Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2006 November 26

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1 November 26

[edit] November 26

[edit] screen resolution

Since I've been taking a lot of Beta Carotene my eyes have been playing strange tricks. Whenever I look at my monitor and move my head real quick or say slap a mosquito on my forehead the monitor resolution seems for an split second to be real course. Does this mean my eyes are able to operate faster than the monitor can create the next screen or what? Seems to only happen with my 60 hz LCD monitor. Adaptron 00:55, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

If I wave my hand in front of my computer screen I get "still images" of my hand. I don't think it takes much speed (or a particularly low refresh to be able to do that trick). I'm no expert but my instinct is that 60hz sounds quite a low figure. My memnory may be playing tricks on me but I seem to recall you want to be - at least - up in the 70s. Can anyone confirm please? --bodnotbod 01:05, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

It's normal; a lot of LCDs are around 60Hz. enochlau (talk) 01:33, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

LCDs don't operate the same way as CRTs, 60hz isn't bad at all for an LCD --⁪froth^{T C} 02:01, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Most likely this "coarse resolution" is caused by your head moving too quickly for your eyes to lock on such small targets (screen items). Droud 01:51, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Its like the grapic that loads at real course resolution and then as more data is received the resolution is improved until finally there is a good picture. The effect of this is the pretty much the same. Screen areas made up of say 2 pixels appear as as if made up of only one larger pixel instead of two smaller pixels. Adaptron 02:34, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

60Hz is the bare minimum for a CRT display but should be OK for an LCD. StuRat 01:00, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Convert area code to longitude and latitude

Is there a freeware program to convert area code to latitude and longitude? 71.100.6.152 01:16, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

I was unable to find any software to do this, but the data is readily available here along with links to other resources. Droud 01:54, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

You will have to manually find the latitude and longitude of each city and area code listed. Droud 01:56, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Note that area codes cover many combos of latitude and longitude. You can't just specify a range for each, either, as that would only work if the area code covered a rectangular region with boundaries parallel to the equator and prime meridian. StuRat 00:56, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Note also that if the city you seek is large enough, it most likely has an article on Wikipedia, which will likely contain the latitude and longitude. --Doubleplusungood 03:42, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Macs and Gaming

I really really like Macs, but the thing is, I like gaming more. Is a new Intel-Mac that can dual-boot to windows truly the best of both worlds? Or is dual-booting somehow not all its cracked up to be and are there other barriers to gaming on a Mac?

Thanks!

--Wedgeoli 03:05, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

It depends on how much money you wanna spend. A high-end gaming Mac will be at least $1000 more than the same PC system. And even that system won't be as great as the best gaming PC (note: I only use Macs, but I don't game). --Cody.Pope 06:22, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

I'll admit my biases first: I'm an avid PC gamer, I have a windows box for gaming and a iBook for everything else. That being said, it really depends on what games you want to play. The biggest hold-back is that most developers opt to use DirectX (which is Windows only). I'll just get to my point: if you want a system just for PC gaming, a Windows box is cheaper. If you're cool with console gaming, pick up a Wii and get yourself a MacBook for everything else. 'Course, this is obviously just my opinion. --Brad Beattie ^(talk) 06:40, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

You have two choices: (1) Boot Camp, to boot into Windows, and (2) Parallels Desktop, for Windows within Mac OS. For serious gaming, go with Boot Camp, which is currently available in beta and will come with the OS soon. The two major hardware factors affecting game play are the processor performance and the video performance. Macs compete well with off-the-shelf PCs as far as processor power, but only the high-end models come with high-performance video cards. Here are three links for more info:

Hard-core gamers build custom PC systems to get the features they want at a good price; building a Mac is not an option. --KSmrq^T 07:08, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Just note that dual booting is, frankly, a pain. I tried doing something similar with Linux and Windows, but eventually gave it up. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 08:10, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Linux is very good in a VM because it's so lightweight --⁪froth^{T C} 03:01, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] BibTex help

