Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing

Reference Desk

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January 15

Dual Screen Wallpaper

I have a bunch of dual screen wallpapers but I dont know how to have those wallpapers stretch across both my monitors. Any ideas?? thanks!! --Zach 00:17, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

One method is to ensure that wallpaper is sized exactly to your combined resolution (crop/resize it with an image editor), then set it to Tile mode in the display properties. A much simpler way is to use a program like Ultramon, though it is commercial. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 00:26, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Or "center". Not sure how the algorithm works but it might be faster to "center" --froth^T 18:44, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

When on "center" the wallpaper is centered on each monitor, which is why it's not so useful with a multiple monitor setup. Tile lets wallpapers/patterns tile across monitors; when one uses a single, wide wallpaper in this mode, it goes across both. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk)

Chip sets

I just tried installing a game on a new machine, and it crashed during loading. When i sent for help the hepdesk responded

The Intel 845/865 chipsets do not meet the minimum requirements to run the program. The program requires a card that supports hardware T&L (Transform and Lighting), and the Intel 845/865 chipsets do not have the required DirectX functionality necessary to run the game.

Is this Purely Hardware, or is there some way i can fix it without going out and buying a new graphics card. --Omnipotence407 05:05, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

It's purely hardware. The Intel onboard video chipsets are not made for 3D gaming, or really any 3D applications; they're primarily 2D, and fairly minimal. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:15, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Dang, oh well, thanks anyways. Omnipotence407 15:11, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Cable TV on computer

Is it possible to watch cable TV on a computer? If so, what sort of adapter would be needed?

Thank you.

ChunkySoup 05:13, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

You need a TV tuner card. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:15, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

A tuner card is neccessary, but may not be sufficient. It will work with analog cable, but digital cable is encrypted and there are no tuner cards that can decrypt it. --Carnildo 22:47, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Nvidia and ATI are apparently going to release CableCard devices for Vista (and only Vista, due to its happy DRM), but I have no idea when. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 05:58, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Why does publicfile hide files with spaces in them (in FTP)?

Why does publicfile, as described in [1], "skip names that contain tildes, spaces, or control characters"? There are plenty of useful filenames that contain spaces, and most FTP programs seem to handle them just fine. What is publicfile's reason for not serving them? grendel|khan 06:29, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

It's probably to prevent code injection vulnerabilities. Tilde is often used to represent the home directory, so it may expand that by default. I prefer Apache web server myself. --h2g2bob 19:14, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

I suppose that's understandable... but spaces?! grendel|khan 05:22, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

portable hard disk

somebody please help me. I bought a 40 GB portable hard disk. i am not very knowledgeable about computer science so please please bear with me if my question seems silly. I connected the drive to the computer usb port. and the light provided in the disk glowed. and also an icon appeared in the taskbar. this is the icon that appears when a pendrive is inserted. when i right clicked it there was an option available as "safely remove hardware". i left it as it is. and i opened "my computer". before this i installed all the softwares present in the cd that came with the portable. also i installed "USB 2.0 DRIVE" from another cd. but inside the my computer i do not see the hard disk. when i insert pendrive an icon appears named as "removable drive" right? but when i insert this portable hard disk no separate drive appears. what shall i do? how do i open the portable hard disk and use it? please somebody help me. thank you very much. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.89.21.92 (talk) 07:51, 15 January 2007 (UTC).

You will have to partition and format the disc before use. --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:51, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Here's a link from the article on disk formatting that will tell you how to format the drive [2] --Transfinite 18:48, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

ITANIUM PROCESSOR

1. WHAT ARE THE 7 ADVANTAGES OF ITANIUM PROCESSOR OVER PENTIUM
2. EXPLAIN IN ABOUT 10 LINES HOW SOFTWARE PIPELINING IS IMPLEMENTED IN ITANIUM PROCESSOR.
3. EXPLAIN IN ABOUT 5 LINES HOW PREDICATION AND SPECULATIVE LOADING IS CARRIED OUT IN THE I.A -64 PROCESSOR.
4. SCHEMATICS ON ITANIUM PROCESSOR —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 196.29.126.26 (talk) 10:31, 15 January 2007 (UTC).

lol--PiTHON 11:14, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

PLEASE DON'T WRITE ALL IN CAPS --h2g2bob 16:20, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

At least try to make it not sound like homework --froth^T 18:46, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

What class is this? =D This question just made my day. Yea, yea, I'm a wikidweeb. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:23, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Read the "how to ask a question" section before typing a question. The "Do your own homework" might come handy.... --Kevin Z 02:25, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure that it's necessarily factually correct, but I just came across this. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by ButterChicken69 (talk • contribs) 22:07, 22 January 2007 (UTC).

Portable hard disk

somebody please help me. i bought a 40GB portable hard disk. a cd came along with it. i installed all the softwares which were included in the cd and then i also installed "USB 2.0 DRIVE" software from another cd. i do not know much about computers so please bear with me if the question is silly. i inserted the cable of the portable hard disk into the usb slot given in the cpu. an icon appeared in the taskbar. it was the same icon that we get when a pendrive is inserted into the slot. when i right clicked it there was an option saying "safely remove hardware". i left it as it is. now i opened "my computer" but there was no separate icon there indicating the portable hard disk. it appears even in device manager list but it does not appear in my computer just like the pendrive which appears as "removable disk". please somebody say a solution. how do i open the disk and use it. thank you for your help. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.89.20.32 (talk) 12:29, 15 January 2007 (UTC).

This occassionally happens when you've got many drives/partitions/network drives "using up" a lot of drive letters and Windows can't "find" an appropriate drive letter to assign to your removable disk. I assume you've got Windows XP (I've only used Pro so I hope Windows XP Home Edition has the same options I'm about to take you through). First, plug in your drive and wait till its detected (i.e. that "safely remove" icon appears in the task bar). Now right-click on My Computer then click on "Manage". In the left pane there should be an item called "Disk Management", click it. Now in the right pane you should see all your physical drives/partitions, one of which is your portable hard drive. Right-click on it and choose the option that says "Change/Assign drive letter" or something like that. Choose a new drive letter for your disk (make SURE it's not one that is already used by any other drives in "My Computer"!!!). It might pop up a warning about changing drive letters blah blah blah. I assume you're using the drive for data storage and aren't actually installing programs on it? In this case ignore the warning and click OK. Your new drive should now pop up in My Computer (hit F5 in the My Computer screen if it doesn't). If it still doesn't appear (which sometimes happens) you can manually browse to it in the address bar by e.g entering X:\ (if your new drive letter is X). The bad news is you may have to do this procedure every single time you plug your drive in. Cheers! Please post back to let us know if this solves the problem. Zunaid©® 12:49, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

You can also use Tweakui (official Microsoft software), go to My Computer within Tweakui, and see if the letters are checked, since unchecked ones won't be used by Windows. This can help elimited the above problem, I believe. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:19, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Dvipdfmx (latex) error: Object reference with key "page.i" is in use.

When trying to run dvipdfmx on my dvi-file I get the following error:

** WARNING ** Object reference with key "page.i" is in use.
** WARNING ** Could not add Dests name tree entry...

However I don't get the error when running dvipdfm. Anyone know what's wrong? --Alf 15:00, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Malicious form of Microsoft copy protection...?

I have 6 copies of Windows XP for each of the 6 computers on my Ethernet network. Whenever I install a copy by accident on a different computer after a crash or some other problem the computer that the copy was on originally crashes with a “Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM – You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the original Setup CD-ROM. Select “r” at the first screen to start repair.” The repair process always fails and instead of starting the system goes into an endless reboot cycle following display of the welcome screen. This happens only if both computers are connected via the Ethernet no matter what else is tried such as booting under “last known good configuration” or reinstalling Windows using a different name for the system root subdirectory. I am beginning to suspect that this is a malicious form of Microsoft copy protection since no warning is given so that you can reinstall the correct copy before access to the files on the computer of the original installation is permanently prevented – can’t even access them by putting the hardrive in another machine; in most cases the connected added hard drive can not be detected under Windows at the hardware level. Anyone have a solution or more information? -- 71.100.10.48 17:09, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Definitely nothing to do with M$ protection, though I'm not a fan of M$. The SYSTEM file is corrupt, and you need to make it uncorrupt. Can you not replace the SYSTEM file at the Recovery Console? Splintercellguy 19:09, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

The system file is part of the registry hives, you can't just replace it. Have you tried booting off the cd and doing a repair? Not the recovery console repair, the repair that comes up *after* the license agreement? Or try this. You should be able to see the hard drive from another computer, if you go to disk management do you see the hard drive? Are you sure its detecting in the bios? If it detects in the bios and it shows up in disk management as unknown partition then you most likely have some sort of drive overlay installed like norton ghost. If it wont detect in the bios by just moving it, then its most likely a jumper setting; on WD drives setting the jumper to master will make the drive not detect at all if its the only drive on the ide chain, it has to be set to "single" and vice-versa. On most dell bioses any unused sata/ide ports are disabled in the bios so the only way to get new hardware to detect is to turn the ports back on etc... Lots of issues can arise that I'd need more information the specific problems to tell you what to do. You said "install a copy after a crash or some other problem", most likely the computer itself has a problem such as bad ram, failing hard drive, etc.. that is causing the original bluescreens and the subsequent crashing. I would test the hard drive and ram, either by going to the hard drive manufacturers website and getting the utility, or just get the ultimate boot cd which has multiple HD/Ram testers. These are pretty accurate and if they show a problem then you know you need to replace the HD/Ram. As for the other hardware it can be a bit more tricky to find whats failing. Also if your repair cd's have service pack 2 on them, you can stop the "endless reboot cycle" by hitting F8 before windows loads to get the options screen to pop up (don't let it auto pop up the options screen after a reboot, it wont show the same options) in this list with service pack 2 theres an option that says "disable automatic restart on system failure", so whatever bluescreen is causing the reboot will stay on the screen and you could then research that.--PiTHON 21:01, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

The hardrive is found by the bios but there is no access to the harddrive under XP. All you get is the instruction to boot from the CD. Sometime but not often booting from the CD gives you access to the \Windows systemroot subdirectory but more often as in this case the designated systemroot is not \windows but c:\. In either case the copy command will not copy the system bak file. Sometimes reinstalling Windows from the CD into another subdirectory allows you to access and copy some files and documents from the previous installation to another hardrive but in most cases if reinstall finds a partition it shows it as unknown and will then require you to delete it or reformat it prior to reinstallation and even though it shows creating a new partition in the unpartitioned space selecting this option give no response. Sometime if the hardrive is removed it can be accessed using another computer and a program called Active@filerecovery but sometimes even this program fails to find the drive. Ask me questions and I'll try to answer everyone. 71.100.10.48 06:20, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

You could replace if you had a registry backup lying around. Splintercellguy 04:27, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

When you reinstall Windows (As it sounds like you're talking about), are you installing over top of the old one? If so, I suspect the programs, modifications, Windows updates, etc. are doing a very good jib confusing the registry. 68.39.174.238 15:12, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

trial programs

How can i reinstall a time expired trial program so that i can run it again?

or

Easily reprogram it to lengthen the trial? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Omnipotence407 (talk • contribs) 20:14, 15 January 2007 (UTC).

With some programs you may be able to use it by changing the clock back to a time when you were allowed to use it, in some other cases you may be able to change the registry too, with some programs you just have to install it again and the timer starts again. I think these are all pretty rare though, especially in modern software. In a lot of cases now there's not much you can do, once the trial period is up it's up, unless you get a cracked version. --Kiltman67 20:34, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

With most modern programs, as Kiltman said, there is no "easy" answer. Most programs will not allow you to do it at all. A few require significant registry editing, or changing the BIOS clock, which is not a good idea. If you are familiar with a resource editor, you can sometimes edit the trial period checking within the exe -- although you'll have to be very familiar with HEX. Some people also decompile the exe's into assembly and edit the trial period within the exe (this is a practice often used for cracking software keys). Keep in mind you could easily get in legal trouble for this, and that this advice is for educational use only. P3net 21:30, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Here's where it's handy to have multiple computers, just download it on the next one. StuRat 22:17, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

How about running it inside Sandboxie, deleting the sandbox after it expires, and installing it again, and deleting the sandbox, and so on... --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 01:41, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

IIRC, that doesn't work... I think that Sandboxie still keeps track of that... I'll try it out later. P3net 02:12, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Install the application with Total Uninstall so that you can uninstall it when the time trial is up "totally," allowing you to re-install it again with the clock being reset. You could try Total Installing the application again, then uninstall it and re-install it to start over the clock. I haven't tried it though. X [Mac Davis] (DESK|How's my driving?) 21:38, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Total Uninstall sounds cool, but I believe some sites also keep track off all downloads and record your info, so they know if you attempt a second download and refuse to allow it. StuRat 21:42, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

There's a "Licenses" key in the registry where this info is usually kept, just delete that. --froth^T 02:53, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

You could run it inside a virtual machine. Many virtual machine programs allow you to save "snapshots" and "revert" to them later, etc. You can keep a clean copy of a virtual machine with no trial programs installed, and revert to it each time. --Spoon! 08:31, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Just pay the registration fee, or use a different program. That would be the best thing to do, rather than trying to circumvent the developer's programmed limit. -- Kesh

that's the idea and also called trial for the same reason. If you did not have the time to test it in the given time period for whatever reason. Wait that you do have the time, contact the company directly, explain the situation and I am sure they will provide you with a new trial key. I assume that the product is not cheap and at least $100 as full-version. If it is less, buy it or don't buy it and check reviews and ask at related online communities like forums what they think about the product. --roy<sac> ^Talk! .oOo. 12:05, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

To expand a little on the suggestion by Kesh to use a different program, in many cases you can find an open source program that does what a commercial program does. Wikipedia's "List of..." and "Comparison of..." articles can be good places to find several programs that fill a specific need. For example: List of text editors, Comparison of text editors, Comparison of WAMPs, List of web browsers; see: Category:Lists of software and Category:Software comparisons. You can also look up Wikipedia's article on the program you have now, and see if the article lists competing programs. Or you could re-phrase your question here as: "Is there a free alternative to program"? --Teratornis 22:47, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

It's possible to "trick" some older trial programs by changing the Windows clock to a time before the evaluation period has expired. However, almost every trial program nowadays instead checks the BIOS clock (not to be confused with the system clock, which has a very different role). The BIOS clock cannot be changed through Windows, but it can be changed through the BIOS settings before the OS loads.

Occasionally, a trial program will contact a remote server on the internet to get the current date, thus bypassing the user's clock. In such a case, you would need to trick the software into requesting the time from your own computer rather than the remote server by any of several methods, depending on exactly how the software requested the information.

Advanced users (crackers) use special programs called debuggers to change the code of trial software (usually in assembly). The process involves finding then removing or modifying the instuctions which check to see if the trial period has expired. Professional (or otherwise "serious") crackers sometimes create and distribute special utilities which automatically "patch" a specific trial program, removing the limiting features. These utilities are commonly called "trial cracks", and, though widely available on the internet, are illegal and in many cases contain viruses. --Nwhitehair 01:36, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Two computer problems; IE and Outlook

I am having two problems, which cropped up at the same time (doubt they are related). First, with Internet Explorer: For an unrelated reason, on two recent occasions I allowed YahooIM to install an update, and both times it rendered my YahooIM unusable, which necessitated uninstalling and reinstalling from my source files. Here's the problem: since the second re-installation, when I use the address bar in IE to go to a particular URL (user typed or copied and pasted) and the URL doesn't work, it takes me to Yahoo Search. How do I turn that off? BTW I don't have a yahoo toolbar, my homepage isn't yahoo, etc. I have a google toolbar.

And second. I send out a lot of emails from the drafts folder of Outlook - not Outlook Express (because I send a bunch of copies (solicited, business-to-business, not spam)) at the same time. I've been doing this for months with no problem. For some weird reason, all of a sudden, copies of emails sent from the 'drafts' folder are not being saved into my 'Sent Items' folder. All other emails are. If it matters, my .pst file is currently almost half a gig, but I've never heard of Outlook operating differently because of .pst size.

Anyone have any ideas as to how to fix this? BTW v/v the Outlook problem; I did change some of the advanced settings in my Tools, Options menu, but I looked carefully through them and I don't see how any of them could have resulted in this. Also BTW, I'm running MSOffice2000 on top of NT4.0 and IE 7.x 6.x I think, and I'm not interested in upgrading my OS or changing browsers, TYVM. Thanks in advance. Anchoress 22:26, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

The first problem should be easy, I think IE has Yahoo set to the default search engine. In IE7, this is changed by going to Tools>Internet Option then finding the listing for the default search engine and changing it. I'm not so sure on the Outlook problem. Mitaphane _talk 04:06, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Regrettably, I was wrong about my IE version. I know I have the most recent v. NT supports, but the option under the menu you suggested doesn't seem to exist. Any other ideas? Anchoress 22:58, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Unfortunately, I only have IE7 now so I can't poke around in IE6 to see where it was buried (I'm a FireFox convert so I rarely use IE these days). I pulled this off of Google searching for "default search engine IE6" I hope it may be of some use [3] Mitaphane _talk 05:22, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you, I will check it. And I think the second (Outlook) question is closed, now. When I restarted my computer (which I only do once a month or so), it was fixed, and I think my problem was just an Outlook preference change that was in limbo until the restart. Anchoress 00:52, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Program to click a link

I'm looking for a program to repetidly click a link. I would need it to run either within Firefox or under the Macintosh OS. Thanks in advance. IsaactheNPOVfanatic 00:05, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Not sure what you're trying to accomplish, but what about code that reloads periodically to what the link links to? --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:13, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Try javascript:

function doAgain() {
 settimeout("window.location = 'http://test.com';", 2000);
 doAgain();
}
doAgain();

--froth^T 22:46, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

If you just want a program to repeatedly click a spot on the screen, I suggest XUmouse. The site where you would normally go to download seems to be down today: [torrez.org/projects/xumouse.shtml], does anybody know of another good site to download this ? StuRat 21:29, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

However, please first read the article on Click fraud. -Arch dude 23:38, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

January 16

IRC Poker

I'm looking for an IRC dealer bot. I've tried looking for one, but all I can come up with is graphical front-ends and such, or cheating/observing bots. Does anyone have an idea? aznshorty67 00:08, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Something like this Texas Hold'em bot? --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:11, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

converting nanograms to kilograms

I have completed the conversion of 175 nanograms to kilograms. My answer is 1.75*10 to the 11th power kilograms. Would this be a correct answer? If not could you explain?

71.29.135.78 01:54, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, according to Google's conversion feature, 175 nanograms to kilograms is 1.75 × 10^ -10 kilograms. Can be found here conversion. Deltacom1515 02:02, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

But for the sake of learning, nano is 10^-9, kilo is 10^3, and you want kilograms, so it's (175 nanograms) * (1 kg / 10^12 nanograms) = 175^-12 kilograms, or the 1.75 kilograms. The 12 comes from the difference between the -9 and the 3, or 12. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 02:18, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Now that I look at this, Google would be wrong then. Interesting. Deltacom1515 03:04, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

You should really learn scientific notation. 175 * 10^-12 kg is the same thing as 1.75 * 10^-10 kg. Notice the decimal has moved. --24.147.86.187 03:59, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

And for the record, I forgot to put 10^-10. So yes, 175^-12 = 1.75^-10. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 09:44, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I thank you all for your help! I am learning [scientific notations] for the one that has concerns, and thanks for you help too.12.13.183.220 17:57, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Line Rider

If this isn't in the right desk, then someone feel free to move it. Anyways, how does one go about taking their line rider tracks and turning them into movies to display on YouTube? Deltacom1515 01:55, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

• No idea, I guess it involves video screen capture technology. Why not ask someone who already did it on YouTube? No doubt, they know how to do it. - Mgm|^(talk) 12:27, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Have a look here

I use HyperCam, and I think you can use FRAPS, but I have never used it before. x42bn6 Talk 21:09, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

No, fraps doesn't work since it's not a fullscreen app or directx/opengl --froth^T 22:41, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Searching with exact grammar

How do I make a search engine include punctuation in my searches? For example, I'm trying to search for "Push!!", and I don't want all of the search results to just give me "push".--SeizureDog 03:24, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I thought "Push!!" would do it (with the quote marks). But looking at advanced search in google it doesn't appear that punctuation counts at all! Vespine 03:54, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, you'd think wouldn't you? It's been somewhat frustrating in some searching. Gave me trouble in doing research for Shuffle! as well. Darn these simple Japanese titles >:( --SeizureDog 04:13, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Put more key words in ur search. Thats probably the only way to find wat ur looking for. See here --|K.Z|Z.K| Do not vandalize... 04:04, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, that's what I've been having to resort to. I was hoping there was a better way though.--SeizureDog 04:37, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I dream of an exact-string search engine. I wish there was a way to force these exact searches with Google or Yahoo search, but I guess there isn't. :( ~~ —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kieff (talk • contribs) 09:54, 16 January 2007 (UTC). damn you, bot! — Kieff 10:12, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Google used to have the exact word search, but they changed it to suit user convenience. Seems it hurt more than it helps. I checked most of the other major search engines and the closest i got is in ask.com, which gives u a result if u do at least three exclamation marks. [4] --|K.Z|Z.K| Do not vandalize... 04:04, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Telecom

What is ASTIC in tele-communication?

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 202.138.120.38 (talk) 11:51, 16 January 2007 (UTC).

• My Spanish language skills are pretty bad, but I suspect it may refer to http://www.astic.es - Mgm|^(talk) 12:25, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

80.7.69.103 17:24, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Podcast

My Mum wants to download one, or if possible all, of these Paul McKenna podcasts onto her MP3 player that is not an iPod. Her MP3 player uses Sonicstage software. Is this possible? The blurb at the bottom says "The audio can be played on your computer, or moved to any MP3 compatible device, such as an iPod, other MP3 player..." However, when you click on "Download Podcast", we find that it only lets you listen, it doesn't let you get the files to put anywhere. Having installed iTunes, we can download the podcast from the iTunes music store. However: a) It seems to only let you download one episode. When we tried to add others, they overwrote the original one (that she really wanted). How can we avoid this? b) How can you get it from iTunes to a non-iPod MP3 player? Our article iTunes suggests this is different in the UK and the US (we're in the UK).

Any help appreciated. Otherwise we're going to try putting them one-at-a-time into iTunes, writing them to a CD, copying into SonicStage and downloading to her player. Don't even know if that will work. :-S Skittle 16:53, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Instead of left clicking on "Download Podcast", right click on it and find the equivalent of "Save Target As", and they're already in mp3 form ready to use in mp3 players. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 18:49, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Also, if you are managing them in iTunes already (which I recommend) all you have to do is go ~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Podcasts/ to find the directory of the mp3 files that you already have. On a Windows computer I'm sure it isn't much different. X [Mac Davis] (DESK|How's my driving?) 21:35, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Probably My Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Podcasts on windows. I wouldn't know- using mac software counts heavily against you on the day of judgement :) --froth^T 22:40, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh c'mon, everybody knows iTunes has the superior file managing system. X [Mac Davis] (DESK|How's my driving?) 05:14, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Wiktionary question

I have uploaded wiktionary xml file into my webspace and also uploaded mediwiki. But I don't know how to extract the information from wiktionary if someone search a word e.g. "absonded" or some other words.

I have uploaded the xml file of wiktionary in my doc folder.

How do I extract and display the content from xml file if someone searches the words?

thank you —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 80.7.69.103 (talk) 17:29, 16 January 2007 (UTC).

You may wish to check http://www.mediawiki.org/ for infos about setting up/importing MediaWikis. 68.39.174.238 15:15, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

spam-injection protection

To protect against spam injection, I've added code to search for the following:

• Newline characters %0A, %0D, \n, and \r in the "to address" and the "subject"
• Email headers "content-type:", "to:", "cc:", and "bcc:" (case insensitive) in the address, subject, and body
• Invalide email address characters in the to

Is there anything I'm missing? --Kainaw ^(talk) 20:38, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

What do you mean by "spam-injection"? This isn't a computing term as far as I know. Can you describe what you think it is? --froth^T 22:38, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

More commonly known as email injection, I think. It's [ab]using online email forms to send spam by injecting extra headers to add extra recipients. Kainaw, I can't think of anything you've missed, but it's probably worth Googling around and/or reading the article I just linked to. Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 22:59, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Just noticed we also have an article on it at E-mail injection. Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 23:01, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

you are probably referring to the method used in the recent Stanford trackback spam case. In this case was escaped or html-encoded HTML code passed to the search query and the site un-escaped or html-decoded it when it showed the search phrase on the site. The easiest way to prevent that from happening is by using a HTMLEncode function, if it is supported by the programming language you are using. If that is not the case, simply replace manually the "<" with "&lt;" and the ">" with "&gt;" in the string that was entered by the user or passed as querystring parameter to the script before you return it to the user on the site. --roy<sac> ^Talk! .oOo. 11:56, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Optimum Online

Is there any way to make you default email program, Optimum Online?68.193.147.179 20:41, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

It seems that Optimum Online allows POP3 access. Please look at their instructions for further details. --Brad Beattie (talk) 00:12, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Determining authoritative name servers

This seems like it should be easy, but I can't figure it out. How can I find out what the actual authoritative name servers are for a given domain (as opposed to what a whois or NS query give)? —Chowbok ☠ 20:53, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I think that root nameservers serve IP addresses of the TLD nameservers, which push IP addresses of normal website domain nameservers, which push the IP address(es) of the website's server. You know the root nameservers' IP addresses because a file containing a list of root nameserver IPs is distributed with operating systems (I forget what that file is called right now, sorry), and the list updates itself once a connection has been established with at least one root nameserver. Frankly I have no idea how private networks handle domains without broadcasting (like I guess the windows home networking host does); I imagine the address to the "root nameserver" must be set up maunally when the computer is hooked up to the network. By the way, I don't know if there's an easy way to view the nameserver being given to you in each step of DNS resolution, but that information does pass through your computer at some point; it's not all behind-the-scenes --froth^T 22:35, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I found the answer, thanks. Just do an SOA query on the domain to one of the root servers and it will respond with the TLD's authoritative name servers. Then do an SOA query there, etc. —Chowbok ☠ 17:17, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Audio / Video

I have downloaded an old film, but the audio and video are not playing in sync. I watched the movie by opening it in two sessions, one for audio and other for video with a time gap.

is it possible to run them in windows media player using any other method. I have windows xp. 22:26, 16 January 2007 (UTC) slmking

I'm not sure about Windows Media Player, but VLC can shift the audio track down to the millisecond. It's free to download and I'd certainly recommend it. --Brad Beattie (talk) 00:10, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

In-browser chatting

I'm working on a project for an internal website at my company, and I want to have some lightweight in-browser chatting. I've considered using a Shoutbox or setting up an IRC server and either using a Java client (meh) or some sort of AJAX, buzzword compliant alternative to access IRC (so we can scroll back and whatnot). Does anyone here have any suggestions as to specific apps to check out? I can try a bunch on my own, but I figure someone out there must have solved a similar problem for themselves, so it's worth asking. - CHAIRBOY (☎) 23:38, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

YShout, an AJAX/PHP in-browser chat app, was just featured on digg.com today. Hopefully that satisfies your requirements. --Brad Beattie (talk) 00:15, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

I installed YShout on one of my pages a couple months ago, it's a good and simple shoutbox, but like I mentioned, it'd be nice to be able to scroll up. But thanks anyhow! - CHAIRBOY (☎) 01:58, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

January 17

MediaWiki: 1.8.2 / FCKEditor 0.7.2 and local links parser issues

I installed in our company intranet the MediaWiki: 1.8.2. I added various articles with link to files on file servers in out intranet using the standard wikitext tag for external links

"[file://\\server\share\dir\filename.ext Anchor Text]". Most users are not familar with the Wikitext synthax, so I installed FCKEditor V0.7.2 (2006) based on the instructions found at the MediaWiki Site [5].

Now are all external links to files on pages in the old Wikitext format rendered as plain text and not as link as if it is done when you use the "<nowiki>" tag. I am looking for solutions from config settings (wiki/editor) or code changes. I can't link to the files via "http://" or "ftp://". Conversion to full HTML (for FCKEditor) is also not an option.

