order and also mention that you cannot email because their stupid form insists on an order number you do not have. Alternatively, lie on that form and provide an obviously fake order number.

Their phone number used to be hard to find, but it seems better now. The form where you enter your email and compulsory order number is one of three tabs. Another one of the tabs is the option get them to call you back or for you to call them an 866 number. Astronaut (talk) 09:34, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Singing computer

Is there a computer that can sing like a human yet? 71.100.0.29 (talk) 03:41, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Not so that you couldn't tell it was a computer, no.

Computers have been able to sing essentially for as long as they've been able to talk. (See this demo from 1963. http://www.vintagecomputermusic.com/s2t9.php) However, even just talking at an ordinary tone of voice, speech synthesis is not perfect. You can usually tell it's a computer. APL (talk) 04:09, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Though, with the amount of post-production in 95% of the vocals on the Billboard Hot 100, some may already have trouble finding the difference. For instance... Badger Drink (talk) 04:50, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

• They can help — Autotune. Shadowjams (talk) 08:36, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

The Harrington 1200. Lanfear's Bane | t 16:16, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

See Vocaloid FancyMouse (talk) 20:40, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

There are some robots that can sing one though... --Tyw7  (☎ Contact me! • Contributions)   Changing the world one edit at a time! 05:07, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Little Sister level on Bioshock 2

Does anyone know how did they manage to dynamically change props and stuff on the Little Sister level in Bioshock 2? The scene starts out (and continues on) as a dream world with bloom effects as well as fairy tale-esque decorations and textures, but it then changes into a decaying state whenever the Sister drains ADAM off a splicer. Is this possible on other engines, and how is it implemented on Unreal? Blake Gripling (talk) 04:04, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

It's called 'programming'. You may have heard of it? HalfShadow 05:03, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Yes, I know it is done through programming trickery, but does anyone know of similar implementations and/or stuff? Blake Gripling (talk) 11:06, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

I have a feeling that however it's done, it'd be a proprietary thing you'd only find out the real details to, if you had the rights to the 3D engine. Maybe one of the multitude of gaming forums out there could help you further. Peter Greenwell (talk) 13:31, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

I haven't played Bioshock 2, so I can't comment on the specifics of that game, but there are several general ways in which a map can be mutated to give the appearance of change. Firstly some of the "objects" in the world (say lights or wall hangings or furniture) can be separate objects (not part of the "world" object), so they can be manipulated (changed, added, deleted) just like other actors in the game (monsters, allies, health boxes, etc.) - so you'd substitute burned or smashed or rotten versions of these. Secondly textures can be changed (so you'd substitute a decayed version of a texture for its hitherto intact one) or overlay a decay-effect texture. Bioshock 1 does this when you incinerate someone - it overlays a gnarly fried-chicken texture (or does it substitute a burned-up version of the monster's texture, I'm not sure). Thirdly it's also often possible to change the lighting, either by turning on or off dynamic lights, or for engines that use an underlying light map, swapping in a new one wholesale; that seriously changes the character of a room, with very little actual effort. Lastly, if the mutation is very profound (and there aren't too many phases of change, and there's a pause like a cutscene between phases) you could actually be talking about different maps altogether. One game I kinda remember (was it NOLF?) had you on a ship, but the ship was then damaged by an explosion. So the next level was in a damaged, listing, and partially water-filled ship, with internal furniture moved around and decks and bulkheads buckled; some of the spaces were full of water and the lighting was totally different. Really they'd just designed a second level built off the same basic geometry as the first, and moved you over to it (moving other stuff like npcs and items wouldn't be hard either, if that was necessary). I don't know the specifics of modern commercial game engines well enough, but it's my understanding that they have a more modular view of world geometry than Quake's classic "THE world + many actor meshes" model, which would make substitution of wholesale geometries practical; any game that can do destructible scenery and buildings (which is getting more common) can equally do decayed or wrecked stuff too, by geometry substitution. Valve's Source engine does "cinematic physics", which does some fairly wholesale geometry changes (buildings blow up, bridges fall down). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 13:57, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Appending data to a file with Java

Resolved

Hello! Could someone please post a code snippet demonstrating how to append data to a file in Java? I have a really large text file and I want to be able to append Strings to the end of it. The only way I know how to do this is to load the whole file into memory, append the Strings, and then use a java.io.Writer to write it back, which is really inefficient. I think there's a better way using the java.nio package to append the data directly to the file, but I don't know how. Thank you!--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 06:07, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

The FileWriter and FileOutputStream classes both have constructors that take an optional second argument, a boolean indicating whether to append. --Spoon! (talk) 06:14, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

And the RandomAccessFile class allows the programmer to manually append. Nimur (talk) 08:54, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Great. Thank you!--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 06:45, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Graphic editing in HSV space

Which raw converters, apart from Adobe Camera Raw, enable adjustments in HSV space? I know Bibble tried to mimick ACR's six channels (they had a good point making three of six channels user-definable in B5) but it just didn't work (too harsh, too noisy to be usable). That is, shrunk to 800*600, Bibble output is much better than Adobe's (or maybe their learning curve is nearly instant) but on pixel level it is unusable.

