Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 January 27

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Computing desk
< January 26 << Dec | January | Feb >> January 28 >
Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.


Contents

[edit] January 27

[edit] Radeons

I have two questions about my "Radeon 9550 SE":

  • I'm pretty sure I have the Radeon 9550 SE, but in Device Manager (Ubuntu), it says "Radeon 9550". No "SE". Second, in xorg.conf it says Device "ATI Technologies, Inc. RV350 AS [Radeon 9600]". So, do I have the Radeon 9550, SE, or 9600?
  • Secondly, how does my graphics card compare to others? (I'm expecting "crap")

Thanks. --wj32 talk | contribs 00:18, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

For the first one.. The 9550 and 9600 are exactly the same but the 9550 has firmware restrictions placed on it, so it's trivial to "unlock" the 9600. For the second one, crap. --frothT 02:22, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
Well it's one of the slowest cards that supports Pixel Shader 2.0 which a lot of games require today, so you still can play most current games, just not very fast. Also, the strength of a system is only as good as its weakest link, so the bottleneck may not even be your graphics card. --antilivedT | C | G 10:44, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Email question

(this question was previously untitled. titled by wj32.)

Every time i turn on my E-mail program..MS Outlook, i get this messige in my.....(Draft folder) ....... that gets .........Deleted Auotmaticly ...and on vewing it with ..(E-mail Details).... i get this messige,......(Bayesian Filter)

i use a... (Spamming Program) called ...(Agnitum Spam Terrier).

is this the normal thing from the Spam program..?

there is nothing written on the E-mail exsept the time of opening it.

it allway goes from the Draft fold into the Deleted folder ..every time i start MS Outlook.

Please use proper grammar and spelling. From what I can see, you're a "spammer" and you use a "spamming program". There is a technical problem with your "spamming program". --wj32 talk | contribs 01:31, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
Agnitum SPAM Terrier is SPAM filtering software. "Beta" means they released the software for the public to test for them, and you found a bug it seems. You should notify the company of the issue. Please try to ask coherent questions! Droud 03:33, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Java Applet

Today I was trying to program a game in Java in my Computer Science class becasue i was done with everything and I know how AND I wanted to ry and impress my fellow classmates with my knowledge. It turned out that it all backfired and I didnt know squat about making applets. The problem aose early when I was just trying to get the guy to move around, where I had upwards of 11 errors. I asked my teacher and she is kind of annoyed with mine wanting to learn more and not just stay along with the class and when she came over she said that my code was "totally flawed" and that she couldnt help because she was "swamped." She said something about the keyboard input being totally different in applets rather than the "System keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);" line. The following is my code I put in and maybe someone here a=can give me some pointers but not all the things wrong.

    import java.awt.*;
    import java.applet.*;
    import java.util.*;
    
    public class gameTest extends Applet {                //is it supposed to be in between these brackets?
    
         public void paint (Graphics p)  {                      //or this one?
         }
    
    int x = 150, y = 75;                                             // or is this right?
    String control;
    Scanner keyboard = new Scanner(System.in);
    control = keyboard.next();
    
    p.drawString ("O", x, y);
    
    if (control.equalsIgnoreCase("d"))                        //"d" is the control to move right
         {
         p.drawString (" ", x, y);
         p.drawString ("O", x+1, y);
         x +=1;
         y = y;        //I know it's rodundent
         }
    
       }
     }


Thank you guys so much for any pointers. I am almost certain my teacher won't be able to help me a whole lot. Thanks, schyler 04:10, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

P.S. Good to be back at the RD!

