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December 11

X box 360 live

I am having trouble getting xbox live. The network tests all come out fine, but then I'm told that I need to download updates to continue. When I click on Yes the updating bar appears, nothing happens, then an error message appears. I have also tried the hard drive and it appears to be saving and loading data fine. What do I do? X-box.com is useless! Thanks, 86.41.148.55 23:03, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Is your 360 behind a firewall or router? Also, please post the error message you are receiving. Droud 02:15, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

As far as I know it goes into a LAN port on a DSL router along with the PC. Here's what appears on the screen:

An update is available for your console from Xbox live. If you decline this update, you will be signed out of Xbox Live.

Do you want to apply the update now?

ME: Yes, update now

Please wait while the update is applied.

Do not turn off or unplug your console.

(nothing happens for a few seconds)

A failure occurred during installation of the update. There may be a problem with your network connection or your storage device may be full. For more info, go to www.xbox.com/support.

The hard drive has 13GB free, and the Test Xbox live Connection gives:

Network Adapter: Wired

Wireless Network: (blank)

IP Address: Confirmed

DNS: Confirmed

MTU: Confirmed

ICMP: Confirmed

Xbox live: Failed

NAT: (blank)

Thanks, 86.41.148.55 02:56, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Hmm. It is possible the router's firewall may be interfering, turn that off temporarily or use a software firewall and see what pops up on alerts and logs. Failing that, I'd call MS and see what's up - perhaps it's a bug on their end. --Wooty Woot? contribs 03:19, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Enabling UPnP on your DSL router should solve the problem, as that will allow the 360 to configure the router itself. If your router doesn't have UPnP you're probably out of luck and need to upgrade to one that does. These can be had online for $20-30 or $40-50 in stores. Droud 01:37, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Size of Windows XP temp directory

How is Windows XP sizing the temp directory located at C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temp? Is it based on a percentage of available free space on the disk?

Is there a way that I can manually control this?

There is no automatic control of temp directory size. Quotas can limit the size of your Documents and Settings folder, or you can easily clear unneeded temp files like this. Droud 02:19, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

system perspective

what is system perspective?

Could you be a bit more specific? In what context did you hear this phrase? — QuantumEleven 09:31, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

It means considering the whole system, versus just looking at a portion of the system. StuRat 12:49, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

pc memory

What is the difference between 'ECC' and 'nonECC' memory and are they interchangeable ?

Our article on error-correcting code is not the greatest explanation... ECC memory has extra chips that give it error checking and correcting. Occasionally one of the billions of transistors on a RAM chip flips randomly. It doesn't happen very often, but if you have gigabytes of memory it could happen once every few years. ECC detects the error and either corrects the error or crashes the computer (which sometimes is much better than getting wrong answers from software). Whether your computer supports ECC depends on the motherboard. Check your computer's hardware manual whether it accepts ECC memory, non-ECC memory, or even a mix of the two (allowing a mix is rare though). ECC memory is more expensive than non-ECC, and is usually used in servers. For a desktop PC non-ECC is usual. Weregerbil 13:06, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

ECC and non-ECC modules are interchangeable in a desktop computer, since they share the same slots and connectors (per memory technology). Some servers will require the ECC modules to run. Droud 01:33, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure I've had some boards that would not boot with ECC memory. Am I just mistaken? jdstroy 04:24, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

I've never encountered a board like this, but they could definitely exist. Even with the compatible connectors, I imagine it takes support in the BIOS to use ECC DIMMs, even if the ECC is not taken advantage of. Droud 14:26, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Open Street Mapping

hi,

Iv just downloaded the Java version of OSM onto my computer (Windows XP) but theres a problem. Whenever i try to download images from OSM and i select the area i want to download, then do all the otherstuff necesery, click ok, then it tries to download but then says "Connection refused:connect". Help!

(please not too advanced explenation, please keep it simple)

thanks, --84.68.42.63 14:12, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like a security setting problem to me, something like "JAVA - Network I/O - Connect to non-file URL codebase - NO". StuRat 22:00, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

One way to change your JAVA permissions is as follows (this is for Windows 98, it may be different for you):

1) Right click on the Internet Explorer icon.

2) Select "Properties".

3) Select the "Security" tab.

4) Pick the "Custom Level..." button.

5) Scroll down to "Microsoft VM" + "Java Permissions".

6) Select "Low safety".

7) Select OK.

8) Try using your program again.

9) If that didn't work, set JAVA back to the old safety level.

StuRat 22:10, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Way to bond cable modems?

I know T1 lines can be "bonded" to double bandwidth. Is there something similar that can be done to increase upload bandwidth using cable modems? If not, what's the cheapest type of service for 2~3Mbit upload speeds? --24.249.108.133 18:23, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

A router could be configured to bond the channels for you, but this level of functionality would either require a very expensive router or else a specially configured computer (perhaps running Linux) with two ethernet cards. As for cheaper service, it would depend on where you live. --Dgies 23:26, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

You can always run a router that spreads connections among multiple modems. Individual network connections will be limited to the speed of one modem, however, since each modem uses a unique address. Droud 01:12, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Excel question

I hope I can explain this adequately. I want to have Excel automatically fill in the cells in a row based on the content I type in the first cell and have the program take this data from another sheet in the same workbook. How do I do that? - Mgm|^(talk) 19:14, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Well the drag and fill feature works for raw data and for formulas, so that would work. Let me see if I understand you correctly. You have data in cell A1 in sheet 1, and you want to fill a range of cells in sheet 2 with that data? Is that correct? If so, it's dead easy. Anchoress 19:31, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

• Pretty much, but I want Excel to find the appropriate row based on what I put into cell A1 and copy the entire equivalent row from sheet 2. In short: fill out one cell, have all the other filled out as a result. - Mgm|^(talk) 19:50, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

OK you've lost me, I don't think that's what I envisioned at all. Could you be more specific, using cell and sheet numbers? Anchoress 19:56, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

• Imagine a sheet with data. The A column contains the identifying name of a geographical location, columns B to H contain other details of that location. On another sheet. I want to be able to fill in one of the names in the A column and have the other related data automatically appear in the other columns. Basically, I want to be able to copy entire rows based on the data in one cell so I can make a list of visited locations by date without repeating myself. - Mgm|^(talk) 20:21, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Ah so for a certain cell you're not necessarily pulling in data from any particular cell; the other cell you get data from is dependent upon whatever's in that first "certain cell." So instead of the usual

data[n]

You have...

data[address[n]]

It sounds like you need some kind of excel dereferencing operation, and I don't think there is one --froth^{T C} 20:44, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Oh got it, that's easy. There are a few ways of doing it, an IF statement formula would do it. And you can format your A cells to 'pick from list' so that you don't even have to type in the data in that cell, you can just pick from a drop list. Anchoress 21:05, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

• How can you use an if statement? I can only say, if A1 is X then fill in Y. But there's more than one option to account for. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:11, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

If statements in excel can have multiple nestings, so it's not just two alternatives. Anchoress 21:16, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

I believe the point is for this to be scalable. --froth^{T C} 21:27, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

• I don't know how to nest multiple IF statements and, yes, scalability would be nice. - Mgm|^(talk) 21:31, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

I think you're looking for the Cells.Find() function combined with some address calculations for the row of data. I found info about it here. Droud 01:31, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

A VBA solution would work but it would be very, very slow. --24.147.86.187 14:27, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

I am not sure I totally understand what you want but have you looked at the CHOOSE, VLOOKUP, and HLOOKUP cell functions? One of those should do what you want, I think. They can choose a value from a set of values based on whatever criteria you want. --24.147.86.187 14:27, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

I agree with 24.147.., you guys are making it way too complicated with all this VBA, nested IFs, etc. Here's what you need. Setup sheet1 as above. In sheet2 cell A1 you can type in whatever name corresponds to sheet1!A1. In sheet2!A2 enter "=LOOKUP($A1,Sheet1!$A:$A,Sheet1!B:B)" which means it will compare the contents of Sheet2!A1 to all the rows of Sheet1's A column, until it finds the matching one, then return the corresponding value from that row of the B column. Because of the fixed vs relative links, you can copy and paste this formula quickly across multiple rows and columns of sheet 2 to easily fill out your reference chart. The only limitation on it is that the data in Sheet 1's A column MUST be in alphanumerical order top to bottom. The rest of the data can obviously be in any order you need. --Maelwys 16:59, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

The ordering limitation seemed burdensome, and I was under the impression that VBA would run with less performance penalty than cell formulas. Is this not the case? Droud 01:39, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

In my experience VBA always has a huge performance penalty, even if the operation performed is relatively small. Cell equations are much faster, and have no trouble with updating. VBA functions run into all sorts of problems in part because on top of whatever performance penalty you pay it will often require manual triggering of updating the functions if you don't want it to update all of them each time it recalculates the table. --24.147.86.187 22:35, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

• Hmm, this sounds more like I need it to work. I'll see if it works as soon as I can. - Mgm|^(talk) 11:02, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
• Hooray! It appears to work. Thanks! - Mgm|^(talk) 19:02, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Associating a gamertag with an Xbox forum account

Hi everyone - I've been having some difficulties getting my gamertag associated with my xbox live forums account (ready for upgrade to 360). When I sign in with either of my passport accounts, I'm taken to a registration wizard, when I input my gamertag (Martinp23) and am told that it's not associated with this .NET account and that I need to log in with the right one (or something like that...). When I try to log in with my alternate account, I get the same problem. I'm wondering - have the xbox forums changed their policies (by associating gamertags with passports) within the last year (or two), or have I just used soem other email address? Thanks, Martinp23 22:41, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Nothing has changed that I know of (when I upgraded to a 360 last year). You're going to have problems convincing MS Support to tell you which account is associated with a gamertag if it's been registered, as that passport account would contain the billing information. I suggest you try all the accounts you have and then try begging :) --Blowdart 20:27, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

TP-T9 Mp3 player from samsung Firmwire

Hello i was wondering if anyone could help me with finding the firmware update to make the device a UMS..any help would be appreciated.

Have you tried looking on Samsung's site for that player? --Dgies 23:20, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

yes i have and its a firmware update but it doesn't allow UMS transfer..i have been looking for the firmware update and its supposed to be european or Chinese or something along those lines...

December 12

== SNORT ==

Can someone please educate me on how to use SNORT to block instant messaging on my 98SE?

--Omnipotence407 00:31, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

A lot of information can be found here. Droud 01:14, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Basically you need to find out the addresses of the major IM servers and configure your software (SNORT or whatever) to reject packets addressed to there. 68.39.174.238 22:03, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Snort is actually a stateful packet inspector, whereas the technique you describe would be for a firewall. Snort examines packets to determine their protocol, so you would block any instant messaging communication, regardless of the destination. Many students are savvy enough to use foreign or new AIM servers, and Snort avoids keeping updated IM server lists. Droud 01:50, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

(I know nothing on the subject) So long as it can drop the packets as well. On another hand, if this is for keeping people such as students or inmates from doing unauthorized things, I should note that Windows 98 is NOT the best operating system for such things, however if it works... 68.39.174.238 06:47, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Snort works in two modes, the inline mode I mentioned here indeed does drop packets. Another mode (which is more typical) monitors packets on the network in promiscuous mode (listens to other computer's packets) and attempts to kill matching TCP sessions by sending FIN packets to the systems in question, such that each thinks the other side closed the connection. Droud 14:29, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

How to make a link.

