Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing

Welcome to the computing section
of the Wikipedia reference desk.

skip to bottom

Select a section:

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

Want a faster answer?

Main page: Help searching Wikipedia

   

How can I get my question answered?

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

Ready? Ask a new question!

How do I answer a question?

Main page: Wikipedia:Reference desk/Guidelines

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

See also:

• Teahouse
• Help desk
• Village pump
• Help manual

July 21

Is it bad to standby a computer too often?

For example I'm going to take a 20 minute break. Should I put the computer on standby? Or should I just keep it on? Is it bad to always be doing that?--75.185.120.28 (talk) 05:28, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Do whatever you want to do. I'd personally just leave it on. In general the whole argument about turn off/leave on is overblown and not worth debating. But you really shouldn't be turning your computer off and on all the time (as far as most of your components care, standby is shutoff) --mboverload@ 07:19, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

In standby the hard drive will stop so to the hard drive, as mboverload said above, standby is the same as shutdown. This means that each time you enter and exit standby mode, the hard drive has to go though the start cycle which if done many times might lower its lifespan. Personally I wouldn't put the computer to standby, but then again I haven't tuned my computer off for 2 years (except for 30 second reboots) so maybe I'm not a typical user... 82.43.90.93 (talk) 09:27, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Does 20 minutes of use degrade the components more or less than a shutdown and restart cycle? This is not an easy question to answer without data. Here's a good article on interpreting the statistics: "Disk failures in the real world: What does an MTTF of 1,000,000 hours mean to you?" Nimur (talk) 19:59, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

GIMP versus Photoshop

If GIMP is so good and available free then why at all is Photoshop still in business ?  Jon Ascton  (talk) 07:02, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

It's not as good as Photoshop. Literally, there's no need to answer any further than that. --mboverload@ 07:20, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Indeed. I've used both GIMP and Photoshop, and Photoshop is definitely far superior. Theleftorium ^(talk) 07:24, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Even if Gimp was as good as Photoshop, even perhaps if it was better, many people would still use, and still pay for, Photoshop.

• For a creative professional, learning to really use Photoshop takes literally years, and the cost in productivity to them from changing to another system that does thing in different ways would be very great.
• Similarly there's a training and documentation infrastructure built up for Photoshop
• There's a huge ecology of Photoshop related software like plugins
• Most importantly, Photoshop files are the lingua franca for many creative professionals' interchanges - they expect to be sending one another Photoshop files that they guarantee work and look identical on others' machines. To the extent that this isn't true for Photoshop (nothing's perfect), experienced Photshop professionals know the gotchas to look for.

For any software system (free or not) to replace an entrenched incumbent it has to overcome all of these obstacles. That's a task at least an order of magnitude harder than simply producing a product that's of comparable quality and capability as the incumbent. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 12:07, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Also, for the short term, people who are using Photoshop now have already purchased Photoshop (it's a sunk cost). It's not expensive vs. free, it's (no additional cost) vs. free. (Although Finlay's points come into play when they consider upgrading.) -- 174.24.196.51 (talk) 16:58, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

But you'd almost surely not go from, say, Photoshop CS3 to GIMP (as opposed from CS3 to CS5 or whatever they are up to). For an experienced Photoshop user, GIMP is really retrograde. It's not so much the things like filters (which GIMP does okay at), but the elaborate ways Photoshop (and all the newer CS products) let you set up very sophisticated and reliable work flows both within applications and between them. Photoshop also has an army of professionals trying to improve its interface and its capabilities with every release, to give people a reason to upgrade. The GIMP as I've seen it lately looks pretty identical to the GIMP I saw three years ago—still the same stubbornly annoying interface that is dissimilar from all other graphics programs, more or less the same capabilities. (As someone who just spent a lot of time learning Blender's stubbornly annoying interface, I have come to appreciate how nice it is that all of the Adobe products are synchronized in appearance, hot keys, etc.) --Mr.98 (talk) 18:32, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

On the flipside to Finlay's point, I, as someone who has invested a lot of time into learning GIMP, would not switch to Photoshop even if I was given a free copy, unless my needs were to change in such a way that it was an absolute requirement. I don't deny that GIMP falls short in quite a few areas (the lack of proper CYMK support is a deal-breaker for creatives working in print), but it is on par or superior in others. AJCham 19:36, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

In my less ethical days, I made use of pirated software. I haven't for some time now, but it's a phase I went through. I had the latest PhotoShop... the latest everything, for that matter. Yet for graphics stuff, I still made use of Jasc Paint Shop Pro and I ended up uninstalling PS because I never used it. It's not that PSP was better, it's just that I already knew how it worked. For complex programs, that ability to almost work it with your eyes closed is invaluable. I still maintain that what killed WordPerfect was when they switched all their function keys around (though not entirely of their own volition). Matt Deres (talk) 20:34, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Ah yes, I remember (legal) Word Perfect. In fact I still (perversely) configure Microsoft Word to use a few of Word Perfect's keyboard shortcuts. Habit persists! Dbfirs 07:23, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

But that's exactly what I'm talking about. PS and the other Adobe products have really tried for the most part to keep consistent keys and to use fairly intuitive key assignments. You want the "Hand" tool? Press H. You want the "Marquee"? M. Paste and copy are standard V and C. You know, simple, obvious stuff. I compare that with, say, Blender, which has totally idiosyncratic key assignments that vary depending on context. ("X" either means, "delete this" or "constrain this action to the X axis." Cause, you know, that key with DELETE written on it wouldn't have been more appropriate for the former!) The point is, the goal of the whole Adobe Creative Suite at this point is that you learn one set of skills and concepts and it works across all of their programs. For a guy like me, who uses Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign pretty much simultaneously, that's pretty important. Juggling the different interfaces and compatibility between GIMP, Inkscape, and whatever the free InDesign equivalent is, is a huge pain. The open source community is deliberately fragmented, all drawing little territorial lines around themselves, all very proudly claiming their UI ideas are the best, all blindly holding to the mantra that "once you learn the interface, you'll wish all programs were like this!" and so on. In short, it's what happens when you let engineers design interfaces without managers. ;-) Too many engineers is a problem, just like too many managers is (Cf. Microsoft). --Mr.98 (talk) 13:59, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Virus

Is, this virus warning real ? http://www.gimpdome.com/index.php?topic=1500.0 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jon Ascton (talk • contribs) 08:30, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

What virus warning? --Ouro (blah blah) 09:02, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

I too see no virus warning. You might want to check your machine for viruses and malware. Astronaut (talk) 14:03, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps OP was talking about the "This site may harm your computer" warning Google search sometimes throws up, many times on sites which are not harmful at all, and then later the warning is removed as it was in error. 82.43.90.93 (talk) 16:20, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Or, if you ever see a banner ad saying your computer has a virus, that is a scam. A server showing you an advertisement can not possibly know whether your computer has a virus or not. (Well, it is possible to imagine a situation, but not in practice.) 88.112.56.9 (talk) 19:40, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

What does this error mean?

Resolved

I have recently installed Eclipse on a spare laptop running Fedora and it works OK. Today, I thought I would try using the laptop through Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection so I can make use of my Vista machine's larger screen and nicer keyboard and mouse. After some trouble getting the remote connection to work at all (install and configure the xrdp daemon, configure the firewall and SE Linux settings), I now have the remote connection working in glorious 1920x1080 high def. However, when I start Eclipse, I get the following (lengthy) error message:

Error message from Eclipse

VM terminated. Exit code=-1
-Xms128m
-Xmx512m
-Dorg.eclipse.equinox.p2.reconciler.dropins.directory=/usr/share/eclipse/dropins
-XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/eclipse/core/internal/dtree/DataTreeNode,forwardDeltaWith
-XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/eclipse/jdt/internal/compiler/lookup/ParameterizedMethodBinding,<init>
-XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/eclipse/cdt/internal/core/dom/parser/cpp/semantics/CPPTemplates,instantiateTemplate
-XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/eclipse/cdt/internal/core/pdom/dom/cpp/PDOMCPPLinkage,addBinding
-XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/python/pydev/editor/codecompletion/revisited/PythonPathHelper,isValidSourceFile
-XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/python/pydev/ui/filetypes/FileTypesPreferencesPage,getDottedValidSourceFiles
-Djava.class.path=/usr/lib/eclipse//plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.0.201.R35x_v20090715.jar
-os linux
-ws gtk
-arch x86
-showsplash /usr/lib/eclipse//plugins/org.eclipse.platform_3.3.201.R35x_v20090813/splash.bmp
-launcher /usr/lib/eclipse/eclipse
-name Eclipse
--launcher.library /usr/lib/eclipse//plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.gtk.linux.x86_1.0.200.v20090520/eclipse_1207.so
-startup /usr/lib/eclipse//plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.0.201.R35x_v20090715.jar
-vm /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk-1.6.0.0/jre/bin/../lib/i386/client/libjvm.so
-vmargs
-Xms128m
-Xmx512m
-Dorg.eclipse.equinox.p2.reconciler.dropins.directory=/usr/share/eclipse/dropins
-XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/eclipse/core/internal/dtree/DataTreeNode,forwardDeltaWith
-XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/eclipse/jdt/internal/compiler/lookup/ParameterizedMethodBinding,<init>
-XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/eclipse/cdt/internal/core/dom/parser/cpp/semantics/CPPTemplates,instantiateTemplate
-XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/eclipse/cdt/internal/core/pdom/dom/cpp/PDOMCPPLinkage,addBinding
-XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/python/pydev/editor/codecompletion/revisited/PythonPathHelper,isValidSourceFile
-XX:CompileCommand=exclude,org/python/pydev/ui/filetypes/FileTypesPreferencesPage,getDottedValidSourceFiles
-Djava.class.path=/usr/lib/eclipse//plugins/org.eclipse.equinox.launcher_1.0.201.R35x_v20090715.jar 