Haven't used java in years, but I think you need to do something with addKeyListener(). Also you have no control loop- it checks for keyboard input once and quits. --frothT 04:30, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
You need to put initialization code into init() where you would specify a handler for key events. You also have function code in your class declaration, which is not right. That code should be in the key event handler. You also need to use private variables in your class declaration to store the values of x and y so you can later use these values in the paint() function to draw the O at the proper location. You should consider painting a small area white rather than clearing the last position by drawing a white character, since strings take a lot more time to draw. It is spelled "redundant". Here is a tutorial. Droud 05:08, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
  • Isn't System.in the program's stdin? For example, the code to listen for a key on a GTK window is different to the code to accept input from stdin.
  • Clean up your code. Line up braces. Use consistent styles:
  • Why are you ending your function straight away?
  • Use private variables.
  • Why the y = y?
  • Unless your font is a monospace font, your positioning won't work. "W", for example, takes up more space than an "i".
Example:
/* I don't know Java, so I'm guessing. Well, at least its how I do it in C#. */

import java.awt.*;
import java.applet.*;
import java.util.*;

public class gameTest extends Applet
{
    private int _x, _y;
    
    public gameTest()
    {
        _x = 150;
        _y = 75;
        
        /* add event listener here. */
    }
    
    public void paint(Graphics p)
    {
        // place drawing code here.
    }
}
Apologies for my long post. --wj32 talk | contribs 00:43, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

I believe that will be extremely helpful. I need to try it once I get to School. Thank yall very much! schyler 04:06, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

You can also download the sun JDK and eclipse, voila you have a free development environment with applet support. Droud 04:29, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
Oh, and also, try not to fall into the trap of copying and pasting code without knowing how the code snippets work. I used to do that. Some time ago. --wj32 talk | contribs 22:45, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Windows update

I haven't gotten a new "critical" update in months. Windows Update is set to notify and I haven't been notified- also the Windows Update website says that there are no critical updates (in fact no updates at all other than like the australian timezone fix and language packs). Is it the same with everyone else or have I somehow been left behind? --frothT 06:58, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Are you still using SP1? It's been over 2 years since SP2 was released, so SP1 support is no longer offered. (Assuming you're using XP). --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 07:02, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
No I'm using SP2 --frothT 07:06, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
Then I have no idea, as I just checked right now and updated with the newest critical update posted. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 07:08, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
Do you have windows update set to automatically install? If that's the case, it is most likely installing and rebooting overnight. You can check in Add/Remove Programs, select the checkbox that says "Show Updates". Droud 17:52, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
After the WGA push? Heck no! It's set to notify like I said above --frothT 22:19, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
This is EXACTLY why I bought a Mac. schyler 14:33, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
I'm sure that for you the 25 unpatched flaws on Month Of Apple Bugs don't matter, who cares if someone can send you a picture that will take over your system if you view it? Droud 17:52, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
If it takes a special month-long drive to produce 25 bugs, I'll be happy. And it's not like Windows hasn't had its own incidents with pictures taking over the OS: I know Windows Metafiles and PNG images both had that problem, and I think there were also bugs with JPEG images and AVI movies. --Carnildo 23:05, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
On the update webpage there should be a button to refresh ignored updates. Try that. And no, this doesn't happen on macs.--Ryan 16:44, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
I don't have any ignored updates. And he's right, Apple has patched basically none of the many critical bugs exposed by MOAB --frothT 22:24, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
Of note, only about 1/2 of the bugs listed are Apple software. The rest are third-party apps that happen to run on MacOS X. Very few are actually security exploitable. And the first Apple security bug has been patched, within their normal timeframe for patching reported bugs. -- Kesh 01:32, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
It seems to be ages between WU updates. My last two recent updates were "Security Update for Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP (KB929969)" and "Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - January 2007 (KB890830)". Prior to that the last ones were on December 14th. 68.39.174.238 23:10, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
Ok that makes me feel better. Can't wait for vista for the security patches to start rollin in again, eh? ;) --frothT 19:54, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] www.helium.com

www.helium.com. Is this website a scam? It stinks of it, but I can't find the catch. Battle Ape 10:57, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

