Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 March 10

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March 10

Modular network security software?

I'm pulling my hair out. Somewhere in the last few months I've seen on Lifehacker, TechCrunch, Delicious, TechRepublic, or somewhere a piece of software that is sort of an all-in-one network monitoring and security package. It includes several open source packages that it treats as appliances that you activate or install in a virtual rack (that's shown on-screen). It's got packages for bandwidth monitoring, spam, virus protection, etc. There were also commercial appliances that you could purchase/license.

This software would run on a single machine using only one network adapter (which was not recommended) or on a machine using two network adapaters. I really think this was windows-based (or would run in windows), but I'm not sure. It had a great video demo showing the features.

This isn't Cobia.

Anyone have any clues? I would really appreciate any help!

Thanks, -70.145.200.110 (talk) 03:45, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

search engines and multiple domains

Hypothetical: I operate birds.com and I have a page in it called birds.com/sparrow. I just purchased the domain sparrow.com. Does using them together have any benefit to search engine ranking? Basically, sparrow.com has high relevancy for someone searching "sparrow." Can I add that relevancy value to the popularity value of birds.com? websites do multiple domains all the time - is there SE benefit or merely the benefit of having people who directly to sparrows.com land on my site? Thanks --Ephilei (talk) 04:18, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

I doubt the URL itself matters to ranking engines anymore as it is so easy to fake (e.g. whitehouse.org). IIf you have a lot of sites that link only to each other I'm pretty sure Google ranks you down for that (looks like a link farm). But having one or two that have alternative names... I would imagine the only effect is that if 50% of sites link to one and 50% link to the other, you are diluting your pagerank as Google will likely not recognize them as a single site. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 02:25, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

That's what I've come to think as well. Thanks --Ephilei (talk) 16:20, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Viewport area below BODY in Firefox

If you give a small BODY element a border in Firefox (but not in MS IE or WebKit/Safari/Chrome) you see a rectangle around the text at the top of the viewport/screen with a large empty area below it empty. The question is: to which DOM element does this "nowhere land" belong and how can you associate styles to this area (I am especially interested in setting the cursor property). Please also see my Mozilla Bugzilla entry. Thanks in advance, Cacycle (talk) 04:28, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

It appears to me that you are talking about the area outside the body's box-model. Normally, people ask how to ensure that the body will take up the entire viewable area. If you set body's height:100%, it may only take up half the screen. That is because body is constrained inside the html box-model. You must set html's height:100% because body is inside of html which is inside of the viewport. Therefore, the "white space" you are referring to is outside the html box-model. Since html is the root of the DOM tree model, it is outside DOM. My suggestion is to set html's height:100%. Then, set html's cursor. Let body be whatever height it likes, but ensure you set body's cursor. Now, the html box-model will fill the viewport, but you didn't specifically ask the body's box-model to fill html completely. That white-space will be inside the html box-model, which is inside DOM, and you should be able to change it. I haven't tried this, but it theoretically should work. -- kainaw™ 19:17, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Thanks a lot, that makes sense and would exactly do what I want. I will try it tonight and report back. Cacycle (talk) 19:47, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

In order to blow the body up to screen size and to get get rid of the empty area that does no belong to any DOM element the following settings worked:

• Normal html page: setting the height of either HTML or BODY to 100%
• Iframe: setting the BODY height to 100%, HTML settings had no effect

Thanks again, Cacycle (talk) 03:20, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Apache Tomcat and Apple

Resolved

 – User:BigDunc

I am having a problem trying to run Apache Tomcat on my Apple laptop. When I install and try to run it I am getting an error that I don't have permissions and I am asked to enter a password. Any ideas?? BigDunc^Talk 11:58, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

