Welcome to the computing section
of the Wikipedia reference desk.

Select a section:

WP:RD/C

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.

February 17

Vector Spaces over Finite Vector Spaces

I was wondering if anybody here knows of a good reference like a textbook perhaps to study finite fields and vector spaces over those finite fields. I thought maybe these topics are relevant to computer science (like cryptography and error detection/correction codes) so there may be a well known text or something. Every time I search anywhere I keep getting "finite DIMENSIONAL vector spaces". I can imagine most of the theory is the same as real/complex vector spaces but there are some subtle differences which I want to explore. Thanks! - Looking for Wisdom and Insight! (talk) 00:45, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You would probably do better to ask this in the Maths section. Rojomoke (talk) 14:32, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I can't make a recommendation based on personal experience, but maybe I can help you find what you're looking for. I recalled that a common example in computer science is to use vector spaces over F_2, the field of two elements. Googling /binary vector space/ returned this nice webpage of lecture notes, full of content and exercises [1]. For more general search terms /vector space "finite field"/ returned this book [2] which is probably not quite what you're looking for, but does have a chapter on vector spaces over finite fields. If you have access to a good library, these, terms, plus maybe "encoding" or "computer science" should get you going. SemanticMantis (talk) 19:36, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I agree about asking at the math desk. These vector spaces up in in coding theory and Galois theory and other places too, but I hadn't thought of them as a subject in their own right. 67.117.145.9 (talk) 22:59, 18 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Finding extensions

Sometimes you have files that you want to open them but you don't know the extension! How would you open them? for example some tmp files or someone who Gziped a file, but didn't added the extension... or if someone used binhex on it and you extract the hqx file but don't know what to do with the file.. How would you find the extension? 190.60.93.218 (talk) 18:04, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It sounds like you want to find the file's type and then change the extension to match, so it automatically opers with the appropriate program? On Mac OS-X and Linux you can use the file command. 46.208.44.141 (talk) 18:31, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You can grab a win32 build of file from gnuwin32.sf.net. It is a command line application, though, so to get the most use out of it, you'll want to add the directory of executables it creates (by default %programfiles%\GnuWin32\bin [or %programfiles(x86)%\GnuWin32\bin for a 64-bit system, since it's a 32-bit binary]) to your path. Then to utilize it, at least in recent versions of Windows, you can SHIFT+right_mouse_click on a directory to get a convenient 'Open command window here', and run file nameOfFile. ¦ Reisio (talk) 23:49, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Try opening the file using Notepad or a hex editor. The first few characters of the file are usually the name of the program that created it.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 19:03, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Unless it is some really obscure format, just trying different programs until you find one that works is usually good enough. 7zip will open most archive formats, Irfanview will open most picture formats, VLC will open most media formats, and open office will open many document formats. If none of those work, it's probably an .exe 82.45.62.107 (talk) 19:58, 17 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Windows has an option to hide file types, which I absolutely hate. The assumption is that the computer will know what to do with the file, so you don't need to know the type. That assumption often fails in the real world, though. Besides, just knowing how to open it isn't all the file type tells you. Different graphics formats are used for different purposes, for example, some with lossy compression, some with lossless, some with no compression at all. StuRat (talk) 17:26, 18 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I had thought about giving this answer but decided the original poster wasn't suffering from this "feature". In case I was wrong, the place to turn it off is Control Panel -> Folder Options -> View, and there's an option called "Hide extensions for known file types". Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:56, 18 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

No, no no.. I don't need to know what is the extension of the file, becuase the file itself has .001 extension. and neither wnrar, vlc, notepad obviously opens it, it says some text. and beyond that it's binary. it's a strange format... meh.. I'll try to use that build that finds file types.. though. 190.158.184.192 (talk) 20:58, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If that fails, I suggest you list the text portion here. Somebody might recognize that as part of a standard file header. StuRat (talk) 22:21, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

February 18

Find Upon Opening Word

Hello. How does one program a specific Word 2007 file upon opening to run a Find window? Thanks in advance. --Mayfare (talk) 03:36, 18 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Open the document and press ALT + F11. Then, double-click on ThisDocument in the Project pane on the left. Then, add this code to the pane on the right:

Private Sub Document_Open()
    Word.Application.Dialogs(wdDialogEditFind).Display (9999999)
End Sub

Then, save your work both in the code window and the main application window. You may also need to lower your macro security: [3].—Best Dog Ever (talk) 08:42, 18 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Relail DVRs

Hello. I'm in the market for a HDD based DVR in the US - one that does not require a subscription and is not a cable company rental. My other requirements is having a built-in tuner (both NTSC and ATSC), and the ability to record in HD. A this time I just have basic cable service with a full analog lineup, plus local channel HD broadcasts available in digital Clear QAM (all the major networks). CableCARD support would be a plus, but not a requirement, since 90% of my recording is off the major networks. Price is of course a factor - I'd like to stay in the $200-$300 ballpark.

The set-top boxes offered through the cable companies, such as those my Motorola and Cisco, do not appear to be offered for retail [4][5]. I see some used boxes available on ebay and similar, but I'm suspicious of these.

The only retail DVRs I have found so far are the MDR-513H and MDR-515H from Magnavox [6]. However, although both of their boxes have a digital tuner, support HDD recording, and have a HDMI output, they don't record in HD. The user guide[7] states: "This unit cannot record images as aspect ratio of 16:9. The 16:9 images will be recorded as 4:3" and "All high definition pictures will be down converted to the standard definition pictures when they are recorded on this unit". I can understand why the DVD recording side doesn't support HD, but I don't understand why this feature wouldn't be available for HDD recording and playback. It would seem to me that recording an playing back the digital broadcast stream would be a simple matter.

Are there any technical or regulatory reasons that such devices are not available to the consumer? Why can't I find what I'm logging for? Is this a conspiracy to force consumers into overpriced rental agreements? Any help or clarification would be appreciated. Thank you. 24.254.222.77 (talk) 20:20, 18 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If you have an existing Windows PC that's up to the job, have you considered using it for Windows Media Center? I use it for Freeview (the UK's terrestrial digital TV) and it's very nice (all it took was a couple of inexpensive USB DTV decoder dongles to turn a games PC into a nice media center). I don't know about cable at all, but this article suggests there are WMC-friendly cable decoders which will take a CableCARD. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 20:31, 18 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm looking for a more traditional style self-contained black-box as a VCR replacement that the whole family can use. We have two laptops and a mid-tower, but they all are used regularly, so they are not available for re-purposing. 24.254.222.77 (talk) 21:04, 18 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Internet Explorer Popups on Toshiba Computer

I got a Toshiba Windows 7 laptop computer for Christmas and for a while now Internet Explorer has been popping up at a website with news and trending searches similar to Yahoo but it was a Toshiba website. I deleted everything Internet Explorer related but it still pops up even though I cleared everything from the recycling bin. I want to know why this is happening and how I could stop it. P.S. If this may help it was bought at OfficeMax, I think. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.107.206.236 (talk) 21:22, 18 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds like Toshiba installed some malware on your computer. That's rather unpleasant of them. Are you sure this laptop wasn't sold at a discount, with the provision that you display such ads ? If so, you might be out of luck. Here are some things you could try:

1) Try blocking all pop-ups (note that some are wanted).

