Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 July 22

= July 22 =

Red channel on data projectors broken?
I've come across many many projectors in our (national) company that don't display colours correctly. Without exception it is the red channel that seems to be broken. On Saturday I picked up the same phenomenon on another projector (different brand, different organisation completely). My google-fu is not strong enough to find a discussion about this on the web. What could be happening? Is it a known problem with the red channel on data projectors? AFAIK they are all DLP projectors rather than LCD. They are basically now unusable for movies or photos, only presentations. Even then you have to choose your colours carefully. The problem is so bad that we've been instructed to differentiate our graphs by some mean other than purely colour. The projectors are generally older than 1 year but <3 years. What the hell is going on? Zunaid 07:50, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * There's several reasons why a projector wouldn't show red, have you tested different input ports? Has the red channel gone all black or all white? --66.195.232.121 (talk) 20:17, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * It goes all black. The red channel simply doesn't display so the image is made up of only the B and G. The phenomenon happens at work with VGA-VGA cable as well as with the other projector with a DVI input using a VGA-DVI connector. Different user, different PCs at work, same result. It really is so common that I thought Google would bring something up, but sadly no. Zunaid 20:53, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Need help with document.body.style.cursor!
document.body.style.cursor = 'crosshair' (or one of the common cursors, like "hand" or "help") works, but changing "crosshair" to an image URL to get a custom cursor does not work! I also tried document.body.style.cursor = 'url(the_image_URL_here)'. I have checked many times and the image URL is correct. How do I get it to work? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.189.59.132 (talk) 10:40, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Quirksmode says IE needs a .cur image, rather than taking an jpeg or png. I think a .cur is a .ico. 87.113.21.118 (talk) 10:58, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks!!! How do I convert a bmp, jpeg or gif image to a cur image? Any other stumbling blocks to note?


 * Cur is an ICO that has a hotspot, I believe. You need specialized software for it. Google "create windows cursor." --98.217.14.211 (talk) 13:33, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I like the free AniFX software. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 22:39, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Does anyone know an online collection of cursors which I can use with document.body.style.cursor? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.189.62.31 (talk) 08:02, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Where can I find a good Ghostscript tutorial?
Hello. I'm looking for a tutorial on how to use the Ghostscript interpreter interactively. The only information I've been able to find is on how to run the gs command in batch mode. But I want to enter in PostScript one line at a time. I can't find a list of commands supported by Ghostscript and what the prompts mean (e.g., I often see a <1> or something similar after gs>). I found a very basic introduction with a hello-world example, but that's it so far. It just seems that no one is interested in PostScript any more. I don't understand why. Sigh.--H. Gutmans (talk) 11:18, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Perhaps the Ghostscript User Manual might be helpful? (Just search for it.) I found that the real important trick is remembering to "showpage"... --jpgordon:==( o ) 13:39, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * It's not that no one is interested in post script, it's that there are libraries that vastly, vastly simplify things, so you don't have to muck around at such a low level. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 13:37, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Postscript is actually a fully respectable programming language - comparable in many ways to Python. It's more or less a matter of history that's relegated it to the rather odd niche of becoming a language for sending stuff to printers and such.  We used to have entire windowing systems written using it (see NeWS).  Sadly, I've forgotten all the Postscript I ever knew.  As far as I know, if you fire up 'gs' without parameters then you can basically type Postscript programs right there at the 'gs>' prompt.  But gs isn't a full development system with editing and all that good stuff.  You really need to type your programs in someplace else and launch them from within gs. SteveBaker (talk) 04:36, 23 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Good points. It's used today for many things, as well. PDFs, EPS files, and Type 1 fonts are written their own dialects of PostScript. But the most-recent books on PostScript are all out of print. There's a book available for download on PS, but it's from 1990 -- before PostScript Level 2 or 3. I've been reading Adobe's PostScript reference manual, and it's very dense reading. It's harder to learn than C for me, and the lack of friendly literature isn't making it any easier.--H. Gutmans (talk) 07:16, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

print screen
how do i print screen WITH THE CURSOR?


