Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 July 29

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July 29[edit]

A critical Problem.[edit]

Last year, I had bought a PC game titled 'Conflict Vietnam' which consisted of 3 CDs. Now, after installing it, it ran well. But after a few monthes, my Hard Disk was damaged. After buying a new Hard Disk, I tried to reinstall the game from the CDs. But every time I try to install it, the installation fails (while running the first CD) and a messsage appears "Cyclic Error!(Data Redundancy Check). Can anyone please suggest me away to overcome this problem and reinstalling the game successfully? Any help will be gladly welcome.117.201.97.212 (talk) 00:08, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It sounds like your CD is stratched. Run some warm water and scrub the surfaces with your fingers. Dry off with a soft towel. If this does not work you could buy a CD scratch repairer. However, it would be cheaper to just buy the game again. Copyright Jesus would not smite you for downloading the game from the internet in this case. --mboverload@ 00:55, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Infinity in HTML[edit]

I can't figure out how to represent the infinity sign (∞) in HTML the way I ordinarily represent such symbols. I don't know what this is called, but if I wanted to show, say, the copyright symbol (©), I'd do it with "&copy;". Is there a similar way to show the infinity symbol, and if so, what is it? Also, what is this HTML trick called, so I can look these things up in the future? :) Thanks! --Masamage 02:44, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

They're called character entity references. The infinity sign appears to be &infin; --Bavi H (talk) 03:25, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
We have our own list of XML and HTML character entity references. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 09:56, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Great! Thank you both. :) --Masamage 14:51, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I think you can provide a meta-tag in XHTML (and maybe HTML 4) which indicates that you will use UTF or unicode - in that case, you do not need to use a character entity reference and you may use the character symbol directly (while still maintaining a standards-compliant page!) Nimur (talk) 21:17, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Problem with toggling switches between laptop and Projector[edit]

hi, I have been using Acer Travel Mate 2300 Laptop. When i connect the laptop to a projector, I have difficulty toggling switches between the laptop screen and the projector screen. Using the F8 function to toogle bettwen the screen are unabled and by juz moving the mouse, it suddenly toggles from the laoptop to the projector screen. The Projector doesn't reflects the imaages that the laptop is screening. The Projector only shows the screens only the wallpaper of the projector and the prensentation slides and ther stuff that the laptop is running can't be screened by the projector.

It sounds to me like the laptop is set up to use two monitors with each having an independent screen. You don't want this setting, you want each screen to be a clone of the other. Go to Start (+ Settings) + Control Panel + Display Icon + Settings Tab, I believe, to change this setting. StuRat (talk) 03:12, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
That is called "presentation mode". It shows the wallpaper and "full-screen" images. So, basically, it is for PowerPoint slide shows. Most laptops have the option for internal video only, external video only, internal and external, or internal and presentation. Often, there is only one function button and you have to hit it repeatedly to cycle through all the options. -- kainaw 12:06, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

filesystem in a file, linux[edit]

i have a 1gb file called filesys. i want to format it into a filesystem and be able to mount it. Can someone give me a tutorial? I'm pretty sure this is possible right?

Quick start: mke2fs filesys ; mount -o loop filesys /some/directory
Add whatever filesystem options you want to mke2fs, like -j to create an ext3 journal. Add -F to avoid the "are you sure you want to do that on a regular file" prompt.
If you want to bind the file to a block device without mounting it, losetup /dev/loop0 filesys --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 05:14, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

where should the "inline" specifier be placed in c++??[edit]

eg: //file "foo.h" inline void foo();

inline void foo() {

  //do something 

}

//where should i use the "inline",before the declaration or the definition or both of them???

