Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 October 12

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October 12

Quotes site with custom domain

I had a quotes blog where I want to create a quotes site (something like this). Can anyone suggest a site/option where I can easily create such a site with a custom domain? Tito☸Dutta 00:38, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

You need to find an appropriate internet hosting service. There are many possibilities, with varying prices and levels of support. I use Go Daddy for my personal web site, but other choices might work better for you. Looie496 (talk) 15:51, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

Different behavior of JavaScript engines

I know that HTML/CSS rendering differences in different rendering engines are considered normal. What about the same JavaScript program acting differently in different JavaScript engines? (An example of such a program is the test262 ECMAScript test) Ignoring speed and other I/O differences, only algorithmic code behaviour differences. Is this an undesirable problem (regardless of how minor and subtle it is, for JavaScript engine programmers) or is it thought to be expected and normal? Czech is Cyrillized (talk) 11:53, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

USB flash drive file altered, but apparently unaltered

I created an HTML file on my Dell (it uses CrunchBang, a Debian derivative) at home, copied it to USB flash memory stick, took that to work where I plugged it into a Mac, used the Mac (or more specifically the editor Smultron) to do more work on the HTML file (adding a little to it), took the USB thing back home, was about to copy from it to my hard drive when I noticed that the file size and timestamp hadn't been changed since I'd taken the USB out of the Dell that morning. Huh?

I could only guess that I'd unthinkingly copied from the USB to the Mac's hard drive, worked on the hard drive, and then forgotten to copy the result back onto the USB. Oh well, these things happen. My lost work had only taken me 20 minutes or so. I deleted the not-updated file from the USB device and got on with other business.

A similar sequence a few days later. This time I was more careful. I worked on the USB drive (and not the Mac's hard drive) and was sure to save onto this. (Unfortunately, the one thing I forgot to do was look at the length and timestamp.) I then unmounted/ejected the USB drive properly.

I plugged the USB drive into the Dell. Neither the length nor the timestamp of my file whatever.html had been altered since the last time I'd worked on it on the Dell. WTF?

OS X likes to splatter apparently meaningless files around USB drives. Sure enough, accompanying my own whatever.html was OS X's product "._whatever.html". This was only 4kB long but I noticed that it had the timestamp I'd expected for whatever.html itself.

I used Geany to open whatever.html. Despite its apparent length and ten-hour-old timestamp, it turned out to be the longer, newer file that I'd hoped to see. I did a bit more work on it, saved, proceeded....

Neither the OS (broadly defined) nor the editor (Smultron or Geany) on either the Mac or the Dell has given me an error or warning message. Everything works fine. It's as if the FAT is entirely in order where it matters but not where it doesn't. Because everything works fine I'm not looking for any fix. But I'm curious about what could be happening. -- Hoary (talk) 13:38, 12 October 2013 (UTC) .... rewritten to be more comprehensible Hoary (talk) 23:22, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

An explanation of that the dot-underscore files are for is here, and means of preventing or removing them are here. Neither, however, explains why you're not seeing updates. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 13:53, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

Yes, it certainly is strange. And it's a fairly new development: I've ferried USB sticks between my own home computer (Crunchbang) and this Mac for some time and only recently encountered this oddness. It occurs to me that the Mac has recently had its OS updated. (I don't remember the numbers offhand, but not merely a bugfix but instead from 10.x to 10.y, where y is x plus 1 or 2.) The update hasn't brought any other clearcut problem, but it has seemed to make the computer more sluggish. (I do start to wonder if OS X updates are upgrades or downgrades.) I shouldn't rush to blame the Mac, though: back home, why does Thunar give these numbers, and with no warning? -- Hoary (talk) 23:22, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

Emulator to play classic Nintendo games on computer

Are there any PC-based (or Mac) emulators for classic NES or SNES games? I'm getting this strange compulsion to play Duck Hunt..... 86.148.0.176 (talk) 14:41, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

See Category:Nintendo Entertainment System emulators and Category:Super Nintendo Entertainment System emulators for the emulators themselves. Those need the real game binaries in order to play them, the distribution of which is legally problematic. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 15:01, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

I have a lot of experience with these and would reccomend SNES9x or ZSNES for SNES, and Nestopia or VirtuaNES for NES. --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 18:24, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

All YouTube videos are blacked out when I maximize

I'm on an Imac 2.8 GHz, 8GB, 4.8 GT/s, 4 cores.

