Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2007 September 1

= September 1 =

Gaining access to LAN computer
I have two computers (1 wireless laptop and 1 wired desktop) connected in a LAN connection by a router. The laptop is running Vista, while the desktop is running XP. Is there anyway I can "hack" into my desktop using my laptop? For example, can I view the files on my desktop through my laptop?

As well, my desktop is connected to a printer with a wire. Is there anyway I can print a document wirelessly from my laptop through the desktop and through to the printer? Thanks. Acceptable 00:01, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Viewing files. Depends on what you want to do. You can share the disks on your Desktop with the LAN so that your Laptop will nee them as network shares, or you can use Remote Desktop or VNC to 'take control' of the Desktop from your Laptop.  Printing should be easier - you just need to share the printer on your Desktop with the LAN - there should be a 'sharing' option in the printer properties.  (You may need to turn on file and print sharing in your network connection) Worm  (t

PSP Help
Hi, a few months ago I downgraded my 3.03 Official Firmware PSP using the Illuminati exploit. I then installed 3.40 OE firmware. My question is can I go back to official Sony Firmware now? (BTW, I have a TA-082 motherboard.) Any help would be very very appreciated. RedStateV 00:43, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

tv-links
1. is there a wiki page on tv-links? I can't find it.

2. How does tv-links work?

3. Why are there so many dead links?

no speculation please. please give links to support answers. Thanks -ROB —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.131.128.182 (talk) 02:04, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I do not know the answer for your first two questions. However, please read Red link for your third question. --Mayfare 14:46, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

Hardware problems
Hello, I am using a 736JD Microchip (Dell make 2003 November) with a processer that uses a 9 voltage adaptor. Would this combination defect my Wikipedia page display or would it create a meltdown in the lower motherboard? My motherboard detail logs are : 63H-4403-N/FE4. For The Americas the 9 voltage adaptor would be a 12 voltage adapter with compactability to the motherboard (in this case with the Dell Microchip). Furthermore, Would these adapters also damage my screen of my computer when viewing Wikipedia? As for the screen, it is a 1997 (old) make by Hartwell Glass Co. (now defunct). Thank You. --Missingthefuture 02:47, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Your question seems to be "will a higher voltage adaptor break my computer", and I'm guessing you have a laptop. Adaptors that output at the same voltage will be fine regardless of brand. However, selecting a higher voltage or using a higher-voltage adapter probably will break things. I doubt your motherboard will "melt", but you will probably fry all the electronics. Check the rear of the laptop for the power specifications and get an adapter that meets them exactly. -Wooty [Woot?] [Spam! Spam! Wonderful spam!] 23:58, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Firefox IRC plugin
I'm looking for an IRC plugin for firefox-- but one that, unlike Chatzilla, runs as a frame in Firefox, instead of another window or tab. Somewhat in the same way I can press CTRL+B and have a bookmarks sidebar popup, I'd like something similar, except across the bottom of the window. I'd really appreciate it if someone knew where I could find something like this -- lucid 14:36, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm Feeling Lucky and Stopbadware
Hello. Let's say I search a term or phrase using Google and I click the I'm Feeling Lucky button; and the website, to where Google directs me, contains "badware". Will Google stop me from accessing the site? Thanks in advance. --Mayfare 16:53, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Probably not. Google's I'm Feeling Lucky function simply redirects you to the first result page on the search page. Unless you configure it to, Google will also never block a web page, including it's own search result pages. Perfect Proposal Speak out loud! 21:45, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * The latter part is not entirely true — for a while at least Google would sternly warn you to avoid sites that would "try to harm your computer" and make it a bit tougher to go to them. --24.147.86.187 21:55, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Sorry, yes, you're entirely right. Perfect Proposal Speak out loud! 00:06, 2 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I wish I could confirm this but I can't find a "blocked" URL to test it out on... x42bn6 Talk Mess  10:20, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

I googled pascal programming. Google claimed that the first result may harm my computer. That is what brought up my question in the first place. Now that I re-googled pascal programming, the first result does not have the warning anymore. --Mayfare 13:49, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

5.1 Channel Sound Extraction From DVD
I recently bought a copy of Jean Michel's AERO album. It has two formats, Audio CD and a bonus DVD. The DVD contains teh same songs but in Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 surround Sound. Is there any way I can extract the Dolby Surround track retaining the 5.1 channels to play back as a Wav file (is it wav pro that handles 5.1?) Or, is there a way I can extract the sound to 6 separate channels and then I can assemble them back together using Nuendo. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.84.88.84 (talk) 19:34, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * You can use Handbrake to etract the video, and then use another program to extract the audio. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.195.124.101 (talk) 18:07, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

chmod issues
I'm using a remote server and I can't seem to change the file permissions on it via my FTP program.

