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September 26

Windows 8 & Chrome

Band new Lenovo G500s running W8, and I actually really like it, after I crested the learning curve. However, when I was downloading applications to get the computer set up like I wanted, I noticed that in Google Chrome when I would click a download link, it would process like a download was starting, take you to the "thank you" page, etc., but it wasn't doing what I expected. Sometimes it would show the download at the bottom of the screen, but when I would try to click it, nothing happened. Other times it wouldn't even show up at the bottom, and other times it wouldn't even show up in the downloads section of chrome. The things that did show up in the downloads section I was unable to open, show in folder, or anything. The only way I could open the installation programs, etc. that I had downloaded was to search for downloads from the start screen, then run them that way. I then switched to IE to see if it gave me the same problem, and it IE worked like a dream, ran downloads and everything. Is this a problem with the away Chrome interacts with W8, or is it a setting that was imported from my W7 chrome that is messing things up? Any input is appreciated, thanks!--Hubydane (talk) 15:04, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Ctrl-Alt-Del - Gates remark

A few days ago Bill Gates said that Control-Alt-Delete was a mistake, that he wanted one button to do that function, see the last paragraph of Control-Alt-Delete#History. But in those days, Control-Alt-Del immediately rebooted the computer. Is it a good idea to have a single key, which could be pressed accidentally, to reboot the computer - causing you to lose your work> Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 22:24, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

I certainly don't think so!!!

Think of how often people inadvertently hit keys such as CapsLock etc. I can't even imagine the horror of having an instant reboot button! --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 23:00, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

If I read the article correctly, I believe he was referring to using it to log in, not to reboot. Mingmingla (talk) 00:22, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Yes, that's correct. He was not talking about a single button to reboot the computer. Looie496 (talk) 00:29, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Maybe things are a little confused. Ctrl-Alt-Del was to reboot the IBM PC - you didn't log in to a PC, in those days. He talked about the IBM keyboard design, and that was long before Windows. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 00:54, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Let's look at the actual quote:

"Basically because when you turn your computer on, you’re going to see some screens and eventually type your password in, you want to have something you do with the keyboard that is signalling to a very low level of the software—actually hard-coded in the hardware—that it really is bringing in the operating system you expect,” Gates said. “Instead of just a funny piece of software that puts up a screen that looks like your login screen and listens to your password and is able to do that.

”So we could have had a single button, but the guy that wanted to do the IBM keyboard design didn’t want to give us our single button.,and so we programmed at a low level... it was a mistake.”

It wasn't about a reboot. Mingmingla (talk) 03:40, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

I think he may be not remembering it correctly. Very few early PC were on a network. You turned them on, DOS started, and you got an A: prompt or a C: prompt. The [Ctrl-Alt-Delete]] articles says that Ctrl-alt-del was to reboot the computer if the software locked up, and that is what it did. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 01:14, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Many laptops have a key next to the keyboard to shut it down. I rarely accidentally press mine. It's just important to keep it a reasonable distance away from more frequently used keys. It's very convenient to have and it's easier to use than having to go the Start menu..—Best Dog Ever (talk) 07:58, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Bubba, back then log-ins were mostly only used if your PC was connecting to a "workgroup" or some other similar network thing. You're correct that individual home computers usually didn't need to log-in, so you'd rarely, if ever, see the whole "Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete to Log-In" screen. APL (talk) 14:22, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Yes, very few PCs were on a network in those days. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 01:06, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

It was OK using a weird combination like Ctrl-Alt-Del to reboot machines running DOS and Windows versions running in DOS. The mysterious thing was why the same key combination become used to log on in the Windows versions that came from OS/2 - NT, XP and onwards. It was a totally different action, using the same key combination. Never did understand that. HiLo48 (talk) 08:48, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

This is speculation, but I believe it's because the interrupt vector for Ctrl-Alt-Del already pointed to code that did most of the initialization tasks you would want in a login program, and left the machine in a suitable state for a new user. OldTimeNESter (talk) 12:37, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Having once had a work PC under the desk with the reset button at the perfect height to hit accidentally with my knee (until I turned it around), I can tell you how incredibly annoying that is. I also think the CAPS LOCK key needs to be moved away from the letter A, as I accidentally hit CAPS LOCK at least once a day, and have to rewrite my sentence each time. Heck, I'd be fine with disabling CAPS LOCK completely, and holding down either shift key whenever I want caps. StuRat (talk) 15:21, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

You can reconfigure Caps Lock out of existence pretty easily (at least on X11 and OS X systems). (You're "supposed" to be touch typing anyway, so that you detect the problem after only a few letters.) --Tardis (talk) 13:46, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

We used have keyboards where the caps lock is where the ctrl key is now, and vv. That meant a real three finger salute, unlike now where the ctrl is next to alt, so you can do a two finger salute. Around 1990 were I worked, was a keyboard with a ctrl/alt/del key, but I don't know if it was sold like that or tricked up by one of the engineers; this was the only example I've ever seen. Very handy as we were three finger saluting every 5 minutes. --TrogWoolley (talk) 14:10, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

