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October 22

Semantic web again!

Hi! I know I had asked this earlier but I still have some doubts here. So, please bear with me.. The semantic web article and semantic web stack picture on wikipedia and another site I visited, gave me the impression that XML is one layer and you use an RDF-based language on top of it, ie., both are always used together. But some other articles I read, said that, you may use RDF/XML which is RDF-based and also incorporates XML , but it's not necessary that XML and RDF be used together. I might have misunderstood things here, but I'm still confused about what EXACTLY XML and RDF do. From my understanding, XML is used to give metadata 'tags', separately(while HTML takes care of formatting, etc.) and RDF is a specification, which is used INSTEAD of XML to convey metadata & RDF/XML is an RDF-based language that also uses elements of XML, ie. , RDF maybe used using XML, but not necessarily. Can you tell me if, and where I am wrong?? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.68.77.73 (talk) 01:47, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

I think where you're getting muddled is in thinking of XML as a complete language that actually applies meaning to anything. A better way to think of it is as a generic syntax that you can write all sorts of languages in. RDF, on the other hand, is a very general language that can be written with various syntaxes.

To give a very rough analogy, human languages, say French and English, can use the same alphabet, but have very different words: XML is like the alphabet, RDF like the words.

If you wrote English in, say, the International Phonetic Alphabet, it would still be English. So in the same way, you can write RDF in a different syntax ("alphabet"), but it's still the same language, and still has the same advantages; but if you write it in XML, you also get the advantages of XML. - IMSoP (talk) 08:37, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

I think I get it now! Thanks a lot!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.68.77.73 (talk) 18:03, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Stata plugins

Does anyone have any experience writing Stata plugins in C++? I have been trying to replicate what they do in there website, but the dll does not load properly in stata. http://www.stata.com/plugins/ I have permissions to write in all the data drives, but I have no permissions in the drives where stata is actually installed, is stata attempting to add the dll to a system folder and that is why its not working? Or does stata treat this as it would treat an ado, and by that I mean that as long as it knows where to find it it can use it. If anyone knows about this, any info would be appreciated. Thanks, Brusegadi (talk) 05:58, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Driver installation problem

Hi, I am using windows vista ultimate. Lately, I am encountering problems with driver installation. The devices whose driver have already been installed and are in the windows folder, need to be specified again. When I plug in the device (for example, a pen drive) a message pops up that the device driver needs to be installed. Then I have to direct it to look for the devices in the /windows/system32 folder and then after sometime it installs it. When I plug in some other pendrive, I have to do the routine again.218.248.70.235 (talk) 06:33, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Time Machine

Even after I leave Time Machine backing up overnight, it still hasn't finished. In fact System Preferences says it's still "preparing." It's also unusually loud, with fans at 2300 rpm (says iStat, a dashboard widget). I know it's a new backup of about 80GB, but I've completed bigger backups in half that time before. Anyone know when it might finish? It's connected by USB, OSX 10.5.5.My name is anetta (talk) 09:29, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Today's log doesn't say much either. I got it by using "sudo grep backupd /var/log/system.log" into the terminal:

Oct 22 01:11:30 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[390]: Backup requested due to disk attach

Oct 22 01:11:30 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[390]: Starting standard backup

Oct 22 01:11:30 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[390]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Oct 2008/Backups.backupdb

Oct 22 02:04:54 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[390]: Backup requested due to disk attach

Oct 22 13:12:18 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[390]: Error: (-36) Creating directory Backups.backupdb

Oct 22 13:12:19 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[390]: Stopping backupd because the backup volume was ejected!

Oct 22 13:12:19 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[390]: Backup failed with error: 27

Oct 22 13:12:42 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1656]: Backup requested by user

Oct 22 13:12:42 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1656]: Starting standard backup

Oct 22 13:12:42 /System/Library/CoreServices/backupd[1656]: Backing up to: /Volumes/Time Machine Oct 2008/Backups.backupdb

Even after I started it again at 13.12.42, the drive is still empty.My name is anetta (talk) 12:39, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

I've no idea about this backup program, but as a rough guess I would check out the meaning of those error messages "...Error: (-36) Creating directory Backups.backupdb" and "...error: 27". Astronaut (talk) 12:56, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Time Machine is part of Mac Leopard. It was the next big thing when it came out last year. And thankyou, I'll investigate.My name is anetta (talk) 14:57, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Do you have all system files excluded from the backup (i.e. "System Files and Applications" in the "Do not back up" list in System Preferences -> Time Machine -> Options)? Time Machine sometimes gets stuck trying to figure out what this exclusion covers, and spends forever in the Preparing phase of the backup. I'd have thought this would be fixed by now, but maybe not... So try removing the all system files exclude (you can safely exclude just the /System folder, though). Speaker to Lampposts (talk) 20:40, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

I'll experiment with excluding /System and see if it works. Although, the list of exclusions is absolutely clear: all partitions on the external drive and (by default of VMware Fusion), Virtual Machines. I would be surprised if that caused any problems. My name is anetta (talk) 23:15, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

"You've chosen to exclude the System folder. Would you like to also exclude other files installed with Mac OS X, such as system applications and UNIX tools?" I chose "exclude Systems folder only."My name is anetta (talk) 23:17, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

I have restored all of this from the history. Maybe it disappeared. Back to the question.... My name is anetta (talk) 19:36, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

I'd say try deleting (don't worry, if it works your backup will be back soon) the back up folder, Backups.backupdb. If that doesn't work, repartitioning your backup partition using Disk Utility in your Utilities folder most likely will. Visit the Genius Bar at any Apple Store, and they will fix it for you if all else fails. Mac Davis (talk) 03:09, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Syncing my iPod

Earlier, when I used to connect my iPod to my PC, and opened iTunes, iTunes automatically started syncing stuff to my iPod. But now, no matter what I do, I can’t get iTunes to sync my iPod anymore. Even the “sync iPod” option under the File menu isn’t available. Is there a way out of this?? Please help!! La Alquimista 09:53, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Have you tried restoring the iPod? --grawity 13:27, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

I got a blue flashing screen

The screen went just crazy and I had to restart my computer. Using Windows Vista. It scared the hell out of me. Also I regularly download porn and go to sites like 4chan, so I am worried that I have a virus. I already use Norton, Spybot Search and Destroy as well as NoScript in Firefox. What could be wrong? I don't want this to happen again.-ArticleDiscussion (talk) 12:28, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

You're watching porn, eh? Hmm, I guess that's why your PC's acting strange. Some unscrupulous people riddle malware into porn; malware authors take advantage of the fact that a lot of people are into viewing sexually explicit content. Blake Gripling (talk) 09:40, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

You can't just "riddle malware into porn". Video file formats don't allow execution of arbitrary code. You need an exploitable vulnerability—either a bug in a popular player or user naïveté. As far as I know the usual approach is to make the file refuse to play unless you download a fictitious codec which is only available from the attacker's web site. -- BenRG (talk) 13:53, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

The biggest problem in regards to malware and porn is that there is a lot of "porn" on P2P networks that are really viruses. They are pretty easy to spot though (porn with an EXE extension... avoid it). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 21:58, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

I've opened movies in Quicktime that open the default web browser and go to a page, that could be used for something. Mac Davis (talk) 02:54, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

How about not watching porn? How about scanning your computer for viruses regularly? How about dumping Spybot and using Ad-Aware (it's a lot better)? HOW ABOUT NOT WATCHING PORN??? 31306D696E6E69636B6D (talk) 12:48, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Pfft. The guy wants to watch porn, let him watch it in peace. Based on his description of the problem, there's no real reason to believe that he has a virus, anyway. His computer crashed once, is all. It's not cause for concern unless it starts happening a lot, and even then my first thought wouldn't be that it's a virus or any other type of malware. (Which is not to say that you can't get a virus if you surf on random porn sites all day and click "yes" on every damn thing that pops up without any care or understanding of what you're actually doing, but porn isn't magically turning anyone's computer into a virus-infested mess by itself.) -- Captain Disdain (talk) 18:12, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Everyone knows the Internet is for Porn. Stop being such a prude. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 21:58, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Everyone looks at porn, including you. BTW, Ad-Aware is not as good as Spybot S&D according to Consumer Reports. Also, Windows includes an Event Viewer (Start --> Run... --> eventvwr.msc) that often says why you got a BSOD. Of course, the OP could also just write down what the BSOD said and Google it. To do that you have to disable automatic restarts (not sure what it is in Vista, but in XP, you right-click on My Computer --> Properties --> Advanced --> Startup and Recovery, and then disable automatic restarts).--Account created to post on Reference Desk (talk) 23:09, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Even if i do watch porn, i don't download it...:) 31306D696E6E69636B6D (talk) 16:37, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

I see no reason to think you've got malware. Malware doesn't tend to make the screen "go crazy" (unless by that you mean "fill with ads"). It's more likely to be a bug in your video driver or something. -- BenRG (talk) 13:53, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Being at sites like 4chan doesn't mean you'll get a virus. Just don't download any of the pngs and run them as a js. Mac Davis (talk) 02:54, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Scrolling news display

Hi, I want to have a window on my screen which aggregates news from many websites (like BBC, CNN etc). The requirement is that it should have 10 (for example) new items in the window. when a latest item arrives, the oldest item should be deleted so that the screen just has 10 newest items. RSS aggregarors like RSSOwl require some manual intervention for this (it deletes the items only when the feed is deselected). I want it to be automatically deleted

What I am asking is similiar to a stockmarket ticker (but scrolling from bottom to top), which shows me the latest 10 news items from many websites.! Can you suggest some software ? WikiCheng | Talk 12:45, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Free software

Hello. Are there any free video editing software that I can download to synchronize sound and video for a video clip (avi file)? I have a video clip but the picture is quite lagged, can I download something to fix this? Thank you. --AreDeeCue (talk) 13:14, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

VirtualDub should allow this. Also if the lag is constant you can do it in real time as you watch using VLC and ctrl and (I think) [ and ] or possibly , and . although this will not be saved. 88.211.96.3 (talk) 14:14, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks I downloaded virtualdub but can you please tell me how to do this with it. AreDeeCue (talk) 20:07, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Restoring order of Microsoft Excel Database

I was entering data of names, phone # and addresses into Microsoft excel. I resorted the data to be in alphabetical order by first name. However only the name were sorted and now the names don't match up with the contact info. Is there anything I can do to resort the names back to the order that I entered them, so they match with the contact info? Thanks --Gary123 (talk) 18:23, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

If you haven't saved the data, you can undo the sort (Edit|Undo, keyboard shortcut ctrl-z or alt+backspace). If you have saved the data after doing the sort, I'm afraid you're out of luck. As you probably now have found out, what you should have done in the first place, was to highlight the entire area to be sorted, before doing the sort. If you have a previous copy, with the names in the original order, you might try to cut-and-paste the column with the names into your updated document in a vacant column, hopefully at least blocks of the data will be in the desired order, and you could do the final realignment by hand. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 19:27, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Tables in Neo Office

How is it possible to make two separate tables on the same lines (next to each other but not touching) on Neo Office Writer? Or have a table, but still be able to use the rest of the line? I can resize the tables, but I end up with loads of space to the left or right and can't use it. Regards.--ChokinBako (talk) 21:43, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

One thing you can do (at least in OO and Word, surely in NO too) is to have one big wide table, but set the borders of a middle column to "none", so the two sections look like different tables. There's probably also a way to put a table into a floaty-box, but I'll have to get back to you on that. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 21:50, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, in OpenOffice (which I understand has generally the same codebase as NO; I don't know how common their interfaces are) you'd do insert->frame and set the resulting frame to be anchored as character. Then put a table in that, then repeat for a second frame with a second table. To make the frame itself invisible on print, set its border to "none". -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 21:54, 22 October 2008 (UTC)

October 23

Anyone know of any free software that will actually clone a hard from from one to another, not just create an image file?

Anyone know of any free software that will actually clone a hard from from one to another, not just create a useless image file? I looked through the lists of and comparisons of software in the pages wikipedia had, checked them all out and of the free software that works on FAT32 or does a raw copy, it all says it only creates worthless, junky image files instead of copying a hard drive to another outright. I've asked on some of the forum of those websites and they never answer. So.. Anyone know of any free software that will actually clone/copy all the contents of a hard from from one to another, not just create a useless image file? Are you ready for IPv6? (talk) 00:42, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Try GParted. Boot it off a live CD and you can easily copy partitions from one hard drive to another. Works fine with FAT32. I've used it again and again. Really pretty straightforward piece of software—a real gem of open-source work. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 01:44, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

dd -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 02:08, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

It's not free, but I'd recommend Norton Ghost. I've tried it; it works well and gives you full control over how the disc is cloned. I've also tried a program from Acronis, but it was really fragile.--Account created to post on Reference Desk (talk) 02:09, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Really, try GParted. I used to use Norton Ghost before I found GParted. GParted is just as easy, works just as well. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 04:12, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Try Clonezilla (http://clonezilla.org). It's an excellent piece of open source software that allows you to do exactly that i.e. copy an entire harddisk or partition from one harddisk/partition to another. It comes as an ISO image file, so just download it, write it to disk. Then boot off the CD you've just made and follow the instructions. It allows you to copy directly from one harddisk/partition to another, or to choose to backup your harddisk/partition onto an image file that you can use later on to restore your harddisk. Additionally, you may find it bundled together with GParted - another opensource tool for partitioning harddisks.

Quicker way to add placemarks on Google Earth

Hi all. I find Google Earth's method of placing placemarks to be rather slow when creating lots of placemarks. With the current method, you have to click on the add placemarks button and move the placemark to where you want it. Is there some sort of hack available whereby you can select the add placemarks button, and click away on the screen with the mouse like twenty times and cretae twenty placemarks in the locations that you clicked? Thanks. - Akamad (talk) 00:45, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

phones

i wasn't sure if i ought to place this question here but anyways..i'm going to buy a phone in Kenya ..i want a basic phone but it should at least have a camera ,fm,blue tooth and usb.. budget should be around 100 dollars . something like a nokia 3230 or nokia 3500...I wouldn't mind an Ericsson but i don't know which type is good..So if anybody knows of a phone he or she has used and can recommend i buy it that would be awesome... Just a smart classy good phone ... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.1.26.35 (talk) 06:48, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

64-bit Rootkits

Are 64-bit machines susceptible to rootkits (particularly Vista if that matters)? While I was looking for a scanner I read a forum comment that x64 machines are unaffected by rootkits. Is that true? If not, do you know of a scanner for them? Thank you Louis Waweru  Talk  11:03, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

There are some free scanners here.--ChokinBako (talk) 11:27, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm afraid they don't run on 64-bit macihnes. Louis Waweru  Talk  11:32, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Going from 32-bit to 64-bit is a binary-incompatible change, so a kernel driver binary (malicious or not) that's designed for a 32-bit OS is unlikely to work on a 64-bit version of the "same" OS. But more likely the forum comment was referring to Windows driver signing, which is optional on 32-bit versions of Windows but mandatory on 64-bit Vista. Drivers don't have to be signed by Microsoft but they have to be signed by someone who's purchased a certificate from VeriSign, which in principle gives a way to track them down if something goes wrong. Of course, rootkits tend to exploit bugs to gain sysadmin privileges in the first place, and there's no reason there couldn't be an exploitable bug in the kernel that could be used to load an unsigned driver. And there are probably ways to game the VeriSign application process (about which I know nothing). But it does make it a lot harder. -- BenRG (talk) 13:17, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the explaination, BenRG. My paranoia level dropped a bit. I'm not sure I understand the driver signing criticism, since driver signing can easily be disabled. I opened a question on the articles talk page if you are interested. Louis Waweru  Talk  00:02, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Yes! and Yes! Both BlackLite and gMer both have 64-bit versions. RootKit revealer I dont think works.

Driver Signing has nothing to do with root kits. I had all the security for driver signing in place, and got a trojan rootkit.

AND Microsoft has a patch for a bad verisign signature that someone got from verisign to sign things as coming from microsoft.

Let us know what works. BE PARANOID! --99.185.0.29 (talk) 12:40, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

IP Address

How do I find out the IP Address of: 1. A PC; 2. A printer attached to the PC; Regards!--ChokinBako (talk) 11:21, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

This sounds like homework to be honest so I'll only answer the first bit. I'm going to assume you are using windows, since 90% of people are. First bring up your start menu, and go to the Run menu, then type cmd, and press enter. A black box should show up with "command prompt" in the title. Type "ipconfig" and it will be listed. 88.211.96.3 (talk) 12:04, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Hm your profile says you're an IT instructor? 88.211.96.3 (talk) 12:05, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

I knew that already. Sorry, I should have been a bit more specific. I was thinking of a way to do it without the DOS prompt. We used to be able to do it at a company I used to work for. Something to do with right-clicking and properties, or something. I can't remember. The printer one is still bugging me, too.--ChokinBako (talk) 12:39, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

If you're using Windows XP, 2000 or 2003, open Network Connections, right-click on a connection, and click Status. Then choose the "Details" tab. --grawity 13:27, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

I, too, am assuming Windows (please let us know if it's not.) I'm using Windows 2000, your mileage may vary. If the printer is already hooked up to the PC and working properly, try this. Hit Start, open your Control Panel, and open Printers. You'll see a list of printers that you're connected to. Right-click your network printer and choose "properties." Click on the "Ports" tab. Highlight (don't uncheck!) the only port in the list that's checked. Click the "Configure Port" button. The printer's IP address should be listed somewhere on the "Configure Port" window.

