User:Theresa knott/sand box

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Undelete/Life_in_Eastside

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Contents

[edit] Pantomime

http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/world/europe/0012/pantomime.gallery/content2.html

http://www.sinderella2.co.uk/jimdavidson/

http://arts.qmuc.ac.uk/ijost/Volume1_no2/B_Bell.htm









[[User:Theresa knott|Image:Theresa Knott Sig.gif]]

[edit] Linux woes

Well I finally decided to get around to trying Linux. I decided to go for the “safest option” and run a live distribution from a cd (Morphix). I ignored the warning on the disc that read “read the instructions inside the magazine first” because I no longer had the magazine. So I just put it in the drive and rebooted. Everything went ok, I had a bit of a look around, decided there would be a very steep learning curve, and I really should look at a few books (there was no documentation on the cd at all!). Then I pressed the button on the DVD drive and nothing happened! Panic set in, as I realise that a bootable cd meant I couldn’t just switch off and on again. I has visions of prising it open with a screwdriver ( the computer is 4 days old I really didn’t want to smash it up) then I came to my senses and thought of changing the boot order in the bios. That worked so I did boot up Windows and get the disc out, but surely there must be a way of opening it from within Linux? Also when I tried to connect to the internet, it didn't dial up (I get broadband in two weeks yeah!) how do i tell it about dial up networking? theresa knott 19:01, 29 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think you can eject a live distribution while the OS is in use - you have to shut it down and the last thing it does is eject the CD. However, if you insist on using one, Knoppix is about the most friendly Linux distribution I have ever seen (live or on-disk). →Raul654 19:11, Jul 29, 2004 (UTC)
Indeed, the root filesystem is mounted off the CD, so the eject button is (quite rightly) disabled. I'd echo Raul's fondness for Knoppix. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 22:51, 29 Jul 2004 (UTC)
I don't know about Morphix but Mandrake Linux (the distro I use) has a whole control center (very nice) that should recognize your dial-up modem. Problem is, it doesn't recognize my D-link DWL-520! (nor does any other distro I tried) :(. A good distro is Debian because it makes installing packages a lot easier, and it's what lindows is based on. Good luck. Ilyanep (Talk) 19:19, 29 Jul 2004 (UTC)

First off, if you have a built in 'winmodem', generally it is not worth trying to get Linux to recognise it. All hardware modems should give you a better shot at it. How old is the CD you're using? Using the most recent one will give you a much better crack at getting it going, as Raul says, Knoppix is the best at this. As for getting the disk out, when it's running, you can't, because it is a LiveCD, running from the disk. Shut it down using the icon that, I think, on Gnome, is a foot, but honestly could be anything depending on the theme. It's analagous to the start button on windows. There should be a 'log out' or 'shut down' option. Go for it, and the disk should eject. If it doesn't, turn the computer off at the power switch, and find the little paperclip hole on the front of your cd drive that hardware ejects the cd. HTH Mark Richards 20:31, 29 Jul 2004 (UTC)

