Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 August 30

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[edit] August 30

[edit] Ipod/MP3 player memory upgrade

Is it possible to upgrade the memory of an Ipod or similar mp3 player (e.g. upgrade a 10gig ipod to a 20gig ipod), and how does one go about doing this?--68.91.192.173 02:11, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

See this. It is difficult, expensive, and voids your warranty. -- Kainaw(what?) 03:16, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
The ones with small amounts of memory, say up to 4GB, use flash memory, the ones with more memory like the 40 & 80 GB ones use mini hard disk drives. As Kainaw says, upgrading is probably more trouble and more expense than it's worth. You'd be better off selling what you've got and buying a bigger one. --jjron 08:51, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
I have a SanDisk Sansa that has an SD card slot for upgrading storage. Useful. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 04:52, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] desining of logical circuit

A water well pump is to be turned automatically if the water level is low in any two or more of the reservoirs .water level detectors in the reservoirs each generate a logic zero if the level in a reservoir is low.Design alogic system that turns ON the pump by generating a logical '1' in response to inputs received from the level detectors.202.141.98.204 06:14, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

This looks strangely like a home work question, is that the case? Graeme Bartlett 08:38, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Agreed, we don't do homework, nand we don't give hints. StuRat 00:52, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
De Morgan's theorem is helpful here although the article is pretty difficult to understand unless you have a degree in mathematics--88.111.50.131 01:23, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Website

What criteria or qualities qualify a website as a good one? in other words what are to be observed when i build a website? thx --218.250.157.77 14:21, 30 August 2007 (UTC)—Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.250.142.227 (talk) 10:15, August 30, 2007 (UTC)

The quality of the content would be one major factor.87.102.14.233 10:40, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
What are you trying to achieve with your site? You have to look at who your audience is, and whether your content matches what they want to read. If you can keep a reader on your site going through multiple pages, before they lose interest, then I suppose you are successful. For a commercial site it may be important how many sales leads are generated. Other aspects such as whether your pages work in all browsers, and is fast also add to its usability. Far too many web authors assume that Internet Explorer 6 is installed on the readers computer, and are surprised when the page does not work or looks crappy, say on an old computer with a 14 inch screen. Graeme Bartlett 11:12, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
I echo 87.102.14.233's comment - it is all about the content. If the site is plain black text on a white background, but the content is what people want, then it is a great site. If the site is jam-packed with flash, CSS, javascript, cookie trackers, and a little butterfly that follows the cursor around, but has no content - it is a terrible website. So, if you are planning on designing a website, you should spend 99.99% of your time gathering content and 0.01% of your time worrying about design. Once the content is in place, you can tweak the design and pretty it up. -- Kainaw(what?) 13:00, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
You say that as though flash, CSS, javascript, cookie trackers, and little butterflies that follow the cursor around were good things. -- BenRG 22:11, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
I agree, many websites seem to follow the Hollywood movie model ("if you have enough special effects there's no need for any actual content or plot"). StuRat 00:44, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

thx guys, my site is mainly informative. --218.250.157.77 14:21, 30 August 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.250.157.77 (talk) 14:14, August 30, 2007 (UTC)

An important aspect of the content thing is navigation. If it's a big site, the info may be there, but people may still not be able to find it. I suggest adding a site map, which shows the logical structure of your site. You should make such an overview for yourself anyway, while organising the info for the site, so you might as well add that to the site, with a link to it on the home page. To which there must be a link on all pages - consider how people might come to your site. They don't always come in through the front door, but often through deep links on other sites.
Also, don't use pdf's or animations. Pdf's have several problems, one of which is that they are very slow, partly because they're absurdly big, compared to the same info in an html file, which is a major pain for people with slow internet connections (also make sure you have 'clean' html code, without unnecessary nonsense tags, so don't make the pages in, say, msWord - Seamonkey is much better). And animations are liked by advertisers because people can't ignore them - their eyes are constantly drawn to them. Which means they are distracted from the content. DirkvdM 06:22, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
Also, if you must include animations and such crap, add an "HTML only" page display option, for those who want to skip the garbage. I used to go to weather.com for my daily weather report, but they chased me away with all that crap. I now go to "weather undergound", instead, because they have a nice, simple, quick loading presentation: [1]. StuRat 16:29, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] windows installer for vista

Hi can any one help me I am unable to install anything, as vista keeps saying that windows installer is not installed I have tried reinstalling but windows will not let me do so saying the window installer is not installed help please 86.141.95.208 11:15, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315346 -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 08:42, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] live cd to live usb

I recently bought a Linutop--a computer that boots only from USB. The problem is that I want to use Oralux--a distro only available as a live CD. So I need to change a live CD into a live USB. I looked at the Wikipedia article on Live USB and it makes it seem easy, but the only guides I've found with Google are for doing it under Linux, and I can never make head or tail of the shell. Is there a way to do this under Windows, or at least an automated way of doing it under Linux? 4.79.17.248 14:01, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How to remove a motherboard secured with clips not screws

How do I replace a motherboard secured in this fashion?
How do I replace a motherboard secured in this fashion?

I am about to replace my computer but would like, if possible, to reuse my current case. All the guides I've found through Google talk about undoing screws to remove a motherboard. My current motherboard however is not secured by screws but metal clips as shown in the photo. The clips do not bend upwards, and the motherboard does not want to move laterally (bottom to top in the photo) - at least not without more force than I am comfortable using. How do I go about removing the motherboard? Is the new motherboard likely to come with mounting screws or will I need to reuse these clips?

