Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing

August 18

windows action on highlight

Is it possible to have something done when text is highlighted, system-wide (not just in a web browser or word processor but anytime on the windows system a piece of text is highlighted) ie without further user input (such as right-clicking on the highlighted text).

Thank you!

84.0.126.202 00:03, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Short answer: sure. It's just a function of the window manager (it's doing the highlighting/selecting). So: if the wm doesn't do what you want, just modify it. [1] [2] [3] <ahem> Heheheh.</ahem> Saintrain 21:13, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

That's so not an answer!!!! grrr >:| 84.0.158.159 17:32, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

writing to a wiki, best practices

Hi:

Is there such a thing as "Best Practices" for writing to a wiki?

Thanks.

72.19.150.123 00:36, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, so articles should generally be about encyclopedic stuff and in an encyclopedic tone. See Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:Guide to writing better articles. --h2g2bob (talk) 03:51, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

While Wikipedia is a wiki, wiki is not Wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.49.213.95 (talk • contribs)

True, there would be different answers for PenguinWiki and Conservapedia than here. Each wiki site has it's own house rules. See wiki for differences between wiki and Wikipedia --h2g2bob (talk) 14:55, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

The Wikipedia:Manual of Style provides alot of guidance on best practices for writing encyclopedia articles. -- Diletante 16:18, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Dynamic Scoreboard/Table

I'm wondering what is the best way to make a scoreboard with data that can be changed dynamically with an external file. I have done a bit of research and have found out that I could use the DataGrid component in , but I am having trouble figuring out the best way I could use it (or something else) to display that data.

The data would probably be inputted to Excel and will have a set number of columns and rows. At this stage I think saving as a CSV file would work the best, however I am having trouble displaying it on flash properly. There will probably be around 100 rows for all the different teams and the columns would be team number, name, rank and score.

I would be really grateful if anyone has any ideas. I have a moderate knowledge of Flash. Another idea I had was to use a database and make a frontend but I don't know any good resources that would should me how. I am using Adobe Flash CS3.

Thanks! Ronaldh 02:48, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

This is different from what you are doing, but if you know how to write a program, all you have to do is change the .exe to the screensaver extension (I forget exactly what that is) and put it in the Window's screensaver folder. I believe that this works with any program - there are instructions on exactly what to do on the internet. --Falconus 03:22, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

handicaps

If you don't have two functional hands (or long-enough fingers), how do you get Ctrl Alt Del or, for that matter, any shifted character (other than capital letters)? Presumably there have been numerous solutions over the decades. —Tamfang 03:11, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

In Windows, there's a utility called StickyKeys. Press the shift key five times, and then click "OK". It will allow you to hold down control, alt, shift, or the Windows key, without actually holding them down. I think the feature at least dates back to Windows 95 through XP (not sure about Vista, but I don't see why it wouldn't be there). –Pakman044 03:22, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) It's called Sticky Keys, and it's included in Windows. Hit Shift five times in a row fast. You can then hit shift, the windows logo, ctrl, and alt one at a time, or shift and then a letter to get the capital. (Pakman: It is in Vista) --(Review Me) R ^ParlateContribs_@ (Let's Go Yankees!) 03:25, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

MacOS has Sticky Keys too. On a related note, I used to sometimes find that my mouse wouldn't click, and eventually figured out that by repeatedly tapping Shift or Control in a futile attempt to get the machine's attention when it was thrashing I activated Easy Access (i think). Problem went away when I disabled that feature in System Preferences. —Tamfang 06:15, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

There are also one handed keyboards in existence, although I'm not sure if they take that into the design. if nothing else, get paperweights! --Lucid 04:21, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Ah yes, the dreaded sticky keys alert. This should teach you not to have the shift button binded to a frequent action in a computer game. Is there any way to disable it?--Funnyguy555 15:20, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Yes, open the control panel on the subject "Accessibilty" or whatever it is in your version of Windows, goto the Keyboard tab, selete "Settings" for each of the three different options and unselect the "Use shortcut" option. OK out of all the dialogs boxes and restart if you want to be on the safe side. 68.39.174.238 22:03, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

To the original asker, you can also use On Screen Keyboard, which lets you click keys like Ctrl and Alt on an visual keyboard and they will stay "stuck". This doesn't work, unfortunately, for Control-Alt-Delete. 68.39.174.238 22:03, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Is opera mini legal?

Opera Mini I think reduces the size of images, cuts ads, cuts graphics etc etc of web pages designed by website owners. Is it legal to do that. How is it legal? How is this possible? How is this story going on?

Why is it illegal? Does it break any law? --antilived^{T | C | G} 12:17, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Of course it's legal. There's no law saying that you have to view the entire website, including any ads, in order to look at it, in the same way that you're perfectly welcome to get up and make a sandwich when broadcast TV has a commercial break. We aren't that controlled by advertising. Yet. --Lucid 12:57, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Web-overlords W3C strongly encourages sites not to make any assumptions about web browsers (that is, sites should be accessible without graphics, through a screen reader, without javascript and on monochrome screens). So stripping pretty much anything from the site is ok. I don't see this as an issue, but a similar story is on Slashdot today, talking about ad-blockers. --h2g2bob (talk) 14:48, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

The questioner probably asked because Opera Mini does not directly download webpages. Opera Mini depends on a proxy server. The proxy server alters the pages then retransmits them to your portable device. The origianal questioner was probably asking about how copyright laws effect proxy servers that modify content. APL 19:30, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

(From the original asker of the question) I think that Opera is making a business by stripping ads. Let us take example of another issue. Most websites allow us to copy their photos and use them for private use. But we must not commercialize that. Why cant we apply that here. End users like me can strip out ads but if some company is doing that as their business, why cant that be considered illegal. I think another issue here is that most websites would like opera to serve their web pages because they get page views, and then get mindshare. And also want to know whether it is legal for proxy servers (not end user) to modify content. Imagine, if my cable operator cuts ads and transmitts programs of broadcaster. Will that be accepted? Tivo is accepted because end user is stripping ads. Cable operator is a middleman like opera here.

The cable operator has a contract with the channels it carries and must abide by certain agreements. Web browser companies have no such constraints. Web content providers put their stuff "out there" and must live with the consequences. --Nricardo 07:29, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

It's probably legal now, but it may not be so forever. An important case is where Titanic director Jim Cameron sued a company that made "family friendly" versions of the movie. Customers would buy a legal copy of Titanic, would mail the tape to the company, who would record over it an edited version (which had a nude scene and a sex scene removed). Although Cameron wasn't losing any money, he felt that the edit version infringed on his rights under copyright law to control the reproduction of the copyrighted work. He prevailed, with the court unholding his claim that, as copyright holder, he could decide the form in which his creative work was distributed, and could prevent distributions in a form which he didn't approve. This ruling reaffirmed some older copyright cases (where authors or journalists sued publishers for making unauthorised changes to their work). But how does that affect ad-removal/ad-skip technologies? - right now it doesn't. That copyright only applies to a coherent, creative work, something Cameron created when he was filming and editing Titanic, which is a single unitary work. Compare that with the way ads are added to Superbowl TV coverage, or to a web page. Those ads aren't part of that creative whole (they could just as easily be swapped for other ads and the work wouldn't really be affected). So the act of putting ads into a webpage isn't (generally) a creative act (mostly it's done automatically by a computer program that has little or no idea about the context, and clearly isn't capable of creativity). So that means, right now, the page-with-ads or program-with-ads isn't a coherent whole, and isn't itself a copyrighted work (it consists of copyrighted works, but simply composing them didn't make a copyrightable work). So, right now, it's probably legal for adblock programs to redact ads from websites, and for PVRs to skip ads. But copyright owners, fearful of such ad-skip technologies, as pushing for changes to copyright laws in some jurisdictions - changes that would make that mechanically-aggregated work a single copyrighted object. If they succeed then the protections that Cameron used would apply to them too, and copies of the whole work with the ads removed without their permission would be illegal. And, per the DMCA and its equivalents in other countries, technologies which enabled that could become illegal too. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 14:50, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

I say "probably legal now", but it might not be as clear as that. There have been suits regarding unauthorised ad-substitution (where a web program running on the end-user's machine would substitute one ad for another). Gator was sued by large media companies for doing this; they claimed the whole page was copyright and that Gator's substitutions produced infringing works. Unfortunately the case settled out of court (ref) so no jurisprudence was established (and the settlement is sealed, so we don't really know how strong the lawyers of the various parties really think the case is under current law). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 14:50, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Not to politick but... (which of course means I'm about to politick :P) I'm sure this will be illegal in the near future. Legislation has been passed starting about a decade ago breaching the digital realm, deciding what you can and can't do on your own computer. The DMCA (the best legislation money can buy for the media lobby groups) is one of the worst- forbidding any kind of breach of any sort of cryptographic mechanism controlling access to copyrighted works, even if the mechanism exists in your own private computer's memory. You can no longer flip the bits you want within a computer, and now the door is open for advertisers to sue adblock.. they must lose millions of real $$$ from adblock, and with the way this country's going lately, I wouldn't be surprised if a case was held today and it became illegal to use/distribute adblock --froth^t 17:46, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

I would note that creating "Family Friendly" edits to films is a legal circumvention of copy protection (If I remember right, I don't remember the exact name of the act, but it had those words in it). 68.39.174.238 23:10, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

USB flash drive in linux

When copying files to a USB flash drive in linux (specifically slackware), how do you insure that the files have actually been written to the disk at that moment in time, rather than being stored in RAM before unmounting the drive? Think outside the box 14:06, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Well when you unmount it all the stuff will be written to disk. --Spoon! 16:47, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

But of course if you yank it out without unmounting it, it might not be.

You can type sync to force disks to be written without unmounting them. (I think sync still works in Linux, tho I'm not quite 100% sure...) —Steve Summit (talk) 17:34, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Steve Summit, I'll try that. By the way, I type sync in Console, right? Think outside the box 13:55, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Right.

If your flash drive has an activity light on it, you can confirm what's happening. If you copy a big file to it, you'll see a tiny bit of activity. If you unmount the drive a few seconds later, you'll see a bunch more activity, as all the deferred writing completes. Or, if you copy a big file to the drive, and then wait 30 seconds or so (without unmounting the drive or doing anything), you should see a bunch of activity as Linux decides it had better complete those deferred writes just to be on the safe side. Or, if you copy a big file to the drive and a few seconds later type sync, you should see a bunch of activity just then. Finally, after copying a big file, and then either typing sync or waiting 30 seconds for an automatic flush to happen, when you then unmount the drive, you should see little or no activity, and the unmount should complete faster, too. (Even if you don't have an activity light on the drive, you can get clues as to what's going on just by looking at how long things take.) —Steve Summit (talk) 16:43, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

graphics cards

Is there a 'human limit' on the power of graphics cards above which it becomes pointless to further improve the performance (ie taking into account diminishing returns and the limits of what people can actually perceive on a screen)?

If so do how near to that limit are we?

I'm thinking in terms of a point at which further developement on improving performance stops because there is no market for more powerful cards..87.102.92.28 14:52, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Even if we reach the point where no further improvement can be perceived, it's likely that some market will still exist, just because higher-than-average specs bring bragging rights (and an implicit claim to being able to tell the difference). NeonMerlin 18:44, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

There is also the issue of the limitations of the monitor. It doesn't much matter if you can provide 1000 frames per second to the monitor, if it can only display 100 frames per second. Personally, I can see "flicker" in an all-white screen at 60 frames per second, so I would say the human limit is a bit above that. As for color depth, 24 bits seems the same as 32 bits, to me, so I suspect we've hit the limit there. For number of pixels, 1600×1200 is the highest res I'd want on a 19 inch screen (or 1920×1080 for a wide-screen monitor). If I can get a large screen monitor, though, I'd love to have higher resolutions available on those. For example, if I could double the monitor's diagonal size, to 38 inches, and thus quadruple it's area, I'd like to have a 3200x2400 pixel standard or 3840x2160 pixel widescreen display. StuRat 21:16, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

24 bits and 32 bits have exactly the same amount of bits (8) to each colour, just that in 32 bits an 8 bit alpha channel is added. Some things, such as ray-tracing which are used in some major feature films to produce photo-realistic renders, is extremely computing intensive, and with new effects such as sub-surface scattering that will put even more load onto a future graphics card. Then if you want 3D vision (stereo rendering), you need twice that, and then anti-aliasing will increase it even more. In short, we are no where near the hypothetical perception limit in humans, we aren't that simple minded. --antilived^{T | C | G} 11:11, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Amarok scoring

In Amarok, is it possible to have all scores decay exponentially each night so that songs that haven't been played recently will have lower scores? Also, is it possible to adjust the scores when updated play counts are loaded off an iPod? NeonMerlin 14:53, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Transparent Overlay

I've been designing a web page for a client, and she's worried about people right-clicking and downloading her images. I can stop them right-clicking, but as my client's on a mac she's painfully aware of the limitations of that particular approach. A friend of mine mentioned I could position a transparent gif over the image so they'd only download a useless gif - how do I position this to be on top of the image I want? Do I need to use CSS with that, and if so, what's the tag look like? I'm used to basic HTML, Javascript, Java, and Perl, but somehow I never picked up much about CSS (and I've yet to need it, it's amazing how few features people need these days). Kuronue 19:24, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

You should encourage your client to not worry about that so much. Any scheme you come up with will be easily defeatable at best, and screw up the delivery of the content to the end-user at worst. What is the consequence of people downloading her images to their desktops? Who cares? Why worry about it? All you are going to do is irritate genuine visitors, and anyone who wants the image will quickly be able to view the source and grab it that way, or just take a screenshot (both of which can defeat the Amazon.com/Google Books attempts, which were created by people who were REALLY trying to subvert just such an attempt. If they can't make something modestly fool proof, I doubt anyoe can.) Downloading the image should not be something to fear — if it is, don't put the image up. If you are worried about subsequent re-use of the image, put up some nasty copyright notices and then issue DMCA take down requests everytime one pops up that you don't want. This isn't something that has a technical solution, and you are doing your client a disservice if you do not explain that to her. --24.147.86.187 19:43, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

If you client insists on this anyway, and you feel like billing them for useless work, here's how I would do it:

<div id="container">

<img src="dontstealme.jpg"/>

</div>

Then in the stylesheet, fill the #container with a single-pixel transparent .gif as its image, have it tile it across the container. That probably will work though I haven't tested it (it might just fill the background of the div). Again, I doubt that would deter anyone from getting the image. --24.147.86.187 19:46, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

That will not work, since the img element is above the div and therefore it will show up above the div. You can, however, do the reverse, setting the real image as the background of the div and a transparent img on top of that div, but that's really cumbersome for you and quite useless on anyone with more than moderate computer knowledge. There is no way of actually protecting the images that's fool proof, for your methods I could just save the page and all the graphics will end up in a folder next to the html file. --antilived^{T | C | G} 02:27, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

I agree that this won't keep anyone from stealing the image. They can always just use Print Screen (on a Windows PC) and then paste it into Microsoft Paint. Some methods that others have used to display an image, and yet protect it, are as follows:

1) Provide a low res image on the web site for free, and make people send you money before you let them see the full res image. They could still steal it then and give it away to others for free (illegally), but at least you will have gotten some money out of them first.

2) Add an annoying "watermark" across the image, with the name of your web site, for example, and only show them the good image once they have paid for it. The same comment applies to them stealing the image after they pay to see it.

3) Only show them a part of the image at once. There are programs that will let people stitch them together into one big image, but that's a lot of work and most people won't go through that trouble. StuRat 20:52, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Also — if you restrict my ability to right-click, or anything else that has to do with my browsing, I'm going to be pissed off, as an end user. Maybe I want to view the layout source and don't give a damn about the images? Maybe it is how I am used to reloadin a page? Maybe I am viewing the page in a way that doesn't normally have forward and back buttons and I need to scroll in this way? Etc. etc. I would heavily advise against restricting user input or anything like that if you want to have good relations with your client base — all it does is throw up barriers that impede people who might actually be interested in the page, and have a high chance of going wrong (incompatibilities with old browsers, possibility that your javascript will crash the browser, etc.). --24.147.86.187 22:10, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

If the enduser has access to the HTML source, they can simply download the image by snipping out the image URL and manually entering that in the browser, as well.

It's not always quite that simple. Some sites check the HTTP-Referer and only serve up images if they appear to be on behalf of the page they're supposed to be part of. In that case, you need a way to fake the referer. —Steve Summit (talk) 00:28, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

It's not that more difficult to fake the referer, though; create your own HTTP request with a faked referer and then capture the output. It is, however, more difficult than manually downloading the image.

Referer checking doesn't do anything to prevent people from downloading the image from the web page itself. --antilived^{T | C | G} 02:27, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

The only reasonably effective scheme I've seen used to prevent someone from saving off a copy of an image is one employed by a sports event photography company (one of those things where you ran in a mass event and afterward typed your bib number into a website; they found all the images that contained you, showed you them, and offered to sell you paper prints). They mandated that you download a (windows only) plugin. The plugin downloaded the images in an encrypted format (breaking sniffing and saving-proxy attacks) and it displayed them using a DirectX surface (breaking the print-screen attack). Short of someone taking a lot of effort to reverse engineer the plugin there wasn't a way to save the images. But in the process they'd alienated a great proportion of their customer base - only Windows users could access the photos, and many (most now, I'd hazard) will just refuse to download and install a plugin for this one purpose (or couldn't, because it was a work machine or they lacked the technical confidence to do so). So while they'd succeeded in their goal of not having their images copied, in the process they'd taken their business model out behind the chemical sheds and shot it. The more effective a DRM scheme is, the more inflexible it becomes, and the more the customer feels like you're treating him like a dirtbag. For these cases I always say to people "upload the image at only a modest quality and size, say 640x480 (which will give a representative view of what the final product is like without giving away the farm) and sell your multimegapixel images from that". -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 13:21, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Even using a DirectX surface can be captured in a screenshot if you disable hardware video support (which isn't hard). --24.147.86.187 06:51, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the info, guys. I've told her multiple times that there's no real way to get around image-stealing, and suggested that she watermark her images instead (low-res and pieces of images don't work because this is her online portfolio she uses to attract customers to her photography business, so she needs it to look good), but if the client wants an almost-useless overlay image, then that's what the client gets, as I bill by the hour and am more than happy to spend extra time and thus get extra $$, and on the plus side that'd let me remove the annoying anti-right-click script which never really worked that well anyway (anyone on a mac, or using firefox, can still manage to snag the images, but in firefox you get an annoying popup that still doesn't actually disable anything, but she surprised me by emailing me the script and requesting it be put up, so I did). Kuronue | Talk 15:51, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Well, that's sad. She should be so lucky that someone would bother to steal her images and post them around. Put a watermark on the bottom with her name and URL, and then you can practically encourage people to pass them around. She won't lose money and might gain customers. But alas, how short-sighted people are. --24.147.86.187 06:51, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

I'd put the watermark in the middle, not at the bottom, so that thieves can't trim the watermark off and resell the pic as their own. StuRat 10:25, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

What is the ruby syntax construct with a colon and square brackets

Take a look at the following Ruby code:

       rhash               = {"color"  =>  "red"}
       rhash[:color]       = 'blue'    ### <- what is being assigned to here?
       puts rhash["color"]             ### "red"
       puts rhash[:color]              ### "blue"

Where can I look to find the documentation for this syntax and what it's doing? rhash[:color]. I see this notation in ruby sample code, but I can't find the documentation for it. NoClutter 19:50, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

It's called a symbol. Using :a_symbol as a reference is like using "a_quoted_thing". Using symbols is encouraged, as it only stores the text of the symbol in one place and just provides pointers to it; rather than storing the same text string over and over. As you see using :whatever and "whatever" is different. Google for "ruby symbol" for all the salacious details --h2g2bob (talk) 23:21, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Can't play starcraft

I installed StarCraft on my laptop, which runs on 1280x800 widescreen and has windows vista. I opened starcraft and it said it was 'unable to switch video modes. to correct this problem, please set desktop area to 640x280 and color palette to 256 colors.'