It looks like a wiki where they really want knowledgeable people to contribute. Never trust anything on the web - however it offers payment through PayPal, so they won't run off with your bank details. --h2g2bob 19:07, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
www.helium.com publishes contact information including a street address on their website. The street address matches the street address used in their DNS registration. Their DNS registration can be looked up at Network Solutions. The name "Helium Exchange" in Andover, MA can be found in AT&T's online business phone directory. The phone number published by AT&T matches one of the phone numbers listed on their website. There is a listing for "Helium Inc." at the same address in the Eastern Massachusetts Better Business Bureau with no recorded complaints. Helium Exchange reportedly will be presenting at the DEMO 2007 conference no doubt seeking venture capital. This appears to be a startup business. Articles about the company have been written in various (some well-known) news publications; a list of articles may be found on the company's website. They appear legitimate to me (caveat emptor). They certainly don't appear to be trying to hide anything. --TRosenbaum 01:23, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
It does have pretty stupid information like "80% of home PCs are infected with viruses or spyware". It's actually "99% of Windows PCs are infected with viruses or spyware". --wj32 talk | contribs 02:26, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
So maybe Macs have 19% market share now? :-)
(OK, that's a pretty dubious definition of Personal Computer, I know, and probably even more dubious maths...) PeteVerdon 02:13, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
Don't forget Linux, BSDs, etc. :p --antilivedT | C | G 10:49, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Excel

While find and replacing a specified value in any number of cells, how to avoid getting the Update Values dialog box.

I mean that find and replace should work directly in Excel 2003 which doesnt in my case. 17:20, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

I think you're out of luck on this, the dialog is not dockable. Droud 17:56, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Can't preview Bittorrents

Why is it that when you're downloading a bittorrent video clip (wmv, avi, mpeg), you cannot preview it even when you stop the download or make a copy? When you try previewing it, it says "Windows Media Player cannot recognize the file type/format." Only after the download is complete, can windows media player open it. Jamesino 18:08, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Bittorrent distributes chunks of files in (sort of) random order. You usually won't get the first chunks of the file first. Some clients let you control which chunks it requsts first, but that doesn't guarantee you'll be offered them (nor is it really good practice as it will slow down overall transfer speeds). -- mattb @ 2007-01-27T18:17Z
Normal file downloading architectures download the file from the beginning to end, and that's why you can preview them, such as in limewire. BitTorrent downloads them at random order, so in theory you could preview each segment in chronological order, but I don't think any applications are available to do that. They're probably working on that. X [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 20:16, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
If it's video or audio then you can preview it with VLC, but generally it only seems to work when you've gotten about 60-70% of the file. --Kiltman67 19:04, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
Most A/V muxing (container) formats contain stream header information within the first few blocks of the file. If you don't have these, most decoders will either be unable to or refuse to attempt to continue. -- mattb @ 2007-01-31T18:26Z
MPlayer plays pretty much any half downloaded stuff I throw at it. Maybe worth a try? --antilivedT | C | G 10:55, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hard disk format - 'serial number' - what's this for?

G'day. I was formatting a hard drive the other day, and noticed as usual that the system assigned a 'serial number' (in the form of 1808-0A6B) to the formatted physical disk. This was nothing strange to me, as I have been using PC's for most of my life and consider myself more than well-versed in the ins and outs of things, and know this is commonplace with each format. However, I don't know if this number is used for anything, and I couldn't find anything on this on Wikipedia, so I'm going here. If this important, I still proudly use Windows 98 SE (planning to switch to Fedora later this year, however). This is as usual morbid curiosity on my part. Thanks in advance and have a nice Saturday evening y'all. --Ouro 18:47, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