Thanks you. --roy<sac> ^Talk! .oOo. 02:10, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

You might want to take a look here for getting help with your mediawiki installation. You'll probably have more luck :) Oskar 18:41, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Oskar. I probably should, but I also wanted to test the Reference Desk a bit. The issue is not time critical and I got everything to work already, except this last little thing with the file links. Cheers! --roy<sac> ^Talk! .oOo. 05:14, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

UV Cathode Light?

Does anyone know where to find UV cathode lights that plug that would plug into wall sockets. I can find many that plug into 4 pin molex connectors, but I was interested in setting one of these up outside of a PC. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.231.205.94 (talk) 05:45, 17 January 2007 (UTC).

They may not exist. I purchased a reasonably strong 12v power supply from an electronics store and hacked apart the cable to use a cold cathode light in my entertainment center. --Mdwyer 00:29, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Turning on a power supply

Is there a way to turn on a power supply that is not connected to a computer at all? Perhaps one that is connected to only one component. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.231.205.94 (talk • contribs)

For AT-style computers, power supplies were attached directly to a switch, so you could turn those on and off without any other components. For ATX-style computers, power supplies are not attached to a switch, and have to be powered on or off by the motherboard (which usually has a jumper for a switch to connect to). So if you have an ATX power supply, you might need to hook up a (dummy) motherboard up to it. --Spoon! 06:56, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

For ATX PSU just connect the green wire with any of black wires. As long as these wires will be connected, PSU should be on. -213.175.91.220 08:38, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

As colors on cables sometimes differ: green normally is 5V_STANDBY, black is GND. The color of the standby voltage cable in particular has been known to have colors that differ from the standard on some manufacturers' power supplies. TERdON 12:36, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

If you have an ATX PSU, and you don't want to poke around with patch wires, you can get a tester for about ten bucks. grendel|khan 21:52, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

CorelDRAW fill problem

I am trying to get a train tunnel image done for a Wikipedia article, I am using CorelDRAW 12. I have managed to draw the tunnel cross section, but am having trouble filling it in with a colour. I can fill in an ordinary shape (eg a circle) just fine, but I can't fill in the tunnel. I have tried "combining" and "welding" the tunnel cross section, but still it is impossible to fill with colour. I made the cross section from a circle and a few lines and the shape looks closed to me (seemingly the nodes meet up ok), it looks a bit like this - but I can't manage to fill in the outline, as they have done with green in the example. I tried searching for help with this problem but found nothing - maybe it is something simple that I am missing. Thanks for any ideas.--Commander Keane 07:42, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Just whipped out my Coreldraw. If you create a freehand curve, you have to use the node tool (right under the funny arrow), click on the first node, shift-click on the second, right click, and press 'join'. This converts the open curve (which you can't fill) to a closed curve, which you can. --Zeizmic 17:59, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes that did the trick, thanks Zeizmic!--Commander Keane 05:44, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Considering Purchasing Wireless Print Server

I'm considering purchasing a wireless print server however I'm confused by the lack of product selection on the market. Are there any substantial problems with this technology that I should know about before I make the purchase? Is there a reason why most of the prices I'm seeing are in the $100 range, meanwhile routers cost as little as $35. Should I instead just be buying a brand new printer with built-in wireless capability (even though I have a pretty decent all-in-one printer)? Maybe I'm just missing something, but I was just surprised that I couldn't find many of these for more reasonable prices at places like Newegg, TigerDirect, and Amazon. Anyhow, any comments and/or recommendations are greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Jon —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.31.137.54 (talk) 09:08, 17 January 2007 (UTC).

I have the most minimal USB-wired Ethernet print server, and they are expensive for tiny little things, and hard to get. That's what happens with low-volume electronics. Some wireless routers have a 'free' USB print server. Nobody buys stand-alone wireless print servers (present company excluded :). --Zeizmic 18:12, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Insertion in linked list

I am learning C, and I am having trouble with the singly linked list. Elements are created and inserted in a loop, but when the loop returns to define another element, the old address is reused, which is highly undesirable, because changing a value at this address changes 2 values.

The program below inserts 0, 1 and 2 in a linked list, and the second insertion is overwritten by the third. I would appreciate if someone could point out my error. I suspect it has less to do with the linked list and more to do with variable scope. 130.225.96.2 12:01, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

struct listelem{
  int data;
  struct listelem* nextElem;
};

int main(){
  struct listelem a;
  struct listelem* plast =&a; //Pointer to last element in list. 
  a.data=0;
  int i;
  for(i=1;i<=2;i++) {  //Executed twice, with i=1,i=2
    struct listelem b; //Both get the same address for b,
    printf("&b=%p\n",&b); //as shown in this line
    plast->nextElem=&b; //This saves the address of b outside the scope
    plast=&b;
    b.data=i; //The first time b.data is written is lost.
  }
  printf("Should be 0,1,2, but is %d,%d,%d\n",a.data, (a.nextElem)->data, (a.nextElem->nextElem)->data);
}

Output:

&b=0xbf8c5320
&b=0xbf8c5320
Should be 0,1,2, but is 0,2,2

(I reformatted your code and output.) Ignore all the pointers for a moment — both the ones in listelem and the ones in main(). Then we see that you have effectively declared int a.data and (in the loop) int b.data. You should not expect these two storage locations to store three numbers! You are almost right that the problem is one of scoping; it's actually one of variable lifetime. The statement struct listelem b; in the loop should not be thought of as creating an object but rather defining a period of time (here, the extent of one iteration of the loop) during which an object exists. b is in fact created, but it is fated to be destroyed when its iteration of the loop finishes. (a is fated too: it dies when main() returns. If you have more than one function in your program, this matters a lot.) Even if the "two" bs got different addresses, the first one would not exist after its iteration completed. (To demonstrate this with your program, call some complicated function (like, say, fopen()) after your loop but before printing. Then all your data except that in a — which is actually just garbage on the stack then — will be most likely replaced by data used during the function call.) The solution here — the creation of objects with indefinite lifetimes and (closely related) in arbitrary numbers known only at run time — is called dynamic memory allocation; in C one uses malloc(). --Tardis 17:12, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks a lot, that solved the problem. I replaced the declaration with pb=malloc(sizeof(struct listelem)); (and made corresponding changes) and it appears to work. 130.225.96.2 09:12, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Or simply, your structs are declared as automatic variables, and are deallocated at the end of the block: sub esp, 8, add esp, 8 --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 01:30, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Downloading file without visiting the page

Is there a way to download a realvideo file, for which I only have the URL (i.e., no hyperlink that links to the page; needs to be typed into the address bar), but without having the browser trying to visit the file as though it were a page and automatically downloading it into a temp directory? An example URL would be: http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/8/8.01/f99/videolectures/wl99lec1-80k.rm

It is not a streaming video. Of course, I could put it here and click "save target as", but that would be a bit convoluted, considering that I will want to do this repeatedly. BenC7 12:20, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

You can create a HTML file on your hard drive, load that into the browser (file:///hello.html) and right click from there. There are also many command line programs that fetch a given url; wget comes to mind. Weregerbil 15:24, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Or you can put this as your URL in a new tab (or window):

 javascript:document.write('<a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/8/8.01/f99/videolectures/wl99lec1-80k.rm">Test</a>');

You can then right-click the link and save it as you desire, or open it automatically. The URL can be modified, of course. Just do not include single quotes between (' and ') - escape them using \'. x42bn6 Talk 17:49, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Thought of another way: at least in some browsers it is possible to configure what the browser does with each file type - open in the browser, open with an external application, or save to a file. E.g. in Firefox "Tools -> Options -> Content -> Manage."

When I want to save a long list of URLs I write a shell script (.bat file in Windows) that fetches them using a wget-like program. Weregerbil 17:56, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks guys. BenC7 02:22, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Pausing output in Linux

Greetings. I'm a fairly new Linux user, and I'm wondering if there is any easy way to "pause" long output from a command so that it doesn't get "scrolled away"? I've been piping the commands to "head" (so like "ls --all | head", with variants), but that's not really a good long-term solution. Any tips? Oskar 18:37, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Shift+PgUp and Shift+PgDn normally do the trick. Otherwise, pipe to less or more. --h2g2bob 18:56, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Pipe the output into either more or less. more is a simple pager, and less does things like let you move backwards and forwards. --Transfinite 19:00, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you, works perfectly! I knew there was a command for it :) Oskar 19:07, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Another option is to just let it fly by, then scroll back and read the relevant bits. To do this, you must have a window with a scroll bar and enough lines in it to capture your output. If I recall correctly, the command is something like "xterm -sb -sl 3000 &", to create an X terminal with a scroll bar and 3000 lines in the buffer as a spawned subprocess. I use 3000 because that's about the limit where one pixel on the scroll bar equals one page of scrolling. In other words, if you go much beyond that, it will tend to scroll backwards more than a page at a time, and you will miss things. StuRat 19:50, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

That's what I do if I'm in GNOME, but sometimes I'm accessing the terminal outside of the graphical environment. That's when I need the paging thing :P Oskar 17:09, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

TI 89 Titanium help request

How would I download the TI Reader to my TI89 Titanium? I've already got the TI connect software in working order, and the computer does recognize and communicate with the calculator, but I haven't been able to transfer any apps to the calculator. (If it's any help to repliers, the computer OS is Windows XP, and the calculator OS is Version 3.10, 07/18/2005, Advanced Mathematics Software, Hardware Version 4.00). Alphabetagamma 05:26, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Are there any other programs like Skype?

So today I fired up the ol' Skype and it turns out you need Skype Credit to make calls (I thought this wasn't starting until tomorrow). Basically, are there any other computer applications that will allow you to make free calls across the USA? Thanks! NIRVANA2764 22:07, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Wow! I knew they had to start turning the screws sooner or later. The only other alternative for a 'free' service is to insert spam (like Google!). --Zeizmic 23:56, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Yahoo Instant Messenger and Google Talk have "call" features, they require a microphone, but (last I checked) were free. Root2 01:36, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Only to other users on that service. YIM charges for calling phones too, and I don't think GT supports calling phones at all. -- Kesh 02:31, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Try other VoIP services --froth^T 01:47, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Skype has always charged for calling to phones I thought, while Skype to Skype is free. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 07:59, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

I recommend using Adcalls Which currently allows you to make completely free calls to numbers in the United States of America, Canada, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and China. - Aug Leopold 00:04, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

January 18

pixel software

Is there any software (*free*) that can calculate the number of pixels in an image of a certain color? I don't want trials or demos or cracks (warez). --hello, i'm a member | talk to me! 00:40, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

First thought I have is maybe a script for the Gimp? There might be one out there that can do what you're looking for. --Brad Beattie (talk) 01:06, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

I may have misunderstood your question, but the number of pixels in any image file is just its dimensions multiplied together. So, for instance, a 1024x786 picture will have 804864 pixels in it, which is about 0.8 Megapixels. You can get the dimensions of any image in Windows by right-clicking on it, selecting "Properties" and then looking through the tabs until you find the info (on Windows 2000 it's in the "Summary" tab, but it will be somewhere else on Windows XP, which I currently don't have access to). — QuantumEleven 09:06, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

I think you have. From what I understand, "Member" wants a program or other solution that will count how many pixels in a certain image have, say, a specific shade of blue. Harryboyles 10:21, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Open in The Gimp (which is Free Software). Click Dialogs, Histogram. Highlight a range of colour shades - there are "count" pixels inside the selection and "pixels" pixels total. --h2g2bob 18:36, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Most common words

What is the easiest way to find the most common words in a large text file (Windows), I can move the text around to excel or word or anything, but I don't see a tool for doing this. Thanks, Xcfrommars 01:10, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

There are many different ways to do it. Without knowing your specific level of experience with those apps, the best start is probably for you to search for:

"word frequency" (excel or word)

in your favorite search engine or on Usenet. This will turn up many links. NoClutter 01:26, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

I started dabbling in python programming language and after about 2 days of learning and playing around wrote my 1st program which did exactly this, it wasn't hard. I actually ran it on the entire text of Frankenstein. Worked like a charm, a list of every single word and how many times it was used, then you can put it back in excel and sort it alpha or frequency. :) Jump on my user page if you are really interested in doing this. Vespine 06:05, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Acer problems

Hiya all! I recently acquired an Acer Aspire without a cd-drive. I put in an old one and started to suffer problems. My fan kept turning on and off, the screen wouldn't turn on and the computer kept beeping-none of this happened before. So I took the cd-drive out but the problems persist. Any idea what is wrong? Cheers! Lenadi 01:18, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Did you knock out any of the wires or anything when you put in the cd-drive/took it out? The problem could lie with the fact that you may have messed up some electrical configuration/power cable. (It happens). Root2 01:34, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like the cd-drive may be sucking up more power than can be supplied. The weirdest problems are always with the power supply. --Zeizmic 12:51, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Microsoft Excel

Is there any way to restore a deleted column in an Excel document after it has been deleted? 24.128.226.22 01:44, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Only by clicking undo - but if it has been saved and closed, the undo will not work, unfortunately. :( --BenC7 02:24, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Facebook: Can I see who is viewing my account?

Out of pure curiosity, I am interested in who looks at my facebook profile. Is there any hack/mod/way to see who clicks on my profile? I know that facebook has fixed all recent glitchables, like adding html code in certain areas to create myspace-like backgrounds...but is there any way to have a profile view tracker? Thanks! 140.180.21.169 04:01, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't believe that's possible, sorry. Chris M.

C'mon, there has to be SOME way...okay and if not, I'm also curious...say you were to devise some way to track this...what would be the most feasible way to do so? Tracking IP addresses and linking to computer information? Using facebook's own information covertly? I guess I'm asking, how do most tracking programs do their job? 140.180.21.169 04:20, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

The only way would be to have access to Facebook's servers. It would involve reading which IP is accessing a particular user's pages, and reporting that to another page/system. However, that only tells you when the page was last accessed. There is no way to tell how long someone has it up on their screen.

Plus, that only tells you the IP. You'd have to do some personal digging to find out who that belonged to, which likely involves a subpoena to the ISP in question.

In short, the only way is if the folks who run Facebook offer that service themselves. Which is not likely to happen, as the sheer overhead involved would likely bog down their servers for little gain. -- Kesh 04:49, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

I highly doubt that all of the XSS holes have been fixed. But I do have an idea for "most feasible" method. The cookie header information for your session (inexplicably including your email address) is sent externally to advertisers like advertising.com and atdmt.com with each page request so you could work out a deal with those shameless ad companies to give you their log data for your profile page :) Or raid their data centers or something.. --froth^T 07:08, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

I've never used facebook, but is there any way to display an image (or any other sort of file) which is stored off-site? If you could do that, it would be pretty simple to harvest that sort of information. --140.247.240.75 21:45, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

All the images easily displayed on facebook are uploaded, and thus impossible to use for tracking purposes. Were it possible to, through some careless coding on Facebook's part, embed an HTML reference to an offsite picture on a server whose IP logs you were able to access, the call to the image might give you the user's IP, or it might just give you Facebook's own. The point is probably moot, since user-editable fields are unlikely to let HTML through.

Database software ease-of-use

Why is database software always so much harder to use than word processors, spreadsheets or any of the other staples of an office suite? Is there any full-featured database software specifically designed to be intuitive for novices to use? NeonMerlin 04:46, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Databases are built around manipulating the information they're given, rather than just making it look pretty like a word processor does. It takes planning to create a database that will do what you want it to. The easiest database programs are going to be things like Filemaker Pro or Microsoft Access, which give you a nice front-end to arrange items in, and drag-and-drop scripting. If you need something more powerful, you're going to be sacrificing ease-of-use. Either way, it's going to take some learning. The best thing might be to download one of the demos for those programs, and follow their tutorials to get the feel for it. -- Kesh 04:53, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

You could argue that using a word processor is an electronic offshoot of writing on a piece of paper, so the concept is much easier to grasp. When you are creating a database you are creating something entirely virtual, which takes a different way of thinking and advanced planning. You could argue that an Excel sheet could be a simple database (after all, what's a database other than a large collection of data?), but dedicated database programs are designed to give you the power to manipulate very large and complex datasets, so for very simple datasets they may seem overly complex. — QuantumEleven 09:01, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

The best physical analogy for a database that I have found is in cardfiles, such as the sort you might store addresses on. The problem is that what you are really doing in a relational database of any complexity is creating a number of cardfiles which are all related and reference one another, can be manipulated at the same time and with great speed. But as a starting metaphor it works pretty well, which is why Filemaker Pro probably arranges their interface around it. --140.247.240.75 21:43, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Databases are usually a pain in the neck because data usually requires the creation of both a data structure from scratch (the tables) as well as an interface (the forms, the front-end, etc.). Both of these are time consuming tasks which require considerable advanced computer knowledge to correctly, especially if your forms are more complicated than simple data-entry fields (i.e. if you have to do any scripting). There are some programs which try to make this "easier", but that usually means that they use very simplistic (non-relational) database formats and are not very flexible. Additionally, I don't think most people think in terms of databases, which require a very specific sensibility about how to best divide information into discrete categories. Someone who is an old hand at database programming can tell you immediately how to set up some tables to do a certain function, what types of fields you need, etc., but this is in my experience never intuitive to people new to databases. (I say this as someone who has been a SQL and Access programmer for some 10 years now, and who has spent a lot of time trying to teach people the basics of database organization.) --140.247.240.75 21:41, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

You might be looking for knowledge mapping software, which is a "natural" form of database. TheBrain is a good example of such. Droud 23:33, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

How many?

How many e-mails on the Internet are being sent each day (average)?--69.236.29.100 05:22, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Our Email article doesn't have an answer. I suspect this would be very hard to guess, since there are so many factors involved, like emails from and over corporate networks, automated emails, spam emails with thousands of recipients, all that kind of stuff. Whatever it is the number must be huge, I wouldn't be surprised if on average every man woman and child on the planet was getting 10 emails a day. But that is in no way authoritative.

I agree - the average number of emails per person must be at least 10. I personally get well over 3,000 emails a day (and if I'm lucky, one of them is not spam). So, with a 10/day average, my email account covers 299 other people who don't get any email. I'm sure there are many others who have it worse, like president@whitehouse.gov or bill@microsoft.com. --Kainaw ^(talk) 06:35, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

database management

1. what are the 4 main references between a file processing system and a DBMS?

2. Pls. explain the differences between PHYSICAL and LOGICAL DATA INDEPENDENCE.

3.

Do your own homework - or at least rephrase it so that it doesn't look like a homework question. --Kainaw ^(talk) 06:33, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

And that's not out of anal requirements, it's as a service to wikipedian volunteers and to show that you aren't just totally disregarding our guidelines --froth^T 07:02, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

And even if you did get an answer here, it might be different from what your specific instructor is expecting, based on whatever course materials you should be studying. NoClutter 22:24, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

The answer could also be incorrect, on purpose. You have to wonder... Droud 23:37, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Defective hard disk/drive?

I've been using an internal hard disk for some time, but recently I tried to force a manual defragmentation (I'm on Windows). After a few seconds, this returned an error (Failed to start, etc ...). Checking the Event Log, I discovered that the "disk" driver had been throwing bad block errors like crazy. They'd usually come in twos or threes about 3 or four minutes apart. This has been going on (If the Event Log tells the truth and nothing else) since November 16th. Now, I know this means that I need to look at getting a replacement for it before it croaks, but does anyone know about how long I have, so to speak? 68.39.174.238 15:27, 18 January 2007 (UTC) (Note: This is not the operating system drive, just a data holding drive)

Maybe try a little scandisk to see if it helps? yandman 16:37, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Scandisk (The c—p new Windows NT version) does nothing. 68.39.174.238 17:09, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

FYI, most of the useful (pre-NT) scandisk functions have been taken up by chkdsk. I suspect you may already know this (since you sound fairly well-informed), but if not the relevant command here would probably be chkdsk c: /r /x. Replace c with the appropriate drive letter, /r attempts to repair the disk, and /x will unmount the drive to prevent access conflicts. ~ 69.41.32.12

I heartily recommend SpinRite which will fix almost anything, short of the disk being physically damaged. Oskar 17:11, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

That's not the (problem?), the disk still works and everything can be accessed, what I'm interested in is the likelyhood of proximate failure. I can get a new drive fairly soon, but is it "teetering on the brink"? If that's the case, I'd like to know so I can take (near) immediate action. 68.39.174.238 23:29, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

What you want is a utility that will read the "SMART" information off the disk. SMART monitors the drive and can predict when problems are becoming severe. There's a number of programs available to do so. -- Kesh 23:40, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Any kind of disk failure is a recipe for eventual disaster, get a new hard drive ASAP --froth^T 03:43, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree with the above. Any type of funny business with disk drives is a plea for help! --Zeizmic 13:25, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

With respect to all of you: I'm going to get a new disk drive today if I can, a SMART monitor I'm checking out doesn't report anything really wrong, and I'm going to run SR6 on the old one when I'm through here in a minute. Thanx. Now, I have one last question: Is the disk drive in question good for anything now that it's throwing all these errors? 68.39.174.238 15:17, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

It's good for anything where it doesn't matter if the data vanishes tomorrow. Things like a local copy of Wikipedia, or rips of your CD collection, or temporary storage of things you're about to burn to a DVD. --Carnildo 21:47, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

"A local copy of Wikipedia" ? I don't think that's useful for much of anything, and I don't have a CD collection or a DVD writer. Would a swapfile work? Also, I ran SR6 as suggested, it turned up a 3 errors and fixed them, and now I'm running a "random stress-test" on it and have gotten two more event log errors. 68.39.174.238 02:19, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Question regarding PHP

Hi im new to using php. I have a script that takes a table from a mysql database and displays it in html in a web browser. A scheduled printout of what the browser displays needs to be performed every day.

I'd like to know if theres a php function that automatically sends the output to be printed as it would appear in a browser without any human interaction?

Preferably id like to be able to do this without writing to external text files.

Any help is appretiated!

Sends the output... where? To a printer? To an e-mail address? Whose printer? On the computer that hosts the PHP script, or elsewhere? That needs to be clarified, as the answer hinges on that. Generally speaking you will require something other than PHP to do the printing, i.e. it could output the data to HTML (or to a PDF, or whatever) and then some other program would have to open the HTML or PDF and send it to the printer.

The easiest way to do this that I can think of is to have a computer set up to check a given directory for files, print whatever is there as soon as something goes in there and then delete the file. PHP would then have to find a way to put the file into that directory, which could be accomplished a number of ways (it could connect via FTP, it could send it via e-mail, etc.). But all of this would require some scripting other than PHP as well to work.

As to how to make the PHP run automatically once a day or so, I believe you have to set it up a with a cron command of some sort, though I really know little about that other than I think that is the place to look. If you google "PHP cron" you'll see a number of tutorials as to how to get a script to run periodically without human interaction. --140.247.240.75 21:36, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, the computer that hosts the php script is to send the output to a network printer. Sounds like the cron command could come in handy. Thanks for your help.

AJAX wiki?

Does anybody know of a wiki software that employs AJAX, possibly even making it possible to do limited editing directly in the article WYSIWYG-style? TERdON 18:19, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Isn't that what wiki.com uses/d? 68.39.174.238 15:18, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Remove Duplicate MP3 Files

What is the best way to delete duplicate mp3 files before I put them on my Zune. I don't have any money for fancy programs. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Duplicate mp3 files? Just copy and paste... Sorry if i don't understand ur question... --|K.Z|Z.K| Do not vandalize... 03:53, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

I do believe your question is how to keep from putting the same song on twice. The easiest (and free) way I know of doing this is to import your library into iTunes. Once the songs are imported, go to View-->>Show Duplicates. Then, delete one of each of the file pairs shown. Go to your iTunes library, and move the remaining songs onto your portable music device. I am sorry this is slightly complicated, but it is designed to work with the iPod. Still, it works. Freedomlinux 06:59, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

decoder and encoder circuits in mediaplayer

Hello sir/mam, I want to know how encoder and decoder circuits are used in mediaplayers.I also want to know about their other applications. Hoping for an immediate answer from your side. Thank you, Niraj Brahmkhatri

Please be more specific. What exactly do you want to know? Encoder and Decoder circuits in mediaplayer do the exact same thing that they do in modems, in network cards, in graphic cards, in just about any thing that sends and retrieves data. The encode and decode data, that is make them transmittable via the ether. There are no other applications for encoders and decoders than to, well, encode and decode. Aetherfukz 15:54, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Problems with video player.

I am having problems viewing certain media videos on the net. The only time it happens is when I try to watch documentries from Kevin Sites in the Hot Zone through Yahoo. I get a green screen but I can hear the audio. I have problems no where else. I have tried downloading codeks and even downloading an updated version of Windows Media Player. Is there something I am missing> I assume other people can watch it. Thanks!

You need a different codec then. Try just using VLC. --froth^T 18:51, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Cyber Squatting

I recently purchased the domain names .net, .org, .biz and a couple others that were similar to a company that competes with my business. They obviosly have the .com. I begin to recieve emails that were supposed to be sent to them, but were instead sent to the .net. Being a good person I forwarded these on to them. My question is what is the best way to go about selling them these additional domain names. I would assume they have an interest. I asked with one of the forwarded emails if they had an interest and they did not respond. Am I being stupid?

This is against the terms of your contract with ICANN, and I believe they have a board that your competitor can report you to and get all of those domains transfered to your competitor at your expense. Bad idea. --froth^T 18:50, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Trademark law. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 19:29, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, have you seen Cyber squatting? It's basically extorsion and something was done about it. If I were you I'd cut my losses and maybe donate those names, because it is quite possible you didn't hear a reply on account of your messages being passed to the company lawyers. Vespine 00:46, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Just maybe.... we are being hasty and s/he had a valid reason for getting the other domains beforehand? If so it wouldn't be so wrong to offer them for sale, but then again I suspect what the others said is right from the way you posed the question. Mathmo ^Talk 00:08, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Problems with HashMap keys

I'm having problems with HashMap keys in Java. The Map interface says two objects will be considered the same key if their equals() method returns true for each other. However, this seems not to be enough. It seems that the objects must return identical values from their hashCode() method, and return true from their equals() method.

I tested this with a custom class as the HashMap key. It overrides both hashCode() and equals(), with System.out.println() calls in both. It looks like HashMap first calls hashCode(), and if it returns a different value from an existing key, it won't even bother calling equals(). Otherwise, it calls equals(), and if it also returns true, it concludes that it has found the right key.

To me, this doesn't look consistent with the description of the Map interface. And I'm even using Sun's own Java implementation, version 1.5 or 5.0 or whatever it's called nowadays. Not GNU's or Microsoft's, but the one from Sun themselves. JIP | Talk 19:45, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Part of the contract of Object.hashCode() requires that if .equals() returns true for two things, then their .hashCode() must be the same. (The converse is not required.) So whenever you override .equals(), you must also make sure to override .hashCode() in a way that satisfies the contract. --Spoon! 20:54, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

If it helps illuminate the situation at all, consider a HashMap with a few thousand keys in it. Is the map supposed to ignore the distinct hash code from your object (which is supposed to help it narrow down which keys might match) and go and test against the thousands of extant keys with equals()? If so, why do you even provide hash codes? (See hashtable if you don't know the answer to that.) --Tardis 21:44, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the answers. That makes sense. But it still looks like it's contradictory to what is said in the Map interface, where it says that it is enough for the keys to compare true with equals(). JIP | Talk 07:18, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

To quote the docs on the Map interface:

Many methods in Collections Framework interfaces are defined in terms of the equals method. For example, the specification for the containsKey(Object key) method says: "returns true if and only if this map contains a mapping for a key k such that (key==null ? k==null : key.equals(k))." This specification should not be construed to imply that invoking Map.containsKey with a non-null argument key will cause key.equals(k) to be invoked for any key k. Implementations are free to implement optimizations whereby the equals invocation is avoided, for example, by first comparing the hash codes of the two keys. (The Object.hashCode() specification guarantees that two objects with unequal hash codes cannot be equal.)

