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December 29

DVD ripper recommendations?

Anybody have any recommendations for ripping DVDs? Specifically, to an iPod? It looks like HandBrake might be the thing to use; anybody know anything about it? (I.e., is it safe? Yeah, I know it's open source and all, but are the downloadable binaries reliable and malware-free?)

No need to lecture me about legalities; this would be for ripping from a DVD I own to an iPod I own. Thanks for any suggestions. —Steve Summit (talk) 08:42, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Try DVD Shrink (to decode the DVD) and then use any program to convert the vob files, like VLC media player which can transcode the files into the mp4 ipod format. how to Think outside the box 13:34, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. But I should have said: Mac or Linux, please. (I ain't got no Windows.) —Steve Summit (talk) 17:02, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

On linux, if you want to be hackerish, you can use VLC for this (not sure what settings would get it iPod-friendly though, you'd probably have to use iTunes to reencode the ripped files (which would lower the quality marginally, but hey, it's an iPod, it's not the most hi-res of screens)). Otherwise, Lifehacker has this friendly guide. 83.250.203.75 (talk) 00:28, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

VLC is definitely not hackerish. And HandBrake is a joke. Use DVD Decrypter to vob, mencoder to avi (h.264 + ac3), then mkvtoolsnix to mux to MKV, then totally forget watching movies on your ipod because it's a terrible idea and just watch them on your computer. Note you'll need AC3Filter, a mkv splitter, and ffmpeg to actually watch them. --ffroth 01:18, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Well, my k9copy has an x264 codec selection, shouldn't that work?—eric 01:22, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

I have to disagree with your assertion that HandBrake is a joke. I've been using it for several months and it has worked exceedingly well for me. Larry V (talk | e-mail) 22:09, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

It is too a joke. Select "looks sharp, but is big", "looks medium", or "looks fuzzy but is small". Hit OK. --ffroth 01:18, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

x264 is very good. I don't know about k9copy.. surely there's a smaller tool that only does decrypting? --ffroth 01:21, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

If all you want is decryption rather than shrinking, dvdbackup will do it just fine under Linux. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 19:46, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Huh. Remarkable how complex this can all be.

I gave HandBrake a try. ffroth musta used an older version, because the 0.9.1 that I tried didn't have "looks sharp, but is big / looks medium / looks fuzzy but is small" or anything; it had presets for multiple sorts of devices, including three varieties of iPod. So there was no problem there. But it was gawdawful slow (about 5 fps, or 6x realtime), and it randomly (which is to say deterministically) fails on 4 out of the 13 tracks I wanted to rip.

So I tried DVD Shrink on a nearby Windoze machine, and I was able to extract the other 4 tracks, though as vob's, as Think had predicted. So I tried using VLC media player to convert them, and that worked. But.

iTunes refuses to download the newly-created mp4's to the iPod; it says they won't play. Yet other mp4's I created using VLC (starting with flv's snatched from YouTube), converted using the exact same settings (MPEG4 video and audio codecs, 512/128 kbps), do work. Very strange. —Steve Summit (talk) 03:35, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

The solution ended up being to extract the four troublesome tracks using DVD Shrink, then convert them using HandBrake. Strange. (Clearly HandBrake has some bugs in its multi-track code.) —Steve Summit (talk) 19:26, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Non-widescreen laptop?

I want to buy a non-widescreen laptop. Basically, I want more of height and less of width. But I am not able to locate any, in the manufacturers' websites. Kindly suggest some models, especially low-cost ones. Thank you! --Masatran (talk) 08:55, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Do you want it narrower than the usual 4:3 aspect ratio? —Bromskloss (talk) 15:25, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

4:3 is okay. My current laptop is 4:3. But it appears that 4:3 laptops are no longer being manufactured :-( --Masatran (talk) 06:54, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

I seriously doubt it. Both 16:9 and 4:3 have advantages as well as disadvantages to them, so I don't believe manufacturers would cease the production of the latter altogether. --Ouro (blah blah) 07:27, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Formatting a hard drive

• My hard drive has been freezing up lately, and recently simply refused to start up, so I had to reinstall XP. Upon doing so, I was told that my hard disk was not able to load XP for whatever reasons and would require a reformat. This was around 9PM yesterday. My hard drive is 236GB, but is it unusual that it's 4:30am now and the indicator is still on 0%? Should I consider buying a new hard drive? Thanks. JuJube (talk) 12:47, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

I'd say the formatting process has frozen. It's likely there's something wrong with the drive, but it may still be salvagable. You can try removing it and connecting it to another computer, where you wouldn't need to rely on it to boot an operating system and you'd be free to just scan its contents or perform operations on it from Windows. If you're not familiar with doing things like this though, you may want to just purchase a new hard drive. Unfortunately I think hiring a technician would be almost as expensive, and he will probably just tell you that you need a new drive anyway. I would try the installation again though before doing anything else, it's possible it may work the second time around. Equazcion •✗/C • 13:06, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

I figured as much, thanks. Is there any way to avoid this kind of thing happening in the future? My last computer went kaput for similar reasons. Is it excessive hard drive activity that causes them to fail quicker? JuJube (talk) 13:28, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

I actually leave my computers powered on and use them more than anyone I know, and I think I've had perhaps one hard drive crash on me in my lifetime -- which if you knew me you'd know was an impressive statistic. My only advice is to get a good brand. Western Digital is the brand I swear by. I've read a lot in forums about Maxtor drives failing often, and I've even got a few personal friends who;ve been through many Maxtor crashes. To date I've had not a single Western Digital fail fail on me. I've also had good experiences with Seagate and Fujitsu, and I've heard good things about IBM. One other piece of advice is, I've known people with frequent hard drive crashes who kept large stereo speakers next to their computers -- without knowing that large speakers have powerful electromagnets in them, which can damage hard drives. Equazcion •✗/C • 13:47, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Oh man, I did not know that. :\ Thanks for your help again. JuJube (talk) 13:54, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

No problem :) Equazcion •✗/C • 14:15, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

My Matrox drives are still running fine after 3 years of 24/7 usage in RAID 0, so it's not that bad. I did have a few "clicks of death" (actually drive head resetting) though because of the power supply I had couldn't supply enough power, and that's fixed when I replaced the power supply. --antilived^{T | C | G} 00:50, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

If you're feeling adventurous and have access to another computer, you might have another option. You can burn a copy of the Ultimate Boot CD. In it's Hard Drive tools section, it has diagnostic programs from most of the major hard drive makers. These programs are designed to scan for and repair bad sectors. If that's not your problem, and you just want to wipe the drive and start over, it's got utilities for that too. Good Luck -- Ptelder (talk) 06:42, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

How to convert this format

I have a webcam, and with it came this software for making videos. It's extremely easy to work with, and some of the things I have been able to produce have been amazing. Unfortunately, it only makes them in ".vi" format, a format I have never heard of. Obviously, this is completely useless unless I can convert it to a working format, such as .mov or .avi, or some such. I have googled around for file converters, but unfortunately Google thinks I am making a typo for .avi . Does anyone have any idea how I can convert this (preferably for free)?--ChokinBako (talk) 19:56, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Whoops! Just ignore me! I found a button.......--ChokinBako (talk) 20:09, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

OK, a more relevant question. How is it possible to strip a .mov video or .avi video from sound, so I can use it in a music video I am trying to make? Or is this possible? --ChokinBako (talk) 20:24, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

What non-linear video editing software are you using? There should simple controls for changing the volume of audio tracks, such as dragging an indicator in Final Cut Pro. You wouldn't really need to remove the audio, just set the volume to 0%. Freedomlinux (talk) 04:32, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Or if all you really want to do is strip the audio, you can use Avidemux or VirtualDub. When choosing the ouput audio format, just choose none. Ptelder (talk) 06:20, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Boot question

