Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 June 19

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June 19

Wordpress MP3 plugin for dummies

I have a client that is using Wordpress. He wants to have an MP3 player plugin. He cannot do FTP. He cannot edit HTML. He cannot do anything that requires memorizing commands or keywords. He cannot perform the single task of adding a song to his site if it requires more then 3 steps. So... Is there an mp3 player Wordpress plugin that has an admin thing that is merely a list of mp3 files where you can delete ones you don't want anymore and upload new ones? -- kainaw™ 00:06, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

I don't have an answer to your question, but the following thought occurs to me :

Couldn't you put a link on his desktop (or get him to) that is an FTP link to the mp3 folder? Then he could copy/paste to it like it was on his own computer using explorer's built-in ftp capabilities? (Then use a plug-in that just uses that folder.) APL (talk) 20:51, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

That is what I would do if I could find a plugin that plays all mp3's in a folder. All of the plugins that I've found require you to place links or object variable code in your text. -- kainaw™ 00:45, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

While I'm not keen on mucking about with my wordpress to try it, Folder Full of Mp3s claims to do just that. Did you try that one? APL (talk) 22:41, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

I installed it and, with some pain, got it to do what I think it should do. I hoped it would play the songs, but it lists each song instead. The user has to click a song title to hear it. That isn't what my client wants, but it is a step closer. -- kainaw™ 00:02, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

mp3-jplayer turned out to be what I wanted. It plays songs from a folder instead of just listing them. -- kainaw™ 02:34, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Excellent! APL (talk) 03:20, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Uptodating drivers for Windows XP

Hello to so many cooperative people. Please excuse my uneasy English, I'm French. Are there reliable websites updating on line all the drivers of a configuration working under (a French) Windows XP?

That's an advice given before installing some games as the Tomb Raider's. Thank you very much for your collaboration. Rheims -France---80.236.117.41 (talk) 14:16, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

Try http://www.update.microsoft.com which requires using Internet Explorer. 92.24.177.159 (talk) 10:13, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Search for files in Windows 7

Resolved

How can you search for files by filename in Windows 7? In previous versions, you could enter part of the file name ad also had options for the size, date, etc. That is missing in Windows 7 and if I enter a part of a filename in "search", it comes up with nothing. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 15:41, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

I had a similar problem and couldn't find a way to fix it. I use this instead. It works quite well although sometimes crashes AvrillirvA (talk) 17:51, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

If all else fails you can start a Command Prompt and type dir *partialname* /s/b. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 20:32, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

Command line forever! Thanks, that should work, but XSearch looks good. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 22:39, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

It is a builtin function on the start button, click the windows symbol and just type the filename you are looking for and it lists the matches. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 11:48, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

With the Vista and Windows 7 search I've found it useful to add a wildcard (asterix) if you are searching for a part of a word since sometimes it seems to not find results for partial matches (although it does other times). If you just want to find a file name try using name:SEARCHTERM to speed up search times. However I've found Windows Vista/7 searching very slow for searching for filenames when the content isn't indexed even when you use name: You can also add other search filters like size: etc and these should appear in the search bar in explorer if you don't remember them. Nil Einne (talk) 17:20, 24 June 2011 (UTC)

IPod formatted Mac/Windows

Someone helpfully "ripped" my CDs and loaded them onto my IPod. However, that was done using a Mac, and it seems that the IPod is now "formatted for Mac". When I try to link it to my PC, I get a message saying that I need to reformat the IPod for Windows. Am I right in thinking if I do that that I will lose all of the files now on it? If so, what would be an easy way to keep the existing music and yet be able to add more in future through a PC? Thanks. Itsmejudith (talk) 17:26, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

"Mac formatted" means that the hard drive is HFS+. The problem is, Windows machines can only read NTFS or FAT32. So as far as the PC is concerned, the Mac's hard drive is written in Chinese and the PC only speaks English.

The easiest solution (out of a few possible) is to use a third-party utility, like MacDrive, to allow your PC to speak HFS+ temporarily, so that you can copy the music files off and reformat it. MacDrive has a free trial download that should work fine for your one foray into this. With MacDrive enabled, you should be able to see the music directories if you have "show hidden files" enabled on your "My Computer" interface. They will look like a bunch of files with MP3 or MK4 extensions and should be organized in folders by artist.