2) Download and install another browser, like Firefox, Opera, or Google Chrome. They are free.

3) Uninstall, download, and reinstall Internet Explorer. (You won't be able to easily do a download after you uninstall your last browser, so you should download and install another browser, in step 2, before uninstalling IE.)

If you need more help with any of these steps, let us know. StuRat (talk) 22:58, 18 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not really sure what you meant 'I deleted everything Internet Explorer related'. But anyway did you try disabling all addons for Internet Explorer. Also did you look in the add/remove programs for anything Toshiba related that you don't want? Also what do you mean 'popping up'? Are you simply referring to the IE default page (i.e. the page that may start when you start IE or open a new tab/window)? If so, just change it. Or do you mean the IE default search provider (i.e. if you search with the search tool bar in IE without changing the search provider) is something Toshiba related? Again, if so just change it. Nil Einne (talk) 16:50, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Have you cleaned your register? 190.60.93.218 (talk) 12:26, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

February 19

Home mail server with multiple (external) POP3 accounts

I'm trying to set up some sort of home server for my dad. It needs to provide network storage for files from two laptops, but he also wants to be able to read and send emails from either computer. He does consultancy work for a number of companies, each of which has provided him with a mail account, and most of the accounts support only POP3 access (apparently it's still 1995 in their IT departments). At the moment he uses Outlook to download the mails, then files them offline in a pst file. I know that Outlook dislikes working on a network other than an Exchange server, so I'm trying to find a solution that would allow him to see all his emails, move emails between folders and archive them from either laptop. So far, the solutions I have come up with are either using Windows Home Server (expensive, and I'm not sure if it has this ability), or getting him to use Eudora instead of Outlook (ok for him, but my mum has a dislike of unusual software), or some horrendously complicated implementation of fetchmail, postfix and/or dovecot. Is there another way of doing this I haven't thought of? Most of my Google searches on mail server setups are targeted at those with their own domain. Any help appreciated. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 11:05, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I use getmail rather than fetchmail, as I found it much easier to use. For a while I didn't use a standalone MDA at all - I just had getmail drop stuff into a Maildir folder structure. Dovecot contains its own MDA, which will read that Maildir and serve it. Latterly I wrote my own MDA in Python (because I couldn't be bothered learning procmail's filter language) which drops the mails into subdirectories in the Maildir. The Maildir is then watched by Dovecot which serves them to clients over IMAP. Dovecot-IMAP literally requires no configuration (it just looks in a user's ~/Maildir by default), getmail needs a trivial config file (it's less than 10 lines long), and a simple procmail setup (to sort mail by recipient account) should be almost trivial. I do all this on Linux; it should all work on Windows, but I've not tried it. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 11:32, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Well, bit of a different approach, but have you considered just putting him on Gmail? He can auto forward his current mailboxes to to his gmail account and once he confirms those email addresses, it even allows you to reply using the email address the message was sent to (instead of the gmail address). All the emails stay online, over 3GB storage, accessible from anywhere in the world. Vespine (talk) 04:02, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Multiple search queries on a web-page

If I have a file with a list of search terms and I want to got to page x (imagine it's like google, even if it's not the case) and perform a search, which is the easiest way to do that in Linux? The perfect result would be Firefox with several tabs showing the results. The list is rather small, not more than 100 or a little bit longer. 188.76.228.174 (talk) 14:46, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, I'm having trouble understanding precisely what it is you are trying to do. What are you searching? What do you mean by going to 'page x' (do you mean opening the first x pages of search results for each term?)? Probably the easiest way to do this kind of thing is with some kind of scripting language. Python has good support for reading data from files and controlling web browsers - for example, you can do

import webbrowser
webbrowser.open_new_tab('http://wikipedia.org')

to open the Wikipedia home page in a new tab of your default browser. Depending on what resource you are accessing, you might be able to encode the search term in the URL. 81.98.43.107 (talk) 16:55, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

using the code above, expand it to open your text file and read each line. That's a nice little exercise, if you are a beginner at programming. Python is one good option, and it's mostly installed by default in Linux. Ib30 (talk) 22:58, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Computers predicting the economy

I know there are some projects attempting to do this, but...

Will silicon based computers ever be able to accurately predict macro-, micro-, and regional economies? If they have real-time economic data, artificial intelligence, social media mining, data mining, and so many other models integrated with their computing, will they still ever be able to produce accurate models? Is it already being done (albeit not that great) (or for just one stock)?

Or will we have to wait for quantum computers?--Prowress (talk) 16:41, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Trading houses use computer modelling to try to predict the values of stock markets, but mostly to try to do short-term arbitrage. Economies are very complex and subject to measurement uncertainties, so even if a perfect model existed, it'd surely be a nonlinear dynamical system, which would make any kind of long-term predictions very unreliable. Quantum computers are not a magical solution. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 16:51, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Whether a system is linear isn't really relevant to whether long-term predictions are feasible (perhaps you meant chaotic system, but depending on what aspect of the behaviour you want to predict, for how long, and how chaotic the system is, that isn't necessarily a barrier, either). To Prowress: you mentioned data and computing power, but to predict a system, you also need a good understanding of how it works (for example, even if social media mining and other tools could tell you very precisely about, say, economic confidence, that information is useless unless you understand how it is likely to influence people's behaviour). Basically, nobody knows the answer to your question (but presumably most economists hope the answer is yes), but I suspect that we will have useful quantum computers (we already have simple quantum computers, by the way) long before we have useful models of macrosopic economies. 81.98.43.107 (talk) 17:21, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Disabled wireless