How do I do this? the lowest my monitor goes is 800x600

See if you can run the game in windowed mode instead of full screen. It is usually a rather hidden command-line option. -- Kainaw^(what?) 21:37, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

This link offers a program that they claim will put Starcraft in windowed mode. Alternatively, you may try connecting a monitor to your notebook, it may support more video modes that way. 69.95.50.15 18:56, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure if Windows Vista has this feature, but you could try running it in compatibility mode. To do this in Windows XP (likely the same if Vista has this feature), right click, go to properties, click the "Compatibility" tab, and select your settings. MalwareSmarts 21:59, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

I've heard of several complaints from many users about game compatibility with Windows Vista, like in Need For Speed Carbon, which is said to crash on Vista. Either downgrading to XP or waiting for Service Pack One might be the cure for that... Blake Gripling 00:45, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

VMWare question

Hi:

If I run Linux in VMWare on Windows XP. Can I access my Winmodem from Linux as a ordinary /dev/modem serial driver which is mapped to the emulated COM3 port provided by the Winmodem driver running in Windows?

Regards,

74.116.223.48 20:39, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Yes, it should work. (It possibly might map to something else than /dev/modem) -Yyy 10:50, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Yyy! 74.12.36.60 16:08, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

If Linux can deal with whatever hardware VMware emulates as the modem, then you should have no problem with Linux. VMware just needs to be able to deal with the actuall modem. 68.39.174.238 23:15, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Is there a freeware equivelent to Adobe Flash?

Just wondering. Has to be compatible with Windows XP. MalwareSmarts 21:57, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Nothing that really works yet, no. SVG as a format could someday compete with Flash in some respects, but as of now, it really can't. And personally I doubt it will ever really be able to replace Flash, unless they are going to built up something as comprehensive as Actionscript inside it. And I don't think there are any freeware Flash editors—the closest thing might be OpenLaszlo, which uses it own format but can convert to SWF. --24.147.86.187 21:58, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Gnash and OSFlash[4] are available as open source SWF players, but often (in my experience with them) fail to work correctly, especially with video. These are reverse engineered: Adobe release the specs for SWF for creating SWF files only (hence OpenOffice.org can create them), but not for reading (which means no players. Adobe release Macromedia Flash Player for Windows, OSX and Linux, which are all good for playing SWF <= 8. See also SWF. For web applications, a mixture of CSS and JavaScript can replicate some functionality, depending on need. Alternatively, make it an executable (there must be some vector graphics libraries out there). --h2g2bob (talk) 22:33, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

No, I didn't mean a flash player, I mean an animation software similar to Adobe Flash MalwareSmarts 01:59, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Wikiwix

hum.. Wikiwix - so what is the relationship? if any? --Fredrick day 22:02, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

ok that is gone, so this might be useful for some context. --Fredrick day 22:03, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

According to their FAQ page, "(c) Linterweb 2007 - Wikiwix is a search engine that provides a comprehensive search within Wikipedia articles developped by Linterweb. Linterweb is a French company specialized in search engines, and is also the publisher of the Wikipedia 0.5 DVD". So it is a Wikipedia search engine by a company which is working with the Wikimedia Foundation to publish Wikipedia on a DVD. So there is some connection, I guess—Linterweb redirects to the History of Wikipedia article and discusses the deal. Heavens knows Wikipedia could use a better search engine. --24.147.86.187 22:05, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

What does "www3" means in web address like www3.nationalgeographic.com?

What does "www3" means in web address like www3.nationalgeographic.com?

It probably means they have multiple web servers, either to share the load, or to distribute different parts of their site. —Steve Summit (talk) 22:53, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

www3 is a subdomain of nationalgeographic.com. Different subdomains are often (but not always) on different physical computers (web servers). This technique can be used to divide a domain name into parts, such as wikipedia.org into en.wikipedia.org and fr.wikipedia.org. It is often used to reduce load on any one server by placing different parts of a site on different servers. For example, images on Wikipedia are located on the server upload.wikimedia.org, so if the image server crashes or runs slow then the rest of Wikipedia is unaffected.

Your computer matches web addresses with IP addresses - the actual computer's location - by asking special servers what name matches what address. This is the internet's domain name system (DNS).

www.nationalgeographic.com is at IP address 207.24.89.108, while news.nationalgeographic.com is at 207.24.89.110, indicating they are two separate computers. www3.nationalgeographic.com is also located at 207.24.89.110, so is shared with "news". "www3" responds to my HTTP requests with a redirect (HTTP 302 Found) to "www". --h2g2bob (talk) 23:10, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Note that of course there's more than one server hosting upload.wikimedia.. --froth^t 04:42, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

August 19

The moment of truth: Windows Vista

After many questions regarding Windows Vista, it's time to install! There are just a few things that I need to go over before installation. Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor pointed out some problems, but I'm not sure how to resolve them. It said I needed a new driver for "Realtek High Definition Audio," but I had trouble getting one from the link provided. The task list also said that before upgrading, I needed to uninstall "DVD-RAM Driver," "Bluetooth Stack for Windows by Toshiba," and "TOSHIBA ConfigFree." For one, these names don't exactly stick out in "Add or Remove Programs" in the Control Panel. Secondly, how am I supposed to uninstall the DVD-RAM Driver before I install Vista? Third, if I do a clean install, then why does it matter to uninstall programs? Won't they just be wiped out by the installation process? Also, a quick re-briefing of what I need to back up...all documents, make sure I've got the programs I need on hand...anything else? And one final thing...my license for Microsoft Office 2007 still has two installations left on it. Is there any way I can reinstall it on my computer after upgrading, while not re-using the license? It seems like an awful waste, a $110 devaluation...thanks for all the help!--The Ninth Bright Shiner 03:55, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

That's the reason why many people hate Windows Vista, such as those guys from BadVista.org. I could have sticked to Linux if only they had more hardware support. Blake Gripling 04:01, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

The upgrade advisor is going to tell you to remove stuff because it is an upgrade advisor. If you wipe everything and install (using a non-upgrade version of Vista), you might be OK, but you might need those drivers to have functionality on your machine. The DVD-RAM driver is OK to temporarily remove as that only deals with the DVD-RAM flavour of DVDs -- Vista is a DVD-ROM. Your Office 2007 license should be fine as you aren't changing machines, you're changing your version of Windows. If the authorization process gives you trouble, Microsoft will gladly help out as you're not contravening the license (afaik).

Interesting...I bought the upgrade version, which means I can still do a clean install, right? And if I temporarily remove the DVD-RAM driver, then how would I re-add it? Where would I find a compatible DVD-RAM driver? This is such a big change that my computer knowledge is scarce to none here. Thanks again.--The Ninth Bright Shiner 16:37, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Me personally would advise against upgrading for now. It's not obvious that you can perform a clean install from upgrade media but there are guides to doing so here: http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_upgrade_clean.asp Splintercellguy 21:58, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Wow. Personally, I think that's technologically hilarious. I've been waiting months to get my hands on Vista (even after it came out)...will that "double installation" really work? I always get the feeling that when I try stuff like that, I'll press a wrong button, end up with an unusable computer, and have the feds at my door.--The Ninth Bright Shiner 22:32, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Yes it will really work, and it's horrifying to hear that you're afraid of experimenting with your computer because that's the impetus for all technological advancement! :( --froth^t 23:46, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Well, the thing is, it's the only good computer I have. The despicable desktop is too weak, old, and junky to do much, and if I screw up, how do I get another laptop? Even an astronomical allowance couldn't afford it. I've never had the opportunity to muddle around inside a computer (well, only once), so it's new and risky territory for me. Well, thanks all! I really appreciate all the help! Hasta la Vista, XP!--The Ninth Bright Shiner 04:24, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

DO NOT FORGET to save your emails and email address book!!!! I make this mistake EVERY time I do a clean install of XP. Also, make sure to save any docs and things cluttering up your desktop. Not all your files are conveniently located in "My Documents". Zunaid©® 13:04, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Darn! And I was just about to begin installation. Um...I don't know how to save e-mail messages. That's why all of my old e-mails are on the old computer. How do I save e-mails and whatnot?--The Ninth Bright Shiner 18:00, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

What sort of Email do you use? If it's web-based, you're fine, if it's Thunderbird or Outlook, check Google with something like "Mozilla Thunderbird backup" or "Outlook backup", etc. Also, when I reinstall Windows (even if it's a clean install), I uninstall every program I've installed on it to remove all the icons, folders, etc. that are reinstallable. Anything left over that isn't a system file is probably something that should be saved that I forgot. 68.39.174.238 23:19, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Flagging Youtube users

I've been pissed off at those spammers at Youtube, that post comments linking to porn sites. I've flagged several users before, but I lost the URL for reporting unwanted users. Any suggestions? Blake Gripling 03:58, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

There are links which say "(spam)" next to every comment posted, and a "flag as inappropriate" link next to every video. --h2g2bob (talk) 14:56, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

No, I'm talking about the URL for reporting rouge users to YT for investigation... Blake Gripling 00:15, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Apparently, there's a YouTube video about it.  ;) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpWPArKAuyg Instructions are available also by clicking (more) on the description. But I'll take the plunge and suggest the URL is http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/request.py?contact_type=policy&submit=Continue - does that help? x42bn6 Talk Mess 10:58, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Accessing Wikipedia

hi, i'm not quite sure where i should post this query, and i thought 'computing' may be a suitable category... basically, i love wikipedia but my school has blocked it for some unfathomable reason, so here is my question: are there any other ways (like other websites) through which i might gain access to wikipedia (the encyclopedia and the reference desk)? n i don't mean hacking the system... thanks in advance!

Mm, you could try a proxy, but keep in mind Wikipedia's policy on blocking editing privileges of open proxies. If you're not planning to edit, any random Internet proxy should do it. Splintercellguy 05:35, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Cell access is via http://wapedia.mobi. Some web browsers (like Opera) are able to render the WML pages. --Mdwyer 05:41, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Try getting in contact with the IT admin at your school. I did that a few months ago after Wikipedia was blocked at my school and it turned out it was entirely accidental.Mix Lord 07:09, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Look at proxy.org, for a list of them. Mathmo ^Talk 02:48, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and also a lot of sites are just copying stuff straight off wikipedia. Use google to find them (do a search for what is already in wikipedia). Mathmo ^Talk 02:49, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Here's an easy way of getting around blocked sites: search for it on google, if you know where to find it, and then click on the cached version. Works for text just fine. 68.231.151.161 04:47, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Answers.com: gives you wikipedia page along with other sources - Headphoneguy

response time

What's a reasonable response time on an lcd screen for playing counterstrike? what would be the upper limit that good gamers would consider playing with?

If you don't get an answer here, try asking at the PC Gamer podcast [5] --h2g2bob (talk) 14:49, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Just off the top of my head, I think that a lot of LCD screens used to pose a problem for gamers because of their response times. But now most modern ones that you will buy new should be fine for gaming with. Around about 5 or 8 milliseconds I think should sound around about right. Mathmo ^Talk 02:51, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

ATRAC3 Plus

Hi. I am planning on converting some of my MP3 files into the ATRAC3 plus format, for use on my PSP. However, whenever I try to do it in SonicStage, it comes up with a message saying that it cannot proceed, as file playback is in progress. However, even when there are no tracks playing and it is the only media app that is open, it still has the same message. Does anyone know of how to fix this problem, or if there is an open source alternative to SonicStage out there? Thanks Mix Lord 07:19, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

MP3 player won't use USB port

I have a Samsung YP-U1 MP3 player that I used to connect to a USB CardBus host controller on my laptop but now if no longer connects. I formatted the player but it still does not connect. The controller easily handles my other USB-related devices and flash drives but not the MP3 player. What do I do? --Blue387 08:05, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

One common problem with USB devices is that they "sag" in the USB port, causing either an intermittent connection or no connection. If this is the case, you need a USB extension cable so the MP3 player can sit flat on the table instead of hanging from the USB port. StuRat 10:14, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Adding Image Overlays Remotely in Google Earth.

I want to make a game that would be displayed on google earth via a downloadable kmz file. I will be collaborating with a friend who knows the C programming language. What we need to be able to do is find a way to make image overlays, and adjust the following properties from a remote program:

1) the actual image being overlayed
2) the manual location of the image (eg: 4°0'0" N 6°0'0" W being a corner)
3) the alpha setting

We surmise that there are two ways to do this:

1) DDE - I guess we dont know if google earth is capable of responding to DDE.
2) Web Updates - It seems other users have been able to creat things like markers that indicate the locations of all airplanes in flight in the united states live.... i dont know how this is done, but thats another option i suppose.

Does anyone have an idea how we should do this or any other methods that may be available? Thank you very much for your time!

172.165.22.98 08:12, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Yes, you can do this, and it's actually pretty easy. Instead of an image overlay, you want to add a "Network Link". Basically, a Network Link is just the URL of a server somewhere which Google Earth will query. The server returns some KML (via HTTP, natch), and Google Earth displays it as usual. Google Earth transmits the corner coordinates of the user's current display along with the HTTP request, so the server knows where the user is looking.

I've used this feature to dynamically display placemarks, but as far as I know, there's no reason why a network link couldn't serve up image overlays, too. —Steve Summit (talk) 13:15, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Can two or more people register a domain name?

I am wanting to know if two or more people can choose to have a domain name registered in their names, thus they would all have shared legal ownership of it. Currently the only way I suspect it can be done is through creating a shell company that everybody has equal shares in, and then that company registers the domain name. This is far too much legal stuff that I'd want to bother with however, so is possible to simply register the domain name in multiple people's names? Thanks. 202.89.38.70 08:55, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Could one person own it and offer the other a contract outlining rights and responsibilities? --h2g2bob (talk) 14:45, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

This would mean the original person would still hold the ownership, and in a sense the use of the domain would be "leased" (for free) to the second person? Hmmm.... could look at that option, but is not at all what I'm trying to determine if it is possible. I want I want to have ideally is shared legal ownership between two (or more) people. But from everything I have read the impression I have got is that a domain name can only be registered in one person's name? 202.53.199.75 21:12, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

I think only one person can be listed in WHOIS records, but I'd suggest asking some domain name registrars for advice on this. Terms and conditions vary between the different domains and different registrars, so it might be worth asking a few different registrars. --h2g2bob (talk) 01:00, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, I too believe there is only the one person listed as the registrant on the WHOIS records. Been looking at many registrars' FAQs and their Terms & Conditions, all seeming to say the same thing in only referring to one registrant. Mathmo ^Talk 01:28, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Diablo II crashes when starting game

I don't know what's going on, but lately my Diablo II has been crashing at startup, generating the following error message:

Assertion failure Location : C:\D2\Source\D2Direct3D\Src\d3dTextureCache.cpp, line #82 Expression : tCache->nMaxNumItems

First of all, can someone explain what that "location" even is? I don't have a directory C:\D2, and I've tried searching for the file "d3dTextureCache.cpp" but with no avail. The thing is that it used to work, so I don't know what's going on. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the game. And I'm not running a cracked version of the game; even when I download the trial version from the blizzard website, and install it, I still get the exact same error. So I'm assuming that .cpp file, independent of the game, is corrupted or something. How do I fix it? I'm no C++ programmer, so can someone tell me how to fix it? Or is there something else I am missing? Thanks.--Funnyguy555 11:07, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Never mind: lol. --Funnyguy555 11:08, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

But I'm still curious: what's with the "location"? --Funnyguy555 11:24, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

d3dTextureCache.cpp is one of the source files for the game. Once the source files have been compiled to an executable, they're not normally needed, so they're not provided to the customer (except, of course, in open source projects).

An assertion is a debugging tool used by programmers. An assertion records an assumption that has been made, such as that a certain resource is available, or that a certain pointer is non-null, or that some other necessary condition is known to hold. If, somehow, the assumption is false, the assertion is violated, and this is a "can't happen" error. When an assertion is violated, a message (such as you have seen) is printed, and the program shuts down.

In a C or C++ program, an assertion looks like this:

assert(p != NULL);

This is basically just a shortcut for what could have been written as:

if(p == NULL)

{

fprintf(stderr, "Assertion failed\n");

abort();

}

Wise programmers know that "can't happen" errors sometimes do happen. Usually, catching them with an assertion is better than just letting the program continue, because the result of a program trying to continue when its assumptions have been violated like this is usually a segmentation violation and/or a core dump or a general protection fault or a blue screen of death.

As I mentioned, assertions are primarily thought of as debugging tools. It's a matter of some debate whether assertions should be left enabled in the released, production versions of programs. As you've seen, failed assertions can be bewildering to end users, almost as bewildering as GPF's and BSOD's. Theoretically, once a program has been thoroughly tested and debugged, it will in fact be the case that none of its "can't happen" errors can happen. Traditionally, therefore, assertions were usually removed from production versions. However, the more complex a program gets, the more likely it is that it will have obscure bugs which weren't caught during development and are lurking there for an unsuspecting end user to find. Therefore, some developers choose to leave assertions enabled.

One problem with assertions is when programmers mistakenly use them to catch a "can happen" error. Assertions should only be used to catch conditions which represent fixable logical bugs in the program. An assertion should never be used to test whether a certain file or other resource is available, or whether a user has done something wrong, because it's quite possible that those things might happen. Normally, the absence of a critical resource (and, obviously, every mistake the user can make) should be tested for and diagnosed with a proper user-friendly error message, not a cryptic assertion failure. —Steve Summit (talk) 13:08, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the info =)

By the way it seems to be a hardware issue, something is wrong with my driver. But apparently all other programs run fine. And it works on my other computer, yay =).

Wait but I have a question re your code. Now I'm a Java programmer, but I'm not totally ignorant when it comes to C or C++ code. When you wrote:

In a C or C++ program, an assertion looks like this:

assert(p != NULL);

This is basically just a shortcut for what could have been written as:

if(p == NULL)

{

fprintf(stderr, "Assertion failed\n");

abort();

}

The first part is a method named assert, right? and p is some system resource?--Funnyguy555 14:19, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

P is just a pointer (in java, a "reference") to something. But really this assertion isn't going to help you fix your problem - assertions are only of use to people who have full access to the source code - they're not intended for the ordinary end user. All we can infer from this one (from the name of the C++ source file in which the assertion triggered) is that it just might have something to do with Direct3D, so making sure your D3D install is correct and the video driver is up to date and working. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 15:02, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

In C, assert is actually a macro. (I don't know about C++.) The argument can be any expression to be evaluated as Boolean: p != NULL was just an example. Also, in the example, the fprintf call would better have been written as fprintf(stderr, "Assertion failed at line %d, file %s: %s\n", 82, "TextureCache.cpp", "p != NULL"); -- the point is that the macro causes the correct details to be filled in automatically so the programmer can immediately find the specific call to assert that failed. --Anonymous, August 21, 2007, 23:18 (UTC).

The "C:\D2\[...]" business is because the program source files (.cpp) were located there when they were compiled. If this error were being given to the programmer, they would know where to look. 68.39.174.238 23:24, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Problems with "locked" documents on microsoft word

Ever since I opened this one document on my computer, every single document I try to edit comes up with the message "This modification is not allowed because the document is locked". This happens to every single document! Even when I try to start a new document I can't type anything in it! How do I fix this? --Candy-Panda 11:29, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

You could try uninstalling and reinstalling it, or uninstall it and install OpenOffice. --Seans Potato Business 18:01, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like you have some sort of template problem, or potentially a virus. Try searching for and deleting the "Normal.dot" file. --24.147.86.187 20:58, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Bittorrent ?

What's the best way to hide your IP address while using bittorrent to legally download, files that aren't illegal or copyrighted?--172.163.113.245 12:01, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Not knowing the full details of how these systems work on an IP level, I understand that your IP address is vital to Bittorrent to be able to work its magic by downloading 'bits' from many users, and anybody seeding/downloading will need to be available to other clients via their IP in order for the system to work efficiently. Could well be wrong though! ny156uk 16:04, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

If other people couldn't see your ip, they couldn't send you data.

