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May the disc then be too hot for the drive to read? I think this is happening now...-- Open24HrsMotorwayStop ( talk) 00:05, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
My home computer system has a middle-aged Dell flatscreen monitor. Of late, it has been "color-shifting", for lack of a better or proper term; what I mean is the entire screen, not just areas or lines or pixels, shifts to a bluish tint, or pinkish, or something else. Usually this is sudden, not gradual; also, usually it is not permanent -- although it doesn't always revert to correct colors, sometimes it just changes tint. It is also not a flicker in the electrical sense.
Apart from telling me that my monitor has mere days (if not hours) to live, what's really happening here at the hardware level? Alternatively, since slapping the side of the computer case also causes this color shift (sometimes back to normal, sometimes not), perhaps the monitor is fine and it's a graphics card issue?
Thanks in advance to hardware gurus, -- DaHorsesMouth ( talk) 01:36, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Hello Wikipedia,
I've just downloaded Gmail offline but it doesn't seem to be doing what i thought it could. Whilst its great for when i lose my internet connection mid-session, when I'm just no connected, it doesn't load up (so i can't read old emails for example). Have i mis-understood what Gmail offline is supposed to do or is there a bug in the system somewhere? Thanks, 81.140.37.58 ( talk) 10:45, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
if a softwares works is there any real reason to get newer version if you'res works ok? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.80.240.66 ( talk) 13:24, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Can anyone recommend a free downloadable boot disk that will allow me to restore the master boot record for Windows XP? My MBR is currently trying to load from a boot loader that no longer exists (I forgot it was still being used and deleted it...), I need to get it to load from the standard XP boot loader (which I'm 99% sure is still where it should be and in working order!). Thanks. -- Tango ( talk) 13:41, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
UBCD 4 Windows ? — Ched ~ (yes?) 14:37, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
A FreeDOS boot disk fixed the MBR, so thanks all of you for you help! However, it turns out the XP install isn't in working order after all, so I guess I'm now on a quest to find someone with a repair CD... -- Tango ( talk) 15:56, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
I've been using Linux exclusively as a desktop OS since November 08. I was just wondering, what, if any, code is still in the kernel from Linus Torvalds original version that he started spitting out on a keyboard attached to a 386 in a cold apartment in Helsinki back in 1991? Not really a useful question, but I'm curious. I think it'd be neat if there were still tiny bits of code from all those years ago still surging through my CPU right now... 63.245.144.68 ( talk) 15:28, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Folks, this has been annoying me for days and I just cannot figure it out. I recently upgraded to Firefox 3.0.7 from version 2.something. In v2 the Google toolbar was below the Yahoo toolbar, but in v3 the positions are swapped and I have been completely unable to figure out how to put them where I want them, Google on the bottom. Anyone know the magic for this, or is it an issues with v3 itself? Thanks in advance. – ukexpat ( talk) 16:07, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Can you give me a link to a minimal program that creates a fullscreen x window? Something along the lines found here but complete (the code there doesn't work for me or I miserably fail copy-paste). -- 194.197.235.29 ( talk) 16:39, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
// code a fusion of:
// http://fixunix.com/xwindows/91585-how-make-xlib-based-window-full-screen.html
// and Ch. Tronche (http://tronche.lri.fr:8000/)'s xlib tutorial
#include <X11/Xlib.h>
#include <assert.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
#define NIL (0)
// compile with:
// gcc -o foo foo.c -lX11
int main (){
Display *dpy = XOpenDisplay(NIL);
assert(dpy);
XEvent xev;
Atom wm_state = XInternAtom(dpy, "_NET_WM_STATE", False);
Atom fullscreen = XInternAtom(dpy, "_NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN", False);
int blackColor = BlackPixel(dpy, DefaultScreen(dpy));
int whiteColor = WhitePixel(dpy, DefaultScreen(dpy));
Window w = XCreateSimpleWindow(dpy, DefaultRootWindow(dpy), 0, 0,
200, 100, 0, blackColor, blackColor);
memset(&xev, 0, sizeof(xev));
xev.type = ClientMessage;
xev.xclient.window = w;
xev.xclient.message_type = wm_state;
xev.xclient.format = 32;
xev.xclient.data.l0 = 1;
xev.xclient.data.l1 = fullscreen;
xev.xclient.data.l2 = 0;
XSendEvent(dpy, DefaultRootWindow(dpy), False,
SubstructureNotifyMask, &xev);
XSelectInput(dpy, w, StructureNotifyMask);
XMapWindow(dpy, w);
GC gc = XCreateGC(dpy, w, 0, NIL);
XSetForeground(dpy, gc, whiteColor);
for(;;) { // wait for MapNotify
XEvent e;
XNextEvent(dpy, &e);
if (e.type == MapNotify)
break;
}
XDrawLine(dpy, w, gc, 10, 60, 180, 20);
XFlush(dpy);
sleep(10);
return 0;
}
