Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 April 8

= April 8 =

New HDD for Dell Inspiron 600m
I think my HDD is going out on my 600m. I'm getting weird errors when trying to mount filesystems from a BackTrack 3 final live session and I'm also getting some weird errors when booting. I have decided to get another HDD. I am wondering if this will work for the 600m. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136314 Actually, that is the wrong interface (SATA). I can't find a good replacement drive for this 600m. Do any of you have suggestions about what HDD I might want to buy? TIA, Ζρς ιβ' ¡hábleme! 01:58, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Creating deb to install to the "HOME"
I am trying to create a .deb file that would install some files into the home of the user (they are nautilus scripts) and I don't know how to make that happen... I have even tried creating a postinst file, to copy the files to the home, but that will just copy the files to the home of the root (since the scripts runs as root!) Any way to do this? or it is not possible? Thanks. Hacktolive (talk) 05:14, 8 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Well, if it is running as root, then how does it know who "the user" is? --76.167.241.45 (talk) 06:02, 8 April 2009 (UTC)


 * It is not recommended that you install files to users' home directories; what would happen if a new user is created? I'm pretty sure there's a global location for nautilus scripts anyway. --wj32 t/c 10:09, 8 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually, there isn't. I guess that's part of the problem... --wj32 t/c 10:10, 8 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Exactly... there is no global location... I would also install to /etc/skel so if a new user is created, they would have that... Hacktolive (talk) 12:58, 8 April 2009 (UTC)


 * (outdent) Well, as the first respondent says, which user or users will you install it to, if the installation is running as root?
 * If you want to install to every user, you could just find the home path of every user (from /etc/passwd, or using some utility that parses that for you) and loop through them. (I was going to suggest looping through sub-directories in /home/, but there's no guarantee that would be correct). Of course a lot of the "users" you find there won't be "real" users at all, but I guess that's OK as they'll never run Nautilus!
 * Does seem odd for there not to be a system-wide location for installing these extensions into though - most programs seem to go to great lengths to allow the same thing to be set and over-ridden at multiple levels. - IMSoP (talk) 01:47, 11 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, there is no system-wide location for nautilus-scripts, it is a known problem. Thanks to all, I learned a little more. Cheers to all. Hacktolive (talk) 15:06, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Automated savings
Is there a way to automate the downloading of a specific html page from a listing such as this, and also saving all linked images on said page, say for example I wanted to save "145.html" from that listing? I can't simply specify the page url to save because when a thread dies on this site saving the url would just save a 404 error. I need it to scan the directory listing so that when the thread dies the url is removed from the listing and it will have saved the latest version and then stop. Help please, thank you. -- signed 79.76.215.204 (talk) 08:49, 8 April 2009 (UTC)
 * That link is dead, so I'm not sure what you mean, but you might be interested in wget. --Sean 12:33, 8 April 2009 (UTC)
 * wat! paintchan is down?? Noooooo! Anyway, I think Op means something like this where you see the files of a website rather than the actual web pages. You could just run httrack or something on it, though I've no idea how you would automatically run that process —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 12:42, 8 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually httrack can be run from the command line in windows, so you should be able to write some script that could run it at set intervals —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 12:43, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

iMacros
Is there a similar tool to iMacros that would work not just for web content but also for all Firefox tasks like saving pages, updating addons etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 12:11, 8 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Never mind I got something.

My old CRT made a weird noise when I turned it on.
It was like a mechanized or controlled version of gas escaping. I turned it off and on again, and now it works without any noise. Should I still be concerned? Thanks in advance! Imagine Reason (talk) 14:15, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

perhaps it was degaussing but that usually sound like "boing" to my ears. Theresa Knott | token threats 15:14, 8 April 2009 (UTC)


 * This often happens on older TV's too. I thought it was the sound of static electricity sparks. It is a sort of short hiss (sound like Pss sssss, is that it? Graeme Bartlett (talk) 21:25, 8 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Yes, it sounded like that, but I was afraid of it getting louder (not sure if it did), and I thought sparks are more like pops? Imagine Reason (talk) 03:30, 9 April 2009 (UTC)


