Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 August 1

= August 1 =

Blu-ray anamorphic widescreen
A similar question has been asked before but wasn't really answered.

How does the blu-ray specification handle aspect ratios wider than 16:9?

E.g., can blu-ray store a 1.85:1 video anamorphically (horizontally squeezed, resp. vertically stretched) as 16:9 rather than with native letterboxing? And which of these is the industry standard?

This info appears to be missing from Anamorphic widescreen. --195.14.223.157 (talk) 00:40, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Blu-ray only supports 16:9 video in high definition, and 4:3/16:9 in standard definition (replicating the capability of DVD). All other aspect ratios including less-wide formats like 4:3 and 1.66:1 have to be formatted with letterboxing encoded into the actual image data. Msgohan (talk) 02:03, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks! --213.168.111.33 (talk) 03:00, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Internet connection
My desktop connects to the internet, but my laptop won't. I have checked and the IP address is correct, but still won't connect. I connected router directly to laptop and it connected to google when I tried....but won't on it's own. Can anyone advise me please? I'm out of options at this point. Kendra — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kendra52 (talk • contribs) 04:14, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
 * My guess is that you have a wireless router, your laptop works when you plug it in, but doesn't work over Wi-Fi. Is that correct? Did it used to work? If yes the 1st thing to try is just shut everything down, the modem and or router, the laptop, everything, and then power them up one at a time, starting with the modem, then router (if you have a separate one) and finally laptop, give each at least 3 minutes before starting the next one. If that doesn't work, it could be a number of things which will also depend on what operating system you have. If you have a windows laptop, you need to get into the wireless network connection config window and see if your network is visible. If it is not, your wifi might not be enabled on the laptop, (or a number of other things). If it is visible and it is connected automatically, you could try disconnecting and reconnecting to it, if you have security set up on the router (which is a good idea) you'll need a password to reconnect, if you have no idea what the password is, you'll need to work that out before you can proceed. If none of that helps, it will require more troubleshooting. Vespine (talk) 05:52, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Are you sure it's a router and not actually a cable modem? Some cable modems lock onto the mac address of your computer and will only accept connections from that mac address, so when you switch it over to the laptop it will detect the different mac address and refuse connections from it. The solution is to power off the cable modem for a little while and make sure it's connected to the laptop when you turn it on again. You will need to do this every time you switch it from the desktop to laptop and when you switch it back again. AvrillirvA (talk) 17:32, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Extract text from pdf
I have difficulties extracting the text from this pdf. I'd appreciate if somebody could extract the text and either upload it somewhere or drop it in my sandbox or teach me how to do it myself. The text is written vertically and starts at the top right. I'd need it in plain text in order to more easily translate it with a computer. Information will go into this articl I am working on. Thanks. bamse (talk) 11:06, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Why can't you just highlight each page of text, hit Control-C or use the Apple command for "copy", and then paste it into Notepad or whatever Apples call the corresponding program? It works for me.  Nyttend (talk) 17:03, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * A common form of PDF files is basically a photo of text, not the text itself, making that form of copy unlikely to work. In such a case, you might need to resort to OCR, or simply retype it.  Note, however, that copying large sections from others sources is not allowed.  If you wish to quote a line or two, that's probably easiest to just retype. StuRat (talk) 17:35, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * This is not photo-text, however it's in Japanese and uses nonstandard fonts. I'm afraid it will take somebody familiar with Japanese to know how to handle this. Looie496 (talk) 19:17, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * re Nyttend: It usually works for me in the way you describe, however not with the file here. For instance on page two I can highlight/copy the first column of text (=first column from right after titles), but not the second column (=the column just to the left of it).
 * re StuRat: I don't want to quote the text itself in wikipedia. I am just trying to get the text in computer-readable form in order to translate it (since my Japanese is limited) and only then I would cite the information contained in it (but not as direct quote). "Simply" retyping could be an option, but I'd prefer a quicker method if available.
 * re Looie496: What do you mean by "nonstandard fonts"? Non-latin, or unusual fonts as for representing Japanese? bamse (talk) 22:39, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I only mean that on my American Windows 7 system, Adobe's PDF reader had to download and install a font package in order to allow copy+paste on that document. I probably have never looked at a Japanese PDF file before. Looie496 (talk) 22:48, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Both pdftotext and Okular will successfully extract the text, buuuut the format of the original document is such that the text document this process yields is very badly disordered. As far as I can tell, columns are upside down, with some stuff missing and lots of chars in mad places. Looking at the document, I rather think this is is caused by an OCR program, which has treated the document as a random salad of glyphs rather than contiguous coherent text.  Given the quality of stuff these produce, you'd probably be better of typing it in than trying to reformat what they yield. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 23:16, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Indeed it appears to be OCR'd as there are some misspellings in the text as well. Guess, I'll have to type (draw) it in then. Thanks to all who replied. bamse (talk) 00:13, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I extracted the text and saved at your sandbox. It is not OCRed but rendered by iText 1.4.8 according to the property of the document. I tried two methods "Save as text" and "Select All (Ctrl+A) and Copy (Ctrl+C)". The both results seem to ignore Linefeed/Carriage return (ODOA). I will further investigate this issue. ―― Phoenix7777 (talk) 09:07, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Haven't checked all of it yet, but it looks much better than what I got. Strange that there are some misspelling like + ("plus") for 十 ("ten"). That's the reason why I thought it was OCR. Unfortunately the lines/columns are mixed up. Can't locate the second column on page two for instance ("る上表文の提出に端を発する藤原広嗣の乱は時の天皇*皇后の近"). bamse (talk) 09:46, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Identifying model of PowerBook G4 & Nil Startup
I have just come into possession of a second-hand Apple PowerBook G4 and charger. I have located a User's Guide Here. However the PowerBook I have does not have the six connectors on the right side (as on page 9). Instead it has them on the back edge of the G4, under a spring loaded cover. On the right hand side it has only a security slot (and what looks like a vent). The left side has what I think is a PC card slot, another vent and a headphone socket. The "Power adapter port" is on the right back corner (not the left side). It does have the "Slot-loading optical drive" on the front edge, right of the "display release button". It has a 667 MHz processor and 256MB of memory, and from the WP page detals I suspect that it may be a Titanium PowerBook G4 'Onyx'or 'Ivory'.

