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November 19

Screen magnification software wanted

My big-screen monitor just died on me, so I dragged out it's predecessor and put it back in service. It has a very sharp, high-res image, but the screen is tiny. What I would like to do is run a screen magnifier on it, which will make everything 2X the width and 2X the height, but only show 1/4 of the screen at a time, and scroll which portion of the screen is shown as I move the mouse around. I believe this is called bump scrolling. I know that the ZoomText magnifier has this capability, but it's not free and also does way more than I need, like font substitution, screen reading, color changes, etc. So, where can I get a free product that will do 2X magnification with bump scrolling, for Window 7 (both 32 bit and 64 bit) ? StuRat (talk) 23:37, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

Windows 7 has something called err... Magnifier. That might help. [1]--Aspro (talk) 23:54, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

Tried it. Unfortunately, it requires using the Aero themes, which I hate. StuRat (talk) 00:31, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

(edit conflict) - most of the post below was written in response to text StuRat later retracted.

StuRat, you are probably seeing the effects of zooming ClearType, which is Microsoft's implementation of subpixel rendering. I think you will have a hard time finding built-in or third-party "magnification" utilities that re-render content; so if you use a "zoom," you will always run in to your ugly artifact problem. Those are the real pixels that are actually generated by your application; you're just seeing them at a larger size. This is not a problem with the "zooming" those pixels; nor is it "bad coding" in the implementation of the zoom. It is a generally-true mathematical fact: upsampling a small image into a larger image cannot possibly perfectly reconstruct the pixels you want to reconstruct. These types of artifacts cannot be solved with a different zoom tool. You really want a utility that will create different pixels to represent the content at a larger size. Or you can turn ClearType off.

In fact, the technical term for what you wish to do is not to zoom (upsample): you actually want to re-render text at a larger display size. The best way to do so depends on your exact needs. In Windows, it is possible on certain graphics cards, with certain display drivers, to use a virtual display resolution that is larger than the onscreen resolution (so that you can "bump-scroll", and set the pels per inch to your desired setting). I've had luck with the Nvidia ecosystem, and their control panel, on products ranging from the Ti4600 on Windows XP, through and Ti5800 series on Windows Vista and Windows 7. I don't have much experience with Windows on the post-CUDA-era cards. In all cases, the onus is on you (the customizing user) to ensure that the settings you choose for your monitor's hardware-pixels, and your graphics card's virtual pixels, and your application's abstraction of those pixels, all work together to make a nice image without ugly artifacts.

Alternately, you can leave the display resolution alone; and use system settings in Control panel to customize the font size and other UI widget sizes; and for all other content, allow the application to re-render the content (including text) at a larger size. This lets the application logic decide the best way to render at the desired output size. Some applications (like Internet Explorer) do this in a way that I would consider "correct;" when you zoom most pages, the page will reflow and most elements will increase their rendered size. Other applications (like the Image Preview built into Windows Explorer) use a somewhat more haphazard logic to "zoom" content. I have always found bilinear interpolation to be a very ugly upsampling algorithm. Nimur (talk) 02:25, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Yes, I retracted my complaint on the quality of the magnified text when I realized it really was that ugly at the original size. I wish they wouldn't use shading in text display, as that causes all sorts of problems. In addition to zooming, you also have a nightmare, say, if you try to change the background color. BTW, the ZoomText tool actually does character recognition, then re-renders the characters at a larger font, to get around this problem. But if everyone would just use monochrome text, then everything works great. It may have some jaggies when you magnify it, but I can live with that. StuRat (talk) 07:09, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

This won't fix your font scaling issue, but seems pretty simple, and has hotkeys and edge-scrolling. [2] Back in the Windows 98 days I remember being able to run the desktop at a higher resolution than the display with edge-scrolling, but that may have been some crazy driver feature. Katie R (talk) 13:19, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

There's a list at http://www.magnifiers.org Rojomoke (talk) 13:40, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Just doing a bit of Lateral thinking. In a country as wealthy and consumer orientated as yours, you must have many neighbors who have upgraded to 60 inch (or plus) screens and have yet to put their old monitors out for the trash-man to collect. Why not ask about and inquire? Matthew 7:7 ESV / 90 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. “--Aspro (talk) 15:02, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

That's some terrible exegesis! - Letsbefiends (talk) 12:47, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

More lateral thinking: get yourself a decent size Fresnel lens? I've seen these work rather well in certain applications, e.g. this screen magnifier for iphones [3]. If your old monitor is a CRT, it should be plenty sturdy enough to support the mounting of said lens. Lenses ~7x10 inches sell for ~$7.00, so it should be relatively inexpensive, even for a much larger lens. SemanticMantis (talk) 15:27, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

November 20

Google Streetview out of focus\cool effect

I discovered quite a cool effect when using Google Street View. After moving the camera, pressing 't' on the keyboard makes the whole camera image become somewhat out-of-focus. The red and blue do not line up in the image and really reminds me of old plastic 3D glasses. Is there any purpose to this or is it just an easter egg? Simply south...... cooking letters for just 7 years 13:56, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Interesting find! It certainly seems to be a stereoscopic image, specifically using anaglyph_3D. Here's a blog article on the topic [4]. So, the purpose seems to be: to let users see street-view images in old-fashioned 3D. Kinda neat :) SemanticMantis (talk) 15:21, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Google Street View mentions this in the second paragraph: "By using Google Maps, users can turn on stereoscopic 3D mode by right-clicking in Street View to get an anaglyph version of any Street View images". Astronaut (talk) 15:23, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Yeah - cool! I have a selection of 3D goggles to hand - it uses the left-eye-red/right-eye-cyan convention - seems to work pretty well - but not when I zoom in. SteveBaker (talk) 03:46, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

On my Samsung Galaxy Victory, I partitioned the SD card w/ TWRP so I could transfer apps to its new partition. I still can't. What else do I do?

