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January 13

MS Outlook

I seem to have lost the toolbar which gave me (amongst other things) "Send/receive all". Help please. - CarbonLifeForm (talk) 00:18, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Go to "View" the menu, then "Toolbars", and make sure "Standard" is checked. If not, click it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by WikiY (talk • contribs) 02:10, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Transparent Webproxy for Dumb Applications?

I live at a university where we have to use a web proxy for port 80 traffic, however there are various applications that don't support web proxys. Is there a small application for Windows that will transparently proxy these requests to the universities main proxies? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.96.139.34 (talk) 10:26, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Ubuntu Mailserver Help

Can someone give me a tutorial on how to set up a mailserver on ubuntu (CLI only)? I have 2 users and a domain name, I would like user@domain.com.

Thank you!

MediaWiki semi protection

Hi. As you know a semi protected page here on Wikipedia can only be edited by users accounts which are more than 3 days old. I would like to implement this on another wiki operating on MediaWiki software. Can I ask if its possible through editing various pages in the MediaWiki namespace. Thanks in advance. Tbo ¹⁵⁷(talk) 17:54, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

It appears to be set up by default on MediaWiki 1.10 - just click the protect tab and select "block unregistered users". LocalSettings.php can fine-tune the settings: for example, set $wgAutoConfirmAge to select how long it takes for a "user" account (new user) to become an "autoconfirmed" account (can edit semi-protected). --h2g2bob (talk) 00:27, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

USB HDD Tower?

I have a number of IDE HDDs from my old computers that I would like to make accessible to my new computer. There is no room for internal installation in the new computer. Is there such a thing as a tower racking system for mounting IDE drives that provides USB outputs to go into my new computer so I can access these drives?--TreeSmiler (talk) 18:02, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

I think my office has a USB CD/DVD tower. It's used for stand along CD/DVD duplication and I think when hooked up to a PC, only the top unit is visible. I don't really see any point in having multiple drives off 1 USB connection since it would require a special driver for the OS. I think a better solution for you is to buy stackable external drive enclosures. For HDs, there are internal enclosures that allows fast swaping. Some even allows hot IDE swapping. NYCDA (talk) 21:26, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

OK Can you point me to external drive enclosures?--TreeSmiler (talk) 02:42, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

DIY computer

I am interested building my first computer... What kind of problems can I expect in terms of different pieces of hardware not being compatable with each other; is there any advice anyone can offer...? MHDIV ɪŋglɪʃnɜː(r)d(Suggestion?|wanna chat?) 19:14, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

I can offer a few suggestions, but keep in mind that I have just ordered the parts I want to build my first computer myself.

The first thing to keep in mind is to make sure you haven't left out any component. A computer should include: Case, PSU, motherboard, CPU, memory, graphics card, HDD, optical drive. Obviously there are also many optional components. A PSU can be included in the case, especially if it is low-end; if it doesn't say specifically that it is, then it probably isn't. Same goes for a graphics card which may be integrated into the motherboard.

The next thing to note is that the motherboard supports the technology and connections of each of the components, without making any assumptions the specifications don't state explicitly. This means correct architecture & FSB for the CPU, correct type and FSB for the memory, correct slot for the graphics card (this is usually PCIe) and connections for the HDD and optical drive.

If you want the computer to be quiet, you need to look for components that specifically identify themselves as such. If you are into high-end components and overclocking, you need to mind the cooling solution and the power providable by the PSU.

I suggest you don't use too expensive parts for the first computer you build, this way you can minimize your risk in case anything goes wrong. If you intend to upgrade this computer in the future, you may want a motherboard which supports the newer components (while making sure it still supports the current ones).

I hope I haven't left out anything important. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 20:02, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Also, when you've decided on a motherboard, you might try going to the Internet forums of that manufacturer and confirming compatibilities there. ----Seans Potato Business 21:49, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Make sure that your Power Supply Unit is up to the task. If you're putting hi-spec graphics cards in your machine then the PSUs that come bundled with cases probably won't be enough. - X201 (talk) 10:20, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

I check 3 things when I build new systems. MB, memory and video card.

If you go ATI, you should get a Crossfire MB.

If you go with Nvidia, you should get a SLI MB.

I said should because if you only use 1 video card, then XF/SLI aren't important but getting the right combo now will leave the upgrade path open.

You need to check the memory voltage and make sure they are compitable. You do not want to buy a 1.7V RAM to find out your MB only supports 1.4-1.6V. If you are doing a budget build, definitly double check this.

I'm assuming you are already famaliar with the basics of computers like PS/MB/power specifications, power connectors requirements etc. If this is not the case, it's better you list what you are getting and ask if there are any potential issues. NYCDA (talk) 21:47, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

HDs always hot but supposed to be powered down

I use WinXP and despite my HDs being set to switch off after 20 minutes of disuse, they're always very hot to the touch. Could I find out if any programs are keeping any of them from being switched off? ----Seans Potato Business 21:47, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Usually if the harddrives are turned off, you can't hear any sound from them because the r/w heads are not moving to store data. Can you hear the scratching sound like, for instance, when you save a file? Fléêťflämẽ U-T-C 05:15, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Well there are five of them, so it's hard to tell which are scratching (except by guessing where programs are probably accessing). Besides, if none are in use (which is never the case), that doesn't mean that they spin down, so absence of scratching doesn't really imply that they're switched off. Right now for example, I don't think that there is any program needing to access drive "Helga", yet if I put my finger on the HD case, she'll be hot! ----Seans Potato Business 12:01, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

What kind of hard drive set-up do you have? Do you use RAID or anything that would spread data across all the drives? Either way, I think the problem has to do with warm air rising. I have a completely unplugged drive right above my main drive, and it gets hot just from the heat of the drive below it. I recommend a fan or something if you are truly worried about it. For the record, the unplugged drive is that way because it failed - which may have to do with the heat, but I have no way of knowing for sure. 206.252.74.48 (talk) 20:27, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

20 minutes of inactivity/disuse means there is nothing going on that uses the HD for 20 minutes. Any programs like virus scanner, automatic disk optimizer will cause activity in the back ground. Accessing the swap file/virtual memory also causes disc activity. When OS turns off HD, the HD will spin down so you should be able to tell if the hot HD was powered down or not. If you can feel the HD vibrating, it's hasn't gone to sleep yet. NYCDA (talk) 21:18, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't have a disk optimiser intalled and I only expect my virus scanner to access files when I try to open them myself. Since the paging file and file-sharing folder are both on the system drives, I expect the other three to be able to power down and become cooler to the touch. Is there no software-based method to determine which programs are accessing which drives in WinXP? --Seans Potato Business 00:27, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

IIRC Windows defrags the hard drive when not in use. Try disabling that? --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:48, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Windows wont defrag these drives because they're formatted in ext3 (a special driver lets Windows read and write to them). --Seans Potato Business 07:09, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Facebook profile picture

I am unable to see the profile pictures of my friends or the profile picture of myself. Nor can I see the thumbnail versions of those pictures on my wall or on the walls of my friends. I have uploaded profile pictures in the past without any problems. I can still access my profile picture album, but when I choose a picture to be my profile picture all I see is white space. I do have the Photos Application. I can see people's albums and create my own. I have the latest version of Firefox. When I check my Facebook account on IE, I am able to see the profile pictures just fine, so it must be something to do with Firefox. Any ideas as to how I should resolve this? 198.174.0.10 (talk) 21:51, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure, but I have similar issues with Firefox and Safari (on OS X) with Facebook specifically. For some reason photos of any sort have about a 50/50 chance of coming through correctly each time I view; if I hit refresh a few times sometimes they start working. I'm not sure what they are doing wrong but their site clearly has some issue with non-IE browsers when it comes to loading images correctly. --24.147.69.31 (talk) 22:23, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

It turns out, in my case, that Adblock Plus was preventing me from seeing those pictures. I disabled it for Facebook, and everything is back to normal. 198.174.0.10 (talk) 22:32, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Laptop specs advice

I'm looking to buy a ntoebook to replace my desktop for less than or around $1000. Which should I get? I'm currently satisfied with: Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.80 GHz; 2.79 GHz, 512 MB RAM and I would like to match or beat that within my price range. Weight and battery life aren't issues. So, what should I buy? HYENASTE 22:17, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Do you have an Operating System preference? --76.239.184.49 (talk) 22:33, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Any will do. HYENASTE 22:35, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Actually...