I have an HP G56 notebook running Windows 7, which cannot access the Internet. I also have a desktop computer that can access the Internet. It should be as simple as removing the Ethernet cable from one computer to the other, but that doesn't work. It won't let me connect, and the diagnostics won't solve the problem. Furthermore, in an attempt to reset my wireless connection settings I disabled wireless and now I can't turn it back on no matter how hard I try. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.55.96.121 (talk) 17:46, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Some laptops have little external (physical) slider buttons than enable and disable WiFi and/or Bluetooth. If you've turned the WiFi off this way, it may not be possible to re-enable it in software, but instead you'd need to slide the switch again. On my Acer the switches have a wifi icon and a little LED beside them. 87.114.249.141 (talk) 18:20, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Do the computers connect to a cable modem directly, or to a router? If the computer is connected directly to a cable modem, the modem may have locked onto the mac address of the desktop computers network card and is ignoring any requests coming from a different mac address (the notebook). So, assuming this is the problem, the solution is to power down / unplug the cable modem and wait a while, then when you turn it back on make sure it is connected to the computer you want the internet to work on. It will lock onto the new mac address and accept connections from it. You will need to do this every time you switch the cable from one computer to another AvrillirvA (talk) 18:24, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I tried what you said, twice. How long am I supposed to wait? The connection doesn't work and the laptop tells me to unplug the modem, wait 10 seconds, and plug it back in. After I do that it troubleshoots some more and says the problem is "Local Area Connection doesn't have a valid IP configuration". And also it wasn't an external switch. As I recall I went to some sort of "properties" menu and clicked "disable". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.55.96.121 (talk) 20:37, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

30 seconds is normally ample. When you plug the ethernet cable into your laptop, do you see this icon in the systray (by the clock)? - Cucumber Mike (talk) 21:03, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, but there's either a red x or a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark on top of it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.55.96.121 (talk) 21:15, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Can I get some attention here please. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.55.96.121 (talk) 15:36, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Another possibility is that a fixed IP address has been set for one or more of your Internet adapters. To check this, click Start Button->Settings->Network Connections. (1) Right click on an adapter icon. Select Properties. In the Items list, select Internet Protocol. Click Properties. Click Obtain an IP address automatically. Click OK as needed. Repeat at (1) as needed. David Spector (user/talk) 02:19, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Are you saying I should do that on the desktop or the laptop computer? It's already set to "obtain an IP address automatically" on the desktop. 96.55.96.121 (talk) 15:28, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, both computers have "obtain an IP address automatically" set. So what else could be the problem? 96.55.96.121 (talk) 00:40, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Desktop Shortcuts Disappear

I am using Windows 7 64 bit and I have desktop shortcuts to a few of the Windows games - minesweeper, etc. Every now and then the shortcuts disappear. It is easy enough to make new ones, but why are they disappearing and is there anything I can do about it?

Any hints please? Gurumaister (talk) 18:39, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Every week there is a maintance done by Win 7, where it looks for invalid shortcuts. If there are more than 4 it deletes it.

This should help you: Desktop shortcuts disappear in Windows 7 --33rogers (talk) 21:26, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Many thanks 33rogers. Gurumaister (talk) 09:14, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Downloading a flash function

Hello, I would like to download the Execution 101: How an Equity Order Becomes a Trade on http://www.knight.com/investorRelations/education.asp. When you click on the link to view it, this Flash feature pops up in the middle of your screen without any change to the URL. Is there any way to download their Execution 101 presentation? Thanks.--Prowress (talk) 18:55, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Go to http://www.knight.com/investorRelations/trade_execution-2.swf old chap - then use the "Save As" dialog in your browser to save the file locally. You can then open or drag and drop the file with/into a browser to view it. However, please be aware of their T&Cs at [8], specifically "Except as otherwise explicitly agreed by Knight in writing, the Content may only be downloaded, displayed, reformatted and printed for your personal, non-commercial use." Quintessential British Gentleman (talk) 20:03, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you so much! For future downloads of flash content, how would I find the URL to go directly to that flash content (like the one you listed) so I could do the same?--Prowress (talk) 20:24, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I opened the link to the file (http://www.knight.com/investorRelations/execution101.asp) in a new window then looked at the source code of the page (Use "View-->Source" in Internet Explorer or the shortcut "CTRL-U" in Firefox). This gave me the following :-

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <script language="javascript"> AC_FL_RunContent = 0; </script> <script language="javascript"> DetectFlashVer = 0; </script> <script src="../images/flash/AC_RunActiveContent.js" language="javascript"></script> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">  </script>   <script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">  </script> <noscript> // Provide alternate content for browsers that do not support scripting // or for those that have scripting disabled. Alternate HTML content should be placed here. This content requires the Adobe Flash Player. <a href="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflash/">Get Flash</a> </noscript>

The critical thing here is knowing that all Flash objects use the suffix ".swf" - I then extrapolated the filename using the "id" and "movie" variables as "trade_execution-2", noted the lack of any path elsewhere, indicating that the file was in the same directory as the page I was looking at and I simply changed the URL from http://www.knight.com/investorRelations/execution101.asp to http://www.knight.com/investorRelations/trade_execution-2.swf to directly access it. This was slightly harder than normal - most sites have a direct link to the file in the page source in the form of, for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/flash/blah.swf or similar, enabling you to go directly to the flash object. Hope this helps old bean! Quintessential British Gentleman (talk) 22:37, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I dont quite understand how browsers can get the swf, when I use developer console on chrome or DOM inspector in firefox, I get the code of the swf..

or if I check the elements of the page. the browsers know the address of the swf, without being in the html... What kind of sorcery is this? 190.60.93.218 (talk) 12:49, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Creating machine code computer games in the 1980s

