Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing

May 24

TI Programming maneuvers

Is it possible to jump to a label in a different program?

also Is it possible to archive and unarchive programs as part of another program?

thanks 74.37.228.44 00:09, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

As far as I know, you can only GOTO labels in the currently running program. Using the Archive command from within a program results in ERR: INVALID

PROGRAM:MYPRGM
:Disp "ARCHIVE ME"

PROGRAM:ARC
:Archive prgmMYPRGM

gets

ERR: INVALID
1:Quit
2:Goto

WikiY ^Talk 01:10, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

What you could do is this: since all variables are all global, save a number representing the label in a variable and then call the other program, and then use that to figure out where you're going. Sort of like this (I haven't my TI-83+ around, but this is kinda how I remember it):

PROGRAM:PROG1
:1729->J
:prgmPROG2
:42->J
:prgmPROG2

and in prog2

PROGRAM:PROG2
:IF J=1729
:THEN
:0->J
:GOTO A
:END
:
:IF J=42
:THEN
:0->J
:GOTO B
:END

I used strange numbers to ensure that J isn't accidentally set to them, and they are zeroed so it doesn't jump the next time you start PROG2. Even if you already have code in your program that you don't want to mess up, you can just add these lines to the top and it will not change how the function works since they will just be skipped. --Oskar 19:17, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Windows XP keymapping.

Is there a RAM-light, freeware app I can use in Windows to map keys to certain functions? For example, I want Numpad 2 to be "volume down", Numpad 8 to be "volume up", things like that. Down M. 00:59, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Try [1]. Several choices there, I have not used any of those programs so cannot vouch for them. I have used quickkeys, it works quite well but is not cheap. 161.222.160.8 01:08, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Automated Google searches: length distribution of written growls

How would I go about writing a C++ or JavaScript program that would create a table (CSV is fine for C++) of the number of Google hits for G followed by n R's, as n increases from 2 to 100? NeonMerlin 03:28, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Here it is in Perl, which should give you the general idea. --TotoBaggins 13:52, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
use LWP::UserAgent;

# we have to set the user-agent to pretend to be a
# browser, since google doesn't accept robots
my $web_client = LWP::UserAgent->new(agent => "mozilla");

# Google allows query words up to 128 chars long
for my $n (2 .. 127)
{
    # make a string of 'r's, of length $n
    my $arrs = "r" x $n;

    my $url = "http://www.google.com/search?q=g$arrs";

    my $response = $web_client->get($url);
    $response->is_success() or die $web_client->status_line() . ": $url";
    my $page = $response->content();

    my $hits;
    if ($page =~ m#Results.*([\d,]+) for #)
    {
        # we captured the hits in the first parens
        $hits = $1;
        # remove the commas from the hits count
        $hits =~ s/,//g;
    }
    elsif ($page =~ /did not match any documents/)
    {
        $hits = 0;
    }
    else
    {
        warn "Could not parse url: $url\n";
        $hits = -1;
    }

    print "$hits hits for 'g$arrs'\n";

    # be a polite robot
    sleep 1;
}

World of Warcraft problem

I tried asking this on the wow technical support forums but didn't get a response so I thought I'd try here. I recently installed WoW on a new computer. After installing the cds, everything worked fine. However, after i download patch 1.12 (the first patch that automatically downloads after I install the game) I will get multi colored crystal-like distortions on the graphics that jump around change color. The game appears to run fine, and I can log in but it makes it hard to see.

Operating System: Windows XP Professional
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440

Here are 2 screenshots of the problem: 1 2 I have enough ram and the graphics card has enough memory.

Does anyone know what could be causing this? 68.231.151.161 03:57, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

The second pic looks like screen tearing. Try enabling Vsync, it can for sure be done in game via Video Options. Make sure your graphics card isn't forcing Vsync off by checking its options. If you can't change it in game due to the problem I think there is a .txt file somewhere in the WoW folder you can modify. I am not at home so can't check mine, but someone else may know of it. Also, the game is now up to patch 2.1 I think, so that might be it as well. Oh, and check for driver updates. Happy hunting 161.222.160.8 04:09, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Atleast your version of the game is interesting ;) 213.48.15.234 08:41, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

I don't know what it is, but it's not a Vsync issue. Is the graphics card overheating? --Carnildo 20:46, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

The MX 440 has several unresolved bugs. I was once writing an application for my company and we had tracked done some display bugs to the 440. It was so bad, that we had to replace the cards eventually. You will have to consider the possibility, that the error might be unfixable and you need a new card. But try some cheaper things before doing that.

recognising gif and jpeg images

Please tell me how does a image viewer recognize a particular format as GIF or JPEG?What code is there to identify that?

They check if the file has a header from the GIF or JPEG file formats. Check the articles's external links for the specifications for each of these afile formats. — Kieff | Talk 05:19, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

You can see what Kieff means by just opening up a (small!) GIF or JPEG file in a text editor like vi or MS Notepad. Besides a bunch of binary gunk, you'll see something "GIF89a" or "JFIF" near the beginning, which are part of that header. --TotoBaggins 13:55, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

See also File format#Magic number --h2g2bob (talk) 14:10, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

In the end, it is a bit of guesswork. A RAW file could start with a valid JPEG header by coincidence. In general programs look at the file extension and the file header and then guess. They are ususally right. You can tell the program which format a file has in the opening dialog of better programs.

GIF

How do you create a moving GIF image and put it on powerpoint?

203.122.76.226 06:24, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Try Unfreez to string together frames into an animated GIF. I would imagine simply Insert -> Picture -> From File would work, assuming PP has animated .gif support. -Wooty Woot? contribs 07:19, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Yep, PP should support animated GIFs without any problems. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 12:28, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

The next question is "Do I want to put an animated GIF in my PowerPoint presentation?". And the answer is, almost certainly, "No, it would annoy and distract my audience." --Tugbug 19:07, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

That's not very fair: seeing as he wants to make it himself it's probably got a legitimate purpose (as a moving diagram of some process or other). That said, gratuitous animated GIFs are intensely annoying, due to the human tendency to notice movement much more than stillness. Daniel (‽) 16:52, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Thus the "almost" in my comment, which I stand by. --Tugbug 20:08, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Maple:simple fractions

How to develop something like (s+1)/(s^2+2*s+5) in simple fractions using Maple? --Taraborn 06:33, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

simplify( (s+1)/(factor(s^2+2*s+5)) ) may work, though it may not because there are conditions involved in the division. But come on, this is simple stuff. You don't need Maple to do this.

CSS border images

I'm trying to get the following CSS to work. It won't, for some reason. I'm attempting to use images as left-right-up-down borders, but they just don't show up. Yes, they're in the right directory, and actually exist. Now, I'm thinking that the problem is with CSS3 specifications not working so hot in Firefox - is there an alternative way to do this? -Wooty Woot? contribs 07:14, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

style.css:

div.sidebar
{
border-top-image: url(images/top.png);
border-left-image: url(images/left.png);
border-right-image: url(images/right.png);
border-bottom-image: url(images/bottom.png);
}

sidebar.php:

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/style.css" /> 
<div class="sidebar">
   <div> 
   // content 
   </div> 
</div>

You're correct, there is no support for those CSS 3 selectors in the mainstream browsers. Unfortunately, the only way I know of doing that is to have a series of <div>s, one for each background image. It's easier if the side bar has a fixed width as then you can have the right and left borders as one image. →Ollie (talk • contribs) 09:49, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, I'll just set it to a non-percentage width (300px or so) and mess around with some divs. Thanks. -Wooty Woot? contribs 21:31, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Themeing Qt

On Linux, is it possible to "theme" or customize the gray and angular look of Qt? –mysid☎◥ 09:37, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Sure, see here and also Oxygen Project and Baghira. --TotoBaggins 14:02, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Mac OS X Paint Equivalent

Is there an equivalent to MS Paint on Mac OS X, or at least somethihg free/cheap that does basic drawing stuff?

Thanks, --Fadders 11:13, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

There are a number of versions of GIMP, which is free, for OS X. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:31, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

The shareware OS X program GraphicConverter does what the older versions of MS Paint did. I do not know what all the current MS Paint can do, but I would imagine GraphicConverter would be pretty close. GraphicConverter in spite of its name does lots more than convert file formats.Zeno333

Video card question

Besides which slot a video card may plug into (AGP, PCI-X, PCIe), are there any problems of compatibility between a video card and a computer. For example, will certain cards not function with certain CPU models? Or is the slot type the only thing that I need to check (and having sufficient RAM)? − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 12:40, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

In case of AGP, you possibly also have to take voltage into account (see article) JH-man 13:22, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes. In particular I am looking at AGP cards. I have 4x, but I assume 8x cards will also work with this. − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 23:44, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

No, not really. For small form-factor PCs you have to worry whether the card will physically fit and will be adequately ventilated, and for PCs with unusually small power supplies you have to worry there's enough power to drive the card. For paired arrangements like SLI you pretty much have to have exactly the same card in both slots. But other than that anything that fits will work. It's a bit harder to determine what is an efficient, never mind optimal, choice - put a super-expensive card in a PC that doesn't have the IO bandwidth to drive it or the CPU power to supply it with adequate information (cf Amdahl's law). And you may have difficulty obtaining device drivers for 64-bit OSes, particularly on IA64. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 13:24, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. I've just ordered a 500W PSU, so that should keep a new card happy. What do you mean when you say it may be difficult to obtain device drivers for 64-bit OSes?. − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 23:44, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

The operating system that you are using needs to have the proper driver-software to use the card to its full potential. Otherwise it will use some generic driver, possibly even not offer 3D acceleration! Because 64 bit operating systems haven't made their break-through (not enough software available that exploits 64-bit, no real need and/or wide motherboard support for +4GB RAM as yet), a lot of hardware vendors haven't made the effort to provide up-to-date device drivers. If you're not using or planning to use Windows XP 64, Vista 64bit or some 64bit Linux variety, all this is of no concern. JH-man 08:30, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Don't try to mix Nvidia cards with ATI mainboard chips, or ATI cards with Nvidia chips. Supposedly they work together, but in practice, they don't. --Carnildo 20:36, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. I have an AMD CPU in an nVidia motherboard, so an nVidia card will work best? I will look into what sorts of problems may occur if an ATI card is used on an nVidia motherboard. − Twas Now ( talk • contribs • e-mail ) 23:44, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

I have ATI card (X800GT) and nvidia motherboard chpiset (Nforce4 ultra) and everything works fine. -Yyy 07:38, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Same here, I have an ATI X800 pro in a Nvidia Nforce 3 motherboard and everything is ok. Only problem I have ever seen with a video card and a motherboard is that the 6000 series of video cards from Nvidia have a problem with the Nvidia Nforce 3 chipset for motherboards. On another note, AGP cards are usually 4x/8x compatible, so there shouldn't be any problem with that.--GTPoompt 17:03, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Coin a name

Hi All.,

can anybody suggest names for a "commercial transaction tracking system/application" that is built inhouse at a devlopment centre?