It's impossible unless you want to tunnel through tor or something (at extremely slow speed, and high cost to tor servers), and the legality of what youre downloading isn't relevant at all. --froth^t 20:52, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Think of it as asking for something to be mailed to your house, but not telling them where your house is. It's the same sort of thing. The IP address tells the internets where your computer "is" on the network, and without that BitTorrent can't function. In any case, if you are using BT for 100% legal transactions, why worry about it? RIAA, etc., only monitor obviously illegal transactions, I am fairly certain.--24.147.86.187 21:02, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Even if they monitor you, what are they going to do, sue you for making a legal download? They're just a lobby group that tattles on people to the recording companies they represent --froth^t 23:34, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Beginner's class for Senior Citizens

I am a member of a Senior Citizens Club and am planning a computers class for rank beginners. My own literacy level is quite low but am willing to try to instruct other seniors on basic computer skills. Is there a course outline somewhere that I could download? Or a Web site that I can develop my own ourline from? Thank you for any help.

It's nice that you're taking some time to help people with their computer skills! I had a look on google and found:

http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/BC/BeginnersComputing.html

http://www.ocdsb.edu.on.ca/teacher_res/pcbasics/defaulta.htm

The second one is very basic but includes handouts (you needn't print them off, if you can get everyone to read it from a computer screen). --Seans Potato Business 16:36, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

• In my experience in teaching people how to use basic computer skills, it is good at first to stick with "how to do specific tasks", which will help them get a bit more comfortable for how a computer works in general. Things like "How do I send an e-mail?", "How do I seach for a web site whose address I do not know?", "How do I print out a letter?" are good beginners topics. I also recommend giving specific step-by-step instructions (numbered, usually), that are basically "recipes" for doing the above tasks, because most people need to do something a few times on their own before it really "sinks in." AARP appears to have some how-to tutorials that you might think about using—here is one on how to use search engines, for example. --24.147.86.187 21:09, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

I teach computer skills to seniors (one is 99 !), and these are a few problems they've had and how I've dealt with them:

1) Many have some vision loss, so set the screen to the lowest resolution available, such as 640x480, so everything appears large. Also, if possible, use full-screen magnifiers, like ZoomText (that one is quite expensive, though).

2) Many have never touched a computer, but have used a typewriter, so just tell them the computer keyboard is "an electronic typewriter with a few extra keys". For example, explain that the ENTER key is just like the RETURN key on a typewriter and that the SHIFT, CONTROL and ALT keys must be held down when another key is pressed, just like the SHIFT key on a typewriter.

3) Many are afraid that "they will break something". Explain that computers "lock up" all the time, but a reboot almost always gets you right back to where you were.

4) Many have trouble remembering, so you must write down things and have them repeat them many times for them to "sink in".

5) Many have trouble using a mouse (such as those with arthritis), so have them use the keyboard arrow keys whenever possible, such as when scrolling on a page, and enter instead of clicking, as when they need to pick the OK button on a menu.

6) Many have limited energy, so keep the classes short, say under an hour per day. StuRat 09:52, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

In addition to what StuRat said above, it might be a good idea to take the hard drive out of the computers, and have them use a LiveCD from an easy to use linux Distro, such as Ubuntu, so that they can become familiar with things like email, web browsing, office documents, without having to worry about messing up the computer --lucid 09:58, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and in addition, I'm not sure how good Ubuntu's accessibility features are, since I've never tried them, but they do definitely exist and are worth trying. You might want to try Ubuntu's built in Compiz functionalities, as it has a simple method to be able to zoom in on certain parts of the screen, which could help read things that are hard to see, without sacrificing space --lucid 10:01, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Many years ago, I taught basic computer use to seniors. I quit because I ended up spending hours on end trying to teach "double-click". It went like: "You need to double-click on the little picture here." -click- "Double-click means you need to click twice." -click- "No. Twice." "I did click twice." "No, twice at the same time, like click-click." -click-... ... ... -click- "No. like click-click, not click... .... ... click." -click-... "What were we doing?" "We're trying to open the email program. You need to double-click on that picture." ... -- Kainaw^(what?) 16:04, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Yes, teaching seniors certainly does require a lot of patience. As for the double click problem, you can set the computer to accept a single click, instead, but I don't like that because then they are lost when they go onto another computer that expects a double click. I do, however, set it to accept the slowest double-click possible, and also encourage use of a single click followed by the enter key (once or twice), since that's easier for seniors. StuRat 19:01, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Well, teaching total newbies, senior citizens in this case, to use a computer does require a lot of patience, since either they're latecomers when it comes to such technology, or some disability such as arthritis keeps them from clicking the mouse like what younger people do. Just like my grandmother for example - I had difficulty at teaching her how to compose a text message on her Nokia 1100 cellphone. OK, no person is too old to try tinkering with a PC. Accessibility features may help, such as Magnifier, and the college that I'm currently attending has a mouse in some of their computers that is equipped with a double-click button, that when you click it, it sends out a double click signal to the computer, thus firing up Grandpa's email program is much easier... Blake Gripling

Protection afforded by DMZ?

The Demilitarized_zone_(computing) article says that the DMZ would be a dead-end for hackers, but if that was the case, wouldn't all companies properly implement a DMZ and you would never hear of customer details etc getting stolen? --Seans Potato Business 16:19, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

The DMZ idea works, no matter what. When you hear of data being stolen, either a DMZ wasnt properly implemented or a security flaw in the internal network was exploited. For example in both the Windows 2000 and Half life 2 code leaks, the exploit occured on the internal network, not on a server in the DMZ. --froth^t 20:51, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Often company details getting stolen or university social security numbers getting stolen, etc., has to do with something far less technological, e.g. someone stupidly putting all of the data onto a laptop and then having the laptop get stolen. Unfortunately security is only as effective as its weakest link. --24.147.86.187 21:19, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

voice recognition / AI

Weird question but; Does there exist somekind of AI program for p.c's. i.e, voice recognition or something. Or a program that you can interact with, and responds logical? I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for myself, so. Any help would be appreciated. -- 84.16.197.184 17:36, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Voice recognition software has existed for some time (speech recognition) but they're still working on artificial intelligence. Opera, the internet browser has speech recognition built in for doing various web-browsing things, but I've never tried it. Take a look at the articles and see what you can find. I know that there are some IM bots that you can talk to, but they're generally pretty useless and repetitive. --Seans Potato Business 17:56, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Speech recognition software doesn't seem "production ready" yet, to me, as it's quite expensive and/or doesn't work well. Specifically, the software needs to be "trained" for your voice, there can't be any other noise in the room, and you need to be careful to pronounce your words well and leave silences between each word. The one place it does work fairly well is when you can only say a small number of very different words, and it picks between those. On the other hand, if you can say any word in the English language, the chances it will get the word right each time are not good. They also have trouble with homonyms, like "to", "two", and "too". You would need a fairly low error rate, say 1% or less, to make it practical. StuRat 09:37, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

There are two different things you speak of. The first, voice recognition, is simply taking sound and converting it into text like this. Then, depending on the implementation (the program that's doing it) it can then understand the text and act appropriately. For example in Microsoft Word it would just type the words you speak and follow certain commands. Now, the second thing you speak about is artificial intelligence. To this date there are computer programs that have been written to appear to be human - see turing test - so in theory it would be possible to write some program that could respond logically to some things you say - the rest if would have to fob off and answer your question with another question, or look up what you say in the dictionary and just tell you the definition - all these are excuses for not understanding what you're talking about. Rfwoolf 14:03, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

monitor connection

I bought a new lcd flatscreen VGA or DVI input. My Radeon video card has both VGA output and DVI output. Right now it's on the analog VGA, and I lack a cable to even try the DVI. Would my high-end games and the DVD's I play on my PC look better using DVI?

no. --froth^t 20:47, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

The difference is pretty minor, unless you have both a high-end graphics card and a high-end LCD panel. The only real advantage is that DVI is a pure digital signal, while VGA is analog. The difference in data integrity is minimal in most cases. -- Kesh 21:09, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

probably won't be a large difference, but it might be there. Using DVI is generally better, as otherwise your video card is making an analog signal for the VGA cable, just to be reconverted to DVI for an LCD, as I understand it. But then, I haven't read up on monitors in awhile, so I forget --lucid

But the video card has dedicated hardware for the VGA connection and so does the monitor, so it's no more taxing on the system. I don't see any benefit in a digital signal- streams interpreted directly by the human senses are where analog equipment shines. --froth^t 23:37, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

If you use sub-pixel rendering for fonts or frequently changes resolutions it's more convenient to use DVI so you don't need to be constantly adjusting it. --antilived^{T | C | G} 08:34, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Displaying 4:3 with a widescreen monitor on an ATI card

I can't seem to find anything in the Catylist control center to run my widescreen monitor in 4:3 for fullscreen apps that are dated and won't accept widescreen resolutions. Can anyone help me out here? --154.20.111.209 22:07, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

I have catalyst set up to center lower resolutions in fullscreen mode- this is so when I run UT2004 (which only supports up to 1280x1024) it doesn't try to stretch it to 1400x1050 (my native resolution) and look terrible because LCD monitors can't scale. Maybe you should just use this option.. I doubt you'll be able to find a 'force 4:3' option. You'll have to live with a tiny screen area for really old apps that only support VGA/XGA, though. Just turn on the Advanced view and take a look through the options, im sure you'll find it --froth^t 23:41, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Browser bookmarks

I just switched from Internet Explorer to Firefox. Is there any way to transfer the bookmarks to the new browser, so I don't have to re-type them all? — Michael J 23:29, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks > File > Import. Also it asked you when you ran it for the first time --froth^t 23:37, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. (It asked me a lot of things when I first ran it, I guess I must have missed that!) — Michael J 23:43, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

August 20

Image Scanner

Hello. I have read the image scanner article. Other than color depth, optical resolution, and density range; for what else should I be looking when planning to buy a new scanner? Thanks in advance. --Mayfare 04:37, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Depends on what you want it for. Are you planning to scan photographic negatives? (If so, make sure it can do so.) Are you planning to take it around with you from place to place, or will it be kept in on place? (If the former, you might want to get one that uses LCD banks as its light source, as they weigh a lot less.) --24.147.86.187 06:44, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Optical character recognition is important is you want to scan in documents and be able to edit them, search through them, etc. Related to that is the ability to take a slightly rotated image (say 1 degree) and fix the rotation so you don't get "jaggies" on straight lines. The maximum size of the image that can be scanned is also important, of course. One problem with my scanner is that it doesn't compress the scanned image onboard, but instead sends it to the computer to do that. This slow transfer of an uncompressed image makes it take a very long time to complete the process on max resolution (it also uses the slower USB 1.0 cable). StuRat 09:26, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Questions about Puppy Linux

I just installed Puppy Linux on my computer and I have a few questions:

• Can I install APT and dpkg on Puppy Linux, I know it's not native?
• How do I uninstall applications that came with Puppy Linux
• How do I install OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox, and Inkscape

 Tcrow777  talk  05:58, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Never mind, I got rid of Puppy Linux, it is not the Linux for me. Tcrow777 ^Talk 23:14, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

In that case, if you're looking for another compact Linux installation, may I suggest Damn Small Linux ? It works well, although you're bound to confuse people when you say you have "DSL". StuRat 03:16, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Public domain SHA512 code

Can someone point me to a PD SHA512 implementation? Any language will do, but C is preferrable.

There's two listed at SHA#Implementations. OpenSSL might have what you need. ~Inkington 18:41, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Touch pad scroll

Hello all, I have a Dell inspiron laptop(6400), but recently, the scroll down on the touch pad wouldnt work on some sites. Any ideas on how to fix this?

One problem I've had is that the scrollable area on a page isn't always selected. If this is the prob, you need to pick on that area, or on the scroll bar for that area, first, then you should be able to scroll normally. StuRat 09:16, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Repeatable table in InfoPath 2007

I made a form on the InfoPath 2007 and put a repeatable table in it. The form is supposed to take a name and search for the records that have this name in them. I have a submit button, and added a rule on it to fill the fields in the table according to the given name. The problem appears when I have more than one record containing that name, as only one record would appear. I know that this might be because I bind the returned result to a certain field in the table, but how could I represent all of them ? (I just feel like I need some sort of a loop but I dunno how)

programming

was perusing thru the questions being asked by guys.the guy who asked about programming.its some days back but he or she was a serious student and wanted to teach himself programming.personally i dont think its possible.am trying to learn c ++ in school and its tough enuff.i dont think its advisable to give false hopes to guys.or if am wrong and someone knows anybody whose a self taught programmer.plse feel free to share the info with me

Uh, simply put, you're wrong. Thousands of people have taught themselves how to program with no problem. There's not very much at all you can't teach yourself. Hell, some things are easier to learn by yourself than in a class room-- I practically slept through my HTML classes because I could finish the entire assignment in a matter of minutes. I taught my classmates more than the teacher did by fixing problems for them, I had pretty much nothing to do there --lucid 10:29, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

I think it's fair to say that most or all top-flight programmers above a certain age taught themselves how to program, since instruction simply wasn't widely available at the time. I personally learned everything I know about programming from reading books on my own, as my university education was very CS theory-oriented with minimal actual coding involved (sadly, many computer scientists in academia consider actual programming to be an embarassing detail of their discipline). --Sean 13:49, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

The problem with programming is the scope is currently huge. There are dozens of languages, several operating systems, different implementations (database programming, web programming, graphics/games) etc. So at the end of the day you need to ask yourself what your goal is. To be a programmer? Or just to program SOMETHING? If you'd like to move into the world of programming, it is very difficult to get into a position where your skills are up to date (to get some high-end jobs) (the world is constantly changing) but that's no reason to not master a language well - pick a language (C++ if you like), dabble and dabble, buy the books, do whatever tutorials you can, look at other people's work, and you'll get there. Indeed HTML is one of the easiest "languages" to learn - you could spend about 30 - 45 mins (even much less) and already be up to speed on HTML (of course a lot of practise makes you good) - so there's hope for that. There is some merit in learning programming through college or through a degree -they usually go into great unnecessary depth and will teach you how a computer operates first - meanwhile others just skip all that and stick to the language and get by just fine. Rfwoolf 13:58, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

HAHA! Computer science is by nature a self-taught field. "i don't think it's possible" to stuff it into a classroom! Give Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution a read. If you can't teach yourself, it's not something you want to be doing for the rest of your life, since perusing obscure documentation for days is one of the hallmarks of a good programmer :) --froth^t 14:38, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Several notes:

• Stricty speaking, HTML isn't a programming language, it's a markup language.

• I usually claim that "learning to program" is an almost-completely-separate skill from learning any given programming language. The skills you learn in learning to program (basic procedural stuff, loop control, representation of data, etc.) are pretty-much universally applicable no matter what language you end up implementing in.

• Choice of language isn't all that important; once you learn one C-like language (C, C++, Perl, PHP, Java, Javascript, C#, etc.), you can quickly learn to speak additional C-like languages. The same for Lisp-like languages. Pretty much the same for the older languages like Fortran, BASIC, and COBOL.

• I certainly agree that beyond the basics, you'll be self-teaching a lot of the time so you might as well learn to do it now ;-).

Atlant 18:02, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

I know that, I'm saying that some things are easier to teach yourself than learn in a classroom, HTML doesn't have anything to do with programming --lucid 18:18, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Bare 'buntu?

Is there any way to get Ubuntu without any non-essential programs preinstalled, so I can pick and choose what I want or don't want? Like, install the Ubuntu GNOME desktop, but not be stuck with all the games and graphics stuff I never use. Like, install it and have the Restricted Drivers manager, but install gedit/OOo/GIMP as I need them? --lucid 10:47, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Ubuntu is a pretty form of Debian. As such, Ubuntu installs all kinds of stuff for you - which you had to do manually in Debian. I'd suggest switching to Debian if you don't want Ubuntu's extra help. -- Kainaw^(what?) 12:10, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

I tried debian, the package and permissions were all sorts of messed up. I like Ubuntu's stuff, I just want to be able to pick and choose what programs I install and don't install --lucid 12:15, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

I read that you can do a server-install and then this:

sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install x-window-system-core xterm gdm icewm menu firefox synaptic

to get a minimal desktop. --Sean 13:54, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, but then you still get all the server edition software =/ Same smell, different crap --lucid 15:34, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

You do realize that you can use apt to remove anything you don't want, don't you? -- Kainaw^(what?) 15:59, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Not true-- the default desktop package includes a lot of packages that can't be removed without removing a lot of useful things, last I tried --lucid 18:17, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Those are dependencies. A program you want may depend on one (or many) you don't want. You have two choices: Accept the dependencies or build from source. Obviously, accepting the dependencies is a lot easier. -- Kainaw^(what?) 19:10, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

I know what they are, I'm saying that they are not needed, which is why a bare bones version would be helpful --lucid 19:12, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Here's the deal. Bare bones Ubuntu, as you call it, is Debian. You said you don't want Debian. You want Ubuntu - which is Debian with a lot of stuff force-fed on you without asking if you like it or not. So, you apparently want to fork off Ubuntu to turn it back into Debian without calling it Debian. You are allowed to do that. -- Kainaw^(what?) 19:14, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, ok, you don't get the point at all. So, does anyone know of something like what I'm talking abotu? ---lucid 19:16, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Rather than getting a bare kernel, maybe xubuntu or kubuntu will be more to your liking. Kainaw's very correct in his advice - you can get Ubuntu and remove all the programs you do not like; or you can get Debian or a raw linux kernel and build up to your comfort level. Unless you put significant effort in, no pre-packaged distribution will have exactly the amount of "stuff" installed that you personally desire - you will find distributions with lots of addons, and distributions with zero add-ons; and you can add or remove as you wish. Nimur 19:24, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Part of the problem the OP is experiencing may be that some software packages — particularly desktop environments like GNOME or KDE — are highly modular, consisting of dozens if not hundreds of little subpackages. This leaves the would-be user with two choices: either install a single "metapackage" that depends on all the components, or manually pick just the packages you want and install only those and their dependencies. The problem with the latter approach is that, unless you're very familiar with the internals of the software you're trying to install, you may end up with a system that is technically functional but not really very useful — simply because you've left out a package or two that, while technically optional, are nonetheless highly recommended for a normal user experience. (For example, it's in fact possible to install a desktop environment like KDE without an X server. However, unless you're planning to use your desktop remotely from another computer, you'll almost certainly want the X server, and most likely a display manager like kdm too.) Essentially, the problem is that, going beyond the one-choice-fits-all metapackages, you get too much choice in what to install. Compound this with the fact that even package maintainers aren't perfect (I've ended up with circular dependencies in the Debian KDE packages before) and the mess is complete. By the way, all this applies equally well to Debian and Ubuntu, and probably to most other distros as well. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 23:27, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Activation of extended buttons in Edit box toolbar.

I am working on building my own animation related wiki, but am hopeless at coding for things like wikitables. I wanted to activate the extended set of buttons on the edit toolbar (Insert a Table, etc) but according to the wiki code, the code for those buttons is in a file which doesn't come with the Mediawiki software (wikibits.js, supposed to be in the style folder). Can someone please point out the correct area to go to either get the relevant code, or point me in the direction of what I need to do to activate those extra buttons. Thanks. Thor Malmjursson 12:57, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

This is Wikipedia's wikibits.js. Don't know if it contains any Wikipedia-specific code. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 14:18, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Had a look, and that doesn't look to be too helpful. I can't see anything in that which could contribute to me being able to do what I need to do, so I am gonna have to ask for help to get these buttons activated. Can anyone please assist with what I need to do, please? Thanks for the assist Matt, but I am pretty poor with Javascript!!! :) Thor Malmjursson 14:31, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

OK, here are the URLs to the Mediawiki codes that may help you with your problem; I tried it in my wiki and it worked like a charm...

