Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing

Welcome to the computing section
of the Wikipedia reference desk.

skip to bottom

Select a section:

• Computing
• Entertainment
• Humanities
• Language
• Mathematics
• Science
• Miscellaneous
• Archives

Want a faster answer?

Main page: Help searching Wikipedia

   

How can I get my question answered?

• Select the section of the desk that best fits the general topic of your question (see the navigation column to the right).
• Post your question to only one section, providing a short header that gives the topic of your question.
• Type '~~~~' (that is, four tilde characters) at the end – this signs and dates your contribution so we know who wrote what and when.
• Don't post personal contact information – it will be removed. Any answers will be provided here.
• Please be as specific as possible, and include all relevant context – the usefulness of answers may depend on the context.
• Note:
  • We don't answer (and may remove) questions that require medical diagnosis or legal advice.
  • We don't answer requests for opinions, predictions or debate.
  • We don't do your homework for you, though we'll help you past the stuck point.
  • We don't conduct original research or provide a free source of ideas, but we'll help you find information you need.

Ready? Ask a new question!

How do I answer a question?

Main page: Wikipedia:Reference desk/Guidelines

• The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.

See also:

• Teahouse
• Help desk
• Village pump
• Help manual

March 14

mobile AIM/trillian

So, recently I asked after sending text messages to a friend's AIM account, and it seems that is only possible on an android phone (though if you know different, do tell me) now, though, I want to try getting AIM at all on my phone, which is some cheap samsung phone on tesco mobile, so nothing special or helpful in any way. Can I download AIM and use it to exchange messages with people? Also, my trillian account keeps offering to let me get that on my phone as well, if I do, can I commmunicate through all its added accounts without having to download them all onto my phone as well as my computer?

148.197.81.179 (talk) 02:32, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Drawing with JavaScript

At http://www.numberempire.com/graphingcalculator.php, the scrolling and zoom features appear to be implemented using a script on the web page (rather than going back to the server to generate a graph). Is that right? Roughly speaking, how is it done? Are there a bunch of JavaScript functions available for drawing graphics or something? It has been a long, long time since I wrote any web page scripts, but I don't remember that feature being available. Is it something relatively new? 86.160.82.40 (talk) 02:59, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

That page uses the canvas element. See that entry for a JavaScript example. You used to have to draw things in JavaScript using divs. (see http://www.p01.org/releases/Drawing_lines_in_JavaScript/). You still do have to use divs, in fact, if you want to support Internet Explorer 8, 7, or 6.—Best Dog Ever (talk) 05:53, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

CDC 6600 - which generation?

Was the CDC 6600 a (late) second-generation computer or (early) third generation? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 05:22, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

This would seem to depends on your definitions for computer generations and would potentially be a matter of semantics. Presuming you're using the definitions used in Fifth generation computer, History of computing hardware, History of computing hardware (1960s–present) and [1], it would seem to me the CDC 6600 should be 2nd generation since from what I can tell, it did not make use of integrated circuits. It's also listed in List of transistorised computers. Nil Einne (talk) 05:37, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

cut and paste

Hi. kubuntu/R/libreoffice 3.4.4. I've just made a nice little histogram in R. How do I easily include this in my LibreOffice Writer document? Picking up the window and drag-and-dropping into LibreOffice would be great, but doesn't work. Creating a png file in R, then "insert" -> "picture" -> "from file" works, but is too much hassle to do a few dozen times. There must be an easier way. Anyone? Robinh (talk) 08:44, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

First, did you actually try to just cut-and-paste? Let the window with the histogram have keyboard focus, press ctr-C (or better, right click, select "copy as..."). Then in Writer, press ctr-V. For best results, you should copy via a vector format, not a bitmap format such as png. I'm on Windows now, and can't check it in Linux, but cut-and-paste works perfectly between the Windows version of R and Microsoft word. --91.186.78.4 (talk) 08:08, 15 March 2012 (UTC) (NorwegianBlue, not logged in)

(OP) Thanks for this. Just tried it, but it didn't work. Robinh (talk) 08:00, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

LGA1155 and graphics

if i'm buying an icore processor like say i5-2320 with integrated graphics, does it require my motherboard to have an integrated video chip aswell? IF not then how do i connect my monitor to it if my motherboard doesn't have any dvi-dub interfaces??? or if a motherboard has a dvi-hdmi-interface it doesn't necessarily mean it has a built in graphics chip??? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.35.17.247 (talk) 09:46, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Your main logic board may have a video connector; for example, this ASRock Z68 model has a DVI and D-sub connector, even though it lacks a discrete video processor on the main board. Of course, you'll require the CPU to be present in order to get any video out. Some older-generation motherboards could boot to a BIOS screen with some video output even when no CPU was present, but this is no longer possible on most newer systems. Functionality that was formerly provided by discrete components that were soldered on the mainboard are now provided on the socketed Intel CPU. On the other hand, you might find system boards that support the 1155 socket and architecture, but still provide redundant functionality in discrete, external chips. Nimur (talk) 18:56, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Word macro

I've written a short macro for Word (Word 2007 on a Windows XP machine), which cleans a Word file up and then displays a Save As... dialog box so the user could pick a location and change the file name, if necessary. All in all, it works as intended, with the exception of two minor things:

1. Setting Dialogs(wdDialogFileSaveAs).Format=16 is supposed to default the Save As... box to the docx format, but for whatever reason it offers "Single File Web Page (*.mht, *.mhtml)" instead. The default format in Word options is set to "Word Document (*.docx)", and I have no idea why this line would result in mht all the sudden.
2. Word loses focus immediately after the Save As dialog box is displayed, and the application that previously had focus is displayed instead. Switching back to Word shows the pending Save As.. box, as it should, but having to switch back each time gets annoying real fast. (Turned out to be a piece of code elsewhere in the macro).

