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June 25

javascript

how do u simply turn on javascript. we updated flashplayer buti neeed it on to play videos on utube (u know the spelling).Jwking (talk) 00:22, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Depends on your browser. What browser are you using? --98.217.8.46 (talk) 02:12, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

In Internet Explorer, you can control Javascript with Tools -> Internet Options -> Security -> Custom Level -> Scripting, followed by choosing Enable or Disable as necessary. In Firefox (without a script-blocking plugin like NoScript), you can use Tools -> Options -> Content -> Enable JavaScript. PS: How much time does it save you to type "you" as "u", then correct yourself so that we know what you are saying? ;) « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 18:16, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

my cpu

what are the key differentiators of DDR,DDR2,and DDR3RAM? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.22.156.247 (talk) 01:21, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Read the articled DDR SDRAM, DDR2 and DDR3! Basically the 2 & 3 have a higher data rate but also higher latency. Exxolon (talk) 01:51, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

A visual differentiation is how they look—how small and how many leads there are, and where the notch is. Mac Davis (talk) 17:11, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Also, what you're talking about is not a CPU, you probably mean the box. The proper term for that is actually "box" or "machine." The CPU is a very small part of the entire machine, and so is the RAM. Mac Davis (talk) 17:15, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Video Encryption

I downloaded a Movie using a torrent, after the download was over the video cannot be played as it is encrypted.what should i do to play the movie. It ask me to register for some stupid stuff which i dont want to do. I also downloaded Indeo video codec and Installed it. but dont no how to make it function. help would b gr8! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.252.224.25 (talk) 04:37, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

It's probably a scam. Was it a WMV movie? What version of Windows Media Player do you have? I hope that you have a newer version because some people have been infected by downloading ActiveX controls in older versions of the player. They were directed to a malicious web page to register to see a movie. Beating WMV encryption is very difficult. It involves setting up a virtual machine in VMWare and installing an old version of Windows Media Player.--Hello. I'm new here, but I'm sure I can help out. (talk) 05:38, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

No its not a .WMV file, its a .avi, basically its been blocked by the torrent site and would oni let out the software for viewing it only after i register as i said, i think it needs some encryption for buffering showing me the movie, what can i possibly do?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 123.252.224.25 (talk) 08:49, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

It should be obvious to you that I can't help you without more information, like a link to the movie. I can't tell the encryption scheme without seeing it. It may not even be encrypted. Is the file title green? Encrypted files are often colored green inside Windows. Encryped movies also often give you a green screen when you try to play them. I also need to know what player you're using to open the file. In case you're using Windows Media Player, VLC is really good at playing AVIs. If it's a codec issue, you'd download a codec pack. You also mentioned buffering, even though you said that you downloaded the whole movie. That doesn't make any sense. File:Icon rolleyes.gif--Hello. I'm new here, but I'm sure I can help out. (talk) 09:18, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

"Send us your credit card number and you'll get a super secret codec to view this video" is as probable to be a scam as "send us $1000 and we'll send you $1000000 in Nigerian gold" is. 88.112.43.206 (talk) 09:34, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Exactly. The codec installer (or movie decrypter) probably has a virus, too. It may not even be a movie.--Hello. I'm new here, but I'm sure I can help out. (talk) 10:07, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Forget about it, good torrents and good torrent sites don't have encrypted files. My suggestion is to use better sources. Mac Davis (talk) 17:17, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

The other possibility is that 123.252.224.25 said "encryption" without knowing what it actually means, because it sounded cool, and the real problem is simply the improper installation of the Indeo codec (not exactly a popular codec these days). --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 20:17, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Actually it probably was encrypted. Many torrent sites put up their torrents rar'ed or zip'ed encrypted, requiring a password. It then tells you "Go to our site, register for the forums, and you'll be given the passphrase". It's an insidious form of advertising. I recommend limiting yourself to scene-torrents that don't require you to sign up for a private tracker. 217.213.160.231 (talk) 00:53, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

cache

How much is a good size to set from the cache in Firefox? Will a large size like 500mb mean I'll download less in the long run and save on bandwidth, or does it get to a point where you can save no more speed on the connection even if I had a 100GB cache? What is good? Curbey (talk) 09:09, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Personally I keep my cache under 30mb because after a while it causes my system to slow down. I guess that means i'm using my broandband connection more but it seems to make my internet-explorer work more smoothly. People often 'clear the cache' when they have computer slow-down so I suspect past a certain size that there becomes too-much cache and it causes performance issues, rather than improves performance. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 10:13, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Some more information is available here ( http://pastebin.com/f47dd8dc9 ). I will try to come back to give you a summary, if time permits. Kushal (talk) 01:10, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Emigrate from Windows to Linux

Presently I work on Windows XP, but it is time to buy a new laptop. I thought it would be the perfect occasion to jump into Linux, since I have heard terrible things about Windows Vista. The only problem is that I have an essential tool that only runs on Windows (namely Solidworks). How good would this and other similar tools work over a Windows virtual machine in Linux line Wine? GoingOnTracks (talk) 10:37, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

I'd recommend running some Google searches for terms like Solidworks +Wine and/or Solidworks +Linux to see what others have figured out. It will be a bit of a pain but if you really want to switch to Linux then you need to do your research first. Also, you may want to look into dual-booting, especially if you cannot find a way to run Solidworks in Linux nor a good replacement.--droptone (talk) 13:15, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

According to the Wine App Database, only the 2007 version of SolidWorks runs under Wine, and even then it doesn't work very well. As Droptone says, you might want to look in a dual-boot configuration. Wubi might be a good option if you don't want to do a traditional Linux install: it installs Ubuntu Linux within Windows. Xenon54 13:33, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

If you're getting a fast machine, running VMware in Linux can be an excellent option. --Sean 14:17, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

yeah, I also recommend VMware Workstation, since it is a new laptop, it should work well. I think it should be better than wine because this way the program runs on a "real" windows installation... the "only" problem with Virtual Machines this days is that 3D software may not run very well... SF007 (talk) 17:58, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

I would add in another vote against running solidworks on wine. I was able to get 2007 to run for a little while, but experienced very slow responce, and a few features that would not work.

Qualified type allocation

In the Eclipse formatter, it shows, in one of the examples, syntax that I've never seen before:

class Example {
  SomeClass foo() {
    return SomeOtherClass.new SomeClass( 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 );
  }
}

What does this mean? All my inner class allocations usually follow the syntax "new OuterClass.InnerClass()", I've only ever seen anything like this before in C++. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Silvaran (talk • contribs) 16:33, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

I believe it's simply an error. --Sean 17:14, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

It is called a "qualified class instance creation expression". See The Java Language Specification, section 15.9: Class Instance Creation Expressions and http://javaspec.org/wiki/Qualifying_the_new_and_this_Keywords . If there is an error it is that the part before ".new" should evaluate to an object instance, not a type name. --Prestidigitator (talk) 18:06, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Indeed. This is only valid code if "SomeOtherClass" is actually a variable or field, which obviously violates naming conventions and common sense. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 18:32, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Very cool... thanks everyone!--Silvaran (talk) 12:46, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

NetworkPXE Booting - Norton Ghost 8.0

Hello,

I am looking for a network boot solution that would allow me to image multiple machines without the use of a floppy disk, USB key, or CD. Could you explain how to set up a PXE boot server in Windows XP, and configure it to send out a Norton Ghost 8.0 boot image?

216.180.161.58 (talk) 17:05, 25 June 2008 (UTC) Michael Sheeran Technology Assistant Village of Libertyville Libertyville, IL

Search and Replace Hyperlinks in Microsoft Publisher

In a Micosoft Office Publisher 2007 document, I have a bunch of hyperlinks that link to URL's. The domain has changed and I would like to do a search/replace to switch to the new domain. Problem: Publisher appears not to search hyperlinks. Is anyone aware of a workaround? Wikiant (talk) 17:24, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

An Extreme D'oh Moment

Wow, to think that this particular problem wasn't caused by Vista. At least, hopefully not. I was just innocently watching some miscellaneous thing on YouTube when the little tray icon for Norton AntiVirus flashed an ominous red "x." Opening up the program, it seemed that antivirus protection had somehow been turned off. Upon clicking the "Fix Now" button, the program claimed that the only way to resolve the problem would be to uninstall Norton, then reinstall it. The stuff on the other side of the "More Info" link mostly reassured me, reminding me that I needed the product key that was sent through the confirmation e-mail. With a shrug, I agreed to uninstall the program. Now, here I am, completely clueless as to how I should get Norton AntiVirus back on my computer, short of buying the program again. I can't help but feel that I really wasn't supposed to uninstall the program...anyone have a clue as to what just happened?--The Ninth Bright Shiner 22:04, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

I suggest downloading AVG you can get it here. Else you would be paying an outrageous price for a new copy of Norton and this is just as good. Better suggestion is go to Linux. Rgoodermote  22:06, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

I'll keep that in mind, but right now I'm just seeking to costlessly reinstall Norton; I still have over 200 days left on my license.--The Ninth Bright Shiner 01:50, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

I no longer run AVG, nor recommend it to friends. Besides the price, my major reason for choosing it was the fact that it ran quietly in the background, as opposed to Norton, which was a system hog. The last major release of AVG was a huge disappointment in that vein; it regularly took up 30-50% of system resources. Uninstalling it was like getting a new computer. I use and recommend Avast!. Matt Deres (talk) 13:49, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Call their customer service centre for your country (you can find their number from the Norton website). When I called them about problems I has having downloading an already paid-for upgrade, they were quite reasonable. Astronaut (talk) 05:35, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Open Source Audio Recorder

I'm not talking about Audacity or anyything like that... I need something that records the sounds coming from your computer. As in the exact same audio that comes out is recorded. Does anyone know of a software like this?

PS. I would prefer that it has the ability to use a lossless codec, such as AIFF. PwnerELITE (talk) 23:01, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Listen to your inner self. You are talking about audacity if you have a compatible audio card so that you can select stereo mix or mono mix from the input source in the input dropdown menu. I mean, seriously, what's wrong with Audacity? Is there a specific reason you do not want to use it? You might find a fork, if you let us know exactly why you do not want to use Audacity (for example, if you are on a first generation macbook, stereo mix and mono mix are not available in the drop down menu in the default installation). Please don't take my remarks personally. I just want to help. However, I think (for most people), Audacity fits the bill well enough. Kushal (talk) 23:49, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

I think he didn't know you could do that. I certainly didn't. Thanks! (I was about to suggest running a cable from the output to the input when I was edit conflicted). « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 00:01, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Yorokonde! Kushal (talk) 03:44, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

JOGL tutorials

I am trying to learn how to use JOGL by Googling for tutorials and sample code, but most of the code I have found (other than the sample in the JOGL article) fails to compile! So, 1) when and why did they break so much of the API, and 2) where can I find a tutorial with sample code that works? « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 23:02, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

music and programs

Are there any programs where you can change the shape of a wave, and then it will execute a sound? Since sounds are waves, and the difference between different sounds are amplitude, timbre, frequency and duration, then shouldn't it be possible where one could take a wave, (in this program), and even create a square wave? Couldn't you magnify into the wave and then adjust ever so slight the shape of the wave creating different timbres? Could you list these programs and list their pros and cons? Thank you!68.148.164.166 (talk) 23:41, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

I had a program just like that on my Commodore 64. I don't see there isn't one available for modern computers. However, I don't know of any since I don't do music stuff. -- kainaw™ 23:43, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

There was also a good one for the Macintosh called SoundEdit. According to that article Macromedia may have sold it up until a few years ago, so maybe you can even find an old copy for a modern OS. Ah, the simple old programs that made life interesting. :-) --Prestidigitator (talk) 03:53, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

You might enjoy our article about arbitrary waveform generators. Commercial AWG/AFGs usually come with exactly the sort of software you're describing (although, because you're buying hardware too, the entry price will be steep). I'm sure programs exist that drive PC/Mac sound hardware as well.

