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December 11

Quote marks will not appear until I type a second one

Hello all. I have a seemingly one-off, weird and annoying issue. I am using an HP laptop computer:

OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Home
System Model HP Spectre x360 Convertible
Version 10.0.19045
Build 19045

Every time I type a quote mark on this computer (or an apostrophe using the same keyboard key without shifting) nothing happens. It is only when I invoke the character key a second time (in a row, without moving the cursor) that anything happens, which is that, only then, TWO quote marks appear. I then I have to delete one of them. Same thing for apostrophes, though I use quotes far more frequently. This happens anywhere I attempt to type the character, including when I placed this one " right now. Please note that the key is not gummed up or anything, it always works to place the two after I type the character the second time. Any ideas? --68.129.153.226 (talk) 17:23, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

When did this start happening? Has it always been like this? If not, what changed? Be honest. MinorProphet (talk) 20:29, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
My 13-year old Mac Mini has stopped working. (I have already purchased a new computer, arriving in about two weeks.) I thus borrowed this HP from my sister a week ago, whereupon I discovered this issue. I thus have no idea of the timeline of the problem.--68.129.153.226 (talk) 21:07, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
What happens if you type a single ' or ", followed by some other character, like a letter?
It sounds like you're in some strange mode which is attempting to interpret various multi-keystroke sequences. Those can be perfectly ordinary — for example, as you may know, on a Mac you can type Option-U to get a bare umlaut, which when you then type a letter like A or U combines with it to form Ä or Ü. But obviously these " and ' sequences you're encountering are bizarre and unwanted! (I've never heard of combining sequences starting with " or ', either.)
My guess is that these sequences are defined for the convenience of typists in some language other than English. I would go to the relevant control panel — perhaps "Keyboard", although under Windows I'm not sure — and make sure you've got English specified as your language, with no funny extra options specified. —scs (talk) 22:10, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Per the below, it sounds like you might well see different behavior depending on whether you type the " or ' followed by a vowel like A or U, versus a consonant like B or S. —scs (talk) 22:16, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Yes you're right. When you're on the international keyboard (or other non-English one) if you type a quote and then a vowel you get an umlaut. With this keyboard layout the first time you press a quote key it will not type it, and you have to press it twice to type a quote.
On Windows 10, on the bottom right, to the left of the date and time, there is an area where you can click to change the keyboard layout. For the international keyboard it is "ENG INTL". If you click it you can change to the normal keyboard, "ENG" or "ENG US" or whatever you prefer. ―Panamitsu (talk) 22:23, 11 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
See dead key. I suppose your system is configured to see ' and " as dead keys, producing no direct output, but combining with the next character you type to create a letter with acute accent or two dots. I haven't used Windows since XP days, but I suppose that if the following character doesn't accept those diacritics, the ' or " is inserted after all. Try switching to a different keyboard layout. PiusImpavidus (talk) 10:37, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Have you tried a "+space sequence? I've seen such behavior of a keyboard in Windows when working in a language with diacritic letters. It simulates old typewriter - hit a diacritic symbol first, which gets printed with no carriage move, then hit a letter, which gets printed at the same place and then a carriage advances to a next position. Following this mode you hit a diacritic + space sequence to get a diacritic symbol alone. --CiaPan (talk) 15:38, 12 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Well, 68.129.153.226, we're all agog to know whether any of our suggestions have worked. Be honest. MinorProphet (talk) 17:35, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I am on Windows 10 on Dell laptop. I have experienced this behavior and I suspect it started after some OS update.
But note that, when you wish to include anything in double/single quote, you must continue to type as usual. The double/single quote becomes visible only after you type any following character (not just single/double quote).
You may be already aware of it, but I thought if you don't know, it will be less frustrating experience once you know how it works. manya (talk) 06:04, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 13

Where can I find a thesis of recently released Gemini 2.0?

For Gemini 1.5, I find its thesis.

