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Contents 1 June 6 1.1 Best website builder? 1.2 USB flash drives 1.3 PDMan98 1.4 Importing MPEG files 1.5 Recovery from a CompactFlash card 1.6 Windows 1.7 DLL 1.8 Macros in Word documents 1.9 Reparing damaged file: inserting DWORD 1.10 what speed gear should i use for stick arena and what is the best browser to use for stick arena? 1.11 Bjarne Stroustrup' name in the list 2 June 7 2.1 The night sky in Gimp 2.2 Power DVD 2.3 Palatino font 2.4 sound card in Ubuntu 2.5 Creation date 2.6 computer 2.7 Graphics: drop of some liquid 2.8 Fedora 9 Live on USB stick 2.9 IMDb 2.10 New computer...architectural scheme? 2.11 New video card issue 2.12 Developing Flash in Flash 8/9 or with Eclipse 2.13 Automatic Update for Windows XP - How to stop it? 2.14 Startup sounds on Windows and KDE 2.15 finding my post on the RD 3 June 8 3.1 Program to save audio (micro and headphone) 3.2 awesome mozilla tools 3.3 Messenger: Personal Messages 3.4 June calendar of events 3.5 Why is frequency division used in microprocessors? 3.6 TrueCrypt reliability 3.7 Broken WNR834b v1 3.8 MediaWiki 3.9 Music Programs 3.10 Time Machine and Airport Extreme 4 June 9 4.1 I must be a complete moron 4.2 Programming simple macros with open source program 4.3 convert command-line program into GUI program 4.4 64-bit 4.5 Dial up connection for CDMA Telephones 4.6 Buying an email address 4.7 Squid 4.8 Are multiple backup of encrypted data easier to decipher? 4.9 Wiki-ness of a wiki 4.10 Password protecting web directory 4.11 Flickr: What's the catch? 4.12 windows Xp on Vista laptop? 4.13 Automatically mount data CDs in Kubuntu 4.14 .RAR Help 4.15 DDR2 vs. GDDR3 4.16 linux 4.17 PayPal Account 5 June 10 5.1 Want to know more about SWF Decompiler Premium 5.2 linux 5.3 ubuntu cd 5.4 But my pg_hba.conf DOES have "local all all trust"! 5.5 utm forum names 5.6 An example of good C code? 5.7 Can corrupt photos offloaded from an xD card be recovered? 5.8 Bluetooth application for Symbian mobile phone 5.9 GPS on iPhone II? 5.10 Is osdisc.com legit? 5.11 Internet problem 5.12 Free open-source CAD program 5.13 My UMTS provider is shortcharging me: how can I prove that it is doing it? 6 June 11 6.1 Ubuntu programming 6.2 Opera Master Password 6.3 Program 6.4 Keyboard protector 6.5 Ipod Touch/WinSCP 6.6 Dynamic IP for WebSite 6.7 Most advanced file compression? 6.8 Most advanced video codec? 6.9 language support for internet explorer of windows mobile 6.10 iphone unlocking 6.11 fragmentation 6.12 Making a symmetric matrix 6.13 Posting a file without exposing myself to spambots 7 June 12 7.1 Lightweight desktop Linux 7.2 DLLs 7.3 GoLive Woes 7.4 WebSite with WWW or without? 7.5 Help me debug this program please!

[edit] June 6

[edit] Best website builder?

I'm disapointed that the article on website builders is so short and brief. Couldnt there be a comparison of website builder software, as with other software? I do not know how to do this myself. Website builders include: BlueVoda Piczo Moonfruit mobi Web Piston and others.

And what is the best free website builder that does not tie you in to a host please? 80.2.205.84 (talk) 00:04, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

It sounds like you know enough to improve that article. Please go ahead! But do make sure that everything you put in it is referenced, not original research. (Hint: if it makes any attempt to say what is the 'best', it's probably OR. If it quotes several published sources as saying that something is the best, then it is not OR) --ColinFine (talk) 21:40, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] USB flash drives

±—Can the average USB flash drive hold more

than 80 billion characters?

63.3.12.2 (talk) 02:41, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

A character is easily stored in one byte. A gigabyte can easily store 1 billion bytes, regardless of if you are using the real definition or the marketing definition of "gigabyte". To store 80 billion bytes (characters), you need 80 gigabytes. There are many USB flash drives that are over 80 gigabytes. They aren't those tiny ones you can slip in your pocket though. -- kainaw™ 02:54, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Really? Where are there USB flash drives that can hold over 80 gigabytes? (Were you thinking about USB hard drives, most of which are not flash based.) And for nitpicking, 80 billion characters is technically 74.51 gigabytes cause of the whole 1024 thing, and that's only if you don't use multi-byte characters. But short answer is, no. (Addendum) Of course, this is not taking into consideration compression either. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 03:18, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

This one is about 10 GB short (using the above 74.51 number), but is actually a "USB flash drive". Chris M. (talk) 03:40, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

kainaw has already specifically addressed the 1024 issue. I don't really agree with the way he addressed it, though - Gigabyte is ambiguous in common usage, and according to this, 10⁹ (which I believe is the "marketing" definition) is the correct definition. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 08:25, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Technically, a Gigabyte in the sense of 2³⁰ Bytes would be called a Gibibyte. --Alx xlA (talk) 04:05, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

What kind of characters, and can we use compression? --Prestidigitator (talk) 19:54, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Assuming standard English text and a decent compression algorithm, you should be able to store 80 billion characters on a 20-GB flash drive: Data compression#Comparative. --Carnildo (talk) 20:20, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] PDMan98

I recently Came across this peculiar error while packaging a vb6 code. The packaging wizard doesnt respond after the step of including certain drivers and when i close it using a task manager, it says microsoft closed this program due to a recursive program PDMan98. What does this mean? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lokthegreat (talk • contribs) 06:22, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Importing MPEG files

Why does the error 'The file C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Pictures\12-16-2007\20070630200825.mpg cannot be imported because the codec required to play the file is not installed on your computer. If you have already tried to download and install the codec, close and restart Windows Movie Maker, and then try to import the file again.' appear whenever I try to import mpeg files into Windows Movie Maker v2.1? What codec do i need to install? Where to install the codec? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Invisiblebug590 (talk • contribs) 06:55, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

One tool you can use to find out which codec was used for your MPG file is GSpot. Some others are mentioned in the Video codec article. After you have determined what is missing, you can then search for and download it, or you can download and install a client such as VLC media player which comes with a large selection of codecs. --LarryMac | Talk 20:37, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

If that didn't work, you can try these free codecs Sandman30s (talk) 21:22, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Recovery from a CompactFlash card

Yes, I screwed up the content of a 1GB CF card.

Briefly, I plugged the CF card into a Mac (new version of OS X) and selected a pile of photos for copying into a directory on the desktop, but must have mistimed my mouseclicks or something as the swirly icon (Apple's Tibetan replacement for an hourglass?) started up and I waited and waited and waited and waited while I suppose the OS tried to display the whole lot simultaneously. After a very long wait I got a message saying that I shouldn't have unplugged the device (I hadn't unplugged it, and for that matter the access light of the any digicam-card-to-USB-adapter was still on) and a pile of messages each saying that file such-and-such wasn't displayable.

According to Mac OS X, the CF card has retained its previous directory structure but the directory that should have the goodies has a single, zero-byte file, with a gibberish name and dated 1904.

According to Winvista, the CF card has the directory structure and the directory that has the goodies has three files each named "P", two of which are zero-kilobyte and dated 1980, the third 1312KB and not dated at all.

I have access to a Linux machine but I don't suppose that KDE would work miracles. Clearly vital info has been scrambled.

Does either Winvista or Mac or your average Linux distro come with a utility that attempts to rebuild screwed up FAT32 (is it?) filesystems? Is there worthwhile free (speech/beer) software for the job? Whether or not I get anything off this card, should I then bother to reformat it and use it, or does the fact that the access light was on for ages imply that it has been thrashed beyond its reliable life?

Thanks for any tips. These might of course include links to a good discussion somewhere else. (Of course Google is my friend, but I find it hard to google for any practical computer info; there's so much promotion and chitchat and not much disinterested lucidity.)

Incidentally this card is branded "pqi" and was rather cheaper than other brands. Perhaps wrongly, I'd assumed that differences where merely in branding and marketing, and perhaps also in access speed (but only a matter for concern if I took lots of photos in quick succession). Did I make a false economy? Morenoodles (talk) 08:55, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

See PhotoRec. --212.149.217.163 (talk) 09:43, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Yay! Got it, it's working right now on another machine. Thank you! (Can I award "barnstars" here?) Morenoodles (talk) 10:12, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

PS Perfection. The whole lot restored.

This is my kind of software: unpretentious, effective, and free. I vote Christophe Grenier for god. Morenoodles (talk) 10:32, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Windows

Why is Windows 98 more successful than the later and more graphically improved Windows ME? Interactive Fiction Expert/Talk to me 09:23, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Do you mean more commercially successful? If so, I'd guess that rumors of ME's bugginess had something to do with it. Morenoodles (talk) 09:31, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Must admit I never understood this "Windows Me is crap" from everyone else. I used Me for a long while and had very few problems with it, though I do wish I hadn't upgraded to Internet Explorer 6 - now that really was a buggy pile of crap :-) Astronaut (talk) 16:49, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Windows 98 was a huge functional update to Windows 95. Many programs required you upgrade to Windows 98 very shortly after it came out (which is why I stopped using Windows. I refused to buy Windows 98.) Windows ME looked prettier, but I didn't see anyone being forced to upgrade in order to run the latest programs. So, since the upgrade wasn't required, not many people did it. It is kind of strange that the XP-Vista is going the opposite way. People are being told to hold off on Vista because their programs won't run on it. I'm not sure why Microsoft didn't do a "98" again and get all the software to be Vista-dependent, forcing everyone to upgrade. -- kainaw™ 18:12, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Easy. Because, if they did that, everyone would switch to OS X or Ubuntu. It's not like the Windows 98 days, where all the non-geeks used Windows because there were no reasonable alternatives. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 01:58, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Yep. Wubi makes it so easy to get going with Ubuntu. I did not even update my backups before I went ahead and installed Ubuntu on top of XP^SP2 the Wubi way. Kushal (talk) 05:02, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