Eclipse still works OK on the Fedora laptop even while the remote connection is still active, but it is squished into the cramped laptop screen. Any ideas what causes this error and how to fix it? Thanks. Astronaut (talk) 11:50, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

That's not an error message, that's just the list of command line option used to start the program. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 11:52, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

The first line says "VM terminated. Exit code=-1". The Eclipse development environment doesn't appear, nor do I get the questionabout which workspace to use. Astronaut (talk) 11:58, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

A quick googling suggests there are several things that can give that error. See if any of those suggestions help. 88.112.56.9 (talk) 13:19, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

In fact, I think I've managed to solve this myself. When I ran Eclipse from a terminal, I got a different error message: /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk-1.6.0.0/jre/bin/../lib/i386/client/libjvm.so: cannot enable executable stack as shared object requires: Permission denied According to this page, such errors are caused by the shared object requesting an "executable stack" and SE Linux again stepping in to prevent it, even though "executable stack" are rarely actually required. By entering the following command (as root): execstack -c /usr/lib/jvm/java-1.6.0-openjdk-1.6.0.0/jre/bin/../lib/i386/client/libjvm.so, I can now start Eclipse, though I am unsure what imapact that will have later.

TBH, most of my problems so far have been caused by SE Linux stepping in to prevent some apparently risky activity. It seems like a bigger menace than Vista's much loathed UAC. Is there any compelling reason to keep SE Linux running? Astronaut (talk) 13:47, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

I have found SE Linux to be both less effective and more buggy than default linux / unix permissions. The greatest advantage is that it can support hardware cryptographic signatures, like the Trusted Platform Module chip, or some SSL hardware accelerator cards (though SELinux is not required for these hardware). However, it is so often incorrect or overbearing in its protection-mechanisms, that it is widely known to create insecurity - because it must be manually circumvented - Security-Enhanced Linux describes some of these complaints. Set your file-permissions properly; if you have sensitive data, encrypt it; and if you have very highly confidential data, carefully control physical and network access to the machine. SELinux does none of those things. The few things that SELinux actually does, like control access to certain .so files (breaking Eclipse and the JVM, in your case), often interferes with normal use-cases that are non-security-breaches. If anyone for any reason can come up with a legitimate need to control access to an .so file, then I would recommend placing it in an encrypted user-space file-system with properly-managed user and group permissions. Nimur (talk) 17:01, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

distance and signal strength relation in wlans

according to various sources (e.g.[1] pg3.)the APs with stronger RSSI are generally closer to the client. i want to know to what extent this is true. like out of say 100 APs sampled to be nearest to the mobile node at different points of time what percentage are likely to be having the best signal strengths?? any help would be great. thanks. --scoobydoo (talk) 15:20, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

You can read about multipath interference to learn about the greatest pitfall to this method of distance-estimation. The other unknown is the source signal power - but if we can assume that every "consumer-grade" access-point is transmitting omnidirectionally at a known power level, then there is a strict 1/r² falloff with distance. This is compounded by atmospheric effects, interfering objects/walls/vegetation, and of course multipath interference (which is difficult, if not theoretically impossible) to solve. Nimur (talk) 17:05, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Understanding C++ code

I have a C++ code which is spread over many files (it is RADONUMBERS on this site). Is there a website where I can someone can help me understand the whole code (and take payment for it in return for his time). Thanks-Shahab (talk) 17:39, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

That's not much code! Just 1103 lines total. It's also barely C++ (since there's just the one eq.cc). I don't know about any established "code mentor for hire" site, but you ought to be able to buy that amount of help for a candy bar if you know the helper. I'll tell you for free that the only interesting bits as far as the code goes (I didn't try to understand the mathematics, except that I noticed it was using random numbers) are that it's generating a small amount of machine code dynamically (the gen* files; you have to arrange to include the appropriate header file for your architecture when compiling gen.c) and that eq.cc is just a simple parser. --Tardis (talk) 18:39, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

And for what it's worth, the author explains it as well: "It determines, given k and j, the minimum integer N such that any 2-coloring of [1,N] admits a monochromatic solution to x+y+kz=jw." If this explanation isn't sufficient, maybe our coloring problem article can help. Nimur (talk) 18:43, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Timezone Databases in Javascript

I want a simple Javascript function that accepts a city/location and a UTC-date as input, and returns a correct UTC offset for that timezone during that date (compensated for daylight-savings-time, regional changes, and so on).

I have a simple JavaScript clock that accepts a location and spits out a time, corrected for timezone offset. Unfortunately my implementation of time-zone is a direct lookup-table between city-name and UTC offset. I was going to add some time-zone changes for daylight-savings time, but I know that this is not easy. Modern time-zone handling programs are really complicated. In Java, I would just create a Date object, and I know and trust its internal giant database of every time-zone/DST corner-case in the world (Taipei had no daylight-savings-time from 1979 to 1980?)... Similarly, in C or C++, I would query the operating system's timezone database. But I need this program to run in Javascript in a web-browser. I want to be able to input a city (or a "locale" or a "zone" or whatever), and obtain a current, accurate UTC offset for that city. Is there an easy way to do this in Javascript? Can I query some operating-system database? Is there an easy-to-use web service that I can query? Nimur (talk) 18:41, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Same question with some good-looking answers here. --Sean 18:46, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

From that link, I got to EarthTools.org... it provides exactly the service(s) I need. And I don't even have to wrap my requests in some bloaty JQuery or SOAP framework! Thanks for the help. Nimur (talk) 19:53, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

No prob. I just googled "time zone web service". --Sean 21:55, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

My algorithm is as follows:

• Calculate the daylight saving time changes. To do this:
  • Set your Date object to the latest possible date for the change. (Example: first Sunday in October, use October 7. Remember the gotcha about JavaScript month numbering.)
  • Assuming the correct changeover date is a Sunday (most are), look at the number of the day of the week (Sunday = day 0, this is default JS weekday numbering) and set your Date object back this many days. Remember to use the functions GetUTCDate, GetUTCDay, etc.
  • Handle Saturday changeovers by pretending that they happen on the following day, and then subtract 1 day.
• Use comparisons to see whether necessary to make a DST adjustment, and if necessary, make it.

75.41.70.185 (talk) 09:48, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

tor

In Tor I specified "ExcludeExitNodes" and an ip address in the torrc file but Tor is just ignoring this and using it anyway. This is extremely annoying, why won't it obey ExcludeExitNodes? "ExitNodes" and "StrictExitNodes" settings are working fine, it's just ignoring ExcludeExitNodes 68.44.168.121 (talk) 19:19, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

July 22

Quad-Socket 128GB RAM Server

   I am looking for a server with the following characteristics. If anyone knows of a rackmount server which meets these criterion, please let me know.

1. Accommodates four Intel eight-core or AMD twelve-core processors.
2. Accomodates 128GB of DDR3 ECC RAM (with a speed of 1333MHz or 1066MHz) in either eight, sixteen or thirty-two DIMM slots.
3. Operates or is certified to operate on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 HPC Edition.
4. Consumes a maximum of 1,200 watts or preferably less.
5. Consumes only one or at most two units of rackspace.

   Thank you to everyone in advance. Rocketshiporion (talk) 06:06, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

I don't think any such system exists yet. High-performace IBM System X may be able to deliver 96 GB; they will soon be able to deliver 192 GB as soon as 16-GB RDIMM memory is available. SunBlade X6000 series, the top-shelf from Sun (rather, Oracle, now), still fails to meet your spec. SGI Altix'es are probably way out of your (or anybody's) price-range; but they offer 96 GB per 2U, and can chassis-stack up to 3 2U's in one 6U chassis. Your additional constraints are going to be pretty impossible - a 2U server with 4 Nehalems may be a thermal impossibility, so few mainstream vendors will even attempt to build one. You might try some of the smaller system-integrators who could customize a system board and chassis for you. (Also, just in case you're unaware, such a system, if it becomes available in 3Q or 4Q 2010, will not be cheap. Have you considered node-level parallelism as a cost-effective alternative?) For perspective on how "not cheap" we are talking, the server links I have sent you do not have prices on the websites. Instead, they have a telephone number you can call, and IBM or SGI will send a sales-man to your corporate office to discuss procurement with you, should you wish to actually buy. Nimur (talk) 23:18, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

I think the Supermicro 1U SuperServer 8016B-TF meets your requirements. But be warned that it probably is way out of anybody's price range. The HP BladeSystem BL680c G5 Server also meets most of your specifications, except that it comes in a blade form factor, so you have to buy the enclosure and interconnects to support it. This option is good only if you plan to deploy a HPC cluster of such servers, as the cost (although I don't know how much it costs) would be prohibitive for a single server - configurable models for the server alone have a base price of US$7,102.00! Elspetheastman (talk) 06:05, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

SuperMicro definitely has some servers like that, including an old DDR2 model that you can get pretty cheap. See also penguincomputing.com's Altus 1804 for a 4-socket 1U AMD box that can accomodate 32 DIMMs. With 6-core CPUs and 8GB DIMMs ($$$$) that would be 256GB and 24 cores. See also pogolinux.com's AMD servers. 67.122.211.208 (talk) 09:10, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

