The best answers address the question directly, and back up facts with wikilinks and links to sources. Do not edit others' comments and do not give any medical or legal advice.
well, 10 points for conciseness. I would think that primary to that display would be the individual computers' / browsers' defaults. Secondary being the preferences set if it's a wiki-user. and third if anything is defined or declared ex: ({| style="background-color:#F5FFFA;.) But you asked "default" so... a print screen and paint program reveals the following: shadow area (right and btm.) r=0, b=0, g=0 ...aka black. foreground shadow (top and left) r=178, g=178 b=178 ... sort of a lt.blue gray. top of table border: r=248 g=252 b=255 ... almost white. Is that what you're looking for? Ched (talk) 13:29, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
MediaWiki:Common.css's CSS rule for "table.wikitable" says "border: 1px #aaa solid;"
studiQG, studiLN, estudiLN and studentIX are closing at the 20th January 2009. meinVZ you can find now also in english ([2]). Can somebody write it into the article studiVZ!--79.210.207.179 (talk) 15:40, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
You could update the article yourself, but it will need to cite a source. Until then, I have added a comment to Talk:studiVZ (which is where this question should have been put). Hopefully, someone who has heard of studiVZ and reads German will be able to confirm what you are asking and make the necessary change. Astronaut (talk) 08:44, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
As you probably already know, a version of QBasic can be found on any (I believe) Windows 95 installation CD, in the directory "oldmsdos", if I remember correctly. (By the way, to me, there is nothing more nostalgic than the Interactive CD Sampler on that very same disc.) --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 21:01, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Microsoft has posted it online if you want it. I seem to recall it being easy to find QuickBasic 4.5 as well, which allows you to compile the programs into EXEs (and can do some more complicated things). I was a total QB4.5 freak when I was in middle school. ;-) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 21:22, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Is there a program (hopefully free) that lets you draw something, e.g. a freehand diagram, and have it appear on another PC's screen as well? Clarityfiend (talk) 21:49, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Programs like this allow whatever is on the screen to show on any number of attached computers, but I'm not sure if there are free alternatives to this. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 00:04, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
When I download song from iTunes I can view the album cover on my iPod touch and yet if I rip music from a CD I cannot. Is there a way I can change this, it's rather ugly when in cover flow mode. Thanks, --87.113.36.255 (talk) 23:49, 7 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
After you rip a CD and the music is in your library, highlight all the songs from that CD and right click. Select "Find Album Artwork" or some option to that effect. If you have the proper information about the songs (Song title, Artist name, album title, etc.) entered into your library it should then find the correct artwork and put it in there for you. Killiondude (talk) 00:18, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Itunes does not always recognize every album properly, especially of you have some obscure or lesser known artist in your collection. It may be necessary to manually update your artwork for each album by going into the info section and adding the proper picture. Of course, you will have to have the album cover as a file on your computer somewhere first. Amazon [3] is a great place to look up albums and save the artwork. cheers, 10draftsdeep (talk) 17:15, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
There are also a few 3rd-party tools that search Amazon etc for artwork and add them directly to the files in your iTunes library. TuneSleeve looks pretty nifty, particularly if you have lots of albums you need to deal with, but it costs £12; if you only need a few albums, I've had good experience with the simpler iTunes Art Importer 0.9.3 once I got the hang of its rather minimal interface! - IMSoP (talk) 18:07, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
This might sound dumb, but have you already tried Microsoft Word? I've opened huge files with it before, but I don't know if they were anywhere near 16 MB. Killiondude (talk) 00:21, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Also, dunno if it counts 'cos its web-based but from [6] - "Zoho Writer does not impose file size limits.
I don't claim to understand how it works...so thats why i ask -- why should there be any limit on the size? I mean if i made a 5 line c++ code using data file handling to save to a file and retrieve it ,technically it should keep working no matter what the file size.If i'd made something as simple as this->
and if i added 3 more lines and retrieved it technically shouldn't it run no matter how much you type or how ever big it is?.
So why then do such big word processors have limits?Vineeth h (talk) 06:24, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe there's some "backwards compatibility", ie the file format doesn't allow for more than that? Though I wouldn't believe many MS programs had this kind of problem. --194.197.235.38 (talk) 15:41, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
There are limits on sizes because "real" software has to understand something about the data, not just pass it through. Limits typically arise from situations like these:
The program needs to refer to some part of the file by, say, its offset, and it only allocates so many bits to store the offset. 32 MB is 225, so perhaps Word uses 16-bit values to store the position of something in units of 512 bytes (sometimes called a sector). These limits can usually be increased, but at a cost in memory, run time, and/or code complexity that may not be considered worthwhile if the limit is "large enough" already.
The program must store the file in memory, or worse store the file and metadata (like undo information) about everything in it. If it would take gigabytes of memory to handle files bigger than 32 MB, a programmer might not bother increasing that limit.
The program must analyze or process the data in some way and the run time becomes prohibitive for larger files. The programmer might choose to put a hard limit rather than have the program become unusable in some circumstances.
Um, I'm routinely working with Word files in excess of 50 Mb, and am yet to experience a problem (apart from the thing being sluggish that is). Am I missing something in the thread above?—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 16:58, January 8, 2009 (UTC)
Image data is very bulky compared to the letters that make up a document. Adding three large digital photos to a document can easily add tens of megabytes to the filesize. Text however is very compact; one megabyte of characters would fill a large novel. Note that the overall size in Word could be several times more due to a significant overhead in the file format used . Astronaut (talk) 03:07, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
That's not exactly what I meant. Why would images not count towards the 32 megabyte limit of MS word documents as Algebraist said above? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 20:50, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
To answer the question above, no, none of my Word files over 32 Mb contained any graphics whatsoever; they were simply very very very long documents (counting a few thousand pages in some instances).—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 16:18, January 9, 2009 (UTC)
It is the N'Ko digit for 4. The reason that it appears as a box with 07C4 in it is because you do not have a font with an appropriate glyph to render it. As a substitute, Firefox displays the Unicode value (U+07C4) in such cases. IE does not have this fallback feature. It will display correctly for those who have a compatible font. Bendono (talk) 03:58, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I have a Wii and I know that there's a lot of features I cannot use with it because I live in a house with a dial-up internet connection. I don't know a lot about the xbox 360, but I was wondering if I would be okay if I got one. All I would want to do is just play some games by myself, so there wouldn't be a problem there, but is there some set up thing that requires a high speed internet connection to get the console working? Evaunit♥666♥04:31, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
No, you can use the console just fine even without a broadband connection. I mean, there are online features that you'll miss out on, such as downloadable extra content for games, but you can certainly buy games and enjoy them without ever plugging your Xbox 360 into the network. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 05:05, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Too slow. The Nintendo Network is slow even with a broadband connection. You can certainly play it online. But..it'll take forever. Rgoodermote14:14, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
sorting by birthdays
i want to sort a list of dates of birth ( in DD-MM-year format) according to birth days from jan. 01.onwards. Could anyony suggest an idea how to do that in exel? (windows XP). Thank you124.43.42.183 (talk) 12:02, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
If the dates are already entered in one column, Excel probably automatically set them to date/time fields. You can use the formula "=Day(x)" and "=Month(x)" to pull the day and month out of the date column 'x' into two new columns. Then sort on those columns as suggested above. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.137.108.115 (talk) 21:32, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Making IFS programs
I'd like to make a screensaver that uses IFS to create fractals. How would i go about doing this? PS: I am able to understand Visual Basic .NET, C++, and C#. I looked at the samples of the RSS screensaver but can't figure out how to mod this sample to make it generate fractals using IFS. Can anyone help? PPS: iterated function system is what i'm referring to by IFS. BufferedInputOutput14:31, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
File statistics
I have a fairly well-branched system of directories (~2,000 directories at various depth in all), which mostly contain documents in different formats. Is there a simple way to find out how many different extensions are used across all files (i.e., in all subdirectories combined), and to count the number of instances in each group (i.e., the output would be something like 2,000 .rtf files, 8,000 .doc files, 300 .mht files, etc.)?—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 16:36, January 8, 2009 (UTC)
Thanks, but I should have mentioned that I needed a ready solution, not an algorithm. The computer on which the said directory tree resides is a work computer, it does not have anything Python/Perl/etc.-related installed, and it is closed to new installations (of this scale, at least). Any other ideas would be welcome.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 17:54, January 8, 2009 (UTC)
Perhaps Windows Explorer, a tally sheet, and several days? That seems simple enough. Realistically, you are unwilling/unable to run a highly-respected executable (python) and a simple (easily reviewed) script, but you would be willing to execute some random vb program that you have no way of verifying? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.137.108.115 (talk) 21:21, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I did not say that I can't install anything, I said I could not install anything on the scale of a full-blown product such as Python or Perl. A program that runs off a USB key or even one that installs/uninstall cleanly and with minimal footprint are something I am more than willing to consider. Tally sheet, no, that won't work—too many damn files! VB, I haven't considered that. Should have, because I now realize that I can easily write something like that myself; I just wasn't thinking into that direction when I posted the request. Anyhoo, thanks for your time, folks. If anyone can still recommend something along the lines I described above, feel free; if not, I'll just write a VB script after brushing up on my rusty VB programming skills :)—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 22:08, January 8, 2009 (UTC)
You could install (i.e. simply copy the .exe) any windows command line version of wc, and enter from the command line:
dir /b /s X:\whatever.directory.you.want.to.start.in\*.rtf | X:\path.to.wc\wc.exe
Thanks (that's the best advice I've got so far)! I'll sure give it a try. The stats themselves are more important than the list of extensions (I already have a pretty good idea of what kind of extensions there are, so having a tool would have just nicened that up), and looking at the description this tool seems to be just the ticket. Much appreciated!—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 22:32, January 8, 2009 (UTC)
Alternatively, you could get a list of all files and redirect the output like this:
dir /b /s X:\whatever.directory.you.want.to.start.in\ > tempfile.txt
The output file could then be loaded into a speadsheet program like Excel, the "Text Import Wizard" will leap into life and let you delimt columns by the "." which separates the type from the filename. Just beware that a filename can also include a ".", but the type can't. Once you have dealt with that in your list, I'm sure you can think of an easy way to count the different types if they were all in one column. Astronaut (talk) 02:51, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
