Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 October 17

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.

October 17

Computer/HD video

What processing speed (in GHZ), what amount of RAM (in MB), and what sort of video output mechanism would be required to view a film on a computer at the following specifications: Format:MKV Subtitles stream:SSA encoding Audio stream:DTS encoding, 6 channels, sampling rate in 48000 HZ Video stream:1920x1080, frame rate 976215 Duration:1 hour, 40 minutes, 58 seconds Operating system used:Windows XP Size on disk of the file:7.87 GB I am considering the purchase of a new computer and want to ensure that it is capable of running this film. I am also somewhat limited in my budget and want to minimize the cost of this computer, while still viewing the aforementioned film without the player lagging and therefore rendering the film unwatchable.

97.125.80.88 (talk) 02:27, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

First off, the requirements are:

• A DVD viewing software
• A DVD drive, CD drives won't work
• A pretty fast computer.

At least a 1.4 GHZ processor and about 1 GB of RAM are the requirements I personally would go with. And if you wanna go Blu-Ray, then you're gonna need a Sony Vaio for that. As long as you are playing it back via a DVD drive, it will not affect hard drive space. Hope this helps. ConCompS (talk) 04:03, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

No, the OP isn't asking about viewing video off a DVD disc, it's pretty clear. Tempshill (talk) 05:35, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

You didn't mention the key point, what video codec is the video? For 1080 this would commonly be h264 but doesn't have to be. Also you didn't mention what your current specs are in particular the current processor and motherboard (or at least whether it has a PCIe16 slot available). Most dual core processors, should be able to handle even fairly complicated h264 especially with an efficient codec like h264. However if you already have a decent processor and your computer has a PCIe16 slot available then simply getting a modern ATI or Nvidia card which supports full h264 (and preferably VC-1) bitstreaming would be enough for most files (although a few aren't supported but most nowadays are 'DXVA compatible') and likely to be cheaper, however getting it to work on Windows XP may be a little more difficult then Windows Vista. mHz is an exceptionally poor measure, see mHz myth. If you are set on getting a new computer, I would suggest a decent dual core (say an E5200/5300 or any Athlon II X2 or Athlon X2 7xxx) and a GPU supporting bitstreaming would sufficiently cover whatever you need Nil Einne (talk) 11:01, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Codec is SSA, present computer has Pentium 4 CPU (2.66 Ghz), 1GB RAM. Current video card is an NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420. Currently using VLC Media Player but unable to run properly. 97.125.86.121 (talk) 02:50, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Sun javaws on Fedora without SELinux

I have Sun (not openjre) javaws on Fedora 11 without SELinux enabled. When I run a jnlp app, my keyboard is disabled on the app. Googling hasn't turned up anything useful. I assume it is a pathetic security issue and I have to jump through hoops to enable the keyboard. I don't mind if they hoops are easy to see. Anyone know where Sun has hidden these? -- kainaw™ 04:23, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

I can only say that Sun JavaWS on Ubuntu 9.04 properly opens and displays JNLP apps and delivers keyboard events to them normally. It doesn't make sense for a security property to allow AWT/Swing objects to appear on screen, but to not deliver keyboard events to them, so I really doubt there's a security property that is so granular. If I were to guess, I'd hazard that it's a bad interaction between the window manager and the toplevel window, in that somehow the java app doesn't get focus properly, or doesn't think it does. Try, as a first instance, running the SwingSet2 demo from Sun's demo page and changing the Look-and-feel (that really shouldn't matter, but clearly something is wrong). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 15:22, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, but it is a non-issue now. The one time in the last 3 or 4 years that I needed to run Java and it failed. I borrowed a Windows laptop and did the job. Now, I'm trying to figure out how to completely remove Java from my system. It is time for another fdisk-format-reinstall, so I might go that path. -- kainaw™ 15:31, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

iPhone v Thomson router

Has anyone had problems in making the iPhone recognise the router please, if so how did you resolve the matter? Thanks in anticipation.--85.210.90.215 (talk) 08:29, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

What's the actual model of the router and what's the actual problem you're having please? i.e. Can your iPhone see the wireless access point at all or but it's unable to connect, or does it see it, but it can't access the Internet? ZX81 ^talk 10:17, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your interest; the router is a Thomson TG585 v7. The iPhone can 'see' the router but does not recognise my password nor the WPA code, which my supplier, Tiscali, say that I should input as the password. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.210.90.215 (talk) 20:20, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Here is the manual for that model of router. Section 4 talks about how to set up the WiFi, I think section 4.2 might be the specific information your after. The paragraph titled "Forgot your wireless settings?" will give you the instructions on how to get your SSID, encryption key and security type. -----J.S (T/C/WRE) 01:49, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for all this, unfortunately you are dealing with a non-technophobe and I don't understand the manual's language, but I will persist.--85.210.90.215 (talk) 07:54, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

PUK code for samsung E-250

Hey! I forgot my PUK code and now I'm getting error ' PIN blocked'.I've left with 6 more attempts otherwise I think I'll have to buy a new SIM. How could I resolve this problem?Any suggestions please.Cheers.--59.103.11.55 (talk) 09:51, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Just ring up your service provider and tell them you need a PUK code and after their verification checks they'll give it to you (most likely without charge). Don't keep guessing, because you are right and after 10 times the SIM card will be permanently locked/need replacing (at cost). ZX81 ^talk 10:15, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Microsoft excel cells non negative?

