Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 July 17

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July 17

Using PC power supply for scanner

My flatbed scanner power supply (wall wart, 12VDC, 1A) went away. :-(

Any potential problems using a +12V line from my PC's power supply; ground loops, etc?

Thanks. Saintrain (talk) 00:45, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Does the PC supply have a 1A overhead ? (You know how cheap a new 12W power supply can be right ? ) 83.100.250.79 (talk) 01:10, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

If scanner (data cable) is connected to the same computer as power supply, there could be no ground loops. I do not know for sure, but scanners peak power consumption does not seems to be very large, so it should work. -Yyy (talk) 07:27, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Kristin ITC font

I have the font "Kristin ITC" installed on a computer at work but not at home. Work machine is XPH and the home is XPP. Can someone tell me what software app comes bundled with this font? There seem to be several like that but this is a good start I think. ZabMilenko^{How am I driving?} 06:05, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Oops, maybe if I googled right the first time, this would have come up. Thanks. ZabMilenko^{How am I driving?} 06:06, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Database (MS Acess)

How can I have the value for a field be calculated automatically based on values in 2 other fields one of which is in the same table and the other in different table? --195.244.210.38 (talk) 09:31, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

If I understand the question correctly, for a particular table you want a particular column in each row to be calculated based on the value stored in another column (of the same row in that table) and a column in a different table? If thats right - then no; not possible at the raw table level. Can I assume you are actually referring to creating a form tied to underlying tables? If this is the case, complicated manipulations of data is possible... Jwoodger (talk) 14:00, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I thought they might have meant 'cells' when they wrote 'fields'.83.100.250.79

Yes, 'cells' is probably easier to write than my definition, but they refer to the same thing (columns of a row) Jwoodger (talk) 15:33, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

(talk) 15:21, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

If you are using a Query, it is easy to do this with complicated functions. Set the value to one of the columns to something like =Table1.[Foo]+Table2.[Bar]. Syntax might not be exactly right but it is something like that. You can't do this with raw table view itself; it needs to be done in a Query. (Tables are just data, they don't have functions. Queries are basically tables+functions.) --98.217.14.211 (talk) 14:21, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Are you certain tables are raw data - eg are spreadsheet functions like sum(a1:a10) lost when importing a table and converted to a number? This sounds like a nightmare. There's another way right??83.100.250.79 (talk) 15:21, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Spreadsheet functions are NOT included in tables. It's not a nightmare, it's a different paradigm. Tables are NOT the same thing as Excel spreadsheets AT ALL and should not be confused with them. They hold numbers and text and things like that. No functions. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 14:43, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Well, to be precise tables are not just data, they include structural definitions as well (data types, relationships, other metadata). As for the rest of that question, I'm not sure what you mean... Jwoodger (talk) 15:33, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

From your previous questions, you appear to confusing the database and the application. The database is nothing more than a bunch of tables of data. The thing that you use to put data in the database and get reports out of the database is the application. Access is unique in that it combines a database and application into one product. Most databases do not include the application. So, understanding that Access is two things combined into one, the database should not contain data that is just a combination of two other fields. That is something you place at the application level. When a person fetches data, you add up the two columns and display the result. -- kainaw™ 15:25, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

There must be properly integrated database/spreadsheet systems out there though, surely?83.100.250.79 (talk) 16:27, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

The problem is that the application (spreadsheet) must be customized for every purpose. For example, I have a field on my report (which you are calling a spreadsheet) that is a percentage. The denominator is the number of times a patient has a systolic blood pressure > 140 or diastolic blood pressure > 90 and the previous blood pressure was also > 140 or > 90 (unless the patient is diabetic, then I use 130/80, not 140/90). The numerator is how many of those occurrences coincide with an increase in anti-hypertensive medication. So, do you propose that MS Access (or some "properly" integrated program) include this special field? Of course not. It is the job of the database administrator to customize the application to the user's needs. It is not the job of the program to instamagically create the application because no matter what is available there will be requests for more application features. -- kainaw™ 16:32, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I would suggest that the database program be able to handle the same form of data as the spreadsheet. So if the spreadsheet can handle your data - the database would be able to (sounds like you have 2 values per cell or something - I don't know medicine) and vice versa

I don't see what is so outrageous to expect that sort of commonality. It's not a case of application features - it's a case of expecting two closely related programs to be able to use the same data set, without loss of data (or functionality).