Depending on how flashy your printer is, you may be able to see the IP address on its screen, or make it print a configuration page that lists the IP address.ColorfulNumbers (talk) 20:41, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

There is a GUI for Ipconfig, that at first was on a server kit for windows 2000, but now you can download. Ill post the Microsoft URL, when Im stitting at the server next time.

Found it

[1]

Called wntipcfg.exe have fun! --99.185.0.29 (talk) 12:53, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Thunderbird is lying to me!

I have Thunderbird set up to check for mail automatically every so often, and I keep getting a message saying I have new mail in my local folder when I actually don't have any. It's annoying because I have to check it to get rid of the notification. Is there anyway to stop it from lying to me, but STILL check automatically?--ChokinBako (talk) 12:42, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

1) Do you have any unread messages?

2) I'm not sure if it's the default configuration, but I have Thunderbird set up to show me the name and subject of any new messages as part of the "new mail" popup. Do you see any messages in your Inbox which match the ones in the "new mail" popup?

- SigmaEpsilon → ΣΕ 22:51, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Are you sure you don't have spam waiting for you? As I recall from Thunderbird (I primarily use google apps now, instead of local software) if it fetches a new message it notifies you right away, but if the message is filtered out as spam or junk (due to the built in filter or one you set up) it may disappear from your inbox before you have a chance to open it up. --66.195.232.121 (talk) 15:27, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

.ck

Why won't the Cook Islands allow registration of obscene .ck domain names even though they could potentially get a ridiculous amount of money from it? Vitriol (talk) 13:48, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

At only $150 a domain every two years, I'm not sure how much money that would be. It's not a "ridiculous" amount. Most likely the reason not to do it is from internal political pressures; somebody would get a chance to get high and mighty about how the government is doing such and such. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:05, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Some people have morals and want to make the Internet a nicer place. It's an interesting idea - I say we try it! SteveBaker (talk) 03:22, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

I do hope you're kidding, Steve. Dismas|^(talk) 03:28, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Why would he be kidding? Everyone knows porn is evil, look at all the nasty things it's done to people! Just think about it, the ultimate immoral list, 1) Murder, 2) Porn, 3) Country Music. Let's save the world, one MP3 and one JPG at a time. - Jimmi Hugh (talk) 10:22, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Their businesses use .co.ck - is that obscene enough? DendodgeTalk^Contribs 11:22, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

aac audio codec

I use virtualdub to convert my mpeg video files to h.264 format. I have ffdshow installed which helps me compress the video stream. But I can't encode the audio to aac. Can anyone please tell me where to find aac encoder for windows (which can be used in virtualdub->audio->compression) ? As I have ffdshow installed, I suppose I could use the ffd audio encoder, but that's absent in the compression list. 218.248.70.235 (talk) 16:24, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

I recently switched to this combination for my encodes as well. The free NeroAACEnc is an amazing little encoder. The codec really sounds great. If you're interested MeGUI can provide a shell for it (as well as x264). There are instances when I still use vdub, but MeGUI is by-and-large a great replacement for encoding jobs. Louis Waweru  Talk  00:07, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

PayRoll Problem

Name Salary Marriage Status Income Tax Withheld Social Security 401K Retirement Total Deductions Net Pay Employee 1 $5,600.00 S $408.80 $280.00 Employee 2 $2,500.00 M $182.50 $125.00 Employee 3 $4,000.00 S $292.00 $200.00 Employee 4 $2,800.00 S $204.40 $140.00 Employee 5 $3,000.00 S $219.00 $150.00 Employee 6 $4,400.00 M $321.20 $220.00 Employee 7 $2,200.00 S $160.60 $110.00 Employee 8 $6,000.00 S $438.00 $300.00 Employee 9 $2,300.00 M $167.90 $115.00 Employee 10 $3,400.00 M $248.20 $170.00 Employee 11 $4,000.00 S $292.00 $200.00 Employee 12 $2,600.00 M $189.80 $130.00 Employee 13 $5,800.00 M $423.40 $290.00

Income Tax withholding rates Single Married Rate for SS Rate for Ret Over 3000 18% Over 3000 15% 7.30% 5% Under 3000 10% Under 3000 10%

Write one formula for income tax withholding that can be used for all employees. Hint this will be an If function formula. Write other formulas as needed to calculate Social Security, retirement, total deductions and net pay. Good luck!!!!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.176.119.180 (talk) 18:17, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Please note the guidelines at the top that we won't do your homework for you. If you have made a serious attempt at solving the problem and have a specific question, we will be happy to try to help. --LarryMac | Talk 18:33, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

If statement Louis Waweru  Talk  00:10, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

The obvious solution is to use a Fourier transform to get a function of the employee's income, social security and retirement fund status, parameterised for their marriage status (generalised to a complex variable, of course - don't forget the imaginary girlfriends!) 79.78.52.62 (talk) 22:18, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

uservalidation in c

i've created a small function that should get user input, and will keep asking the user for new input if they dont specify a number

/*validates user input returns the number as a double or if error condition 
is set it will recall itself*/
double userValidate(char *value)

char buff[BUFSIZ],*ptr_buf;
double returnvalue=0.0;
int buffsize=sizeof(buff),errno=0;

    printf("Please enter a numercial value for %s", value);

    fgets(buff, buffsize, stdin);

	if (buff[0] == '\n')
    {
        printf("No input, try again\n");
		userValidate(value);
	}
		
    returnvalue=strtod(buff,&ptr_buf);
	
	if (errno == ERANGE || errno != 0) 
	{
        perror("strtod");
        printf("Not a valid number, try again\n");
		userValidate(value);
    }

	if (ptr_buf == buff)
    {
        printf("Not a valid number, try again\n");
		userValidate(value);
    }

free(buff);

return (returnvalue);
}

note value is just a text string respresenting what i want to ask ie "Value for object 1"etc
i validate whether the number is the correct size ie greater than some value, less than some value etc, inside a do-while loop that calls this function

now i have a few questions:
1) if i attempt to call free(ptr_buff) at the end of the fucntion i get a bus error, any ideas why/ suggestions to get round it?
2) is there a need to check if user enters a value greater than a double can hold, as its a very buig number?
3) is there anyway i can improve it? it seems to have problems if someones enters a lot of junk input in one go, it seems to have to run sereval times before it then recongises a number as being valid

thanks--82.16.140.152 (talk) 21:26, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Regarding #1 -- You shouldn't do "free(ptr_buf)" or "free(buff)". "buff" is not dynamically allocated memory (allocated with malloc() or strdup() or some function that calls them or something similar) which is what free() is for. An array declared as "char buf[123]" is allocated on the stack when the function is called and will be removed when the function exits. And "ptr_buf" just points to somewhere within "buff".

Regarding #3 and having a lot of junk input -- iff "buff" fills up, fgets() will stop reading and your function will process just what it got so far. But the rest of the user's input line will be received in the next call to fgets(). That's probably what you're seeing. -- Why Not A Duck 21:56, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Yikes! I see at least a dozen things wrong with this function! That's gotta be some kind of a record!

I'm now going to meticulously shred your code into tiny, TINY little pieces and bitch and whine at every single thing I can find. Please don't be discouraged by this. Everyone (me included) started off programming like this. You'll learn - you'll get better - but even after 35 years - you'll still look back at code you wrote the year before and say to yourself: "Did I really write that crap?". I wrote about 2,000 lines of complicated graphics code today - and it all worked pretty much first time - and I'm getting paid $130,000 a year for doing it. But that's because I learned to program in 1973 and I've been writing code pretty much every single day since then - and I'm a FANATIC about good style, good algorithms and taking care to sweat the teeny-tiny details of everything I do. But look carefully at what I'm telling you...take careful pride in every character you type. Style and prettyness really DO matter for practical programmers.

• Certainly you can't free up memory that's allocated on the stack as a local variable - that's why it crashes on 'free'. Just remove the call to 'free' - local variables are automatically cleaned up when the function exits - so you don't need to (and cannot legally) 'free' them.

• Another MAJOR complaint I have is that you call the function recursively if the user mistypes something. Each recursive call eats memory (notably - that BUFSIZ'd buffer). So if your user types (say) a million lines of illegal crap - your function will have called itself a million times and allocated a million copies of all of those local variables. That'll pretty much for sure run you out of stack space after a few hundred bad entries. It might seem unlikely that any user would do that - but you can redirect stdin from a file by mistake when you start the program running - and stuffing a few thousand lines of garbage is all it would take to crash the program. You may not care about that in the case you are thinking of - but it's sloppy programming - which is ALWAYS bad. Try to refactor your code to use something like:

  do
  {
    read input ;
    check input ;
  } while ( input is crappy ) ;
 return good value;

• Worse still - when the function gets good input the first time around, it returns that good value. But if things go wrong and it calls itself recursively - you don't return the value from the (eventual) good input from all the layers of function call that went wrong. At the very least - the lines that call 'userValidate' from INSIDE 'userValidate' should say "return userValidate(value);"...but as I said - using recursion in this situation is just plain nasty for a million other reasons! However, that's why the program doesn't work when you enter crap into it. It's really quite rare for recursion to be a good way to solve a problem...use it with EXTREME caution - and only when you have a lot more programming experience than you do now!

• Sadly - you mistakenly declared 'errno' as a local variable. Your local definition overrides the standard declaration of errno in the header file - so you'll never detect a non-zero value because you're checking your local private variable and NOT the one that the standard library functions are declaring!

• You wrote: if (errno == ERANGE || errno != 0). This is redundant. Any non-zero value of errno represents an error...so checking for errno being equal to ERANGE is a waste of time - ERANGE isn't equal to zero so a simple 'if ( errno != 0 )' would do just fine. In fact, most C programmers are aware that the 'if' statement treats any non-zero value as 'true' so they'll typically write 'if ( errno )' and read that as "if errno is showing a problem". That's why so many UNIX/Linux functions and pretty much all of the standard library functions use zero to indicate success when they return an integer error code. But 'if ( errno != 0 )' is perfectly OK too.

• I dislike your function prototype. The 'value' parameter isn't altered inside the function - and you should say so by declaring it as: double userValidate ( const char *value ) ;

• I dislike that you check (buffer[0]=='\n') and tell the user that his input was empty. Firstly, that fails if he types a space before hitting return - that's still "empty input" - but you're not detecting it. You might as well not bother with that test and just let the rest of the checking say that his input was bad when he hits return.

• The word is "numerical" not "numercal". Always ALWAYS ALWAYS put everything in your program thats between quotation or comment marks into a spell checker! Better still, use an editor that spell checks as you type.

• Why do you need the variable 'buffSize'? You already declared a constant 'BUFSIZ' someplace - so why not pass that into 'fgets' and save some memory?

• Even if you did want to declare it for some reason, buffSize never changes so it should be declared 'const int' and not just 'int'.

• 'sizeof' doesn't return an 'int' - it returns an object of type 'size_t' which may or may not be an int. (It's often an unsigned int). Many compilers (Microsoft's Visual studio for one) will issue a warning to tell you that there is possible loss of data here. In this case it's OK - but you should at least cast the results of 'sizeof' into an 'int' if that's what you're going to use. In general, it's better practice to declare variables and constants that contain sizes of things in memory to be of type 'size_t' just to be on the safe side.

• A major problem with your testing is that 'strtod' only looks at the first thing in the buffer. If your user INTENDED to type "0.00001" as input but accidentally misses the period key and inserts a space before it (or after it - or instead of it) then he'll have typed "0 .00001". strtod will happily read the 0 and return it to you and your program will proceed as if the user had typed a zero. This could be horribly important in some applications - so you ought to check not only that he typed a valid number - but also that he ONLY typed a number (plus - perhaps - some surrounding white-space)...if he enters what seems to you to be TWO numbers - then you should error-out and have him try again. Literally ANYTHING you can do to help the guy out is a good thing.

• You aren't checking the results of fgets() - it returns NULL when there is some kind of input problem with stdin...which is perfectly possible (if for example, the user gets sick of your error messages and types an end-of-file mark). When that happens (without checking the result of fgets) your program will probably loop forever printing error messages!

• In answer to your question, you don't need to worry about checking for inputs too big to be a 'double' - strtod already does that. It will return HUGE_VAL (or possibly -HUGE_VAL) and set 'errno' for numbers that are too big (or too negative). For values that are too close to zero for a double precision number to store, it'll return zero - but errno will still be set to a non-zero value. This doesn't work in your program right now because you declared 'errno' as a local variable - but when you fix that, it'll work automatically.

• You are using 'printf' to display error messages and user-prompts. In general, that's a really bad idea - even for command-line programs. People are entitled to redirect the output of 'stdout' to a file so they can store any useful results your program might happen to generate. It's considered much nicer to put user-prompts (and CERTAINLY all error messages) to 'stderr' (the standard error stream) instead. This is easy to do - just replace 'printf(' with 'fprintf(stderr,' and all will be well.

• A thing I personally HATE (but far too many programmers do) is putting the value you are returning in a 'return' statment inside parentheses. They aren't needed. You could have said 'return returnVal;' and it would be perfectly OK. This isn't wrong so much as an ugly stylistic thing. It makes it seem like 'return(yaddayadda);' is a function call - and it's most definitely not! Putting the brackets there say to me "this is a guy who doesn't know C"...but it's not strictly WRONG...just evidence of woolly thinking.

• I dislike that your function always says "Please enter a numercial value for..." before displaying the message from the calling function. If this function is used in dozens of places for numerical input - the output will be very monotonous and the "Please enter a numercial value for..." string on every single line will piss off your users because their eyes have to scan all the way across the line to get to the actual interesting part of the message. On a small display, this message will get so long, it may cause the window to scroll sideways and that's a MAJOR no-no because it makes your poor user have to fiddle with the mouse in order to see what you're telling him. Let the calling program pass in ALL of the message. So it can say nice, concise things like:

 double string_length = userValidate ( "How long is a piece of string? " ) ;

• Your indentation "style" is non-existant. Line stuff up neatly - choose a style and stick to it. A good rule with programming is: "If it doesn't look neat - it won't work." - this is clearly not true - yet every poorly indented program I ever saw was broken in dozens of ways. That's because sloppy intentation is evidence of sloppy thinking and sloppy work. You might think I'm overly paranoid about style - but I work with game programs - the last game I worked on contained TWO AND A HALF MILLION LINES of C++ code. If you can't keep it neat - you stand zero chance of getting something like that working.

• Please stick with one variable naming style. Some people like longnamesallinlowercase (I don't) - some people like CamelCaseWords where each word is captialised and then run together - others like words_with_underscores. You use all three of those - and it's ugly! Pick a style - stick with it.

PHEW! Well, that's all I could find in a single glance. Doubtless there would be more for me to hate if I thought about it some more. But like I said - don't be disheartened - if you stick at it, you'll get good - and you'll enjoy doing it.

