Science	Mathematics	Computing/IT	Humanities
Language	Entertainment	Miscellaneous	Archives

How to ask a question

Search first. It's quicker, because you can find the answer in our online encyclopedia instead of waiting for a volunteer to respond. Search Wikipedia using the searchbox. A web search could help too. Common questions about Wikipedia itself, such as how to cite Wikipedia and who owns Wikipedia, are answered in Wikipedia:FAQ.

Sign your question. Type ~~~~ at its end.
Be specific. Explain your question in detail if necessary, addressing exactly what you'd like answered. For information that changes from country to country (or from state to state), such as legal, fiscal or institutional matters, please specify the jurisdiction you're interested in.
Include both a title and a question. The title (top box) should specify the topic of your question. The complete details should be in the bottom box.

Do your own homework. If you need help with a specific part or concept of your homework, feel free to ask, but please don't post entire homework questions and expect us to give you the answers.

Be patient. Questions are answered by other users, and a user who can answer may not be reading the page immediately. A complete answer to your question may be developed over a period of up to seven days.

Do not include your e-mail address. Questions aren't normally answered by e-mail. Be aware that the content on Wikipedia is extensively copied to many websites; making your e-mail address public here may make it very public throughout the Internet.
Edit your question for more discussion. Click the [edit] link on right side of its header line. Please do not start multiple sections about the same topic.
Archived questions If you cannot find your question on the reference desks, please see the Archives.
Unanswered questions If you find that your question has been archived before being answered, you may copy your question from the Archives into a new section on the reference desk.
Do not request medical or legal advice.
Ask a doctor or lawyer instead.

After reading the above, you may
ask a new question by clicking here.
Your question will be added at the bottom of the page.

How to answer a question

Be thorough. Please provide as much of the answer as you are able to.
Be concise, not terse. Please write in a clear and easily understood manner. Keep your answer within the scope of the question as stated.

Link to articles which may have further information relevant to the question.
Be polite to users, especially ones new to Wikipedia. A little fun is fine, but don't be rude.
The reference desk is not a soapbox. Please avoid debating about politics, religion, or other sensitive issues.

[WP:RD/C]]|Computing/IT}}

November 26

screen resolution

Since I've been taking a lot of Beta Carotene my eyes have been playing strange tricks. Whenever I look at my monitor and move my head real quick or say slap a mosquito on my forehead the monitor resolution seems for an split second to be real course. Does this mean my eyes are able to operate faster than the monitor can create the next screen or what? Seems to only happen with my 60 hz LCD monitor. Adaptron 00:55, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If I wave my hand in front of my computer screen I get "still images" of my hand. I don't think it takes much speed (or a particularly low refresh to be able to do that trick). I'm no expert but my instinct is that 60hz sounds quite a low figure. My memnory may be playing tricks on me but I seem to recall you want to be - at least - up in the 70s. Can anyone confirm please? --bodnotbod 01:05, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's normal; a lot of LCDs are around 60Hz. enochlau (talk) 01:33, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

LCDs don't operate the same way as CRTs, 60hz isn't bad at all for an LCD --⁪froth^{T C} 02:01, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Most likely this "coarse resolution" is caused by your head moving too quickly for your eyes to lock on such small targets (screen items). Droud 01:51, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Its like the grapic that loads at real course resolution and then as more data is received the resolution is improved until finally there is a good picture. The effect of this is the pretty much the same. Screen areas made up of say 2 pixels appear as as if made up of only one larger pixel instead of two smaller pixels. Adaptron 02:34, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

60Hz is the bare minimum for a CRT display but should be OK for an LCD. StuRat 01:00, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Convert area code to longitude and latitude

Is there a freeware program to convert area code to latitude and longitude? 71.100.6.152 01:16, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I was unable to find any software to do this, but the data is readily available here along with links to other resources. Droud 01:54, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You will have to manually find the latitude and longitude of each city and area code listed. Droud 01:56, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Note that area codes cover many combos of latitude and longitude. You can't just specify a range for each, either, as that would only work if the area code covered a rectangular region with boundaries parallel to the equator and prime meridian. StuRat 00:56, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Note also that if the city you seek is large enough, it most likely has an article on Wikipedia, which will likely contain the latitude and longitude. --Doubleplusungood 03:42, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Macs and Gaming

I really really like Macs, but the thing is, I like gaming more. Is a new Intel-Mac that can dual-boot to windows truly the best of both worlds? Or is dual-booting somehow not all its cracked up to be and are there other barriers to gaming on a Mac?

Thanks!

--Wedgeoli 03:05, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It depends on how much money you wanna spend. A high-end gaming Mac will be at least $1000 more than the same PC system. And even that system won't be as great as the best gaming PC (note: I only use Macs, but I don't game). --Cody.Pope 06:22, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'll admit my biases first: I'm an avid PC gamer, I have a windows box for gaming and a iBook for everything else. That being said, it really depends on what games you want to play. The biggest hold-back is that most developers opt to use DirectX (which is Windows only). I'll just get to my point: if you want a system just for PC gaming, a Windows box is cheaper. If you're cool with console gaming, pick up a Wii and get yourself a MacBook for everything else. 'Course, this is obviously just my opinion. --Brad Beattie ^(talk) 06:40, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You have two choices: (1) Boot Camp, to boot into Windows, and (2) Parallels Desktop, for Windows within Mac OS. For serious gaming, go with Boot Camp, which is currently available in beta and will come with the OS soon. The two major hardware factors affecting game play are the processor performance and the video performance. Macs compete well with off-the-shelf PCs as far as processor power, but only the high-end models come with high-performance video cards. Here are three links for more info:

Hard-core gamers build custom PC systems to get the features they want at a good price; building a Mac is not an option. --KSmrq^T 07:08, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Just note that dual booting is, frankly, a pain. I tried doing something similar with Linux and Windows, but eventually gave it up. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 08:10, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Linux is very good in a VM because it's so lightweight --⁪froth^{T C} 03:01, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

BibTex help

I have never used BibTex before and I'm trying to. In the body of my document, I have the commands

\bibliographystyle{h-physrev3.bst}
\bibliography{references}

and I have the file h-physref3.bst and references.bib in the folder along with my document, which is creatively named "document." At command line, I type:

latex document
bibtex document

and get back the error message: I couldn't open filename `document.aux'

Anyone know why it could be having this trouble? I never actually installed BibTex; I vaguely recall something when I upgraded to LaTex2e about a year ago, but I'm assuming by the fact that it recognized the command "bibtex" that it must be installed at least. Thanks. Registrar 04:48, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How about trying latex document.tex or something? And from which program does the error message come from? --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 08:10, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Normally using bibtex, you'll need to run latex once, bibtex once, and then latex twice more. Sometimes you need to run bibtex twice. The .aux file is one created when you run latex, as I recall, and it is one that won't always be present. Try running latex and bibtex in the order I suggested. J-Deeks 11:24, 4 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Realplayer and Letterboxed Widescreen Video

Is there anyway to zoom a Realplayer window in such away that it crops out part of the video? Specifically, I’m using the latest free version (10) of Realplayer for a G5 Mac. When I watch a 4:3 letterboxed video clip (like videos from CBS’s innertube), my widescreen screen can never take advantage of the wide video (unless, of course I force my screen resolution to stretch everything, which isn’t what I want to do at all). So, in full screen mode I get black boxes on all sides (like when you watch and a widescreen HD ready TV with a non-enhanced 4:3 letterboxed video). Also, manually resizing the window doesn’t work, since Realplayer adjusts to the limiting dimension (in this case height). Any suggestions? Any setting I can mess with? --Cody.Pope 06:18, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Program won't close

Lately I've been having a problem with my relatively new laptop (running Windows XP Media Center). The pattern: A program freezes or acts strangely, I press ctr-alt-del, send the error report, the program closes. I reopen the program, it freezes/acts funny again... So I do the same thing, then press ctr-alt-del again. It's not in the Applications tab, but under the Processes tab...sure enough, two (e.g.) GoogleVideoPlayer.exe's, neither of which closes when I press "End Process" (or "End Process Tree").

I just tried opening Google Video Player again, then going to the Applications tab and trying to close one of the past copies of it. The program closed, but nothing in the Applications list disappeared. What's going on? --zenohockey 06:52, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think Google Video Player was waiting on some resource that wasn't responding, because some programs that try to, for example, access a CD-ROM drive that can't be accessed, freeze. When you try to end the program, it just refuses because it's still waiting on that CD drive. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 08:08, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The insight that Wj32 gives may be worthwhile looking into: somewere in the setting/setup/options of the specific program there may by something like :"use efg as default", "look for xyz automatically", or "run abc at start-up", which causes the futile search or program hang-up. You would then need to change that setting. Then again, it may be something you are running as a service, or in your startup group (both loading what you boot Windows). This you can see by clicking Start>Run>type "msconfig" - no quotation marks>OK>click on Startup or Services tab. You can disable each individual startup item or service to try to pinpoint the offending program, and then try to find out what the culprit is doing wrong. Any answer would be easier if it were possible to describe exactly what you were doing, and more so if you can predictably reproduce the error. It is also the sort of problem you could trace using Process Explorer. It may take some getting used to what you are looking at, and what it means. Fortunately documentation is good. You can shut down ("kill") a running program using the same tool, more effectively than with the native Windows application (Unlocker is an simpler way of just killing a stubborn program). Seejyb 19:46, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You Tube

Is there any way to download videos from YouTube? Battle Ape 07:01, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

See the November 22 question with the same title (i.e. scroll-up). --Cody.Pope 07:05, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Or to save you that scrolling, ~~Computing#YouTube~~. A quick answer that works with YouTube and others is [1]. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 07:11, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Err, Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Computing#YouTube -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 08:03, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Doesn't #YouTube also work? --Kjoonlee 12:57, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You can also try http://www.youtubex.com

Ronaldh 12:54, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Video Downloader does that thing for firefox, and for almost every streaming video site. Aetherfukz 17:52, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If that doesn't work, UnPlug/Download Embedded/Amazing Media Browser from the firefox extension site also do the same thing. Aetherfukz 17:53, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A Less Terrible Convert to Curve in Open Office?

I was wondering if there is any good way to convert text in Open Office draw to vector format. I'm producting a bunch of physics notes for my classes and having text that can scale with my diagrams would be very handy. Currently though, if I select a block of text and do Modify -> Convert to Curve, the result look awful. Any suggestions?

Origional text on left, converted on right.

Thanks,

--CGP 11:18, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I would bypass doing this in OO altogether and use the vector trace function in Inkscape, save as SVG and import back into OO. Sp0ng 13:55, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Don't use vector trace in Inkscape; just write the text and then Path > Object to Path. It'll do a perfect conversion of the text to a path. --24.147.86.187 03:49, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

NetFront CSS support

Does anybody have access to a specification of just what parts of CSS2 NetFront V 3.3 supports?

I am trying to tailor a website for handheld browsers, and had naively assumed that the browser on my Sony Ericsson phone - which is NetFront 3.3 - would implement the 'handheld' media, but it seems that it doesn't. This doesn't affect my using 'handheld' in my CSS of course, but it means I can't test it on my phone.

Does anybody know if the browser uses a different media type, or whether it just ignores media? And what else in CSS2 it doesn't implement?

The Access website http://www.access-company.com/products/netfrontmobile/browser/33_symbian.html (which is the only one I can find on 3.3) says 'CSS2 (partial)' but gives no more detail.

Alternatively, is it possible to upgrade the browser on a K510i to 3.4? (and does 3.4 support media - the website says it supports CSS2 without mention of 'partial')?

--ColinFine 13:55, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The specifications for NetFront 3.3 CSS2 can be downloaded in pdf from http://developer.sonyericsson.com/site/global/docstools/browsing/p_browsing.jsp, or directly http://developer.sonyericsson.com/getDocument.do?docId=88004 Seejyb 22:03, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, that's very much what I was looking for. However... it doesn't actually say anywhere (that I can find) which media types it actually implements. It does say 'Paged media - not supported', and the same for 'Aural media', but apart from classifying the CSS properties by 'media group' (almost all 'visual') it doesn't discuss the specific media types it implements. Given that it has that support, I would have expected it to match '@media handheld', but there's no reference to that in the document. --ColinFine 23:03, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

map of thailand

Ive been unable to find a map of Thailand I can download for use on my pocketpc. i had no trouble finding similar maps for europe. can anyone help?

Google is your friend [2]. x42bn6 Talk 18:01, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How did these Macros ....?