P.S. I waited for the new ACR (Lightroom 3) expecting the ability to adjust hue and width of HSV channels... this was, perhaps, the most wanted improvement. No luck, come next time :)) East of Borschov (talk) 06:13, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Archiving MS Office 2000

I use an old XP computer with MS Office 2000 installed. I never use the MS O2000. Would it be possible to archive it somehow so that I could remove it from the HD but retain the possibility of restoring it if I wish or need in the future? Both the XP and the MS O2000 are legit copies. I do not have any instalation disks. (I'm guessing that a programme which could do this would simply copy the O2000 software into an archive file, AND put all the relevant enteries in the register into a .reg file.) Thanks 92.24.191.128 (talk) 14:25, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

I don't know of any software that does that — it sure would be handy for me, too. If your objective is to get more disk space, I would instead buy a large new hard disk, and use disk cloning software to make an exact copy of your old hard disk onto the new one. The disk cloning software will then let you enlarge your new disk's partition, so you end up with a lot more space than you started with, and all your installed programs and registry are the same as they used to be. The only disadvantage may be that some software may detect the change in hard disk size and challenge you to find those installation disks, thinking you've copied the software to a new computer. YMMV. Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:46, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps a possible procedure would be to 1) take a copy of the registry using Erunt. 2) copy the O2000 using something that would preserve the directory structure. 3) Uninstall O2000. 4) run a registry cleaner to remove the remains of enteries for O2000. 5) take another copy of the registry with Erunt. 6) Compare the before and after Erunt files and create a .reg file with the differences in it. Discard the two Erunt files. 7) Put this .reg file in a zip file with the copy of O2000.

To reinstall it, unpack the O2000 copy. Run the .reg file to restore the registry enteries.

Does anyone have any opinion if the above procedure would work? If it does, I wish someone would write a freeware program to automate the procedure. 92.26.56.233 (talk) 23:16, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Programs tend to rely on more than simply registry entries to work (I ran into this problem recently when I was trying to create a portable version of another program). They also need to call on dll's which can be scattered throughout the drive. If one of these dll's is missing, at best an optional function in the program will not run, at worst your program will crash. Obviously you wouldn't want to have this kind of instability while manipulating important data! I am not really certain which files you need to run MS Office. It's possible someone has documented this on the web already. A quick Google search by me came up with little information specifically regarding which resources it calls on, but if you care enough you can probably figure it out yourself.

Your suggestion reminded me of VMware's ThinApp. Which is really not exactly what you're talking about, but takes similar steps of automatically figuring out what dll's and registry entries a program creates so it can bundle them into a portable/easily transferable version. But it's not really intended as an archiving solution, no.

If you figure out a solution, I'd love to hear about it. -Amordea (talk) 03:00, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

A less elegant solution (it should work, but could someone please double-check before the OP tries it) is simply to move the main programme folder (e.g. C:\Program files\Microsoft Office) to backup, leaving the DLLs and registry intact. This will release most of the hard-drive space, but will allow the software to run again on restoring the folder. I think I've done this successfully in the past. (Sorry, I haven't a test-machine available at present.) Dbfirs 18:05, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

... alternatively, why not just record the Product ID (5 digits - OEM - 7 digits - 5 digits) (using Help->About), then uninstall, and if you do need the software in future, just find someone with an installation CD but install it using your own legal product ID? Dbfirs 19:55, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

I am not shure that will work, at least for windows XP the Product ID from an OEM-install will not work when installing from retail media or enterprise media. Gr8xoz (talk) 04:22, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Ah, yes, it would have to be the same version. (I'm puzzled now because my Office 2000 comes up with an OEM product ID, but it wasn't pre-installed. (There must be thousands of old Office 2000 installation CDs floating around - or have they all been thrown away?) Does anyone have a test machine to check that just moving the folder works. One would need to avoid using a registry cleaner. Dbfirs 06:44, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Have you considered trying to obtain what would otherwise be a pirate copy of the software? --Jabberwalkee (talk) 04:52, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

how does hard disk work ?

how does hard disk work ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Poobharathii (talk • contribs) 14:34, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

See Hard disk drive. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:37, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Good value laptop with Ubuntu?

I'm getting a new laptop in the $500-800 price range for work and some play (no need for high powered components). I'd like to dual-boot Ubuntu on it, but the resources on the Ubuntu site all give lists of laptops that various people have gotten to work. What I'd really like a resource like WINE has, where I could look up if a given laptop works rather than having to sift through various lists to see if anyone's tried it. So, I guess my question has two parts: 1) does anyone know of a resource like the one I described? and 2) does anyone have recommendations for laptops they know work? Also: I know that some companies sell laptops with linux installed, but my company is footing some of the bill on this and the guy in charge of that won't sign off on a laptop from a "non-standard company". 173.52.5.181 (talk) 21:38, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

How about get a Windows laptop and install ubuntu on it? You know its free do you? http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/ --Tyw7  (☎ Contact me! • Contributions)   Changing the world one edit at a time! 05:06, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

OP here. How about reading questions carefully instead of defaulting to condescending sarcasm? You know it's irritating don't you? http://www.emilypost.com/ 64.61.167.178 (talk) 14:08, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

If I'm understanding right, I think the OP is asking about compatability with Ubuntu. I am no expert here, but I'll lend my experience: having run Ubuntu on at least 4 different machines without any hitch, I'd say there isn't much hardware that Ubuntu cannot run on. Especially if you're doing something name-brand--there is bound to be a lot of support in the Ubuntu community for this. I ran 8.04 in a dual-boot setup on my old (and quite obsolete even at the time) Compaq Pentium 4 desktop a few years back with no problems and currently have 10.04 running on my Acer netbook as a virtual machine (which I wouldn't think the desktop version would have much support for netbook hardware, but it runs fine). It runs on my Athlon 64 x2 desktop just fine as well (also in a virtual machine). Take from that what you will, but I doubt you'll have any serious issues with any hardware you choose. Maybe someone else here can support or refute that? -Amordea (talk) 06:00, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

I tried Ubuntu with live CD on a brand new Dell Studio 15 Laptop without any problems. --Tyw7  (☎ Contact me! • Contributions)   Changing the world one edit at a time! 06:04, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

If you can find a physical computer shop with the model you want why not bring in an ubuntu liveCD and ask if you can try booting with it to see whether everything works. 131.111.185.68 (talk) 08:14, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

I was once told here on the RD that IBM/Lenovo laptops work well with Ubuntu. --Ouro (blah blah) 09:16, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Dell is non-non-standard, and sells some Ubuntu machines. But the selection is really limited. I'm writing this on a Dell machine that came with Windows which I installed Ubuntu over. Paul (Stansifer) 13:52, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

