Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 June 10

= June 10 =

linux
what are the pros and cons of linux. focus more on the pros, because im already aware of the major cons.--96.227.104.157 (talk) 02:13, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Have you read our articles about Linux and the various distributions?


 * Atlant (talk) 11:49, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

ubuntu cd
sorry for so many questions. if i order the ubuntu cd now, i think it will be the hardy heron version. but i saw that the next version comes out soon. by the time the cd ships(6-10 weeks i think it says) will it be out-of-date and useless? or will it update perfectly fine?--96.227.104.157 (talk) 03:00, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * It will be perfectly fine. Just make sure you do the required and recommended updates in time. Hardy is a LTS release which means it will be supported for three years. Cheers, Kushal (talk) 03:33, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * If you prefer, you can download the ISO image from the Ubuntu site and copy it to CD. It'll save you having to wait for it to arrive.Gazimoff Write Read 15:28, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Well, downloading is not for everyone. When I was on dial-up, I would not even think about downloading such a massive file. Kushal (talk) 16:01, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * It only took me a month to download a 700MB iso on 33.6kbps dial-up connection... --antilivedT 04:43, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

But my pg_hba.conf DOES have "local all all trust"!
I can't log into my PostgreSQL database (hosted locally on a firewalled single-user machine running Kubuntu) and get the error "Ident authentication failed for user chris". What makes this different from anything I've seen an answer to online is that I opened my pg_hba.conf and it already says

local	 all	 all	 trust host   all         all         127.0.0.1/32          trust host   all         all         ::1/128               trust
 * 1) "local" is for Unix domain socket connections only
 * 1) IPv4 local connections:
 * 1) IPv6 local connections:

What else could be preventing me from logging in? Neon Merlin  03:32, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Has postgres been restarted since that pg_hba.conf was written? Are you sure that the postgres server is reading that particular pg_hba.conf file, and not one somewhere else?  Have you tried running psql both with and without "-h localhost"?  --Sean 13:06, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

utm forum names
what are the names of the ideal discussion forums available for unifies threat management names? 203.88.128.94 (talk) 11:39, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

An example of good C code?
I'm teaching myself C, and I think it'd be helpful for me to have a good piece of C code to look at and mess around with. Something well structured, not too long and relatively self-contained. Does anyone have any suggestions?--Fangz (talk) 13:45, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
 * The source for the BusyBox utilities is short and easy to understand. Here's  cat:.

Can corrupt photos offloaded from an xD card be recovered?
I have about 60 pics that got corrupted during the transfer from my digital camera to my computer. My fault, since I started rotating the ones that needed to during the transfer, however only the last 60 got screwed up. The icons for them show up but can't display a pic. Is there any way to recover them? -- Broken Sphere Msg me 14:52, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * You could try PhotoRec to get them from the card. -- LarryMac  | Talk  14:55, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Can anything be done with the files that were offloaded or I have to go with the memory card? -- Broken Sphere Msg me 15:15, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * That's hard to say without knowing exactly what happened. PhotoRec itself might be able to help.  Alternately, I searched for "fix corrupt jpg" (on the assumption that we are, indeed, talking about JPEG files) and found this; I have not used or even downloaded this tool, no endorsement is implied.

Bluetooth application for Symbian mobile phone
Is there any Java or Symbian application, that will display a constantly up-to-date list of visible Bluetooth devices, on my Symbian+UIQ mobile phone? --User:Masatran 14:54, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

GPS on iPhone II?
Can someone please explain to me, in simple, non-marketingspeak language, what the situation is with regard to GPS on the new Apple iPhone II? Apple claims "assisted GPS" but what the #@!! does that mean? Does the phone have GPS or does it fake it with cell site info, WiFi hot-spot info, inertial navigation {;-)}, etc? And if you have an authoritative reference to cite, more the better!

(Partially answering my own question)

From our article:

"A software update allowed the iPhone to use cell towers and Wi-Fi networks to locate itself despite lacking a hardware GPS. The iPhone 3G includes GPS but also uses cell towers and Wi-Fi for location finding."

So what's the advantage of the "assist"? Faster GPS cold-start location-finding times? Or just better marketing?

