Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 February 2

= February 2 =

Getting wikipedia's version of tex running on my computer
This year, I am going to need to write quite a few equations on a computer and I was thinking that TeX would probably be a good idea. What I would like to know is, is there any way I can get Wikipedia's implementation of TeX ( tags) up and running on my computer, as I believe that it uses some special typesetting specific to maths (i.e. the - sign always produces a minus sign instead of the dash and letters are always interpreted as variables and are italicized). Is there a specific package I can download or typesetting configurations I can add to the TeX installation I am currently downloading? I am running Mac OS X 10.4 and am downloading BasicTeX and TeXShop, what else to I need to do (once I've set everything up)?. It would also be ideal if I would somehow embed TeX (in tags like math) in TextEdit. Foxy Loxy Pounce! 00:08, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I always just use OpenOffice.org math for my TeX editing. The syntax is a bit different, but it's not that hard to get used to.  link is for intel mac Ζρς ι'β' ¡hábleme! 01:34, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Out of interest, is there a particular reason you want Wikipedia's stripped-down weak version of TeX rather than a proper version? Algebraist 03:30, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually, I've now read up on TeX, and my problem is now solved, thanks for all your help guys. Foxy Loxy  Pounce! 03:34, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Give root powers to me (Ubuntu)
Is there a way to give me root powers on Ubuntu? I know I can enable the root account and use it, but that is not what I want (I am forced to use the username "root"), What I want is be able to login with some username "SF007", and that account having root powers (without the need for "sudo", etc...). Is this even possible? SF007 (talk) 00:50, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Runing as root or as an account that has root powers is high inadvisable. I am fairly new to Ubuntu, i have no idea how to do what you ask but i would suggest that when you need root access you sould use 'sudo' or log out and back in as root... i hope this helped. – El lio tt   01:24, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


 * It's definitely not recommended, but it's possible. Set your user account's numeric ID to 0. It's a very bad idea, and when I see this kind of question, it's usually someone trying to solve another problem and using a bad solution.  What is your real problem? --  JSBillings  02:12, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * That does not work: I created a new user with ID 0, enabled "allow admins to login", but I just can't login with the new username (I get "user/password wrong" or some error like that), and I also noticed that the new user I create just "disappears": if I create the user, then log out, and then login, if I go the the "user" section, it is not there! Any ideas why the user vanished? Any other solutions? (There is no real problem, but I really wanted to know if this was possible) SF007 (talk) 04:12, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Damn! I know why it does not work, the "user id" must be unique, and since the root already has "0" as uid, I can't have it! SF007 (talk) 10:00, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I've never done this, but I've always understood that you could set a user's groupid to 0 and gain (most) root powers that way. Is this wrong? APL (talk) 13:47, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Ubuntu does something special in this regard - it's different from other Linux's. If you have a number of tasks to do as root, their approach can be a bit of a pain.  One possibility is to say:  'sudo bash' - which opens up a command shell running as root.  I believe you have to change some kernel options in order to be able to actually log in as root.  But as others have said...running as root for even a moment longer than you need to is "A Very Bad Idea". SteveBaker (talk) 02:32, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * 'sudo -i' or 'sudo -s' is the right way to do that. --76.167.241.45 (talk) 05:30, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm going to join the annoying herd of people saying: NO! DON'T DO IT! FER CRYIN' OUT LOUD!!!. Running as root when you don't need to is a horrible idea, just say no. If you want to do something with root powers, use sudo. If you're going to do a lot of things with root powers, type in "sudo -i" or "su" at the command line, and you will be granted root access (but you will still be identified by the username "root"). If you absolutely must, use "sudo passwd" to set a root password, and then you can login as root, but even going that far is going too far, IMHO.
 * I'm not sure why it is exactly you want this? Why would you want to assign root powers to your regular old login? If you need to do something as root, just do it as root. No need to muck up your usual login. I agree with my esteemed colleague JSBillings, it seems like you want to solve some problem, but doing it in a bad way. Can you give us any information on the reason for all this privilege escalation? Belisarius (talk) 05:12, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I run a Virtual Machine as root (only for testing software/"playing", so security is not important there), and I use the root account, but I wanted to use a "regular" username... That's just it... SF007 (talk) 09:46, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