SteveBaker (talk) 02:35, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

thansk,really didnt realise theres that much wrong, there was a proper identing style though it seems to of gotten lost in copying over--82.16.140.152 (talk) 07:38, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

• I'm pretty sure gcc will optimize the recursive call (when written correctly, with return) into a goto. But most other compilers won't, and it's a bad idea to rely on it. I tend to use an explicit goto in the source code when I really want tail recursion but can't rely on the compiler to optimize it, but some people would disagree and say that it's never okay to use goto.
• Getting rid of buffsize won't save any memory or time if you're optimizing. Any modern compiler will produce exactly the same code as if you'd used BUFSIZ directly in the call to fgets.
• Personally I don't mind redundant parentheses, but given that you (SteveBaker) complained about the parentheses after return, I'm surprised you didn't also complain about the parentheses after sizeof. A simple fgets(buff, sizeof buff, stdin) would do fine. I think this is better than fgets(buff, BUFSIZ, stdin) because it can't lead accidentally to a buffer overrun vulnerability if you later change the declaration of buff. On the other hand it would break if you decided to dynamically allocate buff. I dunno.
• I don't see the point of assigning 0.0 to returnvalue, since this value is never used, and doesn't seem an especially sensible default in any case. Some people might argue that it's good practice to always assign a default (modern compilers will optimize it away), but I think it would be better practice to declare returnvalue at the location where it gets its actual value: double returnvalue = strtod(buff, &ptr_buf). Standard C has supported this for almost a decade (the new standard was published in 1999). If your compiler doesn't allow it for some reason, switch to C++. (I recommend switching to C++ anyway; there's no reason not to, unless your compiler doesn't support it, which is almost unheard of these days, except on embedded systems, which I don't think you're using since they tend not to have stdio.) -- BenRG (talk) 12:24, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

thanks for extra input, the bit with the bufsize was orginaly done for the reason you said(if i ever changed the size of it, which i did, which is why it got left there), unfortunaly i'm stuck with a compiler pre c99, its a university run server thats no longer activily manged and we were told explicity to use c not c++, which also means i've had to define my own definitions for complex numbers--82.16.140.152 (talk) 17:02, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

• It's really ridiculous to rely on the compiler to optimize anything. Particularly something like recursion - which is pretty tough to optimize even by hand and veers into a situation where the compiler is changing your algorithm - which is a big "no-no". I can't count the number of times where some piece of slow, clunky code was speeded up immensely by writing it efficiently sometime after the original author thought the compiler would do it for him. Get into the habit of writing efficiently from the get-go. It's easier to slip into bad habits because you "know" the compiler will fix it - then you flip over to another compiler (or even another language) - the optimization goes away - and you're SO hosed because you've lost your natural instinct for eliminating waste 'by hand'.
• Goto's are obnoxious and are absolutely NEVER needed - not for style, not for efficiency, not for algorithmic necessity - you can always improve some aspect of goto-riddled code by refactoring it without the goto's. There are a few cases (very few) where they are merely benign and cause no harm - but because 99% of the ways people use them are evil - it's better to do without them and not allow weak programmers to screw up so badly. Always remember - even if you are a superprogrammer who can keep goto-sources in his head and not screw up - the people who come along to read your code later may not be so smart...and the smarter you are - the higher the probability that I'm right about that! I have not written a goto in real code in 35 years (we're not counting 'JMP' instructions in machine-code or microcode where it's unavoidable)...I've never once met a really good programmer who used them either. In the 2.5 million lines of C++ code that I worked on in my last job - and the 1.5 million in the job before that, there was not one single goto. They are a crutch for the weak-minded.
• Arguing between those forms of fgets is tricky. Any one of the three 'obvous' ways can break if code elsewhere changes. There is no single way to determine how long a 'char *' is that's bulletproof - so you might as well pick the simplest and cleanest.
• I agree that the brackets around the thing to the right of 'sizeof' is a little redundant - but sizeof behaves a lot like a function does and if people think of it as a function - that's not so terrible. Also, its operator precedence is a little bit weird - and using brackets redundantly around the kinds of things that have weird precedence rule is a reasonable defensive strategy. But 'return' changes the flow of control in ways that a function cannot ever do - and there are NO operator precedence issues that can justify using them. Putting the parentheses around it doesn't add anything to the value of the program.

Quicker way to add placemarks on Google Earth

Hi all. This entry of mine got deleted in this edit: [2] along with a whole bunch of other edits, so I'm reposting:

I find Google Earth's method of placing placemarks to be rather slow when creating lots of placemarks. With the current method, you have to click on the add placemarks button and move the placemark to where you want it. Is there some sort of hack available whereby you can select the add placemarks button, and click away on the screen with the mouse like twenty times and cretae twenty placemarks in the locations that you clicked? Thanks. - Akamad (talk) 00:45, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Backup Hardware suggestions

Hi, I'm looking for backup hardware suggestions. I don't need to have an automated solution; I just want to have a fast and inexpensive external backup option. If it's faster and cheaper, then even serial-access options (like tapes?) may be what I want...? Or are tapes obsolete? I have no idea what's out there nowadays. Ideally, I could use it for both my old Mac tower (old G4 and old system OS X 10.2) with IEEE1394 and USB connections, and new Sony laptop (Windows XP and Ubuntu) with IEEE1394 and USB2 connections. Any ideas? Thanks! TresÁrboles (talk) 23:16, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

AFAIK, tapes are expensive for most personal use. I would go with a cheap USB hard disk. From this source, I got info on this hard disk. I think we can help you research with the best deals in town (I mean the Interwho). Kushal (talk) 00:15, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

It all depends on how much you need to back up - and how paranoid you're going to be. Using an external USB drive is pretty easy - and you can easily automate it. But you only have ONE backup. If you leave your USB drive sitting next to your PC then if a meteor smashes into your living room (or if you spill a cup of coffee - which I suppose MIGHT be more likely!) then the odds are very good that you'll lose your main drive AND your backup in the same accident. Also, a lot of people take backups because they worry that they might accidentally screw up the contents of a file and need to get it off the backup. But if you only have one backup - then you might not notice that you screwed something up until AFTER the next backup...so now both your 'live' copy and your backup are equally screwed. There are software solutions to that - but they mean that the backup drive has to have a much larger capacity than your main drive.

Alternatively - you could back up by dumping your files onto (say) a DVD-ROM on a regular basis. If you have just a couple of gigabytes of files - so everything fits on one disk - that's great. Blank DVD's are becoming cheap enough to where you could afford to back up once every couple of days - archive disks going back a year or more - and (VERY important) you can take some of the backups away from where your computer is so that even if your house burns to the ground - you'll still have last month's backup disk in the trunk of your car - or at grandma's house - or wherever you kept them.

The trouble with DVD-ROM is that the capacity isn't that big. If you have come close to filling up your 500Gbyte hard drive - then it's going to take literally hundreds of DVD-ROMS (or even BluRay-ROMS) to store all that stuff. You could go with an 'incremental backup' solution - which entails using software trickery to save only the files that changed since the previous backup (which in turn stores only the changes from the one before that). Since it's highly unlikely that more than a gigabyte or two of files will change between one backup session and the next - there is really no limit to the size of hard drive you can back up onto DVD-ROM if you do it incrementally.

The problem with incremental backups is that to restore your files, you may have to go back through a very large number of backup DVD's to restore files that have not changed in years. You might find that acceptable if you don't trash hard drives all that often - but remember that no laser-disk-style backup is bulletproof - they can get scratched - and the lose data with age. This doesn't matter if you're doing a complete backup every week - but it matters a lot if you are only doing incremental backups because loss of any one of dozens and dozens of disks will make restoration from the backup very problematic.

Tape solutions are out there - but they are horribly expensive and get outdated quickly. I wouldn't do that.

Probably the best solution if you can afford the cost and be disciplined enough is to buy SEVERAL USB hard drives. Back up onto them in strict rotation - so you always have a backup that's a week old, another that's two weeks old and a third that's three weeks old. Keep at least one of the drives in another building somewhere - or consider buying a fourth drive for a special once-a-month backup that always lives at grandma's house. Assuming you don't keep all three of your weekly backup drives anywhere near your computer - then it's unlikely that anything short of a house fire or a really LARGE meteor strike will take out all three backups...so even if a USB drive fails on the very day you need to use it - you always have another (albeit slightly more outdated) drive sitting in the background.

A final alternative is to pay for off-site storage. I have a web-hosting service (for which I pay less than $10 per month) - and that comes with enough disk space to hold all of the files I actually care about. I do my backups by running a 'subversion' server on the webhosting site and checking my files into that every night. This does several things for me:

1. Because subversion is a version control system - I can wind back the file history on any file I've screwed up too badly.
2. Because the web hosting guys are professional IT types - they handle all of the backing up of the subversion repository.
3. Because the web hosting company are in California someplace and I live in Texas - it would take a REALLY big meteor strike to take out both my computer AND their copy of all my data!
4. Restoring a backup is as simple as installing subversion on the new machine and doing a 'checkout all' type command...but this lets me use any computer in the world on a short-term basis. If I'm at a friends house and I forget my laptop - I can create an account on his machine, install subversion - then check out just my home directory preference files and whatever directory has the things I'm actively working on. Then, when I'm done - I check it all into subversion's repository at the web hosting site and wipe my files from my friend's PC. When I get home, I do a checkout on my home machine and all the work I did while I was away from home comes flooding back onto my local machine.

I like this solution for many reasons - and the $10 a month the hosting service costs me is also running my email, hosting my web site and my Wiki - plus the websites, email and Wiki's for my wifes home business, my son's website and the car club I run. It's worth that much to me without the subversion thing - so backups are essentially free to me.

SteveBaker (talk) 01:46, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

this looks like a good deal too. Kushal (talk) 20:37, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Yowza! What a detailed answer! Thanks Steve, I think this will help other people, but I wasn't really looking for this level of backup myself. I don't have any super-critical files, I'm not running a business, my data doesn't change that much... It sounds like Kushal and you are saying hard drives are the way to go (besides possibly off-site storage). I would probably look into IEEE1394/FireWire hard drives (they still make them, right?) more than USB because my Mac only has the old slow USB, and I'd like to backup both my Mac and Sony laptop. However, I was really hoping more for a good removable storage option since it would never fill up, and also I'm concerned that I would not be able to share a disk drive between my Mac and my XP/Ubuntu laptop because of filesystem format problems. (E.g. Windows XP and Ubuntu can read and write to an NTFS partition, but I don't think my Mac can.) I'm surprised that tape drives are a more expensive option. (If disk drives are cheaper and more convenient, why would anyone get tape at all? Speed?) DVD-ROMs will be too low-capacity for me I think. TresÁrboles (talk) 05:57, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

I would imagine tape is better suited for long-term archives that do not need to be fetched often. Kushal (talk) 17:49, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Laptop issue

I own a HP Pavilion dv1000 laptop with Windows XP installed, a couple of years old. A month ago, it failed to boot up at all. I turned it over to my father, who got it checked out (I was busy at the time), and the issue is a bad motherboard, which Best Buy (I know, I know) says will cost $358 to fix. I am a student in a graduate program, so I usually have my laptop in class. At the end of class, I usually shut it down and pack it up in my bookbag. I suspect that the frequency of this damaged the laptop, and I was thinking that even if I got it fixed, the same problem may take place again. Considering the cost of the two-year-old laptop, is it worth fixing or just getting a new one? I am not looking for anything particularly high-end. Probably will accept Vista on the next one. Not a gamer or a multimedia person. Any professional assessments? 98.223.188.95 (talk) 23:55, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

You might try calling HP directly. When my dv2000 (which I'm typing on as we speak) had a dead CD-ROM drive they were very helpful and much, MUCH cheaper than any of the high-street stores I tried. SteveBaker (talk) 01:21, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

PROTIP: Don't buy HP products. I have had a printer, display and a laptop from HP. All have failed. Message from XENU^{u, t} 13:40, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Don't get a pet. I've had a rabbit, a rooster, and a puppy. All have died. Kushal (talk) 20:34, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't consider your statistical sample size valid and since the same person could easily have abused all three - they cannot be considered uncorrelated data. I have three HP OfficeJet K80 printers and three HP laptops and all have worked beautifully for many years. The ONLY problem I've had with them is the CD-ROM drive crapping out on one of the laptops - and I was deeply impressed by the quality of the HP service team...even after they discovered I'd wiped the hard drive so I could run Linux so they couldn't run their remote diagnostics. However, neither of those things gives you any significant information about whether HP products are good or bad. You can find dissatisfied customers from ANY of the computer manufacturers - unless the statistical sample size is a LOT bigger and the failures are uncorrelated - you know nothing about whether you should or should not avoid the products for reliability reasons. SteveBaker (talk) 20:31, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Are you just putting it in your bookbag? I've found that really takes a toll on ANY laptop except the ones meant for abuse. My recommendation would be to get a GOOD laptop case if you don't have one. I use one from InCase and it is very plush, very tough. My current laptop has not had one tenth the problems of my last one when I didn't have a case at all. Everyone I know who doesn't use good cases and carried them around a lot has had problems. I suspect most laptops are not really made for the kind of wear and tear that grad students subject them to. I know this is not what you asked but I thought I'd chime in for future reference. :-) By the way, the Best Buy price they quoted is really not that bad considering the labor involved in installing a new motherboard. The part isn't cheap by itself and it is not an easy installation (you have to basically take everything out, practically every screw in the thing; it's not like putting in new RAM or putting in a new CD-ROM). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 23:10, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Free/open source DXF / DWG to SVG converter?

Where do I get a free/open source DXF / DWG to SVG converter? I would like to get a hold of a free software or printer driver that will rasterize all or part of a DWG (drawing) or DXF (Drawing Format Interchange) file to SVG (scalable vector graphics image). Thanks in advance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.254.47.85 (talk) 23:56, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

SVG drawings are not "rasterized" - they are in vector/shape form - just like DXF - except they only exist in 2 dimensions where DXF's can be in 3D. The only path I'm aware of is that the 'blender' package can import DXF and there is an SVG exporter available for blender (I haven't tried either plugin however - so I can't vouch for how successful this might be). If you have a lot of files to convert, you can run blender in a command-line mode which will allow you to write scripts to convert lots of files consecutively without human intervention. You can't print natively within blender - but you could use inkscape to print out your SVG's or rasterize and export them as PNG or JPEG or whatever. Both blender and inkscape are opensourced and both work well under both Linux and Windows...probably on Mac too...but I've never tried that. SteveBaker (talk) 01:18, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. I meant "vectorize" then :-S. So I installed Blender and then I searched for the SVG exporter and found one called Pantograph. It requires a bunch of other files (which to function require other software themselves) which I installed according to the instructions of the Pantograph author, but I am either doing something wrong or the plugins don't work because I still can't find any indication of SVG exporting abilities on Blender. So, should I concentrate on Blender as the way to go and just keep looking for an add-on that will allow it to export to SVG, or is there other software that might also do it? (Oh, and the only thing I am willing to invest on this is time). Thanks again for the help. 69.254.47.85 (talk) 19:08, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Edit: I forgot to mention, I'm on Windows XP.69.254.47.85 (talk) 19:10, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

have you tried sk1 or Inkscape? they are Open Source tools that can open DXF files and save as SVG.

October 24

IRC block

How do I know, without bothering my network administrator, whether IRC is blocked in my network or not? I can get on IRC via the web such as Mibbit but not via standard desktop apps. I cannot even connect. Please advise. Kushal (talk) 00:27, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Try telnetting to an IRC server. ie. telnet chat.freenode.net 6667 -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 01:58, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Here is the output from telnet that I got:

NOTICE AUTH :*** Looking up your hostname...

NOTICE AUTH :*** Checking ident

NOTICE AUTH :*** No identd (auth) response

NOTICE AUTH :*** Couldn't look up your hostname

ERROR :Closing Link: 127.0.0.1 (Connection Timed Out)




Connection to host lost.

C:\>

Kushal (talk) 21:31, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Well, IRC isn't blocked per-se, you can connect. I'd suggest trying the same thing using an IRC client (e.g. mIRC). It looks like it should work to me. EAi (talk) 21:36, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

That's interesting. It does look normal. I'd do that^, see if you're getting an error back from the servers; maybe the ones you're connecting to have proxy-detection and they figure you're running an open proxy? It could be anything. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 22:53, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Here's a snippet of what I got from mIRC.

Closing Link: 127.0.0.1 (Connection Timed Out) -

• Disconnected

-

• Connect retry #3 chat.freenode.net (6665) (dns pool)

- -chat.freenode.net- *** Looking up your hostname... - -chat.freenode.net- *** Checking ident - -chat.freenode.net- *** No identd (auth) response - -chat.freenode.net- *** Couldn't look up your hostname - Closing Link: 127.0.0.1 (Connection Timed Out) -

• Disconnected

-

• Connect retry #4 chat.freenode.net (6665) (dns pool)

- -chat.freenode.net- *** Looking up your hostname... - -chat.freenode.net- *** Checking ident - -chat.freenode.net- *** No identd (auth) response - -chat.freenode.net- *** Couldn't look up your hostname - Closing Link: 127.0.0.1 (Connection Timed Out) -

• Disconnected

-

• Connect retry #5 chat.freenode.net (6665) (dns pool)

- -chat.freenode.net- *** Looking up your hostname... - -chat.freenode.net- *** Checking ident - -chat.freenode.net- *** No identd (auth) response - -chat.freenode.net- *** Couldn't look up your hostname - Closing Link: 127.0.0.1 (Connection Timed Out) -

• Disconnected

-

• Connect retry #6 chat.freenode.net (6665) (dns pool)

- -chat.freenode.net- *** Looking up your hostname... -

• Disconnected

Thanks, Kushal (talk) 17:45, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Here's another time, using Firefox's IRC add-on, ChatZilla,

irc.mozilla.org [INFO] Network view for “irc.mozilla.org” opened. [INFO] Attempting to connect to “irc.mozilla.org”. Use /cancel to abort. [INFO] Connecting to irc://irc.mozilla.org/ (irc://irc.mozilla.org/)... === *** Looking up your hostname... === *** Couldn't resolve your hostname; using your IP address instead [ERROR] Closing Link: [69.150.163.1] (Ping timeout) [ERROR] Connection to irc://irc.mozilla.org/ (irc://irc.mozilla.org/) closed. Reconnecting in 15 seconds. [INFO] Connecting to irc://irc.mozilla.org/ (irc://irc.mozilla.org/)... === *** Looking up your hostname... === *** Couldn't resolve your hostname; using your IP address instead [ERROR] Closing Link: [69.150.163.1] (Ping timeout) [ERROR] Connection to irc://irc.mozilla.org/ (irc://irc.mozilla.org/) closed. Reconnecting in 30 seconds.