I was told long ago to partition my SD card with TWRP before I transfer all my movable apps to my card.

You see, my last Android phone, the Xperia Play, allowed me to transfer apps to the SD card.

However, my current phone, the Samsung Galaxy Victory, does not. I've had it since late May, and still haven't figured out how to transfer apps.

I was told to root the phone, install TWRP, and partition my 32 GB SD card.

Thankfully, I backed up the phone + card before formatting, so my media are now in a laptop's hard drive.

But not only did "partitioning" half of the card not help about my apps, but I can't find the other half of my storage.

I had hoped to use one half to store my media, and the other half to store apps and many other traditionally "internal-only" items after tricking the system into believing the card's half-space was part of the internal memory.

(And how do I get the other half to be visible again?)

I must be missing some steps. If I learn what it takes to finally trick my phone to let my SD card store my apps, and let me use said apps from said card, that'll be great. --99.179.74.108 (talk) 16:58, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

TL;DR: Partitioning SD card halved storage; did nothing to let me transfer apps to card to relieve internal storage. --69.77.96.200 (talk) 19:54, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

You still haven't worked out how to search and follow instructions or a better place to ask? Anyway presuming you partitioned the card properly (i.e. created 2 partitions, one FAT/32 and one EXT/whatever), the problem may be the partition is not mounted (either that or you're just bad at finding where it's mounted or check space of that mount point). I'm not entirely sure that most Android phones with stock firmware will mount 2 partitions in an SD card by default, heck I'm not sure if they will mount an EXT one by default at all. As for moving apps, you will likely either need to manually move them there and then created a suitable symbolic link or you will need to use a tool like possibly app2sd or link2sd which can do this for you. I'm not sure your custom recovery will make any difference to either the partition issue or the moving issue (although you may need root). Note what you are trying to do is quite different from what has been available in most Android phones since 2.2 where you can move allowed apps on a FAT/32 partition of the SD card in the '.android_secure' directory via the system settings. Nil Einne (talk) 22:21, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Penmanship

In the early grades of grammar school – at least in my day – students were taught penmanship, both cursive and non-cursive. There was always a standardized example of each letter that students were supposed to model. The non-cursive letters looked like those at this link: [5]. The cursive letters looked like those at this link: [6]. So, my question is: are those exemplar letters available as a font that one can use in, say, Word documents? Thank you. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 19:47, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

I found a free version of the D'Nealian script, here [7]. For the print example, apparently Zaner-Bloser (who are still around...) will sell you some fonts here [8], maybe with a free trial or something. SemanticMantis (talk) 20:41, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Educational Fontware sells many of these fonts, both print and cursive varieties. It is interesting to note that there are multiple styles of standard cursive. The Frank Schaffer variant is closest to the one I learned as a child. --Mark viking (talk) 21:23, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

You might want to try http://dafont.com - they have thousands of fonts - most of which are free. There is a whole class of Cursive fonts - and a sub-class called "School" - which has many possible candidates. http://Google.com/fonts also has a bunch of free fonts - some in their category "Handwriting" look like plausible candidates. But dafont.com is by far the best place to go for free fonts. I wouldn't consider paying for fonts these days - if you can't find something decent on dafont - I'd be incredibly surprised. SteveBaker (talk) 03:40, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

Thanks. I reviewed both websites. There are many similar candidates. Thank you. But, in the Google fonts web page, how do you find the "Handwriting" category ... or any category, for that matter? I could not find where, on that website, I could search for different categories. Thanks. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 04:45, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

It's somewhat confusingly under "filters", on the left. Un-check all boxes but "handwriting" to see only those fonts. But, if you want to best match the examples you posted, I do recommend you use the free D'Nealian font I linked above, because it is made to emulate that specific famous, and well-known technique of teaching penmanship. If you just want a generic "old-fashioned cursive" look, then anything you like will serve fine :) SemanticMantis (talk) 17:35, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

SD Card for LG Phone

I recently bought a refurbished LG45 phone, and either it didn't come with an SD card, or I didn't see the card and accidentally threw it away. I know it is a microSD card from the manual, but the Wikipedia article Secure_Digital talks about different file systems, different speeds, and so on. I'm not a power user, and I just want to buy a basic SD card, but since my phone is older I want to be sure that whatever I buy will work with it. Do I need to match the file system, access speed, and so on, or can I just buy whatever card shows up first on Amazon and be reasonably confident that it will work? Thanks! OldTimeNESter (talk) 20:20, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Many phones use the SD card to store the phone's fundamental identity - your phone number and the more important number that identifies the phone to the cellphone tower. So just sticking a blank card in there won't make the phone work. Generally, you get one with your phone service that's programmed with the network's identity and such. If it's already working for you as a phone (and you just want some additional memory), then any old "basic" SD card should work just fine...if it's not working as a phone, then probably you need to get a pre-programmed SD card from AT&T, Sprint or whoever is providing your phone service. Because the card was missing, I'd bet $$$ that the previous owner removed it to put into his/her new phone and thereby continue to get service. If you have an old phone that you're replacing, then perhaps that has an SD card you can just transfer. SteveBaker (talk) 03:31, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