In Microsoft office (at least), shift+F3 cycles between text like this, Text Like This, and TEXT LIKE THIS. One of many little known but rather useful features! Unfortunately, it doesn't capitalise proper nouns or the beginning of sentences when you change to lowercase, but that's generally a couple characters to change, rather than a couple lines. MChesterMC (talk) 10:10, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Here's why ctrl-alt-del was used for login in Windows, straight from a Microsoft engineer. The idea of wanting a button to do it probably would have been from this era, not DOS. [1] Katie R (talk) 18:00, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

September 27

Google Chrome

What is Google Chrome's revenue model? Every second thing you download on the Internet, you have to make sure you don't have it piggybacked onto it by accident. Now they're running ads in practically any TV program - no legitimate company does that any more; it's reserved for free credit report scams, pay-to-win video games, overpriced insurance companies that want to spy on your car. So what's their game? The NSA can't possibly be paying them that much, can it? Wnt (talk) 06:48, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Using the discretionary budget alone, the United States could opt to re-purchase controlling interest in the ten largest corporations in the world, every single year, charitably hand over the corporations back to the original owners, and re-purchase the same thing next year.
* Huh? I think you slipped some decimals. Apple Inc alone has a 415 billion market cap. A few of those would break the budget. Wnt (talk) 16:32, 27 September 2013 (UTC)
**Controlling interest is, in practice, much less than the total market capitalization. Nimur (talk) 18:17, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Evidently you aren't paying attention, quantitatively, to the relative sizes of government and private sectors in the twenty-first century! Nimur (talk) 12:59, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Why would the NSA pay them when they can already take their information for free?

Their Chrome strategy could be as simple as offering it for free. Google makes money from advertising after all. If they have a higher amount of users on their browser, then they can control how much advertising they make money from and how much advertising the customer sees. Google make money either way. Thanks ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 08:38, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Their revenue model is simple:

Provide a browser

Monitor (with varying privacy safeguards) what people do with the browser

Target adverts to them which are likely to be relevant to their interests.

Whether (as a consumer) you see this as a problem or a service (since relevant adverts can actally be useful) is up to you. I'm sure there used to be some way of showing which targeted categories they'd put you in, but I can't remember it offhand now...

Also, it allows them to ensure that their online platforms work well on their own browser, and hopefully force the competition to make their browsers better. Since their entire business is the internet, more people browsing more websites more quickly is a very good thing for them, and making the bowsers beter helps a lot with that. And it helps with brand recognition, which encourages you to use their other services if you have Chrome installed (giving them even more data to tailor the ads with). MChesterMC (talk) 09:08, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Yeah I've noticed this too. Just the other day I discovered that I had Chrome installed from who-knows-when, which came with who-knows-what... Actually I just went and checked; I have apparently had Chrome since August 2009! Does that mean it's been autoupdating this whole time or do I just have an ancient version? If the former, then I'm going to uninstall since I am unlikely to ever use it. --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 16:18, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

• How does someone using Google Chrome have ads targeted to them based on their interests? Wnt (talk) 16:33, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Google sees what kinds of things you search for etc. then throws up ads based on that data. IIRC they only collect this data while you are logged into your google account. This kind of goes with the ads that target you based on your location (collected by seeing your IP address; so I guess you could avoid that by using a proxy.) --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 17:24, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Yes, Google does that. However, the Chrome privacy policy specifically states that "If you use Chrome to access other Google services, such as using the search engine on the Google homepage or checking Gmail, the fact that you are using Chrome does not cause Google to receive any special or additional personally identifying information about you." If you bother reading the terms of service, there isn't anything much objectionable about the information that is transmitted to Google, and those features are optional. As for what the business model is - well, considering that they release the source, it was likely more about control than direct revenue, but now that ChromeOS is a thing I guess they do have a business model Effovex (talk) 02:02, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

I think the information google receives when you connect to google services is not the main concern, since it's your choice to connect to them. More interesting is the information google receives when connecting to non-google services. For example, if you use autofill, google receives the hashed URLs of any web form that you visit, and whether you have entered anything in the form, regardless of whether you used autofill for that.

If the Chrome spellcheck feature is enabled, everything you type on websites, forums, wikipedia ... is sent to google. Not only what you decide to submit, mind you, everything you have typed, with all the corrections, rewriting and deletions. It's pretty much a keylogger for Chrome... Not sure if people realise that. Ssscienccce (talk) 20:32, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Huh... didn't know that until now! ;) Though I don't use Chrome so I guess I'm "safe"; from Google, at least as long as I'm not logged into my Google account... --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 21:10, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

This is not true. Chrome spell-checks locally. They recently added the ability to use a web service for improved spelling suggestions, but it's off by default, of course. -- BenRG (talk) 08:34, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Oh, okay. Like I said I don't use Chrome so I wouldn't know. I'm aware that pretty much everything "spies on you" these days, though. --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 23:10, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

The above is mostly ill-informed nonsense. Chrome is just another open-source web browser similar to Firefox (which is also largely funded by Google). It "spies on you" in the same way as all other major browsers, by reporting crash statistics for example (if you let it). Chrome doesn't need to pay its own way because Google can spend money from other sources on its development. Given the importance of the web in Google's business and the fact that it's frankly awful as an application platform right now, there's obvious long-term interest for Google in producing its own web browser instead of just hoping other vendors will implement the new web standards it needs. Your activities on google.com using any web browser are logged on the server side, just like virtually any other major web site (Wikipedia is a rare exception) and most minor web sites as well. Google has a better privacy policy than most of them. -- BenRG (talk) 08:34, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Actually, with a bit of thought, some of the Google projects probably come out of being the kind of company to allow people to work on whatever cool thing they want to do ("20% time"), and releasing these because (1) it makes the company look good to customers (brand recognition, and genrally being a useful one stop shop), and (2) it makes the company look good to potential employees. MChesterMC (talk) 10:06, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

The issues arise when a company is always trying to be 20% cooler than the rest... --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 23:10, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Locked SD Card

I recently opened a new San disk SDHC card from its cover and tried to write data to it. Both Ubuntu and windows & says that my card is locked. I use a laptop with built in SD card reader.

