Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2014 December 10

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.

December 10

Hosting English Wikipedia in College

Could anyone tell me what are the requirements to host an English Wikipedia in our college.The reason why we are planning to host an English Wikipedia is since at the time of Lab sessions the internet is not connected so we would like to host an wikipedia offline but still using the network and LAN connections of the college.You might think it's weird that even having internet connectivity but still not using online wikipedia.But let me say it's the college policy so that's why I would like to know the requirements to host an wikipedia offline.This idea came for a professor while I was using Wikipedia offline using the app XOWA.But I think it's(XOWA) firefox addon isn't working correctly and also the https connection is slow too.That's why I would suggest MediaWiki because on this platform the online wikipedia works.So could anyone help me in telling the requirements to host an English Wikipedia on MediaWiki.JUSTIN JOHNS (talk) 04:21, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

Have a look at Wikipedia:Database download there is an Wikipedia:Database download#Offline wikipedia reader mentioned there. Whilst getting a version of the wikimedia software installed is fairly easy, getting the content of the all the wikipedia articles into it takes a long time, its a 10GB download for the current versions of articles excluding the images. I tried many years back and importing the data into sql took days. See also Wikipedia:Snapshots which has CDrom versions.--Salix alba (talk): 09:38, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

MediaWiki is the software used to run Wikipedia; it is written by the Wikimedia foundation, you are free to use it separately from Wikipedia should you wish. From memory, on Linux PCs, installing it is just a matter of installing the mediawiki package, or one of mediawiki's extensions; everything else needed is automatically installed. The installer will guide you through setting up the database. Once you've enabled the mediawiki in Apache (webserver), the first time you visit your new installation you will be prompted to set the bureaucrat account. Installing mediawiki itself downloads 36MB over 29 packages, and with the Maths extension downloads 705MB over 76 packages. CS Miller (talk) 11:06, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

I have installed MediaWiki 2 years ago.But since MediaWiki can't handle more than 1 GB(not sure) I changed to XOWA app.But using XOWA for a single user might be good but when it comes to a group of users I think MediaWiki might be more efficient since online wikipedia uses this software.Could you tell me are there any memory constraints for MediaWiki(asking whether it can handle a wikipedia dump of 10GB)?I once tried to install the dump by increasing the memory limit in php configuration file(apache too) in WAMP server but I think it can handle around 1GB as I tried but when it comes to the dump file(10GB) it usually gives some error.Since I couldn't get a lot from MediaWiki should I need to install any other software.As per your recommendation I'll look for the latest MediaWiki software(haven't tried for last 2 years) as well as get an apache server.Do you mean that the requirements for hosting an English Wikipedia are:

1. MediaWiki
2. Apache Server

JUSTIN JOHNS (talk) 04:15, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

I have 2 headphone ports on my pc

Which port do I plug my 3.5mm headphones into? I have a green speaker output port on the back of my pc and I have a green one on the top of my pc towards the front. Which one should I plug my headphones into for best quality? or does it not matter? I would really like some feedback thank you! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.42.31.250 (talk) 06:37, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

Either, as long as they are connected to the same thing. KonveyorBelt 19:28, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

Yes, assuming they both are the proper sized plugs and are both for (analog) audio out, it shouldn't matter. Digital audio out, I believe, would use a different type of plug, and would be colored orange. Or perhaps one of the plugs is for analog audio in. Typically on a PC those are a different color and labeled "MIC", for microphone. However, I have a TV which also has a green plug for analog audio in, so it's possible they might do that on a PC, too. I wouldn't expect anything to happen at all if you plugged into that accidentally, so just try them both out. There's also the possibility that one has volume controlled by the PC, and the other does not, presuming you would use those with a device which has it's own controls. Again, simple trial-and-error should tell you if this is the case. StuRat (talk) 19:41, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

I planned to mention this on User:SteveBaker's question but never got around to it because I forgot and didn't know of any refs off hand. Anyway, as a quick note, even if these were different colour, it probably wouldn't matter. Virtual every x86 computer motherboard (whether Intel or AMD) has supported Intel High Definition Audio for the past 6 - 8 years or so, including as our article mentions dynamic jack retasking. So provided your OS supports it, you can plug your head phones into the pink/red mic port or the or the blue line out or the black rear speaker port or whatever you want and just tell your OS that you plugged in headphones. Windows drivers definitely usually support this, and so does Linux it seems [1]. Nil Einne (talk) 18:26, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

Thank you very much for the information. I switched from the back of my PC to the front top headphone jack on my PC. It seems that the one in front produces much louder audio then the one in the back. If I used the one in the back all the audio on my PC would not be that loud. I would turn things up as loud as I could and they would only reach a 5/10 on the headphones loudness scale. When I plug the headphones into the front top headphone jack the sound is much louder and I have to lower everything on my PC down to the bottoms of their respective dials. I dont know why the audio in the front is better than in the back. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.42.31.250 (talk) 23:22, 15 December 2014 (UTC)

Documenting on code revisions

Question by Ram nareshji deleted as probable copyvio [2] Nil Einne (talk) 14:55, 16 December 2014 (UTC)

I strongly suggest that the comments be embedded in the code, not in a separate document. Inevitably, when it comes time to revise the code, you, or the person who inherits the code, will not be able to find whatever external document you use for your comments. Also, if they refer to things like module names and line numbers, those may all change, in time. Yes, formula look a lot prettier in LaTeX, but it's far more practical to have ugly, yet fully accessible, comments.

