Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 March 5

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March 5

disk

where is the disk drive for the hp compaq tc 1100?

Going from this [links to a pdf] (starting on page 105) it's on the bottom just below a simple cover. Doesn't seem like too big of a deal to get to. Hopefully I got the right model. yaninass2 | talk 01:57, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

CD Tray

Hello. After I start up my computer, the CD tray would not open on the first time that I press the eject button. The light flashes. The CD tray opens after the second time that I press the eject button. Should I be concerned? If yes, then what should I do? Thanks in advance. --Mayfare (talk) 02:08, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

If it happens one time, there is no reason to worry. If you can't replicate the problem, it isn't a problem. If it happens every time you use your computer, then it is a problem. CD trays are prone to failure. I have 5 CD drives at home. Only one will open by pressing the eject button. The other four require a paperclip. At work, there is a similar failure rate across many brands and types of drives. So, don't assume that you did anything bad to your drive. It may have just failed. -- kainaw™ 03:51, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

How much for a blog web design

A friend of mine wants a blog/domain/hosting but wants little more than a wordpress install and a couple of graphics. Domains are cheap and I can do hosting for almost nothing, so what's a typical price of something like this. I poked around on google and saw people doing custom blog stuff (not some install-and-go stuff like wordpress) starting at like $1500 which I think is way too much for what he's asking me to do. After the initial setup he will probably bug me to add certain things here and there. It's also feasible that there may be ads that generate revenue on the site. So, what would be a fair price to ask for the initial setup, monthly fee, and ad revenue? 70.112.56.5 (talk) 03:52, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Setup is highly variable. I charge nothing. Some people charge a few hundred dollars. Monthly charge is highly variable. Some charge nothing. I charge $25/month. Ad revenue is not very variable. It will be low - very low - almost nothing. If the idea is to make a blog and reap huge profits from ads, I strongly suggest you stop now. The chance of that happening is about the same as planning on retiring when your kid makes millions of dollars in professional sports. It isn't going to happen. -- kainaw™ 13:21, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Why do you charge by the month? For smallish blogs a prepaid host (here's looking at nearlyfreespeech.net) will cost pennies. Per year. I had almost 15,000 hits on my site in Febuary and paid less than six cents for bandwidth (and maybe a penny every few months for storage). The domain name charge incurs automatically with a decent host, it doesn't take you any time. So how do you justify charging by the month? I'd say charge a little for setting it up and graphic design or whatever and set him loose. NFS.NET is great cause you can set them up an account (don't give them control, or give them adjunct access) and have them donate to their site through paypal whenever the account is somehow low on funds. :D\=< (talk) 14:29, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Well, in this case the guy intends to have me post things for him at times, such as audio/video clips when he only has access to a phone and not a computer. He'll also be asking me to make changes at times such as adding graphics, links, ads and such. Not a huge chunk of time past the initial setup which itself shouldn't take more than a few hours. I asked a friend and he said I should charge $65/hr, but that seems like a bit much to me. We're friends so I want to be on the cheap side of fair. I was thinking something like $500 for 6 months, and from that would come the cost of paying for the domain and such, plus 15% of any ad revenue (should there be any), then if he wanted to continue to keep me on as a helper, $300 for every 6 months thereafter. I know you're not him, but do you think this sounds fair? 70.112.56.5 (talk) 14:49, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

It depends entirely on the person. As I said, I charge $25/month because I'd rather have 10 clients paying $25/month than 100 clients paying $2.50/month. I also have a few lawyers. I charge them $120/month because they are willing to pay that much. I have a couple friends who I host for free, but they have to do all the work themselves. A long time ago, I tried to charge what I thought I would want to pay. Then, I realized that it is best to increase my rate until I get the number of clients that I feel like managing. -- kainaw™ 14:55, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

The 'home' key on an Apple Mac

I have to use an Apple Mac for the next 24 hours; I've a little experience already, so I hope I can muddle my way through. One thing I can't figure out nor formulate a fruitful search string for, is the 'home' key. I'm using one of those fancy clear-plastic Apple keyboards with white keys. The home key appears as a diagonal arrow pointing up and to the left. When I press it, I want the text cursor to go to the beginning of the line I'm typing but it doesn't respond. I can use it in combination with the Alt keys to browse back a page so it is functional. --137.120.26.203 (talk) 09:06, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Try cmd + ←. —Wayward ^Talk 13:40, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

I wanted to say that it works on a macbook with 10.4.11 installed. It probably works on all OS X machines. Kushal 10:44, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

What is my phone number?

This falls somewhere between a computing and a technology question; asking here rather than WP:RD/S seems slightly better

I've just moved house (to a flat in England). I'd like to get a broadband+phone package installed on the existing phone line (let's say, just as an example, TalkTalk or Tiscali). The previous tenent had BT phone service, which he's (quite properly) had disconnected. So I still get dial tone (presumably for 999 service) but I can't actually make calls (fair enough). Now the sign-up pages for the all-in packages want to know my existing phone number (which of course I don't know; I don't even know if I have an existing number). So my questions are:

1. do I actually have a (presumably temporary) assigned number?
2. if so, how can I find out what it is (there should be a "star code" to ask the exchange "what is the number assigned to this line) - I've checked lists like this one to no avail
3. is there another to proceed, or am I stuck with actually ordering BT phone service?

