Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing

June 14

Modules in Access

Could someone explain exactly what an INNER JOIN is in MS Access. What does it do and how do you code it in a module?
Zain Ebrahim 07:27, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Remarkably, this very site has an article on the topic! Inner join. If that's not sufficient, THIS PAGE has a very readable explanation. Anchoress 07:36, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

The wiki page was actually better. Thank you.
Zain Ebrahim 07:52, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

INNER JOIN is SQL. You can code SQL into modules in a number of ways. If you are just executing one line of code (e.g. deleting a record, adding a new one, updating a record, etc.), running it as a Query object is very fast. If you are trying to retrieve records, you will want to use with DAO or ADO. (I prefer DAO, but that is just me). Anyway you will want to read the Help file a bit (look at the example given for .OpenRecordset, for example) if you are new to using SQL in modules. --140.247.240.131 14:56, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Generic TV Tuner on a Mac?

Can a Generic brand of TV Tuner run on a Mac?

Any assistance appreciated

Vincent.hardy 08:32, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

It would help if you told us what TV Tuner brand and model you are trying to use, and which Mac version. In general, I would say no without the proper drivers. Splintercellguy 17:59, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Ages ago, I used an iXMicro TurboTV PCI card in a PPC mac running MacOS 7.x, which had drivers, but I don't think the product line exists anymore. For what it's worth, it was just a Brooktree bt848 tuner, for which there are plenty of drivers. -- JSBillings 17:10, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

wireless card radio tuner

Can a standard computer wireless card (one used for wireless networks) be used to recieve normal radio signals, for example FM or AM? Think outside the box 09:11, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Not a standard card, which is designed to receive IEEE 802.11 data at 2.4 GHz. FM transmissions occur in the realm of ~90-100 MHz and are also modulated differently. Perhaps you should read about radio and frequency modulation to get an idea of background behind these technologies; you will readily see that they are not directly compatible. A "non-standard" wireless card might hypothetically be constructed (especially if future advances in software radio allow direct digital processing of received wireless signals); but at present no such device is commonly available. Nimur 10:02, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

AM radio operates around 600 to 1500 kHz and is even less likely to be usefully detected on a computer wireless card. Nimur 10:04, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

raster file to vector file

could you help me to find any free software to convert a raster(image) file to vector (line arc)file. thank you 124.43.246.129 12:29, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Inkscape has a pretty nice trace function, which will allow you to make some raster images into SVGs. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 12:32, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Generally speaking though unless your raster file is of very simple overlays of color almost all tracers fail pretty spectacularly at making anything useful. Inkscape is about as good as any others out there, in my experience, which is to say, often not that great. I do a lot of tracing by hand in such situations. --140.247.240.131 14:54, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Odd video

My computer popped up a welcome video (Welcome to Microsoft ME) after F6 disking my computer. How do I access it again after I close it? I can't seem to find it at all. Thank you, --IP Address 15:54, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Spider (solitaire)

Where is the scoring kept? I searched for it in WINDOWS but cant seem to find it. I found most of the games (winmine was the first). IP Address 16:00, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Probably the registry. See here but also be careful whenever you edit the registry. iames 16:59, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I know that but I don't know how to edit the registry. Thats why I wanted to know where in the files it is located. That way I can edit it using Notepad. IP Address 17:49, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

If it is in the registry you can't edit it in Notepad — it wouldn't exist as an external file. --24.147.86.187 18:58, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Did you look at the link I gave you? Launch regedit and look into HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Spider. iames 19:12, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Also have a look at Windows Registry. iames 19:17, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes Iames, I did read your link (word for word), look in the registry & found it. The first time I tried to edit something in the registry I killed the .exe function. Thats why I'm wary of editing the registry. IP Address 23:41, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

It's just a configuration data store, nothing to be afraid of.. though microsoft really does abuse it by not keeping a vanilla backup. Interestingly, Steam's configuration data is all glommed together into gigantic GCF files, and if you want to change a model or texture or sound, you just drop the appropriate file into the appropriate folder and it overrides the vanilla setting, which makes it much more stable and easier to correct problems (if all else fails you can just delete all the files to restore the original settings). --froth^t 17:29, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Floating Point in Palm OS 5

Palm PDAs running Palm OS 1 - Palm OS 4.x ran Dragonballs, which did not have hardware FPUs. The third-party Mathlib software was required to support IEEE-754. My question is via what mechanism is floating point supported in Palm OS 5? Do any of the CPUs used in Palm OS 5 devices have built in FPUs? - MSTCrow 17:07, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Well, take for instance the Palm Zire 72, which according to [1] uses a PXA270 CPU. Our article on the PXA27x says it doesn't have floating point hardware. As for MathLib, it already comes with PalmOS 5 (take a look with FileZ and you'll find it). --cesarb 22:49, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

I'm still using a Palm Vx running Palm OS 4.1.  :-( So I can't check anything first hand. A quick search of the ACCESS Developer Network had no hits for mathlib, and didn't find anything searching for "Palm OS 5 mathlib" on Google. The official mathlib page, http://www.radiks.net/~rhuebner/mathlib.html, has no mention of it being integrated into Palm OS 5. Do any past Palm OS based PDAs have FPUs? - MSTCrow 00:30, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

It's certainly possible to simulate floats in software, Floating point describes some of the ways to compute it without using a FPU. --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:51, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Nice Font

I was wondering if anybody knows of a good font I could use in excel, where the numbers are all standard width, so that they line up in columns. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 144.160.98.31 (talk) 19:55, June 14, 2007

Consolas? JoshHolloway 23:02, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Courier and Courier New are the fonts I use, since every character has the same width, so it lines up nicely. Lucida Console works too, as does almost anything that has console in it.--GTPoompt(talk) 12:18, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

TweakUI

Hello. I installed TweakUI to disable Autorun. Now I wish Autorun can be enabled for specific removable storage devices. For example, I wish Autorun to be enabled for a specific USB thumb drive not for the port where my USB thumb drive goes. I unsuccessfully tried looking for the autorun.inf file in my USB thumb drive as what the Autorun Wikipedia article said. How can I do this? --Mayfare 22:03, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't think you can enable autorun for a specific, individual thumb drive. In any case, you have to create an autorun.inf file — it is not created automatically. The autorun.inf file is what would tell your system to autorun if you had autorun enabled. If you don't have it enabled, you would need to click on that file. But in any case you need to make the file if it does not already exist. --24.147.86.187 01:53, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

---

Best work around for your situation:

1. Insert the thumb drive you wish to enable autorun on
2. Open Disk Manager (Run: C:\windows\System32\DiskMgmt.msc) (Assuming XP And Admin priveliges)
3. Right Click on USB pen and click "Change Drive Letters and Paths"
4. Add new drive letter that isn't normally used on your PC, e.g "Y:"
5. Remove old drive letter
6. Open TweakUI
7. Enable AutoPlay settings for the Y: Drive (or whatever letter you chose)
8. Close all windows, remove pen drive and reinsert (Wait 30 seconds or so before reinserting drive)

Tswsl1989 12:34, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

I can't add a new drive letter. --Mayfare 16:38, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

If you have admin priveliges (which you sya you have), then it shouldn't be a problem IF no other windows are open. Close everything first, then follow the instructions above. Read http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;307844&sd=tech

You need to restart at the end, not just remove the pen drive.

Tom::Leave a message 08:00, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

June 15

How to write software documentation

we are doing this project on writing documentation on the software that we had required for a particular business to use in order that it will improve its productivity but the problem is how do we go about writing the documentation,that is,could you help in giving me the skeleton or the outline of how a documentation is done. thankyou.