When I think of all the computer games developed for the Commodore 64 from the middle 1980s to the early 1990s, I have to just wonder. Did people really program all these by hand, in 6510 assembly language code? I mean, I program computers for a living, and I know 6510 assembly language code, but for me, these two aren't compatible. I write code in C, Java, and C#, which are far more human-readable than assembly language, and let the compiler do all the assembly language work for me. What little I have done directly in assembly language code is short example programs. My most ambitious project was a BASIC expansion adding a couple of commands, but I couldn't get passing parameters to work right. In the days of the Commodore 64, people didn't have graphics and sound cards with in-built drivers, they had to control the chips directly. Did people just painstakingly add instruction after instruction to their assembly language code, hoping symbolic addresses (to be later resolved by the assembler) and hand-written comments would be enough to keep them sane when debugging their code? JIP | Talk 20:26, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I never programmed for the 6502, but I wrote a couple of programs for the Z80 (Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC464), including Magic Brush, a fairly full-featured graphics editor. Yes, we really wrote these programs directly in assembly language, and directly on the target machine. It taught me the value of structured programming. Symbolic labels for subroutines and variables made things reasonably readable, and, after a while, one acquired a set of patterns for standard situations. The debug cycle was somewhat horrible, since any bug would most likely crash the computer. It was a big step forward to move from cassette tape to disk drive. More professional studios had a (UNIXy) minicomputer and a cross-development environment, but still would write directly in assembly language. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 20:48, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Wow that's a pro. 190.158.184.192 (talk) 21:02, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. Actually, I've even written code for the Z80 without the use of an assembler to speed up MSX BASIC. If you compare languages now and 5 years ago, I think in 10 years people will ask "so you actually had to specify how C# should do a for-loop?". Or may be not, C will probably always be supposed to be "the professional language", while it shows it's shorthand for ASM and still a 1973 language. Joepnl (talk) 23:08, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I wrote quite a few C64 programs in assembly with just a monitor (which means I had to hand-compute jump offsets and had data locations written down on a piece of paper, with no labels). It was a bit laborious (and a pain to change stuff) but not any harder, intellectually, than programming in say C or Java. For a different weird little architecture I've had to write a small amount in genuine machine code (meaning I had to turn mnemonics into the appropriate opcodes by hand) before I got annoyed and wrote an assembler for it. It's not hard at all, it's just a chore. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 23:16, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yup. Been there, done that. As a long-time amateur programmer, I wrote a little code on the Sinclair Spectrum with no assembler at all - just a copy of Programming the Z80 (still got it somewhere), and a lot of patience working out the numerical value of op-codes, to 'poke' into memory. When I finally got an assembler (possibly for the Amstrad CPC 464) I was in heaven. And then there was programming an Acorn Archimedes in ARM assembler - too easy. Of course, my code rarely worked properly. These days, I program in Java, and construct much more complex applications that don't work either... AndyTheGrump (talk) 02:57, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Oh yes! I remember those days! There was a time when I knew most of the Z80 hex codes off by heart, and could read the hex code of a program and work out what the processor was doing. I only wrote very short program segments in hexadecimal, of course. It was useful for writing short patches, but it would have been a nightmare to keep track of a complex game program. Dbfirs 13:19, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Most of the above replies say "I've written a little code directly in assembly language". I have also done that myself, but only for short example programs. Did professional game programmers also create commercial-quality games directly in assembler by writing each instruction by hand? JIP | Talk 06:32, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Chris Sawyer (creator of Transport Tycoon and RollerCoaster Tycoon) is famous for coding as much of his games as possible in assembly, only using C to connect the assembly code with the operating system. And that wasn't just in the 80s either (although according our article he did write commercially released games in Z80 machine code) - RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 from 2002 was still written mostly in assembly. Smurrayinchester 09:47, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

What I'm mostly interested in is, for example, when Andrew Braybrook wrote Uridium, did he just sit down in front of a Commodore 64 and enter assembly language instructions that he had written down on paper in advance, one by one? I mean, that's the way I did it, when I wrote my BASIC expansion that worked reasonably well with constant values but crashed if passed a variable. But something like Uridium or, heck, any commercial-quality game in the 1980s is way more complex than that. JIP | Talk 20:21, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know what Andrew Braybrook did, but paper was only marginally involved when I coded large (as in 20kb binary/200kb source) assembler programs. I had a rough architecture in mind, and just typed the program directly into a text editor, one subroutine at a time. The instructions are fairly transparent: call/ret, jp, jr, push/pop, ld, add/sub, and so on. The processor had 6 general-purpose 8-bit registers (or 3 16-bit registers), and one acquired a number of stock tricks (xor A, ldir, exx). --Stephan Schulz (talk) 21:00, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Zzap64 published a diary Braybrook wrote about his development of Paradroid - it's here. He talks about using a proper symbolic assembler, and debugging with a monitor cartridge. That sounds like a workflow akin to normal modern programming. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 20:49, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

How do you do the sprites in assembly? you have to do them pixel by pixel? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.60.93.218 (talk) 14:14, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sprites in a C64 are mostly done by hardware. There's a few registers in the VIC chip that specify on-screen location and colours for them, and crucially the location in memory where the sprite bitmap data is kept. Things broadly similar on the Atari400 and 800. On machines that don't have hardware sprites, like the Spectrum or a PC's VGA adapter (strictly some PC graphics adapters did have CGA or VGA sprites, but these were mostly intended for the mouse pointer) you have to take the raw sprite data, shift it by up to 7 bits (because sprites aren't usually aligned to 8-bit byte boundaries) and then you compose the sprites with on-screen data with a bitwise OR operation. Undrawing a sprite entails redrawing the other stuff that should be there. Naively this might turn out to be a bit flickery, so better implementations used dirty rectangles and a (mini)back buffer to prevent flickering (the screen took up so much of the memory of an early home computer that there was rarely space for a full back buffer). Luckily doing that shift->or procedure on a spectrum or a PC is easier than it would be on a C64, because those machines' CPUs have a few more registers, and some 16 bit wide registers, which make it easier. -- -Finlay McWalterჷTalk 14:54, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Amateur code on the C64 was rarely done fully in assembly, and I suspect some commercial software was the same. I remember typing in code from magazines with combinations of GW Basic, assembly and tons of peeks and pokes and sys calls. Things like Simon Basic and text adventure generation toolkits made things easier for amateurs to produce some decent quality games and applications. Coders from the demo scene coded their demos in assembly primarily to show off their knowledge. However, the VIC-20 was a different proposition! With a glorious 3.5K of RAM, anything worth its salt had to be done entirely in assembly, using every trick in the book to optimize code and swap between available memory buffers and CPU registers. I remember once spending an entire evening typing in assembly code from a magazine and just before saving my younger sister kicked the power cable... that was my first experience of realizing the importance of backups (although in those days backups were painfully slow onto tape/cassettes). Nowadays I wonder how many of the current generation coders realize the importance of code optimization? How many understand how a CPU works? Sorry for random thoughts... typing fast and in a hurry to leave. Sandman30s (talk) 11:42, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

floppy disk removal

having extracted the head of a floppy disk (the plastic part protecting it) from a floppy drive, could i have accidentally damaged the reading head and corrupt media i'd like to recover using this drive? How do I test this? Thankis. --80.99.254.208 (talk) 20:36, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I don't quite understand what you're saying. Did you somehow try to pull the floppy out of the drive and have it fall apart on you ? If so, try to get all the pieces out with tweezers. Then try reading and writing to a new floppy disk. At worst, you would damage the new disk, if some pieces of the old one are still inside. The good news is, both floppy disks and floppy drives are quite cheap to replace (although they are both obsolete, so you might not want to bother). If your goal is to recover data from the floppy disk that fell apart, that would be difficult. There are places that could attempt it, but it would have to be quite valuable data to make this worthwhile. StuRat (talk) 22:14, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Right, it fell apart and I *already* pulled out the piece stuck inside with tweezers. If I write a new floppy successfully, does that mean I can assume I didn't mess the head up (with my tweezers) and would not damage any old floppies I try to read? --80.99.254.208 (talk) 07:16, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'd say if you can do a read-write cycle on the new floppy, you're likely OK with the old floppy. If you're still worried, you can first copy the contents using another computer. StuRat (talk) 04:19, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You may also want to specify what kind of floppy. -- œ ^™ 23:24, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Wiring a Small Office with CAT6 Ethernet?