I think I found what you're looking for - what you want is an Amax H1202 Server (which supports four AMD Opteron 6000 Series 8-core or 12-core processors) or an Amax X1401 Server (which accomodates four Intel 7500 Series 4-core, 6-core or 8-core processors). Both of these are 1U servers, they both have 32 DIMM slots (8 DIMM slots per processor) and one x16 PCI-E 2.0 card slot, and they both use a non-redundant 1400-watt Power Supply Unit. But what Nimur said still holds true in terms of the price of these two servers; they would both be out of anybody's price range. Here's a thought - why not use two dual-socket servers with 64GB each of RAM; especially since Linux doesn't cost anything whether you install it on one server or ten. Might I ask what version of Linux you're planning to use, and by the way what is/are your intended application(s)? Elspetheastman (talk) 12:20, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

I intend to use Microsoft Windows Server 2008 HPC Edition, not any type of Linux. Thank you for the links to the Supermicro 1U SuperServer 8016B-TF and to the Amax homepage. The links to the H1202 and the X1401 both lead to an enquiry-form, not to product information. As for the Altus 1804, it doesn't say anything about being compatible with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 HPC Edition. Rocketshiporion (talk)

The board will run Windows (as will any Xeon or x86_64 board); but I'm not sure if any version of Windows Server, including the HPC edition, can support that much RAM. Nimur (talk) 23:54, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

I checked, and the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 HPC Edition supports a maximum of four processors and 128GB of RAM. Rocketshiporion (talk) 12:56, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Not wishing to be patronising, but if you have a rack constraint requiring your spec being 2U maximum, surely you should replace an old device in the rack (or buy an additional rack) and buy something like an HP DL585 G7 (4U) ? Seems to tick all your technical boxes otherwise, is from a 'proper' manufacturer (I'll leave that up to people's opinion of HP as an enterprise vendor to determine how 'proper' they are ;) ) and has the fully redundant components you would surely want in this type of server? (I read the Amax comment above with interest until the 'non-redundant 1400 watt power supply' comment!) It will not be cheap, of course, but cost was not in your listed criterion ;-)

Ooh, check out the Dell PowerEdge R810 Server It's got 32 DIMM slots supporting up to 512GB of DDR3 1066MHz ECC RAM (with 16GB DIMMs - gee, that's a lot of RAM!), supports four eight-core Intel processors, has two redundant 1100W power supply units and five x8 PCI-E 2.0 slots, and it also accomodates up to six 2.5-inch SAS/SATA HDDs or SSDs. And it takes up only 3.4 inches of rackspace...Elspetheastman (talk) 13:53, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Windows Picture & Fax Viewer vs. Win7 Photo Viewer

Is it just me or does the Windows 7 "Windows Photo Viewer" seem a lot clunkier than the old XP Pic & Fax viewer? Zooming in on pics in WPV is very blocky whereas P&FV zoomed smoothly, and so on. Any way to get it back in 7, or otherwise tweaks to WPV in 7? Thanks!

As far as I know, P&FV is a WinXP component. It is not available in Win7. Attempting to copy the files will not work, as it uses a DLL file "shimgvw.dll", which will not work in Win7. See here for some alternatives..  A p3rson ‽ 02:05, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Google translate errors

Given the number of times this comes up [2] I have tried to create a simple section expanding on the types of errors google translate makes.. Google_Translate#Translation_mistakes_and_oddities

However despite being a common topic on the internet I'm having trouble finding non-blog references to this, or references that cover this topic in simple fashion. Does anyone know of articles that are suitable for referencing/explaining this behaviour. (or please expand/fix article yourself) Thanks. 77.86.76.47 (talk) 02:33, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps GT had not yet been subject to thorough scientific examination. Please consider that it is not a true translating machine, rather a statistical translator, as our article states in its lead section. A scientific analysis of this instrument would be like comparing target efficiency of a particular gun to the targeting efficiency of rain. --Ouro (blah blah) 08:07, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Why would statistical machine translation not be a suitable area for scientific study? I don't follow your logic. Warofdreams talk 14:01, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Try searching on Google Scholar for "Google Translate" and "machine translation" - there are a large number of relevant studies. Warofdreams talk 14:01, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Realted Image Search

Hey, I have an url of an image and I want to search for all the related images. How can I do that ? 218.248.80.57 (talk) 11:40, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

One idea is the use Tineye at http://tineye.com to show images that contain or are part of that image. ALternately try the url in Google and see what you come up with. On Wikipedia a what links here click may show where it is used. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 12:23, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, but Tineye couldn't find it. Feeding the url to google search doesn't match anything. Anyways, thanks you gave me a pretty useful site !218.248.80.57 (talk) 13:08, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

If you post it here or some other popular place someone might have more information. --Sean 15:16, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

LinkedIn raiding my emails?

I recently joined the social networking site LinkedIn and have since received a couple of emails asking me if I would like to link to a couple of people. They have helpfully suggested some people that I might like to link. Their suggestions are of people that I know. So this must mean that LinkedIn has read through my email list and found people on LinkedIn, so they can suggest them. Is this legal? Ooops sorry didn't mean to ask for legal advice. I mean, are they allowed to do this? What are the rules surrounding this type of thing?91.109.244.67 (talk) 13:25, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Well, for one, you don't know if they've raided your e-mail lists or the other peoples' lists. You also may have given them access without realizing it—a lot of sites these days do the "give us your e-mail info and we'll get your address book!" shuck (which I personally detest). But my suspicion is that it's the kind of thing that after joining for awhile they'll ask you if you want to integrate your e-mail list in, and then store that info. They probably did that with the people who they've suggested and had your e-mail on file just waiting for you to sign up.

There's also the possibility it isn't e-mail based at all; that it's just a very clever algorithm to detect who you might know, based on where you work and things like that. I don't know. There are limits to how clever such a thing can be, but in general predicting social networks is not that hard if certain things (like school, employment, city, etc.) are known.

But in general, no, they aren't allowed to hack into your e-mail account without your permissions, of course. (Though it should be noted that the specifics of what is illegal and whether this alleged activity would be considered illegal depends a LOT on jurisdiction.) BUT they almost certainly didn't do THAT, and got the contacts voluntarily either from you (without you really paying attention to it) or from the other people. --Mr.98 (talk) 13:42, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

My guess is that it's the opposite actually. That other folks who have signed up and have attempted to "link" with you providing your email address when looking for you. Now that you have signed up using an email address that's been searched for, it makes the connections so they as well as you don't have to. Tuxhedoh (talk) 13:54, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

I'm guessing that I missed a button and allowed them access. The people in question are people that I hardly know but happen to have in my address book. They wouln't try and add me (a couple of them are people who have shunned/avoided me in the past), and they are also connected with my type of work so LinkedIn must be doing some kind of work to figure out who is already there and might be connected to my kind of thing.91.109.244.67 (talk) 14:03, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Remember, this is what LinkedIn does, it looks at your companies, looks at your job description, and attempts to connect you with peers you may not even realize are in the same job/industry as you. They do a good job with it too. Tuxhedoh (talk) 14:08, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

It isn't possible to give a web site access to your address book by accident, unless you happen to store your address book online with the same company that runs the web site in question. -- BenRG (talk) 04:37, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Dell D630 - Touchpad does not move the mouse cursor

Windows XP - Dell D630 - Synaptics Touch Pad driver installed- and updated.

The system tray icon that shows the movement of your finger on the touchpad registeres movement. The scroll feature of the touchpad works on any window with a scroll bar. The double click works even. But it never actually moves the cursor on the screen. An external mouse works with out problems, and I've replaced the palm-rest/touchpad and it continues to happen. The touch stick in the middle of the keyboard works without problems. I have done many google searches and have not turned up much. Does anyone have any ideas? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tuxhedoh (talk • contribs) 13:32, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Sorry to suggest something really obvious, but have you restarted? I recently updated the Synaptics driver on an older Dell laptop and I think I also had a frozen mouse cursor, but the problem went away, so I threw up my hands for the tenth time that day and stopped looking for answers. You might contact Synaptics and ask for some tech support because the update stopped the mouse from moving. Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:22, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Yep this is a newly imaged laptop and we noticed the problem before we updated the driver. It's been rebooted several times, as I actually replaced the palmrest/touchpad. Tuxhedoh (talk) 21:30, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Could be a borked driver— delete the device and the driver, scan for new hardware and reinstall. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 22:01, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

For a definitive hardware test pop in an Ubuntu DVD (free!). It will load a Linux operating system into RAM and let you test the mouse completely outside of Windows. It will not modify your computer in any way. --mboverload@ 01:43, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

So instead of Ubuntu, I moved the HD into an identical shell, effectively swapping all the hardware but the HD. Same behavior...I'm convinced it's a software problem, that I'm probably going to "re-image" in order to resolve. Tuxhedoh (talk) 17:51, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

Did you try turning the touchpad on if it's off? --mboverload@ 01:35, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

What's wrong with my Computer?