Atlant (talk) 14:26, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Logic Pro (or express) has all the things you're looking for: Dynamic range compression, limiters, gates, equalization. These are some of the things people use to modify waveforms. Here's a helpful video[1] describing what these things are. Mac Davis (talk) 02:02, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

You can do this in a number of programs. Most of the expensive audio editing programs can do it (Logic, ProTools, Digital Performer, etc). On the cheaper and free end, it looks like FlexiMusic Wave Editor can do it, and even the usual answer, Audacity, although I haven't tried with either of these. Pfly (talk) 02:46, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Audacity also handles VST, and AU, plug-ins[2], for more capability. Mac Davis (talk) 18:15, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

June 26

M.C. Escher in three dimensions?

Like all science and math geeks (at least the ones who've read Gödel, Escher, Bach), I'm totally in love with the works of M.C. Escher. I've been thinking that these sort of illusions could be extended to the third dimension, like a videogame where you walk around in a surreal world. Has anyone tried doing this? Interactive surrealism in three dimensions? The only thing I can really think of is the game American McGee's Alice which had some of these elements. Any others? 217.213.160.231 (talk) 00:48, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

There was this PSP game where there's a stick figure on a Escher-esque course and you rotate the camera to guide the person to the finishing point, forgot the name though. --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:58, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Echochrome - a little googling should turn up showing a video in action.87.102.86.73 (talk) 11:56, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Portal also might satisfy your request. —Akrabbim^talk 12:38, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

also found this http://forums.indiegamer.com/archive/index.php/t-8822.html87.102.86.73 (talk) 13:05, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Ico had a style that was vaguely reminiscant of certain spanish surrealists, an don't forget 3D Ant Attack - set in the city of 'antescher'..87.102.86.73 (talk) 13:07, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

At the Escher Museum in The Hague there is a 3-D animation of Escher art which you can "enter" with a virtual reality headset. The effect is very disorientating ! Gandalf61 (talk) 13:19, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

software for copy prevention of CD ROM

A friend of mine is going to market a data CD ROM containing chemistry tutorial for pre-university students. He wants the disk not easily copyable. Is there some easily manageable freeware which allows a basic level of protection? I am looking for something that prevents copying from disk to disk to copying from disk to hard drive. Among the copyrighted software which are the not so pricey options? Thanks for your reply. --Genuee (talk) 01:15, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

You aren't likely to get many responses here. For one thing, most commercial copy protection schemes cost a bundle of money. For another, most Wikipedians (particularly on this reference desk) are technically savvy free software advocates who will tell you that it is better to not use DRM or copy protection at all. Here are some reasons I will save others the effort of typing: it would break the software for older systems and those that run Linux, students wouldn't be able to look at the CD on multiple computers at once, and anyone in that age range will be able to crack whatever copy protection scheme you use, anyway. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 01:31, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

The last one is the main point: it basically can't be done. Any attempt to perfectly protect a cd from being copied will invariably fail, because the contents of the cd must be read at some point. And when it is read, it can be copied. As they say, "Trying to make data not copyable is like trying to make water not wet". All that will happen is that it's going to annoy the students to no end when the DRM fails and makes them unable to use whatever is on there. DRM: Just say no! 217.213.160.231 (talk) 01:37, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

It took all of six minutes for another "technically savvy free software advocate" to reply to this thread. This is definitely the wrong place to ask. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 02:07, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

I don't have any data or references to back this up with, but I wouldn't be surprised if the heavier the copy protection scheme is, the less people are willing to pay for it, and the more pirating will go on (or the more people who will simply snub their nose at it and not use it). I personally feel a lot more respect for people who are open and straightforward and simply ask people to kindly pay for the privilege of honestly using their work. As you will though. --Prestidigitator (talk) 03:59, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

You could write a program in machine code and write it into the boot sector of the disk. Of course, that would be insanely complicated and would require someone to start the computer up with the CD in, thereby not allowing them access to anything else on the computer. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 05:33, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

What makes you think that people cannot modify machine code in the boot sector? Rilak (talk) 10:32, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

What sort of data is on the disk? Is it software? Or is it easily viewable files, like html files? If it's easily viewable files like HTML, it's a bit more complex. (and inconvenient to users, in my opinion.)

If the disk is really a program, then it's possible to make it at least "not easily copyable", (but still copyable!) but I'm not sure of an easy and inexpensive way to do this without software activation keys. (I understand that things like SecuROM are very expensive, but see CD/DVD_copy_protection. )

I agree with the comments above, DRM software and Free Software are unlikely to go together. There are a few services that may be acceptable, depending on your budget.
http://www.locklizard.com/purchase_digital_rights_management.htm (These people claim to be able to protect software and PDF files.)
http://softwaredefender.com/
I've never used either of these services, so don't take this as an endorsement. Depending on the nature of your product you might consider writing your own key activation system.
Of course, I feel obligated to point out that no copy protection scheme is foolproof, and few provide more than an inconvenience for a computer savvy individual who wants to copy your stuff. Consider the hassle it is for the users to have to deal with either activation codes, internet activation (not everyone is online!) or having to always keep the disk in the drive. APL (talk) 14:02, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

MySQL and PHP

I'm trying to get PHP and MySQL up and running on a Windows XP machine. I'm using Cherokee Web Server, PHP 5.2.6.6, and MySQL 5.0. Here's what works: web pages are working properly, and PHP scripts are executing. If I open a telnet connection to localhost, port 3306, it does connect. However, if I try to write a connection into a PHP script (e.g. mysqli_connect("localhost", "name", "password");), I get this:

PHP Warning: mysqli_connect() [function.mysqli-connect]: (HY000/2004): Can't create TCP/IP socket (10106) in C:\Program Files\Cherokee\www\php_sql_test.php on line 10

Any ideas? I'd already added "E" to the variables_order line of php.ini after seeing this online as a possible cause, and nothing. Thanks, JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 01:56, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

How can you make a textbox that, when submitted, links you to the webpage of the name you typed in?

Hi all. I was wondering how you would incorporate a little form into a webpage, so that when you typed something in, it would open up the html name of what you typed in. Say, you were on www.test.com/index.htm and there was a little text box there. You typed in "notes", and the webpage opened up to www.test.com/notes.htm . If that's not easily feasible, what about typing in "notes.htm" instead?

What would it take to do this? I hope it's something that can be done with html or javascript as my free website host doesn't support CGI or Perl (or whatever it takes). Much help greatly appreciated! -=- Xhin -=- (talk) 03:56, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

What you want is an HTTP redirect, and that article should give you all the details you need to implement it server-side (including straight HTML). The Javascript solution is a one-liner, I believe, but you can probably find it as readily as I could with a Google search or two. --Prestidigitator (talk) 04:05, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Use Javascript on this one. Have an "OK" button that launches the script, and have the script get the contents of the text box and pass it as part of a new URL string. In fact, google found me this, which is basically the code you need, just with a slight modification. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 04:18, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Wow, thank you both! -=- Xhin -=- (talk) 17:31, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Firefox downloads

When I download some items (not all) Firefox comes up with this “helpful” set of messages: ...(the download) could not be opened, because the associated helper application does not exist. Change the association in your preferences. (Hard to do since the app “does not exist"!). I select preferences and get the following: EITHER Show me a preview and ask which Feed Reader to use OR Choose Application. But I can download the same item in Safari, never a problem... help!!86.194.122.72 (talk) 08:06, 26 June 2008 (UTC)DT

It is probably because you did not select what app Firefox should use to open the download. Go to Preferences --> File Types --> Manage. When the Download Actions dialog comes up, is there anything listed? Rilak (talk) 10:30, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Many thanks for the pointer. When I found the actions box I discovered that .dmg file had been entered twice. Once with no instruction. Again with Save enabled. So I made the other Save also, and the download was accepted. Wonder how .dmg came to be there twice ? Oh well. Now I have a problem with Thunderbird, but that's another question.86.197.150.145 (talk) 12:44, 28 June 2008 (UTC)DT

.dmg could be there twice because two apps share the same extension. It happens on my Windows XP box quite often, especially with .dat files. As for Thunderbird, what might the problem be? Rilak (talk) 06:56, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Movies in PowerPoint

OK, here's one.

When I try to play a movie in a PowerPoint slide, it seems to work fine if the movie is a very short one. But where the length of the movie approaches about a minute, it often freezes at a certain point. Waiting for it to move on doesn't help - so far as I can tell it never does. Pressing the space bar takes me on to the next slide, as normal.

These are just home movie clips made by me on my digital camera, and they play perfectly well in RealPlayer and Windows Media Player.

Does anyone have any thoughts on why this is happening? Could it be a memory issue? If yes, would it help if I reduced the quality of the clip in order to reduce its file size (like you can with a .jpeg)? If so, how do I actually do that? The software that came with the camera is great at manipulating images, but doesn't seem to have any movie-editing features. AndyJones (talk) 12:28, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

My guess would be it's running out of memory. You could try pulling up the task manager and have it sort by the memory usage column, and see if it climbs very quickly when the movie plays. Reducing its size and/or quality would indeed work; your camera might have an option for taking video at a lower resolution. If not, depending on the format, you may be able to put it in a Windows Movie Maker project and save it at a lower size and frame rate. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 22:27, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. Yes, I think you're right. Reducing the file size seemed to do the trick. AndyJones (talk) 20:29, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Memory test in/for PowerPC (Mac OS X)

The missus' computer froze today, utterly. This had never happened before. Since it got new RAM just a couple of weeks ago, that's the first suspect.

I disconnected the computer from the mains, pulled out its battery, waited a few seconds, stuck the battery back in, and turned it on again. It went "BONG!" I suppose thereby announcing that it had passed its POST, but before Mac OS 10.3.9 started up I didn't see any of the handy little messages you get with other "architectures" inviting you to press this or that key to get into the BIOS and thence perhaps to some useful options like a RAM check. And when OS X was up and ready, I couldn't see anything looking like a memory checker.

Is there a recommendable RAM checker around? (Preferably one costing nothing, of course.) -- Hoary (talk) 13:34, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Our article about Open Firmware will tell you how to get into your Mac's boot ROM. Meanwhile TechTool is pretty much the standard Mac diagnostic package and definitely includes a RAM test [3], [4].