I have never used BibTex before and I'm trying to. In the body of my document, I have the commands

\bibliographystyle{h-physrev3.bst}
\bibliography{references}

and I have the file h-physref3.bst and references.bib in the folder along with my document, which is creatively named "document." At command line, I type:

latex document
bibtex document

and get back the error message: I couldn't open filename `document.aux'

Anyone know why it could be having this trouble? I never actually installed BibTex; I vaguely recall something when I upgraded to LaTex2e about a year ago, but I'm assuming by the fact that it recognized the command "bibtex" that it must be installed at least. Thanks. Registrar 04:48, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

How about trying latex document.tex or something? And from which program does the error message come from? --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 08:10, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Normally using bibtex, you'll need to run latex once, bibtex once, and then latex twice more. Sometimes you need to run bibtex twice. The .aux file is one created when you run latex, as I recall, and it is one that won't always be present. Try running latex and bibtex in the order I suggested. J-Deeks 11:24, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Realplayer and Letterboxed Widescreen Video

Is there anyway to zoom a Realplayer window in such away that it crops out part of the video? Specifically, I’m using the latest free version (10) of Realplayer for a G5 Mac. When I watch a 4:3 letterboxed video clip (like videos from CBS’s innertube), my widescreen screen can never take advantage of the wide video (unless, of course I force my screen resolution to stretch everything, which isn’t what I want to do at all). So, in full screen mode I get black boxes on all sides (like when you watch and a widescreen HD ready TV with a non-enhanced 4:3 letterboxed video). Also, manually resizing the window doesn’t work, since Realplayer adjusts to the limiting dimension (in this case height). Any suggestions? Any setting I can mess with? --Cody.Pope 06:18, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Program won't close

Lately I've been having a problem with my relatively new laptop (running Windows XP Media Center). The pattern: A program freezes or acts strangely, I press ctr-alt-del, send the error report, the program closes. I reopen the program, it freezes/acts funny again... So I do the same thing, then press ctr-alt-del again. It's not in the Applications tab, but under the Processes tab...sure enough, two (e.g.) GoogleVideoPlayer.exe's, neither of which closes when I press "End Process" (or "End Process Tree").

I just tried opening Google Video Player again, then going to the Applications tab and trying to close one of the past copies of it. The program closed, but nothing in the Applications list disappeared. What's going on? --zenohockey 06:52, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

I think Google Video Player was waiting on some resource that wasn't responding, because some programs that try to, for example, access a CD-ROM drive that can't be accessed, freeze. When you try to end the program, it just refuses because it's still waiting on that CD drive. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 08:08, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

The insight that Wj32 gives may be worthwhile looking into: somewere in the setting/setup/options of the specific program there may by something like :"use efg as default", "look for xyz automatically", or "run abc at start-up", which causes the futile search or program hang-up. You would then need to change that setting. Then again, it may be something you are running as a service, or in your startup group (both loading what you boot Windows). This you can see by clicking Start>Run>type "msconfig" - no quotation marks>OK>click on Startup or Services tab. You can disable each individual startup item or service to try to pinpoint the offending program, and then try to find out what the culprit is doing wrong. Any answer would be easier if it were possible to describe exactly what you were doing, and more so if you can predictably reproduce the error. It is also the sort of problem you could trace using Process Explorer. It may take some getting used to what you are looking at, and what it means. Fortunately documentation is good. You can shut down ("kill") a running program using the same tool, more effectively than with the native Windows application (Unlocker is an simpler way of just killing a stubborn program). Seejyb 19:46, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] You Tube

Is there any way to download videos from YouTube? Battle Ape 07:01, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

See the November 22 question with the same title (i.e. scroll-up). --Cody.Pope 07:05, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Or to save you that scrolling, ~~Computing#YouTube~~. A quick answer that works with YouTube and others is [1]. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 07:11, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Err, Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Computing#YouTube -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 08:03, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Doesn't #YouTube also work? --Kjoonlee 12:57, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

You can also try http://www.youtubex.com

Ronaldh 12:54, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Video Downloader does that thing for firefox, and for almost every streaming video site. Aetherfukz 17:52, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

If that doesn't work, UnPlug/Download Embedded/Amazing Media Browser from the firefox extension site also do the same thing. Aetherfukz 17:53, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A Less Terrible Convert to Curve in Open Office?

