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Graphics Card

I'm about to buy a new graphics card. It has to be AGP as i don't hav a PCI-E and can't afford a new motherboard. I want the graphic card to be able to play most games available now. Ive so far been able to pick the XFX 7800GS Extreme. Is this a good card? Will it performe better than my current Geforce 6600LE? IS XFX a reputable company? Thank for your help!

Check out Resellerratings.com & Froogle. At first glance, the card seems to have good ratings.—Mitaphane _talk 03:22, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Many games look better when played on ati or nvidia cards.. far cry played much better on ATI for example. With XFX you may miss out all the time (or you may just get what nvidia gets since xfx uses nvidia's chipset, I'm not sure exactly how it works) --⁪froth^{T C} 17:19, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

XFX Geforce cards should just be considered nVidia cards. The chipset and the main electronics are the same, it's just the card itself and the assembly that's done differently. Some games do indeed handle better on either ATI or nvidia cards. However, since this card has to be AGP, nvidia is likely the best bet. Last I checked, ATI doesn't make AGP cards that are quite as good as the AGP 7800s, but have switched pretty much completely to PCI-E. As for performance, you might want to check out this chart (doesn't list the 6600LE, but I'm almost certain that it's slower than the plain 6600; note too that I don't recomment Tomshardware for anything but that chart :P). I says that the 7800GS+ is nearly 3x as fast as the plain 6600. No idea if the GS+ is close to XFX's GS Extreme but it's likely fairly close, so this should be a decent indication. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 17:33, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Active Desktop

Why does using active desktop for animations take up so much resources? For example, after this page loads, it runs at a normal framerate. However, if I put it on my desktop, it runs slowly, as well as slows everything down. --JianLi 00:50, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Active Desktop is not a critical process. It is primarily eye candy. So, it runs at extremely low priority. To understand how that affects speed, you'll have to get into computer scheduling theory. --Kainaw ^(talk) 02:47, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

getting files off qemu

I have some files I have on ubuntu server in qemu that I'd like to get to my host OS. What's the best way to do this? Is there any way to make a 100mb floppy disc image or something and mount it in ubuntu, then copy my files to it, release from ubuntu, then mount on my host OS? Or maybe a better way of doing it? Unfortunately the internet isn't exactly an option since I did a server install that didn't give me a web browser (and I don't want to download the iso again to get one). I think it loaded the right madwifi drivers (though ping doesnt work..) however it's a nightmare to set everything up for proxy. Any ideas? --⁪froth^{T C} 05:12, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The easiest way (if it's qemu's default "raw" image format) is to simply do a loopback mount of the image with the offset= option pointing to the start of the desired partition inside the image. The value to be given to the offset= option can be found by using /sbin/fdisk on the image, selecting expert mode, and printing the partition table; multiply the value at the Start column by 512 (the sector size) to get the value to be used. Usually the Start value is 63 (for the first partition), which means you should use -o offset=32256. The final command will probably be something like mount -o ro,loop,offset=32256 -t ext3 example.img /mnt. Don't forget to umount before running the image again. --cesarb 06:01, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Not only am I not using raw, but my host OS is windows XP. I don't think it's possible to mount the qcow (is that what it's called?) format since it's so tightly managed by qemu --⁪froth^{T C} 06:23, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You can use qemu-img convert to convert it to raw, and then mount it. --cesarb 20:25, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Then I have to install ext3 drivers for windows -_-. I guess this isn't going to happen --⁪froth^{T C} 20:51, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE REFERENCE DESK

If you haven't been paying attention to Wikipedia talk:Reference desk, you may not know that a few users are close to finishing a proposal (with a bot, now in testing and very close to completion) which, if approved by consensus, will be a major change for the Reference Desk.

Please read the preamble here, and I would appreciate if you signed your name after the preamble outlining how you feel about what we are thinking.

This notice has been temporarily announced on all of the current desks. freshofftheufo ΓΛĿЌ 06:59, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

For convenience, I propose any reactions to this anouncement be limited to Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Miscellaneous#PROPOSED_CHANGES_TO_THE_REFERENCE_DESK. DirkvdM 07:57, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Creating a private online database?