Well, a quick Google search seems to indicate that you should use it on the definition but not the declaration. Also, you should put the definition into the header file instead of the source file to stop the linker from whining at you. Now, I'm off to Java-land where it's safe... « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 10:25, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
As far as I know you can do any of the three; the recommendation in the C++ FAQ Lite is just a matter of style. You can put the definition into the .cpp file, but then you'd have to put identical copies of the definition into every .cpp file where the function is used, because the rules are that an inline function has to be defined in every translation unit where it's used (a translation unit being a .cpp file and all the header files it includes). My opinion (which differs from the FAQ's) is that extremely simple inline function bodies (like { return something_else(); }) should have no separate declaration, just the definition, and function bodies more complicated than that shouldn't be declared inline in the first place, except in unusual cases. It's easy to overuse the inline keyword. Modern compilers are good at inlining functions where appropriate even when they're not declared inline, and function call and return are very fast on modern CPUs. -- BenRG (talk) 14:46, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Userpage woes[edit]

Help! I can't edit my userpage anymore! Everytime I hit the edit tab, a message pops up telling me that the script is unresponsive, and then, I can't see the HTML code anymore. Please get me out of this mess. If you want, you can even edit my page in the process. I won't mind. I just want my page back to normal. La Alquimista 09:21, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Not that it's any help, but it works for me. What were you doing immediately before this happened? « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 09:37, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I was trying to copy HTML coding from MS Word directly into the editing area just before calamity struck. La Alquimista 14:16, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Try the end-all, fix-all. Reboot the computer. Useight (talk) 14:55, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Umm.. I didn't quite get that. What do you mean by the "end-all, fix-all"?? La Alquimista 15:27, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

FireFox3 opens the page with no errors. IE7 opens the page but gives an error— undoing your last edit clears that error. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 15:46, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well, it's fixed now. Thanks for your time, everyone. La Alquimista 15:50, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you hose it up again, bring up the history and revert. In my experience, Word HTML includes some custom stuff that I have never bothered to figure out. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) talk - 15:54, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

cuil[edit]

Have you already tested cuil? How can it be that it indexes more pages but doesn't find many thing? Isn't it terrible that its name resembles culi.com?

The Reference Desk is not a discussion forum, and we will not answer purely subjective questions. If you have a more concrete question, ask away. Otherwise, we can't help you. « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 10:15, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
More pages does not mean all keywords. Please give it some time. It did not even show Ars Technica for a while. Kushal (talk) 21:03, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It shows up a great many wikipedia clones, that the biggest search engine ignores, as well as other search engines searches. It also revealed an academic article falsely attributing quantum cryptography to me. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 00:37, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Defrag and partitioning NTFS from Linux live CD[edit]

I want to partition a NTFS HDD using Gparted from a Linux live CD. However, how can I defrag my Windows partition without booting Windows (that is not possible)? Is defrag before partitioning absolute necessary? Mr.K. (talk) 09:54, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If you are installing a Linux Distro it is highly recommended that you defrag Windows and no there is no way to my knowledge of defraging Windows through Linux and Gparted is only for the creating and deleting of partitions and is not capable of defraging. I am going to assume you are using Ubuntu. In Linux go to ubuntuguide.org. They have a large amount of things that could help you out. RgoodermoteNot an admin  23:46, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

US cell phone in Europe[edit]

I have an LG Chocolate (VX8500) (which I hate) and I will be travelling to Germany, from the US, in a couple weeks. Will I be able to use the phone while over there? Dismas|(talk) 10:16, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, since it is CDMA 800 / CDMA 1900.
Yes, you can use it for taking pictures, playing games, using the agenda. However you cannot use it for calling since Germany, as the rest of Europe uses a GSM standard.
Okay, so if I get a new phone, what should I look for so that I can make calls? Dismas|(talk) 12:57, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In the US, your choice of carriers will be limited to AT&T or T-Mobile. BUT, neither of them will unlock your phone (so that you can put in a SIM card of your choice) until at least a few months have gone by. If you don't put in a local SIM card, then you'll end up paying exorbitant roaming rates to your carrier.This article, while a couple years old (it refers to Cingular, not AT&T) captures the basics. I believe it would also be possible to purchase an unlocked phone, via eBay for example, but you'd still have to go through the hassle of switching carriers and sign-up fees and all that. If you really need a phone, your best bet (IMHO) is to consider renting one once you've arrived in Germany. --LarryMac | Talk 13:07, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
If you can afford to switch to GSM, Nokia has a large selection of phones. N series phones are pretty cool. Kushal (talk) 16:52, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well, I don't want to switch providers, I'm with Verizon and I like them just fine. I don't want to go through the trouble of renting a phone. I just thought it would be nice if I had a phone that worked while over there for a few days. I've had this one long enough that I'm eligible for a discount on a new phone anyway... Thanks, Dismas|(talk) 19:57, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

word software[edit]

