Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 July 11

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[edit] July 11

[edit] Audio Device problem

I use Windows XP. I have recently been getting error messages with programmes which use sound (eg language-learning). The error message says "The specified device is in use. Wait until it is free then try again". I've gone into my control panel, and that says I have no sound device - and on the audio properties page it says I have "Modem #0 Line Playback" as my default for sound playback. when I click on the little arrow, there are no other devices listed, but I think it used to say SoundMax Digital Audio (which does show up in the hardware tab of the Sound and audio device box). What's gone wrong and how do I fix it? I'm just an ordinary computer user, so answers in plain English would be appreciated! Thanks. DuncanHill 01:36, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Any flagged devices in Device Manager? Splintercellguy 08:52, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
I don't know! Where would I find the Device Manager? Do you mean the "Sounds and Audio Devices" on the control panel? I restarted my pc, and the Soundmax Digital Audio has come back - and is working. I still don't know why it went, or why it came back. DuncanHill 09:00, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
To access the Device Manager, right click "My Computer", and click on properties. Then choose the "Hardware" tab in the window that appears. Click on the Device Manager button.24.81.198.165 11:18, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Subversion and permissions

Just a quick question...I'm trying to learn how to use subversion. I've created a repository, and now, I want to make it so one other person can access the repository. What's the best way to do this? --HappyCamper 05:46, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

How do you want them to connect? Through HTTPS (using the Apache module), SSH or directly to your SVN server? --antilivedT | C | G 06:53, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
How about directly? I guess, the problem I have has something to do with permissions. The repository is sitting somewhere in my directories, so when I use "svn checkout file:///home/me/svnexperiment/trunk/" on another account, I get some sort of permission denied error. Ideally, I would want this one other user to type in something like "svn checkout project1", and subversion would prompt them to give their password or something. Does this seem feasible? --HappyCamper 07:40, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
chmod the directory and files to 666 for RW access for everyone? --antilivedT | C | G 10:27, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
If you want subversion to prompt for a password, you should use svnserve. Giving them write permission (yes, subversion needs write permission to read a repository) would also work, but would not prompt for a password. --cesarb 12:45, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Windows mobile 6.0

How is it possible to download the latest version of windows mobile to the dell axim X51v PDA. I hardly have any info about that.most X51v's have version 5.0 default downloaded already but i am wondering how to upgrade to the latest version.--logger 06:44, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] comp help

heys?how do i know if my dell tft is original.are there basics to know if its a good screen.its a 17 inch and i bought it a 200 dollars.are there specifications to know if ur screen resolution are cool

[edit] Wikipedia slow?

Loading Wikipedia pages seems to be very slow for me (in the UK) over the past couple of days compared to other websites. Is anyone else getting this and is there a place where one can check on this sort of thing?--Shantavira|feed me 09:50, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia does run slow very often. I've heard a rumor that if you log out it will run much faster, though I haven't verified this by trying it. -- Kainaw(what?) 12:03, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
This site shows the status of Wikipedia's servers. - Akamad 00:55, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] holograms?

According to a statement I heard on CBC (IIRC) Al Gore appeared as a 'hologram' at the Chinese concert Live Earth concert. However, this sounds rather fictional to me, so I'm just wondering if this could be confirmed or not. (and, if true, what technology was he using?)--HoneymaneHeghlu meH QaQ jajvam 10:23, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

This page says "She then introduced organiser Al Gore, who also appeared in a hologram". Youtube also has a video of this. Think outside the box 10:38, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
It may have been a system similar to that which enabled Gorillaz to appear onstage at the Grammys last year (article). That system was supplied by this company. — Matt Eason (Talk • Contribs) 13:55, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
They mention in an interview that "65 things could go wrong at any second". Nobody would happen to have this list on hand, would they? It would seem to me that if this were the case, disney's Haunted Mansion ride would've experienced it many times over --Laugh! 00:41, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
It is almost certainly an updated version of the Pepper's ghost illusion, which most people in the US know through the Haunted Mansion ride (the waltzing in the ballroom) at Disneyland/world. It isn't a "true" hologram (no lasers, no film) nor even truly a volumetric display (such as in Star Wars, Star Trek) but if it was done well it would appear pretty near to what people expect out of such a thing. --24.147.86.187 00:35, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] no page break within para in latex

I am using latex. How do i tell latex not to use page break within any para? --P. Swapna Raj 11:11, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

I don't know, but there are a lot of LaTeX weenies on the Math reference desk who surely will. You might like to post a short sample of the problematic code with your query. --TotoBaggins 13:57, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
It gets a bit hairy with the various stuff going on. LaTeX does some fiddling around with the definition of \par based on contexts but the basic strategy would be to redefine \par to insert \vfil\penalty-100\vfilneg at the end of each paragraph. This will allow you to still have paragraphs longer than one page without the problems that messing with, I think, \linepenalty would generate. But look in latex.ltx to see what happens with \par at different times. You've got to keep all of that under control. You also need to consider what to do about lists, quotes and displayed math. The real question is why do you want to do this? It's bad formatting. Donald Hosek 17:43, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Wrap the breaking para in a \vbox. You will have to manually fix overfull/underfull boxes that follow.