I tried to use PHP to do a chmod on the file in question, and got this error message:


 * Warning: chmod [function.chmod]: Read-only file system in {php file path} on line 22

Is there anything I can do to circumvent this on my end? The files are all currently 0600, and I need them to be something whereby PHP can write to a few of them. (I don't have root access or anything like that -- it is an academic web server and so I have little control over the settings.) --24.147.86.187 19:45, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Can you delete the file and create it in the first place with PHP? --Spoon! 21:03, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Good idea, but it doesn't seem to be working. Here's the message:
 * Warning: fopen(data/data_courses.php) [function.fopen]: failed to open stream: Read-only file system in {php file path} on line 28
 * Blah. --24.147.86.187 21:33, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Is this an account that you can SSH into and change permissions and stuff from the shell? --Spoon! 23:18, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * So far as I can tell I can only FTP into it (not even SFTP). I tried to SSH into it and it just rejected the request out of hand. --24.147.86.187 01:19, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

You need to remount the filesystem the files are residing on read-write. They may be read-only fo security reasons. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.148.69.121 (talk) 01:21, 2 September 2007 (UTC)


 * And if you can't do that, the best you can do is to make a local copy of the file which you can modify. StuRat 02:28, 2 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Hmm, maybe they mounted the personal home directories on the web server system read-only as some kind of security measure or something like that. In that case there is no hope of directly writing to it. Maybe you could write to the /tmp directory; but it won't stay there forever, so that probably won't suit you. If you need the script to remember something, the only way is to send it over the network. Maybe you can have your script FTP into your account and modify the files on there that way. Or you could have the script submit to another script on the Internet on another server where you can write to files, and then return the output, etc. --Spoon! 22:26, 2 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Hmm, I didn't think about having the script FTP in, that might actually work, as clumsy as it sounds. I'll give that a shot. I thought about using another server in conjunction, but that would only work for about half of what I need it to do (which is not much, mind you!). And I'm sure that the server was set up like this in an ill-advised attempt at security; it is an academic webserver after all, and those are nothing if not pits of bad choices which are impossible for a developer to get around... --24.147.86.187 01:31, 3 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Oh, sadness. I almost got it to work but alas, it turns out the server's damned PHP installation was compiled without FTP capabilities! WTF! --24.147.86.187 18:10, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

IRC for dummies
I keep hearing about this "IRC channel" on "freenode". I've read the IRC article a million times and still don't understand. Could someone please explain it?-- Pheonix15 20:14, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * On an IRC server, there are discussion areas called channels. You join the channel on the IRC server in order to talk in it. Splintercellguy 20:29, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Could I have a more detailed explanation?-- Pheonix15 20:33, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Okay I kinda understand now. I downloaded HydraIRC but I have some questions; Thanks - Pheonix15 20:45, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Whats a nick?
 * How do you "configure your identities"?
 * How the heck do you use it!


 * Have a look at and . Josh Holloway  20:44, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * IRC channels are like IM chat rooms. You use an IRC application to connect to a certain server (Freenode, in this case). Then you join the channel you want to chat in, and can type messages to other users there. It's what people used for real-time chat before IM clients came around. The main difference is that anyone can start an IRC server, and any IRC client can connect to it; with IM services, it's usually one company providing the service, and you use their client to connect & chat.
 * On older IRC client applications, you had to type a command to join a channel, like "/join #h4x0r" to join the "h4x0r" channel and chat with people there. Modern applications will have a button you can click to type in a channel name so you can join them. -- 68.156.149.62 20:46, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks. I'm familiar with instant messaging but this IRC business seems much more complicated. Thanks anyway-- Pheonix15 20:55, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Yes, it's the only remotely respectable instant messaging system. You'll pick up on it eventually. Just don't ask any noobish questions in the channel in which you hope to hang out. For further reading, watch this music video. Very relevant. --⁪frotht 23:13, 5 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Oh and might I suggest mirc or xchat (free version - the legal one. Ironic?). Let me rephrase that, if I CTCP you and see you using some wtfirc then it tags you as a total newbie. A bad thing in IRC if you haven't caught on..--⁪frotht 23:16, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

