Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 August 20

= August 20 =

.docx in OOo
Does anyone know how to open .docx in OOo without using Novell?Elatanatari (talk) 01:14, 20 August 2008 (UTC)


 * You presently need to covert it from .docx to .doc or .rtf. There are free converters available if you Google it. Which one is best for you will depend on what your OS is. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 01:26, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Would Zamzar work?Elatanatari (talk) 01:44, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I don't think that is the case any more. Any current, vanilla installation of OOo should open docx. Kushal (talk) 02:30, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I do not believe the current version of OOo (2.4.1) can open docx files. Version 3.0 should have this feature, though. It is in beta now and is expected to be released next month. --Russoc4 (talk) 02:51, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Well, on my mac, NeoOffice has had this feature for quite a while. I am sorry for the confusion. I do not have a testable Windows machine at the moment. Could someone confirm if one has to wait for OOo 3 for docx support? Kushal (talk) 04:44, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Correct. NeoOffice has support for docx. OpenOffice will not support it until version 3.0, according to their website. --Russoc4 (talk) 15:05, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
 * It just works in OpenOffice 2.4.1. I use Gentoo Linux.  MTM (talk) 12:11, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
 * It doesn't work in my Windows installation. Have you installed any plugins or packages that contain plugins that support this? --Russoc4 (talk) 15:05, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

OO 3.0 will have support for docx -Abhishek (talk) 12:46, 20 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Here is a support forum page discussing docx support in OO.o; it looks like Novell has a 2.x version for Windows which will open docx. -- LarryMac  | Talk  14:26, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
 * He asked how to do it without Novell. I recommend converting them with Zamzar. --Russoc4 (talk) 15:00, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Good point; I lost track of that detail during my search. note to self, re-read question before replying!  -- LarryMac  | Talk  15:11, 20 August 2008 (UTC)


 * odf-converter-integrator worked very well for me... SF007 (talk) 03:46, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Hooking up Microphone to Speakers
I have a wireless microphone system. The reciever needs to be connected to the speakers but I have no idea how to do it. You can see a diagram of the back panel on the device in page 4 of this PDF. I see three available plugs, I believe two of them are TRS connectors (input & output) and one XLR connector. Do I have to connect all three to the speakers?

This is very confusing.

- Pyro19 (talk) 03:36, 20 August 2008 (UTC)


 * What inputs are on the back of the speakers? Speakon? You'll need an amplifier somewhere between the receiver and the speaker, but it might be built into the speaker housing. If not, you need to connect the receiver to an amp via XLR (or TRS, but XLR is preferable) and the amp to the speakers via whatever input is on the speakers. — Matt Eason (Talk &#149; Contribs) 12:20, 20 August 2008 (UTC)


 * It looks like the 1/4" jack next to the XLR is what you're looking for. The XLR is another output, but balanced, requiring three wires (description).Therefore, it won't connect to your typical two-wire speaker. The 1/4" jack further to the left (away from the XLR connector) is a wired input- designed to be connected to the output of a second unit (I guess as a means of daisy-chaining them to avoid using a mixer). JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 02:36, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Nortel Guestpass strange problem
We have Nortel Guestpass (it's like Cisco) installed and have a strange problem. Officially it is compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vĩsta, but not with Linux. Unhappily, only Linux users are able to login. When we connect to the WLAN under Linux we are forwarded to a page where we can input our password and username. Windows users are not forwarded to this page. I suppose it is a security setup of Windows that blocks forwarding to a different page, but I don't know what it is exactly. Mr.K. (talk) 10:09, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Parallel port logger
Do you know a program which can monitor the parallel port (record all the data while other applications are using the port) running under Windows 2000? Portmon doesn't work - it only says "could not attach to parallel0". Thank you. JorgM (talk) 13:02, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

Contact
Is there a person or phone number I can call to get help with wiki posts??? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.246.226.69 (talk) 15:22, 20 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Which Wiki is it you mean? If you would like help with wiki posts here on Wikipedia, there is no telephone number to call, but we can help you. The best place to ask is probably New contributors' help page.89.242.77.121 (talk) 15:48, 20 August 2008 (UTC)