124.43.65.210 (talk) 11:48, 29 July 2008 (UTC)could you recommend a free software or a word game in which, if I enter the letters of a word it must show the possible words. e. g.1 if I enter the letters a, c, e, e, h, r and t (in alphabetical order ) it must show the word teacher. e. g.2 if I enter the letters d, e, o,r, and r it must show the word order.thank you[reply]

The Anagram server at [1] will do what you're asking for. You may have to change the settings to specify word count or length, so you don't get, for example, "OR RED" when you want "ORDER". jeffjon (talk) 12:29, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

C++ Program[edit]

I tried to write the code for a small game in C++. There are 15 coins arranged in 3 columns havin 7,5, and 3 coins respectively.They are represented by asterisks. A player can pick as many coins as he/she wants at a time, but only from a single column. The player who picks up the last coin is the loser. For some reason, the program's not working properly, as in, the output always shows the name of the second player as the winner. Can anyone debug this program please? Thanks in advance.

#include<iostream.h>
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>

void main(){
int a[3][7], i,j,n,c,v=0,pp1=0,pp2=0;
int f=1;
char p1[25],p2[25];

for(i=0;i<7;i++){
  for(j=0;j<3;j++){
    //initialises all cells of array a[][] with 0
    a[i][j]=0;
  }
}
for(i=0;i<3;i++){
  for(j=i;j<(7-i);j++){
    //initialises required cells with 1
    a[j][i]=1;
  }
}

cout<<"Enter player 1's name \n";
gets(p1);
cout<<"Enter player 2's name \n";
gets(p2);
for(i=0;i<7;i++){
  for(j=0;j<3;j++){
    //prints an asterisk wherever there's 1 in the array
    if(a[i][j]==1)
      cout<<"*  ";
    else
      cout<<"   ";
  }
  cout<<endl;
}
cout<<endl;

do{
  v=0;
  if(f%2!=0){
    pp1=1;
    pp2=0;
    cout<<p1<<"'s turn \n";
  }
  else{
    pp1=0;
    pp2=1;
    cout<<p2<<"'s turn \n";
  }
  cout<<"Enter column number \n";
  cin>>c;
  cout<<"Enter number of coins to be removed \n";
  cin>>n;
  cout<<endl;
  c=c-1;
  for(i=0;i<7;i++){
    if((a[i][c]==1) && n!=0){
      n--;
      a[i][c]=0;
    }
  }

  for(i=0;i<7;i++){
    for(j=0;j<3;j++){
      if(a[i][j]==1) {
        v++;
        cout<<"*  ";
      }
      else
        cout<<"   ";
    }
    cout<<endl;
  }
  cout<<"__________________________________\n";
  if(v==1){
    if(pp1==1)
      cout<<p1<<" is the winner \n";
    else
      cout<<p2<<" is the winner \n";
  }
  f++;
}while(v!=1);
getch();
}