 * To strictly answer your question, I was just able to do it by Clicking on 'START/All Programs/Accessories/Accessability/Onscreen Keyboard' and then slicking on the "psc" button on the onscreen keyboard.
 * However, when I personally need a screen shot, I tend to use the "Create/Screenshot" feature of The Gimp. (The screenshot feature is called slightly different things in different versions, but it's always easy to find.) Hope this helps. APL (talk) 13:23, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * To capture an image of the screen that also has the mouse pointer in it, you can use IrfanView, an image viewing program for Windows. In IrfanView, you can go to the Options menu and click on Capture/Screenshot. One of the options you can check is to "Include mouse cursor". --Bavi H (talk) 00:41, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Oh. I thought he meant he wanted to use the cursor to do a print screen. Your way makes more sense. APL (talk) 00:51, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Computer shutting down
Hello. I've had my laptop for two years and it's always worked fine. Recently though, every time I try to 'wake up' the computer from standby, I get a brief flash of blue screen of death, then the computer restarts. Otherwise, the computer is fine. I've checke dm power options, and they are set to default (I.e the power button is not set to instantly shutdown). Is there any way I can fix this problem? Many thanks in advance =) Cuban Cigar (talk) 12:24, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Check that the battery isn't running out. This can cause the "blue screen of death". Also, check when the computer is due to sleep in power options. 90.194.115.243 (talk) 13:16, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Ok my battery is always charged and is def not running out. In power options, system standby is set at 'never'.114.77.68.9 (talk) 13:53, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Try turning off automatic restarts after the blue screen of death (it's somewhere in Control Panel -> Systems if I remember correctly) - the exact error message may give you a clue as to what is going wrong. &mdash; QuantumEleven 14:38, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * When the system restarts, keep pressing the F8 key. when the advanced startup options appear, select the last known good configuration, try safe mode, if it goes to safe mode, try system restore. 131.107.0.77 (talk) 13:05, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

It could be a ram issue if you are in sleep mode, could be a harddrive issue if you are in hibernation mode. In any case there is an issue with either hardware re-distributing the information stored within when your pc sleeps/hibernates Ivtv (talk) 23:30, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

Calender files
Is there an easier way to create a series of calender events than just creating them one by one using sunbird, windows calender or outlook? For example, could the events be created in an excel document and then converted to a .isc file and then imported? I know calenders can be exported into a .csv file from sunbird but I cant seem to import it back the way. I am using windows vista. 90.194.115.243 (talk) 13:11, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * A cursory Google search shows at least one entity is already doing such a thing using Google Spreadsheets. . So I know it is possible. However, I am at a loss when it comes to suggesting how to do it yourself. Its a good question. Kushal (talk) 15:25, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * The ISC format is pretty open and the standard is too. I'm sure there are programs out there that do a number of things on data for it. Often it's the pain of parsing the input. What exactly are you trying to do? Shadowjams (talk) 11:31, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

Running a site from my home computer
Hey everyone! I'm thinking about running a small website from my home computer. A few people, maybe about 20 or so in total, will connect to my server and view pages just like any other website. The problem is I have an awfully slow upload speed, approximately 40KB/s at best. Will this cause a big problem for people trying to use my site? Will it be too slow?

As a test I've set up an example of what my site will be like (edit: I've removed the link because I've turned the server off). If it's not too much to ask, could somebody test the features, like loading a few images, and report back on if it's too slow to be usable? I'm also interested in any advice, experience or really anything you can share with me about running a home server as I'm very new to this.

