Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 April 8

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk 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 on one of the current reference desk pages.

April 8

Custom Equalizer Changes In Songs

OMG I JUST HAD THE BEST IDEA....

ok so you know how you can't a custom equalizer for the ipod, BUT I thought maybe you could convert the files themselves using a certain EQ setting. This is certainly possible. Theres only two issues: What program would do this and could this program do all the files at once? Any ideas?

• also would be good if it didnt just convert mp3s, also converted m4a's*

152.7.20.253 00:16, 8 April 2007 (UTC)name

Yes this had been around for quite a few years now. It is very easy to do with mp3's but a lot harder with m4a's because of the DRM. Anyhow, you don't need EQ. The CD's are mastered according to the music, and any EQ will just worsen it or be used to mask imperfectness in the earphones. You should try and get a better pair of earphones instead of fussing about EQ settings. --antilived^{T | C | G} 23:56, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Ok first: my m4a's have no DRM so that is not an issue. Second: I have $400 shur earphones so thanks for telling me what I should do but thats not an issue either. Tell me why then do most mp3 players (including ipods) come with the ability of changing EQ settings if natural EQ's are really desired. But anyway that's unrelated, ALL I want to know if there are any programs that do this. (Professional expensive programs to Cheap freeware, does not matter) 152.7.20.253 00:16, 8 April 2007 (UTC)name

Ok, in that case, use foobar2000, open the files you want to EQise, select all of them, right click, convert, tick DSP processing, pres the "..." button, find "Equalizer" and move it to the left, select it, configure selected, move the sliders to whatever you want, ok 3 times, go to the place where you want to put them and wait til it's done. This is how you do it with MP3's and FLACS and stuff like that anywyas, and no guarantees it will work with m4a. --antilived^{T | C | G} 01:09, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Yea, it's a personal preference thing. I find high pitched sounds annoying, so turn down the treble. Others may like them and turn it way up. I wish we had the individual tracks available from which the final songs were mixed, so I could turn up a decent singer and turn down an annoying drum machine. StuRat 01:11, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Ok thank you sooo much antilived thats all I was looking for ;)152.7.20.253 01:42, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

You should know that this probably doesn't come free. mp3's and the like have lossy compression, which means that from the original to the mp3, you lose information (and thus quality). Any kind of change to the sounds in the file means uncompressing it, modifying the sound, and then compressing it again. This means you lose quality again on the recompression. The effect may be negligible for just two recompressions (depending on the settings), but then again, if you're used to $400 earphones... risk 12:27, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Yeah i know, the program warned me of this also. But after I converted all my songs (mp4s included) they didnt seem to be a noticable decrease in audio quality, while at the same time the EQ change was evident. So I think this was a success...The only problem is the program takes roughly 24 hours to convert 6000 songs.152.7.20.253 23:02, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

MP3 players and cars

Why is it so hard for car manufacturers to make cars iPod/walkman compatible by merely having line-in jacks directly to the audio system? I don't know much about cars, but this seems to be easily possible for externally powered speakers, so why not with those of a car? It seems that the most common solutions right now are needlessly complicated, such as iPod specific adaptors or tape adaptors with line-in jacks. --JianLi 23:57, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Many automakers are finally starting to come around and do this, my 2006 Nissan Sentra has a line-in port, and I'm pretty sure I've heard it advertised for other makes/models as well. Cyraan 00:25, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Of course, there is still the issue of the jacks becoming obsolete over the life of the car. Remember those huge jacks that headphones used to have ? Would you want to buy an old, used car which accepts that type of jack ? Maybe the same will apply to the current jacks in the future: "What kind of old, piece of crap car is this ? The jack doesn't even have the bandwidth to transmit standard holographic info !". StuRat 01:08, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Those 1/4 inch plugs are not really obsolete, just inconvenient for the average consumers. 3.5mm plug t 1/4inch plugs are still very common in these days. --antilived^{T | C | G} 01:45, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Multi-touch

Where could I purchase a Multi-touch tablet PC? -68.193.147.179 00:17, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

• Hmmm... not sure what that is, but you can look at Ebay, but if it is what I think it is, then you'd have to look at companies that supply the retail point-of-sale trade, you know, where in the supermarkets they can use their screen to press the buttons they want. Rfwoolf 04:00, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Unix and shells

Are there certain types of shells that cannot be installed on a given UNIX variant/OS? If so, are there any reasons in particular? Thanks.

