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Contents 1 October 13 1.1 domain functional level windows server 2003 1.2 Wikipedia 1.3 O in Opera 1.4 Sound too high-pitched in Windows. 1.5 How to enable windows task manager 1.6 Runic alphabet in Unicode 1.7 Splitting AVI files 2 October 16 3 October 17 3.1 PICAXE programming under Ubuntu GNU/Linux 3.2 Converting Google Video to mpg 3.3 Does Google rank pages by outgoing links? 3.4 Image comparison script 3.5 WIFI 2-way control with Pocket PC 3.6 Best programming tool for beginner 3.7 Odd first line on "database" entry page 3.8 USB Cables 3.9 Nokia cell phone 4 October 18 5 October 19

[edit] October 13

[edit] domain functional level windows server 2003

why should I change my domain functional level ...what are the new features that are added ?

[edit] Wikipedia

whenever i save pages from wikipedia website it does not appear same as on internet.

how can i save so that it looks the same when viewing offline

File, save page as or something like File, save web page (complete) depending on your browser. Alternatively, download the wikipedia cd --froth^{T C} 06:53, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

that is what i do --Utkarshkukreti 13:26, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

• It doesn't work, without a monobook to refer to the page automatically loads in "classic" skin, in order to fix it, you need to save the source code to the page in question, and look for any links to monobook.js, the default monobook, and manually correct them to link to wikipedia's own servers, which only works while you're online, otherwise it will revert to "classic" skin--66.65.155.117 20:51, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

• Look through the source for anything containing @import "/skins-1.5/monobook/IE50Fixes.css?1"--66.65.155.117 20:53, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] O in Opera

When I'm using Opera web browser, every so often the 'o' key stops working. It is fixed, I have found, by pressing 'alt' twice in a row. I haven't noticed any patterns as to when it occurs, and I don't think that I'm somehow pressing 'alt' accidentally. Does anybody know why this might be occuring, and how I could stop it forever? —Daniel (‽) 18:35, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sound too high-pitched in Windows.

I did a complete format and reinstall of Windows 2000 on this computer. The sound was fine before, but now it's too high-pitched, and additionally seems sped-up. (A 1:33 song will play in 1:20 on my stopwatch, for instance.) What could have caused this, and where do I look to fix it? The problem occurs in Sound Recorder on WAV files, in Media Player Classic on MP3 files, and in the Explorer preview of said WAV files. The sound card is listed as an "Intel(R) 82801BA/BAM AC '97 Audio Controller - 2445" in Device Manager; I'm using drivers I got from the Compaq website yesterday. 69.173.119.165 18:51, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't have the cure, but note that the increased speed would be expected to cause higher pitch. StuRat 23:05, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How to enable windows task manager

All of a sudden after I restarted my computer I tried to open task manager but it said it was disabled by the administrator. I never disabled it that I can recall, and I can't find where to re enable it. If anyone knows how to reenable its use I would appreciate the information. I appreciate any help that is given.

Do you have access to the administrator account? If so, log in as administrator and change your account to one that has the rights to use the task manager. If you don't have access to the administrator account, complain to your computer administrator. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:42, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

!!! You probably have the Win32.P2P-Worm.Alcan.a virus !!! Perform a system restore immediately, and follow any applicable instructions on the sites that the Google search has found. Unfortunately I got it so long ago, I can't point you in the direction of more helpful advice. Hyenaste ^(tell) 19:51, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm logged into the administrator account, this is a single user pc and I've never disabled it to begin with it just happened on its own somehow. I've searched with AdAware,Norton,NOD32,ewido,spybot, and zonealarm pro and the problem still keeps occuring. Recently I've had to kill all access to Internet Explorer because everytime it would open or try to open it would cause Windows Explorer to crash. I don't know what to do about the virus assuming that's what it is if I can't find it with any of these programs, if anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate it greatly. Thanks in advance.

