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April 27

TI Nspire CAS - Clickpad vs Touchpad

What's the difference? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 115.178.29.142 (talk) 05:39, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Sign your posts. Try looking at the pictures of each calculator to see the difference. --Buffered Input Output 13:47, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

A course for learning coding and similar (UK)

Can anyone recommend a particular course for learning C++ or similar, with no previous knowlege, like a GNVQ or a foundation degree or something. I'm looking to get into coding and while I'm quite knowlegable in IT, holding a Level 3 qualification in System Support (Whos name I forget at the moment), I would like to get into programming, but am at a loss as where to start. Would a Computer Science qualification work as a jumping off point? Gunrun (talk) 08:14, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

C++ is a really poor choice for a first language. I suggest Python. There may be some useful lectures at MIT Open Courseware, i.e. here. 69.228.170.24 (talk) 11:25, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Which first language works for you depends critically on what you want to use it for, the best language to learn is the one you'll use. I'm learning perl as my first language because that's what's used most in bioinformatics (and I know it's unfashionable but I rather like the "there's more than one way to do it" philosophy). Python is a good "general" choice though. C++ would be considered by most people to have too many low level features to be easy to learn as a first language.131.111.185.68 (talk) 15:38, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

C++ Programming WikiBook is a pretty good resource. Be sure to read our article on C++ and make sure you clearly understand the details of C++ - it is a compiled language that is object oriented and designed for both systems programming and application programming; it is very versatile, but suffers from several key drawbacks, including some complicated structure and ugly memory management complexity. Most importantly, (especially if you are a novice), make sure you clearly understand the subtle but significant differences between C++ and the C programming language. (There are also plenty of not-so-subtle language differences and additions, but these will be obvious even to the novice). C++ carries over much syntax from C, and it is generally true that any C program can be a valid C++ program also; but make sure when you are acquiring resources (books, websites, software tools, and so on), that you are getting things geared towards C++, or at least be aware of the details and differences. If you have firmly decided that C++ is your language of choice, you have many tool options, depending on your platform. I recommend g++ as the compiler; or if you will be on a Windows platform, mingw, a minimalist port of the g++ compiler to Windows. Microsoft also makes many of its C++ compiler and development tools available for no charge for noncommercial uses: Visual Studio Express. Nimur (talk) 16:07, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

The issues with C++ as a first language are 1) its features were designed to meet the requirements of large multi-programmer projects, and as someone learning a first language you'll probably start with solo projects so C++'s design won't make much sense to you; 2) because of the lack of pointer safety, C++ programs are harder to debug than "safe" languages are, and that will slow you down a lot as a beginner; 3) The C++ language itself is just bloody big and complicated. I'm not a Perl fan (an ugly language IMO) but the book Learning Perl is exceptionally good as a beginning programming text and it might be worth holding your nose and starting with Perl just to gain that benefit. If you're mathematically oriented you might like Scheme and the (readable online) book SICP. 69.228.170.24 (talk) 23:55, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Agree about C++. Computer programming is always difficult, but there is a difference between incidental and inherent difficulties. C++ is rife with the former - it's a very large language and it still fails to hide the machine model well. In other words, if C is a "portable assembler", C++ is a portable assembler on steroids. Python is a much gentler introduction. And indeed, if you have no previous exposure to imperative programming styles, Scheme is a great language and always very good for the mind. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 17:42, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I think C++ is underrated from a language design perspective. I'm not a big fan of the "unrestricted aliasing and let the garbage collector clean up the mess" approach that's so popular in other languages these days. C++ forces you to think about who has access to your objects, which is something that you should be doing in any language. It also lets you request and grant only read access to an object, which is important for designing good abstractions, yet unsupported in most other popular languages.

The problem with teaching with C++ is crappy reporting of runtime errors like out-of-bounds array accesses. But the standard doesn't require crappy error reporting, it just permits it, and implementations have a tradition of taking it up on that offer. This is getting better. All the major implementations now support runtime checking of the standard containers (vector, etc.). There are implementations that check pointers too, but you shouldn't be teaching pointers to beginners anyway. Anything that you'd do with pointers in C you can and should do with standard or boost containers. Some of the C++0x changes also make the language better for beginners, and a lot of them are implemented already in g++ and Microsoft C++. -- BenRG (talk) 21:05, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Do actual people still work at yahoo (apart from in accounting)

I've been unable to access my mail account since switching to a different system at the office. I've done several rounds of "verify ID - change password - sign in gizmo" clear cache (redo). All it gets me to is the yahoo home page, which tells me I'm signed in, but when I click on the mail icon I get back into the loop. I think this is some bug and can't possibly be resolved by a friendly poster at some forum. (Glad if one of our resident wizards could prove me wrong.) So I was trying to find some contact info for a human being at yahoo mail who could sort this out. All I found were oodles of links to "helpful" junk about how to use the mail account I can't get into. The link is called "contact" but should probably be renamed "who do you think you are to try and contact us." or shorter "no stinking yahoo contact here". :-) Any help highly appreciated. 99.11.160.111 (talk) 08:38, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

You don't get real people support on free services for the mostpart. You get what you pay for. Gunrun (talk) 08:58, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Try calling 1-408-349-3300. That's Yahoo!'s corporate office.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 09:08, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Thks. I'll give it a try.  :-) 99.11.160.111 (talk) 09:22, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Are you sure this is a Yahoo problem and not something to do with your specific setup in the office? Yahoo works OK for me just a few minutes ago. Astronaut (talk) 14:22, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Which software was used to draw this diagram?

I like this biological diagram:

Does anyone know which software was used to draw this diagram?

Thanks!