Hi, I'm trying to edit part of a page, and figured out that "[[link text here]]" makes a link. However, I still can't figure out how to place the url so that clicking on the link takes the user directly to the content. Instead, it takes the user to another page with the url link there. Then they can click that and go to the content. I'm trying to take out that extra step. Thanks,

Rick —Preceding unsigned comment added by Crashkidd34 (talk • contribs)

It's an internal link, right? In that case, be careful to avoid redirections. Does the page you arrive on have a blue arrow with the name of the article next to it? yandman 09:01, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Something else to consider, you can display different text for your link than the actual article name. If you're linking to Foo (bar) but you want the linkable text to just say Foo, you would use the pipe character to seperate the two: [[Foo (bar)|Foo]] - In this example, the actual target is Foo (bar) but it looks like Foo in the text. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 17:46, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

You can find loads of info on how links work at Help:Links. What page are you trying to link to? Maybe if you're more specific we can try and help you better. — QuantumEleven 12:24, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

This kinda sounds like a double-redirect: You're linking to a redirect page which automatically directs users to a second redirect page, and the second page doesn't automatically redirect to the real page. It also looks like you were having a problem with User:Shadowbot detecting your edits as spam on Midnattsol, but I'm not sure if that's related. Could you detail your problem a little more? —AySz88\^-^ 19:57, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

High density cluster server

What would be the current maximum number of calculations per second per cubic meter provided by todays fastest cluster server?

A rack is about 60 ft^3 (1.7m^3) and there are 64 racks in BlueGene/L for a total of 108.8 m^3. Since the computer is capable of 360TFLOPs, this equates to about 3.33 TFLOPs per cubic meter. I am unsure as to whether this is the highest density on earth, but it's definitely the fastest computer on earth and fits into 64 racks, which is tiny (compared to the Earth Simulator). 70.184.45.137 21:13, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Also there are other form factors for servers, such as blades, which have very high density --froth^{T C} 21:17, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Native XML Database

I want to use a XML Database to strore my XML Files ;but i want free software which runs in win32;i want to know whether it is advisible to use ORACLE?--Srinivasanraju 12:50, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Oracle is not free unless you use Express Edition (check Oracle_database#Editions). If so, then Oracle is an excellent choice as it has a comprehensive XDK and parser. Creation of a typical XML schema is one of the default options in the installation of Oracle Enterprise edition. Sandman30s 14:26, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

I think that OpenOffice.org Base can store data in XML format; you might want to look into that. (I might be wrong though, now that I think about it.) --24.147.86.187 14:29, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Painful error.

When I attempt to boot my PC, I get the error BIOS is in wide range. What could that mean?

Two possibilities. One, your BIOS may be giving an odd error that would need some help from the manufacturer, another possibility is that your monitor is stating that it is unable to render the image being provided by your video port. If you have another computer available, you may be able to test this by plugging the other monitor into this computer to see if the error is the same. If it is, then the problem is with your computer and not the monitor. If that's so, post the model of your motherboard and any other information you can give about the error. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 17:37, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

OSM

hi,

Iv got Java OSM (JOSM) and i need to know something. How do you import an image like this one here: https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Image:Josm-screenshot.png?

thanks, --84.65.6.184 16:14, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

I'd suggest checking out this page or asking around that wiki, since a local user there seems to be the author. 68.39.174.238 23:27, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Fatal error

I've recently uploaded Apocalypto via DC++, but while opening I receive a fatal error report: "Installation corrupted - please reinstall NERO". I don't understand the connection between Nero and film, may be there is an inappropriate file extension. Thoughts to fix the problem? --Brand спойт 16:15, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

What are the file extensions of the files you're trying to open? It's possible if you're attempting to open some sort of image file (as in disc image rather than pictures) that NERO may be set as the default application. --Kiltman67 16:48, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

In line with what Kiltman wrote above, you may be able to test this assertion by opening your media player of choice and then dropping the file into it (to bypass the windows file extension association). - CHAIRBOY (☎) 17:34, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Another suggestion which is linked, reinstall NERO (if possible) and see what happens when it's not corrupt. If it opens up a burner then it may just be the case of it being an image, though NERO does include a media player so it's possible that their player has been set as your default. --Kiltman67 18:27, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

The extension is .avi --Brand спойт 21:34, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

If it's truly an avi then it could be what I described, NERO's media player has set itself as your default media player and due to some corruption with NERO you can't open it. You should follow Chairboy's advice and open it in another media player (VLC preferably since it supports so many codecs but you should be able to get away with anything that plays avi's). This will at least tell you if the video itself has a problem. --Kiltman67 23:53, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Better Linux distribution?

I am beginning to get fed up with Fedora Core 5, because it insists on adapting the oh-so-holy 100% free and open software doctrines, and moving on to UTF-8 only, which is causing practical problems when trying to develop our company's code. I am stubborn enough to stick with Linux and not give in to Bill's demonic seduction, but I might not be stubborn enough to stick with Fedora. Is there any other 100% freely available Linux distribution that is in active development, has all the same goodies as Fedora Core 5, but lets me have more freedom on how to configure my system's internals? JIP | Talk 18:31, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

I gave up on redhat long ago. Ubuntu has never let me down; to get all the babyeating-evil-licenced stuff you have to add "universe" to the apt config file. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 20:06, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

If you want control go with slackware. Of course, nothing beats building your own from the kernel and various gnu sources.. but that's not exactly cost effective --froth^{T C} 21:19, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

^Same idea as Gentoo. --Russoc4 01:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

sharing printer

I have a desktop and a laptop using Windows XP pro OS, with a modem and a wireless router on the desktop. How do I share the printer without buying more equipment. All I want to do is print from the laptop to the printer which is connected to the desktop. Thanks, --Rayratliff 19:55, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

printers and faxes, right click on printer, sharing, share this printer. If the laptop is in the same workgroup (control panel -> system -> computer name -> change) then it should appear in the laptop's network neighbourhood. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 20:03, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Programming macro keys in XP?

Back when I used to use a Wyse dumb terminal to access a big AIX mainframe, I could eliminate a lot of the work in repetitous tasks by programming macros into the F keys. It seems silly that with modern computers I can no longer do this. Does anyone know some way I can map system-wide macros on the F keys or ALT- combinations in Windows XP? —Chowbok ☠ 21:06, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

This excellent page should get you well on your way. 70.184.45.137 21:18, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

You may also want to look at AutoHotkey, which, at a glance at the Windows Scripting Host, appears to be more powerful than WSH. (For example, I've used AutoHotkey to automatically keep attempting to enroll in a filled-up course, and notify me when the course is no longer full.) The above page mentions something about not being able to map Win-_ combinations using WSH, and I think most of the Win+_ combinations are unused, so you'd want to use AutoHotkey if you want to utilize those. —AySz88\^-^ 19:47, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Photoshop Elements problem

Hello. In my graphics work, I use both Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop Elements (unfortunately, I don't have the full Photoshop). Recently at the theater I volunteer at, they got me a new computer. I re-installed the two programs, but there is a problem with Elements. Anytime I go to Elements when there is an incompatible file saved to the Clipboard, Elements shuts down. For example, If I've recently copied an .ai file from Illustrator, and I go to use Elements, Elements instantly shuts down. (This happens even if Elements is already running and just minimized. As soon as I maximize it, off it goes.) It's not when I try to paste such a file; it doesn't even give me that chance if I wanted to. If I've copied a compatible file (such as a .jpg or .gif) to the Clipboard, Elements opens just fine. Is there some setting on Elements that I have wrong, or is the new hardware doing something? (By the way, the same programs work fine on my home computer. Windows XP is running on both.) Thank you. — Michael J 21:48, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Could you describe the exact steps that cause the problem on the work computer, but not on yours? It may be another piece of software messing with your clipboard. Droud 02:23, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Okay. Both Illustrator and Elements opened up. I make a vector graphic in .ai format in Illustrator, copy it and paste it into another file within Illustrator. Then I'm done with it. But the .ai file is still in the clipboard. Then I go to Elements to work on something else, and when there is an .ai file in the clipboard, Elements shuts off. If I happen to go to my web browser in-between and right-click on an image, so a .jpg is in the clipboard, then Elements opens just fine. (There are also times when I want to copy a file from one program to the other, which I do at home and did on the old work computer, but is now impossible.) — Michael J 16:35, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia Editing Tool

I'm currently using notepad to edit Wikipedia articles over long periods of time. The wiki markup makes it difficult to read. Is there a software tool currently in existence, that allows quick switching between editing and reading modes (Wikipedia's loading times are too slow). --Username132 (talk) 21:50, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

A danger you should be aware of is that other people may edit the page while you're crafting away on your home computer, especially if it is "over long periods of time". You would then need to painstakingly merge your changes with theirs. A couple of suggestions:

• If you're going to do a major rewrite of an article, do it by section instead of all at once.
• If the markup is difficult to use, install one of the many browser extensions that give Wikimarkup a GUI, like this.
• Find the root of the issue. You say on one hand that the load times are too slow, yet elsewhere you talk about an edit that takes a long time to work on. Perhaps 3 seconds of loading isn't that much of a problem on the scale of things when you're looking at a project that will take a long time to complete anyhow. Hope I've been of help. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 22:37, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Further, Wiki is intended to be edited in this piecemeal fashion, both to facilitate review and to provide insight to later readers. Droud 01:51, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

comperr-->You also may want to try notepad++ and d/l a wiki module.

You know, I never put that strict template in my post... I've downloaded NPP but can't find a wiki module/plug in. --Username132 (talk) 16:05, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

December 13

PSP Memory Stick

I looked at the PlayStation Portable page and couldn't really tell from the wording so I'd like to know if you need a memory stick to save your game on a PSP.

†he Bread 05:28, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

As far as I can tell, yes. It comes with no integrated memory for that purpose, and you can't write to the UMDs. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 07:04, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

No you need some kind of external memory. Personally I prefer something similar to this instead of traditional, expensive flash memory --froth^{T C} 20:29, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, you do need one to save, it does come with a 32 MB Card, which is enough for several games (My game saves folder is only about 5 MB.) However, I would definitely recommend buying a higher capacity stick if you want to take advantage of the multimedia capabilities, and homebrew if you have a capable firmware. Nothing like a good round of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on the Genesis emulator during the bus ride to work. Cyraan 21:56, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Cool thanks y'all, I'm gonna buy one in the weekend and was wondering

†he Bread 22:20, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Or if you do the upgrade I linked to you can watch every Lord of the Rings Extended Edition and all of the bonus content on your bus ride. If you have a really long commute. And a suitcase full of car batteries. --froth^{T C} 22:44, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Primary master hard disk fail.

