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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 April 15

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April 15

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2 questions about Ubuntu...

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My first question is, how do I set up a dial-up connection on Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex? I've tried all the ways on this site, none of which worked: http://www.ubuntugeek.com/setting-up-dial-up-connection-in-ubuntu.html. (The main problem is, there is no System > Administration > Networking option...)

The second question is, how do I get that GRUB thing to boot into Windows by default?

Thanks

144.138.21.27 (talk) 00:32, 15 April 2009 (UTC)Will[reply]

I have an answer to the second question. When you see the GRUB menu, you need to count the number of operating systems that are listed. The first OS is 0, the second one is 1, the third is 2, etc. Keep counting until you get to Windows, and stop. Remember this number. Boot into Ubuntu and open /boot/grub/menu.lst with the text editor of your choice. Gedit will do the trick. Somewhere in there, there should be a line that says default 0. Change 0 to the number of the Windows entry. Then, run sudo update-grub. Xenon54 (talk) 01:12, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hey Xenon54, while that might work, I strongly suggest an easier way: just install StartUp Manager ( http://web.telia.com/~u88005282/sum/index.html ). it is available at the ubuntu repositories SF007 (talk) 05:41, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for solving that second one, works a treat now :) If only I could say the same for the dial-up, I've re-tried everything on the above page, to no avail... I think if I can somehow get the old System > Administrator > Networking dialogue back, or that GnomePPP installer working, I should be able to sort something out from there. Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.138.21.148 (talk) 08:20, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That article is over 2 years old, so it's a bit inaccurate. The System->Admin->Networking dialogue was provided by NetworkAdmin, which they've apparently been trying to phase out in favor of NetworkManager, which... well... I don't care for it much, but it mostly works. However, it doesn't seem to do dial-up, and I'm frankly surprised that they didn't include dial-up configuration in 8.10 by default. Anyway, if you follow this guide, which seems up-to-date, you'll need to install either the gnome-network-admin or gnome-ppp package. Then you can follow the steps they outline there, and assuming there are drivers for your modem, it should work. Good luck! Indeterminate (talk) 10:33, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I tried the link in that article, and it siad to try a wvdial thing, and I ended up finding out I have no driver for the modem installed... how can I fix this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 144.138.21.129 (talk) 02:19, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've just realised, there is a "Network Configuration" option in System > Preferences, but it says never to dial the connection... as well as that, it should ask me for the number to dial, but it doesn't, so how can I get this dialogue box to work for dial-up? 144.138.21.36 (talk) 09:01, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Ticketmaster PDF file - wrong characters printed

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This question is mostly out of curiosity because I have already printed a fresh, correct copy of my document. So, I got a PDF file from Ticketmaster containing event tickets, along with 2/3rds page of advertisements (which I gladly paid $2.50 for the privilege of printing on my own printer with my toner... I guess that's another story...). The images printed fine, but everything that was text, like the venue name and event, as well as the date and time, printed what appeared to be random character strings. I didn't notice at first, but someone pointed out to me that the line "SAT APR 18 2009 3:30PM" was printed as "TBU!BQS!29!311:!4;41QN" . OK, so I looked at 311: and thought, "Isn't that 2009, but incremented by one?" Why yes, it is.

So, the real question is not WHAT happened, but WHY? Freedomlinux (talk) 00:52, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I've had the same problem, try the "print as image" option under advanced options. Sealedinskin (talk) 08:57, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, all those characters that were printed are just the correct Ascii value + 1. Interesting. No idea why. Indeterminate (talk) 10:21, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Formating problem

