Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing

June 3

Reformat?

Hi, I need help fixing my older laptop. It currently has two partitions, each running a Windows OS and each is completely screwed up; wont load, freezes, all kinds of messed up basically. There's no data on it I need to save and I want to just start over: no partitions and reload Windows from disk. So, how can I do this? Thanks -- 24.19.234.96 00:43, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

You should make sure you have a copy of your operating system installation disk before you reformat. Once you have this, reboot the system with the OS installation disk in the drive. Most of the process is user-friendly and will be guided through on-screen instructions, but if you have never done this before, you may want to get technical assistance from somebody experienced. Nimur 01:38, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Followup. The disc drive on the laptop is broken. I have an external usb drive. Is there a way to boot from this external drive? The current OS's are so screwed up I cant even get the computer to recognize the new drive with the disc I want to boot from in it. Someway to get the computer to recognize the new drive on boot so I can reload from it? I'm starting to feel a strong desire to smash the laptop so any help would be appreciated. Oh, I can load up task manager and use it to run commands like msconfig, if that helps, but the cpu is running at 100% and everything is slow as hell at best. 24.18.215.108 02:46, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Check if the laptop's BIOS allows booting from your USB drive. You could also try a bootable USB flash drive. If both fail, you could also try removing the CD/DVD drive from your laptop and borrowing a working one from a friend (on all laptops I've seen, it's not only removable, but it also seems to follow some standard; see [1] for instance). --cesarb 15:26, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

I have had a lot of success booting and installing operating systems from USB drives. Another possible approach is a network boot, but this often technically difficult. Nimur 21:29, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Ok, thanks for the suggestions everyone. Final question: if I do manage to get it to recognize my external drive and boot from that, can I use a copy of Windows XP to wipe everything, unpartition it, and reinstall a clean OS? 38.112.225.84 22:42, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, unless your hard-drive partitions are very corrupted. Windows XP has a reasonably robust disk reformat / repartition utility. Nimur 21:52, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Xbox 360 and Gaming Adapters

I've just got an Xbox 360 and I want to wireless but I'm not so keen on spending the £50-60 that I'm going to get charged for the official network adapter. I just want to verify though that most gaming adapters (that is, wireless adapters which don't require the installation of drivers) will work with the 360. --Kiltman67 02:58, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

This should be the case. Splintercellguy 06:47, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

should be true, but be aware that while the original Xbox was essentially an off the shelf PC, down to the pentium 3/celeron processor, tweaked geforce 2 and modified NT kernel, the 360 is an actual custom-built console, including a PowerPC chip (based upon the same chip marketed as the G5 earlier by Apple), so anything designed for the previous generation may have some issues to say the least with the 360. -M^ask? 07:53, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Which doesn't have any effect on wireless adapters. Ethernet is ethernet (well, not exactly, but close enough). -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 23:27, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Most Wireless Game Adapters are essentially a wireless access point. They have a wired Ethernet connection to any game console (or anything with an Ethernet connection), and a wireless connection to a home network. -wizzard2k ^(C•T•D) 15:40, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Javascript and SVG object creation

This is a follow-up of previous question and the animation works pretty well now. However in the original animation new circle objects are created as the cannon ball flies to better illustrate its path. I cannot get it, or any object-creation for that matter (compare this and my converted version) to work when I put the code inside the XHTML file instead of the SVG with inline SVG. Can anyone help? --antilived^{T | C | G} 10:52, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Aw, Opera closed on me when I put 2 as the angle, and about a million for the speed. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 21:12, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Hmm so it works in Opera? --antilived^{T | C | G} 22:35, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Why wouldn't it? However, I don't see what the canon is supposed to hit. I seem to randomly say it hit. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:06, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Yea I haven't drawn the target yet, so now it's just a floating invisible target at 100px x. --antilived^{T | C | G} 02:21, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Digital Camera

Hello. I am planning to buy a digital camera. What other materials and software are needed (e.g. memory card, printer specialized in printing photos, etc.)? Thanks. --Mayfare 17:06, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Some cameras come with storage space included, but it's never much: you'll need some kind of memory card. Look up the camera you want to buy and see what kind of cards it takes (SD, XD, MemorystickDuo, CF, etc) and buy one - they're not too expensive. If you want to access the photos you took without using the camera, you can use a card reader to copy what's on the memory card to your PC. 202.10.86.63 17:14, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

You don't need a card reader. If you have one, thats great (I do and I like it). If you don't use the USB cable that usually comes with the camera to connect it to your PC. It works just as good, but requires you to carry around another thing. --R ^ParlateContribs_@ (Let's Go Yankees!) 17:20, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

I'd suggest downloading the free app Picasa, too. Especially for its one-click retouching. Down M. 17:25, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Memory card is a good idea (check what your camera supports - probably SD). You can take the SD card to some photo print places and they'll print them for you. Battery power is a problem - you'll want rechargeable batteries (may be included, otherwise perhaps UK£5) and a battery charger (about £10). --h2g2bob (talk) 18:08, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Best low-overhead anti-malware software for kubuntu?

I currently use Windows XP with the Comodo firewall, Norton Anti-Virus and Spybot-S&D. I often feel like my security software (Norton in particular) steals more of my PC's performance than any piece of malware ever would (although it's apparently blocked a few DDoS worms, numerous port scans and one instance of Trojan.Wimad). I will soon be switching almost entirely to kubuntu (already have the dual boot set up) for my desktop, as well as a laptop I intend to buy. What is the best free anti-malware software I can get that is designed around Linux's different needs and won't interfere significantly with performance? NeonMerlin 20:01, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Due to its different security mindset and its relatively low popularity on the desktop, Linux doesn't really have malware. There have been a couple of cases over the years, but none have ever really gotten any traction (to my knowledge). Any search for "linux antivirus" is likely to return products that run on Linux, but provide virus protection for Windows machines on the same network. --TotoBaggins 21:13, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

The firewall in linux is built in, just manage the Netfilter/iptables configuration to block everything except what you must have open, and for those ports, you probably want to limit it to certain known networks or number of connections. As for avoiding malware, you can avoid most if not all by sticking to using software distributed by ubuntu and using common sense. Windows Malware won't affect you at all, unless you're running windows software (with WINE), but then, why bother running linux? You're still going to be susceptible to XSS attacks and internet scamming, so keep an up-to-date firefox on the system and ignore those emails from Nigeria. --JSBillings 21:19, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, linux's best security software is linux. The biggest threat is passing on an infected file to your friends, which you had no idea about, given that it didn't effect you -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 22:19, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

How does netfilter/iptables perform on firewall leak tests? NeonMerlin 00:19, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

It'll pretty much do what you tell it to do. If you're running a web server and decide to keep it open to the 'net, then it's open to the 'net. If you don't want it to be, it won't be. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 01:56, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

There are security software packages for linux but they are mostly intrusion detection systems or increased access control schemes, these probably won't be usefull to you unless you really know what you are doing. The best way to stay secure is follow the security mailing lists so you can know when vulnerabilities are found so you can take proactive steps. Most of your security comes from properly sequestering the services and programs by running them under differnt uids with the minimum file priveleges they need. So even if a vulnerbality is exploited, the hijacked process can't do much damage. As Consumed Crustacean has said, iptables is only as secure/leaky as you configure it to be. -- Diletante 02:25, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

A bit offtopic, but kind of related: [2] --cesarb 00:54, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Linux does not have malware, but it can have bad/suboptimal hardware drivers, which can cause bad performance. It would not cause performance degradation over time, though. -Yyy 09:26, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