If you want specific help about how to configue it to dial up, let us know what computer, and what version of Linux. Mark Richards 23:04, 29 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for your halp everyone. Now that I come to think of it, it makes perfect sense not to allow removal of the disc when the operating system is on that disc. But it does not eject when the computer shuts down :-( Anyway I found a quick way to get the disc out, by rebooting, pressing F1, watching the light of the DVD drive an opening it when it flashes. It then boots to Windows just fine. As for dialup, i think I may as well just wait a couple of weeks to I go over to braodband and try to get that to work instead.
A way to get disks out in an emergency (if the power is off and you need to get a disk out) is to get a paperclip, straigten it out and push it firmly into the small hole below the tray. This is the emergency release mechanism, after pressing it you can gently slide the tray out and recover your disk. Just a little FYI if you ever need to get a disk out and can't :) Darksun 18:59, 25 Aug 2004 (UTC)
I intend to run a dual boot system - what's the best way to do this let Linux shrink my Windows partition, or use something like Partition Magic? I have version 5 ( current version is 8) free on a magazine disc. Has anyone used that with XP - it says it's compatable with Windows 2000 but XP hadn't come out yet when version 5 was new. I'd rather not pay for the latest version if I can get away with an older one. theresa knott 00:29, 30 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Unless you're strapped for cash, I'd avoid dual-boot like the plague. Partition management (of every flavour) can be a bit dicey, and windows frequently doesn't play nice with the boot sectors of other OSes (particularly when you need to reinstall XP, it'll generally write the drive's MBR, meaning your linux partition becomes unbootable, at least until you fix the boot partition after booting from some install media or liveCD). If you can at all afford it, get one of those cheapo removable drive caddy things (you know, it's just a slot on the PC's front, and a regular IDE hard drive goes inside). Then have one drive for booting windows, and another for booting linux. It's marginally less convenient than dual boot, but much safer. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:40, 30 Jul 2004 (UTC)
I would like to echo Finlay's advice - dual boot is 10x more headache than it's worth. 'Tried it, *hated* it. Now I have two machines (XP for fun, Fedora Core 2 for work) and life is a lot happier. If you have an older machine lying around, put linux on that one. Just one comment - the "good" Window managers (read - friendly and intuitive) are very processor hungry. →Raul654 04:36, Jul 30, 2004 (UTC)
Dual boot isn't that hard, although I would recommend making an emergency boot disk to repair the boot loader if something happens. The Grub boot loader is fairly robust and works well either from floppy or disk. Repartitioning is a bit dangerous, but if done right, works well. I think getting a second disk would be much easier and cheaper than the "drive caddy things". I sometimes install grub in the last cylinder on the disk, which windows invariably forgets to use anyway. --ssd 04:25, 30 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Yes, dual boot isn't such a big deal. Get a nice tool such as Partition Magic to help you. The concerns about MBRs are valid, but if you can get your preferred OS to rewrite the boot sector you want, if Win overwrites it (a boot floppy would help), you should be fine, really. Dysprosia 14:00, 30 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Partition Magic costs $$$; if you're looking for a no-cost no-frills alternative for resizing partitions, check out BootItNG Ambarish | Talk 18:08, 1 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I have used dual boot, and found it, as others said, a pain, but not insurmountable. The solution I came up with was to make a floppy or cd boot disk that boots to a partition on the hard drive. If that disk is in the drive, it boots to linux, if not, it boots to windows. Seriously though, hard discs are not expensive, get another one and don't mess around with partitioning. Mark Richards 15:15, 30 Jul 2004 (UTC)

