Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2006 November 27

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.

November 27

a question about Dedicated servers

(question moved from Wikipedia talk:Reference desk by hydnjo talk 01:58, 27 November 2006 (UTC)
Hello , Im a Counter-Strike 1.6 player , i wanted to run a Dedicated server , which will be online 24 hr , i dont want to use my computer . could anyone tell me what should i do ? should I buy hosting ? buy dedicated server ? (If yes , How ?) or if not so what should I do , becauce i saw milions of servers on the internet , im waiting for your answers , please tell me if you know anything about cs servers or you know someone who knows about cs servers thanks a lot. ;)

I would say get a dedicated server. Splintercellguy 04:33, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

These guys look decently priced, and they offer Counter-Strike server rental. Droud 12:23, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

If you have a decent connection just rummage around for a beige box and run it from your closet --froth^{T C} 17:56, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Firefox tabs and the mouse wheel

I've been using Firefox for a few months now, and one of my favorite features is the ability to open a new tab by clicking the mouse wheel. A few days ago, however, my old mouse's scroll wheel mysteriously stopped working, and I purchased a new mouse (the Microsoft Comfort Optical Mouse 3000). The scroll wheel performs normally for every function except opening a new tab in Firefox. Any ideas? I'm using Firefox 2.0. Thanks! --McMillin24 _contribs^talk 02:54, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi, can you tell us if you use Windows or X.Org Server or something else? If you use xorg, you might need to use xmodmap to remap your buttons. Link: HOWTO Advanced Mouse at the Gentoo-Wiki --Kjoonlee 04:58, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

(I assumed you clicked on links with the middle button.) --Kjoonlee 05:08, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Ah, yes. I'm running Windows XP, SP2.

First of all, have you installed the software for your mouse (probably some version of IntelliPoint, download here)? I know that your mouse will probably run without it, but may be missing some functionality. If you have installed the software, check your mouse configuration (Control Panel -> Mouse, or Control Panel -> Printers and other hardware -> Mouse), under the "Buttons" tab, what is the "wheel button" set to? If it's set to something like "double-click" or "next window" it may cause problems, try setting it AutoScroll to see if that fixes the problem. Hope this helps! — QuantumEleven 06:09, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Hmm. The mouse software was installed (and the setting on AutoScroll), but I tried reinstalling, and that seemed to work. Thanks for the help! --McMillin24 _contribs^talk 22:17, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Developing Wikipedia Bot on Mac OS X

Is there any libraries for bot developing on Macs? I know a Python library out there, but if any Mac-friendly library such as Automator or AppleScript extensions, Safari helpers... available? Yao Ziyuan 09:51, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

How about apache? IIRC osx comes with it preinstalled. Get php up and working then do it in php - or just run php from the command line with php.exe --froth^{T C} 17:55, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Low level Network Programming

Hi, I was wondering if anyone knows how to do network programming at a low level? That is to say, WITHOUT berkeley sockets or winsock etc. I've searched around and almost all books/sites use some higher-level sockets library. I've looked into NetBios but that's only for LANs. I also tried looking up the IRQ number for the network card via the device manager and calling it, but all to no avail (the only interesting thing it seemed to do is constantly set the AH register to 0)...the last thing I can think of doing is reading the libraries themselves, but I'm pretty sure those would use compiler definitions (as in just the function declerations).

So is there any way to do it - preferably in C or ASM? And if so, how much work would it be? Thanks 202.37.62.126 10:33, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Berkeley sockets is an API, not a networking protocol. For Unix, it is the networking API; there is nothing lower level. Now what "low level" features do you really want? If you want to send raw ethernet packets (that is, you don't want IP) you use PF_PACKET and SOCK_RAW; if you want to send raw IP packets (and not have the kernel do TCP on top) use PF_PACKET and SOCK_DGRAM. I don't know how you'd send raw packets on a non-ethernet device (like Bluetooth); in some cases PF_NETLINK appears to be used instead, but in general it seems a bit nonstandard. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 10:48, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Incidentally, you can learn a lot about unix system-level programming by running strace on a program that does something like what you want, and seeing what syscalls (and their args) it makes. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 10:51, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Now if you wanted to actually program the hardware of the network adapter yourself, you'd:

• need to be writing kernel space code (or a microkernel process with IO privity), as you'd need direct access to phyical memory, IO space, and the ability to set, unset, and handle interrupts
• need documentation for the programming interface of that specific network adapter, generally from the manufacturer. With the exception of a few cards that pretend to be old DEC cards, each card is different

But really I can't imagine why anyone would want to do this, other that to write a device driver. There's nothing the card can do that you can't do from the berkeley socket layer (exception for the occasional obscure ioctl to set a few config parameters like the MAC). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 14:38, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Well when I say "low level" I really just mean implementable in ASM, which is what you addressed there; but I imagine that getting specifications for the cards would be tedious, and as you say each card would be different so any program would be incompatible with most other cards (like with any hardware specific program)...as to why I would want to do it - partly out of interest, partly out of neccessity. Anyway though thank you for shedding some light on the situation :) 202.37.62.126 21:22, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

ASM isn't much good for working with anything except the "core system" of cpu/memory. Many network devices have complicated, proprietary drivers. And good luck working with other devices like -god forbid- graphics cards --froth^{T C} 16:51, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Licensing primitive and evolving idea