The only 2 things I'm not sure about are the processor and the RAM. I usually run several programs simultaneously (Firefox, WMPlayer, Limewire, MS Word), but thats the most intensive thing I do on it. HYENASTE 22:46, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

DON'T get one with only 512MB RAM! It's going to bog down big time. Try to get 2GB. If it's a brand new laptop, it's going to come with Vista, and it will need 2GB to run decent at all. Useight (talk) 23:15, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

If it has a P4 processor, I hope it costs less than USD 500⁰⁰ or something. Personally, if I wanted a computer to last long enough, I would look at a CPU that is only two or three steps down the latest and greatest gazillion-core processors that Intel seems to be making these days. Kushal^t 00:01, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, my current machine is 5 years old, so I'd expect its value to be less than that. :P HYENASTE 00:44, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

A Core duo or core 2 duo would be my choice, as long as budget allows. Kushal^t 00:03, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

If you plan on using Ubuntu 7.10, 1 GB RAM is very good. If you are using Windows Vista, 2 GB RAM or 1 GB RAM with a separate (minimum 256 MB) video card is the bare minimum, as far as I can say. Kushal^t 00:52, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

So 2GB RAM + separate video card is overkill? HYENASTE 03:21, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

I would like to see an Intel GMA X3100 integrated graphics card with 2 GB memory (or if budget is tight, one stick of 1 GB RAM that leaves one slot free in case I _have to_ upgrade in the near future.) If you do not need a lot of eye candy and/or gaming, you can do without a separate graphics card. Kushal^t 08:32, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

If you are choosing between XP and Vista my personal experience so far (we just up/down/sidegraded a Vista machine back to XP) would be to choose XP if you have the choice. ++Lar: t/c 22:25, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, getting a Windows XP pro machine with 1 GB RAM and Intel X3100 integrated graphics would be really good. However, if you absolutely must get if you have to get a computer with Windows Vista, don't despair. In most cases, you can downgrade upgrade it to Windows XP Professional for free. There was a question on the Reference Desk about it some weeks ago. Kushal^t 01:06, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

January 14

BlueJ

When I downloaded it it says I need java but then I go to the java website and their check said that I do have java on my computer. Can anyone please tell me how to get it to work?75.185.122.137 (talk) 01:07, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Java Virtual Machine and J2SE are different things. Are you sure you are looking at the right thing? Kushal^t 01:36, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Nvu website on 1&1 account

I’m trying to set up a personal website using Nvu. I’ve rented the domain from 1&1[1]. Because I only needed one domain I opted for their “Beginner MS/Linux” package which is supposed to give you one FTP account. Problem is I can’t find my “Publishing address” (which is what Nvu needs to transfer the files so I assume that’s synonymous with ftp). I just called customer service and had a really hard time understanding the strong accent of the tech support person. Unless I misunderstand he told me I would have to upgrade to another package in order be able to use Nvu. Is this true? If so what package do I need and once I have it how do I find the site’s FTP? Thanks, --S.dedalus (talk) 04:30, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

There are simple instructions in 1&1's extensive collection of FAQ's, but basically your ftp address is yoursite.com. 81.77.236.43 (talk) 04:46, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I know, but the FAQ’s give me charming examples of incompetence; directing me to click on an icon that doesn’t exist in my control panel for instance. So the FTP for my site is my HTTP address? Or is it the abbreviated form? Now I’m getting an error message with Nvu that says “530 login incorrect.” --S.dedalus (talk) 05:14, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

If your host is anything like GoDaddy, then your FTP username and password are probably not the same as your account username and password. --LarryMac | Talk 17:00, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

From what I remember when I had a 1&1 account, I had a separate login name and a separate password for FTP. Have you tried FTP direct to your site (ftp://yoursite.com) if you have an operating system with FTP built in (since Windows 2000?) (or a stand-alone FTP program.) 1&1 will ask for your login, then you should be able to create, delete and rename files in your folders on your site (try renaming). If this works, then you can transfer your files without using NVU (though it will be more convenient to set up your FTP login name and password in NVU). If this doesn't work then you have a problem with your FTP account at 1&1.dbfirs 15:08, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Vista Ultimate 64bit Query

I am hopefully going to buy the [2] HP Pavilion Elite soon, and I noticed that it came with Vista Ultimate 64bit OS. I've heard that some programmes don't work with a 64bit Operating System, yet you would need the 64bit to take full advantage of the RAM and CPUCore. So, my question is as follows; would the 64bit OS be a problem for programmes/drivers? I use an Epson printer, a NETGEAR wireless router, a Wacom Intuos A5 Wide Tablet, and my main software is Photoshop and Microsoft Office. Would most games be compatable? And secondly; I have heard a number of bad things about Vista. Taking into consideration that it's SP isn't out yet, but I still would be greatful for any opinions. I've taken a look at the Criticism section of the Wiki article, but nothing there seems to effect me. Any con's of Vista that you've ever experienced from user-experience? Thanks in advance. --Boggy1 (talk) 12:54, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

I can't answer your whole question, but I used Vista Ultimate 64 bit at home and most programs can be run in Compatibility Mode (which must be run as Administrator). This allows you to run older programs as if you were using Windows XP or earlier. As far as hardware is concerned, most developers offer updated drivers for the 64 bit systems to allow them to run properly. If these drivers are not offered by the developers other providers have been known to offer alternatives, but this requires a little bit of Internet research. --Julia (talk) 19:44, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

You should check to make sure the drivers you need are available before you install/use the 64-bit OS. You also need to get a 64bit version of Photoshop and MS Office otherwise you will not gain any advantage. You must get 64-bit graphics driver otherwise any graphics heavy apps/games are likly to not work or work slowly. Remember if you using applications designed for 32-bit, you will not get to use the extra memory space just because you run it on a 64-bit OS. In fact 32-bit apps run on WOW (Windows On Windows) in Vista 64. It's sort of like an OS emulator. NYCDA (talk) 21:05, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Magic Workstation card images

Where can I find some up-to-date ones that won't take years to download? Do they even exist?

And just out of curiosity, why hasn't Wizards KILLED THEM WITH LAWYERS yet? Vitriol (talk) 14:54, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

free keylogging software

can anyone suggest or recommend some free keylogging software? I would prefer it not to be a demo or limited edition.

it does not need to be too fancy - just record all keystrokes (for PC, windows XP)

thanks 83.104.131.135 (talk) 15:17, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Try Google. There are many such programs available. Admiral Norton ^(talk) 15:24, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

thanks for your response Admiral. However, many of these seem to be 'free' in the sense that you can either download a demo for free, or that they will work for a short period of time for free. What I'm looking for is something like freeware. thanks 83.104.131.135 (talk) 15:45, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Here are some real freeware keyloggers. Admiral Norton ^(talk) 16:02, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

thanks, I shall give them a try later. 83.104.131.135 (talk) 16:53, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

About the name 'wireless'

Hi wikipedian world! Am I the only one who thinks the term wireless is really dumb? In my opinion, it's not a word that describes what it is, it's a word that describes what it is not! Isn't it like calling the Internet 'paperless', an optical disc 'tapeless', a (modern) calculator 'abacusless', an mp3 player 'discless', or even a photograph 'paintless', etc. etc. etc.? If the term originated from a need to differentiate EM radio transmission from telegraphic wire communications, why would one need to use that same differentiation again today? Is it that no one found a better way to describe it? Or did they simply seize the name again out of laziness? What do you think? Kreachure (talk) 16:14, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

The suffix "-less" implies that the thing is lacking but a real possibility. So "abacus-less" doesn't work so well because abacuses are not at all widely used (in the Western world). However, a mouse with a wire is widely used—it is, in fact, the norm—and so noting how the product without a wire differs, it makes perfect sense to call it "wireless" (though if I were a marketer, I'd have probably gone with "wire-free", which sounds even more positive). This it not at all unique; automobiles were, in the days when horses were the norm, known as "horse-less", in the earlier days of digitized files, the term "paper-less" was not uncommon (e.g. paperless office), etc. The adoption of such terms is a bit more than "laziness"—it's not only convenient, but it does have real meaning, and it is quite common to describe things by their absence. I bet the folks at the Language Desk could provide more information on this, but I remember learning about the usage/development of -less and -free and all of those types of words when I took a linguistics class in college. --24.147.69.31 (talk) 16:54, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll be asking on the language desk about the usage of -less to see what they say about it. Kreachure (talk) 19:53, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

A wireless mouse is a rather accurate description. It is a mouse without a wire. Chances are, your mouse has a wire because most do. The minority that do not are defined by what makes them part of the minority. If, on the other hand, most computer mice did not have wires, one with a wire would likely be called a "wired" mouse or a "cabled" mouse or a "crappy wired cable thingy" mouse. Referring to minority objects by what makes them the minority is not unusual. I can think of many right off the top of my head. In fact, you named one: a "paperless" office is a common term for an office that uses electronic documents instead of paper ones. Then, there's "lactose-free" milk, "hairless" cats, and "unleaded" gas. That last one is good for showing how language adapts over time. If you say "gas" now, you mean "unleaded". You have to say "leaded" gas for what used to be plain gas. -- kainaw™ 22:52, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

I think Kreature's point was, not that a mouse wouldn't actually lack wires, but that it would be defined by it's opposing counterpart, a mouse with wires. The concern is that the mouse is conceived entirely by opposition to a wired mouse, which is why he was referred to the linguistics desk. —Akrabbim^talk 03:11, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Sony Ericsson and Nokia agreement on mobile phone keys?