I'm a writer, I've used Microsoft Word '97 since it came out, and this morning I went to edit a simple file and I get this Macro warning. Beyond ordinary text, the file contains some hypertext, but I've been doing this for a long time and have never encountered this warning. When I try to save the file, I'm told it's read-only, so I do a "save as" and the whole thing starts over again. How on earth could these Macros have gotten into this document? I haven't opened the document without disabling the Macros. Should I be worried about this? Can it somehow infect other docs, or the whole computer? I read Wikipedia's Macro page and learned -- culled at least -- nothing.Wolfgangus 16:38, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If no one has a better suggestion: Office documents can get funny macro problems, even if they aren't that complex and even if macros have never even been anywhere near them, it's like a corruption or something, I work in IT Support and I have seen it several times. The easiest way around it is not to worry about how or why, simply open the document, do a 'control a', open another new blank document and do a 'control c', the macro prolems (with a little luck) most of the time will not copy paste into the blank document, just save the 2nd one as the authoritative version. Vespine 05:48, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Done, and problem solved. Thank you very much; I'm grateful.Wolfgangus 16:34, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

For the record, though, viruses can be written as Word macros, and they can infect other files. You might want to be sure that your virus scanner can scan .doc and .dot files. --24.147.86.187 03:47, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

And also for the record, it's ctrl a then ctrl c, open a new document and then ctrl v, glad you worked it out because I don't know what I was on when I wrote the above. :) Vespine 05:25, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm always the guy with the chassis fan dead..

now the pc doesn't turn off by itself, I gotta switch off manually! Besides xp doesn't find xmnt2002 at the boot.. xp always starts the checkdisk but it hangs when it find a file with crossed references and I gotta reboot skipping checkdisk.. Can you help me? --Ulisse0 18:02, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Some ideas: Your problem seems to be hardware related, so if you can get to Windows, backup or save the important info you have on your harddrive(s). The original post about the BIOS not detecting the chassis fan, and erratic shutdown seems to indicate a hardware or Bios failure, not a Windows problem to start with. It may be prudent to first clean the inside of the machine, and make sure all connections are good. Thereafter you are into flashing BIOSes and the like, and that may be better done in a technical forum, by email, or on chat using a different machine, since this help desk is not suited to the to and fro information needed. The xmnt2002 bit means someone has used Partition Magic on the machine, and that likely takes some registry editing to fix. Seejyb 20:53, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I partitioned with Partition Magic, but I did 3 years ago and these problems had never shown up before. I can get to windows, but I have to skip the checkdisk at every boot, otherwise the PC hangs.. --Ulisse0 13:06, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sharing only part of a torrent, while downloading the whole thing

(Separating from my above question) I live in Canada, where it is legal to download but not upload most copyrighted material. I'm trying to download two torrents that include both free and unfree material. Are there any clients I can set to download the full torrents, but share only the free material (which I can manually identify)? It seems to me this somewhat resembles superseeding in the sense that you're only sharing specific parts of what you've got, so there should be a way to do it. Neon Merlin 18:03, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Downloading copyrighted material is piracy, I don't think Canada has an exemption. I think you may be misinterpreting something if you think it is legal 'to download most copyrighted material', what makes you think it's legal? Vespine 00:34, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps it would be wise to have legal knowledge before dispensing legal advice. Meanwhile, read the following news article refuting your claim. And consider the fact that most libraries have copy machines; is all that copying piracy? --KSmrq^T 08:00, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah ok, I read that article, that matter isn't settled yet and it specifically refers to downloading music, not all copyrighted material. Also, currently the courts don’t deem a difference between upload and download: "the mere fact of placing a copy on a shared directory in a computer where that copy can be accessed via a P2P service does not amount to distribution." So really the question is moot anyway. As for your photocopier remark, what does that have to do with anything?? A lot of material in a library is academic, I dare you to use photocopies of copyrighted material in a university study or thesis, see how liberal the institution is then. Just because it's rife doesn't make it legal. Vespine 22:42, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The article states that although RIAA and friends object, a Canadian legal body has ruled that there is a difference between uploading and downloading, and that downloading is legal. The relevance of photocopiers in libraries (even public libraries) is that (U.S.) copyright law has provisions for fair use. (Wikipedia itself makes extensive use of this.) De minimis applies even more broadly. Many attempts at Digital Rights Management enforce restrictions not supported in the law. The facts do not support soundbites like "piracy is theft" and "all copying is illegal". Copyright protection makes sense; prohibition of all copying does not. --KSmrq^T 01:42, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Digital copyright protection makes no sense and prohibition of any copying doesn't either. Copyright starts to break down when you look at little TCP/IP packets of different-voltage electrical signals zooming around through copper. There are an absurd number of ways to encode data that make an innocuous combination of bits illegal, like for example the illegal prime. It would be a simple matter to encode some copyrighted work as every single binary combination up to thousands of bits in length depending on the encoding key. Then what? --⁪froth^{T C} 17:35, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think I can wait for the courts to uphold or overturn the Copyright Board ruling. (I don't think there's much risk of my being the test case, since I'm not particularly high-volume or high-profile. I didn't ask about the legalities of this plan, I asked whether it was technically feasible. Neon Merlin 04:17, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

(Replied above earlier, didn't know thread had been split, so copying here now Davidprior 20:40, 1 December 2006 (UTC)) I don't know about Bittorrent, not using that particular app/protocol, but could you "fool" it. I'm thinking about having 2 PCs (each with bittorrent application), with a router using NAT for outbound traffic, and port forwarding so any incomming bittorrent connections went to the PC with the "safe" content on (could even do this with one PC running 3 instances of an operating system using virtualisation - one doing the routing, one for each Bittorrent application)? This would only work if the bittorrent apps on other computers only identify you by IP address though. Davidprior 23:35, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

installing ubuntu

I want to install ubuntu on an old computer. Does the ubuntu install cd lack anything, such as drivers that I will need to install the OS? I am asking because in its current state, the computer which is running windows is terribly buggy. I'd like to wipe the hard drive clean before installing ubuntu, but I don't know if I'll be wiping out something the new OS needs. ike9898 18:15, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ubuntu will partition and reformat the disk anyway. Wireless drivers can be an issue for most Linuxes, and you'll have to jump through some hoops to get graphics drivers which support your video chip's 3d acceleration features, but (unless your hardware is particularly exotic) you'll get a nice working system straight from the install CD. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:28, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ubuntu sets up madwifi automatically. You'll get VESA drivers on installation but if you want something more efficient you have to download proprietary drivers. ATI is real good about this, nvidia is -NOT- --⁪froth^{T C} 07:53, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Unwanted web sites list

When I open the internet explorer and start typing a certain website name, the list of previous visited pages starting with the letters already typed appears. Is there a way I can stop this list from appearing ??

Thx in advance

Try Tools → Internet Options → Content → AutoComplete. If you uncheck the "Web addresses" box, the feature should be disabled. –mysid ☎ 19:18, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

thx mysid, it worked

Recording computer sounds

Are there any (Windows) programs that will record the sound that your computer makes, i.e. that come out of your speakers? By which I mean, say there was a game playing on your computer that had some background noise - are there any programs that would "tape record" the sounds the game makes? zafiroblue05 | Talk 20:09, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Google found FastRecorder. I've also done it the hard way, by attaching a cord from the soundcard output to its input and recording the input. –mysid ☎ 20:15, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Depending on your sound card, it might have the ability built in. Look at the sound recording options (double click the volume icon, Options->Properties, etc.) and try to find something like Stereo Mixer, What U Hear, or maybe Wave/MP3. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 20:44, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

To clarify what CC said, you can often use just Sound Recorder; look at the menus for the Volume Control application and switch it to recording mode. You might be able to mark "Wave" or "Line Out" or so for recording (look at the checkboxes below the sliders). --Tardis 16:34, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Audacity will do it; just set your recording device to your speakers in the preferences. Neon Merlin 22:29, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Total Recorder comes to mind. Splintercellguy 04:34, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've had good results with OpD2d. Superm401 - Talk 06:21, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Amplifier

Morning everyone(it's morning here). I asked a question on RD:Misc. about a faulty amplifier and it's not there anymore, so I'll try here. I had a 4-channel Realistic amplifier from about the 80's, running with all 4 audio channels bridged into a subwoofer. It worked perfectly until I adjusted the balance control, which blew the fuse. I replaced the fuse but now it's not working at all. Does anyone know what would be wrong with it and if I would be able to fix it? Thanks Mix Lord 23:30, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Adjusting the balance would cause one of the channels to be louder than the other - therefore it would tend to 'drive' or 'overload' the other channel - it's possible that one of your main amplifier modules has been damaged.. These can be replaced - but this is a soldering job. I'd guess a price for a new part of 10-40? An electrical service shop will easily be able to mend this for you (provided they can still get the parts)87.102.36.159 23:40, 26 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

November 27

a question about Dedicated servers

(question moved from Wikipedia talk:Reference desk by hydnjo talk 01:58, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Hello , Im a Counter-Strike 1.6 player , i wanted to run a Dedicated server , which will be online 24 hr , i dont want to use my computer . could anyone tell me what should i do ? should I buy hosting ? buy dedicated server ? (If yes , How ?) or if not so what should I do , becauce i saw milions of servers on the internet , im waiting for your answers , please tell me if you know anything about cs servers or you know someone who knows about cs servers thanks a lot. ;)

I would say get a dedicated server. Splintercellguy 04:33, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

These guys look decently priced, and they offer Counter-Strike server rental. Droud 12:23, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If you have a decent connection just rummage around for a beige box and run it from your closet --⁪froth^{T C} 17:56, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Firefox tabs and the mouse wheel

I've been using Firefox for a few months now, and one of my favorite features is the ability to open a new tab by clicking the mouse wheel. A few days ago, however, my old mouse's scroll wheel mysteriously stopped working, and I purchased a new mouse (the Microsoft Comfort Optical Mouse 3000). The scroll wheel performs normally for every function except opening a new tab in Firefox. Any ideas? I'm using Firefox 2.0. Thanks! --McMillin24 _contribs^talk 02:54, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, can you tell us if you use Windows or X.Org Server or something else? If you use xorg, you might need to use xmodmap to remap your buttons. Link: HOWTO Advanced Mouse at the Gentoo-Wiki --Kjoonlee 04:58, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

(I assumed you clicked on links with the middle button.) --Kjoonlee 05:08, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, yes. I'm running Windows XP, SP2.

First of all, have you installed the software for your mouse (probably some version of IntelliPoint, download here)? I know that your mouse will probably run without it, but may be missing some functionality. If you have installed the software, check your mouse configuration (Control Panel -> Mouse, or Control Panel -> Printers and other hardware -> Mouse), under the "Buttons" tab, what is the "wheel button" set to? If it's set to something like "double-click" or "next window" it may cause problems, try setting it AutoScroll to see if that fixes the problem. Hope this helps! — QuantumEleven 06:09, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm. The mouse software was installed (and the setting on AutoScroll), but I tried reinstalling, and that seemed to work. Thanks for the help! --McMillin24 _contribs^talk 22:17, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Developing Wikipedia Bot on Mac OS X

Is there any libraries for bot developing on Macs? I know a Python library out there, but if any Mac-friendly library such as Automator or AppleScript extensions, Safari helpers... available? Yao Ziyuan 09:51, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How about apache? IIRC osx comes with it preinstalled. Get php up and working then do it in php - or just run php from the command line with php.exe --⁪froth^{T C} 17:55, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Low level Network Programming

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows how to do network programming at a low level? That is to say, WITHOUT berkeley sockets or winsock etc. I've searched around and almost all books/sites use some higher-level sockets library. I've looked into NetBios but that's only for LANs. I also tried looking up the IRQ number for the network card via the device manager and calling it, but all to no avail (the only interesting thing it seemed to do is constantly set the AH register to 0)...the last thing I can think of doing is reading the libraries themselves, but I'm pretty sure those would use compiler definitions (as in just the function declerations).

So is there any way to do it - preferably in C or ASM? And if so, how much work would it be? Thanks 202.37.62.126 10:33, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Berkeley sockets is an API, not a networking protocol. For Unix, it is the networking API; there is nothing lower level. Now what "low level" features do you really want? If you want to send raw ethernet packets (that is, you don't want IP) you use PF_PACKET and SOCK_RAW; if you want to send raw IP packets (and not have the kernel do TCP on top) use PF_PACKET and SOCK_DGRAM. I don't know how you'd send raw packets on a non-ethernet device (like Bluetooth); in some cases PF_NETLINK appears to be used instead, but in general it seems a bit nonstandard. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 10:48, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Incidentally, you can learn a lot about unix system-level programming by running strace on a program that does something like what you want, and seeing what syscalls (and their args) it makes. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 10:51, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Now if you wanted to actually program the hardware of the network adapter yourself, you'd:

need to be writing kernel space code (or a microkernel process with IO privity), as you'd need direct access to phyical memory, IO space, and the ability to set, unset, and handle interrupts
need documentation for the programming interface of that specific network adapter, generally from the manufacturer. With the exception of a few cards that pretend to be old DEC cards, each card is different

But really I can't imagine why anyone would want to do this, other that to write a device driver. There's nothing the card can do that you can't do from the berkeley socket layer (exception for the occasional obscure ioctl to set a few config parameters like the MAC). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 14:38, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Well when I say "low level" I really just mean implementable in ASM, which is what you addressed there; but I imagine that getting specifications for the cards would be tedious, and as you say each card would be different so any program would be incompatible with most other cards (like with any hardware specific program)...as to why I would want to do it - partly out of interest, partly out of neccessity. Anyway though thank you for shedding some light on the situation :) 202.37.62.126 21:22, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

ASM isn't much good for working with anything except the "core system" of cpu/memory. Many network devices have complicated, proprietary drivers. And good luck working with other devices like -god forbid- graphics cards --⁪froth^{T C} 16:51, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Licensing primitive and evolving idea

How one can license primitive and evolving ideas, which is not yet crystallized? Is it possible for one (moderator/creator of the group) to say that discussions under this forum (say, Google group) is free/open and licensed under GPL? V4vijayakumar 12:14, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Most of the time that wouldn't make sense in most jurisdictions. A license is a permission to use. If you express an idea here everyone is free to use that idea. Whether you give permission or not is irrelevant because you don't own ideas (unless you have e.g. patent protection). However, in contrast to an idea, the expression of an idea can be covered by intellectual property laws. For example, if you were to publish a recipe for rosemary grilled seagull, that recipe would be covered by copyright, and you could license that recipe. But the idea of stuffing a seagull and grilling it would be for anyone to use, whether you try to license it or not, because copyright does not cover ideas. See intellectual property for other types of restrictions that may apply. Weregerbil 13:31, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your thoughts. I am trying to build the cheapest useful laptop (?) possible. I personally think OLPC is not cheaper enough for everyone. Just now started a Google group TLPC to discuss about this. This group will try to come up with the possible solution(s), if at all possible.