137.99.165.83 01:58, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Anything not expressly written for POSIX? eg., Windows shells. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 58.163.129.56 (talk) 03:32, 8 April 2007 (UTC).

Display contrast

(I posted the monitor question above) - I bought a new monitor for my computer and it is supposed to have really high contrast resolution (3000:1). All I adjusted until now was screen resolution under display properties to the max. The sharpness of my screen is somewhat better but when I watch a video it's in poorer condition that it was on my old monitor. What else should I adjust? Hiilp 02:05, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Just an idea: in your Display Settings, try lower your DPI to 96. Or of course try different numbers. Rfwoolf 04:12, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

I would spend some time changing each of the monitor's settings until you get each to the optimal setting. For example, just because your monitor can support a max contrast of 3000:1 does not mean it's currently set that way. StuRat 04:17, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

I am not sure what 3000:1 means and how good the picture is supposed to be. Can someone explain this to me please. Hiilp 17:12, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm presuming it's a TFT and not a CRT monitor? If your new screen is bigger than the previous, it could be that the native resolution of the two screens are different. This means that the image could be stretched, resulting in an ugly blurry image. You'll have a similar lack of sharpness if the image is bigger than the new screen's native resolution. Check the manual of the new screen, or search for it on the internet, and you'll easily find the native resolution listed (it's one of the most important things when setting up a new screen). Ideally all applications you run on the TFT should be run in the native resolution. However, this doesn't necessarily explain your issues when watching video. Johnnykimble 20:32, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

I think it depends on the context. It probably means 3000 pixels per 1 inch (unlikely) or perhaps it means 3000 pixels per 1 foot. Another context - although extremely unlikely - is the format of your monitor, where for every 1 inch high your monitor is, it is 3000 inchs wide. -- so I'm not sure. Rfwoolf 19:16, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Does the 3000:1 contrast ratio not mean the brightest colour is 3000 times more luminous than the darkest? Johnnykimble 20:22, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

That would indeed make more sense. But having a screen with the ratio of having its width 3000 times its height was a close second I'd say ... ;) Rfwoolf 20:32, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

My monitor is LCD flat screen 19" and on the corner it says "3000:1 Digital Fine Contrast". My old monitor wasn't flatscreen, but it was also 19". I don't know what the 3000:1 means, and I was wondering if someone knows if I am supposed to activate some option or adjustment, because the picture is fine when its still, but any video is poorer than my old monitor's. Hiilp 20:57, 8 April 2007 (UTC) One more thing, is it normal that as you change the angle from which you look at the picture on a LCD monitor, the color also changes - because this doesn't happen on older monitors.Hiilp 21:06, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

If still pics look good but motion looks bad, perhaps the refresh rate is too low. If you have an option to change the refresh rate, try setting it higher. StuRat 03:39, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Oh hang on, it's probably a poor panel response time you're noticing. Forget about the contrast ratio, you don't have to do anything to adjust that. Check the manual for the response time specification. Ideally it should be about 8ms or 12ms. In the early days, response times of 25ms were common, which meant for any moving images, even moving a window across the screen, you would see blurriness and 'trails'. If your old monitor was a CRT monitor, then you'll be even more likely to notice the response time issue with the LCD as CRTs don't suffer from any problems with response time. Fast action or panning scenes in films will be most likely to show up the problem. Unfortunately if your new screen has a high response time, there's nothing you can do to improve it. Johnnykimble 10:00, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