When you install software on Ubuntu, you get the choice between "supported ubuntu applications", "all free sofware applications" etc. -- for an application to be in that list already, you can be reasonably sure that it's not malware (not least because the source code has to be published). Unlike Windows, you don't generally need to download software from a website and run it -- most software you need has been checked and packaged for you by the (k)Ubuntu people. Ojw 19:16, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

Greasemonkey question

Hi, I have no idea how to code.. Using Greasemonkey, can someone tell me how to erase all links that contain the string "foo" in the URL, please? Thank you. :) --Kjoonlee 23:39, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

this isnt with greasemonkey, which i do use (but know very little about) but try this if you're on firefox get adblock plus, and then use this type of filter for it *foo*, and it should do the trick...sorry but it's all i can help with xD 200.35.168.129 16:50, 4 June 2007 (UTC) Ag for MemTech

The problem is, that way, the pesky links will still be there when I try to select a long block of text. (Linky's "open all links in tabs" still picks them up.) --Kjoonlee 19:39, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Your specification is a bit vague, but something like the code below could do it:

var links = document.getElementsByTagName("a");
for (var i = 0; i < links.count; i++) {
    if (/foo/.test(links[i].href))
        links[i].parentNode.removeChild(links[i]);
}

I haven't tested that, so it's probably buggy (I seem to recall some issues with removing nodes while iterating over a nodeList). I also suspect it could be even easier to do with XPath, but I'm not too familiar with that. Still, it could be worth a try. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 12:02, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Oh yeah, you can use XPath to retrieve the tags as well, but frankly that seems overkill since you don't even need a parent child relationship (of course, if you want in the future to only remove the links in a particular portion of the page, well, the XPath solution may prove better) Root⁴(one) 20:40, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

June 4

Domain and hosting

I've been considering getting a domain for a while now, but I have no idea who I should purchase it through, or where my site should be hosted. Does anyone here have any advice or recommendations on a reliable, low-cost solution for a long-term, low-traffic, personal site? — TheKMan 01:55, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Godaddy.com is very reliable, and cheap. You can get .com domain names for $6.95/yr. Najim22 02:27, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

I personally have a few concerns about Godaddy. For a small personal site, there's probably no need to worry, but this is kind of a dry run for something that could have some earning potential. — TheKMan 02:56, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

I recommend ikhost.net. For your domain you also get 75MB disk space/1500MB data transfer / month for life. I host with them and are very reliable, both for my large site (10 requests a second on one) and very very small ones. They're based in the UK, but have servers in America and Germany too, so you'll get a good ping (fast to load). JoshHolloway 09:14, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

I say dotcommaker.com is an excellent choice too. Chailai 17:03, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

InterNIC has a list of registrars, although the list is so long that it's bound to be confusing. In general though, your primary concerns are going to price, features available (does it have free URL forwarding? does it give you DNS tools? and so on), and how much support is available. If you run a site that turns into a high traffic, high visibility site, 24 hour support is a must as domain hijacking can be a concern (and the faster recovery can begin, the more likely you'll recover it). As far as hosting is concerned, that's a little more complex for me because I don't know per se what you want. However, the recommendation (which I agree with) is that you should generally not register your domain names in association with your hosting account. Often times there will be host packages where you get say 10 or some number of domains as part of the package, but these domains don't belong to you--if you drop hosting with them, you'll lose the domains too, so it's probably safer not to even use the same company. Good luck with your hosting! –Pakman044 03:32, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Whatever recommendations you get here, you should also check out the WebHostingTalk a forum dedicated to comments about web hosting and web hosting providers. Here you can see a larger number of opinions about each of the hosters. You could also first check out hosting search engine. Shinhan 12:44, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks everyone! — TheKMan 01:20, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

3D Models

I have some models in Google Sketch Up and I was wanting to animate them in Blender. I was wondering of there was a way to do that? Thanks for any help. Najim22 02:21, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

I would suggest you to simply remodel it in blender or something. If you export it as .obj and import it into blender it would work but the mesh is so messy and would take a long time to untangle that you might as well model it and rig it again in blender. --antilived^{T | C | G} 02:42, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

O, thanks. Najim22 02:53, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

what happened to xoomle

So, apparently, Xoomle (not the wikipedia article [if it ever existed at all]) but the actual service itself has been wiped off the face of the Earth, with all trace of it having been erased as well. Does anyone know what happened to it? Is it forbidden to even mention it anymore? I'm requesting info from someone who knows the inside scoop. NoClutter 09:45, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

If you mean the project that uses XML with the Google API, I can't say I know the inside scoop. Google's cache of http://dentedreality.com.au/xoomle/ says it was retrieved on May 20, 2007, so the change in that site is recent, though. Can't find any other places you could download it from either. It looks like the last post on the dentedreality page was from 2004. There's this, too: "XooMLe is not officially supported by DentedReality, Google, or for that matter anyone. It was created by staff at DentedReality as an experiment, and is provided here as a general service to the web-programming community. Feel free to send questions etc to xoomle (at) dentedreality.com.au, but please keep in mind that we aren't paid for any of this..." iames 18:24, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Another excel macro question 2 (Dates)

How would a macro that converts "abcdef" to "20ef/cd/ab" look? The macro should then let the cell with "20ef/cd/ab" in it be formatted as a date. Is this possible? Zain Ebrahim 11:00, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't know about a macro, but you could simply use left and concatenate to do the work as a formula.

Yeah, you could do it quite simply as a formula: ="20" & MID(A1,5,2) & "/" & MID(A1,3,2) & "/" & MID(A1,1,2), assuming that the cell to be converted is A1. As for getting it to be understood as a date, that is a little more complicated, I think. Easiest-but-not-dynamic way would be to then copy that column and then past it as values and then indicate those cells are a Date format. --24.147.86.187 15:23, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

If you want it as a macro, here you go. I just tweaked the code from another solution I'd fixed for someone else, so the code might be a little excessive for your purpose, but it works for any number of selected cells.

Sub formatDate()
Dim i As Long
Dim daypart, monthpart, yearpart As Long
Dim datestring As String
For i = 1 To Selection.Cells.Count
    daypart = CLng(Mid(Selection.Cells(i).Value, 1, 2))
    monthpart = CLng(Mid(Selection.Cells(i).Value, 3, 2))
    yearpart = CLng(Mid(Selection.Cells(i).Value, 5, 2))
    'internal representation is now in 3 parts
    Select Case yearpart
        Case 0 To 9
        datestring = "200" & Trim(Str(yearpart)) & "/"
        Case Else
        datestring = "20" & Trim(Str(yearpart)) & "/"
    End Select
    Select Case monthpart
        Case 1 To 9
        datestring = datestring & "0"
    End Select
    datestring = datestring & Trim(Str(monthpart)) & "/"
    Select Case daypart
        Case 1 To 9
        datestring = datestring & "0"
    End Select
    datestring = datestring & Trim(Str(daypart))
    Selection.Cells(i).NumberFormat = "yyyy/mm/dd"
    Selection.Cells(i).Value = datestring
Next i
End Sub

-wizzard2k ^(C•T•D) 20:10, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Internet Radio

To whom it may concern, This is a request for the full information regarding "internet radio". The plan that I have would be to record into the computer PC by means of a microphone information recording that information on to a DVD, And then having that recorded information posted for peoples to obtain by means of their internet connecting them to my Web Site for the information. Would you please comment on this plan.