My new computer has an ASUS M2N-VM DH AM2 MicroATX motherboard and a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB SATA-II hard drive. If I let the computer boot up by itself, it fails to recognise the hard drive as a bootable device, and just says "Operating system missing." and halts. If I explicitly enter the boot menu, I can see all bootable devices, and choose the SATA-II hard disk, and get it to boot up. This is currently the only way to have my OS boot up. The BIOS supports four bootable devices, and I've set them up as follows: (1) Removable (floppy?), (2) CD-ROM, (3) hard disk, (4) none. Would it help if I moved "hard disk" further up? But would that prevent me from booting from a floppy or a CD? JIP | Talk 21:54, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

You should try moving hard disk all the way up just to see if that's the problem. If it works, then there could be a removable device that the computer is tying to boot from -- like a USB thumb drive or some other type of storage media. If you can't find anything, you may just need to leave the hard drive as the first item in the boot order, and use the boot menu when you want to boot from CD. Equazcion •✗/C • 23:09, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Yes, I agree, that is probably the problem. Don't worry, if you need to boot from a CD or USB-drive, just do so manually (like what you do now to boot from your hard-drive). You can't possibly do that very often, anyway. 83.250.203.75 (talk) 00:09, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

It could also be the case that "hard disk" in the list above means "IDE hard disk" and that there should be some choice "SATA hard disk" or "SCSI drive" or something that you should pick as item (3). I think that is the way it works on my system. Jørgen (talk) 06:24, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

No, I can only select "Removable", "CD-ROM", "hard disk" or "none" as the options. At least this is how I remember it. JIP | Talk 05:48, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

December 30

Multiple versions of warcraft3 - frozenthrone

Good day, i once read an article somewhere on how to be able to keep and run warcraft across multiple game patches but i can't seem to find it any more.. As far as i can rememmber it had to do w/ copying a few dlls then making a batch file.. To be perfectly clear, iwant to be able to make a backup of sorts of patch 1.20c that i can still run after applying patch 1.21.. (am running win xp sp2 if it matters). Thanks in advance 58.69.149.50 (talk) 05:03, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

You would have to keep the .dll, .mpq and .exe files of each version of the game in a seperate folder. Then depending on which version of the game you want to run, copy those files to the Warcraft 3 directory. In order the make it a little easier, create a batch file which would copy the files for you and run the game. The batch file could look something like this (assuming the backup directories are in the Warcraft 3 directory):

@echo off
copy *.dll ..
copy *.exe ..
copy *.mpq ..
cd ..
war3.exe

Hope this helps. Aroak (talk) 15:02, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

to cut away a part of an image

I scanned an image. The top of the image has a large empty area. I want to cut this away so that the image is resized. I am not trying to remove part of the pic and leave the empty white space. I want to remove the whitespace itself. Is this possible? Kneader —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kneader (talk • contribs) 06:44, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Sure, just use any image editor's "crop" tool. If you let us know which image editing software you're using we could better assist you. Equazcion •✗/C • 07:34, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

And if you're on a PC with no image editor installed whatsoever, you can even do this using Microsoft's paint tool. If it's a small image, simply mark the area you want to keep, copy it to the clipboard, create a new image, resize the new image to say 5×5 pixels, and paste the image on the clipboard back. If the image is larger than your work area, it's a little trickier:

• Remove the unwanted right and bottom part by resizing the image. Note: I'm not talking about stretching, the menu option is, rather un-intuitively called "Attributes", and it's under the "Image" menu. Here you may enter the new size, in pixels, and the part of the image that exceeds what you've entered is removed. You'll have to experiment a little to remove the exact number of pixels that you want. If you remove too much, undo with ctr-Z.
• When you're happy with the right and bottom edges, rotate the image 180 degrees.
• Repeat the same procedure. The image is now upside-down, and resizing removes the top and left edges of the original image.
• Finally rotate 180 degrees again and your image is cropped. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 09:28, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

I would avoid using MS Paint if at all possible, 'cause it's the most hideously designed piece of software in existence. If you have access to just about any other image editor, it'll be many times easier than the steps outlined here -- although these steps will work if need be. You may want to check out some free image editors that'll be worth getting and installing in case you need to do stuff like this in the future, ie. Inkscape, OpenOffice.org Draw, Picasa, or check out this list. Equazcion •✗/C • 09:38, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

I tried with MSPaint at first and then with OpenOffice Draw. I am able to crop using OpenOffice Draw but can't save the file in jpg format. Any way out? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kneader (talk • contribs) 10:11, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Go to File-Export. There's a JPEG option there. Superm401 - Talk 10:13, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

GIMP is also a good option for this; it even has an autocrop that may be helpful. Inkscape and Draw are more designed for vector editing. Superm401 - Talk 10:11, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

If you don't have access to any image-editing program, and can't install one, an online editor may be an option for some edits, although they're not great for high-res images or complicated work. Picnik is the only one I can remember off the top of my head, but there are loads of others.--Kateshortforbob 15:08, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

You should install GIMP - it's a great tool for this kind of thing - and it's free. When you start it, load up your image from the "File/Open" menu - then click on the 'scalpel' tool (or type Shift-C) to perform cropping. You can then left-click/drag a rectangle over the area of the image that you want to keep (you can refine that using the origin/width/height numbers in the dialog box) - then click on the 'Crop' button in the crop tool's dialog box. Finally, right-click on the image and select "File/Save" from the popup menu. Done! SteveBaker (talk) 16:22, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

I totally agree that the GIMP, as well as other proprietary software is the way to go. However, the original questioner might be working in an environment where s/he does not have administrator privileges. My point with the mini-tutorial above was that it is actually possible to solve the problem using the ubiquitous Microsoft paint. I work in such an environment myself, and find Microsoft paint quite useful for such simple tasks. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 19:59, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Which language is used

I am interested to know which programming language is used to write the following softwares and OS: Windows, Norton Antivirus, Nero, Winamp, the Adobe series. Thank you. CG (talk) 09:55, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

I believe those are all primarily written in C/C++. Windows, Winamp, Adobe, and probably the others have extensions written in other languages. More information is available elsewhere; it's complicated. Superm401 - Talk 10:09, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

When substantial portions of the Windows 2000 source code got leaked a few years ago, it turned out to be a complicated mish-mash of C, C++, and assembly language, all compiled with Microsoft's Visual C++ compiler. • Anakin ^{(contribs • complaints)} 16:07, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

This list asserts that (parts of) Windows, Winamp, and all major Adobe apps are written in C++. It doesn't mention the others, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were, too. --Sean 16:19, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

An idea for a bot

I'm not a programmer, but I had an idea for a bot. Maybe this bot already exists.

I noticed that certain popular websites tend to be consistently used as unreliable sources.