I experienced the crappiness at first hand. Having pulled the secretary's brand new Windows Me laptop out of its expanded polyester packaging, tossed the "EULA" in the trash, etc., I turned the machine on and then went straight into "Sounds" in order to turn them all off. When I tried to save the new settings, Windows froze. Great start! Morenoodles (talk) 05:28, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] DLL

I am trying to use an emulator. Everytime I try to run the emulator, an error message pops up saying that a DLL file called "burutter" was not found. How can I fix this problem? Interactive Fiction Expert/Talk to me 09:23, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

forums.ngemu.com Morenoodles (talk) 09:37, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

I looked at that very site earlier today and it didn't help at all. Interactive Fiction Expert/Talk to me 09:53, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps you could say how it didn't help. For a start, have you downloaded the file and put it wherever your particular version of Windows collects DLL files? Morenoodles (talk) 10:01, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Where does it collect DLL files? Interactive Fiction Expert/Talk to me 10:41, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

I don't know. Isn't there some directory of C: called WINDOWS or WINNT or similar? (You might start by saying which version of Windows you're using) Morenoodles (talk) 10:47, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

What version am I using? Are you kidding? Ha! I am using XP! Why do you think I would be using, for instance, 95 or 98? Though I do have to admit I like those old Windows versions better... Interactive Fiction Expert/Talk to me 13:10, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Well, you could be using Vista. The more information you give us, the more quickly we can answer your questions. In your original post, you don't even specify it is Windows—one has to figure that out from the fact that you are using DLLs at all—and you don't bother to tell us the name of the emulator (so we have to figure that one out too). If you put too many hurdles in front of answering the question, it won't get answered. Remember, we don't know you, or your computer, at all. The more information you can give us, the fewer assumptions we have to make. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:05, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

He could also still be using 2000,it still has some popularity and is still largely computable with current software. --APL (talk) 03:45, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Have you tried just downloading the dll and putting it in the ePSXe directory (I'm assuming that's what you use, the anon above me really is correct, more information give the better answers you'll get)? You can find it here, for instance. Put it in the directory of the emulator executable, and see what happens 83.250.202.36 (talk) 16:34, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

You could always search your PC for other DLL files and see where the OS has put them. The error message might give a clue as to where the program is looking for the file. Astronaut (talk) 07:47, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Most DLLs in Windows XP are placed in the C:\WINDOWS\system32 directory. Sometimes application-specific DLLs are also placed in an application's folder (e.g., C:\Program Files\[Application]\[file.dll]).--Hello. I'm new here, but I'm sure I can help out. (talk) 07:54, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Macros in Word documents

Hello all. I've been using a Word template (.dot) that someone created for me ages ago, that contains about fifteen complex macros. I want to start using it on a different project, which means I want to change the header, the footer, a few words on the document, and so on. However, when I change these headers, and save the template as a new template, the macros have all disappeared. How can I edit the template without losing the macros? This is on MS Word 2002. Thanks. Neıl 龱 13:09, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

If you've still got the old template with the macros, you can copy the macros from the old one to the new by doing this:

• Open the old template in Word.
• Press Alt+F11, and Visual Basic should start. There should be a list of the components of the project, which should include an entry something like TemplateProject and then whatever your template's called. Expand this entry if it isn't already (click the + by it) and you should see an entry labelled Modules. Expand this too, and you should see one or more "modules" - collections of macros.
• For each module, right-click it then click Export File... which will save the module. (Pick a different name for each module.)
• Now open the new template, start Visual Basic, click the TemplateProject entry for the new template, click the File menu then Import File... then click one of the modules you saved and click Open. Do this for all the modules you saved. Expand the Modules entry and check you've got all the modules you had on the old template. You should now be able to save the new template with the modules attached (I advise you to do this using the File menu, and to check it's going to save the right template!).

This doesn't actually answer your question, but I hope it'll do as a workaround! AJHW (talk) 12:28, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Reparing damaged file: inserting DWORD

I know that I have to do the following (to repair a file):

In the first position a NULL DWORD(4 bytes) is needed.
In the second position two NULL DWORDs are needed.
After I inserted those values Flash 8 opens the file successfully.

But, how can it be done? I have UltraEdit Professional Hex Editor. Do I need other programs? GoingOnTracks (talk) 16:54, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Any hex editor should work. The problem is the instructions: are they asking you to insert four 00 bytes at the first position, or overwrite four bytes at the first position with 00s? Same with the second step: is it inserting eight 00 bytes, or overwriting eight 00 bytes? --Carnildo (talk) 20:29, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Remember to create a backup first :) --h2g2bob (talk) 21:48, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Thank you all so far. Well, when I open the file with a hex editor I get this:

00000000h: D0 CF 11 E0 A1 B1 1A (...); ÐÏ�ࡱ�á
00000010h: 00 (...)

What is the DWORD? Just D? or the ÐÏ�ࡱ�á at the end? Or something else? GoingOnTracks (talk) 13:37, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

In your initial post it was defined as four bytes (Intel and AMD also use this definition), so it is "D0 CF 11 E0". See Hexadecimal. MTM (talk) 15:05, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

To further clarify, a "NULL DWORD" would be a DWORD - 4 bytes - of NULLs, basically binary 0s. So if the "first position" in the instructions is the line you pasted from your Hex Editor, you need to either insert or overwrite 4 bytes with hexadecimal 00 - as Carnildo says, it's not clear which.

So you'd end up with either:

00000000h: 00 00 00 00 A1 B1 1A (...)

or:

00000000h: 00 00 00 00 D0 CF 11 (...)
00000010h: E0 A1 B1 1A 00 (...)

(The text representation on the right-hand side of your Hex Editor is just for reference - if this was a file intended to interpret as text, you'd be able to see it there; what you need to edit is the pairs of hexadecimal digits, each of which represents one byte of the file) - IMSoP (talk) 17:44, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Thank you all!GoingOnTracks (talk) 20:02, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] what speed gear should i use for stick arena and what is the best browser to use for stick arena?

i have vista and i really need one that will work,thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gothmafia (talk • contribs) 17:40, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

Is this the XGen Stick Arena we're talking about? If it is, then have you thought about not cheating? As for the second question, If found IE works just fine, but anything else should be just as good. Paragon12321 (talk) 18:56, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Bjarne Stroustrup' name in the list

Why the name of Bjarne Stroustrup was not included? 68.145.74.166 (talk) 18:16, 6 June 2008 (UTC)Raveendran

You're going to have to give us a clue about which list you're talking about. This is the Computing Reference Desk for all of Wikipedia (and beyond). --LarryMac | Talk 18:31, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] June 7

[edit] The night sky in Gimp

I took a photo of the night sky. But the stars are too faint. How can I use Gimp or ImageMagick Convert to brighten the stars? --Masatran (talk) 00:55, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure if GIMP has it, but in Photoshop, there's a contrast editor and adjust curves (see here). (addendum) And looking around a bit, it seems like GIMP has a curves feature too. See this page too. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:01, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Another method :On the menu for that image click Tools/Color tools/Levels. You'll see a histogram and below That a color line. Try sliding around The Three arrows pointing to The color Line. Especially the middle one. You may want to first use a selection tool To Select The sky. --APL (talk) 03:33, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

You may also want to make the stars appear larger, by blurring or fattening them out a bit. In reality the star surface will be as bright as the sun, but you won't get a monitor that bright! Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:36, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Playing around with the tools in the Colors menu. Brightness/contrast may be all you need. It's probably the simplest way to edit a photo while still maintaining its genuineness. --Russoc4 (talk) 01:47, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Power DVD

A DVD that previously played on my laptop now only prompts the message, "A problem has caused Power DVD to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is found." The problem is not the DVD; it works fine on my TV's DVD player and on my sister's laptop. The problem is not my laptop; I got other DVDs to play just fine. The problem is this particular DVD on this particular computer. I can't make any other program play the DVD; they all switch over to Power DVD, which promptly gives me the aforementioned error message and shuts itself down. Any ideas? Cherry Red Toenails (talk) 01:02, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Sounds like PowerDVD might be the problem. Try disabling autoplay if you have it on, if it's automatically opening PowerDVD when you insert the disk. Instead, open some other program like Windows Media Player and playing the DVD from there (in WMP10, you go to the "Play" menu and select "DVD, VCD or CD audio"). --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:06, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

How do I disable autoplay? That does seem to be happening, because when I open it on WMP, it automatically shuts down and opens up Power DVD. How can I change that? Cherry Red Toenails (talk) 01:41, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

A free, old program called Windows Media Player Classic is really good for playing DVDs that other software won't play. One way to get the classic player (which I have to use to watch the Gilligan's Island seasons on my PC), is to download K-lite Codec Pack. The codec pack is free, just Google it, and the classic player should come with it. Useight (talk) 02:04, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, that worked great! Cherry Red Toenails (talk) 02:16, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Palatino font

1. Where can I get a free copy of Palatino font in TrueType format?
2. It is classified as serif; what would be a more specific classification?

--Masatran (talk) 02:13, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

It is old style serif. As for locating it... I don't think you can get a (totally legal) free copy of the font called Palatino (but it is often bundled free with operating systems), which is specifically a trademark font name of Linotype systems. There are many look-alike fonts, though. Book Antiqua is a common one. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 02:34, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

The article on Palatino lists some lookalike fonts. You can't get Palatino for free, but you probably have something nearly indistinguishable already on your computer. rspeer / ɹəədsɹ 07:37, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Windows has Book Antiqua and Palatino Linotype since XP, both in TrueType format. URW Palladio is available freely for non-commercial use in this format at [1] and in Type 1 with GhostScript. A better (more glyphs, better Polish diacritics, small capitals and old style numbers) one is TeX Gyre Pagella in Type 1 or OpenType CFF. Mac OS X probably also has included Palatino lookalike. MTM (talk) 15:10, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] sound card in Ubuntu

Hello dears! I have a problem with my sound card in Ubuntu (all versions)my sound card didnot work it is ESS Audio Drive es1868f I know it is old but how can i make workable it , You people will help me thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.125.143.78 (talk) 06:52, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

If you've tried running alsaconf, what did it say? If not, what have you tried so far? Put more information in your query. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 07:54, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Please excuse us for being terse. You can learn more about alsaconf and the AlsaProject at http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Main_Page . Please come back if you have any questions. Kushal (talk) 13:41, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Thank you Kushal for the useful link but i am new user of linux and nothing know about tarz files etc i have downloaded the driver in the mentioned link but didnot know how to install it and second after installing alsamixer and running alsamixer as sudo it says(alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such file or director)and by running alsaconf it says no commond found.so please tell me more what i do next .thanx —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.125.143.75 (talk) 16:25, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