In particular, notice the bold part. I'd imagine the only reason they refer to equals() is that this would be what must be used ultimately, as two identical hash codes don't have to refer to two identical objects. --Pidgeot (t) (c) (e) 17:16, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks again. I just concentrated too much on the part above "(key==null ? k==null : key.equals(k))" and though it was the only test the implementation was required, and allowed, to make. I guess there's not much point of a hash map which doesn't use the hash codes. The hash code comparison is done first to determine where the key is even supposed to be, but even if it is found there, there must be a separate equals() check, because identical hash codes do not guarantee equality. There can be Map implementations that aren't hash maps, or use hash codes. One example which comes immediately to mind is an implementation that stores the keys in a simple, ordered list. This means that searching for a key is an O(n) operation, whereas in a hash map it is O(log n), if I'm not mistaken. JIP | Talk 18:00, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Hashtables (and thus HashMaps) have (on average) $O(1)$ lookup(!). Binary search trees have the $O(\lg n)$ lookup you're thinking of; sometimes they're better anyway because they don't require hashcodes (just a total order operator) and you can automatically iterate over elements in sorted order. --Tardis 16:33, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Timer Sever Suggestion

I work at a public library and the software used to manage the computers available to patrons (CyberStar Timer Server) is horribly buggy, crashes, and freezes up all the time. Have any suggestions for a cafe timer sever type program that could used to manage the time used for around 12 PCs? I've found some but they all seem so expensive and loaded with features we don't need - any simple, cheap, software you can recommend?

I have a different suggestion, why not use those electrical plug timers normally used to control lights ? I'd just use them to control the power to the monitors, so they don't actually lose anything when the monitor goes blank. That way, if they forgot to save their term paper, or whatever, they can beg the librarian on duty for another minute so they can save it. You could have all the monitors plugged into extension cords that go to the librarian's desk, where the outlet timers are used. Of course, the patrons could unplug the monitors from the extension cords and plug them in elsewhere, if there are extra plugs available and easily accessible. I don't think most people would do that though, as that's "crossing a line". StuRat 02:46, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Excel to Inkscape

10 brownie points to whomever can come up with the easiest way to get an Excel chart into Inkscape as a vector graphic (bitmap options don't count, since I'd have to redraw the chart). Options I have considered:

• Cutting-and-pasting said chart into Illustrator, exporting as SVG, opening in Inkscape (downside: requires using Illustrator, which I don't want to do even though I have it, as it is not on the computer I will be doing this on most of the time)
• Opening Excel data into Openoffice.org Calc, creating a graph there, exporting to SVG, opening in Inkscape (downside: Calc doesn't support round data points that are vectors. That's a real down-side to me, because that means if I want to have round data points, which I usually do, I have to replot them all manually in Inkscape. Which makes one wonder why I'd want to be using Calc in the first place. Calc's graphing tools generally suck, as well, and give less flexibility than Excel, which itself also does suck.)

OK — with those out of the way, any other ideas? Inkscape currently doesn't import PDFs, so I can't export to PDF and re-import it (unless I do the Illustrator approach again). I really like to touch up my graphs in Inkscape (as Excel's formatting leaves a lot to be desired), but getting things into Inkscape is a royal pain in the ass at the moment, and if anybody can come up with a clever solution I'd be very happy. --140.247.240.75 21:10, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

This guy thinks you should just use Inkscape. Is that an option? Anchoress 13:17, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Sometimes, but with complicated data sets I would rather a program do it rather than trying to calculate it all myself. For some plots it is reasonable, for some it is not. I might as well just import it as a bitmap and trace over it if that's what I was going to do, which doesn't speed things up for me at all. --24.147.86.187 15:58, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

OK, that site finally worked for me, and I don't think it is helpful. It basically says that to use an Excel graph in LaTeX you need to convert it to EPS or PDF format first. But Inkscape can't read EPS or PDF, last I checked. If it could read PDF well then it wouldn't be such an issue, since I could just print the graph to a PDF. But alas, I cannot. --24.147.86.187 23:22, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Syntax Highlighting Editor - how can I colour words??

I'm developing a java 'Syntax Highlighting Editor' - it spots some language keywords as soon as they are typed in and colours them. The data on how they should be coloured comes from a config file I openend and saved in a dedicated data structure. I need to know: 1) how to format words 2) how to colour a word in a text editor 3) which method I should use to manage the event 'press a key in an editor'--Raggiante 23:08, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

First, just so you know, there are many editors that support what you want already. (Obviously, if you want to make a better mousetrap, go right ahead. Just don't think it's not available.) As for your questions:

1. I have no idea what you mean here, except perhaps that you don't know how to format the config file. Since you don't have an unreasonably large amount of data to store, you should just use a human-readable plain text file, perhaps something as simple as a keyword on each line. However, you might want to make it a bit more complicated (perhaps have a "Keywords" header, then the keywords, then "End keywords") because you can then extend the file format more easily. You might also want to look into such things as regular expressions to define your highlighted constructs more powerfully.
2. How to apply a color to a word depends entirely on how you're displaying it; some media (e.g., black and white printers) don't support it at all, while others (e.g., the "intelligent" computer terminals) recognize escape sequences in the text you send them and apply them. Other times you have a programmatic interface that supports operations like "render text here" and "set current color" and you have to combine those in the obvious way. As a guess, you're writing this editor in Java (since even if you meant the editor is for Java you must be interested in the language) and want it to be graphical; then I'd suggest looking at the online API documentation, particularly the relevant Swing classes.
3. You're asking about the fundamentals of event-driven programming, which you should read about. Then, again, look at the relevant documentation. --Tardis 03:18, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Digital clock strangeness

I have a 1985 Cosmo time E-508A LCD alarm clock. It's been acting in the most strange and unusuall manner that I was wondering if anyone knew what the symptoms meant. Basically, when it gets power after an outage, it blinks 12:00 (Normal), but when it's been set to the correct time, either stays constant (Normal) and later starts blinking again (The correct time, not 12:00), or wont stop blinking when it's set (Again, it'll show the correct time, but it'll flash at the same time). Finally, it just stopped counting at all, rather just displaying a certain time. Anyone have any idea what the root cause of this is (Bad component, loose connection)? 68.39.174.238 23:37, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

I'd go with a loose connection. They typically have either a battery or a capacitor so they don't lose the time during short outages, but they aren't nearly as accurate on backup power, so blink to tell you to check the time. If it starts blinking for no apparent reason, I'd say that means there was a short power outage, probably caused by a loose connection. If the loose connection gets worse, it may keep time worse and worse, then stop, then go blank. To be honest, if you've gotten 22 years out of a digital clock, you should probably just consider yourself lucky it lasted that long and go get a replacement. If you're really attached to the clock, I suppose you can have a qualified electrician unplug it, take the cover off, and look for any loose connections. They may be able to solder it together so you can get another 22 years out of it. StuRat 02:28, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

I've done so myself and discovered the reason: the capacitor plague has claimed another victim! The bottom plug was cracked and has spewed stickly dried electrolyte all over the place! 68.39.174.238 15:20, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

I see. You could clean it up with a cotton swab and some alcohol, then replace the capacitor, if you really want to salvage the clock. StuRat 00:34, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

iTunes DRM

I love the iTunes music store because they have the largest collection of high-quality songs and it works great with my iPod. However, I absolutely hate --and can't stand-- DRM of any kind. I want to be able to use my music the way I wan't on any device or computer I own. Pretty much like the freedome I get from store-bought CDs. Is there any SIMPLE software that will convert iTunes songs I buy to regular MP3s on the original "authorized" computer at a decent quality? If it can be done in batches that's a plus.

hymn (software) might work... 68.39.174.238 01:25, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

This is what you want. I feel exactly the way you do. By the way, that software rips the AAC data stream, you still need to convert it with audacity --froth^T 01:38, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

There's a free software called SUPER that might work. You can convert it into any format you want, although the quality is very bad if u pick a low bitrate. The website is here. [6] Note: It says u need a fast computer but u can ignore that. I have a computer from the 90's and it still works. Download is at the bottom, after u go through all the info. Hope it helps! --|K.Z|Z.K| Do not vandalize... 03:48, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

You could always just burn your files to CD (RW would be best, 'cos you can wipe it and use it again), and then rip the CD. You might lose a bit of quality though. --saxsux 13:37, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

A "bit"? Seeing as iTunes songs are themselves not terribly high bitrate, this sounds like an insanely bad idea.--Frenchman113 on wheels! 15:59, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

January 19

Extracting images from a video file

Hi. I'm looking for a way to batch extract images from a .mov or .avi or .mpeg file with the idea of getting nine images out of every second of footage. Even a program which would create an image file for every frame would be useful because then I would just delete the extra images. I have Adobe Premier and Windows Movie Maker, so do any of these have this kind of batch capability? Thanks! Robinoke 01:08, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

VLC can do it, but I don't remember how. Check its forums or ask the VLC mailing list. --h2g2bob 03:10, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Use Irfanview's "extract all frames" feature --froth^T 03:40, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks guys, I'll give those a try... Robinoke 14:37, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

AIM 6.0 Format Screen Name

I have used AIM's "format screen name" option to add a space in my screen name, but for some reason the space is often lost when i sign off and sign back in later, and I have to continually re-add the space. Is there a way to resolve this? In a less important side note, I would ask on the AIM message boards but no matter which computer I try to access them, I get an error message that says "An error occured. Please try again later." Any help? I'm currently using AIM 6.0.28.1... Thanks! --Nevhood 02:19, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

I get a very similar message whenever I pick on a non-AOL "From" or "To" address within an AOL e-mail header: "System Error: We're sorry, the AOL Member Directory page you requested is not available right now. Please try again later". They don't seem to check for non-AOL addresses. Perhaps you are on CompuServe or some other software which shares AIM but isn't fully supported by AOL ? StuRat 00:23, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

I use IE7, maybe they just don't have support for it yet. --Nevhood 18:38, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

which is better, GeForce2 GTS or MX

I have two Nvidia video cards: GeForce2 GTS and GeForce2 MX200. Which one should I use? From this page, it seems like the GTS has better specs. But the current version of the drivers do not support the GTS and does support the MX. Thanks. -131.215.159.11 04:23, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Thats because MX200 is more recent. Depends on what u want to do really, overall i would say GTS is better, it has better memory, among other things and lets u do more things. --|K.Z|Z.K| Do not vandalize... 04:37, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Where to store files?

Moved from /Science

I have more than 30,000 text records (several GBs). Is there a Windows software tool that can create a compressed virtual disc to store these files? There was a program "ShrinkWrap" for Mac OS that does exactly this job. Is there any comparable software for Windows? -- Toytoy 01:20, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

You should probably ask this at the computing desk. --24.147.86.187 01:56, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Well depending on which version of windows you use, XP has a very easy native compression option under the general tab of your disk properties, you just 'tick the box'. Of course, it is a bad idea to compress your boot disk, so if you only have one hard disk in your PC you may need to repartition it. 202.2.57.126 03:04, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Try running "Disk cleanup" and checking the "Compress old files" option. This will work best of the "disk" in question contains them and nothing else. 68.39.174.238 15:23, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

I need a better solution. I have more than 40,000 small files. They use up space. They make my other files fragmented. They are difficult to move. The best thing I can do is to make a compressed virtual volume. With ShrinkWrap under MacOS, I could:

1. Make an empty volume slightly larger than the files.
2. Move the files into the volume.
3. Make a compressed volume from the uncompressed volume.

If I need to use the files, I can mount the compressed volume. If I don't need them, they are in ONE compressed virtual disc file.

Windows does a bad job handling thousands files. -- Toytoy 01:45, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like what you really need to do is import them all into a database or note management program. Something like Notelens for basic organization would keep them all in one place, and you can simply zip the database file. -- Kesh 02:14, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

See, if this were Linux, you could just dd if=/dev/zero of=virtual_drive.img bs=4096 count=1000000 (which gives you about 4GB); then you could just format the partition with mke2fs virtual_drive.img (or some other filesystem that does better with a hojillion little files; maybe ReiserFS?), and mount it via a loop device, like mount -o loop example.img /mnt/drive_image. You could copy/move all the little files onto it, and then (when unmounted) it would look just like a big file that could be moved, copied, backed up or whatever. You can even use compression on the device (see cloop and SquashFS, though these are read-only solutions). This is pretty much what was happening under your Mac. I'm not aware of anything similar under Windows, though if you can create a VMWare image (you can do it with the free VMWare player and a copy of QEMU under Linux), you could use something like Virtual Disk Driver to mount the filesystem in the VMWare image on your Windows system, too. (VMWare doesn't support compressed images, however.) Now that I think about it, your best bet might be burning a DVD image to a file (make it double-layer or whatever gives it enough space to store all your stuff) and then using something like Nero ImageDrive to mount the DVD image as a virtual drive. It doesn't support compression, but it's probably the easiest method to use. Windows doesn't let you do this sort of thing very easily. grendel|khan 22:57, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

dd if=/dev/zero of=virtual_drive.img bs=4096 count=1000000

losetup /dev/loop0 virtual_drive.img

mkfs.xfs /dev/loop0

losetup -d /dev/loop0

mount -o loop virtual_drive.img /mnt/virtual_drive

--wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 01:36, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

trOubleshoOting

hello!!! I am an I.T student, and i had a project.. I search it in many sites but there is no specific anwer, and i try to ask here can you help me?

my question is... what are the basic computer troubleshooting tools and equipment?? thats it.

thank you... for all those who read and answer this... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.217.67.44 (talk • contribs)

Does your course have a textbook or any assigned reading? Because the formatting of the question makes it sound like something where they're looking for a specific answer that was either addressed during a lecture, or written in the book or notes, rather than found randomly on the internet. --Maelwys 13:31, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Exactly what I was thinking. There's no "basic computer troubleshooting tool" unless you're in a very specific context. --froth^T 19:18, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

How about your brain as the "basic computer troubleshooting tool" ? (Don't use it as a hammer, though.) StuRat 00:15, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

I troubleshoot computer problems on a daily basis as part of my work and the above is correct, I can't think of any other specific tools I couldn't do my job without apart from my head and hands. Vespine 01:33, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Debian on PS3

Anybody else trying this? I've got it working perfectly now, but now I want to cut my teeth on programs that use the SPU's (special processing units), which are vector processors. Sony doesn't allow direct connection to the graphics card hardware vector pipes, but with 6 of these things, who cares? --Zeizmic 13:29, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Hebrew History

Contrast the difference between the way the Hebrews viewed history and the view held by most other ancient cultures. How do the words linier and cyclical apply?

We can't answer homework questions, and you'll probably get better help if you post on the right Reference Desk, Wikipedia:Reference desk/Humanities. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 16:53, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Consumed Crustacean is right on both counts. However, since you're here, the following two article sections may help you get started: Time#Linear time, Time#Cyclical time. -- SCZenz 18:14, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Cyclical: We keep getting repeated requests to do students' homework for them every day. StuRat 00:10, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Linear: Doing such homework problems for the students is a line we won't cross. StuRat 00:10, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Website Blocks

I was wondering how to block sites under categories, not individual sites like www.myspace.com I want to know how to block like gambling sites. Do you get it? 216.253.128.27 17:03, 19 January 2007 (UTC)nicholassayshi

You'll need some sort of "Content-control software". I don't have much knowledge of the specific products, but we do have a list of them, though not all have articles or external links. Try Googling them if you're curious. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 17:12, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

That approach is not going to work well, because somebody would have to go through the millions of web sites, growing by thousands every day, and classify them, then reclassify them constantly, which is never going to happen. Alternatively, you could look for words like "gambling" on the page, but that would block many good sites ("Those with a high cholesterol diet are gambling on their health") and miss many sites you wish to block, which will just avoid using the keywords they know the program is looking for. There have been attempts to do this sort of thing, but you end up getting a very small subset of the web which has been reviewed and approved, with the majority of sites blocked, not because they've been found to be bad sites, but just because nobody has the time to review them. StuRat 00:03, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

If u are willing to buy products, Trend Micro has a classification blocker that might help. Its included in the Internet Security '07 pack. The company hire hundreds of workers just for classification so it should block most websites u don't want. --|K.Z|Z.K| Do not vandalize... 10:24, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Just tell your kids to stay away from gambling sites. If they have any technical ability at all they'll be able to bypass content control software. --froth^T 00:03, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Would you care to bet on the chances the kids will do as they're told ? The odds are against you. StuRat 08:13, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Clicks, crackles and blips on new headphones

I received a pair of Sennheiser HD 415 headphones yesterday, and have noticed clicks, crackles and blips that I didn't hear before. They happen on both my PC and my iPod. They didn't happen with any of my previous headphones, suggesting it's a problem with the headphones, but they happen identically at consistent points in songs, suggesting it's a problem with the audio files. It's possible it's a headphone anomaly that only affects specific sound patterns, but it's also possible the artifacts were just outside the frequency range of my old headphones. Any ideas as to where the problem is and what to do about it? (This doesn't include the stuttering and stuck-record-like behaviour that happens on the PC if enough other programs are running.) NeonMerlin 18:10, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

I got a pair of fancy noise-cancelling headphones, and noticed a lot of new things. Try the usual things of getting the best feed you can. Even to the point of buying a cd! --Zeizmic 21:04, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Find a friend with a good quality stereo reciever and CD player. Pop in a CD. Listen to it on the speakers. Listen to it on your old headphones. Listen to it on your new headphones. Try this with a couple other CDs. If you hear the popping consistantly across discs on those headphones and no others, it might be a bad pair. If they only happen on certain discs, then it's probably just noise in the original recording that you can't normally hear on speakers or cheap headphones. -- Kesh 21:36, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

How loud are these artifacts you're hearing? Sounds like a bad cable, shorting out. Droud 23:46, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't know about blips, but crackles could be due to clipping. Replay Gain could be the answer. --Kjoonlee 12:43, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Combining split files in Windows

I had to split up a big file to transfer it, so I used the linux command split. Now I'm on a windows computer (alas, I miss my shell), and I wish to reassemble it. Is there any smart way to do it. It would be trivial to do with some coding, but since I'm not on my own computer, I'd prefer that I'd not install anything. Anyone got any tips? Oskar 18:13, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

That is, it would be trivial to do a little programming, but I'd prefer not to install a big compiler or IDE or anything. If there is a program for just this purpose, I wouldn't mind installing that :) Oskar 18:22, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Use cygwin to get a bash console on your windows box. --h2g2bob 18:44, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, you see, when I said that I didn't want to install anything to major, I include cygwin in that :) Come on, there has to be a way... Oskar 19:02, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

From a cmd prompt, do:

copy chunk1+chunk2[+.....] destination

Cheers, Davidprior 20:49, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. Oskar 22:15, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

If you're dealing with binary files, copy /b first + second + third bigfile might be a better idea. --Kjoonlee 12:41, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

General Linux Questions...

Alrighty, so here's the thing: I'm a native Windows user, and I've gotten to know just about everything there is to know about Microsoft's OS, except programming, mind you.

I've always found Linux intriguing, though, and had a few questions about it. Please excuse my lack of knowledge on the subject, but I've never really gone deeper than seeing what it looks like. And I did read the article, but it just went over my head as a bunch of computer gibberish that I really don't understand.

• Will Linux run Windows and Apple software, i.e., FireFox, iTunes, games, and word documents, or will I have to download them separately to make them Linux-compatible?
• Is there a form of it that basically mirrors Windows, so I won't have to learn how to use a computer all over again?
• Which version is the most popular?
• If I use a live CD, will it wipe my Windows-based hardrive and install Linux-type stuff on it, or will it override Windows and just show me how Linux works?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.--Wikify me, captain! 21:19, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

• • Windows, yes, sort of. You have to install a program like WINE to fool the program into thinking it's running on windows.
  • Nope. There are graphical interfaces that are similar, but you're going to have to learn some new things to get around and take care of your system.
  • ... yikes, what a loaded question. Right now, Ubuntu is gaining popularity, but Debian and RedHat are well-known. I'm sure someone else will pipe up with their favorite distro shortly. Check out List of Linux distributions for a pretty large list.
  • Live CDs don't touch your hard drive at all. The entire OS will run from the CD/DVD and let you play around with the interface. If you finally decide to install it, the installer will generally create a seperate partition on your drive for Linux, letting you Dual boot into either Windows or Linux when you want. -- Kesh 21:44, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

• A few points on the above reply:
  • If you're running Linux on an Intel-based computer, you can run many Windows programs using WINE, almost all old DOS games using Dosbox, and all Macintoh apps for the ancient 68k CPU using Basilisk II.
  • The GUI that is most similar to Windows is KDE.
  • For a beginner who wants a Windows-like interface, I'd recommend a Kubuntu live CD.
  • Not only do live CDs not touch your hard drive, they often make it hard to find your hard drive at all.

--Carnildo 22:17, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

• A few comments on the above points
  • x86 or x64 CPUs, namely Intel and AMD ones, work with WINE. "Intel-based" is a little confusing.
  • KDE is fairly close to Winders. However, to be honest the largest commonality is that the bar starts on the bottom of the screen, as well as the default style being somewhat bubbly. As a Windows user, I found it wasn't really any more comfortable than GNOME or Xfce, though I gravitated towards it at first because of said small superficial things
  • ..., though you may want to try out a plain Ubuntu live CD (Kubuntu = Ubuntu + KDE), or the countless other LiveCDs to see how the different desktop environments compare; rewritable CDs/DVDs wouldn't be a bad idea ;). Coming from Windows I prefer Ubuntu and GNOME, but it could just be me.
  • I don't know that they make it hard to find, but they definitely don't touch it unless you ask. Just be sure you don't choose the option to install the CD

-- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 23:26, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Ah, some very, very informative stuff here! Thanks, all, it's greatly appreciated. --Wikify me, captain! 23:31, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Another note: YOu mentioned Firefox and Word documents. There is a version of Firefox that is compiled specifically for Linux - so you don't have to run the Windows version of Firefox on Linux. Also, AbiWord and Open Office both open, edit, and save most Word documents fine. When you get those weird ones where the author tries to use every trick in the Word menu, you'll run into trouble. --Kainaw ^(talk) 23:39, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Cool. I'm downloading the live CD of Kubuntu now to try on my computer. --Wikify me, captain! 23:54, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

A brief comment on WINE - it runs a lot of windows stuff, but not all. However, there are free versions of pretty much everything you could want (ie MS Office → OpenOffice.org; MSN → GAIM; iTunes → Songbird (sort of); PaintShop → GIMP; and so on). These are also available for Windows, so you could get to know them on either OS. Personally, I recommend knoppix over ubuntu, but there's not much difference. --h2g2bob 02:06, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

A much better substitute for iTunes is amaroK. It's a fantastic music player, as good or even better than iTunes Oskar 10:46, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

By the way, Linux will be a much better experience if you learn to program in perl or bash or something --froth^T 23:54, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Just a comment, but I seem to recall reading about Linux distros intended to mimic (at least in appearance and feel) Windows. Couldn't find on List of Linux distributions, though. Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 07:13, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

It used to be called Lindows. After getting sued to death by Micro$oft, they changed the name to Linspire. --Kainaw ^(talk) 11:22, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Re-answering your questions (being very strict about naming):

• Yes, for Windows software, using WINE.
• No, because Windows is an operating system, and Linux is a kernel.
• Umm, go to kernel.org for the latest version.
• To see how Linux works, please buy a book on Linux.

Also, Linspire is extremely non-free. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 01:18, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Also it sucks --froth^T 20:01, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Organizing music

I have a messy collection of mp3's many of them have incomplete or incorect id3 tags full of links and other useless info. i heard u can use iTunes to automatically rename and re id3-tag your mp3 collection (retrieving info from a database). How do you do this!!!??

• Hit control+A
• Right click
• And go to the id3 tags option (sorry, I forgot exactly what it says)

And there you go! --Wikify me, captain! 23:57, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

January 20

smallest ext2 partition

I have to test my ramdisk driver on Linux. The ramdisk has to be formatted to ext2. However, I cannot find the SMALLEST size of an ext2 partition, so I cannot set the lower limit of my ramdisk's size.

Does anyone know the the smallest possible size of an ext2 partition? Many thanks. --Computor 00:21, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

61440 bytes (60 KiB). Don't take my word for it, though. –EdC 10:12, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

I've done a few tests (dd if=/dev/zero of=virtual_drive.img bs=1024 count=n && mke2fs -F virtual_drive.img), and I get a "Not enough space to build proposed filesystem while setting up superblock" error for $n<60$, while it does work for $n=60$. Further testing reveals that it works for 61440 bytes, but fails for 61439 bytes. This is without any additional options provided to mke2fs, so it may be possible to get that number lower by using other options. I can't imagine what use a sub-60k ramdisk would be, but that doesn't mean you don't have your reasons for wanting one. grendel|khan 23:06, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Adding an SWF into a FLA

I am making a Flash game using Flash 8 and I have the code and everything of my game in a .FLA file. I have the music and sound of my game in a seperate .SWF file. Is there anyway that I can combine the .SWF into the .FLA, and publish them as a single .SWF file, making it easier to upload and host onto website? Thanks. Jamesino 02:57, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Export your FLA to an SWF using Flash. You can also import the resources movie into your FLA before exporting it to SWF. Droud 13:38, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Podcasts going into my music library in iTunes

I just recently subscribed to a couple of podcasts, and things were going swimmingly. Then, a few days ago, for no discernible reason, all the songs in my iTunes library disappeared. That wasn't a problem as I had all the songs backed up elsewhere on my hard drive. Anyway, afterwards, my podcasts were still listed in the podcast section of iTunes, but whenever I sync up my iPod, the podcast ends up with all the songs in my library in my iPod. I've tried unsubscribing and resubscribing, but, nothing doing. Any suggestions? --Jeffrey O. Gustafson - Shazaam! - <*> 11:44, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Are you saying that all of your podcasts are ending up in the main library, in addition to the special podcast section of iTunes? Try this: select "podcast" from the genre picks, and remove all of the podcasts from the library (not from the hard-drive though!). Do they all comeback next time you sync? Oskar 17:03, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

No, the podcast ends up only in the library. There is absolutely nothing in the podcast section of my iPod. --Jeffrey O. Gustafson - Shazaam! - <*> 18:50, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

WIN Xp RegisterEdit

pl guide me how to disable registerEdit of window Xp???? thankyou!! 219.64.188.92 17:36, 20 January 2007 (UTC)chandan

A Quick google search [7] gave this result [8]. Cheers, Davidprior 18:45, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Had a bit more of a look - the link above probably isn't what you're after...however searching for "policy prevent access to registry" gave something more useful [9]. One thing I'm unsure of though is whether the group policy editor is available in all versions of XP, or only Pro (I can't test as I trashed my XP MCE install and due to HP not giving me master discs for it, I'm now running the evaluation version of Vista instead). Cheers, Davidprior 19:47, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Custom Packet

I need to create a custom packet to test out my home network. How can I do this? My computers are running Mac OSX and Ubuntu Linux (6.10). Thanks in advance!--Ryan 20:15, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like you could use packETH [[10]]. 75.138.84.159 22:02, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, but are there any that run under Mac OSX? Linux is my "last resort" OS, I use it when all else fails. And it would be nice if I didn't have to compile it, although I know how. Thanks! --Ryan 00:45, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Most anything that will run under Linux will run under BSD, as OSX was derived from BSD. You shouldn't have any trouble running packeth. Droud 13:41, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Well it won't build for me...--Ryan 15:56, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

And why not... --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 01:24, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I'll show you: (built on Mac OSX 10.4.8)

ryan:~/desktop/packETH-1.3 (myusername)$ make gcc -g -O2 -Wall -Wunused -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-declarations -I/usr/include/gtk-1.2 -I/usr/include/glib-1.2 -I/usr/lib/glib/include -c main.c main.c:30:21: error: gtk/gtk.h: No such file or directory In file included from main.c:32: interface.h:5: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:5: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_window1' interface.h:5: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:6: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:6: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_fileselection1' interface.h:6: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:7: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:7: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_fileselection2' interface.h:7: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:8: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:8: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_sel1_dialog' interface.h:8: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:9: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:9: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_interface_dialog' interface.h:9: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:10: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:10: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_error_dialog' interface.h:10: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:11: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:11: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_udp_payload_dialog' interface.h:11: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:12: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:12: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_fileselection3' interface.h:12: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:13: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:13: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_about_dialog' interface.h:13: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:14: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:14: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_tos_dialod' interface.h:14: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:15: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:15: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_fragmentation_dialog' interface.h:15: warning: data definition has no type or storage class In file included from main.c:33: support.h:21: error: parse error before '*' token support.h:21: error: parse error before '*' token support.h:22: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'lookup_widget' support.h:22: warning: data definition has no type or storage class support.h:28: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'gchar' support.h:28: error: parse error before '*' token support.h:36: error: parse error before '*' token support.h:36: error: parse error before '*' token support.h:37: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_pixmap' support.h:37: warning: data definition has no type or storage class main.c: In function 'main': main.c:38: error: 'GtkWidget' undeclared (first use in this function) main.c:38: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once main.c:38: error: for each function it appears in.) main.c:38: error: 'window1' undeclared (first use in this function) main.c:41: warning: implicit declaration of function 'g_thread_init' main.c:41: error: 'NULL' undeclared (first use in this function) main.c:43: warning: implicit declaration of function 'gtk_set_locale' main.c:44: warning: implicit declaration of function 'gtk_init' main.c:55: warning: implicit declaration of function 'gtk_widget_show' main.c:57: warning: implicit declaration of function 'gdk_threads_enter' main.c:58: warning: implicit declaration of function 'gtk_main' main.c:59: warning: implicit declaration of function 'gdk_threads_leave' make: *** [main.o] Error 1 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Rgrasell (talk • contribs) 17:35, 22 January 2007 (UTC).

