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August 1

Blu-ray anamorphic widescreen

A similar question has been asked before but wasn't really answered.

How does the blu-ray specification handle aspect ratios wider than 16:9?

E.g., can blu-ray store a 1.85:1 video anamorphically (horizontally squeezed, resp. vertically stretched) as 16:9 rather than with native letterboxing? And which of these is the industry standard?

This info appears to be missing from Anamorphic widescreen#Blu-ray video. --195.14.223.157 (talk) 00:40, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Blu-ray only supports 16:9 video in high definition, and 4:3/16:9 in standard definition (replicating the capability of DVD). All other aspect ratios including less-wide formats like 4:3 and 1.66:1 have to be formatted with letterboxing encoded into the actual image data. Msgohan (talk) 02:03, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! --213.168.111.33 (talk) 03:00, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Internet connection

My desktop connects to the internet, but my laptop won't. I have checked and the IP address is correct, but still won't connect. I connected router directly to laptop and it connected to google when I tried....but won't on it's own. Can anyone advise me please? I'm out of options at this point. Kendra — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kendra52 (talk • contribs) 04:14, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

My guess is that you have a wireless router, your laptop works when you plug it in, but doesn't work over Wi-Fi. Is that correct? Did it used to work? If yes the 1st thing to try is just shut everything down, the modem and or router, the laptop, everything, and then power them up one at a time, starting with the modem, then router (if you have a separate one) and finally laptop, give each at least 3 minutes before starting the next one. If that doesn't work, it could be a number of things which will also depend on what operating system you have. If you have a windows laptop, you need to get into the wireless network connection config window and see if your network is visible. If it is not, your wifi might not be enabled on the laptop, (or a number of other things). If it is visible and it is connected automatically, you could try disconnecting and reconnecting to it, if you have security set up on the router (which is a good idea) you'll need a password to reconnect, if you have no idea what the password is, you'll need to work that out before you can proceed. If none of that helps, it will require more troubleshooting. Vespine (talk) 05:52, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Are you sure it's a router and not actually a cable modem? Some cable modems lock onto the mac address of your computer and will only accept connections from that mac address, so when you switch it over to the laptop it will detect the different mac address and refuse connections from it. The solution is to power off the cable modem for a little while and make sure it's connected to the laptop when you turn it on again. You will need to do this every time you switch it from the desktop to laptop and when you switch it back again. AvrillirvA (talk) 17:32, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Extract text from pdf

I have difficulties extracting the text from this pdf. I'd appreciate if somebody could extract the text and either upload it somewhere or drop it in my sandbox or teach me how to do it myself. The text is written vertically and starts at the top right. I'd need it in plain text in order to more easily translate it with a computer. Information will go into this articl I am working on. Thanks. bamse (talk) 11:06, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Why can't you just highlight each page of text, hit Control-C or use the Apple command for "copy", and then paste it into Notepad or whatever Apples call the corresponding program? It works for me. Nyttend (talk) 17:03, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

A common form of PDF files is basically a photo of text, not the text itself, making that form of copy unlikely to work. In such a case, you might need to resort to OCR, or simply retype it. Note, however, that copying large sections from others sources is not allowed. If you wish to quote a line or two, that's probably easiest to just retype. StuRat (talk) 17:35, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

This is not photo-text, however it's in Japanese and uses nonstandard fonts. I'm afraid it will take somebody familiar with Japanese to know how to handle this. Looie496 (talk) 19:17, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

re Nyttend: It usually works for me in the way you describe, however not with the file here. For instance on page two I can highlight/copy the first column of text (=first column from right after titles), but not the second column (=the column just to the left of it).

re StuRat: I don't want to quote the text itself in wikipedia. I am just trying to get the text in computer-readable form in order to translate it (since my Japanese is limited) and only then I would cite the information contained in it (but not as direct quote). "Simply" retyping could be an option, but I'd prefer a quicker method if available.

re Looie496: What do you mean by "nonstandard fonts"? Non-latin, or unusual fonts as for representing Japanese? bamse (talk) 22:39, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I only mean that on my American Windows 7 system, Adobe's PDF reader had to download and install a font package in order to allow copy+paste on that document. I probably have never looked at a Japanese PDF file before. Looie496 (talk) 22:48, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Both pdftotext and Okular will successfully extract the text, buuuut the format of the original document is such that the text document this process yields is very badly disordered. As far as I can tell, columns are upside down, with some stuff missing and lots of chars in mad places. Looking at the document, I rather think this is is caused by an OCR program, which has treated the document as a random salad of glyphs rather than contiguous coherent text. Given the quality of stuff these produce, you'd probably be better of typing it in than trying to reformat what they yield. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 23:16, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Indeed it appears to be OCR'd as there are some misspellings in the text as well. Guess, I'll have to type (draw) it in then. Thanks to all who replied. bamse (talk) 00:13, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I extracted the text and saved at your sandbox. It is not OCRed but rendered by iText 1.4.8 according to the property of the document. I tried two methods "Save as text" and "Select All (Ctrl+A) and Copy (Ctrl+C)". The both results seem to ignore Linefeed/Carriage return (ODOA). I will further investigate this issue. ―― Phoenix7777 (talk) 09:07, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. Haven't checked all of it yet, but it looks much better than what I got. Strange that there are some misspelling like + ("plus") for 十 ("ten"). That's the reason why I thought it was OCR. Unfortunately the lines/columns are mixed up. Can't locate the second column on page two for instance ("る上表文の提出に端を発する藤原広嗣の乱は時の天皇*皇后の近"). bamse (talk) 09:46, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Identifying model of PowerBook G4 & Nil Startup

I have just come into possession of a second-hand Apple PowerBook G4 and charger. I have located a User's Guide Here. However the PowerBook I have does not have the six connectors on the right side (as on page 9). Instead it has them on the back edge of the G4, under a spring loaded cover. On the right hand side it has only a security slot (and what looks like a vent). The left side has what I think is a PC card slot, another vent and a headphone socket. The "Power adapter port" is on the right back corner (not the left side). It does have the "Slot-loading optical drive" on the front edge, right of the "display release button". It has a 667 MHz processor and 256MB of memory, and from the WP page detals I suspect that it may be a Titanium PowerBook G4 'Onyx'or 'Ivory'.

Can anyone identify the exact model? and perhaps advise me, as although the machine seems to be charging, it won't start up when I press the 'power' button.- 220.101 talk^\Contribs 11:17, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

It's certainly a Titanium Powerbook - I still have one of those lying around (my first Apple), although I have the last generation 1GHz machine. You can distinguish between Onyx and Ivory by looking at the display connector - Onyx has VGA (medium sized trapezoid), Ivory has DVI (big square with many pins). You need to keep the power button pressed for a while before the machine starts - if that does not help, neither can I. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 11:52, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

'Ivory' it is then! Thanks Stephan. I googled around a bit more and found Powerbook G4 Titanium 550/667 Repair Guide, which may be of interest to you too. I think the G4 is actually turning on, as the caplock light works, but no video and no sound of HDD activity. Should I expect any noise? A shame if it is unserviceable.

I ttook me a while to find the 'hidden' connectors at the back! ;) - 220.101 talk^\Contribs 12:46, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I have two more modern incarnations now, and I'm extremely happy with the Unibody MacBook Pro. My TiBook still worked the last time I tried, but the battery is completely dead and somehow wedged into the thing so that even the certified repair shop did not want to pry it out for fear of breaking the main board. Maybe your display is shot - try connecting an external display. Also, if the machine works (as the Caps Lock key indicates), the sound buttons (top row function keys) should give some audible feedback if you use them to crank up the volume. I vaguely seem to recall that with the old TiBooks, you had to press fn to get the preprogrammed special function, but I may recall wrongly - try both ways. If I remember correctly, the HDD was quite quite... --Stephan Schulz (talk) 14:08, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

If I can believe the little in-built gauge, the battery pack is ok, and comes out easily.
• Is it normal for the charger to get quite hot in use? (feels like 50-55°C)
• Yes, I will try an external display, though tomorrow perhaps! ≈ 2 AM here! - 220.101 talk^\Contribs 15:58, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Gmail Sent Mail/Sent Messages

Can anyone tell why Gmail has these two folders when surely they are the same thing? I have been told that it has something to do with the chat but I have never used the chat facility and yet some of the emails I have sent have gone into Sent Mail and some into Sent messages. I find this somewhat confusing and would welcome any advice anyone has. There seems no way to configure Gmail to remove this. (I thought of adding this as a comment on the Talk Page of the Gmail article but it seems more appropriate here.) Thanks in advance. SmokeyTheCat 12:06, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

"Sent Mail" is the normal Google Mail sent-mail folder. I don't have a "sent messages". Have you perhaps accessed your gmail account with an IMAP connection (with a mail program link like Thunderbird or Outlook)? If so, "sent messages" may be something created by that (because IMAP allows a mail client to create folders on the server); if that's the case, you can change the email client's configuration to store its sent messages in "sent mail" or wherever you like. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 12:42, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Follow-up post from a month ago - found it!