Please expand and see the picture given on side. This is happening to all my menu based Windows progarms (Wordweb.exe and MSPaint are shown in this screenshot) - you can see ugly white rectungular backgrounds behind all menu-captions as I have marked in red. I am sure this is some malware etc. that has somehow sneaked into the system (No, I have almost no defences etc. ) The OS is XP. I am sure deleting a couple of files will set all things right. What which ones ? That's where I need your help. Thanks  Jon Ascton  (talk) 15:19, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

You have tried restarting right? 15:22, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Of course. That's the first thing I did. Did'nt work... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jon Ascton (talk • contribs) 15:36, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Come on. Is this for real? We aren't psychics. If you think it is malware, download some anti-malware software and give it a scan. We can't tell you "which files" it is to delete from a screenshot alone, if that is even the problem. If you are worried about malware, get some "defences etc." Don't waste our time with guessing games when the first step towards a solution is obvious to you. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:48, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

I've seen this many times on Xp, sure it's not a virus - one thing to try - go to control panel>>system>>advanced tab>>performance (settings button)>>visual effects .. and from there check that you have visual effects turned on. (Try changing it and press apply) - It's a common bug in XP that some programs get confused about visual effects (more typically trying to use visual effects when they are turned off, or turning them on in-effectively).77.86.76.47 (talk) 15:51, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

If you have already rebooted, your other options are "Retry" and "Reinstall". I have not updated my Virtual MCSE for a while, but it does cover XP. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 15:52, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

I really doubt this is malware. Doing something simply odd like this is a stretch for a joke/nuisance virus, and we hardly get any of those any more. Just something wrong with your theme/colour scheme, that's all. If you're worried about security, think about AVG Free, or something like Kaspersky Internet Security, if you're a heavier user. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 16:03, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

From the screenshot alone, I'd have to guess your color settings are too low (32 maybe, not "true color"?) 82.43.90.93 (talk) 16:04, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

I think it's this issue http://forums.cnet.com/5208-6142_102-0.html?threadID=229696 - as above - try resetting your theme to a standard type. also see [3] 77.86.76.47 (talk) 16:12, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

You were perfectly right ! It was bad adjustments (perhaps happened on their own - virus) I followed the links you provided and got to a site that described the exact problem. Did what they say. Now it's OK. The exact solution is actuallyhere Thanks, folks...you see we did'nt exactly waste time as 98 thinks... Jon Ascton  (talk)

Resolved

what is "pc decrapifier"

what is "pc decrapifier" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.15.144.204 (talk) 19:16, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

It is a slang term for a program that removes "crap" programs from a computer, such as spyware, trojans, and the like. -- kainaw™ 19:19, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps CCleaner (formerly Crap Cleaner). ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 19:25, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

This may also refer to the "Dell Decrapifier," which was a program originally created to be run on a brand new machine (Dell machines, in popular culture) that usually come loaded with bloatware, trailware and other pieces of software that the user typically does not need. Some of these run in the background and slow that machine down. See here --rocketrye12 ^{talk/contribs} 21:05, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Rocketrye12 is correct. 66, you should know that most people familiar with computers never boot a computer from the store with the pre-loaded operating system. They just load Windows or another OS from CD to avoid the crap that comes preinstalled.

I very much doubt that most people, even those familiar with computers would go to such lengths. Along with the crapware, many PCs these days come with useful stuff like Office, DVD players, and so on; stuff that you would normally have to pay full retail price for if it wasn't pre-loaded. By all means remove the crap, but to completely reinstall the OS just to avoid the crap is an expensive and long-winded step too far for the vast majority of PC buyers. Astronaut (talk) 11:21, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

When I said experienced with computers, I meant people really experienced, as in computer enthusiasts. --mboverload@ 19:34, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

See also: Crapware. Mitch Ames (talk) 08:55, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

Aside from being a slang term, there is an actual program called PC Decrapifier. PrinzPH (talk) 18:44, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

ethernet hub

This is kinda detailed and involved, just a warning. Also this gives some background info on the situation. Ok, so I'm having trouble with my new ethernet hub. My computer (Windows 7) has two ethernet ports, one for the internet and one spare. I connected the spare ethernet port to the hub, and then connected a second computer (Windows XP) to the hub as well. Everything worked perfectly, both computers had the internet, I could map network drives, it worked beautifully. BUT, I don't want both ethernet ports on my Windows 7 computer in use at the same time, because it disrupts audio for some reason, I can't run some programs because they don't know which port to use, and I sometimes use the spare port for something else. So, I have now connected both computers directly to the hub, and then connected the internet ethernet cable into the hub as well. My Windows 7 computer has internet access, but the Windows XP computer doesn't. I can't map its drives over the network, and it displays "limited or no connectivity" on its desktop. What have I done wrong? And how can I make it work in this setup? Thank you for your help 82.43.90.93 (talk) 21:42, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

What is the brand and model of this hub? ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 21:58, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

"OfficeConnect dual speed hub 16" 82.43.90.93 (talk) 22:02, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, a hub does not provide routing. So, what is actually surprising is that either computer has internet connectivity, when you have set up that way. (This means that your cable-modem is "smart" and saved state about what MAC address it was originally connected to - but every packet is causing collisions, and your XP computer is gracefully ignoring them all, resulting in "limited or no connectivity"). You have connected your hub as if it were a router or a switch, even though it is not. As a result, your modem sends traffic to all connected devices, and your Windows 7 system is correctly handling this traffic; and because your XP system is not malicious and is not even responding to (what it perceives as) spurious network garbage, "everything works" for the Win7 system. Here is a short rundown of your options (keep in mind that in every case that uses the hub, it is connected to the modem through a device that acts as a router):

• Replace the hub with a network router (do not even use the hub)
• Add a router, network bridge, or network gateway to an uplink port (actually, any port) of your hub, and connect both computers to the hub
• Use the Windows 7 system (with its two ports) as the network router, and do not even use the hub (direct-connection to the WinXP box)
• Use the Windows 7 system as the router, connect it to the hub, and connect the WinXP box to the hub.

Really, the most straightforward network setup is to place a router at the top level of your network; then, if you even need the hub, connect it downstream. Most routers now also include a network switch built-in to their box, so you have 4-5 ports to connect computers to; if you use this arrangement, the hub is redundant unless you have dozens of machines to connect. If you don't want to buy a router, you will need to set up one of your computers as a software-router (by using Windows internet-connection sharing, or some other system like NetBSD or Linux that can provide DHCP and routing services). Also note that adding a hub will slow down network traffic when two computers are using the internet simultaneously (because it increases collisions, requires retransmits, and so forth). Also, note that if you can't trust computers directly-connected to your hub (this includes the computer inside your cable-modem), then the hub represents a security-risk, because it broadcasts all traffic to all connected machines. Nimur (talk) 22:06, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

I think I understand. The problem is that using both ports on the Windows 7 computer, although everything works, causes problems with some programs which spew errors if I have both ethernet ports enabled at the same time. I previously tried using a Netgear DG834 modem router as you suggest to connect the computers, but it didn't work (see here for the thread I made about it). 82.43.90.93 (talk) 22:16, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

If your description of symptoms is accurate, then the problem is actually not with your hub (your original setup was correct, using both ports of the Win7 problem). But the symptoms you describe indicate some sort of driver-trouble or performance shortcoming of the Win7 system when both network ports are in use. Regarding the audio noise: sharing an internet connection requires some CPU resources (not much, but if your system is marginal already, this might push it over the edge); and it's also not unheard of for signals to leak noise onto your soundcard (EMI). Regarding programs that complain: most programs should just request a TCP socket to whatever server they want to connect to; and Windows should know enough to route it through the correct IP (ergo, through the correct network interface and thus the correct physical wire). But if you're doing weird things, some programs might not be using the right IP (and end up on your "internal LAN" instead of having access to the internet). Maybe you can elaborate on your win7 system's network card(s), and which programs are complaining about connectivity? Nimur (talk) 22:49, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

If you connect either PC to the Netgear modem-router using an ethernet cable, and point your internet browser at http://192.168.0.1/, are you asked to sign-in to the router's web interface? If it works for one PC and not the other, I would suspect the PC's network card is either broken, its drivers corrupted or some combination of settings on the PC is preventing a connection from being made. If both PCs fail to connect, it is also possible the modem-router is faulty (or the power is turned off!).

Assuming both PCs are able to connect to the modem-router, you should be able to enable file sharing on both PCs. If the internet is not working, you will need to set up your connection using the router's web interface and the instructions provided by your ISP. Astronaut (talk) 11:11, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

July 23

Graphical/Visual Programming Languages

Can I have some good, free general purpose graphical/visual programming languages for Windows that are used to develop programs in a fashion similar to the dataflow methodologies of LabVIEW/Lego Robolab or Quartz Composer (even thought Quartz Composer is used to develop animations and the like)? --Melab±1 ☎ 01:32, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

While I don't think this is really what you are looking for, it's something - Scratch 199.67.140.44 (talk) 12:56, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

There's a list at visual programming language with a number of free ones. --Sean 15:37, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

TaskManager

Why does "TaskManager has been disabled by Administrator" happen ? I think it is some virus mischief, and what is the remedy ?  Jon Ascton  (talk) 02:05, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Some files have automatically come up on my harddisk. When I try to delete them I can't. It says "Access Denied. Make sure the files are not write-protected or currently in use ". They are .dll. What should I do ?

It's Defense Center problem

If someone else administers the computer, that person might have disabled Task Manager. If it's your own computer and you didn't disable Task Manager, it's probably malware. Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing/Viruses has some suggestions. -- BenRG (talk) 04:43, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

It could be your system administrator, especially if this is at work or college. However, I've seen this exact message and it was some malware (that turned out to be rootkit based and very difficult to remove). Other symptoms were redirecting many Google search results to other sites, sometimes pornographic, with a very vague connection to the search term (about 1 in 3 times I would end up somewhere unexpected). Astronaut (talk) 10:08, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Accessing very lost pages.

