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May 17

Linux chown mistake

There was an error in a chown bash script I wrote that accidentally cd'd to the base of the filesystem (/) and changed the ownership of all the files at / as well as all files in each of the directories at / (but no deeper) to my user account. To correct this, I immediately re-chowned all those files to root:root. I then went to the /home directory and corrected the obvious mis-match in ownership there, but I'm concerned that overwriting the ownership of all files /*/* to root may create some problems.... How much damage have I done? Are there certain files at the base of the filesystem and one level deeper that shouldn't be owned by root (other than obviously the directories inside the home file)? Is there a tool to verify correct ownership of system files? Thank you for any help or suggestions. I'm running Ubuntu 12.04.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 00:32, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

As to how much damage: a bit. Most, but not all, stuff in the system directories is owned by root, but some is owned by special users for specific daemons. But worse, you've destroyed group-id info, which is more widely used to allow such semi-privileged processes access to sensitive stuff. I wrote a little script to scan a healthy 12.04 install and count the number of unique user and group ids in different system directories:

   /usr  204690 items, 3 uids, 17 gids
   /etc  3190 items, 1 uids, 9 gids
   /bin  155 items, 1 uids, 1 gids
  /sbin  182 items, 1 uids, 2 gids
   /opt  13102 items, 2 uids, 2 gids
   /lib  9750 items, 1 uids, 1 gids
  /boot  224 items, 1 uids, 1 gids
   /sys  21491 items, 2 uids, 2 gids
   /var  11475 items, 13 uids, 20 gids

For example, in my /usr there are filesystem objects with the follow groups: root utempter mail utmp messagebus games libuuid dip staff lpadmin tty daemon wireshark shadow ssh mlocate crontab

As to the fix: RPM based systems have an option to get the package manger to restore the ownership and permission info on installed files, but I don't know of an option for APT based systems like Ubuntu to do so. This question has someone writing much of that functionality (by interrogating dpkg to get the list of installed packages and the perms of each file therein, and then setting it) - but even that isn't complete, as packages have pre- and post-install hooks, which can quite reasonably set permissions. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 09:43, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Thank you, Finlay, for the explanation. I'm not that attached to my system, so I don't really mind reinstalling (after backing up /etc and /home, of course), but before I do, since you already have the script, would you mind checking the different uids and gids of only files at /* and /*/* ? My reckless bashing only made it one level deep, so for example my /usr dir got chown'd as well as every file and directory inside /usr, but files inside directories in /usr, say /usr/bin/something, were untouched.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 18:21, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Reinstalling is really overkill for this. I've posted my non-root, non-/home ownerships on your talk page. --Sean 21:00, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Ah, thank you, Sean. This was a very helpful list. I have used it to restore the correct ownerships. I'd also like to point out (should anyone with a similar problem come across this thread) that chowning files also unsets the setuid bit. Below are the files with the setuid bit set on a Debian installation on my other box. Can anyone confirm that these are the only files one level deep (/*/*) with +s perms in Ubuntu? sudo immediately came to my mind, but it's an extra level deep in my Ubuntu installation at /usr/bin/sudo, so its setuid permission wasn't touched by my erroneous script.

/bin
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root  68316 Jan 25  2011 mount
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root  31360 Oct 14  2010 ping
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root  35252 Oct 14  2010 ping6
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root  29152 Feb 15  2011 su
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root  47304 Jan 25  2011 umount

/sbin
-rwsr-xr-x 1 root root    80600 Dec 30 13:03 mount.nfs

/usr
drwxrwsr-x  10 root     staff         4096 Jan 31 20:00 local

/var
drwxrwsr-x  2 root staff 4096 Jan 22 16:05 local
drwxrwsr-x  2 root mail  4096 Apr  8 13:47 mail

Also, I noticed that in Debian, the group of /usr/local is staff, but it wasn't on Sean's list of non-root:root files for Ubuntu. Is that correct?--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 02:01, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Correct about /usr/local. I ran 'sudo find / -maxdepth 2 -perm /7000 -ls' and got this:

sudo find / -maxdepth 2 -perm /7000 -ls

5242901    4 drwxr-s---   2 root     dip          4096 Apr 26  2011 /etc/chatscripts
12717769    4 drwxrwsr-x   3 root     src          4096 Sep 17  2011 /srv/cvs
8388622   36 -rwsr-xr-x   1 root     root        36832 Apr  9 04:32 /bin/su
8388648   36 -rwsr-xr-x   1 root     root        35712 Nov  8  2011 /bin/ping
8388673   96 -rwsr-xr-x   1 root     root        94792 Mar 30 07:34 /bin/mount
8388674   68 -rwsr-xr-x   1 root     root        69096 Mar 30 07:34 /bin/umount
8388647   40 -rwsr-xr-x   1 root     root        40256 Nov  8  2011 /bin/ping6
8388665   32 -rwsr-xr-x   1 root     root        31304 Mar  2 16:35 /bin/fusermount
9044222    4 drwxrwxrwt   3 root     root         4096 May 18 14:59 /var/tmp
9044214    4 drwxrwsrwt   2 root     whoopsie     4096 May 14 13:29 /var/crash
9044219    4 drwxrwsr-x   2 root     mail         4096 Apr 26  2011 /var/mail
9044217    4 drwxrwsr-x   2 root     staff        4096 Apr 21  2011 /var/local
4196810   20 -rwsr-xr-x   1 root     root        18888 Apr 18 18:11 /sbin/mount.ecryptfs_private
4194438   36 -rwxr-sr-x   1 root     shadow      35432 Feb  9 02:44 /sbin/unix_chkpwd
4849665   12 drwxrwxrwt  24 root     root        12288 May 18 14:54 /tmp
7350820    4 drwxrwxrwt   2 lightdm  lightdm      4096 May 14 17:35 /tmp/at-spi2
7350810    4 drwxrwxrwt   2 root     root         4096 May 14 17:35 /tmp/.X11-unix
7350811    4 drwxrwxrwt   2 root     root         4096 May 14 14:51 /tmp/.ICE-unix
11403274    4 drwxrwsr-x   9 root     src          4096 Apr 28 03:59 /usr/src
  1342    0 drwxrwxrwt   2 root     root          360 May 18 15:00 /run/shm
  1341    0 drwxrwxrwt   3 root     root           60 May 18 07:55 /run/lock
  7977    0 crw------T   1 root     root              May 14 13:24 /dev/autofs
 10264    0 crw------T   1 root     root              May 14 13:24 /dev/btrfs-control
  1110    0 crw-rw-rwT   1 root     fuse              May 14 13:24 /dev/fuse

--80.112.182.190 (talk) 13:05, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, 80.112! I have now restored those other perms on my files. Thanks again everyone for your help.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 02:43, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

password

were do i find out what my password is to connect to amazon.com on my kindle. i had one years ago and it will not let me connect — Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.55.249.179 (talk) 00:55, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

You may need to get Kindle Support to reset it for you. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 10:13, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

You can also log into amazon with that username/password to see if it's actually correct. RMoD (talk) 23:06, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

555 astable circuit has slightly longer first 'on'. Why?

I made this circuit:

R1 = 100 kOhm, R2 = 1 MOhm, C1 = 1 uFarad

and as you can see in the video (if it works), the first 'on' of the LED is longer than the rest. This always happens. Why?

First ON is longer always

Peter Michner (talk) 01:30, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Could it be because TRIG trips at 1/3 Vcc, not 0v, but the 1st interval starts at 0v? Vespine (talk) 04:06, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

And just for some shameless self promotion, when someone mentions LED, I can't help but show off a LED project I built a couple of years ago. Vespine (talk) 04:15, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

I had seen the hack-a-day pages and the videos, but didn't expect to find the man behind the cube at wikipedia reference desk! :-) Nice one, I've been looking at lots of projects since I got an arduino chip. Ssscienccce (talk) 19:46, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Regarding the circuit: first "on" would last about 57% longer than the others since first time charging from 0 to 2/3; after that from 1/3 to 2/3. (e^-0.4=0.67; e^-1.1=0.33; 0.4/(1.1-0.4)=0.57)

You could invert the signal, lighting the led during output low, (put led between out and +V instead of out and 0V), so that all the ON times are the same (and the first OFF period isn't noticed since the led is OFF before as well.) Ssscienccce (talk) 19:46, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

server side scripting in perl/python

i know how to embed php code in html but how to do that for perl/python?