Here's one possible outline:

1) Intro (what does the software do, who makes it, etc.).

2) How to install the software.

3) Getting started (registering the software and preferences you need to set, etc.).

4) Basic instructions (how to do the most common tasks).

5) Advanced instructions (how to do more complicated tasks).

6) Customizing the software.

7) Solutions to common problems (error messages and possible solutions).

8) Contact us (support phone numbers, web sites, e-mails addresses, etc.).

9) Frequently asked questions ("Can I do X with this software ?" "No, that requires that you purchase the Y extension available at ...").

Be sure to include many high resolution screen shots to illustrate each step, especially when dealing with icons.

StuRat 23:32, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

I use what I call the "UPSOMUT" content model which ensures that documentation is complete. And it has always worked well for me.
1. 'U'nderstanding - the chapter that will provide an overview of the software.
2. 'P'lanning and 'S'etting up - the chapter that will provide information about minimum requirements along with pre-installation, installation, and post-installation tasks.
3. 'O'ptimizing - the chapter that will provide information about configuring various aspects of the software.
4. 'M'anaging or 'U'sing - the chapter that will provide information about how to manage or use the software.
5. 'T'roubleshooting - the chapter that will provide information about troubleshooting scenarios or error messages.
If the planning and managing aspects of the software call for you to provide comprehensive information, you can split up 2 and 4 to have seven chapters instead of five.
Zaksy 20:02, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

How can you type overdot letters such as Ȧȧ without copy and pasting?

I'm trying to find out how to type letters with the overdot such as Ȧȧ Ḃḃ Ċċ Ḋḋ Ėė Ḟḟ Ġġ Ḣḣ İ Ṁṁ Ṅṅ Ȯȯ Ṗṗ Ṙṙ Ṡṡẛ Ṫṫ Ẇẇ Ẋẋ Ẏẏ Żż, without copy and pasting, perhaps with a keyboard shortcut or by adding a language, any help would be appreciated, thanks.

213.202.188.170 00:17, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

What Operating System (Windows, Mac, Linux?) and what program (Word, OpenOffice, Vim?) Youth in Asia 00:55, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

It depends heavily on the Operating System. However most have what are called Internationalization settings which allow you to add keyboard supports for other languages. Otherwise there are usually ways to enter in Unicode characters though they are not always easy (i.e. the make you memorize arbitrary numbers). --24.147.86.187 01:50, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Take a look at Windows Alt keycodes. JoshHolloway 10:06, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

On the mac, there's a unicode keyboard which makes the various diacriticals pretty easy. It's just a matter of typing option-w followed by the letter with the overdot. You would want to select U.S.-extended as the keyboard from the internationalization preference pane.Donald Hosek 17:37, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, I'm using Windows XP Service Pack 2, and I need to be able to type in Mozilla Firefox, or any web browser and unfortunately the Internationalisation settings don't have Gaelic, and I'm looking for something a little easier than Unicode, as there doesn't seem to be a keystroke for the letters I need it's all copy and paste, and in Unicode, even most of the letters above aren't there. I've tried the Macintosh Option+W method and it's extremely simple, is there any way that the Windows operating system may do the same?

It might be overkill (and it's not cheap), but if you can wait until December, you could try the Optimus Maximus keyboard... —Steve Summit (talk) 15:37, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

No, I think that option is a bit out of the way for something that should seem very simple, and is very simple on Mac... Also there's no guarantee that it will work for what I need once I buy it...

Compiling for OSes other than the one the compiler runs on

Can a version of G++ that runs under Linux compile programs to run console-mode in Windows? NeonMerlin 01:32, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, see Cross compiler, it may be easier to compile it to run in Cygwin than natively though. --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:48, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

At least Debian and Ubuntu have mingw cross-compiler packages, so not only it's possible, it's also quite easy (you don't even have to compile your own cross-compiler). --cesarb 22:45, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Protecting rating systems against gaming

I've been tasked with trying to see what I can find out about protecting rating systems against gaming. So far, all I've found is [2] Any references to either attacks or defenses would be appreciated. Donald Hosek 17:35, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Some suggestions:

• Only allow registered users to add ratings, and then only after a suitable period.

• Require that users identify a sequence of letters and numbers disguised in a pic to make it difficult for computers to register. Also repeat this test with a different sequence during each rating.

• Require that people actually view the video, play the game, etc., before they are allowed to rate it. Block accounts which do nothing but rating.

• Limit accounts to a certain number of ratings per day.

• Check the I/P address and only allow one rating per item per I/P address. StuRat 23:22, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

BACK

How do I turn off that really annoying security feature of IE which refuses to let you go "BACK" to any page created with a form, without clicking "refresh" then "retry"? An answer which doesn't involve amending any other security features would be best. AndyJones 17:57, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Under Windows 98, I right click on the IE icon and pick "Properties", then click on the "Security" tab, then pick the "Custom Level" button. That gives me a list of security settings. One of those is likely set to "Prompt" when it should be set to "Enable". Look through the list; if you find a likely candidate, change the setting, pick OK, and try your test again. If that's not the right setting, put that one back and try another, until you find it. You may need to restart IE for the change to take effect. StuRat 23:11, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

WARNING: If you make purchases online, then go back to that page and resubmit you may be charged again. Be very careful about diabling the security warning. It is enabled for a reason. Tswsl1989 12:45, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Motherboard broken?

After I temporarily moved my graphics card to another computer and then put it back again, I got no more image on the monitor - it remains black. When I boot I hear a long beep (with a stutter), but the mb's manual doesn't say anything about those warning sounds. I assume the mb is broken. But before I buy a new one (and install and personalise all operating systems anew, which will probably take me a week), I thought I'd check if anyone can think of a different cause (I also have very limited internet access now). The graphics card itself still works - I tried it on another computer. Same for the monitor and the cable. I tried wiggling, cleaning the slot and 'looser fits', but nothing had any effect. The mb is a Gigabyte K8NS Pro and the card is a Matrox Marvel G400 TV (AGP). Any thoughts? DirkvdM 19:01, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps you didn't seat the video card correctly? Splintercellguy 19:25, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

The BIOS beep codes usually aren't on the motherboard manual; there are several pages on the web listing them, just search for "BIOS beep codes". Check not only that the card itself is correctly seated, but also that all the other cards and cables are correctly seated/connected; it's easy to bump on something else without noticing (or something else wasn't correctly seated to begin with and moving the case moved it). --cesarb 22:43, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Hey Dirk! If the graphics card works in another computer, maybe you have access to a spare graphics card that you can put into the motherboard in question?

Also, after the dodgy computer beep, is there any indication that the computer is continuing to load the operating system (i.e. harddrive light flashing/haddrive sounds or the startup sounds playing through the speakers, if applicable. If you have to type a password to finish loading the OS and hear the startup sound, wait a few minutes so that the computer would be at the password prompt and then type it and hit enter).

Finally, does your computer have an onboard video card? I once plugged my monitor into the socket for the onboard video card instead of the one I had installed in its AGP slot. I doubt that's the case, but I have now emptied my head of all suggestions except to try the forum for your make of motherboard; I use an MSI board and the forum is pretty helpful. Good luck! --Seans Potato Business 00:14, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

A new development: the computer remains completely dead now. I'll ask a separate question about this below. DirkvdM 10:07, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

clip drives with linux

Hi, I'm using Red Hat Fedora Core 3. Do clip drives work with this system? Are there any problems (eg. specific models that don't work properly) to watch out for? Cheers, The Mad Echidna 19:42, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

To people wondering what a "clip drive" is, a quick Google search shows it seems to be yet another name for a USB flash drive. It should work, but since it's an older distribution I don't know whether it will automatically mount the drive or you will have to use the command line to do it. --cesarb 22:36, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks CesarB. I didn't know the term was in fact unconventional, and curiously hardly knew there even was a proper name for it (well sort of). If others are still reading this, I would still be interested if you have any definite confirmation on the USB Flash Drive issue. Regards, The Mad Echidna 22:10, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Does over the air web (wi-fi, etc) scale up to many users like broadcast TV?