When I boot my (older) machine it says "Error, primary master hard disk fail" (this is in the POST, before my OS boots). LiveCDs work fine but I can't see my hdd partitions in them, so I'm assuming that my hard drive has failed. Is there any way, short of getting a new hard drive, that I can still use my PC? Can I tell it to ignore the error? I don't need to save many files, just boot Damn Small Linux and run Firefox, VNCviewer and XChat.

I'd suggest taking it to a friend's computer as a slave and formatting it from there (after which you might be able to install DSL). But, to be honest, I think it's kapputt. yandman 12:57, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, your hard drive has died. I had the same message once. You might be able to figure out some way of getting the programs you need onto a USB memory stick and using that as the hard drive, although it will run like treacle. You can pick up hard drives for very little money these days ... if all you want is those programs, you could probably rescue a 5 or 10 Gb one out of something a computer hardware store has thrown out. Proto::► 13:22, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Sigh... I wouldn't mind as much if this error didn't pop up two days after I bought the machine (yeah, I'm poor, I had to buy a very old PC). —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.10.86.63 .

On the plus side, you probably lost, at most, two days work. I suspect that Ted Kennedy loses 2 days every weekend. StuRat 04:56, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

LED article does not print for me

There seems to be something odd (hidden characters? malevolence?) about the article on LEDs (light emitting diodes). I cannot get it to print on our network (HP colour laser) printer from my workstation, BUT ALL the other articles and pages that I have tried to print (on the same printer) in the last two days have printed without a problem. What am I missing? Unfortunately, I am no geek, so I may have omitted information that you need. Thank-you --BabbyBaby 17:52, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Have you tried the printer-friendly version at http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Light-emitting_diode&printable=yes ? Any difference? (The page really should print either way, I think, but this might be a workaround.) —AySz88\^-^ 20:05, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Weird URL in spam

I found a spam forum post with this URL http://1044398194 I thought it was malformed, and I clicked on it to see if it would work. It did, how does this URL work? I used Firefox 2.0. How is it encoded? And what do those numbers actually resolve to? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.202.182.201 (talk • contribs)

That's 62.64.64.114, in octal form or something. See [1], and this page has other odd ways of obfuscating URLs. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 01:13, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Would a paragraph about this at URL not help? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.202.182.201 (talk • contribs) 01:39, 14 December 2006

A lot of stuff at URL would help, that page is an abysmal shape. I may try and fix it. 68.39.174.238 22:08, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

This is in decimal, and is one of the many IP address representations listed at IPv4#Address representations. --Spoon! 03:35, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I didn't notice. And somehow, I converted it to a standard dot-decimal IP address; I must have accidentally assumed it was in decimal. Who knows. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 06:10, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

wj32@future-31415:~$ ping 1044398194
PING 1044398194 (62.64.64.114) 56(84) bytes of data.

--- 1044398194 ping statistics ---
 6 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 5010ms

wj32@future-31415:~$

lesson: I don't know. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 07:09, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

December 14

Fireworks MX 2004

Hi. Fireworks MX 2004 suddenly won't start up, along with Flash, Dreamweaver, and Freehand (all MX 2004). I use a Mac. The icons open and bounce, but then stop. Is there anything that I can do about this? Thanks. Ilikefood 00:56, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Some more information is needed. 1. Have you checked to see if it's already running? 2. Have you rebooted the machine? 3. Have you checked for processes related to these programs that might still be in memory and interfering? (#2 should help fix #3, and #3 might explain why #2 would work). - CHAIRBOY (☎) 01:31, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Its not already running, but I'm gonna turn off the computer soon anyway so that should work. Thanks for the help. Ilikefood 01:33, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Image Format Conversion

How can I change the image file format of the below image (which I made, and has this request;) from GIF to SVG? I'm certainly no programmer, and if this isn't possible by simply re-saving it under SVG format (which, apparently, on my computer is not) then I'm stumped. talk | BeefJeaunt 01:25, 14 December 2006 (UTC) File:Mario Kingdom.gif

You mentioned an article that has the answer you need! SVG lists a number of programs that can convert images to SVG, but to see the full benefit of the format, you'll need to use a program like Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape to re-draw it as a vector image. Without that, it won't be dynamically resizable without getting pixelated. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 01:29, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, under Inkscape, you can choose Path > Trace Bitmap, and experiment with the different settings. The one I use is Multiple Scanning, Colour, with 16 scans. This one gives colour, although it is NOT good for images with many colours. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 07:06, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

See Commons:Commons:Transition to SVG --h2g2bob 23:38, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Help writing a bot for external wiki

I was wondering if anyone here could write a bot for me to use on an external wiki. if anyone chooses to take up this endeavor, you would be writing it for the XeNTaXWIKI, a small, tight-interest wiki. I need a general-purpose bot that can be run client-side. I'm not sure what other information you might need, so just ask if you need it. --Dinoguy1000 ^Talk 04:46, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Meta:Bot and Wikipedia:Bots are a good place to start. I'd suggest using python or perl - probably python as it's got some interesting network stuff. To mark a user as a bot (you can hide their edits in recent changes), you need to contact a bureaucrat for the site. --h2g2bob 07:54, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I looked at both of those pages (and I originally came here from Wikipedia:Bots anyways), and it seems to me that this would still be the best place to ask. The meta link only has general information about running a bot and setting bot status, with a focus on the Wikimedia server farm, and the WP link focuses on bot policy and requests for bots to be used here. If I missed something, feel free to tell me, but I still think this is the place I need to ask. I would try to write a bot myself, but I don't have the technical or programming knowledge necessary, and I lack enough computer access time to really learn how, much less enough to plan, program, and debug a bot. --Dinoguy1000 ^Talk 18:43, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Extracting tracks from DVD

I have a DVD with some music (video also, its not DVD-Audio) and while I can easily extract all the music to a file I dont know how to extract only select tracks. Put another way I want to split the audio according to chapters, with each chapter being saved to a separate file. Shinhan 09:22, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

You may be able to use DVD Shrink to extract a range of audio, but you will still need another tool to compress it. Droud 10:40, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

"Range"? As in I would have to extract one track at a time? Thats not usefull. Also, compressing is not a problem. Shinhan 11:19, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't do this often, and this may or may not do what you want, but I did this easily and successfully a couple of weeks ago using Xmpeg. --jjron 13:30, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Found it! I used ChapterXtractor as a front end for BeSplit to split the source into tracks according to chapters. And then I used BeSweet (in batch mode) to convert ac3 to mp3. Shinhan 16:28, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

XML Parser

which xml parser is better when we consider sax,DOM etc

Different parsers are good in different situations. Take a look at Simple API for XML and Document Object Model. Weregerbil 14:12, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

MSN Messenger

Hi, everyone. I am trying to use MSN Messenger 7.0. After I have installed it, it popups an alert and says "uxtheme.dll blah blah blah ntdll.dll:ntconnectport". I am using Chinese window ^^", and I don't know how to translate the rest of the error message, but sth like msn cannot connect to other device. How can I solve this problem and get start msn-ing?

By the way, I am using Window Me. However, MSN Mgr 7.5+ needs Window XP, and installing WinXP is killing my computer. Can I use Live Mgr 8 without upgrading my window?

Thanks a lot!

Kahang^{Shall we talk?} 14:53, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I dont know what the answer to ur question is but i would get WM live. its much better. But i dont know if its compatible with windows me or not.

Can you take a screenshot of the error and upload it to someplace like Imageshack? Someone else may be able to understand all of it. 68.39.174.238 23:30, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

It sounds like it's treating your OS as though it is Windows XP, or some variety of NT (uxtheme.dll is present in XP, nothing earlier). Did you by chance download an XP/NT version of Messenger? I think, but I'm not sure, that they separate it between 98/ME and XP versions. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 23:34, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Javscript(ugh) again

is there any specific way to make javascript display text without killing the page(blanking the rest of the page)? srry that i can't seem to figure javascript out...Xiaden 15:11, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

More data is needed. You can output text a number of different ways, the most common being document.write. You may wish to read this, it's a well structured explanation of how to perform basic functions in JS and should help. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 15:27, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

The code i am applying isn't complete, but as of right now, it should display an item, have someone click it and it changes. but right now, it destroys the javascript(and the image it is css aligned to... i looked on your page, but if i imply something i'd have to delete the origainal somehow. i'm looking for something that would replace only part of the page(like document.htmml.body.p.write(if it worked =p)) instead of all of it. Xiaden 19:38, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Put it in the body instead of the head. x42bn6 Talk 16:25, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Document.write only works when you're generating the page for the first time. If you put it on an event (eg. onclick), it will blank the page. Instead, try this code:

<DIV id="result"> initial text </DIV>
<A href="#" onclick='
 var elem = document.getElementById("result");
 if (elem)
   elem.innerHTML = "final text";
 return false;
'> click me </A>

The key point is to use innerHTML. To show and hide complex items, use style="display: none" to hide one at the start, then swap which is showed and which is hidden. The return false stops it navigating to the href location (you might want to change "#" to a page like "you_need_javascript.html")

Plus, don't forget a noscript tag somewhere on the page. Lots of people turn javascript off, and it helps make the web accessable for people using screen readers. To wit,

<NOSCRIPT> You need Javascript! </NOSCRIPT>

Important note: for changing font text, showing drop-down menus, etc. it is better to use the hover attribute in cascading style sheets!

See http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/DOM for information on manipulating elements displayed on a page, and http://www.w3.org/ for the official web standards. --h2g2bob 23:34, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

that is a prime exsample of an AWSOME answer. thank you.Xiaden 02:16, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

er... forgot, shoulda mentioned that i'm using IE5 to display this.. will it still work(before i go into the proccess of filling it out?(completely... it's not doing anything nowz.)Xiaden 02:10, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

RAHHHHHH!! no es working! naw, it gives me the (bullshit) error that elem is null or not an object. do i have too put the code exactly as you wrote? erg... can i just dump what i have(codewise) somewhere? Xiaden 14:51, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

nvrmind. i fixed it. is all good. thanks for the help(now to attach that to an image...)Xiaden 15:56, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Cellular Phone --> Computer

Are there any free programs that will let me hook up my cellular phone to my computer via a USB cable and allow me to access the files on my phone and upload files such as .midi, .jpeg, and .mp3 to my phone? I have found many programs that send the file to the phone via SMS or whatever it is called when a file is sent to your phone, but I need a program that will upload to my phone via a USB cable. Thankyou. --Codell ^{[ Talk ▪ Contrib. ]} 16:39, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

There are a couple of variables. First, the specific model of phone is important, each phone requires a different driver. The Motorola RAZR phones, for example, are extremely popular but the drivers to do what you describe are difficult to find (and you must also get special software). The next variable is the service provider. Some cell providers in the US like Verizon will disable functionality like this explicitly so that you can only purchase those via their services, while other cell providers (like Cingular) don't. If your provider does not prevent this, then the easiest way is probably to use Bluetooth instead of USB. A bluetooth dongle for your PC (if it doesn't have it already) should be available on eBay for around $20 and you would be able to transmit the files to the phone (assuming it has bluetooth, of course). If you have a laptop with Infrared and your phone allows you to receive files via IR, you may also be able to do that. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 16:53, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

It's a Motorola V190. I know that it will work. I once had the driver for it to work with USB, and I had a program (MobileEdit) to transfer files onto it, and it worked, but then I uninstalled the program and lost the driver for it. I still have the program, but I'd like a different program that works better 17:02, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, I googled 'v180 usb' and ended up finding the P2K driver at bongo via this thread. Does that help? - CHAIRBOY (☎) 19:48, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, it's actually the Motorola v190 that I have..--Codell ^{[ Talk]}

Okay,I've got everything working,that is,I have the driver (from the link you gave me)and I have the program MobileEdit,and it works well, but I'd just like a better program then it, because the trialversion only lets you upload 1 file at a time.Codell ^{[ Talk]} 16:48, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

How do I dispute the content of a page?

