Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 January 20

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January 20

smallest ext2 partition

I have to test my ramdisk driver on Linux. The ramdisk has to be formatted to ext2. However, I cannot find the SMALLEST size of an ext2 partition, so I cannot set the lower limit of my ramdisk's size.

Does anyone know the the smallest possible size of an ext2 partition? Many thanks. --Computor 00:21, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

61440 bytes (60 KiB). Don't take my word for it, though. –EdC 10:12, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

I've done a few tests (dd if=/dev/zero of=virtual_drive.img bs=1024 count=n && mke2fs -F virtual_drive.img), and I get a "Not enough space to build proposed filesystem while setting up superblock" error for $n<60$, while it does work for $n=60$. Further testing reveals that it works for 61440 bytes, but fails for 61439 bytes. This is without any additional options provided to mke2fs, so it may be possible to get that number lower by using other options. I can't imagine what use a sub-60k ramdisk would be, but that doesn't mean you don't have your reasons for wanting one. grendel|khan 23:06, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Adding an SWF into a FLA

I am making a Flash game using Flash 8 and I have the code and everything of my game in a .FLA file. I have the music and sound of my game in a seperate .SWF file. Is there anyway that I can combine the .SWF into the .FLA, and publish them as a single .SWF file, making it easier to upload and host onto website? Thanks. Jamesino 02:57, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Export your FLA to an SWF using Flash. You can also import the resources movie into your FLA before exporting it to SWF. Droud 13:38, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Podcasts going into my music library in iTunes

I just recently subscribed to a couple of podcasts, and things were going swimmingly. Then, a few days ago, for no discernible reason, all the songs in my iTunes library disappeared. That wasn't a problem as I had all the songs backed up elsewhere on my hard drive. Anyway, afterwards, my podcasts were still listed in the podcast section of iTunes, but whenever I sync up my iPod, the podcast ends up with all the songs in my library in my iPod. I've tried unsubscribing and resubscribing, but, nothing doing. Any suggestions? --Jeffrey O. Gustafson - Shazaam! - <*> 11:44, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Are you saying that all of your podcasts are ending up in the main library, in addition to the special podcast section of iTunes? Try this: select "podcast" from the genre picks, and remove all of the podcasts from the library (not from the hard-drive though!). Do they all comeback next time you sync? Oskar 17:03, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

No, the podcast ends up only in the library. There is absolutely nothing in the podcast section of my iPod. --Jeffrey O. Gustafson - Shazaam! - <*> 18:50, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

WIN Xp RegisterEdit

pl guide me how to disable registerEdit of window Xp???? thankyou!! 219.64.188.92 17:36, 20 January 2007 (UTC)chandan

A Quick google search [1] gave this result [2]. Cheers, Davidprior 18:45, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Had a bit more of a look - the link above probably isn't what you're after...however searching for "policy prevent access to registry" gave something more useful [3]. One thing I'm unsure of though is whether the group policy editor is available in all versions of XP, or only Pro (I can't test as I trashed my XP MCE install and due to HP not giving me master discs for it, I'm now running the evaluation version of Vista instead). Cheers, Davidprior 19:47, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

If I remember correctly, it is only available in Professional and Corporate (volume) editions. Neither Home nor Media Center editions have it, along with a few equally usable features like joining domains. thadius856_{talk|airports|neutrality} 09:31, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Custom Packet

I need to create a custom packet to test out my home network. How can I do this? My computers are running Mac OSX and Ubuntu Linux (6.10). Thanks in advance!--Ryan 20:15, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Sounds like you could use packETH [[4]]. 75.138.84.159 22:02, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, but are there any that run under Mac OSX? Linux is my "last resort" OS, I use it when all else fails. And it would be nice if I didn't have to compile it, although I know how. Thanks! --Ryan 00:45, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Most anything that will run under Linux will run under BSD, as OSX was derived from BSD. You shouldn't have any trouble running packeth. Droud 13:41, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Well it won't build for me...--Ryan 15:56, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

And why not... --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 01:24, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

I'll show you: (built on Mac OSX 10.4.8)

ryan:~/desktop/packETH-1.3 (myusername)$ make gcc -g -O2 -Wall -Wunused -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-declarations -I/usr/include/gtk-1.2 -I/usr/include/glib-1.2 -I/usr/lib/glib/include -c main.c main.c:30:21: error: gtk/gtk.h: No such file or directory In file included from main.c:32: interface.h:5: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:5: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_window1' interface.h:5: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:6: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:6: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_fileselection1' interface.h:6: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:7: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:7: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_fileselection2' interface.h:7: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:8: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:8: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_sel1_dialog' interface.h:8: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:9: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:9: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_interface_dialog' interface.h:9: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:10: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:10: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_error_dialog' interface.h:10: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:11: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:11: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_udp_payload_dialog' interface.h:11: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:12: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:12: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_fileselection3' interface.h:12: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:13: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:13: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_about_dialog' interface.h:13: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:14: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:14: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_tos_dialod' interface.h:14: warning: data definition has no type or storage class interface.h:15: error: parse error before '*' token interface.h:15: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_fragmentation_dialog' interface.h:15: warning: data definition has no type or storage class In file included from main.c:33: support.h:21: error: parse error before '*' token support.h:21: error: parse error before '*' token support.h:22: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'lookup_widget' support.h:22: warning: data definition has no type or storage class support.h:28: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'gchar' support.h:28: error: parse error before '*' token support.h:36: error: parse error before '*' token support.h:36: error: parse error before '*' token support.h:37: warning: type defaults to 'int' in declaration of 'create_pixmap' support.h:37: warning: data definition has no type or storage class main.c: In function 'main': main.c:38: error: 'GtkWidget' undeclared (first use in this function) main.c:38: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once main.c:38: error: for each function it appears in.) main.c:38: error: 'window1' undeclared (first use in this function) main.c:41: warning: implicit declaration of function 'g_thread_init' main.c:41: error: 'NULL' undeclared (first use in this function) main.c:43: warning: implicit declaration of function 'gtk_set_locale' main.c:44: warning: implicit declaration of function 'gtk_init' main.c:55: warning: implicit declaration of function 'gtk_widget_show' main.c:57: warning: implicit declaration of function 'gdk_threads_enter' main.c:58: warning: implicit declaration of function 'gtk_main' main.c:59: warning: implicit declaration of function 'gdk_threads_leave' make: *** [main.o] Error 1 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Rgrasell (talk • contribs) 17:35, 22 January 2007 (UTC).

