Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2012 May 23

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May 23

latex and apa

Hi. I am trying to latex a document and use APA referencing style. (kubuntu 12.04). I would like a simple example latex document that I can modify by inserting my own material. I have spent almost two hours on this now. Every single thing I have tried simply does not work. pdflatex complains about some file missing, then when I download that, it complains about something else missing, and when I download that, pdflatex complains about something else (typically some obscure def or other being defined twice). Two questions. One: can anyone show me a simple, working latex document that I can process. Two: I love latex, but why does this simple task suck so much? Robinh (talk) 09:23, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

I can't tell how familiar you are with TeX in general, or troubleshooting in particular, so here's some questions: Have you run texhash so that your system has updated its directory? What class file are you using? What types of files are missing? .sty? .cls .bib? .aux? A simple \documentclass{article} with \biblographystyle{apalike} should work on even a minimal TeX installation. If your sample document has lots of \usepackage{foo} statements, then you should get them from CTAN if you need them. But really, in cases like this, it's best to start with no extras, and only add in packages if you're sure that you need them. Lastly, here's a minimal example, that should compile on most systems:

\documentclass{article}
\title{My Example}
\biblographystyle{apalike}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\section{The first}
Some text, with a \cite{key}.
\bibliography{refs.bib}
\end{document}

This assumes that you are using BibTex, and have a refs.bib file in the same directory. If you prefer, you can use \begin{thebibliography}. I'll recommend the "not so short guide to LaTeX, available here: [1]. Lastly, stick with it! It gets easier, and separation of formatting and content is great! SemanticMantis (talk) 15:54, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

do you have the package texlive-full installed? If not, fire up the ubuntu software install thingy (or use apt) then search for texlive-full and install it. That should give you a working latex installation that doesn't complain about missing files. Tinfoilcat (talk) 16:16, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

(OP) thank you very much for this, guys [my PhD (1997) was typeset in TeX so I'm familiar with using it, but I guess there is a big gap in my knowledge of package management. I can't be the only one in this position!]. I've installed texlive-full and it works now. SM's example above works (after changing biblography to bibliography) and it's easy to insert my text into the skeleton. Thanks again, Robinh (talk) 20:25, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Resolved

Daily Mail Porn Block / Wikipedia

A cross-party group of British MPs, after a campaign by the Daily Mail is currently running a campaign to get ISPs to automatically opt users out of viewing pornographic material online, unless they specifically request to be able to view such sites.[2] If this law is passed, would it apply to pages on Wikipedia which currently display pornographic images? And would it also apply to news websites which display semi-naked pictures? Anthony J Pintglass (talk) 11:08, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

It doesn't seem to say who would decide what "porn" is and by what criteria they would use. It's an obvious civil liberties issue, along with the fact that having to petition somebody to view something is itself a free speech issue. If the guidelines are arbitrary or extremely low, then sure, various Wikipedia pages could easily fall under their criteria. Note that it wouldn't force Wikipedia to do anything — what it does is say that your ISP would somehow block you from the pages in question unless you told it not to. It doesn't compel Wikipedia to take down pages or do any blocking. --Mr.98 (talk) 11:43, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Are you seriously asking us for references that will tell you what a law that hasn't been written will and won't prohibit? 46.208.143.154 (talk) 11:52, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Mr 98: I'm quite aware that Wikipedia wouldn't have to take down the pages, any more than porn sites would have to take down their pages. And Mr 46208143154, no, I'm not really after references. I'm just saying that there are images on Wikipedia which I'd imagine would constitute pornography. Having read about how Wikipedia is not censored, I'm interested whether the British government could instruct ISPs to block pages from Wikipedia, and I guess at a deeper level, how that would affect Wikipedia in general as an educational resource, for example. Anthony J Pintglass (talk) 12:37, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

It seems like they are trying to implement a kind of filtering, but legally binding. At the educational institution, where I am now, a filter from the ISP blocks certain pages, but if it pops up, you can always ask to be 'de-filtered' and explain the reason. If you want, for examplem to look at a page about sexuality, the filter will possibly block you and you can ask access, which will be granted. 188.76.170.164 (talk) 12:42, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

In the end the entire thing will depend on what the process is for determining what is "pornography" and what is not. My workplace filters and whatever list they use occasionally marks totally legitimate sites as pornography. I suspect any such filtering process will involve boards of bureaucrats making rather arbitrary calls, perhaps at the demands of "concerned citizens" who want to save their children from god knows what threats on the Internet. Certainly there are pages on Wikipedia that would, and have, offended prudish parents. (Would Page Three count as pornography?) There's no way whatsoever to know what the result would be without at the very least knowing what the selection/evaluation criteria and process would be, and even then it would be hard to know what the long-term consequences would be. Frankly if I were in the UK government I would avoid such a scheme as being just unworkable — you are opening up an avenue for every over-concerned busybody to waste a huge amount of time arguing whether a given site does or does not constitute pornography. At best it will be a colossal waste of money (pornography is not exactly hard to find and there will be plenty of "opted in" computers for the kids of the UK to find and use, and every instance of that will be seen as a reflection of the government's futility), at worst it will be a Kafkaesque Ministry of Manners. But I am soapboxing a bit, here. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:21, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Need advice returning a laptop to Best Buy

I bought a laptop from Best Buy a couple weeks ago and installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Rumor has it that on June 2 (within my 30 day return window), Microsoft is going to start offering Windows 8 at a discounted rate for anyone who buys a new computer. I bought mine 2 weeks ago, so I assume I won't get the discount offer. So, what I'm planning on doing is returning my computer on June 2 and buying it again so I get Microsoft's Win8 discount offer. I question is two-fold:

• Will Best Buy complain that I have Win8 CP on it? Will they insist I re-install Win7 before they accept it?
• What if I told Best Buy I was only returning it to get the Win8 discount offer, that they could sell me back the same laptop I just returned?

