Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2010 May 24

Computing desk
< May 23	<< Apr | May | Jun >>	May 25 >

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.

May 24

Broadcast Message from root@Macintosh.local

Broadcast Message from root@Macintosh.local
       (no tty) at 18:09 PDT...

May 22 18:08:47 Macintosh kernel[0]: Wake event 0020

This appeared in a Terminal (shell) window. What the heck is it? I had used MacOS X for almost five years without seeing such a thing before. —Tamfang (talk) 06:29, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

I don't know what triggered it, but a Wake event is something that would cause the Mac to wake from sleep mode—there are a number of these, I believe, like plugging or unplugging USB devices, or various power settings related to "wake on ethernet" status.

That, of course, is not the really confusing part. I don't know what the Broadcast Message bit is about at all or why it displayed that to you in Terminal. As you've no doubt seen, Googling it doesn't turn up much, so it can't be all that common? --Mr.98 (talk) 12:42, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

The "Broadcast Message" bit indicates that the message was issued using wall (Unix). Can't help with the "Wake event" part. -- Coneslayer (talk) 12:57, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Jumping audio

Whenever I play audio on my laptop it sometimes judders andqu at other times is perfectly clear. Its been doing this for quite a bit now. What is wrong with my speakers and is it a sound card problem as it still does it when plugged ino external sources such as my TV. Paul2387 11:31, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Only at times, you say? Well, is it a stutter or is it more like static? A stutter could be caused by a system inundated with other tasks such that it is unable to designate enough processing time to play the sound fluidly. In other words, you may want to kill some processes. Anti-virus software in the middle of a scan can definitely tie up your system and make things sluggish. Staticky sound is more likely to be caused by a weak connection in the sound module (or anywhere else along the line), but could potentially make the sound "jump" too.

Sounds more like the former case from what you're describing, though, in which case you'll just need to clean your system up a bit to keep things running smoothly. A nice disk cleanup and going through processes you don't need to have running all the time followed by a defrag could fix the problem and be sure no major processes are running when you need to use the sound.

And if none of those work, you might consider trying a 3.5mm stereo-to-USB adapter. I hear they work pretty well and they're under $10.

Or maybe someone else here will have a better solution. -Amordea (talk) 12:29, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Or, if you're using a crummy decoder (some out-of-date MP3 player with a lousy internal codec, for example), you can get all kinds of digital noise, espcially on variable bitrate and high-bitrate MP3 files. Similarly, if you have a crummy OGG or FLAC decoder, and try to play those through your media player, you might get bad quality sound. Try changing your media player software to see if that was the source of the problem; Comparison of audio player software can help you find some alternatives for your computer.

I also have seen audio quality trouble due to crummy sound drivers for lousy cards (or, crummy "high-quality" sound drivers for premium cards that happen to be in the wrong mode). I used to have a Philips PSC card that could switch to 48kHz or 96kHz for "professional audio" purposes (which is a silly anyway, no human can hear the difference); but if it was still in 48kHz mode when I played a 44.1kHz (standard) MP3, the inline hardware resampler would work only "most of the time." Every now and then, there would be audio stuttering, followed by sporadic horrifying squeals and digital noise bursts. Other times, (presumably, the card was improperly initializing its resampler), there would be a persistent 4.1 kHz buzz. Needless to say, I was thoroughly disappointed with the "professional grade" soundcard features. If your audio troubles are related to this, see if you can update your audio card/chip driver from your computer manufacturer's support website; or see if you can manually set the audio sample rate mode in a configuration utility. Nimur (talk) 15:52, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Birman Schiper Stephenson protocol

I dont understand the Birman Schiper Stephenson protocol and its explanation as given in Advanced Operating Systems text by Mukesh Singhal and Niranjan Shivaratri.The explanation is totally confusing.Can anyone give a clear and succinct explanation.Ichgab (talk) 11:41, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Does this page help at all? -- BenRG (talk) 22:59, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Download WP to cellphone

Hi,

I asked this same question a few months ago, but I was hoping for new info. Is it possible to download WP (minus images, history, etc to cut down the size) to a cellphone. This is to avoid data charges by just accessing the online version. What kind of phone would I need for this?

Cheers,

Aaadddaaammm (talk) 11:46, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

I think we established last time the answer is yes, so what 'new info' are you hoping for (if the answer was yes last time, it's not likely to be no this time)? As for what sort of phone, a look at the wikipock website should tell you.

If you want alternatives well a quick look into the foundation related efforts, in particular Meta:Offline readers and Wikipedia talk:Version 1.0 Editorial Team which were linked last time, and perhaps Strategy:Proposal:Offline Wikipedia which is linked to from the meta offline readers page suggest progress on the mobile phone front is not great.

If those pages don't provide enough info, I would suggesting asking there since there's a good chance someone there is more likely to be able to provide the info then here particularly given the minimal response last time. However if you look it seems those pages have a lot of good info. For example, it doesn't appear kiwix is currently working on any mobile phones.