Are there any good tools for creating a simple online database? I'd use Google Base, but I don't want my items indexable, and would rather restrict access to certain users. Don't need anything tubro-charged, just a simple list of items & fields. thanks. Please reply on my talk page. --ZimZalaBim (talk) 09:44, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

FreeSQL might be the sort of thing you're looking for. --Canley 05:08, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Which has more security holes than swiss cheese. Try MySQL and set up a local server (use dyndns). --⁪froth^{T C} 06:55, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Swiss cheese has security holes? Dairy products with buffer overflows, who knew... By the way, who would implement network security with cheese anyway? Seems like it would get really smelly and sticky after a while :) Oskar 02:05, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

WIN-Modems

If my win modem cant be accessed using linux,is that just not a software/device driver problem? And also if newer versions of knoppix support visual basic runtime files(i saw it, but forgot the name) then wont this problem be over???

See ndiswrapper. --Kainaw ^(talk) 16:21, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

categorise the entire WIKIPEDIA

Is it possible to categorise the entire WIKIPEDIA subjectwise(computing,science,religion,etc) onto several DVD or BLU-RAY cds so as to benefit the entire world? Also just the links to images provided? Guess that would be easy as the information is already categorised.

Ever heard of Wikipedia-CD/Download ? ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 10:34, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That looks quite nice, however the article and its links don't appear to say how big the download is. The uncompressed files presumably take up around 700MByte. How big is the zip? -- SGBailey 21:44, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

DVD burner HD/BLU ray reader COMBO

Since DVD's are cheap and Movies are being produced in Blu-Ray/HD format, then why cant someone manufacture Blu-Ray/HD reader DVD/CD burner COMBO????????

Have you even read the BluRay article? They can. Here's just one example of one. —Mitaphane _talk 07:45, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I asked BLUray/HD READER...

Ah, sorry I misread that. Well it's a little more technically difficult, but possible. LG is looking to release one this fall[1]. —Mitaphane _talk 17:39, 21 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

VCD Format

I have a VCD and the formats of the songs are ".DAT". Are there any ways where I can turn it into some other formats (video or audio). Can it be converted to .mov or .mp3? Thanks!

Uh you could try using mencoder and doing something like mencoder dvd://1 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbr=600 -oac mp3lame -o vcd.avi --⁪froth^{T C} 17:12, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You can rename them to .mpeg and still play them, in any decent player. VCDs are MPEG-1. --Kjoonlee 23:11, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Also, you can use an MPEG-1 splitting program to split the VCD into tracks losslessly. You can even demux the audio and save the sound files as .mp2 files. This is the most high-quality way you can get individual files. --Kjoonlee 04:24, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Request help on converting hex strings on a page

I have a user subpage (85 KB) where I want to change the color hex strings that occur several hundred times on the page. If you might be interested in doing this or have suggestions on how to do it easily, please go to User talk:NoSeptember/List of Administrators#Note to color changer: where my request is explained in more detail. Thanks, NoSeptember 13:00, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

This is an interesting problem and it's been handled -very- badly. This is exactly what style sheets are for and it's going to take a clever stroke of parsing to extract just the colors from admins' names and change them the way you want. That or you could get the list all over again with new colors. --⁪froth^{T C} 17:18, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Tell me more. Changing of the colors is going to be an ongoing process here, so if the page can be converted to make the process easier, that is an option. I am not sure why it would be so difficult for some sort of program to pick up every instance of a unique 6 character string and change it to another string of 6 characters. I am not a programming expert, but it seems like a straightforward thing to be done. The question is what is the easiest way to do it. If you see problems, please describe them for me. Thanks. NoSeptember 18:45, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

I do not understand what the problem is. Copy the text to a text editor (like notepad). Use the replace function to replace the colors. Then, copy and paste it back to the website. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:39, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ah I see, just do a text replace. I was thinking that since those colors are used on the page already it would change them too, but actually looking at the html of wikipedia, it seems pretty modularized into linked style sheets.. so yes notepad would probably be a good choice. --⁪froth^{T C} 20:31, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I tested it and it works. Problem solved. An obvious solution to those who know what they are doing, unlike me, one who rarely uses notepad. Thank you both for the help. NoSeptember 00:41, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Server Error

One of my servers (Gateway 9315) has the following error: "Initialize runtime language module." Any clues what that means? More specifically, how to fix it? --Kainaw ^(talk) 18:26, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Apparently it's having trouble getting past POST checkpoint A4. You might want to take a look through this thing --⁪froth^{T C} 20:46, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

After waiting on hold for the afternoon, it turns out that it is not an error at all. After post, it just randomly throws out error messages whenever it feels like it. Great server design. --Kainaw ^(talk) 00:32, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How to play OGG videos

