Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 July 6

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July 6

Booting From a USB Flash Drive

Hello! I've been looking at Puppy Linux as the OS for booting from a 2GB Sony MicroVault I own, because I heard it is a fast OS and it comes with its own software to format the USB flash drive after you run it from a live CD. My two questions:

1. Once I boot from the USB flash drive, will I be able to access files from the hard disk drive on my computer, even though I'm using the OS on the flash drive?

2. Once I format the USB flash drive, will I be able to delete everything on it and use it as a regular flash drive again?

Thanks a lot!--El aprendelenguas (talk) 00:50, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

To answer the second question first: yes, formatting a drive will delete all data and software on it immediately. As for your first question: I've never used Puppy Linux, but, as a repair OS, it almost certainly has the ability to mount hard drives with various filesystems. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 01:29, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I've used Puppy Linux regularly for a couple of years now. Whilst compromises have been made to keep it under 100 MB, I certainly wouldn't call it a "repair OS". Booting from a CD, it creates a RAM-disk for the OS which explains why it is fast even on old hardware (it ran at an acceptable speed on a 400Mhz PII with 128MB of RAM). To answer your first question: Puppy has a drive mounter application on the desktop making it easy to access data on your hard drive. Astronaut (talk) 16:50, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Phone as Clock

I want to use a java enabled flip-phone as an alarm clock. It's small (so travels well), and it's one less thing to take on holiday. The idea being, when you go to bed you open it, and leave it there - of course because the screen sits at an angle to the keypad, it will stay open. But there are many, many, many java clocks out there for phones. Does anyone use one who can recommend it? Preferably one which fills the whole screen.78.144.174.167 (talk) 00:51, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I don't know what kind of a phone you have exactly, but I believe that all modern Nokia phones, at least, come with an alarm function as it is, and I'd be surprised to learn that other manufacturers have neglected to include it. I mean, I don't think I've owned a separate alarm clock for close to a decade now. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 11:58, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. It's a Motorola, however. What I had in mind was one which the clock would dominate the screen, making it easier to see from your bed :-) like a conventional bedside clock. I discovered it has a function to use Java screensavers, I thought that would be a nice way of doing it. Then it would start automatically after a few minutes. 78.149.106.37 (talk) 13:05, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Vista

Resolved

 – StuRat (talk) 19:28, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Does vista have WordPad , notepad etc (or is it horribly broken!)..

seriously I'd like to know.87.102.86.73 (talk) 13:06, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

ok read the articles now. ignore or delete question..87.102.86.73 (talk) 13:08, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Impossible to enter my BIOS

I have a PC running Windows XP professional and after some changes to the boot sequence in my BIOS, I am not able to enter it anymore. No matter if I press F1, F2 or Esc. These buttons don't work anymore. The rest is working Windows boots as before. What should I do? Can the BIOS be reset from the OS? What has happened? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr.K. (talk • contribs) 16:41, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

You can usually reset the BIOS by removing the battery from the motherboard and leaving it out for ten minutes. Google your motherboard type for help. Exxolon (talk) 17:13, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

It's also a good idea to search around in your computer manufacturers support pages and see if they have some helpful advice. Chances are you're not the first person that this has happened to. --Oskar 21:42, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, I have an ASUS laptop and it should have a jumper somewhere where I can reset the BIOS. I still don't know where this jumper is. Should it be near the processor, RAM or HDD? These places are easier to reach since you have only two screws on them. Otherwise I'll have to take the whole laptop apart.

A long shot, but are you using a USB keyboard? They often fail during this part of the boot sequence, so keep a PS-2 board around just in-case. Also, maybe whatever you did to the BIOS changed the default key to enter it, so try some different combinations from here. Also try resetting the BIOS by removing the cmos jumper from the motherboard for a while. And if you know the maker of your bios, the manufacturer's web site may have a utility to reset and update the bios within Windows, without opening your pc. JessicaN10248 12:42, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

• A follow up question - out of curiosity - would be: what did it happen? And why is the OS still booting? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr.K. (talk • contribs) 08:39, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Wiki diff question

Resolved

 – StuRat (talk) 03:25, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

I have this diff: [1], and want to know which "-N" flag was removed from the wiki table. However, the diff doesn't seem to give me enough info to tell, except that it says the change took place on line 849. I'd really prefer not to have to count off 849 lines, however. So, is there an easier way ? StuRat (talk) 21:51, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

1. Hit the "(edit)" link next to the "Revision as of 18:55, July 5, 2008" header.
2. Copy the full text from the textbox into your favorite text editor.
3. Use your favorite text editor's "go to line 849" command. (e.g. 849G if you have good taste)

Alternative method: use both "(edit)" links, copy the 2 versions of the wikitext into separate files, and apply your own favorite diff command locally.

The affected row was this one:

! style="text-align:left;" | RCA
| style="text-align:left;" | DTA800B1
| {{No}}
| {{Yes}}
| {{Yes}}
| Thomson_SA|Thomson
| [[Broadcom]] [http://www.broadcom.com./collateral/pb/3543-PB04-R.pdf BCM3543]
| SoC Integrated
| {{unk}}
| {{partial|Now/Next}}
| D
|-

--tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 22:31, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Unfortunately, I'm on a Windows box here, so use MS Word as my not-so-favorite editor. Is there a way to jump to a line number in Word ? StuRat (talk) 00:38, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Use Notepad or Wordpad. Word is not a text editor. It is a word processor. In this case, the difference is huge. It is Ctrl-G in Notepad if I remember back that far into my distant past well enough. -- kainaw™ 00:44, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Thx. StuRat (talk) 02:30, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

If this problem comes up frequently, you make a Wikipedia feature request for some way of getting more context lines in a diff. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 05:41, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Best suggestions for a text editor on Windows, for this kind of usage: Metapad (which you can rename as Notepad.exe and just overwrite in the system folders). If you want more features, look at UltraEdit too. FT2 ^{(Talk | email)} 08:59, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks all. StuRat (talk) 03:25, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Playing diablo2 on lan question

On my house i have 2 pcs on lan, "PC A" and "PC B". I can host diabblo 2 with PC A, PC B is able to enter on the lan game and play togheter with PC A. But if I host with PC B I PC A can not enter in PC B game. Why this is happening??? 201.79.38.20 (talk) 22:49, 6 July 2008 (UTC)

I'm guessing here, but the first thing I would check is whether PC B has a firewall installed that keeps PC A from seeing the hosted game. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 23:20, 6 July 2008 (UTC)