Common.css table formatting stylesheet Common.js - this one adds additional buttons to your Edit box toolbar

I hope this helps with your problem... Blake Gripling 00:35, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Blake, you are a God. I have printed out both sets of code as I don't have a media storage device to transfer on, but I will get those done tonight (36 pages of code) and get that up and working. I have no doubt it will do the job I need it for, so many thanks! Thor Malmjursson 10:37, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Transferring hand written text to the computer

I have some papers that I wrote in pencil (very neat printing) and I want to transfer the text to the computer so that I could print it so that it seems as if I typed the text. Is there a program or a way to do this through scanning? Thanks a lot.

See optical character recognition - there's a list of software near the end. I don't have any experience with any of them; someone else might have a more specific recommendation. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 14:21, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Unless your handwriting is really excellent, you might be better off to just type it in yourself, or hire a typing service to do it for you. My local craigslist has typists for US$15 per hour. --Sean 15:09, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Shouldn't typists be paid per letter/word/page, not per hour ? (A typist paid per hour will get paid more per job the slower they type, so I could make a fortune !) StuRat 17:20, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

S/he's obviously figured out your cunning business model. Just take on as many jobs as you can, and never type any of them, and you'll soon pass Bill Gates^W^W, er, some Mexican tycoon soon. :) --Sean 18:19, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

It's private info so I'd prefer not let someone else read it and type it. Can anyone recommend a good software from this list which Matt linked to. Thanks.

I agree with Sean that it's not likely to be the time saver you imagine, because you'll end up spending more time scanning and correcting OCR errors in the documents than you would if you just typed them in yourself. StuRat 18:55, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

OCR at its best (on even previously typed text) requires hours and hours of checking. On handwriting -- don't bother. Re-type it yourself. It will save you a lot of time. Re-typing things is also a nice way to catch bad grammar, typos, etc. --24.147.86.187 23:13, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

tv on computer

Hi, I know that this is a very vague question, but how do you get TV on a laptop? I don't think I have a TV card, though I was going to use my expresscard 54mm slot in the side of my computer. I see this card http://www.engadget.com/2006/12/12/siano-announces-suwonexpress-expresscard-for-mobile-tv/, but I wonder sometimes how good the reception would be, with such a tiny ariel. What is attractive about it is that it is so compact, because the ariel goes straight back in again when your finished with it. In tv cards for the expresscard slot I don't think the ariel normally is built in, and I think that the linked one would only receive terrestial.

Can you get freeview (Im in Britain) in expresscard slots like this, and if so, do you need an external ariel, or digibox etc. separately for it? Given that siano are israeli, are there any implications for it about tv being broadcast in different formats and different countries? (Sorry for being so vague, but I know virtually nothing about doing this!

Let me address some of those questions:

1) Yes, you need a TV tuner card to be able to show broadcast TV on your laptop. There are, of course, many TV programs placed on the web, so you could get those without a TV tuner, but they tend to be low resolution, low frame rate versions capable of being sent over the Internet quickly.

2) A large external antenna will certainly help reception dramatically. A pair of telescoping rabbit ears are rather compact and lightweight.

3) The TV tuner card would definitely need to support the broadcast format or formats in all the places you travel.

4) You didn't ask, but the typical max resolution of a laptop (1024x768, 24 bit color, say) is adequate for low res TV broadcasts, such as PAL, but not quite as high as HDTV broadcasts, especially as compared with 1080i, which has a resolution of 1920x1080. You would therefore have to cut the resolution approximately in half to display it on a laptop, but that's still far better than most webcasts. StuRat 17:15, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your answer. 1) Is there a directory floating around somewhere that will tell me if I have a tuner card? The ebay listing wasnt very detailed on computer internal organs.

2) I'll be very skeptical then, of any ariel as short as Lord Farquad (short King out of Shrek). By rabbit ears, you mean this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipole_antenna#Set-top_TV_antenna?

3)Does broadcasting format vary much throughout europe/n. America? (though, the above linked machine seemed to be very flexible)

4) That would be encouraging. My computer screen is a wide one (16:9, I think) so that will help. Though a good reception will probably help more than a good screen. Suppose there's no way to know until I try it, then.--Farsi597 17:51, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

1) You aren't going to get a TV tuner card included for free with your laptop unless you have one heck of a high-end laptop, so that's quite unlikely. You could go to Control Panel + System + Device Manager tab to look through the hardware on your system, but I'd say your chances of having a TV tuner card are less than 1%.

2) Yes, that's what I mean by rabbit ears. They are inherently portable.

3) Yes, see the PAL link for a chart by country (although there may still be slight variations within a format, as well). Most of Europe is on the PAL standard, with a few SECAM nations, like France. All of North America is currently on the NTSC standard, but the US is switching to HDTV, with NTSC scheduled to be turned off there in 2009. So, if you were planning to travel between the UK, France, Canada, and the US, you would need support for all 4 standards.

Common misperception - the US is switching to Digital television (aka DTV), which supports, but does not guarantee or require HDTV. --LarryMac | Talk 13:47, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Technically it doesn't, but the reality is that almost every station is going to simultaneously make the jump to digital (ATSC) at the same time they jump to HDTV broadcasts, it just wouldn't make economic sense to pay the huge upgrade costs and still send out crappy, lo-res signals that would lose them their customer base in short order. StuRat 14:27, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

4) I have a TV tuner card on a desktop computer, using rabbit ears, and it's reception is about the same as the TV. StuRat 18:35, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

AFAIK all European countries are transitioning to DVB, and your only problem with broadcasting format would be with the American ATSC. There are lots of cheap DVB USB sticks on the market, and they do require an external aerial if the signal isn't very strong. The selection of ExpressCard DVB receivers seems to be more limited. 84.239.133.38 20:02, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

1) For a laptop bought at less than GBP500 last year, a tv tuner card isn't going to be there. OK. But is that not what comes in the USB/expresscard slots, so that is why I'm looking for one of those?

2) OK.

3)UK support will be quite enough. I think I'll be happy with pal/secam - but is there any way I know to use which one/both? The map lists the UK for pal and secam.

4)Well in that case I will not be trusting the siano link above.

To be straight, though, I would rather not have a tv swallow one of my two usb ports, whereas I can't see myself doing anything else with an expresscard hole. Might as well put a plug of some kind into it. Though can anyone fit freeview into the picture? (Since all uk terrestial is duplicated on freeview anyway, terrestial wouldn't be a problem if I had freeview. And I don't see myself, in Europe, as wanting to pick up an ATSC signal.)

To get this all untangled (which it is tangled, to me): you need a tuner in the form of a USB/expresscard stick, which the ariel plugs into. Minus a liscence and possibly freeview box, that's about it?Farsi597 23:02, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

If you get a DVB-T receiver for your computer, whether USB or ExpressCard, you will be watching freeview, and not the old-style analog broadcast. No separate set-top box is needed. However, I don't think you'll be able to see any pay-TV channels, but perhaps someone from the UK knows better? 84.239.133.38 05:59, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeview#Service_costs says that yes, it is dvb-t but a settop box is needed, so this is why I ask. So Ill assume that the settop box is built in to the receiver then. Quite right I won't see paying channels, which is the point of freeview - its free. Most digital in britain is not.Farsi597 13:38, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

And about the rabbit ears, does size matter, or will something like this [6] do?Farsi597 15:25, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Sure size matters (or nobody would make large ones). You have to decide if that antenna has sufficient reception capabilities for your needs. StuRat 14:40, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. Now my focus has shifted. I see reports that some cards need very fast computers because of all the ecnoding that needs to be done, but I don't know what encoding is. When is this a problem? just when video is being recorded, or only when watched live? And could anyone recommend a budget end usb dongle which does it for me, to take the load of my cpu? (I have 1.7 ghz in my processor, and about 1.5-2 (cant remember precisely) GB of ram under the bonnet.Farsi597 21:33, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

My roommate got a dongle for 5USD from Fry's Electronics. It requires a lot of CPU time, apparently, because the video will skip if I unplug my laptop (since the CPU automatically slows down when it's unplugged). This is just watching, btw. It could also be that the software included with the dongle just sucks. I have an Intel Core Duo 1.83 GHz with 2 GB DDR2 SDRAM. --M1ss1ontomars2k4 17:19, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

What's wrong with Wikipedia? (or my computer?)

I'm getting terribly exasperated. I don't know what's going on with my web browsers (all of them, FireFox, Opera, IE) or some errors from Meta that cause such annoyance. Thing is I couldn't see the diffs. I even couldn't edit pages with FireFox and Opera as well (I have to use sucking IE to post this message). Each time I open diffs or click edit this page, that time appears stupid warnings like these (the browsers compel me to download the index.php file):

Firefox:
-----------Opening index.php-------------
You have chosen to open
index.php
from: http://en.wikipedia.org/
What should Firefox do with this file?
• Open with (Browse)
• Save to Disk
--------------------------------------------------

IE:
-------------File download---------------
Some files can harm your computer. If the file information below [blah blah blah].
File name: index.php
File type:
From:http://en.wikipedia.org/
Would you like blah blah....
--------------------------------------------------

And Opera the same content. -_- So WHAT I SHOULD DO NOW? Or I have to use IE for my lifetime to post but not be able to see diffs? @pple 16:46, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

OMG, even IE doesn't work when I click "edit this page". It only functions when I click the "+" sign or edit particular section (like this section). What's going on? @pple 17:01, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like the HTTP Content-Type is getting stripped off somehow. Your browsers aren't getting the clue that Wikipedia pages are all, in fact, in HTML (even though none of them actually end in ".html"), and are therefore throwing various fits not knowing what to do with the blank or missing content type.

Since you're having it with all your browsers, it's not a browser problem. Since I'm not having it, it's probably not a Wikipedia problem. I've never heard of a cache or proxy that strips out Content-Type lines (because that would obviously be fantastically broken), but that's what it sounds like is, bizarrely, happening... —Steve Summit (talk) 17:20, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

This page shows some discussion of a similar sounding problem related to Wordpress software. One potential culprit seems to be the Google toolbar, do you have that installed? Also, what other software might you have installed recently? --LarryMac | Talk 17:25, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Go into Special:Preferences, and look for the checkbox that says "use external editor" and uncheck it. Relatively common problem, that shows up on the Help Desk from time to time.--69.118.235.97 21:37, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Oh, great thanks, IP. It's true that I tweaked my preferences on 19th and from then the problem occurred. i didn't understand why I ticked that sucking checkbox, though. I just wonder why meta developers still let that function enabled while it just creates trouble? @pple 01:58, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

dvd writer drive that doesn't write dvds!

Hi, i have a philips ed16dvds external usb drive. It can read dvds and cds. It can write cds. It USED to be able to write dvds +/-, but doesn't anymore, for a reason that is beyond me!

When i create a writeable folder on the blank dvd (using the windows tool), and click to write, it tells me to make sure im using a writeable disk or one that isn't copy protected.

ive tried various firmware updates to no avail. Can anyone help?

cheers.

Have you tried using alternative burning programs like Nero or CDBurnerXP? Splintercellguy 19:14, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

First, a question - what version of Windows are you working with? Second, a suggestion - Check the Recording tab on the properties window for the drive and see if there's a checkbox to allow DVD writing. --LarryMac | Talk 14:02, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

splintercellguy - ive tried using both of them, and they don't work.

larrymac - im using xp, and there isn't a check box to enable dvd writing. Though there is one to enable CD recording.

harddrive recovery?

What are some good freeware programs that can be used to try and recover a bad harddrive?--69.118.235.97 20:04, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

I dunno; the only option that I know of as of now is to send the damaged hard disk to a data recovery center. To my knowledge, such firms are only located in Singapore and the US/Canada region (and they're expensive, too)... Blake Gripling 00:40, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Try 'Drive Rescue' (available free on the net [7]) before spending good money on a hard drive recovery company.

If the HDD won't start at all or is physically damaged, then yes the data company. If the HDD is still accessible, then I would use TestDisk. Splintercellguy 03:39, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Keyboard switching languages

I have a really confusing problem. My computer is a Canadian edition of the Toshiba Satellite laptop, and it comes equipped with a dual english/french keyboard. It`s running windows vista. For some reason the keyboard will spontaneously switch into french sometimes, and I can`t figure out why. When it does, it only types french in text boxes in the browser - notepad and word still type in english. Also, in the OS language settings, only US english appears installed for both the system language and the keyboard layout. So what gives? How do I control when it changes, how to I stop it changing, and how do I switch it back to english? Thanks. (I can`t even sign my post because I can`t find the tilde key on the french keyboard!)

Check the langauge settings and make sure that the key to quickly switch between keyboards is not something simple (like control+alt or something like that). You could, of course, always just remove support for the French keyboard, if you don't use it (it is not THAT hard to type in accents and c-cedillas on an English keyboard, anyway). --24.147.86.187 11:26, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

The language settings where?! As I said, in the Vista control panel after selecting "Regional Settings and Languages" the only installed keyboard layouts and languages are english. Could it be some sort of unicode thing? I suspect this because it only appears to happen in internet text boxes. And when it's happening there notepad, etc still work normally. -24.83.251.149 08:02, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Shape tweening in Flash CS3

I am trying to do a very simple shape tween in Flash CS3 and it is giving me the most ridiculous results.

To illustrate the problem, I have copied the exact same shape to two different parts of the timeline and told it to shape tween into itself. The shape itself is just a modified rectangle—very simple! Here is the before and after shape to be tweened:

File:User-Panoptik-Shape Tween problem 1.png

But here is what it gives me for every frame of the shape tween:

File:Image-User-Panoptik-Shape Tween problem 2.png

Now I know the basics of shape tweening but this confounds me. I haven't broken any major rules to my knowledge (i.e. applying shape tweens to layers with grouped objects etc.), and it doesnt have a little "warning" button on the properties window as it does when you do something improper. Yet it can't handle this simple tween (much less the slightly more complicated variation that I really want it to do, where the nodes move out a bit).

I have tried adding shape hinting but it made absolutely no difference. What's up with this? Why can't I get it to work? Changing the tween settings from distributive to angular had no effect on the result. Can Flash really not tween such simple objects (I know it can try to do more complicated objects—does the simplicity throw it off?)? Note that when I add a keyframe to see what the intermediary shape is, Flash has simply deleted one of the nodes (and made it a triangle). Which is retarded.

Any thoughts would be appreciated... thanks! --Panoptik 20:32, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Note that I figured out the answer: Flash really doesn't know how to tween very small objects with small numbers of nodes very well. In this case by adding a number of superfluous nodes to the lines it started working more like what I wanted. I've also found that enlarging the object helps a lot — tweening very small objects tends to make Flash unhappy. Just a note in case anyone else ever runs into a problem like this... --Panoptik 00:52, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

download speeds

all things being equal if i was to download 2 files would it be any quicker to download them one at a time, or both at the same time, assuming say a negligible delay when downloading them seperatly for clicking the next link?--Colsmeghead 21:14, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Usually it is faster to download them both at the same time, since you are not likely to be actually capping out your download speed cap with any single file stream, unless it is one heckuva fast connection between you and the other computer. Assuming that they are both coming in at slower-than-your-maximum-downstream, having two file streams coming in simultaneously will get you both files faster than having them come one at a time. If, however, you are talking about a situation where you have a very limited total download speed (like on a modem), then having simultneous streams doesn't help things. --24.147.86.187 21:19, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Assuming that both files are coming in through the same bottleneck (which will usually be your personal internet connection, whether dialup, ADSL or whatever), any difference will be due to intricacies of the TCP flow control mechanism. Such effects are likely to be complicated, and I can't honestly say which way the overall effect might point, though they're likely to be minor in any case. Of course, the situation will be different if the speed of one download is limited by a bottleneck that is not shared by the other: in that case, downloading both at the same time will obviously be faster. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 23:05, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

There is another factor, in today's Internet - Is there any possibility of "losing" the files' source, or is it a stable webserver? If the source can disappear, it's better to get the first file, then get the second. Consider Limewire or Bearshare or Kazaa, peer-to-peer file-sharing networks. There IS a bottleneck somewhere; maybe your PC, maybe your internet connection, maybe the source PC or connection; it doesn't matter where it is, all that matters is that there IS a bottleneck, and you have a limited bandwidth. So, to make up numbers, if the available bandwidth for the connection is 100KB/s (to make the math easy), and you want two files of 3MB each, that's a total of 60 seconds for the 6MB total. Recognize that the source may well disappear before you are done. If it drops off the 'net in 50 seconds, you get a very functional difference between the two strategies. You can download both at once, and end up with two unuseable fragments, or you can download the first, then start the second when the first is finished, and end up with one complete file, and one unuseable fragment. -the voice of experience.... SandyJax

Tracking down an IP range

How would I track down the IP range of a named organization (say, a news service or an oil company)? Is there any way of doing it?—Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.176.249.239 (talk • contribs)

Go to ARIN, and enter the name of the organization you want to track down, and it should give you a set of IP ranges. --69.118.235.97 23:02, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Im having some limite success that way - are there any other ways of getting thse that they don't have?

A lot of news services and big companies are blocked by PeerGuardian. Try subscribing to all the blocklists and searching through the files, those people are usually pretty thorough. --froth^t 01:46, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

August 21

Flash video to MP3 conversion

I have a .flv file that I'd like to convert to .mp3. What's the best free software to accomplish that? Corvus cornix 02:06, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Try this Xilisoft Video Converter 3.1. @pple 02:26, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

The video won't go with it though.

I don't understand the above. Corvus cornix 15:38, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

He's saying that converting a flash video to an mp3 audio file means you lose all the video, and are left only with the audio. Raul654 15:40, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

You understand that MP3 is an audio format. It does not support video. Perhaps you mean MPEG-4? --24.249.108.133 15:04, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Use VLC's Streaming and Exporting Wizard; you can tell it to transcode the audio only. --M1ss1ontomars2k4 17:15, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Try this total video converter.

Free Website Advertising Services

Im trying to get my website name out there.... basically i want to find a good quality free service that allows my site url to be seen by possibly a target audience that i specify, or maybe some other way of ensuring that the people i want to see it see it.

I remember some type of service long ago where you had to look at other peoples ads, and each ad you looked at ensured you that someone would see yours. I guess theres lots of systems out there and its hard to go through all of them and determine what the easiest fastest way is to get traffic.

NOTE: If it helps, i am trying to promote a community on IRC which promotes cultural learning/interaction and general information sharing.

Any suggestions?

172.165.22.98 03:33, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

(PS: is http://www.linkreferral.com/adwel.pl any good? https://www.mochiads.com/ ?)

Well, one place you shouldn't try to get your website noticed is on Wikipedia articles or on your userpage, because the wiki software we use prevents external links from topping search engine results. –sebi 03:56, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

That is not my intent. :) I am simply asking if there are any services which people have noticed are fast, easy, and free.... that work good :) note that i havent actually posted the URL to my irc community here ;D

172.165.22.98 04:36, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

That's a tough problem. I'm not sure of the answer, but I do know that the look-at-other-peoples-ads stuff was basically a dumb idea that didn't work. Most of those have shut down, and any that haven't are still worthless. Forget about them. I'd suggest making sure your community offers real value to those who visit. Things people like will be things they tell their friends about. -- Tugbug 01:10, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

I agree tugbug, though its difficult to tell what people will like. I did give the idea to a student coordinator type person and she said its a great idea because exchange students could get on and share their experiences :o so im really thinking its worth it.

Additionally, ill assume you know what youre talking about regarding the "view other peoples ads"..... so i should look for a service that uses some other method?

172.134.38.69 02:50, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

This is bad...