Hello, I want to view some video clips hosted by Wikipedia, but they're in .ogg format. Is it possible for me to download a driver enabling me to view .ogg videos on Windows Media Player or Quicktime? Or do I need to download a separate program specifically to view these video files? It'd be a lot easier if files were just hosted as .mpeg. Thanks, NIRVANA2764 19:45, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Firstly, mpeg is a proprietary video standard, which ogg is a patent-free open standard for video and sound, so that's why Wikipedia uses it. Secondly i'd seriously consider ditching any current media player you have, replacing it with VLC Media Player. If you can find something that wont play, i'll eat my DVD collection... Benbread 20:43, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

~~VLC is bloatware. Install the ogg directshow filters if you want to use WMP. --⁪froth^{T C} 20:49, 12 October 2006 (UTC)~~[reply]

Personally I would recommend the Illiminable codec, but any .ogg codec will allow you to play the videos in the vast majority of players ( all those that use the DirectShow system ). Robmods 21:28, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

VLC isn't bloated, it's inredibly lightweight! Of all the media players available for linux, VLC is by far the lightest. MPlayer can't even compete. Oskar 10:25, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have VLC media player, and I want to change the settings that determine what file formats VLC is the default media player for. I have searched and searched through all of the settings I could find, but haven't been able to locate it. Could anyone lend me a hand and tell me where to find those settings? Any help is appreciated. --71.117.44.209 22:26, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It doesn't seem to have any option of doing that. Kinda strange, but you can still easily do this yourself through the OS. In windows, when you see a file that you want to change the association for, right-click and select "Open with..." (it might be called something else, I'm not entirely certain) and you get a dialog long list of software that you can use. There should be checkbox where you can select something like "Always open this type of file with this program". That should do it. There are more advanced ways, but this is really enough if you just want to change what opens a file. Oskar 02:00, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the help, Oskar. 71.117.44.209 02:12, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Pin Number Solver

Hey ya'll!

I'm after a very specific number or equation, used to crack numbered locks. It is used by repeatedly entering the number or equation - and, after continually entering the number, the door, lock, or other password opens.

I know that this number exists from an X-Files fan book, which covered series 1 and 2. In one of the episodes in series one and two, Scully and Mulder used this number/equation/code to get through a number-lock door. They had to repeatedly enter the number, and, eventually, they opened the door.

I can't say more than that, unfortunatly. However, if anyone has any other useful number/equation that does something similar to that, I'd love to hear about it. Scalene 22:03, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wouldn't x+1 work? First try 0000, then 0001, then 0002, all the way up to 9999. I don't know about the continuous entry mechanism though. I've never encountered a lock that just opens after entering the wrong code over and over, but I'm probably misinterpreting you there. Hyenaste ^(tell) 22:13, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It could be. I don't actually know what the number is: I'm just trying to figure out what the number thingos special 'name' is. Scalene 22:27, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

EDIT: Found it. de Bruijn sequence. Scalene 23:34, 12 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

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domain functional level windows server 2003

why should I change my domain functional level ...what are the new features that are added ?

Wikipedia

whenever i save pages from wikipedia website it does not appear same as on internet.

how can i save so that it looks the same when viewing offline

File, save page as or something like File, save web page (complete) depending on your browser. Alternatively, download the wikipedia cd --⁪froth^{T C} 06:53, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

that is what i do --Utkarshkukreti 13:26, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It doesn't work, without a monobook to refer to the page automatically loads in "classic" skin, in order to fix it, you need to save the source code to the page in question, and look for any links to monobook.js, the default monobook, and manually correct them to link to wikipedia's own servers, which only works while you're online, otherwise it will revert to "classic" skin--66.65.155.117 20:51, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Look through the source for anything containing @import "/skins-1.5/monobook/IE50Fixes.css?1"--66.65.155.117 20:53, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

HOW???--Utkarshkukreti 06:16, 16 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

When you save the page to your computer, it creates a folder like PageName_Files, assuming you're using IE. Open that folder, and open all present .htm or .html files in something like notepad. Inside those files you should see links to the monobook.js / monobook.css files, but they link properly as it is (I think that's what 66.65 is saying). Change the links so that they link directly to the monobook files online. freshofftheufo ΓΛĿЌ 06:38, 19 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

it does not happen!--Utkarshkukreti 11:55, 19 October 2006 (UTC) please tell--Utkarshkukreti 11:55, 19 October 2006 (UTC) again[reply]