Ok, I'm slightly confused by the way in which you phrased this. Maybe I'm tired, I don't know. Anyway, I'll answer as best I can. DVD need not come into it, but you can record voice on the microphone and then upload it onto the internet for people to download. JoshHolloway 16:25, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like you're talking about a Podcast. --JSBillings 16:32, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Lots of people do this, but the step of recording onto a DVD isn't necessary; it is easier to just record it to your computer's hard drive. You can then make a DVD copy from it later, if you need one. Recury 13:47, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Privacy Safe - Wireless Video & Tap Detector

Need opinions if this product is efficient enough to detect whether someone is electronically spying: Innovative high technology device keeps you safe from wireless wiretap and video cameras. Detectable radio frequency width 30MHz - 2.4GHz. Responding distance 10-15 feet.

Does anyone have other suggestions? 18:10, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Won't work, there's no physics behind it. --Zeizmic 23:52, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Note that it's not proposing to catch receivers that are eavesdropping on wireless networks. It is instead proposing to catch transmitters that are sending wiretapped audio or a signal from a microphone or video camera; that's entirely practical if the transmission method from the bug is "wireless".

But even for the tap on a wireless network, there's technology that can help. Most receivers are actually superheterodyne receivers and they leak a little of their local oscillator frequency; this can be easily detected. It's one method by which the cops catch people who use radar detectors. Also, any radio is composed of active semiconductors and there are devices that detect the presence of semiconductor junctions by means of the effect that they have on radio fields (notably, the generation of harmonics of the fundamental frequency of the radio field).

Atlant 13:29, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

In theory, it could work as a spectrum analyzer. In practice, that will not work; there are way too many noise sources, not all covert microphones/cameras are wireless, it would fail to detect anything using 802.11a, and the bug could use tricks like burst transmission. --cesarb 00:29, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Or spread spectrum. —Bromskloss 10:40, 5 June 2007UTC)

So there is no product that can effectively detect bugs or hidden cameras? 14:36, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

I mentioned several techniques that can be helpful.

Atlant 15:54, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

I am not technically savvy but could you name some brands perhaps. I am not sure what I should be looking for.... 18:49, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Portable Media Player

I'm looking to buy one for myself. More accurately, an MP3 player with a large memory. Nothing less than 30GB. Any recommendations? I have a budget of about $200-250.

Apple's iPod immediately comes to mind. But I've also heard good things about Toshiba's S Gigabeat. I've read plenty of reviews of both, but cant seem to make up my mind.

I've heard good things about the gigabeat as well. There's also the possibility of the Zune, but I hear it has somewhat strict DRM software. --GTPoompt 20:26, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Another thing, if I wait for the 6th Gen iPod, will this reduce the prices of the 5th Gen items? That way, I could buy the 80GB iPod using the same amount of money. Any advice would be welcomed. Thanks. Hasanclk 18:45, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

How about a Creative Zen Vision:M? I own one, and I paid that price range for a 30 gig version (actually, less, because of a rebate). It's full of features, don't have strict DRM, won awards, etc. However, as a warning, they do have bad customer support if you ever happen to need it, and batteries aren't easy to replace (and Li-ion batteries lose about 50% of their capacity after 2 years even without use unless stored in the fridge, but that's not really an issue since they all use Li-ion). I'm not advocating for them or anything, but it does fit what you need. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 22:27, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and there's the Zen Vision:W as well, which has a rebate, which brings it to $219.99 after rebates. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 22:31, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

In my opinion, the creative players sound much better in therms of audio fedelity than iPods, if that's important to you. 213.48.15.234 08:23, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Just my two cents, you should avoid buying an ipod. They're really just ridiculously priced- the components don't come to anywhere near the price of the whole, and that's an important relationship given I could probably build one myself for the price of the components. Also the DRM on the ipod/itunes application is restrictive (same with the zune) --froth^t 17:11, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

June 5

Internet devices under 400$?

Are there any (full featured) portable devices capable of using at least 802.11b for under 400$? There's the somewhat limited but more portable Nokia Internet Tablet thing, and I've also seen an Acer laptop selling brand new for 400$. Just wondering if there's anything cheaper out there that would also be new, or the same price but more powerful. -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 12:28, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

My conversion is terrible, but ill look Lmc169 12:38, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Oh, right, to be precise, that's in USD, and computers sold in the US. Or at least able to be got at that price including shipping -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 12:48, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

To be clear, by fully featured, I mean capable of performing tasks as a desktop computer, laptop computer, etc., such as being able to use most x86 based OS, and be operated in the same manner as a desktop computer would be. I don't have any specific hardware requirements, but at least being able to look at Youtube and watch movies smoothly is preferred. Assume 700-1GHz, the Acer laptop is 1.8GHz Celeron I believe. -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 12:56, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

It will be very difficult if you're looking for something portable. Maybe OLPC? :) --froth^t 13:36, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Asus has recently announced a very small computer for US$189. --JSBillings 18:49, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

A Wii? --saxsux 15:03, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

power supply units

i recently brought a new power supply [3] and i plugged it in and nothing happens, i get a front LED light to light up when the power is turned on but nothing else on the motherboard powers up. i tried just plugging the motherboard in and it still didnt work. i plugged the old 350 watt power supply in and everything works. i have this motherboard [4]. all the specs on the new power supply are equal or higher than the old power supply. any ideas on whats gone wrong? my first thought was possible problem as motherboard is 20 pin and power supply has 24 pin, but wikis acticle says there shouldnt be a problem--137.205.8.2 16:10, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Looks like you're not the only one with that problem [5]. It might be a bad unit. -wizzard2k ^(C•T•D) 17:11, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

I strongly urge you to buy something better, from a more well-known brand like thermaltake and the like. A bad PSU can destroy all your components (potentially $$$) and corrupt your data. Wattage is not meaningful when comparing between brands (kinda like clock speed in CPUs). --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:40, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

dont tire my friends

okay i need some help. 1.how do i encrypt a folder so that to open it u need a password. 2.i installed a software called atomix virtual dj.but when i play videos the screen has some vertical lines running down.its not clear and it says when i launch it that the internal database is corrupted.what do i do 3.i recently downloaded game called bank robbers it has an extension .swf what programme opens it. 4.ooh and i did sumthing and on my computer dektop the icons have colour blue on their background.how do i remove it. 5.anybody knows what site or a link i can easily download a free simple game or wallpapers that what disturb me.most sites i go to have the never ending links.ive tried google.

1. Maybe TrueCrypt? I know NTFS has encryption capabilities but dunno about the passwording part.

2. Re-install?

3. .swf files are Macromedia Flash files, they can be opened in your browser if you have the Flash plugin.

4. Desktop Properties should be the place to look.

5. Google Images? Splintercellguy 17:04, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

for #3, maybe the extension .swf is misleading, and it's a trojaned binary. Check it with antivirus before opening it. --JSBillings 18:56, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

cd-r

My computer will not recognize or acknowledge that i have cd-r in the player it will other cd-r , just not the blanks that i want to record on. Is there any way to record on these ?

Did you install the driver for your cdr? --Kainaw ^(talk) 23:32, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

But your computer recognizes that the drive exists? (Go to my computer, see if it's listed. If not, you have to delete something in the registry.)

