Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 November 23

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November 23

Sony Ericsson K800i owners

Hi all!I wish to buy sony ericsson k800i and want to know a few questions from k800i owners (who has this phone) (1)I often save article from wikipedia into my hard disk and then transfer to my Nokia 6680.I have Netfront web browser install on my phone so problem in reading then.So MY QUESTION IS THAT whether on k800i, can I watch that sort of article or websites (Fire Fox --webpage-complete option during saving). (2)what is the current price of k800i in Saudi Arabia ...........thanks to all —Preceding unsigned comment added by Star33 2009 (talk • contribs) 07:42, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

It appears that the k800 uses the same browser as the Nokia. Maybe swapping the browser with something like Opera Mini (which is free by the way) would help? In regards to prices I'm sure google could help, but my colleges proxy is blocking that particular search TheGreatZorko (talk) 12:06, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

I own a K800i and can't find a way to read pages from a memory card on the browser.

As for prices in Saudi Arabia, haven't a clue. Stifle (talk) 15:18, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Presuming you can run software from a memory card could you find out if Opera Mini can do this? I myself would be interested because my phones data rates are horrific (£1 ($2) per meg, bought in £4 ($8) chunks), but I cannot run programs from a memory stick.TheGreatZorko (talk) 15:38, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

name a website or database

name a website or database where i can find all the names of softwares from leading publishers all over the world along with information like publisher name,no.of versions released,platforms on which they work , etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.36.255.122 (talk) 07:56, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

That would be quite a huge list. Wikipedia has a whole bunch of lists for different types of software. Maybe THIS will help? TheGreatZorko (talk) 09:13, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Software for editing big text files?

I'm editing a giant text file, where doing certain repetitive things by hand would take hours. I need an app (Windows) that can remove the first X characters of each line, and organise lines by the date that starts each line (formatted "12 Feb 92", "17 Apr 07" etc). Is there anything like that around? Froglars the frog (talk) 09:54, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

You can process text files automatically into MS Access and use coding to cut up/play about with the text. I have previously used Excel to this effect but for files over 65,000 or so lines it becomes more awkward. Your best bet is to use a system where you can write a macro to strip out the information you require or chop the data into the way you want. For instance you could use find to locate the text-string, left/mid/right to get the information you require from that line or to chop it up. I suspect this way may be difficult unless you are good at vba, someone might have another idea though. Find/replace in word allows rather basic edits. ny156uk (talk) 10:12, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

There's nothing really "automatic" about processing text files in Access; it relies completely on knowing VBA. If you know VBA, you could just as easily do it in other MS Office applications. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 16:43, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

I use UltraEdit. I've edited 14M files and it has macros and sorting. --— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 11:38, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Why not do it in two steps? 1. run a script that will cut the first X characters of each line, and 2. run another one that will sort it by date. You could do this quite easily in PHP if you have that installed, other languages too. --24.147.86.187 (talk) 16:43, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Using the Unix mentality, you could stick together some small tools in a pipeline. A pipeline doesn't care about the lenght of the content going throug, in general. Unix tools ARE available for Windows -- I recommend Cygwin. Or get some native tools from here. Anyway, the first step could be done with a command called "CUT". To remove the first eight characters:

  cut -c 9- <infile.txt >outfile.txt

That's from memory, so I might be wrong, but that should say "give me the characters from position 9 to the end of the line". Use of the unix SORT command may get you through the second part of your request, but in general dealing with date strings is not trivial. --Mdwyer (talk) 17:32, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

The OP specified a "Windows app", so I fear that using a Unix-like sort command will be out of the question. But if somehow it's an option: while it's true that dealing with date strings can be difficult, sort's -M option will be of interest. Once the first X characters have been stripped away, the lines could be sorted using

sort +2n +1M +0n

which should take care of everything except the Y2K wraparound problem. To fix that, I'd probably roll a little windowing algorithm in awk, along the lines of

awk '{if($3 < 10) $3 += 2000; else $3 += 1900; print}'

—Steve Summit (talk) 04:01, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

"OP specified a Windows app". Yes, I saw that, which is why I gave pointers to both Cygwin and native versions of the unix text tools. I know unix fans have a disturbing habit of telling windows users that their system sucks. I really try not to be that guy. But when someone asks me how to drive nails, I'm gonna suggest a hammer. When you ask me how to do automated editing of VERY large text files, I'm going to tell you to look into the unix textutils and using pipelines. I'm going to help you with some recommended command lines, and I'm going to help you find the right programs. If there's any time left, THEN I'll tell you that windows sucks. --Mdwyer (talk) 06:37, 24 November 2007 (UTC) (Who edits Wikipedia from a windows machine)