Examples:

• wsws.org
• mises.org
• blogger.com
• prisonplanet.com/ prisonplanet.com ^{prisonplanet.com is fringe, does not meet our sourcing guidelines and should not be used}
• infowars.com/ infowars.com ^{infowars.com is fringe, does not meet our sourcing guidelines and should not be used}

9 out of 10 times these citations are used, they're used inappropriately. As such, is it possible for a bot to automatically watch pages that use such references or automatically generate a list of pages which use such references? Zenwhat (talk) 14:30, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Don't we already have a system which blacklists certain domains? Or are you saying that citations to, say, WSWS, are possibly permissible but deserve an extra layer of checking, so the bot would alert a human? Marnanel (talk) 15:18, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Blogspot is not on the list and I would accept [1] as a reliable source as much as anything else. However, there maybe some cases in which a blogspot [dot] com may not be appropriate (personal nonnotable blogs like mine). was that too obvious? if so, please delete this comment. thanks Kushal^t 15:51, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

There's an extensive URL blacklist at m:Spam_blacklist that can be used in various ways. I think that rather than a robot there's already an extension built into the Wikipedia software to stop any of the urls on it being used. If you think those other sites should be added to it you could try discussing it there, but Blogger is a problematic one since there are legitimate uses for it. • Anakin ^{(contribs • complaints)} 16:22, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

There's also a special page listing all pages linking to any given external website, eg:

• Special:Linksearch/*.blogger.com
• Special:Linksearch/*.mises.org

and so on --h2g2bob (talk) 16:24, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Hmm - that catches the User and Image namespace too, perhaps using the API is better: XML list of pages linking to *.blogger.com. Can only just be read by humans, so here's a html one --h2g2bob (talk) 16:33, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Marnanel, few domains are inherently evil. Yes, certain ones just need more double-checking because systemic bias is generally spread through the use of the same unreliable sources. It looks like I don't need a bot. The page h2g2bob sent is what I need. Zenwhat (talk) 20:59, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Sandisk Sansa c250

hi there,

I have a sandisk sansa c250 for which I would like to do a firmware update. however, the official website only supports WIN XP while I have Mac OS X on the computer I am using. Is there a way for me to update the firmware without walking on my knees to the next block and begging someone to let me use their Windows Computer so that I can update my firmware? Thank you. Kushal^t 22:56, 30 December 2007 (UTC) The current version information is below (please delete if it contains any personally identifiable information)

Version Info: Product Rev.: PP5022BF-06.10-S301-06.10-S301.00.04ART

Base Code: 06.10-S301-06.10-S301.00.04ART ODM Ver.: S301-06.10-S301.00.04ART OEM Ver.: S301.00.04ART Build Type: RT Build Date: 2006.10.04

Build Number: (Build 13.17)

I just discovered rockbox for my e280. Maybe give that a try for you :D I loooovvve rockbox. I can play Pokemon Red on my mp3 player! Also doom. --ffroth 01:13, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

thanks ... i am itching to look into it. Kushal^t 01:57, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

A stable release does not exist but I am trying out the latest build. I hope it works. Kushal^t 03:47, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

I got some "file not found" error while booting. the sansa boot option is working, though. I am working on it. Kushal^t 04:05, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Can Inkscape speed up development by copying code?

The Inkscape select feature doesn't even let you lasso - it's all rectangles (no convenient for selecting around a circle). Can't they just copy the relevant code from GIMP? --Seans Potato Business 23:13, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Probably not. The code for drawing a little lasso is simple enough; the harder part is making the program know what exactly one needs to select with that area, and here I would suspect there would be a BIG difference between bitmap and vector based graphics. Personally I've never lassoed in Inkscape—it's not the sort of operation one normally does with vector graphics, where you usually are selecting elements rather than parts of elements. --Panoptik (talk) 01:24, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

I've never lassoed in Inkscape, but only because it's not possible. I needed to select and delete many nodes, avoiding other nodes on a curved surface. I had to do it using the only selection tool provided - a rectangle - and it took an extended amount of time. Even if you're just selecting elements, if there are many and you want to avoid certain objects, a lasso tool still becomes useful. --Seans Potato Business 01:32, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

You don't understand the problem. GIMP works in units of pixels - everything is a pixel - so a lasso can simply pick the pixels within whatever shape you select. Inkscape works in units of lines, rectangles, circles, whatever - it literally cannot operate at the level of pixels. Whilst you certainly could write a lasso function for Inkscape, it would have to select whole objects (just like the rectangular selection does). For this reason, lifting the lasso code from GIMP would completely not work - they are TOTALLY different tools at a very fundamental level. It would be possible to write a lasso function for Inkscape - it just couldn't make use of any GIMP code along the way. SteveBaker (talk) 01:39, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

However you CAN simulate it. Draw out the area you want to lasso using the pen, make a copy of both the original object and the lasso, then select both the lasso path and object and click Path/Intersection, which will give you the part of the object that intersects (ie. performing AND on the two objects). Then do the same thing except do Path/Difference instead of Intersection. Once you have finished editing the lassoed section, just select both sections and do Path/union. It may seem complicated here but it's really straight forward once you get used to it. --antilived^{T | C | G} 04:42, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

The same argument applies to rectangle selection, though, which inkscape does have; it can't just select the pixels in the rectangle. It has to choose to select either all objects overlapped by the rectangle or all objects completely enclosed by it, replace "rectangle" with "lasso path" and you have the same thing. —Random832 16:15, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't care to select pixels - I want to be able to select nodes or objects, depending on the situation and I want to be able to do it with a lasso. Is it worth filing a feature request? --Seans Potato Business 18:16, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

December 31

Python error message

I'm writing a bit in python using the NumPy module arrays. Every time I try to take the transpose of an array I get the message built-in method transpose of numpy.ndarray object at 0x012B2CB0, but no transpose. The number at the end (I take to be the memory pointer) changes. I'm running Python 2.5. Any thoughts as to what is going on or how to fix it? Thanks, --TeaDrinker (talk) 03:05, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Wow, silly mistake. I figured it out (I forgot the parens at the end of the x.transpose()). D'oh! --TeaDrinker (talk) 03:09, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Wii: 16:9 progressive w/component, what's the resolution?

When I set my Wii to an aspect ratio of 16:9, and progressive scan, what's the output resolution? I have a TV whose native resolution is 1920x1080, so it's hard to tell what the output resolution is, and I've looked at a number of places but can't seem to decide on a definitive answer. So what does the Wii output when I set it to 16:9 and progressive? --Silvaran (talk) 04:44, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Since the Wii isn't HD-capable, it outputs at SDTV resolution of 480p or 576i (no 576p T.T, but if your TV has a good deinterlacer the higher resolution of 576i will look better than 480p). It does its widescreen through anamorphic widescreen so the effective horizontal resolution is reduced somewhat. --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:56, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

My computer screen goes dark

I was using GOB Player for watching movies. while playing dvd from HDD, I changed the themes of the windows from windows XP to Windows classic. Suddenly my computer screen went black with all text disappeared but the icons alone remained visible. I tried booting with my most recent settings worked option and tried safe mode, but nothing seems to be solving my issue. Suince I can't see text, I can't change the themes or display properties at all. Also I can't go to system restore too....Everything except the icons remain complete dark. This happens only after the user settings are loaded. The welcome screen is fine. I tried logging on to different user, but no change. Please help me. I use windows XP SP2.My pc is dual core 3GHz,1 GB ram,256MB video card,160GB HDD. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.164.61.222 (talk) 08:56, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

That's an interesting problem. There are a variety of things I'd suggest but most of them require that you can see text on the screen. I'm especially surprised about safe mode not working though -- Did I understand correctly, that you tried safe mode, and it still showed you a black screen with no text? Equazcion •✗/C • 16:16, 31 Dec 2007 (UTC)

Designation at the top of the product

I have seen in many products where there is a designation or a symbol "R". This is shown at the top right corner of the name of the product/manufacturer name. For example if you take intel CPU, then it has something like this "INTEL R DUAL CORE 3.0GHz CPU R". See this link.[2]. There is a term R at the top of the name. What does this mean?. Real? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.164.61.222 (talk) 09:05, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

That's the registered trademark symbol, normally an R in a circle, but sometimes reduced to an R in parentheses, or even a plain R, when handled as ASCII. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 09:15, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Bah, you beat me to it. Nice! --Ouro (blah blah) 09:16, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Yeah: ® - you also see ™. It's a similar deal to a copyright symbol. SteveBaker (talk) 16:08, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Programming

I have already taken a basic C++ (to pointers and inheritence), and a data structure course. But, I am interested in expanding my knowledge in programming, which includes creating softwares with nice interfaces, sophisticated web pages... I tried to search on the net for a start, but I got lost between CGI, GUI, PHP, SQL... Could someone direct me and advise me were I should start? Thank you. 212.98.136.42 (talk) 16:29, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

For programs that run normally on your computer with an nice interface, what you need is to pick a GUI toolkit. The good ones generally have two parts:

• A C/C++ library that you link to your application that allows it to interact with the interface
• An interactive tool to allow you do design the interface interactively - dragging and dropping buttons, sliders, menus, etc.