Do you mean how to imbed perl into python, or imbed perl and python into HTML? If it's the latter, I don't believe there is any easy way, perl and python are High-level programming languages that need to be compiled before they can run. PHP on the other hand is a server side scripting language which was designed specifically to be embedded into HTML. Vespine (talk) 05:51, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Thinking a little more about this. Perl and Python are actually Interpreted languages, so I wasn't correct saying they need to be compiled, they can be executed by an "interpreter" which is possible, but unlike a PHP interpreter, not very common on a web server. I found this for using a python interpreter on a web server, there's probably something similar for perl, but it doesn't look trivial, or at least not as trivial as PHP. Vespine (talk) 06:38, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

The pattern of embedding executable code in an HTML source isn't quite the same as it's done in PHP. Usually people use a framework like Django, Pylons, TurboGears, or Google App Engine. These include a template engine (like Jinja, Cheetah, or Mako) which allows some code to be embedded into the blocks of HTML you're processing. But mostly you have separate python source files for code, separate from the "presentation" (the HTML). This all probably sounds like a lot of extra gubbins when all you want is a few lines of code in a little throwaway file, and indeed PHP gets you that without the other stuff. But if you're talking about a non-trivial project having the HTML and code jammed together starts to be a liability, and it's common in PHP to separate it out (Mediawiki mostly does, for example). If you're just interested in web development in Python, try Udacity's course on that, which is pretty straightforward (they use Google App Engine with Jinja). For the technically minded, I think mod_python did support embedding python just like php, but mod_python is thoroughly deprecated, and I don't think its moral successor mod_wsgi does this.-- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 10:03, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

It can be done very easily, assuming your web server is set up to launch python. Here's an example (from Programming Python 4th edition by Mark Lutz):

<html>
<title>Interactive Page</title>
<body>
<form method=POST action="cgi-bin/cgi101.py">
<P><B>Enter your name:</B>
<P><input type=text name=user>
<P><input type=submit>
</form>
</body></html>

and

#!/usr/bin/python
import cgi
form = cgi.FieldStorage() # parse form data
print('Content-type: text/html\n') # hdr plus blank line
print('<title>Reply Page</title>') # html reply page
if not 'user' in form:
    print('<h1>Who are you?</h1>')
else:
    print('<h1>Hello <i>%s</i>!</h1>' % cgi.escape(form['user'].value))

The only tricky bit might be getting your web server configured. If you tell us which server you run, we may be able to help.-gadfium 22:26, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Code help

What code should I give to a HTML page, when I want to: i)Go to the next line without spacing, as offered in ms-word. ii)Write something inside a orange colored, 100% width, box. I am new to HTML. Thanks, extra999 (talk) 07:59, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Another question, how it is done that some space is left from the left side where a colourful background is added, and then a vertical line separates the main content. extra999 (talk) 08:05, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Like this (this is full width of its container - on your site you need to make sure it's not contained by something else.
To make a no-space newline, use the <br> tag
Spacing like you're asking about is usually done with CSS padding and margins. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 10:08, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

And is it possible to convert this into proper html:

font {font-family: Century Gothic, sans-serif; font-variant: small-caps; text-indent: 125px;  font-size: 150%; text-weight:     
bold; }

extra999 (talk) 11:26, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Just apply the style to a given tag, either using the html style directive (which gets very repetitive if you do it more than a little) or using a CSS stylesheet Either way it looks like this. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 11:34, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

By the way, text-weight: bold should be font-weight: bold, in which case it would look like this. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 12:05, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks you all for my help. extra999 (talk) 06:36, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

What is abbreviation MFi?

What do the letters in MFi stand for (in this context)? Made for iPad? Made for iDevices? Is there a reference that defines it?--Mortense (talk) 11:34, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

https://developer.apple.com/programs/mfi/ -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 11:36, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

OK, let me try again. So what do the three letters stand for? I don't see it defined on that page. I am not looking for information about MFi, but for what the abbreviation stand for. What does "M" stand for? "Made"? What does "F" stand for? "for"? What does "i" stand for? "iDevices"? Where is this abbreviation defined? I am not looking for what MFi is, only the definition of the abbreviation itself. --Mortense (talk) 12:06, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

I'm not stupid. I understood your question fine. Your question is answered right there in the "MFi Logos" section, as best as it can be. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 12:53, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Our MFI disambiguation page says:

"Made for iPhone/iPod/iPad, Apple's licensing and certification program for electronic accessories that connects with their portable devices"

but we don't have a page for it. It's quite possible that the abbreviation is not specifically defined by Apple, and you can substitute whichever iDevice you want. Rojomoke (talk) 12:39, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

According to this site it stands for "Made for iPod/iPhone/iPad".--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 12:43, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Is there any way to open up multiple wikilinks in one click?

In finder I can highlight twenty documents and click ⌘+O to open them all in one click. An equivalent facility for wikilinks would be quite a boon for say opening up fifteen double redirects from the what links here redirect list after a page move.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 11:51, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

There's a Firefox extension called MultiLinks (instructions) which lets you drag-select an area of the browser screen, and will then open each link it finds in that area in a new tab. It works quite nicely. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 13:13, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Finlay, that's absolutely great! Works like a charm and will save me hours. Thank you.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 02:18, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Connecting to wireless network

i have an existing wireless network with one computer on it/ I am trying to connect another computer via a Netgear adaptor. Ive tried all the usual things a number of times but i cant get the new computer to connect to the internet. I can get it to connect ot the router but no further. Any ideas on what i could be doing wrong?--92.28.76.69 (talk) 16:01, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Some routers have a "MAC filter" (or the like) in their wireless config screens. This prevents devices with unknown MAC addresses from connecting. So if that's turned on, you can figure out your MAC and add it to the "white list" in that screen. Depending on your operating system, look at the output of ipconfig or ifconfig to find out your MAC. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 16:14, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

No the router is not filtering any addresses. Any other ideas?--92.28.76.69 (talk) 16:39, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Perhaps your problem is a fixed (and wrong) DNS server. At the command line try entering ping 91.198.174.225 (which is a Wikipedia server). You should see a procession of times in milliseconds. If you see "no reply" or "timed out" or something, that suggests a routing problem. If the numeric ping succeeds but can't successfully ping en.wikipedia.org then your setting for the DNS server may be to blame. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 16:49, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Terminal emulator on android phone

I installed this terminal emulator on this Android phone. Basic commands like ls, cd and pwd work, but most commands trigger a "permission denied" message. Examples of commands that don't work: find, grep, which, vi. How do I obtain the required permissions to make the shell usable? --NorwegianBlue ^talk 19:43, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

The Android shell environment is pretty basic, with a few builtins and access to a few utilities on the system. Perhaps your your system doesn't have find, grep, or vi; they're not listed in the list of commands (I guess what's installed varies a bit by phone). For others you may need to su as root. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 21:34, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the link, which says that the "permission denied" message is misleading, and may also mean that the command is not understood. A basic command that's missing is cp (there's no "copy" either), and scp (which appeared on the list) gives the "permission denied" message. cat t.mp3 > u.mp3 worked, however. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 08:41, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Android phones don't come with busybox, of which includes most of the standard console commands. Rooting your device will usually piggyback busybox on as well, which will let you use the terminal more efficiently. RMoD (talk) 23:09, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Print Driver

Some years ago I had a Windows print preview utility with which one could select random thumbnail pages for printing (i.e. they didn't need to be consecutive) and ignore others. I thought it was called iPrint but a search on that term does not find it. Anyone recall it? Thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Callerman (talk • contribs) 19:52, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Like a batch file, but in linux

If I want the equivalent of a Windows batch file in linux, with a series of commands, and which requires admin privileges, how do I put it into a clickable file (without the admin password included, of course, it has to be asked at the moment of running the batch file). OsmanRF34 (talk) 23:09, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

Create your file of commands. The first lines should be

#!/bin/bash   
su

Alternatively, you could use kdesu or gksu if you use the KDE or GNOME environments.

