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January 30

32-bit Vista to 64-bit

I have a 64-bit computer running 32-bit Windows Vista and I want to upgrade to a 64-bit operating system. I won't want to have a large number of problems. (In recent years I have hesitated to upgrade operating systems on a computer because of the problems it brings.) Should I try to upgrade to 64-bit Vista (I'm not sure if the upgrade is still available) or 64-bit Windows 7? Or not even try it? If W7 is the answer, what is the name of the version that will do it? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 00:16, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Well, if you do not like updating frequently I would recommend the W7. But I am running Vista x64 and it works fine too; usually the people who complain about it aren't knowledgeable enough to fix the problems they encounter. If you are not going to pay for it try Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit; the difference between the editions is explained in the article Windows 7 editions. Von Restorff (talk) 00:42, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Of course I'm going to pay for it, but the different versions are confusing as to which will upgrade from Vista. (W7 Home Premium would be the one I want.) I used to always get the latest version of the Operating System, but one time I had such a problem with drivers being out of date that I went back to the old one, and haven't done a major OS upgrade since (but I do all of the updates and service packs.) Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 01:02, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

You probably need to do a clean install, check the chart. I am unable to understand why anyone would want to pay for Windows 7, but that is probably because I am weird, sorry. Are you going to use the computer for a business or at home? If it is not used in a business environment there is no advantage to using a non-pirated version of Windows. Von Restorff (talk) 01:06, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

To do a clean install, would I need the full version or can I use the upgrade version? It is for home use, but I don't steal software. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 01:21, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

It depends on the media you get. Some "upgrade" media can do both. As for your concerns, try the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor, and seek out your computer manufacturer's driver download page, from which you can get a better idea of whether the hardware for your computer is supported by 64-bit versions of Windows or Windows 7. If you can't find such a page, provide the make and model of the computer and someone else can perhaps help you. ¦ Reisio (talk) 02:36, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

You had a good idea with the upgrade advisor. It shows no major problem going to 32-bit W7. A few programs won't like it but I don't need them or there are upgrades available for each. But 64-bit W7, it says:

1. a custom installation is required (is that a clean install?)
2. It says that I need at least 2GB of RAM for optimal performance. I have the max of 2GB installed, but the system shows only 1.9GB. (But that is probably close enough for decent performance.) Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 03:11, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Whoops, both memory slots are occupied, but it can go to 4GB. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 03:16, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

That is indeed a clean install. As long as it doesn't say 2GB is required for install, I think you're good, yeah. The Windows 7 installer does, for example, last I checked, required 20GB just to install (even though it doesn't actually take up this much space). ¦ Reisio (talk) 04:04, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

I've ordered memory to bump it up to 4GB. Will the W7 upgrade DVD be able to do a custom/clean install, or do you have to have the full version (as opposed to the upgrade version)? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 04:12, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Again, my understanding is that some "upgrade" media is literally just for upgrading and some can do both, so you'll probably have to be specific about where you intend to get it for anyone to be able to say for sure. ¦ Reisio (talk) 12:09, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

I'm planing in this one, it is the right one? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 15:54, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

You can do a clean install with the upgrade version of Windows 7. Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:51, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, that is what I'm going to do today.

Resolved

Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 19:24, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Follow-up

Follow-up: I bought the upgrade and did a custom/clean install. But it installed the 32-bit version of W7 instead of 64, and it didn't ask me. On the box, it says that 2GB of RAM is required for 64-bit but only 1GB for 32-bit. I have 2 GB installed, but only 1.9 GB is available. Could that be the reason it didn't install the 64-bit version? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 01:42, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Sorry to ask what might be a stupid question, but aren't there two discs in the box? I'm trying to remember now, but I'm sure there's two discs in the box, one for 32-bit and one for 64-bit. If not, does it say anything on the DVD label about 32/64-bit?  ZX81  ^talk 01:57, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

You are right about that. But if you are running a 32-bit OS, you can't run the setup from the 64-bit disc. And the documentation doesn't tell you that you have to boot from the 64-boot disc to install the 64-bit version. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 02:49, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

(Is this follow-up really resolved ?) One thought is that you need to wipe the old O/S before attempting to install the new one. Another is that just having the bare minimum isn't a good idea, especially when the "available RAM" is below the minimum. Is the rest of the RAM used for graphics ? If so, a graphics card with it's own memory might free up some. StuRat (talk) 02:55, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes, it is resolved. By booting from the 64-bit disc (the docs don't tell you that), I was able to install the 64-bit version. It is running with the 2GB but yesterday I ordered RAM to expand it to 4GB (not here yet, of course). Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 03:48, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Resolved

Webseeding torrents

Is it possible to upload for example 50% of a file on a http-server and use that as a webseed? Or does webseeding require a complete file? Von Restorff (talk) 00:57, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Good question, not finding any answers. You could try it yourself to be sure. ¦ Reisio (talk) 02:41, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

BitTorrent is neat, but it isn't magic. If you have the only copy of this file, and you seed only half of the file, how could anybody anywhere possibly download the other 50%? Our article has a section on publishing web seeds, and contains both technical and nontechnical descriptions. Briefly, for a bittorrent network to function, the union of the file fragments that are available on the network must comprise the entire file. That does not always mean that every seeder has the entire file. But, if you are the first to seed (...because you are publishing a file), this means you must provide the entire file, at least for such time until the network is large enough to satisfy the condition above. Nimur (talk) 03:07, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Of course I would seed the complete file via conventional torrent seeding, and use the partial file as a webseed. Von Restorff (talk) 03:25, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

well you could rar it and host the 50% of the file... (if it is varoisu files) but nah is better 100% option! sorry 190.158.184.192 (talk) 03:16, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

I do not understand you. Von Restorff (talk) 05:39, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

He's saying you could use winrar to produce two files, each half of the whole file. File1 you would upload and http-host, file2 you would only locally seed without uploading. He is saying this is equivalent to your suggestion of "uploading half the file to an http server" as a web seed. while seeding the rest from your machine only. you would give people both bittorrent files in order to get the full thing. I think the reason you're getting a weird answer like this is that it meets your weird requirements, which we can't understand. --80.99.254.208 (talk) 09:49, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Ah, ok. Unfortunately using multipule .torrent files is not an option. Buying more hostingspace is also not an option. I want to use webseeds, but the hostingspace (Amazon S3) is limited. The file I want to share is much bigger than the hostingspace. I am wondering if webseeding requires a complete file. If it does not that would have many advantages. With torrent the download is already split in pieces, and I want to use hostingspace that is big enough for a lot of pieces but not big enough for the complete file. Von Restorff (talk) 09:56, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

try dropbox or maybe one of the hundreds of small companies in the same space burning through their investment money. they might give you unlimited bandwidth until their funding runs out and they crash and burn (count on a month or two). 188.6.79.116 (talk) 13:08, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

I am using Dropbox, and I have been for quite a while (it is hosted on Amazon S3). Von Restorff (talk) 13:11, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Is there no one here who knows the answer? If it is not possible yet it is probably a very good idea to implement it. Von Restorff (talk) 21:34, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Ipod touch

How many times can you enter an incorrect password into the touch before it locks up and you have to reset the thing? CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 09:36, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

If you repeatedly enter the wrong passcode, your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch will be disabled for longer intervals before you can try again. After too many unsuccessful attempts, you won't be able to try again until you connect it to the computer with which you last synced it.[1] I am not sure how many times you can try an incorrect password before it locks up for the first time, but you can test that yourself, it will only be disabled for a short period of time at first to discourage bruteforcing. Von Restorff (talk) 09:47, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

No thanks. I'd rather not do it again. My grandson entered a password on his and forgot it. I don't know if he got the "wait one minute" screen but he did get to the "iPod disabled, connect to iTunes" before he gave it to me. He got it from his mum's side of the family so I have no idea if it was set up on their computer or not. I just used his laptop to fix it. Which means that link above isn't quite correct as you don't need the original computer but that may be because there were no computers registered with that Touch. Then a friends kid did the same thing to hers and again with no computer back up to restore to. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 12:15, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Glad to hear everything is fixed now, I will mark this as resolved. Von Restorff (talk) 13:07, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Hope you don't mind but I removed the resolved tag. I really would like to see if someone knows the answer. I fixed the Touches last Thursday and have been searching for an answer since then before I posted here. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 00:33, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Printing favorites

Is It possable to print off the list of faverite websites on my cumputer . — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.180.176.217 (talk) 13:00, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Which OS are you using, which web browser? In simplest terms you could export them to an HTML file and print that, that's how I'd do it in Mozilla. --Ouro (blah blah) 14:06, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Why do you want to do this? If you want to sync bookmarks between browsers, both Firefox and Chrome allow you to do this automatically over the Internet. Paul (Stansifer) 20:51, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

need help destroying computer

So, I have this HP laptop, and for some reason whenever I plug it in, it stops working, runs perfectly well on battery, recharges if I turn it off and plug it in, but the battery doesn't last that long, so I want to get it fixed. I took it to the mechanics and they said the best thing was to back up all my files then restore it to factory default settings, by pushing F11 as it loads. Took a couple of times to work out I had to push Esc first to bring up the menu, but then, the options come up, and it says it can't run the restore thing on battery, and I have to plug it in...

So, how do I delete everything on my computer and start again?

148.197.81.179 (talk) 20:05, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Have you tried plugging it in at that point? If that causes it to die then there's no way going through the factory reset process will help anyway, since it just reinstalls the OS, and the OS isn't running yet when that menu comes up.

You could try resetting the BIOS settings. You need to find the magic key sequence to enter the BIOS (it's probably Esc followed by a different function key) and then it will be an option in the menu or at the bottom of the screen. If that doesn't fix it then it's probably a hardware problem, I'm afraid. -- BenRG (talk) 00:54, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

That's what I did, Esc and F11, that brings up the 'needs to be plugged in' screen. That was what the mechanic said to do, he thought it was a problem with the power plan setting or something, where it runs differently plugged in rather than trying to conserve the battery. 148.197.81.179 (talk) 09:34, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Are you talking about a HP Pavilion dv6000/dv9000? Von Restorff (talk) 09:42, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

I'm not sure, I think there was a 3 in the name somewhere though. 11.6 inch 3GB, and some more stuff. Why, is that a problem? 148.197.81.179 (talk) 20:24, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

No, but I was reading this. I would recommend checking if you still have warranty. If not please post the modelname of the laptop here, that makes searching for solutions much easier. Von Restorff (talk) 21:40, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

source code for a javascript text adventure game

Resolved

Hello, Im attempting to learn javascript, and i learn best by observing and tinkering. Where could i find samples of completed text games and their source codes? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.253.248.168 (talk) 22:01, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

I entered your section description into google and found this [2] text adventure game, with javascript source. You also may enjoy the interactive fiction archive here: [3], which has many games (usually with source, in a variety of programming languages). SemanticMantis (talk) 15:31, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

This one is short, but it looks nice. Here is a lot of Javascript-game source code. Von Restorff (talk) 15:39, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks guys! DORK was almost exactly what I was looking for! If I want the game to be more advanced, I'll check the others out. 169.231.8.149 (talk) 03:30, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

sarcasm from computers

I have a Dell computer. When I reboot it, after five or ten minutes or so, a balloon comes up that says "Your antivirus software is turned off. Click on this balloon to fix the problem." Naively, I thought that meant what it said. I click on it, and I see a window that says

• Firewall: On
• Automatic updates: On
• Virus protection: Off

Click here for recommendations.

