Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 March 28

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[edit] March 28

[edit] Swing docking windows

Does anyone know of a high-quality free library for Java Swing that provides similar functionality to Visual Studio's docking windows (and its clone, the .NET-based DockPanel suite) or Eclipse's SWT views and editors? I see a lot of them from a quick Google search, but does anyone have specific experience with one of them? « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 00:15, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] what is www2?

I tried the www page, but I couldn't find anything. sometimes you see addresses with WWW2.xxxx.xx instead of WWW. why is that? /Marxmax (talk) 01:39, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

The www part of a URL is simply a sub-domain name. So if you own the test.com domain, you can create a sub-domain such as www.test.com or www2.test.com or whatever.test.com . I believe the main reason some sites have www2 is to balance their server load. - Akamad (talk) 02:13, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
Thanks!Marxmax (talk) 02:53, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
See Hostname. --grawity talk / PGP 16:07, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] 3D City Modelling

I've got a 2d image showing the silhouettes of buildings in a city (much like this one of Moscow). What program would easiest allow me to select shapes from such an image and extrude them in order to create a simple "block model" somewhat like this or this? I don't need anything as complicated as the columns at this point; simple blocks that are more or less the right shape are fine. 96.231.47.19 (talk) 04:11, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Try Google SketchUp. Kushal 04:50, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
Google Earth already has some 3D models. I'm not sure about Moscow, but it has many buildings in Manhattan south of 60th street. Apparently, anybody can create the 3D models (using SketchUp?) and have them appear on Google Earth, though I've not tried this myself. Astronaut (talk) 22:13, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Easy Cleaner is not removing all bad registry entries that it flags

I am running a 32 bit OEM version of Windows Vista Home Premium on a new Dell desktop. One of the system utilities I use semi-regularly is Easy Cleaner by Toni-Arts: http://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm.

It has always successfully deleted all the bad registry entries it found and has never flagged any entries that should not be removed. Now, however it will not remove all bad registry entries. I've run it twice just now. The first time it left 68 entries. The second time it left 64. Here is a compressed folder containing a jpg screenshot from the second trial and 4 versions of a print-to-file from the first trial (try the web page version first-probably easiest to read and open): http://www.box.net/shared/n1f4vcdycs

What do I need to do to restore Easy Cleaners full functionality?

Thank you for any help.

Chrissekely (talk) 04:57, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

I would not bother with these things. Deleting registry entries does nil to your performance and any effects that you may feel are just placebo effects. Plus, if one of the major features of the programme is "Very nice interface" I will immediately step back and take everything it says with a large teaspoon of salt. --antilivedT | C | G 12:28, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
Wow. Sure glad antilived isnt doing security.
A. Run this: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897448.aspx
Deletes NULL entries. ( Run as Administrator. )
NULL entries will have no effect on performance, UNLESS IT IS HIDING A TROJAN.
B. Get a copy of PageDefrag from Microsoft's website, and run it. ( Only once a month is good ).
C. To restore Easy Cleaners full functionality, delete it, and re-intall it. Note; It does NOT flag all bad registry entries at first, so the first time you run it, run it 4 or 5 times.
Send Mark Russinovich a Thank you note
Send Toni-Arts a note and tell them that If they would like to IMPROVE Easy Cleaner, is to add the funcationality of the other two utilities.

[edit] Opening a File on my Hard Drive in Macromedia Flash 8 via a button.

Basically Im just looking to make a button whereby I can open a file on my HDD, however I want to do it so that when I'm in flash and you view it as an SWF you can open the file by clicking onthis button, I know how to open up a web page using this action script: on(release) { getURL("http://www.flash-here.com", "_blank"); }

But I need to really open up a file, any help would be much obliged.

PS I have tried googling this, but perhaps Im using the wrong search terms. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.0.96.7 (talk) 07:42, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Regards Nmak3000 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.0.96.7 (talk) 07:41, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Update!!!!!

Ok I have the code to open it,

on(release) { loadMovie ("ff.swf", 1);; }

However it opens inside the same flash window that Im using, I need it to open a new window so that basically if you were to click this button, it opens another flash swf file in a new window. Basically thats all I need to do, any help on that again would be great.