The file of commands must be set to be executable, with 'chmod +x scriptname'.-gadfium 23:35, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

This won't work. Any commands that follow su in this script will run as the original unprivileged user, after the privileged shell that su starts is manually exited. You could put the rest of the commands in a second script and pass that to the subshell with the -c option to su, or you could put sudo in front of all of the privileged commands instead of using su. -- BenRG (talk) 00:51, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Note that if you're running in an environment where other untrusted users have access to the computer, it's quite easy to create gaping security holes by doing things of that sort. Looie496 (talk) 23:41, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

By the way, the name for this is shell script.-gadfium 00:37, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Have a look at the "advanced bash scripting guide" at "the linux documentation project". It's how I learn't bash. Heres the code for what you want to do.

#!/bin/bash
if  [[ $(id -u)  != '0'  ]] #if we are not root
then
    gksudo "$0" "$@" #gksudo gives a gui prompt for getting root, "$0" is the program "$@" means pass all arguments intact
else
    #root code here
    zenity --info --text="Yay we are root!\n User ID ="$(id -u) #strings adjacent to each other are autoconcatenated
fi

Staticd (talk) 09:28, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

May 18

Excel Drop-down List

Why is the drop-down list in this Form Control combo box extending so far to the left?
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B09luWdqkhltZ1ZmVV81SHVtX2M
The formatting controls don't offer any way of modifying anything other than the size of the box at the top. Rojomoke (talk) 14:36, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Excel 2010 on Windows 7 Rojomoke (talk) 14:38, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Because there is a problem with the program. 65.49.68.158 (talk) 15:43, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Try different screen resolutions. I've had various programs that messed up at different resolutions. Also, be sure you haven't changed the computer's default font size, as many programs don't support that properly. StuRat (talk) 21:22, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Some other thoughts. Could those list items be padded with spaces ? If fixed length strings are used, it might feel the need to display the trailing spaces. StuRat (talk) 01:36, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

IP address

Thread retitled from "IP adress".

How does the internet knows all ip adresses? for example when I send a packet to 208.80.152.201 (wikipedia). If I changed my Ip adress how packets still reach me?
It is possible to identify a computer as another ip adress? (2 computers (on different networks) with the same IP) 190.60.93.218 (talk) 16:23, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

I am revising the heading of this section from "IP adress" to "IP address", in harmony with WP:TPOC, point 13 (Section headings). Please see the correct spelling at IP address.

—Wavelength (talk) 17:01, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Roughly speaking, Internet routers know which IP address ranges are assigned to each ISP, and your ISP's routers know which address in that range is assigned to you. Your IP address may change frequently (if it's dynamically assigned), but only your ISP needs to keep track of that. -- BenRG (talk) 17:56, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

This can help 190.158.212.204 (talk) 00:57, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

How do you search for files in Linux?

How do you tell it to search for a keyword inside any file and depict the results on a clickable list of files? I know that grep exists, but can it produce a list of files like Windows does? OsmanRF34 (talk) 17:27, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Yes, if you use your desktop environment’s file manager; for example Nautilus in GNOME and Dolphin in KDE (I couldn't tell you why they're both named after sea life now, presumably the KDE guys were jealous and had to have it!. ¦ Reisio (talk) 18:14, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

And how do you do that in Unity? — Preceding unsigned comment added by OsmanRF34 (talk • contribs) 20:30, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

http://www.ubuntu.com/tour/img/menu/icon-folder.png http://help.ubuntu.com/12.04/ubuntu-help/files-search.html ¦ Reisio (talk) 21:01, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

So, obviously you don't know the answer. The search function there doesn't search inside the files. The "help" page you linked to says explicitly: "narrow your results by location and file type". There is nothing there about inside the files. — Preceding unsigned comment added by OsmanRF34 (talk • contribs) 21:08, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Use gnome-search-tool (which if this is a new install you'll need to install yourself; if you've upgraded from an older Ubuntu you might already have it). It has all kinds of options for searching given filenames, paths, file contents, modify dates, file sizes, owners, and other stuff. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 21:48, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks Finlay. OsmanRF34 (talk) 22:16, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

Wireless router

I can connect to the internet from my laptop via my router and i can connect to the router from my desktop but not to the internet. Why might that be?. Do i need to set up the router to accept more than one computer? Ive tried all the obvious things but the desktop wont connect to the internet whatever i do with the ip addresses. I am using a netgear adaptor and a HUAWEI router.--78.150.230.59 (talk) 19:18, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

To be clear, you're attempting to use a wireless connection from both the laptop and the desktop?
Why not use a cable for the desktop?
Make sure the adapter supports all the protocols the router is setup to use.
¦ Reisio (talk) 21:06, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

My desktop is upstairs and the phone socket and therefore router is downstairs.--78.150.230.59 (talk) 21:12, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

I assure you there are wires running between your downstairs and upstairs, and that it's a relatively simple procedure to add another wire (with a few provisos [namely: don't poke any live wires]). ¦ Reisio (talk) 00:39, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

That may be the solution if i cant get the wireless to work but i would lke to avoid trying ti thread phone extension cables thro the ceilng etc.--78.150.230.59 (talk) 12:58, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

It’s simple. :) ¦ Reisio (talk) 19:17, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

You may have a similar problem to a few questions above (#Connecting to wireless network). Try the couple of things I suggest there and tell us how you get on. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 21:50, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

And check ipconfig/ifconfig (as described above) to make sure you don't just have a Link-local address (the ranges for these are in that article); if you have a LLA rather than a NAT address like 192.168.x.x or 10.0.x.x then you most likely aren't providing the correct network key (or have specified the wrong kind of secure authentication scheme). -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 22:43, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

When i do ipconfig, i get an autoconfig ip address 169.254.94.125 with subnet 255.255.0.0. There is no connection specific DNS suffix listed neither is a default gateway listed. Does that mean something is not set correctly?--78.150.230.59 (talk) 12:01, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Yes, it probably means that the Wi-Fi Protected Access key you're providing is wrong. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 13:54, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

I dont seem to be able to find asny ref to WiFi protection in the setup panels. Is that key the same as the normal network key.--78.150.230.59 (talk) 14:09, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Yes, that's right. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 14:18, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

HELP MY MINECRAFT IS MESSED UP!

HOW DO I GO BACK TO REGULAR FIRST PERSON?

F5 ¦ Reisio (talk) 21:03, 18 May 2012 (UTC)

RTM! 190.158.212.204 (talk) 01:08, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

May 19

Reinstalling Windows 7

The installation process can format the C drive, but does that securely erase all data on the drive, so it cannot be recovered by an undelete utility? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.255.1.123 (talk) 00:02, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

No, formatting a drive does not get rid of all the data. For that you need a special tool such as DBAN or something similar. The article at Data remanence explains it more. RudolfRed (talk) 00:15, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

It seems Windows does not overwrite data (even with a "full format", which is absent from recent Windows installers anyways), though many other filesystem utilities / OS installers do. Using DBAN is fine, but don't waste your time with anything other than the "quick" option (single pass). ¦ Reisio (talk) 01:08, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

If you want to securely erase I would suggest using a sledge hammer or angle grinder. Dmcq (talk) 09:51, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

You know people on the internet, they'll believe anything Wikipedia tells them. XD RMoD (talk) 23:11, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Is there a name for this GUI problem ?

Imagine a list of 3 items. You are to scroll to the desired item, then hit Enter to select it.

If two of the items are blue, and one is red, then apparently the red item is the highlighted one.

If two of the items are red, and one is blue, then apparently the blue item is the highlighted one.