So I click there and it says:

Recommendation:

Turn on your installed antivirus program.

Then I can click on "OK", which closes that window. But certainly doesn't turn on an antivirus program. The window that tells me that's "Off" is still there. About 10 minutes later it says "On".

Am I supposed to get some other message than that there's built-in sarcasm here? Michael Hardy (talk) 22:58, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

Do you have antivirus software already installed on your computer? →Στc. 00:15, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Error messages often seem to have the format of short text and long text. The idea is that the long text will give you more info, but in many cases all the info they had was already given in the short version. In this case, the long message is rather useless, yes. StuRat (talk) 04:26, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Most error messages don't describe the error that occurred. Instead, they describe whatever condition the writer of the error-handling code thought was most likely to cause the error. Often, the writer of the code is wrong. This isn't sarcasm, it is reality, laughing in the face of those who think they can outsmart fallibility through logic. ;-) AndyTheGrump (talk) 05:17, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. -- Obsidi♠n Soul 05:43, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Two thoughts here: 1. depending on your anti virus product, it might temporarily get turned off for a second or so during an update (certainly my AVG install does this sometimes). Windows notices it is off and flags up the "problem". You go and check, and it is mysteriously back on again. I would say that is normal behaviour. 2. some malware deliberately turns off anti virus products. This is much more serious and you should hunt down and remove all malware as soon as possible. Astronaut (talk) 14:38, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

To clarify the meaning of messages: you have to turn on antivirus software yourself. It's telling you to turn on your antivirus software, it's not saying it's going to start it up itself. Maybe you don't have anti-virus software and you'll have to download or buy it. --Colapeninsula (talk) 15:37, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

One anti-virus product should normally be configured to turn on at startup. It sounds as if yours is not so configured, and is slow to start when the OS starts it at your instruction (or possibly that you have no such software but the OS is picking up a trace of former software incompletely uninstalled). Having two anti-virus products starting at the same time can cause problems, as I recently discovered! Dbfirs 00:29, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

I thought I had made it clear that I _do_ have antivirus software, simply because if I didn't, it couldn't be turned off, nor could it later be turned on. Some of the answers above seem quite obtuse. Colapeninsula certainly knows how to miss the point. Michael Hardy (talk) 15:00, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

OK, to be explicit about what I _thought_ was obvious: I thought a "recommendation" would tell me what to do, that would have the effect of turning on that which they said was turned off. Why else would it have said "click here to fix the problem"? You don't say "click here to fix the problem" if the user already knows how to fix the problem. Michael Hardy (talk) 21:58, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

January 31

How to load a mouse driver without a mouse driver ?

One of my old Win 98 computers just had "an accident". The PS/2 mouse fell off the desk and did a "bungee jump" routine just short of the floor. The laser mouse seemed OK, in that the laser was still lit, but the pointer will no longer move on the screen. I rebooted several times, with no luck. I plugged in another PS/2 mouse and again rebooted a few times, no luck. So, I'm guessing that the connector where the PS/2 mouse plugs in was jerked and it broke a connection behind it. I really don't want to disassemble the computer and try to solder it back together.

So, the other option is to use a USB mouse. Unfortunately, the USB plugs on a Win 98 computer don't seem to come with any built-in drivers. So, how do I download a USB mouse driver on a computer where I can't use the mouse ? I do have other computers, and the Win 98 computer is networked to them, so I could download a driver and place it in a shared folder, but can't figure out how to navigate there without a working mouse. The only other option I can think of is to burn the mouse driver onto CD on another computer, but again I can't figure out how to install that driver on a computer without using the mouse. Any ideas ? StuRat (talk) 06:53, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

With the keyboard you can do pretty much anything! Press Winkey+E to open explorer. Use the arrow keys and tab and enter and alt+tab to navigate. Von Restorff (talk) 06:58, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

I was able to download the mouse driver this way, but still can't install it. How do I do this without a mouse ? StuRat (talk) 07:13, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Sorry, I need a bit more information. If it is something like setup.exe it should be easy to do via keyboard. Is it a INF file? Is the default action (the one that happens when you press Enter) not install? Did you try selecting the INF file and pressing SHIFT+F10? Von Restorff (talk) 07:22, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Problem seems to have fixed itself after about the 10th unplug/replug/reboot cycle with the PS/2 mouse. Must have been a pin not making contact or some such thing. Thanks for your help. StuRat (talk) 22:24, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Blame Bill. Von Restorff (talk) 22:08, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Resolved

Refresh webpage continuously

If I have a website which serves quasi-static pages, but those change over time, is it possible to make them change continuously (every second) by adding something, or would it require changes to the code of the website.

More specifically, the website includes a timer (T) and some other fields (F) that change over time due to actions of registered users. On the user end, the site shows "T" and "F" at the time of the page load and does not change. If the user reloads the page in the browser it shows a new "T" and potentially new "F". Is it possible to have it show always the current "T"/"F" without user interaction (reload)? bamse (talk) 10:36, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes, using Javascript. Depending on what you want updated, it can be a very tiny piece of code, or it can be a more complicated AJAX-style query. But Javascript is generally the answer to all manner of "I want a webpage to do something more or less in real time, without needing to be refreshed." --Mr.98 (talk) 13:12, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

There's also the deprecated Meta refresh, which has the advantage of working even if JavaScript is disabled. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 13:42, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

I see, but wouldn't that require changes to the original program? Basically what I have is a program not written by me which I don't want to touch. This program requires refresh. Is it possible to have a small piece of extra code written for it without touching the source of the original program? bamse (talk) 13:53, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

One way to do that would be to have a new page which uses JavaScript or Meta refresh for the refreshing, and includes the original site as a frame or iframe. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 14:02, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. As far as I understand meta refresh is not good for refreshing every second, correct? How about javascript? Can I refresh every second with javascript? As for the refresh in frame approach, are there any ready made scripts which I could use? What should I google for to find them? bamse (talk) 14:22, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Another option is a program which clicks the mouse every second, with the mouse positioned on the refresh button. I use XuMouse, but it has a minimum of 5 seconds between clicks. In any case, your computer will pretty much be unavailable while continuously refreshing the page. StuRat (talk) 22:27, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

I am looking for a program to be installed on the server not on the computers of each of the many users. bamse (talk) 23:26, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

OK, thanks for the clarification. StuRat (talk) 23:27, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Here you can find an example of Javascript that tells the browser to refresh the page after a configurable amount of time. Von Restorff (talk) 04:05, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. bamse (talk) 12:09, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Onion

Just how anonymous is Onion? Is it really untraceable? Is it even anonymous to the courts if someone did something mildly bad from it, but not anything serious like fraud or threatening to blow up the White House? (Not asking for legal advice here, obviously since I'm not providing enough details for somebody to provide good legal advice, I just want to know exactly how anonymous Onion is). 31.204.130.206 (talk) 16:29, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

I take it you mean onion routing - some potential attacks are described in the article. A hypothetical perfectly anonymous communication system wouldn't be very useful in most circumstances anyway, as you would have no way of knowing who you are communicating with. I don't think we can really advise you on how likely your country's (or another's) authorities are to intercept your messages. 130.88.99.231 (talk) 16:59, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Do you mean sniffers? 31.204.130.206 (talk) 17:03, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Seems like this is already answered. It is not very anonymous. It is not untraceable. Von Restorff (talk) 17:29, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

So only access to Internet in out-home places without providing mine identity remains. 31.204.130.206 (talk) 17:43, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Exactly. VPN's are not very secure either, even though the people selling them tell you otherwise (they need to make money). In my area there are plenty of wireless networks that are not protected, sometimes I use those. Be aware of your own idiosyncrasies so you know what to avoid. If you use a virtual computer you can easily change identifiable features like the operating system you are running and the MAC address. Think about plausible deniability, use plenty of red herrings and create an alibi in advance. Von Restorff (talk) 17:50, 31 January 2012 (UTC) p.s. If you are not using it already you may want to read TrueCrypt.

VPNs can be very secure, if configured properly. There are free software implementations that allow you to use a VPN or a proxy over SSH (for example, set up the free and open source software utilities OpenSSH or DropBear with SOCKS) - which somewhat deflates the argument that salesman are overselling the capabilities "for profit." I think Von Restorff may be conflating security with anonymity. These phrases are not synonymous. We have an article on Computer security and Anonymity on the Internet. The distinction is clear: "computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster," while anonymity "typically refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown." Nimur (talk) 23:02, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Excuse me, I meant to say VPN's are not very anonymous, thanks Nimur! Salespeople frequently tell potential clients that their VPN's are totally anonymous, and those people then end up in jail for downloading illegal stuff or hacking et cetera et cetera. In most cases VPN's are also not very secure, but if you use the correct software they can be very secure, like Nimur correctly pointed out. Von Restorff (talk) 04:00, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

google

I like the simple results page scroogle gives but they are constantly being blocked by google making the service difficult to use. Is there any way to get a similar "no clutter" results page from google directly, with all the cache links, similar pages links and related searches stuff removed? 82.45.62.107 (talk) 17:18, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

If you are familiar with CSS and willing to spend some time I would recommend Stylish. You can make your own CSS sheet and apply it to Google. Userstyles.org hosts tens of thousands of user styles made by other Stylish users that you can try. The webdeveloper toolbar may be useful when writing your CSS. Von Restorff (talk) 18:05, 31 January 2012 (UTC) p.s. If you have your own webpage you can build a custom search engine frontend based on Google (google: "custom search engine"). If you like black you can give blackle a try, it even claims to save energy.