 * You could try switching to Windows. (I kid; I kid.) –  7 4   09:44, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Dell laptop screen fading (resolved)
I have a Dell latitude D610. I have installed Ubuntu on it. I am having a problem with the screen dimmer. When I boot it up everything is fine except the screen brightness, over the course of 2 minutes it will slowly fade down, once it has faded i must bring it back up by holding down the function key and repeatedly hitting the up arrow (standard brightness control for most dell laptops.) Once I stop hitting the up arrow it starts fading again. It seems to start fading at random times, but once it starts fading it will continue to fade until I restart the computer. It is really starting to get annoying having to turn the brightness up every few minutes. I do not believe that this is a problem with the controller chip or the screen's inverter, this problem does not happen when I boot in to WinXP. Thank you – El lio tt   01:40, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


 * I know this is an odd question, but does the display work normally when it's on battery? RxS (talk) 02:01, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * No, it acts the same way.– El lio tt   02:28, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * It could be a screen saver, which for some reason thinks you aren't using the computer. Try disabling all screen saver/hibernation/sleep/etc., modes. StuRat (talk) 02:24, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Could it be as simple as a sticky 'down-brightness' key? SteveBaker (talk) 02:25, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Key no; as the OP mentioned it requires a combination of keys to change the brightness. It could, however, be some input device that is sending (presumably erroneous) key codes. Does this problem occur when nothing is connected to the laptop? My guess would be that something in Linux is calling into BIOS incorrectly and the result is a reduced brightness setting (StuRat's suggestion of disabling BIOS-interfacing features is a good avenue of investigation). –  7 4   03:05, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank you,StuRat (talk) was right, I turned off the screen saver and turned off the automatic dimming. – El lio tt   17:16, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

TFT monitor flickering
Dear friends, My TFT monitor is flickering i has did an autoadjust, and checked resolution etc, but i can't get solve, monitor has parchused just before four month please reply ASAP. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rajesh4028 (talk • contribs) 08:15, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Try powering off the monitor (at the plug) and leaving for a few minutes, then turning it back on. If the problem persists contact the seller or manufacturer - a four month old monitor should still be under guarantee. Exxolon (talk) 09:12, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Also check that the video cable is securely connected to the computer and the monitor--these cables can be quite finicky to get attached. –  7 4   09:37, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Do you know the refresh rate ? Is it adjustable ?  What's the model ? StuRat (talk) 09:45, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Open Office tutorial
I have a text document with a table in it. It's a 2x2 table that covers one page. Each cell has a bit of text in it. Basically it's set up so that I can cut the paper in quarters and have basically the same text on each slip. The text goes something like "Here are your pictures of XXX. If you would like more pictures of (him/her)..." I also have a spreadsheet with names, gender, and some other info.

Each week, as names (and other info) are added to the spreadsheet, I'd like to print out that table again with the new names in place of the XXXs and the correct pronouns used according to the gender associated with that name. I need quadrant 1 to be the first name/gender in the spreadsheet, quadrant 2 to be the second, and so on. Yes, there are too many names each week to do this manually, not to mention the pronoun switches.

I want to use Open Office for this. What I'm looking for is a tutorial to show me how to get this done. I'm not sure what I need to search for though since the most obvious keywords get me a LOT of ghits. Any help? Thanks, Dismas |(talk) 10:49, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Sounds like you want to do a Mail Merge. This site (http://searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid39_gci1167989,00.html) suggest it will show you how to do it. Your best bet (by far) is to get all the data in shape in your spreadsheet and then have it placed into the word-doc for printing/layout. 194.221.133.226 (talk) 11:24, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

perl convert date to readable value
Using perl language, how do I convert active directory badPasswordTime to readable value ? Here is an example of an unreadable value: "128708024625164794". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.47.34.2 (talk) 12:57, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * What date/time is that supposed to represent? IMHO it doesn't quite fit as a unix timestamp... or I could be wrong. - Jarry1250 (t, c) 13:03, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

maybe this will help:use POSIX;

use strict; use warnings;

my $sec = 6; my $min =  7; my $hour = 8; my $day =  9; my $mon = 10   - 1; my $year = 2004 - 1900; my $wday = 0; my $yday = 0;

