Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 July 3

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July 3

Flash CS3 actionscript: button to next scene

I am a total newbie at Flash, and am using it as part of my high school course. I'm trying to make a button to go to the next scene, but have no idea how to code it or anything. I did a Google search and it says something about adding labels to frames, which I have no idea how to do and the help files don't help. I'm using Adobe Flash CS3 Professional with ActionScript 2.0Avnas Ishtaroth (talk) 02:03, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

First you need to set up your button with an Event Listener on it to check for the mouse clicking.

Then you set up the function that fires when the mouse is clicked on said button. (If you don't know how to do this, please ask.)

In that function, you then have something that goes to the right scene. For example, if the scene you want to go to is named "Scene 3", you can use: this.gotoAndPlay(1,"Scene 3") , which means the timeline (the "this" here) will go to "Scene 3", frame 1, and start playing it. Or, if you just want to go to the next scene, you can use this.nextScene().

Note that in this instance the reason "this" works with those function is that you are treating the entire Flash movie as a Movieclip. So those functions are Movieclip functions.

Make sense? Any questions? --98.217.8.46 (talk) 14:00, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

iPhone roaming

Hello, I am contemplating an iPhone 3G for a relative. They use AT&T right now, their contract is expiring in July, and renewing the contract should not be a problem. However, they are going abroad for a few months in around September. Would they be able to use the iPhone on a GSM network abroad for a few months without doing anything like jailbreak? They are not very technically minded and I can forbid them from updating the software while abroad if need be. Please let me know so I know if it is worth to stand in the line [which I anticipate will be around 20 hours long]. Kushal (talk) 02:57, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

According to Apple, "if you’re in an area without a 3G network, iPhone connects you via GSM for calls and EDGE for data." --Canley (talk) 03:22, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Burning CDs into USB Flash Drive

Hello. I want to burn three music CDs (in a package) just for educational purposes. The CDs are not copy protected. I burned them before USB flash drives became popular. How may I burn the discs into a flash drive? I want to enjoy the convenience of having the CDs in one storage device.

• Nero 6 can only burn CD-to-CD. I do not have its specific installation disc; it came with my PC disc. I tried installing a free 15-day trial of Nero 8. The installation wizard asked me to uninstall Nero 6. If I removed it, then I would have to reinstall my operating system to get Nero back, which is time-consuming.
• I tried not using quick copy to burn the CDs. Perhaps, the CD-ROM would copy the CDs into my hard drive. I unsuccessfully tried looking for those files.
• I tried creating a playlist on Windows Media Player and syncronizing my flash drive. I could not drag the tracks into my flash drive.
• I could not copy the tracks from the CD-ROM. Only shortcuts appear in my flash drive. I cannot open the shortcuts without the CDs.

Thanks in advance. --Mayfare (talk) 03:16, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

I think the easiest way you'd find would be to use Windows Media to rip the tracks to audio files, and simply copy the audio files over. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 06:12, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

You need to convert ("rip") the CD audio files off of the CD into other file formats like MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, whatever. Then you can copy those files to the flash drive. You can't "burn" to a flash drive—it wouldn't work at all, audio CDs and flash drives store data in totally different ways. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 21:41, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

How do I dismantle a computer?

I've heard that inside of computers there are various valuable metals. And I've heard that it's possible to remove and sell them. Does anyone have any books/websites that I could learn more about this? Thanks 4.158.201.215 (talk) 03:20, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

The amount of "valuable" metals inside a computer is worth less than the time it takes to dismantle it. It is only economically sustainable if it is recycled in bulk, like say a few tonnes. I believe a computer is worth more when its not in pieces. No matter how old it is, there will always be someone (eg. collector, fan) who is willing to pay for it, even if it is broken. Really old computers, especially rare ones, in any condition can fetch many times more than the scrap value. I've seen old Apples, Amigas, VAXen, PDPs and SGIs go for hundreds and even thousands of dollars. The scrap value of any these is in the 2 (small computers) to 50 (big fridge sized computer) dollar range, and I probaly overestimated these values by a factor of ten. Rilak (talk) 07:16, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Computer recycling is a place to start.87.102.86.73 (talk) 13:06, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