The latest mobile phones from Sony Ericsson, and Nokia have the same four hard keys (I mean the two pairs of keys just below the soft keys). The keys are Call Accept, Call Reject, Menu, and Clear. This was never the case till now. Have the two companies reached some agreement? Compare Sony Ericsson W890i and Nokia N82 --Masatran (talk) 18:34, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Maybe because they both use Symbian OS? --antilived^{T | C | G} 02:27, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Both have been using Symbian for years now, but their hard keys were never the same till now. --Masatran (talk) 06:22, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

I'd bet that it is because it is a pretty good layout to use, and not any sort of agreement. Compare it to say... computer mice. You have 2 buttons and a scrollwheel, and it goes button scrollwheel button. This isn't due to any agreement, just because it is easiest to use. I remember when scrollwheels first started cropping up a few mice had their scrollwheels to the left or right of the buttons, and as you can see there are no longer any mice like this. Not due to any agreement or anything but just for familiarity and ease of use TheGreatZorko (talk) 12:50, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Disk Cloning

Hi. I want to clone an existing hard drive that boots to XP to a larger one, (the smaller one is going to die soon, I am sure of it) but if possible leave some or all of the leftover space for another partition to use for linux to dual boot into. I've reviewed the Disk_cloning article, and quite a bit of the external links it has to various software packages. I'm interested in people's experiences and suggestions. Some parameters: I'd prefer to use freeware or open source, the drives will end up in a Thinkpad T30, both the drives are AT, and I want to do it from one PC if possible... The source drive is the current boot drive of the T30. I have both a second drive tray (but that means not using the CD) as well as an external USB connected enclosure I can mount the target drive into... I also have other machines with compatible hardware if I have to go network. I'm fine with booting from CD into a linux based thing to do it... Trinity Resource Kit was what seemed to me to be a good candidate for software for this based on my research so far... I do have a CD rw drive that works in the T-30 which the TRK material suggests is useful to have. ++Lar: t/c 22:23, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Just use dd (unix) (Usage: # dd -if /dev/hda -of /dev/hdb, depending on your drive names). You will get an exact copy of your current drive, and then you can use gparted to expand the last partition or something. --antilived^{T | C | G} 02:30, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

DANGER: dd can quickly destroy a drive! Triple-check your arguments before you run it. In the example given above, your second hard drive will be totally overwritten with a copy of your first hard drive. This might not be what you want. If it IS what you want, then DD is very effective. --Mdwyer (talk) 18:38, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm not so keen on using dd, I'd like something with a bit more functionality and handholding :) My current drive has only one partition. I want to end up with two partitions on the newer drive, one that has what the current drive has in it (but bigger, I am going from 30G to 80G) and maybe 10G left at the end for a dualbootable second partition. ++Lar: t/c 01:22, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

You can change the partitions later using gparted easily. --antilived^{T | C | G} 00:02, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

January 15

Running x86 Binaries on PPC

I have an old, old x86 binary that I would like to run on my (relatively) new PPC machine. The binary is CLI, and the machine DOES NOT have X. I made the binary a few years ago, and I have lost the source code. It was compiled for linux, and that is what my current machine is running. Any help is appreciated! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.239.184.49 (talk) 01:03, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

You'll need some kind of x86 emulator. Some good ones are Bochs and QEMU; these emulate the whole machine, so you might have to install an OS on the emulated machine and all that. I do not know of any free programs that would emulate a single program of Linux x86 on Linux PPC. If you can get a login account on some remote Linux x86 machine (x86 machines are ubiquitous these days) somewhere, that would probably be faster and easier than emulating. --Spoon! (talk) 01:41, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for responding, but on my Mac I can run PPC apps in x86. Why can't I do it on linux? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.239.184.49 (talk) 01:54, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

1. You didn't ask about running PPC apps on x86, you asked about running an x86 app on PPC.
2. Apple put a huge amount of work into making sure PPC binaries would run on Intel-based Macintoshes (just as it earlier assured that Motorola 68k binaries would run on the PPC). That kind of hard work doesn't always get done for free software like Linux. —Steve Summit (talk) 02:25, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Vista 32-Bit or 64-Bit

From what I understand, 32-Bit OS's can only recognize "up to" 4 GB's of RAM, which really means only 3-3.5 GB's of RAM can be used. Now, I'm not sure if 64-bit OS's actually allow you to use all 4 GB's of RAM because it seems to me that the OS would need some of that RAM for its processes. So, one of my questions is if I had four GB's of RAM in a 64-bit, would I get the benefit of all 4 GB's, and what if I had 8 GB's?

My second question has to do with the current software limitations of Vista 64x in respect to computer games. It seems to me that most new games offer support for 64x, but would I even be able to run older games such as Age of Empires II (1999), Rise of Nations (2003), or Company of Heroes (2006)? Could Vista even run the older ones in general? I've also read something about emulators, but how reliable are these? Basically, what are these software limitations specifically?

Ultimately, what I want to know is it worth getting 64x over 32x because of better RAM recognization despite software limitations.

Thanks for any help. Nkot (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 01:59, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

When you say "32-Bit OS's", do you mean operating systems in general, or 32-bit versions of Windows in particular?

There are certainly computers and operating systems that can address more physical (and virtual) memory than a naive calculation based on their preferred "word size" would suggest. When we say that a processor is "32 bit", we usually mean that the size of the integers it most naturally manipulates is 32 bits. We may also mean that the size of a memory address (or "pointer") in a user-space process is also 32 bits. However, the physical processor and the operating system may have more addressing information available to them than does any single user process. In this way, a "32-bit" machine might be able to access more than 4Gb of memory, even though any one process can access only 4Gb (i.e., its own virtual address space).

As to the specific capabilities or limitations of various versions of Windows, I couldn't say. —Steve Summit (talk) 02:20, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

x64 Vista can run most 32-bit Windows programs, which would include the ones you listed. I don't know what you mean by "would I get the benefit of all 4 GB's" exactly. Windows would be able to utilize the full 4 GB, sure. I think 32-bit Windows can do up to 4 GB as well, but it's iffy and motherboard-dependent. Only x64 versions of Windows can go past that.

The bulk of the 'software limitations' people experience are driver issues. Not all devices and peripherals have 64-bit Vista drivers, and drivers for 32-bit Windows editions won't work. I am, for some stupid reason, using 64-bit Vista on my desktop, and haven't had a single driver issue. Your mileage may vary. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 06:47, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

32-bit OS can only use 4gig of ram. But people tend to forget an OS is just another software so it's really 32-bit software can only use 4gig of ram. If you run 32-bit apps in 64-bit Vista, your app still can only address up to 4 gig so the program will not run faster because you have 32gig of ram. The only advantage with 32gig of ram is you can have more apps open at the same time. Also due to Windows/Hardware limitations, the max usable ram in a 32-bit OS is much less then 4gig. If you had 4gig of ram, up to 1 gig is wasted. NYCDA (talk) 23:10, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

"32-bit OS can only use 4gig of ram." Not true. See my response above. (In particular, an OS is not "just another software".) —Steve Summit (talk) 23:30, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

As long as your software is 32bit there is a 99.99% chance that it will work absolutly fine under Vista x64. Certainly the games you listed will (the only one I am SLIGHTLY unsure about is Age of Empires II but this is because it might use DirectSound exclusivly, which isn't included in Windows Vista x86 or x64). If however you wish to run any DOS programs or any Windows 16bit programs (if any exist?) they will not run naitivly. You can get emulators such as Dosbox which will allow you to run old dos apps under a modern OS however. About memory allocation. Windows x86 (32 bit windows) can only allow 4gb of TOTAL memory space to be addressed. This includes your ram, any motherboard ram, soundcard or graphics card ram, and also possibly Virtual Memory (I am not sure about the last part). This basically means that you'll actually only be able to utilise about 3.5gb of system ram on a 32bit Windows OS, because the rest will be taken up by other hardware. By the way do not let anyone persuade you to go with Windows XP x64 as it is a horribly buggy OS that is barely supported by Microsoft and has rather poor driver support. Vista initially didn't have very good driver support but now that is not the case, and as long as your hardware is modern there is a very high chance of there being 64 bit drivers. TheGreatZorko (talk) 12:47, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

xfce theme

Does anyone recognize what theme this is? It's an official screenshot. --f f r o t h 02:07, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Murrine!!! I love that theme. --wj32 ^t/c 08:25, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Weeee thanks! I've been using Human with the Superhuman compiz theme, and this look much better --f f r o t h 14:42, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Grr, which Murrine theme? That's a gtk theme engine, not a theme! --f f r o t h 23:54, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Oops. I never seem to make the distinction between "GTK engine" and "theme". I guess it looks pretty similar to some Graphite Murrine-based theme I found... Otherwise I don't actually know :( --wj32 ^t/c 01:08, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Acquiring and using a digital signature

I recently purchased a number of software products from a Fry's outlet, all of which featured rebates. On three of the products, it turns out that one has to register online first in order to get a registration number which is then written on the rebate form.

Fine. Except that in all three cases, they are demanding that I enter a "digital signature" in order to complete the online registration. I have no problem with this, except that I know next to nothing about digital signatures and have limited time in which to find out now. I know about PGP, RSI, etc., from way back when, but have simply not had a need for encription or electronic verification. I use public computers with high speed connections for blogging, eBaying, etc., and I don't have access to the web where I work as the in-house corporate web designer (paranoid Chinese company). Generally, I pay cash whenever possible.

Except that now I need to know how to quickly acquire something that will pass muster as my digital signature. I believe that WORD has something related to this, as well as Outlook, but I rarely use either of them and don't have them on my new laptop. I do have Open Office, BTW. Help?

Thanks for any assistance on this.