In other words "properly integrated" means the database accepts a .xls file or whatever as a (dynamic) table (keeping the interelatedness between values), not just a static 'snap-shot' of the numerical values. Obviously access can't do that - I have to open a spreadsheet to alter data that affects a third value, then reimport it to create a report or whatever. Or maybe write out the statistical functions twice - ones for the spreadsheet, and once for the data report in database mode - doesn't sound good.83.100.250.79 (talk) 16:55, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

It sounds like you are looking for functionality that would be available as a calculated column, or a view in full database system. As far as I know, MS Access does not have calculated columns or view by that name, but the same effect can be achieved by defining and saving a query that contains the desired calculation, and then referencing the query as if it was a table. For example, if you have a table Table1 with numeric columns a and b. You could define a query on that table as "SELECT a, b, a / b as c FROM Table1;" and save it as Query1. (Although I've written this as a SQL SELECT statement, you can do the same with the query designer.) You can then browse Query1 or write another query against it just as if Query1 were a table. You can even save data to columns a and b, and column c will be calculated automatically. -- Tcncv (talk) 04:32, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Yes, that's the sort of thing. I was wondering if more money can buy better integration between a spreadsheet and database program - but it looks like that particular product is called a database engineer.. Actually I'll shut up because I just remembered that this wasn't my question - don't want to start hijacking it83.100.250.79 (talk) 09:02, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Don't confuse the spreadsheets of Excel with the tables in Access. Their similarity in appearance is only superficial. You cannot use Excel-like functions or row references or calculated columns in Tables. You CAN do waaaay more awesome and complicated things with your data in Access Queries than you can in any Excel spreadsheet. They do two very different things, don't confuse them!! --98.217.14.211 (talk) 14:45, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

OK then, can someone help me out with a query to pull this off. This is basically what you need to know. Ive got the following tables with the relevent fields in brackets and a brief explanation in square brackets:

• Currencies(CurrencyID, Currency, ExchangeRate) [This is where the exchange rates used by the company are stored]
• Demand(DemandID, Stock, Currency, Cost, CostInPounds) [This is where requests for more stock are stored]
• Stock(StockID, StockNumber, Description, Size) [This is where the details of all the different stock are stored]

Basically, I want someone to be able to make/view any requests with the important feature being that they can select the currency being used (as stock may be coming from a company in a different country and therfore uses a different currency) enter the cost and then have the cost in pounds (GBP) calculated based on information in the Currencies table and entered in the CostInPounds field. Can this be done using queries and if so how as I'm quite new to queries/SQL --|||| —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.244.210.38 (talk) 08:25, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Comparing zip file to directory in Ubuntu

If I have a directory (and I have one) and if I want to compare it to a zip file (and I want to) to know what is different and add or remove stuff from the zip file, what can I do it in Ubuntu? This would be like a simple backup, but it is also useful for other purposes (like packing a set of up-to-date docs).--Quest09 (talk) 10:54, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Beyond Compare will compare a directory to a zip file. I have only used the Windows version but according to their website, they also do a Linux version. Mitch Ames (talk) 11:20, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Extract the zip file to a temporary directory, run rsync -av --dry-run /dir-from-zip/ /other-dir/, it will give you a list of changed files. Amoe (talk) 09:18, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

banning ip ranges in php

Hi everyone, I have another question about php, this time how to ban entire ip address ranges. This is the code I've got so far, but it only works on single ips:

<?php $blockip = array( '123.456.789.123'=> 'block reason', ); //'address'=> 'block reason', foreach($blockip as $key=>$val) {if ($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'] == $key) { die("You are banned because: $val"); } } ?>

How can I ban entire ranges in php? Thanks for your help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.128 (talk) 11:13, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