 * You can get help for Wikipedia articles at Editor Assistance. JeremyMcCracken (talk) (contribs) 02:37, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Domain name expiry
When a domain name registration expires, does it remain operational until someone else registers it or does it cease to function immediately?
 * Registrars normally keep the domain for a while, so the client has the chance to redeem the registration. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mr.K. (talk • contribs) 19:04, 20 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I think the question is, does the DNS server immediately update to point to nothing, or does it continue to function? I've no idea, though I imagine it updates (and ceases to function) automatically? --98.217.8.46 (talk) 23:55, 20 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I let one expire a year or two ago. It still hasn't been removed from the ORG zone. It's still alive. Well not really alive because the nameservers I registered it with are gone, but that's an unrelated issue. The registrar is still providing their part of the DNS service, long after I quit paying for it. Don't count on this being a repeatable phenomenon though. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 10:00, 21 August 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, that is the rule. For registrars, keeping a domain costs almost nothing. And they can monetize it through residual traffic on that domain or through old owner trying to get it back. Mr.K. (talk) 10:41, 21 August 2008 (UTC)


 * I didn't explain that very well. There's nothing to get back. They didn't change the nameservers; when I said they're gone I mean the ISP hosting my nameservers ceased to exist. Gone. But the NS records at the TLD servers are still pointing there. --tcsetattr (talk / contribs) 19:47, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Question
In the past I’ve heard about computer programs with comprehensive databases containing brief descriptions of the different professions in the job market nowadays, focused on helping out people whom are looking into changing their profession get a better idea what the different professions they might be interested in, and what are the schools available which one could go to in order to get the essential training needed to become a professional in the field of his/hers desire. Does anyone know of any such programs/websites which are capable of achieving this? Are there any articles in Wikipedia which focus on this genre of software? Acidburn24m (talk) 16:49, 20 August 2008 (UTC)


 * The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the Occupational Outlook Handbook, which sounds like it might be what you're looking for. —Bkell (talk) 22:23, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I understand the question to mean, how would you build a website such as the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Like much of the web, it's a custom database-driven site, involving HTML/CSS/javascript for the front end, some kind of database (MySQL, PostgreSQL, are freely available) structure for the occupational info, and server-side processing (in, say, PHP) to put it all together (i.e. dynamically generate the pages from the database). You could begin looking at wiki pages on LAMP, WAMP, web application frameworks (LAMP/WAMP are specific examples of this, but there are many more), to understand how that all goes together in what I would imagine a site properly built like that Handbook. I doubt there's a site out there for you to built such sites off of (a la Geocities). A content management site using Drupal/Joomla/Plone might be easier off the bat but more work to maintain/customize/extend. iames (talk) 15:35, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Installing Kubuntu KDE4
Would someone please explain to me what I need to do in order to make an install of Kubuntu as fast and successful as it could be. I have an 80 GB HDD (40 GB goes to Windows though), Intel processor 1.6 GHz, bus 800 MHz, 1 GB RAM. I don't know whether I should have a swap partition or a swap file or how big it should be (or how to make it or format it for that matter). I don't know whether I should put /home in another partition or how to do this or how big it should be. Will someone please help me out? Thanks in anticipation, Ζρς ι'β' ¡hábleme! 18:12, 20 August 2008 (UTC)
 * If you do not want to deal with partitions, Wubi will make things easier. It sets up sort of a virtual partition on your NTFS partition, and installs (k)ubuntu to it. The major disadvantage is that your Linux installation will then be a victim of fragmentation. If you wish to use it, download and run the Wubi installer to the same directory as your kubuntu disc image. If you do not wish to use this method, maybe someone else can help out. I'm not an expert in swap partitions, but doesn't ubuntu set one up automatically? --Russoc4 (talk) 02:04, 21 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Well,I would prefer to put it on a separate partition (unless using Wubi is considerably faster).
 * I would stick with the defaults. All Linux distributions I've used automatically create a swap partition to hold your swap file. They also often create a /home partition. One of the reasons I believe they do this is to reduce fragmentation. Most fragmentation on your disk results from the movement of documents (pictures, text files, etc.). As for the size of your swap partition, the rule of thumb is 1.5 times the amount of RAM you have. I imagine that you could get away with a one-to-one ratio. Anything less than that and you could experience a performance loss. If you eliminate it entirely, your system will become unstable. Is it even possible to store your swap data on a root partition?--129.82.41.233 (talk) 02:43, 21 August 2008 (UTC)


 * With that much RAM, I'd go for a 2 GB swap partition. Also, /home is for storing your documents, music, videos etc so make it big, I'd say 30 GB. Kubuntu's "guided" partitioner does not make a seperate /home(at least kubuntu 7.10 did not have this feature), so you will have to choose the manual partitioning option. Kubuntu will install well in the rest of the 8 GB space; with some free space to install additional software. Oh and don't forget to backup your data before trying to install. -Abhishek (talk) 08:04, 21 August 2008 (UTC)