There is a federal act in here and it is a stub. The stub is completely wrong - in fact, it is the opposite of what the Act actually did. I tried to edit it but it only added my information to the bottom and did not edit the incorrect sentence.

Thank you.

You hit the edit button for the "external links" section, the one for editing the whole article is the tab at the top.

At the top of each page on Wikipedia, there is a link: edit this page - click it. As anon #2 has stated, you could've simply appended information onto a new section. x42bn6 Talk 19:24, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Hmm, that page was created by someone blocked for "Bad Edits", thanx for the fix! In the future if you want to "dispute a page", add a template like {{disputed}}, {{neutrality}}, {{totallydisputed}} or something else from Wikipedia:Template messages/Disputes. However, if you do make such an edit, be sure to explain on the talk page WHY you're disputing it. If you don't someone who reads the articel later will have no idea what's wrong with it or how it should then be fixed. 68.39.174.238 07:14, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Problems with MS Installer - constant pop-ups

I am using Windows XP on my home computer. I recently uninstalled MS Publisher (didn't use it much) and since then I am getting MS Installer pop-ups every time I try to run an application. The pop-up prompts me to install the MS XP disk, which I don't have since the computer came pre-loaded with the software when I purchased it. I have searched at the Microsoft software support site for similar problems, and tried the fixes that they suggest, but to no avail. Any suggestions on how to get this to stop? Thanks.

Is there an i386 folder somewhere on your hard drive? Point the dialog to it. Splintercellguy 00:28, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

If you have a "recovery CD" that came with the computer, try inserting it and telling Windows to look on there. Alternately, if the dialog says "Show me where XXXXXXXX.YYY is located" (Paraphrased), try doing a search of your hard disk for that file and then point Windows to it when it next asks. 68.39.174.238 07:16, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Leisure Suit Larry 7 Cocktail

Does anyone hava a recipe for the cocktail from LSL7? --192.94.73.1 18:04, 14 December 2006 (UTC) I don't metion its name, to prevent my question from getting deleted again.

This is definitely not the place to be looking for game tutorials, and for future reference a simple Google search found that page. Droud 01:57, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your help, but I wasn't looking for a recipe for Venezuelan Beaver Cheese, which is required to solve the game. Instead, I want to know how to mix a cocktail, which is mentioned during the game, but whose recipe isn't part of the game. These cocktail has a somewhat risque name (Gigantic E***), what may have led to the deletion of the first version of my question. --192.94.73.30 13:42, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

I believe the cocktail in question is entirely fictional outside the game, so feel free to invent your own. Droud 14:32, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

As a reference, I extracted the line where Drew describes what's in the drink - in case you didn't write it down:

Look. I want a mixed drink. A cocktail. You know, lime juice, 151-proof rum, vodka, triple sec, mayonnaise, with a hollowed-out frozen banana to suck through. You know: a "gigantic erection."

You might also consider e-mailing Al Lowe and see if he knows of an actual recipe (after all, he designed the game). I doubt it, but you never know. ^_^ --Pidgeot (t) (c) (e) 20:47, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Thaks! I'll try to create my own Erection - without mayonnaise. --192.94.73.1 17:32, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Page back button in web browser

I use the Firefox browser and I've noticed that on some web sites, when I press the back button, it takes me back to the spot in the page where I was previously, but on other web sites pressing the back button always takes me to the top of the page. Is there a way to change it so it always reverts to the previous location and not to the top of the page? --Wyckyd Sceptre 18:16, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Sometimes pages will re-load when you visit them, and if it takes a long time or the page is long and hasn't loaded the place where you were, it will start at the top (but waiting a few seconds will result in it jumping to where you were previously). If it doesn't take you to where you were even when you wait for it to finish loading completely before hitting any controls, then provide some example links that we can visit. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 19:43, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

This behavior is usally because you clicked an interpage link. Here's an example: Go to the top of this page and click something in the table of contents. Then, scroll around the page. Hit the back button and it should take you to the top of the page. This is because the ToC links use anchors (I think that's what they're called), but since they're a different URI, it has to treat them as a seperate page. I don't know of a way to deal with this (Assuming I correctly interpreted your statement). 68.39.174.238 07:19, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

The most annoying problem!!!

hello,

Theres an annoying problem with my MS word (XP); normally, and before, when you highlited some text and then you typed or pressed backspace then it would overwrite or delete the highlited text. but now it doesnt it just goes to the beggining of the text that had been highlighted. (you can press the delete button and that works tho).

Help!

Thanks, --81.79.20.89 19:26, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like its set to "Insert more". Try hitting your "Insert" key once (It's exactly to the right of the "Backspace" key on a standard QWERTY keyboard) and see if that works. Also, try quitting and reloading Word and see if that helps. 68.39.174.238 22:10, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I think it might also be a stupid option in Microsoft Word that somehow manages to change itself at the weirdest time. I think I recall seeing something about "Delete text on backspace" in Tools > AutoCorrect or Tools > Options... But the option is a fairly straightforward one - just check it again. Do a little looking around in Tools > Options and Tools > AutoCorrect. Did I ever tell you of the time my spelling checker got disabled even though I never touched it? ... x42bn6 Talk 22:57, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Firefox problem (!)

Recently, this is starting to pop up occasionally. Right-clicking the page pops up a menu, no? However, sometimes, it starts to give me arrows on for no apparent reason: http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/483/firefoxscrollingrm4.png (see up and down arrows). It's frustrating because my fastest back function for me is to right-click and left-click slightly down and right. Isn't going to happen now, is it?

Do any of you know how to fix this? x42bn6 Talk 19:42, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Did you install any new extensions? Which version of FF are you using? Any themes (I don't get the icons in my context menu)? howcheng {chat} 20:14, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I have the British English Dictionary, FlashGot, Free Download Manager plugin, Tab Mix Plus and VideoDownloader. My theme is Mostly Crystal. It started to happen about 2 months after my most recent installation (VideoDownloader) so I doubt that is the problem. x42bn6 Talk 21:36, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I have this two with totally different extentions. It's new with Ffx 2, but I don't know if it's removable. I'm going to check some sites and see... 68.39.174.238 22:11, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, they're called "autorepeatbuttons" officially. The search goes on... 68.39.174.238 22:16, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I think it's because there's a large number of items in the list. Go to tools->addons and, for each of the extensions, open the settings/preferences, and see if there's an option to remove it from the right-click menu.

Are a lot of people affected by this? If so, it could be worth writing an extension which forces the arrows not to appear.

Some tips: alt+left also goes back. I use all-in-one gestures [2] which really speeds up going back for me. --h2g2bob 22:40, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

It doesn't make sense to say that there are too many icons - it does no scrolling at all! It just hangs around there. I have compacted FlashGot into a submenu now using the options, but now I have to regenerate the menu if at all possible. Oh dear... I suppose that you, 68.39.174.238, are suffering from this too?

I would use alt-left but I am a mouse type of guy - I do plenty of things with the mouse pretty quickly. x42bn6 Talk 22:55, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I only get it when using the menu in FoxLingo, which IS huge (Taller then my screen resolution!). Occasionally context menus will noxiously get it. I'm not sure how an extension would remove these as they are genuinely needed if you've got a huge menu and a small screen. 68.39.174.238 06:43, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

You can, however, increase the default height of the menu using an extension. You'd need to import a cascading style sheet which sets .popup-internal-box { max-height: 700px; }, or some similar value, into browser.xul. I've done just that in this extension (.xpi) which will need to filter through mozdev's servers before you can download it (will take up to 24 hrs). With luck, this mad cludge will sort out most of the problems (open as a .zip file to check the tiny amount of code inside). More on scrolling menus here, using <xul:arrowscrollbox /> --h2g2bob 07:17, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

GOOGLE

hi,

Just wondering how come for just for the ordinary google uk homepage the adress can be this: http://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8. surely its just the normal google ; www.google.co.uk

thx, --Killer 777 19:55, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

It looks like google goes by both names- google.com and google.co.uk. What is your question? Ned Wilbury 20:01, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Google's webservers will WHOIS the IP you're coming from and direct you to the Google site for your sepecific country. You can find this out by getting an anonymous proxy and proxying to Google. If it's a Mexican proxy, you'll end up at google.mx. Since you're evidently in Britain, "google.com" sends you to google.co.uk. 68.39.174.238 22:18, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Exactly. And this sort of redirect can be pretty annoying. That's why you should always start by entering Google at http://www.google.com/ncr, which will keep you at the Google.com and set a cookie that will prevent redirection in the future (as long as the cookie is set). ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 04:48, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, it can certainly be a good thing if English is not your first language or you're using the computer of such a person, so probably not "always".... —AySz88\^-^ 19:49, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Changing .m4a to .mp3

Is there any way to change a .m4a file to a .mp3 file, without installing iTunes, since I don't want to. I looked for codecs on the MS website, but there doesn't seem to be any for WMP 11. Any way to change the file? Thanks, Kilo•T 21:23, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

VLC will do it, unless it has Digital Restrictions Management (DRM). If you bought it from iTunes Music Store, then it will have DRM, and you will be unable to play it in any other player, or convert it to another format. There are some tools about for removing the DRM, but these may not be legal where you live (eg: the DMCA). --h2g2bob 22:05, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Please keep in mind, though, that you're not just changing it from one format to another, you're decompressing it and then recompressing it with a different lossy algorithm that adds more artifacts without saving any space. It's always better to reencode from the original uncompressed source. —Keenan Pepper 20:12, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Beware that if it has DRM, you will need to decrypt it with either Hymn or QtFairUse6. But either way, transcoding lossy files is equivalent to self-surgery.--Frenchman113 on wheels! 23:13, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

NES chip music

Find me a computer program that'll let me compose NES 8bit chiptune music. The program should be free, and should not need any extra 'chiptune cards' or actual NES chips in the computer. --Codell ^{[ Talk]} 22:33, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I believe that would be something like FamiTracker.