What's the earliest software I can run on Windows 7? Can I run software originally written for Windows 95? 3.1? -- 70.167.58.6 ( talk) 17:30, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
In reference to business applications where you have data, data access, business and UI layers, are stored procedures considered part of the data layer or the data access layer? I used to think the data layer, but now that I think about it, stored procedures do access data. OTOH, stored procedures are physically located on the database server whereas a data acess layer can (and often is) located on separate machine. A Quest For Knowledge ( talk) 17:44, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
In a typical video game, assuming the computer or console has video acceleration with a separate GPU, how do the CPU cycles break down between graphics, sound, AI and mechanics? Neon Merlin 20:07, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Ok, follow on from my question above: With your help, I got the MBR sorted out. I initially thought that something was wrong with the Windows XP installation and it wasn't loading, it turns out it was actually loading almost imperceptibly slowly, and continues to run at that speed once it has loaded. It takes 5 to 10 minutes from clicking on an icon to it becoming selected - that slowly! I am currently using it in Safe Mode (with networking), and it is running reasonably well. For some reason unknown to me, my C: drive reports a gigabyte extra free space is Safe Mode than in normal mode (That is, it reports 1GB rather than 10MB).
In case it helps, allow me to explain how I broke it in the first place: Some time ago I tried to set it up to dual boot with Linux, this failed due to hardware incompatibilities and I gave up on it. A partition for Linux was then left dormant on my hard drive (well, several actually). Recently my main Windows partition has been filling up and it got to the point where there was less than 10meg free and nothing more I could delete or move to a different drive/partition. I realised there was still this Linux partition there so tried to use Partition Magic to delete it and redistribute the free space between the other. It got half way through moving one of the other windows partitions up the drive when it failed due to an apparent bad sector and said no change had been made. This wasn't actually the case, it had already deleted the Linux partition(s). It was only when I rebooted that I realised the MBR was set to use GRUB on the Linux partition, which was now gone, but with your help I fixed that problem. I am now left with a slower computer than I have ever encountered and have no idea why. It may be to do with the drastic lack of hard drive space, but it got down to 500k just before I decided to try rearranging the partitions (I got it up to about 10meg first, but then ran out things to delete - most of the space it taken up by Windows itself). I could try and free up some more space while in Safe Mode, but it won't be easy... Is there a way to move programs from one drive to another without breaking everything (other than uninstalling and reinstalling - I don't have most of the install media with me)?
Any ideas what is wrong with my computer? Is it just the free space issue, or is there something else? Please help!!
-- Tango ( talk) 21:23, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Ok, I've freed up a couple of gig on C: by compressing old files (which I've always been reluctant to do since it feels rather like buying things on a credit card with no way of paying it off, but I saw little choice). I've also followed the instructions linked to above to move the pagefile from C: onto a completely different drive which has plenty of space. None of this seems to have solved the problem. If it helps, the computer only slows down after I try and log on - the welcome screen loads fine and it accepts my password fine, but then I get the "loading your personal settings" message which stays there for ages and then the desktop starts to load a bit at a time over the course of about 15-30 minutes, and then does virtually nothing - if I double-click and then wait another 30 minutes it might just about load My Computer. Any ideas? -- Tango ( talk) 16:48, 14 March 2009 (UTC)
Well, I seem to have things working now. I went through msconfig's selective startup options and gradually narrowed done which services were causing a problem. This took longer than expected because it seems there are two services independently causing everything to run really slow - KService (something to do with BBC iPlayer, I think) and MySQL. I can't work out why either of those would suddenly break just as I'm fiddling around with partitions, but I can do with them. Thanks everyone for your help! -- Tango ( talk) 21:20, 14 March 2009 (UTC)
I couldn't think of a better title for this question: what I want is something where I would type in several words, for example, Fred, Cooper, and Smith, and it would spit out something like: FredCooperSmith, FredSmith, CooperSmith, FSmith, FCSmith, FCS, and so on. I was recently regestering some .tk websites, and was thinking that this would make things a lot easier. Thanks, Genius 101 Guestbook 21:54, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Hi
Can someone suggest a good vnc client for windows, specifically one the may have a LAN browser, and tabs like Vinagre in ubuntu?