If I needed certainty of full coverage, I'd have to buy a laptop that came with Linux installed; in addition to the handful of netbooks that Asus and Acer sell, I'm only aware of the limited range that Dell supplies, and a few people like linuxcertified.com that put linux on a big-name laptop and certify that it works (which may be enough to satisfy your purchasing people). IBM/Lenovo and HP used to sell a small range of Linux laptops, but I can't find any that they sell right now. The trouble with anyone recommending a laptop that works is that you almost certainly can't buy the laptop they're recommending - laptop makers rev the hardware incredibly quickly, and very often make like-for-like substitutions without changing the product number (they say it's got 802.11n, but they don't say if its a Broadcom chip or an Atheros chip or what) and they're quite possibly shipping two versions of the same laptop, at the same time, without differentiating one from the other. As long as they all have working Windows drivers, the manufacturer is covered. In practice things are much better - I've not seen a laptop in years that doesn't get the core stuff working (core chipset, display, wired ethernet, audio, cd/dvd, hard disk), and I don't believe I've had a problem with wireless in the last four Ubuntu revisions or so. Support for webcams, bluetooth, cardbus, and memory-card-reader is patchier (and I'm suspicious when people say "everything works" they haven't tested all of these). I've had good results with Acer laptops, but not perfection - my 30 month old Travelmate's memory-card-reader doesn't work (it seems to have got a driver with the latest Ubuntu, but it still doesn't seem to see cards). Special keys (those media keys and the like) generally don't work out of the box. So TL;DR: other than buying one of the few ships-with-linux laptops, it's very difficult to trust anyone's recommendation of a fully-working linux laptop. In your position I wouldn't dual boot - given the performance of virtualisation platforms like VmWare, I'd install Ubuntu in one of those, maximise the window, and try to pretend that Windows wasn't there at all. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 15:32, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

My experience is ubuntu 10.4 happily works on my laptop (a random Toshiba), including cardbus, media keys, wifi. I haven't got a webcam. 3G wireless network seems to work better on Ubuntu than Windows in my experience too. Anyway, take an ubuntu live CD (or live USB if you're looking at machines without CD drive) with you to the shop, ask to try out the machine you want to buy, try it out, buy exactly that machine if you're happy with it. Note that some laptops have bios switches for webcam, bluetooth and wifi, so if those aren't working check bios (as well as hardware switches/buttons) --203.202.43.53 (talk) 08:53, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

PHP question

Resolved

Mr.98 write this little php script for me a while ago to display entries in a text file:

<?php
ini_set('auto_detect_line_endings', true); 
$lines = file($filename);
foreach($lines as $line) {
    echo "<font color='red'>$line</font><br>\n";
}
?>

I was wondering if it would be possible for the script to only display say the last 10 entries, or the first 50, or 10 entries after the first 50, etc. A way to customize which entries are displayed instead of just displaying them all in one go. Thank you! :) 82.44.55.254 (talk) 22:15, 18 May 2010 (UTC)

Modify the foreach loop so it meets your customization criteria. PHP has a variety of control structures which can be used to set up your selection criteria; see the control structures section of the PHP manual. Astronaut (talk) 09:09, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

I am extremely new to php and I don't really understand what you are saying. I know it's asking a lot, but could you post a small php example script of what you mean so I can see it in action and then modify it for what I need? That would be so helpful :) 82.44.55.254 (talk) 10:52, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Would this work for 51-60 ?

<?php
ini_set('auto_detect_line_endings', true); 
$lines = file($filename);
$i = 0;
foreach($lines as $line) {
  $i++;
  if ($i > 50) && ($i < 61) {
    echo "<font color='red'>$line</font><br>\n";
  }
}
?>

StuRat (talk) 12:17, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Or even more directly:

<?php
ini_set('auto_detect_line_endings', true); 
$lines = file($filename);
for($i=50;$i<61;$i++) {
    echo "<font color='red'>{$lines[$i]}</font><br>\n";
}
?>

That for() loop just means: "$i is a variable that is initially set to 50; while $i is less than 61; repeat the code below, adding one to $i each time." Then, inside the code block, {$lines[$i]} just means "the value in the array $lines at index number $i." Does that make sense? If you change the numbers you'll get different lines.

If you wanted it to get the last 10 entries (and you don't know how many entries you have to begin with), you'd want something like this:

<?php
ini_set('auto_detect_line_endings', true); 
$lines = file($filename);
$total_lines = count($lines);
for($i=$total_lines-10;$i<=$total_lines;$i++) {
    echo "<font color='red'>{$lines[$i]}</font><br>\n";
}
?>

Where we've gotten the total lines, then had the "start" $i variable at the total lines minus 10, and have the "end" $i variable end with the total lines. (*Note, of course, that if you have less than 10 lines in the file, you will end up with a negative starting number, and that will probably throw an error. So in a real-world application, we might then check to see if $total_lines-10 is less than zero, and if so, set it to zero, e.g. $start = $total_lines-10; if($start-10<0) $start=0;) For the first 10 lines, it is even easier:

<?php
ini_set('auto_detect_line_endings', true); 
$lines = file($filename);
for($i=0;$i<10;$i++) {
    echo "<font color='red'>{$lines[$i]}</font><br>\n";
}
?>

Note that your array of lines starts with "0" as the first index (it's just how arrays work with PHP), so item #10 will really be the 11th item. Anyway, does that make sense? It's just a matter of setting up the logic to give you the numbers you want. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:23, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

<3 <3 <3 Thank you! That works perfectly! And thank you for the explanation of what it all does, I'm slowly learning :) 82.44.55.254 (talk) 16:21, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

I have a bold guess that this whole "show entries from a textfile" involves a task that is better suited to, say, a MySQL database. What does the textfile contain, and what do you do with it on the site? 198.161.238.18 (talk) 16:00, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

