Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 February 11

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February 11

Software for Information graphics

What are some software programs/tools/packages that can be used for creating high quality information graphics, statistical graphics, etc? I consider myself to be an advanced Excel user (though not much into VBA yet) and a fairly competent MATLAB user. Are there other programs that can be used for data visualization? --Saket (talk) 05:02, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

A reporting tool like Crystal Reports has powerful charting and query/formula capabilities... Sandman30s (talk) 09:04, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Check out IGOR Pro. —Wayward ^Talk 12:43, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Check out R (programming language) along with this book, the book's website is here, with sample graphs and associated code. It's quite time-consuming, though, to get the graphs exactly like you want. To get you started, if you have an Excel table with variable names in the first row, the easiest way to copy it to R is via the clipboard. After you have copied it from Excel to the clipboard, switch to R and enter:

          mydata=read.table(file="clipboard", header=TRUE)

If your country settings use a decimal comma, you'll need to type

           mydata=read.table(file="clipboard", header=TRUE, dec=',')

It's often a good idea to add

           mydata=read.table(file="clipboard", header=TRUE, as.is=TRUE)

as well, otherwise string variables will be converted into factors. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 20:00, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

RuneScape II

whats the best place to practice range if you have just started ranging and not a member??? 124.181.26.71 (talk) 06:27, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Anywhere with monsters and a fence. Try the RuneScape Wiki. HYENASTE 03:20, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

Linux Uninstall

I installed Ubuntu on my Vista machine and was very happy with it, so I decided to try other Linux variants and installed PCLinux. After this installation, I couldn't get Ubuntu to work (PCLinux works fine). Anyway, I have decided that I don't want PCLinux, so how is it possible to erase it and get my partition back into the Vista environment, as I seem to remember devoting 7GB to PCLinux?

Any help would be appreciated.--ChokinBako (talk) 08:13, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Open vista, right-click Computer, manage, disk manager. Delete the pclinux partition and expand the vista partition into it (if it's not contiguous you'll have to use gparted from the ubuntu livecd and expand it into your linux paritions). Then boot from the ubuntu livecd and update-grub from the command line :D\=< (talk) 13:43, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

"Update grub from the command line"? How exactly do I do that? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Givnan (talk • contribs) 14:34, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

In Linux (regardless of the version) type "cd /boot" and you should be in the boot partition. If you have multiple linux installs, they should be sharing this partition. Typing "ls" should show you a directory named grub. Type "cd grub" and then "ls" and you should see a file called menu.lst - which is the menu you see when grub is booting. As root, edit menu.lst (ie: "nano menu.lst"). Each menu item has a listing that looks like:

title MyLinuxIsTooCool (2.6)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-2.6 ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
initrd /initrd-2.6.img

The title is just what you want to call it. It can be anything. Root is the drive containing the kernel and initrd image. Kernel is the kernel file and options to go along with it. Initrd is the initrd image.

What apparently happened is that installing PCLinux overwrote your menu.lst file, erasing or altering the entry for Ubuntu. That basically means that the PCLinux installer is junk. Since anyone with a computer and spare time can make their own Linux distro, you end up with many junk distros. I prefer to stick with either Debian-Ubuntu or Redhat-Fedora. They have a lot of developers to help keep the distros useful. -- kainaw™ 14:44, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Lot of info, thanks, but how do I get rid of Linux? --ChokinBako (talk) 14:53, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Remove the partitions. Doesn't Vista have a partition manager? I don't use any Microsoft products, but I've heard people talk about adding/removing partitions with Vista. -- kainaw™ 16:57, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Size of email message

I received a short email (in Outlook) with a Word file attached. The file was 1MB but Outlook states that the size of the entire email (including attachment) is 3MB. Clearly the brief email can't be 2MB large (can it?!) so why is Outlook telling me that the whole thing is 3MB? --Richardrj ^{talk email} 09:03, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Binary attachments are usually encoded in Base64, which takes 4/3 times the size of the file, not including line returns that are necessary in the Base64, which add more size. That alone should does not account for why it is 3MB. But is part of it. --Spoon! (talk) 10:43, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps that number is how much disk space Outlook uses to store that mail? Considering that this is the company that made an exit menu a 43-man project, this would not be too surprising. --Sean 18:40, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Mac data recovery (moved from Language desk)

Software advance tool to recover lost, deleted, corrupted mac data. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.177.154.109 (talk) 10:45, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Alsoft's "Disk Warrior": http://www.alsoft.com/.