Thanks so much for your help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.29 (talk) 13:41, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * not too bad for speed, at least when I tried.83.100.250.79 (talk) 14:34, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * It worked reasonably well from here as well.  You might as well give it a try.  If it starts giving you problems you can switch to the cheapest hosting service you can find. APL (talk) 14:50, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * ok thanks for testing :) So does anyone have any advice for me in general about running a server from home? Anything I need to be aware of? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.43.88.29 (talk) 19:23, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Just be aware of the obvious: 1. you might be violating your internet service provider's terms of usage; 2. you could easily go over quota (especially if someone gets your URL who doesn't like you and just curls the larger files on your site); 3. there are far higher consequences if it turns out your scripts have exploits in them; 4. and, uh, that probably covers it. Personally I think the standard $9/mo. hosting is a lot easier to deal with than home hosting, and of course you can use it for all sorts of projects without any difficulty. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 21:42, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * If you have limited bandwidth - then be aware that you're now sharing it with your 20 buddies. You are somewhat more noticable to evil bad guys who are intent on hacking your system.  You have to leave your computer running 24/7.  Having said all that - I ran my site from home for years without significant problems.  Only fairly recently did I switch over to a web hosting company...which I have to say, it well worth the $10 a month it costs me. SteveBaker (talk) 04:29, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

carelessly using an USB stick
whenever I pull out a USB stick, I do not stop the device. Sometimes, I close the explorer windows showing folders inside the USB stick. I only see to it that the lights are not blinking or that I don't save or run anything from it when iam pulling it out. Will this damage the USB stick? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.220.46.25 (talk) 15:01, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I doubt it will do any damage to the device itself. As for your data on the device at that time, I don't think anyone can make any promises. Kushal (talk) 15:20, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Nobody can make promises. Modern versions of operating systems (especially Windows) have been more intelligent about directly and immediatel flushing files to the stick, and avoiding spurious reads and writes to the stick, so if you are not actively engaged in a file write operation, there "should" be no problems.  However, USB is a complicated protocol, and the file system interacts with a lot of interwoven systems on your operating system, so there isn't an easy way to guarantee that file corruption will not occur.  (You might be engaging in a file transfer operation, or still completing an old one that you thought was already finished, and you might not even know it).  It's 8:37 AM - do you know where your bits are?  The flashing LED indicators are not a guarantee of anything - some USB standards exist regarding these indicators, but I don't think they are consistently applied.  Nimur (talk) 15:36, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Are you running portable applications? If so, the risk of "damage" is increased, as these applications may write state information to the disk which they need to remove to shut down cleanly. &mdash; QuantumEleven 15:49, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Dare I just ask why you don't bother stopping the device? It takes all of one mouse click to do so. Is it just laziness? Your subject line indicates you are aware it is careless. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 16:57, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually if the folders are closed, and you're not watching a 'copying files' dialog (obviously obviously) there shouldn't be any problem at all. USB is designed for this type of thing - you should have no problems. Provided that you let files finish copying etc.83.100.250.79 (talk) 23:20, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * That's exactly the problem - "letting the files finish copying" is a misunderstanding. The operating system decides when the files are finished copying; you do not (even if the dialog or command terminal says the files are copied, there may be lower abstraction layers that have not finished the work).  Some operating systems can have macroscopic delays (seconds, minutes, hours, or "never") after you do your "drag and drop" or complete your copy command, before the files are actually flushed to the hardware.  Though modern systems try to avoid hanging open files around, you can't be very sure unless you know every minute detail of your OS file system handler.  Nimur (talk) 01:15, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure that I 100% believe that, you seem to be saying that the OS would close the copying files dialog box, before it had actually copied the files, or not even copy the files at all, and what? just show a hypothetical copying dialog box with a progress baar, whilst be doing nothing? Then add the files to be copied to a list of things to do, and maybe do it later, if it feels like it?? Did you have an OS in mind? (I'm just assuming that it doesn't take a brain surgeon to work out that the dialog box doesn't close until the process has finished. Wouldn't the programmer have to be noticebly stupid to do something like that)