It's not for a site, it's just me messing around with php scripts on my home computer for fun really, and to try and learn how they work. I don't know anything about MySQL, using a text file seemed the easiest option. The text file just has random thoughts or things I wanted to remember written in it. 82.44.55.254 (talk) 16:21, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

And there's really nothing wrong with using a flat file database in many applications. Not everything needs a big relational database behind it. At some point, if the data gets complicated or you want to do more complicated things with it, learning how SQL works and migrating the data might make sense. But there's nothing inherently wrong with a flat file, as this type of data storage is called. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:33, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

I think it's a great exercise for someone learning PHP or any language. I assumed you were working on a site. Of course there's nothing wrong with flat files, but there's also no reason to be scared of databases -- it quickly becomes a standard in your toolbox and has all kinds of benefits that take a lot of "creativity" to reproduce with flat files (this was my thought as your questions were getting more complex). Keep experimenting and asking questions, no better way to learn imo. 198.161.238.18 (talk) 16:45, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

May 19

something about transfer sms to pc

[removed--this was an advertisement. old edit -Amordea (talk) 05:33, 19 May 2010 (UTC)]

Do we get much advertising here? Chevymontecarlo. 05:40, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

SyncToy download

SyncToy from microsoft is available in two variants, SyncToySetupPackage_v21_x64.exe and SyncToySetupPackage_v21_x86.exe. I run XP on a bland PC. How do I work out which I need? -- SGBailey (talk) 08:15, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

What is a "bland PC"? Most likely you are running the 32-bit version of XP, and then you should choose the second option. You can check which version of Windows XP you are running either by starting (Win+R) winver or by pressing Win+Pause. 32-bit Windows XP: second link; 64-bit Windows XP: first link. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 08:18, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

If it doesn't say 32-bit or 64-bit, is it right to assume that it is from before 64-bit existed and is therefore 32-bit? -- SGBailey (talk) 10:02, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

I think that only very few users are running a 64-bit version of XP, so most likely you are running the 32-bit version. (But indeed there is a 64-bit version of XP.) --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 10:16, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Andrews Rejbrand is correct; you are most likely running 32-bit Windows XP. For future reference, if you ever see anything saying "x86", then these days, this usually means to say "for use with 32-bit operating systems", whereas "x64" means "for use with 64-bit operating systems". Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:39, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks -- SGBailey (talk) 16:02, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Electronics

how to analyse typical transister circuits.... for example:multi vibrators,lics etc11:48, 19 May 2010 (UTC)~~ —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kodali siva kiran (talk • contribs)

The starting point, conceptually, is often to write out Kirchoff's current law and Kirchoff's voltage law. Determine the bias point of the transistors to determine their transistor operating mode (i.e., which equation is most appropriate to approximate their behavior). Finally, solve the small signal model analytically or numerically, often by using a SPICE tool. If you are solving for bipolar junction transistors, a different set of bias-point equations and operating-mode equations apply, but the procedure is generally the same. Nimur (talk) 12:17, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Fonts and their symbolism

I am looking for information on the connotations of different fonts. For example, Times New Roman is seen as boring, Comic Sans MS is seen as relaxed and Courier is associated with screenplays. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.189.216.184 (talk) 13:57, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

First a warning, if you're interested in the modern popular associations of typefaces, Comic Sans is widely reviled; the fact that it's common makes it frequently misused. According to my handy copy of The Non-Designer's Type Book, Oldstyle faces (like Times New Roman, Garamond) are "warm", "graceful", and "invisible" (i.e. normal), Modern faces (like Didot) have "sparkle" and "elegance", but aren't very readable (they are also old-fashioned looking), slab serif faces (Clarendon, New Century Schoolbook) are "regimented" and "strong", and sans serif faces (Helvetica, Futura) are simple and somewhat more modern. And, as someone who programs, it would be remiss of me to mention that fixed width typefaces like Courier (though Courier is not a good example; it's hard to read) are associated with computer programming.

Wikipedia's article VOX-ATypI classification goes into lots of delicious detail for various subcategories (in particular, there are lots of different sans serif families I just lumped together). Also see Serif#Classification and Sans-Serif#Classification. Paul (Stansifer) 15:15, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

It's hard to really systematically discuss cultural connotations of a typeface, because so much of it is not what they look like in an objective way, but how they have been used. Anyway, you might be interested in the film Helvetica, which is a nice discussions of how designers and people think about typefaces (using Helvetica as its main focus, but with somewhat wider conclusions). It's of note that much of this is contextual. Since 2008, Gotham is the Obama font, for example, whereas before it would have had more neutral connotations. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:31, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! Which fonts look really old (that I would use them in an article about history)? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.189.216.184 (talk) 15:52, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

I've found OldStyle to work well. But obviously it depends on what you mean by "really old". In some contexts PlayBill would make more sense. Anyway, I'm not sure we can do your graphic design for you on here... --Mr.98 (talk) 16:24, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

If you want something that looks really old, try either Perpetua or Bembo. Bembo supposedly dates back to the late 1400s, but the version used today is more modern. The U.S. Declaration of Independence was set in Caslon. That typeface dates back to the early 1700s. Times New Roman was introduced in the 1900s. It provides a trade-off between compactness and legibility. I never use Times since I don't care how much space my writing takes up on a page.