Cheers Nmak3000 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nmak3000 (talk • contribs) 08:20, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

If you want to open a local file, try file://. Examples:
C:\WINDOWS -> file://C:/WINDOWS/
/etc -> file://etc/
--grawity talk / PGP 16:06, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] is pendrive is consumable?

is pendrive is consumable? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ravimupi (talk • contribs) 12:51, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

It depends on usage. How do you plan on using the pendrive? For example, we purchase pendrives to give away to clients. They are advertising consumables for our company. Some people buy them for data backups (because they don't understand that they are poor backup devices). For them, they are somewhere between office equipment and office supplies. Equipment is not a consumable, but supplies are. -- kainaw™ 14:36, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
I'm saying yes. People lose them, break them, always want new ones. --90.203.189.60 (talk) 17:54, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
Think you mean 'people steal them, take them home, hide them, hoard them' ??87.102.16.238 (talk) 21:33, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
Don't eat it, if that's what you're asking. Not good for you. --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 20:26, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
Did you mean like office consumable see Consumables, floppy discs used to be considered consumables so I guess a tentative yes..87.102.16.238 (talk) 21:32, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] NTFS drive with Linux

I've just brought a Maxtor external hard drive. I can read the drive but not write to it, which is a shame because a drive I cant write to is next to useless. I'm sure it's because it is NTFS and all I need to do is reformat it as FAT32 but I don't know how to actually do it in Linux. I'm using Ubuntu Dapper Drake. Can anyone help? Theresa Knott | The otter sank 14:11, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

First, you need to know which dev it is (ie: /dev/sda1 or /dev/usb1). You can see it by looking at the mounts once it is mounted. There are many ways to do this. df will not only show you what is mounted. It also shows how much disk space is free. Once you know the dev (assume it is /dev/usb1), run fdisk /dev/usb1 to remove the partition and replace it with a blank one. Then, run mkfs -t vfat /dev/usb1 to format the drive using vfat (which is fat32). -- kainaw™ 14:31, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
Install the gparted package. It is accessible from the menu system/administration/partition editor. It is a point and click interface that will allow you to format your drive. Morana (talk) 14:38, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Thank you both. I went with gparted and it worked. Theresa Knott | The otter sank 15:24, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

qtparted if you're in KDE and you don't want to have to install gnome libraries :D\=< (talk) 16:15, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
Let me just point out here, though it's likely too late, that NTFS-3G allows reading/writing of NTFS formatted partitions. See [1] -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 19:16, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
Too late for me, but handy for anyone else or for me in the future. Theresa Knott | The otter sank 22:01, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
It's too late for me. Save yourself, go! GO! :D\=< (talk) 02:30, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Communication channels

how do we define a memoryless channel and a channel with memory in information theory? 117.198.99.171 (talk) 15:18, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Free/trial screen reader that reads longdesc tags

Hi all,

Does anyone know of a free screen reader, or one that I can use for a trial, which will read out the Long Description (<longdesc>) tags in an image? If should preferably work on a Mac, although I can do Windows, and should preferably work with Firefox.

Thanks a lot!

Sam 15:21, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Fire Vox works on Firefox. Please give it a look. Kushal 14:17, 30 March 2008 (UTC) PS: If it does not have the specific feature you are looking for, please send them a feature request. Kushal 14:19, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Legal mp3 issues

I have a lot of music which I ripped from a CD in mp3 format, however, I am informed that there are legal issues with using the LAME encoder [2]. I am distraught because, as I have stated in a post above here, I wanted to do some mp3 conversion with BladeEnc on my private machine for my mp3s because I don't like the bitrate. Is this legal in the United States for non-commercial purposes? It is impossible to rip any CDs using an ogg format, and it's not like my mp3 player will recognize it anyway. 64.178.97.27 (talk) 19:32, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

just do it, no one has ever been prosecuted for that...or even copying their CDs for friends...what your doing is less illegal than xeroxing a copyrighted book at the library. —Preceding unsigned comment added by NewAtThis (talk • contribs) 21:37, 28 March 2008 (UTC) [this reply was moved from the 'Communications channels' section, where it obviously did not belong] --Heron (talk) 15:31, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