My aim is to have some cells never be negative. I have a function where, e.g. cell A = cell B - 100. If A < 0, I'd like the final value to be 0 instead of the actual negative value. Is there a way to do this? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.163.243.51 (talk) 11:26, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Check out the MAX worksheet function. –RHolton≡– 11:31, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, and I also figured out another way just now, after looking around. I used A = (B-100)*IF(B-100<0,0). I had no idea I could use if statement in a cell like this. 128.163.243.51 (talk) 11:35, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, there are all sorts of logical arguments for excel. -----J.S (T/C/WRE) 00:37, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

OpenOffice string functions?

Documentation I've seen (for both Excel and OpenOffice) suggests there's a str(A1) function one can call to convert a number to a string. But it doesn't seem to work; it prints "#NAME?" in the cell instead. (OpenOffice version 2.4.0 on a Mac, if it matters.). Am I missing some step necessary to load or enable the string functions, or something? —Steve Summit (talk) 14:36, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

There is no STR() function for cells in Excel (there is in VBA, but that's different). You use T() instead. (Or TEXT() if you want it to be formatted in a particular way.) --Mr.98 (talk) 14:58, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! T() doesn't seem to do anything, and TEXT() doesn't seem to work in OpenOffice, but it's just the trick for Excel, which'll be fine in this case. —Steve Summit (talk) 22:43, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Switching Off A Process

Is it possible to switch off a process (without rebooting) and without using the Task Manager on Vista? I have Firefox still running even though I closed it earlier on (by clicking the 'x' on top-right) and am now unable to re-open Firefox as the machine tells me Firefox is already open and has to be closed. Task Manager shows the process as running (250+K) but doesn't do anything to close it when I click 'End Process'. Is there another way to close it so I can reopen it again (without rebooting)? TIA! --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 15:04, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

There are rather more sophisticated task-manager-like programs, like Process Explorer, but they kill processes in fundamentally the same way that Task Manager does (and so really shouldn't do anything better). The only thing I can suggest is that you're actually killing a subprocess of firefox, and leaving the parent intact. If that's the case, Process Explorer is better, because it shows processes in a tree structure, so you know you're killing the whole family and not just a single child. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 15:12, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Depending on your version of Windows you may have the utilities taskkill and tasklist which can be used to kill and list running processes from the command prompt. They will give help information on the command line parameters. --82.41.11.134 (talk) 16:16, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. However, I don't feel comfortable with cmd.exe, so I will leave that alone. Process Explorer had the same effect as Task Manager, too, so I just rebooted. However, one reason I asked this question is because it has happened before on numerous occasions - primarily with Firefox. A Google search came up with a number of results of the same (or similar) question/problem that other users have had. A quick look through gave me no helpful information, though, as a number of the answerers were proposing uninstalling certain extensions or whatever - an action which basically needs Firefox to be open and running more or less smoothly. Thanks anyway. --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 16:59, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

I find that Firefox.exe often takes a long time to actually terminate even if the browser window has closed. I presume it's doing things like saving profile data or clearing the cache, so it doesn't seem wise to force it to close early. —Preceding unsigned comment added by .isika (talk • contribs) 19:58, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

I've never needed it, but you might consider SuperF4. I recommend turning off their update checking though, they nag about tiny updates. Indeterminate (talk) 11:43, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Cheers, I've looked at that, but it says it kills the foreground process. Firefox is not in the foreground, just locked up in my system processes box. It has happened three times since I sent the original post, so I have looked on Google, and there seem to be a number of people who believe that this is a problem with a FF extension conflicting with ZoneAlarm (which I recently downloaded). I don't know if this is the case, as I have experienced the problem even without ZoneAlarm installed, but it does seem to be happening more now. Apparently the only way to find out which extension is causing this problem (if indeed that is what the cause is) is by rebooting the machine and restarting Firefox with all addons disabled, then switching them on one by one and waiting to see which one causes the problem, which is, to say the least, quite an improbable way of finding the cause. I've tried logging out, which kills all other programs, but when I log back in again and try to run Firefox, I am informed that it is still running (actually, it's not even showing up in Task Manager now). --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 13:08, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

