Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 May 9

= May 9 =

iPad system requirements
What are the system requirements to enable an iPad to get up and running? Apple's website just says "internet access" (which I have) and "Syncing with iTunes on a Mac requires Mac: OS X v10.6.8 or later". It's that last part that worries me. Is syncing with iTunes required for the iPad to work at all? I only have an ancient PowerPC Mac running OS X 10.4. Thanks, --Viennese Waltz 13:18, 9 May 2013 (UTC)


 * The original iPhone, and (according to this, the original iPad) required iTunes to activate. But both that ref and this one say the newer iPads can be activated without a computer at all; but you do need a wireless network connection. Having a computer which will run iTunes does let you backup the iPad, and sync it with your existing music and movie collection. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 13:27, 9 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Great, thanks. --Viennese Waltz 13:40, 9 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Last year an iPad and then an iPhone both came into my possession. I activated the iPad with a Windows PC, then the iPhone I just used my WiFi to do it on the phone. Since then I've synced each with the PC about 3 times, and won't be bothering again. Any important documents and files are in the cloud, either through Apple iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, my work's email server or my own NAS drive. So, to answer your question, as Finlay says: no system is required, for activation or for general use, other than an internet connection. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 13:45, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

Checking grammar
Replaced to Language helpdesk --Larsnl (talk) 15:54, 9 May 2013 (UTC)

street fighter II for the mega drive
Hey, so, I got a sega mega drive (genesis) emmulator, and I got Street fighter II, reason is well partly because there is a street fighter ii machin that I found in an arcade and I wanna get super good before I challenge french Bobby at it, but also cause I figure it'd be good kicks whilst back here at Maison Snicks so basically I can't play two player just using my keyboard, it's clear insanity you need six buttons plus arrow keys, etc, so is there a way to either A) hook another keyboard up so someone else can play or B) plugging in two sega megadrive controlles into a PC? Any tips greatfully required - thanks all! Horatio Snickers (talk) 21:43, 9 May 2013 (UTC)


 * Which Megadrive/Genesis emulator are you using? Kega Fusion (the only one I've ever used...) apparently supports USB controllers though I'm not sure about actual Megadrive ones. You'd have to mod the cable to be USB, which I've seen done with NES controllers before so it probably is possible; though probably too much work. Having one player use a keyboard and another use a controller or both use controllers should work with that emulator. Good luck! --Yellow1996 (talk) 23:16, 9 May 2013 (UTC)


 * A) In Windows, you can connect multiple keyboards, just plug another keyboard into an available USB port on your computer. However, all the keyboards are merged together logically. Windows can't tell the "A" key on keyboard 1 is different from the "A" key on keyboard 2. So you'd still have to make sure the player 1 and player 2 keys are different, but maybe plugging in another keyboard might give two players a little more space (instead of trying to crowd around one shared keyboard).
 * B) You can find cables that have Genesis controller ports on one end and a USB cable on the other end. Do a Google search for Genesis USB. Look in your emulator's settings to make sure it supports controllers and lets you set up the buttons. --Bavi H (talk) 02:57, 10 May 2013 (UTC)
 * If the software doesn't support conrtollers natively, there's a program you can get (I think called Joy2Key, but I'm at work so can't check) which will map the controller inputs to keystrokes so that you can use normal keyboard bindings. MChesterMC (talk) 08:36, 10 May 2013 (UTC)