As you are clearly not concerned about the legal implications of ripping CDs in the first place, why are you so concerned about the legality of using BladeEnc? I think you should either ignore the legal problems or delete your illegal mp3s and legally buy the music online at a bit-rate that satisfies you. Astronaut (talk) 20:49, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
It's not necessarily illegal to rip MP3s from CDs for personal use. (The RIAA thinks it might be, but they have a vested interest. It might be fair use in the same way that making cassette tapes from CDs is.) Anyway, honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. Nobody's going to start cracking down on people for using the LAME encoder; they're going to crack down on the people who make or distribute the LAME encoder, if anything. If you want to rip with peace of mind, though, I'm pretty sure you can get Windows Media Player to rip things as MP3 and adjust the bitrate at which it does so. Or you can use any other software that properly licenses the patent, though it'll probably cost you (since patent licenses cost them). --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 21:13, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
Don't use Blade, which is outdated. I'd recommend LAME over Blade any day. --Kjoonlee 22:13, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
IINAL but yes it is definitively legal. :D\=< (talk) 22:17, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Astronaut - I am 95% sure it is legal in the US to make a backup copy of software and music, despite what the RIAA might say. If you can show me otherwise, please do. However, I have heard this from various sources: [3] [4]. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.178.97.27 (talk) 22:55, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

The OP didn't specify if they owned the CD. I'm pretty sure ripping a CD you haven't bought is illegal, and if they do own the CD, why not simply rip it again at a different bit-rate? It just struck me as strange that someone who might have ripped a CD they didn't own (called "stealing" in the RIAA's little world), was actually worried that the FBI would come knocking if he used some software of dubious legality to modify the resulting mp3s. That said, I use CDex to rip my CDs - it uses LAME, supports Ogg Vorbis, I can choose my own bitrate, and it's free. It's never gone wrong and the cops haven't been kicking my door down (yet). Astronaut (talk) 00:43, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
In an ideal world, CDs would never scratch. However, this is not an ideal world and sometimes the only copy that you are left with is the "soft" copy. Kushal 14:52, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
The issue with Lame is an additional issue to copyright. It was a patent issue, It uses the MPEG4 patents, that required a licence fee payment if used in commercial products. You had to make your own descision as to whether the patents and its licencing allowed you to use it or not. I suspect that the patents have all expired now. They were used for video CD format. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 01:20, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Administrator Rights in Windows XP

I just inherited a laptop from my company. They are very security conscious and I only have "user" rights on the laptop. I can't even change the time! Anyway, is there any way to change my access to "administrator" rights so I can actually use the computer? It has Windows XP Professional. Any suggestions? Tex (talk) 19:47, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

If you could do that easily, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of having "user" rights? If you're having a problem with it, I'd bring it to your company and state your case to them... Someletters<Talk> 20:27, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
It is very easy to do. Google for "windows administrator password change knoppix". What you will find is a lot of instructions for using Knoppix to boot into linux, then mount the Windows drive, then change the administrator password, then reboot into Windows. All operating systems which keep the passwords on the disk are prone to this sort of hack. -- kainaw™ 20:30, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
This free tool also lets you easily reset the administrator password for XP. I've used it many times when working with machines that were once locked up but nobody who had done the locking was still around. (As for whether you should do it, it's your judgment call, not mine.) --Captain Ref Desk (talk) 20:35, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
If you have physical access to the machine then security is meaningless. You don't have to load windows and you can do whatever you want offline. Boot into a DBAN livecd, wipe the drive, and reinstall XP. :D\=< (talk) 22:19, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
Remember that most companies have policies against reinstalling the OS and/or obtaining extra account privileges without authorization. Stephenchou0722 (talk) 04:04, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

Depending on what he means when he says "inherited", maybe? If he has it for himself and does not need to return it, why can he not have admin access to it? Kushal 14:16, 30 March 2008 (UTC)