This firms website gives some useful information for you as to the types of metals found in computers. http://www.awarefiners.co.uk/computer-recycling.html I recommend it.87.102.86.73 (talk) 13:10, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

The copper in wires in computers may be economic to collect if you have a big supply of used computers at low price..87.102.86.73 (talk) 13:11, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

An steel (in the cases etc) can always be recycled.87.102.86.73 (talk) 13:11, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

I mean specifically a Windows 95 that crashed 4.158.201.243 (talk) 02:28, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Seriously, this whole "a computer is El Dorado" thing is simply silly. There is not enough "precious" metal in a computer to warrant economical recycling. The steel is worth nothing - if they bury cars in a landfill, all 900 or so kilograms of steel, what makes you think that they are going to bother with the 2 or 3 kg of steel in a computer? As for copper and old, there are is so little of that it is probaly more expensive getting it out than throwing it away, or leaving the entire computer intact. First of all, they have to grind up the circuit board and chips, extract the copper/gold from the sludge from a smelter and then purify it. It probaly does more harm than good - all the silicon and plastics get incinerated and their ashes thrown away. It would do more good to sell the stuff on ebay, really. If you think you are gonna become as wealthy as Bill Gates through recycling old computers and extracting the "vast" quantities of precious metals, this is not the way to go. Copper heatsinks excepted, of course. Rilak (talk) 06:37, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

If it's just the operating system that failed, you could install a lightweight Linux distro like Xubuntu over the old Windows 95 and be able to use the computer again. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 00:13, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

True. Most of the time when people say that the computer is broken, its only Windows. Most people just go and buy a new computer because they don't know that the OS can be replaced with something else. It would be funny if it they were not wasting thousands of dollars and contributing ever more pollution and e-waste. Even more shocking is that they think that the computer has to be new to do anything. I run run an enterprise-grade firewall on an ancient box modified to reduce power consumption and it works great. The latency induced by this setup is unmeasurable. Rilak (talk) 10:50, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

iPod help please

Resolved

I want to buy an iPod. But I don't want to have to keep a copy of every song on my computer. Is there any way to do this? 4.158.201.215 (talk) 03:22, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

You could use an external hard drive. Mastrchf (^t/_c) 04:46, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Winamp will allow this, and will sync 5th gen iPods, and does it rather well. There is also a seperate winamp plugin that is supposed to be better. I am unsure if it will sync with the "Classic" or touch iPods. There are other 3rd party programs such as yamipod that may do it but I don't know how good they are. TheGreatZorko (talk) 08:19, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

You can upload files to the iPod and then delete them off the computer. That's what I often do. You just set the syncing to manual so it doesn't automatically delete them off the iPod too. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 16:35, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

I get turn auto-syncing off? Thanks! That's what I needed to know. 4.158.201.243 (talk) 02:29, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Industry bias

i've recently been editing the Diablo 3 article, and come across a brick wall. Wikipedia needs to convey information; although at the same time, the information must be from a valid source. It can be taken as read that sources producing the subject matter (i.e. Blizzard, on Diablo 3) is a valid source. However, how do you convey information that is generated by the general public i.e. lots of talk in forums, news and over 2000 signing a petition in 3 days (i accept that petitions can't be used, due to how they can be skewed... but even if its only a few people doing it multiple times... thats still a lot of people that are hopping mad) when nobody lets you post it? The article cannot be neutral if it can only quote industry (as they obviously are pleased with how they are doing it), and only give generalizations about what the fans are so disgruntled about? how can an article specify and give an official quote from industry refuting the problem, while at the same time not even acknowledging the specific problem even exists? There should be rules set in place stating that (in terms of a "produces"-"end user" scenario) if industry is quoted, so too must a refutable source from the end users (that is quoted by more than one other source). Ether that, or both should be general, and have sources referencing them so people can look into each side of the story. However, i don't think that is what wikipedia is for. We are about providing the public with free, neutral information. We have to educate people, while at the same time telling both sides of the coin. Don't let Wikipedia becoming Stalinist, where only industry can be quoted, because industry is the only 'official' reference! --Tyraz (talk) 09:57, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