You have convinced me, I shall get another hard drive. theresa knott 19:22, 30 Jul 2004 (UTC)
tk, There's some preparatory mental flossing generally needed when dual booting, whatever approach one uses. Decide what sort you are, with the two choices being (at the boundaries) computer enthusiast for whom the system is the thing and the work done with a working system not, or a user for whom the whole bit (hardware, software, connectivity, ...) is just a tool. If there were squirrells inside making it all go, that would be just fine as long as nobody makes you feed them and they don't lose/damage your work. the former sort will be quite accepting of the reboot, reload, reformat, recreate cycle some software compells.
If you're the latter sort (even if only sometimes) then dataloss paranoia is quite appropriate. The problem (as always) is that where and how the data (=all that work you've sweated over, or acquired in other perhaps not repeatable ways) can get lost is very hard to foresee, even for the most knowledgable. Monkeying with your partition tables is quite foreseeable, of course, and the problem (even w/ Partition Magic which has a sterling reputation) is of course pilot error, common in inexperienced. The usual resort is to backups, so if lightning (fire/flood/theft/flocks of offended tits/...) does strike, the data will at least still exist (elsewhere will then be your fervent hope). In an era of 60GB disks and rather smaller data tape cartridge capacities (among those offordable by mortals w/o Gates' resources), this is not so simple as it might be. DVD burners are of course an alternative, but at 7GB or so current max, that's a lot of DVDs (and time and trouble) if your disk(s) is full. Currently the cheapest alternative is probably a second disk, but unless it's portable (and kept elsewhere, though regularly updated with the latest not-to-be-lost stuff) the second copy of your vital info might die the same dismal death as the first (in the next door drive bay).
There are several intro to Linux things available on the 'Net, with the Rute Guide being perhaps the most one_source of the responsible lot. There's also a lot of not so useful stuff. Check with the Linux Documentation Project for generally good stuff, though a bit fragmented, rather as the WP often is. The learning curve isn't as steep as you now think, it's just that you're hitting it pretty much flat on when you're undertaking to dual boot, or install a new operating system yourself, or, indeed, to manage your own computer. The M$ folk iterate and reiterate about ease of use, and even easier of use with the newest/latest (only a bit more $!) release, but neglect to note that 1) it's easy (whatever they think they mean by that) only for those migrating from previous versions with a back story of experience and knowledge, and 2) "you don't have to worry about system administration" is a pile of poop and a flat (and every other sort of shape) lie. Every machine -- unless you're one of those for whom data is disposable and recreatable without cost or trouble -- requires a keeper. Even kids -- who are far more self managing than these machines -- requires minders, pretty continuously. At least machines aren't motivated/driven/compelled/poossessed/drawn to get into trouble on their own hook. It's easily doable (by those with certain capabilities, a sense of caution (unless you're one of those ...), and some patience), but does require effort and perspective and a bit of prepatory mental flossing. ww 18:31, 2 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Yes, dual booting with two hard drives (one for linux and one for windows) is definitely the way to go. The easiest way to accomplish this is:
  1. Install windows on the master hard drive. (I'm guessing you've already done this.)
  2. Swap the two hard drives. I.e., make the master the slave, and the slave the master. Should be a simple adjustment of jumpers and IDE cables.
  3. Install linux on the new master hard drive.
  4. Set up the boot loader to enable dual boot. Both lilo and grub can fool the system into thinking that the windows drive is the master and the linux drive is the slave, making windows happy. (Windows insists on its bootloader being present in the "master" drive, or it won't boot.) Many linux distros will detect windows on your original hard drive and set the bootloader up to fool the system automatically. In case your distro doesn't, here's an example of a lilo.conf set up to virtually swap the master/slave (specifically, the part about map-drive).
The advantage of doing it this way is that the slave hard drive (the one containing windows) is not touched at all by linux. Even if something gets majorly screwed up with the bootloader, your windows installation is safe, and in a worst case scenario you can simply swap the two drives back and boot windows with no problems. It's saved me a couple times. Good luck. :-) --Benc 22:04, 2 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[[User:Theresa knott|Image:Theresa Knott Sig.gif]] 01:36, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Code Breaker game comments

[edit] Beta testers wanted

Sorry but i'm not really asking a question here. I made a game similar to notpron on my home page with a code/cipher theme. It doesn't have too many levels (13 and the first 2 are tutorial levels). It is intended for non experts/non geeks so i figured that the kind of people who read this noticeboard would have no trouble with it. If you feel like it, would you take a look at it here and see if i've made any glaring errors or pages that turn out to be impossible to solve. Thanks Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 15:35, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

