Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 May 7

= May 7 =

Russian as "main language" on www.wikipedia.org
According to http://serversiders.com/wikipedia.org, Russian is the main language used for the textual content of www.wikipedia.org. How can that conclusion have been reached? -- Wavelength (talk) 01:11, 7 May 2010 (UTC)


 * The main website http://www.wikipedia.org/ contains text in dozens of languages. There is a Russian Wikipedia, which is a subdoman of wikipedia.org (not www.wikipedia.org).  There is also a tiny quantity of Russian text on the English Wikipedia (in templates, transwiki links, and articles about Russian topics).  Why this website chose to identify Russian as the primary language is unclear - they don't explain their data-mining algorithms anywhere, but they are evidently faulty.  By any measure, there is significantly more English text on the entire Wikipedia domain (even counting the entire Russian Wikipedia, which has fewer articles).  Nimur (talk) 02:39, 7 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your reply. -- Wavelength (talk) 14:16, 7 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Russian continues to pop up at various odd places. When I was looking for supposedly Microsoft originated NTFS file system recovery software I ended up finding one being sold out of Canada by a newly immigrated Russian. Several years ago there was a Russian systems analyst in San Francisco who had to be deported or something. Because they claim logic is the ultimate basis of their thinking I'm surprised they do not turn up in far greater numbers and in far deeper positions in the world of computers and information technology especially since the demise of their former Communist State. After all look at all the Chinese restaurants scattered throughout the world that we not only take for granted but welcome and invite despite high fat and high sugar dependence in their cuisine. 71.100.0.29 (talk) 12:20, 8 May 2010 (UTC)


 * "After all look at all the Chinese restaurants scattered throughout the world that we not only take for granted but welcome and invite despite high fat and high sugar dependence in their cuisine." - Only in the food you buy. Native Chinese would never buy sweet and sour pork and kung pow chicken and the like at a Chinese restaurant. --antilivedT 08:53, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

Urgent question to someone with a copy of SPSS in front of him/her
I have a very urgent, very quick & very simple question to someone with SPSS in front of him/her, related to the ominous "spss.err" file. If you have a copy, would you kindly contact me by e-mail (just click here). I'll explain in my reply. Thanks a million!!!!! Thanks for answering (talk) 04:33, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

Just to emphasize: You need zero computer or stats knowledge for this question, just a computer with SPSS. I just want to know if it's there... Please help. --Thanks for answering (talk) 08:46, 7 May 2010 (UTC) [edited & added this, just like at the stats desk]


 * ''I moved this over to the statistics desk, which seems more appropriate. If you can help, though please respond either way! Thanks!!!!!!!!! --Thanks for answering (talk) 07:21, 7 May 2010 (UTC)
 * presuming your intention is legitimate, you will have better results just posting your question. I would advise anyone whom feels more novice with computers not to contact the questioner via email.  While in this case,  Thanks for answering could very well be completely honest and legitimate, this is a very typical start point progressing from Spam to E-mail_fraud, and generally a risky habit.Cander0000 (talk) 20:33, 8 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Your concerns may be legitimate, Cand0000, but to alleviate them, you don't need to discourage people from helping others; you can simply advise people to use only the Wikipedia mail, which doesn't allow for SPAMming. Of course, I could still ask you by said Wikipedia mail if you could help me transfer my 37.000.000 (= "MILLION!" ^^ ) US-Dollars from some obscure country to your bank account... but seriously, why should I bother asking people to contact me first for an endeavor like this? Why not simply click on user profiles and send people messages from there?... And why would it matter if people are computer savy? Do you really believe that non-computer savy people are more at risk of falling prey to online fraud? Mind you, we're talking only about people who 1.) know what SPSS is (and have presumably used it, if they know it's on their computers), and 2.) lurk around at Wikipedia's help desk...