my $unixtime = mktime ($sec, $min, $hour, $day, $mon, $year, $wday, $yday);

print "$unixtime\n";

my $readable_time = localtime($unixtime);

print "$readable_time\n"; dont know what the relationship is between windows and unix time. it seems to be similar to the times you post, since when I go perl -we 'print localtime' I get 545115211091320, which is more or less as long as yours. Maybe yours starts at 1900 instead of 1970 (?) or something. Anyway just use the script above, take a known date, see how wrong the script's answer is, and add or subtract that many seconds from the windows badtime. good luck. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.120.227.157 (talk) 14:34, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * perl -we 'print localtime' is so completely wrong it is amazing. You are evaluating localtime in list context, so it will return the list of 9 components of the time, converted to string, and concatenated together by print. You probably wanted something like perl -e 'print time' or perl -e 'print scalar localtime'. --71.106.173.110 (talk) 19:07, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Googling badPasswordTime tells me "This value is stored as a large integer that represents the number of 100 nanosecond intervals since January 1, 1601 (UTC)". Brilliant!  --Sean 15:30, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

So what is the PERL code to convert the time from a date in 1601 ? If I start with that time value: "128708024625164794" , how do I get a time that looks like a human readable date ? I *think* the UNIX time script above is close. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.47.34.2 (talk) 22:50, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

use Math::BigInt;

my $unixtime = Math::BigInt->new('128708024625164794') / 10_000_000 - Math::BigInt->new('11644473600');

my $readable_time = localtime $unixtime;

print "$readable_time\n"; --128.97.244.85 (talk) 02:11, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Google images
Can someone confirm if google images is acting up or not? I'm trying to search porn but I can't change from "SafeSearch" to "Do not filter my search results". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 19:00, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * You need to change a setting in you browser to accept cookies– El lio tt   19:39, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Cookies are enabled. I've tried on Opera, Firefox and IE; same problem on all but not on other websites such as yahoo. I've also tried google.ca and google.fr, no luck. Clearly there is a problem at my end if you're able to removed the filter. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 19:43, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I just tried on 2 different and i have determined that the problem must exist on google's end. Silmply give it time. –  El lio tt   19:52, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Ah, that's cool, I just wanted to know if it was google or me. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.87 (talk) 19:54, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Computer sporadically turning on
Here's my setup that's not working. Asus P5N32-SLI motherboard, Intel Q6600 2.4 GHz (not overclocked), 4 GB of DDR2-800 RAM (4 sticks), Thermaltake 500w PSU, GeForce 8600GT video card, 4 x 1TB HDD's.

Until this morning, this PC ran 24/7 as a headless home router/firewall/file server. Right now, it only sporadically powers up, but when it does, it lets out 1 long beep, which repeats. Award BIOS codes indicate a RAM error, although I'm not convinced this is the problem since it only rarely actually powers up. The motherboard power light is on when the PSU is plugged in. I'm leaning towards it being a power supply issue since the PC doesn't even turn on consistently. Thoughts? --Chasingsol(talk) 21:53, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * To quote my A+ manual, replace suspected bad with known good. Replace the power supply. If that doesn't resolve the issue, replace the ram.  If thats not it, replace the MB, if it's under warranty still. ---J.S  (T/C/WRE) 22:13, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the response, I had a feeling that would be the direction to head in. I'll try another PSU first. --Chasingsol(talk) 22:17, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Along the lines of J.S, take out everything not nessasary for the computer to run. (i.e. all but 1 ram chip, the video card if it has a built in one, cdrom drive), then if the computer turns on turn it off and place one item back in to the computer. Keep doing that until you reproduce the problem, then take that item that caused the problem and remove it and put everything back together (except that one item) I hope this helped. – El lio tt   23:14, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Just to provide a status update on this one. It did indeed end up being the power supply. Thanks for all the suggestions. Best regards. --Chasingsol(talk) 04:01, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Canon Pixma MP220 printer problems!
Hi I tried printing a document earlier but the trouble is I pressed print and then realised I hadn't plugged the cord that runs from my printer into the USB slot on my computer in. When I then plugged the USB into my computer in the printer would not print. I tried turning off the printer and re-sending the print job but the printer won't do anything now. When I try to print a pop up comes up saying printer is in offline mode - I don't think it was before. I had a look in the instruction manual but I can't find anything that helps. (Also have a little notice saying black ink low but its been like that for ages, I don't think thats the cause of the printer not doing anything but correct me if I'm wrong.) Please help and thank you in advance! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.222.240.81 (talk) 23:05, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * I know that this may sound generic.. but restart your computer. If i am to give you any more help I would need to know what type of printer you have. – El lio tt   23:17, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * "Have you tried turning it off and on again?" Theresa Knott | token threats 23:28, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