SD card, not SIM card... Steve is wrong in this case! Unfortunately, I don't know quite enough myself to answer the question. MChesterMC (talk) 10:22, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

Yes, I was puzzled by Steve's reply (the first and last parts refer to a SIM card), and I began to wonder if American mobile phones were fundamentally different from British phones. His advice is good, though, that if the phone works then it already has a SIM card (you should be able to see it, possibly under a cover), so just buy any (optional) microSD card and fit it in the SD slot for extra memory. The cheapest ones seem to work OK, though they might be slightly slower. (If your phone doesn't connect to any tower, then it probably lacks a SIM card and you need to buy one from your chosen network provider [or from the provider that the phone is locked to in the UK].) Dbfirs 14:46, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, this is what I needed to know. I have a SIM card, so I'll just get a basic microSD card. OldTimeNESter (talk) 19:36, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

"Windows 8.1 is now available in the shop"

Can someone tell me what this means? Simply south...... cooking letters for just 7 years 21:19, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

It would help to have some context, but I would guess they have it available internally at MS and are testing it out there. StuRat (talk) 22:22, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

A search doesn't find that specific phrase anywhere that's been indexed. That said, the phrase seems fairly self explanatory i.e. that you can now buy Windows 8.1 in shops. Microsoft typically release their major software products in 2 basic stages. They first make them available to MSDN and various other channels for OEMs, partners, companies, early adopters etc (not all at the same time) who have some sort of agreement/deal with Microsoft in some way. In the meantime they also produce optical media etc. Then about a month or two later, they release them on retail, so anyone (well except those forbidden by the EULA) can buy them in any store which chooses to stock the product (nowadays this tends to include the online and offline Microsoft Stores). OEMs (and Microsoft nowadays) can also start selling hardware with the software installed at this time. Note that this is only talking about the final software. Prior to that, they also have various different test releases, with differing levels of official availability. Note Windows 8.1 is a little different from most in that it was also made available to free for all Windows 8 owners, so when it was released to retail, it was also made available as an update to them. Nil Einne (talk) 22:34, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

[9] 87.112.74.205 (talk) 22:44, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

SSH to a machine on home network from outside world

I'd like to be able to ssh to a machine on my home network from anywhere. I know the local IP (e.g. M_IP=10.0.0.X) and the external IP of my router (e.g. R_IP=65.83.95.ZZZ). From other devices on the home network, I can "ssh D_IP" and everything is fine. I'd like to be able to "ssh R_IP -suffix -flags" etc and get to the one specific machine when not on my home network. Previously this machine was available through DNS from my old employer (e.g. "ssh mydomain.workdomain.edu"), but now it's not part of that network. I've seen somewhat tedious instructions on port forwarding, but is there a simpler way? One other potential wrinkle is that what I really want access to is a virtual machine running on the machine. The VM is set up to work on a specific port, e.g. "ssh mydomain.workdomain.edu" got me to the physical box, but adding "-p XYZW" would get me straight to the VM. (All the IPs in question are technically dynamically assigned, but are fairly stable, and I'm not too worried about that part)

Anyway, shouldn't this be fairly easy by now? Thanks for any help, SemanticMantis (talk) 23:15, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Your router is performing NAT. This is almost certainly required because almost all residential internet service providers will only allocate one single IP address for each customer. So, your residential gateway must use network address translation and additionally act as a DHCP server for your local area network. All these features are typically wrapped up in a single "box" that acts as the "top controller" for your home network.

When NAT is on, you must use one external IP to speak to all n devices; so port forwarding is a necessary evil - there is no simpler way. I can think of several more complicated ways you can work around the issue: you can set up a proxy-server inside your network, for example; but that will be more difficult than setting up a port map on your router. Most residential gateways and home routers have friendly user-interfaces that let you configure port-forwarding.

If you have virtual hosts (inside virtual machines), you might also need to navigate a second layer of NAT translation that is managed by the virtual machine software. Nimur (talk) 23:41, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

It's fairly straightforward, if a bit of a chore, to configure that port forwarding so each ssh capable machine behind the NAT gets its own custom port on the WAN. So if the local machines are 192.168.0.10, 11 etc., you might set it up so that you'd ssh in to tcp/10010, 10011, etc. Or it's pretty easy to have a trivial proxy (even a simple machine like a Raspberry Pi running Debian, which one stuffs in a corner and never turns off) so one doesn't have to have an entry in the NAT box's port forward. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 00:07, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

Resolved

Thanks Finlay and Nimur, you've helped me understand why port forwarding is necessary here. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and do it :) SemanticMantis (talk) 15:05, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

SpeedFan

My computer was really dusty inside and shut itself off a few times because it was overheating. So, I cleaned it out and now it's fine. I got SpeedFan to keep an eye on the temp. Here are the readings. Is this normal? I don't even know what's what and why one is minus 128C.