FWIW, I really haven't heard of a single NSF-player that actually required chiptune cards or NES chips - they all use software emulation of the sound chip. --Pidgeot (t) (c) (e) 01:12, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

TI-84

I lost my installation CD for my TI-84 calculator for connecting to the computer. Is there anyway I can download the necessary files? I was searching through google and the TI-84 site and could not locate the appropriate files. If you can provide me with a link to download the files, I'd be grateful. Thanks. --Proficient 22:58, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps TI Connect? --Spoon! 23:23, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

He.... TI Connect software is easy to find on education.ti.com - try TiLP though, it's faster and it's open source —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Frenchman113 (talk • contribs) 01:03, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

December 15

Serial and parallel connections

Why are serial connections (like SATA and Serial SCSI) faster than their parallel counterparts? Is seems counterintuitive since parallel processing, wide buses, and the like are faster than their "narrower" cousins. Don't kill me with ultra technical jargon, please! --72.202.150.92 01:51, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Serial connections typically have two wires that data travels over, while parallel connections have many wires. The many wires in a parallel cable all cross talk and distort each other, so the signal rate (speed) over them is limited by interference. Serial connections use fewer wires which don't cross talk as much, so the signal rate can be higher. A good analogy is how easy it is to listen to one person if only two people are talking, compared to how hard it is to listen to one person in a crowd of talkers. Droud 02:08, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Would it make sense to use differential signalling for each parallel line, in essence making an array of serial busses? That would reduce crosstalk and interference issues, allowing fast parallel communications. -anonymous6494 02:20, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Sometimes, yes. For example, high-speed Ethernet uses differential signaling on a bundle of twisted pairs. --KSmrq^T 22:39, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, HyperTransport and PCI Express are real-world examples of such designs. 130.237.5.141 15:27, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Music Skipping On Computer

My music keeps skipping while i browse the internet, and me CPU usage % stays at around 70-90% i used to be able to listen to music while doing alot of other things, but now when i use the internet my music skips like crazy.. My music isn't messed up. And its not because of iTunes. i have a dell dimension 2300.. Why has this problem RECENLTY come up and how can i fix it?? THANKS! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.7.0.44 (talk) 02:51, 15 December 2006 (UTC) IM PRETTY SURE THAT INTERNET EXPLORER HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. ESPECIALLY SINCE IT WOULD TAKE MORE TO RUN MOZILLA(which i also have) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.7.0.44 (talk) 21:19, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Difficult to answer without more data, but you may have additional software running in the background. You may wish to scan for spyware, if there is malware running on your computer, it could consume resources and cause the symptoms you see here. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 04:20, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Hit Ctrl+Alt+Del while your browser is running, and check which process is using all the CPU time. Kill it (aka "End Process"). By the way, if you're using Microsoft Idiot Exploiter, try Mozilla Firefox or Opera. IE is very crappy. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 10:44, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

• It probably has nothing to do with internet explorer. I use it too on a much slower machine and suffer no such problem. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:55, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

  And in IE's defense, IE 7 is acutally pretty good. Proto::► 12:59, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Actually, my point was that IE is much more vulnerable to viruses/spyware than Firefox or Opera. And, how is IE 7 pretty good? Just because its Microsoft? Opera and Firefox had tabbed browsing several years before IE 7 came out. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 00:19, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't think it has to do with the tabs. Microsoft Office 2006 now all has tabs. Kilo•T 22:22, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Mac and PC

I have a Dell PC (Desktop) and my friend has a Macbook Pro. My Computer has an Intel Core 2 Duo (Just bought it) running at 2.33 ghz. I have a 256 mb ATI graphics Card (I'm pretty sure its an X1800?). My Friends mac laptop has core duo 2 ghz, with a 128 mb graphics card. I have 2 gigs of ram, he has 1. His boots up faster, has a faster interface, and seems to perform better overall. As I said, my Dell is brand new, never connected to the internet (yet; im typing this on an old IBM). Why is the mac so much faster? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Rgrsle (talk • contribs) 03:09, 15 December 2006 (UTC).

It's a completely different operating system, it uses the hardware differently from your PC. Both operating systems have different strengths and weaknesses. If he chooses to dual-boot with Windows on his Mac, you should be able to see a more representative example of the speed differences between the two machines. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 04:18, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Since Apple handles both operating system (Mac OS X) and hardware, it can integrate the two together far more efficiently. Windows cannot do this as well because it is designed to work with many different types of hardware and cannot focus as much on optimization. That said, Mac OS X generally boots up more quickly than Windows does. The Dell's advantages in graphics and RAM probably do not come into play during booting; 128 MB of graphics memory and 1 GB of RAM is quite enough to boot quickly, and adding more of each will not help. Intensive graphics work and other high-end applications are what will show the Dell's hardware advantages. That, and using Windows on the Mac (for comparison purposes). Larry V (talk | contribs) 08:32, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Then explain why GNU/Linux can even run on different architectures while Windows, on the other hand, only supports x86. And GNU/Linux is faster (and more stable, but I won't get into that). --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 10:53, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Most Linux distributions install very bloated kernels to attempt the Windows' level of compatibility, leading to unfavorable performance (in comparison) until you perform heavy tweaking for a specific computer. Since most users are incapable of identifying even the processor in their computers, I would say a kernel recompile is beyond most, and without such tweaking Linux is bested by Windows. Microsoft has several flavors of Windows for various platforms and architectures, and while Linux might run in a very stripped down fashion on your home router (once again customized), Windows is designed for users rather than hardware. Microsoft targets x86 because it is by far and away the most popular architecture out there. Additionally, the x64 and IA-64 architectures are both supported by Windows. Droud 02:38, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

o_o That thing must weigh 15 pounds! You have the superior computer so no need to fret. Install linux on both of your computers and install ati drivers, and see what kind of fps you can get in unreal tourney or something --froth^{T C} 14:40, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Let's assume the Mac is booting Mac OS X, and the Dell is booting Windows XP. You have identified hardware features of the Dell that suggest it should be faster. If only system performance were that easy! First, we have other hardware factors such as cache configuration, the speed of the memory bus, and the speed of the hard drive. Then we have the design of the boot process. And finally we have the design of the operating system itself.

Early versions of Mac OS X did not boot as quickly as recent versions, for reasons having nothing to do with CPU speed. Therefore, I'm guessing that software design is the most important difference. But that's just a guess; Macs tend to make fairly zippy Windows machines as well. (And a custom home-built machine can easily best the typical commercial machine from Dell.) --KSmrq^T 00:47, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

A homebrew can suck just as much as a dell, but anyone smart enough to build their own computer probably wouldn't do a bad job --froth^{T C} 23:08, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

Flash ad blocker

What is the best freeware/foss/whatever program for windows that blocks flash advertisements but allows things like youtube videos? Does such a thing exist or is the only solution host file editing? For firefox or IE is fine but prefer IE.--Deglr6328 05:33, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Adblock is a popular ad blocker for Firefox, and Flashblock can also be very effective when used with it. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 05:36, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Flashblock (and also NoScript, which also blocks JavaScript) replace the flash object with a box you can click on to show the flash. Flashblock also allows you to set a whitelist (sites where it never blocks flash), so is perfect. No idea about IE extensions --h2g2bob 06:02, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Note that if you're going the Adblock route, you might want to use Adblock Plus, instead of plain Adblock. Development has been sluggish Adblock for quite awhile; Plus is a fork that fixes many bugs, and adds automatic filterset downloads and other features. I use both Adblock and Flashblock myself. For IE, I'd go with the proxy program Privoxy personally. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 23:16, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Try Proxomitron. I used it with Firefox back when I was using Windows. It sets up a proxy that you can tell your browser to use, and it uses its own little regex language to filter/replace text in a webpage. If you want more information... --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 10:46, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

How hard is it to connect two computers?

I often hear about how hard it is to connect two computers, and the numerous problems associated with that (Peter Sellers I think said "the network is down" in a 50's/60's film and we've been hearing it ever since). I would like to connect my laptop and my desktop, using the ethernet socket on my laptop, which is running Windows XP Professional SP2. My Xbox 360 came with a cable that has plugs that fit to the socket in the back of the laptop, so fingers crossed that the two are compatible. Finally, my desktop PC running Windows XP Pro SP2 as well doesn't have a network card, but I can buy and install a "PCI Card 10/100Mbps" which I am hoping has the correct socket for the cable.

So, is there anything that I should know before I go out and buy the card? Once installed, is getting a working network easy or hard? I want to use the connection so I can use Norton Ghost and make a copy of the whole laptop's drive on the desktop. What is my chance of success? What can go wrong? Thank you.

202.154.136.42 07:08, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes. First, if you want to connect two devices without using a switch or hub, you will need an Ethernet crossover cable, instead of a regular "straight through" Ethernet cable (unless one of your network cards can automatically detect it). Second, they will need to get network configurations (IP addresses, etc.) somehow. Often when you plug into the wall for an Internet connection, your computer asks some DHCP server for this info automatically. But when you only have two computers, you may have to give each of them a configuration manually. Also, I am not sure what you will do across the network (I don't know how Norton Ghost or whatever works); but the receiving computer inevitably needs to have some program listening for the connection, and also not have a firewall that is blocking connections or something. --Spoon! 07:49, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

I second this. I always carry my trusty crossover cable in my laptop case. This is the best way of connecting computers for people on a budget. Don't forget to enable sharing on both computers and then actually share the folders you want to transfer to. Set up a guest account on the target computer in the interests of security. Simple file sharing in XP is recommended for non-experts. You can also use the 'Alternate Configuration' tab under TCP/IP properties if you are using your laptop for example to connect to some other dedicated LAN. Set up the alternate 'user configured' IP as 192.1.1.x on both computers and you can use the DOS ping command to test connectivity. If you can ping successfully this is a good start. Good luck! Sandman30s 10:18, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

My advice - don't. Buy a 100gig external USB 2.0 hard drive, and back it all up onto there. If you want, you can transfer it to your desktop, but this way, you won't exactly need to, and you'll save yourself the trouble of Ethernet fun. --Wooty Woot? contribs 08:41, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

Just purchase a home router with wireless capabilities, it's by far the easiest and least expensive solution, and is basically plug and play (don't forget to buy cables if you plan to use ethernet instead of wireless). You don't have to use the Internet with most of these, and it will provide the DHCP and wireless functions mentioned above out of the box. Droud 14:38, 16 December 2006 (UTC)'

Nope. Easiest, sure. Least expensive, nope. The previously mentioned sole crossover cable beats it cost-wise by an order of magnitude, not counting any additional NICs, that would have to be purchased in any case. Using a hub or switch would be cheaper as well. Getting it to work with only a cable, hub or switch would be more difficult though, especially if you're also considering internet connection sharing, so it might actually be the best solution even if it isn't the cheapest one. 130.237.5.141 15:48, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

autocomplete

I recently had to research some unsavory subjects for a university debate. Now, every time I type in the letter that the subject begins with a box underneath the search box shows the name of the article. How do I stop this happening?