Now imagine the list has only two items, one red and one blue. It's now unclear as to which item is highlighted.

I've seen this issue come up on web pages, DVD menus, and cell phones, but I've never had a name for it. Is there one ? StuRat (talk) 01:30, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

I hope not, why name something when you can just categorize it as "bad UI". ¦ Reisio (talk) 02:06, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

There are many advantages to naming particular problems. The most obvious is that you can have a checklist where they look specifically for this problem. StuRat (talk) 02:09, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

I agree there's an advantage, but you can have a checklist for it with or without a name (or even with just icons and no text), and if it's an exhaustive list the chances everything will have its own name will be low anyways. ¦ Reisio (talk) 02:26, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

This one seems to be a common problem, though, as I've seen it in so many places. I just got my mom a cell phone for Mother's Day, and she keeps calling the wrong number because of it (only 2 names appear on the screen at once from the phone book, and she can't remember which color is the highlight color). StuRat (talk) 05:33, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

I call that ambiguity. Try to set another color scheme, maybe things look clearer then. OsmanRF34 (talk) 14:44, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

figure/ground ambiguity? —Tamfang (talk) 16:29, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Yes, I call it bad design, and it confuses me, too, but a general rule is that the brighter colour is the one highlighted. Dbfirs 08:32, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Not on my Mom's new cell phone, where yellow is the highlight color and the brighter white is the background color. StuRat (talk) 14:31, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

I propose Murphy's choice, specifically "If there's more than one way to do a job, and one of those ways will result in disaster, then somebody will do it that way.". Vespine (talk) 00:09, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Turning indents into blockquotes

Is there a way to use CSS or the php page on my personal MediaWiki project to make all indented text using the colon look like a blockquote? I'm trying to find the easiest way to let my users make multi-paragraph blockquotes because I suspect that the HTML tags <blockquote> and <p>, or a template like Template:Cquote might scare away my less computer-literate editors. Thanks. —Arctic Gnome (talk • contribs) 04:58, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Assuming the indent works the same as it does on Wikipedia, it just means it encloses the text in <dt><dd></dd></dt> tags. You can style these like any other block level element — just copy the blockquote style and move it to dd. It should work. You may have to zero out the default settings for dd/dt in the CSS. --Mr.98 (talk) 21:39, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Is indexing a safety risk?

If you index your encrypted files (for example, you put them into a Truecrypt container), but let the indexed DB unencrypted, is that security risk? Can the encrypted files be, at least partially, reconstructed by this index? OsmanRF34 (talk) 14:41, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Almost certainly yes. -- BenRG (talk) 18:58, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

I thought that too. You could construct queries like "is 'foo' NEAR 'foo2'?" and such. And is it possible that Windows or Linux index your files without you asking explicitly to? Just by performing a search for a keyword within a group of files? OsmanRF34 (talk) 19:27, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Most linux distros don't. You would have to explicitly install a deskop search engine like MetaTracker_(software) or strigi. Staticd (talk) 08:50, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Oh? I was under the impression that most Linux distributions contained located and updatedb. On Gnu tool based systems like most Linuxes, findutils is included and runs updatedb periodically, indexing your system. In fact, this has been the norm on commercial and free Linux and Unix systems since 1983; and Gnu findutils has been part of Red Hat, Ubuntu, and other Linux distributions for as long as I can remember. Nimur (talk) 01:51, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

I'm not understanding the actual risk here, unless the names of the files themselves are sensitive (which they could be, of course). MD5 is not considered particularly secure anymore, but I think that means that you might be able to create two files with the same MD5 and convince your victim to sign one of them, or at worst, create a file with a desired MD5. I don't think it means that you can recover any useful info from the MD5 hash of a large file; there are just too many possibilities for the large file and too little information in the hash. --Trovatore (talk) 02:16, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

I don't believe that there's an inherent security risk to updatedb; especially if file-permissions are correctly set and enforced. I was simply responding to the earlier claim that "linux distros don't [index your files without you explicilty asking]". Nimur (talk) 04:06, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Well, the "file permissions" thing suggests that you're thinking of a different sort of security than I am. I generally assume that TrueCrypt is for guarding against the case where you lose physical control of the machine (for example, someone steals your laptop). I don't know what good file permissions do you in that case.

So supposing you have such a volume mounted by default (which already seems bad to me, because it implies that the system can decrypt it using just your user password, which means an attacker who has that password can read the volume), then updatedb would index it if so configured, and the original question seems to be whether an attacker who had access to the database could thereby get useful information about the encrypted files. Personally I don't see how, unless the filename itself is information you don't want to get out. But BenRG seemed to think differently, and I'm curious to know why. --Trovatore (talk) 06:25, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

I think we have to draw a line between two forms of indexing: just the file names or the content of files, to perform searches for a specific keyword. My question refers to the second case., and I suppose BenRG answered with that in mind. OsmanRF34 (talk) 13:14, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

I did, but the point is just that whatever information is indexed can be recovered from the index. If only file names and MD5 hashes are indexed then only that is leaked, but that can still be sensitive (it shows you were in possession of a file that might exist elsewhere). If all n-word sequences are indexed then you can probably recover a good approximation of the contents of all files. I suppose it might be possible with some kind of cryptographic trick to create an index that could not be read directly, but only investigated via queries like "which files contain this sequence of words?", but even then a search using common word sequences would probably recover a lot of information. -- BenRG (talk) 23:34, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Windows Update not working

I had problems with IE9 on a Windows 7 systen, but I got it back. But Windows Update still will not work. It makes a restore point and says it is installing updates, but then it says that it failed. If says:

Error(s) found: code 64C -- unknown error

The help says to download and run Microsoft FixIt. I did that but it doesn't fix it. Any ideas on how to get Update working again? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 16:28, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

Strange noise while using a CD

Today I put images on a CD and the computer made a loud, grinding noise. What could be causing it? Thank you.--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 21:47, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

The CD might have not been seated correctly in the tray. RudolfRed (talk) 22:38, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

If that's not it, and any CD you put in it makes the same sound, then it sounds like you need to replace to CD drive. StuRat (talk) 23:24, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

The CD masterised the images. Is it possible the tray is dusty?--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 08:16, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Perhaps, but I'm thinking the particles would need to be larger than just dust, like a grain of sand, perhaps. StuRat (talk) 14:30, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Use a flashlight to see if there was already a CD in the drive. Penyulap ☏ 17:26, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

A laser pointer might work better, or at least a single LED key-chain flashlight. The idea is to only illuminate the inside, and not have so much light reflected from the outside that it blinds you to the dimly lit inner bits. StuRat (talk) 04:00, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

I tried another CD and there were no unusual noises this time. It was most likely the CD not being inserted properly. Thank you for all your helpful answers!--Jeanne Boleyn (talk) 18:43, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Glad to hear it. I'll mark this Q resolved. StuRat (talk) 01:42, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Resolved

What means "masterised the images" please? —Tamfang (talk) 05:22, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

It's a strange way to say it, but I think she meant she stores her primary copy (master) of those images on CD, from which she would then make copies, as needed. Creating such a master CD is usually called "mastering", but I imagine you could also call it "masterizing", or, if you speak British English, "masterising". StuRat (talk) 05:39, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Security in LInux

How do you know that your Linux installation is secure? I mean, no malware, viruses, and such. Is there,for example, a tool that tells you which programs are trying to connect to the Internet or that manages authorizations for connecting to the Internet? — Preceding unsigned comment added by OsmanRF34 (talk • contribs) 22:39, 19 May 2012 (UTC)

The subject is very complicated, and you're going to need a lot of background before you'll fully be able to assess your own security. Use a trusted distribution, downloaded from a trusted source, and don't run untrusted programs on your machine, especially as root.

You can use the "netstat" command to see what open connections you have going at any one time. However any skilled hack could easily hide from that. Broba (talk) 02:38, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Software such as AIDE, OSSEC, and other things you might find in category:intrusion detection systems, which basically let you know if files have been altered, and optionally when/how/why/etc.. This is also how you know that any OS is "secure" (by creating a manifest and monitoring it for changes). ¦ Reisio (talk) 05:42, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

I expect this is not a military-grade question like 'how do I stop people destroying my country and imposing corporate rule?' but more of a 'I just upgraded from the world of windows and am I still dreaming ?' kind of question.