The small office has 8 computers. Each computer is located in a separate room.
All the computers need to be able to connect to a File Server where they store their data. There is a room at the back for the File Server.
All the computer need to be able to connect to the Internet, offered via a single Cable Modem.
So I am thinking you connect the Cable Internet to the File Server, and since all the other 8 computers are connected to the file server, which will give them all access to the internet as well as locally stored files.
Where to where is the CAT6 cable ethernet wiring supposed to connect to?
Will each computer need a dedicated CAT6 wire to the File Server, or can they be merged into 1 CAT6 wire that goes all the way to the File Server?

Thanks. --33rogers (talk) 21:22, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

To share access to the internet, you will need a router somewhere in the network. If you (or the computer network technician you hire) are pretty savvy, you can install a software router on the file server, but this probably falls in to the "fairly advanced" networking tricks category, and may not be worth the effort. For around $50-100, you can buy a small router and network switch, allowing you to share the single internet connection with a lot of machines. Usually, this means "four" or "eight" ethernet ports. For about $20 more, you can buy an extra network switch, which allows you to expand the capabilities of the router, by giving you extra ethernet ports for more computer connections. Note that a switch can not replace the function of the router - only expand the available number of ports. A very common error is to use a switch instead of a router, on the assumption that it is cheaper, and looks similar in outward appearance - but you still need a router - by itself, the switch will not work for the job you described. What you can do is place the switch near to the computers, and then run a single long ethernet cable to the router and file-server, reducing the length of cable you need to buy. Nimur (talk) 21:37, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

That fourth point isn't what you want to do. On your network, the file server can be anywhere. It doesn't have to act as a "choke point" for all traffic to funnel through in order to access the Internet. It should be connected to the network just like any other computer. What you will need to buy is at least one router, which does act as the "choke point"; and then you will run a cable from every computer and file server to the router. The router sits next to the cable modem and there's a cable going from the cable modem to the router's "external" port. Then when your computers try to access the Internet, it's the router's job to mediate all the requests and get the packets where they are supposed to go. All eight computers can access the file server, too, in this configuration; they do not each need a cable to go directly to the file server. In case you were wondering, your router is the piece of equipment that assigns each computer and file server on your network an IP address. You will likely want the router to be a firewall (that's what I did at my last office I wired). Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:35, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Can the CAT6 wiring be merged (joined with the rest of the network to save on wiring costs?) as I have shown in the below picture? That is, can it be like there is only 1 CAT6 wire going to the File Server which is located at the other end of the office? And the other computers just 'hook in'?

--33rogers (talk) 22:39, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

No, that is not possible. CAT6 ethernet is always wired in what is called a star topology. There needs to be one central point, typically a network switch. — Edokter (talk) — 22:59, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This used to be sort of possible, though not exactly using your map, when we all used thin Ethernet; this is now antiquated and you truly don't want to even spend 1 minute researching it. See network topology if you're interested. What are you spending on cabling that you are trying to avoid a star network? Cat 5e cabling supports gigabit Ethernet, by the way; are you sure CAT6 is required? Comet Tuttle (talk) 00:39, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You could cable the file server to a wireless router in a central location and stick wifi cards in your clients. Wifi is not as reliable and robust as cable, but if retrofitting cable in the site is problematic it's at least worth considering.. Vespine (talk) 03:40, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks all. I have decided to go with CAT6. I was confused earlier, because I thought they all go into 1 single wire, but now it makes more sense. --33rogers (talk) 10:00, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Depending how much data each will be transferring to/from the server, it's pretty much possible to "merge" all the 8 PCs onto a single network cable that goes to the server - you'd buy an Ethernet switch (which can be pretty cheap) connect all your PCs to that, and then run the output of that as a single network cable to the server room. This could save quite a bit of wiring, depending on your building layout. --Phil Holmes (talk) 16:26, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Mystery Font

Hello,

I came upon this font today in a magazine and found it very beautiful. How can I identify which font it is?

Sample Image

Best, --Cacofonie (talk) 21:23, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I used "what the font" (google it) and think it's a bold version of Jiffy? Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:40, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Storing data in the 1980s or earlier?

"For decades, Target has collected vast amounts of data on every person who regularly walks into one of its stores." <-- How has this been stored for "decades"? Does that mean 1980? Earlier? How was it stored back then? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Xcvxvbxcdxcvbd (talk • contribs) 22:52, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Magnetic tape data storage. — Edokter (talk) — 23:04, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Anything from 1992 or earlier would be for "decades". RudolfRed (talk) 23:32, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I remember disk storage from the 1970s. --Phil Holmes (talk) 16:22, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, eight-inch and five-and-a-quarter-inch floppies took over from magnetic tape and multi-platter hard disc packs in the late 70s for some applications. Dbfirs 22:39, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Halo Remake and 3D TV hack for 2 players on the same full screen?

Does anyone here know if Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary supports that weird ugly 3D hack which allows both players to see their own full 2D screen while playing on the same console? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Xcvxvbxcdxcvbd (talk • contribs) 22:55, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Charge Phone on Windows

I have Windows on my laptop. I plug in my phone to charge it and it doesn't charge. I have been told that you have to allow the phone to charge in Windows. I cannot figure out how to do that. Is there a "let my phone charge" setting? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.106.182.66 (talk) 23:13, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

To conserve power, not all laptop USB ports are typically wired for that sort of discharge, try another one / consult the manual. ¦ Reisio (talk) 02:46, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You need to make sure that the device drivers are installed for the phone or else windows will not know what device it is, or to send power to charge it. If you're stuck, could you tell us what phone it is? Have you tried to do it on other computers? Mr little irish 11:39, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

February 20

Ubuntu on Windows

I currently have a dual-boot system with Ubuntu and Windows installed on separate partitions. Is it possible to launch Ubuntu within Windows, using something like VirtualBox? Ideally I want to use the existing installation, and don't want to install Ubuntu all over again. --140.180.6.154 (talk) 04:52, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You can use the freeware VMWare converter to convert your Ubuntu partition into a VMWare image. IIRC, VirtualBox is able to import such image files. This will of course result in two separate Ubuntu installations - changes made when running one will not be reflected in the other. If you want that option there may be another solution of which I am unaware. AJ Sham 12:12, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

VMware and QEMU can do that in certain situations. ¦ Reisio (talk) 14:59, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

In what ways, and what situations? Can you point me to a tutorial about how to do this? --140.180.6.154 (talk) 07:14, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Last I checked VMware could do it with separate PATA drives only, and QEMU theoretically can do any type of drive or partition. For QEMU there's some syntax like \\PhysicalDevice\0 (where 0 is the first device), but I've read a lot about being able to just use -hda /dev/sda or /dev/sdb3 (for [two] examples), too. Apparently it's a tricky business so you either run it read-only or your have to make some sort of write buffer. On Windows you'll want to use KQEMU with QEMU or it'll be quite slow. You can also try using QEMU (or better yet KVM, the in-kernel progression of QEMU) from Linux to boot your physical Windows install instead. ¦ Reisio (talk) 15:58, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Youtube playlists not working in Safari