In general, Serif faces are more formal, elegant, and readable. Sans-serif faces are more informal. Sans-serif faces are often used for headlines, titles, etc. Serif faces are used for body text in print for legibility. You can also use a serif font for headlines, if you're going for a formal, elegant look. On the web, sans-serif is often used for body text, as well, since sans-serif faces are more readable on monitors.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 17:11, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

I have to agree that Helvetica_(film) is a wonderful introduction to fonts, if that's your sort of thing. Great watch, just don't bother trying to watch it when you're sleepy. --Jmeden2000 (talk) 17:14, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks a lot! Last question, is there any font associated with geography, environmentalism, Earth, etc.? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.189.216.23 (talk) 10:42, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Possibly Papyrus. I often see it, or something similar to it, used in museums for exhibits dealing with American Indians or, obviously, Egyptians. Dismas|^(talk) 05:28, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

php ssl cipher suite

I have an environment in which there is a Java application listening on an SSLServerSocket with all supported cipher suites enabled. I need to have a PHP script send a message to the Java application's SSL port. When I do so, the Java side claims there are no cipher suites in common and the PHP script dies. I am using PHP's fsockopen with an ssl:// address to the Java application. How can I make the PHP script properly make an SSL connection to the Java port and send a text message? Keep in mind that none of this is web-based. It is all non-web applications. That is why I'm not wrapping the PHP script in cURL to do SSL web requests. -- kainaw™ 16:27, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

On the Java side, can you call getSupportedCipherSuites() and getEnabledCipherSuites() to verify that the server is properly supporting an SSL socket with valid ciphers? Have you properly ensured that the Java SSL socket is initialized as a "server" and the PHP socket is a "client" so that the TLS / SSL handshake can proceed deterministically? Have you been able to connect to the SSL server socket using other SSL sockets (e.g. Java clients)? Java's SSLSocket doc is the first place I'd check; I'm leaning towards trouble on the server end, rather than the PHP client end... but it's hard to know for sure just from the information you've provided so far. Depending on how you create/initialize the SSL server socket, you may have to manually specify what cipher protocols you want to allow (setEnabledCipherSuites()). You can probably "cheat" by enabling everything that is supported: setEnabledCipherSuites( getSupportedCipherSuites() ) but be aware that this enables a spectrum of weak- to strong- ciphers. Watch out also for enabled/supported protocols on the server end. Nimur (talk) 21:35, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

about information system

what is personal information system,describe the role of it.what is system flow chart —Preceding unsigned comment added by 180.215.35.183 (talk) 18:04, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Please do your own homework.

Welcome to the Wikipedia Reference Desk. Your question appears to be a homework question. I apologize if this is a misinterpretation, but it is our aim here not to do people's homework for them, but to merely aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn nearly as much as doing it yourself. Please attempt to solve the problem or answer the question yourself first. If you need help with a specific part of your homework, feel free to tell us where you are stuck and ask for help. If you need help grasping the concept of a problem, by all means let us know.:You should be more clear what you mean by "personal information system" when you do re-ask the question. Do you mean something like a PDA device, or do you mean some sort of information organizing process? Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:41, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Probably an information system. Vimescarrot (talk) 19:09, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Connected to home network but no internet

Hey guys. I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to home networks and internet issues and am completely perplexed by this problem. We recently switched to AT&T from Comcast and got a new modem/router all-in-one in the process, one that comes with a firewall. At first, the internet was working completely fine for my sister's laptop, but one day it stopped working even though the connection icon is blue (Windows Vista) and says connected to Local and Internet. When I try to go online, it says "page can not be found" on both Chrome and Internet Explorer.

Any ideas? I'm completely lost. I checked the proxy settings to make sure those weren't changed somehow but those seem to be at the defaults. I also don't think it's malware of any kind, though it could be a possibility.

Thanks a ton. 184.36.108.188 (talk) 22:26, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

This is almost certainly a wireless problem, but the first thing I would do to verify this is to run an Ethernet cable from the laptop to the router to see if the wired connection works. If so, that will rule out various problems the router itself may be having. Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:39, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Interesting. When I plug in the ethernet cable, it still shows a blue bubble in the connection window and has a 'connected' status, but I have no access to the internet. Extra info: I already tried a system restore, and a full scan with AVG and Malwarebytes. 184.36.108.188 (talk) 00:05, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

It sounds as if some communication settings have been changed. Have you tried the "diagnose and repair" option from Vista's "Network & Sharing Center"? Dbfirs 06:27, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Is it a problem with your router or your ISP? If the modem/router is at fault, no matter what you do with your computer, the connection won't restore. I once had a problem with a netgear router. Although it show it is connected, I couldn't access to the internet. Finally, I exchanged the router, and viola!, internet restoration! --Tyw7  (☎ Contact me! • Contributions)   Changing the world one edit at a time! 07:06, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Have you tried restarting the modem/router box? Turn off the power, wait a few secs and restart it. I often find this procedure clears many internet connectivity problems. Astronaut (talk) 10:57, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Well, the router works for both the other computers in my house. Yes, I tried Diagnose and Repair and it said it could find nothing wrong with the connection. I'll try resetting the router. What I'm afraid of is that some malware changed the internet settings to cause the current problem because my sister says when it happened, some pop ups came up and she lost control of the computer. But she's not really the most tech savvy person in the world. 184.36.108.188 (talk) 15:59, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

To rule out router problems, either use another computer to connect to your network or bring the problematic computer and try connecting it to another network. --Tyw7  (☎ Contact me! • Contributions)   Changing the world one edit at a time! 21:12, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Yes, it's definitely worth trying out your sister's laptop on a friend's network or at an internet cafe. The "Network & Sharing Center" actually contacts a Microsoft site before reporting that the connection is working correctly, but it doesn't transfer much data. The page not found message sometimes appears when only a small amount of data is received. I assume that you have tried different sites. Could malware be redirecting your browser to a non-existent site? (Though the fact that you have tried two different browsers probably rules out this.) I sometimes get an intermittent fault on my (microwave delivered) internet connection and this results in lots of "page not found"s even when "Diagnose" says that I have a connection, but when I repeatedly try "Diagnose and repair" is eventually notices the problem and shows a local only connection. Dbfirs 23:46, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

I think sometimes a malware can knock out the internet through multiple applications. Therefore, I would recommend running MBAM full scan --Tyw7  (☎ Contact me! • Contributions)   Changing the world one edit at a time! 23:59, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

May 20

OSC PC Software

Good morning,

I am looking for a user interface for OSC (open sound control) similar to TouchOSC and Lemur. Both of those programs are programmable and serve as a framework to design custom interfaces. I have been unable to find a high level PC application. Any help would be appreciated. Windows or Linux flavors are fine. Thanks. aszymanik speak! 06:31, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

There are many software options found at this website: http://archive.cnmat.berkeley.edu/OpenSoundControl/. I should clarify that I am looking for free lightweight software (as opposed to Max/MSP and Supercollider). aszymanik speak! 06:31, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Podcast question.

