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August 9

Boot Problem

I've been hired to repair a Compaq 1540DM laptop manufactured around 1995. It boots, checks its memory ("32768 KB OK") and then starts beeping, like this: "beep [pause] beep beep [pause] beep beep beep." I looked in the Compaq troubleshooting manual and it doesn't mention that beep sequence.

When I first started on it, it gave an error about there being a non-system disk and asking me to remove it and to press any key. I downloaded a program to reset the BIOS and set up the system from HP. It booted into setup from those floppies, but they didn't fix the problem. I also have some Windows 3.0 floppies, but it said that they weren't system disks, either. So, I tried an MS-DOS boot floppy, but it froze at the end of the memory check. Now, it doesn't give any errors, even without disks in the drive. It just freezes and beeps after the memory check. I can't even reset the BIOS now. Does anyone know what the problem could be?

Here are the beeps. Sorry about the background noise:

--Rljkngt5ontj 4uih5kb(;) 56 (talk) 09:41, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

IIRC Compaq use a series of "beep codes" to indicate various BIOS fault conditions. If it's not in the manual, a google search might help, but it depends on what BIOS you have. Astronaut (talk) 12:36, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Manual. Has some bleep codes, but not this one. --h2g2bob (talk) 15:53, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

DVD+RW question

I bought a pack of 10 DVD+RW disks to use to backup the photographs I had taken over almost two years. The discs claim to hold 4.7 GB each. My own system (Fedora 9 Linux) however could only write about 4.3 GB to each disk. I did this, but when I later read the discs back, only the first 3.8 GB or so of each disc can actually be read. The rest merely reports I/O errors. Why is this happening?

Also, what happens if I re-record the pictures over the discs? Is the old data simply wiped out or is it still somehow available there? If I re-record the disc with less data than previously, does the extraneous old data stay there, or get erased, reverting that part of the disc's physical surface to "shiny"? JIP | Talk 11:34, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

The disks hold roughly 4.7 gigabytes (billion bytes), which is roughly 4.38 gibibytes. The abbreviation "GB" is commonly used for both. If you're getting I/O errors, it's likely the disks are defective. There's huge variation in the quality of recordable DVDs, and the higher quality disks aren't widely sold (because they're more expensive, and most people care more about price). It's also possible your drive is broken, or doesn't like that brand of disk. I'm having trouble understanding the questions in the second paragraph—do you want the data to be erased or to remain available? In principle one could erase and rewrite only the inner part of a disk, but in practice no one does it and there's no software to support it. -- BenRG (talk) 12:04, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

I want the data to be erased. I want it to be exactly as if the previous data wasn't ever written there in the first place, only the current data. JIP | Talk 12:05, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

That's what will happen, or what should happen—if the disks really are defective I suppose the erasure process could fail part way through. In practice it doesn't matter since when you rewrite the disk you'll write a new file list which won't reference the outer edge of the disk anyway, regardless of whether there's anything left over there. I would worry somewhat about the unreadable region creeping inward in the long term, but as long as the disks are only for backup and you test them every couple of months it should be fine. -- BenRG (talk) 12:33, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

USB Printer cable

Hello, I recently got a Lexmark Inkjet printer (also a scanner and photocopier). However, in all my glory, I do not have the USB cable for it. I looked at its connector and it looked like a standard port. I looked up RadioShack's website and it was USD thirty something. Newegg had one for USD 11.98 including shipping. Am I missing something here? Is there a lot of difference in these cables? Where could I find a good deal on USB cables? Please let me know. Kushal (talk) 13:34, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

$1.95 from Amazon.com. I think thats the cable your looking for - a USB A - B - sorfane 13:56, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Radioshack, Officemax, etc., sell them at extremely high prices for no reason other than the fact that non-techies don't know where to buy them cheaper (and techies usually have a dozen extra ones at home anyway)—it's pure profit for them. So buy them online. The quality will be identical. The only variable aspect (other than the specifics of the cable connectors, of which there is a tiny variety), is the length. Make sure you don't buy a 20ft long one if what you really need is 3ft, or vice versa. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:17, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, that looks just like what I want. The price is not expensive at USD 4.95 (USD 2.00 + USD 2.95 shipping). Thanks to both of you. I will need to think how long a cable I will need. hmm ... Kushal (talk) 14:34, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Not sure where you are, but in the U.S. you can get them at any big box store (Wal-Mart, etc) and many discount stores (Big Lots, etc). --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 15:31, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

I am in continental USA. Thanks for the tip, Gadget850. I will look for it at our local Wal-Mart. If Walmart can match Amazon's price of USD 4.95, I'm sold. Kushal (talk) 16:23, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

WalMart.com sells it one for about nine dollars. Kushal (talk) 19:50, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

If you have a dollar store (such as a 99 Cents Only Stores) in your area, check there. I often see them for a buck. Bunthorne (talk) 22:22, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the tip. I don't think my local dollar store carries any electronics but it is surely worth a try. Kushal (talk) 14:23, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

I am very thankful to everyone who have contributed here so far. Just to be sure, here is a picture of the port. Does it take the USB A - B cable? How many types are there? Is it possible that I order something online that is not the right size? Thanks a lot once again. Kushal (talk) 21:09, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Looks like. See this diagram. (A is the side that plugs into your computer.) APL (talk) 13:39, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

I need to see this web page.

Hi dear,
There have been great answers to some questions down here so I have faith someone might be able to help.
I forgot a website I used to know for looking up mobile, land-line telecommunication information - with just three letters or so - all kind of mobile phone network.
For instance, if a phone number is typed in website's search box, the result generated brings up the the telecommunication's name, if the number checked is real or not and other helpful infos.
Expecting to read from my Internet hero. King^Sol —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.62.208.2 (talk) 14:20, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

411.com seems to fit the bill for US numbers — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 17:37, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

pentium 4 and core 2 duo

are they equivalent? or is one better/weaker than the other?--Loopy76 (talk) 16:51, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Nope, the Pentium 4 is a single core processor, while the Core 2 Duo is a multi core; so the Core 2 Duo is the more powerful processor. - sorfane 16:53, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

See also Pentium D, Intel Core, and Intel Core 2. Kushal (talk) 19:46, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

The Pentium 4 and Core 2 are very different designs and they can't be easily compared, but most people think the Core 2 is a better design. The Pentium 4 (NetBurst) came out back when Intel was still marketing chips based on clock speed, and it was designed primarily to have high clock speeds and only secondarily to perform well. A Core 2 Solo at 2 GHz will probably outperform a Pentium 4 at 4 GHz on "most things". The effect of having a second core (Core 2 Duo) depends on whether your software is designed to benefit from it. A dual core won't be twice as fast except for embarrassingly parallel tasks, and for many things it may be scarcely faster at all. The other thing to keep in mind is that all modern CPUs are more than fast enough for typical tasks, and have been for many years. You might be better off getting a cheaper processor and spending the money you save on more RAM or a faster hard drive or a better monitor or a more ergonomic keyboard and mouse. If you have special computing needs (e.g. you're a cutting-edge gamer or you do a lot of video encoding or scientific number crunching) then you should find a web community devoted to that kind of thing and look at their benchmarks and recommendations. -- BenRG (talk) 20:21, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Concisely: Core 2 Duos are faster, cooler, use less electricity, and have 2 cores. 24.76.161.28 (talk) 07:33, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Old Games on modern computer today? how will it work?

How are Computer-games like "Pharaoh", "Zeus - Master of Olympus" and "Emperor - Rise of the middle kingdom" likely to fare on my computer??? they are a bit old games, released in around 2000.

My computer has :

- WINDOWS VISTA basic - Intel core 2 duo - Ati radeon graphics (I take it that's the graphic card even though I'm not too knowledgeable about these things...)

It ought to be said that a similar game like "Caesar III" (an old favourite of mine released in 1998 meant for only windows 95 and windows 98) didn't work on my previous computer with Windows-XP.

I want to order one or two of these games mentioned and play on my vista computer, but I'm unsure if it's wise buying.. maybe I risk buying games I can't run on my more modern computer.

So anyone who is more knowledgable about system requirements and such for games, I would appreciate hearing some thought and opinions.

Thank you :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.164.184.147 (talk) 18:08, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Vista won't run 16 bit software on the 64 bit version. Coolotter88 (talk) 18:17, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

All of them apart from Emperor will work on both 32bit and 64bit Vista. - sorfane 18:25, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't understand the 16, 32, 64 bit thingy... I don't know what bit I have, or how to adjust it if possible. But I know then that there is a chance it might work. Besides, on Amazon I found versions playable at XP, and I know that most games playable on xp is playable on Vista too. So thanks:) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.164.184.147 (talk) 18:36, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Vista can play some of the older games. For Dos games there is a program called Dosbox which is very much legal and will let you play older games for Dos on well...any OS or something that can run programs. For 16bit games you simply need to right click over the icon of the program start go to properties and look for something called Compatibility. From there you can change it to emulate all the way down to Windows 95. Rgoodermote^{Not an admin}  19:36, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

If you don't understand 16/32/64 bit, why don't you read up on it? You'll understand things advice like you get here much easier when you read on new topics. 78.144.189.229 (talk) 16:45, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Pharaoh runs of Vista, lest I've been hallucinating. 24.76.161.28 (talk) 07:31, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Youtube links with specific time start

hello Wikipedians, I'd be wowed if you knew of a way to link to youtube videos, beginning at a specific moment of the video other than the start.... I've already tried looking around on youtube help and google but can't find an answer... thanks!!! (I mean in a easy-to-use way... like typing a bit of code into the URL of a youtube webpage) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.181.196.180 (talk) 19:11, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't think it's officially possible.89.242.131.11 (talk) 19:51, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

I highly doubt that it's possible at this time. —Kal ^(talk) 00:08, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Dear god, why PATA?

Why was SATA only invented/implemented recently? Why did I have to suffer through all that bullcrap with 2 inch wide, hard to manipulate and butt-ugly PATA cables? --mboverload@ 19:24, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

Because only recently we achieved the technology to have it. Serial transmission was known to be more noise-resistant for a long time, due to differential signaling. But the problem with serial transmission, as employed by Serial ATA, is that it transmits only a single bit/baud per cycle or pulse, while parallel transmissions (like Parallel ATA) transmits many bits (16 for PATA) per cycle or pulse, many times more bandwidth with the same clock in the circuitry.

Advances in Ethernet, USB, Firewire and other serial transmission technologies pushed the I/O processor clock and the throughput of serial transmissions, while the hard-disk itself (physically) didn't achieve the same raise in throughput. So now it makes more sense to use a serial transmission, since is actually faster than the read/write throughput of the hard-disk.

The same story is valid for PCI-e.

--Juliano (T) 21:24, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

More specifically, I think it was the wide-spread implementation of the PCI-e buss that made SATA possible. That's just a guess tho. The articles on SATA might have more details. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 04:45, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

SATA predates PCI-e, so this can't be true. There are many SATA motherboards that have no PCI-e interfaces. They are unrelated, except that both share the same idea of dropping parallel communication in favor of a serial one. Perhaps in a near future we will see serial communication with memory modules and multiprocessor buses too. This will reduce a lot the size of motherboards.

--Juliano (T) 16:17, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

UNetbootin

If I download this, can I use it to make my USB drive boot Xubuntu 8.04.1? Thanks in advance, Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 21:35, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

It appears that Xubuntu should work. --mboverload@ 05:34, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

August 10

Occasional surround sound support via laptop HDMI out

I have an Asus M50Sv laptop with HDMI out. I'll play some movies from media player with surround sound just fine, but for some reason I only get stereo while playing Half-Life 2. I checked the HL2 settings and it's set to 5.1 on the audio tab.

I checked the Vista (Home Ultimate) sound settings and they show only LR channels for the HDMI output (and the same for what I assume is the SPDIF output) in the sound settings, but I figured this was more of an audio encoding thing (a la Dolby Pro Logic), but got confused when I could only get stereo in HL2. Then I played a movie in WMP11 and got all the channels just fine.

Is the game too old? (2004) Is there something I can change to get full surround? I'd hate to have to connect another cable, because it's just so painfully convenient to have a single HDMI cable hooked up to my TV to get a glorified gaming console for 4x the price :).

Thanks! --156.34.78.224 (talk) 02:10, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Line breaks on gmail

Is there any way to change the number of characters for the line break on gmail? My lines are insanely short, and I can't figure out for the life of me how to change it. Magog the Ogre (talk) 05:26, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Could just expanding your window work? Are these line breaks being sent as well, or are they only display issues when composing mail? --omnipotence407 (talk) 11:38, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Do you mean the point where plain text mails are wrapped with a > sign? Kushal (talk) 14:16, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

I had a similar problem a while back where for a short time suddenly all the emails I sent were arriving with each paragraph put on one single line going right off the page. People had to scroll along to read each paragraph then scroll back for the next one. I kept getting emails back from friends saying reading my emails was a pain in the arse and I couldn't figure out for the life of me why. It fixed itself, somehow. I have no idea what happened. Your problem might just be a temporary thing, too.--ChokinBako (talk) 00:23, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

This problem almost certainly stems from ambiguity about who/what is putting the line-break characters in (i.e. are you hitting enter at the end of each line, or do you just let the input-text-box do the wrapping automatically?). Some text display systems use line wrapping even when there is no actual line-break character in the text stream. If text was written or displayed on such a system, and then transferred to some other program which does not intelligently interpret the presence or lack of newline characters, formatting nightmare will ensue. Nimur (talk) 16:57, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Ye, the problem is that the text is line wrapping too early when I send it. It's a pain to read, and I don't like it. I want to change it. Magog the Ogre (talk) 02:41, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Only Part of My Page Appears

I am creating a new page at Uer"Oneroomschool. The last time I saved my changed, only the first part of my page appears, and only part of the TOC. However, when I click on "edit this page," everything is still there. Why doesn't all of it appear?