It sounds like you don't actually have a CD-R/RW drive on your computer. Have you written to discs before? If it can read CD-Rs which have been recorded onto, but not recognise blank CD-Rs then it seems like you have a standard CD-ROM drive, rather than a CD-RW drive. JoshHolloway 02:43, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

If you have Windows XP, bring up "My Computer" then right-click on the CD-drive, then click Properties. On the "Recording" page, there should be a check box labelled "Enable Recording on this drive". Make sure that is checked. --LarryMac | Talk 12:47, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

I have an external DVD burner and Windows wouldn't burn on it natively until I installed Nero. Now it works but I still use nero essentials, it's really much better --froth^t 13:34, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

June 6

Midtown Madness-Type Games

My brother is very fond of realistic car simulation games, in which the user is allowed to drive freely in a large city, such as Midtown Madness and Midtown Madness 2. These games, however, are quite old, and he would really love a more recent game of this genre. The desired platform is Microsoft Windows (Vista). Could anyone please recommend me a suitable software for my brother? --81.231.187.228 11:26, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Midnight Club II is a game by the same company that is a slightly more recent (2003). He might also be interested in the Grand Theft Auto series which are probably the best of the free-roam type games. There is some driving in it, but it is more focused on shooting people. The cities are huge though and you can do pretty much whatever you want in them. See also Sandbox (video games). Recury 14:10, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Need for Speed: Carbon - both involve very large cities and lots of racing around them (circuit tracks, sprints, drags, drifts in the latter, etc.). x42bn6 Talk Mess 14:12, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

For mindless driving, I like Carmageddon and Carmageddon II. You don't always have to worry about some mission. You can just aimlessy race around and run over people. --Kainaw ^(talk) 17:37, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Rounding error with doubles

I have rounding errors with the C# doubles that I'm subtracting, because the two numbers are only slightly different and really long and so their difference just gets cut off, and, while I know this will make my answer slightly incorrect, it's better than dividing by zero, so what I figured out is that I just have to multiply one by a number, e.g. 99% (the exact number is my question), to change it a little then subtract. So my question is: what is the smallest number I can make the number that I multiply by without the computer rounding it back to the original? The reason I want to know this is I don't need a perfect number but it shouldn't be too far off from the original, thanks for the help, Jeffrey.Kleykamp 17:23, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Not knowing much about C#, might a simpler solution be declaring your variable as long double; assuming this is allowed and works the way it does in C, this should give you about 18 more decimal digits of precision: http://babbage.cs.qc.edu/courses/cs341/IEEE-754references.html

Dlong 17:47, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

C#, unfortunately, doesn't have long double, however, that link might help, I need to study it first before I can say if it does. Jeffrey.Kleykamp 17:59, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

I take it that what you want is the greatest double $x\ni \forall y\;x\otimes y<y$, where the circle-times represents floating-point multiplication of doubles. This x is simply the greatest double less than 1, which is $1-2^{-53}$. (I did numerical testing of this; in some 50 million tests I seemed to find one counterexample, but I don't know what multiplicand it was.) There's no way that you're going to improve the quality of your final answer with this trick, though. You're evaluating $x-y\;(x\approx y)$ as $(x-fy)+(f-1)y$, and your original error will just be regenerated by the catastrophic cancellation of f and 1. --Tardis 19:38, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Don't you mean $\max\{x|\forall y:x\otimes y<y\}$, i.e. the maximum x so that x float-multiplied by any y is less than that y? That's the way I learned mathematical notation. JIP | Talk 19:53, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

I think that's equivalent; I was just writing "the greatest double-value x such that, for all y, x float-times y is less than y". I'll admit the switch out of English was somewhat weird; I don't know (or don't remember, one) a better way of referring to the greatest object with a property without constructing the set of all objects with that property. --Tardis 23:20, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Would it be possible for you to code your own long double from a fixed-length string representation? all you would need is some simple math functions, which you can write, (im no C# expert, but can you overload operators and do something at least like an enum?) then use some type conversion afterwards to go back to a double if you need. I remember having to do something similar to this in some CS courses. -wizzard2k ^(C•T•D) 22:33, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Why not use the decimal type? Splintercellguy 22:56, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Good call. That appears to be the equivalent of a long double (16 bytes) in C#. [6] -wizzard2k ^(C•T•D) 23:09, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

You may have already considered this and found it infeasible, but if at all possible, I'd suggest changing your algorithm so that you're not doing what you describe above. Subtracting two nearly identical floating point numbers is one of the best ways of getting rounding errors, no matter how you do it. (Another one is adding very small floating point numbers to very large ones.) —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 11:53, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Unfortunately it's math that was made by someone else and there is no other way, and I tried to make my own code for numbers but it's too complicated and I'm not motivated enough, the Decimal type, however, says the largest number is 79228162514264337593543950335m, it seems smaller than the double because the highest double is 1.79769e+308, and does Decimal have decimal spaces? Jeffrey.Kleykamp 13:30, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

What is the mathematics involved? The mathematics desk may be a better place for the question. BTW the Decimal type is for exact decimal representation with decimal point IIRC, not the powers of 2 representation you get with floating point. It would seem this is not the route you want. Floating point values are precise in binary notation. Values of the Decimal type are precise, in, well, decimal notation. Root⁴(one) 21:12, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

If you are concerned about dividing by zero, how about just assigning System.Double.PositiveInfinity, System.Double.NaN, or System.Double.NegativeInfinity to the result and/or test for one of those conditions in later processing? Root⁴(one) 21:18, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

I guess I will have to "test for one of those conditions in later processing", I would just like to know: does the Decimal type store numbers like 0.1 or does it round it down to 0? And the math has nothing to do with it, unless someone wanted to go over the work (it's not my work, so I didn't make any errors, and I tested the math and, if I don't get zero at that one spot, it works fine) and reformat it to make sure that I don't get problems but I don't really need that. Jeffrey.Kleykamp 09:00, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Gateway GM5048

Hello. I have a Pentium 4 and a Gateway GM5048. To unplug a peripheral using a USB port from my Pentium 4 and plug it into my Gateway (rear), I must rotate the USB cable 180 degrees before plugging it into my Gateway. Why is this so? --Mayfare 17:40, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Probably because one computer has the USB port oriented 180 degrees rotated compared to the other. There is no standard which defines the orientation of the USB port, so that happens quite often. The USB port on my old laptop is perpendicular to the ports on my new one. By the way, a Pentium 4 is a CPU, and not a PC manufacturer.

Follow-up question: why are USB A plugs rectangular? Even a slight trapezoidification (a la D-subminiature) would (of course) reduce plugging time by a third... --Tardis 19:51, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

No idea, but mini-USB are shaped too. Probably a design flaw they didn't think about till stuff started being released, and thus was incorporated into USB type B and mini-USBs. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 04:53, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Movies on a playstation 2

How come when I put a movie in my playstation 2 , it doesnt always play the movie , but when i put the movie in the computer , it always works? (for example the playstation 2 can play batman begins but it cant play superman but the computer can play both)Wookiemaster 18:41, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Drive quality is the first thing I thought of. I tried my brother's Spider-man 2 in my two laptops as well as my desktop, and it didn't work in either. However, it worked in my parent's desktop as well as their DVD player. The disc may be scratched and some drives are just better at dealing with that than others. Dlong 21:25, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Which DVD player is the most effective? and how much does it cost? thank u for answering. Wookiemaster 23:41, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

I have a chinese cheapo "nintaus" dvd player I got for about $80 probably four years ago now and it plays everything I've ever put in it, including divx, wma, photos, videos, audios, vcd, burns, rips, + - RW disks, NTSC and PAL, any zone, the thing is amazing... Vespine 04:50, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Ironically the ones made for Chinese market would probably be more able in reading scratched and otherwise "bad" discs as the demand to play pirated stuff, which aren't very well cared for, is quite high. --antilived^{T | C | G} 08:22, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

DVD region codes?58.28.151.180 11:19, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

BEST DVD PLAYER EVER=LG DK142

plays a lot of formats including the following: DVD+/-R/RW and CR/RW that contains audio titles, DivX, MP3, WMA, XVID and/or JPG files. DivX (R) VOB (Video on Demand). VCD 1.1, SVCD, Karaoke CD/DVD