The usual way this works is that the interactive tool writes out some C/C++ source code that maps each 'widget' (button, slider, whatever) into a class or struct that represents that widget. Then you compile that code with your code and the library to make a working application.

One tool I'm rather fond of is 'FLTK' because it generates GUI applications that work under Windows, Linux and MacOS from a single source. With FLTK, you can (for example) create a window, place and label some buttons, sliders, etc - set their colours, the style of text (font, boldface, etc), set keyboard shortcuts - and (critically) provide the name of a "callback" function that is to be called every time the button is clicked or the slider is moved (or whatever). You write those callback functions yourself - and a 'main' that calls the FLTK library initialisation function. When you run the program, the window is opened for you - and whenever something happens with the user clicking on something - your functions are called.

There are a bazillion other GUI toolkits - some are portable - some are specific to one system - some are horrifically complex - others are too limiting. I like FLTK for it's simplicity and easy learning curve (and because it's portable). I'd recommend it as a starting point.

For web-based development, you pretty much need to abandon C++ and switch to PHP or JavaScript (or perhaps, Java itself). These two programming languages are an awful lot like C++ and you'll find them very easy to learn since you already know C++ (it took me about 3 hours to pick up enough PHP to the point where I could write the stuff I needed - JavaScript was even easier). You'll need a good book. PHP is the language that runs on the web server that writes out HTML code for the browser to display. JavaScript runs on the client computer, inside the browser, and is called (much like the FLTK library calls your C++ code) when widgets on the web page are clicked. With JavaScript, you design your GUI using HTML forms and tell each widget which JavaScript function to call when the widget is activated. For most web applications, you need both PHP and JavaScript to get the job done so plan on learning both eventually. If you don't know HTML (and possibly CSS), you'll need to learn those too.

CGI is the name for a regular binary program that's run on your web server as a result of someone clicking on a widget in one of your HTML web pages. CGI is an alternative to PHP and you can write CGI programs in C++. So, in theory, you can substitute C++ for PHP on the server side (I've done that - and I didn't enjoy it) - it's much easier to pick up the PHP language than it is to fight with getting 'CGI' programs running nicely in C++.

SQL is a database interface - forget all about it until you've mastered absolutely everything else!

So, my personal advice (and I'm sure others will differ) is: If you want to start with the desktop GUI stuff, download FLTK (it's free and there are online tutorials and sample programs to get you going) - when you've mastered it, you'll know what questions to ask in looking for something more sophisticated. If you want to start with Web-based stuff, you'll need to install PHP on your web server (do you even have your own web server?) - but JavaScript is already there in whatever browser you are using. Buy a couple of books (I used "Sams Teach Yourself PHP in 24 Hours (3rd Edition)" and "JavaScript: The Definitive Guide" - both on Amazon.com - but there are a million others out there).

SteveBaker (talk) 18:46, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

My first piece of advice would be to get away from C++. It's just too much for a beginning programmer. You'll shed a lot fewer tears if you start out with Java or Perl or Python, which have excellent base libraries, are easy to use, are fast enough for anything you're going to be doing as a beginner, and have great documentation and tuturorials available. You can come back to C++ when you're a professional and need your program to be fast as all hell or you have so many people on your team that you need the bondage and discipline to keep them in line. --Sean 23:34, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Normally, I'd agree with you - but we have here someone who already knows C++ - so I don't think the usual advice applies. SteveBaker (talk) 00:11, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Bug reporting

I found a bug in the universe. I believe it affects all users. Where do I report it so that the current code maintainer(s) can fix it? 192.30.202.18 (talk) 17:48, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Have you tried turning the universe off and on again? 81.77.136.231 (talk) 17:52, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Please do not attempt to reinstall the Universe without first making a backup. K'Thnks. SteveBaker (talk) 18:18, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Your bug is known to be fixed in the next planned major release of the Universe, but the date when it goes golden master has not yet been pinned down.

Atlant (talk) 18:29, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Maybe there's some temporary workaround we could use until then? --Ouro (blah blah) 19:42, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Just be bold and fix it yourself. --67.180.134.53 (talk) 19:50, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Assuming you have a reliable source for your change, click here to edit the article.--69.118.143.107 (talk) 14:32, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Unless of course you mean one of these, because the edit link I provided is for the article "The Universe" or "Universe".. if your article is about another universe related subject, then just locate the article in question and press the "edit" button.--69.118.143.107 (talk) 14:34, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

It's not a bug, it's a feature. Anyway, make sure you have followed the manufacturer's instructions to the letter. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 17:41, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Embed code

what is meant by embed code and embed video?82.148.96.68 (talk) 18:36, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Embed video could mean that you are embedding (that is, attaching, or including, or inserting) a videoclip in another document (or the link to the video if we're talking about an online application). As for embedded code - I suppose it's code (of a programme or script) embedded (inserted) in another document, likewise. If you could provide any details as to where you got the terms from and could be more specific about what you're asking, then we (or SteveBaker) will probably be able to answer more elaborately. Cheers, Ouro (blah blah) 19:52, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Video sites like YouTube provide code you can copy to include their videos in other webpages you create or can post HTML code on. Various sites may call this option embed code, embed video, or something similar. --Bavi H (talk) 07:47, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Robot voice has taken over my Mac!?

Earlier today i nearly dropped my keyboard, which led me to accidently press a number of keys. The result is that everything i click on now has a black box around it. Furthermore there is now a robotic voice reading out stuff, like the web address i go to and other stuff. Any idea how i make the robot shut up? it is freaking me out. Willy turner (talk) 19:40, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Go to System Preferences > Universal Access, and you should be able to disable these settings. --67.180.134.53 (talk) 19:49, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Thank you very much, and happy new year! Willy turner (talk) 00:15, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

January 1

Derivative of a GPLd work

(Not exactly a legal advice question, just interested) I was searching for implementations of AES in JavaScript, and found this page: [3] Its author has ported AES implementation from GnuPG, and put a notice: "Copyright 2005 Herbert Hanewinkel. Permission to use, modify, sell or distribute this software with or without fee is allowed, provided that etc, etc, etc." So my question is: shouldn't it be released under the same GPL instead? (neither the page nor the code mentions GPL, so I suppose it isn't) --grawity ^{talk / PGP} 00:05, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

• GPG's AES implementation was itself based on a public domain implementation (see here), so it depends on whether a court considers the javascript version a derived work of the GPG version or the PD version. --Sean 01:11, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

MIDI and my PC

I have a Yamaha electric piano - a large-ish keyboard capable of producing a nice piano sound and many other instrument sounds as well, including drums. Unfortunately, I am not a musician, I cannot sight read music and I lack the patience to start piano lessons. To date I have relied on "decoding" the music bar by bar, and after many repeats I manage to remember enough to play a minute or two of a recognisable tune. The piano has a round DIN style socket on the back that I believe is a MIDI port. I also have a PC with a sound card with something described as a MIDI-port that looks like an old 9-pin serial port. My question... Is it possible to connect the piano to the PC so that I can either:

• Record my rather poor efforts on the piano to build up several tracks which can be mixed together (ie. record the different instrument sounds separately, like a studio mixer).

