Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2018 November 30

= November 30 =

What is MRC
I just downloaded a document, over 100 pages, it is in .mrc format. I am running Windows 7, I checked WP for .mrc and it seems to be more of an image and mostly for scientific purposes. Is there any software that can open it? All I have is Word and PDFOldperson (talk) 22:11, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * I'm not familiar with this particular format, though we have an article on it (MRC (file format)), and here is the actual MRC page on it. As with many odd microscope file formats it should be openable by ImageJ with the Bio-formats plugin, according to their documentation. This is what I often use for microscope files, but I guess there are probably specific readers for this particular format out there. Fgf10 (talk) 23:24, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * It seems the .mrc extension is also used for files following the MARC standards format. If you're willing, please tell us where you got this document, and we may be able to better determine what it actually is. Nil Einne (talk) 15:41, 1 December 2018 (UTC)

I was trying to download a book, it is in zip format, when I unpack it I have an mrc file. I obtained it here: https://www.amdigital.co.uk/primary-sources/virginia-company-archivesOldperson (talk) 16:02, 1 December 2018 (UTC)
 * I don't see any book there. I see four files. One is the "Adam Matthew Standard Licence Agreement" which is a PDF. One is the "Virginia Company Archives Flyer" which is also a PDF and seems to be an advert for the archives. One is the "Virginia Company Archives Contents" which is a Comma-separated values file. You should be able to open it in Microsoft Excel or Google Docs or anything else which supports CSV files. It contains a list of a large number of different documents (letters, share certificates) available online on the archives such as http://www.virginiacompanyarchives.amdigital.co.uk/Collections/doc-detail.aspx?documentid=9335, http://www.virginiacompanyarchives.amdigital.co.uk/Collections/doc-detail.aspx?documentid=11833 , http://www.virginiacompanyarchives.amdigital.co.uk/Collections/doc-detail.aspx?documentid=32236 . From what I can tell, accessing any of these documents requires a subscription probably via an institution (it's not clear to me that Adam Matthew Digital really support individual subscriptions). Finally there is the Virginia Company Archives MARC Records. This is a ZIP with an MRC file inside. As the title clearly explains it is MARC records for various content in the Virginia Company Archives. It seems to be different, more generic, then the CSV with stuff like http://www.virginiacompanyarchives.amdigital.co.uk/ and http://www.virginiacompanyarchives.amdigital.co.uk/Introduction/Nature.aspx . It is not a book and again accessing these resources requires a subscription. Nil Einne (talk) 11:42, 2 December 2018 (UTC)

MARC records are an old-fashioned machine readable format for library catalog records. They have fields for author, title, publisher, that sort of thing. They won't be 100s of pages long. It sounds like you got a zip file containing a PDF of a book, plus one or more MARC records giving cataloguing info (metadata) for the book. 173.228.123.166 (talk) 08:40, 7 December 2018 (UTC)

What can I expect from an Oculus Rift given my computer system/will it be sufficient?
Would some kind soul transfer this question from this talk page to Reference desk/Computing, which is temporarily protected? (Please include this introductory text, for context there.) Since this reference desk question is through this cumbersome template method of submission, I will likely not follow-up on my question in writing there (at least until the protection is removed), but I will certainly monitor the answers it receives at the Reference Desk.

I am considering buying an Oculus Rift. I really know very little about gaming (and computing in general), but am considering dipping my toes into this technology, just because when I was young I was highly interested in virtual reality, but despite the excitement it garnered in the late 80s, seemingly with applications just over the horizon, it just never went anywhere. So, finally, now, lo these decades later, we finally have a technology that I hear actually comes some way to fulfilling the dream. Being completely out of the loop, I am nevertheless thinking of just buying the system, despite having little idea of what I might use it for (probably, at least initially, just for watching movies using Oculus Cinema, that I've just read about). But I want to make sure, before coughing up $400, that I at least will be able to use it to some extent with my existing computer and/or what I might need appurtenant to using it. I must say my head is swimming with trying to understand what I need to get started--to attempt to answer this question myself, by looking at links I'm finding through Google searches and through reading your article on the system. So let me just tell you what computer I have, and maybe you can offer some general advice on what it will be sufficient for and/or the limitations I can expect, given what I have and lack. I own an Apple Imac, I'm running High Sierra still, and here's the list of specs from the email when I first bought my computer in 2010: With the following configuration: Thanks!--100.2.120.74 (talk) 22:45, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
 * IMAC 27"/5750/SD
 * PROCESSOR 065-0056 2.8GHZ QUAD-CORE INTEL CORE I5
 * MEMORY 065-9452 8GB 1333MHZ DDR3 SDRAM - 4X2GB
 * HARD DRIVE 065-9455 2TB SERIAL ATA DRIVE
 * GRAPHICS 065-9457 ATI RADEON HD 5750 1GB GDDR5
 * OPTICAL DRIVE 065-9458 8X DOUBLE-LAYER SUPERDRIVE
 * MOUSE 065-9940 APPLE MAGIC MOUSE
 * ACCY PACK 065-9908 NONE
 * REMOTE 065-9502 NONE
 * IWORK 065-7672 NONE
 * FINAL CUT EXPRESS 065-7674 NONE
 * APERTURE 065-7673 NONE
 * LOGIC EXPRESS 065-7675 NONE
 * FILEMAKER 065-8307 NONE
 * MICROSOFT OFFICE 065-8198 NONE
 * KEYBOARD & USER'S GUIDE 065-9944 KB(NUM) & USER'S GUIDE
 * COUNTRY KIT 065-9500 COUNTRY KIT,IMAC 27-INCH
 * The 5750 is a very weak GPU nowadays and is way, way, way below the minimum [//www.oculus.com/p/support/2082961335263408/] AMD RX 470 recommended by Oculus. You can probably get some very basic stuff to work, and of course videos, but don't expect the fancier stuff to work at a level close to acceptable. You could consider the stand alone Oculus Go as an alternative. Nil Einne (talk) 14:57, 1 December 2018 (UTC)