Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2006 October 12

Humanities Science Mathematics Computing/IT Language Miscellaneous Archives

The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions at one of the pages linked to above.

Graphics Card

I'm about to buy a new graphics card. It has to be AGP as i don't hav a PCI-E and can't afford a new motherboard. I want the graphic card to be able to play most games available now. Ive so far been able to pick the XFX 7800GS Extreme. Is this a good card? Will it performe better than my current Geforce 6600LE? IS XFX a reputable company? Thank for your help!

Check out Resellerratings.com & Froogle. At first glance, the card seems to have good ratings.—Mitaphane _talk 03:22, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Many games look better when played on ati or nvidia cards.. far cry played much better on ATI for example. With XFX you may miss out all the time (or you may just get what nvidia gets since xfx uses nvidia's chipset, I'm not sure exactly how it works) --froth^{T C} 17:19, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

XFX Geforce cards should just be considered nVidia cards. The chipset and the main electronics are the same, it's just the card itself and the assembly that's done differently. Some games do indeed handle better on either ATI or nvidia cards. However, since this card has to be AGP, nvidia is likely the best bet. Last I checked, ATI doesn't make AGP cards that are quite as good as the AGP 7800s, but have switched pretty much completely to PCI-E. As for performance, you might want to check out this chart (doesn't list the 6600LE, but I'm almost certain that it's slower than the plain 6600; note too that I don't recomment Tomshardware for anything but that chart :P). I says that the 7800GS+ is nearly 3x as fast as the plain 6600. No idea if the GS+ is close to XFX's GS Extreme but it's likely fairly close, so this should be a decent indication. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 17:33, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Active Desktop

Why does using active desktop for animations take up so much resources? For example, after this page loads, it runs at a normal framerate. However, if I put it on my desktop, it runs slowly, as well as slows everything down. --JianLi 00:50, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Active Desktop is not a critical process. It is primarily eye candy. So, it runs at extremely low priority. To understand how that affects speed, you'll have to get into computer scheduling theory. --Kainaw ^(talk) 02:47, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

getting files off qemu

I have some files I have on ubuntu server in qemu that I'd like to get to my host OS. What's the best way to do this? Is there any way to make a 100mb floppy disc image or something and mount it in ubuntu, then copy my files to it, release from ubuntu, then mount on my host OS? Or maybe a better way of doing it? Unfortunately the internet isn't exactly an option since I did a server install that didn't give me a web browser (and I don't want to download the iso again to get one). I think it loaded the right madwifi drivers (though ping doesnt work..) however it's a nightmare to set everything up for proxy. Any ideas? --froth^{T C} 05:12, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

The easiest way (if it's qemu's default "raw" image format) is to simply do a loopback mount of the image with the offset= option pointing to the start of the desired partition inside the image. The value to be given to the offset= option can be found by using /sbin/fdisk on the image, selecting expert mode, and printing the partition table; multiply the value at the Start column by 512 (the sector size) to get the value to be used. Usually the Start value is 63 (for the first partition), which means you should use -o offset=32256. The final command will probably be something like mount -o ro,loop,offset=32256 -t ext3 example.img /mnt. Don't forget to umount before running the image again. --cesarb 06:01, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Not only am I not using raw, but my host OS is windows XP. I don't think it's possible to mount the qcow (is that what it's called?) format since it's so tightly managed by qemu --froth^{T C} 06:23, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

You can use qemu-img convert to convert it to raw, and then mount it. --cesarb 20:25, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Then I have to install ext3 drivers for windows -_-. I guess this isn't going to happen --froth^{T C} 20:51, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE REFERENCE DESK

If you haven't been paying attention to Wikipedia talk:Reference desk, you may not know that a few users are close to finishing a proposal (with a bot, now in testing and very close to completion) which, if approved by consensus, will be a major change for the Reference Desk.

Please read the preamble here, and I would appreciate if you signed your name after the preamble outlining how you feel about what we are thinking.