Playable Codec Formats: DivX 3.xx, 4.xx, 5.xx, XVID, MP4/3, 3IVX

Subtitle in format: SubRip(*.srt/*.txt) SAMI(*.sim) SubStation Alpha(*.ssa/*.txt) MicroDVD(*.sub/*.txt) SubViewer 2.0(*.sub/*.txt) TMPlayer(*.txt) DVD Dub System(*.txt) VobSub(*.sub)->Sub/idx, stream based

Sorry it was a long post xD but i would not rant about a product unless it was this good, you can also download firmwares and mod them to make your own background,screen saver, etc and then burn it on a disc and upgrade it on your player. 200.12.231.42 19:05, 7 June 2007 (UTC) Ag for MemTech

Playstation 2 does not support the current trend of copy protection on DVDs. Therefore, it fails to play many movies. I couldn't even play the Scene It DVD game on my Playstation 2. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:12, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Automatic resizing of JPG images on Linux

I was photographing a body painting event, and the artist later phoned me and asked for thumbnails of every picture I took, so she could display them on her own site. I could make the thumbnails manually with GIMP on my Fedora Core 5 system, but it would be very tedious. Is there a way to automatically resize a number of JPG images to make them a smaller size, which would be the same for all images? JIP | Talk 18:56, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

You can certainly do it in PHP with GD. If you want me to help you code this (or just do it for you), leave a message on my talk page. JoshHolloway 21:11, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

ImageMagic! --h2g2bob (talk) 22:26, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

To get ImageMagick to resize them to a maximum of 640 pixels wide by 480 pixels high while maintaining the correct aspect ratio, do the command below. --TotoBaggins 03:20, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

for i in *.jpg; do
    convert -resize 640x480 $i thumb-$i
done

You may want to use -thumbnail instead of -resize; the difference is that -thumbnail will also remove any Exif metadata, color profiles and other junk that might otherwise bloat up the resulting files. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 11:44, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Thank you! I used ImageMagick to resize all my pictures to 320*240 (there were 115 of them) and sent them all to the artist. When she has picked her favourites I will send the originals of them to her. JIP | Talk 20:35, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

You may want to check that a good method is used to resize the images or you may have aliasing issues with the images. Bi-Cubic is an often used filter (I don't now if that is an option or not for this program, I'm just saying that if you are going to resize some images, be prepared to handle the potential problems. Root⁴(one) 20:52, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

June 7

Database icon

Looks like three watch batteries to me...

Why is the usual icon for a database three cylinders stacked on top of each other? An example of this icon is the Crystal Clear database icon (it is also the logo for WikiProject Databases) seen at the right. Thanks, --Transfinite (Talk / Contribs) 04:20, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

One random website [7] explains it as a silo of data, which certainly seems plausible. -wizzard2k ^(C•T•D) 05:34, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Tee hee, silo of data? Is that kind of like a murder of crows or a parliament of owls? Anchoress 06:49, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

File:Ramac.jpg

The IBM 350 RAMAC was introduced in 1956 and was the world's first disk drive. This unit is being restored at the Computer History Museum 50 years later. (From Early IBM disk storage article).

It might also be a stylized representation of hard disk drive disks. Original incarnations of mass-storage would have such cylinders and might have been drawn schematically. Nimur 08:03, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Capacious hard drives still have multiple platters stacked up (although not quite as many as the RAMAC); four or five platters is still common. More platters leads to faster transfer rates and fewer "seeks". Whenever you see a family of drives that offers capacities that are multiples of each other, you're (usually) seeing the use of multiple platters. For example, if a drive is offered as 125 GB, 250 GB, 375 GB, and 500 GB, you can bet that first one is a one-platter drive and the last one is the same mechanism with four platters (or, at least, four times as many active storage surfaces).

Atlant 11:38, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Silos of data are not unusual, for instance a tape silo is one such method. Also, I'm sure the word "silo" is synonymous with storage in general (not just for grain or nukes). When I looked at that picture, the first thing that came into mind was a hard disk, which consist of cylinders stacked on one another. — Kjammer  ⌂ 08:49, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

The typical flowchart icon for disk storage is a cylinder.

The 1960-1965 era Litton computers I used when I was in the Marines had a cylinder for database storage. It was not a stack of platters. It was a metal cylinder about 4 feet long and 2 feet wide. It sat on its side and rotated at high speed. A read/write head could move side to side along the cylinder. It could store about 20 kb, which isn't anything today. However, that was a hell of a lot of data back then. --Kainaw ^(talk) 13:05, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

That would have been drum memory. My first boss used to spin tales (no pun intended) of programs written specifically to take into account the latency. And since we're reaching into our pasts, the system I used when I first got to college was an IBM 7000 series (model not recalled); for storage, it used disk packs, probably the IBM 1311, which indeed, looked like the quintessential database icon. --LarryMac | Talk 15:38, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

I have fond memories of reading The Art of Computer Programming chapter on external sorting (Vol 3, if anyone's curious), where it is all about what sort will minimize seek time on disks and drums and the optimal merge to ensure that rewinds (!) for magnetic tape storage are at a minimum. Those algorithms are obviously still pretty useful in case you have to do a sort that can't fit into main memory, but it's still adorably anachronistic :). As for the database symbol, I've always assumed that it was some sort of allusion to RAID drives (or generally storing huge amounts of information over several discs). I mean, isn't that sort-of the intuitive point about what a database is, a massive collection of information stored in big-ass facilities? --Oskar 00:49, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

To me, they look a lot like the steel dust covers of the large reel-to-reel tape spools that used to be used in data archives... 195.137.96.79 05:39, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Access Yahoo mails from Outlook

Hi,

Is there any way so that one can access the yahoo mails through Outlook. example:

Yahoo ID: xyz@yahoo.co.in

Now we want that the user should be able to access his/her Yahoo mails through Outlook. Actually, I want to know how to configure Outlook to get Yahoo mails in it.

Thanks

This Microsoft Office online page might have the info you are looking for [8] — Kjammer  ⌂ 08:53, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Dear Indian dude, You cant. You must pay for it. However, Gmail users can access gmail mails in outlook. Try Gmail instead. However, gmail does not offer .co.in addresses. They offer only .com addresses. -Anandha

YPops! might be the trick. Splintercellguy 21:40, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

PDF to SVG

Is there really a good way to convert PDF to SVG without visiting PS (can't afford to lose transparency etc) in the process? (Using only free (speech) software, of course.) I am hardly the first one to want this, but I just can't find a good solution. Is there any? In particular, I was thinking about how great it would be to be able to use Asymptote (gallery) for making plots and other things for Wikipedia. While Asymptote excels in many ways (and I strongly recommend it for all your LaTeX reports), it doesn't output SVG, so conversion is necessary. —Bromskloss 12:48, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Xara? -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 13:15, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

I used Texterity's online page to convert Image:Wfm thaad diagram.svg, although it required nontrivial cleanup in Inkscape afterward. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:48, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Is Google planning to conquer the world?

??