Can anyone identify the exact model? and perhaps advise me, as although the machine seems to be charging, it won't start up when I press the 'power' button.- 220.101 User talk:220.101.28.25\ 11:17, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * It's certainly a Titanium Powerbook - I still have one of those lying around (my first Apple), although I have the last generation 1GHz machine. You can distinguish between Onyx and Ivory by looking at the display connector - Onyx has VGA (medium sized trapezoid), Ivory has DVI (big square with many pins). You need to keep the power button pressed for a while before the machine starts - if that does not help, neither can I. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 11:52, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * 'Ivory' it is then! Thanks Stephan. I googled around a bit more and found Powerbook G4 Titanium 550/667 Repair Guide, which may be of interest to you too. I think the G4 is actually turning on, as the caplock light works, but no video and no sound of HDD activity. Should I expect any noise? A shame if it is unserviceable.
 * I ttook me a while to find the 'hidden' connectors at the back! ;) - 220.101 User talk:220.101.28.25\ 12:46, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I have two more modern incarnations now, and I'm extremely happy with the Unibody MacBook Pro. My TiBook still worked the last time I tried, but the battery is completely dead and somehow wedged into the thing so that even the certified repair shop did not want to pry it out for fear of breaking the main board. Maybe your display is shot - try connecting an external display. Also, if the machine works (as the Caps Lock key indicates), the sound buttons (top row function keys) should give some audible feedback if you use them to crank up the volume. I vaguely seem to recall that with the old TiBooks, you had to press fn to get the preprogrammed special function, but I may recall wrongly - try both ways. If I remember correctly, the HDD was quite quite... --Stephan Schulz (talk) 14:08, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * If I can believe the little in-built gauge, the battery pack is ok, and comes out easily. • Is it normal for the charger to get quite hot in use? (feels like 50-55°C) • Yes, I will try an external display, though tomorrow perhaps! ≈ 2 AM here! - 220.101 User talk:220.101.28.25\ 15:58, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Gmail Sent Mail/Sent Messages
Can anyone tell why Gmail has these two folders when surely they are the same thing? I have been told that it has something to do with the chat but I have never used the chat facility and yet some of the emails I have sent have gone into Sent Mail and some into Sent messages. I find this somewhat confusing and would welcome any advice anyone has. There seems no way to configure Gmail to remove this. (I thought of adding this as a comment on the Talk Page of the Gmail article but it seems more appropriate here.) Thanks in advance.  Smokey TheCat  12:06, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * "Sent Mail" is the normal Google Mail sent-mail folder. I don't have a "sent messages".  Have you perhaps accessed your gmail account with an IMAP connection (with a mail program link like Thunderbird or Outlook)?  If so, "sent messages" may be something created by that (because IMAP allows a mail client to create folders on the server); if that's the case, you can change the email client's configuration to store its sent messages in "sent mail" or wherever you like. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 12:42, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Follow-up post from a month ago - found it!
It was a glitch in that the symbol does not normally appear and stay there, but it is a feature of Firefox and not a bug or incompatibility issue or extension. Check it out: Open up a few tabs in Firefox and then grab one of the tabs itself with your mouse and try to move it to a new place on your tab bar; you'll see that this symbol appeared in between other tabs to mark the spot where you are going to drop the tab you are dragging! I discovered it this morning by accident.--108.46.103.142 (talk) 12:40, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
 * This follow-up is for:
 * StuRat
 * Darigan and
 * Finlay McWalter
 * Prior thread is at Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 June 25.