Atlant (talk) 13:08, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

USB Connection

Hello. I want to connect two PCs (a desktop and a laptop, both with Windows XP) using an extensible USB cable with adapters, connecting them directly by USB ports. It's possible? It'll work? Do I need a specific program to transfer files? Or it can damage the PCs? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 200.255.9.38 (talk) 13:47, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

You can't connect two PCs using only cables. You will need a USB bridge, but they don't seem to be very common. I'd go for using Ethernet (RJ-45) (8P8C) cross cables, or regular Ethernet cables hooked up to a common router/hub/switch. Or wireless. --Kjoonlee 17:27, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Without a USB bridge, connecting a USB port of a PC directly to another PC's USB port can damage the computers. USB.org - FAQ: Cables, Connectors, and Networking --Kjoonlee 17:32, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

You could also use a serial cable to connect the two PCs via their serial ports (if they both have one), but it will be a slow connection. 128.187.0.164 (talk) 18:53, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

I tried to do this once but one of the computers didn't have a serial port. One other thing is which program to use; is there any freely available software for Windows which supports serial/parallel transfer? --Kjoonlee 19:36, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

on what sort of cables? I think windows already supports transfers using a LAN eg ethernet.87.102.81.140 (talk) 15:21, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Yep, I've had success with cross-over Ethernet cables, but I couldn't try serial cables yet. --Kjoonlee 16:27, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

OpenGL

My brother is trying to install a game and is getting the following message relating to system requirements.

"OpenGL : Failed : Intel -1.3.0 -Build 4.14.10.4396

Required: Non-Windows Generic OpenGL 1.4.0 drivers"

Is this a hardware issue, or one that can be fixed just using software? --Omnipotence407 (talk) 23:47, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

This sounds to me like a driver issue. Download the latest drivers for your graphics card. It is also possible that game only runs on a unix environment. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arcoain (talk • contribs) 03:05, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Sounds like it has an integrated Intel graphics chip. These will simply not work with 99% of 3D games. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 06:23, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Go to control panel / performance and maintenence / system through windows... (or type device manager or hardware into help and take it from there) .. select the harware option in the device manager screen. The click the 'device manager' button this brings up a lsit of stuff you have connected - from this list select 'display adaptors' this should tell you what sort of graphics chip you have.. (there may be more than one).. Then come back for more help if you think this chip should work with the games - but we need to know what type of chip it is..87.102.81.140 (talk) 15:28, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Its an Intel 82865G Graphics Controller. The game is Knights of the Old Republic. Heres the fun part though, if we click through the notifications, the game runs, but one part seems to not be working. -Omnipotence407 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.37.228.44 (talk) 01:12, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

The chip has direct x 9 / openGL1.4 and the minimum system requirements don't sound too bad see http://www.bioware.com/games/knights_old_republic/game_info/system_requirements/ (you have 256Mb ?) - suugest you ask a new question with the specific info or maybe try on the forums at bioware.87.102.114.245 (talk) 12:51, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

psp feeder

Hello, I am having a big problem with this program demo I downloaded.I would appreciate it if you reply soon cause I only have 4 more days of the demo.At the begining it ask me what "letter" psp I have , my first problem begins here I didnt know what that ment or how to find it out so I just choose "E" (note:I have a silver psp). Then I wanted to put my dvd into my psp. So then I connected the psp to the computer using usb then I put the movie in.And i clicked "import video". It told me that the movie was in 5 parts and it will convert and put in the videos one at a time. And then when it was finished it was shown on the computer as these pictures from the movie.When I clicked playback, it didnt when I checked my psp ,NO MOVIE!! note: my psp has a memory card. If possible can I have step by step instructions. I appreciate your help alot. Any advice given is needed. Thank you so much for your time, sorry it's so long.(Superawesomgoat (talk) 23:54, 11 February 2008 (UTC))