--david —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.14.232.129 (talk) 11:19, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Ask the creator at User talk:Crenim. --Tagishsimon (talk) 11:23, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

It seems that Crenim hasn't visited Wikipedia for some time. Does someone have a guess on the software? --david —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.14.232.129 (talk) 11:38, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

If I had to create something like it, I'd use Inkscape, but there are some things about it (like getting all those lipids adjacent to each other) that I'd have no idea how to do well. I wouldn't be surprised if some software more specifically oriented towards diagramming (a plugin to Adobe Illustrator?) were used. Paul (Stansifer) 13:15, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

It's not too hard. Inkscape has a robust set of "alignment" tools, and making good circular arrangements is not too hard (you group the little part to a circle of the radius that you want, duplicate it, rotate the circle, repeat, etc.). --Mr.98 (talk) 13:39, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Common tools for vector graphics of that sort include Adobe Illustrator and Inkscape. It could easily have been either of them. My guess is Inkscape based on the way the arrowheads look (just from my familiarity with how Inkscape renders arrowheads). --Mr.98 (talk) 13:17, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

I was going to say, the text looks like the default font for Illustrator - Myriad Pro - but that's not a sure indicator of anything. Nimur (talk) 15:41, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Thank you all! How did the author draw the RNA strands? Thanks. --david —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.14.232.129 (talk) 15:50, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Hey, David. I once had a similar question; check out this thread: http://www.inkscapeforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1476 - the second-to-last post pretty much gives the answer (you can use one or two strands according to taste) and then, as I suggested in my last post, you can use this as a 'pattern to follow a path'. I can't remember how one does that exactly, but I'm pretty sure it's easy to look up. --Seans Potato Business 18:26, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks a lot! --david —Preceding unsigned comment added by 141.14.232.129 (talk) 14:47, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

email

Is it possible to send emails from my home computers ip address, for example 1234@80.217.236.213 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.217.236.213 (talk) 12:51, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

You could set up an SMTP server on your home computer, sure. Note that doing so in a simple or sloppy way will probably get your e-mail classified as spam by the servers that receive the mail. --Mr.98 (talk) 13:43, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Adding to the above, you can't send straight to an IP address like that, you'd need to put it in square brackets otherwise the sending mailserver wouldn't know it's an IP and it'll just bounce before it even gets to you - i.e. 1234@[80.217.236.213] ZX81 ^talk 15:04, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Virus infection in GPS Data Logger

Hi, I am currently traveling and use a GPS data logger which can work as a portable storage device also. It worked all right on the first two days but today I don't see anything on it. The properties show 3 MBs but I don't see any file. But all folders show 0 bytes. There is an auto-run folder with some sub-folders but no files. The GPS data folder is empty. I am afraid I got the thing infected. What could be that 3 MB? My data or the firmware/software pre-installed? Will I lose my recorded data? I am a bit worried. No efficient anti virus tool available. Use systems in Internet kiosks. I can delete all dat using the GPS function, but I will loose all GPS data. If I don't delete my future data could also be lost. What should I do? Can somebody offer some advice to salvage the data? 110.139.197.227 (talk) 14:24, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

It would help us identify the problem if you tell us what type of GPS data logger you have. With the information you provided, there isn't much we can do to diagnose or fix the problem. Nimur (talk) 15:44, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

I am using Amod GPS Data Logger. It works like a portable drive in computer. GPS data is stored as text file.125.167.177.215 (talk) 23:44, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Styling HTML definition lists to deal with wrapping

Hi all,

I have a definition list which can be seen at http://geniverse.dev.concord.org/. This list is styled so that the dt is left-aligned and the dd is left aligned. In general, this works fine. However, when my dt is too long and wraps, the dd on the right doesn't respect this and leave whitespace. In otherwords, I would like to see

Word 1                      Definition 1
Word 2                      Definition 2
Really long and
wrapped word 3              Definition 3
Word 4                      Definition 4

Instead I see

Word 1                      Definition 1
Word 2                      Definition 2
Really long and             Definition 3
wrapped word 3              Definition 4
Word 4

(note, I don't actually care if the whitespace is above or below Definition 3 -- all that matters is that definition 4 should be lined up with word 4.

Here is the styling I'm currently using:

dt {
  float: left;
  clear: left;
  width: 40%;
  text-align: right;
}

dd {
  margin: 0 0 0 110px;
  text-align: right;
  clear: right;
}

Any idea how to fix the list so that it respects wrapping correctly? (I'll use a table if I really must, but I'd prefer not to.) Thanks! — Sam 63.138.152.155 (talk) 15:22, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

I would recommend using a table. There is a lot of propaganda related to proper use of tables in HTML, and somewhere along the way, the message got garbled. The original idea was "do not use tables to format your entire page"; this concept was corrupted into "do not even use tables to format tabular data." This is silly - your data is tabular. Format it with table tags, and use CSS as you are already doing to specify the format styling for the table. Here is the official W3 recommendation - the standards body for defining HTML - "avoid tables for layout". The critical element of this guideline, which is actually a superset of the design principle, is create tables that transform gracefully. Nimur (talk) 15:49, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Ok, you're right. I had been resisting but there's no reason to. And with search and replace, it's pretty darn easy to turn a definition list into ta table. Ok, it looks fine now. Thanks! — Sam 63.138.152.155 (talk) 15:59, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Polipo

How can I allow other people to connect to Polipo running on my computer to use it to have my ip address? The Polipo documentation on the site is too vague —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.217.236.213 (talk) 15:51, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

The users will need to configure their web browser to use a proxy server. Here are instructions for Firefox, for Internet Explorer, for Opera, and for Safari. On your end, you need to make sure that your proxy server is configured properly and that your network is accessible to the other users (this requires knowledge of any firewalls you or your administrator has set up at the network, hardware, operating-system, or application level). You then need to install and run your proxy; Polipo's manual explains how to do this. Is there a reason you chose Polipo over the much more common squid proxy server? Nimur (talk) 16:14, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