Atlant (talk) 14:18, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Ah, 1 or F1. I'll try it. Meanwhile, TechTool (i) asks me Why throw away your money on a multitude of utilities that force you to learn different interfaces and deal with a variety of companies and/or different products? Micromat gives you everything you need in one box–for far less money. (which sounds like "office suite" ideology; ugh) and (ii) implies that it costs money but doesn't say how much. I've done some googling; memtest sounds more my kind of software. Tomorrow, tomorrow. -- Hoary (talk) 14:58, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Website inaccessible

Hello people, I wonder if you could help me... I have a website, but now I can't access it from it's URL, only from the IP (I'm glad I asked for a Static IP!) The website is: http://hacktolive.org/ and It's IP is: http://82.102.6.75/ Now I just wanted to ask if you could try both links and tell me if they work or not, and if possbile, tell me your country (might help troubleshoot things...) I think it is related to DNS, and will talk to my webhosting service, but I just wanted to be sure of it's status for other people in other places of the world... Thanks in advance for any possible help... 87.196.165.142 (talk) 13:39, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

I used a web based nslookup, and only got your nameserver info. It looks like your hosting service has not made the IP/domain association yet, or else it hasn't had time to propagate. --LarryMac | Talk 13:56, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

You know, the strange thing is that it has been online for over a week now, with no problems... it's better just talk to my web hosting company... thanks anyway ;) 87.196.165.142 (talk) 14:25, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

They just told me to wait a few hours... at least it is fine now :) (I'm the same guy! with other IP...) 87.196.224.194 (talk) 17:30, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

It's working now. Well, based on the nslookup anyway. --LarryMac | Talk 20:44, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

It i working in the US. Kushal (talk) 21:55, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Disadvantages of the iPhone

Tell any disadvantage that iPhone has .. like huge size and difficult keyboard —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.96.138.196 (talk) 13:42, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

The article on iPhone is brimming with problems: soldered in battery, proprietary headphone jack, etc. -- Hoary (talk) 13:51, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

The new iPhone uses a standard headphone jack. But I'm sure millions will still hate the iPhone "just cause" while more millions buy one. Please keep in mind the prohibition against "rants" on the Reference Desk.

Atlant (talk) 14:20, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Not a rant, or anyway not intended as one. I just skimread the article and saw lots of things that would be disadvantageous to some people. Whether they're disadvantageous to the person who asked depends on his or her priorities (as pointed out by Kainaw immediately below). What the article doesn't seem to explain is audio formats. Proprietary only? If so, that would seriously irritate me IFF I were interested in playing audio. (Actually it wouldn't irritate me at all as I never want to play audio on the [Casio] phone that I do possess; indeed, I neither know nor care what format it supports.) And of course there are plenty of people who'd happily go along with the proprietary format (if it is proprietary). - Hoary (talk) 02:58, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

There were a lot of reasons why the original iPhone was (IMHO) an overpriced POS. No 3G support, 2 year contract without any apparent subsidies of the phone, simlock, iTunes, difficult to replace battery, no support for Flash or Java, no support for Stereo bluetooh headsets, no support for MMS, copy/cut/paste, no support for delivery reports, no original support for multiple recipient SMS, no support for video recording, very late release of the SDK (ao that 3rd party apps could be developed particularly given the lack of Java support) combined with a propriety API for writing software, the need to pay an additional fee to use music you purchased as a ringtone, no support for standard file transfer protocols, no support for laptop tethering...... I got all of these from the iPhone article more or less. The more I read it, the more I wonder why on earth anyone would want to purchase an overpriced POS which lacks many features available on my 2.5 year old (as most of those features I mentioned are) and resonably cheap non-smart phone let any decent smart phone available nowdays. But perhaps some people prefer a phone that is popular rather then a phone that is useful Nil Einne (talk) 08:19, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Define "disadvantage". Someone may consider a huge size to be an advantage. Someone else may consider a difficult keyboard to be an advantage. To get factual information, you need to refine your question. As it is, you are asking for opinions, not facts. This is not a message board or discussion forum for opinions. It is a reference desk. -- kainaw™ 14:42, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Size and keyboard comfort for these sorts of gadgets tend to be inversely proportional, so complaining about both is kind of like saying "the food here is terrible, and such small portions!". --Sean 14:54, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

You could make both claims for a multi-purpose device for the iPhone, so long as you were clear that you were more or less arguing against the very idea of a multipurpose device. (ie: The N-Gage is too bulky and awkward to be a decent phone, but the controls are cramped and uncomfortable when used as a gaming system.) APL (talk) 01:43, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Selecting a video card

I am currently shopping for a PCI Express video card which will be installed in a PC used primarily to edit photos and videos (not professionally, the usual amateur stuff, although on a larger scale). There are quite a few video cards in my price range, but, not having shopped for a video card for about four years now, I am not so sure which features I need, and which can be safely downplayed. Could someone explain which combination would work the best for my purposes: 512Mb/128bit/DDR3, 1Gb/128bit/DDR2, 512Mb/256bit/DDR3, or 384Mb/192bit/DDR3 (and why)? In other word, should I be focusing on the memory type (DDR2 vs. DDR3), memory amount, or bittage? Also, what chipset would work better for me: nVidia or ATI? Thanks!--204.193.68.21 (talk) 17:34, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Of those options, I'd go for the 512MB/256 bit/DDR3. Useight (talk) 18:02, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! But can you explain why and what influenced your decision? I guess I'd like not only to buy a suitable video card, but also educate myself a bit :)--204.193.68.21 (talk) 18:35, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Lately, nVidia is getting better reviews from the free software community than ATI is. I think you should give that a look if you are into free software. Kushal (talk) 22:32, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

If you're not going to be playing games or doing 3D computer graphics, almost every video card out there is fast enough.

• If you're running WinXP and aren't planning on upgrading to Vista, go with whatever's cheapest.
• If you're running Vista or are planning on upgrading, you'll want a more powerful card: any current ATI or nVidia card should do.
• If you're running Linux, you've got a choice: nVidia's got the best drivers now, but ATI open-sourced their card specifications recently, and they're likely to have the best drivers in a year or so.

--Carnildo (talk) 22:54, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Question (not the original poster) - in terms of acceleration of photo editing/video editing - do video cards help with this - ie is there some direct x command involved in general photo/video editing that can offload the work onto the card - and is this workload sufficiently accelerated to make it worthwhile getting a 'better' card..?87.102.86.73 (talk) 23:03, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Not that I'm aware of. Basic 2D acceleration (moving/scaling/rotating bitmaps) is helpful, but it's also present in every graphics card made in the past decade. Pixel shaders could be used to speed up most filters, but I'm not aware of any program that does this, and the slowest filters (noise reduction, inpainting, and the like) are not easy to convert to shaders. --Carnildo (talk) 22:10, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

There are some filters which use the shaders of your card to speed up some video editing operations. Deinterlacing is common and there is at least one resonably good denoise filter I'm aware of FFT3DGPU Nil Einne (talk) 07:58, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

If you are running a 32 bit operating system, like the normal version of XP or Vista, it is best not to use the biggest memory video cards as you will deplete your virtual memory to support it. When editing lots of photos it is important to have plenty of memory available on your computer. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 23:30, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

32 bit is 4GB - and the graphics cards have their own memory (up to 1GB?) that leaves 3GB addressable (if they are sharing the same 32bit address space) - surely most people won't have 3GB plugged in anyway? please clarify if possible..87.102.86.73 (talk) 23:41, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

This [5] might be a bit technical, but what it's basically saying is that Windows splits up the max of 4GB (for 32bit versions) into 2GB for the kernel and 2GB for applications. So all your applications together only get a maximum of 2GB of memory to use. If your video card takes 1GB, that only leaves your applications with 1GB. However, I don't know whether the graphics card memory gets mapped into kernel space or user space, or something else entirely. Indeterminate (talk) 03:13, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I have 3GB RAM, but that's not very common. My video card has 512MB. I guess I'm approaching the limit of 32-bit. Useight (talk) 04:34, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

How to make a div translucent?

Hi all (again). I was wondering how, with html/javascript I could make a div translucent. After hours of google searching, all I was able to find was how to make one div translucent over another div. No, what I want is a way to make a div translucent over the background image, so that part of its pattern (but not enough of its color to screw up the text) gets through.

And yes, I did find a way -- by downloading my background image, making the section covered by the div translucent, then making the div have no background color -- but as my website has a large number of background images, that kind of thing would take FOREVER.

Much help greatly appreciated ! -=- Xhin -=- (talk) 17:58, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

I don't understand how you're implementing transparency; this talk of background images sounds like hard work. Most recent browsers support either the standard opacity style or some pre-standard ones - see http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-43068.html For example:

<div style="position:absolute; background:green;left:0;top:0;width:300px;">
  this is another div<br>
  this is another div<br>
  this is another div<
</div>
<div style="-moz-opacity:0.5;opacity: 0.5; filter:alpha(opacity=50); background:#ff3355;width:100px;margin:2em;">
  this is a translucent div
</div>

Hope this helps. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 19:27, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

That's exactly what I need (with a bit of tweaking, of course!), thank you! -=- Xhin -=- (talk) 04:28, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

In view of the circumstances, it's entirely understandable that Finlay is using inline style specifications. No criticism there. In reality you can of course move this stuff elsewhere, probably to an external stylesheet. The result would be a lot easier to read and (if you reused it elsewhere on your site) to maintain. Anyway, the good news is that you don't need Javascript. Though experience tells me that MSIE tends to make a dog's dinner of any interesting CSS, so I often use the comment-visible-only-to-MSIE kludge to link to an alternative, MSIE-specific stylesheet that neatly undoes all my good work. (I don't know offhand how MSIE would handle this.) -- Hoary (talk) 03:04, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks to the rest of you as well. I currently have what I need from finlay's examples, but if I run into trouble I'll be sure to reread what the rest of you wrote as well. Thanks! -=- Xhin -=- (talk) 04:28, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

UPDATE: Can someone please tell me why my text-submit script won't work now? When I take the translucency off, the script works, but when it's on, the 'submit' clicks do nothing. Both are essential to my webpage, so again, much help appreciated.

Um, not knowing how you've set up the submit button is set up, or how it might interact with the above, makes it near impossible for us to tell what is going wrong. My guess is that you've put it behind a transparent DIV and so when you click on it, you're really clicking on the DIV. There are work-arounds, like putting it under the DIV (adjusting it or the DIVs "z-order") or defining a corresponding hot spot on top of the DIV that triggers the submit button upon clicking (using Javascript). But again, I've no idea how you set up your page. --74.223.170.182 (talk) 04:54, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Ah sorry, just a bit frustrated, that's all. Here's a link to the test site with a bit of further info: http://www.geocities.com/motley_pea/Pivot-of-eons/index.htm Thanks for the fast response! -=- Xhin -=- (talk) 05:00, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

God, of all the stupid things to miss, I forgot to end the div style=" with another quotation mark. Everything works perfectly now, and hopefully I won't make this very stupid mistake again. Thanks everyone (again) -=- Xhin -=- (talk) 21:44, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

ATI Catalyst and Anisotropic Filtering

What do Catalyst A.I. and Mipmap detail level do? I've googled, but most don't go into much detail about quality and performance. For mipmaps, will it still affect me if I have 16x anisotropic filtering on?

Also, is AF really that intensive? From most articles, they make it sould like it uses a whole lot of power compared to trilinear or bilinear, but for modern graphics cards (even lower end ones), it seems that they can handle 16x AF quite easily. 24.6.46.92 (talk) 21:27, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

MPEG-2 joining only

Is there a software (at least one of MS Windows XP, Mac OS X Tiger, or Ubuntu 8.04 compatible please!) that will allow me to join into a single file without much quality degradation (hopefully losslessly) a few hundred of MPEG-2 files created on a Sony HandyCam? Thanks Kushal (talk) 22:52, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Any takers? Kushal (talk) 15:47, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

VirtualDubMod JessicaN10248 15:59, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I should note that VirtualDubMod will only work if the MPEG-2 files are of the same aspect ratio and bitrate. JessicaN10248 19:34, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

(EC) Hi. The MPEG format is lossy, so I imagine that you will lose quality when you join the videos, since you will have to render them into a new video. There is a freeware program for this purpose that you can download here. I use Premiere for editing, and that can certainly do the job, too. It runs in Windows and OS X. You'd click on File --> Import and move to folder with the movies, then select Import Folder. Then, you'd shift-select the movies inside the Bin and drag them into the Timeline. Then, you'd go to File --> Export --> Adobe Media Encoder.--Hello. I'm new here, but I'm sure I can help out. (talk) 16:00, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

It is possible to cut a MPEG2 file with minimal loss but joining multiple MPEG is AFAIK much more difficult. Is there any particular reason you need to join these files as opposed to creating some sort of DVD or simply creating a playlist? Nil Einne (talk) 07:55, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

I am using DeVeDe on Ubuntu to create a dvd video out of these files. DeVeDe, for some reasons, does not allow me to do Ctrl + A or select multiple items at once. I have to add each [short] clip through a multitude of clicks. I would rather have a single file to add. :( Is there another [free/free of cost] alternative that will allow me to create a DVD video with multiple files at once AND is as stable as DeVeDe? Thanks. Kushal (talk) 03:16, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

June 27

Open Source Audio Recorder (copies from yesterday)

I'm not talking about Audacity or anyything like that... I need something that records the sounds coming from your computer. As in the exact same audio that comes out is recorded. Does anyone know of a software like this?

