Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing

Welcome to the computing section
of the Wikipedia reference desk.

skip to bottom

Select a section:

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

Want a faster answer?

Main page: Help searching Wikipedia

   

How can I get my question answered?

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

Ready? Ask a new question!

How do I answer a question?

Main page: Wikipedia:Reference desk/Guidelines

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

See also:

• Teahouse
• Help desk
• Village pump
• Help manual

September 1

Mac Ctrl button no longer provides menu for new tab option, etc., when clicking on links

Mac mini4,1, 2.4 GHz, OS X 10.10.5, latest Firefox version.

For the past few weeks when I click on links while holding down the control button, the drop down menu no longer provides the options it used to (and is an entirely different drop down menu). I can't remember all the options it gave anymore, but the two I used constantly were "Open Link In New Tab" and "Open Link In New Private Window" (I'm paraphrasing from memory but that's close). The "new" drop down menu provides options for  • Share This page;  • Save Page As...;  • Save Page as Pocket and some others (which don't seem very relevant for a link opening).

Anyway, I'd like the former menu back, if possible, and have no idea what I might have done to lose it. My best guesses are that there's some setting in Firefox that got changed (by stray electrons, or because a new version of Firefox changed the default behavior maybe?); or some setting in my computer that got changed. Anyone have any suggestions? Oh, I'm aware that clicking on a link while holding down the Cmd button opens up a new tab, but I want the menu back with the option, and also, I don't really want to have to retrain my "muscle memory"/dedicate a new neuron to learning a new format.--72.80.50.155 (talk) 14:25, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

Sidenote: I wanted to thank all the users who contributed to answering my last question here: Akld guy, StuRat and 47.138.161.183.

Yea, it's annoying when they change things without your permission and for no apparent reason. Do you know what else changed about the same time ? New update to Firefox, for example ? StuRat (talk) 22:08, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

Manufacturers of integrated circuits used in smart cards and similar NFC and RFID devices

I want to know what various implementations of security for things like smart cards, key cards, embedded wireless devices, NFC tags, and RFID tags exist. So far, all I know of is MIFARE, which has memory for storing keys and access controls for them and there is a fair amount of information about it. I've tried using various search terms to find other microcontrollers designed for similar purposes, but most results are about NFC or RFID readers. I did stumble upon Nordic Semiconductor's nRF52 series microcontrollers, but it lacks the specialized silicon design that I'm interested in. The chips I'm interested in can be programmable with a small operating system or they can be entirely mask-based like MIFARE, but I want them to have security features that go beyond having a unique identifier or a random number generator. The chips don't have to be limited to use in smart cards, NFC tags, and RFID chips, but it can also include things like, say, a Bluetooth chip that is meant to be programmed and then used in some sort of application-specific way. What lines are out there like this or companies that manufacture them? — Melab±1 ☎ 16:43, 1 September 2017 (UTC)

September 2

Switching to Windows 10

I just switched from Vista to 10. However, my new PC keeps not responding for a while every minute or so. Task manager reports 100% disk utilization at these times. The culprit seems to be Macafee most of the time. Is there some setting I can adjust to stop this? Clarityfiend (talk) 00:47, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

Your best bet is to back up your data, format your disk, do a clean install of Windows 10, install the latest versions of all of your apps from their websites, and restore your data. And BTW, drop McAfee. They keep having problems like this. And this. And these. --Guy Macon (talk) 07:56, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

It is called McAfee. @Guy Macon: describes the procedure for earlier versions of Windows, in Windows 10 you can simply "reset" a pc. But reinstalling Windows 10 is probably not necessary, it is not unlikely that your problem will go away if you uninstall McAfee. (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 08:07, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

You should also check your disk for bad blocks. Ruslik_Zero 08:31, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

I found a list of suggestions to try. The third item, turning off superfetch, seems to fix the problem [cross fingers]. Clarityfiend (talk) 05:56, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

Weird Google result

I did a google search for William Finley Semple (I was looking to see if I could find his vital dates to add to his WP article), and I got a result that says he was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Odd, I thought. Maybe his parents were visiting or working there at the time, I thought. So I checked further and I found zero confirmation of this. Apparently he was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio. And I could find no connection between Tashkent and anyone called Semple at all.

What could possibly cause Google to get it so badly wrong in this case? -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 09:30, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

I can't find the link on google which states that! Can you be more precise? Aspro (talk) 11:42, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

Look at the Knowledge Graph box at right.