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I think I got some kind of virus on my PC. It doesn't let me do a system restore (it won't come up) and some normal files (mp3 etc) are also not opening. I tried to format the drive so I can clean up the thing. Now the problem is, when I tried to format it when booting using the windows XP CD, it does not boot from the CD but starts as normal. When I tried to go to the boot menu at startup, the keyboard doesn't work there (at the boot menu) so I can't select anything. Is there any way to format this drive? Any help would be appreciated202.124.190.174 (talk) 05:32, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Can you get into BIOS (usually, there is a message at the very start of bootup saying something like Press F2 for BIOS). If so, set the CD to be the primary boot device, not the hard drive. -- kainaw™ 06:05, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Are you using a USB keyboard? Try a PS/2 one.F (talk) 09:45, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
@Kainaw: As I said, when I go there my keyboard is disabled. So I can go there but can't change anything once I'm there. I should also add that the keyboard works fine everywhere else, but is disabled only when I access those BIOS menus. 202.124.190.45 (talk) 13:04, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
To be clear... The "boot menu" which you mentioned is a menu that comes up AFTER the BIOS loading sequence that usually lists the devices you have with number in front of them. You press the number you want to boot. The "BIOS menu" comes before the boot menu. You usually get to it using a keypress (ie: F8). It has a lot of settings about drives, graphics, etc... It is difficult to know if you can't access one, the other, both... Another option is to reset BIOS completely. There will be a jumper on your motherboard - two pins that stick up for no apparent reason. Usually, there is a little metal clip wrapping in black plastic to look like a tiny black plastic rectangle - it will be sitting on one of the pins, but not the other. Pull it off and place it on both pins for a few seconds. Then, return it to the way it was. Your BIOS will be reset. Of course, you have to ensure you are using the BIOS reset jumper and not one of many other possible jumpers on the motherboard. That usually means that you have to identify the make/model of your motherboard, go online to get the manual, and then read the manual to figure out which jumper is the BIOS reset. -- kainaw™ 13:12, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Try a PS/2 keyboard instead of a USB keyboard. Also if the first BIOS screen says "Press F2 for boot options" or "Press F2 for configuration" or whatever, hit F2 repeatedly during this screen, not just once - some BIOSes I've worked with have a pretty narrow window of when you can hit the key. Tempshill (talk) 16:52, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

archive calendar in WordPress

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For my blog (now seven years old), I'd like to have an archive calendar page like many webcomics have. Anybody know of such a thing done in WordPress? I don't grok the SQL anywhere near well enough to write it myself. —Tamfang (talk) 06:39, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Don't worry, they're one step ahead of you. :) This guide [1] looks pretty easy to follow. They have some links at the bottom to other archive options if that isn't specifically what you want. Indeterminate (talk) 10:15, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks but I don't see anything there that even vaguely resembles what I have in mind (see the Sinfest link above): a series of monthly calendars with a link for each day that has >0 posts. (There is a function to show such a calendar for the current month.) This would work too. —Tamfang (talk) 18:45, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Unformat

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How can you unformat a drive that has been formatted? 58.165.25.29 (talk) 11:45, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Do you want to restore a particular file? Then you can try some of the software available to "undelete" files (I believe that a simple "format" command in general will not destroy any data on the disk). I do not know of any simple way of simply "undoing" the command. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 12:54, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
But, whatever you do – do not write anything to the disk, for doing so may overwrite the data you want to restore. If you need to install a file recovery software, do so on another disk! --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 13:04, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
See our article Disk formatting. As Andreas Rejbrand stated, your best bet is probably to try using undeletion software; I don't know of any way to undo a disk format. See Undeletion and Data recovery. Tempshill (talk) 16:34, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Try testdisk. --wj32 t/c 02:24, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

DVD Decoder Location

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  Resolved

where is CLVSD.AX located in relation to my system? I LEGALLY PURCHASED this decoder and want to use it on my new computer (NOT IN VIOLATION OF EULA BTW it says for use on ONE computer so if i delete it off the old one i'm ok) but i can't seem to find the decoder. Where would it be?  Buffered Input Output 13:29, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I googled CLVSD.AX and the first entry is how to install and uninstall AX files. Is there a reason you didn't just use the uninstaller and then use the installer on the new system? Tempshill (talk) 16:45, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry for wasting time...i resolved it on my own (after an e-mail to CyberLink later)  Buffered Input Output 22:21, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Question

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Explain ways to protect your computer against viruses and trojan horse programs. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.51.212.48 (talk) 16:29, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See our article List of antivirus software, and for an explanation, see Antivirus software. Also, you should normally set up 2 accounts on your computer: one account with "administrator rights", which you use only to install software that comes from a trusted source; and one "user account" with no administrator rights, which you should use to surf the web, use e-mail, etc. This will make it harder for a trojan horse or virus to infect the system. Comparison of privilege authorization features talks a little about this principle, though it's full of jargon. Tempshill (talk) 16:45, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Blender's game engine