This is bad. This is real real bad...I successfully installed Vista with that silly "double-installation" method. Everything going well, so I decide to install Microsoft Office 2007. Thing is, I got the upgrade version, back when I had Works sittin' around on my computer. But Vista doesn't come with Works. Is there any way I can salvage this Office Professional 2007 disc? Could the upgrade consider the old Windows files? Is the only way to buy another Office disc? I'm really worried now, 'cause everything was just going fine...--The Ninth Bright Shiner 04:17, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Well, you could try to double-install Office, though I am dubious it would work. --24.147.86.187 11:23, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Man oh man oh man...now I'm having trouble with iTunes. I've got all of my music and stuff on my iPod, and I've transferred purchased music from iTunes, but what about music not from my iTunes? I remember a way to transfer an entire iPod library to an iTunes one, but I can't remember...oh boy...--The Ninth Bright Shiner 06:05, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

I'm confused as to what this problem is? --24.147.86.187 11:23, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

OOo, and just transfer the files using a flash drive or something if you aren't very technically minded --lucid 12:41, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Well, let me restate the problem. I had Windows XP and Microsoft Works. This enabled me to get the upgrade to Office 2007. Now, I just did a clean install of Windows Vista, which doesn't seem to come with any software making you eligible for an Office 2007 Upgrade. Now, the old Windows files are stored in a folder named "Windows.Old." I can see the old Office programs sitting there, but they're sort of unusable; that is, you can't launch them. Now, can those programs in Windows.Old qualify the computer for another Office 2007 Upgrade, or will I just have to get a regular version of Office (i.e., another Office disc)?--The Ninth Bright Shiner 15:08, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and to restate the other problem. I transferred all of my music to my iPod before installing Vista. When Vista was all good and ready, I installed iTunes, then transferred all of my iTunes purchases from my iPod to iTunes. But, I have non-iTunes purchases on the iPod. How should I transfer them to iTunes, without manually sifting through all of my files on it? When I first got this computer, I remembered using a convenient method that transferred everything on the iPod to iTunes, but I don't remember how to do so...any suggestions?--The Ninth Bright Shiner 15:13, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

No, you won't be able to legitimately install Office 2007 Upgrade without a previous office product installed. Check out warez-bb or demonoid. And you won't get any help (or sympathy) from this editor if you make the choice to lock yourself into such fantastically defective design (itunes/ipod). --froth^t 20:36, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Microsoft Works is an oxymoron. Juanita Hodges 04:35, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Why not find your original Works install media from your recovery media (may be difficult) and then proceed as normal? If you can't get Works or an upgrade candidate, you may be quite screwed. Alternative is to buy a cheap old copy of Office on eBay or something and then use that.

ip not resolving but name through resolving..

we have fc7 and opening pages through ip(http://196.12.53.10) it shows "Bad Request

Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand. Apache/2.2.0 (Fedora) Server at 192.168.36.202 Port 80"

but through name(http://mail.iiit.ac.in) is working fine..

where the problem??? plz solve the problem, i have done latest updates also.. problem may be fc7 php or httpd ??? but fc5 working fine

..john--196.12.53.9 05:37, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

I don't know, since I am not an Apache expert. Your server certificate seems to be screwed up though. Firefox gave me some warnings about it. Splintercellguy 05:43, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps you've got a name-based host set up, such that apache doesn't know what to do with connections to the IP. Check the error_logs. In addition, I see that connecting to the named host issues a redirect to the https:// site, which has a self-signed certificate for localhost.localdomain. You really ought to regenerate the certificate for mail.iiit.ac.in at least, otherwise some browsers won't read it. -- JSBillings 10:38, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Keyboard/mouse codes ?

Dear Sir/Madam,

One of my computer game stores its input settings in a file by the name of UserInfo.cfg and I have been trying to manually make it recognize one of the buttons of my Logitech MX700 cordless mouse. However I have no idea whatsoever in what programming language these keys are being referred. Does anyone have any idea reading the involved code and ultimately existence of a comprehensive database of the actual keyboard and mouse commands for that matter ?

As an example keyOptics[]={82} is [NUM 0] and keyWalk[]={65539} is Mouse Button #4.

Sincere remerciements in advance,
Matt714 06:53, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Your keyboard example is just a scan code, although given in decimal instead of the more common hex. The external link in that article has more than you'd ever want to know about those; just look in section 1 for the standard "Set 1" codes. As for the mouse, I don't know (it does not appear to follow the mouse scan codes given in the same reference); my guess is that it's using the 65536 (0x10000) bit as an internal-to-the-game indicator that "this is a mouse button" and then is just taking the rest (3 in this case) as a button number. (0 would be button #1, so 3 is #4.) Does that help? --Tardis 14:50, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, this what exactly what I was searching for. Your guess turned out to be positive, I managed to fix the issue concerning the recognition failure of Mouse Button #1. Matt714 18:56, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Windows Movie Maker

How do I mute video clips so that my music plays over it? --124.254.77.148 06:58, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

When you drag it to the story board, there's a + mark by the clip. Open that, and you'll see the audio track of the video. Right click on that and select mute. Now drag a music file to the audio section of the story board. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 16:57, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Domain name selling related help

I am having 5 good domain names. They are readersday.com, bloggersday.com, browsersday.com, timesz.com, u4universe.com. I am interested in selling those domain names. What do you think is the best price for these domain names? Where can I sell these names? Or, Which website can I sell these names? Should I sell them one by one or all five of them in one? -Balaji.

I have no idea personally but Google seems to know the answer: [8] JoshHolloway 12:24, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

duplicates

Are there any freeware programs that eliminate duplicates? Clem 08:20, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

I have been using CloneSpy for years and it is in my opinion the best freeware file duplicates finder. It takes a while to learn the advanced features, but it's well worth it. Matt714 08:38, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Pentium D with 2 cores?

Hi!, I have a PC with Pentium D 3.00GHz and 1 GB RAM and 160 GB HDD running WINXP SP2. The Main board is INTEL original 965 RY model. After installing the IC and the OS, now by running <msinfo32.exe> in cmd I can only see one CPU in the processor column showing my pentium D details where as in my friends PC which is on 945 Intel motherboard with Pentium D 2.8 GHz shows 2 processor in that list of system information...I checked out other few same pentium D systems where all shows the 2 CPU in that list, but in my system it only shows one CPU...Is there anything wrong with my CPU or BIOS setup? or maybe with hardware?...I think INtel didn't make a faulty pentium D CPU with one core logic...I couldn't find any options in bios.I tried all the provided options in BIOS too...But I can see two coloumns in Task Manager chowing two CPU status graph under performance tab...I'm totally confused here...Please help guys..Thanks a lot in advance.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.164.117.111 (talk • contribs)

Okay, I have honestly no idea. But if you got 2 cores in Task manager.. you must have 2. Why not try a simple thing, try to do a benchmark on them both. Now, if he got 2.8 dual, and you 3.0 single, he would have better score than you. But, as I said, I have no idea. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.64.150.116 (talk • contribs) 12:48, 21 August 2007

I am not a windows expert, however I recall that depending on the version of Windows you have installed, the OS might not use the multi-core CPU as two separate cores even if it detects multiple cores. -- JSBillings 17:54, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Fedora Core Install

This is probably a really often asked question, sorry! I had some install disks for Fedora Core 4 (or maybe 5 I can't remember) but I've been too scared to attempt an install as I don't want to wipe my windows install. Is there a way to install Linux onto a HD with Windows already installed that won't screw up all my stuff? Please remember, I have basically NO working knowledge of Linux (which why I want to install) so lets use baby steps here :) Thanks --12.155.80.115 15:52, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Yes. Ubuntu has a disk manager that will walk you through creating a dual boot, and/or importing files from Windows, I'm not sure about Fedora though. I recommend you try a LiveCD though, as that has absolutely no risk of messing with windows --lucid 16:00, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Get a partitioning utility and resize the windows partition so that you have about at least 3 GB free space. Then during the Linux install it should help you create Linux partitions in the remaining space. I can't guarantee it won't screw anything up but it didn't for me and I've done it a few times. Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 17:23, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

I think fedora (well RHEL anyway) was one of the very first to come with a partition manager integrated into the installer. I'll tell you, you'll probably lose your data if you start messing around with partitions with no idea what you're doing, but it's worth it to learn such critical knowledge --froth^t 21:09, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

I agree that you'd benefit from trying out a linux Live CD before repartitioning your disk. When a disk is partitioned incorrectly, it can destroy you current windows install, potentially losing data. -- JSBillings 13:57, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

At the risk of too much complexity, I don't think you can beat VMware. Download the player and then either download a pre-built Fedora Core image (available from the VMware site at [9] or google "vmware image fedora core 4" etc.) or install it yourself (actually you'll need to download the server to make a new one I think). No need to partition and if you mess up, delete the image and get a new one. iames 14:58, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

D-Link DI-624+

Hello thar. I'm experiancing this, rather strange, problem. I'v had trouble after trouble with my Dlink router, but this is the first problem I can't solve on my own. Anyway, the problem is: All traffic LAN -> WAN are working fine (since I can post this thread). Though, all WLAN -> WAN packages are somehow blocked. WLAN -> LAN is working. It worked perfectly yesterday, but today it just won't work at all. I have no firewall rules to block WLAN from accessing the net. Yes, I have restarted the computer and router. I'v also tried using DMZ, but I didn't succeed. And if it's important, the computer is a MacBook.

Anyone have any idea on what I could do :/? Any help is apriciated! 213.64.150.116 16:10, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Have you tried pinging your external IP address (213.64.150.116) (Use that Network Utility in the Utilities directory)? It may be that the wireless ones aren't getting DNS information? 68.39.174.238 23:44, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

New printer

Because of my oh-so-swift installation of Vista, I now lack a usable printer. I'm looking for a good printer that can scan and copy, and is compatible with Vista. And...where might I sell the old printer? It works just fine, and has the same capabilities; it just isn't Vista-compatible.--The Ninth Bright Shiner 17:47, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Print/Scan/Copy/Fax machines are very popular. All new models that I know of are Vista compatible. Just drop by Walmart/Target/KMart/Best Buy/Circuit City (anything I missed?) and you'll find 3 or 4 models. Probably a Lexmark, a Canon, and an HP. My wife has a Lexmark. It works fine as long as you ignore the annoying voice that rings out: "Printing Started!" and then "Printing Complete!" -- Kainaw^(what?) 02:38, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

I urge you to get a HP one and switch to Linux like Ubuntu, but if not get a HP one anyway so in case you do decide to switch you're covered. --antilived^{T | C | G} 08:37, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

I'm not really looking for a printer with a fax built in; it would just jack up the price, and we don't really use fax. I shopped at Wal-Mart online and I found a printer that looks exactly like mine...I'll just have to shop around, or manage a workaround...thanks!--The Ninth Bright Shiner 15:05, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Viewing Burmese characters on Wikipedia

How do I make the Burmese characters in Burmese script display properly? I use Safari on Windows XP. There is a link in a little box at the top of the article to download fonts from, I did that, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Thanks. DuncanHill 19:24, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Did the font file install correctly? You may have to restart even if it did. 68.39.174.238 23:47, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

I presume it installed correctly - it told me I didn't need to restart. I had closed Safari when it told me to. DuncanHill 23:50, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

I'm blaming Safari, since I was able to view the text immediately in Firefox after running the installer and hitting F5. 68.39.174.238 18:48, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Doesn't seem to work in IE7 either. Is ther a help page on WP for viewing different scripts? DuncanHill 21:09, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

August 22

converting lat/long to pixel coordinates

How would one go about converting a series of latitude and longitude coodinates from a given map projection (say, Robinson) to pixel values (that is, assume that said map is a raster image of given length and width, and say we know exactly which pixel the prime meridian is on)? It seems like something that should be out there already, but I am not having an easy time finding the relevant code. I am sure it is some sort of nasty matrix transformation? --24.147.86.187 00:36, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Interesting question. For a small-scale map a linear scaling would do the job, but I assume you mean a map large enough so that noticeable curvature in the lines of longitude occur. Even worse would be projections that tear the map into strips. I know of a site that seems able to do what you want (or, at the very least, they can calculate the distance between two map points), perhaps you can ask them how they do it: [10]. StuRat 04:23, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Sorry but I'm not too clued up on how to interpret maps (what with curves and things), but here's my input: This sort of thing is technically doable both manually and programatically, all depending on how technical you want to go. For example if your map's horizontal axis goes from 0° to 180°, then if your map image is 600 pixels wide, then you know that 0° is pixel 1, and 180° is pixel 600, and therefore 90° is pixel 300 -- that sort of thing. Or by distance you would calculate your unit on your map image, i.e. 1 pixel = x miles/killometers. If you measure 10 miles on your map then on the image that's 25 pixels. Problems of course come in with things like distortion, curves, etc. 1) Do you require this to be done on only one map, or several? 2) How important is accuracy? Rfwoolf 16:25, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Anyone heard of this? Windows XP cannot ALT-TAB or switch tasks properly

I upgraded to Windows XP about six months ago and there's a feature called ALT-TAB.

For reference, I have "group similar taskbar buttons" unchecked because I dislike that function.

Before Windows XP, if I have a window open then I click in the start menu to another menu, then I hit ALT-TAB, it'll go to the previous window. But in Windows XP, ALT-TAB goes to a random window and not my last window. I basically have to click back and forth between then in the start menu 10 times before ALT-TAB between them works like in previous windows versions.

In additon, I may also have two notepad windows lined up as I'm using them both together--sy NotepadWindowA in the left corner and NotepadWindowB in the right corner--and well when I even click back and forth between them in the start menu (not the window, but the start menu), Windows XP refuses to keep both Notepad windows in the foreground and instead randomizes all window-on-top orders when I click between them in the start menu. I basically have to click back and forth between then in the start menu at least 10 times before clicking back and forth between them in the start menu works like in previous windows versions.

I've been trying to find information on google and it gives no information. Is there even a name for these Windows XP bugs/features so I can look for it? Juanita Hodges 02:26, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Vista? Linux? Sorry for the unhelpful answers but XP does have its quirks --froth^t 04:44, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

I also use XP with "group similar" unchecked and I don't have this problem, for what it's worth. -- BenRG 10:37, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

If you hold down ALT while pressing tab multiple times I believe it lets you choose between the available windows. Not quite the answer you want but it makes it a little bit easier, perhps? I don't have the same problem you describe; I'm pretty sure mine goes back to the window of the application I most recently used. --24.147.86.187 14:53, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

First of all, unchecking "Group similar taskbar buttons" is, as far as I'm concerned, the only way to go. I change all computers I go near to that. Secondly, you speak of the "start Menu" when in fact I think you're talking about the TaskBar. The Startmenu opens up a whole lot of program shortcuts etc - whereas the taskbar at the bottom next to the start menu where open programs sit. About your problem, one thing I can think of is that perhaps you have a 3rd party tool installed that has messed with the way windows is handling its... windows. Good luck Rfwoolf 16:19, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

If you do Alt+Tab but don't release the Alt key, does it give you the list of open windows? 68.39.174.238 18:49, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, I meant task bar. Anyone know the proper name for these Windows XP problems so I can google for it? Juanita Hodges 21:43, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Don't know if this helps, from Alt-Tab: Applications have some say in where they are located in the Alt-Tab order. The list of windows is altered by the creation and destruction of windows, programmatic hiding, showing, raising, and lowering of windows, and alterations to the window z-order.

So it seems that some programs override this, one example of something like that was Adobe 7.x

Also, familiarise yourself with these commands: Alt + Tab, Alt + Shift + Tab, and Alt + Shift + Esc

The article Alt-Tab is worth a read-through.

Rfwoolf 14:09, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

GoDaddy page appears for all invalid domains

I'm on Sympatico (provided by Aliant in eastern Canada), and no matter what domain I look up (even if it's a single word, like an invalid TLD) takes me to a page titled "This Web page is parked free, courtesy of GoDaddy.com!", at 68.178.232.99. I only have access to a Windows machine on this connection at the moment so the ping command is the best I have, but WTF? Is this the ISP doing something like what Verisign did awhile ago with their SiteFinder service? --Silvaran 03:45, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

GoDaddy cybersquats a lot. Or else it could be your ISP or spyware on your computer. Juanita Hodges 04:21, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Turns out I had chosen a domain that was "parked" by GoDaddy as the default domain on my little d-link router/switch. So this gets sent to clients through DHCP, and everything (including ping) appends this domain and does a second look-up. Since GoDaddy has a wildcard set up on that particular domain, I always get a parked page. SO it was my own stupidity... ahh well... --Silvaran 17:45, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Note that GoDaddy (the company) is not the one that does the cybersquatting; they are a domain registrar and cybersquatters use registrars to squat. --140.247.240.228 19:24, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Mm, I don't think so. --froth^t 01:52, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Need HDTV 1080i recorder

Not a camcorder, mind you, just a way to record 1080i broadcasts, primarily for time shifting (recording them while at work then playing them later). A standalone unit that attaches to the TV will work, either recording to a built-in hard drive or burning to DVD. Alternatively, it can hook up to the computer and use it's hard drive and/or DVD burner. So far, the only thing I've found close seems to be the Sony RDV-D60C, which doesn't appear to be for sale yet, at least in the US. I've found lots of camcorders that claim to record 1080i, but they want to record it on tape, which does me no good. Also, I don't want to pay for a camcorder I don't need. Any recommendations ? StuRat 04:04, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

I only heard of the hard drive things like tivo. Juanita Hodges 04:21, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Does TiVo do 1080i ? StuRat 04:27, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Lord knows. I have a DVD-RAM recorder now. It depends on the show whether 1080i is important. I prefer to tape everything as a noisy neighbor or dog and ruin a show if not taped. I like the DVD-RAM disks as when the recorder breaks down, the taped shows are still good and I only need one thing that can play may DVDs I rent, too. They don't even make a DVD-Ram recorder that has High def inputs (mine has outputs but not inputs). They should make some recorder that has High def inputs and outputs. The only thing I can think of is one of those recorder types that are basically just a hard drive and that's it-- no CD shaped disks. If you find something good, please leave me a talk message especially if you find a disk version. Juanita Hodges 04:34, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Do a google search for "atsc capture card" and you'll find any number of gadgets which plug into your computer and allow you to same the video stream to your computer hard drive. --136.186.1.191 07:05, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Of course, if you're in in a country that uses DVB, you'll need a DVB capture card, not an ATSC one. --136.186.1.191 07:06, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Tivo Series 3 support 720p and 1080i recording. --24.249.108.133 15:06, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

How about the cheaper TiVo HD ? I can't find any documentation on if it can record 1080i or only 720p. StuRat 15:28, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Yes. See here, near the end of the page, just before "Conclusion." --LarryMac | Talk 18:48, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

So it does record 1080i (and 1080p if you can find anyone broadcasting it), right ? Also, what happens if your subscription runs out, does the unit cease to work in any way or still work on a basic level ? StuRat 21:08, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

I believe that TiVo has made their newer units reliant on a continuing subscription. --LarryMac | Talk 14:35, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

I use a pcHDTV card on my Linux system to record broadcast HD content using MythTV for time-shifting. I don't burn the content to DVD, though, since I don't really care about archiving the content. -- JSBillings 11:47, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

That's one way to go, but doesn't that require a fast computer, say 2.8 GHz or above ? StuRat 15:28, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

File Format of Azureus download

in what file formst does Azureus download? If a file (say, bloomer.avi or diehard4.avi) is being downloaded through Azureus, then what does a Network Administrator see on his screen? Is the full name of the file being downloaded visible to him? If you change the visible name of the file being downloaded then is the Network Administrator still able to see the original file name?

It comes down to this: If you're downloading what you're not supposed to be downloading, then expect to get caught. Capuchin 11:29, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Like any P2P program, it downloads things in the format that people upload them in. If someone seeds a .AVI and you download it, don't expect it to come out as a .RM or .WMV. 68.39.174.238 18:51, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

What he/she is asking, and I don't know the answer, is what would P2P traffic look like to a network administrator? Obviously it will look like a lot of activity on non-HTTP ports (torrent programs use lots of weirdo ports and I imagine the activity is very distinctive looking), but would the network admin be able to tell what files were being downloaded over the ports? I don't know enough about protocols to answer this, personally. --24.147.86.187 00:50, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Well the answer is nope, unless they have a deep packet inspection appliance, and nope in all cases if you enable encryption and "disable incoming legacy connections" --froth^t 01:53, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Well my question is exactly what 'Froth' and 24.147.86.187 are talking about. Does P2P traffic give any clue regarding the type and name of the file being downloaded? Also 'Froth' has explained regarding utorrent but can anyone explain regarding Azureus?