I've looked at Polipo's online manual as I said, but it's too vague and doesn't explain it properly. Currently I have polipo.exe on my computer. When I start it, a command prompt box opens saying polipo is running and accepting connections on port 8123. This works fine with firefox with the settings localhost:8123. But I cannot connect from another computer to polipo using 80.217.236.213:8123 as settings. This is not a router issue or anything because I can access other servers at that ip address. polipo is deliberately refusing non-local connections. I want to make it allow those connections but I don't know how; the online manual is vague and doesn't tell me what to do with the commands. For example, the manual says "The variable proxyAddress, defines the IP address on which Polipo will listen". Where do I define "proxyAddress"? It doesn't tell you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.221.2.13 (talk) 17:00, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

polipo -c "" proxyAddress=0.0.0.0 proxyPort=8123, or put those on separate lines in a config file and then do polipo -c "config file". I learned this from polipo --help. --194.197.235.240 (talk) 18:29, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Influence diagrams, causal diagrams, mind maps, or similar?

I've posted this question here as I think some software engineering techniques have similarities to this.

I want to be able to draw on paper informal freehand diagrams that represent the sorts of things that happen in business or organisations. The purpose is to create clarify or design, rather than communicating to others. For example I might have a diagram of the money flows in a supermarket, where the direction of the arrow shows the direction of the money flow. There would be arrows between things like customer, wholesaler, staff, and so on.

My question: is there any standardised way of expressing more complex or abstract things than the above? For example I might want to show in a diagram "Apply to Organisation A to be issued with Document A. Organisation B will issue Document B only if they recieve Document A. (Your goal is getting Document B)." Or "The Customer will shop at Store X only if they think Item Y will be there. (No direct concrete causal link between item Y and the Customer)". Thanks 78.151.102.119 (talk) 17:16, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Possibly Business Process Modeling Notation. Should you want to transfer your hand-drawn plans onto a computer, there's a stencil set for visio here --Tagishsimon (talk) 18:45, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. I do not have Microsoft Visio, I assume it costs money. Is there any free software that can read Visio files. such as .vss please? 89.243.189.97 (talk) 19:40, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Sadly yes it does cost money. OpenOffice Draw if the free alternative, but it will not be able to read the BPRN visio stencil set. Reading .vss is on the OpenOffice Draw wish list, but that's of little use to you right now. I know of nothing else that provides BPRN notation in a free package; sorry. --Tagishsimon (talk) 19:45, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

When I last did something in BPRN, I found this poster to be the most useful thing (apart from the visio vss, of course). It should allow you to evaluate whether BPRN has the ability to serve your need. --Tagishsimon (talk) 19:47, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

I have copied the poster to my HD and will study it. 89.243.189.97 (talk) 22:32, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Ethical implications of encoding YouTube videos in DivX vs Xvid?

I want to start uploading videos to YouTube soon, and I'm looking into how I will encode them. Are there any ethical considerations in regards to choosing between Xvid and DivX? --84.13.97.134 (talk) 18:20, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Ethical? I don't know. Xvid is free and open source, and performs slightly better overall than DivX. Btw you don't need to encode videos before uploading them to youtube, as youtube will just re-encoded them anyway into flv 82.43.89.71 (talk) 18:36, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

As 82.43 says, they will simply be re-encoded by Youtube. So you should upload the original source videos if you have these and they're supported by Youtube. If you're transferring from analog or something, then you're probably best ignoring the Youtube aspect and choose whatever is best for your purposes, which may very well be x264 at a resonably high bitrate. Youtube generally uses H264 in fact I've read the x264 implementation in particular for the encoding, but your material will still almost definitely be reencoded. However this will mininise quality loss. Nil Einne (talk) 10:16, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

You might also think about whether there are ethical issues in uploading to youtube. 69.228.170.24 (talk) 20:02, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

I don't know whether you're serious or not, but that's pretty funny! :D ----Seans Potato Business 20:29, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Semi-funny semi-serious ;-). If the video is of encyclopedic interest and you can put it under a suitable free license, you should upload it to commons.wikimedia.org instead of youtube of course. You'll want to use the Ogg Theora video codec rather than divx/xvid. 69.228.170.24 (talk) 23:58, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Problem With Internet Explorer

Internet explorer has started saying that websites are unsafe and have certificate errors, like google, facebook, Yahoo, wikipedia and even msn websites

what is going on? and how do i stop this

Im using IE 8

--89.240.167.8 (talk) 22:04, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

I haven't touched IE in ages, so I can't quite remember how it goes. But go to Tools--> Internet Options--> click on the "Advanced" tab--> Go to "Security" in the "Settings" window, and make sure you don't have "Check for server certificate revocation" and "Check for publisher's certificate revocation" checked. If they are, uncheck them and restart IE. 24.189.90.68 (talk) 00:53, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Do you just visit the websites or are you trying to log into them? 24.189.90.68 (talk) 01:06, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Good heavens, don't do that! If major sites are all suddenly reporting security problems, it's not that they've been careless with their certificates, it's malware, and those warnings should be heeded. (Hopefully, even with those particular settings off, IE would detect the problem. But don't go disabling security settings willy-nilly.) The first step is to run free anti-malware software. This should make the problems go away by removing the malicious software that causes it. Years ago, I would use Spybot - Search & Destroy for this purpose, but maybe someone who's dealt with troubled Windows systems more recently will have a better suggestion. Paul (Stansifer) 04:02, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Sounds like standard malware to me. "started" most likely means "started, right after I tried to open that attachment on that email,". It is very common for malware to claim your computer has a virus, or something is insecure, or something bad will happen. To fix it, purchase such-and-such program. It should be obvious that the program you purchase will make things worse (unless you buy another program). Get a good malware cleaner and it should fix the problem. -- kainaw™ 03:38, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Kainaw's comment makes wonder if the OP has a fake AV software that is actually malware. 89.240.167.8, you don't have Antivirus 2010 installed on your PC, do you? 24.189.90.68 (talk) 03:50, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I wonder if their clock is set correctly? If the date is off, then Windows might think that the certificate is expired or that the issue date is invalid.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 03:54, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

