Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 December 22

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[edit] December 22

[edit] iPod Touch to iPhone

Not sure where to post this. Everyone in our department at our corporation got a snazzy new iPod for Christmas. But I really want an iPhone. What can I do? Only two stores sell iPhones in the US and the iPod was purchased at another store (a major big box electronics retailer). What are my options? --24.249.108.133 (talk) 01:11, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Sell the iPod on eBay, buy the iPhone? If you haven't opened the iPod you might be able to return it for a refund, but it's unlikely (especially without a receipt) -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 01:19, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
Keep the IPod touch, from all that i heard is that the iphone isnt very good and there are better things out there that cost less. It bassicly just for like "omg dude i have a iphone" popularity thing. BonesBrigade 02:20, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Itunes Video + PSP Questions

Alright, folks, I got a couple questions for you. Firstly, what format do Itunes videos comes in? You know what I mean, like what sort of file is it, like mp3 (that's probably not it). Secondly, if I download a video from Itunes, can I run it through PSP Video 9 in order to make it playable on the PSP? I need a way to get videos on my PSP and this seems like a good way to do it, if it will work. Thanks guys. DoomsDay349 01:30, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] game deletion problem

I own the game sim theme park and whenever I try uninstall the game it says,"Unable to locate the installation log file unistu.something..." I tryed to go to add/remove programs and that didin't work. I've also tryed other methods of deletion. What should I do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.234.38.78 (talk) 02:15, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Simple!, run installation again and then uninstall. To me most of such cases had occured and I had solved it that way...This seems to be a kind of corruption of your uninstall log file. Try running registry cleaner before installing it again.I guess it's one way to solve...If at all you don't wanna re-install that game, then delete it from HDD folder and run registry cleaner which will clean all registries including this game ones which don't have correct directory(which you have deleted). Then safely you can remove other shortcuts from all programs.Hope it's ok. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Balan rajan (talk • contribs) 06:26, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Bare bones linux

I'm trying to set up a bare bones linux system under Qemu emulation. I just want it to have bash, a basic kernel, and apt-get. If it works out, I'd like to make it a liveCD. Could anyone out there help me out? I'm running OS X Leopard. Thanks in advance! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.125.175.118 (talk) 04:02, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

See Linux From Scratch. But please make sure you're comfortable and experienced with Linux, or you will be frustrated and become a LiNuX-h8Tr. --antilivedT | C | G 11:22, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] HDD performance or lifetime quality?

Hey guys,I've had this doubt for a while. I heard from many saying that the HDD must be partitioned to multiple root directories inorder to get the maximum data transfer. This particularly indicates that the data retrieval is always faster when the volume you acess is of low disk size.Searching a data in a high volume drive takes a longer time hence increasing the latency.Instead of configuring 160GB drive as (80+80)GB, it's good to configure as (40,40,40,40)GB. But recently to my surprise, and confusion I saw this note in one of the IBM technical refence manual for laptop denoting that partitioning more the HDD will reduce it's life. Out of these, which one is true?...Any true story behind this?.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.164.59.222 (talk) 05:41, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

I don't know any technical details myself, but what makes you think it must be one or the other? The claims that partitioning the hard drive 1)reduces latency, and 2)reduces its life, are not mutually exclusive. It could be both, and it could be neither. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 12:41, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Thank you very much. I do have a lot of expirience. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.125.175.118 (talk) 14:51, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

I'll assume you are the OP. Where did I in any way refer to the amount of experience you have? I was merely commenting that your question is logically wrong (especially the "which one is true" part). -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 15:01, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
Nope, he is the OP from the above question, "Bare bones linux". — Shinhan < talk > 11:38, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Deleted file/folder recovery

Can anyone recommend a free means of recovering deleted content from a hard drive? I have not reformatted it. --BrokenSphereMsg me 06:10, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

perhaps see Undeletion --Spoon! (talk) 06:45, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
PhotoRec. --antilivedT | C | G 11:19, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pop ups for real?