Now, if you want to make something to supplement the comments in the code, say to present to management or use for education, then your approach might work. The diff is a good starting point, but they always seem to need some cleaning up after. Also, they need more explanation, like the words "Added code", "Modified code" and "Removed code". I'd put the code in separate frames from the comments you add. StuRat (talk) 19:46, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

I agree very much about inlining the comments. If you want it really nice, check literate programming. If you can't go quite as far, check Doxygen for a reasonably widely used style of commenting with support for automatic code and documentation browsing. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 12:16, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

DVD/CD ROM Drive issue

Hello,

My DVD/CD ROM Drive is not functioning for many days. I went to the ‘Device Manager’ window, checked the ‘properties’ option of the icon by ‘right clicking’ on it, it say’s the device is working properly still it’s not functioning. Every time I insert a CD it tries to read though sometimes it stops making (doesn’t make the reading noise). Also, sometime the light in the ROM stays on and sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t know what to do…

Can somebody help me to fix it please?

(Russell.mo (talk) 10:48, 10 December 2014 (UTC))

Not sure there's much hope of fixing it. You could try reloading the driver (or perhaps downloading it), but I think a mechanical problem is more likely. The cost to take it to a professional and repair it would be more than the cost of buying a new one. Then there's the inconvenience of being without your PC or laptop while they work on it. My suggestion, for a cheap and quick solution, buy an external DVD/CD drive which can be plugged into a USB port, and use that, instead. StuRat (talk) 20:07, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

Yes, when it says that the "device" is working, it means the driver and possibly just a "ready" signal from the drive. I assume you've tried various different CDs and DVDs. You could check that there isn't part of a label or something else obscuring the lens, and you could try a "CD/DVD Laser Cleaning Disc" to remove any dirt from the lens (see here and here for harder methods), but I agree with Stu that the problem sounds more serious and that it is probably cheaper to replace than to fix. Dbfirs 22:40, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

The problem caused because of dirt for sure and there is a 100% chance that I have to take Stu's option. It's just buying things when I don't have the spare money. Thanks friends. -- (Russell.mo (talk) 05:17, 11 December 2014 (UTC))

If you think it's just dirt, then cleaning is worth a try, but if you can afford an external drive (they're not expensive) then it's worth having that as a backup, even if you do get the dirt cleaned from the old drive. Dbfirs 18:07, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

@Dbfirs: Probably in the near future. If it doesn't work with the cleaning disk now, I just have to stay stuck with it... Thanks for the advice. I'll remember to do so. It's a clever move, to possess an extra one anyways. -- (Russell.mo (talk) 16:12, 13 December 2014 (UTC))

Ext3 vs Ext4 — Journal Size Range

Hi.

I'm a SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop user, and I'm going to upgrade from SLED 11 SP2 to SLED 12 (via a clean installation) which has support for the ext4 filesystem. But note that I'm not a subscriber, so I don't have access to SUSE commercial technical support.

I know that for an ext3 filesystem, the minimum and maximum sizes respectively of the journal are 1,024 blocks and 102,400 blocks. I need to know similarly what are the minimum and maximum sizes for the journal on an ext4 filesystem — please point me to relevant man pages where available.

Thanx, 183.90.37.241 (talk) 16:21, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

Ref desk menu

Is it just me, or has the reference desk sidebar menu been buggered up improved today? On my system, all the entries are about 2/3 of the vertical size they ought to be, and the frame is also misaligned vertically. I'm using Monobook on IE11, if that helps. And I'm sure the first recommendation will be "Don't use IE11!" - if we can take that as read, is this a problem at my end? And, indeed, is this the right place to ask about it? Tevildo (talk) 23:03, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

I updated some markup today, but I didn't see any issues when I checked. Let me look at it again. Are you referring to Wikipedia:Reference desk/header/leftside or Wikipedia:Reference desk/header/nav? --  Gadget850 ^talk 23:16, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick response. The problem is with /header/nav - it looks as though the vertical heights of the boxes are being set to the height of the text, without any margin, but this is not my area of expertise. The gap between the text on the page you linked to is still a _bit_ small - the descenders of the "g's" in "Computing" and "Language" are getting cut off - but it's not as bad as the menu displayed on the live desks, where the top boundary of each box is about half-way through the text of the one above it. Tevildo (talk) 23:23, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

I saw that issue and reverted my change; seems to have fixed it. Looked good in isolation but not when it was combined with the miss-mash of other RD templates. I will dig into that later. --  Gadget850 ^talk 23:32, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

All good now, thanks. Tevildo (talk) 23:38, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

I updated in a different manner- how does it look? --  Gadget850 ^talk 23:50, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

Still OK here - the new changes seem to have worked for me, at least. Tevildo (talk) 00:53, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

Incidentally, have you also changed the spacing in the box below the /nav box ("Help Desk", "Village Pump", "Help Manual")? I can't remember whether that used to have the same spacing as the other sidebar, but it now has much smaller margins than the /nav box - the text still fits properly, though. I assume that a suggestion along the lines of "Do the same thing to the /nav box that you did to the other box" would lead to hair-tearing and foul language (as I have some experience with this sort of thing RL), so I won't make it. :) Tevildo (talk) 01:03, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

I did the same thing I did to the other one. --  Gadget850 ^talk 01:27, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

The boxes are now all the same (large) size here, so it's probably safe to leave it as it is. Thanks again. Tevildo (talk) 09:13, 11 December 2014 (UTC)