Thank you,

Oneroomschool (talk) 05:42, 10 August 2008 (UTC)Oneroomschool

Never mind--I figuered it out. I had an error in a reference.

Oneroomschool (talk) 05:48, 10 August 2008 (UTC)Oneroomschool

Library softwares.

Name some prominent library related softwareSameershakti (talk) 06:03, 10 August 2008 (UTC).

Assuming you mean a library that stores books, ILIS or Iliswave (by Fujitsu). -- Hoary (talk) 10:17, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Millennium, published by Innovative Interfaces, Inc., also look at Integrated library system.--droptone (talk) 12:10, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

bash for

I need to do a lot of things (using sed, mostly) to quite a a lot of files. But when I check that I understand for in bash, I'm embarrassed to find that I don't.

As a minimalized example, let's suppose that I want to automate the renaming of two files: from a.txt to a2.txt, and from b.txt to b2.txt. I'd have thought that bash would do this via something along the lines of

    for firstpart in [a b]
    do
        mv $firstpart.txt $firstpart2.txt
    done

However, this doesn't work, and no variation on it that I've yet thought of does it. I've found various guides to flow control within bash (or Bourne), but curiously none seems to deal either with lists that one has just made up or with the manipulation of filenames. What am I missing? -- Hoary (talk) 07:11, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Your 2 bugs are: the brackets around a and b, not helping. Get rid of them. Second, "$firstpart2" is the value of the variable named "firstpart2". You need to use ${firstpart}2 to get what you wanted: the value of the variable named "firstpart", then a "2". Braces around the variable name are needed whenever it is immediately followed by some text that might be part of the variable to be expanded. (Imagine you also had f=this and firstp=that then what would you expect $firstpart to expand to? It wouldn't be "thisirstpart" or "thatart".) --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 08:42, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Excellent! Thank you very much. But stick around, please, because I have an even stupider question. Though I have successfully written and used very elementary shell scripts under GNU/Linux/bash, today I'm using Mac OSX. This claims to have the bash shell, so I hadn't thought Mac OSX would be an issue; however, it seems that I can't get any shell script to run. The simplest: a text file consisting of the single line/command:

ls

I save it with the name "sillyscript" and type

chmod +x sillyscript

I check with

ls -l

and sure enough, yes, it's executable (so at least I didn't manage to screw up chmod). I then type

./sillyscript

and get the helpful message from bash: Cannot execute binary file. Actually I don't even understand what this "binary file" is, as sillyscript isn't binary (except in the sense that anything in a computer is binary), and as far as I know ls isn't a file. As we hopeless beginners say, WtF? -- Hoary (talk) 09:13, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

OK.

for I in *.txt ; do mv $I `basename $I .txt`2.txt ; done

You need to make the file begin with shabang. shebang.

#!/bin/bash
ls

--Kjoonlee 09:41, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

How odd. But many thanks! -- Hoary (talk) 10:10, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Except that it doesn't work. I even checked that yes, bash really was in /bin, and of course it is. I added the shebang line exactly above, and saved, yet I am still told:

-bash: ./sillyshell: cannot execute binary file

Er. . . . -- Hoary (talk) 11:07, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

What does

file sillyscript

say about it? Does bash ./sillyscript work? What editor / thing are you using to edit the file? --78.86.164.115 (talk) 13:31, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

file sillyscript

tells me

sillyscript: UTF-8 Unicode text

while

bash ./sillyscript work

tells me

./sillyscript: ./sillyscript: cannot execute binary file

The little script was made with TextWrangler.

I'm going to sleep on this. If I can't do it easily tomorrow (my time), I'll give up with it and do it on my Linux machine (an hour's trainride away). Still, I'm fascinated as well as irritated by my inability to do something (run a script) with an all-singing, all-dancing Mac that I used to do on a CP/M-80 machine with 64kB (yes!) of RAM. Something's gone off (maybe just my brain). -- Hoary (talk) 15:19, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Hm, what happens if you do this?

cat > sillyscript2
#!/bin/bash
ls
[press ctrl-d]
chmod u+x ./sillyscript2
./sillyscript2

--Kjoonlee 15:32, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

That worked perfectly! Well, it's one way to write text files, I suppose.

I'm afraid I've forgotten if there's a GNU/Unix utility that reads two files and announces if they have the same checksum; therefore I don't know for sure that these two minuscule scripts are identical. But for what it's worth (I'm sleepy), the two files do look identical. The obvious difference is that sillyscript and sillyscript2 are -rwxr-xr-x and -rwx--r-- respectively. I've no idea why this difference should matter. (Unless the shell for Mac OS X is somehow tweaked to render non-executable any script that's supposed to be executable for everyone, maybe because such ease of use makes it smell Trojan. No, that's too silly.) -- Hoary (talk) 16:01, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

My guess is that TextWrangler is putting a Unicode byte-order mark at the beginning of the file. Look for an option that turns this off, or save as ASCII. -- BenRG (talk) 17:25, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

The utility that you want is cmp, although diff might also work (depending on what it makes of things like the putative BOM). I would expect either system you named to have both utilities. --Tardis (talk) 14:28, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

How to merge MP4 files together for free

Hello. I have got a couple of MP4 videos I would like to merge together. How can I do that for free? Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.79.34.109 (talk) 08:35, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Googling "MP4 Joiner" returned many results, you just have to find one that fits your needs--omnipotence407 (talk) 11:36, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Audacity?78.144.189.229 (talk) 16:40, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, but Audacity is for audio. Kushal (talk) 13:40, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Can Windows Video Editor do it? Maybe not, but check out WP's article List_of_video_editing_software—which includes free software options—and one of them must be able to do it.--El aprendelenguas (talk) 21:45, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Download a program called Super which can be found by looking up on Google "Download Super Converter" from there make them what ever video type you want and then use whatever video editor you want to combine them. Rgoodermote^{Not an admin}  00:51, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Switching keyboards

I have a laptop (running Windows Vista) with a UK format keyboard, but I often use an external US format keyboard. Consequently, I have the language toolbar set up to allow me to switch from one to the other. However, something that has bugged me for a long time is that the keyboard setting seems to switch spontaneously. Anyhow, today I found out that I can switch keyboards by pressing left-shift and left-ctrl together and that would explain the "spontaneous" switching - I'm not a good typist and I'm obviously hitting shift and ctrl. Is there a way to turn off this key combination, or change it to something that's less easy to hit by mistake? Astronaut (talk) 16:09, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Windows (XP anyway) is really brilliant at switching layouts, because it lets you use as many different keyboards on different programs all at the same time. For example, you can put Microsoft Word on UK and Firefox on US - all at the same time! Have you tried setting a different shortcut, which you can't press by accident? Maybe "Control Shift Alt Zero".78.144.189.229 (talk) 16:34, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

How do I set a different shortcut? Astronaut (talk) 16:36, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

I won't bash you for using Windows :-) But neither Mac OSX, or Unix systems in general, seem to do that. The other possibility is that it switches automatically according to whether you use the built in, or external keyboard. Now that, I can at least see the logic in - even if it is annoying. As for keyboard shortcuts, I only have XP, but I will go and check.78.144.189.229 (talk) 16:38, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

I get Control Panel>Regional and Language (in classic view)>Languages>Details>[Select the keyboard layout you want]>Key Settings>Change Key settings.78.144.189.229 (talk) 16:49, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

I would expect it to switch to US format whenever the external keyboard is plugged in (my old work laptop on XP did just that), but it doesn't. Anyway, I found the setting and I can now type as bad as I like without it spontaneously switching on me.

However, it's slightly different in Vista from your instructions. It goes like this: Control Panel -> Regional and Language Options -> Keyboard and languages tab, and click on the Change Keyboards button; then on the Advanced Key Settings tab, make sure the "Between input languages" is selected and click the Change Key Sequence button. There, you will find the settings for the Alt-Shift sequence to change language and the hidden ctrl-shift sequence to change the keyboard layout.

Thanks for your help 78.144.

Astronaut (talk) 17:40, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Finding flickr account from a farm.static address

How can I find the account for this great portrait? Fanx. 190.244.186.234 (talk) 16:49, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

The Flickr photo owner finder show it's part of greyisthecolor's work. Nanonic (talk) 17:02, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Small Games

How Small Games are prepared using Microsoft Office Excel?, Plz guide me.thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.220.215.13 (talk) 19:16, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

I am not sure if you wanted this (as it seems to apply only for Office 2000), but here is the second Google hit for games in ms excel which describes an Easter egg (media). Kushal (talk) 21:31, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

What happened - Acer / BenQ

Copied from Misc desk Franamax (talk) 23:55, 10 August 2008 (UTC)
Acer became BenQ and all of the sudden even though its site is still online none of the CD drivers, warranties, data sheets, applications, driver, or firmware updates will download. Plus you can not reach them by phone or by fax. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.100.162.249 (talk) 15:45, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

I thought I could disprove this easily by downloading a driver for my Acer monitor, but it does indeed seem the Acer site has gone to sleep. Can anyone shed some light on this? When did Acer become BenQ for one thing? And what's the deal with the downloads? Thanks! Franamax (talk) 23:55, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

Err, works fine for me and so does the ftp (the European one at ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com ). It may depend on your location. Acer and BenQ have always been the same company. Nanonic (talk) 00:22, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

(correction) actually BenQ split off from Acer in 2001 [1] before having the final strings cut in 2006 [2]. Nanonic (talk) 00:37, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Problems with Audacity

I've just downloaded Audacity digital audio editor, and it won't seem to let me edit anything. I'm new at audio editing, so it may just be me. I can import audio files and play them, but it won't let me cut or edit anything I select. Thanks for any help, False Tournament (talk) 23:56, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

How about reading Audacity's Manual first?-Abhishek (talk) 04:00, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

After importing a file, try highlighting part of the sound waves and then using some of the editing features. I had a similar problem when I started using Audacity.--El aprendelenguas (talk) 21:37, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

August 11

GPL terms

If a program is released under GPL, would it be legal/OK for someone to modify the program directly, then distribute it as his or her own? What about if it were distributed for money? For free? --99.175.89.127 (talk) 03:10, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

You're lucky you edited your question when you did; you caught me in an edit conflict. A quick look over the GPL page seems to say that you could modify the program and use it commercially. However, I do believe you have to share alike (publish under the GPL or another compatible license). Of course, IANAL, and my experience in GPL is limited to reading the article. Paragon¹²³²¹ 03:30, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, you can certainly modify GPL software and sell the result for money; it's encouraged. But the license requires you to make the full source code of your version available and license it under the GPL. This means, in particular, that anyone who buys your version is free to make copies of it and redistribute them for free. -- BenRG (talk) 10:49, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

You can't redistribute someone else's GPL'd code as your own. You can use it, you can charge for it, you can modify it, but you have to acknowledge that some portions of the code are someone else's. 24.76.161.28 (talk) 07:30, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Wordpress

Hi,

i am new in wordpress. i want to know the features. and i want to use it. so plz give me ur guidelines and the introduction of wordpress. thank u, —Preceding unsigned comment added by Citydevi (talk • contribs) 07:09, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

There's a list of features here and an installation guide here. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 10:38, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

You might also check the Lorelle on WordPress blog. In the sidebar, you'll find a link to Lorelle's resource list, which includes lots of potential help for newcomers. OtherDave (talk) 17:06, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Computational Analysis and Modelling in Embedded Mobile Technology

I want some books on the subject topic for my PhD. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.225.97.66 (talk) 10:41, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm sorry, we don't sell books here :-) Let's be honest, have you tried your university's library? 84.13.111.160 (talk) 13:23, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

You might want to try Interlibrary loan at your college library, Wikibooks, Google and so on. Please let us know if you would like further assistance. Kushal (talk) 13:37, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Dare I suggest that if you are having trouble finding books for your PhD you might want to schedule a meeting with your local librarian reference desk. They can show you how to use your library catalog and other university tools to find what you are looking for. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 21:17, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

You can even check the reference sections on some of our related articles. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 00:48, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

3G phones running J2ME

I am looking to get a 3G phone that runs J2ME. (Actually, I might be open to Windows Mobile OS, except for my generally low opinion of Microsoft products. Is Windows Mobile OS as good as J2ME?) I am in the United States, so the phone has to be supported by a US telecoms company with a 3G network. However, I also want to be able to use the phone in other countries, such as Canada and the UK, so I'd like to be able to replace the SIM card with a prepaid card purchased in the country where I will be using the phone (to avoid high roaming charges from my US provider). Can anyone recommend phones (and telecom providers) that meet my criteria? Thank you. Marco polo (talk) 16:41, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

windows live hotmail

I've got problems with the above - it sticks at the 'loading screen' and displays the message 'taking too long? try the classic version'. If I do that works, but the old version is %$%^$%^-cked too..

The classic version (which used to work)

• fails to update automatically after deleting stuff etc, or sometimes fails to repsond.
• Formatting is $%^$%^$cked up. the main display box is half the size and moves around, the table of contents is bigger than it is supposed to be.

Basically it doesn't work

Both versions used to work - so what's going on? Anyone know?87.102.45.156 (talk) 16:46, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

It's because Bill has quit. Everything is going downhill at Microsoft now.--ChokinBako (talk) 00:16, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Givnan's comment aside, it's likely something to do with your browser. Do you have Java Script disabled? Do you have any addons? Are you using IE or Firefox or something else? Try switching browsers. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 00:45, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

First of all - everything else works...ie The Web (sometimes I have to enable activeX or something - but when that happens everything goes smoothly.. (I think)

How do I disable/enable javascript - or even check if it't there.

IE = browser

Addons - the list generated is large - but consists of MS,virus program, and adobe stuff.