Also someone in the talk page of the Strategy Proposal page did mention WPMP [1] which releases wikipedia as Mobipocket files so any phone which can support a Mobipocket reader should in theory support those although you'd need enough storage space and it's possible some phones making it difficult or impossible to use the files generated but again, looking at the details provided by WPMP is probably your best bet.

Nil Einne (talk) 14:04, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

iPad Compatability With Yahoo

I bought an iPad a couple of weeks ago. It's my first Apple device. One of my favorite uses of my PC is playing cards with other people at Yahoo games. When I try to do so on my iPad, I get an error message relating to Java. I have been unable to resolve the issue. Is there a resolution?Chief41074 (talk) 14:12, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Some of the fancier Yahoo! games are implemented using Java applets (rather than regular web content such as HTML+javascript). iPad (and its iPhoneOS buddies iPodTouch and iPhone) don't support Java and, it seems, never will. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 14:37, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

In your situation the best solution would be to try and find similar card game apps through the app store. 131.111.185.68 (talk) 14:40, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Eventually though many major sites should have a non-Java option. Chevymontecarlo 15:10, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Or, major hardware vendors like Apple will strategically choose to implement Java for their device (or simply permit users to install and run OpenJDK on their platform). Why should people stop using a widespread, free, and open technology to cater to the whim of a proprietary device vendor? Nimur (talk) 17:00, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Because Steve Jobs is so cool and we all want to be just like him. Buddy431 (talk) 20:48, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

The trouble is that Apple is extremely concerned about look-and-feel, and they want to prevent their users from ever gazing upon Swing widgets. Apple has the luxury of people willing to jump through hoops to make custom applications look Apple-y. Paul (Stansifer) 00:02, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

I was kind of afraid of that. Thanks for the swift response.Chief41074 (talk) 16:23, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Mac Mini analog audio output

I'm planning on buying a new Mac Mini, and I wanted to confirm my understanding of the audio connections. I'm going to hook it up to an LCD TV using a mini-DVI to VGA connector. That leaves audio: I know the Mini has an internal mono speaker, but I'd prefer its sound came out of the TV's stereo speakers. Happily the TV has both a single stereo 3.5mm TRS connector receptacle (labelled "PC audio") and the normal red/white RCA connector audio sockets you'd get on most hifi equipment and larger TVs. And I have the cables to make either connection. Were this a PC (the hardware for which I'm comfortable) I'd just hook either up to the regular green line-out connector on the PC and be done. My hands-on Mac experience ends at a Macintosh LC, so I'm asking y'all to confirm that the Mac's analog output is the same. Mac Mini#External connectivity 2 says (of the two TRS receptacles the Mini has) "support both analog audio input and output" but Apple's spec page on the Mini (here) calls the analog output a "headphone" jack. Is calling it a "headphone" jack just mean it's a regular line-out jack, or is it putting out a higher voltage (and thus more power) than a PC's line-out (and thus risk damaging the preamp in my TV)? TL;DR: is it safe to hook a Mac Mini's audio output jack to a TV's stereo RCA inputs? Thanks. 87.114.110.237 (talk) 14:28, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

VHDL, ModelSim and Clocks

I'm using the free web version of Altera's quartus and attached ModelSim. The following code works passably

clock_gen : PROCESS IS
BEGIN
	clock <= '0' AFTER (0 ns), '1' AFTER (ClockPeriod / 2);
	WAIT FOR ClockPeriod;
END PROCESS clock_gen;

How can I adjust the phase of the clock by some arbitrary amount simply. This seems to work, but its a bit clunky and leaves the first part of the first period undefined. Is there a better way?

clock_gen : PROCESS IS
BEGIN
	clock <= '0' AFTER (10 ns), '1' AFTER ((ClockPeriod / 2) + 10 ns;
	WAIT FOR ClockPeriod;
END PROCESS clock_gen;

-- SGBailey (talk) 16:21, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Are you aware of Altera's hardware phase locked loop devices built in to all their chips? You can access them with the ALTPLL Megafunction, described in Phase-Locked Loop (ALTPLL) Megafunction User Guide, as well as this section of the NIOS on-chip CPU hardware guide, Clock Control Peripherals, or these examples for raw VHDL/Verilog. If you need precise, fine control over clock parameters, including phase, you should use these hardware PLLs instead of general purpose logic. However, be aware of vendor lock-in - if you use Altera megafunctions, you can't port your design to other chip manufacturers. Nimur (talk) 17:04, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Yes, but they aren't relevant here. I'm not generating a clock within a pld, but rather simulating external sensors in a testbench. -- SGBailey (talk) 18:32, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Even still, you can use an ALTPLL in ModelSim, because you are already using Quartus's version of Modelsim-Altera. The User Guide has a section with examples that show how to do this. You will have complete control of the clock and phase; and if they are, as you say, simulating external devices, then the "black-box" model that the megafunctions use will be fine. Nimur (talk) 15:22, 26 May 2010 (UTC)

Ahh. Ta. -- SGBailey (talk) 21:51, 28 May 2010 (UTC)