If you import Astronaut's tempfile.txt into excel, and manage to get the extensions all aligned in a separate column, you could use the pivot table feature of excel to get exactly the statistics you are looking for. --NorwegianBluetalk10:34, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I was playing with that script and it seemed to be more trouble than it's worth since so many directories on my (work) computer have periods in them. I recommend WinDirStat. After it analyzes the directory or drive in question there's an output on the top right where it will give you the details on the files (extension, description, bytes, % Bytes, and number of files). It unfortunately does not give the % of files, but that can be done manually and, for me, less hassle than cleaning up that Excel file.--droptone (talk) 13:23, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Dumping the dir's output into Excel file and then parsing it actually works out, because none of my file names contain any periods beyond those used to separate the file name from its extension. It wouldn't be very convenient if I needed to do this periodically, but since it is a one-time only task, the approach worked like a charm (I have not tried the wc advise given above, because this worked out fine). Thanks!—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 16:24, January 9, 2009 (UTC)
Evil fake Windows security center in league with fake antivirus thing
There's a fake version of Windows Security Center on my computer. It keeps saying to install "Spyware Guard 2008" which is clearly fake. Is there a program I can use as a crowbar to smash this piece of malware way to stop this stupid thing? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.170.47.80 (talk) 19:45, 8 January 2009 (UTC)75.170.47.80 (talk) 19:57, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I used Ad-Aware, but the virus still lives. If there was something to prevent certain executable files from running it might help. Also, the virus isn't letting me connect to the Ad-Aware site or any other antivirus site--I got Ad-Aware by downloading it on another computer. 75.170.47.80 (talk) 22:10, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Second the use of Malwarebytes', which I usually combine with a liberal dousing of SuperAntiSpyware (normally in the reverse order, though...) Washii (talk) 05:26, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I fixed a PC with that very issue today...it even had a fake bluescreen for some reason. Malwarebytes took care of it quickly. You may have an issue installing it, some of the newer fake anti-virus malware have blocked Malwarebytes and Spybot (and maybe others) from installing. If you run into this problem, disable TDSSserv.sys from Device Manager>Non-plug and Play Drivers (View > Show Hidden Devices)....reboot and you should be good to go. RxS (talk) 05:33, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Playing audio from a visual waveform
Hello everybody! Sorry to ask this here, but I can't think of what to google to find the answer otherwise. Is there a program that will play back audio given an image of an audio waveform? (To be clear, I don't even know if this is possible...) I am on Mac OS X and Ubuntu, if there are options for one of those platforms. --ParkerHiggins ( talkcontribs ) 20:26, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
It is indeed possible. The easiest way of doing this is to find an equation describing the wave (e.g. in the most simple case), and then simply create a plain WAVE (RIFF) file containing samples (virtually a "graph") of this wave. This could be accomplished by any reasonably experienced programmer in just a few minutes or perhaps an hour. If you want to find an existing application able to do this, you should try Matlab or Mathematica (although they are not cheap). As a matter of fact, I am planning to develop a similar software that will be able to do exactly what you are looking for. I will not be able to finish this app in the near future, but if you know exactly what equation you would like to hear, I could make a WAVE file for you. Also, if anyone reading this actually has a license of Matlab, Mathematica or any similar product, he or she could easily create a WAVE for you (given an equation). --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 21:17, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
A signal and its envelope marked with red
Your question was not quite clear to me. If you have high-resolution images of the waveform, Andreas has answered the question. If your images are low-resolution, however, it's a different story. To see the difference, see the picture at the right. If you are talking about the red curve, you are referring to the envelope of the audio. You cannot reconstruct an audio signal from the envelope. You can, however, modulate another audio signal such that its envelope matches a different envelope. In fact, I once wrote a program that did exactly that, (based on recordings, not images). You can create quite interesting musical effects that way. Unfortunately, I never really finished the project, and it's not in a state where I would like to share it. --NorwegianBluetalk21:38, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Asinωt? I'm totally new to signal processing.. does that really mean something like A(t)*sin(ω(t))? Nothing's really a function of t in the version you gave. So the A is the amplitude for a given t, and ω is the... angle/phase? frequency? 72.236.192.238 (talk) 22:53, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I just gave an example of a very simple harmonic wave (at a fixed point in space), a pure tone at angular frequency ω. There is nothing more profound about it. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 01:24, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Getting broadband is pretty simple - you can sign up online with your chosen ISP. They do all the configuration with the telephone/cable company and you are given a date when your connection will go live (usually within a week). You don't say where you are from and whether you have a phone or cable connection, so I can't help you pick out a particular ISP. However, all ISPs will have a way to contact them to ask your specific question about hosting your own game server. Bear in mind that if you are expecting a lot of net traffic, you might find your service capped or restricted in some way, so pick your ISP wisely. There are some important things to note: Certainly here in the UK, most ISPs want you to sign a minimum 12 month contract. The minimum cost I've seen is £10/month, but you might have to pay more then the minimum for your gaming purposes, and payment is through a Direct Debit from your bank account. You will also need to buy a broadband modem for around £50 or more. Astronaut (talk) 02:32, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Suggestions for computer science project
I can't seem to figure out what to do for my final year computer science project (University level). I would prefer to use java and an oracle database for this semester long project. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.171.16.131 (talk) 05:54, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
You could go look at the dozens of projects listed under Google Summer of Code which did not get done, which should be of about the right scope, and which have the potential to actually be used by millions of people, unlike any toy project you start from scratch. --Sean17:35, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
How to make Greek diacritical marks in MS Word for Mac ?
Can't seem to figure out how to do this. At first I thought I would bypass the problem by going to the Wiki, choosing "edit page" on any given page, going to the drop-down "Insert" menu and selecting "Greek" and then cutting and pasting all the letters onto my paper in Word. But surprise! It doesn't show up! So I pasted the text into Notepad and then cut it from there to paste "unformatted" into Word...so far so good except that now Word doesn't know what to do re: changing the font. It only recognizes the first row and I cannot get it to format into Times New Roman (Stays in Lucinda)...is there some script or plug in or work around or something? This is stupid. Hating MS. Thanks for your help! 70.143.83.57 (talk) 06:53, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Have you tried "Edit"->"Paste Special"->"Unformatted Unicode text"?
Could someone remind me please how to make a screenshot? I'm trying to explain a problem with a template, and need to shew the other editor what I mean. Thanks, DuncanHill (talk) 13:52, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
On Windows the simplest method is to hit the print screen button. This places an image of the screen into the copy/paste clipboard. Then you go to the image software of your choice (Paint, perhaps) and paste the image in by clicking "edit/paste". Hope this helps. APL (talk) 13:57, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
One nice trick is to hold the alt key down while pressing the print screen key. That will capture only the active screen instead of the whole desktop. Very useful when constructing directions etc...RxS (talk) 15:15, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Technical help with a facebook app
I'm in over my head here.
Trying to write a facebook application for a CS final project. Have a pretty shaky grasp of HTML, PHP, and SQL (this hasn't been my best class). Luckily, I've resigned myself to mediocrity, but since the project still comprises a fair portion of my grade, I should at least have a working notion of how a better programmer would conceivably put it together, so I can try to wade through it over the next couple hundred hours and figure my work out to about the C/C+ level.
So my app should do the following: allow facebook group admins to send mass text messages to the members of their group that have added the application and OK'd that group as one from which they are willing to receive texts. So, as I figure it, this would involve a tab on the main ("canvas(?)") page of the app for admins and another for general members. In the member tab, I'd theoretically want a blank into which users type and save their phone number, two privacy option checkboxes (whether they want to allow admins to see that they're OK with receiving their texts and whether they want their phone numbers to be visible to admins), and an automatically generated checkbox list of the groups to which that member belongs, which the member can select as wanted.
In the admins tab, the admin could check any of the groups he/she administrates and then would be given a text box with word max of 160 (general text limit) to fill out before clicking send. Additionally, the list of members and their phone numbers (as provided or not based on member privacy options) would be listed (my TA wants this to be more complicated. It's way complicated for me already). Due to facebook restrictions, that group would then be off-limits for texting for 24 hours. Because facebook's built-in texting mechanism (which is really poorly explained and which I don't understand at all) is designed only for one-recipient texting, mass texting would involved a series of individual calls to text individual members.
So behind the scenes, my notion of how this should work gets a bit murkier. I think when somebody joins the app, their information (facebook unique user id ("uid"), name, phone number, and, somehow, list of groups to which they belong and have checked) should be added to a MySQL database. When an admin adds the app, all the groups he/she administrates should form another MySQL database, (with group name, then list of uids of group members). When the admin tried to send a message, a call would be made to the groups database, and then the list of uids associated with that group would then be searched for one by one in the other database. When there was a hit (uid match) then, somehow (this is all magic to me), the application would then check to see if the group was in that user's group list (i.e., if they'd checked it and didn't just belong to it). If so, that uid's associated phone number would be added to a list of recipient addresses (stored where??) that would then be sent, one at a time, the admin's message. Somehow, a timer would then be set for that group, such that it couldn't message for another 24 hours.
So, the question. Is any of this right? How could I begin coding it? What separate files should this be written in? What languages? Are the dynamically expanding MySQL databases I envision possible? How? What would be the easiest to start working on (and how to start) so I have something to show when the deadline rolls along? Any other suggestions?
I'm not really following your explanation. Do the database tables already exist or are you being asked to design them ? In either case, what table design to you have so far ? I want table names, columns, data types, etc. I also think you might be using the word "database" to mean "table", such as when you said "form another MySQL database". StuRat (talk) 20:42, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I neither have the tables nor am I being asked to write them. I'm supposed to write the program, and, as is probably readily apparent, I have no real notion of how. By "database" I probably do mean "table." So I don't have the table names or anything. I'm just trying to figure out a structure of how I might lay out a program that could conceivably achieve what I'm trying to. I doubt I'll actually be able to accomplish this given the deadline, but the closer I get (and being well organized with a working idea of how to go about the task) from the start will likely help me towards that end quite a bit.
Which is why I was asking for suggestions, double checking, all that.
Well, I suggest you come up with a table design, as you will need those to format the SQL statements. If you take a stab at it, I'll take a look and suggest changes. But, this being a homework assignment, I want to see some work from you before I put in my two cents. Also, if you could type in the exact homework assignment as listed on your homework sheet, instead of in your own words, that might help. If you don't have such a statement of the assignment, I suggest you ask for one from the teacher or T/A. StuRat (talk) 07:21, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I'd like to know if there's any sort of content management system, free or low cost, free-licensed or copyrighted, for photos?