Install the GTK headers. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 22:37, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Hard Disc Discrepancies

Hey Wikipedia-ites.

I've been doing computer upgrades and such, and I'm finally getting things back in order. My 250 GB (Or, 250 billion byte) hard drive, is read by Windows as 232 Gigabytes, because of the inconsistencies between Byte = 1024 and Byte = 1000. However, when I rightclick on the properties of my hard drive, it reads 36.5 Gigabytes, (39 billion bytes) used. When I go into the stuff saved on the C-Drive, apply "View all system files", and Ctrl-A and check the properties of the C drive, it SHOULD technically be 36.5 Gigabytes, am I right? However, the C-Drive components read to windows as 31.7 Gigabytes in size (Or, 34 billion bytes). Where in the heck are my other 5 billion bytes going? Formatting issues or some sort of rootkit, I just don't know. Any help? User:Logical2u_Talk 23:07, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

When you pressed CTRL+A, did you also select the hidden files? If not, you can view the hidden files by going into Control Panel>Folder Options and checking it off. Jamesino 23:25, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

I believe I did so: I had the page file "file" selected, so I'm pretty sure. Also, with the hidden files Ctrl-A'd, the size went up 4 gigabytes to the data I gave above. User:Logical2u_Talk 23:34, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Also there's an option (at least in WinXP) to "Hide protected operating system files", did you uncheck that? —Mitaphane _talk 23:58, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, that hides the Page File (Which I saw and added to the original total I posted). User:Logical2u_Talk 00:14, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Are you reading "Size" or "Size on disk"? FS overhead can take a lot of space if you have a large number of files --froth^T 23:51, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Size and Size on Disk for my C drive are within 100 megabytes of each other. User:Logical2u_Talk 00:14, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

You don't have a recovery partition, do you?

Unless it's completely invisible or not a partition. My C-Drive appears to be completely unpartitioned (250 billion/giga bytes =232 Gigabytes in Windows byte notation). The data thats being used has to be somewhere on the C-Drive itself, but completely invisible. If the partition can be inside the disc itself without actually being a partition, maybe. User:Logical2u_Talk 11:00, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Upon reading the Recovery Partition article, that may be the case, but 1. My system is custom made (ish, had XP installed along with the parts by a company), and 2. there are no bytes missing for the C-Drive, they are within the C-Drive, if that's possible for the recovery partition to do. User:Logical2u_Talk 11:05, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Are you counting the filesystem structures like the MFT and the journal? Are you counting the ADS (which AFAIK are not counted by explorer)? --cesarb 01:37, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Ok, now it's past the point I understand. I don't know. Properties of C-Drive, then "View all System Files", go inside C-drive, Ctrl-A, properties, and comparing the size of the files in it and the space taken up on the C-Drive. Do these ADS, MFT, and Journal things commonly take up a lot of space? User:Logical2u_Talk 20:26, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't know how much space they usually take up (and I do not have a Windows system nearby to take a look). I know that structures like the MFT and the journal aren't counted when you look at the size of all files, but they take space; I don't know whether the way you did count the ADS sizes (but I think it doesn't). You could try running some utilities from Sysinternals to check; try NTFSInfo to check for the filesystem structures, and Streams to check the ADS sizes (be careful with the second one; it has an option to erase alternate streams). --cesarb 20:24, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Likely solved.

Turns out System Restore files are saved in a folder that forbids you from viewing the size for it. (_{Restore points are saved in under x:\system volume information\_restore{558C94FD-3C7F-4954-A02D-26679E6D849E}. Each restore point's files are saved in a folder named RPXX where XX is a two digit number corresponding to the restore point.}) Systme Volume Information is completely hidden from XP Home users sight, even the size is hidden (Right click its properties and Size = 0 bytes)! I have a system restore point practically every three days, so the 5 gigabytes is likely lurking in that folder I am not able to access. User:Logical2u_Talk 22:25, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Try Disk Usage from Sysinternals then; it might show you the true size of that directory (or might not, but it's worth a try). --cesarb 01:29, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

January 21

Intel Xeon vs Core 2

Which of the two processor families is faster, Intel Xeon or Intel Core 2. EDIT: for PC'sJamesino 00:00, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

That's an impossible question to answer without knowing what metric/scale you're using the measure them. Do you mean raw frequency? Time to execute a standard process? General usage? 68.39.174.238 02:28, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

With the intel stuff price is generally a decent guide, whatever us newer and faster will be more expensive. Vespine 05:56, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Xeons for servers and Core 2s for PCs? If so, if you're getting a PC processor, Core 2 is the way to go. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 20:03, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Even knowing the metric, it's impossible to measure. Typically, a Xeon is a version of a desktop processor with a larger cache and circuitry for multi-processing, so you need to know the model the Xeon was based on. --Carnildo 22:58, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

PC vs Workstation

Whats the major difference between a personal computer and a workstation?

Are workstations just more powerful versions of PC's?

Can a workstation do everything a PC can do?

Generally are workstations lots louder and hotter (temperature) than PC's?

Also, what is the fastest computer (non-mac) that everyday consumers can buy from major computer corporations?

Thanks. Jamesino 00:16, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

I believe the definition of Workstation comes from the UNIX world, where one would normally have a dumb text terminal connected to a UNIX server in the basement. If you're lucky, you had an X-terminal connected to the server. But if you were really lucky, you had a complete unix machine on your desktop, with a monitor, input devices, and sufficient graphics; it would be called a workstation (in comparison to a terminal or a server).

By that definition, a workstation is probably quieter and runs cooler than a server.

As for a comparison to PCs, I don't think those comparisons make sense anymore. In today usage, nearly any PC could be considered a workstation. However, the word is usually reserved for machines with specialized hardware, like larger monitors, graphics tablets, etc.

For your second question, I wouldn't even try to answer. There are too many dimensions. I could point you to the fastest clock-speed processor, but clock-speed doesn't necessarily equal speed in a generic sense.

Sorry to give you two non-answers, there... --Mdwyer 00:25, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

They're difficult to compare nowadays. Workstations are intended for complex technical tasks (in a factory, or laboratory for example) and will usually be part of a network, whereas PCs are general purpose standalone machines. The power of both depends upon the intended task. They aren't really that much different, some workstations will have features useless to a home user (Mass spectrometer any use to you?) or might lack features useless to a technical user (what use would a chemist have for a high-end sound system?). What exactly do you intend to do? For general home computing (typing, emailing, web browsing, etc) which is fairly undemanding, Dell et al are alright; for gaming, which is extremely demanding, try Alienware. I'd expect a workstation to run hotter and louder than a mid-range PC, but a gaming PC to be hotter and noisier than a workstation. The fastest PC is a hard call to make, it doesn't stay as any one model for long as competitors move to outdo eachother. Again, Alienware springs to mind, they are the first high-end manufacturer I can think of. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 01:02, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

If you wanted to trick out your box with strictly consumer components, go for:

• • The highest-clock-speed core 2 duo you can find or a couple of Itanium 2s.
  • As much DDR SDRAM as your mobo will support
  • Two GeForce 7900 GTXs in an SLI configuration
  • A redundant RAID 1 array of 15k RPM SCSI hard drives

--froth^T 02:44, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Specifying "Non-Mac" is now rather moot if your asking about the fastest PC. Macs now use the upper end Intel CPUs, (Macs will soon have the Quad-4 Intel CPUs), and can run Windows natively. So if one wanted the fastest "PC" it currently could very well be the fastest Mac Pro machine running Windows. With a Mac Pro one gets everything, a very, very fast PC, a very, very fast Mac, and with the upcoming version of OSX 10.4.9 Leopard, a certified UNIX machine also. (Presuming OS 10.4.9 Leopard passes the upcoming UNIX certification test of the Open Group.) Zeno333 02:49, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

It's also moot since you can't build a custom mac, and so you don't have access to performance components --froth^T 03:09, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

The original poster was asking about computers made by companies, not building their own. Buying a Mac Pro Tower and specifying among different video card and hard drive components etc available from Apple would be no different than doing the same thing at Dell for example, or any of the many PC companies out there. Again, its moot to rule out the Mac Pro among PCs when searching for the fastest PC. One can rule it out after one finds a PC that may be faster, but to rule it out from the start has no merit. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Zeno333 (talk • contribs) 07:55, 21 January 2007 (UTC).

Certain components like (I believe) the Core 2 Duo Extreme Edition are only available if you build your computer yourself or order it from a specialty retailer; apple doesn't carry it. Also the latest graphics card technology like the geforce 7950 and radeon x1950 is unavailable from apple. Since apple doesn't allow you to customize your machine (and no, selecting a build from their ordering website isn't what I'm talking about), the best tech isn't available to these closed systems. That's why I discounted macs --froth^T 08:36, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

I do not know what you mean by Apple not allowing one to customize beyond the order options since one can add a variety of video cards easily after a purchase of a Mac Pro. Maybe the x1950 is a little bit faster than the x1900 which is available from Apple, but many high end video cards can easily be added to a Mac Pro after the person buys one from Apple. And as new cards come out they are also available if one chooses. Zeno333 10:30, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Apples aren't impossible to customize. However keep in mind that most people don't want to ever have to open up their computer and are terribly scared of doing so X [Mac Davis] (DESK|How's my driving?) 10:41, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Are you sure? I'm fairly sure that apple doesn't look kindly on any hardware that they don't directly support (anything that you couldn't get from the factory anyway) and there's practically no driver support --froth^T 19:57, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

They don't "look kindly" on it for certain features, but otherwise it's possible. On the latest Macs the CPU, RAM, hard drive, optical drive and (on towers) expansion slots are all upgradable. It might void your warranty for some parts (CPU, naturally), but it can be done. -- Kesh 22:55, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Vista high-def DRM

I hear that Vista's graphics drivers will refuse to play high-definition protected content (from HD-DVDs and Blu-Ray disks) if your monitor doesn't support HDMI handshaking or if you use unsigned drivers. I'm pretty darn mad at this stupid situation and don't want my computer's functionality restricted in any way.. is there any way to disable these content protection drivers from the get-go and just live without watching protected content? --froth^T 02:37, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't have the answer, but this type of intrusion is why some people are going to Linux and dropping Bill Gates' junk. StuRat 04:51, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't knw either, but Mac OSX 10.5's DVD player app is supposed to play HD DVD and Blu-ray, so maybe you should become a switcher? I was, and I'm happy! :)--Ryan 04:58, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

If it can decrypt the streams then it's either participating in the HDCP transaction or alternatively accepting a much lower-quality stream, exactly as all drivers will behave. Same applies to linux, unless we find some way to get around it (like VLC bruteforcing CSS keys to play DVDs). It's not windows's fault for supporting the technology as much as it is the studios' fault for demanding support. Then again if windows refused to support DRM then studios wouldn't have much of a market... --froth^T 06:00, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

HD Digital Restrictions Management (which is AACS encryption I think) needs to be on every bit of hardware you want to use it on. That means it is needed on the HD-DVD drive (which should have it), the operating system (ie vista only), the graphics card (both HDCP and HDMI are needed) and the monitor (HDCP+HDMI again). If any of these are missing, you should get "fuzzy" pictures, about DVD quality.

The problem is that all those monitors saying "HD ready" actually only refer to HDMI only and not necessarily HDCP, so a "HD ready" monitor might not work at full quality with HD-DVD. However they will work at full quality with the HD-DVD downloads on bittorrent. Ironic really.

I think that's right (correct me if I'm wrong!) More here: anti-microsoft and pro-microsoft. --h2g2bob 06:06, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

That's because the torrents are just rips of the HD-DVDs (and I have no idea how they manage to rip it) that are encoded with xvid or h.264 or whatever. There's nothing to decrypt on your end. But my original question still stands: is there any way for me to force vista to recognize my drivers as compromised so it'll unconditionally refuse to validate for HDCP? --froth^T 08:43, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

First off, you make some mistakes in you initial assumption. They will play, even if your monitor doesn't support HDCP, they will just downscale it so the graphics isn't as great. Second, they might not even do that. All such policies (downscaling, key-revokation, etc.) are completely voluntary things, and so far the content industry hasn't done any of it (I think they're afraid of getting sued if they did).

To answer your question, why would you want to? If you don't want to play HD-content on your computer, why not just not play them, why in the world would want vista to think you're a hacker? Doesn't make any sense... However, if you really wanted to, for no apparent reason, then you should....well.... start soldering on your graphics card or something, that would activate the tilt bit I think. Oskar 10:11, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

As for how they ripped, that's not hard really. The spec for AACS is public (there is no reason for it not to be) so if you have the keys, you can just decrypt them. Keys are given proprietary DVD/HDDVD/BluRay programs, so they are able to play the discs. Since they have to be stored somewhere in main memory, if you look hard enough you might find 128 bits that seems to be accessed alot. And, bam!, you now have AACS-keys. This is, however, not an ideal system. DeCSS actually cracked DVDs (good on ya, Jon!) so you don't need any keys. Not so now. Presumably people will become better at hiding their keys in main memory, and then it will be harder. Oskar 10:19, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

AACS was already cracked. It's very likely that software like VLC Media Player and mplayer will be able to play HD-DVD and BRD content regardless of Vista's built-in content protection. What you should be worried about is the new licensing, designed to make you purchase a new copy of Vista when you upgrade your motherboard or processor! Droud 13:46, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Not true. DVDs uses a single key, and that was cracked. AACS uses different keys for different players. It is not cracked, but the key for DivX Player has been discovered. Future disks that are printed will not allow this key, and the DivX software will be updated, fixing this issue. See http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/ for a long discussion of how AACS works and what has and has not been cracked. Frankly, I don't see VLC supporting HD-DVDs any time soon - VLC currently does not support any DRM except CSS. --h2g2bob 16:08, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

The reason I want to do it is because I belive my new monitor may support HDCP (and it's hooked up through DVI). I don't want to accidently open protected content and have it work; I refuse to use any kind of DRMed media whatsoever. Also I'm not going to try to flip the tilt bit; I don't want to damage my computer.. I didn't know that nobody has actually implemented downscaling yet, but I don't mind a blank screen instead of downscaled media. --froth^T 20:18, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

That's a pretty hard-ass stance to take, but you have to respect a genuine boycott I guess :). In that case I have a suggestion: as we all know HD-DVD/BluRay content is seriously encrypted, and you need the keys to play them. The keys are provided in software players, like PowerDVD or WinDVD. You can't play content unless you have these products installed, so you could simply uninstall them (I presume that they came with your computer if you have a next-gen DVD drive). That would ensure your DRM-safety. I'm not sure if Windows Media Player can play AACS content out of the box, but since it can't play DVDs out of the box (you have to download plugins that contains the CSS keys), I'm assuming it can't. You could uninstall that too though, if you are unsure. That, or just run Linux all the time :D Oskar 00:51, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, just checked Comparison of media players and apparently WMP can't play HD-DVD or BluRay, so no worries there. Oskar 00:53, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I thought Vista will provide this support in the graphics drivers. --froth^T 00:56, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Also, I don't think it's that radical of a position. Most content protection is easily cracked. --froth^T 00:59, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I can't say that I'm 100% sure about how exactly this all works (I ain't reading that spec!), but if it only encrypted it in the graphics driver, it would be fairly easy to crack. I mean, software could pretend to be an authorized AACS player, or it could just snoop on the stream of bits coming from the driver. Also, the dude that was able to rip the HD-DVD movies got his keys from PowerDVD, so it has some sort of keys. What is happening, I think, is that the graphics driver peels of one layer of encryption and passes it on to the software, which peels of an other layer and reveals the data. That way, if either the driver or the software turned out to be "hackable" the content guys could revoke either one. Oskar 01:11, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

No matter how good the encryption is it had to be decrypted before finally representing on screen. Doesn't matter if it's screen capture software or capturing the raw signal to LCD panels after decrypting from HDCP in the monitor some people are going to get a legit copy, find a way to capture the stream, and will "share" it on the net. It is something unavoidable by nature. --antilived^{T | C | G} 10:25, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

The point is that without compromising the encryption in some way (like those guys did with the powerdvd/divx player keys), you'd literally have to break open the monitor and salvage the embedded components and recapture the image- and like resampling audio it would result in a loss of image data. And don't forget the tilt bit, which would certainly activate if you're messing around with contacts in the monitor controllers. But come on, someone answer my actual question already -_- --froth^T 17:09, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I thought I just did!! Just uninstall the Hi-Def content software, and that way you could never watch any AACS-encoded shit! Oskar 18:30, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Uninstall the graphics drivers? o_O --froth^T 19:36, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

No, not the graphics driver (you need that for games and aero and stuff) or the HD-DVD driver (although that probably wont be used for anything except movies for a few years), the player software. PowerDVD or WinDVD, or whatever you have. That software has the keys necessary to play AACS content. If you uninstall them, you can't play AACS content, you haven't got the keys. Simple as that. Oskar 20:36, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Again, doesn't vista provide stream decryption transparently through the drivers, so the player doesn't even necessarily have to know it's protected content? --froth^T 13:13, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

OK then, here goes... I hear that Vista's graphics drivers will refuse to play high-definition protected content (from HD-DVDs and Blu-Ray disks) if your monitor doesn't support HDMI handshaking or if you use unsigned drivers. That's right, except it will play at a downscaled rate (about the same as a DVD). That is, it won't just black-screen. This only affects the window with HD-DVD content and not anything else playing at the same time, according to Microsoft (see the pro-ms link i posted above). I'm pretty darn mad at this stupid situation and don't want my computer's functionality restricted in any way.. Damn right, that's why I use Linux :D is there any way to disable these content protection drivers from the get-go and just live without watching protected content? The content protection only kicks in for protected content, but there's no way I know of to disable it. But if you're looking for a media player which simply doesn't play DRM'd media then there's always VLC. --h2g2bob 18:16, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I know about the downscaling, and I know that it only affects the secure content window. The content protection only kicks in for protected content, but there's no way I know of to disable it. I guess I'll have to wait, maybe someone will find the flip bit and write a program to change it manually. If that's even possible- I don't like windows moving towards this extreme memory protection; admins should be able to flip any bit they darn well please. But if you're looking for a media player which simply doesn't play DRM'd media then there's always VLC. VLC isn't modular enough for my tastes. Programs should do one thing and do them well- i.e. query a directshow decoder and display the stream of decoded video. I don't like how it's compiled with libavcodec and all of those other codecs, although I can't deny that it's a very utilitarian system --froth^T 19:36, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Vista upgrade?

Ah, again with the Windows Vista mish mash. I don't quite understand this upgrade business. Under Wikipedia's article for this operating system, it shows the price listings for all the different versions (Home, Home Premium, Ultimate, etc.), but there are two columns for prices. The first shows retail prices, and the second shows upgrade prices. What is the "upgrade"? There's an $80 difference between the two, and I want to see if I can't nab the cheaper upgrade. Is it upgrading from XP? From a lower version of Vista?--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 02:43, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

The upgrade version is for if you have Windows 2000 (32-bit), Windows XP (32-bit), Windows Media Center Edition, and maybe Windows Server 2003, not sure about that one. The upgrade edition is just like the normal edition except it can perform an in-place upgrade- that is, you can keep all of your data and programs installed. Don't do this though, it's highly inefficient and you won't get very good performance out of your computer- also there are several caveats and you can't always perform an in-place upgrade depending on what version of Windows you had and what edition of Vista you're upgrading to. Also if you get the upgrade edition, then install a full clean upgrade (not an in-place upgrade) you might need to put in your XP cd during installation to prove that you actually have XP (if you don't have an XP cd because you got it on your computer preinstalled then it shouldn't ask you). The "full" vista license doesn't have any of these restrictions but you can't perform an in-place upgrade. Also it costs a lot more. Personally I bought the upgrade edition. --froth^T 03:03, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Cool, thanks! How do I figure out if I have 32-bit XP? And about installation...I should save all of my documents and...exactly what else? I'm so clueless in such large parts of computer information...:|--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 23:49, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Before installing Vista, get all your personal files, any saved-games, important cookies, emails, photos, and other stuff (Installer files for patches, antivirus?), onto a separate partition/hard drive. Secondly, almost all Windows XP copies owned (So I've heard) are 32 bit. It's labelled as x86, I believe, in comparison to x64. If I'm not mistaken, msconfig might read it, under the system tab... maybe. User:Logical2u_Talk 00:02, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Great, thanks a bundle!--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 00:39, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Also, even if you have a 64-bit processor like the Core 2 Duos or an AMD 64, you should get the 32 bit version of windows. 64 bit operating systems have serious compatability problems with non-native-compiled code (most applications). --froth^T 00:41, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

And as for what you should back up... keep in mind that you will lose everything during a clean upgrade so the simple rule is "if you want it, back it up". Just FYI, this is a checklist of what I'm backing up:

1. All of my music
2. All of my video
3. Several isos that I wouldn't be able to redownload until I return home for spring break
4. All of my roms and classic games (like BOWEP)
5. All of my programming work that's not mirrored on my school's red hat servers (mostly php & database stuff)
6. Various useful and hard-to-find programs that I don't want to lose: ffmpeg CLI, mptrim, pwdump3, mdcrack/john, hymn
7. A list of programs I have installed now that I'll need to find post-install: firefox, thunderbird, inkscape, vandalproof, putty/winSCP, etc
8. Old homework

Now would also be a good time to start collecting various CDs that you'll need to reinstall a lot of your programs. I've had to track down Office and visual studio. --froth^T 00:55, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Ahhhh... It's been so long since I have to worry about backing up and reinstalling... God bless Linux and cron and rdiff-backup... :p --antilived^{T | C | G} 10:19, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

VLC + Quicktime Interactive Movie

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone knows if there is any way to get VLC to correctly play quicktime interactive movies, such as those produced by keynote? VLC will play them straight through and not play each section upon a mouse click as it should.

Thanks for any help in advance,

--195.137.67.86 14:04, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

It's probably just not supported. VLC sees everything as "just a video" with very few exceptions. --h2g2bob 16:12, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Sharing...?

After setting up a new hardrive and making it a shared drive by checking the "Share this folder on the network" checkbox and the "Allow network users to change my files" checkbox for the drive share name Windows XP will still not allow new subfolders to be created in existing folders on the drive even their share name has also been given permission for sharing through the same process as for the drive. Old subfolders, however, can be accessed if their share name is given specific permission through the process above. How do I get permission to apply to both old subfolders and for new folders for the wholde drive? -- Barringa 14:19, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

When you connect, what username/password do you give it? Is that account able to create new folders there normally? 68.39.174.238 16:04, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

He shouldnt need to give a user/pass if he did indeed use simple file sharing, and ticked the "Allow network users to change my files" box. Try going into the share properties, uncheck the "Allow" box, hit apply (itll change permissions, make take a bit), then when its done, re-check the "Allow" box again, and hit apply, (it'll again change permissions, which may again take some time), that should reset the permissions for every file on the drive, and hopefully allow what your trying to do, if it still doesn't work, you may need to use the advanced file sharing interface, which can be a pain. Cyraan 17:11, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Several cycles of sets and resets seems to have worked with some existing subfolders specifically allowed to be shared (hand included in the subfolder icon) and the rest not specifically allowed to be shared as subfolders (no hand included its icon) but shared none-the-less through only the drive share allowance finally working. Whew! Thanks. -- Barringa 05:43, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Advanced file sharing isn't that bad (Although the root shares can be annoying), however if it's working now with simple, there's no cause to break it again. 68.39.174.238 02:52, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

How do I connect to a network printer

I am trying to connect to the printers in my school. The catch is that I have XP and the printers do not show up with the add printer wizard. The Printers are HP Laserjets that are wired directly into the network. Ive heard that u just need the IP address, but how would i find those?

thanks in advance Omnipotence407 16:18, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Go to Control Panel->Printers and Faxes, go up to file, and select "Add Printer", hit next and you get to a screen where you have to choose whether the printer is hooked up locally (to your computer) or if its on the network printer, in your case, it'll obviously be a network one. Next you'll be brought to a screen that allows you to browse for it, or punch in an IP or URL for it. You can try to browsing for it, but if that doesnt work, check the second selection with Name under it, in there punch in the location and name of the printer in \\IP\PRINTERNAME format. Check the manual or printer settings to find these out, many printers now have build in DHCP, so you may be able to find it in the router settings, but its easier to set the printer to a static IP in its settings, that way it wont ever change on you. Example, if you set the printer to an IP of 192.168.1.10 and the name given in the manual/settings is HPLaserJ (Which it may be by default anyways) you would put \\192.168.1.10\HPLaserJ in the Name box. It should connect, ask if you want to set it as default, and then you should be good to go. Cyraan 17:04, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

As far as finding the printer's current IP address goes, is there some way of printing a test page, menu settings page or network settings page using the buttons (and possibly LCD screen) on the printer itself? These should show the IP (and maybe the printername too), but if the printer has DHCP turned on, enter \\hostname\printername, not \\ip\printername . Hope this helps, Davidprior 17:45, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

The usual way to print to HP LaserJets from Windows is to create a new TCP/IP port to print directly to it:

• go to Add Printer, click next
• select "Local printer attached to this computer", don't select "Automatically detect ...", click next
• select "Create a new port:", choose type "Standard TCP/IP Port", click next
• add port wizard comes up, click next
• enter IP address in the "Printer Name or IP Address" field
• Port Name is automatically filled in, leave that alone, click next
• sometimes, due to printer security, detection of the device may fail; if it does, choose Device Type -> Standard -> "Hewlett Packard Jet Direct"
• click next, click finish
• now you are at the choose manufacturer and model screen
• click "Windows Update"
• go do something else for at least 5 minutes
• when it's finished (when the Windows Update button comes back), choose Manufacturer "Hp" not "Hewlett-Packard", and for the Printer scroll down to :the appropriate "HP LaserJet xxxx PS" or "HP Color LaserJet xxxx PS" for black&white and color printers, respectively, where xxxx is the model number
• click next
• answer the questions on the next few screens (what you want to call the printer, whether it should be default, whether you want to share it, whether you want a test page, etc.)
• wait a few minutes for it to finish

--Spoon! 20:58, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

HP has a very useful "install network printer wizard" tool, which, if you have the printer's IP address, will do all the rest of the work of acquiring drivers and setting up the printer. I haven't used it in some time, but you can get a current version here. grendel|khan 23:13, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

HTML background image question

My mother is designing a web page for her friend. She wants to stop the background image from tiling, and preferably centre it on the user's browser window. I have searched the HTML standard and haven't found any way to do this. Is it possible with CSS stylesheets, for example? JIP | Talk 18:03, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

body {
 background-image: url("logoe-bg.png");
 background-attachment: fixed;
 background-repeat: no-repeat;
 background-position: center;
 background-color: white;
 color: black;
}

--Kjoonlee 18:18, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

You can also use url("http://www.example.com/img/logoe-bg.png");. --Kjoonlee 18:23, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Or just shorten the whole thing to

body { background: white url("logoe-bg.png") fixed no-repeat center center; color:black; } (replace colour keywords to shortened hex like #FFF is even shorter)--antilived^{T | C | G} 10:14, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Yep, but "center center" is equivalent to "center" AFAICT. --Kjoonlee 11:36, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Yea, just realised that, and also the path to the image doesn't need to to be quoted, and will actually break if used as inline style like that. --antilived^{T | C | G} 21:47, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Hmm.. When I tested it earlier with Firefox 2.x, quoted URLs worked in both cases. --Kjoonlee 19:59, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Try <body style="background: white url("logoe-bg.png") fixed no-repeat center; color:black;"> and it will break because the extra quotes can end the quote in the html tag prematurely and thus breaking it. Plus, quoting adress are useless as it is already done with the parentheses. --antilived^{T | C | G} 03:40, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I think you're meant to mix single quotes and double quotes if you're using the style attribute directly in the HTML code. --Kjoonlee 13:40, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes but it is qutie a common mistake, and why include something that does absolutely nothing? It is already escaped by the parentheses and quotes mean absolutely nothing in CSS. --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:07, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Nokia Phone ID

Can anyone remember the name of this phone? I know that it's a Nokia, but I can't remember the name. Many thanks!