• If you mean in terms of an organized form of governance, probably not. It is easier to just make a lot of money by selling people services than it is to actually make domestic and foreign policy. If you mean in terms of knowing as much as they can about the world — including individuals who live in it — and using that to turn a profit, then probably yes, to some degree. --24.147.86.187 15:24, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

From a software standpoint, Google is trying less to conquer the world than other companies that put all of their effort into enslaving the world into using a specific operating system, a specific document format, or a specific web browser. Google simply tries to improve on what others are already doing. They were not the first search engine. They were not the first mapping service. They were not the first web mail service. As for profit, they need to turn a profit or they cannot stay in business. Now, if some billionaire benefactor were to give all his money (and investments) to Google, they would likely be less money hungry, unlike other companies that would gobble up the cash and beg for more. --Kainaw ^(talk) 16:09, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

I think Google already has pretty hefty investments as it is. I don't think they are any more or less money hungry than most companies, though they put more of their attention on the "long term" than most software companies (i.e. develop services that don't yet have obvious revenue related to them). What disturbs me personally the most about Google is that they are highly interested in networking all sorts of data in ways which hasn't been done before and at a scale which hasn't been done before, all the while encouraging people to start hooking their individuals lives up to the network in various ways (shared documents, common e-mail, even Google Desktop could be read more sinisterly as a form of this). Like those on board Battlestar Galactica, it's the networking that bugs me — it creates the possibility for all sorts of information economies that could go against privacy, for example, and even if we believe the current incarnation of Google's management to be benign there is not a guarantee that this would necessarily last into the future. But when you compare it to Microsoft, as you imply, it looks pretty standard for a mega software business, though Google still tries to project a "small startup" sort of attitude. (And in my opinion, there is nothing that Google specifically is doing that others would not have at some point thought to do and, as you note, have already done — Google is an improver as much as an innovator, if not more. But I do think that stronger oversight to information collecting practices in general should probably be considered pretty seriously.) --24.147.86.187 22:09, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Zecco.com

What's the catch behind the 0 commission online broker, zecco.com? Really bad spreads? 172.190.118.153 18:20, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

The site is offline right now, so I can't really check, but I'm going to hazard a guess that ads are their super-secret formula for success. --Oskar 00:39, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

There are not significant advertisements on the site, hence the asking of this question. Anything else possible? 172.194.245.197 02:58, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Look at their website for what they say.[9] They also appear to be using crowdsourcing to predict how the company should invest.[10] The company has low overheads and the prospect of becoming a big stockbroker, so it probably worth an investment to its backers. It also has a low advertising budget, relying mainly on the blogsphere. However, some of the answers given at answers.com make me wonder if they are astroturfing. --h2g2bob (talk) 06:29, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Computer Malfunction

My computer has a problem. Everytime I type a letter, a number pops up with it. Or when I'm typing a number a letter will pop up with it! But it only happens sometimes for long periods of times. It is so annohying. Cause afterward I have to go back and detele all the extra letters and numbers. It takes forever, just to write emails. Then I constanly have misspled words. What's wrong with me computer? And how do I fix it?

              Thanks

Messed up keyboard? Root⁴(one) 22:02, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like you need a new keyboard. Probably something is causing the contacts under the keys to activate other contacts for other keys. Keyboards are cheap to replace. However, if you have a laptop, you might have to use an external keyboard until you get the existing keyboard fixed. Also, sometimes the laptop keyboard cable can be slightly off, which can create spurious keyboard events. --JSBillings 22:05, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

I should mention that one of the prime causes of this failure in keyboards is because "someone" poured a sugary beverage on the keyboard. --JSBillings 22:09, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

This is probably not the problem, but make sure that you are not accidentally hitting the numlock key. -- Diletante 22:08, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

Call me cynical, but maybe someone has been messing about with AutoCorrect for a laugh? Sticking keys, a damaged keyboard, a bad connector, a dodgy driver and a prank virus all spring to mind aswell, on top of what JSBillings and Diletante say. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 22:16, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

June 8

Removing chunks of Xvid video with freeware.

I've got a batch of Xvid videos with V2 MP3 audio that I need to cut chunks out of. I'd usually use Virtualdub, but according to the error message that greets me when I try to open the videos, Virtualdub doesn't like VBR audio. Is there any similar freeware app that will cut up video without re-compressing it? (Virtualdub will push the audio out of sync.) Down M. 00:09, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Nandub is a fork of VirtualDub that correctly handles VBR audio. Rabidfurby 00:44, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Vista fonts

I can't seem to download any fonts for windows vista. I get the zipped, try to extract it to the font folder, then there is an error. Any help? Thanks in advance

What does the error say? Specific details would greatly help us answer your question. Splintercellguy 02:53, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

It's not even displaying an error anymore. I extract it without problem, but it doesn't show up in the font folder.

Umm, is that the correct procedure for installing a font? I haven't done this in ages but are you supposed to perhaps unzip the font file then either double click or right click it and select "merge" or "install" or something? it rings a bell that you can't just copy and paste into the fonts folder because then windows doesn't register the font, which sounds like that's the problem... Vespine 05:12, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't think it will work if you just extracted it there. You have to extract it somewhere else and then copy it to the Fonts folder which will trigger automatic installation dialogue. --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:47, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Yah, it just seems like sloppy interaction between the "Compressed/Zipped Folder" program and Explorer- maybe the zip code going behind Explorer's back and writing directly to a lower-level routine? --froth^t 17:13, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

I thought it was always..decompress anywhere...then go into the control panel...and then open Fonts and then choose File>Install New Font....yeah..that's how ive always done it... xD 200.35.168.129 23:17, 8 June 2007 (UTC) Ag for MemTech

Well, it works like that pre-Vista fine. But I guess Vista has another crappy thing going for it. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 04:07, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

LDAP arbitrary objectClass

Is there a "generic" objectClass schema in LDAP that does not specify any required or optional attributes (so they can be freely added without requirements?). I guess there's problems with attribute typing, but say I don't need it.

C++ "eval" for arithmetics

I'm looking for a nice way to parse strings as arithmetic expressions in C++. Nothing fancy, but I need it so I can have custom functions and variables, such as: "test(t,f) + (t/2)^2 - sin(3t/4) / pi".

I'm sure something like that has been developed already, but I have no idea where and what to look for. Could anyone point me to the right direction? Thanks! — Kieff | Talk 06:12, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Well, you'll probably want a recursive function to find your operands and user functions. It needs to be able to evaluate your order of operations too. Good luck! -wizzard2k ^(C•T•D) 06:29, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Several potential solutions comes to mind: system ("perl -e expr"), or use a symbolic debugger, or an interpreted implementation of C++. So you might want to say what you're trying to achieve. C++ is compiled in most instances, so an expression interpreter isn't readily available like it is with interpretive languages. —EncMstr 06:31, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

I know an interpreter isn't available built-in, but I'm hoping there'll be some sort of code, like a class, made for this sort of arithmetic parsing of strings and that has been released to the public. — Kieff | Talk 07:56, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

You might try a google search for symbolic algebra c++. I found SymbolicC++, but I have never worked with it. You should realize already that your task is pretty complicated. Be careful assuming a "magic" fix by dropping in a third-party library! Good luck, Nimur 09:25, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

If you're allowing custom functions, you're really talking about implementing a full-fledged programming language. Why not use one that has been designed, implemented, debugged, optimized, and documented already? Perl, Python, and Scheme, etc. are all easy to embed in C++. --TotoBaggins 15:27, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Or you could write your functions as C, compile and dynamically load the resulting .dll or .so file into the live executable, and then run the function for whatever necessary purpose. INCREDIBLY insecure, but loads of fun! Root⁴(one) 16:17, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

As far as answering the original poster, you could always develop a grammar using lex and yacc. Root⁴(one) 16:41, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Laptop battery

My G4 Mac is more or less always connected to the mains power. It has been suggested that I should therefore remove the battery, but no explanation was given. Why should I remove the battery please? There are the odd occasions when I would want to use the laptop away from mains power, which would be difficult if the battery has discharged itself. Any advice would be appreciated please. Thanks--88.110.32.237 08:40, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

I think this is probably why they suggested it [11] - X201 08:43, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

This is often suggested as it is supposed to prolong battery life. I assume the G4 has a lithium-ion battery. While these are better than older style batteries as far as surviving continual charging, they still age, and age more quickly at higher temperatures. It can get pretty warm inside a computer, so if you're not using it they recommend you remove it to make it last longer (and preferably keep it somewhere cool, like in the fridge). To me I think it depends how long you expect to keep the computer. I personally prefer to leave the battery in my laptop so as if there's a power outage I don't lose my work and can keep using the computer. After about three years of pretty much continual use the battery may only be good for half-an-hour to an hour off mains, but I'm not keeping the thing much past that anyway. --jjron 09:37, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Putting the battery in a cool place (as suggested above), would be the best way to preserve battery life. Only problem with using a fridge is if there is a power outage, you would lose power, and if you're away and the power goes out and the battery is in the fridge, it could get wet. Batteries don't cost more then 60 or 70 USD if I remember correctly, so after 3 years or so, you could replace it for not to much. By then you might buy a new laptop anyway.--GTPoompt(talk) 14:07, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Even if you buy a replacement, if it's made 3 years ago, it's not going to give you good ratings either. The safest bet is to buy a spare battery early on and store it in the fridge at 40% charge, but that's a big hassle, and an extra battery that you won't need in 3 years cause your laptop fell on the ground. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 04:04, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Webdesign - not sure what I want (PHP or what?)