• Temp1: 53C (little flame icon)
• Temp2: 41C
• Temp3: -128C (this is the only reading that never changes)
• HD0: 37C
• HD1: 40C
• Core 0: 41C
• Core 1: 39C

Many thanks, Anna Frodesiak (talk) 23:18, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Not all computers have three temperature sensors - when one is absent, the software reads a minimum value. Since it's an 8 bit temperature reading, it goes from -128 to +127. Hence, the minimum value is -128. So, we may deduce that you don't have that third sensor - so ignore that reading. Temp1 is a little high (Hence the little flame icon) - but not outrageously so. In addition to cleaning out the fan, you might want to check that there aren't any bulky cables blocking the outlet or inlet of the fans. It's easy for a fat ribbon cable from a disk drive to droop over the CPU or graphics card fan and block some or all of the airflow. SteveBaker (talk) 03:24, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

Okay. The 128 thing makes sense. As for the rest, I opened it up again. I blew all the dust out and removed the fan thingy attached to the metal block from the future. I paint brushed all the dust away without touching the square in the middle with the face cream on it. Then I screwed the fan thingy with the future block back on to the face cream square. When I turned it on, the flame went away and was 40 something for a while. Now it's back to 53 jumping to 60 from time to time. I also brushed dust away from everything else inside and ensured cables were out of the way. Will 53 mean a dead computer and a house fire or can I rest comfortably? Best wishes, Anna Frodesiak (talk) 09:35, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

Given that temp 1 is considerably higher tha core 0/1, I'd guess that it is for a component other than the processor (which is under the face cream square), not sure how possible it would be to work out which one though, unless you know the brand/model of your motherboard? My rough guess would be the northbridge, and you might be able to get a fan designed to fit your motherboard, or shift cables out of the way (are any of them covering a largish chip on the motheboard itself?). At 50-60 degrees, it's not essential though. Did core0/core1 change significantly after you removed/replaced the fan? If not, you're fine, but if they did, you might want to get some thermal paste (the "face cream", should be available from any decet store that does computer parts), clean off the old paste, and put some new paste on. MChesterMC (talk) 10:16, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

The cores stayed the same temp. Maybe the below info that this program tells me will help. No cables in the way. Perhaps things aren't hot enough to worry about? Thanks for the thermal cream tip. I'll see if I can buy a jar and apply some.

collapsing system info
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Win9x:NO 64Bit:NO GiveIO:YES SpeedFan:YES I/O properly initialized Linked ISA BUS at $0290 Linked Intel 82801GB ICH7 SMBUS at $0400 Scanning ISA BUS at $0290... SuperIO Chip=IT8772F Linked ISA BUS at $0A10 Scanning Intel SMBus at $0400... Scanning ISA BUS at $0A10... IT8772F found on ISA at $A10 Found ST1000DM003-1CH162 on AdvSMART Found WDC WD5000AAKX-001CA0 on AdvSMART Found Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU E3400 @ 2.60GHz End of detection Loaded 0 events and this from SIW (some bizarre programme I have): Property Value Manufacturer Onda Technology corporation Model G41L Serial Number To be filled by O.E.M. Chipset Vendor Intel Corporation South Bridge 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Controller SMBus Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller @0400h CPU Intel Core 2 Duo Cpu Socket LGA775 [CPU 1] Processor Upgrade Slot 2 Max CPU Speed 2600 MHz Memory Summary Location System board or motherboard Maximum Capacity 4096 MBytes Memory Slots 4 Error Correction None Use System memory Maximum Memory Module Size 4096 MBytes Warning! Accuracy of DMI data cannot be guaranteed

Again, many thanks. This is very educational. I'm not just a dummy looking for help. I'm learning. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 10:38, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

And here is SIW's CPU info. Is the cpu the thing under the face cream or that funny slanty thing with vents beside it?

collapsing system info
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Property Value Number of CPU(s) One Physical Processor / 2 Cores / 2 Logical Processors / 64 bits Vendor GenuineIntel CPU Full Name Intel Core 2 Duo CPU Name Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU E3400 @ 2.60GHz CPU Code Name Wolfdale Technology 0.045µ Platform Name LGA775 Type Original OEM processor FSB Mode SDR Microcode ID A07 Type ID 0 CPU Clock 2593.85 System Bus Clock 199.53 System Clock 199.53 Multiplier 13.00 Original Clock 2600.00 Original Bus Clock 200.00 Original System Clock 200.00 Original Multiplier 13.00 L2 Cache Speed 2593.85 MHz L2 Cache Speed Full CPU Family / Model / Stepping 6 / 7 / A L1 I-Cache 32 KB L1 D-Cache 32 KB L2 Cache 1024 KB RDMSR 43480000 00000000 00000000 00000000 MMX Yes SSE Yes SSE2 Yes SSE3 Yes SSSE3 Yes DualCore Yes HyperThreading No IA-64 No Intel 64 (EM64T) Yes XD Yes VT Yes SpeedStep Yes Architecture x86

SIW also gives info on my BIOS. I don't know what BIOS is, but am not sure it would be neutral. :) Anna Frodesiak (talk) 10:45, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