 * I don't have access to a Mac, but on Gnome and Windows the "tab you're moving will end up here" indicator is a little gray up-arrow, not that blue lolipop thing. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 14:00, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the follow-up. My Firefox 5.0 on Windows XP SP3 also uses the up-arrow symbol.  It sounds like you have a different font loaded. StuRat (talk) 17:26, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Nine-segment displays in elevators in Germany
In many elevators in Germany, there are nine-segment displays, which differ from seven-segment displays by having two diagonal segments, that are needed to display the letter “K”, which stands for Keller(geschoss). My question: Which letters can be displayed with such nine-segment displays? --84.61.147.210 (talk) 13:22, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Not a complete answer by any means, but the article Nine-segment display suggests that one additional character is "И"... Darigan (talk) 15:09, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I don't think the original poster is referring to that particular type of nine-segment display, if it can display the letter "K" well. An uppercase "R" is feasible with the original poster's nine-segment display.  A "v" is feasible.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:25, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

What about <, >, and ⍾? --84.61.147.210 (talk) 16:35, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Let's see, I assume you mean that it looks like this:

| / | | \ |

If so, I get the these letters.

| | | |        = A

|  |  |        = B

| |         = C

| | |        = D

|  |          = E

|  |          = F

| | | |        = H

| |         = I

| | |        = J

|/ |\         = K

| |         = L

|\|       = N

| | | |        = O

| | |          = P

| | | \ |       = Q

| | |\         = R

|    |        = S

| | | |        = U

| | \|        = V

|/ |         = Y

/          |          = Z


 * Obviously, some are better than others. Also note that the letter S is indistinguishable from a 5, the letter O from zero, and the letter I from a 1 (although putting the vertical line on the opposite side might help to distinguish the I for the 1, somewhat).


 * StuRat (talk) 17:07, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

And finally:

| | |        = G

| | | |        = O

--84.61.147.210 (talk) 17:13, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I had added the letter O above, but didn't think that G was recognizable, as such. You might also want to make the letter O lowercase, so it can be distinguished from a zero:

| |        = O


 * StuRat (talk) 17:18, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I have seen such displays used in hand-held electronic card games. They are needed to show the face cards with J, Q and K. — Michael J 04:23, 6 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I can see the A, J and K working, but the Q looks God-awful, without the slash extending below the line. StuRat (talk) 04:41, 6 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I agree, StuRat. However, these are relatively inexpensive product, so they undoubtedly use the simplest displays possible to get the job done.

cheap small-ish i5 or i7 pc with 4 or 8 gb ram and solid state?
Hi, I'm looking for something like the new macbook air, but in a pc from a reputable brand. It should be a small notebook (like a thinkpad) with an i5 or i7 and 4 or 8 gb ram, and definitely ssd perhaps in addition to normal hd. doesn' thave to be quite as light, beautiful as a macbook air, need it for development work. what fits this description best? good battery life too. 145.236.215.77 (talk) 14:34, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
 * it can be a 15-inch laptop too, it's okay. it can be bulkier.  my main constraint is price (hopefully $300-$650), then cpu and ram and acceptable battery life, then ssd. 145.236.215.77 (talk) 14:36, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm not currently following the market, but getting a decent size SSD into that budget seems to be quite hard. Amazon seems to sell ~120GB for ~200US$ at the moment. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 14:52, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

Google Earth polygons
Hi. Is it possible to draw polygons on Google Earth in order to calculate the area within these polygons? How about finding the highest and lowest elevations within the shapes? How do I do this? Thanks. ~ AH1 (discuss!) 17:04, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Well you can do the polygon area on Esri ArcGIS (which is not google earth). Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:39, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

PROJECT ON RSA ALGORITHM
I WANT TO DEVELOP A PROJECT ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RSA ALGORITHM ENCRYPTION AND DECRYPTION, PLEASE SUGGEST ME THE ESSENTIAL START UPS TO WORK — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kullaanilkumar (talk • contribs)
 * (1) Please don't type in all-capitals. (2) What kind of project? Looie496 (talk) 19:15, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Read RSA and ask if there is something you don't understand. -- k a i n a w &trade; 19:34, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I googled "implementing RSA" and many articles came up for you to read. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:35, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

smtp for Google apps
hi, our organization uses Google apps (ie. google.com/a and click "sign in" on top-right). if our domain is xyz (so I first type xyz.com into the "sign in" on top-right of google.com/a then I type in "me" and my password) how do I get my iPhone to do the same thing? It seems very similar to gmail, but what are the pop and smtp servers, etc? Thanks... 89.135.188.193 (talk) 20:22, 1 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I use IMAP rather than POP (but I think things are much the same for POP) for which the server (even for a hosted domain) is imap.gmail.com on port 993 with username myname@xyz.com, with SSL/TLS security and password authentication. Similarly SMTP is smtp.gmail.com on port 587 with username myname@xyz.com, security STARTTLS and password authentication. So it's still the gmail servers, which use the domain name you give in your username to differentiate you from users on other hosted domains. -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 20:28, 1 August 2011 (UTC)