Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2006 September 22

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Name that Game

I'm trying to find a computer game that I played several years ago (around 2000, I think). When I played it, it was a beta, so I'm not sure if it was ever finished.

Things I'm sure about:

4X space game for Microsoft Windows.
2D map.
Instantaneous communication (FTL) for a set distance
- Upgradeable with research.
- Can build ships/stations to act as relays.
- Delayed orders and information beyond that distance.
- Leader can be shipped as cargo to change where the player "is".
Around 6 resources that you need, some in larger quantities than others.
Can build space stations to handle micromanagement of various tasks.

Other features I remember:

Research labs
- Can be built on ships and space stations.
- Tech level is upgradeable
Remote mining
Technology is on a per-planet/ship basis, can be transferred somehow.
All ship parts could be upgraded by technology.
Ships needed power.
Engine efficiency was given as a percentage. (% reduction in cost of movement?)
Huge universe, on the order of thousands or even millions of systems.
Designed your own ships by using components.

Anybody else remember this game, specifically what it was called? I was just telling a friend about it, and it's driving me nuts that I can't find it anymore, or even remember its name. -FunnyMan 00:47, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sounds very intersesting! If you're interested in that kind of thing you should check out Anacreon (computer game).. it's the RTS version of nethack as far as cult status is concerned :) --⁪froth^{T C} 22:40, 26 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the tip. Not the game I was looking for, but I like it! --FunnyMan 21:46, 30 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

about price of laptop in different model

sir i want to know the price chat of different models of laptop,and what are the features it has?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "price chat". But if you want to check on prices of different laptop models and get their specs you can got to Froogle or pricewatch.com. Both should be good for those needs. —Mitaphane _talk 03:53, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I speak RefDeskia, and can interpret that into English as "price chart". :-) StuRat 04:15, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

How much are you looking to spend? Do you want the latest technology or a laptop that can suit specific needs? --Proficient 06:38, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

500 to 2500 dollars is the typical range --⁪froth^{T C} 22:41, 26 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Windows 2000 server not booting from first switch

Hi there,

If I have windows 2000 server and some times it is not booting from first switch on and I need

to do that again after some time then will work fine and after many hours or minutes will shutdown without notifying me.

What can I do regarding this problem??

Cheers,

Abdullah

Just to be sure on this problem, is Windows locking up when it boots(i.e. you see notification that Windows is loading but never loads), or when you turn on the computer you get no computer screen activity at all?

If you're computer is shutting down sporadically(without any notice from windows shutting down automatically), I suspect your power supply could be faulty and might need to be replaced. —Mitaphane _talk 01:13, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

wiki - firefox

I've been experiencing a strange phenomenon when using firefox to edit the ref. desk pages. Ther eis a significant delay (~1 sec) when I type on my keyboard and when it shows up in the box. I'm sure ther eis a faq about this? ANy ideas? I'm forced to use IE!! Jasbutal 05:02, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Are you clicking the edit links on the side, or editing the whole page? Dysprosia 05:12, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I occasionally get this, too. I don't know the cause, but a reboot cures it. StuRat 06:20, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Firefox is known to have issues with being memory intensive. Next time this happens press (I'm assuming Windows here) Ctrl+Alt+Del and look at the memory usage for FireFox compared with amount of free RAM you have. —Mitaphane _talk 01:06, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

PDF printing - slow and fast

I've noticed that when I convert Word docs to PDF using any kind of converter and then print them, the printing is very slow. However, if I print out the same Word doc and then scan it back in as a PDF using a Fujitsu ScanSnap, and then print it, it is much faster.

Apparently it has something to do with the way the program recognizes the text. Is there any way I can skip the step of having to physically print out the document?

Thanks, 150.174.104.75 12:51, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You're actually looking at two different kinds of file here. When you convert a Word document to a PDF (using somehting like CutePDF with GhostScript, highly recommend) the pdf file contains text and vector graphics - you can zoom in as much as you like and it'll stay sharp. When you scan a document to PDF, it's saved as a raster image file, like a JPEG - if you zoom in, it'll get blurrier. It'll also almost always be a far larger file if scanned in like this. This exact activity used to be my job, and I once made a CutePDF version of a report that was 10MB to replace the archive copy which had been scanned - it was 150MB! 84.71.169.89 14:31, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I've also noticed that scanned documents are bigger, but this isn't a big problem for me (yet). Can CutePDF convert a Word file directly to a raster image file without having to print it out and re-scan? 150.174.104.75 14:54, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried printing to a (generic) Postscript file from Word, then dropping the resulting PS file into CutePDF? This sometimes makes for a cleaner file.--Shantavira 18:14, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, what I'm trying to do is convert the PDF files to PocketMod (booklet) form using the free convertor. This results in printing the text extra-small (but not too small for me to read). After scanning a document with the ScanSnap and making up a PocketMod that way, there's no problem. But if I convert from Word to a PDF, and then make up a PocketMod out of that, it takes at least 50 minutes to print 1 page. (Using PostScript didn't work for me...) 150.174.104.94 20:01, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I don't know why it should be printing so slow as a vector graphic. You might try using a different printer driver; it might be having difficulty translating or downloading the fonts as it is. It also might be that whatever you are using to encode the Word doc as PDF is not doing a very good job. When I export from Word to a PDF in OS X, it makes a very bloated and nasty file. If I run Optimize PDF in Adobe Acrobat, though, it shrinks it considerably and makes it much swifter to use. Just a thought. --Fastfission 19:16, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have read, but can't verify, that upgrading the PDF reader does not always work well, and it is safer to uninstall the old version and install the new version from scratch. --Gerry Ashton 17:24, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I was specifically recommending trying a different printer driver, not a different reader. It's a very different distinction. --Fastfission 22:42, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Hotmail attachment issue

OK... I've got a Hotmail problem, thought I'd bring it to you guys.