I doubt it has any use other than tracing back to the history of its manufacturing, such as when and where. I doubt it's used to keep tabs on where it goes, since the uproar of the Pentium IIIs or whatever sending unique codes that identifies itself. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 18:52, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
I am not sure if we understood ourselves fully. I was not referring to the serial number of the physical object, I was referring to the serial number assigned during format, which actually changes every time you format the disk or floppy. --Ouro 18:56, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
The serial number is required just to make sure you know what you're doing, I think. It's an extra safety feature. --h2g2bob 19:01, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
The serial number is randomly assigned when you create the volume, and I believe is a holdover from disk packs, which required you to track a large number of packs (via serials, which you could also check on-line, on-line being at a terminal) since each pack held relatively little data. They used to shuffle those things around like paper files. Droud 22:01, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
It is only used, to my knowledge, by licensing software and copy protection systems. Droud 22:02, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
I'm reasonable sure it's an attribute of the FAT file system. I'm pretty sure advanced disk software and hex editors can change it at will. It's use, I don't know if it has one to the end user, to the OS, or what. 68.39.174.238 23:12, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
From Microsoft's own explanation, it's to aid in distinguishing one disk from another. I believe it's used by DOS to know when you swapped the floppy disk in the drive (more recent versions of DOS needed a switch to enable reading the disk change line from the drive; older versions probably simply ignored it). --cesarb 00:43, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
Back in the MS-DOS days, it was indeed used to distinguish between discs, as they couldn't be named or anything. Every disk stuck in the main floppy drive was the A: drive, so serial numbers allowed you to differentiate between discs. At this point, its vestigial. -- Kesh 01:36, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
Thank you all for the input. I have more or less come to the same conclusion thinking about it last night. If the number changes from one format to another, then it would be valid to record those serials somewhere to check whether the disk had been further formatted or not. Logical. Thanks once again, cheers! --Ouro 09:27, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] How reliable...?

After a hardrive crash and subsequent recovery of data to another harddrive by a file recovery program I erased the hardrive using DBAN. When I tried and failed to create a new volume under Windows XP which reported the drive as having errors and "at risk" I tried Western Digital's low level reformat program which first reported it had repaired the drive but after a second extensive run reported the drive was unrepairable. An older WD LLF version even reported the drive was not Western Digital (which it is). Finally a newer version of CHKDSK on the new boot drive from a Windows XP update finally began finding and eliminating errors. After about 36 hours it reported the drive as repaired.

Windows XP Disk Manager and CHKDSK no longer finds any errors after taking a day to scan for recoverable sectors marked as bad and reports the drive as okay. I assume the erros were from surface defects at the location used for track zero, etc. and there were reassigned by CHKDSK which must have a built-in LLF routine. If so can I now write the data back to the drive without worry about problems from surface defects and whatever casued track zero to crash? -- Barringa 19:29, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

My impression/opinion is that when a disk has had a serious crash -- and especially if the head has contacted the platter at speed -- it's terminally ill, it's toast. There may be little furrows plowed in the disk by the crashing head which, even if the drive has later mapped those sectors as "bad", will further damage the head every time it passes over them. There may be fragments of plowed-up disk material floating around inside the housing just waiting to fall between the head and the disk at some other spot, plowing more furrows there and crashing the disk a second time. After spending hours trying to retrieve data from a badly crashed disk -- and I've done this many times -- I usually like to copy all the data to a brand-new disk, and throw the old one away. Disk drives aren't terribly expensive, and the risk of losing more time or data later just isn't worth it. —Steve Summit (talk) 21:45, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
Take this advice, that drive is not long for this world. Droud 22:04, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
While I enjoy such exercises for the challenge and skill, getting a drive and software that are both deliberately giving out clear warning signs to look and work OK should NOT be used in order to return it to "production use". When so many things implicitly and explicitly give clear warning signs, there is a definite problem with the disk somewhere. Check cabling to make sure it's not that, but you're rather lucky to have been able to save all the data on it. 68.39.174.238 23:17, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Mac OS X Preference Pane

My Software Update preference pane icon is acting up. It shows a switch and part if the original icon. I have no third party preference panes installed. Thanks in advance for the help!--Ryan 19:49, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

If It comes down to it, I could email you my prefpane or application of Software Update, which would put in Macintosh HD/System/PreferencePanes or Macintosh HD/System/Core Services respectively. X [Mαc Δαvιs] (How's my driving?) ❖ 20:19, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
A switch and part of the original icon... in the tray? When you open it? 68.39.174.238 23:18, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
Try this: Close System Preferences. From your home directory, navigate to Library > Caches and find a file called com.apple.preferencepanes.cache. Delete it and empty the Trash. Alternately, open a Terminal window and enter:
rm ~/Library/Cache/com.apple.preferencepanes.cache
Then reopen System Preferences and see if that solved the problem. Larry V (talk | e-mail) 10:21, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] printer margins?