Specifically, something that artists could upload a photo of their work to, add information about it and themselves, and it would appear online instantly a-la Flickr, preferably without having to create a user account. Is that possible?
It's for a project Visual Arts Brampton, a community art group in Canada that I'm part of, is trying to undertake. We're wanting to have people from anywhere digitally send in their art, and we print it out for display. We could just have people fill out a form to upload photos, or email the photos, but I'd prefer an instant upload thingy. -- Zanimum (talk) 17:48, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Well you could write code to make this happen pretty easily. It's a standard web project. I'm betting a college undergrad CS major could write the whole thing out in a week with MySQL and PHP. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 01:16, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, that's probably true. But I was hoping something would be already available, save the hastle of finding someone, and getting extra funding to carry out the project. But its a possibility. -- Zanimum (talk) 22:10, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
See Comparison of photo gallery software. I'm currently using Gallery2, but I don't recommend it (I'm looking for alternatives myself). The reason I want to switch, is that I find that Gallery2 is a real pain to back up, and that it creates an enormous number of files and folders (7000 photos corresponds to 102,000 files on my server. IMHO a little over 21,000 should have sufficed). I haven't been able to restore my backups painlessly on a different machine (for some reason it wants to rebuild all the thumbnails and downsized pics, which takes ages, even though I've copied them to the same directory on the second machine). --NorwegianBluetalk12:06, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the suggestion. I've read about Gallery2 before, and it seems to be one of the better photo gallery hosting sites. Special thank you for the warning, that doesn't sound problematic.
The thing is-- can Joe Smo upload his work to the site, or is it just me that can? Because I was trying to cut down on the middle step, have it just Joe sends, it appears, rather than Joe sends, I save and post the info, it appears. I mean, I can find endless volunteers (high schoolers in Ontario have minimum volunteer hour requirements, before they can graduate), but I'd rather not have them doing that sort of tasks if they don't need to, they would be better used by other charities and non-profits. -- Zanimum (talk) 22:10, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think it's very newbie-friendly. But you certainly can have multiple users, and I believe you can configure it to accept anonymous uploads (I'm not sure about this, and am unable to check it from where I'm located now). I've only used gallery2 with administrator-added users, who have ftp'd the images to a writeable directory on the server. --NorwegianBluetalk08:43, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Command Prompt (cmd.exe) in Fullscreen Mode in Vista?
ps: I think "do not support running all of the DOS video modes" is a bunch of consoles-are-evil crock, and an artificial limitation. After all, Vista can bluescreen just fine. -- Fullstop (talk) 23:53, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
A few years ago, before I had my own computer, I spent a lot of time on several occasions using my uncle's Dell computer. I didn't know that it didn't delete stuff because I stopped using the Internet. I had seen messages at libraries saying temporary files were being deleted. I think the term was "cache cleanup". I no longer see that. Nevertheless, I didn't realize the files stayed there until one day when my aunt said my uncle spent all day deleting the stuff I had put in it, thereby slowing the computer down.
Now that I have my own computer, I make sure to delete the browsing history each day, including specifically deleting temporary files. But when I asked my uncle how he did it, he didn't say anything that suggested he did anything different. He did say he didn't know if those files were "really gone".Vchimpanzee· talk·contributions·22:30, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Unless you have a verified reason to bother, deleting browser "temporary files"/history/cache are unlikely to provide any (real) performance gains whatsoever. Browser caches are designed to use a specific amount of space (possibly configurable in an options menu) with newer content replacing old content when at the specified size. Even if the cache is gigantic it is a common misconception that data on the computer's hard drive causes performance degradation--this is only true if the hard drive is very near to full (which, with current drive capacities, is near to impossible without massive downloading). Much more likely culprits for poor performance are auto-running applications (those often stuff icons in the system tray on boot) and the cruft that windows collects from long-term use (excess registry entries, drivers, etc.). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.137.108.115 (talk) 01:31, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I was in a hurry. Here is where I have put my system details.[7]
There is a lot of misinformation here. Filling up the hard drive doesn't make the computer go a whole lot slower. On the other hand, cache files DO make the computer go faster because they store information from the web locally on your computer so you don't have to go and fetch it again each time you visit the same page. So before we go ANY further - if you're deleting files for reasons of SPEED - then you're heading in the wrong direction! You might want to delete files for privacy reasons - or because you're running out of disk space - but that's a different matter. SteveBaker (talk) 01:27, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Not all = 6 million of 8 million. That is to say, 75% of the songs are now DRM-free, and the remaining 25% still have it - for now. Apple has said that 100% will be DRM-free soon. flaminglawyerc03:24, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
So here it is: I have a really old computer, and in it is a SR9 8MB video card. Recently I had some trouble, and my computer restarted in Safe Mode. When I was looking through the properties trying to figure out how to use it in normal mode w/o turning it off, I found something saying my comp had an ELSA ERAZOR III 32mb video card. Since running my comp in normal mode, I haven't been able to find anything about the ERAZOR. Anyone have any ideas what's going on? Thanks. --AtTheAbyss (talk) 01:31, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
When you're in safe mode the computer loads as few drivers and devices as possible, except for the minimum necessary to display information and accept input, so features such as video drivers, audio and networking are disabled, but why a completely new video card would show up is a mystery, especially if you do not have a ELSA Erazor. Have you tried running safe mode again to see if it shows up? Depending of your OS see here for how. I really can't think why this would happen unless you have both SR9 and ELSA Erazor in your computer but in normal mode ELSA Erazor is masquerading under another name. SN0WKITT3N13:02, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Fuck. Well, I restarted my comp in safe mode. When I checked the device manager, a THIRD video card appeared, this time a SR9 Pro with 16MB of memory. Once again, in normal mode I can only find the SR9 8mb.--AtTheAbyss(I forgot to sign)
have I screwed my harddrive?
I just ordered a brand-spankin-new hardrive (IDE, 250gb) because my old one was tiny, and had WinXP on it. I have one of those "slim" cases that only has room for 1 HDD at a time, so I had to keep the case open and plug my old one into the master and the new one into slave. I was going to just boot up Windows normally and try to copy the entire old HDD onto the new one. The trouble is, it doesn't boot. At all. Neither one of them. So I unplugged the new one, so now it has just the old one in the master slot, but it still doesn't work. The new one didn't come with an OS on it, so I didn't try it.
Booting from a CD still works. I tried the 3 different Linux LiveCD's that I have, and they all worked. So I tried plugging my old HDD (which supposedly still has Win on it) into where my CD drive was. It worked... kinda. It didn't go into the "network boot" mode that it usually does, but it didn't technically "boot." It just had a bunch of random dots of color spread out on the screen.
So I tried installing DamnsmallLinux onto my new one, and it just had some standard error message ("folder not accessible" or something similar). So I might've messed that one up too... What's wrong and what can I do? Thanks a bunch. (btw I'm posting this on my emergency LiveCD of DamnSmallLinux) flaminglawyerc03:45, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The problem could be related to the fact that you haven't yet formatted the new drive. What I would do is connect up the new IDE HDD and pop in a Windows XP install disc to put XP on it. You'll have to set the HDD to master, obviously. Then, I would connect the old HDD to the PC via a IDE-USB converter and copy your data files over. Or, if you don't have the converting cable (aside from purchasing one), you could pop that HDD into another PC and put the data on a flash drive (assuming you have one of suitable size). Useight (talk) 05:43, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
First, I am unclear what your hardware situation is. You only have one IDE controller in your computer? That's why you can only use two IDE drives at a time?
Second, so when you have your CD drive and old hard drive plugged in, and boot from a LiveCD, do you see your old hard drive? If so can you see its partitions? If so can you mount the partitions? If so can you see the data still on there? If you can still get your data, then it is not really "screwed up", and we can start over and just worry about how to copy your data and booting and other stuff. --Spoon! (talk) 05:47, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
If you buy a disk it will normally have a jumper setting saying it is a master. You can set it to being a slave or to cable select. Do you have cable select on both drives and the selection determined by the cable or do you have master and slave set on the drives? Or have you used tow ables to different plugs on the board in which case both drives should be master and the other cable is the secondary IDE channel. When you tried putting your old drive back in did you make certain the setting was as before and it was all plugged in as before? Plus check you have the connections the right way up and there are no bent pins. Dmcq (talk) 11:02, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
(after edit conflict)
@useeight: If the DamnsmallLinux installer (which I haved tried) is anything like other linux installers, it will format a new disk for you, so that's not the problem here.
@flaminglawyer: When connecting the two disks, did you connect them via two separate cables to two connectors on the motherboard, or did you connect them to a single connector on the motherboard using two connectors on the same cable? Have you checked the jumper settings of the disks? You wrote, "I was going to just boot up Windows normally and try to copy the entire old HDD onto the new one". Even if the PC had booted, I doubt that that approach would had worked. If the disks are Seagate disks, Seagate has a tool that I've used successfully several times when migrating to larger disks. If you have a third USB drive, you might have tried Partimage, and written an image of your first disk on the usb-disk, then switched fixed hard-disks and copied the image to the new disk. (I've done that successfully too, with ntfs partitions, even though it says the ntfs support is experimental). You wrote, "So I unplugged the new one, so now it has just the old one in the master slot, but it still doesn't work.". Just to be absolutely clear that we don't misunderstand: are you saying that you have restored your computer to exactly the same state as it was before you started, every cable and connector the same place as they were originally, no change in jumper settings or BIOS, and it still doesn't boot? If so, please follow Spoon's advice, and check that you can see the disk and folders. If it turns out that you cannot mount your old disk when booting from a linux live cd, did you apply force when connecting the cable? Check if you have bent some of the tiny pins on the connectors on the motherboard or hard disk. And finally, when reporting error messages, it's important that you write down the exact wording. "Some standard error message 'folder not accessible' or something similar" simply isn't good enough. Googling error messages is an excellent source of information, but we need the exact wording.--NorwegianBluetalk11:52, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
WAP versus 'Mobile Friendly'
For a company initiative, we are looking at making our site accessible and rendered favorably with mobile devices. I am not a technical person, rather a business product guy. What is the difference between WAP and 'mobile friendly' sites and or access?76.232.120.138 (talk) 04:24, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
WAP in this case stands for the Wireless Application Protocol, a standard for Internet access on mobile devices. When it was produced back in 1998, such devices were fairly simple, and originally WAP sites had to be built using a special markup language called Wireless Markup Language instead of the normal HTML. The "WAP site" for mobile devices might back onto the same database as the normal website, but the code to display it would be almost completely separate.