This notice has been temporarily announced on all of the current desks.  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  06:59, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

For convenience, I propose any reactions to this anouncement be limited to Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Miscellaneous#PROPOSED_CHANGES_TO_THE_REFERENCE_DESK. DirkvdM 07:57, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Creating a private online database?

Are there any good tools for creating a simple online database? I'd use Google Base, but I don't want my items indexable, and would rather restrict access to certain users. Don't need anything tubro-charged, just a simple list of items & fields. thanks. Please reply on my talk page. --ZimZalaBim (talk) 09:44, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

FreeSQL might be the sort of thing you're looking for. --Canley 05:08, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Which has more security holes than swiss cheese. Try MySQL and set up a local server (use dyndns). --froth^{T C} 06:55, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Swiss cheese has security holes? Dairy products with buffer overflows, who knew... By the way, who would implement network security with cheese anyway? Seems like it would get really smelly and sticky after a while :) Oskar 02:05, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

WIN-Modems

If my win modem cant be accessed using linux,is that just not a software/device driver problem? And also if newer versions of knoppix support visual basic runtime files(i saw it, but forgot the name) then wont this problem be over???

See ndiswrapper. --Kainaw ^(talk) 16:21, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

categorise the entire WIKIPEDIA

Is it possible to categorise the entire WIKIPEDIA subjectwise(computing,science,religion,etc) onto several DVD or BLU-RAY cds so as to benefit the entire world? Also just the links to images provided? Guess that would be easy as the information is already categorised.

Ever heard of Wikipedia-CD/Download ? ☢ Ҡi∊ff⌇↯ 10:34, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

That looks quite nice, however the article and its links don't appear to say how big the download is. The uncompressed files presumably take up around 700MByte. How big is the zip? -- SGBailey 21:44, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

DVD burner HD/BLU ray reader COMBO

Since DVD's are cheap and Movies are being produced in Blu-Ray/HD format, then why cant someone manufacture Blu-Ray/HD reader DVD/CD burner COMBO????????

Have you even read the BluRay article? They can. Here's just one example of one. —Mitaphane _talk 07:45, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

I asked BLUray/HD READER...

Ah, sorry I misread that. Well it's a little more technically difficult, but possible. LG is looking to release one this fall[1]. —Mitaphane _talk 17:39, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

VCD Format

I have a VCD and the formats of the songs are ".DAT". Are there any ways where I can turn it into some other formats (video or audio). Can it be converted to .mov or .mp3? Thanks!

Uh you could try using mencoder and doing something like mencoder dvd://1 -ovc lavc -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg4:vbr=600 -oac mp3lame -o vcd.avi --froth^{T C} 17:12, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

You can rename them to .mpeg and still play them, in any decent player. VCDs are MPEG-1. --Kjoonlee 23:11, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Also, you can use an MPEG-1 splitting program to split the VCD into tracks losslessly. You can even demux the audio and save the sound files as .mp2 files. This is the most high-quality way you can get individual files. --Kjoonlee 04:24, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Request help on converting hex strings on a page

I have a user subpage (85 KB) where I want to change the color hex strings that occur several hundred times on the page. If you might be interested in doing this or have suggestions on how to do it easily, please go to User talk:NoSeptember/List of Administrators#Note to color changer: where my request is explained in more detail. Thanks, NoSeptember 13:00, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

This is an interesting problem and it's been handled -very- badly. This is exactly what style sheets are for and it's going to take a clever stroke of parsing to extract just the colors from admins' names and change them the way you want. That or you could get the list all over again with new colors. --froth^{T C} 17:18, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Tell me more. Changing of the colors is going to be an ongoing process here, so if the page can be converted to make the process easier, that is an option. I am not sure why it would be so difficult for some sort of program to pick up every instance of a unique 6 character string and change it to another string of 6 characters. I am not a programming expert, but it seems like a straightforward thing to be done. The question is what is the easiest way to do it. If you see problems, please describe them for me. Thanks. NoSeptember 18:45, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