--Fadders 20:52, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Looks like a Nokia 6310. --Canley 01:04, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

'Push' Email

A lot of mobile phones are using push email accounts. Can you point me toward a webstie that give details on setting one up? I have my own domain/email hosting and currently have Pop3 accounts, and would like to know more of what I am talking about when I contact my host.

Thanks! TrekBarnes 22:48, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

January 22

bug busters?

I've tried to make a Move-to-front transform implementation [11] [12] but weird things happen, such as producing a segfault when encoding large files such as /vmlinuz, and producing random printable (!!!) characters when decoding. The weird casts to uints and other strange things are my failed attempts to remove bugs. Can anyone spot any bugs? Thanks. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 01:45, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

The first major problem is that you haven't taken care of the fact that char can be, and frequently is, a signed type, representing values from -128 to 127. When you cast one of those to unsigned int, you don't get an unsigned int ranging from 0 to 255 but one ranging from 0 to 127 or UINT_MAX-127 to UINT_MAX. You should declare in_char and out_char as unsigned. The casts to unsigned int are not doing you any good at all, and if you hadn't used them you might have got some warnings from your compiler about using a possibly-signed char as an array subscript. (Or maybe you already saw that warning and decided to cover it up by casting... which is usually not the right thing to do).

The second problem is that the "list[0] = out_char;" update is not reflected in the reverse list. Follow it with "list_reverse_lookup_table[out_char]=0;" and then it works OK. (In my working test version out_char is an unsigned char.) --Tcsetattr 06:09, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Cool, it works now! :):):) Thanks a lot. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 07:04, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

BTW, do you use GNU/Linux, Mac, or Windows? (or, which OS do you use?) --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 07:11, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Debian stable --Tcsetattr 08:15, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Downloading from websites.

What "kind" of website is www.nsaneproductions.com/ ? I don't mean "illegal download site", as even if it is that, most of those sites are covered in porn and desperately peddle spyware. Plus they try to sell sign ups. So, is this website unique?

If it isn't illegal then why not? I thought that the whole idea of modern day piracy was that being a "peer-to-peer" prog/site meant that the creators of said program/website, can't be blamed because it's the users who take responsibility? The only other sites I know are ones like download.com, which offer trial versions or freeware etc.

I'm not making any statement as to whether such a website is a good thing, nor am I anything to do with it. CrazyFoolMrT 02:28, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

From just a quick glance over, it looks like a site dedicated to information about P2P programs or other programs and information related to piracy. That in it self, is not illegal. In many places, piracy is illegal, however, providing information about tools used for piracy is not illegal. Read more information about copyright to understand what is and isn't legal under copyright laws. This, of course, will vary based on where you live. —Mitaphane _talk 06:31, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

It looks like a portal for news and information about various software projects. This does include p2p software projects, amonget many other types. Talking about p2p software is not illegal - just look at Wikipedia! In fact, even p2p software isn't illegal in itself - p2p is just a way of sharing files. Those files may be copyrighted, in which case the uploader and downloader are committing copyright infringement. But some files are fine to copy, for example Elephant's Dream, LiveCDs and low quality tracks from Magnatune can be (and are!) distributed legally through bittorrent software. --h2g2bob 17:57, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Also IIRC World of Warcraft patches are only officially distributed through bittorrent (though the Blizzard Updater client, though it's easy enough to just extract the torrent and download it with a traditional client) --froth^T 19:26, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm aware that P2P info is legal, as are P2P programs (that they avoid issues by placing liability upon the end-user). But, this is a site which offers the installer (exe files) for a number of programs which would otherwise cost money to purchase. For other programs they offer a crack or a keygen to upgrade to a non free version. This includes P2P progs, but it also offers many other programs along with there cracks and keygens, i.e. Nero, Sygate, Winzip, AVG Antispyware. These are programs which, through sites like download.com, offer only a period of free time. Also on the forums there are download links offering the installers for all the programs discussed. Whats more all of this is free and spyware free. I'm confused as to how they get away with it. If it is infact easy to do, why are most "Crack Sites" covered in illegal porn and/or sign ups and/or spyware? So is it legal to bypass the neccessity to pay for these programs? CrazyFoolMrT 11:32, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Well I'm not going to actually visit the link from behind my school proxy, but it's possible that it's like ProjectW or WarezBB and they only link to the files being hosted on other servers, possibly anonymous or overseas --froth^T 13:10, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

It looks like it's mainly Free Software, which is fine to give away, and Freeware and trial versions, which may be ok depending on the software license. However, the keys and hacks are not legal (you are redirected to download the trial version from the official site, then and use the key or hack provided on their website to unlock the full version). The keys are hosted onsite, so it may be possible for the copyright owners to sue the site, as the site's servers are US-based (63.251.92.195 whois), or people that use the keys. But it is by no means unique for this kind of thing to be published (google example). As for how they get away with it, the internet is a big place, so they may just have avoided being noticed. There are a large number of sites which host cracks, and this is by no means the worst, so it would probably be a waste of money shutting it down, as it still wouldn't increase sales (unless you shut them all down). If it's older software they may not care anyway, as it may encourage people to buy the updated version or trust their brand. Personally, I would stick to the official downloads to avoid the possibility of trojans (viruses). --h2g2bob 15:33, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

USB hubs

I'm looking to connect two (or more) computers to a single printer. Would a USB hub be able to solve my problem? --Daniel Olsen 02:38, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

No. If the computers are on the same network, you could share the printer on the network. Splintercellguy 06:06, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

To elaborate - you would use a USB hub to connect many printers to a single computer. USB Switches exist that allow you to connect multiple computers to a single USB device (see [13] for an example). I have no idea how standards-compliant they are, although I have seen them in action, and they seem to work ok. Surprisingly, Wikipedia doesn't seem to have an article on USB switches.--inks^T 08:25, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Webpage Help

Hi, I'm looking to make a website, but I am unsure as to use a table layout or CSS tableless layout. I tried using a table layout, but have encountered some problem. Attached is a jpeg file of a sketch of my layout and it underlines the problem and goes more in-depth with my questions. [Click Here]. Thanks. Jamesino 02:43, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

You should use CSS. There's no easy way for me to explain what to do (mostly because I suck at explaining things). Until someone posts here with something more helpful, there are several tutorials to take a look at ([14] [15] [16] [17]). Much of what I picked up was purely from examples, and there is also no shortage of those (i.e. [18] [19]). -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 07:06, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Probably like this?

HTML

<div class="banner">[BANNER]</div>

<ul class="nav"><li>[BUTTON]</li></ul>

<div class="content">

<h1>[TITLE]</h1>

<p>[TEXT]</p>

</div>

<div class="footer">[FOOTER]</div>

CSS

body { width: ??px; }

.banner { width: 100%; height:??px; }

.nav { float:left; width: ??px; }

.nav li { width: 100%; height: ??px }

.content { */content specific styles/* }

.content h1 { */title styles/* }

.content p { */main text styles/* }

.footer { width: 100%; clear: both; }

I have not tested these code and just writing off my head so there may be some silly mistakes that I overlooked. They are only the essentials to make the layout, then you can add custom graphics, borders, whatever in the CSS and HTML and do whatever you want. Just don't use WYSIWYG tools and try and learn to code. --antilived^{T | C | G} 10:09, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Definately. WYSIWYG tools are evil for learning. For the rollover, you might want to hide/unhide an element on hovering, which contains the second image (some browsers won't cache a second image if you just change it on hover, resulting in a second where there is no image). So something like:

.nav li

{

margin: 0;

padding: 0;

background: url(state1.jpg) no-repeat; /* second, covered image */

display: block;

}

.nav a

{

margin: 0;

padding: 0;

background: url(state2.jpg) no-repeat;

display: block;

}

.nav a:hover

{

visibility:hidden;

/* Hides the link element when it's rolled over, revealing the second image underneath*/

}

Or, maybe not. Again, haven't tested it. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 18:49, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

On browsers other than IE (duno about IE7), li:hover will work better than that as it hides the link itself so there's no way you can click it. Or, as you've done, just use the <a> element as a block element and apply the background to that instead, something like

.nav li a { width: 100%; background: url(normal.png) no-repeat; display: block; }

.nav li a:hover { background: url(hover.png) no-repeat; }

Or even just remove the <ul> structure and just use a bunch of <a>, the choice is yours. --antilived^{T | C | G} 21:34, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

That makes sense. Though, hiding the element instead of changing the background seems to work better as the browser loads the second image even if it's covered; otherwise when you hover it takes a second to download the new image (at least I understand that IE does this, I may be wrong). It is simpler without doing that though, and it's just a minor visual thing. Avoiding using images at all would probably be even better. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 23:51, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I usually use a tiny 1px wide image and repeat-x it so that's no problem for me most of the time... :p --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:55, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

But how do I position my Side navigation box correctly? I used: .nav { background-image: url(image height: 324px; position:relative; top:100px; left: 167px; float: left;

    }   
  

but the box stays in one spot and doesn't move with the background as the background is re-sized. Jamesino 02:42, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

About Wi FI

I wanted to know about Wi Fi, its use and the present state of its extent in India and abroad if possible. Thanking You.Debpop 3 10:09, 22 January 2007 (UTC) Debojyoti Dutta.

Our article on Wi-Fi is very informative and is a good start. As to its use in India, you're on your own, after all we can't do all your work for you :) --inks^T 11:05, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Wi-Fi is used the same way in India as anywhere else (without wires!). The 2.4Ghz spectrum was delicensed in India in 2005, so anyone with the equipment can use it now. Droud 13:47, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

operating system

sir i want to know what is operating system & what are the available os &which one is the best one —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 220.227.28.18 (talk) 13:01, 22 January 2007 (UTC).

Operating System. As for the best that's subjective and depends on your needs. For most people Windows or Mac OS is fine, if you need a lot of control and flexibility then something along the lines of Linux is more appropriate. --Kiltman67 14:05, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Great neutral answer! But to be more specific, for most people Windows is fine and for a far smaller number of people OS X is fine :) Just wanted to throw that out there --froth^T 19:23, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Here's a short sweet guide to what OS will be good for you:

You're

• OS indifferent
• A gamer
• wanting to be sure a popular program you want works with your OS:

You want MS Windows

You're

• Into elegant simple interfaces
• Do a lot of multimedia (images, movies, etc) editing

You want Mac OS

You're

• Computer savvy
• someone who likes to know what's "running under the hood"
• someone who wants to customize their gizmos

You want some flavor of Linux

Hope that is of some help. —Mitaphane _talk 23:50, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

My opinions:

• Windows: poorly designed, many bugs, flaws and security holes. Virtually created an entire market for stopping viruses and spyware.
• Windows Vista: even worse than Windows XP, introduces UAC, a stupid attempt to cover up its security problems. Has a crappy GUI that requires a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX with SLI just to get the basic interface going.
• Mac OS: crashes a lot. but better than Windows 3.1
• Mac OS X: good, based on UNIX.
• GNU/Linux: even better, UNIX-like, excellent security, but a has a steep learning curve. Several GUIs avaliable, all which are faster and look better than Windows Vista Aero. Free as in Freedom as well.
• GNU/Hurd: not ready.
• iPodLinux: draws too much power off the poor iPod.
• [put something else here]

--wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 23:56, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

• Different OSs have different roles.
• I use Windows on my laptop because (brace yourself) it "just works". USB hotplugging, switching between external displays, suspend/hibernate, and all of my drivers are painless to work with. On any Linux distro I've tried, suspend/suspend2 is slow and occasionally unstable, power consumption is increased, and external displays as well as some USB devices are a pain to deal with. I'd gladly use OS X for the same ease-of-use reasoning, though I opted for a Windows laptop due to the feature-set and price. I do have an alternate partition with Ubuntu installed just for kicks.
• I use Windows on my PC for other reasons. Namely, gaming. Linux would be fine on there if only the game selection wasn't limited.
• As far as I've seen, Vista is not worse than XP. It might not be worth the upgrade, but worse? UAC is essentially sudo for Windows; the main issues with it right now lie with developer's insistence on requiring admin access for everything. Once they figure it out, and more Vista-compatible software comes out, I don't see any great problem with it. sudo is forced by default in some modern Linux distros, but as with Vista it can be disabled. Vista also adds some other features.
• And, you forgot the BSDs :o -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 23:20, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

You could always see for yourself by downloading a Linux LiveCD (eg for Ubuntu or Knoppix, two types of Linux). Linux and linux software is almost always free. Mac OS / OSX only works for Mac hardware I think. The almighty Windows I assume you know already. To buy new, windows is about £150 - if it comes included with your PC it probably added about £50 to the price.

I use Linux, and I get frustrated by the windows desktop - in KDE windows will snap to the edge of the screen, you can keep windows above other windows easily, and many other things which Windows just doesn't do. It comes with lots of software which is different (but often better and nicer-looking) than the windows equivalent (Notepad → Kate, for example. Also Internet Explorer → Firefox ;-). Unfortunately, this does mean you need to learn how to use new programs. Linux comes with a Windows compatibility layer (WINE) for running windows programs, but this often doesn't work, especially for games software. --h2g2bob 16:14, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Bad Ram

I recently purchased 512mb sdram for my comp, which had 256mb before and norton utilities 2001 mem test showed that my prior ram is okay.But my norton utilities 2001 says that the new additional ram has an error and whenever i use win98 the sound control or dial up file gets corrupted and my system hangs up sometimes.

But newer CHECKIT software from Norton systemworks says that the memory works fine.Any idea whats going on? And how to accurately test this new piece of ram?i have not OVERCLOCKED my comp in any manner whatsoever. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 61.1.131.157 (talk) 13:25, 22 January 2007 (UTC).

Norton is notoriously unreliable. Use memtest86 and let it run overnight. Droud 13:43, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Indeed, didn't even know Norton had a memory test now, its kind of futile to test memory in Windows, as Windows has already allocated X megabytes for itself, that no other program can touch, definitely run Memtest. I work in a PC shop, and occasionally memory just comes from the factory bad. Nothing you would've done, its just an inevitable consequence of the manufacturing process. Cyraan 18:24, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

There's an 80mm CD stuck in my MacBook.

Apparently, MacBooks canNOT read 80mm CDs.

I'm not sure what I was thinking. The CD won't go in, nor will it be ejected. It's in there too far for me to pick it out with my hands, and I'm not stupid enough to electrocute myself with a pair of tweezers. What should I do now? I looked it up, and it said to contact Apple, but there's no obvious way to reach them about this specific problem. Any help whatsoever would be much appriciated, thanks in advance. --Ppk01 14:37, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Not sure about macs but most CD drives have a tiny hole that you can stick a paperclip in and force the CD out. Is there a small hole somewhere near your CD drive? --froth^T 17:15, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

By the way I highly doubt that you'd short something by using a pair of small pliers to pull it out (if you can see the disc from the outside) --froth^T 17:16, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

This is the MacBook in-built SuperDrive. The only hole here is the CD loading slot itself. Plus, it's too far in to be gripped with anything other than a really thin pair of tweezers (and even that seems quite tricky; I can barely see the disc as it is). --Ppk01 18:31, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I know this sounds like a real stupid idea, but since its a laptop have you tried turning it on its side and shaking it a bit to let gravity take effect? If that doesn't free it I don't see anything that will short of disassembly. Maybe turn it off first... --66.195.232.121 19:30, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I did actually try shaking it a bit, but I don't want to damage it. I think I'd better take it in... --Ppk01 19:47, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Are the "superdrives" removable? I have a thinkpad and there's a latch on the side that releases the entire DVD drive --froth^T 19:56, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

--Everything's built-in. Like I said, I'll take it into the local Premium Apple Reseller tomorrow and see what they make of it. Thanks for all your assistance. --Ppk01 21:09, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I have taken 66.195's advice and given it a good shake. Lo and behold, the CD came out instantly! I obviously wasn't trying hard enough earlier. Thank you all once again for your help and assistance! --Ppk01 23:58, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I had a similar problem once when I unknowingly slid my Halo CD in over a music CD that was already inside. It made a skin crawling sound as they were attempted to be spun. It wouldn't open no matter what, and I was scared. I restarted it and ejected both CDs. :) X [Mac Davis] (How's my driving?) 00:55, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

The problem seems to be solved, but I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents. I used to fish out metal slides from 3.5" floppies that had gotten caught in floppy drives with a bent paperclip all the time, and never electrocuted myself. --Transfinite 18:55, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Windows XP Sound Device

Hey, I'm running Windows XP and have ran into some problems with sound: it's not making any! Apparently there are 'no audio devices;' there definitely are and it was working a few days ago. Does anyone know what would cause the computer to do this, and what I can do to fix it? I've tried a system restore and that didn't work... Many thanks, --Fadders 16:45, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Open up Device Manager (Control Panel->System, select the Hardware Tab, and click Device Manager), are there any yellow exclamation marks next to anything, or Unknown Devices? Cyraan 18:42, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Same thing happened to me recently, sound card dissapeared from Windows completely without warning. Solution was to physically chuck it out and replace it. You can return the new card back to the store and get your money back if it doesn't work. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.105.3.194 (talk) 21:56, 22 January 2007 (UTC).

Reinstall the sound card drivers. If you don't have it on a CD, check the vendor's website. --h2g2bob 16:19, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Torent

how to view torent files? --219.64.65.87 18:21, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

See our article on Bittorrent. Torrent files are used to download other files. For that you need a Bittorrent client. μTorrent is a pretty easy one to start with. For a comprehensive list, see List of bittorrent clients Oskar 18:35, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I'd say the easiest bittorrent client would be the official "mainline" client. But yeah utorrent is the best --froth^T 19:21, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

No way, Azureus is the only way to go if you're a serious dude :D Oskar 21:14, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Ick, and invoke 50MB of JRE overhead? No thanks. Try utorrent, it has all of the features (plus DHT!) and it's muchhh smaller and faster. --froth^T 00:01, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

μTorrent has 1/100th of the features (yes, I have tried it), you can't even really compare them. The memory issue has largely been resolved, nowadays it doesn't consume all that much memory or CPU cycles. I have relatively little memory (512 mb) and I've never even noticed a problem. Hell, I've played graphics heavy games and not noticed anything! Also there is no μTorrent client for Linux, and for a dual-booter, that's very important.

And, as a final kick in the pants, μTorrent is closed source! That's a huge deal for some people in choosing an application. No, Azureus is easily the best bittorrent client out there, bar none. μTorrent is a worthy second though :D Oskar 00:53, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

I might consider using Azureus again after buying some more memory. But I might have to buy a pair of 2GB sticks, you never know with the creeping featurism that's infected some apps out there. :D --froth^T 01:20, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Ahh, there is nothing like a good ole' software flamefest! How about vi vs emacs? Ohh, I know, Micro- vs Macrokernels! :DOskar 16:27, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Vi, and micro. --froth^T 01:12, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Azureus, because it runs on Mac OS X and I have that pair of sticks. X [Mac Davis] (How's my driving?) 00:49, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

You have 4GB of main memory? A little overkill don't you think? --froth^T 01:13, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

football games on linux

What soccer games (preferably management) are available on linux /ubuntu? cheers andiman 56 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Andiman56 (talk • contribs) 18:44, 22 January 2007 (UTC).

Bygfoot seems to match your needs nicely. --Ppk01 19:51, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Javascript/ css integration

I am using a javascript function to make a menu, then another to choose a style.

the menu maker javascript is intact, and the call for it's css file.

however, the css choser is working, but the file it calls isn't. it calls a css file baised upon a cookie that was recorded. the cookie remains, but the file isn't working. it just kinda sucks like that.

any help?Xiaden 19:38, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

So.... What is the problem? So it reads from cookie and replaces the css stylesheet? Does the CSS work by itself (ie. called directly from HTML, no javascript is involved) --antilived^{T | C | G} 21:24, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

tyra

my name is mark jones i want to know how you work

Who, Tyra Banks? See the article fo general information, but I'm fairly certain she works much in the same way as other humans- biochemical, bioelectrical, and biomechanical interactions --froth^T 20:26, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm guessing they meant how Wikipedia works. Everyone edits articles, and we hope that more people improve things than make them worse, in the long run. StuRat 20:35, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

*He/she :P Splintercellguy 00:57, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

He. In english the unknown gender pronoun is He. >:| --froth^T 01:16, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Really ? I'll have to remember that for the next time I meet somebody of indeterminate gender. StuRat 08:10, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Removing a page from Google's index

Hi! How can I ask to remove from Google results alink to a page where my email address appears? tia! --Ulisse0 21:50, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

If you own/control the site where the page appears, see this page on Google's webmaster support site. If not, you need to contact the webmaster of the site where your email address appears and ask them to either remove the address or remove the page from Google's index by following the instructions in that link. Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 22:05, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Line Rider

Does anyone know the lastest version of Line Rider? 68.193.147.179 21:59, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

According to our article, Line_Rider, Beta 2 - Revision 6.1--inks^T 22:07, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

AOL

What is the latest version of AOL? 68.193.147.179 22:31, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

AOL is a company. The latest version of AOL Explorer is 1.5. The latest stable version of AIM is 6.0.28.1. Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 22:35, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

American Online? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.193.147.179 (talk) 22:37, 22 January 2007 (UTC).

What about it? Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 22:44, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

You can download AOL Windows software here (and for Mac here). It appears their Windows dialup client is "AOL 9.0VR". --Spoon! 22:47, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

AOL confusingly called their dialup/portal/access software "AOL". Last I knew it was "AOL 9.0 Optimized", don't know the exact version number though. 68.39.174.238 03:00, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I believe AOL 9.0VR is later than both AOL 9.0 Optimized and AOL 9.0 Security Edition. StuRat 08:07, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

The latest version of AOL is you don't want it. Period.--68.250.41.99 00:00, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

what kind?

What kinds of languages that are used in e-mail and how many languages are used in e-mail?--PrestonH | talk | contribs | editor review | 22:49, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Any number of languages may be used in e-mail. I've got not idea what the exact number is, and I doubt anyone does, but it's probably pretty large. If you're talking about "computer languages", then emails are generally either in plain text, or HTML with or without CSS. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 23:15, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

You can see SMTP if you want a listing of how e-mail servers talk to each other. In any case you'll need to clarify what you mean by "languages" here. If you are referring to character sets I am sure they are all supported using different character encodings. --24.147.86.187 23:32, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, the "languages" I was talking about was real world language (English, Spanish etc.).--PrestonH | talk | contribs | editor review | 02:19, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

In that case, I would say your question would be pretty close to the same as "how many languages are there on the planet". By now, I reckon even the most poverty stricken third world countries would have at least some of their infrastructire on the internet. Vespine 03:20, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Ask at the language desk how many languages there are --froth^T 06:47, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

help running a command line program in OS X

I downloaded gnuplot (PPC build) which should be able to run in X11 assuming I installed aquaterm (which I did). But I can't get it to run. When I navigate to usr/local/bin, I can see "gnuplot" in there, but when I type "gnuplot" at the prompt I just get: "-bash: gnuplot: command not found". The file is definitely there. I've tried it in my default terminal as well as the X11 terminal program. What am I doing wrong? (I have been able to run some X11 programs without a hassle, like Inkscape, but this one has stumped me.) --24.147.86.187 23:32, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

/usr/local/bin/gnuplot? --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 23:35, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, that gets a somewhat different response, but is probably the way to do it. Do you always have to type out the full path? --24.147.86.187 00:22, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

You could put /usr/local/bin in your search path. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 01:24, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

In Unix it's not automatic to check the current directory for a program to run; typically programs are stored all together in one place (or a few places) where you almost never are working, so it's just confusing to have to worry about where you are affecting what your command means. If you like, you can add . to your search path, but it's often disrecommended. To add things to your search path (aka $PATH), use export PATH="$PATH:foo"; to do so "permanently", put that in your .bash_login or so. --Tardis 16:21, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

When you are in the directory of the program, type ./(program name) That should geet you goin' :) --Ryan 00:29, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Creating duplicate hard links, then making them independent

Under Windows XP, I have a large library of PDFs that I need to edit down by deletion, and I want to keep both the edited and unedited versions on my hard drive. There will be room for both, but there isn't room to store the unedited version a second time. So what I want to do is make a copy of the folder with an identical tree, but where each file is a second hardlink to the same file in the original folder. I know this can be done with

fsutil hardlink create C:\oldfolder\subfolder\file.pdf C:\newfolder\subfolder\file.pdf

The problem is that fsutil only handles one file at a time, and the destination folder must already exist. How can I write a batch file that will find all the subfolders and files of the original folder, create corresponding subfolders in the duplicate folder and then fsutil hardlink all the files? NeonMerlin 00:35, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Why would you store the unedited versions a second time? And why would you want to use multiple hardlinks, they're almost never useful. --froth^T 01:01, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, can you think of a better way to make two copies of a folder, with the ability to delete files from one and keep them in the other, but without taking up twice as much space as a single copy? I don't intend to edit the files themselves, only to delete some and keep others (and maybe rename and move a few). NeonMerlin 01:10, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Nope. How many directories are we talking about? I'm not sure if you'd be able to preserve directory structure, but maybe you could change the file handler from acrobat reader or whatever to fsutil, and mass-open all of the pdfs. It would be a lot of Ctrl-A and Enter, but it might work. --froth^T 01:15, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

From a command prompt, do "dir /s /b >file.txt" then use a text editor to convert each line in file.txt into two lines of the form "md C:\newfolder\subfolder\file.pdf\.." and then your " fsutil hardlink create C:\oldfolder\subfolder\file.pdf C:\newfolder\subfolder\file.pdf" (yes it appears possible to make a new folder structure by simply adding \.. to a file which doesn't yet exist). Tested on Win2000. -- SGBailey 11:18, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Memory upgrades

I've never done any memory upgrades except for on $50 beige boxes with 64MB sticks so I'm naturally very nervous about ordering expensive memory on a student budget. I'm looking at this stick. Lenovo told me that it's compatible with my laptop model. But I'm concerned- I already have 1GB of DDR2 memory. Does that mean that I have two 512MB sticks, making an additional 1GB stick incompatible? Or do I just have one 1GB stick, making an upgrade possible? I ran cpu-z and it told me that I had 1GB in one slot and nothing in the other, but I just wanted to double check before I add $155 onto my Windows Vista purchase. --froth^T 00:55, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Why don't you just open up the laptop -- as you'll have to do anyway if/when you install the new stick -- and see? NeonMerlin 01:06, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Last time I opened her up to install a mini-PCI wireless card it took me more than 45 minutes to get the palm rest to fit together with the rest of the computer. It's like folding the top of a box so that half of every piece is below another- except you can't bend the cardboard. In other words, I don't want to open it up unless I have to --froth^T 01:10, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Chances are CPU-Z is right, but it really shouldn't be hard to check yourself, if your laptop is recent (and judging by you having DDR2, it is), getting to/adding the memory should be easy. Its usually just a single panel that you need to unscrew and there it is, should just need to put the memory in to the slot at an angle, and then push it towards the board, there should be a metal clip on each side that snaps it in place. Cyraan 06:14, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh I know exactly how to do it; I just don't want to open it up and check because it's a lot of trouble. Anyway, I bought it a couple of hours ago so too late now for any advice --froth^T 06:45, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

acx 100

In a desperate bind here! Linux Fedora Core 6 (2.6.19-1.2895.fc6) on a laptop.