Does over the air web (wi-fi, etc) scale up to many users like broadcast TV?

TV/Radio doesn't matter how many recipients get it yet they all get access to whatever is the power output of the signal. Why wouldn't "over the air" web like wi-fi and wi-max be the same. I realize that wired point to point access needs the source to scale up (or ration the signal) for more and more users.

Thanks - Denis 68.255.62.44 20:32, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

The point you are missing is that wireless networks are bidirectional, while broadcast TV is unidirectional. Broadcast TV only has a few transmitters (each TV station) for several receivers (each TV set), and each transmitter has its own separate frequency; wireless networks have a lot more transmitters (each receiver also has a transmitter), all sharing the same few frequencies, so just increasing the power would only increase the noise for everyone else. --cesarb 22:28, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Got it - muchos gracias!

Gracia is female, so that would have to be 'muchas gracias'. Then again, this is not the language ref desk. :) DirkvdM 06:38, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Cheap Notebook

I'm in a bit of a quandry here. I want to give my sister a notebook as a gift, but here's the catch. I've only got about $600 to spare. I've found(potentially)the perfect thing. But it looks too good to be true. It's an Acer Aspire and it's got some pretty awesome specs for $500.

link

Are Acers reliable? Should I get this? I've read plenty of reviews and asked around, but can't make up my mind. Any suggestions?

I've had very good experiences with Acer laptop and desktop machines at work (except that I really dislike the way they partition the disk with half the space reserved for Norton Ghost backups - I generally repartition that away). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 20:54, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

I personally haven't got an acer laptop but they are good overall and if you like that one and you know your sister would like it then i would buy it. They are very reliable and won't break easily. My school has some and they have never failed. If you want more reading on the business i suggest you go to wikipedia's article on Acer (company)Wiki.user 21:25, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

If you're willing to take a small performance cut, I'd go with http://microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0257720 - a good 100$ cheaper. Also, Asus recently announced a budget laptop starting at 190$, but there's no word on when that will come out, and it's features are a little on the bare side (see OLPC for an idea of what it would be like, although they're different efforts) -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 22:35, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Umm, I'd only buy a laptop at the moment that had a dual core processor, end of story. Nearly all new PCs ship with them, including laptops, and you should be able to find many laptops under $500 with a Core 2 Duo or at least a Celeron D. Since laptops are for the most part un-upgradeable, you don't want to buy something that'll need to be trashed in a couple years as applications start increasing specifications to match multicore machines - Photoshop and CAD software are much quicker with dual core processors, already. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 05:58, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Weekedit

Read this web site: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1662 And the users guide: http://www.abacom.com/~oraby/Weekedit/EN.html. Great, I've got it but can't find Wikudit to download (I've got Firefox 2.0.0.4. Can someone tell me where to find the download? Thanks, 70.233.130.68 23:37, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Ummm...you just go to the website YOU! provided https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1662, and then click on Install now on the button below the info...and then you click on accept and install because it has a license agreement...and then it um....installs? I'm on Firefox 2.0.0.2 and it worked...so something might be up if you don't see the buttons to install the extension... 200.35.168.129 18:54, 18 June 2007 (UTC) Ag for MemTech

June 16

How to install Xubuntu without nuking my recovery partition

I'm attempting to install Xubuntu 7.04 onto my Acer TravelMate notebook, but am unsure how to do so without erasing the Windows XP recovery partition on the hard disk.

The partition manager on the LiveCD identifies HDA1 as the recovery partition, HDA2 as the Windows partition (drive C), and HDA5 as drive D (Acer divides their hard drives into two even partitions, for some stupid reason). The recovery partition is about 2GB in size, whereas drives C and D are about 17.5GB each.

The only "guided" options are to resize the free space on the disk, or to use the entire disk; I don't want the second option, as I'm sure that'll nuke the recovery partition.

What should I do? Please help me, I'm tired of Windows and would dearly like to switch. --Lumina83 04:41, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Use Manually edit partition table to resize hda2 to free up maybe 1gb for swap to make hda3, and free up at least 8gb from hda5 for root at hda6. --antilived^{T | C | G} 11:24, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

OS

Hi, I know this might sound dumb to many users, but where is the operating system stored in a computer? The hard disk?

Yes. --antilived^{T | C | G} 11:19, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Definately (unless its an old BBC Micro - that was stored on ROM)--Tugjob 13:52, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Not so fast. If your definition of computer includes more than just the common desktop personal computers, you will find it's very common to have the operating system on flash memory, which sometimes (usually in smaller microcontrollers) is even inside the CPU itself. Even on desktop personal computers, if you use network booting, the operating system comes from the network; you can also have the operating system on an optical drive (Live CD), on a USB flash drive (Live USB), or even on a floppy disk (several Mini Linux distributions). --cesarb 01:17, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Right. I'm sure most of our cell phones are running something that could be defined as an operating system. Root⁴(one) 02:17, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

I believe most are. On the most advanced ones (smartphones, for instance), it's visible, but even the most basic ones probably use a small embedded operating system. And cell phones aren't the only place where you would find it; residential gateways are another common place, for instance (usually botting from flash). --cesarb 09:53, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Digital cameras, half decent network printers, modern cars, some fridges, one day your toaster will have an operating system, followed by your sun glasses. Vespine 22:21, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Name of this font

What is the name of the font used on the cover of the Tokyopop translation of Wedding Peach?[3] I used to have this font, it's free for download but now I've forgotten what it's called. --Candy-Panda 09:41, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Dafont is always a good place to start your search -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 01:50, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, but I still couldn't find the one I was looking for. --Candy-Panda 02:44, 17 June 2007 (UTC) http://www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/ - go there, and you'll need to have loaded your image into a nice program like Corel Draw, done some filters and conversions to get it looking neat, cropped, and then upload it to What The Font, which should go a long way to identifying it for you. Rfwoolf 17:53, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Graphics card

Can anyone tell me which graphics card is better: ATI X1100 or NVIDIA 7400? Thanks

From what i've heard (from a person who knows a lot about computers..believe me)most graphics cards are really the same unless you get a really good one, which i don't think are these two. The memory on it also doesn't really matter but just make sure you get 256mb or over so it fits with windows vista if you're getting it. I like ATI and never really tried NVidia. It's upto you, i don't think it would make any difference which one you bought. NVIDIA i've also heard is supposed to be better though.Wiki.user 14:09, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

If you ever plan to use linux, go with Nvidia.--67.181.167.227 15:03, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

WTF, that's terrible advice. Nvidia's closed-source drivers cause no end of trouble. If you ever plan to use Linux, go with Intel. —Keenan Pepper 01:41, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Intel makes integrated graphics, which A- limits your choice in motherboards, and B- sucks. Nvidia's drivers are fine, and I've never heard anyone having trouble with them. NEVER buy ATI if you plan on going with linux though, and hell, given my experience with them, I wouldn't even use them on Windows. The only time I'd buy an ATI product is inside a console. -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 01:48, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

There are good open source drivers for ATI cards based on R200 and R300 chips, unlike any Nvidia chips. This means that both 2D and 3D graphics will stay supported on all foreseeable versions of Linux and x.org. This is why I always buy ATI for Linux use. 84.239.133.38 10:36, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

I'm also looking into a new graphics card that works well with Linux (if it doesn't, the system becomes horribly slow, for starters). From what I've understood, Nvidia is one of those few companies that write Linux drivers themselves, which should be better for both the users (a good driver) and the developers (loads of spare time to put into other activities). If the drivers are good, it's no big deal if they are closed source, I'd say. Are you (Keenan) saying their drivers aren't good (enough)? DirkvdM 10:35, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Oh, another thing I just thought of. A closed source driver will no be part of a distro, so you'll have to install it yourself (yes?), which can be problematic in Linux (dependencies). I was thinking of the nVidia 'Personal Cinema' and that seems not to work under Linux (at least not the tv-in). I've read somewhere that the very similar ATI 'All In Wonder' has a driver in Suse 10.1 and that works well. So maybe closed source is indeed a bad idea. DirkvdM 12:38, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, closed source drivers aren't in the distro itself, but it's no problem if you use something like Ubuntu Feisty's Restricted Drivers Manager, which automagically installs closed sourced drivers -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 19:09, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

CPU fan won't start.