I'm afraid I can't understand your problem. What doesn't work? freshofftheufo ΓΛĿЌ 04:05, 21 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

O in Opera

When I'm using Opera web browser, every so often the 'o' key stops working. It is fixed, I have found, by pressing 'alt' twice in a row. I haven't noticed any patterns as to when it occurs, and I don't think that I'm somehow pressing 'alt' accidentally. Does anybody know why this might be occuring, and how I could stop it forever? —D a niel (‽) 18:35, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your advice. I never realised that stopped it! Sorry, I can't answer your question....--martianlostinspace 13:30, 15 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sound too high-pitched in Windows.

I did a complete format and reinstall of Windows 2000 on this computer. The sound was fine before, but now it's too high-pitched, and additionally seems sped-up. (A 1:33 song will play in 1:20 on my stopwatch, for instance.) What could have caused this, and where do I look to fix it? The problem occurs in Sound Recorder on WAV files, in Media Player Classic on MP3 files, and in the Explorer preview of said WAV files. The sound card is listed as an "Intel(R) 82801BA/BAM AC '97 Audio Controller - 2445" in Device Manager; I'm using drivers I got from the Compaq website yesterday. 69.173.119.165 18:51, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I don't have the cure, but note that the increased speed would be expected to cause higher pitch. StuRat 23:05, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have noticed this effect several times on "high speed" machines (1.5GHZ+) with "older" (pre Windows XP) operating systems installed. What is the speed and specifications of the machine?

How to enable windows task manager

All of a sudden after I restarted my computer I tried to open task manager but it said it was disabled by the administrator. I never disabled it that I can recall, and I can't find where to re enable it. If anyone knows how to reenable its use I would appreciate the information. I appreciate any help that is given.

Do you have access to the administrator account? If so, log in as administrator and change your account to one that has the rights to use the task manager. If you don't have access to the administrator account, complain to your computer administrator. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:42, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

!!! You probably have the Win32.P2P-Worm.Alcan.a virus !!! Perform a system restore immediately, and follow any applicable instructions on the sites that the Google search has found. Unfortunately I got it so long ago, I can't point you in the direction of more helpful advice. Hyenaste ^(tell) 19:51, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm logged into the administrator account, this is a single user pc and I've never disabled it to begin with it just happened on its own somehow. I've searched with AdAware,Norton,NOD32,ewido,spybot, and zonealarm pro and the problem still keeps occuring. Recently I've had to kill all access to Internet Explorer because everytime it would open or try to open it would cause Windows Explorer to crash. I don't know what to do about the virus assuming that's what it is if I can't find it with any of these programs, if anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate it greatly. Thanks in advance.

None of those programs were able to remove it for me either. I had to actually go in and delete it from folders and registry (ugh). You may not have the virus though. To check, enter your computer via safe mode, and hit ctrl-R and type msconfig. Click the far-right tab and check for a program called KatchEm, or locate anything you don't recognise. Disable these entries (uncheck them). This doesn't solve the problem at all, but I think it does allow you to log onto the computer at least once normally. I would then run a total system search for .exe files that were created today (or yesterday, or from when you first noticed the problem). Check to see if you have several hundred similarly sized files. Also check your documents folder for hundreds of similar .exe files. (I believe the size is 851.7KB.) Hyenaste ^(tell) 00:26, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I would recommend that you download some of the tools from sysinternals, most importantly Process Explorer and Autostart. Autostart is FAR superior than msconfig, it will list everything that the OS runs at startup, including all the dlls. Process Explorer is a replacement for task manager, and it too is far superior. There is an option in it that says "Replace Task Manager" that replaces the standard task manager with it, so when you press ctrl+alt+del it comes up. It is also far superior to the standard program, it can TONS of things the task manager can't. You can verify the digital signatures of your legitimate software, it can list all the dlls a program is using, it lists all programs in a tree view so you know what started what, it can tell you the exact commandline a program used to start, it can give you many nice little graphs, and MUCH, much more. And, even with all of these great features, it is still really lightweight (only one exe), it's fast, it doesn't consume a whole lot of memory, it doesn't bog down your system at all. It's fantastic if you've got malware on your computer. All people with windows really should be using it. Oskar 01:51, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ohh, and also, there are a number of other programs at sysinternals that greatly help with cleaning your windows box. If there is a file that is impossible to delete for instance, sysinternals provides a program that will set windows to delete it on startup. That will work on every file. You should check the site out, it really can help. However, it may still be impossible to get rid of certain very nasty malware, because sometimes they are just that nasty. To completely clean your system, you need either a system restore (which might not necessarily work) or completely reinstall windows. Oskar 01:55, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Runic alphabet in Unicode