Suppose I have successfully compiled and installed the module for the ACX 100 chip on my D-Link 650. The module loads fine, but in my dmesg it complains that it can't find the firm ware that I have placed in /lib/firmware.

acx: need to load firmware for acx100 chipset with radio ID 11, please provide via firmware hotplug:
acx: either one file only (<c>ombined firmware image file, radio-specific) or two files (radio-less base image file  *plus* separate <r>adio-specific extension file)
requesting firmware image 'tiacx100c11'
acx: firmware image 'tiacx100c11' was not provided. Check your hotplug scripts
requesting firmware image 'tiacx100'
acx: firmware image 'tiacx100' was not provided. Check your hotplug scripts
acx: reset_dev() FAILED

I assume this is because I am not using the new UDEV properly. Can anyone please suggest to me where I should put the firmware files (http://acx100.erley.org/acx_fw/acx1xx.htm) or what to do with UDEV?

("Check your hotplug scripts" --> Where are these?)

Duomillia 02:42, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Best Portfolio Simulator on the Web

My University's investment club is looking for a good online stock market simulator. Specifically, we would like the ability to create groups on this simulator (so we can see how we rank in the club), and if possible, have the ability to trade various instruments, at least options. Most importantly, this simulator should be free.

So far, I have used the marketwatch simulator and investopedia one (similar to marketwatch). I have also found the wall street journal online one and the Zacks.com one, but both require payment to use. Any ideas on which simulator my club should use? Thanks! ChowderInopa 06:37, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

I have no idea, but our Stock market simulator article links to an external site which lists a bunch of them here Oskar 16:33, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

how to learn data base

$Insertformulahere$ —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 196.200.116.146 (talk) 13:05, 23 January 2007 (UTC).

1. Download and install Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express.
2. Watch this training video series.
3. Take over the world with your new database skillz.

Droud 13:42, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

First, learn to ask the question properly. Databases cover a broad range of topics and skills. Which database do you want to understand? What operating system? What are your current skills with computers? Assuming you need introductory knowledge, your best bet would be to start with something like Microsoft Access and then understand the concepts of tables, indexes and keys (to store data) and SQL (to query/change data). Sandman30s 14:50, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

If you don't have database software OpenOffice.org Base is the free one --h2g2bob 16:27, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

But it would be pretty hellish to try and learn on. OOo Base is still pretty buggy and slow as dirt. --24.147.86.187 03:17, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Bit Stream or Videos of S/W Disasters

I am looking for Videos or bit Streams associated with S/W Failures (Recorded of animated). There is a preponderance of articles and still shots of S/W disasters, but I have been searching for a collection of videos. (e.g., Aircraft, Weapons, Mars Climate Orbiter, Ariane 5 Flight 501, etc.)

Thanks guys.Jakerlx 15:50, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

What exactly is "S/W" in this context? 68.39.174.238 03:01, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I was wondering that, too. Perhaps "System Wide" failure ? One video that comes to mind is the crash of the V-22 Osprey: [20]. StuRat 08:00, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Software[21] --82.46.154.93 01:23, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Logging my activity

Hi there. Just wondering; is there any way of loggin my computer activity? That is, when logon, logoff, shutdown, and what files i use/delete? BTW, for windows. Thanks in advance. Cybesystem 16:28, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Well for starters there's the event viewer in windows. Right-click My Computer and select Manage. Open the event viewer from the items on the left --froth^T 20:02, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

You may need to turn on logging for some of the events first - open Local Security Policy in MMC (Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Local Policy) Then go into Local Policies -> Audit Policies, from there turn on what you need (you can set it to log all logons & privelege uses, or only failed ones (which are more likely to be someone up to no good)

Something to bear in mind is that if you set it up to log lots of different events, you should clear the logs fruently (you can save them first). Davidprior 21:14, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Also note that by default, Windows will only store 512K (½MB) of log infos, so if you have it logging so that several events are created within a short span of time, you could end up losing massive amount of information due to the size of your "viewing window". Also, be sure to customize your logging so you don't get infos that are useless to you. It can be next to impossible to get a good idea of what's going on when you're flooded with useless information (EG. TMI and TMI). 68.39.174.238 03:04, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Saving opened tabs

Are there any extensions I can use to save what tabs I have opened in Firefox 2.0? There used to be a software I use in 1.5 but it is not working anymore. Many Thanks. --Computor 18:04, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

This might not be helpful, but you can drag tabs to a bookmarks folder, then open them all up at once/open them at startup automatically. --Wooty Woot? contribs 18:20, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

I use the Session Saver extension for this purpose. howcheng {chat} 19:29, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Or switch to Opera (Internet suite)! Tab-saving seassions and mouse gestures are included off the bat. But I guess that's not what you're asking for. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 19:35, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Tab Mix Plus [22]--inks^T 22:11, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Firefox 2.0 does save your tabs... look in your Preferences/Options. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 22:32, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

You can also log off or shut off your computer without exiting FireFox first. That way, it thinks you went off by accident and will restore the tabs when you restart it. But having the tab savers would probably be easier. --Captain Wikify ^Argh! 23:33, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

You can also right-click one of the tabs and select "bookmark all tabs" --froth^T 01:14, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Or just click and hold on the tab and drag it to the space directly above it. It will leave a button that stays there until you right-click it and select delete. It might not work with your theme but it certainly does with the default and Pimpzilla themes. 161.222.160.8 02:51, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Gah, FF is opening blank tabs

when I try to go to [serebiiforums.com]. I get a download screen with "index.php" and it just keeps going and going. Removing the "index.php" file has no effect. Help? 67.169.56.188 22:28, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

What happens when you go there with another browser? And what do you mean by a "download screen"? Do you mean that it's just stuck on loading the page? It sounds like the site itself may be dead; I can't load it personally. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 23:24, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

The downloads window in Firefox. From tools>downloads. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.169.56.188 (talk) 23:44, 23 January 2007 (UTC).

Yeah, it's the site that's broken, not Fx. For some reason Fx sometimes shows the download prompt when it can't load PHP/ASP pages. Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 23:49, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

It could be a MIME type thing, which is decidedly server-side. It's working on Firefox 2.0.0.1 though. If you're using the latest version of Firefox, it could be either that the site is screwy or you have a screwy proxy or something in the way. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 23:56, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

It would be PHP not being correctly installed, which means that the php file is being treated as text and not php. Instead of the php file being run and made into a webpage, you are downloading the source code to the webpage. --h2g2bob 14:57, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

January 24

USB Antivirus protection

There's been a virus going around on the computers at my university which infects USB drives (amongst others I'm sure, but I'm only really concerned about my and my friends' USB drives). The file is called KOfcpfwSvcs.exe, and hides within autorun, which is in general, enabled on my campus. AVG can detect it, so I can clean my drive if it gets infected again, but how do I prevent it? Is there a USB drive resident antivirus that I can use or some sort of immunization for it so that I won't catch it from the computers, without having to go through the trouble of cleaning all the computers? Or making a legit autorun.exe and autorun.inf and make them read only? --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 02:45, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, one thing to do, of course, is to turn off autorun on your computer and every other computer you can manage to. Needless to say, autorun is a virus's best friend and an accident waiting to happen. —Steve Summit (talk) 02:58, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Autorun isn't on on my computer, but I don't have admin rights to the uni computers, and projects cause us to almost have to use USB drives to transfer. But is there a way to prevent the file from infecting my drive instead of just cleaning it each time I bring it home? The trojan in question is seen here, and I have been unable to locate it on McAfee's site to determine if their Stinger stand-alone virus scanner can clean it. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 03:03, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Does your dive have a write protection option? If not, I suggest as above, creating the autorun and KOfsfcspSvcs.exe[sic] file (As blanks), and SHRing them. It may help. Also, I don't know your institutions organization, but if there's virus going around on their computers they should definitely be doing something (Or having someone do something). Blindly letting known malicious code run on semipublic machines under your AEGIS is not only extremely poor but could lead to worse (Note, I'm referring to the people who should be dealing with this infection, not you who is trying to keep yourself safe and asked that question here). 68.39.174.238 03:09, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Google Earth topo maps

I'd like to be able to overlay topographic maps onto the google earth program. I've found a file of some kind but it's in a .kmz format. I'm not sure if this would work, but I really don't know much about overlaying data into google earth at all. Can anyone help? Xcfrommars 02:49, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

If you have a kmz file, it's likely someone has already done the overlaying work for you. kmz and kml files are the two main file types Google Earth supports. Try opening the kmz file in Google Earth (using the File/Open menu), and see what happens! —Steve Summit (talk) 03:01, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Ok, tried to open it with google earth and got errors, "Server returned error trying to load image", "Invalid LonLat coordinates", "Did not find a layer to process". I think I need to find a different file. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Xcfrommars (talk • contribs) 03:06, 24 January 2007 (UTC).

Nevermind, found something that seems to work: USGS map finder Xcfrommars 03:10, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

(ec) If you have an image file (gif or jpg), it's not too hard to overlay it onto Google Earth yourself. Zoom and pan around until you've got the Google Earth viewer centered on about the area your image covers. Then go to the "Add" menu and choose "Image overlay". You can either enter the URL of an image on the web, or choose a file on your computer's hard disk. Google Earth will display the image "on top" of the normal display. There's a transparency slider you can use to adjust the transparency of the overlayed image so that you can see the Google Earth imagery behind. Pick a few landmarks that you can see in both your overlay image and the Google Earth imagery. It works best if these landmarks are near the edges and corners of your image. The overlayed image has a number of "handles" which let you stretch, slide, and rotate the overlayed image with your mouse. With a little practice, you can learn to manipulate until it lines up perfectly with the Google Earth imagery (as long as the image you're overlaying is geographically accurate, that is). Have fun! —Steve Summit (talk) 03:18, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Outlook Macro to Send "Returned as Undeliverable" Message

Hey All,

I have this theory that some spammers (to save computer/network time) will remove an e-mail address from their spam list if it no longer exists.

On that front, I was hoping there was a vba macro out there that would do something like sending an EXACT SMTP "Returned as Undeliverable" message that a Microsoft Exchange server would send if the e-mail address no longer existed @ that domain. (preferably only when triggered by the user, and in response to the selected e-mail message.)

I've done some searching, but no dice.

Also - could this actually work? Any spammers out there? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by NByz (talk • contribs) 02:57, 24 January 2007 (UTC).

It's probably not worth it.

1. The spammers -- the most prolific ones, anyway -- manifestly do not care about computer or network time. Their whole modus operandi is to steal it, and they generally use botnets of hijacked computers to do it. If they have a few bad addresses in their lists -- even if they have 50% bad addresses in their lists -- it is not worth their while weeding them out.
2. There are so many different formats of "address not found" messages bouncing around out there that it would actually be rather tricky to parse them all reliably even if you wanted to. I doubt the spammers would have any interest in trying to solve this hard problem.

—Steve Summit (talk) 03:09, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

mailman is able to parse several different "address not found" formats (and, judging by the backscatter I receive, the most common formats are the standard RFC 3464 DSN and the NIH qmail bounce message). I believe most legitimate mailing list software should be able to parse most bounces and use them to prune the subscriber list. --cesarb 04:38, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Interesting idea, but I have no idea if VBScript would work with MSEx or what. 68.39.174.238 03:11, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

The problem with doing this is that it would require the spammers to use a valid e-mail address in their from: lines, which they do not. Even if you sent back a properly formatted "undeliverable" message, you would get an "undeliverable undeliverable" message back. Welcome to SPAM heaven, known as the Internet. Droud 03:37, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Keep in mind that many spammers use the same lists to create their to: and from: fields, basically cross-sending the SPAM. That means your plan could SPAM another person, not a decent thing to do. Droud 03:54, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Hear hear. Spammers send out mails that look like they come from my domain (howcheng.com) and since I have a catch-all email account I get all the "Undeliverable mail" bounces. It's really annoying. howcheng {chat} 18:54, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Those are a lot of good points. Ok... Idea number two: Replace the "undeliverable" message with one telling the spammers that they've won a "free boat"... NByz 20:24, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

The main point I was trying to make above is that you cannot send a message to the spammers, they do not provide a valid return path for responses, anything you send will usually end up going to another victim. In other words, sending any type of response back to the from: address in SPAM is not a good idea! Droud 23:57, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Droud's point is a good one, and worth repeating. Never set up automated bounce messages for spam: if you do, you are contributing to the spam problem. On some days, more than half of the spam I see is not original spam, but rather bounce messages to spam that was forged by spammers as if to have come from me. (What's worse, these bounce messages are trickier to filter, since I don't want to train my spam filters to reject bounce messages in general, because of course I still want to see bounce messages from messages I did send.) —Steve Summit (talk) 13:14, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Free voice-changing software

Hi, does anyone know any software to change your voice? I'm planning to record some old novels for my girlfriend, and I'd like to change my voice for the dialogues.

My requirements are:

• Should be free and light-weight
• Should work with pre-recorded files, and on selections (not necc. the whole file)
• Should be able to make lots of different voices
• Should have male-to-female voice conversion
• Should be easy to use (Easy to learn would be nice too, but isn't a requirement)
• Should support either Windows or x86 Linux —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Kjoonlee (talk • contribs) 03:42, 24 January 2007 (UTC).

Thank you. :) --Kjoonlee 03:38, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't think what you seek exists due to the male-to-female conversion (which is a highly complex problem). Bolster those programming skills and start an OSS project to write it! On a more serious note, have you considered text to speech software instead of stalking reading stories yourself? If you're set on the creepy changed voices, try out funny voice. Droud 04:07, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

It could be done, using a voice recognition system, then feeding that output into a text to voice converter with the proper voice selected. However, you would get errors in both steps, making the output likely full of errors. StuRat 07:50, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I just saw a commercial on Cartoon Network for some some new toy. Bionics, I think - wasn't paying attention. But, one of the toys in the commercial is a voice-changer that changes your voice into the voices of one of the many characters from the cartoon associated with the toys. Just thought I'd mention it because it is related to this question. Of note - the kid in the commercial selected different voices with the writband selector and they all sounded exactly the same to me. I haven't seen the cartoon. Perhaps all the characters in the cartoon sound exactly the same. --Kainaw ^(talk) 09:59, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

It probably just does some standard manipulation to your voice, like the pitch shift used to create "chipmunk voices". If the same effect was used on the actor's voice to create the cartoon character's voice, and if your voice is somewhat close to the actor's, you may end up with a result somewhat close to the cartoon character's. StuRat 22:05, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, the important thing is that my accent has to be still there in the final recording. (This will be a labour of love on my part, and I hope it helps my girlfriend get better at English.) If I were recording Alice in Wonderland, for example, I'd be using my own voice for everything Lewis Carroll says. I only want the Mad Hatter and the March Hare to sound different, and I don't want Alice to sound masculine. --Kjoonlee 13:50, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Can't you just shift the pitch of your voice yourself ? StuRat 22:07, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Or use Audacity to change it for you... and record it.... and add some other fancy effects and stuff... --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:03, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

A commercial product called AV Voice Changer looks excellent, but it is priced accordingly! (cleaned off-thread post) Droud 00:01, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Cd help

I was trying to burn a free game for one of my friends who has dial up. THe copy would not burn so: I tried to take out the cd. It doesn't open. any suggestions on how to get it out? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Shindo9Hikaru (talk • contribs) 04:23, 24 January 2007 (UTC).

Most CD drives have a small pinhole under the drive door. Get a paperclip, straigten it out and gently push it into that hole. That'll trigger the drive to open the door. Alternately, reboot your computer. When it's starting up, but before the main OS loads, press the Eject button and the drive should open. If that doesn't work, tell us more about what OS you're running and what kind of CD drive you've got. -- Kesh 04:50, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

If it's a Macintosh system, shut down and as soon as you turn it back on hold down the mouse button. Almost all Macintoshes will understand that as a command to eject all disks. 68.39.174.238 21:37, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

CD-ROM issues.

I had to insert a straightened paperclip into that small hole on my CD-ROM drive, because the disc would not eject. I replaced the disc and rebooted, but the machine doesn't recognise that there's a CD in the drive. It doesn't look like the drive is getting powered, because I can't eject the disc: I need to use a paperclip every time. There's a dull whirring noise coming from the drive that wasn't there before, though. This is an especially significant problem for me because I don't have a hard-drive: I use only Linux LiveCDs. I can't open the case to check because it's covered with a bizarre sort of triangular proprietary screw (the indentation is triangular, not the entire screw). I'd appreciate anyone's advice on either of these problems. Thanks.

(Note: I'm not the same guy from the question above, it's just coincidental.)202.10.86.63 07:59, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

What type of computer do u have, as different computers use different ways to fix this problem? --|K.Z|Z.K| Do not vandalize... 08:27, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

You'll probably need to replace your CD-Drive. It's fairly easy, and CD drives are fairly cheap (DVD-RWs are down to about £20 now), but obviously you need to get into the case. The case screws are a problem. Try reading this post on a forum. --h2g2bob 14:49, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, your drive is getting power if it will open and close the tray. Sounds like it's gone bad, or the disc has. Try another disc and if that doesn't work either, it's a bum drive. As to the screw, it sounds like you need a Torx or Hex key wrench. -- Kesh 01:16, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Image editing software

I have a picture that I'd like to try to upload, but I'd like to crop it first. However, the only image-editing software I have is Paint, which will make the picture into a Paint file. Can anyone recommend some image-editing software that is:

1. Free
2. Downloadable
3. Relatively small (I don't want to download more than I have to)
4. Fairly simple (All I want to do is crop, and I don't want to have to read a huge readme to find out how)
5. Will leave the picture in a file format that can be uploaded to commons.

Thanks very much for any help :-) Skittle 10:40, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I'll assume you mean Windows Paint (because Mac/Linux/etc users usually start their questions "I have a Mac and..." :-) In Paint, select "File -> Save As...", there is a dropdown menu of file types. Weregerbil 11:09, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll have a go. I assumed Paint, being MSPaint, only came on Windows :-) Shows my ignorance. Skittle 11:27, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Argh! I hate Paint. Is there a way to crop a big picture from the left effectively? Cropping from the right I can do, but I assume I have to select the image I want to keep if I want to crop from the left. However, the image I want doesn't fit on the screen and there's no 'zoom out' option. Skittle 11:33, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Crop the right and bottom sides, rotate by 180 degrees, crop the left and top sides (that are shown to the right and bottom respectively), rotate by 180 degrees... TERdON 18:06, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I can crop it appropriately in Word, but then I can't save it as an image file. And when I try to copy-paste back to paint it all goes horribly wrong. Does anyone know either how to crop this properly in Paint, or where I can get some software as described above? Skittle 12:05, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

For a Paint quickie: click the rectangle tool, select the area you want, drag the area with the mouse to top left, then resize the image area by dragging the bottom right corner. The trick is to guess that you can drag a selected area. Or after selecting the area copy&paste it to a new document. For other programs there is List of raster graphics editors and Comparison of raster graphics editors, can't say which ones are good though. Weregerbil 12:28, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

The problem with that is that I can't select all of the image I want, because it doesn't fit on the screen. Oh wait, sudden thought, I can move it in pieces if I'm very careful... I may be back sobbing in a moment... Skittle 12:32, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Okay, moving it in pieces seems to have worked. I've lost a few slices of image a few pixels tall, but it's not noticable. Thanks for the ideas people! Skittle 12:46, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

There used to be a great program for this from Microsoft called PhotoEd. I believe it was a hidden program on an old version of Office. Does the program still exist? Can you get it? I don't know because I haven't had a Windows machine since 1998 and I use Gimp for all my graphics needs. --Kainaw ^(talk) 13:07, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

If you still want a decent free image editor, give Paint.NET a shot. Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 13:42, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO..... Don't use an image editing program to crop files, unless you're cropping lossless bitmap images. Use jpegcrop instead. --Kjoonlee 13:54, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

How to use jpegcrop:

1. Run jpegcrop
2. Open JPG file
3. Select portion of image by dragging
   • Drag edges of selection to fine-tune results
     • Clicking on the "Block Grid" toolbar button helps
4. Right-click selection, Save Frame As

--Kjoonlee 14:01, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

For image cropping and other rudimentary operations, you don't need (and sometimes don't even want) a full-blown image-manipulation program. In particular, many image-viewing programs will not only let you crop, shrink, and rotate the image being viewed, they'll also let you save the modified version. Two such viewers I'm familiar with that can do this are xv for Linux, and the built-in Preview application under Mac OS X. (Sorry, can't help you with Windows, but I'm sure there are plenty of image viewers there that can do this sort of thing as well.) —Steve Summit (talk) 13:56, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Low tech solution: You can use the grey square at the far bottom right to crop the picture from bottom and right. Then use tools, flip or (tools, rotate) to flip (or rotate) the image so the top-left corner of the image is in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Then crop the bottom-right again. Finally, use the same tools, whatever as before to flip (or rotate) the image the right way up again. Harder to explain than do, honest! --h2g2bob 14:24, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

You should check out GIMP for Windows, GIMP is an open source PhotoShop like image editor for linux, and windows now too :D Aetherfukz 16:13, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks everyone! In the end I used jpegcrop, but I shall remember the other tips (particularly flipping the overall image in Paint) for other occasions. Thanks again! Skittle 16:25, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

GNU sort is slow.

It takes GNU sort (from coreutils) about 0.8 seconds to sort 50,000 (relatively short, under 20 characters) lines. Is this inefficient? Fifty thousand doesn't seem like that many. (If I duplicate the contents and have it sort five million items, it takes 2 minutes 15 seconds.) grendel|khan 14:38, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Not sure what fancy shmancy algorithm they use but sorts are computationally expensive. IIRC a bubble sort takes at least n squared loops where n is the number of items --froth^T 17:22, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I believe that GNU sort uses some optimizations that, when presented with a certain type of data set. You might want to consult the full documentation for it to be certain (eg, the INFO docs.) --Mdwyer 22:50, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Try setting the environment variable LANG to C, with the line

export LANG=C

These days, a number of the GNU core utilities use, by default, your native internationalized locale, which valiantly tries to do all sorts of culturally appropriate, but vastly more computationally expensive, Unicodey conversions and comparisons. Setting LANG to C forces it to use the old, unsophisticated, fast, native charset operations. I've had the slowness problem most acutely with the grep family of utilities, but it's perfectly imaginable that sort is similarly afflicted. —Steve Summit (talk) 05:13, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

That said, 0.8 seconds is pretty fast for 50000 entries. Sorting is computationally expensive (unless you're sorting numbers, in which case it's quite fast at O(n)), even optimized quicksort (which is what I assume they are using) takes O(n log n). Oskar 09:26, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, once upon a time, 0.8 seconds might have been "pretty fast", but today it's dog-slow. Me, I'd expect something more like grendelkhan's second result, and in fact, on my computer I can confirm it exactly:

head -50000 /usr/dict/words | shuffle | time sort > /dev/null

0.26 real 0.08 user 0.01 sys

—Steve Summit (talk) 01:56, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Aha! It was the LANG settings. After setting LANG=C (it was en_US.UTF-8), it sorts those 50000 strings in 0.08 seconds. Spiffy! grendel|khan 15:20, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Of course, this solution is only helpful if you actually are sorting content that's using the traditional one byte per character. If there might really be UTF-8 in there, which is an increasingly likely possibility these days, and you want it to sort correctly, you're stuck with the slow sort. --Anonymous, January 26, 2007, 01:00 (UTC).

Good point, although of course this depends on your definition of "sort correctly". If you want è, é, é, and ë to sort anywhere near e, and not between ç and ì, then yes, you've little choice but to use the slower, localeized sort. But if you want to sort by Unicode code point, it turns out that a naïve byte-oriented sort on UTF-8 gets you that. (I suppose I should cite a source for this. The Unicode Standard 5.0, §2.5, p. 35: "A binary sort of UTF-8 strings gives the same ordering as a binary sort of Unicode code points.") —Steve Summit (talk) 02:06, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Printing files with php

Hi, i'm using a php class that sends to a printer, a given file or string. I'd like to print what would be the output of another php script (ie a script connecting to a MySQL db that displays tables using html for formatting and printer friendliness).
When you enter the php script file name, the script code is printed rather than the html output it should create.

Can anyone suggest any methods i can follow? Cheers, Anth

You would either need another Program that reads a file your PHP script generated (probably a plaintext file) and prints it out. Or you could control your printer itself with PHP Printer functions. Aetherfukz 16:17, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

System 360 Operator

I want to know what is System 360 Operator. Please explain it with examples and pictures. Thanks Tariq Mehmood possible phone # removed —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.81.192.67 (talk) 16:50, 24 January 2007 (UTC). email removed

Probably a person who operated an IBM System/360. Perhaps you meant "System/360 operator panel"? You can use Google image search to find plenty of pictures of that. -- mattb @ 2007-01-24T18:15Z

Large article transwiki

I'm attempting to transwiki Weapons in Dead Rising and Weapons and items from The Legend of Zelda series to Strategywiki before they are deleted. But when I attempt to import them at strategywiki, it says they are too large. I'm a sysop there obviously, and I use export here (with history, to satisfy GNUFDL), save the file, then import there and get that error. Is it a setting I'll have to get the owner of SW to change? Are all edits necessary for GNUFDL? Is there another way around this? I'd appreciate any help possible.

Weapons in Dead Rising —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mason11987 (talk • contribs) 17:15, 24 January 2007 (UTC).

Yes you're required to provide access to the history. A lot of mirrors just link to the wp article and say "look here for the original history" --froth^T 19:20, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

If you have access to the server, it may be a problem in php.ini which restricts uploading of large files. Edit php.ini and change the maximum upload size value (can't remember official name but the file should be well commented) and it will probably work. If you don't have access to the server, contact the server admins (that may well be one of the bureaucrats). --h2g2bob 22:48, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I STRONGLY suggest that you save a copy of these articles yourself right away because these damn deletionests delete these aritlces very fast and without warning. Thats how i got my fav articles deleted; I've been working on them for so long. I was gonna transwiki it or make a wiki myself but I was too late and the next time i checked it was too late and they alradly deleted them. 12 pieces of valueable work we have been working on suddenly lost :( --Taida 02:58, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

That suddenly? Unless they were speedied (and in that case there is at least partial responsibility for the creator to read the CSD), they would have sat on AFD for at least 3-4 days.--inks^T 05:53, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

In any case if you want the text of a deleted article, if it isn't anything objectionable you can just ask an admin. They can view deleted articles. --24.147.86.187 15:12, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Not only that, we can also temporarily undelete them and move to a subpage of your user page for you to save a copy (this would be the ideal way if you want to use Special:Export on them). The place to request that is at WP:DRV. --cesarb 18:03, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Floating point versus PCM data in Uncompressed Audio

What are the differences in these two methods of storing uncompressed audio? Are there advantages to either method (or any other), particularly in quality? Thanks. Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 23:30, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm guessing this is homework (see the top of the page), so I'll just link to floating point and PCM, and ask you to think about the pixelation-type effects at low amplitudes. If this isn't homework, feel free to leave a shocked post at my slander :D --h2g2bob 22:42, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I am shocked. No, seriously, this is for personal interest. I've been recording recently and am a bit of an audiophile. Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 20:15, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Computer audio typically uses a 16 bit sample (65,000 possible values) and max 24 bit samples (16.7 million possible values), whereas floating point values are stored in 32 bits (4 billion possible values). The human ear can just barely discern the difference between 16 and 24 bit, so floating point is not particularly beneficial, and takes more storage space for the same audio. If you're looking for high quality recordings, sampling frequency is vastly more important than the format of each sample (once you get to 16 bit samples, that is!). Droud 00:15, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, I'm aware of all that, but Audacity gives the option of both 32-bit floating point and 32-bit PCM, which begs my question. Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 02:20, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

If you're going to store raw audio, 16 bit fixed-point PCM should be more than enough if the audio has been downsampled and/or dithered properly.