When we browse through the sites, we get series of pop ups. Ofcourse we've got lots of tools to block that, but however there are some pop ups or sites which offer contest and it says participating in that will make you have the chances of winning some 10 Million dollar. Is it all true?. Like some pop ups ask you to shoot the monkey or answer some question to win 10 million or more dollars. I have never been into that but just wanna know if it's true.Anyone knows how deeper this goes into?... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Balan rajan (talk • contribs) 11:00, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Do you think that companies are in the habit of handing out prizes of 10 million dollars?
(Apparently many people do think this. These people are commonly called "stupid".)
How "deep" does it go? Spyware and trojans (for those unfortunates still using the World's Favorite Operating System), I'd guess. -- Hoary (talk) 11:07, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
Even if we believe them: What are the odds of winning? Will the prize be awarded by a particular date? These things are never stated up-front - so they can basically do whatever they want. They may have made the odds of winning so astronomically tiny that they will never (realistically) have to pay out. As for "Shoot the Monkey" - I don't think your browser even tells the advertiser where on the image you clicked - and I'm very sure they can't tell the timing of the animated GIF - so there is absolutely no way that can be a game of skill. SteveBaker (talk) 02:45, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
Based on the previous replies, I'd say that they're just not worth clicking on. Some of them could be even scams or worse. --Bruin_rrss23 (talk) 08:09, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
A lot of them are flash based. I used to play them absent-mindedly.. they're great fun if you can block the popups they generate when you do actually punch the monkey. --ffroth 20:40, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] iTunes/WMP

I was thinking about getting an iPod Nano, but I personally detest iTunes and want to avoid using it at all. So I have two questions: firstly, I assume WMP can still put songs onto iPods, yes? And, if so, will WMP also put album art onto the iPod too? Because I like to look at the art. (: Obviously someone with personal experience will be able to answer this. Thank you! 86.146.170.27 (talk) 12:46, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

No, WMP doesn't support iPods. I have iPod Nano 2nd Gen, and I have successfully tested it with:
  • iTunes
  • Winamp (with ml_pmp and pmp_ipod plugins, both are in "full" install)
  • foobar2000
Album art not tested.
I'm not sure about the 3rd Gen Nano, though.
--grawity talk / PGP 19:29, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
This article should help you: Comparison of iPod managers
--grawity talk / PGP 19:31, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] installing software in linux

Hi...I have got a .tar.gz installation file of quicktime for linux but I don't know how to install the application. Please help... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Piyushbehera25 (talk • contribs) 13:09, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

I'm going to assume basic linux knowledge here. Start using the command gunzip on your file. Then use tar-xvf on the file. Then you have it completely uncompressed. Inside the new folder there will probably be a readme file. That will give you directions for the rest of the way. If you don't want to use the command line, your distro might have a gui decompressor installed.

tar will usually be able to call gunzip by itself, you just have to use tar -zxvf. Remember the space, "tar-zxvf" is not a command. z will tell tar it's supposed to call gunzip first, x will tell tar to extract, v will tell it to show you what it's doing, and f will tell it to expect the filename next. When you have uncompressed the package, there should be a file called "configure" there. cd into the package's directory and run "./configure". It will test if you have all the packages the application needs installed. If everything is OK, configure will create a file called Makefile. Then simply run "make" to build the program. If it succeeds, your program is now ready to use. If you want to have it in use for the whole system, become root and run "make install". JIP | Talk 08:04, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
JIP's advice would ge great in 99% of the cases (indeed, I started to write the exact same answer - but deleted it). Our OP is installing Quicktime for Linux - I'd be very surprised if it included sources or used a 'configure' script. Sure, use "tar xzf" to unpack it - but after that you'll need to follow the instructions on the website you got it from or look for a README file. It's annoying that there is no 'apt-get' or RPM for this package. SteveBaker (talk) 13:01, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
Some Linux programs are indeed distributed as binary only. One example is Sun Java, which comes in a pre-compressed RPM format. Installing it is simple: become root and just run the downloaded package. It launches its self-contained installer which decompresses the RPMs and installs them. I don't know what installation method QuickTime uses though. JIP | Talk 17:28, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
I agree - but whatever the mechanism is, it's astronomically unlikely that it'll be "configure". SteveBaker (talk) 14:23, 24 December 2007 (UTC)
There is no official QuickTime release for Linux. You can install one of the media players written for Linux, such as Mplayer or VLC. --h2g2bob (talk) 01:23, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mobile phone