How can you access on old page that does not have a cached copy on any search engine and is not on the Wayback Machine? jc iindyysgvxc (my contributions) 06:53, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Probably your best bet would be to try an contact the owner of the website, it's likely they will have a backup copy of their site somewhere and could email you the specific page if they're kind 82.43.90.93 (talk) 09:37, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

In many cases you simply cannot. The up-side of internet distribution is that it is incredibly easy to send a page around the world. The down-side is that often there is really only one permanent copy of it from which all distribution is based. The web has a nasty habit of being permanent when you'd rather it was ephemeral; ephemeral when you need it to be permanent. --Mr.98 (talk) 11:17, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Electronics for digital watch

I am not sure if I am posting this question in the right place, or even if the Reference Desk will be able to answer it. At the very least, I am hoping to be directed to a better forum for this sort of question.

I have seen many digital watches with very different physical appearance but seemingly identical behavior. To me, this constitutes strong evidence that the electronics in one were simply copied to make the others. Why such a variety (and I have seen a wide variety) of case and display designs for what is inside really the same watch is beyond me.

Let me tell you what I can remember offhand:

• The watch has stopwatch and alarm. From the time, pressing the "mode" button once gives you the stopwatch, twice gives you alarm set mode, three times gives you time set mode. If you go into stopwatch mode and use the stopwatch, though, pressing "mode" again will give you the time rather than going into alarm set mode. Similarly with alarm set mode: if you use this mode, then pressing "mode" will give you the time again (normal time display, that is) rather than putting you in time set mode.

• The watch can be set to 12- or 24- hour mode, but only in this funny way: in time set mode, set the hours. They will cycle thus:

   12 A, 1 A, 2 A, ..., 11 A, 12 P, 1 P, ..., 11 P, 0 H, 1 H, ..., 12 H, 13 H, ..., 23 H, and back to 12 A
   ^--- AM hours ----------^  ^--- PM hours -----^  ^--- 24-hour clock ----------------^

• • The above is, I think, more than anything else, is the defining characteristic of this chip design.

• The watch has date and day of the week, but no year. The calendar correctly allows for the lengths of the different months, except (I believe) for February of a leap year. (This is not really a defining characteristic, as other watches are often like this.) Besides the alarm, it also has, I believe, hourly chime.

Does this chip design have a name? Why is it so common? (It is really not a good design: too easy to go into time set mode by mistake.) Who invented it and when? (I think it's at least 20 years old now.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.35.97.35 (talk) 07:14, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Yes the design will have a name (or at least a product code) - chips are saleable to different watch manufacturers - so it's quite likely that different manufacturers bought the chip. I can't identify the chip though.77.86.82.77 (talk) 13:56, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

The question is a little historically obscure - if you don't get an answer here it may be worth contacting one of the many vintage LCD watch sites - these being collectable now there probably are some experts out there on the web.83.100.252.126 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 00:21, 24 July 2010 (UTC).

Go to your favorite department store, and go to the section with the cheap digital watches. Play with the watches. You will likely find some of these. 75.41.70.185 (talk) 03:38, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

As to why such a variety of case and display designs ...: it's because a watch is a fashion accessory as well as a timepiece. Mitch Ames (talk) 08:52, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

logs

do websites have to keep logs of visitors by law? or can they keep no logs at all —Preceding unsigned comment added by EIPI55563 (talk • contribs) 10:16, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

You might find the Telecommunications data retention article instructive; it talks about data retention by ISPs rather than by websites themselves. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 10:20, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

File destruction

I am looking for a (hopefully) open-source application that would produce something like Data erasure but only in the physical portion of one file. Tipically, something that produces now in Windows (Vista) what the kill command achieved in the old Norton Utilities package, many years ago. My web search has pointed me onto this site, which is not open-source, for sure. And that awful red color, it makes me wonder... Anyway, any suggestions welcome. Pallida  Mors 17:41, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Eraser 1230049-0012394-C (talk) 18:02, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

That's precisely what I was looking for. Thank you for your prompt answer!Pallida  Mors 18:18, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Back button difficulties

I asked the question last week so it's in the archives now at [4] on the Computing Reference Desk and [5] on the Village Pump.I'll find it later.

I have IE8 and Vista.

Sequence of events:

1. Turn on computer, sign in after it boots up, and click on blue e. 2. Click on Yahoo mail button at the top of the screen. 3. Sign in to email. 4. Go to my inbox. 5. Click on pointless email from Facebook, delete it. 6. Click on other pointless email and delete it. 7. Next email contains links. Click on one, opening new window. 8. Click on another, opening window where I am now. 9. Click on third link to very long Wikipedia page. 10. On very long page, click on section link. 11. Click on my contributions link from other page I clicked on. 12. Click on link to Reference desk. 13. Click on link to computing reference desk. 14. Click on link to ask a question, where I am now. 15. Send that question so as to prevent edit conflicts. I'll use a notepad to record the rest and type it here. 16. Edit where I have made errors.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 17:42, 23 July 2010 (UTC) 17. Go back to email, click on inbox. 18. Click on one which contains information I want to post on Wikipedia. 19. Click on "reply" so I can use it as a notepad to record more of my activities and delete what I post.. 20. Go back to my reference desk post, click on first article I intend to edit, which is short and unlikely to cause the problem. 21. Edit that article. 22. Sign in to a site unrelated to Wikipedia for which I clicked on a link. 23. Click on a link within that site. 24. Click on another link within that site. This site doesn't cause problems, so it's unlikely to be contributing to the problem. 25. Saved my Wikipedia edit by mistake, went back to fix it (at some point I clicked twice by mistake and got an edit conflict). 26. Clicked on my contributions, saw that no one had added to the Computing Reference desk. 27. Clicked on one article I added to for which my contribution was not the last (no apparent problem there). 28. Clicked on backALT-left, worked fine. 29. Clicked on Miscellaneous Reference Desk section to which I contributed. 30. Norton was scheduled to do a scan but couldn't because software is outdated; popup message unlikely to affect anything; new software has been scheduled to do scan an hour later. 31. Clicked on backALT-left, worked fine. 32. Clicked on history of article I contributed to. 33. Clicked on backALT-left but forward button disabled this time. 34. Clicked on backALT-left and was sent to history I just looked at ... well, THIS is interesting. 35. Clicked on backALT-left and was sent to article I just contributed to. 36. Clicked on backALT-left and was sent to that article's edit screen--or more precisely, "edit conflict" since somehow I clicked twice. 37. Clicked on back and went to a regular section edit screen. I need to change something anyway. 38. Saved that edit, edited lead section. 39. Clicked on backALT-left four times, ended up where I was before. 40. I should mention I clicked on links in a site unrelated to Wikipedia, but this probably had no effect on anything. 41. Clicked on backALT-left again and ended up at the top of the Computing Reference Desk (okay, after checking, that is where I was). 42. Clicked on "Skip to Bottom", lost forward button. 43. Edited to add these developments. I should add that all this will eventually go on Microsoft forums people have suggested. I have made an important discovery in the above list.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:16, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, but what actually is your question? I tried looking back in the archives/your contributions to what you might be referring to, but I gave up (someone else might be more successful though) and the link you gave in 10 doesn't have your name anywhere on it (searching for Vchimpanzee). Given the subject and what you've written, are you talking about not being able to use the "Back" browser button in Yahoo which I've seen you bring up many times before? (this from October 2009 is one example). Put simply if you're using the "new" Yahoo mail, the back button doesn't work due to how they've coded the site and there's nothing you can do to change that except switch to "Yahoo Mail Classic" or move to another email provider. Sorry I can't give you a better answer than that. ZX81 ^talk 18:21, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

This question has been brought up so many times, it's very surprising the OP still has not managed to explain the problem clearly and succinctly. As ZX81 has mentioned, your "back button" may be disabled because the Yahoo Mail is using Javascript to disable it. Either switch email providers, disable JavaScript, or put up with the "feature." Nimur (talk) 18:28, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Adding to my own post (you'd only written up to 16 when I first wrote my reply and got an edit conflict), anytime you click a new link you will always lose all your "forward" history, that's just how it works. Back/forward are a sequence of pages, but they're only valid for moving between themselves. Once you start visiting other pages by clicking anything other than back/forward then you've changed the sequence and the buttons will start to use the new sequence. Hope this is of some help. Sorry if I'm still not understanding your question, but there just doesn't seem to be any sort of question statement anywhere in what you wrote. ZX81 ^talk 18:30, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

VChimpanzee: please read Wikipedia:Reference desk/How to ask a software question, and rephrase your question. Clearly, your current approach(es) reposting the same problem are not working - we don't know how to answer you, because you have not properly stated your problem. Nimur (talk) 18:36, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

44. Clicked on another article I intend to edit.

45. Edited article.

46. Discovered typo after I already saved edit.

47. Fixed it.

48. Checked to see if Wikipedia had an article on one topic mentioned in my edit; it didn't.

49. Clicked on backALT-left until I reached the article I edited with the mention of a redirect under the title; I had typed a name which resulted in a redirect, and the last time I clicked the forward button was gone.

50. No, wait. I got an edit screen for the article. I have said before if the forward button disappears, the back button will give me what the forward button would have.

51. Added the new developments. No, this is not Yahoo. They told me it was Javascript and couldn't be fixed. This is Wikipedia and if you look carefully, you'll see the nature of a possible bug in the history function which I discovered because I made this list. One of these days I'll copy this list on a Microsoft forum. Let me go to Deepwater Horizon oil spill now and see if I find the other problem.

