Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2006 December 28

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[edit] December 28

[edit] moving data from excel to access

I have a lot of data in Excel that i need to move to a database in Access, but i can't just copy and paste it all. is there another way of doing it all at once?

Also, i want to sort data according to its date, but when i sort the date column, it sorts it by the first number (which since i am English, is the day (DD/MM/YY)). how can i get it to sort by year, then month, then day, without creating separate fields for all of them? thanks --194.176.105.39 09:36, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

i sorted out the second question, the first is still kind of a problem. --194.176.105.39 11:09, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

You should be able to import Data from Excel in Access from get-go on newer versions I think, but otherwise just use ODBC and specify the excel file as database for the ODBC driver, and then use the driver in Access. Aetherfukz 15:39, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use of images

Hello. Is the use of this image in Sketchpad, Ivan Sutherland and T-Square (software) considered fair use (fairusein3)? I checked Google and found no previous instances of the Sutherland Sketchpad video being removed from Wikipedia but University Video was sponsored by Apple Computer who is careful so I had better ask. Also, is Computer History Museum permission and the rationale I gave sufficent for this image and the alternate crop linked to it? I believe somewhere I read that permission is about meaningless but am not sure. Thank you. --Susanlesch 10:16, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

The fair use claim looks fine to me (very small image used in highly targeted articles, not reasonably reproducible elsewhere), but this isn't really the place to ask. Asking at Wikipedia talk:Fair use will get more replies. Permission is for Wikipedia's purposes officially meaningless. --24.147.86.187 01:16, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
  • Copied the question there, went ahead with the article and archived. Thank you for your help. -Susanlesch 22:18, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] relationship between i.c.t and public relation

                  yes that is it.

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.113.72.38 (talk) 13:14, 28 December 2006 (UTC).

Is this a computer question ? What is ICT ? StuRat 01:30, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New MS Office for Mac

Does anyone know when the new MS Office for Mac will come out? And how much the student edition will cost? Thanks! --86.137.233.160 13:32, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

I think it's not clear yet when it will come out. A news article and mac360 article I dug up using google suggests it will be Q3 or Q4 of 2006 or later. Probablly information about pricing will be available first when the release is officially announced. Pieter-Bas 17:08, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

Thank you very much! --86.137.233.160 08:58, 3 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Core 2 Duo software optimization

A salesperson told me that software has to be specfically written to take advantage of the Core 2 Duo processor (as opposed to the earlier Core Duo). He made it sound like Hyper Threading, MMX, 3Dnow and all those other specialized architectures. Are there special optimizations software can use to get greater performance out of Core 2 Duo CPUs? I was under the impression that Core 2 Duo only offered better performance (related to cache?) and less energy usage when compared to Core "1" Duo. --24.249.108.133 19:52, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

  • They may be talking about the 64-bit architecture. The more bits, the more information can be processed by the cpu in the same amount of time. Older programs will absolutlely run faster on the core2 due to performance enhancements such as the integrated cache, but when they run, they not be able to take advantage of the extra bits, so they might not run as fast as they could theoretically. --Infrangible 02:53, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
Interesting. However, you comment about 64-bits seems to contradict an earlier question I read. [1] --24.249.108.133 17:12, 3 January 2006 (UTC)
  • Yeah, computer science is full of contradictions. --Infrangible 05:18, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
Yep he's right. The Core 2 Duo implements SSSE3, adding 16 new instructions. I doubt he knows this though, he's probably just talking about the 64 bit change --frothT C 05:17, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
But keep in mind that software doesn't have to be written for new instructions, it's done by the compiler. Compilers have to be rewritten for new instructions. --frothT C 05:18, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] CELLULAR VOIP SERVICE

Ok, there is a service out there that I cant remember the name of for the life of me. It is a voip provider, but here is how it works.. you dial number on your cellphone (a free call, since the number you're dialing is a mobile number the same as your provider). You enter your pin, and then place a call that is routed through VOIP. Thus, you can call any number is the US without using any of your minutes, because it is routed through a mobile number that is the same provider as your phone. Can anyone remember the name of this service? Thx 67.142.130.29 21:24, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

There seems to be several services that offer this capability. Splintercellguy 02:36, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
This article looked interesting and pretty relevant to what you're talking about (moreso than most other search results) .. If you want a 1-800 number solution you could just get a phone card from Sam's Club as those are the best deals for phone cards. That CS Guy 22:41, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Python method access

Assume the following Python code fragment:

           oTest   = FooClass();
           sMethod = 'SayHello';
           print oTest.SayHello();         ### "Hello World!"
           ### print oTest['SayHello'];    ### NO WORKY
           ### print oTest[sMethod];       ### NO WORKY
           ### print oTest[sMethod]();     ### NO WORKY

How can I get the commented-out lines to work as expected? What is the search term I can use to look up the concept of what I am trying to do here (using a scalar to hold the name of an instance method, or specifying an accessor name indirectly). NoClutter 21:39, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

getattr(oTest, sMethod)() —Keenan Pepper 02:08, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Laptop purchasing