Thanks

Polevault - Rfwoolf 17:00, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

SideTrack, RaceTrack, Track 'n' Field, Trans Action, TransTrack, TrannyTrack2000, TrackAttack, ComTranTrackSys, DingDing, Star Trak -- the Final N-Tier, Track Star, Track Machine, Sound Track, Multi Track, Trax, Make Tracks, Tracking Stock, Native Tracker, etc. --TotoBaggins 19:06, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

You should go with "Star Trak -- the Final N-Tier", that's an awesome name (although "TrannyTrack 2000" isn't half-bad either). My suggestion is "Crosstown". I have no idea why, but I think that's a REALLY cool name --Oskar 19:37, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

COMTRANACK Sysapp.

BigBro, or perhaps Dr. Eckleburg: [2]. StuRat 19:15, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Call it the Transactions Archiving Recently Developed Inhouse System. Of course, you would only refer to it by it's acronym. --h2g2bob (talk) 22:51, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

XPS 710 H2C

Hi. im wondering if a dell xps 710 h2c computer has a processor core 2 extreme QX6800, physica accelerator, blah blah blah. u no all the BEST enhancments, would it be possible for this desktop to faster than even the mac pro?Jk31213 18:47, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Faster in doing what exactly?

Uh, yeah, that computer will beat the living crap out of a MacBook Pro, considering Macbook Pros have 2.1ghz Core 2 Duos and what I believe is an integrated graphics card. However, why are you comparing an Apple laptop to a Dell desktop - and why would you buy such an expensive computer from Dell?!?! -Wooty Woot? contribs 00:13, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Im comparing to apple because apple, for three years in a row, have produced the fastest computers for the home. now this new dell model is reasonably comparable to the mac pro. (which is also a desktop). i know the price is enormously great but hey, im looking at the advantages to having with that a 30-inch monitor, 1815dn printer, and to top it off, z-5500 speakers which are the best computer speakers of any kind in north america anyway.Jk31213 03:11, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Thought you were referring to the MacBook Pro, not the Mac Pro, sorry. The Mac Pro will indeed destroy the Dell in applications which can utilize many cores such as CAD. However, for gaming and most applications, the Dell will probably actually beat the Mac Pro, simply because most apps can't use 8 cores. -Wooty Woot? contribs 06:47, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

ASUS W5Fe

Where can I purchase "ASUS W5Fe"? 68.193.147.179 19:21, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Various computing outlets? It's a laptop so some laptop shops are bound to stock it if it is new. Otherwise you might want to try second-hand shops or sites like eBay. x42bn6 Talk Mess 21:00, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

May 25

Cannot copy file onto flash drive

I have a 1GB flash drive and I'm trying to copy some files onto the drive. I click and I get a Windows error message saying the "directory or file cannot be created." What can I do? --Blue387 08:54, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

You could try to reformat it first, so the filesystem is recreated. Keep in mind that this will wipe all data from the flashdrive (well, strictly speaking most data could be recovered until it is overwritten, but for practical purposes...) JH-man 09:20, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Also, maybe first check whether ~the flashdisk simply isn't FULL? JH-man 09:32, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Check you can use the drive on another machine to ensure the drive does work and it's not some problem intrinsic to the computer you're using. If the drive appears faulty try reformatting, though this may not work, or may just be a temporary fix. It's also possible that there's simply not room on the drive for the file (the file could be too big or there may be too much other stuff on the drive) - check file sizes and ensure there's room. --jjron 09:44, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

I have only used up 349MB, I'll try the reformat and get back to you. --Blue387 09:47, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Check that the disk isn't write-protected. This may be in the form of a "switch" on the flash drive itself with a picture of a lock or something. Rfwoolf 09:51, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Make sure the directory name doesn't use crazy symbols. Some file systems can't use some characters. --h2g2bob (talk) 22:46, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

I formatted the flash drive and it works now. Thanks! --Blue387 07

04, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

DVD format

What is the difference between DVD-R DVD+R DVD-RW DVD+rw??59.92.243.156

-R and +R are write-once while -RW and +RW are rewritable, for one. Our articles on DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW and DVD+RW outline some of the technical differences. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 10:54, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

+ and - refer to different formats. You want to make sure that if your drive only does one or the other that they match up with the right formats. --140.247.240.232 19:06, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Another excel macro question

I'd like to create a macro that looks at each row in a spreadsheet and if column W has "XXXXXX" in that row then the macro must take whatever is in column V and put it into column U. This is what I did:

Sub Macro1()

   For Row = 2 To 125
       Set curCell = Cells(Row, 23)
       If curCell.Value = "XXXXXX" Then
           Set curCell = Cells(Row, 22)
           Selection.Copy
           Set curCell = Cells(Row, 21)
           Selection.PasteSpecial Paste:=xlPasteValues, Operation:=xlNone, SkipBlanks _
           :=False, Transpose:=False
       End If
   Next Row

End Sub

The macro seems to be copying and pasting whichever cell was selected before I run it onto itself. Help? Zain Ebrahim 11:48, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

try this:

------------------------------------------------------------------

For Row = 2 To 125

myrange = "W" & Row

Range(myrange).Select

If ActiveCell.Value = "XXXXXX" Then

ActiveCell.Offset(0, -2) = ActiveCell.Offset(0, -1)

End If

Next Row

-------------------------------------------------------------------

By explicitly selecting the cell you want to look at through Range(myrange).Select you put the focus on the field that you are wanting to compare, and you can manipulate other cells around it through the activecell.offset function. Offset(0,-2) is 0 rows, -2 columns, so if you were on column W then OffSet(0,-2) is the same row on column U. --Czmtzc 12:39, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

It worked. Macros are great. Thanks a lot. Zain Ebrahim 13:26, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

You shouldn't need a macro...It should just be (inside U's formula)... =if(w1="XXXXX",V1," ") Unless you explicitly want to remove the value of V of course. Then just copy the formula down for as many rows as you need. ny156uk 16:48, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Check out the VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP functions as well, as they do things similar to what you are trying to do. --140.247.240.232 17:55, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Whenever I'm working on macros in excel, I keep an extra button handy, and for things like that I will 'record' the macro on the extra button and just copy over the code. It's useful because VBA in excel has a lot of operators and commands and things that are specific to excel. - 24.68.64.122 19:56, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Installing Vista

I'm using Windows XP and I have another partion with Ubuntu. I'd like to install Windows Vista over Ubuntu so I can use Vista but still have XP because I know there's compatibility issues with Vista. When I start the installation for Vista will it be aware of the Ubuntu partion to overrite? and secondly, how do I set up the boot strap loader as I only have experience with the loaders such as Lilo and GRUB. --Kiltman67 23:20, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Vista will probably try to overwrite ubuntu and XP. The best way to do this might be to install a small version of linux, like Puppy Linux, and use that to anchor GRUB, and load XP and Vista with grub. The standard way to do that is XP->Ubuntu though, so I don't know how well installing windows after GRUB would work, Windows isn't very friendly. You might want to ask on Ubuntuforums.com -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 23:50, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

Do the partitioning inside Ubuntu (resizing ext3 or NTFS partitions etc.), install Vista, then use the liveCD or the alternate CD to install grub back using grub-install. --antilived^{T | C | G} 00:28, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Just to clarify, I want a Dualboot system with XP and Vista, but no Ubuntu. Sorry for any confusion. --Kiltman67 00:53, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Read what I said. The linux is just there to give you a way to use and manage GRUB. -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 02:13, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for making that clearer. Will the partioning tools that come with the Vista installation be able to see the Linux partition even when the OS (at least XP, can't say for sure with Vista) can't? --Kiltman67 03:53, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Actually if you don't want Ubuntu anymore you can do fixmbr in XP recovery console and then install Vista, which will detect XP and put it into NTLDR. And yes, you can always delete a partition, even if you don't have read support on it. --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:04, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

How do I get to the Recovery Console? I'm presuming it's an option in the boot menu when you press F8 but please tell me if I'm wrong. --Kiltman67 15:04, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

I have a related question that isn't really different enough to warrant a whole new question. After installing Vista I know I can access the contents of the XP partition, but will Vista add all the software in there to the start menu as it is in XP or do I need to do that myself, and if so is there an easy way to do it rather then adding shortcuts for everything one by one. --Kiltman67 17:03, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

