Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 August 6

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August 6

3D GPS or similar

I've always wanted a device one can carry around (here in the UK) say a distance of a few miles, and have it record at least specific points on the route. It would give you your displacement from a given point in three dimensions, when you pressed a button on it. The problem is I have a feeling these will be designed for companies that can, and do, invest a lot of time and money surveying ground, and would therefore be prohibitively expensive. It's only an interest of mine, so I could do with one on an absolute shoestring - and the spec's not too high I hope. Thanks. Grandiose (me, talk, contribs) 14:54, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Most GPS that can save a log can also save elevation data. The question is, what do you want to do with the results? If you want to graph them, you might want to look at GIS software. Nimur (talk) 16:17, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

A quick web search turned up GPS Visualizer, a free-to-use online tool. You can also find loads of products that can save logs: a web-search for "gps logger" returns numerous products. Verify that the one you buy can save elevation. Nimur (talk) 16:19, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Laptop's battery behaves strangely and reviving it

I recently bought a 6 year old laptop, and the seller said that it hold charge only for a minute. He is indeed right, when the green light is on , indicating the battery is full, it retain charge only for a minute. Strange thing is, evne when plugged in, the green light turns to orange, meaning battery is not full and starts charging again. In other words, it somehow loses charge even when powered and the laptop is on use. It is a lithium ion battery and i read that freezing it could revive it, im thinking i can put it in the freezer in the coldest temperature for a day.

Do I have to wait till it dies or can i freeze it right away?. should it be completely drained before i freeze it?. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.99.136.3 (talk) 15:29, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Normally, I thought freezing was only supposed to work temporarily for failing hard drives, so be careful you haven't got the two mixed up. Chevymontecarlo - alt 15:34, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Those batteries are too far gone for any "tricks" to work. Replacement is your only option. Six year old Li batteries are ancient, particularly if they worked daily. Roger (talk) 17:42, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, probably. Chevymontecarlo - alt 09:53, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

html

On Windows, when you delete a html file it automatically deletes it's resource folder for css and images etc. How does Windows know to delete this, and is there away way to stop it? 82.43.88.151 (talk) 15:40, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Rename the folder or the html file. Sandman30s (talk) 16:32, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for posting this question, 82.43. I was sure you were totally wrong about the symptom you asked about, but tested it myself and am astounded that XP indeed decides that it has the authority to go and delete a whole folder that I never told it to delete. My faith in somebody is shaken. Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:51, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

{ Windows explorer | Tools | Folder options | View |Managing pairs of Web pages and folders } = "Show both parts and manage individually". -- SGBailey (talk) 21:19, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

All versions of "Windows" do this by default (also when moving files). Microsoft calls the associated collection of files a thicket. Dbfirs 08:44, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

XP DLLs

Is there anywhere a list of all these damn dlls and what they do?--88.104.82.31 (talk) 18:53, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

On Wikipedia, this was as close to something as I could find, but elsewhere on the Web I would say yes, probably, although I'm not sure exactly where. Chevymontecarlo 19:29, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

This site Win DLL might be a good start for at least a list, but what they do may be more difficult. Searching each one individually, though, would yield a lot of information. --rocketrye12 ^{talk/contribs} 20:24, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

Upgrading graphics card

Alright guys, I have a Dell Latitude 620 laptop. And the graphics rendering is so slow it's hideous: even Hulu takes up my full processor (games are bad enough I can't play either). is there any way to upgrade one's graphics card on a laptop? Any recommendations? Oh and it looks like I do have a slot open on the left, which I assume is PCMIA or whatever it's called. Magog the Ogre (talk) 18:59, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Most laptops do not have upgradeable graphics cards, and assuming you're talking about the Dell Latitude D620, your laptop is no exception. Here is the service manual for the D620, which discusses how to install a hard disk, DVD drive, memory, wireless LAN card ... but it appears the graphics chipset is on the motherboard and there's no option to add a different one. Your PCMCIA slot lacks the high bandwidth necessary to hook up a graphics card — some manufacturers make PCMCIA graphics cards, to my surprise; but I'm sure the performance is horrible. Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:12, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Could the performance possibly any worse than what I have right now? Magog the Ogre (talk) 20:21, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Almost certainly. The PCMCIA card I found uses a chipset from Trident (?!) meaning it's a last ditch solution for people who require a second monitor at any (performance) cost. By the way, run "dxdiag" to see what sort of chipset you have — the above link about the D620 was slightly confusing to me but seemed to be stating that Dell offers one configuration with an Intel graphics chipset and a different configuration with an NVidia chipset. You should of course make sure you have the latest graphics driver for this chipset, though since you're a gamer I have taken it for granted that you've already done that. Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:59, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

Hulu's performance might not be limited by the graphics card; decoding video is traditionally a CPU task. Apparently Flash player does have the ability to offload to the graphics card, but I don't think it's necessary; watching a Hulu video on my machine took up 12% of one CPU when I tried it. But playing video involves a lot of data being schlepped around, and not having enough RAM can make things super slow (and the process of swapping can peg the CPU). When you're trying to watch video, is switching back and forth between applications slow? Paul (Stansifer) 00:41, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

(Struck out an argument which, on retrospect, was completely bogus, since my computer has a graphics card, too. But I still suspect that Hulu is way more likely to run into a space limitation than a raw computational power limitation. Paul (Stansifer) 01:25, 7 August 2010 (UTC))

I am in no way a "gamer", but it would sure be nice to be able to... play some games. Actually I'm using Ubuntu, so I can't run dxdiag. But I'll give you a dump of lspci, which displays all of my controllers:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2 (rev 01)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 3 (rev 01)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e1)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 01)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller (rev 01)
03:01.0 CardBus bridge: O2 Micro, Inc. OZ601/6912/711E0 CardBus/SmartCardBus Controller (rev 40)
09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM5752 Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)

I also don't have a clue if my drivers are up-to-date; normally Ubuntu's software center handles that automatically though. Magog the Ogre (talk) 03:26, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

So you've got the version with the Intel graphics chipset; from what I can gather from the literature linked above, your laptop could be configured at the factory with an NVidia graphics chipset, probably superior; you might want to call Dell and ask if there is any way to upgrade your graphics to the NVidia variant (or to upgrade your graphics hardware in any way). But I think it's a dead end, unfortunately. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:37, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks so much, your help is great appreciated. Magog the Ogre (talk) 22:53, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

How do I upload a photo to a page I just submitted

I recently created a new wiki page, Fariborz Maseeh. I'd like to include a photo of him. How do I do that?Kfmwork (talk) 22:00, 6 August 2010 (UTC)

See Help:Files for instructions on adding images. I suggest you address the concerns that have been raised on the article (the notices that have been added to the top) first, though. They are more important. If you don't add some references that confirm the subject is notable, the page will probably get deleted (you don't need much - just a newspaper article about him is fine). --Tango (talk) 23:58, 6 August 2010 (UTC)