If the core teperatures have not changed significantly, I wouldn't bother reapplying the thermal paste. It is used to make sure the heat sink (the metal block from the future, most likely) is in good contact with the processor (which is under the face cream). Sometimes, it can dry out, which is fine for normal operation but can make it flake off if the fan is removed, meaning the contact between the processor and the heat sink isn't as good. You'd have noticed a temperature change if this had happened though, so there's no need to reapply any thermal paste. I've also hatted your system information, to make the thread more readable. MChesterMC (talk) 11:50, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

The E3400 is a 65W processor, which gives it a maximum temperature of 74.1 degrees C, measured at the geometric center of the surface of the CPU. I assume the reported temperature is being measured near that point, but I didn't see that mentioned in the datasheet. Thermal considerations start on page 75. [10] Katie R (talk) 12:58, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

Thank you all for the very thoughtful replies. I learned a lot. I have no idea how you all learned about this. I'm very impressed. Much obliged. :) Anna Frodesiak (talk) 08:05, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

November 21

Looking at Vines, on one's computer?

How do you look at Vines directly while on your computer (can you?). As best I can make out, vines are for your phone? When I went to the website, it tried to connect to iTunes? Can someone explain this to me?--108.46.96.174 (talk) 03:38, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

I have never been able to get a Vine to work on my PC (Windows 8, Firefox). Although it plays, it never makes sound. RNealK (talk) 03:47, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

Vine videos on web browsers are muted by default. There should be a speaker icon to click on to turn on the sound. --209.203.125.162 (talk) 02:10, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

http://seenive.com/ -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 09:45, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

Blocked webpages

Anyone know a Firefox add on to allow the circumvention of blocked webpages by the ISP or family filter? I know of HideMyAss.com but i'd rather have an add-on if one is available. Thanks ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 18:09, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

Whatever method you use will probably depend on how the filter works. I could see a Firefox add-on circumventing a browser-based filter, but if you must connect to a proxy server in order to get online (as is common with many "family" ISP providers), I don't think an add-on will help. OldTimeNESter (talk) 19:40, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

https://immunicity.org/ 82.44.76.14 (talk) 12:09, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

merging two linked lists in c

hello i have this code that merges two linked lists in c; however, it creates an extra node and i dont want that extra node. note i cannot cahnge the function parameters, so im not sure how to fix this. code:

struct node* Shuffle( struct node* a, struct node* b ) {
    struct node* c = (struct node*) malloc(sizeof(struct node));
    struct node* cHead = c;
    while ( a != NULL || b != NULL ) {        
        if ( a != NULL ) {
            c -> data = a -> data;
            c -> next = (struct node*) malloc(sizeof(struct node));
            c = c - >next;
            a = a -> next;
        } 
         if ( b != NULL ) {
            c -> data = b -> data;
            c -> next = (struct node*) malloc(sizeof(struct node));
            c = c - >next;
            b = b -> next;
        } 

    }
    /* print the merged linked list */
    printf("c = ");
    PrintList( cHead );
    return cHead;
} 

the INCORRECT result i get is (take note of the 0 at the tail of c):

a = { 78 -> 10 -> 6 -> 3 -> NULL }
b = { 44 -> 34 -> 10 -> NULL }
c = { 78 -> 44 -> 10 -> 34 -> 6 -> 10 -> 3 -> 0 -> NULL

The result I SHOULD get is

a = { 78 -> 10 -> 6 -> 3 -> NULL }
b = { 44 -> 34 -> 10 -> NULL }
c = { 78 -> 44 -> 10 -> 34 -> 6 -> 10 -> 3 -> NULL

i understand why i get the 0 (because I malloc before the loop) but i dont know how ti correct this. someone had the same problem on stackoverflow but the solutions dont help here because i cannot modify the function parameters.

You're getting the extra entry because you're malloc'ing before you know there is another node to write to. If both lists are null, then just return a null, and put your malloc right at the beginning of the loop, not in the if statements. Katie R (talk) 20:23, 21 November 2013 (UTC)

November 22

Google Hummingbird page

I gave a blog link in the External links section of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Hummingbird and it was deleted. But many other blog links can be found in your references. Is it Wikipedia paid that the moderator can put their friends links only or paid links only.

The link was - http://technologiesinternetz.blogspot.in/2013/11/how-hummingbird-has-changed-definition.html

First I put this link under - References - the link was deleted

Later on I put this link under - External Link - Again it was deleted.

Is it biased that only moderator or checker can do anything. Other blog links are visible but when I put my favorite blog they delete it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 182.74.24.62 (talk) 04:56, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

This same question has been asked, and answered, at the Help desk. Maproom (talk) 07:39, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

video capture

i need to know if it's possible to take a high quality video of my screen the same restitution as my screen at 30fps in real time (with software.) if so, i need a free program to do so if anyone knows of one. thank you. 70.114.242.17 (talk) 14:06, 22 November 2013 (UTC) p.s., i have a 4-core 2.8ghz amd cpu, 4gb ddr3 ram, 1280*1024 moniter with 24bit rgb color and 60hz refresh rate. 70.114.242.17 (talk) 14:18, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

If you want to capture DirectX/OpenGL stuff (games), which your framerate requirement would suggest you do, you need something like Fraps or DXTory. Fraps has a free limited version. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 14:39, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Otherwise take a look at Comparison of screencasting software, which lists both opensource and freeware screen recording programs. But most are aimed at recording the ordinary screen (where things like browser windows are drawn) - to capture video game footage it's usually necessary to reach into the graphics buffers themselves, which is a lot more challenging to write. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 14:50, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Useless cookies