~~I'm making the assumption that the Runic alphabet is part of Unicode (I'm quite sure I've seen something to that effect, but if I'm wrong, ignore the next question, just tell me it isn't).~~ I found out it is, so I just need the answer to the next question. If I wanted to find it in Windows Character Map, where is it (or is it in it at all?) By finding it, I mean what part of "Group by" (I can get it via code searches already) Thanks. - ^Рэд _хот 21:37, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That a character is listed in Unicode does not mean yet that your computer can display it. Most fots cover only a small subset of Unicode. So, you need to install either a font explicitely for runes, or a font that aims to cover the whole of Unicode. The latter is a neat thing to have, and there happens to be a good one designed as shareware project: Code 2000. See the link at the end of the article. Simon A. 08:29, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Runic letters are found starting at U+16A0. Perhaps the following will display for you:

ᚠᚡᚢᚣᚤᚥᚦᚧᚨᚩᚪᚫᚬᚭᚮᚯᚰᚱᚲᚳᚴᚵᚶᚷᚸᚹᚺᚻᚼᚽᚾᚿᛀᛁᛂᛃᛄᛅᛆᛇᛈᛉᛊ

ᛋᛌᛍᛎᛏᛐᛑᛒᛓᛔᛕᛖᛗᛘᛙᛚᛛᛜᛝᛞᛟᛠᛡᛢᛣᛤᛥᛦᛧᛨᛩᛪ᛫᛬᛭ᛮᛯᛰ

Or try this page, which should always work. --KSmrq^T 10:22, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for those. By "I can get it via code searches" I was actually trying to imply I have a fonmt that supports it. It's just when I go to "Group by" I can't find it in any individual groups (I don't need it in a group, just wondering is all). But thanks anyway - ^Рэд _хот 12:30, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ah. Instead of Windows Character Map, which indeed is incomplete, try BabelMap. --KSmrq^T 14:31, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Splitting AVI files

I just want to split films (AVI files) into smaller parts, and I am an absolute ignoramus as far as programming and software in general are concerned. I'm not satisifed with what I was able to achieve with Windows Movie Maker. Which of the available free video editing software would you recommend? Thanks, --194.145.161.227 22:37, 13 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If splitting videos is all you want, Avidemux can do that quite easily. It's free and open source. It can't do all that much, but it can split video files. Oskar 01:34, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, that was exactly what I needed! --194.145.161.227 10:20, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

October 14

Frames Per Second - limits of conscious visual recognition

Question - what is the typical limit in Frames Per Second (or fractions of a second) of human visual recognition on a conscious level?

Background - trying to do an experiment in subliminal messages using home edited videos. Microsoft Movie Maker 2 appears to edit only at 7 FPS. I have found that when a frame is 1/7th of second, it is clearly visible to the conscious mind. I have scoured articles on how fast the image needs to be (including Wikipedia article on subliminal messages), but cannot find answer to above question. When shopping for a replacement consumer software package that allows editing in more detail, how many frames per second do I need to edit so that, when I insert the subliminal message frame, most of the viewers will not consciously perceive it?

For extra credit, any ideas on consumer software packages that would allow such editing?

Thank you in advance.

I'm in no way an expert on this, but from what I've read, when the numbers of frames per second are 24 or more per second, the human brain can no longer recognize them as individual images, only as a moving picture. That is why movies in movie theatres are at 24 fps (which curiously makes them a few mintues shorter when airing on PAL-television, which is 25 fps). However, I'm certain that the human brain can comprehend images at even higher fpses, whether conciously or uncounciously. That is, if a frame that is radically different flashes by in a 30 fps clip, you probably would notice it (even though you obviously couldn't recall what was actually in the frame). That is my guess anyway. I'd say try it with 24 fps and a few higher numbers and see the results you get. Oskar 01:42, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This limit is known as the flicker fusion threshold, so see there. A similar question was recently asked on the Science reference desk: WP:RD/S#How many "frames" per second can our eye process?, so see there, too. We also have an article on subliminal message. Simon A. 08:35, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Page views of websites

