Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2006 September 15

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September 15

Backing up a VMWare image.

How do I back up a VMWare image? Last time, I used qemu-img to convert the vmdk image to a compressed qcow image, but when I converted it back, VMWare complained of corruption, and I had to recreate the image from scratch. What exactly do I need to back up, and where did I go wrong? grendel|khan 01:35, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Ah, I can answer my own question this time: I was backing up a suspended machine. If I shut it down first, it works fine---even if I store it as a qcow image to save space. grendel|khan 04:01, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Real VNC internet

Hi i use the free version of real VNC... i was wondering if anyone could provide a detailed step-by step guide on how to monitor computers over the internet pulo 07:32, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

With or without their consent? Luigi30 (Taλk) 15:28, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Does it really matter...... its for personal reasons anyway....... and how wouldent they know.... if there smart enough and even slightley computer illiterate then they would know what the vnc icon in the taskbar meanspulo 02:03, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

c program for led on/off

i had coded a c program as below:

#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
 outport(0x378,1);
 sleep(1);
 outport(0x378,1);
 sleep(1);
 return 0;
}

this program makes the led glow and off when led is connected to the lptport with 470ohm resistor.. when i compiled this program without connecting the led in the lpt port...it has got compiled with 0 errors as well as it has executed with 0 errors with a warning "cannot create "some filename.pdr"".......

how do i execute this program correctly or it is necessary to connect led to the lpt port before executing the program or is there any simulator?

You're writing values to the DATA_OUT register of LPT1, and obviously you'll need to connect your LED&resistor (in this case the D0 pin). But you're writing a 1 both times - change the 2nd outport call to outport (0x378,0). Here's some docs on programming the PC parallel port - http://www.lvr.com/files/ibmlpt.txt Middenface 07:50, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

by nivas

Vista Internet Explorer not accessing un-secure webpages

Hi,

I have this problem with Internet Explorer in Microsoft Windows Vista Build 5600 (RC1). I cannot access un-secure pages (HTTP), but can access secure pages (HTTPS). On Firefox, I can access all pages, and I can also sign in on Windows Live Messenger. I have tried everything!...reseting the IE settings, clearing the DNS Cache, HOSTs etc. I have even tried system restore, but it comes back with an error "system cannot find the file specified". I am running AVG Anti-Virus, and the built-in Windows Defender and Firewall. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks, Ronaldh 07:41, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Internet Explorer handles security using what is called "zones". Go and check your security settings and lower the security for the internet zone, that might help (or it might not, but hey, it's an idea ;) Oskar 07:59, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I've tried that already...and it still didn't work. Ronaldh 08:21, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

• Thanks for confirming Windows Vista sucks. Do you get any error messages when you try to access non-secure pages? - Mgm|^(talk) 10:56, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

I solved it!...it was my fault. Earlier I installed a download manager...that wasn't 'compatible' with Windows Vista. And Vista isn't that bad...its a huge improvement over XP...even with the high sys. reqs. Thanks for your help anyway. Ronaldh 11:24, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

A dual-boot setup

Hi everyone. I'm currently running Ubuntu 6.06 on my machine but I would like to install Windows XP. I've got 15 GB unallocated space on my hard drive where I intend to do it. Since I've never done this before, and I hear it can be tricky, what should I be concerned about? For instance: Ubuntu boots from GRUB, will that be able to handle dual-booting Ubuntu and Windows XP? Will it handle it automatically? And what about the windows setup, is that going to mess with my boot settings and simply over-ride GRUB? Any assistance would be appriciated. Cheers! 83.250.210.255 07:56, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

I am by no means an expert, but in my opinion if you're trying to dual-boot Windows and Linux, you're always better off installing Windows first and Linux second. The reason is that Windows (being monopolistic and evil and designed for idiots) will always overwrite your MBR (master boot record) so you can only boot into Windows. Linux, on the other hand, will let you manually configure your MBR upon installation to take into account the presence of other OSs on the machine.

My recommendation: back up your Ubuntu installation (another hard disk, DVD...), install Windows, and then either reconfigure your MBR (I have no idea how to do this, try searching the internet or wait for someone more knowledgeable to answer) or just reinstall Ubuntu. Good luck! — QuantumEleven 11:22, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

You might also be better off running the XP machine as a virtual machine image under something like QEMU or the free VMWare player. Creating the image takes a bit of doing, but an advantage is that there's no risk of it clobbering your Ubuntu system. I've been running Abbyy Finereader in a Windows 2000 virtual machine here, and it performs perfectly fine. I'd think it would be fine for anything short of gaming. Of course, if you're installing Windows XP, you're probably doing gaming anyway... grendel|khan 13:38, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

I've done this before when my MBR became totally screwed, installed Debian and created a FAT32 partition, then installed Windows, it saw the FAT32 partition (and nothing else :P) then formatted it to NTFS and installed, but didn't touch the MBR. I then had to tell GRUB how to boot the partition, a quick search on google can help you find that information, and it was all hunky-dorey. Though i certainly would suggest installing Windows first, then your Linux installer (should) set up everything including your boot loader for you correctly. Benbread 15:26, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Yes, if you install Windows after Linux, Windows will dominate the MBR and make it look like there is no Linux on your harddrive, even if it is clearly installed on another partition. --Russoc4 20:21, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Thank you all for the help, I actually tried installing it before reading all of your neat comments (sorry 'bout that, I got tired of waiting ;) It wasn't actually that hard when you knew the tricks. I backed up my MBR (expecting it to get messed up) using the "dd" command on windows (thank you writers of MBR!), then installed windows. I then booted up from my LiveCD, mounted my Linux file-system, and restored the MBR from there. I soon realised that that wasn't the best idea, since the MBR also contains the partitioning table, so my computer then thought that my NTFS partition was unallocated space. Realising that, I backed-up only the first 446 bytes of it (ie, the bootstrapper, but not the partitioning table), tried it again, and now it boots perfectly. Configuring GRUB was a breeze, all the information necessary was in the menu.lst config file. I'm now writing this from a grub-booted windows XP. I'm thinking about writing a short guide on how to do it (on the Ubuntu wiki, perhaps), because I couldn't find any good links for it (they all assumed that you had Windows on first). As for using a virtual machine, one of the reasons I wanted windows was the games, so that one was out. The other reason being iTunes, there is literally no good program for handling podcasts and transferring them to an iPod on Linux. Many can do it, but none can do it good (which I realise is apple's fault). Thanks for your assistance though! Oskar 22:09, 15 September 2006 (UTC) (yes that is me, I forgot to log in)

Computerized business Information

What is the impact of computerized business information in business management today?

Check your textbook, the answer should be in there. Luigi30 (Taλk) 15:34, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Bravo! Jdstroy 06:33, 24 September 2006 (UTC)