Nowadays, however, the mobile web is increasingly geared to powerful smartphones like the Apple iPhone which can generally access ordinary websites and render them as best they can. A "mobile friendly" website is therefore one which uses suitable mechanisms to give such devices pages with simplified layout and user interfaces appropriate for use on those devices, while continuing to serve pages geared for desktop PCs. - IMSoP (talk) 18:25, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Python 3.0 (r30:67507, Dec 3 2008, 20:14:27) [MSC v.1500 32 bit (Intel)] on win
32
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> print 1
File "<stdin>", line 1
print 1
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>> print 1 + 1
File "<stdin>", line 1
print 1 + 1
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
>>>
It's my first hour learning Python. I am using How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python as my self-study textbook. What was wrong with my syntax? Do I need to set the output to the monitor before doing anything? Do I need to study Visual Basic because Python is not for me? :) -- Toytoy (talk) 12:32, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I noticed that you're using Python 3.0. In this new, non-backward-compatible version, print is now a function, not a keyword. (In earlier versions, print is a statement that starts with the keyword print. It's not a function call.) You'll need to write something like
I think in your first example, the value of 59/60 is displayed at a precision that reflects the precision of the underlying binary representation. In your second example, the print function converts the value to a string of characters for output using some default formatting specification. I don't use Python 3.0, but I think the old % operator is still available. If you try
This is kind of weird. Running XP on my laptop. Went to paste something into paint so I could save it as the right sort of image to upload elsewhere, couldn't find paint. MS Paint is no longer listed anywhere on my computer. It isn't in the list of programmes. WTH might have happened? I haven't used it in a while, so it could have vanished any time in the last month or so. Haven't really installed anything in that time except generic updates and the Crayon Physics demo. Ideas? 79.66.109.89 (talk) 18:34, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Go to Start -> Run (or hold down ⊞ Win and R) and type mspaint. If it still is missing:
Go to Add/Remove Programs, click Add/Remove Windows Components (in the left-hand grey bar).
The Windows Components Wizard will come up. If Accessories and Games is ticked, select it, select Details..., then do the same thing for Accessories in the window that comes up. If it isn't, tick it, click Next, and go to Step 4.
Tick Paint (it should be unticked), then hit OK until you get back to the main Windows Components Wizard screen. Click Next on that screen.
Excellent, except for step 4.... I've had this computer a couple of years now and couldn't tell you where the windows CD is. I know, not sensible. Thanks though. Fantastico! So why on Earth had it vanished from all lists of programmes? It simply wasn't an option anywhere. 79.66.109.89 (talk) 19:20, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
There are prebably lots of ways it that paint could have disappeared from your start menu but the only one i can think of is if you right clicked on the shortcut in start menu and choose delete in the menu that comes up.Xor24talk to me18:08, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hmmm, but I'm pretty sure I didn't do that. And it isn't just gone from the start menu; it isn't given as an option for opening files with, etc. 79.66.109.89 (talk) 03:43, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Go to Tools -> Folder Options and click on the File Types tab. You can set certain file extensions (.jpeg, .gif, .png, etc) to open using MSPaint. In my computer, mspaint.exe is in C:/WINDOWS/system32 (that is, WindowsXP).Livewireo (talk) 16:35, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Simulating a slow Internet connection
Say you're developing a website and you want to know what the responsiveness is like when accessed through a dial-up line. What would be a simple way to simulating a slow Internet connection? --98.114.98.136 (talk) 18:55, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Download something via FTP software and limit the maximum connection speed so that you are left with just a little window? Actually, I have no idea. --Ouro (blah blah) 19:25, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I have created a (working) rollover image using the following code:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN""http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><!-- saved from url=(0014)about:internet --><htmlxmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>Home.gif</title><metahttp-equiv="Content-Type"content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/><!--Fireworks 8 Dreamweaver 8 target. Created Thu Jan 08 12:39:18 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) 2009--><scriptlanguage="JavaScript1.2"type="text/javascript"><!--functionMM_findObj(n,d){//v4.01varp,i,x;if(!d)d=document;if((p=n.indexOf("?"))>0&&parent.frames.length){d=parent.frames[n.substring(p+1)].document;n=n.substring(0,p);}if(!(x=d[n])&&d.all)x=d.all[n];for(i=0;!x&&i<d.forms.length;i++)x=d.forms[i][n];for(i=0;!x&&d.layers&&i<d.layers.length;i++)x=MM_findObj(n,d.layers[i].document);if(!x&&d.getElementById)x=d.getElementById(n);returnx;}functionMM_swapImage(){//v3.0vari,j=0,x,a=MM_swapImage.arguments;document.MM_sr=newArray;for(i=0;i<(a.length-2);i+=3)if((x=MM_findObj(a[i]))!=null){document.MM_sr[j++]=x;if(!x.oSrc)x.oSrc=x.src;x.src=a[i+2];}}functionMM_swapImgRestore(){//v3.0vari,x,a=document.MM_sr;for(i=0;a&&i<a.length&&(x=a[i])&&x.oSrc;i++)x.src=x.oSrc;}functionMM_preloadImages(){//v3.0vard=document;if(d.images){if(!d.MM_p)d.MM_p=newArray();vari,j=d.MM_p.length,a=MM_preloadImages.arguments;for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)if(a[i].indexOf("#")!=0){d.MM_p[j]=newImage;d.MM_p[j++].src=a[i];}}}//--></script></head><bodybgcolor="#ffffff"onload="MM_preloadImages('Home_f2.gif');"><ahref="http://www.matthewhumberstone.com/pages/viewpage.asp?uniqid=1"><ahref="javascript:;"onmouseout="MM_swapImgRestore();"onmouseover="MM_swapImage('Home','','http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/1093/homerolloverjk3.gif',1);"><imgname="Home"src="http://www.matthewhumberstone.com/FileSystem/upfile/j00001/Home2%20(2).gif"width="48"height="48"border="0"id="Home"alt=""/></a></a></body></html>
I did not write the code myself - Macromedia Fireworks created it for me. I have 2 problems:
I cannot duplicate the code - if I do, only the 'up' state is displayed - mouseover does not change anything
I cannot seem to link it using the normal link code.
Really, that code is so messy and hard to modify (not really meant for a human to modify it) that you should just scrap it and get some easier code out there. There are a billion "image rollover" code samples available via Google, most are much easier to read and modify than that. Messing with machine-generated code is just not worth it. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 21:51, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
better? It creates an underscore after the image, and has the same problem with not rolling over when other images exist nearby, but is a lot tidier. Can you work with that? DendodgeTalkContribs22:35, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Have you made sure that you're calling MM_preloadImages('image file name'); when your page loads? Have you made sure you're even copying the JS code into your new pages? --wj32t/c22:34, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Firstly, please don't insert comments before a more recent comment and then respond, referring to that. Secondly, don't use the name attribute (it's deprecated in XHTML 1.0 and invalid in XHTML 1.1); the proper way is to use the id attribute while using document.getElementById("element id") in your JavaScript code. Thirdly, I don't understand what you mean by "it works when in a block of its own". --wj32t/c00:34, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
For the last couple of months I have been getting a "failure to read hard drive" error every time I turned on the laptop. After 5 to 10 to retries the computer would load or operate correctly. However today I got a smart disk error at startup telling me that a hard drive failure is imminent and that I must immediately backup my data. Should I take this error seriously? What the best thing to do in this situation? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.171.16.131 (talk) 20:47, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
First, YES, you should take this error seriously. It appears that your hard drive is failing. You should backup any information you wish to save, items such as all files in "My Documents, My Pictures, Music, My Favorites, and perhaps Desktop. You don't mention which operating system you are using. Options are writing these files to a CD/DVD, copying to a floppy disk, thumb drive / flash drive, or an external usb drive. If you experience problems in the copy operation, you may want to look at booting from an OS on CD/DVD, and attempting to copy that way. ERD, BartPE, Knoppix, etc. Best of luck, and I hope you're able to get yourself a new HD (or computer) soon. Ched (talk) 21:15, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I am using windows XP. I was thinking of copying my whole hard drive to another one, like I did on my pc, but this is a laptop (compaq presario v2000) and I am not sure that it can hold 2 hard drives at once for copying to work. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.171.16.131 (talk) 21:30, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The laptop almost surely can't hold two at one time. Your best option is to remove the drive and put it into an external enclosure and access it from there. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 21:41, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
There should be a tag on your old HD, you'll most likely want a 2.5", (I'm not familiar with any laptops that use a 3.5") - the other criteria will be either IDE or SATA. Two different connection types. (IDE may also be EIDE or PATA) .. Ched (talk) 23:11, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
What I would usually do (not just when my drive is failing, but also as a "poor man's" backup) is to just copy via SCP/SFTP/rsync the hard drive contents (or parts thereof that have important stuff) over the network to my Linux box where I have spare hard drive space. That way I don't need to mess with hardware at all. If you have trouble booting to the hard drive directly you can always use a LiveCD to do the above. --164.67.207.217 (talk) 23:34, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I ran the utility and it said that the the hard drive will crash in less than 24 hours. However it looks like only the Reallocated Sector Count attribute is failing. From reading the attributes this does not look serious.
Just wait a while longer and it might overflow, and then it won't be reported as failing anymore. =) Out of curiosity, do you know what drive model you have? Some drives might have known bugs that causes false warnings about this kind of stuff. But then, you should probably be on the safe side and at least backup your data. --71.106.183.17 (talk) 03:56, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Mailto feature in macromedia flash8.
Can we use the mailto feature and add the subject and body of the letter which is given by user in the input text box in the screen?MiB rocks (talk) 23:25, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, although I would call a script written in another language (e.g., PHP) from the SWF file using LoadVars. That way, the user doesn't have to go through that extra step and the server mails it for them. But if I had to use mailto, I'd just store the text values of the text boxes into variables and then concatenate them onto the end of the URL (e.g., var recipient = txtName.text;).--K;;m5m k;;m5m (talk) 11:57, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
[8]. This can be applied even outside Flash, but requires the user to have an offline e-mail client like Eudora or Outlook Express, not a webmail like Yahoo Mail or Hotmail. Admiral Norton(talk)12:10, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Intel Core 2 Duo Compatibility?
