Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 June 7

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June 7

The night sky in Gimp

I took a photo of the night sky. But the stars are too faint. How can I use Gimp or ImageMagick Convert to brighten the stars? --Masatran (talk) 00:55, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure if GIMP has it, but in Photoshop, there's a contrast editor and adjust curves (see here). (addendum) And looking around a bit, it seems like GIMP has a curves feature too. See this page too. --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:01, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Another method :On the menu for that image click Tools/Color tools/Levels. You'll see a histogram and below That a color line. Try sliding around The Three arrows pointing to The color Line. Especially the middle one. You may want to first use a selection tool To Select The sky. --APL (talk) 03:33, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

You may also want to make the stars appear larger, by blurring or fattening them out a bit. In reality the star surface will be as bright as the sun, but you won't get a monitor that bright! Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:36, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Playing around with the tools in the Colors menu. Brightness/contrast may be all you need. It's probably the simplest way to edit a photo while still maintaining its genuineness. --Russoc4 (talk) 01:47, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Power DVD

A DVD that previously played on my laptop now only prompts the message, "A problem has caused Power DVD to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program and notify you if a solution is found." The problem is not the DVD; it works fine on my TV's DVD player and on my sister's laptop. The problem is not my laptop; I got other DVDs to play just fine. The problem is this particular DVD on this particular computer. I can't make any other program play the DVD; they all switch over to Power DVD, which promptly gives me the aforementioned error message and shuts itself down. Any ideas? Cherry Red Toenails (talk) 01:02, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Sounds like PowerDVD might be the problem. Try disabling autoplay if you have it on, if it's automatically opening PowerDVD when you insert the disk. Instead, open some other program like Windows Media Player and playing the DVD from there (in WMP10, you go to the "Play" menu and select "DVD, VCD or CD audio"). --Wirbelwindヴィルヴェルヴィント (talk) 01:06, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

How do I disable autoplay? That does seem to be happening, because when I open it on WMP, it automatically shuts down and opens up Power DVD. How can I change that? Cherry Red Toenails (talk) 01:41, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

A free, old program called Windows Media Player Classic is really good for playing DVDs that other software won't play. One way to get the classic player (which I have to use to watch the Gilligan's Island seasons on my PC), is to download K-lite Codec Pack. The codec pack is free, just Google it, and the classic player should come with it. Useight (talk) 02:04, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, that worked great! Cherry Red Toenails (talk) 02:16, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Palatino font

1. Where can I get a free copy of Palatino font in TrueType format?
2. It is classified as serif; what would be a more specific classification?

--Masatran (talk) 02:13, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

It is old style serif. As for locating it... I don't think you can get a (totally legal) free copy of the font called Palatino (but it is often bundled free with operating systems), which is specifically a trademark font name of Linotype systems. There are many look-alike fonts, though. Book Antiqua is a common one. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 02:34, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

The article on Palatino lists some lookalike fonts. You can't get Palatino for free, but you probably have something nearly indistinguishable already on your computer. rspeer / ɹəədsɹ 07:37, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Windows has Book Antiqua and Palatino Linotype since XP, both in TrueType format. URW Palladio is available freely for non-commercial use in this format at [1] and in Type 1 with GhostScript. A better (more glyphs, better Polish diacritics, small capitals and old style numbers) one is TeX Gyre Pagella in Type 1 or OpenType CFF. Mac OS X probably also has included Palatino lookalike. MTM (talk) 15:10, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

sound card in Ubuntu

Hello dears! I have a problem with my sound card in Ubuntu (all versions)my sound card didnot work it is ESS Audio Drive es1868f I know it is old but how can i make workable it , You people will help me thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.125.143.78 (talk) 06:52, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