• This follow-up is for:
  • StuRat
  • Darigan and
  • Finlay McWalter
• Prior thread is at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 June 25#What is the weird little separator in my Firefox 5 tabs?.

It was a glitch in that the symbol does not normally appear and stay there, but it is a feature of Firefox and not a bug or incompatibility issue or extension. Check it out: Open up a few tabs in Firefox and then grab one of the tabs itself with your mouse and try to move it to a new place on your tab bar; you'll see that this symbol appeared in between other tabs to mark the spot where you are going to drop the tab you are dragging! I discovered it this morning by accident.--108.46.103.142 (talk) 12:40, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I don't have access to a Mac, but on Gnome and Windows the "tab you're moving will end up here" indicator is a little gray up-arrow, not that blue lolipop thing. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 14:00, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the follow-up. My Firefox 5.0 on Windows XP SP3 also uses the up-arrow symbol. It sounds like you have a different font loaded. StuRat (talk) 17:26, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Nine-segment displays in elevators in Germany

In many elevators in Germany, there are nine-segment displays, which differ from seven-segment displays by having two diagonal segments, that are needed to display the letter “K”, which stands for Keller(geschoss). My question: Which letters can be displayed with such nine-segment displays? --84.61.147.210 (talk) 13:22, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Not a complete answer by any means, but the article Nine-segment display suggests that one additional character is "И"... Darigan (talk) 15:09, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I don't think the original poster is referring to that particular type of nine-segment display, if it can display the letter "K" well. An uppercase "R" is feasible with the original poster's nine-segment display. A "v" is feasible. Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:25, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

What about <|>, >|<, and ⍾? --84.61.147.210 (talk) 16:35, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Let's see, I assume you mean that it looks like this:

  
|/|
|\|

If so, I get the these letters.

  
| |
| |        = A

| 
| |        = B

  
|
|          = C

  |
| |        = D

  
| 
|          = E

  
| 
|          = F

| |
| |        = H

|
|          = I

  |
| |        = J

|/ 
|\         = K

|
|          = L

|\|        = N

  
| |
| |        = O

  
| |
|          = P

  
| |
|\|        = Q

  
| |
|\         = R

  
| 
  |        = S

| |
| |        = U 

| |
 \|        = V

|/
|          = Y

  
 /          
|          = Z

Obviously, some are better than others. Also note that the letter S is indistinguishable from a 5, the letter O from zero, and the letter I from a 1 (although putting the vertical line on the opposite side might help to distinguish the I for the 1, somewhat).

StuRat (talk) 17:07, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

And finally:

  
|
| |        = G

  
| |
| |        = O

--84.61.147.210 (talk) 17:13, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I had added the letter O above, but didn't think that G was recognizable, as such. You might also want to make the letter O lowercase, so it can be distinguished from a zero:

  
| |        = O

StuRat (talk) 17:18, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I have seen such displays used in hand-held electronic card games. They are needed to show the face cards with J, Q and K. — Michael J 04:23, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

I can see the A, J and K working, but the Q looks God-awful, without the slash extending below the line. StuRat (talk) 04:41, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

I agree, StuRat. However, these are relatively inexpensive product, so they undoubtedly use the simplest displays possible to get the job done.

cheap small-ish i5 or i7 pc with 4 or 8 gb ram and solid state?

Hi, I'm looking for something like the new macbook air, but in a pc from a reputable brand. It should be a small notebook (like a thinkpad) with an i5 or i7 and 4 or 8 gb ram, and definitely ssd perhaps in addition to normal hd. doesn' thave to be quite as light, beautiful as a macbook air, need it for development work. what fits this description best? good battery life too. 145.236.215.77 (talk) 14:34, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

it can be a 15-inch laptop too, it's okay. it can be bulkier. my main constraint is price (hopefully $300-$650), then cpu and ram and acceptable battery life, then ssd. 145.236.215.77 (talk) 14:36, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I'm not currently following the market, but getting a decent size SSD into that budget seems to be quite hard. Amazon seems to sell ~120GB for ~200US$ at the moment. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 14:52, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Google Earth polygons

Hi. Is it possible to draw polygons on Google Earth in order to calculate the area within these polygons? How about finding the highest and lowest elevations within the shapes? How do I do this? Thanks. ~AH1 ^(discuss!) 17:04, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Well you can do the polygon area on Esri ArcGIS (which is not google earth). Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:39, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

PROJECT ON RSA ALGORITHM

I WANT TO DEVELOP A PROJECT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RSA ALGORITHM ENCRYPTION AND DECRYPTION , PLEASE SUGGEST ME THE ESSENTIAL START UPS TO WORK — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kullaanilkumar (talk • contribs)

(1) Please don't type in all-capitals. (2) What kind of project? Looie496 (talk) 19:15, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Read RSA and ask if there is something you don't understand. -- kainaw™ 19:34, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I googled "implementing RSA" and many articles came up for you to read. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:35, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

smtp for Google apps

hi, our organization uses Google apps (ie. google.com/a and click "sign in" on top-right). if our domain is xyz (so I first type xyz.com into the "sign in" on top-right of google.com/a then I type in "me" and my password) how do I get my iPhone to do the same thing? It seems very similar to gmail, but what are the pop and smtp servers, etc? Thanks... 89.135.188.193 (talk) 20:22, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

I use IMAP rather than POP (but I think things are much the same for POP) for which the server (even for a hosted domain) is imap.gmail.com on port 993 with username myname@xyz.com, with SSL/TLS security and password authentication. Similarly SMTP is smtp.gmail.com on port 587 with username myname@xyz.com, security STARTTLS and password authentication. So it's still the gmail servers, which use the domain name you give in your username to differentiate you from users on other hosted domains. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 20:28, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

August 2

Maps for dummies

One of my many areas of total ignorance is map creation/alteration. The Google Maps article rather baffles me, though I do notice that commercial applications are a no-no, so anyway Google Maps is/are out, for what I want to do -- which is something like what we see at File:Maginot Line ln-en.jpg but (without wishing to offend its creator) cleaner. Ideally, I'd start off with a copyleft or PD outline of a nation, and choose a couple of dozen towns to add to it. The software (whether web- or hard-drive-based) would know where these were and add the little blobs for these towns and their names next to or near them so that these wouldn't overlap and would be legible. And the result would be copyleft or PD. Like most of us, I'm a cheapskate, and want "free as in beer"; but if it's cheap I might be persuaded to shell out. If it's computer-based then Debian would be best; but failing that, Mac OS X or Windows would be OK too. I'm sure that all of this is explained excellently on the interwebs; Google [search] is my friend, but what should I be asking it? -- Hoary (talk) 01:39, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I guess since you claim to be baffled, you might want to read about GIS to start. Software representations of geographic data range from (x,y) coordinate-pairs, to sophisticated relational databases. Typically, you see a large amount of data that gets rendered into a graphical map, or post-processed into a chart, graph, or statistics table. GIS software is used to create, modify, and view such data.

OpenStreetMap is free as in beer and speech. It is a database and a set of software. You can use it through a web interface at http://www.openstreetmap.org/ - generously hosted by University College London's VR Centre for the Built Environment. If you are inclined to try something more technically challenging, you can download a huge assortment of software that loads the O.S.M. dataset, and presents it as a static graphic, as a Geographic Information Systems database, as raw numeric data for calculations and graphical operations, and so forth. Many of these softwares are difficult to use, as they are geared toward expert users of commercial GIS systems; and many are buggy; but they are free as in beer and speech. I seem to recall using Navit to make a map some time back. Nimur (talk) 02:51, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Clearly I was even ignoranter than I'd realized. OpenStreetWare: I'd never heard of it. What an extraordinary website; and sure enough there's lots of software available for it under Debian. I'll have to start looking through this. Thank you! -- Hoary (talk) 09:46, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Where did I go wrong? (XP password bypass)

I'm sorta in charge of helping my Sister-in-Law with her computer, and she knows even less than me. She's in another country, so I help her by using Logmein. (We both have XP)

She's been having a problem with having to log in when she starts her computer, and didn't have any idea how to do that, but sometimes she's managed to get it going. I looked up how to bypass the log-in, and found several sites that recommended using START, RUN, "control userpasswords2", and unchecking the "Users must enter a username and password" box.

Before trying it with her computer, I tried it with mine, and it seemed to work, that is until I re-booted, and the screen froze while starting Windows. I tried several times, and no luck. I was able to start it in safe mode, but, as it had been a couple of years, I decided to do a clean install, and copy all my files to a new drive. That worked ok, but, several days later, she still has the problem. Obviously, given the problem I had, I'm loath to try it on hers, unless y'all can tell me where I went horribly wrong.

Also, for extra credit, if I blow it again, how can I undo it?