You're doing that the hard way. The driver and the alsaconf program are almost certainly included in Ubuntu (I know they're included in Debian) so you should not have to download anything separately. Just use the package manager to install alsa-utils. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 19:53, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

202, tcsetattr is probably right. You should try the package manager (under applications menu). If you cannot find it there (which would be really weird), you can always do apt-get install alsa-utils. Please feel free to hit back with any questions. Kushal (talk) 01:26, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

I am once again here Kushat!i cant find way to configure my sound card and by doing apt-get install alsa-utis it says (E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11 Resource temporarily unavailable) E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?)thanks in advance if you help me more i will be very thankful to you.because i hate windows and this is me usmanzia1 prevously forget my passwd ,sorry —Preceding unsigned comment added by Usmanzia1 (talk • contribs) 11:42, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Welcome back, Usmanzia (sounds more like a person than 202 does) Did you try installing from the graphical user interface (point and click rather than type in terminal). Does the list not show alsa-utils? Lets try this one more time. Please try sudo apt-get install alsa-utils. You will be asked for your root (administrator) password. Just a quick reminder, you should not run any command if you are unsure what it means or if you suspect the source. If you use Internet relay chat, channel Ubuntu on Freenode might be of help too. Kushal (talk) 15:58, 8 June 2008 (UTC)Í

[edit] Creation date

To my horror I discovered too late that by using the file system object in VB6 the original file creation date has been changed to reflect the date when the file was moved or copied to a new location rather than the actual creation date being retained. Is there anywhere in a Windows XP file that the real original creation date is retained? -- Taxa (talk) 08:41, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Both FAT and NTFS filesystems store creation and modification dates only in the file table. (My English isn't creative enough to explain why storing two creation dates would be useless.)

But if it's a Microsoft Office document, the creation date is stored in the metadata, which you can view in the "Summary" tab of file properties. (Click "Advanced >>")

--grawity 10:59, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Useless? I don't think so. Besides one date would be the actual and original creation date while the other would be the move or the copy date.

Why is this important? If you have a group of video files from several different cameras and want to view them in proper sequence or merge them at the end of the day according to creation date then you are screwed if Windows changes the original creation date when you move or copy the file. In plain English the reason this does not make sense is because the reason net time sync exists is to allow images recorded at different locations to be viewed in their proper sequence or merged accurately. Yet another reason why Windows sucks and Yahoo wants nothing to do with Microsoft. -- Taxa (talk) 16:35, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Unix does the same. Besides, there's a thing called EXIF, which allows dates (and much more) to be stored inside photos. (JPEG, that is.) --grawity 21:34, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] computer

need tutorials for the following topics

compiler writing tools , sort programs (a software tool) ,merge programs(software tool),iocs —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.1.232.192 (talk) 13:51, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Some tools useful for parsing are lex and bison. Sorting can be done by sort. Merge is an operation of most version control systems. All of these programs are described in Wikipedia and their articles lead to useful documentation. MTM (talk) 15:14, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Graphics: drop of some liquid

How can I create an image of some drops using graphical programs (like Gimp or Fireworks)?GoingOnTracks (talk) 15:52, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Fedora 9 Live on USB stick

So I finally managed to install Fedora 9 into my USB drive. (The previous version of the Windows tool, 2.4, didn't like my FAT32 formatted drive.)

After messing with Fedora a little (DSL, Firefox), I got "I/O error" while editing ~/.ssh/config with nano. On next try, it said "Read-only filesystem".

After switching to first terminal (tty1), I saw these errors:

EXT3-fs error (device dm-0): ext3_get_inode_loc: unable to read inode block - inode=26305, block=98671
EXT3-fs error (device dm-0): ext3_find_entry: reading directory #82040 offset 0
EXT3-fs error (device dm-0): ext3_find_entry: reading directory #82040 offset 0
EXT3-fs error (device dm-0): ext3_get_inode_loc: unable to read inode block - inode=86808, block=327987
EXT3-fs error (device dm-0): ext3_find_entry: reading directory #141311 offset 0

After reboot, it just dropped me into shell.

Ideas? --grawity 16:29, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] IMDb

Has anyone been able to get through to IMDb.com in the last 24 hours? I keep getting "server not found". Dismas|^(talk) 16:40, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Just checked and it works for me. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 16:44, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Hmm... Does now for me too. It hadn't for the last day or so. Dismas|^(talk) 17:26, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] New computer...architectural scheme?

So my computer is starting to get old, and although it still gets the job done, I'm thinking about getting a new computer. I briefly read through the 32-bit and 64-bit articles and it seems that 64-bit is better, despite having less software compatible with it. Is that assumption true? Also, what does "Platforms : x86-32, x64-64, EM64T...Version : x86/32bit | x64/64bit" mean? Because those are two options for the system I'm considering getting. Thank you for the help! --71.117.39.109 (talk) 19:20, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Unless you intend to use 4GB or more of RAM, the difference is relatively minor. All mainstream contemporary processors support 64-bit, so your choice is only with regards to the OS. This is not really a choice, as there are essentially no disadvantages to 64-bit (32-bit software runs on a 64-bit system; the only possible drawback is if for some reason the 64-bit version of the OS\software is more buggy). 32-bit architectures will have names such as x86 or x86-32. 64-bit architectures will have names such as amd64, x86-64, x64 or EM64T. The phrase you quote is difficult to decipher, if you found it online perhaps you can provide a link. We may be able to help you more if you specify which hardware and OS you are considering. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 19:48, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

ia32 is also seen referring to the 32 bit version. .froth. (talk) 05:12, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

But keep in mind that ia-64 is not the ordinary 64-bit architecture. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 12:37, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

I'd highly recommend you get a 64-bit, since future software is likely to increasingly move that direction. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 02:24, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] New video card issue

Hi, I just installed a new and improved video card -Geforce 8600 GT - but for some reason now when I play Counter Strike: Source at the optimum resolution the screen looks way different than it did with my old video card... The resolution on my desktop looks great, but now in CS: Source at maximum resolution the graphics seem way bigger/zoomed-in than they were before, and I can't change it to any better resolution. Any reason why this might be? 76.22.123.202 (talk) 20:39, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Maybe it's too obvious, but did you install the Nvidia drivers after putting the new card? If not, any number of things can go wrong. Also, I don't know about the particular game, but many games allow you to choose the zoom level, with the mouse wheel, through a menu or otherwise. Try to see if you can set it to how it was before. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 20:48, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the response. I did install the drivers and also re-installed the game. I'm honestly perplexed by it, the current highest resolution rate looks like a lower one on my old card in terms of the size of everything - even though the new card is better and my frames per second are better and all the textures look better... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.22.123.202 (talk) 21:01, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

In your Nvidia Control Panel, are your 3D settings set to default or do you have specific settings for CS:Source? Sometimes it's better to keep the default settings. Unless you're a gfx card fundi, let your software decide. If this is not it, then I'm out of ideas. Sometimes an older game will just refuse to work with a newer gfx card. I suspect there might be some older DirectX features that might be omitted or 'disabled' in newer cards. Sandman30s (talk) 21:37, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Default settings. Directx is up to date. Same issue with a newer game. Changing in-game resolution to my monitor's native resolution makes the graphics look a little better but in terms of size everything seems oversized like it's still at 800x600 instead of 1280x1024...I'm at a complete loss as to what the issue could be. 76.22.123.202 (talk) 02:19, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Sounds like you have an LCD, so setting your game resolution to the same x:y ratio would make it look sharper. However you have a really weird problem there. Try your card on another machine if you can? Sounds like a stuffed up graphics card. Or it could be a conflict with something in windows, very hard to say. I used something called ClearTweak once that made all my OS graphics larger - very annoying. Sandman30s (talk) 07:22, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Come to think of it, sounds more like a problem in your old card than with the new one. It makes sense that the game would want to keep your field of view constant (for balance reasons), with higher resolutions making stuff more detailed rather than smaller. Try once more to find a setting in the game for zoom level or field of vision. If none is found, take comfort in knowing that what you have know is probably what was meant to be. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 10:32, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Developing Flash in Flash 8/9 or with Eclipse

What is the difference between developing Adobe Flash with the Adobe Flash IDE and in Eclipse (software) with the plug-ins? I need to start learning ActionScript 3 and I have the Flash 8 version but don't feel like buying the Flash 9 version. Is Eclipse too much different?GoingOnTracks (talk) 21:10, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

You can compile ActionScript for nothing with the Flex SDK but it's not the same thing as working in Flash (you don't have a timeline, etc.). If you don't need Flash, just use Flex Builder. If you need Flash specific things, like being able to edit Flash files or need to use a stage (e.g. don't want to do everything programatically; in some cases, things like Tweening, fading, etc., are much easier to do as objects on the stage than they are through AS3), then you'll need Flash. So the answer depends, I guess, on what sorts of projects you're going to use it for. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 00:23, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Automatic Update for Windows XP - How to stop it?

I have a very old and very slow laptop which I am using until my other one gets fixed. However, the slowness is exacerbated by the fact that it is getting inundated with Windows Updates. It does it automatically and then asks me to restart. If I click 'later', then 5 minutes later it asks me again. It is very frustrating, and I end up restarting. I do this very reluctantly because it takes a long time to get to a point where the PC is usable again. It has taken me 40 minutes to get from the restart to writing this post. How do I stop these automatic updates? While we are on the subject, how do I stop the ones for Java Script (the most annoying and power consuming programming language ever) and for iTunes, Quicktime and whatever the other one that is bundled with it is? They all require restarting, and I can't be spending hours each day just doing that!--ChokinBako (talk) 22:27, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Start - Control Panel - system - automatic updates - turn off automatic updates (this is for windows). If your computer is so slow it might be best to get rid of quicktime and iTunes running in the background as they will be hogging your memory. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:43, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Javascript itself won't be doing automatic updates, but Java might. Virus scanners will be doing updates too. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 23:14, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

While I sympathize with your problems, it won't do you any good to be running a machine with gaping holes. If you are inclined, we can help you with tweaking your "very old" computer so as to get the most out of it. Kushal (talk) 00:43, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Startup sounds on Windows and KDE

I've been thinking of customizing Windows XP's default sounds such as startup, logout, battery failure, etc by replacing them with sound messages recorded by my girlfriend. I figured it would be much more pleasant to log into my machine and be greeted by her voice than having to put up with that annoying tune.

