Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2016 April 1

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April 1

Apparent Calming

Does playing on the computer calm the brain?.. a bit like watching TV? Has any research been done on this apparent effect?--178.101.224.162 (talk) 00:02, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Yes there have been quite a few studies, here is a systematic review of studies related to the use of video games in a clinical setting. The conclusions are not yet very strong but promising. Vespine (talk) 01:58, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Here is a specific study addressing reducing pre-operative anxiety in children, which in my opinion very well fits the definition of "calming". Vespine (talk) 01:59, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

I should expect it would very much depend on the game you were playing. Some are designed to be relaxing, where there is no time limit or competitor. Solitaire comes to mind. Others are designed to be exciting, like (going back a bit) Space Invaders, which combined ever increasing speed of the attackers and thumping sounds to get your heart rate up. StuRat (talk) 02:12, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Does that even need to be said? I think it's safe to assume that watching TV of kittens being strangled won't be "calming" (for the vast majority of people). Vespine (talk) 02:20, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Well, Lennie from Of Mice and Men regularly squeezed the life out of soft things, and he was as calm as a person can get, by the end of the story. StuRat (talk) 02:35, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

(for the vast majority of people, AND fictional characters) is that better? ;) Vespine (talk) 02:54, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

LaTeX package for hyperlinks in printed documents

Anyone know of such a package?--Leon (talk) 07:20, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

For printed documents (as in "on paper"), there can be no hyperlinks. For PDFs, it depends. The url package formats URLs, and in my experience also makes them clickable (though that also depends on the reader). I think he standard package for hyperlinks is hyperref. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 12:36, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Yep, hypperref is pretty much the standard. Here [1] are a few others. CTAN will be a good resource for OP for future package searching. I may be wrong but I recall clickable URLs not working in .dvi, but working fine with .pdf. I think PdfLatex is now mostly the norm so perhaps a non-isssue. SemanticMantis (talk) 16:12, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

What happens if data centers are destroyed by nature or bombers?

How will the Internet survive? What will businesses do if they store massive amounts of data at data centers? 140.254.70.25 (talk) 19:24, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

The internet was designed to survive some cities being destroyed by thermonuclear explosions. As for businesses, the stupid ones (the ones who only store data in one data center) will lose all their data, while the smart ones (the ones who make regular backups stored in widely scattered locations) won't. --Guy Macon (talk) 20:18, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

The idea that the Internet was designed as a communications network to withstand a nuclear war is a myth. The Internet started as simply an experiment in networking computers so people could use them remotely, which was a big deal at the time as the smallest computers were the size of a couple filing cabinets and cost as much as a house. (The grain of truth behind the myth is that RAND and the DOD considered that packet switching would be more resilient in the face of large-scale network disruption, but "withstand a nuclear war" was never a formal ARPANET objective.) As to the original question, well, then those data centers will be destroyed. If you're following good practices you have backups in separate locations, but it will still cause disruption. The Internet is just a bunch of computers that talk to each other. There's nothing magical about it. The Internet wouldn't do any better than any other infrastructure, like the electrical grid or water system. --71.110.8.102 (talk) 21:25, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

"In the 1960s, Paul Baran of the RAND Corporation produced a study of survivable networks for the U.S. military in the event of nuclear war. Information transmitted across Baran's network would be divided into what he called "message-blocks"." --History of the Internet#Development of packet switching Also see: ARPANET#Debate on design goals --Guy Macon (talk) 23:32, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

References

Could we agree that the first implementation of a distributed network (ARPANET) had not the goal, nor could, survive a nuclear attack? But surviving one was proposed (by RAND) on the early stages, although never implemented?Scicurious (talk) 01:03, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

It's a bit of an overstatement to say that "stupid" businesses keep their data in one location. Many small businesses either have backups in a nearby but not identical location. And many use backup services. If whatever disaster there is destroys the data centers and the business's computer, that's not necessarily stupidity but more bad luck. Dismas|^(talk) 21:31, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

Whether this is stupid or not, it depends on how valuable the data are, and how high is the risk of multiple destruction of data center and business computer in one go. In any case, storage space is cheap, and having 3x copies of your data is the dead-sure bet.Scicurious (talk) 23:16, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

How to destroy the internet (for dummies). & How to break the internet. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 00:04, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

