Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 January 16

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.

January 16

Is there Android library available?

I'm not familiar with Android development. I'd like to know if there's somthing can help building a photo editor app on Android. The photo editor I need is simple. Basically, the photo editor is vector-based, it's able to import multiple photos (with transparency) on the canvas, and able to move/resize/rotate the imported photos. And put some texts around the canvas.

Is there any library I can use for such kind of app? Or Android developers used to build such kind of apps from scratch by calling low-level graphics APIs? Any ideas? - Justin545 (talk) 00:20, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Start by reading the Android Graphics API overview. It is not clear what your intent is; vector graphics techniques are not commonly used in photography editing, because vectors are not generally a useful way to represent photographic data. All the other features you've described can be implemented using standard APIs for Android, or almost any other programmable multimedia platform. Nimur (talk) 02:20, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Maybe I misunderstand the meaning of vector-based. So the library solution seems to be a dead end. What I can only do is to make use of standard APIs. Thanks! -Justin545 (talk) 06:55, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Funny characters for Latin letters

What's the point of having characters such as Ｑ, rather than just using Q all the time? I never knew that they existed until a minute ago, when I idly wandered through the last batch of Special:Allpages. Turns out that we have at least two pages with a bunch of these letters, ＱコちゃんＴＨＥ地球侵略少女 and Ｗｅｓｔｅｒｎ Ｓａｈａｒａ. I can't understand why these characters would exist in Unicode in the first place. Nyttend (talk) 05:16, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Sounds like a case of something equivalent to bloatware. That is, unicode allows for so many possible characters that people can't resist putting things in that really should never have been included. StuRat (talk) 05:41, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

They are Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms, where each character has a fixed size to guarantee that typed columns line up neatly. This is essentially the same purpose as a monospaced font, except that the behavior is specified in the Unicode standard rather than merely being a font. Dragons flight (talk) 05:55, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Much of this is to support non-English language users whose systems are set up to use different character sets (including unicode). You can find redirects to en.Wikipedia articles for various foreign language terms. For example الرقيم (which redirects to Sahab, Jordan#Famous places in Sahab) or 鋼の錬金術師 (which redirects to Fullmetal Alchemist). Some foreign language terms however, do contain English alphabet characters as you can see with your first example. The unicode character simply makes it easier for Japanese users to type the title here without switching character sets. With your second example, I suspect this redirect might be for the convenience of Arabic users. Astronaut (talk) 14:51, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Fullwidth characters are not used in Arabic, only in languages written with CJK characters. For Arabic users, we have الصحراء الغربية. The Japanese name is not Ｗｅｓｔｅｒｎ Ｓａｈａｒａ either, it is 西サハラ. I just don’t see the point of the redirect.—Emil J. 16:10, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

That's why I've sent Ｗｅｓｔｅｒｎ Ｓａｈａｒａ to RFD. I've created lots of foreign-language titles for things whose endonyms are in those languages, and it's reasonable to have some Latin-alphabet names for titles in other alphabets (whether Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, the transliteration of the Russian official name of the USSR, or Poccnr, which mimics Russia's endonym of Россия), but odd variants of Latin letters spelling English-language names for non-English-language places seem superfluous. Nyttend (talk) 16:18, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

FWIW I made this redirect by typing it on my Taiwanese friend's laptop--this is how he inputs Latin characters. If it has hits and it could be useful, then why delete it? If anyone else has feedback for the RfD, please post there. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 18:56, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

fiddling with google news

I'm trying to adjust my personalized google news settings so that the only stories that appear are for 5 or so keywords I've picked. I"ve been able to delete most other boxes but there's still the "top news" box and other stuff like editor's picks. Does anyone have any experience setting google news to only show personalized keyword stories? If it can't be done on Google News, is there an alternative service that's easy to use?