204.126.64.254 (talk) 04:05, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't know much about this myself, but perhaps it will help those who do if you specify which are the software in question, or more details about the prompt you get. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 09:31, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Digital signature often does not mean your signature digitized. There are many ways to digitally sign a document. Like we do when we sign our posts with 4 tildas. NYCDA (talk) 23:14, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

It may be as something as simple as just typing your name underneath the T&C box. I've seen some applications refer to that as a 'digital signature' which clearly is an abuse of the terminology, but who are we to argue? Aaronw (talk) 00:20, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

A small question about music software

As of recent, I have been a little intent about creating an orchestral, film-like music score. Is there any software, free or otherwise, that can help me along? (I've tried asking this on Y! Answers, but with no luck so far.) --Slgrandson (How's my egg-throwing coleslaw?) 04:10, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Category:Scorewriters seems well-populated --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 06:41, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

I guess Rosegarden is alright for basic sequencing and scorewriting... I don't really know of any more advanced free software musical apps for GNU/Linux. --wj32 ^t/c 01:10, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Linux question

Linex provide us a login, passward facility but this facility does not provide by DOS. Why ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.157.77.10 (talk) 07:02, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

header added

Linux is based on Unix, which is a multi-user operating system. MS-DOS is/was a single-user system, so there was no perceived need for security. --LarryMac | Talk 14:10, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Editing song tags

How do I edit the tags on music files that say what year the song came out? I have a Walkman mp3 player with Time Machine Shuffle and some of my 80's songs have 1998 on them because thats when the compilation came out. How do I change this? --Candy-Panda (talk) 09:38, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

You can do it by right clicking the file, Properties, Summary, and then editing here or clicking the advanced tag for more options. Lanfear's Bane | t 10:35, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Correct, except you will need to click the "Advanced" button in order to get to the "Year" setting. After you change the setting for the MP3 on your computer, transfer the song again to your walkman, and it should be fixed.

PS, You can also change the year setting from the program you're using to transfer your music -- if this is a Sony player, you're probably using SonicStage, and in that program you can right-click on any song, click properties, and then edit the tag information, including the "year released". With this method you will again need to transfer the song(s) again to your player in order for the change to take effect. Equazcion •✗/C • 13:50, 15 Jan 2008 (UTC)

Graphical User Interface

I want to know something about GUI and its components. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mm sharma (talk • contribs) 17:55, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

GUI is a good start. --LarryMac | Talk 17:57, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

eee pc in budapest

where can i find an Asus EEE PC (the $300 laptop) in budapest or from an online dealer that will ship to budapest. Thank you! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.51.122.6 (talk) 21:13, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

January 16

AIM

When i am on AIM and i try to share pictures with my buddy not by email but clicking the little buton that says pictures at the bottom of the IM with (user name from (user name) window it say (user name) is unable or does not support this feature.Ive have searched all over the AIM help pages but it say that this mesage only comes up when you are trying to use a video or talk thing plz help thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.235.174.162 (talk) 03:01, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

One of you may not have the latest version of aim. Just a guess though so i could be wrong. BonesBrigade 03:03, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Alternative to Parallels Compressor? (Compressing a virtual disk)

I use Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 and I'm having trouble compacting my virtual hard disk file using the built-in Parallels Compressor (it terminates immediately because of "the unrecoverable error"). This is apparently not uncommon and I'm not sure the company knows what is going wrong (they told me to try defragmenting the drive, which I had already done many times, and to run scandisk, which found no problems). I'm wondering if there isn't another way to compress it, maybe another piece of software, maybe some sort of work-around or trick that somebody knows? The file is a .hdd file, and takes up about 20 GB of space on my Mac even though the drive itself contains only 9 GB of files, the extra 11 GB (!!) is just being wasted because it isn't compressed. Any suggestions? I know this is a long shot (nobody on the Parallel's support forum seems to have a clue) but thought I would ask. Any thoughts? In the future I think I'll have two partitions, one that is a small "core" one of just the things Windows XP needs to run, another that I install and delete stuff from and occasionally just flush, since I have so many difficulties getting these things to compress and they end up taking up sooo much more space than they need to. --24.147.69.31 (talk) 04:16, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

I want a cheap web domain name and domain-based email but I don't need hosting - any ideas?

I have a site set up and hosted. But no domain yet.

What I want is to get a website domain to point to the hosted page - and I want email address capability. So, say if I got "guroadrunner.net" , I want the site to point to my Geocities page, but I also want an email address like " me @ guroadrunner.net "

I don't want to pay for a hosting plan nor do I need hosting.

Throw out some names -- are there any domain companies offer domain pointing and email without requiring a host plan ? Guroadrunner (talk) 12:30, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, see List of domain name registrars. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 13:07, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Almost any domain registrar will not require a hosting plan if you don't want it. Godaddy.com works fine for this, I've used it many times to just point domain names at pre-existing hosting (and it is very cheap). You can set it up to redirect to your page. To make it so that your page transparently is hosted by geocities but has the other URL is a little more complicated and involves setting up the DNS settings correctly (and I don't know how that would work on the geocities end of things) but should be possible. I believe you can have domain-based e-mail separate as well, but I think that costs extra ($10 for two years or something like that). --24.147.69.31 (talk) 19:30, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Found one! Yahoo Customer Email -- http://order.sbs.yahoo.com/ds/LearnMore?.pnew=BM0&d=&.p=YD1&.src=sbs - $34 for a year and I get a domain name free. Anyone have any better prices that include a domain name? Guroadrunner (talk) 20:13, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

!!! You have got to be kidding me. I have already pointed out a list of 10. You can get domain names for 3$/yr, and email for 10$/yr (that I know of, you can probably find cheaper). Also, 34.95$ should be rounded up to 35$. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 20:22, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

GoDaddy.com will set you back only $10 a year for the .net name and another $10 for two years of e-mail for it. Don't pay more than you have to—you're just throwing your money away if you do, especially when you are only asking for such bare-bones services. GoDaddy is a reliable and well-established company. --24.147.69.31 (talk) 21:34, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Need help installing Ubuntu

I currently have Windows XP pro on one partition, and Red Hat Linux Enterprise WS on another. I dual boot at start up using GRUB. I want to get rid of Red hat linux and install ubuntu in its place. Please give me step by step instructions as to how I can get this accomplished? Also, in case it helps, I have PartionMagic 8 with me on my Windows partition. Please help.--202.164.138.44 (talk) 12:47, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

First, make sure you backup everything you need on your Windows partition, since a single mistake can wipe everything out (or at least make it difficult to restore). Then, restart the computer with an Ubuntu installation disk inside. Follow the instructions, and when you get to the partitioning part, delete the Red Hat partition (triple-checking that you are not touching the Windows one), and use the freed up space to set up partitions for Ubuntu (the instructions should tell you what exactly you need to do). -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 13:12, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Once you're in ubuntu, hit alt+f2 and type "gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst" (that's ELL ESS TEE not 1st) and scroll all the way down. Take out the RHEL entry :D --f f r o t h 03:11, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks guys! That worked like a breeze. Only trouble now is that Ubuntu has some trouble recognising my monitor, and seems to be stuck at 640*480 resolution. A google search seems to suggest that lots of other people are also having the same trouble...--202.164.142.253 (talk) 16:06, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

How can I host my own wiki?

How can I set up a wiki like conservapedia, anarchapedia, wikinerds, or wikipedia itself? I previoulsy hosted a project with wikicities, but I'd like to know how to set up a wiki hosted by my own organization. Can someone please give me info on how. --Gary123 (talk) 12:59, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

That depends on what you already know how to do. The easiest way is probably by using WOS. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 13:03, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Does your organization have a web server? If so, put mediawiki on it (along with PHP and MySQL). It is rather easy if it isn't a Windows server. -- kainaw™ 13:25, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Actually even on a windows machine it's not very difficult. I did it years ago with relative ease (PHP, MySQL and Apache install just like any windows software), and it's probably only gotten easier. Setting up image resizing and formula rendering was a little tricky, but only a little. If you want to use IIS instead of Apache, that could be a bit more difficult.

In case none of this makes sense to the OP, MySQL is database software that stores all the content you post to your wiki, IIS and Apache are webservers, they send out the wiki's webpages to anybody looking at the wiki and PHP is a scripting language that's used to translate the content in the database to webpages that the webserver can send out. For certain features, such as image thumbnails or mathematical formulas, you need to install additional software. risk (talk) 10:16, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

"The easiest way is probably by using WOS", well, no, the EASIEST way is to find someone who has a wiki server online you can buy an account on to run your own wiki with. I can't believe there wouldn't be such a thing, not EVERYONE runs their own server... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.51.122.4 (talk) 14:27, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

No, the E-A-S-I-E-S-T way is to read the original question, especially the parts where "I previoulsy hosted a project with wikicities" and "hosted by my own organization". -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 14:39, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Apologizing for your comment will also be easy. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 20:20, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Yeah lets all keyboard in apologies for online *rolls eyes* --f f r o t h 19:02, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Hm? When a well-meaning individual makes a comment on Wikipedia which is in any way inappropriate, he apologizes when called on it. That's how it's been ever since I joined. Are you saying we should stop doing that? Does civility not extend to online communication? -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 19:38, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Many webhosts will include a 1 button install for Mediawiki, under CPanel. If this is not the case with your hosting then see this page. You need PHP5 and a MySQL 4 database, but most good webhosts will come with this.TheGreatZorko (talk) 09:11, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Is there another meaning to "hosted by my own organization" that I'm not aware of? Sure, it's quite possible the OP meant using a webhost, or that he didn't but the best solution to his real problem is to use a webhost. But until he clarifies, we should assume that he really wants what he asks. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 09:24, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

All the wikis that he named all run on Mediawiki software though (I think), so I'm not sure what you think he is requesting. If it is permission to use the software for his own means, well of course he can. Mediawiki is open source and can be used for commerical uses, as long as you abide to the GFDL licence. If he means hosting the wiki on his own server then the guide I linked to also covers this.TheGreatZorko (talk) 10:58, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, the OP does want to use MediaWiki to run the wiki. He also said he wants to host it on his organization's server. He requested to learn how. Your link to the installation guide does more or less answer his question, but referring to his "webhost" is irrelevant.