Thanks. Bunthorne (talk) 04:56, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure you stuffed anything up to cause that. Possibly it just flaked out, especially if you didn't have SP3, but not necessarily. Windows sometimes behaves funny if you only have the one account and it is the primary admin account AND you remove its password, i personally wouldn't recommend it even if no one else uses the computer, it does make it more vulnerable online. Before doing anything perform a manual system restore point and make yourself at least vaguely familiar with the steps of recovering from that restore point. Then at least you have a chance to get the system back to that point if something major screws up. Vespine (talk) 06:22, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Facebook profile train station option?

One of my friends was able to edit his Facebook profile to include what train station he lives near. Under his name on his profile where things like ones hometown and current city, job, etc. appear it also includes Lives near "X" Station beside a picture of a mass transit train. Clicking on the name of the station links to pages similar to the hometown ones on Facebook where it took the info from Wikipedia, but insead its about the train station. How do I find this useful option?--98.112.224.106 (talk) 05:53, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

That option is not in my profile settings. Maybe it is only available in some countries. Since nobody has yet answered here I suggest you ask your friend.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 14:47, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Facebook has a topic on Community pages and profile connections on their Help Center. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 15:12, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

OP here. My friend has no clue how it appeared and the link User:Gadget850 provided does not appear to answer the question. Any other ideas? 98.112.224.106 (talk) 22:13, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

It's an option when logging into Facebook from Japan/a Japan proxy. 205.251.185.250 (talk) 16:27, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

head-mounted display

I'll be visiting London in a few weeks time. I really want to try out a head-mounted display before I buy one; where in South-London can I do this? 83.154.156.210 (talk) 09:49, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

What kind? Sony has produced some in the past, and showed some prototypes earlier this year - I'm not sure how close they are to full-scale production yet. You could call round London's Sony Centres to see if they have any. This shop, although not in South London, has some Vuzix kit available.--Kateshortforbob _talk 13:24, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

HMD's vary wildly in quality and price, and price does not always equal quality. Make sure the one you try is the exact model you intend to buy. Even if the specifications are the same.

(Obviously if you're trying to buy an upscale model that costs tens (or hundreds!) of thousands you're not going to find one in a shop you're going to need to contact a dealer who would be more than happy to arrange a demo for a serious customer.) APL (talk) 15:27, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Sluggish bittorrent window in Ubuntu

My bittorrent client window got sluggish. The torrents are downloading fine. Any information that I get online is about sluggish torrent streams, but that's not what I want. Any idea what could have caused that? Other programs are working OK. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.8.67.40 (talk) 12:55, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps the toolkit being used or the scripting language for the GUI has not been properly maintained. Should be avoidable by properly maintaining your system or... not using GUI torrent clients. :) ¦ Reisio (talk) 13:23, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Maybe you have too many torrents open, that are being updated constantly... Quest09 (talk) 16:25, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Which client are you using?Smallman12q (talk) 01:20, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

PNY VCQ450NVS-X16-PB Quadro NVS 450

I am looking at the PNY VCQ450NVS-X16-PB Quadro NVS 450. It says it does not support VGA. So, does that mean that if I buy DisplayPort to VGA converters, I won't get a display? I am looking at connecting 4 old SVGA monitors to one card. It is really coming down to the Quadro NVS or Matrox. -- kainaw™ 13:43, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

'Can You Run It?'

There's a website called 'Can you run it?', which analyses your PC to see if it can run the software or game you specify. Is there a website like this which allows you to specify the specs, rather than have it only analyse your PC, like 'Can the PC you have not bought yet but you are thinking about buying run it?'? Cheers. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 14:41, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Read the program or game's system requirements and compare it with your imagined computer's specification? 118.96.158.221 (talk) 15:40, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I would like an answer to my specific question, rather than a recommendation to do something else. I have (some very simple) reasons for that (which don't need to be put here). Thanks anyway. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 17:10, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Well, there is such a site, but it is only for games: http://www.game-debate.com/games (alternative tool). Select a game from the list, then look for the "System Requirement Tool" section in the game's page. 118.96.158.221 (talk) 01:19, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

How to check which program created a file in my computer (Windows)?

--Inspector (talk) 14:54, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Examining the file's contents and date, and searching the Internet for the file's name or extension is generally helpful on determining which program had created a file. 118.96.158.221 (talk) 15:50, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

How can I cancel saving a web page in IE?

I had asked the question before and someone suggest using task manager, but I wonder if there is a way to cancel the saving without killing the other tabs?--Inspector (talk) 15:00, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I assume you're talking about using the Task Manager's "End Process" button to "kill" the Internet Explorer process. If you do this, it'll kill all of the IE tabs, sorry, because IE is just one big process, however many tabs happen to be displayed in the window. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:30, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Are there any other solutions without using the task manager?--Inspector (talk) 01:11, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Start - Run - taskkill /IM iexplore.exe /F     ^Avic_ennasis @ 05:05, 3 Av 5771 / 3 August 2011 (UTC)

But I don't want to kill other tabs of IE--Inspector (talk) 06:51, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

This may approach what you want: If you create multiple IE windows, each window is a separate process. (At least, it used to be back when I used IE many years ago.) If one process were to freeze up on me many years ago, I could use the Task Manager to kill that particular window, and the others were intact and I could still use them. Having 5 windows is sometimes less convenient than 5 tabs, for me at least, but it might be an OK solution for you if you need each web page you view to be 'severable'. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:22, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

In Internet Explorer 9, every tab has its own process and the IE9 user interface is one "main" process. If one tab hangs, you can still browse in other tabs and safely close the hung tab. Google Chrome is similar, but when you try to close the hung tab, the entire browser will hang. Marthelati (talk) 15:17, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Monitoring network adapters on my computer

My Windows 7 (64 bit) laptop has both a wired Ethernet connection and a WiFi connection and both are active. Is there a log somewhere on my computer where I can get an idea of how much traffic is going through each of the adapters? Jc3s5h (talk) 15:57, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Hit ctrl-alt-del, choose to start the Task Manager, and once it appears, click the Networking tab. Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:01, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

That's sufficient, Comet Tuttle. Thanks. Jc3s5h (talk) 17:41, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

You're welcome. An alternative that gives you more precise data (though it's backdated to startup, I believe, so it's no help if you are interested in how close to saturation you are getting) is to go Control Panel -> View Network Connections, then double-click a connection you are interested in, like "Wireless Network Connection". It'll show the number of bytes that have been sent and the number received. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:33, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

DOS command prompt command to get rid of Mac resource forks

I'm porting over some PHP files from Mac OS X to Windows 7. This means a ton of stupid Mac resource fork files being ported over as well, which are gumming up my PHP execution for some reason.

The file names are all of the format "._filename.ext". They exist in many embedded directories.

What's a simple wildcard command that I can use to delete all of these? I've tried experimenting with just displaying them all with something like dir ._* but that doesn't come up with anything. There's got to be a way to do this, but I'm not finding it with Google.

Any thoughts? My DOS prompt fu is a bit out of date. I don't want to try to delete them all manually. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:10, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Try "DEL ._* /F /S /P" first. Did the command prompt to delete the right files? If yes, you can remove the "/P" part to delete all the remaining files automatically. Be careful, the command will also delete all such files in all subdirectories in the directory in which the command is run. 118.96.158.221 (talk) 16:25, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Droid 3 processor swap

The Droid 3 is shipping with a locked bootloader, enforced by signature checks performed by the hardware. Texas Instruments is distributing PandaBoards that come with OMAP4430 chips, the same kind the Droid 3 uses. A solution to get around this signature checking nonsense would be to swap out the processor in the Droid 3 with one from a PandaBoard. How hard would this be? --Melab±1 ☎ 23:31, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Anyone have an answer? --Melab±1 ☎ 01:07, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

As per the very top of this page and "When will I get an answer?", it might take a few days, assuming anyone even knows the answers. Please be patient.  ZX81  ^talk 01:32, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

We've already had this conversation: in April of this year, you asked the same thing about a Droid 2. The answer is still the same: it's very hard. These commercial devices are both physically and electrically laid out in ways that are not easy to modify. The software and hardware is customized by the manufacturer. If you can manage to perform the removal and replacement of the OMAP4430, you are a very skilled electronics technician - but the real challenge will be trying to make the chips "just work." If you can pull that off, you are a full-fledged one-man design engineering team. Without detailed software and hardware specifications, which you do not have access to, there is no way to know if simply replacing the chip will work in any way. It is a fairly naive assumption that the signature checks can be trivially circumvented by replacing the main OMAP. Are the pin-outs even identical between the two devices? How can you possibly know?! ... The datasheets are proprietary. In practice, you will most probably destroy your device beyond repair. Even if you are a reasonably experienced technician, and flawlessly connect the hardware, you're making wild and unfounded assumptions about software, firmware, and peripheral compatibility.