It sounds like you are being asked by Mac OS X to verify as an Administrator. You should be able to put in the username and password for either a user with administrator powers or root, the super-user account. In BSD (the background of OS X), many network-related things need passwords for security purposes. Since tomcat is essentially a network server, it might need to bind to a low-numbered port. Ports under 1024 (I think) are reserved to the system and an admin must give permission to bind to such a low port. Freedomlinux (talk) 17:00, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Freedomlinux is correct. Assuming that you have edited <Connector port="nnn" ... > in {installpath}/conf/server.xml such that the port is 80 (and not the default 8080), you will run into the permissions issue you describe. See also List of TCP and UDP port numbers#Ranges. -- Fullstop (talk) 18:06, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, that sounds reasonable. I've never had a problem getting tomcat going on a macbook, but I'm running it on a high port number. Friday (talk) 18:08, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Thanks folks you got it in one sorted now. BigDunc^Talk 14:59, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Free Photoshop-Like Website?

I used the one month trial version of Photoshop but sadly the trial ended. I cannot afford to fork over the amount of money they are asking for to purchase it. Also, I am in no way a professional at photography. I used it for my photo of my friends to alter red eyes, remove any pimples on faces and to whiten the eyes and teeth a bit. Just general light cleaning up. Is there a free website that offers this same service? If so, how much would you trust it? --Emyn ned (talk) 13:45, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

It's not a website, but I believe that GIMP can do everything you mentioned (and more). --Aseld ^talk 13:52, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

I use Picnik via my Flickr page; I've also heard good reviews of SUMO Paint. There's even Adobe Photoshop Express. --LarryMac | Talk 13:56, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Google's Picassa also has red-eye and similar tools for photos. The newest version does not make a duplicate of all your photos, which I noticed an earlier version doing. -- kainaw™ 17:30, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

I second Picnik which you can also use with Picasa Web and many others. The Picasa desktop client is more powerful and does syncs between local and the cloud, but does require an install. --70.91.110.41 (talk) 18:46, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

You should definitely check out GIMP. It's an awesome tool. I do computer graphics as my full-time job - and I actually prefer it to Photoshop - and it's completely, 100% free. There are a gazillion plugins too - so if you happen to find something it can't do - look for a plugin. SteveBaker (talk) 01:00, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Name the font

Could somebody name this font? -->

Thanks --217.227.85.200 (talk) 14:43, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

It's a typewriter font. Something like Courier new or American Typewriter should work fine. It won't look quite the same though unless it is somewhat distressed, which is pretty easy to do in photoshop. --140.247.251.34 (talk) 16:10, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Courier would be very wrong. —Tamfang (talk) 21:36, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Or try some of these.91.111.86.221 (talk) 16:49, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

In the year of Nineteen Hundred and Thirty-Six, it probably was a typewriter. APL (talk) 13:25, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Wow - that's a seriously low-rent way to abdicate the British throne! You'd think there would be some fancy calligraphy and parchment and stuff - preferably with a big wax seal and a ribbon or two! SteveBaker (talk) 00:56, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

This was not the abdication itself: the King has no power to do that on his own, because the law says the first (living, not disqualified) person on a certain list is the monarch. This is a hasty memo asking Parliament to alter that law; I imagine that the resulting Act was a bit fancier. —Tamfang (talk) 22:50, 13 September 2023 (UTC)

screenless display

can i get information regarding screenless displayPri3naik (talk) 14:59, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Do you mean a computer which projects the screen's image on a surface ? StuRat (talk) 17:00, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Or do you mean "display" in the Linux usage where a display is the graphical output that may or may not be bound to a physical image like a LCD or CRT. --Ephilei (talk) 18:49, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Or do you mean some type of holographic display technology, à la Paycheck? – 74  03:36, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Authentication using Mobile Phone / Sim card

Hi. I am wondering that is it possible that a mobile phone can be used as a key in an automated identification process, in a way that you just simply put the phone into a close proximity of a certain device, and it automatically identifies you (well of course not you, but your phone) without using any SMS service, or infra, or bluetooth. Thanx —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.1.59.156 (talk) 20:51, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