Again, this depends on which parts of the process he needs assistance with - does his organization already have a server, or does he need to set one up (for a lightweight endeavor this may amount to just taking a computer and delegating it as one)? Does he already have a domain name, or does he need to register one? Does he need help with the installation of Apache, PHP, and\or MySQL? Does he need help creating a MySQL database? Or maybe all of these are covered and he just wants to know how to install MediaWiki? All this discussion is pointless until the OP specifies what it is that he wants exactly. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 11:24, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

"Windows Explorer" right click options

Does anyone know of an add-on for Windows (in my case XP) that will allow the addition of customised right-click options to the "Windows Explorer". I know it is possible since I have seen applications such as Winzip and Clipfile which do this. An example of what I want to do is to add an option "Autorename" which will inspect the file name and if of the form "Copy of abc.xyz" rename it as "abc_yyyymmdd#.xyz" where yyymmdd is the files datestamp and # is a unique letter within that folder. I would like to "write" the autorename function in a language such as basic or perl rather than in C. Any ideas folk? -- SGBailey (talk) 14:29, 16 January 2008 (UTC) I can't help you, but perhaps it's helpful to recall (for googling) that many such programs (like winzip you mention) call this "shell integration". perhaps searching on that might get you to the answer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.51.122.4 (talk) 15:45, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

First write the command-line program (in any language) that will take a file name/path as its input and will rename it based on whatever. Once you have the program, then you can either:

1. Just use it with the "Send to" menu.[3]
2. Fiddle with the registry to make it an integrated part of the shell.[4]

Both are pretty simple though the first one doesn't require any mucking around in the registry. --24.147.69.31 (talk) 19:39, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Object Oriented Programming

Can I use Hylemorphism to help conceptualize object-oriented programming? How? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.51.122.4 (talk) 15:02, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Possibly, although it is an imperfect analogy, so a deep discussion of Hylemorphism is probably not interesting. Socrates theory of ideal forms is often mentioned when explaining the difference between classes and objects. Taemyr (talk) 15:25, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

whoo-hoo! I never heard the connection, but am glad I made it myself. So, even though it's imperfect and not warranting deep discussion, Taemyr, could you expound the analogy here ad hoc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.51.122.4 (talk) 15:36, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Boot message

I was messing around with songs on FL Studio when my computer locked up. so i restarted and i got an "unmountable boot volume"message. is my computer ruined?the juggreserection ^IstKrieg! 15:34, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Run chkdisk. --24.147.69.31 (talk) 15:52, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

chkdisk is definately the way to go - although you'll need your original Windows XP CD. Without that you're in a bit of a sticky situation. Kavanagh21 (talk) 01:27, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Video Card

How do I find what kind of video card I have? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.119.61.7 (talk) 21:08, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

On Windows XP, you can right-click on a blank part of the desktop and then select properties. From the properties window, the settings tab will often give you some information, and if there is an Advanced button, perhaps more detail. --LarryMac | Talk 21:13, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Under Windows XP bring up the start menu, and click "Run" then in the box that appears type "dxdiag" without the quotes (To do the same under Vista just type dxdiag in the search bar). On the Display tab will be the name of your graphics card along with other information.TheGreatZorko (talk) 09:09, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

On Mac OS X click on the Apple, and then About this Mac..., click on More info, then Graphics/Displays on the left column. Mac Davis (talk) 12:00, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

accounting and machines

Will accountants be ever replaced by machines such as computers? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 118.90.44.64 (talk) 21:15, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

Depends on what you mean by it. If you mean, "will many people just start using computer programs instead of accountants," the answer is clearly yes and we already see this (I did my taxes last year entirely by myself using TurboTax, which made it easy enough that I didn't feel it was worth hiring someone to do them for me). If you mean, "will we start letting computers do all accounting work, including in big corporations," the answer is probably no, because 1. people don't and probably won't trust a computer 100% when the stakes get really high, and 2. there is still a lot of work for a very clever accountant that is more flexible than a machine is going to be. People like human judgment, and they like human judgment when enhanced by things like computers, but not replaced by it. --24.147.69.31 (talk) 21:32, 16 January 2008 (UTC)

In the foreseeable future. As long as there isn't a major "paradigm shift" in the next few hundred years steering human interest away from science (though it's practically certain this will happen eventually), computer systems could well be far more advanced than humans ever could be. Even if computers are a little duller than people, I'd be far more likely to hire computers who work 24/7 with no vacation or weekends. Anyway, you could always simulate an entire person and give him weekends and breaks and everything (but have billions of them so who cares) and pay them with worthless virtual currency and let them live their own virtual lives in ignorance, but give them real work.. so if computer power grows enough, that's the most brute-force way to replace human workers.. showing it's at least possible with enough power --f f r o t h 03:06, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Accountants have many kinds of duties. Bookkeeping is highly automatable and is largely done by computer. But validation — checking that the entries in the database are legitimate according to law and the accounting rules — is not. (For example, a computer system can check that a payment to a supplier matches a purchase order or a delivery receipt. But it cannot tell whether the payment is for a legitimate business purpose or is a fraudulent back-hander.) Analysis and forecasting also rely on human judgement. List of accounting topics should give you some idea of the scope of the profession. Gdr 18:59, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

January 17

can I get there from here? A very small virtual machine just for a web browser.

Can I get there from here? I'm running windows 2000 and would like a TINY (and I mean tiny) virtual machine running a web browser, I think Opera has the smallest footprint. I'm thinking of something that's a smaller image than Damned Small Linux. I want the emulation software to have a tiny footprint too.

If all I want is Opera running on a tiny stripped-down linux, and the former really doesn't have any dependencies (statically linked with QT, its gui framework) then could I fulfill my dream of a 20-50 megabyte image for that? Actually I just looked and DSL *includes* firefox in the fifty megabyte download, and also another tiny browser!

How would I go about getting DSL *without* the other stuff than a web browser?

Thank you! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.51.122.4 (talk) 00:21, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

You can check if Puppy Linux has a smaller one. Here there are some, with BareBones Puppy weighting 39mb only, although I am not sure if it even has a browser. If DSL works for you, you should keep it. -- ReyBrujo (talk) 03:10, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Apparently, BareBones Puppy (per description at the wiki page) has no window manager and only the browser. That may be the smallest (useful) distro that you may find. -- ReyBrujo (talk) 03:18, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Who needs a GUI? Use links or lynx --f f r o t h 03:07, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Bash script help

I want to make a very quick CPU benchark, and I came up with this.

 #!/bin/bash -e

 seq 1 $0 | factor > /dev/null

 exit 0

You time it, and it should give you a number you can compare with other computers. But it won't recognize the argument! Could someone tell me how to insert the first command line argument into the $0? Thank you. This is my first attempt at any kind of computer programming. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.239.184.49 (talk) 01:11, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

That is because $0 is usually the name of the program being executed. You want $1 instead. -- ReyBrujo (talk) 01:44, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Worked beautifully, thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.239.184.49 (talk) 02:02, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Accessing router without browser

The D-Link DI-524 offers a web interface to configure and query it. One of the status pages indicates the current wireless connections. I have been trying to access that information from the router without the web interface (with an API, a web service or command line) but haven't found anything. Does anyone know a way to access it without using the port 80? Thanks. -- ReyBrujo (talk) 03:16, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps you should use the telnet command. type telnet, then router's IP, then the port you wish to use. Obviously not 80 or 81. That might be a beginning, it might not. Mac Davis (talk) 05:18, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

What do you expect to work? These routers are very very very simple devices and often have no form of communication besides HTTP (or UPNP if that counts). --Jmeden2000 (talk) 16:24, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

I nmaped the IP and got only ports 80 and 515 open. I was hoping there were some kind of API or at least some automatic way of querying information (more exactly, being notified every time a wireless device connected to it). Guess I will have to write some perl or python script to retrieve the page, parse it, and generate the information. -- ReyBrujo (talk) 19:39, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Is there an "enable SNMP" option anywhere? --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 21:52, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Google questions

I've got a site going and now I want to take care of two things, but I can't seem to figure out how:

• I previously had an account with Google Adsense. I need to keep that account, but I also need to change the country of that account. Here is the answer how[5]. Except one thing— I'm supposed to email google about it, but they give no address. I can't find an address. Can you help? I can call headquarters soon I guess.
• Those little abstracts under each site that comes up when you search for something in google— right now mine is horrible. It consists of the alternate text for an image. How can I get a nice description?