PS. I would prefer that it has the ability to use a lossless codec, such as AIFF. PwnerELITE (talk) 23:01, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Listen to your inner self. You are talking about audacity if you have a compatible audio card so that you can select stereo mix or mono mix from the input source in the input dropdown menu. I mean, seriously, what's wrong with Audacity? Is there a specific reason you do not want to use it? You might find a fork, if you let us know exactly why you do not want to use Audacity (for example, if you are on a first generation macbook, stereo mix and mono mix are not available in the drop down menu in the default installation). Please don't take my remarks personally. I just want to help. However, I think (for most people), Audacity fits the bill well enough. Kushal (talk) 23:49, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

I think he didn't know you could do that. I certainly didn't. Thanks! (I was about to suggest running a cable from the output to the input when I was edit conflicted). « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 00:01, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Yorokonde! Kushal (talk) 03:44, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

I.. Didn't know you could do that... but haveing looked at my program, I can't find the input drop-down! Could you help me? PwnerELITE (talk) 22:56, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Try the upper right corner. Most likely, it is currently set on "Microphone". « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 00:02, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Correction: on smaller screen resolutions, it will be in the toolbar in the second row. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 00:05, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Strange, my microphone is the only one there... no stereo mix at all...PwnerELITE (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 00:31, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I think this is the most frequently asked question on the audacity forums. Apparently it depends a lot on the capabilities of your soundcard. Check out their howto: [6]. Indeterminate (talk) 03:03, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

The "stereo mix" option was removed from a lot of sound card drivers to prevent copyright circumvention. I had a Dell laptop where I downloaded an older version of the driver, to get the stereo mix option. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 16:49, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Linux kernel 0.01 (part 2)

Im trying to learn how a simple OS works by going through linux 0.01 however I am already lost. For now Ill start off with what seems the simplest to me: in the 'lib' directory all of the files are very short and Im not sure if they are syntactically corrrect. Are they? can you give me a brief overview of what they do? --212.120.247.132 (talk) 05:48, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

There may be better places to look for good programming ideas, but this will be fun anyway... first of all, note that kernels have to deal with architecture-specific stuff, so they always contain some assembly code in addition to C. This ancient Linux kernel contains more assembly code than necessary in some places, and that may be what's confusing you.

Or maybe you're confused because you don't understand the "__asm__" syntax that is used for inline assembly in GNU C. It's not just a matter of putting assembly code directly in the middle of a C function. You also specify which C variables and expressions should be loaded to/from whichs registers before/after the assembly code is run; and you specify what other registers are modified by the assembly code, so the compiler can merge your hand-written assembly code seamlessly with the assembly code it generates. The details of the syntax are in the GCC manual (http://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-4.3.0/gcc/Extended-Asm.html). The __asm__ thing is so complicated it's like a whole separate language which you'll have to learn even if you already understand both C and i386 assembly.

Also, it looks like the lib directory is userspace stuff. Like the core, system-dependent part of libc. The syscall stubs. This stuff doesn't really belong in the kernel, but there is some blurring of the kernelspace/userspace boundary in init/main.c which apparently made it necessary. There was no /sbin/init yet at this stage of Linux history.

Hope this helps --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 07:54, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

If you want to learn how an OS works I would suggest studying MINIX. It was designed just for this purpose. The book Operating Systems Design and Implementation contains the whole code, heavily commented, together with high-level explanations. Linux is just too much of a mess for use as a learning tool. Morana (talk) 14:36, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Regular expresions

Resolved

, someone helped me figure it out. Thanks Printer222 (talk) 15:37, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Im new to programing, im trying to figure all this stuff out. I started using AWB but now im trying to get more advance and trying to teach myself python.

Any how, im trying to create somthing using AWB, for [request].

There are several articles where the bot is going to remove a link, and each link starts with [7] but the second part is always different and links to different pages.

So using a regualr expression could i make it so that any line of text that begins with http://www.markprindle.com is identified?? and what would the regular expression be??

Do you understand what im asking?? If i can clarify anything ill try to.

This is really just an exercise to try and improve my knowledge of programming. Cheers Printer222 (talk) 09:46, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

The "^" metacharacter, as in "^[http://www.markprindle.com", would seem to fit the bill here - see regular expression and regular expression examples for more information. Gandalf61 (talk) 10:28, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I just can't seem to get it working. I type it in exactly as you wrote it above and it comes up as an error 'Unterminated [] set, so i add another ] to the end, and it doesn't do anything. I tried putting the ^ inside the so like this [^] and it did somthing wierd, removing some characters and taking out the spaces. Maybe its an issue with Auto Wiki Browser??.

If i take out all the []and the ^ it just takes out the markprindle.com but not the second part of the link, so say its " markprindle.com/test" it will just have /test. This is what is meant to happen, but im trying to figure out how to take the whole link out. Printer222 (talk) 12:03, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Okay, you might need to drop the "[" as "'Unterminated [] set" probably means it is being interpreted as a metacharacter. Try "^.http://www.markprindle.com" - the "." will match any character at the beginning of the line, but that should be good enough for what you want.

Also, thinking about it, are you sure that "[http://www.markprindle.com" will occur right at the beginning of the line ? Extetrnal link lines sometimes start with "*" or "* ". Maybe you really want to look for "http://www.markprindle.com" anywhere in the line ?

Then remember that you once you have found a match, you wwant AWB to delete the whole line, not just delete the matched characters (which is what is happening when you successfully remove "markprindle.com" but leave "/test" behind). No idea how you tell AWB to do this - you need an AWB expert here. Perhaps try the AWB talk page. Gandalf61 (talk) 12:48, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I've probably really confused you. I should have told you the whole story, i was trying to isolate the issues to make it easier, but it looks like ive made it harder.

In every article im trying to fix through a bot (probably quicker to manually do it but this is good for me to try and understand different aspects of programing), there is the line (this is one whole line) "* Mark Prindle (6/10) [http://www.markprindle.com/can.htm#out link]"

With /10 part is different in every article and the end part after the / is different. If i type the whole line into the find and replace function of AWB it wont work at all, and wont make any changes. If i just type the first half of the line (the mark Prindle part and the /10) it will replace it as instructed So i thought if i can get it to do that, i can break the line into 2 and then have another part which gets rid of the link. But because each link is different thats when i needed to use the ^ thing.

So in answer to the question, no markprindle.com does not start at the begining of the line, its in the middle. So thats why the ^ is probably not working. And yes, if i could get AWB to find the first part of the line and delete the whole line it would solve all the problems. I will post a message of the AWB talk page, this probably isnt worth the fuss that it is causing though, some one could easily create a bot that does this probably using python or somthing, but i thought i would see if i could tackle it using AWB.

Shows you the lack of my programing ability. Ive just started learning python.

Sorry for confusing every one if i have, cheers Printer222 (talk) 13:25, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Though this is resolved for the OP, there wasn't really a solution presented for other interested readers, so I'd like to provide some tips. When you are searching for a literal string, remember to escape (using a backslash: \) any characters that have special meaning in a regular expression, such as period (.), question mark (?), asterisk (*), plus (+), caret (^), parentheses, and square brackets ([]). For parts that aren't literal, the regular expression will have to use some of these special characters to specify what can appear there. And if you are searching for a whole line, you may need a caret (^) and dollar sign ($) depending on the regular expression library and function you are using. Often you'll want to allow for variable whitespace in some places as well, and explicitly mark whitespace with an escape sequence like \s (again depends on the specific kind of RE library you are using, the whitespace options you have active, whether there might be different whitespace characters than a plain space--such as tab--etc.).

So assuming that the literal text was actually:

* Mark Prindle (6/10) [http://www.markprindle.com/can.htm#out link]

this RE might work:

^\s*\*\s*Mark\sPrindle\s*\([0-9]+/[0-9]+\)\s*\[http://www\.markprindle\.com(/^\S*)?\s+link\]\s*$

Whether you allow a single space character, any number, at least one, what numbers you allow, etc., are going to depend on whether there is any variance in the text you are searching for and how careful you want to be to avoid a false positive. --Prestidigitator (talk) 18:34, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Looking for a Firefox add-on: "profile switcher"

Problem: At work I dock my laptop and connect through the company LAN. We access the 'net through a proxy server. When I get home I plug in a USB 3G modem and browse without the proxy server. I'd like an add-on that can change the "Tools>Options>Advanced>Network>Settings" options with one button. e.g. something that lets you store two or even n "settings profiles" as it were and quickly toggle between them. Google hasn't helped. I'm hoping some WPian is already using such an add-on and could recommend one? FF3 on WinXP if that makes a difference. Thanks! Zunaid©® 10:46, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Try FoxyProxy. --grawity 11:17, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

FoxyProxy is a web-based proxy, I think we're misunderstanding each other. At work I connect to the net through the company proxy server ("Tools>Options>Advanced>Network>Settings>Manual Proxy Configuration" with our company's proxy server details in the required fields). When I get home I just want to change the setting to "No proxy" without jumping through 8 button presses. Its likely I'll have to do this setting change twice every day between home and work. Zunaid©® 12:18, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

And that's exactly what FoxyProxy does. Unless I'm confusing it with something else, but I really used an add-on that creates proxy server profiles (direct, Tor SOCKS, SSH SOCKS, etc) and it has a fox in its name. Open https://addons.mozilla.org/ and search there. --grawity 12:31, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Oh dear. I was thinking of Proxy Foxy, a proxy website I've sometimes used. My apologies :$ I'll try both of you guys' suggestions. Thanks! Zunaid©® 13:26, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

It's built-in to firefox, but hidden. [8] Basically, run firefox.exe -P to start the profile manager. The link I provided has a lot of info. (edit: moved this) Indeterminate (talk) 12:40, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

But those profiles switch everything - bookmarks, history, addons - not just proxy settings. --grawity 15:31, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

yep they change everything, that's more if you were two different users using the same browser. FoxyProxy works just fine thanks, though its massively more powerful than what I'm using it for. Zunaid©® 08:15, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

PHP CLI: asynchronous communication

(...or whatever it's called.)

In CLI PHP, is there a way to a) wait for data from socket connection and b) wait for stdin input, both at the same time?

Note: CLI PHP is the command-line version. (Websites are created in CGI PHP.)