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What are the shortcomings of Game Blender? Can you create a multiplayer game with it? Can you create a game for any platform? Can you create an online game (like a Flash game)? Can you create a 3D online game? 80.58.205.37 (talk) 17:00, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You can do all that except no browser plugin will run your game so no online game and "any platform" is a bit vague (it supports linux/windows afaik). It's possible to use python to script your game, so only the sky is limiting if you can be bothered to write some (eg networking) code of your own. Of course it can then be questioned if Blender scales for such large projects but let's not get into that. --194.197.235.70 (talk) 18:38, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Linux/Xorg rich input

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Is there an easy way to have a context sensitive keyboard layout, ie if the previous key typed was an vocal some button would be 'r' but after consonant it would be 'a'? --194.197.235.70 (talk) 18:52, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Just to clarify what you mean. Say on a normal layout you would press 'Q' to have that letter appear on your screen. This would normally go for any letter that is on your keyboard. The layout you are asking about would do this; Pressing 'Q' would only type out 'Q' should the previous letter have been 'A', 'E', 'I', 'O' or 'U', maybe 'Y'. If i am correct this would be a very complex layout that would take some time to master. Only to provide little advances over the current QWERT layout. Depending on the layout it would be difficult to type out words such as 'Lie' and 'Lye', Or 'Bite' and 'Byte', How about the words 'Fart' and 'Fat'? There are a lot of words, maybe even sentences, out there that would be very hard to type out with your proposed layout... at least for the English language. – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  19:50, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I realize that i have not answered your question. To the best of my Knowledge i dont know how you would define 'easy'. To an experienced programmer using Ubuntu, i supose this task would be easy. To a native of a lost tribe in Inda who has never seen a comoputer this would be a very hard task. The only way i could think of doing this task in away that would not matter what OS you used would be to do it in Flash. But it would take me weeks if nto months to achive this task. – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  19:55, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yes you understood correctly. Easy == existing. I use dvorak myself so I must say that even if the speed improvement to qwerty isn't huge, the "feel" of typing is more comfortable. Having layouts alternating would have better home row usage if the layouts are designed with some statistics of target languages in mind. Maybe more than ~200wpm is excess for anything but copying texts and even that's a bit obsolete nowadays, but hey we do what we must because we can. --194.197.235.70 (talk) 20:46, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Your best bet is to look in to this keyboard.– Elliott(Talk|Cont)  20:55, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
You might also be interested in chorded keyboard. --Sean 21:34, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]


On Windows XP, there is an utility that allows you to define your own keyboard layout (which you can then load like any other layout) - I'll assume something similar exists for Linux. By mapping "dead keys" you can have combinations like that on the Norwegian keyboard layout - for example, if I press the ¨ key on my keyboard, nothing happens. If I press space afterwards, I get just the dots (¨), if I press "o" afterwards I get ö. This is logical to people but of course what the computer does is just defining the ¨ key as an extra "shift-type" key, and conditioning the response of the next key on this. (If I want to type ¨ I have to press ¨ followed by a space). Now, similar things can be set up by the keyboard editor mentioned and you can of course have any combination you want - I think. The only disadvantage to the way I understand your request is that after pressing the first button nothing would happen until you press the next - to follow the example above, if you press A nothing will happen, then when you press Q you will get AQ. If you press Q directly you will get Z. That should be feasible. To press only A would then require two keystrokes, A and, say, space. This probably makes it not good enough for you but if you use this to create something, let me know, I'd be curious. Jørgen (talk) 23:31, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

OS - what's the point?

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So far as I can tell, no operating system is different from any other. I don't see how I'd be doing anything differently if I was using Windows 95 right now instead of Vista. I used a Mac once (never again...two mouse buttons, plskthnx), and it didn't seem much different either, though I will admit I'm unfamiliar with anything non-Windows.

I use my computer seven hours a day.

