Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2012 September 19

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September 19

Trip planning software

I'm organising a trip to about 10 or so cities in one country. I'd like to use something like Google maps to show lines between each city to better visualise distances and surrounding places and sights. Most transfers between cities are by air, some are by road. Can Google maps do that? (I cant see how to draw as-the-crow-fly-lines between places, mixed with road lines). Is there something (free would be nice) that can do this? Moondyne (talk) 06:44, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

If you can't find anything, I suggest you print out Google maps with driving routes marked and just draw the airplane routes in with a marker. (You can also do this online, by doing a screen grab and using MS Paint, if on Windows.) I make this type of "mix and match" maps all the time. Also note that, while plane routes aren't always the shortest possible route (great circles), you can still simplify the routes as lines drawn directly between each pair of cities. StuRat (talk) 06:52, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

You can do this (at least, the measuring-distances-in-straight-lines bit) in Google Maps itself. In the bottom left corner of the map, next to the scale marker, there is a (rather small) picture of a ruler. Clicking it opens the 'Distance Measurement Tool'. You can click two or more points on the map to get a straight-line distance between them, and choose from a variety of more or less helpful units, from metres and miles to American Football pitches, Angstroms and Beard-seconds. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 09:31, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Could you not use the "Directions" tab in Google Earth? Would Driving Directions for Google Maps be of any use? CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 14:06, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for your help. I just figured out how to drive Google My Maps which is exactly what I wanted. Moondyne (talk) 15:23, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Good, I'll mark this resolved. StuRat (talk) 02:05, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

Resolved

Laptop

Are any ultrabooks equivalent to the Macbook air?138.37.108.16 (talk) 09:50, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Yes. Shadowjams (talk) 11:00, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Obvious implied followup: which ones? --Mr.98 (talk) 11:52, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

I know Asus has one: http://usa.asus.com/Notebooks/Superior_Mobility/ASUS_ZENBOOK_UX31E/#specifications http://www.apple.com/macbookair/specs.html. Unfortunately the price isn't that different, as is usually the case with hardware equivalent to Apple computers but not actually sold by Apple. ¦ Reisio (talk) 19:19, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Depends on what your equivalence function is. Check out the article on ultrabooks. And go nuts with your favorite web search engine: ultrabook editor's choice, ultrabook review, ultrabook comparison, etc. You want gaming/business/FullHD/what - ultrabook gaming, etc. Go to amazon.com and other retailers and look at their lists of best sellers, top rated, new and upcoming models. 88.112.47.131 (talk) 14:31, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

No non-Apple product is really equivalent to any Mac, because only Apple products run Apple's operating system. Looie496 (talk) 17:59, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Stupid comments like that make me lose the will to live. --Tagishsimon (talk) 18:55, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Why? Apart from pedantic quibbling (maybe a hacker can get a copy of MacOS-X illegally to run on an UltraBook, but that is unsupported and unlikely to appeal to most users), it is true. The ability to run a fully-supported UNIX on decent hardware is a major reason for the success of MacBooks among e.g. academic researchers. Similarly, the iLife/iWork suites may push many more mundane users to a Mac. A Windows platform is not equivalent, and Linux, sadly, still is a minority choice, and may be tricky to install on cutting-edge notebooks. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 19:03, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

No… possibly (in the extreme minority) the ability to run a fully supported Unix on incredibly trendy and expensive hardware is a major reason. :p ¦ Reisio (talk) 19:15, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

It's a reasonable assumption that the OP knows that IOS only runs on Macs. Ultrabooks that run other OS are equivalent in form factor and functionality. Do you really want an explanation of why fan-boi pedantry does not benefit the RD? --Tagishsimon (talk) 19:08, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Fan-boi pedantry???!! I actually have a pretty intense dislike for Apple, dating back over twenty years. But it's simply a fact that the main reason people buy Macintoshes is the unity and simplicity of the gui, and no other system provides a comparable environment. Looie496 (talk) 20:22, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

And here I thought they bought them because they were shiny trendy status symbols. :p ¦ Reisio (talk) 06:25, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

maybe a hacker can get a copy of MacOS-X illegally to run on an UltraBook - it's not nearly as illegal (in the EU) as you might think. If you own an OS, you may run it on any hardware, as long as you don't run it on multiple machines at the same time. Customer rights go so far that if Apple tried to stop by their action any user, they would be committing a crime.