After copying the music to your computer, then go in with iTunes, reformat the iPod in Windows (FAT32) format, and then re-import the music files into iTunes and copy them onto the iPod. (Don't just copy them directly in My Computer — I think iTunes will be necessary to set up the iPod database correctly.) (If you are given an option between NTFS and FAT32, I'd do FAT32, just because it's the more compatible format, so that Macs can also read it.) --Mr.98 (talk) 17:50, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

Great, will try that. Itsmejudith (talk) 20:01, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

Rename all subfolders by adding the same prefix

I have a directory with many sub-folders in it. I would like to add the same prefix to all these sub-folders, but not to file-names or anything else. Is there an easy freeware program that can do this? I tried searching for one, but have not found one that only works on sub-folders not files. Thanks 92.29.112.168 (talk) 19:20, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

Are you using Windows or a Unix-like system? On Unix-like systems, it should be possible to do this with the standard Unix command-like tools alone, although the syntax might get quite hairy. I don't know if the same thing is possible on Windows. JIP | Talk 20:04, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

Bulk Rename Utility can do this. In the "Selections" section check Subfolders and uncheck Files AvrillirvA (talk) 20:12, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

Under Linux, use mmv. Under Windows, I believe Rename-It! can also do this. Hans Adler 20:17, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

Note that the OP only wants to rename directories, not plain files. Can mmv do this? If not, a simple find command to find all directories coupled with the mmv command should work. JIP | Talk 20:24, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

You can do this from the command prompt (cmd.exe): for /d %i in (*) do ren "%i" "prefix%i". In Windows Vista or later, you can shift-right-click on the folder that contains the subfolders and choose "Open command window here". In XP that action isn't available by default, but you can add it. -- BenRG (talk) 02:09, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Progress bar for auto-fsck (Ubuntu 10.04)

One of the things I didn't really like, when upgrading to Ubuntu 10.04, was the splash screen at startup that hid all the log messages. Anyway I figured out how to turn that off (in /etc/default/grub, change the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="", and then run update-grub).

But one of the main reasons I wanted to do that is, I don't like it when the system runs fsck and tells me it may take some time, but gives me no indication of how much time or what sort of progress it's making. And it *still* doesn't tell me that. So I want the auto-checks to run fsck -C so that I get a progress bar. Can anyone tell me how to find the script that it's running so I can change that (or maybe better, any configuration file used to generate such scripts)? --Trovatore (talk) 22:31, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

http://webchat.freenode.net/?nick=fdiskOhMy&channels=#ubuntu ¦ Reisio (talk) 15:30, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

There's a whole IRC channel about it? How complicated can it be? Can't I just throw in a -C somewhere? --Trovatore (talk) 20:05, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

Facebook question

I've never used facebook and still don't really want to (at least not as most people do) but I ended up setting up an account just to check for updates on various events etc but I didnt want people to know I had made an account so I didn't make any friend requests to the people in my email contacts. However on Facebook it says so-and-so is waiting for me to accept their requests. Do these people know that I have an account now? i think they are just requests made ages ago before I ever touched facebook and now Im seeing them on the facebook account but im not sure. --178.208.205.227 (talk) 22:49, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

No, those are in fact requests made to you since you created a facebook account. As soon as you create an account, you are searchable via facebook's database (unless, perhaps, if you fix your privacy controls to the strictest settings). Also, if you've ever "commented" on any of those events you were monitoring, people who are also monitoring those events can find you easily and bother you with friend requests, etc.. I recommend going to your privacy settings ASAP and switching everything to the most restrictive setting, which I think is "Friends Only." If you don't accept any friend requests, then you can keep a large part of your interaction with facebook private, I suppose, although you probably still can get friend requests, since facebook is based upon making electronic friends. To emphasize the point, make sure you update your privacy settings (e.g. your account is [or was last time I updated my settings] indexed by Google by default so people can search you through Google's search engine). It may also help if you don't provide your real name or any other information about you. Hope this helps you somewhat...I realize reading it over that I kind of ramble. BTW I share a lot of your sentiment about facebook--el Aprel (^facta-_facienda) 05:15, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

If you gave facebook data about (for example) your highschool graduating class, it will actively tell people about your existence unless you've told it not to.

Every time I log into facebook it has a panel over on the side with a couple people who graduated from my college or my high school the same year as me, suggesting that I might want to friend them. APL (talk) 08:08, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

This all makes sense if you're using facebook for it's original purpose, but now that it's being used by so many groups as a sort of online newsletter server, I agree with you that it's a bit aggravating that facebook is so aggressive in trying to find friends for you. APL (talk) 08:09, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

...and people ask me why I don't have a Facebook account. Astronaut (talk) 17:32, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

Well, yeah, okay, but it's a social networking site. It's kind of like going to eBay and complaining about "all those ads for auctions". Matt Deres (talk) 19:51, 21 June 2011 (UTC)