Can anyone help me in defining appropriate discloser message that I have to add to that group? What the discloser message should contain? V4vijayakumar 14:25, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You don't need any such message. Disclosing an idea (outside the context of a prior legal agreement which limits disclosure) destroys your change of filing for patent protection on the invention, and establishes prior art which should prevent anyone from patenting the same idea in the future. This makes the invention essentially public domain. But note that anyone can then use the idea for anything they want, including commercial, closed-source things; if you want to prevent that, you need to file for patent protection (which means you must't disclose the invention until your high-priced patent attorney tells you it's okay to do so), after which you can licence the patent to whomever you like under whatever terms you want. It sounds like the patent process isn't what you want, so just publish. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 14:55, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

As a service to your contributors you might want to make it clear that anything they say may be shamelessly stolen by you :) --⁪froth^{T C} 17:27, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This group will try to come up with the specification that any one (not only me) can use. I don't think "stolen" is the right word to describe. If you can use the same word with wikipedia, or oper source, or free software contributors/users, then I have no problem with that word using with tlpc google group. V4vijayakumar 13:20, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, That is not discloser, but disclaimer. What disclaimer should say? Thanks. V4vijayakumar 13:24, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Certification For Assembly Language and Computer Graphics Design.

Dear sir, I am a Sri Lankan citizen aspiring to begin a career in the computer industry.

1.)I am searching for internationally recognized certificates for proficiency in assembly language and popular computer graphics design tools such as Maya, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. What I am looking for is the equivalent of 'sun certified java programmer' for java and 'microsoft certified solutions developer' for visual studio, in the above mentioned areas.

2.)Does 'A+ certification' cover assembly language?

Some employers take note of Brainbench scores. But really these certifications are no substitute for an academic qualification in a relevant field, and a CV with relevant professional experience working on real products. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 15:04, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Installing Mac OS X

I have a hp computer and I was wondering if it is possible to remove windows and install mac instead. I have the Mac OS X disk. Thanks Andrew

The regular release of OS X won't run on PC, but there is a hacked version of OS X that will. Rumour is that it can be found on Bit Torrent but I can't confirm or deny that. Vespine 21:24, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A Google search for "os x pc" gives relevant results. Seejyb 08:27, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The OSX disc won't help you. Like I said elsewhere on this desk, watch out for unsupported hardware. I'd recommend downloading the vmware image of the installed intel version of tiger from here and the edgy livecd. To install it look at the archive.org copies of xplodenet (registration is no longer free) or try to follow this guy's guide. Good luck. --⁪froth^{T C} 17:47, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

3D Graphics/video card

My graphics cardit is not 3D and so it is not compatible with many software. Is there anything I can download for free to upgrade it (I use Windows XP)? Thanks, *Max* 22:13, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, generally the "3D" component of a video card is hardware not software, so a software download will not upgrade it. You need to upgrade your actual video card, depending on what kind of computer you have, that may or may not be practical or possible. Vespine 22:57, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Are you sure that your graphics card does not support 3d acceleration? Your computer would likely have to be very old or very cheap. There is a chance that you have a 3d-enabled card and simply do not have the proper drivers installed for it. For example, the ATI driver that comes with Windows XP does not support 3d and one must update their ATI driver to the one issued by ATI in order for 3d acceleration to function correctly. Drivers are free. --Sish 02:46, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

But if you got your computer OEM then certainly catalyst came preinstalled --⁪froth^{T C} 04:41, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Where can I download a free driver? *Max* 00:05, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

DirectX supports software emulation of 3d calls, but your applications would be so painfully slow on your card that it would not be worth it. If your system can run XP it can't be ancient, so IMO make the effort to search for a cheap 3d card if affordability is the problem. Don't forget to run dxdiag to see what your current card is capable of, first. Sandman30s 11:24, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks *Max* 20:17, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wii Demos

(This was wrongly placed on Talk, so I'm moving it here and informing the questioner... Cheers, Sam Clark 22:27, 27 November 2006 (UTC))[reply]

Is the wii playable anywere? No stores have them playable except gamestop, where you need a drivers licence to play the wii Waluigi300 20:16, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I haven't seen any. It's not exactly easy to secure the wiimote, especially if it's using the nunchuk thing --⁪froth^{T C} 17:37, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've heard that Gamestop has an exclusive deal with Nintendo to be the only store with playable Wii demos. You need to give them the license so you dont run off the the controller. (I've been told Nintendo forbids them to chain it down) - Ridge Racer 00:44, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Try a gamestop. They'll ask for your keys or maybe a license. Sometimes a credit card. They'll give you the controller and then you can play for as long as you want. Also, on wii.nintendo.com, they give directions to malls that have wiis to play with until january.

November 28

Free software licenses

This might sound dumb, but if software is really completely free and open source (like Linux), what is the purpose of even including a statement about the legalities of reproducing/editing/selling etc the software?

Robin

The father says to the young man dating his daughter, "You may take her to the concert, but I expect her home by midnight." (Having been a young man himself once, he knows the other limits he would like to set would be futile.)

As metaphor, this is the job of a software licence. If, for example, an unethical company renames the software and sells it as its own creation, there is a legal remedy to make them stop. --KSmrq^T 01:20, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Pretty much. Look at the definition of free software. "Free" has a very specific meaning here in respects to copyright. It does not mean "public domain". --24.147.86.187 03:41, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Totally free as in freedom licenses do let you just take the product and sell it outright - but you'd have to be pretty dull witted to buy a free-of-charge product. Isn't that what linspire did? --⁪froth^{T C} 04:40, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's free software, not open-source. Open-source is more like a business strategy which goes, "Trust us! We release our source code! We benefit because everyone likes the term 'open-source'!", while free software is more like, "We give our source code away for your benefit, not ours." --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 09:31, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Open-source isn't that negative- for many companies profitability is a big concern and they can't afford just to give away their code. All the same, they don't mind it being worked on by the OSS community --⁪froth^{T C} 16:49, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If we are going to delve into finer distinctions, consider a novel. It is completely open; anyone can read any page. In fact, that is the intent! However, that does not give others the right to plagiarize chapters, nor to print and sell copies, nor to post a copy on the Web.

Or, consider an iPod shuffle. Apple Computer might be willing to give one away as a promotion. However, if you "borrow" its technological innovations or try to sell an identical product, be prepared to meet some stern lawyers.

The same considerations apply to software. It can be open-source (like a novel), and/or it can be free-of-charge (like the promotional iPod). But that does not mean the creators wish to relinquish all rights. A license is a standard way to state what rights are granted, and what rights are reserved. Here is an analysis that goes into more detail. --KSmrq^T 22:59, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Most licenses for open source software, notably the GNU GPL, stipulate that you may charge for the transfer of your software, but that you must have access to all source. Further, derivatives of the software must also be under the GPL, as well. This protects developers from having companies commercialize their open-source ventures. 134.129.60.126 03:40, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

FTP program

How do you setup a bat file to run an FTP script, with username and passwords, getting the files and changing directories

wget for Win32 will fetch files from the command line, and will work in batch scripts. Droud 12:30, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I believe the user is asking for a scriptable FTP client. Unfortunetly, I know none. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 23:50, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

On Unix, ftp itself is, kinda, scriptable - http://www.mcwalter.org/technology/shell/ftp.html I don't think the cmd.exe is flexible enough to allow this, but perhaps Monad is? -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 10:07, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The Windows command-line ftp is scriptable. You use ftp -s:filename where filename is a text file with commands you would normally enter at the ftp prompts. Bavi H 05:57, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Problem with my mouse

I'm using Windows XP Pro, 2002. My mouse has a wheel, but when I turn it, nothing happens. When I go to the Mouse properties in Control Panel, there is no Wheel tab, although the documentation suggests there ought to be. Any ideas as to how I might get my wheel to operate? Many thanks. --Richardrj ^talk ^email 13:29, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You probably have to install the software (drivers, that is) for your mouse so that all of its functions would be supported. They most probably came with the mouse, or can be found online if you know the model of the mouse. –mysid ☎ 14:07, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed; the generic mouse driver you are using supports the mouse buttons, but not the wheel. StuRat 00:48, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Javascript help

I am working on an in site Search engine for a global project. i uploaded the script, and being of slight nowlage of javascript, added some code to it. only now the part i added doesn't work... help?

please don't copy long blocks of code to the reference desk. by the way, javascript isn't the best choice for a search engine. And it would be nice to know which part you added --⁪froth^{T C} 16:47, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

"nowlage" = "knowledge", in case anyone needs a translation. StuRat 00:42, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Haha very funny. you know what i ment.Is it Steak?<Xiaden's Homepage> 14:44, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

oh, and srry. won't do it again...

Direct memory access

DMA seems like a bad idea to me. How would the CPU know when the memory is being updated so it doesn't try to read off that range until it's done? Why not just have a dedicated component on the CPU for data throughput that shares the CPU clock and makes the appropriate information available to memory protection in the OS? --⁪froth^{T C} 17:25, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Read simultaneous with write is prevented by an interlock in the memory controller. The memory controller is a dedicated device which does the job - clocking it with the CPU would be stupid, as memory is clocked hundreds of times slower than the CPU. Remember that in a modern computer the CPU core isn't directly connected to the memory (only to the cache): it's the memory controller which does the heavy lifting (mostly reading and writing cache pages between the cache and the main memory). A DMA writes to system memory, and the CPU core will know nothing about it unless it asks the memory controller to fetch that section of RAM. Now you'll probably ask "what happens if the DMAed page is in the cache?" - the answer is that the processor's TLB/GDT has a "noncachable" flag, which means the memory controller will always fetch the RAM page fresh when the core asks to read from that page (which, unsurprisingly, is exceptionally slow). Device drivers which manage a DMA capable device are responsible for establishing a noncached TLB entry which corresponds with the DMA settings with which they've just configured the DMA capable device. Now you'll ask "what happens if the CPU is having the memory controller fetch from the DMA space" - the answer is that the DMA capable device must wait (and yes, this risks dropping data if the DMA doesn't complete promptly, but the system is designed so that doesn't happen). And now you'll ask "what if the CPU reads some data, and then decides it wants more - won't the data have been overwritten by another DMA in the meantime - the answer is that the DMA-capable device (and the device driver) between them maintain a circular buffer in the DMA space. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:21, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, believe it or not I thought exactly those objections to your initial statement heh thanks --⁪froth^{T C} 20:17, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

XP error reports

Is there any point in "sending" them? With vista done, is anyone still sorting through all that data? What was ever done with it? --⁪froth^{T C} 17:53, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Well officially Microsoft uses the data from the error reports to further develop their software and find bugs and such things. Inofficially some people might say that they use the data for Data Mining, because usually the error message includes detailed stuff about your hardware, etc. What really happens to the data, only the Devil knows... Aetherfukz 17:59, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Way to boost graphics and resolution?

In working on this computer I have yet to get the resolution to be bearable. It is at 640*480 with 16 colors. In the settings box, I can choose all the way up to 16bit High Color, and up to 1024*768. However, upon application of these settings, oth revert down to the lowest possible for this computer. Is there any way I can boost graphics on this thing? Im running 98SE, my graphics card is a Matrox MGA-G100 AGP, the driver is version 4.11.01.1520.