53. Edited twice to reformat.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:36, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

VChimpanzee, I really appreciate that you are being meticulous, but this is way too much for us to follow, because you have not told us: At what step did something unexpected occur; what exactly occurred; and what was the behavior that you had thought would occur? Comet Tuttle (talk) 19:02, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

I'm getting to that. Here are the remaining steps.

54. Clicked on my contribution history

55. Clicked on article I contributed to where mine was not the last edit, found nothing wrong

56. Clicked on backALT-left

57. Clicked on next page of contribution history

58. Found "You have new Messages" and clicked on "last change"

59. Clicked on talk page of person who sent me new message

60. Edited that person's talk page

61. Clicked on link to Deepwater Horizon oil spill

62. Discovered no link to Bonnie and clicked on section edit link for "Short-term efforts"

63. Clicked on preview

64. Discovering red link, clicked on "Tropical Storm Bonnie (2010)" which showed up thanks to Ajax when I typed in the search box

65. Having been redirected, improved the redirect

66. Clicked on backALT-left until I reached article that I changed redirect to; now that it redirects to a section, forward button has disappeared

67. Norton is scanning but popup is unlikely to cause a problem

68. Clicked on backALT-left until I reached edit screen for Deepwater Horizon article again, sent

69. Found grammatical problem in same section I didn't like, edited, sent

70. Found a reference problem in the same section, edited, sent

71. Forgot to check entire reference, sent

72. Clicked on history of that article

73. Compared selected versions to see what vandalism had been done

74. Clicked on backALT-left, repeated step 73 for another edit

75. Clicked on backALT-left twice, the second time I ended upthe computer scrolled down to the section I edited and the forward button disappeared

76. Clicked on backALT-left several more times but even though the computer scrolled down to the section, the forward button did not disappear

77. Repeated step 76

78. Clicked on backALT-left again

79. Clicked on backALT-left again

80. Clicked on backALT-left again, scrolled down to section, forward button has not disappeared again

81. Clicked on backALT-left and ended up on the talk page, went to my contributions from there

82. Clicked on page 2 and then continued to work my way back until I found what I was looking for; clicked on backALT-left several times but forward button disappeared before I had done anything other than click on back

83. Went back to the reference desk and added these final steps. A possible IE8 glitch that I can now report on the Microsoft forums I have been told about took place in #33, #34 and #49 and #50. In steps #75 and #82 I had the problem I've been trying to get the answer to so many times on the computing referecne desk and when I can figure out how to explain it I can report it on the Microsoft forums,but I've seen this with long emails before IE8.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:43, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

This is it. If anyone can figure out what I should tell the Microsoft forums, I'd appreciate it. But I don't know how to explain it any better than this.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:49, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

I tried reproducing some of your steps and of course didn't see the forward-history disappear as you sometimes see, as you mentioned - if I understand correctly - in step 33. Certainly this is a situation where directly observing you would be much easier than trying to get a list of steps as above. A few times you mention the page scrolling down. Is this as expected, or no? I keep wondering whether there is something wrong with the keyboard of the library computer you are using; if the computer thinks you're holding down the space bar or the Ctrl key or the Enter key, or many others, then unexpected, inexplicable behavior like this will occur for sure. Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:15, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

No, I'm at home. And I'm pretty sure I'm not doing anything strange. I am holding down the ALT key and pressing the left arrow when I say I'm clicking on Back. And ALT and right arrow for forward. I fixed some numbers. Somehow I must have made a typo and didn't notice, and I forgot that it takes two steps to completely reproduce the problem. I think I state it's the computer that does the scrolling down when that happens, and that may be important. The steps in #75 and *82 are not specific to IE8 since I've seen the problem at libraries.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:26, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

I quit recording my steps, but I clicked on "Back" several times working my way back through the edits here and the forward button disappeared several times.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:28, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

News flash! I saw the problem that Vchimpanzee has been talking about for so long! Hallelujah! Using IE8 under XP, I edited WP:SANDBOX, clicked a link to Mamluk, clicked a link to Levant, hit alt-left-arrow, and went to Mamluk as expected, but the Forward button icon turned gray rather than blue, indicating there was no forward-history; then when I went Back (unsure whether it was clicking or alt-left-arrowing) I ended up at Levant! I'll try to get a better repro history; I failed to reproduce it in 2 subsequent attempts. Vchimpanzee, this is a wild guess, but I would wager that the problem involves the use of the alt-arrow keys, because the Alt key does other things; maybe you could try clicking the Back and Forward icons for a while instead of the alt-arrow combinations, and see if you see this problem again. Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:58, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Well, this is interesting. Maybe all this discussion finally got some results. Thanks. The ALT key solution is just one way to keep me from using the mouse so much. I don't have a lot of room to move around and it's just easier. I bought too small a table and it would mean banging into the keyboard all the time.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 21:10, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

I queried the Technical Village Pump asking if Wikipedia's use of AJAX might be interfering with IE8's alt-arrow navigation; this is just a stab at the question; I still don't have a reliable repro case. Vchimpanzee, did you say that you also see this problem sometimes purely within the Yahoo website (without any Wikipedia windows or tabs open) as well? Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:19, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

I was told when I asked Yahoo that it's Javascript and it's working the way they intended, which is not logical to me. I should mention if it is using the ALT key that's a habit I won't be breaking. I do it without thinking, just as I don't even think of it at libraries where I can move the mouse freely. although other shortcuts like ALT-S when submitting I gave up when I got a mouse pad, which didn't come with the machine. The table I bought was too rough for the mouse to work well on it, and that's how I got started using the shortcuts.

And I have to rejoin the real world now. I actually got very little done today but I've got other things to do that don't involve computers.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 21:30, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

The reason the back button doesn't work on yahoo mail is because you always stay on the same page, but that page is dynamic, its content is changed using javascript, so it appears like you are going to another page. A good example is Wikipedia's live preview feature: the traditional preview reloads the page with the preview, the live preview gets the preview in the background and inserts it into the page. Yahoo mail does something similar. It is possible to make the back-forward buttons work with this too (gmail does it), but Yahoo's programmers were apparently too lazy to do it. -- Nx / talk 08:25, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

That part Yahoo told me about. This isn't about that.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 17:19, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

I haven't gotten any answers so far from Microsoft's forum. One person said to reinstall IE8. That's not going to happen. The is a minor yet annoying glitch, but reinstallation is too much trouble and could mean more problems. The people on that forum had real problems.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 17:50, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

torrent

do any other torrent sites beside the pirate bay actually work anymore? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomjohnson357 (talk • contribs) 18:19, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Yes, loads. Try isohunt.com 82.43.90.93 (talk) 18:27, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

It's not a matter of "sites" working; it's whether a particular torrent tracker is alive, and also whether and seeders remain on that particular torrent. There are hundreds of millions of active torrents at any given time, and many hundreds of thousands of valid live trackers. Torrents are by their nature decentralized, so it's impossible to provide a complete list of active ones. Here's an incomplete list: public trackers. Websites like PirateBay aggregate lists of trackers, including a subset of trackers that they host on their own servers; but any particular tracker may be alive or dead at any given time. Nimur (talk) 18:32, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

what are some sites that sill host torrents like the the pirate bay does? sites like isohunt.com dont anymore. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomjohnson357 (talk • contribs) 18:38, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Well, if you look at the isohunt.com, it is pretty clear that they have changed their policy in order to try and comply with US copyright law. The Pirate Bay has notoriously flouted such laws and repeatedly changed jurisdictions as a means to evade them. --Mr.98 (talk) 21:35, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

My understanding from a quick look at the page and also searches is only US users are affect by the filtering. So use a non US-proxy, even Tor mostly/sometimes (if you end up with filtered results try again in 1 minute), should help you get around any filtering if that concerns you. Note that isohunt has never AFAIK been a tracker (if that's what you mean by 'host torrents') they've always primarily functioned as a search engine for torrents tracked on other sites (although they do have/host a copy of the torrent file, usually with all trackers they're aware of). Even isohunt 'releases' which I believe are only a small minority of what they index don't use isohunt as a tracker AFAIK, they are just things people personally uploaded (and first released?) on isohunt.

BTW, beyond the existing the questionable ethics of downloading whatever it is you are downloading that is filtered (although I'm not suggesting their filters are perfect) which perhaps SB will stick a word in; be aware if the US courts (or isohunt themselves) determine the filters are not effective because most Americans are circumventing them they may either punish isohunt more or force the filters for everyone, in other words your risk making things worse for others who don't live in countries that have required such measures.

Nil Einne (talk) 05:55, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

ok, and what are some other sites like The Pirate Bay —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomjohnson357 (talk • contribs) 00:56, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

whats tor? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tomjohnson357 (talk • contribs) 19:23, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

It allows a certain degree of anonymity as you browse the world wide web. See Tor (anonymity network) for a fuller treatment. Kushal (talk) 01:24, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Although the primary purpose for Tor here is to get around the filtering. I presume the filtering is by IP so if you get an exit node that isn't in the US you should get the non filtered version. From a quick test, it appears to work (well I don't seem to end up on the lite version and can see things I presume filtered) although I don't live in the US and can't be bothered finding a US proxy so have no idea what it's like for Americans anyway. I should mention it's obviously possible the Isohunt webmasters could choose to filter all Tor exit nodes if they are concerned about Tor being used to circumvent filtering for Americans. Nil Einne (talk) 07:42, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

IBM

The IBM article states: "The company which became IBM was founded in 1896 as the Tabulating Machine Company by Herman Hollerith, in Broome County, New York (Endicott, New York or Binghamton, New York), where it still maintains very limited operations." I looked at the Tabulating machine article but it gives no indication that the tabulating machine is still used today in "very limited operations". What exactly is meant by this? 82.43.90.93 (talk) 19:01, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

The name of the company used to be "Tabulating Machine Company". It maintains limited operations in Broome County, NY. -- kainaw™ 19:03, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

(edit conflict) "where" means a place, in this case Broome County, NY. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 19:03, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

"It" refers to "IBM", which still has (among other things) its payroll processing center in Endicott. "Tabulating Machine Company" no longer exists. I have disambiguated this detail in the article. Nimur (talk) 20:27, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Thin Client issue driving me nuts

I'd like to re-use an old PII-333 as thin client. I have a FreeNX server that I would like to connect to. Up to now, I was using the NX client software from "fat" clients (both Linux and Windows) to connect to the server, and this works just fine.