Hello. I noticed a few days ago that my playlists weren't working on Youtube. It would load the first video and then any other video I tried to go to on the list would just play the first video again (despite the fact that it was labelled as the video I was supposed to be going to). I then tried playing several other user's playlists and found the same thing. How do I fix this? I'm using Safari Version 5.0.6 and I don't think I need to update anything. Thanks! 129.3.151.202 (talk) 06:56, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

do you have javascript disãbled? 190.60.93.218 (talk) 13:13, 20 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, it says it's enabled. 129.3.151.202 (talk) 01:52, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

February 21

Cloud storage service with password-based sharing

Can anyone tell me of a free cloud storage service where a folder or a file can be made public but a password must be required to actually view the file? I don't mean encryption. Also, it should have unlimited versioning, if possible. --Melab±1 ☎ 00:38, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You can encrypt the file with tools such as 7zip and Truecrypt, and store the file on any unencrypted storage service. This has the benefit of allowing different passwords for different files. 75.144.36.137 (talk) 15:39, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Like I said, I don't mean encryption. But, thank you anyways. --Melab±1 ☎ 02:38, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Annoying menu on a website

At http://www.kbsz.hu/polebisz/index.html I am trying to access menus. The javascript menus appear when I hover my mouse over an item, but when I move my cursor to click the items, the items disappear.

How do I access the content? WhisperToMe (talk) 00:39, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Try it with Internet Explorer. Moondyne (talk) 00:45, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It seems to work with Safari on Mac. Not all computers have IE. RudolfRed (talk) 01:01, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, guys! It works fine on IE! It seems like it's messing up on Firefox. WhisperToMe (talk) 01:04, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I usually use Firefox, but some websites don't work correctly with it. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 03:57, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Picking a PIC

Hi,

I've been given a bundle of C code and a circuit diagram to build a particular PIC-based device. However, rather than build it exactly as the original designer did, I want to add a couple of extra capabilities. I'm a Java programmer with very little embedded experience, but looking at the existing code I think I can probably muddle through OK on the software side. The problem is hardware - the original developer said that he was running right up to the limit on program memory size, and indeed there are pieces of code in the source that have been deemed non-essential and commented out to fit the object code into the device. There's no way I'm going to be able to optimise what he couldn't, so I need more memory.

The specified device is an 18F26K22. I've been trying to find a PIC which is as similar as possible in every way (since I'll probably struggle to adapt the code for anything very different) but has enough extra program memory to take my additions. However, as a non hardware type, I'll admit to being somewhat flummoxed by the Microchip catalogue.

Can anyone suggest a suitable chip that's like an 18F26K22 but bigger?

Thanks.

-- Pete — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.97.184.230 (talk) 01:30, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

How about the PIC18F67J11, which has double the program memory? It's from the same series (PIC18), has just a bit more RAM, and a few extra features. Looks like it only comes in QFP, which is probably harder for the amateur electronics hobbyist; but you can also look at 18F27J13 and 18F27J53. These come in DIP packages; they have more program memory; but a tiny bit less RAM than your original chip. Nimur (talk) 02:09, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Looking up very old websites

I'm trying to find out the URL of the government of the Netherlands in 1998 to 1999. I am trying to determine what information it had about the Netherlands Aviation Safety Board (Raad voor de Luchtvaart), a government agency that was abolished in 1999 Any help would be greatly appreciated WhisperToMe (talk) 06:04, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure if I'm on the right track, but try this. Cheers! G.R.O.S.S (talk) 12:10, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the tip! I have been familiar with the web.archive.org tool, but I'll see if the State Department archives have any links WhisperToMe (talk) 22:21, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

learning html

Hi. I'm teaching myself to use seamonkey and would like to download a sample html file that I can edit in small steps. Can anyone suggest a good, example of best practice to start with? Something more complicated than Hello World, but not too difficult would be good. Robinh (talk) 08:33, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry I don't know of any collection of (properly coded) totally made layouts for you to look at, but I can just give you my usual list of links, which combined will get you the vast majority of what you might want:

The most important:

Refs:

Guts:

Support:

Icing:

Live support:

http://webchat.freenode.net/?nick=Robinh&channels=#websites

¦ Reisio (talk) 16:13, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

(OP) Thanks for this, Reisio. I've been looking at the links. All of them seem to be quite 'advanced' in terms of being very complicated (at least, the html code looks difficult). Is there a simpler one out there? Sorry to be unclear in my original request. Robinh (talk) 21:04, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/ & http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/1-introduction-to-the-web-standards-cur/#toc & http://w3fools.com/#what-should-be-done aren't too bad. ¦ Reisio (talk) 23:46, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This site has a nice guide with lots of examples AvrillirvA (talk) 22:38, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

That site is fairly awful. ¦ Reisio (talk) 23:46, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Why do you say that, Reisio? Robinh (talk) 00:15, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The first page with code skips over the doctype declaration, which is vital, the second details deprecated elements and suggests you use invalid syntax, and at that point I looked no further (though truthfully I consider any of those damning individually). ¦ Reisio (talk) 03:26, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I like w3schools.com. Once you exhaust the info on that site, then you can reference the specification at w3.org/TR/html401/.—Best Dog Ever (talk) 00:21, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I personally find w3schools to have a lot of junk, poor explanations, often quite horrible examples, and most are definitely not best practices. See this site for further elaboration. --Mr.98 (talk) 03:07, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

(OP) I'm still not 100% certain that my question was clear enough. All I need is a basic 'get you started' web page from where I can download the html content and play with it in seamonkey. I don't want anything clever, no active content or videos or widgets, just the basics (I need to design a website as part of some course I'm studying). I don't want to start from a blank piece of paper in seamonkey because I fear that I'll produce a very boring web page. Thanks, Robinh (talk) 03:28, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Which is why I recommended W3Schools. It's very beginner friendly. What you need, Robinh, is just to get started writing web pages. If you get bogged down in theory, best practices, and terminology, you will become bored and forget most of it. The sooner you can start creating web pages -- no matter how simple -- the better.

I am a web designer and developer. I do web design, every day, in an office, 50 hours a week. And I do not find the critiques on the site Mr. 98 cited to be justified at all. They're more snobbery than fair criticism. It recommends against the use of WYSIWYG editors: "Professional web developers do not recommend the use of WYSIWYG editors." But when you edit pages as large and as complex as I do, you have to use WYSIWYG editors. I just use them to navigate the code. I don't actually format the page in them, but you need them to find your way around the page. The fact that I do web design as a living makes me a professional and I have no qualms recommending a WYSIWYG editor so long as you keep an eye on the code.