I know advanced HTML, and I have my own server to play with (php 4 installed), and I have Dreamweaver MX, but I'm not sure what technology(s) I actually need:
I want to create a "TEMPLATE" - and this will be used throughout the website, so for example if I want to change the theme and graphics of my site, I only have to change it in the template and not have to edit every single page on the site.
Then for the content - that is the unique stuff that goes on each page - that I want to provide separately and say "Hey, use this template".
What should I be learning? PHP, CSS? anything else?
Rfwoolf 09:52, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

CSS.

I looked at CSS and it looks like it can't even do tables ... So that's not what I want. I want to do something like this:

TEMPLATE:

<table width=700px>

<image src"mylogo.jpg">
<font color="red">

[CONTENT GETS AUTOMATICALLY INSERTED HERE]

</font>

</table>

CONTENT:

Hi guys. this is the home page.

(or)

Hi guys, this is the contact page.

Rfwoolf 10:14, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Basic PHP! I would do it by creating header.php and footer.php, with header.php having everything BEFORE the content in, and footer.php having everything AFTER the content. You need not put any actual PHP in these files - they are just called ".php", and that's not even necessary.

Then, in, say, about.php (your about page), you have: <?PHP require('./header.php'); ?><h1>About Us</h1><p>We are a cool website from Vietnam and have a really large selection of stuffed monkeys</p><?PHP require('./footer.php'); ?>

Then it'll include and print the header, then print all the about us content, then the contents of the footer. Hope that helps. I don't want to explain too much and clog up the reference desk, so leave a message on my talk page for more help. JoshHolloway 10:18, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! That seems to clear that up. To my dismay the info on the net was very scratchy - people talking about CSS, RSS, XHTML, -- all with reference to PHP. And then they talk about MySQL (why would I need a database?) - so thanks, I'll give it a shot. Rfwoolf 10:27, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Make your php like this:

<?php include "_top.php" ?>
<H1>Title</H1>
<P>Whatever here</P>
<?php include "_bottom.php" ?>

and get _top.php and _bottom.php to automatcally print the rest. Make the HTML fragment as general as possible, ie put all CSS style rules in a stylesheet. --h2g2bob (talk) 10:23, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Great. Seems simple enough. How could I possibly go wrong? ;)

What I'll do is create the page in straight-up HTML, then disect it into a header and footer and make those PHP files, then do what you said.

Thanks all. Rfwoolf 10:27, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

I still think you should look at CSS. You're using tables for style and structure, you can do the same with CSS, and you won't even need to make it part of a template. JSBillings 11:58, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

There are other PHP options, depending on how much of a geek you are. I use a series of functions: html() writes the html and meta tags, then calls head() and body(). head() writes the head tags, title, adds in my css and scripts as necessary. body() writes the body tags and the main page. When it comes to the content section, it calls content(). Each page I create, I create one function, content() and then call html().

I've also seen uber-geeks make an html class and extend it for each page. In my opinion, it is a lot of overhead with very little benefit. --Kainaw ^(talk) 12:08, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like CSS to me, since CSS is just formatting. It can't do tables because you have to use HTML/XHTML with it. Format the table how you want it to look in CSS, link the CSS file in your HTML file, and whenever you call table or p, it'll grab the formatting from the CSS file. I actually have never used PHP, so I don't know whether that is a superior option or not.--GTPoompt 12:27, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

No I don't think CSS is what I'm really looking for here - I think I need to go with PHP. For example I want to use tables, and images to give the site a "skin" almost. Also, my "Header" will in effect start a table and not close it off -> Then goes content -> then goes my footer which closes off the table and carries on. Is that even possible in CSS? I don't think so Rfwoolf 12:51, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

It isn't possible in CSS (yet). CSS is a layout tool. You are adding content to each page, not just layout. The semantics are confusing because we are using "content" to refer to the stuff that is different on each page. However, it also means "anything other than layout stuff" - which encompasses your header and footer. --Kainaw ^(talk) 13:02, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

You can do both CSS and PHP, and make your life easier for both. Just have your PHP header code put the content in the header in a <div id="header"> ... </div> and the same for the footer and even content. Then, in your CSS, write style definitions for the #header type. That way you can define the style in the CSS, while having PHP do the heavy lifting for generating dynamic footer/headers. --JSBillings 13:36, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

I think you probably need to read up a little more on what HTML, CSS, and PHP all do. They are not incompatible — they just accomplish different things. You can definitely use tables with CSS (you can use any HTML structure in CSS). --24.147.86.187 13:44, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Nod with 187. Learning some elementary CSS will make your life SO much easier... as far as complete CSS layout, and dealing with IE bugs, well, that's not so easy. Root⁴(one) 16:14, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

For the record, Wikipedia's skins are all CSS. Main Page and this skin are the same HTML, only CSS changes. --h2g2bob (talk) 16:44, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

That said, all the menus are written as <UL><LI> ... </LI></UL> etc using PHP, soyou have to do both. --h2g2bob (talk) 16:47, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, user:h2g2bob, only the CSS changes, but the PHP tells it when to print. You certainly need both. CSS is for structure, and PHP for wrapping the structure around the content. JoshHolloway 18:55, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Macros in Excel

(After edit conflict) Whenever I try doing the following: Workbooks("PKLIZH.xls").Sheets("1").Cells(Row, 7).Select I get an error message saying Select method of Range class failed. There's only one sheet in the workbook and it's called "1". When I replace Sheets("1") by Sheets(1) the same thing happens. When I click on help, nothing useful comes up. What am I doing wrong? Its part of a For.. Loop in Row.
Zain Ebrahim 13:56, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Are you starting Row at least at 1? The following block of code works for me:

Sub tester()
Dim Row As Long
For Row = 1 To 8
Workbooks("Book1.xls").Sheets("1").Cells(Row, 7).Select
Next Row
End Sub

-wizzard2k ^(C•T•D) 14:27, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Bizarre UserAgent string

My Site Meter shows a hit to my blog with the user agent "MERONG 0.9". The visit came from the IP address of my friend. Does anyone know what that means? I am afraid it could be some sort of spyware on my friend's computer. Thanks, Mike R 19:36, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

I think it's adware known as Overpro. iames 21:52, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Alt codes

Does anyone know either the alt code for the Lambda symbol(either capital or lowercase),or a place where i can find a plain text table of said codes? Pikajedi3 19:36, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