--grawity 12:21, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

In my experience, stdin in PHP is blocking. Even checking to see if there are characters available on stdin causes it to block. The only method I would imagine to work would be to not use PHP's access to stdin. Instead, you must write your own non-blocking access to stdin and call it as an executable function. Your program should return null if there is nothing on stdin or a character (or string) if there is something. Then, you can check a socket, check stdin, check a socket, check stdin in a repeating loop. -- kainaw™ 12:38, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Does PHP have the select function? --Tardis (talk) 13:26, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

For streams and sockets only. --grawity 15:30, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

You can treat stdin like any other stream. Get the underlying stream for stdin and use it in select. If that doesn't work, like the poster above, consider functions and some kind of loop. +1 points if PHP has callback/threading capability. Haven't touch PHP in a while but this is how I would do it.147.197.215.16 (talk) 16:32, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Facebook IM in Adium stable?

is facebook IM available in the stable release version of Adium yet? or is it yet in beta? If it is available in the stable release, could you tell me how to add my facebook on adium? thanks . Kushal (talk) 16:16, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

It'll be in the next release.--droptone (talk) 16:57, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Kushal (talk) 20:28, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

It seems 1.2.6 still does not have Facebook support. Kushal (talk) 01:51, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

.ogg conversion software

Does anyone know of a free piece of software that will convert various music formats into .ogg, or for that matter, any other format?

Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.241.206.191 (talk) 17:02, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Audacity. --LarryMac | Talk 17:06, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

VLC Mac Davis (talk) 18:15, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

WinLAME --Russoc4 (talk) 01:39, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

HTML color question

What's the background color on the left and right sides of this page? That light brown color. I'd like to recreate it but need the HTML color value. Thanks, Dismas|^(talk) 17:09, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

#eae8d3 --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 17:20, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! Dismas|^(talk) 17:44, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Check out the magnificent Firebug for finding out these kinds of things. --Sean 18:58, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

That would be Firebug (Firefox extension), not the insect or pyromaniac. Although the insect can be rather magnificent as well. --LarryMac | Talk 19:09, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Firebug is great, but was no help on this— those edges are background images. I copied the image into Paint Shop Pro and use the eyedropper tool. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 19:56, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

If you have a modern Macintosh, it includes Digital color meter, a tool that can identify the color of any pixel on the screen.

Atlant (talk) 22:18, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Or just take a screenshot and use the eyedropper. --antilived^{T | C | G} 22:26, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

KDE also has KColorChooser that lets you get the RGB of any pixel on the screen (without doing a screenshot). -- kainaw™ 22:35, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

In the X Window System, there's xmag. Any version more "modern" than 1991. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 22:39, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the Digital Color Meter suggestion. I do have a Mac but could not remember the name of the program and was in a bit of a rush. I'll try to remember that for next time. Dismas|^(talk) 11:46, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Free automatic mail forwarding service

I would like to automatically forward incoming emails from one of my Yahoo accounts to another. I've used izymail, but the trial has expired, and would like to know if another service like this exists for free and/or for an indefinite time. Does anyone have any ideas for this type of thing? Thanks, 4.250.99.149 (talk) 23:26, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

I believe Yahoo will do it for you for free. Check your mail options. Mac Davis (talk) 19:24, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Not unless you have Yahoo! mail plus. However, there is a service that allows you to download your mail by http requests. Please watch this space for more information (hopefully). Kushal (talk) 16:11, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

HD File System Format

I have an external USB HDD (120Gb, so not just a pen drive). I need to format it so that both Windows (XP/Vista) and MacOSX computers will be able to both read and write to/from it. Which file system should I format it as? Cheers, Joe^Talk_Work 23:40, 27 June 2008 (UTC)

Obviously FAT32. If you can get NTFS to work in leopard then go with NTFS.--Yousifnet (talk) 02:17, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Ah, I was thinking along the lines of FAT32. How difficult is it to get NTFS to work in Leopard? Cheers, Joe^Talk_Work 12:25, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

June 28

.logs

Is it ok to delete all .log files on a computer? Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 03:03, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I've been deleting them for years without any problems. The same is true of .tmp, .temp, .~, and .old files. That's in Windows XP. I've also heard that you can delete anything in the /tmp folder in Linux.--Hello. I'm new here, but I'm sure I can help out. (talk) 08:57, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

yes and while you're at it you can also delete files in /var/log (leaving the directory structure intact!), /tmp, and anything with a .tmp extension --Yousifnet (talk) 09:55, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Google searching

The search string: "peel away another layer and go mad" yeilds one result. I would like to read the rest of the text. How can I do that? ----Seans Potato Business 10:59, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm afraid I don't know what you mean. Can you clarify what you intend by 'the rest of the text'? Algebraist 11:05, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I tried clicking on the link but it returned an error when the page loaded.. otherwise I'd imagine you would need to click through the flash presentation..

It looks like you need someone with expertise in searching flash sites for text..87.102.86.73 (talk) 11:32, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

To search the flash presentation you'd need to have the .fla file that the .swf was made from, and open it in a program like Adobe Flash. Another option is to get a swf decompiler and make a fla file from the swf. JessicaN10248 15:30, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Just download the .swf file and run strings on it. (Try something like -n 8 to filter out most of the noise.) I just did, and got what seems to be the full text. It starts:

"Maybe you think I'm crazy, huh?

Well what would you do if you woke up to find blood everywhere...

and your children missing?"

—Ilmari Karonen (talk) 17:37, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Average life time of a cell phone

For how many months does a average cell phone is being used? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.96.31.21 (talk) 12:14, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

According to this article, four years. Xenon54 12:39, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

That's the average length of time a phone will keep working for, which is not quite the same thing. Algebraist 12:41, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Not particularly representative I know, but I used my previous phone for 2 and a half years, my sister has had her phone for at least 3 years, my mother's phone is over 5 years old, but I have a friend who changes his phone at least every year. Judging by the amount of phones and other electronic waste that goes into landfill, I think my family keeps their phones much longer than average. Astronaut (talk) 12:47, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I have an old cell phone from the 80s. I can't use it or anything because it has no sim card slot and the radio waves modern phones use are different now, but it still lights up and beeps when you turn it on. Phones are designed to last indefinitely with proper care and not dropping it on the floor or letting it fall into water, but of course with use they may fail over time. For example the phone's RF sensitivity will degrade, much like a microwave will take longer than usual to heat up your food the older it gets. If you mean how long do most people actually hold on to their cell phones for, then around 2 years, as people see them as devices that are going to get damaged and will need to be replaced in time. However, for the manufacturers, building a cell phone that will last years is unprofitable. JessicaN10248 16:13, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

I have an N-gage QD from 18-09-2004 (build date) and that still works. Although the vibrate function has worn down and I have to enter loudspeaker mode if I want to hear anything in my phone conversations, and yes I frequently drop it, accidentally throw it at stuff, (throw it onto bed, bounces into wall, etc.)89.241.206.191 (talk) 20:39, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

My guess is people often simply buy a new phone rather then replace the batteries particularly when it's a cheap phone since the cost of replacement batteries often makes it seem not really worth it. Also, I think it's a bit unrealistic to expect phones never to be dropped Nil Einne (talk) 07:49, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Thunderbird set up

Thoroughly fed up with Orange France's email offering I should like to switch to Thunderbird. But I have some problems I will appreciate help to solve: 1. Can I set up my 5 email addresses in Thunderbird ? 2. How can I find out my Incoming Server PoP or IMAP ? 3. Also my Incoming Server's name ? 4. Then the name given me by the provider (Orange) ? Don't suggest I ask Orange (unless that is the only way) since it is extremely unlikely that Orange will respond this century.86.197.150.145 (talk) 12:52, 28 June 2008 (UTC)DT

1. is a definite yes, Thunderbird can handle any number of accounts. All the other data you'll need to get from Orange, unfortunately. It should be on their website, but I don't read French and there doesn't seem to be an English version. If Orange is really that bad, though, perhaps you should consider switching email provider altogether. Algebraist 13:02, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Not every email service provider has POP and IMAP servers. Google only recently added IMAP to GMail. If Orange France does have a POP or IMAP server, they could name it anything they like, such as pop.orange.fr, pop3.orange.com, mail.svc.orange.net.fr... You could spend all day guessing at the name of the server, but it is much easier to just search their website. For instance, you can Google "imap site:orange.com" to see if imap is mentioned anywhere on their website. -- kainaw™ 23:20, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Many thanks, I was afraid you'd tell me to go to Orange. And, yes it probably is better to switch to another provider. I was just hoping there might be an easier way.....86.197.169.113 (talk) 13:14, 29 June 2008 (UTC)DT

Well, you don't have to call them. The details are all on the support section of their site. The existing information sould be in the settings of your current email software.

Of course it's all in French, but you could try this link - especially the section: configurer sous Thunderbird or this link (which is one of the sub Thunderbird specific help pages).

Side note: I had a lot of difficulty selecting links that still worked when put on this page. The complex scripting and redirection used by Orange.fr kept getting in the way and sending me back to the main support page. If this happens, click on "mail" under the Internet column on the left to reveal a list of what you want help on, then click on the "configurer mes boîtes aux lettres".

@Algebraist: Why should there be an English version? There's rarely an "English version" when you try to order something in a parisian bar, unless of course you start off speaking in French :-))

Astronaut (talk) 13:31, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

laptop style keyboard

I'm trying to search on the internet for laptop style keboards - the low profile ones.. but can't seem to come up with a keyword that gets the right results - eg I either get all the keyboards in the world, or all the laptops in the world.. (I also don't think I want a built in 'mouse' thingy)

Any ideas? or maybe someone could recommend one, or a manufacturer..?87.102.86.73 (talk) 16:45, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Try a google search for "compact keyboard". -- Tcncv (talk) 17:09, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

It's still turning up a lot of unwanted stuff - especially numeric keypad-less units that still have long travel keys.87.102.86.73 (talk) 18:04, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Well, if you can't find whatyou're looking for in the above results, you might try searching for "low profile keyboard" and "104 key", or some combination of those terms. -- Tcncv (talk) 18:53, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Still not really working as a seach term - seems some manufacturers thing 'low profile' is anything thinner than 4".. However your terms did throw up a usefull site - in fact so much fun I list it here http://web.mit.edu/atic/www/tools/keyboards.html - now I realise I really want a keyboard with a trackball which is much easier to search for.

Thanks very much then, and if anyone has any further links to unusual or alternative keyboards feel free to post them below. thanks.87.102.86.73 (talk) 19:09, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

You might try this one, or, if you're looking for something on the unusual side, the flexible keyboard. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 16:53, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Apple makes a nice "full width" but otherwise laptop-like wired keyboard; they also sell a wireless (Bluetooth) keyboard that exactly duplicates their laptop key layout.

Atlant (talk) 17:03, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

C# Coding Help

I'm using AutoWikiBrowser to add a parameter to a WikiProject Banner. I'm stuck in the code and was hoping someone here could help me out? Here's what's happening: AWB will look at a talkpage for a specific template. We'll use {{WP India}} for this example. AWB will look for {{WP India}} and replace it with {{WP India|image-needed=yes}}. Simple enough, right? Here's where I'm getting stuck: there can also be extra parameters in a WikiProject banner. |class=Start/Stub/C/B/A/FA/ect. |importance=Top/High/Mid/Low, and other things like |attention=yes.