I want a few links in which I can see the total page views of top 10 English websites. If you dont know any links, I just want to know page views of three sites Yahoo, MSN and google ( all figures must be for global including USA)

The closest you're going to get are the alexa rankings. They are not very reliable however, but they will give you a ballpark number. See [2] [3] [4] Oskar 03:30, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If, then, how, why

If integer(FOO/2) = FOO/2 then Print "EVEN" ElseIf print "ODD" EndIF Is FOO even or odd?205.188.117.12 14:38, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm confused. How is "integer FOO/2 = FOO/2" a meaningful if statement? There's no way to know whether FOO is even or odd in this case, because there's no meaningful initialization for FOO. Even then, I'm not that fluent in VB, but I don't understand why someone would want to compare FOO/2 to FOO/2, because it should always print EVEN, regardless of the initialization. Something like "if (FOO % 2 == 0)" would be a better choice (not sure how to do that out of C). Wooty 20:31, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This is an extremely bad way to do it, but in some languages (depending on how it uses types), it might work. See he's using the function "integer()" which extracts the integer value from a float (ie, it floors it). So integer(3.5) = 3. Then for instance if you have FOO = 15, you get integer(15/2) = 15/2, or 7.5 = 7 which is false, therefore the number is odd. I used a similar trick on my old TI-83+ because it didn't have a mod function and it had only one type (a float). Still, in more advanced languages, this is a mindnumbingly stupid way to do it. There are two major pitfalls: if FOO is of type integer, FOO/2 might return an integer answer, thus the statement is always true, also if the integer function returns an int, there might be type error. And it's hard to read.

Still I don't know how VB handles types, but if I remember my BASIC correctly it's pretty liberal. So it might work. That is, however, not an excuse for bad design. As you would say in a c-derivative language, (FOO % 2 == 0) ? "EVEN" : "ODD" is a much better way to do it. Oskar 21:14, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The even/odd distinction depends on FOO being an integer. (Is 3.14 even or odd? No.) Thus we use a bitwise operator; test if FOO And 1 equals 0. It's cheap and readable.

Here's an old trick along the same lines. To decide if an integer n is a power of 2, test if n equals n And -n. (The latter expression selects the low-order 1-bit in n.) --KSmrq^T 23:32, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This is a clever hack if you are sure that the variable is an int. This might not be the case; even though the value obviously is an integer, the type might very well be a float. You might, for instance, want to know if 14.00 is even or odd. The way to reliably test that number is to do the mod thing. You'll get part of the manitissa if you do the binary and thing. Oskar 01:42, 15 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If the number is stored in a float, how can we know it's an integer? First, store it in an integer, then test. In fact, VB might even do the desired conversion automatically, since the And operator is not defined for "fractional" data types. The power-of-two test is clever; the even-odd test is neither clever nor a hack, but only an obvious use of radix-2 notation. Is it a "clever hack" to observe that a number written in decimal is divisible by 10 if the last digit is zero? I don't think so. --KSmrq^T 08:12, 15 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There might be many reasons why you would want to know if an integer float is even or odd, and converting it to an integer first is just a nuisance. You might have an application with a lot of mathematical operations, and you wish to keep variables consitently floats. You might get the number as a result of series of operations on floats, and you knew that the result would be an integer. I called your way a hack because it utilized a special property in how the number was stored, not a special property in the number itself. If a solution is equally good (infact, I believe that if you do the foo % 2 thing on an int, clever compilers will do the binary and thing), there is no reason to go with the more obscure and less clear way. Using "mod 2" makes the code more readable, it makes the code more understandable, it makes the code more portable and it is a more stable solution. Oskar 12:29, 15 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Blocking ads in websites

Is it possible for websites to detect whether the browser is using ad blockers? And if the browser is using ad blockers, is it possible for that website to say a message saying ' you are using ad blockers; you cannot see this page' or something like that. Is this possible or is it ot possible for the website to do this? I would also like to know how many percentage of world Internet users block graphical ads in percent

Now why do I get the impression you want to spam the world with an infinite number of ads and keep them from blocking you ? StuRat 22:01, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It is possible: use JavaScript to determine whether a popup window exists or not after requesting it to pop up. x42bn6 Talk 22:33, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That would require the use of a popup window. And it what to do when the user removes it? And how would you distinguish between the user and the computer doing it? In either case, would you wish to send them such a message, basically telling them to fuck off? Not likely. You're talking about a potential customer (if StuRat's assumption is correct). Other than that, a user downloads a page and a browser then renders it. How it does that is something you ultimaltely cannot affect, once you've sent it. So you'd first have to get the viewer's cooperation and only then send the info. DirkvdM 07:05, 15 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think most scripts do this action immediately after a window is loaded, so technically a user can't, er, click it that quickly. Basically, JavaScript initiates a window opening call and detects if it exists or not, then closes the window in the next statement. A quick Google search gives you a script, by the way. x42bn6 Talk 11:53, 15 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Printing PDFs in a Different Color

