Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 April 29

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April 29

Flash Drive 1

What is the largest flash drive? 68.193.147.179 00:42, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/26/a-data-exposes-128gb-ssd-to-the-camera/ -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 00:54, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Flash Drive 2

How do I use a flash drive to run my computer? 68.193.147.179 00:43, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

If you mean SSD, same as a hard drive. If you mean USB Drive, see Live USB - Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 00:54, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Fonts

Where can I download some free fonts for Windows XP? --Russoc4 05:29, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

try (http://www.1001freefonts.com/), or trying this google search (http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=free+fonts&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8) for a whole host of sites. ny156uk 09:05, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

A friend who does a lot of work in photoshop recommended www.dafont.com for me when I was looking for a font to make a logo for a family business out of. Really amazing site, well worth a look -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 13:21, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Two sources with ancient roots (in Web years):

• Font Fairy
• Luc Devroye

Some free fonts are great, others can have serious problems. Also, some "free" fonts are stolen, shareware, or licensed only for personal use. --KSmrq^T 19:51, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Cell phones that read .PDFs and .DOCs

I've heard that some cell phones can do that. Anyone knows a particular model with that abilities? Thanks. --Taraborn 08:39, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Any phones built on the Series60 platform or the UIQ platform are able to do this. UIQ3 I belive comes with builtin support for DOC and PDF where as Series60 is widely supported by QuickOffice and Acrobat free copies of which come preinstalled on pretty much all new phones. The free version of QuickOffice is restricted to reading only but the registered version allows editing also. Have a look at Nokia ([1]) and Sony Ericsson ([2]) as the chief providers of Series60 and UIQ devices respectivley or check out AllAboutSymbian ([www.allaboutsymbian.com]) for more information on the capabilities of either OS. Elaverick 13:00, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Try having a look at Windows Mobile and HTC :) --saxsux 18:27, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Or move to Japan where cell phones are at least three generations ahead of what's available in the States today. Or wait for an iPhone. :) --24.249.108.133 03:51, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

GB DS3P Raid setup problem.

I know this isn't an encyclopedic question but I hope someone might be able to help anyway. I have a Gigabyte DS3P, enabled SATA as RAID in bios and setting a volume up under the [ctrl-i] menu seems to go fine.

Starting xp pro setup I hit F6 and select the ICH8R drivers to which windows replies that windows has the drivers already, the drivers on the floppy are newer but unless you have a specific need for them to use the windows ones anyway. Ok fine.

If I chose the ones on the disk it gets to "starting windows" and then Blue Screens, if I choose the windows drivers it says "the file gl1240.sys is corrupt, setup failed".

googling gl1240.sys comes up with nothing.

Does anyone have any ideas? I've got the most recent bios too. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Vespine (talk • contribs) 08:58, 29 April 2007 (UTC).

Error message in Microsoft Access 2003

I hope somebody can help me with this. When I try to create forms, reports, and tables in a database using Microsoft Access 2003, get an error mssage saying Error loading DLL. This is all I get and I have no idea what to do. If anybody here can help me I would greatly appreciate it. --Willy No1lakersfan (Talk - Contribs) 17:35, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

If you have the installation disk or files, open Access, go to 'Help', repair and ... oh can't remember exactly what it's called. Oh, I think it's Diagnose and Repair. Then when you're asked, insert the installation disk or browse to the installation files directory, and that should fix the problem. .dlls are dynamic link libraries, they're program files necessary for the operation of programs. If that doesn't help or if you don't have the installation files, write down the name of the .dll and you should be able to download it from one of the many sites that make .dlls available for people such as yourself. Anchoress 17:48, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

I have tried repairing and re-installing Microsoft Office to no avail. The error message does not give a filename, so I am in the dark as to how to fix this problem. --Willy No1lakersfan (Talk - Contribs) 19:16, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Transparent background

I need to make the blank backgrounds of some pictures in PowerPoint transparent, and all I have at my disposal is Paint and Microsoft Office Picture Manager. How should I go about doing this?--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 17:55, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

I had the same problem (Paint certainly cannot do this) and I am no graphics expert. I am assuming you can download freeware. If so, you can try painter25, which I use primarily to make transparent background images. Sandman30s 18:09, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Great, thanks! Could you give me a quick run-through on how to make the background transparent with Painter? I'm on a bit of a tight schedule.--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 18:48, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Open your file, and go to Options|Gif Image and tick transparent. Then save your file as a GIF. Easy! Sandman30s 19:12, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Yikes...I did that, and ended up with a low-quality image...and when I put it into PowerPoint, it still wasn't transparent!--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 19:41, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Can you upload the file? I will try and help. Like I said, I am no graphics expert. Painter always works for my simple web images or icons though. Sandman30s 19:58, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Uh...I dunno how...:-|--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 20:04, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Oh, wait, silly me! It's this picture of a motherboard!--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 20:06, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

I've uploaded a version with a transparent background here (1.3MB). It's under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 license, original photo by de:Darkone. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 21:02, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. I've just tried the image and it makes the background transparent but does reduce the quality to 256 colours I think. Maybe someone else can advise on techniques to make transparent photographic images. Would depend a lot on the background having all the same colour pixels I guess. Sandman30s 21:17, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, I guess...I've got a bunch of other photos like that, though! =:-o--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 21:37, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

You can save transparent backgrounds in a format called PNG. PNG supports true-colour pictures without the need to reduce to a palette or 256 colours. IE6 and below don't support true-colour PNG transparency, however. bCube(talk,contribs); 22:19, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

I've done it for you, and it's uploaded here. I did it in Photoshop, and the only way you can get it transparent is a 256 color GIF. JoshHolloway 22:16, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

And I just realised SandMan did it. *shrug* JoshHolloway 22:17, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

So, what? The editing of an image to make its background transparent relies wholly on the willingness to convert to 256-bit GIF? Sheesh...this is a whole lot easier in Publisher, but I'm using PowerPoint...--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 22:44, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

No - as bCube said above, the PNG format supports alpha transparency on true-colour images. I uploaded a PNG version of the image with a transparent background above. — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 23:11, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Oh, alright then! So, is there any tool I can use to do this? That won't cost me something? I really appreciate all the help.--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 00:05, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

I expect it's possible in Paint.NET — Matt Eason ^{(Talk • Contribs)} 00:14, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Also try the GIMP, very powerful tool -- Phoeba Wright^OBJECTION! 09:16, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Internet economics

anyone knows about internet economics?

Try looking at the article on Electronic commerce. —Mitaphane _?|! 22:51, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

You could look at second life and world of warcraft these very popular online communities have thriving economies. Infact Second Life has caught the attention of The Economist which is one of the most respected international economics publications. Here's an article they wrote (http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6794220) the best article is subscriber-only (and I only have it in paper-format so can't link to it!). ny156uk 17:12, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

P-RAM in Apple Computers?

I read the article, but what does it actually do, and what can happen if I reset it. An Apple worker reset it once to fix a problem I had with the screen, and I'm curios.--Ryan 21:34, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

It's the rough Macintosh equivalent of Nonvolatile BIOS memory; I'm surprised we only have a "redirect" and not an article for Parameter RAM. With regard to resetting it, in the old days, I think you used to hold down (command)(option)(P)(R) at power-on time and that may still work, but I think you can now twiddle most of the Open Firmware settings via either the "System preferences..." control panels or the nvram command-line application.

Atlant 23:01, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

A page on Apple's website, here, describes how PRAM can be reset and what is stored in PRAM. For OS X this includes Display settings (such as screen resolution), Startup volume choice, and DVD region setting among other things. Mike1024 (t/c) 23:11, 29 April 2007 (UTC)