• What I need is for AWB to see any form of {{WP India}} and place |image-needed=yes right at the very end of the banner.
  • IE FIND:{{WP India|class=start|importance=Mid|attention=yes|workgroup23=yes}} —> REPLACE:{{WP India|class=start|importance=Mid|attention=yes|workgroup23=yes|image-needed=yes}}

For those not familiar with AWB modules this page may be helpful. Can this be done? Thanks for your time! §hep • ¡Talk to me! 22:38, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Does the image-needed parameter have to be at the end of the template? Could you just find {{WP India and replace it with {{WP India|image-needed=yes ? They render the same, but I might be missing something. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 23:04, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

Ya, it has to be at the end. Just for asthetics pretty much. §hep • ¡Talk to me! 00:59, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

It doesn't have to be at the end; so if noone has any ideas I can do that. I just think it would look cleaner if it was put at the end. §hep • ¡Talk to me! 01:15, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Responding to really old Usenet posts, deleting responses

I pondered this a little last April Fool's Day, but didn't. I found a post from 1982 mentioning smileys for the first time, and that it would be a good idea to put a colon and...well, you know. I was tempted to reply using the Google archive, say it sounded like a good idea, and saying I suspected it could catch on. :-)

Now, I didn't (though if I did it would be an interesting lesson in how everything on the 'Net stays on the 'Net) but if I had, would there have been some way to erase themessage? Is Usenet ( whatever the precursor was) like message boards where admins exist to remove stuff, or is it on forever? It appears from your article that there were admins wbut they were more at the local IP level, and things had to be reported to them, and so posts can't be removed once made, except *possibly* with a moderated group. (That's the main reason i didn't post a reply, I didn't want that embarrassment. Plus, it's really wrong to reopen closed threads, esecpally restarting ones that old!)

P.S.: I didn't post a link to the Usenet post for the very reason that someone else might be tempted to reply to something that old if it wa that eaasy.209.244.30.221 (talk) 23:26, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

There is such thing as a usenet Cancel message, but their reliability is spotty. It's my understanding that some servers prefer to ignore cancel messages in favor of archiving everything. I believe Google is one of the servers that does not honor cancels, so I wouldn't put much stock in cancel messages at all as a way to destroy evidence. APL (talk) 05:32, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Google obeys no archive requests (X-No-Archive) in the message (i.e. it will only keep it for a few days [9]) and it also allows users to remove messages posted with a reply-to e-mail they still have access to and request a removal otherwise if it's their message [10] Nil Einne (talk) 08:29, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

The rule of thumb is, of course, that if you post anything to any public part of the internet, you have to expect that it's going to be there forever. You may be able to remove it, but you really can't count on it. Ever. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 13:07, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

June 29

Pirated Software

Okay I have a couple of questions: How many people use pirated software/OS's? How many people actually get caught and prosecuted/punished for having pirated software or Operating Systems? What is their punishment? I realize that this is different everywhere, but I'm looking for info specific to the US, or if there is an interesting tidbit from another country please share. Thanks for the info. --71.98.13.102 (talk) 00:29, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

As far as I'm aware, it's extremely rare in most countries of the world, including the US, for a home user to be prosecuted or sued by the copyright owners simply for using copyrighted software. Even the recent P2P lawsuits have largely AFAIK originated from the RIAA or MPAA not the BSA or SPA and have in theory targeted those who are sharing (i.e. redistributing) media in violation of copyright. Businesses however are generally not so lucky. This is the case even in countries, e.g. Malaysia where piracy is ubiquitious and in countries, e.g. NZ where it is not so. Nil Einne (talk) 08:22, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

The other problem with businesses is that there are mechanisms out there for employees to report their employers, which makes it much more problematic (and gives big companies a lot more to lose than the average person). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 15:28, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

I've never heard of anybody being prosecuted or punished for having pirated an operating system. For software, it's still mostly with entertainment software, like video games. Mac Davis (talk) 19:29, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

I think I heard of a school in remote Russia which was brought to court for using a few unauthorized copies of an operating system. Kushal (talk) 16:08, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

"Error ... [No Error]" when editing Wikipedia

When submitting changes to Wikipedia articles I am often getting an error message telling me to try again in a few minutes. The error description is "Error: ERR_ZERO_SIZE_OBJECT, errno [No Error]" which is contradictory. Is the Wikipedia hardware not coping? Nurg (talk) 06:28, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

That happens sometimes. The Wikimedia Foundation doesn't have a whole lot of funds, so things don't work right sometimes. Further than that, I have no idea. Useight (talk) 07:11, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

I don't know what the specific error is about, but in computers generally you can see "error: something went wrong (no error)" because there was an error in the application, but not in the operating system. See errno. --Sean 12:22, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

That is one specific possible cause, but in general an error routine is called which expects an error code to be set when it hasn't been. -- Q Chris (talk) 12:46, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Longword parity protection

Am I correct in assuming that longword parity protection refers to each longword (32 bits) being protected by one parity bit? Rilak (talk) 12:15, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Yes, that's the usual meaning of that term.

Atlant (talk) 16:58, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! Rilak (talk) 06:12, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

xbox 360 mov

Can't get an xbox360 to play 'mov' files (or recognise them) - the article xbox 360 says ir recognises mov containers Xbox_360#Multimedia??87.102.86.73 (talk) 12:26, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm sure someone in the know will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the article is talking about the QuickTime file format. Without knowing anything in particular about the 360, I will say it would strike me as strange for M$ to support any video files besides their own, especially those from Apple. You'll note that our article doesn't mention anything about AVI files, which would be the natural choice if the company was actually interested in giving people what they wanted. Matt Deres (talk) 14:47, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Yeah M$ says they support those multimedia formats. But I have never gotten any other format other than .wav or .wmv to work on the 360. Although you can download from the Marketplace drivers that allow Apple's Ipod to work on the 360. That may be what they are refering to when they say the 360 can play .mov. Rgoodermote^{Not an admin}  21:06, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

I think the problem may be that .mov is a container format. The audio and video in a .mov can be encoded using one of a number of codecs. You likely need to find out what codecs are being used in your .mov files, and what codecs the Xbox 360 can play. --Bavi H (talk) 02:16, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Knoppix console mode font

In console mode, Knoppix uses a high-resolution font that I would like to use with Debian and Ubuntu. Is there a package available that installs this font, or is it built into the Knoppix kernel? --NorwegianBlue ^talk 13:05, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Looks like a standard console font, it's just using a higher resolution graphics mode. The screenshot is 1024x768, so I'm guessing that was the actual resolution you were seeing. In Debian, you can select a 1024x768 console using fbset or SVGATextMode, depending on which console driver is active. Try apt-get install fbset && fbset 1024x768-72 --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 20:19, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

filter for hypersensitive left mouse button

Hi all:

I am using a CAD$10 optical mouse and has been getting some CAD$10 performance (i.e. suboptimal) lately.

Specifically, when I single-click left mouse button, the circuitry actually emits TWO (2) left-click signals to my computer, so that my computer mistaken it for a double-click, and so I get all sorts of undesirable GUI behaviour, including surprise application launch/exit. This has gotten to be really really annoying lately.

Therefore, I am wondering if there is some kind of a software filter that I can install in Windows XP that will filter out the second left-click signal if two are received in rapid succession. The software should allow me to set a threshold value for the interval between two left-clicks so that if two left-clicks are timed in under the threshold, the second left-click signal is discarded.

Thanks.

76.65.15.166 (talk) 13:42, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Not sure of any third party program that would filter that, but have you checked on the website of the mouse's brand? Such a problem makes me think that you wouldn't be the only one with the problem, and perhaps the company has created a program to filter it. Mastrchf (^t/_c) 14:16, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. My mouse has the brand "Cenlix", and the website is listed as www.cenlix.com However, when I tried to go there all I get is something called the "smarter mail interface"...arrrgghhh... 76.65.15.166 (talk) 14:45, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

You've got a case of diminishing returns - which is going to be more cost effective? Spending ages trying to find a way round the issue or going and buying another $10 mouse to replace the faulty one? Exxolon (talk) 15:00, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps this is too obvious, but Windows does have a mouse settings control panel applet that might help. --LarryMac | Talk 13:24, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Urgent question about webcams / recording video with a USB cam!!

Say I have a USB webcam (a Logitech Orbit MP) and I want to record as high quality video (and audio) as I can from it, direct to the harddrive (no streaming), on an XP system. What program should I use? I need something free, reliable. Suggestions? (And I need to know, say, in the next hour or two!) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 16:37, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

My very crappy camera (Vivitar Vivicam) came with a program called PCCam. It can record depending on the hardware driver (and it works with other cameras). You could try googling that; maybe it's uploaded somewhere. iMovie on the Macintosh will do that, and I think Windows Media Player is supposed to, but never seems quite able. Would be worth a shot. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 17:00, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I'm basically looking for something with iMovie's ability to just record. I'll see if the cam comes with any software -- unfortunately I won't have access to the camera until right before I'm supposed to set it up. (Sigh) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 17:17, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

iuVCR might work. It's designed for TV tuners but should work with a camera. JessicaN10248 19:09, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestions! Actually the camera came with software that works fine. Whew! --98.217.8.46 (talk) 02:37, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Games Creation

What program is best for beginners to use to get to grips with making simple games, like snake or tetris clones? I have python but have no idea how to use it. I was also wondering if there were any books or websites I could buy/visit respectively, that would explain the program and give examples.

Thanks 89.241.206.191 (talk) 20:35, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Game Maker is quite good, download here JessicaN10248 20:40, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

If you're familiar with Java you can make some very basic programs to get the hang of making simple games. May I inquire what programming languages besides Python are you familiar with? --Proficient (talk) 09:58, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Java makes graphics very easy and it's amongst the easiest to use of the C-like programming languages, while Python is one of the easiest ones to learn. So either choice would be good. Just google tutorials (Python's own tutorial is excellent for starting, not sure about Java tutorials). --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 18:05, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

I'd consider it easier to make a game in Python than in Java, all else being equal. I'd try some of the resources at http://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/NonProgrammers for learning Python. Once you feel comfortable writing simple Python programs, try Pygame for making games with actual graphics and the like. Be aware that some of the beginner resources have specialized targets. For example, the historian guide tends to focus on things like file i/o and screen-scraping. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.184.223.246 (talk) 01:54, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Two network devices connected at the same time

How does windows handle a situation where two network connections are active at the same time (and both are to the internet, not to like local networks)? Like, if you have a wired ethernet connection and a wifi-connection, or a wifi-connection and a usb HSDPA-modem connected. Does the OS simply use one or the other, or does it do some clever sharing, so you can get the most out of both? Can you instruct one program to use one adapter, and another program to use the other? Does windows do this automatically? I guess you could configure the subnet-mask of both to divide the internet in half, but if windows (I'm talking about Vista, btw) does something like this automatically, that wouldn't be needed. --Oskar 20:50, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

I believe it only uses one. My neighbour was having trouble with his new wireless router once - turns out Vista would not connect to a wireless network (it gave a generic error) when it had an ethernet connection; when I disconnected the ethernet, Vista connected to the wifi fine. Xenon54 20:54, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

It will use the path where the default route points. It is also possible to set up the computer to route between the two networks, so that data that has to go from one network to the other is passed through the computer. This is probably not what you intended, so the default is off. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 03:48, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

June 30

The coolest computer ever?

What is worlds most rad computer? Or to put it more ecyclopedian, what is the worlds most advanced computer that I can purchase for personal use? NO HOLDS BARRED!. This thing should help me with my grocery list, compute pi to a million trillion places, and give me advice on anything I want, then help me symbolically plunge into the evil netherworld of quantam black holes. Someone needs to find out what's in there!THE WORLD'S MOST CURIOUS MAN (talk) 01:36, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

1. The coolest computer is any one that uses liquid nitrogen.
2. The (earliest) most rad computer is probably the Cray-1, which has a circular (i.e. 2π rad) base.
3. The most recent calculation of pi is only to 1.24 trillion places; no computer as yet reached to 10¹⁸ places.
4. There are many software programs available for a wide of computer which will maintain your grocery list or offer "advice" on various topics.
5. You will have to visit the Large Hadron Collider to work with quantum black holes.