You put in the XP CD, let it load all its stuff, then there will be an option for recover console. And no, Vista, or any other OS for that matter, will not automatically add the software that you've installed. Putting shortcuts to pre-installed software are not recommended and you will need to throw a few hours just to install all the software again (and doing this every 3 months is really annoying, that's why I made the switch to Ubuntu).--antilived^{T | C | G} 22:43, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

When you say put the XP CD in and let it load its stuff do you mean booting from it? --Kiltman67 23:01, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes, like what you do when you want to install XP. Just don't select install and select recovery console instead. --antilived^{T | C | G} 10:33, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

I tried it and when it asked for the Administrative password it told me my password was wrong. There's only one account other than the guest and so obviously it's the Administrator, but it wouldn't accept the password. Any ideas what could be going wrong? --Kiltman67 01:11, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

May 26

Library to convert sRGB to any linear color space

I took some photos of the same scene with different exposures, with the intent to synthesize them into one HDR image. When I looked at the RGB values of the pixels with the Python Imaging Library, I expected the values of the 2-stops-underexposed shot to be close to 4x less than the values of the normally exposed shot. Instead, the ratios were all over the place. Now I realize this is because the JPEG from my camera uses sRGB, a non-linear encoding. Is there a free software library I can use to convert from sRGB into some linear space so I can tinker with the pixels? I found LittleCMS, which seems on the right track, but how can I make it give me something linear? —Keenan Pepper 00:58, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

GraphicsMagic/ImageMagic might well do it --h2g2bob (talk) 03:47, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Okay... that doesn't really help me. How do I do it? —Keenan Pepper 17:17, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Animated GIF onto Powerpoint

How do you put an animated GIF onto powerpoint? When I tried to insert picture from file onto powerpoint the animated GIF became a still picture. -Dudforreal 08:07, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

The animation will play when you view the show (Slide Show > View show) — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 10:22, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

World's Best Computer

I heard that the best computer in the world costs only $600. Is this true?--71.185.133.24 13:56, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Define "best". Best for who? — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 14:37, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

That's like asking what the "best" car is. Some people will say it's a Veryon, others a Maybach, and there's the group that swears by Isettas. If your question is "How much should I pay for a computer", then anyone who doesn't play games or do heavy multimedia work shouldn't spend more than 500$ -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 14:47, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Simple answer: no. Computers like Blue Gene cost millions. JoshHolloway 19:50, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Ubuntu laptop: $599. Blue Gene $100m. Human brain: Priceless. --h2g2bob (talk) 20:33, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Actually, you can get a decent ACER laptop for 400$, then just run Ubuntu on it. I'm planning on this. And don't be so quick to call it priceless, I'm sure there are people that would pay for them... -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 21:26, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Just as people would pay for friends, pay for the perfect day etc? I don't think you quite get the irony, and possibly the reference to the Mastercard advert. JoshHolloway 22:01, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

I like to take things overly literal, on occasion. And no, more in the way people would pay for real ivory or lion fur. -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 23:21, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Ah, alright. JoshHolloway 12:24, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Actually, there is a best personal computer but its way more than $600. It's more like $9,808, at present. It's the Dell XPS 720 H2C model.Jk31213 14:52, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Sideshow

What are some Sideshow laptops? 68.193.147.179 17:16, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Hardware.info has the first one. --JDitto 18:46, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

HTML help

Okay, I'm trying to make an html page have different background colours per section (in the same page)--but how do I do that? Also, is there a place where I can learn basic html stuff? So far, I'm just self-taught by hitting Ctrl+u on other people's webpages. Thanks. --JDitto 18:42, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

A web search for HTML tutorials will reveal all. --TotoBaggins 18:47, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

<body style="background-color: blue;"><div style="background-color: red; width: 100%; height: 50px;">This is some red</div> <div style="background-color: green; width: 100%; height: 50px;">This is some green</div></body>.That will make the default colour blue, but 50px of "this is some red" and "this is some green" each. JoshHolloway 19:49, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Try w3schools.com. There are plenty of others too. You probably know that web pages are normally made up of HTML, CSS and JavaScript - in "HTML" you will encounter all three. If you get stuck, you can always ask us or MozillaZine for help. The full technical standards are at World Wide Web Consortium or Mozilla developer center. --h2g2bob (talk) 20:18, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks all, especially Josh--that was really helpful. --JDitto 22:25, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

I can't imagine a page doing this without being hideous, but personally, I'd use tables for this.

Tables are evil, <div> is much more graceful. --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:40, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

To make explicit what Josh's example and the links imply, it is not HTML you need (and certainly not tables), but CSS.

---

Pale red background

Pale green background

Pale blue background

---

Good practice would be to use a class attribute on each section, and to use a suitable selector in the style sheet. Unfortunately, I cannot demonstrate that within wiki constraints.

But I, too, question the design decision. --KSmrq^T 07:15, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Go to Funky-chickens.com They are great! Desalvionjr 00:36, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

There are loads of good places on the web to learn HTML, just Google HTML tutorials. If you want to a book to help I suggest Head First HTML with CSS & XML (A bit of a long winded title) This is one of the few books that I've seen that tells you how to write correct HTML (They actually teach you XHTML and CSS not HTML, and tell you why) many books are still caught up using tags like FONT and TABLE for layout. It also has a very friendly writing style and very effective way of describing the technical concepts behind HTML, from the very first steps of learning about HTML without being patronising. I know I'm sounding like an advert, but I'd reviewed quite a few HTML books to see which my company should stock in their learning library and this is the only one that is any good. --Phydaux 20:26, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Sunbird to Outlook

Is there any way for me to import my Sunbird calenders into Outlook? Deltacom1515 20:58, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Apparently Outlook supports the iCalendar format, so you may be able to export your calendar from Sunbird in iCalendar format and import it into Outlook. I don't know the specifics of how you'd do that, sorry. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 20:10, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

It doesn't work in either iCal format or comma separated format. Outlook pops up with various error messages saying that the file may be corrupt, even though it gives you options to import these types of files. Deltacom1515 23:30, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Looking for a very specific type of game.

I'm sure nothing like this exists, but just throwing it out there. Who knows, maybe it does, and that would make me a very happy Feba.

• MMORPG. Not too hard.
• For linux, or at least WINE. A little harder.
• Action. Zelda, dynasty warriors, prince of persia style combat. Not the standard "look at your enemy, press a hotkey, wait." battle system 99% of MMOs have.

Any of the three aren't too hard to meet, but combined it seems impossible =/ SoulFu seems to be the closest thing, but it's offline. It seems to have a network system that's on indefinite hiatus, and even if it does work, i'm not sure it won't just be online friend play or even LAN. I know there's Regnum and others out there, but I really want something with a more Zelda (specifically, WW) or KH flavored battle system. Something where I press cross and swing my sword, instead of ALT+F1 to watch my character prepare to summon a fireball at some turn in the future, or clicking on my enemy to run up to them and swing every 2.56 seconds. If anyone knows of anything anything close to this, I'd be extremely grateful -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 22:33, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Something like Diablo_II? Or Kingdom Hearts? Category:Action_role-playing_video_games.--0rrAvenger 19:31, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

How to get an Epson to print B&W

Okay, so here's the situation: I have a Epson CX54000 color printer. The magenta ink just ran out today, and the printer won't let me print anything at all, not even black and white papers. So any help to let me print in B&W without having to go out and buy a new magenta ink cartridge? 67.188.81.5 22:59, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

I just talked to an IT and he said to go call Epson's Technical Support. Instructions to do that should be in the manual, or if that's not available, go to the "help" section of your printer's software. --JDitto 02:04, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Not sure about the new ones, but old Epson printers had almost interchangeable drivers. You could try using a driver for a similar Epson printer that is monochrome. Also, you can buy magenta ink and refill your cartridge, and then you won't have to buy a new one. Heck, if you don't care what color the printout is, you can refill it with ANYTHING, WATER would probably work, so long as it trips the ink sensor. It may require a syringe and a tiny little drill bit, depending on the cartridge design.

May 27

Cancelling AOL, keep AIM?

I've recently been thinking about cancelling AOL. However, I use my screenname as my major IM contact and I can't find a definite, recent yes or no on whether cancelling AOL will stop me from using the name on AIM. Could anyone point me in the right direction about it? flatluigi(^talk/_contrib) 00:23, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

I had no trouble using my AIM name after canceling with AOL. Your real worry should be making sure AOL actually stops billing you. I got billed twice after I canceled. Watch out for that. Dlong 00:54, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

It is impossible to cancel an AOL subscription. I've never had to do it first hand, but I've heard many stories, and let me tell you. They were not pretty. --Russoc4 03:02, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Indeed. --Proficient 05:25, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

We actually have information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aol#Account_cancellation Dlong 15:55, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Buying a website

My last name is quite unique, and when i go to www.(insert my last name).com, nothing comes up. It says this page could not be found, yadayada the usual. There's no option "to buy from owner" that you see on other sites. Now how would I go about registering and buying this site? Who do I get it from? 140.180.7.197 04:51, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

You'd want to look for a domain name registrar on the Internet, like GoDaddy.com Splintercellguy 05:01, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Or TOSDomains which I find to be cheaper and better. Mind that you'll also need hosting, but registrars tend to rip you off. IKHost have a good deal in that if you buy a domain you get a comfortable amount of hosting space. JoshHolloway 12:16, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

It's usually a good thing if you visit a domain name that you want and they're not there trying to sell it to you - because if they did that would mean that someone already owns that domain name and wants to sell it to you (oftentimes for a profit) - and there are often complications in the transfer of domain name ownership. So the fact that nobody owns it means that you can go in and grab it. Rfwoolf 16:15, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Websites are two things: a domain name, which tells computers how to connect to it, and the web server, which actually hosts the web content. Buying just the name will make sure nobody else can use it (you are basically reserving the name), but it won't make it a website yet — that takes buying space on a web host, making content, etc., and then pointing that URL name there. All of which is pretty easy, if you know what you are doing! --140.247.240.18 15:08, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Font used during booting

What is the name of the font used during booting (see here) and used in the BIOS (see here). It seems to be the same font across all BIOS / mainboard manufacturers. Thanks in advance. --Abdull 10:17, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

(http://www.procon.com.au/HVVCBIOS.htm) seem to suggest it is a hardware OEM font (no idea what this means but may mean something to you). ny156uk 10:50, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

OEM = Original equipment manufacturer, and it basically means that that's what's shipped with the hardware. So all Intel chips will have the same font, etc JoshHolloway 12:18, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

I guess these fonts are embedded in the Video BIOS. But still, it always seems to be the same font, no matter whether it's an Intel GMA or a NVIDIA graphics chip. Maybe it is a VESA standard? All important video graphics card manufacturers are members of it --Abdull 12:35, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Might have something to do with the clean-rooming of the original IBM BIOS, also those look like they're both Phoenix AWARDBIOS, which would explain it. I believe there's only two real BIOS makers nowadays, Phoenix, and some company I can't think of off the top of my head -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 15:07, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Is it so that the original IBM PC was the first computer to use this font? It would make sense as the IBM PC introduced many novelities. --Abdull 07:58, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Odd standoff.

