Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 August 2

= August 2 =

Maps for dummies
One of my many areas of total ignorance is map creation/alteration. The Google Maps article rather baffles me, though I do notice that commercial applications are a no-no, so anyway Google Maps is/are out, for what I want to do -- which is something like what we see at File:Maginot Line ln-en.jpg but (without wishing to offend its creator) cleaner. Ideally, I'd start off with a copyleft or PD outline of a nation, and choose a couple of dozen towns to add to it. The software (whether web- or hard-drive-based) would know where these were and add the little blobs for these towns and their names next to or near them so that these wouldn't overlap and would be legible. And the result would be copyleft or PD. Like most of us, I'm a cheapskate, and want "free as in beer"; but if it's cheap I might be persuaded to shell out. If it's computer-based then Debian would be best; but failing that, Mac OS X or Windows would be OK too. I'm sure that all of this is explained excellently on the interwebs; Google [search] is my friend, but what should I be asking it? -- Hoary (talk) 01:39, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I guess since you claim to be baffled, you might want to read about GIS to start. Software representations of geographic data range from (x,y) coordinate-pairs, to sophisticated relational databases.  Typically, you see a large amount of data that gets rendered into a graphical map, or post-processed into a chart, graph, or statistics table.  GIS software is used to create, modify, and view such data.
 * OpenStreetMap is free as in beer and speech. It is a database and a set of software. You can use it through a web interface at http://www.openstreetmap.org/ - generously hosted by University College London's VR Centre for the Built Environment.  If you are inclined to try something more technically challenging, you can download a huge assortment of software that loads the O.S.M. dataset, and presents it as a static graphic, as a Geographic Information Systems database, as raw numeric data for calculations and graphical operations, and so forth.  Many of these softwares are difficult to use, as they are geared toward expert users of commercial GIS systems; and many are buggy; but they are free as in beer and speech.  I seem to recall using Navit to make a map some time back.  Nimur (talk) 02:51, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Clearly I was even ignoranter than I'd realized. OpenStreetWare: I'd never heard of it. What an extraordinary website; and sure enough there's lots of software available for it under Debian. I'll have to start looking through this. Thank you! -- Hoary (talk) 09:46, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Where did I go wrong? (XP password bypass)
I'm sorta in charge of helping my Sister-in-Law with her computer, and she knows even less than me. She's in another country, so I help her by using Logmein. (We both have XP)

She's been having a problem with having to log in when she starts her computer, and didn't have any idea how to do that, but sometimes she's managed to get it going. I looked up how to bypass the log-in, and found several sites that recommended using START, RUN, "control userpasswords2", and unchecking the "Users must enter a username and password" box.

Before trying it with her computer, I tried it with mine, and it seemed to work, that is until I re-booted, and the screen froze while starting Windows. I tried several times, and no luck. I was able to start it in safe mode, but, as it had been a couple of years, I decided to do a clean install, and copy all my files to a new drive. That worked ok, but, several days later, she still has the problem. Obviously, given the problem I had, I'm loath to try it on hers, unless y'all can tell me where I went horribly wrong.

Also, for extra credit, if I blow it again, how can I undo it?

Thanks. Bunthorne (talk) 04:56, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure you stuffed anything up to cause that. Possibly it just flaked out, especially if you didn't have SP3, but not necessarily. Windows sometimes behaves funny if you only have the one account and it is the primary admin account AND you remove its password, i personally wouldn't recommend it even if no one else uses the computer, it does make it more vulnerable online. Before doing anything perform a manual system restore point and make yourself at least vaguely familiar with the steps of recovering from that restore point. Then at least you have a chance to get the system back to that point if something major screws up. Vespine (talk) 06:22, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Facebook profile train station option?
One of my friends was able to edit his Facebook profile to include what train station he lives near. Under his name on his profile where things like ones hometown and current city, job, etc. appear it also includes Lives near "X" Station beside a picture of a mass transit train. Clicking on the name of the station links to pages similar to the hometown ones on Facebook where it took the info from Wikipedia, but insead its about the train station. How do I find this useful option?--98.112.224.106 (talk) 05:53, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * That option is not in my profile settings. Maybe it is only available in some countries. Since nobody has yet answered here I suggest you ask your friend.--Shantavira|feed me 14:47, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Facebook has a topic on Community pages and profile connections on their Help Center. ---— Gadget850 (Ed)  talk 15:12, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * OP here. My friend has no clue how it appeared and the link User:Gadget850 provided does not appear to answer the question. Any other ideas? 98.112.224.106 (talk) 22:13, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * It's an option when logging into Facebook from Japan/a Japan proxy. 205.251.185.250 (talk) 16:27, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