TIA PrinzPH ( talk) 22:48, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Computing desk | ||
---|---|---|
< March 12 | << Feb | March | Apr >> | March 14 > |
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. |
May the disc then be too hot for the drive to read? I think this is happening now...-- Open24HrsMotorwayStop ( talk) 00:05, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
My home computer system has a middle-aged Dell flatscreen monitor. Of late, it has been "color-shifting", for lack of a better or proper term; what I mean is the entire screen, not just areas or lines or pixels, shifts to a bluish tint, or pinkish, or something else. Usually this is sudden, not gradual; also, usually it is not permanent -- although it doesn't always revert to correct colors, sometimes it just changes tint. It is also not a flicker in the electrical sense.
Apart from telling me that my monitor has mere days (if not hours) to live, what's really happening here at the hardware level? Alternatively, since slapping the side of the computer case also causes this color shift (sometimes back to normal, sometimes not), perhaps the monitor is fine and it's a graphics card issue?
Thanks in advance to hardware gurus, -- DaHorsesMouth ( talk) 01:36, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Hello Wikipedia,
I've just downloaded Gmail offline but it doesn't seem to be doing what i thought it could. Whilst its great for when i lose my internet connection mid-session, when I'm just no connected, it doesn't load up (so i can't read old emails for example). Have i mis-understood what Gmail offline is supposed to do or is there a bug in the system somewhere? Thanks, 81.140.37.58 ( talk) 10:45, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
if a softwares works is there any real reason to get newer version if you'res works ok? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.80.240.66 ( talk) 13:24, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Can anyone recommend a free downloadable boot disk that will allow me to restore the master boot record for Windows XP? My MBR is currently trying to load from a boot loader that no longer exists (I forgot it was still being used and deleted it...), I need to get it to load from the standard XP boot loader (which I'm 99% sure is still where it should be and in working order!). Thanks. -- Tango ( talk) 13:41, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
UBCD 4 Windows ? — Ched ~ (yes?) 14:37, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
A FreeDOS boot disk fixed the MBR, so thanks all of you for you help! However, it turns out the XP install isn't in working order after all, so I guess I'm now on a quest to find someone with a repair CD... -- Tango ( talk) 15:56, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
I've been using Linux exclusively as a desktop OS since November 08. I was just wondering, what, if any, code is still in the kernel from Linus Torvalds original version that he started spitting out on a keyboard attached to a 386 in a cold apartment in Helsinki back in 1991? Not really a useful question, but I'm curious. I think it'd be neat if there were still tiny bits of code from all those years ago still surging through my CPU right now... 63.245.144.68 ( talk) 15:28, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Folks, this has been annoying me for days and I just cannot figure it out. I recently upgraded to Firefox 3.0.7 from version 2.something. In v2 the Google toolbar was below the Yahoo toolbar, but in v3 the positions are swapped and I have been completely unable to figure out how to put them where I want them, Google on the bottom. Anyone know the magic for this, or is it an issues with v3 itself? Thanks in advance. – ukexpat ( talk) 16:07, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Can you give me a link to a minimal program that creates a fullscreen x window? Something along the lines found here but complete (the code there doesn't work for me or I miserably fail copy-paste). -- 194.197.235.29 ( talk) 16:39, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
// code a fusion of:
// http://fixunix.com/xwindows/91585-how-make-xlib-based-window-full-screen.html
// and Ch. Tronche (http://tronche.lri.fr:8000/)'s xlib tutorial
#include <X11/Xlib.h>
#include <assert.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <string.h>
#define NIL (0)
// compile with:
// gcc -o foo foo.c -lX11
int main (){
Display *dpy = XOpenDisplay(NIL);
assert(dpy);
XEvent xev;
Atom wm_state = XInternAtom(dpy, "_NET_WM_STATE", False);
Atom fullscreen = XInternAtom(dpy, "_NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN", False);
int blackColor = BlackPixel(dpy, DefaultScreen(dpy));
int whiteColor = WhitePixel(dpy, DefaultScreen(dpy));
Window w = XCreateSimpleWindow(dpy, DefaultRootWindow(dpy), 0, 0,
200, 100, 0, blackColor, blackColor);
memset(&xev, 0, sizeof(xev));
xev.type = ClientMessage;
xev.xclient.window = w;
xev.xclient.message_type = wm_state;
xev.xclient.format = 32;
xev.xclient.data.l0 = 1;
xev.xclient.data.l1 = fullscreen;
xev.xclient.data.l2 = 0;
XSendEvent(dpy, DefaultRootWindow(dpy), False,
SubstructureNotifyMask, &xev);
XSelectInput(dpy, w, StructureNotifyMask);
XMapWindow(dpy, w);
GC gc = XCreateGC(dpy, w, 0, NIL);
XSetForeground(dpy, gc, whiteColor);
for(;;) { // wait for MapNotify
XEvent e;
XNextEvent(dpy, &e);
if (e.type == MapNotify)
break;
}
XDrawLine(dpy, w, gc, 10, 60, 180, 20);
XFlush(dpy);
sleep(10);