Just bought a new PC case, and in the center of where the motherboard will sit is a large, unusual standoff. It's longer than the others, and doesn't have a space to screw anything into it. Is this standard? Will it kill me while I sleep (or worse, crack my motherboard when I'm screwing it into the other, shorter standoffs)?Down M. 15:48, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

I suggest you ask the manufacturer of the case, or the seller. Don't try install your motherboard until you're sure. JoshHolloway 18:49, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

I guess this standoff is made for supporting your mainboard in moments when force is applied so it does not bend too much - for example when you try to insert a graphics card or RAM. I figured that out when i took this kind of standoff out of my PC case, guessing it has no function, then hearing the crackling sounds of my stressed mainboard PCB while inserting some components. --Abdull 08:10, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

I had an odd standoff in the middle of mine - it wasn't really longer than the others, but had a little post in the middle rather than a screw-hole. It was to make it easier to locate the board properly before screwing it down, I guess. Rawling4851 12:07, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Can someone recommend a discussion group platform?

I'm looking to set up a *private* academic discussion group platform for 2 groups at different universities. Ideally people would have their own profile pages and the ability to set up their own subgroups, and perhaps there would be some social networking capability. The atmosphere should be fairly professional rather than casual studenty. Does anyone have any recommendations for innovative new websites for this? (I don't think facebook as it is now is suitable for various reasons). thanks for any leads!!!!

0x10001: Which is the "High Word" and which is the "Low Word"

Note: I have looked for high word and low word and found nothing
I am reading a pretty bad manual on something and it refers to the "high word" and "low word" in the following parameter: 0x10001.
This is rather baffling, because what the hell type of information is 0x10001? What is the "0x" for?
Please explain the difference between a high word and a low word?

Here is the text:

High word is open mode (0 means private, 1 means share) and Low word is module number (0 to 15).
0x10001 means log in module 1 in share mode

Thanks!
Rfwoolf 16:12, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

0x means that 10001 is hexadecimal (0x10001 = 65537). The number could be written with leading zeroes - 0x00010001 - for a 32-bit integer. You could split this into 2 16-bit words of 0x0001 and 0x0001 - that is 2 words of value 1. The high word would be the one to the left. How this is actually implemented in memory depends on endianness. --h2g2bob (talk) 16:39, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Thank you sir! Rfwoolf 16:41, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Just adding to h2g2bob's answer: the reason the word on the left is called the high word is that the digits there have a higher value, just like the left-hand digits in the usual base-10 number system do. --TotoBaggins 23:05, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Computer out of "balls and wood"

I read, in the article Strong AI, that it would be possible to make a computer out of "balls and wood", what would that look like and how would it function, it mentions "wood channels" and "rolling balls" but nothing more. Thanks, Jeffrey.Kleykamp 17:59, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Here's a definition of a computer taken from dictionary.com: "a computer that represents data by measurable quantities, as voltages or, formerly, the rotation of gears, in order to solve a problem, rather than by expressing the data as numbers."

I think what happened is that you forget that computers existed before their electric form, so it's possible that all they meant was a machine capable of computing, created from balls (bearings?) and wood (gears?). --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 18:22, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

I know (knew) that computers existed before their electric form but I don't see how they compute something, I really don't even understand how modern computers compute but I'm interested in the "balls and wood" version right now. And how can the definition of computer include the word "computer" in the definition, but I just want a description of a balls and wood computer, e.g. how it would do commands, take in and process input, etc. Thanks, Jeffrey.Kleykamp 18:44, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Depending on how you define computer, you can make one out of Lego, so other mechanisms are possible. [3] And if you still aren't happy, you can Google as well as I can. --Zeizmic 20:08, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

I've previously read about marble machines made by Matthias Wandel. One of the elements of his machines is a flip-flop. Using various combinations of marble flip-flops it seems possible to build simple computers. For example, see Marble Computer or search for "marble computer" for similar ideas. -- Bavi H 20:15, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Wow, that marble computer website is very informative, it even had two videos. Thanks, Jeffrey.Kleykamp 20:49, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Abacus would be the simplest method I could think of for figuring this out. -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 20:52, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

You might also be interested in reading about the concept of Universal Turing Machines which are very simple but extremely powerful 'machines' for computing 'computable' algorithms. Johnnykimble 22:26, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Here's a very good Scientific American article on a tinkertoy computer: [4]. An interesting bit of trivia is that nanocomputers might work in a way more like the tinkertoy computer than like today's electronic computers, only on a molecular scale. --TotoBaggins 23:15, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

You might also be interested in the Digi-Comp I and more specifically the Digi-Comp II, although that article is not very detailed. They are two products from E.S.R. Inc. that I never had, although I still have a Think-a-Dot (it's on the shelf above my monitor), and I wish I knew what had happened to my Dr. NIM (regular kids lament their loss of valuable baseball cards, geeky kids lament the loss of their pseudo-computers). --LarryMac | Talk 02:05, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

http://goldfish.ikaruga.co.uk/logic.html --froth^t 04:18, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

how to find

can anybody help me to under stand in a very simple way not in a bookish way that how i can find the external path length and internal path length of a binary search tree.

This sounds like homework - bad! I don't know of a shortcut, but just go round the tree counting. If you draw a solid line around the search tree then you can count how many times it passes on the left (external) or right (internal). I can't really explain it without a diagram, and I'm not doing your homework for you. JoshHolloway 19:05, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

it is not at all a homework,my exam is very near and this concept is still not clear,thats why i consult this help desk. so it will be great help if anyone help me to under stand the procedure..

Ok, I've drawn something up for you. View it here. Hope it helps, and good luck in your exam! (Also, remember to sign your comments with four ~s!) JoshHolloway 21:43, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Have you missed a purple line by the number 3? →Ollie (talk • contribs) 04:24, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes, oops. Fixed now. JoshHolloway 09:58, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

May 28

CPU fan doesn't work

Ok my fan doesn't work. Please tell me how to get it to work before my cpu explodes. i opened up the box and put a real fan there to see if it'll help. And can someone please tell me how to find my cpu tempreature? When I start up my computer it tells me the cpu temp for about a few secs but then i dont know anymore. Usually this tempreature is about 20 degress celcius but today it was at 68 when i restarted my computer.Taida 01:45, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

There is a plethora of tools to read the sensor, for example http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php. You can also read the value in the bios menu, but the cpu is unsually cool in that case, because it is idle.

If a CPU gets too hot it will start to compute wrong results, which usually causes the computer to freeze or reboot. If it heats up further, it can be destroyed.

Can you tell me how to get it to work? --Taida 12:52, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Buy a new fan? It should be a simple replacement job. Splintercellguy 13:51, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Those fans can be lubricated, and they'll run again for a little while (days, weeks, maybe a few months), but the fix never holds for long; it's a lot easier to just buy a new fan and get another five years or so out of the fan. Unplug and unmount the old fan and take it to your nearest computer shop (preferably, a little one that knows what they're doing rather than a CompUSA, Circuit City, or a Best Buy). They should have a fan of an identical size and connector, but if the connector varies a bit, you/they should be able to connect the old leadset and connector to the new fan. At all times when the computer case is open, please exercise caution against zapping your computer with electrostatic discharge.

Atlant 17:53, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

If you do decide to lubricate it, note the little hole the oil goes in is often hidden underneath the label. Most fans have been designed to be serviced in this fashion on a regular basis and can be kept running a very long time so long as you're willing to oil them regularly. My grandpa has a furnace fan from the 40s that he kept working through the 90s by oiling it yearly. Since discovering that hole, I've never thrown a fan away.

The hassle, of course, is that often the failed fan is buried deep in a power supply and substantial disassembly is required simply to reach the fan. In that case, a new five-year fan is a much better tradeoff than a (lets be generous) one year relubrication of the old fan. Computer fans are just too cheap to waste your labo[u]r upon. Plus, if they fail again and are not rapidly repaired (again and again), they may cause some very expensive components to overheat.

I've certainly oiled a few fans, but have decided that it's just not worth it in the long run.

Of course large motors with non-permanently-lubricated bearings are well worth keeping oiled. But the presence of oil cups and oil felts usually identify the ones worth oiling.

Atlant 12:57, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Printing

Hello. Can I print on scrap lined, writing paper with an HP Deskjet 3420? Will it harm the printer? Thanks. --Mayfare 01:54, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

If it's the correct size and isn't too thin, it should be fine.