ThanksMac Davis (talk) 05:47, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

As for #2, my site's Google abstract is taken from a <meta> tag. Add something like this to the <head> section of your HTML on your index page: <meta name="description" content="This is what I'd like the abstract to say."> --24.147.69.31 (talk) 14:15, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Kubuntu questions

In Kubuntu 7.04, how do I set a mount command to always occur at startup? Also, is there a way to make sudone programs' KDE windows display differently from those of programs run from my normal account? NeonMerlin 07:24, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Add the mount to /etc/fstab and enable the auto option. You can find a plethora of documentation how to do this if you search for fstab. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.75.77.106 (talk) 14:33, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

What do you mean "display differently"? If you mean have a different color title bar, talk to the window decorating people (Emerald). If you mean treating the window differently than others, ask the compiz people. If you mean putting a notice somewhere in the window, you'll have to get every program to do it individually and hope it looks consistent. A lot of programs do that automatically- I use xubuntu and Thunar (file manager) and Mousepad (text editor) both display a banner across the top alerting you when you're root. IIRC SUSE does the same thing with YaST- it gives you different options based on whether you're root or not, and puts a little red border around everything when you are. That's hardcoded into YaST though.. not a feature of the window manageer AFAIK. --f f r o t h 02:58, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Video Cards

How do I switch my video cards that are on my computer? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.119.61.7 (talk) 12:55, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Assuming your computer actually has a video card (and not on-board video), you purchase a new one, put on your static-safety strap, open your computer, remove the old one (at most, it is held in with one screw at the back of the computer and a clip in the middle of the computer), put the new one in (reverse process of removing the old one), close the computer, turn on the computer, install the drivers for the new video card. Keep in mind that the video card you purchase must be compatible with your motherboard. For example, you can't shove an AGP video card into a PCI slot and expect it to work (or expect your motherboard to continue working). -- kainaw™ 14:31, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

sorting problem (question moved from Language desk)

hi. everyone.... i have some problem regarding sorting......

1.as we all know that we can search numbers in c and c# that user enters,is there any way by which i can files from harddisks by general coding........

2.similiarly we sort numbers in c and c#.which is the most efficient sorting that take min. time-:

a.)if numbers are sorted already
b.)if numbers are given in reverse sorted order  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Awdesh (talk • contribs) 13:16, 17 January 2008 (UTC) 

Look at disk IO operations, such as fopen and fgets. Those are used to read data from files. As far as sorting, the fastest "common" sort is quick sort. If the numbers are already sorted, it hits a worst-time that is no worse than the slow bubble sort. -- kainaw™ 17:41, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Unexplained computer shutdowns

My work computer has been subject to sporadic and unpredictable shutdowns since at least last November. I'm not doing anything abnormal on it other than work, Wikipedia, and downloading stuff now and then. I used to leave it on overnight then started powering it off before I left for the day, which seems to have made a slight improvement, but not much. The pattern of shutdowns that I started keeping track of is as follows:

11/27: 3

11/28: 1

1/9: 4

1/14: 2

1/16: 7

Yesterday was a record, with shutdowns occurring less than an hour apart. Been using a new surge protector since November at least. Phone and monitor are the only other things connected to it. I've never experienced this sort of thing with any other computer I've used. Other than switching out the HD, what could be causing these shutdowns? Anti-virus scans don't turn up anything. 47 out of 74 GB are free. BrokenSphere^{Msg me} 17:01, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

You mean it's literally turning itself off, rather than crashing? Could be heat.. many computers shut down when they get too hot. Maybe the vents in the case are full of dust or something? Friday (talk) 17:22, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

I believe the IT guys raised the heat issue when I brought this to their attention. They did mention that they eventually had to switch out someone else's HD as it kept on shutting off, but his I think were more frequent. You can see that last December was trouble-free. This one will just completely shut off in the middle of any possible task. BrokenSphere^{Msg me} 17:37, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Hard drive? I can't see how this would be relevant. If your disk fails, your computer won't be able to work right, but it won't just turn itself off. It may produce errors and crash, but it should stay on. Or by "hard drive" do you mean the actual computer? I've heard the term misused this way before. Friday (talk) 17:41, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

It is almost always heat-related. The big issue is "why"? It could be a bad drive that is producing enormous amounts of heat. More common, one of the fans is flaking out and stops spinning. The little CPU fans are the worst for doing that. It is possible that the thermostat is bad and is reading high temps when the temperature is normal. It is possible that the power supply is failing and producing too much heat. It is possible that the heat sink on the CPU separated slightly, so it isn't cooling properly. All-in-all, this is one of the most difficult computer problems to fix because there are too many factors involved. When my computer did this, I replaced the whole motherboard, CPU, and fans just to take care of it in one fix. -- kainaw™ 17:45, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

When this used to happen to me, I got a vacuum cleaner and sucked ALL the dust out of my pc case including the power supply and the heatsinks (you'd be amazed how much dust can live in heatsink vanes') which fixed the prob instantly. I don't recommend this fix tho in all cases as some people have found that their vacuum cleaner wands can become statically charged when used, which isn't a good thing to be ramming into a pc. 86.21.74.40 (talk) 17:52, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Sorry about flipping back and forth between terms. By "hard drive" I did mean the computer itself. I've had a spare computer sitting in my office for a couple months now as a backup, one of the older models without a CD burner. Before I switch out, as everyone's computer gets imaged as they call it, I want to get all my personal stuff off and wipe the history of what's been downloaded, which is another issue. BrokenSphere^{Msg me} 17:56, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Maybe the problem is electrical. I'm not really familiar with surge protectors, but maybe they just don't cut it. FWIW, I used to have a problem with my computer shutting down spontaneously. I got a UPS and I haven't had the problem since (plus, it allows some flexibility in case of a blackout). Or maybe the PSU is too weak. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 18:04, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

If you have a can of compressed air or a hairdryer that blows out cold air, you might want to blow out the dust inside the casing of the computer (unless it is so gross that the dust would just float around). Just make sure to be safe and not touch any parts of the computer with the can or the hairdryer.

I know it is silly, but could you check the power connectors to see if any of them are shaky? Kushal^t 18:02, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

If you meant the power cord, that is firmly in there now. BrokenSphere^{Msg me} 18:17, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, its absurd, I know. However, it works in some cases. If you do not open the casing any often, I doubt that any internal connections are loose. If I were you I would just let sleeping dogs lie and not mess with the internals unless I knew exactly what I was doing (or I owned the computer;) ). Looking forward to your updates. I hope your problem will be solved soon. Kushal^t 23:41, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Idle time on Linux and Windows

Are there any methods to finding the amount of time idled after a specific time? i.e. implementing something similar to a screensaver? In Linux, cat /proc/uptime gives me the uptime and total idle time but not the time idled from the last "non-idle" event. And I have no idea how to do this in Windows.

Any help would be appreciated. x42bn6 Talk Mess 17:49, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

What are you trying to do? The "idle time" reported by /proc/uptime is the time spent in the system idle loop, and is usually no more than a millisecond or two at a time. Even when your computer isn't "doing anything", it will periodically exit the idle loop to see if anything needs to be done, and if you're running an "idle monitor", that counts as "something to be done". --Carnildo (talk) 21:44, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

For example, I want to find out when a system has been idle for 30 minutes so I can execute another program. Kind of like a screensaver. x42bn6 Talk Mess 21:49, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

What do you mean "idle"? Devoid of mouse interaction or keyboard input? Try asking the X server, not the kernel --f f r o t h 06:32, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Are you sure that's right? I thought it was interrupt-based. --f f r o t h 06:31, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, no user-activity. x42bn6 Talk Mess 14:52, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

HTTP Guide

I have some 50,000 words I want to search for with Google. I'm completely new to HTTP, but managed collect enough information to write a C program for searching for a given word. The problem is an average search seems to require to receive about 20 Kbytes, and I'm only interested in the amount of hits the word gets. For example the following gives 243,000 hits and 17 Kbytes:

GET http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ulkomainen
Host: www.google.com

As said, I don't know anything about HTTP. Also I almost copypasted the program from msdn, so something explaining how to just not receive some data would be useful. What can I do/read to get less bytes? --212.149.216.233 (talk) 18:26, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

When you read in the data, look for the phrase " of about <b>". The numbers after that are the number of estimated hits. Once you read in the number of estimated hits, close your http connection and go on to the next term. There's no law claiming that you have to read ALL of the data before disconnecting. -- kainaw™ 18:52, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

true, but unfortunately, the Google servers won't send this information back to the user character by character, so you're always going to get back extra information beyond the
tags that you are looking for. Actually, I didn't say this below, but your best bet may be to try and make a GET request for the Google WAP page - this has no images and is likely to be much smaller in terms of size. It would take some checking though to make sure that the hits returned are identical to the general Google search. Kavanagh21 (talk) 01:25, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Is this an automated script? I thought Google provided API in google labs for developers who wanted to use google. Perhaps it is overkill in this case? Kushal^t 22:57, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

• I write similar stuff in Visual Basic - it depends on how you are accessing the data. If you are using Windows Sockets, then you could just collect the chunks of data you need, and then close the socket once you have all the information you want (using Winsock, data comes back as packets, which you can choose drop if not required). If you are using the Internet transfer control (or something similar), then you can't help but recieve all of the data from your GET request. The problem is, once you make the GET request to Google, their servers will fire back ALL the information on that HTML page, regardless of what bits and bobs you actually need. Kavanagh21 (talk) 01:21, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

You have to take the data and parse it for what you want. I don't use C but in PHP this is trivial—you read the HTML in as a string and then parse out the numbers you want. It's just string manipulation at that point. Note that if you IP makes 50,000 quick requests to Google it may block you; it is against their policy to make automated searches of Google without using their API (and registering with an API key), if I recall. --24.147.69.31 (talk) 03:59, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Horror of horrors! What would I do if I were blocked from Google? My entire online existence would be at stake ... Kushal^t 01:03, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Last I heard, google had discontinued the use of the search API, so that route's a no-go.