And to answer your other question, yes, the viewing angle is an important factor for LCD monitors. Again, like response time and contrast ratio, this is a pretty important specification when deciding which screen to buy. The large the viewing angle, the more you'll be able to look at the screen from an off centre position without noticing any change in the image. Both horizontal and vertical angles should be considered. Johnnykimble 10:05, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Starting program

When you open a new file it automatically opens with a certain program. How do you change that default program (for .Pdf for example). Because my Adobe reader is not responding and I can't open the necessary files (as "open with" is not available in this case). Hiilp 02:05, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

In Explorer, go to Tools->Folder Options, select the "File Types" tab, and you should see a list of recognized extensions (jpg, pdf, etc). Select the type of file you want to configure, and then click "Change" below it, there you can select the default program to handle it. Cyraan 02:39, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

I had quite a few issues with Adobe Reader, from the huge update sizes, to frequent crashes when opening files - not to mention the occasional paralytic effect it had on my browser when viewing PDFs online. If Adobe Reader keeps crashing on you, you'll need an alternative program, and for that I'd recommend Foxit Reader. I've found it much more reliable than the Adobe one, and much much quicker. Johnnykimble 09:20, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, This solved my problems with default programs and now X-Adobe.Hiilp 17:12, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Load up

Last question - My computer is pretty fast, but it takes 8 sec for a program window to open up when I double click on it (ex. Microsoft word - but every program does this) - and then it takes less than a sec to open lets say file/open. Can I somehow load up programs faster? Thanks Hiilp 02:05, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

You can purchase & install more memory, or possibly a faster hard drive (SATA if your PC supports it). You can also free up some of the memory you already have by disabling startup processes you don't need, MSConfig can do this (Start->Run, type "msconfig" without the quotes, click the startup tab. Do not mess with the other tabs in it, especially if you don't know what they are). Many programs nowadays load one or more processes at startup you don't necessarily need to have constantly running and consuming resources, but be careful what you disable, when in doubt, google the filename, or leave it alone.

Also, a format & fresh install of windows can often speed things up a bit. Cyraan 02:46, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

You can try defragment your hard drive - "So that your programs run faster" !. In windows, click Start -> Run, and type "dfrg.msc" and press enter.

Here's another helpful hint: Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc. This will bring up the Task Manager. Click on the "Performance" tab, which will show you on top how your CPU is performing, and on the bottom the size of your page file. The CPU of course handles all the tiny calculations your computer needs to 'compute' all the time, so when it's handling a zillion different processes your CPU usage will end up quite high. So the interesting thing is, if you boot up your computer and get into Windows, wait for it to finish, how high is your CPU performance? How high is it now? If it's excessively high all the time (when you're not really running any difficult processes) then you could have background programs that are stealing all your thunder. So go into the 'Processes' tab, and look for suspicious processes that are using up a lot of memory - and then, google their names to find out what they are and what they do - and if it's something you don't need or it's spyware then end the process. (Note: ending processes is considered only something advanced users would do - so exercise some caution but fortunately there isn't much you can do that a simple reboot of your PC won't fix - but more importantly you don't want to terminate your antivirus software or some important documents you were working on).

If your computer is still struggling, then look at upgrading your RAM or your processor. Good luck Rfwoolf 04:09, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks guys, this helped me a lot and solved many of my problems. My computer is now faster, as well as my long problem of having to close twenty programs upon a start up is now solved. Thanks Hiilp 17:12, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Good to know you came right. How did you end up solving the problem? Rfwoolf

I "End Process"ed many programs because it turned out that many programs/updates/and so on were running at the same time. And now my computer performs faster (I hope it lasts). (Also, the disabling of programs to activate when I start my computer saves me the trouble of manually closing down ten icons in my right down corner). But, I didn't go through the dfrg because it seems that I have 60% free space.Hiilp 21:02, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

You should run the defrag anyway, free space has nothing to do with file fragmentation. Glover 02:46, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Backup problems

Over the past few years I have been backing up my PC to a 250GB External HDD. This has resulted in a massive mess. All my family files have mixed with my work files and resulted in a great big problem. In total the HDD has 240GB of my files on it -many files a duplications but their are also many originals. I have no idea how to attack this problem. Any suggestions? May Software that will aid in the sorting process? Many thanks for any help :) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by I.scheme.a.lot (talk • contribs) 02:26, 8 April 2007 (UTC).