How do I know that the paper is too thin? --Mayfare 19:29, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Any kind of "normal" paper works in a printer just fine. The sort of thing you have to worry about putting into a printer is plastic stuff, like overhead transparencies. --Tugbug 20:13, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

If you can write on it with ink and see what you've written on the other side, best use something thicker. I mean, you *could* use it, but it mightn't look as nice.

Oh, the blueness

My monitor's picture recently went blue. That is, that which is supposed to be white, is a greenish blue. Solutions? Comments? All are welcome! Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 02:25, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Let me guess. CRT monitor? Probably one of the colour guns has gone. Either that or your colour temperature has spontaneously reset itself, but it seems like it's the former.

Unplug your video cable from the back of the monitor, plug it back in and fasten the screws. Unplug the video cable from the back of the computer, plug it back in, and fasten the screws -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 03:38, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, it's the cable. It went back to normal for a while after I messed with it but now it's permanently blue. Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 04:48, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Then go buy a new one. -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 04:55, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

It are attached to the monitor. Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 18:43, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Does anyone maybe know of software than can correct the color balance? Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 03:02, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

If it's cyan (greenish blue) you've lost your red signal. No software will bring the red back if it's not getting through from the computer. You could wiggle and twist the cord around and hope it comes back. In the process hopefully you'll determine which end of the cord has problems. If the computer end has problems, you could canibalize a cord from a broken monitor, though that's a lot of wire splicing. If the monitor end's the problem, you'll need to find an identical or extremely similar monitor, take both apart, find where the cord plugs in (there's usually a plug of some kind inside where the cord connects to the innards) and switch cords. Of course before that, it couldn't hurt to try the nearly identical monitor first, if it works, why bother? There are other possibilities to check though. It's possible the DAC for that color has died on your graphics card. Borrow someone else's monitor to test this.

No, it's the cable. When I twisted it it used to work again a while but now it won't respond. I tried to adjust the color balance with the NVIDIA control panel but even when I increased the red nothing change, so I guess I have lost the red signal. Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 19:16, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

A good way to check if a channel's gone or just weakened is to set the desktop to the primary colour that's missing (red if you see cyan, green if magenta, blue if yellow). If the channel's completely gone, the desktop will be black. NeonMerlin 23:53, 3 June 2007 (UTC)

Regular expressions

I'm looking to get the Platypus Firefox extension to match a large block of text starting with one thing and ending with another. The text is across multiple lines. Without changing the flags (since they're not accessible), what pattern will match it?

Example:

Text
Text
START
Text
Text
Text
END
Text
Text

where the pattern matches everything between START and END, regardless of whether it is letters, punctuation, whitespace, etc. The usual trick of including .* or * does not seem to work. 81.104.175.145 03:55, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

You may not be able to do this with a regular expression unless it treats characters you can specify as newlines (which isn't always the case).

Good places to get started in programming?

I'd really like to get into programming, but i'm not sure what I'd want to do. Part of me wants to make simple games in Py, that are story, artwork, and music driven, part of me wants to make complicated 3D network games, and another part wants to go into working on linux distros! Obviously simple things are easier to learn, but where's a good place to start learning to be able to do a wide variety of tasks? Sometimes I have ideas for web flash games, and sometimes I get images of a text editor that would better suit my needs. Obviously, these aren't things you can just learn and do over night, but knowing where to start would be nice. Keep in mind, we're only talking about linux here, I don't care about .NET or DX or anything proprietary like that. I'm guessing "learn C and start doing crap with it", but I'd like a more in depth opinion. I already know a tiny tiny bit of Python, and I'd prefer to keep learning that, since it's easier for me to read, but I'll go with whatever is best -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 04:38, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

If you know a little bit of python, stick to it for a start. It is not very important which language you use to learn programming, but you should limit the number to one until you are a little better.

Now you need to find a project that is both interesting and doable for you. Your expectations on your abilities for the first few projects are probably far to high. If you try to write a multiplayer 3D shooter as a beginner, you will get absolutely nowhere. Hah, if you try to write a decent multiplayer 3D shooter as anything less than an expert on geometric algorithms you will get nowhere either.

For a start it is best to take some form of course. You can do a course in real life, you can buy a book and work through it or you can search for a good tutorial on the web. The most important thing are the excercises. You need to write little programs, lots of little programs and get more practice doing it.

When you aquired some basic skills, try to find things that you might like to program. For example you might want to divide a poem into blocks that rhyme. Or you could create a game of tic tac toe. Mabe you need a program that reformats a set of web page to use another style. Or you want to converts pictures from one format to another by a rule based on the file name. If you like network programming, write a little chat program. There is really an endless amount of ideas. If you only do the projects, that seem possible, but require you to learn one or two new aspects of programming, these are the right projects.

My personal favorite toy project is writing a game of tetris. That might be too difficult for you as a beginner, but I recommend it to anyone who is an experienced programmer and wants to get up to speed with a new language. I did that four times already, and I still believe my objective-c verison is the best tetris implementation ever made. ^^

We seem to have the perfect book for you right here: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Non-Programmer's_Tutorial_for_Python/Contents.

I like that answer! Before making tetris, you may want to consider making a simple notepad whereby you allow (from console) someone to add/delete/edit/sort notes. This is easy enough in Python and would get you going :). JoshHolloway 10:00, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

I just linked the book in the first place because it was on wikipedia, but I just skimmed through it, and it is PHANTASTIC! Four years ago I actually created a new beginners course on java from scratch, because all the existing material was starting with objects and classes and fancy things, but the wikibook just nails the sequence of topics right down perfectly.

How do you feel about Java? I think it's a good starting language myself, and it makes stuff like graphics etc for games easier to implement. Then after you create Phoeba Wright: Grace Attorney or something, you will probably have enough knowledge to jump to other languages much simpler. But that's just my 2 cents. I didn't actually learn Java first, but when I was taking a uni course on Java, I thought people should learn Java first. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 14:03, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

When teaching programming, what you really want to do is telling how to predict what exactly a computer will output if it executes the program. The only important thing for a first language is that you can understand the logical model behind it so that you can make these predictions accurately. That makes for example Prolog completely off limits for a learning language. The logical model of prolog is far too difficult to understand.

While the java language itself is fine in that respect, the swing toolkit is actually pretty horrible. It hides the event loop from the programmer, and incorrect understanding of how the event loop works leads to a lot of confusion about gui programming. The mechanism is not even documented and I have spent a whole day looking with a debugger at the internals of swing to understand the finer points of its painting, layout and modal event handling. A large majority of students who learned java at my university had not understood how to use the swing toolkit properly after more than 3 years.

Oh don't get me wrong, I doubt I'll be able to make even a basic shooter in many moons, if ever. Thanks for that wikibook, I'd only seen http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Python_Programming - and it doesn't seem to be quite as helpful. -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 16:16, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Learning programming and learning a new programming language are totally different.

javascript

would you please show me a way of using javascript in my html documents which I edit in notepad! If possible type me a simple html document with javascript in it.

Well, what do you want to do with JavaScript? Splintercellguy 13:49, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

You can find hundreds of Javascript tutorial and examples on the web. If you want a simple example, add the following to any HTML document:

<script language="javascript">

alert('Hello world!');

</script>

And you'll get a little note saying hello. --140.247.240.18 15:04, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

The Extension Developer's Extension for Firefox is good for this. Root⁴(one) 15:14, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Does the Xbox360 elite include an HD DVD player?

I am thinking about getting a Xbox360 elite. But I do not know if it comes with and HD DVD player, or do you have to buy it separately.

Check our article on the X-box elite. --Cody.Pope 13:01, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Whats that?

For a year or so everything was fin but now firefox takes a eternity to start up and i hear the hard disc all the time. Is this some kind of governmental spyware? How can I find out what's going on. I'm using linux and with the "top" command I see firefox-bin running with a low cpu percentage. On the whole the processor is fairly idle but there's high (~97%) wa.

What can I do? 84.160.231.38 18:41, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

You might try trashing your Firefox cache and preferences file (I'd backup the bookmarks first). I have had that fix similar problems before. --140.247.240.137 19:25, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Start off with the advice above (deleting your cache and prefs). If that doesn't work, try a defrag or see if a large chunk of the program is sitting on bad sectors in your hard drive.--GTPoompt 14:02, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

I think your chances of having spyware on Linux are pretty slim. According to the Ubuntu Wiki, as are your chances of your hard drive becoming fragmented, so I'd disregard GTPoompt's comment (although it probably would have been relevant for Windows). If reseting your cache and preferences doesn't work, you might want to try reinstalling Firefox (if you got it from your distro's repositories, it should be pretty easy). --saxsux 22:19, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Website Compatibility

Hello. What other Internet browsers other than Internet Explorer can load cheese.com [5]? Thanks. --Mayfare 19:28, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

I don't see anything like AvticeX preventing other browsers from loading it. If you're developing a website, you really should have a bunch of browsers on your own computer to test it, otherwise I don't see why you need our help -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 19:39, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

It loads in Firefox and is, for the most part, readable. However, it is a skinny little blob with tons of white space on both sides. The web designer needs to learn about fluid design. --Kainaw ^(talk) 20:25, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

And I'm counting 4 Google ads, and two animated flash banner ads. Google ads are click-based, and I seriously doubt that people are more likely to click if there are four of them, all visible on one screen. This is exactly what Adblock was created for. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 20:34, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Looks ok in Firefox (Iceweasel) and Konqueror; but fails w3c validation. As Kainaw said, fixed sizes are a bad idea. Plus I use Adblock on firefox and don't use javascript on konqueror, so the ads went bye. --h2g2bob (talk) 21:08, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Is fine in Opera :) JoshHolloway 23:15, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

All appears to work just fine, even with some broad-targeted Greasemonkey, but whoever thought that the fixed width was a good idea should be taken out and shot re-educated. 81.104.175.145 03:21, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