I've written a script to do exactly this. (Matter of fact, it's running now.) Bear in mind (as 24 mentions) that google discourages (but does not outright prohibit) automated queries like this. I think their Terms of Service say that any automated queries must be limited to less than 1,000 per day or something like that. So it's going to take you at least 50 days to get all the counts you're looking for.

Bear in mind also that google word counts are not nearly as definitive as we'd like them to be (where by "we" I mean all of us who are desperately trying to use the counts to gather statistics or resolve word-usage questions even though the data really isn't good enough for those sorts of applications, nor indeed intended by google to be useful for those sorts of applications at all).

Yet another thing to consider is that google seems to tailor the estimated word counts, based on... something. I once noticed that the estimates differed by a factor of 10 based on which browser I used. It turned out that one browser had the cookie for my google userid and the other didn't. Why google would give me different counts when logged in as me versus anonymously is beyond me, but there it was.

As an indication of how variable google's word counts can be, here are counts for the words "the" and "cat" on various dates, culled from my data:

date	the	cat	ratio
2006-09-24	14,530,000,000	686,000,000	0.047
2006-10-16	13,960,000,000	51,300,000	0.004
2007-11-23	4,940,000,000	416,000,000	0.084
2007-12-04	548,000,000	46,900,000	0.086
2007-12-14	1,220,000,000	51,400,000	0.042
2007-12-15	10,210,000,000	811,000,000	0.079
2007-12-19	9,900,000,000	811,000,000	0.082
2008-01-13	9,340,000,000	808,000,000	0.087
2008-01-17	9,450,000,000	808,000,000	0.086

I'm afraid the obvious conclusion is that google counts really aren't deterministic enough to do any kind of meaningful statistical analysis on. I wish it were otherwise, and I bet a bunch of other people do, too, but I really can't complain. (And if google ever did want to make this data useful to the people wanting it, clearly it would be much better to have a separate, simple "estimate word count" interface, so we didn't have to waste google's time doing dummy searches and our time ferreting out the count from all that "unnecessary" other stuff on the results page.) —Steve Summit (talk) 01:21, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Commafied and aligned your table. --Anon, 03:38 UTC, January 19, 2008.

Best Video Software

What's the best video editing freeware? I'm hoping to find the equivalent of Audacity or GIMP, but for video instead of sound and images. Thanks. --71.117.42.164 (talk) 22:50, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

You might peruse Category:Free video software. Of those the ones that sound like what you might want are Jahshaka (Cross-platform), Kino (software) (Linux only), or Cinelerra (Linux and OS X). Like most free software, most of them suffer from poorly thought-out interfaces (programmers make lousy GUI designers), are somewhat slow and/or buggy, and have little to no documentation about them. (Open-source software's a great idea but cutting out the "management" level has its detriments. Programmers alone are not enough for complicated products designed to be used by people other than programmers.) --24.147.69.31 (talk) 22:57, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Cinelerra is alright in the usability aspect. --antilived^{T | C | G} 23:01, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Okay, thanks for your quick responses thus far. So am I correct in assuming that there is no editor that stands out from the crowd, such as Audacity or GIMP? --71.117.42.164 (talk) 23:23, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

My understanding of it—from a similar search I did a few months ago—was that there wasn't, though Cinelerra was more widely used than any other, I believe. But maybe somebody else knows better. --24.147.69.31 (talk) 23:35, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Does a MS Windows port exist for Cinerella? Kushal^t 23:37, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Not according to our article. And sorry, I forgot to mention I'm running Windows XP. --71.117.42.164 (talk) 23:59, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Enter Cygwin? Kushal^t 02:53, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Will Cinerella work under Windows XP if Cygwin is installed? Kushal^t 01:00, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Dear OP,

Have you ever considered dual booting between MS Windows XP and Kubuntu (or any other Linux Distro)? I think I can recommend a dual boot if you know what you are doing. Kushal^t 13:11, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

iTunes update

when an update for Mozilla Firefox or Thunderbird is released, there are release notes on their website that I can see. Does a similar thing exist for Apple iTunes for Mac? A cursory google search revealed non apple websites and the site:apple.com did not help much either. Kushal^t 23:36, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Apple do publish release notes for all their software updates on docs.info.apple.com. For example, there's a list of security update notes here. You can also access a link to the update notes in Software Update in Mac OS X. --Canley (talk) 23:47, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

Mac OS X checks periodically if any updates are required and shows you a list of the available updates. You can then decide how to proceed. I just checked myself and was informed that a 44MB update for version 7.6 was available.

Under the Apple menue, item "Sotware Update...". The item below, "Mac OS X Software", gets you to more detailed notes on the various updates available. --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 00:39, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

I see it now. Thanks a lot! Kushal^t 03:03, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

If you have a choice, don't upgrade to itunes 7.6, it breaks the windows apps of the hymn project. Was about to buy an album when I noticed that.. they lost a customer. --f f r o t h 06:29, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

What is the Hymn project? Unless you are talking about this [6] (just googled it), I am completely blank on this one. (I do not have it on my computer.) I want to support the anti-DRM movement and so I do not buy DRMed music as far as practicable.

I saw that QuickTime was updated as well. Kushal^t 00:58, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

January 18

Voice Modulation

Does anyone here know where to find some open source voice modulation software that isn't a plug-in for another program? Specifically, one that can modulate in real time. The effect I'm most interested in is something similar to that sense in The Matrix where Neo screams as his throat turns to metal ("the mirror scene", if you will). Chris16447 (talk) 01:17, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

To those unfamiliar with the movie, that effect appears to be (largely) ring modulation. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 01:21, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Csound should do it, although setting it up is nontrivial. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 01:42, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

You can achieve effects like that in real time using any AudioUnit aware application in MacOS X. You probably want the flange effect cranked up to crazy levels. --24.249.108.133 (talk) 23:31, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Although it is designed for phonology and speech research and analysis, you can do some very strange things to voices (and other sound) in Praat. Pfly (talk) 23:38, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Booting from a copied virtual drive (but with non-virtual questions too)

OK. So I'm using Parallels Desktop for Mac. Bear with me. This question might be answerable even if you don't know anything about virtualization, as I'm not sure where the problem lies.

My preexisting virtual disk which normally runs Windows XP Home (and does that just fine) has 3GB of data on it. I want to copy it to another virtual drive that I can boot off of in its place. (There are reasons for me wanting to do this that we need not go into, it has to do with how Parallels handles drive space. The existing drive is taking up over 24GB of space on my drive; if I can get it into the other one it will take up only around 3GB. Long story.)

I can load the drives into the virtual machine as if I were just plugging in hard disks. I used GParted to create a partition on the second (the target) drive, and tried to use its "copy" function to copy from the first (source) drive to the second.

It copied fine, from what I can tell, but I can't boot off of the other drive. I get a "No boot device available" error from the BIOS. I've gone in with Windows XP Recovery Console and run FIXBOOT and FIXMBR but neither of those things worked.

I tried copying the source drive to a new, blank target drive using dd, thinking that maybe it was something about GParted's copying that made it fail. dd claimed that it copied everything over but then the target drive could not be read at all (either by GParted or by Recovery Console). So that seemed to be a bust too. The only odd bit is that GParted thought that drive was formatted as FAT16 whereas I am pretty sure I selected FAT32; anyway I don't see why either should make it totally unreadable.

I tried using Parallels Transporter, which allows you to migrate drives to different virtual machines, one the GParted-copied drive and it ALMOST seemed to work—it started up Windows and got as far as the blue "Windows" screen before it just stopped responding. Any clue what is going on there? Running FIXBOOT or FIXMBR had no effect.

So, here's the question -- how can I go about copying the one drive to another in a way that will make the second drive bootable to Windows XP, in Parallels? I'm not really sure where the problem lies -- should the GParted copy partition have worked normally? If not, does that mean the issue is with Parallels in some way? How would you handle a situation like this if it wasn't virtualized? I know that what I'm doing is something of a hacky work-around but it feels like it should work. All of this effort is being made, by the way, because Parallels Compressor is hoarking on that big virtual disk and the Parallels support people aren't being of any help as to why. --24.147.69.31 (talk) 02:03, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

China

Are there any ways to get around China's block? I have a friend who's going through withdrawal.69.246.23.58 (talk) 02:46, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Advice to users using Tor to bypass the Great Firewall. --24.147.69.31 (talk) 03:56, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Sudoers file with wrong permissions?