Atlant (talk) 16:54, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Better coverage; see Assisted GPS. --Sean 17:13, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Thanks! WHAAOE!


 * Atlant (talk) 21:52, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * So does A-GPS work only in the US or also in other countries? -- SGBailey (talk) 17:12, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Is osdisc.com legit?
I got there from a link from distrowatch.com. I want to try out ubuntu, but downloading is not a feasible option. Before I give osdisc.com my personal information, I want to be confident that they're legit.--71.175.117.228 (talk) 17:56, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
 * And by the way I'm the same guy that asked about linux before, just on a different ip.--71.175.117.228 (talk) 17:58, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * A quick Google search didn't turn up any complaints about osdisc.com. Is there anybody in your local area that might have some discs to give you or let you copy?  I know that when I ordered Ubuntu "Dapper Drake" I was sent five discs, so Canonical makes it easy to share.  -- LarryMac  | Talk  19:47, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Ubuntu has https://shipit.ubuntu.com as well... -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 22:33, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I know, I already did shipit, but the wait is about 6 weeks.--71.175.117.228 (talk) 23:27, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * I've never used it, but it should be legit. It's featured on Distrowatch. --Russoc4 (talk) 23:40, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Completely legit - Bought the Mandriva 10.0 discs there back when I had 33k dialup. They were very reasonable and even sent me the 10.1 update disc the next week when it came out. Freedomlinux (talk) 19:27, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Internet problem
It seems that all websites are down except Wikipedia. Is there a sever problem? Eklipse (talk) 20:58, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
 * Something with your computer or your ISP (going to guess a DNS lookup problem), or the individual servers you're connecting to all happen to be down. -- Consumed Crustacean (talk) 02:32, 11 June 2008 (UTC)


 * I unplugged the internet accidentally while vacuuming. sorry. Gzuckier (talk) 21:04, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

Free open-source CAD program
Is there one? Something serious, for professional projects? GoingOnTracks (talk) 22:52, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Maybe these two links will help: one and two. --Russoc4 (talk) 23:36, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, they do. GoingOnTracks (talk) 23:43, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

My UMTS provider is shortcharging me: how can I prove that it is doing it?
Currently I have a flatrate UMTS. In the ads they promised speed up to 358 kbps, but from exactly 15h00 until 01h00 I get only 1KB/s (ridiculous speed). Between 01h00 and 15h00 the speed is rather normal (50KB/s). They only reduce the speed in days that I use it constantly (perhaps downloading 300 MB).

I know exactly my speed, since I am using NetMeter, but how can I technically prove that they are doing me?

GoingOnTracks (talk) 23:22, 10 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Well, before going legal, have you read the fine print? Just because the ads appeared to guarantee something doesn't mean it's guaranteed—the ads certainly had tons of fine print, the contract you signed had even finer print. Look at that stuff first, figure out exactly what they are supposed to be providing. --98.217.8.46 (talk) 00:48, 11 June 2008 (UTC)


 * It is certainly not a legal matter. The contract was quite simple. I even have a right to a compensation is the service cannot be provided. I guess the company offered a flat-rate service and was overwhelmed by the internet addiction of the clients. Now they are trying to contain the damage. GoingOnTracks (talk) 01:05, 11 June 2008 (UTC)


 * You said up to. IANAL, but unless you can prove malicious intent, I don't know how you can do anything to them, other than threaten them that you will switch carriers. Kushal (talk) 01:20, 11 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Sorry, speed from 64 KB/s (GPRS) and up to 384 kbps (UMTS). But the problem is not the contract. It is proving that they are doing it. GoingOnTracks (talk) 02:33, 11 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Keep in mind that if you are downloading from a particular source (or kind of source), the other end's bandwidth is an issue too. (For example, if you are using some kind of peer-to-peer system, often there is a lot of demand on users who have pretty limited upload rates already).  Think about what your activity is like and maybe try downloading something big from a site you know to have good bandwidth as a control sample.  --Prestidigitator (talk) 16:10, 11 June 2008 (UTC)


 * I kept that in mind. The point is that my conexion provides a normal speed of about 50KB/s until I reach a threshold (that shouldn't been there). After that it is only 1KB/s. :( GoingOnTracks (talk) 23:12, 11 June 2008 (UTC)