OP here
everything now works again, no error messages :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sghfdhdfghdfgfd (talk • contribs) 15:20, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

But, did you simply disable the error message, or did you fix the problem? If you followed the advice of 24.189.90.68 above, you have not actually fixed the problem, only ignored it. Internet Explorer was informing you of a serious security problem, probably due to a malware infection. Nimur (talk) 10:55, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

April 28

Program updates

Why is it that not everyone gets a particular update at the same time? Surely once it's released it's on the Internet for everyone to get. Chevymontecarlo. 05:32, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I notice that, too. I have two computers, both Dell Inspirons (6000 and 6400) running Windows XP SP2 and SP3 respectively. SP3 always updates itself sooner (usually a day in advance) than SP2. Rarely does it happen at the same time. Of course, once the updates are released, everyone can go to the official website and get it, but not eveyone's computers that are set for automatic updates receive them at the same time. 24.189.90.68 (talk) 08:07, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

There are five cases where computers do not update:

1. Many people don't connect to the Internet long enough to download updates, or their connection is so slow (and unreliable) that the download cannot finish.
2. People who pirate their copies of Windows generally turn off automatic updates in order to avoid downloading Windows Genuine Advantage.
3. Many viruses turn off automatic updates in order to avoid downloading the Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool.
4. Many people (including me) prefer to download updates manually for greater control. Updates can create bugs in certain cases. So, if you administer a large number of computers for an organization, you often test the updates on one computer, and then allow the computers under your control to download some (but not all) of the new updates.
5. Other Windows installations are just screwed up in general. For example, the Automatic Update service may not start (or it may start but crash immediately).--Best Dog Ever (talk) 08:36, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Umm... this answer is completely irrelevant. The question is about computers being notified of updates at different times, not about computers not updating. --169.232.246.169 (talk) 08:41, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

No. He said, "Why is it that not everyone gets a particular update at the same time?" Where did he even write the word notified? You are putting words in his mouth.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 08:48, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Still, it is completely irrelevant. His computers do get updates. --169.232.246.169 (talk) 09:10, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I don't know how it is with a Windows machine but I know that with my Macs, they check once a week or some such thing. So if the two systems of the first repsondent are like mine, then their check-for-updates days might be just a bit off from one another. Additionally, unless the update is critical, there may not be much of a point of getting it out to everyone RIGHT NOW! The software companies may want to keep their own servers from being flooded with too many downloads. Dismas|^(talk) 09:31, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, only during critical updates do my computers update at the same time, and even then it doesn't always happen. A lot of the time, I still have to download it myself on the slower computer. Windows users typically receive their updates on the second Tuesday of every month. However, Best Dog Ever's point about manually downloading them to make sure the update isn't affected with a troublesome bug reminds me of the whole debacle with McAfee that just happened. Perhaps I should disable Automatic Updates and wait a few days after the release of a new update to see if everyone will bitch about some problem with it. 24.189.90.68 (talk) 10:12, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks guys. By the way, I am using a Mac :) Chevymontecarlo. 12:12, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I've no reference for this, but I seem to remember toward the beginning of the time that Windows Update was installed as a service on Windows machines, to poll Microsoft's servers to see if there was anything new, Microsoft intentionally set up the Windows Update service so that the computers would check for updates over the space of about a week, to try to spread out the bandwidth over a week and avoid a single gigantic spike. Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:38, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

I've read before [1] that updates my be made available to certain geographical regions only (I presume by IP address but don't really know). Microsoft could have additional ways of managing updates, e.g. perhaps each installation has a random number from 0-15 or something and non essential updates are rolled out to a random number every day or whatever. Nil Einne (talk) 02:57, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

Adaptive Huffman coding with variable symbol length

Are there any variants on adaptive Huffman coding that allow multiple symbols to be turned into one at runtime, so that repeated substrings can be compressed without having to transmit their length (which has already been observed) and even if they occurred far earlier in the file (unlike with the "sliding window" of LZW or Gzip)? NeonMerlin 10:50, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Maybe you want dynamic Markov compression. 69.228.170.24 (talk) 20:59, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

+99

I was just wondering. Which country has +99 area code? Simply south (talk) 11:37, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

According to List of country calling codes neither +99 nor +999 are assigned. --antilived^{T | C | G} 11:46, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

And for a very good reason. In the UK, the way calls were routed from outlying areas to the main exchange (central office in US-speak) was by dialling an initial 9. So, to call the emergency services (999), the intial 9 just routed the call to the central exchange, and the 2 final 9s got you the emergency operator. If you lived in a location served by the central exchange, calling 99 was enough to get the emergency operator. I can guarantee this from personal experience. So if 99 was a country code, people in the UK would forever have been bothering the emergency operator. --Phil Holmes (talk) 14:50, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

That's not true. Because they must dial the international call prefix (in the case of the UK, 00) before dialing the country code. --169.232.246.212 (talk) 19:30, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Well it's possible some people may forget to dial the international call prefix, however if that was a concern other numbers would be unassigned but +91 is assigned to India for example and they do have STD codes beginning with 1 like New Delhi. Besides that I would say it's inaccurate to say +99 isn't assigned. +99 isn't one country code but is instead split up into 3 digit codes so while some of those (+990, +997, +999) aren't assigned, others are. Nil Einne (talk) 02:46, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

The weakest hyperlink...

I've defined the link, hyperlink, as:

[[Hyperlink#Anchor|hyperlink]].