William Finley Semple was a dentist from Mount Vernon, Ohio, commonly referred to as the first person anywhere to patent a chewing gum. On December 28, 1869, Semple filed Patent No. 98,304 with the U.S. Commissioner of Patents. Wikipedia

Born: 1832, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Died: 1923, Ohio, United States

So yes, definitely an error :-) I initially thought it was a problem derived somehow from us, but the "Wikiblame page history search" found neither Uzbekistan or Tashkent, and his Wikidata page, d:Q8008874, doesn't have a birthplace and never has. Nyttend (talk) 11:51, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

First thing I checked was the page history, thinking that vandalism of the article might have introduced Tashkent, which got stuck in Google's brain. But no such luck. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 14:34, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

By the way, JackofOz, the birth year appears to be wrong; he was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania in 1834 and grew up at Steubenville, moving to Fredericktown (near Mount Vernon) at age 22. See page 799 of History of Knox County, Ohio, which is available FUTON from several different sites. No death year, since this is an 1881 publication. My copy of Filby found a couple of other sources: Past and present of Knox County, Ohio of 1912, also easily online, and the Knox County portions of History of north central Ohio of 1931, although he's not in the latter book's index. These are your typical Ohio county histories: published by major history publishers from local materials, and therefore highly reliable for local events and people but not hugely useful for the non-local topics on which they touch briefly. If you want more information, you would do well to contact the library at Kenyon College just down the road from Mount Vernon and Fredericktown, or contact the library at Mount Vernon Nazarene University. Kenyon's far older (1824, versus 1968 for MVNU), so they're more likely to have relevant documentation. Nyttend (talk) 12:05, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for all that, Nyttend. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 14:34, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

You're welcome. I hope it's useful and that you're not merely being polite :-) Nyttend (talk) 02:07, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

O, ye non-believer! Gaze upon the article and observe it transforming before your very eyes (when I get around to it).  :) -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 02:35, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

Well that was the issue; I saw that the last human edit (other than vandalism or vandalism-reverting) was 28 February 2014, so I was guessing that my information wasn't going to be put to use :-) If for some reason you need to research Ohioans, let me know and I can help you find county histories; they're amazingly useful, especially for people from middle-population counties, although they're sometimes good for lower-population counties (where fewer histories were printed, and often with lesser detail) and for the most populous counties (where there are so many people that there's no room for ordinary people and places), and I've worked a good deal with them. Nyttend (talk) 02:49, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

Well, I thanked you for your data just 2 hours after you posted it. My interest in Semple is twofold: (a) a private purpose; and (b) converting years of birth/death in his WP article to full dates, if they're available - in that order. It was never my plan to do a full-scale revision of his article. Now, through this process of checking his birthplace, you've come up with improved data about him. That's good. That's why I thanked you. Because I don't like seeing productive research time (mine or others') go to waste, I will put your data to use, but in due course when my schedule permits. Thank you. -- Jack of Oz ^{[pleasantries]} 02:38, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

The birth location wasn't copied from Wikipedia. See {{HD/GKG}} for the stock reply to many posters who think the whole Google Knowledge Graph is from Wikipedia. I don't know where they got Tashkent from. PrimeHunter (talk) 18:11, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

Thank you for finding that template. As soon as I'd checked the Google result, I thought of that template, but it's not on {{Help desk templates}}, and I couldn't think how to find it otherwise. Nyttend (talk) 19:06, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

{{HD}} is linked at the end of {{Help desk templates}}. {{HD/GKG}} is one of many subtemplates. PrimeHunter (talk) 22:41, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

Age of laptop death

Can someone help me find statistics on the average age when a laptop is discarded because its physical condition has deteriorated to the point that sustained use is unlikely or is dangerous to one's data (due to high risk of catastrophic failure), or outright impossible due to a complete failure? It's easy to find documentation on when people like to replace their computers, but that typically talks about someone who replaces a computer because he likes a newer machine's greater capabilities or wants to have the newer machine as a status symbol. I'm talking about situations like my previous HP Pavilion, 2007-2011 (replaced because the power supply failed when the motherboard was already at high risk) or my current one, 2013-date (lots of small problems, plus assorted breakages here and there, including the cover for one of the hinges, the covers for several of the fan ports, and three of the USB ports), not necessarily something immediate like "oops I dropped it". Note that my experience may not be representative; I've visited more than 500 counties in 21 US states since buying the current one, and I take it everywhere with me in the car. Nyttend (talk) 13:17, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