This is a tricky problem because of the syntax of IP addresses. Here's the simplistic solution: If you want to block, say, 12.34.xxx.xxx, you can add the key 12.34. to your block list and, if the incoming IP begins with 12.34., you block it. So, instead of comparing equality between the remote address and the key, you see if the remote address begins with the key. Here's the problem: what if you specifically try to block 1.2.3.4, so you make that key. Now, someone comes in with the remote address 1.2.3.45. That begins with 1.2.3.4, so it will be blocked. So, you are better off doing wildcard matching. So, instead of blocking 12.34., you block 12.34.*.*. Now, you have to write a comparison that matches "*" to any number. Regular expressions are commonly used for that. Another problem: the period is a reserved character in regular expressions (it means ANY character). So, 1.2 will readily match 152 (the period between 1 and 2 matches anything, including 5). So, what can you do? A million or so things. One is to not use periods. Use dashes. So, before the comparison, $key = str_replace(".", "-", $key) ... and the same with the remote address. Now, the period will be a dash and the address will look like 12-34-56-79 instead of 12.34.56.78. Then, if you used * to mean "any number", you have to change that to regex syntax with $key = str_replace("*", "{0-9}*", $key) ... no need to do that on the remote address as it won't have a * in it. Now, you can test: if (preg_match($_SERVER['REMTOE_ADDR'], $key)) { die... I know, it isn't as easy as you probably want, but it is one of a thousand or so ways to do it. Want a different example using the explode function on the IP addresses? -- kainaw™ 13:04, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Might it be better practice to block IP ranges at the HTTP server or even at the network level, rather than at the application level? I guess it depends on your application. If you are the server administrator, you can edit the web server settings. Even if you are not, you can create a .htaccess file (this works with most configurations of Apache). (Here's a quick and easy tutorial. Nimur (talk) 14:17, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

That would probably be better, but I'd really need this to work in php so that I can just transfer the entire web folder from place to place and run it in an instant without any server setting up. Thanks Kainaw, I'll give your suggestion a go. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.91.128 (talk) 16:29, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Just for your information... you can have an .htaccess file which specifies such IP blocks in the same directory as your PHP files; and you can move this .htaccess file around with the PHP source (as long as the webserver recognizes .htaccess files, which most standard-configuration servers do). Good luck with your implementation, however you choose to do it... Nimur (talk) 20:51, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Preventing background tabs from playing YouTube movies automatically?

When restart Firefox 3.5, it restores the tabs from my previous session. It's a great feature and I love it. But one problem is if I have multiple YouTube tabs, it starts playing ALL of them and I have to step through each tab to stop the movie. I don't remember this problem in the past. Is there a way to prevent YouTube movies from auto playing unless it's the frontmost, active tab? --70.167.58.6 (talk) 12:01, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I have added the Firefox addon "flashblock" which replaces all flash content with a placeholder. The flash will only load and the movie start playing when you click the flash object placeholder. -=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 12:11, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

There's a dedicated Greasemonkey script for this. -- penubag  (talk) 07:46, 21 July 2009 (UTC)

NooB wireless LAN question

For years I was happily connected to the net via wired LAN or (olde-worlde) modem. But these days I have to be connected via wireless LAN and I'm acutely aware of not knowing what the pluck I'm doing. The wireless router has instructions in Japanese only, which doesn't help, but I can't make sense of the en:WP articles either.

First, the OS I'm using isn't among those for which the manufacturer (Corega) of the wireless router provides idiot-proof instructions. A sticky label on the router tells me that its SSID or ESSID is such and such and that the "network key" is a certain eight-digit number. The OS wants the SSID (unproblematic) and also either or both of "BSSID" (which it glosses as "Only connect to the station with this hardware address") and "MAC address" (which it glosses as "Override hardware address"). Specifying an address that one then overrides makes no sense to me, or perhaps I should say that it makes even less sense than anything else does. Should I then use "BSSID"? Whichever I choose, I'm to supply it in the format "__:__:__:__:__:__": a twelve-digit number; should I type this in from the left, leaving the rightmost digits blank, or to the right, leaving the leftmost digits blank?

Secondly, is a WPA2/WPA-PSK -protected connection to a given wireless router in any way vulnerable to an unprotected connection to the same wireless router? I really don't care if others are freeloading off my LAN as long as they can't sniff what I'm doing. I did once manage to set up one of these wireless routers, protected and all; but I never could figure out how to disable the bonus unprotected network "cg-guest".