(I haven't got a browser installed right now to switch to - I could try that... but as I said - everything worked fine before with the same set up???)87.102.45.156 (talk) 03:07, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

I would suggest running the windows updates. Microsoft may have implemented new code on their website breaking it for those who had older browsers. You could give Firefox a try, if your willing to experiment. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 04:42, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

No updataes required apparently. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.102.45.156 (talk) 13:35, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

I tried firefox - although the behaviour is slightly the different the same problems exist - doesn't update the screen , box size formatting changes for no reason etc. no improvement really...87.102.45.156 (talk) 13:41, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

tagging or categorizing files under Windows

I would like a method that I can use to apply multiple tags or categories to files on my computer. I need to able to mark any file with more than one category, much like a wikipedia article, for the purposes of finding and organizing info in many different file formats. Any ideas? ike9898 (talk) 17:28, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Nothing built into Windows will let you do this (that I'm aware of...). I'll do some searching for third-party software and get back to you. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 22:59, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Here are some ideas that may be totally inappropriate for your needs:

• Dump all the files in one folder and put the tags in the filenames (perhaps surrounded by square or curly brackets), then use Explorer's search feature or command-line wildcards to find files with a particular tag or group of tags. It sounds silly but may be the most convenient option.
• Create a directory for each tag and use hard links to put the same file in more than one directory. This shell extension might be helpful.

-- BenRG (talk) 23:14, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

I can't find anything better. I know Google desktop offers a very good search tool for your home computer. It even lets you search the contents of documents. Maybe that would be of help? Otherwise, you might just use a "tree" approach with sub-folders and whatnot. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 00:27, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

The big problem with the "tree" is that I can't put the same file on two branches at once. Well I could put separate copies on separate branches, but that doesn't really work for my purposes. I need to be able to modify the files, and having multiple copies would make it difficult to maintain. ike9898 (talk) 17:15, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

BTW, I'm no programmer, but the capability that I'm asking for doesn't seem terribly complicated, and seems like it would be useful to lots of people. ike9898 (talk) 17:20, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Isnt' this something they were working on for vista, but then tanked? ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 00:28, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, WinFS. They've been working on it since forever. -- BenRG (talk) 01:01, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

They plan on releasing it alongside Duke Nukem Forever. --mboverload@ 01:08, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

You could run MediaWiki on your computer, and use it to link to files located (where-ever) - on your local PC, on the intra-net, inter-net, etc... The actual file locations wouldn't reflect your categorization scheme. This will separate content from meta-information, and also allow you to use the familiar mediawiki interface and built-in Categories utilities. Nimur (talk) 17:08, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

I considered that once. What I learned about setting up MediaWiki on a personal PC made it seem like a daunting task. Do you have any opinion on how difficult this would be? ike9898 (talk) 19:19, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

I have set up MediaWiki on many computers, including "desktop"/"laptop" workstations running Windows. There are helpful instructions, such as the official manual, and you can check the internet as well. Depending on your technical savvy, you can take a lot of shortcuts/variations, or you can blindly follow the instruction manual. It is a worthwhile exercise; you may find a private MediaWiki with its built-in history, searching/categorization, etc, useful for a variety of tasks from leaving yourself notes to writing and versioning your homework assignments. Nimur (talk) 21:37, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

There is something like this in Windows XP, at least, in Windows XP Professional. The "Keywords" in the Summary pane of the properties of a file is supposed to work like this. I believe Windows 2000 had it, and I'm pretty sure Windows 2003 has it, too. Of course, off the bat, I don't know of anything besides Windows Explorer's normal view that can really use this information. Even Find/Search doesn't seem to know about it. It's implemented using Alternate Data Streams (ADS) on NTFS systems, so Streams from the Sysinternals Suite would be able to tell you some information about files tagged this way. jdstroy (talk) 23:30, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

help with JS

Sigh...I was toying around with JavaScript (a language I used to sorta know) one day and this didn't work.

     var 1 = "today is the first day of band camp and i am not going for various reasons";
     var 2 = "band takes up wayyyy too much of my time";
     var 3 = "surprisingly, i did not get hit with 50 phone calls";
     alert(1+" "+2+" "+3);

Can anyone help me?

Variable names cannot start with numerals in Javascript (or most other languages). Change it to a, b, and c and it should work fine. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 21:15, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

(Just as a note, you can see the absurdity of naming variables numerals in this case by asking how your Javascript program would distinguish between 1+2+3 as numbers and as variables). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 22:26, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Interpreting MIDI (SMF) Delta Time Values

I am trying to write a MIDI (SMF) Media Player, but is somewhat confused about the delta time values found in SMF's. As I understand it, these values are given in a unit called "tics", and in the MIDI File Header one can read the number of tics per another unit, called "beat" or "quarter note" (is 1 beat = 1 quarter note?). Moreover, reading a Meta Event, one obtains a quantity with the dimension of microseconds per beat, and consequently, I thought,

IntervalInMilliseconds = MicrosecondsPerBeat * IntervalInTicks / TicksPerBeat.

Is this the correct formula to use, or must I - for instance - also consider the so-called "time signature" of the music? --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 22:13, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Your formula correctly calculates the interval in microseconds (not milliseconds) from a certain interval in ticks, assuming there's only one tempo for the entire interval.

Yes, I forgot a factor of 10³ (which is present in my code). --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 17:04, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

The Tempo meta event (which specifies the tempo in terms of microseconds per quarter note) can be used multiple times to change the tempo of playback, so the actual duration of a tick can change depending on the most recent Tempo meta event.

The Time Signature meta event is used to group the beats into measures, but doesn't affect the duration of a tick. --Bavi H (talk) 01:40, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Thank you very much! That was precisely what I wanted to hear! --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 17:04, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Something taking up a bunch of space on my harddrive

I just got a brand new laptop, it's a Sony Vaio with Vista Home Premium. I don't use it much and have added nothing to it besides a few programs. I've noticed something peculiar though: my amount of free space drops about a GB every day and has been doing so for a week or two, despite the fact that in that time I have not added even one file. To the right is an image I just made. On the left: I double clicked my harddrive > select all > right click > properties. On the right: right click harddrive > properties. In Folder Options, it says I have it set to view hidden files. I go to Disk Cleanup and even with every option selected, it can only free up about 3GB of space. A friend suggested that maybe my page file is increasing every day. What's taking up all this space? Thanks for your help. NIRVANA2764 (talk) 22:41, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

Even with "show hidden files and folders" selected Explorer may not show everything; at least on XP you have to also uncheck "hide protected operating system files". Among the protected operating system files are \RECYCLER (Recycle Bin) and \System Volume Information (System Restore), either of which could be taking up lots of space. -- BenRG (talk) 23:25, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

This tool, called WinDirStat, is great for "visualizing" where your disk space has gone. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 00:31, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

It must be the \System Volume Information folder (where System Restore saves its restore points). The folder typically is only accessible by the system, and that's why if you have the display of hidden and system files on, it may not show the true size of the folder. That is the only thing I can think of that might be grabbing your disk space continuously. And it turned out you cannot purge the restore points with Disk Cleanup tool in Vista; you can limit the amount of disk space it is using though.  ARTYOM  03:20, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

J.smith, you recommended WinDirStat. I downloaded it, and it says a completely different number than my Local Disk (C:) Properties window does. Have a look at this screenshot I just took: http://i33.tinypic.com/1pi7wy.jpg Also note that the amount of free space on my harddrive has dropped by 1GB since my first posting, mere hours ago (nothing has been added to the computer besides the WinDirStat program itself). NIRVANA2764 (talk) 06:51, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

You could have a rootkit infecting your PC and hiding big files from the standard file finder system call. Astronaut (talk) 13:29, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Does your computer have any kind of backup software installed from Sony? Uninstall it --mboverload@ 20:56, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Is a PCI adapter the same as a network adapter?

I have been advised that the network adapter in my desktop PC is dead, and I would like to replace it myself. I cannot connect to my DSL connection through the desktop PC, and it will not allow my laptop to establish a wireless network connection either. I need to know what to look for at the store. Is a gigabit PCI adapter for ethernet the same thing as a network adapter? If not, what exactly do I need to buy? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Elarbol9 (talk • contribs) 23:53, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

• PCI is a type of internal interface within your computer. A network adapter, like the one your talking about, will plug into a PCI slot on your motherboard. If your not familiar with the inner workings of your computer, you may want to pay a professional (or knowledgeable amateur) to install it for you. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 00:39, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

• Are you sure the problem is your desktop? You say that neither the desktop or the laptop can connect, which suggests a problem somewhere else. At any rate, you almost certainly do want a PCI card for a desktop machine. You can choose either Ethernet (wired) or Wi-Fi (wireless). -- BenRG (talk) 01:06, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

August 12

What's happening with my mouse?

On my iBook, if I put one finger on my mousepad and then move another finger over it extremely closely (but not actually touching), the pointer moves (erraticaly), even though the moving finger is not actually touching it. What is it picking up? It works if I use two hands, too. (You can tell I have a lot of free time at work!)--ChokinBako (talk) 00:13, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Touchpad has some details on how your touchpad works. Basically, it doesn't understand how to deal with two inputs at a time so causing it to freak out. :~) ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 00:41, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Some touchpads are more sensitive than others (I think you can adjust that), and that causes some to react to a finger that is not actually touching it. I had the same on my older laptop. But I never had any issues because of that... Maybe because I was mostly using an external mouse :)  ARTYOM  03:14, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

A mac is generally able to cope with two fingers, hence the two fingered scroll and right click functions. Maybe to do with ambiguity as to whether there are one or two fingers on it?84.13.79.246 (talk) 15:08, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Another interesting thing to do, is to put two or more drops of water on your touch pad, the same type of thing will happen. Mac Davis (talk) 04:15, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

No, this is a bug. Buy a Windows PC. :) jdstroy (talk) 22:26, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Odd output of a C++ program

So, I have been dabbling in C++ a bit lately and have written a program to check if one number is wholly divisible by another. Here is the source code:

#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
   system("title Divisibility Check");
   for( int x = 1; x < 2; x)
   
   {
        float a;
        int b;
        int m;
        cout << "Check to see if a is divisible by b." << endl;
        cout << "Please enter a." << endl;
        cin >> a;
        cout << "Please enter b." << endl;
        cin >> m;
        b = int(a)/m;
        
        if ( a/m != b)
        {
             cout << endl << a << " is not divisible by " << m << "." << endl << endl;
        }
        
        else if ( b = a/m )
        {
             cout << endl << a << " is divisible by " << m << "." << endl << endl;
        }
        else
        {
             cout << "Sorry, that input is not valid." << endl;
        }
   }
   system("pause");
   return 0;
}

After compilation, when the program is run, this is what it says:

Check to see if a is divisible by b.
Please enter a.
<Then you enter a number here.>
Please enter b.
<Then you enter another number here.>

If I enter anything other than a number, the program freaks out and starts to reiterate the previous output in an infinite loop. I realize that a letter is not of type float or int, but why will this not just direct the program to the else loop? How can I fix this behavior? Thanks, Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 02:15, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

for( int x = 1; x < 2; x)

Should this perhaps be "for( int x = 1; x < 2; x++)"? Otherwise the condition x < 2 will always be true. Gyroggearloose (talk) 02:31, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

No, I want it to be perpetually true. This way, multiple divisibility checks can be preformed without repeatedly restarting the program. If I wanted it only to run once, I would omit the for loop entirely. Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 02:39, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

What you are seeing is normal. It is a bad practice to scan the input buffer and expect it to be a number. To be general to the point of not being exactly correct... you have something like "10\n" in the input buffer. The \n signifies that you hit the enter key. You ask for a number. You get a 10 and it clears the trailing enter key. Now, you do it again with "hello\n". It doesn't see a number, so it leaves the buffer there. Then, it looks again. No number still. It looks again. Still no number. It looks again. Still no number. If this was a buffer that changed over time, it may turn into a number at some point, but the keyboard buffer doesn't change until you flush it in some way.

OK - that is a pain. What are you supposed to do? Make a temporary string/char* variable. Scan the input into that variable. Then convert the string to a number (if possible) or tell the user that the number keys are above the letter keys. -- kainaw™ 02:50, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Ahh, too true. I looked at it too early in the morning I guess :)

BTW, "else if ( b = a/m )" should probably be "else if ( b == a/m )" or else b gets assigned the result of a/m instead of being compared to it. Gyroggearloose (talk) 03:05, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

There are also the iostream ignore() methods, which allow you to clear the "keyboard" buffer if it contains things that you don't want. It's a shame that these routines are not usually included early on in courses or books on the subject; in my early C++ programs I knew only how to abort the program whenever something bad was entered! You can test whether something bad was entered with if(!cin) /*...*/; I exited the program there, but you can use ignore() instead. --Tardis (talk) 15:33, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

If you want something to loop forever, just say while(true) /*...*/. And if you really want a for loop, you can leave out expressions entirely and write for(int x=1;x<2;) or even for(int x=1;;). --Tardis (talk) 15:35, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Or, you can be super cool with something like: define forever=true; and then in your code use for(ever;;).... -- kainaw™ 15:40, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Well, hang on anyway. Even with the typo corrected, look at this:

        if ( b != a/m)
        {
             action1;
        }
        
        else if ( b == a/m )
        {
             action2;
        }
        else
        {
             action3;
        }

There's no way action3 gets executed. Either b != a/m or b == a/m; there's not a third choice. (See law of the excluded middle.) If you get to that first "else", you know for certain that b == a/m. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 03:17, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Surprisingly, in some contexts (though I doubt it here) it would be possible for the third branch to be taken; for instance, IEEE extended precision can cause a conditional to have one value and then invisibly change to another value when one of the operands got rounded down to double precision. Not to mention things like NaN… --Tardis (talk) 15:33, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

It's not your question, but your variable types and names and logic are somewhere between iffy and wrong. You prompt for b and then read in m, which just confuses the reader. You read a as a float, but then calculate b from int(a); I suppose it's true that no non-integer is divisible by any integer, but it's still bizarre. Finally, although I haven't found a counterexample for operations this simple, it's in general a bad idea to test for equality with floating-point numbers; for example, often 0.1*0.1!=0.01. (See also my above comment about surprises in floating-point comparisons.) What you want is just integers and the modulo operation. --Tardis (talk) 15:33, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

One minor point : You picked a very confusing way to do a while(true) loop. Using a for loop where you intend an infinite loop makes it look as though you've made an error. APL (talk) 15:20, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Ok, upon all of your suggestions I have refined my program.