1. I tried putting the lock tab in both positions and the result is the same.
2. While sliding the tab several times, some sort of thin wire like piece dislodged from the slit into which the tab is set it could have been just dust.

Searching the internet shows that the tab does not block writing by any electrical means and that the reader senses only the position of the tab. Is it the same for ALL SD cards?. has anyone here some experience with Sony laptop on board SD card readers? 117.231.49.142 (talk) 14:17, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Sounds like a bad SD card to me, I'd try to return/exchange it. It could also be a bad card reader, though, so be sure to try the SD card in another device first. StuRat (talk) 10:57, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

OP here; While searching the internet, I found various solutions like blowing air into the reader, sticking clear/reflective tape etc. Didn't work for me. Since a new SD card is quite costly and this card was bought a long time ago (saw it lying around last week), I bought a cheap SD card reader (USB) and the card works now. So it is a reader problem. Saw some similar complaints about laptop SD card readers in various forums. 117.232.131.109 (talk) 11:55, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Resolved

StuRat (talk) 05:57, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Does the tab still lock in position properly? I'm thinking the "thin wire like piece" may have been a spring to hold the tab in place. --220 of ^Borg 23:29, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

The tab can still be set in both positions. It was probably dust or paper piece. The card doesn't go that far in into the new cheap card reader :) 117.231.148.146 (talk) 06:24, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

usb standard question

was there a good reason at the time of inventing the first USB standard, to make it such that a usb male can plug in easily and unobtrusively into a female ethernet jack? 178.48.114.143 (talk) 15:04, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

It was probably just a coincidence; I can't think of any good reason they would do that. --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 17:29, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Well there is a reason, for example external plastic cases for laptops or computers might not have to be redesignned: just the ethernet could be replaced by USB in the same location on the motherborad. Was this the thinking? Likewise maybe some kind of tooling fit both. Like, "what horse's ass came up with the railway guage" parable... 178.48.114.143 (talk) 23:03, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Ah, I hadn't thought of that; but now that I think about it, that seems a very plausable reason. Minor changes like that can really effect production costs/management in those sorts of industries (having to modify/replace machines and/or tools on the production line etc), and a design which allowed them to be able to keep using the old plastic shells unaltered was probably an appealing one. --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 04:00, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

I doubt that, USB was introduced in the mid-1990s and not meant to replace the ethernet connection. USb has replaced parallel and serial ports and the PS/2 connectors for mice and keyboards, none of the have the same size as the USB port. I can't think of any device where USB replacing the ethernet connector would have been the only difference between the old and new model, at least not something the designers of the USB standards would have had in mind at the time. Probably just ergonomics (not too small or too big) and coincidence. Ssscienccce (talk) 15:48, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

But, REALLY a coincidence? Try plugging it in there - it slides in PERFECTLY and feels like it belongs there, no wiggle room, just fits perfectly. Either horrific design or there's some reason to do it this way... 178.48.114.143 (talk) 21:59, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

I just found a dimensioned drawing of a USB plug: [2]. It is 12mm wide, so it could easly be a coincidence because they picked a nice round number. Katie R (talk) 12:26, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

According to our Modular connector article, the 8P8C connectors used for rj45 are 11.68 mm wide. So the USB design is wider. Can't find the specification for the 8P8C "female" receptacle, probably because the IEC standards are copyrighted and are sold with a license agreement... Ssscienccce (talk) 19:04, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

That probably explains the nice fit. I would expect a little wiggle room for the 8P8C connector because it is clipped, not friction-fit. The slightly wider USB plug then fits, but tightly enough to stay in place pretty well. Katie R (talk) 19:27, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

DON'T do this especially on a running PC. Remember the outside of a USB plug is all metal, the Modular connector#8P8C Ethernet connector has exposed 'pins' inside, doing this on live equipment will likely cause a short.-μ-220 of ^Borg 00:03, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

CMD unicode issues in using Pywikipediabot

Hi. I just installed the pywikipediabot framework, and am past the user config and login steps. (No, the bot is not for en-wp, and yes I have a bot flag.) The problem I'm facing is that neither cmd nor bash (git bash) seem to support unicode fonts. So while I can input non-ascii characters, I can't actually see them in the CLI. cmd shows boxes and bash shows question marks instead. I've tried adding fonts for cmd using regedit per [3] but the added font (Lohit Devanagari) doesn't show up in the properties even after the reboot.