If you're going to do post-processing later on, do use 24bit fixed-point PCM, 24bit floating-point PCM, or something better. --Kjoonlee 13:43, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and also, please consider using lossless audio compression to save space. I personally recommend FLAC and WavPack. --Kjoonlee 13:43, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

People can't hear the difference between 24 bit and 32 bit, so it's just a matter of how much space you want to waste. FLAC is an excellent way to save about half the space a raw PCM file consumes, but is slower to use due to the compression and decompression steps. Most sampling hardware (sound cards) can't actually record better than 24 bits, while CDs (16 bit) and DVDs (24 bit) don't store better, so storing that sound as 32 bit PCM would be useless. Droud 13:59, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

I disagree with Droud about sampling rate. 44.1 kHz should be more than enough fidelity for end-results. Also, 24bit floating-point PCM would be the same size as 24bit fixed-point PCM. --Kjoonlee 13:48, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

24 bit is 16.7M possible values whichever way you look at it, encoding to floating point just slows down processing since floating point values are scaled (the value is stored as a number and an exponent, not a straight number). As far as 44.1kHz being an ample sampling frequency - people hear frequencies, not samples. A higher sampling rate more accurately describes frequencies than does a higher sample accuracy. In any case, anything over 16 bit, 44.1kHz is overkill, unless you're an audiophile like the questioner. Droud 13:59, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Regarding sampling rate, see Hearing (sense)#Hearing in humans and Nyquist rate and you'll see why 44.1 kHz is considered sufficient for the human range of audio perception (the reason 44.1 kHz was chosen exactly is a little more complicated, but not worth getting into here). There are some folks who believe that interference and harmonics of higher frequencies that we cannot directly perceive can produce audible results once rendered back into sound, but I've never seen a particularly credible study or quantification of this. -- mattb @ 2007-01-26T14:09Z

Please accept my apologies Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme, there are quite a few homework questions get submitted and I was in a bad mood :( I doubt there's much I can add to the above - there's not much advantage to using floating point to be honest --h2g2bob 15:58, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

All right, I already know all of these things. All I'm asking is: Is there a difference between 32-bit floating point audio and 32-bit PCM audio at the same sampling rate? Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 20:12, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Floating point audio is slower to mix, transform, and play than its integer (PCM) counterpart due to differences in how floating point and integer calculations are performed on a microprocessor. If you're using hardware instead of software, it really doesn't matter at all, except that PCM enjoys much wider support than floating point. Droud 03:19, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme 18:15, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

e-mail downloads using outlook express

I transferred from my i.s.p.(claranet) to broadband with talktalk. I contacted claranet regarding the transfer and they inquired if i would like to keep my old e-mail address whilst i still had a few months to run with claranet, i seemed quite happy with the setup but just recently i struggle to receive many e-mails from talktalk awindow appears that an error has occurred whilst downloading e-mails from claranet, this appears to block my e-mails from talktalk. is there a way i can romove the claranet download or will i have to contact claranet to finally disconnect me from theresite —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Grampus4 (talk • contribs) 20:16, 24 January 2007 (UTC).

Are you using a webmail interface? Outlook? Outlook Express? Eudora? Checked your POP settings, access, and passwords? It would be much easier and faster (IMHO) for you to call your ISPs tech support line.--inks^T 21:35, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Grampus4 says he/she's using Outlook express in the title. I have no idea about Outlook, as I've never used it. To edit the accounts you have listed, look for an item called "Accounts", probably in the tools menu. I'd suggest checking the help files (really, they do contain some help). Also, can you post the actual error message you get, as this will help people see what's wrong? --h2g2bob 22:24, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Ah yes, so s/he does, my bad. :) Having re-read that a few times, it sounds like there may be 2 OE accounts, one of which is failing to authenticate/connect/'work' for some reason. But I'm sure that if the settings for a particular account are correct, it should work regardless of what happens with other accounts.--inks^T 23:23, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Excel

In using Excel for spreadsheets I have forgotten how to total a column or row--JmHoran 21:41, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

In the cell you want the total to appear in type "=SUM(A1:A7)" without quotes, and substitute A1:A7 for the range of cells that you want to add.--inks^T 22:05, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Or go to the empty cell below or to the right of the line you want to total and click the sigma symbol to the top right of the standard toolbar. Anchoress 22:47, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

January 25

seeking a service to provide low-/no-cost occasional dial-up access from Germany

Hello, I am looking for a recommendation by an experienced user, for a site that might offer free dialup service for German users, the way "Free UK" does, in England. Access to dial-up through local numbers is a service which can be extremely useful for people traveling. It doesn't have to be strictly free, but just a low- or no-cost occasional-use service for access to the web, via a phone line. Can anyone assist me? Thank you.

205.155.65.226 21:56, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

browsing history

Is there a way to delete the browsing history on wikipedia from my computer? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 24.15.67.23 (talk) 00:58, 25 January 2007 (UTC).

If you're using Internet Explorer 6, go to Tools->Internet Options. Click the General tab, and click the Delete Files button and Delete Cookies button. If no one tackles Firefox by the time I get off work, I'll explain that one too. -- Kesh 01:24, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

In Firefox, Tools > Clear Private Data > tick all that apply (probably just Browsing History, Cache and Cookies) > Clear Private Data Now. -- Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 01:28, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

In Safari, pull down the History menu and choose "Clear History". Dismas|^(talk) 06:40, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

If u just want to delete some of the history, for firefox, Hold ctrl+h and delete the ones u don't want. do same for IE --|K.Z|Z.K| Do not vandalize... 07:01, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

If you connect through a proxy server - for example if your internet connection is throught your school or university - then they may keep a record of your activity. Also, the website you connect to will log who connected to it by storing your IP address. There's no way to delete either of them. --h2g2bob 15:52, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Linux installation.

Is it possible to install a Linux distribution on my computer then download the wine emulation program and still run all of my old windows programs without backing them up.

Also if I install Linux will it format my harddrive and how do I save Windows Xp to a disk so I can reinstall it just incase.

Oh and I have never used Linux before, what are the system requirments and would I need to download drivers. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.67.217.21 (talk) 01:05, 25 January 2007 (UTC).

1) Not necessarily all of them. See WINE.

2) If you don't have a Windows installation disc, you don't. Don't tell me you pirated a copy! ;) That said, most modern Linux installers will create a seperate partition, so you can keep Windows and Linux both on the drive.

3) It varies from distribution to distribution. See List of Linux distributions to see how many you have to choose from. Some can run on old 386 boxes, others need a modern machine to run well. It depends on your needs. -- Kesh 01:26, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

1) In most cases you will find better alternatives that run natively. But yeah, wine doesn't run every single programme for Windows.

2) Dual booting is simple and most dists will do it on installation.

3) Generally, no. If everything doesn't work out of the box it is considerably harder to try and fix it. The only driver I need to install on my Ubuntu is the NVIDIA graphics card driver to enable 3D acceleration, and I think they are going to include that and the Radeon driver in the next release, Feisty, so basically no seperate driver needed in the near future, as most things come built in. --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:55, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

1. WINE doesn't work very well at all, but there are free alternatives to most things. Use a LiveCD (which doesn't touch your hard drive) and mess around with the programs on it. Most of those programs can also be used on Windows.

2. If you repartition your hard drive, it will wipe everything from it, so I'd suggest buying a cheap new hard drive and install Linux on that without touching your Windows drive.

3. Minimum requirements depends on what you're doing. There are some distributions which allow for really low specs, but for the main distros it'll work fine on a computer a few years old.

--h2g2bob 15:48, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

1. Actually, WINE has worked fine for me for nearly every program I've used with it, (GrabIt, QuickPar, and a few others), check here at the AppDB to see if what you'd need has an entry.

2. You can repartition and still keep your data with the free GPartEd, as well as other tools, although it is still easier to give Linux its own HDD, that may not be an option. Be aware, though I and many others have used GPartEd many times with no issue, I would still backup anything really important to you, as theres always the small chance of something going wrong, or a brownout, etc.

Cyraan 17:52, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Actually, gparted is not the safest way to repartition. I suggest using ntfsresize from ntfsprogs.--68.250.41.99 00:08, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

gparted uses ntfsresize. And I'd say that it would be extremely dangerous to sit a newbie down with ntfsresize and let him mess with the partition tables. --froth^T 04:37, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

gparted is a script which may or may not work. From experience, I've had it adjust the superblock on /dev/sda<partnumber> and then try to write the partition table to /dev/hda - which broke things rather nicely.--Frenchman113 on wheels! 16:15, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I have a blogging question.

After I post my blog, it takes me to a screen that shows all previous posts and how many comments I have received, etc. It also has a column called "AggView." I was wondering if anyone knew what that ment. Thanks! --Zach 04:01, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Aggregate view! It probably aggregates your entries up, possibly with comments. X [Mac Davis] (How's my driving?) 04:31, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

I am not too sure about that, One day it can say 20, the next it says 0. Thanks for your help! Any other ideas? --Zach 03:15, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

What blog are you using? -- Kesh 03:46, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Its actually a website SteepleMedia.com (Community Server 2.0) --Zach 11:23, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

MAC Question

I have MAC OS X v10.4 (Tiger) and was wondering how to get v10.4.3

Is it available on a free download, as all the shops round here say they don't sell it.

Sorry, disregard the question, I just found out I have v10.4.6

CCLemon-ここは寒いぜ！ 09:43, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Genearlly, all the sub-sub version numbers (The "Y" in 10.X.Z) denote the Apple version of Windows Service Packs and can be downloaded from Apple's website or obtained via the "Software Update" program. 68.39.174.238 21:43, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Speaking of Software Update, I suggest you run it. The latest version is 10.4.8 (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304200), and 10.4.9 may be out soon (http://www.macrumors.com/2007/01/17/apple-seeds-another-mac-os-x-10-4-9-8p2120/). 68.39.174.238 21:46, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Origins of Mobile Banking

I am currently doing some research and am struggling to find out which bank and in which year launched the first mobile banking solution. I am specifically looking to find out who launched the first sms banking solution but would also be interested in the first wap solution. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Y. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 195.137.116.229 (talk) 10:11, 25 January 2007 (UTC).

Which country? Worldwide? And you might have to define "sms banking solution" a bit better. Is checking balances via SMS sufficient to qualify? Or transferring funds between your own accounts? Or transferring funds to someone else's accounts?--inks^T 10:31, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Worldwide - checking balances and by using SMS should be fine. Thanks Y.

GPG passphrase cracker.

I found one of my old GPG keys, and I'd like to use it. Alas, I seem to have forgotten my passphrase. I have a quick-and-dirty Perl script executing gpg a bazillion times with each possible passphrase, but it's pretty inefficient, and won't finish in a reasonable amount of time. Is there a key-cracking utility somewhere out there which has a faster inner loop than that? grendel|khan 15:11, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

The entire point of encryption is to keep people from cracking the codes. Especially if you used a fairly strong encryption scheme. I'm afraid you're stuck either brute-forcing for a long time, or seeing if perhaps you stored your passphrase somewhere else. -- Kesh 23:50, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

You can speed up the search by optimizing it for your typical length, characters, etc. Most brute force scripts start at 1 character long passwords and work their way up, using all the special characters and numbers as well as capitalization variation to try every possible combination. This is inefficient since most people are not that wary of weak passwords, so you might try some simple optimizations to reduce the crack time. By the way, the technology behind even old versions of GPG is still considered to be very secure, so you're stuck with brute forcing it. Droud 00:23, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Try john, it's probably more optimized than your "quick 'n' dirty" script --froth^T 18:27, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Also, do you remember ANY part of your phrase? Even how long it was or one character that was included in it? Anything could be used to optimize the search. 68.39.174.238 21:47, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, everyone. I remembered the basic layout of the password, and iterated over a large set of variations on that, which eventually extracted it. Close call, though. Phew! grendel|khan 00:41, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Preloading an image for a div background in javascript

Hello. I'm making a page where a mouseover changes the background of a DIV using a simple Javascript function. Simple stuff, except I can't figure out how to get it to preload the image before it tries to replace it. As it currently stands it will change the image, but first the DIV background goes blank for a second while the browser downloads the new one. I'd rather it just keep with the old one until it has fully loaded the new one, and then switch. Here is my current code, which I thought would accomplish this, but apparently not. Suggestions?

function changeimage(id,imagepath) {
	newimage = new Image();
	newimage.src = imagepath;
	document.getElementById(id).style.backgroundImage='url('+imagepath+')';
}

I thought that by loading it in the Image first it would pre-load it, but it doesn't seem to work. Perhaps I need to assign it to the element differently? I'm not sure. Any tips would be appreciated. (Actually, now that I check, the elements in question are not DIVs, strictly speaking, but LI, but that shouldn't make a difference?) --24.147.86.187 15:57, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

NOTE: I tried putting the preloading in at the top of the script (outside of the function) and it works OK when it is there. But I would like to be able to selectively pre-load, ideally, so I wouldn't have to preload all rollover images before use. If that makes sense. --24.147.86.187 16:05, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

The image will be loaded when you make the new Image with the src attribute. Some browsers will cache an image while others will discard it as soon as you leave the function it was created in, because it is a local variable. As with all javascript stuff, make sure there's a noscript tag about for people who don't have javascript enabled (like me!). Also think of implementing rollover effects using css rather than javascript. --h2g2bob 18:20, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

I think what I'll end up doing is preloading in Javascript (which works ok) but changing the image itself with a :hover attribute. --24.147.86.187 00:38, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Actually, what I ended up doing is loading the preloading script after the page has displayed (by using a setTimeOut with half a second or so as the interval), which works quite nice. The page loads up very quickly, but immediately after doing so it begins to precache some of the rollover images. By the time the prospective visitor starts to roll over something it should have already loaded. --24.147.86.187 00:51, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

I think what is happening is that the browser is preloading the image at the same time you are changing the background image. I believe the browser does not wait when you set newimage.src (if it waited, it would cause an obvious pause when loading the page when you preloaded at the top of the script); thus, when it gets to the next line (setting the background image), the image hasn't been downloaded yet. --cesarb 20:42, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

I think this is partially correct. When you preload the image at the top of the page it definitely waits until it is preloaded (it takes a second longer for the page to even start to render). However when I call it in the function itself it seems to try and start loading before it assigns it -- not quite quick enough. I'm not sure there's an easy way around it. I could probably simulate the effect I want by actually having two DIVs, one under the other, and just never getting rid of the original (bottom) one, but I don't know if that will look right... --24.147.86.187 00:38, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

If it's not an actual tiled image (or is only so in one dimension) you might consider using a single image with both pictures in it and setting the "background-position" attr to shift the different parts into view.

Isolating a segment of a LAN

Is it possible to use a second router to isolate a part of a LAN (TCP/IP)? I'm attempting to set up a combination wired/wireless network such that wireless connections to not have access to the wired connections, but the whole network has access to the internet. Right now the entire network is through a broadband router. I have a second router available. Can I do what I'm attempting to do? If so, how? Thanks in advance for any help. –RHolton≡– 17:03, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Dunno about using a 2nd hardware router, but if you've a PC with 3 network interfaces, you could use Linux with Iptables to route between eth0 and eth2 & between eth1 and eth2, but not between eth0 and eth1 (where eth2 is the WAN/broadband router and eth0/eth1 are the wired & wireless networks). You could probably do the same on other OSes too. Davidprior 19:52, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

If you're using a WRT54G, you can turn on "AP Isolation" under Wireless--Advanced Wireless Settings, which prevents wireless clients from talking to each other, and may or may not prevent them from talking to wired clients. Also, if you use the second router for the wired clients, and manually configure it to use the wireless router as its primary gateway, you'll be able to connect to the internet or whatever from the wired clients, but you can leave out routing information for the wireless router, so that you've effectively hidden the wired network behind a NAT layer. grendel|khan 21:34, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

If you have two routers (one wired one wired/wireless) and one gateway (your cable modem) and no other fancy way of achieving it, then simply plug the wireless router into the cable modem, the wired router into one of the wired ports on the wireless, and turn them all on. The wired router will protect its clients from any incoming traffic, but they will both still share your internet access. --66.195.232.121 22:32, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

My homenetwork is isolated in 3 parts. I'm a cheap bastard :) so i did this by buying a old pentium and 3 ethernetcards for almost free. If you install openBSD or a security-targeted linux distribution on it you can make a very secure firewall/router from it (or you can just use your 2nd router if you already have it (don't expect much security from routers made for home-users)). When you want multiple parts in your LAN, you will want to use subnet's. Just see that they don't overlap. I'm guessing you don't need more then 254 ip's in 1 subnet so it's easiest if you number your subnets like this: 192.168.0.0/24, 192.168.1.0/24, 192.168.2.0/24, ... /24 is the netmask, this is the same as 255.255.255.0. I don't visit this page often, so post something on my userpage if you need more info Garo 10:12, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, all, for the feedback. I ended up plugging the wireless router into the cable modem, set up as a DHCP server for addresses 192.168.1.*. I then plugged the other (non-wireless) router into the first router, with a fixed address of 192.167.1.10 and as a DHCP server for 10.0.0.*. I created a static route on the first router for the second router. Everything seems to work, though I didn't realize that NAT would cascade that way. From just basic tests, it appears that I cannot access nodes on the wired router from a node on the wireless--which is exactly what I was hoping for. Anyone know what sort of security holes might be present? -–RHolton≡– 20:26, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

wikipedia or social networking research subjects

I'm trying to think of some worthy topics to research under those areas. This will be quite the project. Can anyone suggest ideas? Thanks.

132.239.90.231 19:54, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

An Econ prof. of mine is doing his PHD on online markets (how efficient they are, and ways of predicting pricing trends etc.), but I can't find anything he's published online. You may also want to check out wwww.wikinomics.com. The site doesn't have much content, but the book looks interesting. It also looks like it could be just some guy trying to milk a social trend w/o any real insight.

I tend to be a "Markets" guy so I find it interesting to see WHEN different ones were acquired, and for how much (and $ per member, $ per member-hour spent online per month etc.). You can predict the peak of their popularity when that last figure stops increasing.

NByz 20:33, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

This for sociology? Any subject? Inherent differences between wiki and meatspace communication and how they underlie all/only parts that meet [Find out and describe a certain rule] rule would be useful. Suggest asking this on Humanities. 68.39.174.238 21:54, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Dell Inspiron 5100 "Tap to Click" on the Touchpad

I've been struggling with this on and off for a while. My Dell Inspiron 5100 Laptop(Running windows XP Home) keeps enabling the "tap to click" function for the mouse touchpad on its' own. Sometimes within 10-20 minutes of disabling it in the mouse section of the control panel.

The problem tends to happen in bunches (today, for example, it has happened 3 times, and a couple yesterday, but not at all in the prior week or two. It has happened in bunches every couple of months since I've had this laptop (maybe 2-3 years)

Anyone had similar problems on similar Dell laptops?

NByz 21:09, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Have you gone to Dell's website and downloaded the latest Synaptics touchpad software? [23]. If that doesn't work, Synaptics's site has a newer, generic version, though it's not guaranteed to work as well as the Dell-supplied one. [24]. Also, might there be some odd key combination that you're pressing to activate it? -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 21:30, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Erase harddrive...?

--inks^T 23:57, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

I have a harddrive from which I recovered all readable data aftr a crash in raw format and saved to another harddrive. Now I want to completely erase everything on the hardrive and/or write zeros to every location so as to be sure no security breach will occur. How can this be done? -- 71.100.10.48 21:23, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

If you can still access the drive from a computer, you might want to use Darik's Boot and Nuke. Otherwise, open it, run a strong magnet over the platter a few times, and smash it with a hammer? -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 21:27, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Do I have to disconnect all other drives before running the program and will this overwrite deleted partition and volume info as well? -- 71.100.10.48 22:29, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Doesn't say specifically on the site, but it does say "DBAN will automatically and completely delete the contents of any hard disk that it can detect...", so probably best to disconnect the drives you don't want touched. Cyraan 22:43, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

I think the README.txt says that it has both an "autonuke" feature, which does do that, and an editable config file. It's easier and safer to just disconnect the other drives. Always read the readme on anything you run :P -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 22:52, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

The partition information is stored on the hard disk... So, yes it will overwrite partition info. You could use dd... --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 23:10, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

One word: Thermite.--inks^T 22:04, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Physical destruction is the absolute best way. Thermite it, microwave it, sledge hammer it, throw it off a speedboat, something like that. X [Mac Davis] (How's my driving?) 23:37, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Yep, physical destruction is probably the only way to guarantee data erasure. Grinding it into dust and blowing that dust through highly ionized superheated plasma is probably the best way to wipe those magnetic fields --froth^T 18:29, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

That may not be practical. DBAN and wipe are good if you're only up against minor/medium players. If you're afraid of say, the NSA, you'll have to really whack it. Remember, the platters and their coating is what really needs to be gotten. 68.39.174.238 21:57, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

If you overwrite a hard disk with zeroes once, the data is beyond the practical reach of the NSA. Anything beyond that is simply additional paranoia. -- mattb @ 2007-01-26T23:07Z

That's what they want you to think. :D --inks^T 23:57, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm not totally convinced, however if you have the time (EG. you can get it running and then just let it for go for a few days), just set it up to screw the drive and then take it apart and give it to a local gradeschool for their intro to computers class. 68.39.174.238 23:04, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Not with sector remapping. Some data might be left over in older partially defective sectors. --cesarb 01:38, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Computer keyboard as an instrument

Are any programs devoted to taking input from every key on the keyboard and converting it to a musical note? X [Mac Davis] (How's my driving?) 23:38, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, do you mean converting it randomly, or what? There are definitely programs that will treat computer keyboards as analogs to piano keyboards, if that is what you are asking. Most rudimentary synthesizer programs have things of that nature (i.e. Cakewalk Pro does, I know). --24.147.86.187 00:28, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

An old DOS program that came with Creative Soundblaster card drivers did this with MIDI. Virtual MIDI Keyboard does this. You are typically limited by the keyboard electronics only sending 2 or 3 keys at once, so it's not for a maestro. Droud 00:31, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Garageband for Macs can do this for free (if you have a mac). After you record it you can edit it, add more instruments and export it.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Rgrasell (talk • contribs) 02:13, January 26, 2007 (UTC)

I was hoping some application could use more than two or three keys. Garageband only uses 2-3 as well. I want a masestro program!! :) X [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 11:45, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

The problem isn't the program, it's the keyboard. Most keyboards can't register more than two-three key presses at once on account of their wiring. It's a strict hardware limitation. Now if you got a really high-end keyboard then it wouldn't matter much, I don't think. But if you are willing to do that you might as well just get a cheap piano MIDI controller, as they are probably cheaper than that (circa $50 or so). --24.147.86.187 13:47, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Yep, key jamming is the problem. --Kjoonlee 13:51, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't think it's a hardware limitation so much as it's a limitation of old keyboard protocols. Last semester in my digital design class we had a lab where we had to process raw keyboard input and there was something about only certain scancodes being resolvable when multiple scancodes were sent --froth^T 04:34, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

It is a hardware limitation, and it doesn't occur with some ancient keyboards. Keyboard Matrix Help has some info on masking and ghosting which can also be a problem. --Kjoonlee 06:42, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

IT Communication

Would like a document on the above subject

Wikipedia Reference Desk is not there for us to do your homework. Also if you really would like an answer you could at least try to form a legitimate question. Aetherfukz 14:05, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Memory card hub

Hi there. I've got over 2.5 gigabytes in memory cards, but wherever I go, it seems I can't use them. They only go on my laptop. I'm aware that there are plenty of USB-to-memory card adapters, but I'm finding it difficult to find just the right one. Could you point me to a hub that will take SD cards, Memory Sticks (doesn't matter if Duo is included, I have an adapter), and some other common memory card, in case I ever buy it? Thanks so much.--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 16:40, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Take your pick, these all at least support SD/MemStick, I can probably narrow it down more if you let me know whether you'd prefer internal or external, price range, etc. Cyraan 16:57, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Internal? Howzat?! Ah, never mind. I'm looking for something portable and external so I can for once take advantage of all these useless-feeling chips sitting around being overshadowed by a puny 256MB USB flash drive. Under $30 is okay, but the cheaper the better. I also saw something on Sony's website about a 17-in-1 adapter, that listed compatibility with "Memory Stick, Memory Stick with MagicGate, MagicGate Memory Stick," etc., going on to list nine different Memory Stick formats. Memory Stick/SD is all I need for now, but would you recommend compatibility with some other common memory card? xD, perhaps?--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 17:11, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Internal mounts into a floppy or CD-ROM bay, and connects straight into one of your motherboard's USB connectors. Well this seems to meet your needs, and has good reviews. However, it seems the company that makes it is doing a promotion for Superman Returns, and it has a corny Superman "S" logo on the top, other than that, seems like a good unit for the most part. May want to shop around a little more first, but if you do buy this one, you can probably rest assured knowing you're using the same reader that the Man of Steel uses for all his flash-reading needs. :) Cyraan 17:27, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Wow, that's great! Having Superman's approval of my computer hardware is good to know :-), but I'm going to check around and see if I can't find a similar model without the logo. Thanks a bundle! You should be paid for this. Or put it on your resume.--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 17:41, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Personally I wouldn't get anything external that's going to take up desk space, and you might want a more portable solution than an internal mount. Try a PCMCIA card like this one (but don't buy it from that store, it doesn't seem reputable). You might not have that slot on a desktop computer, but basically all laptops have them --froth^T 18:37, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

It's a good suggestion, but I'm seeking compatibility with all computers.--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 19:35, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Suggestion for a backup software

Hello everyone. Im looking for a backup solution for my network, and I would appreciate some suggestions.

Here is what I have:

• Six computers connected to each other through a router
• There is no DHCP in place, so all the machines have a fixed IP
• They all run WindowsXP Pro
• I have complete access to all the machines' and router's settings
• I would be capable of assigning a machine to be the backup server (for storage and schedulling of backup jobs)

Here is what I need:

• Preferably a free software
• Preferably capable of creating fixed size volumes (to make burning the backups into DVDs easier)
• Preferably it would have a client/server structure (maybe the client could run as a service and backup during idle time)
• It must have incremental backups (the ability to backup only the files that changed since the last backup)

Here is what I can't do:

• Install any Linux,BSD or similar, it has to be a Windows based app.

I have tried Bacula, but it only runs the client module on Windows, the other modules must run on a NIX flavor, so that is no help (unless you could recommend a way of working around this)

Thank you very much for your suggestions! Quase 19:29, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

You'll probably not like my answer, but I'll give it anyway, just in case... :) You said it's impossible to install a *nix flavour, but what about knoppix ? This is a linuxdistribution than runs from a cd or dvd so you don't install anything on your harddrive (for more info follow the link). If you use knoppix you can use "tar" or "dd" for you backups, "gzip" or "bzip2" to compress them and a version of "cron" for scheduling the backups. Most likely knoppix also contains software with a nice GUI that you can use for backups, but I try to use the commandline for things like backups so I don't have any extra information about that. I don't visit this page often, so feel free to contact me on my userpage for more info Garo 09:54, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Can you just have Windows backup run, backup incrementally at stated times, then dump the backups to a shared folder on the backup server? 68.39.174.238 23:06, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Dual core CPU speed description???

In the new dual core CPUs there are two processors working on one chip? So when a description says 3.2ghz dual core does, that mean two 3.2 ghz equaling 6.4 ghz of combined computing speed, or two 1.5ghz processors equaling 3.2? Thank you.

