Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2015 April 29

= April 29 =

word equivalent for ipad mini
How can I install MS word or equivalent (free software)on an ipad mini enable me to read word documents? Many of you know this but I am not familiar with ipad. It has support only wi-fi connection. I dont have wi-fi connection. Can I download the software through my PC and copy to ipad and install or I have to install directly using wi-fi connection of the ipad? Please help me. Thank you very much.175.157.54.66 (talk) 02:45, 29 April 2015 (UTC)


 * The iPad *can* get onto the Internet via its USB port.


 * Probably the best thing is to install an "IP over USB" package onto your PC. If your PC is on the Internet, that'll let you connect your iPad to the PC with a USB cable - and thereby get onto the web via the PC.  Then you can buy MS Word at the iStore and installation should be straightforward.


 * This is one discussion of packages that can do that. Generally, Google for "IP over USB" and I'm sure you'll find a solution...possibly a free download.


 * The beauty of this solution is that once your iPad is on the net (albeit only while tethered to the PC), you can download software upgrades and install any amount of software you desire.


 * As a yet simpler alternative - surely there is an Internet Cafe - or a restaurant, airport or hotel near you that offers free WiFi access?


 * SteveBaker (talk) 05:22, 29 April 2015 (UTC)


 * Out of the box with iOS software the iPad should be able to view word documents. But you will not be able to edit them. You can also use IP over WiFi to access the Apple APstore. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 12:07, 29 April 2015 (UTC)
 * (Our OP doesn't have WiFi) SteveBaker (talk) 14:18, 30 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Perhaps OP can borrow someone else's wifi. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 11:08, 3 May 2015 (UTC)

Multiple sessions in Remote Desktop
Hi,

We have a common userid, which several people use to access various servers using Remote Desktop. The problem is that the system only allows one connection from a particular user at a time, so if user A is using a particular server, and user B tries to connect, user A's session is immediately terminated, without warning. Is there any setting available that allows multiple sessions of the same user? Note this is different from the case where a limited number of different users can log onto one box at a time. In this case the existing user is warned and given the opportunity to refuse the incoming connection and continue with their work. Rojomoke (talk) 10:18, 29 April 2015 (UTC)
 * See this article. Note that you are loosing accountability as you cannot readily determine who made what change. --  Gadget850talk 14:04, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

Inkscape save as PDF with transparent image
On my home computer, I opened a PDF in inkscape, added a PNG image with transparent background, save it as PDF, and all was good in the world. Then, I tried to do the same thing at work. I opened a PDF in inkscape, added a PNG image with transparent background, saved it as PDF, and then opened the resulting PDF. The transparent background was black. I thought it might be the PDF or the PNG. So, I did the same PDF and used the same PNG that I used from home. I got a black box where the transparent PNG should be. I tried a lot of variations. My work computer simply cannot save transparent images (PNG or GIF - both fail) in PDF documents. Both computers are running Fedora 21 with Inkscape 0.91. Apparently, there is a "please mess up my PDFs" option that I have turned on at work, but I can't find it. 209.149.115.179 (talk) 14:31, 29 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Have you eliminated your PDF reader? That may be having trouble rendering the transparency. View a PDF from work, at home. - X201 (talk) 15:19, 29 April 2015 (UTC)


 * Yes. I eliminated the reader in two ways. I used multiple readers (acroread, okular, evince) and I opened PDFs made from home and from work. On both systems, PDFs made at work have black boxes instead of transparencies. 209.149.115.179 (talk) 16:03, 29 April 2015 (UTC)


 * Some of these suggestions might be useful . Might be a problem with libcairo on your work computer. SemanticMantis (talk) 18:07, 29 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Why don't you uninstall and then re-install whatever that is important for you... -- Mr. Prophet (talk) 18:28, 29 April 2015 (UTC)


 * So the experiment of seeing black boxes on PDF's made at work but viewed at home rules out the PDF reader. So it has to be Inkscape.  If you're sure you're running the same version in both places - then it's probably some configuration option somewhere in Inkscape.
 * What I'd do would be to copy the files in ~/.config/inkscape from your home machine onto your work machine and see if that fixes it. If you're curious as to what happened, then maybe run 'diff' on the preferences.xml files from the two machines before trashing the one on your work machine...if they are identical, then maybe it's buried in one of the other files in ~/.config/inkscape? SteveBaker (talk) 14:13, 30 April 2015 (UTC)

Drive volume's 'used space' issue
Hello,

I need help please,

I have a USB pen drive, it is an 16GB one, whenever I move files and folders 'in' and 'out' of it, after emptying it completely, it still shows that 1/2 Mb as 'used space' - what I don't like to see at all, therefore I format it which results in it coming o look like as 8Kb...(normal). Now, I've used my E drive in the same manner, now it is empty, problem is, it still say 150 Mb 'used space' when there is nothing their. I don't wish to take the risk of formatting it, I am thinking of 'disk difragmentation', and before I go on this long journey (for couple of days), I would like a second/third opinion whether I should do 'disk difragmentation' or take another step in order to make the 'used space' disappear/go back to zero or something close to it... -- Mr. Prophet (talk) 19:06, 29 April 2015 (UTC)