 * There might be an issue with cached flash though, I suppose...(I should mention that)83.100.250.79 (talk) 01:58, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
 * That is exactly what I am saying, and yes, it is allowable under certain circumstances. The modern file systems in use on a modern operating system are very complicated.  That is why the "Safely Remove Hardware" ever needed to exist in the first place.  Yes, you are right - it would be very rare to have the copy-dialog close several hours before the file flushes, but most of the file systems I've ever worked with are designed with event-driven programming - this means that there is absolutely no time constraint, ("wall clock" time), before certain processes complete.  I can think of a variety of scenarios which obfuscate the simple transactional "open file - edit file - save file" model.  What if two programs are editing the same file, and they both operate an auto-save feature, and each has a modified version of the same file?  When does the operating system actually write the bits to the harddisk or USB stick?  What if it is the same program, with multiple lightweight threads?  (... or multiple hardware threads?)  ... (or system interrupts that perform file writing?)  What about programs that write scratch-files to (poorly-chosen) locations on the USB stick?  A file transfer may be in process at any time.  All of these pathological cases do exist, and modern operating systems may choose to handle them in complicated ways.  Nimur (talk) 15:06, 23 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm assuimg there are just files on there, and not say an OS.83.100.250.79 (talk) 23:22, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

If you want to pull the usb out quick (assuming you're on windows) makes sure you have (starting by selecting the usb stick or whatever in mycomputer) : Rightclick, properties, hardware, (select the device), then properties, policies, and select "optimise for quick removal" - that way if any copies are finished, you should be able to remove the device without having to use "safely remove hardware". I should have mentioned that.83.100.250.79 (talk) 02:33, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
 * NOTE, as described above - this is only safe to do if you are only using 'it' for saving files initiated by you, if the computer has any automated backup file programs running that us the memory stick, then it's safest to use the remove hardware button.
 * However in windows, with "optimise for quick removal" set to on, and using the thing as a disk drive in which only you get to save files to it (manually) you are ok. But if the remove hardware button is showing - you should use it..83.100.250.79 (talk) 16:57, 23 July 2009 (UTC)


 * On Windows, I personally find it easier to left click and click the drive that I need to remove. But that's just me. :) Kushal (talk) 18:14, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

[Perl] I hate this nasty animal
Perl seems to have many nasty internal inconsistencies. For example, some functions affect its own argument(s) whiles many others don't.

If you want to delete the ending \n character:


 * Correct: chomp($string);
 * Error: $string = chomp($string);

However, if you want to reverse an array:


 * Error: reverse(@array);
 * Correct: @array = reverse(@array);

Why did they create this obvious bug? -- Toytoy (talk) 16:29, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * It's not a bug it's a feature. I don't use perl too much. --91.145.73.217 (talk) 17:34, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I suspect is has to do with how different object types are actually handled in memory, though that is just a conjecture. Anyway, most languages I have used do something like this on a regular basis; it's not unique to Perl. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 18:15, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, non systematic syntax is probably the name for it, and I too have seen such annoying things in other languages (including pascal, where I didn't expect it - used for teaching and all that...)
 * I've you want sympathy - I've have lots for you, it's a total pain . There's no excuse for a non-orthogonal not sure orthogonal is the right word language.
 * Maybe learn something else??83.100.250.79 (talk) 23:18, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I guess it comes from different programmers writing the extensions - one has made the 'function' as a function, the other as a proceedure - same problem I experienced - I'd guess since there are no proceedures as such in C (which perl is written in I understand), that chomp(string) returns null (someone else may be better to explain)
 * Alternatively it could be, as described above - a feature - based on expectations of whether the original string is expected to be wanted to be kept unharmed. Which makes vague sense in the examples, but not much.
 * 83.100.250.79 (talk) 00:00, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Personally, I find the basic syntax of functions not quite intuitive when they are nested. For example, you may want to paint your wall, so you ...