Short answer is you can pinch yourself all you want to, you're not dreaming, there are no viruses or malware on Linux based machines, they are as rare as you being there when it is raining fish from the sky. Simple way is the system monitor to see what network resources are in use when you perform actions or run programs, you can narrow things down like that. There is a lot of automatic updating sort of functionality with linux. Broken things often don't stay broken long, and new easier ways of doing things arrive unannounced. That all uses some traffic usually at switch on or a set time of day. Penyulap ☏ 17:22, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Penyulap: are you nuts, or just uninformed? The first well-known computer-security "outbreak" in history - the Morris worm - exploited a programming-error that was widespread across many Unix systems. Running the Linux kernel does not protect users from user-error; and it does not protect users from incompetent-programmer-error. It absolutely does not protect users from malicious and intentional security-breaches. As evidenced in the above discussion about indexing, most casual users of Linux have absolutely no idea what should normally be running on their system, let alone the technical proficiency to see through an intentionally-self-obfuscating security incursion. Here's an essay from a famous computer-programmer: Reflections on Trusting Trust. The ugly but true moral of his story: you just cannot know if your system is "secure." Even if you are running Linux. Even if you compiled Linux from source. Even if you read every single line of the source code, and then compiled it. "Of course, the login command will remain bugged with no trace in source anywhere." (A direct quote from Ken Thompson, the man who wrote the original login command. Do you know who wrote the login command on your Linux?) Nimur (talk) 02:04, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

May 20

How do I keep the Wikipedia logon from autofilling my user name?

If using Firefox, and Windows XP, I logoff Wikipedia, then clear history using the tool within the browser,("Tools," then "Clear recent history" with all options checked, then reenter Wikipedia as an IP and click logon, it automatically fills in my username. If anyone else has access to the computer I used, they can thus learn my username. How do I get Wikipedia to forget the username? Or is it the browser that it filling it in? Thanks. 98.220.239.210 (talk) 01:11, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

I have the same setup:

1) If I pick the "Remember me on this computer" box during logon, the next time it bypasses the logon panel entirely and puts me right into Wikipedia already logged in.

2) After I enter my password and hit enter, Firefox creates a drop-down menu that allows me to remember the logon. If I click this one (and not the first), it then offers to fill in the logon info.

Is this not how it behaves for you ? StuRat (talk) 01:16, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Tools -> Options -> Security -> uncheck "Remember passwords for sites" 82.45.62.107 (talk) 15:11, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

iPhone Problems.

Someone tell me how I can sync my music to my iPhone without it saying "set up as a new iPhone" or "restore from the backup of: iPod" my old ipod. I just got my iPhone today, and now I want to put my music on. Help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.176.8.75 (talk) 05:16, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Laptop fell

My laptop fell... It takes a long time to start up. after 1-2 minutes it flashes something like this BOOT FAILED. PH4-HLD-DT-STDVDRAM GT 30F then it says information about the processor. (Intel and copyright stuff) quickly Then it appears the BIOS Boot Menu asking me how do I want to start the computer. (HDD/SSD,CD/DVD,LAN,etc...)
That means the computer can't find the OS in my HDD... It´s all hope lost? What can I do? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.158.212.204 (talk) 06:03, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

You should probably go to http://webchat.freenode.net/?nick=laptopFell&channels=##windows or http://webchat.freenode.net/?nick=laptopFell&channels=##hardware as the number of questions will be massive. It'd probably be more worthwhile to call up your friend you should have who's good with computers. ¦ Reisio (talk) 07:28, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

After reading this hope was lost.. Anyway, I installed debian on a USB.. tried to reach my HDD to see if it was the boot sector that was Damaged. No luck.. Haven't open my laptop yet.. (I'm not really good in terms of hardware.)

I think I'm going to need to replace the HDD. I will try to recover some information... Do you have anymore ideas? if not.. Do you suggesy any guide for opening a laptop? or something.. Thanks anyway. :/ --190.158.212.204 (talk) 09:04, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

If you are able to boot your laptop from a USB or Cd-ROM, then your problem is not a big deal. Changing a HDD is quite easy and a new HDD is cheap (<$100). However, repairing one for data recovery, is quite a delicate operation, that only a trained technician can do. — Preceding unsigned comment added by OsmanRF34 (talk • contribs) 12:35, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Another possibility is that the cable to the HD was jostled loose from the connector. If so, it just needs to be completely unplugged and plugged back in again. This would be easy on a desktop PC, but probably requires a professional on a laptop. StuRat (talk) 14:28, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

That's also possible. You could buy (for $5) an external HDD case (first discover what kind of HDD you have) and remove your HDD from the laptop and test it. OsmanRF34 (talk) 15:46, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Laptop cable? Most laptops have a hard drive bay, not cables like a desktop. It's possible the jot caused the needle in the HDD to get stuck in a location and stop moving, btw. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 23:46, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Computer booting

Hi:I have a Dell Inspiron 620s computer with Windows 7.When I turn it on I get an error screen saying unable to load windows.The error message is on a 30 second timer saying it will fix the problem or you can opt. to load windows normally.If you let it time out on fixing itself it says loading files and stops their,if you pick load windows normally it says loading files and then the windows logo comes up and it says loading windows and stops their.If you put a windows 7 CD in and tell it to load from the CD it says loading files and then the windows logo comes up and it says loading windows and stops their.I run a diagnostic on the hardware and it said everything was working ok.The problem started when the computer was left in sleep mode and when I came back it had turned itself off and when I turned it on no go.Any help would be greatly appreciated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rigby Veinot (talk • contribs) 10:04, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Sounds like you may need to uninstall and reinstall the operating system. Also, did you try starting in safe mode ? StuRat (talk) 14:24, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

reinstalling the operating system often equates to wiping everything off the hard drive, so use an ubuntu Live CD first to copy everything across onto some portable drive or memory stick. Penyulap ☏ 17:01, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

If it won't boot from the CD then you have a serious problem, most likely with your hardware. There are things you could try to figure it out, but they aren't easy to explain, because there are many possible paths, depending on what happens at each step. If it's possible, I recommend taking the computer into a shop to have a professional look at it. Looie496 (talk) 17:59, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

What programming languages are used for developing applications for:

1. iPhone/iPad?

2. Android?

3. Blackberry?

4. Windows Phone?

5. Symbian?

6. What other smartphones should an aspiring developer be aware of?

Also, in cases where Java is used, is it possible to use Clojure instead? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.255.1.115 (talk) 15:13, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

An aspiring developer shouldn’t start by developing for smartphones. Smartphone programs can be more complicated, since you have to work with very limited resources. So, go for the PC environment first. — Preceding unsigned comment added by OsmanRF34 (talk • contribs) 15:49, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

I can hardly see why it matters. Programming is something one should just jump into. I don't think Smartphone programs are all that more complicated than most other programs. Programming with limited resources is arguably a better road to good practice that programming with unlimited resources. --Mr.98 (talk) 18:01, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Well, I still stick to my first answer. However, I have to admit that it's not very relevant to the question, since the OP was not saying that he was new to programming in general, but only an aspiring developer. Anyway, starting by a full-fledge system has several advantages: lots of documentation, lots of peers, not being a beginner in a novel environment, not learning to deal with a technology that will change a lot in the time to come. OsmanRF34 (talk) 19:56, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

All environments are novel to beginners by definition; "not learning to deal with a technology that will change a lot in the time to come" — seriously? If you do real application development, expect a lot of change all the time as new frameworks are rolled out to match new OSes. (If you mean, "other than the frameworks," then sure, they don't change, but neither do the phones for the most part, which apart from their phone-specific frameworks and APIs are pretty common languages.) --Mr.98 (talk) 21:03, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