But, when I roll the mouse over it, it just says "Hyperlink", not "Hyperlink#Anchor". How can I fix this, under Firefox 2.0.0.20 on Windows 98 ? StuRat (talk) 14:23, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I don't think you can fix it. It is how Mediawiki functions, not how your browser functions. Mediawiki takes that link and gives the following HTML from it:

<a href="/wiki/Hyperlink#Anchor" title="Hyperlink">hyperlink</a>

Which as you can see defines the "title" (which the mouse over text) to be "Hyperlink." It strips out the hash tag automatically (and probably purposefully). --Mr.98 (talk) 14:27, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

That sucks. I can see the full web address "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperlink#Anchor" down in the Status Bar, I guess I'll need to squint down there, then. StuRat (talk) 14:31, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

You could probably rig a Greasemonkey script to automatically rewrite Wikipedia link "title" fields for you to include the hash. But I don't know how to do that. --Mr.98 (talk) 14:34, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Advice in meta:Help:Link gives us this: hyperlink -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 14:48, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I use WP:Popups, and when I mouseover the link, the "headline" is "Hyperlink#Anchor" and the preview begins at the "Anchor" section. -- Coneslayer (talk) 16:48, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

You must have some different setting in your custom css or js file, under My Preferences, then, because that's not the behavior I get. That's just what I'm looking for. StuRat (talk) 15:39, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

User:Coneslayer/monobook.js appears to be the only non-redlink customization file on my account. -- Coneslayer (talk) 19:43, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I copied it over to mine, but see no difference. It's a mystery. What's your browser and O/S ? Perhaps that does make a diff after all. StuRat (talk) 12:39, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Firefox 3.6 on Windows XP and Windows 7. Everything I've done is by copying-and-pasting magic incantations, so I'm sorry I can't be of much help. -- Coneslayer (talk) 13:43, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

It's worth noteing that the mouseover text is set server side. If you feel WP should behave otherwise it's probably best to take the discussion to Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical). I don't know how much changes would be required to change the default behavior in this case. Taemyr (talk) 09:11, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Mozilla Firefox unable to use an external XSL stylesheet?

I have run into an interesting problem at work. There is an XML file located on one server and an XML stylesheet transforming it to HTML on another server. The XML file has an embedded link to the XSL stylesheet. Mozilla Firefox refuses to display the file, giving the error message: "Error loading stylesheet: An unknown error has occurred (805303f4)". But if both files are loaded on the same server, and the link is changed to point to the local directory, everything works fine. Is there something in Mozilla Firefox preventing XML files from using external XSL stylesheets? JIP | Talk 14:49, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

A quick Google search suggests (could someone confirm this?) that this is a deliberate security feature of Firefox. Some kind of XSS-type attack they're trying to prevent? « Aaron Rotenberg « Talk « 17:26, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

If that is true, then is there some kind of option in Mozilla Firefox to disable it? There's nothing fundamentally preventing the source XML document and its XSL transformation stylesheet from coming from different places, so the problem here must then be that Mozilla Firefox explicitly refuses to handle such a situation. JIP | Talk 20:00, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

This (rather ancient) Mozilla document says "Mozilla won't load XSLT stylesheets from a different domain for security reasons." You may be able to get around this with access-control, which it seems FF3.5+ supports for XMLHTTPrequest. So I think (but haven't tried) that you can load the XSLT that way and then apply it with transformNode -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:13, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Oops, I forgot to link, the thing about FF3.5 supporting access-control is here. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:22, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

I'd be surprised if this isn't either a file permissions problem (look in error.log or equivalent) or the XSLT being sent with the wrong content-type, which should (I think) be application/xhtml+xml or text/xml. Viewing what actually transpires between browser and server can often be enlightening in this circumstances - use livehttpheaders. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 20:36, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

No, I can do a wget on the server hosting the XSL file all OK, and it gives the content type as text/xml. As the XSL file itself is publically accessible (although direct access to the server isn't), I can do the same tests both at work (in a Windows-only environment) and at home (in a Linux-only environment). The exact same situation occurs at both places. JIP | Talk 20:47, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Having a different from address in an email

Hi, Want to send emails from an address but have it show another address in the From section.

I bought a domain that allows me to create email addresses on it; emails sent to those addresses will be forwarded to any addresses of my choice for free. But I want my responses to appear from the same address emails are sent to. AOL, my usual email provider doesn't seem to do it. Hotmail says the hotmail address "on behalf of" my domain's address (seems silly!). GMail does it I think, but I don't use Google services - especially not emial - due to them keeping, reading, and anylising everything. Outlook does it too i think, but I don't know how, and I want a website (such as Hotmail) not software. Can you help? Thanks 86.177.7.170 (talk) 15:36, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

In order for webmail to work, the webmail provider's servers need to keep and read all your email (otherwise, they wouldn't be able to display the content of your mail to you. Gmail has the nice feature of letting you turn on HTTPS so that it's impossible to in-between servers to read your mail; I don't know if the other major providers do that.). The only unusual thing about Gmail is that the ads are automatically generated based on keywords in the mail messages. You might find them creepy (I just find the ads amusing), but it doesn't pose any danger to your privacy. Any webmail provider has the ability to let a human read your mail, and (I assume) all of them promise not to do this, unless required to by law.

If you're interested in email privacy in webmail, there's Hushmail, but read the "controversy" section: unless you use desktop mail software (which defeats the point of webmail) and encrypt all your email (which requires effort from everyone you email), the provider can (and probably will) obey a court order to open your mail. Paul (Stansifer) 16:29, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Oh, GMail does seem quite qood with the HTTPS setting. Google are good like that, they have great features that other providers don't use for some reason. BUT they do have software that reads all your information, even if it is just for advartising. Other providers merely transfer the information and keep it until a little while after you choose to delete it. Google keeps everyhing indefinately at great cost to them - this type of action is awfully suspect. I will never use Google. Ever. Thanks though.