The only way to dictate more restrictive terms of usage is to print them on the package where the customer can read it before he buys the product - big enough to read it without a microscope, and in a wording of legal significance. If they fail that, there's no way they could stop anyone from running an Apple OS on non-Apple hardware.

217.251.160.73 (talk) 09:13, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

http://www.pca.state.mn.us/

At the moment in the German language Wikipedia there's an ongoing effort to repair broken links in some 300,000 articles. And pages on the website above pop up frequently. However, according to Google as well as according to http://mn.gov that is the valid location of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. But we cannot reach any page within this subdomain (though several other subdomains including http://dnr.state.ms.us we can connect to). Could one of you within the U.S. please check if the site does not reply also for IPs geolocated within the U.S.? TIA. --Matthiasb (talk) 11:29, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

It works here in the UK. HostTracker indicates the site is working from every country it tested from 92.233.64.26 (talk) 11:49, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

& here on the east coast of the USA; http://www.isup.me/www.pca.state.mn.us ¦ Reisio (talk) 19:21, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Making columns uncopyable in Excel

I have Excel 2007 and I have to copy and paste certain rows to different spreadsheets, but some of the information is cosmetic on the workbook and I don't need it. So, I want to just be able to highlight Row C, copy it but not have the information beyond lets say Column V to be copied. Is that something I can do? I thought there was like a break function but I can't remember for the life of me what it is and I can't look for it because I don't know what its called. Thanks! Livewireo (talk) 16:47, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Instead of selecting the row, you can select specific cells for copying. Click in one cell, hold down shift and click in another cell and Excel will highlight a range of cells to be copied. Click in one cell and while the mouse button is still held down, drag to another cell to select a range of cells. Or you can click in one cell, hold down ctrl and click in another cells to create a disconnected range of cells to be copied.

Alternatively, carry on copying the way you have and then delete or clear the things you don't want once you have pasted them in their destination. Astronaut (talk) 18:46, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

I am familiar with these ways to copy cells, I was just hoping there was something easier. I have a lot of hidden columns that have unneeded data for the spreadsheet I am copying things to, and trying to move things around is just a big hassle. I appreciate the help anyway. Livewireo (talk) 19:28, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

If there's no other way, you could put together a set of formulii in a second workbook to pull the data you want into it; and then copy and paste-special/values into the new spreadsheet. --Tagishsimon (talk) 20:00, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

I would put a blank cell at the point where I wanted to stop copying. Then go to column A, hit End then shift-RightArrow and you've highlighted the cells you want to copy. Copy and paste.--Phil Holmes (talk) 15:43, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

Is GNU an OS?

Isn't it a little bit forced to call it an OS like in the article linked above? Common packages like findutils, gzip, grep are simply applications and the most important thing, the kernel, is not part of it. OsmanRF34 (talk) 22:57, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Actually, GNU has a kernel, namely GNU Hurd. It's more often used with Linux, of course. Anyways, all UNIXes are mostly bundles of applications, configuration files, and libraries. The kernel is a fairly small part. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 23:04, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Yes, the kernel is quite small, but essential. I tend to think kernel = OS, and even if GNU Hurd is also = OS, GNU packages are apps. OsmanRF34 (talk) 23:09, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Well, the standard definition of an OS is given in our article: "An operating system (OS) is a collection of software...". It's not just the kernel. Note that a normal UNIX system cannot really be used (or even booted) without a large collection of what you call "apps". The startup scripts require a Bourne shell to execute, and use all kinds of UNIX commands, nearly all of which are (or at least used to be) independent programs. And if you interact with the OS, you need shell, terminal emulator, passwd, and plenty of other programs. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 23:27, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

The original plan of the GNU project was to create an operating system, but they bogged down, and never managed to create a kernel that was good enough to be widely adopted. They created much of the rest of what is needed for an OS, though. Looie496 (talk) 00:16, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

What Stephan said. ¦ Reisio (talk) 06:31, 20 September 2012 (UTC)