What's driving me nuts, is finding a suitable stripped-down Linux distribution. I've tried PXES, Cult, and ThinStation, neither seem to work the way I want them to work.

What I need is:

• localization (non-US keyboard layouts)
• basic LPR printing (I have a functioning LPRng config file that I'd like to re-use)
• X-server
• NX client
• some sort of minimalist window manager for the NX login screen
• a mechanism that fires up the X-server, window manager and NX login screen right after the boot-up process has finished
• SSH access so I can log in remotely to change/update files.

If you're not familiar with FreeNX/NX client, just assume "Windows Terminal Server" instead of "FreeNX" and "rdesktop" instead of "NX client", the problem remains the same.

Given the availability of such complex solutions like ThinStation, I'm surprised there's no FAQ for a seemingly simple approach like mine. Or maybe I'm looking in the wrong places? -- 78.43.71.155 (talk) 19:29, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

July 24

Power Supply Failing?

Hey guys, i've been having some computer issues lately and i thought it wouldn't hurt to get a second opinion. The past couple of days its been running a lot slower than it normally does and it would randomly shut off. Music would sometimes stutter when playing and so would the windows start up sound & just be generally slow all around.

I think im pretty experienced with computers at this stage (always more to learn though) so i rarely get viruses anymore. I scanned using AviraAntivir & Checked for spyware using super antispyware and it came up with nothing. I can't find any strange processes running either. So I'm fairly sure its not that. I don't have a spare XP CD lying around and my burner isnt working (died ages ago never bothered to buy a new one) so i can't really burn one and i can't get someone else to burn one or borrow one untill monday but i really need to be able to use my computer before then to study for something comming up.

(I should probably add it might not be the best powersupply. After my old antec one failed after 3 or 4 years, i went in to buy another antec one but the guy didnt have the one i wanted in stock. He managed to get me to buy any old one... some brand i never heard of .. "master" or something. It didnt concern me much at the time because i was more concerned about getting my computer to turn back on again, i made sure if there were any problems with it i'd be able to bring it back. (This was about a year ago) (All my other components are quality but are getting abit old 3-4 years but theyre all quality names intel...seagate..corsair..gigabyte)) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.181.80.198 (talk) 03:52, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

So, does it sound like the powersupply or do you guys have any other ideas? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.181.80.198 (talk) 03:45, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

A failing power supply can cause your computer to restart, but would never make your computer run slowly. By restarting, do you mean it displays a blue screen and then restarts, or just restarts without a blue flash or anything? If you right-click on My Computer and choose Properties --> Advanced --> Startup and Recovery and uncheck "Automatically restart" it should show you a blue screen when it restarts next time. If there is no blue screen, then my guess is that it's a power-supply issue. If there is a blue screen, tell us what it says.

As for running slowly, I bet that you have some programs starting automatically that don't need to. If you go to Start --> Run... --> msconfig --> Startup you will see many of the third-party programs that start automatically. Google them to see which ones you can shut down.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 04:06, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

Stuttering audio and overall slowness makes me first think that you're low on RAM, possibly due to some new software you have installed. To check current RAM usage, start the Windows Task Manager with ctrl-alt-del, then click the "Performance" tab. Are you almost out of memory? Comet Tuttle (talk) 04:31, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

I keep my services and program start ups rather clean. It wasnt always this slow before so i doubt it was this, its just in the past couple of days. I reduced program startups and such to what i need for it to just run though. It doesnt bluescreen. It just turns off then back on and shows the bios screen like it normally would when turning on.

Not low on ram, i have a healthy reserve of a physical 2gb according to task manager and more in page file.I've also checked all the fans and connections and cleaned out any dust i could find. It's not overheating the temperatures are fine and its a rather good case and cooling setup.Thanks for all the ideas thus far guys. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.181.80.198 (talk) 04:39, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

I have seen failing daughter cards (e.g., NICs, graphics cards, etc.) both slow a computer down and cause it to restart. The slowness comes from CPU utilization via IRQs. The process named "System" sometimes shows high CPU utilization or the task manager's performance tab shows high CPU utilization. Inside the task manager, under "Performance," if you go to View --> Show kernel times, it will tell you how much CPU time is taken up by the kernel. Since hardware interfaces with the kernel, high kernel CPU usage can be an indication of a failing daughter card. Another indication may be question marks placed next to devices in the device manager (Start --> Run... --> devmgmt.msc).--Best Dog Ever (talk) 06:03, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

Could still be malware, perhaps hidden from the OS (including Task Manager) by a rootkit. Astronaut (talk) 12:08, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

XBox 360 data storage

Was it a real Xbox 360 hard disk?

Or was it a hard disk like this?

My son needed a hard drive to store game data from his XBox 360 games, so I lent him mine. I just tried to back up my digital photos onto it, and it appears to have been reformatted. Is this a standard feature of the XBox? Is the data recoverable, or lost forever? Hemoroid Agastordoff (talk) 15:00, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

I'm slightly confused. The official Xbox 360 hard disks are from Microsoft and they look like this. The unit clips onto the side of the Xbox. Inside the sealed case there's a 2.5" hard disk. Did you lend him this type of hard disk? If so, moving it to another Xbox does not reformat the drive. A regular hard disk (see the bottom photo to the right) can't be attached to an Xbox unless maybe you're using some sort of hardware hack. Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:47, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

The hard drive I had was an external type in it's own case, which connects to the XBox though a USB port. It had been connected to my computer's USB port. Hemoroid Agastordoff (talk) 16:59, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

The Xbox360 does appear to support USB mass storage devices such as USB hard drives [6] [7] Xbox 360 accessories#USB Storage Devices including for game profiles and the like since April this year. It seems standard that it will remove content if isn't already set up for the Xbox 360 but per the screen shot in the first link and simple logic, it should have warned your son of this. Some recovery may be possible, it depends somewhat how lucky you are and whether a copy of filesystem can be found. Nil Einne (talk) 07:36, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

It might be possible to salvage the data on the hard drive with a program like Recuva 82.43.90.93 (talk) 21:39, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

July 25

Laptop not booting every time

I have a HP dv5 laptop that's seen about one year of use now and for quite a while I have been having a problem booting up. It will usually take a couple of tries, when turned on, the splash screen appears, after this, sometimes the grub menu will load if is booting correctly, otherwise the screen just stays blank and it hangs there (no beep sequence). I don't know if it's just wishfull thinking but it does seem to boot more easily when it has only been hibernated as opposed to turning it off completely, and loading the BIOS and simply going to Exit>Saving changes seems to yield better results. As I said, thats probably just wishfull thinking. Especially since some googling suggested that it's probably a hardware related problem.. Any ideas? Benjamint 01:19, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

You didn't mention what OS(s) you're running.--mboverload@ 01:32, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Vista Benjamint 06:24, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Use the Vista CD to repair the startup procedure. Any particular reason you're using Grub? --mboverload@ 05:47, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

My first ever computer was a Windows 3.1 portable "lunchbox" computer (similar to the one in this pic but bigger, less advanced and with a garish orange monochrome screen) which I bough for £1 at a jumble sale. At first I thought it didn't work because when I turned it on always froze at the start of the boot sequence, exactly like the problem you're having. Presumably the sellers thought this too which is why they sold it so cheep (although it was way outdated even then and wasn't worth more then £1 anyway). Long story short, I discovered that quickly turning it on then off before turning it on for a second time made it boot normally. I have no idea why it did this, I only know that unless you did the special on then off then on again trick, the thing simply would not boot. 82.43.90.93 (talk) 10:41, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Free spreadsheet with nameable cells

I'm looking for a spreadsheet where the columns are easily sortable. This means that the normal convention of refering to cells by their row and column position will not work. Therefore, are there any free spreadsheets where the cells are named instead? Thanks 92.29.122.159 (talk) 12:35, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

The usual way of creating a spreadsheet where the columns are easily sortable is to give each column the name you want in its first row; so A1 contains the word "First Name", B1 contains "Middle Name", C1 contains "Last Name", etc.. When you sort the columns, you do so by row 1; and you make sure not to include row 1 in any other sorting or manipulation you perform. A spreadsheet without row and column position notation sounds like an awful idea, to be honest. If you could describe what exactly it is you are looking to do, we might be able to help further within the constraints of Excel and OpenOffice Calc. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:16, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

A spreadsheet without numbers sounds a lot like a functional programming language to me. From what I understand, finance institutions are known for growing huge, unwieldy spreadsheets, and then (sometimes) switching to doing everything in a language like ML instead, so it's not an unknown connection. Paul (Stansifer) 04:49, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

I think Quantrix and the other spreadsheets linked from that article do not use the A1 convention. 92.15.0.178 (talk) 20:23, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Reducing file size of PDFs

