Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2016 August 2

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August 2

Color-filling letters with an outline

Hi. I created this picture by cropping a screenshot of a title with outline on LibreOffice and then using the color-fill tool on Paint. However, the result was less than satisfactory, particularly around the edges of the letters. How can I achieve a "clean" color fill-in? Thank you.--90.69.12.160 (talk) 13:15, 2 August 2016 (UTC)

You mentioned Libreoffice. So, you aren't afraid of free software. Use Inkscape. It is a vector graphics tool. You can color the outline and fill separately. Then, you can export it to many other formats. 47.49.128.58 (talk) 14:20, 2 August 2016 (UTC)

I love Inkscape, but I doubt it does the job here. The OP took a screenshot, which means they are going to import a bitmap image; trying to vectorize it is a guaranteed PITA. Of course, maybe expecting to do advanced graphic edition based on a screenshot is the original problem, around which there is probably a way.

BTW, I doubt there are many people in this day and age that are "afraid" of free software in itself. LibreOffice is a perfect substitute or better than MO except maybe for some arcane functions. The problem is rather with stuff like LaTeX or Linux which kick you hard out of the comfort zone because it is so different from the "standard". Tigraan^{Click here to contact me} 16:14, 2 August 2016 (UTC)

I sometimes have to make a document from a template that has pretty colored background boxes for the titles, and OpenOffice can't handle them. —Tamfang (talk) 09:32, 3 August 2016 (UTC)

The problem is that anti-aliasing creates grey pixels around the black pixels which are not filled by the fill tool. What you should probably do is export/print the original text as a high resolution black and white (not grayscale) image, fill that, then resize it to the final resolution. -- BenRG (talk) 19:24, 2 August 2016 (UTC)

Alternately, you can use an image editing tool like GIMP, which has a smart toolbox fill with thresholding that lets you decide how the color filling algorithm should handle transparency and regions of similar (but non-identical) color.

Nimur (talk) 19:50, 2 August 2016 (UTC)

Windows 10 N LTSB

I want to install Windows 10 N LTSB (Long Term Servicing Branch) on five older computers that originally had Windows XP on them. What is the lowest cost way to accomplish this? Microsoft Volume Licensing? Buy individual copies? Sign up to be a Microsoft Registered Refurbisher? It looks like I need to pick a Microsoft Partner if I want to purchase Volume Licensing. Is there any reason to prefer one partner over another? --Guy Macon (talk) 17:39, 2 August 2016 (UTC)

I'm afraid we can't give financial advice on the Reference Desks. Tevildo (talk) 19:41, 2 August 2016 (UTC)

No such policy exists. We have Wikipedia:Legal disclaimer Wikipedia:Medical disclaimer but no Wikipedia:Financial disclaimer. If you disagree, please cite the Wikimedia or Wikipedia policy that forbids giving financial advice. --Guy Macon (talk) 23:51, 2 August 2016 (UTC)

This has been debated extensively, as you may know. The relevant guideline is WP:RD/G/M, which prohibits "medical, legal or other professional advice". The boundaries of "other professional advice" are not precisely defined. The general disclaimer defines "professional" as "medical, legal, financial or risk management", which is a convenient definition for us to use here; however, it's true that this is not set out explicitly. The talk page is an appropriate venue to discuss changes to the guideline, although no such discussion in recent years has actually reached any sort of consensus. Tevildo (talk) 07:36, 3 August 2016 (UTC)

Ping User:Codename Lisa; do you have an opinion on which form of Windows licensing is preferable?   --Guy Macon (talk) 23:51, 2 August 2016 (UTC)

Hi. I can ask around for you. For us, MPSA is a no-brainer because... well, all I'm probably allowed to tell you is that we have more than 5. Perhaps, you should ask FleetCommand, Comp.arch or Jeh too.

Best regards,

Codename Lisa (talk) 08:10, 3 August 2016 (UTC)

As a rough ballpark figure, how much do you think you save per PC compared to buying a $200 retail license for each one? I don't want exact figures of course; something like "around half" or "less than 10%" will be fine. And can I assume that buying a boatload of licenses gets you a better per-license deal than someone buying five?

This is an interesting new area for me. Usually, I either consult with a with a very large company and the IT department takes care of all the licensing, or I am working with a tiny startup that already has a couple of PCs they bought with Windows pre-installed. This time I am working with a smallish but not tiny company creating a new hardware/software product, and we want five computers with different capabilities to test the product on. I found this great drive rack[1] on Amazon that lets me instantly change the boot drive, so I can easily switch booting from Linux or Windows, and choosing windows N LTSB means that I won't get new features auto-installed from Microsoft in the middle of my testing. --Guy Macon (talk) 12:19, 4 August 2016 (UTC)

@CL: I know nothing. Sorry. FleetCommand (Speak your mind!) 10:39, 5 August 2016 (UTC)

I have decided to join the Microsoft Registered Refurbisher program. Besides my current project (which really consists of refurbishing PCs for the engineering department of my client) a few times a year I fix up old PCs and give them away to people who can't afford one. I have been sending them with Linux, but I suspect that some of them end up running pirated versions of Windows.

I will post a followup when I figure out the total cost compared to just buying a retail copy of Windows. --Guy Macon (talk) 18:54, 6 August 2016 (UTC)