Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2020 June 6

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June 6

change current keyboard layout via a .bat file

Hi, I got a windows 10 with 2 keyboard layout. I would like to switch progrmatically the current used keyboard via a bat file. Does anyone know what command does it?--Exx8 (talk) 10:02, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

Exx8, let me Google that for you... Does this help? Elizium23 (talk) 13:05, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

That's PowerShell, which is not the traditional batch file. Now with that said, PowerShell is what you want to use because I don't think you can switch keyboard layout from Command Prompt. In a nut-power-shell (*snort*) PowerShell is the modern "replacement" for the antiquated, deprecated Command Prompt; it's intended to provide a powerful command line environment for Windows similar to Unix shells. So yeah. For extra fun, combine with AutoHotkey. Then you can bind that PowerShell script to a key combo of your choice and switch layouts by just inputting the combo. --47.146.63.87 (talk) 17:20, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

• @Exx8: A .bat file is a traditional batch file, whose syntax is fundamentally the same as it was in DOS. Some extensions have been added to make it more useful, but it’s nothing like what a modern programmer would expect. So now we have PowerShell, which is completely different and way more powerful. So what you probably want is a .ps1 file (or something similar), which is what PowerShell uses. I don’t know the details, but they seem to have been covered in the previous comments. Brianjd (talk) 05:46, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

Images greyed out on iPad Mini

After years reading and editing articles on my iPad Mini, just in last several days article images became grey boxes the size of the article images with instructions at the top, and inside, of each box to tap to see the image. Tiresome and takes away from reading to continually tap to see images. Have cleared browser just in case and checked all my settings but, as I wrote, have never had this problem before. Have always used Safari w/ Google as search engine in Private mode (which I have used for years, also). Noticed on other Wikipedia forums just recently the same problem has been written about w/o an answer. Could this be a Wikipedia programming change/problem? Any thoughts/answer? Thanks Quaerens-veritatem (talk) 16:56, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

Quaerens-veritatem, are you talking about WIkipedia? Do you use the Desktop or Mobile view? Elizium23 (talk) 17:07, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

Hi Elizium23 Yes, Wikipedia. Using the Mobile view (usually use it unless adding citations). On Desktop all is well, but in Mobile have the problem, which have never had for years using Mobile.Quaerens-veritatem (talk) 17:22, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

Elizium23 I just turned off Javascript and the images came back; however, this is weird because I’ve always had Javascript enabled. I wonder if this is a change in format by Wikipedia. I don’t want to disable Javascript for the usual reasons. Any thoughts?Quaerens-veritatem (talk) 17:56, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

I don't know. Can you provide links to where this has previously been discussed? Why did you choose to post here on the Reference Desk, rather than a Wikipedia-internal page like WP:VPT? Elizium23 (talk) 17:58, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

I don’t remember, just that the same issue was posted without anyone responding. I hit the desk as I was searching around and noticed a computer reference so thought that would be a source. I’ll try WP:VPT.Quaerens-veritatem (talk) 18:46, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

Icon-to-English dictionary?

Is there an icon-to-English dictionary for those of us who are not digital natives? For example, apparently people are expected to "just know" that the five-pointed star symbol means "bookmark this Web page", that is, add it to a list of URL's which a Web browser will "remember" for you. What I am looking for is a page which allows you to look up an icon -- in the case of my example, a five-pointed star -- and get the English meaning -- in this case, add to a list of "bookmarked" Web pages. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:252:D14:F900:AD98:48A0:5E0A:9FEE (talk) 18:48, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

Oh, is that what that one means? Thanks. --76.71.5.208 (talk) 19:47, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

Try floating your mouse cursor over the little star. 2602:24A:DE47:BB20:50DE:F402:42A6:A17D (talk) 23:27, 7 June 2020 (UTC)

That would require me to have a mouse cursor -- perhaps a reasonable assumption 25 years ago; not so much today (tablets, etc.). 2602:252:D14:F900:79C0:915A:E0D9:50C (talk) 03:43, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

• I think this is just part of a bigger problem of technology being built by experts, for experts, and the rest of us being expected to figure it out somehow. I don’t know the answer to your question, but I would like to know too. Brianjd (talk) 05:50, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

rsync question

I often back my Fedora Linux file system up with rsync. This question came to my mind:

I have three different picture files, let's call them img1.jpg, img2.jpg and img3.jpg. Of these three, the time stamp of img3.jpg is the oldest.

I make changes to img1.jpg and img2.jpg, and after this find out that the pictures have become small enough to fit on a single picture. So I combine them to img1.jpg and delete img2.jpg as redundant. To have the numbering remain consecutive, I then move img3.jpg to img2.jpg.

After I have finished making changes, I run rsync with the --delete option.

Is the following then what happens?

rsync quite nicely updates img1.jpg on the destination. However, it finds out that the time stamp of img2.jpg is newer on the destination, so it doesn't update that file. Finally, it blissfully deletes img3.jpg from the destination as it doesn't exist on the source any more. The contents of img3.jpg have now disappeared from the destination entirely.

Would it really work like that or is rsync somehow smart enough to avoid this or go around it? JIP | Talk 20:30, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

rsync § Algorithm: The article happens to describe this, so conveniently I didn't even have to go to the docs. If the new img2.jpg has a different size (which is very likely) it will get synced. For extra safety use --checksum, which is slower but essentially guarantees every changed file is updated by generating and comparing checksums. --47.146.63.87 (talk) 20:49, 6 June 2020 (UTC)

So it is smart enough. Thanks! JIP | Talk 20:55, 6 June 2020 (UTC)