I just assembled a PC, and when I try to boot it, the CPU fan won't start. It kind of twitches, moving slightly (not even a full rotation), then it gives up and dies. The rear case fan starts up, but after 5 or 6 seconds the entire machine shuts off. 10 seconds later, it'll try to boot again, and this cycle repeats itself until I turn off the machine at the PSU's rocker switch. Any idea what I could have done wrong? I'm using a Core 2 Duo E6320 on a Gigabyte GA-945PL-S3(V3.3) motherboard. I'd appreciate any advice anyone can offer. Froglars the frog 13:30, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Sonds like a worn out fan. I have had this problem on an old computer. Just give it a flick with the end of a pencil to see if it continues - worked on mine. Otherwise its new fan time !--Tugjob 13:51, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

It's a brand new fan, paid $240 for it just last week, and this is the first time I've tried to use it. 202.10.86.63 14:01, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

You mean $2.40 yes (not two hundred forty)? Take it back to the store.--Tugjob 14:05, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

No he means $240 for the fan which is bundled with the processor. Actually the funny thing is that the fan is behaving as it should, I had exactly the same scare when I first built my core 2 duo system recently, I put it together and turned it on, saw the CPU fan twitching, thought oh crap! and killed it straight away. After some forum searching I learned that this is normal, unless you start loading the CPU which only happens when I'm playing games, never on the internet, the fan won't actually need to run, the heat sink is enough to dissipate the heat without the fan. Now, the rest, with the case fan stopping and your PC shutting it self down, that IS definitely a problem.. Re read your mobo manual, make sure you have plugged in all the power leads correctly, there is MORE THEN ONE power lead to the mobo now! Then take out your components and re seat them, try the memory 1st and try again. Do you have onboard video? Do you have a decent power supply? Those are the 1st things I'd check, but the CPU fan thing, that's normal. Vespine 04:00, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Make sure your Power Supply is enough for this system, most of the time if a fan is failing to go around, and if it turns off afterwords it usually is overheating or Power Supply problem... Check into that 200.35.168.129 18:59, 18 June 2007 (UTC) Ag for MemTech

iPod?!?

My Ipod won't turn on! I've been to Apple help, but before I get it serviced, I want to try to fix the problem myself.

What's going on? My iPod was working normally until I plugged it into my computer. At that point, I turned it off. It never turned on again. SpeakoutLOUD 14:20, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

When you plug your iPod into the computer, does iTunes see it?--67.181.167.227 15:02, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Is the battery completely flat? I guess it's hard to tell if you can't connect to your computer, but you could try using an external charger (mains or car) if you have access to one and charge it using that. Have you tried resetting? (BTW it could be relevant if you said which iPod you have). --jjron 15:30, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Have you tried resetting it? If not, you might find this link helpful. Dismas|^(talk) 04:43, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

You might also try plugging it in directly to the wall adapter (you know, that little plug that came with it, which is nothing but a firewire plug and an A/C plug). Sometimes that can help it out when it won't start up, strangely enough. But yeah, try to reset it first, that fixes 90% of the problems (and doesn't delete anything). --24.147.86.187 11:28, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Blender Physics

In Blender (newest version), how can I make an object have its own gravity in the physics/game engine? Any help would be appreciated!--67.181.167.227 15:43, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes it can. I've never used the game engine, but to do it in the physics engine: in object mode select the object you want gravity for, press F7 twice to get the physics panel (or choose Animation -> Physics on the panel); then choose Field Type: Spherical. I can't remember if positive or negative strength gives an attractive force, but one of them does. You can fiddle with the other settings, or look them up at the Blender wiki. --Taejo|대조 23:08, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Getting songs from MySpace

Using a program called MySpace MP3 Gopher, you can download songs that are not marked as downloadable from the MySpace RTMP server or something like that. I am not too knowledgable about these things, so I don't know exactly how it works, besides that it records the music stream. Unfortunately, it appears that it encodes the songs at 96kbps no matter what. Is this just the bit rate that MySpace streams the songs at, or are there other programs out there that can record it at a higher bit rate? Thanks for the help. 71.117.45.75 16:44, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

If you are interested in recording anything from the internet but can't find a way to download it, you could (assuming you are running Windows) double-click the little volume button on the taskbar. On the window of sliders it opens up, go to Options. Click Properties. Select "Adjust volume for: Recording". Hit OK. Select "Stereo Mixer" and open up a program that records sound (Windows comes with a program called Sound Recorder). You are now recording the computer's output. If you have a program like Audacity you can record and export as mp3s and those kind of things. That doesn't really answer your question though...and yes, I believe myspace mp3 files would be around 96 kb/s. NIRVANA2764 21:54, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice on recording, but my sound card (actually I have two for some reason, and apparently they are in conflict...I don't know exactly what is wrong) is messed up and all I get is a weird monotone screech. Sound Recorder and Audacity yielded the same results. Well I guess 96 kbps isn't too bad... 71.117.45.75 05:09, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Lossless audio question

This is probably a pretty stupid question. I often do direct copies of discs and am wondering how I can maximize audio quality, I'm a bit of an audiophile so I'm nitpicky as to how it comes out. iTunes can import files from a CD as .wav or .aiff, I'm just wondering if there's really a difference between the two? I know they're both lossless but is one generally preferred over the other? Another thing - I have two CD drives, and Nero Express has a "Direct Copy" feature. Is doing this better or worse than lossless, or is there really no difference? Thanks for your time and assistance! NIRVANA2764 21:49, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

The WAV file format allows several different encodings and compressions, but it usually holds PCM or ADPCM data, which have nearly no compression (so the output file is huge). I don't know much about AIFF. Either way, any LOSSLESS format will retain maximum quality, and the only question you'll face is how much space are you willing to use with it. The "direct copy" feature is a bit-for-bit copy of a CD, so it doesn't matter what's in it, there will be no loss of quality. In any way, I'd recommend FLAC as a lossless audio format. FLAC is free and pretty portable. Monkey Audio is good too if you're on Windows. — Kieff | Talk 22:40, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

If you are seriously worried about making exact copies, use Alcohol 120%. It has a reputation of being one of the more exacting disc copiers. --24.147.86.187 23:03, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Because CDs are digital, you either get a perfect copy or you get noticeable artifacts (dropouts, pops, stuttering). If your CDs are in good condition, all the methods (WAV, AIFF, whatever) will give you a perfect copy. If they're a little scratched, some audio extractors will give up too soon and produce artifacts, where others will reread the scratched section a few times to recover the perfect data. I recommend cdparanoia. —Keenan Pepper 01:38, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

The files on your CD are actually in AIFF format, so they could just be copied straight to the hard drive that way. There should be no loss converting it to WAV, but there's no need for the intermediary step. Finally, if you have two disc drives, just do the direct copy. No need to go to the hard drive at all.