This just started today. Any YouTube video I watch works fine except when I try to maximize it, whereupon I see an entirely black screen while the audio continues to run uninterrupted. If I go back to the smaller view from the blacked-out screen while it's playing there's no pause and the video can be seen again. Here's what I've tried: three different browsers (Safari, Chrome and Firefox) and it's the same on all three; i've updated Flashplayer – no change; i've rebooted my computer – no change. I can also tell you that I have downloaded nothing nor (intentionally) changed any computer settings since this was working (which was last night). Any ideas? Anything Else I might try? Thanks. I've asked questions here before, and at other chapters of the reference desk, and I heartily appreciate the dedication and time of everyone who contributes.--108.46.110.208 (talk) 19:05, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

For starters I'd like to thank you for your support of the Wikipedia Reference Desk. :)

Now, for the issue at hand:

Looks like you have tried a lot of things so far, but you haven't done a virus check yet. Sometimes these nasty things can be dormant for a while before deciding to come out and cause trouble. It's possible that this is being caused by some sort of malware and it's always a good idea to do a check when something like this happens. Also, though you did update flash player, did you try uninstalling it then reinstalling it? I've seen this work in the past. Good luck! --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 17:54, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

There was a recent Flash update a month or two ago that was so horrible it would itself qualify as a virus. I'm not sure if that's the problem here but it could be. Flash issues are all over the internets these days.

But on a Mac, anyone's guess is probably better than mine. - ¡Ouch! (^{hurt me} / _{more pain}) 06:24, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

Importing photos

How do I import photos from my cell phone to my computer? My phone is an LG VX9200, and my computer is an HP 300-1120 with Windows 7. Anyway, I have a bunch of photos on my phone that I want to import to my computer, but when I click on "Import pictures and music" it says there are none on the phone! How can I overcome that? 24.23.196.85 (talk) 20:13, 12 October 2013 (UTC)

I don't know about your model of cell phone, but will answer for mine, and some of those answers might apply to yours. For mine, I can either (attempt) to e-mail pics via the cell phone network, which burns up minutes and often fails, or I can connect a USB data cable and upload the pics that way. However, if I use the USB cable, it only works from the microSD card, so I first need to move the pics there. StuRat (talk) 23:02, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

The USB method is what I tried, and it didn't work. But I tried connecting the phone directly to the computer. Where do I get a microSD card? 24.23.196.85 (talk) 01:50, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

It's possible the phone already has an SD/MicroSD card inside of it. If not, they can be bought at pretty much any major electronics store. --.Yellow1996.^(ЬMИED¡) 15:48, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

According to the specs here: [1], it can take up to a 16GB microSD card. StuRat (talk) 01:07, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

(edit conflict)Have you tried to install the drivers of your phone on the computer? I once had a Motorola that needed the software to be installed and if you didn't install it won't connect to the PC. Miss Bono ^{[hello, hello!]} 15:50, 14 October 2013 (UTC)

Two other options: if your computer has bluetooth, perhaps you can use the phone's bluetooth to send the photos to the PC; you can remove the microSD card and a card reader connected to your PC (that way you don't have to install any drivers). Astronaut (talk) 01:46, 15 October 2013 (UTC)

No, my computer doesn't have Bluetooth. And it automatically installs the drivers for external media when these are plugged in, or at least is supposed to. 24.23.196.85 (talk) 04:49, 15 October 2013 (UTC)