Come on, if you are on a propriety network of any company which takes their IT half seriously then you are crazy to download anything against that might be against policy, no matter how small you think the chance of getting caught is. "Deep packet scanner" my butt, we bust people with simple scans of proxy logs and profile caches. Those sockets if they aren't blocked will be like a red flag that something is happening on your machine which would be more then enough reason for a half alert admin to investigate further. On the otherhand, if you're talking about the computer at the dog wash or hair dresser that you work at, then you're probably safe... It comes down to a very simple question, yet I'm stunned people are surprised when they are walked off the job site, IT DOES HAPPEN: If you think getting a pirate version of die hard 4 is worth losing your job over then go for your life. Otherwise, rip it off DVD or find a friend who downloads it at home.Vespine 05:16, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

AFAIK, Azureus also has options to enable encryption and disable incoming legacy connections, though these two options are probably named differently. Also, if Network Administrator suspects you of downloading illegal torrents he can just block you from accessing any torrents. And like Vespine said, pirating is not worth loosing your job over. — Shinhan < talk > 14:59, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Websites Hacked?

I try going in to the website at http://www.goskateboardingday.org and it keeps redirecting me to this: http://ertugrulgazi.byethost31.com/hacked/ . Anybody else experience this? If so please reply as I'm pretty sure my computer is spyware free. 71.112.226.247 06:21, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Nope, goes straight to the site. --antilived^{T | C | G} 08:30, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Could be you've got spyware in your browser that's redirecting you to another website. You might try and disable browser plugins and see if it still does it. Since you have spyware, I'm going to save time and assume you're using Internet Explorer, in which case go into Tools, Internet Options, Advanced, Enable thirdparty browser extensions, and uncheck it. Once you've restrated your computer, go back to http://www.goskateboardingday.org if it works this time, they you've got spyware.--69.118.235.97 12:04, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Never mind everything I just said, you don't have spyware, I just went there in IE and got the same bad redirect that you got to http://ertugrulgazi.byethost31.com/hacked/. My guess is it's a browser exploit that only works in IE.--69.118.235.97 12:13, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

It does the same thing in Safari after a second. Basically someone found a way to insert <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="1;URL=http://ertugrulgazi.byethost31.com/hacked/"> into the "poll" part of the page. Pretty primitive; my guess is that their "poll" script was not secured against an SQL injection or something along those lines. Any time a web page allows user input it introduces opportunities for exploitation if the web designer does not know about properly escaping characters, etc. I have seen (and helped correct) very high-profile, official sites that suffered from this simple flaw. If that's the case they are lucky that the "hacker" just wanted to point them to a different page, rather than, say, deleting their whole database. --24.147.86.187 14:49, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

24.147.86.187 has it exactly right, as I can see in Lynx. Damn script kiddies. --h2g2bob (talk) 21:45, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Even Firefox redirects to this page... Stupid scripts... --_{Hdt83 Chat} 01:47, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like a pretty neat prank to me; I wouldn't even call it hacking to get the point to deciding whether it's leet/skiddie --froth^t 03:38, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

I can see that several days after the question was answered the website is still hacked. To be precise, in your index.asp page, in the featured event table on the left, there is code saying: <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="1;URL=http://ertugrulgazi.byethost31.com/hacked/"> Remove this code to stop the problem for now, and make sure to escape characters such as ' and " when user input is allowed. -- StevenMc, 09.50, 27 August 2007 (BST)

duplicates in outlook express

Are there any freeware programs to remove the duplicates from outlook express? All I can find are fee based programs by mostly MVP's (Microsoft very important person?), while the OE programming error that causes the duplicates is obviously correctable by Microsoft but not being attended to by Microsoft - possibly for no other reason than the financial benefit of those MVPs. Clem

Fonts in PDF

I have a PDF file where there's a character that appears as a square. Is this supposed to be a square or is it a missing character? Is there a way I can find out how to fix the missing character? (I didn't think that PDFs worked on the basis of fonts, but it's a character in a formula, so i doubt it's a square... i might be wrong). Capuchin 14:30, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

If properly made PDFs package their needed fonts with them. If improperly made, they don't, and rely upon the user's system fonts. To find out if there are font issues, open up the PDF in Adobe Reader, then go to File > Document Properties > Fonts. That should, I think, tell you if anything has gone horribly wonky. --24.147.86.187 14:44, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

It just gives a list of fonts used in the document and not a lot else. They all say either Embedded or Embedded subset next to them. Hmmm. Capuchin 14:52, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Then it might be a problem with the font itself being displayed correctly on your machine. I've had trouble with embedding fonts in the cases where the original font files were only postscript or only truetype or only something else, I can't quite recall, and the final PDF would come out looking quite incorrect. (I think it was in cases where I did not have PostScript equivalents for the fonts but I might be wrong.) --24.147.86.187 14:56, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Okay I'll try it on my home PC, if anyone else has any ideas, please do chime in :) Capuchin 15:15, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

I don't know all the ins and outs of how this is done, but there's some fonts that are set up in such a way that they will not allow you to embed them in PDFs (I think it's due to copyright, but don't exactly know why they'd do it, as it makes the font rather less useful). Now, if the person that created your original PDF didn't check that the file had created properly, or ignored the error messages on file creation, it's quite likely the missing character was never in the PDF. I've met this problem myself - the only ways around it are to use a different font, or probably to do something illegal. Seeing as you're the user, not the creator, if this is the issue there's nothing you can do, short of guessing what should be there or contacting the creator and asking them. --jjron 08:18, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

It's a paper published by the IOP, I can't quite work out how to contact them though, it's surely something they would want corrected. Capuchin 09:02, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Edit: Found their customer service desk, they'll throw it to the right place. Hope I don't end up looking like a fool when they say "yeah... it's meant to be a square." Capuchin 09:31, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

If you have no luck there, you could tell us the 'missing' character in context or link to the PDF if it's on their website; someone may or may not be able to suggest what it is, or at least take a shot at whether it really is a missing character. Good luck. --jjron 01:43, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

How accurate are biometric tools at the present time ?

How accurate are biometric tools at the present time ?

How accurate are the biometric tools used in various large scale biometric programs operating at the present ?

Why is there little resistance to having biometric information taken ?

Oh and will answering any of the above cause you to be put on a list ? (just kidding with the last question there). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.161.29.246 (talk)

See the top of the page. Do your own homework, please --lucid 00:29, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

WP:AGF is another good one to read, as is WP:BITE DuncanHill 00:33, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

WP:AAGF is another good one to read, as is WP:CIV --lucid 00:45, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Could some one actually answer this question ? I would like to see an answer. I also do not see how saying how accurate they are would answer a homework question. Lucid did I miss something ? If you know the answer Lucid, please reveal it. Dbmoodb 01:30, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

I don't know, but biometrics is a good place to start. It's just the individual questions that might not be answered (as before, do your own homework). x42bn6 Talk Mess 11:31, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Hit Highlighting in SQL Server

I've been looking into the text search capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server, and I like how it lets you put full-text searches right in your SQL WHERE clause. I think it would be an excellent search platform for a couple of my applications, but it seems to lack two important capabilities:

First, the ability to take your search results and get a little excerpt from the full-text field that contains your search terms. I think I've explained that poorly, so let me give an example. When I do a Google search for "rats", the results page doesn't just display links, but also little excerpts from the pages:

Rat - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rats are various medium sized rodents. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat - 68k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Rat Management Guidelines--UC IPM

UC home and landscape guidelines for control of Rats.

www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74106.html - 50k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

I want it so that, when I make a full-text query for "rats" part of my SQL Server search, it can generate a list similar to the above.

Second is the ability to provide a view of the document where the hits are highlighted. To give another example from Google, I did a search for "discrimination pdf" and got this:

(PDF) The Evolution of Price Discrimination in Transportation and its ...

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML

decreasing price discrimination. This is described in detail in Odlyzko (2000b) and .....

www.rnejournal.com/articles/odlyzko_RNE_sept_2004.pdf - Similar pages - Note this

When I click on "view as HTML", it gives me an HTML version of the PDF where every instance of the word "discrimination" has been highlighted yellow, and every instance of "pdf" has been highlighted blue.

Are these things that SQL Server can be made to do? Perhaps with the help of third-party add-ons?

--Ryguasu 15:43, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

I'm not familiar with MS SQL Server - but I'll have a guess in case it helps you. The SQL server will only 'serve' the data to you, but you'll need an application to take that data and display it as you wish. You can do a search for all entries in the database that contain the word 'rat', but then once that 'view'/'table' has been fetched for you, you will need to display it, and iterate through the data for the words 'rat', and tell your application to highlight it or put it in bold. To put it another way, your SQL server is your 'back end' where the data lies, but you will need a 'front end' where your users interact with this data - it is in the front end where the highlighting/bolderising comes in. You yourself are probably using Microsoft SQL Server to interact with your data as a front-end as well, but that's not really how the users will be doing it, unless you'll be telling them to open Microsoft SQL Server. Hopefully someone with more knowledge on Microsoft SQL Server can clarify. Rfwoolf 16:11, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

I seriously doubt that the "Microsoft" in front of "SQL Server" entitles you to some super advanced superset of SQL that has these capabilities. Likely (and this is the best solution IMO) you're stuck with SQL and you have to write your own clever script to parse results --froth^t 03:40, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Let me get you started.

PHP: $highlighted_results = str_ireplace($searchterm, ''.$searchterm.'', $results);

Perl: $highlighted_results = $results =~ s[$searchterm][$searchterm]ig;

You're probably using ASP if you want to use MSSQL rather than MySQL so these won't help much. Sorry! JoshHolloway 18:27, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

At what size does 720p HDTV become unwatchable?

I'm considering buying an HDTV. Seems like most of the marketing buzz is all about 1080p. But 720p sets are generally less expensive. So what what size does 720p become noticeably fuzzier or less sharp than 1080 (if at all)? --24.249.108.133 16:20, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

It depends on distance from screen - an 80 inch projection at this resolution might look OK from the back of a lecture hall, but a 23 inch LCD would be noticeably blocky i you were sat within a couple of feet. Obviously both these extremes are unlikely, but even at more moderate distance from the screen, it has a big impact. Davidprior 23:34, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Let's say I'm 6' away. Would a 42"-47" 720p make my eyes hurt? --24.249.108.133 03:05, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

No, it won't make your eyes hurt, but you would be able to tell the difference. If you do decide to get a 1080p, Westinghouse has a 42 inch model (TX-42F430S) for US$1080 at Best Buy (that's exactly $1 per line of display, coincidence ?). StuRat 05:51, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Fading text in Flash CS3

I'm trying to make a little custom way to on-the-fly generate a small bit of text in Flash CS3 that will fade in, stay on screen for a second or two, and fade out.

Now I've done this in a way that I feel ought to work, but it doesn't work. I'm not sure where my error is.

I've created a library movieclip called fadingText that I have exported to Actionscript so that I can create new instances of it on the fly. Basically I call a function within fadingText from the main timeline which causes the fadingText to create a new TextField() inside itself with the text displayed on it. The fadingText then tries to set its alpha to 0, and then starts a timer which increases the alpha by .1 or so over a given duration. When alpha==1 (100%), it starts another timer that doesn't trigger for a few seconds (allowing the text to just be displayed). After that timer calls, it calls another timer which reduces the alpha by .1 or so until it is 0.

To me this seems like it should make sense: set some text within a movieclip, cause the movieclip to fade in and then fade out. Except it doesn't work at all. The text doesn't fade at all, no matter whether I set its alpha or the movieClip's alpha or whatever. The TextField() created on the fly just does not seem to be affected by the alpha setting.

In trying to debug it I tried creating a random square on the fadingText movieclip. This will be affected when I changed the movieclip alpha, and fades in just fine, but instead of fading out it just immediately vanishes. Then it will occasionally re-appear or fade in again. I suspect that somehow its alpha is being set from one of the many fadingText's I have created from the main timeline, though they are supposed to be independent entities.

What am I doing wrong, in terms of the fading or the creation of the movieclip instances? Any suggestions? If there is a better way to create fading text, I'm happy to adopt it, but remember that it must be done on the fly and the fading duration should be variable through Actionscript (in other words, setting up a long shape-tween won't cut it). --140.247.240.228 19:32, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

I know nothing of Flash but couldn't this be achievable without flash, using simple javascript? Although it only work on uniform background, can't you just set the colour of the text slowly to the background colour according to the timer. --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:13, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

No, it would't work with Javascript in this instance. And the background isn't uniform.

In any case, I figured out what was going wrong. First thing is that dynamic text fields in flash don't let you apply filters (like adjusting the alpha) to them unless you embed all characters of the font.

Second of all, my stop() commands on the timers weren't working, and the way to guarantee that they worked was to instead issue them against event.currentTarget rather than the timer object variables.

Blah. So it all works now, after like, 5 hours of frustration! --24.147.86.187 11:29, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

August 23

Digging info about an ELF file

I was sent a C program, but didn't get the source code, just a precompiled ELF executable (grmpff). I can't seem to run it on my Linux computer (the program is called "abc"):

-bash: ./abc: cannot execute binary file

Are there commands I could use on the file to extract information about for which processor and operating system it was compiled, what libraries it needs etc., to try to figure out what would be needed for me to be able to run it? —Bromskloss 07:39, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

file is a good start. What does it report about abc?

Ah, there we have something.

abc: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, SPARC, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), not stripped

My computer has an x86, not SPARC. —Bromskloss 09:04, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Looks like you'll need a SPARC then ;) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.49.213.95 (talk • contribs) 09:54, 23 August 2007

or an emulator that can emulate SPARC; but it would probably be easier to ask the person to send a Linux x86 executable instead. --131.215.159.28 20:56, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Question Related to VBA in MS Excel

My question is regarding using VBA in MS Excel. I have an Excel sheet which has data in 3 columns A, B & C. Column A has some names, Column B has data (date of birth) in Date format & Column C has the age in number format. The data in the sheet is like:

Column A	Column B	Column C
Name	DOB	Age	ROW1
ABC	21-Aug-01	6	ROW2
XYZ	11-Jun-03	4	ROW3
RST	15-Dec-06	1	ROW4

This sheet has a command button also which has the following coding in it:

Private Sub cmd_butt1_Click()

 Dim i As Integer
 For i = 2 To 6     'iterates through rows
     MsgBox ("Row ID: " & i & " value: " & Cells(i, 2).Value) 'displays row number and the 
     value in that cell of column 2 i.e; column B.
     'Output will be like: "Row ID: 2 value: 21-AUG-01"
 Next

End Sub

My question is that now if I delete Column A from the sheet and make the following changes in the above code:

MsgBox ("Row ID: " & i & " value: " & Cells(i, 1).Value)

because now after deletion of column A, column B should have the column index as 1.

When I execute the code by clicking the command button cmd_butt1, it displays the following output:

     Row ID: 2 value: ABC

i.e; it shows the value of column A which I have deleted already whereas it should now take column B as Column A i.e; rowindex should be 1 and not 2.

Also how can I get the number of rows which are having some data. Like above worksheet has data in only 4 rows.

Are you sure you've deleted Column A not just just hidden it? The behaviour you describe seems impossible if you have. Does the column header of the dates say "A" or "B"?

There are various ways to get the "number of rows containing data". Depending on exactly what you need you could use one of the following (see Help for details)):

• the UsedRange property of the worksheet
• The COUNTA() worksheet function, which tells you how many cells in a range are not blank - you can use it in VBA as Application.CountA()
• ActiveSheet.UsedRange.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeLastCell)

Hope this helps AndrewWTaylor 15:27, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Are there any public domain wiki engines/softwares?

I'm seeking a public domain Wiki engine that operates in PHP and that I can install on my own server. Do you know of any? Guroadrunner 12:21, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Try checking out the Comparison of wiki software article. -- JSBillings 12:38, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Media Wiki, the software which Wikipedia uses, is freely available. Google for it or click the link on the bottom right of every page. JoshHolloway 12:56, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Wait, the engine for Wikipedia is public domain? All I'm trying to avoid is being stuck into a situation that the engine is GFDL, which may mean I would need to license the content I put on my wiki into the GFDL. Guroadrunner 17:05, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Mediawiki is open source, but not public domain. I'm pretty sure that the licensing applies only to the code, and not to the content. You are free to apply any license you'd like the to content of your wiki. Just like editing a file in Microsoft Word doesn't make your document the property of Microsoft. --Mdwyer 17:17, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

MediaWiki is not public domain. It is also not GFDL. It is GPL. I am not a lawyer. But it's my understanding that the GPL cannot put any restrictions on your content. It's entirely possible to use GPL software to handle proprietary data, this happens all the time or else no one would ever use Linux. 69.95.50.15 17:19, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Good to know. I will further this question along at another part of the Wiki RefDesk by asking if GPL for an engine has any licensing affect of the content put in the Wiki itself (but I think the above answers cover that) -- I already think I'll use either PmWiki or one of the others that operate with ease. Guroadrunner 23:32, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

GPL puts no restrictions on what you do with the content created by the GPL's software. The license only dictates how you can distribute/modify the software itself. --24.147.86.187 23:37, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

The more people who affirm this, the more I feel secure with building a web site using someone else's Wiki engine under the GPL (I don't know how to build my own Wiki engine). Guroadrunner 00:02, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

You're right to avoid the GPL like the plague (because it is one) but your wiki's content is safe from its clutches. It's only when you're writing code that incorporates GPL'd code that you need to start worrying. --froth^t 21:22, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

I think calling it a plague is a bit much. Free software is generally a good thing, and I think viral licensing is not a bad idea, though there ought to be developed protocols for combining free licenses a bit better. --24.147.86.187 21:54, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Yep, there are plenty of GPL game ENGINES where the CONTENT (areas, characters, items) are copyrighted. I can think of around half a dozen off the top of my head. In short, it's the software that's GPL, not the content --lucid 21:29, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

iPod transfer

I didn't get a definitive answer the first time, so I'll just ask again. Is there any way to transfer all of the music and videos from an iPod to a new computer? I know there's a method that's described on the Apple web site, but it requires having the old computer. Is there some other way?--The Ninth Bright Shiner 14:55, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

The files on the iPod are simply hidden files, in the usual way that the Mac OS GUI and Unix hide files. Through the terminal, use the shell and unhide them, or grab any of several utilities off the web that will do it for you. Once their unhidden, they can be accessed from the iPod just like any other files you've placed there.

Atlant 15:51, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, just make sure your windows explorer is rigged to view hidden files and you should be fine. The file names, however, will be a bunch of gibberish, but the artist titles, song titles, etc, will still be stored within the mp3 file.

--Cacofonie 21:28, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Wow! That was really simple! The songs aren't registering in iTunes until I try to play them, but hey, go through a few folders a day and the whole library will be back! Thanks a lot! Big problem number one, annihilated!--The Ninth Bright Shiner 23:25, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Probably an even easier way that should work, including allowing you to keep all playlists, song names, etc in iTunes is to set your library to an external hard drive (iTunes will handle the transfer of all files for you). Then on the new computer, copy necessary database files from the old iTunes folder to the new iTunes folder, set your library to be the same external drive, plug in the iPod and sync away. Note that I'm making the assumption that you already have the stuff on a hard drive accessible through iTunes, not just on the iPod; if that assumption is wrong, then just ignore me ;) . --jjron 01:50, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Having just reread the question again, I think my assumption is wrong. However, in future, keeping at least a backup of your library on an external drive is a good idea. --jjron 01:53, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

If you're on a Mac, Senuti is a very good program; it will even copy over the play counts and ratings from your iPod. --M1ss1ontomars2k4 17:02, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

"Adobe Printshop Software"

Is their a such software as Adobe Printshop and if there is where can I buy one (tell me websites and stores, if you would)?