Isn't the reason to discard a laptop usually a combo of the two ? For example, if the pointer device goes bad, you could just plug in an external mouse, but if the laptop's obsolete anyway, this might make you decide to upgrade. StuRat (talk) 15:04, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

A combo of which two? Nyttend (talk) 15:21, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

Hardware failure and obsolescence. Compare it to a car. If the transmission needed replacing on a brand new car, you'd probably do it. But if the car's an old heap of junk, you'd just scrap it. StuRat (talk) 15:22, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

My laptop does what I need it to, so I keep it until I can't trust it to keep doing what I need it to; I'd be happy to keep it into the 2020s if it were physically robust. Am I weird in that? I just figured that most owners of laptops or desktops (other than gamers who need the latest high-performance model) would replace their computers either as soon as they could afford newer models or would keep the old ones until they couldn't function reliably. Nyttend (talk) 15:29, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

I have a really old IBM Thinkpad laptop that runs Windows 98. The pointing device failed, the battery failed, so it only works plugged in, and the backlight goes off if I open it to the wrong angle. I do use it, on rare occasions, because it has some classic games that I don't have on my newer PC. StuRat (talk) 17:01, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

With how long computers have come it is not weird to keep computers longer. When it comes to laptops the biggest factor in users upgrading aside from harsh abuse like a cracked screen or a design flaw like broke screen hinge is usually ether due to: HDD failure, battery problems or in need of OS upgrade which requires purchasing a new license in the case of Windows/Mac. All of these issues can be resolved without buying a new laptop, but a lot of people feel like if they're going to have to buy a new drive, new battery or new license, they figure they might as well just put that money towards a new laptop that comes with a new drive, OS license, battery etc so they are solving their problem and getting a upgrade at the same time. This of course is also usually dependent on how much was spent on the laptop in the first place. Those who spent more on a laptop are probably more likely to want to repair where as those who spent much less on a laptop may be more inclined to just get a new laptop. This information is from working in the IT sector, I've built hundreds of computers, servers, repaired desktops, servers, laptops, phones, you name it I've probably done it at one point or another.

With that said laptops that have a HDD are prone to HDD failure. The drives take a toll from being moved around a bunch. One of the best upgrades for a laptop is investing in a SSD. HDDs have moving parts and are usually the first thing to go on a laptop and most people are caught off guard when it happens, since it could be working fine one day then the next you hear the drive clicking and you lose access to all your data on the drive. A SSD has no moving parts and is just a array of NAND flash memory so no moving parts so you can move the laptop around all you want without having to worry about causing damage to your drive from the movement.

I'm not saying SSD don't fail though, because they do, just as all electronics can fail SSD can too. They're just less susceptible to damage compared to a HDD in situations where the computer is moved around a bunch like laptops are. If you already have a SSD and the laptop does what you need, I'd say use that thing till it is worn down to a tiny nub. Offnfopt^(talk) 16:21, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

• I just send my old Dell Precision M90 to the electronics recycler because [A] the internal cooling fan stopped working (which I can fix; it went bad once before) and [B] Dell doesn't have Win10 drivers for such an old model (I dual boot Windows 10 and Linux). I ended up buying a Lenovo ThinkPad N22 ($230 on Amazon[1]) It comes with an internal 64GB SSD which is big enough for both operating system, but I splurged and added a 250GB internal M.2 SSD for $90[2], 200GB Micro SDXC for $80[3] and a 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive for $40.[4] I have another, more expensive desktop system that I use for CAD, but the Lenovo connected to an external monitor, keyboard and mouse works so well that I find myself using it for most things. It's pretty rugged, but if I was using it in my car a lot I would consider adding a protective case for $40.[5] --Guy Macon (talk) 18:08, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

• The Acer 5630 laptop on which I am typing this reply (and do most of my editing and other work) is more than ten years old and has been running continuously (hybernating overnight) for nearly all of ten years. Physically, it is falling apart, but the electronics are still working perfectly except that it is a bit slow sometimes, and tends to overheat. It still runs its original operating system which has never needed to be reinstalled. I have been expecting the hard drive to fail for several years, so I do regular backups of important data. (Yes, I know that one example is not the statistics you were looking for.) Dbfirs 06:18, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

For the very few that may be interested, my Psion Organiser II still works perfectly well over 25 years on. Very robust too – impossible to end up with a crashed hard drive by dropping it. My earliest slide rule must be now into its 50's and so far ( fingers crossed) and I haven't had to replace its batteries even once. Aspro (talk) 16:32, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

