Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 December 13

= December 13 =

Freezes at 'Applying Computer Settings'
My friend's Windows XP laptop has trouble starting up. When it reaches 'Applying computer settings' (this is before logon), it stalls. The mouse still works, windows can be dragged, it just doesn't progress past that stage. After booting into safe mode and looking at event viewer, we see there's an error from netlogon, the event ID is 5719, and the reason is 'no domain controller is available for domain [school's name] because there are no logon servers able to service the logon request'. However, my computer, on the same domain, starts up fine. Does anyone know why this happens/how this can be fixed? 69.180.172.142 (talk) 01:05, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Maybe it just doesn't have a usable Intranet/Internet connection. Check that the cable is seated properly, at both ends (or do you have a wireless network ?).  Also, after you boot in safe mode, try to ping the logon server.  StuRat (talk) 07:16, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Try leaving it a __longggggg__ time. It may be that the DNS set up on the laptop can't resolve the name of the domain server.  If it does eventually allow you to logon, you might try changing the address of the primary DNS to be the IP address of the domain controller. --Phil Holmes (talk) 14:25, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Well, my friend brought it to the tech department, and it suddenly started working. So yeah, I guess it's fixed. 69.180.172.142 (talk) 01:37, 14 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I wouldn't assume that. In the case where I had an intermittent connection to the back-light, it would work for a while then stop working, and then eventually stopped working for good. StuRat (talk) 02:56, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Coloring in countries and states in google maps?
Is there any way to pick and choose countries/states to color in on google maps? I can't find any way that doesn't mess around the programming and the API. --CGPGrey (talk) 13:21, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

Video card in portrait mode
I intend buying a 1920x1080 monitor for use in portrait mode (using XRandR in Linux). My laptop's graphics (Intel 4500M) is rated for 2048x1536 on the VGA port (no HDMI port). Will this be able to handle the portrait mode 1080x1920 resolution? --Masatran (talk) 17:15, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * the portrait mode is still 1920x1080 (hardware) - so yes. However I know nothing about using XRandR, but the issue is a software one, and the Intel hardware is capable of the 1920x1080 resolution, so it should be doable.83.100.186.32 (talk) 22:58, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Check that the driver for your video card allows you to rotate the image - otherwise you'll have a portrait monitor but the image will be 90 degrees out. I don't use Linux, but on my Vista system I have a Display Option to rotate the image. --86.133.83.252 (talk) 11:06, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the information. I use the "intel" driver. It was able to rotate the laptop display on-the-fly. The laptop is 1440x900, so for dual-head I'd need a framebuffer height of atleast 1920 (portrait mode) and width of atleast 1440+1920=3360 (landscape mode). The graphics system is able to run with a frame buffer of 4096x2048 (but not 4096x4096), so I guess it should be fine in both modes. --Masatran (talk) 17:40, 15 December 2010 (UTC)

Using pen drive as computer memory
I've got a 4GB pen drive, but my computer only has 1GB of RAM. Is it possible to use the pen drive as computer memory somehow? Thanks 92.28.245.105 (talk) 17:32, 13 December 2010 (UTC)
 * No.
 * The USB bus isn't anywhere near fast enough to be a replacement for RAM, neither are the flash chips themselves.
 * There are products that claim to do this, but they don't. What they do is move your Page cache to your flash drive, which isn't very useful and in many cases could actually slow your PC down. 72.10.110.109 (talk) 17:53, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * What? The answer is, if you run Windows 7, yes yes yes. Windows 7 barely runs with 1 GB of RAM, it really really needs 2 GB.  When I started using TurboBoost or whatever (it's an option when you right-click properties on your pen-drive, you'll see it) I saw a HUGE improvement, until I took the trouble to upgrade my RAM.  So, if you're running windows 7, the answer is definitely, and someone is about to link to it below: 82.234.207.120 (talk) 18:05, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * ReadyBoost is what 82 is referring to, but it does not make your computer utilize the pen drive as RAM. See the ReadyBoost article for an explanation of why it makes some computers faster.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:28, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

I'm using WinXP and intend to migrate to Linux Ubuntu some day. 92.28.245.105 (talk) 18:39, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

Even if you could (which above comments suggest you can't), using Flash memory as RAM would use up a lot of program/erase cycles. -- N Y  Kevin  @857, i.e. 19:34, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * To expand on that, flash/pen drives have a limited number of read/write cycles before they fail. If used for storing data, this normally isn't an issue, but computer memory requires that reads and writes be performed continuously, which would wear out the drive too quickly. StuRat (talk) 23:14, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

Opera mobile
Each time I attempt to download it on my Android, it takes me to Google account. I don't have one, nor do I want one. Why should I have to sign into Google Account to download Opera mobile? 24.189.87.160 (talk) 17:46, 13 December 2010 (UTC)

As a matter of fact, I can't download anything without having to sign into Google account. Why is that? 24.189.87.160 (talk) 19:43, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * It's because Android Market is developed by Google and requires a Google account to use it. It is used to record any purchases you make so that you can reinstall them again in the event your phone is reset (without additional cost). If you don't want to use the Market then you'd need to locate the .apk files and install them manually, although you'll need to make sure that the install from "Unknown sources" box is checked in Settings -> Applications. I'd really recommend just getting a Google logon with your existing email address as the other advantage to using the Market is that it'll also tell you about updates to your programs (which can you either install manually or automatically).  ZX81    talk  19:57, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * If you get a gmail email account it automatically gives you a google account, you can redirect any mail from that account to your standard email account using the gmail settings, which may save a bit of bother.83.100.186.32 (talk) 22:50, 13 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Thank you both for the helpful info. 24.189.87.160 (talk) 05:44, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

php
I have two php scripts which people here helped me with. The first lists files in a directory by their modified date (newest first). The second displays the 1st line from a text file. How could I merge the functionality of these scripts into one; so that files in a directory are listed by their modified date, and the 1st line from each file is shown along with it? The two scripts I have are as follows: <? $store = array; $dir = opendir("."); while ($file = readdir($dir)){ if($file{0}=='.') continue; $mtime = filemtime($file); $store[$mtime.$file] = $file; } krsort($store); foreach ($store as $time=>$foo){ echo $foo." -\t".date("Y-m-d H:i", intval($time))." \n"; } ?> <? $text = file('example.txt'); $lines = count($text); echo $text[1]; echo $lines. " lines in file"; ?>

Thank you for your help :) 82.44.55.25 (talk) 20:02, 13 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Copy all of the second snippet of code you typed directly after the "echo $foo..." line. Change "example.txt" to $foo. --  k a i n a w &trade; 20:22, 13 December 2010 (UTC)
 * Awesome! Thanks 82.44.55.25 (talk) 21:12, 13 December 2010 (UTC)