 * 1) Add water to your paint.
 * 2) Dip your brush into the paint bucket.
 * 3) Apply the paint to the wall.

$painted_wall = apply(dip($brush, mix($paint, $water)), $wall);

The whole thing is very difficult to read (i.e., the reading direction is zigzagged). You can use more intermediate variables, but they make your code longer and more difficult to remember variable names.

$painted_wall = &apply(&dip($brush, &mix($paint, $water)), $wall);

I prefer to use the old-fashioned & prefix for functions. This prefix and the use of parenthesis is against the teaching of the animal-covered book Perl: The Best Practices. There is no way to do nested functions without enclosing the arguments in parenthesis unless you want to write your program in FORTH.

Is there a systematic way to deal with these annoying things? -- Toytoy (talk) 00:27, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Did you mean in perl, or in general. Your request looks vaguely like a plea for an object orientated language, but I'm not convinced that would turn out to be a better solution (due to the same sort of niggles as before.)83.100.250.79 (talk) 02:01, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Creative SB Audigy 2 (WDM) SPDIF
Forgive my ignorance and incompetence regarding this subject. I have a Creative SB Audigy 2 (WDM) soundcard. According to my Control Panel, this card apparently supports SPDIF out, which would be awesome because I'd like to connect it to my receiver for at least 5.1 surround sound. I pulled out my computer and checked the soundcard jacks, but I couldn't find any digital (optical or coaxial) output jacks :(. How do I get digital sound out to my receiver? Thanks for the help!! --71.117.39.22 (talk) 16:49, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Is this an add-on card? Is this a laptop or PC; which model? If it is built into the PC, then the SPDIF connector may be an option. ---— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 17:04, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Okay here comes the incompetence...but let me have a shot at this. It's in a desktop (the easy one). I think it's an add-on; it is in a PCI slot. I'm running a dual boot Vista/XP OS. I think SoundMAX is the integrated audio from the motherboard (it doesn't work anyway). What else do you need to know? --71.117.39.22 (talk) 17:15, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Ok is it a "creative audio sound blaster audigy 2" ie like these http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&q=Creative%20Sound%20Blaster%20Audigy%202&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi ie does the external plate connections look the same - there doesn't seem to be a standar spdif out on these..but - from here http://www.twenga.co.uk/specs-Sound-Blaster-Audigy-2-ZS-CREATIVE-LABS-Sound-card-1283 the specs mention a  "1 x audio - SPDIF output - mini-phone 3.5mm" - I've come across these before - it's a 3.5mm socket (as in miniheadphone etc), but at the end there is the optical out (sony used to put these in their minidiscs) - it's a dual use socket. You need a 3.5mm optical to spdif connector - there are some here (less than £10)  they're actually quite common. You can even get adaptors . I've assumed it's optical digital out, not electrical.


 * Also see Mini-TOSLINK, and the references to mini-TOSLINK in TOSLINK.
 * All you need to work out is which socket... Have you got the manual?83.100.250.79 (talk) 23:09, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * My sound card back doesn't look exactly like those other ones (it's way older) but close enough. Thank you so much!! I'm quite excited now, you've made my day. Thanks for the help, the 3.5mm to optical is exactly what I need. --71.117.47.195 (talk) 16:42, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Good! If you don't know which 3.5mm socket to choose - it's probably the "line out" socket. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.100.250.79 (talk) 16:51, 23 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I checked the back and I'm 99% positive that it is the "Digital out" jack. Thanks again! --71.117.47.195 (talk) 20:14, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Restoring an iPod 3G Clickwheel
I have an iPod (clickwheel) whose internal database has gotten corrupted. It shows up as a USB drive, and I was able to (in Terminal) copy all the files off of it to my computer. The problem is, it doesn't show up in iTunes at all, so I can't "Restore" it.

Is there a way to Restore an iPod that iTunes doesn't recognizes? The iPod itself seems functional except that it doesn't remember that I have any music. The internal interface works fine, though.