I have done it!! sorry for wasting time and space.

The exact answer depends on which browser you use, but in general this can be resolved by going into the options and taking advantage of any offers to clear your cache and forms. Tabs called 'Security' or 'Privacy' are very useful for this. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 19:57, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

I use Firefox and I can delete specific autocomplete entries by just pressing shift+delete. This is done when typing text that has autocomplete on and something appears you dont want, you just scroll down to it and press shift+delete. Easy. Or, like Chairboy said, clear cache to delete all autocomplete data. (There are of course specialised programs that can do this kinda thing with one click if you need it more often, like "Cleanup Pro") Shinhan 17:46, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

Why doesn't this stupid thing compile??

g++ (GCC) 3.4.4 (cygming special) (gdc 0.12, using dmd 0.125)

Code:

#include <vector>

template<typename T> class Test
{
	std::vector<T>::iterator _iterator;
};

Compiler output:

g++ -O0 -g3 -Wall -c -fmessage-length=0 -MMD -MP -MF"NewTest.d" -MT"NewTest.d" -o"NewTest.o" "../NewTest.cpp"
In file included from ../NewTest.cpp:1:
../Test.h:8: error: expected `;' before "_iterator"

Am I completely off my rocker or something? I'm hoping this is just me missing something obvious, but otherwise, it must be a bug in GCC... thanks. --Silvaran 22:23, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

It's probably not this easy, but is it #include <vector.h> It would fit with the error, as std::vector<T>::iterator would not be a defined data type, but surely it would come up with an error for missing includes?! --h2g2bob 23:05, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

No. C++ standard headers never have ".h" --Spoon! 01:44, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

From what I know, there's nothing wrong with that code --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 00:28, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

It isn't sure that std::vector<T>::iterator is a type, so you have to add typename before it:

#include <vector>

template<typename T> class Test
{
	typename std::vector<T>::iterator _iterator;
};

--Spoon! 01:44, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

I think that did it. The test case compiled, so I'm going to apply it to my main code, run a few tests, and see what happens. Thanks!! --Silvaran 05:43, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Followup: I'm somewhat sure it's a bug, but nonetheless, I can get around it by including the typename keyword before every reference to the nested type (I haven't looked at the headers, but I suspect they do a typedef __iterator_class iterator, where iterator is a nested class of a parent template class). --Silvaran 05:47, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Complicated upper-bound runtime complexity calculation

For complicated reasons related to the nature of my doctoral thesis, I am confronted with this problem that goes beyond my immediate math skills. Consider a collection of trees - connected, directed, acyclic graphs where every node has an indegree of 0 or 1. Furthermore, every node and edge in the tree collection has a label that forms part of a finite alphabet.

I have learned of an algorithm, of fairly recent vintage, that counts all the embedded subtrees within the collection above a certain frequency threshold. So, using this algorithm, I have written a program that can extract every subtree in the tree collection with a frequency of at least two. The underlying algorithm is called FREQT, and it has a small literature that can be found on the 'Net.

The program, unfortunately, doesn't run very quickly. This algorithm has a worst case run time of O(kbn) where "n" is the number of nodes in the tree collection, "b" is the maximum branching factor, and "k" is the number of frequent subtrees trees extracted.

Question 1: Is there any way to calculate the worst case upper bound runtime of the algorithm without reference to "k" by knowing the maximum number of possible frequent subtrees given a fixed node count and a fixed alphabet size? Is there some way I can replace "k" by more easily calculated variables?

The best I've managed to do is to look at the problem like this: Assume that you have a single tree of size n containing k subtrees, including subtrees with a frequency of 1. Adding an additional node can never more than double the number of subtrees. Ergo, each node added to the tree collection can never more than double the number of subtrees with a frequency above any fixed number. Therefore, the worst case runtime is O(2ⁿbn).

Question 2: Is there some glaring flaw in that logic I ought to know about before I present it at a conference next month?

Anybody out there with enough graph theory to help me out? I'm a linguist by trade, and while I like to think I'm pretty mathematically sophisticated for a linguist, I have never studied graph theory formally.

(Cross posted from the math help desk)

--Diderot 22:59, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

I think the algorithm in question is actually O(n²), where n is the number of nodes. Further, O(2ⁿbn) doesn't make much sense, as the bn isn't relevant, since 2ⁿ would quickly become much larger than bn. Droud 14:51, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Have you got a cite claiming O(n²) time for FREQT? --Diderot 16:11, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

I believe an optimal implementation would be quadratic due to the structured tree nature of the data, but I can find no citations (and precious few resources at all) on this algorithm. Either way, big O notation only has a single n inside the parentheses, so it would be O(2ⁿ) if the algorithm is exponential. Droud 02:55, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

December 16

PowerPoint and VBA

If I write a macro in in the Windows version of PowerPoint and saved the .ppt file, will the macro run if I open the file in the Mac OS X version of PowerPoint? -WikiY ^{Talk E-Mail} 00:52, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

It should, yes. There are no doubt some localized differences (i.e. how they deal with file paths, and if you access external libraries) but VBA within an Office application should, in theory, work pretty seamlessly cross-platform. --24.147.86.187 17:19, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

If it doesn't, check the security settings to see if macroes are disabled. 68.39.174.238 00:49, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Song Information Plugins for Various Media Players

I am making a web application which allows users to submit song data from media players to be displayed on their profiles on certain websites. For Winamp I am using a plugin called DoSomething, which lets me specify a URL to be pinged after song changes, allowing me to embed bits of information about the song within the URL (such as the song name, the band, the track length, etc.).

However, I would like to offer capability with more than Winamp. A lot of users use Foobar2000 and Windows Media Player, but after some deep searches I've not found any readily-available plugins for either which let me ping a web address with song data. I found one called 'Now Playing', but it costs $10 - I'd prefer to work with a free version so that people not using Winamp don't have to buy additional software. Does anyone know of any free programs meeting the above criteria for any popular media players? If 'Now Playing' is the only one of its kind available for Windows Media Player, is it capable of doing what I want it to do? Thanks. RevenDS 02:00, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Get a Mac campaign

I noticed that a recent Get a Mac ad claimed that Macs are "selling like hotcakes now". Is this in any way true? Are there any published statistics about Apple's sales increasing/ decreasing as a result of their many, ah, interesting marketing campaigns? Please advise! Lovablebeautyme 06:00, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

I always assume that's a lie in any ad I hear. After all, if they were really selling as fast as they can make them, then what would be the point in advertising them ? StuRat 06:30, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

But there are laws about what ads can and can't say. In any case, what I really want to know is if the Get a Mac campaign has increased sales at all. (Somehow I doubt it -- I think Macs will always be restricted to Mac fans...) Lovablebeautyme 08:07, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

If they claimed a million had been sold when they had only sold a thousand they would get into trouble, yes, but who's to say that a thousand doesn't qualify as "selling like hot cakes" ? That term could mean anything. StuRat 12:54, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

They'd only have to sell four to "sell them like hotcakes", at least I think that's how many you get at your typical waffle and pancake place. :o) Droud 14:52, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

On that note, I'm certain that very few people are buying four Macs at a time. Droud 15:17, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

I don't know, I've seen people buy 4 Big Macs at a time, at the same place you can buy hotcakes, maybe that's where the ad idea came from ? :-) StuRat 17:32, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Not sure, but I doubt it. That campaign is rather infamous for making false-truth statements, anyway. --Wooty Woot? contribs 10:41, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

What a bunch of FUD! Try this instead:

• Based on Apple’s own financial reports over the past two years, sales of Apple’s Macintosh computers, iPod players and "music-related" services have all experienced record growth when compared to a previous year. — Boston Herald

The penalties for lying in financial reports are severe; it is highly unlikely Apple would risk it. Maybe instead we should worry that Dell is hemorrhaging sales due to declines in customer support, as reported by a reliable source.

• In the most recent quarter, Dell missed its sales target, one reason its stock has dropped 18%, to $34, since the start of the year. — BusinessWeek

Apple has released preliminary fourth quarter results, and states the following:

• Apple shipped 1,610,000 Macintosh® computers and 8,729,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 30 percent growth in Macs and 35 percent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter. — Apple Computer

Most businesses would agree that qualifies as "selling like hotcakes", and would love to see that kind of increase themselves. --KSmrq^T 05:20, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Wow, thanks so much for the reliable information! This is exactly what I was looking for. Lovablebeautyme 08:07, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

My CD not readable by DVD-rom

I got this probelm with my DVD-rom. When I put in my FIFA 07 CD-rom (which requires a DVD-rom) into my DVD Drive, and after the auto run won't work. So I go to My Computer and double click DVD/CD-RW Drive, and realize that the CD is not read by the DVD drive. I check whether there is scratches and there weren't. I tried again and again, but to no avail. The thing is, I tried many other games and they all worked, except for this. Its original, not pirated, FYI.

Maybe there is something wrong with the CD. So I went back to the shop, wanting to exchange the disc to another one. I explain the probelm to the guy in the shop, then he tried on one of the computers, and shockingly to me, the CD was readable by it. Anyway I still changed the CD (this CD was proved to be working because the guy also tried it on his computer) and hoping that this one would work. When I reached home, I tried, but failed. I tried several times relentlessly but still nothing. Its like as if I didn't put anything inside. But other disc works!

Sorry, I'm not to good in computers and pardom my English. Hope you can figure out my probelm. Denester 15:56, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

I would suggest replacing your DVD drive, as these symptoms point towards it having trouble tracking (moving the laser). You can also try cleaning and greasing it as suggested here. Droud 18:06, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

2.5mm/3.5mm M/M jack

does anyone know whence I can aquire a 3.5 to 2.5 mm Male to Male headphone jack cable? MHDIV ɪŋglɪʃnɜː(r)d(Suggestion?|wanna chat?) 15:57, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Have you tried a local Radio Shack or similar electronics store? They usually have all sorts of converters. --24.147.86.187 17:36, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Radio Shack does not carry this item, but they carry enough adapters that you could combine two parts into a cable (audio quality aside). Droud 18:11, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

This froogle search turns up a few. Droud 18:11, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Satiric wikipedia

whats the name of that site thats exactly like wikipedia, except its satire? anyone?

Unencyclopedia. --24.147.86.187 18:34, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

You've got it wrong! Wikipedia is satire, while Uncyclopedia is the truth. --h2g2bob 09:04, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Phex IP blocking

How does Phex decide what IP addresses to permanently block as "system rules?" For example, why does it block 4.2.161.0 (which appears to belong to a county auditor in the US)? NeonMerlin 19:44, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

I suspect it uses a block list, similar to just about every other P2P security software out there. See for example, http://test.blocklist.org/ and PeerGuardian. 68.39.174.238 00:54, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, but how does it decide, for example, that some government addresses should be blocked? What would happen if connections to those addresses were allowed? NeonMerlin 15:34, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

From http://www.phex.org/mambo/content/view/62/2/ , "Additionally Phex now includes the www.bluetack.co.uk - bad-host database, a ban-list, which blocks known spam- and secret service IP-ranges.". Basically, bluetack seems to maintain different lists based on different categories, one of which is government addresses. I'm going to guess that that list just includes every IP known to be registered to a government agency of any government anywhere, county auditors included. 68.39.174.238 22:13, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Creative commons and GFDL compatability

To what extent are creative commons licenses and the GFDL compatible. Obviously NC and ND licences can't be relicensed. I think CC-BY can be relicensed under GFDL (naturally not the other way round), but I'm not sure, can anyone verify. I'm not even 100% sure that CC-BY can be relicensed under CC-BY-SA due to some mentions of a clause in some of the revelevant internet pages I have been reading.

