Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2012 September 14

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September 14

How do you use Dia?

Just kidding. This is of course not the kind of question that should be posted here -- though it's not so different from many that are posted, and then even get polite and helpful answers.

Well, half kidding. I've just encountered "Wikipedia:How to draw a diagram with Dia" for the first time. This started off as a (terrible) article in mainspace, as far back as 2003. I have just now fiddled with it so that in various, mostly trivial ways it's perhaps rather less obviously terrible than it was an hour ago. (Sample: "I like Dia".) But it's still terrible. I neither have used Dia nor have any pressing need to do so, but if you, reading this, do know Dia and are in a pedagogic/altruistic mood, then Wikipedia:How to draw a diagram with Dia might be worth some of your time. -- Hoary (talk) 08:43, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

The page probably doesn't belong in WP space either. It should be moved to wikibooks or wikiversity. Taemyr (talk) 13:44, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

please how can i compile a kernel which can be used in the cdrom:/isolinux

Question moved from the misc reference desk. --ColinFine (talk) 11:13, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

if i have nothing,but i want to generate a cdrom with linux system,such as fedora 16. then i get the kernel source from "kernel.org".now,i need to compile a kernel for isolinux/,and i saw it's name usually called "vmlinuz",and i need initrd.img too,actually more,such as isolinux.cfg,isolinux.bin and so on. but the "vmlinuz" is different from i compiled before which be put on /boot in the exist system. i really want to know how can i compile it.please help me.thanks very much. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Huluobo007 (talk • contribs) 08:31, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

It sounds like you're trying to figure out how to make a bootable CD on your own. Instead, I suggest you look for one of the many bootable Linux disk images already out there, such as Damn Small Linux. One thing to be aware of, however, is that a CDROM version of Linux can't be changed, meaning you can't store preferences, get upgrades to software, etc. You might want to use a CDROM in conjunction with a flash drive, to store those type of changes. This also allows you to go back to the CD alone, should any of those changes mess things up. StuRat (talk) 20:42, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

See http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Building_a_custom_kernel. But I agree with StuRat that it's probably a bad idea for you to try this. Looie496 (talk) 23:31, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

Google Reader not working with Google Alerts feeds

Hi,

Today, for the first time, Google reader tells me that I am not allowed to display feeds from Google alerts. However, feeds from other providers are displayed as usual in Google Reader. Moreover, if I copy the feed URL from Google Reader and paste it into my browser's address bar, the feed content is displayed normally. Any ideas?

Thanks. Apokrif (talk) 12:56, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

It works again (with a different browser on a different machine, though). Apokrif (talk) 19:05, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

Can you test it out on the old machine and browser, to see if it's fixed there, too ? StuRat (talk) 20:35, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

I used again the old machine (with Internet Explorer 8) and I got the error message again! Apokrif (talk) 08:06, 27 September 2012 (UTC)

Can I disable double-click on title bar ?

I still want to be able to maximize windows in the other ways, but not by this method, as my tired old mouse often double clicks when I try to click once. I'm on Windows XP SP3. StuRat (talk) 18:29, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

I doubt that there is. Looked around the menus and control panel in an XP virtual machine, nothing relevant. The question has been asked before: [1], but got no answers as far as I can see. Googling for registry hacks returned this, in which some answers refer to the choice of using double or single clicks to open a folder (which is selectable by opening explorer, selecting tools, folder options), which I realize is not what you're asking, others suggested searching for third party mouse management software, and others suggested experimenting with the double click speed in the control panel mouse applet. The last suggestion might be worth a try in your case. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 11:23, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. How about if I want to globally disable maximize everywhere. Is that possible ? (I can always resize the window to be as big as I need.) StuRat (talk) 14:20, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

My interpretation of the answers to the second link was that that too would involve some add-on program which can globally intercept mouse and windows events, and perhaps intercept the WM_MAXIMIZE message, using global hooks (???) I'm not sure if this makes sense at all (someone please confirm or refute!), and if if does, maybe no-one has invested the time it takes to create such a program, for which there may be limited demand. If it makes sense, and you have the programming tools and skills, maybe you'd like to try and write such a program yourself. --NorwegianBlue ^talk 20:06, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. Sounds easier to just replace the mouse, though. StuRat (talk) 20:13, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

Note that the double-click speed setting in the Mouse control panel sets the maximum interval between clicks that is still considered a double-click. (Beyond the maximum interval, clicks are considered as two separate clicks.) StuRat would want to set a minimum interval between clicks where the double-click recognition starts. (Below the minimum, the fast double-click is considered a single click.) The closest idea like this I know of is a FilterKeys option in the Accessibility control panel. There's an option there to ignore repeat keys under a minimum interval, but that's only for keyboard keys, not mouse buttons.