The issue is this: I want her to say "Good morning", "Good afternoon" and "Good night" according to the time of the day. I could schedule those tasks using the task scheduler and a batch file, but I'd rather find a way to do it differently.

Or rather, I'm fine with Windows, but would like to make some changes to Mandriva Linux (which I use most of the time). I'm running KDE on my machine. I'd like to know if it'd be possible to write a small piece of code (I suppose it'd have to be in Python, because I don't know C) that'd modify whatever part of the system is responsible for setting those events by getting the OS's time and use it to choose the appropriate sound. How does KDE do it? How are events associated with sounds? Sorry for the bizarre question! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.132.220.63 (talk) 22:37, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] finding my post on the RD

What is the easiest way to find my post on the RD? GoingOnTracks (talk) 23:23, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

If it's recent, using the browser's search feature. If it's older, using Google. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 23:26, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

For best results, go to your contributions to find out the exact header, then plug that into a google search. Or just check the date/title in the archives, but google is normally faster. Algebraist 23:56, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] June 8

[edit] Program to save audio (micro and headphone)

Do you know a free one? GoingOnTracks (talk) 00:25, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Audacity. Its audacious! It is free as in free speech AND as in free beer. It records audio and much more. Cheers, Kushal (talk) 01:19, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. I'll try it.GoingOnTracks (talk) 02:23, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

You are most welcome. Please come back if you have any more questions. Kushal (talk) 09:36, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

You can use Windows' sndrec32, though it's not as good as Audacity. In a pinch, it gets the job done. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 02:27, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] awesome mozilla tools

I was checking out stuff like this and this.. I assume these are php apps or something.. where can I download them? .froth. (talk) 02:58, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

The first one is "User Agent Switcher", a Firefox extension. Open [2] and click "Add to Firefox". --grawity 12:28, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Uh no I mean the app that lets you browse the source of packages.. not the package itself. .froth. (talk) 19:05, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Oh... I think the filebrowser is just another page, just like any other part of the website, only interactive. So you should ask the website owners/authors. --grawity 11:07, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Messenger: Personal Messages

Hello. Is there an automatic feature where I can have a personal message when I am signed into Windows Live Messenger (e.g. Hello) and a different one when I am signed out (e.g. I'll respond to your offline message ASAP)? Thanks in advance. --Mayfare (talk) 04:04, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] June calendar of events

Respected Sir

I have observed that a very important event like 'World Environment Day' that is observed all over the world is missing from your list of events from June calendar which is published on the right side of your main page.

Kindly ensure such events are covered so that many readers who visit your site will be enlightened.

Please treat this as a suggestion.

Regards

Lion. Dr. Francis P S Rajan —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.93.69.190 (talk) 07:38, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Well, we do have an article on World Environment Day, and it is in the list of "holidays and observances" at June 5#Holidays and observances. And I think annual events aren't usually featured on the Main Page - it only lists one-off items of international news and significant anniversairies. But there is a discussion page for the Main Page (and a whole lot of suggestion pages linked from that) if you want to raise the issue there. Gandalf61 (talk) 08:33, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

This appears on the Main Page for the 5 June each year, see Wikipedia:Selected_anniversaries/June. --h2g2bob (talk) 17:59, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Why is frequency division used in microprocessors?

We had 8085 in our current semester, where we learnt that even though the uP itself operates on 3MHz, we use a crystal oscillator of 6MHz. This is so that we can divide the latter by two and provide a 50% duty cycle clock which the microprocessor requires. Could someone please explain me this concept in detail? What is the "duty cycle" of a crystal oscillator? If the microprocessor requires a square wave, doesn't it already have 50% "duty cycle"?

Thanks. --RohanDhruva (talk) 09:58, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

There is probably just some redundancy in the material you were given. It's no more wrong than saying a square with all sides equal, so it's probably just for learning purposes. And yes, if the microprocessor requires a square wave, the square wave by definition would already have a 50% duty cycle. It is slightly possible they meant to say rectangular wave with a 50% duty cycle, which would then not be redundant. And connecting a 6MHz oscillator to the 8085 is required for the 3MHz operation, because there's a built-in divider in the 8085 (see our article on the Intel 8085). As extra info, modern processors generally step up the crystal instead of down, so in modern chipsets, you would use a 3MHz crystal for a 24MHz chip, or something of the sort. Hope that helps. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 03:20, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks Wirbelwind, but it still doesn't answer my question. What I wanted to know is why i that internal frequency divider used? What is the purpose? BTW, thanks for the info in newer mucroposessors - I was wondering how one could have a 2.8GHz crystal ;) --RohanDhruva (talk) 06:59, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Probably more different clock rates are needed, so that the faster clock is needed too for some purpose, such as accessing memory or IO bus. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:48, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] TrueCrypt reliability

How reliable are cryptographic programs like TrueCrypt? I mean reliable in the sense that I always be able to access my data, but nobody else. GoingOnTracks (talk) 12:55, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Every chain is as strong as its weakest link. So no program like that is a one-stop solution—you need to be protected from malware, phishing, etc., as well as physical security of the machine, not to mention safe computing habits (not executing unknown code on a regular basis, keeping up with security updates to software and the OS, choosing strong passwords and not using the same one on every site, etc.), or else all the encryption in the world isn't going to mean a thing (just like the biggest, strongest door lock in the world is defeated by a ground-floor window left open).

As for the level of encryption itself—it means the NSA's standards, so it looks pretty reliable to me. But again, that's only one piece of the overall puzzle. At Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project, they had fences, armed guards, help from the FBI and G2, were sited in a remote location, used code-words, compartmentalization of information, etc. etc., and it was all for really nothing because in the end, one high-placed guy had never been properly screened for his security clearance by the British and he walked out the door with everything they came up with and gave it to the Soviets. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:56, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Yes, this is exactly right. Assuming you have a password that has 256 bits of random entropy (i.e. it is as strong as the key for the cipher itself), the encryption itself is completely bullet-proof: if you put all the computers in the world together to crack the password it would still take billions and billions more time than the age of the universe.

However, that is not the only piece of the puzzle. In very short terms, if you can have a password that is very long, impossible to get, not written down or shared with anyone and your computer hasn't been compromised, then you are pretty much guaranteed that you have encrypted files that not even the NSA can open up. Unless they torture you and stuff. Which would be bad for a whole bunch of other reasons. Although, if you use the "hidden drive" feature of TrueCrypt, you can get around even that. Isn't modern cryptography wonderful :) 83.250.202.36 (talk) 22:05, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Ok, so far for the security of the encryption against a third party. But how about the possibility that TrueCrypt scrambles my data and they can't be recovered anymore, even if I get the right password? Or is the program so stable and reliable that it always decrypts and encrypts right? GoingOnTracks (talk) 00:02, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

The danger is less that the software will scramble your data, but that in the process of reading/writing the drive, data corruption will occur as it sometimes does with all harddrives. However in an encrypted drive, one bit of corrupt data will probably throw the entire ciphertext block out of whack—meaning that instead of just losing 1 bit, you lose 128 bits. (Source) So it's not a trivial issue—if your drive starts to get really wonky, you're going to suffer more with an encrypted drive than you would with an uncrypted one, because of the extra layer of data that encryption throws onto things and the fact that it won't decrypt correctly if the checksums don't match up and so forth. The problem isn't with the program, per se, it's with any program that encrypts anything—if you have harddrive problems, you're going to have them in spades. (Do you really need to encrypt your whole drive? Couldn't you just encrypt, say, your e-mail, your porn, and your warez? ;-) Something like that would drastically reduce the danger, as you'll probably notice the drive problems in your unencrypted harddrive than you would in the encrypted areas.) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 01:33, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I don't think it's worth worrying about this kind of thing. If your hard drive is flipping bits then you have bigger things to worry about, like imminent total drive failure. A somewhat bigger concern is that damage to the volume header will render the whole volume unreadable. Because of this you may want to make a backup copy of the volume header and store it in a safe place, as described in the documentation. But the most serious threat to TrueCrypt-encrypted data is that you might forget the password. -- BenRG (talk) 13:01, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Broken WNR834b v1

Hello all,

hopefully one of you can help me: after an odyssey on the Netgear WNR834B v1 router firmwares (original, DD-WRT mini, DD-WRT std, back to original), I cannot access the web pages, I get wrong passwords; but I tried through the standard pwd, mine and the DD-WRT password; even resetting the config with the HW switch was not successful.

88.217.62.34 (talk) 15:08, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] MediaWiki

What does this mean, which is coming up on my wiki:

Database error
A database query syntax error has occurred. This may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:

    (SQL query hidden)

from within function "efUpdateCheckUserData". MySQL returned error "1146: Table 'simlandw_wiki.cu_changes' doesn't exist (localhost)".

How do I fix it? StewieGriffin! • Talk Sign 17:55, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Have you recently upgraded the codebase? If yes, run the update script. If not, delete the Checkuser extension. 88.217.61.83 (talk) 04:39, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Music Programs

It seems Reason is like a more inclusive program, let's say, compared to a Digital audio workstation like Pro Tools. Are there any other programs like Reason, and if so, could you provide a list? My other question is if there are "higher-level" programs", than Reason, as it seems like Reason can do everything Pro Tools can do, and I'm wondering if there are any programs that are "higher-in-level" than Reason, and if so, could you provide a list. Thank you!68.148.164.166 (talk) 18:23, 6 June 2008 (UTC)

I think you need to clarify what 'inclusive' means. If you want software that contains recordings for you and be 'inclusive' then Acid could be good. Ableton has ALOT of options, and Logic can do everything Pro Tools can too. Please clarify inclusive for a more precise answer. 86.140.7.114 (talk) 00:26, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Pro Tools only mixes and records, but Reason mixes, records, reverberates, etc. etc.. That's what I mean by inclusitivity.68.148.164.166 (talk) 18:25, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Its still not clear what you mean. Pro Tools can add reverberation via plug ins. Are you after the software which does the most things?86.140.7.114 (talk) 19:19, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Yes, I'm after the software which does the most things. Hmmm, what's the difference between Pro Tools and Reason? And what exactly is a rack?68.148.164.166 (talk) 20:53, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

What's wrong with Audacity? Kushal (talk) 09:33, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Audacity is free, but Adobe Audition and Sony ACID have more features. Acid is easier to use, but has less features than Audition.--Hello. I'm new here, but I'm sure I can help out. (talk) 10:00, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Time Machine and Airport Extreme

