Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 December 4

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[edit] December 4

[edit] Auto Power On

I used to have my computer automatically power on at a certain time. I remember setting it up in the BIOS menu. After I fried the mother board, I installed a new one, and I cannot find this option. How can I set my computer to auto power on? Thanks --Omnipotence407 02:44, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

I've never seen such an option- sounds stupid. You'll likely never see it again, it was probably particular to that one BIOS. --ffroth 03:22, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
Some of those TV cards have that feature built in. But you may have to fork out another $200 for the card. Graeme Bartlett 05:29, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
You could do it with wake on LAN, but you'd need another networked computer to do that --Monorail Cat 11:23, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
My older Toshiba laptop had this feature, but my newer Dell does not. I recall fiddling with it, but never really using it. --— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 12:03, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
Some motherboards have this Resume On Alarm feature where you can enter the time and even the day of the month which you want your computer to switch on. Try using it if your BIOS has this feature. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bruin rrss23 (talk • contribs) 14:32, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
All Mac computer have had auto on and auto off for years. --208.189.34.45 (talk) 04:47, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Power supply for VGA card

I have 400W PSU. My config is 1 HDD(160GB),Pentium D (833MHz,3.00Ghz),1GB RAM,one XFX 8600GT 256MB,one DVD drive,Intel G965 mainboard. The card draws 41W as max(from site).But I didn't get the performance of the games as seen with the standard benchmarks except for the processor change(benchmark used core2duo).In games like company of heroes, at the specified settings I only got 20 to 30FPS whereas the benchmark displays over 50 to 60FPS.Also it is not smooth even when I get 40 FPS.Also I didn't use freshly installed XP and I didn't fragment my drive till date.Is there any prob with PSU or need more RAM?.Please advice.Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.164.62.202 (talk) 11:10, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Have you already installed the drivers for your graphics card? If the drivers aren't installed Windows XP should be quite sluggish even for the mouse movements. Did you connect the 6 pin power cable from the PSU to the graphics card? Most graphics cards need more power than the PCI-e slot can offer and performance is automatically reduced as a fail-safe when the power connector's not plugged in. Also, try defragmenting your hard drive. File system fragmentation affects your computer's performance because more seek operations are needed to read the whole file off the disk. --Bruin_rrss23 (talk) 12:26, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
Is your display resolution and bit-depth set the same as the benchmarks? What about antialiasing setup? Those kinds of thing can be overridden in the "nVidia Properties" tool that you get by right-clicking on the desktop. If you've overridden them to something other than the benchmark folks did - then that would make a difference. Also, the processor difference may not be negligable. "Smoothness" in graphics comes about when the frame rate of the game equals the frame rate of the monitor. Using a flat-panel monitor may also cause 'smooth' graphics to look like they are jerky (I have a particular passionate hatred of most, if not all, flat panel monitors!) SteveBaker 14:51, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] download wikipedia

hey lets say i want to download like 10 topics on wikipedia.a pal of mine told me i need a software called web dumper which allows yo to download hundreds of articles from a website.is it possible or is he full of crap.how will i be able to download several topics without downloading page by page.

2.when i reboot machine the graphics are all mixed up.instead of the mouse pointer i get a square thing which moves as the mouse cursor.when i reboot everything is fine.only change i made is i changed the ram.

You can actually download the complete database you know, you don't have to download each static page.. --ffroth 19:00, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
ah... ok, and how does s/he/we do that? some more info would be great Boomshanka (talk) 00:30, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Database download, which even has a section Wikipedia:Database download#Please do not use a web crawler. That's a ridiculously large amount of stuff to download if you only want a few articles though. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 08:05, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Google always telling me there's no results. Nothing but lies!

I've suspected it for years but could never prove anything. Until now! Google is lying about results!

Search string = "the big shot" "no sir, i dont"

Google says: Your search - "the big shot" "no sir, i dont - did not match any documents.

Sean says: [1] --Seans Potato Business 16:49, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

  • Well, neither "don't" (nor dont) are on that page. On the other hand, the actual catch phrase -- "no sir, I didn't" -- shows up as often as it should. --jpgordon∇∆∇∆ 17:46, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
Google sees through apostrophes. Whether you put them or not, it doesn't matter. Search for "dont" and you will get lots of "don't"s. Also it does say don't on that page. "His catchphrase was "No sir, I don't like it."" The fact that it also says "didn't" does not exclude the possibility that it could say "don't" and indeed it says both forms of the phrase on the same page. --Seans Potato Business 18:32, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
I get lots of results for "the big shot" "no sir, i don't" but only with the apostrophe in "don't". I think this has to do with "don't" being part of an exact phrase, so Google isn't ignoring apostrophes in it. Recury 20:20, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
According to The Google Guide, a single apostrophe is significant; their example compares "were" and "we're" (the first result on the "were" search is misleading). The Google Guide is not affiliated with Google, but it seems reliable enough, given the example results. --LarryMac | Talk 20:42, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
Okay, I just checked with the search string "the big shot" "no sir, i don't" and indeed found results that I don't get for "the big shot" "no sir, i dont" but what I don't understand is, why when I use search string "dont", then I get results inclusive of apostrophes. It appears to behave differently between searches for a single word and for a whole phrase. --Seans Potato Business 16:05, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
I think it's the double-quotes, not the single word vs phrase. Compare the results for dont to the results for "dont". --LarryMac | Talk 16:26, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
You beat me this time, Google, but I know what you're doing and I'll be back! [begin fade] You haven't seen the last of me! ---Seans Potato Business 00:12, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Win XP Installation/Startup Question

header added -

my friend brought me his pc which had xp home,i reformatted the harddrive and put xp pro after startup it asks for administrator password "what happen" please help cannot login dont know what password is —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.80.232.229 (talk) 19:35, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