And that Hushmail seems good too. I wouldn't use software because, as you say, that defeats the point of webmail. And i'm not bothered about court orders or anything; I'm not using it for anything bad, just regular mail. And it hides IP addresses in the header which rocks; practically what AOL does too. But, most importantly, does Hushmail let me change the From section in an email? Thanks. 86.177.7.170 (talk) 17:42, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

GMail will let you do that, the latest I could find on hotmail was that only if the domain is hosted with Microsoft, is that supported[2]Cander0000 (talk) 03:50, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Apple iWeb problem

When I'm using Apple's iWeb application, I get this issue where the screen goes blank when I scroll down the page. If I'm creating a page that is longer than the screen and I attempt to scroll down at all, the whole page just goes blank, until I scroll back up. I've updated to the most recent version that my OS will allow (v.2.0.3) but it still happens. Anyone else seen this?91.109.225.48 (talk) 21:24, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

Hi, I've said this before to someone else with a problem with their Apple stuff. I would advise you, if no one gives you a good answer here, to go check out the Apple Discussion forums - [3] and post your question there. You need an account though, however you just need an Apple ID, which you will already have if you use iTunes. On there are loads of other Apple users who will be happy to help you. I'm on there too! You can search for 'R94N'...! Chevymontecarlo. 12:15, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

April 29

IRC Aggregator Bot?

Is anyone aware of such a thing? Basically what I would like is to be able to park a bot in 5 IRC rooms plus it's own room (##BOT or something) and have it repeat everything said in the other 5 IRC rooms? ^Avicenna_sis @ 05:51, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

I don't know of one offhand, but the IRC protocol is pretty simple, so depending on how much programming you want to do, you could make one yourself. There are lots of IRC libraries for easy use too. Shadowjams (talk) 05:40, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia use ontologies for manage the knowledge and the relations between them?

Wikipedia use ontologies (as an informatic concept) for manage the knowledge and the relations between concepts? with some special software for include intelligence to the web site? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 157.159.40.82 (talk) 09:52, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

The above question was asked by 157.159.40.82 (talk). 24.189.90.68 (talk) 10:05, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure if I understand the question, but if you are asking, "could the links made between articles and concepts on Wikipedia be made, along with specialized software, into some kind of rich semantic web for an A.I. program?" the answer is, "maybe." I don't see any a priori reason why that couldn't be the case. But writing an A.I. program that could take advantage of such things is non-trivial. There are a number of smaller scripts that mine Wikipedia for semantic data, but Wikipedia's data is not very uniform in most cases, which makes anything but very trivial things hard to do. --Mr.98 (talk) 12:50, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Firefox SSL warning

Is there a way to disable the warning about a wrong SSL certificate for certain sites? I'm accessing a few servers via SSH's port forwarding, so I'm always using https://127.0.0.1 to access the servers, with the real IP being hidden by the SSH connection. In its default configuration, Firefox allows me to whitelist a certain certificate for a certain IP, it seems, but if the certificate changes (because the server behind the SSH connection changes), it nags me again. Is there an about:config hack that allows me to whitelist 127.0.0.1 or 192.168.0.0/16, so that wrong certificates for this IP or IP range are never reported (or at least not with such an endless array of click-throughs, a simple "Are you sure?" would be acceptable)? As I'm using the same Firefox for regular browsing, I would prefer it if I don't have to disable the warning mechanism entirely. -- 78.43.60.58 (talk) 10:14, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Why are the certificates changing? If you're making these certificates yourself, make a CA and install it in your Firefox as a trusted root, and sign your certificates with it, instead of having them self-sign if that's what you're doing now. 69.228.170.24 (talk) 23:38, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

They are changing because they're at different locations, and I'm not in the position to install different certificates on them. So I really need to disable the feature in Firefox. -- 78.43.60.58 (talk) 09:11, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Can't you whitelist multiple certificates for the same IP in firefox? I suppose you could set up a proxy server on your local client that gives Firefox a certificate it likes, but it sounds like you're really trying to stop checking the certificates, in which case why even use ssl? Why are you tunnelling ssl through ssh anyway? If you trust the machines at the other end and you trust the ssh fingerprints and the security of ssh, just run http through ssh. 69.228.170.24 (talk) 05:58, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

No, I can't whitelist multiple certificates for the same IP (at least there is no obvious way to do so), otherwise I wouldn't be asking for help here. As soon as I tell it to save the second certificate for 127.0.0.1, it forgets about the first. If you happen to know how to change that, please do share.

Again, I have no control over the remote endpoints - they speak HTTPS and only HTTPS, so I have to deal with that. I need to get Firefox to comply, not the remote endpoint. -- 78.43.60.58 (talk) 16:00, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

The workaround I'd recommend is using ssh SOCKS forwarding (the -D switch) instead, and telling Firefox to use 127.0.0.1 as a SOCKS proxy. You can even tell FF to only use the proxy for some specific sites by writing your own proxy auto-config script. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 12:24, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

My pen drive .

My pen drive don't allow to format .How can I format it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.248.87.1 (talk) 16:11, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Some pen drives have a little switch on the side which prevents the computer modifying data on the drive unless it's set in the "write" mode. Or the drive might have just failed, in which case there is nothing you can do to fix it and you would need to get a new one. .tkqj (talk) 16:21, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

HP has a utility that might work: http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=197 The brand and model of your drive might let use help you more. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 00:56, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

jit compilers

the machine language code blocks produced by the jit compilers are deleted when the application is closed? t.i.a. --87.5.125.159 (talk) 20:11, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Yes. Memory space is allocated and code is emitted into that space; when the application closes the space is recovered and the code destroyed. I can't think of a circumstance where that wouldn't apply - I've never heard of emitting code into shared memory, and mobile code like JRMI is transmitted as an intermediate code like java bytecode. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 20:26, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

I would hope that the JITted code is deleted when the application is closed, but, of course, there might be some badly-written system that keeps the code around in memory. Comet Tuttle (talk) 20:27, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