Time Machine didn't initially support backups to Airport Extreme discs, but it does now. Does it backup to both the new "N" generation and the older "g" ones, or just "N"? And do you plug the disc into the ethernet or the USB port in it? Thanks for your help.--78.148.200.171 (talk) 21:18, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

The old Airport is round, the new one is rectangular.89.242.194.227 (talk) 17:36, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] June 9

[edit] I must be a complete moron

Can someone explains to me why Gmail Labs have fixed width fonts for reading email but on Google Groups I can't even get fixed width fonts for reading the news group comp.lang.python

Or is there a feature which I cannot find because I'm a complete moron? 122.107.165.222 (talk) 00:02, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Looks like you have to do it for each page, but still... [3]. Indeterminate (talk) 00:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Programming simple macros with open source program

Can someone recommend a simple program for programming macros? I just need a macro that pushes down arrow, "alt+e" and kind of stuff. Can a programming language like Perl or Python easily do it too? GoingOnTracks (talk) 00:07, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

You didn't mention an OS, but AutoHotkey is a good open-source macro program for Windows. -- BenRG (talk) 00:16, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

yes, it was Windows. Thanks. How did you guess it? GoingOnTracks (talk) 00:41, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

You can also use Autoit, which can be run from within Perl and Python via the ActiveX component "AutoitX". dr.ef.tymac (talk) 06:58, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] convert command-line program into GUI program

How can it be done? Is there a open source tool to do it? I have Python and a grasp of it and would like to learn more. I just have to perform easy task with a command-line program in Windows. Like pro.exe -s sourcefile.abc targetfile.abc GoingOnTracks (talk) 00:14, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Do you just want to run the program from the Windows gui? Because that's not hard... you can just right-click->new->shortcut, and enter the command line as the target. If you want to associate your command-line program with a file type (like .abc), you can do that too.

Alternately, if you really do want to learn GUI programming, you'll need to learn one of the toolkits available for python [4] (or your language of choice). Indeterminate (talk) 00:43, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the prompt answer! I'll try both. GoingOnTracks (talk) 00:45, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

If you know HTML you can create a GUI pretty quickly using HTML Application. dr.ef.tymac (talk) 06:57, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] 64-bit

What does 64-bit mean? I know what a bit is and what a byte is and so on, but what is 64-bit referring to? Also, if I have an Intel Core 2 Duo T7500 processor, does that mean my computer is 64-bit? --96.227.103.6 (talk) 02:29, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

May want to read 64-bit and x86-64. That CPU is an x64 (aka x86-64) one, so it is '64-bit'. Others may come in with slightly more detailed descriptions. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 03:09, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Look, there's an article: 64-bit. Several things can have a size of 64 bits, but when no particular attribute is specified, it usually refers to the size of the processor registers which can be used to reference bytes in memory. That means a process running on a 64-bit CPU can address 2^64 bytes of memory (way more memory than any computer will ever likely have). With a 32-bit address space, the limit is 2^32 bytes (4 gigs). And look, here's another article: Core 2 Duo, which confirms that it is a 64-bit CPU.

Intel processors have for a long time had the ability to do 64-bit arithmetic (add, subtract, multiply, divide) by using a pair of 32-bit registers as input and/or output. And floating-point math has been at least 64-bit for even longer. But without the ability to use a 64-bit number as a pointer to a memory location, those processors would never have been called "64-bit". --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 03:20, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

According to Intel Core 2 Duo, it is indeed a 64-bit processor. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 02:32, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Dial up connection for CDMA Telephones

I created the dial up for CDMA in FEDORA CORE,when actvating the modem, the phone dials HSPD call,but disconnects in a moment, Why?, Please help.... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.248.92.4 (talk) 03:53, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Does the modem work with POTS wired telephone lines? Kushal (talk) 09:31, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I have never seen a cellphone (cellphone modem), which could be connected to POTS wired telephone line. -Yyy (talk) 08:34, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Does it works in other operating systems? (if available). Does your cellphone contract (or whatever terms of service) includes HSPD? (or any other data services). Does the call connects and then disconnects, or it fails to connect in first place? Does your dialer (program that dials the modem and maintains ppp connection) produces any error messages (or writes any error messages in log)? -Yyy (talk) 08:34, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Buying an email address

There is an email address I would like to have (say, johnsmith@gmail.com) which is already taken. I would like to buy it from its current owner. However, I can't find any guides online on how to go about this in an effective manner. Does anybody have any suggestions? Thanks in advance. -Anonymous —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.187.115.163 (talk) 05:09, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Just send an email to the email address saying you want to buy it off the owner and hope for a reply? --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:46, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I believe that selling email addresses is against gmail's terms and conditions, not that they are likely to find out. -- Q Chris (talk) 07:58, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

One small thing to iron out is to know what the secondary email address was and change it if possible. Just in case the previous 'owner' wants to change your password, just for fun. Kushal (talk) 09:30, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

What about the price? Should I ask the current owner for a price, or should I offer one? And if the latter, how much? Thanks -Anonymous —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.187.125.154 (talk) 17:43, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Depends on how much you are willing to pay for it and how you anticipate the bargaining to go. Kushal (talk) 21:00, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

You could just use a modified version, such as johnsmith123@gmail.com and save yourself the trouble. --Alx xlA (talk) 03:57, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Squid

Hello,

I'm trying to get a squid proxy working for https, like this:

[ me ] ---- http or https (don't care) ----> [ proxy ] ---- https ----> [ website ]

Squid's compiled with --enable-openssl and works fine for http requests, but gives "protocol error" for https requests. I've got self-signed keys set up like this

https_port 3129 cert=/.../squid_proxy.crt key=/.../squid_proxy.key

though I think this is only from me to the proxy? I'm trying my requests like GET https://some_website.example over HTTPS (using python's httplib class). This is just on localhost at the moment.

Are there any good tutorials for this sort of thing, or are there some useful pointers as to what to do? --h2g2bob (talk) 14:29, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

SSL/TLS is supposed to provide end-to-end encryption. The endpoints ("me" and "website") are not supposed to trust anything in the middle, including a squid. When done correctly, the proxy will not even know what URL you are requesting, and will only have minimal knowledge (IP address and port) of the server you connected to. How it's done: HTTP CONNECT. You tell the server "CONNECT 208.80.152.2:443" and it makes the connection for you. Then you start doing your SSL/TLS negotiation with the server, and the proxy just passes the data through without attempting to parse it (which it can't do anyway because it doesn't know the secret keys). After the SSL/TLS setup is complete, you send your HTTP request and read the HTTP response. That's the operational summary; as for how to do it quick and easy in python, hopefully someone else will answer. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 20:17, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Are multiple backup of encrypted data easier to decipher?

If I am encrypting (with TrueCrypt, for example) my data (a spread-sheet, for example) every week and doing a backup of it with the same password, is this set of files that are almost the same easier to crack than a single file? GoingOnTracks (talk) 17:31, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I don't think so—the length of the file should have nothing to do with it. In either case the file is going to be broken up into smaller cipherblocks, it's just a question of how many there are per file, I believe. And if you could break one of them, you'd know everything. But you can't do that (assuming you've chosen a passphrase not susceptible to simple dictionary brute force attacks). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 17:48, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I think it is always going to be the case that the more sample data you get the easier a cypher is going to be to crack, and especially if something is known about the plaintext. The worst might be if an attacker can actually inject plaintext for you to encrypt, but it doesn't sound like that is the case. If the samples are relatively sparse, an attacker can't purposefully inject their own plaintext, and the plaintext (and the differences in plaintext between the samples) is unknown, I can't imagine it would reduce your security very significantly.

If you are really worried about it you could probably use a one-time pad on the data itself and include the pad as a prefix/postfix to the "plaintext" stream going into your cypher. That way the input data would look pretty random each time and it would be difficult looking for similarities between encrypted versions. With a stream cypher a random prefix might even do the trick by itself, without the need to use it as an initial pad. --Prestidigitator (talk) 20:11, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

There's no reason to bother. TrueCrypt is completely secure against known-plaintext attacks and adaptive chosen plaintext attacks and all other attacks on the encryption. It's possible there's a flaw in the design but I don't think so. A previous version was vulnerable to a chosen plaintext distinguishing attack (i.e. the attacker could tell that the volume was a TrueCrypt volume, not actually read the data), but that's been fixed. That doesn't mean TrueCrypt will keep your data secure, but you shouldn't worry about the encryption side of things. The dangers are things like a weak passphrase (which can be brute-forced) or malware running secretly on your computer or files left over in an unencrypted temporary directory. Whether those risks are relevant in your case depends on who you're trying to hide your data from. -- BenRG (talk) 00:05, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

As far as I know, in theory, the more encrypted data you have, the "easier" to crack it gets, this is one of the "basic rules" in cryptography, off course this does not mean your data will be easy to crack... In fact, it should be very hard to crack if you use something like TrueCrypt, here we are just talking about minimal differences, if you are careful, your data should be extremely difficult to crack, even if you have lots of files SF007 (talk) 13:40, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Wiki-ness of a wiki

When does a wiki stop being a wiki? Does anything that runs on MediaWiki automatically qualify as a wiki? What if editing is blocked to everyon but one or maybe two people? Our article states, "A wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language." But if no one can edit the pages, or act collaboratively, is it still a wiki? Mahalo nui loa. --Ali'i 18:51, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Do you mean all pages have full protection, cascading protection or something like that? Kushal (talk) 20:57, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I think the question is about personal wikis and similar closed "wikis" who can only be edited by one or a small group of people. In these cases, the distinguishing feature seems to be the ease of editing and linking between pages. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 21:12, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, or say I just decide to start a wiki, but then disable account creation and turn off all non-logged in edits. That way no one but myself can edit it. Is it still a wiki? Wouldn't that just kind of make it a regular non-wiki website? --Ali'i 21:13, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

No. The distinguishing feature of a wiki is that it makes web pages read/write for authorized users, rather than the standard regular non-wiki website's read-only. How you choose to define "authorized users" doesn't change that. --Sean 22:24, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Any web site can be edited by its owner(s). Does that mean that all web sites are wikis? Perhaps more specifically, plenty of blogging software allows editing of existing posts - does that make them wikis? If you include the "ease of linking" criteria, these cases largely go away. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 01:19, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Plain old web pages are not "designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify". See paradox of the heap for borderline definitions. --Sean 12:59, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Password protecting web directory

I need to password protect files in a given web directory (say, ~/www/files), but I don't have any way to put files into anything but my main www directory (say, ~/www). From what I can tell, this rules out using .htaccess, yes?