If you've tried running alsaconf, what did it say? If not, what have you tried so far? Put more information in your query. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 07:54, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Please excuse us for being terse. You can learn more about alsaconf and the AlsaProject at http://www.alsa-project.org/main/index.php/Main_Page . Please come back if you have any questions. Kushal (talk) 13:41, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Thank you Kushal for the useful link but i am new user of linux and nothing know about tarz files etc i have downloaded the driver in the mentioned link but didnot know how to install it and second after installing alsamixer and running alsamixer as sudo it says(alsamixer: function snd_ctl_open failed for default: No such file or director)and by running alsaconf it says no commond found.so please tell me more what i do next .thanx —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.125.143.75 (talk) 16:25, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

You're doing that the hard way. The driver and the alsaconf program are almost certainly included in Ubuntu (I know they're included in Debian) so you should not have to download anything separately. Just use the package manager to install alsa-utils. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 19:53, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

202, tcsetattr is probably right. You should try the package manager (under applications menu). If you cannot find it there (which would be really weird), you can always do apt-get install alsa-utils. Please feel free to hit back with any questions. Kushal (talk) 01:26, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

I am once again here Kushat!i cant find way to configure my sound card and by doing apt-get install alsa-utis it says (E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11 Resource temporarily unavailable) E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?)thanks in advance if you help me more i will be very thankful to you.because i hate windows and this is me usmanzia1 prevously forget my passwd ,sorry —Preceding unsigned comment added by Usmanzia1 (talk • contribs) 11:42, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Welcome back, Usmanzia (sounds more like a person than 202 does) Did you try installing from the graphical user interface (point and click rather than type in terminal). Does the list not show alsa-utils? Lets try this one more time. Please try sudo apt-get install alsa-utils. You will be asked for your root (administrator) password. Just a quick reminder, you should not run any command if you are unsure what it means or if you suspect the source. If you use Internet relay chat, channel Ubuntu on Freenode might be of help too. Kushal (talk) 15:58, 8 June 2008 (UTC)Í

Creation date

To my horror I discovered too late that by using the file system object in VB6 the original file creation date has been changed to reflect the date when the file was moved or copied to a new location rather than the actual creation date being retained. Is there anywhere in a Windows XP file that the real original creation date is retained? -- Taxa (talk) 08:41, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Both FAT and NTFS filesystems store creation and modification dates only in the file table. (My English isn't creative enough to explain why storing two creation dates would be useless.)

But if it's a Microsoft Office document, the creation date is stored in the metadata, which you can view in the "Summary" tab of file properties. (Click "Advanced >>")

--grawity 10:59, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Useless? I don't think so. Besides one date would be the actual and original creation date while the other would be the move or the copy date.

Why is this important? If you have a group of video files from several different cameras and want to view them in proper sequence or merge them at the end of the day according to creation date then you are screwed if Windows changes the original creation date when you move or copy the file. In plain English the reason this does not make sense is because the reason net time sync exists is to allow images recorded at different locations to be viewed in their proper sequence or merged accurately. Yet another reason why Windows sucks and Yahoo wants nothing to do with Microsoft. -- Taxa (talk) 16:35, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Unix does the same. Besides, there's a thing called EXIF, which allows dates (and much more) to be stored inside photos. (JPEG, that is.) --grawity 21:34, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

computer

need tutorials for the following topics

compiler writing tools , sort programs (a software tool) ,merge programs(software tool),iocs —Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.1.232.192 (talk) 13:51, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Some tools useful for parsing are lex and bison. Sorting can be done by sort. Merge is an operation of most version control systems. All of these programs are described in Wikipedia and their articles lead to useful documentation. MTM (talk) 15:14, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Graphics: drop of some liquid

How can I create an image of some drops using graphical programs (like Gimp or Fireworks)?GoingOnTracks (talk) 15:52, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Fedora 9 Live on USB stick

So I finally managed to install Fedora 9 into my USB drive. (The previous version of the Windows tool, 2.4, didn't like my FAT32 formatted drive.)

After messing with Fedora a little (DSL, Firefox), I got "I/O error" while editing ~/.ssh/config with nano. On next try, it said "Read-only filesystem".