• Have the PC play a composition using the different instruments "in" the piano (ie. some musical composition software which drives the piano, either playing through the piano's built-in speakers or allowing it to be recorded on the PC).

Astronaut (talk) 02:33, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, and Yes. You can look at music notation software for starters - many have a "recording" functionality; you can connect the piano to your computer either through the MIDI port or directly through a Line-In audio connector, depending on how you intend to record the sound (as notated music or as raw audio). As far as using the computer to control the device, I am not certain of the details but it is usually possible. Nimur (talk) 03:35, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

It sounds like you have a sound card with a combination MIDI/joystick port. (It's actually 15 pins.)

• To connect the PC to your piano, you can get an adapter cable that connects to the MIDI/joystick port on one end, and has MIDI in, MIDI out, and dedicated joystick connectors on the other ends. (Here's an example.) If you have proper sound card drivers installed, the MIDI port on the sound card will appear in any MIDI programs you use. The sound card's MIDI port will also appear in the Windows Control Panel. (Games or MIDI players that don't let you choose a MIDI device will use the default device set in the Control Panel.)
• To record from your piano and build up several tracks, you need a MIDI sequencer.
• To play a composition from the computer and have the sound coming out of your piano, you can use a MIDI sequencer or any other program that can play MIDI files (including Windows Media Player). If the player doesn't let you select a MIDI port, you would have to use the Control Panel to set the default MIDI port so that it sends it to your piano instead of some "internal" MIDI instrument. --Bavi H (talk) 07:17, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

How

How i get embed code of youtube video or google video?So i link in my windows live space blog for play in my space.82.148.96.68 (talk) 02:40, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

If you want to show the YouTube video within your Windows Live Space, then use the embed code on the right panel. It will look something like this:

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lTxsIJBVCD0&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lTxsIJBVCD0&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

I'm not sure how Windows Live Spaces works so you'll have to work that part out, or wait for someone else.

If you simply wish to give a link to the video, then copy and paste the URL of the video and then onto your Space. x42bn6 Talk Mess 02:43, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

On Google pages, I have to go to edit html. Maybe it is the same for Live? Kushal^t 21:32, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Autocomplete in Internet Explorer 7.0

I used to have a password stored for a website login using Autocomplete. However, I erased the username and have since lost the automatic password entry. How do I set the autocomplete for the password entry? --Blue387 (talk) 06:19, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Are you using IE's built in Autocomplete, or a toolbar's autocomplete i.e Google Toolbar? Perfect Proposal ^{Speak Out!} 19:31, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Internet Explorer. --Blue387 (talk) 02:26, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

It's easy. Just enter your user name and password and click on the submit button. You'll get a window asking you if you want the computer to remember your password. Click "yes". Next time you go to the login page, you'll have your user name and password already entered. Admiral Norton ^(talk) 23:54, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

SMS in UK

What site can I visit in UK to type in a message which goes to someone's mobile telephone? - CarbonLifeForm (talk) 12:18, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Gizmo SMS, but it only allows 80 characters (I guess another 80 are for Gizmo SMS ad). --grawity ^{talk / PGP} 12:31, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

career counselling

I want to know that if there is any FREEcourse or degee in java from a recognized university/institution which could be completed totaly online to help in my future career —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hemant kumar bhardwaj (talk • contribs) 15:51, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

I know it does not directly help, but please look out for the Diploma mills. Kushal^t 21:15, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

The key here is that you ask if it can help in your future career, which I assume is computer programming. Speaking as a person who has been a programmer for 30 years come next September and has been interviewing and hiring programmers for the last 10 years, anything that is free and online will be of no more help than just getting a book and learning to program. I (unfortunately) have to attend a lot of meetings with other IT management people and I've found that the consensus is that interviewees are broken into four categories. There are the unqualified people that we are amazed considered applying for the job. There are the genius freaks who leaned to program when they were in the womb and have never had a need for classes or degrees. There are the alphabet-soup certificate people who have every imaginable certificate and no knowledge of anything they are certified to know. Finally, there are those who set a goal to spend four or five years in college, taking many hours of boring classes, blowing tons of money on overpriced books that they can't sell for a nickel now, and finally got a little diploma with B.S. on it. Except for rare situations, having a real diploma from an accredited university will be the best way to help you in your future career. It says a lot more than "I can program." It says that you spent many years and a lot of money on a long-term goal and you eventually completed it. -- kainaw™ 03:12, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

What about the genius freaks who are forced to spend heaping piles of gold coins on a B.S. so that they can get a career, but never learned anything from it, and didn't do too well because they had to work through school? :[ --ffroth 17:12, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

I worked through middle school, high school, undergrad, and grad school. I rarely learned anything in any class I've ever taken. As I pointed out, the degree has nothing do with knowledge. It is purely about setting a long-term goal and completing it. If, as a genius programmer, you can show some other viable long-term goal, that would be beneficial. For example, if you wrote a popular program that took 4 years to develop, test, and bring to market - you'd have demonstrated the ability to meet long-term goals. Most (by which I mean all except one) of the genius programmers I've known find it easy to start projects but rarely finish anything that takes longer than a few days. -- kainaw™ 17:31, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

That's why you don't eat or sleep for a few days :D Also, does logging thousands of hours in an MMO count as a long term goal? --ffroth 16:22, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Feasibility of customisable email reciept notification (e.g. in Thunderbird)

I often check every time I receive a new email, as indicated by a new email symbol in my Windows tasktray. Often, the email received isn't very important and wasn't worth being bothered about - I'd like to be able to right click on an email, and in just the same way that I can add it to a mail filter, I'd like to change it to a "notification filter". Conceivably, any given email address/domain could be assigned to unimportant = no notification, standard importance = normal notification (normal symbol in task tray), high importance (red-shaded symbol in task tray). Of course, when there are unread email of varying degrees of importance at the same time, the email of highest importance would determine the notification received. One could also choose to have a sound played for high priority email and not for regular email etc. Is this a feasible suggestion? --Seans Potato Business 20:57, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

I am sure it is feasible. Would you like to take a shot by adding it to feature request for the next build of Mozilla Thunderbird too? Kushal^t 21:30, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

My preferred client -- Claws Mail -- is readily customized in this way. --Sean 22:47, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

Does it do it for Windows or only Linux? At this thread they say it's not possible for Windows. --Seans Potato Business 01:15, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

I only use Linux, so I dunno. Sorry. --Sean 12:46, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

This is partially possible in Eudora for Windows. One of the actions of a filter you can set it so assign sounds so you just turn off general sounds and set up sounds per filter. If it's the same filter it only seems to play the sound once even with multiple emails but with multie filters and different sound I think it will play each in turn. You can also turn off notify users in general and there is a notify users option in filters it appears. Finally there is also a notify application although I'm not sure what this does. In conclusion, you can probably set up a binary notification option but more then that probably wouldn't work well Nil Einne (talk) 11:56, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

special characters

hey, does anyone know how to insert unicode chaaracters on a laptop (nonextended keyboard) without having to poen character map or copy and pasting them everytime? are there any alternate ways? thanks a bunch!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.28.132.92 (talk) 23:30, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Many laptops have a faux numeric keypad on the letter keys to the right, look for numbers in the corner of the keys. If this is the case, you can usually activate this numeric keypad by pressing Fn or Num Lock. If your keyboard does have such a function, hold down the Alt key, press the Fn key and then type the numbers using the pseudo-keypad. -Canley (talk) 23:44, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

hey it works!!! Thanks so much!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.28.132.92 (talk) 02:20, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

January 2

Wikipedia server load

The Wikipedia database is temporarily in read-only mode for the following reason: The database has been automatically locked while the slave database servers catch up to the master

This is probably due to routine maintenance; if so, you will be able to edit again within a few minutes. We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused. You can continue to browse Wikipedia articles while the database is locked. For further information, you can visit the #wikipedia channel on the freenode IRC network.

