Computing desk
< March 31	<< Mar \| April \| May >>	April 2 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

April 1[edit]

how to fix a flashlight[edit]

I unscrewed all of the components of my flashlight and put it back together and it does not work anymore. How do i fix it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.96.187.202 (talk) 02:57, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

(Taps claw, gestures toward a desk with a question-mark statue on it) —Jeremy v^_^v ^{Components:V S M} 03:18, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Repeat the process until it works. There must be a contact somewhere that's out of position. StuRat (talk) 03:38, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

... and clean all the contacts (possibly using the graphite from a "lead pencil") to improve conductivity. Dbfirs 08:18, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Is the bulb still working? Are the batteries still good? Did an insulator fall between the contacts somewhere? Really, flashlights are pretty simple devices - there's not a lot that can go wrong. Astronaut (talk) 15:00, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Offline world map software[edit]

Please, recommend me an offline, free, world map software. It doesn't have to be 3D. To be able to search for countries, geographical locations and cities would be important. Something like Amiglobe, but up-to-date would be perfect. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.74.50.52 (talk) 04:02, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The first thing that pops into my head is [Google Earth]. General Rommel (talk) 07:27, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Google Earth works offline? --Sean 18:01, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

There are Microsoft Encarta, Microsoft MapPoint, and Microsoft Streets & Trips from Microsoft, but they are not free. There is also The World Factbook Maps from the CIA, but it is not a computer software. 118.96.163.209 (talk) 08:25, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I forgot to not that it is not offline. However, if you are looking up a small area or just a general area, first in settings set it to 2000mb disk cache, look where you want, wait till all info has been downloaded (bottom right there is a small circle) and close. Disconnect yourself and try and see if you can search for places. I don't think it will work though if you are looking for small things- a detailed map of the world is quite a large file. General Rommel (talk) 04:06, 3 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Youtube 1911 mode[edit]

I know it's a april fool's of some sort but could you point me towards any maps of the incident or otherwise general discussion involving it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.196.181.93 (talk) 07:39, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

There's an article about it on Techcrunch here. --Kateshortforbob _talk 13:44, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

no-ip[edit]

how to configure no-ip server for my video survilience system..webcam monitor software.....its not also working for gmail...which other emil messenger should i use.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.93.129.246 (talk) 10:32, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Firefox 4 - do not like the large buttons on the 'Navigation Toolbar'[edit]

On what I think is called he "Navigation Toolbar" there are to the left of the address slot, the icons for various things. They are small icons within large buttons which take up a lot of room. Is there any way of changing them back to the way they looked in Firefox 3 please? Thanks 92.15.8.176 (talk) 13:32, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Right-click on the toolbar -> customise -> use_small_icons -- Finlay McWalter ☻ Talk 13:39, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. 92.15.8.176 (talk) 15:06, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

BIOS password reset[edit]

Is it true that it is now more difficult to impossible, as this article describes, to reset or disable a motherboard's BIOS password? I mean, no more "default password", "remove battery", "short battery", "change jumper", or "press button" method anymore? 118.96.163.209 (talk) 14:41, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Funnily enough, that article doesn't actually mention the usual method: remove the small battery and let the BIOS forget its settings. Astronaut (talk) 14:54, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The author did address such things in the comments section of the article. 118.96.163.209 (talk) 15:00, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

By the way, if I think about it, it is indeed very possible to create BIOS password system that is very difficult to crack, because BIOS is simple, thus easy to be made secure. Combine that with tamper resistant hardware techniques, and you get a system that is uncrackable by majority of people. 118.96.163.209 (talk) 15:00, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Most evil things that you can do by tampering with the BIOS, you can also do by taking the hard drive out and putting it in another computer. Paul (Stansifer) 15:07, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your comments. I am merely asking whether it is difficult to reset or disable BIOS passwords in modern computers. I know that BIOS passwords are inadequate as a security measure. 118.96.163.209 (talk) 15:31, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The BIOS password may be stored in the Trusted Platform Module instead of the battery RAM. Also, many modern hard drives have firmware password support. In that case moving the drive to another computer won't help. As far as I know, though, there are still many motherboards that store the password in battery RAM. -- BenRG (talk) 16:42, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Drives may also use BitLocker or other encryption. There are even monitors with anti-theft technology— the driver has a password that matches one set in the monitor. ---— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 17:40, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for all your answers. 118.96.155.154 (talk) 04:56, 7 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Creating .pdf files[edit]

What software is required to create .pdf files ? Jon Ascton (talk) 16:11, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Adobe acrobat is one, the 'official' software, Word 2007 can save as PDF though it requires a free download to do so, unless Service Pack 2 is installed. See Office 2007#PDF. Also PDFCreator & Category:Free PDF software - 220.101 talk^\Contribs 16:41, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Even better, List of PDF software. Buddy431 (talk) 17:09, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Under Windows, you can install a printer driver called CutePDF Writer to allow any Windows program to "print" to a PDF file. Comet Tuttle (talk) 22:30, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

What you're looking for is PrimoPDF! Rocketshiporion ♫ 22:39, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The best answer is pdfLaTeX, because that would get you using the best system for creating documents in the first place. --Trovatore (talk) 01:38, 3 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Legal status of the GUID Partition Table layout ..?[edit]

What is the copyright and patent status of the "GUID Partition Table" (GPT) ..? The EFI extension which includes GPT is proprietary, but that doesn't implicitly make GPT proprietary. The Intel GPT white paper doesn't tell anything in regards to the legal status. Electron9 (talk) 22:12, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I'm pretty sure this is exactly the kind of question we consider "legal advice," so we aren't really able to answer it definitively on this reference desk. Patents, trademarks, and copyrights exist pertaining to both GPT and UEFI. It is difficult to determine whether any of those particular intellectual property protections affect your needs and use-cases - exactly the reason you would need to consult with a technically savvy intellectual property attorney.

In the meantime, you can read the FAQs at UEFI: among other relevant information, the specification is made available without charge. "The Promoters of UEFI have agreed that any IP needed to implement the specification will be made available on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms..." and "Q: Can anyone build their own Unified EFI implementations? A: Yes..." But as you have already noticed, the extended specification for GPT may have further qualifications. Nimur (talk) 22:31, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

For possible open source developers it would be beneficial to know if the GPT specification is copyright/patent encumbered.Electron9 (talk) 00:30, 2 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Rackmount SSI MEB Chassis Manufacturers[edit]

Good day, fellow RefDeskers!

Does any manufacturer currently make SSI MEB compatible rackmount chassises? I've looked all the major brands I'm aware of (Antec, Chieftec, Intel, InWin, Supermicro, Trenton & Tyan), and none of them seem to have any MEB-compatible chassis. Specifically, I'm looking for a 2U or 3U chassis which will fit this Tyan motherboard.

Thanks as always. Rocketshiporion ♫ 22:46, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Looks like you'll have to go with a tower form-factor. You can put rackmount rails on a tower, if vertical space isn't an issue. See this Dell rail-conversion kit, for example. Nimur (talk) 22:55, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Even for the tower form-factor, which manufacturer has MEB-compatible chassises? Rocketshiporion ♫ 23:14, 1 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Usually you'd buy the barebones from the board maker. Click the barebones link on that page, they have a 4U unit. From your user page I get the impression you want to solve numerical PDE's with that thing? I think the trendy approach is with GPGPU's. 75.57.242.120 (talk) 08:23, 3 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]