A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 13:51, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Why don't you call up Best Buy and ask? You don't need to give them your name or anything like that if you are just asking general questions. They still get paid either way, so I can hardly see them being too worried about it. My guess is #2 is probably "no," though, just because the logistics of returning and re-selling are almost certainly more complicated than that with a big corporation. I suspect the answer to #1 is "I doubt it," because they're certain to wipe and reformat the hard drive anyway before doing anything else with it (what if you had installed all sorts of malware and crap on it accidentally?). --Mr.98 (talk) 14:17, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

I wouldn't bet any chips on W 8 being released in June. The official announcement is that "An almost-complete Release Preview is scheduled for June 5, 2012." And apparently "Windows 8 Release Preview will be available to the public for downloading free of charge, Microsoft has previously promised." However, according to your link, it will cost ~$15, which is not much and certainly not worth the trouble of returning a laptop, and ordering a new one. Probably the real thing will be available in october XPPaul (talk) 18:26, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

iPad

I know how to stop my iPhone from receiving data when not in the UK but how do I stop my iPad doing so to? --85.211.137.238 (talk) 14:47, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Very similar process: There's a "cellular data" option under settings, turn it off. Vespine (talk) 22:56, 24 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for this, but there is no such option on my iPad.--85.211.214.202 (talk) 06:16, 25 May 2012 (UTC)

That's strange, what OS do you have? I checked on my own iPad before I wrote the above. Vespine (talk) 23:27, 28 May 2012 (UTC)

How to translate a list of words

Google translate is not what I am looking for. I am basically trying to translate a list of keyword phrases so I need them separated.

Any ideas? XPPaul (talk) 14:50, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

I don’t see why you can’t use Google Translate, but if you don’t want to, you should specify what languages you require. ¦ Reisio (talk) 16:16, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Because it construes the other elements on the list as context. — Preceding unsigned comment added by XPPaul (talk • contribs) 16:27, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

So don't use a list (although it wouldn't surprise me if they have some syntax for breaking grammar). ¦ Reisio (talk) 23:23, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Reisio: are you trolling in purpose or just clueless? OsmanRF34 (talk) 00:40, 24 May 2012 (UTC)

Try pressing Enter between each word. Try putting a period between each word. When I use Google Translate, I sometimes experiment with breaking up phrases or words using these methods to get alternative translations or to look for possible root words. I can't tell if Google Translate is still using the surrouding words for context or not, so I'm not sure if this matches what you want. --Bavi H (talk) 23:55, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Try a translator/dictionary with an API. OsmanRF34 (talk) 00:42, 24 May 2012 (UTC)

If you insist on using Google Translate, put 3 dots (...) between each phrase. That will stop from connecting the phrases by context.    → Michael J Ⓣ Ⓒ Ⓜ 18:44, 25 May 2012 (UTC)

effective, but I don't think you even need three dots. I'm pretty sure Google translate only needs one full stop, because it only uses context at the sentence level. I had the reverse problem a while back - I was trying to get g.t. to not recognise period-separated sentences as entirely distinct. I wanted word-by-word translations, but I wanted the surrounding context to have at least some impact on the choice of a set of alternative translations (eg. whether "free" should be "libre" or "gratuit"). Full stops stopped google in its tracks, semi-colons just confused it. IBE (talk) 15:45, 26 May 2012 (UTC)

finding Office service packs

okay, dumb question, but how do I find out which service packs are installed in Office 2007? can't seem to find it anywhere. Office is constantly trying, and failing, to install SP1; I assume that SP3 is already installed, but can't be sure. Assuming it is, how do I get Office to accept that it doesn't need SP1? — kwami (talk) 19:59, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Uninstall every SP that you find with the The Microsoft Service Pack Uninstall Tool for the 2007 Microsoft Office Suite and install them anew. OsmanRF34 (talk) 20:29, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! — kwami (talk) 21:52, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Suitable thin client specs for Win 7 kitchen experience

Hello chums,

I would like to access online recipes and entertainment from my kitchen and thought a thin client would be a cost-effective way to use the free LCD monitor I got from work. I will use the thin client to access a session on my Windows 7 computer in another room. Can someone advise re: the specs needed? Is this overkill?. I wonder what the experience would be like on an older thin client, given that my desktop PC should be doing all the hard work anyway?

Thanks for any advice. ----Seans Potato Business 21:50, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

£30 is okay, but you could probably do it with half that (if the savings is worth the trouble of choosing an alternative to you). The Raspberry Pi for example should be about half the cost (new). ¦ Reisio (talk) 23:25, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

I guess but the Pi doesn't include a case, PSU or flash memory, not to mention they just can't be had at the moment. Also, set-up is probably trickier given that they run Linux while this thin client will run Windows XP Embedded which is made for this purpose. 2.120.147.92 (talk) 00:22, 24 May 2012 (UTC)

Just an example ("for example" :p), there are plenty of Raspberry Pi alternatives, and I have trouble imagining Windows being less tricky than Linux to setup for such a purpose, but I did say your example is "okay", if you merely wanted approval for your existing plan, you already had it. ¦ Reisio (talk) 18:21, 24 May 2012 (UTC)