Hi. I'm wanting to upgrade to an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. I know that my motherboard has an LGA775 socket, since I have a Pentium D now, which uses the same socket. But I've heard that even though they have the same socket, the Core 2 Duo might not be compatible with my motherboard. And, short of buying one and trying it, I can't figure out how to determine whether or not it is. I've looked at my motherboard and I can't find a model number or anything. So how can I figure out what type of motherboard I have, and then if that type supports the Core 2 Duo? Digger3000 (talk) 23:26, 10 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
On closer inspection of the motherboard I found this: "RC410-M REV:1.1" But I searched that and I still can't determine if it's compatible with the Core 2 Duo. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Digger3000 (talk • contribs) 01:54, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Well, you've got the right socket, but you must also consider the CPU's nm architecture. The Core 2 Duo is 65nm, so you'll need a 65nm compatible motherboard. Personally, though, I'd recommend getting the Core i7 920 instead (but you'd have to get a new mobo for that). Useight (talk) 03:01, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
For 3D modelling - probably Maya is the most popular. For paint they tend to have their own tools - some use a varient of GIMP called "CinePaint" which is OpenSourced, some use Photoshop. CinePaint is also used for compositing. There are an awful lot of custom tools that are written specifically for a certain movie and which may never get used again - and some of the more obscure tools can rise to extremes of popularity for a short time until something else comes along - it's pretty hard to track what's trendy on any given day! SteveBaker (talk) 01:16, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
It depends. There are photo-manipulation programs like Photoshop -- no one uses the GIMP. There are also illustration programs (like Illustrator and Freehand, Illustrator being more popular). There are compositing programs like Autodesk's Combustion (AfterEffects sucks) and Apple's Shake. There are also video editing programs (like Avid, which is the best and most popular), and modeling programs as was mentioned above.--K;;m5m k;;m5m (talk) 12:37, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
"no one uses the GIMP." - can you prove that statement? The reference desk isn't for hardcore opinions. Anyway, what kind of graphical software are you looking for? For compositing, there's Apple's Shake. --wj32t/c23:01, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
It's true - movie companies generally need high-dynamic-range graphics (more than 8 bits per color component) and GIMP didn't provide that feature until fairly recently - so they almost certainly don't use GIMP. HOWEVER: That fact is a severe distortion of the truth. Several years ago, three or four movie companies formed a consortium to 'fork' the GIMP code and add the needed features for their industry. Initially, that package was called "FilmGIMP" - because they intended to roll in new features from the mainstream GIMP package as needed - with the idea of eventually merging the two packages together again. However, the GIMP developer community is a nasty, hostile place...those guys are a VERY tough crowd...make any suggestion that they didn't come up with themselves and they'll flame you to oblivion! The prospects for achieving that merge got less and less likely - and eventually, the FilmGIMP guys decided to give up on ever merging back into the mainstream GIMP...at that point, they renamed it "CinePaint" to avoid confusion. However, any GIMP user will instantly recognise CinePaint for what it is. CinePaint has been used in a bunch of films - including (IIRC) at least a couple of the Harry Potter series. FWIW, GIMP is also used quite often in the computer games business - although perhaps not as much as Photoshop. SteveBaker (talk) 01:33, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
January 11
nature of ARP traffic
For the first time today my network traffic monitor is showing ARP requests. In one minute it shows some 1500–2000 ARP frames. Is this normal background network activity, and why would I be seing it in Wireshark or Microsoft Network Monitor only now? (I did get a new cable modem a few weeks ago.) –Outriggr§01:45, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
1500-2000 ARP frames per minute is only normal if your host is looking up (or being looked up by) 750-1000 other hosts on the same subnet (i.e. subnet==hosts whose (ip & mask) match). -- Fullstop (talk) 01:56, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
My IP address is not involved, if that's what you mean: what I see is "CCC.CCC.vvv.vvv asks for CCC.CCC.vvv.vvv", where C is fixed and v is variable. –Outriggr§02:03, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Well, my C matches their C. I don't think my modem is a router. What I don't get—now that you've implied maybe this is normal—is why I have seen this traffic for the first time only now, and in the bigger scheme of things, why this traffic exists—is it the result of more unnecessary Windows services? Why would computers on my subnet (if that's the right term) need to know the hardware address of others? It's little to do with the common uses of residential internet service, no? Thanks BTW. –Outriggr§02:24, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
A little background info first:
The MAC (ethernet) level, which includes your network card, knows nothing about IP. Accordingly, the ethernet packets (as opposed to the IP packets, which are encapsulated inside the ethernet ones), need to be tagged with the ethernet address of the recipient. So, to look up the ethernet address of another host, your machine does a hardware-level broadcast that asks "Is IP address x.x.x.x yours?" Other hosts on your net see these requests, and if the x.x.x.x matches theirs, they respond with their ethernet address so that both sides then know how to translate IP addresses to ethernet addresses for further communication.
Now, it would be extremely inefficient if, for every single IP packet sent, each side had to first ask for the hardware address of the other party. So, ethernet addresses are cached, and a new "Is IP address x.x.x.x yours?" request will only be sent when the cache entry turns stale (typically about 10 minutes after communication with that destination ceases).
When ARP caching is working, and there are no malicious hosts around, it is not at all normal to see 1500-2000 ARP frames per minute. Even in a big LAN party, the ARPS that will necessarily precede regular communications are never seen again.
I can only imagine a handful of reasons why anyone would see the kind of ARP traffic that you are seeing, and most of those reasons are not good. Presumably, you are seeing ARP requests (the "Is IP address x.x.x.x yours?" broadcasts) coming from only a single host (or, by now, a handful of them). Such a single-origin pattern could indicate one of two things: A) The gateway (on the border across which all internet traffic is flowing) was misconfigured such that wasn't caching properly. B) There is a bad apple in your midst that is probing for security loopholes on the other machines on the subnet, or trying to poison their ARP caches.
Tip: Browse/edit over https if you can. In a non-switched environment where you can see other people's traffic, they can also theoretically also see yours, and so can nick your password. -- Fullstop (talk) 12:28, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Good explanation. Perhaps I should have looked at the traffic more closely. Over less than four minutes there were the following number of ARP frames from these IPs:
So there's a clear pattern... are dot-1 machines gateways? (I once began an introductory networking course - suffice it to say, hanging around with just-out-of-high-school students in basic courses and 3-hour no-content computer labs while losing pay was not how I wanted to learn IT. ;) –Outriggr§23:18, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
a) Yes, .1s are typically (but not necessarily) gateways. Mine for instance is at .254.
b) I have a very strong feeling that those gateways are misconfigured, most likely with inappropriate netmasks. Those hosts are very obviously chatting on the subnets of their neighbours, and not compartmentalizing (what you show as) a /17 network (32,768 addresses) is just ... bad.
Such a large subnet is a very possible cause for lots of ARP traffic. Not just because there are so many hosts to talk to, but also because it can cause the caches to be continuously purged for lack of space ("ARP cache thrashing" i.e. the cache entries are discarded to make space for new ones, even though the old ones aren't yet stale). -- Fullstop (talk) 02:43, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
the exampleNo, that's not your problem. Let me explain. MediaWiki has SVG capabilities, but most/all browsers don't. So MediaWiki has to convert the SVG into a PNG file for display in a browser. In order to download an SVG file, you can follow the link to the image description page, then click on the big picture and click "Save link as..." (Note: That's not "Save image as...). i.e., if you wanted to download Image:Abusive admin star.svg (to the right), you could right-click that image and click "Save image as..." but that would give you a PNG. So don't do that. Instead, left-click the image to go the the image description page (Image:Abusive admin star.svg). There, right-click the big image and click "Save link as..." which will give you the SVG. (wow that was a long answer to a short question...) flaminglawyerc06:41, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Now that's weird... The image to the right (as provided by Flaming) appears as an empty box in my browser, yet it appears as its proper image if I click on it or if I see it on other pages. I'm using IE7 and Vista if that is of interest. Astronaut (talk) 11:44, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
That'll be because the image above is not an svg, but a sort of pseudo-png (/blahdeblah.svg.png). Because my browser (among many others) has SVG support, when you actually get through to the file it works. It's the conversion from svg to png that the wiki software's doing that messes it up. - Jarry1250(t, c)21:31, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
What's with the 'width="300pxsdfsdfsdf"' in the .svg source? If I remove 'sdfsdfsdf' the image moves to the left of the page. Maybe the white box is just the left side of the image. —Noah22:54, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
In my previous post, i gave way too much information and expected like 5 answers. So let's start with only one question, and I'll cross any more bridges when I come to them.
I've been messing around with my IDE HDD (like taking it out, putting it back in, etc.). Now my comp won't boot off of it. My BIOS's boot order is in the table to the right. When I turn on my comp, it skips all the way down to "network boot," which is weird because I have an OS installed on my HDD, which means it should boot from it. I know my BIOS doesn't have anything wrong with it because I can still boot from my Linux LiveCD's.
I didn't have my harddrive near anything magnetic. All I did was take it out, put it onto a desk, and put it back in. What's wrong with my harddrive, and iss there anything I can do to get this HDD to boot again? flaminglawyerc06:30, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I'm assuming you have both power and ide ribbon plugged in, checked to make sure you didn't pull ide cable lose from mobo. could you have knocked off the jumper that makes drive boot Master, CS, or slave? And when you say not near magnetic, I assume you include electrical. ...(thinking) .... does the boot LiveCD recognise the drive as there and with info on it? Ched (talk) 06:37, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Wow. I forgot to check the mobo. Checking... (this might take a while, my case is uber-tiny and has like 700 cords in like 2 cubic inches) [I need a new comp so bad :( ] flaminglawyerc06:49, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
When you are tugging cables, especially in a small space, it is easy to pull something else out by accident. I suggest you go round making sure all the plugs are properly seated in their sockets. Try to get your PC back to how it was before you started messing with the drives at all, including the master/slave jumpers, power connectors and IDE cables. You should then be confident in finding out whether or not you have broken your old hard drive. Astronaut (talk) 12:34, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Another possibility is that a static electricity discharge to any exposed circuits/wires on the hard drive could have damaged the drive electronics. Have you experienced static buildup recently, and do you recall shocking/being shocked by the drive? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.137.108.115 (talk) 15:27, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
If static buildup is causing you problems, try new and improved "Bounce" ... I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist that ;) ... just hand me my wiki-demerit on my way out ;) ... Ched (talk) 17:19, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
One possibility is that the data cable is plugged in backwards, as some of them actually aren't keyed to prevent this. Another possibility is that you plugged the hard drive into another cable or a different position on the same cable. If you do this you often need to change the jumper position to indicate the new "location" of the hard drive (primary master, primary slave, secondary master, or secondary slave). StuRat (talk) 06:59, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I've never seen jumpers on a hard drive for primary/secondary (with the exception that some drives use primary/secondary as PC replacements for master/slave). From the drive's perspective, it's connected to an IDE bus with no visibility to other parallel IDE busses. Also, some motherboards have more than two IDE busses, which would presumably confuse a drive that was somehow capable of identifying which IDE bus it was on. --74.137.108.115 (talk) 08:50, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Anyone familiar with the development of free software?