Would more expenditure on server machinery stop this from happening? ----Seans Potato Business 01:12, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Yes, though this lock is only very temporary. It exists to ensure consistancy across the wikipedia databases. If you had better servers (as opposed to more) it might decrease the amount of times this happens. 202.10.86.59 (talk) 02:51, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

This isn't something "you" can allieve, this is a wikipedia-specific message and that server syncing is very specific to wikipedia's massive server setup of mediawiki. If you want to run multiple database servers and connect to them all directly from mediawiki, then you'll have to solve a similar problem. --ffroth 17:10, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

That is the problem, but it still stands to reason though that more/better equipment would probably prevent those lags from occurring. Although the more efficient solution would be to just write new software from the ground up. MediaWiki wasn't meant to be used this way, and proprietary software could probably eliminate these lags even on the current equipment. Equazcion •✗/C • 17:38, 2 Jan 2008 (UTC)

It's hard to imagine a project centered around openness using something proprietary for its fundamental software component. --Sean 18:47, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Just because it's proprietary doesn't mean it can't still be open-source. Equazcion •✗/C • 19:01, 2 Jan 2008 (UTC)

But it can't be "Open Source" in caps. *rolls eyes* Anyway we need better db servers, not more. If we had more, we'd have to sync more often. --ffroth 16:17, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

I know I am getting out of track but I don't see what you are hitting at, equazcion. Kushal^t 12:45, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

In a very real sense MediaWiki is designed to be used in exactly this way, since running Wikipedia has always been and still remains the number one target application for it. Whether it has been well designed for it is, of course, a different question. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 19:33, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Huh? MediaWiki was written for Wikipedia? Are you sure 'bout that? Equazcion •✗/C • 13:00, 3 Jan 2008 (UTC)

If only there were an article somewhere would one could read the history of MediaWiki.... --LarryMac | Talk 15:44, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Now just where would we find such an article? Oh, I know! There is a place, one which hasn't been mentioned in this discussion yet, and I'm not sure everyone here is aware of. It's called "Wikipedia".

Seriously though, isn't it obvious? Before Wikipedia, hardly anyone had an idea what a "wiki" is. In fact, to this very day some people think that "wiki" is short for Wikipedia. It's unlikely that someone would have put a lot of effort into designing something as complex as MediaWiki and just hoping a use for it will be found eventually. Even the name "MediaWiki" is an obvious play on the Wikimedia's foundation name. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 16:10, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

I didn't know that. No need for sarcasm. Equazcion •✗/C • 18:30, 3 Jan 2008 (UTC)

My first paragraph was just a joke, no offense was intended. I usually specifically designate any sarcastic remarks as such, but this was so obvious that I didn't feel the need.

It is, however, important to keep in mind the point raised by Larry - we are all here working within what is probably the largest encyclopedia in the world, in which one can easily find answers to technical questions such as "why was MediaWiki created?". Following Ilmari's link to MediaWiki would be a much faster way to verify his claim than asking about it, and in fact this is probably what he had in mind when he added those brackets. Just something to note to make your life easier in the future.

No offense was intended in my second paragraph, either. I was just a little surprised by your surprise, for even if the historical fact was unknown to you, it looks to me like something that should "make sense" - especially since it is probable that you have seen Wikipedia use Mediawiki much before you've seen anyone else use it. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 19:12, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Windows XP CHK DSK?

Upon my last start up, (after previously defragging my Hard Drive, using a third-party piece of software, and making some registry edits via the automated cleaning program CCleaner), Windows XP, right before the welcome screen popped up, started CHK DSK. I assume this is "Check Disk", but I don't know hwy this happened. It has never occured before. CHK DSK claimed my C: Volume was "dirty". Can someone shed some light on this?

Thanks in advance,

Perfect Proposal ^{Speak Out!} 15:06, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

You're right that it is "check disk". In Windows XP, a check disk can be requested by a program (including Windows itself), in which case the next time you reboot, the check disk scan will run. This can happen if:

• ...a program thinks your hard drive may have damaged sectors (areas),
• ...a program needs to check for errors before performing a major disk operation, such as a change to partitions
• A maintenance program can also request a check disk as a preventative measure, to keep your hard drive healthy
• Windows can initiate a check disk if it detects hard drive issues.

In this case, I'd say your defrag program probably requested the check disk. Some programs allow you to manually initiate a check disk on the next reboot (a feature in Diskeeper), so you may have inadvertently checked this option while playing with settings. The defrag program could have also detected problems and made the request automatically, as any "bad sector" problems would need to be cleared up before a defrag can occur. In the end, it's usually nothing to worry about. Even if there are bad sectors on your hard drive, check disk can usually "fix" them quite easily. Equazcion •✗/C • 15:23, 2 Jan 2008 (UTC)

If chkdsk says that the volume is dirty, it means that the dirty bit is set. NTFS doesn't have a real dirty bit, but it has a bit called the "dirty bit" that can be set to force chkdsk to run. So, if you're using FAT, chkdsk is probably running because Windows didn't shut down cleanly. If you're using NTFS, what Equazcion said. -- BenRG (talk) 23:35, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Software please!

This isn't the most technical question, but what is good software to convert youtube videos into audio files? I'm running Mac OSX, so one for that system would be appreciated. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.84.12.248 (talk) 23:48, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

I've used iSquint quite successfully to convert FLV videos to Quicktime ones, but that's not quite the same thing. If you have Quicktime Pro, that would work very well for this and many other conversion issues. You could probably get VLC to do it, though I've had very spotty results with its OS X port (crashes quite often with FLVs). --24.147.86.187 (talk) 00:05, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Second the VLC recommendation (to wit, I've (a) used it successfully, but (b) had a few problems with it, too). —Steve Summit (talk) 02:37, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

I once used Audacity to do that, by hitting the record button and then playing the video file. It's worth going through the preferences first to make sure it'll record it in the right way and set up the MP3 encoder. It worked very well, though if you have to do lots of files, using Audacity's going to be inconvenient because you have to wait for the video to play. • Anakin ^{(contribs • complaints)} 13:17, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

January 3

php mysql not talking to each other

i've just been setting up a php/mysql/apache combo and been having some trouble getting php and mysql to talk, when i try to run a php page with mysql access i just get a blank page lodad up (ie creating a user login in page when clicking submit instead of displaying the confirmation page its just blank)at first i thought i had bad code but then i used this basic test code and that gave the saem result (blank page):

<? $mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "user", "password", "database");

if(mysqli_connect_errno()) { printf("Connect fauiled: %s\n", mysqli_connect_error()); exit(); }else{ printf("host information: %s\n", mysqli_get_host_info($mysqli)); } ?>

(of course changing user/password/database to the relavent details)

i decommented the mysql extension in php.ini, was there anything else i need to do?--Colsmeghead (talk) 00:03, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Well, changing your error reporting level will let you know what is going on (e.g. it will give an error message and not just a blank screen). Try adding error_reporting(E_ALL); at the top and see what it tells you. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 00:07, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

There are two mysql libraries for mySQL: mysql and mysqli you need to make sure that you've also uncommented the mysqli compilation option (you don't necessarily need the mysql option, although older code may be written to use it). Donald Hosek (talk) 00:34, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Also check your apache error logs, anything that goes wrong in PHP will be there is well. --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:46, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