. Kushal (talk) 23:10, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

---

Perhaps you should try connecting on a non-standard port (anything outside of 6666-6669) or even use bouncer.

Thanks. I will do that. Kushal (talk) 06:53, 30 October 2008 (UTC)

Anyone know of any free software that will actually clone a hard from from one to another, not just create an image file?

Anyone know of any free software that will actually clone a hard from from one to another, not just create a useless image file? I looked through the lists of and comparisons of software in the pages wikipedia had, checked them all out and of the free software that works on FAT32 or does a raw copy, it all says it only creates worthless, junky image files instead of copying a hard drive to another outright. I've asked on some of the forum of those websites and they never answer. So.. Anyone know of any free software that will actually clone/copy all the contents of a hard from from one to another, not just create a useless image file?

I asked this before but the question just vanished, likely due to some vandalism burried in the history that I can't find. I don't think a mod removed it because I'd get a note about it or see an edit summary in the edit history. Are you ready for IPv6? (talk) 01:45, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

[3] did it. Suggestions were GParted dd (Unix) and Norton Ghost, with the first two being Free software. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 01:51, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

The original question and its responses have been restored. See here. -- Tcncv (talk) 03:07, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Are you ready for IPv6? (talk) 03:31, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

I used a peice of software calle XXCopy, and it worked well and was fast. BUT

[4] Try a few of these.--99.185.0.29 (talk) 12:32, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

If you are content with software that is free as in beer, and the disk you want to copy is a Seagate or Maxtor disk, then Seagate Disk Wizard does the job quite nicely, most of the time. I've used it under Windows XP, for cloning disks with several partitions, both ntfs, fat32 and ext3 on the same disk. When the target disk is larger than the source (as is often the case), one of the options is to increase the partitions proportionally to the increase in disk size. I've used this option successfully. I also tried the other option, to manually specify the sizes of each partition, but that did not work correctly. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 13:16, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Try Clonezilla (http://clonezilla.org). This is an excellent piece of free software that does just that i.e. copies an entire harddisk to another, or a partition to another partition. You'll get it as a downloadable ISO image file that you'll need to write to a CD, boot off it and simply follow the instructions. As well the software allows you to back up an entire partition/harddisk onto an image file that can then be used to restore the partition/harddisk later on, or onto a new harddisk/partition. It's also possible to get a bundle ISO image from this site consisting of both GParted (a disk partitioning tool) and Clonezilla. I've used it 2 or 3 times and it works excellently - on all partition types and OSes i.e. XP partitions, Linux partitions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.1.26.35 (talk) 13:51, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Find parent folder of Windows Vista programs?

Is there a general way to find the actual disk folder that contains any particular Windows program on Vista?

What I am looking for is the Windows Vista equivalent of the Unix command "where" or "what" (depending on *nix dialect). For example, my Vista Home premium has MS Office Excel Viewer installed and I can call it with "excel", but there is no program file named excel. Instead, I can locate the shortcut by using the Vista command "where" where I find the filename is "Microsoft Office Excel Viewer 2003.lnk". Although this where is almost what I need, it requires me to wrap the program name in wildcards, and it is very slow. So, are there better ways to do this? (I already know about using control panel with Add and remove programs and Windows Search but they do not work for all programs) -84user (talk) 13:07, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Presumably there's a list in the registry of applications that can be launched from 'anywhere'... I can't find where though :( EAi (talk) 21:33, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't know if this is a) the list in question, and b) in the same place on Vista, but Windows XP has a list of applications in the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths that can be typed in the "Run..." dialog box. For instance, you can type winword on a machine with MS Office installed.

It's actually quite a useful way of making aliases: each key has to be called keyword.exe, where keyword is the alias you type at the run prompt, but the actual path (the default value in that key) can be anything that you could normally run from the Run... prompt. So you can set "jot.exe" to run "C:\jottings.txt", and the text file will open when you type "jot" at the prompt. - IMSoP (talk) 12:31, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

App Paths is listed in my Vista registry, but it holds only a subset of commands that are callable from the Start dialog. Notepad and Write are missing, for example. Also some programs listed are not callable: I have WinCal.exe and can launch it when I type the full path, but not when I type just "WinCal". And it seems Vista does not let me create aliases that way: I created keyword jot.exe with value "C:\jottings.txt" but jot still does nothing. But there is a HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications and that lists more, but not all, available commands. It seems logical there should be a list somewhere, after all how does Windows check what the user types? -84user (talk) 16:46, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Question about modems and Internet problems

Most of the description of what happened to me was posted Monday on the Village Pump. I looked at the modem's manual and found no details on this whatsoever.

I had no Internet access whatsoever Wednesday from the time I turned on the computer around noon until about 3:00, and then I lost the Internet again after having it for about an hour.

I thought there was a relationship between the middle light on the modem and Internet access. After Hurricane Ike, that light was blinking even when the computer was off. It's supposed to always be on when the Internet is working or the computer is off (the tech support person said there's no reason for it to be blinking when the computer is off), and it was always on after I started having problems on Monday--until I turned the computer on. When I had no Internet access, that light was usually blinking or off. This is strange, though--after the problem was temporarily resolved on Wednesday, the light was usually on even if the Internet was not.

I was finally told on Wednesday something I had never heard before--the problem weas outside my house somewhere. I never heard whether it was a widespread problem in my area. But they have fixed it.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:22, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

What is your question? --LarryMac | Talk 19:08, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

I suppose a specific question could be why the middle light blinks when the computer is off when the tech support person said that's not going to happen. Funny, when I wrote the above I thought I was going to get responses, but now that I read it, I'm not sure what I'm asking. I was hoping someone could explain to me what happened.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 20:49, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

What is "The middle light" labeled as - does it have a symbol or anything against it? Does it matter that the light is blinking - I can't tell if it's causing any actual problems (beyond the light)? Is it blinking consistently or randomly? EAi (talk) 21:29, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

A simple, free and easy to use program for video conversion to Ipod compatibilty?

I recently purchased a 120G Ipod classic and I am looking for a free and easy program to convert video files so that they will play on my Ipod. So far, I found Itunes itself capable of converting Quicktime videos, but the majority of what I have is WMV, Mpeg or AVI. I have looked quite a bit for a program but so far I have not found anything that was easy to use or not loaded with advertising. Can anyone offer any suggestions? thanks so much and cheers, 10draftsdeep (talk) 18:57, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

You on a mac? Which version of OS X? Kushal (talk) 20:32, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

VisualHub for Mac (recently deceased) is/was good. For PC: Videora seems to be well thought of, though doesn't say it supports WMV - it's free though. PrismPlus is also well thought of, but not free, but supports WMV. EAi (talk) 21:26, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

iSquint? --wj32 ^t/c 22:11, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, use iSquint. It's pretty good about that sort of thing. For more complicated things, there is ffmpegx, but it's a bit more of a hassle and takes a lot of fiddling with. --140.247.10.21 (talk) 00:12, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

SUPER is good (see WP article for list of supported formats - there are iPod presets). Only for PC though. I used it for a load of videos I recently transferred to my iPod nano - works a treat. Link to download is at the bottom of this page. Booglamay (talk) - 01:14, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Or on Windows, try DVDVideoSoft's products (search google) --wj32 ^t/c 23:22, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

If you're on a Mac you already have tools to use. iMovie and Quicktime Pro have specific features for this. Mac Davis (talk) 02:49, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

I am using a PC not a MAC. Thanks for all the help! cheers, 10draftsdeep (talk) 12:53, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Um, sorry about that. Kushal (talk) 23:13, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Nuked permissions in XP Pro SP3

I ran "cacls C: /P guest:n" in a command prompt. After that, I was unable to access anything. I shutdown and booted from the OEM CD. I ran a repair install. I rebooted and put the CD in to try to finish the repair installation. It was going fine for about 5 minutes. Then I got a fatal error. I looked the error code up and it said that this meant that there were not sufficient permissions to perform the necessary tasks. Now, I can't even boot into Windows so what is the best way to fix this? Maybe resetting the permissions (if so, how)? (By the way, I have already tried cacls in recovery console and copying it onto a flash drive and running it in the recovery console. Neither work. I am dual-booting with Ubuntu on another partition, so if I need to use linux for the repair, feel free to recommend that.) --Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 22:16, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't think you can use GNU/Linux to repair NTFS permissions; NTFS-3G doesn't support editing permissions. Try making a Windows XP "Live CD" using BartPE. --wj32 ^t/c 22:45, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

What cacls parameters did you use in the Recovery Console? The standard form for granting permission is this:

cacls C: /E /G <your username>:F

I don't know if it'll work in BartPE, but you can also try taking ownership of the files on the drive. If you do not own the files, then you cannot change their permission settings. You would right-click on the C: drive, select Properties and under Security, click Advanced, then Owner. Vista includes a command for this called takeown, and you can download an imitation version that you can include on your BartPE image.--Account created to post on Reference Desk (talk) 01:32, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

The recovery console doesn't have cacls and I can't use BartPE because all I have is an OEM CD. Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 03:11, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Then create a third partition inside Ubuntu and install Windows in it. Use that partition to repair your permissions for your old Windows partition.--Account created to post on Reference Desk (talk) 04:11, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

October 25

There is any computer program that finds the Least common multiple and Greatest common divisor???

There is any computer program that finds the Least common multiple and Greatest common divisor of a set of numbers??? 201.79.105.113 (talk) 03:18, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Writing one wouldn't be too hard. --67.54.224.199 (talk) 03:31, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

In Python this should work (assuming x,y are integers):

def gcd(x,y):
    while y:
        x,y = y, x%y
    return x

def lcm(x,y):
    return x*y/gcd(x,y)

but I haven't tested these. —Tamfang (talk) 06:26, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

They work. And the first one proves that Python is amazing. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 09:46, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

It's almost as pretty in any other language (that has the mod operator), I imagine. —Tamfang (talk) 03:38, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

I want one that i am able to use any numbers of intergers that I want and not just 2. Is I wanted just 2 there is websites that do that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.79.105.113 (talk) 15:34, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Do it two at a time: gcd(a, b, c, d, e) = gcd(a, gcd(b, gcd(c, gcd(d, e)))), and the same goes for lcm() too. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 16:15, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

For gcd, it's clearly most efficient to start with the smallest inputs, if you have a choice. For lcm, I'm not sure; depends on the algo; I wouldn't be surprised to learn there's a better way than what I gave above. —Tamfang (talk) 03:36, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

So there is no a program that do this, and I will have to program for myself if I want one??? 201.79.105.113 (talk) 17:17, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Sure there are loads. I just had a go on my GNU Octave and it does it. You could download that. You can just type in what you want:

octave:9> gcd(300,45,90)
ans =  15
octave:10> lcm(45,5,2,54)
ans =  270
octave:11>  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 3sJJ0Itf (talk • contribs) 17:36, 25 October 2008 (UTC) 

and it can do lots of other stuff too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 3sJJ0Itf (talk • contribs) 17:39, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Based on those Python examples, I just hacked up a JavaScript solution. Type any number of integers, separated by commas, into the first box, and click "calculate". View the source for how it's done, and let me know if it's all wrong. - IMSoP (talk) 17:48, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

imsop without even looking in your code i found a problem in your program (site), I calculate the lcm of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and the site gave me 90. 90 is not cm of 4. 201.79.105.113 (talk) 02:05, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

The flaw in IMSoP's code is that apply_to_list keeps no history. It should be:

z = list[i];

for (i=1; i<list.length; i++) { z = func(z,list[i]); }

return z;

—Tamfang (talk) 05:21, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

D'oh! Just for the sake of it, I've fixed the page. - IMSoP (talk) 13:07, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

If you want something less programmatic, with a GUI, there's GraphCalc. It has gcb and lcm functions. Although, as with the Python examples, it only takes two arguments at a time. - RedWordSmith (talk) 02:30, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

It would help if we knew what the OP needs in a bit more detail: a function library? a standalone app? to be run from a command line or otherwise? —Tamfang (talk) 05:21, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

This was the first programming homework I got! Graeme Bartlett (talk) 05:33, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

A standalone program. But dont need to be graphical, just something that at the start of the program that: Say "What is the amount of numbers that you will use to calculate" then the user put the amount of numbers that will be used in calculation?" Then the user put the amount of numbers used for calculation. A example 3. Then its say "insert the first number" and the user do that, then "insert the second number" and the user insert, and then "insert the 3rd number" and the user do that and then the program show the lcm and the gcd of those numbers that user inserted. Just a program as simple as that is ok. 200.242.17.1 (talk) 22:19, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

USB cord and iPod problems

The USB cord I use for my iPod has a burnt smell after I use it and it will no longer fit into one of the connectors of my computer, which hasn't happened before. Also my iPod has a weird black patch/line that is slowly spreading on the screen, and it's certainly not a crack. I tried restoring it to see if it would go away, but nothing. It even appears when the iPod is turned off. --Crackthewhip775 (talk) 04:55, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

This happened to my iPod as well. The black line (in my case) were scars from electrical burns. It turned out not to be an iPod problem, but the USB port. It will fry anything I plug into it. Louis Waweru  Talk  10:56, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Text Messages AUTOMATICALLY FORWARDED to email

Hello,

Just wondering if there is a way for T-Mobile text messages from my cell phone to automatically be forwarded to a personal email address. Is there a certain phone setting I can try to use to accomplish this...or perhaps freeware that allows me to set this up? Thanks in advance!

See SMS_Gateway#Carrier-provided_SMS_to_Email_Gateways.WikiY ^Talk 17:11, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

files between each compuetsr

Is there anything that would enable two people on different computers to connect to a server and transfer a file between the two computers. The server would not receive the file it would just be acting as a sort of first step to link the two computers together to begin with, like give each of them the other's ip address and then the servers job is done and the download takes place between the computers themselves. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Owattt (talk • contribs) 13:46, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

If the computers were close together, I'd just use a router, flash drive, or cross-over cable to do that job. Useight (talk) 14:42, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

FTP. -59.95.115.215 (talk) 15:57, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

FTP does not connect two IPs. It would have to receive the file first. Not at all what they asked for. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 22:50, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

You are basically describing how most P2P protocols work. The servers for BitTorrent or Limewire or whatever don't download the file, they just connect peers. (Basically. It's more complicated than that.) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 22:50, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Instant messengers (AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, ICQ, etc.) often have file transfer capabilities that work that way. --70.254.87.166 (talk) 00:29, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Encryption issues aside, I think Skype works in a similar fashion. Kushal (talk) 11:33, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

OpenOffice.org 3 repository?