La Alquimista 15:34, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Your game worked OK for me. Maybe your testing strategy is at fault.
For example:
Test 1: Player1 takes all of column 1, Player2 takes all of column 2, Player1 takes 2 from column 3 and wins.
Test 2: Player1 takes all of column 1, Player2 takes all of column 2, Player1 takes 1 from column 3, Player2 takes 1 from column 3 and wins.
General improvement to the code: I used indentation to help make the code more readable. You might also want to consider using meaningful names for the variables to make it more readable. You need to consider what happens if the last player takes all the stones - it get's stuck in an endless loop.
Astronaut (talk) 17:24, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with Astronaut. The code could use indentation, better variable names, and error checking. I don't have access to a compiler right now, but I stepped through the code in notepad, and I don't find any reason why player 2 should be declared the winner every time. Laenir (talk) 17:36, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Umm.. Actually, I assumed that no one would be stupid enough to take all the stones for himself when he can easily keep the last one for his opponent. And there's another snag, which I'm surprised wasn't mentioned by Astronaut. In my PC, if I remove, say 3 coins from column 1, the output in the next stage shows 3 coins missing from column 1 as well as 1 coin missing from column 3. Or maybe something's wrong with my version of TurboC++. La Alquimista 17:43, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It doesn't do that for me:
Enter player 1's name
Astronaut
Enter player 2's name
La Alquimista
*        
*  *     
*  *  *  
*  *  *  
*  *  *  
*  *     
*        

Astronaut's turn 
Enter column number 
1
Enter number of coins to be removed 
3

         
   *     
   *  *  
*  *  *  
*  *  *  
*  *     
*        
__________________________________
La Alquimista's turn 
Enter column number
Astronaut (talk) 11:24, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Your game is called nim, by the way. -- BenRG (talk) 20:37, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As a point of interest, gets is usually considered deprecated. I think Most compilers will complain if you use it. APL (talk) 20:59, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Bot Code[edit]

Few questions about Bots on Wikipedia. I am coding in Java, and I was wondering where to put the code for the bot to run, and how to get the bot to actually perform the edit. Thanks, ṜέđṃάяķvюĨїήīṣŢ Drop me a lineReview Me! 17:22, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

First, have you read WP:BOT? You can't just set a bot loose without approval. Assuming you've read that, have you read Wikipedia:Creating a bot? -- Coneslayer (talk) 17:48, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I have read WP:BOT. No, I have not read creating a bot. ṜέđṃάяķvюĨїήīṣŢ Drop me a lineReview Me! 18:51, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Even if your bot is approved for use, it is not likely Wikipedia's servers will host it for you. You will probably need to provide the computer (whether it is your development/desktop PC or some other server you operate). Your code/executable/script interpreter/other method of choice will run on that system, and access Wikipedia through the available standardized interfaces. Nimur (talk) 16:52, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
You might be able to get an account at the Toolserver; I'm not sure how accounts are assigned. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 09:46, 1 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Edit with Notepad[edit]

For years every so often in Internet Explorer when I go to File--->Open, I occasionally misclick on "Edit with Notepad" and then I get a screen with the code (HTML?) and meta tags and stuff for the page. Is this simply a tool for programmers to gain easy access to the code used or does this have some other (or additional) purpose?--70.107.9.159 (talk) 18:09, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It is a program for taking notes. It is plain text, not a word processor. Since it doesn't process your work with paragraph formatting and such, it doesn't mess with the plain text of HTML. -- kainaw 18:11, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
This feature and similar "view source" or whatever features don't cost the web browser anything (it already has the document, so showing it to the user is trivial) and people find them useful for a variety of reasons, including as a learning tool (i.e. to see how something was done), as a means to more easily extract some content, as a means to see content which has been obscured by bad web design, as a means to see how a page might look with minor alterations, all these sorts of things. --78.86.164.115 (talk) 18:51, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Incidentally, the option under File -> Open on my work PC is "Edit with Microsoft office Word", and I'd never even really noticed it. View Source always opens a Notepad session and that's a better environment for editing HTML anyway (in my opinion). --LarryMac | Talk 20:20, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How to use a chrooted environment?[edit]