installing new cellphone OS
I recently installed a new OS on my Linksys router. Is this possible with my Nokia cell phone? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.147.39.60 (talk) 20:16, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I dunno, but it would really help if you told us what model. Splintercellguy 20:28, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Dual boot
Hello! On my other computer, Windows XP isn't working anymore; it will not boot. Can I install Linux on it on another partition and still access my Windows files to back them up on a CD or flash drive? Thanks!--El aprendelenguas 20:33, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Perhaps. It depends on how corrupted the disk has become. If the boot sector is corrupted, you're probably in trouble, and will lose most of your files. I will wait for someone else with more knowledge of Linux to tell you how to do a partition. The Evil Spartan 21:38, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * If you're unable to do that and just need to access your files you could try using a live-cd version of Linux, that will boot straight off a CD so you won't have to install anythingMix Lord 22:45, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Knoppix is good for that. No installation required! 216.178.50.171 17:40, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

I tried running Knoppix, and it started to boot up, but then it just got to a black screen and stopped. Now when I turn on my computer, I can't even get up the BIOS; it just has a black screen as if it were still off. The CD drive will still open and close, but it can't do much more than that. Now if I put in a CD with Linux or Knoppix on it, it will make noice like it were reading the CD, then just stop and do nothing again. I know that Knoppix didn't cause this problem, since my computer is pretty much on its last life anyway, but is there any way left I can regain access to some of my old files? Thanks!--El aprendelenguas 19:13, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

Printing a Wikipedia article
When printing a multi-page Wikipedia article such as "Florida", 20 pages long, my printer prints pages 1,3,4,8-11,16-18,20. The other pages show only a header and footer. Other articles show similar results, apparently random pages print.

I am using Vista Home Prem, 2 gigs Ram, Athlon 64 CPU, Spy Sweeper and AVG Antivirus active, and do not have this problem at other websites. Does anyone have suggestions what may be happening? Roboconk 21:22, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
 * This is a difficult problem without knowing anything about your printer. I would suggest a few things: first off, try printing on another web browser (e.g., Internet Explorer or Firefox). If that works, there's probably a problem with your browser and Vista. If that fails, try contacting the manufacturer of your printer; most printer manufacturers provide a technical support. You'll want to check the print preview beforehand (go to menu File->Print Preview), though, to see if the problem is in the hardware or the software; include this information with what you tell the manufacturer. The Evil Spartan 21:37, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
 * This probably wont make a difference, but you are printing the printable versions of the page, right? I mean, on any article there is a link in the sidebar that says "Printable version"(look here for "Florida"), that offers a version of the page that printers tend to like. --Oskar 13:34, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Have you tried pages other then Florida? Nil Einne 15:32, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

Typing 'O' on computer
For quite a long time now (more than a year, at least) I've been having trouble on my computer with typing the letter 'o'. Every so often the letter simply stops doing anything, until I press the alt key twice (this was a fix I found quite early on by accident).

The problem doesn't seem to be tied to any particular software, although it might have started (I don't remember) when I started using Opera as my internet browser. It does effect other programs, though.

I posted this on the Reference Desk a long time ago, but didn't get any response other than a comment from somebody else to whom this occurred, thanking me for the Alt key fix.

If anyone knows how to solve this I'd be very grateful.

Thanks, D  aniel  (‽) 21:23, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * That's an odd problem. It sounds to me like it's a hardware issue, though. I'd be willing to bet if you tried a new keyboard, the problem wouldn't replicate. My suggestion would be to get a new keyboard, or just stick it out with the new one, as this kind of problem (if it's indeed hardware) it tough to impossible to fix. If you think it's software, though, and that Opera is the problem, you could try uninstalling Opera. But I'm hedging my bets on the first possibility. The Evil Spartan 21:34, 1 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I don't agree with it being a hardware issue. If that was the prob, then hitting ALT twice wouldn't fix it.  I'm more inclined to think that some process is running which intercepts that keystroke, quite possibly Opera.  I'd try shutting down programs until the problem goes away, first in the normal way and then using Task Manager to kill any nonessential processes.  Once you identify the problem process, let us know and we may be able to find a cure (assuming it's a process you need to run at all). StuRat 02:21, 2 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Do you have any accessibility options such as StickyKeys enabled? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.78.64.102 (talk) 22:38, 2 September 2007 (UTC)