I obviously meant "new technology" by "novel environment". And yes, I mean the development framework will be completely different in the near future (that's speculative). The smartphone OSs keep fighting for market share and probably some of them will die. This is not like the PC, where these fighting among frameworks has already happened. In your line of thought, you could recommend someone o start learning to program with Assembly or other uncommon language. What happens is that no all computer languages are for beginners. There is a broad consensus about that. It's simply not a good decision, from an educational perspective. OsmanRF34 (talk) 22:15, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Assembly, huh? My point was all along that jumping into a new task — jumping into something you actually are interested in with a real goal of results — is the best way to learn anything, including programming languages. Of the languages listed (see below) all are quite fine for (serious) beginning programmers — none are obscure, none are strange, none are even device-specific. Anyway, I guess one can tell when the end of the argument has been reached when one side gestures vaguely to "broad consensus". I think our mutual points have been made. --Mr.98 (talk) 23:57, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

"Broad consensus" probably means "everybody knows that (excluding you)"? Returning to the (sub-)topic: which language is the best first language? At college, they chose the supposedly best for educational purposed, but completely useless for any purpose, programming language Modula. I hated it, and every one hated it. I don't know if anyone obtained any benefit from it, but if we had gotten exposure to a real-life language, whatever language, we would be more motivated to learn, even with additional problems. XPPaul (talk) 18:24, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

The corresponding articles for each of those systems will have your answers. ¦ Reisio (talk) 16:08, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

1. Objective-C, C, C++, 2. Java, 3. C++, 4. C#, 5. C++. --Mr.98 (talk) 18:08, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

You can use Visual Basic for Windows Phone, too, although it requires an extra download.—Best Dog Ever (talk) 20:16, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

I suppose you can use anything that compiles to .NET bytecode, including F#, IronPython, and so on. Likewise for Android you can use anything that compiles to Dalvik bytecode, such as Scala. -- BenRG (talk) 03:32, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Not my area, but I believe iOS [1] has an NDK which allows a fair amount of code in C or C++. There seem to be similar plans for Windows Phone [2] [3]. However I think you still normally need to develop parts in Java (or whatever) or appropriate for Windows for parts of your code like the interface, the primary advantage is with shared libraries (whether your own or third parties like Unity (game engine). Similar to what BenRG said, if you know what you're doing you can probably do other things, e.g. [4] [5] coding for iOS or Android in C# using Mono (software). Of course if your interest is more professional then hobbyist, you probably want to consider the ease of successful coding (which would include things like generally bug free, well performing and well designed apps), your target market/s and if you may want to enter employment, the chance anyone will be interested in your skills. (You may still want to consider these factors even if you're primarily a hobbyist, but it's also possible the challenge or fun may be prime consideration.) Nil Einne (talk) 15:10, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

How to fix my spacebar's equalizer (the metal bit that keeps it level)

While cleaning my desktop keyboard, I broke some of the plastic tabs that keep the key's metal retainer anchored. The broken keys are the Left-shift, the numpad's '+' and 'Enter' keys and the space-bar. Each of those keys currently has one tab that's broken causing the key to go off balance if I press the opposite side. While the smaller keys have little problem working, the space-bar, due to its size, has problems. It works as long as I press the right side of the space-bar. The broken tabs have since been thrown away. What's the best way to replace them? How can I keep the metal equalizer anchored without further damaging the keyboard? Thankyou. — Kjammer  ⌂ 20:17, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

I doubt that you can exactly duplicate those tiny parts. A new keyboard costs around $20. If you were dead set on fixing the old one, the way to go would be to cannibalize another keyboard of the same model for the missing parts. I'd only do something like that if I already had another broken keyboard of the same model, or if the one I was trying to fix was somehow special (belonged to somebody famous, for example). If you want the cheap and dirty fix, just mark the space bar in some way (a spot of paint, perhaps), to remind you where to hit it. StuRat (talk) 20:29, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Way ahead of you there, I already marked it. One of the reasons why I want to fix it, is because I'm finding it difficult to find a US-International keyboard to replace my current one. I got mine (an IBM SK8806 with USB-1.0 hub) for $10 from an online store that no longer exists. The few I could find (in the United States) are 60-100+ USD (of course most of them were the tricked-out gaming keyboards and ones with fingerprint recognition). And I don't want to deal with stickers that'll bother me to no end if I don't line them up correctly. I'm not desperate for a new one just yet, it still works with the aforementioned problems. Thanks anyways. — Kjammer  ⌂ 21:23, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Apologies if I'm missing something here, but why do you need a US international keyboard? Why can you not use a standard US keyboard and set up the dead keys in Windows (or your OS of choice)? - Cucumber Mike (talk) 21:42, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

I think the point is that they want the labels on the keys to be correct. StuRat (talk) 21:53, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Sticky notes for Windows

Does anyone know of an application for Windows analogous to the "Sticky Notes" that come with Macs? Thanks, --Think Fast (talk) 21:51, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

[6], [7] AvrillirvA (talk) 22:16, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Well, Windows 7, and I believe all recent versions of Windows, comes with a Sticky Notes application automatically, which you can find under Accessories. Looie496 (talk) 23:36, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Laptop battery emergency

Hi. After taking my laptop out to another province, the battery recharge on the computer no longer seems to work. Earlier this year, I lost a previous laptop to a motherboard explosion as it had been plugged in continuously for a year. For this laptop, last night the battery charge indicator did not disclose how much of the battery was charged. Today, it remains at 3-4% charge and keeping it plugged in is accomplishing nothing. When I unplug, the laptop returns to its near-depleted battery. I was going to ask about techniques to charge the battery without reducing its lifespan and keeping its reserves as long as possible. How can I manage the current laptop problem? Is the battery or motherboard about to become extinct again, or is there some way to fix the issue? Thanks. ~AH1 ^(discuss!) 23:38, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

If it happened all at once, I'd suspect some portion of the charging circuit is bad. It might just be the cord, if it has a "wall wart" that has gone bad. StuRat (talk) 23:47, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Also, you should run it down once, to make sure it isn't charging. The charge indicator may be lying to you. StuRat (talk) 23:48, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Is the battery an original brand-name or a cheap generic battery? OsmanRF34 (talk) 23:54, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

I "ran down" the battery last night, and about 20 minutes after indicating a charge of 0% it spontaneously powered off. I've been charging now for almost 12 hours, and yet earlier this morning it would not turn on without an external power source. Currently, it is still plugged in, is able to turn on without external power, and stands at 43% while the charger and the computer are both on. Currently, I'm still trying to pinpoint whether the battery or the AC/DC charger is the problem. It is likely a generic battery, and I can check the specifications if necessary, but meanwhile the charger box is getting very hot. The charger now seems to be working, but is charging very slowly. Could this be another circuit problem? Any ideas on how to prolong battery life, and is the current simply not reaching the battery until recently (in other words, having the computer run directly on mains power)? Thanks. ~AH1 ^(discuss!) 16:55, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

If the charger is getting abnormally hot, that indicates the problem may be there. You might want to buy another. StuRat (talk) 02:51, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

May 21

Why can't Google have a(n animated) sign-language translator yet?

When I type in a sentence and press "Translate," I'd like for Google Translate to show me an animation (Flash or otherwise) of hands signing the sentence I inputted.

(Also, would help if I saw a list of images of individual hand-movements for each word.)