Also, I couldn't find anything about fixed width fonts for indic scripts anywhere. Are there any in existence that are freely available and which would work with cmd/bash?--Siddhartha Ghai (talk) 21:41, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

This seems to be a deficiency of Win32 console (not of cmd.exe or bash, which use it for its display). Firstly, have you taken the steps described at meta:Manual:Pywikibot/Windows? Next, you may have better results forcing the utf-8 code page using the chcp command (to the unsupported-but-allegedly-works page 65001), apparently by doing:

 chcp 65001 > nul && python yourscript.py

-- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 22:05, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

I've seen mw:Manual:Pywikibot/Windows and tried the steps. It doesn't help. And I've tried the chcp thingy. That doesn't help either.--Siddhartha Ghai (talk) 04:50, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

This isn't a code page issue. You just need a compatible font. Consolas supports a lot of scripts, but I can't help you with indic scripts except to point you to KB247815.

You could bypass the issue by using mintty and bash instead, with the Cygwin code page set to utf-8. I can't guarantee that Pywikibot will auto-detect this case and use utf-8, though, unless you also use a Cygwin version of Python. You could also try IDLE. -- BenRG (talk) 22:25, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Installing a new graphics card

If this isn't the right place for this, could you please point me to a place where I could get help?

I want a new graphics card, but I'm not great when it comes to computer hardware. My concerns are manyfold. I want a new card because:

• When this computer was built for me, the graphics card was the one old component from my old computer that got re-used.
• The old card now overheats so much that I have to play everything on lowest possible graphics settings in order for my computer to run without restarting itself.

I know why it overheats; it's because I haven't cleaned it properly in forever. But to clean it, I have to get it out, which is something I've never actually managed to do myself. And I figure if I'm taking it out - well, its life is probably shortened already by these overheats, so why not replace it entirely? I really hate going inside the guts of a computer, so maybe this will forestall having to open it up again.

But I have several lack-of-knowledge problems, and I'm hoping you can help.

• I can't figure out how to get this card out. It's an Nvidia GT430 and apparently it clips in somewhere at the bottom, but...Well, I can't figure it. I tried Googling but I get nothing but endless reviews from 2011. I'd be surprised if anyone knew offhand, but where could I find out how to actually get the card out?
• I have been informed in the past that some cards plug into the computer's power source while some just draw their power from the motherboard. I know my card doesn't plug into anything other than the motherboard. I'd very much like it if my new card was the same. I'd also want it to draw a similar level of power, since I don't know how much extra power my computer can spare.
• I don't know if there will be any compatibility issues with...well, anything. With regards to new cards, is there anything I should be looking out for? What might it be incompatible with, if anything?
• Are there any other concerns I should have when choosing a new graphics card? Any way I can find something that would suit me? Any suggestions?

Thank you for your time. 86.181.64.123 (talk) 23:04, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Here is the product page from Nvidia. Unfortunately, the support pages for Nvidia haven't been much help, wanting to redirect me to the PC/motherboard manufacturer; therefore some of what follows will be best guesses. Before starting work inside the case, make sure your PC is off and unplugged from the wall. Be wary of static electricity, which can seriously mess up the insides of a PC. Touching a metal part of the case is usually sufficient, or you can get an earthing strap for your wrist.

I'm assuming you have a desktop PC because you say you upgraded everything except the graphics card some time ago. Graphics cards are installed inside the PC case, and your's looks like this. It should be quite easy to remove by undoing the screw holding the shiny metal plate to the case of your PC. This video seems to cover all the main points, including any locking mechanism. There are plenty of other videos, if the one I linked to doesn't suit you.

I also came across this video about fixing the fan on a GT 430 card. maybe that is the problem in your case. Astronaut (talk) 09:59, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Or you can do the quick fix I use for overheating: Remove the case and point a real fan at the guts. That cools it down nicely. StuRat (talk) 10:52, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

1) Note the L-shaped 'tab' on the right end of the card?

2) Note the locking device on the right end. Push ↓ to release

I have to ask the if OP they know what sort of card 'slot' this card plugs into? If it is an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP). I know that some of these had clips on, or attached to the actual socket or Motherboard. These lock into a tab or extension on the edge of the card.(see picture 1) You need to push a tab aside, or pull a spring loaded plunger out of the hole/L-slot to release the card.(see picture 2). Another type of lock clip HERE. Click on pictures to enlarge. - 220 of ^Borg 13:09, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Seems the type of card doesn't really matter lock-wise and yours appear to be PCI Express anyway. Other lock types HERE., HERE. and HERE.
1) One main point about a card is that it needs to be physically compatible with the motherboard it is to be plugged into, i.e. has the correct type of edge connector to suit the motherboard.
2) There is enough 'slot' space (some cards are very thick and take up TWO card slot spaces)
3) Electrical compatibility, it works on the voltages the motherboards slot can provide.(AGP has 3.3 and 1.5volt slots for example, keyed to prevent the wrong type being inserted).
4) Then make sure it has the video outputs that you want/need. Looking at the pics of the your actual card it is well equipped with VGA , HDMI and DVI-I output. Unless you need DisplayPort something similar would cover most needs. --220 of ^Borg 14:14, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

The tip Astronaut gives seems a good one: youtube has many videos on cleaning computers and replacing parts. Also, I would recommend cleaning the card and testing it before you decide on buying a new one. Gain some experience first, you could say. Should it go wrong and the card get damaged (highly unlikely btw), at least it's only an old card you planned to replace anyway. Ssscienccce (talk) 16:14, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Thank you for your help, everyone. I'll try to get the card out in a week or two using that video as a guide. I still think I want to upgrade the card, though. I'll try to find info about possible candidates for upgrades online. Thanks again!