The public isn't a reference, it can't possibly produce new information, especially verifiable information, because it has nothing todo with the project. And somehow i don't think the opinions of lots of giggling boys on a forum matters to an encyclopedia. It's not bias, it's simply that Blizzard is developing the game, not a forum. If fan opninion did make a large or notable point, it would be recorded in a reputable medium, such as one of many number of gaming magazines which don't have a bias towards the game. Reliable sources mean that quality articles are produced, so we can't post information without any sources, especially not WP:OR based on our own views of a forums opinion. However, i believe the industry does it very well for us, and nothing stops you quoting opposing views from them. - Jimmi Hugh (talk) 10:07, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Since replies have begun here, I am directing replies from your cross-post on the Help Desk here. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 10:57, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

So what constitutes an industry source? For example, there is a lot of talk, and a lot of reputable sources quoting and referencing a petition (search Diablo 3 in google news to see the amount of traffic on the subject). Does this mean that you are allowed to quote the website which quoted the petition, along with the views expressed? I think it's reasonable to quote the facts a reputable news source gives i.e. the difference between products. Are the views expressed by game reviewers (who are industry) just as valid as the producers of the game?

--Tyraz (talk) 11:47, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Yes, as long as it's the views of the Notable Reviewer, not of the source they are discussing. Also make sure points relate to the article. - Jimmi Hugh (talk) 11:45, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

- Hmm, there's more than enough information on the matter, it's just a matter of phrasing it, and making sure it's neutral on both developer and reviewer sides. Interested in having a look? --Tyraz (talk) 11:52, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Nope, unless it's Metal Gear related, i try to stay away, Video Game topics are far too fast moving for me. - Jimmi Hugh (talk) 11:58, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

- Point taken.. Although it would be nice to formalize some sort of standards as to what you can and can't quote... Because you can find one reviewer who will love it, and one who doesn't.. although they will both agree that it is in fact different, and that they disagree:P To those ends, would it not be reasonable to separate the facts from the reviewers opinions (that includes official Blizzard reports) to take out bias? --Tyraz (talk) 12:02, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

What you've missed is that the petition, and some fans negative reaction are already mentioned in the article.87.102.86.73 (talk) 13:00, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

True. But briefly, and in general. You are deleting Quotes from notable reviewers and replacing them with your own general wording. While taking direct quotes from the producers, which you feel benefit your view. This is an encyclopedia, not a forum. If you want to express your views, do it there. not by putting strong selective quotes in the middle of articles. --Tyraz (talk) 13:10, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Check the edit history, and show an example of that..

Also the only edit you have made that I can see was to remove a quote about the artistic direction from the 'art direction and design' section which was from one of the blizzard designers??? How does that help the article?

That seems like vandalism to me, maybe you can explain it?87.102.86.73 (talk) 14:03, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

ie this [1] is this a good edit? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.102.86.73 (talk) 14:04, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

One solution here would be to tag the article or sections as non-neutral and get someone independant to look at it, how does that sound, would that be acceptable?87.102.86.73 (talk) 14:19, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Personally I'm more than willing to mention and include references to the things you have mentioned, though I in general oppose a 'criticism' or 'fan response' section except in exceptional circumstances, and definately not for one complaint about a game that has not yet been released, and has only been revealed for less than 1 week.

Question - are there any problems with this version? [2]?

I would strongly suggest tagging the article now if you have an issue with the neutrality, and not making any further edits in the 'art direction' section at the moment. That would be a sensible and non-annoying way to proceed. PLEASE?87.102.86.73 (talk) 14:33, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Javascript: getTimeout on a method of a specific object

I'm writing a javascript with several objects that are instances of a class I've defined. I'd like those objects to be able to schedule the execution of one of their own methods at a later time. My problem is that (as a beginning javascript programmer) I don't know the way to express "this" in a way that can succesfully be passed to setTimeout.

