Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 May 4

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May 4

Repairing broken OCLC/WorldCat links

Question: Is there a way to do something like universal search/replace? First, I need to search for "orlabs.oclc.org"? Then, I want to replace these characters with "www.worldcat.org". Finally, I want to check the edited hyperlink each time I make a change.

Background

In 157 articles, the "Selected works" section of an article about an academic may include a hyperlink which stopped working this week. For example, the article about an 18th century Japanese mathematician, Kurushima Kinai included this formerly effective, but now non-working link:

• http://orlabs.oclc.org/identities/np-kurushima,%20yoshihiro$1757 久留島義太 -1757

I discovered that the link works if orlabs.oclc.org is changed to www.worldcat.org. In other words, only one part of the link needs to be modified; and the broken link will be fixed.

• http://www.worldcat.org/identities/np-kurushima,%20yoshihiro$1757 久留島義太 -1757

Comparison text

"In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about Helen Hardacre, OCLC/WorldCat encompasses roughly 30+ works in 80+ publications in 3 languages and 5,000+ library holdings -- <:ref>http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/identities/default.htm WorldCat Identities: http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n83-129007 Hardacre, Helen 1949-  </ref>"

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Perhaps this is best handled one at time?

Is this an appropriate venue for posing a problem like this? If not, where should I have tried to bring this awkwardly explained issue? --Tenmei (talk) 01:51, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

There is a programmatic interface for making such edits with an external script. Because of the disruption potential you need pre-approval (WP:BOT). You could alternatively ask at WP:BOTREQ for someone else to do it. 69.111.194.167 (talk) 02:38, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

smime doc?

I just got an email I had been expecting from someone enclosing an attachment which is supposed to be a document I can view and printout. The attachment is named "smime.p7s" and when I click on (I'm on a mac), a dialogue box opens and asks me "do you want to add the certificate(s) from the file "smime.p7s" to a keychain?" Having no idea what this is, I nevertheless clicked add but didn't see anything happen. So basically, how do I open this document? I looked at the article on S/MIME and now realize its an encryption issue and after also reading there that "Not all email software handles S/MIME signatures, resulting in an attachment called smime.p7s that may confuse some people" but after apparently adding them to my keychain, whatever that is, and after choosing a different thing from the dropdown menu that is accessible when I try to open the doc, "Microsoft intermediate certificates" and clicking add, I still have no idea how to open this email. I thought maybe once I'd done this I needed to refresh this email and the encryption would then act the turn this doc into whatever its unencrypted form is, but no, I just downloaded another version of the same smime doc.--108.46.109.70 (talk) 10:04, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

Apparently, a p7s file is usually a digital signature. This is not a document, just a file that proves the authenticity of the email. I suspect the sender forgot to attach the document, or perhaps you are trying to open the wrong attachment. 130.88.134.113 (talk) 12:44, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

Tilde problems

I've recently started using this computer and found it has an annoying habit - it automatically inserts a space after a tilde. I've noticed this in both Word and IE. How do I get it to drop the space? It's running Office 2007. --Dweller (talk) 14:12, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

Odd. You might want to check whether Autocorrect is responsible. Tool, Autocorrect Options (in Word 2003). --Tagishsimon (talk) 14:20, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. I've checked it (all the various different tabs) and can't seem to find the problem. Would that also control IE? I'm wondering if it's in the Windows settings, and/or possibly for this keyboard? --Dweller (talk) 14:42, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

It would not account for IE (which I didn't spot in your original question; apologies). Sadly I'm on a locked down machine so cannot fiddle in Control Panel to look for the next cause. --Tagishsimon (talk) 15:22, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

What OS are you running? What language is it running in? The first thing that came to mind for me was that there may be some double-byte oddity occurring where some portion of the system is set to single-byte text, it sees your tilde, interprets it as a double-byte character, and helpfully types two characters for you. Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:18, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

lpr with Cygwin

I have Cygwin on a Windows 7 machine. In my .bashrc file, I have tried

export PRINTER=\\\\myPrintServer\\myPrinter

Escaping the backslashes, which, when I type $lpr -D , gives me

Windows Printer Name = '\\myPrintServer\myPrinter.lnk' lpr: printer error: can't open '\\myPrintServer\myPrinter.lnk' for writing: The printer name is invalid.

But I didn't type the .lnk there and don't think I want it. If this is the problem, how do I get it to not append .lnk? If the problem is something else, I'm all ears.

Thanks! 20.137.18.50 (talk) 15:13, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

Unheated storage of Electronics

I have a lack of space in my apartment and am wondering how deadly to electronics it would be to store them in my unheated storage unit off of my balcony? It doesn't have any signs of water leaking in, but I wonder if the cold of winter months and humidity of spring might be damaging to components. The items in question are a couple of xboxs, the rock band instruments and a couple old computer towers/parts put aside for future hobby builds. Thanks for any insight. 142.244.35.91 (talk) 19:40, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

The manuals will have acceptable temperature ranges for both use and storage. The storage ranges on electronics are usually pretty high, but it's best to check each item individually. As far as worrying about humidity, you can store the parts in large bags with an appropriately sized Silica Gel Desiccant pack. They can be collected from electronics you buy, or bought for a few dollars online. My Xbox has a storage temperature range of around 0-150 degrees F. Caltsar (talk) 20:27, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

It's generally a bad idea to store electronics outside. Specifically, I've had experience with LCD displays being ruined by cold. I suggest you keep the electronics inside, and find something less delicate to store outside. StuRat (talk) 05:24, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

It might make a difference if we knew a general location. Advice about freezing LCDs would not be required if the OP was located in Mumbai, but excessive heat would be a concern. Googlemeister (talk) 18:21, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

You should also be careful when bringing anything into a warm environment from a cold one to avoid condensation - this would definitely not be good for electronics. AndyTheGrump (talk) 21:10, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

New iPod

I just got a replacement iPod Touch with my warranty. Is there any way to get all the songs from my old iPod on to the new iPod? I synced my old iPod before getting the replacement, but the songs that I bought directly on my iPod do not show up in the iTunes library. Can I still put these songs on? --Nick4404 yada yada yada What have I done? 22:57, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

Did I tunes create a backup of your iPod? You could try to put your ipod into "recover mode" and do a restore from itunes, i think.. Vespine (talk) 06:06, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

Except if I'm reading this correctly, s/he would have turned in the old one to receive the new one. Googling "redownload purchased itunes" yielded some hope, but I wasn't ever able to find a definite "yes," and how to do it, from Apple themselves. Good luck, though. Kingsfold (Quack quack!) 14:56, 5 May 2011 (UTC)

By default iTunes runs a backup every time you do a synch, so even if they don't have the original iPod anymore, the backup should still be on their computer. Vespine (talk) 23:50, 5 May 2011 (UTC)