I am a bit of a technosaurus and have just purchased an iPod nano version 5. I am pretty confident about copying and transferring music and creating playlists etc., but have just discovered Podcasts, hence my query. I discovered a 3 series free language course which I thought would really help my conversation when on the Continent, and after an initial struggle, managed to download the many episodes and transfer them to my iPod. But no matter how hard I try to re-order them on my PC, whether in the Podcast List or in the Playlists after I transfer them, I always end up with the most recent episode playing first and the initial episode playing last, which clearly, in a language course, is daft. What I don't get is how, when I upload a music CD to my iTunes library, it too arrives as last in first out - but when I re-order them in my Playlists, they stay that way. So if I can re-order music lists that stay that way, why can't I do it with Podcast episodes? Like I said, I was born before television! 92.30.74.114 (talk) 22:43, 19 May 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.30.7.71 (talk)

Hello. If you find that you get no helpful answers, Apple has its own help forums at [[9]]. If you have an iTunes account you can use that to sign in and then you just post your question on the relevant section - maybe iTunes for Windows/Mac....there are plenty of users on there who will be happy to help. Of course you do not have to post there and I appreciate that it is not getting you any closer to an answer, but I personally have had several problems sorted after I posted on the forum. Hope this helps and I hope your question is answered. Chevymontecarlo 18:12, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

I have a feeling that it is something to do with either Importing options/settings or library organisation settings....although this probably will get you nowhere...I am sorry and I hope someone else will be able to help you :) Chevymontecarlo 18:14, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

I have the same problem with my cheap (non-Apple) MP3 player. Does anyone know which criterion is normally used to order the files in these devices? I think I once rearranged the files before copying, but I've forgotten how I did it. Dbfirs 07:06, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

I haven't played around too much with podcasts on iTunes but I think I may have a reason for the ordering that you're seeing. Since podcasts are often intended to be something that you regularly listen to in much the same way that you would watch your favorite television program from week to week, it might have seemed to the programmers that people would want to listen to the last podcast first. There's an assumption that you can go back to old episodes/podcasts to catch up to the most current one and not start from the beginning of the first podcast. Dismas|^(talk) 07:24, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

I need the code in Visual Basic with Access database

CAN YOU HELP ME WITH THIS.. I NEED THE CODE IN VISUAL BASIC WITH ACCESS DATABASE. I DONT HAVE MUCH PROGRAMMING EXPERIENCE.. SO WOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR YOUR TIME

I have a database with the following structure IDNO - Text(7), From Date - Date, To Data - Date, Year - Number, Full_Part - Logical.

what i want the program to give me the result is that i need to take out the missing date ranges for each IDNO for each particular year. ie.. i need to take out the year wise gaps for records. also, if the entire year is missing then the gap will be the entire year with the full_part field in the result showing F. so say.. in this example.. i need the program to return the result for

IDNO From Date To Date Year FULL_PART

A247108 01-Apr-02 30-Sep-02 2002 P

A247111 01-Jul-99 30-Sep-99 1999 P

A247111 01-Jan-00 31-Mar-00 1999 P (year is 1999 because it falls in the 1999-2000 financial year)

A sample database is appended below :-

IDNO From Date To Date Year FULL_PART

A247108 01-Apr-99 31-Mar-00 1999 F

A247108 01-Apr-00 31-Mar-01 2000 F

A247108 01-Apr-01 31-Mar-02 2001 F

A247108 01-Oct-02 31-Mar-03 2002 F

A247108 01-Apr-03 31-Mar-04 2003 F

A247111 01-Apr-00 31-Mar-01 2000 F

A247111 01-Apr-01 31-Mar-02 2001 F

A247111 01-Apr-02 31-Mar-03 2002 F

A247111 01-Apr-03 31-Mar-04 2003 F

A247111 01-Apr-99 30-Jun-99 1999 P

A247111 01-Oct-99 31-Dec-99 1999 P

A247124 01-Apr-99 31-Mar-00 1999 F

A247124 01-Apr-00 31-Mar-01 2000 F

A247124 01-Apr-01 31-Mar-02 2001 F

A247124 01-Apr-02 31-Mar-03 2002 F

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Prasanth.moothedath (talk • contribs) 03:26, 16 May 2010 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Prasanth.moothedath (talk • contribs) 05:10, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Question was weirdly buried in the middle of May 17 despite being added today. Moved to correct day. Astronaut (talk) 11:17, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

The signature is from 16 May. Perhaps it was original left somewhere else? Nil Einne (talk) 11:24, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Further research shows the question appears to have been asked and answered here Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 May 16#Help with a Programming Logic in MS-Access-Visual Basic but an anon who I guess is Prasanth.moothedath says "but it is not giving me the required result" and didn't get any response so I guess they decided to ask again. It's better if any future answers are directed at the original question. It'll probably also be useful if Prasanth.moothedath says what the problem is in more detail then simply saying 'not giving me the required result' for example describing what the result it. Nil Einne (talk) 11:29, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

I think he just cut and pasted his original question in the middle of the following day, even though he did it today. Astronaut (talk) 11:32, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

You asked the same question a few days ago. Did the answers you got then, not help?