Preparedtobecrowded (talk) 05:50, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

do google mail for businesses owners see my ip's

so im an employee given google mail for businesses access. does the admin see all the ip's i log in with? thanks. --91.120.48.242 (talk) 09:27, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

I think the answer is likely to be yes, see email auditing where you can see the sort of information that administrators might be able to access. ---- _nonsense ferret 01:17, 20 January 2013 (UTC)

Dropbox

Does anyone know if I should be able to amend, within Dropbox, the content of a Pages document sent to Dropbox. Thanks in anticipation.85.211.131.113 (talk) 10:46, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

My experience is that things on Dropbox can't be modified, but you can copy the document onto your hard drive, modify it, and replace the document on Dropbox with the modified version. Nyttend (talk) 16:10, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Great,thanks85.211.131.113 (talk) 16:05, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

Unless I'm misunderstanding something, my experience is the opposite. Just today I opened a .doc file on dropbox (created by someone else), edited, and saved, without the file ever leaving dropbox (at least, this is how it looks from my end, I suppose there must be some local cacheing going on behind the scenes). Then my colleague did the same, back and forth we edited the same file all day. Isn't that one of the main features of DB? Unless two copies are "checked out" at once (which can create versioning conflicts), I thought this was standard usage. SemanticMantis (talk) 22:37, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

The "new Commodore 64"

The latest issue of Tekniikan maailma has an article about the "new Commodore 64" from Commodore USA. To me, it looks like a normal x86-based PC in a fancy-looking case, which is somehow supposed to "make" it a Commodore 64. I read through the article, but it was basically useless. Well over half consisted solely of reminiscing about the old Commodore 64, whereas the rest listed the new computer's specs. Not one word about how it is supposed to continue the Commodore 64's legacy. Has anyone here actually used this computer? If so, then what is it, apart from the fancy-looking case, that is supposed to make it a new Commodore 64? JIP | Talk 18:17, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Yes, it's just a PC in a case that's reminiscent of a C64. I think their intention is to ship it with a C64 emulator and some games. Why would someone buy this? Darned if I know. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 18:23, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Amusing, but the article does link to www.commodoreusa.net which says a lot more about what is in the package, including allowing "PET, VIC-20, CBM-II, C16, C64, C128 and Commodore AMIGA software to be launched effortlessly" and the "...option to boot directly into full screen C64 emulation with the READY prompt". However, with HDMI output and a blu-ray player, you can also watch HD movies. Maybe that counts as continuing the Commodore 64's legacy. Astronaut (talk) 19:03, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

This is rather the point why I asked this question. Not owning such a computer myself, I don't know how "effortlessly" one can launch legacy Commodore software. And even if one can, this must be a feature of the operating system, not the computer itself, as it seems to be basically an x86 PC. So why not simply ship the operating system separately? Although the article says the computer ships with two operating systems, a Linux-based "Commodore OS" and Microsoft Windows, and I don't see either Linux or Windows as being compatible with legacy Commodore systems. The mere fact that the Amiga and Commodore's old 8-bit systems are, in terms of operating systems and software, very different, to the point that the Amiga can't run Commodore 8-bit software without using an emulator, makes me distrust this claim. JIP | Talk 19:13, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

I came across Commodore 64x, which would appear to be the same machine. Reading that article, the article on the Commodore OS and the information on the websites of commodoreusa and the VICE emulator it would seem the emulation is only software. However, the VICE program(s) also emulates the old Commodore 64 hardware, so for example it emulates the behavoir of things like the VIC-II video chip and so on. Legacy compatibility is provided through file formats such as CRT (cartridge image) or D64 (disk image), and you can find plenty of places on the internet to download things like games in these formats. The VICE website also claims you can plug old hardware like the Commodore 1541 into the printer port of the hosting PC.