 * Let us brake thing into two part. First, back up your pen-drive – (remember, just one copy is not a back-up). Then download , SD Card Formatter. Vouloir, its got  all its brain cells back.--Aspro (talk) 21:23, 29 April 2015 (UTC)
 * The problem is with the E drive, there are no files and folders there and it still say 150Mb 'used space'. I'm used to formatting when such problem occurs but this is a HDD, and E drive is part of a volume, I'm scared to format it because it is a HDD. Is there no other way than formatting, to make the 'used space' go away? Because if anything happens to this computer than I won't have a computer for a long time...
 * I currently have only one back up, thank you for notifying.
 * Mr. Prophet (talk) 06:05, 30 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Formatting a hard disk partition is no more or less dangerous than formatting a USB drive. If there are no files on it (that you care about), then go for it.
 * I think the SD Card Formatter is very unlikely to help, since, for one thing, the built-in OS format already solves the problem. But if you do download it, download it from the official site (the second link), not that weird random blog. In fact, don't ever run software from weird random blogs. That's what screws up people's computers in the first place. -- BenRG (talk) 18:40, 30 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks for reminding, I did not notice the difference, in fact, if anything happened after downloading, I would've had flashbacks of all the issues I had to this day...(lol) -- Mr. Prophet (talk) 19:08, 30 April 2015 (UTC)


 * Disk defragmenting doesn't do a thing for flash memory. The idea is that with mechanical hard disk drives, moving all of the files together at one end of the available space prevents the disk head from having to move back and forth so much - which, because it's mechanical, is dog slow.  On a flash memory device, it takes the same amount of time to read any block on the drive - so defragging it does precisely nothing of any value.
 * Space is consumed 'invisibly' on these devices in many ways:
 * Some have invisible files containing drivers or other stuff that they need in order to operate.
 * Some have 'trashcans' where deleted files go so you can restore them later.
 * Some have the ability to detect areas of the flash memory that have failed and to 'hide' them so they don't get re-used.
 * In a 16Gbyte device, a half meg of 'missing' storage is a tiny percentage of the total storage space...it's really not worth fussing over. Even 150 megs is less than 1% of the space.  Is it really worth the effort?   If the drive is deliberately hiding bad blocks and you reformat it such that they are 'revealed' again, you may very well end up with corrupted files in the future.
 * SteveBaker (talk) 14:02, 30 April 2015 (UTC)
 * All checked, nothing is hidden in my drives, nothing is deleted from it (E), the deletion method is 'delete completely' from the computer. I don't use the 'Recycle Bin'; I'd love to though. I won't take the risk of formatting, well not now, but I'll keep the assurance provided by BenRG in mind for the near future... What Aspro provided might be useful for a 8GB USB pen drive I have, in order to repair... -- Mr. Prophet (talk) 19:08, 30 April 2015 (UTC)


 * The 150MB is on a hard drive, not an SD card, but defragmenting won't help anyway because it doesn't increase free space. Hard drives are often formatted with NTFS, and the NTFS master file table grows as you add files, and there's no way that I know of to shrink it. Typically each file uses 1kB in the MFT, sometimes more if the file is highly fragmented, so if you had 100,000+ files on the volume, that might explain the missing space. I'd just reformat it. -- BenRG (talk) 18:40, 30 April 2015 (UTC)
 * Yeah true, I heard some things similar... I won't reformat it now, its not required, its just annoying to view... I can't take any risk either, what if what SteveBaker mentioned occurs/is their... I will keep this in mind for future use after I buy a new computer... Thanks.

Thank you all! -- Mr. Prophet (talk) 19:08, 30 April 2015 (UTC)


 * Ah - OK. So that area is used to figure out where the files are located...as you increase the number of files, that area needs to grow...but when you delete a file, they didn't want to have to shuffle everything back down again - so they just mark it "deleted" and leave the MFT at the same size.  When you create a new file, it'll re-use the slot that was previously occupied by a previously deleted file.  Shrinking the MFT is probably pretty pointless because it'll just grow back to its former size as you add files back onto the drive.  Again, it's really a waste of time to go to all the trouble of reformatting the drive to reclaim a relatively tiny amount of space - when that space will be consumed all over again just as soon as you start using the drive again.  The only time it would be remotely useful to reformat to get rid of it would be if you intend to fill the drive almost to capacity with just a very small number of gigantic files.   If your future file sizes are likely to be comparable to the ones that were on the drive before you erased them all - then reformatting it is a total waste of time and energy. SteveBaker (talk) 18:52, 30 April 2015 (UTC)
 * I don't think it will reoccupy the whatever is MFT. It will always create a new space, that's why it shows extra Kbs/Mbs even if you delete a file or folder (a record list kind of thing). Reformatting is only actually required on the drive which you use to fiddle around with files and folders...I used the E drive many times to neatly tidy my RHDD (still is messes up). I was rethinking of tidying my RHDD, but it messes up the E drive (as mnetiond). I'll just leave it as it is and disregard the mental torture it gives me when I think about it... -- Mr. Prophet (talk) 19:17, 30 April 2015 (UTC)