I'm not sure what the reasons for this behavior could be. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); March 14, 2012; 14:58 (UTC)

I am surprised the default Word 2007 file format is format 16, but here is evidence for that - I assume you have looked at the help from MSDN. It seems 'wdFormatDocumentDefault' (16) is the one to use, but what happens if you use one of the others ('wdFormatXMLDocument' (12) might be a sensible starting point)? Astronaut (talk) 17:43, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Well, yeah, I did try other formats just to see what happens, and they all work as intended. The only two that are screwed up are wdFormatDocumentDefault (16) and wdFormatXMLDocument (12), which are supposed to be docx but offer me mht instead, for whatever reason. I'll try it on a different computer tonight, however; on the off chance some option in Word I don't know about is responsible for this.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); March 14, 2012; 20:49 (UTC)

Just curious now... Is your Word installation configured to save to .mht by default? And what happens if you don't try to specify the format? Does it take the default, or complain that you haven't specified it? Astronaut (talk) 07:23, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

No, it most certainly is not configured to save to .mht by default. It is (and always has been) .docx. As for when I don't specify the format, it offers .rtf, but that's only because that's the format the file is originally in.

I've tried this macro at home (Word 2007, but on a Win7 machine), and the problem did not occur there, so I suspect there is something wrong with configuration on the WinXP computer (and whatever it is, it is not the default save setting). If anyone has any idea as to what it might be, I would most certainly appreciate a comment, otherwise I guess I'll have to live with it until the day I get a sudden flash of insight :)—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); March 15, 2012; 13:40 (UTC)

Animation3d PDN

2 questions

1. How do you get the plug that makes animations in Paint.NET to work?
2. How do you get the plug that makes 3d in Paint.NET to work?

Reply soon.--74.178.186.35 (talk) 18:53, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Please don't bump questions to the bottom. If no-one answered the first time you asked, asking again is unlikely to help. 87.115.134.72 (talk) 19:00, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Sorry just need an answer,can you help me? --74.178.186.35 (talk) 19:06, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Your first question was already partially answered last time you asked Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2012 March 8#Paint.NET with 2 different options within 1.5 hours of your question. If you don't understand the answers or needed further help, you should have clarified on the thread (and should still do so now), in fact you got an explicit offer of followup help. Or you could have at least explained what part of the answers confused you when asking again. (What do you mean 'How do you get the plug that makes animations in Paint.NET to work?'? Do you still need help downloading the plug ins? Do you need help extracting them? Installing them? Finding them in Paint after they were installed? Using them? And since there were 2, which once?) If the reason you didn't do any of that is because you didn't actually read the answers but decided to ask again to the extent of bumping your new question within a day despite the thread still being visible when you originally asked again [2], then it's even less likely people will take their time to help you. Nil Einne (talk) 20:55, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

The first download,how do I open it?74.178.186.35 (talk) 21:49, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

It's not clear to me what you mean 'how do I open it'. If you're not even sure where to find your downloads then you're reaching a level of extremely basic help required that you may not find on the RD. If you can find your downloads then you it's a Zip (file format) file. As per our article, Windows has included zip compressed 'folder' support since the Microsoft Plus! 98 and it has been a default part of most versions of Windows since at least Windows Me on the 9x/DOS side and Windows XP on the NT side per our articles and [3]. Similarly from my (admittedly limited) experience most *nix distros have some sort of compressed file association in the GUI particularly I'm guessing those with .net support. (I presume you're using a GUI since it sounds unlikely to be a question coming from someone using a CLI.) In other words, the answer would seem to be just open it like you would any other file.

If you really have nothing associated with .zip files on your computer then it sounds likely you have a rather funny installation, may I suggest this isn't a good idea if your basic skills are so limited? In any case, downloading and installing something which supports zip files like 7zip should solve that dilemma. (Obviously choose an MSI or EXE not another Zip or whatever.)

Now if the problem is you were able to open the zip file but have no idea where to put the plugin dll (in which case again your request for help wasn't clear), then the page where you downloaded the plugin says the effects directory so just look around the paint.net directory for an effects directory. Alternatively a simple search for 'paint.net plugins directory' finds [4] as one of the top results. Similarly a simple search for 'install paint.net plugins' [5] as one of the top results which links to the above link and also provides some help. It also finds the earlier link as one of the top results.

Nil Einne (talk) 12:07, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Mean can't gett the file to work.74.178.186.35 (talk) 19:06, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

I still have no idea what you mean. Does the zip file not open? Does it open but you're still having trouble extracting the DLL to the correct location? Have you extracted it but you can't find the plugin in Paint.NET? In any case, if the two links I provided, one of which gives step by step instructions with screenshots aren't enough for you, I suspect you've exhausted the ability of the RD to help you since it sounds like you need some very basic perhaps hands on or live assistance. To be honest if you still can't work out how to install the plugin, I'm not sure whether you're even choosing a smart course of action. It would probably make more sense to use a program which doesn't require a plugin, which will hopefully have a simpler animation system. P.S. The tutorial video for the plugin also tells you where to put the file. Nil Einne (talk) 20:34, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

The zip works,it opens but when I open my PDN click "effects"I don't see animation,so what's up?74.178.186.35 (talk) 23:33, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

How

Now how do you make an animation.?=---74.178.186.35 (talk) 00:11, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Article Jannie Viljoen

Dear Helpdesk

I am busy with an article of Jannie Viljoen that is supposed to be reviewed.