AIM Phoneline

For some reason, I cannot set up AIM Phoneline with my screen name - every time I attempt to do so, I get an error message that says - "We're sorry. We are unable to complete your registration at this time." What can I do? Is the server having issues, or is it a problem with my account? Ali ^(t)_(c) 21:16, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

I think AOL would be a lot better at answering that than Wikipedia... --saxsux 22:27, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

I have the same errors. Your not alone-soundnut

May 29

Blender Fluid Simulation Problem

I have a scene set up in Blender (Intel; Mac OS X) where water pours into a dish. If i turn the "end" value of the simulation to anything bigger that the default 30 and click bake, it starts baking from frame "-1" and then freezes. Can anyone explain why, and give a solution?--67.181.167.227 00:16, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

bandwidth in gaming

I think I must be pretty close to (or slightly over) 100GB of downloads alone this month. I just read Comcast#High_Speed_Internet_Service which scares me- my dad depends on our internet service for a lot of the work that he does. I'm trying to minimize my bandwidth consumption until the end of the month, and it occured to me that I have no idea how much bandwidth online gaming uses? If I play Counter-Strike: Source for 1-2 hours on a fairly full (40 man) server, how much actual data is downloaded? I play 1-2 hours basically every day, so am I in any danger of going over the "limit"? --froth^t 00:46, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

It will depend on the game. Obviously older games won't try to go over 56k, newer games might go higher, I think some can easily scrape 1MB+/500k at a time. I'm sure you'll be fine, that policy is more there for comcast to get rid of people who are using them as a server than it is their regular customers. -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 01:11, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

My internet is currently cappped to 64kb until the end of the month and I can still play CS Source with voice and everything with NO lag and about 5ms ping on my ISPs server. 100GB is A LOT of data for one month no matter how you put it, that would be regarded as extreme use on any ISPs plan. I'm on an enthusiast plan and I'm allowed to use 12GB in a month before I get slowed, my house mate and I played about 5 hours of WoW every day for a month with team speak and all and we used up about 1GB, you would use a fraction of a GB in a month playing 1 - 2 hours of CS a day, it would be NOTHING compared to 100GB. Vespine 02:41, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

OK so I guess I'll just lay off the bittorrent for awhile and won't worry about it thanks. --froth^t 03:33, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

And I don't consider 100GB a lot at all; how is downloading at 50KB/s for a week (30 gigs- the star trek TNG series in low def) any worse for network health than downloading at 50KB/s for a month (120 gigs- a dozen movies in high def and half a dozen modern games)? --froth^t 03:37, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Come on, don't kid your self, of course it is a lot of data, how many people download more then 100GB in a month? (and not jsut the very 1st month they get their unlimited net account) I guarantee it is less then 1% of all internet users. I have almost a terabyte of storage at home, i know of course it is easy to fill 100GB with movies and games, but I also know it is a lot to download in one month. Vespine

It is a lot, but it's not as much as you're making it out to be, especially considering all of the peer-to-peer downloads flying around, and the instantaneous bandwidth available on modern ISPs. The limit for my ISP's standard plan is 60GB/month, and I know at least one or two people who have hit that cap. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:58, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

I don't think you will actually hit 100gb unless you are downloading massive amounts of stuff. I play WOW and with a whole bunch of addons gathering data from the server, I rarely was pushing 6kb/sec.--GTPoompt 17:38, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

A few of examples of bandwidth consumption:

1. 100 hours of VOIP calling: 2.8 GB.
2. Pandora radio playing eight hours a day for a month: 13 GB.
3. Second Life on a fast connection with a great deal of movement from region to region: 1 GB for every four hours of play.
4. 20 pirated DVDs, re-encoded for single-layer recording: 100 GB.
5. 12 hours of streaming ATSC digital television: 100 GB.

--Carnildo 00:01, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

SL is a gig per four hours?! Holy crap! I can't even download that fast direct connection http! --froth^t 02:52, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Really? That's 250MB/Hr, which comes out to be around 100kbps, which isn't too bad. -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 17:32, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

The numbers for SL are assuming a fast connection and a lot of movement. If you're just sitting in one place, you can almost play over dialup. --Carnildo 23:17, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

I'm surprised that Pandora doesn't consume more bandwidth, especially if you play it every day for a month. Incidentally, where did you get those numbers? Is that your own investigation, or is there an article or something? Ohh, and by the way, you guys are suckers, I'm sitting on a 24 mbit connection with unlimited downloads for ~$30/month. I just checked my Azureus statistics, and I'm pushing a terabyte in downloads over the last 3 months. --Oskar 11:16, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

For the most part, I calculated the numbers based on data in the relevant articles. The SL numbers are based on measurements I did. Pandora is 128kbps mp3, which is only 16 kilobytes per second of music. --Carnildo 23:17, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Bare linux kernel

What would the linux kernel, with no modifications, do by itself? Would it just start a DOS/Basic like environment? Or would it refuse to boot? Or would it be incapable of booting? I don't really need to know this, i'm just curious -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 01:08, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

If you set up the bootloader correctly, it'd start, detect hardware &/c, then complain that it can't find init, then halt. Go learn yourself up on the 'nix bootup sequence.

If there's no filesystem for it to use as the root FS, it says:

Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on

...followed by some internal name for the device it tried to use, for example a hard disk partition. Kernel panic means it didn't know what to do, so it gave up, and not syncing means it's not writing any data to any storage devices for fear of overwriting important data. If it does have a filesystem to use, but there's no executable file to run as the first user-space program (traditionally /sbin/init), it says:

Kernel panic - not syncing: No init found. Try passing init= option to kernel. —Keenan Pepper 15:19, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Free text file compare software.

I'll try to be brief, I have 4 text files 31kb in size which are extracts from the registry of a print server, pertaining to the driver settings on 4 different print queues. 2 printers are doing what they are supposed to and 2 are not behaving correctly under a very specific condition.

I need a piece of windows software that can easily (and freely) compare 2 txt files, to first find everything that is the same on the 2 that work and then the 2 that don't, and then try to find a difference between those two. I've tried a couple of "shareware" programs but they have had save and size limitations and I have not been able to do what I need. I'm sure there must be a free tool that does exactly what I need easily.

If anyone has any more ideas I'm open to suggestions, but please don't ask me to describe the problem, trust me, all other avenues have been exhausted including vendor support… Thanks:) Vespine 02:35, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

One thing you might try, since it is free and easy: create a page in your userspace with the contents of one text file (i.e. at User:Vespine/Test). Save. Then edit the page again and paste the second text file over it. Save. Then go into the "History" tab and compare the two. Might not work well, or it might work perfectly — worth a shot, given how easy it is. --24.147.86.187 04:36, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Yes! Definitely worth a try, but unfortunately even when I try to paste all 4 files the same they haven't formatted exactly the same , because of all the spaces and strange characters> I really like the idea of using wiki to solve this, since I love wiki so much, but unfortunately I think I still need a piece of software to do this. Vespine 05:08, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

In a Windows Command Prompt, you can use the fc command to show the differences between two files, which might solve part of your problem. Basic usage is fc file1 file2. Type fc /? for help. --Bavi H 06:48, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

UltraEdit has a powerful text file compare utility. We use it routinely to compare lists such as database users. Sandman30s 11:07, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

There's probably a windows port of diff on the net somewhere --h2g2bob (talk) 12:14, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Live Boot Cd image file

Dear Ubuntu Fan's, I made the mistake of copying the Ubuntu CD files under WinXP to a cd instead of extracting and burning the iso-image of the cd.So now my boot cd does not boot as it does not posses the ubuntu7.0 livecd boot image file, as burning the files under Nero uses its own default Dos image.Would be grateful if someone extracts that livecd boot image file in iso-buster and mail it to me.My version is ubuntu 7.04 and its for the intel p4 32 bit system.59.92.245.106

It would probably make more sense to download the ISO image and burn it again, than to ask someone to email it to you. The download is free. --Tony Sidaway 11:59, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Depending on where you live, you may be able to get a copy sent by post. See http://shipit.ubuntu.com. --h2g2bob (talk) 12:18, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

I wanted only the boot image file of the live cd(<1mb), not the entire iso file(700MB)..~~

IIRC, the boot image file is one of the visible files in the CD, so you probably copied it as well. There is no need for special tools to get to the boot image. Looking at my old (6.10) CD, I'd guess it's /isolinux/isolinux.bin, and it's probably a no-emulation image. --cesarb 23:45, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Images onto Powerpoint

How can you put a different image that you want as a slide design onto slide master? Slide master only lets you put one image as a slide design for the whole Powerpoint. --203.122.77.125 07:06, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Do you mean you want to use different slide masters for different sections of your presentation? If you're using PowerPoint XP or later you can create multiple masters — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 18:04, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

The way I did it with mine was to create a powerpoint with slides using different design. Then I copy-pasted the slide to get a duplicate and put content on the duplicates. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 02:11, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

One Time Pad "theoretically unbreakable"

I've long understood that One Time Pad ciphers are theoretically unbreakable - this makes sense to me. How does this change when the process used to generate the pad isn't truly random?

For example, say my alphabet is {0,1} and my message is one letter long, so my pad is just an element of {0,1}. If a have a truly random pad, then my message is equally likely to be 0 or 1, and both possibilities are, well, entirely possible. But if say my random pads aren't so random and a cryptanalyst knows that my pad is slightly more likely to be 0 than 1, then so what? Then one of the possibilities is slightly more likely, but both are still entirely possible, right?