head-mounted display
I'll be visiting London in a few weeks time. I really want to try out a head-mounted display before I buy one; where in South-London can I do this? 83.154.156.210 (talk) 09:49, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * What kind? Sony has produced some in the past, and showed some prototypes earlier this year - I'm not sure how close they are to full-scale production yet. You could call round London's Sony Centres to see if they have any. This shop, although not in South London, has some Vuzix kit available.-- Kateshortforbob talk  13:24, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * HMD's vary wildly in quality and price, and price does not always equal quality. Make sure the one you try is the exact model you intend to buy. Even if the specifications are the same.
 * (Obviously if you're trying to buy an upscale model that costs tens (or hundreds!) of thousands you're not going to find one in a shop you're going to need to contact a dealer who would be more than happy to arrange a demo for a serious customer.) APL (talk) 15:27, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Sluggish bittorrent window in Ubuntu
My bittorrent client window got sluggish. The torrents are downloading fine. Any information that I get online is about sluggish torrent streams, but that's not what I want. Any idea what could have caused that? Other programs are working OK. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.8.67.40 (talk) 12:55, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Perhaps the toolkit being used or the scripting language for the GUI has not been properly maintained. Should be avoidable by properly maintaining your system or... not using GUI torrent clients. :) ¦ Reisio (talk) 13:23, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Maybe you have too many torrents open, that are being updated constantly... Quest09 (talk) 16:25, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Which client are you using?Smallman12q (talk) 01:20, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

PNY VCQ450NVS-X16-PB Quadro NVS 450
I am looking at the PNY VCQ450NVS-X16-PB Quadro NVS 450. It says it does not support VGA. So, does that mean that if I buy DisplayPort to VGA converters, I won't get a display? I am looking at connecting 4 old SVGA monitors to one card. It is really coming down to the Quadro NVS or Matrox. -- k a i n a w &trade; 13:43, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

'Can You Run It?'
There's a website called 'Can you run it?', which analyses your PC to see if it can run the software or game you specify. Is there a website like this which allows you to specify the specs, rather than have it only analyse your PC, like 'Can the PC you have not bought yet but you are thinking about buying run it?'? Cheers. -- KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 14:41, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Read the program or game's system requirements and compare it with your imagined computer's specification? 118.96.158.221 (talk) 15:40, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I would like an answer to my specific question, rather than a recommendation to do something else. I have (some very simple) reasons for that (which don't need to be put here). Thanks anyway. -- KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 17:10, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Well, there is such a site, but it is only for games: http://www.game-debate.com/games (alternative tool). Select a game from the list, then look for the "System Requirement Tool" section in the game's page. 118.96.158.221 (talk) 01:19, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

How to check which program created a file in my computer (Windows)?
--Inspector (talk) 14:54, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Examining the file's contents and date, and searching the Internet for the file's name or extension is generally helpful on determining which program had created a file. 118.96.158.221 (talk) 15:50, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

How can I cancel saving a web page in IE?
I had asked the question before and someone suggest using task manager, but I wonder if there is a way to cancel the saving without killing the other tabs?--Inspector (talk) 15:00, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I assume you're talking about using the Task Manager's "End Process" button to "kill" the Internet Explorer process. If you do this, it'll kill all of the IE tabs, sorry, because IE is just one big process, however many tabs happen to be displayed in the window.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:30, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Are there any other solutions without using the task manager?--Inspector (talk) 01:11, 3 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Start - Run -       Avic ennasis   @ 05:05, 3 Av 5771 / 3 August 2011 (UTC)


 * But I don't want to kill other tabs of IE--Inspector (talk) 06:51, 3 August 2011 (UTC)