It really wouldn't be a JIT compiler if the code persisted. It would just be a regular compiler, like GCJ, that creates machine-code. Nimur (talk) 03:35, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I thought that the .NET Framework caches its machine code in the Native Image Cache and the GAC inside the C:\WINDOWS\assembly folder. Otherwise, a .NET application would be slow to start up every time. When the native code is cached, it is only slow to start up the first time. The first time it starts, I think it compiles the bytecode JIT into native code and then caches it. The view of the assembly folder inside Windows Explorer is not very accurate, though. If you plan on taking a look to see what I mean, you should use the command prompt.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 07:18, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Outlook / Outlook Express / Windows Mail / Windows Live Mail

Where do these programs store user and server names (POP, IMAP, SMTP)? The reason I'm asking is that I'd like to prepare a script that pulls the account info (sans password) from the file/registry, so that it can be fed into an installer for an alternate mail client like Thunderbird. -- 78.43.60.58 (talk) 21:11, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

For Outlook Express see here. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:20, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

For Windows Mail see here. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:26, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Rough info about Outlook 2003 is here. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:31, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

April 30

How do I connect my PC to both my monitor and TV: particularly with a splitter?

Like many people I have a desktop, including CPI and monitor, running on Windows XP.
I also have a television: specifically a Samsung flat screen.
My CPI seems to have only one VGA port, though I have a splitter as well.
When I connect both TV and monitor to the splitter, the monitor darkens a little and the TV says “PC” and “Mode Not Supported”.
Even when I just plug directly into the TV–-without the splitter--I get the same problem (“PC” and “Mode Not Supported”).
How can I get video on both TV and monitor, via splitter?
Thanks
76.68.23.9 (talk) 00:49, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Sounds like your splitter goes from one VGA port to two. It appears that connecting to video devices in that manner is loading the VGA signals to where they won't drive either device. You need another video card in your PC or one that has two outputs. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 00:59, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

So it would seem. The thing is, as I'm typing this response, the monitor works decently well. Also, when one boots it all up and sees things like the cursor in the black background, the Windows logo on the black background, etc, for a minute or so, it also shows up on the TV as well, then it reverts (on the TV only) to the "Mode Not Supported" again.76.68.23.9 (talk) 01:15, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

I seemed to have had some progress here.76.68.23.9 (talk) 02:06, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Since your TV doesn't display anything when you hook it up directly, we can rule out the splitter cable as the problem. Your resolution is probably set to something higher than the maximum resolution your TV can display, which is probably either 720p or 1080p. Try setting your display resolution to 640x480 or 800x600, then shutting down the computer, then plugging it into the TV directly, then turning on the computer. The TV will probably display everything fine. Then play with the display resolution until it's the maximum your TV will display. Then try the splitter cable contraption. Comet Tuttle (talk) 03:07, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

What is a CPI in this context - presumably not Consumer Price Index?

Anyway, I sometimes use my flat screen TV as a monitor and connect using a HDMI cable for 1920x1080 resolution. The reason for my choosing that connection is that the TV's PC/VGA port will only support up to 1366x768 resolution, although the PC is capable of outputting more through VGA. Astronaut (talk) 16:20, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

CPI is most likely a typo or incorrectly remembered spelling for CPU Nil Einne (talk) 10:08, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Shallow Depth of Field - optimum focal length

This question is being answered on the Miscellaneous Reference desk, Here --220.101.28.25 (talk) 08:52, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Using Janusvm on Mac OS

How do you use Janusvm (http://www.janusvm.com/) on a Mac notebook or other system running MacOS? There is a lot of information explaining how to set up on Windows (using VmWare), but I could not see any information or HOWTOs on setting up on a Mac. JanusVM launches without any problems using VMWare Fusion, but I'm not able to get the VPN connection to work. Upon launch, there is a message saying that the Tor directory was being renewed but this does not seem to complete even over several hours. Many thanks in advance! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Alsopen (talk • contribs) 08:37, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

It appears that you need Tor to be installed and functional on the Mac. Have you installed Tor, per these instructions for Mac ? Nimur (talk) 15:54, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Should firefox have 5 vesions of Java Console installed

The add-ons page for my firefox lists 5 versions of Java Console. Is it supposed to be that way? Should I uninstall the older versions? ike9898 (talk) 13:41, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Firefox is merely reporting that there are multiple versions of Java installed on your machine (probably by external software). It is not a problem to have multiple Java installations, but is also usually unnecessary, because most (new) Java versions are completely back-compatible. However, other software outside of Firefox may have stringent JVM requirements or hard-code a required Java version/location. You should consider why the various versions were installed - determine which software depends on them, and whether all those software can switch to using a single Java version. Firefox does not need Java for anything, so you can safely remove as many as you like, leaving the most recent one intact. Nimur (talk) 15:59, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

schedule web crawler

I need a web crawler that can be scheduled to downloaded a site every 2 hours. I've tried using windows task scheduler for web crawlers I know of, namely HTTrack, but all it does it open the program and I can't find a way to make it actually start downloading automatically. Does anyone here know of a (preferably free/open source) web crawler that runs on Windows and can be scheduled? Thanks for your help 82.43.89.71 (talk) 16:14, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

wget should do it nicely (you may have to wrap it in a script). The wget article lists a number of versions that run on Windows. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 16:17, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

Google "httrack command line" for command-line arguments, so HTTrack doesn't merely open. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:29, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

TightVNC, Ubuntu, and the Shift key

I've just set up an Ubuntu machine with VNC; I would like to log into it with my Windows XP machine on the same network. I follow the steps here, with PuTTY and TightVNC running on my Windows machine, to log in. Everything seems to work great as I use TightVNC to control my Ubuntu machine's desktop; except that the Shift keys do not seem to work. Typing Shift-K into a terminal window just produces a lowercase "k". However, if I hold down the "k" key in a terminal window so that autorepeat starts, and then I press either Shift key, uppercase "K"s are produced for as long as I hold the Shift key. Holding the Shift key first does not produce an uppercase character. Any hints? Not being able to type * or _ or " is driving me nuts. Comet Tuttle (talk) 23:58, 30 April 2010 (UTC)

May 1

Flash player in JavaScript?