After switching to first terminal (tty1), I saw these errors:

EXT3-fs error (device dm-0): ext3_get_inode_loc: unable to read inode block - inode=26305, block=98671
EXT3-fs error (device dm-0): ext3_find_entry: reading directory #82040 offset 0
EXT3-fs error (device dm-0): ext3_find_entry: reading directory #82040 offset 0
EXT3-fs error (device dm-0): ext3_get_inode_loc: unable to read inode block - inode=86808, block=327987
EXT3-fs error (device dm-0): ext3_find_entry: reading directory #141311 offset 0

After reboot, it just dropped me into shell.

Ideas? --grawity 16:29, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

IMDb

Has anyone been able to get through to IMDb.com in the last 24 hours? I keep getting "server not found". Dismas|^(talk) 16:40, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Just checked and it works for me. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 16:44, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Hmm... Does now for me too. It hadn't for the last day or so. Dismas|^(talk) 17:26, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

New computer...architectural scheme?

So my computer is starting to get old, and although it still gets the job done, I'm thinking about getting a new computer. I briefly read through the 32-bit and 64-bit articles and it seems that 64-bit is better, despite having less software compatible with it. Is that assumption true? Also, what does "Platforms : x86-32, x64-64, EM64T...Version : x86/32bit | x64/64bit" mean? Because those are two options for the system I'm considering getting. Thank you for the help! --71.117.39.109 (talk) 19:20, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Unless you intend to use 4GB or more of RAM, the difference is relatively minor. All mainstream contemporary processors support 64-bit, so your choice is only with regards to the OS. This is not really a choice, as there are essentially no disadvantages to 64-bit (32-bit software runs on a 64-bit system; the only possible drawback is if for some reason the 64-bit version of the OS\software is more buggy). 32-bit architectures will have names such as x86 or x86-32. 64-bit architectures will have names such as amd64, x86-64, x64 or EM64T. The phrase you quote is difficult to decipher, if you found it online perhaps you can provide a link. We may be able to help you more if you specify which hardware and OS you are considering. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 19:48, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

ia32 is also seen referring to the 32 bit version. .froth. (talk) 05:12, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

But keep in mind that ia-64 is not the ordinary 64-bit architecture. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 12:37, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

I'd highly recommend you get a 64-bit, since future software is likely to increasingly move that direction. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 02:24, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

New video card issue

Hi, I just installed a new and improved video card -Geforce 8600 GT - but for some reason now when I play Counter Strike: Source at the optimum resolution the screen looks way different than it did with my old video card... The resolution on my desktop looks great, but now in CS: Source at maximum resolution the graphics seem way bigger/zoomed-in than they were before, and I can't change it to any better resolution. Any reason why this might be? 76.22.123.202 (talk) 20:39, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Maybe it's too obvious, but did you install the Nvidia drivers after putting the new card? If not, any number of things can go wrong. Also, I don't know about the particular game, but many games allow you to choose the zoom level, with the mouse wheel, through a menu or otherwise. Try to see if you can set it to how it was before. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 20:48, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the response. I did install the drivers and also re-installed the game. I'm honestly perplexed by it, the current highest resolution rate looks like a lower one on my old card in terms of the size of everything - even though the new card is better and my frames per second are better and all the textures look better... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.22.123.202 (talk) 21:01, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

In your Nvidia Control Panel, are your 3D settings set to default or do you have specific settings for CS:Source? Sometimes it's better to keep the default settings. Unless you're a gfx card fundi, let your software decide. If this is not it, then I'm out of ideas. Sometimes an older game will just refuse to work with a newer gfx card. I suspect there might be some older DirectX features that might be omitted or 'disabled' in newer cards. Sandman30s (talk) 21:37, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Default settings. Directx is up to date. Same issue with a newer game. Changing in-game resolution to my monitor's native resolution makes the graphics look a little better but in terms of size everything seems oversized like it's still at 800x600 instead of 1280x1024...I'm at a complete loss as to what the issue could be. 76.22.123.202 (talk) 02:19, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Sounds like you have an LCD, so setting your game resolution to the same x:y ratio would make it look sharper. However you have a really weird problem there. Try your card on another machine if you can? Sounds like a stuffed up graphics card. Or it could be a conflict with something in windows, very hard to say. I used something called ClearTweak once that made all my OS graphics larger - very annoying. Sandman30s (talk) 07:22, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Come to think of it, sounds more like a problem in your old card than with the new one. It makes sense that the game would want to keep your field of view constant (for balance reasons), with higher resolutions making stuff more detailed rather than smaller. Try once more to find a setting in the game for zoom level or field of vision. If none is found, take comfort in knowing that what you have know is probably what was meant to be. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 10:32, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Developing Flash in Flash 8/9 or with Eclipse