More importantly, what about CC-BY-SA and GFDL. I know some effort whas being made to make them compatible - has this had any progress, are they either way?--Bjwebb (talk) 22:05, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Technically they can't be "re-licensed" as one or the other by a third-party at all (ditto CC-BY to CC-BY-SA or any other CC license; they are different licenses and are not interchangeable). They can sometimes be used in the same projects if the individual copyrighted works are easy to segregate and indicate (i.e. if it was a picture used in a paper, then you could easily distiguish that the picture might have a different copyright status than the text). You can multi-license, which means that the original licensor can say, "This is licensed as this or this, pick your license as your want", and they can do this at any point (I can take something I licensed as GFDL and later say, "oh, you can also use this as CC-BY-SA"), but a third party could not do this. They are compatible only in the manner I mentioned earlier (about the segregated works); see "Collective Works" in the CC license and "Aggregation With Independent Works" in the GFDL. Hope that makes sense. Personally I think it would be wonderful if the CC/FSF boys would come up with some sort of clause which would say that you could easily translate GFDL to CC-BY-SA and vice versa (they are equivalent from a free-content point of view, the main differences are in their specific formulations and the GFDL has a whole bunch of crud about invariant texts and the like in it) but I have very little faith that the FSF would ever do something like that (CC, I don't know). --24.147.86.187 22:42, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Thankyou for that, some of it is useful, but what I want to know is whether CC-BY content can be incorporated into a GFDL work e.g. whether text licensed under CC-BY could be used in Wikipedia.

Also, I know that the GFDL and CC-BY-SA were not compatible, but I have read that creativecommons was thinking about rewriting its CC-BY-SA license to allow it to be translated to GFDL. I would like to know whether any progress has been made in this direction, and whether the FSF have said anything at all about allowing GFDL content to be relicensed under CC-BY-SA.--Bjwebb (talk) 16:52, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

December 17

free movies?

I have a friend that gets free movies from the interweb. He has some kind of program that downloads them and he gets them for FREE. How does this work? And where do the movies come from (Sometimes he gets them before they are in theaters)? I really want to get free movies like him, so could someone tell me the name of this program? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.152.180.75 (talk) 00:59, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

Take a look at File sharing, but keep in mind that downloading copyrighted material may be illegal in your jurisdiction. -83.129.24.169 01:55, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Basically he gets the films from other people who have them. Note that if you both live in Alaska (As your IP address suggests), doing this is almost always Federally illegal. 68.39.174.238 22:30, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

There are many mechanisms and technologies for file transfer, though I'm not advocating piracy. BitTorrent and P2P are quite popular ways to obtain pirated copies, though there are others. Splintercellguy 07:37, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Official nomenclature for DC power connectors?

Here's the background: I've got a device that runs off of AC rectifyed DC that is's supposed to get via a power supply, which I've lost. I know the required voltage/current that will be drawn and have the female connector (On the device). Given these, is there a sort of descriptive nomenclature for these types of connectors? If there is, can I find out what mine is from these 3 things? My idea is to find out what the most generic description is, and then use that to look for a new cable.

Thanx. 68.39.174.238 01:02, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

You might find both the converter and connector at RadioShack. Their connectors are described by outer diameter and inner diameter, perhaps with central pin, and you'll also need to know if the "tip" is should be positive or negative. Some connectors are EIAJ connectors, a special case of the more general DC connectors. Good luck! --KSmrq^T 07:47, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

"It is recognised to many consumers by the "yellow tip" (a yellow plastic insulator) at the end of the jack." — O yes that is it, thanx! 68.39.174.238 22:31, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

More trouble

OK, now I've got other problems: According to the specs of all the EIAJ specs, the max current these things will draw is 2A, but the thing I've got says it needs 3A! However, when I look at the specs of it on a reputable site, it says 1.5A! Also, given my location, anyone know a place to get one of these? 68.39.174.238 23:41, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

AC adapters?

I'm planning on going to a trip to Malayasia and Hong Kong in February. I have a Dell Inspiron 1150. Would I need to buy a new AC adapter? My dad's friend says no, but my dad still thinks I should buy another AC adapter because the one I have now might not work in Asia; different voltages and stuff. ― Sturr ★彡 ^Refill/lol 03:23, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, that depends on where you are now. Where are you?

I'm in Los Angeles, California. ― Sturr ★彡 ^Refill/lol 04:38, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

According to Image:Map of the world coloured by voltage and frequency.png, you'll definitely need a new one (Assuming the one in LA is the Federal standard). 68.39.174.238 06:13, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Maybe. First check the back of your AC adapter, there should be a label there with lots of numbers and symbols. Look for a line which says something like "Input", it will tell you what voltage/frequency your laptop adapter can accept. If you adapter can accept 240V 50Hz (in which case it will probably say something like 100-240V 50-60Hz, many laptop AC adapters are designed to work anywhere) then you can use it in Hong Kong and Malaysia, since they use 240V 50Hz mains electricity. If it only accepts 110V 60Hz (the US standard), then you need to get yourself a new adapter for use in Asia. In the first case, you still need a plug adapter (since the US and Asia use different-sized electricity plugs), but those you can get at any electrical store, or at the airport. — QuantumEleven 11:36, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Laptop ac adapters are built to handle different voltages; they know that many people use them for international travel. You can verify this by finding the "input voltage" section on the little card attached to the adapter. My very old Inspiron certainly does, and I don't think I've ever seen a laptop adapter that doesn't. Naturally you'll need to buy a travel adapter to adapt to the different kind of plug - List of countries with mains power plugs, voltages and frequencies says both places use a British type BS 1363 plug. If you'll be there a while then go into a local electrical/computer store (of which KL and HK are full) and get a locally-plugged laptop power cable (that ends in the three-lobe cloverleaf which most laptop vendors, including Dell, use); you don't need a new adapter, just the cable. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:43, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Networking

This is a crude diagram of how my home network would be set up. http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/8742/mynetworkgx8.png -- would this network be okay? I'm not sure about devices plugged into the 1st switch accessing files from devices on the 2nd switch and vice verca, and how the 2nd switch will assign IPs. The three Xboxes will need to access the shared folders from the first PC. Is there any major problem with this setup? Thanks.

It is okay. Except you should not need to use any crossover cables. Make sure that if your switches do not automatically detect uplink, that you plug the cable between them into the "uplink" port on the "5 port switch". Switches work at the data link layer of the OSI and do not deal with "IPs". --Spoon! 04:32, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

As far as I know, all the connections except the ones between the switch and router should use normal ("Straight through") cables (Basically, what User:Spoon! said above). 68.39.174.238 06:11, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Transfer an archived web site to my own web pages

There is a web archive which hosts web sites which have been discontinued for one reason or another.

I am interested in acquiring certain archived web pages for an historic web site in my own web pages.

Is it possible to change the http of the archived item to my own http page?

Hope my question is not too involved and hope you are able to help.

Thanks.

Mannie De Saxe — Preceding unsigned comment added by Josken (talk • contribs) 05:42, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

You're going to have to more specific. What does it mean to "change the http of the archived item to my own http page"? I don't really understand what you are trying to do. Do you want to just save a page, and then put it on your site? --Spoon! 05:50, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

For most websites, you can copy their HTML and images straight from the IA's WbM. There's really no technical impediment, however you should be careful about HOW you use these webpages as the copyrights will definately still be owned by other people. 68.39.174.238 06:09, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps you're thinking of Internet Archive (website) which stores copies of the whole web. As long as you didn't forbid it in robots.txt, and as long as the Internet Archive web crawler visited your site, you should be on it.

As 68.39.174.238 said, you should be able to get the HTML source, images, etc, from there (they do add a bit of javascript at the bottom of web pages, and change the links to images, but it's easy to change those things) --h2g2bob 08:54, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

rapidshare

i just downloaded a movie frm rapidshare but the problem is that it keeps on asking for a password , any idea what the rapid share password is?? thanxMi2n15 08:58, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

I would assume you needed to sign up and chose a username and password at the time. It should be that password. StuRat 13:18, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

If you already downloaded the movie, then the file itself is password protected. There's nothing we can do to help you then, unless you give us more info. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 13:26, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

i downloaded it and there was a message asking e for a passwordMi2n15 15:45, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Did you download something that ends with the letters ".zip" or ".rar" ? Frequently people will share compressed files and password protect them, for various reasons. If the file name is something like "The.Great.Train.Robbery.by.Thomas.Edison.[www.piratical.tld].rar", try entering the website address as the password. 68.39.174.238 22:35, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

If it's a .zip file you're in luck. ZIP files have very poor password protection "thingamabob's" er... routines? Anyway, you can use Ultimate Zip Cracker to run through the file and it will find it quite quickly. With .rar it's much harder. Password cracking is SLOW, you'd want a multi-threaded CPU running several copies of a RAR cracking tool (use Google), and you'd probably need a couple of months if you need to do an exhaustive (i.e. not a dictionary-based or some-other-restrictive- criterion) search. On the other hand, if it is a popular enough file someone out there would have cracked it already. Search for the filename on Google with the word "password" and it should come up. Zunaid©^{Please rate me at Editor Review!} 09:39, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

AXEL.DAV

When I start my system, a Compaq presario, I get two pop up boxes saying that Windows cannot open this program and asking whether I want to go on the web to find the program it was written in. Does anybody know what AXEL.DAV is? How do I remove it? I've gone to all programs and the control panel add/remove programs to try to delete it and its still there. I ran a full system scan with Norton and removed 9 adware/spyware programs but this AXEL.DAV is still there when I reboot. Can anyone help? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.230.102.166 (talk) 14:26, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

If you Google "AXEL.DAV" you'll find about 300 pages describing what it is and how to remove it. It is a virus, not spyware. That being said: Are you sure that Norton's virus definitions are up to date? If you have any doubts, download AVG instead and make sure it auto-updates. You should also try booting in Safe Mode and then run the virus scan. --24.147.86.187 15:40, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

how do I get to safe mode with XP?