Is there another solution to accomplish something like .htaccess protection? It doesn't have to be totally rigorous, just something that will keep people from downloading files in the directory unless they are a select group of folks with a password. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 20:07, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I believe you can use .htaccess to protect subtrees (pretty sure Apache does this), but it is going to depend on the web server you are using, and may have to be explicitly allowed in the web server's configuration files. (EDIT: Oh. Oops. Missed the part about where you can put the files. Don't know about that one, but it should be pretty clear from the web server's help documentation.) --Prestidigitator (talk) 20:14, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

For Apache, see the Apache authentication and authorization how-to for a good starting point. --Prestidigitator (talk) 20:23, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I should also have noted that I don't have shell access at all. Just FTP. And I can't modify any of the server settings. (Sigh.) It does have some PHP capabilities, but a lot of things are disabled (and, believe it or not, the entire filesystem is read-only, so no PHP script can do anything but read files. WTF academic IT departments, why you gotta be such a pain in the ass.) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 20:30, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Um if the filesystem is read only then how do you upload with FTP? .froth. (talk) 22:29, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I can upload from FTP, but that's it. As for how they implement the read only aspect, no clue. It's clear that PHP in any case does not have the permissions to modify files; I inquired and they told me it was a read only filesystem or something like that. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 03:55, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

I think PHP and Apache runs as nobody, so the files must be set to "writable by all". --grawity 11:28, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Right. But I can't change the file permissions. That's not the current problem, though. There's no way around this read-only business (other than doing weird things by automating FTP connections). --98.217.8.46 (talk) 16:52, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Flickr: What's the catch?

Flickr^PRO seems to give unlimited uploads and storage, unlimited sets and so on. What is the catch? Is there a reason to not get Flickr^PRO? They even say they will retain all the pictures in case someone drops the subscription and joins again later. Kushal (talk) 21:07, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

There is no catch except the cost. You pay for the service yearly. JoshHolloway 21:20, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Unless you consider a 20 MB picture filesize limit and a 90-second video length limit catches. Xenon54 21:27, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Hard drive space is cheap, bandwidth is relatively slow. Most people who sign up for the service will probably not use anything close to the maximum amount of data that their ISPs would let them upload anyway. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 21:35, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Hmm, thanks. I don't think I will own a camera that has an output of 20 MB image in lossy jpeg [in the forseeable future] and there is Google Video for uploading videos. However, I agree that I need to see how much of the "unlimited"space and bandwidth I will use. Afterall, I cannot just spend all my time taking pictures and uploading them to flickr, can I? Kushal (talk) 21:52, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] windows Xp on Vista laptop?

My brother bought a dell PC with windows XP a few years back, and it came with microsoft office XP. He's in the process of buying a laptop, and heard horror stories about vista. Can he use the old win XP install disk on his laptop, or will there be some sort of driver incompatibility problems?

Also, he's aiming for cheap. If the above fails, can he install office XP on a vista laptop?

thanks --Shaggorama (talk) 21:33, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

WHen buying a new PC with the operating system included it is only licensed for that box. So he won't be able to activate the license on a completely different machine, although it may be physically possible to install. One thing to watch out for is all the drivers for the laptop that may have different vista and XP versions. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:56, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

Ah- but Vista now has downgrade rights. [5] --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 22:07, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

But does OfficeXP work on Windows Vista? I am not sure. By the way, you can always use OpenOffice.org so this should not be a major problem. Kushal (talk) 22:47, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

According to Microsoft Office, Office XP works on Vista. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 23:18, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

I have Vista on my laptop, and Office 2003 works just fine. Leeboyge (talk) 06:10, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Automatically mount data CDs in Kubuntu

How do I set Kubuntu to automatically umount /media/cdrom when the drive tray is opened, and mount it when the tray is closed? NeonMerlin 22:03, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] .RAR Help

I was trying to download a video clip off of RapidShare that's in .rar format, but try as I might I can't :( . I tried to use WinRAR but after about two hours of going nowhere, I was wondering if anyone could give me directions? (Error text @ http://pastebin.com/m23b220bb). To me the errors make a loop by directing me to extract volume two to extract volume one when volume two needs volume three to extract volume two and volume three needs volume one for extraction. Anyone else ever had this happen/know how to solve it?

I know it's because rapidshare has a 100MB limit so it had to be broken into three sections, I just can't get the sections to work. MANY thanks! Yamakiri ^T_C § 06-9-2008 • 22:34:15

Do you have all the volumes together? To me it sounds like it is trying to extract all at once, but it can't find the component pieces. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 16:50, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Yup, I've got all three. Yamakiri ^T_C § 06-10-2008 • 19:34:58

Hmm... the names of the sections match what the error message says WinRAR is looking for? JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 02:37, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] DDR2 vs. GDDR3

For the exact same card with the same amount of memory that comes in both a DDR2 and a GDDR3 version (such as the 8600GT and HD 3650), is there a big gap between performance? There seems to be a $10-20 price difference for the two versions. Will GDDR3 offer better performance at higher resolutions or something?

And if there's any benchmarks between a DDR2 and a GDDR3 card, could you post them here? Thanks 24.6.46.92 (talk) 22:55, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

For what it's worth, my guess is that there will be no significant difference. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 00:31, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

But aren't most stock GDDR3 clocked higher though? 24.6.46.92 (talk) 00:39, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

If GDDR3 is anything like DDR3, then the higher clocks will generally be accompanied by higher latencies. Depending on whom you ask, this can either partially or fully offset their advantage. It is also not very clear how much of a bottleneck is memory in a card like 8600GT. Again, I'm just guessing here.

In any case, I wouldn't really recommend the 8600GT. There are some much more powerful options available for similar prices (9600GSO comes to mind, but the specifics depend on your requirements). -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 14:28, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] linux

i have a new laptop with windows vista. can i dual boot vista with linux or is it too late? if i can then how would i do it? and what is a good version of linux for somebody who never used it before?--96.227.104.157 (talk) 23:04, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

It's not too late, by any stretch. I'd suggest trying out Ubuntu as a starter, as it's a very simple and easy to install. You may want to consider using a virtual machine in order to try it out from within Vista before going the whole hog and installing a dualboot system. Hope this helps, Gazimoff ^Write_Read 23:16, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

A virtual machine? Wouldn't it be simpler to use Wubi? -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 00:29, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

It depends. A VM will let you try out an operating system with little risk, as you're unlikely to repartition your hard drive or break anything. They're also usually easier to get working as they imitate very standard hardware profiles. I find it very handy when trying out a new OS for the first time, as you can have the VM in one window and the help files, manpages or support website open in another. Once your confidence is built up, you can then go for partitioning.Gazimoff ^Write_Read 15:26, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Wubi doesn't partition anything either. It installs an OS on a file on the existing Windows partition, then puts an entry in the Windows boot configuration so that it shows up in the boot menu. Uninstalling is done easily through Windows. No mess, no risk. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 22:20, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Check what partitions you have...If you have an unused partition, install Linux in that. And Ubuntu is the best distribution for beginners. --User:Masatran —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.199.213.66 (talk) 15:22, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] PayPal Account

Can I receive money, send money, and make purchases via PayPal if my account is unverified and doesn't have a bank account or credit card attached to it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.117.44.78 (talk) 23:14, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

No you can't, because that'd be a huge security risk! Yamakiri ^T_C § 06-9-2008 • 23:24:21

I figured...so what's the minimum amount of info I can have on an account before it will allow me to make purchases with money that has been sent to me from someone else? (can I receive the money sent by someone else?) Thanks for your response. --71.117.44.78 (talk) 23:29, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

This seems like a question you need to ask of PayPal. Call them at 888-221-1161 in the US. --70.167.58.6 (talk) 14:32, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] June 10

[edit] Want to know more about SWF Decompiler Premium

Is SWF Decompiler Premium useful?Cooner&0908 (talk) 02:11, 10 June 2008 (UTC)Conner&0908 It is a flash decompiling program, so , it is useful in flash decompiling case. It allows all users to export FLA data as most flash decompiling applications do. However, not all flash decompiling applications enables you to edit dynamic texts or images embedded in flash movie, SWF Decompiler Premium does that well. In a word, it is useful when you need a program to convert flash files between swf and exe format, export FLA data, export all components (images, sound, action scripts, texts, shapes, frames, fonts, texts, buttons and sprites)from current flash file, and preview flash movies. Unfortunately, a trial version of SWF Decompiler Premium is designed for evaluation only, some of its features are time limited or disabled. You can read more by the link:www.swfdecompiler.netWishess2m (talk) 02:32, 10 June 2008 (UTC)wishess2m

[edit] linux

what are the pros and cons of linux. focus more on the pros, because im already aware of the major cons.--96.227.104.157 (talk) 02:13, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Have you read our articles about Linux and the various distributions?

Atlant (talk) 11:49, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] ubuntu cd

sorry for so many questions. if i order the ubuntu cd now, i think it will be the hardy heron version. but i saw that the next version comes out soon. by the time the cd ships(6-10 weeks i think it says) will it be out-of-date and useless? or will it update perfectly fine?--96.227.104.157 (talk) 03:00, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

It will be perfectly fine. Just make sure you do the required and recommended updates in time. Hardy is a LTS release which means it will be supported for three years. Cheers, Kushal (talk) 03:33, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

If you prefer, you can download the ISO image from the Ubuntu site and copy it to CD. It'll save you having to wait for it to arrive.Gazimoff ^Write_Read 15:28, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Well, downloading is not for everyone. When I was on dial-up, I would not even think about downloading such a massive file. Kushal (talk) 16:01, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

It only took me a month to download a 700MB iso on 33.6kbps dial-up connection... --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:43, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] But my pg_hba.conf DOES have "local all all trust"!

I can't log into my PostgreSQL database (hosted locally on a firewalled single-user machine running Kubuntu) and get the error "Ident authentication failed for user chris". What makes this different from anything I've seen an answer to online is that I opened my pg_hba.conf and it already says

# "local" is for Unix domain socket connections only
local    all     all     trust
# IPv4 local connections:
host    all         all         127.0.0.1/32          trust
# IPv6 local connections:
host    all         all         ::1/128               trust

What else could be preventing me from logging in? NeonMerlin 03:32, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Has postgres been restarted since that pg_hba.conf was written? Are you sure that the postgres server is reading that particular pg_hba.conf file, and not one somewhere else? Have you tried running psql both with and without "-h localhost"? --Sean 13:06, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] utm forum names

what are the names of the ideal discussion forums available for unifies threat management names? 203.88.128.94 (talk) 11:39, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] An example of good C code?