In case it matters, the motherboard is an MSI "K7N2GM L" (branded as "N1996") and the case is branded as Aries (the Watford Electronics own brand) without any further identification I can find. Thryduulf 14:48, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

From the photo, it looks like clips that you squeeze. They compress so that the hole can slip over them. Installing is much easier - just push the board down over them. A side photo is needed to see if this is actually the case or if it is an entirely different sort of clip. -- Kainaw(what?) 14:56, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Btw, that looks like a normal screw hole for your motherboard that the clip is going through, so it's definately a weird case rather than your motherboard :) Capuchin 14:58, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
I don't know what you mean by squeeze - there is only part to the clip (it appears to be Г shaped, overlapping the edge of the hole) and it doesn't appear to move in any direction. I can't get a side on photograph, there is not room in the case for my camera. Thryduulf 15:09, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
I have often found that these "easy release" boards may have one or two screws at other locations. Have you carefully examined the board for any permanent attachment points? You may need to remove a few, and then you will find that the board easily slides up and away from the clips. Nimur 16:29, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
I don't recall seeing any screws anywhere, but I will have another good look. Thryduulf 16:51, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Ugh. The user manual took 20 minutes to download and has no useful diagrams of the mounting bracket. It simply mentions "6 mounting holes" which appears to contradict the photograph, on which I can count at least eight (maybe nine) mounting holes. Nimur 17:05, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

Believe it or not I've seen this done before. Be very, very careful when doing this but take a screwdriver to gently but firmly pull the clips away/back so they no longer holding down the motherboard. (You can do this with your fingers if possible). Be sure to ground yourself at all times. It's a little like how you had to pull away clips in older computers to remove RAM. Guroadrunner 17:47, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

It is really hard to tell from the angle of the photograph—virtually any other angle would give more information. If the clip is bent down to hold the motherboard, then you'll have to unbend it. Avoid using the board as leverage as you can easily cause cracks. Hold the screwdriver or, perhaps, needle-nose pliers in such a way that if it slips as you're applying force, it won't damage the board. The new motherboard will not come with screws or any mounting hardware. It will only come with holes in standard positions. The case manufacturer is responsible for supplying the mounting hardware, which might be clips or standoffs and/or screws. If there were no other way, I'd cut the clips off with a pair of dykes. &mdashBradley 04:55, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] how many writes

How many writes does an average flash memory stick take before it fails?--69.118.235.97 18:19, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

100,000 to 1,000,000 writes to any given sector of the Flash ROM. To help extend the device's life, most thumb drives use some sort of wear levelling file system.
Atlant 18:35, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Thanks! --69.118.235.97 18:56, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
This question has come up a few times before. Given moderate usage most of these devices can expect to have write-cycles far longer than the lifespan you would expect of the product itself. Here's a bit of an article about it (http://www.storagesearch.com/ssdmyths-endurance.html), quite technical but should give you an idea. ny156uk 23:10, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sample flash / flash video files

Hi, I'm testing some software which is supposed to be able to use flash (.swf) and flash video (.fla) files. I'm just looking for some samples of these to test with since as far as I'm aware I can't create them from here. Anything non-obscene would do, any ideas where I could download from? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.107.38.194 (talk) 19:21, August 30, 2007 (UTC)

You could download some from Youtube with a tool like this, or consider WinFF[2] - new versions of WinFF can re-encode other videos into Flash Video (.flv) format. Nimur 19:35, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Those are FLV, not FLA or SWFs. (You use a SWF to view a FLV in the browser, but they're not the same thin). --24.147.86.187 22:19, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
SWF files can be download from any place that uses Flash. Simply view the source, search for .swf, copy the path and it should download.
FLA files might be harder, because they are the source code to make SWFs and most people keep them privately. If you Google "FLA sample" or "Flash tutorial sample" you'll find a bunch, though (the latter is useful because many tutorials for Flash include a FLA file to download so that you can view how things "ought" to look). --24.147.86.187 22:19, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
I suppose I'm confused by the question - do you want the .swf file, or the actual video file? Flash Video files tend to be .FLV files, although you might be referring to .SWF animations. Can you clarify what you're looking for? Nimur 16:36, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Screen saver quirk

Just a little quirk I spotted on Vista...the screen saver never seems to turn on when the laptop is plugged in. But when it's unplugged, it works just fine. Anybody have an explanation?--The Ninth Bright Shiner 20:37, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

In your Power Options (or something like that) control panel, you can set different power settings for plugged in and on battery. --131.215.159.4 21:11, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
Well, I didn't see anything about screen savers in there...--The Ninth Bright Shiner 03:28, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wireless newtworking/router

Hi. I've got a belkin wireless router and use it for a macbook (and a home pc that is wire-connected to the router). Well my question is does it matter what channel I 'broadcast' on? I seem to notice a major difference between channel 8 (low signal, ridiculously slow internet speed) and channel 11. granted there must be about 5 more wireless networks in my range and perhaps 8 is 'busy' with those and so gets interference, but is there any other reason beyond this? Also is there a default channel that routers use/channels best avoided? ny156uk 23:04, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Continual failure of wireless network

My friend brought his wireless-enabled laptop to my wireless network, but dangit I couldn't find my 25 digit code. No problem, I thought; I could just make a new network and start fresh. But every time I tried to make a new wireless network, it wouldn't show up on either computer. I thought the old one (with the forgotten key) was clouding the newer ones, but I couldn't even delete/remove the old one. And in the meantime I had set up ~10 wireless networks. What's the easiest way to clear all the old wireless networks from the computer, and start fresh with a new network? HYENASTE 23:32, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

I think Advanced Options -> Wireless Networks, then removed the preferred entries? Were you making IBSS (peer-to-peer) networks? Splintercellguy 02:11, 31 August 2007 (UTC)
No, I was just trying to let him access the Internet. HYENASTE 02:19, 31 August 2007 (UTC)