Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2006 November 23

= November 23 =

Region free Nintendo 64
I would like to get a region free N64 that can play games from anywhere in the world including 64 DD games. Is this possible and if so where can I get them from. Thanks, 159.134.99.194 00:31, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
 * If it was me, I'd just get an emulator. The only place I knew that did that sort of thing was Lik-Sang and they got shut down. --Wo o ty Woot? contribs 02:31, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
 * There were no modchips produced for the N64 as far as I know, so you'd need to purchase an American, a European and a Japanese N64 in addition to a 64DD unit. You would be better off using an emulator for the PC. (As a note, if you're getting a Japanese unit, I highly recommend the Japan-only game Sin and Punishment (or Tsumi to Batsu). Pesapluvo 11:36, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
 * You don't have to buy any new hardware. Just buy a cardridge converter which lets you play NTSC games on PAL machines and vice versa. You plug in your import game on top of the converter, and a game from your region behind, and then you can play then without problems. The only brand I know for N64 is Action Replay Passport, only available from ebay today I think - see . Aetherfukz 17:46, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Re: The default order of Firefox's marvellous live bookmarks
What order do the live bookmarks appear when you get the drop-down of all the headlines? You have the option of sorting them by name. But, assuming you don't do that, do they appear "most recent headline first"? I felt this would be intuitive, but a quick look at some of the headlines suggested this wasn't what was happening (I judged by the time/date stamps on BBC articles). Is it, perhaps, that stories can be filed at certain times, but are not placed on RSS in strictly the same order?

Any help much appreciated. It's not of great concern, but I suppose I'm curious to know that, if I go through an Obsessive Compulsive headline watching phase (it's bound to happen on occasion), I'll know whether I can just look at the top one and move on if that hasn't changed. bodnotbod 01:31, 23 November 2006 (UTC)


 * As far as I know it's the "physical" order the entries are included in the feed. Nearly all feeds I read have the most recent items first, but a few start with the oldest, and the order is the same whether I look at what Firefox makes of it (either as a live bookmark or when opening it) or at the XML directly. --Dapeteばか 13:36, 23 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes, that makes sense both in general and from the vague impression I'm getting from using the feature. Thank you very much, sir. --bodnotbod 15:32, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Text ads in email-Any agency?
Is there any advertising agency like adbrite or google which serve text advertisements to email services? We are a small local email services company and do only graphical ads. I contacted google and adbrite but both said they dont. Do you know anyone?


 * I'm afraid I'm a little confused by your question - you are looking for a company put provide you with (text only) ads to display... where? In the e-mails sent to / from your e-mail service? On your webmail interface? Or something else entirely? &mdash; QuantumEleven 15:55, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Clarification: Have you seen Gmail? We plan to show ads similar to what Gmail does. It shows ads on the side of each message when we read an inbox message. I dont understand whether it is 'in the emails' or 'in the web interface' Sorry. Thanks.
 * Google's ad thingy (forget what it's called) should work in that case. Maybe they misunderstood you. --Wo o ty Woot? contribs 09:58, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Difference between hosting in own country/another country
Hi,

I recently launched my first website, having it hosted on servers in the UK, which is where both I and all the visitors to my site live. However, I have been informed that I can have it hosted on US servers for a significantly lower price. Would there be any drawbacks to having the site hosted in a different country to where I am the site's visitors are resident? The hosting company have said that transferring to American servers could cause a higher latency - is this a major issue?

The site is used mainly for the download of Word and PDF files.

Thanks in advance.

TomPhil (talk) 14:11, 23 November 2006 (UTC)


 * I am not an expert on this, but here is my advice: the physical hosting of your website is not very important, assuming you can keep your domain name (I'm presuming that's the case). Yes, your visitors will experience a slightly higher latency, but the difference is negliglible, especially for a site which does not serve realtime content (you're not streaming video or hosting a multiplayer games server, for instance, where latency is very important). My advice would be to compare prices, but also compare support services, reputation, facilities etc of a few US and UK hosting providers to find the best deal. In your case, I can't see much of a downside to switching to cheaper (assuming they're equally good) provider in the US, but do make sure to read the fine print (eg their telephone support service might be geared to US timezones, they may require a US address, I don't know...) &mdash; QuantumEleven 16:08, 23 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Hi, thanks for your answer. I would be staying with the same company, and they have confirmed that they are happy for me to switch to the US servers with my UK address, etc. The one thing that I am concerned about is whether the contract may be governed under US law, etc., but obviously that isn't really an issue for the Wikipedia computing help desk. Thanks again for your help. TomPhil (talk) 16:36, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

PSP game recommendation
A friend of mine hopes to buy her husband a game for his Playstation Portable for Christmas. I'm hoping Wikipedians might have some recommendations for her. While I appreciate we can look on game review websites, those that I've looked at seem to mostly concentrate on the shallow and immediate characteristics of a game (its graphics, its sound) and not so much on the longer-term value of the game (how much fun it is to play 40 hours later, for example). I'm reluctant to tell y'all what genre(s) of games he likes, as I think it's more important to get a good one, and hopefully y'all can recommend something a bit neglected or weird or out of the way. Thanks for your time. ShandyMandy 17:43, 23 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Oh, I should say we're located in the UK, so obviously only games that are available in the UK are viable options. Thanks again. ShandyMandy 17:49, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm looking at buying one too, and the Grand Theft Auto games are very mainstream but they seem really good. They are very violent and contraversial (can't spell) but Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City stories seems well priced as well. That should be good for what you friend is looking for. If they're after something less violent, Gran Turismo would be a good choice. Both are very big games.Mix Lord 23:58, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
 * The correct spelling is "controversial". See also Spellchecking, or consider using Firefox 2.0 or GNU Aspell. --KSmrqT 10:18, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Personally, I believe a good strategy game is the best type, or one that is always different. Since your friend is buying it for her husband, a game that men like would be good. An example would be the Star Wars Battlefront games- plenty of shooting and explosions, but always different and thoroughly enjoyable. Lenadi 00:08, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I have SWBF2 for PSP, and it's OK. However, there are plenty of shooters like SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs that have good replay value (online multiplayer!) Weird - try Loco Roco. --Wo o ty Woot? contribs 10:00, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Trackback etiquette
Say that I regularly read blog A, and in one of its entries, it discusses some interesting news story or web site or something. If I discuss it on my blog, should I mention I read about the story on blog A? Should I include a TrackBack? Wordpress.com automatically pings blogs I link to, anyway. How about if blog A mentions a neat entry on blog B? If I discuss the blog B entry on my blog, should I mention I came to it by way of blog A? I want to be courteous and mention where I read about these things, but I don’t want to spam either. — Knowledge Seeker দ 22:19, 23 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, I do try to cite how I found something. If I frequently find good stuff from "blog A", and my readers agree that it's good stuff, then they may want to know what other good stuff from "blog A" I'm not repeating!  &mdash;Tamfang 07:13, 25 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks; that’s helpful! — Knowledge Seeker দ 19:20, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Blu-Ray or HD-DVD compatibility with standard DVD?
Do the current Blu-Ray or HD-DVD players also play standard DVD discs, or are they totally incompatible? 1001001 23:27, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

That depends. What type of HD-DVD or blu-ray are you looking at?--Res2216firestar 03:47, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Generally, yes. There are very few Blu-ray or HD-DVD players out currently, though; the most common one is the Sony Playstation 3 which supports both blu-ray and DVD.