Hello to ALL !I want to buy a mobile phone,but really not know to which one i select as the best one .so i am telling i need i smartphone which is running in Symbian OS OR Windows Mobile.Includding 3.2 megapaxial camera,ducoment viewer,screen size 2---2.6 inch,touch screen,as small as sony ericsson p1i and good at perfomance.And Finally one other ...........I can pay only 450 dollar.so please tell me .thank you ........usman

[edit] Dell computer configuration

What do you think about this computer configuration and price? is it a good deal? Please let me know. [1] Thank you Kushalt 15:25, 22 December 2007 (UTC)


This is not the greatest deal. Look at mysimon.com, amazon.com, and other computer stores. For a computer function at dual 1.5ghz, you should be able to pay 600-700 dollars. Also, before you buy a PC, I seriously urge you to go to an apple store and consider purchasing a macintosh laptop-superior in so many ways. Besides, Dell is known to have bad tech. support —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.56.231.40 (talk) 17:21, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your answer. any more takes? Kushalt 04:49, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

71 would be correct - if this was a desktop. As it's a laptop, $1000 is about how much you should be paying for a C2D with 2GB RAM. Good config, but I'd get it from NewEgg. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 09:21, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

Somehow I am overcautious of AMD processors but this still seems to be a good deal [2]. What do you think? What about this [3]? --Kushalt 01:13, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

The Toshiba with the Pentium D is crap, but the newegg Acer looks good, if not a little heavy. It's got a better video card, for one, and a larger screen. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 03:34, 24 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] facebook Safari problem, mac os leopard,

I use safari on my macbook and am having trouble accessing facebook. I can access in the sign in page, but sometimes when I sign in, I am directed to a page that says;

Safari can’t find the server. Safari can’t open the page “https://login.facebook.com/login.php” because it can’t find the server “login.facebook.com”.

Othertimes, I get this message while I am logged in and surfing the site.

Does anyone have any advice? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.56.231.40 (talk) 17:17, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Does this happen to you only with Facebook or with other sites, too? What Internet connection are you using? --Ouro (blah blah) 18:42, 22 December 2007 (UTC)


It just happens when I'm using facebook. I am using wireless (wifi I think) internet or whatever wireless a Macbook uses. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.56.231.40 (talk) 01:10, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

I suppose that sometimes when you try to log on, the network is clogged up so much with traffic that you can't get through and subsequently lose the connection. This coupled with a wireles internet connection could be it. Sometimes traffic-demanding servers have narrow connections to cut costs or because of laziness, it shouldn't be so with an oh-so-popular-and-great website like Facebook. --Ouro (blah blah) 11:01, 23 December 2007 (UTC)


Its weird though, because if I go to standby then boot up the computer again, everything works just fine, any ideas? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.56.231.40 (talk) 04:12, 25 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Building a new computer from scratch

I've just built a computer almost from scratch for the first time. The only pre-installed components were the motherboard, the CPU, and the memory. I added everything else myself. Now I'm worried if the computer will break when I power it up. It cost me 730 €, so I'd rather not have it break. What I installed is:

  • The power supply. This is what most concerns me. I had to plug in three connectors directly to the motherboard: one for the CPU and two for the motherboard itself. The motherboard power connector has 24 pins, the power supply has two plugs, one with 20 pins and one with 4. I plugged the two into the same socket, with the first one taking the upper 20 pins and the second taking the lower 4. Is there any chance I might have plugged them in the wrong way, and if so, will it break the motherboard?
  • The storage devices. The hard disk is SATA, the floppy drive and the DVD drive are IDE. I left everything configured as it was, as I couldn't find any jumper configuration table on any of them. I presume all three devices are configured as master. Is there any danger these might break my motherboard?
  • The video card. I plugged it into the only slot it would fit in. I don't think it will break my motherboard, but is there any danger of the card itself breaking?