Now I know many people develop free software and then often does some revolutionary process or what not that if the software was made by a company that sold it, that company would patent such a process. Now as free software is often written by people who are small groups or even one persn and don't have the money to engage in legal battles, well I'd think that rich companies would come along all the time and just steal their idea patent them and claim it as their own. And some software processes can be patented, such as eBay patented its "Best Match" search system. Now I know of one instance where a big company ripped off a project called KittenAuth, see this google search query for more info. Now I know keeping a patent costs as much as a house each decade in all the various fees and most people who develop free software don't do any intellectual property stuff to it, so I'm surprised that big companies aren't constantly stealing from freeware/open source work an then patenting it and then forcing the true inventors from working on their ideas because the true inventors can't afford the lawyers. Well anyway, anyone know more about this related subject? I think there's a bunch of people on Wikipedia who develop free open source software and so would know. Are you ready for IPv6? (talk) 08:30, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
One does not patent software in the sense of programs. Patents are issued for means to get a certain job done in a particular fashion, i.e. algorithms. Software is artwork, and like any other creative act, is (automatically!) protected by copyright. Unlike a patent, a copyright costs nothing (unless you need to defend it in court, in which case help from the FSF and pro-bono council is available).
As you point out, patents are expensive. Consequently, engineers (software or otherwise) do not patent algorithms unless there is money expected in return.
And there is always more than one way to skin a cat... png would probably not exist if the Lempel-Ziv-Welch algorithm had not been patented.
In the United States we currently have a first-to-invent system and not a first-to-file system. That makes it reasonably hard to "steal" patents from projects that involve multiple witnesses, open-source, and lots and lots of timestamps. If it changes to first-to-file, as it is likely to do so at some point, that would make it a lot easier.
But could it happen? Sure, it could. Big Company X could rely on the idea that the open source people aren't organized enough to file a lawsuit. Would that be true? Almost surely not—there are plenty of organizations (EFF, FSF, etc.) that would love to sue some big, thieving company on behalf of open source software, as the publicity would be great and there could be real money involved. So it's not as risk-free a venture as you might think. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 15:11, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yep - it's called "prior art" - if you can prove that you used something before someone else filed a patent on it - then the patent is invalid and may simply be ignored. That's why nobody has patented the wheel (for example). Software engineers who produce OpenSource code are generally also very much against software patenting - so they are very unlikely to want to patent something themselves and typically have no problem at all with a commercial organisation "using their ideas"...in fact, part of the idea of OpenSourced software is to promulgate ideas. SteveBaker (talk) 01:19, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
and get a working bisoncalc executable. Or then I can swap the arguments:
$ gcc -Wall -ly -lfl -g -O2 -o bisoncalc bisoncalc-calc.o bisoncalc-parser.o bisoncalc-lexer.o
bisoncalc-calc.o: In function `main':
/foobarpath/bison_calc_autotools/src/calc.c:7: multiple definition of `main'
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.3.2/../../../../lib/liby.a(main.o):(.text+0x0): first defined here
bisoncalc-parser.o: In function `yyparse':
/foobarpath/bison_calc_autotools/src/parser.c:1391: undefined reference to `yyerror'
/foobarpath/bison_calc_autotools/src/parser.c:1537: undefined reference to `yyerror'
bisoncalc-lexer.o: In function `yylex':
/foobarpath/bison_calc_autotools/src/lexer.c:850: undefined reference to `yywrap'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
Unfortunaly when I run make it seems to prefer the form that fails. Why it fails and what can I do to fix it? This is about the first time I have used automake and I'm a bit lost. --194.197.235.38 (talk) 15:15, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
when a search engine brings up sites for you to explore, where does the information above the web site come froom and how does it get to appear on the web site —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.213.3.97 (talk) 21:46, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
(I am not quite sure that I have understood your question.) When you open a web page from Google or any similar search engine, sometimes the upper part of the web brower page is filled with content from the web engine and not from the web page you just opened. This may be the case if you for example are searching for images, for then Google may want to remind you about the copyright laws. Technically, Google is not sending your browser to the desired web page (e.g. www.example.com), but to a frameset web page on google.com. This frameset web page consists of two frames, the uppermost displaying informaiton from the search engine, and the large one displaying the actual web page (e.g. www.example.com). --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 21:54, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
No. what I am trying to get to is the list of sites the search engine gives you to select from
what is the information called or the subject matter called and where does it come from and how does it get there to be able to get to a web site? for example:
BEST PRODUCT, can't find anything better on the web,
great stuff, nothing like it.
www.example.com/html
Those words beginning with "BEST" and ending with "it".
OK. In a HTML page's HEAD section, you can add meta tags. Consider the following sample HTML document:
<?xml version="1.0"?><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"><htmlxmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><metaname="description"content="This page contains the BEST PhotoShop tips available on the Internet today!"/><metaname="keywords"content="PhotoShop tips, image editing, free tips"/><metaname="author"content="Andreas Rejbrand"/></head><body></body></html>
Google calls them snippets. Typically they're either a chunk of the page showing your query in context, with the query in bold (eg on a search for Wikipedia, the second result is "30 Dec 2008 ... Reference desk — Serving as virtual librarians, Wikipedia volunteers tackle your questions on a wide range of subjects. ..."), the meta description, or a description from DMOZ. Matt Cutts talks about the anatomy of a search result here — Matt Eason(Talk • Contribs)13:32, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
creative zen and bloody vista
hi all, don't get me wrong i've never really had any problems with vista, but... santa brought me a second hand creative zen nomad jukebox xtra for xmas, santa should have researched a bit more before he ordered it from e-bay, but santa was "tired" after a hard day mixing with Mr daniels, sooooo.... vista no likey me zen, it no see it connected, it driving me insane. have been on various sites, saw and tried various fixes, have came to realise that i'm not the only one that has this problem... and here is the rub dear friends, can the ref desk of St Wiki fix the unfixable? can it come to the aid of a broken man? please say it's so, please let me listen to the greatest hits of whitesnake in the comfort of my zen moment... Here i go, again on my own/Down the only road that I have ever known...Perry-mankster (talk) 21:51, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
You haven't actually listed the specifics of the problem. It's possible that the new computer doesn't meet the minimum req's for Vista, in which case a less bloated O/S, like Windows XP or Linux, may still work. StuRat (talk) 06:49, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
aah bigdunc have been to this site already, scooted over to the free download last night, waited the 20 minutes it took to download and then watched as vista repeatly told me that the program would not install. The main prob sturat is that the zen is not compatable with vista (or vice versa), vista does not recognise that the device is there and closes down the music management software if you try and load tracks onto the zen (which it says isn't there) windows xp can work (with a bit of jiggery pokery), but hell i've got vista I WANT IT TO WORK GODDAMN IT! sorry had to get that oot ma system, anyhoo there is apparently a few 'fixes' out there, but they are a bit hit and miss wether they work or not, i was hopeing the ref desk might know of a surefire, 100% 'that'll work bigman' way to zen enlightment Perry-mankster (talk) 18:02, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I recal somewhere that Windows Media Player 11 is causing problems, have you tried uninstalling it and adding back an older version? Or just take it off completly. BigDuncTalk18:32, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
foobar2000 songs not in order
In my foobar2000 for some artists the tracks are not in order and are mixed up (ex. track 1 followed by track 4). I am using panelsUI as well. Can someone help me identify the problem? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 154.20.167.198 (talk) 23:44, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
What criteria is foobar2000 using to sort songs? This can most likely be changed in a menu or by clicking on a relevant table heading somewhere. You should also compare the files from a folder that sorts correctly to one that doesn't; my guess would be that foobar2000 is sorting by filenames, and the "correct" filenames are of the pattern "(ARTIST) TRACK# TITLE" while the "incorrect" filenames omit the TRACK#, thus sorting alphabetically by title. If your files have additional information (mp3s for instance have a Track# field in their header, though it isn't reliably used) foobar2000 may allow you to sort the albumn using that field. Otherwise, you could rename the files such that their track number is included in their filename. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.137.108.115 (talk) 00:33, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
.bat file crash
Resolved
I'm making a .bat file, but I have a problem: when a user inputs a space (" "), it just crashes, instead of saying "Option not valid", here is the code:
@echo off
echo 1 - Print "Option 1"
echo 2 - Print "Option 2"
echo Option:
set /p option=
if ‘%option%’ == ‘1’ goto OPT_1
if ‘%option%’ == ‘2’ goto OPT_2
goto error
:OPT_1
echo Option 1
goto end
:OPT_2
echo Option 2
goto end
:error
echo Option not valid
:end
pause
I don't have a Windows machine to hand to test it out, but I think that the variable being blank is a problem. The solution might be to code as follows:
if ‘x%option%’ == ‘x1’ goto OPT_1
if ‘x%option%’ == ‘x2’ goto OPT_2
Hey gadfium, good idea, but it did not worked. Your solution worked Fullstop (I only had to add pause at the end), although it is a bit complicated for me to understand... I think the program calls itself right? Can you explain the theory behind it? SF007 (talk) 03:26, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
a) Yes, it calls itself, thus making use of the fact that arguments passed on the command line are stripped of extraneous whitespace. As a side-effect, it also makes the script usable as "your.bat 1", etc, which is the way things are usually done in the command line world.
b) With respect to "%1", etc: "%0" is the name of the script itself. "%1" is the first argument, "%2" the second, and so on. Variables (==Environment variables) need to be read as %variable% when they are created with the set command. In contrast, "%1" etc are not variable; the cannot be assigned new values (except with shift). And see also for, the "variables" of which need to be addressed as %%scalar%% (double % on both sides) and also cannot be assigned new values.
I'll try to provide as much information to make this question easy to answer. As you may remember, I have a dial-up internet connection at my home (Netzero provides it). Every night I have to plug my PC into the phone jack to get to the slow internet.