I'm taking a college course right now that doesn't have a textbook; instead, everyone has to print out a bunch of readings for every class. It's taking a toll on my black print cartridge. For Word documents I don't need to turn in, I change the font to a different color (say, blue) because I rarely if ever print anything that needs color. Is there a way to print black and white PDFs, which most of the readings I have to print are, in another color like I do for my Word documents? Thanks. --Maxamegalon2000 17:17, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I wan't as much Information as possible on:

World of Internet & unique websites,IT Buzzwords,Acronyms.
Personalities-International,National,Local.
Advertisements of IT and Communication companies.
Software products,companies & brands,History of IT,humorous side of IT.
Areas where computers have made an impact such as education, entertainment, books, multimedia, internet, banking, advertisements, sports, etc.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.95.5.64 (talk)

For all that info I suggest you read Wikipedia, one article at a time. If you have a SPECIFIC question, then come back here. StuRat 20:42, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Best way to send large files over internet

What's the best way to send a large file (~100-500MB) over the internet if you don't have access to a reliable server with that much space? The tech-saavy could set up an ftp/http server on their home computer, configure the hardware firewall, and send a link. Most people aren't going to be able to do this, however. What are the other options? Sending the file through AIM? Is there some good free third-party server for this sort of thing-- an Imageshack for half-gig files, for example? --Alecmconroy 19:34, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Best way? Learn to configure your router (http://portforward.com) and install a server (Apache web server). If there's anyone out there too stupid to look that up, they don't need to be sending their 500 megs of crap.--Frenchman113 on wheels! 19:59, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

www.megaupload.com goes up to 250mb, there are ones out there that go up to a gig. Wooty 20:26, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You could always use bittorrent, even if you just want to send a single file to one person. Create a torrent from the file and register it to a free tracker and start your torrent-program and act as a seeder on that file. Then you can send the torrent (which is fine, since they're tiny) to every computer you want to download the file to and they can fire up their torrent software and download from the seeder. This method has a number of advantages: easy pause/resume functionality, it's free, it's very simple, as many people as you want can download it, don't have to worry about IPs and such (the protocol takes care of that), and the files can be as big as you want. If you want to send a really large file to someone, this is most likely the best way. You could use something like AIM, but the torrent protocol is much more sophisticated in transferring large files. For instance, what if you need to reboot while it's downloading? With bittorrent that isn't a problem, but it certainly might be with aim. Oskar 21:24, 14 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Easiest and fastest for files over 100MB would probably be these temporary hosting sites. This list is from the good folks at 4chan/b/; I can't vouch for any of them being non-evil. Here they are, grouped by maximum upload size. grendel|khan 05:06, 15 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

2 GB:
http://www.sendover.com/
http://www.snaggys.com/

1.5 GB:
http://www.megashares.com/

1 GB:
http://www.transferbigfiles.com/

700 MB:
http://www.depositfiles.com/

500 MB:
http://www.filefactory.com/
http://www.zupload.com/
http://www.spread-it.com/
http://www.mooload.com/

300 MB:
http://www.uploading.com/
http://www.sendspace.com/
http://www.bigupload.com/
http://www.rapidupload.com/
http://www.sharebigfile.com/

250 MB:
http://www.megaupload.com/
http://www.updownloadserver.de
http://www.xtrafile.com/
http://www.bonpoo.com/
http://www.filecache.de/upload

200 MB:
http://supload.com/sendfile

I would like to point out, in defence of my bittorrent solution: it will take the same amount of time to upload to one of these sites as it will to transfer the file directly (it's capped by your upload speed), and it is much more "stable". if you will. What if it takes 3-4 hours to upload and you accidentally close your browser? What if a cable is accidentaly yanked out, or your internet connection suddenly goes out? The bittorrent protocol was invented to be able to easily transfer large files over the internet. That was it's purpose. Oskar 12:32, 15 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

User:Freshgavin/Sandbox/Reference desk/Computers and technology