Thanks! JIP | Talk 20:51, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

If the video card fits (without excessive use of force), it's probably in the right slot. (If the card and the motherboard are both new, it's probably a 16x PCI-E slot, and there will be no other slot long enough for the card.) If the disks have wrong jumper settings, they might not work, but I wouldn't expect that to break anything. The only part I'd worry about is the power — not having ever actually done that myself, there's little I can do to help you there, except to advise you to double-check the manuals (particularly the power connector layouts) for your motherboard and PSU. Of course, all the usual disclaimers apply — don't sue me if you follow my advice and your computer explodes or anything. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 21:21, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
Double and triple check your wiring before you power it up --ffroth 23:01, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
No your computer will not spontaneously blow up just because of bad wiring. If it fits, it's probably in the right place. I have never tinkered with 24-pin motherboards but I don't think the older 4 pin 12V connector will fit in the extra 4 pins socket, as they have different shaped contacts. If it fits, it will probably work. --antilivedT | C | G 23:27, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

I tried plugging the 20- and 4-pin power connectors into the 24-pin socket every possible way, and only one way worked. So I think that's the right way. But I am still unsure about the fan power connectors. There are four fan connectors on the motherboard, one for the CPU fan (already installed and plugged in), one for "power fan", whatever that is (the power supply already has its own integrated fan), and two for case fans. The case fans are installed but not plugged in yet. Both of them have a small 3-pin connector with only one wire (yellow) going into it. I am supposed to plug these into the motherboard, right? What puzzles me is that each fan also has two 4-pin IDE power connectors, one male and one female. Where am I supposed to plug these in? The power supply's IDE power cables? JIP | Talk 08:46, 23 December 2007 (UTC)

4-pin is molex, not IDE. I would assume one is for power and the other is for letting your motherboard know how fast the fans are spinning and controlling them. This is a good thing. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 09:18, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
Ah, thanks. I was calling them IDE power cables because they usually go together with IDE data cables. So the actual power is coming from the Molex connector and the one wire on the 3-pin connector is only used to control the fan? I thought it looked weird when I read that the pins were labelled "rotation", "+12 V" and "ground", and only "rotation" had a wire going into it. Does it matter which Molex connector in the power supply's cable I plug them into? And why are there both male and female Molex connectors on the fan? JIP | Talk 09:22, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
No, it doesn't matter, though putting them all on one line might make it easier to avoid a bunch of messy cables (you can have only one stretched across with the others tucked away. As for the male/female thing - I saw this on a fan once and wasn't sure - just use the one that works with the power supply (I believe it's male on the fan and female on the power supply, but I forget what they look like right now). -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 09:32, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
I suppose the idea with the male+female molex connectors (I assume you probably mean one connector with a male and a female end, and wires coming out the middle) is that you can stick it between an existing pair of connectors, such as those connecting your hard disk to the PSU. That way, adding the fan doesn't reduce the number of molex connector available for powering other devices. Of course, that doesn't mean you have to plug both ends of the fan connector into something — if you have a free molex connector dangling from your PSU, just plug it there. You can always plug something else into it later if you need to. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 12:25, 23 December 2007 (UTC)
Also, I wouldn't suggest plugging the fans into BOTH the motherboard and the PSU. I'm not sure what effect this would have but it's not necessary. Choose one or the other. I suggest the motherboard. The two options are simply there for your convenience. Have you switched on yet? --Seans Potato Business 19:46, 24 December 2007 (UTC)
With the setup JIP describes (single wire to the motherboard connector), you are supposed to plug in both. The fan will work just fine with only the molex connector plugged in, but plugging the "rotation" wire to the motherboard will allow the speed of the fan to be monitored. (The reason for not getting the power from the motherboard as well is presumably either a) to allow the fan to be used with motherboards that don't have (enough of) the appropriate connectors, and/or b) to reduce the power load on the motherboard.) —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 17:45, 25 December 2007 (UTC)
You definitely have to plug them in both to the motherboard and to the PSU. The PSU provides them with power, the motherboard controls the logic. The rule of thumb I discovered is: look at the wires going to the motherboard. If there is only a yellow wire, your fan isn't going to be doing squat unless you plug the Molex connector in somewhere. If there are all three wires, the fan gets power from the motherboard, and the situation becomes what User:Seans Potato Business describes. JIP | Talk 20:44, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Nintendo DS - "The Golden Compass"

Is there a forum where one can ask questions as to how to make progress with this game? - CarbonLifeForm (talk) 23:08, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Have you tried GameFAQs? Dlong (talk) 02:55, 23 December 2007 (UTC)