Microsoft Office 2000 Premium refuses to uninstall

Because during uninstall it asks me to insert some installation disk, which I have not got. How can I uninstall it? Would just deleting the Micriosoft Office folder in the Programs directory work, followed by running Ccleaner to remove redundant registry enteries? Its a nasty program if it will not uninstal. Thanks 92.15.29.164 (talk) 21:24, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Revo Uninstaller would be a better option. But try the "remove office components" thingy first (rather than a full uninstall) and whittle away the bits of the whole Office package. In doing that you might break the dependency on whatever it thinks it needs the disk for, leaving the full uninstaller able to work. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 21:27, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

I downloaded and installed Rwevo Uninstaller freeware version. But as it only offers the option of using the MS Office 2000 Premium built-in uninstaller, which as explained above will not work, then it is of no use. I did not see any "remove office components" option, perhaps you have mixed this up with erasing the Office history. 92.15.29.164 (talk) 21:55, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

Install or remove individual office components is in the Add or Remove programs section of Control Panel - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HP052741691033.aspx -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:49, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

I tried clicking "change" instead of remove and got the same problem. I have deleted the Office 2000 Premium manually and ran registry cleaners. So far, no problems. I also used Windows Installer CleanUp Utility, and the Office Removal Wizard, which removed another 45MB of unwanted stuff. Perhaps the Office Removal Wizard could have done the whole deletion job itself. Its nice to be clean, and the computer seems to be running faster than previously. Next stop, Ubuntu. 92.24.188.82 (talk) 23:48, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

OpenSUSE key/mouse repeat problems.

My computer has recently developed a problem where when I tap the mouse or (occasionally) when I'm typing, the mouse button will cause two mouse-clicks instead of one - or my keyboard will produce two letters instead of one.

I'm kinda suspecting that maybe I have a bad motherboard battery - in fact, I'm almost sure I do - and I could maybe understand why that might cause clock problems that might make this happen.

Can anyone confirm whether this is likely to be true? Is there some other explanation? Is there a work-around I can apply (like maybe telling the system to use the software clock rather than the hardware one) until I can find the time to replace it?

SteveBaker (talk) 21:55, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

I can't see why the motherboard battery would make any difference. You can, in general, remove it entirely and (albeit with faffing around in the BIOS at each startup) everything should work fine; the clock will advance as normal, just it'll go back to 1970 on reboot. The system (jiffy) clock is seeded from the NV clock only at bootup, and I've never seen keyboard code that cared about the keyboard events' timestamps anyway (hmm, maybe entropy seeding...). I'd hazard that the USB host controller is misbehaving (try simply moving mouse and kb to different usb ports, or even just swapping them, and maybe experimentally remove other (new?) usb devices on the same controller). -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:40, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

[Additional straw clutching] - the BIOS generally has a USB KB/mouse compatibility mode, which takes USB keyboard and mouse events and generates fake PS/2 keystrokes/mickeys, for old OSes that don't know USB, or installers that haven't started a USB HC driver yet. This mode should never /also/ generate the genuine USB event, but who knows what it's doing if the battery is, as you say, failing. See if disabling that option in the BIOS helps. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 22:46, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

I don't know how to solve this proble, but I do know what it's called: keybounce. Hopefully with that keyword you'll be able to search for solutions more effectively. 98.226.122.10 (talk) 23:02, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

I believe mice send a signal both when the button is pressed and again when it's released, and the mouse driver controls which of these is actually used. Therefore, perhaps there is a problem with the mouse driver, which is causing it to use both. StuRat (talk) 23:24, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

I don't see how it could be the drivers because mouse and keyboard both do it - and they must surely have different drivers. They do share a USB hub though...I'm going to try another one of those tonight. SteveBaker (talk) 19:22, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

Eek, you didn't mention a hub. That (and not the HC) is the common point shared between the failures, so it's your first point of call. In addition to the hub being bad, worry about it being power-exhausted. I confess I don't know what a recent Linux dist does when a device reports being underpowered (Windows pops up a little message); I'm off to try plugging all my usb devices into a self-powered hub, just to see. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 19:45, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

At least on my Ubuntu/Lucid (Gnome) there seems to be no indication; indeed I can so overtax a hub that devices starve altogether and there's no indication, and nothing worthwhile shows in lsusb -v So definitely disconnect any bus-powered usb arcwelding equipment you have on that same hub. -- Finlay McWalter • Talk 20:04, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

Did you try booting from a Windows hard disk to see whether the problem is reproducible then? Comet Tuttle (talk) 18:38, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

What is this "Win-doze" of which you speak?  :-) I don't actually own a Windows disk/license. Aside from my wife's bletcherous laptop - we are a Microsoft-free zone! SteveBaker (talk) 19:22, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

Amazing! Naturally, because this is the Reference Desk, I have to challenge that, and ask whether you really lack both an Xbox and a Dreamcast. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:32, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

windows system resource manager

Is there anything similar to Windows System Resource Manager for Windows 7? 82.44.55.254 (talk) 22:17, 24 May 2010 (UTC)