I don't know how to sort out this mess but I would suggest you to use a better method of backing up such as rdiff-backup. --antilived^{T | C | G} 03:35, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

It would be interesting if there was some software that can do this - I'm sorry I don't know about that - but here's just a suggestion in the spirit of helpfulness:

In windows Explorer, you can right-click on the column-headings which gives you a list of extra headings - make sure you've got "Date Modified" and "Date Created" open - as you'll need either of theses, and of course "Size" and whatever else. Then you could consider going into your mass of files and taking a chunk of it and -- in the case where all the files are in the same folder -- sort the files by "Date Modified" to determine which files supercede the others. Of course if you have two files with the exact same name then you can't put them in the same directory - but indeed that's another strategy altogether: it involves taking one folder, and copying its contents into another folder - when there are duplicate filenames, Windows will prompt you and ask "Do you wish to replace MYWORK.XLS (Size: 40KB, Date Modified: 25/12/1998) with this version: MYWORK.XLS (Size: 63KB, Date Modified: 06/08/2005) - and of course you must say "no" if it wants to replace the newer file with the older one! All in all this can get very complicated.

Another solution is to simply leave it as is, and whenever you need a file approach it on an ad hoc basis - you can push F3 and do a search (you can search *.xls for all "xls" files or you can type "week" for all files containing the word "Week" - and so forth.

Good luck. Rfwoolf 03:57, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

If you are going with Rfwoolf's approach you might find Subversion (SVN) with TortoiseSVN (http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org/) is useful as a tool (it can run on most platforms e.g Windows). If used properly, the SVN system will help you keep track of all the file structure changes that you make as you try and sort the mess out. Once set-up, this means that you DO NOT have to agonise over the "Date Modified" or "file size" attributes etc to determine which files supercede the others. As an extreme example, you could just go-with-your instincts and don't worry about the consequences of ANY cut/copy/move/paste you make as you tidy up the situation. Using tortoiseSVN you could,for example, delete a whole folder of files if you think they are duplications of another folder and do this WITHOUT the dire consequences. If in 6 weeks time, you suddenly notice that you shouldn't have deleted 3 particular files in that "deleted" folder, you could revert your deletion and bring them back. If space is an issue you could even use the internet in combination with a "Subversion server hosting company" as a place to store your "tidied up repository of files". NOTE: This is an over-simplification to get the point accross. Read the software's manual first and learn the basics of Subversion, before you use the software! See: http://svnbook.red-bean.com/en/1.2/svn.intro.html#svn.intro.whatis

By the way, do not get put off and think its all too technical - Subversion is really easy to learn, and there is alot of help on the net from people who use it. (Its useful for anyone who stores digital data, which these days is pretty much everyone. I think it should be taught in schools like 'home economics for your computer')

Subversion is, if you like, a "Wikipedia on your computer". E.g Where your files are like peices of wiki content, that are susceptable to be modified, but it doesn't matter even if they are deleted because they could be brought back. In this analogy there just happens to be a smaller set of collaborators (you and your family).Ronnystalker 10:54, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

see: http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2005/01/06/svn_homedir.html

Another path to follow, (slightly more bizarre thinking here), might be to offer your self as guinea pig for researchers on "The MyLifeBits lifetime store" project. Or just pick their brains via email. They seem to have spent many research-hours on this problem. http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=The+MyLifeBits+system Ronnystalker 11:09, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Were you looking for something like FileSync? Its a program that compares two directories to see which files are different, which are newer/older and which are same in both locations. Thats what I used myself, but it seems rsync can also be used on Windows... Shinhan 11:28, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