I need to download attachments (Word files) to an email that I've received, but Internet Explorer says it has an error retrieving the file (long URL) from a remote IP (presumably the Hotmail server). It's really important that I get this to work.

Some points:

The problem applies to all standard (non-WLM) Hotmail accounts accessed by my computer.
The problem applies to all emails in those accounts
The problem has developed in the last week, I'm not aware of anything which has changed
It does not affect my account accessed from another computer.
It does not affect a corporate email account accessed from my computer.
My computer is accessing the Internet through a cable modem, I don't have a network so can't tell if it's the computer or the modem.

Some suggested solutions:

Windows Live Mail - I haven't tried it yet, but it's been suggested that if I upgrade to it then that might work
Get Firefox - I don't really want to put any more software on my machine if I can help it
Get an alternate account, Gmail or similar, and use that - I don't want to change addresses as I've had my current one for ages and it's my name, but forwarding stuff to Gmail when I need to download the attachment might be a workaround.

Any ideas? Tyrhinis 14:40, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I would try either using a different browser (Firefox is worth putting on your machine) or forwarding it to a different e-mail service and seeing if that improves things (in other words, the last two options you had). The first option will tell you if it is a problem with IE and Hotmail; the latter will tell you if it is just a problem with Hotmail. Once you've narrowed down where the problem is, you should be able to figure out the solution. My guess is that it is a problem with Hotmail's own servers — if you haven't changed anything on your own end of things then it is probably a problem on their end. --Fastfission 19:19, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The company I work for has customers that had hotmail accounts. Sometimes we would get complaints from them that they couldn't access the attachments we sent them. The problem from their point of view was that some attachments would be fine while others (the ones we sent) would not work. It appeared that sometimes hotmail would block access to some attachments that it thought might contain a virus\worm such as a Word document. Our solution was repackage the attachment as a compressed zip file or use a different file format. Hope this helps... Ryan Roos 21:37, 30 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Which type of RAM to buy?

I want to buy some RAM for my desktop PC but there are so many different types available. What's the simplest way to find out which type of RAM I need for my computer? --Ukdan999 14:50, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

DDR2 A Clown in the Dark 16:48, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Find out what motherboard you have, and check at the manufacturer's website to see what type of memory your motherboard accepts. Make absolutely certain of this, sometimes different versions of the same basic motherboard take different types of memory (for example, the Intel 845E takes up to PC2100, whereas the 845GL takes up to PC2700, as I found out the hard way recently). For a desktop PC, do NOT buy SODIMM RAM, which is for laptops (I also found this out the hard way once). It should say which motherboard you have in your PC's manual. Alternatively, it can be displayed when you boot your PC up, and the model is often printed on the motherboard itself. If you want to cheat a bit, the RAM chips you currently have installed may have a label on them stating what type they are. Hope that helps. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 17:31, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I suggest running this program here. Report back here with the information you find under the "Memory" tab. This will be info on what RAM you currently have. It may also help to tell us a bit about your CPU ("Clocks" and "Cache" data). --Russoc4 17:34, 22 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I suggest taking the ram out of your computer and walking into the store with it in hand. Then, say you need more of whatever type it is. --Kainaw ^(talk) 00:34, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Good idea. Just make sure your computer remains powered off while the RAM is not installed. --Russoc4 01:55, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

My brain has random access memory. For example, if I try to recall the largest city in Sri Lanka, I come up with Peter Falk. :-) StuRat 05:37, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, I downloaded that CPU-Z program and it says "Max Bandwidth" = PC3200 (200MHz). When I search dabs.com for PC3200 RAM (1GB) it still shows me over 30 different items ranging from £60 to £110. Will all of these do the same job and if so why the huge range of prices? --Ukdan999 12:31, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure what the differences are, to be honest. Maybe the most expensive ones will have some kind of flashy technology on them that enables them to make tea and coffee, or something? I suppose the cheaper ones will be older models made with older manufacturing techniques, therefore theoretically more prone to failure, but still highly unlikely to. Or maybe all the different memory manufacturers are in a huge price war with eachother. I recommend shopping around a bit, use Google. Amazon and http://www.lowestonweb.com have reasonable prices on memory, too. CaptainVindaloo ^{t c e} 13:55, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Try walking through the Crucial Memory Advisor to see guaranteed compatible options. It's hard to find memory these days that is unreliable; most comes with a lifetime warranty. --KSmrq^T 18:12, 23 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sometimes you can use RAM that is not in the manufacturer's recommended list. But it's better to do so if you're not experienced. --Proficient 06:14, 25 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]