#include <cstdlib>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
   system("title Divisibility Check");
   while(true)
   
   {
        int a;
        int b;
        cout << "Check to see if a is divisible by b." << endl;
        cout << "Please enter a." << endl;
        cin >> a;
        cout << "Please enter b." << endl;
        cin >> b;
        
        if ( a % b != 0 )
        {
             cout << endl << a << " is not divisible by " << b << "." << endl << endl;
        }
        
        else if ( a % b == 0 )
        {
             cout << endl << a << " is divisible by " << b << "." << endl << endl;
        }
        else
        {
             cout << "Sorry, that input is not valid." << endl;
        }
   }
   system("pause");
   return 0;
}

Is there anything that should be changed about this one? Thanks, Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 18:51, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Yeah. There's no way for the "Sorry that input is not valid" branch to be taken. As above, either (a % b == 0), or (a % b != 0). There's no third choice. And this version will still loop forever on invalid input. cin >> a won't change the value of a if the input isn't an integer; you need to add some error checking. You might say:

      cin >> a;
      if (cin.fail())
      {
         cout << "Sorry, lousy input; enter an integer." << endl;
         continue;
      }

I'm not sure why the system("pause") is there, either. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 21:06, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Capturing MiniDV tapes to a PC

Hello. I am trying to capture my MiniDV tapes to my computer, with the purpose of burning them to a DVD later. I do not want to reduce the quality while capturing, and just capture the whole thing in AVI format. I have heard that the best way to do that is to split the video into pieces, 10 minutes or so each, to avoid one huge one-hour video file weighing about 12 GB. I tried using Pinnacle Studio for this, but it turned out to do a pretty horrible job. When I try to capture the tape by 10-minute fragments (i.e. tell it to stop capturing after 10 minutes), it loses a couple of seconds between the pieces: after one piece is saved and I start capturing the next 10-minute piece, the video starts playing and the capturing begins with a 2-second or so delay. Besides, the video files are not exactly 10 minutes, but are 2-3 seconds over.

Windows Movie Maker seems to be able to do the capturing, but I couldn't find an option to split the output into several pieces, and I don't really think WMM would do a better job than Pinnacle.

Anyway, I was wondering what other program I can use to do the capturing the best way? Thanks,  ARTYOM  03:11, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Would'nt it be easier capturing that one (12 or so GB) file, and then cutting it to pieces? (It would require disk space). -Yyy (talk) 10:57, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, but wouldn't it require more computer performance to capture the whole tape at once? That's what happened to Pinnacle - it just stopped capturing about halfway through the tape and froze. It only unfroze when the tape ended, and it turned out that nothing was captured when Pinnacle was "frozen".

P.S. I have quite a powerful computer, so that shouldn't be the case.  ARTYOM  17:13, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

(SQL) How to count each individual items?

I have this table:

tblLunch
Name	Food
John	Bread
John	Apple
Tom	Bread
Tom	Apple
Tom	Steak
Beth	Bread
Beth	Apple
Beth	Steak
Beth	Beer
Sue	Apple
Albert	Steak

How do I count each individual item and create a table like this.

tblFoods
Name	Bread	Apple	Steak	Beer
John	1	1
Tom		1	1
Beth	1	1	1	1
Sue		1
Albert			1

I don't need the exact codes. I only need some guidance, such as a cookbook entry so I can solve the problem. -- Toytoy (talk) 04:15, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

If you're using Microsoft Access, you would use a crosstab query, making "Name" the row heading (under "Crosstab", in Access 2007) and "Food" the column heading. Add either column to the query again and make it the "Value", and change the "Total" field to "Count". Among database environments the ease of producing a crosstab will vary considerably; you may have to use programming or trick layers of SQL statements into doing it. For MySQL, for example, I found stuff like [3] and [4]. But in Access it's easy. Whiskeydog (talk) 04:31, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

You'll be using "GROUP BY" I should think, and "COUNT" to count entries. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.86.164.115 (talk) 07:34, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

The Crosstab function works like a charm.

• http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/9523/crosstabmc8.gif

TRANSFORM Count(tblLunchOrder.Food) AS FoodOfCount SELECT tblLunchOrder.Name FROM tblLunchOrder GROUP BY tblLunchOrder.Name PIVOT tblLunchOrder.Food;

I have to figure out the much more complex MySQL solution, though. -- Toytoy (talk) 08:38, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

You can get one column using "select Name, count(*) as Bread from tblLunch where Food='bread' group by Name". You can get another column with "select Name, count(*) as Apple from tblLunch where Food='Apple' group by Name". Now, if joined those two, you would get "select Name, Bread, Apple from (select Name, count(*) as Bread from tblLunch where Food='bread' group by Name) a join (select Name, count(*) as Apple from tblLunch where Food='Apple' group by Name) b on a.Name=b.Name". Expand that to every column you need. -- kainaw™ 15:22, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

This is for Microsoft Access:

SELECT tblLunchOrder.Name, SUM(IIF(tblLunchOrder!Food="Apple",1,0)) AS Apple, SUM(IIF(tblLunchOrder!Food="Beer",1,0)) AS Beer, SUM(IIF(tblLunchOrder!Food="Bread",1,0)) AS Bread, SUM(IIF(tblLunchOrder!Food="Steak",1,0)) AS Steak FROM tblLunchOrder GROUP BY tblLunchOrder.Name;

This is for MySQL:

SELECT tblLunchOrder.Name, SUM(IF(tblLunchOrder.Food="Apple",1,0)) AS Apple, SUM(IF(tblLunchOrder.Food="Beer",1,0)) AS Beer, SUM(IF(tblLunchOrder.Food="Bread",1,0)) AS Bread, SUM(IF(tblLunchOrder.Food="Steak",1,0)) AS Steak FROM tblLunchOrder GROUP BY tblLunchOrder.Name;

I wonder why you have to use "IIF" in Access. If you're working on a complex project, this could kill you. -- Toytoy (talk) 23:29, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

You should definitely use the cross-tab query if you are doing it in Access. IIF is extremely slow. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:55, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Auto CAD Like Software For Linux?

I don't know of any free or good autoCAD programs for Linux, unfortunately. One that I have found for Linux don't do 3D either...which is what I need. Let me know if you know some!Mr.K. (talk) 10:34, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

• Qcad or Pythoncad maybe. I have no experience with either, so I do not know how close to AutoCAD they are. Another option is to run autocad using WINE or Virtualbox. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 18:46, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Qcad is unfortunately only 2d. I´ll give pythonCAD a try. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr.K. (talk • contribs) 12:04, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Also give BRL-CAD a try. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.31.94.42 (talk) 17:27, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Firefox 3 for Mac: tabs keep losing focus

My copy of Firefox 3 for Mac is acting up; every so often, tabs keep losing focus when I switch between them using the keyboard (Cmd-Shift-[ & Cmd-Shift-])—the computer will "beep" and refuse to cycle through the tabs further. I have to either click on another tab or press Ctrl-Tab to cycle through tabs properly again.

I've also used the Windows and Linux versions of Firefox (under Windows XP SP2 and Ubuntu 8.04 LTS respectively) and neither of them seem to have this problem at all. The Mac I'm using is a 20-inch iMac with a 2.4GHz "Penryn" Core 2 Duo processor, running Mac OS X "Leopard" v10.5.2.

This bug is driving me up the wall; any suggestions on how to fix it? Google has failed me. (And before anyone suggests "use Safari", I'd rather not, except as a last resort; Safari's a little too basic for my tastes.) --CalusReyma (talk) 12:18, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

File a bug report and use Opera until they fix it... :P -59.95.110.65 (talk) 07:23, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Can I suggest you to file a bug report and use Exposé (Mac OS X) till then (I believe the default is the <type>F10</type> key). By the way, I believe Leopard is now up to 10.5.4. Any reason for not upgrading? Kushal (talk) 15:30, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Hmm... the problem appears to have been fixed in the latest Minefield builds, so I guess I'll just have to wait until Firefox 3.1 comes out and use Minefield in the meantime.

Oh, and Kushal, I haven't upgraded to 10.5.4 yet simply because I haven't got around to it; I need to back up my data first, lest something goes awry with the update. Better safe than sorry, after all... --CalusReyma (talk) 11:08, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Merging HTML documents

What's the easiest way to merge a whole bunch of HTML documents? The ideal program would combine the contents of the BODY and STYLE tags, merge all classes that had the same name and same style rules, rename all classes that had duplicate names and different style rules, rename all duplicate IDs and NAMEs, and consolidate the image folders. I can use either Windows XP Pro or Kubuntu Hardy Heron, but I have no budget. NeonMerlin 14:45, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Installing Windows XP without CD-rom

I don´t have a CDROM on my laptop, and I am trying to install Windows XP on it. I´ve made a partition with GParted, formated it using a boot diskette with Windows 98 and copied all installation files into a second partition. I am able to access both partitions and start the installation, but after I have copied all files and need to reboot the computer, I keep receiving a message "file abc is missing". What went wrong? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr.K. (talk • contribs) 17:23, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

There is no way, buy an external CD Drive and do it that way. Rgoodermote^{Not an admin}  00:40, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Of course there's a way. PXE/network boot. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.215.72.168 (talk) 07:24, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

VirtualBox? :P ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 18:41, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Done this before; you do need to copy all files from the CD. I was able to do it, and I was even able to convert the FAT32 partition to a NTFS partition. As for what you're doing wrong, well, your copy didn't include everything if you were able to run setup and it fails with this message. Did you run winnt.exe to start setup? jdstroy (talk) 22:13, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

CPU

What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a 64 bit CPU (such as the Turion 64 which is built with the x86-64 instruction set) which is able to execute the x86 instruction set as compared to having a 32 bit x86 CPU? How will speed and compatibility vary? Thanks, Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 19:04, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

See 64-bit#32 vs 64_bit. -- kainaw™ 19:15, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

That whole section looks like a mess of unsourced opinion and original research to me. I'm inclined to delete most or all of it. Here's my own unsourced opinion and original research: there's no disadvantage (aside from price) to getting an x86-64 CPU, since it will run x86 software just fine. If you actually want to use the 64-bit features you'll have to switch to a 64-bit OS, which will involve the usual OS-switching headaches. A 64-bit version of a program may be faster or slower than a 32-bit version. Going from 32 bits to 64 bits tends to make things slower, because all those 64-bit pointers have to be stored somewhere and RAM doesn't suddenly double in speed. However x86-64 has far more CPU registers than x86, which I think significantly improves performance. (This has nothing to do with being 64-bit as such, it's just a difference between the instruction sets.) Applications for which 64-bit arithmetic is a bottleneck will also benefit, but I think those are relatively rare. -- BenRG (talk) 23:55, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

parasite eve one

was parasite eve one ever released in england on the playstation one 217.171.129.77 (talk) 19:40, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Wrong place but I shall answer. No it was never released in Europe. Rgoodermote^{Not an admin}  00:36, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Default Font-Size on a Macintosh?

Hello - So I recently have been going nuts trying to figure out why this one web design project wouldn't display correctly on one of my co-workers' computers. I finally figured it out; he uses a Macintosh, and the default font size in both Firefox 3 and Safari seems to have been set to 12 px/pt. This is actually a big deal when you're designing with relative units (as I was).

So my question is: how common is this? Would anyone using a Mac be willing to check for me what their default font size is set to? (You can do so on Firefox 3 by going to Firefox -> Preferences; it's under the Content tab. In Safari, it's Safari->Preferences, under the Appearance tab. I have no clue how to find this out in IE for the Mac). Please let me know. It seems like a small thing, but it's actually a, uh, relatively big deal when you're trying to design accessible websites. Thanks! --Brasswatchman (talk) 22:54, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

On my Mac the standard font is Times 16 and fixed-width is Courier 13. To the best of my recollection I never changed that, so it may be "factory setting". I use Mac OS X 10.4.11. PS: Safari... --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 23:21, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Both Safari and Firefox on my Mac have Times 16 and Courier 13 as the default size. Jkasd 00:02, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Why is it a big deal? Just set the default font size for your page in the BODY tag, and then everything will be relative to that. It won't keep people from resizing or decreasing the size if they need to. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 00:36, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Trick is, I'm not sure if that's true. I had some trouble resizing with a default font size set in IE 6. (Which, argh, yes, I still have to support, unfortunately). So I'm going to have to figure out something else. Anyway, thanks, everyone. Really appreciate the help. --Brasswatchman (talk) 13:13, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Well, IE6 is IE6. There's only so much back-bending you can do. Personally I would assume—perhaps erroneously, but who knows—that if someone is currently on the web and needs the easy capability to enlarge site content, that they have switched from IE6 long ago, because it utterly fails at this in many instances with CSS. That is, yours would not be the first site they'd come across that wouldn't support that, with IE6. (I often use the "first site" rule myself to determine whether it is worth bending over backwards to cater to specific, non-fatal browser deficiencies.) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:49, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Use EMs, not pixels. 24.76.161.28 (talk) 07:29, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

August 13

ls/dir command in C

How does one do a directory search in GNU C? I can't figure out for the life of me how to do it, and online documentation is simply horrendous. Magog the Ogre (talk) 00:22, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

See this example. -- kainaw™ 00:24, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

The easiest way to get the most powerful result is to use the Unix philosophy: use find and read its input with popen() or similar. --Sean 01:13, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

