Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2011 August 15

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August 15[edit]

HP 6310 all-in-one printer[edit]

My printer works fine but when I press HP solutions centre with a view to scanning, it says no HP products can be found. Kittybrewster 05:37, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I suggest you reinstall the software from the original CD. Keep the printer switched on so that it is found.--Shantavira|feed me 07:25, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
thank you. I had to uninstall first. Kittybrewster 01:55, 17 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Web-page problem[edit]

I have a webpage which has a typical button where a single mouse click by user opens next page. It works well while the page is on the server. But when I (to test it) download the page on my harddisk and try to test the webpage by clicking the button, the button does not work. How I can come around this problem. Note that when I save the page on my PC I also end up saving a whole folder which has several files like javascript and etc. Should I do something with these javascript or the html within the webpage so that the clicking on button may open the next webpage which is on server, not my PC, remember the button is now on the webpage on my PC harddisk, (It works OK when this webpage is on server). Please help. 124.253.136.32 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 06:02, 15 August 2011 (UTC).[reply]

You could dry downloading the target page of the click. This would work if the click link assumes a local folder. Alternatively, you could edit the click link to point back to the server by specifying the full URL. This might be trickier if the link is implemented in Java script. To find out, just view the source (HTML) in your browser. Dbfirs 07:39, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
>You could dry downloading the target page of the click.
124.253.136.32 describes clicking a button to open the target page. It sounds like they want to save the page with the button on it and re-generate the results the button creates. That is, +the content of the target page may be different every time.
Wouldn't it need to be Java to implement this? -- but thanks for clarifying my rather woolly reply. Dbfirs 07:24, 16 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I was thinking of a page with a constant address but that contains frequently changing content. (Say, a page that always shows today's weather forecast.) In that case, saving a copy of the target page may not be useful: you want to get the most recent conent. +Edited above to clarify. --Bavi H (talk) 01:54, 17 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
>Alternatively, you could edit the click link to point back to the server by specifying the full URL.
When you use your browser's Save As command and it puts the page images and elements in a sub-folder (as 124.253.136.32 describes above), the browser also modifies all of the links in the saved page to have full URLs. So the problem may be more complex than an incomplete relative URL. --Bavi H (talk) 02:50, 16 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, agreed, but it depends how the page was downloaded. I've had this problem in the past, but I agree it sounds unlikely here because, as you say, the "thicket" folder was also saved. Dbfirs 07:24, 16 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=html ¦ Reisio (talk) 01:07, 16 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

As Dbfirs also suggested, if you want to solve this yourself as a learning exercise, use your browser's View Source command, find the parts that describe the button, and search online to learn about them and HTML and HTTP in general. Here are some possible problems to investigate:
  • The code of the page may have different parameters for the button every time you view the page from the server (for example, the button may have a different time stamp or session number each time). When you save the page on your hard drive and use it again later, the saved parameters may now be out of date.
  • The server may be looking for a particular cookie or referrer which isn't present when use the button from the page on your hard drive.
If you describe more about what the button does or provide a link to where it is, we may be able help you get the button to work from a page saved on your hard drive. --Bavi H (talk) 02:40, 16 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
124.253.135.225 replied on my talk page:
[...] When you save the page on your hard drive and use it again later, the saved parameters may now be out of date. - that, man, seems to be the reason. Now, how can we do something about it...
and
One important thing I forgot to tell you is that target page (on the server) is a .jsp page
We don't have enough information to tell what's causing the button not to work from the page on your hard drive. Would you be comfortable saying where the button is? If not, perhaps you can describe what the button does or describe some of the HTML code the button uses? --Bavi H (talk) 02:18, 17 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Wireless internet provision in a large building such as a hotel[edit]