 * Anyways, you don't have to worry. Nobody offered any help. Given the number of SPSS users, that's (for me) quite impressive. Fortunately a non-Wikipedian was more helpful, so my problem's solved now. Cheers, Thanks for answering (talk) 22:41, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

camera to USB-storejet bridge
Is there a cheap device (not a netbook etc.) that can serve as a bridge between my digital camera and USB storejet external drive? I want to be able to store pictures and especially HD movies on this external drive while on holiday. Sandman30s (talk) 12:30, 7 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Just go to an Internet cafe, and use the computer to transfer? --169.232.238.105 (talk) 12:37, 7 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Where I'm going, there's not going to be an internet cafe for miles! (not even in the hotel I don't think) Sandman30s (talk) 12:53, 7 May 2010 (UTC)


 * Does your camera use added memory, like SD memory cards ? If so, buying a few extras and swapping them out when they get full is likely the cheapest solution.  I usually have more trouble keeping enough charged batteries available. StuRat (talk) 13:14, 8 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Yes, it's a Sony that uses memory stick duo, and 16G is not exactly cheap. HD movies tend to use up 16G really quickly. Sandman30s (talk) 20:48, 8 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Get one of these and use cheaper microSDs instead. Also I remember seeing a kind of external hard drives with built in card readers. You plug in a memory card and all the files are transferred to the hard drive. I can't recall its name right now. 121.74.136.10 (talk) 10:53, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

HTML code for a cifrao
Is there an HTML code for a cifrao? In the same way that & frac12; (sorry, can't find a way to write it without it automatically being converted) becomes &frac12;, is there one to create the cifrao symbol? I know Nyassa (talk) 16:55, 7 May 2010 (UTC)


 * A search for an entity by that name turned up nothing. In fact, according to Cifrão, there isn't even a Unicode codepoint for that symbol (this is astonishing, considering how many things Unicode does have); it just says that the individual typeface can choose whether to render "$" with one or two bars.  (The relatively common Baskerville and Garamond do this.) Paul (Stansifer) 17:58, 7 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Thank you - I've compensated by simply changing the font face to garamond, outputting the $, then changing the font face back immediately afterwards. A bit of a hack, but it'll do!. I know Nyassa (talk) 18:54, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

how to read data from file c++ by ','
when i store data to the file like this.

when i want to read out, if use this ways, it can get by ','. what should i do? how i should i do if i get with line then can it get by ','? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Matthew90510 (talk • contribs) 17:05, 7 May 2010 (UTC)


 * In your second and third code snippets, ofstream should be ifstream. In the second snippet, filein should be readfile. In all three cases, the loop range is strange. The first loop counts from 1 to tempInt, the other two from 1 to tempInt-1. You should probably be counting from 0 to tempInt-1 in all cases.
 * You can read comma-separated fields like this:


 * Of course, this will only work if you're sure that the first two fields don't contain a comma (and the third doesn't contain a newline). -- BenRG (talk) 19:58, 7 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Also, try strtok. And if you want to look on the web for something more specific, you want to look for "parsing". --Wirbelwind ヴィルヴェルヴィント  (talk) 16:50, 8 May 2010 (UTC)

tq, i will try it... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Matthew90510 (talk • contribs) 09:17, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

Acer laptop and SCHC memory cards
My googling skills proved insufficient trying to find out if the memory card reader on my Acer Aspire 5520G reads also SDHC cards. The machine is from 2008, if that matters. The card reader works fine with regular SD cards, but I'd rather not pay 25 euros for a new SDHC card only to find out that it doesn't work. Does someone else have better googling skills and/or a similar computer in use? --Albval (talk) 19:11, 7 May 2010 (UTC)
 * I realize this doesn't answer your question, but if you do go ahead and buy an SDHC card and it doesn't work, you can always get a SDHC USB card reader for it very cheaply, which will let your computer read the SDHC card even though it doesn't directly support it 82.43.89.71 (talk) 19:38, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