And instead of writing output with puts, putchar, and printf, you could system("echo")! Running external commands to avoid reinventing complex functionality is a good idea, but readdir isn't that complex. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 04:58, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Moreover, relying on the formatting of the output of external programs makes for fragile and unportable programs. The behaviour of readdir is specified by POSIX; the output format of programs like find and ls isn't, and can vary remarkably between platforms and revisions. For example, the (unaliased) ls -l format varies between a RHEL3 machine and a current Ubuntu one (and they're both using versions of ls from GNU fileutils/coreutils, albeit several years apart). Unfortunately the "unix philosphy" breaks down in the face of the (often pointless) diversity of details and options for command line programs. I've so often seen how, perhaps contrary to how one might expect, C language source code turns out to be more portable (with fewer annoying checks for "if we're running on x then y") across *nix versions and variants than an equivalent shell script. Doris the Nymph (talk) 11:18, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Actually POSIX does specify some strict output formats now. Even for ls -l, historically intended only for human consumption (see <http://www.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/009695399/utilities/ls.html#tag_04_81_10>). Good news for shell script writers. Still, C programmers should use readdir(), scandir(), glob(), ftw() rather than popen()ing ls and find. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 20:05, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

I have to point out, though, that none of the functions you just mentioned are part of the C standard, and programs using them will probably only be portable to Unixy environments. Visual C++ doesn't have readdir() or scandir() or glob() to my knowledge, though it does have popen(). There's no portable way to read the contents of a directory in C. -- BenRG (talk) 00:02, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Magic Memory Optimizer

< Question removed due to the high likelihood of that this being an advertisement. Diff > --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:39, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Working with stupid Vista

Since it first came out, I've enjoyed Rollercoaster Tycoon and its expansion packs, so I'm just now trying to install it on my relatively new Vista-equipped HP laptop, which has only one user account, an administrator account of course. The original works fine, but the other CD (both expansions, Corkscrew Follies and Loopy Landscapes, together) gives me an "Access Denied" message because there's some sort of error. Looking online, I find that there are other people complaining on various online forums about the same problem, but others who get it to work fine. I've had other problems with the computer not always treating me like the administrator, and I'm wondering if this is a factor in the Loopy Landscapes access problem. Any ideas on what I can do to get around the administrator thing, so that it lets me perform administrator duties without holding me up like this? Nyttend (talk) 04:30, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

My only suggestion is trying to run it in compatibility mode while using an administrator account. If you do not know how to get into Compatibility you need to right click over the .exe file in the CD used for installing and go to the bottom and click properties and look for one for compatibility. Change it to XP. To get to the CD you go to (this is assuming your Disc drive is Drive F but it should be obvious if the CD is in) my computer and right click over drive f and click on browse or something of that nature. Running it as XP should work and make sure to log in as an admin...also..you may want to turn off M$ security settings. Rgoodermote^{Not an admin}  06:41, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Still doesn't work: I made Setup.exe for the original RCT work as if it were in XP, made the original RCT work as if it were in XP (program worked fine), made Setup.exe for the expansions work as if were in XP, made the expension work as if it were in XP, but it still gave me the same access problem bit and failed to open. Can you tell me how to turn off "M$" security settings, and explain what M$ means? Nyttend (talk) 16:28, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

M$ = MS = Microsoft. Term used by Mac users, Linux users, and other similar groups of noobs =)--mboverload@ 17:49, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Only the annoying ones. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 02:30, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

P.S. I gotta agree with you on that. Even the noob part..would have been better if spelled n00b though. =). Also..looked this up because I too have this problem..it is Vista. Rob^{Not an admin}  02:27, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

If it's the game not running properly, try running it with elevated permissions: r-click the shortcut, click 'run as administrator'. If it's the installer for the expansion packs, find setup.exe on the disc and run that as administrator. If you installed the game to C:\Program Files, try uninstalling the game, creating a new folder like C:\Games, and reinstalling it there (backup your saves, obviously). For compatibility mode on a game that old; I'd set it to NT4 or perhaps 2000, rather than XP - I know this works for Homeworld. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 18:32, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

You might want to disable the User Account Control for a while and see if that helps. That can be done from Control Panel -> User Accounts. I wasn't able, for example, to install one of the drivers (an MSI package, not an executable file) when it was on (the setup wizard was telling me to log in as an administrator, although I am one!)  ARTYOM  19:16, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

I've disabled User Account Control and set both the install and the program itself — both for the original version (which still works fine) and for the expansions — to work on 98/ME (we never had Windows 2000 or NT, but it worked for us fine on ME), but all it does is give me the same error message as before. Should I just give up? Nyttend (talk) 23:46, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

When exactly does it give you the error? When you double click on the setup file, or somewhere through the installation process? Also, you said you were trying to install this stuff from a CD, right?  ARTYOM  01:08, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

No, setup and installation both seem to work fine: it's when I actually open the program that I get a message. And yes, I'm working this from the original CD. Nyttend (talk) 01:32, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Okay. When you right click on the program's executable file and go to properties, do you have a Security tab in there? If so, go to it, locate your username in the top list, and see if all permissions in the bottom list are set to "Allow". The only time I was ever getting an "Access denied" error trying to open a file was when my user account didn't have permissions to open it.  ARTYOM  01:42, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Problems about Decompiler Flash

I recently plan on converting flash format by Decompiler Flash. I'm new at flash decompiler, i can export data, but i dont know how to replace image. Thanks for any help —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pdonbuff (talk • contribs) 06:33, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

You may first add flash file to resources list. Then select the images of flash files you want to edit, click the button "Replace Image", after that browse a image to replace current one at the replace image window, at last check the "OK" button to confirm the change. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lsonfey (talk • contribs) 06:45, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Note to readers: this question was almost certainly planted by a spammer trying to stir up interest in this product. (See my comments under #I have Memory Improve Professional, but I don't know how to use its "smart list". below.) Don't bother checking it out; it must suck hard if this is the only way it can get attention. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 04:21, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

My recommendation would be to get Flash Decompiler Trillix, instead. I've never heard of "Flash Decompiler Gold." It's probably a horrible program.--67.166.55.248 (talk) 04:46, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

about Digital Audio Editor

Can Digital Audio Editor split mp3 files into desired size? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rick well (talk • contribs) 07:39, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

The product page doesn't mention anything to that end, have you checked the help file that came with the program? — QuantumEleven 14:59, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

You may want to consider the (free) program SoX (with LAME) for this purpose. -- KathrynLybarger (talk) 00:26, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

This program can split the music file and combine into new one. Maybe you can follow the user manual and konw how to split the music. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Yorkking (talk • contribs) 07:19, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Spam alert! Add Rick well and Yorkking to the list (along with Greenlanop, Crystal AB, Lsonfey, and Pdonbuff) of spammers pretending to ask each other questions on the refdesks to create the false impression that their software actually has users! See the sections #Problems about Decompiler Flash and #I have Memory Improve Professional, but I don't know how to use its "smart list". Check the WHOIS. "Jun Tang", the registrant of decompileflash.com, is the billing contact for audioeditor.us. Caught you again, spamming bastard! I'm sure you've got plenty more stupid products to spam us about, but you're not smart enough to make your fake questions look real, especially now that I'm onto your M.O. So why don't you just give up? --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 07:45, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

That really is a nifty scheme. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 08:14, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

I made an official report at Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets#User:Greenlanop if anyone wants to see what happens. I'm curious myself to see if admins care about this type of thing. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 09:39, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Setting Default Application for File Extension on Mac

How can I set my iBook to open .doc documents in NeoOffice instead of TextEdit, and get it to do it for ALL .doc documents automatically without me having to do each one individually using CTRL-click>open with....>use as default?--ChokinBako (talk) 15:48, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

• (a) Highlight a .doc in the finder. (b) Hit cmd-I, or right-click and choose "Get Info". (c) Where it says "Open with", pick NeoOffice, and hit the "change all" button. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 16:43, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Does law enforcement ever bust all these people doing DDoS attacks?

Does law enforcement ever bust all these people doing DDoS attacks? Basically lots of websites I visit that are on dedicated servers sometimes go down due to DDoS. I also hear about lots of DDoS attacks on other sites I don't go to, as well. Also pretty much every shared website host I've hosted with if it's popular will get regular DDoS attacks. It seems like law enforcement just does nothing except for one time when someone hit yahoo, ebay, and some billionaire companies. Is law enforcement every working to track down these people or does law enforcement just not care? William Ortiz (talk) 16:14, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Americans and Western Europeans who perpetrate DDOS attacks are often caught. I've seen news stories every few months about them getting arrested. Castle Cops caught one a while ago. However, most of the computers that perform DDOS attacks are zombies. And many of the bot operators are in third-world countries that do not care about it. Many of the zombies also "reflect" their packets off of other computers by spoofing their IP addresses. Thus, the computers that a victim's server sees are simply other computers under attack attempting to reply to a victim that never sent a packet. That's why many of the people who get caught are the amateurs who don't know how to hide their tracks, often teenagers.--67.166.55.248 (talk) 16:21, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

According to botnet, several have been shut down by law enforcement. See for example this story, about a 1.5-million strong botnet being used for DDoS-based extortion. Algebraist 16:23, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but I read the infosecurity news every day, and have never seen any people participating in DDoS get in trouble with the law. I believe DDoS's legality is also currently, not certain— albeit not the opinion of a victim. Mac Davis (talk) 04:10, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Hotmail on Thunderbird

What are the settings needed to get Hotmail on Thunderbird, using a Mac?--ChokinBako (talk) 20:52, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

You can't, for the most part. This article talks about the subject a bit. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 21:40, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, you can. It is somewhat complicated - but I do it and it works (albeit on Windows, but that shouldn't make any difference). You'll need an extension. There is information here. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Willnz0 (talk • contribs) 23:09, 13 August 2008 (UTC)

August 14

Wireless network problem

I have a password protected network in my house, through a Belkin G 2.4ghz router. Recently, I bought a dell laptop with vista and have noticed that if I close my laptop and then turn it on again, my network will only have "local" and not internet access. I then have to reset my network adapter to get back online. Is there anyway to fix this?71.212.190.75 (talk) 02:09, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Nothing is actually "broken". Your getting disconnected when your laptop goes into "Standby" mode. You just need to use your WiFi software and reestablish connection. The reason why resetting your adapter works is because it automatically does the reconnect when it's finished resetting. One way to change that behavior is to change your settings to not go into standby mode when you close the lid. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 02:14, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Ok, what should i set it to when the lid is closed? And will that use up more power than standby?71.212.190.75 (talk) 02:53, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

"Do nothing", and yes, it will.

jdstroy (talk) 22:06, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

so, im stuck with either having my computer lose the connenction in stnadby or wasting power?71.212.190.75 (talk) 23:36, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

No, when you come out of standby it will reaquire your network connection automatically. Make sure you are COMPLETELY patched. The Windows Update thing is in the start menu somewhere. 90% sure that will fix it. --mboverload@ 02:20, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

I have all the updates. I think this is some kinf of IP problem, but i have no idea how to fix it.71.212.190.75 (talk) 05:05, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Go to Dell.com and make sure you have the latest chipset+ethernet+wireless drivers. Drivers also fix these kinds of bugs. --mboverload@ 22:41, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

I have Memory Improve Professional, but I don't know how to use its "smart list".

I have Memory Improve Professional, but I don't know how to use its "smart list", can anyone here help me? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Crystal AB (talk • contribs) 03:43, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Anybody else suspect that Greenlanop, Crystal AB, Lsonfey, and Pdonbuff are all the same spammer trying to get free publicity by pretending to be users of the products they are selling? It might be a coincidence that Pdonbuff and Lsonfey just created accounts 36 minutes apart from each other, and one had a question and the other had the answer and those were the only contributions they've made. And it might be a coincidence that decompileflash.com and memoryimproveprofessional.com are in the same /24 (at 209.200.229.222 and 209.200.229.115 respectively). And monkeys might fly out of my butt! --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 04:12, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, that sounds about right to me. Good call. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 10:03, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

I heard that Memory Improve Professional has spyware and viruses that charge gay porn to your credit card, so I wouldn't use it at all if I were you. --Sean 14:33, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Another interweb mystery solved at WP:RD/C! Nimur (talk) 18:50, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Standby makes internet not work

I have a fairly new Vista-powered Dell computer. When it goes into standby mode, the internet stops working altogether, whether plugged in by ethernet cord or wi-fi. The computer has to be restarted completely, meaning that we can't even close the lid. I remember experiencing this on a Windows 98 Dell machine. Is there a solution? Magog the Ogre (talk) 03:50, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Can you give us some details about how your network is configured? What does your computer connect to? Is there a "modem" involved? Is there a switch between your computer and the Internet connection? How about a router?