When my mouse buttons at work started triggering double-clicks when I pressed once, I made a temporary solution using AutoHotkey. I mapped the mouse buttons to nothing to disable them, and mapped number pad / and * to generate the left and right mouse buttons. (This was inspired by MouseKeys, but I only needed the mouse buttons.)

LButton::
return

RButton::
return

NumpadDiv::LButton
NumpadMult::RButton

However, this quickly grew tiresome and I got the mouse replaced. --Bavi H (talk) 21:18, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

Yea, that could get annoying. StuRat (talk) 23:42, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

I did have one mouse once that was giving extra clicks that I managed to fix for a while by opening it up and cleaning out miscellaneous stuff from. But... if you're not really picky a new mouse is like $10, and if you are picky, it's probably still less than $100. :) ¦ Reisio (talk) 05:53, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

I actually prefer the cheap mouse. I once had a "premium" mouse bristling with buttons, but found I kept hitting the wrong button accidentally. StuRat (talk) 17:25, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

One time I called BestBuy to see if they had Logitech's cheapest $15 mouse (the equivalent of the M100 they have now, basically), and (after a runaround about not being able to search by model # but only BestBuy's own proprietary ID) was told "oh we don't have any mice that cheap". :p ¦ Reisio (talk) 23:27, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

How to download a video from a website to then upload it onto YouTube?

When there's no "download" option on the video? Thank you. Timothyhere (talk) 21:58, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

What website? 87.112.131.17 (talk) 22:43, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

^ ¦ Reisio (talk) 05:58, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

And what video? It's possible you shouldn't be doing that because the video may be copyrighted. - Purplewowies (talk) 06:37, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

Downloading Torrents on Wi-Fi

I went to a restaurant that I knew had wi-fi specifically so I could download torrents, but it's not working. It was working earlier today at McDonald's via Wayport. Are places blocking torrents these days some how or is it more likely something wrong on my end? 68.56.137.137 (talk) 23:20, 14 September 2012 (UTC) Additionally, they're using Comcast, so could it be Comcast blocking it? I know they used to throttle P2P downloaders. 68.56.137.137 (talk) 23:22, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

Many free anonymous wi-fi hotspots block torrent downloads. I wouldn't suppose anything wrong at your end. I just wonder that not all block them. OsmanRF34 (talk) 12:09, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

Ignorance :) ¦ Reisio (talk) 06:03, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Check if your torrent client uses a new random port each time you start it; you may have just lucked out and gotten a bad port. Alternatively, check if your torreent client isn't using a new random port each time you start it; you may be using a super popular port for torrenting that's bound to more frequently cut you off.
They definitely can block you though. Even if they aren't trying to block torrenting specifically, they might be implementing bandwidth quotas per connection or any number of other things. ¦ Reisio (talk) 06:03, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

My workplace throttles large downloads. It could well be the restaurant is doing the same thing. Mingmingla (talk) 22:22, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Using Siri with other languages

I really dislike the default United States language configuration for Siri so I played around by switching the language to UK and Australian English in the settings. I discovered that as a result of this change, Siri will only do web searches unless I switch it back to my default language. So, in order to find map directions to a business, I had to change it. Does anyone know why this is and if there is a way to modify the horrible US default so that it works in either UK or Australian English? This is the kind of nonsense that makes me think twice about buying another iPhone. The user should be able to have the freedom to modify these types of features. Viriditas (talk) 23:25, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

Step one would be to jailbreak it, since that's the only way you can modify the iPhone in any way. 68.56.137.137 (talk) 23:45, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

I have an old 3GS lying around that I don't use. Can I run Linux on it? I would like to program with python on it, but I think the PythonMath app might be limited due to the same interference from Apple. 166.147.89.145 (talk) 00:15, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

On your last point ("The user should be able to..."), Apple Computer disagrees with you about 80% of the time. The reason for their products' success is largely because THEY design and control the entire "user experience". In order for you to muck around with it, they would have to give you some control over your experience. Capice? 184.100.91.176 (talk) 23:54, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

I understand how the ecosystem works; it's just that not allowing the user to change the sound of Siri's voice, and then disabling the features when they do change it, goes too far. You should not punish a user for trying to improve the user experience, and yet pretty much every computer company does. Viriditas (talk) 00:08, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