Incidentally, there is no need to repost your entire question. New questions should be started in the current day. If you bury it within an unrelated section some days in the past, it is likely to be ignored. If previous answers were not helpful then just say so. Astronaut (talk) 11:32, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

If the code isn't working, you'll have to tell me why. Read the comments in the code and it will tell you exactly what it does do. It doesn't do everything—it just is the logical framework for writing more code. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:25, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

CSS/javascript, text that is invisible by default, but can be made visible through user interaction

On a mediawiki site that I run, I would like to create a text style that is invisible by default, but can easily be made visible through user interaction (for example hovering the mouse pointer over a certain area of the screen, or over the text itself). I imagine that this might be possible by creative use of monobook.css and/or monobook.js, but it is beyond my capabilities. Intended use: Flashcards, taking advantage of Special:Randomarticle/mynamespace. Any suggestions? Thanks, --NorwegianBlue ^talk 13:24, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

The traditional way to do this with pure html is to use transparent text, like this, which can (in most browsers) be made readable by highlighting it. With CSS, you can use the :hover pseudo-class to make text that appears only when moused over, for example:

.hidden {opacity:0;}
.hidden:hover {opacity:1;}

Algebraist 13:46, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Note this will work in standards-compliant browsers but not in IE. Google tells me you can use more complex CSS to get something that works in all major browsers. Algebraist 13:51, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

The easiest way to have something invisible is to set its display to "none":

.hidden { display: none; }

Then you toggle its hiddenness using Javascript:

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
function showhide(id) {
   var ctl = document.getElementById(id);
   if(ctl.style.display=="none") {
      ctl.style.display="block";
   } else {
      ctl.style.display="none";
   }
}
</script>
<body>
<div id="somethingHidden" class="hidden">I am hidden until you click on link below.</div>
<p>
<a href="#" onclick="showhide('somethingHidden'); return false;">Click me to toggle the visibility of the above.</a>
</body>

This is better than using transparency, which can be dodgy in many browsers. It will not take a very extensive knowledge in Javascript to get this working. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:21, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Setting the display property to none causes the undisplayed text to not take up any space on the page, which means that when it's unhidden the page rearranges itself to accomodate. If that causes you a problem, you can use the CSS property visibility instead, and toggle it between "hidden" and "visible" using much the same code as Mr.98 presents. Markup that is display=block visibility=hidden does take up the space it would if it were visible, and so toggling it doesn't force the page to reformat. Which you prefer depends on how you want your page to behave. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 14:40, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! It definitelty looks promising, but doesn't work out of the box in my wiki (the <a> tag is not understood by the MediaWiki software). Do I need an extension to get it working, or is there another workaround? (I added the Javascript to my monobook.js, the css to monobook.css and the html between the <body></body> tags to the wiki page itself). --NorwegianBlue ^talk 16:25, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Finally managed to get it working. It turns out there's a variable that one can define in LocalSettings.php, called $wgRawHtml. The documentation describes this method as "ugly", and reccommends writing gadgets (using Extension:Gadgets) instead. But heck, it works, I can hide the ugliness in templates, and the security risk of allowing html-editing for this particular site is small. I ended up with adding this:

.hidden { visibility: hidden; }

to Monobook.css, and to include the javascript in the page itself. Since toggling is not really necessary, I just did this:

<html>
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
function showit(id) {
   var ctl = document.getElementById(id);
   ctl.style.visibility="visible";
}
</script>
</html>

What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow? <html><a href="#" onclick="showit('A1'); return false;">&nbsp;(Show)</a></html>
<div id="A1" class="hidden">
What do you mean? An African or European swallow?<html><a href="#" onclick="showit('A2'); return false;">&nbsp;(Show)</a></html>
</div>
<div id="A2" class="hidden">
Huh? I don't know that. Auuuuuugh.
</div>

which has the added benefit of allowing text to appear sequentially. Thanks again! --NorwegianBlue ^talk 22:04, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Update:Moved the javascript to Monobook.js, worked ok. Tried to replace the remaining html with a template {{Showit|A1}}, but this

<html> <a href="#" onclick="showit('{{{1}}}'); return false;">(Show)</a></html>

does not work (Ends up as quoting {{{1}}} insead of A1). Even worse if I move the quotation marks to {{Showit|'A1'}}, then the javascript function isn't called at all. Hardcoding the div names in the template(s) works, though, so I think I'll just write some templates Show1, Show2, Show3, where the parameter is hardcoded. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 22:19, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Microsoft Word grammar checker

Microsoft Word has a grammar checker which can be configured to run together with the spell checker. Mostly I'm happy with it, but it quite frequently suggests incorrectly that I am using "form" which I mean "from." If I use jargon and the spell checker complains, I can easily press "Add to dictionary." Is there any way to turn off a single rule in the grammar checker?

I do have one hack that I might use, but I am hoping for a cleaner suggestion. My idea is to autocorrect "form" to "fоrm" (with Cyrillic small letter O, Unicode 043E instead of the Latin small letter O, Unicode 006F) and then add that to the dictionary. Ma^t_chups 14:10, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

You can change, edit, or disable any specific autocorrect "fixup" - so if this single autocorrect entry is giving you trouble, just disable it. Create or change automatic corrections, from Microsoft's online Office help. As far as the grammar, this help page details how to "ignore" a grammar rule for an entire document. I'm not certain it can be disabled by default for new documents... Nimur (talk) 14:45, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

See Microsoft Word Spelling and Grammar Check Demonstration. -- Wavelength (talk) 15:00, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Firefox browser settings

In the article Pythagoras' theorem combinations like c/ show up that look like d in my browser, so I replaced such occurrences with insertion of thinsp; as in c /. Likewise, superscripts like c² are jammed into the letter unless c ² is used. I am presently using the settings under Firefox menus Tools/Options/Content/Advanced as follows: Proportional = Serif ; Serif = Times New Roman ; Sans Serif = Arial Unicode MS ; Monocode = Courier New ; Default character encoding = Unicode (UTF-32BE). I've been forced into these choices so that I can see serif fonts and still see some mathematics symbols like the wedge (∧). No choice of fonts I have tried alleviate this problem, which does not occur when using Internet Explorer. Any solutions other than resorting to $c/\,$ (that is, <math>c/ \, </math>)? Brews ohare (talk) 16:09, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

I am also using Firefox under Windows, and I am very happy with the DejaVu fonts. Try installing them and then setting Proportional = Sans Serif ; Sans Serif = DejaVu Sans. Hans Adler 17:32, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

In general though, you should probably avoid doing such "hacks" in Wikipedia articles. I don't know why your browser is displaying it the way it does, but on mine it is clear—the goal should be to have the content be encoded as straightforwardly as possible, and leave it to the browser to try and display is correctly (or wrongly). We can't anticipate what every browser will do and trying to compensate for one browser could make it display incorrectly for others. Just general advice. --Mr.98 (talk) 20:09, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Exporting videos - sync problems

I've created some short videos using Movie Edit Pro (MEP) - just stuff I downloaded from my DV camcorder with a few on-screen text captions and editing of the original footage to cut out some bits. This plays fine within MEP but when I try and export the videos with the intention of putting them on YouTube, I am having problems.