Seriously, though: the best computer you can buy would be something you built yourself by buying all the top-end parts.

- SigmaEpsilon → ΣΕ 02:11, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

All of the tasks you've suggested are software—most based on things that can't yet be accomplished no matter the hardware behind it (computing pi is the one thing that would be easy for it to do). In terms of raw power, the cheapest and easiest thing you could do would be to buy a LOT of off-the-shelf computers and then wire them for parallel processing, etc. That's basically how Google processes petabytes of data a day—lots of little (super cheap, easily replaceable) computers working in tandem. It's a lot more cost efficient than the sort of "national lab" approach, where you try to make one huge monster computer. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 02:51, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

"No holds barred?" Okay, I recommend the QX9650, with this motherboard, 4GB DDR3, two of these video cards, this 28" monitor, this 1TB SATA drive for storage, this 74GB Raptor drive for gaming, and this 1600 Watt PSU. You can get all this for only $4,569.91 (I'm not sure if shipping is included). You'll also need to get a case, keyboard, mouse, speakers, some cables, and possibly a TV tuner and/or wireless card. Useight (talk) 03:02, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

That's it? How about Intel Skulltrail with TWO C2E QX9775 with 8 gigs of FB-DIMM and 2 30"Apple Cinema Displays? :p --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:38, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Couldn't find the Skulltrail at tigerdirect, that's why. Useight (talk) 06:34, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

I would bet a cookie on this one: BOXX APEXX 8 Rilak (talk) 06:06, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

That computer does indeed seem quite "rad." Proficient (talk) 09:54, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

y'know you can actually buy these NEC_SX_architecture http://www.nec.de/hpc/hpc-home/index.html though maybe having to program it yourself in FORTRAN may take an edge of the 'rad-ness' what do you think?87.102.86.73 (talk) 11:00, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Of course, you're going to want at least two monitors. APL (talk) 17:51, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Just get all the things recommended on the box for the video game Crysis. Rgoodermote^{Not an admin}  21:09, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

comparing my laptop with other devices

Why is my laptop louder than my refrigerator if the latter has to cool much more things? Why is my laptop at start-up slower than my television, if I only want to watch a movie? (same thing for CD-player). Mr.K. (talk) 12:05, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Your refrigerator has a huge radiating surface to dump that heat - most of the back of the case (and with natural airflow through the radiating element). If you were willing to have a laptop with a five pound four square foot liquid-cooled radiator, then you could get by with a tiny pump and it'd be as quiet, if not more so. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 12:22, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Your laptop boots more slowly than your DVD player because it's a general purpose device, and it's setting itself up to do a whole bunch of things. The DVD player, which knows a priori what one task it's going to be doing only has to set itself up to do one thing (and it's optimised to do just that). If someone cared enough, they could take the minimum frame-drawing, graphics-device setup, and DVD playing software and wedge it into a custom coreboot - with that your laptop could play DVDs as soon after boot as a DVD player. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 12:22, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

I am not sure a minimalist software booter would be possible (at least, it would still suffer the latency of booting an operating system from disk), given that almost all laptops must boot from (slow) harddrives. A standalone DVD device was architected with the intent to boot from ROM, and so it has access to a large enough ROM or other memory device to hold its necessary software. Your laptop may not be capable of storing anything more than a very elementary bootstrapper and require a (slower) secondary storage device such as a USB key, CD drive, or hard disk. Writing such a booter could be faster than booting Windows Vista (for example), but I doubt it would have the "immediately on" functionality of the DVD player. 15:15, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Indeed this article says Splashtop does have a DVD player; make a custom Splashtop install that autostarts the DVD player function and you'll be competitive, or beat, an off the shelf DVD player. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 12:25, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

What is the difference between these two Sony Bravia TV's?

Sony 40 in. Class LCD Full HD (1080p) Television, BRAVIA® - KDL-40S4100 or Sony 40 in. Class LCD Integrated HDTV / Sony Bravia -KDL-40S3000

I don't play any video games and I don't watch much sports but I will have an HD cable box. Which is better for me? What is the difference anyway? --Anthonygiroux (talk) 13:04, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

quite a difference

KDL-40S4100

• resolution 1920x1080
• possibly doesn't have a digital tuner DVB (may have something else? also depends on what country you are in whether or not this matters)

KDL-40S3000

• resolution 1368x768
• does have digital tuner, DVB-T type

(source amazon.com)

The DVB-T tuner on the KDL-40S3000 suggests it is intended for the UK/Euro market.., the other seems to be intended for the US market..87.102.86.73 (talk) 13:21, 30 June 2008 (UTC) What country are you in?

Not suprisingly the one with the lower resolution is almost half the price.

Both are HD capable - personally I'd avoid the cheaper one - you should be able to get a better resolution/model for the price it's at...87.102.86.73 (talk) 13:16, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

If possible, please explain this in layman's terms. I am at a lost here on what this means. thanks! --Anthonygiroux (talk) 13:22, 30 June 2008 (UTC) Also, I live in the United States of America - --Anthonygiroux (talk) 13:27, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

You'll probably want to start by reading our article about high-definition television. Essentially, there are several different picture quality levels that are each still entitles to call themselves "HD". One TV you're looking at is at the (current) top picture quality level ("1080P") while the other TV is at a lower quality level (~"720P"). At this point in time, 1080P (the top level) is getting to be inexpensive enough that for most people, it's probably the best choice to ensure you'll be satisfied with your new TV for at least a few years.

Atlant (talk) 13:43, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

That article might be a bit confusing (it was).. try |this link for a hi-def 101 - it explains the difference between 720p and 1080p and the other types quite well.87.102.86.73 (talk) 17:19, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Yes I agree, buy a TV that has a resolution of greater than 1000 eg 1920x1080 is great, but 1366x768 is not so great - in years to come when broadcasts etc are truly high definition you'd be losing out on picture quality with the 1366x768 set.

In general you can usually easily check this - eg on amazon press the 'show technical specifications', or 'show more details' button - and look for the 'resolution figure. Other websites (including the manufacturers) also always have these details, though you'll again have to find and press the 'specifications' button.

Also don't buy a TV imported from uk or europe - as they will almost certainly have the wrong sort of digital receiver for the US. And feel free to post any others you find if you are unsure, it's no problem to get them checked out here.87.102.86.73 (talk) 16:43, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Also the prices are still dropping - so if you can hold out you'll get a better set in 6months than you got today for the same money.87.102.86.73 (talk) 16:44, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

(PS don't be suprised at the contradiction when the guy in the shop tells you that the 720p (768) set he's trying to sell you is excellent quality - they'll tell you anything to shift their stock...)

You should be able to get a 40" 1080p set for under $900 easily, from a 'good' manufacturer eg samsung/toshiba etc, but the sony sets for some reason are much more expensive.. 87.102.86.73 (talk) 16:56, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm more than happy with my 37" 720p set, and it's of excellent quality. Until the day more than 10% of my programming is available in 1080p, or a standard is really set, I'm not letting anyone tell me that my 720p set sucks. I can very well argue that you shouldn't listen to the guys tell you how great the 1080p is when almost all "HD" broadcasts are in 1080i and 720p. Have you seen most of NBC in HD? Yuck. (Also, it helps to know that I plan on buying another television when the standards are set and using the 37" 720p in the bedroom for stuff like watching Conan O'Brien, and let's face it, do you want a 50" 1080p to see his face? =P ) --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 17:45, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Cryptographic dealing

I'd like to have a secure card deck for a network game. By "secure" I mean that no player can predict what card anyone will draw, nor determine the values of previously drawn cards, and yet that at least one other player can refute any false move made by any player. By "false move" I most simply mean the display (as, say, into a trick) of a card that the player does not possess; however, it could be extended to a private display of one card to one other player (as in Clue) — where that one player must be able to detect a cheat — or to not following suit in Hearts. Additionally, the ideal deck would support being divided into multiple piles of unknowns, as for the widow in Rook.

I suppose it would be sufficient in most cases to be able to detect the misdeed a posteriori, but it's crucial that the cheating player be identified rather than simply knowing that "two players claimed to have the three of clubs, and no one claimed to have the four of spades". A simple shared random number generator (a la Diffie-Helman) is sufficient for a deck whose only operation is to turn over a card and make it public (as in War), and a digital signature can be used to prove that the bid winner in Rook isn't changing what is in the widow, but I have no good ideas about how to share the information about the distribution of cards (which is just an permutation) in a way that mimics real playing cards. Any ideas, or standard tricks? --Tardis (talk) 13:50, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

I would architect my system with a centralized "dealer" server, who knows all information about all players' hands. This server doesn't participate in the game (it's entirely automatic, anyway, not a human player). Now each player's state must be maintained centrally, and the server can flag anyone who makes a move which violates their actual hand. At the same time, a permission system can be set up so that other players cannot access the total state of the dealt cards - only what they are allowed to see. Nimur (talk) 15:12, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

<addendum>If you are willing to relinquish control of the server, there is no reason it couldn't be run simultaneously on one of the players' computers. This would enable "LAN games" and is more stand-alone than requiring that all players connect to your system. However, you would need to take some steps to ensure that the player can neither tamper with the server, nor access its internal state - this could be done by encryption of all communications to it. Nimur (talk) 15:19, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Also, this has not yet addressed the "no player can predict what card will be drawn" bit. For this, you should read Pseudo-random number article; it is very informative. Your card-dealing algorithm (or equivalently, your deck shuffling algorithm) can be based on a large number of existing random number algorithms, sufficiently unpredictable for your purposes. Nimur (talk) 15:23, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

The danger is that counterfeit software would connect to such a LAN game. If ultimate control is in the hands of the server, a cheating server could be created. APL (talk) 15:35, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

(Edit conflict) It would be a very interesting problem to do this without a trusted server. Just brainstorming : Before each hand some public keys could be exchanged. The player whose turn it is to shuffle could publicly pass out encrypted 'cards' that could only be decrypted with private keys that won't become public until after the hand is over. Then all players could verify that players only played cards that were assigned to them. But how could you verify that the shuffling player hasn't 'fixed' the shuffle? Or peaked at the values before they were encrypted? APL (talk) 15:30, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

I suppose the shuffling seed could be based on a hash of some random data secretly communicated by the non-shuffling players to the shuffling player, that would prevent any non-shuffling player from knowing the key and prevent the shuffling player from simply making it up. But how to stop the server from simply running the shuffling algorithm on a second set of unencrypted cards known to have the same starting configuration as the encrypted ones? APL (talk) 15:35, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

I agree. The simplest architecture is to use a trusted central server. The drawback is, of course, centralization and scalability. Nimur (talk) 15:51, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

It's worth noting that the central server doesn't actually have to do any shuffling: it can just ask each player to supply a permutation and apply them in sequence. All the central server has to do is deal the cards so that no two players will end up with the same card. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 17:08, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

I seem to have neglected to mention that the whole point is to not have to trust any of the computers involved (although I'm not (yet) interested in combatting collusion); implementing this system with a trusted third party is obviously trivial. Trusting a dealer with the entire order of the cards (and thus the contents of everyone's hands/decks/whatever at all times, unless cards may be legitimately transferred in secret) is right out; we could just as easily designate one player's computer to run the centralized server as a parallel process. Requiring that the shuffling be done with the results of a collectively-produced random number (being careful to have the dealer start by publishing a hash of some additional randomness to be mixed in after the exchange, so that no one else knows the final shuffle seed but he simultaneously cannot alter it) is a neat trick: it prevents stacking the deck, but it doesn't remove the need to trust the dealer not to cheat in the resulting fairly-dealt game. (Moreover, if the initial movement of cards from the deck can be in any way affected by play, the dealer can still stack the deck "after the fact" by playing to get cards he knows will benefit him.) --Tardis (talk) 20:09, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Here is a potential partial solution, but it's far from elegant or ideal.