I, too, have a slide rule of 1960s vintage, but I haven't checked its batteries recently. I think it was powered by a thumb drive. Dbfirs 12:05, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

• I can't help you with statistics unfortunately. But anecdotally, it very much depends on your expectations and what you use it for. A friend of mine once bought a new 200 euro laptop (3 years or so ago) and then was surprised that after 2 years plastic parts were falling off and he had trouble running the latest versions of Windows which he needed for some program for work, and the battery would last just an hour or so. But you get what you pay for. If you only have 200 euro to spend, it might sometimes be wiser to spend that on a second hand machine that is two years old but was pretty high end when it was released rather than on a brand new piece of cheap plastics.

Do not underestimate the benefits of choosing robustness, speed and screenquality when you intensively use a computer. I look at a screen for so many hours, that screen quality is important, especially as I'm no longer in my 20s. If you carry something every day, robustness is critical, as inevitably with so much usage you will drop it, trip over a wire, break a key etc.. And just not having to curse at the thing because it's taking 3 hours to upgrade something, while you scramble to find the power cord because the battery is almost dead, saves hours in frustration and productivity.

My upgrade strategy now is to buy once every 5 years. I buy relatively expensive (Macs), but after those 5 years, I still have resale value so that can be discounted from the price. I've been doing this for 11 years now, just on my 3rd cycle and I've been very happy. I've since also decided to 'splurge' for a color laser printer. I got annoyed by having to replace an inkjetprinter every 2 years. This will take 4 years before it's less expensive than inkjets, but at least i'm not stimulating the throw away economy of inkjet printers. I decided to use my machines, instead of having to fight with them. Even though I spent a bit more money it's been worth it (if you use commercially, it would have been worth it in the extra hours you actually get stuff done a hundred fold). My previous machine was almost 6 years old, but still had another 4 years or so in it for someone who just browses the web or does similiar low end stuff. It has more life left in it than that 3 year old 200 euro machine my friend bought at least... I think that mostly, whatever you buy, its a game of quality vs features (especially in the windows world with the huge diversity of systems). I personally would never buy the cheapest line of any brand. I'd rather trade in some features for a bit better quality line of their product. —TheDJ (talk • contribs) 10:28, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

September 3

Distance

Is there any free android software to calculate distance you walked ? (short walking distance less than one kilo meter.)to find how long i walk. Thank you.2402:4000:BBFE:5C26:E4CA:4DEE:404D:C4DB (talk) 03:56, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

yes, tones of them. No need to ask this here. Just do your research on Google Play. --Hofhof (talk) 09:29, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

expanding on that, 'pedometer' may be a good search term to start with https://play.google.com/store/search?q=pedometer&c=apps davidprior ^t/_c 21:27, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

USB to PS/2 conversion: mouse vs keyboard

Can green USB to PS/2 converter with a picture of a mouse on it only be used to connect a USB mouse to a PS/2 socket or would a keyboard work also? Is there something different inside green mouse and purple keyboard converters that mean they can only be used with the corresponding device or are they interchangeable?

There are two basic kinds of PS/2 to USB "converters". The kind you are looking at is probably an adapter, (low cost, contains no electronics, only wires -- the converter just provides an alternative plug by re-wiring the pins) and takes advantage of the fact that many later mice and keyboards switch from PS/2 mode to USB mode when they detect that they are connected to a USB port. The adapters are mostly the same, whether green or purple, but sometimes a mouse or keyboard requires it's own brand of adapter. To be sure that it will work, use the adapter that shipped with the mouse or keyboard.

The second kind actually has electronics in it to do an actual USB to PS/2 conversion. This is the only way to use something like an IBM model M PS/2 keyboard or a pre-USB mouse on a USB port.