Edit: In case anyone was interested, I'm probably not going to just try to clean it because if something goes wrong I'll be without a computer - and, in fact, without any way of ordering a new card. If I get a new one, then if one of them goes wrong I can probably fall back on using the other. I'm also not confident about taking apart and cleaning a card...I know that video made it look easy, but it just seems like doing more stuff means more risk. I can't really take the side of my computer off and point a fan at it, and probably wouldn't anyway; bodies have skin for a reason, just as computers have cases.

Don't take this the wrong way, but if you can't do any of that I can't see how you plan to install a new card. Installing a new video card isn't that hard but it does require some level of competence. If you can't take your card out and at least look at the HSF and put it back safely and feel unable to learn, you likely lack that competence so probably need to ask someone else to help.

(Bear in mind if you are really likely to damage the card in doing so, you're probably not that much less likely to damage the motherboard or simply knock something around that will require re-seating. And no one said anything about taking apart and cleaning the card. For starters I don't even know what you mean 'taking apart'. If you meant taking apart the HSF, I don't think anyone was suggesting that you had to do that' Astronaut's link not withstanding, which actually just showed taking the fan off anyway. I don't know what sort of HSF is on your card, and it sounds like you don't either, but a brush will often be enough to at least make the device usable again. And of course compressed air another option if it isn't. Vacuuming is somewhat less effective than compressed air and perhaps slightly risky, but not really much. Taking apart the HSF or more commonly just take the fan out of the HSF is often useful, but often isn't essential. In any case, you have no idea until you've at least seen the HSF and so got an idea of what the problem is, you have no idea what may be needed. In fact it's unclear to me if you know if the fan is even moving. )

BTW, the locking mechanism will depend mostly on the motherboard not the card.

Nil Einne (talk) 12:46, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

I probably shouldn't be answering this fifteen minutes before my third late night in a row, but here goes...I'm not as incompetent as I implied, but the problem is that when I try to be competent, people assume I am much, much more competent than I actually am. I've observed replacing graphics cards three times now...But...You know what, never mind. I'll just run this thing into the ground and buy a whole new computer. I'm clearly too fucked up to handle this. 86.181.64.123 (talk) 13:12, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Let me repeat my suggestion that you remove the case and point a proper fan at it. This requires no special skills, is unlikely to damage it, and is almost certain to fix the overheating problem. Sure, it looks ugly, but that's a small price for a working PC, if you ask me. You can put some type of a cover over it, when not in use, to cover the ugliness. StuRat (talk) 05:53, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

September 28

Loading Contacts as CSV files to Linked - In (the Social Networking site)

1. I spent 5 weeks trying to do this recently. [ NB My frustration is NOT the real motivation for this query.! ]

2. I concluded that this facility in the software was so limited it was deficient.

3. There were discussion groups on Linked In itself about this subject. Recently they seem to have been deleted.

4. So the website can conceal its weaknesses.

5. I would like to find a place to record, for public consumption, the knowledge I gained in those 5 weeks. Wikipedia was the best thought I came up with. (ie “came up with, as an alternative to L - In itself “). I bethought me to ask for an article on Wikipedia on this subject.

6. However where would this information go?. I suspect Wikipedia is NOT an Instruction Manual, though I have found its aid in learning about software absolutely invaluable. And would like to see it grow to extend that.

7. Arising from points 2 to 4 above, I think (oops , I foresee a Personal Opinion about to be expressed!, they also are inappropriate) there should be some, er, I think push – back is the word to use in this document, against the trend for software to only state what it WILL do, when importantly it fails to state what you would expect it to do, but it does not do. I recall that Lotus used to do this, Microsoft (= the evil empire) does not. Result, tons of frustration. And, in M S's case, a huge Knowledgebase as result , or counter t9o the reluctance to state what the product will not do.

8. What is the view about this request? (and indeed about the Moral Crusade for Greater Truth in Software Documentation)ASBeesley (talk) 21:24, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Wikipedia is not the place for it. The articles here are based on published reliable sources. If you want to share what you have learned, you will need to find different venue. RudolfRed (talk) 00:09, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

September 29

A smarter YouTube?

A month ago I had some browser issues on my computer, and suspected Adobe as part of the problem, so I completely uninstalled everything Flash, everything Acrobat, and everything Firefox. I then reinstalled one thing a time, which is Firefox only so far, and have found myself in an interesting state:

• With Firefox's "internal"(?) PDF viewer, apparently I can read PDF files without Acrobat Reader. Sometimes I have to save the file first, then d-click on it, but I've had no noticeable problems without Reader. Who knew?!
• Flash is a bigger issue, but I'm getting along without it for now. For every site that has something Flash-embedded, Ffx displays a grey box saying "You need the latest version of Flash" message -- but without downloading video, most pages load a lot faster!
• YOUTUBE IS DIFFERENT. Although a page will sit there for a few seconds with that grey box, but SOME videos will then download and play anyway.

So (finally!), we get to questions:

1. Is YT detecting that I don't have Flash, and converting to some other format? Seems unlikely, since not all videos do this.
2. Are some videos uploaded in multiple formats (or uploaded in one format and stored in multiple formats), and YT is switching somehow?
   • How does it do that?
   • How come that doesn't happen for everything?
3. What else would be fun to know here?