In light of the iPhone's restriction of Flash, I was wondering if it would be possible to port an open-source Flash player, like Gnash, to JavaScript, which can then be run on the iPhone as well as other devices that have a browser, without installing a separate plugin (which may not be available on some platforms, or may be inconvenient to install). You could, say, have a "Flash-to-JavaScript gateway" website which acts as a proxy for other sites, but interprets and translates the embedded Flash applets into JavaScript instructions. It may not be the most efficient of course, but it might be a way to circumvent restrictions when there is no other way. What do you think? --Spoon! (talk) 06:14, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Something like that already exists, it's called Gordon. It's definitely not a comprehensive Flash run time but the demos are promising. --antilived^{T | C | G} 06:38, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

What is required is full HTML5 support. Without that, you cannot perform all the common functions provided by Flash. When full HTMl5 support is provided by the web browser, you will be able to load SVG images, resize, rotate, and move them. You will be able to alter opacity, brightness, and contrast. So, graphically, you will be able to mimic Flash. It will be done with HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. -- kainaw™ 12:01, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Data packets

What would data packets be equivalent to in MB or GB? What are they measured in? Why are they used to measure data being sent/received rather than just GB, MB, or Bytes? Chevymontecarlo. 14:36, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

A data packet could be any size. It depends on the definition of the data packet. Depending on what kind of speed you are measuring, you may be interested in actual megabytes/second or you may be interested in packets/second. They give two very different results. -- kainaw™ 14:39, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Packet (information technology) is our article. Comet Tuttle (talk) 14:56, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

When sending a large amount of data on Ethernet the packet size is around 1500 bytes, so 666 packets in a megabit and 666666 bytes in a gigabyte. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 22:36, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Fonts

Is it possible to make a custom font display on web pages where the viewer doesn't have the font installed? 82.43.89.71 (talk) 14:59, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Yes, many methods use javascript. Two options may be:

Typeface which allows you to load fonts into a webpage so that a user then can read them or Fontjazz which renders the text as an image which the user then sees -- CmdAltDel (talk) 15:09, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

The feature that you're looking for is called @font-face. It's pretty new to CSS, and only recent browsers support it (it does, of course, fall back to normal web typefaces when the browser doesn't support it). See Web typography, and http://nicewebtype.com. Paul (Stansifer) 15:15, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

When I want to display a custom font, I just type out the text in an image-editing program like Photoshop or Illustrator and then save the text as an image. This will enable the largest number of viewers to see the text as it was meant to be seen. However, to ensure that people using screen readers are still aware of the text, be sure to add an alt attribute to the image (e.g., <img alt="Main section title" src="img.png">.--Best Dog Ever (talk) 02:48, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Extra heavy period

Speaking of custom fonts, is there one with extra large/bold commas and/or periods ? I ask because I can't tell them apart on my screen without magnifying the text. And, if there is one, how can I use it as my default font in Wikipedia ? StuRat (talk) 17:18, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

I don't have a real answer for you, but I'd check out people who will do all kinds of stuff for $5. For a small fee, you could probably find someone who would modify a few of the standard font files on your system -- problem solved! DaHorsesMouth (talk) 20:42, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Looking for Cloud Computing Reference in a University environment

I am trying to design from scratch an Infrastructure with application saervices on the cloud for a new university. This includes the server, intra-network, the HR system with its DB , HR system , email as well as the Student information System (banner like). I am looking for a university that have implemented or is planning to implement such system. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shaltout51 (talk • contribs) 20:09, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Project Athena, from MIT, has been the de-facto standard for large (enterprise-scale) university network infrastructure, servers, and clients. Understandably, this infrastructure is very complex, and consists of many variants and sub-elements. Unifying the compute infrastructure is one thing; implementing an HR system from scratch is an endeavor unto itself. Nimur (talk) 20:13, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

May 2

Full employment theorem for size-optimizing compilers

From Full employment theorem:

For example, the full employment theorem for compiler writers states that there is no such thing as a perfect size-optimizing compiler, as such a compiler would have to detect non-terminating computations and reduce them to a one-instruction infinite loop. Thus, the existence of a perfect size-optimizing compiler would imply a solution to the halting problem, which cannot exist, making it an undecidable problem.

Does this theorem still apply if we require the compiler to optimize the sizes of only programs that do eventually halt, and accept suboptimal output for programs that don't halt? Also, is it possible to optimize for execution time with the same limitation? NeonMerlin 00:48, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

Ubuntu 10.04 and Nvidia failures

I just upgraded to Ubuntu 10.04 and immediately ran into a serious problem. While booting up, about 15 seconds in, the screen does a bit of blinking and then pops up an error message saying

Ubuntu is running in low-graphics mode

The following wrror was encountered.  You may need
to update your configuration to solve this.

(EE) NVIDIA: Failed to load the NVIDIA kernel module.
Please check your
(EE) NVIDIA:    system's kernel log for additional error
messages.
(EE) Failed to load module "nvidia" (module-specific error, 0)
(EE) No drivers available.

All that is in a gray box on a black screen; there's a cursor in the middle of it that doesn't move when the mouse does; there's an "OK" button on the bottom right of the box. Nothing I do to the keyboard has any effect; the only thing that I can do at that point is reboot.

When I boot up in recovery mode, I can get a TTY screen and do command-line interaction with my machine, terminal style; however, when I try to start an X session, I get error messages stating the same thing as above. What should I do?

If it's pertinent, the computer is a System76 Bonobo laptop on an Intel Core 2 Duo.