A thread for boring computer questions.

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Unfortunately, it's too squishy.

Ed (dali), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 15:24 (twenty years ago) link

"I was just wondering if there was a program that sacrifices a little bit of quality in exchange for more stability"

What CPU do you have?

try Media Player Classic

or BSPlayer

Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 15:26 (twenty years ago) link

ooops, I might have forgotten to do sudo sshd -p 443 before I left for work.

Ed (dali), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 15:31 (twenty years ago) link

Oh no! Your house is going to explode!!

Markelby (Mark C), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 15:34 (twenty years ago) link

I have a PC laptop. last week, I turned it on, after having used it w/o probs the previous day, to find it hung, after the bios? screen, telling me FATAL ERROR READING BOOT.INI or whatever. I used the system recovery disc I got w/, this [EVENTUALLY] brought up a screnn w/ options I couldn't click on because a dialog box had appeared, over them, w/ something about the user partition of the hard drive being corrupted and needing to be formatted.

now, I do not have any of the really VALUABLE data from the drive backed up, naturally. I took it to a laptops place in town and they took out the drive and were about to read it but asked me if I had a password on windows and I said I did and they said they could not, then, recover anything from it because of the way windows XP is. well, they said they couldn't recover anything from program folders or from the windows folder. he plugged it in, anyway, but said it wasn't even being recognised. then he told me to come back this week, when his boss would be back from holiday and should be able to access it w/ some linux-based software?

is any of this bullshit?

it should be recognisable w/ perseverence because my computer could tell it was a 30GB drive, even though it is corrupted?

a friend said it's possible [but not 100%ly so] to just format the drive and use some data retrieval progs?

:''' (

RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 15:42 (twenty years ago) link

Help the man out - he college work as well as Simpsons episodes on there.

N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 17:00 (twenty years ago) link

You could use something like Knoppix or DamnSmallLinux (single cd linux distros) as recovery discs.

Ed (dali), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 17:15 (twenty years ago) link

Sounds about right to me, but if the laptop drive is not being picked up in the BIOS you may be SOL.

Even if there's is an XP password you can just put it as a slave disk in another PC with XP and take ownership of the files.

If the drive can be formatted you can get data off it, do not format the drive.

"but said it wasn't even being recognised" is the big problem, it might be this guy doesnt know how to install a HDD properly but this sounds bad to me.

Depending on the value of the data there is always these people

http://www.ontrack.com/

Jarlr'mai (jarlrmai), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 17:22 (twenty years ago) link

the data is priceless but I only have £15.

my friend that said it could be formatted and have data retrieved from also said that the password/windows XP should not be a prob and the files should be available if it was plugged in as a slave drive.

I will find out, tomorrow, when I take it back to the shop.

yeah, I am not bothered about simpsons episodes/mp3s/whatever but all of my photographs from SPECIAL times and a ton of drawings that I NEED. that I should have had back-ups of.

thanx all the same.

RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 17:42 (twenty years ago) link

With these files, in Windows Media Player, the audio is consistently behind the video. In Winamp, they shift about, sometimes ahead, then behind, then nearly spot on.

This might just be how the files were encoded.

anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 17:46 (twenty years ago) link

PSFTP question. I want to upload and download multiple files from this server I'm connected to. They run everything through linux and I have the impression that there isn't a nice brainless drag and drop program to interact with a linux server. So--putty ftp.

The question: mput and mget aren't recognized by this ftp, it seems. So I've tried using the put and get request with a wildcard, and it responds "local: unable to open". "put C:\(pathnamestuff)\*.jpg" doesn't work, just * without the .jpg doesn't work...might there be some other way to convince the ftp to up/download multiple files? (please I really hope so...)

At least everything's working fine with uploading single files. I just have a lot of stuff to upload right now.

JuliaA (j_bdules), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 17:52 (twenty years ago) link

Some admins don't allow you to upload multiple files but this sounds like this is something that PuTTY does not like doing, it may just not recognise wildcards. I cannot believe that there isn't a graphical SFTP client for windows.

Ed (dali), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 18:06 (twenty years ago) link

RE: OSX/Bluetooth/phone hell
System Preferences->Bluetooth, use the setup thingummy

(Actually I'm running 10.8)

BUT I can't find anything under System Preferences that says Bluetooth..
In the iSyncb Window, the phone appears as a device
The computer appears as a linked device in the phone

Ideas?

Thanks :-)

Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 18:51 (twenty years ago) link

10.8

Do you mean 10.1.8 or 10.2.8?

Ed (dali), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 18:57 (twenty years ago) link

10.2.8

sorry typing moving faster than brain

Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 18:58 (twenty years ago) link

Silly question, Orbit: do you actually have Bluetooth on your computer? I noticed upthread that you mentioned you were pointing the blue light at the "infrared", and of course those are different technologies. You shouldn't actually have to point Bluetooth AT anything, you just have to be in range; but then you also have to have Bluetooth ON the computer to make it work.

Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 18:59 (twenty years ago) link

check you have the latest version of the software

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=120275

and what Sean said. Anywhere in the room should be good enough for bluetooth.

Ed (dali), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:00 (twenty years ago) link

Oh yeah, I see you're plugging it into USB (dang, shouldn't post while I'm feeling ill and non-clear-headed). Nevermind then.

Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:00 (twenty years ago) link

I'm also assuming now that you installed the software for your Bluetooth adapter, yes? But do what Ed said anyhow, the latest version of drivers/software often cures these little things.

Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:02 (twenty years ago) link

No driver's required for bluetooth adapters with OS X if you have the apple software installed. There's only about 2 or three different USB->Bluetooth chips out there used by all the different manufacturers and they all obey the same standards.