Photos of lightning
What is a good camera for taking pictures of lightning (example), thunderstorms, and in general other severe weather? It would need to have the ability to use a cable release (or the equivalent for digital cameras), and probably would need the ability for manual exposure setting changes. An added bonus would be high resolution non-jpeg images (that's one thing I hate about my current camera, along with the fact it doesn't have the cable release function). If anything I'm asking doesn't make sense, just ask me to clarify, because I'm not really sure what I'm talking about when it comes to the technical side of cameras =) Ks0stm (T•C•G) 21:23, 7 May 2010 (UTC)
 * A digital SLR may do all that. 89.241.144.51 (talk) 10:06, 8 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Remote control is good so that the camera is not shaken. If not manual, then you need a very long exposure time.  For example 16 seconds. If too long there may be too much noise registered. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 12:11, 9 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Probably you'd want something that triggers on lightning flashes? There are CHDK scripts for this, if your camera happens to be one of the ones that support that. APL (talk) 07:19, 10 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Assuming it is dark, then it would be easier to just leave the shutter open for a while during a thunderstorm, particularly since the flash may be over before the shutter responds. At least that's what you would do with a film camera, not completely sure about digital cameras. 84.13.53.169 (talk) 12:31, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

Router failure
Are fiber optic - to - ethernet internet routers very reliable? What is the average life span of a router? How often do they break down? 82.43.89.71 (talk) 21:27, 7 May 2010 (UTC)


 * You don't buy a fiber-optic router. You make one by inserting fiber-optic WIC cards into a router you purchase separately. Setting up a fiber optic router is a very expensive, complicated (and, in your case, probably pointless) endeavor. Why do you ask about fiber optics?


 * The reliability of a router depends on the make and model. Belkin routers are the cheapest, but have the most issues (mostly wireless issues). Linksys and Netgear routers are considered to be better, but are also more expensive. If you wanted to work with fiber optics, then you'd have to purchase either a Cisco or Juniper router. Both are very good makes, but they are meant for business customers, and are thus much more expensive. I prefer Juniper routers over Cisco routers because the Junos is more stable (and customizable) than the Cisco IOS.


 * Fiber optic lines are much more reliable than STP lines. (Although STP lines are already very reliable.) Most of the time, it's either your modem or your network card that breaks, not a router. And even when a wired router has a problem, it's usually just an individual port on a router that has broken. So, you plug in your cable into another port and you're back in business. I haven't seen a router newer than eight years quit completely, for what it's worth.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 23:19, 7 May 2010 (UTC)
 * (Or your fibre optic line, when someone cuts it) Nil Einne (talk) 06:46, 8 May 2010 (UTC)
 * I thought your ISP is suppose to provide you with a fiber optics modem? In the UK, Virgin Media (fiberoptics) provide their own modem (no wireless), which you attatch your CABLE router into. Note, a cable router also works with a modem router. All you have to do is plug your cable router input into your modem router ethernet output port. Be sure to turn off the wireless functionality of your wireless modem or else the two wireless signal may clash.  I have Sky broadband.  Sky provide me with a wireless modem, which I plug into the telephone socket.  Then I turn off the wireless functionality of the wireless modem and plugged a Netgear n router into the sky router's ethernet socket. --<i style="font-family:Kristen ITC; color:green;">Tyw7</i>  (☎ Contact me! • Contributions)   Changing the world one edit at a time! 13:26, 8 May 2010 (UTC)

VLC command line help
I'm trying to use VLC from the command line on a Windows system to convert a WAV audio file to an OGG audio file. I am failing. Here is my command line:

vlc -vvv input_sound.wav --sout #transcode{acodec=vorb}:duplicate{dst=std{access=file,mux=ogg,dst=\"output_sound.ogg"}}

The result is a 0-byte output_sound.ogg. If I change acodec=vorb to acodec=mp3 and change mux=ogg to mux=raw then I do get a working mp3 file as expected (called "output_sound.ogg" of course). Am I missing some ogg plugin? I've tried "ogg" and "vorb" and "raw" in place of the mux variable, and "ogg" and "vorb" in place of the acodec variable, and they all hand me a 0 byte .ogg file. Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:38, 7 May 2010 (UTC)