Can you provide a reference for that information? I have never heard that before, and can't find any specifics in the AIFF or Red Book (audio CD standard) article. --LarryMac | Talk 18:07, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't doubt that somewhere there are CDs with AIFF files on them and there are CD players which can play them, but CD Audio describes that the CD standard was developed by Phillips(whoops, I mean philips) in 1980 while AIFF was developed by Apple Computer in 1998 so I don't think the two are synonymous. Similarly, you can burn straight wavs to a CD and have them play in a CD player. Vespine 05:45, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Modifying a song

I have a hip-hop song in MP3 format in which I find the verses too long and too few iterations of the chorus. Thus, I'd like to insert extra copies of the chorus. But I don't want to end up with an uneven beat or broken notes, so I need the start and end of the copied chorus, and the insertion points, to be at precisely the same point in the loop. What's the easiest way to do this? NeonMerlin 23:18, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

You will need editing software. Audacity is a free and open-source digital audio editor. Your request will require some skill and manual alignment of the song components. Save backups of the file and practice until you are satisfied. Nimur 23:59, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

What I meant was is there a free program (or an extension to Audacity) that will detect the exact length of the loop (after, if necessary, temporarily de-mixing it from the vocals) and snap the cursor accordingly? NeonMerlin 02:37, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Not that I've heard of. Audacity shows the waveforms though so you can see where a drumbeat would be placed and you can zoom in extremely far and literally see the wave form in a line. Just select it, copy selection, create new stereo track, paste, and use the time-shift tool to drag it to the desired place. NIRVANA2764 02:54, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Automatic detection and cursor-snapping would be a pretty complicated operation on its own. De-mixing the vocals would be almost impossible (though some tools use notch filters and bluntly remove entire blocks of the frequency spectrum where vocals usually reside). I think you will have better luck manually adjusting the waveform. Nimur 10:18, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

I've had some experience with learning this, and it's not too difficult once you learn how to precisely find the first beat of a measure and line them up that way. It's not bad with practice. Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 15:53, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

I know you're looking for a "free" way to do this...but im answering to the part you mentioned about the easiest way. I would recommend Acid, it used to be from Sonic Foundry, now it's Sony. This program has beat detection for songs, and it can split songs into measures, and will allow you to work with the file in any way you need. I would recommend this highly, you can even split the channels to try and get the voice only, i use this when making a "x" mix of a song. P.S.> Let me also get home so i can check in my collection of audio editing software if there is any free way to get the same results 200.35.168.129 19:51, 18 June 2007 (UTC) Ag for MemTech

June 17

Electrical Schematic design software

I'm looking for a (preferibly free) program that can design and/or simulate a home electricity network. I prefer something very basic that's not bundled with all other CAD packages. All the ones I found on google do circuit boards, which I don't want. If there are multiple standards for scematic diagrams, I want the North American/U.S. standard. — Kjammer  ⌂ 00:53, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Ummmm what do you mean by design/simulate a home electricity network? If you want a schematic/PCB creation programme, Eagle (program) is quite good, I've used it to build some PCB with that. --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:33, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

To be more specific, I am looking for a program that offers an easy way to draw Circuit diagrams whitout using paper, or a generic graphic drawing program. What I want is something that is not totally specific to PCBs, where I can map the electrical layout of a room (lightswitch, AC source, lights, junction boxes, etc.). Is this possible with EAGLE? I'm finding the product's documentation ambiguous/favoring PCBs. Thanks for your reply. — Kjammer  ⌂ 05:19, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Never mind, I found exactly what I was looking for. After more research on this topic, I learned the proper keywords to search by, and came up with LTspice/SwitcherCAD III from Linear Technology, that can be acquired here. If anyone else is looking for the same thing, this is it. Thank you. — Kjammer  ⌂ 08:09, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Just in case you want an alternative, yes EAGLE does do circuit diagrams, see the wikipage. However I've never actually seen a symbol for a junction box so I don't know about that. --antilived^{T | C | G} 08:38, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Charset problem

I use "Spanish international" as my keyboard layout. Suddenly, I'm unable to type accents. Everything seems to work fine in the keyboard except the accent key, which won't work if I type "<accent key> <any letter>" but will work in "<accent key> <accent key>" or "<accent key> <bar space>". I can switch to Spanish traditional, but it's not the same keyboard mapping I have in my hardware and therefore it's a mess. Can this be a hardware problem? --Taraborn 10:11, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

First off, tell us what kind of operating system you are using. Otherwise we will not have the slightest idea how to answer this. --24.147.86.187 00:21, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Sorry. I'm using Windows XP SP2, but the symptoms are way too unexplainable. Maybe this is due to some strange spyware. I'll have to format the HD. --Taraborn 15:03, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

It sounds like dead key typing got turned on. --Carnildo 00:17, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

ATX power exchange

(note: there is no more need to answer this question)

My computer is dead - when I push the power button nothing whatsoever happens. I want to test it with the power of another computer, but that is a different type of ATX. Then broken computer has two power connectors, one 20-pin and one 4-pin ('ATX12V 2.0' in the list in the article). The old computer has only a 20-pin connector (the first in the list). Can I safely plug in the 20-pin connector and ignore the other? Is there any danger to either computer (the new mb or the old power supply)? The mb manual says about the 4-pin connector: "If this ATX_12V connector is not connected, the system cannot boot." Sounds safe, but I don't want to cause more problems than I already have. DirkvdM 10:18, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Never mind. Being a rather impatient character, I already tried it and nothing fried, but nothing happened either. I tried it the other way around and that did work, so the power supply isn't broken. Back to inspecting the mb. DirkvdM 18:46, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

You're sure the on-switch is plugged into the motherboard correctly? Who manufactured your motherboard? --Seans Potato Business 19:27, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

It's a Gigabyte GA K8NS Pro. When I connected the power to the other computer I also had to connect the power swith to it (the power signal goes through the motherboard) and that worked. So the switch isn't faulty. I have now completely disassembled, cleaned and reassembled the computer, but that didn't help. DirkvdM 06:29, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

You might try resetting the BIOS (e.g. by removing the CMOS battery and replacing it after 10 seconds). --Seans Potato Business 09:44, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Good tip (should have thought of that myself), but alas, doesn't help. Btw, is it possible for the battery to run dry? The computer is only about two years old (maybe I should check what the EU warranty is on motherboards), so that's unlikely, but still, I wonder. DirkvdM 09:38, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

In my experience (and that garnered from asking other people myself (I used to be very scared of the CMOS battery running out!)) they last in the order of five years or so. You get absolutely nothing from the board whatsoever? Not so much as a flash of an LED or half turn of a CPU fan? I'd a) check there is no electrical short circuit, b) check that the processor and heatsink are appropriately seated and c) check if anyone has any ideas on a dedicated computer forum (including all information gathered so far so you don't go over old ground). And d) check that the CPU fan is plugged in to the motherboard. Someone on a forum might advise you as to where you could check the board for voltage with a multimeter, assuming that such an endevour wouldn't be dangerous. If all that doesn't work, maybe you could tell me what "wat 'n misser" means in English. Is that "'n" as in "een"? I'm rootin' for ya, even if no-one else cares! Also, do you know what may have caused the computer to go from booting up with its dodgy beep to not switching on at all (i.e. did you do anything to it between the last time you switched it on and the first time it wouldn't switch on)? --Seans Potato Business 00:47, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