I grudgingly see the need for (some) cookies - like remembering my user id or personalised settings for various things, but I find the targeting of adverts quite annoying. What is really bugging me though is that I might look around the internet to buy some product or service and then make my purchase, only to be stalked with adverts for the very same product or service for the next week or two. Why do targeted adverts not take notice of the fact that you actually bought something and are obviously no longer interested in that particular thing? Astronaut (talk) 20:15, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

I agree, but the cookies don't know whether you went through with those purchases. It would be even more spooky if they did. It is good practice to delete all your cookies at regular intervals. Having to then re-enter your passwords is a minor inconvenience.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 20:49, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

[11]--Aspro (talk) 20:51, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

AJAX website page ID in URL

Hello, My website hosting company gives really horrible addresses to pages of websites they host, eg. example.com/#!PageName/xxxxx. It's that last bit that looks really unprofessional, but they claim (http://www.wix.com/support/forum/html5/other/other/scrappy-web-nameaddress-bar) that this 'page ID' is necessary for AJAX websites. I may be mistaken but I think Facebook uses AJAX and I don't see such horrible page IDs at the end of their page URLs, so I think it's poor/lazy coding on the part of the service provider. Is there a way to hide the page ID? Thanks 81.101.120.9 (talk) 21:14, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

These are sometimes called "hash-bang urls" - their purpose, and problems with them, is discussed pretty well in this post. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 21:21, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Oh, awesome,thanks! 81.101.120.9 (talk) 21:50, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

"Document Expired"

Does anyone remember the good old days of the 1990s, where you had to open every single page in a browser in a new window because if it went out of sight, the information and all your changes went away? Well, I just had a blast from the past getting hit with an edit conflict on Wikipedia - I did what I've always done, namely back-arrowed out of their useless "upper/lower text box" thingy so that I could grab my content and hit the Editing Section tab in the history browser. And guess what! "Document Expired". On Wikipedia I actually could go to the accursed lower box to retrieve my text, but if it had been another page, another time, I could have lost an hour or more of work, so it's important for me to stake this vampire, salt and burn the bones, bury it in its native earth, etc.

Now I've seen this plague rear its head more than once, and changed browsers more than once to get rid of it, and I'm amazed that something so universally derided by readers is still making appearances. The browser I was using for this was the latest update of Firefox on a Windows system. I went hunting and I found various threads claiming that you may or may not be able to fix it with a specific about:config setting - they're about evenly divided. [12] [13] and elsewhere. Oddly, some of those are from a period when I didn't notice that problem. Anyway, some general questions:

• Why anyone think this good idea, ever? It stands to reason, back arrow, forward arrow, flip, flip, flip. What's so complicated about saving a page the way a person expects it saved?

• Specifically, is all this rooted in some capitalo-utopian's freakish ideology of how the site owner owns your eyeballs and has the right to keep you from re-viewing a page, all sense be damned, even if he has to blow up the building, or is this truly apolitical?

• Is there a name for a browser model/philosophy that sticks with the notion that what you had is what you get? Are there browsers that strictly adhere to never giving you "document expired" except as a warning for your voluntary decision making purposes? (I see the Firefox thread mentions Opera, for example)

• And by the way, does that fix (setting browser.sessionstore.postdata = -1 in about:config) work, why do some people say it doesn't, and is there some dread exploit/virus/Knock At The Door From the Copyright Police that will happen if you make it?

Pardon my rhetoric, but this one... it's just so absurd... Wnt (talk) 21:45, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

There are at least two legitimate technical obstacles here:

• Browsers can't realistically treat every page in the history like a separate tab because there could be hundreds or thousands of pages in the combined histories of all tabs, and if you think browsers are bloated now imagine if they always acted like there were hundreds of additional open tabs.
• If a page was returned in response to an HTTP POST request, and the browser has discarded it (probably for legitimate reasons—see previous point), then it can't retrieve it again without resending the POST data, which can have side effects that shouldn't be repeated (such as charging a purchase to a credit card).

I do think it's silly that if a remote site has instructed the browser to immediately discard a page (as shown in the thread you linked), browsers will keep it around indefinitely as long as it's the latest page in a tab, but then forget about it instantly when you navigate away.

If I understand the browser.sessionstore.postdata documentation correctly, setting it to anything other than 0 instructs Firefox to automatically resend POST data in some circumstances, which could easily come back to bite you some day, so I advise against it. Also, it apparently only matters when quitting and restarting Firefox, not when hitting the back button. But if you're getting that "document expired" page with the "try again" button as shown in the thread you linked, and you don't mind resending the POST data in this particular case, clicking the "try again" button is safe and should solve your problem. -- BenRG (talk) 06:20, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

I didn't try it in this particular case, but my previous experience was that "try again" means that you lose all of the information you typed into the form, which is the whole reason why this is a problem. I'm not sure if hitting it would also mean that I'd lose the information in the next window (the one with the two edit boxes) also. I don't want the browser to hold all the data on every page I visit - only the ones with post data. I mean, before now I was counting on it to do that 100% of the time, so not only doing it 99% of the time doesn't seem like a huge burden. Wnt (talk) 14:48, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

I see that the copy of Firefox that did this is also doing something related: my list of contributions on Wikipedia is being changed while it is off-screen to reflect the more recent ones. While this isn't as obviously annoying, it also varies from the desired behavior of being able to count on the backarrowed and forwardarrowed pages to remain undisturbed. Wnt (talk) 18:48, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

I sent myself an email; why is it white space unless I reply?