I misplaced the coding on placing a photo on the article. could you kindly give me the coding. I've already saved the photo's / donated the photo's but I dont know the destination and coding to put it on the article for it to be visible.

Kindly send me the image coding or correct my effords regarding the photo's.

Kind Regards

Karien Jafta Karienlizejafta (talk) 20:28, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

You will need to upload the image (the image has to be hosted on English Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons). To do that, you need to be the owner of the copyright of the image (which almost always means you yourself took the photo) or have the written permission of the person who does. Once you've uploaded, the syntax for linking is described at Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Images. 87.115.55.134 (talk) 20:48, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Oh, and the help desk is at Wikipedia:Help desk. This is the Reference Desk (confusing, huh), which is for asking factual questions that aren't to do with Wikipedia (like "who is the shortest player ever to play for Anderlecht?" or "What is Rick Santorums RBI?"). 87.115.55.134 (talk) 20:52, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

OpenOffice, choice of dictionary

In OpenOffice.org (or LibreOffice), my default setting is US English but the document I'm working on is Canadian. How can I tell the app to use the Canadian spelling dictionary? —Tamfang (talk) 20:39, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

In Openoffice.org-Write, it's tools->language, where you pick the language for a given piece of text. Language in Openoffice-Write, like in MSWord, is a bit like a colour - a given chunk of text can be in one language and another, in the same document, in a different one. So you set language on a given piece of text, or on the whole document, just like you'd set the colour. 87.115.55.134 (talk) 20:44, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Studying PHP, Ajax, jQuery, and MySQL.

What is the best place in the United States to study PHP, Ajax, jQuery, and MySQL? Thanks in advance. --190.19.96.72 (talk) 22:09, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

By "place" are you asking about universities, technical schools, certificate programs...? And are you implying you already have some idea how to program, and just want to know these specific methods, or are you starting from nothing? --Mr.98 (talk) 22:46, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes, universities, college, and technical schools. I do have a minimum knowledge of PHP and MySQL. --190.19.96.72 (talk) 22:19, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

March 15

phone internet access

My new phone contract allows me 250Mb of internet a month, and I have no idea what that means. How long can I use it for, then, and what sorts of things can i do on it, does the amount it uses up vary with different sites and applications?

148.197.81.179 (talk) 01:51, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

The amount of time will depend on what you're doing. Downloading apps, songs, and movies might use it up fairly quickly, but that would provide almost unlimited (text page) surfing time. StuRat (talk) 01:56, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Also note that when Sturat talks of downloading songs and movies, that includes listening to online radio or watching videos on websites like Youtube. - Akamad (talk) 02:14, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

And when he says "almost unlimited surfing time", I'm guessing that he means news and information sites that don't have streaming videos and other multimedia content... Like most of Wikipedia. But yes, it's hard for most people to judge 250MB of data usage just on a whim. I would suggest taking your browsing a little easy for the first month, check to see if you were near your limit at the end of your billing cycle, and then adjust accordingly. For instance, I might use my phone to do some GPS navigation but then will wait till I get home to check Facebook for the next couple of days/weeks to offset that GPS use. Dismas|^(talk) 03:38, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Curious why GPS would use your internet allowance. Aren't GPS frequencies a totally separate system from any 3/4G internet provision? Astronaut (talk) 07:28, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

GPS alone can tell you your coordinates, and shouldn't take up many resources, but coords alone aren't that useful. Most systems will allow you to download maps along with info on which businesses are open near you, what the current prices are at nearby gas stations, etc. This type of info makes the GPS far more useful, but can also suck up the Mb quickly. StuRat (talk) 07:52, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes, GPS alone doesn't even need an internet connection, so doesn't use any of the allowance. It is also possible to download free (or paid-for) maps using a different internet connection such as a library, so that the co-ords are displayed usefully, but, as StuRat says, most GPS apps use on-line resources and so can be expensive in megabytes. Dbfirs 13:56, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes, I didn't mean just the GPS coord's. The map applications that use the GPS function gobble up the MBs.  :) Dismas|^(talk) 01:47, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

250MB is not very much if you're a frequent web surfer. This page we're on right now is around 200KB, and other pages with more graphics are often in the 1MB range. 250MB is a good amount for occasionally checking your email or looking up directions, that sort of thing. If you're into media downloads, you'll burn through 250MB in no time flat. But that's not really a good use for cellular data in my opinion. 67.117.145.9 (talk) 04:10, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

This table uses information from here:

Use type	Average amount of data used
Facebook	2MB per hour
Internet browsing	15MB per hour
Music downloads	6MB per track
Movie trailers	50MB per video
Twitter	0.5MB per hour
TV streaming	500MB per hour
YouTube	8MB per video
Apps downloads	10MB per app
Google Maps	10MB per hour
Email	0.25MB per email
Radio streaming	100MB per hour

Cucumber Mike (talk) 07:50, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

"New Tab" button in multiple places in Firefox

In Firefox 9, is it possible to have a "New Tab" button in both a toolbar (next to navigation buttons like back, forward, and refresh) and at the right edge of the list of tabs simultaneously? Is there an add-on that enables this? Daram.G (talk) 01:56, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/new-tab-toolbar-button/ adds a new tab icon to the toolbar items you can select. See http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-customize-toolbars for how to place it where you want. I have tested it in Firefox 11. PrimeHunter (talk) 03:14, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks so much! Daram.G (talk) 04:24, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

How to let VB2005 print a+b+c+d=24 ?