Resolved

I would like to know if there is any official or semi-official repository or PPA for OpenOffice.org 3? I know I can use the debs and stuff like that, but I want to do this in a "clean" way... SF007 (talk) 16:02, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

I Think I found it! [5] SF007 (talk) 16:58, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Scalability of Linux

Assuming I invent a quad-core 2048-bit RISC processor, how difficult (or easy) is it to scale Linux so that it takes maximum advantage of the architecture? For example, I would like a standard Ubuntu distribution (and all its applications) to work on this architecture. =Nichalp «Talk»= 16:35, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Most of the work is recoding the back-end for gcc to take advantage of your architecture (more on that in a second). With that done porting linux is fairly straightforward; unless you make odd choices for your processor design. Multi-processor and multi-core is a solved problem (linux runs on sparc, cell, recent intel, and a bunch more). RISC or not is essentially purely a problem for gcc (and the code generators of other languages like python, java, haskell etc.) But that 2048-bit thing is harder, mostly because a 2048 bit machine is essentially pointless. The number of applications which need 2048-bit integers, or fp precision of that massive degree, is vanishingly small. So, with a conventional RISC instruction set your massive registers will still mostly be hauling around "0" and "255" and "c" most of the time. And having to waste 2k of cache to store a single character will make you proposed processor comically slow. Now maybe you're thinking of having a bunch of instructions "horizontally" in that 2048 bit instruction word (and keeping data-words at a manageable size like 64bit). Such very long instruction word sound nice, but they haven't panned out in practice. The trouble is keeping the (in your cases hundreds) of parallel instruction pipelines full. The first generation of VLIW machines, like Trimedia and Butterfly, tried to do this statically in the compiler - this made the compiler incredibly difficult to write, and mostly the compilers failed to keep even the five pipelines Trimedia had full (Butterfly's pipelines were more numerous and more varied, but the compiler was no more successful). Second generation VLIW architectures, like Crusoe and MAJC, tried to do this instruction scheduling dynamically, with a dynamic compiler at runtime rather than a static one. They were a bit more successful than the 1st gen, but not enough to justify the increased cost complexity. So, in short, the linux port is straightforward (if your processor isn't mad), the gcc port is okay, but your 2048 bit architecture is useless. 87.115.33.241 (talk) 17:47, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

If you really did have some special single purpose for which the 2048-bits were necessary (some simulation or crypto purpose) then you'd be better to build a dedicated DSP and hang that off a regular CPU as a slave. Almost all such applications are mindless datapumps, for which even the most rudimentary OS is unnecessary. You would't want to run Linux on it, for the reasons above. And if you really do have such a single-purpose application, an FPGA or ASIC is probably a much more efficient way to do things than building a special DSP for it. 87.115.33.241 (talk) 17:52, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Yes, I was thinking of 2048-bit instructions. So scalability in processors is an unlikely thing I suppose. I wonder what the next big think in processor design is. =Nichalp «Talk»= 10:03, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Dozens or hundreds of cores in a NUMA configuration (like Cell, but more so), although programming for that, and keeping all those cores doing something useful, is also very difficult. Reconfigurable computing. Better back-ends for side-effect free pure-functional languages like Haskell, as this seems to be the only practical way in which a normal programmer can expect to write code that effectively runs on hundreds of threads. 87.115.33.241 (talk) 13:41, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

I wonder if I can use Wikipedia logs to invalidate patents in processor design by claiming prior art. Kushal (talk) 11:31, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

teachnology and communication world

1.what is the main difference between bit and brt? 2.what is the significances of ICANN? 3.DEFINE the following words; a).IP adress b).HYPERLINK c).WIMAX 195.24.211.162 (talk) 18:01, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

The reference desk won;t do homework for you. You can probably find the answers on the relevant Wikipedia articles anyway, though I haven't looked. Ale_Jrb^talk 18:04, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Bit, byte, ICANN, TCP/IP address, hyperlink and WIMAX? Never heard of any of those. Now, would an online encyclopedia not be handy for little problems like that ... --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 21:01, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

I would be interested in knowing what you mean by a brt, though. Kushal (talk) 19:24, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Possibly bitrate. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 20:48, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Java IO

I'm writing a game program, designed to read from and write to the command line. I'd like it to respond to individual keypresses - you press a 5, it does something. So far, all the input systems I can find (InputStreamReader(System.in), etc) refuse to do anything until you've pressed enter. Anybody know a way around that? Black Carrot (talk) 22:54, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

No, I don't think there's anything you can do. I think the shell(?) itself buffers your input until you press enter, and then sends it to the program. So to change this you probably have to go through C and assess some OS-dependent library that deals with text environments. --71.106.183.17 (talk) 09:34, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, there are various curses interfaces for java and things, but you will lose portability, and it will in general be more of a pain to program. If you've gotten that far, I'd suggest programming a simple gui for your game, then you can listen to all the keystrokes you want. 13:10, 26 October 2008 (UTC) Belisarius (talk) 13:11, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. I'd hoped to avoid it, but I guess a simple GUI is the easiest way. Black Carrot (talk) 17:52, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

If you're on Linux/OS X and don't mind losing portability, then doing:

stty raw; java MyProgram; stty -raw

will do what you want. --Sean 19:01, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Downloading a Perl Script

Does anyone know how to download a Perl script used for a form? I tried linking it in a page and right-clicking, then selecting Save Target As ... but all I get is an HTML page saying that the GET method isn't allowed for the script. It's hosted by my university for activating forms on student web pages. But I don't know what parameters to pass to it since I can't see the source code.--Account created to post on Reference Desk (talk) 23:10, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

You won't generally be able to download the source for a server-side script like that unless the person running that web server has specifically given you a way of doing so. If you've got some other access to the server other than the standard web interface - e.g. a file share or shell access - maybe you could get it that way? - IMSoP (talk) 23:23, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Sometimes you can try to see if there is a file with a tilde ( ~ ) after the filename. Many text editors, like Emacs and gedit, by default save a backup file that is the same as the filename except with a tilde at the end. Other editors might use other suffixes. Assuming the person used one of these editors, that the editor was configured to save a backup file, the file is located in a directory that the web server will display the contents from (i.e. many web servers won't just display a text file from a cgi-bin directory, considering it to be a script, especially if it is executable), the file is permissioned in a way that is readable to the web server, and the person is careless to not delete backup files when he's done editing, then you might be able to get the contents of the previous version of the script this way. --71.106.183.17 (talk) 00:21, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the replies. My pages are hosted on a different server from the script. So, I can't seem to find it when I telnet in. I couldn't find any temp files, either. Thank you anyway.--Account created to post on Reference Desk (talk) 01:34, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Clicking "Safely Remove Hardware" disconnects from Internet

OK, knowledgeable people, answer me this: I'm running Windows XP, with a SpeedTouch ADSL USB modem thingy, and it works fine, mostly. But if I click on the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon in the system tray - say, to remove my USB keyring drive or scanner - the modem immediately disconnects from the Internet. Note that I don't mean I'm clicking on anything in that menu, just getting that menu up by clicking on the icon is enough.

Now, the questions are: 1) Why is this happening? How on earth does my modem even know I'm displaying that menu, let alone see it as a signal to break the connection? and 2) Is there anything I can do about it, because it's extremely annoying if I've got connections open that I don't want to reset (downloads, chat, etc) - IMSoP (talk) 23:18, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Are you getting disconnected from the internet or from the SpeedTouch modem? So in other words, can you still access your SpeedTouch modem? My first assumption would be you are getting disconnected from the modem, which could be happening since it's connected via a USB cable. But if the problem is that you can access your modem but on the internet, then I have no idea how that can happen. - Akamad (talk) 09:24, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Well, the symptoms are simply that as soon as I click the icon, the Internet connection goes down and immediately tries to "redial". Normally, it picks straight back up again, but obviously all my applications have to re-establish their connections. Although, while testing it today, I've had it completely fail to come back a couple of times, and actually had to reboot my computer to reset the modem, which is odd.

Notably, the lights on the modem do not change during this process, suggesting that the USB connection retains power (otherwise it would need to reload its "firmware"). I've also upgraded the driver to the latest version from the Thomson website, but that hasn't helped.

I can only assume that to display that menu, Windows polls all the connected devices, and that polling is somehow "confusing" the modem and causing it to unsync. But I don't even know if that's the modem's fault or Windows's - most devices don't really need to stay in sync like that, so I imagine I wouldn't notice. - IMSoP (talk) 16:54, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

• Ask your ISP an ethernet modem, (my old ISP used to replace the USB ones for free, just say you modem does not work on your operating system) it solves 99% of the problems you might have with the internet connection:

• No crappy drivers to install (none at all!)
• Works on all OSes
• No bluescreens and crap like that due to the drivers (I used to have them)
• No more problems like the ones you mentioned.

Seriously, get yourself and ethernet modem ASAP! SF007 (talk) 00:24, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

October 26

Work and privacy

While at work, I keep my GMail and GChat open. Occasionally I need to gripe about the knuckleheads I work with. Sometimes this griping to a friend on GChat involves very explicit and inappropriate language about these knuckleheads I work for. Can my job track/save/watch me while I'm on my Gchat and saying these awful things? --72.78.20.45 (talk) 01:21, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

If your company controls the software on the machine you're using, of course they can. Many companies use spyware to keep track of what employees do on company time. See spyware RayAYang (talk) 03:59, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

If you use https when surfing GMail (you can configure this in the settings), it's less likely that they're listening to you. Then your conversation is encrypted when it goes over the wires. Depending on your how evil your employer is, they could still be monitoring you using keyloggers and by taking screen-captures. But it's a lot less likely, I think. If you're going to do this, at least make sure you're using https. Belisarius (talk) 08:31, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

If you are on windows, fire up task manager. Under processes, you will probably find some form of VNC. If it is there, consider yourself lucky. Your management is being 'upfront' that your screen can be watched remotely. Kushal (talk) 11:28, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

If you have VNC on your work computer, it is more likely that it's there to provide remote access for your help desk than for monitoring/spying-on your activity. Typically VNC also appears as an icon on the system tray (aka notification area) and, if I recall correctly, will clearly indicate when someone has connected. -- Tcncv (talk) 14:27, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't care if they know I'm Gmail, but can they actually read my conversations and incoming/outgoing mail?--72.78.20.45 (talk) 14:54, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

If they wanted to, probably. There are many ways they could do so. If you are working on their computer and on their network they could have set it up in a variety of ways to look at what you do. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:56, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

In the settings menu of gmail, you can choose "always use https". It's not on by default, but if you activate it, the chances that they can read what you are writing would be slim, wouldn't they? (unless they are using some sort of keylogging mechanism) --NorwegianBlue ^talk 22:14, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Whatever the technical specifics of your situation, you're smarter doing the griping at home. I've had my fair share of colleagues who thought they were being clever doing things on the internet that they weren't allowed to do at work, only to find the management was monitoring them in some way they hadn't thought of. And nobody wants to be the guy who lost his job over porn. ;-) Really, if you value your paycheck, don't gripe at work, especially not over the internet, it's just dumb. Gripe when you get home, if you have to. You do not have very much privacy at work, especially when it comes to outgoing communications, which are often routinely screened. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:56, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Firefox Favorites

One of my computers just crashed and I can't boot off of the hard drive but I can connect the hard drive to another computer and access the data. My question is, is there anywhere (a folder or a file) where firefox saves the favorites? I never specifically exported the favorites list from firefox and there were quite a few favorite links. I looked through different places but couldn't find a list of favorites so that I can restore the list. Does anyone know, where foes firefox save them and what is the file called? I mean, there must a place otherwise how does firefox remember your favorites. Thanks!--69.110.132.97 (talk) 05:45, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

It depends on your version of Firefox and operating system. This page will help you find your profile folder, the location of which is OS-dependent. In Firefox 2.x and below bookmarks will be in a "bookmarks.html" HTML file; whereas for Firefox 3.0 and above it will be in "places.sqlite" database(?) file. This page will tell you more about bookmarks. In either case, you can simply copy the relevant file(s) over to another Firefox (same version) profile folder on another computer. --71.106.183.17 (talk) 07:39, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Or if that doesn't work for some reason you can copy over your entire profile folder and use that in your new installation. --wj32 ^t/c 09:35, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Computer mouse

heading added by Belisarius (talk) 08:32, 26 October 2008 (UTC) Does mouse really stand for "Manually Operated User's Selection Equipment"? 122.162.173.213 (talk) 07:12, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

No. A mouse is called a mouse because it looks like a teeny-tiny cute little mouse! Belisarius (talk) 08:32, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

..which you could have learned by just typing in mouse into the search bar at left. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:50, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

It's definitely because it looks like a mouse. Some of the early models more so than modern ones because for a while the cable came out of the opposite end to the end with the buttons - and the buttons kinda looked like ears with the wire looking like a tail. But there is definitely no truth to the story that it's some kind of acronym. SteveBaker (talk) 12:54, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

It can be called a backronym, though our article doesn't include it (but it does seem to include a lot of mnemonics that are not backronyms at all). AndrewWTaylor (talk) 08:10, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Laptop LCD Problem

I have an Acer TravelMate 3260 which is ~1 year old. Today I was cleaning the LCD screen using the solution I always use - it is some non-streaking cleaning solution from Gulf Oil. In the past it has never caused any damage to the laptop. Today, however, after cleaning the bottom left part of my screen is discolored and has weird patterns. Everything is properly displayed, only that ugly discoloration/pattern is there.

http://img20.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image000yb5.jpg http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=image001mz3.jpg

The above images were taken using my digital camera. They are not really clear, but the damage is visible.

I would request someone to advise me whether it is a permanent damage, or a temporary one? Will the discoloration go away by itself in a few days, or do I need to take the laptop to a service center? Will I need to get the complete screen replaced? Can I do anything at all to remedy the situation at home? Thanks! --RohanDhruva (talk) 09:35, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

To me, it looks a little like you've wiped away part of the screen's coating. In that case, it's fairly permanent. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Washii (talk • contribs) 03:00, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Does the screen have anti-reflective coating? You really have to be careful in cleaning that type of screen; usually water and a microfibre cloth is best. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 04:58, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks a lot, it looks permanent to me too. I guess a trip to the service center is essential. In the future, only water + microfibre cloth for cleaning it. --RohanDhruva (talk) 14:00, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Bridging routers with a cable

I have a Netgear wireless hub (not sure about the model number, sorry) and a long ethernet cable, and a guy staying down the hall in my student residence has agreed I can use his connection (via his own router). I can run my cable to near my room, but not quite into it, and I'm out of wireless range. So my question is, can I connect my hub by cable to the router and use it to extend the wireless network?

I need to know exactly what changes to the other router are needed, cause I only have access to it as a favour. Really can't spend much time mucking about with it, or try stuff I don't understand to see what happens. Let me know if you need model numbers to answer this and I'll check them. Thanks. — FIRE!^{in a crowded theatre...} 13:06, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

The other issue is that another housemate wants to connect too, but there's only one spare ethernet port on the router. So getting a longer cable wouldn't solve the problem. — FIRE!^{in a crowded theatre...} 13:09, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

The name of the model might help, but I'd say there's a good chance it'll work fine, at least for basic web surfing, if you just plug it in. To your neighbor's router, your hub will just look like another computer (or possibly several, if it doesn't NAT), while your hub won't really care what it's plugged into as long as it can get an outbound route. There are a bunch of things that might go wrong, and several ways in which the setup could be improved, but there's a good chance it'll more or less work out of the box. (You do still want to configure your hub, if only to change the default admin password, but that's a given anyway.) —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 15:50, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

iPod without iTunes

I quite like the idea of getting myself an iPod, but I really want nothing to do with iTunes. Is it possible to use an iPod, connect it to my Windows PC, copy MP3s to the iPod over the USB cable, etc, without ever running or even installing iTunes? Astronaut (talk) 13:19, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

You can't just copy them over but there are alternative programs you can use. There are, of course, other mp3 players other than iPod. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:49, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Is this true? damn! I find it kinda hard to believe since Apple sends the message of "out of the box" products... I now like it even less... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.241.122.236 (talk) 16:45, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

I fail to see how the linked article or the response changes the "out of the box" nature of the iPod. It still works right out of the box. Dismas|^(talk) 17:45, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestions. Trouble is though, all the Windows compatible programs require you to have installed iTunes and run it at least once to change a setting in the iPod. I don't even want to install iTunes at all. Ideally, I would want an iPod to work just like an external USB drive without any additional software - I'm quite happy managing my own synchronization by manually copying my MP3s to the iPod. Astronaut (talk) 15:55, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Then why not ignore the marketing and buy one of the many other digital audio players on the market? Many allow you to directly add and remove music files simply by placing them into the right folder, and support many more formats than iPods. If you were feeling adventurous, you could even try something that supports the Rockbox alternative firmware. - IMSoP (talk) 17:08, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Yes, if you really loathe iTunes that much, go with another player. But, I should point out, iTunes is a fantastic piece of software. It's the best music organizer/database program out there, and it's the best I've seen at synching music to your iPod (and I'm one of those open-source Apple-hating freaks that only use windows when I have to, and would much rather run Ubuntu 100% of the time). Unless you have a very old computer (iTunes is heavy, but not absurdly so) or have deep philosophical objections to Apple (in which case you shouldn't buy an iPod at all), I recommend you try it. It's one of those cases where it really is as good as everyone says. Belisarius (talk) 17:41, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Except, of course, the people who say it is a horrible piece of software. Try a Zune ;) FreeMorpheme (talk) 18:12, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

(simultaneous edit)

Except that "everyone" doesn't say so; I've spoken to plenty of people who've used it and found it didn't suit them, though others (like you) swear by it.

And surely "it's the best I've seen at synching music to your iPod" is a bit of a feeble claim, since it's the only official way of doing so? Or did you mean you prefer it over the software available for other players, and over manipulating files directly on players that support that? - IMSoP (talk) 18:16, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

I know I can buy other players, but I really like intuitive nature of the iPod user interface. However, I really don't like what I've heard about iTunes, it's too tight integration with iTunes Store, it's synchronization mechanism where music can get deleted, and I don't really need (or want) a "music organizer/database program". Astronaut (talk) 18:41, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

The claim that iTunes is "the best music organizer/database program out there" is nothing more than a personal opinion. For me, it is one of the absolute worst. I use Amarok. It plays music. It organizes it - even moving the files around and renaming them so I can find them on my drive easily. It links to the artist, album, and song articles on Wikpedia while playing the songs. It links to the lyrics using a variety of online lyrics databases. It automatically updates my profile on lastfm and offers suggestions and downloads from lastfm. It has a built-in normalizer so I don't have to keep adjusting the volume with every song. But, most important, it runs on my computer. I run Linux and iTunes on Linux is terrible. You have to run it through Wine, losing most of the features of iTunes. -- kainaw™ 18:50, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

(outdent) Instead of discussing the pros and cons of iTunes, what Astronaut asked was, "Is it possibly to copy MP3s to the iPod over the USB cable, etc, without ever running or even installing iTunes?" 98.217 answered "no", which I find hard to believe. Doesn't an iPod appear as an external drive in Windows Explorer when you connect it with a usb cable, in the same way as just about any mp3 player or mobile phone these days, allowing you to drag-and-drop music files? --NorwegianBlue ^talk 21:59, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

I believe the "database" has to be rebuilt before the iPod will see the new / changed files; it won't just scan the directory itself. So you have to use some kind of tool to build the "library" file after you've done dragging and dropping. (I may be wrong though.) - IMSoP (talk) 22:56, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Correct. You can copy an mp3 to an iPod without iTunes. The result will be an mp3 file sitting on the iPod drive that iPod ignores. I don't have an iPod, but I do have one of those Shuffle things. I use a Linux script to copy mp3s to the Shuffle in the proper directories and set the Shuffle database appropriately. I do not know if such a script exists for Windows. -- kainaw™ 01:44, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

ml_iPod, the plugin for Winamp, states on their website and forums that it's possible to manage and copy music to/from an iPod with their program without the need to ever use itunes. However, I believe the only way to update the firmware for the device is via the native itunes support. Nanonic (talk) 02:29, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Depending on which iPod you have, you might be able to Rockbox it. Kushal (talk) 14:48, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Evil WMP 11 and monitored folders

My Media player 11 has taken it upon itself to monitor my desktop for files, as well as my Recycle Bin, which as you can probably imagine, is extremely annoying. The only folders it is supposed to monitor are the ones I can't make it stop monitoring, ie my Music and Rip Folders. I am running XP Pro, and rolling MP back to 10 and reinstalling did nothing.