I'd like foomethod (a method of the same class that's calling this code) to run in 100ms, in the context of this object (running a regular function is straightforward, it's how to get the "this" context over to the called-back method that I don't know.

Obviously this doesn't work:

 setTimeout("foomethod("+this+")", 100);

or

 setTimeout(this+".foomethod()", 100);

So I'm hoping someone will know the proper way of writing:

 setTimeout ("foomethod("+ getidforthis() + ")", 100);

 function foomethod(str)  {
   somehow set "this" to be the object with the id generated by getidforthis()
   this.bar = blah;
 }

(sheesh, I hope that makes sense). I appreciate I could keep my objects in an array, and pass an index into that array through setTimeout(), but that seems very clunky. Surely there's a better way that this? If anyone could fathom this, I'd be most grateful. Thanks. CQ345 (talk) 14:23, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Try using this.id, and then document.getElementById (passedId) in foomethod. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 15:08, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Unforunately it seems this.id is undefined; note that this code is in the constructor for the class, which in turn is called from on_load() CQ345 (talk) 15:32, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

one tool you may want to check out is firebug for firefox. If you're not using firefox then it doesn't really apply I guess. Make sure you're browser is up to date and try for the newest stable version. Also maybe try simply setTimeout("foomethod(this)",100) or setTimeout("foomethod("+this.id+")",100) note that the latter would need to use document.getElementById(passedInId) to get the object Ben (talk) 16:40, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

In what part of a system...

In what part of a system are the way characters are displayed defined? For example, in C, printf("Hello world"); will compile to binary representing the appropriate operations and data, in this case characters but how does the computer know how to display them? Is this handled by the OS, display drivers, BIOS...? --212.120.246.239 (talk) 15:16, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Depends. In most Operating System's, such as Linux, Windows, etc for the x86, in Graphical Enviroments, it is handled by the Operating System. More Specifically, especially in Linux where the Component isn't core to Linux (X11), the graphical manager, or Specialist Font Library manage the rendering process. In Specialist hardware, such as that on Macintosh Computers, many of the standard Operating System Libraries, including widgets and font management are part of firmware (Read: BIOS for none x86 systems). In Text mode on standard IBM Compatibles, the Video BIOS, an extension to the standard BIOS, whose code resides within the graphics system, handles the rendering. The knowledge to render them is also dependent on the system. There may be a standard Bitmap picture that is used in place of the ASCII representation of the character, or it may be rendered from a Vector Graphics format in order to take into account font sizes. - Jimmi Hugh (talk) 15:27, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

.docx

Recently I have received a few documents with the extension '.docx', and they don't readily open with Word 2003 or the current version of Open Office Writer. Can you give me a straightforward method for opening these documents, hopefully using the applications I already have? Thx ike9898 (talk) 17:01, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

They are produced by Word 2007. Here's what you need to open them. -- Coneslayer (talk) 17:20, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

The current version of OpenOffice.org should be able to open it. Could you tell us more about your software environment (Operating system, OOo version etc)? Could be a bug ... Kushal (talk) 23:17, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

At a pinch, you can rename it as a zip file. You'll then find the content in an XML file within this. Strip the tags and away you go. Morenoodles (talk) 11:18, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Solution to PHP in safe mode

Hi, I have a "terrible" problem in hands... my website (a wiki) is all messed up because PHP is in safe mode... I use MediaWiki software and I have lots of problems: Thumbnails for images look like crap, can't delete images "the regular way" (like admins can do in wikipedia), in the page of the image, (like this [3]), it gives all users an error about PHP being in safe mode (only if the image is too big to fit the screen)... but it shows up! I mean, I'm totally overwhelmed by all this things... and I think there is no easy solution... even now, to delete images, I have to go through lots of complicated steps... WHAT A PAIN! Is there any solution for this? I have my website in a shared host, and I think I can't disable PHP'a safe mode... is hosting my website on my own computer the only solution?!?! thanks for any possible help... SF007 (talk) 21:18, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Getting a different host is your easiest option. User:Krator (t c) 21:29, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