I do not understand what the problem is. Copy the text to a text editor (like notepad). Use the replace function to replace the colors. Then, copy and paste it back to the website. --Kainaw ^(talk) 19:39, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Ah I see, just do a text replace. I was thinking that since those colors are used on the page already it would change them too, but actually looking at the html of wikipedia, it seems pretty modularized into linked style sheets.. so yes notepad would probably be a good choice. --froth^{T C} 20:31, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

I tested it and it works. Problem solved. An obvious solution to those who know what they are doing, unlike me, one who rarely uses notepad. Thank you both for the help. NoSeptember 00:41, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Server Error

One of my servers (Gateway 9315) has the following error: "Initialize runtime language module." Any clues what that means? More specifically, how to fix it? --Kainaw ^(talk) 18:26, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Apparently it's having trouble getting past POST checkpoint A4. You might want to take a look through this thing --froth^{T C} 20:46, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

After waiting on hold for the afternoon, it turns out that it is not an error at all. After post, it just randomly throws out error messages whenever it feels like it. Great server design. --Kainaw ^(talk) 00:32, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

How to play OGG videos

Hello, I want to view some video clips hosted by Wikipedia, but they're in .ogg format. Is it possible for me to download a driver enabling me to view .ogg videos on Windows Media Player or Quicktime? Or do I need to download a separate program specifically to view these video files? It'd be a lot easier if files were just hosted as .mpeg. Thanks, NIRVANA2764 19:45, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Firstly, mpeg is a proprietary video standard, which ogg is a patent-free open standard for video and sound, so that's why Wikipedia uses it. Secondly i'd seriously consider ditching any current media player you have, replacing it with VLC Media Player. If you can find something that wont play, i'll eat my DVD collection... Benbread 20:43, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

VLC is bloatware. Install the ogg directshow filters if you want to use WMP. --froth^{T C} 20:49, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Personally I would recommend the Illiminable codec, but any .ogg codec will allow you to play the videos in the vast majority of players ( all those that use the DirectShow system ). Robmods 21:28, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

VLC isn't bloated, it's inredibly lightweight! Of all the media players available for linux, VLC is by far the lightest. MPlayer can't even compete. Oskar 10:25, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

I have VLC media player, and I want to change the settings that determine what file formats VLC is the default media player for. I have searched and searched through all of the settings I could find, but haven't been able to locate it. Could anyone lend me a hand and tell me where to find those settings? Any help is appreciated. --71.117.44.209 22:26, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

It doesn't seem to have any option of doing that. Kinda strange, but you can still easily do this yourself through the OS. In windows, when you see a file that you want to change the association for, right-click and select "Open with..." (it might be called something else, I'm not entirely certain) and you get a dialog long list of software that you can use. There should be checkbox where you can select something like "Always open this type of file with this program". That should do it. There are more advanced ways, but this is really enough if you just want to change what opens a file. Oskar 02:00, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the help, Oskar. 71.117.44.209 02:12, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Pin Number Solver

Hey ya'll!

I'm after a very specific number or equation, used to crack numbered locks. It is used by repeatedly entering the number or equation - and, after continually entering the number, the door, lock, or other password opens.

I know that this number exists from an X-Files fan book, which covered series 1 and 2. In one of the episodes in series one and two, Scully and Mulder used this number/equation/code to get through a number-lock door. They had to repeatedly enter the number, and, eventually, they opened the door.

I can't say more than that, unfortunatly. However, if anyone has any other useful number/equation that does something similar to that, I'd love to hear about it. Scalene 22:03, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Wouldn't x+1 work? First try 0000, then 0001, then 0002, all the way up to 9999. I don't know about the continuous entry mechanism though. I've never encountered a lock that just opens after entering the wrong code over and over, but I'm probably misinterpreting you there. Hyenaste ^(tell) 22:13, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

It could be. I don't actually know what the number is: I'm just trying to figure out what the number thingos special 'name' is. Scalene 22:27, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

EDIT: Found it. de Bruijn sequence. Scalene 23:34, 12 October 2006 (UTC)