Oh God NO. (a) no visual mark-up in LaTeX (2) your solution is really messy. The worst-case scenario will require loads of manual intervention. The solution outlined above has no overfull/underfull cases to deal with at all. Donald Hosek 04:50, 12 July 2007 (UTC)
Suggest a method without exceeding the page size, then.
I have no idea what you mean with that question. Try playing with the code I gave above (\vfil\penalty-100\vfilneg) and see what it does (I suggest wrapping it in a a macro). The hard part isn't the page breaking, it's tieing it into the overloaded \par redefinition in latex.ltx Donald Hosek 16:29, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Download a directory listing

Is there any program or Firefox extension that can download all the files listed in an Apache directory listing? The site I'm trying to do this on (Archive.org) has a (broken) option to do this on their website, so I don't think of my attempts as leeching... The directory in question is http://ia340905.us.archive.org/0/items/Dragnet_OTR/ 68.39.174.238 11:39, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

downTHEMall -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:47, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
HTTrack website copyer GB 12:43, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanx both of you. 68.39.174.238 15:19, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Transferring phone pics to my laptop

I have a Motorola V220 connected to my laptop via usb, how do I tranfer the photos on my mobile to my laptop? --58.165.62.81 11:55, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Assuming you have the cable connected correctly and the laptop's operating system has drivers for the phone, the phone will show up on the laptop as a new drive. If you are in Windows, try clicking Start → My Computer and seeing if any new drives are there. If not, then you will need the mobile phone tools from Motorola. Try here. -- Kainaw(what?) 12:02, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Bluetooth may also be an alternative. There could be software that came with the phone, or downloadable from a support site. GB 12:45, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

This thing take memory cards? I have a Moronola Krazr and the cheapest way to move things was to get a memory card and a reader for the computer's usb port, compared to the $$$ Motorola USB connection kit. Gzuckier 15:11, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Apple Macs

Is it not time that there was a Computing Desk just for Apple Macs?--88.109.48.30 16:27, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Nah. Recury 17:32, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
Most of the problems in the computing desk have nothing to do with operating systems.--GTPoompt(talk) 18:04, 11 July 2007 (UTC)
Yes, I agree, it is not time that there was a Computing Desk just for Apple Macs. -- JSBillings 11:21, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Word macro to extract chapter preserving chapter and page numbering

I'd like to be able to easily create a new word document from a chapter in a multi-chapter document. What would be really groovy would be to be prompted for a chapter number and let Word find it on its own, but short of that, what I'd like to do is be able to select a portion of a document, run the macro and have a new word document created with the first chapter number being the number of the first chapter of the selected portion and the first page number being the number of the first selected page. Donald Hosek 17:38, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Software for playing with generative grammars

Any available please? I'd like to be able to write a few grammar rules, run them through the software to get some output, and then tinker with the rules to see how this changes the output. Doing things in Lisp (programming language) and so on would be too advanced for me. (Although I might be able to handle Logo (programming language) ). Thanks. 80.2.197.105 21:51, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Alright, so could anyone give me any tips or an outline of how I could write a (hopefully) simple program to use implement a generative grammar? All I am familar with is gwbasic, plus I did some Logo years ago. (Yes, I know that computer languages can be written in terms of a grammar such as BNF I think, but thay's not what I'm looking for). Thanks. 80.0.106.3 15:06, 14 July 2007 (UTC)

Sorry to see your questions have gotten not much feedback. It is difficult to make a recommendation here because your request is fairly sophisticated, but the languages you propose are not well-suited to the task. You might have better results if you can specify precisely what you want to get out of this exercise. Are you looking for a low-cost, low-pain introduction to basic concepts? Are you attempting to finish a specific project? Are you wanting to learn how to design your own programming language specification? dr.ef.tymac 15:06, 15 July 2007 (UTC)
What exactly are you trying to do? Write a grammar and get a parser? Then you should take a look at parser generators. --soum talk 11:07, 16 July 2007 (UTC)