I was trying to "get inside a chrooted environemt", beacause I am doig my own remaster of Ubuntu with reconstructor. And what do I mean to "get inside"? I was trying to use that environment in a graphical way, not just do "chroot /home/SF007/reconstructor/root" and only get command line access. Now, I tried running "startx" inside the chroot, but it didin't worked very well... I also tried to reboot into "recovery mode", then, do the chroot thing, and then "startx", but again, nothing... Could someone help me out here? Giving the exact commands to run? (I'm still a bit newbie in this...) Thanks. SF007 (talk) 18:30, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I think you're going to have a lot of trouble doing what you want. chroot is designed to isolate individual processes, not for interactive work. Generally, you'll chroot something, see what breaks, and move whatever resources it needs (shared libraries, other programs, device nodes, etc.) into the chroot environment until it works. For a graphical environment, there's going to be a hell of a lot of resources involved, and you'll spend forever trying to identify them all. (I wonder if something like vmware would be a better tool for whatever you're trying to do?) -- Coneslayer (talk) 18:42, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, unfortunately what I am trying to do is to get inside that environment to customize it and then just tell reconstructor to build me a new iso, so Virtual Machines will not work, unless, maybe, I just grab a customized environment and just copy it over the root I reconstructor will use... thanks anyway SF007 (talk) 19:28, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Whatever it was designed for, chroot into an entire environment is used these days, for example for installation of gentoo from a livecd - it's probably part of the instructions he has for remastering. (to the OP) You shouldn't generally need to run graphical programs from the chrooted environment, though - why do you want to? What are you trying to customize that needs a graphical program to do? --Random832 (contribs) 20:41, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
It was mainly to customize the desktop itself, wallpaper, shortcuts, bookmarks in firefox, themes... things like that... SF007 (talk) 23:50, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Holographic Versatile Discs[edit]

When will Holographic Versatile Discs be available to the public? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hochitup (talkcontribs) 19:06, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I hear Duke Nukem Forever will come on it! (translation: holographic storage have been promised for years and years, but it's yet to materialize in a consumer format. Personally, I don't think they're ever going to become widely available. For video, no human being can distinguish video quality higher than regular ol' 1080p on a consumer device, and soon enough everything will be digital downloads anyway. Don't hold your breath, in other words.) ADFSGL (talk) 23:12, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
lol - holographic disks have been vaporware for decades now. I think there is one company that makes a system that does it, but the disks and system cost tens of thousands of dollars. --mboverload@ 23:21, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Best Storage[edit]

Which would be the best for long term storage of large amounts of data in an unstabe and possibly violent environment; hard drive, CD or DVD, tape drives? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hochitup (talkcontribs) 19:07, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

flash memory? You might read Computer data storage and/or Archival science 87.102.86.73 (talk) 20:44, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Off site. The instability can completely destroy the storage facility locally, but the off site storage will still be kept. There are many companies that specifically deal in secure off site storage. -- kainaw 02:21, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I completely agree, along with every company that has any stake in data, that offsite tape backups in a secured location is the best way to ensure that data is preserved. Get a cheap tape writer and store the tapes with a company that specializes in it or a climate controlled lockbox. The cheapest way I can think of is to get an enterprise grade hard drive, store the data on it, and get a lockbox from your local bank. Keep in mind that backups are useless unless you test them!--mboverload@ 02:30, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I've seen flash memory shot out of a cannon into a wall about 5m away and all the data has been fully recoverable (with a lot of soldering mind you.) The CD's and magnetic hard-drives were blown into oblivion, not even enough material was recoverable to form them back into disks. So if you're going to be shooting them out of a cannon, I'd suggest flash memory. But for strictly long-term, the bit's will degrade on many different media, remember to keep checking and copying the data to newer media. Phydaux (talk) 12:37, 31 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

installing iATKOS on VMware Workstation[edit]

How can I install iATKOS on VMware Workstation? The version I got is 4i.

I always get an error "com.apple.Boot.plist is not found"... I burned it like recommended, but still get the error...