 * It may be the capacitor in the tube discharging, which creates a high voltage sound that sounds like air escaping. I have no clue what effect this has, or if it indicates a dangerous condition or not. Shadowjams (talk) 06:04, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

MS Access question
As many know, the Ctrl-' combination in MS Access copies the contents of the field immediately above the selected one in tables and forms and inserts them into the active field (also works in Excel, by the way). I, however, noticed that this combination periodically stops working for no apparent reason. Exiting and starting Access again fixes that, but closing and re-opening the database does not. Does anyone know what this may be caused by? I am using Access 2003.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 17:51, April 8, 2009 (UTC)

programing
need to learn programing need help i need mainly java and visualbasics with java am trying but visaul basics is killing me help needed want to become a programer--Mozy1691 (talk) 18:40, 8 April 2009 (UTC)


 * What language? C++, Java, ADA...? -- k a i n a w &trade; 19:31, 8 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Start with BASIC. Tempshill (talk) 22:44, 8 April 2009 (UTC)
 * Erm BASIC? Are you sure? --BiT (talk) 00:33, 9 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Perhaps you could mention your purpose. I mean, why learn programming? Depending on the purpose, even BASIC might be a good choice. -- Hoary (talk) 03:11, 9 April 2009 (UTC)


 * Or javascript or PHP or Ruby or Lisp... without a why, the how is difficult to know. -- k a i n a w &trade; 03:39, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Learn a training-language. Something like Pascal would be beneficial. Your best idea is to understand the structure and logic that programming language apply and then use that as a basis for learning whichever language you want. I say this as a student of Pascal, though I admit at the time I didn't feel it was worthwhile. Anyhoo it's become a bit of a bug-bear of mine. Lots of kids (adults too) are taught how to use MS Word version X, rather than taught how to work with programs. Once you're taught the 'structure' of how programs operate (and 95% follow similar setups) you can quickly learn any program. I believe that the same rules work in learning programming languages too. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 11:08, 9 April 2009 (UTC)


 * There's Small Basic: . A Quest For Knowledge (talk) 12:30, 9 April 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm surprised that Python has not been mentioned yet. 89.241.40.76 (talk) 22:03, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Help Needed from Web Designers: Public Call for Responses
I need qualified web designers to answer some questions for me. It need not be right here on this page; if you could simply point me towards some Wikipedians who can help me out, I'd be very grateful. I figured this page was as good a starting point as any, even if it may not be the be-all and the end-all.

Basically, I'm in a job program for disabled people. In order to get them to pay for training in my chosen field - web design - you have to jump through several hoops. One of these is doing "information interviews," where you try to get information from people who are already doing the job you want to do. Yes, it is somewhat silly but I still have to do it anyway.

If anyone volunteers to answer these, keep your responses down to a sentence or so. It's not necessary to write a whole essay. You can respond any way you want: on my talk page, by email, or otherwise.

The Fluffy Questions


 * 1) How long have you been doing web design?
 * 2) What do you enjoy most about your job?
 * 3) If you had to start over from the beginning, would you still choose to do web design?

The Important Stuff


 * 1) What tasks do you perform during a normal workday?
 * 2) Is this web design a full-time, part-time, or other kind of job?
 * 3) What hours do web designers generally work?
 * 4) Generally speaking, what kind of money can a web designer expect to make?
 * 5) What kind of market demand is there for web designers?
 * 6) What are the mental/emotional demands of this occupation (eg. high stress, dealing with customers, etc.)?
 * 7) What sort of qualifications and training are necessary to become a web designer?

Thanks, Gws5597 (talk) 18:58, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Java Programming: Merging Two Images
Hi, I basically need help merging two images (two BufferedImages in Java). Can anyone suggest how I can do this? I tried various things, but none of them worked ideally. Thank you!

Sharpshot240 (talk) 21:09, 8 April 2009 (UTC)


 * What do you mean by "merge"? That can mean a thousand different things - all with different answers. --  k a i n a w &trade; 03:43, 9 April 2009 (UTC)