return 0;
}
What's the earliest software I can run on Windows 7? Can I run software originally written for Windows 95? 3.1? -- 70.167.58.6 ( talk) 17:30, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
In reference to business applications where you have data, data access, business and UI layers, are stored procedures considered part of the data layer or the data access layer? I used to think the data layer, but now that I think about it, stored procedures do access data. OTOH, stored procedures are physically located on the database server whereas a data acess layer can (and often is) located on separate machine. A Quest For Knowledge ( talk) 17:44, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
In a typical video game, assuming the computer or console has video acceleration with a separate GPU, how do the CPU cycles break down between graphics, sound, AI and mechanics? Neon Merlin 20:07, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Ok, follow on from my question above: With your help, I got the MBR sorted out. I initially thought that something was wrong with the Windows XP installation and it wasn't loading, it turns out it was actually loading almost imperceptibly slowly, and continues to run at that speed once it has loaded. It takes 5 to 10 minutes from clicking on an icon to it becoming selected - that slowly! I am currently using it in Safe Mode (with networking), and it is running reasonably well. For some reason unknown to me, my C: drive reports a gigabyte extra free space is Safe Mode than in normal mode (That is, it reports 1GB rather than 10MB).
In case it helps, allow me to explain how I broke it in the first place: Some time ago I tried to set it up to dual boot with Linux, this failed due to hardware incompatibilities and I gave up on it. A partition for Linux was then left dormant on my hard drive (well, several actually). Recently my main Windows partition has been filling up and it got to the point where there was less than 10meg free and nothing more I could delete or move to a different drive/partition. I realised there was still this Linux partition there so tried to use Partition Magic to delete it and redistribute the free space between the other. It got half way through moving one of the other windows partitions up the drive when it failed due to an apparent bad sector and said no change had been made. This wasn't actually the case, it had already deleted the Linux partition(s). It was only when I rebooted that I realised the MBR was set to use GRUB on the Linux partition, which was now gone, but with your help I fixed that problem. I am now left with a slower computer than I have ever encountered and have no idea why. It may be to do with the drastic lack of hard drive space, but it got down to 500k just before I decided to try rearranging the partitions (I got it up to about 10meg first, but then ran out things to delete - most of the space it taken up by Windows itself). I could try and free up some more space while in Safe Mode, but it won't be easy... Is there a way to move programs from one drive to another without breaking everything (other than uninstalling and reinstalling - I don't have most of the install media with me)?
Any ideas what is wrong with my computer? Is it just the free space issue, or is there something else? Please help!!
-- Tango ( talk) 21:23, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Ok, I've freed up a couple of gig on C: by compressing old files (which I've always been reluctant to do since it feels rather like buying things on a credit card with no way of paying it off, but I saw little choice). I've also followed the instructions linked to above to move the pagefile from C: onto a completely different drive which has plenty of space. None of this seems to have solved the problem. If it helps, the computer only slows down after I try and log on - the welcome screen loads fine and it accepts my password fine, but then I get the "loading your personal settings" message which stays there for ages and then the desktop starts to load a bit at a time over the course of about 15-30 minutes, and then does virtually nothing - if I double-click and then wait another 30 minutes it might just about load My Computer. Any ideas? -- Tango ( talk) 16:48, 14 March 2009 (UTC)
Well, I seem to have things working now. I went through msconfig's selective startup options and gradually narrowed done which services were causing a problem. This took longer than expected because it seems there are two services independently causing everything to run really slow - KService (something to do with BBC iPlayer, I think) and MySQL. I can't work out why either of those would suddenly break just as I'm fiddling around with partitions, but I can do with them. Thanks everyone for your help! -- Tango ( talk) 21:20, 14 March 2009 (UTC)
I couldn't think of a better title for this question: what I want is something where I would type in several words, for example, Fred, Cooper, and Smith, and it would spit out something like: FredCooperSmith, FredSmith, CooperSmith, FSmith, FCSmith, FCS, and so on. I was recently regestering some .tk websites, and was thinking that this would make things a lot easier. Thanks, Genius 101 Guestbook 21:54, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Hi
Can someone suggest a good vnc client for windows, specifically one the may have a LAN browser, and tabs like Vinagre in ubuntu?
TIA PrinzPH ( talk) 22:48, 13 March 2009 (UTC)