What is scroogle? wow me noob --190.60.93.218 (talk) 18:08, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

http://scroogle.org/ Von Restorff (talk) 23:48, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Meta machine learning

What research, if any, has been done on using AI and machine-learning algorithms to inform the design of other AI and machine-learning algorithms, e.g. choosing the algorithm and its parameters for a given narrow-AI problem? NeonMerlin 17:27, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Running installers on Windows 7

I use a Windows 7 machine at work but I'm not too familiar with the OS.

Sometimes when I run newly downloaded EXEs, it'll take maybe 2 minutes to actually run the program, usually before it gives me one of those "are you sure you want to let this program do stuff?" admin confirmations.

Why would this be? (And is there any way to stop the wait?)

It's not an issue with the speed of the machine, which is blazing fast. Not an issue with memory or anything like that. The machine IS networked in various complicated ways, so maybe that's got something to do with it. Or maybe some kind of anti-virus issue? I'm just not sure. Any thoughts? --Mr.98 (talk) 20:05, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Probably User Account Control, you can disable it if you want to. Google "disable uac win7" for instructions. Von Restorff (talk) 20:14, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

No; Mr.98 is complaining that it takes too long to get to the UAC dialog in the first place. I would try booting in safe mode without networking to see whether it still takes a long time. (To be more precise you should actually just turn off each networked drive instead of using the hammer of safe mode.) I think you're probably right and Windows is trying to connect to its various networked drives to look for ... something, before deciding to proceed. Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:59, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Eh, wut? Von Restorff (talk) 21:11, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

If you do not want to disable UAC completely you can try to turn off the "Secure Desktop" feature so that it does not dim the desktop. Von Restorff (talk) 21:11, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Might you have one of the more intrusive anti-virus programs? Perhaps some process is scanning the installer executable before even starting to run it. --LarryMac | Talk 21:09, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Changing interfaces' colour

Anyone knows any way Wikipedia/Google's general white background can be changed? 62.255.129.19 (talk) 22:06, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

In Wikipedia, you can edit your profile in My Preferences + Appearance. StuRat (talk) 22:16, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Skins, you mean? They go much beyond changing colours, though... I'm hoping I could simply retain the current skin along with turning the background white to black and the text to white (for example). 62.255.129.19 (talk) 22:56, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Under your current skin you have "Custom CSS" and "Custom JavaScript" options which allow you to modify the skin's colors, etc. I suggest copying from somebody who has theirs set up like you want. StuRat (talk) 01:42, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

For Google, there is a (somewhat protracted) route you can take. This relies on you having a Google account and remaining signed in. If you go to www.google.com and click on "Change background image" in the bottom left corner, you will be able to choose an image from a gallery. If you don't see one you like, you can create your own; however, this seems to require you to download Google's Picasa software, create an image (a plain black rectangle, for example), and then select it using the "your Picasa web photos" option, which seems like a lot of work. An easier option would probably be the extension Stylish which works on Firefox and Chrome. Once installed, go to www.userstyles.org to find styles you like (eg. Google styles), which you can also modify to suit your needs. There are also styles for Wikipedia. --Kateshortforbob _talk 11:23, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Vertical bar!

Resolved

I was referred here from this thread.

The pipe |-character is right next to the (+/=), above the Enter key. And it works only when keyboard is used in Hebrew mode.

A somewhat esoteric matter and yet one that bares practical significance for me as an editor: How do you produce the |-sign on the standard Microsoft keyboard? I know, it's found to the top-right between Backspace and (+/=). But when I press the combined Shift+(|) it would type a tilde (~). I must switch to the Hebrew mode each time that I need the (|). :-( Is my keyboard totally f***ed-up? Thanx, 31.210.183.246 (talk) 22:54, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

It would appear that your operating system has misconfigured the keyboard layout. Have a look at Microsoft's Keyboard Layout FAQ, and particularly the section "How to add an input locale or keyboard layout?" This provides instructions to edit or add a keyboard layout; you may need to try variations on the standard software layouts until you find the correct one that matches your keyboard. This way, you can ensure that software will interpret the physical keypresses in the way that you intend (whether or not that matches the glyphs painted on the keys). Nimur (talk) 23:08, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. I now followed conversationexchange.com/resources/keyboard to finally match my keyboard language definition with the system language one (= it appeared to have been UK-English on the language side and US-English on the keyboard side). But sadly this didnot change anything in the typing results, and Shift+2 still produces " instead of @ and Shift+| generates ~. That is, the keyboard only functions well when I'm on the Hebrew mode, to which I constantly need to toggle. How annoying. 31.210.183.246 (talk) 23:32, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

Are you sure you are selecting the right keyboard layout? Looking at the images in keyboard layout, it sounds as though your OS might be assuming a UK or US layout rather than a Hebrew one. Also, which OS are you using? It is possible that it doesn't have support for the Hebrew layout, or that you need to install an update or a third-party extension to support it. 81.98.43.107 (talk) 14:48, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Oh what's an OS >: ? 94.230.90.111 (talk) 15:39, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

I'll now check the How to add an input locale section suggested above as it is possible that matching the system language settings is just not what's important for our matter. I thought this is identical with doing the keyboard layout thing. 94.230.90.111 (talk) 15:49, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Well.. how confusing. I just now followed the initial steps given in that link and was halted right at the second, which says "Click Keyboard, and then click the Input Locales tab" – as there's simply no Input Locales button in my Keyboard control panel.. (Pictured) 94.230.90.111 (talk) 16:16, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

OS means Operating System. Basically he is asking which version of Windows you are running. I think the answer is Windows XP. Go back here and follow the instructions at the bottom of the page under the header called "Add language support". Reboot. Then try to find the tab called Locales at the same place you made the screenshot again. Von Restorff (talk) 21:21, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Naa... well. Step 5 there says "Under Supplemental language support, select the check box beside the applicable language collection", and I don't have such thing/option on the relevant control panel. Thank you. 94.230.83.66 (talk) 21:40, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
And yes, it's an XP here. 94.230.83.66 (talk) 21:43, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Try this then. It probably requires a Windows XP cd-rom. Von Restorff (talk) 21:53, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you, but are you sure that one page's relevant. It seems it handles how to view Hebrew properly and here the thing is "Keyboard Layout", as it looks. 94.230.83.66 (talk) 22:06, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Not 100%, but I would say it has more than 75% 95% chance of helping, other people tell you to check that checkbox too. The checkbox is named "Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages (including Thai)". AFAIK modern Hebrew is a right-to-left language. If you have a WindowsXP cd it should be quick and easy to try, and it does not have disadvantages AFAIK. Von Restorff (talk) 22:20, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. The Windows used here is a legal copy so I have the cd, however, I don't wish to decentralize the efforts and lose focus off the hub issue that started this thread, that is, the misplacement of some characters across my English keyboard. This honestly is not supposed to have to do with the Hebrew configuration, which works perfect here. :/ 94.230.83.66 (talk) 22:38, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

I just clicked the checkbox and a messagebox popped up saying: "You chose to install the Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Hebrew, Indic, Thai and Vietnamese language files..... et cetera et cetera". You do need to have a Windows XP cdrom. Von Restorff (talk) 22:31, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Plz see above. 94.230.83.66 (talk) 22:39, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

and jeez, I'm sorry for the frequent changing of my identifying number. 94.230.83.66 (talk) 22:42, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Ah wait! Is your keyboard layout called United States-International or just US? It should be United States-International. Von Restorff (talk) 22:45, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Please tell me how I can tell this. The little language bar at the bottom of the screen reads English (United Kingdom) - but I can assume that isn't what we look for 94.230.83.66 (talk) 22:49, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

I suspect this is the problem. Go to: Control panel (in classic view) -> Regional and Language options -> Languages -> Details. In the box Installed languages it says (on my computer) English (United States) [This is the language] and under that it says Keyboard and under that it says United States-International. Von Restorff (talk) 22:55, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

screenshot. I think you are using the US-English keyboard layout instead of the US-international keyboard layout. Click "Add" and use the combobox at the bottom to select US-International. Von Restorff (talk) 22:56, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Hehe, but see, just a bit earlier I followed http://www.conversationexchange.com/resources/keyboard-language.php - to which I was referred on the WikiCommons help page - and it ended in successfully matching the two categories you're illustrating to one-another but towards the UK-English choice :) (which is my better-comprehended dialect) so what's now? 94.230.83.66 (talk) 23:08, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

The one at the bottom has nothing to do with the dialect of the English language, it has to do with the keyboard layout. Von Restorff (talk) 23:18, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Oh. So switch again to US ? 94.230.83.66 (talk) 23:22, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

US-international. [4] Von Restorff (talk) 23:27, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Did it, and rebooted, and.. hooray, it.. works. After a long, long time. @"||||||||||||| Thank you. 31.210.181.210 (talk) 23:42, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Whooohooo! You are very welcome of course! Von Restorff (talk) 23:47, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Windows media center tv guide listings die at 6pm tonight? D;

Hey, i was watching tv with a tuner card in my pc, when windows media center told me my guide listings will expire within 3 days and i should really download the latest info. So i think "yeah sounds like a plan".... Telling it to download them seems to do nothing (i told it to get listings several times via the settings menu). It always tells me that its downloading even though the standard windows media icon with the green download arrow never shows up near my clock. Looking at the guide info inside the settings panel i get this view:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/29/listingx.png/

Am I to understand that charter has packaged some guide data that ends Jan 31 2012 and that i can no longer receive this data from them? Can i get a newer listing somehow (setting up the tv connection from scratch perhaps?)? Please help, as having no info about my favorite shows is sort of depressing!

Thanks! 137.81.118.126 (talk) 23:21, 31 January 2012 (UTC) WEll you can search in each channel they normally got a schedule there. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.60.93.218 (talk) 18:19, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

floating point types in Windows programming languages

Embarcadero Delphi has three floating-point types:

• single - 4 bytes, 23-bit mantissa
• double - 8 bytes, 53-bit mantissa
• Extended - 10 bytes, 64-bit mantissa on 32-bit platforms but the same as double on 64-bit platforms.