Great. This week I am working in one of the buildings listed under "Destroy the Data Centers"... :( --Guy Macon (talk) 03:32, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

Used printer, only Windows XP drivers available

Could I install the drivers of a used printer, which only has Windows XP drivers available? The model was discontinued, so there is no "take a look at the manufacturer's web-page for updated drivers." The most recent drivers are for XP, but I have only Windows 8.1 and a secondary computer with Ubuntu. Would Windows 8 accept the old drivers? Could I run the drivers using WINE in Ubuntu?--Scicurious (talk) 23:05, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

You could try the XP driver. If that doesn't work, you might be able to find a generic driver for 8.1 that works. I'd look for drivers for similar models. Also, if it can't be used as a printer, and it's an all-in-one unit, you can probably still use it as a copier. StuRat (talk) 23:14, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

I don't have the printer at hand, someone would send it to me. The printer I would get for free, but I'd have to pay for the shipping. So, what are the chances that I will work as a printer? --Scicurious (talk) 23:20, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

My guess is that I would estimate about a 80% chance that it would print just fine if you told Windows 8 that it was a Laserjet 4 (if it's a laser printer) a Deskjet (if it's an inkjet) or an Epson (if it's a dot matrix). I would estimate a 10% chance that Windows 8 will find a working driver when you hook it up, and I would estimate a 20% chance that Windows 10 will find a working driver. Try googling "windows 8 rasterblaster 9000 (or whatever the model is) driver" and see if anyone else has got it working. Also, don't pay for shipping if you cannot find an online source for ink/ribbons/cartridges. I had to recycle a perfectly good Commodore dot matrix that was working fine under XP because the ribbons became unavailable (nothing beats wide greenbar fanfold for studying and marking up program listings). --Guy Macon (talk) 23:52, 1 April 2016 (UTC)

The cost for shipping a printer has to be almost as much as a new inkjet printer costs, so I wouldn't bother with an iffy one. If it's a really expensive printer, like a color laserjet, then maybe it's worth the risk. StuRat (talk) 06:02, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

That's indeed the case.Scicurious (talk) 11:55, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

Printing in Linux is done via the CUPS (Common Unix Printing System); it can be installed via Ubuntu's package manager; it normally uses foomatic to handle convert the document to the printer-specific commands. It will be autoinstalled alongside CUPS. It should be possible to share the printer from Ubuntu to Windows; you might need SAMBA on Unbutu for this. LongHairedFop (talk) 14:23, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

Another thought, install a Windows XP emulator on your PC and use that to print. I'd only try this method if nothing else works. StuRat (talk) 15:13, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

Yes, agree with StuRat. If you have the time – strongly suggest installing a VM on Ubuntu. VirtualBox will do and its free. For this, it is far better than Wine. Then just instal Windows into it. The Windows XP drivers should then drive the printer. The bonus is, that once you have a VM, you can run many other operating systems with out affecting the primary OS that your computer runs on. Another advantage of a VM is when you get one of those scam telephone calls, asking if you have a problem with your computer running slow etc. One can play along with their game and waist their time too. The scam usually involves them convincing you to down load some remote access software like TeamViewer for example. They then – before your very eyes – do things on screen that may look impressive to some – and then demand payment. Should one then suspect a scam and question, they get the hump and start deleting your files – to which you have just given them access to. However, if you direct them to a VM and they endeavour to mess that up. One only has to click on 'roll back' and the OS is back to normal. Ho, Ho. Also, a VM is very much worth installing because it make you computer less dependant on a singular OS and frees it up.--Aspro (talk) 17:14, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

But if I install Windows (or any other OS) into a VM, would these OSs have access to USB ports, or other interfaces where an external device might be connected?Scicurious (talk) 20:59, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

Think the way to allay your fears (and you are more than justified to ask because that shows common-sense and caution) is to place a Linux 'live CD' in to your CD tray an boot up from it (may need you to adjust BIOS setting but that is a two minute job). Most peripherals devices (using USB) should work via the Live CD. Same with VM. Your CPU will now be taking instructions from the new OS and will obey accordingly. --Aspro (talk) 21:27, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

Scicurious, does the driver come with Win10, already? If no, what printer model is it? --Hans Haase (有问题吗) 05:46, 7 April 2016 (UTC)