The blue on gray text at level two hurts my eyes. There is one item on level 5 that needs to be guessed - probably easy enough for a native English speaker. I'm stuck on level 7. For now. --LarryMac 16:11, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
Now up to 9. Needing a break. --LarryMac 16:33, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
I didn't think 5 involved any guesswork, as it was systematic. 6 I have trouble with as I'm trying to intepret a way to input the password, or something. Skittle 16:46, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
Okay, that was odd. The join between 6 and 7 :-\ Skittle 17:15, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
I see Level 7 twice, with different passwords. --LambiamTalk 17:27, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
How odd, that didn't happen to me. Level 8 is annoying me, trying to find which bit matters. Skittle 18:10, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
Current sticking point for me is 11. Layout wise, the text beginning with "hmm" is right on the hoizontal line dividing the window, I almost couldn't see it. (IE 6, for reference). --LarryMac 18:21, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
Another layout thing -- on level 6, the phrase "Crack the code" begins at about 2/3 of the way (left to right), on the same line as the previous level's password. "Crack the" is on that line, "code" is on the next. --LarryMac 18:26, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
At level 5 the name of the crypto method is misspelled: "ea" should be "ae" and next "e" should be "a". --LambiamTalk 18:50, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
Level 42 is the best. --DLL 19:37, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
I only made 13 levels so far, so we all know you are full of it :-) Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 05:01, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
Now accepting all assistance in getting past level 11. --LarryMac 19:51, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

It was boastin'. Stuck on 10 with a treasurus. There's a knot to taste. Theresa, it is a good idea and the pages are just nice. How many levels do you intend to create ? --DLL 22:08, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

There seems to be both a level 8 and a level eight. How odd. Also, are all your puzzles solvable by hand or do some of them require computers? I had to resort to computer decryption for level 8 (not eight), following the advice of LarryMac. Skittle 22:38, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Ah I've gone wrong with the numbers. The digital fortress one is hand decodeable. Some of the levels - well at least one anyway, a brute force attack is the easiest way _ I suppose you could hand decode if you are truly clever. With a brute force attack using software speeds things up. The software is available as java applets that are easy enough to find on the web ( I hope) Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 05:12, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
And I agree with LarryMac about the text being over the line, and so hard to read, on 11. And it should say 'interchange'. Skittle 22:45, 22 May 2006 (UTC)
Theresa, where did you go?? That thing I said about the layout on level 6 -- it seems to be that way in a lot of places, and now I'm home and using Firefox. I'm happy to know my new friend Skittle got through level 9, but I'm pretty sure he used the computer for that one too (hey, why would she have a Google link on each page if we weren't supposed to use it?). And I'm still stuck at 11.  :-( --LarryMac 01:18, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
I'm stuck at 11 myself. I thought I had the idea for it, but somehow it's not working out. --Deville (Talk) 01:53, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

WOW thanks what a lot of comments! The spelling mistake on level 11 is now fixed. I originally thought that I'd make 20 levels, so far I've made 13 but run out of ideas :-( so if anyone has any feel free to email me. Right I'd better go and try to fix the text over the line problem that so many are experiencing. I assume skittle has got passed level 11 or did I make it too difficult? A hint for anyone else who is stuck on that level - I missed out the spaces. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 04:43, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