Is there a technical reason for the 10-byte extended type to not be available on 64-bit platforms? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 23:24, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

I don't know the reason why it doesn't support extended on 64-bit, but you might find the open source replacement uTExtendedX87 useful. I'm not a Delphi programmer and haven't tried using this myself.-gadfium 01:38, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

It appears to be unsupported because Delphi XE2 64-bit uses SSE2 for floating point, which does not provide the 80-bit extended float. There's a discussion about this at Thread: Delphi XE2: Extended Floating Pt Numbers -- Team B: HELP. Search for "SSE2" in the thread for the relevant information, but you might like to read the whole thread because there are warnings about uTExtendedX87 use there too.-gadfium 01:51, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you both for the informative replies. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 02:07, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

If you must use floating-point with better than double precision, you might consider Arbitrary-precision arithmetic. Because most modern computers do not support 10-byte floating-point math in hardware, it is probable that your Delphi compiler was already using a software-emulation feature; so the conversion to an arbitrary-precision math library will probably not incur a significant performance penalty over your previous code. I am unfortunately not aware of any Delphi language bindings, and our article doesn't help out there either; but you can try compiling GNU Multiple Precision Arithmetic Library (implemented in C) and linking it with your Delphi code. It also appears that your compiler vendor, Embarcadero, has IMATH library, listed on their site. Nimur (talk) 04:24, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

x86 processors have had 80-bit floating point in hardware all the way back to the original 8087. Maybe you are confused because Microsoft C hasn't supported it for many years, but it has always been there. Delphi's floating-point types are the hardware types of the floating point unit it uses (x87 in 32-bit mode, SSE in 64-bit mode). -- BenRG (talk) 05:19, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

My error, thanks for the correction, BenRG. The latest (December 2011) Architectures Developer's Manual makes this abundantly clear: (Section 8.1.3...) "The precision-control (PC) field (bits 8 and 9 of the x87 FPU control word) determines the precision (64, 53, or 24 bits) of floating-point calculations made by the x87 FPU (see Table 8-2). The default precision is double extended precision, which uses the full 64-bit significand available with the double extended-precision floating-point format of the x87 FPU data registers. This setting is best suited for most applications, because it allows applications to take full advantage of the maximum precision avail- able with the x87 FPU data registers." And, ..."The precision-control bits only affect the results of the following floating-point instructions: FADD, FADDP, FIADD, FSUB, FSUBP, FISUB, FSUBR, FSUBRP, FISUBR, FMUL, FMULP, FIMUL, FDIV, FDIVP, FIDIV, FDIVR, FDIVRP, FIDIVR, and FSQRT." I think that's fair to call "hardware support" for double extended precision! In any case, though, using double-precision words means working with ten-byte pointers. Although the FPU handles these pointers gracefully, they probably require a lot of cooperation from the compiler elsewhere - probably the reason that some compilers will not provide support for double extended precision. Nimur (talk) 18:15, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

(reply to earlier) I have used multiple precision before, but it is quite a bit slower. The 32-bit versions of Delphi have 64-bit integers, but division and mod on them is slow if numbers > 2^32 are involved. They also have a Comp type which is a 64-bit integer but is handled by the FPU. The Comp type is much faster than division and mod with 64-bit integers on 32-bit platforms, so I have been using it for many years. But changing Extended type from having a 64-bit mantissa to a 53-bit mantissa has some bad consequences. When doing division on Comp type, the intermediate result is an Extended type. That was fine when Extended had a 64-bit mantissa, but now it means that if the result of Comp division is > 2^53, it is incorrect. However, in the past month I've gotten all of my routines that are common to many programs converted from Comp/Extended to 64-bit integers. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 16:13, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

More than 40 years ago, the IBM 370 had a quad-precision, 128-bit floating-point type. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 18:33, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

February 1

unwanted clicks

Hello. I have a new laptop (kubuntu) with a touchpad. I like having a tap on the touchpad being equivalent to a primary mouse click. But, when typing, I very often accidentally touch the touchpad, with the result that the typing cursor moves to where the mouse cursor is. This is very disrupting, and happens orders of magnitude more often with this new laptop than other PCs I've used. Does anyone have any advice? Is there a software or configuration solution I might try? Robinh (talk) 00:24, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Most touchpads can be configured to reduce sensitivity so that the problem happens less frequently. This is a feature provided by the manufacturer of the touchpad and laptop, not by the operating system, so you need to either search the laptop manual or tell us the manufacturer if you cannot find the touchpad configuration routine. (In Windows it is often on the right of the task bar, or available via "Control Panel". What's the Kubuntu equivalent?) Dbfirs 00:33, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

thanks for this. My machine is an HP Elitebook 8560p. I don'tsee a suitable option in the Touchpad system settings box. Cheers, Robinh (talk) 00:45, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

For an extremely low-tech solution, you can place a bottle cap or something similar over it, so the force of pushing on it would be deflected to the sides. Use tape to hold it in place. (Looking at a pic, it looks like the buttons are long and rectangular, so you'd need something shaped like that.) StuRat (talk) 01:14, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Hi. The buttons are indeed long and rectangular. But it's accidental touches of the touchpad that are bothering me, not the nipple mouse. I have been expecting some sort of retraining of my hands to occur over the weeks, but that hasn't happened. best wishes, Robinh (talk) 01:24, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

I think there are disposable food storage container tops that would cover that, like the ones I get at the deli. StuRat (talk) 01:30, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

OK, but when I want to move the cursor (ie move the mouse), I'll have to shift a sticky-taped boxtop from the touchpad. Robinh (talk) 01:42, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Just tape it at one edge, so you can flip it off and on like a hinge. StuRat (talk) 02:36, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

If I were you, I would turn off tap-to-click and try that for a week, and see how often you have been disrupted by this feature so you can weigh the disruption against the benefits of having tap-to-click on. Personally I now turn tap-to-click off for the very reason you cite. Comet Tuttle (talk) 01:57, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

That's probably good advice (aargh it happened again). Pity, tho', I find tap-to-click really (aargh again) useful on my other machines. Wonder what it is about the 8560p that makes (aarg) it so (aargh) difficult (aarg aarg) to use. Best (aargh) wishes, Robinh (talk) 02:04, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

(replying to self). Tried the above, find it intolerable. What I want is to require an actual button click to place the text cursor at the mouse cursor, but to leave the other settings (aarg) untouched. Anyone? Robinh (talk) 02:13, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

I had the same problem on my Acer Aspire 4315, which came preloaded with Ubuntu. I turned off tap-to-click and never missed it. Usually, I prefer to use an external mouse on a laptop. I miss my old Thinkpad which had a nipple mouse, which is far superior to a trackpad.-gadfium 03:07, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

I use Ubuntu 11.10, so I don't know how much this applies to Kubuntu, but I can use System Settings > Mouse & Touchpad, and then select "Disable Touchpad when typing", which would seem to be what you want. I assume there's some fancy-schmancy way to do it via the terminal as well, but I'm not really into that. Maybe this will jog someone's memory who knows more about Kubuntu and can help further. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 07:51, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

That sounds exactly what I am looking for. But I see no such option. Frustrating! Robinh (talk) 08:17, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Relevant information is here. Nevard (talk) 08:25, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Or maybe not. Apparently the Ubuntu developers decided to make X configuration depend on a bunch of flaky individual files. Have a fiddle with "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf". There's also a even more obtuse way of doing things referenced here. Nevard (talk) 08:29, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

The touchpad is by Synaptics, and they provide a configuration setting to reduce sensitivity, so if you want retain tap to click (and I find it very useful), you will find it in Properties --> Device settings --> Settings --> Sensitivity --> Palm Check & Touch Sensitivity (if it has the same driver as mine). I would try this first. (The driver for Windows is called sp52860.exe and is here, but possibly Kubuntu doesn't support it?) Dbfirs 08:33, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

@dbfirs: thanks for this, but I don't see a chain starting "Properties, Device settings" anywhere. What am I missing?

Yes, sorry, I thought that Kubuntu might display the Synaptics driver icon like Windows does, but evidently not. There ought to be a config command to reduce sensitivity, but I don't know it. Sorry. Dbfirs 16:30, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

@Nevard: thanks, it's all a bit intimidating (I worry about breaking something). Disable tap-to-click sounds good, I've been looking at 50-synaptics.conf, does this have the same syntax as xorg.conf (so the tips will work)? Robinh (talk) 08:55, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

and it looks as though ubuntu and kubuntu differ in this respect too (I didn't realize they were separate things until today) Robinh (talk) 08:57, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Yup, the separate xorg.conf.d files are just a really 'clever' way of making configuration 'easier' by spreading stuff out all over the place. Ubuntu and Kubuntu differ only in the desktop environment you get- which happens to include configuration utilities. I gave up on KDE a while back, but it's still better than a vanilla version of the latest Gnome (and way better than the horrid Ubuntu version of Gnome.) I suggest you install 'gpointing-device-settings'- it should do everything you want, and doesn't have any major dependancy issues. Whether you're using some KDE program, or a Gnome configuration utility, or g-d-s, it's just configuring the same basic X-server settings behind the scences. Nevard (talk) 09:05, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

heh, gpointing-device-settings worked fine. I have increased the "tapping time" from its default very short, to a longer, time. Actually (sorry for the mission creep), I now realize what I want is precisely this: "leave tap-to-click enabled except for when this would change the position of a typing cursor". But basically I am pretty awesomed out by gpointing-device-settings. Kia Ora! Robinh (talk) 09:18, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Good as. If the settings don't stick for you, all that's being altered are 'XInput' settings. The command-line utility for these, 'xinput', is relatively easy to fiddle around with, and the folks at AskUbuntu are likely to be able to help you with any issues. Tot siens. Nevard (talk) 09:39, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Understood (and I even learned some Afrikaans for free!). E noho ra, Robinh (talk) 09:47, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

If one needs a very low-tech solution - this is exactly the reason why I use a trackball with my netbook, with the touchpad disabled altogether. --Ouro (blah blah) 10:29, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Scheduling with multiple deadlines

I have a list of exam dates like this:

schedule

16.3.
4 Sahkomagnetismi
4 Fotoniikka
4 Suhteellisuusteoriaa
4 Materiaalifysiikka I
5 Varioppi
4 Kvanttifysiikka II

13.4.
5 Lineaarialgebra A
5 Analyysi III A
4 Differentiaaliyhtalot B
8 Diskreetti matematiikka
8 Numeerinen analyysi

20.4.
4 Kvantti- ja atomifysiikka
4 Kvanttifysiikka I
4 Optiset kojeet

11.5.
5 Fysiikan peruskurssi I
5 Fysiikan peruskurssi IV
4 Fysiikan matemaattiset menetelmat
4 Elektroniikan perusteet
5 Tahtitieteen perusteet

16.5.
4 Analyysi III B
4 Differentiaaliyhtalot A
8 Sovellettu analyysi

25.5.
4 Johdatus topologiaan
4 Todennakoisyyslaskenta B
8 Analyysi IV

15.6.
4 Sahkomagnetismi
4 Fotoniikka
4 Suhteellisuusteoriaa
4 Kvanttifysiikka I
4 Materiaalifysiikka I
5 Varioppi
4 Kvanttifysiikka II

20.6.
5 Lineaarialgebra A
5 Analyysi III A
4 Differentiaaliyhtalot B
8 Diskreetti matematiikka
8 Numeerinen analyysi

24.8
5 Fysiikan peruskurssi I
5 Fysiikan peruskurssi IV
4 Fysiikan matemaattiset menetelmat
4 Kvantti- ja atomifysiikka
4 Elektroniikan perusteet
5 Tahtitieteen perusteet
4 Optiset kojeet

31.8.
4 Analyysi III B
4 Differentiaaliyhtalot A
4 Johdatus topologiaan
8 Sovellettu analyysi
4 Todennakoisyyslaskenta B
8 Analyysi IV

The numbers before each course name denote how many ECTS points each course is worth (in principle 1 ECTS = 15-30 hours of study). If you look carefully you will see exams for the same course are offered on multiple dates. On any exam date I can sit as many exams as I want. I only have five hours total to complete all of them so three exams per date is preferred.