Rather than carry around a flash drive I email myself stuff if I don't have time to read it at a library.

I forwarded the email to User:Nil Einne to see if he saw just white space too and if anyone can figure out why.— Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 22:49, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

November 23

cookies

i need a way to delete all but one cookie on Firefox 23.0.0.1, thanks, 70.114.242.17 (talk) 06:33, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

Instruction are here courtesy Aspro. Just select all cookies then unselect the one you want to keep. You could also keep a backup of the one you want to keep.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:33, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

Functional programming in Python

I like to do functional programming in Python.

Recursively-written functions

• are the functional way of doing things

however,

• always causes the exception RuntimeError: maximum recursion depth exceeded in comparison

Loop-using functions

• run without the recursion error

however,

• are imperative (having mutable state).

Is there a way to write functions that neither causes errors nor is imperative? Actually, using the function product in the definition of the function factorial for example appears to be one way, however the product function must be written in either of the two ways above.

--Czech is Cyrillized (talk) 06:44, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

Python isn't properly tail-recursive in the functional programming sense, and that seems unlikely to change in the foreseeable future, because a fundamental feature of Python's design is that function calls show up in tracebacks, and tail call elimination would break that. You can get around this with a trampoline, but it's not very pretty. There may be a way around it in Stackless Python, which I've never used. -- BenRG (talk) 07:04, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

Using map() or list comprehensions instead of iterations is quite functional. Also, loops are not the problem - using mutable variables is. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 23:42, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

software

Hi! I'm a new user of this wikipedia reference desk. I'm searching for a software in which I can put beard and mustache on a person's photo. Would you help me. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 106.218.47.240 (talk) 10:20, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

Gimp ! It is a 'free' Image Manipulation Program. [14]---Aspro (talk) 15:59, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

Opening an arrangement of windows with one click (or keyboard shortcut)

When I am coding I always use the same arrangements of windows - chrome on the left (for looking things up), my text editor top right, and powershell bottom right. This is annoying to set up manually each time. I have to open three programs, snap chrome to the left, then manually arrange my text editor and powershell. That's a total of three clicks, a drag and some futzing around to manually resize windows - is there a way of saving this arrangement of windows so that the whole thing would appear with a single click? I'm using Windows 7. Equisetum (talk | contributions) 11:08, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

We are making progress! I can (obviously) open the programs with a batch file, it was the moving and resizing that was giving me trouble. I found this utility called NirCmd that claims to be able to move and resize windows from the command line (and hence, I imagine, from a batch file). I now have a followup question - is there any way I can find the size and position of a currently open window - to save me lots of tedious trial and error with parameters to "nircmd win move" and "nircmd win setsize"? Alternatively, if anyone has a less ugly and hackish solution to this I would still be interested (with my idea if I changed monitors I'd probably have to recode my script - urgh). Equisetum (talk | contributions) 11:37, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

NirSoft WinExplorer will tell you various information about open windows, including the position and size.

I found a PCWorld review of various window managers: Crisp up your desktop with a window manager utility. I've never used any of them, but you might explore if they're useful to you. Mosaico looks promising but it costs money. (The review says $10, but the site's buy page says $19.95 or $15.96 with a limited-time 20% off code.) According to the review, Mosaico can

create different desktop snapshots for various situations. Once you're happy with the way your windows are laid out, click the snapshot button to save the arrangement. You can save eight different desktop snapshots and restore them easily from the program's snapshot browser. When restoring a snapshot, Mosaico will open relevant programs if they're closed, and will minimize others that aren't part of the snapshot. It can't, however, open specific documents.

You might search for window manager to look for similar programs. --Bavi H (talk) 20:12, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

KitKat differences

Dear Wikipedians:

I have attached a screenshot of two KitKat installations, one on Nexus 5 (left) and the other one on Nexus 4 (right). I have noticed that the transparency of background does not extend to the bottom three buttons on Nexus 4 whereas it does on Nexus 5, what gives?

File:KitKat Differences.png

Thanks,

L33th4x0r (talk) 20:04, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

I don't think the one on the right is KitKat. Aside from the white icons in the status bar it looks like Jelly Bean or ICS. I'm not convinced it's a Nexus 4 either, since it looks like it was rendered at a lower resolution, not downsampled, but I may be wrong about that. -- BenRG (talk) 06:54, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

As has been widely discussed in various places outside wikipedia (and I would suspect is mentioned somewhere in a variety of wikipedia articles, Google Experience Launcher is exclusive to the Nexus 5. It seems a bit unclear whether the translucency is part of this or not since for some reason the Moto X, did get it but either way it didn't make it to any of the other Nexus devices. [15] I presume Cyanogenmod and other customs firmwares will make up for this shortcoming if it matters to you. Nil Einne (talk) 13:40, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

Thank you all for your helpful information, I think it most likely is the Google Experience Launcher. Thanks, 216.58.91.254 (talk) 14:18, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

A private server

I'm wondering if it is possible to set up a server that cannot be traced back to the owner?