Thank you. -- Hoary (talk) 12:06, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

The BSSID and MAC are typically supplied only when one is building an infrastructure-mode wireless network (that is, a bunch of wireless router boxes all connected together). Clients typically need only the network key (and often maintain a mapping table correlating the right key with a given SSID; so when your laptop sees ssid="hoarynet" it knows which of its stored keys to send). So I wouldn't set either of those, but instead look for some other place in which to input the key. Regarding your second question - home routers are set either to allow only encrypted connections or only naked ones (not a mixture); but it sounds like this Corega thing might be a bit fancier than a basic home router (such as the kind found in hotels)? If so it'll have two (virtual) lans, one for the encrypted traffic and another for the naked stuff; if anyone can sniff the encrypted traffic then the router is very stupid, but whether broadcast traffic is visible between the two depends on how the router was coded. You might not think you're doing any (ethernet layer) broadcast traffic, but Windows' wins/smb service announcements ("hi I'm a printer... hi I'm a network share called "porn folder"... etc.) are incessant. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 20:45, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

To disable the CG-Guest account, you need to open up the router's admin page. Then on the left side menu go to LAN側設定 | 無線アクセスポイント設定 | マルチAP設定 and set ステルスAP to 有効. I'll be honest and tell you that I don't know what the setting is for but it makes the CG-GUEST account/connection disappear :)

Ah, perhaps I'm starting to understand. The Corega device is (I translate from the Japanese) a "wireless LAN broadband router", a "super high power 11n wireless LAN", offering "150Mbps" -- which may all sound very grand but actually this little plasticky thing is about the cheapest device I could find (circa &eur;30). I merely want a wireless LAN for use within a single small office in which two people are often using any of five or so laptops to connect to the net and a printer -- this is more convenient than plugging and unplugging a USB cable and trying not to trip over LAN cables. It seems that every Corega wireless router is set up with an unprotected LAN named either "corega" or "cg-guest" (indeed, for one entire week I was connected to the net via "corega" belonging to some unidentified neighbor). In principle, I'm happy if anyone wants to be my "cg-guest"; if this threatened to be a great drain while I was doing some major once-a-year feat such as downloading the latest Debian, I'd simply (?) disable wireless while connected, um, wirefully. -- Hoary (talk) 00:20, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Is it one of these Corega routers? They all seem to have English manuals at the bottom of their pages. If you need the MAC address, it might be on the bottom of the router, near the serial number. And no, AFAIK being on WPA2/WPA-PSK or any other encryption should prevent other people from easily intercepting your data, even if you're both on the same router. It's still not totally secure, but nothing is... Indeterminate (talk) 08:33, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for the tips. No, my device is specific to the Japanese market. And oddly it doesn't much look like any of those shown on that page. (Or perhaps not so oddly, as it advertises itself as "150Mbps".) Any idea on the best way of supplying an eight-digit MAC address to a blank for twelve digits? (Maybe if I took the number as decimal -- which it seems to be -- and converted it to octal....) -- Hoary (talk) 14:53, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Decisions on pyramid of images

I'm unaable to guess the levels of resolution microsoft maps or similar websites possess. When making an image pyramid, How does one decide on the levels of resolution and even the size of an indvidual tile?. Can anybody throw some light please. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.220.46.25 (talk) 13:21, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

If you'd like to view the individual image tiles that sites like Google Maps download, the easiest way is with an HTTP proxy that lets you save the individual downloaded junks as files. For similar tasks I've used HTTPripper, but there are lots to chose from. Google's tile size is 256x256, so that's a pretty big clue that zoomed in tiles cover either quarters or sixteenths (I'd guess quarters) of their parents. This article says there are 17 levels of zoom, and he says it's quarters. Finlay McWalter | Talk 18:48, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Reformatting my Compaq Notebook

My notebook is infected with a weird virus and so I wanted to do a clean format of the HDD and reinstall Windows. Compaq (which btw is now HP) did not give me a recovery disk (which I have used in the past) but instead has a recovery partition on the HDD. How then do I use the partition to reformat and reinstall Vista? Also, will I be able to backup my data before the reformatting is done? I do not want to connect a thumb drive or external HDD to my system to save my data because the external device may also get infected. Help needed. Thanks 116.71.75.2 (talk) 21:04, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Okay so I found out how to do it.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=bph07145#bph07145_xp