I believe that whether that character is available at all depends on the font family you are using. A quick check of Windows charmap utility in both Arial and Courier New show that upper case lambda does not have an alt keycode, but is available as Unicode 039B. If you want to use the character on a webpage, you can use an HTML Entity, &Lambda; shows up as Λ List of XML and HTML character entity references. --LarryMac | Talk 19:54, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

If you want capital, use &Lambda; (Λ). For lower case, use &lambda; (λ). --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:57, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

thank you.don't suppose you could tell me how to USE Unicode? ‡ is what results when i transfer that code (039B) into Hex (03911) then pressing alt->numpad +->03911.. anyway,so i am evidently approaching from the wrong direction.. Pikajedi3 20:14, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

It would help if you'd tell us how/where you're trying to use this. In the meantime, have a look at Unicode#Input_methods, that might help you out. --LarryMac | Talk 20:17, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and when converting a hex number to decimal, you can't just change the B to 11. x039B = 923, but that's still not going to be an alt keycode. --LarryMac | Talk 20:20, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

But it's probably something you can put after &# --froth^t 11:53, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

very well,i want to know it so i can ,instead of having to go into character map etc etc. i primarily want to be able to type into things which will not allow copy/pasting,such as some java apps,and also to save time in typing. reading that article was one of the first things i did,by the way. Pikajedi3 20:22, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

OK, for some applications, you can use the Alt-x method, as described in Alt codes. I just tried it in Wordpad on Windows 2000, and pressing Alt-x, and then 0923 did give me the upper case lambda. However, I can't use that method in this editing box, because Alt-x is not supported in IE6. From what I can tell, this is all extremely application dependent, at least in the Microsoft/Windows world. --LarryMac | Talk 20:33, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

› is what i get from both alt-x and alt-numpad+ in Firefox,using 0923,and a slightly curved on in Excel,Word97 and notepad. ah well,thanks for the help =Þ

Yeah, that's why I emphasized "some" applications. I think we're about a (software) generation or two away from Unicode support in most applications. Not sure if we'll ever get to all. --LarryMac | Talk 23:52, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Data retrieval on SD card

Hi all, hope you can help. Is there any (free) way I can retrieve images accidentally deleted from the SD card in a digital camera? I'm dual-booting windonws xp and linux, so a solution on either of these OSes would be fine. Thanks. 80.169.64.22 21:50, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Any disk recovery software should be able to work, as long as you haven't taken any new pictures yet that might have overwritten it. I've used BadCopy Pro before, but it wasn't free. -wizzard2k ^(C•T•D) 21:53, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

SD cards generally use FAT32, so good old MS-DOS UNDELETE should work. I'd be interested in linux versions though, suggestions welcome. --h2g2bob (talk) 23:40, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

TestDisk might do the trick. --LarryMac | Talk 23:55, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

SpeedStream 5360 Ethernet ADSL Modem

Hello. Whenever I turn on my modem, I must wait for the DSL light to turn on in order to connect to the Internet. Since a few weeks ago, the DSL light will flash and turn off repeatedly. All connections (power, directly plugging my phone wire to my phone jack without any telephone splitters in the way, Ethernet cable to the back of the computer, my phones have filters) are connected correctly and securely. I must turn off my modem for 10 minutes and turn it back on for the DSL light to work. Two days ago, I emailed my ISP (295.ca) technical support at support@295.ca and did not receive a reply. How can I solve this problem? Thanks. --Mayfare 23:54, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Try calling them next time. They might be able to diagnose the modem or the circuit remotely. --JSBillings 00:16, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Yeah call them, but don't let them fob you off with "it's a "router" not our responsibility" like the ISPs here do. In this case it sounds like their problem with their modem. SMC 10:30, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

June 9

Question about pixel art colors

On a pixel art collaboration some users togheter made this,

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/5535/xxisocitymosaicpjcolabdgr8.gif after this some others user uploaded more blocks to this colaboration, but one user when making this made the picture darker (by saving in PNG maybe????) (see the picture: http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/4851/huhju3.png )

There is a program that revert the brightness to the brightness that the picture was??

I think that i saw on one collaboration that some user made the picture darker and then another user reverted the brightness of the picture to the brightness that the picture was, but the picture was large so i don't think that he made himself pixel by pixel, so thats is why i am asking this.

Haha, amazing! I worked on this exact piece and I was the guy who kept correcting the brightness! I just used Photoshop's brightness adjustment until the colors matched the originals. I'm guessing the problem is that some users were saving the image with an embedded ICC Profile, while others were not, so the gamma was being altered each time. — Kieff | Talk 06:00, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Also the first version is in GIF and there's no reason to expect the colors to render exactly the same as in PNG. Always save in PNG or (God help you) 24-bit bitmap --froth^t 11:55, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

That's usually a good advice for other forms of graphics, but for pixel art, with small palletes, one would find that working with GIF is a lot more stable than with PNG, since different editors treat PNG differently (embedding or ignoring ICC profiles and whatnot). GIF just plainly stores colors as-is, so there's less room for deviation. — Kieff | Talk 12:21, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

last resort

hey?i recently installed a tv card on my coputer then i decided to uninstall it.i just wasnt using it that often then i tried to re install it again.first i couldnt find it.then i decided to run he cd that came with the device.theres a wizard that appears that informs me that i already have an od version of the program installed.then the wizard dissapears without installing.on the desktop there apears an icon of a t.v card version 3.0.mine originally was 2.0. i dont have the hardware for the 3.0 and when i try to open it it says read registry error.when i go to the add remove programs the tv card program cant be removed.when i click it nothing happens.am considering runnin xp again.how can someone totally remove a program that cant be removed from the add remove programs tab.the device manager afirms that everything is okay with my hardware.i think my computer is nuts av even tried system restore nuthing happens. 2.incase everything fails and i run xp again i need some pointers on how to partition a hard disk nicely.i have 80 gb.am using partion magic.

All you need to partition your hard drive is your Windows XP Setup CD. There's plenty of tutorials on how to do this with the CD, but I'll give you a semi-detailed outline. First, you'd want to backup any data you want to keep. Then you'd insert the CD, restart, and follow the CD's instructions to get to the partition window. Delete your existing partition(s), then create new partitions of whichever size you want. If you are running XP and Linux you'll want more than one partition, but if you're just wanting XP then you'll only need the one. Then, pick a partition to install to, wait for it to install everything, then install all your drivers/updates/programs again. Have fun. SMC 10:27, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Linux WiFi?

Hi. Any idea what the gnome network applet is trying to say here?

It seems to indicate that it's got a good signal strength to the network (4 bars), but it doesn't seem to be usable for web browsing. Same with WEP or unencrypted. Ojw 11:28, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Not sure of the specifics, but keep in mind that just because you have good signal strength and is unencrypted means you can connect and get Internet access. There can be filtering and security at other layers.

The Speedtouch it's trying to connect to is configured as "Allow New Devices: New stations are allowed (automatically)" (as opposed to 'registration required' or 'no new devices'). Ojw 11:37, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

IE 6

My browser keeps dropping cookiees, what should i do?13:59, 9 June 2007 (UTC)172.145.110.115

Make sure the cookie policy is set to allow in the options. or they could of expired Lmc169 14:06, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

How to rip zoomed images?

I'm trying to access the high resolution image file that opens within a javascript widget at the following address:

http://www.eternalegypt.org/EternalEgyptWebsiteWeb/HomeServlet?ee_website_action_key=action.display.element&story_id=&module_id=&language_id=1&element_id=60532

Is there some way to get past the zoom feature in the javascript (javascript:openNamedWindow('viewer','widget/viewer_popup.jsp?language_id=1&name=4278&element_id=60532&mode=1n',670,480)) to get hold of the original file?

Paul James Cowie 16:25, 9 June 2007 (UTC)