OK I think I have solved the layout problem. Hopefully everyone should be able to read the hints now. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 04:59, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
My problem with 11 is that the code referenced usually represents characters as a sequence of 8 bits; however we are presented with 12, which works out to one and a half characters; there's barely any room for spaces to have been left out! Sorry, Theresa, but I think you've got some 'splainin' to do. --LarryMac 13:41, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
(Actually i thought it was 7 bits? but anyway) You are making an assumption. You don't have to represent the characters as 8 bits at all. There are other ways of doing it, other number systems. Of course it was pretty sneaky of me to deliberatly chose the characters I chose. Had I chose different letters the code would be much easier to break. Hopefully that's given you enough of a clue. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 14:20, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
Right, I didn't want to get into a whole 7 bits vs 8 bits, original standard vs extended, etc. We've all been trying to be coy about describing any of the levels too clearly. Anyway, believe me, I have broken down that string of bits in ways you probably never thought of. I am just going to ignore the whole thing for a while, that's what ultimately got me to U******.  ;-) --LarryMac 14:28, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
I had to go to bed, but am now back with a vengance! Following the clue, I am now re-exploring 11. I, too, broke down that sequence soooo many ways. I can tell you it's not MON or GOK... U****** was surprisingly easy, but I think I was just in 'the zone'. Skittle 17:12, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
Having completed 11, "Curse you!" *shakes fist at sky* And what was with the GAP sentence? Did that ever send me down the wrong road. Skittle 17:14, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
W00T, "Well done you have completed all levels!"
So overall, I'd have to say 11 was the most annoying level. Aesthetically, the color-scheme is a little hard to read, although that seems to be the scheme for your site; I just prefer a little more contrast. A few typos still remain, last I checked -- "Eund of game". But it was quite a challenge. I suppose I'm going to have to actually do some work for the rest of the day. --LarryMac 15:31, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
Done! Still reads 'Eund', but I think we'll just have to wait for you to get back. A slight flaw with level 12, and to a lesser extent 13, is that it only required a quick google and the answer was there. For 12, you only have to google the password. Maybe a combination, such as reversing the words as well? Skittle 17:35, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
This challenge is slightly easy up to level 10. Man, that one is tough!!!
I think it depends on what sort of person you are. I found 10 very easy, but 8 and 11 hard. But 8 was largely because I assumed they were doable in your head, rather than by plugging into a decrypter. After my aborted attempts at that, I'm thoroughly sick of Viginere tables :-) Fun though. Skittle 19:41, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, I did level 10 "in my head". But I play with words all the time, so that helped. OTOH, seeing as I am a programmer by trade, the inordinate amount of time it took me to solve 11 should be shameful. --LarryMac 23:04, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
No it's because you are a programmer that you found 11 so hard. You already knew all there was to know about the code in question. Had you not you would have done a google search, found out (what you had forgotton) and solved with minutes.Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 05:16, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
Thanks soo much everyone. This has been really valuable for me. I have several typos to fix, have to make 12 and 13 more difficult, have to fix the double level problem, I've spotted a problem in the steganography level in firefox but not IE, then I 'm off to google sitemaps to submit a sitemap which i don't know how to do at the moment. But before all that, I'd better go to work - seeing as how they pay me. If anyone can think of any other suitable codes or cyphers do please email them to me. Thanks Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 05:16, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

The last two levels have been made more difficult, so if anyone gets stuck on them you have skittle to thank. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 12:30, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Argh. I don't see how easy level 5 is. I think I know what to do, I'll try it. Thanks for making another cypher! I needed another web puzzle. :) EdBoy 23:31, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

They are always easy when you know the answer! Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 07:54, 29 May 2006 (UTC)


try to get css to work

I'm playing around with User:Theresa knott/monobook.css and I cant see what I'm doing wrong!

The tools on the LHS of the page labelled "navigation", "search", and "toolbox" have their labels as a h5 heading. So I changes the css to

h5 {

font-size: 200% ;
color: green;
font-weight: 900;

}

Now the colour changes but the font size and weight don't. Why not? Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 05:02, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

   You have to be more specific. This is from the default monobook css (the first sheet loaded):

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {

       color: black;
       background: none;
       font-weight: normal;
       margin: 0;
       padding-top: .5em;
       padding-bottom: .17em;
       border-bottom: 1px solid #aaa;

} h1 { font-size: 188%; } h2 { font-size: 150%; } h3, h4, h5, h6 {

       border-bottom: none;
       font-weight: bold;

} h3 { font-size: 132%; } h4 { font-size: 116%; } h5 { font-size: 100%; } h6 { font-size: 80%; } .portlet h5 {

       background: transparent;
       padding: 0 1em 0 .5em;
       display: inline;
       height: 1em;
       text-transform: lowercase;
       font-size: 91%;
       font-weight: normal;
       white-space: nowrap;

}

   The .portlet h5 is defining a size and weight, overwriting yours (as it is more specific), but only the h5 is defining the color (so yours takes preference). You are also trying to change all H5 headings for yourself on this wiki. Try this instead:

.portlet h5 {

font-size: 200% ;
color: green;
font-weight: 900;

}

   Which only defines the side-bar H5. --Splarka (rant) 08:11, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

Thank you! It worked. Theresa Knott | Taste the Korn 14:50, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

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