Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2012 August 14

= August 14 =

Audio file creation
How can I create an audio file of a phrase? Let that phrase be "Best in the World". Sunny Singh (DAV) (talk) 13:46, 14 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Record it from a microphone? Use a text-to-speech engine? http://www2.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php? ¦ Reisio (talk) 17:54, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Remote pinging
I need to ping ~10 ip addresses 24/7, and this needs to be done remotely (ie not from my own connection). It would need to send only one ping every minute, but must continue 24/7 unattended. I have been unable to find any websites offering such a service for free (many offer it for a price, and some offer a free version but only for 1 ip address at not are the frequency I need)

Is is possible to write a php script which can do this natively (ie without calling any OS specific programs like ping.exe), and then host it on a free webhost?

I have already written a Windows batch script which does what I need, but finding a free Windows host is not easy, and while I could of course just run it on my own computer the results would not be useful to me because I am trying to diagnose a local ISP network error and when it happens I lose all internet connectivity.

Thanks for your help 92.233.64.26 (talk) 15:22, 14 August 2012 (UTC)


 * I wonder if codepad can be any help. I haven't tried this site, so I don't know its limitations, but it looks like you could write some code in, say, python, to ping your addresses for 24 hours, and then run it there (with "private" ticked, presumably). Card Zero  (talk) 15:31, 14 August 2012 (UTC)


 * At least in python, codepad does not support the ICMP library nor RAW sockets. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 16:01, 14 August 2012 (UTC)


 * It's worth noting that only root can ping. Your options, then, are running the usual /bin/ping program, which is setuid root, or running your Python script as root. I doubt the latter is allowed on any free webhosting services! Marnanel (talk) 04:56, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

Will this RAM fit (and work) in this motherboard?
Hi there,

I have 2 computers, both DELL, both have a 0G1548 motherboard. Both have (according to SIW) 2 RAM slots and a maximum capacity of 1024MB (I don't know if that's in total for each slot, or total for each machine). Both computers have a stick of DDR (PC2700) 256MB 166MHz in each slot, giving each computer 512MB of RAM.

I've been given 2 sticks of RAM. The first is a 1GB stick of DDR2-533 DIMM and the second is a stick of 512MB 1Rx8 PC2 4200U - 444 - 12 - ZZ.

I'd like, if possible, to increase the RAM in one or both computers - will either of my 'new' RAM sticks fit/work in the new machines? If so, what's the best combination? Should I put the 1GB in one machine and the 512 in the other (with a 256 in the second slot)?

Any and all advice gratefully received, especially if it's in words of one syllable.

thanks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.97.223.11 (talk) 16:55, 14 August 2012 (UTC)


 * For starters, the limit could be real or it could be unnecessarily implemented by an outdated BIOS or an economy version of a certain operating system—worth a check. Regardless, you might be able to get dirt cheap RAM (it's mostly a crap shoot what will be particularly cheap at any given time) at http://crucial.com/ (will also know what the limit likely is) or the like.  Keep in mind (when you consider how much time / money you're going to spend on this) that an entire new computer in the USA with 2-4GB of RAM (>2GHz proc and even dedicated graphics) can be had for around $200-300 (maybe an extra $50 for a laptop), . ¦ Reisio (talk) 18:03, 14 August 2012 (UTC)


 * If the RAM fits it should work, and it won't hurt anything to try. However, it sounds like you've been given 2 sticks of DDR2 and your PCs take plain old DDR, so they won't fit. 209.131.76.183 (talk) 19:53, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

nVIdia Output Specification
Heya,

I've got a bit of a question regarding my nvidia 540m graphics card. I can't seem to find any specifications online that tell me whether or not it can output a RGB component signal if adapted from a HMDI or VGA port. I'm wanting to find this out before I go about buying an adapter. Thanks in advance, Sazea (talk) 17:45, 14 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Like for an old TV/system? Worst case you might need a little box to convert the signal to TV-out, they can be had for $20-30 on newegg, amazon, etc.. ¦ Reisio (talk) 18:08, 14 August 2012 (UTC)


 * The worst case as I see it would be buying a simple adapter for the two, finding out it doesn't work, then buying a box. I'm not sure if there's information anywhere that says whether or not a specific graphics card can output a specific signal or whether it's up to the hardware, software or both to convert it.  Adapter retailers seem to think that this information exists, and I'm interested to know if it does.  But I will keep a converter in mind, should it not be able to.  Sazea (talk) 21:42, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