--DaHorsesMouth (talk) 01:48, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Yes, YouTube now has limited support for HTML5 video, which does not rely on Flash. It's quite easy to detect when the Flash player isn't available. YouTube's page about HTML5 video support is here; it mentions that not all videos currently work. When someone uploads a video to YouTube, the site seems to do some pretty extensive processing (sometimes videos can take an hour or more to become publicly available) - some of this seems to be scaling (so if the original is HD, it produces a version for each of the lower-resolution options), some of it making it streamable and skippable, and maybe also making format changes so they can support players with different decode codecs. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 11:06, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Incidentally, Firefox (and Chrome) does indeed now have its own PDF viewer, where the PDF document is decoded and rendered into HTML+CSS and then is drawn with the same code that renders web pages. Firefox's own info on that viewer is here, and I'm pretty sure that the actual code that does the hard work is pdf.js. Like every PDF viewer (including Adobe's), this process isn't always perfect or consistent with other viewers. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 11:10, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

And as you asked how Flash is detected, this StackOverflow question shows some methods. Also, some Firefox users who do have Flash installed, but who are vexed by additional burdens (in load time and in CPU and memory use), and by the additional opportunities for mischief Flash affords disagreeable website, run with Flashblock enabled, so pages load with Flash off and the user must make an opt-in action before the Flash code is actually started. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 11:21, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Note that because of the popularity of the iPad and iPhone and limited support in other tabket mobile devices like Android an increasing number of sites are supporting HTML 5 video as an alternative to Flash for videos, at least on their mobile sites. Probably the most common exceptions are those for catchup TV and similar services who require complicated DRM. I expect the vast majority of sites only support H.264 (since that's generally supported by mobile devices) except for those in the FLOS and similar movements like Wikipedia who may support something else likely either [[Theora][ or WebM which was problematic until recently for Firefox on Windows given the lack of support, but support should be there now provided your underlying Windows OS supports it. I believe it's also often possible on Linux and Firefox, no idea about Mac OS X but I would presume so. Presuming you do have H.264 support, the lack of Flash will be less limiting for video than it used to be. Nil Einne (talk) 12:40, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Non-response of MS Excel Program

I have a PC with Windows 7 OS and MS Office-2000. When I try to open a Excel file,I get the foll. msg." There was a problem sending command to the program " and the Excel page opens. Then the file can be accessed from the File> Open menu.Also in the Page Break view manual adjustment of the page cannot be done. This program used to work OK till recently.120.60.36.52 (talk) 09:07, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

So, what changed on the PC between when it worked and now ? StuRat (talk) 05:48, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

2 wvdial and load balancing

Is it possible to run 2 instances of wvdial each for 1 usb modem and use load balancing stuff so I could use both internet? In short, is it possible to make Connectify Dispatch in linux? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.0.229.26 (talk) 09:27, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

 Note: Link to WvDial - 220 of ^Borg 10:18, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Cache Memory in virtual memory environment .

I am unable to get how cache works in virtual memory environment. I tried to read many articles but did not succeed. Also I am unable to understand How Cache memory is related to page size,multilevel Page tables,Page table entries. I think that I am missing something very important. Please help me out. Any references are also welcome. — Preceding unsigned comment added by PRADEEP 24888 (talk • contribs) 10:43, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Perhaps surprisingly, I don't believe there's that much interaction between the two. The point of the cpu cache is that it's mostly transparent - that the system would work the same (but slower) if it wasn't there at all. So it's done its work, or has failed to do that, before the memory controller actually tries to access actual memory (whether that's actual RAM or address space that's marked invalid and will have to be paged in before the request can be satisfied). The only substantive interactions between the memory cache and the page table (and TLB) that I can think of are:

• The page table entry has a "is this memory cached?" bit (on Intel that's the Cache Disable bit); if the cache is disabled for this entry, accesses to this memory space aren't cached at all (this is used for accessing memory-mapped hardware and for some kinds of inter-processor communication)
• The page table entry has a "is executable" bit, which (perhaps only implicitly) controls whether the instruction or data cache will handle the access yes, that's stretching it a bit
• When a page is unmapped, the OS's memory manager will have to make sure that memory cache entries associated with that are invalidated. On some architectures this may mean the entire cache will be flushed (Intel's WBINVD/INVD instructions flush the whole thing; I don't know if they've latterly introduced a more granular instruction). See for example the description of flush_cache_all on Linux.

For the sake of sanity having page boundaries aligned to cache lines makes sense. All bets are off on weird NUMA architectures and things with per-core TLBs, but then everything to do with caches is harder in such cases. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 15:13, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Dipping my toe into Ubuntu

I downloaded Ubuntu 12.04 and loaded it onto a flash drive so I could boot off of it. Really, I just want a taste of it for a while before committing myself to a full install/dual boot. Internet works fine, there seems to be no problems with Libre Office, etc. but I can't play any media files, having tried an ancient .mpg file, some .mp4/H.264 files, and even some .mp3 files. The player would open, tell me I was missing the proper codec (though it did identify it) and then give me an option to close.