Er...what are the differences between OS's? To me? Now that I come to think about it, this same question applies to internet browsers, too... =\ Vimescarrot (talk) 19:15, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps I should clarify slightly; I use my copmuter for internet gaming and finding out new stuff. Oh, and watching videos. That's about it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vimescarrot (talk • contribs) 19:21, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I would say that the graphical user interface (GUI) in Windows Vista is much more appealing than the GUI in Windows 95, but I believe that this argument is not very convincing to you. A more important thing is system stability and security. If one single application crashes in Windows 95, it is likely that the entire system will become unstable and unresponsive – likely, you have to perform a "hard" reboot (power cord out). In Windows Vista, this is very unlikely. Also, I have a lot of important data on my PC, and I do not want any other member of the family to be able to damage this data. In Windows Vista, they can't do that. In Windows 95, on the other hand, there is no protection at all (the password is just there for aesthetic reasons) – to access the data of another user, you only have to open the C:\WINDOWS\Profiles\<User Name>\ folder. Also, most new hardware (e.g. printers) will not work on Windows 95, because the system is too old. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 19:22, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Stability. Check. Aesthetics. Check. Security. Check. This alone takes up the kajillion million rams that Vista requires? (Genuine question, I have no idea if it would or not) Vimescarrot (talk) 19:25, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, this is why vista failed as an operation system, And why windows 7 is coming out. But you seemed to have left out one type of operation systems; Linux. Linux is a unix OS, as is Mac. I know there is one thing that you can do in Mac and Linux that you cant in windows. And that is use Aircrack-ng to it's fullest. – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  19:35, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Vista failed because it's superior? I didn't "leave them out"; I stated I didn't know them, you're more than welcome to comment on them. And I didn't think I'd have to point out that I don't know what Air-Cracks are. Vimescarrot (talk) 19:41, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Vista failed because it was a memory hog. As for windows, there are some restrictions that disallow you to mess with the operating system. For instance you can access the Registry useing regedit, But your dont have access the the files that regedit uses. Have you ever tried to delete a file that is being used by a program? Windows wont let you. Linux will. Weather this is a good or bad thing really depends on the program (Virus? Excel?) and the file. From what i know (and i could be wrong) windows does now allow direct hardware controll. Now this is inportatnd to advanced users but not the someone who jsut uses the computer to surf the web and play games (as i do). Were as linux does allow direct hardware control. I hope this helped in some way. If you are intrested in the differences i'd this suggest link. —Preceding unsigned comment added by E smith2000 (talk • contribs) 20:08, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The reasons Vista failed are IMHO too complicated and too widely debated to be summed up in to one simple sentence Nil Einne (talk) 14:28, 18 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Directionality of restrict

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The restrict keyword in C99 is said to prohibit (for optimization) aliasing among pointers. It's pretty clear what this means when you have two restricted pointers; you're promising that they're unaliased (or else that you only read from them, in which case you needn't mark them with restrict in the first place). However, how they interact with normal pointers is less clear — even in the C99 standard draft that I have, I don't confidently understand the implications of the word "access". So: does the following code (compiled with or without RESTRICT_WRITE defined) violate the restrict rules if f() returns the same pointer twice? 

int *f(void),g(void);
int h(void) {
  int *restrict p=f(),*q=f();
#ifdef RESTRICT_WRITE
  *q=g(); return *p; /* no write through p is visible via q */
#else
  *p=g(); return *q; /* no read through p depends on q */
#endif
}

In each case, one can argue that because q is unrestricted, it can do whatever it wants, and p must deal with it (and be less-well optimized). But one can also argue that p is restricted and that any use of q is automatically a mistake. --Tardis (talk) 19:36, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

A useful rule of thumb is that the compiler is allowed, for alias-analysis purposes, to pretend that any initialization or assignment to a restrict-qualified variable has a right hand side of malloc(something). In your code the compiler is allowed to pretend that the first call to f is a call to malloc; thus it's unsafe whether or not RESTRICT_WRITE is defined. -- BenRG (talk) 21:02, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

linux boot problem

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when i boot my linux fedora laptop up i get three fedora 10 options from grub, know which ever option i choose i get this message: 

ata2.00 ACPI cmd 00/00:00:00:00:00:b0 failed Emask=0x04 Stat=0x00 Err 0x01
ata2.00 ACPI cmd 00/00:00:00:00:00:b0 failed Emask=0x04 Stat=0x00 Err 0x01
ata2.00 revaildation error Errmo=-5

then some loading message that flashes before i can read it

now for the first two fedora boot options after this message i get the fedora loading bars and then the computer freezes with a flashing underscore in to the top left corner, but the third fedora boot option works and i can boot normally

googling round some people seem to say its a loose cable though i opened up my laptop and tried pushing the cable back in, no luck

some people seem to think its a problem with grub and they suggested : 

