Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2006 December 26

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December 26

Facebook Tricks

Are there any ways to edit/mess with facebook? I was just curious if there was any way to make my page look different, even in a slight way. Also, is there any way to see who visits your page? Or # of visits? Thanks, Ryan

Wikipedia has this artical http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook#Hacks about Hacking Facebook.You should keep in mind that there are legal consequences to modifying protected content.If your intersted in coding your own proper pages why not try myspace or get your own simple web site Nerdd 18:30, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Don't let that article fool you, there are certainly still uh some flaws in facebook's input validation. Ask around places other than WP --froth^{T C} 02:34, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Some Firefox extensions work to make it look different. --Russoc4 21:09, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Nvidia Geforce 7600GS AGP

Okay. I've done some research and have chosen the WinFast A7600 GS TDH (Nvidia Geforce 7600GS) AGP Graphics card. This puppy is going to set me back AU$185, so I wona make sure it will play the games i want. Will this card play games such as Black and White 2, Battlefield 2 and Far Cry? And if it will at what resolution? Thanks for any help! THANK YOU.

I have a 6600GT that runs BF2 on medium fine. 7600GS is much better than a 6600GT, so it should run fine. --Wooty Woot? contribs 06:18, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Not to nitpick but you are setting yourself back by going with an AGP card this late in the game, I would only do it if i had a hardware platform like S939 or 775 that was decent already. If not, spend the money now on a new hardware base that will run PCI-E and step up to a nice expensive video card later on once you have the resources. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.195.232.121 (talk) 15:13, 29 December 2006 (UTC).

HELP ME

Hi, Every time I open my c++ I get a message

16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem
C:\DOCUME~1\RR6B07~1.\LOCALS~1\TEMP\TC.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXE.NT. The system file is not suitable for
running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows  applications.Choose 'close' to terminate this application.

But my operating system is Microsoft Windows XP service pack 2.I don't know what is causing this error.Please help me.R.R.Krishna 07:40, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Get new versions of Turbo C++ from the Turbo Explorer Homepage, if you use Windows. If downloading Turbo C++ Explorer edition would take too much time, you could try downloading FreeDOS to run DOS programs. --Kjoonlee 07:52, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

To expand on the previous response, it sounds like, even though your operating system supports 32 bit operations, you are running an old version of your software, which does not. StuRat 11:50, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Settling for a DVD format

I am about to buy a DVD recorder (with hard drive) for use with my TV so I have been reading about the different recordable DVD formats but it's still not obvious to me what which one I should use. Which one is the most appropriate for my case? DVD-RW, DVD-RW DL (does that exist?), DVD+RW, DVD+RW DL, DVD-RAM? Perhaps the one with the cheapest discs? —Bromskloss 11:02, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

I suggest DVD-R, that is readable by most old DVD players, anything more than that you get is a bonus, make sure you have a RW also, most DVD recorders will suppport almost all of them, so no need to to worry, not sure if you can buy DL disks yet. 213.113.118.162 11:49, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

For practically all DVD+RW recorders, the DVD+VR format is being used. This makes the discs highly exchangable. The DVD+VR format also plays back on almost all DVD Video players, without any modifications needed. This would be a good reason for buying a DVD+RW recorder.

The DVD-RW recorders are a bit less standardised. When using DVD-RW (and DVD-R) discs, these normally use the DVD-VR format. The DVD-VR format itself doesn't play back on many DVD Video players. Therefore, DVD-RW recorders can also record in DVD Video mode. Even though there is a DVD-VM (video mode on -R/-RW) standard, many recorders use 'proprietary' formats for this. Functionally this is no problem -- also not for playback -- but it will prevent you to take a partially recorded disc to any other system and continue recording -- or edit the disc on the PC. Also the proprietary formats can't always be copied (ripped) on the PC properly.

A strong point of the DVD-VR format itself is however that, when used on DVD-RW discs, it has better support for editing than the DVD+VR format has. Aditionally recordings on these media may be fragmented. This means that if you would have a disc with 5 recordings of 30 seconds each, and you delete the first, third and fifth, you get 1 minute 30 seconds of recordable space back. For DVD+VR, you would get three 'slots' of 30 seconds back (if all slots are contiguous you obviously get 1 minute 30 back also with DVD+VR).