And, in fact, just for reference, here is some information about it from Mozillazine. Apparently, Firefox+ZoneAlarm+Vista is not a very good combination. --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 14:39, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Start Menu and Icons missing

My start menu and desktop icons are completely missing. Looking through the C:/Windows folder reveals that my explorer.exe was deleted during a computer update. Any ideas on how I can resolve this? Thanks.--Giants27(c|s) 15:55, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Also, my computer runs on Windows 2003, if that helps.--Giants27(c|s) 15:57, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Why on earth would explorer.exe get deleted during an update? It sounds like the actions of malware to me. Also, do you mean Windows Server 2003, or some other version of Windows for the consumer market? Astronaut (talk) 16:23, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

I have an XP. And not sure but my computer recently installed 10 updates during shut down and this morning I turn on my computer and it starts deleting corrupted things. Explorer.exe being one of them.--Giants27(c|s) 16:25, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

I'm confused, you said your computer was Windows 2003, now it's Windows XP?

Maybe the OP is confusing it with Office 2003, a very common mistake. --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 20:04, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

It is a Windows XP, didn't realize Windows 2003 and the XP were different.--Giants27(c|s) 20:59, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

explorer.exe should never be deleted during a (valid) computer update. (Please also note that the directory separator character is "\" in Windows, not "/" as on the Internet for instance.) You could try to repair your Windows installation, by booting from the installation DVD. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 19:41, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

It was deleted as "corrupted", not sure if I have the DVD. I'll have to look around for it. Cheers,--Giants27(c|s) 20:59, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Windows XP comes on a CD, not a DVD. PCHS-NJROTC ^(Messages) 22:30, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Might be if it's a wierd OEM version of XP. Yes, do as Andreas Rejbrand said... run the repair. Either that, or pay a professional to take a look. -----J.S (T/C/WRE) 00:36, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

(ec) It seems that the OP is not very certain what operating system he/she is running. (Note the ambiguity between "Windows 2003", "Windows Server 2003," and "I have an XP"). I think the OP has since clarified that it is Windows XP, but he/she should really carefully and correctly verify - they can check against List of Microsoft Windows versions to be absolutely certain. It will help the rest of us diagnose this issue if there is zero ambiguity about the Windows version. Nimur (talk) 00:38, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Regardless of the OS version, the fix is to re-install the file. Funny OEM versions of XP aside, I think all modern versions of Windows (2000, XP, 2003, 2008, Vista, 7) have a repair installation option of some kind. ---J.S (T/C/WRE) 01:43, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

It's 100% an XP (not being that knowledgeable about computers I thought Windows 2003 and the XP are the same thing, clearly I'm mistaken) but due to a virus in my computer about a year ago, a professional recovered my system and now for some reason the original CD doesn't work anymore. Is there any way to avoid calling a professional at this point?--Giants27(c|s) 02:12, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Assuming you have found your XP install CD, pop it in the drive and start your PC. It should show a blue screen offering the chance to "Install Windows XP" or "Repair your installation". Choose the repair option. This link shows the steps in better detail. Unless the CD is physically damaged, I can think of no reason why this would not work. Astronaut (talk) 05:30, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Considering this was, as you say, caused by an update removing corrupted files, why not perform a system restore? Make the system go back to its state previous to the update. If you are able to look in your c:\windows folder then I presume you will still be able to run the System Restore program. The details of how to do so from the Command box are here. --KageTora - SPQW - (影虎) (talk) 11:36, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Python

In the Python interpreter, is it possible to edit a specific line of a function if that function has already been defined? If so, how? --Lucas Brown 42 21:43, 17 October 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lucas Brown 42 (talk • contribs)

I think it isn't possible but I'm not sure. It is better to have the functions in a file, and then import them. A proper editor will let you run an inferior python shell inside an editor buffer and directly load python functions to it from other buffers, eg emacs does this with C-M-x. Emacs or any other decent editor would also give you syntax highlighting and autoindenting and more. (Please forgive the clutter if you already knew this.) --194.197.235.240 (talk) 22:18, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

There is also a tool called "ipython" which makes the interactive mode much richer for doing things like editing and reimporting files. --FOo (talk) 04:29, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Are Blu Ray players compatible with DVDs and/or CDs?

I know DVD players can play CDs, but what about Blu Ray? Can Blu Ray play DVDs or CDs, or is it entirely different? PCHS-NJROTC ^(Messages) 22:27, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

See Blu-ray Backward compatibility. A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 22:32, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, I looked in the article a few minutes ago, but apparently not closely enough. PCHS-NJROTC ^(Messages) 22:36, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Resolved