My brother's looking to buy a pretty powerful, small, and lightweight laptop. He's comfortable with windows, not tiger (but i hear windows now works, or will soon, on macs, and he might switch to linux anyway.) I suggested, from my extremely limited knowledge, that he look into getting either this Alienware laptop, or this macbook. he'd customize them pretty equally. I'm guessing about 100 gigs, probably 1 or 2 gigs of memory (does it make a major difference?). One of my questions is whether the rpm numbers next to harddrive space matter, because alienware sells a 100 giger with 7200 rpm cache (whatever that means). Also, I can't find any analog for processor on the macbook customizing page. are alienware's options significantly better than macbook's default? generally, which would you guys, in your opinion, suggest? they're both roughly equal in price, and the screen size difference is unimportant. thanks a lot, Sashafklein 23:20, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

No offence to them but alienware are a boutique laptop, I would stay away from them unless you specifically want a trendy game machine, which it doesn't sound like you do. Sony Vaio also fits the small, light weight and powerful criteria. I have a vaio and my gf has a mac, I think they are equally up to any task you throw at them. If you are running windows, then the native windows is the obvious choice, yes you can run windows on a mac but you may have some fiddling to do to get all the mac specific drivers working for all the bells and whistles. Vespine 00:15, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, but is there anything particularly bad with a "boutique laptop?" I have no problem with something trendy or pretty if it works well. I was just under the impression that Alienware was well-known for having particularly powerful computers, and since I think my brother might, upon occassion, give his computer a workout, is it necessarily a bad idea to get one? I have had bad experiences with "good" computers that start screwing up and slowing down when overloaded with music and videos, and when running many things at once. Do the Vaio laptops run any risk of this? I don't think (think) they have the same reputation for performance as Alienware. My brother isn't a gamer, and neither am I, but... Sashafklein 01:22, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

I believe by "boutique" Vespine meant you pay a lot for what you get. In other words, you could get the same thing for less elsewhere. StuRat 01:27, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Shoot. I just realized those links timed out. I meant the Sentia™ m3450 by Alienware and the 13in 1.83 gHz Macbook, if anyone was considering following the links anyway. Sashafklein 01:26, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

As far as high-end computers, Alienware is popular, but not exactly the best for the price. It's like Dell - a lot of people use it, but it's not the best. For a desktop, you can build your own, but you can't with a laptop, so I would suggest shopping around on Falcon Northwest, Voodoo, or even regular manufacturers such as Dell, Compaq, and Gateway. As long as it has a decent graphics card, is over, say, 2.5ghz, and has about 512MB/1GB RAM (this can always be upgraded later), you should be fine. If you want a Mac laptop with these specs..well..if they even have one, it'll be marked up perhaps up to double the price of a comparable Windows machine. I'd go for a Windows machine with the above specs & a Core 2 Duo processor. --Wooty Woot? contribs 02:12, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
Don't advise the OP to look for clock speed (2.5ghz) since that's high for dual-core or AMD and low for single core or Intel so it could be confusing.. --frothT C 05:20, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
Dell is notorious for running coupon deals periodically, if you have patience you can snag a good laptop from them for a real cheap price. As for specs, if you plan on gaming the most important thing is (naturally) a good video card and good ram (especially if it's a "shared memory" setup). No one answered the question about '7200 rpm cache'. The hard drive in a laptop is by far the slowest component. The need for light, efficient, rugged drives often beats out the need for speed, laptops have had this boat anchor to drag since their inception. 7200RPM is the speed the disk spins, and it is generally accepted that it will be a good bit faster than the 5400RPM drives that are still popular. As far as CPU goes, there is no sense in settling for less than a core 2 duo CPU, the speed of which is up to you but around 2 GHz is sufficient even for gaming. --66.195.232.121 15:02, 29 December 2006 (UTC)
Whatever you do get the Intel Core 2 Duo. If you get a 2.0 or 2.16 ghz chip that will be fine for anything he wants to do. It's also very cheap right now. The 7200rpm hard drive isn't necessarily preferable over the 5400rpm.. "RPM" refers to how fast the platters spin and a higher speed could cost you battery life for certain operations. "Hard drive cache" refers to something else, something important but you won't see a lot of variety. Getting him a hybrid drive will greatly increase battery life and getting him a totally solid state drive like flash will do even better, although it may slow load times for games. For a graphics card get anything recent.. an ATI mobility radeon x1600 will be able to play anything right now if you get him the core 2 duo, but don't expect a lot of power out of a laptop; those mobility chips are designed for low temperature operation. As for the memory, if you can get 2GB for not too much extra cost over 1GB then go for it by all means. In any case, order your PC customized, don't use their "packages". Stick with what I told you and he'll definately be very happy with his new laptop. --frothT C 05:29, 4 January 2006 (UTC)