As before, I recommend you use development hardware, which is cheaper and easier to work with. If you really really want to work at such a level on commercial and proprietary hardware, consider seeking employment with the manufacturer of the chip and/or the integrated system. Motorola has a university recruitment program for interns and co-ops. You will probably need to have completed at least some college in an electronics or computer engineering curriculum in order to competitively apply. Nimur (talk) 00:00, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

How do I get my hands on development hardware? Or more specifically, development hardware other than a PandaBoard? --Melab±1 ☎ 17:11, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

August 3

Broken Computer

What should I do cuz my dumbass kid threw my laptop with all my important info down a really long stairway and it had smoke coming from it when I picked it up crying PLZ HELP!!!!

Hopefully you have computer insurance...otherwise you'll need a new computer.Smallman12q (talk) 01:19, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

More importantly, if you have 'important info' you should always have a backup of it somewhere else. If you didn't, there's a chance you may be able to recover data depending on what was smoking and simplisticly, luck. If it really matters, I suggest you contact a data recovery professional, be warned expect to pay upwards of US$1000 if a cleanroom is needed. (The reason why you want to contact a professional is if you are prepared to pay the cost if necessary and it really matter you want to avoid causing further damage.) Nil Einne (talk) 02:00, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

If the mainboard, CPU, or something else (not the hard disk!) was smoking, you are lucky. If it was the hard disk, I had no idea. Marthelati (talk) 15:03, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

And you may need professional help for the kid, too, unless he's too young to know what he was doing. In the meantime, you need to keep all valuable and important things out of his reach. I suggest you put such things in your home office (or bedroom if you don't have an office), install a good lock, and keep it locked at all times. StuRat (talk) 03:50, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

If it will no longer boot-up due to damaged hardware, then you could try removing the hard disk and putting it as the secondary disk in another computer. Or you can buy an external case to put the HD in so that you can access it via USB from another computer. You might also try using a LiveCD or live usb with the damaged computer and seeing what you can copy off the HD, but this is a long shot if the hardware is damaged. 2.97.219.104 (talk) 10:55, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Or take it to your local computer repair shop, who will almost certainly be able to help. --Colapeninsula (talk) 10:06, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Ha ha... Darn SineBot...

Please chat with me at my talk page. Marthelati (talk) 14:59, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

nostradamus's best and worst predictions?

Question has been moved to Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Miscellaneous#nostradamus.27s_best_and_worst_predictions.3F. StuRat (talk) 03:46, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Windows Vista behavior copying CDs

Hello. I've been redundantly archiving a lot of files I have on CDs to a hard drive with Windows Vista and Cygwin. I run a script in Cygwin that copies all the files on a CD to a folder on the hard drive, generates md5sums for the CD and hard-drive copies, and compares the two. I have noticed that after I've copied the files, the CD drive stops spinning while the Cds' checksums are being calculated. I've also noticed that I can navigate the entire CD drive in Windows Explorer and open any file without the CD drive spinning up after the copy. I'm concerned that Vista is playing a trick and is sending me to the hard-drive copy instead of the actual files on the CD. Is this how Vista works, and if so, how can I force it to reread the files on the CD instead of using the copy? Thanks for any advice.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 05:12, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

I notice that my copy of Vista caches a fair amount of CD info, though I can't replicate your exact problem. Just ejecting and re-inserting the CD causes it to re-read from the CD. There might be a software method to make Vista do this every time. Perhaps an expert can advise? Dbfirs 06:36, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Try using xcopy with the /J option, which bypasses the caching system. Surprisingly, robocopy doesn't seem to support this option. Other possibilities: if the CD tray is motorized then you could open and close it programmatically with nircmd. That should flush the cache for the CD, but the hard drive md5sums will still come from cache. Or you could use dd to make ISO files instead of copying individual files; I think the raw disk reads will be uncached. Or you could copy all the discs, then verify them all in a second pass. -- BenRG (talk) 08:47, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Apparently xcopy's /J option was added in Windows 7. Arrgh. I have no idea what other command-line copiers support unbuffered I/O. I was happy to find one. I see some recommendations for a program called "eseutil" that comes with Microsoft Exchange, but it only does one file at a time and the documentation implies it might fail for files that aren't a multiple of the volume sector size. Probably not worth it. -- BenRG (talk) 09:05, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Ejecting the CD (manually or programmatically) doesn't help. I copied a >650MB CD with a single tar file, ejected, reinserted, ran md5sum on it and it finished right after it spun up, so it must have recognized the CD and went to the cache. Any other ideas?--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 22:50, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Actually, I've noticed with Vista that if I run the same command twice, it seems to return the same answer and skip the processing, so this part may be unrelated to CD caching. Anyway, I've decided to copy all my CDs to the HD first, then go back to each one and generate checksums. That seems to be the best way to avoid this frustrating, unconfigurable habit of Vista.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 23:37, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

It's called disk caching: RAM is much faster than either a CD or a hard drive, so when Vista (or any other operating system) reads data from a disk, it stores a temporary copy in memory on the off-chance that you'll want to access it again in the near future. --Carnildo (talk) 23:07, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

It might be easier to do the copy with software that does that hash-checking itself, overriding the disk caching, like TeraCopy. —Vanderdecken∴ ∫ξφ 15:11, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Voice Memo app for Android 3G MyTouch T-Mobile?

Does anyone know if there is an app for the Android 3G that works just like the Voice Memo Recorder on the iPhone? Saudade7 06:09, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Not sure what that app does, but pretty much any text input area including the text messages app, AK Notepad, etc. will take speech to text input after you click the mic icon in the keypad area. ¦ Reisio (talk) 22:14, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Creating New Word Document + Content from Macro

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to create a macro (using VBA) which will create a new word document, and then fill in parts of it determined by the input. I can already get it to create a new document based on a template when I click a button on a form, I just need to know how to add the content.

For example, my form may have 4 checkboxes - A, B, C and D. For each of these is selected, a certain row is added to a table when the new document is created.

The form also has text boxes, I wish to have the data in the text boxes added to a second table when the document is created (for example, there may be a text box for start date, one for end date, and one for cost - which are then tabulated.

Does anyone have any advice or know of where I could learn how to do this?

Thanks! 203.20.167.2 (talk) 06:33, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

What I usually do when I'm trying to figure out how to automate something in Word is to first "record" myself doing something very similar, and then look at the resulting VBA code that the macro recorder creates. Usually it is full of a lot of extra junk that is unnecessary, but you should be able to find the lines where you selected different form elements, changed them, what have you. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:07, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

further question on c++ objects deleting themselves

Hi again folks, I'm writing a C++ program where objects delete themselves. I don't then use any more member data, but the member function (ie. class method) remains open and manipulates other stuff, namely, its own return value, which is declared inside the function. I've checked in a toy program, and it definitely works ok, but is it considered bad design? I can adapt it to get the calling object to do the deletion, but I'll avoid changing things unless there is some good reason to do so. I've checked the link I was given earlier, [1], and I'm not strictly breaking any of the rules, so long as the local variable declared within the member function remains on the stack, and can be treated like any normal local variable in any function. I'm guessing that's how it works, but I'm not really sure. Thanks in advance, It's been emotional (talk) 10:12, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Legally, what you're doing is fine. The rule for this is the same as any other pointer: you can't use it after deleting the object it points to. Any mention of a member of the current class gets an implicit this-> in front, so that's forbidden, but mentions of local variables don't get this->, so they're okay.

Morally, it can be argued that you shouldn't use delete at all. If you do use delete then you should be sure you know who is responsible for deleting any object that needs deletion. I think it's fine for the object to be responsible for its own deletion if that makes sense in context. -- BenRG (talk) 23:42, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Much appreciated. I wish the rest of my life was as reliable as the ref desk, but that's another story I won't trouble you with :), It's been emotional (talk) 01:09, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

name of city

what is the name of the city having lettres of the word adrazbufama.Is their any software which can do this — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.187.37.243 (talk) 13:56, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Sounds like an anagram. Take a look at Anagram solver#Online_anagram_solvers -- 128.231.83.51 (talk) 14:53, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Neither of the two sources listed there can do it. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:48, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

I just tried to use the dictionaryListAnagrams function in AlgoSim, but there was no match. The dictionary used is a two years old version of the English Wiktionary. It seems like it is not a very common toponym. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 16:57, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

It's Muzaffarabad - not at all common. 87.113.66.229 (talk) 17:14, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

I guess that's probably right, although the number of f's doesn't match. Looie496 (talk) 17:20, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

You're right - it's also transliterated with one 'f' (e.g. Muzafarabad, Karachi). 87.113.66.229 (talk) 17:24, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Searching for a computer part

Hello, I'm looking for a large SSD (250GB+) for a notebook. I'm browsing Newegg, but I'm not sure how to distinguish between SSDs meant for a desktop and those meant for a notebook. Can someone point me in the right direction and help me narrow it down to notebooks only? -- 143.85.199.241 (talk) 16:25, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