I'm using a MacBook with OS X 10.4.11, with the latest version of iTunes (updated just a day or so ago), if that helps. Any suggestions? --98.217.14.211 (talk) 17:43, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Apple has a note about how to reset a horked iPod here. -- Finlay McWalter Talk 17:52, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Err, no. It was not a problem with it freezing. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 18:13, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Ah ha! I figured it out. I used the old, now-unsupported iPod Updated 2006 which restored it even though it wouldn't work in iTunes. Hooray. Now it shows up in iTunes and will let me use it again. Yay for me. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 18:13, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Caches, and proxies, and cgis, oh my
OK, looks like we have a group of venerable referencedeskers, who seem to be able to answer any question one throws at them. I wonder if you folks could help me?

Here is my problem. There is a closed online system that I need to access (yeah, I have access rights, no worries there). The system is basically run via a cgi script--a user is presented with a form in a browser, fills it out, hits submit, and gets the results. Unfortunately, the system's interface gets tweaked every now and then. What this means, is that on some days some parts of the interface are different from what they used to be on the day before (and these are not visible changes; just changes to how the system works beneath). In most cases, clearing browser's cache is all that needs to be done, but on some truly sad days that does not work. The reason it does not work is because some of the js, css, and htm files get cached on the proxy server (to which I do not have access). Instead of getting these parts from the system upon request, the smart-ass proxy decides to serve the files previously cached. Yeah, the files have the same names, but the content is slightly different, which means that on my end the parts don't assemble well, which leads to all kinds of nasty errors.

So, the question--in a situation like this, is there a way to tell the proxy to go funk itself never cache anything from that website? If it were just a regular html page, one could add "?whatever=anything" at the end of the URI; unfortunately, since this is a cgi call, adding random crap like this at the end of the URI means that the request won't be processed because of "unknown parameters".

The problem appears only on the PCs which are all hooked through the same proxy. When accessing the system from home, I never have this kind of problems (which, for one, says that my ISP's proxy server is configured much better than the one at work).

I searched the web for several days now, and the closest I could find was this, which isn't exactly helping. Can this even be done (please say yes)?--Anonymous and desperate in the Midwest


 * Pushing ctrl-f5 on firefox (shift-reload on IE, I think) makes the browser send magic stuff in the request headers of its HTTP request, which tells the intermediate proxy to ignore its cache and go ask the real source. The way it does that is by setting a "cache-control:no-cache" line to that header. So if you were writing a program to web scrape the system, you could add that line to your own program's http request header. If you're using a browser, then I don't know of a way to force a browser to always set that header (but I'd be surprised if there isn't a Firefox plugin to to just that). You could also run another http proxy of your own (which points at the real proxy) and hard-wire it to set cache-control; or you could skip the proxy altogether and tunnel http through ssh, and so talk to the real server. -- Finlay McWalter Talk 19:25, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Firefox BetterCache plugin lets you control the browser's cache-control settings better; it seems to be targetted at the opposite of what you want (caching more stuff, not less) but it may also have a "don't cache site xyz.com" option too. -- Finlay McWalter Talk 19:29, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Good advice, thank you. Wouldn't work, though.  First, I should've specified that the system only works in IE (so FF plugins are out), as it relies heavily on ActiveX.  And Ctrl-F5 does not do it magic, for whatever reason (neither does nuking the browser cache).  As for setting up a local proxy, it would still have to go through the company proxy (that's company's policy), so I suspect the local proxy will still be fed the exact same outdated stuff coming from the company proxy.  Might be worth a try, though.  Any other suggestions, anyone?--Adim

Back button was no longer blue
The details of my computer are here.

I was editing an extremely long article, one that has been tagged so it can be split.