I guess what I'm asking is that does "unbreakable" in the sense of a perfect OTP mean not only "no one can be sure what the message was" but also "no one has any reason to guess one message over another"? --87.194.21.177 09:18, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Randomness is an extremely complex topic. A slight bias towards one value or another isn't such a problem (but consider the possibility that p(0) = 0.999), but more problematic for cryptographic purposes is the case where the pad is multiple elements long, and there's a statistical correlation between one value in the next in the pad. In practical terms, it seems that some level of imperfection in the non-randomness can be tolerated. See our article on one time pad for details. --Robert Merkel 09:34, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Oh, careful, a slight bias is a huge problem. Suppose that the sender wants to help the attacker a little bit. He creates a message using an Error-correcting code and puts it through your biased one time pad. The attacker gets the cyphered message and applies the ECC to recover the original message. ECCs can easily go through a 49%/51% biased cypher, no problem at all. Now if a specially crafted message can be recovered by the attacker exploiting redundancy, why should an attacker not be able to recover a normal message by exploiting the natural redundancy of these messages?

Real one time pads have historically been drawn by hand using lottery machines. There is some case in history where the amount of shuffling the machine does was reduced to save time, and the cypher was broken as a result, but I cannot remember when or where that was, so maybe it's an urban legend.

I believe that it was in Singh's "The Code Book" that I read about the Allies taking advantage of handmade Axis one-time-pad ciphers. Since they were handmade on a typewriter, they tended to use alternating right-hand and left-hand keys. They also favored the middle row of keys. So, instead of having to guess at any possibility, the code crackers could try the combinations that were most likely. --Kainaw ^(talk) 13:02, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

There's also an amusing scene in Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon where a secretary whose job was to make one-time-pads by shaking a basket of chips with letters on them and selecting one would discard some of the choices if she got some combination, three-Zs in a row, say, that she felt was not "random enough", since what are the chances of three Zs? :) --TotoBaggins 14:21, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

I'd like to point out that you're touching on the topic of stream ciphers with your question. Stream ciphers are essentially one-time pads, but instead of using a random number generator, it uses a pseudo-random number generator. It has its advantages (like a key is just one number, not a whole string), but it is also much weaker than the one-time pad (well, technically all non-perfect ciphers are infinitely weaker than the great Cipher of Vernam, but you know what I mean). It's an interesting topic, this --Oskar 11:09, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

How to Program?? Do you use any kind of software?? I just a noob (currently on software).

Just like the title.

-how to program. actually I know the java and the C language.

THE PROBLEM IS that I need to know how you put the language "in" and program something.

Is there any type of software you use??

Please. I need help.

125.228.199.22 11:13, 29 May 2007 (UTC) Thomas Gagliardi

At a bare minimum you need a text editor and a compiler or interpreter. You can (arguably) make life easier for yourself by using a source code editor, within or without an integrated development environment. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 11:25, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

For java, you can download and run a cross-platform integrated development environment (IDE) such as Eclipse. This gives you a single solution to build, compile and debug programs.

For C or C++ on Microsoft Windows, download Visual C++ Express, which provides a Windows-specific freeware IDE for C++, which can also be used to compile C programs.

For C or C++ on UNIX-like systems, try an IDE such as Anjuta, which provides facilities similar to those provided by Visual C++ Express. --Tony Sidaway 11:52, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Or just use GCC... However, how do you know how to program if you have never programmed? Just very curios on my part. Did we develope the "Whoa, I know Kung-fu" style of learning already? --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 02:07, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Try Dev-c++ or WxDev-c++ there both free and just as good as vs. --Lwarf ^{Talk to Me!} 08:32, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Query question in MSAccess2000

Resolved

Hi: I'm trying to figure out how to combine a parameter query and an update. They don't have to be in the same query. What I want to do is this:

Search for a string in a memo field, and update a different field for all the returned records with the same string.

So:

Search on MEMO field = 'Chesterfield', action = update FURNITURE field with 'Chesterfield' in records returned in chesterfield search result. The search on the MEMO field needs to be a parameter query because I'm searching for a bunch (potentially huge number, over time) of different strings. Anchoress 11:49, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Got an answer on THIS board. Anchoress 13:13, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Domain Squatting

Hello,

A while ago I had purchased a few domain names. It was before I really knew what I was doing. I had bought one domain name with a .org that was from another company with a .com. I recently recieved this email. Should I just give it to them or are they bluffing? Any thoughts would help.

Dear Mr. Malowsky,

Your use of the URL “www._____.org” violates our registered trademark of the term “______”. Please cease and desist any further use of our trademark including the URL “www._______.org” within 7 days or we will take the appropriate legal action including recovery of incurred attorneys’ fees. Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

They must pay for the domain. There are multiple cases in the past that back this up. For example, Madonna had to pay the owner of madonna.com for the domain. Brad Pitt had to pay the owner of bradpitt.com for the domain. Also, a registered trademark is only for the area of business. For example, I can sell McDonald's car tires without worrying about a lawsuit from the McDonald's restaurant chain - because car tires do not fall under the fast food area of business. So, unless you have a website that is in the same area of business as their trademark, they have no case. Again, there are past examples of a company (Discover credit card company) trying to steal a domain name (discover.com) by claiming a trademark and failing because the content of the site had nothing to do with their area of business. --Kainaw ^(talk) 14:21, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Uh, careful there, read this: Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy. The board granted madonna her domain name, she didn't have to pay a cent. OP, if you're domain squatting in bad faith I advise you to give them the domain name. Otherwise tell them no or offer to sell it. --froth^t 14:58, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

My memory was that Madonna had to pay the remaining amount the owner paid for the domain - something less than $35. That is easily seen as "not paying for it". However, it is an issue that the owner paid $35/year for the domain and legally deserved a refund. Of course, I could be completely wrong about the whole thing. It was a long time ago. --Kainaw ^(talk) 16:41, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

I remember a case where some gamer kid who called himself "Sting" had sting.com, and the singer Sting tried to take it from him, on the grounds that that wasn't even the kid's real name, and IIRC the ICANN people were like, "um, it's not yours either". :) --TotoBaggins 17:04, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

We cannot give legal advice. Consult a laywer. We do have an article on cybersquatting. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 15:01, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Sure we can. The page you are linking to does not forbid us to, as far as I can see. We might not be prepared to take responsibility for the consequences of following our advice, though. That page, along with the medical disclaimer, appear to me as stemming from the silly habit of some americans of suing eachother whenever they did something foolish because of what someone else said or didn't say. (Along the lines of "It said nowhere on it that I couldn't swallow the whole, unopened bottle of Coke I bought from you!".) I'd be happy to take legal advice from you people, and I would of course take responsibility for my own actions and not just run off and blindly do whatever you told me to do, without considering that you might be wrong or that I might have misunderstood you. I for one don't want the great guide to knowledge that is Wikipedia to have blind spots over the areas of law and medicine. —Bromskloss 18:12, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

The header of that page is pretty explicit - "WIKIPEDIA DOES NOT GIVE LEGAL OPINIONS". The header of this page also makes it clear that people should not request legal advice (although to be fair, the questioner did ask for 'thoughts' and not 'advice'). In some (many?) jurisdictions it's illegal to provide legal advice if you're not a legal professional. We can absolutely give legal information - that's why we can have articles like DMCA and Roe v. Wade. The problem is when we start giving legal advice on specific cases. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 18:47, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

This is exactly right. In the state of Florida, it is illegal to practice law or give legal advice without a license- which is where Wikipedia's (and the rest of Wikimedia, I believe) servers are. Wikipedia cannot give legal advice because it would be a violation of Florida state law. That simple. -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 19:51, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Personality module

We don't have an article on it, and googling doesn't tell me what I want to know. Can anyone here tell me (in terms a liberal arts major will understand) what a "personality module" is? —Angr 15:04, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

In what context have you seen this phrase? I can't help but think of the products of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation. --LarryMac | Talk 15:15, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Haha, exactly what I thought. Googling it seems to suggest something to do with networking or signal processing (there are references to Cisco Analog Personality Modules), but I can't find a definition for it anywhere. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 15:22, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

I've seen it in a document I'm translating out of German into English, which means I can't go into much detail for fear of revealing the customer's trade secrets. But it's definitely part of the software (or the software's hardware, like a PCB would be) of some piece of machinery, probably ultimately related to working sheet metal. —Angr 16:25, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

It could really mean anything. A module is just a removable part (software or hardware). A "personality" in computing usually means that it's emulating (pretending to be) some other system for compatibility reasons. For example, Linux can pretend to be other systems (such as SCO Unix or HP/UX). That said, it's easy to imagine a game like The Sims having an aftermarket for "personality modules", so it's really going to be dependent on your application. --TotoBaggins 17:00, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Well, it's clearly not gaming. The product is for sheet metal producers, not the general public. Knowing that a "personality" in computing relates to emulation helps; thanks! —Angr 17:07, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

That's my point: it could be anything from emulation to gaming, and is totally context-dependent. I don't think you're going to find an answer not specific to your actual machine/system. --TotoBaggins 20:14, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

It might also mean a skin (computing). StuRat 17:14, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Well there's no guarantee that by 'personality module' they were referring to emulation. Sure, it fits, but it's not a guarantee. A module could be a place where data or information is contained in a piece of hardware. Rfwoolf 17:23, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

I think it's that thing that Bush had on his back under the coat during the debate[6]. Gzuckier 19:23, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Ha ha. But the upshot is, there isn't one familiar device everyone calls the "personality module". Rather, the makers of this specific machine called something-or-other the "personality module", and in practice it could be almost any kind of module, possibly but not necessarily relating to emulation. —Angr 04:18, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Bulk SMS messages

Does anyone know of a web-based or downloadable program that is able to send bulk SMS messages (i.e., to many different people at once) on a specific schedule? Preferably the program would run on OS X or the web, but Windows would also do. Thanks. --MZMcBride 19:15, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Check out [7] for information on sending bulk SMS messages. You can send to UK only, up to 500 messages a month, I beleive, for free - the full information on pricing can be found here [8]. Jhfireboy I'm listening 23:48, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the response. Cheers. --MZMcBride 01:22, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Wiki farm questions

I recently created a wiki on the wiki farm elwiki.com. I have been looking at MediaWiki's user's guide and some of there their other Administrator pages but it isn't very helpful.