When browsing SSDs, you can click "options" on the left and specify a form factor of 2.5", which is usually what you use in most laptops. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:47, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Essentially all SSDs are 2.5 inches, and will fit in either a laptop, or (with an adapter), desktop. This is in contrast to hard disk drives, where drives intended for desktops are nearly universally 3.5", while those intended for laptops are 2.5". If I had to guess why this is, I'd say that the main constraints to the size of solid state storage are probably not so much the physical size of the device, where in a hard drive, the capacity is pretty dependent on the size of the magnetic disk. Buddy432 (talk) 18:54, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

I would guess size may be a factor, but only at the extreme end and most of these won't have SATA or likely to be considered by the OP. However a quick search for 1TB SSD did find [2] from 2010 which evidentally was 3.5" and SATA although probably also not something the OP is likely to consider Nil Einne (talk) 07:24, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Have you tried amazon: Intel 250GB, OCZ 240GB. Smallman12q (talk) 19:52, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Contacting an IP

If I only know the IP of someone (like, for example, in the case of torrents), how can I contact him? 193.153.125.105 (talk) 20:40, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Generally you can't. Most ISPs won't give you the real identity of an IP address without a court order. Old versions of Windows would let you send messages to IPs via the Messenger service but unsurprisingly this led to a huge amount of abuse and is disabled by default now. You can probably contact the ISP (who hosts the IP) by getting their contact information from their WHOIS registry, but there is no guarantee or even probability that they'll pass on any messages to specific IP users. --Mr.98 (talk) 21:34, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

(ec) This takes some detective work, and may not be possible. For example, I went to www.ip-lookup.net and looked up your IP address, and it told me you appeared to be in Spain, but the host or some other related machine was located in the Netherlands. By clicking on the "more information" types of links, a phone number was given, who I could then call and ask who is at your IP address. Depending on the law in that country and the host's policies, they might just tell me who you are, or they might tell me to buzz off and get a court order to force them to give it up. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:37, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

No, that would be too complicated and there's no legally compelling reason to get a court order. I just thought I could ping an IP somehow... (Note: I'm in Spain right now, so ip-lookup got it right. The machine in the Netherlands is probably a proxy.) 193.153.125.105 (talk) 22:33, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Very rarely, a web search might work. If the IP is relatively static and the person behind the IP is very active without significant concern for privacy occasionally you come across a website which has publicly indexed the IP along with some identity. If you administrate a popular website or forum (or many websites.forums) with some sort of commenting or other such functionality you can look at your logs and see if the IP is associated with any identity which has posted before although bear in mind your privacy policies and local privacy laws. However the vast majority of the time CT and Mr.98 are right, you can't find precisely who is behind an IP without the cooperation of the ISP. Nil Einne (talk) 07:18, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

In the case of torrents, its unlikely you'll be able to find the user even with a court order if they're using several proxies.Smallman12q (talk) 19:52, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

But how common is that? It strikes me as a rather sophisticated user who hides behind several proxies at any given time. Not your average torrenter. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:04, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

mac os x time machine

Hello. macosx 10.6.8. Does time machine on default settings back up my SVN tree which is in /var/svn? I can't see it when I enter time machine. Is it there but hidden somehow (if so, how do I see it) or is there some configuration that I need to set (if so, where is it?) Robinh (talk) 21:45, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure time machine backs up /var, so I imagine it would also back up /var/svn. To get to it, go to the Finder, find the "Go" menu, and then click "Go to Folder...". Then type "/var/svn". That will take you to the folder, and then click the time machine icon in the dock. --Thekmc (Leave me a message) 18:24, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Brilliant. Easy when you know how! (-:

Resolved

Robinh (talk) 01:27, 9 August 2011 (UTC)

PC problems with running programmes from icons

Hi guys-my PC has started doing odd things-if i click on an icon on the desktop to run a program,instead of doing it automatically,it asks me what program I want to open it with(even if it doesn't need one to).If I choose one and start to run it,it gets in a loop of 'Do you want to run this software?-Which program do you want to use to run it?'.It means I can't load up things like Messenger except in my Hotmail or Yahoo. How can I restore it so it goes back to running automatically? Thanks Lemon martini (talk) 22:13, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Can you run the program from the start menu instead? Maybe your desktop shortcuts somehow got screwed up. Can you explain a little better what you are trying to run? I can't load up things like Messenger except in my Hotmail or Yahoo doesn't really make sense.. Vespine (talk) 23:56, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

I think the OP means they can't start the Windows Live Messenger or Yahoo Messenger programs but can access they IM via their browser (which I guess means the browser starts) Nil Einne (talk) 12:28, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

One clarification is needed here: Every icon you click must run a program. Even if the icon is just to a text file, you still need a text editor to display it. That's a program. If the icon is a web site, that needs a web browser to display it. That's also a program. If the icon is a pic, then an image viewer must be used to display it. That's a program, too. StuRat (talk) 23:28, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

August 4

Full HD backup and recover for a Windows 7 PC

I have a Windows 7 computer that's OEM so no Windows 7 basic installation CD. I am looking for a full backup system that say my hard drive fails and is unusable I could buy a new hard drive and from the backup system reinstall everything all over again. I know that Windows 7 has copy protection that if I try hard drive cloning, it may refuse to work or even boot (even though I paid for the software as part of the purchase of the computer and have a CD key from HP). So I don't know what to do for backups? Are you ready for IPv6? (talk) 03:44, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

You can make an image. Go to the Backup thingymabob and make sure you create a system image. So if Windows stuffs up one ay, you can press F8 and restore from the image. General Rommel (talk) 06:53, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

The copy protection is not a big deal. If you change several (I think three) different pieces of hardware, you will have to reactivate Windows, which amounts to clicking a button that says "reactivate now" and waiting a few seconds. Reactivation won't fail unless the product key is invalid. -- BenRG (talk) 11:38, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

That's correct, but only for "retail" editions. OEM editions will deactivate as soon as the motherboard changes (because they're only licenced for the original computer that the OEM Windows licence came with). This shouldn't be a problem though because the original post suggests (to me) that they just want to use the backup copy of the operating system/data in the same computer so imaging the disk should work fine. Although it MAY require Windows to reactivate, because the motherboard is still the same it shouldn't be a problem. If they want to use it in a different computer though it should fail.  ZX81  ^talk 15:58, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Migrate_Windows#HardDiskSupport http://mark.koli.ch/2009/05/howto-whole-disk-backups-with-dd-gzip-and-p7zip.html ¦ Reisio (talk) 15:27, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

So what is the best choice? First for a storage device to put it and then for software? Are you ready for IPv6? (talk) 22:36, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Here is my personal recommendation. Storage device: a USB 3.0 external hard drive larger than all the drives you are going to back up, combined. Backup software: Windows 7's own Backup and Restore (also see the backup and restore tutorial from Microsoft). Ignore the "copy protection" thing you've heard. It's not true that Windows 7 will refuse to boot if its "copy protection" mechanism has been breached. 118.96.161.106 (talk) 02:10, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Please help in finding a jigsaw creating program...

I am looking for a pretty specific program, and googling only gives me fake lists or lists that are unrelated to what i am looking for.

I am looking for a jigsaw creator program with the following properties, if possible:

-Program makes jigsaw puzzles from standard format pictures on the hard drive

-The created puzzles are in swf format

-The program is a simple exe file with maybe a few other files, and doesnt need to be "installed", just placed in its own folder and executed

Thanks alot for any help that can be offered, searching this has frustrated me >.>

172.162.152.55 (talk) 13:35, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Down around the 5th and on results: http://www.google.com/search?q=flash%20jigsaw if you spend a little time you can probably find a free SWF, FLA source, or AS source you can use, this is the sort of thing enthusiasts would release for free on an obscure forum, blog, etc.. :) ¦ Reisio (talk) 15:26, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Im down for learning new tricks and all, but it seems i need Flash CS4 to even access this. I like the sample they provided and its sort of what i want, but isnt Flash CS4 something that costs money? plus id have to learn how to use the component. If possible, the best solution would be an SWF that actually asks what file to do that with, that way it doesnt cost money or research in making flash things...

172.162.152.55 (talk) 15:53, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Mmmm, well you might like more what you find via http://www.google.com/search?q=javascript%20jigsaw ¦ Reisio (talk) 22:39, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Nexus S vs LG Optimus 2X

Hello RefDeskers, I need to decide whether to purchase a Nexus S or an Optimus 2X. These are the only choices that will run on my wireless carrier. I will not be upgrading my phone for a few years, so would the dual-core 2X be a better choice? I am concerned about the Optimus' access to future Android updates: what does the community around the Optimus look like?