Omnipotence407 18:12, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, what does 'oth revert' mean? It seems like such a small component of your post but it has me stumped. Does it revert straight away, without even seeming to attempt the higher resolution? Or does it go higher for a moment and then revert? It sounds like a driver problem, have you tried setting it to 800x600 first to see if that works? Vespine 22:07, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I speak RefDeskia, so allow me to translate: "oth" = "both", in English. StuRat 00:33, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Also, with such a dated system, verify that your monitor can support the intended resolutions and refresh rates. Some older monitors will only do 1024x768 at 60hz. Droud 22:48, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

From what I can find, your card will support max 256 colour (8 bit) graphics, at resolutions of 640x480, 1024x768, 800x600, and 1280x1024. So you should be able to get better resolution, but not more colours. It is strange that you are given the higher colour options. The latest driver for win98 at the Matrox site seems to be 5.52.015, dated 25feb2000, while Soft32 has version 5.0.2144.1 (1999). Those cards were >$110 when they came out! Hope this helps. Seejyb 23:29, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Some older drivers don't restrict that - I was able to stretch my old 14" monitor to, I think, 1280x1024x16. Windows then crashed and I had to find my old floppy disks for my drivers to reset it. :( I do suspect you do have a driver problem: Windows 98 defaults itself to 640x480x256 if it has a problem and 640x480x16 if the problem is more serious... x42bn6 Talk 00:07, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think spending a few bucks on literally the cheapest AGP graphics card you can find will solve all of your problems. Sockatume 22:14, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

SAM policy change

I read that in order to dump SAM hashes, the hive file has to be modified. Is this true and how is it modified? The wikipedia article on SAM is awful --⁪froth^{T C} 23:04, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

November 29

SMART error message

Alright, I'm gonna try and keep this as relevant as possible. Here's the deal, lately I've been getting messages on boot about a SMART error on one of my hard drives. The drive in question is my slave drive, a 100 gb western digital that came with the computer in about 2002. I use it currently as a storage drive. My primary drive is a newer 120 gb western digital i bought in 2004. Unfortunately I don't back-up my data (foolish i know), because I never have more than one place to store the data due to the fact that i keep the 100 gb drive nearly filled with data. The 100 gb drive still reads/writes perfectly except that i had to run chkdsk yesterday to fix a file system error. However there has been some talk about this drive failing in the past. (this computer actually came from my dad who said it had crashed, but a reformatting of the hard drive made it work without confict so i'd bet it was just windows acting up.) I simply want to know if anyone has had any experience with SMART/hard disk failure and could tell me if i should start planning for the worst or tell me if there is anything i could do that might help me fix it. (besides opening it) If anyone cares to know, the specific tests my drive is failing are the (01) raw read error rate test and the (c8) write error rate test. - Ridge Racer 00:39, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I would say it's a very good idea to back up your data as soon as possible, as the drive may in the early stages of failure. Splintercellguy 00:41, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I already assumed that and I'm currently attempting to compress my data into a manageable size so that i can store it on my main drive. Thanks anyways. - Ridge Racer 00:46, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Disconnecting the drive entirely will avoid data loss until you're ready to back up. I suggest a DVD-R drive, which can be had for $40 these days. Droud 03:41, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Custom MSN color

Is there anyway I can get custom colours for my MSN Windows Live Messenger text font colours, other than the default colours, without having to download anything? Jamesino 01:58, 29 November 2006 (UTC) (moved from Misc. Desk -THB 02:01, 29 November 2006 (UTC))[reply]

iPods and mp3s

My band and are I are interested in releasing some of our music to be used in a podcast. I'm a little concerned, however, as to the difference between having your music released in a podcast and just distributing it as an mp3? Aren't there programs that can just extract out an MP3 out of a podcast? —Preceding unsigned comment added by wedgeoli (talk • contribs)

If you are just starting out, I think you probably have bigger things to worry about then people ripping your music off podcast. If multi million dollar bands like Metallica couldn't stop people pirating their stuff then I doubt you have much hope. Besides, you should look at it this way: if people DO actually bother to rip your songs it actually means someone likes it and you are getting FREE publicity! That's a good thing. I guess my message is make music because you love it and want to share it, not because you want to be rich and famous. ;) Vespine 05:21, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Umm, Podcast is just a name for certain audio (like shows and stuff). The name 'Podcast' doesn't mean the audio is in a different format, because Podcasts are usually distributed in MP3 or AAC files. So, releasing your music in a podcast and releasing your music in an MP3 file is basically the same thing. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 07:02, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Optimizing system performance

During the installation of the security update to my Mac, it spent some time "optimizing system performance" near the end of the process. What was it actually doing? Does whatever it did actually optimize performance? Thanks. -THB 05:16, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe cleaning up temporary files used in the installation? --⁪froth^{T C} 05:20, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Or maybe the program used some kind of JIT compilation like .NET and it was pre-compiling it? Or maybe it was tweaking some program settings according to your Mac's specifications? --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 07:04, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Someone on this planet must have asked this before[3]... here we are: [4], which suggests the keyword prebinding. Weregerbil 10:55, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, guys. Okay, so what is a memory offset of a symbol? The article on prebinding says that the process has been deprecated/phased out in OS X 10.4, which I have, so I think it shouldn't be doing it. -THB 18:10, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Blocker or cleaner etc

"When i use the internet after some time interval the advertisement or ads are automaticaly appear on screen, which disturb my work and have porn seens. I want to completely block or clean it i.e neither advertisement nor any seen. So, what should i do?what are the steps or which program i download for this purpose,Explain PLZ"--82.148.97.69 17:57, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

First off, I recommend using Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. You can download that from here. Then, after you install Firefox, install these extensions: AdBlock and the Filterset.G Updater. These will work together to block most of your internet ads to start off. I also recommend installing, and running Adaware to remove any spyware you might have. Check back if you have any questions or concerns. --Russoc4 18:10, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

"So, how i completely remove Internet Explorer from system?so that all the users are using firefox"--82.148.97.69 18:16, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Internet Explorer cannot be removed from Windows. Partly because Microsoft wants you to use their products whenever possible, and partly because the integrated Windows file explorer and Internet Explorer work hand-in-hand, and without IE, then the file browser wouldn't work, to give the simpilest explaination. --Russoc4 18:21, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Firefox will, however, ask you if you want to make it the default browser when you first use it. If you set it to the default, Firefox will be used whenever a browser is needed, but it will not completely prevent Internet Explorer from being used. --Russoc4 18:29, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It is not true that IE cannot be removed (from Windows XP). More correctly, it is difficult to remove completely, and doing so can have undesired side effects. XPlite is one way to do the job if you really want. Most users will be satisfied to set Mozilla Firefox or Opera as their default browser, and follow these instructions to remove IE's desktop icon and increase its security. --KSmrq^T 09:57, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Linux Swap

When installing ubuntu, you can have it automatically set up the main partition and swap partitions. When I let it do this, it makes the main ext3 partition, plus 2 interesting partitions that are both approximately 75% of my RAM size, but neither are labeled as swap. When I manually build the partitions, I build a main one, and then a 1.5*RAM sized "swap" partition, meant to be used for swap and actually formatted to linux-swap. Which is the right file system format to use and what is a recommended size for a Linux swap partition? I know Windows automatically uses a 1.5*RAM size area of the hdd, but we all know that Linux != Windows. --Russoc4 18:16, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The swap partition has its own partition type - I believe you make the partition with the partitioning tool, and then run mkswap to set it as a swap partition. You later use swapon to tell the kernel to start using that as a swapspace. Usually the partitioning software for modern linux installs will run mkswap itself, and the init scripts will likewise run swapon automatically. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:48, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Umm...so how do I know if my swap is being used or not? --Russoc4 19:25, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Off the top of my head (no linux box to hand) you look in /proc/swap or /proc/swaps or something like that. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 19:33, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The other partition may be for your /home partition. It's good to have a /home that's formatted FAT so you can share it with windows --⁪froth^{T C} 20:27, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Pull up a terminal or "Run Application" box and type "gnome-system-monitor" without the quotes, and hit enter, that will tell you if your swap is being utilized. When you installed it, it should have given you a list of partitions, and what you wanted to format/mount them as, the swap one should've been formated as linux-swap. If its an option, I'd recommend carving out your own partitions with GParted prior to installing Ubuntu, that way, you can have /home in a separate partition, which is handy for updates/major errors (I was kicking myself for not doing so when an Edgy upgrade went south, and I had to mount the volumes in windows to pull my files out) Cyraan 20:29, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

My swap is working. I just need to know now what is a decent size for it to be, with 1GB RAM. My /home does not have its own partition. I have the whole installation on an 15GB ext3, XP Pro on a 25GB NTFS, and I also have a 100GB external FAT32 drive where I keep all my multimedia so that I can take a recover from a meltdown with relative ease.--Russoc4 20:40, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thats what I get for not reading thoroughly, id always heard rule of thumb was 1.5-2 times your RAM so you're probably okay. Check every once and a while when you're doing a bunch of stuff to see if its being utilized, if it seems to fill up quickly, you can always increase it. Sorry I cant be of more help, current Kubuntu box has 2gb of ram, so its been a non-issue for the most part. Cyraan 20:51, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ic. I'll keep an eye on it. I don't expect to be doing any extreme gaming like on Windows under Linux, so, I may eventually lower it. Thanks. --Russoc4 21:03, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

/proc/meminfo shows the current utilisation of the swap. You can keep tabs on it manually, or you can use one of any number of system monitor applications which collect info from it periodically. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk

Publishing a Web Page

Hello, what would I need to do to publish a web page or web site so it caqn be found on places like google and how much approximately would it cost?

Thank you.

does this website exsist on the internet already? if so, then i do belive already in google(you just need more visitors, probbally meta tags too, could you link the page?)... oh, and please sign your posts with four tildes(~). or however you spell that word. Is it Steak?<Xiaden's Homepage> 23:06, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You need a host. There are lots of cheap web hosts. (http://bluehost.com is a pretty good one, if you want a really cheap and easy one. They host a lot of sites. No, I don't have any affiliation with them.) Once you have a site, you have to find a way to get other people to link to your site if you want Google to rank it in their search results (see PageRank). (You don't really need meta tags, most search engines ignore them.) You can also buy sponsored ranking at Google, Yahoo, etc., or buy ads through their ad networks. --24.147.86.187 01:52, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I don't have a web page up already. But how would I find sponsors if I were to create this website?~

You'd probably just run advertising, right? There are lots of ways to do that. Google AdSense is a popular one. But you need a site before you can really start talking about getting advertising for it. --140.247.240.213 18:57, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

IE7 and tabs?

Is IE pretending that it's firefox, or does it really think that the IE interface needed to look even more cluttered, and pointless? --172.145.135.155 23:03, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Tabbed browsing is a must-have feature nowdays. So, blame the users. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 23:46, 29 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That's only because they don't know about child-window browsing where you can have multiple windows positioned inside of the browser's container. Then, you can move, resize, open, close child-windows at will, but only have one massive address bar/button/bookmark interface for all of them. --Kainaw ^(talk) 18:19, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

MDIs and TDIs serve different functions. Almost all browsers today are MDIs and have been for a long time (you can open up multiple windows in Firefox, too), so I don't think that's something that users "don't know about." Tabbed browsing is a very popular alternative to MDIs for a variety of reasons. --140.247.240.213 18:56, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Please, tell me how to turn Firefox, IE, Konqueror, or Opera into an MDI? All I can do is make tabs. Apparently this is a feature that everyone knows about except me. --Kainaw ^(talk) 20:15, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Opera is MDI by default. It's only that maximized windows show up as tabs, but you can restore any window and it will work as a mdi interface. ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 15:30, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Usually you just create a new window. Under the "File" tab. Pretty identical to MDI behavior, but without the all-encompassing window that obscures the desktop. On Windows IE is especially treated in this way, as multiple windows of it are treated as one item in the taskbar, usually. --24.147.86.187 00:05, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That is not MDI. That creates a new window - not a new child window. I don't want a new window with a menu bar, button bar, address bar, and all that garbage. I don't want it to be separate from the main window. I want a child window that is encompassed inside the main browser window - as I originally explained. --Kainaw ^(talk) 14:52, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

To the contrary, I have nothing against tabbed browsing, it just seems like putting tabs in an IE window makes about as much sense as putting a spoiler on a shopping cart--172.168.74.33 20:07, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's cleaner software design to put all the content as one item on the taskbar rather than flooding the taskbar with multiple apparent instances of the same application --⁪froth^{T C} 02:58, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

November 30

Web analytics mystery: why is my website's #1 page /nojavascript?

I'm using WebTrends On Demand to crunch my website's server logs, and recently, the most accessed page hasn't been our home page as usual, but instead "www.ourdomain.com/nojavascript/" which throws a 404 error. We're talking thousands of requests on that per day, whereas before it was never on the radar screen in the analytics reports. I haven't changed any WebTrends configuration options recently.

I cannot figure out if this is bot activity, an artifact, or what. If anyone knows what might be generating http requests for that URL, I'd greatly appreciate a heads-up.

--WikkiTikkiTavi 03:26, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Is it there in the actual logs themselves? -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 03:30, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the response. I checked the raw logs (duh - should've thought of that!), and it does appear, but only like 3 times on a day when WebTrends reports hundreds of page views on it. So that does suggest an analysis bug, which I'll take up with support. What I didn't say explicitly is that the "on demand" product I use doesn't actually analyze logs, (I misspoke) but instead is an ASP server-based model that works off a javascript beacon on each page. FWIW, the /nojavascript accesses in the actual log are all from a Firefox browser and for GIF image hits.--WikkiTikkiTavi 23:02, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

this is really a COMPLETE stab in the dark but possibly its search engine spiders, which may be set to automatically go to a nojavascript page? look to see if theres any files called robot.txt and see if they point to that file as well. Modesty84 22:29, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Good idea. There certainly are a bunch of hits on robots.txt, but they look clean. Thanks, though - I appreciate the suggestion! --WikkiTikkiTavi 23:02, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Document on ISO/IEC 6592:2000 Guideline

Document required giving details on this standard ISO/IEC 6592:2000

Information technology - Guidelines for the documentation of computer-based application systems

You can buy the standard here. –mysid ☎ 06:46, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Germanium

how much germanium is typically in one computer

About 0.0016% by weight[5]. How to find stuff like that: some web page somewhere must have a breakdown of materials in a computer. So google for a list of some of the materials that a computer probably contains: germanium gold tin copper computer. Weregerbil 15:52, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

howto allocate the power of cpu and memory of ram to do job

Hi,

howto allocate the power of cpu and memory of ram to do a job?

thank you!