Repeatedly press "F8" as the system boots up. You'll get to a screen with a menu and a load of options, one of which will be "Safe mode". Select that and press enter. 68.39.174.238 22:37, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

SQL in Biomedical Databases

What are the main features, advantages and benefits of the database querying tool Standard Query Language or SQL? In what sorts of setting is it most often used? What are its advantages over other database querying tools??? Please give examples of how SQL may be used in retrieving information from, for example, a database of symptoms of, and approved medicines for, acute malaria. →15:10, 17 December 2006 (UTC)15:10, 17 December 2006 (UTC)15:10, 17 December 2006 (UTC)~

Take a look at SQL, come back if you have more questions. Also, it is Structured Query Language, not Standard. It is usually used in relational databases; it is a very simple and powerful way to do complicated queries from multiple tables. You're going to have to figure out how it works with your own biomedical databases. --24.147.86.187 15:43, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Regarding the example:

Select *

From

symptoms a, approved_medicines b, icd10 c

Where

c.description='acute malaria'

and a.icd10_code=c.icd10_code

and b.icd10_code=c.icd10_code

Explanation... get the ICD10 code for malaria from the ICD10 table, and join this result to the symptoms and approved_medicines tables, and display all (*) results. Sandman30s 09:31, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Wireless Security Overrated?

If the router I'm connected to wirelessly has open access, does that mean people can access files on my computer? If the biggest risk is that someone can access the internet, I don't really care (I've never seen anyone elses MAC address in the router set up interface anyway). --Username132 (talk) 16:03, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

People could only do that IF you have shared folders/directorys on your computer. Note however that if you have Windows 2000 or XP, Windows automatically shares every hard disk in the system for administrative reasons (IE. Someone would need to know your "Administrator" account password). If they crack your password (Or guess it if it's really poor), then they can do all sorts of mischief with your machine. Note however that if someone was to use your Internet connection, your IP would be the one showing up in server logs, so if they did something like flood the world with SPAM, you'd be in alot of trouble. All that said, if you live in say, a forest, where there's noone around for miles and noone can loiter nearby, you're probably safe. Just the same, I have to suggest setting up some form of security. 68.39.174.238 22:44, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

If someone gains access to your network, they could cause quite a bit of mischief. It would be a very good idea to secure your network, even with the weaker WEP. Splintercellguy 07:34, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Another thing to worry about is that anyone able to log into your unencrypted router with the intent of snooping may potentially also be able to easily view all of the information you send or receive across the internet. Of course, some extremely private things, such as purchases and passwords, are automatically encrypted by the software, but still. --64.0.112.35 14:45, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Can I UnRAID My Drives, Keeping The System (Smaller) Partition Intact?

I have a RAID 0 array consisting of two 160 GB SATA drives. The array is then split into two partitions, 200 GB and whatever is left. I want to turn the array into two separate drives (so I can user OpenSuse which wont run on my system with SATA drives until I disable RAID and enable legacy PATA mode). Can I do this without reinstalling Windows? --Username132 (talk) 16:43, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Not without other software tools (I'm pretty sure), and even then I'm not sure. You could probably adjust the 200 partition down to 160 and have a rough equivalence between the two disks and partitions, however since the data from partition 1 and likely sprayed across both disks, de-RAIDing them would likely totally ruin both partitions. Note: If someone who knows more about this has advice, I suggest you go with him since my experience with RAID is almost all theory. 68.39.174.238 22:53, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

formatting flash drive

i have a 512 MB pen drive(flash drive) which by mistake i formatted and selected file system NTFS now this pen drive is not being detected ,its showing fyle system RAW.Now i can not revert back the file system. how to revert back pl help me? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 219.64.74.74 (talk) 17:07, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

Is it not possible to format it back to FAT32 in the same way that you formatted it to NTFS? I take it you're not concerned with the files that were on there? If you are the say so and await further advise. --Username132 (talk) 18:57, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

No, for some stupid reason Windows Explorer doesn't let you do anything to a file system if it doesn't recognise it. However, you might succeed if you open up "Computer Management" in "Administrative Tools" and use the Logical Volumes management thing (I can't remember what it's called). If that fails, your other option is to connect it to your computer while running some form of GNU/Linux. Open a Terminal and type mkfs.fat32 /dev/sda. Note that it might not be the exact command... --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 03:17, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Ha, so you have done this too! Try: Start>Setting>Control panel>Administrative tools>Computer management>Disk management> (here you select the USB drive, then the "action" tab) >All tasks>Format (select type of format. Hope this helps. --Seejyb 09:14, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

laptop login password

Can somebody please let me know how I can get into my laptop. I have lost my windows login password and I am stuck.--Mosherl 18:02, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Offline NT Password & Registry Editor --131.215.155.151 21:56, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

CompactFlash to SD Cards and other Transfers

Is there a way to transfer some images or pictures from a CompactFlash memory card to a SD Card? Also, how can I get music on a SD Card? I'm having trouble trying to find the right equipment online. -MF14

As far as I know, you can copy them directly, however you will need a device that can read both a CF and a SD cards. Same with music (Assuming it's like an MP3 file). 68.39.174.238 22:48, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Using a computer: USB multicard readers are reasonably cheap, and the different slot on the reader appear to your computer like different drives. So it is a matter of copy and paste. --Seejyb 23:11, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Alright, thanx. That's helpful. -MF14

Corrupted .avi

A friend of mine created a little video using FRAPS. It went well, but he was a little negligent and didn't create a backup. When he tried to compress the file from .avi into .mpg it became corrupted. He sent it to me to try to fix it but I really don't have any ideas either. What are my options? This is relatively high priority footage. 64.251.182.80 19:34, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Easiest would be to see if the original AVI remains sitting around somewhere. Also, how exactly did it corrupt? What sort of error messages do you get upon playing it. 68.39.174.238 22:49, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Sometimes converters create a temporary file and work on that, then create the output, delete the temporary file, and then delete the original file (very naughty!). Your best bet would be to undelete the temp or original file with something like Handy Recovery. Sandman30s 14:44, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Rebooting in safe mode

Does anybody know how to reboot in safe mode running windows xp home? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Odell38 (talk • contribs) 21:17, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

Safe Mode in Microsoft Windows is accessed by repeatedly pressing the "F8" key as the operating system boots. When a boot menu appears, select Safe Mode. –mysid☎ 21:38, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Playing a sound and flash in C# 2005

Hello all, I have 2 questions: 1- How can i make a flash of extension swf open in a new form? 2- How can i associate a certain sound file of extension wav to play on a certain button click?(considering that i can move the whole program to a different pc, so i dont want to write the sound file path relative to the pc ) Thx in advance Yasmeen —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 196.218.0.89 (talk) 21:30, 17 December 2006 (UTC).

Converting .EXE to .SWF

We created an EXE video game (available on this site) and we want to submit it to many popular game sites. However, they will only accept games in flash format (.SWF). Is there a way to convert it to a .SWF file without starting over?

Thanks, Magnaverse productions. BOTW 03:01, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

I doubt it. Who created the .exe to begin with? And what did they use to create it? The exe would have started life as some sort of source code, your only chance is to get the source code and port it to flash. I doubt that can be done automatically, at least it would probably require someone who slightly familiar with both applications, at most, it may be impossible short of starting from scratch. Vespine 04:27, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

The .EXE was created using a progam called game maker workshop. That software is awailable for free download at this other site. If you have questions about how the game works, you can download the game from the first link. BOTW 12:32, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

To provide an SWF version, the game would have originally needed to have been developed in Shockwave. With your current game, you can't get there from here. Your best bet would be, if it's practical, to re-do the game in SWF from the beginning using your Game Maker Workshop executable as a model, reusing artwork, etc. There is no way to convert it as is. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 21:24, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

font

What is the font used to display the (Asian/European) electrical underwriter symbol "CE"? 71.100.6.152 06:11, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

See CE mark. It's not really a font, just an image. --h2g2bob 12:41, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Correction, it's both. Anchoress 12:46, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Is there actually a full set of letters in this font? (link please)83.100.250.252 13:44, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Try http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/ef/expressa . —P^urpleRA^IN 20:14, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Cheers - I was actually looking at 'construction details of .." File:Ce mark big.gif and couldn't help wondering how the spacing for an O was worked out , perhaps even letting it overlap..eg in the case of "..OE.."87.102.11.137 21:31, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

What does it mean by Single Shared Platforming in IT

Strike-through text —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 220.247.254.255 (talk) 08:28, 18 December 2006 (UTC).

Typically, in sectors like finance, the bounds in technology were so fast that development begun and continued on many different platforms. Now it is at the point where in most banks a single transaction likely needs to pass through several platforms before being processed, some of them legacy and some of them cutting edge. If it isn't obvious, this in it self causes many problems. Specialist knowledge, compatibility, multiple support teams, multiple points of failure, duplicated redundancy, they all cause issues in infrastructure with many platforms. The idea on Single Shared Platform is that there is literally one single shared platform that runs everything. Vespine 21:28, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Audio analysis question

Some high school friends and I are trying to develop a free audio editor to do various live and recorded edits. We are discussing how to apply a digital Equalization using the frequency domain. We realize there exist time-domain algorithms, but preffer to stick in frequency domain, at least initially (while we try to learn enough background for the other.) So, we are now able to do fast & discreet fourier transforms, but we are unsure how to aply it. One constraint (which I am told is common and not avoidable) is that out transfor algorithm only accepts samples of length $2^{n}$ samples. The options we see are:

• Apply the transform to the entire track, adding 0's to the end of the waveform to make the number of samples right. Multiply by the equalization curve, and reconstruct the wave.
• Interpolate enough points into the track to make the number of samples correct, and apply the transform to the whole song. Multiply by the equalization curve, and reconstruct the wave.
• Cut the data into sections of $2^{n}$ samples, and apply the transform to each of those. Adding either 0's or interpolated data to the last one. Then multiplying each by the equalization curve, reconstructing, and stitching the waveforms (time domain) together, in the origonal order.

If anyone has ideas, resources, refrences, or suggestions, they'd be much appriciated. Thanks, 48v 19:30, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Applying the transform to the whole track at once doesn't sound like a good idea, as you would then lose the time-domain variation. I've done similar things by splicing the data into small, 50% overlapping 2ⁿ pieces, then applying a Blackman window to each and padding with zeroes before the transform. (But I'm not sure how it would apply to this.) –mysid☎ 21:20, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the response. I should have added, my understanding is that as long a sour FFT includes very low frequencies dow to 1/(2*track length) that we shouldn't lose the time domain variation because we would be reconstructing only one cycle of the function. Am I incorrect on this point? 48v 21:27, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

As far as I remember, FFT only outputs powers at different frequencies (from 0 to n/2) and phases, "averaged" from the whole sample. So if you feed a 3-minute piece into an FFT at once and try to reconstruct the original from it, all you get is a 3-minute constant chord. That's why it would have to be done in small time slices. –mysid☎ 21:37, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Xcode, Universal Binary, & Multiprocessing

Is it safe to say that all modern programs developed with Apple's Xcode are multi-processor/core aware? Therefore, are all Universal Binary applications multi-processor/core aware? Lastly, do all Universal Binary programs have to be created with Xcode? (Is it possible to make a UB app without Xcode?) --24.249.108.133 23:16, 18 December 2006 (UTC)