I am currently on holiday and have stayed at several hotels. Many of the hotels provide wireless internet through a commercial hotspot service where I must sign up and hand over my credit card details. The rates are high - sometimes more than €5 per hour. However, the same hotels often provide a free internet service, but only from one fixed PC usually placed in the lobby area. I was told last night the reason they don't provide free wireless service to guest rooms was the cost. That puzzled me; what costs are involved? After all, they are already providing the free service in the lobby; surely there is just extending the existing service by installing wireless access points, one or two per floor, the associated power and network installation, and some occasional maintenence costs. Surely that couldn't cost more than a couple of thousand euros. Spread over all the guest nights I imagine it would add < €1 to the room rates and will be paid off in less than a year. Or have I got my ballpark calculations completely wrong? --91.13.16.36 (talk) 08:57, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I can't speak to your question exactly other than to say most all hotels I've stayed at (all in the US) have had free wireless internet, so I don't see how it could be /that/ cost prohibitive to supply. The few I've heard of that provide wireless you have to pay for have provided free wired internet hookup in the rooms so that all one has to do for free internet is bring along the correct cord. Ks0stm (TCG) 09:05, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
A high percentage of the wired providers that I've encountered have the cord in the room. Though, it's only about 3' long. So, you're tethered to the desk which has A) the most uncomfortable chair in the room and B) no good line of sight to both the desk and the television without craning your neck. Dismas|(talk) 09:23, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
As far as I could see here in Spain: more upscale hotels, where the guests are supposed to have more means, charge about €5 per day. Backpacker hotels, go guess why, offer it for free. 88.14.196.229 (talk) 10:29, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
It seems likely to me that if guests were given the option of using free wifi in their room, internet usage would go up, so you would need to take the cost of extra bandwidth into account too. The cost of one or two internet-connected computers in the lobby (they will need one or more for reception staff to use anyway) is minuscule, and would presumably allow the hotel to advertise free internet access. 130.88.73.71 (talk) 15:36, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I'd suggest that hotels are in the business of maximising their profits, and will charge for any services at whatever rates will do that, regardless of how much it actually costs to provide the service. The majority of guests at more upscale hotels probably choose a particular hotel for other reasons than internet access costs and are willing to pay the charges, particularly if they require it for business purposes. Backpacker and similar hotels are catering to a clientele likely to be, on average, poorer, younger and more internet desireous, where (lack of) free internet access may well be a deciding factor in which hotel they choose. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.201.110.110 (talk) 19:22, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Also, business users will probably be able to claim back the wifi fees as expenses, hence they are effectively free for the user (and if a business or travel agency is choosing a hotel, they're unlikely to investigate the wifi charges). Similar considerations apply to extortionate hotel phone bills - many businesses will pay for their employees' calls, a few other people will be conned out of large amounts of money, and the rest will find an alternative method of making cheap calls. --Colapeninsula (talk) 09:54, 16 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Program Files Folder x2[edit]

Resolved

Hello all, I have just got a new laptop. It's a 64bit Win7 laptop, and I have noticed there are two 'Program Files' folders - one 'normal' one, and one with '(x86)' written after it. I suspect the (x86) one is for programs that are intended for 32-bit versions of Windows - can anyone confirm this? --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 12:58, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that is right. See this link, it kind of explains how it would be useful if you had two different versions (x86 and x64) of the same program both installed. —Akrabbimtalk 13:11, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, thanks - very helpful link! --KägeTorä - (影虎) (TALK) 13:42, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Identify software for plotting stories[edit]

Hi; is anyone able to identify this software, and any equivalent Windows version if possible? Ta. ╟─TreasuryTagOsbert─╢ 16:36, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

That's a screenshot of Scrivener. There's a Windows version in public beta available - I haven't used the Windows version yet so I don't know how many bugs it still has -- Ferkelparade π 16:46, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Great – thanks so much! ╟─TreasuryTagCounsellor of State─╢ 21:11, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Find and Replace expression: Change 3rd colon to a period?[edit]

I've never written a search expression for Find and Replace, so I'm sorry if I haven't done my homework. I have a table of timecodes in the format "00:00:00:00" — I need to change the last colon into a period so it reads "00:00:00.00". Can you give me some pointers? --24.249.59.89 (talk) 20:05, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I assume you are asking about something like sed. The command you want is a regular expression. In sed, you'd use sed -i "s/\([0-9]{2}:[0-9]{2}:[0-9]{2}\):\([0-9]{2}\)/\1.\2/g" yourfile.txt -- kainaw 20:13, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Simpler might be s/:(\d\d[^\d:])/.$1/ or s/:(\d\d)$/.$1/ depending on what else might be in the strings, and if the time-code is at the end of the string (second method). Rich Farmbrough, 21:01, 15 August 2011 (UTC).[reply]
sed might be a bit complicated for a learner or someone new to programming. What language are you using? Sandman30s (talk) 10:32, 16 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Looking for nice boxes and arrows FOSS[edit]

Ideally the sort of thing where you move the boxes around and the arrows re-route, etc. Rich Farmbrough, 21:05, 15 August 2011 (UTC).[reply]

Dia (software) -- Finlay McWalterTalk 21:58, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

twitter[edit]

how do i view what people tweet about me — Preceding unsigned comment added by Von1235 (talkcontribs) 21:16, 15 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Do you have a twitter account - And if so, are you talking about what people say when mentioning your username ('@username') in their tweets, or what people are generally saying about you without referencing your twitter username (or both?)? Darigan (talk) 08:03, 16 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

both — Preceding unsigned comment added by Von1235 (talkcontribs) 15:47, 16 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]