With Google being as highly innovative as it is, and sign language being in constant demand (as there are no shortages of deaf people to interpret to), what is taking Google so long to finally bring up an option to translate sign language? --70.179.170.114 (talk) 03:47, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

I imagine they will have that feature some day. But, as it requires recording lots of video, and that costs a lot, this might slow things down, unless there is a free video library of all sign language words that they could use. Also, aren't there multiple sign languages ? StuRat (talk) 03:57, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Think you're confusing highly innovative with fairly productive. :p Machine translation has been around for a long time. ¦ Reisio (talk) 04:32, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Because deaf people can read? I know that's so obvious that it might seem flippant, but I don't mean it that way. Deaf people have no problem using google, so what are you actually asking? You want to learn sign language and you want google to teach you? Vespine (talk) 04:41, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Sign languages don't grammatically or syntactically map onto spoken/written languages, they are their own large independent entities. (For example, American Sign Language and British Sign Language are not mutually intelligible; ASL is closer to French Sign Language.). Furthermore, they often do things that are rare in spoken/written languages (A cool example: American Sign Language has an arbitrary number of pronouns, which are just points floating in space.) I imagine that machine translation of sign language would be a massive research project. There isn't even a generally-agreed-upon notation for ASL yet, which suggests to me that it's not yet well-enough-studied to lay down the important data structures. It's a shame we don't know more, but until we do, it's too big for Google to do alone. Paul (Stansifer) 05:27, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

All those statements are undoubtedly true, BUT STILL, is there really a large population of people who insist on using their eyes to read hands, but refuse to use those same eyes to read a printed page? How do they get along in the world if they can't or won't read traffic signs, or fill out paper job applications, or other such everyday uses of reading from paper or a screen?

Give Vespine more credit for his response, there's just no way it's the wrong answer.

--DaHorsesMouth (talk) 22:11, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

I don't have a position about what reason is the main reason, I just wanted to give some additional information about the probable size of the task. (And how sign language is, from what little I know about it, really cool.) Paul (Stansifer) 00:37, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

It might not be a wrong answer, but I don't think it's an answer to the question that was asked. To me it reads that the OP wants to learn how to say something in ASL, so would like to type a word/sentence/phrase into Google Translate and have that illustrated. It's an interesting idea, and probably several orders of magnitude more difficult than the Subservient Chicken, but it does seem useful. Now, as to why Google doesn't have that already - I'd actually be surprised if one of their employees isn't working on it as part of their Innovation Time Off projects. --LarryMac | Talk 12:48, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Google Translate is a statistical translator that works by manipulating large amounts of text (basically it compares similar texts in different languages and uses them to get from one language to another; the article explains a bit more). This can't be easily applied to video. It's easy for them to extend their algorithms to a new written language, but supporting sign language would require a lot more work (comparable to the work required to support speech as well as text). --Colapeninsula (talk) 16:32, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Furthermore, Google's philosophy is very big data-oriented. I talked to someone who works on translation for Google, and he pointed out that there are no giant corpora of "text" "written" in sign language to work with. Even you had some machine-readable representations of sign language on the web, there would need to be huge quantities of it for Google's techniques to work. Paul (Stansifer) 16:17, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Drivers

I installed Debian in a USB to boot my laptop but I can't find a way to get the drivers for playing sound or using the wireless card, also I downloaded firefox for linux in .bz2 I exctracted it and it just doesn't run. Sometimes programs crashes on their own. It is the computer? English is not my first language, so sorry for the mistakes. thanks --190.158.212.204 (talk) 06:07, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

I don't know about sound, but your wireless driver will depend on the card itself. Make sure you have the Linux version of Firefox, if you do I'm not sure what else to say. Based on what you said about your laptop falling I suspect you have a hardware problem. Did you replace the HDD? And are you using a stable version of Debian? Check out the Ubuntu forums if you need more help. --T H F S W (T · C · E) 06:55, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

You should probably go here — http://webchat.freenode.net/?nick=oneNinety&channels=#debian — to get some real-time help, though I will say that on Linux downloading random tarballs and extracting them is not usually the proper way to install applications; for Debian you'd want to run apt-get install iceweasel (or if you truly need the version of Firefox actually called "Firefox", see again the aforementioned IRC channel. ¦ Reisio (talk) 18:09, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Security risk of WINE on Linux

If you install Wine on Linux, does it pose a security risk? Does it mean that all viruses, malware and such from Windows will be able to run on Linux. — Preceding unsigned comment added by OsmanRF34 (talk • contribs) 13:58, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Probably an insignificant one (as in someone might one day find a bug that for a few days allows a person who runs a specific application a specific way to do something you don't want it to). Mostly the only thing you put at risk with Wine is the win32 programs you use with Wine. You should be able to stop Wine processes at any time by using wineserver -k, killall, or kill. ¦ Reisio (talk) 17:49, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

A virus would in this case infect the Wine installation only, as said above, unless it is a (never heard of, but possible) specific Wine virus. The second problem for the virus is that you normally do not run Wine as root, but as a simple user, not many chances of breaking havoc along your Linux system here. XPPaul (talk) 18:44, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

wordpress.com trouble

I can't seem to log into my wordpress account, it says I am putting in the wrong username, but when I try to register again under the same name, it doesn't let me because it already exists, and when I ask for a new password and give them my email address, I never get the emails. I can't ask for help unless I register a paid account, which I'm not even sure I can do without logging in, and I can't get on their support forum without logging in either, so there's nowhere else I can go. What is going on here?

Kitutal (talk) 15:15, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Could I get sued?

This question has been removed. Per the reference desk guidelines, the reference desk is not an appropriate place to request medical, legal or other professional advice, including any kind of medical diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment recommendations. For such advice, please see a qualified professional. If you don't believe this is such a request, please explain what you meant to ask, either here or on the Reference Desk's talk page.

This question has been removed. Per the reference desk guidelines, the reference desk is not an appropriate place to request medical, legal or other professional advice, including any kind of medical diagnosis or prognosis, or treatment recommendations. For such advice, please see a qualified professional. If you don't believe this is such a request, please explain what you meant to ask, either here or on the Reference Desk's talk page. --~~~~

--Jac16888 ^Talk 16:57, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Legality of Mac OS on a PC

How can Apple prohibit that someone installs their OS on a PC? It's obvious that those hacked version online are illegal, but what if someone indeed legally obtains the Mac software? — Preceding unsigned comment added by OsmanRF34 (talk • contribs) 21:30, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

Some information at OSx86#Legal issues and Apple objections. -- BenRG (talk) 22:07, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

What you legally obtain is the install media, which will give you a license agreement, the agreement to which licenses you to use the software.
That said, as long as you aren't directly profiting from it and aren't seeking support, no one will ever care if you personally install Mac OS on any hardware you choose. ¦ Reisio (talk) 22:43, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

May 22

cscope/ctags equivilent for shell scripts

Is there a program that will do for shell scripts what cscope and ctags do for C? Some scripts have a large number of functions and variables and it would be useful to be able to search/navigate them more easily. RudolfRed (talk) 03:30, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

WiFi connection between notebook and phone

Is it possible to establish a WiFi connection between my notebook running Win7 Home Premium and my Nokia C7 phone? I would like to be able to access the net on my phone via the notebook's broadband connection - 3G internet service is ridiculously expensive. Roger (talk) 16:45, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Should be, assuming you're connected through a wired connection, and your laptop has a wireless card. Try this link, though I've never used that specific site. I have turned a desktop computer into a wireless access point for Nintendo DSes though. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 18:17, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll give it a go. Roger (talk) 10:46, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Maybe I'm just too dumb but www.virtualaccesspoint.com gives absolutely zero guidance. I'm not a techie by any stretch of the imagination - I have only a very vague idea of what a SSID is! The article SSID (actually a redirect) is completely useless, its's filled with double-gobbledygook jargon completely impenetrable to anyone who does not already know the subject.

Anyway so I tried entering just random characters into the "SSID" and "Key" textboxes on www.virtualaccesspoint.com but the buttons remained stubbornly greyed out. I really need detailed "paint by numbers" instructions. Roger (talk) 11:03, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

No, it's not just you, that site is rather unfriendly.

You can translate 'SSID' as 'name' - that is, the name you want to use for the network you're going to set up. 'Key' is like 'password' - a string of characters that you will enter to give access only to those who know the key. Both of these items will need to be added on your phone once the network's set up so that your phone can connect.