Get one of these active adpters[6] and you will be pretty much guaranteed that it will work with any PS/2 mouse and any PS/2 keyboard. --Guy Macon (talk) 16:43, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

Sorry for not being clear but I'm asking about USB keyboard to PS/2 conversion rather than PS/2 keyboard to USB conversion. 145.255.246.8 (talk) 00:28, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

But the answer is pretty much the same for the simple adapters. They are simple passive adapters and rely on the mouse or keyboard being able to detect it's connected to a PS2 port and output the appropriate signals etc. They are generally wired the same, but it's likely some devices use their own weird wiring. Ultimately if the adapter didn't come with your device, you can't be sure it will work although the chance it will damage either the keyboard or PS/2 port is likely fairly slim. Unfortunately it doesn't look like you can easily find active adapters (the nature of USB means they will have to be fairly complicated) so your best bet is to buy a new keyboard which is either PS/2 native (fairly unlikely) or comes with an adapter. Nil Einne (talk) 14:12, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

• Ah! Sorry for misunderstanding. My advice above, as you noted, is for connecting an old keyboard (before dual mode keyboards that can use a passive adapter) to a modern USB-equipped computer. I also have a solution for connecting a modern USB keyboard and mouse to an old, PS/2-only computer or KVM switch: [ https://www.blackbox.com/en-us/store/Detail.aspx/USB-to-PS-2-Converter/KVUSB-PS2 ]. --Guy Macon (talk) 21:03, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Yes, but only if the keyboard interface supports PS/2 protocols, see: #USB keyboard not recognised by boot CD? Would PS/2 be different? --Hans Haase (有问题吗) 13:01, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

fox tv editing programs

(Moved from Ref Desk talk page. StuRat (talk) 19:16, 3 September 2017 (UTC))

Hi, anyone here knows which program(s) software fox tv uses to add or cut a scene or things in there cartoons like Winx? For example Musas fake long hair in her charmix s3 or in the intros! Or when Stella shows a song with a card which is not in original version drawed!--Maxie1hoi (talk) 18:59, 3 September 2017 (UTC)

I don't know what "fox tv" is but I know that Hitfilm Express is a free video editor with an emphasis on compositing which I think is the sort of thing you're asking about. I don't know how difficult it would be to do the stuff you describe though. It doesn't sound trivial to me. --145.255.246.8 (talk) 00:26, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Winx Club apparently has an English-dubbed version produced by the Fox Broadcasting Network. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 02:20, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

September 4

USB keyboard not recognised by boot CD? Would PS/2 be different?

I made a bootable USB disk version of "Hiren's Boot CD" and it is recognised by the BIOS and appears in the list of drives. The problem is that it doesn't respond to my USB keyboard. I'm wondering whether it's reasonable to think that it would respond to a PS/2 keyboard instead. The BIOS responds to my USB keyboard so I figure there's no reason that the "boot CD" shouldn't either? If the BIOS doesn't need any drivers to talk to the keyboard then neither should the boot CD, right? In which case I'd have to conclude that the boot CD hangs after loading. --145.255.246.8 (talk) 00:23, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

There's a fair chance a PS/2 keyboard would work, but if I were you I'd make sure to turn on any legacy USB keyboard etc options in the BIOS before worrying about that. You shouldn't assume the keyboard working in BIOS will mean it will work on other OSes. If it's actually EFI not BIOS, your assumption about a lack of drivers isn't even necessarily correct. Nil Einne (talk) 04:51, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

If you have enabled any legacy USB support etc in the BIOS, see [7] for some more suggestions. Based on that, I'd try a cold boot and also disconnecting any unneeded peripherals if enabling legacy USB isn't enough. Nil Einne (talk) 14:16, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

To add to the above excellent advice, if you are going to be mucking about with systems that have PS/2 ports, it might be worthwhile to just keep a PS/2 keyboard on hand. $17.75 on Amazon.[8] a PS/2 mouse will cost you another $6.25.[9] I was fixing an old Dell a while back, and found that it worked great with a USB mouse and keyboard, no drivers needed, in Linux and Windows, but I could not change the BIOS settings without a PS/2 keyboard. --Guy Macon (talk) 21:20, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Note: The 5 volts needs to be present on the jack, anyway if PS/2 or USB. When using USB, the internal USB bridge and USB hub need to be supported by the operating system. Do not use and USB3.x for HID devices like mouse and keyboard when USB2.x or lower are present. Some M/Bs have a combined PS/2 and two USB jacks in one printed connector. Use this ports first. Check BIOS for "USB legacy support" option. Toggle this setting. A dual mode HID comes with an passive USB-PS/2 adapter. Just 4 wires an a shield connection installed. See articles. There is no specification, how to adapt the CLK and DATA from PS/2 to USB D+ and D-. Same chip designers most likely use identical adapters, no matter if green or violet. --Hans Haase (有问题吗) 12:59, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

Video info update during sharing

Resolved

When one renames one's own YouTube video, there appears to be some delay in its info update when sharing through Facebook. While on YT itself the info updates almost instantly, I waited for about one day and when clicked to share through Facebook, the popup sharing window still displays the old title and description. What to do and how long does it take? 212.180.235.46 (talk) 07:13, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Edit the message on facebook, and if that doesn't work remove it and post it again. I don't think FB is going to check if the name of a YT video has changed. (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 07:41, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Turns out it's just in the preview of the popup sharing window and after sharing, the updated title is shown correctly. 212.180.235.46 (talk) 09:42, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Good source of free Mellotron samples?