First, I don't think that I have access to the LocalSettings.php file becuase elwiki holds it, so I'm not sure how much I can change on the programming side of the wiki. So if I do have access to this file, how do I access it? Secondly, how do I change the text on the tabs? For instance, how would you change 'edit' to 'edit this page'. Thirdly, how do I protect pages and give other users sysop status? Finally, is there a way to create namespaces without having access to the LocalSettings.php?

If there is anything else I need to know please tell me, I am familiar with the markup and general wiki editing knowledge becuase of my work here to Wikipedia. Thanks for your help. Scottydude _talk 21:31, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

I can't answer all of your questions, but I do know the answers to some of them. A lot of the interface is changeable through a page called Special:Allmessages. On that page you'll see all of the system messages listed, including one called MediaWiki:Edit, which is the one you want to change for your particular question. Whoever originally set-up the MediaWiki software had to create a root account, usually called WikiSysop, who has the ability to protect pages and create admins. Admins are created in the Special:Userrights page, and a page protection tab is available to admins and the root account. I'm pretty sure that new namespaces require access to LocalSettings.php. As for how to access the file, I'm not sure on your configuration (the link you provided doesn't seem to be working right now). Some other pages you may be interested in are MediaWiki:Common.css, MediaWiki:Monobook.css, and MediaWiki:Common.js. Those stylesheets and javascript pages contain a lot of useful code that does things like hide the H1 header on the Main Page. Hope that helps. Cheers. --MZMcBride 23:47, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks so much! Scottydude _talk 23:51, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Note: The link isn't working becuase the elwiki server seems to be down, I can't access the wiki either. Scottydude _talk 23:56, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Server-side program

I want to create a website that communicates with a chatbot that I created, something along the lines of [9] and [10], the chatbot is written in C# and I know how to create the a simple form that has "get", therefore trying to open "www.(myWebsite).com/something?input=(what I wrote here)", although, from what I read, I think I should really be using "post" because the chatbot learns and would get messed up with multiple inputs, I just need to know how to get the client data as it's set to me and run it through my main method, I think it has to do with the stuff after the question mark. Please help, and also I don't really want to learn another computer language so try to give me advice related to C# (and Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition), thanks, 23:13, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

You'll want to look into ASP.NET. You can access the query string through Request.QueryString and postdata through Request.Form — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 23:23, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

May 30

iTunes Downloads

Can I quit iTunes and turn my PC off when I've paused an iTunes download, and still resume it later when I turn the computer back on? Thanks. RedStateV 00:12, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Downloader Virus

I have a Trojan Horse virus referenced as a "Downloader Virus," which downloads other viruses. Since Norton was having difficulty deleting the actual file, I did so manually, and my computer seems to still be infected with viruses which Norton can not pick out. Aside from formatting my computer, what are my options? Cameron 00:48, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Install linux. Leave XP partition to rot. -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 01:45, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Might want to try a different virus scanner. For example, AVG is free. Or use McAfee. If AVG (or whichever other) finds it, scan your computer in safe mode so it can delete it. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 02:00, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Try downloading a copy of Antivir from here. Once you have it installed, disconnect yourself from the Internet and then run it. Have a friend or relative download installers for you of Firefox, Spybot S&D, and AdAware and burn them to a CD. Install those from CD. Promise you will never run Microsoft Internet Explorer ever again. --LarryMac | Talk 02:03, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

telephone dialer in c

 can any one help me with a idea that how to interface c/c++ with the phone dialer.

Sameerdubey.sbp{9:18}

PS3 Update Trouble

Hi,

Every time I try and update my PS3 via System Update/Internet it comes up with an error message: 8002f994.

Can someone point out what is wrong with it or point me to a website where I can download the update on to a memory stick. I am an English PS3 user.

Searching around suggests that this forum thread seem to work. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 08:28, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Japanese letters in e-mail

I am on AOL. I am prepared to type a letter to Shueisha in Japanese, but when I put Japanese letters in the letter fields in the window. they appear as all question marks. Would the letter appear to Shueisha as Japanese letters when sent to them?

Second video card, just for desktop apps (XP)

Let say i want to add a new video card so that I can have an additional display. Assuming I don't want to do play 3D games on this display or anything fancy like that, what sort of a card do I need to do the job? Will a $15 standard PCI do it? or is there a reason to buy something a little more fancy? --Alecmconroy 12:46, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Windows Development

I am about to initiate a major Windows application development project, and am not quite sure on which language to choose. Undoubtedly, I am most used to program in Borland Delphi, but does the language have any future? Generally, I am not sure about the future of native Win32 applications: perhaps the Microsoft.NET framework will make these applications as obsolete as Windows 3.1 applications were made by Windows 95? Perhaps C# is a better choice? Also, how significantly would the application performance increase if I would choose C++ or C# instead of Delphi? --81.231.187.228 13:23, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Your questions come down to the abilities of the compiler. The compiler turns the code you write (regardless of the language) into the code the computer will run. The "obsolete" issue you mention had to do with dumping the old windows framework for a new one. So, the old programs had to be rewritten to use the new framework. The .NET framework is supposed to be stable. So, you can write for it and your program is supposed to compile and run for all future versions of Windows. Keep in mind, the paperclip guy was supposed to be a stable addition to the framework that would always be there to give hints to the user. So, I suggest C++ or C#. --Kainaw ^(talk) 18:58, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Forcing older software to run in higher resolutions.

A lot of older games (Deus Ex, Worms Armageddon, Unreal Tournament, Fallout 2 etc) don't run in my LCDs' native resolutions (1280x1024 or 1680x1050). Is there any way to force old software to run in an unusually high resolution? Froglars the frog 13:24, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

The general procedure ist this: The program queries the display driver for a list of available screen modes. It shows the user a subset of these modes that it supports. The user chooses one of them. Unless you start hacking the display driver of the program, you will not get any other screen mode. It might not be that hard as it sounds right now, because "hacking" the program might be as simple as modifying some list of modes or so. Hacking the display driver means, that the display switches to another mode than the selected one. I am not aware of any driver that would allow this, but it would not be hard to do in principle.

Some programs allow you to force resolutions on the command line (see the manual). Also, you can run them in windowed mode so the screen resolution doesn't matter. Maximize the window and it is almost like running in full-screen mode. --Kainaw ^(talk) 16:49, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Programming for Mac OS X.

Could anyone tell me any source code editors or ,ide's that are made for Mac?

The programmign language can be any.

C C++ java wtv....

I need the answer! Thanks!

Xcode? — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 15:02, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

If you have any experience with Visual Basic, RealBasic is a pretty nice Mac counterpart. --140.247.240.56 17:25, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Eclipse is an OK one that is free. Recury 19:52, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Xcode, and Quartz Composer are nice. [Mac Δαvιs] ❖ 22:37, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Skype voice calls

Hi - I have wireless router with me. I am going to by skype integrated phone of linksys. I am also going to buy skype out and skype in. I am going to connect all togather soon. Will it be possible to shut down my computer and make use of skype phone as normal phone (although connected to the high speed internet via router) to make and receive calls. I think it is possible. Can someone acknowledge pls ?

Vishal 65.161.188.11 16:15, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Keyboard switching

How can i make the keyboard at school (Mac), act as a windows keyboard, and be able to switch languages?

Note: I don't have administrative access

24.39.182.101 16:29, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Computer configuration

Which motherboard should i choose with Intel Core 2 Duo T7100 1.8 GHZ?

Might get a better response on a tech website with dedicated motherboard forums such as AnandTech --GTPoompt 17:48, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Choose a motherboard that fits your needs. You know what chip you need. What is your memory requirement? Do you need onboard IDE or SCSI? Do you need onboard AGP? 2X? 4X? 8X? Do you need onboard network adapter? That's just the starting questions. --Kainaw ^(talk) 18:51, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Firefox's British English dictionary

Does anyone else use this extension, and does it work for you? It installed with no apparent problems (latest build, 1.19), but I still get underlines for British spellings in the edit window. Seems a bit pointless. Adrian M. H. 20:20, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Yep, it works fine for me. The 'color' attributes in your sig are being underlined, for example ;) I'm using 1.19 on Firefox 2.0.0.3, WinXP Pro. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 20:36, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Same combination here, but it refuses to work as expected, flagging up colour instead of color. Adrian M. H. 21:21, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Unpartitioning a Hard Disk in Windows

I need to "unpartition" a hard disk, and I am wondering how to do it. Here is my situation: I have a computer running Windows. It has two hard drives. #1 has two partitions, one of which is my boot partition. #2 has only one partition. I want to redo things so that #1 has only one partition, and it is my boot partition. There is no data on #1 that I need to keep, and I realize I probably need to re-install Windows. Now, what do I do? --Tugbug 21:42, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

To modify (merge or resize) a boot partition, either change its size during a re-installation or use partitioning software, such as Partition Magic (if it is still around). Adrian M. H. 22:05, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Google "System Rescue Disk", and use QTParted/Gparted from that -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 22:08, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

The Day They Updated Google and Broke It

Is Google broken? I think they were updating the search capabilities or something. Anyway, my recent searches now have felt funny - some kind of repetition bug and the search engine's not organizing the searches quite right. Time to dump GOOG stock?!!?!?!?! (Tell your grandkids first that you heard it from an anon poster on Wikipedia reference desk!!!)