Not enough room to copy onto a hard drive ... but there IS enough room.
I need to copy a 28GB folder (it is an ArcGIS geodatabase that appears within ArcGIS as one .gdb file but is really a folder of many files) from a portable hard drive to my computer's hard drive. The latter says it has over 100GB of free space, and it is a distinct physical drive, rather than a partition. The process keeps failing because "there is not enough space" on the destination. But there is. Honestly. Why does this happen and what should I do? Tom Haythornthwaite 19:18, 14 August 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hayttom (talk • contribs)


 * Does the directory you're trying to copy have sparse or file system (e.g. NTFS) compressed files? Nil Einne (talk) 19:26, 14 August 2012 (UTC)
 * BTW I forgot to mention on Windows you should be able to tell if this is likely to be a problem by comparing the size and size on disk as recommended by 92 below. (Clusters could be a problem although it would have to be fairly extreme to be the only problem given the sizes involved.) Nil Einne (talk) 21:23, 14 August 2012 (UTC)


 * The standard Windows (assuming you're using Windows, you didn't say) copy system is quite bad, I would recommend using FastCopy for anything over 1GB. Also, depending on how many files you're talking about and how small they are, it is possible that their "size on disk" is more than their actual size due to the way file systems allocate clusters. 92.233.64.26 (talk) 19:55, 14 August 2012 (UTC)


 * You might want to try copying a few files at a time. This will do two things for you:


 * 1) If the copy function is just defective and not able to handle a job that big, you can bypass that problem.


 * 2) If there is a corrupted file which the system thinks is larger than it really is, this will help you identify that file. StuRat (talk) 20:49, 14 August 2012 (UTC)


 * This might be reaching here but is it possible that the OP will run out of inodes if the copy goes through and is therefore stopped before it can begin while giving a misleading error message? I'm aware that inodes are used on *nix systems.  Does Windows have something similar to inodes?  Dismas |(talk) 20:56, 14 August 2012 (UTC)
 * NTFS's MFT records are similar to inodes, but the MFT grows as needed so it's impossible to run out. FAT had a fixed-size root directory which could fill up and produce a disk full error, but FAT32 and NTFS don't have that problem. Filesystem corruption is a likely culprit—run chkdsk or fsck. -- BenRG (talk) 06:30, 15 August 2012 (UTC)


 * As others have suggested, it is impossible to answer this question usefully without knowing your operating system. It would also be helpful for you to give the specific wording of the error message you received. Looie496 (talk) 04:13, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

[OP] Sorry... Windows 7. Our IT person did something to the destination drive - I heard him mumbling about FAT - and then the copy worked. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hayttom (talk • contribs) 15:36, 16 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Glad to hear it. I'll mark this Q resolved. StuRat (talk) 23:37, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

traceroute
I did a traceroute to the site mempsimoiria.datnode.net and its domain name does not match the dns records and it not even a valid domain name.

"debian.more.like.plebian.amirite"

Can you explain this to me please? 91.122.82.15 (talk) 20:44, 14 August 2012 (UTC)
 * There are address records for looking up IP numbers, in this case 206.195.167.199.in-addr.arpa name resolved to debian.more.like.plebian.amirite. The forward lookup does not match the reverse lookup. Traceroute looks up the IP numbers it comes across by default.  Use -n if you don't want to see names resolved for the numbers. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:18, 14 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Plebs.... :p 190.158.212.204 (talk) 15:46, 15 August 2012 (UTC)

Help me find a FB app: Matches me to a list of users with the most mutual interests.
I must have "liked" over 1,000 fanpages by now. If there's an app out there that matches other users of that app with whatever apps I like, then ranks me against other users with the most mutual interests, then I would like to subscribe to said app because it could quite possibly help me find the love of my life.

Now, what Facebook app does something that fits anything close to my description?

If this can't be on Facebook, what is the best off-FB app that does this? Thanks. --70.179.170.114 (talk) 21:51, 14 August 2012 (UTC)


 * There are lots of online dating sites that try to match people with mutual interests. Facebook is not really set up for this for privacy reasons. There are quite a few Facebook dating apps, I believe, but I'm not sure any of them can correlate by mutual "liked" interests — there may be security issues with such a scheme. --Mr.98 (talk) 13:05, 15 August 2012 (UTC)
 * I think I remember seeing something like this on somewhere like Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, but I cannot for the life of me remember its name to see if it does what you want or if it's available to the public yet. It started with "Air", I think. - Purplewowies (talk) 16:49, 16 August 2012 (UTC)