Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 February 10

= February 10 =

djvu viewer
HI! I know VuDroid but I have to install it on sort of IPad and I cannot use QR or direct download, I have to download an apk and move it to a micro SD in order to install it. Can you help me? --83.103.117.254 (talk) 09:36, 10 February 2011 (UTC)


 * On an iPad, or not? ¦ Reisio (talk) 10:43, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

how to use ir sensors...
i wanted to use an ir sensor in an application.. so wat is the minimum voltage can sm0038(ir sensor) produce ? where can i get the data sheet? can it produce atleast .2 volts? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Girishkakalwar (talk • contribs) 13:03, 10 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Google tells me that the SM0038 is produced by Vishay. They have many IR sensors. All of the sensors I've seen from them have an operating voltage of 5v (with about 1v variance). However, it shouldn't matter what the actual output voltage is. It is enough to control a transistor or be the input for a logic IC. You shouldn't be attempting to use the ouput voltage of a sensor as the power for another device. -- k a i n a w &trade; 13:59, 10 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Some people seem to consider its is about the same as the TSOP1738 and for that the VO rage is given as  –0.3...6.0 --Aspro (talk) 14:14, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Similar question to my previous one - Adding Firefox add-ons by script (Linux)
Is there a script that would allow me to add a standard set of Firefox add-ons/extensions to all Firefox profile directories of my users? -- 78.43.71.225 (talk) 15:10, 10 February 2011 (UTC)


 * You can just copy the extensions to every single user's profile directory (Profiles/.default/extensions/, if you are the system administrator and have write-access to their profile folders. (This is a security risk, if you choose to use your power unethically - but if you already have access to their directories, copying Firefox addons isn't the worst you could do).
 * Anyway, you can also copy a symlink, instead of copying a complete, duplicate copy of each extension in every user's profile. This way, if you have to change or update anything, you only have to edit the addons in one place (instead of recursing through profile directories and trying to modify n copies).  If your operating system doesn't support symlinks, another mechanism exists:  This Mozilla extensions developer tutorial indicates a method for adding a "shortcut" (a plain-text file with the same name as the extension) that points to another folder that contains the extension.  Nimur (talk) 15:43, 10 February 2011 (UTC)


 * I tried this, but it seems copying the extension folder alone isn't enough. I've had limited success copying ~/.mozilla/firefox/.default/extension* (files and directory) and ~/.mozilla/firefox/extensions - this restored the theme (Strata Reloaded, in my case), but when I tried to do the same for the personas by copying ~/.mozilla/firefox/.default/personas, it restored the persona add-on, but didn't select the previously selected persona. Any idea how I could accomplish this? -- 78.43.71.225 (talk) 22:24, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen
I have a 4GB Livescribe Pulse Smartpen but no docking station, cables, cd drivers or anything else. The pen is also in slightly bad condition. Since I can't use it and it cost me nothing, I'm wondering if there is any way I can extract the 4GB inside it and use it for something else. Is that possible? And how much might I be able to sell just the pen part for, or would no one be interested without the docking station part to go with it? 82.43.92.41 (talk) 16:40, 10 February 2011 (UTC)


 * Do you mean that you want to desolder the flash memory chip from the pen's internal circuitry, and try to attach it to something else? Sure, this is certainly possible, and a technician skilled in working with PCBs could probably do it.  If the memory is undamaged, you might be able to reconnect the chip to another controller that could actually use it.  Consider that 4 GB SD cards, which use essentially the same technology, cost around $20, which is less than the labor for the technician would cost, and guaranteed to work.  It is an unfortunate fact of economics that modern consumer electronics are one-shot disposable items.  In almost all cases, buying a brand-new unit is cheaper than repairing or servicing the old unit, let alone salvaging parts from it. Nimur (talk) 18:22, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks 82.43.92.41 (talk) 18:44, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Huggle with Wine
Hello. I am a Ubuntu user, and I have am trying to use Huggle with Wine. However, when I open it with Wine, it says it is loading, and there is a "starting Huggle" notice, which then disappears, and nothing else happens. Any reason for this? --  T H F S W  (T · C · E) 18:39, 10 February 2011 (UTC)


 * I've probably spent about 200 hours with Linux over the course of 20-30 attempts at switching to it from Windows and Mac, and from what I gather this is the standard Linux experience. Treat it as an adventure game -- for the most genuine experience, a text adventure game -- and if you really need hints/spoilers/walkthroughs you can ask the developers, who hang out on IRC.  You might even get into the Hall of Fame. 109.128.101.244 (talk) 19:43, 10 February 2011 (UTC)


