Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 May 21

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May 21

Faux Tibetan font

Does anybody know where I can find a faux Tibetan font? One along the same lines as http://www.dafont.com/alhambra.font, only for the Tibetan script instead of Arabic? 64.179.155.63 (talk) 01:31, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

LapTop battery

I'm sure this question was asked million times before, but what is the best way to use ion-litium battery so it keep its performance for long time?--Gilisa (talk) 09:46, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Well, I think you can calibrate a battery by running it all the way down and then charging it all the way up again once a month. However, if you do this all the time it can wear the battery down over time. Sometimes your manufacturer can provide more information and tips on your battery care -I know with a Mac the details are in the little Quick Start guide. Chevymontecarlo 15:47, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Just spotted this, after completing a response to the question immediately below. I think my comments there would apply here as well. Astronaut (talk) 10:11, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Thank you both for your helpful replies.--Gilisa (talk) 20:36, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

I'm surprised no one has linked Lithium ion battery#Guidelines for prolonging lithium-ion battery life. Basically don't run it down if you don't have to (ie. keep a laptop running on AC if you can), and keep it cool. Some people remove their laptop battery when running on AC but I never bothered to do that since my laptop isn't hot enough to significantly heat the battery above room temperature (and yes, you won't damage the battery if you leave it charging - the charging circuit is smart enough to stop when it's full). If you know you're not going to use the battery for a reasonably long time (a week+), discharge it to around 40% and store it in a cool place. I've even put my laptop battery in the fridge before, and according to Ubuntu the real capacity is still 50.8Wh after 9 months of use, higher than the rated 48Wh. --antilived^{T | C | G} 09:10, 23 May 2010 (UTC)

LapTop battery (lifetime)

What is the lifetime of a Dell laptop battery? --Extra 999 (Contact ^me + _contribs) 11:38, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Same question for Lenovo G550.--Gilisa (talk) 13:19, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

It depends on what you consider an acceptable time on a charge. I have a ten-year old Thinkpad with an original battery that I use as a portable in hotel rooms, etc. when plugged in, but the battery life is only 10 minutes. This is fine for me but anyone wanting battery operation would consider it dead! -- Q Chris (talk) 13:33, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

It also depends on how the battery has been used. (My Acer battery had a life of 3 hours when new, but after 32 months, the life is reduced to about half an hour.) Dbfirs 16:09, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

My 2 year old Dell will run for 2.5 hours on battery. If I surf the internet or write documents the low battery warning will appear after about 2.5 hours, but if I turn up the screen brightness, watch a DVD, play music or do some computation intensive task like photo/video editing, I'll get much less time.

As for the overall lifetime of a battery, that is heavily dependant on battery technology and how the battery had been treated. In my experience, battery life is reduced quicker if you always leave the laptop on charge at the office and at home, and hardly ever use it on battery. As a general rule, rechargeable batteries like to go through a full discharge and recharge cycle from time to time. You might find this table of rechargeable battery technologies useful. Astronaut (talk) 10:08, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Thank you all. Astronaut, I came over the table, it seem that Li-Ion battery have typical life length of 2-3 years and 1200 recharge cycels. I never let my computer battery to fully discharge, I shut down the computer when I have about 7 minutes left warning and then charge it. I do it very often, but after I read this table I think I will keep my computer plugged to elecricity and let yet go through full discharge once in a couple of weeks.--Gilisa (talk) 20:43, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Strange symbols when I type

I feel like an idiot but here goes: I was typing an email and somehow hit an odd combination of keys. Now when I type, I get these strange symbols: É (instead of the question mark)Ç (instead of the square bracket), ¨¨ (instead of the other brace bracket), etc. It would appear that I may have changed the language??? Can anyone help me move beyond my stupidity? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.250.117.26 (talk) 14:14, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

It is most likely that you switched your language setting for your keyboard. If you are using Windows XP (possibly another version of windows will be the same), you can go to control panel > regional and language options > languages tab, and select details. At the bottom of the dialog window there is a button for "Key Settings" and see what the key sequence is to to change between languages (I believe the default is "Left Alt + Shift). If you only use English you can go back to the details dialog window and remove the foreign language keyboard layout.138.163.106.72 (talk) 17:33, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Why does Google have Pacman on it's main page?

205.189.194.208 (talk) 15:02, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Because it has decided to annoy everyone in every office, library, and school on the planet which doesn't have its volume turned down. As with all Google logos, mousing over it tells you why it's there - it's Pac-Man's 30th birthday, apparently. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 15:09, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks.
:)
205.189.194.208 (talk) 15:27, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

The mouse over doesn't seem to work for me, but it seems you can play using the scroll keys.205.189.194.208 (talk) 15:33, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Oh now it see. Mouse over with a the yellow boxes.205.189.194.208 (talk) 15:34, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

And if you click the "Insert coin" button, Ms. Pac-Man appears too and a second player can control her using the WASD keys!! This is so cool!!! ZX81 ^talk 16:03, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Yup, it saves us the hassle of hunting through the morass of other Pac-Mans on the internets. Cheers, Google. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 18:44, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Can I tag an additional question onto this one? How is the game being displayed on the page? It doesn't appear to be a swf or flash game 82.44.55.254 (talk) 19:42, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Looking at the source, I think it's a JavaScript file called pacman10-hp.2.js. (I'm betting it's not a Flash game, as iPad users have been able to play it.) Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:09, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Source javascript http://www.google.com/logos/js/pacman10-hp.2.js

Sound uses flash http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en//logos/swf/pacman10-hp-sound.swf

Found via Ars Technica forums http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2010/05/pac-man-is-30-celebrate-along-with-google.ars?comments=1#comments-bar 77.86.62.107 (talk) 22:21, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Yes, a mate of mine was having trouble viewing the page correctly/getting the sound/finding the 'insert coin' button, and this was sorted by turning JavaScript on. --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 23:45, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

For anyone who gets annoyed with the arcade sounds, if you're on Firefox and you have the NoScript extension installed, you can disable the sound by blocking googleusercontent.com. By the way, does anyone know how you control Ms. Pac-Man? I can't find a way to make both characters work at once, or even switch on which one you can use the controls. 24.189.90.68 (talk) 08:51, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Use the W, S, A and D keys. Also the sound seems to be off by default now until you click it. 82.44.55.254 (talk) 09:52, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Error 403 bad bad, very bad request

Hi

When I am viewing wikipedia, (especially the pictures), this message occasionally shows instead og the picture:

Error 403 bad bad, very bad request We didn't feel like serving it

What is this all about? Is it that I have a virus? (I have full security suite on), or is it wikipedia problem? Or is it my internet's? Please help —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fellowedmonton (talk • contribs) 19:48, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

If that is the actual text of the error message, then you are probably not actually receiving it from Wikipedia - most likely, you have (intentionally or accidentally) been viewing your internet through a misbehaving (and not very polite/informative) proxy server. This could represent a serious security risk and is often a symptom of malware. Do you know how to check your internet settings to see if you are using a proxy? Nimur (talk) 22:14, 21 May 2010 (UTC)

Searching for the error produced two yahoo answers pages dating back 2 and 4 months ago, both reporting the same error and both on wikipedia: 1 2. I also saw someone a few days ago asking about this error in an irc channel, again when browsing wikipedia. 82.44.55.254 (talk) 23:59, 21 May 2010 (UTC)