I'd try to diagnose at which layer the system fails, first. Is it a routing problem, or a TCP/IP stack problem? Can you ping the closest neighbor (router, other computer) to your computer? Do you have an IP address? Can you ping your own computer? jdstroy (talk) 22:22, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

There have been recent patches that fix standby issues. Make sure you are COMPLETELY up to date with Windows Update. Forgot what it's called in Vista but it's in the start menu. --mboverload@ 02:18, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

OK, I can do that, but Windows up date is a pain in the neck; it takes literally days to install on my machine (it was so bad my mother almost returned it, no kidding). Magog the Ogre (talk) 02:43, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Converting portion of a .pdf file to jpeg or other format

I have several .pdf files that each contain a small photograph amongst typewritten forms. The originals were Petitions for Naturalization that had small photographs attached to the bottom. On each file, I want to crop out just the photograph and then convert it to a jpeg or another type of image file. I do not have Photoshop or any other Adobe program other than Adobe Reader. Is there a way to do this with the software I currently have on my PC, which is running Windows XP Home Edition SP-2? Thomprod (talk) 03:51, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

There are two ways you could do it. If you have a version of Reader from the last decade, you should be able to find the selection tool in the toolbar, then highlight the picture and copy-and-paste it into MS Paint. Alternately, if the image fits on a single screen (I'm guessing it does, from the adjective "small"), you can take a screenshot of the Reader window using the key combination "Alt-Print Screen" and copy it into Paint, then crop it as necessary. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 06:16, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Why do people use Linux when Unix is now "free"

Why do many proponents of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software - note Free = speech) prefer Linux over Unix? Unix is also now "Free" with FreeBSD, and many other flavors of Unix released for free. I understand, they're pretty similar, and that Linux was created to be a Unix close, but Unix seems to be the one OS which has been there from the start, and one tested by many, many years, and perfection. So why don't people switch over to Unix? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Legolas52 (talk • contribs) 04:58, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Good question. Frankly, I wonder why Linux ever took off in the first place. They should have just waited a couple of years and then they would have had a much-less buggy 4.4 BSD to use. And in case anyone was planning to bring it up, the GPL is worthless. You could save yourselves the trouble and release your software into the Public Domain. Or better yet, say something like "Here's the source code. Have fun." That way, we wouldn't have to deal with wannabe lawyers like Stallman.--67.166.55.248 (talk) 05:12, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

This might give you an idea... at least in some cases! --Alinnisawest(talk) 06:08, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

This question is as pointless as, "Why do people use UNIX when Plan 9 from Bell Labs is now "free"?" Rilak (talk) 06:49, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

According to the BSD article, BSD Networking Release 1 (Net/1) was made available under the BSD license in 1989. That's quite a good time ago. 24.76.161.28 (talk) 07:26, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Why do people use Linux when Vista is "cheaper"? --mboverload@ 07:28, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

As a FreeBSD user, and former committer, I am sympathetic to the question. The "short answer" is that there were legal problems associated with the BSD code, which delayed its adoption. Linux gained a foothold during these troubles, and it retained the leading market-share position ever since. (When I started using both, in the mid-1990s, my perception was that Linux was for people who hated Microsoft, and *BSD was for people who loved Unix.) -- Coneslayer (talk) 12:17, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Despite what .248 said above, I think it *is* due to the GPL that it got popular with developers. I personally would be very annoyed if a commercial company took something I had written, closed the source, introduced incompatibilities with my version, and made a ton of money while giving nothing back. I don't believe in the "software should be free for moral reasons" stuff, but from a practical point of view the GPL is a lot more attractive than BSD. --Sean 14:42, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Actually, the GPL is not a contract, so none of the parties to it are bound by it. For valid contract, you need consideration (payment). So, even if you gave it to them, you could still get it back if you wanted. The only thing the GPL does is say what you'd like to have done with it. That's why it's worthless. No one needs the GPL, including Wikipedia, and anyone who goes around quoting the GPL and Stallman is acting out a bizarre tragedy.--67.166.55.248 (talk) 18:26, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

This is pretty completely false. Courts have (finally) ruled that the GPL is legally binding. The naive summary is that without agreeing to the GPL you do not have the right to redistribute GPLed code. (And would therefore be guilty of copyright violation.) If you don't redistribute the code, no one cares if you're bound by it or not. APL (talk) 18:45, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

You can ignore the GPL, but then the code simply reverts back to the copyright default. That is: no distribution under threat of law-based ass kicking. 24.76.161.28 (talk) 01:57, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

websites

How can you create a new website? Philosophia X Known(Philosophia X Known) 06:14, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

--Earthan Philosopher

Well, most websites are written in HTML or some form thereof. There's some excellent books about both HTML and website design; I'd suggest you go to your local library and see what they have to offer. If you know the Dewey Decimal System, they'd likely be located before the 100s. --Alinnisawest(talk) 06:20, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Google used to let you create your own web page free on this site, but it looks like Google has temporarily disabled this utility. Read the link on the page and check back every once in a while until the relaunch service.--El aprendelenguas (talk) 20:57, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Uh, did you read the page? They're terminating Google Pages, because they've moved on to Google Sites, which is similar but more featureful. 24.76.161.28 (talk) 01:28, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Virus

According to an AVG scan, my computer has a virus called "User_Sardaka(1).html". Have you ever seen viruses like this before, which appear to have originated at Wiki, and do you have any idea how it happens?

203.164.190.202 (talk) 13:23, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

That's not the virus name - that's probably the file at which the virus is located at. No idea what virus exists on that file - User:Sardaka doesn't complain for me. x42bn6 Talk Mess 13:36, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Audiobooks on iPods

Just wondering, can someone tell me how fast the "Faster" setting for audiobooks on an iPod actually is? Thanks - 84.203.46.156 (talk) 15:55, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Bug tracking

Hi, I need a way to input and keep track of bugs for a program a friend of mine is working on. I have used a version of Mantis before which was excellent, however I have one limitation that I don't really want to go through all the hassle of setting up a server-side bug tracker on a server I don't actually have. Therefore I was wondering if there are any solutions involving the following:

a) Free hosted bug tracking site (something like sourceforge entered my mind, but that's a bit more general, I literally want to track bugs).

b) Client side bug tracking program

At the end of the day, I can resort to good ol' Notepad but it would be nice to use some kind of organised system. Any thoughts? 81.187.252.174 (talk) 15:57, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Haven't got any personal recommendations but WP does have a list Comparison_of_issue_tracking_systems - X201 (talk) 16:08, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia, NASA, [[[Facebook]] and Mozilla all uses Bugzilla. Other then that I don't know much about how it works or what is required for it. It might be server-side, but I have no clue. If your the only one imputing tickets and mantianing thier status, why not just an excel spreadsheet or something like that? ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 19:55, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

IP

Is it possible to know if a particular IP address is shared IP or not? Otolemur crassicaudatus (talk) 17:34, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Not really. There is no "this is a shared IP" setting. You just do a lookup and see who owns it. If it is an internet service, it is likely a shared IP. -- kainaw™ 17:49, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Do you mean a Dynamic IP, or an IP that multiple computers are sharing at once, through network address translation? (The answer is probably "no" either way, but it's good to know what we're talking about.) -- Coneslayer (talk) 17:58, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

You can get some good hints by doing a whois on the IP address. The Whois will tell you who owns it and from there you can google search the particular ISP. If it's owned, for example, by Comcast then it's -basically- a static IP address of a single cable customer. If it's owned by a small business, school, etc, then everyone in that organization will likely be sharing it. In other cases, it's not necessary clear. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 19:48, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Could do an RBL on lookup on, for example, [5]. This will tell you if the IP is on any email blacklists and why; dynamic IPs are usually on email blacklists. Other types of "shared" IPs might not be. 24.76.161.28 (talk) 01:24, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

DVD problem

I have a couple of favorite standard DVD's that don't bear evidence of major scratching, however, they no longer play properly. It seems like both of them work fine for the first half of the presentation (movie) but when I try to view the later chapters it just freezes and I wind up having to eject the disc. (I have tried them on several different players and computers) Is there any cause for this other than scratching? More importantly, is their there any way to repair the discs? I have been looking at devices that actually "sand" off the outer surface to remove scratches, but I am really not sure scratches are the problem. any suggestions? thanks and cheers, 10draftsdeep (talk) 18:34, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

DVDs can fail for various other reasons. See CD rot (it's not a great article but it has some links). In addition to what's mentioned there, if it's a DVD±R(W), the dye may have faded or diffused. None of these problems are repairable, and they'll just get worse with time. If you can find any DVD-ROM drive that can still read the disc, even very slowly with many retries, rip it and burn a new copy. If it's a commercial disc and it failed through no fault of your own, you might be able to get it replaced (it might have come from a defective batch, for one thing). -- BenRG (talk) 22:04, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice. It is actually a commercial disc that worked great for a few months and then started to fail. I am sure there is litte possibility of free replacement. If the problem is due to scratching (I have others that are scratched) are the "sanding" devices effective for buffing off the top layer and restoring the discs? Thanks again and cheers, 10draftsdeep (talk) 13:58, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, resurfacing devices (we use something called Disc Doctor, I think) do work. We had a bought copy of Finding Nemo that always cut out just before the end; there were no visible scratches, but the repair kit fixed the problem after one go through. It's fixed a number of discs for us with no problems. Matt Deres (talk) 20:08, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

HP LaserJet M1522nf MFP

Dear Wikipedians:

Is it possible to use an HP LaserJet M1522nf MFP as a modem to dial-up BBS's and dialup Internet?

In other words, is there a way of mapping an HP LaserJet M1522nf MFP unit attached to the local network as a modem device under Windows XP?

Thanks.

74.12.37.153 (talk) 21:36, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

You want to use your printer as a modem to connect to the Internet? Unless I am mistaken, network printers only have Ethernet interfaces that may or may not be assessable by the computer, not modems. Rilak (talk) 10:37, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

This is a MFP with integrated fax. Unless HP has some software that allows your PC to see the MFP as a modem, then no. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 11:08, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Modems are extremely cheap nowadays anyway, being an obsolete product. Even if it's doable it's not worth the trouble. --antilived^{T | C | G} 12:25, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

SIP outbound proxy (media relay) software suite

Hi,

Could I get some pointers to software that implements an Outbound Proxy, media relay, or relay stream for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)? I'd prefer open-source licensed software, but that's not required. I'd like to run it on Linux or a Unix variant.

The outbound proxy server should be able to relay the SIP message requests between other SIP agents and its clients, along with RTP audio streams. A client behind a symmetric NAT should be able to connect to it to connect to other SIP agents, and it should relay incoming requests from external SIP agents to contacts registered on it.

If it's any help, a more concrete example of such a SIP relay/proxy would be FreeWorldDialup's NAT outbound proxy (fwdnat2.pulver.com:5060).

(Even if you don't think a particular software suite supports everything that I mentioned, it might be worth noting here anyway. I'm open to ideas, and I'm willing to modifying code to make it work.)

Thanks,

jdstroy (talk) 21:51, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

SIP Express Router, rtpproxy? (I haven't use these things, barely understand what they do, just read the descriptions) --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 23:52, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. I'm looking in to both, but I'm still open to suggestions. jdstroy (talk) 01:30, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

how to create a new page

I have figured out out to edit pages but I really want to create a new page. I've read hella tutorials on how to do it but can someone please send me a link to like a text box where I can get started and uploadDylanlittle (talk) 23:05, 14 August 2008 (UTC)dylan little

Just visit any page which doesn't exist yet - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_non-existent_page, for example. There'll be a tab at the top which says 'create this page'. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 23:36, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

You could also try the Wikipedia:Article wizard. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 11:05, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Does such a computer exist?

Is there a basic computer/device that serves only as a digital notepad? 66.53.219.38 (talk) 23:51, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

Have you looked in to Electronic paper? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jdstroy (talk • contribs) 01:32, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

And you could of course choose to use any PDA as such a device. One could also develop an appropriate software for the task (if one does not like the apps supplied with the OS). --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 08:38, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

I remember in elementary school, my school did not have enough money for a computer for every student so we had these keyboards with a small LCD screen at the top. I forget what they were called, the first part of the name was "alpha". The machines allowed you to type up a text document and when a computer was free, you could upload the text to Microsoft Word.

Edit: they're called Alphasmarts Coolotter88 (talk) 12:41, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Posible answers include :

• CyberPadWrite on a real pad of paper and everything you write down is recorded and can later be downloaded to a PC. (I think there are a couple of competing devices that work in this fashion, but this was the only one I could find.) I've never used one of these so I can't vouch for them.
• Palm Pilot Palm Pilot is a nice simple PDA without the complexity of a WindowsCE device. Of course, Mine is an ancient Palm III, so I can't vouch for modern ones either.
• Tablet PC Most 'complicated' and computer-like of things that could qualify as a "digital notepad". Still, you could set one up to automatically launch "MS Journal", which is a very nice pen&paper simulator. I've got a tablet, it's pretty neat. I use it for browsing the web more than anything, actually. It's a handy way to view "how-to" websites.

Hope this helps.APL (talk) 12:46, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

You could, again, use an AlphaSmart :)  ARTYOM  03:50, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

August 15

C++ and java programming

Hi. I'm a bit new to all this programming thing, and I'm reading about C++ and Java. I read on WIkipedia that C++ is mostly used for applications and system.

My question is then: Can you program a system or large fully funtional programs with java, if yes, is it a good idea to used java for systems of large applications?

Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.239.172.228 (talk) 07:23, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, you can programme a large fully functional programme with Java, but it's not very often done because of the slower speed of Java due to the fact that it runs on a virtual machine. (Yes you can use JNI but you wouldn't be programming in Java if you use that, would you?) --antilived^{T | C | G} 08:48, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

These days, in my experience it's a myth that Java is inherently slow. JIT compilers are the norm; startup takes longer, but once the application runs, it's often not much slower than C++. Unless speed is critical and you're doing massive amounts of calculations, I doesn't really matter. --Tokikake (talk) 13:00, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Also, it depends on the resources in your company. For example your developers might be Java experts in which case the company would be forced to make a decision to write a new large system using Java as the front end, rather than hire C programmers and thereafter teach them the business etc. Of course, your system would most likely comprise some sort of database - these database calls (JDBC) can be made from within java to, for example, stored procedures within the database, so this would eliminate performance restrictions as business rules and functions can be stored and executed in the database code. Sandman30s (talk) 11:44, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

It is difficult to compare. The other reason may be because Java programs generally have more features in them anyway, compared to C+. Vuze is slower than Transmission (BitTorrent client). But why? Because Vuze is Java and Transmission is in C+, or because Vuze does absolutely everything you could possibly want, and even what you would never want?84.13.87.28 (talk) 13:51, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

The primary issue is the need for a native executable. In general, people want programs that just run. They don't want to deal with a virtual machine. You also have issues with the virtual machine upgrading and causing errors in your program. So, C/C++ is commonly used to make a native executable that just runs on whatever operating system it was designed for. There are third-party programs that can turn a Java program into a native executable for Windows, but the end result is rather huge because weird licensing issues require you to bundle every single bit of Java into the executable instead of only including what you need. All in all, if the JIT compilation would allow you to save the executable, Java would be just as fast as C/C++ and be very portable (send the executable to anyone with the same operating system). Sun will not allow that to happen, so Java is stuck in virtual machine hell. -- kainaw™ 16:36, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

See also: JavaOS - an OS written in Java and with the JVM as a fundamental component. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 17:27, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't think it's true that "if the JIT compilation would allow you to save the executable, Java would be just as fast as C/C++". There are other things that slow Java down, like

• Bounds checks on every array access. Some C++ implementations let you turn this on for the standard containers, but usually it's off.
• More dynamic binding (virtual function calls), I think. They're harder to predict and can't be inlined.
• A lot more dynamic type casting and checking, to work around limitations and gaping holes in Java's static type system. C++ has dynamic_cast and typeid, but they aren't often used. The C++ equivalent of casting from Object is casting from void*, which has no runtime cost on most implementations. (It's also unsafe, but we're talking about speed here.)
• All data is heap allocated except for a few magical built-in types. This costs an extra word for the reference, extra instructions to dereference it, and allocation and garbage collection overhead, and it hurts memory locality. It also means Java has a runtime abstraction penalty that doesn't exist in C++. If you declare a variable of type complex<double> in C++ it behaves pretty much like two variables of type double from a code generation perspective, even though complex is not special to the compiler. In Java a class with two double fields is a lot more expensive than two doubles. The only way to get good performance from complex numbers is to make them magical to the compiler or write all the complex arithmetic out by hand. In C++ you can wrap a class to provide a different interface (containment and delegation—can't believe that's a redlink) with no runtime cost. In Java every layer of wrapping creates another heap allocated object and another reference. This kind of wrapping is good programming practice and it's common in both Java and C++.

There are probably also cultural differences that have nothing to do with the languages as such, like

• Java probably attracts more inexperienced programmers who don't notice that they're writing an O(n³) sorting algorithm nor know why that's a bad thing.
• People who are trying to write fast software (and are going to put effort into optimizing it) are more likely to choose C++, making the higher speed a self-fulfilling prophecy.

-- BenRG (talk) 12:46, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Spam

I think my question will be a little light on necessary technical information, but anyway...my organisation tried to switch ISPs. Our domain name was, at some point, incompletely transferred, and there was confusion. In the course of working to solve the problem, basically by trying to reverse the switch and go back to the way everything was...I've been unable to either send email or receive it. I can't send to myself, I can't send to my other (external) email address, I can't receive from my other (external) email address, and I am not receiving from other external addresses. Except spam. Somehow, spam messages are still able to find their way to my address...an address I don't even know where it lives now myself...and into my inbox. How do they do that? If no other email reaches me, how can the spams do it? Thanks if you can provide any insight. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.101.134.43 (talk) 09:09, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

I think the system administrator is the spammer XD -59.95.106.83 (talk) 15:15, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Even if the DNS routing is screwed up, your server has a stable IP address. If you e-mail yourname@192.168.1.1 (with your e-mail server's IP address instead of that one) it should get to you. I've never tried it personally, but it seem to be the most likely possibility. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 18:15, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

You can see what address the spam messages were sent to and try to send an email to that address.  ARTYOM  03:53, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Laptop battery no longer charges

Hello. I have a Lenovo/Thinkpad laptop (purchased new May 2007) running WIndows Vista. Yesterday, without warning or any apparent reason, I noticed that--according to the battery display icon on the right side of the taskbar--my battery is no longer capable of charging. When plugged in, the computer runs fine. When I pull out the power cord, the battery (now at 35%) begins to deplete as it normally would, but when I reinsert the power cord, the battery will begin to charge back up. Any ideas? Thank you very much for your help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.211.242.80 (talk) 11:29, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

For Lenovo Thinkpads, the battery has a "Charge when below x%, charge to y% then stop" function. You can check whether if your computer is always kept at full charge (charge after batter drops below 96%) or if a different scheme is enabled by clicking on the battery in the taskbar and going to the Lenovo power manager, Battery information tab, battery maintenance button. Coolotter88 (talk) 12:37, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Unfortunately I don't think that's the solution, becuase it's set to automatically charge when below 94%, and it's already far below 94%. I didn't change my battery settings at all recently so that's why the situation is so confusing. -- 24.211.242.80 (talk) 12:57, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Your battery may be defective or simply outside of it's useful life. Call the support line for Lenovo (IBM?) and see if it's still under warrenty. Might get lucky and get it replaced for free. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 18:08, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

btw - Lenovo batteries have a 1 year warranty. --mboverload@ 02:13, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

My older laptop used to do that long before the battery went completely dead and unrechargeable. I guess sometimes the batteries just won't charge completely for a while, but will still charge later at some point.  ARTYOM  03:56, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Where I work we deal with a ton of Dell laptops, and their batteries. 30 or so. Three times now the battery failed within a few months of the warranty expiration date. The other 20+ have had their batteries for 2-3 years and are working fine. The article on Lithium-ion battery discusses the life-span a bit. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 04:01, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

How to create my own wikia or wiki

I'm just asking how can I create an wikia with my own content.

Thanks 85.220.107.122 (talk) 12:22, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

You can request one here. the wub "?!" 17:01, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Or, if you want to get a little more control, you can start your own using the same back-end software. Check out the website for mediawiki.org. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 17:28, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

.org domain name changing

We heard that .org domain names can't be switched from an ISP, and then switched elsewhere or switched back, in less than 60 days. Supposedly this is a restriction specifically on .org names. Can anyone confirm this, and explain whose regulation that would be, who enforces it and how, and how an exception could be made? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.101.134.43 (talk) 13:11, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

No special restrictions on .org domains that I'm aware of. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 18:03, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

source code

after hearing that the makers of lost are diong a new arg game on the net i thought id have a go ive spoke to people and they keep saying theres hidden stuff in the websites source code how do i find the source code? i realise this is proberly a stupid question but im stumped —Preceding unsigned comment added by 212.248.225.148 (talk) 13:38, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Every web browser ever made has an option, normally labelled "view source". You have to tell me which web browser you are using before I can tell you specifically which menu item to click on. Of course, if you have trouble finding the "view source" option in your browser, you will never find the easter eggs in the source code of the web page. -- kainaw™ 13:43, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

In both IE and FireFox on XP, it's under the "View" dropdown box. The option is "Page Source" in FF2 and "Source" in IE6. It will be something similar in most other versions of IE/FF. Should be close in Safari and Opera, but I don't have them installed to check. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 18:07, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

linux and windows

hi...i have suse 10 and windows xp installed on my computer...I'm able to access windows file sys in linux but am not able to access linux file sys in windows...is there any way by which i can access the files in linux partition while using windows..

thanking you in advance.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Piyushbehera25 (talk • contribs) 17:07, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

I did a quick google search and you can access ext2/ext3 with diskinternals linux reader.Coolotter88 (talk) 17:24, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

I use Linux Reader to copy files from ext file system to Windows. fs-driver can do both read/write but what I've heard is that you should not write to Linux filesystems using these drivers because they ignore file permissions and can often mess up things. -Abhishek (talk) 18:34, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

There's usually no harm done if you don't touch the root file system though. But I still set my ext2IFS to read-only mode just in case some random virus decides to delete everything on my partitions. --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:51, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Why, windows, WHY?!?!

I have been pestered for a week by a message saying "this version of Windows XP is no longer secure. To get up to date security features, please download the latest service pack" or something along the lines of that. So i finally downloaded it, and i restarted.

Now, i get the Windows XP screen, and then a blank screen after that. i dont know what the problem is, and i cant get into safe mode to do a system recovery. it just stops at the screen with the list of system files.

For the hell of it, with the blank screen up, i typed in my password, thinking maybe it was working but the display was messed up. Sure enough, i heard the startup jingle shortly afterward. So its obviously a display problem.

Ive never encountered something like this. what can i do?the juggresurection ^IstKrieg! 18:30, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

I think the original message was from some Adware/Malware. Can't really help you without sitting down in front of your computer and spending a few hours working on it. Basically, you may need to take your computer to a professional at this point, or, reformat and reinstall everything from scratch. I hope I'm wrong and someone will have an easier fix for you. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 19:42, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

i hope so too, i got alot of music i dont want to lose...if i make it out of this with all my files intact, im gonna back it all up. Please if anyone has a better way, feel free to say something. the juggresurection ^IstKrieg! 19:50, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

This is a longshot, but Do you have one monitor connected to a graphics card equipped for dual monitors? Once I had my computer somehow decide it wanted to output exclusively to the port that nothing was connected to. I forget exactly how I fixed it, but the computer became usable again just by switching the monitor to the other output. APL (talk) 22:46, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

The message appears to be legit. It sounds like a video driver problem, in which case I'm surprised you can't boot into safe mode. Is there any chance you're doing it wrong? APL's suggestion sounds good also. Another thing you can try is to log in, then press Win+R (which opens the Run dialog), then type "cmd" followed by Enter (which opens a command prompt), then press Alt+Enter (which makes the command prompt go full screen, which changes the video mode, which might make the video card come back to life). This trick has actually saved my skin once or twice. -- BenRG (talk) 23:01, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Well, i tried the above technique, and all i get is that system sound similar to if you were in a dialogue box and you tried to click outside the window. —Preceding unsigned comment added by The juggresurection (talk • contribs) 23:21, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Does it give you an error message at the end of the list of files when you try to start in the safe mode? If not, you might just wait a couple of minutes to see if it starts up; I have had situations before when the list of file stayed on the screen for a minute or so before the safe mode actually started.  ARTYOM  04:05, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Nope, it stayed that way for many hours. im gonna end up reinstalling XP here pretty soon, im running out of options. the juggresurection ^ಠ_ಠ 04:20, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Linux message trying to install BRL-CAD

Initializing and backgrounding, please wait...Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". Xlib: extension "GLX" missing on display ":0.0". ogl_open: Can't get an appropriate visual. Done

I don´t know anything about Linux. What should I do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr.K. (talk • contribs) 20:40, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Have you got OpenGL installed? How you do this depends on your type of Linux. For Ubuntu, try sudo apt-get install libgl1-mesa-glx libgl1-mesa-dri . --h2g2bob (talk) 22:25, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

Linux After Puppy Linux

I tried Puppy Linux as my Windows was broken and I loved it. If I want to do some serious work in Linux like BRL-CAD, should I change now for a different version or is this version as good as anyone else? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr.K. (talk • contribs) 20:48, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

A general rule of thumb with your operating system: the larger the user community, the easier to find support and assistance with your problems which will inevitably pop up from time to time. In light of this, I recommend ubuntu linux because it is currently very mainstream with immense technical support and online help available. Nimur (talk) 23:24, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

I like Puppy Linux, but it has some serious limitations. I'd recommend that it's not a great solution for a modern computer who's use will be typical computing tasks. As Nimur said, Ubuntu is a good choice. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 00:53, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

August 16

variable declaration in c++

I don't quite get the difference between variables declared like, char varname; and char *varname; Can someone help? thanks Elfalem (talk) 06:06, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

wikibooks:C++ Programming/Operators/Pointers could be helpful. --212.149.216.13 (talk) 09:50, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

char varname1 means varname1 is a character, while char *varname2 means varname2 is the address of a memory location that contains a character. So varname1 is a character and varname2 is an address, while *varname2 is a character again. This is true for C and C++. 195.35.160.133 (talk) 13:22, 16 August 2008 (UTC) Martin.

See Pointer (computing). "char x" will automatically allocate memory for you until "x" goes out of scope (normally this is at the end of the function). "char *x" won't allocate (or de-allocate) memory - it will expect you to allocate and de-allocate memory using the new and delete keywords (or using malloc and free). The big advantage is that you can just pass the pointer about to all the functions which need to use it, which is normally much smaller than copying whole objects (so is faster and uses less memory). --h2g2bob (talk) 22:56, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Audio Software

My younger sibling has run riot on my computer and deleted the software that I used get sound from my speakers! Is there any free software I can download from the internet so I can listen to music on my computer once again? I usually use windows media player to do so - but I don't know if thats relevant. There is certainly no damage to my speakers or cables unplugged etc. I'm sure I can't get any sound because the audio software has been deleted. Please help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.1.131.23 (talk) 14:40, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Windows Media Player, iTunes or WinAmp are all popular choices. The article on Media player (application software) has a big fat list of them. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 16:58, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

networking

hi...someone recently told me that it is possible to connect 2 computers(or for that matter a whole bunch of computers) using normal telephone wires(RJ 15 cables), without using RJ 45 cables if both the computers have modem...is this possible...if so please give complete details...also he said that digital data can be transferred over our electricity lines...is this possible????????

thanking you in advance... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Piyushbehera25 (talk • contribs) 15:34, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

For your second question, see power line communication — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 15:58, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Yes, it's possible. This site discusses some limited instructions on how to do it. I've never had the need since networking cards are dirt-cheep and exponentially faster. $10 for each card, $20 for a switch. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 16:46, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Use "System Restore". Go to "Start" then "Programs", "Accessories", "Sys Tools" and "Restore". It's so simple anyone can do it. It will resolve most computer failures. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.219.73.159 (talk) 21:12, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Need help copying files to external hard drive

I'm trying to copy all the (copyable) files from a 2nd hard drive on a PC to an external drive. I want the individual files easily accessible when the external drive is plugged into another PC, so backup programs are not necessarily the right solution. I tried drag-and-dropping the files from the source hard drive to the external drive, but the copying aborted when Windows came across an uncopyable file. I also tried XCOPY, with the /C /E /H options specified, but XCOPY crashed half way into the copying process, saying "Insufficient memory". That looks like a bug or limitation of XCOPY. Anyway to copy large number of files in Windows without having the operation aborted by uncopyable files? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.162.242.81 (talk) 17:08, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

• Booting into safe-mode might make the operation more likely a success.
• Do you really want to backup every file on your hard drive? Creating a batch-file to copy over the specific folders you care about will likely avoid the files are are being locked.
• You can boot using a Linux live-CD and copy the files within Linux. Just make sure everything is formatted in NTFS so windows can use it.
• Norton Ghost might be a viable solution. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 18:28, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

misc

I want to hide the taskbar in windows permanently(not autohide)...can this be done using the registry?? also is there any 3rd party software to do this??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Piyushbehera25 (talk • contribs) 18:40, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

It's been awhile since I've done something like this, but I'm pretty sure you can do something like this in your administrator tools, make it so that some users don't have a taskbar. (You do things like this when you are setting up permanent terminals, for example.) Trying looking around in Control Panel -> Administrative Tools about user permissions and things like that. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 20:42, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Well, I don't know about doing it through the registry, but it can be done by moving the cursor to make it double sided (so the size of the taskbar can be changed) and drag it all the way to the bottom of the screen. -- Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 20:44, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

SMS and MMS over dial-up modem?