I can not find a dedicated forum for this mobo, at least not on the gigabyte site (the internet connection is extremely slow on my old computer, so searching for much more takes extremely long). So I asked at forums.techguy.org, although that is also just a general computer forum, like this one. See if that leads to something. As for your language ref desk question, "'n" indeed means "een" and "wat 'n misser" means "what a failure/flop/poor shot", depending on the circumstances. DirkvdM 07:55, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia Random Article

Is it just me or is the Wikipedia random article button generates an article related to some articles that you've been looking at recently. articles related to the one I just looked at the same day have appeared in the random article link more than once. 141.153.150.122 16:44, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

I guess I can safely say its just you. Wikipedia keeps no records of pages you visit, AFAIK.--Seraphiel 16:55, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Maybe your interests are too random. :) DirkvdM 16:56, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Coincidence? Once I hit random article and ended up on the exact same page I came from O_O --froth^t 20:33, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

I wonder what its way of choosing random articles is. I would not be too surprised if it did not actually choose a random article out of the million + available, but instead took it from some sort of recently-cached articles list or something. But who knows. The odds of getting the same article twice, assuming true randomness, is almost impossible ("one in a million"), which is what gives a good indication that it is not truly random in any way, shape, or form. --24.147.86.187 23:08, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

I think I saw User:Tim Starling say it took 1000 articles every few minutes and then chose a random one from it, then it generates a new 1000 articles again. x42bn6 Talk Mess 00:23, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

When it's first created, every Wikipedia page has a random number (between 0 and 1) generated and stored with it.

When you ask for a random article, a random number X is generated, and a query is done on the database along the lines of select * from page where page_random > X limit 1. (page is the table with one row for each article in Wikipedia.)

—Steve Summit (talk) 01:17, 18 June 2007 (UTC) [edited 04:56, 18 June 2007 (UTC)]

Wouldn't this specific query be biased depdning on the order in which the database processes its index, unless you include order by page_random to make sure you get the page with the lowest page_random above X? Even then, the distribution depends on the sizes of the gaps between the stored page_random values - they certainly won't all be of equal size. 84.239.133.38 06:19, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure about the ordering and the indexing. You're right about the gaps (as I explain below), but I doubt that factor is significant in practice. —Steve Summit (talk) 12:47, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Our random pages aren't totally random. I believe that it only shows articles up to a certain size (they want them to be short so that people clicking them will expand them.) --(Review Me) R ^ParlateContribs_@ (Let's Go Yankees!) 01:30, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

I don't believe that's true. As I understand it, the only nonrandomness is that if the random numbers associated with each article aren't evenly distributed through the interval (0, 1), some articles might come up more often. For example, if Wikipedia had only three articles, and their random numbers were 0.1, 0.7, and 0.8, the one with value 0.7 would come up more often, because during a Special:Random search, any value between 0.1 and 0.7 would hit that article. But with as many articles as Wikipedia has now, this effect should be completely negligible.

If the random article function seems to cough up small articles more often, that's simply because Wikipedia has so very many small articles. —Steve Summit (talk) 01:40, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

About two years ago, I read the complaint that the random articles were so often about small towns in the USA and the explanation given was that USians are so eager to write about their village, however small it is (and of course that it's such a big country and that internet penetration is fairly high). Maybe for this reason the function was changed from a random article to a random subject (and then a random article in that framework). Although that doesn't answer the question. DirkvdM 06:18, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

That happened because of User:Rambot, which created stub articles for every single town in the USA. At the time, it was a significant number of articles. --cesarb 09:46, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

I believe it was about one article in five. Today, the Rambot articles only constitute one article in 40. --Carnildo 00:20, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Steve Summit's explanation is completely correct. To clarify, there is of course an ORDER BY page_random, which is fast because the column is indexed. The code can be viewed here, in selectRandomPageFromDB(). To all intents and purposes short of cryptographic analysis, for a project the size of the English Wikipedia, the page is randomly selected from among all pages. —Simetrical (talk • contribs) 01:34, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure this is the best place to post this but ... I would like to have a link that selected a random page within a category, e.g. Random:Mathematics, Random:Natural Science, or even Random:Sports (though I would never use that one). Has such a thing ever been considered? TundraGreen (talk) 01:21, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

After additional investigation, I discovered that this exists in various forms and I am exploring them. So probably this question can be ignored. e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RandomInCategory TundraGreen (talk) 01:46, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

Screen Rez in Ubuntu

I just installed Ubuntu. Using System:Preferences:Screen Resolution, the highest rez I can set is 1024 x 768, and the highest refresh rate is 60 Hz. However, I have an identical computer (same CPU, graphics card, & monitor) running Windows, that is set at 1600 x 1200 (and that's not the highest it will go) with an 85 Hz refresh rate. Any idea how to get the higher rez & rate on my Ubuntu box? --Tugbug 21:59, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

-- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 22:01, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Also enabling a driver from System->Administration->Restricted Drivers can't hurt, if there's one available/you haven't already done that. --93.106.174.231 (talk) 15:21, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

June 18

Pop-up blocker working too good

How come when I use FireFox, and have en.wikipedia.org in the allow list, it still blocks popups from Wikipedia? And the funnier thing is that I've had this problem before, the I turned popup blocker off. It's blocking popups when I disabled popup blocking. (And no, it's not a toolbar blocker or anything. It's firefox's blocker). --(Review Me) R ^ParlateContribs_@ (Let's Go Yankees!) 01:32, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

What popups is Wikipedia trying to pop up for you? I've never had Wikipedia try to pop up any popups. —Steve Summit (talk) 01:36, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Popups for WP:TW windows. --(Review Me) R ^ParlateContribs_@ (Let's Go Yankees!) 01:48, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, I don't know anything about TW. Anybody else? —Steve Summit (talk) 00:45, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

What version of Firefox are you using? I have en.wikipedia.org in my allow list for popup blocker (1.5.0.12 here at work, and the latest FF2 at home). My TwinkleConfig also has userTalkPageMode : 'tab' as one of its entries, so that could make a difference. Wizzard2k 17:34, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Vista splash screen

The very first "splash" screen for Windows Vista with the moving progress bar is misaligned on my monitor. It doesn't affect anything else, more of a cosmetic problem, but any ideas what I could do to fix it? Everything else is fine and I've tried the auto-align button on the monitor (Gateway 21-in LCD widescreen). Thanks 68.39.175.57 04:12, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

You might try going to Run => msconfig and on the Boot tab checking "No GUI boot" ... this will replace the progress bar screen with the "Aurora" background. It would be less obviously misaligned but it's a problem with your monitor and it's not likely to be fixable --froth^t 15:22, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

When you see the misaligned screen, go into the monitor's menu and take note of the resolution. Then later on, you would want to display a test screen at the same resolution, so you can align your monitor to that, and it will remember it for the splash screen. The tricky part is finding a program that can display a test screen at the resolution you want. --Bavi H 01:18, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

NT Virtual DOS Monitor (NTVDM)

My problem is that whenever I start a 16-bit DOS based application on Windows XP the OS starts up the NT Virtual DOS Monitor (NTVDM) and the CPU usage of my system shoots upto 100%. Thus the system becomes very-very slow. Can anybody explain this??

If you open your task manager, you can set thread priority for the process to a lower level. Does this help? Nimur 10:30, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

No..by doing this the system just hangs up.......but my question was why is this at all happening...i mean does the system goes into a busy wait.