I can't attend the actual courses so I'll have to study on my free time. On weekdays I'm reserved from 9am to 6pm but weekends are free, so I can spend perhaps 30-40 hours per week studying. Does there exist a free program that would help me build a schedule and update it to match my (lack of) progress? I'm on linux. I doubt I will have time to pass all the courses. --145.94.77.43 (talk) 00:27, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

That's an exam schedule ? Is "31.8." = August 31 ? Is it in a foreign language ? There seem to be a huge number of classes (50), you can't be taking all of those in 5 and a half months, right ? StuRat (talk) 01:19, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Yeah it's August 31.8. I'd like to do as much as I can. --145.94.77.43 (talk) 01:25, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

So is the problem deciding which classes to take, or tracking your progress in each ? StuRat (talk) 01:27, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

All classes are about as good, but If I don't progress I'll have to drop classes. --145.94.77.43 (talk) 01:29, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

One issue that comes up is whether you think you can actually learn all the material permanently, or just cram it into your brain long enough for the test, and then forget it. If the latter is the case, it would be far easier to cram for just one test at a time. (I've always thought it was stupid that they expect so much memorization for each test that you can't possibly remember it permanently, but they do just that.) Also, aren't some classes pre-reqs for others ? StuRat (talk) 01:33, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

It's hard to make a trade-off between learning and "learning" before I get a feel of what's doable. A problem with cramming is the spacing of the exam dates. There's anywhere from two months to less than a week between them. I'd rather try to cram for an earlier exam date than try to sit too many exams at once later.

Pre-reqs are only recommendations and there aren't that many. In my experience the up-front effort required to pass courses in the wrong order often is a lot less than the sum of the courses. Mastery of the previous courses is not tested for. --145.94.77.43 (talk) 02:46, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Let's clarify those dates, a couple seem wrong:

16.3.
 4 weeks
13.4.
 1 week
20.4.
 3 weeks
11.5.
 1 week ?
16.5. (should it be 18.5. ?)
 1 week
25.5.
 3 weeks
15.6.
 5 weeks ?
20.6. (should it be 20.7 ?)
 5 weeks ?
24.8
 1 week
31.8.

Did I guess correctly ? StuRat (talk) 03:02, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

It's all correct, except for the guesses. --145.94.77.43 (talk) 03:17, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Do you mean my corrected version is right, or your original version ? (If your original version is right, then some of the tests are on different days of the week.) StuRat (talk) 03:59, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

My original version is right. --145.94.77.43 (talk) 04:05, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

OK, then, here's the schedule with the time intervals between each:

16.3.
 28 days
13.4.
 7 days
20.4.
 21 days
11.5.
 4 days
16.5.
 9 days
25.5.
 21 days
15.6.
 5 days
20.6.
 65 days
24.8
 7 days
31.8.

For those tests which are 9 days or less apart, you might want to skip one. Here's one possible way to do it:

16.3.
 28 days
13.4.
 28 days
11.5.
 13 days
25.5.
 26 days
20.6.
 72 days
31.8.

That would give you 6 test days and at least 13 days to prepare for each. If 13 days isn't enough, you could revise the plan to have 5 test dates, as follows:

16.3.
 28 days
13.4.
 34 days
16.5.
 34 days
20.6.
 72 days
31.8.

Personally, I wouldn't want to do more than one test each day, but that's up to you. If you do want to do 2 tests in one day, I'd suggest the last day, since you will have 72 days to prepare. So, this gives you 5-7 tests, depending on which of the two schedules you choose and whether you double up on the second test day. I wouldn't recommend anything more ambitious than that, while working full time. StuRat (talk) 05:38, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Do all modern browsers support 8-bit PNGs?

I noticed a setting in Photoshop's Save For Web feature. Beside the normal PNG-24 setting, there's also a setting for PNG-8. It has a restricted color palette like GIFs do. And the files are amazingly tiny. Generally speaking, would any current browser/email client/app that supports normal PNGs also support these type of 8-bit PNG? --76.79.70.18 (talk) 02:06, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

It's part of the standard PNG definition so any browser that can truly support PNG can support PNG-8. For a list of those see Comparison_of_web_browsers#Image_format_support and in particular Portable_Network_Graphics#Web_browser_support_for_PNG for more granularity. --Mr.98 (talk) 03:26, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

I use 8-bit PNGs I've not had any trouble. Windows, Firefox, Opera works with them too. Don't know about IE 82.45.62.107 (talk) 18:36, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Intel Turbo Boost

I have a computer with an Intel Sandy Bridge i7. How can I tell if it is using Turbo Boost? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 03:07, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Read this. I recommended downloading Intel® Turbo Boost Technology Monitor. Is it a good idea to add information about this software to the article Intel Turbo Boost? Von Restorff (talk) 03:46, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you, that is very interesting and the program works nicely. (It also explains some behavior I've seen.) And yes, it would be a good idea to include it in that article, as an external link at the very least. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 04:01, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Resolved

I found another way: start Task Manager, select Performance tab, click Resource Monitor button, and near the top it shows the percentage of CPU speed. So for mine, 103% there is boosting from 3.4 to 3.5 GHz. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 04:17, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

YVW. Would you be so kind to describe your alternative method and the software in the article? I am sorry, I am not a native speaker, otherwise I would've done it myself. Von Restorff (talk) 05:09, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

OK. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 16:15, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! Looks good. Von Restorff (talk) 21:19, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

That Intel program is over 22 megabytes in size! It should be small. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 04:01, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

I agree that could probably be smaller but the releasenotes say: "Size optimized for web download" in the section "Features Added in Intel® Turbo Boost Technology Monitor 2.0 v2.1". Von Restorff (talk) 11:30, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

The maximum frequency percentage in Resource Monitor (RM) is not consistent with the Intel program. I have a quad-core 3.4 Ghz i7, which should turbo boost to 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, and 3.8, depending on the load. When I had all four CPUs running, the Intel program was showing 3.5GHz and the RM was showing 103%. Since 3.5/3.4 = 1.029, that seemed right. With four programs running on low priority, TB was 3.5, 3.6 with three, 3.7 with two, and 3.8 with one. So decreasing the number of processes by one increased the TB by one step (0.1 GHz).

But now I have only one process running. The Intel program is showing 3.7/3.8, but RM is showing 101% (when it should be 109-112%). I don't know why this is so. The RM figure may not reflect the TB. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 04:27, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

I am afraid it is not that simple. To be honest I have never really understood how this works; all I know is that its pretty complicated nowadays. Maybe someone else comes along who can answer your question. My guess would be that it has to do with dividing threads, not processes, over the cores. Von Restorff (talk) 11:30, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

I asked on Microsoft Forums, and that percentage is not the Turbo Boost factor (so I removed it from the article). It is how fast the base speed is compared to the rated speed. In Control Panel/Power Options, you can set the maximum CPU usage to less than 100% (to save electricity). You would mainly want to do this on a laptop. So my machine is running a little faster than the 3.4GHz base, not counting Turbo Boost. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 19:38, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

search.iminent.com

That's the one, it's back again so I can check now. this website seems to have taken over my internet, every few days it suddenly sets itself as my homepage, and when I change it back, it waits and then suddenly reappears. How do I fix this?

148.197.81.179 (talk) 03:35, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Did you try using any anti-malware programs ? StuRat (talk) 03:41, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Try scanning your computer with malwarebytes antimalware, it is free and it works really well. Von Restorff (talk) 03:44, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Seconded, Spybot can also be a good program to run occasionally. Just don't let it 'immunize' the computer- older computers can take almost as big a performance hit as if they were infested with spyware, although without all the credit-card stealing. Make sure you reboot into Safe mode before running the scans. Nevard (talk) 08:17, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Try to clean your register, and deleting all those binaries --190.60.93.218 (talk) 14:59, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

TalkTalk / SKY in the UK

"TalkTalk" and "SKY" are trying to persuade me to take a package of 40 GB Broadband, and 24/7 free telephone calls. Has anyone had good or bad experience with these packages please. i would welcome any advice.--85.211.142.228 (talk) 11:49, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Relatives of mine have the Sky package (in combination with a Sky TV subscription) and they've had no issue. Another has a TalkTalk package, and again has had no issue. Neither is a very high user of internet. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 13:10, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Not really an issue but in some cases the cost of 24/7 free phone-calls can be as much as a lot of calls. Check your bill, if you are paying less than the extra for free calls then it probably isn't worth it. -- Q Chris (talk) 13:50, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

I've heard someone complaining that one of Sky's free calls packages has some unusual restrictions on which numbers you can call for free (they claimed that they are charged a very high rate for 0800 numbers, for example). Googling also turns up complaints that the '40GB per month' limit actually means '1.3GB per day'. 81.98.43.107 (talk) 14:26, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes, it's wise to check your existing bill and look at the composition of calls (for stuff like 0800, 0845, and mobile calls). In general (that is, I've not looked at the Sky or TalkTalk plans in detail), call plans that are cheaper for regular land-line calls can be unexpectedly expensive for other numbers; for example, many SIP plans charge more for calls to mobiles than BT does, even though calls to landlines are cheaper. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 14:42, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

... and remember, of course, that the speed of downloads will be limited by any copper wire in your phone connection, whatever the provider. This may not be relevant to your situation if you have fibre to your premises. Dbfirs 16:14, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks all. --85.211.142.228 (talk) 08:13, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Network diagram for a wiki

I'm working on a small Wiki (a few hundred articles so far) and wonder if there's any way of displaying graphically the interconnectedness of the various articles so we can see what links to what, and thus highlight orphaned articles or isolated groups. --rossb (talk) 20:03, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Not sure a graphic approach is best for this type of thing. Even with only a few hundred articles, you may have thousands of cross-links so far, which would make for a very confusing graphic requiring you to zoom in and out and pan around. Once you get into thousands of articles it will be even worse. Perhaps just a tool that lists all orphaned articles (and all articles with fewer than N articles in it's ring) would be a better choice. StuRat (talk) 21:12, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Maybe you knew this already but if the wiki is small you can easily see the orphaned pages by choosing "Special pages" in the menu and clicking on "Orphaned pages". On this wiki the page is disabled but the default setting is enabled, and it should look something like this. Von Restorff (talk) 21:48, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

February 2

restriction to fiction in Google Books

I would like to do a Google Books search for the phrase "Euclidean geometry" in works of fiction. It wouldn't have to be Google Books; anything that gives (almost?) the same information would suffice.