The speed description refers to the speed of a single core. However, that doesn't mean that a 3.2GHz Dual-core chip will run twice as fast as a 3.2GHz single-core chip. That's only true for software that's actually capable of recognizing and using the dual-core chipset. For example, most games these days don't recognize that possibility and so will only use half the power. --Maelwys 20:06, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Not to mention how effective the software is at splitting up computation into multiple threads. One common method of multithreading is to create an I/O thread and a "compute" thread, but this is usually imbalanced and will still leave one microprocessor doing the brunt of the work. The effectiveness of multi-core and multi-chip multiprocessing is extremely reliant on the software component, even more so than other parallelism schemes like superscalar execution (which is mostly accomplished by hardware, usually needing little software assistance). -- mattb @ 2007-01-26T20:14Z

Thank you for the prompt responses :) 20:22, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

RSS aggregator

I am looking for a rss aggregator so that I could aggregate many rss feeds from different sources into one for my news website. Example of this is google news which showed aggregated news feeds.

thank you

These links might help. Droud 03:24, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

WinXP - Making the "Guest" account unable to access my folders

I'm going to a LAN party tonight and I'm bringing this computer. However, I have some very important folders on my Administrator account relating to .wavs that my band has recorded and I don't want any partiers getting into them. I'm using WinXP Pro with SP2. I plan on logging it in on the Guest account so they can access programs like Firefox and Soulseek, but I don't want them getting into the My Documents folder. How do I do this? NIRVANA2764 20:27, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

By default, no account can access files in the 'My Documents' folder of another account without the password, so you should be OK. Just to check, when logged in on your main account:

RClick My Documents -> Properties -> Sharing tab

Make sure that 'Make this folder private' is checked, and 'Share this folder on the network'/'Allow network users to change my files' are unchecked. (I'm using XP Home SP2, so this may not be completely accurate.) Have fun. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 20:49, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Deny Read/Execute/List/Read Attributes/Read * rights. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 01:40, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

auto deletions while editing Wikipedia

I'm trying to help User:Skookum1 discover the reason why his edits sometimes automatically delete the accessdate and ISBN numbers from the references. I'm guessing he's typing fast and accidentally hitting some combination of keys. Here's an example, where all he did was correct a typo. Any ideas? thanks, Bobanny 21:48, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Probably some specialized software on his end. Think adblockers or censorware. 68.39.174.238 21:58, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Both the accessdate and ISBN numbers have a thing in common: they are strings of numbers separated by hyphens, or in PCRE notation, \d+(-\d)+ — something I might expect someone could write when trying to match a common notation for phone numbers. It's highly probable something is changing what he is submitting after he hits "Save page", instead of him hitting some combination of keys. It might be something on his computer or in a proxy he uses (which could be a transparent proxy). It should easy enough to have him reproduce the problem (just write a few access-date-looking and ISBN-looking strings on a sandbox page and ask him to edit the page); if he manages to reproduce it at will, he could first try the (much slower) secure server to bypass any proxy which could be mangling his edits (if the secure server doesn't show the problem, it's probably something on his computer). He could also try temporarily disabling the web scanning part of his antivirus (if he has one), any ad blocker/script blocker/censorware (as suggested above), any browser extensions (or, in MSIE, any browser helper objects), and checking for spyware and other forms of malware (some malware add things to the text you post in web forms). --cesarb 01:17, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll pass this along and hopefully get it resolved. Bobanny 02:33, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Chalkboard drawing animation

It would be really cool if a program is available that could generate animations of chalkboard drawings being drawn based on user-inputs. In the event that one does not exist or cannot be found, how can this be done in Flash? I would really like to do this some way. Just unicode characters are okay too. Any way this could be done (especially if on Mac OS X :) ) would be much appreciated! X [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 23:35, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Radeons

I have two questions about my "Radeon 9550 SE":

• I'm pretty sure I have the Radeon 9550 SE, but in Device Manager (Ubuntu), it says "Radeon 9550". No "SE". Second, in xorg.conf it says Device "ATI Technologies, Inc. RV350 AS [Radeon 9600]". So, do I have the Radeon 9550, SE, or 9600?
• Secondly, how does my graphics card compare to others? (I'm expecting "crap")

Thanks. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 00:18, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

For the first one.. The 9550 and 9600 are exactly the same but the 9550 has firmware restrictions placed on it, so it's trivial to "unlock" the 9600. For the second one, crap. --froth^T 02:22, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Email question

(this question was previously untitled. titled by wj32.)

Every time i turn on my E-mail program..MS Outlook, i get this messige in my.....(Draft folder) ....... that gets .........Deleted Auotmaticly ...and on vewing it with ..(E-mail Details).... i get this messige,......(Bayesian Filter)

i use a... (Spamming Program) called ...(Agnitum Spam Terrier).

is this the normal thing from the Spam program..?

there is nothing written on the E-mail exsept the time of opening it.

it allway goes from the Draft fold into the Deleted folder ..every time i start MS Outlook.

Please use proper grammar and spelling. From what I can see, you're a "spammer" and you use a "spamming program". There is a technical problem with your "spamming program". --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 01:31, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Agnitum SPAM Terrier is SPAM filtering software. "Beta" means they released the software for the public to test for them, and you found a bug it seems. You should notify the company of the issue. Please try to ask coherent questions! Droud 03:33, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Java Applet

Today I was trying to program a game in Java in my Computer Science class becasue i was done with everything and I know how AND I wanted to ry and impress my fellow classmates with my knowledge. It turned out that it all backfired and I didnt know squat about making applets. The problem aose early when I was just trying to get the guy to move around, where I had upwards of 11 errors. I asked my teacher and she is kind of annoyed with mine wanting to learn more and not just stay along with the class and when she came over she said that my code was "totally flawed" and that she couldnt help because she was "swamped." She said something about the keyboard input being totally different in applets rather than the "System keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);" line. The following is my code I put in and maybe someone here a=can give me some pointers but not all the things wrong.

    import java.awt.*;
    import java.applet.*;
    import java.util.*;
    
    public class gameTest extends Applet {                //is it supposed to be in between these brackets?
    
         public void paint (Graphics p)  {                      //or this one?
         }
    
    int x = 150, y = 75;                                             // or is this right?
    String control;
    Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
    control = keyboard.next();
    
    p.drawString ("O", x, y);
    
    if (control.equalsIgnoreCase("d"))                        //"d" is the control to move right
         {
         p.drawString (" ", x, y);
         p.drawString ("O", x+1, y);
         x +=1;
         y = y;        //I know it's rodundent
         }
    
       }
     }

Thank you guys so much for any pointers. I am almost certain my teacher won't be able to help me a whole lot. Thanks, schyler 04:10, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

P.S. Good to be back at the RD!

Haven't used java in years, but I think you need to do something with addKeyListener(). Also you have no control loop- it checks for keyboard input once and quits. --froth^T 04:30, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

You need to put initialization code into init() where you would specify a handler for key events. You also have function code in your class declaration, which is not right. That code should be in the key event handler. You also need to use private variables in your class declaration to store the values of x and y so you can later use these values in the paint() function to draw the O at the proper location. You should consider painting a small area white rather than clearing the last position by drawing a white character, since strings take a lot more time to draw. It is spelled "redundant". Here is a tutorial. Droud 05:08, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

• Isn't System.in the program's stdin? For example, the code to listen for a key on a GTK window is different to the code to accept input from stdin.
• Clean up your code. Line up braces. Use consistent styles:
• Why are you ending your function straight away?
• Use private variables.
• Why the y = y?
• Unless your font is a monospace font, your positioning won't work. "W", for example, takes up more space than an "i".

Example:

/* I don't know Java, so I'm guessing. Well, at least its how I do it in C#. */

import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.*;
import java.util.*;

public class gameTest extends Applet
{
    private int _x, _y;
    
    public gameTest()
    {
        _x = 150;
        _y = 75;
        
        /* add event listener here. */
    }
    
    public void paint(Graphics p)
    {
        // place drawing code here.
    }
}

Apologies for my long post. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 00:43, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I believe that will be extremely helpful. I need to try it once I get to School. Thank yall very much! schyler 04:06, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

You can also download the sun JDK and eclipse, voila you have a free development environment with applet support. Droud 04:29, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Windows update

I haven't gotten a new "critical" update in months. Windows Update is set to notify and I haven't been notified- also the Windows Update website says that there are no critical updates (in fact no updates at all other than like the australian timezone fix and language packs). Is it the same with everyone else or have I somehow been left behind? --froth^T 06:58, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Are you still using SP1? It's been over 2 years since SP2 was released, so SP1 support is no longer offered. (Assuming you're using XP). --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 07:02, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

No I'm using SP2 --froth^T 07:06, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Then I have no idea, as I just checked right now and updated with the newest critical update posted. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 07:08, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Do you have windows update set to automatically install? If that's the case, it is most likely installing and rebooting overnight. You can check in Add/Remove Programs, select the checkbox that says "Show Updates". Droud 17:52, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

After the WGA push? Heck no! It's set to notify like I said above --froth^T 22:19, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

This is EXACTLY why I bought a Mac. schyler 14:33, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm sure that for you the 25 unpatched flaws on Month Of Apple Bugs don't matter, who cares if someone can send you a picture that will take over your system if you view it? Droud 17:52, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

If it takes a special month-long drive to produce 25 bugs, I'll be happy. And it's not like Windows hasn't had its own incidents with pictures taking over the OS: I know Windows Metafiles and PNG images both had that problem, and I think there were also bugs with JPEG images and AVI movies. --Carnildo 23:05, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

On the update webpage there should be a button to refresh ignored updates. Try that. And no, this doesn't happen on macs.--Ryan 16:44, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't have any ignored updates. And he's right, Apple has patched basically none of the many critical bugs exposed by MOAB --froth^T 22:24, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Of note, only about 1/2 of the bugs listed are Apple software. The rest are third-party apps that happen to run on MacOS X. Very few are actually security exploitable. And the first Apple security bug has been patched, within their normal timeframe for patching reported bugs. -- Kesh 01:32, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

It seems to be ages between WU updates. My last two recent updates were "Security Update for Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP (KB929969)" and "Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - January 2007 (KB890830)". Prior to that the last ones were on December 14th. 68.39.174.238 23:10, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

www.helium.com

www.helium.com. Is this website a scam? It stinks of it, but I can't find the catch. Battle Ape 10:57, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

It looks like a wiki where they really want knowledgeable people to contribute. Never trust anything on the web - however it offers payment through PayPal, so they won't run off with your bank details. --h2g2bob 19:07, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

www.helium.com publishes contact information including a street address on their website. The street address matches the street address used in their DNS registration. Their DNS registration can be looked up at Network Solutions. The name "Helium Exchange" in Andover, MA can be found in AT&T's online business phone directory. The phone number published by AT&T matches one of the phone numbers listed on their website. There is a listing for "Helium Inc." at the same address in the Eastern Massachusetts Better Business Bureau with no recorded complaints. Helium Exchange reportedly will be presenting at the DEMO 2007 conference no doubt seeking venture capital. This appears to be a startup business. Articles about the company have been written in various (some well-known) news publications; a list of articles may be found on the company's website. They appear legitimate to me (caveat emptor). They certainly don't appear to be trying to hide anything. --TRosenbaum 01:23, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

It does have pretty stupid information like "80% of home PCs are infected with viruses or spyware". It's actually "99% of Windows PCs are infected with viruses or spyware". --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 02:26, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Excel

While find and replacing a specified value in any number of cells, how to avoid getting the Update Values dialog box.

I mean that find and replace should work directly in Excel 2003 which doesnt in my case. 17:20, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

I think you're out of luck on this, the dialog is not dockable. Droud 17:56, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Can't preview Bittorrents

Why is it that when you're downloading a bittorrent video clip (wmv, avi, mpeg), you cannot preview it even when you stop the download or make a copy? When you try previewing it, it says "Windows Media Player cannot recognize the file type/format." Only after the download is complete, can windows media player open it. Jamesino 18:08, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Bittorrent distributes chunks of files in (sort of) random order. You usually won't get the first chunks of the file first. Some clients let you control which chunks it requsts first, but that doesn't guarantee you'll be offered them (nor is it really good practice as it will slow down overall transfer speeds). -- mattb @ 2007-01-27T18:17Z

Normal file downloading architectures download the file from the beginning to end, and that's why you can preview them, such as in limewire. BitTorrent downloads them at random order, so in theory you could preview each segment in chronological order, but I don't think any applications are available to do that. They're probably working on that. X [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 20:16, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Hard disk format - 'serial number' - what's this for?

G'day. I was formatting a hard drive the other day, and noticed as usual that the system assigned a 'serial number' (in the form of 1808-0A6B) to the formatted physical disk. This was nothing strange to me, as I have been using PC's for most of my life and consider myself more than well-versed in the ins and outs of things, and know this is commonplace with each format. However, I don't know if this number is used for anything, and I couldn't find anything on this on Wikipedia, so I'm going here. If this important, I still proudly use Windows 98 SE (planning to switch to Fedora later this year, however). This is as usual morbid curiosity on my part. Thanks in advance and have a nice Saturday evening y'all. --Ouro 18:47, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

I doubt it has any use other than tracing back to the history of its manufacturing, such as when and where. I doubt it's used to keep tabs on where it goes, since the uproar of the Pentium IIIs or whatever sending unique codes that identifies itself. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 18:52, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

I am not sure if we understood ourselves fully. I was not referring to the serial number of the physical object, I was referring to the serial number assigned during format, which actually changes every time you format the disk or floppy. --Ouro 18:56, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

The serial number is required just to make sure you know what you're doing, I think. It's an extra safety feature. --h2g2bob 19:01, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

The serial number is randomly assigned when you create the volume, and I believe is a holdover from disk packs, which required you to track a large number of packs (via serials, which you could also check on-line, on-line being at a terminal) since each pack held relatively little data. They used to shuffle those things around like paper files. Droud 22:01, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

It is only used, to my knowledge, by licensing software and copy protection systems. Droud 22:02, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

I'm reasonable sure it's an attribute of the FAT file system. I'm pretty sure advanced disk software and hex editors can change it at will. It's use, I don't know if it has one to the end user, to the OS, or what. 68.39.174.238 23:12, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

From Microsoft's own explanation, it's to aid in distinguishing one disk from another. I believe it's used by DOS to know when you swapped the floppy disk in the drive (more recent versions of DOS needed a switch to enable reading the disk change line from the drive; older versions probably simply ignored it). --cesarb 00:43, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Back in the MS-DOS days, it was indeed used to distinguish between discs, as they couldn't be named or anything. Every disk stuck in the main floppy drive was the A: drive, so serial numbers allowed you to differentiate between discs. At this point, its vestigial. -- Kesh 01:36, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you all for the input. I have more or less come to the same conclusion thinking about it last night. If the number changes from one format to another, then it would be valid to record those serials somewhere to check whether the disk had been further formatted or not. Logical. Thanks once again, cheers! --Ouro 09:27, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

How reliable...?

After a hardrive crash and subsequent recovery of data to another harddrive by a file recovery program I erased the hardrive using DBAN. When I tried and failed to create a new volume under Windows XP which reported the drive as having errors and "at risk" I tried Western Digital's low level reformat program which first reported it had repaired the drive but after a second extensive run reported the drive was unrepairable. An older WD LLF version even reported the drive was not Western Digital (which it is). Finally a newer version of CHKDSK on the new boot drive from a Windows XP update finally began finding and eliminating errors. After about 36 hours it reported the drive as repaired.

Windows XP Disk Manager and CHKDSK no longer finds any errors after taking a day to scan for recoverable sectors marked as bad and reports the drive as okay. I assume the erros were from surface defects at the location used for track zero, etc. and there were reassigned by CHKDSK which must have a built-in LLF routine. If so can I now write the data back to the drive without worry about problems from surface defects and whatever casued track zero to crash? -- Barringa 19:29, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

My impression/opinion is that when a disk has had a serious crash -- and especially if the head has contacted the platter at speed -- it's terminally ill, it's toast. There may be little furrows plowed in the disk by the crashing head which, even if the drive has later mapped those sectors as "bad", will further damage the head every time it passes over them. There may be fragments of plowed-up disk material floating around inside the housing just waiting to fall between the head and the disk at some other spot, plowing more furrows there and crashing the disk a second time. After spending hours trying to retrieve data from a badly crashed disk -- and I've done this many times -- I usually like to copy all the data to a brand-new disk, and throw the old one away. Disk drives aren't terribly expensive, and the risk of losing more time or data later just isn't worth it. —Steve Summit (talk) 21:45, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Take this advice, that drive is not long for this world. Droud 22:04, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

While I enjoy such exercises for the challenge and skill, getting a drive and software that are both deliberately giving out clear warning signs to look and work OK should NOT be used in order to return it to "production use". When so many things implicitly and explicitly give clear warning signs, there is a definite problem with the disk somewhere. Check cabling to make sure it's not that, but you're rather lucky to have been able to save all the data on it. 68.39.174.238 23:17, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Mac OS X Preference Pane

My Software Update preference pane icon is acting up. It shows a switch and part if the original icon. I have no third party preference panes installed. Thanks in advance for the help!--Ryan 19:49, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

If It comes down to it, I could email you my prefpane or application of Software Update, which would put in Macintosh HD/System/PreferencePanes or Macintosh HD/System/Core Services respectively. X [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 20:19, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

A switch and part of the original icon... in the tray? When you open it? 68.39.174.238 23:18, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Try this: Close System Preferences. From your home directory, navigate to Library > Caches and find a file called com.apple.preferencepanes.cache. Delete it and empty the Trash. Alternately, open a Terminal window and enter:

rm ~/Library/Cache/com.apple.preferencepanes.cache

Then reopen System Preferences and see if that solved the problem. Larry V (talk | e-mail) 10:21, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

printer margins?

My friend has "Konica Minolta magicolor 2400w". How can I find out the exact margins it can print within?--Sonjaaa 20:48, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

The Amazon product listing says that it's 4mm (0.16") from each edge (see "Maximum printable area"). — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 21:10, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Blocking some websites

Hi,I ve recently discoverd that my brother is visiting some XXX sites using my PC, so my question is how can I prevent access to those sites, do I have to purchase some software for this purpose or is there any function in my computer (OS:Windows XP) that can block those sites/or give access to only some selected sites. Thank you in advance for any help.

K9 Web Protection looks pretty good, and it is free for home use. Droud 22:07, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

It's trivial to bypass any client-side filtering (just pop in a linux livecd and away you go). The only way to guarantee it is to hope your router has support for filtering and subscribe to a service that gives you a set of filters. Linksys does this IIRC. --froth^T 22:17, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

It is trivial to bypass a linksys router with Tor (anonymity network), as well. Droud 22:29, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

If you can, give him a "Normal User" (IE. Not administrator) user account and do something with the HOSTS file or do something else that can only easily be countermanded by an administrator. All that said, keep in mind that this can easily lead to an escalating arms race between the two of you. As was said the last time a question like this came up, if you can talk with him and get him to see your side of it, or even just realize you don't appreciate that, you might get further. I don't know either of you so you'll have to make the decision. 68.39.174.238 23:22, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

ZoneAlarm has some sort of Parental Control feature, which purports to block access to a list of potentially troubling Web site categories. I have ZoneAlarm Security Suite version:6.5.737.000, but I have not had occasion to mess with the Parental Control, as my cat does not use the computer, beyond stepping on the keyboard occasionally. A cat might not be smart enough to bypass it, but a brother might. See also Parental controls. A non-technical solution might be to install a webcam pointing at the computer, which your mother and grandmother (if living) can monitor. That might work until the brother unplugs it, paints over the lens, or smashes it. Another option would be to simply use the computer at all times, not allowing the brother any opportunity to pursue those vile urges (the ones responsible for the continued existence of our species). --Teratornis 05:53, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks alot guyz, especially you Draud, I have installed K9 Web Protection software in my PC and it seems that its doing the job very well.

By the way, before you go off all happy-like, it's trivial to walk around any kind of protection either by using a proxy server or a live cd. Best to make sure he can't get on your computer and keep that pr0n to yourself, eh?--Frenchman113 on wheels! 16:21, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Sega Saturn Operating System

What proprietary operating system is on the Sega Saturn?--67.10.200.101 21:17, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Most likely something small and custom designed specifically for the Saturn. I doubt it even had a name outside Sega's internal development. —Mitaphane _?|! 23:19, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

game design programs

Can someone tell me of some good game development programs for someone who wants make games for a hobby? Preferably for a mac. Also, it should be 2-dimensional or have an option between 2-d and 3-d. thanks

Everything for mac shall be found on the apple website (small ecosystem), like this article. Droud 22:18, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

GCC for the coding. GIMP for your graphic design. OpenGL for 3D, SDL for 2D. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 00:24, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Allegro works on OSX (also Windows, Linux-and-friends and MS-DOS). It is mainly used for 2d, but has some very basic 3d support. There are lots of examples and good documentation, but a basic knowledge of C programming is advisable. It is free and fully open source (in C), and even fine for commercial use too. See the homepage; or allegro.cc for examples of programs made with it. This is truly a great bit of kit, and what I started learning on. --h2g2bob 00:59, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

converting recorded DVDs to avi, wmv etc

I have some video material recorded using a DVD recorder. Can anyone suggest software (preferably free) that would convert it to single-file formats like avi or wmv, and tell me how long this process is supposed to take? I'm trying to use Auto Gordian Knot to convert an 11 minute segment to avi, but it's been running for over two and a half hours, is showing no signs of doing anything, and doesn't have any kind of progress indication so I don't know whether it's working or how much longer it's likely to be. --Nicknack009 21:40, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Depending on how fast your computer is and the settings you chose in Auto Gordian Knot, a few hours is not unreasonable for efficiently encoding video. Video encoding uses an amazing amount of computation. What model and speed of processor are you running (this is the most critical component to video encoding)? Droud 22:15, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Every multimedia question here can be answered with VLC media player, and this is no exception. Takes one to two times as long as the DVD takes to play (depends on your computer's speed and what options you ask it to encode with). Use file, wizard, transcode to file and go through the options. Put 120 in the stop time box to rip the first 2 minutes only, then you can check quality and so forth. --h2g2bob 02:27, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Good advice if you don't want dual-pass encoding (which doubles the encoding time and I believe is default in AGK) or to use commercial codecs like DivX (VLC uses ffmpeg if I recall, which is a good implementation but not the best). Droud 04:35, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

AutoCAD drawings to SVG PNG or GIF

Hi. I've made some drawings in AutoCAD 2002 that I would like to upload to the Wikimedia Commons, but I'm struggling with file formats. Ideally I would save a rendered image as an SVG (But PNG or GIF would do). I can do a screen dump - which gives me a BMP, or use AutoCADs render window - also BMP, but these don't seem to be very useful. Anyone?--Joesydney 22:52, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

I think PNG is preferred format in this case since I don't think you can easily convert AutoCAD drawings to SVG. If you export or screen dump to BMP, I think you can open(or paste from the clipboard)it into MS Paint. From there just tell Paint to save the image as a PNG file. —Mitaphane _?|! 23:03, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

SVG would indeed be preferable, since DWG's are obviously vector-based. But Autodesk tries to keep the DWG format proprietary, and although there is non-Autodesk software that can read it (see e.g. http://www.opendesign.com/), it's a royal pain and a running battle and hence readers and converters are not nearly as widespread as for the other, more open formats.

For BMP, there are lots of programs that can convert it into other formats. Two I know of are NetPBM and ImageMagick. —Steve Summit (talk) 01:50, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

You could do a printscreen of your current window (assuming you're using Windows) and then use the GIMP to save the image as a .png or .gif or whatever else you need (I don't think the GIMP will save to SVG, though. It might be able to open DWG files, but I'm unsure of that....)

E-mail Client

What is the best e-mail client? 68.193.147.179 23:27, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

That's a really subjective question. It depends on what you need, and how you use your email. For large corporate accounts, Microsoft Outlook coupled with Microsoft Exchange Server tends to be preferred. For home users, Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird or even Web-based email suffice. In between, it really varies.

Maybe explain what you're looking for in a mail client, what you use email for, and features you want to have. Then we can narrow it down a bit. -- Kesh 23:45, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

It also depends what operating system you use - for example, I use KMail which is KDE-only. To answer your question, Comparison of e-mail clients may be of some considerable use. --h2g2bob 00:38, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Evolution! --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 02:54, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Return HDrive to a "virgin state"

I remember being in a computer lab once that employed quite a clever tactic for the public terminals. The user would log in with an assigned username, and then when the user logged off, the *entire* hard drive would be wiped away and over-written with a fresh copy of the operating system (windows) as if it had just been installed the first time (default configuration). Every user who logged in was shielded from anything put on the comp by any previous users. This was a way to get rid of all unwanted stuff installed by the user or otherwise.

How can I do this on my home computer? I'd like to install a 'default config' and then do a rollback everytime I log off. I've seen some pre-packaged stuff, but it is all half-assed and bloatware. Is there a 'freeware' way to do this? Not against programming it myself if necessary, cause it seems like a great idea. Also, does this strategy have a name? NoClutter 01:03, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Restoring a hardrive's virginity requires something like a virginity pill. I have a card I got on eBay that simply writes all changes to a scratch pad so that they can be deleted at the end of a session either manually or programmatically. Its most likely what is going on since nuking 250 gig hardrive takes a little time. 71.100.10.48 01:42, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

How about making a kernel driver that sandboxes everything that runs under your account? Like Sandboxie? --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 02:29, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

The name for what you want is disk cloning, often referred to as Ghosting. Ghost is not free, but there are links to numerous programs in the former article and one of them may be what you want.-gadfium 03:41, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

In an environment where you're worried about the contents of the hard drive after a user has been on the system, software solutions are not the best solution. The hardware device mentioned above would be much more successful in this scenario. Droud 04:47, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Permanent Drive letter in Windows XP

Is there a way to set up a USB hard drive so it is always guaranteed to get the same drive letter no matter what computer you attach it to? It's annoying when links and shortcuts dont work and get 'resolved' into an incorrect location just because a particular computer I'm using is already using the Drive letter I had been using before. This would be a huge annoyance-buster if it is possible. NoClutter 01:15, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

These two pages seem to show how it's done. http://www.experts-exchange.com/Storage/Q_21628818.html and http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1676&page=9 . Hope it works. - Akamad 02:01, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

CSS rollover buttons

I have a series of buttons on top of each other in a side navigation bar. I would like to simulate a javascript rollover, but with CSS. The buttons are images and I would like the button to change from the first image to the second image when my mouse if on top of it. What would the CSS and HTML codes neccessary to achieve this? Thank you. Jamesino 03:31, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Computing#Webpage_Help. What was wrong there? Can you post at least of a skeleton of the CSS/HTML you have tried, if you've tried any? -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 03:41, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Java equivalent of Perl's HTTP::Request?

I'm writing a small Java bit which needs to POST some information to a web script and catch the result. Here's the Perl I want to port to Java.

my $req = HTTP::Request->new(
 POST => $self->{base_uri}."/relay.php/${method}"
);
$req->content_type('application/x-www-form-urlencoded');
foreach my $param (@params) {
 push @p, "param${count}=${param}";
 $count++;
}
$req->content(join('&', @p));
my $result = $self->{ua}->request( $req );

Is there some small piece of Java I could use? Something in the standard toolkit? Something I don't need to import 500k of JARs or write a whole library of my own for? grendel|khan 04:54, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Probably something in URLConnection or something like that. --Spoon! 08:23, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I see that HttpURLConnection.setRequestMethod(java.lang.String) might come in handy here. Thanks! grendel|khan 08:33, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Chalkboard drawing animation

It would be really cool if a program is available that could generate animations of chalkboard drawings being drawn based on user-inputs. In the event that one does not exist or cannot be found, how can this be done in Flash? I would really like to do this some way. Just unicode characters are okay too. Any way this could be done (especially if on Mac OS X :) ) would be much appreciated! (I posted this today, however I found it halfway up the page and assumed somebody accidently moved it) X [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 05:50, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Converting audio tapes

How hard is it to convert audio cassettes to DVDs (I have XP Media Center Edition 2002)? Does it require any special software/hardware? The quality doesn't have to be great - adequate is fine. Clarityfiend 07:53, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I would suggest Audacity for all your recording needs. If you're looking to burn DVD Audio discs, you'll need a piece of software like Nero Burning ROM to burn it properly. Droud 14:23, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

What is a mouse pad

I read in an old computer palmphet about something called a "mouse pad". What is a mouse pad and why would a mouse need a pad to work? 58.157.241.42 08:07, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Mousepad --Spoon! 08:14, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

software

software characteristics

This is not a question. Droud 14:25, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

ip addresses

My computer is networked with 2 other computers wich share the same ip address and the same internet service internet explorer if i was to use my free 6 month trial aol 9.0 disk and use aol would my ip address change?if so how often? will it happen more than once? and will my computer still be networked with the others?--Crocadog 13:48, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

AOL uses dial-up networking, and you'd most likely have quite a bit of trouble sharing it in the first place. If you did manage to share it, the external IP of your network would change every time you reconnected. Droud 14:26, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

And dial up shared with 3 computers would not be fast...--Ryan 15:01, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Desktops icons help

On one account on my computer, I deleted unused icons because that account was mostly used for playing games, so I moved most of the icons that were unneeded like MS word, etc into a folder on the desktop. But now on the other accounts, those icons just dissappeared. How can I get them back? 67.169.56.188 18:29, 28 January 2007 (UTC)