I was wondering if there is any good way to convert text in Open Office draw to vector format. I'm producting a bunch of physics notes for my classes and having text that can scale with my diagrams would be very handy. Currently though, if I select a block of text and do Modify -> Convert to Curve, the result look awful. Any suggestions?

Origional text on left, converted on right.

Thanks,

--CGP 11:18, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

I would bypass doing this in OO altogether and use the vector trace function in Inkscape, save as SVG and import back into OO. Sp0ng 13:55, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Don't use vector trace in Inkscape; just write the text and then Path > Object to Path. It'll do a perfect conversion of the text to a path. --24.147.86.187 03:49, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] NetFront CSS support

Does anybody have access to a specification of just what parts of CSS2 NetFront V 3.3 supports?

I am trying to tailor a website for handheld browsers, and had naively assumed that the browser on my Sony Ericsson phone - which is NetFront 3.3 - would implement the 'handheld' media, but it seems that it doesn't. This doesn't affect my using 'handheld' in my CSS of course, but it means I can't test it on my phone.

Does anybody know if the browser uses a different media type, or whether it just ignores media? And what else in CSS2 it doesn't implement?

The Access website http://www.access-company.com/products/netfrontmobile/browser/33_symbian.html (which is the only one I can find on 3.3) says 'CSS2 (partial)' but gives no more detail.

Alternatively, is it possible to upgrade the browser on a K510i to 3.4? (and does 3.4 support media - the website says it supports CSS2 without mention of 'partial')?

--ColinFine 13:55, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

The specifications for NetFront 3.3 CSS2 can be downloaded in pdf from http://developer.sonyericsson.com/site/global/docstools/browsing/p_browsing.jsp, or directly http://developer.sonyericsson.com/getDocument.do?docId=88004 Seejyb 22:03, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, that's very much what I was looking for. However... it doesn't actually say anywhere (that I can find) which media types it actually implements. It does say 'Paged media - not supported', and the same for 'Aural media', but apart from classifying the CSS properties by 'media group' (almost all 'visual') it doesn't discuss the specific media types it implements. Given that it has that support, I would have expected it to match '@media handheld', but there's no reference to that in the document. --ColinFine 23:03, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] map of thailand

Ive been unable to find a map of Thailand I can download for use on my pocketpc. i had no trouble finding similar maps for europe. can anyone help?

Google is your friend [2]. x42bn6 Talk 18:01, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] How did these Macros ....?

I'm a writer, I've used Microsoft Word '97 since it came out, and this morning I went to edit a simple file and I get this Macro warning. Beyond ordinary text, the file contains some hypertext, but I've been doing this for a long time and have never encountered this warning. When I try to save the file, I'm told it's read-only, so I do a "save as" and the whole thing starts over again. How on earth could these Macros have gotten into this document? I haven't opened the document without disabling the Macros. Should I be worried about this? Can it somehow infect other docs, or the whole computer? I read Wikipedia's Macro page and learned -- culled at least -- nothing.Wolfgangus 16:38, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

If no one has a better suggestion: Office documents can get funny macro problems, even if they aren't that complex and even if macros have never even been anywhere near them, it's like a corruption or something, I work in IT Support and I have seen it several times. The easiest way around it is not to worry about how or why, simply open the document, do a 'control a', open another new blank document and do a 'control c', the macro prolems (with a little luck) most of the time will not copy paste into the blank document, just save the 2nd one as the authoritative version. Vespine 05:48, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Done, and problem solved. Thank you very much; I'm grateful.Wolfgangus 16:34, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