Does this exceed all that the Google corporation can accomplish? Michael Hardy (talk) 00:25, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Unfortunately that is not possible with Google Books AFAIK. Maybe someone else knows an alternative. Von Restorff (talk) 00:40, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Have you tried a computerized card catalog at your local library? These systems often allow you to search by subject, keyword, and classification (fiction, non-fiction). Library categorization (the Dewey Decimal Classification and the Library of Congress Classification) make it possible to explicitly search for fiction or non-fiction. Google's database indexes heuristically into an unstructured data collection (intended for searching internet web-pages), requiring a complicated algorithm to determine whether a work in their catalog is fictional or non-fictional. Libraries use structured data to catalog books, so their databases tend to be more easily searchable, especially if you know what you're looking for. For example, you can use http://catalog.loc.gov to include a boolean AND search term for the "fiction" category, in addition to any other keywords you are looking for. (For reasons I will never understand, Google felt that removing structured queries makes it "easier" to locate information). Anyway, a Dewey 813 is "Fiction, American English" - you can make that a requisite for your search. Nimur (talk) 00:59, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you, Nimur. Is there a way to restrict to Dewey numbers 813 or 823 in catalog.loc.gov? Michael Hardy (talk) 16:21, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Actually no, because the Library of Congress uses... the Library of Congress Classification! It's better suited to research queries, so if you're looking for fiction, you need to be more specific: what type of fiction? Class P may be what you're looking for.

Dewey decimals are used by general-purpose public libraries (like your local library). You may be able to access their card-catalog online. Nimur (talk) 17:37, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Alt code for ş

What's the alt code to type ş (s cedilla)? --108.225.115.211 (talk) 00:44, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

In Word? ALT+0350 or ALT+0351. Von Restorff (talk) 00:50, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Those give me ^ and _. --108.225.115.211 (talk) 01:04, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Hm, I have just booted my desktop and I have the same problem. The source was [5]. Which inputlanguage is selected on your computer? And which version of Windows do you have? Von Restorff (talk) 01:06, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Windows 7; English (United States) --108.225.115.211 (talk) 01:13, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

It's not quite the same method, but 015F, then Alt + X works for me.--Kateshortforbob _talk 11:06, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Does quantum immortality imply NP⊆BQP?

It occurs to me that if quantum immortality is correct, then a quantum Turing machine can solve any problem in NP by simulating a random branch of the corresponding NTM and killing the observer if it's chosen a branch that doesn't lead to the desired answer. In other words, quantum immortality as I understand it would imply NP ⊆ BQP. Is that right? NeonMerlin 00:49, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Shouldn't this be on the Science Desk ? StuRat (talk) 01:16, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Actually the Math Desk, which in itself sort of answers the question. These classes of problems have precise mathematical definitions that do not depend on physics. If quantum mechanics turned out to be different than we think it is, that discovery would have no effect on what is "quantum computable" in the mathematical sense. --Trovatore (talk) 01:19, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

A program for calculating square units of area?

Is there a program that can calculate area (square units) or percentage of total area—of a rectangle? I want to be able to specify the two dimensions of a rectangle—such as 36 inches by 48 inches—and then I want to be able to indicate relatively simple polygonal shapes within such a rectangle. I want the program to tell me either the area of the polygon or its percentage of the whole. Obviously the above example would have a total area of 1728 square inches. I am interested in knowing the relationship between the areas of the polygons and the area of the whole. Thanks for any ideas or leads on a computer program that might make such calculations easier. I'm OK with calculating the area of rectangles, but as soon as I get into triangles or quadrilaterals that are not rectangles (or perhaps 5 sided figures) my ability to do these calculations falters. It may be that no such program exists. I want to use it to design a painting. I want to assign a percentage of total area to a color. Like for instance if I decide from the outset that I want to use a certain ten colors and I want each to be represented equally as concerns the total square units that each color occupies, how can I make adjustments to odd shapes, while retaining, in the above example, 172.8 square units per color? Thanks again. Bus stop (talk) 01:59, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Sounds like you need a computer aided design program. In the one I'm familiar with, CATIA, what you are describing would be planar faces, and you can measure the area of each. However, CATIA is way more than you need, in that it's a 3D CAD system with surface modelling, solids, etc. You need a 2D system. StuRat (talk) 02:11, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Google turned up this: http://www.mathopenref.com/coordpolygonarea2.html If you know the coordinates of each vertex, you can compute it like that. 69.180.172.142 (talk) 02:14, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

(ec) The area of a triangle is easy to calculate. Probably the best formula to use for your purposes is the one involving only the lengths of the three sides (no angles, no trig). If you have the three vertices, you can easily calculate the lengths of the sides. Then for quadrilaterals, pentagons, etc, what occurs to me is to cut them up into triangles (two for a quadrilateral, three for a pentagon, etc) and calculate the areas of the individual triangles and add them up. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 02:15, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

I learned something: one can calculate the area of a triangle if one knows the three sides. Heron's formula is one way of accomplishing that. This site even does the calculation for you. Thanks a lot. I'll work with this for awhile. Much thanks. Bus stop (talk) 04:38, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

You may laugh, but I actually played Heron (or a triangle, it was a long time ago) in a play in primary school once. --Ouro (blah blah) 12:46, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Octave (software) (free, but not very novice-friendly user interface) should be able to do this easily, once you figure out the right command to use. Jørgen (talk) 10:07, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Geogebra has the benefit of not being overly complex and available via Java WebStart. 131.111.255.9 (talk) 13:26, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

What about ACTA?

Crossposted question. See the Humanities desk.
I'm interested in your answers to the questions I posted at the link above. I've posted a link here because if anyone would know how this would impact the Internet and Wikipedia, it would be you guys. The Transhumanist 02:35, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Javascript Array question

Resolved

This might be a dumb question — my brain is just not wrapping around this right.

I am stacking five circles in order of size. Each circle corresponds with a different measurement. I have all the measurement data in different variables. E.g., circle_1 = 5; circle_2 = 3; circle_5 = 4", and so on. I need to figure out what order of the circles goes from largest to smallest, based on the variable data. Then I need to be able to access them all in order.

In PHP, I would plug the variable names and the values into different variables. I would sort the values in a way that preserved the original keys. Then I would iterate over the value array with a foreach, grab the index, and use that to refer back to the original variable name, perform my actions, etc.

In Javascript, I'm somewhat lost. Their array object is far more primitive and less easy to work with and it seems like sorting in a way to preserve keys, much less using a real foreach, is not possible.

How would you solve this issue in an elegant fashion? --Mr.98 (talk) 13:50, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Does Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 November 27#HTML/Javascript list sorting help? -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 14:34, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Exactly what I was looking for. Works like a charm. Thanks so much. --Mr.98 (talk) 15:24, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

One small thing: your sort function is wrong. It should be function(a,b){return b[0]-a[0]), not function(a,b){return a[0]<b[0]). I don't know why, but that's the case! It doesn't work otherwise (even your examples don't). --Mr.98 (talk) 15:42, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

The reason is because a comparison function should have three possible return values: less than, equal to, and greater than. A boolean only has two; in JavaScript, a signed integer is used as the compare function return type, allowing tri-state comparison. Nimur (talk) 16:11, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

DNS servers

Okay I've read an article about the DNS serbers, but most part is written in "hacking" language (lol jk) I didn't understood how the servers make a domain... for example... I have a Dns server and going to make a domain (wikipediapwns.net) (just an example lol) for a random IP so Does my server sends the request to the boss DNS server or what? thanks! --190.60.93.218 (talk) 14:56, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Basically, yes; but the "boss DNS server" (rather, the authoritative name server) usually has rules about who can register names, so you have to get permission from the system administrator. On the Internet, the top servers don't accept requests from anyone - you have to register through a licensed delegate company, called a domain name registrar, who usually charge a fee of about ten dollars per registration. Nimur (talk) 16:06, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

O.O Wow that's so expensive, anyway hmm how the "request is sent?" Fbchat? lol, So who control this authoritative servers? the goverment? Aliens? Can I have one? I think there are lot's of authoritative servers, so do they have to pay each other? or what? --190.60.93.218 (talk) 16:50, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

"The Internet" is controlled by ICANN. Thirteen root name servers are generally regarded to be "the authoritative" name servers for the internet. Your internet service provider almost certainly uses those servers. Those servers were originally operated for the United States Government by NASA, the Army Research Lab, a few other government agencies, and a few academic associates. During the 1980s and 1990s, legislation changed, allowing commercial entities to connect to (and register names on) what had previously been a private internet operated by the United States Government. A few more root name servers were set up and control of these systems were transferred to commercial companies. Suddenly, there was one "internet" that people commonly referred to when they spoke about The Internet. (Previously, any inter-connected network that used the internet protocol would be referred to as "an" internet).

You can set up an internet of your own, using the internet protocol, and operate your own root domain name servers. Anybody who wishes to connect their servers to your network could do so; but unless you have something to offer, few people will connect to your network. Nothing obligates you to use the domain-name-servers or the routers that your internet service provider offers to you. Nimur (talk) 19:37, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Wow I could own an internetZ! Without SOPA! lol jk! Thanks lots for your answer, you're very helpfull (meh maybe I can now understan those wikipedia articles) Thanks!

Generate range of hex numbers

How can you generate a range of hex numbers? For example, I want all hex numbers with 7 digits. In python that's quite easy for integers with the range() command. 80.58.205.34 (talk) 18:30, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

If you want exactly the 7 digit numbers, use res = [hex(i) for i in xrange(16**6, 16**7)]. Note that this will be a fairly large list - I'd experiment with 4 and 5 first. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 19:18, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Is TAR safer than ZIP?