Like

If a + b + c + d = 24 Then
 Label1.Text = a"+"b"+"c"+"d"="24
End If

a, b, c, d are var, "+" and "=" are char.

Like a, b, c ,d all equal 6, I want to show "6+6+6+6=24" in label.

But I changed

a"+"b"+"c"+"d"="24

to

a&"+"&b&"+"&c&"+"&d&"="&"24"

label1 also show "Ture"? Why? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 纯粹手机浏览 (talk • contribs) 07:24, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

It's easier to see what you're doing right or wrong if you space it out:

Label1.Text = a & "+" & b & "+" & c & "+" & d & "=24"

The above ought to work fine. Many of your previous ones have the operators in the wrong order or missing (notice how the parser above is coloring yours incorrectly — variables should be black, strings should be dark red). I suspect you have a typo in the actual code so that it is actually evaluating part of the statement. I also believe, though can't require remember, that if you bunch up variables and concatenation operators in VB, it can often throw an error. --Mr.98 (talk) 11:38, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Warning e-mail senders about unintended recipients

Can anyone recommend a solution — I'm thinking of some sort of Outlook plugin — that could be installed on the computers of HR staff to try to make sure they don't accidentally cc sensitive information to people who aren't supposed to receive it? I suppose the best way for a plugin to try to detect this would be to check domain names of all addressees, and to keep a database of "trusted recipients" based on previous e-mails sent and based on manually marking e-mail addresses. Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:45, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

I think the best system might be to use one email system for trusted recipients and another for non-trusted. The non-trusted one could just be Gmail, for example. This would make it quite difficult to accidentally send sensitive info to non-trusted individuals, and wouldn't require creating, testing, and maintaining any code. You could go through and remove all non-trusted individuals from the address books of the trusted system and redirect any emails coming from them to the non-trusted system. StuRat (talk) 02:37, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Microsoft filing.

Hi there,

Is there available any advice on how to arrange Microsoft Windows 7 files into an orderly civilized way that allows you to access them easily? Do realize that only a complete novice would need to ask such a question.

Hamish 84Hamish84 (talk) 19:03, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

I use deep hierarchies of folders with reasonable, but long filenames that are human-readable and meaningful. For many of my documents, I further sort by date; I have found that by prefixing folders with the date, (e.g., "2012-03-15--Hike-Photos/") I can easily sort them. (This is called ISO 8601 format, and can be totally standardized, but you can use whatever works for you. See also, more information). I find that consistent naming of subfolders is very helpful. When I was in school, I always used a prefix of my user-name, the class, and either the date or assignment descriptor; I always used a "year/class/assignment/" subfolder structure. So, I would have, (e.g.), "ncsu/2003/py401/nimur.py401.hw-set-13.pdf", which would be a print-out of a computational quantum-mechanics homework set from Physics 401, in 2003. Because of this easy scheme, even many years later, I am able to quickly locate, e.g., "that quantum mechanics set from a long time ago when I solved the wave function for a singly-ionized Helium electron," or "that history paper I wrote about sailboats in the Arabian gulf." Because I am a programmer, I also have some sophisticated tools to help me search deep hierarchies; when I use Unix-like systems, grep and find are very helpful; but on Windows 7, you have a powerful "Search for Files" utility built in to Windows Explorer. Here's a video from Microsoft explaining how to use the Files Search tools on modern Windows. I have always found that well-organized, well-named file-structures are easier to search, even if you're planning on using a "query-based" search tool like Find or "Google Desktop," that purport to search "everything" on your computer. Nimur (talk) 19:15, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

Hi Nimur, First of all thank you for the information - will follow up on Microsoft help files. Strange coincidence that I have come across your profile by accident, twice. As an elderly layman am impressed with your extensive qualifications. You may be interested in 'imperative observations'on the web. It keeps my mind active. Again thank you for your time.

Hamish 8403:52, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

iMovie

Having made my iMovie, I find that it is too big to fit onto a 4.7 GB disc, so wonder if I can put it onto a memory stick. To buy one of an adequate capacity I need to find out how big my movie is; how do I do that please as I cannot see any obvious way to get that info. Any help will be much appreciated since I need to remove the movie and all the original slides and movies off my nearly full hard disc. Thanks in anticipation.--85.211.130.94 (talk) 21:58, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

If you're on a Windows computer, right click on the file and choose the "Properties" option. That will give you the size of the file. On a Mac, click on the file and hit Command-I or go up to the file menu and choose "Get Info". Dismas|^(talk) 01:44, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for this Dismas, however on my MacPro Cmd -I gives me a mirror image of myself from the built-in camera and under File, there is no option "Get Info" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.211.130.94 (talk) 07:22, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Make sure you are selecting the file from within Finder, not from within iMovie. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:30, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes, you have to do this from the Finder. Find where you have saved the file and then do what I said. Not from within iMovie. Dismas|^(talk) 19:59, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Got it! Thanks fellas.--85.211.130.94 (talk) 11:02, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Direct use of SSD within virtual memory

Dear Wikipedians:

With the blazing fast speeds of SSD and SATA III nowadays, I was wondering if the CPU could directly use data from virtual memory pages stored on the SSD without loading them into physical RAM first?