Anyone have any ideas how I can hobble this vile bit of software? FreeMorpheme (talk) 18:11, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Have you tried setting the options within WMP itself? I don't know what your situation is but I would go ahead and forget that WMP exists in my system at all and go use some other media player. Kushal (talk) 19:10, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Firstly what makes you think it is monitoring those folders? Secondly, Media Player doesn't "monitor" anything when not running, so clearly you've been running it, and it's somewhat silly to complain about the configuration of the software if you haven't attempted the relatively simple process of editing the list of folders it watched for media. I didn't put any details in about changing this, because anyone who calls software vile because of there own short comings isn't likely to care about actually fixing any problems (I dont actually see a problem, as it doesnt affect the system, especially when you don't run it) when they could just use harsh words to try and put down a program that is fairly good at doing the job it is intended for. Seriously though, you really know what you're talking about, I bet you put some great arguments forward for why Microsoft is "evil" and don't know anything about how the free market works. - Jimmi Hugh (talk) 21:54, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Did you even bother to read my original post, you boobjockey? Obviously I do use MP11, everyone knows it monitors folders for files, and I already said that I have edited which folders I want it to monitor to no avail, it still goes its merry way to monitor what it wants and adds files to my Library that I don't want. If anyone with an attention span of more than one sentence has any ideas why it is doing this, please help me out. Alternatively, the only reason I am using 11 is because it's the only way I know of streaming to my PS3, if there is something else that does this then I'll use that. FreeMorpheme (talk) 09:34, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Hehe, boobjockey. No it doesn't monitor any folders not on the Library monitor list. If you only use it for streaming, turn off monitoring all together, that will stop it, but I wouldn't be suprised if you're actually using a toaster. - Jimmi Hugh (talk) 10:15, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Cool it, you two! Although I am using WMP11 on Vista, this should be applicable: right-click the 'Library' tab button, then hit 'More Options'. In the 'Library' tab of the window that appears, hit 'Monitor Folders', then 'Advanced Options'. Remove your desktop, recycle bin and whatever else from the list, then hit OK/Apply. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 10:23, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Well I appreciate your help, but the only folders in there are My Music and the Rip folder, as I mentioned. This is why I got stuck, and why MP11 is hacking me off so much. The Rip folder is in another folder on the desktop, but I don't see why that should throw it so badly. FreeMorpheme (talk) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.60.20.81 (talk) 11:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

XP - Programs crash on startup

Hi, on my friends computer lots of programs crash when they are loaded (with, for example "Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close"). Does anyone know why this might be? Thanks 77.99.21.181 (talk) 18:31, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Could be a faulty Windows installation, and that's just a guess. For a start, you could try System File Checker. However, it could be anything, based on what I know. Kushal (talk) 19:07, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

One of the many possibilities is faulty RAM, although that often leads to BSODs as well. If you google diagnose faulty ram or something similar, you'll get a bunch of suggestions and links to various tools. I once had a PC with related problems, it was dual boot Windows Xp and Debian linux. The symptoms were: linux programs which involved heavy numerical computations were crash-prone, without taking down the entire OS. Windows was reasonably stable, except for the occasional (about once a month) BSOD. After a lot of frustration, I burned a memtest86 bootable CD, which immediately found the cause. Here's a howto. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 21:07, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

I agree that it could easily be a RAM fault. Memory chips are susceptible to "pattern faults" where they only fail when certain patterns of 1's and 0's are written into them. In the extreme, this can result in all sorts of peculiar failures - like programs crashing only when you load certain files into them - or browsers failing only for certain websites. More commonly though, you just find the system is generally unreliable without any really specific sets of symptoms...and that's what seems to be happening here. When your PC boots, it probably does a really simple RAM check - but because time is limited, it's a very cursory check. A stand-alone RAM checker can't run under Windows or Linux - it's a very special program that you boot from CD-ROM or a memory stick. A really good RAM checker may take hours to find the particular pattern that kills your machine - so be prepared to let it run overnight if necessary. RAM is pretty cheap right now - so if it's faulty, you can carefully remove the 'sticks' of memory - take them to your local computer store and ask them to supply you with an equivalent part to replace it with. You need to be careful of static electricity when you work inside the PC. I suggest doing it in the kitchen (with the PC unplugged!) and discharging any static by holding on to the frame of the computer and the kitchen faucet at the same time for a few seconds after you've opened the case - but before you touch any of the electronics. The RAM stick(s) are about 4" long by about an inch tall and stick up at right angles to the motherboard - and you probably have either one or two of them. There should be little plastic levers at either end of each stick of RAM - push those outwards and downwards and the RAM should just pop out. When you put the new RAM in, push it firmly into the socket and push the levers back up to lock it in place. If you have more than one RAM stick, probably only one of them needs to be replaced - you can try swapping them out one at a time for a new part and re-running the memory checker to see which one fixes it. Either way, you should do one last check with the memory checker to be sure your new memory is functioning properly before you try to boot up into Windows again.

Another possibility is that your friend's computer is so laden with viruses and malware that it's just become too unstable to run at all. So if the memory check doesn't turn up anything - it's time to consider re-installing everything - or at least giving the machine a careful malware checkup.

SteveBaker (talk) 12:49, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

You left out the link to memtest86. Download it, burn it, leave it running for a few hours while you go to work or watch TV or whatever. That'll tell you if it's faulty RAM or something else. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 15:19, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

cd stuck in macbook

Hello,

I am back again. My friend has a macbook (Intel, 10.4.11, white, base configuration). As the title says, a cd got stuck in it. We tried pretty much every trick we knew about including tilting, pressing the trackpad while booting (it makes a sound indicating it is trying to get the cd out but is unable to), flashing PRAM, using a credit card to keep the metallic slot open ... nothing seems to work. However, I wanted to ask you guys about it before I send it off to Apple to fix it (as I am pretty sure we don't have AppleCare anymore.) Any ideas? (I am also starting to feel that the CD slot was not such a great idea after all.) Kushal (talk) 19:17, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Is there a tiny little hole somewhere on or near the CD drive? If so, that might be the manual eject button. Shove a bent paperclip or something in there (needless to say, with the power off). If it is, it should force the disc out. I've never had a slot optical drive though, so I don't know if this'll work. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 19:39, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Don't know about the OP's MacBook but if it's the same as mine then there isn't a hole like the one you describe. If you Google "macbook cd stuck", you'll get a number of suggestions. Dismas|^(talk) 19:49, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

No holes for manual eject. I have already tried google but nothing works in my case. What makes it worse is that OS X does not start anymore! Just at the same time as the cd gets stuck is when mac needs to crash. Any ideas on making the computer operable again? Kushal (talk) 20:12, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

I had a similar problem and had to send it in to Apple for disassembly. Note that they got it out of the drive but did NOT send me the CD back. (I later e-mailed and asked if they still had it, and they told me they'd be happy to send it or a replacement—it was a basic OS X install disk—but they never did. They were, of course, not obligated to do so, having stated so many times when you send it in that they can't guarantee sending it back.)

Do you have any clue what is keeping it in the slot? One of my problems with the slot was a CD that had a library sticker on top of it, which kept it from ejecting. I ended up doing something really goofy with like an index card and a piece of double-sided tape that somehow eventually let me work it out of the drive. Not easy, though. Probably bad for the drive, too.

Incidentally, I don't like slot loading drives either anymore... when they work, they are only marginally more cool looking than other type of drive, but when they don't work... you're pretty screwed.

Keep in mind that even if you don't have Applecare you can still purchase it if the purchasing would be cheaper than the operation on it. You can purchase Applecare up to 3 years after purchasing your product, and Macbooks started selling in 2006, so it should be fine... --98.217.8.46 (talk) 23:49, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Incidentally - I would NEVER put a CD with any kind of sticker on it into my CD drive. If the sticker is not 100% perfectly symmetrically placed (and they never are), the weight of the sticker unbalances the drive and causes the bearings to wear out amazingly fast. As you've also noticed, the extra thickness of the sticker can cause the disk to foul the mechanism - either when it's spinning or during loading and unloading. Also the adhesive under the sticker can ooze out under the heat of the laser or even leach chemicals into the plastic of the disk and produce all sorts of ikky problems. CD's are NOT designed to work with stickers...ditto DVD's, BluRay's, etc, etc. SteveBaker (talk) 12:32, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

It's for similar reasons I don't think slot drives on laptops are a good idea. Sounds far too easy for dirt and debris - something laptops are inevitably exposed to - to get inside and jam the gubbins. That might be what has happened here. I hope Apple have axed them from more recent models. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 12:55, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

(outdent) - This extract is taken from a thread on the Whirlpool computer forums based in Australia - it describes your problem perfectly, and answers it pretty much as well: - **If it doesn't eject when booting with the mouse button or eject key down, and it's just the rollers slipping, you have a faulty drive, and unless you've done something stupid like put a disc covered in stickers on it, then take it in and get it fixed. It's not your fault that Apple didn't put a force eject on it, and it's a warranty issue. No point taking it up with customer relations unless you've had lots of problems and you want a replacement (though, if your CD is stuck in it, you need to get it back, so you'll need to take it in for repair first anyway). The maintenance manual is very clear about this: If the drive doesn't eject a CD when you hold down the trackpad on a restart, and a reseat of the cable doesn't fix it, then the drive needs replacing.** Thor Malmjursson (talk) 14:39, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

This is so ... so not nice. I failed to mention earlier but the exact incident happened before, when it was under AppleCare. We got it to Apple after he got back from school at the end of the fall semester. Apple said they fixed the issue in his MacBook. Less than a year later, when we are out of AppleCare, it happened again!

So I guess they just got the CD out and never fixed the drive? I feel Apple cheated us. Kushal (talk) 14:43, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

October 27

Program to stitch PNG files (frames) into a movie.

I used pymol to make a series of PNG files. The PNG files need to be put together to make a movie, using an external program. What free tools are available to do this? --Seans Potato Business 00:07, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

I know that convert can string multiple gifs into an animated gif as well as convert png to gif. I'm sure it can do a lot more. I couldn't easily find the wikipedia article for convert. -- kainaw™ 03:45, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

It's ImageMagick. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 03:47, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

I was going to add a note on convert, but you beat me to it. -- kainaw™ 04:01, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

That was the first place for me to look too! Perhaps you can make the entry look a bit better. Under unix the command starts with lower case "c" so it looks strange starting the sentence with a lower case convert. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 05:35, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

I've used VirtualDub for this sort of thing in the past. I'm not sure I recommend it though, it's a bit rough. APL (talk) 05:12, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

I use this mplayer command to make timelapses, works with png or jpeg (or anything else mplayer can read): mencoder "mf://*.JPG" -vf scale=640:480 -o mjpeg2.avi -of lavf -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mjpeg -lavfopts format=avi -mf fps=15 Polvi (talk) 05:51, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

I use mencoder too - but it's a tough tool to use well. It's a command-line tool with an utterly insane number of options. This makes it extremely powerful - but painful to get right. SteveBaker (talk) 12:23, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Quicktime Player Pro can also do this. --70.167.58.6 (talk) 14:25, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Search engine indexing

Approximately how long does it take a search engine to update its search results? For example, if I mark my userpage with __NOINDEX__, approximately how long does it take for this to take effect? -- penubag  (talk) 01:50, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

This is nothing more than an anecdote. It is not a theory based on data. When I make a change to kainaw.com, I see updates to the main search engines within 3 days. Usually, it happens in 24 hours, but has taken longer from time to time. -- kainaw™ 03:47, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

About three days and my userpage will stop appearing on Google? Alright, thanks for the info.-- penubag  (talk) 04:05, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

No - it's much more complex than that. Most search engines check 'important' pages more often than unimportant ones. Also, after you delete your page, it'll continue to be in Googles "cache" for a while afterwards. So, for fast-changing and popular news sites, Google may update in only hours...but for a rarely-visited and low-scoring (ie unimportant) page, it may be weeks before Google gets around to re-checking it.SteveBaker (talk) 12:22, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

If you're in a hurry, you can request urgent removal of your page from Google. They don't make any guarantees, but at least it'll give their searchbot a hint that your page might need revisiting. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if they were monitoring Wikipedia's RecentChanges feed anyway. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 15:35, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

ugh, if Wikipedia is updated a lot, why hasn't __NOINDEX__ taken effect yet? I would ask Google to take down my page, but other search engines are going to still have it up, as well as all the millions of Wikipedia mirrors sites.-- penubag  (talk) 10:56, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Aside from anything else - you should be using the {{NOINDEX}} template...but I doubt that'll make much difference. At any rate - Google doesn't do ranking based on the entire website - it does it page-by-page - so your user page may well be so unimportant that it won't get re-examined for ages. OTOH, the Wikipedia front page probably gets re-checked every 30 minutes or something. SteveBaker (talk) 19:51, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Ah, I see. If it's going to be ages, I might as well ask them to take it down. -- penubag  (talk) 03:28, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

A PROBLEM IN C++ [COMPUTER PROGRAM]

2 4 5 1 7 6 3 8 THE QUESTION IS TO FIND THE NO. OF CYCLES IN IT. FOR EG: THE FIRST NO. IS 2 SO THE 2ND NO. IS VISITED AND AGAIN THE 4TH NO. IS VISITED WHICH IS 1.AGAIN THE 1ST NO. IS VISITED. SO THE 1ST CYCLE IS ::::2 4 5 1 ONE CONDITION:: ONCE A PLACE IS ALREADY VISITED IT CANNOT BE VISITED AGAIN LIKE 4 AND I CANNOT BE VISITED AGAIN

PROBLEM:: I HAVE DONE THE PROGRAM BUT THE OUTPUT IS NOT CORRECT

#include<iostream.h>
#include<conio.h>

void main()
{
 int a[20],temp[10];
 a[0]='\0',temp[0]='\0';
 int cycle=0,pos=0,t=0,i=1,j=0,k=0,n,m;
 cout<<"Enter no. of array elements::::";
 cin>>n;
 cout<<"Enter the array elements"<<endl;
 for(i=1;i<=n;i++)
 {
  cin>>a[i];
 }

 while(i<=n)
 {
  if(a[i]==i)
	cout<<a[i];
  cycle++;

  a[i]=pos;

  if(a[pos]>pos)
  {
	temp[t++]=a[pos];
	pos=a[pos];
  }
  else
  {
   temp[t++]=a[pos];
	k=a[pos];

	cout<<"cycle"<<endl;
	for(j=k;j<pos;j++)
	{
	 cout<<a[j]<<" ";
	}

	cycle++;
  }

  a[pos]='\0';
  pos=0;
  k=0;

  i++;
  for(m=0;m<t;m++)
  {
	if(a[i]==temp[m])
	 i++;
  }
 }
 temp[0]='\0';
 cout<<"No. of cycles"<<cycle;
}

Well...

#include<iostream.h>
#include<conio.h>

void main()
{
 int a[20],temp[10];

It's a bad idea to use 'magic constants' like 20 and 10 - you need to give them names and declare them as 'const int'.

 a[0]='\0',temp[0]='\0';

Why '\0' and not just 0 ? The notation '\0' means "a character whose ASCII code is zero" - why are you using a character to initialise an integer?

 int cycle=0,pos=0,t=0,i=1,j=0,k=0,n,m;
 cout<<"Enter no. of array elements::::";
 cin>>n;

What happens if the user doesn't type in a valid number? You need to test for illegal entries and re-ask.

 cout<<"Enter the array elements"<<endl;
 for(i=1;i<=n;i++)
 {
  cin>>a[i];
 }

• You also need to check that the user actually entered a valid number each time around the loop.
• You need to be careful that the user doesn't enter a number bigger than 20 because you'll overflow the array 'a' and probably crash your program.
• Arrays in C start with an index of zero...not one - so 'int a[20];' declares an array with 20 elements starting at a[0] and running up to a[19]. Your loop runs from 1..n. It should be 'for(i=0;i<n;i++)'

 while(i<=n)
 {

When the loop (above) finishes, 'i' will always be equal to 'n+1' - so this 'while' loop will never execute. I have no clue what you're trying to do here (because the question you started with is written so confusingly)...but whatever your goal, this will never achieve it. Probably you really need another for loop just like the one you used to read in the data.

  if(a[i]==i)
	cout<<a[i];
  cycle++;

  a[i]=pos;

  if(a[pos]>pos)
  {
	temp[t++]=a[pos];
	pos=a[pos];
  }
  else
  {
   temp[t++]=a[pos];
	k=a[pos];

Because 'temp[t++]=a[pos]' happens whether or not 'a[pos]>pos' - you should move this statement up above the 'if' statement to save code.