MSAccess2000 problem with running wizards

I used to use Access a lot when I was in the IT profession, but I haven't had occasion to for several years. Two years ago, after I'd quit using Access, I reformatted my compy and reinstalled everything. Since then, I haven't had to do a DB until last night, when I discovered that none of the wizards worked. Thinking they just weren't installed, I spent about 2 hours doing supplementary installs, using the repair feature, etc etc to no avail. When I try to run the wizards it doesn't even show a dialog box or notice or anything. I would rather not have to uninstall Office and re-install it; any ideas? If not a fix, at least a good place where I could go to ask? I haven't gone to the MSKb yet, I'm hoping to try a couple of quick things before slogging through it. Anchoress 04:15, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Hmm... yeah, I don't know if there is going to be a quicker way than uninstall office and reinstall it. Sounds like something has borked and doesn't want to go back without a struggle. --24.147.86.187 15:35, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, it's time in a way I guess. Not the time it takes to re-install, but the time it takes to reset all my customisation. But actually I did a bit of looking and it looks like a fairly common problem which re-installation doesn't seem to fix, so maybe it's better that I don't try it anyway. Anchoress 20:04, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

What does "mount a network drive" mean in Unix/Linux?

What does "mount a network drive" mean? I am new to Linux and have viewed my #history on my new dedicated server via SSH and i see the first line has the command

1. mount /somethingimnotgoingtosayincaseitsasecurtityrisk/

I've looked it up and everyone explains this command by just saying it mounts a network drive. BUT what on earth does that mean to a human being??? Arrgh. please help my head hurts. Thanks in a dvance Ronnystalker 04:49, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Look at your /etc/fstab to see the mount table associations. /somethingimnot...' is a name there, and probably has a filesystem type of nfs (if it's a "network drive"). —EncMstr 04:57, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for that. However, i'm not too worried about the particular filename/folder/drive. I'm just trying to work out what "Mount a network drive" means. Does it mean, say, "copy all files from that drive to here" or does it mean "whenever i say x i mean the-network-drive-being-mounted". As far as the dictionary goes mount, means either a "mountain" (i don't think that applies here :o), to "get on top of" and so on... But, none of the dictionary definitions seem to explain exactly what happens in a "linux sense" when a "drive is mounted". I hazzard a gues to think that "one thing is being put on top of another thing". So, is one thing copying onto another thing. Or is one thing physically on another thing? or being Symbollicly linked to another thing, diverted to another thing. Any way hope you can help. P.s thanks for making me explore a bit more my linux anyway. I have now seen my /etc/ folder. ;o)

Nothing is copied, it's like defining an alias. That is, you are telling the computer "whenever I say /home, I really mean the hard disk in the primary master position on my PC". StuRat 05:34, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Sorry I didn't answer the question. It means "make the file system available for access". It derives from the old days where disk drives nearly the size of clothes washing machines used removable disk packs (the size of a medium size wedding cake). An operator "mounted" the desired disk pack when a program requested access with a resource mount command. Under Unix/Linux/etc., it's still the case for tapes, DVDs and floppies, unless some automount software is running. The opposite—umount—disconnects the association between the mount point and the filesystem ("unmounts"), finishes up pending i/o (sync) and takes the file system offline, making it inaccessible. —EncMstr 05:55, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Except that I always got the error "Can't perform the unmount because the resource is currently in use", and I wasn't able to figure out what was using it. StuRat 06:03, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

For me, the most common user of the disk I can't umount is me, having cd'd to the volume and forgotten that fact. lsof can probably help determine who/what's using a volume.