 * My sister had a similar problem a while ago. As I recall, it is related to the black ink being low. When the ink gets below a certain level, the pronter stops working. There is a mode to force the printer to use the colour cartridge only - but I can't for the life of me remember how I did it. Try changing the black cartridge. DuncanHill (talk) 04:39, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi all I have replaced the black ink cartridge - put a brand new one in there but it still won't print. When I try to print a little window pops up saying printer is in offline mode. I've tried turning it on and off and restarting my computer to no avail. Please help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.222.241.80 (talk) 14:20, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

OK, here you go! Open Printers folder:

For Windows Vista Click / Select 'Start' from the bottom left of the Windows screen, 'Control Panel', 'Hardware and Sound', and then click on 'Printers'. Note: If you are in 'Classic' view, Click 'Printers' directly from the 'Control Panel'. For Windows XP Home Edition

Click / Select 'Start' from the bottom left of the Windows screen, 'Control Panel,' 'Printers and Other Hardware,' and 'Printers and Faxes.'

For Windows XP Professional Edition

Click 'Start' from the bottom left of the Windows screen, and 'Printers and Faxes.'

For Windows 2000/Me/98

Click / Select 'Start' from the bottom left of the Windows screen, and 'Settings,' then 'Printers.'

Right-click your printer's icon and select 'Use Printer Online'. The document will print.

If the document does not print and the job remains queued, a printer icon will appear to the left of the time on the Windows taskbar.

Double-click on the printer icon to open the 'Printer' window.

Click on the document title below the 'Document Name' column.

From the 'Document' menu select 'Restart'.

Hope that makes sense and works for you. DuncanHill (talk) 16:39, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi Duncan many thanks for your post. I put the printer back into online mode (thanks for the clear instructions regarding how to do this) but when I tried printing a document a little pop up comes up simply saying 'printer is not responding'. I have no idea why. I tried turning it off and on again and tried re-sending the print job but still I can't get it to print. Any more help would be great. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.222.241.80 (talk) 22:49, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

I believe the problem is solved - I can now print! When I went onto control panel > hardware > printer there were 4 icons that came up, even though I only have one printer... Something called 'Canon MP220 series printer (copy 1)' was set as the default printer. I changed the default printer to an icon called 'Canon MP220 series printer'. Selecting an icon without the '(copy 1)' bit seems to have made all the difference. There's also 2 other icons in my printer window one called 'microsoft XPS document' and 'send to one note 2007'. I have no idea what any of the other 3 do. Many thanks to all who helped and does anyone have a clue what these other icons are? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 139.222.241.80 (talk) 23:02, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Adding A Shopping Cart to a .asp Photo Website
This is a complicated one, and I'm not sure I know if I'm asking the right question, but here goes. I maintain a photo website written for me in .asp script that I now wish to add a shopping cart and payment facilities to. I've tried using romancart.com and have been nudged in the direction of mal's e-commerce too. These websites encourage you to "simply" create a hyperlink and drop it into the code on your site. Unfortunately this doesn't work when I try and I have to revert to the original design to get the page working again.

The second problem is that even if I could drop a link in, I wouldn't know how to put a different link for each individual photo because each photo doesn't have its own individual page/hyperlink in the way that websites selling their products usually do. As you click on a new photo the address in the bar above stays the same.

The website is www.stucktothefridge.co.uk

Can you help? I hope that I have made my problem clear enough.