I tried to go back to what I was doing before I did that and the back button was no longer blue. I've seen this happen outside of Wikipedia with extremely long emails (that's how I stored stuff before I had a computer, and I don't risk losing the stuff even now by using the computer). Vchimpanzee ·  talk  ·  contributions  · 20:26, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Okay, if the button is not BLUE, it's dark gray and clicking on it produces no action. Vchimpanzee ·  talk  ·  contributions  · 20:04, 24 July 2009 (UTC)


 * No idea. It happens to me, too, every now and then, not often enough to have investigated why. It's the tab history dropping off. If you find it happening only on very long files, duplicate the tab first, to have a spare. - KoolerStill (talk) 07:58, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

unable to show hidden folders
my option to show hidden folders from the folder options isnt working. When i enable it it reverts back and hides the hidden folders. whats happening how do i enable it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.220.225.251 (talk) 21:51, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Do you get to see the hidden folders once? or does it never work? (Did you press "apply")83.100.250.79 (talk) 22:49, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * A google search http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=show+hidden+folders+reverts&meta=&aq=f&oq= mentions a virus related issue, as well as issues (bug) with subfolders when the folder contains no files (or something) - do either of these two ring a bell.?83.100.250.79 (talk) 22:56, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Jailbreak
what is jailbroken cell phone? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Cdn1 (talk • contribs) 21:55, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * see Jailbreak (iPhone OS). -- Finlay McWalter Talk 21:55, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Linux (wasn't he from Charlie Brown?)
So my auld laptop is dying, so I reckon it may reincarnate a little if I stick Linux on it. Wubi is the only installer I've used to date, therefore giving me a way back; but due to this computer's limited HD space, I would prefer a full conversion. How should I go about this, and how can I save my documents (conveniently in opendocument format) and move them back after opensourcification? Fribbler (talk) 23:09, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I use Ubuntu linux (which may or not be a recommendation); what I'd do is the following:
 * download the latest ubuntu installer, and burn it to a CD
 * boot the auld laptop wi the ubuntu CD, find your files, and copy them to a USB stick. Make sure to get everything you need, as the next phase is destructive.
 * once you're sure, have the ubuntu installer wipe the disk and install a fresh linux partition on it (linux will offer to be nice, to do things like dual boot and stuff, but if you're hard-disk constrained then that's not such a good idea).
 * This should be enough. If your laptop is guy auld then full Ubuntu might be a bit heavy for it, so Xbuntu or even Puppy Linux would be a better fit. Once you've installed, plug the usb disk in again, and copy the saved files to your "Documents" folder. -- Finlay McWalter Talk 23:44, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Thanks Finlay. The laptop should survive full-linux-install. It's still got a 120GB HD (but would struggle with dual-boot), but those are the instructions I needed, thanks! Fribbler (talk) 23:49, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Of course, you could try out various linuxes on Live CDs first. It'll save a lot of hassle installing one, then finding you don't like it and having to install another, and so on.  Astronaut (talk) 20:02, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I had done that part, and setlled on Ubuntu a while ago. Now I'm writing this on a Linux-only system! Much faster. Fribbler (talk) 21:12, 23 July 2009 (UTC)


 * When choosing Linux, many will get into a debate about Ubuntu vs. Fedora (or something similar). These are distributions that differ mainly in how you install/update all the programs.  The linux will be the 2.6 kernel regardless of your choice.  What actually affects your usage is the desktop environment.  There are two main choices: GNOME and KDE.  Both Ubuntu and Fedora (and all other distributions that I've used) have GNOME or KDE options.  I suggest using a live CD (Ubuntu is GNOME and Kubuntu is KDE .. or get Fedora Live for GNOME and Fedora KDE Live for KDE).  You can mess around with the two desktops and decide which one you like.  Once you get hooked on one, switching to another is like switching from Windows to Linux.  I've been using KDE for about 10 years.  When I use GNOME I spend most of my time trying to figure out where they hid the button or menu item that I need. --  k a i n a w &trade; 21:18, 23 July 2009 (UTC)