So, in summary the new Commodore 64 is a new, modern PC in a retro case. Commodore USA provide it with their own Linux distribution installed (Commodore OS) which also has VICE installed as just one of many programs you can run. If you want to use it like an old Commodore 64 you can do so by running VICE. You can download old Commodore software as D64 disk images or CRT cartridge images and use them in the old Commodore 64 mode - these are mostly games but I presume there is other stuff available too. Alternatively, you can install your own Windows or Linux OS and install VICE on that, or you can buy just the case and put your own PC innards in it. In all it sounds like a pretty good idea to me, if that retro case appeals to you. If not, you can just install VICE on your existing PC to get your C64 fix without the retro feel. Astronaut (talk) 19:54, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

Average broadband speed tester

So - a common situation, my broadband (Provided by O2) is running at a tiny fraction of the speed I am paying for. It can get down to 0.2 MBits, when I was promised an average speed of 13 MBits. So although it may be a pointless endeavor, I thought I'd at least try to complain. However I know I will get the usual "performance may vary at different times of day" yada yada yada... But I know that even taking this into account, the average speed over the course of a day/week is still only a fraction of the promised speed (Even at 3/4 am). It wouldn't usually bother me, except I am paying for the most expensive package and O2 advertise an "actual" speed of 13 Mbits as opposed to the usual "Up to" rubbish that some other companies give.

Essentially; is there any utility I can use to record my broadband speeds over the course of a day, without having to go to speedtest.net (for example) every hour for 24 hours? Preferably one that that gives some degree of evidence that it is a legitimate test as opposed to me just making up numbers? One with a graphing utility would be useful. PS. I have gone through the usual irritating "script" they give you to speed up your broadband - I will make this very clear when sending a complaint. Thanks! 109.144.132.125 (talk) 19:24, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

[1] AvrillirvA (talk) 21:14, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

OP here, running it now, looks good! 80.254.147.164 (talk) 09:20, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

Resolved

Windows File Manager

When I try to run File Manager I get "Application error - WINFILE caused Segment Load Failure in module WINFILE.EXE at 0007:0484". What might be causing this error? Windows itself still loads with program manager and everything else working fine. It is just file manager that has this error. Thanks. 92.233.64.26 (talk) 21:32, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Sounds like some of it's key files got corrupted. If so, you need to get a new copy (or restore a good copy, if you happen to have backed it up). StuRat (talk) 05:46, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

File manager hasn't been used on versions of windows for at least 10 years. What version of windows are you using? --Phil Holmes (talk) 09:23, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

Windows 3.1. What do you mean by "key files"? Registry entries? Windows loads from the B:\ drive. I tried copying everything to C:\ drive and it worked fine there, so the files themselves seem to be okay. But it just refuses to load from the B:\ drive and I don't understand why. I really need it to run from a drive other than C:\. Thanks 92.233.64.26 (talk) 12:36, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

Hm. Going back in time to Windows 3.1, I remember that the "B:" drive was usually, or often, the designated letter for the "5¼-inch" floppy disk drive. (And when they fell out of common use, "B:" just kind of disappeared with them....) I'm not a computer expert by any means, but Windows 3.1 might not be smart enough to run an OS from "B:". (Just a thought?) Kingsfold (Quack quack!) 20:17, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

Remember that Windows 3.1 ran on top of MS-DOS. Back then, MS-DOS assigned drive letters in a fixed way. The Drive letter assignment article explains what happens. In short B:\ is only ever used for a second floppy disk drive. If the second floppy doesn't exist, B:\ is assigned to a phantom disk. In fact I think it might be impossible to get Win 3.1 to run from a drive that is not C:\ Astronaut (talk) 20:40, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

I've seen screenshots of 3.1 running from D:\, so it's not impossible. Do you have another drive that you could run from? WikiPuppies _bark ^dig 21:43, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

OK, with the new info I'm revising my answer. It sounds like something in Windows File Manager is hard-coded to only work on the C drive. So, if you needed it to work on another drive, you would have to make that into the C drive. That might mean physically swapping which data cable is plugged into which drive. StuRat (talk) 18:27, 18 January 2013 (UTC)