[1]
$ cd /boot/grub
$ sudo cp menu.lst menu.lst.backup
(Type your own password when asked and go on.)
$ sudo vi menu.lst
-> You enter in vi editor to apply changes in the file menu.lst
-> Move forward until the first line begining with "kernel" (without any #)
-> Type i to begin inserting text
-> Delete "quiet splash" at the end of the line and replace it by "irqpoll all_generic_ide" as steph33560 said
-> Press Echap to finish insert mode
-> Type :wq and Enter to save and exit.

it threw up alot of text but it didnt stop the boot freezing problem

heres a copy of my grub 

# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that
#          all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /boot/, eg.
#          root (hd0,2)
#          kernel /vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
#          initrd /initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sda
default=0
timeout=15
splashimage=(hd0,2)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Fedora (2.6.27.21-170.2.56.fc10.i686)
       root (hd0,2)
       kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.21-170.2.56.fc10.i686 ro
root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
       initrd /initrd-2.6.27.21-170.2.56.fc10.i686.img
title Fedora (2.6.27.19-170.2.35.fc10.i686)
       root (hd0,2)
       kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.19-170.2.35.fc10.i686 ro
root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
       initrd /initrd-2.6.27.19-170.2.35.fc10.i686.img
title Fedora (2.6.27.15-170.2.24.fc10.i686)
       root (hd0,2)
       kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.15-170.2.24.fc10.i686 ro
root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
       initrd /initrd-2.6.27.15-170.2.24.fc10.i686.img
title Other
       rootnoverify (hd0,0)
       chainloader +1

i have to say i'm a linux noob so please take pitty--80.4.77.200 (talk) 21:31, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Please tell us what the 3rd boot option is, the one that works. – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  21:38, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
After some googling i think you might have a filing hard drive in your laptop. test this by trying to use a live CD. If the live CD works without any problems then you either do have a failing hard drive or your OS is bad. {i think}– Elliott(Talk|Cont)  21:42, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
the third boot option is this one:
title Fedora (2.6.27.15-170.2.24.fc10.i686)
      root (hd0,2)
      kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.27.15-170.2.24.fc10.i686 ro
root=/dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00 rhgb quiet
      initrd /initrd-2.6.27.15-170.2.24.fc10.i686.img

if it is the OS whats the best way to fix it while keeping my data? dont have any cds atm to test a live cd, i hope its not the hd as the laptops ~4months old --80.4.77.200 (talk) 22:09, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Did you recently update your system? Install new hardware?– Elliott(Talk|Cont)  22:18, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
hardware no, i apply what ever updates linux says i need, did recently have to play and around to update my nvidia graphics card (change init? and boot into terminal like mode) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.4.77.200 (talk) 22:36, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
i tried a live cd and the error messages still appeared during boot up, and it froze with the loading bars completed (used fedora 10 live) though i had problems burning a live cd, problem therefore could be either with the drive or the cds (even using low speeds)--80.4.77.200 (talk) 20:02, 17 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
second thoughts it has now got as far as showing the mouse, just took some time--80.4.77.200 (talk) 20:04, 17 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Browser Crash

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OK. This is my first time asking a question here, after several months of referring people here from the help desk. Anyways, lately my Firefox browser has been crashing. I'm running 3.0.8 on Mac OSX (10.5.6). This only seems to happen when I'm trying to view some Flash content (but not all Flash content). For example, Zero Punctuation. It starts to load, but then hangs. It also happens when I try to play some flash games. I've checked to make sure that I'm running Flash 10 and can't figure out what's going on. Does anyone have any tips? TNXMan 22:06, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I am not really sure what is wrong with your browser but i'd suggest you try removing all your cookies, cache, Offline website data and maybe even your browsing history. From firefox you can do this by holding down ctrl+shift then hitting Del (at least you can from Ubuntu and windows XP). Also try removing your flash player and re-installing it. Do these flash videos work in a different internet browser? – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  22:14, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hmm, clearing my cache worked. I don't why I didn't think of that first. :( Anyways, thanks Elliott! TNXMan 22:25, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  Resolved