Thanks! 99.224.77.30 (talk) 22:03, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

August 5

convert jpg to text

hi. how do I convert a jpg file to a numeric matrix? Actually I want three numeric matrices, one for red, one for green, and one for blue. Googling didn't help. I want an open source solution if possible. thanks, Robinh (talk) 08:54, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

What do you mean by a "numeric matrix"? Do you want a text file with the r values, expressed as, say decimals? -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 11:09, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

This would be an easy program to write. Open the picture. Start at position 0,0 and move through to position W,H where W is the width and H is the height. Store the red, green, and blue value for each pixel. Done. You can do it with a graphics converter. When I have a chance, I will look up the image format which just stores the RGB values for each pixel (PBX is stuck it my head, but that isn't it). With that, you can open the jpg and save it in that format. Then, you just have to move the numbers around to organize them how you like. -- kainaw™ 12:44, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

You're probably thinking of Netpbm format. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 12:48, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Yes. It is the PBM format. Open the jpg. Save it as PBM and you have a text file you can scan. -- kainaw™ 13:44, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

It is easy to do this from a coding perspective, but we'd need to know what language you're doing this in to give you any specific advice. Most languages of any importance already have graphical libraries for them that allow you to arbitrarily get the pixel values of many image formats. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:03, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

GNU Octave can load and convert JPG files using the imread function, which produces three matrices (R,G,B).. In some recent releases, though, the image-processing utilities have been buggy. ImageMagick can also covert JPG to PBM file format. Bear in mind that JPG files are not matrices of pixel values. They are compressed bitstreams of macroblocks of luma/chroma data. If you don't already know what this means, read our article on JPEG. You may actually want to stick to a simpler file type, such as BMP, PNG, or TIFF. For JPEG, you must learn about color space conversion, in addition to lossy compression, because a JPEG image is NOT a matrix of RGB values - it must be converted to one using a decompression and colorspace conversion algorithm. As mentioned above, a software library exists in almost every common language to decompress JPEG and render it into RGB , but this process is sort of more steps than you might expect. Nimur (talk) 14:42, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

The corollary to WP:WHAAOE, of course, is "every article needs a controversy section." But, this is a real one: I've seen so many different commercial and opensource implementations of JPEG 422 to RGB conversion... and I have seen the mysterious "travelling chroma" ghosts.... A word to the wise: if you aren't sure how your JPEG was produced, use caution poking at its RGB raster. The RGB values are "one possible representation" of the data. The more you convert, the more you will (possibly) drift your colorspace (depending on whether your colorconversion is adjoint-identical to the one used to create the file). Again, note that this is entirely orthogonal to lost data due to JPEG quantization-truncating compression. Nimur (talk) 15:01, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Some comments:

1) I agree with the previous comments on using the ImageMagick command suite to do the conversion.

2) Be sure to specify "-compress none" as the output method, if you want it to be human-readable. However, be warned that these files are huge in such a format (around 4X the size of other uncompressed images), so expect several MB. A 1920 × 1600 screen shot converted in this way is around 17.5 MB.

3) I believe the actual command will be:

convert -compress none test.jpg test.ppm

(Note that the output extension is "ppm", not "pbm".)

4) See the documentation on the convert command here: [3].

5) The first 3 lines of the output file contain header info, with line 1 being the type of netpbm file created, line 2 being the image width and height in pixels, and line 3 being the maximum value allowed for R, G or B (usually 255, but not always). The remainder starts with the R, G, B values for the first pixel, then the 2nd pixel, etc. There's a space between each value, but no other dividers, like between pixels, or image lines. Line breaks are added periodically, possibly in the middle of a pixel (like the R value on one line, then the G and B values on the next).

6) Here's some sample output:

P3
1920 1200
255
206 200 226 222 196 221 237 196 214 245 214 212 211 205 183 211 218 184
211 215 182 204 198 172 211 212 194 190 215 196 192 226 212 191 206 203
  .
  .
  .

StuRat (talk) 23:06, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Dueling monitors

I'm trying to set up a dual-monitor system, and hitting a weird roadblock.

I have an LG W2053TX. It has a DVI port in the back of it. I've hooked the DVI port to a DVI cable, which then goes to a DVI-to-HDMI adapter, which then goes into the back of the graphics card (an AMD Radeon HD 6570).

What's irritating is that the monitor does not seem to detect or know what to do with the signal it's getting. It stays black. If I cycle through the input sources, it eventually says "DIGITAL POWER SAVING MODE" and then kind of turns itself off.

Now what I find perplexing is that the computer (running Windows 7) can detect that a monitor is plugged in. It doesn't know what kind of monitor and doesn't know its correct resolution, but it thinks there is an extra monitor there.

I've tried installing all of the drivers and monitor managers and other junk from the LG website, but nothing seems to help. What am I overlooking? It's been awhile since I've messed with Windows drivers and I've not used Windows 7 much — am I forgetting something? What's the step-by-step way to get this stupid monitor to work correctly with this converter? It works fine with a raw DVI signal, but the setup requires using this DVI-to-HDMI converter (the DVI port on the graphics card is taken up by the other monitor I'm using, which can only use VGA, so a DVI-to-VGA is necessary).

Everything I've read online says that a DVI monitor should have no problem parsing an HDMI signal. The converter may be an "active" one, I don't really know how to tell them from a passive one other than the appearance, and it looks more like an active one than a passive one. But I don't know. Would that affect anything? I'm totally befuddled. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:35, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

One possible workaround is to use a DVI 1-to-2 splitter, like this one: [4]. I am assuming you want the same image to appear on both screens, though. Is this correct ? StuRat (talk) 22:47, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Did you click the thing that says "Extend my desktop to this monitor"? If not, windows won't send any signal to that monitor, and it will eventually go into power-save mode like you described. APL (talk) 01:32, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Can't save my Tiddlywiki

I've been usign a Tiddlywiki successfully for a few years until today. All of a sudden I can't save my changes; I get the error message "Failed to save main Tiddlywiki file. Changes have not been saved." A separate Tiddlywiki that I use does not display this problem.

The details:

• Firefox 5.0
• Windows 7 (64-bit)
• I'm not sure how to find the version # on my tiddly. The particular tiddly I'm having problems with contains a sort productivity management system called mGSD (mGSD 3.1.7 beta).

The only possibly relevant recent change - I use Outlook for my work e- mail; this morning an IT staff migrated my mail from servers owned by my employer, to some Microsoft could servers. I don't know any details of what was involved in this.

ike9898 (talk) 16:48, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

FORTRAN

So I have some code that I downloaded written in FORTRAN to process some data. Working on a Ubuntu 11.04 machine, I tried g95, f77, and f95 compilers and they all tell me there are errors in the code (they give me different errors). For example, one of the errors from f95 is that "ACCESS specifier in OPEN statement has invalid value 'TRANSPARENT'". f77 prints out a bunch of warnings about inconsistent called sequences and aborts compilation. g95 complains about other syntax errors. The site is ancient and the code is at least ten years old. My question is, is there anyway to find out exactly which version of FORTRAN it is written in? Are these compilers backwards compatible? Any other compilers you guys recommend I should try? Or could it be some obscure spin-off of FORTRAN? I am pretty sure the code itself is fine (whatever it is written in) because others in the past have used it to do research. I am brand new to both LINUX and FORTRAN and don't know much about them. If it would help I can also upload the source code. Its only 330 lines including a LOT of comments. Thanks! 128.138.138.122 (talk) 20:14, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

My knowledge of Fortran is very out of date but historically input and output from disk was always problematic between versions. It looks to me that your program may have been written in Lahey Fortran[5] where access=transparent is a nonstandard extension. gfortran may the way to go but frankly my suggestion is to mug up on enough Fortran to understand the mathematical logic being used (with luck you may be able to treat it as pseudocode) and then write your own code from scratch using a language you are familiar with. The Lahey article gives advice for porting (but in the "wrong" direction) and suggests to me the input read following the OPEN statement may be from a disk file created using a different programming language.Thincat (talk) 22:21, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Fortran programmer here. I agree that it sounds like the code was written using non-standard extensions. If you can provide the source code and any input required, I'll take a look. It might be easier to just rewrite the non-standard parts, provided I can figure out what they did, than start from scratch. StuRat (talk) 22:41, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

OP here. Here is the source code in FORTRAN. If you'd like a pair of sample input files, I can provide those too. Thanks! 174.29.65.10 (talk) 03:24, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Extended content