As for Double Layer recording, it's starting to hit the market for DVD+RW, but also for DVD-RW (it exists). I personally only have experience with DVD+RW DL though. For a HDD recorder system double layer support is very nice to have anyway. On the HDD one typically records in the highest quality typically, and a single-layer disc simply doesn't have space to hold a copy of a movie in that quality. The only way to copy it to optical disc would be reducing the quality.

For DVD-RAM recorders, these almost without exception record to DVD-RAM in the DVD-VR format. The DVD-RAM discs however won't play back on DVD-Video players. Many modern DVD-RAM recorders also support DVD-RW and DVD-R recording by the way. The most compelling reason to take a DVD-RAM recorder is that one can perform timeshift recording on DVD-RAM without needin a harddisk.

Once you buy a harddisk recorder, you'll probably find yourself using the harddisk more than the optical drive. so, get a recorder with a sufficiently large harddisk. I find I mainly use the optical drive on my harddisk recorders for archiving, and for giving recorded content to other people, so the optical format featuring isn't that important, as long as others can play it back.

Bottom line: DVD+VR seems to be a little esier in interchange. DVD-VR seems to be a little better featured. Given my typical usage pattern, and that what I see from friends, I would definitely buy a DVD+RW recorder with double layer support, and a sufficiently large (160GB or more) harddisk. Pieter-Bas 13:01, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

If you aren't crushed by the previous poster's Death Star of Text, allow my 2¢. For all intents and purposes -R seems to be more compatible with really old DVD players (before 2000). But it really doesn't matter if your target DVD player is no more than a couple years old. Stay away from -RAM and DVD-R VR as they seem to be the most imcompatible formats. --24.249.108.133 19:58, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your responses! No, I wasn't crushed by the death star. :-) Where can I read more about VR and VM? —Bromskloss 10:42, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Check out the DVD FAQ [1] --24.249.108.133 20:57, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Saving Streaming Sound Files as MP3s

I need help saving streaming sound files as mp3 files. For example from realplayer streaming files, youtube sounds, and live radio sounds. The best free program I've found so far is Audacity but the problem with audacity is that when youtube or realplayer freeze up there are gaps in the song. The was one demo of a product that did a very good job of recoring streaming files it ignored all external sounds and even gave titles and artists to the mp3s. Anyway I'm intrested in any free software that can convert streaming sounds into mp3s. --Gary123 19:39, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

You could use the VideoLAN software to save the stream to file. If you're trying to save a link to an MP3 in your browser, just right-click the link and do a Save As. Splintercellguy 22:46, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

If you are a Mac user, try the fantastic Audio Hijack from Rogue Amoeba. It can capture the audio from any application. I think a Windows version is in the works! --24.249.108.133 19:54, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

I recommend Audacity as well. In response to "freezing up", the only situation like that I know of in youtube is when the video playback gets ahead of the cache (or what's been downloaded).. to avoid that let the entire song download and then play (so it has the entire bar) before recording it so there's no chance of it "getting ahead of itself". As far as realplayer that probably regards buffering.. which is pretty hard to avoid in a live stream unless you account for it in your capture program, perhaps someone else has some knowledge about that. That CS Guy 22:49, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Keyboard Q

Ctrl C seems obvious as the copy key. But why Ctrl V to paste, instead of Ctrl P?--Light current 21:34, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

I would think that it's easier to press Ctrl-V after Ctrl-C. Splintercellguy 22:47, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Also consider the fact that Ctrl-X is cut, "x" probably referring to delete. Then you have all 3 tools in a nice little line. x42bn6 Talk 23:42, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

CTRL+V for pasting comes from V for View. Because if you copy or cut something and sometimes later when it is still in the memory, you press CTRL+V to view it again. Aetherfukz 01:08, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes Ive just tried that! It works THanks--Light current 01:17, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Also, Ctrl P is already used to print a page. schyler 14:24, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

Shift-insert is also paste according to the windows api --froth^{T C} 02:35, 28 December 2006 (UTC)