For the record, though, viruses can be written as Word macros, and they can infect other files. You might want to be sure that your virus scanner can scan .doc and .dot files. --24.147.86.187 03:47, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

And also for the record, it's ctrl a then ctrl c, open a new document and then ctrl v, glad you worked it out because I don't know what I was on when I wrote the above. :) Vespine 05:25, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I'm always the guy with the chassis fan dead..

now the pc doesn't turn off by itself, I gotta switch off manually! Besides xp doesn't find xmnt2002 at the boot.. xp always starts the checkdisk but it hangs when it find a file with crossed references and I gotta reboot skipping checkdisk.. Can you help me? --Ulisse0 18:02, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Some ideas: Your problem seems to be hardware related, so if you can get to Windows, backup or save the important info you have on your harddrive(s). The original post about the BIOS not detecting the chassis fan, and erratic shutdown seems to indicate a hardware or Bios failure, not a Windows problem to start with. It may be prudent to first clean the inside of the machine, and make sure all connections are good. Thereafter you are into flashing BIOSes and the like, and that may be better done in a technical forum, by email, or on chat using a different machine, since this help desk is not suited to the to and fro information needed. The xmnt2002 bit means someone has used Partition Magic on the machine, and that likely takes some registry editing to fix. Seejyb 20:53, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I partitioned with Partition Magic, but I did 3 years ago and these problems had never shown up before. I can get to windows, but I have to skip the checkdisk at every boot, otherwise the PC hangs.. --Ulisse0 13:06, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sharing only part of a torrent, while downloading the whole thing

(Separating from my above question) I live in Canada, where it is legal to download but not upload most copyrighted material. I'm trying to download two torrents that include both free and unfree material. Are there any clients I can set to download the full torrents, but share only the free material (which I can manually identify)? It seems to me this somewhat resembles superseeding in the sense that you're only sharing specific parts of what you've got, so there should be a way to do it. Neon Merlin 18:03, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Downloading copyrighted material is piracy, I don't think Canada has an exemption. I think you may be misinterpreting something if you think it is legal 'to download most copyrighted material', what makes you think it's legal? Vespine 00:34, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps it would be wise to have legal knowledge before dispensing legal advice. Meanwhile, read the following news article refuting your claim. And consider the fact that most libraries have copy machines; is all that copying piracy? --KSmrq^T 08:00, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Yeah ok, I read that article, that matter isn't settled yet and it specifically refers to downloading music, not all copyrighted material. Also, currently the courts don’t deem a difference between upload and download: "the mere fact of placing a copy on a shared directory in a computer where that copy can be accessed via a P2P service does not amount to distribution." So really the question is moot anyway. As for your photocopier remark, what does that have to do with anything?? A lot of material in a library is academic, I dare you to use photocopies of copyrighted material in a university study or thesis, see how liberal the institution is then. Just because it's rife doesn't make it legal. Vespine 22:42, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

The article states that although RIAA and friends object, a Canadian legal body has ruled that there is a difference between uploading and downloading, and that downloading is legal. The relevance of photocopiers in libraries (even public libraries) is that (U.S.) copyright law has provisions for fair use. (Wikipedia itself makes extensive use of this.) De minimis applies even more broadly. Many attempts at Digital Rights Management enforce restrictions not supported in the law. The facts do not support soundbites like "piracy is theft" and "all copying is illegal". Copyright protection makes sense; prohibition of all copying does not. --KSmrq^T 01:42, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Digital copyright protection makes no sense and prohibition of any copying doesn't either. Copyright starts to break down when you look at little TCP/IP packets of different-voltage electrical signals zooming around through copper. There are an absurd number of ways to encode data that make an innocuous combination of bits illegal, like for example the illegal prime. It would be a simple matter to encode some copyrighted work as every single binary combination up to thousands of bits in length depending on the encoding key. Then what? --⁪froth^{T C} 17:35, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I think I can wait for the courts to uphold or overturn the Copyright Board ruling. (I don't think there's much risk of my being the test case, since I'm not particularly high-volume or high-profile. I didn't ask about the legalities of this plan, I asked whether it was technically feasible. Neon Merlin 04:17, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