I doubt if they are intentionally punishing you. Most likely they disabled that combo because they didn't have time to test out every combo before they released it. This is the type of problem you should expect when you live on the bleeding edge of technology. If you want more stable software, wait 'til it's perfected. StuRat (talk) 01:41, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

You're better off asking at an Apple Store than here. The Computing Desk is a known haven of anti-Apple partisans (for good or ill reasons) most of whom don't have the technology in question and don't actually care about finding the answer (unless the answer is "don't buy from Apple"). --Mr.98 (talk) 02:46, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

Without getting into the arguments above, our very own Siri (software) article links to [2] which while from the 2011 launch appears to confirm there are a number of limitations if you either aren't located in the US or don't use US English. (I found this out via a search for 'australian english siri web searches', while the results weren't clearly helpful, I decided the main Apple Siri FAQ and our article looked interesting enough to check out to see if they had useful info.) I presume this hasn't changed. Of course if you follow the iPhone or Apple's developments at all, you probably know iOS 6 is due out soon along with the iPhone 5. These [3] [4] results, also found with a simple search ('siri ios 6.0 uk english'), seem to suggest the limitations would be reduced with iOS 6. This source [5] seems to suggest you'd be told the same thing by Apple support so I somewhat doubt you're gain anything fruitful from going in to an Apple Store. This source [6] does recommend a sort of work around in the mean time (use Siri to use Google).

Incidentally StuRat is likely part way to the truth. I suspect this has more to do with what Apple decided to support (based on the amount of testing, coding and database development needed) rather then primarily for testing reasons. Historically with the iPhone, Apple has tended to concentrate on the US first (other companies also do that to some extent in some cases). While they could have enabled UK or Australian English for people in the US and US businesses, most likely they thought it unimportant enough not to worry about. I expect they would likely want to do more work on the voice and/or the database info (that is sent to the TTS engine) before enabling it. (I don't know the details of the TTS engine or database info, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's slightly more then pure text and the voice files even though they're TTS do have some optimisations for saying the business info.)

Of course it's also possible that Apple make the unfortunate assumption (and will continue to do so in iOS 6) that if you're using UK English you must live in the UK and if you're using Australian English you must live in Australia. These sort of silly assumptions aren't exactly unique to Apple, although as some of the earlier contributors said, with Apple that if they decide it should be that way, you often have no choice but to go along particularly with iOS devices where the amount modification with jailbreaking is limited. (I should mention I've never used an iPhone but have used an iPad 2 a decent amount.)

Nil Einne (talk) 14:27, 15 September 2012 (UTC)

Thank you. According to your links, this limitation has been known about for almost a year. So what has Apple been doing this whole time? I'm starting to look seriously at Android now. I can't handle this kind of incompetence. Viriditas (talk) 00:08, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Be sure you research Android first, to make sure it doesn't have similar limitations. StuRat (talk) 00:17, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

All I'm asking for is to be woken up in the morning with the voice of Karen Jacobsen. Is that so difficult? Viriditas (talk) 00:29, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Probably. This company is trying personalised speech synthesis i.e. primarily for people to get synthesers to sound like themselves [7]. And Microsoft Research is evidentally trying it for different languages [8]. But while some companies have use celebrity voices for stuff like GPSes this isn't usually in the form of TTS. I'm not aware of any company bothering with celebrity voices for TTS, I'm guessing given the cost issues, quality issues, etc, no one really thinks it really worth it. What's the use a Karen Jacobsen TTS, if your Australian English TTS is so obviously to the listener not a real person but a TTS? Nil Einne (talk) 05:51, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

FYI...the Australian voice on Siri is Karen Jacobsen's. That was the voice I was trying to use. Viriditas (talk) 06:31, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Oooops, sorry.... Hmm per Siri (software) and [9], it sounds like you're right. But I didn't check out her article properly, it seems she is known more for her voice work then anything else rather then being a true celebrity TTS as I thought you were asking for. From the article on her and also [10], it seems both the Australian and British voices were recorded in 2002 by Scansoft which probably highlights another reason why you're unlikely to see a full featured real celebrity TTS for a long time. A tremendous amount of work goes in to refining the engines with the recorded voices after the recording, starting with a new voice rather then an existing one will take quite a long while to get up to scratch. BTW, the Venturebeat source confirms something highlighted in the earlier sources. The recording sessions are incredibly long and boring, and being a good classical voice actor (like those used for games, animated shows etc) actually probably isn't much help (they don't want you to be able to give good expression in to what you say, they want you to say it in a flat, neutral and even manner); i.e. another two nails in the idea of a true full featured celebrity TTS. Nil Einne (talk) 07:25, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