YouTube says it wants MPEG-4 videos with MP3 audio so I go to File > Export as AVI and select one of the various codecs I have. If I use DivX, it generates an AVI file with '0 seconds' of content, so when you press play, nothing happens. When I use the Microsoft MPEG4 codec, it generates OK but the quality is quite poor and there are sync issues. With XVid, I get good quality video and sound but the audio is way out of sync with the video - I'm not talking a few milliseconds but literally 2-3 seconds out.

What is the problem here and can anyone suggest a way of getting these videos from my computer onto YouTube? I am reluctant to go away from MEP as I would have to edit the videos again if I used a different application. In any case, last time I looked there weren't any decent freeware video editors. I'm not sure MEP is the problem anyway, as I have used it fine in the past. Is it something to do with the codecs? I have downloaded the latest versions of both XVid and DivX. Is it a problem with my computer? As I said, I have exported videos fine using this machine, MEP and DivX before. Is there any way I can export the MPEG-4 files despite them being out of sync and then 'fix' them in another application?

My tech spec: Pentium Dual Core @ 2.40 Ghz, 1Gb RAM, Drive C: 75Gb total 6Gb free, Drive D: 158Gb total 4Gb free (both partitions on the same HDD), ATI Radeon X6150 512Mb RAM, Creative Audigy Platinum sound card.

Now I mention it, I've just realised that my HDDs are almost full...would that have an impact on exporting the videos? Thanks in advance for any suggestions. GaryReggae (talk) 17:49, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Youtube uses h264 with AAC for the higher quality formats. More importantly Youtube is able to handle many different compression formats internally. If you had just wanted to cut out parts I would recommend you just use a good editor (like VirtualDub) which generally won't require much recompression. But if you want to add fixed captions you're probably going to have to recompress (although it depends, if you just want to add a few parts here and there you may be able to do it with minimal recompression) however I would recommend you use the same compression format which your original video was in (combined with a high bitrate) which will usually minimise quality loss, unless there's really a reason not to (like the file is too big for you to upload). Failing that, I would recommend x264 instead of XViD. BTW, when do you notice this sync issue? You may want to try playing the file with VLC or just uploading it to Youtube if you haven't already to see if the sync issue is not just a problem with whatever player you are using. Of course you could also export to WMV or whatever you're comfortable with if all else fails, there's a good chance it will work. Note that whatever you upload, Youtube will almost definitely recompress it for all the versions they make available. Nil Einne (talk) 21:44, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Pop goes the TV

My TV has external speakers which make a loud pop when I turn it on or off. What causes this, a voltage spike ? Is there any cure other than turning the volume down before I turn the TV off ? StuRat (talk) 23:37, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Is it a CRT television? If it is, it might be as simple as giving it a good clean out, years of dust accumulation can cause issues like this. I've personally resolved similar issues just by cleaning out the insides of old televisions. This can also cause strange picture anomalies like when you get just a white line across the screen or when the picture clicks on and off rapidly when you 1st turn on the tv. That's the 1st thing I'd try since it's quite simple and essentially free to do. However DISCLAIMER you must ensure you are familiar with the dangers of CRTs before attempting anything like this, it's very dangerous and potentially lethal if you go touching things inside a CRT television because there are high voltage capacitors involved, even after you unplug the tv from the mains. So if you've never taken apart any appliances and aren't familiar with electronics seek the aid of someone who is. I know I probably didn't have to explain that to you Sturat.. Vespine (talk) 02:18, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

It is an old CRT TV, so dust accumulation is likely. However, I don't think it's worth the risk from those capacitors to open it up and clean it out. Also, how exactly does dust cause the pop ? Does it accumulate a static charge, which then discharges to the speakers ? StuRat (talk) 12:39, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Loudspeaker pop is common in many devices - there's what seems to be an understandable explanation here [10] (need to know about capacitors) - there are circuits that prevent this pop effect - I don't know much about those eg http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=anti+pop+circuit&meta= 77.86.115.45 (talk) 03:08, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Is there any way an anti-pop circuit can be added between the TV and the external speakers, or would I have to rewire the TV and/or speakers ? StuRat (talk) 12:57, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

TV ouput would need rewiring - though I think a (passive) switch between TV and speakers would work - simply switch off the speakers using the passive switch before turning on or off the TV - this is the way it seems that internal anti-pop circuits work in principle.

(I have a popping speaker too - and though its not perfect - I've come to accept that the pop is not actually damaging to the system - even though it sounds like it is..)77.86.115.45 (talk) 13:12, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

May 21

Faux Tibetan font

Does anybody know where I can find a faux Tibetan font? One along the same lines as http://www.dafont.com/alhambra.font, only for the Tibetan script instead of Arabic? 64.179.155.63 (talk) 01:31, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

LapTop battery

I'm sure this question was asked million times before, but what is the best way to use ion-litium battery so it keep its performance for long time?--Gilisa (talk) 09:46, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

LapTop battery (lifetime)

What is the lifetime of a Dell laptop battery? --Extra 999 (Contact ^me + _contribs) 11:38, 21 May 2010 (UTC)