Lukerees1983 (talk) 23:15, 2 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Hi there. I think a solution to your problem might be found here: Paypal's shopping carts. PayPal is a fantastic website if you are trying to buy or sell things on the interweb and you dont feel like throwing your credit card number or bank account number all over the web... i hoped this helped. – El lio tt   23:23, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * You clearly don't understand this enough to be doing it yourself. Whoever wrote you the asp scripts could help. Also I think the idea of the one hyperlink is that it takes you to a remote-hosted storefront from which you can browse for products; you could probably link directly to a certain product but you'd probably have to keep a list of store URLs or something corresponding to photos on your site that would be loaded by the asp script.. As for the paypal shopping carts I've never touched them but you would definitely need to add a "buy me" sort of link to photo pages and I doubt it would be at all straightforward to dynamically add new photos to your database of items/prices because it looks like paypal hosts that.. .froth. (talk) 18:21, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

Graphics upgrade possible?
Ok, my friend's computer currently uses the GeForce 6150 SE nForce 430 graphics card. I'm trying to help her upgrade, but I'm not sure it's even possible. Does anyone know if this is an integrated chipset rather than an actual "card"? If so, does that mean that it's not possible to upgrade to a better piece of hardware to improve performance for gaming? Dgcopter (talk) 23:38, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Hi there! I would love to help but in order to do so i would need to know weather you are on a laptop or a desktop. Either way there is a possibility that you might beable to upgrade. – El lio tt   23:42, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Sorry, it's a desktop. Running Vista, if that makes a difference. I'm kind of a hardware noob, so I don't know all the ins and outs of this stuff...Dgcopter (talk) 23:45, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Lol, we were all noobs at one point in time. Knowing that it's a desktop running vista tells me that you can buy an upgrade, the upgrade would not replace your current card (unless it is a card and not a built in chip). I will need to know a little more about your computer, what's the computer's brand? (i.e. dell, emachine, sony... so on). i would also like to know the model number. This can sometimes be found on the front of the computer, it would normaly be a 4 - 6 digits, sometimes with a few letters. An example would be: Dell Latitude D610 – El lio tt   23:49, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Dell Inspirion 531s...is that what you're looking for? Dgcopter (talk) 23:52, 2 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, thank you, i am sorry that it took me so long. It looks like you have a PCIe x16 slot and a PCIe x1 slot. Just give me a few more minutes to find a few upgrades for you. (to you what this means is: Yes, you can upgrade your card, but that information was mainly for anyone else who wanted to help you) —Preceding unsigned comment added by E smith2000 (talk • contribs) 00:07, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Hang on, an Inspiron 531s? I'm worried about the 's' bit - Dell's irritating series of nonstandard slimline cases. I can tell you that you'll need a 'low profile' card and probably a low profile bracket kit to go with it. I recently upgraded an Inspiron 530s with this combination, if that's helpful. CaptainVindaloo t c e 00:09, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
 * you beat me to it Captain. I was going to suggest that. Anyways, that is a good video card, depending on your budget i would suggest that you take it to a computer repair shop and have them install it for you. Or you can install it your self, here is a guide from Dell's website explaining how to take the computer apart and how to install the card.– El lio tt   00:13, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the help, Cap and Elliott! I'm glad to know it's upgradeable. I'm a little worried about the extra hitch with the "low profile" kit... I was feeling pretty confident that I could handle replacing a normal graphics card, but I don't know anything about that. Any opinions on how hard/easy it is to do for a novice? Dgcopter (talk) 00:35, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
 * The front of the card (where the port is) can come off by removing a few screws. That part is not hard but you should be careful not to touch the card it self with the screw driver, and you have to be careful while handling the the card itself. Hereis a site that will help you with the safe handling of the card. Since your a novice at this I'd suggest that you wear latex gloves and place the card on a towel on a table before you take off the from of the card. Or an even better idea is to just go to your local computer store and ask if they have any Low-Profile videos cards, Remember: a 'good' video card is going to have about 512MB (megabytes) of ram. —Preceding unsigned comment added by E smith2000 (talk • contribs) 00:46, 3 February 2009 (UTC)


 * It's not too hard, just fiddly. On the brackets, there's a couple of screws that normally the monitor connector screws into. All you need is a pair of pliers or something, and you can remove them, and the bracket'll just fall off. Fit the new one, replace the screws, sorted. CaptainVindaloo t c e 00:44, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
 * You're supposed to use nut drivers on those screws, but if you don't have them, pliers will do. Also remember to install the drivers afterwards. 121.72.165.189 (talk) 08:28, 3 February 2009 (UTC)