Can I use a dial-up modem and land line to send SMS and MMS messages to my own phone, e.g. to deliver a ring tone? I don't have the expensive proprietary cable it requires for direct downloading. NeonMerlin 18:59, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Does your phone have Bluetooth? You may not need a proprietary cable if both your phone and your computer support Bluetooth. --71.162.242.81 (talk) 19:15, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

What is the name of the Wiki Globe? Is there an animated one?

What do you call the wikipedia globe?

Can you make an animated (revolving) one?

Please. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 12.219.73.159 (talk) 21:09, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

You can look through various versions of the Wikipedia logo at commons:Category:Wikipedia logos. If there isn't one already, I doubt anyone will be making an animated version any time soon—that would require a tremendous amount of work. (There is already a significant amount of controversy about the characters which are on the side of the globe that we can see, never mind the back.) Please note that the Wikipedia logo is not licensed under a free license like the other content on Wikipedia, so using it elsewhere may be a copyright violation. —Bkell (talk) 21:58, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

I may have spoken too soon—there is a category for animated Wikipedia logos. Perhaps one of those is what you're looking for? —Bkell (talk) 21:59, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Undeleteable Folder on Desktop

This folder is located on my desktop just to let you know my desktop is mapped to "F:\Data\Nathan\Desktop\" and folder is named " " (no sapce) making the path "F:\Data\Nathan\Desktop\ " (reminder: include quotes if in command prompt instruction if used or it won't know the space is part of the path) the folder can't be moved renamed deleted please help me delete it. I can't remember know how I created it. I don't if it matters but i did a bit of rresearch and it turns out i most most likely did i probably did hold alt then 0160 on numpad then release alt when editing the filename to get like that. Xor24 ^{talk to me} 22:50, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

What error do you see when you try and delete it? Folder is in use/bad permissions/something else? Which windows version? --h2g2bob (talk) 23:20, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

Your best bet is probably to boot into safe-mode and log in as the default administrator and delete through command prompt. You may also want to check the permissions on the folder (by right-clicking on it assuming you have Win XP. I don't know about other OS's) and make sure that it isn't protected. (By the way, I can't make a folder with no name. It automatically renames it "New Folder" when I try to enter a blank name.) Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 23:30, 16 August 2008 (UTC)

If the name is really a single space (I'm confused by your "no sapce" comment), and the directory is empty, you can probably remove it by opening a command prompt and typing the following:

       rmdir "\\?\F:\Data\Nathan\Desktop\ "

If the directory is not empty you could try rmdir /s instead of rmdir, but I take no responsibility for lost data if you do. Another possibility is to type

       f:
       cd \Data\Nathan\Desktop
       dir /x

which will list the short names of all the files in that directory. The short name should be typeable even if the full name isn't.

The "\\?\" prefix turns off Win32 pathname parsing and just forwards the raw path on to the NT kernel. One of the things the Win32 pathname parser does is strip off trailing spaces, but the parser is shoddily written and there are various ways to get it to pass otherwise illegal file names to the kernel. For example, typing this at a command prompt:

       echo gotcha > "  :-"

will create a zero-length file in the current directory whose name is " ", which you then won't be able to delete except with a trick like the one above. You can also use this to create a file named "..". I take no responsibility for any damage you might do to your system this way. -- BenRG (talk) 00:01, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Oops, I didn't notice the last bit of your comment. Alt+0160 will produce a non-breaking space, which looks just like an ordinary space. But Windows doesn't give it the same special treatment it gives ordinary space, so I can't understand why you would have trouble renaming it. I just tried renaming a file to that and back and it worked fine. -- BenRG (talk) 00:08, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Not to hi-jack anyone's question, but just as an aside, how does echo gotcha > "  :-" work to create a file? (Not disputing that it does, just wondering how). Ζρς ι'β' ^¡hábleme! 00:12, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

The ">" operator does it, I think. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 01:36, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

The echo gotcha part prints the word "gotcha", and the > redirects it to a file named "  :-". The NTFS filesystem supports alternate streams, so this creates an empty file " ", with a stream named "-". (For example, when a program tries to access file "foo:bar", in reality it's accessing stream "bar" of file "foo".) --grawity 13:06, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Alt + 0160 is Windows' key sequence for entering a non-breaking space. The character looks like a space but is logically a different character. If you try to delete the folder from a Windows command interpreter, using something like

rmdir "F:\Data\Nathan\Desktop\ "

you'll need to type in the last character of the path (before the closing quote) using the special key sequence, otherwise you won't be specifying the correct path. If the folder is not empty, you can manually make it empty first or use the /S option to force deletion. --71.162.242.81 (talk) 15:06, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

August 17

Digital cable =HDTV ??? (a few questions)

My cable company (Comcast) offers both analog and digital cable. What is the relationship between "digital cable" and HDTV? Does it make any sense to pay extra for digital cable and use it with a conventional TV? Will digital cable work with a Tivo Series 2? ike9898 (talk) 00:30, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

I would say Digital cable = more channels, not necessarily High-definition television. 12.169.180.178 (talk) 00:44, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

If the package your getting has high-def, they will be very clear about it. It's the main selling point, after all. If it's just "digital cable" then all your getting is the non-basic package and the ability to use things like On Demand, etc. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 01:38, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Valve Texture File

Is there any program that will let me save regular JPEG or PNG pictures as VTF files? Or some kind of converter to do this? --Randoman412 (talk) 01:55, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

VTFEdit — Matt Eason ^{(Talk &#149; Contribs)} 10:14, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

file transfer by date range

I would like to copy files from MY DOCUMENTS and allsub folders to a USB device My DOCUMENTS folder and subfolders that are within a date range IE (from 8/1/2008 to 9/25/2008). I travel between 2 computers (citys) and would like to keep my files updated by copying the files and folders by date range and update each computer as I travel back and forth using this copying procedure.

Lehcartrebor (talk) 03:36, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

I believe Windows has a feature called "Briefcase" that is designed to do almost exactly this. Take a look at the article and see if it's what you want. For something a bit more critical, you could use a version control system like Subversion. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 04:26, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Custom search engine in Firefox toolbar

A while back I created a simple Google Custom search engine. Then I realized I wanted to be able to use it through the search engine list in Firefox's toolbar, so I found a website that let me enter the URL and an icon and put the desired engine on the list.

Now I've moved to a new computer and want to recreate that engine on my Firefox list, but I can't seem to find that website. Does anyone know where it or a similar site is? --zenohockey (talk) 06:22, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Never mind: I just found this perfect extension. --zenohockey (talk) 06:27, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

DVD drive problem

Whats going on with my DVD drive? Its opening and closing every 20 seconds or so. It won't stop. I've checked the eject button, its definitely not stuck down, and I've run virus checks and they are clear.

Its not been used for weeks and there's no reason why it should suddenly spring into life. It can be fine for a while after I turn the computer on, but once I've got a few programs running it starts again. I don't want to point any fingers but it all seamed to start after I got the latest update for Vista (I know its probably not that but I'm clutching at straws). Any help would be appreciated. 144.137.206.217 (talk) 09:49, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

It could be one of two things - A "Joke" application or your DVD drive may be malfunctioning. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 15:47, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

That's a weird problem. I have no idea what could cause it, but this search turned up some suggestions. -- BenRG (talk) 16:49, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Del.icio.us tags

I have (roughly) a couple of hundred bookmarks on del.icio.us bookmarks, which I mostly use on Firefox. When I added del.icio.us to Safari it imported all my bookmarks from the server but also added a tag of system:unfiled to every single one. This is kind of annoying because now every single bookmark up until I imported to Safari will have that tag. Does anybody know if there is any way to do a mass removal of tags on del.icio.us? Cheers, Joe^Talk_Work 11:35, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

apple vs. pc (just a few (very specific) questions)

Hello Guys,

My current laptop (a dell) has had a good life (4 years) but is now dying on me and needs replacing. I'm really tempted to go with another Dell becuase, well, i like them but i'm quite tempted to try apple as i'll be doing doing some graphic design and they are supposed to be better. My only problems are these:

1)Apple only release new products once a year. For obvious reasons, i'd like to get a new version but apple are being really cagey about when the new ones are going to come out (as, i guess they'll think that buying one now is an option - which its not becuase surely i'll just be ripping myself off?). Does any one know when the new release date is? (i live in the UK btw and have heard rumours that its in september)

2) i'm thinking that the reasons my computer keeps crashing/freezing now is becuase windows is crap -is this fair or do Apple's 'get old' just the same? Am i expecting to much?

3)as i said, i'll be doing some graphic design on it - using adobe in a Mac does seems more intuitive than on a PC but does any one know if the end results are any different? surely its just the same?

4) the wikipedia article on apple paints them as environmental monsters (unlike Dell who i've always admired in this respect). Is this really true? i know greenpeace can over-egg the pudding sometimes but Steve Jobs' response was, well, dissapointing to say the least!

anyway, any advice you guys have would be gratefully recieved.

Thanks,82.22.4.63 (talk) 15:53, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Regarding number 2 - XP is not "crap" by default. However, years of not taking care of it will lead to poor performance. Mac is a bit more resistant to neglect.

Regarding number 3 - Mac is favored by graphics design firms. I don't know why that is, but it's something to consiter if your trying to get into graphics design.

The other thing worth thinking about is this: XP-based systems tend to be cheaper. That means you can usualy get a better computer for your dollar. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 16:25, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

1. Apple is notoriously secretive about release dates.

2. Windows machines "degrade" pretty quickly in terms of the OS getting bogged down with lots of little unnecessary bits that decrease its speed and performance. OS X is better at dealing with that, though not immune. At the end of the day, you'll spend less time per day keeping a Mac up to speed and malware free than you will on a Windows machine. Whether that matters to you much is of course a matter of opinion (and personal confidence in your own abilities to keep a Windows machine malware free).

3. Doesn't matter anymore, if it ever did in recent times. End results are identical and by this point totally compatible with all of the Adobe software, anyway.

4. Don't know. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 17:33, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

"Environmental monsters" isn't completely fair, there is positive stuff in the article [6], like the business about LCD screens. There isn't any comparison made to PC's. A mac seems to get nearly twice the battery power on it's native OSX than XP/Vista using Boot Camp, and the Rockbox alternative ipod firmware doesn't get the same record as the proprietary stuff. 78.150.238.131 (talk) 18:00, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

1. I don't know.
2. It's probably crashing because of something you did. Windows XP is well-designed, and contains many sophisticated error-handling features that OS X lacks. It's much better than Windows 98 or even 2000. But there are a lot of programs written for XP, so if you start installing every program you can find, they will begin conflicting with each other. They also mess with your system settings. XP also supports more types of hardware than OS X. Apple makes most of the hardware you use on a Mac, so there is less potential for hardware issues. I don't know what you mean by "crashing," but it could be due to too many programs running at once. It could also be that you've upgraded to newer applications, but haven't upgraded your hardware. This is a problem regardless of which platform you use. If it's a configuration issue, then you could certainly fix it if you don't mind learning a bit about how XP works. Macs can crash too, especially if your hardware is obsolete. In Windows, you have the hourglass. In Macs, you have the beach ball of death. I'm not a fan of Dell hardware, either. If it's a hardware issue, you might consider getting a Sony, instead. Also remember that if you have a PC and a Mac with identical specs, that PC is going to be faster out of the box. That's before you begin disabling all of the services you don't need on the PC.
3. It depends on your work. Most of the time, it doesn't matter. In the 90s, Macs had a much larger advantage. My movie-maker friend tells me that movies look a little better when they're made on Macs, though. He does work on both machines, but it could be that he uses Final Cut on the Mac, which isn't available on Windows. Macs also handle fonts a little better than PCs, so if you're in publishing, that may be a factor. They support PostScript Type 3 and give you more control over smoothing. Finally, they come with Fire Wire cards, which help when you're unloading large files from cameras, although you can put them into PCs, too.
   --J4n56t (talk) 18:43, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

1. If you are concerned about money, I wouldn't recommend an Apple. They are a bit pricey.

2. Windows is not necessarily crap. It, as other said previously, just degrades quickly over time. If you are vigilant, you can keep a Windows installation running well for years, and can simply reformat and reinstall it if it gets too bad. Mac OSX tends to "break down" less often, but my experience with Mac OSX, though limited, would suggest that if something does go wrong, it can be difficult to diagnose. All operating systems have their advantages and disadvantages. Ease of use is definitely one of Mac's advantages.

3. I have very little experience in the graphical arts world, but I have heard from avid Mac users (since the PowerPC and OS classic days) that they are "better" for graphic design. I have no clue why though.

4. In my opinion, manufacturing and operating a computer is not very environmental. Using a pencil and paper is. I have not heard much about either company stressing any green features of their computers or their methods.

And remember, Linux and other Unix systems are always an option. --Russoc4 (talk) 18:51, 17 August 2008 (UTC)