Install the GTK headers. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 22:37, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Hard Disc Discrepancies

Hey Wikipedia-ites.

I've been doing computer upgrades and such, and I'm finally getting things back in order. My 250 GB (Or, 250 billion byte) hard drive, is read by Windows as 232 Gigabytes, because of the inconsistencies between Byte = 1024 and Byte = 1000. However, when I rightclick on the properties of my hard drive, it reads 36.5 Gigabytes, (39 billion bytes) used. When I go into the stuff saved on the C-Drive, apply "View all system files", and Ctrl-A and check the properties of the C drive, it SHOULD technically be 36.5 Gigabytes, am I right? However, the C-Drive components read to windows as 31.7 Gigabytes in size (Or, 34 billion bytes). Where in the heck are my other 5 billion bytes going? Formatting issues or some sort of rootkit, I just don't know. Any help? User:Logical2u_Talk 23:07, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

When you pressed CTRL+A, did you also select the hidden files? If not, you can view the hidden files by going into Control Panel>Folder Options and checking it off. Jamesino 23:25, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

I believe I did so: I had the page file "file" selected, so I'm pretty sure. Also, with the hidden files Ctrl-A'd, the size went up 4 gigabytes to the data I gave above. User:Logical2u_Talk 23:34, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Also there's an option (at least in WinXP) to "Hide protected operating system files", did you uncheck that? —Mitaphane _talk 23:58, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, that hides the Page File (Which I saw and added to the original total I posted). User:Logical2u_Talk 00:14, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Are you reading "Size" or "Size on disk"? FS overhead can take a lot of space if you have a large number of files --froth^T 23:51, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Size and Size on Disk for my C drive are within 100 megabytes of each other. User:Logical2u_Talk 00:14, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

You don't have a recovery partition, do you?

Unless it's completely invisible or not a partition. My C-Drive appears to be completely unpartitioned (250 billion/giga bytes =232 Gigabytes in Windows byte notation). The data thats being used has to be somewhere on the C-Drive itself, but completely invisible. If the partition can be inside the disc itself without actually being a partition, maybe. User:Logical2u_Talk 11:00, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Upon reading the Recovery Partition article, that may be the case, but 1. My system is custom made (ish, had XP installed along with the parts by a company), and 2. there are no bytes missing for the C-Drive, they are within the C-Drive, if that's possible for the recovery partition to do. User:Logical2u_Talk 11:05, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Are you counting the filesystem structures like the MFT and the journal? Are you counting the ADS (which AFAIK are not counted by explorer)? --cesarb 01:37, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Ok, now it's past the point I understand. I don't know. Properties of C-Drive, then "View all System Files", go inside C-drive, Ctrl-A, properties, and comparing the size of the files in it and the space taken up on the C-Drive. Do these ADS, MFT, and Journal things commonly take up a lot of space? User:Logical2u_Talk 20:26, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

I don't know how much space they usually take up (and I do not have a Windows system nearby to take a look). I know that structures like the MFT and the journal aren't counted when you look at the size of all files, but they take space; I don't know whether the way you did count the ADS sizes (but I think it doesn't). You could try running some utilities from Sysinternals to check; try NTFSInfo to check for the filesystem structures, and Streams to check the ADS sizes (be careful with the second one; it has an option to erase alternate streams). --cesarb 20:24, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Likely solved.

Turns out System Restore files are saved in a folder that forbids you from viewing the size for it. (_{Restore points are saved in under x:\system volume information\_restore{558C94FD-3C7F-4954-A02D-26679E6D849E}. Each restore point's files are saved in a folder named RPXX where XX is a two digit number corresponding to the restore point.}) Systme Volume Information is completely hidden from XP Home users sight, even the size is hidden (Right click its properties and Size = 0 bytes)! I have a system restore point practically every three days, so the 5 gigabytes is likely lurking in that folder I am not able to access. User:Logical2u_Talk 22:25, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Try Disk Usage from Sysinternals then; it might show you the true size of that directory (or might not, but it's worth a try). --cesarb 01:29, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

No need for all that jazz. System Volume Information by default does not have permissions set for regular users. All you need to do to get full access to that directory is disable simple file sharing (in Folder Options), go to the Security tab, and add permissions for your user name to that directory. Then set it so all its sub-directories and files inherit those permissions. It takes like 30 seconds if you know where to look for it. ~ lav-chan @ 05:27, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

bearing in mind XP Home users do not get the opportunity to disable simple file sharing by that menu, though i suspect logging in as administrator in safe mode may do it.