Other critiques could only be considered inaccurate from a Deconstructionist point of view. It is technically true that <h1> doesn't add a blank line above and beneath it, but rather a margin. It is a simplification, but it doesn't matter. What really matters is that you note the space it adds above and beneath it. You can deduce it's not an empty line by highlighting the line. It's harmless simplification that aids understanding for beginners more than anything else.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 05:57, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

(OP) thanks guys. The w3schools site is just great for my purposes. Maybe one day I'll understand the issues raised above. Kia Ora, Robinh (talk) 07:25, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

blocking unsolicited junk mail

I'm tired of receiving unsolicited junk emails from online dating services. Is there any way to block them?24.90.204.234 (talk) 08:35, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

That depends. What a) mail service provider (Gmail, Hotmail, AOL - basically the bit after the @ in your address) and b) email client (Outlook, Thunderbird, Mail for Mac or simple webmail - how you view your emails) do you use? - Cucumber Mike (talk) 09:02, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Get yourself a new email address and don't tell anyone what it is except the people you can trust (ie. your very closest friends and family). Use a disposable/temporary account for everything else. Astronaut (talk) 13:52, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I use Hotmail.24.90.204.234 (talk) 14:22, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Ok. This page gives you the lowdown, and options for dealing with junk/spam emails. These are reactive methods - they only work to stop emails from people/companies who already have your address by blocking their emails or moving them to a junk folder. This page from the UK government has some good proactive suggestions for making sure these people don't get your details in the future. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 15:32, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hotmail uses Bayesian spam filtering, so marking messages as "Junk" helps it determine whether future emails are junk, even if they come from a different source, simply based on message similarity. So it's sort of proactive. Paul (Stansifer) 22:49, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If the messages have many of the same words in them, you can create a filter: [9]. It will take messages that match the filter and put them in a folder of your choice (or simply delete them -- your choice).--Best Dog Ever (talk) 06:09, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Missing email

Simply.... I can not find 2 e-mails I wrote and sent to my boss. After writing and sending 4 different e-mails to him, he said he only received 2. And he asked me to re-send one of the ones that has disappeared. NOW THIS IS WIERD....I had a heads up from a co-worker that he talked as though he hadn't heard from me on two of the important ones so earlier that day I went to check to make sure I had sent them. I went to google and typed mail.yahoo.com. Clicked on the topsite, which opened my email. I am not real savvy with e-mails. I went to my 'sent' emails and opened one up, read it, noted date sent and to close the email I go back to the heading sent, pulled up anpther, then another then another. Somehow, somewhere, the 2nd email sent on the 5th disappeared from my computer and so has the most important one from saturdays!!! My boss wants to see saturday's and it may be my job if i can't show him it or at least I sent one that day to him. I did. I saw it just before it was gone. Jeff said I used an incorrect email address. I I've seen both used I thought!?? anyway, I sent 2 feb 5, 2012, 1 sat. xx:xx, and 1 sent friday, 5:37 am. He got the first two but not the next 2. The last email I wrote had 2 cc. I know for fact 1 cc received it but who I sent it to, Jeff, didn't get it. Here's another weird...the 1st email sent, feb 5, 2012 remains in SENT. The 2nd email sent, feb 5, 2012, has vanished. The 3rd and most important email, saturday, has also disappeared and the 4th email I sent found it's way into my INBOX. Go figure?!! Please, pretty pretty please find that short no titled email. You could save my life, literally 'cause I would keep my job. Cost is not important. That is how important this is to me. I thank you so much for your time and I hope my explanation is what you needed. Sincerely, forever in your debt, one very tired and stressed, Stephanie Anne76.254.42.86 (talk) 09:48, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

(I've added a header to separate your question from the previous one). Have you checked in your "Drafts" folder? Sometimes if there's a problem while you're writing or sending an email - say, if your connection goes down briefly or you exit without clicking "send" - most email programs put the unsent email in a folder called "drafts" ready to be sent properly. It'll be in the list of folders, next to Inbox, Sent and Junk. Smurrayinchester 10:43, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Also, of course, worth looking in the Trash folder, if it hasn't been emptied. - David Biddulph (talk) 12:54, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Did you cc. ayone into either of the missing emails? If so, they may have copies. --Tagishsimon (talk) 15:45, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

For clarification, do you mean you saw emails 2-5 in your sent but later they disappeared or you never saw them in the sent? Nil Einne (talk) 16:15, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If your Yahoo e-mail is having problems, I suggest you get another account, such as with Google's free Gmail. Also, until you get this resolved, you'd better print out copies of everything, just in case. Note that if somebody got you CC, you could have them forward that on, to prove that you're not lying about having sent them. (Presumably you won't get fired unless your boss thinks you are lying.) Another hint is to always CC yourself, and then check your inbox, as a way of verifying that it was really sent. StuRat (talk) 06:03, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Inkjet ink cartridges

How does the ink level detector work? --92.25.104.255 (talk) 14:43, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

At least in some cartridges, it doesn't. That is, the printer keeps track of (very roughly) how much ink it thinks it's used (and stores that in the little EEPROM in the cartridge) and the driver then just estimates how much ink the cartridge should have, given that amount of printing. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 14:47, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed, though some makes are less bad at it than others. Plenty of research online. ¦ Reisio (talk) 16:14, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Reisio, can you recommend any brand which is not a rip-off, which do not tie me to its cartridges, which do not force me to buy all three colors when I only need black? XPPaul (talk) 22:38, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

For not buying colors when you only need black, you want a 2 cartridge system, with black in one cartridge and three colors in the other. This allows you to change the black cartridge independently. Even better is a 4 cartridge system where you can also change each color independently. The prices are still a rip-off, though. I've tried injecting ink into cartridges as they run dry, with some success (some manufacturers have found a way to prevent this, by having the chip on the cartridge die when it runs dry, for instance).

If you have a large enough print volume, laser printers are the way to go, as their toner cartridges last much longer, and this will make up for the higher initial purchase price. Unlike inkjet printers, you have to choose between less expensive black-and-white laser printers and expensive color ones. A good compromise might be black-and-white laser printer and a color inkjet, assuming most of your prints will be in black-and-white. StuRat (talk) 05:52, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

'Cutting' Patterns

Hi, simple question, Is there a 'free' file format for storing industrial cutting patterns ?

There were two specific applications I was wanting to know about this in relation to:

Sewing patterns

Cutting layouts for jigsaw puzzles...

Any thoughts on what formats these use, other than DXF/DWG ?