It's 2012 going on 2013. We've been promised a virtual personal assistant for a long time now, and I'm sick of waiting. All I'm asking for is technology we already have and use—the ability to wake up with Siri out of the box (no add-on apps) as an alarm, get out of bed with her informing me about the weather and any major headlines, and then telling me about what e-mail I have waiting and whether she should read it, etc. I want Siri to contact me throughout the day with information, not act as a glorified voice assistant who helps me write a text message. She should announce my calls and ask me if I want to take them or let them go to voice mail...as a default feature. She should be able to perform tasks for me in the background, such as checking on flights, announcing when they board or when they land, order a pizza for me (hold the anchovies) and even make an appointment with the dentist. What can Siri do right now that will save me time? Nothing. She should even interface with Wi-Fi-enabled devices. If I weigh myself in the morning, and she notices that my weight is off when compared to my exercise app, she should make a comment and suggestion about the day's meal plans. The medical applications for this kind of virtual nurse is endless. She should be able to interface with the car's computer and tell you when your next oil change is needed, and set a calendar date for an appointment with the mechanic. Etc. The list goes on for pages. And let the user choose the voice! The default American English voice is terrible. Apple has really, really dropped the ball on this. Viriditas (talk) 10:21, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

You have unrealistic expectations given the current state of technology. Just consider the weighing yourself part. Is your bathroom scale capable of sending the weight info anywhere ? To know if your weight is higher than it should be, it would need to know if you've used the bathroom yet that day. Is your toilet Internet enabled ? Are you really going to enter all of your meal plans into it ? And, after the novelty wore off, would you really want to hear "Hey fat ass, try a salad every once in a while !". :-) StuRat (talk) 17:22, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Wi-Fi-enabled scales that communicate with fitness apps are hugely popular right now. Sorry you haven't heard of them. Everything I described exists. Viriditas (talk) 23:32, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Siri, out of the proverbial "box," and without any add-on apps, can set alarms, tell you the weather, give you financial and news updates, check on flights, and make meal reservations for you. Siri can even email or call your dentist, if you tell her who your dentist is. (As a matter of fact, I have used Siri to send email to my dentist). Have you read the Siri FAQ? It seems that Viriditas is a little bit mis-informed about Siri's capabilities. While Siri is not currently able to guess your weight, and of course has other technical limitations, almost every feature requested by Viriditas is present and works out of the box on existing Siri. In just a few days, iOS 6 will launch, and even more interactive features will be available. Nimur (talk) 17:29, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Wrong. You didn't understand a word of what I wrote. Siri does not do any of these things. The user does them. I want a personal assistant who will wake me up in the morning with her soothing voice and tell what the weather is like, read me the headlines of my choice and then review my email and voice mail for me, with the ability for me to interact with it from the comfort of my bed. Siri does not currently do any of these things. You're talking about a completely different type of interaction. To put it bluntly, Apple's implementation of Siri sucks. Viriditas (talk) 23:34, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Do you mean that you have to request a weather and news update each morning, rather than it automatically giving you one in the morning ? Or are you saying those features are only available in US mode ? StuRat (talk) 23:38, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Pretty much all of the above. Let me give you a good example of what I'm looking for, and what we would already have if the Siri team weren't so busy swimming in pools of money while the rest of us are saying, "I spent how much for this piece of crap?" Future narrative follows:

Monday, September 17, 2012

6:45 AM HST

Me: ZzzZzzzZzzz...

Siri: (the sound of Grieg's Morning Mood slowly fills the room) Good morning, Viriditas. Are you awake?

Me: Grunt.

Siri: The sky is clear and the temperature is a warm 77 degrees Fahrenheit today, with an ultraviolet index of 11. Please remember to wear your sunscreen today.

Me: Grunt. Yawn. Has the cat eaten yet?

Siri: The cat feeder (wi-fi-enabled) reports that the cat ate at 6:15 am. Would you like more information about the cat?

Me: (Getting out of bed) Yes.

Siri: The litter box reports (wi-fi-enabled) that the cat produced a stool at 6:25 am, and it was promptly disposed of. The litter box is clean, but a recommended service...

Me: That's fine, Siri. How much does the cat weigh?

Siri: The scale reports (wi-fi-enabled scale in front of the litter box) that the cat weighs 20lbs. Should I change the level dispensed from the feeder?

Me: Yes, change feeding schedule to twice a day for this week only.

Siri: Working...modification complete. You have seven new e-mails waiting to be read, two voice mails, one request for FaceTime and fourteen text messages. Would you like to review your messages?