--Writer Cartoonist 15:31, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

I don't think that's an Adobe title. The Print Shop is a package from Broderbund that has been around for years and years; there is a link to the publisher's site in the article. --LarryMac | Talk 18:20, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

There isn't such a title listed at List of Adobe software. Why do you want the software? What do you expect to do with it, if you do not know it even exists? --24.147.86.187 23:34, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Cron Executing PHP Script

I have a few PHP scripts that I use to create caches or to parse external websites. I tried to set them up to run as cron jobs, but they don't appear to be working. This is a sample of the crontab -l output:

*/15 * * * *,1,2,3,4,5,6 php -f /home/badgmup1/titans.php > /dev/null

* * * * *,1,2,3,4,5,6 php -f /home/badgmup1/players.php > /dev/null

0 * * * * php -f /home/badgmup1/dev_pull.php&dev=0 > /dev/null

The scripts themselves modify a database to do their dirty work - the output is irrelevant. They are all in the crontab of the user that owns the scripts. However, I have discovered that they don't seem to be running - or are failing during execution. Does anything look obviously wrong with any of the syntax? -- Sapph42 17:32, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Cron doesn't exec your .login, .profile, or other login scripts when it runs. This means it is often missing some environment variables or paths. Try it again without the /dev/null and see what gets emailed to you. Check the system logs to see if cron was unable to start your task (is bin/php really in the path, or do you need to specifiy it explicitly in the crontab?) --Mdwyer 18:30, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

For titans and players, I get this from cron: 'No input file specified.'. For another one I have that runs dev_pull.php&fetch, I get '/bin/sh: fetch: command not found

No input file specified.'

Looks like my php syntax is wrong. Quotes perhaps? -- Sapph42 19:02, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Even with quotes - 'No input file specified.'. -- Sapph42 19:08, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

The line with & needs to be quoted, because the shell interprets it. Can you get rid of the ampersand completely? Your cron entries are very odd. What is the point of having *,1,2,3,4,5,6 as the day of the week, that just means it'll run every day in addition to monday through saturday, redundant. -- JSBillings 10:32, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

I noticed that after I pasted it in. I found out there were two issues involved. The main was that apparently scripts executed through the CLI do not take GET variables. The line had to be adjusted to say (for instance): 0 * * * * php -f /home/badgmup1/www/dev/dev_pull.php dev 0 > /dev/null. The CLI delimits arguments by spaces, and they are loaded into $_SERVER['argv']. The second issue is that I had the incorrect path. :|. -- Sapph42 11:02, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

gsmarena.com

which country does this mysterious website belong to? I call mysterious because they do not give their country or address anywhere in their website.

Its whois data lists an address in Bulgaria — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 17:40, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Corrupted registry on an OEM machine

Hi everyone,

I recently rebooted my Dell Inspiron 6000, to be greeted by a giant blue screen saying:

Stop: c {Registry File Failure} The registry cannot load the hive (file): \SystemRoot\System32\Config\SOFTWARE or its log or alternate

Doing some research, I happened upon this suggested, Microsoft Fix. I procured myself a HOME XP cd, booted, and used the recovery console, but the fix told me to copy c:\windows\repair\system , and this directory did not exist. System, software files are stored in the repair folder but they exist as .BAK files.

Now, XP came installed on the laptop, and is, I think an OEM-version. Is there anyway to open up those BAK files and use them? Or is there some workaround for OEM-installed computers?

I would be eternally grateful for your assistance
--Cacofonie 21:26, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

The .bak file might just be a renamed file for something else. Do you by chance have a recovery disk or partition? I had this problem two days ago and that fixed it. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 21:19, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Forums hosting service

Can someone recommend me a more reliable hosting service than IF for my forums, I've heard Invision boards are relatively easy to bruteforce. I'd greatly appreciate it to be free. Thanks in advance.

is the best --froth^t 23:26, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

And regarding brute-forcing, I don't really see the difference between Invision Power Board and vBulletin - both have security mechanisms. x42bn6 Talk Mess 10:10, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Brute forcing what? It's not like IPB makes its password hashes public information.. --froth^t 21:18, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

August 24

itunes music cards

Hello there,

I recently bought my first itunes music card and i went to the store to redeem it but after i entered the code correctly (checked code many times) it wouldn't recognize my card as a "free music card".

please remedy

thanks

142.161.239.199 00:53, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

http://www.apple.com/support/itunes/store/ ~ lav-chan @ 02:03, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

PHP Lexicon

Hey there, I'm writing a search engine in PHP and I need a way to distinguish between proper nouns and regular English words. Does anyone know of a fast-access lexicon implemented in PHP? Or maybe it wouldn't have to be implemented in PHP, but accessed via PHP? It also wouldn't need to have definitions, just a comprehensive list of English words. I'd very much appreciate any direction in which you folks could point me.

Thanks. Codeblue87 01:44, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Well, there are lots of world lists around (i.e. [11]). The difficulty would be that to use it with PHP you'd have to load it up into PHP, which could be memory/processor intensive unless you do it carefully (i.e., have the words indexed by first three letters, or more if necessary). It wouldn't be too hard to set up a system like that, using a sufficiently large word list—a lot of processing done at one time (dividing up a text file of words into multiple text files of words by their first three letters) would relieve the processing needed to be done later. --24.147.86.187 02:21, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

I actually have a good Lexicon class implementation in C++ that can read in from a file. Is there a way to make an instantiation of this Lexicon class from a .php page? So far I've looked at COM objects and SWIG, and both have left me feeling confused. Thanks for your help. Codeblue87 03:08, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Hmm, that sounds like more trouble than it is worth.

Here's what I'd do: download one of those word lists above, pick the text file you like the most, then write a little script (in PHP, in whatever) that divides it up into multiple text files based on the first three letters. Once you have all of those, then you can write a quick PHP function that will take a given word, get its first three letters, load the appropriate text file into an array, and check if the word is in it. --24.147.86.187 11:22, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

The Printshop

Does the Printshop have Garamond 3?

--Writer Cartoonist 02:58, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Just for the record, various versions of this question have been doing the rounds this week. See Free Downloading and Garamond and Adobe Printshop from the Miscellaneous Desk. --jjron 10:01, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

We haven't even established there is anything called "Adobe Printshop." If you want Garamond 3 so bad, why don't you just buy it as a separate font? --24.147.86.187 11:30, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

color space

I know there's an extension of POV-Ray that allows light intensity to vary by factors of more than 256; this can make a difference with indirect effects like radiosity (i guess) even with standard output. So I'm curious: when Hollywood does digital effects, do they use standard 24-bit color or more precision than that? Related question, how many colors should I expect to be able to distinguish by eye on my monitor? —Tamfang 06:19, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

(32 bit colour is more common nowadays - that's 3 x 8 bit RGB plus 8 bit exponent - giving an accuracy of more than 1% in colour and a range of +/- 2¹²⁷ which is about +/- 10³⁸ this in general is known as high dynamic range lighting High_dynamic_range_rendering. - though that's really just 24 bit with an intensity additon - this would be the minimum for hollywood at least..)87.102.79.29 12:25, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

There's one thing I don't quite understand about 32 bit color. Isn't intensity already specified by the RGB combo ? That is, 0-0-0 RGB would be equal values of red, green, and blue, but pure black, while would be equal values of red, green, and blue, but pure white. So how would the intensity byte figure into this ? Would 0-0-0-0 be even blacker than pure black and be even whiter than pure white, somehow ? StuRat 13:08, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Think of it as being illuminated - 255,0,0,10 would be pure red lit (or glowing very dimly). 255,0,0,250 would be a pure red star - very very bright.

So 255,255,255,200 would be pure white but much brighter than pure white 255,255,255,100 - think of a white wall on a dull day and a white wall on a very clear day - both are still white - but one is brighter.

Yes. The fourth value is really a brightness factor. - so anything with 0,0,0,x would be black no matter how brighlty illuminated.

I thought the 4th value was always the alpha channel... --froth^t 13:43, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

..Depends... though if you are using HDR you need an exponent (OR use 16 bit colour values instead - leaving space for 4 in a 64bit unit - RGBalpha.... There are numerous ways to store the data.87.102.79.29 13:48, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Currently computer monitors scale these 32 bit values if used since they can only usually display 24 bit values - have you ever played oblivion? - this game gives a good example of how 32bit values are used.87.102.79.29 13:40, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

This link High_dynamic_range_rendering#Preservation_of_detail_in_large_contrast_differences might answer your question better than I can - see the image on right - in this case not oblivion but far cry87.102.75.201 15:37, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Please continue answer below:

Does Color depth#Beyond truecolor answer your question ? StuRat 13:08, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Your second question ("Related question, how many colors should I expect to be able to distinguish by eye on my monitor?") is of interest to me so I've posted a similar on the science page see: Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Science#Colour_question_.(related_to_one_above.) I'll pop the answer here anyway if I get one.87.102.79.29 13:53, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

MAIN QUESTION ANSWER see Digital cinema - the answer is - more than 24 bits.. quotes a 12bits per component - 36bits - so that accuracy will be continued down the production line to post production..87.102.79.29 13:58, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Simple Question about Myspace and HTML

Or at least i hope so! you know the part in a profile that says "About Me:" in myspace? and usually you enter things in the text box and it appears below that part?

Is it possible to write some code to appear ABOVE that? heres the start of my code....

<span class="orangetext15">Join the Chillspot Experience:</span><br>

This basically makes a bit of orange text just like the words "About Me:".... but i need them to be ABOVE that section. is this in any way possible? if so, what is the code please?

172.133.149.52 06:28, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Quick Java question

I'm trying to translate some relatively simple Java code into PHP. I don't know Java but most of it is just juggling variables and that's pretty straightforward. One line that I can't figure out, and that I couldn't find anything on with a quick Google search: for (;;) { Obviously it is the beginning of a for loop but what do the two semi-colons (without any other variables or instructions) indicate? How would I do this in php? Is it basically just an unconditional loop (later on in the code it breaks out of the loop)? --24.147.86.187 12:49, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

It's an infinite loop. There's no stopping condition. Also synonymous for while(1) {...} or while(true) {...}.

The same construction is valid in PHP. --Sean 13:36, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

OK, that makes sense. Thanks. I guess I in general never create infinite loops (seems like a scary thing to do), which I guess why I never recognized it. --24.147.86.187 21:05, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Generally, the reason for constructs like that is that there is a condition that breaks out of the loop in the middle. Its good for when you don't want to duplicate code, as in instead of

pre();while(test()){ post(); pre();}

it may be more intuitive to write it as

while(true){ pre(); if(test()){break;} post();}

this is especially true if you have multiple tests (or a select case statement), each of which could possibly break you out of the loop. Root⁴(one) 01:38, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

DOS Torrent

Does a DOS version of Torrent software exist? 82.198.250.7 13:39, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Almost certainly not, given that DOS has pretty much gone the way of the Do-do and the number of people who would be interested in such a program is probably pretty much just one (you). What's the specific purpose for? If you want a command-line torrent program, though, you could probably rig it up via perl and have that run from the DOS prompt, but it would take some workin'. --140.247.240.228 18:42, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

If you just want a command line bittorrent software, there are probably plenty out there for linux. If you're looking for that software because the computer is actually that old, I doubt it will be able to hold the data at all. You might also try something like DeLi Linux for really old computers, but STILL probably not that old --lucid 21:31, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Effort formula to move a load up an incline with weight on two wheels

Hi, Can you advise if there is a fairly simple formula that can compute the amount of effort needed to raise a weight load up various encountered inclines on a two wheeled cart with known wheel radius? Use would be for ramping a boat on a sulky by hand and understanding the effort needed to do so after taking a measure of the incline. It would also help one understand what aids need be employed as tire stops, pulleys, winches or perhaps motorized assists given any given incline. For this tire flex, bearing friction, and surface changes could be considered constant, Plenty of discussion about wheel impacts on inclines but have yet to find anyway to quantify the portion of load need for effort given an incline plane. Can you advise what this formula might be?

You may have more luck with this over at the mathematics or science reference desks — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 14:49, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Quickly (in brief)

Force needed = mg sin(a)

Where (F)force = newtons, m = mass of cart (kg), g=gravity acceleration (9.8m/s/s) and a = angle of incline (0=flat 45degrees=1 in 1 slope)

This formula excludes friction which might be approximated to be proportional to the mass of the load

F = mg sin(a) +mk

what k is you would need to find experimentally..87.102.75.201 14:57, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Video recording

I have a digital video camera Sony DCR TRV15E.I like to convert the video taken on the tape to CD's on my PC.How can I do it? -Amrahs

From what I could find on the web, that particular model has a Firewire port. If your computer also has Firewire and you have Windows XP (or later), then you should easily be able to bring the video into Windows Movie Maker. Here is an article from Microsoft talking about the process. Once you have the video on your computer, you should be able to burn it to a CD or DVD, again depending on the specifics of your computer. What is it you want to do with the discs once you have created them? --LarryMac | Talk 17:51, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Is it possible to manipulate strings in dos/batch (windows) without using anything but the built in windows commands (not using temporay files)

Hi I am a novice in dos scripting, and have been quite successful in writing small dos/batch scripts to do some tasks. But one thing I haven't figured out yet is how to avoid using files for storing temporary data. My scripts always have to write to some temporary file when using string manipulation.

What I want to accomplish is to avoid using the harddisk when I use findstr and find and type, so basically, can you point me to some sources where I can grasp how you use escape characters in combination with stringparameters.

This is an example script where I use a temp file to extract a string

@type "%~f1"|findstr /R /I ".*ProductCode>.*</ProductCode>" >%TEMP%\result.TD

ROUND0

@call:Extraction "<ProductCode>" "" %TEMP%\result.TD >> %TEMP%\result.TD

ROUND1

@call:Extraction "</ProductCode>" "" %TEMP%\result.TD >> %TEMP%\result.TD

ROUND2

@call:Extraction " " "" %TEMP%\result.TD >> %TEMP%\result.TD @for /f %%a in (%TEMP%\result.TD) do @set TRXCODE=%%a @set TRXCODE=%TRXCODE:~0,-1% echo %TRXCODE%

The extraction routine also use a temp file. Is it possible to pipe my way around...instead?'

I know it's easier to just use a java script or something, but...some code snippets that does string manipulation/substitution without using temp files....

Possible?? Asked by Danni 85.81.121.107 19:59, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

GAG. Do yourself a favor and use bash. --froth^t 20:22, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

I have to agree with froth that you are really trying to do things which are beyond the complexity of the DOS batch scripting, and so the only "solutions" are hack-y workarounds, which is a really bad approach (especially if you are planning to have this work on other people's computers). I have little doubt that whatever you are trying to do, there is a better way to do it. In any case I can't really figure out what you are trying to do. Instead of piping into temp files, can't you just pipe into a variable (i.e. %%result)? --24.147.86.187 21:48, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

The trouble with using bash, or indeed Windows PowerShell, is that you generally can't assume a machine has it installed. So if you're writing code to run on someone else's machine (as opposed to your own) they're an unappealing option. You might wish to write in VBscript or Jscript, which are far more fully featured than BAT script; you can generally assume a windows machine will support these via Windows Script Host. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:09, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

I've typed that license key like ten times already!

Just another thing to bog my success. I've got an Office 2007 Upgrade disc, and a Microsoft Works 9 disc. Now, on the side of the Office packaging, "Microsoft(R) Works 6.0--10.0" is listed as a product that will allow the installation. So I go and buy Works 9. I install it, agree to the EULA, then put in the Office disc. I type the license key in (after so many times, it burns itself into your memory), and lo and behold, it can't find a previous version of Office! Why not?! I've got what the packaging tauts as a qualifying upgradeable product, so why can't it install?--The Ninth Bright Shiner 20:46, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

On this one, perhaps you've got to call Microsoft and hash it out. One thing to potentially try is to at least run Works once before trying to install Office, though I doubt that will fix it. --24.147.86.187 21:01, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

I'd do that, but Microsoft is stubborn enough to charge me $50 to call them. I probably could get Works support for free right now, but the problem is really Office.--The Ninth Bright Shiner 21:46, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Hey man, you're the one so hot to trot about upgrading to Vista. ;-) Personally I would have avoided it for a year or two until they got all the bugs out, at the very least. --24.147.86.187 23:33, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Office 2007 is annoying.. not that works is better but seriously 2007 is screwed up :x --froth^t 00:48, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Well, I did wait for like six months. And I was sick of XP. It's been five years already! Office 2007, annoying? Well, it does have its flaws, but I don't think it's that bad. It's better than Wordpad and Works, at least.--The Ninth Bright Shiner 22:47, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

If you want change you can just tinker with Linux, free of charge, until your brain melts... --antilived^{T | C | G} 00:12, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Wireless Internet Lock

Hi! Does anyone know if there is any way to set-up your wireless internet so that in order to connect to the internet, you must have a password? I don't mean encrypting it - not a WEP key or something. What I am thinking of is something where every time you open your browser or something, you have to enter a password to allow access to the internet...

Thanks so much! -- Vamooom 21:51, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

You connect the access point to a proxy, which on the first time a computer connects, redirects them to a login page; and after they login, subsequent connections from the same computer are passed through. --Spoon! 01:49, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Any free software that can do this? I don't think squid or privoxy can. --froth^t 05:04, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

You're looking for a captive portal. F 12:49, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

UC Berkeley does this with its AirBears network. However, I'm not sure what the software is; if you want, post on my talk page, and I'll try to look it up. --M1ss1ontomars2k4 17:01, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

PHP user security

I've been programming in PHP for a long time but I never really wrapped my head around the best way to do user security (i.e. if I have a part of a script which requires a password, how best to deal with that). Obviously sending passwords in the clear (via GET or POST) is not really very secure. What are the various options that are used for this, and what are their ups and downs from a practical point of view? Keep in mind that in many cases I have only limited control over server settings. Thanks! --24.147.86.187 23:25, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

I think one way would be to set up a login form with a https connection. Check the input to that against a database of username/password pairs with the passwords stored as md5 hashes. If successful, provide a random value (a token) to store in a cookie, and anyone from that IP address is logged in, provided they have that token (cookie). The token should expire after a while. This solution would require a second database table with username, token, ip and expiry time. That's the sort of solution I'd aim for, though I must admit to not being very experienced in these matters. --h2g2bob (talk) 00:28, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Can you use HTTPS if you don't have much server access? From what I can tell HTTPS requires you to be able to exec() cURL, and I'd be pretty surprised if my server allowed me to exec() random files I uploaded to it. I don't have that much security access (and I'm not going to be getting it anytime soon). --24.147.86.187 03:27, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

No... you just have to set up your server to accept connections on port 443 and be able to negotiate SSL. There's absolutely no way you can configure the server to do this if you have limited control. After a weekend of frustration I was completely unable to get Apache2 for windows to do it (and I had direct access to the machine). Later I found an installer than includes openssl and ssl extensions as part of the package, but you're not supposed to distribute it or somtehing o_O Anyway yeah, just set up to accept SSL connections, then just point your form action to https://whatever.com/whatever.php. You can use md5 hashes in a text file or database to validate logins and the builtin php session functionality to keep a login persistent across pages --froth^t 05:02, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Well, as I said, I have very limited control over the server, and as you said, that probably won't work if I have limited control over the server. --24.147.86.187 11:59, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Yep, even if he has openssl previously installed and his server daemon just happens to be set up to recieve connections on SSL, you'll still need root access to bind the server to port 443. Unless it is already- try going to https://yoursite.com/yourpage.whatever and if it just happens to work and connect securely, then skip everything I said up above until "anyway yeah" --froth^t 16:34, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

August 25

Mmorfe, DVD Burner Specifications

I'm confused about DVD burner specifications including all the writing and reading speeds and what they actually mean.

Appreciate your help.