Thanks. AdamaCylon (talk) 09:30, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

You could try ringing BT from another phone line (e.g. a payphone) to find out what the number at your address would be if you re-connected. If you want an internet connection that works via a telephone line, then you need to reconnect to BT (=reconnection charge). If you want cable, contact NTL (now owned by Virgin?). Reconnecting to BT means you'll have to pay line rental, but last time I checked (a year or so ago), TalkTalk was the cheapest provider and very open about all the costs (whereas a lot of providers tell you about line rental in the small print). I'd ring TalkTalk (or whoever) first, to see if they can reduce the BT reconnection charges or whatever. You can complete the internet sign-up online to get whatever discount is thereby acheived. Although BT provide the line, I think you pay for the service and line rental via TalkTalk (or whoever). ----Seans Potato Business 10:34, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

The phone will have no number presented - you'll be assigned a number when it's connected. You don't have a existing number, your first job is to get the phone reconnected with BT or whoever and they will use that number to set up the broadband connection. --Fredrick day (talk) 10:41, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

I think the OP's point is that the phone clearly is physically connected (presumably to a BT exchange), because it has a dial tone. He's wondering if it can be used to carry ADSL without being a fully-fledged phone line. Technically - I have no idea; contractually - somehow I doubt it. AndrewWTaylor (talk) 18:08, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

I doubt it as well - because it's that phone number that is used to determine the switch-on of broadband services at the exchange - moreover, all of the ISPs systems work off you have a phone number - because that's how they put the connection order into BT, without it, even if it was technically possible (and it is), it's organisational impossible. --Fredrick day (talk) 18:21, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Try Googling for "ADSL without phone". It's called "naked DSL", amongst other names. I found one company in the UK that does it. It seems to be aimed at businesses that already have multiple phone lines and is not necessarily cheaper than normal ADSL+voice, but this company does a residential grade service too. --Heron (talk) 20:43, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

CD drive tray keeps ejecting.

I changed the CD in my CD drive and closed it (bu pushing on the drive door, the same way I always do). It closed fully and then ejected again. Every time I close it, no matter how I try, it closes fully and then opens again a moment later. This isn't a software issue, because restarting the computer, the CD drive closes during the BIOS checking. Right after closing, it opens again and stays like that. It doesn't matter which CD is in there, or if I try it with no CD at all. What might cause this? ----Seans Potato Business 10:23, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

A stuck "eject" button? A mechanical jam preventing the tray from indicating to the drive that it is fully closed? A broken in some other way CD drive? (They're dirt cheap and highly interchangeable.)

Atlant (talk) 12:57, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I'd try sticking a paperclip into the emergency eject button and poking at it a couple of times, maybe it got stuck. Useight (talk) 17:35, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Well, I meant the front panel eject button but cycling the (usually mechanical) emergency eject mechanism can't hurt either.

Atlant (talk) 23:43, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Web service transactions

Is it possible for a WS-TX compliant client (e.g..NET) to call several web services implemented server using WS-CAF (e.g. Oracle Application Server) as a transaction. In other words do the two standards interoperate or are they incompatible. -- Q Chris (talk) 10:46, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Open proxy?

rootshell.be provides free SSH shells (OpenBSD if you're interested), and users can use it as a SOCKS proxy (with SSH dynamic forwarding), also browsers such as lynx and w3m are available. New user requests are processed by hand. Does Wikipedia count it as a WP:PROXY?

(the current server's address is honey.rootshell.be)

--grawity ^{talk / PGP} 18:46, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

It's a proxy, yes, but it doesn't sound like an open proxy, which is what Wikipedia doesn't allow. --Carnildo (talk) 22:50, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Free Internet radio broadcasting software?

Greetings kind denizens of the Computing reference desk! I come with a question relating to Internet radio broadcasting software. I have noticed that some of the more capable software used for streaming audio over the Internet is... rather expensive. The only free software I have found thus far in my search is SHOUTcast, which while it does work, it does not have a lot of functionality behind it. The software I have used before while DJing with an Internet radio station, SAM Broadcaster, does work rather well, but the price is a bit out of my current reach.

Is there such a thing as a free or FLOSS Internet radio broadcasting program that has similar features to SAM Broadcaster, and if so, where might I locate it?

~Samantha //\\ 137.155.2.42 (talk) 21:13, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

I believe VLC media player may be what you need. Try playing with it. Kushal 22:39, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

stop firefox playing sounds

i play quite a few online flash/java point click games, unfortunaly not all of them are nice and have mute buttons built in, is there anyway to get ff to not play the music which sometimes is awful/repitive, i could turn my speakers off but then i woulnt be able to play my CD's which i'd prefer to listen to, I'm using windows xp sp2 home--86.20.169.136 (talk) 21:56, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

You could mute everything but the CD Player (and Master Volume) in the Volume Control applet. Either double-click on the speaker icon in the system tray (lower left, assuming your task bar is in the standard position), or access via the Sound and Audio Devices properties from Control Panel. --LarryMac | Talk 22:00, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

In vista the volume control applet actually lets you set the volume of (or mute) each individual running application. Just hit mute on the firefox window and leave winamp or whatever unmuted. :D\=< (talk) 22:25, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Um, froth, I think the OP mentioned that he is using Windows XP. How is the vista information pertinent? I am scratching my head. Kushal 22:38, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Oh I didn't see that :[ :D\=< (talk) 23:32, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Any suggestions, Froth? Kushal 10:42, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

In Flash, you can right click and mute it. I don't know about Java. Ale_Jrb^talk 19:57, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

I remember back in the old days I used to plug my headphones directly into my CD-ROM drive and use controls on the drive itself to play it. Do they make drives like that anymore? 206.252.74.48 (talk) 17:10, 7 March 2008 (UTC)