None of those programs were able to remove it for me either. I had to actually go in and delete it from folders and registry (ugh). You may not have the virus though. To check, enter your computer via safe mode, and hit ctrl-R and type msconfig. Click the far-right tab and check for a program called KatchEm, or locate anything you don't recognise. Disable these entries (uncheck them). This doesn't solve the problem at all, but I think it does allow you to log onto the computer at least once normally. I would then run a total system search for .exe files that were created today (or yesterday, or from when you first noticed the problem). Check to see if you have several hundred similarly sized files. Also check your documents folder for hundreds of similar .exe files. (I believe the size is 851.7KB.) Hyenaste ^(tell) 00:26, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

I would recommend that you download some of the tools from sysinternals, most importantly Process Explorer and Autostart. Autostart is FAR superior than msconfig, it will list everything that the OS runs at startup, including all the dlls. Process Explorer is a replacement for task manager, and it too is far superior. There is an option in it that says "Replace Task Manager" that replaces the standard task manager with it, so when you press ctrl+alt+del it comes up. It is also far superior to the standard program, it can TONS of things the task manager can't. You can verify the digital signatures of your legitimate software, it can list all the dlls a program is using, it lists all programs in a tree view so you know what started what, it can tell you the exact commandline a program used to start, it can give you many nice little graphs, and MUCH, much more. And, even with all of these great features, it is still really lightweight (only one exe), it's fast, it doesn't consume a whole lot of memory, it doesn't bog down your system at all. It's fantastic if you've got malware on your computer. All people with windows really should be using it. Oskar 01:51, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Ohh, and also, there are a number of other programs at sysinternals that greatly help with cleaning your windows box. If there is a file that is impossible to delete for instance, sysinternals provides a program that will set windows to delete it on startup. That will work on every file. You should check the site out, it really can help. However, it may still be impossible to get rid of certain very nasty malware, because sometimes they are just that nasty. To completely clean your system, you need either a system restore (which might not necessarily work) or completely reinstall windows. Oskar 01:55, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Runic alphabet in Unicode

I'm making the assumption that the Runic alphabet is part of Unicode (I'm quite sure I've seen something to that effect, but if I'm wrong, ignore the next question, just tell me it isn't). I found out it is, so I just need the answer to the next question. If I wanted to find it in Windows Character Map, where is it (or is it in it at all?) By finding it, I mean what part of "Group by" (I can get it via code searches already) Thanks. - ^Рэд_хот 21:37, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

That a character is listed in Unicode does not mean yet that your computer can display it. Most fots cover only a small subset of Unicode. So, you need to install either a font explicitely for runes, or a font that aims to cover the whole of Unicode. The latter is a neat thing to have, and there happens to be a good one designed as shareware project: Code 2000. See the link at the end of the article. Simon A. 08:29, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Runic letters are found starting at U+16A0. Perhaps the following will display for you:

ᚠᚡᚢᚣᚤᚥᚦᚧᚨᚩᚪᚫᚬᚭᚮᚯᚰᚱᚲᚳᚴᚵᚶᚷᚸᚹᚺᚻᚼᚽᚾᚿᛀᛁᛂᛃᛄᛅᛆᛇᛈᛉᛊᛋᛌᛍᛎᛏᛐᛑᛒᛓᛔᛕᛖᛗᛘᛙᛚᛛᛜᛝᛞᛟᛠᛡᛢᛣᛤᛥᛦᛧᛨᛩᛪ᛫᛬᛭ᛮᛯᛰ

Or try this page, which should always work. --KSmrq^T 10:22, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for those. By "I can get it via code searches" I was actually trying to imply I have a fonmt that supports it. It's just when I go to "Group by" I can't find it in any individual groups (I don't need it in a group, just wondering is all). But thanks anyway - ^Рэд_хот 12:30, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Ah. Instead of Windows Character Map, which indeed is incomplete, try BabelMap. --KSmrq^T 14:31, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Splitting AVI files

I just want to split films (AVI files) into smaller parts, and I am an absolute ignoramus as far as programming and software in general are concerned. I'm not satisifed with what I was able to achieve with Windows Movie Maker. Which of the available free video editing software would you recommend? Thanks, --194.145.161.227 22:37, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

If splitting videos is all you want, Avidemux can do that quite easily. It's free and open source. It can't do all that much, but it can split video files. Oskar 01:34, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, that was exactly what I needed! --194.145.161.227 10:20, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] October 16

Nothing archived today - my fault - Martinp23 16:46, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] October 17

[edit] PICAXE programming under Ubuntu GNU/Linux

Hi,

So far, I have failed to find any substitute for the Programming Editor available for PICAXE programming on Windows. I tried to run it on Ubuntu with Wine, but it's really garbage.

So... Any substitutes under Ubuntu or rather Linux as a whole? Thanks.