(Hey! Peace! No problem. I'm with you. [Well, except for the editing Wikipedia from a Windows machine part. :-) ] —Steve Summit (talk) 17:02, 24 November 2007 (UTC))

This isn't a matter of "Linux is better than Windows" (although it is) - this is a matter of "Commannd-line tools are better than pointsy-clicksy-GUI-crap" (which they are for this kind of problem). The problem with GUI-based tools (yes, even the ones that run under Linux) is that one tool has to be able to do the entire job by itself. If the author of that tool didn't think you need a 'cut-off-22-characters-then-sort-by-date' function then you're screwed. The Command-line approach (done the Unix way with pipes and such) lets you take a bunch of little tools and assemble them like Lego bricks to complete a more complex task. Just as you can build almost anything using 20 different kinds of Lego brick, you can build almost any processing pipeline out of the couple of hundred Unix tools in common use.

Also, if there is some problem your GUI tool can't handle, it's tough to fix it - even if you can program and the tool has some kind of plugin/scripting interface - which most don't. With command line tools, you can often create a little PERL or Python tool - maybe just a dozen lines of code - and use it as just one more Lego brick in your total solution. (Although if you aren't a programmer, neither approach works). Command-line tools can often (but not always) stream data through stages of this pipeline of little tools such that the entire file that you're working on (along with various 'undo' buffers and such) doesn't have to reside in memory all at once. For processing vast files, this is the only way to go.

So the command-line approach is ideal for this kind of problem...although it sucks for reading Wikipedia so you still need GUI tools. The other thing you need for the command line approach to work is a LOT of well-thought-out lightweight tools. (Things like 'cut' and 'sort' and 'awk'). This is where the Windows/DOS versus Linux thing kicks in. DOS's collection of command line tools is pathetic and their 'shell' (the thing you type your commands into) is horrible, it hasn't evolved since the days when it was a CP/M clone - which explains why command-line approaches have fallen from favor since the rise of Microsoft. Hence, if you are a Windows user and want to have a FULL set of tools at your fingertips, you need to install something better. Fortunately, the OpenSource community at GNU have provided the same shell and 99% of the lightweight command line tools that run under Linux in a form that work reasonably well under Windows. So - rather than bitching about Windows-verus-Linux, we need to be talking about GUI-versus-command-line (which is much less of a debate because you absolutely need both in order to work efficiently). Hence we need to tell Windows users to grab Cygwin and learn to use the power of the command line in the way Linux users have since before there was Linux.

SteveBaker (talk) 08:17, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure who's shouting at who here! (I presume we're all actually in heated agreement.)

When I wrote "I fear that using a Unix-like sort command will be out of the question", I was not expressing any doubts about the virtues of command-line solutions, or in any way scolding Mdwyer for suggesting one! The only reason I put those words there was to apologize to the original poster, who had asked for a "Windows app". Some people get bent out of shape when they ask you for one kind of answer and you, seemingly ignoring their request, give them a different one. In case the original poster was that kind of person, I felt bad about piling on to Mdwyer's not-quite-as-requested answer with additional not-quite-as-requested elaboration. That's all. —Steve Summit (talk) 17:48, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

No animosity, here. Sorry if it sounded that way. In any case, I wonder if the original poster found a solution to their problem? --Mdwyer (talk) 04:41, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Hey, Steve-o, what was that up there about "needing GUI tools for Wikipedia"? Come up to my place sometime, and let me show you the shell scripts I edit Wikipedia with. —Steve Summit (talk) 02:21, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Just because you can (and I quite believe it's possible) doesn't mean that you should. My point is that both styles of working have their benefits - while you might (maybe) solve the OP's problem with just the right GUI tool, the command-line is by far the best place to do that kind of thing. And while I'm sure you could cobble together a set of gadgets to let you edit Wiki's using command line tools, it's not the easiest way (and if you don't like that example - we can come up with plenty of others where the GUI is definitely the way to go). The CRUCIAL part of my message is that the Windows users who only use the GUI (and the handful of Unix/Linux users who only use the command-line) are each working with one hand tied behind their backs. So - I encourage Windows users to grab a copy of Cygwin and untie that other hand. Most Linux users are already out of the dark ages and freely intermix the two styles. SteveBaker (talk) 14:47, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

MS Excel: Lookup tables and conditional formulas

I have an Excel 2007 spreadsheet with details of all railway tickets in my collection. I record various details from each ticket, including the location at which it was issued: to do this, instead of typing the location name, I use a lookup table (VLOOKUP) with each issuing location's National Location Code (four-digit code unique to that location) and the location name alongside it. So, for example, I will enter "5268" in Column S, and "Brighton" will appear in Column R. All quite straightforward so far.