Around about here - I pretty much gave up trying to help you. This code is almost impossible to follow because you have not given your variables meaningful names and there are no comments telling us what's going on. Because your statement of the problem is hard to understand, I can't tell whether what you need to do is what you are actually doing...so I can't tell whether this is right or wrong. However, the profusion of little adjustments of indices and the use of arrays that start at different indices speaks of poor grasp of the algorithm you're trying to implement. I think you should start off by writing down what the program is going to do in English before you write a single line of C code. Break it down into steps and use that English as comments when you actually start writing the code. Make your variable names meaningful - and don't re-use them for multiple jobs.

Also - this is clearly a homework problem - and we're not allowed to do your homework for you. SteveBaker (talk) 12:17, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

As SteveBaker says, give meaningful names to variables. "n" is bad, something like "length_of_input" or "size_of_array" is better.

It may help to write the problem in pseudocode (human-readable made-up code) first - not only will this make writing the program easier, but the person marking the problem will give you more marks for making it easier to follow your logic.

As I understand the problem, you need to read in a list of integers. Starting at the first element in the list, use the value of that element as the index of the next element. If that index has already been visited, then stop (otherwise we'll go round in a circle). For that, I'd use the following pseudocode:

int read_integer_from_user() {
   /* you could use sprintf for this */
}
int main(argc, argv) {
   int values[max_size_of_array]; // a list of values we want to work with
   int visited_how_many_times[max_size_of_array]; // how many times we've been to each index
   for (each value in visited_how_many_times) { set value = 0 }
   
   size_of_input = read_integer_from_user()
   if (size_of_input < 1 || size_of_input >= max_size_of_array) { error }
   for (i = 0; i < size_of_input; i++) {
      values[i] = read_integer_from_user()
   }
   
   current_element_index = 0 // start at first element in the list
   while (1) { // this is an infinite loop - leave it using "break"  
      if (current_element_index < 0 || current_element_index >= size_of_input) { error }
      if (visited_how_many_times[current_element_index] > 0) {
         // we've been here before, lets get out of the loop
         break
      } else {
         visited_how_many_times[current_element_index] += 1
      }
      print "index=", current_element, "value=", values[current_element]
      // the element value is the next index, starting at 1 (our arrays start at zero, so minus 1)
      current_element = values[current_element] - 1
   }
   
   print "the end" // done!
}

I would make read_integer_from_user a function, as you use the same code several times. max_size_of_array could be done with #define max_size_of_array 20 --h2g2bob (talk) 15:55, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Logging Program

I am looking to have a website for people to sign in and out of study hours. It would have to log their IP address as well as the time in order to match it up to a place on campus. The user would be able to enter in the time to log out, but that time can be no later than the current time. Also, the user would be able to sign in at any time, to check their total time logged. A safety would probably need to be built in so that if they sign in from another location while they are "checked in" an alert pops up both to the user, as well as in the log.

The basic idea is to have a log sheet on the internet that matches times with locations that can be retrieved by the administrator. Is this possible? And, if so, would it be cheap? --omnipotence407 (talk) 15:53, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't understand all of this question, especially this bit:

"The user would be able to enter in the time to log out, but that time can be no later than the current time."

By any chance do you mean: "that time must be later than the current time"? CBHA (talk) 16:07, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

I am also confused by the question. If students are using an on-line application to study then surely the application will log usage information ? On the other hand, if the students could be studying from textbooks etc. and are just signing in and out on a honour system, so you have no way of verifying that they really did spend this time studying, then why not just ask them to keep a record their study time and send a weekly e-mail; the administrator could manually log study time into a spreadsheet or simple database. Gandalf61 (talk) 16:35, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

It would be based on the honor system, but with a need to verify location. There isn't an online study application, it is merely a combined log sheet for multiple locations that can checked at whatever time the administrator sees fit. The time thing is so they can put down a time earlier than the present in case they need to sign out if they forgot to when they left, however, they cannot sign out in advance.--omnipotence407 (talk) 19:19, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Norton Antivirus question

Sometimes when I'm using the computer, Norton Antivirus (ver 12.8.0.4) starts a disk scan.

I would like to be able to pause or stop the scan and have it restart later when the computer is not being used.

I realize this is something the software maker should answer but in my experience they make it difficult to ask a question, much less get an answer. That is why I'm asking here.

Thanks, CBHA (talk) 16:01, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Don't use Nortan, use a free antivius like Clamwin --78.150.149.70 (talk) 17:15, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Ignoring the rather unhelpful comment above, I can't say if this is 100% correct but most antivirus suites allow you to specify what time your regular scan occurs (3am is a common time) - check the settings. Exxolon (talk) 19:24, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Video and audio editing

I'd like to ask a few questions (couldn't find the right software to start with... by searching and googling)

1) is there any specific software that helps with video editing - cutting, merging...etc?

2) is there any software that can convert video to audio (e.g. to extract what is being said in a film and save it as an .mp3 file)?

I'd prefer free software, but any suggestions are welcome.--123.203.44.97 (talk) 17:00, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

1. The two most widely used video-editing programs are Final Cut Pro and Avid. These are what all the pro's use when putting together a movie. As for free versions, I've heard decent things about Cinelerra, but I can't testify to it personally. See also List of video editing software
2. There's lots of tools to do this, ffmpeg being perhaps the most famous. It is, however, command-line, so it's a little tricky to do. I'm fairly certain that Avidemux can do this pretty easily. Belisarius (talk) 17:27, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

I would use VirtualDub (combined with CCCP) for the second one, but I don't know if VirtualDub can handle the first one. --wj32 ^t/c 05:24, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

mplayer can do it too - but it's also a fairly ikky command line monster. SteveBaker (talk) 19:32, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

MSN on outlook

I made an email address of <user>@msn.com using the MSN explorer. Now i want to use this email address on Outlook or Thunderbird. I cannot find settings. Can anyone help? I've not paid for any MSN service. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Muhammad Hamza (talk • contribs) 17:57, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

This page from Mozillazine gives some help about setting up MSN Mail accounts which support POP messaging. Microsoft says that POP accounts are not available for free accounts. Try one of the other email websites! --h2g2bob (talk) 21:40, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Converting .SWF video into h264 .M4V or Quicktime?

I have a SWF that only contains video. Is there a way I can convert it into something my iPod or PS3 can handle? --70.167.58.6 (talk) 21:27, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

Use iSquint. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 01:00, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Recommendations for a good Mac forum to join

I have the feeling I'll be needing expert specialized knowledge soon... Does anyone have recommendations for a forum on Macs? I have an old Mac system (OS X 10.2) on an old Mac G4 (AGP graphics), so am looking for a board with lots of users with experience with different types of software and hardware. Also a high-traffic site so I would be more likely to get my question answered. Not that I won't ask the fine people here (see my next question), but I've been looking to join a good Mac forum anyway. TresÁrboles (talk) 22:29, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

I've found the Forums at Macrumors.com to be excellent--very active, with knowledable and helpful people.--Zerozal (talk) 13:44, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestion; I'll check them out. TresÁrboles (talk) 19:48, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

I disabled services I shouldn't have and can't start them again...

Under windows 2000, I disabled and stopped services that I thought was extraneous but my computer is weird now, skype doesn't work, etc. so I want to start them again, but it's not possible...any hints? Thanks.

Please give more details. How is it not possible? --wj32 ^t/c 05:33, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Startup prob on Mac!

I think my disk drive may be failing. The background is: icons starting disappearing on one of my partitions. After some fiddling around with opening and closing the window, and trying to list them out in Terminal with ls, and trying to find them using the Search files, some of them reappeared, but I know a lot of files are still missing. The weird thing is the ls command in Terminal won't even show the files that have reappeared, at least not if you only do an "ls" or "ls -al" (I also tried with sudo so permissions are not the problem). Using wildcards also won't work, e.g. "ls myfile*". But you can find them if you specifically name the full filename, e.g. "ls myfile.txt". Crazy! Anyway, that has been the situation for some days while I just left the Mac on (which I normally do), afraid to restart it -- I half thought a restart would fix things, and half thought it would entrench the screwiness. Well, unfortunately things were taken out of my hands, when we had a power outage at the house. When I powered back up, the disk icon for that disk partition was missing. Using the Disk Tool showed it was not mounted. (All the four other partitions of the actual 120GB hard disk were mounted.) I went to the Disk First Aid tab and ran repair (which I have never done before but it looked like an appropriate thing to do). It gave some message about corrupted nodes I think and then redoing a tree, and then said it was repaired. I then tried to mount the partition, but it didn't work. I think I then tried to run a Verify and then another Repair, and then I restarted the Mac.

Eep. After a long time, it finally got to the gray Apple logo startup screen where it continued to spin its wheels, and then it stopped and gave up. Now there is text in the upper left hand corner: "sh-2.05a#"

HELP!

(I just googled this, and it looks like it's the prompt for the UNIX monitor. I have a bit of UNIX admin experience, but still don't know how best to proceed.)

The operating system is OS X 10.2 and the Mac is a G4 (AGP). Yes, it's very old in computer years (8+ in human years)!

Please help if you can! Or recommend a good place to ask (see my previous question)! Thanks in advance! TresÁrboles (talk) 22:57, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

It's possible that you are in the openfirmware prompt (the BIOS commandline for mac), try typing boot or mac-boot and see if that does anything. Check to see if you can view the invisible files with this command prompt, its unlikely, but a software module loaded when mac os x starts up is corrupted and is inhibiting your ability to view your files. If not, it looks like a good option would be to copy all the files you can to a backup disk using that command prompt then try reinstalling Mac OS X (it's possible that this is a software problem). If the reinstall doesn't work, then I'm not sure what else will help. Foxy Loxy ^Pounce! 23:19, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

O.K., I'll have to sleep on this first and do more research... I may want to see how I can change my startup drive to the smaller (original 20G) drive... but it has Mac OS 9 on it. TresÁrboles (talk) 05:16, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

If you are having serious hard drive problems (and it sounds like you are), I would recommend getting DiskWarrior. It costs money but it's way more powerful than the free Mac harddrive tools. It can work some miracles. In any case, keep in mind that your goal at this point is just to get it working again, so you can get everything you need off of it. Even in things work perfectly after this episode you probably will want to get a new hard disk just to be safe. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 00:59, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Is DiskWarrior O.K. for my version of OS X? By the way, I've been spoiled by my Macs. I'm a Mac owner since 1984 and while the original didn't have a hard drive, I have never had any sort of problem with my Quadra 650 from 1993-2000, and my G4 from 2000 until now (even with herds of dust bunnies around). I don't know what was inside my Quadra, but the G4 came with a 20G Western Digital drive, and that's why I got a Western Digital brand for the second (ut primary in usage) drive (I forget when - maybe 4-5 years ago?) TresÁrboles (talk) 05:16, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Current versions of DiskWarrior do not support 10.2, but according to their requirements page you can contact them and buy earlier versions. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 00:35, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the tip! TresÁrboles (talk) 19:49, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

October 28

How to do this in the command line...? (Ubuntu)

I would like add programs to system startup, but with the command line, what I want is to do the same thing that can be done by going to:

System -> Preferences -> Sessions -> Add

PS: I'm working on Ubuntu 8.10 (RC) and the program I want to add is padevchooser (the GUI for PulseAudio).

SF007 (talk) 00:21, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Ubuntu is probably adding the commands into one of the myriad ".rc" files down under /etc/. What I would do is this: Use the pointsy-clicksy System->Preferences->Sessions->Add tool to add a command with a really distinctive name - or a really distinctive filename as a parameter - then do a "grep -R reallyDistinctiveName /etc" (you may need to be 'root') - and you should be able to find what file it got added into. Now you can edit that file manually to see what the Ubuntu gizmo added - and where. From that point on - writing a little shell script to add and remove commands to that exact file is (as they say) "left as an exercise for the reader"...but it should probably involve perl and/or sed - and will probably almost certainly need to be run as a 'sudo'. SteveBaker (talk) 19:30, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

The tool SF007 is talking about relates to GNOME sessions, rather than UNIX System Services (although Unix services may be better - see Upstart for information on those). --h2g2bob (talk) 12:41, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Dumb question re: MacBook hard drives

I was thinking today it might be convenient to get a bigger hard drive for my MacBook. My 80GB one, which seemed so large only a year or two ago, now seems way too small—even with an external disk for my really big things, I'm still always struggling to keep about 10GB free, and that can get eaten up pretty easily with some of the stuff I work on.

I have some sort of Toshiba drive in there now. (TOSHIBA MK8034GSX) Is there any requirement about the type of drive I can get? Or can I just get any generic "laptop drive" and expect it to work once it is formatted, installed upon, etc.? Obviously I don't really just want any generic one—I'll spend time finding one that looks good and reliable and right—but I just mean, do I have to worry about the specific settings or type of drive or whatever? I'm assuming not but thought I would ask since some hardware obviously has to be matched very carefully to the motherboard requirements (like RAM) and things like that. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 01:06, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

I just noticed the SATA/ATA difference. I suspect that is rather important... --98.217.8.46 (talk) 01:10, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

My brother had this same question a couple months ago. The Mac genius guy told him (paraphrased) "he had to have a special Mac drive because the Macbook case provided no cushioning for the drive. Therefore, the Mac drives have cushioning inside the drive. If you try to use a normal laptop drive (which expects cushioning in the case), you can easily damage the drive just by moving the laptop around." I disagree with the Mac genius. I've taken many laptops apart and I've never seen "cushioning" around the drive. So, in my opinion, you can use any drive - and yes, you will need SATA if it is a SATA port that it plugs into. -- kainaw™ 02:27, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

How strange. I know that Mac HDs have their own plastic housing but I didn't think it was unique to Macs (though I've only taken apart Mac laptops). In any case it is removable (could take the housing off of the existing drive and replace it). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 12:02, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Make sure that the drive is only 9.5mm high not the larger 12mm --Trieste (talk) 15:14, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

D Programming Language

In the std.algorithm package in Phobos, functions are passed as strings. How does this work? eval()-oids? Or is it all compile-time? Thanks, *Max* (talk) 03:07, 28 October 2008 (UTC).

Quote from std.algorithm webpage:

Many functions in this module are parameterized with a function or a predicate . The predicate may be passed either as a function name, a delegate name, a functor name, or a compile-time string.

It's compiled. --wj32 ^t/c 05:35, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, I don't know how I missed that. *Max* (talk) 00:21, 29 October 2008 (UTC).

Stopping Excel from minimizing sheets

I’ve Googled and run around the tech blogs, but no one seems to come close to a sensible answer to this one. When I copy-and-paste a column of numbers from a website spreadsheet (e.g., http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/CPIAUCNS/downloaddata?cid=9), and paste it into my own Excel spreadsheet, two things happen. First, I am instantly jerked back to the source web page (not such a big deal). Second, and this drives me crazy, the Excel page (e.g., “Sheet 1”) pops out of maximized size (the sheet, not the program, shrinks). This makes the scroll bars disappear and causes a host of other problems.

Stats: XP Professional SP2; Office 2003

Is there a simple way to tell Excel to knock it off? DOR (HK) (talk) 05:39, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't have that version of Excel or that OS, but have you tried the Paste Special options? Try just pasting the "Values" and see if that works. Excel (and most Office products) go totally wonky when you try to paste from web browsers because they try to adapt the formatting. If you tell it to only paste the "values" it usually ignores formatting and works better. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 00:22, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Been there, done that. I "special paste" to avoid any formulae.DOR (HK) (talk) 06:03, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Roaring Fan on Dell XPS

I have a Dell XPS. After reformatting, the fan began to roar sporadically. It is important to note that the reformatting was the trigger that began the issue, and so dust or bearings being the issue is unlikely.

Additionally, the monitor mounted speakers will not function if plugged into the back port - where the soundcard is. The speakers, however, work perfectly if plugged into the front. Other speakers work when plugged into the back. It is a mystery.

I don't have to look far to find similar problems with XPS systems, but solutions are far more rare. Does anyone happen to know what could cause these symptoms after a reformat? --24.241.228.210 (talk) 10:12, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

trapping a generic keydown event in C#

In c++ I simply used the syntax

switch (msg)
{
case WM_KEYDOWN:

but in c# the test on the event can be only associated to a control like a textbox, AFAIK. Am I wrong?