Windows on a cd-rw

Would there be a way for Windows to be installed onto a cd-rw (or at least copied onto one) and be able to access AND write to that cd-rw? Like running a cd packet writing software from inside the windows install that would enable windows to write to the cd disk? Think outside the box 12:05, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

BartPE allows you to build a bootable Windows CD. I don't think it, or any similar liveCD, supports writing to the same CD. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 12:17, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Some will mount a USB drive as a "home" folder, so you can save some of the changes. --Kainaw ^(talk) 14:30, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Mac backup software

My wife wants to back up her photos to DVD. I showed her how with the Finder but it's not easy enough. She just wants something that she can drag and drop a bunch of files into and it will start burning to a DVD. When it has filled up that DVD, it will ask for the next and so on until it's done. We don't need to make movies or anything fancy. Just something that makes backups of data. That's it. So, can I get some recommendations for some software for this? FYI, it's a PowerMac desktop model. Dismas|^(talk) 14:09, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

I've always used Backup.app for this very purpose. It can also be configured to set up regular backup jobs (weekly, monthly, etc). I believe it is part of a .Mac membership suite. -- JSBillings 15:03, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

If she's using iPhoto, there's a burn option under the share menu there that should do the trick. Donald Hosek 21:21, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

She's not using iPhoto. This is pro grade work she's doing and iPhoto just doesn't have the options that she needs, so she doesn't use it. She uses Sigma Photo Pro, so maybe there's a similar option in SPP. One of the keys to this is that she wants the backups to be able to be held off site in case of a house fire. So external drives that are simply right next to the computer won't work. Amazon S3 met heavy resistance due to the fact that she wouldn't have a physical copy to hold in her hand which would be safe from drive failures, hackers, data corruption, etc. She's almost sold on the Amazon idea if I can show that uploads won't take forever and a day. We're on DSL. Dismas|^(talk) 22:04, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

I think that the Amazon S3 uses a local cache so even if the physical transfer is slow, it's not obvious to the user (although it might be problematic with a laptop where, if she's like me, the laptop gets closed all the time. Donald Hosek 00:48, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Nope, tower. Thanks, I think I've got her won over on the idea. Dismas|^(talk) 01:39, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Compression question

Is it possible for a 4 GB file to be compressed to a little over an MB? I'm asking 'coz I got this file by email, which when uncompressed, takes up as much as 4 GB space. The file is of .mdf type, and the compression used is RAR. Thanks for any info on this.--Seraphiel 15:01, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Sure. It all depends on the data. For example, what if I have a 4GB file that is just a repetition of 4*10⁹ bytes that are all "100101100". I can easily compress it to something like 1001011001001001 and tell you that the first byte is the data, the second 4 bits is a multiplier and the last 4 bits is a power. I just compressed 4GB into 2 bytes. --Kainaw ^(talk) 15:16, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Does the RAR format specifically allow such a general-purpose definition of a repeated byte? Nimur 16:19, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like you got a maxi-image. Make sure to extract the image to an NTFS partition, then tick on compression for the file. Splintercellguy 16:36, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

to be simple in my answer, one of the best compression utilities i've ever used is UHARC, now as far as the MDF file...mount it with daemon or alcohol 200.35.168.129 20:01, 18 June 2007 (UTC) Ag for MemTech

It probably is a sparse file or a file with a large amount of zeroes. Such files can compress extremly well. --cesarb 22:10, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, maybe it just fills with zeros up to the capacity of a single layer dvd or something --froth^t 12:31, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks guys. I think I get an idea now. I tried mounting it using daemon as well as Alcohol 120%. But I couldn't open any of the files inside (there were at least 30 file icons shown - some as large as 2 GB, some 0 KB). Where can I learn more about maxi- and mini-images? What are they used for? Why was it important that I uncompress it onto an NTFS partition? TIA!--Seraphiel 13:40, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

You want to uncompress onto NTFS because the largest file size supported on FAT32 is 2³²-1 bytes, or one byte shy of 4GB. --LarryMac | Talk 16:32, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Okay. Thanks. Any idea about maxi and mini-images?--Seraphiel 05:13, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Converting PDFs to Microsoft Word Docs

I've recently discovered that, despite the troublesome nature of Pdfs, there are many people who claim to have created software to convert PDF documents to Microsoft Word documents. I'm seeking such a tool that I could run automatically from a program I'm writing, so it would have to offer a command-line interface, or -- better yet -- a programming API. Can anyone suggest software along these lines of high quality? I can spend up to $500. In any case, there should eventually be some comment in the PDF article about the possibility of conversion, and how good a conversion you can get. --Ryguasu 17:29, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

According to this article, you can use Adobe Acrobat Standard (around US$300) to open a PDF, then do a File->Save As->Word Doc. Presumably you can do the same thing programatically with the Acrobat API. --TotoBaggins 15:25, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

I've discovered that the Adobe PDF Library API (fancier than the Acrobat API) does not allow conversion to word. (See http://www.adobe.com/devnet/pdf/pdfs/faq.pdf.) For the Acrobat API itself, it looks like you could probably export as Word through the Acrobat Interapplication Communication sub-API. It features a conversion object that is "a file type converter that exports PDF files into other formats. Conversions correspond to the list of formats specified in the Acrobat Save As menu." Since Acrobat can save as Word format, I think this means you can do it from the Acrobat API. --Ryguasu 18:40, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

PHP

in jsp when we want to go from one page to another page after fulfilling certain conditions we use forward() or send Redirect() function in our code, what are functions are used in case of php when we want to go from one page to another page?

Use "header" as in: header("location: newpage.html"); --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:15, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

docs --h2g2bob (talk) 23:21, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Copyright status on the Verdana font

I'm currently writing a copyright report for a certain college project, and I'm interested to know what, if any, copyright applies to the Verdana font. Any help will be much appreciated, cheers. 81.77.170.61 21:58, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

The actual files are copyright by Microsoft, although freely distributed by Microsoft. The design, is not copyrightable (as is the case with all typefaces under U.S. Law. See typeface for more details or [4] for a more in-depth discussion of the status of typeface design protection. Donald Hosek 22:46, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Yeah. As Donald's reply implies, copyright law (in the United States) is a little wonky when it comes to fonts. The design of a font itself is not copyrightable, but the actual files can be. So I could re-create Verdana from scratch and that would be fine, but I couldn't distribute Microsoft's font files unless I had a license to do so (which they grant freely in this case). --24.147.86.187 00:53, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Software for Steel Mills

I'm wondering what software do steel mills worldwide typically use for the operations planning systems? Or does it appear to mainly be done in house with their language of choice? Thanks. Mathmo ^Talk 22:27, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

errr..... ping? Mathmo ^Talk 02:27, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Local Area Connection

Hello. In the system tray (lower right corner with the clock on Windows XP), my modem shows the following message whenever I turn it on:

Local Area Connection

This connection has limited or no connectivity. You might not be able to access the :Internet or some network resources. For more information, click this message.

I clicked the message and tried to repair the connection. Windows unsuccessfully tries to renew my IP address. However, my Internet is fine. Should I be concerned? --Mayfare 23:56, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

If everything is fine then everything is fine. That said, you might experience some problems if you, say, play LAN games, because some of the settings aren't set or are set wrongly. x42bn6 Talk Mess 23:59, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

If it doesn't renew, then that may cause problems when your IP address DHCP release expires (some leases don't expire for a long period of time though, so this may not apply to you). You may consider a restart, although if it really is a DHCP issue, then you won't reacquire an IP address (although generally I don't see this kind of error for a DHCP acquisition problem).