Video issues

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  Resolved

My Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra card (an older card) is having problems. When i play Halo on this card, odd, small, flickering boxes appear on certain texture maps. Do i have a driver issue? or is the card dying?  Buffered Input Output 22:20, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It might be that the card is overheating which could be because of dust build up within the case clogging fans/airflow. The easiest way to test is to run it with the side of the case off and see if you have the same problem. ZX81 talk 23:33, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Nope, still there. Although i turned off some options in the Nvidia control panel and SOME of the boxes went away, but not all of them. I'll try to clean out the fan on the card; it looked pretty dusty.  Buffered Input Output 12:54, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Still there after cleaning the card and reseating it AND reinstalling it. But i tried Star Wars Republic Commando and no boxes at all. I changed a supposedly relevant setting in the Nvidia control panel (conformant texture clamp) and the boxes still appear IN HALO ONLY!!! WTF???  Buffered Input Output 16:30, 17 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This is just a guess and may be completely wrong, but possibly your Halo installation is corrupted or at the very least perhaps some of the texture maps are damaged. I don't know how much hassle it is to reinstall the game (or where the save game files are stored), but it's probably worth a try. You could also try lowering the resolution/graphics settings to their minimum and seeing if the problem is still there (and then work out what setting causes the problem). ZX81 talk 18:25, 17 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It's the card. eVGA (the manufacturer) says the card was prone to overheating and are sending me a new one with a better fan. It should arrive soon. Thanks!  Buffered Input Output 16:03, 20 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

An instant messaging client for the CLI and icons in Awesome

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I have two questions:

  • Is there an (open source) IM client for Linux you can use with the command line interface (a bit like rTorrent only for IM). I just started messing around with Awesome and both Pidgin and Emesene look pretty bad. (amazing coincidence, while looking for a picture for question 2 I found a screenshot of Awesome using what 'seems' to be an IM client)
  • This one is also related to Awesome, how come the theme looks so ugly? Like Firefox, the buttons to go back and forward look ugly and old fashioned and so does the 'stop' button. The general theme is also rather ugly, some light-brownish gray compared to the the default Firefox in Ubuntu. Is this because I'm using the wrong theme? How do I change it? --BiT (talk) 22:22, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
For question #1, Pidgin usually comes with a CLI called 'finch'. Have never really used it though. --Bennybp (talk) 01:14, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Oh nice! This is exactly what I was looking for. Now can anyone answer question two? :) --BiT (talk) 02:37, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I just want to mention again how great Finch is! The only thing you have to do is to read the man finch and then you're set, it's great! (why hadn't I heard anything about it before?) --BiT (talk) 19:54, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Paper Animation software

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I am looking forward to a career in animation, but don't know where to start in terms of software. I don't want to use a completely paperless animation suite because I won't get the results I want. I want to draw out the scenes and characters, scan them onto computers, and then put it all together. What software can I use to do this? I will use multiple suites and programs. Mac OS X is preferred. Please give suggestions and thanks in advance. --Randoman412 (talk) 23:21, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

In my experience i have come to like Flash, Some-what easy program to use, you can use it as a glorified flip book. Or if you want to get really advanced you can use it for some (limited) 3d animation. But if all your looking for is to scan photos in and throw them together then feel free to try Adobe Flash. – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  23:29, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
If you would like some help getting to know Flash, i suggest you try Tutorialized.com, This website really helped me when i was trying to further my knowledge in 2D/3D animation. I hope this helped. – Elliott(Talk|Cont)  23:35, 15 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Autodesk Maya is the usual piece of animation software. Not sure about the use of paper with it, though. Tempshill (talk) 06:04, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
For very simple animation, you could simply scan each drawing as a .gif and edit into a single multi-frame gif using a raster graphics editor. Check for the features you need in the comparison of raster graphics editors or just try GIMP. Certes (talk) 16:21, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
You can certainly use Maya to do that - but it costs over a thousand bucks and it's distinctly overkill. You can make movies from still frames with any number of $0 OpenSourced software packages. (I use mplayer/mencoder because I like command-line tools - but there are any number of alternatives). However, I've gotta say that I'm entirely skeptical of your ability to make a career with paper animation...you're going to need to know packages like Maya like the back of your hand and adapt your animation style to the digital world - like it or not - that's where the work is. SteveBaker (talk) 05:00, 17 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  1. ^ https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/206635
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