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Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2008 November 27

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November 27

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RCA DRC628 dvd player

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I have a RCA DRC628 dvd player...it has a USB port on the back. I found this page which seems to say that music and photos can be played from the port, but I was wondering if there was a way to get videos to play from my USB thumb drive as well? If so, how can I tell which video formats will play? I've tried a few (WMV, AVI, MOV) but it doesn't find them at all. Thanks in advance, Kickstart70TC 01:44, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If it can play video at all it would probably only play mpeg files, probably only mpeg that is encoded same as a dvd.--Dacium (talk) 04:07, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I owned an RCA DVD recorder a few years back. It had an USB port that was used to playback JPEG images in slideshows. I would imagine the USB port on your does the same. --69.149.213.144 (talk) 05:37, 1 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

big number calculator software

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I'm looking for a downloadable/online calculator that has little/no truncation and has adequate accuracy. This is will help in my ongoing quest to calculate e to a large number of digits. Don't say "Google search it, noob!" and point at link1 or link2, because I've already googled it and found those (which don't work for my purposes). flaminglawyercneverforget 08:58, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Did you check out the links in the External Links section of the Wikipedia article on e? One of them has e computed to at least 2 million digits. Another (supposedly) has example code for computing e to arbitrary precision. If, despite these, you're still looking for something that would allow you to do large integer arithmetic, you can try Python. I don't know if it's efficient enough for your purpose, but large integer arithmetic is a built-in feature of the language. --173.49.12.59 (talk) 10:39, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Every programming language has support for arbitrary length numbers. Usually, the numbers are represented as strings - so you are actually limited to how long the language allows a string to be. -- kainaw 18:56, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
See the answer here on the mathematics reference desk. -- Tcncv (talk) 06:11, 2 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Reinstalling Ubuntu and extras in a new computer

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How can I best clone my Ubuntu installation into another computer? Is there a command that would list all my presently installed programs? I would have no problem installing a new version of Ubuntu, but what about cloning the settings?Mr.K. (talk) 11:19, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I asked a similar question on linuxquestions.org a while ago, the answers there might be useful. --NorwegianBlue talk 14:45, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, that is exactly what I have searching for. --80.58.205.37 (talk) 17:43, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

would the mac mini support some weight?

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Could I put my LCD monitor (a very old and small one, like 15 inches) on a Mac Mini without problems? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.217.99.209 (talk) 13:54, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Not recommended according to Apple -

Don't put anything on top of your Mac mini or stack Mac minis on top of each other either. If your Mac mini is configured with AirPort or Bluetooth, you could hamper the signal strength since the antennas are located in the top of the computer.[1]

. Buy a stand instead. Exxolon (talk) 22:38, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, but only if your goal is to produce Apple sauce. :-) StuRat (talk) 06:49, 28 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Television and xbox 360 region encoding

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Are televisions regionally encoded?

If so, then I would assume that televisions in South Korea would have PAL encoding. In that case, is it true that my xbox 360 will not work with such a television? If all of this is not a false belief, then is it possible to buy a converter?

Thank you! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.190.163.91 (talk) 14:45, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

NTSC/PAL are analog television transmission formats, not "region encoding". All modern TVs are multi-system and handle both NTSC and PAL. The distinction is historic and originally had to do with 50Hz/6Hz AC current, with NTSC designed for 60Hz current, and PAL designed for 50Hz current. South Korea is 60Hz so their analog television transmissions are NTSC (in SK's case, "NTSC M"). In addition to NTSC-PAL converters (ca 30$), there are also CDs for consoles that allow you to switch the TV format. Search for "xbox ntsc or pal". -- Fullstop (talk) 17:54, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Algorithm

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Hello there, My name is Arslan Yaqub.I m the student of BSIT in Sargodha University Sargodha (Punjab)Pakistan. My question is "What is the Algorithm?"''''Bold text' Please send me or show here exact defination with examples. thanks a lot. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Arslan 26r uos (talkcontribs) 15:00, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See algorithm. Algebraist 15:02, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
that addresses what algorithms are, but the user's question was what is the algorithm. I humbly submit that the algorithm is RSA. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.217.99.209 (talk) 16:07, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]
I would need to see what the teacher put directly above the question to answer the question. Though I've been trying very hard for many years to learn how to use ESP to view all Pakistani homework assignments, I'm not that good (yet). -- kainaw 18:54, 27 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]