Me: No. I'm going to take a shower. But tell me who sent the voice mails?

Siri:The most recent voice mail is from your dentist, Dr. Tao. Would you like to return his call?

Me: No, play the message.

Siri: Playing..."Viriditas, this is Dr. Tao's office, you have an appointment for Wednesday, Spetember 19. This is a reminder call. Thank you." End of message.

Me: Call Dr. Tao back and tell the secretary you are calling to confirm my appointment.

Siri: Calling...("Dr. Tao's office") Hello, Dr. Tao's office, this is Viriditas's personal assistant. I am calling to confirm his appointment on Wednesday, September 19, 2012. ("Thank you for calling"). You are welcome, good bye.

Me: (stepping on the scale, then into the shower)

Siri: Viriditas, the scale reports that you have gained two pounds in the last two days. Your fitness program schedule reports that you failed to exercise yesterday. Should I recalculate your exercise program to account for these changes?

Me: (from the shower) Yes, I have to train for that 5K.

Siri: Fitness program recalculated. You are currently 1000 calories over your weekly budget. Your daily calorie budget for today is 1900 calories. Please watch what you eat.

Me: (from the shower) I'm ready for a huge piece of cake!

Siri: I'm sorry, but I don't understand the desired command "cake".

Me: (from the shower) That's too bad, you would love it!

I can go on like this for several days, so I'll stop now. Hopefully you get the idea. Viriditas (talk) 00:28, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

You're not a gamer I take it.... Nil Einne (talk) 02:51, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

I try to avoid memes; I assume you are referring to Portal. Viriditas (talk) 10:06, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

It's not a matter of a meme. I can't see many people who'd ever played Portal resisting saying something else with the cake bit, even if they were trapped in a hut and had absolute no interaction with the outside world. Nil Einne (talk) 17:41, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Most of the features Viriditas continues to request have nothing to do with a personal digital assistant of any kind. While a voice-activated wireless pet-weigher and-litter-box might be neat, the reference desk isn't the appropriate place for idle speculation about future technology. Nimur (talk) 03:27, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

All of the features I've described have everything to do with using a personal assistant and everything I've described exists and can be used right now. It is entirely concerned with the use and functionality of a personal assistant, and has nothing to do with any "voice-activation" of any kind, nor do I have any idea what you are talking about. Siri is barely a functional component of the iPhone, as it has either been stripped of is basic functionality allowing the user to interact with their phone or it has been greatly limited in order for bean counters to upgrade the functionality incrementally with each new release. Its current functionality is less than zero, which is why most people don't use it. The functionality I describe is perfectly capable of being incorporated into the current system and interacting with various apps and data sources. "Voice-activation" has not a single thing to do with any of this, and personal assistants aren't supposed to be dictation machines or used for giving voice-based web search results. They are intended to help people save time and improve their lives by becoming part of the background computing milieu, in a pervasive, ubiquitous environment where the hardware disappears and humanity can focus on achieving its goals and living life at the highest levels, without being encumbered or constrained by technology. Ironically, computing and technology companies have always been the greatest barriers to this type of lifestyle, because they are solely focused on product fetishism as a marketing tool for monetizing value, rather than focusing solely on helping people improve their lives by embedding technology into the everyday, mundane sphere of interaction between people and things. Viriditas (talk) 05:16, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

Give it a decade or two. Some of those ideas may have problems, though:

A) The cat scale wouldn't work because the cat would have to pause on it while it got a good reading, and cats don't always do that. You could weigh the entire litter box, and subtract the tare weight of the box, litter, and, er, "contents", but the cat might have one or more feet outside the litter box, so you'd need the scale to extend beyond the litter box some distance in all directions.

B) Having Siri listen to you from the shower sounds like a bad idea, both because it won't be able to understand you over the shower noise and because the humidity might be bad for it (and you sure don't want to drop it into the shower). StuRat (talk) 00:13, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

If you don't want to wait until it's perfected (or purr-fected), you may want to get several devices to provide some of those functions. A wall plug appliance timer can turn on lamps and music when it's time to wake up (I suggest a cassette player for the music, without batteries, as they can be turned on and off just by adding or cutting power, unlike CD players). Something else nice to do with a cassette player is record the music at a slowly increasing volume, so you aren't jolted awake. There are weather radios which will give you the current weather at the touch of a button. Then they have those devices to clean the cat pan automatically, but, of course, you still have to empty them occasionally. StuRat (talk) 00:22, 18 September 2012 (UTC)