I'm looking for a comprehensive database of digitized Mellotron samples, especially from the M300 series. I've checked out a lot of sites but it seems that they're always in some weird proprietary format (and in any case, the listings are generally very sparse). Can't seem to locate much of anything in a standard container (wav, mp3, webm, etc). 73.232.241.1 (talk) 11:24, 4 September 2017 (UTC)

Not really free but definitely good if you can ignore the noise of someone singing. Blooteuth (talk) 13:38, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

Yeah, I love those old videos! What I'm really wanting to do though is write a program that allows you to play/record songs using samples taken from an actual machine. 73.232.241.1 (talk) 20:47, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

Good luck with your worthy project. The Mellotron's reported polyphonic aftertouch will be a challenge. Blooteuth (talk) 22:09, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

Yeah I was thinking about that. No straightforward way to emulate it with a computer keyboard (too bad they don't detect pressure). I was wondering if some clever combination/interpretation of key presses might do the trick, but so far haven't come up with any good ideas for that just yet... 73.232.241.1 (talk) 22:33, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

What's this? Or am I missing something? --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆 𝄐𝄇} 22:11, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

God love you man, thanks so much! That's exactly what I was looking for. 73.232.241.1 (talk) 22:33, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

Happy to help. That was just the first Google result searching for "mellotron samples". --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆 𝄐𝄇} 23:49, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

I don't generally like to use Google (just on principle) but I have to admit that I may be getting the short end of the stick in search results because of that. I might need to reconsider my choice there...73.232.241.1 (talk) 23:57, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

Well I can't say what it was before this question, but it's also currently the first search term for Bing and DuckGoGo. Nil Einne (talk) 15:31, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

September 5

Tape drives as named pipes

In the days when tape drives were secondary rather than tertiary storage, did any of them have separate read and write heads and allow the read head to run a few thousand bytes behind the write head, thus serving as named pipes with the additional benefit of backing up the most recently-read few thousand bytes (assuming the computers they were connected to allowed block-level access)? NeonMerlin 01:28, 5 September 2017 (UTC)

I couldn't find anything in Tanenbaum. Regardless, it's unclear how this would work or what it would accomplish. There may exist tons of (anonymous) pipes and FIFOs at any moment in the system. Their semantics don't require them to be seekable, either (in fact, even in modern Linux, they aren't.) Whatever buffering there is, as I understand it, is solely in order to accommodate atomic writes to the pipe but there's always the option to suspend the write()ing process until someone reads from the pipe. 80.171.95.62 (talk) 05:04, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

September 6

Is Moore's Law still alive for memories?

It seems that Moore's Law for microprocessors has been dead for years, although it might be resurrected by a new way forward like nanotubes, blahblah. But is it still true that memories are still getting bigger, cheaper, and faster?

Yes. --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆 𝄐𝄇} 03:04, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

Yes, Moore's law is true for memory, no, it is absolutely not true that "Moore's Law for microprocessors has been dead for years". As our article on Moore's law says:

"In April 2016, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich stated that 'In my 34 years in the semiconductor industry, I have witnessed the advertised death of Moore’s Law no less than four times. As we progress from 14 nanometer technology to 10 nanometer and plan for 7 nanometer and 5 nanometer and even beyond, our plans are proof that Moore’s Law is alive and well'. In January 2017, he declared that 'I've heard the death of Moore's law more times than anything else in my career ... And I'm here today to really show you and tell you that Moore's Law is alive and well and flourishing.' ".