Alternatively, if you have a third-party program installed that is managing your network connection (this is much more typical for wireless connections), it can sometimes cause the Windows applet confusion. One other thing you might try doing is opening up a command prompt and then typing ipconfig /all to see if there appears to be a configuration issue. You can also manually renew or release your DHCP lease this way by typing ipconfig /release (flushes current lesae) and ipconfig /renew (gets new lease). But if you don't seem to be having any other issues besides Windows complaining, x42bn6 has the right idea--why beg trouble if you don't need to. –Pakman044 00:22, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, what s/he said. If everything you are currently using (i.e. browsing the net) is fine then do not worry. Because clearly those parts are working. Why even try to fix what is not broken? (from your point of view that is) But if you really want to know out of curiosity of if you are actually having problems checkout these pages as starting points: [5] [6] [7] etc... though really, I'd want to know a bit more about your current system and configurations to take a better guess than a stab in the dark. Still, you main point to take from this is don't worry if it is fine it is fine! Mathmo ^Talk 00:27, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

One explanation is that you are connected to the internet by a wireless router and your ethernet port is unplugged giving you that error. Or some other combination of two different network connetions on your PC, one in use and the other not. Vespine

June 19

protocol

what is protocol — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.10.124.11 (talk • contribs) 00:29, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

You could try reading our Protocol article, for a start. (You're probably interested in one of the topics in the "Communications and computing" subsection.) —Steve Summit (talk) 02:01, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

flash app

I need a quick lesson on programming a flash app for my TI-84. where can i find one, or can someone give me a quick one here.

I am trying to create a cash register of sorts that counts number of sales of each product.

thank you, Omnipotence407 01:44, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

I know next to nothing about asm in TI-84, but here's a link that might help: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/TI_83_Plus_Assembly. What is this for? Splintercellguy 02:47, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

There seem to be C compilers that could possibly build for the TI-83 platform, try googling. Splintercellguy 02:57, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Eh I don't think so- only the higher calcs (89, 92) take C, the 82/83/84s are best programmed in direct assembly --froth^t 04:52, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

There are only a few differences between flash apps and normal asm programs - it must be 16k or 32k in size, it runs directly from flash memory, you must use a special application to make it the correct format. if you don't know Z80 assembly, though, you don't stand a chance --froth^t 04:52, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

You sure, Froth? Googling turned up apps that claimed to be able to build for TI-83. Splintercellguy 08:18, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes I'm sure, the 83 is like programming a watch it has so little resources. If any program actually attempts to compile C to z80 machine code for the 83, it would be terribly slow or resource hogging. Basically the program for compiling C to Z80 is TIGCC but it only compiles for the 89 and 92 --froth^t 12:29, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Codecs

What are codecs and where can you get it from?

124.183.39.98 08:08, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Have you read our article on codecs? Googling for one can help. Splintercellguy 08:18, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Generally speaking, if you want to just play some media files and your program is asking for a codec, yes you can try finding the codec, but I can recommend you try VLC_media_player (free) which tends to have all the codecs you need. There are some exceptions for proprietary codecs, like Real Media. VLC player can't play those files - but it can play just about everything else: DivX, Mpeg, AVI, etc. Highly recommended Rfwoolf 17:18, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

whats this

every time i try to open my yahoo mail i receive this messsage on the address bar.is my email been blocked or sumthin? http://us.mg2.mail.yahoo.com/dc/system_requirements?browser=blocked

It just means you can't use their new version of yahoo mail with your browser. Just click the link on the right that says "proceed to original yahoo mail" and it should be fine. Recury 16:42, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Parellels

I've set up my own custom tiny linux system under parallels for mac. Now, I would like to take the (30mb) virtual hard drive and copy it ontu my memory key. Does anyone know how to do that...?--67.181.167.227 16:14, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Desktop icons broken

File:Brokenicons.jpg

weeeeird

Hi, my desktop icons all appear weird - they all have a white box over them (see right). Does anyone know how to fix them. I'm running Vista, and wish to see no smartass comments from anyone about "move to Linux/Mac", thank you. Vista is awesome and has been so since I installed it three months ago, this is the first problem I've had. I tried changing the colour from 32 to 16-bit and back again to see if that would force the icons to redraw, no dice. I've also restarted the computer, and also tried changing the icon, still no luck. Every icon has one of these weird white boxes over it (I don't know what they are called). When I refresh the desktop (right click, hit "Refresh"), they appear normally for a fraction of a second before the white boxes appear again. The shortcuts all do actually work, though, still. Any ideas? Neil ╦ 16:44, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

• Looks like there's a problem with the files related to your shortcut overlay arrow. Give this site a try [8]. Wizzard2k 17:15, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

  That solved it! Thanks Wizzard. Neil ╦ 19:25, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

JSF/Facelets, don't render parent, but still render children

Is there any way to be able to change the parent's render attribute without affecting its children? I am using the most recent stable versions of JSF/Facelets and I wouldn't be opposed to using an outside library. Basically, what I am trying to do is:

<h:inputTextArea> <h:outputText>#{ManagedBean.value}</h:outputText> </h:inputTextArea>

, where it would only render the text area around the outputText if ManagedBean.edit = "true". Also, there would be an outer h:form element which would only render under the same circumstances as h:inputTextArea. If ManagedBean.edit = "false", it would only render the h:outputText.

Thanks for your help.

149.173.6.51 20:12, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Linux joystick problem

I've got a Logitech Extreme 3D Pro Joystick. (Actually, I've had two of them; I bought a new one yesterday.) The new one is recognized by Windows and Mac, but not by Linux. (Debian 2.6.8-2-686.)

I had the exact same joystick a little while ago, and Linux recognized it just fine. /dev/input/js0 was created, and I could read from it to my heart's content. But the new one I bought yesterday is not recognized at all. Unfortunately I don't have access to the old one at the moment to confirm whether it still works.

When I plug the new one in, I get

kernel: usb 2-1: new low speed USB device using address 2

kernel: drivers/usb/input/hid-core.c: ctrl urb status -2 received

in /var/log/messages. Sometimes (but not all of the time) I also get

hal.hotplug[4608]: timout(10000 ms) waiting for /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb2/2-1/2-1:1.0

But it does look like somebody's waiting too patiently for a response that never comes. I never get a recognition message in the log file confirming the manufacturer and product name, and I never get any new device files appearing in /dev/input/. Sometimes the whole input subsystem gets hung, and my regular mouse (which is also USB) stops responding, and I have to reboot. This is happening on two different Linux laptops (both Debian 2.6.8-2-686).

Anyone seen anything like this before? Is the driver too sensitive to some timing issue with some models of this joystick? Is the particular joystick I have maybe borderline, and Windows and Mac just have better luck talking to it? (I hope not, because I'll have a hard time convincing the store to take it back with that kind of Linux-specific failure mode...) --Steve Summit (talk) 20:35, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Looks like you aren't the only one; a quick Google search by the exact error message gave me [9]. --cesarb 22:59, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, Cesar. Dunno why I didn't find that myself. —Steve Summit (talk) 23:42, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Probably because you typed "ctrl urb status -2 received" instead of "ctrl urb status 2 received" on Google; the minus hyphen makes it never match. --cesarb 00:59, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Hm, wasn't that, I just tested and it matches... They probably fixed it already. --cesarb 01:00, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

June 20

Booting off of USB on a Macbook Pro

Here's my situation: I have a 512 Mb USB2 memory key with DSL (Damn Small Linux) on it. I copied it over to the key bit by bit from the iso of DSL. The key mounts under OSX and all of the files are usable, but how do I boot to it? I have boot camp installed, if that matters.--67.181.167.227 01:35, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Is there any way to get an Xbox to run with an LCD PC monitor without anything in between?

Is there any way to get an Xbox to run with an LCD PC monitor without anything in between -- by using a composite-to-VGA converter, component adapter, something like that? Preferably with the ability to convert 1920x1080 or 1280x720 to this particular monitor's native resolution of 1680x1050.202.10.86.63 09:13, 20 June 2007 (UTC)