I'd second changing the error reporting level. I think PHP is bottling out with a fatal function not defined error before it can reach the printf. It's likely that the mysqli extension isn't even loaded, if calling any function fails. First try:

<?php print_r(get_loaded_extensions()); ?>

to check that it's loaded. • Anakin ^{(contribs • complaints)} 13:23, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

hmm i added extension=php_mysqli.dll (it wasnt present as a comment),loaded_extensions only displays mysql/mysqli if i dont include error_reporting in php.ini, when i do include error_reporting i get parse errors from apache about the line with error_reporting on, and the page to load the mysqli info, displays this: Fatal error: Class 'mysqli' not found in G:\Server\Apache Group\Apache2\htdocs\test.php on line 2 could this be maybe as i have error_reporting = E_ALL already in php.ini?--Colsmeghead (talk) 14:40, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

This is the infamous step in getting a WAMP set up (not as difficult in linux). Basically all I can tell you is just to "finagle it".. every time I try to set one up there's a totally different problem.. try putting the mysql bin directory in the PATH, try putting libmysql.dll in a directory that's in the PATH, copy mysqli.dll to every concievable place on your hard drive.. a brute force attack of fixes usually does the trick :) Also make sure that you installed mysql properly- the installer is tricksy and you can't just select what sounds good.. you actually have to know what you're doing --ffroth 16:15, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

I have trouble with a Web site. Please help.

I have trouble with picking a password with this site, http://forums.zonealarm.org/zonelabs/ . I wantr to register so I can get tech support from them. It too hard to make a password and to register. I enter my desired username and clicked "Register". I not sure my desired username is taken because the username is never use before and I clicked "Register" will take that name away from me. What should I do? Note: Asked by this asker at Yahoo! Answers here(deleted) however, no answers yet.

So are you the OP of the question? Do you want to know that if you have actually registered with your desired username? A simple log in using your desired username and password would suffice in checking that, and if it doesn't work you can always create another account, with a more obscure (or more trailing numbers) username. PS: I've removed the ref tags and put it as an ordinary link instead as I don't think it's the appropriate way to use ref tags. --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:45, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Bad Sectors

Question inspired question: When the filesystem (well anything remotely good anyway) detects a bad sector on the hard drive it masks it and use somewhere else instead. I've never had so much bad sectors that it's noticeable so I'm wondering does this reduce the effective size of the partition? Or does it use some other factory-set reserved sectors? If it's the latter how much reserves are there, and is there any way you can use it in normal situations? --antilived^{T | C | G} 05:54, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm not 100% on this, but my best educated guess is that the size of the partition would be reduced after the marking of bad sectors. It may only be a noticeable reduction if there is extensive damage though. Each sector usually only represents 512k of data, so if you have say 10 bad sectors, are you really gonna notice the 5 meg loss on your 100 or so gb hard drive? Equazcion •✗/C • 06:02, 3 Jan 2008 (UTC)

The usual definition of disk sector is 512 bytes, not 512 kilobytes. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 10:07, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

That's correct, ma' bad. Equazcion •✗/C • 10:26, 3 Jan 2008 (UTC)

In times of yore, when men were brave and drives were dumb, the drive just reported everything that happened to the OS. So when the OS detected a bad sector it just marked it as bad and worked around it (making the sector unusable, and thus the partition effectively smaller). These days drive controllers are very smart, and take care of things themselves. They do indeed keep a bunch of spare sectors free, in a list they don't advertise. When they detect a sector going bad they remap that sector invisibly, using one of the spare blocks. The most noticable effect of this is that, because the heads have to perform a seek when accessing the remapped sector, the disk gets slower (a formerly linear sequence of LBAs now has a seek and a return seek in it). Manufacturers don't advertise how big this set is, but it's probably about 1% of the surface. For any shop that's remotely mission-critical the policy is generally "if you see one error" (as reported by the SCSI diagnostics or SMART) chuck the drive ASAP". I know of no way to access those blocks normally; there aren't enough to make a difference for you, and using them obviates their purpose. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 12:03, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

That's interesting info, Finlay, I didn't know this. Thanks :) Equazcion •✗/C • 12:17, 3 Jan 2008 (UTC)

In the even older days back when 10 meg HD was huge and expensive, bad sectors were directly reported to the user. No efforts were made to hide them at all. In those days, HD are expected to have bad sectors. All HD came with a sheet of paper from manufacturer which lists bad sectors found on the HD. Usually after formatting, some of those bad sectors is reported as good, you then had to manually mark those as bad. NYCDA (talk) 17:55, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Ahhh... memories of using DEBUG (DOS Command). --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 22:12, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Website down

My websites went down. Host says "All websites were down because of a malicious attack on the nameservers that perform the look up on the domain names whenever anybody visits the website or sends an email." How is this possible? - CarbonLifeForm (talk) 12:07, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

They're talking about DNS servers. In short, all websites actually have numbers assigned to them, called IP addresses, rather than names. For example, in order to be able to type Wikipedia.com and see the Wikipedia website, your computer first has to look up which number corresponds to en.wikipedia.org (that number is right now 66.230.200.100). It looks this up on a DNS server, which is short for "Domain Name Server". If that server is attacked, it means that people's computers can't look up the names of your websites to find its corresponding number, so people generally wouldn't be able to access your website.

They could do it if they typed in that number directly instead of the name (try typing 66.230.200.100 into your browser to see Wikipedia) -- but most people aren't going to know how to do that or know what the number is, and that method wouldn't work for email. (If you want to try Equazcion •✗/C • 12:22, 3 Jan 2008 (UTC)

In many cases (including Wikipedia) typing the IP address won't work. Servers can be configured to support multiple sites on a single IP address, using the domain name (e.g. en.wikipedia.org) as passed in by one of the HTTP headers to determine which one is required. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 13:01, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Backup software

I just stumbled on Cobian, an open source program which seems to fit all my requirements - ie. to do lots of scheduled file copying between drives across a Windows network. Has anyone used it and able to comment on reliability/stability or is there a similarly featured alternative? —Moondyne 12:34, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Shipping hardware internationally

Hi. Does anyone know what limitations exists on shipping computer hardware internationally, and more importantly, why they exist and can we hope for them to be removed in the forseeable future? Thanks. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 17:11, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

There are restrictions on international transport of machinery that may be used for encryption/decryption. Computers normally fall outside of those restrictions - but there have been cases in the past of enforcement of such laws on the transport of computers. What you are really discussing is tariffs on computer hardware. A tariff is a tax on the import or export of an item with the sole purpose of increasing the cost of the item either inside or outside of the country. You tariff exports when you don't want them exported. You tariff imports when you don't want them imported. Tariffs are not going away anytime soon. They are used to protect the national economy from the international market. For example, assume you run a country. You have a good relationship with Japan and import video cards from them. The retail cost is $100 per card. You don't tariff the cards because you like them. Then, China comes up new cards that are the same quality, but only cost $20 per card. If you allow China to import to your country, Japan will lose the market and blame you (not China) for the problem. So, to even the market, you tariff each Chinese card with an extra $60, making the retail cost $80 when it hits the shelves. You explain to Japan that they have to cut their cost by $20 a card to compete. Everyone is happy and you are making a lot of money in tariffs. Woohoo! -- kainaw™ 17:47, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Maybe. The problem I have is that retailers such as Amazon, Newegg or any others won't ship orders to my country. When asked, Amazon had this to say:

At this time, due to warranty restrictions and import/export laws, we can ship only books, music, videos, and DVDs to most destinations outside the U.S. We can also ship some software, electronics accessories, kitchen and housewares, and hand tools to addresses in France, Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

If the problem is tariffs, I don't understand why I shouldn't be able to order an item and pay the tariff to whoever is collecting it. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 18:02, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