My friend has "Konica Minolta magicolor 2400w". How can I find out the exact margins it can print within?--Sonjaaa 20:48, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

The Amazon product listing says that it's 4mm (0.16") from each edge (see "Maximum printable area"). — Matt Eason (Talk • Contribs) 21:10, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Blocking some websites

Hi,I ve recently discoverd that my brother is visiting some XXX sites using my PC, so my question is how can I prevent access to those sites, do I have to purchase some software for this purpose or is there any function in my computer (OS:Windows XP) that can block those sites/or give access to only some selected sites. Thank you in advance for any help.

K9 Web Protection looks pretty good, and it is free for home use. Droud 22:07, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
It's trivial to bypass any client-side filtering (just pop in a linux livecd and away you go). The only way to guarantee it is to hope your router has support for filtering and subscribe to a service that gives you a set of filters. Linksys does this IIRC. --frothT 22:17, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
It is trivial to bypass a linksys router with Tor (anonymity network), as well. Droud 22:29, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
Could also juse set your router to re-direct certain requests. (Atleast, my Actiontec router does that.) - Trident523 15:07, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
If you can, give him a "Normal User" (IE. Not administrator) user account and do something with the HOSTS file or do something else that can only easily be countermanded by an administrator. All that said, keep in mind that this can easily lead to an escalating arms race between the two of you. As was said the last time a question like this came up, if you can talk with him and get him to see your side of it, or even just realize you don't appreciate that, you might get further. I don't know either of you so you'll have to make the decision. 68.39.174.238 23:22, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
ZoneAlarm has some sort of Parental Control feature, which purports to block access to a list of potentially troubling Web site categories. I have ZoneAlarm Security Suite version:6.5.737.000, but I have not had occasion to mess with the Parental Control, as my cat does not use the computer, beyond stepping on the keyboard occasionally. A cat might not be smart enough to bypass it, but a brother might. See also Parental controls. A non-technical solution might be to install a webcam pointing at the computer, which your mother and grandmother (if living) can monitor. That might work until the brother unplugs it, paints over the lens, or smashes it. Another option would be to simply use the computer at all times, not allowing the brother any opportunity to pursue those vile urges (the ones responsible for the continued existence of our species). --Teratornis 05:53, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
Thanks alot guyz, especially you Draud, I have installed K9 Web Protection software in my PC and it seems that its doing the job very well.
By the way, before you go off all happy-like, it's trivial to walk around any kind of protection either by using a proxy server or a live cd. Best to make sure he can't get on your computer and keep that pr0n to yourself, eh?--Frenchman113 on wheels! 16:21, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sega Saturn Operating System

What proprietary operating system is on the Sega Saturn?--67.10.200.101 21:17, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Most likely something small and custom designed specifically for the Saturn. I doubt it even had a name outside Sega's internal development. —Mitaphane ?|! 23:19, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] game design programs

Can someone tell me of some good game development programs for someone who wants make games for a hobby? Preferably for a mac. Also, it should be 2-dimensional or have an option between 2-d and 3-d. thanks

Everything for mac shall be found on the apple website (small ecosystem), like this article. Droud 22:18, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
GCC for the coding. GIMP for your graphic design. OpenGL for 3D, SDL for 2D. --wj32 talk | contribs 00:24, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
Allegro works on OSX (also Windows, Linux-and-friends and MS-DOS). It is mainly used for 2d, but has some very basic 3d support. There are lots of examples and good documentation, but a basic knowledge of C programming is advisable. It is free and fully open source (in C), and even fine for commercial use too. See the homepage; or allegro.cc for examples of programs made with it. This is truly a great bit of kit, and what I started learning on. --h2g2bob 00:59, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] converting recorded DVDs to avi, wmv etc