Do you mean electrical power requirements for the CPU ? If not, I don't really understand the question. What "job" needs to be done ? Memory and CPU time are normally allocated automatically by the programs you use, so you don't need to do anything. StuRat 10:26, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In some programming languages, you do need to allocate ram (memory), but not the CPU. You can set a priority for a jobs of a job so it will be considered more important (or less important) than other jobs. But, you are not specifically allocating CPU time as other high priority jobs may cut in front of your job. I often set unimportant jobs that take a long time (such as database queries) to extremely low priority so they won't bother me while I do my work. --Kainaw ^(talk) 14:22, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Mounting shared network drive on Linux

Is there any way to mount a shared network drive on a Windows server, to a linux box, such that the drive is accessed through something like '/media/zeus/music/'? I don't need specific instructions on how to do so yet, as the installation doesn't yet exist. But I do need general confirmation on can this work on not. 70.88.111.65 13:20, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sure, Samba will do that. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 13:59, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, aren't such things lovely that let you migrate away from those quirky headaches to what you always wanted to have. At the electronics club at my university, the old, fragile (very unstable) Windows server that hosted files and user accounts for the Windows worstations we couldn't get rid of now runs FreeBSD! :-) As a great side effect, home directories and user account are now the same on both Windows and UNIX stations. Sweet. —Bromskloss 20:02, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How can I parse this JSON?

for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&prop=revisions&rvprop=content&format=jsonfm&titles=Wikipedia:Sandbox

How can I extract the real content of the page? I can read out until <pages>, but how can I read the sub field of pages? Which name is a number and not definite. I use JavaScript. Yao Ziyuan 14:41, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

A good understanding of regular expressions would make parsing this file format trivial. This can be had here, and there is a lot of practical advice in the comments here. Droud 01:13, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Software for mailing newsletters?

What would be a good (preferably free) software or method for sending great amounts of email to people who signed a newsletter? I understand it could be the same software used for spam, but that's not really my goal. It's been a bit tricky to look for this stuff because I keep finding spam software and they're full of crap I don't need or want (tracking, obfuscation, email capturing\generation, etc)

The situation is this: we have a deal with several unrelated websites where hundreds of people will sign up for their newsletters (which we maintain), and we need to send them each an email when needed. It must support simple HTML emails with image attachments, and most important of all, it needs to separate several emails inside categories (since each website will have it's own particular newsletter)

Is there a free software out there that can do this? I guess I could do something like that in PHP, but I'd rather not. Thanks for your help! 200.233.224.44 15:07, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

MailerMailer provides that service. I have no idea what the cost is. If you attempt it yourself, you should expect to have your email servers blocked rather quickly - requiring you to purchase spammer software to subvert the spam blockers. --Kainaw ^(talk) 18:15, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

PhpList is good for this. howch e ng {chat} 18:26, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

apple macbook - please help.

Apple's website says-- "Display 13.3-inch (diagonal) glossy widescreen. TFT display with support for millions of colors Supported resolutions: 1280 by 800 (native), 1152 by 720, 1024 by 768, 1024 by 640, 800 by 600, 800 by 500, 720 by 480, and 640 by 480 at 16:10 aspect ratio; 1024 by 768, 800 by 600, and 640 by 480 pixels at 4:3 aspect ratio; 720 by 480 at 3:2 aspect ratio"

I just want to know two things 2) when we keep the screen at 720 by 480 at 3:2 aspect ratio, will a part of screen go black and only the rest of the screen show up? 1) LCDs dont work well in more than 1 resolution. Will macbook screens work well in all above said resolutions or does it work well in only 1280 by 800 which is native?

Thanks.

I'm not sure what happen on MacBook, but on my iMac, each resolution has two options, stretched or not. Yao Ziyuan 17:59, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How does it work on such displays when you select a resolution that does not perfectly match the physical pixels on the display? —Bromskloss 20:05, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

See Native resolution --⁪froth^{T C} 20:07, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure it added much. Where is the resampling done? On the graphics card? In the driver? —Bromskloss 13:29, 4 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I believe it's done on the controller in the monitor itself. If it's a laptop it may be integrated, but it's still separate from the graphics API and drivers. --⁪froth^{T C} 21:47, 6 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It will be forced to scale. That it's a mac is irrelevant- it will look bad. But with very low resolutions like 720x480 you probably won't be able to tell --⁪froth^{T C} 20:07, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Dirt on a mousepad

I've got an optical mouse and every few days it seems these little round spots of dirt show up on the mousepad. Does anyone know what causes this? A co-worker says that they are colonies of microscopic critters that feed on dead skin cells and that the light from the mouse helps them grow, but I'm a bit skeptical. howch e ng {chat} 18:24, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's probably just dirt and oil from your hands and the ambient area. I doubt the light of the optical mouse plays any role here—it has too little exposure to any given spot to promote any sort of growing function. --140.247.240.213 18:49, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

its def just ur standard gook, since ur making the same small circularish movements with your hands all day your just balling up dust and oil and crap Modesty84 22:26, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

does anybody know a good distrobution of linux for ethical (and non-ethical) hacking?

Cheers a lot Andiman

Uh any of them? --⁪froth^{T C} 20:19, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

List of Linux distributions? --Russoc4 20:56, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Slackware is a popular one for hackers. Vespine 21:31, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's not the OS mate, it's how you use it! --Wo o ty Woot? contribs 03:02, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Before my above reply I started writing a big post about the OS being a tool, similar to a paint brush or a guitar, but then I thought maybe the OP is researching for a story? If he wrote the main underground uber hacker protagonist configuring his redhat it might sound a bit sillier then hacking on his slackware box. ;) Vespine 03:33, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In that case, Neal Stephenson came up with Finux. --Kjoonlee 16:19, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps one that includes the Metasploit framework. —Bromskloss 13:45, 4 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Don't bother, you aren't a hacker. I know this because:

A true hacker wouldn't come to the reference desk to ask such a question

Because a true hacker uses their own OS written in assembly

And true hacker would be using User:Jimbo Wales account to post anyway

:-P Nil Einne 18:23, 5 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

SQL query

I'm trying to figure out how to write an SQL query for a given situaiton. Any help would be appreciated.

I have two tables which we can call info and attribs. The info table has a primary key of the name id, and some text fields (title, author, etc.). The attribs table contains attributes for the records in the info table. It has its own primary key (id), a field which corresponds to the id field of the info table (info_id), and two text fields, one which is the name and the other is the value of a given name/value pair.

So sample data in the two tables might look like this:

info
id | title   | author
-------------------------
01   Hello     Nobody
02   Great     Somebody
03   Cheers    Everybody

attribs
id | info_id | name   | value
----------------------------
01   02        quality  5
02   02        size     10
03   01        quality  6
04   01        size     30
05   03        size     45

So record #01 in the info table has a record referring to something called "Hello" by "Nobody" has a "quality" of 6 and and a "size" of 30). This arrangement allows me to have a functionally unlimited number of different attributes for any given record, which is what I need for this application.

Basically I want to be able to do a SELECT query which will give me information like this:

id | title | quality 
------------------
01   Hello   6
02   Great   5
03   Cheers

Now the hard part of this, that I can see, is that I am not just trying to JOIN based on the name of a field in the attribs table but the value of a field. And notice I want it to also work even if a given record doesn't have a similar correspondence in the other table.

I'm not really sure if this is possible with SQL or not, but it would be great if it was. (If it isn't, well, I'll just have to figure out something else which won't be as quick.) Any thoughts? --140.247.240.213 18:47, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

select id, title, value as quality from info join attribs on info.id=attribs.info_id where attribs.name='quality' - will give you the id, title, and value for all items, limiting value to those named quality. If you have more than one quality set for an item in info, you'll get two rows. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:19, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

kainaw is the sql prince --22:25, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

This SQL would fail to select the third row in his output example, however an OUTER JOIN would return null values for the missing records. Droud 01:30, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

(edited) If you're looking for the field names to be dynamically generated, this would require a SQL scripting language such as T-SQL (MSSQL) that allows you to create, manipulate, and return dynamic recordsets. This would be very slow and cumbersome compared to processing the results on the client side. Is there any reason you want/need field names to be created dynamically from data? Droud 01:20, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If the tables are small, such that performance is not an issue, I'd just do the bulk of the work in a program module with embedded SQL (which could be as simple as SELECT ALLs from each table). Then, you can easily set column headers to whatever dynamic values you wish. I can provide a code example if you wish. StuRat 06:18, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Try this:

SELECT info.id, info.title, attribs.quality
FROM info
LEFT JOIN attribs
ON (info.id = attribs.info_id)
GROUP BY attribs.info_id
HAVING attribs.quality

LEFT JOIN will still select data from the FROM table table even if the LEFT JOIN table has no matches. I've not tested the SQL, but I think this is what you're needing. It would be easier to do it with the code you're querying the data with, but if you're in no rush it will end up being more efficient if you can achieve this with SQL. If the HAVING attribs.quality bit generates an error, try HAVING attribs.quality > 0 (if you don't need values with 0 selected).RevenDS 21:56, 6 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Wii Q#2

Does Wii come with the Wifi built in or do you have to buy an expansion? Also (tell me if I am wrong) you have to buy a wifi extension to attach to the Wii for the DS to recieve "patches". --Darkest Hour 19:33, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The Wii has built-in 802.11g/b wifi. Since the DS also communicates via 802.11b, there's nothing you have to buy to connect the two. The Wii's software doesn't currently support such a connection (companies these days rush products out and patch the remaining features/fixes in later), but once it does it'll work without any extra hardware. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 20:25, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's not so much that the Wii software doesn't support it for technical reasons or because it was rushed, it's that there's simply no content which uses the functionality yet. A Pokemon game out next January will be the first title to use the link. Sockatume 21:07, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That's not exactly what I meant. Nintendo has said the the Wii will act as a DS Download Station, allowing the download of demos and the like. This has not yet been implemented. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 21:12, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, right. Well I personally wasn't expecting that at launch (they'd only mentioned it once and it was omitted the official statements on the machine so it was more of a "some day") but I get the point. Sockatume 21:22, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

But do you have to buy a WI-FI (put proper word here)Transmitter to get the Wii to work with the internet? Or does the Wii come with something to help reduce the cost of the buying Wi-Fi? --Your friend, Darkest Hour 21:30, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, I'm not sure what that means exactly, but there is nothing like that packaged with it. You need to buy your own wireless router, or a USB Wi-Fi access point such as the one Nintendo sells (a router is 100x better though, and wouldn't cost very much more). -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 21:34, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

So how much would it cost me for one of those? --Your friend, Darkest Hour 21:42, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The routers you can buy for varying prices online (newegg.com has some for as low as $30; I recommend making sure you get one with a good feedback rating, though. Paying less than $40 for a router is a risky proposition, usually). You need to have a broadband connection for it to connect to, of course, but if you have that already they are usually very easy to hook up. --24.147.86.187 01:50, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Alternatively you could get the USB to Ethernet adaptor and hook it up to your existing wired router/modem. That won't be around until next year though. Sockatume 22:11, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ken Kutaragi trivia

Looking here: http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=2&cId=3155393 I find this quote "..The PS3 will instill discipline in our children and adults alike. Everyone will know discipline." Sorry for wasting your time with such a minor question, but can anyone confirm this and please give a link to the original speech. I express admiration for this guy, no sarcasm intended. I'd just like to read more. Thank you.83.100.138.110 20:59, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

ok problem solved I found it myself - http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/media-criticism/ken-kutaragi-misunderstood-or-just-nuts-111634.php shame.87.102.8.53 16:33, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Bittorrent. Halp!