So, besides the stupidity of giving me a media player that can't play anything besides the OGG file that it came with, what's really going on here? If I had installed the OS fully, would it be working better (i.e. downloading codecs it didn't natively support)? Is there a way to fix the media player while it's on the stick? Matt Deres (talk) 14:48, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Ubuntu does not ship with codecs that might infringe on software patents or that might run foul of anti-copying laws (cf DeCSS). Installing the support is very easy. Note that you should be running 13.04 not 12.04 (unless you have a really good reason); "stable" in Debian/Ubuntu speak means "changes less" not "crashes less". -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 15:19, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for the explanation - and the tip about which version to use. Is there any way to update the version on the stick or would that have to wait until a full install? Matt Deres (talk) 10:51, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

As you haven't installed (really) yet, I'd personally download the 13.04 media and start afresh from that. You can update, if you really want - first run "software & updates" and in its "updates" tab, make sure the "notify me..." setting is "any new version", not "long-term support versions". Then run the update manager (I think it's still called that in 12.4 - if not, it's "software updater"), have it check for updates, and it should say "a new version of ubuntu is available" and will allow you to start the update process. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 11:51, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

You don't want to update a live version running off a USB stick. If there is no persistence file on the drive, then all of the changes to disk will actually happen in unpaged RAM. If there is one, it will get eaten up by tons of updates to packages. If you've installed it to disk, then an update is fine, although I would personally reinstall from scratch since you won't have much of your own stuff on the system yet. Katie R (talk) 13:40, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

September 30

php regex replace

Hi, need some advice about preg replace.

Where can I find out the best way to have php replace /n in a file with "< BR>", but only if the /n is found NOT within an html tag? Thanks Duomillia (talk) 01:17, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Maybe this would work. You'll run into problems if the html is invalid, like when it has text containing "<" characters instead of &lt; Ssscienccce (talk) 15:20, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

searches

I type what I am looking for, hit search,when the results come up,i am asked "did you mean so and so". for example I type in u.s.s.cairo and get "did you mean Uss. cairo, or usS. cairo". what is going on. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rmh1066 (talk • contribs) 05:11, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

That is a message from MediaWiki, the software Wikipedia runs on. It is displayed, when there is no article title matching your search term. I don't know the details of the exact algorithm MediaWiki uses to determine the term displayed after Did you mean: If there are matches within the body of an article, those results will be displayed below the Did you mean message. -- Toshio Yamaguchi 12:17, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Also see WP:Redirect for more information. Google does the same thing to get you to the right place. Thanks ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 13:00, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

If you're referring to Google, sometimes they even autocorrect your search instead of simply saying "did you mean...". If this happens then you can just click "search instead for <what you searched>" which can usually be found under "showing results for <whatever they autocorrected your search to>". --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 23:15, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Number Chooser Question

What is the term for this technique to keep the viewers in suspense about which number was chosen? I have seen it in both TV and programs.

var chosen = Math.ceil(Math.random() * 10);
var shown = document.getElementById("display");
var keepguessing = window.setInterval("keepguessing()", 200);
function guess()
{
 var try = Math.ceil(Math.random() * 10);
 shown.innerHTML = try;
 if (try == chosen)
 {
  window.clearInterval(keepguessing);
 }
}

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.74.249.39 (talk • contribs)

Shortened question title. -- 140.202.10.134 (talk) 15:46, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Who made a 1980s single-dot impact printer?

I've searched WP and Google for this but found nothing. I'm pretty sure that I owned an unusual type of printer for use with my BBC Micro. It was similar to a dot matrix printer but printed only one dot at a time. It had a fluted, spinning drum instead of a smooth platen behind the paper and a spinning toothed wheel in front of the paper, with a ribbon in between. When the ridges on the drum and the wheel intersected at the right place, a solenoid would bang the wheel against the ribbon and paper, marking a single dot. The result was similar to the output of a single-character dot matrix printer but much noisier and slower. The advantage was its low cost, because there were few moving parts. Does anyone remember who made this and what the technology was called? --Heron (talk) 15:14, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

According to [4] found from a search for '"single pin" impact printer' or something similar, the LP VII and DMP 100 only had one pin but I didn't look into other details of design or even if the single pin part is correct, partially because I have doubts either of them were really designed to be used with a BBC Micro considering who sold them [5] [6]. But perhaps it was a related design and in any case I appreciate in those days presuming it used a compatible port, you could likely use it since addressing printers was simple. Nil Einne (talk) 16:01, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

Does BT100 answer your question? Astronaut (talk) 18:15, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

I once had a printer that used this exact (or very similar) rather strange mechanism. It had a Commodore Business Machines badge on it and was sold in Australia for use with my Commodore 64! (Ah... memories! ). Did not print "on carbon copy paper." as on BT100 page, it used standard tractor feed paper.

• Heron, Are you sure it had "a spinning toothed wheel in front of the paper."? IIRC it was 'fixed' and as noted belted out each line a single dot at a time very noisily and slowly, against a "fluted, spinning drum" behind the paper.
  
• Figure 10 on page 14 of the DMP-100 printer Manual Nil Einne provided the link to gives interesting details of the print method & mechanism that may help identify the manufacturer.
  