How one can license primitive and evolving ideas, which is not yet crystallized? Is it possible for one (moderator/creator of the group) to say that discussions under this forum (say, Google group) is free/open and licensed under GPL? V4vijayakumar 12:14, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Most of the time that wouldn't make sense in most jurisdictions. A license is a permission to use. If you express an idea here everyone is free to use that idea. Whether you give permission or not is irrelevant because you don't own ideas (unless you have e.g. patent protection). However, in contrast to an idea, the expression of an idea can be covered by intellectual property laws. For example, if you were to publish a recipe for rosemary grilled seagull, that recipe would be covered by copyright, and you could license that recipe. But the idea of stuffing a seagull and grilling it would be for anyone to use, whether you try to license it or not, because copyright does not cover ideas. See intellectual property for other types of restrictions that may apply. Weregerbil 13:31, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your thoughts. I am trying to build the cheapest useful laptop (?) possible. I personally think OLPC is not cheaper enough for everyone. Just now started a Google group TLPC to discuss about this. This group will try to come up with the possible solution(s), if at all possible.

Can anyone help me in defining appropriate discloser message that I have to add to that group? What the discloser message should contain? V4vijayakumar 14:25, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

You don't need any such message. Disclosing an idea (outside the context of a prior legal agreement which limits disclosure) destroys your change of filing for patent protection on the invention, and establishes prior art which should prevent anyone from patenting the same idea in the future. This makes the invention essentially public domain. But note that anyone can then use the idea for anything they want, including commercial, closed-source things; if you want to prevent that, you need to file for patent protection (which means you must't disclose the invention until your high-priced patent attorney tells you it's okay to do so), after which you can licence the patent to whomever you like under whatever terms you want. It sounds like the patent process isn't what you want, so just publish. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 14:55, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

As a service to your contributors you might want to make it clear that anything they say may be shamelessly stolen by you :) --froth^{T C} 17:27, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

This group will try to come up with the specification that any one (not only me) can use. I don't think "stolen" is the right word to describe. If you can use the same word with wikipedia, or oper source, or free software contributors/users, then I have no problem with that word using with tlpc google group. V4vijayakumar 13:20, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, That is not discloser, but disclaimer. What disclaimer should say? Thanks. V4vijayakumar 13:24, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Certification For Assembly Language and Computer Graphics Design.

Dear sir, I am a Sri Lankan citizen aspiring to begin a career in the computer industry.

1.)I am searching for internationally recognized certificates for proficiency in assembly language and popular computer graphics design tools such as Maya, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. What I am looking for is the equivalent of 'sun certified java programmer' for java and 'microsoft certified solutions developer' for visual studio, in the above mentioned areas.

2.)Does 'A+ certification' cover assembly language?

Some employers take note of Brainbench scores. But really these certifications are no substitute for an academic qualification in a relevant field, and a CV with relevant professional experience working on real products. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 15:04, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Installing Mac OS X

I have a hp computer and I was wondering if it is possible to remove windows and install mac instead. I have the Mac OS X disk. Thanks Andrew

The regular release of OS X won't run on PC, but there is a hacked version of OS X that will. Rumour is that it can be found on Bit Torrent but I can't confirm or deny that. Vespine 21:24, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

A Google search for "os x pc" gives relevant results. Seejyb 08:27, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

The OSX disc won't help you. Like I said elsewhere on this desk, watch out for unsupported hardware. I'd recommend downloading the vmware image of the installed intel version of tiger from here and the edgy livecd. To install it look at the archive.org copies of xplodenet (registration is no longer free) or try to follow this guy's guide. Good luck. --froth^{T C} 17:47, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

3D Graphics/video card

My graphics cardit is not 3D and so it is not compatible with many software. Is there anything I can download for free to upgrade it (I use Windows XP)? Thanks, *Max* 22:13, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

No, generally the "3D" component of a video card is hardware not software, so a software download will not upgrade it. You need to upgrade your actual video card, depending on what kind of computer you have, that may or may not be practical or possible. Vespine 22:57, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Are you sure that your graphics card does not support 3d acceleration? Your computer would likely have to be very old or very cheap. There is a chance that you have a 3d-enabled card and simply do not have the proper drivers installed for it. For example, the ATI driver that comes with Windows XP does not support 3d and one must update their ATI driver to the one issued by ATI in order for 3d acceleration to function correctly. Drivers are free. --Sish 02:46, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

But if you got your computer OEM then certainly catalyst came preinstalled --froth^{T C} 04:41, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Where can I download a free driver? *Max* 00:05, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

DirectX supports software emulation of 3d calls, but your applications would be so painfully slow on your card that it would not be worth it. If your system can run XP it can't be ancient, so IMO make the effort to search for a cheap 3d card if affordability is the problem. Don't forget to run dxdiag to see what your current card is capable of, first. Sandman30s 11:24, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks *Max* 20:17, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Wii Demos

(This was wrongly placed on Talk, so I'm moving it here and informing the questioner... Cheers, Sam Clark 22:27, 27 November 2006 (UTC))

Is the wii playable anywere? No stores have them playable except gamestop, where you need a drivers licence to play the wii Waluigi300 20:16, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

I haven't seen any. It's not exactly easy to secure the wiimote, especially if it's using the nunchuk thing --froth^{T C} 17:37, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I've heard that Gamestop has an exclusive deal with Nintendo to be the only store with playable Wii demos. You need to give them the license so you dont run off the the controller. (I've been told Nintendo forbids them to chain it down) - Ridge Racer 00:44, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Try a gamestop. They'll ask for your keys or maybe a license. Sometimes a credit card. They'll give you the controller and then you can play for as long as you want. Also, on wii.nintendo.com, they give directions to malls that have wiis to play with until january.