I have some video material recorded using a DVD recorder. Can anyone suggest software (preferably free) that would convert it to single-file formats like avi or wmv, and tell me how long this process is supposed to take? I'm trying to use Auto Gordian Knot to convert an 11 minute segment to avi, but it's been running for over two and a half hours, is showing no signs of doing anything, and doesn't have any kind of progress indication so I don't know whether it's working or how much longer it's likely to be. --Nicknack009 21:40, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Depending on how fast your computer is and the settings you chose in Auto Gordian Knot, a few hours is not unreasonable for efficiently encoding video. Video encoding uses an amazing amount of computation. What model and speed of processor are you running (this is the most critical component to video encoding)? Droud 22:15, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
Every multimedia question here can be answered with VLC media player, and this is no exception. Takes one to two times as long as the DVD takes to play (depends on your computer's speed and what options you ask it to encode with). Use file, wizard, transcode to file and go through the options. Put 120 in the stop time box to rip the first 2 minutes only, then you can check quality and so forth. --h2g2bob 02:27, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
Good advice if you don't want dual-pass encoding (which doubles the encoding time and I believe is default in AGK) or to use commercial codecs like DivX (VLC uses ffmpeg if I recall, which is a good implementation but not the best). Droud 04:35, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] AutoCAD drawings to SVG PNG or GIF

Hi. I've made some drawings in AutoCAD 2002 that I would like to upload to the Wikimedia Commons, but I'm struggling with file formats. Ideally I would save a rendered image as an SVG (But PNG or GIF would do). I can do a screen dump - which gives me a BMP, or use AutoCADs render window - also BMP, but these don't seem to be very useful. Anyone?--Joesydney 22:52, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

I think PNG is preferred format in this case since I don't think you can easily convert AutoCAD drawings to SVG. If you export or screen dump to BMP, I think you can open(or paste from the clipboard)it into MS Paint. From there just tell Paint to save the image as a PNG file. —Mitaphane ?|! 23:03, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
SVG would indeed be preferable, since DWG's are obviously vector-based. But Autodesk tries to keep the DWG format proprietary, and although there is non-Autodesk software that can read it (see e.g. http://www.opendesign.com/), it's a royal pain and a running battle and hence readers and converters are not nearly as widespread as for the other, more open formats.
For BMP, there are lots of programs that can convert it into other formats. Two I know of are NetPBM and ImageMagick. —Steve Summit (talk) 01:50, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
You could do a printscreen of your current window (assuming you're using Windows) and then use the GIMP to save the image as a .png or .gif or whatever else you need (I don't think the GIMP will save to SVG, though. It might be able to open DWG files, but I'm unsure of that....)Mango Sango 18:36, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
This program claims to be able to convert AutoCAD DXF files to SVGs. Probably the best option? --24.147.86.187 21:07, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks to all for suggestions. I'm doing OK now rendering my images directly to file (You don't get a preview, but hey). I'm choosing a TIFF in AutoCAD, which gives me options up to 4000x3000 resolution, then using Paint to convert to a PNG. The result comes out to less than one meg. I tried the program suggested by 24.147.86.187, but it won't unzip on my machine. It's version 0.01, which does not inspire great confidence; but it's just as likely that I don't have the correct unzip software.--Joesydney 09:33, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] E-mail Client

What is the best e-mail client? 68.193.147.179 23:27, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

That's a really subjective question. It depends on what you need, and how you use your email. For large corporate accounts, Microsoft Outlook coupled with Microsoft Exchange Server tends to be preferred. For home users, Outlook Express, Mozilla Thunderbird or even Web-based email suffice. In between, it really varies.
Maybe explain what you're looking for in a mail client, what you use email for, and features you want to have. Then we can narrow it down a bit. -- Kesh 23:45, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
It also depends what operating system you use - for example, I use KMail which is KDE-only. To answer your question, Comparison of e-mail clients may be of some considerable use. --h2g2bob 00:38, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
Evolution! --wj32 talk | contribs 02:54, 28 January 2007 (UTC)