(Replied above earlier, didn't know thread had been split, so copying here now Davidprior 20:40, 1 December 2006 (UTC)) I don't know about Bittorrent, not using that particular app/protocol, but could you "fool" it. I'm thinking about having 2 PCs (each with bittorrent application), with a router using NAT for outbound traffic, and port forwarding so any incomming bittorrent connections went to the PC with the "safe" content on (could even do this with one PC running 3 instances of an operating system using virtualisation - one doing the routing, one for each Bittorrent application)? This would only work if the bittorrent apps on other computers only identify you by IP address though. Davidprior 23:35, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] installing ubuntu

I want to install ubuntu on an old computer. Does the ubuntu install cd lack anything, such as drivers that I will need to install the OS? I am asking because in its current state, the computer which is running windows is terribly buggy. I'd like to wipe the hard drive clean before installing ubuntu, but I don't know if I'll be wiping out something the new OS needs. ike9898 18:15, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Ubuntu will partition and reformat the disk anyway. Wireless drivers can be an issue for most Linuxes, and you'll have to jump through some hoops to get graphics drivers which support your video chip's 3d acceleration features, but (unless your hardware is particularly exotic) you'll get a nice working system straight from the install CD. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:28, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Ubuntu sets up madwifi automatically. You'll get VESA drivers on installation but if you want something more efficient you have to download proprietary drivers. ATI is real good about this, nvidia is -NOT- --⁪froth^{T C} 07:53, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unwanted web sites list

When I open the internet explorer and start typing a certain website name, the list of previous visited pages starting with the letters already typed appears. Is there a way I can stop this list from appearing ??

Thx in advance

Try Tools → Internet Options → Content → AutoComplete. If you uncheck the "Web addresses" box, the feature should be disabled. –mysid ☎ 19:18, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

thx mysid, it worked

[edit] Recording computer sounds

Are there any (Windows) programs that will record the sound that your computer makes, i.e. that come out of your speakers? By which I mean, say there was a game playing on your computer that had some background noise - are there any programs that would "tape record" the sounds the game makes? zafiroblue05 | Talk 20:09, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Google found FastRecorder. I've also done it the hard way, by attaching a cord from the soundcard output to its input and recording the input. –mysid ☎ 20:15, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Depending on your sound card, it might have the ability built in. Look at the sound recording options (double click the volume icon, Options->Properties, etc.) and try to find something like Stereo Mixer, What U Hear, or maybe Wave/MP3. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 20:44, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

To clarify what CC said, you can often use just Sound Recorder; look at the menus for the Volume Control application and switch it to recording mode. You might be able to mark "Wave" or "Line Out" or so for recording (look at the checkboxes below the sliders). --Tardis 16:34, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Audacity will do it; just set your recording device to your speakers in the preferences. Neon Merlin 22:29, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Total Recorder comes to mind. Splintercellguy 04:34, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

I've had good results with OpD2d. Superm401 - Talk 06:21, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Amplifier

Morning everyone(it's morning here). I asked a question on RD:Misc. about a faulty amplifier and it's not there anymore, so I'll try here. I had a 4-channel Realistic amplifier from about the 80's, running with all 4 audio channels bridged into a subwoofer. It worked perfectly until I adjusted the balance control, which blew the fuse. I replaced the fuse but now it's not working at all. Does anyone know what would be wrong with it and if I would be able to fix it? Thanks Mix Lord 23:30, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Adjusting the balance would cause one of the channels to be louder than the other - therefore it would tend to 'drive' or 'overload' the other channel - it's possible that one of your main amplifier modules has been damaged.. These can be replaced - but this is a soldering job. I'd guess a price for a new part of 10-40? An electrical service shop will easily be able to mend this for you (provided they can still get the parts)87.102.36.159 23:40, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

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