Thanks,

70.31.158.164 (talk) 23:24, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

No. SSDs are blazing fast compared to spinning-platter hard drives, but they are still glacial compared to RAM speed. RudolfRed (talk) 00:30, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Speed is not the point. RAM (and BIOS-flash, and PCI option flash, and PCI adapter RAM) is accessible via the CPU's bus (in the case of the PCI ones, by means of the PCI controller), whereas memory in an SSD is at the end of a SATA/SCSI bus. 87.113.187.167 (talk) 01:03, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

I think the problems are speed and the fact that flash has to be erased in large chunks, and fails after a relatively small number of erasures. SSDs aren't exposed to the processor like RAM because they aren't suitable as RAM, not the other way around. -- BenRG (talk) 03:26, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Indeed. And note there are plenty of PCI-express SSDs. There are some highly specialised PCI-express SSDs which support CPU DMA access of the flash and treating it as another tier of memory (their words), specifically Fusion-io products [6] [7]. But we're talking about extreme performance (see [8] for example) and price products here, not some measily SATA III device. And with people who (hopefully) know what they are doing choosing and developing a specialised solution that fits well in to their requirements [9]. Even then, I don't believe competitors like Texas Memory Systems or Virident Systems are doing the same thing (in fact the RamSan-70 seems to emphasise how it has a CPU [10] as evidentally they have historically done [11]). While I suspect patents and market focus play a part, it's also likely that they don't feel the concept is that important at the current time as other methods will work as well if not better for sufficient segment of market to keep them successful, whether they are right or not only time will tell. (While I'm not aware of market share numbers and despite what the marketing info in the Fusion-io links suggested, I don't believe they're really that dominant.) Nil Einne (talk) 13:59, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks everyone. I am enlightened now. 70.31.158.164 (talk) 23:24, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Resolved

March 16

Display problem with right to left encoding

See the use of a citation template at Israel_Railways_JT_42BW#External_links - what I see is all the date (20 Apr 2007) mixed up. (chrome xp).

I have no idea if it is me, wikipedia or something else. Thanks.Oranjblud (talk) 01:55, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

It was Wikipedia. Now fixed. -- BenRG (talk) 03:15, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Actually, I guess it was you, since you created the page. :-) The problem and solution are explained at Help:Hebrew. By the way, questions like this should probably go to Wikipedia:Help Desk, not here. -- BenRG (talk) 03:19, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

ok thanks I'll try to remember &#x200E Oranjblud (talk) 04:06, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Resolved

Google translate api

Google has decided to shut down the free version of their translate API. But wouldn't it be easy for a programmer to automate access to the ordinary website, select a few parameters (like source and destination languages), and batch process a large text, albeit somewhat slowly? They could leave the computer on overnight, and have quite a lot done by the next day. Thanks in advance, IBE (talk) 08:45, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

You could easily write a program to do that, but equally Google could try and detect it and block it, e.g. limiting the number of requests from an individual IP address, or add captchas to some/all requests. --Colapeninsula (talk) 10:05, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes usually web sites don't like you making any resonable number of (or sometimes any) automated requests without using their API and if enough people do it they will often take steps to limit it. If they don't have an API for that task, it generally means they don't want you doing it. Nil Einne (talk) 13:05, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

With Google's other free/paid services (like Google Maps), Google usually imposes some kind of daily rate limit. With the free Google Maps API, for example, you can only make 2,000 geolocation lookups per day. That's not usually a big problem (the 2,000 applies to each user of your API, not the host of the API, and it's rare for an individual computer to need to make more than 2,000 such lookups a day, though recently I had reason to want to be able to make several hundred thousand, so I found out about this damn limit) unless you are trying to do something like skirt around the boundaries of the paid/free system. I suspect there is some kind of rate limiting in effect on the translation service if they are moving the API to paid. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:29, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks to all, that definitely clears it up. Any more info most welcome - I find these threads interesting in general, even just for knowing how things work out there in the real world. IBE (talk) 05:40, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

MediaWiki Farmer not working

How can I allow mediawikiwiki:Extension:Farmer to add a config file? What should I chmod the directory to? --J (t) 15:49, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Maybe try with a different extension --151.75.23.121 (talk) 19:56, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

why doesn't anyone

connect people who can do anything in twenty minutes with rails scripts but have no ideas whatsoever, with people who have great ideas but no ability to do anything whatsoever? --80.99.254.208 (talk) 16:34, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Because no-one with a functioning brain has "no ideas whatsoever". It's only the people who have no ability who imagine that those who do are somehow emotionless, uncreative husks. 87.113.82.247 (talk) 17:36, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

No, I've met people with no ideas whatsoever. They'll even tell you. A lot of tech guys will ask each other for any cool ideas. --80.99.254.208 (talk) 18:27, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

So, you're seeking a human resources outsourcing firm whose specialty is locating unmotivated Ruby programmers, and matching them with managers who know nothing about technology? I know of no such firm, but I bet if you start it you can charge top dollar. Nimur (talk) 18:51, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

There are many sites like "elance.com" where you can hire software people for small projects. If you want someone to work for free in exchange for a share in the profits of your world-changing idea you're going to have a harder time. --Sean 18:55, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Another example like elance.com (for everything, not just software) is Philip Rosedale's new venture, coffee and power. Microjobs might take off in the future, but it's just hard connecting producers and consumers. The basic problem may be getting people to agree on price, even when any "reasonable" price might be good enough for both parties. The underlying problem may be security - you need to be sure you are going to get paid on time. IBE (talk) 05:34, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

It's true that a good programmer can throw together a prototype surprisingly fast. But the difference between a "looks good enough" prototype and an actual website or software tool that people want to use is huge. This is why, for example, Google started as a couple of programmers who hired business people to deal with the business stuff, rather than a couple of business people who hired coders. Good software takes time and effort and skill. What's more, it generally takes good programmers to find and hire more good programmers, so an organization that starts off without a strong software culture will probably never develop one. Paul (Stansifer) 21:27, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Maybe this guy: http://teddziuba.com/2011/07/the-craigslist-reverse-programmer-troll.html 67.117.144.57 (talk) 08:30, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Microsoft GIF Animator

Where can I get Microsoft GIF Animator?---74.178.186.35 (talk) 19:16, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

[12] 82.45.62.107 (talk) 19:22, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Hypervisor capable of performing a secure boot process

I want to experiment with secure boot, but I don't want to use a TPM or a processor with secure instructions (i.e., Intel vPro). Does a hypervisor (prefferably bare metal) exist that can verify the first stage of a virtual machine just like a system that can perform a verified boot? --Melab±1 ☎ 20:45, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

How does a hidden link work?