What ownership do you want over it? And please don't rely on "several encrypted hops", because that only makes the NSA curious. Hcobb (talk) 20:20, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

Maybe you would like to look and read threw Tor (anonymity network)--Aspro (talk) 22:26, 23 November 2013 (UTC)

What are "several encrypted hops?" And what do you mean by "what kind of ownership?" You use strange terminology I don't understand. Let me try to be more specific I guess. I want to have a domain and set up a website in such a way that nobody will be able to figure out that I did it. Is it clear or further explanations are needed?

What is Tor? It seems to be a video game. I don't do them. Never played any. Is it here as a joke or what?

Are you a wind up monkey? Its TOR T-O-R --Aspro (talk) 01:05, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

OK, I've got it. I am dumb! Much appreciate the pointer. Many thanks. Is it the only way? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.52.14.15 (talk) 03:17, 24 November 2013

Please remember to sign your posts by adding "~~~~" at the end. Thanks ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 13:58, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

November 24

Issue with digital photographs all coming out white

Hi there, folks:

Today, I went on a day out, where, unfortunately, my camera - which had been working perfectly fine outside before - decided to stop working. The issue is that, whilst taking photographs outside, the picture appears to be almost entirely white, with few of the details that I intended to capture appearing. I imagined that this was an issue with white balance, but even in the mode wherein the white balance is manually set, the same thing happened - almost entirely white pictures such as this here. Inside, the picture quality was not as good as usual, but at least did not produce entirely white pictures - however, something unusual happened in the preview mode: dark bars would appear, then disappear, on the photograph. I resorted to taking videos and capturing images from the videos, and while taking videos, there were no issues with whiteness. Does anyone know what the cause of this is and what the resolution could be? It made for a frustrating experience.

All the best,

--188.78.106.5 (talk) 01:27, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

This is not an issue with white balance. It is an issue with the image exposure. More specifically, it looks like your camera is over-exposing the image. The first thing to check is whether you accidentally set a manual exposure mode with improper settings.

Tomorrow I might take a longer look at the image, but at a first glance, I am inclined to attribute this specific exposure problem to a defective or malfunctioning CCD sensor. I conclude this because the image artifacts are interlaced (characteristic of recent era CCD sensors), and there appears to be over-exposure only on certain rows. That would imply that the sensor is either ignoring commands to correctly set integration time, or is receiving incorrect exposure commands (due to a software error in the camera's controller). It is also possible that the corruption is occurring during a post-processing phase; there might be no hardware defect at all. If any of these are the root-cause, there is unfortunately very little that you can do, except to complain to the retailer or manufacturer and ask for a refund. Nimur (talk) 08:27, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

Okay, I booted up my computer to stare at the image and scrutinize a few more technical details... yes, this is a photograph from the Samsung ST45 (known by many other names in some countries). And, regrettably, the EXIF indicates that the camera software provided reasonable settings to the sensor (not incorrect manual-exposure settings). This means that either: the camera software has a major bug, and does not send the sensor the commands it thinks it sends; or, the camera sensor hardware is defective, and does not set up its circuitry correctly when it receives a command; or, the camera post-processing software is defective. You might be able to "work around" some of these problems by switching the camera into a different mode, but ultimately, these are technical problems that an end-user cannot really resolve. Nimur (talk) 08:43, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

Hi there, Nimur - thanks for taking a look at the photo and its data for me, I appreciate it. I had a feeling that it was something more severe, as I tried resetting the exposure and other settings that were available to be changed manually in vain. I've had some rotten luck with cameras lately - the first was robbed from my house by a burlgar, the second fell prey to a "zoom error" that I couldn't get fixed, and now this. I bought it in a second-hand shop, so hopefully I can return it! All the best and thanks for your time, --188.78.106.5 (talk) 10:46, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

The image metadata appears to say the picture is exposed at f/3.0, 1/160 seconds, ISO 80. Those seem rather a lot for daylight. Could be the camera is set to over-expose. Try resetting the camera's settings - a quick googling suggests remove the memory card, then press and hold shutter and power button for several seconds. Or if that's not the reset see the camera's manual or google. 88.112.41.6 (talk) 16:45, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

Immunicity ?

Someone recommended Immunicity to redirect my traffic and avoid webpage blocks the other day. Should i be concernced about my traffic going throught their servers or do they have a good reputation? Thanks ツ Jenova20 ^(email) 12:46, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

Immunicity provides a "free-to-use" public open proxy. There is always a risk when you use a proxy server; the proxy operator can see your traffic. If most of your traffic uses SSL or TLS security, you significantly reduce the risk that the proxy operator can eavesdrop on your data. But the server operator will still know several pieces of information, such as which websites you are accessing (even if the website data is encrypted). A proxy server provides a more straightforward entry point for a man in the middle attack, which (if executed) can even compromise securely encryped data.

I do not recommend any third-party open proxy servers. If you don't control the hardware, and you don't have a business-relationship with the operator, there is almost no accountability: if they turn out to be malicious eavesdroppers. But not everybody is as paranoid and cynical as I am; not everybody's network data requires strong protection against eavesdroppers. You can decide for yourself whether you have enough technical understanding, and if you care about your data integrity, to trust them. Nimur (talk) 16:42, 24 November 2013 (UTC)