PROGRAM EPHEMER C THIS PROGRAM STRIPS OUT AND DISPLAYS DATA FROM THE CRRES HEADER C AND EPHEMERIS FILES C LAST UPDATE 10-8-92 INTEGER*2 ICONV,PRSCR,PRFLE,JPAUZ,NHED,NEPH,IOPEN1,IOPEN3,IOPEN4 INTEGER*4 KTIM1,KTIM2,IHDR(60) DIMENSION EPHM(60),DATHED(28) C IHDR HOLDS THE HEADER RECORD FROM ONE ORBIT OF DATA, EPHM HOLDS C ONE SET OF PACKED EPHEMERIS DATA (1 OR 5 MINUTE INTERVALS) C WE DON'T REALLY NEED THESE FOR THE DPU57 STRIPOUT CHARACTER*30 EPHFIL,HEDFIL,DATFIL,FILNAM CHARACTER*1 ANS CHARACTER*3 CSV,EPH,HED,BIN DATA CSV,EPH,HED,BIN/'CSV','EPH','HED','BIN'/ C FILE CONVENTIONS: C UNIT 1 EPHEMERIS C UNIT 3 OUTPUT DATA FILE C UNIT 4 HEADER FILE DATA NEPH,NHED/1,4/ CALL TIMER(KTIM1) !FOR TIMING PURPOSES VER=1.01 WRITE(*,1000)VER 1000 FORMAT(///,25X,'CRRES EPHEMERIS PROGRAM VER. ',F4.2,///) print*,' This version of ephemer requires EORs in th .EPH file' C OPEN THE FILES C GET THE INPUT DATA FILE NAME IOPEN1=0 IOPEN3=0 IOPEN4=0 PRINT*,' INPUT FILE NAME? ' READ(*,1004)FILNAM 1004 FORMAT(A) C GET THE HEADER FILE HEDFIL=FILNAM CALL SUFIX(HEDFIL,HED) CALLOPENOLD(HEDFIL,NHED,IOPEN4) IF(IOPEN4.EQ.1)CALL READHED(NHED,DATHED,IOPEN4) C GET THE EPHEMERIS FILE EPHFIL=FILNAM CALL SUFIX(EPHFIL,EPH) CALLOPENOLD(EPHFIL,NEPH,IOPEN1) ATIME=-1. BTIME=150000. C GET THE OUTPUT DATA FILE NAME 150 PRINT*,' WRITE OUTPUT TO THE SCREEN (1), FILE (2), OR BOTH (3) ' READ(*,1011)ICONV PRSCR=0 PRFLE=0 JPAUZ=1 IF(ICONV.LT.1.OR.ICONV.GT.3.)GO TO 150 IF(ICONV.EQ.1)PRSCR=1 IF(ICONV.GE.2)PRFLE=1 IF(ICONV.EQ.2)JPAUZ=2 IF(ICONV.EQ.3)PRSCR=1 IF(PRSCR.EQ.1)PRINT,' PAUSE DISPLAY BETWEEN FRAMES? (YES=1,NO=2) ' 1011 FORMAT(I1) IF(PRSCR.EQ.1)READ(*,1011)JPAUZ IF(PRFLE.EQ.0)GO TO 1029 PRINT*,' DO YOU WANT THE PLOT FORMAT FILE? (Y,N) ' CALL PAUZ(ANS) IF(ANS.EQ.'Y'.OR.ANS.EQ.'y')PRFLE=2 PRINT*,' OUTPUT FILE NAME? ' READ(*,1004)DATFIL IF(PRFLE.EQ.2)THEN CALLSUFIX(DATFIL,CSV) OPEN(UNIT=3,FILE=DATFIL,STATUS='NEW',FORM='FORMATTED') ELSE CALL SUFIX(DATFIL,BIN) OPEN(UNIT=3,FILE=DATFIL,STATUS='NEW',FORM='UNFORMATTED') ENDIF IOPEN3=1 1029 IPAUSE=0 IF(PRSCR.EQ.0)WRITE(*,1988) 1988 FORMAT(3X,'UT ALT LAT LONG B L B0',/) 1 CALL READEPH(IHDR,ATIME,BTIME,EPHM,IFLG) IF(IFLG.EQ.1)GO TO 50 IF(EPHM(12).LT.0.)EPHM(12)=EPHM(12)+360. IF(PRSCR.EQ.1)WRITE(*,2)EPHM(2),EPHM(10),EPHM(11),EPHM(12), 1 EPHM(24),EPHM(35),EPHM(36) IF(PRSCR.EQ.0)WRITE(*,222)EPHM(2),EPHM(10),EPHM(11),EPHM(12), 1 EPHM(24),EPHM(35),EPHM(36) 2 FORMAT(1X,F7.0,1X,F6.0,1X,F6.2,1X,F6.2,1X,F7.1,1X,F5.2,1X,F7.1) 222 FORMAT('+',F7.0,1X,F6.0,1X,F6.2,1X,F6.2,1X,F7.1,1X,F5.2,1X,F7.1) IF(JPAUZ.EQ.2)GO TO 17 IPAUSE=IPAUSE+1 IF (IPAUSE.LT.20)GO TO 17 CALL PAUZ(ANS) IPAUSE=0 17 IF(PRFLE.EQ.2)WRITE(3,3)EPHM(2),EPHM(10),EPHM(11),EPHM(12), 1 EPHM(24),EPHM(35),EPHM(36) 3 FORMAT(F7.0,',',F6.0,',',F6.2,',',F6.2,',',F7.1,',',F5.2,',',F7.1) IF(PRFLE.EQ.1)WRITE(3)EPHM(1),EPHM(2),EPHM(10),EPHM(11),EPHM(12), 1 EPHM(14),EPHM(24),EPHM(28),EPHM(30),EPHM(35),EPHM(36) GO TO 1 50 WRITE(*,1012) 1012 FORMAT(' JOB COMPLETED') 70 CALL TIMER(KTIM2) TME=.01*FLOAT(KTIM2-KTIM1) PRINT*,' ELAPSED TIME = ',TME IF(IOPEN1.EQ.1)CLOSE(UNIT=1) IF(IOPEN3.EQ.1)CLOSE(UNIT=3) IF(IOPEN4.EQ.1)CLOSE(UNIT=4) STOP END SUBROUTINE SWAP4(IN,IOUT) LOGICAL*1 IN(4),IOUT(4) IOUT(1)=IN(4) IOUT(2)=IN(3) IOUT(3)=IN(2) IOUT(4)=IN(1) RETURN ENTRY SWAP2 IOUT(1)=IN(2) IOUT(2)=IN(1) RETURN END SUBROUTINE PAUZ(ANS) CHARACTER*1 ANS READ(*,1)ANS 1 FORMAT(A) RETURN END SUBROUTINE SUFIX(NAME,INC) CHARACTER*1 NAME(51),INC(3),INC1 DATA INC1/'.'/ DO 1 I=1,51 IF(NAME(I).EQ.'.')GOTO4 1 IF(NAME(I).EQ.' ')GOTO3 WRITE(*,2)NAME 2 FORMAT(' ***** ERROR ***** ERROR ***** ERROR *****',//, 1 A,//,' exceeds the limit on file names (50 characters)') STOP 3 NAME(I)=INC1 4 NAME(I+1)=INC(1) NAME(I+2)=INC(2) NAME(I+3)=INC(3) RETURN END SUBROUTINE READEPH(JATA,T1,T2,DATA,IFLAG) INTEGER*4 JATA(60),ICON,ITMP INTEGER*2 IFLAG,INDFYL,IEOR DIMENSION DATA(60),FACTOR(60) DATA INDFYL/0/ DATA FACTOR/1.,.001,3*.0001,3*1.E-7,2*.0001,2*1.0E-6, 1 3*1.E-7,2*1.E-6,1.E-7,1.E-6,2*1.E-7,1.E-6,1.E-7,4*.0001, 2 1.E-7,6*1.E-6,1.E-7,.0001,2*1.E-6,.0001,2*1.E-6,.0001,6*1., 3 1.E-6,8*.0001,3*1./ C 1 JULIAN DATE (DAYS) C 2 UT, Milliseconds C 3 X, ECI, km C 4 Y, ECI, km C 5 Z, ECI, km C 6 VX, ECI, km/SEC C 7 VY, ECI, km/SEC C 8 VZ, ECI, km/SEC C 9 RADIUS, EARTH CENTER TO SATELLITE, km C 10 Altitude, km C 11 Latitude, Deg C 12 Longitude, Deg C 13 Velocity, km/sec C 14 Local Time, hr C 15 Radius, Mag, EMR (6371.2 km) C 16 Latitude. Mag, Deg C 17 Longitude, Mag, Deg C 18 Radius, SM, EMR C 19 Latitude, SM, Deg C 20 Local Time, SM, hr C 21 Radius, GSM, EMR C 22 Latitude, GSM, Deg C 23 Local Time, GSM, hr C 24 B, nT C 25 BX, ECI, nT C 26 BY, ECI, nT C 27 BZ, ECI, nT C 28 Mag Local Time, hr C 29 Solar Zenith Angle, Deg C 30 Invariant Latitude, Deg C 31 B100N latitude, Deg C 32 B100N longitude, Deg C 33 B100S latitude, Deg C 34 B100S longitude, Deg C 35 L-shell, EMR C 36 Bmin, nT C 37 Bmin Latitude, Deg C 38 Bmin Longitude, Deg C 39 Bmin Altitude, km C 40 Bconj Latitude, Deg C 41 Bconj Longitude, Deg C 42 Bconj Altitude, km C 43 X Sun Position, ECI, km C 44 Y Sun Position, ECI, km C 45 Z Sun Position, ECI, km C 46 X Moon Position, ECI, km C 47 Y Moon Position, ECI, km C 48 Z Moon Position, ECI, km C 49 Right Ascension of Greenwich C 50 B100N, nT C 51 B100S, nT C 52 Mx dipole moment, ECI, nT C 53 My dipole moment, ECI, nT C 54 Mz dipole moment, ECI, nT C 55 Dx dipole offset, ECI, nT C 56 Dy dipole offset, ECI, nT C 57 Dz dipole offset, ECI, nT C 58 Vacant C 59 Vacant C 60 Vacant C IF(INDFYL.EQ.1.AND.IFLAG.EQ.1)RETURN ICON=2**30 IFLAG=0 1 READ(UNIT=1,END=1000)JATA READ(UNIT=1,END=1000)IEOR CALL SWAP4(JATA(2),ITMP) TIME=.001*FLOAT(ITMP-ICON) IF(TIME.LT.(T1-60.))GO TO 1 IF(TIME.GT.(T2+300.))RETURN DO 2 I=1,57 CALL SWAP4(JATA(I),ITMP) 2 DATA(I)=FLOAT(ITMP-ICON)*FACTOR(I) RETURN 1000 WRITE(*,1001) 1001 FORMAT(' HIT THE END OF THE EPHEMERIS FILE',/, 1 ' PROCESSING OF EPHEMERIS STOPPED') IFLAG=1 INDFYL=1 RETURN END SUBROUTINE OPENOLD(FILNAM,NUNIT,NOPEN) CHARACTER*30 FILNAM CHARACTER*1 ANS INTEGER*2 NUNIT,NOPEN INTEGER*4 LEN,NLEN LOGICAL OPEND,EXST 1 INQUIRE(FILE=FILNAM,EXIST=EXST,OPENED=OPEND) IF(EXST)GOTO5 NOPEN=0 WRITE(*,2)CHARNB(FILNAM) 2 FORMAT(' FILE ',A,' DOES NOT EXIST',/,' DO YOU NEED IT? (Y,N)') CALL PAUZ(ANS) IF(ANS.EQ.'N'.OR.ANS.EQ.'n')RETURN WRITE(*,3) 3 FORMAT(' ENTER FILE NAME, INCLUDING FULL PATH',/) READ(*,4)FILNAM 4 FORMAT(A) GO TO 1 5 IF(OPEND)GO TO 6 OPEN (UNIT=NUNIT,FILE=FILNAM,STATUS='OLD',ACCESS='TRANSPARENT', 1 FORM='UNFORMATTED') NOPEN=1 C GET THE FILE LENGTH IN BYTES 6 INQUIRE(FILE=FILNAM,FLEN=LEN) NLEN=LEN/512 WRITE(*,7)CHARNB(FILNAM),LEN,NLEN 7 FORMAT(' FILE ',A,' IS ',I8,' BYTES (',I5,'+ SECTORS) LONG') RETURN END SUBROUTINE READHED(NHED,DATHED,IOPEN) INTEGER*2 IOPEN,NHED INTEGER*4 JATA(30) LOGICAL*1 KATA(120) DIMENSION DATHED(28) IF(IOPEN.EQ.0)RETURN 5 READ(UNIT=NHED,END=1000)KATA IGG=1 DO 20 IG=1,30 CALL SWAP4(KATA(IGG),JATA(IG)) 20 IGG=IGG+4 DO 21 I=1,28 21 DATHED(I)=FLOAT(JATA(I)) DATHED(7)=.001*DATHED(7) DATHED(8)=.001*DATHED(8) DATHED(9)=.001*DATHED(9) DATHED(15)=.001*DATHED(15) DATHED(16)=.001*DATHED(16) DATHED(17)=.001*DATHED(17) DATHED(18)=.001*DATHED(18) DATHED(19)=.001*DATHED(19) DATHED(20)=.001*DATHED(20) DATHED(21)=.001*DATHED(21) DATHED(22)=.001*DATHED(22) DATHED(24)=.001*DATHED(24) DATHED(26)=.001*DATHED(26) DATHED(28)=.001*DATHED(28) C WRITE(*,100)(JATA(I),I=1,6),(DATHED(J),J=7,9),(JATA(K),K=10,14) 100 FORMAT(' Vehicle ID = ',I9,20X,'Experiment ID = ',I9,/, 1 ' Orbit Number = ',I9,20X,'Julian Date = ',I9,/, 2 ' Year = ',I9,20X,'Day of Year = ',I9,/, 3 ' UT Start of Data = ',F9.3,20X,'UT End of Data = ',F9.3,/, 4 ' UT First Perigee = ',F9.3,20X,'VTCW at Start = ',Z8,/, 5 ' VTCW at End = ',Z8,20X,'Agency Tape Date = ',I9,/, 6 ' Missing Maj Frames ',I9,20X,'Filled Minor Frms ',I9,/) WRITE(*,101)(DATHED(J),J=15,22),JATA(23),DATHED(24),JATA(25), 1 DATHED(26),JATA(27),DATHED(28) 101 FORMAT(' Penumbra Start = ',F9.3,20X, 1 'Penumbra Stop = ',F9.3,/, 2 ' Umbra Start = ',F9.3,20X,'Umbra Stop = ',F9.3,/, 3 ' Penumbra Start = ',F9.3,20X,'Penumbra Stop = ',F9.3,/, 4 ' Umbra Start = ',F9.3,20X,'Umbra Stop = ',F9.3,/, 5 ' VTCW',10X,'= ',Z8,20X,'UT',12X,'= ',F9.3,/, 6 ' VTCW',10X,'= ',Z8,20X,'UT',12X,'= ',F9.3,/, 7 ' VTCW',10X,'= ',Z8,20X,'UT',12X,'= ',F9.3,/) GO TO 1001 1000 PRINT*,' ERROR IN READING THE HEADER FILE' 1001 IOPEN=0 CLOSE(UNIT=NHED) RETURN END