• Players generate a number of key pairs, one for each card they wish to be dealt.
• Players secretly give their public keys to the Key-Master.
• The Key-Master shuffles the keys and gives them secretly to the Shuffler sans identification.
• The Shuffler shuffles a deck according to an agreed upon seed and encrypts the cards, one-each, with the public keys.
• The entire list of encrypted cards is published to all players.
• Players decrypt whichever cards they can decrypt and add them to their hand.
• The hand is played as normal.
• At the end of the hand all keys are published and the shuffle is verified by all playera against the seed.

There are some serious problems here, though. A big one is that un-dealt cards are completely unhandled. Also important is that the Key-Master not be able to predict the Shuffler's shuffles and vice-versa. Also if the Key-Master and the Shuffler were working together they'd be in a position to know everyone's cards.

Unless I've made an error somewhere, this at least shows that the problem can be solved if we assume that the players don't collude. Probably there's a much more elegant solution. APL (talk) 22:30, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Acrobat logs

Hi wikimates,

does any of you know if Acrobat Readers can write readable log files?

TIA

--Ulisse0 (talk) 15:58, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Acrobat Reader cannot write. Are you asking about Acrobat Pro? Regardless, I wouldn't use any Adobe software. I produce PDF reports all the time. I just finished a project where doctors select a lot of criteria for a report through a web interface and it produces a PDF report. I programmed the report in PHP without having anything from Adobe installed on my server. -- kainaw™ 17:46, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Revealing information after I die

Is there a way of revealing information after we die? I mean, all my passwords, credit card details, bank accounts, ... How can I set thing so they are revealed only after my death? Mr.K. (talk) 17:15, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Leave a document containing them with your lawyer? Algebraist 17:17, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

If you don't trust your lawyer (enough), use a secret sharing method to divide the information among a bunch of people or organizations (such as escrow agencies) that you trust enough that they hopefully won't all decide to reveal their share of the secret in advance. Or, more practically, encrypt it, publish the encrypted data and use secret sharing to divide the key; this keeps the shared data shorter and optionally allows you to amend or change the encrypted data even after sharing the key, assuming you keep a copy for yourself. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 18:08, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

How about family or friends you trust... ? SF007 (talk) 21:47, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Faxing

Does anyone know of any free fax software out there. I have the fax modem, and I run 64-Bit Vista, which knocks out the one that is included in Office 2007. --Omnipotence407 (talk) 17:24, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Aside from the 64-bit part, which Vista? Ultimate and Business should have Windows Fax and Scan. --LarryMac | Talk 19:11, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Home Premium--Omnipotence407 (talk) 19:17, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

GNU Hurd

I've added an image to the the article GNU Hurd, but don't know if it really is appropriate... what do you think? is the Live CD here : http://www.superunprivileged.org/hurd/live-cd/ a correct representation of the GNU HURD? I don't know for sure, and don't want to mislead readers... SF007 (talk) 21:35, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Password help on Vista

I'm the only one who uses my Vista-equipped laptop, but I still ensure that a password is needed to log onto my user account. Until now, I've never really had any sensitive files on my computer; the worst that would happen if something were revealed was that I'd be in somewhat of trouble. Now, however, I have some much more sensitive files, and I'd like to protect them more. Is there some way to require a password to be typed to access a PDF, a Word document, or an entire folder? I'd like to be able to protect entire folders (quicker :-), but it wouldn't be that important — the file names are simply numbers, revealing nothing of the sensitive data. 71.182.134.18 (talk) 22:19, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

I think TrueCrypt (www.truecrypt.org) is the best choice... it can protect any kind of file, in fact, it can encrypt entire partitions. Very good software. SF007 (talk) 22:29, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Pardon, but I really don't understand the technical language used on the article or on the links that I looked at, and I'm a little confused after looking at the partitions article: is a folder a single partition, or is it only part of a partition? Using this program, could I somehow (without a ton of effort) cause a file and/or folder to be available only if a password is typed? I was also wondering, is there a feature of this sort that comes with Vista? Sorry to ask so many questions after a quick answer... 71.182.134.18 (talk) 22:45, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

A partition acts as a separate hard drive, even though there is only one physical drive.--Omnipotence407 (talk) 22:51, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

See disk partitioning. Most Windows computers only have 1 partition on each hard drive, but you can add more if you want. And yes, if you used this program, you could cause a file/folder to be available only if a password is typed. Vista Ultimate comes with BitLocker Drive Encryption, but that only works for entire partitions. Indeterminate (talk) 23:12, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

I requested a CD on ShipIt and it was not approved

I requested a 64-bit Ubuntu 8.04 CD but I was denied. Two month ago, I request one Ubuntu 8.04 and one 8.04 Kubuntu CD. One month ago, I ordered a Ubuntu 8.04 Server CD and I was accepted. Now, I ordered a Ubuntu 64-bit CD and I not not approved. What should I do? Should I wait for the next release of Ubuntu? Jet (talk) 23:22, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

You could just get it for $1.95 from OSDisc.com [11] or another as-cheap-as-possible linux cd distribution site. Indeterminate (talk) 00:10, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Jet, could you tell us what country your shipping address is in? It is very strange that such a low volume request is being denied. Kushal (talk) 01:33, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

I'm in the United States, and just only one CD; this is so strange, I'm going to contact the company. Jet (talk) 04:23, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Question

After downloading a program via BitTorrent, how do you then run(and thus use) that program?--Xp54321 ^{(Hello! • Contribs)} 23:40, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

You download files from BitTorrent. Assuming you downloaded a program, you will now either have an executable or a compressed archive on your harddrive. Where on your harddrive? How should we know. We didn't download it and select where to save it. You did. So, go to the area on your harddrive where you selected to save the file and see what is there. Does it end in ".exe"? Just double-click to run it. Does it end in ".zip"? It is a zip compressed file. Decompress it and see what is in it. This basically comes down to understanding that downloading the file with BitTorrent has nothing to do with "running" the file. You could have downloaded it via FTP, SFTP, HTTP, or even through email. The means of downloading is not important. It is merely important to recognize what kind of file you downloaded - which is usually determined by looking at the last part of the filename. -- kainaw™ 23:51, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

K thnx. Unfortunately I un-installed bittorrent and deleted the downloaded program because I couldn't run the stinking program. However the file ended in .mdf.:(--Xp54321 ^{(Hello! • Contribs)} 23:53, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Note:I don't know if this is the cause but the torrent did not come from the bittorrent site.<shrugs shoulders>--Xp54321 ^{(Hello! • Contribs)} 23:54, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

That depends on the program. Or, to answer somewhat differently, the same way you would run any other software. Presumably, there's an application to install the program in question. The file is likely to be compressed into an archive, such as a .zip file, so you'll need to uncompress it before you can run the installer. BitTorrent doesn't really pose any additional hurdles here; it's no different than downloading a piece of software directly from a website. If you're experiencing difficulties, chances are that the problem isn't with BitTorrent but with the specific program you downloaded. It doesn't really matter what site the program you downloaded comes from. BitTorrent doesn't care. (Of course, some files are better than others.)

The .mdf file is most likely a disk image in the Alcohol 120% format. This means that the file is a complete copy of a CD or DVD, and the operating system can mount it so that it deals with the file as if it was an actual CD or DVD that has been inserted into an optical drive. Programs -- such as installers -- can then be run from the mounted disc. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 23:59, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Okay so then how do I "mount" it?--Xp54321 ^{(Hello! • Contribs)} 00:06, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

You'll probably need to install the Alcohol 120% program, or another similar program which can handle that disk image file format. Indeterminate (talk) 00:12, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Okay thanks!!! In about 3 hours I'll come back with the results!:D--Xp54321 ^{(Hello! • Contribs)} 00:14, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

July 1

Hard Disk Miracle Challenge

Well, I'm able to get the broken hard drive on a laptop working for a limited time when lucky, but it is making lots of unahppy noises and is doomed to break beyond recovery (with exceptions for expensive people) very soon.. My goal is to recover various things on it, primarily as much as possible from the "My Documents" folder. Bearing in mind that I'm not planning to spend any money on it, I would like a set of instructions on how to recover data from a particular directory to another machine as quickly as possible (i.e. faster implies more time with HD actually working) using the following limitted supplies:

• Ubuntu CD (8.04 Desktop), useable for booting (as booting off the HD tends to result in crashes).
• Windows Laptop (Win XP) with failing hard drive.
• Working Macintosh Laptop (OSX 10.4.11)
• Ethernet cable (can be used as a crossover cable with the mac)
• Wireless Internet Router
• Wireless in both machines

Keep in mind that trying to actually install things on the broken machine is generally a bad idea. My plan for a first step, unless told otherwise, is to use a WinXP CD to boot and then run chkdsk to catch more bad sectors. I figure a good set of instructions will allow me to start faster than if I tried myself, got stuck halfway through, and spent valuable time trying to figure out what was wrong while the HD degraded further. Expect time of access to be around 20 minutes, though it might be much more or much less if I'm unlucky :( And yes, I've heard of the HD freezer trick). Thanks. 71.184.223.246 (talk) 01:40, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

If you can get the ethernet cable to work as a crossover cable, it'll be faster than the wireless for transferring data. The only issue is that you'll have to assign a static IP address on both computers. Also, if you use a boot CD (the ubuntu cd, for instance), it won't actually spin up the hard drive at all until you're on the desktop, and even then it won't access it unless you tell it to. From experience, I'd suggest trying to minimize browsing around in folders: sometimes a bad read will make the OS freak out and unmount the drive. For actually copying the files, it'd probably be easiest to use Windows File Sharing (SMB). If you don't already have it set up on the Mac, here's instructions: [12]. You'll need to share a folder with write access. I would boot with a liveCD (ubuntu), browse to the Mac (open a folder, ctrl-L, smb://your-mac's-ip-address), make sure you can write to it, open the dying hard drive partition (it should be on the desktop), find your My Docs folder, and copy it over. You can also find a ton of other ways to do it if you search. Indeterminate (talk) 02:27, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

I *thought* using the Ubuntu CD as a boot cd would not involve hard disk spinning, but this was not true. It decided that knowing about my HD was important during boot up, even though I was booting from CD. As for SMB, the boot didn't come with it and installing it is not ideal. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.184.223.246 (talk) 06:13, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

websites

I am just learning how to use computers. I would like to the proper way of creating a website and web pages, —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stowolf1 (talk • contribs) 02:56, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

FILEZILLA

SECURE SETTING OF FILEZILLA —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wikifrommld (talk • contribs) 03:20, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Mouse

Why is the mouse so-called? 208.76.245.162 (talk) 03:21, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

As the article that you link to says: "The name mouse, originated at the Stanford Research Institute, derives from the resemblance of early models (which had a cord attached to the rear part of the device, suggesting the idea of a tail) to the common mouse." AndrewWTaylor (talk) 08:28, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

iPod artwork

My iPod has been messed up in terms of showing the right music artwork. Lyhnyrd skynyrd shows as the beagles, metallia shows as they might be giants (LOL). Any idea how to fix this?--Randoman412 (talk) 03:39, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

How many articles/revisions are added to the whole Wikipedia project per day (not only the English Wikipedia)

Subject says it all, An average of articles/revisions for the last few months would be sufficient. --Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason 08:32, 1 July 2008 (UTC)