--inky 05:27, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Um, have a look at gnupic.org to see if there's something suitable for you. --Robert Merkel 06:58, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Converting Google Video to mpg

Say, I want to convert this google video file I downloaded into an mpeg format. How so? — X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve)08:58, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

That is not possible, A Google Video file is a closed format. But you can download a Google Video file for a Sony PSP or an Ipod, I think you can convert those files to an other format. Tukkaatje 12:44, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

I don't know if it currently exists, but it should be possible via video capture software. StuRat 13:36, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Naevius GVI Converter claims to be able to convert GVI files to the standard AVI format, though I know nothing about it and have never used it, so can't vouch for that. Loganberry (Talk) 14:41, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

By using regular screenshots, you can capture and re-encode the video. You can then capture the audio as it goes to your sound card. You'll have to get/write the scripts for that yourself though (since Google Video Player is a VLC fork, it should have an option to disable DX overlays).--Frenchman113 on wheels! 22:22, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Does Google rank pages by outgoing links?

I thought Google ranks pages by incoming hyperlinks.

Does the number of outgoing links also affect a page ranking?

What effect does this have on Wikipedia?

As far as I know the basic method involves ranking by incoming links, and it wouldn't make any sense to do it the other way around. I've heard that Wikipedia was granted an especially high rating by Google employees (and I assume many trusted websites are given similar treatment) which may boost articles to the top of the search even when there are few incoming links. I can't say I'm familiar with the methods that page ranking services like Alexa operate on.  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  09:17, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I'd say only incoming links (weighted with the credibility of the linking page) have any effect. —Bromskloss 11:56, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

It is my opinion that the age of a website is also used by Google. I've had the same domain name, with an active web page, for many years - long before Google or Lycos or Alta Vista or Yahoo... There are very few sites on the web that link to my website. So, it shouldn't be considered much of anything. But, my site is spidered by Google (and Yahoo and MSN and Ask...) daily. Without the incoming (or outgoing) links to use as a basis for why Google considers my page worth spidering, I'd have to say it is the age of the site. --Kainaw ^(talk) 17:22, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

(As directed at the top of this page, please sign your posts using four tildes ("~~~~").

Automatic page ranking done well is what boosted Google to the top of Internet search engines. The original theory was published, so is no secret. However, any such system can be manipulated, and many folks have a huge financial incentive to do so. Therefore the details of what is done today are constantly changing, and not made public; here's the little Google itself says. Speculation abounds, some better informed than others.

And did it not occur to you to seek an answer to this question by searching the web? --KSmrq^T 04:51, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image comparison script

We get a quite a few questions about identifying sources for pictures, and I swear I've read somewhere (popular science or something like that perhaps?) about programs/a program that index internet images (like google images does) and then compare them using some sort of algorithm to find similarities, and find duplicates.

I've found a couple pages boasting similar abilities, but only for small limited sets of images. Does anyone know of such a program?  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  09:12, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

I've discussed just such a program at the Ref Desk before. It's quite difficult, as it would ideally need to be able to deal with the following:

• Different scale images.

• Different image formats.

• Different clipping. For example, a pic should be able to be matched with a close-up of one part of the pic, or two pics which have an area of overlap should be matched.

• Different color schemes, 32 bit, 24 bit, 16 bit. 8 bit, greyscale, and even black and white.

• Different aspect ratios.

• Mirrored or rotated images.

• The most difficult problem, likely requiring some form of artificial intelligence would be to match pics of the same object from different angles.

You could write a program to do all that, but it would take a long time to compare any two pics. If Google were to try to use it to categorize all their pics, the resources required to get this job done would be extreme. StuRat 13:27, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

If you've ever used a tool which implements the SiFT algorithm, you'd be pretty impressed at how good the feature recognition is. (It deals with stretched, squashed, sheared and rotated images, and image parts.) I wouldn't think it entirely out of the realm of possibility. You'd have to have a human on the end of it, but there are algorithms which can cut down tremendously on the amount of human work. grendel|khan 16:07, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] WIFI 2-way control with Pocket PC

Hello! I want to be able to control my Pocket PC from my desktop via WiFi. BUT: I also want my Pocket PC to send back images from its camera. Is there any easy way of establishing this 2-way control? The reason I want to do this is to control a robot using beeps emitted from the Pocket PC's headphone socket, but also see where it is going at the same time.

I have tried Microsoft Portrait, but that gives me no control of the Pocket PC. Please can you help me. I have also tried Portrait and MS Remote Command but that is a very slow process. Please can you help me! --212.56.97.238 11:35, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Best programming tool for beginner

Whats the best free programming environment for a beginner with no programming experience? It should due GUI stuff and create stand alone executables. Cross platform prefered.