Surely the documentation that came with your licensed copy of XP Pro addresses this? During the installation, there should have been a step to enter a password, although this step can be skipped. So you need to remember what you put in at that step, or wipe and re-install. --LarryMac | Talk 20:44, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Blogging as a character in fanfic

Please note, first, that I'm not seeking legal advice, though I can understand if one thinks that; however, the answer should be pretty straightforward, and goes to the nature of blogging itself. I've never blogged, but had the idea that it would be fun to write fan fiction via blog, but with a catch - my blog would be that of a fictional character. (No, not Harry Potter, I'm not into that. :-) It would be G-rated, it's not one of those things some people do with fics. I just think it would be an interesting use of a blog. And yet, blogspot is unclear on whether that's allowed, fromw hat I read, and I don't know if people do that or not. www.fanfiction.net frowns on blog fics (or, at least they don't allow chat, maybe blogs they would, but you can't reach people there to ask.) And, just to show I do know the law behind it, the summary would contain a disclaimer saying, for instance, "x is a product of Warner Brothers/Charles Schultz/whatever, and this is purely a piece of fanfiction designed or entertainment, and not for profit." Or something to that effect. What about blogging as a fictional character you've created?209.244.30.221 20:12, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

I don't see how blogging as a fictional character would be any different legally from regular fanfic. It's not like the characters will get mad because you've misrepresented their views or anything. As for blogging as a fictional character you create, that is perfectly legal and many do that already. Recury 20:15, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Calculator Password Program Code

Hey, well I have a TI-84+ calculator and one of the applications installed is one that allows you to start a program/app/pic automatically whenever you turn the calculator on. I was wondering if anyone knows a program code that allows me to set a password. It also needs to be a program that cannot be quit/exited by Clear or 2nd|Mode or by any other means except for entering a correct password. Does anyone know how to program this? Or at least know a site/forum that provides this code?

Thanks! Valens Impérial Császár 93 22:39, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Initializing an array of non-PODS?

Consider this near-C++:

struct foo {foo(int i,int j) {}};
foo f[1]={{1,2}};

I have to initialize the one element of the array f, because foo has no default constructor. So I try putting the arguments to the constructor in braces in the brace-initializer for the array, but that's no good (gcc says "braces around scalar initializer for type ‘foo’"); parentheses of course just mean I'm using the comma operator. New (C++) says that new can't initialize arrays it creates, so perhaps it is simply impossible to put a datatype which may not be "default-constructed" (including PODs in that category) in an array (automatic or dynamic). Am I missing something, or is it truly impossible? --Tardis (talk) 22:56, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

You can do something like foo f[1]={foo(1,2)};, which constructs a foo, and then copies it into the array (it does involve an extra step of copying). --Spoon! (talk) 23:38, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
I'm aware of that approach, but I was hoping to create an array of non-copyable objects. I suppose that re-engineering the class in question is actually the right idea: make it copyable, or perhaps just give it a default constructor after all. --Tardis (talk) 15:49, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
Alternately, you can try the Java approach, where all objects are accessed through references. So you have an array of references (pointers in C++) and you can set each one to a newly allocated and constructed object one at a time. --Spoon! (talk) 20:48, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
That's what I ended up doing, pending redesigning the classes in question; it's just annoying (when not in Java) that I then have to go and delete the objects myself later, as well as add in a pile of *s and replace .s with ->s. Thanks for your, um, pointers. --Tardis (talk) 16:01, 6 December 2007 (UTC)
Added question: is there any way to initialize even a POD array in a constructor's initializer list?
struct bar {int a[2]; bar() : a({1,2}) {}};
This obvious approach doesn't seem to work. --Tardis (talk) 23:16, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
Nope, you cannot. Arrays don't have non-default constructors. You can use a growable array data structure like vector, and insert elements one at a time, or insert multiple copies of an element. --Spoon! (talk) 23:38, 4 December 2007 (UTC)
The difference between construction and initialization never ceases to amaze. --Tardis (talk) 15:49, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
  • I'm not super-clear on what the question is, but you might be interested in C++0x#Initializer_lists. --Sean 23:32, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] cangjie

Hi. I'm running Mandriva using Gnome. I wonder what is the easiest way to enable me to enter chinese text via Cangjie method. I have UIM and SCIM installed, but neither of them seem to have Cangjie in the list of available input methods. (In fact SCIM doesn't seem to list any besides direct unicode). What should I install to enable Cangjie input? --Duomillia (talk) 23:08, 4 December 2007 (UTC)

I think you mena kanji. --— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 02:48, 5 December 2007 (UTC)
No, see cangjie method. I have cangjie in my SCIM, under Traditional Chinese. --antilivedT | C | G 05:13, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Alright, so what do I have to do to get Cangjie onto the list of available IME's under SCIM? It currently just has European, English, and RAWCODE. --Duomillia (talk) 21:31, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

You definitely need to install Chinese support first. --antilivedT | C | G 09:11, 6 December 2007 (UTC)