What about recently released Gemini 2.0? HarryOrange (talk) 21:53, 13 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Here?  --Lambiam 21:55, 14 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
OK That's Gemini 2.0 release information. HarryOrange (talk) 16:52, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 15

Questions About New Laptop Computer

My old laptop computer developed problems with the power, so that it wouldn't start when connected to regular line current. It would start when connected to high-amperage current in an electronics store, but that wasn't useful, and it was time to replace it after five years. I now have some questions about problems with a new laptop computer. The new laptop computer is an HP running Windows 11. Robert McClenon (talk) 04:43, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Cursor Jumping Randomly

Sometimes when I am typing in a Word document or editing Wikipedia in a source window, I discover that the cursor isn't where I think it should be. The cursor has jumped to somewhere else on the screen, apparently randomly. I have to do a Ctrl-Z to undo what I typed in the wrong place, and then move the cursor back to where I want it. If this is caused by line noise, how do I minimize the impact? How likely is that a new mouse would resolve the problem? Are there any settings that I should diddle with? Robert McClenon (talk) 04:43, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

First thing I would do is give the mouse and mousepad a good clean and disconnect and reconnect it. Shantavira|feed me 09:14, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Possibly due to your hand brushing the trackpad while typing. If you have a mouse, you could experiment with disabling the trackpad: how to disable touchpad on hp laptop. Or even just try turning it off while typing. This erratic caret jumping used to happen to me a lot, too, when my laptop was new, until I found the key to disable the trackpad.
The term caret or insertion point is useful to exclude the mouse cursor (the pointer) from searches.  Card Zero  (talk) 12:54, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you, User:Card Zero. I disabled the touchpad. For users who always use a mouse, the touchpad is a complication. Robert McClenon (talk) 19:06, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I now have a possibly useless question. The documentation referred to an option that disables the touchpad when there is a mouse, but the only option that I found in the settings is the option that always disables the touchpad. I would like to specify that the touchpad is disabled when there is a mouse, and enable it if there is no mouse. This makes very little difference because I will always use a mouse. Is it possible that that option isn't available on my computer? This isn't important. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:38, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Network File Sharing

With the old laptop, I had set up network file sharing, so that the laptop computer could view and edit files in shared folders on my desktop computer, a Dell, also running Windows 11, if they were both within range of my wireless router (and the desktop computer always is). The desktop computer could also access files in shared folders on the laptop, if the laptop was I have tried to set up network file sharing with the new laptop computer. I tried calling the technical support offered by the electronics chain that I bought the computers from, and I made seven calls to them, none of which worked, and I have concluded that their technical support people don't know what they are doing, and, worse, don't know the limits of their knowledge. Does anyone have advice on a book that will tell me how to set up network file sharing with Windows 11, that has neither too little nor too much information for a retired database engineer? Robert McClenon (talk) 04:43, 15 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Robert McClenon Did you try this? TheTechie@enwiki (she/they | talk) 20:21, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
User:TheTechie - Thank you. That describes the basics, and describes what I had done successfully with the previous laptop computer. I need either a much greater level of detail, or a troubleshooting guide, or something like that. That was helpful in that it doesn't point out anything that I am doing wrong. Robert McClenon (talk) 02:31, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Asking for clarification: you did all the steps in the section "How do I troubleshoot sharing files and folders" on that page, on the new laptop? After doing those steps, you still don't "see" your desktop in File Explorer on laptop? (Restart the laptop just in case.) Slowking Man (talk) 04:24, 26 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

December 19

Scanning all available streams

Hello there. I'm have a question: How to scan all available online streams from a specified server and port given? For example, I've found a Wowza Streaming Engine server at 115.79.46.164 and port 1935. I want to know which website or software can help me to find all active streams on this server. Thanks for reading. Ccv2020 (talk) 14:22, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

nmap -- Finlay McWalter··–·Talk 17:02, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

.kp domains

How many .kp domains are there? Gnu779 (talk) 13:10, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Did you see .kp#Existing_and_externally_accessible_domain_list? Polygnotus (talk) 19:10, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
https://www.northkoreatech.org/the-north-korean-website-list/ is a bit outdated but has more background info. Polygnotus (talk) 19:20, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It's ok, bro. I can still view the outdated ones with the Wayback Machine at the Internet Archive. Thanks, Gnu779 (talk) 16:10, 20 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]


December 24

Is this bug in the google search ?

I searched for the keywords: "Israel Folau" "Margaret Court" "David Tyree", then Google shows me blank. Is this bug?HarryOrange (talk) 22:35, 24 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

If I do the same search, this question shows up (twice, due to how the refdesk is organized) plus a link to Stuff. So, it doesn't seem to be a bug. I tried the same format search with much more famous people and got hundreds of links. Matt Deres (talk) 13:20, 25 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]


December 26