If I were to purchase a laptop, what would I have to do to get internet for it? I have a disc from Netzero with the internet program on it that I had to install on my PC. I'm assuming I would install that on my laptop and then I could just hook my laptop up to the phone jack like normal.
But what if I were, say at a friend's house, who has broadband (I believe that's the right term)? Could I use my laptop there and access that internet or would I need specific software? I ask that because I have seen friends use each other's internets with laptops, but they all have high speed internet at their homes. Thank you so much : ] Evaunit♥666♥01:51, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
It depends on how your friend accesses the Internet. It is likely that no external software is required. If that is the case, then all you need is to plug the ethernet cable (it looks like a phone cable, but the male end is a bit wider) into the ethernet port (usually next to the phone port). Your operating system should automatically recognise the new connection and take care of everything. If, for some reason, your friend needs special software to access the Internet, you'll need to install it on your computer. Xenon5402:28, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
One thing to be cautious about: Many(?) modern laptops don't have a dial-up phone modem built in, and also don't have a serial port or other Legacy ports either (for example my Dell laptop has VGA, Ethernet, Firewire and USB ports only). You might be able to get a dial-up modem with a USB connection, or maybe some kind of PC Card or ExpressCard. Astronaut (talk) 16:09, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
We will not do your homework for you. However, if you type the topic (singular form) in the Wikipedia search box on the upper left of your screen and click go, I expect you will find the information that you need. -- Tcncv (talk) 02:20, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds like homework to me. It seems odd that someone that someone would want to know the names of exactly 5 word processors and exactly 7 things they do. A WHOIS on the IP returns the Bahamas - it's Sunday night there, prime time to do homework you've forgotten over the weekend. Xenon5402:33, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
And, every single sixty three (63) times I've wondered if I could think of eight (8) specific items, I've ensured that I included the digits on all four (4) websites that I posted on, just in case the one hundred (100) or so people who read it might be confused. Or, perhaps, the student isn't smart enough to paraphrase the question. -- kainaw™03:27, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Five wordprocessors that come to mind are AbiWord, LyX, KWord, OpenOffice Writer, and that funny one from Microsoft. Wordpad I think its called.
Seven things that can be done with a word processor might include... Browsing files and folders, viewing images, viewing web pages, fiddling with buttons and toolbars, making the window larger and smaller, doing your income tax, and writing a letter to the IRS to beg for an extension. -- Fullstop (talk) 03:01, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
No way! Everyone knows that spreadsheets are used for writing greeting cards and writing letters. But for really snazzy animated greeting cards you need a CAD package. Word processors are no good for those things. They put squiggly red lines under all the words. That's mainly good for tax returns. -- Fullstop (talk) 04:12, 12 January 2009 (UTC) (one of my ex-bosses really did use Lotus 123 for writing letters, including form letters).[reply]
The sad part is that all these "jokes" (and more! Act now and we'll throw in a virus-friendly scripting language, a brain-dead webpage editor, and an obnoxious animated paperclip!) are things that bloated word processors actually do (here's looking at you, Word). -- 74.137.108.115 (talk) 17:23, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Not to mention a spellchecker that corrects 'spellchecker' to 'spell-checker' even though it calls itself 'spellchecker'. Plus another one that offers 'Em-ail' as a substitute for 'email' (Neo-Office).--KageTora (talk) 18:29, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I have a PC with 256 MB RAM and 3.06MHz CPU Pentium 4 with Windows XP loaded. A few days ago, my computer RAM was reported to be 223 MB only. And, recently, I've seen that the RAM has decreased to 191 MB only. As a result, my PC is getting slower and slower. Can anyone please explain to me what is happening? And how can I bring back the RAM of 256 MB in my Computer once again? Any help is gladly welcome. 117.201.98.147 (talk) 08:10, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
That is an important question, yes. Are you reading the numbers from BIOS, Windows (Win+Pause), or some other software? By the way, 256 MB is very little by modern standards. If I were you, I would upgrade to at least 1 GB of RAM (at least 2 GB if you are planning to upgrade from XP to Vista). --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 13:24, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Actually, I am getting thses RAM numbers from several softwares, namely 1.CCleaner (a registry cleaner). 2.Windows Doctor 2008 Professional Ed. 3.XP Tools (a collection of essential tools for XP). Furhter, in BIOS, the RAM number is yet displayed to be 256 MB. In response to User-Andreas Rejbrand, I want to state that we live in a remote area named in India, which is quite far away from our local megacity Kolkata (or Calcutta). So, here all services related to Computers are not available. So, please excuse me for using 256 MB RAM.
Windows XP was designed quite a while ago, when 1 GB of RAM would have been considered excessive by many standards (64MB was the listed minimum--yes, it has been that long ago). The addition of service packs in the interim has probably pushed the minimum up significantly, but I would expect 256MB to be usable. Anyway, to answer your question, the memory isn't missing, it is currently being used by one program or another. You can find a list of programs currently running in "Windows Task Manager" (accessible via Ctrl-Alt-Del) under "Processes", with a convenient "Mem Usage" column. Unfortunately, the names given are sometimes cryptic, but searching the internet for the process name generally gives more information on what it does. To reclaim memory from processes that you don't want to run, you can end the process (note that windows warns of dire consequences, but generally nothing bad happens). Also, rebooting your computer would tend to reclaim memory from all but system and autorunning programs (and should probably be performed every few days with only 256MB). --74.137.108.115 (talk) 14:44, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I have an old laptop with 256MB of ram. For web surfing and occasional document editing (OpenOffice) it is usable, the main problem being the boot time. I set up a dual boot with Ubuntu Linux as an experiment and this loads significantly faster but shows similar performance when loaded. 256MB is certainly sufficient for home use (go and make a cup of tea while it boots) but when I tried to edit a 60 page document on it the machine came to a virtual halt. -- Q Chris (talk) 15:04, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, I have an XP virtual machine with 256 MB of memory allocated that runs good, but then again it's a fresh install. If you have enough gunk on the machine, even 2 GB wouldn't be enough.
@117: Memory is really cheap and easy to install. A gig of memory is only about $20 if you order it off of Newegg.com. You'd still have to make sure it's the same type of memory you have now, and ground yourself to avoid static shock, but it's still a piece of cake.--K;;m5m k;;m5m (talk) 15:02, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with the previous comments that you likely still have 256 MB total, but that a reduced amount is currently available, as the rest is in use. The only way I can see the total memory reduce is if you have more than one RAM card, and one either became disconnected or is broken. That still wouldn't explain a constantly changing amount of memory, though, so this sounds more like the first case. If much of your memory is in use, how do you free it up, you may well ask. First reboot, then use the Task Manager to kill all nonessential processes. That should help. You might also want to stop CPU hogs, like virus scans, from running automatically at start up. StuRat (talk) 16:12, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
You're better off using a program like Spybot to identify nonessential processes and stop them before they start up. Most people don't have a great sense of what an essential process is just by the name of it and are likely to crash their machine by just shutting things off at random. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 23:06, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
That's how you learn. If you kill a process and the computer crashes, write down that process, reboot, and don't kill that one the next time. In a few tries you will have figured out which processes are essential and which are just mucking up the system. Spybot is OK, but doesn't get rid of things that aren't spyware but still take up lots of resources, needlessly, such as RealPlayer. StuRat (talk) 02:07, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Maybe your integrated graphics is using more of your RAM than usual? I suggest you stop running extra "cleaner" software in the background; they are usually completely useless. --wj32t/c02:30, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Substitute switch - how much does amperage matter?
I am wanting to build my own light switch, but the switch I want to use is rated at 10A 240V ac - but so far as I know UK mains sockets provide 13A ~230V AC.
Although my switch can handle the voltage, it is 3A short - how big a problem is this?
Will the switch still work? And if so, are there any side effects i.e decreased life of operation?
Will it be shorted out?
Will it overheat tremendously and melt solder connections?
I am not sure if this is posted in the right section, I was in two minds whether or not to post it here or in science.
I would appreciate any help.
Thanks in advance!
Lights normally take much less current than 10A so your switch should work, but it worries me that you are talking of delving into mains voltage circuitry. Please consider using a qualified electrician to do this wiring and under no circumstances work on live electrical conductors (wires). --GreenSpigot (talk) 15:00, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
GreenSpigot is right, if you can't afford an electrician try to get a friend or relative with the right experience to help you or at least check your work before you switch the mains back on. (You must turn the electricity off at the main supply switch to the house before doing the work). -- Q Chris (talk) 15:08, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
This should probably be a science question. Anyway, There are likely electrical specifications/codes that provide the minimum ratings for switches; I would highly recommend consulting them before you wire in any switch. To answer your questions, the most important concern is the fuse/breaker for the switch's circuit. If the fuse/breaker is rated for less than 10A then the switch should never reach the 13A overload. If the fuse/breaker is rated greater than 10A, an overcurrent condition could cause overheating of the switch instead of the fuse that is supposed to protect it. Since this can cause a fire, it is important to make sure your switch is appropriately rated for the fuse/breaker it is on. The tendency of a switch to short out is reliant mainly on voltages (higher voltages require better separation of conductors). Depending on what exactly the switched circuit drives, the circuit should probably never reach 10A anyway (that would be one very bright light!). This means that there would likely be no side effects of decreased life of operations, etc. -- 74.137.108.115 (talk) 15:14, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
If you are doing something to the mains wiring of a house, then the lighting circuit is probably fused at 5A not 13A. f you are making a "plug into a socket" lamp, then use a 13A plug with a 3A fuse fitted. -- SGBailey (talk) 15:46, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
As a general rule, never (ever) introduce a situation where one electrical component in a circuit is "under spec'd". For example, DO NOT put a switch that is only rated to 10 Amps on a circuit that has an 20 Amp circuit breaker. You may never screw in something to the light socket that draws over 10 Amps... but you don't know what the next person in that house is going to do. Another example would be DO NOT use an outlet with special 30 Amp plug receptacles on a circuit with wiring only rated to 20 Amps. —Noah17:32, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Unknown weblink
Whenever I browse any web page by using Firefox, this unknown link open in new window in Internet Explorer. I'm worried with this link as it is appearing even when I don't browse. I have blocked this link through IE option. Also I cleared cashe and history file and installed a adware software to get rid off this link. But unfortunately, it did not work at all. I have searched about this link in hard drive where operating system installed, but failed to detect this problem. How can I permanently remove this link, so that it won't appear in future? :( --202.168.229.245 (talk) 17:41, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds like a spyware/malware infection. You might try running Adaware and Spybot. If that fails, you might try upgrading IE and/or renaming the IE executable (unfortunately, IE is tied into windows rather tightly, so bad things might happen; if so, rename it back). Finally, reinstalling windows will definitely fix the issue (but may be more work than closing the IE windows occasionally). -- 74.137.108.115 (talk) 18:12, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Well, it'll probably still keep opening, but you can get it to stop loading content by doing the following: Hold the windows key and hit R. Enter notepad %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts. Go to the bottom and add the line 127.0.0.1 www.aiqianming.cn. That'll prevent your computer from contacting the server. Indeterminate (talk) 04:22, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
browsing internet on tv
there are many ways you browse internet on tv.
one is msn tv. another is using wii.
how is the experience?
what resolution is yours?