I don't actually know what to call it, but one of the reasons I am asking is to find out the name of the concept.

If you go here and click on the image on The Mini Page, in the lower right corner of the page, you eventually see the words "Fun & Games". A hand eventually appears for you to click on. Then in the lower right corner, the words "HA HA HA" appear, and eventually, with the words "Mighty Funny's Mini Jokes", an arrow to click on. What can you tell me about those links that don't show up immediately?— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:49, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

It's an embedded Flash animation, a SWF file. You can do things like that with Flash files. ---Mr.98 (talk) 21:44, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Thank you.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 21:51, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Firefox addon shortcut

Is it possible to create a shortcut to my filter preferences in Adblock plus? I'm changing what I have blocked several times a day and right now it takes me 6 or 7 clicks to do it. 149.169.140.211 (talk) 20:53, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

See if the last entry in this FAQ [13] helps RudolfRed (talk) 01:13, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

March 17

Counting email domains

For a Perl assignment, I have to take a guest list which has first name, last name, and email address on each line and perform certain counts. One thing we've been asked to do is figure out how many of each domain is used. So, something like 5 people use gmail, 6 use yahoo, 3 use comcast, etc. I'm a bit stuck on how I can do that. Is it possible to load them into an array and then perform counts on the array to determine how many of each there is? So far we've covered arrays, hashes, and regex. Thanks for any help you can provide. Dismas|^(talk) 15:57, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

For each email address, first parse it to extract the domain (worry about yahoo.com and yahoo.co.uk, and the like - don't end up mistaking the latter for a domain called co.uk). Then you have a hashtable (e.g."domaincounts") with domain name (strings) as keys and an integer count for each as values. In pseudocode:

   d=getdomain(address) # you write this
   if d in domaincounts
     domaincounts[d] += 1
   else
     domaincounts[d]=1 # add a new entry, set its count to 1

(as a python person, I'm using the [array] syntax, even though domaincounts is a hashtable - I don't know the syntax for perl hashtables) 87.113.82.247 (talk) 16:29, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

(I don't mean to Shanghai you off into detail that's beyond your class, but) Strictly speaking, parsing an email address reliably and extracting the domain name from a host name are both exceedingly involved procedures, that go way beyond a trivial regexp. Surely for a beginning programming class like yours all your instructor wants is some simple "search for the dots" stuff; if your instructor gets picky and complains this isn't rigorous enough, come back here and I'll show you a regexp, and a domain parse algorithm, that are fully rigorous, and that will make anyone who reads them die a little inside. 87.113.82.247 (talk) 16:59, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Well, it should not be so difficult. Just look for the '@' and grab the right characters (domain names host names contain only a small set of characters) and this looks like a trivial task using regexes, actually --151.75.23.121 (talk) 19:44, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

The thing to the right of the @ is the host name, not the domain name. 87.113.82.247 (talk) 19:53, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Exactly, thanks for pointing that out --151.75.23.121 (talk) 19:58, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Strictlier speaking, for mail purposes, the right side of an address really is a domain name, since it usually points to an MX record and is only interpreted as a host name if the MX record is absent. Speaking strictliest, in the language of the DNS specification, every node is a domain name, even leaf nodes with nothing but an A record. 68.60.252.82 (talk) 22:56, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Looking for a simple self-hosted blogging solution for collaboration

I'm looking for a simple, self-hosted (i.e. hosted on a private server) blogging solution as a collaboration tool. Any suggestions? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.114.146.146 (talk) 20:00, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

Hope these links help you: if you're looking for

... something self-hosted: AMP (solution stack) (but maybe, you should first choose the blog/wiki engine to run on the server)

... a blog: Blog software

... a collaboration tool: Wiki engine

--151.75.23.121 (talk) 20:17, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

• Fossil (software) is very easy to set up and use. It combines a wiki, distributed source control, and a ticket system that you can use (with some limitations) as a blog. Its requirements of machine resources are also very low by today's standards. 67.117.144.57 (talk) 21:08, 17 March 2012 (UTC)

March 18

biggest p2p networks nowadays (besides bittorrent)

All the data I can find on the subject of comparative size of the various p2p networks seems OLD. Can someone track down some current or semi-current figures for comparative size of the various networks by number of users? 58.111.224.202 (talk) 02:13, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Entire computer freezing when I click just about anything in IE 8?