Atlant 00:40, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Don't you wish the unmount command was actually named 'unmount' instead of 'umount'. I make that mistake every time :) Johnnykimble 09:25, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

I do believe you could set up an alias so that 'unmount' points to 'umount'. Similar to aliasing 'rm' to 'rm -i' Freedomlinux 22:29, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Apparently, Pike (was it Pike?) stated that if he had his time over with Unix, he'd add an "e" to the creat system call ;)

Looks like it was Ken Thompson. Not that that old posting is a reliable source, but notice the code comment... Johnnykimble 09:57, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for that StuRat and EncMstr, it really cleared it up for me. As always, it seems, once the good folk of Wikipedia have answered my question here, I end up finding the answer was already waiting for me on this vast resource. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_%28computing%29 I hereby promise to invest some time in learning how to search this site more effectively. (Lol at the "scale references", I checked to see where you were from to see if you were American or not. Cakes and washing machines tend to be bigger over there).

On a side note, I have just read a book on Subversion http://svnbook.red-bean.com/ and been introduced to the whole concept of Revision Control Systems. "Aaahh I geddit! Wikipedia is a gigantic revision control repository for managing knowledge... ding!" - I'm now looking at this site in a whole new light. Ronnystalker 07:07, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Backup .bkf file with Vista

My PC died, but fortunately I have a recent backup of the entire drive c: on an external hard drive made with the Windows XP Backup utility, which creates files with the .bkf extension. However, Vista "Backup Status ad Configuration" on my new PC doesn't seem to recognize the file type when I try to restore. What can I do? Thanks. --Halcatalyst 05:32, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

P.S. I have Vista Home Premium --Halcatalyst 05:38, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

I don't think Vista supports the old backup format... And anyway, if you tried to restore your whole backup then you would overwrite heaps of system files. --wj32 ^{talk | contribs} 09:27, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Check out the Microsoft article which describes how to 'Restore a backup created on a previous version of Windows'. Johnnykimble 09:32, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. I got the utility working and have restored some documents. Now the problem is to figure out which files (besides documents) I can transfer without breaking Vista. For example: can I restore applications? How do I find and restore my Microsoft Outlook data (outlook.pst?). Thanks in advance! --Halcatalyst 14:39, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

As far as applications go, you can consider them 'lost', i.e. you will need to reinstall them. Any application specific data, for example an Outlook address book, account data, or folder store, can often be 'imported' once you've installed the application again on your system. The procedures for restoring this data will vary between applications, but for Microsoft programs they should be well documented. Searching the Microsoft Knowledge Base should give you the answers you need. Johnnykimble 15:03, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Program to change the keys on a keyboard.

I remember PC World magazine once recommended this program which lets you change the keys on a keyboard. For example, you could change the Enter key to the spacebar, so that when you press the key labelled Enter, it acts as if you pressed the spacebar. I am looking for this program because my spacebar is spoilt. It does not affect my typing, but it does affect my gaming. Where can I find and download this program for free? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.189.64.225 (talk) 14:02, 8 April 2007 (UTC).

I don't know of a program to remap keys in Windows, but in most games you can change keyboard key assignments. If you look in the options for the game, you should be able to reassign whichever function was controlled by the spacebar to the enter key (or any key of your choosing). Johnnykimble 14:17, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Some games let me remap the controls if the default is the arrow keys, but for games which need me to use the spacebar, they don't offer options to remap.

Here is one option. I don't know anything about it, just found it during a search. --LarryMac 16:34, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

You could also get a new keyboard? They are not terribly expensive. --24.147.86.187 17:21, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

SharpKeys does a very good job of this [1]. I've used it for similar problems (on a laptop where new keyboards are actually 'terribly expensive'), and also on desktops to remap Caps-Lock to Alt. 194.80.193.188 11:24, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