I'll not even attempt to offer a solution to your problem, but I can't help but comment that programming languages have improved over the years... AndyTheGrump (talk) 03:56, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Are you daring to suggest that the skills I learnt in 1967 are no longer bleeding edge? (I still have a copy of my first program. It solved quadratic equations.) HiLo48 (talk) 04:01, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

OK, I was able to get it to compile with 3 fixes:

1) Removed the ACCESS='TRANSPARENT' clause.

2) Removed the FLEN clause.

3) Fixed one print statement.

I'm not sure if just removing those 2 clauses is OK, though; we might need to find another way to do the same thing. On a successful compile I got warnings that two functions weren't found. One is TIMER, which seems to get the CPU time. There are other ways to do this, or we could just disable the CPU time calcs. The other is CHARNB, which appears to just format the print of the file name. We can leave the name unformatted or print it in another way. So, with these changes it should run.

Yes, please provide the input files. If they aren't too long, you can just put them as text here like the source code. StuRat (talk) 04:08, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

My computer has gone mute

My laptop was running very slow, so I did a system restore, deleted some programs I rarely use from add/remove programs, and updated my symantic virus protection...in that exact order. Everything works great, except now there is no audio. I've checked all the volume controls, system tools and anything else related to audio. Nothing. What could I have possibly done to disable the audio? Any idea how I can fix this? Quinn ^{❀ BEAUTIFUL DAY} 20:37, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Reinstall audio device driver? ¦ Reisio (talk) 23:51, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, sounds great, but how? Quinn ^{❀ BEAUTIFUL DAY} 00:02, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

If it's a preassembled computer like a Dell or an HP or something like that, go to the manufacturer's website look up your model, download the driver/s and install them. ¦ Reisio (talk) 00:19, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Ok, so I went to Toshiba and updated my driver. I get something called the Driver Detective, which runs, then wants me to enter a credit card. I stopped at that point. Quinn ^{❀ BEAUTIFUL DAY} 01:31, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Go to toshiba.com, click on "Services and Support" → "Consumer Products" → "Laptops, Multimedia Notebooks, & Accessories" → "Tech Support". That brings you here. Now choose your model number. Is that where you downloaded that program that wants your credit card number? I hope not. -- BenRG (talk) 02:27, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

August 6

Battery charger

So i am trying to figure out how to build a battery charger that can recharge a battery pack containing lithium ion batteries in series totaling 7.2v 1760mA(contained in a flashlight - non removable). So far what i have done is taken a computer power supply, attached a few 4.1 ohm resistors(parallel) to it and threw it on the battery. So far this seems to be working.... but i feel the need to explore safer options, so i am asking here. How can i build a charger that will charge this battery pack? – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  04:03, 6 August 2011 (UTC)