Ed (dali), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:10 (twenty years ago) link

I downloaded, installed, and restarted w/ software update.
when i say i pointed it at the infrared i mean at the back of the powerbook
yep, the bluetooth is in.
phone is "discoverable"

the drive spins, says it is updating, and then:

Can't synchronize contacts to OrbitT68i: device is not available
Can't synchronize calendars and To Do items to OrbitT68i: device is not available

Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:36 (twenty years ago) link

the phone can't "discover" the computer.
ARRRGGHH

Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:37 (twenty years ago) link

maj: I have the discs for OS X and Jaguar, in case you need 'em

bnw (bnw), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:40 (twenty years ago) link

(Thanks Ed. It does seem to be a PuTTY prob. If anyone knows of a GUIish SFTP that can handle SSH well, I'd appreciate it. I've found a few that look like they might fit the bill but they're expensive. I haven't looked around too thoroughly yet though.)

JuliaA (j_bdules), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:41 (twenty years ago) link

How would I be able to scan a whole painting, say one that is 22 by 18 inches? Obviously, it won't all fit in an A-4 scanner. Is there some kind of hi-tech industrial scanning machine, or is a digital camera the answer?

jel -- (jel), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:41 (twenty years ago) link

how FAR shall i hurl the phone?

Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:43 (twenty years ago) link

I don't know the Bluetooth client on the Mac, but do you have to set the Mac to be discoverable too? (Or have you already done that?)

Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:59 (twenty years ago) link

(See this is why I'm not a big fan of Bluetooth, really, though this keyboard I'm using is pretty cool.)

Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 19:59 (twenty years ago) link

iSync scans for a device and says "no device found".
Perhaps I should *crush* the phone instead.

Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:07 (twenty years ago) link

i know of one person who told me how to fix this once before--but i forgot how. it was something very simple.

i am staring at the phone as if it is a turd in the zen rock garden of computing.

Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:15 (twenty years ago) link

first of all do you have a bluetooth preference pane in system preferences?

Ed (dali), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 20:58 (twenty years ago) link

That was the key. I didn't. I downloaded, installed and restarted using the latest Apple Bluetooth. Finally I got a Bluetooth icon in the preferences pane. Then I enabled it, and paired the devices.

Some mysteries remain:
It had me enter a passcode for the phone and computer and when it did this the first time it said I wouldnn't have to remember it, that it need only be entered once. However everytime I sync, both the computer and the phone ask for the passcode. A minor thing, but puzzling.

I successfully synced with iCal, to the phone, Fabulous!

New problem:
For some reason, even though I tell iSync to update all contacts, it doesn't. Now I am stuck with how to get iSync to grad all my contacts from the Address Book.

Thanks for listening to me scream :-)

Orbit (Orbit), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 22:17 (twenty years ago) link

Julia, you could try using Mindterm.

bert (bert), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 22:23 (twenty years ago) link

(thanks bnw a kind a accomplice has offered me 9 + 10 + jaguar + panther but i must first wait for my new memory to come in.)

Mary (Mary), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 22:52 (twenty years ago) link

stry looking at the pref's in address book and iSync, there are some governing syncing. I haven't got my computer with me soI can't tell you off the top of my head.

Ed (dali), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 22:56 (twenty years ago) link

I cannot pierce the proxy

Ed (dali), Thursday, 15 January 2004 00:42 (twenty years ago) link

That sounds almost Shakespearean.

N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 15 January 2004 00:51 (twenty years ago) link

I have punctured, tunneled and pierced

Ed (dali), Thursday, 15 January 2004 01:36 (twenty years ago) link

In the past few days every time I open Google another search engine opens as well. It is not a "pop-up" so my pop-up thing (from Panicware) doesn't prevent it. It is this website: "search-company.com"

How the hell do I get rid of these parasites as my Explorer has to close and I lose the stuff I'm writing regularly when it appears?

Any ideas, anyone?

C J (C J), Saturday, 17 January 2004 19:37 (twenty years ago) link

tried ad-aware?

s1ocki (slutsky), Saturday, 17 January 2004 19:52 (twenty years ago) link

try ad-aware for starters

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

xpost

Ed (dali), Saturday, 17 January 2004 19:53 (twenty years ago) link

CJ - if you do a google search on "search-company.com" (maybe in conjunction with 'spyware') you'll find plenty of advice on getting rid of it.

N. (nickdastoor), Saturday, 17 January 2004 19:57 (twenty years ago) link

I now have a total of 320 RAM. After I get OS X and broadband, will I need firewall, or does it come included? Can I download it free anywhere? (Is it fairly safe to go without virus protection for the Mac, like the computer dude told me today?)

Mary (Mary), Saturday, 17 January 2004 20:28 (twenty years ago) link

OSX has a built in firewall, it is simple and easy to turn on.

Ed (dali), Saturday, 17 January 2004 21:15 (twenty years ago) link

If NYU doesn't offer you free or heavily discounted virus software, I'll eat your hat.

Ed (dali), Saturday, 17 January 2004 21:17 (twenty years ago) link

They said they would give it (virus software) to me for free, but that I didn't need it. Stingy bastards don't like to part with anything. Here is the Kangol.

Mary (Mary), Sunday, 18 January 2004 03:50 (twenty years ago) link

macs are pretty virus free

Ed (dali), Sunday, 18 January 2004 04:36 (twenty years ago) link

aren't there NO known OSX viruses? (yet?)

s1ocki (slutsky), Sunday, 18 January 2004 17:28 (twenty years ago) link

that would be weird since there must be a fair number of UNIX viruses

anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Sunday, 18 January 2004 17:34 (twenty years ago) link

Btw, you can 'stop' iTunes by hitting command - .

Sean (Sean), Monday, 19 January 2004 06:25 (twenty years ago) link


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