The Return of the Stickiness

Some of you might remember that I posted a question here earlier, about cleaning some coke out from some electronics, and I was directed towards isopropyl alcohol, rubbed in with a q-tip. Well, it worked great! But there are some more issues to take care of. When this coke can burst, it got into some really hard-to-reach places. The q-tip can't quite get into the "L" and "R" buttons of the Game Boy micro, or the "Start," "Select," and volume buttons, for that matter. There's also the issue of the game slots. Would it be safe to use the isopropyl inside the slots on the GBm and the Nintendo DS Lite (the GBA one)? And the "plug" for the DS Lite's second slot...it seems to have the pins necessary for a game, even though it's empty. Would anything happen if those pins were damaged? Thanks for all the help.--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 15:52, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm afraid that the game slots are a touch too sensitive, and could have been permanently damaged. Your best possibility would be seeking the help of a professional, as I doubt any "home" solution would be 100% effective. --Sn0wflake 05:10, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

I'd suggest taking it apart: the plastic parts (and any screws and such) can probably be simply washed in soapy water, and the button sensors (which may be just thin film contacts) wiped with water or alcohol. If there's any of the gunk on the circuit boards themselves, which there might or might not be, use the alcohol. Just take care not to damage the boards with static electricity while handling them, and make sure you know how to put everything back together again after it's clean and dried. (A useful trick, in these modern days, is to use a digital camera to photograph everything you're going to take apart while it's still together — that way you can later use the photos to check what goes where.) —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 17:33, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Oh, too bad about the pins. Both systems themselves work perfectly well, it's that there's still some sticky stuff around the GBA slots, is all. The digital camera would make taking it apart a lot simpler, true, but I'm probably too much of clutz to mess around inside. I'm going to see if I can possibly smash the end of q-tip to fit into the smaller nooks and crannies. So, just to be sure, the isopropyl will hurt the pins? Thanks.--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 20:37, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

No, I don't think it should harm the pins at all. I was wondering how you were going to clean the slots without dipping the whole device in the alcohol if you couldn't fit a Q-tip inside them, but then I reread your question and realized that you probably weren't saying that at all. So, yes, I'd expect cleaning the slots with a Q-tip dipped in isopropyl alcohol to be OK. (CYA disclaimer: All this is just my guess based on personal experience. Don't sue me if it voids your warranty, makes the problem worse, explodes and destroys your house, or whatever.) —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 02:02, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

It doesn't seem like the pins should be harmed, so I'll ask around a bit more. Nice disclaimer there, but don't worry, I won't and probably can't sue you. I'm too careful to take "I think" suggestions, only "I'm sure"s. Thanks for the help!--the ninth bright shiner ^talk 15:02, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

synchronization

confusing about which synchronization primitives is the best and why? i know about monitors ,semaphores,synchronization h/w.....etc . so i would like to know about it as i am new to this concept and what is the first operating system . help pls thanx in advance.Chakrirajini 17:05, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

"US Server down" for over 24 hours now

After calling through to my Internet Service Provider's technical support, they informed me that everyone's been having trouble accessing domains from certain countries such as the UK or South Africa - and they said the reason was that a US server was down (since over 24 hours now already), and believe it or not I think it's still down 'cos I'm still having trouble! Anyways, I'm not sure I still quite understand. Do they mean that a DNS server is down - or what? If major DNS servers go down, does anybody know where this would be reported? Isn't there like a DNS organisation that could give me some more information?
(If you're bored: Just for interest's sake, I'm having trouble accessing sites like www.madamandeve.co.za and www.iol.co.za - if you wanna try them and report back to me)
Thanks as always Rfwoolf 19:21, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

I can get on both of them - you could try proxying your way around if you are really desperate. Either way, I have experienced some trouble with my forum but not sure if it is the host's problem or a general network issue. Either way, I use this for a quick overview on whether there are any serious issues at the moment, looking for spikes. As for information, I have no idea and would like to know too. x42bn6 Talk 19:26, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Update:
Thanks. But all South African 'co.za' sites don't connect - I end up getting google's results on them - and even www.bsalsa.com (not South African) doesn't go through. One site that worked was iss.org.za but not even the South African government information portal is accessible! I'll just have to wait, but I'd really like to know WHY. Rfwoolf 19:44, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Try doing a traceroute, it'll show you where your connection is hitting a snag. --24.147.86.187 21:21, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