Mmorfe 00:33, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

The speeds are maximum speeds for doing the specified action: reading, writing a R, or writing a RW disc. For CD the numbers are a multiplier for a CD playing audio in a CD player. However in normal burning the speed is nowhere near the claimed speed, and gradually increases as the burn continues. If you have a slow computer or slow disk drive you will have to set a lower speed for the burn. For example when I had a Pentium 166, the burn would always be reliable at 4x, and would work some of the time at 8x. Also for RW disks the speed may not be the maximum speed of the burner or the disk, but some other lower speed that the firmware thinks it can do with that brand of disk. All the new burners for sale now are fast, any faster and the disk would disintegrate. At the fast speed they are very noisy. Graeme Bartlett 11:16, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

japanese.exe

About 8 years ago, I bought a computer which had several games installed in it. One of them was named japanese.exe. In that game, a Japanese girl has to whack squid-like things with a hammer. Where can I find that game again?

Good luck. Its probably a Dōjin soft. If it were a well known game its filename would probably be different. — Shinhan < talk > 15:24, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

CDs

I have this CD that plays on a CD player but when I try to play it on my laptop it first registers as a blank CD, then when I try to access the CD drive it asks me to insert a disk. All other CDs work, but not this one. There isn't supposed to be any protection on the disk. What could be the problem? LCecere 06:09, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Is it one of those 'special' cds that have extra things on them like photos/etc? If so I understand that some of them don't always get recognised by your PC as they aren't sure what to treat them as (audio or data). Alternatively try it another PC/Computer and see if it works there. It could be that your CD player is less bothered by small scratches than your PC is. ny156uk 14:20, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

One obvious thing to check is the extent of damage on the CD, are there any obvious scratches? The other thing to consider is that your Computer's CD drive might need to update its drivers etc. What operating system are you on? Some software can scan CDs and pick up what's on them, and be able to tell you how many audio tracks / data tracks there are etc- for example using Nero's diskinfo (That is, the 'diskinfo' function inside the Nero program). If you're in Windows, try this: Insert the CD, go into My Computer, find your CD drive's icon, right-click it, and see what options you have. For example you can click on "Open" to see if it can read any contents. Another idea is that your CD has an autorun statement for computers - what this does is it will automatically do something when you insert your CD, and, if your operating system can't support the actions of the autorun, it might fail or just do nothing. That's why using the right-click "Open" command you're telling it to just access the drive - ignoring any autorun files. Rfwoolf 17:24, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

PNGout

Hi. I downloaded the PNGout and I don't know how to install it and how to use it. --Jackl 11:34, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

If you have the command line version, then the easiest way to use it is to drag a PNG file to the pngout.exe program icon. The dragged file will be optimized using the standard settings. This only works with one file at a time, but you can write a batch file to run pngout in several png files at once:

for %%f in (*.png) do pngout.exe "%%f" "optimized\%%f"

Get a .bat file with this and pngout.exe in the same folder, along with a bunch of png files. Then just run the bat file, and pngout will throw the optimized versions in the "optimized" folder that will be created. — Kieff | Talk 06:03, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

newsgroup reader for windows XP

Hi, my 2 newsgroups that i look at are now subject to lots of spam.

1) is it possible to set up a kill file with "google groups?"

2) if not , is there a FREE safe newsreader (free agent has been cancelled)

3) (unrelated) how i do get my name to come up when i post rather than my email (yes i'm that good!)

TIA

Changing just the container of a video

I occasionally download 720p versions of television shows (that's right, I'm bad to the bone!), and are encoded in H.264 in a Matroska container. I'm thinking of getting an Apple TV and I know that plays HD H.264 videos in whatever container apple uses (mov, is it?) Here's my question: to reencode such a video would take a ginourmous amount of time, but since it is already encoded in H.264, is there any easy way to just simply change the container so that it would work on an Apple TV? I imagine that would be MUCH quicker. --Oskar 13:42, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Apple TV plays back .mov Quicktime containers as well as 'naked' .m4v (h264) files. If you can open your Matroska (?) movie in Quicktime Player Pro, select all, copy and paste into a new movie (File -> New Player) and save it as a self contained .mov, that might work. Also you can do Window > Movie Properties -- select the video stream, click the 'extract' button and save out that file. Again, I've never even heard of Matroska, so I don't know if it will work. But good luck! --72.202.150.92 18:31, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

I think you can use VLC's Streaming and Exporting Wizard for this, but I've never needed to even play a Matroska file, so I'm not sure. --M1ss1ontomars2k4 16:59, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

VLC plays Matroska fine (oh, and by the way, it's an excellent container) and it would work to do that, it's just that it would reencode the entire thing. As I said that would take a humongous amount of time, and I don't want to reencode it. I just want to change the container. --Oskar 14:16, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

IP Adress?

What is the danger of revealing one's IP Adress? When I do a WHOIS search on many, all I get is their ISP's adress and info.

Perfect Proposal ^{Speak out loud!} 15:02, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Did you read about WikiScanner? You can find out the approximate location of the IP. And, if you are law enforcement agent you may be able to ask the ISP to tell you who used that IP address at some precise time (Which they may not want/be able to give you). — Shinhan < talk > 15:28, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

If you're doing something illegal, then law enforcement can get a court order to force your ISP to look up who had that IP address as a certain time, and they'll give the police your name. No other danger really, though it's possible to "be hacked". A hacker can run nmap on your IP address and get a list of what programs are listening to internet traffic on each port, then look up buffer overflow vulnerabilities and the like for those programs, and possibly run arbitrary code on your computer. Just stick with windows, while it might be much easier to find a vulnerability, I'd think there'd be much less to do after gaining access. What are you going to do, inject shellcode? Oops no shell. Hm. --froth^t 16:26, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Hooking a laptop 2.5" drive to a desktop PC

Unidentified HDD connector

Hi, I am looking for a way to connect a laptop hard drive to my PC. For this, I must know the connector on it and get the necessary adapter. Unfortunately, I can't detect what type of connector it is (Wikipedia is rather lacking images of connector types). I don't think it's either IDE or SATA. In the picture to the right is the hard drive in question and its connector (apparently wafer-like, with 44 pins), taken from a SCENIC 510 Mobile AGP laptop computer, somewhat old, fabricated before the year 2000. The initial problem was that it didn't boot from the hard disk (a "NTLDR missing" error), and since the laptop won't boot from anything else, even though the BIOS settings instruct it to, I want to see whether I can save some of the files on it by connecting it to my desktop computer.

My desktop computer has internal IDE cables, but I have the possibility to attach a SATA drive to the PC by using a rack connected to it by USB already holding a SATA hard drive. So, I would need an adapter for whatever connector type my laptop drive has to either IDE of SATA.

If anybody has any advice on how to fix the drive and make it bootable (it won't boot from the Windows boot diskette), or if somebody knows the connector type on the drive, it would be of immense help. Thank you in advance, Danielsavoiu 15:04, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

SCSI? — Shinhan < talk > 15:31, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Are you sure that the drive is not inside some kind of custom enclosure with a proprietary plug? My laptop hard drive is like that. If you take the drive out of the little mounting enclosure you might find a standard 2.5" PATA connector (If this is the case, you will need to buy a little adapter to plug it into your desktop's IDE cable.) -- Diletante 15:48, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

I can't believe that your BIOS won't boot from anything else. Are you sure that your boot order has cd rom before hard drive? Just boot from your windows xp disk and enter the recovery console, then type fixmbr and fixboot. That should restore ntldr. --froth^t 16:21, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

I have seen plugs like this on early 2000s laptop hard drives. Note that the hard drive has not connector other than the IDE-like socket. I believe the plug combines the functionality of power and data transfer, thus 40 pins equivalent to the IDE standard and 4 pins for power. Your best bet is a 2.5" external USB enclosure. I have one that I like very much and works with drives similar to this, but I can't recall the model number and can't seem to find it. Scratch that, closer examination reveals minor dissimilarity to my hard drives, making my suggested USB enclosure incompatible. Very likely proprietary in shape, if not in design function. Freedomlinux 04:24, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Take the hard drive out. I'm guessing there will be a little plastic piece that will come off the front of the drive, and behind that, a regular PATA connector.

Before SATA arrived, 2.5" drives used a 44-pin connector that was electrically compatible with ordinary 40-pin PATA (IDE) connectors but physically smaller. It also contains the power connection so there's no big honking 4-pin Molex connector that's practically as big as the rest of the drive.

Computer shops can sell you an adapter that will let you plug a 2.5" drive onto an ordinary 40-pin PATA cable and its associated 4-pin power connector.

Atlant 11:34, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

You can try this . Feel free to ask me further questions, I'm a freelance pc professional--Doktor Who 12:42, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Upgrading to Xbox360 Elite

I currently own an Xbox360 and am considering buying an Elite for the HDMI and larger hard drive. How can I transfer my game saves and purchased Live Arcade games from my old HD to the new one? --72.202.150.92 15:14, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Says here in Xbox 360 Elite#Retail Price and Xbox 360 accessories#Storage that you can buy the 120GB drive by itself and it comes with a special transfer cable for this exact purpose. Don't know if the full Elite box comes with the cable or if you can buy the cable by itself. Perhaps you could borrow the cable from someone who bought the drive? CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 21:44, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

echo

What's the term for unnecessarily calling echo in a shell script when you can equivalently use the < operator? --froth^t 17:08, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

< is usually an input operator, I don't see how you can use it equivalently to echo, which is a program that displays a line of text. -- Diletante 17:41, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

It's like when you want to write a line to a file. You can either:

echo EXAMPLE | filename
filename<EXAMPLE

Apparently the first one annoys purists to no end since it actually starts an additional process, while the 2nd stays within bash. I know theres an article on this specific topic on wikipedia, but I can't find it. I think it's a 4 letter acronym that has something to do with useless echos --froth^t 18:18, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Ah I found it eventually, sorry. It was UUOC, and cat not echo. And streaming text from a file into a command, not from text to a file. x_x --froth^t 18:26, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

But those two statements are not equivalent, with the piped echo the program will get the string "EXAMPLE". With < the program will get the contents of the file named EXAMPLE. Maybe you are thinking of using cat? edit: ok I must have started wrting this reply right after you found the answer which I didn't see. -- Diletante 18:30, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Infinities, NaNs and IEEE 754

Why does the maximum value of a floating-point number have to be cut in half just to accommodate infinities and NaNs? Why not declare that (a) NaN occurs only when the exponent is 2^e – 1 and the fraction 2^f – 1, and (b) infinity occurs only when the exponent is 2^e – 1 and the fraction 2^f – 2? Are there any alternative floating-point standards that do this? NeonMerlin 23:05, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

At a guess you are referring to the maximum value of floating point number is being cut in half to take into account negative and positive numbers. That is why. Mathmo ^Talk 08:05, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

As far as I remember all special values have the maximum characteristic, so you loose far far less than half of the number space.

No, I'm not talking about signs. I mean that apparently if the exponent portion is all 1s, it's either infinity or NaN, which means that a lot more than two bit patterns are being assigned to two values, in each sign. NeonMerlin 00:03, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

There is the potential to use the mantissa to signal different things with signalling NANs, but I don't know if this standard.

August 26

TotoBaggins's (also known as Sean) code

Hi. I'd like to use User:TotoBaggins's code, at his user page. I think I have already downloaded Perl. What do I do now? A.Z. 02:15, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Copy and paste and let us know what errors you get back?? Mathmo ^Talk 08:04, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

You save the code into a file called c:\wiki-blame.pl, and then in a command window you type the following:

cd \
perl wiki-blame.pl http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:TotoBaggins 'That code on your userpage looks really useful.'

If that doesn't work, come back and tell us (verbatim) what the computer said when you tried it. --Sean 12:29, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

How do I save the code into a file called c:\wiki-blame.pl? A.Z. 16:52, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Select all of the text with your mouse, then select "Edit", then "Copy", then open "Notepad", and select "Edit", then "Paste", and then select "File", and then "Save", and type into the little box "C:\wiki-blame.pl". That should work, but I don't use Windows so it's untested. --Sean 19:36, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

I saved the code into a file called C:\wiki-blame.pl.txt, I typed the text in the command window. It replied Can't open perl script "wiki-blame.pl": No such file or directory. A.Z. 02:40, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict with dr.ef.tymac. I'll read your post now, dr.ef.tymac)I tried typing "wiki-blame.pl.txt" instead of "wiki-blame.pl", and now it responds Can't locate File/Slurp.pm in @INC (@INC contains: C:/Perl/lib C:Perl/site/lib.) at wiki-blame.pl.txt line 88. BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at wiki-blame.pl.txt line 88. A.Z. 02:55, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

That means either: 1) you do not have a required add-on that perl needs in order to run the script the way it is supposed to; or 2) you have the add-on, but perl cannot find it on your machine. the "add-on" can be found here. dr.ef.tymac 03:43, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Step-by-step: Since you're on a windows box, perhaps a step-by-step walk-through can help track down the source of the problem:

• step: Start Menu :: Run :: Type in :: cmd and press [Enter]
• step: type in perl -v
• step: check to see if you got the perl help message. If yes, perl is good, if not, you may need to re-install
• step: rename "wiki-blame.pl.txt" to "wiki-blame.pl"
• step: go back to the cmd window and type in perl c:\wiki-blame.pl

HTH. dr.ef.tymac 02:51, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

I type cmd but when I press enter a box opens that says "Windows can't find 'cmd'." Then it suggests that I typed the wrong name. A.Z. 03:00, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

I typed 'command' now and a window opened. I typed perl -v and a message appeared. A.Z. 03:01, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

The message seems to be the perl help message, with the name of the website www.perl.com. A.Z. 03:03, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Ok. That verifies that your perl installation at least works properly, and the problem is with the script, or something else. dr.ef.tymac 03:46, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. Couldn't there be an easier way to do the same thing that this code does/should do? I think it would be an useful tool. A.Z. 04:58, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Sure. If someone had some spare web space that can run CGI scripts, it would be just a two-field web form. I just don't happen to have any. --Sean 13:23, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

or on *nix, using /home/az/ should work fine. --lucid 21:17, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Carbon not working properly in Mac OS X 10.4.10

I highly doubt anyone else is having this same problem, so I'm not going to ask. I'm using a 1st generation Macbook. I seem to be able to run only some PowerPC apps: the non-working ones bounce maybe once in the Dock then exit. For example, I can use LilyPond but not StarCraft. Likewise, Age of Empires II no longer works either. Neither does 2005 World Book, but as that's not really licensed for use on my Macbook (only on my iBook) I'm not terribly concerned about that. AOL Instant Messenger (4.7, build 1333 for Mac OS X) doesn't work anymore either. My HP printer's installer software doesn't work either. However, if I check "Open using Rosetta" for any Universal application, it will still open, and Activity Monitor will reveal it is running as a PowerPC process.

Here's the output that I get when I try to run AoK directly from Terminal.app:

fre-74-178:~ chris$ file /Applications/Age\ of\ Empires\ II\ Gold/Age\ of\ Empires\ II 
/Applications/Age of Empires II Gold/Age of Empires II: header for PowerPC PEF executable
fre-74-178:~ chris$ /Applications/Age\ of\ Empires\ II\ Gold/Age\ of\ Empires\ II 
-bash: /Applications/Age of Empires II Gold/Age of Empires II: cannot execute binary file

All the above programs that no longer work used to work fine. Help, please? --M1ss1ontomars2k4 04:55, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Removal of Spy Shredder

Please help. I am being bombarded by a very aggressive attempt to get me to purchase a spyware tool called Spy Shredder whenever I am on my PC. I am not a competent IT technical user, merely a browser so any simple advice would be very gratefully received. I should add that under no circumstances will I be forced or persuaded to purchase ANY product marketed so aggressively. I would rather buy a new PC first. Thanks 81.145.241.180 12:55, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Isn't it ironic that most programs that (aggressively, mostly) advertise spyware (or virus) removal are actually classified spyware or viruses themselves? I'm guessing you've been hit by some variant of spyware that advertises an anti-spyware program to, well, remove those annoying messages. But it could be that you have this program but it wants you to buy the full version to remove apparent spyware. If this is the case, then I suggest you follow instructions here. If not, then download Ad-Aware, AVG Anti-Spyware or Spybot - Search & Destroy (I use the second one, but usually they all work well), install the program, run the program, update the program (usually a button away on the main screen of all these programs), and run a full scan. These 3 are amongst the best anti-spyware programs available, and best of all, they are free. x42bn6 Talk Mess 13:04, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Spy-Shredder itself, is classified as spyware. You need a spyware program. Google Spy Shredder for more info.Perfect Proposal ^{Speak out loud!} 19:56, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Don't you mean "you need an anti-spyware program" ? :-) StuRat 22:02, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia and money

How does Wikipedia make money? Heegoop, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

The Wikimedia Foundation is non-profit, but the money to run its various projects comes mainly from donations I think. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 21:09, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia currently makes money via an offset printing process, but hopes to upgrade to a better method, which is more difficult to detect, as soon as possible. :-) StuRat 21:58, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Money is, in fact, not Wikipedia's primary resource boon: time is. If you calculated how much per hour the people who edit on Wikipedia would be paid were they charging their "normal rates" for their time (obviously depends on skill level, education history, where they live, and everything else), you would find that revenue to be far greater than most corporations, I'm betting (meaning, more precisely, that you would consider the donated time to be equivalent with donated money). --24.147.86.187 22:03, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia is a project of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Their finance reports page is here. The vast majority of their support comes from cash and in-kind donations. The 2006 financial statement is here in PDF. TenOfAllTrades(talk) 03:24, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

itunes plus help

I accidentally put itunes plus on an album that I wish to buy but because itunes plus is on the album it is currently too expensive. How do I take itunes plus off the selections?

Thanks

142.161.235.74 20:32, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

In iTunes go to Store>View My Account in the menus. Log in using your username and password. In your Account Information Screen the top thing listed should be about iTunes Plus. Click the Manage iTunes Plus button, untick the checkbox, and click the Save Changes button. All selections should now revert to the standard versions at the standard prices. --jjron 14:28, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

OUP/Basic sample

Hi,

I'm looking for a reference implementation or a sample project for OpenUP/Basic. Can anyone point me to one if it exists?

Regards, Masoud Mahanchian 22:41, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

August 27

Top websites

Where can I find a frequently-updated list of the top 100 most-vistited websites? I've found lists of best-rated websites, but no list that merely counts site hits and is up to date. Thank you for your help.RavenLuna 03:09, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Alexa? --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 04:42, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Is this a good computer?

I'm looking for a mid-level laptop that I would like to be able to do graphic editing (Photoshop CS3), web design and some mild gaming. The following laptop caught my attention: [12] I have a few questions:

1. Is this a good laptop for the price? (NB: it's in Canadian dollars)

2. Will I be able to run Photoshop CS3 smoothly? (I do a lot of 8.5 X 11 300 DPI print work)

3. How is the Acer brand?

4. Is there a large difference between a Intel Core duo and Intel Core 2 duo?

Thanks a lot =) Acceptable 03:21, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

4 is really the deal-breaker here. When buying a laptop, you need to get the best you can possibly get because it's nearly impossible to upgrade anything but RAM. The Core Duo is an outdated processor and will bog you down in PS work. Settle for nothing less than a Core 2 Duo. Mild gaming will not work on an integrated graphics card and I imagine that will also slow you down in Photoshop as well. In short - no, you need a C2D and possibly a low-end video card. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 06:15, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Erdős number in computing?

Is there anything like this in the computing industry? And if not, who are some likely candidates for it to start with? --lucid 06:56, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Maybe a Knuth number? At least one guy has calculated his own. As for the equivalent in terms of collaboration on, say, open-source software projects, rather than academic papers, there might be more interesting results. iames 14:23, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Keymap

I am using Cygwin and just realised that the Swedish characters on my keyboard aren't with me any longer (I think they have been before). I what way should I rub it to get it working? —Bromskloss 07:55, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Can you run locale in cygwin to check your locale settings? Also, do you have the same problem in cmd.exe? --h2g2bob (talk) 13:29, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

The locale command doesn't seem to exist. Everything is fine in cmd.exe. —Bromskloss 14:36, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Vista "Audio Mixer" for xp?

Is there an app that will give me the same amount of control over the volume of my applications as vista does? —Drexalot