Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2012 September 22

= September 22 =

Apple maps
Why are they so wrong? Is there an article here at WK about thsat? OsmanRF34 (talk) 00:07, 22 September 2012 (UTC)


 * You talking about iOS 6? :p ¦ Reisio (talk) 00:28, 22 September 2012 (UTC)


 * The problem is mentioned at iOS 6 but going into more details may be beyond the scope of a Wikipedia article (this reference desk doesn't have such limitations). 01:05, 22 September 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by PrimeHunter (talk • contribs)
 * Apple hasn't said much (yet) but apparently said something about this situation here. Not much help, I'm afraid, and I doubt they'll ever give a full story. Mingmingla (talk) 01:36, 22 September 2012 (UTC)


 * It's pretty obvious: they're wrong because they were cobbled together in a hurry and Apple hasn't yet had time to filter out the errors.  I could tell you stories about some of the errors I've found in Google Maps too, but Google has now had several years to play whack-a-mole with them. Looie496 (talk) 02:39, 22 September 2012 (UTC)


 * I don't know what was technically wrong there, but Looie is very probably right. They couldn't delay the release iOS 6 due to the maps, and the maps were obviously not ready. And there is also the fact that Steve Jobs, a notorious control freak, was not there anymore. Ptg93 (talk) 19:15, 22 September 2012 (UTC)


 * An iOs6 user walks into a bar, or field, or museum, he's not sure.

Spotty East Asian Character Support
All my East Asian characters display fine on webpages and most programs, but are rectangles on mouseover tooltips and certain programs like iTunes. This is mainly irritating when I'm reading an article and I'm mousing over links for their destinations, and half of them (When I'm on the relevant language's Wiki) are unreadable.

I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling my language packs. Again, the text displays fine on webpages and most other places, but doesn't in a few other places. Help? 24.59.187.117 (talk) 04:29, 22 September 2012 (UTC)


 * I can't address the specific issue, but I can tell you that when characters show up as rectangles, what it means is that the font being used there does not contain a rendering of that character. Ergo, the things that are showing rectangles are using a different font than your web browser uses in most places.  The challenge, of course is to figure out how to change the font for the things that are problematic.  Since you neglected to mention what web browser you use or what operating system you are running, it's impossible to be any more specific. Looie496 (talk) 05:33, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

Wi-Fi Connection
How can I make my windows 7 PC WI-FI enabled? Should I install a software or fix a hardware or both? Thank you.175.157.136.78 (talk) 09:07, 22 September 2012 (UTC)


 * Both. You will need hardware to send and receive Wi-Fi signals, and a software driver to run the hardware.  Of course, you also need to be in a Wi-Fi hotspot to use it. StuRat (talk) 09:17, 22 September 2012 (UTC)
 * If it is a laptop (or netbook etc), it will have a WiFi card built-in, and should have the device driver for it pre loaded into Windows. For a desktop machine, you can either get a PCIe internal card, or a USB external card. USB is easier to install, and if its on a USB extension cable, can be moved to find the strongest signal.
 * Both should come with a CD containing the drivers, and instructions on how to install the card and drivers. Normally you insert the card into the the computer; Windows will detect the card, and ask for a driver, you then insert the CD, and the rest is automatic. BTW, Windows itself knows how to join a WiFi network, but it doesn't know how to talk to newer (or obscure) network cards. CS Miller (talk) 17:50, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

Setting the clock in linux
Why does Linux ask you for your admin password to set the clock? Why is it unsafe to leave it unprotected? OsmanRF34 (talk) 13:21, 22 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Allowing processes to freely manipulate the clock can lead to security issues, as various encryption and authentication protocols rely on an accurate clock. Setting it backwards may allow eg a replay attack or an expired certificate (which may have been compromised, but noone might bother to revoke expired certificates) to be reenabled, or may complicate logfile analysis after an incident (where you may need to analyze the logfiles of several separate machines to establish the order in which break-in events happened) Unilynx (talk) 13:42, 22 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Linux is a UNIX, and as such a multi-user system. Allowing each and every user to change the clock would not only lead security problems, it also can lead to other errors, from incomplete software builds (since make relies on time stamps), missed cron jobs, missed dates and meetings (since users may rely on the system clock) to over-steeped tea (I use a small script to time my tea ;-). --Stephan Schulz (talk) 14:03, 22 September 2012 (UTC)
 * You can however change the timezone for your applications without being root by setting the 'TZ' environment variable, which might solve some of the cases where you would want to change the time as a non-root user. Unilynx (talk) 14:14, 22 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Not to mention missing dates. ¦ Reisio (talk) 22:23, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

How may I externally choke the bit rate on streaming web-TV?
I use Windows7 and InternetExplorer or Firefox. When I watch streaming video, The TV-channel web site automatically chooses the best possible bitrate out of 1000 kbps, 600 kbps or 300 kbps. Even though my mobile broadband modem fully supports the top speed, sadly I have a far to tight quota on allowed data transfer per month. ;-( Strangely there is no longer any "settings" page on the website in question (http://tv.nrk.no (the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation)). Is there some way that I may externally choke down the streaming video bit rate to, and preferably toggle between, 600 and 300 kbps? -- 89.9.197.199 (talk) 14:13, 22 September 2012 (UTC)


 * What you're talking about is traffic shaping (specifically the "bandwidth limiting" kind, rather than just the "bandwidth prioritisation" kind, which really should be called QoS). This can be implemented in the router (if you have a better-than-basic router like a Cisco, Draytek, Billion, etc., or if you have a better-than the-rubbish-they-ship router firmware like Tomato) or by software on your PC. I've no personal experience of doing it the latter way, but people seem to hold NetLimiter in reasonable regard (that article also links to a couple of similar products). -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 16:06, 22 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Thank you! :-) My mobile broadband "modem" plugs straight into a USB port on my PC (no router) hence I had to go for the software on PC solution. NetLimiter only allows monitoring, no limiting, in its free version, but the http://seriousbit.com/netbalancer/ (free version) seems to work ok. Thank's for the tip! :-) --(OP) 89.9.215.236 (talk) 20:47, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

Desktop recording programs
Are there any other desktop recording programs other then Fraps? For some reason Fraps does not work on my laptop very well and I want to know if there are others with sufficient quality 72.235.221.120 (talk) 20:27, 22 September 2012 (UTC)


 * Look at the "Comparison by features" table in Comparison of screencasting software - all those with "yes" for OpenGL and DirectX capture are broadly comparable to Fraps. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 20:37, 22 September 2012 (UTC)