You might try getting in touch with your host. If you Google "disable safe mode php shared host" it seems there are some ways to do it. But getting in touch with your host and asking if there's any chance they can disable it for you might be a smart thing to do in any case. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 21:45, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

I am waiting for their answer... I even considered hosting my website on my own computer, to have full control :) SF007 (talk) 22:21, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

That's not a terrible option. You can use something like No-IP to bind the DNS adress of the host to your IP, even if your IP is dynamic. If you don't mind having a computer stuck in a closet that's on all the time, you have an ISP that doesn't ban it and your site doesn't get absurd amounts of traffic, it's absolutely a solution to your problem. It wont cost you a thing except for your regular internet connection, you have complete control, and you don't need to suffer through the annoying habits of webhosts. I say go for it (then again, I'm slightly nuts, so take with a grain of salt :) --Oskar 23:45, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Of course, if things don't work, or things break, it'll be up to YOU to fix it and spend YOUR time fiddling with it (unpaid). Personally I'm a fan of finding a good, cheap webhost. I pay something like $11 a month and they take care of all the technical side of things. (There are definitely positive aspects to doing some things yourself, but for something like this, I suspect it'll be a better use of your time to find someone you can work with and let them handle the hardware side of things.) --98.217.8.46 (talk) 23:58, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Just curious, what percent of total is your uptime? Are you able to get three or four nines? Could you tell me what kind of Internet connection you have? I was always told that hosting it on your own computer is a bad idea. Kushal (talk) 00:41, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

If you only have very little traffic to your website, you can basically get three or four nines without much trouble at all. I mean, take an old, useless laptop, install Ubuntu server edition (or whatever), run just from the command line (no X), put it in a closet and it will stay on like that for years unless you stop it manually (the good thing with using an old laptop: built-in UPS). If you need to log into it, use SSH. Unless you have a pretty staggering internet connection, you probably wont be hosting large files on the server, but it works splendidly just as a small wiki for your closest hundred friends or so. Or a small blog, or whatever. It's probably a bad idea to run bittorrent on the same connection (again, unless it's a pretty huge connection), because bittorrent tends to eat up your upstream.

As for maintenance, the beautiful thing about this setup is that there is not a whole lot that can go wrong, and when it does, you can find it pretty easily. I mean, check the internet connection, check the router, check the computer. It's almost certainly one of those three, and you don't need a masters in network engineering to find out which. It's not to hard to set up either, if you have some experience with linux.

As I said, this really only works if your site is (reasonably) small, and the server isn't, like, mission critical or anything. If it goes down while you're on a vacation, it's going to be down till you come home, but that wont happen very often I think. Then again, if your site turns out to be the next Boing Boing or whatever, then you can easily just start paying for a webhost and transfer your site there. It's not like this solution has to be permanent.

I don't know, maybe this setup appeals only to me, because I like the control it gives me, and I like the tinkering aspect. Normal people might want to do the webhost-thing. It's up to you, but I can at least recommend you try it, there is something extremely fulfilling about getting this all set up, and then logging in to your little-old laptop in a closet from anywhere, and having it serve content to the entire world. --Oskar 08:55, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Hello to you all! My hosting company said they would disable PHP safe mode for my domain, I am just waiting! I can believe it was that easy... Anyway thanks to you all.

@Oskar: yeah, I'm also one of those guys who wouldn't mind hosting my own website, but besides the big problem that is my ignorance in that area of computer science, I don't want that my visitors suffer from downtime just because I didin't fixed the server... it's a peace of mind knowing there are guys working 24/7 just to keep my site online... SF007 (talk) 12:44, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

It does take some technical know-how :) I'm nuts, anyhow. I'm glad your problem got fixed --Oskar 13:11, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Me too! It is now fixed for real, I tested and it works like it should :) thanks again! SF007 (talk) 04:03, 5 July 2008 (UTC)