What is the difference between developing Adobe Flash with the Adobe Flash IDE and in Eclipse (software) with the plug-ins? I need to start learning ActionScript 3 and I have the Flash 8 version but don't feel like buying the Flash 9 version. Is Eclipse too much different?GoingOnTracks (talk) 21:10, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

You can compile ActionScript for nothing with the Flex SDK but it's not the same thing as working in Flash (you don't have a timeline, etc.). If you don't need Flash, just use Flex Builder. If you need Flash specific things, like being able to edit Flash files or need to use a stage (e.g. don't want to do everything programatically; in some cases, things like Tweening, fading, etc., are much easier to do as objects on the stage than they are through AS3), then you'll need Flash. So the answer depends, I guess, on what sorts of projects you're going to use it for. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 00:23, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Automatic Update for Windows XP - How to stop it?

I have a very old and very slow laptop which I am using until my other one gets fixed. However, the slowness is exacerbated by the fact that it is getting inundated with Windows Updates. It does it automatically and then asks me to restart. If I click 'later', then 5 minutes later it asks me again. It is very frustrating, and I end up restarting. I do this very reluctantly because it takes a long time to get to a point where the PC is usable again. It has taken me 40 minutes to get from the restart to writing this post. How do I stop these automatic updates? While we are on the subject, how do I stop the ones for Java Script (the most annoying and power consuming programming language ever) and for iTunes, Quicktime and whatever the other one that is bundled with it is? They all require restarting, and I can't be spending hours each day just doing that!--ChokinBako (talk) 22:27, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Start - Control Panel - system - automatic updates - turn off automatic updates (this is for windows). If your computer is so slow it might be best to get rid of quicktime and iTunes running in the background as they will be hogging your memory. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:43, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Javascript itself won't be doing automatic updates, but Java might. Virus scanners will be doing updates too. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 23:14, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

While I sympathize with your problems, it won't do you any good to be running a machine with gaping holes. If you are inclined, we can help you with tweaking your "very old" computer so as to get the most out of it. Kushal (talk) 00:43, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Startup sounds on Windows and KDE

I've been thinking of customizing Windows XP's default sounds such as startup, logout, battery failure, etc by replacing them with sound messages recorded by my girlfriend. I figured it would be much more pleasant to log into my machine and be greeted by her voice than having to put up with that annoying tune.

The issue is this: I want her to say "Good morning", "Good afternoon" and "Good night" according to the time of the day. I could schedule those tasks using the task scheduler and a batch file, but I'd rather find a way to do it differently.

Or rather, I'm fine with Windows, but would like to make some changes to Mandriva Linux (which I use most of the time). I'm running KDE on my machine. I'd like to know if it'd be possible to write a small piece of code (I suppose it'd have to be in Python, because I don't know C) that'd modify whatever part of the system is responsible for setting those events by getting the OS's time and use it to choose the appropriate sound. How does KDE do it? How are events associated with sounds? Sorry for the bizarre question! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.132.220.63 (talk) 22:37, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

finding my post on the RD

What is the easiest way to find my post on the RD? GoingOnTracks (talk) 23:23, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

If it's recent, using the browser's search feature. If it's older, using Google. -- Meni Rosenfeld (talk) 23:26, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

For best results, go to your contributions to find out the exact header, then plug that into a google search. Or just check the date/title in the archives, but google is normally faster. Algebraist 23:56, 7 June 2008 (UTC)