Because I've heard lossless compression doesn't work as it should. (you loose some bits of data) --190.60.93.218 (talk) 19:21, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Compression of data (like numbers or text, as opposed to compression of say music files or images) must inherently be lossless or will be useless. Should you want to compress a spreadsheet or a text file, every single bit and byte is important, because otherwise the data will be corrupt or the file unreadable. In an image or sound file, some data bits can be ommitted because the human ear or eye is just not sensitive enough. I'll let someone else elaborate, I'mm too sick to write too much, sorry. --Ouro (blah blah) 19:46, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

(EC) No. Neither is safer than the other. Both tar and zip compression methods are lossless compression methods, which, as the name suggests, is lossless. By contrast, jpeg compression is a lossy compression method, in which the algorithm identifies useless or near-useless bits of data and discards them in order to achieve better compression rates. Comet Tuttle (talk) 19:47, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

There is a caveat, though. As far as I know, zip compresses files individually, and then packs them into an archive. If, for some reason, the file becomes corrupt, you can still retrieve the intact files (as long as the meta-information is intact). If you use plain tar, this also holds, as tar itself does not compress at all. Indeed, you can basically extract all non-corrupted parts of files. However, if you use tar in combination with gzip (the popular ".tgz" files), you risk complete data loss if the file is partially corrupted, since compression is applied to the complete archive, not the individual files. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 20:20, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

What if I tar it but don't compress it? That means no Gz or other compression methods? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.158.184.192 (talk) 04:36, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Then you can still recovered the uncorrupted files within the tar archive. Keep in mind that zip files can serve the exact same purpose as tar if you choose the "no compression" option. 99.245.35.136 (talk) 07:03, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Note also that most archive formats, including TAR and ZIP include some sort of checksum, usually CRC-32, therefore you can generally know if each and any of the files contained therein have been accidentally (obviously not maliciously) corrupted. This isn't possible with generic unarchived files unless you have checksums or hashes stored somewhere or know where to find them for your files. Some files may contain their own checksums although you will need something which can intepret the file and will inform you if there is a problem to check it. If the file doesn't contain any external error checking code you may be able to guess from strange errors when you intepret it, but it may not be possible to be certain it wasn't originally like that. Nil Einne (talk) 09:42, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

February 3

Infinite Loop with updates

So my dad's Vista laptop became seriously messed up for some reason, so Microcenter helped up reinstall Vista. For a while, it was working great. Then, I ran Windows Updates and it downloaded 106 "critical updates." Now, when I try to boot up, the screen says "Installing updates- Stage 3 of . 0 percent" and then it will shut down. I've ran safe mode and repair mode, but I still can't break this cycle and get it to load completely. Any ideas? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.229.194.243 (talk) 02:38, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

It will be time consuming, but you could reinstall Vista, make sure it runs, then do the first update, make sure it runs, etc., until you find the update causing the problem. Then you would reinstall Vista again, and install every update but the trouble maker. BTW, why can't you reinstall Vista on your own ? StuRat (talk) 03:21, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Try this and maybe read this. Von Restorff (talk) 03:30, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Well, I ended up reinstalling vista and getting it to work, but now the hard disk has failed, so it doesn't matter. Thanks anyway.71.229.194.243 (talk) 02:22, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Resolved

help to control TV with ipad2

Hi - OK this is my setup. I have my LCD TV (in another room) hooked up via HDMI to my Windows 7 PC. It works very well to watch videos on the TV, controlled via the PC desktop. So then I thought - why not remote desktop in to the PC so that I don't have to walk up and down from the PC to the TV? So I enabled remote desktop on the PC, and downloaded Remote Desktop Lite for the ipad2. Now this works like a dream on the ipad screen - but unfortunately it 'transfers' the desktop to the ipad and all I see on the PC is the windows password entry box - which reflects on the TV! How do I fix this please? Or are there other ideas to remotely control a PC or TV setup like mine with the ipad2? Sandman30s (talk) 09:22, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Transfers? 190.60.93.218 (talk) 13:14, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

That's expected behaviour with remote desktop. You can use VNC if you want your PC display to mirror what's on the iPad VNC client. Alternatively there are hackish ways you can allow simultaneous users on Windows non server editions which may violate the EULA, which means you can be logged in on the iPad as an independent user while stil having the other user viewable via the TV, although it doesn't sound like that's what you want. Of course you could also just buy a wireless keyboard and mouse and perhaps remote control an not worry about the iPad or doing funny things like running back to the PC to control the TV. You can also get plenty of tools to use an Android device to remote control the PC (as a remote control rather then simplying mirror the display and acting as a keyboard and mouse), I presume the same exists for the iPad as well. In addition, many decent HTPC apps for Windows like MediaPortal have Android phone and iPhone (so I presume iPad) remote control apps. I'm guessing even the crappy Windows Media Centre has some. Nil Einne (talk) 13:51, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. It seems VNC is $25... do you know if the $5 Splashtop can do the same thing. It's not clear whether VNC or Splashtop blanks the remote screen in order to activate it on the ipad.Sandman30s (talk) 14:11, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

If you are using Windows Media Center to play video, there are several remote applications available to control any media playing as well as doing some navigation. If you aren't, there are also trackpad+keyboard apps you can use assuming the TV is in sight. Both these would eliminate any risk of blanking or moving into the non-aero mode (usually disrupting playback). 206.131.39.6 (talk) 17:23, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Jumbo frames in gigabit ethernet switches

My 5? year old 8 port 3Com 3CGSU08 gigabit ethernet switch is dying (first it barely worked with anything fast ethernet, now it often dies and has to be reset/restarted every 10 minutes or so on occasion) so I'm looking for a new unmanaged 8 port gigabit switch. I normally use (9K) jumbo frames and while I've never tested to see how much of a difference it makes, I'd prefer to maintain it if it doesn't cost too much.

A lot of people seem to warn about making sure your gigabit switch supports jumbo frames even nowadays which confuses me, as I'm having trouble working out why some switches don't support jumbo frames (allegedly). For example the Realtek RTL8370 is allegedly [6] used in a lot of ultra cheap Chinese unmanaged 8 port switches. And it seems to be one of their only current 8 port switch chipsets, yet it's supposed to support jumbo frames (although I know you can't always rely on their website for this sort of thing, as there are sometimes variants and older models still widely available or in production which aren't listed). I found at least one switch which I think uses a Realtek 8370 (although it could be an older Realtek) but some sellers say it doesn't support jumbo frames. While I don't know what the Tenda G1008D uses, some representative of the manufacturer has said it doesn't support jumbo frames [7]. (I'm actually not sure what modern gigabit switch chipset doesn't support jumbo frames.) Even this 2007 Smallnetbuilder review [8] with a bunch of cheapish switches didn't have any switch without jumbo frames (although admitedly they actually asked for jumbo frames support).

Anyway my main question is, am I right that most every modern switch, even the cheap crap ones probably support jumbo frames? I.E. The idea many modern ultracheap SOHO gigabit switches don't support it is largely a myth perhaps born out of fairly old history (if it was ever true). Probably combined with the fact many SOHO or home routers don't support jumbo frames on the router portion (the switch usually does from what I can tell). And some manufacturers either can't be bothered to spec their devices for jumbo frames (in case it has problems or whatever) or just ill-informed sales staff.

Or is there something other then switch chipset support, like buffer memory size that prevents jumbo frame support? From what I can tell the only thing it should do is reduce throughput in some cases due to the need to resend packets if the memory gets full, well unless your memory is so small you can't even fit one measly jumbo frame I guess.

P.S. I understand there is more to chipset then jumbo frame support and much more to design then chipset.

Nil Einne (talk) 13:42, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

HTML + JS + CSS

How did these three standards become so prevalent in web development? Were historically other alternatives? Are there other alternatives at the present to work without them and produce descent result? Besides putting a complete Flash presentation instead of a HTML page). How many browsers can deal with them?WKB52 (talk) 13:58, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

see HTML, JS and CSS. (Btw See here)190.60.93.218 (talk) 14:37, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

These articles don't explain the history, how many browsers. I don't just want to know about hmtl, js and css, but how they interact and became prevalent. — Preceding unsigned comment added by WKB52 (talk • contribs) 14:41, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Flash is not an alternative for a HTML page! Please use Flash only for small animations. Websites made in Flash generally suck, and no one likes visiting them. At present there are no real alternatives that produce decent results with similar functionality. They became so prevalent because it is quite logical to go from plain text to text with markup to text with markup and style and a bit of programming; it evolved. All browsers that are still used today can deal with HTML, even text-based web browsers who ignore graphic content, e.g. Lynx (web browser). Von Restorff (talk) 14:45, 3 February 2012 (UTC) p.s. This guy tried to make an alternative to HTML.

One thought is to realize that it wasn't like everyone was using the same HTML, JS, or CSS standards all the time. (Ergo the browser wars.) Each of those standards has historically been a mash of competing implementations. As for alternatives, JScript was never quite the same thing exactly as Javascript, and Dart is a new attempt by Google to create an alternative to Javascript. We'll see if it takes off. A key thing to remember here is that all of these client-side standards need to be interpreted by the web browsers. So the key question is whether the browsers have ever supported other standards, not whether other standards have existed. You can definitely embed alternative media into pages as long as there are browser plugins to support them — Flash, Java, SilverLight, whatever. The popularity of these have waxed and waned. In the late 1990s people were talking about how Flash would replace HTML, but it didn't happen, in part because designing coherent Flash interfaces is hard, and because there are lots of performance issues. But you could do it. Again, the question is what the browsers support. --Mr.98 (talk) 18:58, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

In the context of the web, HTML has been there from day one - there was never any competition there. CSS is more of an evolution of HTML (splitting off the formatting) than a real parallel development, and hasn't seen any real alternatives either. As for scripting, JavaScript grew out of the competition between Netscape and Internet Explorer (the Browser wars), with Microsoft first calling their JavaScript variant JScript, and also offering VBScript as an alternative client-side scripting language. Unilynx (talk) 19:22, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

I had forgot about VBScript; it serves as a full-fledged alternative to Javascript... but is only usable with Internet Explorer. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:22, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

There aren't any alternatives at the same level, because standardization is hard enough as it is. Multiple competing languages being standardized by multiple competing organizations would be a nightmare. (See W3C and Ecma International for the organizations that mediate the process.) With a single language per purpose, and a desire on the part of browser vendors to be seen as standards-compliant, it's possible to make Web applications and websites that will work for anyone.