Sfan00 IMG (talk) 15:22, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure about these specific applications, but it is likely that they will use some kind of vector path. It is feasible that a pattern stored as SVG for example, could be imported into the application that controls the device in question. This, of course, would depend on the capabilities of the software used. I personally have been able to import vector images in several different file formats for use on a vinyl cutter. -=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 22:31, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Another vector format that might work is HPGL. StuRat (talk) 05:44, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Alternative to Archive.org (The WayBackMachine)?

I hope there isn't one, but I have to ask anyway. Is there any other project that "collects historical websites" and make them available like they do? It's a major privacy issue. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Xcvxvbxcdxcvbd (talk • contribs) 23:21, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Internet Archive#Similar_projects; in fairness, the truly major privacy issue is letting people who don't realize what is and isn't personal information online at all (because personal information being online long enough for almost anyone to view it is enough to cause real problems). ¦ Reisio (talk) 23:49, 21 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I looked through them but couldn't find anything that seemed at all like Archive.org (thank god). It was just nonsense. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Xcvxvbxcdxcvbd (talk • contribs) 00:18, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

February 22

Does partitioning a disk erase data

I have a Western Digital external hard drive with some data on it. It is currently FAT formatted so it cannot hold files larger than 4 GB and it has data on it that I want to keep. I want to add an HFS+ partition but I want to keep the data I already have on it which I cannot back up to my computer because I don't have enough space. If I add a partition to the disk, will it erase/overwrite all the data I have on it? --Melab±1 ☎ 02:34, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

If your drive's current partition has used up all of the available space, you would have to resize the partition to free up unpartitioned space for the new partition. Resizing can be done safely but it is an activity that is fraught with danger so a backup is always recommended. You can use something like gparted (use a linux boot disk for this) which I've found to be the most reliable utility for partitioning. If you already have unpartitioned space then you should be able to add the new HFS partition safely... but if it were my data I would find a means to back it up, even if you have to borrow a USB stick for a day. Sandman30s (talk) 08:12, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

... or if you have lots of valuable data on the drive (maybe enough to fill a dozen USB flash memory devices?), borrow another external hard drive with plenty of empty space, or another computer or laptop with a large hard drive to backup your data, or use one of the internet backup facilities. If your data is valuable, it would be wise to have at least one separate backup somewhere else as a matter of policy because hard drives can fail unexpectedly. Dbfirs 09:09, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, backup your files. I know that first-hand: I lost all my files once when a repartitioning went wrong (the computer froze). I had to reformat the entire drive. -- Luk ^talk 09:37, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Exactly how did Wikipedia get so popular?

So obviously, Wikipedia is one of the most popular websites on the planet. But I'm wondering, exactly how did it become popular? What was the actual trigger for Wikipedia to go from obscurity to fame? Around 2004, I was already seeing stuff about Wikipedia, and it was only around 3 years old! So how did Wikipedia become popular anyway? Was it endorsed by someone famous, was it featured in a magazine or newspaper, or was it through word-of-mouth? Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 02:43, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

All of the above. It wasn't an overnight sensation. See History_of_Wikipedia#2001 though if you want one definitive year that put it on the map — news stories, geek sites, and so on. But it still took another two years to reach massive penetration into the mainstream. Its growth followed a roughly exponential function in the first years — such functions take awhile to build, but quickly get gigantic. By 2005 or so even my grandmother had heard of it. --Mr.98 (talk) 03:03, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Also, Google likes wikipedia, which helped. Robinh (talk) 03:22, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, being at the top of almost every Google result certainly helped. Google probably likes us because we link article with similar concepts. SEO done right :P -- Luk ^talk 09:38, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It was the first wiki of its kind, AFAIK. ¦ Reisio (talk) 03:28, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

this (switching HDMI cables)

Is it okay to switch an hdmi cable (plug-unplug)between two devices while the devices are still connected to the mains, i mean theyre turned off but the plugs are still in the sockets — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.35.11.229 (talk) 05:36, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I added to your title to make it useful. StuRat (talk) 05:41, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I think it's fine as those cables carry digital/optical signals and not mains power. It's even better that your devices are turned off, but it's not necessary. It's very much the same as, for example, plugging the RCI cables of your camera into your TV... you don't have to turn either device off. I've been swapping HDMI cables for years with no apparent ill effect. Sandman30s (talk) 07:57, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Annoying Windows behaviour

In my Windows XP, SP3, if I try to drag a window by it's title bar, and accidentally release and reclick on it while dragging, it maximizes the window. Can this feature be disabled ? StuRat (talk) 06:06, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

See [10].--Best Dog Ever (talk) 06:14, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Close, but no cigar. That's how to disable the Aero Snap feature in Windows 7. StuRat (talk) 06:20, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Oh. My mistake. I forgot you said Windows XP. Honestly I cannot recreate that behavior on my system, because you have to stop dragging in order to click. I know you can double-click on a title bar to maximize it, but I've never heard of a window maximizing by single-clicking (unless you click on the maximize button, of course).--Best Dog Ever (talk) 06:24, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe I do double click. My mouse button can do that when I try to single click. How can I disable "maximize on double click" ? StuRat (talk) 06:54, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Probably not, although buying a new mouse is probably best before you double click on something harmful by mistake. Mouses are quite cheap, now... -- Luk ^talk 09:40, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It seems not to be natively possible in Windows, but I think you can do it with Window Blinds. It costs, but you get a free trial. There might be a free alternative that does it as well, but I can't think of one right now. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 11:05, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You can adjusst the speed/sensitivity of double-click in the Control Panel / Mouse settings. Non-intuitively (to me), you would move the slider to "fast". --LarryMac | Talk 16:18, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Perl - getting the value of the ones place

Resolved

If a user is asked for a number, I want to be able to tell what the ones place contains in Perl. So if they gave a response of 15, I want to know that the ones place value is 5. How can I do that without regular expressions? I can get things like the tens place by dividing the number by 10 but how do I do that with the ones place? I thought it would have something to do with modulo but now I'm not sure. Dismas|^(talk) 09:32, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I can't remember the perl syntax for modulo, but it's usually something involving the percent sign: so 15 % 10 would return 5. Yes, here it is: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Perl_Programming/Operators Tinfoilcat (talk) 09:37, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yep, got it. I was just coming back to say that I figured out the same thing. Thanks though!! Dismas|^(talk) 09:53, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

computer

what is the importance of the formula bar in ms excel — Preceding unsigned comment added by 223.176.108.249 (talk) 15:58, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

It displays the contents of the cell which has focus. It serves as an area where the contents of the cell - whether data or formula - can be edited. And it provides dialogue boxes which assist in putting together formulii when you press the fx characters to the left of the formula box (at least, in Excel 2003). --Tagishsimon (talk) 17:19, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Without it, Excel would be of little use outside the dumb paper 'database' you can keep on your hard-drive or email people, and which most people use it as. 188.6.76.0 (talk) 18:11, 22 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]