PS. <sarcasm> Yep, My country is happy, Japan is happy, everyone is happy except for actual people, who have to pay for a card four times its worth. Capitalism at its finest. </sarcasm> -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 18:08, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Simple workaround: if you've got friends over there, ask them to purchase it for you and airmail it to you, reimburse them for their money and you've got your hardware. --Ouro (blah blah) 18:09, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

That's a big if. Anyway, are you sure that there aren't any laws, regulations, restrictions, or any such nonsense preventing those friends from airmailing this kind of items? -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 18:13, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Foreign shipping involves declaring what you're shipping, so if your friends are honest about what's getting shipped, then your country will see what you got and charge you the tariff. If everyone's honest then no one would be breaking any law -- you'd just have to pay that tariff upon receipt. At least, to my knowledge. Equazcion •✗/C • 18:17, 3 Jan 2008 (UTC)

I believe the reason is that there is no reliable system in place to make sure the tariffs get paid. The only way you can do it is if you have someone purchase the item and bring it to you -- then you can declare the item and pay the tariff. But if you buy from the store directly, the only system in place is one that charges local taxes. A system for charging foreign tariffs (and then making sure those payments actually reach the country where the item was shipped) would be too complicated to implement, and too risky, as they would have to keep track of foreign laws and tariff amounts, etc -- so stores just don't do it. Equazcion •✗/C • 18:11, 3 Jan 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I guess it'd work if everyone's honest and declares what they're shipping and all. Simpler than buying from the store directly, if they won't mail it then they won't - the e-mails you'd send them would be probably answered like this over and over again. BTW - I've sent a lot of stuff back and forth between Poland and continental Europe and never had to declare what I was shipping. --Ouro (blah blah) 18:21, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

It is also possible that Amazon is not telling the truth about import/export laws. I ship items internationally. There are some countries that I will not, under any circumstances, ship to because there is about a 99% chance that I will not get paid. It isn't just that the purchaser is dishonest. It could be that their country reverts the payments for whatever reason. It could be that their postal system confiscates anything that the postal workers decide that they want to have. It may be that there is an ongoing military conflict that causes all contracts (including payment and delivery contracts) to be easily voidable. Whatever the reason, there are some countries that practically guarantee that I won't get my money, so I won't ship there. -- kainaw™ 18:32, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Say, don't places like this ask for money upfront? That they first deduct it from your credit card, account or what not, or let you make the transfer, and ship it only when the money had reached their account? That's how we usually do it over here. And, with friends, there is no such risk - if they are true friends that is :) --Ouro (blah blah) 18:47, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't know if that's the problem. I've been happily shopping at Amazon for books, dvds etc. for many years, and they have never had any problems receiving my money (at least, they didn't say anything about it). I don't understand why computer hardware should be any different in that respect. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 18:50, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm stumped here. Mayhaps they're expecting you to buy locally so that the manufacturer or whoever gets their money properly? Use their distribution network, not think up your own ways. It's logical. I'm in the process now of procuring a DSLR from Japan at 2/3 the price I'd have to pay in Poland. --Ouro (blah blah) 18:53, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't really know the answer, but if I'm allowed to speculate, I'd say the merchants probably feel that they are not equipped to deal with regulations that restrict the export of military and dual-use technologies. They may feel that they don't have the expertise to reliably tell whether a particular electronics product is subject to export control, and to get an export license if one is required, and they don't want to risk criminal consequences. --71.162.249.245 (talk) 03:20, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Get rid of SELinux notifications?

The SELinux firewall on my Fedora 8 Linux system recently decided to give me about one notification every second about something called an "AVC denial". How can I get rid of this without disabling the firewall? JIP | Talk 19:28, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Writing my own Linux filesystem?

How would I go about writing my own Linux filesystem? Is there, for example, some API I need to implement? JIP | Talk 19:29, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

The easiest thing to do is to implement one in userspace using FUSE; its API is quite simple. If you absolutely must have speed, and are willing to suffer the comparative difficulties of debugging kernelspace code, the Linux Virtual file system, which is documented here. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 19:49, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Can ordinary consumer wirleless routers be used to bridge two wired LANs?

Can ordinary, consumer wireless routers be used to bridge two wired LANs? Say you have a small office in which a wireless router provides wired and wireless internet access to several computers. Can a second wireless router be used to provide wired access to computers in another room without running cables? If that's possible, how should the routers be configured? --71.162.249.245 (talk) 20:12, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

This was asked awhile ago. Basically it comes down to no. It's technically possible with certain routers, but it's extraordinarily difficult to set up and networking is ridiculously complex even if you do get it set up. --ffroth 21:28, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

I can't see how it would be complex- it's just bridging, which is about the simplest thing you can do with a network. But, yeah, I doubt whether typical consumer gear would allow this. There certainly are devices which do, though. One of our networking guys has a setup much like this for his home internet connection- his radio is bridging to an access point on a tower a couple miles away. There are specialized directional radios like this available for this purpose. Friday (talk) 22:35, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Because exactly like you said- consumer gear can't handle it. How are you going to reach a computer in the "outside" (still inside the internet gateway) network? --f f r o t h 01:51, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Conceptually it's not that hard. You can have two subnets with different network IDs. At the media access layer level, the second router will be acting as a wireless client of the first router (which interfaces with the ISP on one side). At the IP layer level, the second router will be the gateway between the two subnets. You can add a static route to each of the two routers so that they know about the other subnet. The first router will be the default gateway for the second router for access to the outside world. I asked the original question because I wasn't sure whether consumer wireless routers are designed to support this configuration. --71.162.249.245 (talk) 03:05, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Wii

Is it possible to connect two Wii consoles to have more than four players? -Wiki131wiki (talk) 22:19, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

I don't believe so. It's theoretically possible to do it with a Wifi lan, but the game would have to support it. I don't know of any games that would allow 8 players on two Wiis. Sorry. APL (talk) 23:52, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

gnuplot 4.2 step function plotting

Hi, does anyone know how to plot a step function in gnuplot without vertical segments to the steps? i.e. then it would be a true function?

This is possible with the "with steps" parameter:

• with vertical segments: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2411/2163493345_758a965361_o.png

This is what I want:

• without vertical segments (used the gimp to remove them): http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2085/2163493343_d2e548d6ed_o.png

Thank you for your help. --Rajah (talk) 22:35, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

January 4

Free Internet

Why do I have to pay for the Internet? If its just a network of networks why cant I just connect my computer to the network free of charge?--69.242.213.186 (talk) 00:54, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Capitalism --f f r o t h 01:49, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Also, because other networks charge for access and they're not going to just let you jack in for free. They negotiate massive contracts with other networks. --f f r o t h 02:04, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

How'd those networks get there? Where'd all that fiber optic cable come from? How's it get into your house? Who maintains it? Who invests in more servers and more cables and more networks and new technologies? Who pays those guys? Who pays the guys who pay those guys? And if you didn't pay for it, who'd you have to complain to if it didn't work? Would they care? Who would pay them to care?

That being said, the telecom industry in the US is severely f**cked thanks to really bad under-regulation and near monopolies, so it's not as if things are really in an optimal state at the moment. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 02:16, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Excel update problem.

I recently manually downloaded SP3 for Microsoft Office 2000 SR-1. I tried running it and found that I needed the CD that I don't have anymore (dog ate it, then it was dropped and it snapped) So I deleted the file, and didn't try to run it again. Now, whenever I try to load excel, it tries to start again. This also happens when I try to edit excel charts in word files. I have to cancel two installation processes every time. What is going on, and how do I stop it? Thanks --Omnipotence407 (talk) 02:24, 4 January 2008 (UTC)