• Apparently the C-64 printer I had in mind was the VIC-1525 (manual, dated 1982, HERE). Some of the diagrams(2.6, p.10) are exactly the same as the DMP-100 manuals' (Figure. 6, p.8). - 220 of ^Borg 20:06, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

The manufacturer may have been Seikosha. This info. comes form the 'Denial Wiki' at VIC-1525 Graphic Printer. The statement is unsourced. It also says "Non-Commodore printers using this hardware were the nearly identical ... "Tandy DMP 100".220 of ^Borg 20:20, 30 September 2013 (UTC)

October 1

copyright infringe of newspapers

Hi.. there are many apps available which fetches news articles from newspaper websites. for example 360news, news hunt, pulse etc. I want to know are these apps not infringing copyright of newspaper websites? I am also interested in developing a kind of these app, what legal aspect should I consider? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 223.196.80.4 (talk) 02:37, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

These kind of apps may be relying on fair use, in a way that Google News does. But see that article for some challenges Google News has had. Wikipedia can't give you legal advice about how much use you can make, if any, and still have that be "fair". -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 12:39, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Web page irregularity

At http://www.polishpod101.com/polish-word-lists/?page=4, the audio file for "X-ray of a chest" in number 87 says "The boss is blaming the worker". Is that a sign that the website has been hacked? Is the security of visitors at risk?
—Wavelength (talk) 02:57, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

It's more likely a bad joke of someone working on the site who isn't pleased with their boss (!) or it could just be a mistake. But in any case, as long as you don't download anything from the site or enter in sensitive information, you're fine (if it is hacked, which I personally don't think so.) --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 03:37, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

It's even more likely that the person who set up the page simply linked to the wrong audio file. Probably in one of the more advanced examples there is a cartoon of a boss blaming a worker. Looie496 (talk) 05:42, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Excel function or formula to total items

Say that I have an Excel spreadsheet that looks something like this below.

Name	Average	Grade
John Smith	67	D
Jane Doe	91	A
Mary Jones	53	F
Carl Swanson	77	C
Ed Robinson	84	B
Lisa Adams	61	D
Frank Martin	98	A
Cheryl Graham	74	C
Steven Granger	52	F
Pamela Drake	88	B

Is there any easy function or formula in Excel that would count how many A's, how many B's, how many C's, etc.? Say that I want a chart that looks like the chart below. Is there a function or formula that I can put into the second column below that will total up the grades correctly?

Grade Range	Number of Students
Total Number of A's
Total Number of B's
Total Number of C's
Total Number of D's
Total Number of F's

Note that this would be a dynamic (not a static) spreadsheet, as the grades are constantly changing throughout the semester. So, I cannot simply "sort" the grade column and do a "count" function of the appropriate cell ranges. Nor do I want to constantly have to do a manual count and manually enter the totals.

Thanks! Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 14:26, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

I think you want to use countif. So, e.g. the count of Bs is =COUNTIF(C2:C200, "=B"), depending on what range the actual letter grades occupy. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 14:40, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Finlay is absolutely correct; just a couple of points: the equal sign by 'B' is not needed (though harmless) - the formula =COUNTIF(C2:C200, "B") would give the same result; secondly, the 2nd parameter could be replaced by a cell reference or formula giving the grade in question, so for example if 'Total Number of A's' is in cell A2, then to avoid hard-coding the grades you could put =COUNTIF($C$2:$C$200, MID(A1,17,1)) in B2 and copy it down (dollar signs on the source range to stop it being change by the copy). AndrewWTaylor (talk) 14:58, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Thanks to you both. I will try this and see what happens. To AndrewWTaylor: I understood half of your above reply; the other half went completely over my head. (I should add that I am no Excel expert, by the way. I just know the basics of Excel.) Can you please clarify what you meant? I fully followed this part of your reply: "Finlay is absolutely correct; just a couple of points: the equal sign by 'B' is not needed (though harmless) - the formula =COUNTIF(C2:C200, "B") would give the same result;". Everything after that was completely lost on me. Can you please explain it in another way? I understand the use of dollar signs and the difference between absolute references versus relative references. I have no idea what you meant by "hard-coding the grades". And when you used the function "MID", I had no idea what that was all about. Please let me know. Thanks! Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 15:21, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

For ease of this discussion, let's say that my first chart above is Columns A, B, C, with Rows 1 through 11. My second chart above is Columns D and E, with Rows 1 through 6. In other words, on my spreadsheet, the second chart would be immediately to the right of the first chart. Thank you! Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 15:25, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Andrew is using the MID function to parse strings like Total Number of A's, extracting the 17th letter - the A - doing things like this makes sense if you had to handle lots of different grade letters (not just the usual five) and if you promised to never change the wording of the Total Number of A's cells. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 15:53, 1 October 2013 (UTC)

Find out which online application is sending spam tweets from my account?

Hi all, I hardly ever use Twitter, but was recently informed that in the past couple days, my account has been retweeting spammy tweets. I believe it's unlikely that anyone has compromised my account (my long password is still the same), but think that it's quite likely that one of the "applications" that has read-write privileges on my account has done this. The word "application" here seems to be a Twitter-jargon use of the word -- I'm referring here to sites such as Slate.com, which, if you choose to log in with your Twitter account, grant themselves read-write privileges, presumably so you can tweet from Slate about how great they are.

I can certainly revoke all privileges from all applications (they are only a handful, and they mostly seem benign, like Slate and Pintrest), but is there any way to know which one sent the tweet? I can't seem to find any metadata associated with the tweets that say this. Surely Twitter must know?

Thanks, — Sam 63.138.152.139 (talk) 16:01, 1 October 2013 (UTC)