But this means there isn't an inbuilt option to backup my data. Can anyone give me an idea on how to do this without letting the virus spread to my other devices? Thanks. 116.71.75.2 (talk) 21:14, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Tap F11 on boot will get you to the recovery manager. you can backup data in there with an external drive. contrary to popular belief you cannot 'infect' an external drive(anymore at least). Data can be corrupt yes, but as long as you avoid transferring over anything that can execute you will be fine. that and pdf files. Ivtv (talk) 21:23, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I don't think the last 2 sentences of Ivtv's answer help the OP much. 116, what you probably want to do is to indeed back up all your data to an external drive, and then reformat your internal drive, reinstall Windows, set up an account without admin rights for normal everyday use, install antivirus software, install all your applications you use, and then, while using your non-admin-rights account, copy your documents from the external drive to your internal drive and make the virus software scan them. There are several ways that documents can indeed be infected. Then take your external drive, put a warning sticker on it, and throw it in a drawer in case you need to get other files you didn't copy initially. Tempshill (talk) 22:12, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I'd recommend virus/malware scanning the external drive before copying the files back to your new, clean system, but yeah, good advice. Indeterminate (talk) 08:17, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply Tempshill, but that is not really an option for me, because I use the external HDD regularly and cannot condemn it to the junk heap. What if I copy data from my internal drive onto a CD? Will that carry the infected stuff? Also, where do I get all the drivers for the notebook? Are they already on the recovery partition? 116.71.78.131 (talk) 11:39, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, I'm confused now. Do you already own an external HDD? If you do, then the virus may exist on both the internal and external HDDs, and my advice would be to get a second external HDD (let's call it "Joe") and then copy the internal drive's contents to Joe, and reformat the internal drive and reinstall everything as described above. Then I'd use your virus software to "clean" or "disinfect" the external drive. And then Joe goes into a drawer. On copying your internal drive to a CD and whether viruses would get copied, too: Yes, because it's some of your files which are infected, and so you're just copying the files to a CD, infections and all. I'd echo Astronaut's advice below, which I think is the same I mentioned above. Tempshill (talk) 05:30, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

When you say a "weird virus", what does your virus scanner say it is? Why do you think reinstalling Vista is the solution - have you not considered cleaning the infection without reinstalling? However, if you insist on reinstalling, I would back up your data to your external drive; reinstall Vista and all your programs including the virus scanner; let it get all the latest updates to Windows, and the virus scanner; connect the external drive, cleaning each file of the virus as you copy them back to the notebook; reformat the external drive to make sure the virus is dead. Astronaut (talk) 17:24, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Freeware Calendar

I am looking for a popular freeware calendar application that I can use. I need one that allows me to create a schedule on one computer, then save it in a file that can be transferred to another computer (with the same app obviously) and then imported into the app on the second computer. Is there an application that will allow me to do this without distorting the original schedule of the second computer's app? 94.7.166.22 (talk) 21:28, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

why don't you just use goggle calender? --Cameron Scott (talk) 21:29, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

does it do everything i need? 94.7.166.22 (talk) 21:37, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I think it does — there is no app, and everything is stored on Google's servers, which you can access from anywhere (using any reasonable platform). It's free, so you may as well try it out. Tempshill (talk) 22:07, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Although, you'll need an internet connection everywhere you want to access the calendar. Unless you sync it with some software on your computer. Dismas|^(talk) 05:29, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Mozilla Sunbird can do what you want, but I'm not sure how easy it is to sync accros computers. Otherwise you might look at List of personal information managers. Or just use google. Personally, I hate trusting outside providers for that sort of stuff, I prefer using my own computers, but I'm forced to admit that Google Calendars works very well.