Thank In Advance.

--Ulisse0 (talk) 14:29, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

You are correct, but that is not as limiting as it sounds. Just about every visible element in a dotNet windows application is a descendant of Control, including the Form class itself. To demonstrate, create a new C# windows application (using the template), display the properties page for the the main form (right click > properties), set KeyPreview to true, click on the events icon at the top of the properties page, and double clicked the KeyDown event. This created the function below to which I added one line.

       private void Form1_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
       {
           Form1.ActiveForm.BackColor = Color.Red;
       }

Now, run the application, press any key, and the form turns red. -- Tcncv (talk) 00:23, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

CAD and 3D softwares

It may be a dumb question, but what is the difference between a 3D computer graphics software and a CAD software? Is the RD software a genre of CAD? Thanks. 85.112.95.14 (talk) 14:32, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Well, CAD might be only 2D - but 2D is just a subset of 3D - so let's assume you're talking about 3D CAD. Firstly - CAD is "Computer Aided Design" - it's a lot more than just graphics. However, the graphics part of CAD is essentially just a tiny subset of 3D computer graphics - although the latter term has come to mean stuff like video games, computer-rendered movies and stuff like that. In general, CAD users are much more interested in the precise geometry than they are about flashy surface rendering. They care a lot whether two parts accurately fit together - where (in a computer game, for example) - it may be perfectly acceptable to let them overlap each other if it makes things go faster without looking too terrible. Most non-CAD 3D users are very concerned with realism - so lighting and shadowing and surface textures and such are really important - where CAD users quite often only use 'wireframe' rendering so they can see things clearly without confusing surface clutter. So the practical disciplines of 3D graphics do provide the underpinnings of much of CAD - but it's only an area of overlap - probably only 1% of modern 3D graphics algorithms would be found in a typical CAD program - but then perhaps only 10% of a CAD program would involve graphics.

I'm not sure I can explain that any better - but if you have more specific questions - I'd be glad to answer them. I've been doing 3D computer graphics since the early 1980's. SteveBaker (talk) 19:20, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

It may be an oversimplification, but CAD is used to design something that you can measure, analyze, and build. Here you are more interested in materials, dimensions, tolerances, connections, and manufacturing details. 3D graphics applications are used to design something to look at maybe play with (such as in video games). Often the emphasis is more on appearance and rendering speed, than on function and precision. Uses range from pure art, to architectural conceptual representations, project planning, advertising, animation, and of course gaming. As you can guess, there is much overlap. 3D graphics are used to display CAD models, and many CAD techniques are used to construct objects for 3D graphics applications. -- Tcncv (talk) 23:41, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

I found your answers excellent. I just got what I wanted. Thanks again. 212.98.136.42 (talk) 13:13, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Team Communication

Hi there, I was told that Wikipedia has the ability for online team communication and/or task management types of software. Is this correct? If so can you provide details? D —Preceding unsigned comment added by DarleneRE (talk • contribs) 18:47, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you're asking. We have a list of project management software if that's what you're after. If you want to use a wiki for team communication, MediaWiki (which Wikipedia runs on) is free and open-source. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 18:58, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Well - we have 'talk:' pages - those are a kind of online team communication. But I'm not aware of any task management features. Are you sure you're thinking of "Wikipedia" and not Wiki's in general? Wikipedia is just a big database built with a software package called "MediaWiki". There are many other pieces of software that call themselves "Wiki" and provide features somewhat like MediaWiki - both with and without other stuff rolled in. For example - there is a commercial software package called "ClearSpace" (from Jive Software) - which integrates all sorts of features into a Wiki. In some respects, it's a lot more powerful than MediaWiki because it rolls in these other features. However, it's one of the most awful Wiki's you'll ever see - so I wouldn't give it a second glance. There is a fairly complete list of Wiki software packages in List of wiki software and we also have a Comparison of wiki software - although it doesn't have much to say about task management and such. SteveBaker (talk) 19:04, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

TI-89 Assembly-Language Programming

I have written a program in C that I wish to transfer from my computer to my TI-89 Titanium, but the file is listed as "Incompatible type" in the transfer window (even after changing the extension to .89z). What should I do? (The program can be found on my userpage) Lucas Brown (talk) 19:00, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Have you successfully compiled your C program into Ti89 assembler and linked it with whatever library code you might need? You have to do that on your PC using either TI Flash Studio, or TIGCC. (Sorry if this is obvious - we have to start with the basics and work up!) SteveBaker (talk) 19:10, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

BlackBerry SIM cards (solved)

Hi all,

a friend of me recently acquired a BlackBerry 8830 (Verizon branded, US) from some friend, but he can not insert a standard German SIM card in it. What is the difference and can he clone the sim card onto a smaller one?

HardDisk (talk) 20:39, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Verizon does not operate on GSM, thus their version of the 8830 does not have a removable SIM card. This article, while dated, seems to cover the details. --LarryMac | Talk 20:45, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

If you look at the picture at the bottom of this cnet article, there is some slot on the left for a sim card, and according to the article it is multi-mode (GSM and CDMA compat). Yet a SIM card fits only half in the slot :( HardDisk (talk) 21:01, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

After quick scanning through its menus, one is able to switch it from Global to GSM. That's quite cute, I can do emergency calls. This means the GSM part works. But why can't I insert a standard SIM card? Do I need some uber-small one? I mean, there are couple of SIM card related options in the menus of it, so the slot MUST be SIM, but it is not :( HardDisk (talk) 21:29, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

After all, there was a tiny piece of the inside cover distorted, which prevented full insertion of the SIM card... fixed it, now it works. HardDisk (talk) 22:19, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Linux keyboard logger

I recently changed qwerty to dvorak. Most of my writing is (sadly) something Englishey, but I also type Finnish and wouldn't mind getting background for relocating the ä and ö keys. Is there any program that could collect some more sophisticated stats of my typing? I seem to have too much spare time. --194.197.235.221 (talk) 23:04, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Mutation in computer viruses

Do any known computer viruses make random functional changes to their payloads when they replicate (rather than simply changing their signatures to make them harder to detect)? NeonMerlin 23:49, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Not that I know of but they can have quite sophisticated behaviours. You might find Core war and Digital organism interesting. Dmcq (talk) 08:32, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

about wikipedia

how can i use it more efficiently? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.63.102.42 (talk) 06:58, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

For a start, asking more specific questions will generally inspire more helpful answers. —Bkell (talk) 08:30, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Amongst the vast array of pages at your command on Wikipedia via the search box on the left or by using a search engine like Google there is a page devoted specifically to 'it'. Hope that was more helpful :) Dmcq (talk) 08:48, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Okay I relent, how about phrasing a question like:

How do I phrase queries in the search box so I don't get irrelevant things?

How come Google gets things on Wikipedia which wiki itself doesn't?

Will I get full marks if I copy a article from wiki?

How reliable is wiki when it says somewhere is a hellhole and no-one in their right mind would be seen dead there?

Has wiki been compared for accuracy to other encyclopaedias?

Can I put my personal research into wiki?

Anyway you see the idea Dmcq (talk) 11:24, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Look at Wikipedia:Welcome, then the Wikipedia:Tutorial. --h2g2bob (talk) 14:26, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

what is strategic procurement ?

i want to know abt the strategic procurement . What is it and how can one go abt it . What is the essentials of it. How it can benefit an organisation ? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ggosain (talk • contribs) 07:05, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Assuming this is as much a homework question as it appears to be, does the glossary of your textbook indicate that another term for "strategic procurement" is strategic sourcing? -- kainaw™ 13:29, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Welcome to the Wikipedia Reference Desk. Your question appears to be a homework question. I apologize if this is a misevaluation, but it is our policy here to not do people's homework for them, but to merely aid them in doing it themselves. Letting someone else do your homework does not help you learn how to solve such problems. Please attempt to solve the problem yourself first. If you need help with a specific part of your homework, feel free to tell us where you are stuck and ask for help. If you need help grasping the concept of a problem, by all means let us know. Thank you. DendodgeTalk^Contribs 15:33, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Mac Installation

I am using an iMac, running on 10.4.11, but the system has become corrupted. So I need to re-install. Obviously best to wipe and start over... but on Mac OS I do not know which files I should first back-up. (i.e. The iPhoto library). Naturally I have back-ups of all my working files. Shall appreciate guidance.86.194.251.131 (talk) 09:42, 29 October 2008 (UTC)DT

You should be able to reinstall the OS without wiping the hard-drive, thus saving your required files but replacing the OS. In what way has the system become corrupt? 194.221.133.226 (talk) 11:11, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm curious as to why you think you need to wipe out everything. Dismas|^(talk) 14:31, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Previous experience has shown that just replacing the OS is a stopgap if there is a deeper problem. Better, I feel, to wipe the disk and start over. But I don't (yet) understand OS X, and I can't find any guidance from Apple. So, please folks, what are the essential stored things within the OS (such as the iPhoto library) that I should back-up ?86.194.251.131 (talk) 16:24, 29 October 2008 (UTC)DT

Network printers compatible with PS3

The latest verion of PlayStation 3 system software adds the following "Under [Printer Settings] > [Printer Selection], you can now select printers that support network connectivity" But I can't find either a list of compatible network printers, or details as to which protocol(s) they'd need to support.

I've tried asking Sony through their online support tool

Is there an updated list of compatible printers (expecially network ones) after the 2.50 firmware update? All I can find is http://faq.en.playstation.com/cgi-bin/scee_gb.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?locale=en_GB&p_faqid=334&p_created=1204706588&p_sid=_I84GFgj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9OCw4JnBfcHJvZHM9MCZwX2NhdHM9MCZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PXByaW50&p_li=&p_topview=1 with no mention of HP/Network printers that're now supported.

But I didn't have any joy

Dear Sir/Madam, Thank you for your recent correspondence. Unfortunately we do not have information on future game, download releases or updated compatible printers. For further information on these topics, please visit either of the following websites: Official PlayStation Website at: http://uk.playstation.com/ or The Official PlayStation Forums at: http://community.eu.playstation.com/forumdisplay.php?f=55&langid=4 I hope that this information is helpful, but if you should have any further queries, then please call the Network Gaming Careline on 08702 422 299 (national rate) where a member of our team will be happy to help you further. Please quote your Reference Number: 1176010 Our operating hours are between 8am - 10pm Monday to Friday, and 10am - 6pm Saturday and Sunday. Yours sincerely, Farrukh Mahmood PlayStation Network Gaming Careline Sony Computer Entertainment UK

Does anyone have any ideas as to what's compatible? Cheers, davidprior (talk) 13:53, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Stacking transparent GIFs using CSS

Say I have some HTML code:

<img src="grass.gif" />
<img src="tree.gif" />
<img src="sprite.gif" />

All the images are the same size (32x32).

How would I go about stacking them without using absolute positioning? All besides the bottom layer have some degree of transparency.

All the images are within a single table cell, 32x32 pixels. I tried using position: relative; top: -32px; but it didn't resize the table cell's height.

Bad CSS would be OK as it's only a mockup. x42bn6 Talk Mess 14:55, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Couldn't you just make one image in Photoshop? If you don't have it, I'll do it for you - just poke me on my talk page. DendodgeTalk^Contribs 15:32, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

That might not be a good answer. He may be generating either the web page or the images on the fly. However, it's still possible that a PHP script could combine the images so that the user only has to download the single combined image APL (talk) 20:05, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

changing motherboard on dell vostro 1400 laptop

I am Taradas from india. Recently, i had contacted dell support center for changing my motherboard. I would like to insert a new motherboard having NVIDIA 8400 video card for better game performance. Can u please tell me what could be the possible price for changing motherboard, in indian rupees. Or is it possible to change my video card which is a MOBILE INTEL 965 XPRESS CHIP SET FAMILY. Please respond at the earliest......... Remember my laptop is DELL VOSTRO 1400.

I'm not sure such a thing is even possible. Unlike desktop computers, the motherboard on a laptop is proprietary to the particular brand and model of laptop. Dell laptops are supposedly built to order and customers are expected to choose from the small range of options available when placing their order. You could go back to Dell Customer Support but, unless the laptop is faulty in some way, I doubt you will get much help. Astronaut (talk) 17:49, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Yep - I agree. Laptops are simply not designed to be upgraded or modified in any way. There is zero chance of getting what you want. You'll either have to stick with what you have - or buy an engite new computer - but you should strongly consider getting a regular deskside PC instead. If you don't need the portability of a laptop (or if your existing laptop is good enough for 'mobile' use - and you could live with only having fancy graphics when you're at your desk) - then a deskside PC is a vastly better choice. My trusty deskside PC is now over 15 years old and originally ran Windows 3.11 - but since every single part of it has been replaced and/or upgraded perhaps a half dozen or a dozen times, it's as up-to-date as you could possibly wish. (If I'm honest - I probably haven't replaced the power cord!) The Ship of Theseus paradox applies here! Laptops a re a disaster in that regard. The stuff it's equipped with on the day you buy it is the stuff that'll be in it the day it gets hauled off to the landfill. You can maybe increase the amount of RAM - and probably replace the hard drive to get more space - but that's about extent of it. SteveBaker (talk) 18:57, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

BAD_POOL_HEADER BSOD OMGWTFBBQ!!!!

Alright, why the HELL do i keep getting BAD_POOL_HEADER bsods every damn time i start up my computer? What is a BAD_POOL_HEADER! This only happens when the following software is installed: TI-83 Application SDK and TI-83 GRAPHLINK. Yes, i uninstalled them completely (and just for fun deleted anything related to those programs including registry stuff, which i know how to remove, so that's not the problem) and i am still intermittently getting these error messages. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG!!! (PS i know i'm rather profane in this question, i'm just completely fed up with this computer (and myself)) 31306D696E6E69636B6D (talk) 16:43, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Try this (second post). x42bn6 Talk Mess 17:07, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

AHA! i've found the problem. the file TICALC.SYS (my calculator driver) was overwritten by both the SDK and GRAPHLINK, causing errors in the registry concerning version info and such. THIS was the cause. I reinstalled the CORRECT driver from the TI website and now everything works fine. THANK YOU x42bn6! 31306D696E6E69636B6D (talk) 19:10, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

SFRIO600.DLL

Question moved from Talk:Computer virus by Astronaut (talk) 17:10, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't know if this is a virus or something else, or a joke, but it runned itself when I plugged my USB memory into my computer. I have "Show all files" turned on, so I see there are two hidden files: 'SFRIO600.DLL' and 'AUTORUN.INF'. Upon activation it started to run the harddrive. I tried to "Disconnect saffely" (the USB memory), but it couldn't, so I plugged it out (then it showed a message that memory is not present (obviously the virus was requesting it)). I tried to turn of the computer trough menu, it stalled (saving changes to Windows). I tried the power button, it didn't turn off, I didn't want to press and wait, so I flipped the power switch on the power supply. (I write (from a different computer) here about this because virus reporting on the antivirus programs site suck really)

My antivirus program didn't react at all (AVG). Searching the web for 'sfrio600' I found nothing. Searching just 'sfrio' I've found a lunatic site called: 'sfrio.com'

What is this? What to do next? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.101.85.164 (talk) 09:03, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

I couldn't find anything about a sfrio600.dll, but I did find something about a sprio600.dll that said that DLL is used by Rio 600 MP3 players. Do you have a RIO device?Laenir (talk) 19:27, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Search for one type of Wikipedia templates

Is this possible?

I've formulated a new WikiProject named WikiProject Haystack, which aims to highlight the most essential in Wikipedia by gathering the most important information into special templates. However, it would have full potential only if such templates could be searched separately. So before I officially propose it I'd like to know - is it possible to sort out such templates in the search-engine. One example would be to add another namespace, such as Essentials:(Article name). If it's impossible, could the search engine be modified to search through templates of a certain category? Mikael Häggström (talk) 17:28, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

The namespaces is hardcoded in, so it would take alterations of the media wiki software to make this possible within the wikipedia software. Other than that, external applications could be made to cross index Special:Whatlinkshere with a search output. Taemyr (talk) 17:51, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

Well, perhaps it would be worth to make those alterations in the software. Since several pages might link to each template, and not only the main article, I don't see how the Whatlinkshere would help. Could there perhaps rather be some kind of marker inside each template that search engines (preferably Wikipedia's own one) could snap up? Mikael Häggström (talk) 18:48, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

What links here marks those pages that a given template is transcluded onto. So those pages on Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:AfDM marked with (transclusion) are the articles that are currently up for AfD. Taemyr (talk) 18:56, 29 October 2008 (UTC)

should I make an old swap partition fat32 or ntfs?

I have an old computer (666 mhz pentium III w/ 256 mb ram) I installed windows xp on. I wiped and created ntfs for the main partition, but also created a second partition for the swap.

Should my swap partition be formatted fat32 or ntfs?

Thank you!