Can anyone recommend some free software to reduce the file size of PDFs please? Including changing from colour to monochrome. Thanks 92.29.122.159 (talk) 12:40, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Have you tried just compressing them? WinRAR, 7zip can do this 82.43.90.93 (talk) 13:26, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

If you don't want to compress them, you could just recreate them by printing the page to something like Cute PDF Writer (free), but this isn't an elegant solution, especially if there are many pages. (ADOBE have editing software but you probably have to pay for it.) Dbfirs 16:22, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Question (Quick Response Code)

Resolved

What is this and what is one meant to do with it? 82.43.90.93 (talk) 13:30, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

It's a QR Code. It encodes some information, and what you'd use it for depends on the information. I don't know the Google chart API very well, but in this case it looks like its encoding a URL (in this specific case, the URL of an executable file) as a QR Code. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 13:37, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

And indeed you can paste the URL of a QR Code (or upload the image of one) into this online app and it decodes it for you. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 13:39, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Thanks 82.43.90.93 (talk) 13:41, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Here's the QR code on the Google Code download page it came from. If you hover over the image it explains it's a "File download URL". Presumably, the QR codes seen on Google Code download pages are meant to be photographed and decoded by mobile phones to download files. --Bavi H (talk) 00:46, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Hi, I've changed the title of your post from "Question" to "Question (Quick Response Code)", so that it is more meaningful.

wget

Is there a way to make wget download all the html files first when mirroring a site, before downloading the images? 82.43.90.93 (talk) 17:04, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

I'd run it twice: the first time using --reject gif,png,jpg,jpeg so that it doesn't download files with these extensions, and the second time using --no-clobber so it doesn't redownload files it got the first time. —Korath (Talk) 17:31, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

"Joining" graphic files

Seems simple in concept: say I have 8 JPEGs and want to join 1.jpg through 4.jpg horizontally, then "add a new row" by joining 5-8 below them. I have searched for software (preferably command-line) that will perform this, without luck so far. I'm not looking for fancy algorithms involving stitching, but simply want to produce one large graphic canvas by joining a variety of smaller files horizontally. Any recommendations? I prefer command-line because ideally I'll be automating this as much as possible. Thanks, Riggr Mortis (talk) 21:44, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

I'm almost certain that ImageMagick's "montage" feature will do this (although it might need three calls) from the command line. I'll check the exact syntax momentarily. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:46, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Ha, I just landed on ImageMagick as well.[8] Seems my Google-Fu was not up to snuff last time around. There's a bit of a learning curve there so if there are any other (single-purpose) options around I'm still ears. Riggr Mortis (talk) 21:55, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

ImageMagick is very powerful, but the documentation for it can be a bit daunting. I didn't find the main doc very useful, but that pointed me at this which is just the ticket. Accordingly I think you need to say:

             montage -tile 4x -geometry +1+1 *.jpg OUTPUT.jpg

or

             montage -tile 4x -geometry +1+1 1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg 4.jpg 5.jpg 6.jpg 7.jpg 8.jpg OUTPUT.jpg

The tile option puts them into rows of 4, the geometry option puts a single pixel between them horizontally and vertically (I think if they're all the same size, and you give +0+0 as the geometry, then you'll get a perfect tile). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:01, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Works perfectly. I was wondering about the simplest way to avoid specifying every file name. Wildcards work; "tile*.jpg", but I'm not clear yet if that will "sort" them in the proper numerical sequence (likely not; perhaps if the filename numbers are zero-padded it might). I don't see anything yet in the page you linked that provides for this sort of logic. With potentially a few hundred small files, I wonder if I would have to create the command line in Excel... :-) Hopefully not. Thanks, Riggr Mortis (talk) 22:13, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

If you were using Linux (etc.) you'd just say montage -tile 4x -geometry +1+1 `ls *.jpg | sort` OUTPUT.jpg (and specify whatever arguments you needed to to sort to get the ordering you wanted). I don't know what you'd do on the CMD.EXE command line to get the same (and last time I did serious scripting on Windows, which was a long time ago, there were horrible limitations as to the maximum length of command line arguments, even if you built them with a script). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:30, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Actually ls has its own sort options, which are probably better than using an external sort, but as it seems you're using Windows, that's probably cold comfort, so I'll not rub in any further salt. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:34, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Made it this far, but stumped by the file input order. I have 180 images named sequentially, "000.jpg". It processed the first half of them in order, apparently by coincidence, because the bottom half runs into trouble. There's got to be a way... yes, in "DOS", or in the program itself. You can pipe input on the command line I believe, but I'm not sure if it would work in this context. Riggr Mortis (talk) 23:47, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Never mind, it may just work. My file numbering (dealing with a jig-saw puzzle) appears to be the problem. Riggr Mortis (talk) 00:06, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

For the record, the wildcard "*.jpg" works fine regarding sort order. My preferred naming convention was "00-00.jpg" (row, column), and that worked. Either Windows provides the filenames to the program in standard sort order, or the program sorts them. Thanks for your help. Riggr Mortis (talk) 00:28, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

For the (same?) record, Windows does have rudimentary shell scripting these days; the for command should be able to help you with sorting if the default doesn't work. Type "help for" at the command line to see the options. (Writing this on Vista but it should be in WinXP as well. Probably not in pre-NT, though.) Jørgen (talk) 15:30, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

26 July 2010

Rackmount Voltage Transformer

   I am seeking a voltage transformer with the following characteristics. Does anyone know of a suitable product?

1. Converts voltage from 110V-120V to 220V-240V and vice versa.
   The option of stepping-up or stepping-down should ideally be selectable via a switch, lever or button, and the output-voltage should be selectable by using a knob.
2. Is rackmountable, and preferably consumes no more than six units of rackspace.

   Thank you to everyone in advance.

It is more common to buy individual power supplies for each rack-mountable system that can accept either 110 or 220 V. Some require flipping a switch, while others automatically detect and compensate. Alternately, you could buy a rack-mount UPS. See, for example, this KIN-1000APRM that can accept either 110 or 220 input and can output either. Nimur (talk) 04:31, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

I currently live in Singapore (which is a high-line country), and I have three machines/appliances in my rack with their own individual 230V Power Supply Units, as well as one Uninterruptible Power System. My specific intent is to be able to continue using my rack equipment without replacing the individual PSUs or the UPS when moving to a low-line country such as the United States or Canada. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rocketshiporion (talk • contribs) 04:43, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

0db level

http://i26.tinypic.com/vp956a.jpg where is the volume knob position for the 0db level here? on my knob its not marked what db levels it represents so its not quite obvious to me how much to turn it up to get to the 0db level thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.26.241.251 (talk) 10:07, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

turn off wireless

If I got a laptop with wireless inside it, can I completely disable all wireless signals from it without physically opening the machine up and removing the wireless component? Does simply "disable hardware" in control panel shut it off (I mean absolutely fully shut off, as in cut all power to the wireless component, not just saying it's off but it still might transmitting random signals) 82.43.90.93 (talk) 10:58, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Many laptops have a manual switch that turns off all wireless communication. If yours has, then this is the simple way, but if not then "disable hardware" should work (though I haven't tested this). Dbfirs 12:22, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear in the question, I know there are switches to turn it off, but does it actually really turn it off? Because every laptop I've seen will still report the status of the wireless component when disabled, it's version numbers, manufacturer name etc so there must be communication between the computer and the wireless component, thus the wireless component must still be receiving power, so might still be emitting signals even if they're gibberish and not accessible by other computers. 82.43.90.93 (talk) 12:58, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Such a manual "kill-switch" could shut power off to the radio, or to the entire wireless controller peripheral unit (including the radio and its controller). It's more likely that it shuts off power to the RF circuit, rather than the entire peripheral, so your computer can still talk to the wireless card (though it will not be possible to send data, or even to override the analog kill-switch and turn the RF circuit back on, in most cases). So, a laptop with one of these "external" switches is probably safer if you need to guarantee the radio is actually, physically off (and not just in in a "no-data" software mode). Even if that is the case, your laptop may be transmitting RF power at other bands, in the form of EMI noise - so if you really want to be technical, you need to specify an acceptable power-level at all frequencies below which you consider the device to be "silent". If you were to plot the spectrum of a laptop's emissions, you would typically see some noise at around 60Hz from its power supply unit; some noise at around 20 to 100 MHz from its display; more noise around 300 - 1000 MHz from its digital interconnects, disk drive, memory bus; noise at the memory- and CPU- speed, and a big burst of power (probably much more power than any of the previous noise) at the 2.4GHz band (or other bands) if you are using wireless radios like 802.11, BlueTooth, or a wireless mobile broadband system. Most of those components are not intentionally transmitting RF power; and for the most part, the signal levels are very low; but if you need to guarantee that your laptop is not transmitting anything, be sure to consider non-WiFi interference. Nimur (talk) 16:31, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

'any' and 'in' keywords in sql

what's the difference? t.i.a. --217.194.34.103 (talk) 13:50, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

This explains it. --Sean 14:08, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

According to this in practical terms they differ primarily in how they work with negation (e.g. NOT IN vs. <>ANY return different results). --Mr.98 (talk) 14:09, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Exporting Java Project so it can run without eclipse

I've tried exporting it as a runnable jar file, and it runs fine except for one thing. I have some images in the src folder that, when the project is run in eclipse, appear on screen correctly, but when it's from the jar, they don't display at all. Am i supposed to export as a jar, and if not, what do i export it as? KyuubiSeal (talk) 20:02, 26 July 2010 (UTC)