If you want to see if it's DNS, try their IP addresses directly (which would require that someone with a working DNS give you said IP addresses). i.e. [2] and [3] are the two you provided. If they work, even if they don't lead exactly to the expected website, it's probably a DNS problem. In that case, you might be able to use OpenDNS or something as a replacement. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 21:32, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Update:
Just called service provider again, they say they're still working on it - something about a router system or whatnot - the previous consultant I spoke to said it's not a problem with the service provider and its not their fault - but this time this consultant said it is 'a problem with [them]'. Information seems very very minimal - they can't tell me what kind of server, what I can google, what's wrong with it, where I can get more information - zip!
Doing a tracrt on one of the sites lists one IP address before timing out: "10.40.160.1" - which when I type in just gets me to a google search for that term.
Thanks for all your help anyways - when I get to the bottom of it I'll let you all know. Rfwoolf 21:42, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

That's a local IP address, presumably on your ISP's network. That means you're probably not going to find out much about it except from your ISP. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 02:39, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Update: Well, after using a proxy I was able to access a lot more sites - even certain google caches that weren't working before were finally working. Then a few hours later I took off the proxy and things were back to normal. Rfwoolf 03:06, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Batch generation of SVG files

Over at Category:Images which should be in SVG format (or more specifically here) we have about 200 images which are simply Unicode characters (U+2100 to U+21D4). Obviously the requested conversion (well, recreation) should be easier to do with a batch script than doing 200 by hand. Is anyone able to write a script that can do this?

I'd imagine a possible sequence could be something like:

• Construct PostScript/EPS file containing just that character in a font that has it
• Set bounding box (somehow) to be tight to the edges of the character
• Use pstoedit to convert PS to flat PS with beziers.
• Use pstoedit again to go from flat PS to SVG
• Bot upload to WP or Commons, add {{vva}} to the .gif file, replace instances of files with SVG version. (Needs someone with a bot account, presumably.)

Unfortunately, I have no idea how to write any of these stages, and don't have a bot account. Cheers, Stannered 23:02, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Skills for user interface design

What is/are the most useful programming language(s) for someone interested in user interface design to study? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.42.111.47 (talk) 23:04, 8 April 2007 (UTC).

Until someone who is more sure comes along, I would venture to say something in the lines of .NET programming through Delphi or MS Visual Basic or C#. Generally speaking when you create an application you can use components that help you with the interface design - or with some skill you can create your own. So it is possible to do nice interfaces (GUIs) with very little experience, just having the right components - assuming you are referring to Object-Orientated programming. Rfwoolf 23:13, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

.NET Progaming is very easy when it comes GUI design, how ever the software is quite costly, for a cheap c++ GUI try Trolltech's Qt, It's very similare to .NET and you can port it to Mac and Linux (which you can do with the .NET's via MONO, but I've found you can spen days getting it to work). --Lwarf 01:19, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

To get started in Windows UI design, Microsoft offers the free express edition of Visual Studio. You should be able to get a UI up and running really quickly with it. For someone starting off you don't have to code a thing to study the general layout of UI's. For Windows, I'd say this is definitely the way to go. Johnnykimble 01:27, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Though not a programming language, why hasn't anybody mentioned HTML, which is probably the most adaptable markup language for user interfaces? XUL may be interesting to research as well. Heck, many programs including the McCafee (sp?) virus scanner appear to use html/IE as part of the front end interface. Root⁴(one) 04:19, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

XHTML + CSS, and any number of extra things (i.e. SVG, JavaScript). Good fun to be had. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 04:22, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

NeXT's Interface Builder, now in Apple Mac OS X (Xcode?) permits you to create interfaces and attach code to them very simply. It's oriented around an MVC scheme, which is key theory in interface design. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 129.78.208.4 (talk) 03:03, 11 April 2007 (UTC).