My Bittorrent gets stuck on 'Checking for firewall' which means nothing will download... how can I fix it? Please explain this to me in really simple terms and not too many complicated questions, I'm bad with things. Vitriol 21:24, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You need to configure your firewall/router to port forward the appropriate port for the BitTorrent client. Splintercellguy 22:12, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Too complicated. Vitriol 22:16, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

first, is your computer connected to a router? easy way to check-> does your computer plug into your cable modem/dsl modem, or into some weird box with flashing lights that plugs into your cable modem/dsl modem and other computers?

second, go into start, my network connections, right click local area network... click firewalls or advanced or something, and check turn off windows firewall. if you are running norton firewalls or somethin else you have to turn them off too.

this is the simplest fix, it can potentially open you up to hackers though, especially if your windows isnt updated. if you do have a router the fix is a lil bit more complicated Modesty84 22:22, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It fixed itself. Vitriol 22:48, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, now it's saying "launch_torrent failed UnboundLocalError: local variable 'do_launchdir' referenced before assignment". Vitriol 22:51, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I would suggest using Azureus, an excellent BitTorrent client that can configure most routers automatically through UPnP. There's also Port Forward, which is an excellent resource. Droud 01:23, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

utorrent does basically everything azureus does but it's more responsive and much smaller. No JRE overhead. --⁪froth^{T C} 02:54, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If your computer has the shoeld in it a red one in the bottom left corner double click it go to the one where it says not monitored and switch to i ahve a virusscanner/firewall i will monitor myself. It worked for me. Tremello22 15:59, 8 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

December 1

reseting admin password in xp

i need to reset the admin password on a computer, i have full accesss to it (cd, floppy, usb) but cant log in, does anybody know of any way to reset the admin password? preferably a downloadable iso or something thats freeware, thanks a lot --69.140.210.163 01:24, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This may not be legal due to DMCA restrictions on circumventing protection technology, but info can be found here. Use at your own risk! Droud 01:35, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That looks pretty dubious to me. They basically require you to send them information from your computer and then they will give you the password. Sounds a little sketchy. --24.147.86.187 02:03, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

On second thought, DMCA has nothing to do with it as long as it is your computer. These methods are NOT failproof and will typically result in you losing any and all private files on your computer. Use at your own risk! Droud 01:40, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've used this utility in the past with good effect. However if the user files are encrypted you will be out of luck even if you reset the password. But if you do all of the disk-image stuff there it should be able to reset the admin password to whatever you want. --24.147.86.187 01:59, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

download the ophcrack livecd, pop in in and turn on your computer. Wait 25 minutes or so and it'll crack the password. Windows passwords pfft :) --⁪froth^{T C} 02:48, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've used the one User:24.147.86.187 linked myself successfully. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 16:46, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How to connect a doorbell to a laptop

I would like to write a "chess clock" for a game with more than 2 players. Because not everyone can reach the computer easily, I want to connect the computer with a number of doorbells, and place one in front of each player. Is this possible with USB? Maybe there's already an adapter for this? How do I adress it from the computer? (I've done something similar with a serial port, but that was many, many years ago.) — Sebastian (talk) 02:13, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It might be difficult to get it down to the right voltage so you don't fry the port.. --⁪froth^{T C} 02:50, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Could you hack apart a USB keyboard and just use the space key or something? Fit it into a small switch box. That's the way I'd try to do it, I'm sure you can get some creappy keyboards for a couple of bucks if you don't already have some kicking around.. Vespine 03:27, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for both your tips. The idea with the keyboard feels like overkill and much more work - I would need 6 of them. But it is an interesting backup solution. Ideally, all I need is a simple (passive) switch - nothing that provides its own voltage. It doesn't feel so exotic to me, but apparently nobody does this sort of thing with a laptop. — Sebastian (talk) 05:32, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It would 100% be simpler to use the parallel port on your computer to do this. If you used USB you would likely have to create drivers for it? Not too sure.

Head to your local electronics store, grab a male parallel port and then get some parallel ribbon cable that has no ports on it, then you will need to put the port and cable together which is brutally easy.

I recommend parallel because it is easy to see and count the wires that you are using and makes troubleshooting easier.

To make things connect i'd use a breadboard which will allow you to just stick the wires in.

The doorbells will close the circuit from the parallel port, talk to the guy at the store and see if he knows if you need any resistors and or external power. This is where the breadboard would come in handy. If you don't need external power or resistors then you don't need a breadboard.

Then you will have to write a program to a signal through say pin 1? (not sure if this is reserved or not) and wait for a signal on pin 2. when you push the door bell the signal from pin 1 would be routed back to pin 2 signaling an event.

A simple way to program this is in MSBasic, but i know you can use Visual basic, it will just be a tad harder but you should be able to do more in the end.

Sorry my help is so vague, I did a similar project 4 years ago and I can't remember details. --Sish 05:58, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! This isn't vague - it was very helpful. It led me on the right track: I just searched for "USB to Parallel", and there seem to be several products that I could use. Thanks a lot! — Sebastian (talk) 06:09, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

On second thought: How do these adapters actually map the many parallel contacts to the 4 USB pins? I guess I have to do a bit more resarch. — Sebastian (talk) 06:13, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I think I'll buy a DAQ device. I always wanted one, anyway, and one for about $100 should do for me. — Sebastian (talk) 06:27, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Depends what kind of computer you're using :-) The easiest possible way i can think of would be if you had an Amiga / ST / Sinclair Spectrum as you could use the inbuilt (digital) joystick port - virtually all programming languages for these architectures have commands to read specific input pins. If this ain't the case, you could also use the non-data lines in Serial Port, such as CTS, DTR - [6] may be useful for this. On the subject of how a USB/Parallel converter maps the pins from one to another, it doesn't. It provides an interface from one interface standard to another (in the same way as your internal parallel port wil have an interface to the PC on one side (probably PCI) and to your parallel deveice on the other. Davidprior 06:45, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you! Unfortunately, it's a Sony!. It doesn't have any parallel or serial port. But don't worry, I think the DAQ device will solve the problem. Not the cheapest solution, but I can use it for other things, as well, and it'll remind me of my days in a physics lab, so it'll be worth it. — Sebastian (talk) 07:21, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Vespine's keyboard idea seems like by far the easiest solution, and you really only need one keyboard. You just buy a cheap keyboard (£5 max), dismantle it and chuck away the key mechanisms. Then solder six pairs of bellwire to (any old) six contact pairs on the circuit board underneath, and have the bellpushes on the ends of those wires. This really seems the smartest idea, because:

the cost is negligible, and if you screw up you can always solder on different contact pairs (or get a new keyboard for next to nothing)
there's essentially no programming overhead - keyboard IO is the easiest of all in pretty much every OS/environment/language
the hardware part is very easy (the largest solder targets ever) and fast (maybe 30 mins work)

If you have to worry about simultaneous keystrikes (as you would if you were making a quiz-show buzzer-system) then you have to be careful about wiring keys that are disjoint in the keyboard matrix. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:24, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

But of course! You're right! It didn't occur to me that I don't need the keys mechanisms themselves. I'll try that. — Sebastian (talk) 00:36, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Playstation2

I've got a Sony Playstation 2 (non-slimline) and the disk drive on it no longer opens. This was caused by the unit being stored upside-down once. Is there any way this can be fixed? Mix Lord 04:37, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

All you have to do is unscrew your PS2 and find if anything is jammed, snapped or fried. Here is a guide. meltBanana 16:12, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

that happened to me once, but i fixed it. all i did was soak it in warmish water for 3 to 4 hours and it should be as good as newSir Sagman 04:56, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Pci speed

How can a PCI card providing usb 2.0 ports offer full 480 mpbs?or does it??

According to Peripheral Component Interconnect PCI supports up to 133 MegaBYTES per second.

133 megabytes = 1 064 megabits

1064 mbps/480 mpbs = 2.21

So technically one could have two whole devices running at 480mbps on a PCI USB 2.0 Card --Sish 07:10, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Open source Linux OS

Any idea which is the 1)fastest 2)most multimedia compatable(file formats) 3)smallest size 4)applications(open office,etc) among all the linux os??

Linux OS? never heard of it. I thought Linux was a kernel... unless you're looking for GNU/Linux [sarcastic] --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 00:46, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

What do you mean by smallest? Feather Linux is only 120 MB or so, but Ubuntu is more full-featured and is what I would recommend for you. It is freely available here -- it's only around 700 MB and includes OpenOffice. You may need to install some codecs or applications to deal with Windows Media files (WMA, WMV) and CSS-scrambled DVDs. Pesapluvo 15:57, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Determining the character set of a file (created by cURLing wikipedia)

Alright, so there are two ways to solve the problem I have.

1) Tell me the character set of the file "foo" given that foo was created by the command

cURL -dump http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=dali&action=raw > foo

(except with the ? and & escaped so it works - the version presented above is unescaped for ease of your link following).

2) Tell me in general how to determine the character set of a file. Bonus points if it doesn't involve installing a utility (the system already has "recode", but it doesn't seem to do character set recognition, just recoding).

If you need or want more information on the context, read on.

That particular sample page is useful because it uses an 'í'. I have no problem seeing the í using for instance cat. The difficulty is that I want to process the file in Java, in particular using a Scanner. I've written a testing utility in Java that basically replicates the functionality of cat, just reading a file in and putting it directly to standard out. However, the Scanner constructor takes an argument of the character set used, and I don't know what to put. I've tried all the most common options (UTF-8, UTF-16, US-ASCII, ISO-whatever): the good ones tell me about "Salvador Dal?" while others don't even parse into words correctly.

I wouldn't mind a few missing characters, but when instead of dali I'm looking at http://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%A9, it becomes very problematic. Incidentally, I assume that dali and the above link to the Arabic Wikipedia use the same encoding - if not, please explain how and where Wikipedia uses various different encodings. ^L_Wizard @ 11:08, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

When grabbing an HTML file (as you will with that ar link), the HTML often has a meta tag labelled "Content-Type" which mentions a character set. Otherwise, you probably need to grab the header of that name out of the HTTP conversation; I don't know if cURL can report that or not. In general, of course, there is no way to tell what character set an arbitrary file uses, because you don't know what the file is supposed to say. (You can often tell that a file is encoded with such things as UTF-8, but that's not a coded character set (though those two links point to the same place, read the "Modern encoding model" section there); I guess the Scannner constructor is using the term in the old MIME sense. Are you sure that the UTF-8 there is not Java's modified UTF-8? Fortunately, most uses of variable-length encodings like that use Unicode as the character set. As far as my limited knowledge of internationalization goes, it appears that that's what your cURL command retrieves.) --Tardis 16:08, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

install windows 98

I have windows 98 in drive c: and xp(service pack 1) in drive d: (windows 98 to use mediaforte PV-951 TV card. XP does not support the tv card. Hence I need windows98). Now I could not run 98. When I boot 98, it says “Error starting program The shell32.DLL file cannot start. Check the file to determine the problem.” Another dialogue box says “Explorer This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. Explorer caused an exception 6d007eH in module EXPLORER>EXE at 0167:0040a067” How can I solve this problem?

I tried to format drive c: to reinstall win 98. but I could not. It says “windows was unable to complete the format.” Why I could not format drive c? is it due some common files shared by 98 and XP? Can I format drive c after manually delete all the files in drive c:? I could not find update drivers for mediaforte PV-951 TV card in the web. Can you help? Can I reinstall 98 while Xp is already installed in drive d? What are precautions I have to take before formatting (FAT32)? Sorry for the troubles. Thank you very much for your help. 220.247.226.158 11:09, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

software

Hi,

I need a software where i can store large amounts of data on.

If i was to type a trace number or an id number in, then all the information for that particular trace number will come up.

The information is for certs for our products. And the trace numbers are our references in completing the certifications.

Please can anyone help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe you're looking for a database? --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 16:44, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

testing my own wlan

I want to know if my wlan is secure. Do you know any hacking software so I can test it?

Program in USB

If I install a program in a USB stick, can I use this program on any other computer (with the same OS)? Or will the installation of some files still put some information on my hard-disc?

It depends on the program. If it doesn't change registry values and install files in system folders, you can. For example, Mirc (the irc client) can run from a USB drive. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 16:42, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I was thinking about something more professional, like ms-office, my own web-browser, a CAD program, etc.

MS Office requires registry and many libraries. So, the executable file is rather useless on its own. Most modern Windows programs work like that. You need to have all the libraries and registry settings installed to get it to even think about running. --Kainaw ^(talk) 18:01, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

But, what if I configure the usb stick as the main storing devide, and install windows on it (hypothetically). Would I be able to use this usb stick on any computer?

Only in safe-mode. When you install windows, you install drivers for the computer it is on. Also, Windows (and Vista) validate themselves based on the CPU and other things in the computer. So, when you switch hardware, you'll have a hell of time getting the different video card, network card, etc... to work properly. --Kainaw ^(talk) 20:19, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Asking for PC

Very thanks to u for ur helping.I mwan buy Desktop but i m not expert in com . The sellers have give me the list of the system but I cant understand D so please help me.........

My min requirements for PC are processor = 2.8GHZ or above ; Graphic card = PCIE 256 mb or above; memory = 512 mb or above ; Hardisk = 80 Gb or above.I use it mainly for design graphic n 3D

Ths 1st seller : Intel Pentium D 2.80GHz Intel D102 Pentium 4 Socket 775 Mainboard 1GB Kingston DDR2 Ram Power Color PCI Express 256MB VGA 80GB 7200RPM Maxtor SATA Hard Disk Samsung DVD Re-Writer Drive 1.44 MB Sony Floppy Drive Pentium 4 ATX Casing E-View Subwoofer Speaker 56K Internal Modem Delux PS/2 Keyboard Delux PS/2 Mouse Dell 17" LCD Monitor >> Net Price RM 2580.00

The 2nd seller : AMD ATHLON64 3000+ - AM2 GIGABYTE GA-K8NF MOTHER BOARD GIGABYTE 7300 GRAPHIC CARD - 256MB HITACHI 80 GB SATA HARDDISK 1GB DDR2 667 SDRAM-DUAL CHANNEL SAMSUNG DVD WRITER FLOPPY DRIVE P/S2 KEY BOARD / OPTICAL MOUSE ATX CASING WITH 450W REAL POWER- POWER SUPPLY DELL 17" LCD MONITOR >> Net Price RM 2500.00

DELL E520 : Processor Up to Intel® CoreTM 2 Duo processors E6300 (2MB L2 Cache, 1066Mhz FSB)

Memory Up to 4GB1 Dual-Channel2 DDR2 533Mhz SDRAM. Upgradeable to 2GB1 Dual-Channel2 DDR2 667Mhz SDRAM

Graphics Card 256MB PCI ExpressTM NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7300LE TurboCache4 256MB PCI Express ATI® RadeonTM X1300 Pro 256MB PCIeTM x16 NVIDIA® GeForceTM 7900GS 1GB PCIeTM x16 NVIDIA® GeForceTM 7950 GX2

Storage Up to 1 TB6 (2 drives x 500GB7) SATA II Hard Drive

Networking Integrated 10/100 Ethernet

Chipset Intel® P965 Express Chipset >>RM2149

So which one is more suitable for me??