Read this: "Moore's prediction still has plenty of life in it. Here's why." --Guy Macon (talk) 05:31, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

github / latex question

Hello. I am learning to use github and want to use it to manage my Master's thesis, which is written in LaTeX. Right now I am working on the referees' comments and have two PDF documents, and in addition I also have two hardcopy versions of the thesis, which have handwritten annotations and corrections. What is best practice for this situation? I want to have some system for verifying to myself (and indeed my supervisor) that I have indeed accounted for any given comment, whether on the PDF or hardcopy. Can anyone advise? Robinh (talk) 05:01, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

There's a track changes package [10] that you can use to flag places where you've corrected, then easily turn off those annotations for pretty printing. Really, you should ask them to comment in your source code, they may object, but any prof should be able handle opening a *(^#$(*#^ text file and editing it ;)

I suppose if you make a github commit for every single correction you made, then you can show them that list of commits, each of which has a short summary of what you fixed. Then you or they can check the diffs and see exactly how each bit was handled. But that seems even more likely to meet with resistance. SemanticMantis (talk) 15:56, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

(OP) Thanks for this, SM. The topic is on the extreme soft end of the hard-soft spectrum, so I can't assume that anyone will even know what a text file actually is, much less edit it. My main concern is somehow linking the hardcopy annotations to the github commits. My best idea so far is to tag each commit with a comment like "thesis 1, p23a" (in addition to the usual commit text), which will peg the commit to the hardcopy; and then to write on the hardcopy "sorted on 2017-09-07" so I can verify that the comment has been attended to. And I am unsure how to deal with the PDF files. But does anyone have any better ideas? Robinh (talk) 18:58, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

Stopwatch and a Timer

Separate or both together please…something with lots of intervals… 103.67.158.224 (talk) 08:51, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

Your question is not clear. (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 13:46, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

You haven't asked a question. If you are looking for a stopwatch with a countdown timer, most stopwatches have that function. Just Google "stopwatch with countdown" and you will find plenty. --Shantavira|^{feed me} 16:23, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

Are you looking for a program with these functions ? If so, on what device and operating system ? Android ? Windows ? Apple ? StuRat (talk) 22:04, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

PHP/MYSQL Login code

I wrote login script myself The login pages script is cas1.php as follows:

cas1.php

<html><body><h2>Please login to make requisition for Printer Paper & Cartridge</h2> <h3>Your requisition will be attended ASAP</h3> <h3>In case there is delay beyond 3 days please make fresh requisition</h3> <b>Enter your UserName:<b> <input required type="username" name="username" minlength="5" maxlength="15"> <br><p> <b>Enter your password:</b><input required type="password" name="password" maxlength="15" minlength="5"> <br>` <input type="submit" value="Login"> </form></div><div><form method="POST" action="http://localhost/pwchanger.php"><b>Please click if you have forgotten password:</b><input type="submit" value="Reset"></form></div></html>` The formhandling page for logging in is takinguserinput.php as follows `<?php $dsn = "mysql:dbname=userdetails;host=localhost;port=3306"; $username2 = ""; $password2 = ""; $con5=new PDO($dsn, $username2, $password2); $con5->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION); $con5->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES, false);$x13=$_POST['username'];$x12=$_POST['password'];$hashsalt=password_hash($x12,PASSWORD_DEFAULT); $con5->beginTransaction(); $stmt7=$con5->prepare("SELECT `password` FROM `user_data` WHERE `username`=:username"); $stmt7->bindValue(':username',$x13); $stmt7->execute();$x9=$stmt7->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);echo $x9; if(password_verify($x9,$hashsalt)&& isset($_POST['Login'])){ session_start();echo "iamhereproperlyloggedin"; } else { $con5->rollBack(); $stmt7=NULL; $con5=NULL; die('You are not allowed'); } ?>`

But instead of logging in and taking me to file "takinguserinput.php" i am always getting you are not allowed using the only user i have created username Admin and password welcome whether username password correct or not .Please help me to make the code workable103.24.109.98 (talk) 10:24, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

I have edited your comment a little bit. (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 13:48, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

Your input fields are not INSIDE your form. The submission from the form should be one file. The handler for the submission should be another file. You can do it in one file, but it won't look anything at all like what you are trying to do. You apparently need to learn a lot more about HTML before getting into this or you wouldn't be placing your input fields outside your form. Then, when you understand HTML, you need to work on the difference between client code and server code. 209.149.113.5 (talk) 17:07, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

Using industrial plug in standard UK socket

I recently bought a second-hand vacuum cleaner; when it arrived it turned out to have a plug that looked like this [11] and says on it: "110V 16A-4H Typ P 216-4 S"

I would like to use this in my home which has regular UK 3-pin plug sockets. Is there an adapter I can get that will do this? What should I look for? A lot of them seem to say 'PAT testing only' whatever that means? Thanks! Amisom (talk) 17:27, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

Your buy may not have been such a bargain. The problem is not the plug, but the voltage. You have a 110V cleaner and your home (presumably UK) will be on regular UK 230V, with regular UK plugs and sockets.

