Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2017 June 12

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.

June 12

Can I set up a Windows 7 virtual machine on a computer with Kaby Lake?

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 42.61.51.210 (talk) 06:56, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Shure but under/for windows 7 there is no Opcode support for the cpu from Intel (almost unknown, there is actually software, kind of like the better known bios on mainboards, working inside cpu's). Ofcourse a higher version windows host OS can do that but that may have consequences for the virtual machine from producing errors to crashes with no chance for normal users to ever debug these. --Kharon (talk) 15:30, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

I am not sure that opcodes are OS dependent. I think there will be absolutely no problem in setting up Windows 7 virtual machine on a computer with Kaby Lake. Ruslik_Zero 19:38, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

It will work. I'm doing that as I type this, as a matter of fact. It gives you the giant "unsupported hardware" message on boot, but it still works just fine, so long as you're not running any software that requires a Kaby Lake. ᛗᛁᛟᛚᚾᛁᚱPants Tell me all about it. 23:48, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

D-type screwlocks

D-subminiature connectors often have a pair of raised chassis nuts into which screw cable hood jackscrews. My experience says these are always UNC 4-40 thread. Is there a formal specification that says this, or is it just common practice? -- SGBailey (talk) 14:11, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Invented by Cannon in 1952, (see D-subminiature) there are now standards MIL-DTL-24308, and IEC 60807-3 and DIN 41652 The mil standard [1] does not seem to specify the screw. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 00:30, 14 June 2017 (UTC)

Thanks. -- SGBailey (talk) 21:29, 15 June 2017 (UTC)

Computer screen cleaner

Safe to use? ROG Swift '27 (not sure if relevant)

https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/MTM5NlgxNTI0/z/EKEAAOSwCGVYBTAD/%24_58.JPG

This might seem stupid but other brands clearly write "Computer" on their packaging.Matt714 (talk) 23:17, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

In my country the packages have to show the ingredient. If you see approx 98% deionized water 1% of a wetting agent like alcohol and a drop of a non-ionic surfactant such as Triton X-100 it should be OK. Gosh. Looking at the price of this stuff on Amazon it would be cheaper to buy Champagne! Personal, I just use distilled water and with an eye dropper drip in a bit of vodka and a drop of Ecover. It is the same stuff but very, very much cheaper. You can also use it to clean CDs and records (for those below a certain age, records were what we used to listen to music). Aspro (talk) 00:20, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

How do people handle massive quantities of data?

Nowadays, a single organization may have thousands or millions of people. A government may have billions of citizens and may hire some citizens to do work through a public school, public hospital, or public university. In either case, how would people, specifically accountants, handle such massive quantities of data? Microsoft Excel only allows a limited row of cells. I don't know much about Access, but I've heard that it's used to handle databases and such. Is keeping track of everyone's records done automatically by a machine or by a human? 50.4.236.254 (talk) 23:42, 12 June 2017 (UTC)

Irrelevant for the updated question.
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
All your contributions to Wikipedia appear to exist of just asking a lot of multiple faceted questions here or distributive editing. Do your own simple searches. Google is your friend! Aspro (talk) 00:39, 13 June 2017 (UTC) First, I don't know what you mean by "distributive editing". Second, I have modified the question, because I think the latter questions are irrelevant and confuses the main point. The main question is about handling large quantities of data. That is, by the way, the ONLY question, which contradicts your point of my asking multiple-faceted questions. 50.4.236.254 (talk) 01:27, 13 June 2017 (UTC) First: Here for instance: [2]. Second: You're now moving your goal posts by narrowing down your multifaceted question. Aspro (talk) 01:55, 13 June 2017 (UTC) Is there a problem with revising a question? If a question is too broad or unclear, then I see no problem with revising it and making it clear by getting rid of excesses or tangentially or closely related questions. 50.4.236.254 (talk) 03:54, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

You mentioned databases, which are specifically designed to handle massive quantities of data. I'd start there. StuRat (talk) 01:56, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

Off-the-peg databases such as Excel are only intended for use by small businesses. Government departments and muiltinationals will have custom databases built to meet their specific requirements.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 07:28, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

Excel is neither a database not a database management system (terms often used interchangeably). Many generic DBMSes can handle massive amounts of data, and for what we today call Big Data, more specialised systems exist. In general, they come with a query language such as SQL and/or an API and you develop your software against these interfaces to do what you need it to do (or, in reality, to do what some ill-specified, ill-thought-out requirements-document that's been half hacked together by a crowd of crazy monkeys, and half slipped in by your competition to give them a leg up in the call for tender, can be twisted to mean). --Stephan Schulz (talk) 07:54, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

To be fair, a database is in many ways an abstraction of a spreadsheet, and excel does spreadsheets. So while you're not wrong, it's generally forgiveable for non-programmers to fail to make the distinction. I often explain how databases work to people in terms of an excel workbook, as the analogy is obvious and most people know what a workbook is. ᛗᛁᛟᛚᚾᛁᚱPants Tell me all about it. 13:12, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

But the OP's question arises specifically because he's not distinguishing between databases and spreadsheets. In this context I think it's quite relevant to point out the difference. CodeTalker (talk) 17:04, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

Agreed. For massive quantities of data, you want a full database management system, not a spreadsheet. StuRat (talk) 17:18, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

A modern relational database is not really that similar to a spreadsheet. A single database table is quite similar to a single worksheet. But it would be quite painful to model the relational part of a RDBMs in Excel, and that is a large part of what makes a database useful. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 17:58, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

• And here I thought we were trying to help the OP, not prove who has the bigger nerd penis. Fuck this, I'm done here. ᛗᛁᛟᛚᚾᛁᚱPants Tell me all about it. 19:43, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

Rather than argue about databases vs spreadsheets, it should be noted that relational databases have traditionally been used to store massive quantities of data. Currently, NoSQL databases are increasing in popularity because they remove a lot of the headache of normalizing incoming data. Instead, you normalize just what you use on the way out (normally by moving it to a relational database). For a common application, see the Epic medical record system. It uses a NoSQL database to store data coming from various sources. It has a data normalizer tool that extracts the data and puts it into a relational database in Oracle, MSSQL, or MySQL. 209.149.113.5 (talk) 19:31, 15 June 2017 (UTC)