I'm teaching myself C, and I think it'd be helpful for me to have a good piece of C code to look at and mess around with. Something well structured, not too long and relatively self-contained. Does anyone have any suggestions?--Fangz (talk) 13:45, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

The source for the BusyBox utilities is short and easy to understand. Here's cat: [6].

[edit] Can corrupt photos offloaded from an xD card be recovered?

I have about 60 pics that got corrupted during the transfer from my digital camera to my computer. My fault, since I started rotating the ones that needed to during the transfer, however only the last 60 got screwed up. The icons for them show up but can't display a pic. Is there any way to recover them? --BrokenSphere^{Msg me} 14:52, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

You could try PhotoRec to get them from the card. --LarryMac | Talk 14:55, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Can anything be done with the files that were offloaded or I have to go with the memory card? --BrokenSphere^{Msg me} 15:15, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

That's hard to say without knowing exactly what happened. PhotoRec itself might be able to help. Alternately, I searched for "fix corrupt jpg" (on the assumption that we are, indeed, talking about JPEG files) and found this; I have not used or even downloaded this tool, no endorsement is implied.

[edit] Bluetooth application for Symbian mobile phone

Is there any Java or Symbian application, that will display a constantly up-to-date list of visible Bluetooth devices, on my Symbian+UIQ mobile phone? --User:Masatran 14:54, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] GPS on iPhone II?

Can someone please explain to me, in simple, non-marketingspeak language, what the situation is with regard to GPS on the new Apple iPhone II? Apple claims "assisted GPS" but what the #@!! does that mean? Does the phone have GPS or does it fake it with cell site info, WiFi hot-spot info, inertial navigation {;-)}, etc? And if you have an authoritative reference to cite, more the better!

(Partially answering my own question)

From our article:

"A software update allowed the iPhone to use cell towers and Wi-Fi networks to locate itself despite lacking a hardware GPS. The iPhone 3G includes GPS but also uses cell towers and Wi-Fi for location finding."

So what's the advantage of the "assist"? Faster GPS cold-start location-finding times? Or just better marketing?

Atlant (talk) 16:54, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Better coverage; see Assisted GPS. --Sean 17:13, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! WHAAOE!

Atlant (talk) 21:52, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

So does A-GPS work only in the US or also in other countries? -- SGBailey (talk) 17:12, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Is osdisc.com legit?

I got there from a link from distrowatch.com. I want to try out ubuntu, but downloading is not a feasible option. Before I give osdisc.com my personal information, I want to be confident that they're legit.--71.175.117.228 (talk) 17:56, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

And by the way I'm the same guy that asked about linux before, just on a different ip.--71.175.117.228 (talk) 17:58, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

A quick Google search didn't turn up any complaints about osdisc.com. Is there anybody in your local area that might have some discs to give you or let you copy? I know that when I ordered Ubuntu "Dapper Drake" I was sent five discs, so Canonical makes it easy to share. --LarryMac | Talk 19:47, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Ubuntu has https://shipit.ubuntu.com as well... -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 22:33, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

I know, I already did shipit, but the wait is about 6 weeks.--71.175.117.228 (talk) 23:27, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

I've never used it, but it should be legit. It's featured on Distrowatch. --Russoc4 (talk) 23:40, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Internet problem

It seems that all websites are down except Wikipedia. Is there a sever problem? Eklipse (talk) 20:58, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Something with your computer or your ISP (going to guess a DNS lookup problem), or the individual servers you're connecting to all happen to be down. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 02:32, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Free open-source CAD program

Is there one? Something serious, for professional projects? GoingOnTracks (talk) 22:52, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Maybe these two links will help: one and two. --Russoc4 (talk) 23:36, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Yes, they do. GoingOnTracks (talk) 23:43, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] My UMTS provider is shortcharging me: how can I prove that it is doing it?

Currently I have a flatrate UMTS. In the ads they promised speed up to 358 kbps, but from exactly 15h00 until 01h00 I get only 1KB/s (ridiculous speed). Between 01h00 and 15h00 the speed is rather normal (50KB/s). They only reduce the speed in days that I use it constantly (perhaps downloading 300 MB).

I know exactly my speed, since I am using NetMeter, but how can I technically prove that they are doing me?

GoingOnTracks (talk) 23:22, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

Well, before going legal, have you read the fine print? Just because the ads appeared to guarantee something doesn't mean it's guaranteed—the ads certainly had tons of fine print, the contract you signed had even finer print. Look at that stuff first, figure out exactly what they are supposed to be providing. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 00:48, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

It is certainly not a legal matter. The contract was quite simple. I even have a right to a compensation is the service cannot be provided. I guess the company offered a flat-rate service and was overwhelmed by the internet addiction of the clients. Now they are trying to contain the damage. GoingOnTracks (talk) 01:05, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

You said up to. IANAL, but unless you can prove malicious intent, I don't know how you can do anything to them, other than threaten them that you will switch carriers. Kushal (talk) 01:20, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, speed from 64 KB/s (GPRS) and up to 384 kbps (UMTS). But the problem is not the contract. It is proving that they are doing it. GoingOnTracks (talk) 02:33, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Keep in mind that if you are downloading from a particular source (or kind of source), the other end's bandwidth is an issue too. (For example, if you are using some kind of peer-to-peer system, often there is a lot of demand on users who have pretty limited upload rates already). Think about what your activity is like and maybe try downloading something big from a site you know to have good bandwidth as a control sample. --Prestidigitator (talk) 16:10, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

I kept that in mind. The point is that my conexion provides a normal speed of about 50KB/s until I reach a threshold (that shouldn't been there). After that it is only 1KB/s. :( GoingOnTracks (talk) 23:12, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] June 11

[edit] Ubuntu programming

What programming tools does Ubuntu have?--71.185.140.19 (talk) 01:46, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

There's tons... See here. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 03:02, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, then click on "Development". If you want any more details, you'll have to be a little more specific. Are you interested in a particular language? Do you want an integrated development environment, or are you just interested in finding out what gui toolkits or libraries are available? Maybe just a rich text editor? Indeterminate (talk) 04:49, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Opera Master Password

I have set a Opera Master Password and have forgotten it. How can I get rid of it? It doesn't matter if I also get rid of all my other passwords. GoingOnTracks (talk) 03:50, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Delete your wand.dat and opcert6.dat files from your profile directory. You should probably do it with opera closed, then re-open it afterwards. See here: [7] Indeterminate (talk) 05:01, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Program

I remember seeing an old computer program called "Goldie". It has an animation of a naked lady dancing. But I can't find any mention of it anywhere on the internet. Anyone have a link? Interactive Fiction Expert/Talk to me 06:33, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Internet porn... :p HardDisk (talk) 17:58, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Keyboard protector

Yesterday I purchased a new Toshiba laptop and I was flipping through a catalog of accessories and noticed that they offered a "keyboard protector" which resembles a plastic transparent sheet. While I am interested in it, do you recommend I buy it? Is it worth the money doing so? I don't know anyone with a laptop having one. Also, do I remove the plastic strip over the integrated camera? I think I should. --Blue387 (talk) 07:44, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

It depends on whether you plan on spilling your tea on the laptop's keyboard ;-). Seriously, if your environment is dirty or dusty or you do have a proclivity for spilling your drink, the protector may help. But it does impede keyboard action somewhat. And after several years accumulation of crumbs (which really do accumulate, even for the most fastidious user), most keyboards can be vacuumed clean with good results.

Meanwhile, regarding the plastic strip: If it is simply a piece of almost-clear vinyl or the like, surrounds the lens and the surrounding plastic/metal bezel, and it has an obvious pull-off feature, then yes, remove it. Such strips are used to prevent scratches/crate burn during shipment and in the case of your camera, will definitely impede the functioning of the camera if left on.

Atlant (talk) 11:36, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Ipod Touch/WinSCP

When I delete applications off my ipod touch through WinSCP it doesn't seem to actually delete the application because I can still see it on the spring board. Is there something I need to do to delete the application in another way? Possibly delete it from another location? And if you guys are wondering why I am using WinSCP to delete applications it is because my installer keeps crashing on me. Yer so I'm wondering can you fix that through WinSCP also? Thanks. 220.233.83.26 (talk) 07:54, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Dynamic IP for WebSite

Hi, I am thinking about making my own website, and I have the option to choose a static IP, my question is: Would it be less safe to use a static IP than a dynamic IP? Thanks in advance. SF007 (talk) 13:27, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

• You would want to use a static IP. A dynamic IP changes periodically. Which means that every so often the URL will change. A static IP is fixed, so it doesn't change. As far as security goes, it isn't going to make a big difference, except in the sense of Security through obscurity - if people can't find your website (because the IP keeps changing) they won't be able to attack it - but if people can't find your website, you might want to wonder why you have one anyway. :) Plus the value of security through obscurity is debatable, (it certainly shouldn't be seen as sufficient on its own, even under the best circumstances). - Bilby (talk) 14:39, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

• • URLs can use domain names, and domain names can change IP (e.g. DynDNS), so URLs can be constant with dynamic IP. MTM (talk) 18:53, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

• Technically that is possible. However, domain names need to be registered through a DNS, and it takes time for changes propagate - I normally quote about 24 hours for a change in the IP address to start working for all users. So while you could do it, there would be a period during each changeover during which you would get inconsistency, with some people going to the correct IP, and some going to the old one. This would also loose most of the advantages gained via security through obscurity, as the domain name would be consistent for attacks, and could be used to resolve the IP if needed. - Bilby (talk) 22:42, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

yeah, I think a static IP will do fine, better to focus on trying to keep the software up to date and stuff like that. Thanks. SF007 (talk) 23:44, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Most advanced file compression?

What's the most advanced file compression method available to an end user? My preliminary searches point to 7z, but I just wanted to check in with you experts. --70.167.58.6 (talk) 14:27, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Define "advanced". Fastest? Most compression? Both? --LarryMac | Talk 15:16, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

maximumcompression.com has benchmarks of a lot of different lossless compression programs. PAQ8O10 and WinRK win most if not all of the compression ratio tests. PAQ is free (GPL), but it's a research compressor with no GUI or fancy features or support, and it's very very slow. WinRK is commercial and has a GUI etc., and I think it's faster, but I've never used it. Unless you have unusual needs you should go with 7-Zip (or WinRar). -- BenRG (talk) 17:38, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! Yeah, I should have specified I need cross-platform and no CLI! :) --70.167.58.6 (talk) 22:24, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Most advanced video codec?