PS. I'm not sure what you mean "without distorting the original...", perhaps we're misunderstanding that part? APL (talk) 14:47, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

I think he means that the second computer will have it's own user and they want to share appointments between the two. --Cameron Scott (talk) 17:27, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Need help setting up a FTP server

Hey guys. I'm new with this whole FTP thing. I currently use BulletProof FTP Server v2.3.1. I followed many, many online tutorials and instructions on how to set it up, and I've almost got it... but ran into some problems. First of all, it seems that I'm able to connect to the server fine using PASV mode (I have a dynamic DNS name via No-IP), but for some reason I can't get the LIST working. I'm also a bit confused on some things concerning port forwarding. I think I've got everything forwarded correctly but I'm not too sure... Just to clarify, where do I need to forward ports 20 and 21 to? This question goes the same for the range (I'm using ports 50000-50100). If I need to forward them to the machine hosting BulletProof, how do I do that in my router firewall (2Wire 2071) and my software firewall (PC Tools Firewall Plus)? If there are any questions then ask, and I appreciate as much help as possible! Thanks. Vic93 (t/c) 22:31, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

You only need to do port forwarding in the router's firewall, and yes, you forward it to the machine hosting BulletProof. Here's a guide to forwarding a port on a 2wire router. On your software firewall, you just need to open the ports that you're going to be using. In the program window, you probably want to click on "Applications" or "Application Blocking" and define your ftp ports. To find out if everything's working, get a website (like this one) to run a port scan on your ip address (select "common ports" or something). If it tells you that you "failed" because your FTP port is open, then congratulations, it works. Not sure about the LIST problem, let us know if you still have that after fixing the port forwarding issue. Indeterminate (talk) 08:12, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for reply. I opened the FTP ports on my software firewall and forwarded port 21 and ports 50000-50100 on my router. After turning the server online I ran the port checker and sure enough, I failed with port 21 open. So it looks like I'm good there, right? However I'm still getting "426 Cannot Retrieve. Failed. Aborting." and "421 Connection timed-out!" errors when trying to LIST in BulletProof. Any suggestions? Thanks. Vic93 (t/c) 16:37, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, that's strange. In the options window, under "Other", you might check to make sure that the "Command for directory list" is actually set to "LIST". That's all I can really think of. They have a knowledgebase and wiki on that link I just posted, too... you might want to check there. Indeterminate (talk) 22:15, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

How to find out what kind of broadband I'm using?

I'm considering buying a second-hand internet gateway or router, because its cheap. How can I find out the technical details of the kind of broadband I'm using please? Do different types of broadband need different types of gateway/router/modem? 89.240.61.156 (talk) 23:31, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Your IP resolves to "OPAL TELECOM DSL NETWORK" in the UK. So you're using an ADSL broadband connection. Most broadband in the UK is ADSL, which comes over BT wires. The only significant exception to that is people who have Virgin cable; they need a different kind of box to the ADSL folks. Before you change box, you'll need to write down the login parameters (username and password) that are encoded in your current box, as you'll need to enter these into the new one. -- 87.115.153.0 (talk) 23:36, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

In the UK we basically have cable and ADSL. If you tell us your ISP (e.g. talk talk, orange etc) we will be able to tell you what is suitable. Rjwilmsi 07:03, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. The ISP is Talk Talk and the device is either a Zyxel Prestige 700 series or a Zyxel Prestige 600 series. The owner probably disposed of them because they do not offer wireless: I on the other hand do not trust wireless and do not want it. My aim is to get more than one computer using the same broadband connection, while appearing to the ISP to be only one computer. And if possible to allow passing files between computers for back-up purposes. I do not think the Zyxels have any software CDs with them. One computer will be running WinXp (as the ISP requires), the other one or two will have Linux Ubuntu. 78.146.236.46 (talk) 08:00, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Okay, Talk Talk provide ADSL lines, so to replace your modem and provide Internet sharing you will need an ADSL modem router. They cost between about £20 and £100 depending on the features you require. You will find that nearly all of them now are sold with wireless, but you can disable this and use the LAN connection instead if you wish. Personally I have a Linksys router (I'm also on Talk Talk). Because the routers are configured using a web interface it won't matter whether you have Windows, LINUX or some combination of the above. Rjwilmsi 17:10, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

You might be able to get more info from Zyxel tech support, including a copy of the correct manual. One thing to note: the previous owner might have set the admin user and password to something else, but I guess the Zyxel modem has a tiny reset button somewhere. If the Zyxel kit doesn't work out for you, pretty much any wireless modem/router available in the UK comes with two or more ethernet ports and a way to turn off the wireless section (from the modem/router's control panel). Astronaut (talk) 17:13, 18 July 2009 (UTC)