However, since you said that you couldn't get the buttons 'un-greyed', try this article, which talks you through a different way of achieving the same thing. Feel free to ask if you need any clarification. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 11:12, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Oh, and you might want to look at Connectify too. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 11:13, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

System restore point in Linux

How does it work? — Preceding unsigned comment added by OsmanRF34 (talk • contribs) 20:03, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

There isn't, really, quite such a thing. The nearest I'm aware of (excepting of course backups and rsync stuff) is etckeeper, which puts snapshots of /etc (which is where most of the system-configuration stuff gets kept) into a version-control system. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 20:15, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanx. And what's the difference between backuping regularly /etc and using this last tool? OsmanRF34 (talk) 20:24, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Knowing what’s happening. ¦ Reisio (talk) 23:27, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Java

How do you do Javascript?I want to program and have no Expirience.--Deathlaser :  Chat  20:53, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Stick javascript:alert("Hello, world!"); in your browser's URL bar and hit enter. →Στc. 22:31, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

My Firefox doesn't seem to understand that, but I do have javascript on. What's wrong? XPPaul (talk)

More seriously, go to a bookstore and buy Javascript for Dummies or something equivalent. Also, since this section is titled Java, let me point out that Java and JavaScript are completely different things. You should figure out which one you want to learn. Looie496 (talk) 22:40, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

Most colleges teach classes in programming and JavaScript. If you'd rather learn on your own, here are a few books that look decent at a glance:

• JavaScript: Just the Basics - A Primer for the Complete Beginner
• JavaScript, A Beginner's Guide, Third Edition
• Eloquent JavaScript: A Modern Introduction to Programming

A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 22:46, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

You can also type javascript tutorial to your favorite Internet search engine. There are lots of resources on the net. 88.114.124.228 (talk) 10:28, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

May 23

latex and apa

Hi. I am trying to latex a document and use APA referencing style. (kubuntu 12.04). I would like a simple example latex document that I can modify by inserting my own material. I have spent almost two hours on this now. Every single thing I have tried simply does not work. pdflatex complains about some file missing, then when I download that, it complains about something else missing, and when I download that, pdflatex complains about something else (typically some obscure def or other being defined twice). Two questions. One: can anyone show me a simple, working latex document that I can process. Two: I love latex, but why does this simple task suck so much? Robinh (talk) 09:23, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

I can't tell how familiar you are with TeX in general, or troubleshooting in particular, so here's some questions: Have you run texhash so that your system has updated its directory? What class file are you using? What types of files are missing? .sty? .cls .bib? .aux? A simple \documentclass{article} with \biblographystyle{apalike} should work on even a minimal TeX installation. If your sample document has lots of \usepackage{foo} statements, then you should get them from CTAN if you need them. But really, in cases like this, it's best to start with no extras, and only add in packages if you're sure that you need them. Lastly, here's a minimal example, that should compile on most systems:

\documentclass{article}
\title{My Example}
\biblographystyle{apalike}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\section{The first}
Some text, with a \cite{key}.
\bibliography{refs.bib}
\end{document}

This assumes that you are using BibTex, and have a refs.bib file in the same directory. If you prefer, you can use \begin{thebibliography}. I'll recommend the "not so short guide to LaTeX, available here: [8]. Lastly, stick with it! It gets easier, and separation of formatting and content is great! SemanticMantis (talk) 15:54, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

do you have the package texlive-full installed? If not, fire up the ubuntu software install thingy (or use apt) then search for texlive-full and install it. That should give you a working latex installation that doesn't complain about missing files. Tinfoilcat (talk) 16:16, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Daily Mail Porn Block / Wikipedia

A cross-party group of British MPs, after a campaign by the Daily Mail is currently running a campaign to get ISPs to automatically opt users out of viewing pornographic material online, unless they specifically request to be able to view such sites.[9] If this law is passed, would it apply to pages on Wikipedia which currently display pornographic images? And would it also apply to news websites which display semi-naked pictures? Anthony J Pintglass (talk) 11:08, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

It doesn't seem to say who would decide what "porn" is and by what criteria they would use. It's an obvious civil liberties issue, along with the fact that having to petition somebody to view something is itself a free speech issue. If the guidelines are arbitrary or extremely low, then sure, various Wikipedia pages could easily fall under their criteria. Note that it wouldn't force Wikipedia to do anything — what it does is say that your ISP would somehow block you from the pages in question unless you told it not to. It doesn't compel Wikipedia to take down pages or do any blocking. --Mr.98 (talk) 11:43, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Are you seriously asking us for references that will tell you what a law that hasn't been written will and won't prohibit? 46.208.143.154 (talk) 11:52, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Mr 98: I'm quite aware that Wikipedia wouldn't have to take down the pages, any more than porn sites would have to take down their pages. And Mr 46208143154, no, I'm not really after references. I'm just saying that there are images on Wikipedia which I'd imagine would constitute pornography. Having read about how Wikipedia is not censored, I'm interested whether the British government could instruct ISPs to block pages from Wikipedia, and I guess at a deeper level, how that would affect Wikipedia in general as an educational resource, for example. Anthony J Pintglass (talk) 12:37, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

It seems like they are trying to implement a kind of filtering, but legally binding. At the educational institution, where I am now, a filter from the ISP blocks certain pages, but if it pops up, you can always ask to be 'de-filtered' and explain the reason. If you want, for examplem to look at a page about sexuality, the filter will possibly block you and you can ask access, which will be granted. 188.76.170.164 (talk) 12:42, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

In the end the entire thing will depend on what the process is for determining what is "pornography" and what is not. My workplace filters and whatever list they use occasionally marks totally legitimate sites as pornography. I suspect any such filtering process will involve boards of bureaucrats making rather arbitrary calls, perhaps at the demands of "concerned citizens" who want to save their children from god knows what threats on the Internet. Certainly there are pages on Wikipedia that would, and have, offended prudish parents. (Would Page Three count as pornography?) There's no way whatsoever to know what the result would be without at the very least knowing what the selection/evaluation criteria and process would be, and even then it would be hard to know what the long-term consequences would be. Frankly if I were in the UK government I would avoid such a scheme as being just unworkable — you are opening up an avenue for every over-concerned busybody to waste a huge amount of time arguing whether a given site does or does not constitute pornography. At best it will be a colossal waste of money (pornography is not exactly hard to find and there will be plenty of "opted in" computers for the kids of the UK to find and use, and every instance of that will be seen as a reflection of the government's futility), at worst it will be a Kafkaesque Ministry of Manners. But I am soapboxing a bit, here. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:21, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Need advice returning a laptop to Best Buy

I bought a laptop from Best Buy a couple weeks ago and installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Rumor has it that on June 2 (within my 30 day return window), Microsoft is going to start offering Windows 8 at a discounted rate for anyone who buys a new computer. I bought mine 2 weeks ago, so I assume I won't get the discount offer. So, what I'm planning on doing is returning my computer on June 2 and buying it again so I get Microsoft's Win8 discount offer. I question is two-fold:

• Will Best Buy complain that I have Win8 CP on it? Will they insist I re-install Win7 before they accept it?
• What if I told Best Buy I was only returning it to get the Win8 discount offer, that they could sell me back the same laptop I just returned?

A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 13:51, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Why don't you call up Best Buy and ask? You don't need to give them your name or anything like that if you are just asking general questions. They still get paid either way, so I can hardly see them being too worried about it. My guess is #2 is probably "no," though, just because the logistics of returning and re-selling are almost certainly more complicated than that with a big corporation. I suspect the answer to #1 is "I doubt it," because they're certain to wipe and reformat the hard drive anyway before doing anything else with it (what if you had installed all sorts of malware and crap on it accidentally?). --Mr.98 (talk) 14:17, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

iPad

I know how to stop my iPhone from receiving data when not in the UK but how do I stop my iPad doing so to? --85.211.137.238 (talk) 14:47, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

How to translate a list of words

Google translate is not what I am looking for. I am basically trying to translate a list of keyword phrases so I need them separated.

Any ideas? XPPaul (talk) 14:50, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

I don’t see why you can’t use Google Translate, but if you don’t want to, you should specify what languages you require. ¦ Reisio (talk) 16:16, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Because it construes the other elements on the list as context.