The problem is that some codes no longer uniquely identify one location - either because a station name has changed, or because a code from a defunct location has been reused at a different place. In every one of the 20-30 cases, I know the date on which the change took place. Is there any way in Excel of including a conditional formula within, or in conjunction with, the VLOOKUP formula in order to pick up the date of issue from the "Date" column, and, depending on this, return either the "old" or the "new" name as the result of the lookup?

For example, 6941 changed from "Lower Edmonton" to "Edmonton Green" on 28 September 1992. Rather than overtyping the result of the lookup formula in Column R with the correct version of the name, as I do now, I would like to create a formula such that "When Column S = 6941, if Column L < 28/09/1992 then return 'Lower Edmonton', otherwise return 'Edmonton Green'." Is this possible?

Thanks for any thoughts anybody can offer. Hassocks5489 (talk) 13:58, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Yes, that should be doable using nested IF functions. For example: =IF(VLOOKUP_COLUMN_S=6941,IF(VLOOKUP_COLUMN_L<29/09/1992,"Lower Edmonton","Edmonton Green"),"Edmonton Green") should work, where you substitute your VLOOKUPs as indicated. This one will return "Lower Edmonton" only if the two VLOOKUP conditionals evaluate to "TRUE" otherwise it will return "Edmonton Green" if one of them or both evaluate to "FALSE". --24.147.86.187 (talk) 22:49, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, that was helpful. Hassocks5489 (talk) 19:03, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Faulty graphics card card!!!!! (So I'm told) technophobe pensioner

I foolishly allowed someone to try and download photos onto my toshiba laptop/ (l year old) they used their simm! Card. And lost all their photos. They left!!! I turned on computer a waterfall of colours ran down the screen and has been like it ever since - only cleared by clicking the mouse on the screen in the top right - left hand corner it carries on down the screen when iscroll down again and i have to re click mouse to enable me to read anthing —Preceding unsigned comment added by 151.28.28.133 (talk) 19:49, 23 November 2007 (UTC) (change from upper-case shouting by 24.147.86.187 (talk))

You cannot imagine how sick it makes me to obey WP:BITE right now --ffroth 21:23, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

(Which in itself is a BITE - so you blew that one.) SteveBaker (talk) 20:37, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Maybe you missed the part where they pointed out that they weren't computer savvy and were a pensioner. Would that someday you won't be able to use the most modern technology when you are retired.--24.147.86.187 (talk) 22:52, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

It's clear they have trapped your computer in the Matrix. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 23:54, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

How could I help but guffaw seeing the words TECHNOPHOBE PENSIONER!!!! shouted at me from the subject line? --ffroth 00:11, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Aww someone lowercased it.. it was in all caps --ffroth 00:10, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

To answer the unasked question -- "how do you fix it?" Video cards are considered Field Replaceable Units, so you'd probably better off replacing the video card. However, any kind of damage caused by someone plugging in a peripheral could also have damaged other parts of the computer. I suggest you consult a computer technician who can run some basic tests. -- JSBillings 14:43, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

This is a laptop - not a deskside PC. That generally means that there is no way to replace a faulty graphics subsystem yourself. If it's only a year old - is it still under warranty? If so - send it off to be fixed by Toshiba (don't mention the SIMM card!). Repairing laptops is not a task for amateurs so if it's not under warranty you're going to need to pay someone to fix it (which will probably be Toshiba), most companies will give you a free repair cost estimate - which will give you a better way to decide what to do. I'm sceptical that plugging in a SIMM card (even a faulty one) would cause this kind of problem - the fault was probably just a coincidence - but if you were determined to at least attempt a do-it-yourself style fix, I guess I'd take a magnifying glass and a flashlight and see if I could see any bent pins down inside in the SIMM slot that might be shorting together. If so, GENTLY bending them apart might maybe fix it. However, that's a million-to-one long-shot. You might also visit the Toshiba web site and see if there are any notices about this kind of problem. They may also have free diagnostic software that you can download that might help pinpoint the problem. SteveBaker (talk) 20:37, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

It says "l year old" not "1 year old" --ffroth 23:39, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

...and this confuses you somehow? SteveBaker (talk) 07:47, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Roman numerals 1! Some old typewriters will use the O for a 0 and the l for a 1. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 20:37, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Are you sure it was some additional computer memory (SIMM) - because that would require the back to be opened to access the laptop's memory slots? Perhaps you mean a SIM card from a mobile phone. If that kind of card was inserted into one of the many slots on a laptop, it could short out something quite easily, damaging both the laptop and the SIM card. Astronaut (talk) 02:55, 26 November 2007 (UTC)