However, you don't have to write in those languages directly. CoffeeScript, for example, is a language designed to compile to JavaScript, and dozens of existing-language-to-JS compilers are sprouting up these days. Similarly, you can write code to emit HTML or CSS in your favorite language. Paul (Stansifer) 23:53, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Interestingly, html and css as it exists today was simply intelligently designed. This was done as an ALTERNATIVE to the mess that was evolving! (dhtml of a bygone era). 79.122.90.56 (talk) 20:59, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

I find the "it was natural" comments to be kind of silly. There have been lots of changes to HTML because it wasn't so natural (poor BLINK tag, you will be missed, but more seriously, the fact that HTML by itself was really lousy for complicated layouts and has a lot of opportunities for blurring the lines between structure and appearance), and there are lots of issues with CSS making certain types of layouts difficult for no good reason (column layouts are still a huge pain in CSS, despite their prevalence on the web). Neither are "natural" or necessarily the smartest solutions out there. One can imagine lots of different data schemes that would be better for the web. Just because we're used to something doesn't mean it's the only way things had to be. Someday (probably pretty soon) people will be looking back at these standards as arbitrary and primitive. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:22, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Private use Area (unicode)

When designing a font, you can put whatever you want?? (ON private use area of course) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.60.93.218 (talk) 14:10, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

If it's meant to be useful no. — Preceding unsigned comment added by WKB52 (talk • contribs) 14:30, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

_{lol --190.60.93.218 (talk) 14:34, 3 February 2012 (UTC)}

Can someone recommend a good text editor with on-the-fly spelling checking?

I hate Word (because it's way too bloated) and have been using TextPad for years. TextPad is nice, but what I'd really love is a text editor that does Word-like spell checking on the fly with those red squiggely lines. Does such a thing exist? I prefer freeware. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 15:27, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

gedit will (check tools->autoCheckSpelling). -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 16:07, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

emacs will (with the flyspell mode); that's already installed on my system so I just needed to to M-x flyspell-mode to enable it. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 16:15, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Well, GNU emacs will; I've not texted other emacsen like Xemacs -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 16:22, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

kate will (tools->automaticSpellChecking). -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 16:19, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

EditPad from JGSoft is what I use. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 16:46, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

If you hate downloading http://www.google.com/search?q=online+spell+check --190.60.93.218 (talk) 18:53, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

tracing ip addresses?

would it be possible to trace what ip addresses access a website? Heck froze over (talk) 20:31, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

how much money do you have and/or are you a government or tech company, or do you at least work in the IT field either as an individual with sensitive access (or potential to nab it)? On the other hand, every web site more or less gets to see what IP's access it. If you can 'root' a web site (poor security) as an outsider, or in fact operate the web site yourself (owner) then you could see the IP's. If you have no money, are not a government or tech company, are not an IT worker, have no hacking skills, and are not the owner or know them, then no: you can't see what IP's access a web site. Unless you subpoena it!  :) --79.122.90.56 (talk) 20:50, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

An even easier way on many sites is to inline some kind of IMG tag that links to something on your own server, and then just look at your own stats. You'll be able to see the IP of anyone who views the images on whatever page you get that posted on. Not too hard for web forums and things like that. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:24, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

ＷＯＷ Very clever I must say... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.158.184.192 (talk) 22:55, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

How did you get those big W's and O's? Even on edit mode in a plain text field it looks bigger than a normal capital W next to it. Is it some Unicode characters involved in surprise, or is the whole alphabet available? 94.27.229.238 (talk) 23:39, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Very good point. It even works in email! (which is why gmail disables loading remote images until authorized). Web bugs they call it -- and they can be completely undetectalbe, for example varying the order of path names that really don't exist but just uniquely encode your email (to see who opened it). 94.27.229.238 (talk) 23:39, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

If it's your own website, it's really easy. If it's someone else's website, it requires you getting access to their server logs or server variables, which is not as easy. --Mr.98 (talk) 22:23, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Replacing LEDs with normal diodes

I have a question I'm hoping someone can help me with. I'm trying to create from scratch a smaller version of a battery charger I have (creating a new PCB and mounting its original components on it), for the purpose of embedding it in a pair of USB powered speakers. The charger has two rows of three resistors. At one end, the three resistors of each group are connected together. On the other end they are connected as follows: resistor, LED, resistor, LED, resistor

Given that LEDs are diodes and share the same characteristics, can I replace the LEDs in those arrays with normal diodes?

Basic outline of that part of the schematic is as follows:

           LED  LED
          ->|- ->|-
         |    |    |
        .-.  .-.  .-.
        | |  | |  | |
        | |  | |  | |
        '-'  '-'  '-'
         |    |    |
          ---- ----  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.116.4.73 (talk) 21:56, 3 February 2012 (UTC) 

Restart after installation

Why do you have to restart your computer sometimes after installing a program? Does it happen in both Linux and Windows? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.8.70.5 (talk) 22:06, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

They add programs that only execute at start-up, perhaps to do things like check for updates. They could run them immediately after install, too, but having two ways to run things makes it more complicated and prone to error, so they prefer to just have you reboot to run them. StuRat (talk) 22:45, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Because sometimes the files they want to change are in use by the operating system. On Linux it happens too, but it is very rare, on Windows it happens much more frequently. Von Restorff (talk) 23:40, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

1. Ok, let's say that the program has to change a DLL that's in use. Wouldn't that be too risky for the working of other programs? Why not have a new version of this DLL? 2. In Linux I have only found OS upgrades and such to be in need of a re-boot. (where the reason is more evident). 88.8.70.5 (talk) 00:14, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

1: We even have an article about that kind of stuff; DLL Hell. Macintosh has a different (read: better) system. 2: Exactly. But in many cases that Windows software asks for a full reboot it is actually not really necessary to do it, sometimes ignoring it is OK and sometimes restarting explorer.exe is enough. Von Restorff (talk) 02:00, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

How to make a generator using HTML

It doesn't have to be html, but the simpler the better. Plus I have to be able to make it for free and people have to be able to access it in-browser.

I want to code a generator that creates characters. The user clicks a button, and a character is generated. It'll have to be able to select from different hair, eye, skin colors, etc.

This seems simple enough, but I have no coding experience. How would I do this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 169.231.8.149 (talk) 23:49, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

This seems rather complicated for no coding experience. The simplest way I can think of, with a small number of combinations, is to have a page for each question, then a page for each combo. So, first question is skin color, then depending on what they answer for that you take them to a page showing just that skin color and asking for eye color. Depending on their answer, that takes them to a page with the skin color and eye color shown, then asks for hair color, etc. This can all be done with HTML (but, of course, you will need to upload the pictures). Note that the number of combos can quickly grow out of control, though. Say you have just 4 attributes (skin color, eye color, hair texture, and hair color), with 3 possibilities in each case, you'd have 3×3×3×3 or 81 combos. Add gender (hopefully with 2 possibilities) and you have 162 combos. And in this simple approach, you will need a page for not only each of those 162 combos, but many intermediate steps, too. The back button on their browser would allow them to undo their previous selections automatically. Note that some decision trees may be shorter than others. For example, if the character is bald, there's no point in asking about hair color, and if female, there's hopefully no need to ask about facial hair.

Another approach, if you want to skip showing intermediate faces, is to list all the possible combos on one master page. Then, if they click the link for "White, blue-eyed, curly blond female", it takes them directly to the page with that picture. They may have to scroll through a rather long list to find the one they want, though. In-page links for the first characteristic asked might reduce the scrolling a bit. StuRat (talk) 00:02, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

HTML is a markup language, not a programming language. Though, as StuRat points out, there's a way to do this without programming, this is sort of a complicated task. Web programming has some unfortunate muckery associated with it, so it's not a great place to start learning (though I wouldn't be surprised if this were starting to change).

If you want to learn to program, you probably won't be able to do the particular things that you want to do right away. The good news is that there are some cool things along the way to mastery, the same way beginning musicians don't spend all their time practicing scales. The curriculum that my school uses is called How to Design Programs, and the textbook is free online. They also made a point of including graphics stuff in the excercises, so that you don't spend all your time looking at text. (Not that text isn't cool! Some of my best friends are Unicode characters!) Paul (Stansifer) 01:14, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

February 4

Making a hard disk non-bootable

Hard disk upgrade time! I love this time. I've left my old Vista hard disk in my Windows PC and set up Windows 7 on the new hard disk, like I always do. I set up the new hard disk in the BIOS to have boot priority. Oddly, today when I walked up and un-slept the computer, it had apparently restarted and booted off the old Vista drive despite the boot priority. I was thinking that maybe the new drive had taken a while to spin up at boot time for some reason, so the BIOS just skipped over to the Vista drive and booted.

I would like to make the old hard disk nonbootable (but I want to keep the partition and all its files intact as I gradually move needed stuff over to the new hard disk). Googling, surprisingly, hasn't really helped with this task that I would have thought was simple — all my Google results helpfully tell me how to repair the MBR or fix problems where the computer is supposed to boot but does not. Thanks for any help. Comet Tuttle (talk) 02:16, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Can't you set it in the BIOS to not be bootable ? The other alternative, I suppose, is to delete some bits from the hard disk used in the boot process, but that might produce an error at bootup. StuRat (talk) 02:49, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

CPU heating concern

Hello! It's my first time building a computer. I bought an Intel i5 Sandy Bridge processor and am running Ubuntu. I've been compressing a 150+ GB file with pbzip2 which is able to utilize all 4 cores. When I check the CPU temp sensor while compressing, I get concerned because all four cores are at or just below 98.0 °C, which is the listed critical value according to the Ubuntu $ sensors command. The processor seems to be throttling to not exceed that critical threshold, but could I have made a mistake in the build? Is it normal for the processor to get this hot when it is being fully utilized? I double-checked the heatsink fan (came with the processor) and it appears securely fastened above the processor. Oddly, if I put my finger close to the heatsink fan, the air is cool even when the CPU is reported to be quite hot (I was expecting it to feel more like a laptop fan vent, which seem to be habitually quite warm). Even after I kill the compression task, the CPU still reports values 93 - 94 °C 5 to 10 minutes afterward. Is this bad for the processor to be operating at such high temperatures? Thank you for any advice of insight into this problem.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 02:41, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Sounds to me like the sensor is bad and should be replaced. StuRat (talk) 02:46, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

Just to update, over 40 minutes after cancelling the compression, and having done nothing since then but browse the web, the CPU is still report >90°C temperatures. When I first turned on the PC and immediately called $ sensors in Ubuntu, the temperatures were only 40-50°C. Not sure what temperatures to expect, but I guess those would be believable (but still perhaps a bit high) for startup. For reference, calling # sensors-detect in Ubuntu recognizes what it calls the "Intel digital thermal sensor" and uses the "driver 'coretemp'" to access it.--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 03:20, 4 February 2012 (UTC)