 * This may approach what you want: If you create multiple IE windows, each window is a separate process. (At least, it used to be back when I used IE many years ago.)  If one process were to freeze up on me many years ago, I could use the Task Manager to kill that particular window, and the others were intact and I could still use them.  Having 5 windows is sometimes less convenient than 5 tabs, for me at least, but it might be an OK solution for you if you need each web page you view to be 'severable'.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:22, 3 August 2011 (UTC)
 * In Internet Explorer 9, every tab has its own process and the IE9 user interface is one "main" process. If one tab hangs, you can still browse in other tabs and safely close the hung tab. Google Chrome is similar, but when you try to close the hung tab, the entire browser will hang. Marthelati (talk) 15:17, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Monitoring network adapters on my computer
My Windows 7 (64 bit) laptop has both a wired Ethernet connection and a WiFi connection and both are active. Is there a log somewhere on my computer where I can get an idea of how much traffic is going through each of the adapters? Jc3s5h (talk) 15:57, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Hit ctrl-alt-del, choose to start the Task Manager, and once it appears, click the Networking tab. Comet Tuttle (talk) 16:01, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * That's sufficient, Comet Tuttle. Thanks. Jc3s5h (talk) 17:41, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * You're welcome. An alternative that gives you more precise data (though it's backdated to startup, I believe, so it's no help if you are interested in how close to saturation you are getting) is to go Control Panel -> View Network Connections, then double-click a connection you are interested in, like "Wireless Network Connection".  It'll show the number of bytes that have been sent and the number received.  Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:33, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

DOS command prompt command to get rid of Mac resource forks
I'm porting over some PHP files from Mac OS X to Windows 7. This means a ton of stupid Mac resource fork files being ported over as well, which are gumming up my PHP execution for some reason.

The file names are all of the format "._filename.ext". They exist in many embedded directories.

What's a simple wildcard command that I can use to delete all of these? I've tried experimenting with just displaying them all with something like dir ._* but that doesn't come up with anything. There's got to be a way to do this, but I'm not finding it with Google.

Any thoughts? My DOS prompt fu is a bit out of date. I don't want to try to delete them all manually. --Mr.98 (talk) 16:10, 2 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Try "DEL ._* /F /S /P" first. Did the command prompt to delete the right files? If yes, you can remove the "/P" part to delete all the remaining files automatically. Be careful, the command will also delete all such files in all subdirectories in the directory in which the command is run. 118.96.158.221 (talk) 16:25, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Droid 3 processor swap
The Droid 3 is shipping with a locked bootloader, enforced by signature checks performed by the hardware. Texas Instruments is distributing PandaBoards that come with OMAP4430 chips, the same kind the Droid 3 uses. A solution to get around this signature checking nonsense would be to swap out the processor in the Droid 3 with one from a PandaBoard. How hard would this be? --Melab±1 &#9742; 23:31, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Anyone have an answer? --Melab±1 &#9742; 01:07, 3 August 2011 (UTC)


 * As per the very top of this page and "When will I get an answer?", it might take a few days, assuming anyone even knows the answers. Please be patient.  ZX81    talk  01:32, 3 August 2011 (UTC)


 * We've already had this conversation: in April of this year, you asked the same thing about a Droid 2. The answer is still the same: it's very hard.  These commercial devices are both physically and electrically laid out in ways that are not easy to modify.  The software and hardware is customized by the manufacturer.  If you can manage to perform the removal and replacement of the OMAP4430, you are a very skilled electronics technician - but the real challenge will be trying to make the chips "just work."  If you can pull that off, you are a full-fledged one-man design engineering team.  Without detailed software and hardware specifications, which you do not have access to, there is no way to know if simply replacing the chip will work in any way.  It is a fairly naive assumption that the signature checks can be trivially circumvented by replacing the main OMAP.  Are the pin-outs even identical between the two devices?  How can you possibly know?! ... The datasheets are proprietary.  In practice, you will most probably destroy your device beyond repair.  Even if you are a reasonably experienced technician, and flawlessly connect the hardware, you're making wild and unfounded assumptions about software, firmware, and peripheral compatibility.
 * As before, I recommend you use development hardware, which is cheaper and easier to work with. If you really really want to work at such a level on commercial and proprietary hardware, consider seeking employment with the manufacturer of the chip and/or the integrated system.  Motorola has a university recruitment program for interns and co-ops.  You will probably need to have completed at least some college in an electronics or computer engineering curriculum in order to competitively apply.  Nimur (talk) 00:00, 4 August 2011 (UTC)
 * How do I get my hands on development hardware? Or more specifically, development hardware other than a PandaBoard? --Melab±1 &#9742; 17:11, 4 August 2011 (UTC)