Your "requirements" are too vague (256mb PCIE card? Tells us the memory, but not performance or price). What will you be using this for? ~~Also, both lists of specs you quoted are definately wayyy overpriced, unless you're not speaking in US Dollars.~~ You also haven't specified the type of video card in #1, only the brandname. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 18:54, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I don't think their first language is English, so we don't know what the actual value is that they're quoting. In any case, I'd say that as a complete computer noob, unless they're hoping to play games, they ought to get something cheap and second hand. The salesmen are trying to swindle them no doubt. --Username132 (talk) 00:12, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have no bloody idea why I assumed the price was in some sort of $, unless it's changed while I wasn't looking. 2500 Malaysia Ringgits is about $700 USD, which sounds like it may be about right for the quoted systems. The 1st system might have an edge (dual core processor), though I still don't know what the video card is. I can price a Dell E250 (lowest model, with free 1GB RAM upgrade and the optional nVidia 7300) to RM 2,563.00, with identical specs. Compared to the Malaysian computer dealers I can find online, the price for either system looks very reasonable. Any of them are competent PCs; the graphics cards are slow, but will be useful for most purposes. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 00:50, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Another problem with javascript

Yhea... i would like to pass a javascript variable from a main body to an iframe. how would i do that? it doesn't seem to work at all... here are the declarations i used:
in the body - var name="Home";
In the Iframe- document.write("-" + name + "-");
Is it Steak?<Xiaden's Homepage> 15:20, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Are both pages (the main one and the one in the IFrame) on the same server? If not, you will not be able to do it because of security protection. --Kainaw ^(talk) 18:00, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, they aren't even online yet, but they are in the same folder, and will be uploaded accordinglly. i like having things work before i try and upload anything =p. but on a serious note, i really need this information quick... it's part of a deadline(three days from now). Thnks,

Is it Steak?<Xiaden's Homepage> 18:57, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Then, the iframe should be in the window.frames array. If it is the only iframe, I'd expect it to be window.frames[0]. You can use windows.frames[0].document.write... but keep in mind that this all changes based on exactly how you coded the web pages. It may be parent.frames or windows.frames[whatever_you_named_the_frame]... Firefox (Mozilla) is nice in that you have a DOM inspector that you can use to see exactly where every element on the page is at and what you need to reference it. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:05, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ha... you helped me, but not in the way you exspected... turns out, whatever i name the IFrame, turns into the name for the variable name... i used a variable that isn't supposed to be used... i can define it in the tag now though, so it's all cool. Tell me if you want me to explain more...

Is it Steak?<Xiaden's Homepage> 19:11, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

rdesktop resize

I've been looking through the man file and I can't figure out if this is possible. With rdesktop (from linux to windows), I would like to be able to resize the window and have Windows change the resolution on the fly. Is that possible? I know I can close rdesktop and open it with a new geometry - which is not what I want. --Kainaw ^(talk) 18:02, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Changing the desktop resolution on the remote windows system will change the rdesktop window size. My searching did not turn up any implementation of the reverse, but the protocols seem to support it. There are already feature requests for this. Droud 23:42, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

making money

Does anyone know any easy and efficient ways of making £500 online quickly. any help would be appreciated. cheers ams

Make a website and sell (insert any item that is popular in spam these days here). You don't have to actually ship anything. You don't even need to accept credit cards. Send out spam to get people to visit your site. When the idiots flock in to give you their credit card info, copy it all to a file and sell the credit card information to some criminal for whatever he'll pay. Make a new site. Send out more spam. Do it again. By the time you get caught, you'll have made enough money to afford a high-priced lawyer and get, at most, probation and a small fine. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:08, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

dear god, i hope your joking Is it Steak?<Xiaden's Homepage> 19:12, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Is the sense of wikipedia to provide criminal advice, to, err..., may I say potential criminals?Mr.K. 19:15, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, especially when you blatantly lie to them and tell them they won't be punished much when they are caught. One more idiot behind bars is good. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:27, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

And, why make a web site? Couldn't you just cheat people through ebay like many others have done before?Mr.K. 19:32, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Too difficult to get volume. With spam, you can get thousands of valid credit card numbers in a matter of hours. I know that it is hard to believe, but many people actually click on those links and type in their credit card information. And they say that humans have evolved past the law of survival of the fittest... --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:36, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

how much bits does a chip have?

I know the whole story of words of 32 and 64 bits, but how much bits does a microchip has in total?

There is no set amount. It depends entirely on the chip. Some have more. Some have less. --Kainaw ^(talk) 20:17, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Er, wrong answer. Words are memory, not processing. You might be thinking of transistors. CPUs have hundreds of millions of transistors. --⁪froth^{T C} 21:30, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Microchips come in many flavors, and the "bits" a certain chip has refers to either:

The numerical precision of the processor and its registers. This is how commercial CPUs are measured in 8, 16, 32 and 64 bits.
The bus width the chip uses to access memory. This is how consumer gaming products were measured in 64 and 128 bits.

It is rare for a modern chip to have a numerical precision that differs from its bus width. Droud 23:49, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Maybe you mean how many total bits a processor has in its registers? That varies by chip as well; x86 chips are known for having few, and MIPS chips for having many. Of course, there are also the issues of CPU cache size... --Tardis 23:52, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

eax, ebx, ecx, edx, edi, esi, eip, esp, ebp, floating-point registers... ... ... ... --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 00:43, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

To The Person who asked the question: you would get a sensible answer if you told us the context of what you are asking about, because bits in information/computing are not "things" that you can see (like bits of an engine or so), but rather a measure of the size of information groups that travel through the processor. So a chip does not "have bits". Click on Bit for more info. -- Seejyb 05:26, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Memory chips come in sizes up to about 8 GB [7], which, at 8 bits per byte, would be around 64 billion bits. StuRat 09:24, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Forums/Places to ask computer questions

I'm looking for other places to ask computer questions (and see answers, and perhaps contribute some of my own) or computer discussion forums. Can anyone recommend any good ones? I'm interested in sites for the following topics: programming, theoretical computer science, interesting software/website/technology, employment/business ideas. Robin

There are a number of technology related forums such as Ars Technica and Topix Science/Technology, and Topix has a Computer Science forum as well. Your best bet for programming forums would be choosing a language first. As far as employment, head over to Monster. Droud 23:57, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Internet

How many trans-Atlantic internet links are there, and what type? Auximines 23:00, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I don't have a number, but look to List of international submarine communications cables and this category for help. - (Nuggetboy) (talk) (contribs) 00:14, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

OK, try Category:Submarine communications cables in the Atlantic Ocean too. It's growing as I'm trying to sort them out myself. - (Nuggetboy) (talk) (contribs) 00:35, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks very much! So, does all traffic go by submarine cable rather than by satellite? Auximines 17:32, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I can't say for sure, although I did see in one of the articles or references that the submarine cables are much preferred to satellite and the demand for satellite is vastly reduced when cable bandwidth is available. I would say there will always be demand for satellite communications, but probably only to remote areas where cables are unavailable or impossible. - (Nuggetboy) (talk) (contribs) 22:25, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That's Bots' Work!

I was just wondering whether it's really necessary to check for and correct double-redirects if there are bots that do that anyway - how long is a double-redirect likely to be around before a bot fixes it? --Username132 (talk) 23:46, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Where does it say it's necessary? You might want to change that. All I'm aware of is the statement " A double redirect does not work" in Help:Redirect; if you're sure that the bots do their job sufficiently you may want to add that there. — Sebastian (talk) 03:38, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

When I moved a page, I was told to check for and fix double redirects that the move may have created. --Username132 (talk) 10:59, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Want to download wikipedia

Hi is it possible to download a "database" of wikipedia, for use in a handheld device?(palm pilot) so that i can look anything that was included at that time when i am offline.. Thank you. Daniel.

You can download a dump of the Wikipedia database, but you'll have to code your own XML to text file converter. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 00:41, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There is one already made http://download.wikimedia.org/tomeraider/ if you have tomeraider. meltBanana 15:36, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

December 2

Good Audio Players

Are there any good audio players for GNU/Linux that come in Deb packages with customizable effects like crossfade, stereo widening, or something like the Winamp SPS (you can program your own effect)? Every single audio player I've looked at only plays audio, no effects. Thanks --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 00:51, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Amarok supports crossfading and a bunch of nifty things, though I'm not sure it's exactly what you want. There's also the old standard, XMMS, which has plugins (i.e. Crossfade plugin); Audacious Media Player; and naturally several others. You might also have success running foobar2000 with WINE, though that obviously breaks your initial requirement that it comes in a Deb package. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 01:07, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Mmm, I can't get the volume to change on XMMS-related players like Audacious and Beep... --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 04:37, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Similar Media Players to Windows Media Player

I'm considering moving to Linux but one thing that's bothering me is losing out on Windows Media Player. I've gone through a few other players (WinAmp, VLC etc.) and they all have their advantages but the one thing that keeps me with WMP is the Media Library. I know there's a few Linux media players which are similar to iTunes in this respect but does anybody know of any software that is similar to WMP 10, since it doesn't seem to work too well with Wine. --Kiltman67 04:12, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

yep, for KDE Amarok is the player of choice. --⁪froth^{T C} 03:15, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Amarok does seem to be the closest to WMP that I've seen but is there a GNOME version? I'm using Ubuntu --Kiltman67 06:27, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Amarok will work under GNOME. It might take a little longer to load, as well as using more memory, and you'll have to install Qt if you don't have it already; probably not noticeable issues with a modern computer. There are alternatives though; Exaile, Rhythmbox, Banshee, and probably others. I haven't tried any of these, so I can't vouch for stability or anything. All of them seem to be in sub 1.0 releases. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 07:55, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

GFX Card Upgrade

I am thinking about upgrading an older Nvidia PCX 5750 to another graphics card with more memory (currently 128MB) and a higher clock speed (475mhz Core 550mhz Memory). Will a new video card (possibly a 7600GS with 512MB mem) have any large effect on improved gameplay and graphics rendering, or does the CPU have more of an effect on this? In other words, would upgrading my processor have a larger effect on gameplay than upgrading my GFX card? Help would be much appreciated. Thank you Mango Sango 05:38, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It depends on what the CPU upgrade difference is but I think probably you'll get most for your money by buying a decent 3d card if you already have a modern CPU --⁪froth^{T C} 06:15, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the advice, I think i'll probably upgrade the GFX card (it does seem cheaper than upgrading the CPU). One question still plagues me: does the graphics card have a larger effect on gameplay than the cpu? I heard somewhere that upgrading your cpu will result in improved game performance. How does this actually work? ("this" as in the CPU's job in the process of rendering a frame and having it appear on a monitor).--Mango Sango 06:43, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The CPU tracks the game engine, bullets flying (hit detection), often the sound rendering, user input, stuff like that. Basically the only thing that the graphics card is good for is holding the gigantic 3d representations of the level and the models in its memory, doing operations on them like transforms and stuff, and mostly rendering effects like shading and reflections and shadows and lighting. This takes titanic processing power (that's why it has its own dedicated hardware) so while it sounds like the CPU does the most practical work -and it does-, what work the graphics card does is extremely intensive. You'll be able to turn your graphics settings (texture quality, resolution, and AF/FSAA are the most noticable changes) way up and maybe play some more advanced games, though moving up in the game-generation bracket from a mediocre computer usually takes a full system overhaul (mostly a more powerful cpu, though it can also involve a memory upgrade - and of course the gpu upgrade) --⁪froth^{T C} 08:01, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks alot, that made much more sense than the Wikipedia article on GPUs--Mango Sango 16:07, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

protecter

"Sir, when i use the internet and visit websites for different purpose or when i search something in search engines and select the most benefit website for me then in some of the websites there are porn seens or pictures or vedios that heated me, so what's the solution of stop the displaying of these things or enable me to use these things in any type of website that i visit?"--82.148.97.69 10:53, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Filtering software like NetNanny might help to filter out the things that shouldn't be seen. x42bn6 Talk 17:32, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If some one user is using my system and he search some porn things etc(vedios,pictures etc), how to save totaly his works so that he is not able to do such type of things?--82.148.97.69 03:09, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

To stop popups and ads try AdBlock. If you want to log internet access, buy a router that lets you do that --⁪froth^{T C} 03:16, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Creative Labs Sound Cards

So, I'm putting together a computer, and I need to buy a soundcard, but I have absolutely no idea what to go with . . .

I know a fair amount about audio, but I'm having trouble wading through the differences of some of Creative's new sound cards.

Could someone explain to me the difference between these?:

Audigy 2 ZS Platinum
Audigy 4 Pro
X-Fi Platinum
X-Fi Xtreme
Audigy 4

Also, which of these is better (if any are demonstrably better)?

Also, would any (or all) of these would support listening to separate audio streams simultaneously via speakers and headphones (as required in many DJ applications)?