It seems that h.264 seems to be the most advanced, most widely available codec (that also isn't under the control of one company). What is next? Is there a more efficient h.264 successor in the works? --70.167.58.6 (talk) 14:30, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

• VC-1 - better known as WMV3/WMV9
• H.265 - not really started yet

--tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 18:23, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] language support for internet explorer of windows mobile

Can anybody please tell me how to enable indian language support for internet explorer of windows mobile ?59.93.196.42 (talk) 17:00, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] iphone unlocking

Now that iphone comes with a 2 year contract, will iphone unlocking continue? I think such two year contract was there last year also. Then how did many American citizens unlock and sell phones in other countries when there was a contract? was there a contract last year?

On the previous version of the iphone you could buy it without a contract, and purchase a contract later. The new pricing and availability strategy will reduce the motivation, as the initial cost for the phone will be lower, but you will be locked into paying, and also the phone will be available in many countries. Nevertheless you may want to change the SIM when traveling to avoid roaming charges. For example in Hong Kong local mobile phone charges are only 1% of the cost when using a foreign SIM. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:35, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

I read in some blog that previously it had a no commitment price and now it does not. Any idea what is that?59.92.107.231 (talk) 03:46, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] fragmentation

Can fragmentation of a hard drive be good in that it ensures not the same part of the drive is always used and its use is spread out randomly across the drive? JessHalie (talk) 19:14, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

I doubt it. If anything, the increased need for seeks will accelerate degradation. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 20:15, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Fragmentation really has no benefits. It uses more disk space than a nonfragmented disk. It takes longer to read/write files. Both of those put the drive to more use than it would in a nonfragmented system. As for using the same spot of the disk over and over - there is no harm there. It doesn't degrade the disk (unless the drive is broken). It merely alters the magnetization of the block. I know of no risk for disk damage through magnetization. However, I should point out that the popular flash-media USB sticks are not the same. They do degrade and have a limited number of read/write operations before the fail. At that point, they truly fail and are unusable. Therefore, they have a sort of built-in fragmentation to spread the work around the internals of the disk in an attempt to get the maximum amount of use out of the whole drive. -- kainaw™ 00:01, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Fragmented files do not use more disk space. A defragmented file has all of its parts next to each other in order on the disk. A fragmented file has one or more parts spread out on the disk. Either way, the file will use the same amount of space on the disk. See file system fragmentation. --Bavi H (talk) 02:04, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Making a symmetric matrix

I have a matrix A and a symmetric matrix B, and I'd like to calculate , which is obviously symmetric. Using such tools as GSL and/or BLAS, how can I go about doing this efficiently? Neither of the intermediate products and BA will in general be symmetric, so the normal routines that read or write (slightly more than) half of a symmetric matrix won't work. The general routines will, of course, wastefully calculate every entry in the final result. If it matters, A is typically not square. --Tardis (talk) 19:42, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Go through unique pairs of columns of A (e.g. do a loop to find i<j), and do the inner product defined by B? In the end, though, I'm not sure whether this much optimisation is worth it.--Fangz (talk) 00:05, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

You can check the matrix chain multiplication first to see if you should do (A^TB)A or A^T(BA). However, it seems to me that many of the operations you perform will be highly repetitious. So, memoization may be use to shortcut the operations and return the answer. -- kainaw™ 00:18, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Posting a file without exposing myself to spambots

I need to temporarily files for other message board users -- what are some good sites? By good, I mean easy to use, no porn advertising, clean interface. --70.167.58.6 (talk) 22:16, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Temporarily what? I am ahving difficulty understanding your question. Astronaut (talk) 23:04, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Temporarily file? You mean upload a file for temporary use? Try Microsoft SkyDrive. Just create an account, upload the files and set them to public or semi-public. GoingOnTracks (talk) 23:15, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

You want a website to place a file? you can use MediaFire, I think it is a good site because:

• No registration required
• upload files up to 100 MB
• Files are not deleted
• you can registrate and organize files in folders
• the person that download the file don't have to wait time, or enter any CAPTCHAs, (unlike rapidshare and it's kittens....)

link: www.mediafire.com SF007 (talk) 23:50, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] June 12

[edit] Lightweight desktop Linux

Can anyone recommend a Debian based (preferably) Linux distro for an old(ish) laptop (Dell Gateway 2000, Solo 9100). Its for a friend who isn't exactly a computer expert, so it should be easy to use and configure. He'll be mostly using it for homework and the like.

System requirements are pretty tight. It's from the Windows 98 days. 233mhz Pentium II and 64mb's of RAM, 4gb hard drive (in two 2gb partitions).

Has some maybe strange hardware, like a combination DVD-ROM/floppy drive, but I'm mostly sure It's just two ATA devices in one box. Floppy boot capable, but haven't tried. Supposedly CD boot capable, but not booting of my Ubuntu CD-RW (hardware not powerful enough for it anyway) though Win98 can read it.

I can provide any additional information. Thanks in advance -WikiY ^Talk 00:18, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Have you tried Xubuntu? I've had luck using that on old laptops. -- kainaw™ 00:19, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

If you really want to dig into it, you could go Linux From Scratch and install the X-Window packages afterward, then the packages for any desktop you put on it. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 06:49, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] DLLs

Someone told me that even after uninstalling programs, there are a lot of left over DLLs that may take up space that could otherwise go towards something else. Is this true, and if so, how much space would these files typically take up? Would it be a noticeable difference if I was able to get rid of them if there were enough of them? And is there a program that could accomplish this?--十八 00:37, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

If these were shared DLL files, you would get into some inconveniences. Kushal (talk) 00:55, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

It depends on the program. Some uninstallers only pretend to uninstall a program. They just remove the entry for the program from the Add/Remove Programs list. Others will remove all traces of the program. As for space, the most a DLL will take up is a few megabytes, and they are usually smaller than that. The thing I'd worry about would be old DLLs loading themselves into memory, which would slow down your computer. I tried a program once called DLL Toys but it didn't catch most of them. I also hear that Registry Mechanic will delete useless DLLs. But I've gotten the best results by going into the C:\WINDOWS\system32 folder and switching to the Details view. Most DLLs are stored in that folder. Then, I sort the files by company. So if you uninstalled Zone Alarm, for example, you would look for any files made by Zone Labs. You can see what DLLs are being used at any time by opening up a command prompt and typing tasklist /m. That's only scratching the surface, though. If you want to do a more thorough job, you'd have to run a registry cleaner and look through your C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers and C:\Documents and Settings\ and C:\Program Files\Common Files folders for other pieces of the program.--Hello. I'm new here, but I'm sure I can help out. (talk) 01:05, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the help. When I opened up the command prompt and typed in tasklist /m, it says that "'tasklist' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file"; what did I do wrong? Nevermind, I figured it out by downloading the required application.--十八 02:45, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Are you using Vista? It may be that tasklist isn't included in it. I'm using XP.--Hello. I'm new here, but I'm sure I can help out. (talk) 04:01, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] GoLive Woes

Hi guys,

I was silly enough to lay out a page in GoLive. Unfortunately, that program used pixel co-ordinates to position text on the page. It looks OK in Internet Explorer, but Firefox and Opera mess up the formatting. I'm not sure how to move the "your computer" line away from the "I can help" one without doing a massive rewrite of the code. The bullets are in Wingdings, but I can't get those to display outside of IE, either: http://home.comcast.net/~richmaxw/ad/ad.htm.

Thanks,

Hello. I'm new here, but I'm sure I can help out. (talk) 01:13, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Your link doesn't work. Preemptively, though, I can think of one thing to check. Look at the css pertaining to the DIV or SPAN tag corresponding to the misaligned text. If it's positioning says position: fixed, change it to position: absolute. Fixed doesn't work in every browser, and I've had that cause problems like what you're describing. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 02:48, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Sorry about that. The link is fixed. I tried messing with that, but it doesn't seem to work.--Hello. I'm new here, but I'm sure I can help out. (talk) 03:38, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm looking at it, and I'll post if I find anything, but that's the most jumbled, mangled mess of HTML I've ever seen.

I notice the picture isn't working in Firefox, either. I think I know the problem there. The line that begins with DIV name="22F", at the end of the line is z-index:-1" there needs to be a semicolon between the one and the quotation mark.

Check the line starting with div name="155"; it's also missing a semicolon at the end. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 06:27, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

I suggest you just start over and code it the hard and elegant way. It will take more effort to make it standard than to rewrite it. --antilived^{T | C | G} 07:25, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] WebSite with WWW or without?

I am considering making a website, but I don't know if I should choose www.mysite.com or just mysite.com, what is better? if I choose with WWW, will it redirect to the other one (www.mysite.com redirect to mysite.com)? and vice-versa? Is the WWW really necessary? should I go for it? thanks in advance. SF007 (talk) 03:18, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

The version without really is still www.mysite.com. It just has to be setup on the server to have an alias of some sort to make mysite.com go to www.mysite.com (which is why some sites don't work if you don't put the www). When you register a domain, you're usually registering a second-level domain, where the "www" part is part of that second-level domain's subdomain. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 03:30, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Hello I have install Kubuntu 8.04 but it is in KDE 3.5 and I need KDE 4 how can make kde4 default .thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.125.143.74 (talk) 04:15, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Help me debug this program please!

I’ve written the following program in C++ which is supposed to convert a given string of ASCII values into coherent text. Whenever I run the program in Borland C++ environment, I get the message “Conversion may lose significant digits” and the code that is emboldened in the following program gets highlighted. Please help me debug it!P.S—The output is supposed to be James Bond if I give the input as 10665771011153266797868.

Thanks. 117.194.226.179 (talk) 05:13, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

I see it- the "else" above the bolded line should be braced out. As it is, it's executing both the upper and lower commands on the inputs. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 06:44, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm sorry to say that doesn't help much. I just ran the corrected coding in my system, and the same error message appeared on the screen. By the way, I thought that if there are no braces after an "if" or "else" statement, it only executes the immediate next line?? 117.194.225.130 (talk) 07:18, 12 June 2008 (UTC)