What about Lazarus, which is based on the open-source Free Pascal and runs on Win32, Linux, MacOS, FreeBSD...? Lazarus is a clone of Delphi, which is itself based on Pascal. It's still a work-in-progress so may not be stable or complete enough for large projects, but on the basis of a few minutes' playing around with it I think it's quite good enough for learning on - and you also have the advantage that much of the huge volume of Delphi documentation will be applicable to Lazarus too. Loganberry (Talk) 14:38, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

If by environment you mean something broader than IDE, I recommend BASIC. Try FreeBASIC or PowerBASIC. --froth^{T C} 17:15, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

IMHO, a "beginner with no programming experience" should not be worried about GUI "stuff" and cross-platform executables to start with, but with learning programming. It's like asking what's the best driver's education program? It must allow me to drive an F-1 class Ferrari next week. --LarryMac 19:06, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, I agree. Although, VB makes it pretty easy to do GUIs, if I remember correctly. Newbie easy. It's a very BAAAAD way to learn though, you should learn the basics first Oskar 23:35, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Oh yes, VB has ruined many an aspiring programmer's career. Learn it much later if you absolutely must, but otherwise stay the heck away --froth^{T C} 02:08, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

A beginning programmer needs to learn programming, which is an uncommon discipline. See Category:Educational programming languages for a selection of languages intended to help, most of which come with development environments and cross-platform implementations. Notable examples are Logo, Scheme, and ToonTalk, from the MIT tradition, and the Smalltalk family out of Xerox PARC.

Programming requires structured thought, structured action, and structured data. Daily life is not adequate preparation for these demands; in fact, most people give terrible directions and unsound explanations. A mistake in a single character in a program can cause it to fail — a daunting challenge when confronting a program requiring thousands of lines of code. Thus programming includes not only problem definition, method design, and program implementation, but also structured testing, structured diagnosis, and structured correction. A final essential is documentation, especially important in a large project.

Do not be embarrassed to begin with a training environment like Alice; the insights and habits gained there will be more important in the long run than wrestling with the obstacles of a “serious” implementation language like C++. And, paradoxically, the total time to mastery of C++ will likely be shortened by including this learning step. --KSmrq^T 06:57, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Odd first line on "database" entry page

I think this might be vandalism, but the first line on the entry for "database" reads like a nonsequitur. I don't have a user account and I'm not sure how to fix it, since when I try to "edit" the line doesn't even show on the edit page - only the published page.

Can someone check it out?

Thanks, A.Pacchia

Is this what you were referring to? Seems that it was caught in about half an hour. Well it seems fine now.. in the future use WP:HD instead of this desk --froth^{T C} 17:11, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] USB Cables

I am interested in controlling electricity in a usb cable. My aim is to send a small but significant voltage to a device the other end.

I understand that there are three main parts to a usb cable, a live wire, a ground wire and two twisted wires for data.

Can the two power wires be controlled from a computer?

I don't really know what to search for, Google has given me a list of USB based products which doesn't help much and any pages which are related tell me information I already know.

Could you suggest some online resources which would make this easier or explain how i would go about doing it.

Thanks very much

PeteL 18:28, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

I suppose that actual functionality would depend on your USB controller, but the specification doesn't allow for any variation in power. You're better off just using the power lines for power and resisting it depending on what's on the data lines. USB uses differential signaling to reduce interference so you might want to read up on that before trying to design your own controller. Also the data lines are asynchronous so make sure it's not oscillating before addressing it to the resistors (or variable resistor). Or if I'm totally off here and you don't need variable power, just use the power lines and interrupt them when you don't need power (use the data lines to determine this) --froth^{T C} 18:54, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Have you looked at our USB article, and more importantly, some of the external links on that page? --LarryMac 18:59, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nokia cell phone

i know this is not exactly a computing question but i hope one of you can help me out. i have a Nokia 3155i (Virgin Mobile edition). i know it can play MP3 and AAC because most of the ringtunes it comes with are in those formats. I am wondering how i could load my own MP3 music from my computer onto it and use it as an mp3 player. does it have a music player interface? i couldnt find it in the menus. Also, i know it only fits 12 MB. is there anyway to expand the memory?

They talk a little about connecting to your computer on their page, but don't mention sound files. You could always ask them. —Bromskloss 01:00, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] October 18

[edit] October 19