 * According to Wine's application database, even if you got it working, it might not work very well. Paul (Stansifer) 14:28, 11 February 2011 (UTC)


 * @109.128.101.244 - I don't know much about Wine, but I'm a current user of Ubuntu (on a virtual machine), and I find Ubuntu quite intuitive to use. I don't know what distribution(s) you used during your 200 hours of attempts to switch to Linux, but IMHO Ubuntu 10.04 is the best linux distribution in existence, and beats the buggy Windows Vista hands-down. Rocketshiporion ♫

Need a piece of software to help with statistical research on speedy deletions
Hey, I wanted to post this on Bot requests when I saw a mention that posting it here might be faster.

I am looking for a piece of software (or multiple pieces) which can help me do the following:


 * read the special:Newpages feed and retrieve for every article the title, number of edits the creator has and whether he is autoconfirmed. I think this has to be done live, as deleted pages disappear from the feed.
 * read the deletion log and retrieve for every page which is also in the first list the deletion rationale. This can be done in one big go several weeks after the first list is created
 * Combine this into some table either on or off wiki on which I can perform statistical analysis.

The background behind this is that around 75% of articles created by new users is speedily deleted, which alienates potential new edits and is very wp:BITEy. 75% is only a rough guess however and some decent statistics would help to gain more insight in how the speedy deletions process could be improved. Yoenit (talk) 21:23, 10 February 2011 (UTC)


 * (Dare I suggest that one might have to look at the content of said deletions rather than the raw numbers? A high percentage means nothing unless you know the number of false positives. It may very well be that 75% of all articles created by new users are blatant spam, mistakes, or vandalism.) --Mr.98 (talk) 21:39, 10 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Hence the need for the deletion rationale. It will allow for sorting by speedy reason (manually unfortunately), so all the spam, vandalism and hoax junk can be isolated. If it turns out that 75% of all pages created by new users is spam, I would propose moving up the page creation right to autoconfirmed, but I would need proper statistics before suggesting that. Yoenit (talk) 21:53, 10 February 2011 (UTC)


 * It seems more reasonable to do this by hand. Just take a few random moments, note the top article on the Newpages list, then check an hour (or a day) later to see whether it has been deleted.  A sample of 20 randomly chosen moments should give you a decent fix on the percentage. Looie496 (talk) 21:42, 10 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I agree with that, but 20's just too small a sample set. I'd argue for 40+. — Jeremy  ( v^_^v Hyper Combo K.O.! ) 21:45, 10 February 2011 (UTC)
 * I did it with 50, which I watched over a period of a month. ~80% deletion rate of pages created by new editors (User:Yoenit/CSD research). I want more data so I can say stuff about the reason and method of deletion as well. Yoenit (talk) 21:53, 10 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Wasn't a survey of this type already done at Newbie_treatment_at_Criteria_for_speedy_deletion?--v/r - TP 22:25, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

Qualcomm BREW
I've been looking around and there seem to be a few device-specific "jailbreaks", if you will, for Qualcomm BREW devices that either:
 * allow one to run unsigned Java apps.
 * allow one to run unsigned BREW apps.

But I have come across very few methods of doing this. I have a few questions, your answers may be device-specific for phones between 2007 and now:
 * Is there anyway I can jailbreak a BREW phone?
 * How can browse the full EFS (Embedded File System) of a newer BREW phone?
 * Is it possible to make custom firmware for a BREW phone and are there any custom firmwares that exist?
 * Qualcomm Product Support Tools are floating out on the web. Are there any versions newer than 2.74 that have been leaked?

--Melab±1 &#9742; 23:29, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

MAC address
How do I change my MAC address running Windows Vista? Wikibooks has an article on how to on XP but not on Vista. Do I have to change it separately from my computer and my router? Thanks. 72.128.95.0 (talk) 23:51, 10 February 2011 (UTC)
 * http://www.technitium.com/tmac/index.html 82.43.92.41 (talk) 23:59, 10 February 2011 (UTC)
 * Why would you want to change your MAC address? If you don't have a thorough understanding of what you are doing, you can make some pretty nasty things happen by doing that. Looie496 (talk) 23:11, 11 February 2011 (UTC)