I've been scouring the web for hours, but I'm just not turning much up on this one. The Jade Knight 11:35, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If you are planning to DJ, Sound Blaster is probably not your best bet. Try M-Audio, a company that specializes in digital audio for DJs, musicians, and technicians. Droud 14:32, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Unfortunately, their cards appear to be either/or as well; standard 1/8" + surround sound options, OR 4 I/O (as would be useful for DJing). I'm looking for a lower-scale solution; a card I can plug my headphones into and listen to audio through the headphones at the same time I can output audio to speakers (via any output type). Do any of the Creative cards do this? Do all of them? 128.187.0.165 23:42, 2 December 2006 (UTC) (jade knight)[reply]

Audigy is very good, I don't know much about the model numbers but it looks like the "highest" version is Audigy 4 Pro --⁪froth^{T C} 19:28, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The X-Fi is Creative's premier sound card, which has essentially replaced the Audigy. It's an excellent card for music listening and game sound, but I'm not sure how well it will work for DJing. Robmods 12:22, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

x86 and x64

I know that both x86 and x64 refer to processor achitectures and that x64 refers to the number of bits used for either the address or the data bus but what does x86 stand for? 71.100.6.152 17:21, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

x86 chips are called that because they're all ~~descended from~~ related to the Intel 8086. --Kjoonlee 18:03, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's called x86 because the early i386 (aka IA-32) processors' names ended with "86". x64 is a different architecture than x86 by the way, absolutely rebuilt from the ground up. --⁪froth^{T C} 19:27, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, no. IA-64 is a completely new, incompatible architecture, but x64 usually (maybe always) refers to x86-64, which is based on and backward-compatible with IA-32. ~~ N (t/c) 22:49, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

But what does the "86" stand for? 71.100.6.152 21:07, 2 December 2006 (UTC) [reply]

I guess because it was after the Intel 8085 --⁪froth^TC 21:46, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
The basis for the designation seems a bit (no pun intended) inconsistent.. From the 8085 article: "The "5" in the model number came from the fact that the 8085 required only a +5-volt (V) power supply rather than the +5V, -5V and +12V supplies the 8080 needed." Following this logic the "6" in the 8086 designation should stand for +6 volts.71.100.6.152 00:04, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
there was a 8086 processor, then a 80386, then a 80486, the pentium was expected to be called 80586 - hence pent - pentagon:5 (geddit?). So x86 means a continuation of the type of instruction set architecture found in this series of microprocessors. The 8086 was a 16bit version of the 8080 (hence the 6), the 8080 was a sucessor to the 8008 which was the 8 bit successor the the 4 bit 4004. And I guess that 4004 sounded like a great name for a cpu back in the 70's.
What? ... --⁪froth^{T C} 03:17, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
So the '86' doesn't really stand for anything - but you can trace the origin of the name x86.(apologies for any obvious errors made in my timeline.)87.102.19.168 23:30, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
XML converter
What is the best XML to text file converter for windows XP 64 bit? Adaptron 17:28, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
XML files are human readable text files, sometimes with binary data embedded. If you'd like to examine one, try an XML reader like FireFox. Droud 18:05, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Should i be concerned?
I just bought a new PC and am very happy with it - thus far. It runs on Windows XP Home edition. I am not IT savvy, just a domestic user so would appreciate any advice here. When exploring the screen buttons, I pressed the Start Button and then SET PROGRAM ACCESS and DEFAULTS - and then pressed ADD/REMOVE WINDOWS COMPONENTS (just being curious-didn't intend adding or removing anything). I got a pop up message box that said "Setup Library ntoc.dll could not be loaded, or function NtOc Setup Procedure could not be found". My question is, is this something I should be concerned about or can I just forget it. If respondents tell me to I will reluctantly call the supplier (in Delhi) and spend an hour or two being guided by their help desk, but I would prefer not to if that can be avoided. Thanks.
You should have the file "ntoc.dll" on your hard drive. To locate it:
Click the "start" menu

Click "My Computer"

Double Click "Local Disk (C:)"

Click "Show the contents of this folder"

Right click the Windows folder

Click "Search..."

In the box labeled "All or part of the file name:" type "ntoc.dll" without quotes.

Click "Search"
Does it find the file?
If not, you need to get the dll from here.
Download the file to your desktop.

Click "My Computer"

Double Click "Local Disk (C:)"

Double click the "Windows" folder

Click "Show the contents of this folder"

Double click the "system32" folder

Click "Show the contents of this folder"

Double click the "setup" folder

Now move the "ntoc.dll" file from your desktop to this folder
Restart your computer and try opening the Add/Remove Windows Components window again. --Russoc4 19:52, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks Russoc4. I did as you recommended, found the ntoc.dll file was already in the system32 setup folder, but the add remove windows components pop up message still keeps appearing. So I just did a system restore to the date I received the PC, the day before yesterday, in case I had inadvertently done something wrong, and got this message "the system cannot be restored to an earlier date as nothing on my system has changed". So I guess my system has been set up to disallow me from adding or removing windows components, though again, I have no express wish to do either? Maybe my PC has been configured to make it Foolproof, aka Meproof? But once again, thanks for your prompt and helpful advice.
Well you can always try going to Start, Run and typing
regsvr32 c:\windows\system32\ntoc.dll
--⁪froth^{T C} 21:43, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks Froth - Tried that as you suggested but got "Failed - the specified module could not be found".
dead PSU fan: epilogue..
I replaced the PSU: everything is ok, but the PC does'nt turns off any longer the fans when I switch to stand-by mode.. --Ulisse0 20:22, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Is this the case with all the fans (PSU, CPU, graphics card if it has one...) or just the PSU fan? I don't see how it could affect the CPU fan turning off (unless the system isn't actually going into standby anymore - again, hard to see how that could be possible), but the new PSU could easily not be designed to turn off the fan when suspending (in fact, I'm pretty sure my parents' desktop's doesn't). ~~ N (t/c) 22:46, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Odds are that when you unplugged the machine off to change the fan it lost some BIOS settings. Make sure all the relevant APCI widgets are switched on. Sockatume 23:48, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Wouldn't this only happen if the backup battery were dead? In fact, if it were dead, wouldn't it happen every time the computer was switched off? How old is the motherboard? ~~ N (t/c) 00:00, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
DVD Ripper
What can I use as a free or open source DVD decoder / ripper? I want to put DVDs into divx format. Thanks, Mike
use DVD Decrypter to rip the VOB files, and mencoder to encode in mpeg4. Unless you want to spend half an hour reading through the docs, the usage is
mencoder whatever.vob -o out.mpeg -oac mp3lame -ovc lavc -lavcencopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbr=600:vpass=1 mencoder whatever.vob -o out.mpeg -oac mp3lame -ovc lavc -lavcencopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbr=600:vpass=2
replace 600 with a different bitrate cap if you want, but 600kbps is a good number --⁪froth^{T C} 21:15, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Does mencoder do windows? You can use AutoGK to do the same thing with a graphical interface. Downloading it from here. --Russoc4 00:31, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah there are mencoder binaries for windows. And I don't like how GK and autogk install all of their components all over the place. --⁪froth^{T C} 03:11, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I usually don't like that either, but it's not that bad if you take a good look at where it's going. Personal preference I guess. --Russoc4 04:20, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Looking for automated way to define a list of words.
Sorry, I just posted this without a subject/headline so i'm not sure if it's already up there...
I own a windows computer and am looking for automated way to define a list of words. I have a list of about 650 words and need to define each of them. I was wondering if there was a program/website that could be used to do this automatically.
— Preceding unsigned comment added by Rawatenator (talk • contribs)
Outgoing UDP to port 0
When Azureus is downloading torrents, Norton Antivirus keeps telling me it's blocked "intrusion attempts" that amount to my computer trying to open a UDP connection to another address's port 0. Does this indicate a bug in Azureus or something wrong on the BitTorrent network? Is it a false alarm or is Norton right to block it? In the worst case scenario, what harm could an outgoing UDP connection to port 0 cause? Neon Merlin 21:30, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
In *nix systems it can take on special meaning (see here for a basic explanation) but port 0 is traditionally reserved, meaning that it's not used at all for anything legitimate, though technically it's usable --⁪froth^{T C} 21:36, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like this is the result of stupid people setting their BitTorrent clients to use port 0, and not something to be worried about. ~~ N (t/c) 22:22, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
First dual-processor motherboard?
I'm writing a paper on parallel programming on personal computers, and I'm having a difficult time finding which manufacturer created the first PC that could use two processors. I've checked the dual processor and motherboard pages, to no avail. Where can I find it?
If it helps, according to Unisys, the Burroughs B5000 was the first dual-processor and dual-memory computer, introduced in 1961.--Folksong 03:37, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
P2P optimized for LAN with churn
Are there any peer-to-peer file-sharing programs designed to operate on a LAN with no central server and heavy churn, e.g. a school wireless network with many people logging on and off frequently? ~~ N (t/c) 22:26, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
youtube video insertion
how can i insert a video on youtube? Which is the best camera for it?
You can create an account and upload a video at this link. I imagine the best camera would be anything that takes high-quality digital video, although you could also use an analog camcorder if you have video capture hardware. ~~ N (t/c) 23:58, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I've seen some pretty low-quality images uploaded from cell phones. User:Zoe|(talk) 02:48, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
component/vga compatabilty
I've become aware of cables designed for a (HD15)VGA input that are terminated with 3 RCA plugs/sockets. So this must mean that the sync signal is in one of the 'rgb' signals, and there is no separate h-sync or v-sync. eg Sony SDM-E76D [[8] see 'supplied accessories']
My question is this - what uses or how common is a '3 wire' signal for connection to VGA, and could this be compatable with component signals ala DVD outputs etc.
I'll just be grateful if someone can explain the purpose of such a connector - as they are new to me.83.100.250.215 22:32, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Hello, the cables you speak of are for using a device with a VGA output, such as a computer or a projector, with a display that is equipped with component video, as long as it supports RGB output in addition to YPbPr. It is not possible to use it in reverse though, since a VGA equipped computer monitor only accepts signals in RGB (unless the input explicitly supports YPbPr). If you have any further questions, feel free to contact me on my talk page. Regards, --Folksong 03:01, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
So why is it supplied with a VGA monitor?83.100.253.140 12:18, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Freeware Audio Recording
I am looking for a freeware program that can record music playing in another program on the computer. I don't mean I want a program that records from a microphone. I am hoping there's a program out there that would record music playing in another program even if my computer was on mute. I plan to record, for instance, live concert songs from youtube or music blogs - stuff I couldn't buy anywhere but would like to have in my music library. Any suggestions? Thanks a lot, 71.252.11.5 02:59, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Yep, try Audacity --⁪froth^{T C} 03:03, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Oh. I (same person signed in now) just downloaded this. I can't figure out how to do that function, so I figured it wasn't included. What's that function called? How do i get it to work? Thanks a lot. Don't take forever on this. If i know what it's called i can just look it up in the help file. 71.252.11.5 03:20, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Find a drop down box next to the volume sliders. Is there a Stereo Mix in it? Select that. --Russoc4 04:18, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Hit the big red record button :) You might want to turn off the mic input for better quality --⁪froth^{T C} 04:57, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
There isn't. The drop box next to the volume and mic sliders (on the same line) has Wave/MP3, Line In, CD Audio, Microphone, Auxiliary, and TAD in. There are two other drop boxes, which i don't think you're refering to, one next to a sound icon and the other next to a mic icon. They both have this drop-down list: Horizontal Stereo (I can't select this - it's gray), Vertical Stereo, linear, dB (can't select), Monitor Input, Disable. ThanksSashafklein 05:03, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Wait. I think I figured it out. Wave/MP3 seems to work. That's so cool. Now I can get all those live Tom Waits songs/ramblings :) Sashafklein 05:07, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
One more thing. This shouldn't record a bad quality song, should it? Sashafklein 05:08, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
What do you mean by "shouldn't"? Do you want to know if it's recommended? No, I don't recommend it. Can it record anything though? Yes it can. If you can find an original mp3, that would be the best way to go. I doubt I'm supposed to do this, but maybe this link will help. --Russoc4 05:36, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. I've got another question. this seems to work on my pc but not on my laptop. On the laptop, the dragdown menu wont even give me the option of choosing wave/mp3, only mic or line in. Am i doing something wrong? Is there any way I can fix this, or am I doomed to have to record on only one computer? 71.252.11.5 06:22, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
parallel processing
What processor chips are desinged exclusively to be wired together to form a parallel computer using minimum additional chips? 71.100.6.152 04:27, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Dual core processors? Intel core duo, etc. --Wooty Woot? contribs 08:55, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
3D Molecules
Are there any good free programs (Windows or Linux) for drawing molecules in 3D? ChemSketch is the de facto 2D program here, but it doesn't do 3D. At least not that I'm aware of.--Russoc4 04:27, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
You'd probably actually have better luck with this on the science desk. I think. Sashafklein 05:04, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I thought so. But then I thought they would've pushed me off to here :/ Thanks. --Russoc4 05:38, 3 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Online Translations
Is there a good free online English to Vietnamese block text translator out there? Crisco_1492
Bittorrent question.
I paid for some webspace and FTP access to it. Is there any way I can use this space to seed a torrent file -- by pointing a torrent client at the space -- without it filtering through my home connection in any way? I'm trying to seed some torrents (legal ones of my own, not pirated stuff) but my home connection is horrible. Thanks.