I have seen demonstration technology, where a 2D barcode is used to identify the phone. A normal barcode reader is used to read the image directly off the phone's screen. Of course you need to have got the barcode from somewhere, usually through a MMS message. I have also seen news reports of phones being used for contactless payments - in Finland I think - but I'm unsure how that might work. Astronaut (talk) 21:56, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Or Japan: see here Astronaut (talk) 22:02, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Well, a cell phone is a radio transmitter, so sure, it's possible. There are plenty of reasons why it could be a bad idea, at least if implemented badly, though -- the simplest one being that simply stealing someone's cell phone would give access to everything the owner is supposed to have access to via this system. But yeah, it could be done. There are applications that can track your movements through GPS, for example, and they can be triggered to do things like send information to your phone, or even unlock doors when you enter an area. Versions of this kind of technology have been in use in some experimental pervasive games, for example, in which the players have moved around a large area and completed various tasks with the help of customized hardware and software like this. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 22:08, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

You might actually be looking for something like an RFID badge. More generally, see authentication token. 207.241.239.70 (talk) 00:56, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

On a similar topic, a phone can be the source of identification. I remember this as being from Finland, but I travelled a lot and I've been told that Finland never had anything like this, so I'll explain what I saw in some European country (where everyone tended to be whiter and taller than me): From McDonalds to the Coke machine, everything had a phone number on it. Just dial the number on your phone and it is the same as paying with cash. I assume it turns up on your phone bill. Even in the Internet bar, the computers had phone numbers. Dial up a computer and it gives you credit. Since you dialed from your phone, it knows who you are and would restore your session. So, in this scenario, the phone is used as a form of authentication since you have to call the computer (or any other machine) from your phone. Now, if I just had a good enough memory to know where I saw people doing this... -- kainaw™ 01:20, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

We have Coke and snack machines that work with a mobile phone like that over here in Finland, sure. (Typically they work by SMS message rather than by dialing a number, but same principle.) There are also numerous other services that work on the same principle, such as buying time on an internet terminal, buying subway tickets, etc. I mean, the platform for the process is freely available from all mobile phone operators, all you need to do is make an application that takes advantage of it. Especially for machines that usually accept coins, it's a fairly attractive proposition, because you don't have to worry about someone breaking into the machine and stealing the money, you don't have to send someone around to collect the money, and the mechanism to dispense things or services on a single-item basis is already in place. I don't think they do that at McDonald's, though. -- Captain Disdain (talk) 08:48, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

So, it could be that I'm correctly remembering it as being Finland. I never looked to see what people were typing into their phone, so I didn't realize it was just SMS messages. As for the McDonalds, it was a very fancy one that even had two token Americans working there. I only noticed because I had been in Northern Europe so long that I was speaking in terribly broken English and it took me by surprise when one of the guys responded in perfect (though American) English. I just need to find some way to get back - Finland, Sweden, Norway... I don't care which. Doesn't any University around there need a Computer Science professor? I promise not to complain too much about your toilets being way too tall.-- kainaw™ 13:31, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

I would be surprised -- shocked, even -- if no university around here had any use for a computer science professor. C'mon over, man. Enjoy the high standard of living combined with the high cost of living! (Essentially) free medical care! Cold winters! Long winters! Long, cold, winters! Casual nudity in the sauna! More than two political parties! Woo! -- Captain Disdain (talk) 15:37, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Pfft. Why go all the way there when he can get the same stuff just north of his border? We prefer topless women to casual nudity in the sauna, but ymmv, of course!

Presumably because Canada isn't "Finland, Sweden [or] Norway". -- Captain Disdain (talk) 22:10, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Well, you need to compare the beer, not just the bitter cold. I still have some friends ship me some now and then. I'm usually nice and share it with the locals, but it is hard to let go of a real beer in a country that revels in fermented rat piss. -- kainaw™ 18:51, 12 March 2009 (UTC)