Any ideas? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.240.105.221 (talk) 20:56, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

two finger swipe and multi touch in windows xp[edit]

hello, I miss having two finger touch and multi touch in a Toshiba Satellite M55-A135 computer that I am using. It uses Windows XP Home. Is it a hardware issue? Can the trackpad handle multi touch? Kushal (talk) 21:01, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

When you say you miss it - do you miss it because you like the iPod Touch? As far as I know the only laptop that has multitouch built in is some kind of Apple laptop. Support for multitouch requires both hardware and software. Standard capacitive touchpads can not detect more than one finger. When it comes to software, multitouch will be a native feature of Windows 7, which is not yet released. I am not aware of any applications on Windows that use multitouch interfaces other than some speciality programs and hardware. --mboverload@ 02:47, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry, I primarily use an Intel-based macbook now. and when I go back to using the Toshiba, I almost instinctively try multi-touch. i guess it will not be possible for quite a while, huh. Oh, is either of gnome or kde [officially] planning to add multitouch support any time soon? Is it MPX that I should be reading for this? Kushal (talk) 19:49, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Firefox Theme[edit]

Which theme is Firefox using the screenshot in this page? Thanks. --MagneticFlux (talk) 22:27, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's the default OS X theme. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 23:02, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Negative, that is Windows Vista without Aero Glass turned on. I run Firefox on Windows Vista. That's what it looks like. Each operating system has its own default Firefox theme/skin. --mboverload@ 02:37, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Guys, the image on that page is dynamic...--Juliano (T) 03:00, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Holy crap I just got owned. Well done, sir.--mboverload@ 03:04, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I don't see a Linux screenshot... All I get is the Vista one. --antilivedT | C | G 05:44, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Haha, that's entertaining. It seemed like a blindingly obvious question to me, now I see why. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 18:00, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
But, regardless of anything else, one can assume that the reason the OP asked this question was because it doesn't look like what he sees as the default theme. The only combination that would lead to that result is that it is showing the vista screenshot while being viewed from a computer running Windows XP. --Random832 (contribs) 20:38, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Must be dynamic. I've got the OSX screenshot here on my Mac. Mastrchf (t/c) 15:08, 31 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Doesn't appear to be randomly generated. I've tried purging my cache, refreshing the page, etc and it's always the same image. Is it possible that it shows people different images depending on what OS/browser combo it detects?--VectorPotential Talk 21:38, 31 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The image I'm getting doesn't seem to match the appearance of any operating system that I recognize. Is it possible that the image (assuming we're all seeing the same thing) shows some sort of obscure Linux distro with an interface that resembles a cross between XP, OSX, and Vista?--VectorPotential Talk 21:54, 31 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The rounded drop down menu doesn't look like anything I've ever seen, is it possible that they've photo-shopped the image slightly so that the OS it's running on is left ambiguous?--VectorPotential Talk 21:57, 31 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
On the other hand (what is this my 4th hand now?) it could just be FF3 on Vista running a different theme. The only difference I see between the version in the picture and standard FF3 is the curvature of the drop down menu. Could be a different theme, or a different OS. So basically, I have no idea (: VectorPotential Talk 22:14, 31 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

CMS without MySQL or Root Access[edit]

I'm looking for CMS software to run on a Ubuntu machine, something similar to PHP Nuke, but that doesn't require MySQL or any other database, or Root access (which I don't have). Or, if there is a way to get PHP Nuke running without root access, please let me know how to do the whole MySQL part. * Please do not tell me to contact a network admin, they are on vacation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.164.121.70 (talk) 22:59, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Plone maybe? --mboverload@ 23:19, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Does FM degrade sound quality?[edit]

Would broadcasting the music from an iPod using an FM transmitter degrade the sound quality compared to if the iPod was directly connected via the headphone jack to the same speaker? Acceptable (talk) 23:57, 29 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes this is an analog system, you can expect some high frequency noise to be added, and some frequency distortion will apply with a cut off at the upper and lower end. Also in a thunderstorm you may hear static. You may not notice any of this however. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 00:44, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Acceptable, get an audio system with AUX-in and be happy. =) You'll blow your brains out trying to transmit at a higher power than the 12 year old with Hannah Montana next door. --mboverload@ 01:54, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I was actually planning to get an FM transmitter so I can listen to my iPhone/iPod in the car. But I guess the noise of the car engine will probably mask out the degradation in quality. Thanks guys. Acceptable (talk) 20:14, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]
In my experience, the biggest drawback is that if you're driving through an area with many radio stations, finding an empty spot on the dial can be a trick. Friday (talk) 20:17, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]