Hello. My computer has taken to freezing most of the time when I click things (namely, links and the back button) in Internet Explorer 8. It freezes for about a minute or so, and when it unfreezes, the page I was going to is completely loaded already (it's as if it loaded while the computer was frozen, and the computer took a long time to be able to show it). When it's frozen, I can't access task manager, the start menu, etc. Caps lock won't even turn on. This freezing doesn't happen every time I click, and it doesn't seem to happen when I click things in other applications (even my other browser, Opera 11.61), either. I'm running Windows XP through Boot Camp on a Macbook Pro. Thanks for any help. - Purplewowies (talk) 04:03, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Sounds like you have some malware doing something unwanted. I suggest running some anti-virus scans, etc. StuRat (talk) 04:06, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Don't know if this makes any difference, but it actually is happening in Opera as well. I'm still running a virus scan. - Purplewowies (talk) 04:36, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Personally, I don't like IE - simple. I find it too prone to bugs. I'd suggest trying firefox, google chrome, or both. Easiest solution. 58.111.224.202 (talk) 04:25, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Every time I've tried to install Firefox on this computer, it's been prone to crashes for some reason. Even my portable version, which typically works fine on other computers, has had problems (though my portable version probably needs to be updated). I personally am doing a little bit of a boycott of Google products (I've developed a growing dislike of them recently), and I've never really liked Chrome's design, anyway. I also prefer to use IE for certain activities (like Wikipedia and SkyDrive documents). Either way, this no longer appears to be a problem restricted to IE. - Purplewowies (talk) 04:36, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Two possible solutions:

1. Press CTRL + SHIFT + DEL and check the box to the left of Temporary Internet Files and then click on the button that says Delete. Restart IE and try again.
2. Press ALT + T and go to Internet Options → Advanced → Reset. Restart IE and try again.

—Best Dog Ever (talk) 04:45, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Try downloading any available stability patches from windows update, if you haven't already tried that. Just curious, when you use the computer for non-internet activities, do you have bug issues as well? 58.111.224.202 (talk) 04:51, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

I don't know what exactly fixed it, but it's not happening now. I did Best Dog Ever's suggestions, then shut down the computer, which is when it installed 5 updates. I rebooted this morning, and it hasn't frozen since. - Purplewowies (talk) 19:41, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

These sorts of problems are commonly a result of not having enough available memory, forcing the computer to use the hard disk as memory, which is very slow. The ultimate cause, if that's what is happening, could either be that you have other things running on the computer that are hogging memory, or that you simply don't have enough RAM to properly support both IE and the operating system. How much RAM do you have on your computer? Looie496 (talk) 18:58, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

When it would freeze, a couple times, I had task manager open (and had "Always on Top" checked), and it said that IE was using most of the CPU (though I have no idea if that might have changed immediately upon freezing). The Macbook itself has 4GB, but Windows only says 2.16GB. - Purplewowies (talk) 19:41, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Overwriting backup partition by accident leads to Windows failure

So I went to install Ubuntu on my system, but while playing with the partitions in Windows, I accidentally deleted both my HP_RECOVERY partition and the Windows recovery partition (it is a long story... don't ask), but not the Windows drive itself. I backed up only the HP drive. Now Windows won't boot at all for some reason! A few seconds into the boot, it very briefly (~.25 seconds) goes into a BSoD before rebooting altogether. And the Windows Recovery Loader fails too!

Needless to say, I am distressed (I have urgent need to use the Windows content for work on Monday). Help!

Ps. I am willing to pirate the material if I have rock because I have a legitimate copy of Windows on here anyway, and seriously fuck Microsoft for not providing a recovery disk with my new system. 198.228.194.241 (talk) 04:49, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

BTW, the error it gives in the BSoD is "a problem has bee detected on your computer, and Windows has been shut down in order to protect it." Or something similar. Turning off driver authentication does nothing to help. 198.228.194.241 (talk) 05:02, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Go to the store, buy a new hard drive, put it in your computer, install ubuntu on it, then get the stuff off the old drive in read-only mode through a usb adapter. Any attempt to boot the old drive is asking to screw it up worse than it already is. 67.117.144.57 (talk) 06:51, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Wait, how are you logged in right now? If you have another computer you can use, then take the hd out of the computer with the problem, and use a usb dock/adapter and file recovery tools to get your stuff off. Again, you're best off not trying to boot windows from that drive until you've safely migrated all your important files from it. Note that if you don't want to swap hd's, you can use a live-boot linux distro (Arch Linux maybe) that you can boot from a usb flash stick or from cd-rom. I'm assuming you know your way around linux already. 67.117.144.57 (talk) 07:01, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

I am using my smartphone. 198.228.194.241 (talk) 14:47, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

I figured out what mint be the problem: I overwrote an extended partition in Windows. 198.228.194.241 (talk) 17:35, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

OK so I've narrowed it down a bit. I plugged it into another computer, and the Ubuntu boot recognizes the partitions correctly but Windows 7 is out to lunch and can't recognize the data at all (it thinks it I'd an unformatted RAW drive). Can someone PLEASE help me with this? 198.228.194.241 (talk) 20:14, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

How accurate is Wolfram|Alpha?