Whenever I try to use sudo on my mac, I get:

sudo: /private/etc/sudoers is mode 0666, should be 0440

What the hell?! I haven't even touched it. How am I supposed to fix it if I can't use sudo? I could pop in a liveCD, but is there a way to fix this without booting linux? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rgrasell (talk • contribs) 04:57, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

google.com/search?q="is+mode+0666,+should+be+0440" --f f r o t h 06:24, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Also, why don't you just log in as root to change the permisisons? If OS X has some lock-its-own-users-out mentality, surely theres a recovery mode of some type. (see FIRST result) --f f r o t h 06:27, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Interestingly enough (froth will laugh deliriously at this, but I'm sanguine, I can take it) I don't even know how to log in as root on this, my main machine these days, the Mac I'm typing this on. Whenever I need to do something as root (which is very, very rarely), I just use su. But I honestly don't know how I'd fix the problem the OP complained about if it happened to me. —Steve Summit (talk) 00:37, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

If you've enabled root, su - will work too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.8.37.162 (talk) 06:34, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Disk Utility's "Repair Disk Permissions" feature should fix this (I just tested under 10.5.1, pretty sure it'll work under earlier versions as well). If for some reason that doesn't do it, I'd recommend booting in single-user mode or from an installer DVD; both of those will get you root access without going through sudo (or needing a root password). Speaker to Lampposts (talk) 23:09, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

The disk permissions thing works. Thanks guys.--Ryan (talk) 01:44, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

I never even thought about using sudo on this macbook. Kushal^t 14:36, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Hosting an mp3

What is a good website I can use to host an mp3 so I can stream it on a blog or other such webpage? It doesn't have to be free--just reliable.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 04:59, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Salut!

If you have Google's Gmail, you could start by looking at Google's Google Page Creator. Upto a hundred megabytes is available for free of cost. Care should be taken to link the pages as http://example.googlepages.com and not http://www.example.googlepages.com For a real world example, take Benjaminrogerstexas http://Benjaminrogerstexas.googlepages.com works but http://www.Benjaminrogerstexas.googlepages.com does not work. Hope that helps. Kushal^t 00:47, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Thank you, Kushal, I have gmail and shall give it a try. --The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 03:37, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

You are very welcome, sir! Kushal^t 04:52, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Please let us know how your experience went with streaming mp3. Kushal^t 13:06, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Close rs232 serial port using turbo c

 Hai,
    I am doing a project in turbo c for communicating between two PC's using rs232 seerial 

port.So i wrote a code in turbo c using ("dos.h and bioas.h ") these header files i send the data in 38400 baudrate. In another pc using hyper terminal i recived the data using the same baud rate.Data's reciving correctly.but i had problem is if I Closed my program but ("not closed turbo c editor"). the port is not closed. so i can't use other serial port communication programs such as ("Hyper termial ").after i run my program and close my program without close the turbo c editor. then i am unable to open the port in other language and other application unless closing the turbo c editor. so i want solution for this problem.Please any one give idea or send code in turbo c.please...

thank you,

R.Rajesh kumar —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.164.63.175 (talk) 05:23, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Please forward VB topics?

07:08, 18 January 2008 (UTC)192.248.92.4 (talk)NUSRA

I'd start by reading Visual Basic. -- SGBailey (talk) 10:20, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Protecting a backup

I am backing up my data on a DVD. What is the best way of encrypting these data, so they can be safe? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.58.205.37 (talk) 11:45, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

You could use TrueCrypt to make an encrypted container file on your hard disk, copy the files into it, then burn the container file to the DVD. -- BenRG (talk) 20:50, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Toast 8 also allows for disc encryption. --24.249.108.133 (talk) 01:11, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

I'll give TrueCrypt a try. Thanks! 217.168.1.14 (talk) 11:59, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Colorspaces and desktop publishing

I've dabbled in desktop publishing for a long time but I never quite wrapped my head around colorspaces in a way that sometimes matters (it probably doesn't help that I started in the desktop publishing world dealing with exclusively black-and-white media). How do I guarantee that what I see on my screen will look similar to what gets printed up? (Obviously there will be some inherent different due to the medium change, but I've noticed that by fiddling with the color settings in InDesign and on my Macbook I can have the same RGB/CYMK values look radically different (different enough for the tasteful to become garish) and I'm never really sure which of those is the best setting for approximating, say, a standard color laser output, much less printing it up on a real press. Things always end up being a little off when I get them printed—bluer than I had wanted, for example—and while none of this is ever the end of the world, I'd like to have a little more control over things. What do people normally do here? --24.147.69.31 (talk) 20:47, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Take a look at our article about Gamut; the differences in gamut between your display and, say, a CMYK printing press are probably the biggest sources of surprises to designers. And, of course, our color space article can help you understand the transformations that take place as you go from RGB to CMYK and the like.

Atlant (talk) 15:08, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Desktop Expresscard readers?

Does anyone know if there are external Expresscard readers for desktop computers (either USB or Firewire)? A Google search seems to only return USB/Firewire adaptors for Expresscard slots. But I have an Expresscard flash memory drive I want my desktop to read. --24.249.108.133 (talk) 23:18, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

January 19

Compressing a video file

Dear All,

Hi.

I need help compressing a file... its a movie AVI file... how do i do that? i tried to send the file via email.. for some reason its not working.. the file size is not even big... its almost 3 minutes long...2.0 megapixels ... sorry i really need help its for a school project... I'm not really a what you call a techie...

--202.175.29.2 (talk) 03:15, 19 January 2008 (UTC) xsy

If you are on a Mac, you can use iMovieHD. If you are using Windows, you can use Windows Movie Maker. If you only want to compress the video just import it to the application and export it in the desired settings without any editing.

Hope that helps,

Kushal^t 13:04, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Many (most?) video files already are compressed and can't be compressed any further. See data compression and video compression.

Atlant (talk) 15:01, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

What type of codec is used for the file anyway ? If it's a file you downloaded through the net, odds are that it's already compressed in mpeg4 or a variant of it, and it would be pointless to compress it any further. Try to play it and see the property of the file in windows media player (there is a video codec and an audio codec). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Esurnir (talk • contribs) 20:15, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

"Live" screensaver?

What would you call a screensaver that prevents burn-in whilst still leaving the screen contents legible for most, if not all, of the time? Rawling4851 13:01, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

It might interest you to know that burn-in is a thing of the past. Online your monitor is a plasma TV, you should be able to keep the same image on for months if not years without fear of burn-in. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.51.122.18 (talk) 13:28, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Presumably, in the above answer, the word "online" was meant to be "unless". But even LCDs suffer some temporary ghosting if a static image is left on them for hours on end. Plus screen-savers can still be fun.

Atlant (talk) 15:03, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

At work, several of our LCD monitors have a permant burned image of the system login screen. It seems to be related to the brand of monitor; the GNRs have it and the Neovos don't. All about 3 years old. --80.176.225.249 (talk) 20:18, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

What makes you so sure that Rawling uses an LCD? I know I occasionally use my 10-years old CRTs, and since they have several advantages, I am considering buying a new one. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 20:24, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Heh; yes, I am using an LCD, but given that they, plus other modern displays such as plamas and (am I right) DLPs can suffer some kind of burn-in, this isn't wholly irrelevant. I was just curious if anyone had made screen-savers that specifically didn't make the sceen content illegible... Rawling4851 20:46, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

sandisk sansa c250

This is a 2 GB flash memory mp3 player. If I deleted every file and folder on it, have I bricked it? When I turn it on, only the navigation key backlights turn on. I tried both the recovery mode and diag mode as in RockBox but to no avail. The device does not even show up in my macbook now. Is there anyway I can make it reusable again? Please help. Kushal^t 15:19, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Hmm. I guess if it were mine, and if I were feeling it was likely in trouble, I'd 1. reformat it, 2. try and reinstall whatever software the company had available for it on their website. --24.147.69.31 (talk) —Preceding comment was added at 20:15, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

File transfer on Lan

I got multiple computer on my soho local network, connected through a 802.11g wifi. I would like to transfer file between multiple computer, both using Windows XP.

What is the fastest way to do that (in terms of file transfer speed I mean). Right now I tried the "normal" copy and paste (i think it use the SMB protocol or something like that) and utorrent (was quite surprised to see that bittorent was slower in my case but anyway). Is there any other type of file transfer protocol that would be faster to transfer "big bulky files" ? And for a collection of small files ? Esurnir (talk) 20:12, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, torrents aren't optimized for speed, they're optimized for bandwidth, so that isn't necessarily the best way. If bandwidth isn't an issue, FTP is probably as fast as anything else, and reliable. --24.147.69.31 (talk) 20:16, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

I fail to comprehend the distinction between bandwidth and speed. Perhaps bittorent slower because of his non-sequential nature (which would stress the hard drive with too much random i/o ?) In good condition, what can I expect from a 802.11g connection in terms of "usable" bandwith.

Oh and right now I get 1mb/s with standard transfer and 700kb/s with bittorent.- Esurnir (talk) 20:22, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

Programming manual of style

Did someone or some organisation published instructions for achieving a good programming style? I mean for example how variables, functions are named and case used, how brackets are used... Thank you. CG (talk) 20:54, 19 January 2008 (UTC)