Converters are easily available and may be seen on any building site. However they're not just a plug adapter, they're an autotransformer to change the voltage (and also the earthing). [12] As a result, they're not cheap. Andy Dingley (talk) 17:54, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

Advertise it on eBay. You may very well get back what you paid for it -if not more :-) P.S. State: Buyer Collects; as postmen find vacuum cleaners difficult to get through the average letterbox. Aspro (talk) 18:44, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

If you're wondering why anyone in the UK is using 110v - it's a very common practice on building sites, as Andy says. [13][14]. -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 20:33, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

<Joke that'd probably be very dangerous to take seriously> Buy another identical one and wire the two of them in series </joke> 92.40.248.207 (talk) 21:20, 6 September 2017 (UTC)

Voltage mismatch isn't the only problem either, it's the frequency - UK systems use a lower one than the US, so there is also a chance that the motor doesn't spin-up properly. Your money might be better spent on a vacuum designed to operate off of local mains...73.232.241.1 (talk) 04:00, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

Much smaller problem. Most appliances handle 50 Hz or 60 Hz just fine. It's the voltage that is the problem. --Guy Macon (talk) 05:50, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

Hmm, I guess not. It looks like only a few types of devices are really affected by it (such as induction motors, although these aren't typically used for things like vacuum cleaners apparently) so it likely wouldn't be an issue for the OP in this case. 73.232.241.1 (talk) 07:26, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

September 7

Stupid censorship question

For the past few weeks I've been following the troubles of Daily Stormer, which has been repeatedly denied basic DNS service. What I don't understand is that each time it actually has a DNS address, you can just "nslookup a dailystormer.whatever" and get some location like 198.251.90.113, which is a typical IP address that has a typical whois with some random company official who can and presumably is being hit with the typical tide of complaints, DDOS attacks, death threats etc. until the last quixotic believer in freedom of expression is purged from the internet. So the part I don't get is why do I keep reading about the attacks on the DNS servers and cave-ins by their maintainers and not attacks on the actual IP addresses of the magazine? Wnt (talk) 02:26, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

If it's a read-only site, there's not much you can do to it directly. On the other hand, if they sell things or allow comments, then a Denial of Service attack is possible. (A DoS is technically possible with a read-only site, but they won't lose revenue from it, so can just wait until it ends.) StuRat (talk) 02:48, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

I don't understand the relevance of 'read only' here. A site which is trying to make money will lose revenue from a DDoSed regardless of whether it's read only. A site which isn't trying to make money is not going to lose revenue if it's DDoSed regardless of whether it's read only. Even when a site is nominally not read only it isn't uncommon the non 'read only' part of it is mostly irrelevant. For example it's possible the NYT, CNN, Fox News, the WSJ and the Washington Post allow comments or other user interactions but the importance of these pale in comparison to the read only parts. When people DDoS them they are almost universally trying to stop people seeing the 'read only' parts and may not care at all about the non 'read only' parts. Also your response doesn't seem to answerthe question namely why target the DNS server rather than the webserver. Nil Einne (talk) 07:16, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

Are you sure only their DNS servers were DDoSed? For example, DreamHost was one of the targets [15] and while some of the sources confirm their DNS servers appeared to be affected it's not clear to me their web servers weren't. In any case, many of their recent hosts seem to have been like DreamHost and provided both DNS and web hosting. CloudFare also provided both DNS and CDN [16]. So ultimately whether you target their DNS hosting or web hosting or both you have the same company targeted. Their current host is definitely new [17] [18] [19]. I'm not sure if their current host provided DNS hosting but it's not like finding DNS hosting has been the issue anyway. The problem is they keep losing their domains, for reasons nothing to do with DNS hosting. Nil Einne (talk) 07:59, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

@Wnt: See https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/free_speech.png and https://blog.cloudflare.com/why-we-terminated-daily-stormer/ (((The Quixotic Potato))) (talk) 08:07, 7 September 2017 (UTC)

A url for producing the raw text of a random featured article?

Hello,

For a machine learning project I need a url that would produce the raw text of a random featured article in Wikipedia as a .txt file. By raw text I mean only the article itself (not the entire html page) and with square brackets for internal links etc. Preferably I want an option to specify the language as well. Does something like that exist?

For example - the following link gives the raw text of a random article (not featured article) in Hebrew Wikipedia: https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random?action=raw

Thanks!