I don't see the point. If you have a computer, why not use that? At least you can type with it (which you need for putting passwords in, and such).--KageTora (talk) 18:33, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Some people who hate computers like the idea of using their TV as a computer. This applies to people who only use their computers for e-mail, for example. I don't find it to be a very satisfying experience, myself, however. A few notes on screen resolutions:
1) A standard def (old) TV will have unacceptably low resolution, giving you a blurry pic with text you can't read.
2) A new 720p resolution digital TV will give a marginally acceptable pic, but only expect to be able to view a few lines of text at a time.
3) A 1080p resolution digital TV is quite acceptable. There are computer monitors with much higher resolutions, but this is certainly adequate.
The monitor size, sharpness, brightness, contrast, and refresh rate also come into play. Larger isn't really better for a TV used as a computer monitor, because you just have to sit back farther to see it all at once. StuRat (talk) 19:38, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
And why would anyone want to watch videos on their computer when they have a perfectly good TV with a remote and all? There are several reasons why one might choose to browse the internet from a TV: downloading new content (mainly game consoles), watching/listening to streaming media, checking a site for updates during commercials, playing web-games, or staying connected when your main computer is non-functional or in use by someone else. I have a computer connected to my TV; though it doesn't get a lot of use, I have found it useful in the past. My experience with TV browsing is that the resolution has to be cranked down to make small text legible, and reading large amounts of text will likely cause eyestrain. The lack of a keyboard can be rather problematic, but windows offers an on-screen keyboard utility which is sufficient for infrequent use, and most web browsers are capable of storing username/passwords. I would *not* recommend TV browsing as a replacement for a computer, but then I spend more time using a computer than most people. If you only spend an hour a week online a TV internet solution might work just fine. -- 74.137.108.115 (talk) 19:30, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The happiness of having Vista
I got a new laptop just before Christmas, because my old one's power cable died and I needed one urgently for my work. The power cable wouldn't come until after Christmas, which was way too long to wait, so I got a HP Dual Core with Vista Home Premium on it. Anyway, after a month, every time I plug my USB modem in (or even any USB), it has started asking security questions, like 'have you used this before?' and so-on. It wasn't doing this for the first three weeks. Why has it suddenly started now? I haven't played around with the settings or anything, so why does it suddenly change like this? I've had problems with Windows before (who hasn't?) so I'm starting to wish I just waited for a power cable for my Mac. It's just infuriating how it changes without you knowing or doing anything. I can see it just falling apart within the year and I'll have to fork out another £300 for a new one. Anyway, rant over. Does anyone know how to fix this?--KageTora (talk) 18:21, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I've only used Vista once and it bugged me with security questions at every turn. See this and this for how to get rid of it, but if you can install XP on your laptop, it's much better.
I'd exercise caution before just "installing xp". Do some research first and make sure you can find xp drivers for the hardware you have. Not all of the newer hardware has xp drivers. Ched (talk) 20:28, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
And anyway, if you've paid for Vista, you're not just going to throw it out. It is trying to help, one must assume; turning UAC off cannot really be recommend; it would be like tearing down an entire city wall just because you couldn't figure out how to put a gate in it. What questions do you get exactly? - Jarry1250(t, c)20:38, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
(Would it really be so wrong to tear down a city wall if there was no way to put a gate in? There are only so many times one wants to climb over a useless wall.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.247.236.243 (talk) 20:44, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The shared computer in our house has a problem. It's in a place where playing sounds bothers the other people around, so naturally I've been trying to use headphones. Unfortunately, none of the ones we have available seem to work. Switching loudspeakers on and off doesn't change anything and all the volume controls are open in the appropriate panel. What else can I try? - 87.211.75.45 (talk) 21:32, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Make sure you're plugging into the headphone jack, not the microphone jack; on many computers, this jack will be green (mike will be red). Verify that the headphones work using some other piece of equipment. --LarryMac | Talk21:41, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Both checked. The headphones worked on another computer and they were inserted in the right spot. It is a specific problem with either the hardware or the settings of this particular machine.- 87.211.75.45 (talk) 21:56, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
So the speakers work correctly, but replacing them with the headphones in the same audio port results in silence? Since the headphones are powered by the computer while many speakers are externally powered you will may need to increase the computer's output volume significantly. If the headphone plug is not inserted fully you might end up receiving a single channel (and if the computer's balance is off center you might receive no apparent output on that channel). If your computer contains integrated audio (most do these days) you might be able to change a setting or two in BIOS--though I haven't seen any that would resolve this issue. If you have particularly power-hungry headphones and a relatively powerless audio out there may be insufficient output current to drive the headphones. It is also worth noting that "system sounds" (the annoying beep when you type too many characters or the computer boots in BIOS) are generally *not* handled by an external audio driver (they use an internal speaker). -- 74.137.108.115 (talk) 22:17, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I had this problem with a Dell machine at work - I was amazed to find that I had to install a new driver to get the headphones to work!! I gather that the card measures the impedance of the thing that's plugged in and figures out whether it's headphones or speakers! There comes a point where these things are just TOO smart to be truly useful. SteveBaker (talk) 04:58, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Firefox vs IE
Hello,
I'm currently building my (very simple)website and IE seems to have difficult with my left hand navigation bar (the body text mashes into it).. I was wondering if IE has any 'golden rules' (i.e. things to be aware of) so i don't keep running into this problem?
Well it depends how you are coding it, really. IE has a different box model than other browsers, among other things. But we'd need to see the code itself to tell you what IE was interpreting differently. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 22:33, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Good point! Am i right in thinnking that, as the CSS is in a different file, you only need this one? If so its here:
body{padding-left:11em;font-family:Helvetica,Geneva,Arial,SunSans-Regular,sans-serif;color:yellow;background-color:black}ul.navbar{margin-right:1em;padding-right:1em;border-right:dottedyellow;list-style-type:none;padding:0;margin-top:1em;position:absolute;top:2em;left:1em;width:9em}ul.navbarli{background:black;margin:0.5em0;padding:0.3em;border-right:1emyellow}ul.navbara{text-decoration:none}a:link{color:yellow}a:visited{color:blue}h1{font-family:Georgia,"Times New Roman",Times,serif}border-bottom{thindotted;}hr.blue{color:#0000FF;width50%:}
If not, let me know and i'll post the rest of the HTML. Once again, the issue is with the nav bar and the rest of the main copy... thanks guys86.6.101.208 (talk) 23:25, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
January 13
Cheapest stable setup for GTA IV?
Does anyone know of a cheap yet reliable configuration for the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV? I currently have a 1.8Ghz Pentium Dual Core, a gigabyte of RAM, and a GeForce 8400GS, which lagged and coughed when I play the game. I could've gotten more FPS if only that they optimized the source code better rather than just hastily porting a console game to a PC (they could've gotten so far as to using assembly language... :p), but what do you think? I don't need to max the settings out, I'm happy with low or medium settings... Blake Gripling (talk) 04:25, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
It runs slow because you have a 1.8GHz dual-core CPU and 1Gbyte RAM...which are both the very minimum the game will run on (I bet it says that, right there on the box). Hence you shouldn't expect to run it at anything above the very minimum settings - and then at the lower end of the 'playability' spectrum. Your knowledge of game development is clearly comprehensive...oh - wait...NOT. Nobody writes stuff in machine code anymore, modern C++ compilers can write code VASTLY better than any human for anything but the very shortest code sections. If they'd written much of it in assembler - it would have been a lot slower...not faster.
It's actually VERY tough for games developers to make software run on PC's as well as consoles efficiently. The consoles have rigidly known parameters - so you can optimise the heck out of everything in the sure and certain knowledge that what you get on your development station is what the consumer will get. But with PC's - there are at least a dozen different CPU performance levels - RAM availability that's all over the map, dozens of GPU configurations (also with different amounts of RAM), fifty different sound cards - different hard drive and CD/DVD speeds - even different keyboards and mice to consider. Then you have 7 varients of Vista and god-knows-how-many for XP. The user may have installed god-knows-what drivers and have left who-knows-what running on the desktop then the game is started. He may also have "improved" the default settings of Windows and BIOS...Worse still, because there is no control over cooling or whether the power supply is adequate or not - either CPU or GPU or both may drop into thermal throttling without warning at any time! In essence, no two PC's are alike. If that's not bad enough - a PC game sells for less - the prices drop very soon after launch and piracy is rife. So providing games on the PC platform is 'iffy' at best from the point of view of profitability - hence RELATIVELY little effort can be put into making it work at the absolute peak of perfection. That's sad - but it's a fact of life. SteveBaker (talk) 04:51, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
COMPUTER ENGG> OR COMPUTER SCIENCE>!?????????
hey all,
Ok i know this isn't the "education" related reference desk but i'm pretty sure many computer professionals answer questions in this section and so hoped that one of them might answer my question rather than if i asked it in another section.I'm going to do my undergraduate in the computer stream and i'm hoping to join florida institute of technology.Firstly i would like to ask is florida institute any good for computers or good in general?
Secondly i'm divided on whether to choose computer engineering(1) or computer science(2) because as of now the only difference i know between them is that (1) has subjects related to computer hardware as well whereas (2) does not.But i still fail to understand which is a more promising stream in the future.So i basically want to know which is a better stream to do and I'd appreciate it if you of you guys could help me out in figuring out which is the better option for and why you would choose one over the other.P.S. i want to specialize in 3D games programming so is it a good option to get into FIT for my undergraduate and then specialize elsewhere? Vineeth h (talk) 05:06, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Resolved