I frequently use Wolfram|Alpha for several different types of queries. Usually they are related to Math, places or dates. So far, I have had good experiences with it (although the number of topics "currently under investigation" is quite annoying). However, its article says that it has received mixed reviews. What do those people have problems with? I'm not exactly how accurate it can be, but there was one time I input "Derrick Rose", but it does not recognize him and instead gives information about the names Derrick and Rose. Is this the reason? And exactly how accurate are Wolfram|Alpha results? Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 06:14, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Did you try the search with the quotation marks ? StuRat (talk) 06:43, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Yes, I did. It really doesn't recognize his name. Narutolovehinata5 ^tccsdnew 08:13, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

The example that you give isn't an inaccuracy. It could be considered a lack of precision and recall. I would expect the numeric results of Wolfram|Alpha to be quite good (these are the folks who built a workaround for the Pentium FDIV bug into their software, way back when). As for the data about the outside world, it'll be as accurate as their sources are. I believe that they do indicate where their data comes from, so it's possible to investigate. Paul (Stansifer) 11:56, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Like Paul S says, the data you get from Wolfram can only be as good as the sources available. Also, bear in mind that WA grew out of Mathematica, and still has a mathematical bias. Whilst they are working on increasing the engine's knowledge of popular culture, it's obviously not perfect yet. Here is a blog post on the subject of NFL statistics, containing the information that "..we’ve also got data on basketball, baseball, and more coming soon. We know we’ve only scratched the surface here..." You can see the results of the recent introduction of NFL stats by searching Aaron Rodgers - the NFL equivalent of Rose - for whom there is much more information. Basically, WA is still growing - have patience and I'm sure you'll soon be able to find out all about your favourite basketball stars. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 13:00, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Not all mobile phones get their clock automatically kept on time?

Hi there Ref Desk volunteers,

i have a quest which i think could end up helping to improve several WP articles, if the relevant contributors took an interest in it.

I am wondering how come that cheap pay-as-you-go SFR mobile telephone i recently used in France was unable to obtain the local time-of-day from the network, and i had to set its clock manually to the best of my ability. For the anecdote, a friend loaned it to me prior to my departure over there, and we loaded a bit of money on it online; the phone worked as expected upon my arrival in Paris. During my stay, i walked in an SFR boutique, asked the salesman that question, to which i got a "Well, don't expect a cheap 30-€ device to get its time from either satellite or Internet", which i feel certain is the wrong answer, as i feel sure that even the most elaborate mobile phone will get its clock set from the cell phone network, not from a satellite.

I have conducted a bit of research, and located the NITZ article which confirms my suspicion above, but NITZ is for GSM networks, and i have yet to locate a similar feature for other types of networks such as CDMA. To start with, i do not know which network protocols SFR uses or serves. The device itself is simply an "S (within a circle) by SFR". Being rather new to mobile phone usage, I was unaware that not all of them got their clock synched automatically.

I am fancying this research an interesting approach to the mobile telephone articles review, and, in addition to the answer which i am seeking, i would enjoy knowing that whomever took to this research left appropriate comments and questions in the several relevant WP articles.

Thanks in advance, and happy Easter Egg hunt?

--Jerome Potts (talk) 17:03, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

I think many networks just don't enable this feature. I've used GSM networks in Malaysia and New Zealand (and briefly in Australia). I wasn't even aware this was a feature that my phones supported or worked until 2degrees started here in NZ and I've spoken to people with similar experience. (And then I had to find a way to temporarily turn it off because they hadn't updated their NITZ for the daylight saving time changes here in NZ.) BTW the article suggests timing in CDMA2000 networks is much better supported which probably explains why many Americans are surprised that people using GSM networks often don't have similar experiences. Nil Einne (talk) 17:18, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

FWIW I have a Nokia phone on the Orange network (UK) and although the time is set to "auto update" it is currently running 1½ minutes slow according to my radio controlled watch and I will have to change it to BST manually next weekend (unlike my watch).--Shantavira|^{feed me} 17:26, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

5.25" floppy drives with a USB connector - find please?

I've seen 3.5" floppy drives with USB connectors so that we can move antiquated media to newer hardware.

However, I have yet to find the same but for 5.25" floppies. There could be some files from my early, early life to transfer to a modern laptop.

It may sound like trying to transfer the contents of an 8-track to an MP3 player, but with enough ingenuity and resourcefulness, it can be done.

Moreover, there are USB turntables for vinyl records that have been around longer than 5.25" floppies, so if said turntables can transfer that antiquated media, why shouldn't there be a device that'll transfer from a 5.25" disk? Thank you. --Tergigress (talk) 22:34, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

There are some out there. Here's one example: [14] RudolfRed (talk) 22:43, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

Don't get your hopes too high, though. My experience is that those disks become unreadable after they've been sitting around for a few years. The medium is not nearly as degradation-tolerant as a vinyl LP. Looie496 (talk) 00:18, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

March 19

Thin x86 tablet

Do there exist any x86 tablets that are as thin as any of the Android tablets already out on the market? I ask because pretty much all of the ARM tablets out there are locked down some how and I would rather have one that isn't, which is where x86 comes in. --Melab±1 ☎ 00:48, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22intel%20tablet%22, though I'm sure you can find ARM tablets that aren't "locked down" if that's truly your only concern. ¦ Reisio (talk) 06:56, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Internet Explorer cannot ...

I’m using two computers, both with Windows XP Professional and Internet Explorer. On one, I frequently get a red error box message “Internet Explorer cannot open the Internet site ____. Operation aborted. OK?”

Which, takes me to, “Internet Explorer cannot display the web page.”

The site easily loaded in the past, and still does on one computer but not the other. I tried clearing the cache, but no luck. Is there some other simple change (aside from updating the software; I’m not the admin) that will deal with this problem? DOR (HK) (talk) 08:49, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable or have the admin update them, there's no good excuse for using software that old. ¦ Reisio (talk) 11:14, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

Victor adding- listing model 110 year 1921-1925

 Hello my name is Jim. I, cannot seem to find any pictures, more info about this model..they stated only 100,000 made?  However, did they make the same model longer than that? I have seen 2 different model 110.  I have a different or modified version. However, once again I cannot locate any others68.117.208.225 (talk) 11:48, 19 March 2012 (UTC) thanks Jim 11:48, 19 March 2012 (UTC)